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Ex-UN prosecutor: Bush may be next.......

An ex-UN prosecutor has said that following the issuance of an arrest warrant for the president of Sudan, former US President George W. Bush could -- and should -- be next on the International Criminal Court's list. The former prosecutor's assessment was echoed in some respect by United Nations General Assembly chief Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann of Nicaragua, who said America's military occupation of Iraq has caused over a million deaths and should be probed by the United Nations. "David Crane, an international law professor at Syracuse University, said the principle of law used to issue an arrest warrant for [Sudanese President] Omar al-Bashir could extend to former US President Bush over claims officials from his Administration may have engaged in torture by using coercive interrogation techniques on terror suspects," reported the New Zealand Herald....Link

2009 Lollapalooza......................

Depeche Mode, the Beastie Boys and a reunited Jane’s Addiction are expected to headline the fifth annual Lollapalooza Aug. 7-9 in Grant Park. Though promoters would not confirm the information Friday, multiple sources inside the industry said the three headliners are a lock for the festival. Three more arena-level headliners are expected to be included when the complete lineup is announced next month. Depeche Mode is releasing its 12th album, “Sounds of the Universe,” on April 21. Though it has been a staple of alternative music since the early ‘80s, the British synth-pop band has not previously played Lollapalooza, which ran as a touring festival from 1991 through ’97 in its first incarnation. The Beastie Boys are also working on a studio album, tentatively titled “Tadlock’s Glasses,” for release this year. The New York hip-hop trio last played Lollapalooza in 1994. Their previous studio album, “The Mix-Up,” was an all-instrumental collection released in 2007. The original Jane’s lineup of Perry Farrell, Dave Navarro, Stephen Perkins and Eric Avery headlined the first Lollapalooza tour in 1991, only to break up soon after. There have been sporadic reunions since, but none included all four original members until some one-off gigs last year. A national tour was announced a few days ago, but a Chicago date was conspicuously absent....Link

Palestinian Prime Minister to Resign............

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) -- The Palestinian prime minister said Saturday he submitted his resignation in a move that could help usher in a power-sharing deal between Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas and his rivals in the militant group Hamas. Salam Fayyad's resignation was meant to be a goodwill gesture toward Hamas, but the group's officials dismissed the announcement, saying Fayyad's appointment and time in office has been unconstitutional. Abbas appointed Fayyad as Prime Minister after Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007. The takeover effectively created two separate Palestinian administrations -- an internationally backed government in the West Bank led by Abbas and technocrat Fayyad, and a blockaded government in the coastal patch of Gaza run by Hamas....link

Obama Channels Cheney.............

The Obama Administration this week released its predecessor's post-9/11 legal memoranda in the name of "transparency," producing another round of feel-good Bush criticism. Anyone interested in President Obama's actual executive-power policies, however, should look at his position on warrantless wiretapping. Dick Cheney must be smiling. In a federal lawsuit, the Obama legal team is arguing that judges lack the authority to enforce their own rulings in classified matters of national security. The standoff concerns the Oregon chapter of the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, a Saudi Arabian charity that was shut down in 2004 on evidence that it was financing al Qaeda. Al-Haramain sued the Bush Administration in 2005, claiming it had been illegally wiretapped....link