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21, &nbsp;2009</b></font></A></NOBR></TD><TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="1%" class="fonta">&nbsp;</td></tr></table> <!-- =news= --> <!-- =1111111111= --> <!-- == --><A NAME=smt-814></A> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; There's one sector of the American economy that's still booming, and that's guns & bullets. <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13">Reports of heavy sales at gun stores began around the time of Barack Obama's election as president, and months later, dealers are facing ammo shortages <nobr> nationwide.<img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-end.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13"></nobr><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Most of the increase in gun & ammo sales can be attributed to widespread rumors claiming that Obama is about to ban shotguns and rifles. We're big supporters of the right to bear arms, and we'd be raising a ruckus if any politician left or right was making progress toward suppressing that Second Amendment right. But <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/debunk-frame.html#20090314">it's just a big fat lie</A>. Nobody's <table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="8" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="298" align="right"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="8" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR> <TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor="#eeeeee" class="fonty"> <img src="http://unknownnews.org/protest48.jpg" border="1" width="298" height="306"> <p> "The objector and the rebel who raises his voice against what he believes to be the injustice of the present and the wrongs of the past is the one who hunches the world along." <DIV align="right"><i>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Clarence&nbsp;Darrow</i> &nbsp; </div> </td></tr></table></td></tr></table>getting ready to round up Americans' guns. <BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; What's really happening is far more worrisome. Fearmongers and well-funded seditionists at Fox News and elsewhere are hyping hysterical lies about the Obama administration, raising a crescendo of right-wing hyper-panic, and knowing full well that with every lie they tell in mass media, it becomes a little more likely that some nut with a gun will take a shot at the President. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/66486.html">McClatchy&nbsp;Newspapers</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <A NAME=smt-910></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <i>Congressional Quarterly</i> reports that Congresswoman Jane Harman (D-California) was recorded in a wiretap promising to try to fix espionage charges for AIPAC. But she wasn't prosecuted, because then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales knew Harman would be a reliable supporter of the Bush-Cheney administration's illegal wiretap program, and wanted her in Congress. If true (and <i>CQ</i> is a pretty reliable source) that's big news that will probably be reported very quietly. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=hsnews-000003098436&cpage=1">Congressional&nbsp;Quarterly</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- =2222222222= --> <A NAME=iaw-1128></A><!-- =torture --><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="145" align="left"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><BR> <img src="http://unknownnews.org/torture-icon.jpg" alt="Torture is not an American ideal." border="1" width="125" height="167"></td></tr></table><!-- == --><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Spanish Attorney General Candido Conde-Pumpido says that <A HREF="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_04/017775.php">Spain should not try to prosecute</A> Bush-Cheney administration officials for their role in America's policy or torture and war crimes. (And does anyone think there <i>wasn't</i> a pissed-off long-distance call from Washington DC to Madrid? Sigh.)<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; But there's still a sliver of daylight here: The judge, Baltasar Garzón Real, has decided to proceed with the prosecution anyway (in Spain, that's the judge's decision). &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.pubrecord.org/torture/844-spanish-judge-allows-bush-six-torture-case-to-remain-open.html">The&nbsp;Public&nbsp;Record</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=iaw-227></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The Obama administration has released some more of the Bush-Cheney era memos authorizing torture and crimes against humanity, and announced again that laws won't be applied to CIA employees involved in torture, because after all, they were told to torture. And you thought <A HREF="http://www.kiav.net/?p=1875">"just following orders"</A> went out of style after the Nuremberg trials.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Obama's cowardly, sniveling so-called "stance" on torture infuriates me, with all his talk of "looking forward" and "no retribution" that amounts to a green light for future administrations to resume torture with impunity. <A NAME=journalism?></A><!-- mainstream corporate news, Fox and other liars, but no pundits --> <table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="60%" align="right"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="8" WIDTH="100%" border=1><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" class="fonta"> <center><I><B>Corporations own the news</B></I><BR><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/newslogo-abc.jpg" alt="Associated Press" border="0" width="71" height="27"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/newslogo-ap.jpg" alt="ABC News" border="0" width="50" height="50"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/newslogo-cbs.jpg" alt="CBS News" border="0" width="54" height="35"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/newslogo-cnn.jpg" alt="Cable News Network" border="0" width="61" height="33"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/newslogo-nbc.jpg" alt="NBC News" border="0" width="57" height="45"></center><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <I>Virtually all of US media is controlled by corporations and operated solely for profit. Advertisers, readers, and viewers mean profits, while unpleasant or controversial facts only reduce ads and audience, and subtract from the bottom line. As a result, absurd claims are presented as if they're serious, and news that's controversial or expensive to cover often gets minimal coverage that's shallow, inaccurate, or slanted to favor big business.</I><BR> <!-- journalism --> <BR><A HREF="http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/04/wh-no-religious.html">ABC&nbsp;News gives "he said she said" coverage to absurd right-wing claim that wall monogram citing Jesus was covered up for Obama's speech</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/17/sanford-cnn/">CNN anchor 'commends' Gov Sanford (R-South Carolina)'s "responsible" decision to partially reject stimulus funding</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/04/17/torture-supporters-make-up-evidence-to-support-torture/">Torture supporters at MSNBC and Fox News make up evidence to support torture</A><BR> <!-- fools&liars --><!-- pundits and politicians--><BR> <center><I><B>Pundits&nbsp;and&nbsp;politicians</B></I></center> <BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <i>America's mainstream political discourse is dominated by lies, insults, general nuttiness and just plain stupidity from right-wing commentators and politicians. And there's really no left-tilted equivalent, since anyone who offers blunt criticism of the right-wing (even when it's warranted and true) is "outside the mainstream", by definition</i>.<BR> <!-- =politicians --> <BR><A HREF="http://www.businessinsider.com/texas-governor-rick-perry-talks-about-seceding-from-the-union-2009-4">Perry (R-Texas) threatens secession from The Union</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://www.dailykostv.com/w/001183/">DeLay (ret'd R-Texas) defends Perry's talk of Texas sovereignty, secession</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/20/ron-paul-secession/">Paul (R-Texas) defends Texas secession as "very much an American principle"</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-20-house-republicans-bring/">House Republicans bring strange theories and wacky witnesses to climate hearings</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/16/bachmann-ellison-imams/">Bachmann (R-Minnesota) falsely claims that Muslim leaders detained in Minnesota in 2006 were on their way to victory party for Ellison (D-Minnesota)</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://www.dailykostv.com/w/001193/">Boehner (R-Ohio) says cow farts prove CO2 doesn't cause climate change</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://briefingroom.thehill.com/2009/04/14/burr-told-family-to-withdraw-everything-from-bank/?ref=fp3">Burr (R-North Carolina) says his first response to economic crisis was to tell his wife to withdraw all the cash she possibly could from their local bank</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_04/017776.php">Coburn (R-Oklahoma) says Atty Gen Holder "doesn't believe in 2nd Amendment"</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/04/16/pierre-opposite-day/">Du Pont (ret'd R-Delaware) claims Obama's 95% cap-and-dividend plan is 'opposite' of 100% cap and dividend</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://donklephant.com/2009/04/20/quote-of-the-day-weakness/">Ensign (R-Nevada), Gingrich (ret'd R-Georgia), other Republicans seriously say Obama shouldn't have shaken the hand of Venezuelan President Chavez</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/04/thrice-married-former-house-speaker-charges-democrats-with-breaking-down-traditional-marriage.php">Thrice-married former House Speaker Gingrich (ret'd R-Georgia) charges Democrats with "breaking down traditional marriage"</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/04/18/bob-latta/">Latta (R-Ohio) says that Obama "has declared war on Ohio and Indiana"</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://tfnblog.wordpress.com/2009/04/11/is-gov-perry-proud-of-unhinged-extremism/">Perry (R-Texas) says he's "proud" to be on Glenn Beck's television program</A><BR> <!-- =pundits (mainstream) --> <BR><A HREF="http://firedoglake.com/2009/04/19/peggy-noonan-regrets-release-of-torture-memos-some-of-life-has-to-be-mysterious/">Reagan speechwriter Noonan regrets release of torture memos: "Some of life has to be mysterious"</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/20/rivkin-waterboarding-hypocrisy/">After calling waterboarding torture in December, <i>Wall Street Journal</i>'s Rivkin pens op-ed defending its use</A><BR> <!-- =fake journalism --><BR> <center><I><B>Fools and liars and&nbsp;fake&nbsp;news</B></I></center> <BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <i>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 a steady supply of nonsense.</i><BR> <center><BR><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/tv-oreilly.jpg" alt="Fox's Bill O'Reilly" border="1" width="111" height="100">&nbsp; <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/tv-beck.jpg" alt="Fox's Glenn Beck" border="1" width="100" height="100"><BR> <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/radio-limbaugh.jpg" alt="Rush Limbaugh" border="1" width="111" height="97">&nbsp; <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/radio-savage.jpg" alt="Michael Weiner (aka Michael Savage)" border="1" width="111" height="97"> </center> <BR><A HREF="http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/emerging-right-wing-narrative-obama">Is crazy anti-Obama rhetoric intended to unhinge the mainstream right?</A><BR> <!-- =Beck --> <BR><A HREF="http://www.dailykostv.com/w/001172/">Fox's Beck on Perry's call for secession: "His words ring true"</A><BR> <!-- =Bennett --> <BR><A HREF="http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/04/socialists-kristol-attack-obama.php?ref=n">Radio host Bennett and columnist Kristol repeat lie of Obama "budget cuts"</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://mediamatters.org/countyfair/200904200005">Fox News' Bolling tweets "Obama and Chavez sittin in a tree...K I S S I ...."</A><BR> <!-- =Bozell --> <BR><A HREF="http://conwebwatch.tripod.com/blog/index.blog/1900821/mrcs-baker-telling-full-truth-about-tea-parties-discrediting-it/">Bozell's Media Research Center: Telling full truth about tea parties = discrediting it</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://conwebwatch.tripod.com/blog/index.blog/1900720/cmis-hypocrisy-silence-on-rightwing-sexism-toward-liberal-women/">Bozell's Media Research Center complains only about sexism toward <i>conservative</i> women</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://mediamatters.org/countyfair/200904150015">Bozell's <i>Newsbusters</i> obfuscates Pittsburgh cop-killer's right-wing connections</A><BR> <!-- =Cavuto --> <BR><A HREF="http://www.dailykostv.com/w/001171/">Fox's Cavuto has one estimate of "tea bag" crowd off camera, then triples his guess when on the air</A><BR> <!-- =Fox News --> <BR><A HREF="http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/fox-anchor-rants-about-fascism-during-tea-pa">Fox anchor rants about fascism during tea party coverage</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://mediamatters.org/countyfair/200904150054">In <i>O'Reilly</i> rant, Miller claims "the average American taxpayer feels like they've just been shot in the head in a deck chair on a sinking boat"</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://mediamatters.org/items/200904140022?f=s_search">FBN's Payne repeats lie of Obama "defense cuts"</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/17/fox-news-defends-torture/">Fox News defends Bush administration's use of torture</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://mediamatters.org/items/200904200007?f=s_search">Fox Nation headline: "Taliban copies Democrat [sic] playbook"</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://mediamatters.org/countyfair/200904200006">Fox News military analyst says Obama and Chavez were "fist bumping and making lovey dovey"</A><BR> <!-- =Hannity --> <BR><A HREF="http://www.newshounds.us/2009/04/15/hannity_uses_dhs_warning_about_growing_rightwing_extremism_to_foment_more_hatred_against_obama.php">Fox's Hannity uses DHS warning about growing right-wing extremism to foment more hatred against Obama</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://mediamatters.org/countyfair/200904150055">Fox's Hannity says he has "one serious question": "Is this now a battle between capitalism and socialism?"</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://foxnewsboycott.com/sean-hannity/sean-hannity-wrong-about-dhs-report/">Fox's Hannity is wrong about DHS report</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://www.newshounds.us/2009/04/17/great_american_sean_hannity_supports_threat_of_secession.php">Fox's Hannity supports Perry's threat of secession</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://www.newshounds.us/2009/04/18/secessionsympathizing_hannity_attacks_obamas_patriotism_suggests_he_should_be_investigated_by_dhs.php">Fox's secession-sympathizing Hannity attacks Obama's patriotism, suggests he should be investigated by DHS</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://mediamatters.org/countyfair/200904170033">Fox's Hannity asks Steele of Obama: "Is there anything that he likes about this country?"</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://mediamatters.org/countyfair/200904200001">Fox's Kilmeade says he "feels better" knowing that Khalid Sheik Mohammad was "waterboarded 183 times"</A><BR> <!-- =Limbaugh --> <BR><A HREF="http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/limbaugh-defends-teenage-pirates-somali">In the aftermath of pirate drama, Limbaugh defends the pirates</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://mediamatters.org/limbaughwire/2009/04/15#0039">Limbaugh falsely claims DHS report called "every mainstream conservative a right-wing extremist"</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://mediamatters.org/countyfair/200904140014">Limbaugh: Obama and Napolitano "are extreme partisan radicals and they're ready to go to war with a domestic enemy <nobr>--</nobr> conservatives <nobr>--</nobr> that they consider to be a greater threat than Iran, than China, than North Korea"</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/18/limbaugh-mccain-torture/">Limbaugh's proof that torture works: McCain was 'broken by the North Vietnamese'</A><BR> <!-- =North--> <BR><A HREF="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_04/017797.php">North gets facts all wrong in heated over-reaction to DHS report</A><BR> <!-- =O'Reilly --> <BR><A HREF="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_04/017804.php">Fox and O'Reilly take 'full credit' for derailing Spanish investigation of American torture</A><BR> <!-- =-Politico --> <BR><A HREF="http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/04/18/allen/index.html"><I>Politico</I> casually grants right-wingers anonymity for sniping at Obama administration</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/17/dhs-sexual-orientation/">Robertson: DHS official behind extremism report must be someone whose 'sexual orientation ... is in question'</A><BR> <!-- =Savage --> <BR><A HREF="http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/04/17/dhs_report/index.html">Disney's Savage sues DHS over rightwing extremism report</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://www.americablog.com/2009/04/savage-rogue-homosexual-elements-within.html">Disney's Savage says "rogue homosexual elements within Homeland Security are engaging in extra-constitutional activity"</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://mediamatters.org/countyfair/200904160015">Disney's Savage calls CNN reporter "a self-hating white woman, who couldn't get a job as a hooker"</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://mediamatters.org/countyfair/200904160013">Disney's Savage says "McCarthy was right; he was just ridiculed to death by the American media"</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://mediamatters.org/countyfair/200904150011">Disney's Savage says government is out "to take your" freedom and guns; predicts "a Reichstag fire in this country within one year;" and calls for DHS Chief Napolitano to be replaced by "a real American"</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://mediamatters.org/countyfair/200904170023">Disney's Savage still claiming Obama a "Muslim" who "went to a Madrasa;" later suggests this is why "Jesus was missing from Obama's speech at Georgetown"</A><BR> <!-- =Scarborough --> <BR><A HREF="http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/04/scarborough_torture_opponents_want_washington_dc_a.php">MSNBC's Scarborough: Torture opponents want "Washington DC and Los Angeles to be obliterated by a nuclear blitz"</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://mediamatters.org/items/200904170026?f=s_search">MSNBC's Scarborough repeats myth that White House requested Jesus' name be covered up</A><BR> <BR><I>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Some of the lies and lunacy we've listed above are just silly, but some of it <nobr>--</nobr> specifically Fox News and Michael Savage <nobr>--</nobr> is downright dangerous and must be stopped. Yeah, stopped by law.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; For all our adult lives we've been advocates for free speech. Without free speech there's no freedom, without censorship there's no tyranny, and we've always hated people who said "I'm for free speech, but&nbsp;..." but now we're two of them.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; We're for free speech, but:&nbsp; When mass media "news" outlets spread blatant lies and fan the flames of misinformed fury to an audience of millions, that's a direct danger to democracy and it should be illegal.</I> <center><A NAME=debunk></A><BR><TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="325" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" class="fonta"><iframe src="http://www.unknownnews.org/debunk-frame.html" width="325" height="1750" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="auto" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table><TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="325" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="295" bgcolor=black class="fontbox"><TABLE CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="8" WIDTH="325" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor="#ffffff" class="fontsm"><I>Scroll down or click for more&nbsp;</I><BR><A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/debunk.html"><B>unknownnews.org/debunk.html</B></A>&nbsp;</TD></TR></TABLE></td></tr></table></center><BR> <I>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; And again, sure, there are left-wing commentators just as delusional as the right-wing's numerous 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.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; It's all brought to you by the same corporations and curiously well-funded foundations that control American industry, media, medicine, and politics. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; --H&HH</i> </td></tr></table></td></tr></table> <BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; But there are occasional moments where one can perhaps see the logic in what Obama is doing. He can't lead the charge for prosecution, since the Republicans who control the media would paint it as political payback. He could and should simply appoint a special prosecutor with subpoena power, but even if he did that and then stepped out of the way it would be portrayed by lying right-wingers and echoed by the lying media as partisan politics, as Obama leading a witch-hunt against Republicans.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; So the politics makes it impossible for Obama to support prosecution of any of the Bush-Cheney criminals. Accept that as a bottom line. He's against justice, period, and he almost has to be.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Unless there's a groundswell of furious Americans demanding an investigation and prosecution, a groundswell so loud that even Obama and even the Republicans hear it, the all-American war criminals of the Bush-Cheney administration have gotten away with everything, with the complicity of the Obama administration. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/66339.html">Associated&nbsp;Press</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=swcp-254></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Heavy thinker Glenn Greenwald thinks that if you tightly parse every split infinitive in Obama's "we won't prosecute" announcement, it leaves a sliver of sunlight that suggests the Obama administration might be willing to prosecute the scumbags and fascists who gave the illegal legal advice.<BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I love Greenwald but that sounds like a pipe dream from a pipe I wouldn't smoke. Greenwald's daydreaming that Obama's Justice Department might prosecute Jay Bybee and Steven Bradbury and John Yoo (it'll never happen) but not Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, George Bush, et al (and that's supposed to smell even faintly like justice?).<BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Anyway, <A HREF="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/19/AR2009041900974.html">Rahm Emanuel</A> shot down Greenwald's hope almost immediately. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/17/door-open-for-torture-prosecutions/">ThinkProgess</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=hlo-829></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; We've gotten a few joyous emails touting this report from <i>Newsweek</i>, reporting that Atty Gen Eric Holder "has discussed naming a senior prosecutor or outside counsel to review whether CIA interrogators exceeded legal boundaries -- and whether Bush administration officials broke the law by giving the CIA permission to torture in the first place".<BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I'm utterly un-impressed, and so's <i>Newsweek</i>, which included this factoid in the fifth paragraph of a think piece and didn't deem it worth mentioning in the headline.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; When Holder was nominated for Attorney General, there was some word that he was a man of some principle. If so, I've never seen that man. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.newsweek.com/id/194595">Newsweek</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=wgtb-826></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Obama's announcement that the Department of Justice won't prosecute CIA torturers is itself a violation of international law, says a UN official. I'm neither a lawyer nor in any way knowledgeable about international law, but this argument makes sense to me. This is Manfred Nowak, the UN's Special Rapporteur on torture, talking to a newspaper reporter:<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13">Like all other contracting states to the UN convention against torture, the US has committed to conduct criminal investigations of torture and to bring all persons to court against whom there is sound evidence. They are party to the convention and the convention is very, very clear. The fact that you carried out an order doesn't relieve you of your <nobr> responsibility.<img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-end.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13"></nobr> &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://rawstory.com/08/blog/2009/04/18/un-torture-investigator-obama-has-broken-international-law/">Raw&nbsp;Story</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=swcp-754></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Are you concerned, dear reader, that your American government was not tough enough in its concentration camps? Has it bothered you that the US didn't use cost-effective torture tactics, such as putting people with an insect phobia into an extremely cramped box and then inserting stinging insects to crawl all over them and bite 'em?<BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Well, you should have more confidence in the Bush-Cheney administration, which authorized such measures and survivors corroborate that the insects-in-a-box torture was used. A CIA memo denies it, but it's the CIA so that's basically confirmation. And the guy who wrote the authorization is <A HREF="http://firedoglake.com/2009/04/16/whats-insect-jay-bybee-doing-these-days-sitting-on-the-9th-circuit-court-of-appeals-glad-you-asked/">sitting on the nation's second-highest court</A>.<BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; So have sweet dreams tonight, of stinging insects crawling across your body while you're cramped in a small box, and rest assured that your tax dollars pay to do this, and promotes the people who make it happen. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://rawstory.com/08/blog/2009/04/17/bush-torture-memos-align-with-account-that-911-suspects-children-were-tortured/">Raw&nbsp;Story</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=twbw-6334></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The <i>New York Times</i> has called for the impeachment of Federal Judge Jay Bybee, the war criminal who signed off on the insect torture described above. With a little luck the <i>Times</i> piece might help get the attention of the sound asleep Congress, but it was pretty clear that Bybee was a bastard when his judgeship was approved between the Senate's snores. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/04/new-york-times-calls-for-bybee-impeachment.php">New&nbsp;York&nbsp;Times, distilled&nbsp;by&nbsp;ThinkProgess</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=swcp-341></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; James Horne, a sleep expert at Loughborough University, says he's "surprised and saddened" to learn that his research was twisted and cited to support Bush-Cheney torture tactics that included up to a week and a half of sleep deprivation. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/04/sleep_expert_surprised_and_saddened_to_find_resear.php?ref=fp1">TPM&nbsp;Muckraker</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=iaw-213></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "Since Obama took charge he has not shown us that anything will change," says Mohammad el Gharani. He's a prisoner at Guantanamo (despite being ordered released in January) who told prison officials he was calling his family but actually called al-Jazeera from the prison, telling them that torture at Guantanamo has continued unabated under the Obama administration. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE53D7LI20090415?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews">Reuters&nbsp;News&nbsp;Agency</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=swcp-238></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13">The Department of Justice is using secretive prison facilities on US soil, called Communication Management Units, to house inmates accused of being tied to 'terrorism' groups. They overwhelmingly include Muslim inmates, along with at least two animal rights and environmental <nobr> activists.<img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-end.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13"></nobr><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I'm not sure this is still news, but it's still unknown. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.boingboing.net/2009/04/15/secretive-us-prisons.html">Boing&nbsp;Boing</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=aua-1157></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times in one month. That's roughly six times a day, for a month -- and how long does a "ticking time bomb" tick? &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://donklephant.com/2009/04/18/khalid-sheikh-mohammed-was-waterboarded-183-times-in-one-month/">donklephant.com/</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=wgtb-342></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Here's a little karma kickback: John Hatley, the Army Sergeant convicted last week of murdering four Iraqis by shooting them in the back of their blindfolded heads, was also involved in smearing Army Pvt Scott Beauchamp, a whistleblower on war crimes. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/04/sergeant_who_smeared_fellow_soldier_new_republic_w.php?ref=fpjr2">TPM&nbsp;Muckraker</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- =civilliberties= --><A NAME=iaw-108></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Under the Bush-Cheney administration, the National Security Agency sought to wiretap an un-named member of Congress, without a warrant. As often happens at the <i>New York Times</i>, the most newsworthy part of the story is buried deep in the text, but here it is:<BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13">While the NSA's operations in recent months have come under examination, new details are also emerging about earlier domestic-surveillance activities, including the agency's attempt to wiretap a member of Congress, without court approval, on an overseas trip, current and former intelligence officials <nobr> said.<img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-end.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13"></nobr><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Sweet sugar-free jeebers. I'd like to hope against hope that <i>this</i> might be enough to get the attention of <A HREF="http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/04/feingold_nyt_report_shows_we_need_to_fix_wiretappi.php">someone in Congress</A>, but we all know that ship ain't never gonna sail. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.sltrib.com/ci_12156572">New&nbsp;York&nbsp;Times</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=iaw-211></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; We're supposed to be happy, I think, that the Obama administration has officially closed the Defense Department's best known propaganda office. We're supposed to believe that this was the room where the propaganda was coming from, and now the propaganda production will cease. Sounds like propaganda to me. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2009/04/obama-shuts-down-dod-propaganda-office">New&nbsp;York&nbsp;Times, distilled&nbsp;by&nbsp;Mother&nbsp;Jones</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=hlo-204></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Senator-elect Al Franken (D-Minnesota) has begun hiring his DC staff. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/04/20/franken_begins_to_hire_washington_staff/">Minnesota&nbsp;Public&nbsp;Radio</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=aua-1046></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; A Baptist minister says he was brutalized and repeatedly tazed at one of those wildly unconstitutional "checkpoints" run by the Border Patrol inside American borders. Pastor Steven Anderson is being prosecuted for his refusal to submit at the checkpoint, and he's said he'll be suing the officials and agents involved.<BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; As the <i>Phoenix New Times</i>' reporter explains, Anderson and his wife run an anti-gay church, but <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13">what the Andersons think of homosexuals or Obama isn't the issue at hand. What matters is whether or not law officers crossed the line in dealing with <nobr>Anderson.<img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-end.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13"></nobr> &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2009/04/pastor_tased_and_beaten_at_che.php">Phoenix&nbsp;New&nbsp;Times</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=twbw-120></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13">The use of illicit drugs must be decriminalized if efforts to halt the spread of AIDS are to succeed, one of the world's leading independent authorities on the disease has warned. In an unprecedented attack on global drugs policy, Michele Kazatchkine, head of the influential Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, has told the Observer that, without a radical overhaul of laws that lead to hundreds of thousands of drug users being imprisoned or denied access to safe treatment, the millions of pounds spent on fighting HIV and AIDS will be <nobr> wasted.<img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-end.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13"></nobr> &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/19/drugs-decriminalisation-aids">The&nbsp;Guardian</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- =dc= --><!-- == --> <A NAME=iaw-200></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In the 14th paragraph of this otherwise unenlightening article about the pending prosecution of former Governor Rod Blagojevich (D-Illinois), we're told that the prosecution will be pending for <i>another two years</i>.<BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Blagojevich's career has already been ruined solely on leaks from the Justice Department, and he's been impeached and removed from office, but he won't actually have his day in court until 2011? Justice delayed, as the saying goes, is justice denied. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://cbs4denver.com/politics/blagojevich.codefendants.court.2.986470.html">CBS&nbsp;News</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=twbw-415></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The wife of Paul Minor, the Mississippi defense attorney railroaded into prison by the Bush-Cheney administration's corrupt Justice Department, died last week. Minor wasn't allowed to visit her deathbed, and he apparently won't be allowed to attend her funeral. As Legal Schnauzer says so well, "I can't help but think that Attorney General Eric Holder has the authority to do something about this. But where is he when rampant abuse is going on under his department? Is he asleep at the switch?" &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://legalschnauzer.blogspot.com/2009/04/paul-minor-might-not-be-allowed-to.html">Legal&nbsp;Schnauzer</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=hlo-208></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; For more than two decades, town officials in Crestwood, Illinois pumped toxic water through the city's pipes and into citizens' homes. Knowingly. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/green/chi-crestwood-water-bd19-apr19,0,3074699.story">Chicago&nbsp;Tribune</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=bboihu-329></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Mark Penn, the prominent Democratic Party scumbag and campaign manager for Hillary Clinton's Presidential campaign last year, has hired former Bush Press Spokeswoman Dana Perino to work at his public relations firm. Snakes of a slither nest together. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/04/14/perino-joins-mark-penns-firm/">Cable&nbsp;News&nbsp;Network</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=swcp-835></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Beyond what little has leaked into my brain as I've channel-surfed past <i>Entertainment Tonight</i>, I've paid zip zilch zero attention to the scandals swirling around Hollywood private eye Anthony Pellicano and the people who hired him and the people he spied upon. But as moviemaker John McTiernan is indicted a second time, respected TinselTown gossip blogger Nikki Finke has suggested that it might have something to do with a documentary about the crimes of Karl Rove, which McTiernan has been working on.<BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; And really, the implication is perfectly in keeping with everything that's known about the character of Karl Rove. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/director-john-mctiernan-indicted-yet-again/">deadlinehollywooddaily.com</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=aua-1038></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Wayne Anthony Ross, the <A HREF="http://badattitudes.com/MT/archives/2009/04/sarahs_kind_of.html">absolute wingnut</A> chosen by Governor Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) to be the state's Attorney General, may have been rejected by the state legislature. Then again, <A HREF="http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/041909/loc_430834117.shtml">maybe not</A>, says the Governor. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.ktva.com/ci_12159133">KTVA</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=hlo-502></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; A judge has ordered former President George W Bush to testify in court, under oath... but no, not about crimes against humanity, not about his obvious treason, not about illegal wiretaps that allowed him to eavesdrop on activists and reporters... No, the judge wants Bush to testify in a staggeringly un-important lawsuit about the chicanery behind the establishment of his Presidential library. And Bush's lawyers, of course, are filing an appeal arguing that he shouldn't have to testify.<BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; If he has nothing to fear why file for an appeal? It doesn't really matter to me since I wouldn't believe anything he said even if he swore on a stack of Bibles or a stack of his favorite book on some goat. <nobr>&nbsp; --Wig</nobr> &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/137493/judge_orders_bush_to_testify/">ThinkProgess</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=swcp-213></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The <i>New York Times</i> is shocked, shocked to discover that insurance companies prefer not to pay for medicines. In this case they're shocked that insurance companies (intentionally) lag as far behind medical advances as possible, meaning that cancer patients in America have to pay for medicine that's standard-issue in other countries, but really, the problem is exponentially more enormous than that -- that's just a small facet of how the American health care system sucks if you're insured.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; But what if you're not insured? That's a rhetorical question, of course. We all know that if you're not insured in America and you get cancer, you're cordially invited to shrivel up and die homeless. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://cibgny.com/wordpress/?p=833">New&nbsp;York&nbsp;Times</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=bboihu-851></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13">Two fifth-graders could face criminal charges for looking at pornography on a school computer, but some people are wondering how they were able to access the images in the first <nobr> place.<img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-end.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13"></nobr><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Well, yeah, I suppose that's a question that ought to be answered, but I'm a little more concerned at the school and government officials who are ruining these kids' lives by putting them through the wringer for urges and curiosity that's utterly ordinary, even for fifth-graders. It would be saner, I think, to show kids a little porn as part of the sex ed curriculum. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.sltrib.com/ci_12147241">The&nbsp;Salt&nbsp;Lake&nbsp;Tribune</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- =3333333333= --> <!-- =world= --><!-- == --><A NAME=smt-1115></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Pakistan's government is going to be toppled soon, or so say the experts, and remember, they've got nuclear weapons. Here's a popular cleric calling for <A HREF="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/66369.html">a Islamic revolution in Pakistan</A>, which is not the most soothing idea. My friend Sven says that the coming disaster would be <A HREF="#19SG308"><FONT COLOR=blue>all Obama's fault</FONT></A>, and I'm not buying "all" but Obama's certainly doing damage there. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/254/story/66368.html">McClatchy&nbsp;Newspapers</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=jkg-913></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; And India has launched a spy satellite into space, but there seems to be no anguished tirade voiced by the mainstream media, similar to last week's launch by North Korea. Wonder why? <nobr>&nbsp; --Wig</nobr> &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/04/200942014479131748.html">al-Jazeera</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <A NAME=think></A> <table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="60%" align="left"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><BR><TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="8" WIDTH="100%" border=1><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" class="fonta"><TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40" class="fonty"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/thinker.jpg" alt="'The Thinker' statue" border="0" width="40" height="40"></TD><TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="middle" class="fonta"><I><B>It made me stop&nbsp;and&nbsp;think</B></I></TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40" class="fonty"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quesplanation.jpg" alt="Stop and think" border="0" width="40" height="40"></TD></TD></TR></TABLE> <BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "I cannot get out of my mind the one photograph I've seen of Carl, a beautiful smiling child dressed in his football uniform. I also cannot get out of my mind my imagined picture of his lifeless body dangling from the ceiling and the conviction and determination that it must have taken for a child to suspend himself from a rope with the intention of ending his life. What depth of despair that child must have felt to have made the decision that such a painful act was the only way to end his anguish. " <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.baywindows.com/index.php?ch=opinion&sc=guest_opinions&sc2=news&sc3=&id=89689">Douglas Brooks</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "The business model of forced prostitution is remarkably similar from Pakistan to Vietnam -- and, sometimes, in the United States as well. Pimps use violence, humiliation and narcotics to shatter girls' self-esteem and terrorize them into unquestioning, instantaneous obedience." <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2008592866_opin06kristof2.html">Nicholas D. Kristof</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> </td></tr></table></td></tr></table> <!-- == --><A NAME=smt-1037></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13">Trading their warmest words in a half-century, the United States and Cuba built momentum toward renewed ties on Friday, with President Barack Obama declaring he "seeks a new beginning" <nobr>--</nobr> including direct talks <nobr>--</nobr> with the island's communist <nobr>--</nobr> regime.<img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-end.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13"></nobr><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I can never guess what common sense policy adjustment from the Obama administration will cause the lunatic fringe right-wing (ah, but I repeat myself) to become vividly unhinged, but this might be this week's hysteria launching pad. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30261514/">Associated&nbsp;Press</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=smt-1245></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; And guess what? Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says he'll let the US Ambassador return to his country. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/18/AR2009041801872.html?hpid=moreheadlines">Associated&nbsp;Press</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <A NAME=swcp-338></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman says the peace process is at a stalemate, and "new ideas" must be found, because whatever Israel's "traditional approach to the peace process" might be, it "has not brought any results or solutions." Yeah, I guess bombing the sh*t out people hasn't led to peace -- big surprise. The US has coddled the Israelis' stubborn stalling for so long the Israelis no longer fear any US attempt to exert pressure on them to engage in honest negotiations. <nobr>&nbsp; --Wig</nobr> &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4&section=0&article=121637&d=17&m=4&y=2009">Arab&nbsp;News</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=wgtb-402></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <i>The Age</i> newspaper of Australia wants you to think that the Obama administration is coming down hard on Israel.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13">If Israel wants US help to defuse the Iranian threat, [White House Chief of Staff] Rahm Emanuel was reported to have told Jewish leaders in Washington, then get ready to start evacuating settlements in the West <nobr> Bank.<img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-end.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13"></nobr><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Sounds too good to be true, and it is -- Rahm Emanuel is a more reliable piece of Israeli infrastructure than the Knesset. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.theage.com.au/world/obamas-stance-worries-israelis-20090417-aa90.html?page=-1">The&nbsp;Age&nbsp;(Melbourne,&nbsp;Australia)</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=hlo-684></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Scroll down deep in this article and observe as Shimon Peres, President of nuclear armed Israel, discusses the dangers of non-nuclear armed Iran. Kettle, meet the pot:<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13">We all want a world that is clean of nuclear bombs, but the problem is that those holding the bombs are religious fanatics, extremists, that do not cringe from all methods of <nobr>killing.<img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-end.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13"></nobr> &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/16/mitchell.mideast/?iref=mpstoryview">Cable&nbsp;News&nbsp;Network</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <A NAME=health></A><A NAME=science></A> <table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="60%" align="right"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="8" WIDTH="100%" border=1><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" class="fonta"><TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40" class="fonty"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/medicine.gif" alt="medicine" border="0" width="40" height="40"></TD><TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="middle" class="fonta"><I><B>Health&nbsp;and science&nbsp;corner</B></I></TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40" class="fonty"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/science.jpg" alt="science" border="0" width="40" height="40"></TD></TR></TABLE> <BR><A HREF="http://www.foodpolitics.com/2009/04/choosing-foods-salads-french-fries-and-supplements/">Salad on a menu makes people more likely to order fries</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_04/b4068052092994.htm?chan=magazine+channel_top+stories">Research suggests that, except among high-risk heart patients, the benefits of statins such as Lipitor are overstated</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-04/epr-nsf041709.php">New study finds chewing gum helps lower calorie intake and reduce cravings for sweet snacks</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090419170112.htm">Blueberries may help reduce belly fat, diabetes risk</A><BR> </td></tr></table></td></tr></table> <!-- == --><A NAME=smt-1231></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; There's much ballyhoo about UN diplomats storming out of a conference on racism when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made these "racist" comments about Israel.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13">Following World War II they resorted to military aggressions to make an entire nation homeless under the pretext of Jewish suffering. And they sent migrants from Europe, the United States and other parts of the world in order to establish a totally racist government in the occupied Palestine. And in fact, in compensation for the dire consequences of racism in Europe, they helped bring to power the most cruel and repressive racist regime in <nobr> Palestine.<img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-end.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13"></nobr><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Just one little problem: There's plenty of blunt criticism of Israel in that quote, but there's nothing there that strikes me as racist or even unfair. Deal with it or stomp out of the room, but as translated and transcribed all I see in Ahmadinejad's statement is unvarnished fact. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://uk.reuters.com/article/featuredCrisis/idUKLK621954">Reuters&nbsp;News&nbsp;Agency</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=aua-1202></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Iran has convicted BBC and NPR reporter Roxana Saberi for espionage. It is of course perfectly plausible that she's an American spy -- US intelligence frequently <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.net/hh030102.html">uses reporters for cover</A> -- but it's more likely that she's not, since the government of Iran won't release the evidence.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; But the facts of the matter hardly matter at all. Whether she's a spy or a reporter, she's almost certainly in trouble solely because of the ongoing international squabbles between the US and Iran. It's to the advantage of fearmongers in the Iranian government to paint America as evil and Saberi as a spy, and of course it's to the advantage of fearmongers in American politics to paint Iran as evil and find as many Iranian spies and terrorists and nuclear plans (real or imagined) as possible. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8005660.stm">BBC&nbsp;News</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=smt-1034></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Afghan President Hamid Karzai says that his government will "change" its barbaric law legalizing marital rape. So instead of being explicitly legal, marital rape will be merely routine and accepted. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/17/afghanistan-rape-law-changed/">ThinkProgess</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- =corporations= --> <!-- =bailout= --><!-- bank robber --><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="120" align="left"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"> <img src="http://unknownnews.org/bankrobber.gif" alt="pictire of bank robber" border="0" width="100" height="95"></td></tr></table> <A NAME=swcp-153></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13">This is a HOUSING crisis, not a BANKING crisis, yet $700+ billion has gone to help bankers and only $75 billion to "help" homeowners. The banker's money has mainly been spent and the homeowner money has hardly been touched. If this is a HOUSING crisis, why aren't more resources being devoted to housing?<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13">It comes down to an issue of morality, believe it or not, with homeowners expected to be moral and bankers not. Everybody blew it, but the homeowners are being disproportionately punished for their <nobr> actions.<img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-end.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13"></nobr><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; A similar comparison could probably be made between auto worker unions and bankers. <nobr>&nbsp; --JR Mooneyham</nobr> &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.cringely.com/2009/04/wall-street-and-main-street-don%E2%80%99t-cross/">cringely.com</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=wgtb-344></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; There's some serious doubt whether Obama's "Car Czar" Steve Rattner knows much of anything about the car business, but he seems to know <A HREF="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/apr2009/ratt-a18.shtml">a little bit</A> about investment fraud. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/04/did_steve_rattner_really_cover_the_chrysler_bailou.php">TPM&nbsp;Muckraker</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- Citi --><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="120" align="left"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"> <img src="http://unknownnews.org/logo-citi.jpg" border="0" width="100" height="34"></td></tr></table> <!-- == --><A NAME=twbw-249></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; JP Morgan Chase and <A HREF="http://www.americablog.com/2009/04/citibank-profit-that-wasnt.html">Citigroup</A> have announced profits, surprising some observers, but the profits are based on "accounting maneuvers and earnings from investment banking."<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Hmmm. "Accounting maneuvers". Fiddlin' with a pencil. It's amazing how a change of accounting procedures can put a smile on a banker's face. <nobr>&nbsp; --Wig</nobr> &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/17/AR2009041700969.html">Washington&nbsp;Post</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=hlo-232></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; General Motors is "likely" to build new factories in China, while closing several American factories. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=aN4Brm9JM3_8&refer=asia">Bloomberg&nbsp;News&nbsp;Service</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=smt-10489></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; General Growth Properties, owner of hundreds of America's shopping malls, is $27-billion in debt and has declared bankruptcy. Insert your own anti-mall snarkitude, and rest assured that we're agreed. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/howard/bal-te.bz.generalgrowth17apr17,0,1729605.story">The&nbsp;Baltimore&nbsp;Sun</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <A NAME=swcp-826></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Communist China has a reputation for tough crackdowns on corruption, often involving the death penalty, but perhaps that reputation is more propaganda than fact? Two Chinese officials responsible for last year's melamine disaster have been "punished" with promotions. <nobr>&nbsp; --SirJ</nobr> &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/15184/">Epoch&nbsp;Times</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=swcp-850></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Credit Suisse says Google is losing half a billion dollars a year on YouTube. I'm not sure I believe that Google is stupid enough to flush more than a million dollars a day down the toilet... but as much as I dislike advertising, I've long wondered why YouTube's page design doesn't include ads down one side of the page, instead of just links to more videos. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.slate.com/id/2216162/?GT1=38001">Slate</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=aua-1120></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; YouTube is in hot water and potentially legal trouble in South Korea, after it sidestepped a law against anonymous postings by instructing Koreans to visit international versions of the YouTube site. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10222512-93.html">CNet&nbsp;News</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=hlo-350></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Lehman Brothers invested millions in yellowcake uranium. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aVgwamEW_98I&refer=news">Bloomberg&nbsp;News&nbsp;Service</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <A NAME=mysterylinks></A> <table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="45%" align="right"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><BR><TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="8" WIDTH="100%" border=1><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" class="fonta"><center><A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/mysterylinks.html"><b><i>Our mystery&nbsp;links</i></b></A><BR>(mostly just for fun)</center><BR>Links in <FONT COLOR=red><B>red</B></FONT> are not safe for work, and links in <FONT COLOR=magenta><B>pink</B></FONT> include audio and/or video.<center><iframe src="http://www.unknownnews.org/myslinks.html" width="295" height="225" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></center><DIV align="right"><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/mysterylinks.html">... more mystery links</A>&nbsp;</div> </TD></TR></TABLE></td></tr></table> <!-- == --><A NAME=twbw-240></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; These are interesting, aggravating, and (to the best of my recollection and knowledge) true facts about your cable TV provider. I had cable TV when I was a young man, but unplugged it decades ago, and it looks like the specifics have been updated but the underlying principle remains, you're screwed. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/106932/10-Things-Cable-Companies-Won%27t-Say">SmartMoney.com</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=smt-1100></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The New York Yankees have a really weird idea of patriotism. From the facts presented in this article, it seems that exits are chained shut and cops prevent people from using the restrooms as "God Bless America" is played during the seventh-inning stretch. Bradford Campeau-Laurion says he was ejected from the stadium for violating this odd rule, and he's suing the Yankees and the City of New York. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-yankeeslawsuit&prov=ap&type=lgns">Associated&nbsp;Press</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=jkg-917></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Does <i>The Huffington Post</i> have a great business model or what?<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <i>Playboy</i> pays a journalist, so he undergoes an extremely sanitized and safe version of torture. <i>Playboy</i> publishes his report. Then millionaire Arianna Huffington swipes it, adds advertising, pays nobody, and includes a link to <i>Playboy</i>'s home page (because no-one could guess that URL) but no link to <i>Playboy</i>'s publication of the work Huffington's profiting from. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/20/playboy-journo-bets-he-ca_n_189280.html">Huffington&nbsp;Post</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- =4444444444= --> <!-- == --><A NAME=swcp-1223></A><!-- Pirate Bay --><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="143" align="left"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><BR> <img src="http://unknownnews.org/logo-piratebay.jpg" alt="Pirate Bay" border="0" width="123" height="123"></td></tr></table><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The operators of Pirate Bay, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij and Carl Lundstrom, have been ordered by a Swedish court to pay millions of dollars (and more millions in kronars!) in damages and spend a year in prison. <A HREF="http://thepiratebay.org/blog/151">They're appealing the verdict</A>, of course, and refusing to pay a dime.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; But win lose or draw, it's not like the verdict will make much difference. The Pirate Bay will remain on-line and fully functional, since the operators moved the servers to Holland a while back. It'll eventually be pulled down, but there are already other sites doing the same work. And those sites will be shut down too, but others will learn to do it better and more clandestinely. And this will give more and more nations more and more excuses to grant themselves the authority to instantly intrude anywhere on-line and shut down anyone, ostensibly to fight piracy, but it's a weapon that will also be used to quash legitimate political dissent.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Sometimes it seems like the unanimous position among bloggers is that "information must be free", but come on -- they may be folk heroes to cheapskates everywhere and there's no doubt that the giant corporations are evil bastards to the core, but there's also just no sensible way of looking at Pirate Bay that doesn't acknowledge that they're thieves. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118002540.html?categoryid=19&cs=1&nid=2562">Variety</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- =teabag= --><A NAME=iaw-1046></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Here are a few samples of the racism and stupidity on display at the conservative crackpots' "tea bag" party on the 15th. I'm not the person who posted these photos (I didn't have a camera with me) but I did happen to be in downtown Madison when the teabaggers rallied, and I saw one of the signs shown here, and several signs that were dumber or more disturbing. It was a bigger crowd than I would have expected, a few thousand people who were literally bused in (there must have been a couple of dozen buses parked within a few blocks of the rally) and not on school buses or city buses, no sir, these were swank tour buses, the kind rich folks or corporations charter. Do you think the passengers all chipped in ten dollars each to rent the busses? Neither do I.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Here's a gentleman well-endowed with testosterone or something, who waits for his turn at the microphone at one of those Fox-backed "tea bag" parties and politely but accurately informs the audience of <A HREF="http://www.dailykostv.com/w/001173/">a few facts</A>.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In Madison, I spent about ten minutes walking the outskirts of the crowd, and didn't see <A HREF="http://www.bobcesca.com/blog-archives/2009/04/counterprotest.html">a single non-white face</A>. The crowd was noticeably old -- lots of seniors and folks who looked to be in their 40s and 50s, but dang few people who seemed young enough to be carded at a bar, unless you count the children and uncomfortable-looking teenagers forced to accompany their parents or grandparents. Let's take that as a good sign for the future.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; But beyond that and this, I'm done with the tea baggery. Everybody should have the right to protest, even the stupidest among us, but this was an embarrassment to America -- a fake, corporate-controlled semi-triumph of pre-packaged manipulation of the dim and the gullible. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5461046&mesg_id=5461046">Democratic&nbsp;Underground</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=aua-1050></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Early indications suggest that scientists have effectively cured the most common cause of blindness. It's a treatment developed with embryonic stem cells, so of course, it wasn't developed in America. President Obama has <A HREF="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/booster_shots/2009/04/new-details-on-obamas-stem-cell-policy.html">removed the Bush-era restrictions</A> on funding such research, but it'll be years before what's laughably called "good old American know-how" can catch up. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.bobcesca.com/blog-archives/2009/04/blindness_cured.html">bobcesca.com</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=bboihu-706></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Big-time movie star Matt Damon first caught my eye shortly after <i>Good Will Hunting</i>, when he told an interviewer that he wanted to make a movie or TV series out of Howard Zinn's version of American history. And now it's finally happening. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.reuters.com/article/televisionNews/idUSTRE53G0VG20090417">Reuters&nbsp;News&nbsp;Agency</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- =5555555555= --><!-- =peculiar --><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="127" align="left"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><BR> <img src="http://unknownnews.org/peculiar.jpg" border="1" width="107" height="136"></td></tr></table> <!-- == --><A NAME=twbw-141></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas) thinks maybe he should have punched Sacha Baron Cohen when Paul got punked into participating in the satirical screwball's next movie. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://ccinsider.comedycentral.com/2009/04/16/ron-paul-thinks-maybe-he-should-have-punched-that-obnoxious-effete-reporter/">comedycentral.com</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=twbw-937></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13">Action star Jackie Chan said Saturday "I'm not sure if it's good to have freedom or not," Chan said. "I'm really confused now. If you're too free, you're like the way Hong Kong is now. It's very chaotic. Taiwan is also chaotic." Chan added: "I'm gradually beginning to feel that we Chinese need to be controlled. If we're not being controlled, we'll just do what we want." <nobr>controlled."<img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-end.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13"></nobr><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I've always liked Jackie Chan. But I don't like this. Of course, maybe he just hasn't thought about the issue much, or his celeb lifestyle has insulated him over past years from the daily life of most Chinese citizens. <nobr>&nbsp; --Ignarly</nobr> &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090418/ap_on_en_mo/as_china_people_jackie_chan;_ylt=A9G_Rz85MupJKsEAiwN34T0D">Associated&nbsp;Press</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=twbw-9228></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Common sense and straightforward honesty is allowed very little time and space on television, so it's enjoyable to watch Rachel Maddow eviscerate Senator Richard Burr (R-North Carolina). &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nQgtDjSxJU">The&nbsp;Rachel&nbsp;Maddow&nbsp;Show</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=aua-1030></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The guy who did the, uh, vetting for the 2008 Presidential campaign of Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) says that Governor Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) hit a home run when McCain asked her three questions. The always brilliant Jerome Doolittle ponders those three questions, and what the answers must have been. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://badattitudes.com/MT/archives/2009/04/out_of_the_park.html">Bad&nbsp;Attitudes</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=iaw-1202></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I've been watching Sam Seder and Mark Maron's <A HREF="http://airamerica.com/breakroomlive/video/full"><i>Break Room Live</i></A> for about a month now, and while they have their dull days like any other show, it's well worth a click and the time if you have it. <i>Break Room Live</i> is a daily round-up of news and left-leaning commentary aired from (literally) the break room at Air America, and Seder and Maron are both comedians, but the commentary is smart and the comedy is amusing without overpowering the rest of the show's content. After they're done with each day's show, they do a <A HREF="http://airamerica.com/breakroomlive/search/post+show">post-show chat</A> that's almost as enjoyable, where they answer instant messages and emails from viewers. Plus it's laced with lovable profanity and it's all commercial-free, unless you count the quick daily plug for the good guys at <A HREF="http://justcoffee.coop/en/node/2695">Just Coffee Co-op</A>. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://airamerica.com/breakroomlive/video/full">Air&nbsp;America&nbsp;Media</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=swcp-227></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; You've probably already seen <A HREF="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY&feature=related">this clip from <i>Britain's Got Talent</i></A>. It's been everywhere on the web since this dowdy middle-aged dame, Susan Boyle, sang on a TV talent show in England a week and a half ago, but this is (near as I can tell) the full, un-edited broadcast version. And yeah, it's fabulous and it made me cry.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; It is of course just a clip from a stupid television program, but there's undeniable joy in watching such a perfect moment -- someone's dream comes true while singing a song about dashed dreams. And it's not a wish granted out of the blue from winning the lottery or something but a dream come true because <i>she frickin' deserves it</i>. You don't see that very often.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; We stopped watching the US version of this show, <i>American Idol</i>, midway through its first season, as it's really nothing but a weekly exposé of how corporate-controlled music is only open to the young and pretty, and anyone who's out of the ordinary in appearance or presentation gets booted at once. My wife and I stopped buying or listening to new pop music decades ago, and we pay really no attention at all to the music the corporations offer us, but some British corporation is going to make a lot of money when they offer an album of Susan Boyle's singing. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY&feature=related">Britain's&nbsp;Got&nbsp;Talent</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=twbw-252></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Soldiers at the 8th Army's annual Army Family Action Plan conference have asked the Army to get rid of the uniform woolen beret, or at least stop requiring it be worn outdoors. Besides, it's ridiculous-looking. The beret was an attempt to have the NATO parties all look a little alike. When I served during the Korean conflict I didn't especially care for the Eisenhower cap and jacket, so I can understand the present aversion to the beret. <nobr>&nbsp; --Wig</nobr> &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=62117">Stars&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;Stripes</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=wgtb-422></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The family of Martin Luther King Jr. wants $800,000 payment for the use of his face and words on a monument on the National Mall. I'm scratching my head trying to figure out how they're not scum-sucking vultures. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090418/ap_on_re_us/king_memorial">Associated&nbsp;Press</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <BR><center>Recommended sites for gathering unknown or underreported news:<BR> &nbsp;<A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://mediamatters.org/">Media&nbsp;Matters</A>&nbsp; &nbsp;<A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.propublica.org/">Pro&nbsp;Publica</A>&nbsp; &nbsp;<A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://thinkprogress.org">ThinkProgress</A>&nbsp; &nbsp;<A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/">Washington&nbsp;Monthly</A>&nbsp; &nbsp;<A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.truthout.org/">TruthOut</A>&nbsp; </center> <BR><TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR> <TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="middle" WIDTH="23%" class="fonta"> <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/0904-14.html"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.org/leftarrow.jpg" border="0" width="75" height="11"><BR>Older entries</A> </TD><TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="54%" class="fonta"> Compiled by Helen&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;Harry&nbsp;Highwater<BR>for&nbsp;<A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/">www.unknownnews.org</a></TD><TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="middle" WIDTH="23%" class="fonta"> <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/0904-28.html"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/rightarrow.jpg" border="0" height="10" width="75"><BR>Newer entries</A></TD></TR></TABLE> <A NAME=dialogue></A><BR><TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor="dddddd" class="fonty"><TABLE CELLPADDING="4" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="14%" bgcolor="dddddd" class="fonty"> <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/0904-21.html#dialogue"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/dialogue-bubbles.jpg" alt="dialogue" border="0" width="75" height="75"></A></TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="86%" bgcolor="dddddd" class="fonty"> <span class="fontpq"><BIG><B>What do <I>you</i> think?</B></BIG></span><BR> <i>We welcome news tips, comments, questions, or criticisms. Our email is &#60;<A HREF="mailto:unknownnews@inbox.com">unknownnews at inbox.com</A>&#62;, and if that address ever fails you can also reach us at <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/contact.html">these back-up email addresses</A>.</i></TD></TR></TABLE> <iframe src="http://www.unknownnews.org/dailydialogue.html" height="32" width="600" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></TD></TR></TABLE> <A NAME=21Alch251></A> <TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="8" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR> <TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor="#eeeeee" class="fonta"><BR> <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/0904-21.html#21Alch251"><FONT COLOR=blue>#</FONT></A>&nbsp; <i>The Real Pirate? -- Cap'n Crunch:</i>&nbsp; Whilst being regaled with the latest Pirate Update (Arrrrgh!), I reflected upon a kinder, gentler sort of pirate.<BR><BR>While the Somali buccaneers are clad in filthy rags and use 50-year-old technology to harass the behemoths of the waves, exacting a forced toll that amounts to a fraction of a percent of all sea traffic, the Cap'n is a different story.<BR><BR>Like the privateers of old, Cap'n Crunch has had a license to fleece our families for some decades now. Armed with teams of psychologists who can custom tailor their message to bypass the Cerebellum and dig right into that good ol' Reptilian brain stem of ours, along with the sickest admen money can buy, the Cap'n has successfully pirated generations of children's health with our approval and cooperation.<BR><BR>A whopping 40% sugar dosage every a.m. makes Johnny a Fat Diabetic. And if only it was just sugar! High Fructose Corn Syrup makes sure that your system is overwhelmed.<BR><BR>But the cap'n is just the vanguard. In his syrupy wake come some even heavier hitters:<BR><BR> THE SUGAR CONTENT OF READY TO EAT CEREALS: <TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR> <TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="5%" class="fonta"><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%" class="fonta"> <BR><b>Product</b><BR>Sugar Smacks<BR>Apple Jacks<BR>Froot Loops<BR>Sugar Corn Pops<BR>Super Sugar Crisp<BR>Crazy Cow (chocolate)<BR>Corny Snaps<BR>Frosted Rice Krinkles<BR>Frankenberry<BR>CookieCrisp (vanilla)<BR>Cap'n Crunch's Crunch Berries<BR>Cocoa Krispies<BR>Cocoa Pebbles<BR>Fruity Pebbles<BR>Lucky Charms<BR>CookieCrisp (chocolate)<BR>Sugar Frosted Flakes<BR>Quisp<BR>Crazy Cow (strawberry)<BR>CookieCrisp (oatmeal)<BR>Cap'n Crunch </TD><TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="25%" class="fonta"><BR><b>Manufacturer</b><BR> Kellogg<BR>Kellogg<BR>Kellogg<BR>Kellogg<BR>General Foods<BR>General Mills<BR>Kellogg<BR>General Foods<BR>General Mills<BR>RalstonPurina<BR>Quaker Oats<BR>Kellogg<BR>General Foods<BR>General Foods<BR>General Mills<BR>RalstonPurina<BR>Kellogg<BR>Quaker Oats<BR>General Mills<BR>RalstonPurina<BR>Quaker Oats </TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="30%" class="fonta"> <b>Total Sugar<BR>(% dry weight)</b><BR>56.0<BR>54.6<BR>48.0<BR>46.0<BR>46.0<BR>45.6<BR>45.5<BR>44.0<BR>43.7<BR>43.5<BR>43.3<BR>43.0<BR>42.6<BR>42.5<BR>42.2<BR>41.0<BR>41.0<BR>40.7<BR>40.1<BR>40.1<BR>40.0 </TD></TR></TABLE><BR>I gotta admit, I was a fan of Quisp myself.<BR><BR>The point is we get all self-righteous and fluffed up over the Somali bandits, meanwhile we toil for money to enrich these ass-bandits by poisoning our children.<BR><BR>Can anyone tell me exactly WHY these people are not in jail? Or shot thru the head?<BR><BR>At least the Somali brigands know the stakes and take their lives in hand. They do not pretend to be friendly or healthy or happy shiny people having fun. Not like the Cap'n and his crew.<BR><BR>I am still coming to grips with living in an insane world.<BR><BR>A world in which the mind-washing bastards are in control and most people haven't even the wherewithal to realize it. Crap.<BR><BR>Meanwhile the REAL problem is teens "sexting" -- sending each other dirty snapshots via their thumb machines. Big whoop. Teens interested in sex and looking at each other nekkid -- I'm shocked, shocked. Meanwhile Leviathan, who has Decreed that anyone caught with photos of someone under the age of 18 is a Sex Offender and must be Forcibly Registered as such, wrings its hands and speculates at how much additional legislation will need to be piled on in order to address this "great problem."<BR><BR>Cut to crying mother sobbing about her daughter's suicide. Seems that her nekkid pic had been circulated around ... after she sent it to a boyfriend. She couldn't take the shame ... well boo f*ckin' hoo but maybe if you hadn't instilled in your daughter such a fear-based body image maybe she'd be alive ... I HATE that schtick ... they always whip out a sobbing mom who laments how (insert latest teen terror here) caused their baby to kill theyselves ... bullsh*t ... your lame ass parenting, and/or your offspring's native genetic defects saw to their early demise ... That and maybe the chemicals that permeate their environment and the propaganda that dominates their consciousness. Or the health care you can no longer afford...<BR><BR>But hey, who can worry about that when they're just scrapin' by, right? Gotta pay that upgraded Visa interest, right? Happy Tax Day. <BR><BR><DIV align="right">The Alchemist &nbsp; </div></TD></TR></TABLE> <A NAME=20LW700></A> <TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="8" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR> <TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor="#eeeeee" class="fonta"><BR> <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/0904-21.html#20LW700"><FONT COLOR=blue>#</FONT></A>&nbsp; Nothing special here... been laid off twice in the last 12 months, working at half what I was and not 40 hours per week. Still luv yas, just wanted to say thanks for the "Its Been Debunked" section. It has enlightened me to some degree... <BR><BR><DIV align="right">Larry W. &nbsp; </div><BLOCKQUOTE><i> Well, first of all, anyone who sends anything that can be interpreted as a pat on the back is sending something special, so thanks for that. Stay tough on the work front, my friend, it's a frightful time and the primary interest of everyone in power seems to be protection the millionaires. </i><BR><BR><DIV align="right"><i>Helen & Harry Highwater</i></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></TD></TR></TABLE> <A NAME=19SG308></A> <TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="8" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR> <TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor="#eeeeee" class="fonta"><BR> <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/0904-21.html#19SG308"><FONT COLOR=blue>#</FONT></A>&nbsp; Re <A HREF="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/254/story/66368.html">US experts: Pakistan on course to become Islamist state</A><TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH="25" class="fonty">&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" class="fonta"><BR> <I>Excerpt:&nbsp;</I> A growing number of US intelligence, defense and diplomatic officials have concluded that there's little hope of preventing nuclear-armed Pakistan from disintegrating into fiefdoms controlled by Islamist warlords and terrorists, posing a greater threat to the US than Afghanistan's terrorist haven did before <NOBR>9/11</NOBR>.<BR><BR>"It's a disaster in the making on the scale of the Iranian revolution," said a US intelligence official with long experience in Pakistan who requested anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly.</TD></TR></TABLE><BR> The Democratic "peace candidate" may have triggered WWIII -- Pakistan holds 100 nukes and is apparently on the way to becoming "Talibanistan". Good f*cking job, Comrade Obama. Thanks just a WHOLE lot, asswipe!<BR><BR> I guess having a smart president just means that the disasters are bigger sooner. Only 3 months in office. Heckuva job, Barky!<BR><BR> <A HREF="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KD17Df03.html">The mother of all cockfights</A><TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH="25" class="fonty">&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" class="fonta"><BR> <I>Excerpt:&nbsp;</I> As it was leaked by government sources to the Pakistani daily <i>The News</i>, the success rate of the Barack Obama administration's "hell from above" Predator drone war over the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) is a mere 6%. Of "60 Predator strikes between January 14, 2006, and April 8, 2009, only 10 hit their targets, killing 14 wanted al-Qaeda leaders" but most of all "killing 687 innocent Pakistani civilians". All of them Pashtuns.</TD></TR></TABLE><BR> <DIV align="right">Sven Goldstein &nbsp; </div><BLOCKQUOTE><i> You're pinning all of the Pakistan problem on Barack Obama's shoulders? Looks to me more like a bipartisan catastrophe that's coming soon to Pakistan. If it's "beyond redemption", as the Pentagon schmuck in the article says, well, it didn't get that way in just three months. It's been building for decades and going full-boil through the Bush-Cheney years. Obama's big mistake here is just that he's leaving the pot on the stove. </i><BR><BR><DIV align="right"><i>Helen & Harry Highwater</i></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE> Yes I am. Because the Bush Regime was not using Predator attacks in Pakistan until Candidate Obama suggested that he *would* if elected. McCain hammered Obama for suggesting such a destabilizing deed. Since the election Obama has escalated the bombings to the point that Pakistani civilians are in full Fear and Loathing mode about the US -- AND their own government, which has allowed the Predators to be based in Pakistan.<BR><BR>F*ck yes, it is Obama's new war and he is wholly to blame for this. He knows nothing about leadership and his war-making education prior to election was zero. He is a congenital liar and thinks he is really smart but guess what? That is a trap. And we're now hosed.<BR><BR>Nothing he promised will happen. Don't bet on receiving healthcare either -- that was a bullsh*t lie.<BR><BR>Remember how he recently said his goal is a nuke-free world? Total BS designed to "capture" ultra-liberal voters so that when he does sh*t that causes wars he will still get their votes. He is a con artist of the highest order.<BR><BR><DIV align="right">Sven Goldstein &nbsp; <A NAME=24Wig1202></A></div> <TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="8" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR> <TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor="#dddddd" class="fonta"> <A HREF="#24Wig1202"><FONT COLOR=blue>#</FONT></A>&nbsp; <i><B>4/24/2009:</B></i> &nbsp; <BLOCKQUOTE>Re&nbsp; <i>... the Bush Regime was not using Predator attacks in Pakistan until Candidate Obama suggested that he *would* if elected.</i></BLOCKQUOTE> Is Sven suggesting that there were no Bush administration "attacks" of any kind in Pakistan before Obama's comments? Sir, I beg to differ. There were any number of covert actions undertaken by American forces in Pakistan. The only difference is they were made with the full knowledge of Musharraf. You may be correct with your other charges against Obama. Although I'm not a follower of Obama (I still consider him too inexperienced for the Presidency), time will tell. As the saying goes, "the ball's in his court". <BR><BR><DIV align="right">Wig &nbsp; </div><!-- reply --> </TD></TR></TABLE> <BLOCKQUOTE><i> I wouldn't defend Obama on Pakistan policy. What he's doing is pretty much indefensible. But saying he's "wholly to blame" for whatever happens in Pakistan? That's unfair to Clinton, who was the US President as Pakistan developed its nuclear weapons, unfair to the coup-master Musharraf, unfair to Bush who accepted Musharraf with open arms, unfair to the new guy who's President of Pakistan but whose name slips my mind 'cuz he makes news so rarely (at least in America). Plenty of blame to be shared, and feel free to give Obama a second or third slice if he deserves it but he doesn't get the whole pie.<BR><BR>Then again, maybe I'm full of sh*t. You probably know more about Pakistan than I do (which wouldn't be hard to accomplish). Pakistan has never been on my news radar, except when it's threatening nuclear armageddon with India. That's been a hell of a danger for a long time, but for reasons I've never been able to fathom in the slightest, Bush and now Obama have been much more concerned about the phantom, theoretical, or downright phony threat of a nuclear armed Iran or North Korea, than the very real and ever-present dangers of nuclear-armed Pakistan, India, Russia, Israel, etc.<BR><BR><A HREF="http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/india-news/after-pak-govts-complaints-against-ground-strikes-white-house-decides-to-focus-on-air-strikes_100111969.html">Says here</A> the Bush-Cheney administration switched to a Predator drone strategy and started killing civilians in Pakistan on a regular basis in August of last year, and that's in keeping with the timeline you suggest. I don't remember the Obama statement you're referencing, but it sounds like him.<BR><BR>To my thinking the drone attacks are a stupid strategy </i>anywhere<i>, appealing only to military maniacs or sociopaths, people with no human characteristics at all. Perhaps (perhaps) drone attacks make sense in the rarest of situations with the most certain knowledge of who and where the target is, but that's obviously not the American way. The Bush and now Obama tactic seems to be to launch drone attacks wham bam whenever there's a hint or a hope, and that's just murder.<BR><BR>Sixty drone attacks in Pakistan from 2006 to early this month (according to <A HREF="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=21440">this article</A>), and fifty of those attacks were launched within the past 15 months. Only 10 of 60 have hit their actual targets, killing 14 alleged al-Qaeda leaders and 687 innocent Pakistani civilians. On the scale of American death deliveries that isn't much compared to the corpses and enemies the US has manufactured in Iraq and Afghanistan, but it's pretty easy to understand how that would piss off the Pakistanis. </i><BR><BR><DIV align="right"><i>Helen & Harry Highwater</i></DIV><A NAME=21RD458></A> </BLOCKQUOTE> <TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="8" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR> <TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor="#dddddd" class="fonta"> <A HREF="#21RD458"><FONT COLOR=blue>#</FONT></A>&nbsp; <i><B>4/21/2009:</B></i> &nbsp; On being "full of sh*t", as you say: Honey, we are all full of sh*t, always. I could go to the bathroom and poop so much I need to flush twice, and I'd still be full of sh*t. You too, and all of us. <BR><BR><DIV align="right">Rufus D. &nbsp; <A NAME=24Wig1220></A></div><!-- reply --><BR> <A HREF="#24Wig1220"><FONT COLOR=blue>#</FONT></A>&nbsp; <i><B>4/24/2009:</B></i> &nbsp; <BLOCKQUOTE>Re&nbsp; <i>"Then again, maybe I'm full of sh*t. You probably know more about Pakistan than I do (which wouldn't be hard to accomplish). Pakistan has never been on my news radar&nbsp;...</i></BLOCKQUOTE> Although the following article is long but it gives a good detailed history of the question.<BR><BR><A HREF="http://www.english.emory.edu/Bahri/Part.html">The partition of India</A> <BR><BR><DIV align="right">Wig &nbsp; </div><!-- reply --> </TD></TR></TABLE><br> Of course you're right, to a fair degree. The chessboard took a lot of moves to achieve this unwinnable position. But I view this Pakistan debacle in the context of everything else Obama is doing and I now believe he ought to be in a jail cell right next to GWB.<BR><BR><DIV align="right">Sven Goldstein &nbsp; </div><BLOCKQUOTE><i> Three months in to his administration, I'd give Obama a failing grade in economics, justice, and his alleged subject of expertise, constitutional law. Off the top of my head, I'd say he's earned C's in everything else, or B's if we're grading on the curve. With America's fabulously corrupt and corporate-controlled media and election system, he's about the best we could have hoped to have as President, and it's something of a minor miracle that he was able to out-maneuver the hollow Hillary Clinton or the maniacal John McCain.<BR><BR>But that said, justice and constitutional law are the backbone of what makes America worth pledging allegiance to. Seems to me that no honest and informed observer who gives a damn about justice or constitutional law could sanely suggest that Bush, Cheney, and their cohorts don't deserve prosecution. But Obama is working to block even an investigation of the many and obvious crimes of the Bush-Cheney administration. So long as that's his stance, he's an accomplice after the fact and I'll agree wholeheartedly that he belongs in the adjacent cell.<BR><BR>There's more I could say, meanderings of a somewhat deeper depth, and maybe I'll write those thoughts after I've had a few days to mull it, but for now that's the short version of my report card and indictment for Obama. </i><BR><BR><DIV align="right"><i>Helen & Harry Highwater</i></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE> </TD></TR></TABLE> <A NAME=19Diesel943></A> <TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="8" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR> <TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor="#eeeeee" class="fonta"><BR> <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/0904-21.html#19Diesel943"><FONT COLOR=blue>#</FONT></A>&nbsp; Re <A HREF="http://news.aol.com/article/police-officer-jokes-about-murder-victim/434609">Police officer jokes about murder victim</A><TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH="25" class="fonty">&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" class="fonta"><BR> <I>Excerpt:&nbsp;</I> It's not clear when the nearly eight-minute video was recorded. The shooting occurred in late March and the video was posted to YouTube on April 6. The video was still up Thursday, but Erie police said they were trying to have it removed.</TD></TR></TABLE><BR> Why remove the video? Or even try to? It's out and removing it will just add to showing how our government really does business in the sunshine. more open government doesn't mean posting john does information it means posting information about the workings of OUR employees in PUBLIC service. Wake up, sheeple. <BR><BR><DIV align="right">Diesel &nbsp; </div></TD></TR></TABLE> <A NAME=19TL107></A> <TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="8" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR> <TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor="#eeeeee" class="fonta"><BR> <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/0904-21.html#19TL107"><FONT COLOR=blue>#</FONT></A>&nbsp; Here's a partial "state of the Union", just the first 10 things that popped into my head, typed in no particular order with no editing <NOBR>:-)</NOBR><BR><BR>When the Democrats won control of the House in the 2006 elections, Nancy Pelosi said that they would end the Iraq War. Now it is 2009 and the Democrats have control of all branches of government, with no end to the Iraq occupation in sight. Can't leave until Iraq is stable...<BR><BR>And the Democrats are escalating the war in Afghanistan with more troops and attacks upon neighboring Pakistan, which itself is nearing revolution as the Taliban gradually approach the capital, Karachi.<BR><BR>Under Barack Obama's guidance, the Democrats and the Federal Reserve have pledged or guaranteed $12 trillion to bail out the economy. This includes a 4% increase in Pentagon spending. Minor amounts of money have trickled down to Joe Public with the majority of the funds going directly to shareholders and bondholder. Funding an increase in S-CHIPS, uninsured children's healthcare, was accomplished with a massive tax increase on tobacco products which are used almost exclusively by the poor.<BR><BR>Barack Obama also promised to close Guantanamo. But the United States has simply been transferring existing and new prisoners to the heinous concentration camp in Baghram AFB in Afghanistan, and recently argued in court that prisoners at Baghram have no rights to due process of any kind.<BR><BR>The Mexican state also appears to be imploding thanks to drug money and a thriving export/import business with the United States. Barack Obama, a self-avowed drug user who was never prosecuted for the crimes detailed in his autobiography, has promised to assist the corrupt Mexican government with military aid to crush the drug business. He has also said that drugs in America should not be legalized even though he himself has, in the past, enjoyed their use and still enjoys the occasional cigarette and cocktail.<BR><BR>Meanwhile, North Korea has announced it will withdraw from six-party talks and will restart its nuclear program after a successful test-firing of a long range missile. UN inspectors have been expelled.<BR><BR>And not to forget Israel, which is promising to bomb Iran whenever it deems "necessary". Israel is also maintaining a humanitarian and economic blockade on the Gaza Strip and has refused access to Gaza by UN investigators concerning war crimes committed by Israel during the recent war there against, what may be argued, are its own citizens (as there is no independent government of "Palestine"). Senate Democrats recently passed by unanimous voice vote a resolution "recognizing the right of Israel to defend itself against attacks from Gaza and reaffirming the United States' strong support for Israel in its battle with Hamas."<BR><BR>And speaking of Israel, Obama vowed to end torture by the United States but reserved the right to rendition prisoners to other countries for torture and interrogation. <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0704-03.htm">Abu Ghraib General says Israeli worked at prison</a>. In addition, Obama has promised full indemnity, immunity and legal support to Americans who have conducted torture. Officials who authorized and designed schemes to torture prisoners of America are comfortable now about their futures, even to the point of travelling overseas to give speeches...<BR><BR>In California unemployment is 11%. Farmers have left their fields fallow because of the drought. Tourism is down because of thuggish behavior by "Homeland Security" and the "recession". Sales taxes in California are at 9% in some cities but the state is effectively bankrupt. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican governor, has been forced to beg the Obama administration for guarantees of bonds issued by California municipalities -- so that they can continue to pay police $100,000 per year with full retirement after 20 years, and so that the state can continue prosecuting Drug War infractions and keep its prisons overfull. <BR><BR><DIV align="right">Theo Lipschitz &nbsp; </div><BLOCKQUOTE><i> All true and all ghastly and all apparently accepted by the so-called left and protested by the right for not being fully crapitized enough. </i><BR><BR><DIV align="right"><i>Helen & Harry Highwater</i></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></TD></TR></TABLE> <A NAME=17MK433></A> <TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="8" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR> <TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor="#eeeeee" class="fonta"><BR> <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/0904-21.html#17MK433"><FONT COLOR=blue>#</FONT></A>&nbsp; <i>Prof. Michael Hudson's advice to Iceland, etc.:</i>&nbsp; Hudson has written two somewhat overlapping and VERY IMPORTANT articles related to Iceland (while actually IN Iceland). Actually, his advice is to ANY country thinking about getting/dealing with an IMF loan. I consider both MUST READ articles, but for those with little time I want to pull out some quotes -- I will refer to the articles as A and B. As I see it, before Hudson gets to his advice, he offers some background info. so I will quote some of both. By the way, he uses some pretty to the point subtitles that should be mentioned.<BR><BR>A -- His <A HREF="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13054">Apr. 4, 2009 article</A> subtitled: [To the IMF] $1 Trillion more to sustain the economic crisis. G-20 message to indebted countries. "Drop Dead!"<BR><BR>B -- His more historically oriented <A HREF="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13055">Apr. 5, 2009 article</A> subtitled: Being defeated by debt is as deadly as outright military warfare.<BR><BR>BACKGROUND INFO:<BR><BR>(1) Related to the G-20 meeting, from A: "American diplomats wanted to lock foreign countries into further dependency on paper dollars. The rest of the world sought a way to avoid giving up real output and ownership of their resources and enterprises for yet more hot-potato dollars." Plus, "the attendees agreed to quadruple IMF funding to $1 trillion. Anything that bolsters IMF authority cannot be good for countries forced to submit to its austerity plans. ... So in practice this G-20 agreement means that the world's leading governments are responding to today's financial crisis with "planned shrinkage" for debtors -- a 10% cut in wage payments in hapless Latvia, Hungary put on rations, and permanent debt peonage for Iceland for starters. This is quite a contrast with the United States, which is responding to the downturn with a giant ... deficit spending program, despite its glaringly unpayable $4 trillion debt to foreign central banks. So the international financial system's double standard remains alive and kicking ..."<BR><BR>(2) On the insolvency problems of the debtor countries mentioned above, from A: The insolvency problem ... is not entirely the IMF's fault ... the European Community deserves a great deal of blame. ... the last thing the EU wanted was to develop potential rivals. It wanted customers -- not only for its exports, but most of all for its loans. The Baltic States passed into the Scandinavian sphere, while Austrian banks carved out financial spheres of influence in Hungary ... Iceland was neoliberalized, largely in rip-offs organized by German banks and British financial sharpies."<BR><BR>(3) An explanation of the FINANCIAL MANIPULATION, when military seizure of assets isn't possible, which is "the essence of the Washington Consensus [neo-liberalism] that the G-20 support, using the IMF in its usual role as enforcer," from A: "In a nutshell, the solution to a debt crisis is to be yet more debt. If debtors can't pay out of what they are able to earn, lend them enough to keep current on their carrying charges. Collateralize this with their property, their public domain, their political autonomy -- their democracy itself. The aim is to keep the debt overhead in place. This can be done only by keeping the volume of debts growing exponentially as they accrue interest, which is added onto the loan. This is the "magic of compound interest. ... The alternative is for debtor countries to suffer the same kind of economic sanctions as Iran, Cuba and pre-invasion Iraq."<BR><BR>(4) On "the preferred tactic used to deter debtor countries from acting in their self-interest," from A: It is "to pound on the old morality, to 'A debt is a debt, and must be paid.'" From B, he says: "Small nations like Iceland, along with small taxpayers in wealthy countries, may be coerced with propaganda, mind games and outright threats into paying -- until they have no assets left to hand over. But the big boys are above the law. They control the courts (which often rule without much regard for the actual law), just as they write history and newspaper coverage -- and business school curricula -- to serve their own interests."<BR><BR>HUDSON'S ADVICE:<BR><BR>(1) In response to the "old morality" above, Hudson offers HIS principle, from A: "For me, the moral principle is that no country should be subjected to debt peonage. That is the opposite of democratic self-determination, after all -- and of Enlightenment moral philosophy that economic policies should encourage economic growth, not shrinkage. They should promote greater economic equality, not polarization between wealthy creditors and impoverished debtors." He adds this: "indebted countries lose discretionary choice over their economic future. Their economic surplus is pledged abroad as financial tribute. Without the overhead costs of a military occupation, they are relinquishing their policy making from democratically elected political representatives to bureaucratic financial managers, often foreign -- the new Central Planners in today's neoliberal world." About the "Central Planners," he says: "The best they can do, knowing the game is over, is to hope that the other side doesn't realize it -- and to do everything you [they] can to confuse debtor countries while extracting as much as they can as fast as they can."<BR><BR>(2) He offers this implied solution based on what Korea [South Korea] is doing, from A: "While the G-20 meetings were taking place, Korea was refusing to let itself be victimized by the junk derivatives contracts that foreign banks sold. Korea is claiming that bankers have a fiduciary responsibility to their customers to recommend loans that help them, not strip them of money. There is a tacit understanding (one that the financial sector spends millions of dollars in public relations efforts to undermine) that banking is a public utility. It is supposed to be a handmaiden to growth -- industrial and agricultural growth and self-sufficiency -- not predatory, extractive and hence anti-social. So Korean victims of junk derivatives are suing the banks."<BR><BR>(3) He also talks about a New York State law, the Law of Fraudulent Conveyance, that could be enacted elsewhere, from A: First, "it was enacted in response to British speculators [during colonial times] making loans to upstate farmers, and demanding payment just before the harvest was in, when the debtors could not pay. The sharpies then foreclosed, getting the land on the cheap. So New York's ... law responded by establishing the legal principle that if a creditor makes a loan without having a clear and reasonable understanding of how the debtor can repay the money in the normal course of doing business, the loan is deemed to be predatory and therefore null and void."<BR><BR>(4) Based on this New York State law, Hudson concludes, from B: "So far, none of these debtors have sought to annul their loans on the ground that the only way they can pay is to sell off their public enterprises and other government assets. But the enabling legislation is there, and provides an excellent model for Iceland to emulate. By pursuing this policy Iceland would achieve the kind of economic freedom defined by the classical economists [when the Chicago School doesn't strip away their ideas, see B] -- a market free of technologically unnecessary overhead charges, headed by surplus extraction by a vested oligarchy."<BR><BR>(5) Hudson also sums up Iceland's situation, from B: "Iceland is facing a bold con job. Should it feel obliged to pay countries that have no intention of ever paying their own debts?" "The point of reference should be Iceland's broad long-term picture -- the economy's survival and growth prospects for the future. Foreign-currency loans should be denominated in domestic currency at written-down (and de-indexed) interest rates, or repudiated outright. The guiding principle should be to annul debts taken out under terms that are destructive and extractive." "Iceland has an opportunity to make itself a model test case for economic justice. What better time to post the basic principle of what is to be saved -- an unsupportable debt burden that must collapse in the end, or a society's survival? Will the government defend its citizens from financial predators, or turn the economy over to them? That is the question."<BR><BR>Given the gravity of what is going on now, it is no wonder that some are calling what is now happening NOT a crisis, but a revolution. As I see it, It is a revolution that will have to reject the neo-liberal model (for everyone's sake), a model that (from B) "victimizes debtors, preventing them from paying their debts. Instead of funding new capital formation, it strips economies of their assets and empties them out. Ultimately this drags down the creditor economies themselves, as occurred in ancient Rome ..." A good protest sign would be--NO to/ANNUL extractive loans!!<BR><BR>P.S. Another article http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13133 by Stephen Lendman discusses and expands on what I call article B further confirming its importance. <br><br><center>== &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; == &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; ==</center><br><i>The "tea parties" & nano-thermite:</i>&nbsp; Below are two articles that seem helpful in understanding first, the potential of the "tea parties" and second, the actual results of a study of the dust from the WTC collapses.<BR><BR>THE TEA PARTIES:<BR><BR>Despite the final conclusions offered that seem a stretch to me, this <A HREF="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123975867505519363.html">WSJ article</A> writer seems to be correct based on what I've read from the Washington state press. First, he writes -- "so who's behind the Tax Day tea parties? Ordinary folks who are using the power of the Internet to organize." He also says that "the protests began with bloggers in Seattle, Wash., who organized a demonstration on Feb. 16." Well, my hometown is Seattle and protests started there are usually NOT going to be stupid/looney ones. The signs I saw in a number of pictures DID cover a lot of territory, but what is wrong with that? Here is the site of <A HREF="http://www.kirotv.com/slideshow/news/19189314/detail.html">some of the signs</A> I looked at.<BR><BR>Thus, my take on the tea parties is that given how the "tea party" idea of taxation without representation so appropriately fits today's circumstances where tax monies have been used to bailout the rich/the parts of the financial sector that caused the economic crisis AGAINST the wishes of the taxpayers, it makes sense for ALL Americans to use the "tea party" slogan and carry out more protests in a bi-partisan/ non-partisan way as actually HAS already occurred based on the pictures I saw. It seems to me that we need to disregard what could be planned efforts to re-direct, discredit, or destroy these protests by those who DON'T want them. There are those who are also see an effort to divide and conquer going on as in <A HREF="http://www.prisonplanet.com/dont-fall-for-the-old-divide-and-conquer-trick.html">this article</A>.<BR><BR>As for those who are asking for tax cuts, where I live there have been some and they HAVE helped everyone. Obviously, job stimulus efforts are also needed.<BR><BR>NANO-THERMITE/SUPER-THERMITE (not the typical macro-thermite):<BR><BR>The Christopher Bollyn site and his <A HREF="http://www.bollyn.com/index.php?id=10095#article_11093">"Super-Thermite Found in World Trade Center Dust" article</A> not only gives info. and a link to the relevant scientific paper, but it offers this very helpful quote from it: "'The evidence for active, highly energetic thermitic material in the WTC dust is compelling...All these data suggest that the thermitic material found in the WTC dust is a form of nanothermite, not ordinary (macro-) thermite.'"<BR><BR>He also includes this info.: "Super-thermite, which has been fabricated at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and other places, can be sprayed or even "painted" onto surfaces, effectively forming an energetic or even explosive paint, the study pointed out." Another quote from the study is this one: "'the red chips we found in the WTC dust conform to their description of 'thin films' of 'hybrid inorganic/organic energetic nanocomposite' ... indeed, the descriptive terms 'energetic coating' and 'nice adherent film' fit very well with our observations of the red-chips which survived the WTC destruction.'"<BR><BR>SO, I'm taking the tea party efforts and the WTC nano-thermite discoveries quite seriously. They even seem like breakthroughs to me. <BR><BR><DIV align="right">Marie K. &nbsp; </div><BLOCKQUOTE><i> Hudson seems interesting but I probably can't give him the time he deserves for at least a few days. The thermite finding is over my head and I won't pretend to understand it.<BR><BR>As for the tea parties, I'm from Seattle too (small world!) but it seems to me that the genesis of the protest isn't of much importance, compared to the reality of the protest.<BR><BR>The reality is that the tea party protests were hyped by people who hate everything I believe in, and attended by crowds of people who hate everything I believe in. The reality for me is that I was in downtown Madison when they held their tea party event here, and there was a very scary vibe in the air. About half of the hand-made signs I saw espoused hatred for liberals, or hatred for gays, or hatred for Obama, or hatred for "illegals", or hatred for the more left-leaning newspaper here, or hatred for something else, or fury about taxes even as taxes are being reduced for everyone but the richest of the rich. These people are my enemies, and they wanted me to know it. </i><BR><BR><DIV align="right"><i>Helen & Harry Highwater</i></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></TD></TR></TABLE> <A NAME=21HG908></A> <TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="8" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR> <TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor="#eeeeee" class="fonta"><BR> <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/0904-21.html#21HG908"><FONT COLOR=blue>#</FONT></A>&nbsp; These are the same people who are calling environmentalist and immigration rights workers, "fascists." Too bad they don't know the definition of it, as it is perfectly illustrated here.<BR><BR><A HREF="http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-yankeeslawsuit&prov=ap&type=lgns">Fan fights NY Yankees 'God Bless America' ejection</A><BR><BR>From dictionary.com:<TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH="25" class="fonty">&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" class="fonta"><BR>Fascism<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 1.. A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism. </TD></TR></TABLE><BR> <DIV align="right">Heather&nbsp;G. &nbsp; </div><BLOCKQUOTE><i> This is exactly the kind of idiocy that would get me ejected or arrested. I'm not good at dealing with bastards in authority, especially when I have to go to the bathroom.<BR><BR> Big league baseball is a purveyor of fascism, seriously. And I used to love baseball, but since I won't submit to a full-body patdown or having my purse and backpack searched, we go to minor-league and college games these days. </i><BR><BR><DIV align="right"><i>Helen & Harry Highwater</i><A NAME=24HG136></A></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE> <TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="8" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR> <TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor="#dddddd" class="fonta"> <A HREF="#24HG136"><FONT COLOR=blue>#</FONT></A>&nbsp; <i><B>4/24/2009:</B></i> &nbsp; Yeah, seriously. Can you imagine a mom with a newly potty-trained kid hopping up and down being told to wait? I would be going out of my mind. AND &#151; it's the 7th inning stretch!!! That's when you are supposed to hit the can!!!<BR><BR>F*ck the Yankees! <BR><BR><DIV align="right">Heather&nbsp;G. &nbsp; </div><!-- reply --><BLOCKQUOTE><i> I will never see the Yankees play ball again. No great loss. </i><BR><BR><DIV align="right"><i>Helen & Harry Highwater</i></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE> </TD></TR></TABLE></TD></TR></TABLE> <A NAME=18BC754></A> <TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="8" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR> <TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor="#eeeeee" class="fonta"><BR> <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/0904-21.html#18BC754"><FONT COLOR=blue>#</FONT></A>&nbsp; Well, I am listening to Dark Star by the Dead and reading about <A HREF="http://rawstory.com/08/blog/2009/04/17/bush-torture-memos-align-with-account-that-911-suspects-children-were-tortured/">how the CIA used insects to torture children of detainees</A>:<BR><BR>The news of America...<TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH="25" class="fonty">&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" class="fonta"><BR> Dark star crashes<BR>pouring its light<BR>into ashes<BR><BR>Reason tatters<BR>the forces tear loose<BR>from the axis<BR><BR>Searchlight casting<BR>for faults in the<BR>clouds of delusion<BR><BR>shall we go,<BR>you and I<BR>While we can?</TD></TR></TABLE><BR> <DIV align="right">Billie Cavanaugh &nbsp; </div></TD></TR></TABLE> <A NAME=17SJ428></A> <TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="8" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR> <TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor="#eeeeee" class="fonta"><BR> <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/0904-21.html#17SJ428"><FONT COLOR=blue>#</FONT></A>&nbsp; Here's Susan Boyle without the echo chamber and reverb effects: <A HREF="http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2009/04/16/ac.susan.boyle.sings.cnn">LINK</A>. <BR><BR>My favorite rendition of the song is this one by <A HREF="http://mysite.verizon.net/vzeeka8g/Patti2.htm">Patti LuPone </A>. Patti's got the mood right: melancholy. Susan sings it more like a victory song.<BR><BR> Susan sings "<A HREF="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jI2DxkrgpgQ">Cry Me a River</A>" from a <A HREF="http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2009/04/16/exclusive-susan-boyle-s-first-ever-song-release-revealed-listen-to-it-here-86908-21283564/">charity CD</A> made in 1999 of which only 1000 copies were made.<BR><BR> ANOTHER outstanding performance. It doesn't sound like the same person! There is the same slight quiver/stumble every now and then so I do believe it's her. But the English accent is gone. She sounds like an American. <BR><BR><DIV align="right">SirJ &nbsp; </div><BLOCKQUOTE><i> Yeah, agreed, I've read the lyrics and Ms Boyle's interpretation is all wrong, except of course that for her it really *IS* a victory song. ... Really, it's wacky how much I enjoy this woman's success...<BR><BR> As I was listening to both performances, the only accent-related thought I had was that accents seem to disappear, at least to my ear, when someone's singing. I've needed to play the clips of Boyle talking three or four times before understanding what she was saying, but the words of the songs come though plainly. Then again, maybe that's me. I pretty much can't see movies or TV from England because I lose so much in the accents; we always wait until they come out on DVD and we can watch with subtitles. </i><BR><BR><DIV align="right"><i>Helen & Harry Highwater</i></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></TD></TR></TABLE> <A NAME=17CD134></A> <TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="8" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR> <TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor="#eeeeee" class="fonta"><BR> <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/0904-21.html#17CD134"><FONT COLOR=blue>#</FONT></A>&nbsp; Even with all the insanity going on down at your end I've been a little too preoccupied to write in. It's election time in my neck of the woods and I'm ashamed to say the circus in the White House with the GOP knocking Obama's increased military budget, mindless overuse of the word socialism, and calls for Americans to visit violence upon each other makes me feel a little bit better about the cracked-out zoo fighting for supremacy in BC.<BR><BR>Watching the mud and feces fly about as the Liberals, NDP, and Conservatives launch increasingly surreal and vulgar attack ads isn't quite so sad as my realization that all options will bleed us dry and blame it on the other guy. It's bad enough that I've even considered running for Premier myself out of sheer spite but always run into a rather daunting roadblock:<BR><BR>I'm a 23 year old high school dropout with a low paying job, no political experience, no connections, and I possess all the grace and charm of the Chupacabra when speaking to a crowd at a podium. Even though having all this against me still leaves me a more palatable candidate than the freaks running now chances are good I'd be laughed out of the race before I started, assuming I figured where I'm supposed to start.<BR><BR>(Well, that and I'm too concerned with keeping my job and putting food on my table to put the time, effort, and funds into political aspirations. Sigh, I guess I shall remain the armchair politician/activist/general.)<BR><BR>Oh well. Your turn to wish us a little luck and pray for our souls.<BR><BR>My opinion on Obama's military budget is this: If he's pulling cash out of space lasers and clandestine-purposed fighter jets that would be only marginally effective in actual aerial combat scenarios in favor of funneling cash to multi-role vehicles and ground units (such as infantry) then maybe America's army will finally become as mighty as it likes to think it is. Republicans like to take potshots at healthcare spending and medical research but the money blown on defense is nothing short of insane.<BR><BR>The US goes for bleeding-edge performance in weapons systems that are either consumed in use, such as bombs, or limited in role and doomed to replacement with the next model in under a year such as stealth vehicles that become obsolete once their technology is countered. Bleeding-edge makes sense for stealth craft, but mass-producing them is a bad idea. Bombs in particular are decommissioned quite quickly as they become too unstable to use, especially if they are nuclear.<BR><BR>At the same time the military goes for 'cheap and replaceable' for redeployable assets such as a soldier's loadout. (It doesn't help that many Republicans seem to think 'cheap and replaceable' applies to the soldiers themselves.)<BR><BR>Summary: Spending all the money on the stuff that is hopefully never used and as little money as possible on gear being used repeatedly. Not a sound plan. It appears Obama isn't just spending more, he's spending smarter. Now if he'd just keep his promise on getting the troops out of the situation where they're using that gear in an occupation made on false pretenses everything would be dandy.<BR><BR>As far as the impromptu revival of the 'Star Wars' program is concerned, a DEW platform would be easily maintained on the ground rather than orbit and it wouldn't have to wait to be aligned with it's target. As a fixed structure on the ground it's purpose is entirely defensive unlike a missile 'shield' which can be fired at ground targets and with the proper targeting systems might even be able to scorch a missile in the 'terminal' phase. <BR><BR><DIV align="right">Chris D. &nbsp; </div><BLOCKQUOTE><i> Your comments are smart and spot on, as usual, but I am not feeling smart today and all my spots are off. I do most definitely return the wish for luck and prayers for your souls. </i><BR><BR><DIV align="right"><i>Helen & Harry Highwater</i></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></TD></TR></TABLE> <A NAME=17MAF1226></A> <TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="8" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR> <TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor="#eeeeee" class="fonta"><BR> <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/0904-21.html#17MAF1226"><FONT COLOR=blue>#</FONT></A>&nbsp; This article precisely lays out my worldview. I believe it should provide the framework for fundamental individual planning and decision making. Your future will *pivot* on the global developments described in this article. This will affect everything, both for you and your children and their children (to say nothing of your investments.)<BR><BR>One example mentioned in Lind's article concerns Obama's Predator bomb attacks in Pakistan. These are destabilizing Pakistan and creating millions more "America haters" (they don't hate our freedoms...)<BR><BR> <A HREF="http://original.antiwar.com/porter/errant-drone-attacks-spur-militants-in-pakistan/">Errant drone attacks spur militants in Pakistan</A><BR><BR>In fact, I believe Pakistan is like Obama's own "Bay of Pigs" debacle. But only after the disaster unfolds completely will he have the courage to possibly think about breaking with his advisers -- and then it will likely be too late. <br><br><center>== &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; == &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; ==</center><br> <A HREF="http://original.antiwar.com/lind/the-fourth-generation-armies-are-winning/">The Fourth Generation Armies Are Winning</A> by William S. Lind <TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH="25" class="fonty">&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" class="fonta"><BR> <I>Excerpt:&nbsp;</I> Iraq was not a "cakewalk," nor did our initial invasion of Afghanistan "eviscerate" the Taliban. Mullah Omar proved the better prophet; before the first American bomb fell, he said, "We will lose the government and lose Kabul, but it doesn't matter."<BR><BR>What lessons might we draw from my previous columns and their interplay with the larger world? Three seem to me to be of overriding importance.<BR><BR>1) So long as America pursues an offensive grand strategy, Fourth Generation war will ensure her defeat. The reason is Martin van Creveld's concept of the power of weakness and its intimate relationship with legitimacy. In a Fourth Generation world, legitimacy is the coin of the realm. At root, Fourth Generation war is a contest for legitimacy between the state and a wide variety of non-state primary loyalties. American power lacks legitimacy because, on the physical level, it is so overwhelming. That is the power of weakness: anyone who stands up to the American military becomes a hero. In turn, any state the American military supports loses its legitimacy. The more places America intervenes militarily, the more states lose their legitimacy, to the advantage of Fourth Generation, non-state entities. In effect, we have a reverse Midas touch. Only a defensive grand strategy, where we mind our own business and leave other states to mind theirs, can break us out of this downward spiral.<BR><BR>2) Second Generation militaries cannot win Fourth Generation wars. Second Generation armed forces, such as those of the United States, fight by putting firepower on targets. This wins at the physical level, but as it does so it brings defeat at the moral level, which is decisive in 4GW. The best current example is Pakistan, where the combination of Predator strikes and arm-twisting of the Pakistani government has undermined the legitimacy of the Pakistani state. That state now stands on the verge of disintegration, which would give al Qaeda and other Islamic 4GW forces the greatest victory they could imagine. The image on Osama's cave wall should be a Predator, with the title, "Our best weapon."<BR><BR>3) There is no chance America will adopt a defensive grand strategy or reform its military to move from the Second to the Third Generation -- a necessary though not sufficient step in confronting 4GW -- so long as the current Washington Establishment remains in power. That Establishment is drunk on hubris, cut off from the world beyond court politics and thoroughly corrupted by Pentagon "business as usual," which knows how to buy whatever political support it needs. Like all establishments, it sees any real change as a threat, to be avoided. So long as it reigns, nothing will change.<BR><BR>What are the implications of these three observations? Militarily, they portend continued failure and defeat. We will fail to get out of Iraq before the next phase of that war begins, or, worse, an Israeli attack on Iran costs us the army we have in Iraq. We will be defeated in Afghanistan, because we will refuse to scale our strategic objectives to what is possible and we will continue to alienate the population with our firepower-intensive way of war. We will push Pakistan over the brink into disintegration, which will be a strategic catastrophe of the first order. We will ignore the disintegration of the state in Mexico, while importing Mexico's disorder through our ineffective border controls. We will not even be able to stop Somali pirates. What does it say about us when the whole nation rejoices because the US Navy, the most powerful navy on earth, defeated four Somali teenagers?<BR><BR>It does not end with this. These foreign policy failures and military defeats -- or even more embarrassing "victories" -- become just two of a larger series of crises, including the economic crisis (depression followed by runaway inflation), foreign exchange crisis (collapse of the dollar), political crisis (no one in the Establishment knows what to do, but the Establishment offers the voters no alternative to itself), energy crisis, etc. Together, these discrete crises snowball into a systemic crisis, which is what happens when the outside world demands greater change than the political system permits. At that point, the political system collapses and is replaced by something else. In the old days, it meant a change of dynasty. What might it mean today? My guess is a radical devolution, at the conclusion of which life is once again local.<BR><BR>That would be, on the whole, a happy outcome. But I fear this will be a trip where the journey is not half the fun.</TD></TR></TABLE><BR> I thought that essay was remarkably well-timed. Obama's refusal to uphold US law and prosecute people for heinous crimes of torture, etc. adds much weight to the essay's conclusions (inevitable downfall.) I figure that the rest of the world will read about the US putting prisoners in wooden boxes full of insects and the other tortures and our legitimacy just goes to zero. <A HREF="http://chris-floyd.com/component/content/article/3/1743-tortured-logic-obama-writes-off-old-crimes-while-promoting-new-outrages.html">Chris Floyd wrote on this</A>, just to add to the discussion. <BR><BR><DIV align="right">Mahdi Abdul Finkelstein &nbsp; </div><BLOCKQUOTE><i> I like pretty much everything Obama's doing except the economy and the willful blind eye toward torture, but those are two pretty goddamned big exceptions. I do think he's just about as good a president as we could have possibly gotten from the corrupt election system in this country, and I sincerely doubt that's going to be good enough to save the Republic. </i><BR><BR><DIV align="right"><i>Helen & Harry Highwater</i></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></TD></TR></TABLE> <A NAME=15Wig225></A> <TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="8" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR> <TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor="#eeeeee" class="fonta"><BR> <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/0904-21.html#15Wig225"><FONT COLOR=blue>#</FONT></A>&nbsp; Re <A HREF="http://www.alternet.org/blogs/waroniraq/136387/troops_stole_boxes_of_iraq_reconstruction_cash_..._literally_..._but_there's_a_lot_more_to_the_story">Troops stole boxes of Iraq reconstruction cash ... literally ... but there's a lot more to the story</A><BR><BR> Washington says since this policy - "money for the hearts and minds" -- was so successful in Iraq It will now be launched in Afghanistan. HEY, it's worked on Wall Street.<br><br><center>== &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; == &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; ==</center> <BLOCKQUOTE><i><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/0904-14.html#koalotf-942">... let's take a moment</A> to review the situation in Somalia, and perhaps remember that Somalians have few options and more than a few legitimate gripes.</i></BLOCKQUOTE> Two wrongs do not a right make. <br><br><center>== &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; == &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; ==</center><br> <BLOCKQUOTE><i><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/0904-14.html#yc-750">Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett argue</A>, persuasively to me, that "almost every social problem common in developed societies -- reduced life expectancy, child mortality, drugs, crime, homicide rates, mental illness and obesity -- has a single root cause: inequality.</i></BLOCKQUOTE> Oh would it be so simple. When considering the complexities of the human being I seriously doubt any single "root cause" is a certainty. <br><br><center>== &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; == &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; ==</center><br> Re <A HREF="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2009/04/2009417122346647673.html"> Spain: No torture probe of Bush-Cheney staff</A><BR><BR> Strange. This case was proceeding right along until the Obama Administration spoke up and said it would not pursue any prosecution of the Bush criminals. <br><br><center>== &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; == &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; ==</center><br> Re <A HREF="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/04/2009416141045482370.html">Israel snubs UN Gaza war inquiry</A><TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH="25" class="fonty">&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" class="fonta"><BR> <I>Excerpt:&nbsp;</I> The investigation has no moral ground since it decided even before it started who is guilty and of what," Yigal Palmor, a foreign ministry spokesman, said earlier this month.</TD></TR></TABLE><BR> The same old line. Sniff Snif. <br><br><center>== &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; == &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; ==</center><br> Re <A HREF="http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=hsnews-000003098436&cpage=1">Sources: Wiretap recorded Rep. Harman (D-California) promising to intervene for AIPAC</A><BR><BR> Harmon is as two-faced as the Bush crowd. In fact I suspect that the whole Congress is guilty of lying through their teeth when it comes to AIPAC. The Democrats are just as bad as Republicans. <br><br><center>== &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; == &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; ==</center><br> Re <A HREF="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/19/opposition-grows-to-obama_n_188768.html">Opposition grows to Obama's decision not to prosecute CIA agents</A><BR><BR> A Congressional inquiry perhaps? What a laugh. The Congressional committees involved in oversight of these affairs were notified (if only, as claimed, of the minimum facts) of the torture methods at the time. Now, of course, memory lapses are all the rage. <BR><BR><DIV align="right">Wig &nbsp; </div></TD></TR></TABLE> <A NAME=18HB1033></A> <TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="8" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR> <TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor="#eeeeee" class="fonta"><BR> <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/0904-21.html#18HB1033"><FONT COLOR=blue>#</FONT></A>&nbsp; Not sure if this is of interest to you. As a New Yorker who witnessed news reported during trade center collapse that has never resurfaced since that day, this story brings back the lies in the official explanations. Keep up the good work. <A HREF="http://uncensored.co.nz/2009/04/12/danish-scientist-talks-for-10-minutes-on-tv-about-nano-thermite-found-in-the-dust-at-the-wtc/"></A> <BR><BR><DIV align="right">Harry B. &nbsp; </div><BLOCKQUOTE><i> It interests me, certainly, enough that I read it and appreciate it, but I don't have a fraction of the expertise necessary to fairly evaluate these latest claims. Basically, I stand pat at the position I've held since shortly after <NOBR>9/11/2001</NOBR> -- it is flamboyantly obvious that we've been lied to, and we'll never have the truth without a well-funded and wide-open investigation that includes subpoena power (something we'll almost certainly never live to see). </i><BR><BR><DIV align="right"><i>Helen & Harry Highwater</i></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE> Thanks for your efforts on Unknown News. Weekly is perfect. Have put it on my regular reading list. And yes -- Bush and Cheney are criminals and should be prosecuted. I'm convinced that Cheney orchestrated the entire <nobr>9/11</nobr> scenario. If you want to find the perpetrators of any crime, just look at who benefited. Have a great weekend.<BR><BR><DIV align="right">Harry B. &nbsp; </div><BLOCKQUOTE><i> Thanks for the kind words. Compliments are rare and thus really appreciated.<BR><BR>I try to avoid endorsing any particular theory of <NOBR>9/11</NOBR> -- there are so many theories and all of them sound nutty to most folks (even whichever theory is true). Until there's a serious, well-funded and wide-open investigation with subpoena power, it's all speculation and I'm a lousy speculator. Where's Columbo or McCloud when you need them?<BR><BR>But some truths are too obvious to deny: If there's anyone in America capable of plotting and possibly pulling off something so vile, Cheney would be a prime suspect. I'm never sure I truly believe in Evil except when I see his face on the telly.<BR><BR>Bush, of course, is such a bumbling drunkard I would tend to dismiss him as a suspect. </i><BR><BR><DIV align="right"><i>Helen & Harry Highwater</i></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></TD></TR></TABLE> <TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="8" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR> <TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor="#eeeeee" class="fonta"> <I><B>More comments:</B></I> <BR><BR><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/0904-14.html#17CD111"><FONT COLOR=blue> Chris D. replies to Helen & Harry</FONT></A> about that tempest in a teapot <BR><BR><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/0904-14.html#15SB254"><FONT COLOR=blue> Sherri B. replies to Marie K.</FONT></A> about 9 proposals regarding Africa </TD></TR></TABLE> <center><TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="625" border=0><TR> <TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="100%" class="fonty"><BR> <iframe src="http://www.unknownnews.org/support-wide.html" width="625" height="550" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></TD></TR></TABLE></center> <center>|&nbsp;&nbsp; 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</TD><TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="96%" class="fonty"> © &nbsp;Helen & Harry Highwater and the individual authors.</center> </TD><TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="2%" class="fonty"><!--WEBBOT bot="HTMLMarkup"startspan ALT="Site Meter"--><script type="text/javascript"language="JavaScript">var site="sm4unknownnews"</script><script type="text/javascript"language="JavaScript1.2" src="http://sm4.sitemeter.com/js/counter.js?site=sm4unknownnews"></script><noscript><A HREF="http://sm4.sitemeter.com/stats.asp?site=sm4unknownnews"target=_top><img src="http://sm4.sitemeter.com/meter.asp?site=sm4unknownnews&refer=&hours=8&minutes=53&rtype=4" border=0 title="Site Meter" height="10" width="10"></A></noscript><!-Copyright (c)2000 Site Meter --><!--WEBBOT bot="HTMLMarkup"Endspan --></TD></TR></TABLE> </TD><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH="5" BGcolor=white class="fonttnr">&nbsp;</TD> </TD><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH="5" BGcolor="#eeeeee" class="fonttnr">&nbsp;</TD> <TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH="310" BGcolor="#eeeeee" class="font14"> <TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="300" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="middle" WIDTH="1%" BGcolor="#eeeeee" class="font14">&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="middle" WIDTH="57%" class="font14"><BR> <!-- Translation--> <form action="http://www.google.com/translate" ><script language="JavaScript"> <!-- document.write ("<input name=u value="+location.href+" type=hidden>") // --></script> <input name="hl" value="en" type="hidden"> <input name="ie" value="UTF8" type="hidden"> <input name="langpair" value="" type="hidden"> <input name="langpair" value="en|ar" title="Arabic" src= "http://unknownnews.org/flagArab.gif" onclick="this.form.langpair.value=this.value" height="16" type="image" width="23"> <input name="langpair" value="en|zh-CN" title="Chinese" src= "http://unknownnews.org/flagChina.gif" onclick="this.form.langpair.value=this.value" height="16" type="image" width="23"> <input name="langpair" value="en|fr" title="French" src= "http://unknownnews.org/flagFrance.gif" onclick="this.form.langpair.value=this.value" height="16" type="image" width="23"> <input name="langpair" value="en|de" title="German" src= "http://unknownnews.org/flagGermany.gif" onclick="this.form.langpair.value=this.value" height="16" type="image" width="23"> <input name="langpair" value="en|it" title="Italian" src= "http://unknownnews.org/flagItaly.gif" onclick="this.form.langpair.value=this.value" height="16" type="image" width="23"><BR> <input name="langpair" value="en|ja" title="Japanese" src= "http://unknownnews.org/flagJapan.gif" onclick="this.form.langpair.value=this.value" height="16" type="image" width="23"> <input name="langpair" value="en|ko" title="Korean" src= "http://unknownnews.org/flagKorea.gif" onclick="this.form.langpair.value=this.value" height="16" type="image" width="23"> <input name="langpair" value="en|pt" title="Portuguese" src= "http://unknownnews.org/flagPortugal.gif" onclick="this.form.langpair.value=this.value" height="16" type="image" width="23"> <input name="langpair" value="en|es" title="Spanish" src= "http://unknownnews.org/flagSpain.gif" onclick="this.form.langpair.value=this.value" height="16" type="image" width="23"> </form> </TD><TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="middle" WIDTH="42%" BGcolor="#eeeeee" class="font13"> <A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/RSSfeed.html"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/RSS-button.gif" alt="Subscribe to our RSS feed" border="0" width="72" height="54"></A> </TD></TR></TABLE> <A NAME=casualties-box></A> <TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="290" border=0><TR> <TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" bgcolor=black WIDTH="100%" class="fonty"> <iframe src="http://www.unknownnews.org/casualtieslog.html" width="100%" height="115" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe> </TD></TR></TABLE> <A NAME=today></A><A NAME=wdwb></A><BR> <TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="8" WIDTH="295" border=1><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="300" bgcolor="#E3E4FA" class="fonta">Like the URL says, this website is about "unknown news". We post a once-weekly round-up of reports we think merit more attention, from mainstream, professional journalists, or (rarely) other sources we trust entirely.<BR><BR><center><BIG><B>What we believe</B></BIG></center><BR> 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. <BR><BR> We believe you have the right to live your own life as you choose, and others have the equal right to live <I>their</I> lives as <I>they</I> choose. It's not complicated.<BR><BR>We believe freedom leads to peace, progress, and prosperity, while its opposite -- oppression -- leads to war, terrorism, poverty, and misery. <BR><BR> 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. <BR><BR> 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. <BR><BR> 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.<BR><BR> But unlike most right-wing leaders, we mean it. <BR><BR> 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.<BR><BR>But unlike most left-wing leaders, we mean it. <BR><BR> Like libertarians, we believe it's wrong and <I>reprehensible</i> to arrest people for what they think, believe, look like, wear, eat, smoke, drink, inhale, inject, or otherwise do to themselves. <BR><BR> 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.<BR><BR> We're skeptical, and we're sick of so-called 'journalists' who aren't skeptical at all. <BR><BR>A reader asks, what are our solutions?<BR><BR>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 <i>doesn't</i> need it's yet another manifesto.<BR><BR>Our suggestion is: think.<BR><BR>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. <BR><BR> These pages are published by <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.net/bighowdy.html">Harry and Helen Highwater</A>, happily married low-income nom de plumes and rabble-rousers from Madison, Wisconsin (with a few friends scattered around the world helping out). <BR><BR> We try to spotlight news that hasn't gotten enough (or appropriate) attention in American media, along with our opinions and yours. <BR><BR> We bang our keyboards against the wall, because it doesn't hurt as much as banging our heads. <BR><BR><center><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/bighowdy.html"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/Highwaters-oldtime.jpg" border="3" width="199" height="277"></A></center><BR> <DIV align="right"><i><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/contact.html">Helen &amp; Harry Highwater</A></i> &nbsp; <BR><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;(from <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/about.html">About <I>Unknown News</i></A>)&nbsp;&nbsp;</div> </TD></TR></TABLE> <A NAME=height></A><BR> <A NAME=cops></A><A NAME=cops-box></A><!-- =cops= --><TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="295" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" class="fonta"><iframe src="http://www.unknownnews.org/policelog.html" width="295" height="2250" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="auto" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table><TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="295" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="375" bgcolor=blue class="fontbox"><TABLE CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="8" WIDTH="295" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor="#ffffff" class="fontsm"><I>Scroll down or click for more&nbsp;</I><BR><A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/cops.html"><B>unknownnews.org/cops.html</B></A>&nbsp;</TD></TR></TABLE></td></tr></table><BR> <A NAME=oldnews></A><A NAME=unymhm></A><TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="295" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" bgcolor="#eeeeee" WIDTH="100%" class="fonty"><TABLE CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="center" WIDTH="100%" BGcolor="#eeeeee" class="fonty"><center><iframe src="http://www.unknownnews.org/oldnews-frame.html" width="295" height="2250" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="auto" frameborder="0"></iframe></center><TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="295" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="295" bgcolor=darkred class="fontbox"><TABLE CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="8" WIDTH="295" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor="#ffffff" class="fontsm"><I>Scroll down or click for more&nbsp;</I><BR><A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/oldnews.html"><B>unknownnews.org/oldnews.html</B></A>&nbsp;</TD></TR></TABLE></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></td></tr></table><BR> <A NAME=introduction></a><TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="8" WIDTH="295" border=1><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="300" bgcolor="#E3E4FA" class="fonta"> <B><I>If you're new to Unknown News,</I></B>&nbsp; here are some answers to <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/faq.html">frequently asked questions</A> about the site, and <A HREF="#wdwb"><font color=blue>answers to questions we wish you'd ask instead</font></A>. 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Perhaps it sounds hokey and futile, but someone on the other end will actually take your call or read your letter and pay attention to what you say &#151; and if you say it well you can make a difference.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; A helpful hint:&nbsp; Sending a letter on paper or making a phone call takes more time and might cost a little more than sending an email, which is why <A HREF="http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa020199.htm"><b>a well-written letter</b></A> or a well-rehearsed phone call is <i>more effective</i> than an email.</TD></TR></TABLE><BR> <A HREF="https://secure.aclu.org/site/Donation2?df_id=2125&2125.donation=form1&s_src=UNW080001C00&s_subsrc=getinvolvedmenu_join_hp&JServSessionIdr006=wnbcqvc7x1.app20a"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/aclu_logo.gif" border="3" alt-"American Civil Liberties Union" width="190" height="74"></A><BR><BR> <TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="220" border=1><TR> </TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor=white class="fonty"> <table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="50" align="left"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"> <A HREF="https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?id=36"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/thumbtack.jpg" border="0" width="40" height="40"></A> </td></tr></table><BR> <A HREF="https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?id=36">Help ACORN fight<BR>the Right-wing's&nbsp;lies</A><BR><BR></TD></TR></TABLE><BR> <TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR> <TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="3%" class="fonty"> </TD><TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="49%" class="fonty"> <A HREF="http://article31.org/"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/article31.gif" border="1" width="148" height="70"></A> </TD><TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="4%" class="fonty"> </TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="37%" class="fonty"><BR> <TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="100%" border=1><TR> <TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="middle" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor=white class="fonty"> <table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="50" align="left"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"> <A HREF="http://www.actblue.com/"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/thumbtack.jpg" border="0" width="40" height="40"></A> </td></tr></table> <BR><A HREF="http://www.actblue.com/">Act<BR>Blue</A><BR><BR> </TD></TR></TABLE> </TD><TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="7%" class="fonty"> </TD></TR></TABLE><BR> <TABLE CELLPADDING="5" CELLSPACING="5" WIDTH="295" border=2><TR> <TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" class="fonty"> <TABLE CELLPADDING="5" CELLSPACING="5" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR> <TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" class="fonty"> "A mind-blowing mix of<BR>fact and fantasy, hard science<BR>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..."<BR><BR> <A HREF="http://www.jrmooneyham.com"><BIG><B>www.jrmooneyham.com</B></BIG></A> </TD></TR></TABLE></TD></TR></TABLE><BR> <BR> <TABLE CELLPADDING="1" WIDTH=300 border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH=300 BGcolor=darkred class="fonty"><TABLE CELLPADDING="8" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH="100%" BGcolor=ivory class="fonty"><B> Do we know the answers to <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/911.html">these questions about September 11?</a><BR><BR>Of course not. Nobody will know the answers until there's an open and honest investigation.<BR><BR>But anyone courageous enough to <I>think</I> can see that the pertinent questions for any serious "investigation" were never asked, let alone answered, by the official investigators.<BR><BR></B> <CENTER><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.net/stickers.html"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/911investigationsticker.jpg" border="3" width="233" height="78"></A></CENTER> <DIV align="right"><BR> <SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #dddddd">&nbsp;&nbsp;More: &nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/911.html"><FONT COLOR=blue><B>unknownnews.org/911.html</B></FONT></A>&nbsp;&nbsp;</SPAN></div> </TD></TR></TABLE></TD></TR></TABLE> <BR> <TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="300" border=2><TR> <TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor=white class="fonty"> <iframe src="http://www.unknownnews.org/blogroll.html" width="295" height="2000" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="auto" frameborder="0"></iframe> <DIV align="right"><BR> <SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #dddddd">&nbsp;&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/kissback.html"><FONT COLOR=blue><B>unknownnews.org/kissback.html</B></FONT></A>&nbsp;&nbsp;</SPAN></div><BR> </TD></TR></TABLE><BR> <TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="300" border=2><TR> <TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor=white class="fonty"> <iframe src="http://www.unknownnews.org/recentthanks.html" width="295" height="2000" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="auto" frameborder="0"></iframe> <DIV align="right"><BR> <SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #dddddd">&nbsp;&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/credits.html"><FONT COLOR=blue><B>unknownnews.org/credits.html</B></FONT></A>&nbsp;&nbsp;</SPAN></div><BR> </TD></TR></TABLE><BR> <TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="100%" border=8><TR> <TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor="white" class="fonta"> <center><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/bill-of-rights.jpg" alt="U.S. Bill of Rights" border="0" width="270" height="151"><A NAME=preamble></A></center><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <!-- 300x168 --> 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.<BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 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.<BR><A NAME=FirstAmendment></A><BR> <b>The First Amendment</b><BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 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. <BR><A NAME=SecondAmendment></A><BR> <b>The Second Amendment</b><BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 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. <BR><A NAME=ThirdAmendment></A><BR> <b>The Third Amendment</b><BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 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. <BR><A NAME=FourthAmendment></A><BR> <b>The Fourth Amendment</b><BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 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. <BR><A NAME=FifthAmendment></A><BR> <b>The Fifth Amendment</b><BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 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. <BR><A NAME=SixthAmendment></A><BR> <b>The Sixth Amendment</b><BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 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. <BR><A NAME=SeventhAmendment></A><BR> <b>The Seventh Amendment</b><BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 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. <BR><A NAME=EighthAmendment></A><BR> <b>The Eighth Amendment</b><BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. <BR><A NAME=NinthAmendment></A><BR> <b>The Ninth Amendment</b><BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. <BR><A NAME=TenthAmendment></A><BR> <b>The Tenth Amendment</b><BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 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. </TD></TR></TABLE><BR> <center><script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "pub-2996608746973398"; google_ad_width = 300; google_ad_height = 250; google_ad_format = "300x250_as"; google_ad_type = "text"; google_ad_channel = ""; google_color_border = "8B0000"; google_color_bg = "FFFFFF"; google_color_link = "000000"; google_color_text = "000000"; google_color_url = "0000FF"; //--> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script></center><BR> </TD><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH="5" BGcolor="#eeeeee" class="fonttnr"> </TD> </TR></TABLE> </body> </html>