A Spanish counter-terrorism judge has referred to prosecutors a potential case against six high-level Bush-Cheney officials: Alberto Gonzales, a former White House counsel and attorney general; David Addington, former vice-president Dick Cheney's chief of staff; Douglas Feith, who was under-secretary of defense; William Haynes, formerly the Pentagon's general counsel; and John Yoo and Jay Bybee, who were both
"If the people of any country rely solely on private companies to provide essential information, the lifeblood of democracy, then you're really risking it. I think countries like the U.S. have done that to their peril. Americans, God love them, are one of the most uninformed people on the planet. A lot of it has to do with the failure of their media to keep them informed."
Tony Burman
senior Justice Department legal advisers.
This seems to be for real, not just a stunt. Under Spanish law, Judge Baltasar Garzón has the authority to try foreigners suspected of genocidal acts, even if such acts took place outside of Spain. His most successful reach outside Spain's borders was the extradition of a former Argentine military officer, Ricardo Miguel Cavallo, from Mexico to Spain, where he faced charges of genocide and terrorism. Garzón also tried to extradite former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, and while that extradition was eventually quashed, it did get Pinochet arrested in England, and it created enough international furor that Pinochet was eventually charged in Chile. So I'd say that this is by far the biggest step we've yet seen toward justice for some of the Bush-Cheney administration's more famous criminals, if not (yet) Bush and Cheney themselves.
[ The Guardian ]
Meanwhile, in news anyone with a triple-digit IQ already knew, the Washington Post reports that the CIA's torture of Abu Zubaida resulted in zero -- zip, zilch, nada -- worthwhile information about terrorism. '... not a single significant plot was foiled as a result of Abu Zubaida's tortured confessions, according to former senior government officials who closely followed the interrogations. Nearly all of the leads attained through the harsh measures quickly evaporated, while most of the useful information from Abu Zubaida -- chiefly names of al-Qaeda members and associates -- was obtained before waterboarding was introduced. His torture accomplished nothing beyond adding still more to the mountain of reasons that many people hate America, and a few of the most fanatic among them build bombs. This follow-up by the Post's Dan Froomkin provides a scary but solid overview of the Bush-Cheney torture program, with a reminder that most of the most enthusiastic torture aficionados of the Bush-Cheney era are still at their jobs.
[ Washington Post ]
Corporations own the news
Virtually all American media is controlled by corporations and operated solely for profit, so news that's controversial or expensive to cover often gets minimal coverage that's shallow, inaccurate, or slanted to favor big business.
America's political discourse and mainstream media are dominated by lies, insults, and general nuttiness from right-wing commentators and politicians. And there's really no left-wing equivalent, since anyone who offers blunt criticism of the right-wing -- even when it's warranted and true -- is "outside the mainstream", by definition.
And then we have the cable blowhards, radio ranters, fake "watchdogs", and foundation-funded websites that appeal directly to the most ignorant and gullible Americans, with fictional facts, hate-mongering, hyperbole, scary assertions, and just plain nonsense.
And again, sure, there are left-wing commentators just as delusional as these right-wing nutballs. The difference is, left-wing nuts publish amateur blogs and zines, host cable-access shows, and can be heard muttering to themselves on buses ... while right-wing freaks and fibbers make a handsome living lying at professionally-published websites, writing factually-wrong but nationally syndicated newspaper columns, and airing their hokum and hysteria on big-budget radio and television shows. And it's all brought to you by the same corporations and curiously well-funded foundations that control American industry, media, medicine, and politics. --H&HH
Speaking of Bush-Cheney criminality, here's John Hannah, who was national security aide for then-Vice President Dick Cheney from 2005-09. Hannah went on CNN Monday and made statements that seem to back up Seymour Hersh's recent allegations that Cheney ran an international assassination squad out of the VP's office. "I know for sure ... the idea that we have a unit that goes around, without reporting to Congress ... and has authority from the President to go into the country without telling the CIA station chief or the ambassador and whack somebody. ... You've delegated authority to troops in the field to hit people on the basis of whatever intelligence they think is good."
[ ThinkProgess ]
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, the federal agency that allegedly insures workers' pensions (similar to the FDIC's insurance for bank deposits) was apparently another colossally mismanaged agency during the Bush-Cheney era. Just months before the start of last year's stock market collapse, the federal agency that insures the retirement funds of 44 million Americans departed from its conservative investment strategy and decided to put much of its $64 billion insurance fund into stocks. What this means for Americans who are depending on their pensions remains to be seen, but it's certainly not good news, and it could well be disastrous.
[ Boston Globe ]
Next month, the US Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case of Sanity v. Safford Unified School District #1, wherein school officials had a 13-year-old strip-searched for Advil as part of the district's "zero tolerance" toward drugs. I don't have much confidence in the current Supreme Court, since it's dominated by right-wing monsters who were approved by Democrats in the Senate, but I'd be surprised if even Scalia's mob can find a way to rule against Sanity in this one.
[ The Reality-Based Community ]
Human rights lawyers are proving to be a major headache for the new administration of President Barack Obama by stepping up their court challenges on issues of prisoner abuse to test the reality of the president's pledge to create a "an unprecedented level of openness" in government. And I couldn't think of a better reason for re-upping my membership in the American Civil Liberties Union, which I just did.
[ The Public Record ]
Dr. George Tiller, the Kansas physician accused of performing illegal late-term abortions, was found not guilty Friday. Tiller has been targeted by antiabortion politicians, legal officials and activists for years, but this was the first time he faced a jury. It probably won't be the last. Here's a good backgrounder on the case, and the danger and harassment Tiller has faced for years.
[ Los Angeles Times ]
Remember the two Pennsylvania juvenile court judges who sent many children to jail in exchange for kickbacks from private prison operators? The state's Supreme Court has overturned hundreds of convictions filed by one of the two corrupt judges. No word on the fate of the kids convicted by the other corrupt judge.
[ Associated Press ]
Defense Secretary Robert Gates says both he and President Barack Obama have "a lot on our plates right now", so for the foreseeable future, gays will continue being booted out of the military for no reason beyond their sexual preference.
[ Associated Press ]
After more than seven years in captivity, Ayman Batarfi, a humanitarian worker mistakenly rounded up in Afghanistan and imprisoned for seven years, will be released from the Guantanamo concentration camp. It's hard to even imagine the hell this man went through.
[ McClatchy Newspapers ]
The State Board of Education on Friday passed science curriculum standards that members described as a compromise between those who are critical of teaching evolutionary theories without scrutiny and those who feared attacks on evolution would lead to the teaching of creationism in Texas schools ... The new standards remove current requirements that students be taught the "strengths and weaknesses" of scientific theories. Instead, teachers will be required to have students scrutinize "all sides" of the theories. Translation: The Texas Board of Education has endorsed stupidity and ignorance.
[ Austin American-Statesman ]
The United Nations, hard at work on the wrong side of the issues that matter, has passed a resolution condemning blasphemy.
[ Reuters News Agency ]
President Barack Obama's March 27 announcement of a "new strategy for Pakistan and Afghanistan" makes it official. He has no clue what he's doing in the Middle East.
[ At Largely ]
Seymour Hersh, a very respected reporter who occasionally breaks news nobody else has, has asserted that Obama deserves some credit for behind-the-scenes maneuvering that helped end the recent Israeli slaughter of Gazans.
[ Raw Story ]
The Obama administration says the blank checks for federal bailout billions are over for GM and Chrysler, unless these companies make major changes in the way they do business. I'm seriously stumped by this hard-ass attitude toward GM and Chrysler. I'm not saying it's a bad thing to demand changes at the automakers -- quite the opposite, it's common sense. I'm just wondering, as Obama tells ordinary working stiffs to brace for the worst, why the Obama administration has been so lax by comparison with the finance industry? GM and Chrysler actually make things, directly and indirectly employing millions of Americans and quite literally providing the drive train for the American economy. And the bailout they've asked for is barely a blip compared to what the finance giants have demanded and received with no questions asked. GM and Chrysler have been stupidly managed, sure, but Wall Street's giant companies have been criminally managed, and Goldman Sachs and Bank of America et al don't make anything, so they'd be far easier to replace in the economic landscape than GM and Chrysler. Hell, all they provide is money, and there are ways to provide funding without having criminals do the underwriting. And yet, Big Finance has received exponentially larger bailouts than GM and Chrysler, with no strings attached, and no serious discussion of arrest and prison for Wall Street's lawbreakers. Of course, to wonder about the double standard is to a rhetorical question. We all know the answer. General Motors and Chrysler, giant as they are, still rank below the federal government in power, so they've got to take orders from D.C. And the White House and federal government obviously rank well below Big Finance in power, so the government takes its orders from Wall Street.
[ McClatchy Newspapers ]
General Motors Corp. Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner will step down immediately at the request of the White House, administration officials said Sunday. The news comes as President Obama prepares to unveil additional restructuring efforts designed to save the domestic auto industry. Politically, it seems like a no-win situation for Obama -- Wagoner is a putz and very much part of the problem, of course, and GM's chances of survival go up as Wagoner steps out the door. But by squeezing him out, Obama takes effective ownership of GM. If the company tanks Obama will get the blame, and if the company rebounds it's new CEO will be the one who's hailed as a genius. And Wagoner? He gets a lovely parting gift of $20,000,000 or so, plus another few million dollars in pension that, unlike the pensions of millions of retired GM workers, isn't in peril.
[ Associated Press ]
It made me stop and think
"I think we will look back in 10 years' time and say we should not have done this but we did because we forgot the lessons of the past, and that that which is true in the 1930's is true in 2010," said Senator Byron L. Dorgan, Democrat of North Dakota. "I wasn't around during the 1930's or the debate over Glass-Steagall. But I was here in the early 1980's when it was decided to allow the expansion of savings and loans. We have now decided in the name of modernization to forget the lessons of the past, of safety and of soundness."
[ Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota) in 1999 ]
"Tom was shot in the head as he carried a single Palestinian child out of the range of an Israeli army sniper." Mrs Hurndall asked me to write a preface to Tom's book and this article is his preface, for a brave man who stood alone and showed more courage than most if us dreamed of."
[ Robert Fisk ]
"If you are of the establishment persuasion (and I am), reading Krugman makes you uneasy ... Members of the ruling class have a vested interest in keeping things pretty much the way they are. Safeguarding the status quo, protecting traditional institutions, can be healthy and useful, stabilizing and reassuring. But sometimes, beneath the pleasant murmur and tinkle of cocktails, the old guard cannot hear the sound of ice cracking."
[ Evan Thomas ]
"Of the roughly $11 trillion in federal debt accumulated to date, more than 90 percent can be attributed to the tenure of three presidents: Ronald Reagan, who used to complain constantly about runaway spending; George Herbert Walker Bush, reputed to be one of those old-fashioned green-eyeshade Republicans; and his spendthrift son George "Dubya" Bush, whose trillion-dollar war and irresponsible tax cuts accounted for nearly half the entire burden. Only Bill Clinton temporarily reversed the trend with surpluses and started to pay down the debt (by raising rates on the wealthiest taxpayers)."
[ Joe Conason ]
Economist Paul Krugman is on the cover of this week's Newsweek, where there's an article spotlighting Krugman's numerous criticisms of the Obama administration's economic policies. It's my opinion, as a guy who knows nothing about economics but a little something about common sense, that Krugman is usually spot on and Obama's economic plans offer far too little to seriously address the colossal crime, deregulation, and insane mismanagement of the past thirty (and especially the past eight) years. What galls me is that Newsweek and the rest of the corporate-controlled media turned a deaf ear and a blind eye to Krugman's criticisms of the Bush-Cheney administration -- criticisms that, if heeded, would've made today's economic problems so small they might even be solved by Obama's half-assed economic policies.
[ Newsweek ]
The 'dirty little secret' which Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is going to great degrees to obscure from the public is very simple. There are only at most perhaps five US banks which are the source of the toxic poison that is causing such dislocation in the world financial system. What Geithner is desperately trying to protect is that reality. The heart of the present problem and the reason ordinary loan losses as in prior bank crises are not the problem, is a variety of exotic financial derivatives, most especially so-called Credit Default Swaps. ... Today five US banks according to data in the just-released Federal Office of Comptroller of the Currency's Quarterly Report on Bank Trading and Derivatives Activity, hold 96% of all US bank derivatives positions in terms of nominal values, and an eye-popping 81% of the total net credit risk exposure in event of default. The five are, in declining order of importance: JPMorgan Chase which holds a staggering $88 trillion in derivatives (€66 trillion!). Morgan Chase is followed by Bank of America with $38 trillion in derivatives, and Citibank with $32 trillion. Number four in the derivatives sweepstakes is Goldman Sachs with a 'mere' $30 trillion in derivatives. Number five, the merged Wells Fargo-Wachovia Bank, drops dramatically in size to $5 trillion. Number six, Britain's HSBC Bank USA has $3.7 trillion.
[ 321gold.com ]
This is a very ironic and strange twist in the ongoing American disaster: China's central bank said the Group of 20 summit next week needs to discuss currency reform amid concern US policies may weaken the dollar, hurting owners of assets denominated in the currency. It boils down to this: the economic interests of China and other countries holding dollars as "savings" are allied with average Americans who own or hope to one day own dollars. They are allied *against* Washington D.C. and its criminal plans for "bailout" and "toxic asset cleanup", which benefit only the financial corporations. It is increasingly clear now that the trillions of dollars flushed down the rat-holes by Bush and Obama are not the end of the matter, or even the end of the beginning. Trillions upon trillions more dollars will be channeled directly to Goldman, BofA, Morgan, etc. and there will be zero benefit to the rest of us. Meanwhile the D.C. warmongers refuse to end their wars and foreign occupations, and instead are *escalating* into new ventures, which will likely accelerate the fall of the US empire into utter bankruptcy and ruin. Don't believe Obama anymore, he parrots what he is told and is simply continuing Bush's policies in every significant aspect. --Mahdi Abdul Finkelstein [ Bloomberg News Service ]
City officials and housing advocates across the country say they are seeing an unsettling development in the foreclosure crisis: Banks are quietly declining to take possession of properties at the end of the foreclosure process, most often because the cost of the ordeal -- from legal fees to maintenance -- exceeds the diminishing value of the real estate. The so-called bank walkaways rarely mean relief for the property owners, caught unawares months after the fact, and often mean additional financial burdens and bureaucratic headaches. The way mortgages are bundled and resold, it can be enormously time-consuming just trying to determine what company holds the loan on a property thought to be in foreclosure.
[ New York Times ]
The crash has laid bare many unpleasant truths about the United States. One of the most alarming, says a former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, is that the finance industry has effectively captured our government -- a state of affairs that more typically describes emerging markets, and is at the center of many emerging-market crises. If the IMF's staff could speak freely about the US, it would tell us what it tells all countries in this situation: recovery will fail unless we break the financial oligarchy that is blocking essential reform. And if we are to prevent a true depression, we're running out of time.
[ Atlantic Monthly ]
To get around all the bad publicity that comes with big bonuses, Bank of America is considering giving its investment bankers raises in base pay of up to 70%.
[ Bloomberg News Service ]
Matt Taibbi does a splendid job calling out the buckets of bullsh*t in AIG employee Jake DeSantis's heavily-hyped letter of resignation published in the New York Times last week. "Are we supposed to believe that Jake DeSantis knew nothing about Joe Cassano's CDS deals? If your boss and the top guys in your firm were all making a killing selling anything at all -- whether it was rubber kayaks, generic Levitra or credit default swaps -- you really wouldn't bother to find out what that thing they were selling was? You'd really just mind your own business, sit at your cubicle and put your faith in the guys up top to fill you in if there was something you needed to know? "This would be a believable claim for an employee of some other wing of AIG, a company with well over 100,000 employees. But DeSantis works for tiny, 377-person AIGFP, a unit that had only two offices -- one in London and one in Greenwich, Conn. "And we're talking about financial professionals, the most shameless group of tirelessly envious gossips ever to walk the face of the earth. The likelihood that Cassano would pull in $280 million for himself, and his equally greedy, hopelessly jealous employees wouldn't know not only exactly how he made that money but every last ugly detail about his life -- from what skank he's sleeping with to what side of his trousers he hangs on -- is almost zero.
[ Smirking Chimp ]
Trying to buy health insurance on your own and have gallstones? You'll automatically be denied coverage. Rheumatoid arthritis? Automatic denial. Severe acne? Probably denied. Do you take metformin, a popular drug for diabetes? Denied. Use the anti-clotting drug Plavix or Seroquel, prescribed for anti-psychotic or sleep problems? Forget about it. And of course, these insurance companies, which make their profits by denying people health coverage, are at the head of the table where the Obama administration is discussing health care reform.
[ The Miami Herald ]
Sen Diane Feinstein (D-California), one of the most reliable turncoat Democrats, has switched sides on the Employee Free Choice Act. There's a pretty good chance that Feinstein's leadership for the opposition means the bill won't pass.
[ Fact-esque ]
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) has introduced a bill that would establish universal health care in America. It doesn't stand a ghost of a chance of passage in a Congress dominated by Democrats numerically but Republicans philosophically, but still, Sanders deserves kudos, and he's one of perhaps half a dozen in the Senate who wouldn't be booted from office if American media informed the American public about current events.
[ Physicians for a National Health Program ]
Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) says the Republicans will fight World War III, sue sue and sue some more, for years, over the Minnesota Senate race, apparently won by Al Franken last November and tied up in court ever since. I'd like to believe that Democrats -- and courts -- won't put up with a strategy that leaves Minnesota with an empty Senate seat for that long. More optimistically, the scandal swirling around former Senator Norm Coleman (R-Minnesota) might soon begin to make the Republicans look even sillier for their legal battles to block Al Franken from taking the oath.
[ firedoglake.com ]
Congressman Jack Murtha (D-Pennsylvania) has now come close to admitting his corruption, but wants to explain that whatever he did, he did it for the love of his constituents. Being a Democrat doesn't make such clap-trap any more palatable than if it was said by a Republican, and I'm eager to see a serious investigation of Murtha get underway.
[ TPM Muckraker ]
The Republicans' opposition to Dawn Johnson's appointment to the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel is fueled by her perceived willingness to reveal more of the internal memos that backed the illegality of the Bush-Cheney administration. So as the Republicans fight Johnson's nomination, bear in mind that whet they're really fighting for is letting the Bush-Cheney administration get away with everything.
[ The Daily Beast ]
President Barack Obama signed legislation Monday setting aside more than 2 million acres as protected wilderness. Obama called the new law among the most important in decades "to protect, preserve and pass down our nation's most treasured landscapes to future generations." Also included in the legislation signed by Obama is a provision named for "Superman" actor Christopher Reeve that provides for paralysis research and care for persons with disabilities.
[ Associated Press ]
The Washington Post thinks the political climate in D.C. is receptive to eliminating the long-standing ban on travel to Cuba.
[ Washington Post ] The Huffington Post has established a fund for investigative journalism, and seeded it with $1.75-million. I'm trying to be cynical and lord knows I do dislike Arianna Huffington and her well-funded Post, but it's hard to see this as anything but good news.
[ PressThink ]
This is an informative overview of Associated Press's lawsuit against Obama poster-artist Shepard Fairey.
[ Electronic Frontier Foundation ]
Kentucky Fried Chicken is offering to fill potholes as a public service, so long as they can leave their logo where the holes used to be. To a lot of people that's going to sound like good corporate citizenship. Sounds scummy to me, but I don't even like their greasy chicken. It was good when I was a kid, but they seem to have tinkered with the Colonel's recipe, and replaced several of his herbs and spices with grease.
[ Cleveland Plain Dealer ]
Hundreds of French workers, angry about proposed layoffs at a Caterpillar office, were holding executives of the company hostage Tuesday, a spokesman for the workers said. Meanwhile, in America, right-wing hatemongers in major media keep claiming that President Obama is transforming America into France, and I only wish it was true.
[ Cable News Network ]
Did Vice President Biden's daughter do cocaine? Hey, it's in Rupert Murdoch's arch-right New York Post, and it's a perfect fit to become the right-wing lieosphere's go-to story of the week -- there's no real evidence yet, and whether true or false it means nothing, but it can be twisted for points to demonize the left.
[ New York Post ]
Detroit Electric, an auto brand once favored by Thomas Edison, is mounting a 21st century comeback with electric cars aimed at US soccer moms and Chinese city dwellers. The company on Monday is expected to announce a partnership with Malaysian auto manufacturer Proton Holdings to introduce an all-electric sedan next year... for between $24,000 and $26,000. An extended-range option will go 320 kilometers, or about 200 miles, and cost $4,000 to $5,000 more. We often hear of companies announcing big plans that never come to fruition, so don't get your hopes up too high, but dang me, this looks cool.
[ CNet News ]
David Simon, creator of TV's The Wire, predicts a surge in American political corruption over the next 10-15 years, as newspapers decline and local journalism fades away with it.
[ The Guardian ]
We've been publishing on-line for more than ten years now, but before that we published politically-themed 'zines and underground newspapers, so I have a fond spot and some serious recollection of the difficulties and expenses of publishing on dead trees. For an old fogey like me, then, it's almost surreal to read that Hewlett-Packard has rolled out a new service that prints magazines one copy at a time, full-color, glossy, and bound, for about twenty cents a page.
[ New York Times ]
It's not exactly unknown news that Miss Universe, Dayana Mendoza, is only well-rounded physically. Her ignorance about things that matter is apparently huge, and her hilariously ill-informed blog post about visiting the Guantanamo concentration camp makes it sound like a swell place for a vacation. "I didn't want to leave, it was such a relaxing place, so calm and beautiful."
[ missuniverse.com ]
#
On Fox and CNBC yesterday there was sharp disapproval of Don Corleone Obama's firing of the GM CEO. That was the general tone. And the creeping socialism/fascism -- breathless: the DEATH OF CAPITALISM -- was used to explain the stock market's 3% plunge. Ohmanohmanohman...
My interpretation of Rick Wagoner's forced resignation and the stock market's crumbling is simply that for political reasons it was necessary to put a head on a pike on the White House lawn -- and Obama decided that it would not be his own. The public is in no mood to pay billions more dollars to keep zombie car companies going, not without heads rolling like cabbages into baskets anyway.
Wagoner failed to meet the deadline for producing a realistic "plan". Someone had to be held to account in order to motivate the unions, bond holders and management to reach a compromise. This is called "killing the chicken to scare the monkey" by the Chinese.
Frankly, after seeing 10 trillion dollars disappear so far, I am surprised there are not -- literally -- dozens of CEO heads on pikes already. F*ck jail time, we want Cheney's special ops guys cleaning out the dens of thieves. Alas, that cannot happen because Wall Street OWNS the White House, which is run like a garbage franchise controlled by the Corleone Family ... which explains why Detroit gets tough love and Wall Street gets retention bonuses and no-strings bailouts (Halliburton got NADA compared to Wall Street!)
Finally, the reason Wall Street tanked today is simply that it is due to "correct". We're coming into April earnings season and many traders booked Q1 profits on Friday and today. BUT if you really want a story to explain today's drop in the markets, it is this: finally Wall Street got worried that maybe the bailouts are not endless; the dead chicken scared the pin stripe suited monkeys on Wall Street.
#4/1/2009:
The fact that CEO's are free to have fun with their stolen billions is because this was a deliberate bankrupting caused by the global elite. Their agenda could be to bankrupt the dollar combine South Central, America and Canada into one nation using the new currency, Amero. Just another indication of the New World Order.
#4/1/2009:
New stimulus plan: we have the workers build pikes to mount CEO heads!
Meepus
#4/2/2009:
How about we put the CEOs in jail, have them build their own pikes and let the state do the "piking"?
... On second thought, scratch that; the pikes would just fail to do their job and the government would say "close enough" (you know... for government work).
Excerpt: Congress had better get its act together and put an end to this nonsense or the nation will continue its fast-paced metamorphosis into a feudal oligarchy run by the Bank Mafia and Wall Street racketeers. The first step is to give Geithner, Summers and any other of the Rubin-clones a full-body bacon-rub followed by a few brisk dunks in the shark tank. Then, hose down the Treasury and bring in a whole new team.
Excerpt: A US judge on Friday ordered Iran to pay $25 million plus interest to the family of IDF soldier Nachshon Wachsman, who was kidnapped and executed by Hamas in 1994. ...
The court says it can issue a ruling against Iran from Washington for several reasons, including that this case involves a hostage taking of a US citizen; that the plaintiffs are US citizens; and that similar conduct by US agents within the United States could be subject to a similar lawsuit.
The folly of dual citizenship in these types cases leads American judges to award judgements that are of no real value because there is no viable means of enforcing. I guess judges haven't got enough work to keep them busy so they waste time on meddling in cases that have diplomatic implications.
I'd like to start a collection to buy these six criminals, and all
Bushies, a one way ticket to Spain. In olden days the Bushies on January 20
would have been tarred and feathered and run out of Washington on a rail.
Well, half a pat on the back for UPS, but O'Reilly has been offensive, disturbing, and obviously disturbed for years. It's implausible that any of his sponsors, past or present, could plausibly claim ignorance.
This is so beyond sickening. As a Swede, I didn't think THIS of the US.
Dárion S.
It's sad indeed but I'm accustomed to it. Lousy education system + corrupt election system + news dumbed down by corporate control = one big ol' dumbass nation we lovingly call America. Sigh.
Helen & Harry Highwater
#
First, I really appreciate what you do and you've been my homepage for years. I was glad to see the "It's been debunked" section, especially the piece on H.R. 875 as the "illegalization of organic farming and gardening by the wife of a Monsanto exec" is all the talk of the town here in the North Carolina mountains. People are now also tying themselves in knots around here because "8 states including the whole west coast are about to secede". Chicken Little must be hitting the bar scene here because a lot more people than usual are really freaking out about this one, and I was wondering if you had heard this or had any clue as to how it might have been started? Is this all just Glenn Beck? Is it this Russian professor reported in this Bloomberg piece?
I didn't even see it on Drudge, so I know it must be way out there. Thanks again.
Patrick M.
Is that one still bouncing around? I can't tell you much about the rumors of America's looming devolvement into several smaller republics, as we generally don't give the right-wingers' tall tales much thought until they've landed in our in-box at least several times, and it's been several months since we've seen anyone who's concerned that the States are on the verge of being dis-United. As I recall, though, that story seemed to have started with some egghead in Russia, so yes, I think you've found the article that started it all.
I will say, the right-wing manufactures these stories quicker than I can pick my nose, but they've really hit a home run with the mountains of b.s. swirling around H.R. 875. That one is resonating longer and louder than any of the loony lies I've seen since the bunk about Obama's birth certificate.
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. The First Amendment
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.
The Second Amendment
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.
The Third Amendment
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.
The Fourth Amendment
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.
The Fifth Amendment
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.
The Sixth Amendment
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.
The Seventh Amendment
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.
The Eighth Amendment
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
The Ninth Amendment
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
The Tenth Amendment
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.
Like the URL says, this website is about "unknown news". It's a round-up of reports we think merit more attention, from mainstream, professional journalists, or (rarely) other sources we trust entirely.
What we believe
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.
We assume our readers are well- informed before they click here, so we focus on news that's generally unknown or under-reported. We're generally disinterested in such non-news as reports on what politicians might do, may do, or should do, and we don't usually mention the murders, kidnappings, house fires, auto wrecks, celebrity crap, wacky fluff, and other nonsense that's pushed real news right out of the newscasts.
Disclaimer for dummies: Our front page is free from nudity and profanity, but interior pages and external links may not be safe for work, and you may be shocked, offended, or in trouble with your boss. A link doesn't imply that we agree with every sentence and every sentiment on every site we link to. We use our noggins, and suggest you use yours.
We always welcome comments from readers, and we're especially interested in hearing and considering different perspectives, so please don't be shy. All we ask is that you conduct yourself sanely and civilly, so consider yourself invited to speak your mind.
Anything sent to Unknown News may be published. If you don't want it published, say so plainly. When we publish incoming emails, we usually edit out the sender's last name, email address, or anything else that would tend to identify the author in the real world (if we slip up, please let us know). But if your email is unambiguously intended only to annoy, insult, or threaten us, we'll publish it with all the details and leave it on-line forever.
We're not at all interested in Area 51, the Bilderberger Group, the Bohemian Grove, the Council on Foreign Relations, dim-headed denial of evolution or global climate change or the holocaust, eyeballs inside pyramids, flying saucers, FreeMasons, Vince Foster's suicide, Paris Hilton, the Illuminati, JFK's assassination, the New World Order, the North American Union or its alleged Amero, Barack Obama's birth certificate, Planet X, prophecies of the End Times, Protocols of the Elders, the Rockefellers, Rosicrucians, Rothchilds, Skull & Bones, space aliens, technologies supposedly suppressed, the Trilateral Commission, theories you don't really understand about the collapse of the World Trade Center, or the latest fake news we've already debunked. Emails about these and similar matters will be chuckled at but quickly deleted.
We never knowingly link to sites that allow "news" to be posted without editorial control, nor to amateur sites where we've seen easily debunked "news" in the past. We never link to 'news' from unreliable sources such as americanfreepress.net, Art Bell, cloakanddagger.ca, Tom Flocco, David Icke, Alex Jones, Lyndon LaRouche, Wayne Madsen, Henry Makow, Al Martin, Prison Planet, Sherman Skolnick, Edgar Steele, Webster Tarpley, or your brother-in-law. Due to time constraints, if you send links or references to such sources we'll be unable to take you or your comments seriously.
Also, please don't email us unless you're sending an original communication that you're not sending to anyone or everyone else. If you add us to your mailing list or chat group without asking us first, or if you send "Dear friend" newsletters, or send a press release every time you add a post to your blog, you're a spammer and we'll soon block your emails.
Our RSS feed of Unknown News headlines is updated whenever we update the site. Click the orange button for more information, or just get the feed at http://unknownnews.org/ RSSfeeds/dailyRSS.xml.
(Enormous and eternal thanks to Doug at mistersquirrel.net, for setting up our RSS feed.)
Our privacy policy is that we're in favor of privacy. We make no effort to track or identify anything about visitors to our website. We never share, trade, or sell email addresses. We never send spam. We never send email, except in response to readers' queries. We never send (or open) attachments of any kind. Our site has no pop-up ads.
If you see or receive any of the above, it's not from us. It's coming from spyware you picked up elsewhere, or an "exit" pop-up from another site you have visited, or spammers mimicking our email address.
We use a freeware hit-counter, and it plants a harmless short-term cookie so visitors aren't counted again if they go to several different Unknown News pages within a short time. Our feelings won't be hurt if you reject the cookie, and you'll still be able to visit any page you wish. Other than that we don't use cookies.
If you donate or buy something we'll say thank you, and never bother you again. We do not send any reminders to re-donate or buy more stuff. Incoming emails and orders are deleted within 72 hours, and we keep no records of contact information about donors, emailers, or sticker orders.
If you use your credit card to donate or buy something, it's processed by PayPal (their privacy policies are here). We do not file or even see your credit card information.
We try to avoid linking to sites that require logging in, so if any clicks here ask for registration or a password, please let us know and we'll try to find a not-so-nosey link to similar coverage elsewhere.
Nothing at Unknown News bounces, flashes, flickers, sings or speaks, twinkles, or moves. We try to avoid coding practices that intentionally frustrate or annoy readers.
You can help: We try not to whine too much or too loudly, but we are poor and this site eats a lot of time and especially money. Just a buck or two can make all the difference and help keep Unknown News alive.
"A mind-blowing mix of fact and fantasy, hard science and well-grounded speculation, with
concrete how-to info to top it all off -- resulting in some of the best and strangest stuff
on Earth..."
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.
