• BOOS to the Navy for failing to promote Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift, the “lawyer who led a successful Supreme Court challenge of the Bush administration’s military tribunals for Guantanamo detainees.â€? Due to the military’s “up or outâ€? promotion system, Swift must now abandon his Navy career. He was informed of the pass over earlier this year, “about two weeks after the Supreme Court sided with him and against the White Houseâ€? in the now historic Hamdan v. Rumsfeld case. Strange coincidence, huh? more…

• BOOS to American Legion Post 17 in Portland, Maine for seeking to prevent the group, Veterans For Peace, from participating in next month’s Veterans Day parade. The local peace group has been invited the last 15 years but apparently alienated the Legionnaires after contributing to “a program in which people could be memorialized with an American flag and a plaque for $100. Veterans for Peace sent in a check in the name of an Iraqi boy who was killed.â€? more…

• BOOS to Senator George Allen (R-VA) for violating Congressional rules and neglecting “to tell Congress about stock options he got for his work as a director of a high-tech company.â€? When confronted about this lapse, Allen categorized the stock options as “worthless,â€? though that claim now appears dubious. The senator, who is in a tough bid for reelection, has been the subject of much controversy of late due to racially insensitive remarks (e.g., “macacaâ€?) he has made in the recent past. more…