Related to the Virginia Tech Massacre

As I talked about in class today, this was a very disturbed individual, and a lot of people knew about it. Why did he get away with purchasing guns? Do our gun control laws need to change? Check out the articles below:

Rules should have barred weapon purchase

VA Tech Massacre Reignites Gun Control Debate

The Latest from Darfur

A sign of hope from Darfur this week, but based on the track record of the government in Khartoum, I'm not holding my breath...

Why Sudan is now allowing U.N. troops in Darfur

Supreme Court Ruling on Abortion Procedure

A few articles on this week's Supreme Court Ruling involving a controversial abortion procedure:

US Supreme Court allows late-term abortion ban;
'>Court Ruling Catapults Abortion Back Into ’08 Race;
Justices Back Ban on Method of Abortion

Student Protest

I didn't know about this being planned, but I think student activism is really cool. Check out the article and let me know what you think about their actions and their cause.

Students leave school, join rally against war, recruiting
Students from Seattle area schools walked out of class to take to the streets on Wednesday. Fed up with the war and on-campus military recruitment, they left school at noon for a rally at Westlake Center and marched through the city streets.

Nation & World | Supreme Court won't hear Gitmo habeas-corpus case | Seattle Times Newspaper

The on-going legal struggle of what to do with prisoners at Guantanamo Bay is in the news again. Ther argument over whether or not they deserve the protections of criminal defendants provided for in the Constitution has been something the Bush administration has argued against since we first started the "war on terror".

However, they also claim that they are not subject to international law under the Geneva Conventions; not prisoners of war because they do not fight on behalf of a nation-state, but an organization - al-Qeuda.

Here the court decided in a close decision to avoid hearing a case involving this important issue for another year. Do we really need to wait that long? Perhaps Congress will take action before then and re-write the Military Commissions Act under which we are now operating.

Read the following article and let me know what you think.

Nation & World Supreme Court won't hear Gitmo habeas-corpus case Seattle Times Newspaper

Who isn’t supporting our troops?

One of the biggest stories this week is the Constitutional showdown between Congress and the President over the spending bill for the war. In a nutshell, the House and the Senate passed bills authorizing money for the troops in Iraq, but added withdrawal dates. Setting deadlines for American withdrawal from Iraq is something many Democrats in Congress favor, but also a fair number of Republicans.

However, President Bush rejects these guidelines, and doesn’t want Congress to tell him how to run the war. He has vowed to veto the bill, and the current funding for the war runs out on April 15th. (Until a bill is passed, the Department of Defense will continue to fund the war out of other parts of its budget, but they can’t go on like this indefinitely.)

What do you think of the arguments being made on both sides? (Read some of the articles I suggest or others you have found.) Both the President and the Congress are claiming that it is their responsibility to decide issues of withdrawal dates and timelines. Use your knowledge of the Constitution in responding!

Senate Passes War Spending Bill With Iraq Deadline

Bush Rules Out Bid by Congress for Iraq Pullout

News Analysis: Democrats Are Building on Unity Over Iraq Pullout'>News Analysis: Democrats Are Building on Unity Over Iraq Pullout

High-stakes face-off over ending Iraq war

U.S. Iraq Role Is Called Illegal by Saudi King

Bush Criticizes Democrats on War Funds