Bush Shot Down Again By High Court

The Supreme court has handed the Bush
administration another blow to it's handling
of the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Check out the article and let us know your
opinion.


The Supreme Court, for the third time, rejected President Bush's policy for holding and trying foreign prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and ruled today these men have a right to seek their freedom in a hearing before a federal judge.

In a 5-4 decision, the high court struck down as unconstitutional an administration-backed law that barred the detainees from going to court. The right to habeas corpus is fundamental to American law and cannot be suspended except in times of national emergency, the majority said.

"The framers [of the Constitution] viewed freedom from unlawful restraint as a fundamental precept of liberty, and they understood the writ of habeas corpus as a vital instrument to secure that freedom," said Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, writing for the court.

He said the prisoners at Guantanamo are far removed from the battlefield and have been held for as long as six years "with no definitive judicial determination as to the legality of their detention."

President Bush reacted during a news conference in Rome. "We'll abide by the court's decision," he said. "That doesn't mean I have to agree with it."

"We'll study this opinion ... to determine whether or not additional legislation might be appropriate."

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina was less restrained. "I am deeply disappointed in what I think is a tremendously dangerous and irresponsible ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court," he said. "The court has conferred upon civilian judges the right to make military decisions. These judges have virtually no training in military matters, yet civilian judges, in some of the most liberal district courts in the country, will have an opportunity to determine who is a threat to the United States."

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"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
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What's Left Of The Movement?

Things have certainly changed since Dr. King
was assassinated forty years ago. The article
below tells what is left of the civil rights
movement.


Forty years after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, the storied organizations that propelled the modern-day civil rights movement alongside him are either struggling to stay relevant or struggling to stay alive.

In Atlanta, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) -- which was founded in 1957 after Alabama's Montgomery bus boycott and was led by King through the most difficult days of the movement -- clings to life. Three years ago, utilities shut off the lights and the phones when the group did not pay its bills.

In New York, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), which helped shape the movement's philosophy after adopting Mohandas K. Gandhi's doctrine of nonviolent protest, is scarcely known outside Manhattan. CORE conceded that it now has about 10 percent of the 150,000 members it listed in the 1960s.

In Baltimore, the near-century-old NAACP, which tore down racial barriers with deft lawyering in the courts, recently cut a third of its administrative staff because of budget shortfalls. For decades, the NAACP asserted that it was the largest civil rights group, with about half a million dues-paying members, but one of its former presidents recently acknowledged that it has fewer than 300,000.

Some groups have disappeared, such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which organized the Freedom Rides that drew sympathy to their cause and which was later led by firebrands such as Stokley Carmichael and H. Rap Brown. Others, such as the National Urban League, remain viable but have diminished visibility.

This Article Continues Here

Get your copy of the award winning King:
"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/