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Hazel Burke writes: "Obama's plans to extend the Afghanistan War with a big surge, and to leisurely end the Iraq occupation while maintaining US hegemony over the rest of the world using military power are ridiculous. We are nearing national bankruptcy and every 100 billion wasted abroad means that the day Americans are storming the barricades behind which politicians are cowering is just that much closer. ... Continue reading ...
[ Unknown News ]
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The US Supreme Court has declined to hear the Government's appeal of the rather starkly reprehensible and, of course, lyingly-named Child Online Protection Act, which means (à la The Wizard of Oz) it's not only merely dead, it's really most sincerely dead. And it only took ten years and millions of dollars in lawyers' fees.
[ CNet News ]
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Republicans are blocking the nomination of Eric Holder as Attorney General, explicitly because he won't promise not to prosecute interrogators who used torture and Bush-Cheney officials who authorized torture.
[ Washington Post, distilled by At Largely ]
"Prior to the inauguration of President Obama, I had a countdown clock on my blog sites showing the time left for the War Chimp's time in office. I have replaced that clock with a count-up clock showing the amount of time he has gone without persecution for his crimes. I fear this clock may still be ticking when I'm dead and buried. I pray it won't be, if my country has any chance of truly healing and getting on the road of recovery."
[ A Proud Liberal ]
"We deeply regret having recommended Bush to our readers and profusely apologize for our mistake in character and judgment."
[ Editorial, Abbeville (La.) Meridional ]
"Legislators in Nebraska are trying to pass a law that women seeking an abortion must watch an ultrasound of the fetus an hour before the procedure. It won't pass, but it really does offer a glimpse into the sick minds that dream this kind of legislation up."
[ J.S. Magruder ]
"Here's what bipartisanship meant to Republicans: let's say a Republican and a Democrat are stuck on a desert island. The Republican knows how to survive in the wild, the Democrat knows how to build a raft. They need each other, right? They're stuck there, and while they may hate each other, they gotta work together or they're gonna die on the island. While the Democrat is, you know, building the raft, the Republican is gathering coconuts, keeping the fire lit, you know, that kind of sh*t. It's all nice and cooperative. And then, when the raft is done, the Republican slits the throat of the Democrat, eats his flesh, drinks his blood, and uses his bones and his clothes for a sail. Bye-bye, island."
[ Rude Pundit ]
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Russell Tice, former NSA analyst and key whistleblower of the Bush-Cheney administration's illegal spying on Americans, says the illegal wiretaps were basically running 24/7, and targeted journalists. Hey, we had the story three years ago. I'm tired of calling my Congresscritter, but I left a message at DoJ headquarters -- I believe in the rule of law, so I want prosecutions.
[ Countdown, distilled by Wired ]
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"Israel, not Hamas, violated the truce: Hamas undertook to stop firing rockets into Israel; in return, Israel was to ease its throttlehold on Gaza. In fact, during the truce, it tightened it further." Now that the all-lie Bush-Cheney administration is out of town, I am really, really weary of Israel's all-lie government.
[ London Review of Books ]
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Manfred Nowak, the UN Special Rapporeur on Torture, has stated pretty plainly that "the United States has a clear obligation" to prosecute Donald Rumsfeld and George Bush for ordering "interrogation techniques" that amount to torture. If American officials don't follow through with an investigation and prosecution, Nowak is someone who has some actual authority to push for prosecutions in international courts.
[ examiner.com ]
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In one of his last official acts as Bush' outgoing crony at FCC, Kevin Martin issued fines to numerous cable companies for making changes to their programming packages that moved popular channels into higher-priced tiers, and/or moved analog channels into pricier digital tiers, leaving bottom-priced tears with fewer, less interesting channels. It sounds like a shady practice that should be punished, but -- why would a Bush crony give a damn? Here's a clue: the fines are paltry -- a $25,000 against Bright House Cable in Tampa Bay, for example -- that's the equivalent of 500 customers paying $50 a month, for one month. The fine against TimeWarner in San Diego is $7,500. It's petty cash, in other words. So it looks like this is an attempt to move this matter into the "finished business" file, giving the cable companies a tender slap on the wrist, instead of the presumably much stiffer penalty they'd face from Obama's administrators.
[ Ars Technica ]
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Hy-Vee, a grocery chain in America's midwest, has introduced a nutritional value labeling system for foodstuffs on their shelves. Nobody needs a number to know that junk food is junky, but this could be helpful info for choosing between competing breads, pastas, sauces, etc. As someone who wants to eat healthier but doesn't want to spend hours reading every label at the grocery, I like this idea.
[ Omaha World-Herald ]
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Fired US Attorney David Iglesias says he'll be prosecuting prisoners at Guantanamo. It's a military gig, not a Bush or Obama appointment.
[ ThinkProgess ]
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First Lady Michelle Obama held an open-house event at the White House to thank campaign volunteers and mucky-mucks, but when she was told that dozens of uninvited people had heard about the tour and were lined up at the gate hoping to get in, she told the guard to let them in, too. The story is so perfectly heart-tugging, you half-suspect some public relations schmuck planned it all in advance ...
[ Washington Post ]
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"There have been no inaugural-related arrest[s] reported by any of our law enforcement partners today," the Secret Service said, as of five hours after Obama took the oath. Zero? Really? That's unfathomable.
[ ABC News ]
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In Communist China, listeners heard Obama's inaugural address, but with censorship removing his comments about "those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent".
[ Washington Times ]
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Looks like New York will have to survive without self-infatuated drama queen Caroline Kennedy as its junior Senator.
[ Swampland ]
Please send your news tips, comments, and criticisms to <unknownnews at inbox.com>. If that address ever fails, check our contact page for our alternate email addresses.
#
This study seems to implicate tobacco in the majority of ALL types of cancer deaths among men(!) Either from smoking directly, or second-hand. If I understand this correctly, it's HUGE unknown news.
Excerpt: The fact that lung and non-lung cancer death rates are almost perfectly associated means that smokers and nonsmokers alike should do what they can to avoid tobacco smoke. It also suggests that increased attention should be paid to smoking prevention in health care reforms and health promotion campaigns.
This guy makes some good points. Plus, from what I've heard so far of Obama's plans and appointments, I believe he's yielding far too much to old-fashioned Republican supply-siders and similar voodoo economics. In short, Obama seems about as clueless here as Bush himself. And I do NOT like saying that! We desperately need this mess fixed! But trying to do it with the same Republican methods responsible for the disaster will not work!
On the brighter side, Obama only got the reins this week, so hopefully his actions from here on out will be good enough for us all to breathe a sigh of relief instead of a shudder of imminent doom.
I personally believe some major financial heads need to roll into prison to truly fix the system. So far Obama's team seems to be fiercely protecting those heads instead.
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Listening to President Obama's inaugural speech yesterday I cried several times, most memorably when he said "We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and non-believers." Most days I'd say I'm a non-believer, and I don't remember ever being specifically included like that, by any American President. When the speechmaking ended, Obama asked for a five-month halt in the kangaroo court proceedings at Guantanamo, to allow his incoming team to review the situation. Similarly, he's ordered a stop on Bush's midnight regulations, at least those that haven't gone into effect. Iraqis are delighted to see Bush
"Here in America we are descended in blood and in spirit from revolutionists and rebels -- men and women who dare to dissent from accepted doctrine. As their heirs, we may never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion."
Dwight D. Eisenhower
leave Washington, and (of course) so are we. What a joy it is, to have a President who'll stop and think things through before making mistakes -- stopping and thinking just has to lead to fewer and smaller mistakes. Also, I like the look and feel of the new whitehouse.gov, and I love not seeing Bush's name there.
[ whitehouse.gov ]
Which leads to this note from the editors: For the foreseeable future we'll be posting updates to the website three times weekly, usually on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Taking Tuesdays and Thursdays off fits nicely with our expectation that Obama will be at least a 40% improvement over the criminal Bush-Cheney administration.
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Dick Cheney spent eight years stonewalling everyone about everything, living a life so "in the shadows" that even his whereabouts were often unknown. But in his last day as Vice President, someone in Cheney's office promised that his records would be preserved and turned over, and Super-Secret FISA Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said she's sure that Cheney's people "will, in good faith, comply".
[ Talking Points Memo ]
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Tens of thousands are homeless in Gaza, 400,000 people are without running water, and 21,000 buildings were destroyed or damaged. Saudi King Abdullah has pledged a billion dollars toward rebuilding. How come Israel doesn't get the bill?
[ BBC News ]
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In Holland, they're going to put a hatemongering Member of Parliament on trial for his remarks against Islam. Good lord -- Holland is a country I hold in high esteem for their freedom to smoke dope, but once you've put the doobie down I guess freedom of speech doesn't mean diddly there.
[ BBC News ]
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William Ayers, the professor and anti-war activist whose name was central to smearing Obama in last year's campaign because he was a wild-eyed radical in the 1960s, has been refused entry to Canada, due to his nefarious past. In a CBC interview (wmv file), Ayers on Monday said he's been to Canada perhaps 18 times over the years, never with any trouble until now. Which suggests that it's pure politics, not any rule or bureaucratic bumbling that got Ayers the boot.
[ Canadian Press ]
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Biggest. Security. Breach. Ever (possibly). Executives at Heartland Payment Systems, a company that processes credit card transactions for corporations, can't even estimate how many millions of credit cards had their information exposed in an intrusion that occurred last year, but wasn't even detected until this week. News like this reminds me of my grandmother, who always said that if you can't afford to go shopping without carrying a whole bunch of lines of credit in your purse, you can't afford to go shopping.
[ CNet News ]
"For some reason most of the discussion in Washington and the media of the
bank bailouts is overlooking their central feature: taxpayer dollars are
being used to sustain the income of incredibly rich bankers. The public
should be furious over this upward redistribution of income."
[ Dean Baker ]
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A study at the University of North Carolina suggests that giving judges bigger paychecks, as judges like John Roberts advocate, would have little effect on quality judgemanship. A second study, titled "Are Judges Overpaid?", puts the issue a bit more bluntly. I'd say, judges should be paid about what public school teachers make, and teachers should be making a lot more.
[ New York Times, distilled by Tax Prof Blog ]
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NPR's Bob Garfield has an enjoyable and occasionally funny response to one of GW Bush's last big whoppers, his ridonkulous claim to have respected reporters.
[ National Public Radio ]
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I've been quietly nodding my head 'no' as I've read and heard several alleged experts telling me Obama's inauguration is by far the most expensive ever. Sounded bogus to me, and indeed, it's apples and oranges and clearly a canard.
[ Media Matters ]
Please send your news tips, comments, and criticisms to <unknownnews at inbox.com>. If that address ever fails, check our contact page for our alternate email addresses.
#
Goodbye, Republicans. You walk around in a red white and blue wardrobe but Republicans don't give a fat flying f*ck in hell about America. That's been made abundantly clear over the past eight years.
Yesterday was probably the greatest day in history. Not talking about Obama. I'm talking about the criminal syndicates controlling the banking system going to ZERO. Yee haw!
The Bank of Fascism's share price dropped 60 percent in the last 5 days. The best of the lot, JPM, is only down 25 percent...
Same thing happening in Great Britain. Ooops.
Al Qaeda didn't have to attack us after 9/11. They just had to wait for the Bush Regime to blow us up.
We're hosed... The Bush Regime kept pumping money into the black hole of derivatives and now all that is left is the black hole. I wonder when they'll say "E'nuf, cut the losses!"
Lucy Lindblad
Ah, I needed that -- yesterday actually made me feel optimistic for a while, and it felt strange (and untrue) ...
Helen & Harry Highwater
#
A diatribe or debunking?
During the 22-days of Israel's "operation" in the Gaza Strip leaving over 1,300 dead and over 5000 wounded, I sent Unknown News 4 e-mails on this topic: "Attacking Gaza -- any excuse will do," "Livestation, TV/Radio in English, & the Gaza Strip," "A MUST READ article on Hamas & Israel," and the "Day 22 ... " piece. It seems one person referred to one or all of them as a "diatribe" which at thefreedictionary.com site is defined as "a bitter, abusive, denunciation" or "a bitter critical attack." At the same time this person said that I managed to come up with "messages and references" that were correct.
Given the definitions, I would deny that I've been abusive, but I have felt very bitter about the situation at times. The same site has one meaning of bitter that I think applies to how I often felt over those 22-days -- bitter: "resulting from or expressive of severe grief, anguish, or disappointment." As I see it, at times I HAVE used the language used for debunking which is defined as "to expose or ridicule the falseness, sham, or exaggerated claims of" something.
It occurs to me that no one has ever said anything about my debunking of Bush or of newspapers articles, but it seems that when Israeli leaders or events related to Israel are concerned we're all supposed to tiptoe around. Well, this time MILLIONS noticed the events in Israel, what I call "stalling negotiations and stealing the Palestinians' land" in a BIG WAY, and we got angry in a big way. It's not hard to figure out that such continuous bombing and destruction -- 4,000 homes destroyed and 16,000 buildings damaged -- was intended to kill off Palestinians, create a stream of refugees, and free up more land to be stolen. That's what those maps tell us, too. This is NOT a geopolitical issue, it's a local Israeli issue. From day one even before 1948, the Israelis could have handled things differently, but they chose the stalling and stealing path. Now they are upset because, finally, HUGE numbers of people have caught on.
Turks are saying that something unprecedented happened. Because Turkey and Israel are in the same time zone, and there are a good number of Turks who know Arabic, we frequently had live link-ups to the Gaza Strip just when the night-time bombing and use of very recognizable white phosphorus, illegal to use in populated areas, would begin. I also watched Press TV that had live links. Anyone with half a brain could figure out what was happening on the ground in a densely populated area. People and buildings were getting blown up and burned up, and some people were getting crushed to death as their apartment buildings came down on them. Because of the 18 month-long Israeli blockade, considered an act of war, there was no electricity (nor enough food or medical supplies), so in the dark the explosions everywhere were even more noticeable. Of course, those memories of other Israeli attacks on the Palestinians were recalled.
Thus, in Turkey NON-STOP protests began and continued throughout a cold snap and nasty winter weather. I stayed inside, but I started doing some research, and I also viewed the EXCELLENT documentary film "Peace, Propaganda, and the Promised Land." Then, I started writing. Despite knowing that the Israeli PR machine had compromised some or all of the Wikipedia articles about Israel, I still used them as a source.
SO, I have no regrets. Now boycotts against companies financed by Israelis are proceeding here, and money and goods are being collected for the Palestinians. Various groups are in discussions concerning rebuilding projects. Unlike Israel's Foreign Minister Livni, who said that there was no humanitarian crisis, the rest of us saw and see one. People have become FED UP with all of the aggression and lies about it they've seen in the last years. Israel failed to factor this in when they started using tons of advanced weaponry on people who literally had homemade weapons. Perhaps We the People in a number of countries if not everywhere also came to realize just how vulnerable we ALL are to out of control governments run by out of control elites.
"... since I have never, ever seen Bush do the right thing on any politically-charged matter, as Bush grants these men clemency it signals to me that they're utter scum."
Utter scum?
Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos are utter scum in your eyes and you know neither of them. Please show some objectivity. Perhaps they are utter scum; perhaps not.
They are from Texas as is Bush. He took action which is politically expedient. "He [Robert Baskett, an attorney for Compean] noted that all but two members of the Texas Legislature had recently sent Bush a letter seeking action in the guards' case."
Utter scum would have killed the smuggler and planted a gun on him.
I'm rarely objective, and you wouldn't want me on your jury if you're a cop accused of abuse of power. But point taken -- Compean and Ramos could've done worse. "Utter scum" is a bit harsh, seeing as I know nothing more about this matter than I knew a year ago, and much of that I've forgotten. How's this: Since I have never, ever seen Bush do the right thing on any politically-charged matter, as Bush grants these men clemency it signals to me that I wouldn't want either of these men living in my apartment building.
H&HH
Excerpt: The Megaphone Desktop Tool gives the user the option of going to a particular site with a
poll, and if the user chooses to go to the site, the software then casts a vote
automatically, when this is technically feasible. The vote is chosen by the distributors
of Megaphone.
Ain't computerized "democracy" great? Next they will design bots which hijack computers
to place the vote automatically. Possibly they already have.
SirJ
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Architectural proposal in Sweden -- you must see this design.
Victoria R.
I can't watch the video on our decrepit computer, but I'll be watching later today or early tomorrow on a friend's computer. The text and illos look faskinating indeed -- I'm very interested in things that bring LIFE to urban places...
#
The Pentagon has cleared the Pentagon of illegally targeting Americans with propaganda, although, of course, the Pentagon targeted Americans with propaganda, and that's illegal. The Pentagon's Inspector General gets around the law by re-defining the word "propaganda", so it's no longer propaganda when the government floods the media with untrue information. This is another Bush-Cheney administration decision that needs to be revisited by Obama's people, and almost certainly won't be.
[ Crooks & Liars ]
"The great and invigorating influences in American life have been the unorthodox: the people who challenge an existing institution or way of life, or say and do things that make people think."
William O. Douglas
#
The Treasury Department's regulators helped failing IndyMac to cover up its losses. And regulators similarly helped an as-yet unknown number of other banks hide their true financial states, too. At the risk of over-simplifying, the Bush-Cheney administration was adamantly allergic to regulation, so it's "regulators" were instead in the pockets of the businesses they were supposed to regulate.
[ ABC News ]
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The Bush-Cheney crowd threw themselves a going-away party on Sunday night, on the theme of "crossing the finish line". Sounds like a perfect Republican soiree -- there was no heat, no band, and no truth to be found. Then-President Bush even addressed the crowd, with a few of his signature delusions: "This is objectively the finest group of people ever to serve our country," he said. "Not to serve me, not to serve the Republican Party, but the United States of America." ... Is there any living human on Earth, with the exception of Dick Cheney, who's done more than G.W. Bush to destroy America?
[ Slate ]
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On Monday, Bush granted clemency to Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos, two former US Border Patrol agents who shot a Mexican drug smuggler in the buttocks, and then tried to cover up the evidence. The case became a cause among hard-core right-wingers, with a call to stand behind law enforcement officers who make split-second decisions. Other than a brief discussion with SirJ a year or so ago, who as I recall thought the Border Patrol agents had been railroaded, we've never studied up on the details of the matter. But since I have never, ever seen Bush do the right thing on any politically-charged matter, as Bush grants these men clemency it signals to me that they're utter scum.
[ Washington Post ]
"Tax cuts are not the tool of choice for fighting an economic slump. For one thing, they deliver less bang for the buck than infrastructure spending, because there's no guarantee that consumers will spend their tax cuts or rebates. As a result, it probably takes more than $300 billion of tax cuts, compared with $200 billion of public works, to shave a point off the unemployment rate. Furthermore, in the long run you're going to need more tax revenue, not less, to pay for health care reform. So tax cuts shouldn't be the core of your economic recovery program. They should, instead, be a way to "bulk up" your job-creation program, which otherwise won't be big enough."
[ Paul Krugman ]
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Amnesty International says there's "indisputable evidence of the widespread use of white phosphorus" by Israel against Gazans. Arabs say the Israelis also used "depleted" uranium ammunition, which isn't confirmed but would certainly surprise nobody on earth.
[ BBC News ]
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CNN's Rick Sanchez hands Joe the Plumber (who's not a plumber) his plunger. The video is enjoyable and well worth watching. Sanchez is good at righteous indignation ... so what I'm wondering is, where has Sanchez's righteous indignation been for the past eight years? We don't have cable, but I have to think somebody would have sent us a YouTube link if Sanchez had ever offered a commentary like this for people who really deserve to be called out, like, say, George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Karl Rove, John Ashcroft, Alberto Gonzales, Michael Mukasey, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Richard Perle, Monica Goodling, Ari Fleischer, Scott McLellan, Dana Perino, Bradley Schlozman, Paul Wolfowitz, and so on, and on and on and on ...?
[ Cable News Network ]
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John McCain's millionaire wife Cindy is complaining about unfair media coverage of her husband's Presidential campaign last fall. You have to wonder what's in the atmosphere on whatever planet Republicans call home. Did McCain ever get anything like the two-week frenzy of daily coverage Jeremiah Wright got? He was one of the Keating Five, a huge financial scandal that was barely mentioned in 2008's media coverage. Over and over again, his answers to questions at press conferences showed that McCain had less of a grasp on major issues than my dead grandmother, but the media never pointed this out any louder than a whisper. Instead they made "maverick" his brand, rarely mentioned his factual mis-statements, and the probing, in-depth reports that were offered were all about his alleged heroism in Vietnam decades ago. Is there something I'm forgetting, some incident where John McCain got unfairly negative media attention during the campaign? It's a serious question -- McCain is a despicable man, so maybe there actually was mainstream media coverage reporting that he's a despicable man, but I just yawned and skipped it?
[ The Daily Beast ]
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Keith Olbermann, too, thinks the crimes of the Bush-Cheney administration should be investigated and prosecuted.
[ Countdown, distilled by Crooks & Liars ]
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Old news, but I missed it a month ago -- A Boston man, Ranjit Nedi, is suing over the price collusion that puts a huge price tag on printer ink ($8,000 per gallon, if you trust their math). His case looks sound to me. Maybe in a few years it'll be settled like the cosmetics collusion, and everyone in America will be able to go to Office Depot and get one free printer cartridge, while the collusion continues.
[ Wired ]
Please send your news tips, comments, and criticisms to <unknownnews at inbox.com>. If that address ever fails, check our contact page for our alternate email addresses.
#Monday's cartoon lists dodging that shoe as a success. It wasn't. Had the shoe hit him, it would have been a success. Bush has no successes.
SirJ
I'm sure you're just joshing around, but seriously, I see eight years of almost non-stop success from the Bush-Cheney administration. They seized power illegally but successfully, and proceeded to successfully dismantle everything they hate about America, including the Constitution, virtually all manner of regulation, the economy, the Geneva Conventions, etc. The "opposition party" rarely offered even the slightest opposition, so Bush-Cheney accomplished almost everything they set out to do. They had perhaps the most successful administration in US history.
Considering the historic economic calamity which America faces today, this preference of Limbaugh's seems little different from an American in WWII hoping that Hitler would win. You could even construe from his words that he'd love to see another successful 9-11-01-style terrorist attack on America during Obama's watch: no matter how many Americans might die.
You don't think Nazi allusions are an ever-so-slight exaggeration?
Helen & Harry Highwater
#1/21/2009:
Well, it IS my impression there's a few differences between what the Nazis did to the Jews in WWII and what Israelis are doing to Palestinians now. For example, the Nazis didn't have a foreign superpower like America financing the slaughter, as well as encouraging it politically and technologically (the US routinely allows Israel to test out our deadliest new weapons against the captive Palestinian population; especially weapons with 'deniability' in terms of evidence left behind). It was also considerably tougher for outsiders to learn about the Nazi deeds at the time (or interfere with them) than is the case with the Israelis today.
But the biggest difference I note is that unlike the WWII Jews, the Palestinians have fought back almost the entire time, over every inch of ground -- despite the battles being so lopsided it was often thrown rocks versus state-of-the-art tanks, missiles, and jet bombers. Where the WWII Jews largely allowed themselves to be herded like cattle to the slaughterhouses. Decades later, Israeli Jews declared they'd never meekly accept slaughter again. So today's Palestinians are living and dying the way Israeli Jews wish their forebears had, in the face of superpower atrocity. And the Israelis gleefully starve them, or mow them down, anyway.
Is that the differences to which you refer? I guess we Americans don't feel quite so bad about a people being massacred, so long as the victims manage to get a few rocks past the missile and machine gun barrage (heck: I hear on occasion the Palestinians even manage to get some actual firearms and fairly dangerous fireworks past the check points!). I think the Palestinians do manage to kill one or two Israelis for every several hundred Palestinian fatalities (a better score than the WWII Jews managed against the Nazis, so far as I know).
So yes, there's a few differences here. But the term 'exaggeration' doesn't quite seem to fit.
The Germans had an active program to round up and kill all Jews. Israelis aren't doing that to Palestinians. They're treating Palestinians and Gazans as sub-human, killing them in occasional spectacular shows of violence. It's a program of state-sponsored mass murder, a crime against humanity, and an ongoing outrage, etc., but it's not a program of genocide. That's the exaggeration.
I heard a guy who certainly sounded like an expert -- a historian, I think -- in a radio interview a while back, stating that the Holocaust didn't make the front page of the New York Times until several years after World War II was over. And I can't tell ya how much that didn't surprise me.
If so much as one child welfare recipient goes hungry(or hungrier) because of this I won't be paying any taxes in April. Let them come after me. Add it to my tab. Let's see much money they'll need to spend to have the lawyers deal with my problematic behavior.
#1/21/2009:
Here's an update to the story though I'm still contemplating the orange jumpsuit I'm going to have to wear if this situation goes sideways.
Sherri B.
== == ==
Questions about Osama and Afghanistan:
My best friend's mother flew to Afghanistan in December of 2001 to watch the funeral of bin
Laden. It went on for days. She said there were many people were there -- all for different
reasons -- but some to actually see the body and believe that the Taliban would lose some of
its power though many had said his second in command had already begun his new
assignments.
So this is my question -- If it was all over the Afghan news for days in Dec 2001 why do we
still think he's alive? We have some of the best film techs in the world -- Couldn't these
"videos" be faked?
Even if he's dead or alive we've not had much success in reigning in such a small country.
Why?
Anyway my mind is wandering and my friend (her Mom was the one who went home for the
funeral) is seriously wondering what is wrong with Americans and why they don't read world
news. I don't have a good answer for her. Anybody? Is it because we know the OUR media lies
regularly so we don't trust world news enough not to read it regularly or we just don't
read it until we really need more clarity?
Sherri B.
I'll take a crack at answering that question. Most Americans want their news delivered, so they don't have to trouble themselves to poke around on the internet for news. Most Americans want their news to be upbeat, and since the media is almost entirely profit-driven, editors and publishers tend to shy away from "bad news". Most Americans don't want their authority figures challenged, and take it as very nearly un-American if you tell them their President -- or their favorite anchorman -- is lying. And perhaps most pertinently, Most Americans don't give a fat flying fart about news from outside America.
Here's some coverage of bin Laden's funeral, from the South African Press Association. I've never known whether it's true or false, but it's always seemed obvious to me that the character of Osama in the never-ending videotapes has been played à la James Bond by at least three different actors. If your friend's mom wants to write up a first-person account of her experience in Afghanistan, we'd be interested in seeing and sharing it.
Helen & Harry Highwater
#1/21/2009:
My friends Mom doesn't speak English but I'll ask her daughter to ask for me.
Sherri B.
#1/29/2009:
My friend asked her Mom to tell her all about the Bin Laden funeral but made the mistake
of saying the discussion would go into a blog. Once her Mom understood that a blog was
like a newspaper she said she didn't want to talk about it. She still is afraid of the
Taliban and thinks they can reach to America and harm people. Their family escaped the
Taliban years ago and her Mom still has nightmares. So a swing and a miss with that one.
Sorry.
Sherri B.
Understandable. Appreciated anyway. Send a hug to both friend and friend's mom, and keep one for yourself.
Like the URL says, this website is about "unknown news". We present a brief round-up of reports we think merit more attention, gathered from mainstream, professional journalists, or (rarely) other sources we trust entirely.
We believe in liberty and justice for all, so of course, we oppose many US government policies. This doesn't mean we're anti-American, redneck scum, pinko commies, militia members, or terrorist-sympathizers. It means we believe in freedom, as more than merely a cliché.
We believe you have the right to live your own life as you choose, and others have the equal right to live their lives as they choose. It's not complicated.
We believe freedom leads to peace, progress, and prosperity, while its opposite -- oppression -- leads to war, terrorism, poverty, and misery.
We believe it's preposterously stupid to hate people because of their appearance, their race or nationality, their religion or lack of religion, how they have sex with other consenting adults, etc. There are far more apropos reasons to hate most people.
We believe in questioning ourselves, our assumptions, each other -- and we especially believe in questioning authority (the more authority, the more questions). We believe obedience is a fine quality in dogs and young children, but not in adults.
Like America's right-wingers, we believe in
individual responsibility,
hard work to get ahead,
and stern punishment for serious crimes.
We believe big government should not be blindly trusted.
But unlike most right-wing leaders, we mean it.
Like America's left-wingers, we believe in
equal treatment under law,
war as a last (not first) resort,
and sensible stewardship of natural resources.
We believe big business should not be blindly trusted.
But unlike most left-wing leaders, we mean it.
Like libertarians, we believe it's wrong and reprehensible to arrest people for what they think, believe, look like, wear, eat, smoke, drink, inhale, inject, or otherwise do to themselves.
But unlike many libertarians, we're not obsessed with the gold standard, we don't believe incorporation is humanity's highest achievement, and we don't believe everything in life comes down to dollars and cents. We've read and enjoyed Ayn Rand's novels, but we understand that they're works of fiction.
We're skeptical, and we're sick of so-called 'journalists' who aren't skeptical at all.
A reader asks, what are our solutions? We propose no solutions except common sense, which is never common. We like the principles of democracy, and the ideals broadly described as 'American'. The US Constitution is a fine and workable framework for solutions, when it's actually read and thoughtfully understood by intelligent statesmen and women. So, no manifestos from us. We don't dream that big, and if there's one thing the world doesn't need it's yet another manifesto.
Our suggestion is: think. A fact-based instead of faith-based approach leads to solutions for most of the recurring issues of our time, from abortion to global climate change, pollution to universal health care, careful but real regulation of industry and economy, hunger, war, terror, human rights for humans not for corporations, science not religious doctrine in public schools, equal protection and prosecution under law, etc. Approach problems without glorifying stupidity, without demonizing intelligence, and answers usually come into focus.
These pages are published by Harry and Helen Highwater, happily married low-income nom de plumes and rabble-rousers from Madison, Wisconsin (with a few friends scattered around the world helping out).
We try to spotlight news that hasn't gotten enough (or appropriate) attention in American media, along with our opinions and yours.
We bang our keyboards against the wall, because it doesn't hurt as much as banging our heads.
Excerpt: ... the conservative drumbeat over the Fairness Doctrine is much ado about nothing. It's fearmongering -- which may be good for fund-raising. Conservatives claiming that the Obama administration will mean the death of right-wing radio seem to forget this fact: Limbaugh and other conservative talkers thrived during the Clinton years.
Excerpt: Democrats in the US House have been conducting hearings on proposals to confiscate workers' personal retirement accounts -- including 401(k)s and IRAs -- and convert them to accounts managed by the Social Security Administration.
Comment: Relax, this report is just another flat-out lie. The proposal comes from exactly one economist you've never heard of, Teresa Ghilarducci of Notre Dame (not New College, as the article falsely reports). She's one among dozens of economists who briefly testified in low-level Congressional hearings in early October, and she's the only one who made this proposal, and there's been not a peep of interest in the idea from any member of Congress. The claim that Congress is "conducting hearings on proposals to confiscate workers' personal retirement accounts" is more Republican fearmongering, from the liars who brought you "Obama is pallin' around with terrorists" and "the Democrats will confiscate your guns".
Excerpt: The imagery sure doesn't sell me a soda, which would be the top priority of an ad for Pepsi. Seems much more likely it's someone's idea of an joke. It's a blog post, and it links back to another blog called "Feminist Law Professors" by Ann Bartow, a real law professor who writes an interesting blog, but her source is a blog about advertising, which cites another blog which posts a wide assortment of images and very few words, and where a site-specific search led to all three of Pepsi images. That whole blog seems to be artistic imagery, and much of it's actually quite good, but there's no claim that it's a Pepsi ad, and a quick web search yields nothing as yet to validate any claim that it's a real Pepsi ad.
Excerpt: Three of our readers have sent us this link to this news, but we're not convinced. The author's remark is based not on fact but on long-simmering rumor that Track Palin was prosecuted for vandalism and/or drug dealing, and offered a choice by the judge -- join the Army, or face a jail stint. Problem is, the record is sealed because Track Palin was a minor, so there's no knowing whether it's true.
Excerpt: What customers of what bank in Florida are going to accept Ameros, the fictional currency of the fictional North American Union? At what business can Floridians spend these Ameros?
Excerpt: It wouldn't surprise me at all to learn that Sarah Palin is a racist. She's a Republican in a position of power, so I'd be a little surprised if she wasn't a racist. But before we can put it in the news section on our website, we'd need to hear about her racism from a more reliable source than "Dick & Sharon's LA Progressive" quoting "a waitress" and "an insurance agent" and "Juneau observers" -- a bunch of anonymous Alaskans who may or may not exist.
H&HH
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Every news link on this page traces back to a mainstream professional journalistic site, or to an alternative source or reporter we (Helen & Harry) trust entirely. Listen closely and you'll hear us sigh as we add: Art Bell, Tom Flocco, David Icke, Alex Jones, Lyndon LaRouche, Wayne Madsen, Al Martin, Sherman Skolnick, Edgar Steele, and your brother-in-law are not what we consider "reliable sources."
There's no 'news' here about Area 51, the Bilderbergers, the Council on Foreign Relations, eyeballs inside pyramids, flying saucers, FreeMasons, "Holocaust revisionism," the Illuminati, JFK's assassination, Vince Foster's suicide, the North American Union or its alleged Amero, the Rockefellers, the Rothchilds, Skull & Bones phobia, space aliens who walk among us, technologies supposedly suppressed for decades or generations, or theories you don't really understand about the World Trade Center's collapse.
Except for debunking purposes, we don't report 'news' we don't believe is true.
Congress of the United States begun and held at the City of New York, on Wednesday the fourth of March, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine. The Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution expressed a desire in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, two thirds of both Houses concurring that the following Articles be proposed to the Legislatures of the several states as Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, all or any of which articles, when ratified by three fourths of the said Legislatures to be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the said Constitution. viz: Articles in addition to, and Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, proposed by Congress and Ratified by the Legislatures of the several States, pursuant to the fifth Article of the original Constitution.
Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Amendment II
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
Amendment III
No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Amendment V
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Amendment VI
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
Amendment VII
In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
Amendment VIII
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
Amendment IX
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Amendment X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
Of course not. Nobody will know the answers until there's an open and honest investigation.
But anyone courageous enough to think can see that the pertinent questions for any serious "investigation" were never asked, let alone answered, by the official investigators.
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