First orbit of the earth

On February 20, 1962 (44 years ago today) John H. Glenn, Jr. became the first man to orbit the earth. Want to read the in-flight communication between Glenn and Mission Control in Florida? The National Archives has digitized this document at the Our Documents web site, which contains 100 milestone documents in American history. If you want to learn more about the early space program, check out Mercury: America's First Space Program on the NASA web site.

UN report on Guantanamo Bay detention center

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights released a report today urging the United States to shut down it's detention center at Guantanamo Bay. They issued a 54-page report, in their summary they state:
"that the persons held at Guantanamo Bay are entitled to challenge the legality of their detention before a judicial body and to obtain release if detention is found to lack a proper legal basis. The continuing detention of all persons held at Guantanamo Bay amounts to arbitrary detention, they state, adding that -- where criminal proceedings are initiated against a detainee -- the executive branch of the United States Government operates as judge, prosecutor and defence counsel in violation of various guarantees of the right to a fair trial."
Scott McCellan, White House Press Secretary, responded to the report today in his press briefing. He focused on the United Nations decision not to go to Guantanamo Bay, with two responses: 1st response and 2nd response.

The Internet in China

The Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific of the House International Relations Committee held a hearing on the Internet in China yesterday. Major Internet companies such as Yahoo, Microsoft and Google defended the compromises they made to advance their business interests because of China's censorship policies. The Subcommittee has made available the written statements of the witnesses, as well as a webcast video of the hearing.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff

As we mentioned in last Friday's post, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is testifying today before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. If you want to read the prepared statements, you can at: http://hsgac.senate.gov/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Hearings.Detail&HearingID=322. To watch the hearing you can go to CSPAN's Hurricane Aftermath page, although the video will not be available online until 6pm CST.

Katrina Response

As reported in the media today (read or listen to NPR's coverage online) the House's report investigating the government's response to Katrina is to be released Wednesday. The minority Democrat's have already released their response to the report, which can be found on Rep. Charlie Melancon's (D-LA) web site. When the majority report of the committee is available we will post it to this blog.