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Amnesty International opposes shifting Guantanomo Bay detainees to Afghanistan KABUL, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- Amnesty International, the world recognized watchdog, has strongly opposed the US decision to transfer Afghan detainees from Guantanamo Bay prison to Afghanistan, a press release of the right agency received here Saturday said. "Guantanamo Bay detainees who are returned to Afghanistan may be at risk of torture, ill-treatment and other human right abuses, " the London-based watchdog warned in the statement. The statement issued after the announcement of Washington to hand over some 110 Afghan detainees languishing at the notorious US Naval base detention center of...

Edwards Citicizes Supreme Court Nominee Friday July 29, 2005 12:49pm Washington (AP) - Former Democratic senator and vice presidential candidate John Edwards harshly criticized Supreme Court nominee John Roberts Friday, calling him "a partisan for conservative causes." Roberts, finishing his second week of visits with senators in search of confirmation votes, was being criticized from the sidelines in a speech that Edwards prepared for the American Constitution Society. This came a day after Sen. Edward M. Kennedy accused Roberts, 50, of having a questionable commitment to civil rights. Although the complaints aired Friday were among the toughest yet since Bush...

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Commander Eileen Collins said astronauts on shuttle Discovery had seen widespread environmental destruction on Earth and warned on Thursday that greater care was needed to protect natural resources. Her comments came as NASA pondered whether to send astronauts out on an extra spacewalk to repair additional heat-protection damage on the first shuttle mission since the 2003 Columbia disaster. Discovery is linked with the International Space Station and orbiting 220 miles above the Earth. "Sometimes you can see how there is erosion, and you can see how there is deforestation. It's very widespread in some parts of the...

Just about every day, Howard Dean, the presidential-loser-turned-Democratic-national-chairman, fires off a snarky new blast at President Bush & Co. — but top Republicans mostly ignore him these days. Dean has called Republicans "brain-dead" and a "white Christian party," and now his new pet line is to blame Bush for a controversial ruling by the Supreme Court's most liberal justices. That's the 5-4 decision that gave a green light for government to use eminent domain to grab private homes and kick out homeowners so private developers can use it to make megamillions. Or, as Dean shrilled to college Democrats in Washington,...

A letter to the editor - August 3, 2005 Dear Editor: Nearly two years ago George Bush Jr.'s top adviser, Karl "The Hatchet" Rove, outed a CIA operative by blabbing to newsman Robert Novak. It was a vintage Rove maneuver: slander, discredit, smear and out, if necessary, anyone who dared to challenge Bush about his real motives during his march to war. And Valerie Plame's husband had done just that by telling a differing version of the Bush truth. Bush immediately told the nation that "anyone having anything to do with the outing of Plame will not be a part...

U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold blasted President Bush's decision to unilaterally make John Bolton the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations with a recess appointment while Congress was out of session. Feingold, D-Wis., is a member of the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, where he opposed Bolton's nomination. The Senate refused to make a final decision on the nomination pending review of documents that the administration declined to provide in what Feingold characterized as "blatant disregard for the Senate's constitutional rights and responsibilities." "Mr. Bolton is fundamentally unsuited for the job, and his record reveals a truly disturbing intolerance of dissent," Feingold...

The following is a fact sheet released today by the Democratic National Committee: The White House this weekend announced that President Bush received good news during his annual physical. Doctors pronounced the President to be in "superior" physical condition, which media reports attributed to his rigorous, six day a week exercise routine. While President Bush has made physical fitness a personal priority, his cuts to education funding have forced schools to roll back physical education classes and his Administration's efforts to undermine Title IX sports programs have threatened thousands of women's college sports programs. "President Bush's has dropped the ball...

Democratic presidential hopeful Wesly Clark is now appearing on Fox to trash the president for his recess appointment of John Bolton. He predicted that Bolton would have a difficult time because of the lack of senatorial support.

Former President Jimmy Carter said today, while in Birmingham, England, the detention of terror suspects at the Guantanamo Bay Naval base was an embarrassment and had given extremists an excuse to attack the U.S. Carter also criticized the U.S.-led war in Iraq as "unnecessary and unjust." "I think what's going on in Guantanamo Bay and other places is a disgrace to the U.S.A.," he told a news conference at the Baptist World Alliance's centenary conference. "I wouldn't say it's the cause of terrorism, but it has given impetus and excuses to potential terrorists to lash out at our country and...

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Never mind officials voiding a $50 ticket for indecent exposure, or an explanation from county officials that a ranger who issued the citation to the breast-feeding mother was inexperienced. Dorian Ryan said she wants an apology for what she called a "humiliating and degrading" experience. "This isn't right. Women shouldn't be harassed for breast-feeding their children," Dorian Ryan said. Colorado lawmakers agree. A law passed last year gives women the right to breast feed anywhere she's allowed to be in public. Ryan, 43, was ticketed for indecent exposure July 14 when she breast fed her son...

BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) - Former President Jimmy Carter on Saturday said the detention of terror suspects at the Guantanamo Bay Naval base was an embarrassment and had given extremists an excuse to attack the United States. Speaking at the Baptist World Alliance's centenary conference in Birmingham, central England, Carter also criticized the U.S.-led war in Iraq and said it was "unnecessary and unjust." "I think what's going on in Guantanamo Bay and other places is a disgrace to the U.S.A.," he told a news conference. "I wouldn't say it's the cause of terrorism, but it has given impetus and excuses...

Former Democratic senator and vice presidential candidate John Edwards harshly criticized Supreme Court nominee John Roberts Friday, calling him "a partisan for conservative causes." Roberts, finishing his second week of visits with senators in search of confirmation votes, was being criticized from the sidelines in a speech that Edwards prepared for the American Constitution Society. This came a day after Sen. Edward M. Kennedy accused Roberts, 50, of having a questionable commitment to civil rights. Although the complaints aired Friday were among the toughest yet since Bush picked Roberts for the high court, there still were differences of opinion within...

Anita Hill, the woman who opposed Clarence Thomas for the Supreme Court by alleging sexual harassment, is now blasting President Bush's selection of John Roberts, claiming it's a step back for diversity and fears it could lead to "an all-white-male Supreme Court." In a commentary published in Newsday, Hill, who is now a professor of social policy, law and women's studies at Brandeis University, writes: "[W]as John Roberts chosen because he's the best choice for the court or because he may easily be confirmed? And why not choose a woman to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman...

Democratic Sen. John Kerry urged the White House on Friday to release "in their entirety" all documents and memos from Supreme Court nominee John Roberts' (search) tenure in two Republican administrations. I'm not makin' this up.

Kerry seeks release of Roberts' documents WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic Sen. John Kerry urged the White House on Friday to release "in their entirety" all documents and memos from Supreme Court nominee John Roberts' tenure in two Republican administrations. "The American people should know whether John Roberts will protect their constitutional rights if confirmed as a justice to the court," Kerry said. Susan Walsh, AP "We cannot do our duty if either Judge Roberts or the Bush administration hides elements of his professional record," said the Massachusetts senator who was his party's presidential candidate last year. Opening what is expected...

Every American ought to be asking some tough questions right now about whether Mr. Roberts is fit to serve on the highest court in the land. Will he support seizing the property of average Americans so it can be transferred to powerful corporations? Has he ever gotten blind drunk, had an adulterous affair, driven off a bridge, left his companion to drown and gotten away with it? Is he willing to support judging people by the color of their skin rather than the content of their character? Will he be able to see past the archaic words of the Constitution...

WASHINGTON (July 23) - Democratic Sen. John Kerry urged the White House on Friday to release "in their entirety" all documents and memos from Supreme Court nominee John Roberts' tenure in two Republican administrations. "We cannot do our duty if either Judge Roberts or the Bush administration hides elements of his professional record," said the Massachusetts senator who was his party's presidential candidate last year. Opening what is expected to be a broader attempt by Democrats to pry loose documents, Kerry issued his statement as Roberts made the latest in a series of courtesy calls on senators in advance of...

WASHINGTON — Democratic Sen. John Kerry urged the White House on Friday to release "in their entirety" all documents and memos from Supreme Court nominee John Roberts' (search) tenure in two Republican administrations. "We cannot do our duty if either Judge Roberts or the Bush administration hides elements of his professional record," said the Massachusetts senator who was his party's presidential candidate last year. Opening what is expected to be a broader attempt by Democrats to pry loose documents, Kerry issued his statement as Roberts made the latest in a series of courtesy calls on senators in advance of confirmation...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Democratic Sen. John Kerry urged the White House on Friday to release "in their entirety" all documents and memos from Supreme Court nominee John Roberts' tenure in two Republican administrations. "We cannot do our duty if either Judge Roberts or the Bush administration hides elements of his professional record," said the Massachusetts senator who was his party's presidential candidate last year. Opening what is expected to be a broader attempt by Democrats to pry loose documents, Kerry issued his statement as Roberts made the latest in a series of courtesy calls on senators in advance of confirmation...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Laura Capps/Melissa Wagoner (202) 224-2633 This is a critical moment for this country¹s future. If John Roberts is confirmed, he will have a vital role in setting the direction of the country for generations to come. The Supreme Court is often the last line of defense for the freedoms and liberties for hundreds of millions of Americans. Few responsibilities of the Senate are more important than reviewing the qualifications of nominees for the Supreme Court. Every Senator, Republican or Democrats, has a responsibility to determine whether Mr. Roberts deserves to join the currently closely divided court...