Guantanamo

i know we've all been hearing about the torturing in cuba at the u.s military base, and its obvious violations of human rights. but now there's another twist to the story... on thursday a federal judge ordered the pentagon to release the names of ALL the prisons being held, some of which have been there for 4 years. the majority of the names have previously blacked because of, get this, "fear of violating their rights." i didn't know a whole lot about the details of the story, and if anyone's interested here's a link that has it stated pretty simply (and yes its from a main stream news source and probably has some sort of bias because as we've all learned, there's almost alway bias- BUT- it's easy to understand and get a general idea of what's going on with the case, found it pretty helpful).

http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/02/23/guantanamo.lawsuit.ap/index.html

deal with it

dear everyone,
I know that Donallys book is a burdensome read, but if you plan on staying in college, this is the kind of material you will encounter time and time again. Higher education involves a higher level of engagement with the reading. Although this particular book may indeed have been written by a pretentious scholar dude, he is by no means out of line of the rest of the academic conversation of which he is a part. Books that present lofty theoretical ideas are harder to read. You can sit around and bitch about it or just try your best to get through it. I dont think anyone has a full grasp on the essence of what he is trying to communicate, but by carefully reading and taking notes , it is possible to glean valuable insights from this work. in other words... suck it up.

Is the right to Health positive or negative?

With the debate between political and civil rights versus economic, cultural, and social rights constantly raging in the minds of capitalist economists, here is an article explaining that National Health care could actually potentially save a nation money. That really puts an incentive on "assertive exercise" on this seemingly "positive" right. If creating a program that the government thinks is too costly actually saves the country money, then is it still a "positive" right or does the fact that it takes less effort to enforce a "negative" right? This is obviously still a positive way to assertively exercise this right, but if it makes things easier for the country, isn't that needed to live a life of human dignity?

Ch4 sect 456 outline

sect4
Human Rights NOT static
-web of social practices
-regulate interactions among modern societies and thier members

Role of West in HR developement and practice
-"western twist to internationally recognized HR"
-Both sides of HR coin
-"West is the only region in past 50 yrs to be consonant with and guided by Universal HR
-West is still guilty of many human rights violations
-Popular soverignty
-"freedom"
-HR not exclusively western
-Donally claims should be adopted by the Entire world!

Sect 5
Politics ordered around the state
Shifts in national identity
political vs ethnic identity
HR not dependent on ethnicity but rather humanity ensured by state

Sect 6
Westen HR political/civil??
NO...western conception of indivisibility
not dipsute on end but rather means

Big Group

Ok, no offense to Cynthia, but the big group lectures have to go. Is anyone with me on this? It's too loud to hear and too slow to follow and everyone stops listening about 15 minutes in. The best thing about Joe's big class last year is that we never met in big groups, it was almost all discussion groups. I think I would learn a lot better (and be more inclined to read) if we discussed the readings instead of getting lectured on them. I joined Watauga College to avoid lecture classes and it's my understanding that that was one of the founding principals behind Watauga. Again, no offense Cynthia, but I really don't like the big group and most of the people that I have talked to don't really like it either.