Wow. The judge in the court martial of 1st Lt. Ehren Watada who refused to serve in Iraq because the war is illegal has declared a mistrial because the government insisted Watada had no right to explain his actions.

Watada’s lawyer, Eric Seitz, said Watada’s intent in refusing deployment orders was at the heart of his defense, and that it was ridiculous for prosecutors to suggest that he had no right to explain why he did what he did.

“The government has created a major mess here, and that’s clearly why they had to move for a mistrial,” Seitz said. “Any time the government tries to suppress a defendant’s attempt to explain his actions, that’s not a good thing for our legal system.”

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Rogers Cadenhead registered the domain name wargames.com in 1998. Recently, MGM tried to take it away from him saying it infringed on their upcoming movie of the same name. The case went to arbitration, and Cadenhead, in a decision that I think even surprised him, won the case.

His next project: Writing a book on how to protect your domain names.

Congratulations, Rogers.

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When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990, Cuba lost over half its oil imports. They reorganized, went full-tilt green, and has survived surprisingly well. What Cuba did could become a model for the future, because not only is oil running out, the use of it contributes to global warming.

Cuba transitioned from large scale farming, with its heavy use of oil-based fertilizer and pesticides to small organic farms and urban gardens. Not only do they use vastly less oil now, their food is primarily organic and gthus much healthier!

The Community Solution has made a film about this, The Power of Community. How Cuba Survived Peak Oil.

Cuba has accomplished something we can all learn from, all we need to do is listen.

The Oil Drum links to a video about the movie.

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US soldier charged with murder in Italy

But since the US military never does anything wrong, they’ve already cleared the soldier. Thus, he will be tried in absentia. After all, the Pentagon, symbol of imperial America need not be bothered with the pesky laws of other, lesser nations.

“Friendly fire” tape goes to inquest

The tape shows US war plane blunders that resulted in the killing of a British soldier. First the Pentagon said the tape didn’t exist and, you guessed it, those involved weren’t court-martialed.

Truly, the US is a beacon of justice and fair play for all. And this is how they treat their allies!

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Climate change has contributed to extreme weather conditions that triggered the worst flooding in the Indonesian capital in years, a deputy environment minister said.

50 are dead, hundreds of thousands displaced, some are living in cemeteries, and more rain is coming.

And a ranking government official says global warming is a contributing factor.

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