Author: matt

Gitmo’ Money, Gitmo’ Problems: Take down the sign, boys, we’re back in business!
“Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Wednesday that the Bush administration was not considering shutting down the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and he defended the treatment of its prisoners by their American military guards and interrogators as humane.”
– Rumsfeld Says Guantánamo Isn’t Being Considered for Closing, by Thom Shanker, The New York Times, June 9, 2005
Related: Pentagon to Release Data on Base Closings, AP/Guardian, May 28, 2005

General Motors said Tuesday that it would cut about 25,000 jobs from its blue-collar work force in the United States by the end of 2008, in a broad move to reckon with its declining grip on the American car market.
The cuts, which represent about 22 percent of the hourly work force, would bring G.M.’s nationwide employment to 86,000 hourly workers, roughly the number it employed in the city of Flint, Mich., in the 1970’s.
– G.M. Will Reduce Hourly Workers in U.S. by 25,000, by Danny Hakim, The New York Times, June 8, 2005.

Related: GM Employee Discount for Everyone Event

A military inquiry has found that guards or interrogators at the Guantánamo Bay detention center in Cuba kicked, stepped on and splashed urine on the Koran, in some cases intentionally but in others by accident, the Pentagon said on Friday.
[…]
The investigation into allegations that the Koran had been mishandled also found that in one instance detainees’ Korans were wet because guards on the night shift had thrown water balloons on the cellblock.
– Military Details Koran Incidents at Base in Cuba, by Eric Schmitt, The New York Times, June 4, 2005.

Dear Mom and Dad,
Greetings from Camp X Ray where if the food doesn’t kill ya, something else probably will! Ha ha ha. Just kidding.
I am having a lot of fun here and am meeting a lot of really, really nice people from all over the world. We do sports for one hour every day and we get to sing along to all kinds of music.
Our counselors are really crazy! One night they threw water balloons at us while we were sleeping! We all laughed a lot, but then we realized they got my Holy Koran wet and I got mad. But they apologized and promised all of us a pizza party! (Once a counselor accidentally splashed pee-pee on my bunkmate’s Holy Koran and we had an ice cream party.)
Next week we’re going to a petting zoo with real live animals! It’s gonna be great! We might also go swimming, but I am afraid I might drown. Ha ha ha.
I miss you both a lot and I hope to see you soon. Can you please send me a care package with fresh water and some Band-Aids?
Love, Your Son

(Above via Yahoo/Reuters; Below via Litlounge)