Prehistoric monument under Lake Michigan?

Stonehenge Beneath the Waters of Lake Michigan

Cool.

Really, you need to read this

The WaPo article I linked in the previous post. here.

In May 2008, Crawford ordered the war-crimes charges against Qahtani dropped but did not state publicly that the harsh interrogations were the reason. "[The torture] did shock me," Crawford said. "I was upset by it. I was embarrassed by it. If we tolerate this and allow it, then how can we object when our servicemen and women, or others in foreign service, are captured and subjected to the same techniques? How can we complain? Where is our moral authority to complain? Well, we may have lost it."

The harsh techniques used against Qahtani, she said, were approved by then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. "A lot of this happened on his watch," she said. Last month, a Senate Armed Services Committee report concluded that "Rumsfeld's authorization of aggressive interrogation techniques for use at Guantanamo Bay was a direct cause of detainee abuse there." The committee found the interrogation techniques harsh and abusive but stopped short of calling them torture.

[...]

"A prosecutor has an ethical obligation to review all the evidence before making a charging decision. And they didn't have access to all the evidence, including medical records, interrogation logs, and they were making charging decisions without looking at everything."

Ouch.

Oh, look! Lies! Misrepresentations! Government! And , Torture.

Pentagon Pushes Debunked "Returning To Terror" Hype. Gee.

Meanwhile, WaPo reports Detainee Tortured, Says U.S. Official: Trial Overseer Cites 'Abusive' Methods Against 9/11 Suspect

"We tortured [Mohammed al-]Qahtani," said Susan J. Crawford, in her first interview since being named convening authority of military commissions by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates in February 2007. "His treatment met the legal definition of torture. And that's why I did not refer the case" for prosecution.

Crawford's an alum of my law school, btw. She gave a very insightful talk as the main speaker for the last Law Day banquet I was at, last year or so.

Alaska Statehood - 50th Year

The Alaska Statehood Act was passed in July, 1958, and Alaska officially became a state in January, 1959. *waves flag* Yaaaaaay.

Interesting factoid: The National Municipal League called the Alaska Constitution one of the best ever written. (according to this brief history)

When I was little, I predicted Alaska would secede. (I was very little.) Hey, it could happen, but now that I'm a lawyer (and, allegedly, a grown-up), I understand better how such bonds can be difficult to dissolve.

Still, sometimes I wonder what it really gets out of being part of the U.S. Except for, you know, keeping me from having grown up in the Soviet Union. (But...I wonder if the Soviet Union would have extended across the Bering Strait in the first place. Hmmmmm. I smell a story idea in there somewhere.)