5/14 Roundup: Indefinite Detention, Boy Scout Border Patrol, Democrat Socialist Party

abu GhraibLeader: Torture, Abuse, Indefinite Detention

- The Senate held a hearing yesterday investigating the torture of detainees, and the session quickly deteriorated into partisan bickering, according the Washington Post. Former State Department counselor Philip D. Zelikow and retired FBI agent Ali Soufan both claimed to have tried to stop some of the more questionable interrogation methods. 

- The Obama administration is reportedly considering maintaining the Bush Administration policy of detaining certain terror suspects indefinitely on US soil.  The President has clearly not yet answered the question of how to make good on his promise to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, while still maintaining the security of the nation.

- President Obama said yesterday he would seek to block the release graphic photographs depicting the abuse of detainees held by the US overseas.  Obama had initially agreed not to block the release of the photographs, but reversed his decision after hearing warnings from military commanders overseas that releasing these photographs could expose US troops to renewed danger.

Politics

- President Obama is catching flak from the left on his national security policy, largely for the recent moves detailed above.

- New Census data suggests that, due to our flailing economy, immigration of Hispanics and Asians has slowed considerably.  This will affect the Census projections of when our country will become majority minority-- last estimated to be 2042.

- An affiliate of the Boy Scouts is training young teenagers in all the assault tactics they need to know to become effective border patrol agents, anti-terror agents, and just general heavily-armed agents.  How do you say... creepy?

- President Obama spoke at the Arizona State commencement yesterday, and promoted national service in his speech to the graduates.  This is right in line with the arguments of our fellows Morley Winograd and Mike Hais.

Economy

- The Administration yesterday asked congress to move quickly on legislation that would apply strict new regulations on the complex financial instruments that booby-trapped our economy. This should be a bipartisan issue, right?

- Two op-eds in today's NY Times talk about the decline of the dollar, relative to China's RenMinBi. Nouriel Roubini and Victor Zhikai Gao make more or less the same point: This century, at least in financial terms, may well be Asia's century.

International

- Burmese Democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, winner of the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize, is facing a military trial that will likely tighten the grip of Myanmar's junta over the country and its oppressed population.

- Two American journalists will be put on "trial" in North Korea, on charges of "illegal entry" and "hostile acts." It doesn't seem likely they'll get the result that Roxana Saberi got in Iran-- where an appeals court threw out her conviction.

New From NDN

- Simon has a new essay arguing that the economic debate is changing, and that regular, everyday consumers are now at the heart of it all.

- Michael Moynihan wrote yesterday that we need to avoid a "GM Trainwreck," and keep them from collapsing completely.

One More Thing

- This couldn't quite qualify for the "politics" section above.  Apparently, the RNC is planning a marketing campaign to rebrand the Democratic Party as the "Democrat Socialist Party."  Seriously.

- Last, here's Stephen Colbert's recommendation to the GOP:

The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Stephen's Sound Advice - How to Re-Brand the GOP
colbertnation.com
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