Via Atrios and Pufferfish, get ready for Rendition Gitmo, the video game.

A SCOTTISH firm is set to make millions from a computer game based on Guantanamo Bay. And they have brought in Moazzam Begg – one of nine British Muslims held in the jail before being released in 2005 – to help them get it right.

[More...]

Omar Khadr's lawyers continued their bickering in court today. The military judge scolded them and praised Canadian detainee Omar Khadr for his good behavior. Khadr has been detained since he was captured in Afghanistan at age 15. He's now 22. (Background here.)

A visibly angry Parrish lashed out at Khadr's lawyers and encouraged the Toronto-born captive to meet with them again during today's session. He commended Khadr for being "well spoken" and warned the lawyers to act in a "professional and dignified" manner. Khadr said it wasn't possible. "They just had a fight this morning," he told Parrish.

Today's hearing was considered an embarrassment for Guantanamo's defence office and the Obama administration, which has asked to have the cases suspended until the fall and pledged to close this prison by January.

But, the Judge made Omar pick between the dueling military lawyers. He wants his own Canadian lawyers, but under the misguided, inadequate military tribunal rules, he can't have them, except in an advisory capacity.[More...]

BTD and I are both busy at work. The ACLU an update on the release of the Iraq detainee photos. There's also goings-on at the Gitmo trials.

Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

Five justices of the Minnesota Supreme Court heard oral arguments today in the Senate seat battle between Norm Coleman and Al Franken.

Coleman attorney Joe Friedberg argued that the panel applied too strict a standard in deciding which absentee ballots to count and that they didn't adhere to the constitution in coming up with that tally.

This argument relies on the fact that poll workers rejected some ballots for reasons that were not considered grounds for rejection by poll workers in other counties. "Every county should come very close to applying the same standards," Friedberg told the justices.

[More...]

The missing Air France Jet with 216 people aboard may have fallen into the ocean. But, nobody knows for sure. It is still missing.

Douglas Ferreira, head of the investigation division of Brazil's Civil Aeronautics Agency, warned reporters that the search could take a long time because it was taking place in a vast stretch of open sea.

"We can fear the worst," said Jean-Louis Borloo, the French minister of ecology, who was overseeing rescue efforts from the Paris end.

Terrorism is not suspected. It was an accident of some kind, probably related to a lightning and thunderstorm. But, as of now, the French Government says it has "no news."

The suspected arrested in the murder of Dr. George Tiller has been identified as 51 year old Scott Roeder of Merriman, KS. [Update: McClatchy has more on him here.]

Authorities expect to charge Roeder with murder today.

[[Roeder]was once a subscriber and occasional contributor to a newsletter, Prayer and Action News.... Dave Leach, an anti-abortion activist from Des Moines who runs the newsletter... said he and Mr. Roeder had met once, and Mr. Roeder had described similar views to his own.

Of Dr. Tiller’s death, Mr. Leach said, “To call this a crime is too simplistic,” adding, “There is Christian scripture that would support this."

An Operation Rescue leader released a contrary view: [More...]

As Apple always tells us in commercials, there's an iPhone app for evertyhing. Even this:

The app features the laws and consequences for possession in each state, facts and figures supporting why marijuana should be legal and a pre-written letter to President Obama that can be sent by pushing a button, described by David as “petition on the go.” It can also locate the nearest NORML chapter.

Why did they make it? [More..]

What a difference a day makes. Susan Boyle was transported by ambulance today from her London hotel to a private health clinic, reportedly suffering exhaustion and some mental distress. [More...]

DougJ provides us this testimonial from a commenter about Dr. George Tiller:

In 1994 my wife and I found out that she was pregnant. The pregnancy was difficult and unusually uncomfortable but her doctor repeatedly told her things were fine. Sometime early in the 8th month my wife, an RN who at the time was working in an infertility clinic asked the Dr. she was working for what he thought of her discomfort. He examined her and said that he couldn’t be certain but thought that she might be having twins. We were thrilled and couldn’t wait to get a new sonogram that hopefully would confirm his thoughts.

[MORE . . .]

General Motors is expected to file for bankruptcy protection tomorrow morning.

Under the restructuring, U.S. taxpayers will own 70% of the new company.

GM is racing to meet the government's Monday deadline to qualify for more aid. It already has received about $20 billion in government loans and could get $30 billion more to make it through what is expected to be a 60- to 90-day reorganization in bankruptcy court.

How it is expected to work: [More...]

Bump and Update: Dr. Tiller's family released this statement through his defense lawyer, Dan Monnat. Planned Parenthood's statement is here. The arrested suspect is a white male. President Obama's statement:

"However profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence."

Breaking....Kansas abortion clinic doctor George Tiller was shot and killed at his church this morning. [More...]

Your turn.

This is an Open Thread.