Yeah, yeah, I know—this sort of thing has gone on since forever. But weren’t we supposed to have a set of higher standards these days? A shiny, high-tech, high-quality military? Some things never change:

A Bangor Area High School senior who admitted his role in a BB-gun shooting spree that blew out about 200 windows and caused nearly $74,000 in damage won’t have to go to prison — but only if he joins the Army and stays in.  Read more 

You all already know this, but it’s still a chilling litany:

State Secrets Privilege Shuts Courthouse Doors
The state secrets privilege has been invoked by the Bush Administration with greater frequency than ever before in American history in a wide range of lawsuits that the government says would threaten national security if allowed to proceed.

In virtually every case, the use of the privilege leads to dismissal of the lawsuit and forecloses the opportunity for an injured party to seek judicial relief.

Most recently, a lawsuit brought by Khaled El-Masri, a German citizen who alleged that he was kidnapped by the CIA and tortured over a five month period, was dismissed (pdf) after the CIA invoked the “state secrets” privilege.

The dismissal was not based on a finding that the allegations against the CIA were false.

“It is in no way an adjudication of, or comment on, the merit or lack of merit of El-Masri’s complaint,” wrote Judge T.S. Ellis, III in a May 12 order.

In fact, “It is worth noting that … if El-Masri’s allegations are true or essentially true, then all fair-minded people… must also agree that El-Masri has suffered injuries as a result of our country’s mistake and deserves a remedy,” he wrote in the order dismissing the case.

“Yet, it is also clear from the result reached here that the only sources of that remedy must be the Executive Branch or the Legislative Branch, not the Judicial Branch,” he suggested.  Read more