Precedents on Habeas Corpus

I’ve been listening to Fox News report on the upcoming trial of Osama bin Laden’s driver, who requested a Writ of Habeas Corpus in accordance with the latest ruling by the Supreme Court on the subject. I can’t recall anyone ever having petitioned for a writ on war crimes before, so I looked it up. Here is a list of precedent cases regarding Habeas Corpus–I wonder if the Supreme Court read up on the case of General Yamashita before handing down their verdict?

On Dieting

A new study being published in the New England Journal of Medicine followed 322 people over two years trying three different types of diets. The big winner in over-all weight loss and cholesterol improvement: Atkins.

Now, women tended to lose more weight on the Mediterannean diet (a peer reviewer said this demonstrated that women were more experienced at complex diets; I wonder if it doesn’t just demonstrate that there are metabolic differences between men and women?), and a fat-restrictive diet was better for diabetics controlling blood sugar. Overall, however, this demonstrates what I’ve been telling people for years–it’s not just a simple matter of counting calories. Insulin is what puts the calories in your fat cells, and carbohydrates are what stimulate the release of insulin.

Update: Fox News reports

Another Province Handed Over

Well, this is one of the poorest-written articles I’ve seen professionally published… I’m going to have to go over it again to see if the actual name of the province is even mentioned–the reporter seems to trip over himself trying to report incidents of violence in-country. However, according to the AP, we have handed another province over to the Iraqis, and there is hope that we may hand them ALL over by end-of-year.

The Surge is Dead… Long Live the Surge!

As I posted earlier, the Surge in Iraq is over.

Michael Yon thinks that not only was the surge successful, but that the war is over (be sure to review his slide show for statistics; he may be right!).

The Pentagon apparently agrees; and the surge in Afghanistan is ready to start… within weeks!

Iraqi thoughts on Obama

Read the article here:

The New York Times, not exactly the most unbiased of sources, today ran an article on the opinions of Iraqis regarding the potential election of Barack Obama (note: not regarding the upcoming election in general). The reporters even went so far as to interview the brother of one of three terrorists who attacked U. S. troops outside of Baghdad International Airport on 25 Jun 2008 to find anti-U.S. sentiment.

Even the most ardent Obama supporter–who was excited for no reason other than that he heard that Obama has Muslim relations–said that Obama’s plan for immediate withdrawal of U. S. forces was a bad idea. The general interviewed in the piece was DEFINITELY opposed to the idea–“Very difficult,” he said, shaking his head. “Any army would love to work without any help, but let me be honest: for now, we don’t have that ability.”