In the first case where a civilian court has heard an appeal of the detention of a Guantanamo Bay prisoner, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has ordered the government to release, transfer or order a new military trial for Huzaifa Parhat, a Chinese Muslim captured in Afghanistan. In a unanimous ruling, a three-judge panel that included Judge Thomas Griffith, appointed by President Bush in 2005, and Chief Judge David Sentelle, considered one of the most conservative judges on the federal bench, concluded that the government had scant evidence to justify Parhat’s arrest and detention and had failed to show that he had any ties to terrorism at all.

The ruling comes close to actually mocking the Bush administration’s claims about Parhat, saying, “First, the government suggests that several of the assertions in the intelligence documents are reliable because they are made in at least three different documents. We are not persuaded. Lewis Carroll notwithstanding, the fact that the government has “said it thrice” does not make an allegation true.” The reference is to a story by Lewis Carroll called The hunting of the snark where a character says, “I have said it thrice; What I tell you three times is true.” The ruling notes that the source of those allegations is the Chinese government, which has long persecuted the Uighur sect to which Parhat belongs.

This is a huge blow to the Bush administration in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling that allows detainees to challenge their detention in civilian courts. This case was not a result of that ruling. It was heard before the Supreme Court ever ruled. But it clearly sends a message that the judges of the D.C. circuit, even the most conservative among them, are going to demand actual evidence against the detainees rather than the mere assertion of wrongdoing. This, of course, is precisely why the administration fought so hard to keep those cases out of the civilian courts in the first place.

(Editor's note: The original published version of this article stated that the court had ordered the release of Mr. Parhat. The article has been revised to reflect the fact that the court ordered the government to release, transfer or retry Mr. Parhat.)

Mohammed Abdwaihed Towfek Al-Taee, 39, is one of four Iraqi men who say they were tortured at Abu Ghraib and who have filed federal lawsuits against the contractors and their employees in four cities. The other three suits were filed in Ohio, Maryland and Washington.

Al-Taee's suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit because one of the contractors, New York-based L-3 Communications Corp., recruited translators from metro Detroit.

"They were inflicting torture on innocent people," said Shereef Akeel, a Troy attorney representing Al-Taee and the other detainees, according to the Freep. "The suit is designed to hold people accountable."

Also representing the plaintiffs are the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights and attorneys from Philadelphia.

The defendants are Virginia-based CACI International and CACI Premier Technology Inc..; L-3 Services Inc., a division of L-3 Communications; and three individual contractors who worked for them.

The other three plaintiffs are a 37-year-old father of three; a 36-year-old shopkeeper, teacher and father of four; and a farmer who said he was caged, beaten, threatened with dogs and given electrical shocks.

A media study by the progressive think tank Center for American Progress found that though more people are turning to the web for news -- a trend that we here at Michigan Messenger are struggling to hasten -- when it comes to economic coverage, most people still go to mainstream news outlets that generally tell economic stories from the business point of view, leaving out the perspectives of ordinary workers.

By analyzing economic coverage from the leading print and television outlets for 2007, the center found that in stories about employment, business was sourced 6.7 times as frequently as workers.

This imbalance threatens democracy by leaving citizens ill-informed and is largely the result of journalists' "decided preference" for elite sources such as spokespeople for business groups. The imbalance could be overcome, the study says, if editors and journalists would actively seek out the perspectives of workers.

For more see "Journalists Give Workers the Business: How the Mainstream News Ignores Ordinary People in Economics Coverage."

According to the Jackson Citizen Patriot, police there will walk or bike at least one hour per day as part of an effort to bring down spending on fuel.

Earlier this year the city of Manistee assigned all officers to two hours of foot patrol each day, in hopes of reducing department fuel consumption by 20 percent.

"About 90 years ago we started on horse patrols," said Michael Moorman, president of the Michigan State Police Troopers Association, the union that represents state troopers. "Because of the distances we have to travel, foot patrols are just not feasible for the state police."

Increasing foot patrols may be a sensible option for larger municipalities that have defined downtown areas -- places like Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, Royal Oak, Moorman said. It won't be an option, however, in cities that have evolved out of urban sprawl, he added -- places like Livonia, Farmington Hills, and Southfield.

"The party is 100 percent unified," said Dave Woodward, chair of the Oakland County Democratic Party.  "I think it was unified the day after [the primaries ended].  At the end of the day, we're trying to elect a president of the United States that will uphold our progressive values. Based on folks I know who were strong Clinton supporters, they're on the Obama bandwagon." 

Polls indicate that the 100 percent figure might be over-optimistic, but not by much.  The survey firm Public Policy Polling found earlier this month that 78 percent of Michigan Democrats support Obama, a better showing than Sen. John McCain, who earned the support of 74 percent of the state's Republicans.

Media reports have focused heavily on the residual anger of Clinton supporters who feel cheated by their candidate's loss; some of those supporters have started to call themselves Pumas, for "party unity my ass."

But such disgruntled voters are a small segment of the party, Michigan Democrats said.

"I was a supporter of Hillary Clinton," said Oakland County Commissioner Marcia Gershenson.  "But the transition for me was very, very easy. I think Obama is going to be the next president, and I'm very excited about it. 

"I think it's not even a question that Democrats will unite," she added. "For some ardent Clinton supporters, it might take the convention.  But we do not want another four to eight years of George Bush.  We're not willing to put any personal issues in front of the goal, and the goal is to win the presidency of the United States."