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<A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/cops.html">Bad cops</A> &nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;&nbsp; <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/google.html">Got Google?</A> &nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;&nbsp; <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/debunk.html">Debunked</A> &nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;&nbsp; <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/DrRuhs.html">Dr Herb Ruhs</A> &nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;&nbsp; <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/">Latest update</A> &nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;&nbsp; <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/oldnews.html">Unknown news you might have missed</A> &nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;&nbsp; <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/wow.html">Words of wisdom</A> &nbsp;&nbsp;|</TD></TR></TABLE></TD></TR></TABLE> <TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="980" border=0><TR> <TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH="10" BGcolor="#eeeeee" class="fonttnr"> </TD> <TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH="10" BGcolor=white class="fonttnr">&nbsp;</TD> <TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH="635" BGcolor=white class="fonta"> <A NAME=12></A><BR> <table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="20%" align="left"><tr><TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="middle" WIDTH="99%" class="font18" bgcolor=darkred> <NOBR><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/0905-12.html"><font color=white><b>Tuesday<BR>May&nbsp; 12, &nbsp;2009</b></font></A></NOBR></TD><TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="1%" class="fonta">&nbsp;</td></tr></table> <!-- =1111111111= --> <!-- == --><A NAME=slt-1013></A> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Attorney General Eric Holder personally authorized international "renditions" of terror suspects while he was a deputy to then-President Bill Clinton's Attorney General, Janet Reno. This is now being lorded over Holder's head to pressure him to stand firmly against any investigation of the Bush-Cheney administration's crimes against humanity. And it's probably working.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; That's why any hypothetical investigation must be taken out of Holder's hands, and turned over to an independent prosecutor, someone willing to investigate honestly and follow the facts where they lead. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://legalschnauzer.blogspot.com/2009/05/is-eric-holder-compromised-on-torture.html">Legal&nbsp;Schnauzer</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <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/protest2.jpg" border="1" width="298" height="580"><p> "The great and invigorating influences in American life have been the unorthodox: the people who challenge an existing institution or way of life, or say and do things that make people think." <i>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;William&nbsp;O.&nbsp;Douglas</i> </td></tr></table></td></tr></table> <!-- == --><A NAME=wdnalt-135></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; TV preacher and milti-millionaire Pat Robertson is being sued for $3.6-million by SunTrust Banks, over a scuttled oil refinery project. <BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <A HREF="http://www.nndb.com/people/552/000022486/">This charlatan's shenanigans</A> never end, and I've never been able to fathom how anyone could be fooled into believing Robertson is a man of God. <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://hamptonroads.com/2009/05/suntrust-sues-pat-robertson-over-refinery-project">The Virginian-Pilot </A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=slt-1209></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Germany is banning MON 810, one of the more horrific breeds of genetically modified (GM) corn brought to you by Monsanto's biotech labs.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13">Monsanto and a handful of other global biotech giants have quietly spread the seeds of these genetically altered Frankenfoods to so many farms over the past decade that about a third of the foods on US supermarket shelves now contain organisms with tampered DNA &#151; everything from baby food and milk to products made with soybean and corn. Thanks to well-placed campaign donations and powerhouse lobbying, this infiltration of our food supply has been done with practically no consumer awareness, since both Bill Clinton's and George W's administrations have let these foodstuffs be sold in America without so much as a label on them to tell us that we're buying something that our families might prefer to <nobr> avoid.<img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-end.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13"></nobr> &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/21703">Der&nbsp;Spiegel; distilled&nbsp;by Smirking&nbsp;Chimp</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=slt-1211></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13">Someone says they've stolen 8.3 million patient records, and now the FBI is on the case. However strange this crime may sound, it was a predictable event. Stranger and more severe crimes are coming, if they're not here <nobr> already.<img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-end.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13"></nobr> &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/21710">Smirking&nbsp;Chimp</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=ctkh-909></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; For generations dating back to the McCarthy hearings and perhaps earlier, the Republican Party has used its alleged hyper-patriotism as a bludgeon against all opposition. And yet, in a poll conducted in April 2009, when respondents were asked, "Do you think the state that you live in would be better off as an independent nation or as part of the United States of America?", only 62% of self-identified Republicans answered that the United States should remain a nation. Twelve percent of Republicans said their state should secede from the Union, while 26% of Republicans replied "unsure". Among Democrats, by comparison, 91% would choose to remain Americans, while a combined 9% of Democrats say they're either in favor of or uncertain about secession. <A NAME=1234567890></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"><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="100" align="right"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="right" width="100%"><img src="http://unknownnews.org/yelling.jpg" alt="Fools on parade" border="0" width="95" height="95"></TD></TR></TABLE><I><B>Politicians &&nbsp;pundits</B></I><BR> <BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <i>America's mainstream political discourse is dominated by lies, insults, general nuttiness, 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 (even when such criticism is warranted and true) is "outside the mainstream", by definition</i>.<BR> <!-- =politicians --> <BR><A HREF="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/06/gop-whacks-obama-on-gitmo_n_198039.html">Republican Party presents: "Guantanamo Bay Terrorists: Coming To A Neighborhood Near You?"</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://www.bobcesca.com/blog-archives/2009/05/the_keep_terror.html">Republicans announce fear-hyped "Keep Terrorists Out Of America Act", as if Guantanamo prisoners are going to be released in your town</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/president-obama/gop-leaders-to-escalate-national-security-attacks-on-obama/">Republican Party leaders to escalate national security attacks on Obama</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/gingrich-obama-wants-get-morning-and">Gingrich (ret'd R-Georgia) says Obama wants to "get up in the morning and punish Americans"</A><BR> <BR><!-- =pundits --><I>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 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.</I><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://www.americablog.com/2009/05/cbs-golf-analyst-david-feherty-says-us.html">CBS golf analyst David Feherty says "any US soldier" would assassinate Pelosi and Reid if given the chance</A><BR> <!-- =fake journalism --> <!-- =Beck --><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://www.unknownnews.net/tv-beck.jpg" alt="Fox's Glenn Beck" border="1" width="100" height="100"></td></tr></table> <BR><A HREF="http://www.dailykostv.com/w/001282/">Fox's Beck says US government "is the devil"</A><BR> <!-- =Buchanan --> <BR><A HREF="http://mediamatters.org/clips/200905050036">MSNBC's Buchanan: "What is happening now to white men right now is exactly what was done to black folks for years"</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://mediamatters.org/clips/200905070016">Buchanan: "What [Obama has] done here is clearly disrespect the Christian community deliberately"</A><BR> <!-- =Coulter --> <BR><A HREF="http://conwebwatch.tripod.com/blog/index.blog/1906556/wnd-still-perpetuating-hatecrimes-lies/">CNS lies that hate crimes bill "would grant special federal resources and preferred minority status to pedophiles, homosexuals, cross-dressers"</A><BR> <!-- =Fox News --> <BR><A HREF="http://www.newshounds.us/2009/05/09/fox_nations_inflammatory_and_inaccurate_headline_foments_anti_islamic_bigotry.php">Fox Nation's inflammatory and inaccurate headline foments anti-Islamic bigotry</A><BR> <!-- =Hannity --><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="140" align="right"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"> <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/tv-hannity.jpg" alt="Fox's Sean Hannity" border="1" width="120" height="80"></td></tr></table> <BR><A HREF="http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/sean-hannity-urging-americans-armed">Is Sean Hannity urging Americans to armed revolt?</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://mediamatters.org/clips/200905050045">With "our liberties once again threatened" by the Obama administration, Fox's Hannity unveils his own "Tree of Liberty"</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://www.newshounds.us/2009/05/08/hannity_adopts_sensationalized_republican_video_about_guantanamo_bay_prison_as_his_own.php">Hannity adopts sensationalized Republican video about Guantanamo Bay Prison as his own</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://mediamatters.org/clips/200905040044">Fox's Hannity says "the chances... are zero" that "radical activist" Obama will select a justice who will "follow the rule of law and the Constitution"</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/hannity-lies-about-hate-crimes-bill">Fox's Hannity lies about hate-crimes bill, claims Dems protect pedophiles but not veterans</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/07/hannity-attacks-obama-for_n_198851.html">Fox's Hannity attacks Obama for putting fancy mustard on his burger</A><BR> <!-- =-Joe the Plumber (who's not a plumber) --> <BR><A HREF="http://blog.indecisionforever.com/2009/05/05/heroic-plumber-admits-strange-and-unusual-gays-are-in-fact-people/">Joe the Plumber (who's not a plumber) says he has homosexual friends, but he wouldn't let them near his children</A><BR> <!-- =Limbaugh --><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://www.unknownnews.net/radio-limbaugh.jpg" alt="Rush Limbaugh" border="1" width="100" height="87"></td></tr></table> <BR><A HREF="http://mediamatters.org/clips/200905050014">Limbaugh says people are "more afraid of their government than they have ever been"</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://mediamatters.org/clips/200905050019">Limbaugh says liberals "have contempt for average people"</A><BR> <!-- =O'Reilly --><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="120" align="right"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"> <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/tv-oreilly.jpg" alt="Fox's Bill O'Reilly" border="1" width="100" height="90"></td></tr></table> <BR><A HREF="http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/rewriting-history-famed-wwii-histori">Fox's O'Reilly smears yet another Allied hero</A><BR> <!-- =Robertson--> <BR><A HREF="http://mediamatters.org/research/200905070030">Pat Robertson suggests "ultimate conclusion" of legal same-sex marriage is legal polygamy, bestiality, child molestation, pedophilia</A><BR> <!-- =WND --> <BR><A HREF=""http://conwebwatch.tripod.com/blog/index.blog/1906556/wnd-still-perpetuating-hatecrimes-lies/"><i>World Net Daily</i> spreads lie that hate crimes bill "would provide special protections for pedophiles"</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://conwebwatch.tripod.com/blog/index.blog/1906189/meet-molotov-mitchell/"><i>World Net Daily</i> pictures Obama in brownshirt, waving Nazi flag</A><BR> <BR><I>&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. <BR>&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.</i> <DIV align="right"><i>&#151;H&HH &nbsp; </i></div> </td></tr></table></td></tr></table> <BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The response among Republicans to this question is startling and worrisome. Among Republicans, nearly one in four (12% secede + 26% not sure = 38%) are really, truly, and literally un-American &#151; what else can you call it, when they're uncertain or outright opposed to the continued existence of the United States as a 50-state Union? Of this 38% of Republicans who are literally un-American, it seems self-evident to me that a small but still significant number are literally dangerous to public safety (though that specific question wasn't polled).<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Perhaps you remember <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/debunk-frame.html#20090416">a few weeks ago</A>, when a leaked report from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) assessed the growing anger and danger of American far, far-right groups and activists? Well, among the right-wing, the hyped-up <A HREF="http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/house-republicans/conservatives-keep-hitting-napolitano-over-extremist-report-despite-multiple-apologies/">anger over this has never subsided</A>. Which, again, shows that the DHS's concern wasn't wrong-headed at all. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_05/018062.php">Washington&nbsp;Monthly</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=ctkh-908></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13">When Sean Hannity <A HREF="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/2/26/171533/093/468/702281">runs a poll</A> asking whether his viewers prefer a military coup, secession or armed rebellion &#151; and armed rebellion wins &#151; that's evidence of this kind of shift. Right-wing talkers have built careers out of demonizing liberals; but when they start talking about what specific steps should be taken against them, that's not something we should <nobr> ignore.<img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-end.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13"></nobr> &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/139825/the_far_right%27s_first_100_days%3A_getting_more_extreme_by_the_day/?page=entire">AlterNet</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- =eu= --><A NAME=slt-1130></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The European Parliament has passed legislation recognizing internet access as a human right, a legal first, I believe. Called the 'Telecoms Package', the bill also supports net neutrality. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-299414.html">ZDNet</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=slt-159></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Duke Energy &#151; not exactly a hotbed of progressive activism &#151; has quit its membership in the National Association of Manufacturers, at least in part because Duke wants to distance itself from NAM's policy of opposing any serious response to global climate change. Let's not read too much into this, but it has to be a good sign. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=atyJ49Zn3uQU">Bloomberg&nbsp;News&nbsp;Service</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=tirb-748></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; There's evidence to suggest that R. Allen Stanford, the Texas banking billionaire involved in allegations of sweeping fiscal misconduct, was protected in his criminal conduct from Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) scrutiny because he had a lucrative deal as the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). BBC's <i>Panorama</i> reports that for more than a decade, Stanford was passing information to the DEA about money-laundering by several South American druglords, and that in exchange an un-named American governmental agency &#151; the DEA, presumably &#151; told the SEC to back off on any investigations. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/stanford-was-informant-for-us-antidrug-agents-1682649.html">The&nbsp;Independent</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- =torture --> <!-- == --><A NAME=wdnalt-235></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Human Rights Watch says that about 100 prisoners have died during US "interrogations", and an unknown number of those people were tortured to <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%"> <img src="http://unknownnews.org/torture-icon.jpg" alt="Torture is not an American ideal." border="1" width="125" height="167"></td></tr></table> death. It's an unknown number because so far, the investigations into these deaths have been rare and halfhearted. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-05-05/how-many-were-tortured-to-death/full/">The&nbsp;Daily&nbsp;Beast</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=eureka-153></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Nineteen Democratic leaders in Congress were briefed on Bush-Cheney torture policies, all along the way. This is hardly news, but the CIA has released a document making it explicitly plain, describing <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13">a meeting held between CIA staff and then-House Intelligence Committee Chairman Porter Goss and now-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, which shows that Pelosi was briefed on the Bush Administration's torture techniques in 2002 &#151; even though she's publicly said she was never told about the use of waterboarding. Equally striking, however, is the volume of the briefings that have been conducted on the CIA's interrogation practices since 2002. The document runs ten pages, with up to four briefings a <nobr> page.<img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-end.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13"></nobr><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Some Democrats are aghast, but I'm not a Democrat, and to me this seems like <i>a helpful development</i> &#151; maybe it makes calls for prosecution seem a little less partisan. Maybe it finally explains Pelosi's hard work at keeping impeachment off the table during the Bush-Cheney administration. But it absolutely doesn't matter whether war criminals are Democrats or Republicans. The call continues, and it's the same call, for an honest investigation, followed by fair prosecutions, if the investigation produces evidence. Believe me, if Nancy Pelosi is an accomplice, <A HREF="http://www.atlargely.com/atlargely/2009/05/pot-wants-to-investigate-kettle.html">prove it and then jail her</A>, same as the rest.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <A HREF="http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/torture/cia-admits-that-info-about-torture-briefings-for-dems-may-not-be-accurate/">Greg Sargent at <i>The Plum Line</i></A> sees these CIA documents as possibly debunking themselves, with a line in a letter that accompanied the released memos. <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13">This information, however, is drawn from the past files of the CIA and represents MFRs [memorandums for the record] completed at the time and notes that summarized the best recollections of those individuals. In the end, you and the Committee will have to determine whether this information is an accurate summary of what <nobr> happened.<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 like and respect Greg Sargent, but I gotta say whoop-de-doo to this. To my reading it means nothing beyond a little ass-covering by the authors, in case they've gotten something (accidentally or intentionally) wrong. It's a leap to assume that we know what the authors are specifically unwilling to stand behind, an unwarranted leap even to assume that the authors themselves are specifically disavowing something specific.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; That said, I'll also say this: Right-wing types are having a field day touting the allegations of detailed briefings for Pelosi, and the right-wing types touting it the loudest are people who've never told the truth about any matter remotely connected to public policy. The notion that Pelosi was fully briefed has been out there for <i>years</i> &#151; I remember covering it at <i>Unknown News</i> circa 2005 or 2006 &#151; so it's curious that it's suddenly newsworthy just as torture suddenly gets some media attention. And certainly, it's entirely possible that the whole shebang is a set-up to get Pelosi.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Who the hell knows the truth? That's why &#151; again &#151; we need an open, honest, above-board investigation headed by a special prosecutor who's not connected to the criminals and alleged criminals of either party. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/may2009/memo-m09.shtml">World&nbsp;Socialist&nbsp;Website</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=tirb-1121></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13">British journalist and historian Andy Worthington, an expert and author on Guantanamo, reports that the man who had supplied a key false tie between Iraq and al-Qaeda &#151; after being tortured in Egypt, where he had been rendered by the US &#151; has died in a Libyan prison. "Dead of suicide in his cell," according to a Libyan <nobr> newspaper.<img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-end.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13"></nobr> &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7133">BradBlog</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=wdnalt-223></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Top-level CIA officials were given daily briefings on the torture of Abu Zubaydah. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.pubrecord.org/torture/881-top-cia-officials-were-given-daily-torture-updates-of-zubaydah.html">The&nbsp;Public&nbsp;Record</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- =civilliberties= --> <!-- == --><A NAME=wdnalt-155></A> <BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; According to a Zogby poll, 52% of Americans favor legalization of marijuana. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://groups.google.com/group/soc.retirement/browse_thread/thread/ef51d8ffeada96e5/a8e80e99170b6c1b?lnk=raot">Huffington&nbsp;Post</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <A NAME=bysiar-552></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-California) says "it's time for a debate" about legalizing marijuana for recreational purposes. It's not time to actually legalize the dang weed, he says, but it's time to debate it, which sounds about 50% sane and puts Schwarzenegger about 49 points ahead of anybody else in politics. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.sacbee.com/1095/story/1836403.html">Sacramento&nbsp;Bee</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=ctkh-950></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Mexico's legislature is again trying to legalize possession of small quantities of marijuana, amphetamines and methamphetamines, cocaine, heroin, LSD, and opium. They came close to accomplishing this three years ago, but it was effectively vetoed by a phone call from American President George W Bush. This time it'll almost certainly be quashed by a phone call from American President Barack Obama. And of course, without legalization &#151; probably on a scale much grander than this &#151; Mexico's ongoing druglord wars and violence will be endless. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7014999455">All&nbsp;Headline&nbsp;News</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=eureka-117></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; President Obama received a letter from yet another soldier drummed out of the military for being gay, and he responded with a handwritten letter reiterating that he is still "committed to changing our current policy" but that "it will take some time to complete (partly because it needs Congressional action)."<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Meanwhile, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" claims <A HREF="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_05/018085.php">yet another soldier's career</A>, and this one's an Arab linguist and lord knows we don't need any of those. Of course, these boot-outs happen far more often than it makes the news. According to <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don't_ask,_don't_tell#Statistics">Wikipedia</A>, 11,694 military personnel have been dumped for their gayness since Bill Clinton enacted this dumb and unAmerican policy in 1994. Quick math: that's about 780 careers ruined per year, or about two careers ruined every day, including weekends.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; And Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) says "<A HREF="http://thinkprogress.org/2009/05/10/mccain-dont-ask-dont-tell/">the policy has 'been working</A> and I think it's been working well". &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://thinkprogress.org/2009/05/08/obama-dont-ask-dont-tell/">ThinkProgess</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=mc-1057></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Gay marriage is now legal in Maine. In this heartbreaking report, Gerry Canavan observes the tragic mental malfunction of some old fuddyduddy in Maine's State House who can't bring herself to support rights for gays despite having a lesbian daughter. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://gerrycanavan.blogspot.com/2009/05/epistemology-of-closet.html">Gerry&nbsp;Canavan</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=eureka-722></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13">As meager as support for gay marriage is now &#151; 49% in WashPost, 44% in CNN, 42% in the Times/CBS and 38% in Qunnipiac &#151; it is still about double the 20% approval for interracial marriage in the country a few months after [racially] mixed marriages became <nobr> legal.<img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-end.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13"></nobr> &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.pensitoreview.com/2009/05/08/gay-marriage-support-double-approval-of-mixed-marriage-in-1968/">pensitoreview.com</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- =2222222222= --> <!-- =3333333333= --> <!-- =bailout =economy--><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=wdnalt-1214></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says that the "stress tests" on major banks are "reassuring", and show that the banks have sufficient cushions and remain viable.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; It's mildly entertaining, in a sick way, to see an utter buffoon at the helm as America sails into economic catastrophe. This guy Geithner would've been an embarrassment to the Bush-Cheney administration, and he's an enormously toxic asset to Obama. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=washingtonstory&sid=aB3.jimFDoS8">Bloomberg&nbsp;News&nbsp;Service</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <A NAME=bysiar-105></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 fact that Citibank can negotiate the outcome of the stress tests is, I think, pretty good evidence that banks have become too big and too politically powerful for our collective <nobr> good.<img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-end.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13"></nobr> &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2009/05/troubled-banks-must-be-allowed-a-way-to-fail.html">Economist's&nbsp;View</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=eureka-328x></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Citibank's mortgage portfolio is awesome in its awfulness. As John Carney writes, "The fact that Citi loaded itself up with such a large amount of toxic mortgages boggles the mind. They really must have been scraping the bottom of the barrel, buying up risky loans in a desperate search for yield." &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.businessinsider.com/citis-stunningly-crappy-mortgage-portfolio-2009-5">Business&nbsp;Insider</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=slt-326></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; To say thanks for all the billions and billions of dollars that's keeping Citigroup alive, the finance giant has sent an email to, apparently, all recipients of student loans in its database. The spam provides misleading information and asks the loan recipients to speak out against the Obama administration's plan to cut the middleman &#151; i.e., CitiGroup &#151; out of student loans. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/05/if_citigroup_--_recipient_of.php">TPM&nbsp;Muckraker</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- next week's main page --><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="340" align="right"><tr><td class="fonta" 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="fonta"> <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/0905-07HR.html"><b>You were there when America's<BR>casino economics collapsed</b></A><BR>by Herb Ruhs, MD<BR><BR> <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/0905-07HR.html"> <img src="http://unknownnews.org/greedybastard-hr.jpg" border="3" width="320" height="294"></A><BR><BR> The entire nation is being extorted for astronomic amounts of money for which we are taking out loans in the form of the national debt that we will be paying off for multiple generations ensuring a radically reduced standard of living for the 99% of the population that was not part of the gambling scheme that produced the debt! We have sold ourselves into generation after generation of debt peonage and virtual serfdom. &nbsp;... <DIV align="right"><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/0905-07HR.html.html"><FONT COLOR=blue><i>...&nbsp;Continue&nbsp;reading&nbsp;...</i></FONT></A> &nbsp; </div></td></tr></table></td></tr></table> <!-- == --><A NAME=eureka-652></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Fannie Mae is asking the Treasury for another $19,000,000,000, and of course, they'll get it. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://money.cnn.com/2009/05/08/news/companies/fannie_mae/?postversion=2009050811">Cable&nbsp;News&nbsp;Network</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=mc-738></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Bank of America needs $35-billion, we are told, and this bullsh*t is becoming more and more expensive, and the American Treasury really isn't bottomless. What Bank of America "needs" is to file bankruptcy and fade away in an orderly manner. This entire bipartisan bailout program has been the most biggest and <i>most obvious</i> bipartisan boondoggle since Bush's trumped-up attack on Iraq. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2009/05/06/a-stress-test-shocker/">Reuters&nbsp;News&nbsp;Agency</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=slt-311></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The actual unemployment rate is now at 15.8%. Those people need some bailing out too, and in fact, I think we'd have a quicker economic recovery if the federal government was spending trillions to support, re-train, and "bail out" these real people, instead of the perps who walk Wall Street. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/economy-watch/2009/05/actual_us_unemployment_158.html">Washington&nbsp;Post</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=wdnalt-1020></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Stephen Friedman, chairman of the board at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, has resigned after his jaw-droppingly blatant conflict of interest made the papers &#151; he is (or was) also on the Board at Goldman Sachs, bought lots of stock as the Fed was considering the fate of Goldman Sachs, and he's made more than a million bucks profit on that deal, which certainly looks like what I think of as insider trading.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; It is hard to believe this guy. One would think that the man would have a clue about why (alleged) self-dealing from a position of authority is frowned upon. Apparently, from the story, the man was (allegedly) oblivious to both reality and appearances. <nobr>&nbsp; --Austin Heiber</nobr> &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/05/07/new-york-fed-chairman-friedman-abruptly-resigns/">Raw&nbsp;Story</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=eureka-648></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; General Motors is losing $113 million per day, worldwide. Wow. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.finanzaonline.com/forum/showpost.php?s=8b760fe1613182446aac39aeed7c5945&p=21407359&postcount=236">New&nbsp;York&nbsp;Times</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=slt-1212></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13">If you look closely at the way the auto bailout is being managed, it appears that one of the major results will be that American taxpayers' money will be used to move automotive jobs away from America, into low-wage foreign nations. This is what happens when a bailout is treated like an investment banking problem, not a business-rebuilding or job-creating program. A taxpayer bailout should not move jobs from the Midwest to low-wage <nobr> nations.<img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-end.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13"></nobr> &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/21711">Smirking&nbsp;Chimp</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=ctkh-749></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13">Mindful of his predecessor, Barack Obama seems to be trying harder to make sure he hears all sides. On the night of April 27, for instance, the president invited to the White House some of his administration's sharpest critics on the economy, including New York Times columnist Paul Krugman and Columbia University economist Joseph Stiglitz. Over a roast-beef dinner, Obama listened and questioned while Krugman and Stiglitz, both Nobel Prize winners, pushed for more aggressive government intervention in the banking <nobr> system.<img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-end.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13"></nobr><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; And says Krugman <A HREF="http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/05/nothing-to-say/">at his blog</A>: <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13">Andrew Leonard and Calculated Risk want to know why I didn't blog about dinner at the White House. Um, because the conversation was off the <nobr> record.<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 gotta admit, I feel a little reassured just knowing Obama has at least heard them out. These guys know what they're talking about and make sense to me, and I've never gotten that impression listening to Tim Geithner or Ben Bernanke or Lawrence Summers. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.newsweek.com/id/195666">Newsweek</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=slt-1231></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Another 539,000 Americans lost their jobs in April. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/may2009/jobs-m09.shtml">World&nbsp;Socialist&nbsp;Website</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- =world= --><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="140" align="left"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"> <img src="http://unknownnews.org/globegirl.jpg" alt="pictire of bank robber" border="0" width="120" height="161"></td></tr></table> <!-- == --><A NAME=ctkh-773></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; China is willing to discuss limits on carbon exhibits and other responses to global climate change. The change in China's position is attributed to the Obama administration's beginning of a response to the crisis, which has convinced Chinese leaders that America and perhaps the rest of the developed world is serious about this. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/06/china-seeks-climate-change-deal">The&nbsp;Guardian</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- =iraq= --><A NAME=mc-900></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13">Iraqi soldiers killed a Sunni Arab fighter from a US-allied local militia unit on Tuesday and arrested his brother, Iraqi police said. Basim Mohammad was shot during a raid in Abu Ghraib, a predominantly Sunni district on the western outskirts of Baghdad, a police source in the district <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; The reports almost daily of Sunni Arab fighters being seized by the Iraqi central government indicate that civil war is not far from erupting and the American forces are going to be caught in the middle. <nobr>&nbsp; --Wig</nobr> &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=101678">Daily&nbsp;Star&nbsp;(Lebanon)</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <A NAME=pakistan></A> <!-- == --><A NAME=wdnalt-1245></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Defense Secretary Robert Gates has reassured troops that they won't be sent to attack Pakistan. No, we're just going to bomb the @#$% out of them. <nobr>&nbsp; --Wig</nobr> &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.military.com/news/article/gates-us-troops-wont-fight-in-pakistan.html?ESRC=eb.nl">Associated&nbsp;Press</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=wdnalt-1249></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13">Writing in the <I>Los Angeles Times</I>, Doyle McManus notes that counterinsurgency guru David Kilcullen has told Congress that US drone strikes in Pakistan are backfiring and should be <nobr> stopped.<img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-end.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13"></nobr> &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.truthout.org/050709A">TruthOut</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <A NAME=smiles></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%"><BR><TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="8" WIDTH="100%" border=1><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" class="fonta"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="136" align="right"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="right" width="100%"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/bracedteeth.jpg" border="1" width="116" height="62"></TD></TR></TABLE> <center><I><B>Much-needed smiles</B></I></center> <BR><A HREF="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/will-menaker/michele-bachmann-revealed_b_198054.html">"Michele Bachmann" revealed as elaborate "Borat" style hoax</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://blog.indecisionforever.com/2009/05/08/fox-news-gets-to-the-bottom-of-sciences-anti-science-agenda/">Fox News gets to the bottom of science's anti-science agenda</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://www.theonion.com/content/video/trekkies_bash_new_star_trek_film?utm_source=a-section">Trekkies bash new <i>Star Trek</i> film as 'fun, watchable'</A><BR> </td></tr></table></td></tr></table> <A NAME=bysiar-102></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The United Nations relief missions in Pakistan are being severely stressed by tens of thousands of the newly displaced in northwestern Pakistan. The Taliban has <A HREF="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/67571.html">taken Swat and Buner</A>, and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari only seems willing to send in the Army when the Obama administration demands that he do so.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I'll go on record as saying I don't like the Taliban, and I'm all for humanitarian aid and rescue work and such, but we've got armed forces there and we're sending more and I wonder, why is this going to be America's fight? &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/05/04/pakistan.refugees/">Cable&nbsp;News&nbsp;Network</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- =Afghanistan= --><A NAME=eureka-104></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; US airstrikes inside Afghanistan last week killed a few dozen more people guilty of nothing beyond being in the wrong place at the wrong time. And again I wonder, what are we killing these people for? In a region famed for its acts of violence and vengeance, what do we expect the brothers and fathers and sons of the dead to do in response? &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/67802.html?ref=fp9">McClatchy&nbsp;Newspapers</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- =military proseletyzing= --><A NAME=bysiar-526></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; To an ever-increasing extent, reports suggest that the US military in the Middle East is trying to advance Christianity among the natives. It's <A HREF="http://donklephant.com/2009/05/04/why-religion-and-military-dont-mix/">a recurring problem</A>, a bad idea, a damned dangerous trend, and of course, it's un-constitutional &#151; and it's been exposed and re-exposed, and it just goes on and on and on.<BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; US soldiers had an apparently well-organized plan to hand out Bibles to Afghans, according to this coverage that curiously leaves unanswered the most obvious question &#151; just how big is/was this proselytizing program? We're told that the Bibles were not distributed, but are we talking about 70 Bibles or 7,000,000 Bibles? The reporter doesn't say. <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%"><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></TR></TABLE> <BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "Last July, just months before the radio economy went into free-fall, Limbaugh's bosses at Clear Channel, who enjoy deep ties to Texas Republicans and who have been at the forefront of promoting right-wing radio, rewarded the turbo-talker with the biggest contract in terrestrial radio history. The contract included an eye-popping 40 percent raise over his already gargantuan pay, despite the fact it's doubtful any other radio competitors could have even matched Limbaugh's old pay scale.<BR><BR>"The astronomical worth of Limbaugh's eight-year pact: $400 million. The amount of money Clear Channel execs have been trying to scrimp and save this year as they lay off thousands from the struggling company: $400 million. Ironic, don't you think?" <DIV align="right"><A HREF="http://mediamatters.org/columns/200905050007">Eric&nbsp;Boehlert</A></div><BR> <BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "If the 'consequence' for blowing a $4 trillion hole in the economy is seeing masses of government officials line up to hurl billions of taxpayer dollars at you, that doesn't provide much of an incentive to fix your behavior. This is one area where there should have been a seamless melding of public outrage and government policy: we should have swooped in, rounded up 200 of the most guilty executives, hauled them before congress in a public trial, and packed them all off to a Supermax in Florence, Colorado to do real time with murderers, rapists and terrorists. Reality shows should have been quickly green-lighted to track their progress in the hole (can you imagine the ratings for a show called Project D-Block starring John Thain, Angelo Mozilo and Dick Fuld?)." <DIV align="right"><A HREF="http://trueslant.com/matttaibbi/2009/05/05/credit-card-companies-as-evil-villains-its-not-that-simple-los-angeles-times/">Matt&nbsp;Taibbi</A></div><BR> <BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "Something about 9/11 seems to have produced a kind of amnesia among some people on the right. It's as though they think that we have never before had to figure out such questions as: how can we hold dangerous people in detention safely?" <DIV align="right"><A HREF="http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2009/05/dueling-videos.html">Hilzoy</A></div><BR> <BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "There is no reason riding a bicycle on the sidewalk, feeding the homeless, sleeping in a cardboard box, or peeing in public should require someone to spend time in jail and court. Locking people up and occupying the courts for any of these offenses is an enormous waste of public money. Several states have made moves to remove jail sentences from many nonviolent misdemeanors like these. The result is that there are fewer cases going through the court system and fewer people in jail. Any reduction in the case load of the public defenders will increase the amount of time they can spend on their remaining cases, and is a positive step toward restoring the civil liberties of everyone in the misdemeanor court system." <DIV align="right"><A HREF="http://blog.aclu.org/2009/05/08/should-peeing-on-the-street-really-land-you-in-jail/">William Kuhns</A></div> </td></tr></table></td></tr></table> <BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "Most of this is taken out of context", says Greg Julian, a US colonel in Afghanistan. "This is irresponsible and inappropriate journalism. This footage was taken a year ago ... the Bibles were taken into custody and not distributed. There is no effort to go out and proselytize to Afghans.&nbsp;..." The only thing out of context is why this didn't come to light a year ago. And, btw, we're supposed to take Col Julian's statement on faith? <nobr>&nbsp; --Wig</nobr><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In response to the above, the Pentagon called al-Jazeera "irresponsible" for its report. So in an in-your-face move, al-Jazeera released <A HREF=http://rebelreports.com/post/103831597/al-jazeera-strikes-back-at-pentagon-releases-unedited">unedited video of the American soldiers' 'hunt for Jesus'</A>. It's a pity &#151; albeit an intentional pity &#151; that few Americans will see this footage. Al-Jazeera is, last time I checked, on some two or three tiny cable systems in America, and doesn't exist on 99.99& of US TVs. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.military.com/news/article/army-says-it-confiscated-afghan-bibles.html?col=1186032310810"><nobr>Mclatchy (sic) -Tribune</nobr> <nobr>News Service</nobr></A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- =Iran= --><A NAME=eureka-108></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Roxana Saberi, the Iranian-American reporter jailed in Iran as a purported spy, has ended her hunger strike. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8035249.stm">BBC&nbsp;News</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- =England= --><A NAME=mc-651></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; England's Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has released a list of non-Brits who, she says, won't be allowed to visit, and there's much kerfuffle that American radio hatemonger Michael Savage is among the listed, alongside Muslim and Jewish extremists, neo-Nazis, nutbag Baptist Fred Phelps, et al. Savage says he'll <A HREF="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8035114.stm">sue for defamation of character</A>, which, if he actually follws through, could make for an amusing court case &#151; how, precisely, does one defame a man of no character?<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; On the one hand there's a rock-solid argument that government should never punish people for their free speech, and I agree wholeheartedly. America can't arrest Savage for his hate-filled statements or kick him out, because he's an American. But England, like any other nation, gets to decide who can legally enter their country and who can't, and why should they welcome a man known only for being loud, angry, rude, mean, and stupid at least five days a week? &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-tc-nw-briefs-05062may06,0,5586797.story">Chicago&nbsp;Tribune</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- =israel= --><A NAME=ctkh-936></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Israel thinks Pope Benedict should be a bit less supportive of holocaust deniers. That seems like a good idea, considering <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/050426a-hh.html">the Pope's Nazi-tinged past</a>. And a few paragraphs down in this <i>London Telegraph</i> article there's this inexplicable oddity:<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13">The Pope will visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem on Monday, but he will not step inside the <nobr> museum.<img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-end.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13"></nobr><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Really? The Pope has decided in advance that he'll visit a Holocaust museum, but he won't set foot inside the place? Seriously, what the f*ck is <i>wrong</i> with this Pope? Is he just stupid, or does he really have Nazi sympathies? &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/jordan/5297039/Israel-demands-Pope-Benedict-XVI-condemn-Holocaust-deniers.html">London&nbsp;Daily&nbsp;Telegraph</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- =dc= --> <!-- == --><A NAME=wdnalt-111></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Activist James Dobson, who's usually described as a Christian, is deeply concerned about hate crimes protection for gays and lesbians. Of course, he's not concerned that they lack protection, he's concerned that they might get protection, so he's helping the right-wing peddle the lie that the legislation would also protect pedophiles and donkey-f*ckers. In his anger he asks those who pay attention to him, "Have we gone completely mad?"<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The answer is yes, Mr Dobson, you've gone mad, years ago. The legislation doesn't protect pedophiles and donkey-f*ckers.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; There was a time, though, when I bought the far-saner argument against hate crimes legislation, that it punishes thought, and that all crimes should be treated equally. That argument now strikes me as a little ignorant. Burning a cross in a white man's front yard is trespassing and arson, but burning a cross in a black person's front yard is undeniably something more &#151; it's a crime intended not merely to victimize the immediate victim, but to scare the bejeebers out of all black people. It's terrorism, and the victims are a specific subset of society, and we're a better society if we don't tolerate such terrorism.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Hate crimes, though, aren't really the issue here. We've had hate crimes for years, anti-terror protection for blacks and Hispanics, Jews and Hindus and Vietnamese-Americans. Dobson and his ilk don't complain much about that. But the new legislation adds sexual orientation to that list, and lordy, that's where they draw the line, because they think it's OK to terrorize gays and lesbians. We disagree. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/james-dobsons-hate-crimes-freak-out">Right&nbsp;Wing&nbsp;Watch</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=ctkh-553></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is targeting doctors who prescribe more pain medicine than other doctors. This is a Kafkaesque dilemma for doctors who specialize in patients with, say, advanced cancer or other painful diseases, who by virtue of their practice prescribe more pain meds than other doctors. More to the point, at least for me, is the just plain absurdity of government intrusion into pain management. But it's the DEA, and for all my adult life I have been unable to imagine how any person with a conscience could work for such an outfit. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://badattitudes.com/MT/archives/2009/05/the_pain_cops.html">Bad&nbsp;Attitudes</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=wdnalt-222></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The Obama administration has quietly dropped the Bush-Cheney era prosecution of 1st Lt. Ehren Watada, charged with desertion for his refusal to fight with the Army in Iraq. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009184970_webwatada.html">The&nbsp;Seattle&nbsp;Times</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- lj4all --><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="245" align="right"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><BR> <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/stickers.html"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.org/libertyjusticesticker.jpg" alt="Liberty and justice for all (no exceptions)" border="2" width="225" height="70"></A></td></tr></table> <!-- == --><A NAME=wdnalt-719></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Some faceless bureaucrat decided that Hernando Calvo Ospina is so dangerous, he couldn't be allowed to fly over the United States as a passenger of Air France en route to Mexico City. This is the Obama administration, continuing the stupidity of the Bush-Cheney era. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/139606/paranoid_authorities_wouldn%27t_let_my_plane_fly_over_u.s._territory_--_was_it_something_i_wrote/?page=entire">AlterNet</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=eureka-630></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; South Carolina's Attorney General has given Craigslist an ultimatum &#151; take down content aimed at adults or "Craigslist management may be subject to criminal investigation and prosecution." Craigslist deserves a round of applause for standing up to this ongoing crap, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation explains that the Attorney General hasn't got a leg to stand on. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/05/ags-v-craigslist-put">Electronic&nbsp;Frontier&nbsp;Foundation</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=wdnalt-626></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; President Obama has made another of his appalling political nominations, naming Tara O'Toole to be the highest ranking scientist at the Department of Homeland Security. Her name is apt &#151; she's a tool of terror. Here's Richard Ebright, a Rutgers University microbiologist and homeland security policy critic:<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 disastrous nomination. O'Toole supported every flawed decision and counterproductive policy on biodefense, biosafety, and biosecurity during the Bush administration ... O'Toole is as out of touch with reality, and as paranoiac, as former Vice President Cheney. It would be hard to think of a person less well suited for the position. She was the single most extreme person, either in or out of government, advocating for a massive biodefense expansion and relaxation of provisions for safety and security ... She makes Dr. Strangelove look <nobr> sane.<img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-end.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13"></nobr><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Near as I can guess from all these ridonculous nominations &#151; Timothy Geithner, Tom Daschle, Tom Vilsack, Judd Gregg, and other names that slip my mind at the moment &#151; Obama wants to be seen as everybody's President. He wants Republicans to like him, so he scatters utter incompetence and sheer boobitude among his nominations. And it's just dumbass politics, certain to backfire every time. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://dickdestiny.com/blog1/2009/05/07/a-most-catastrophic-nomination/">dickdestiny.com</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=ctkh-1008></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; It looks like President Obama will try to bring back the concept of military commissions, with sort-of trials for Guantanamo prisoners, held outside the norms of precedents of ordinary American law. Military commissions <A HREF="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking-news/story/1035103.html">will resume on May 27</A>. It sounds like Obama's rules will be a little less kangaroo-court-esque than the Bush-Cheney military commissions, but of course, wrong is wrong, and the notion of justice beyond the bounds of justice is wrong and un-American and Obama ought to be ashamed of himself. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/08/AR2009050804228.html?hpid=topnews">Washington&nbsp;Post</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=mc-746></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13">Former Bush administration officials are launching a behind-the-scenes lobbying campaign to urge Justice Department leaders to soften an ethics report criticizing lawyers who blessed harsh detainee interrogation tactics, according to two sources familiar with the <nobr> efforts.<img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-end.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13"></nobr><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Does anyone really believe that this effort is just "launching" now? &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/05/AR2009050502219.html?hpid=topnews">Washington&nbsp;Post</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=mc-1100></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-Illinois) has written a formal letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, asking him to develop a spine and do his damned job by investigating and prosecuting Bush-Cheney officials who authorized torture. Of course, she put it more politely than I would, and <A HREF="#slt-1013"><FONT COLOR=blue>as noted above</FONT></A>, Holder is not the man who should be in charge of any torture investigation. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.rollcall.com/news/34667-1.html">Roll&nbsp;Call</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=slt-1020></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; If or when Karl Rove finally answers questions before Congress regarding the politicization of the Justice Department during the Bush-Cheney administration, rest assured that everything about the hearings will be a sham. Rove won't be under oath. The hearings will be "private". The investigation will be over. And the truth will never be publicly told. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://legalschnauzer.blogspot.com/2009/05/why-is-congress-treating-karl-rove-and.html">Legal&nbsp;Schnauzer</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=wdnalt-202></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13">Earlier this week, Senate Democrats quashed an attempt to amend a bankruptcy bill that would have given judges the power to reduce the principal on mortgages of distressed homeowners, swallowing an explanation from the banking industry that reducing the value of mortgages would make it harder for other Americans to get a loan.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13">Apparently, though, if you're a car company formerly owned by a private equity firm - and soon to be taken over by a powerful union and an Italian automaker, there are different rules.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13">As part of the company's bankruptcy filing, Chrysler LLC will not repay US taxpayers more than $7 billion it received as part of the company's bailout earlier this year. Instead, the US will get an 8% ownership in a firm whose value continues to deteriorate by the <nobr> day.<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/news/2009/05/05/about-that-loan-obama-team-agrees-to-write-off-7-billion-it-loaned-chrysler/">Raw&nbsp;Story</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%"><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=bysiar-1148></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The Obama administration has proposed scaling back on the favorite tax loophole of giant corporations, wherein management pretends that the business's headquarters is actually located in some foreign nation. Republicans, numerous Democrats, and big business leaders are pissed off, and these constituants almost always get what they want, so don't get your hopes up. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Economy/story?id=7499323&page=1">ABC&nbsp;News</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=tirb-1024></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Rick Scott, a multi-millionaire medical executive with a shady past, is <A HREF="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/10/AR2009051002243.html?hpid=topnews">spending $5-million on ads</A> spotlighting the purported downside of government-run health care systems in Canada and England. He wants to make sure America doesn't get such a system, since that would cut into the business that's made him rich and kept so many millions of Americans sick. One can only assume that Mr Scott is a very stupid man, because the health-care ideas he's spending so much money to oppose are <i>not</i> being considered by the Obama administration.<BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Last week, protesters crashed a Senate hearing on health care reform, to point out that the "hearing" wasn't willing to hear anything about universal single-payer coverage. As one after another citizen asked why common sense wasn't included in the conversation, one after another citizen was taken away by police, and when protesters outnumbered police Senator Max Baucus ('D'-Montana) called for more cops. The article describes this as a joke, but the humor eludes me, as I fail to find anything funny about a Democratic Senator laughing as millions of Americans remain sick but un-insured, and as a depression looms and <A HREF="http://www.healthpopuli.com/2009/05/recession-is-causing-people-to-cancel.html">seeing the doctor</A> is the first thing most people have to cut from their family budgets.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "We deeply respect the views of all members of the audience, especially those who fervently believe in single payer health care. It's a view I respect," said the despicable Baucus. "We will be holding your views in mind as we proceed." Yeah, as we proceed without hearing or considering your views.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; It's been obvious for months that the best and only intelligent solution won't be even considered, and whatever comes out of the House and Senate's exclusionary discussions and negotiations on health care, it'll do for health care what No Child Left Behind does for education. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.boingboing.net/2009/05/06/democracy-trying-to.html">BoingBoing</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=ubas-558z></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13">Some are arguing that if we prosecute Bush officials for torture, or reregulate the financial industry, talented people won't enter government or become bankers. No, they're not <nobr> kidding.<img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-end.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13"></nobr> &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/05/05/best_and_the_brightest/?source=newsletter">Salon</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- stt --><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="245" align="right"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"> <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/stickers.html"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.org/sttsth.jpg" alt="Support our troops. Bring them home." border="2" width="225" height="70"></A></td></tr></table> <!-- == --><A NAME=wdnalt-232></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13">In a highly unusual reversal, the Defense Department's inspector general's office has withdrawn a report it issued in January exonerating a Pentagon public relations program that made extensive use of retired officers who worked as military analysts for television and radio <nobr> networks.<img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-end.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13"></nobr><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; It's a small step toward honesty, but it took some courage to do this. What's needed now is <i>more courage</i>, to bring out the truth. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/05/06-1">New&nbsp;York&nbsp;Times</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=eureka-326></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 Obama administration threatens to rescind billions in stimulus money if Gov. Schwarzenegger and lawmakers do not restore wage cuts to unionized home healthcare <nobr> workers.<img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-end.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13"> Heartening.</nobr> &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-health-cuts8-2009may08,0,4592200.story">Los&nbsp;Angeles&nbsp;Times</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=ctkh-718></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The headline is, "Feinstein, Specter compromises pave the way for passage of Employee Free Choice Act", and since Feinstein and Specter are both phony Democrats I was already writing some angry comments in my mind, even before I started reading the article. They want to junk the card-check provision, which to my understanding is pretty much the heart of the bill... but I have to say, what they've proposed as a replacement sounds pretty good to me &#151; an "absentee ballot" election, where workers mail their ballots to the National Labor Relations Board. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/05/08/feinstein-specter-compromises-pave-the-way-for-passage-of-employee-free-choice/">FiredogLake</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=ctkh-956></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-California) has proposed legislation to outlaw cyber-bullying. It's possibly a good idea, but as written by Sanchez the bill is fatally broad and an absurd violation of the First Amendment. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://reason.com/blog/show/133270.html">Reason</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=bysiar-1203></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; With the defection of Senator Arlen Specter ('D'-Pennsylvania), the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee will be Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama), whose résumé as a racist is extensive and explicit. Before he was a Senator, Sessions was nominated for a judgeship, and a Justice Department lawyer testified at his confirmation hearings that Sessions had called the NAACP an 'un-American' group. Another witness remembered favorable comments Sessions had made about the Ku Klux Klan. Sessions never bothered to deny either allegation. And before he was a judicial nominee, Sessions was a prosecutor, whose most famous case involved charging Southern blacks with voter fraud, in a trial at which they were acquitted.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Please note that the choice of Sessions was a choice, not merely a matter of seniority &#151; Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), who's also on the Judiciary Committee, has been in the Senate eighteen years longer than Sessions. So it's intentional &#151; the Republicans <i>want</i> a man known to be openly hostile to minorities and civil rights to head its Judiciary deliberations.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Let's pause for a moment to consider Jeff Sessions' name: He's Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III. He was (obviously) named for his father and grandfather, but his grandpappy was named for Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, and General Pierre Gustave Toutant de Beauregard, the superintendent of West Point who left his post to command the first Confederate army against the Union at Fort Sumter, literally the first shots of the American Civil War. Ordinarily I wouldn't criticize a man for his name, something that he had no say in, but there's really no doubt that Sessions knows the backstory of his first and middle names, and I'll wager a week's wages that he's damned proud of that connection. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_05/018041.php1">Washington&nbsp;Monthly</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=ctkh-701></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The Obama administration will scrap funding for counterproductive "abstinence only education" programs, which tend to make girls pregnant and <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/04121402abstinence.html">have undoubtedly killed kids</A>. Expect Republicans to be furious. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/08/obama-administration-abstinence-bristol-palin">The&nbsp;Guardian</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=mc-143></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Congressman Mike Pence can't say the he believes in evolution. He probably does, because all Bachmann aside, you don't generally get elected to Congress if you're a fool. But he can't say it out loud, because it would anger his astonishingly stupid constituents.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Sure, the video of Pence dancing away from science is funny, but it's also just staggeringly sad. According to my calendar it's the 21st century, but leading Republicans (this guy is the GOP's #3 guy in Congress) still can't swallow hard and accept evolution &#151; the cornerstone of biological science and arguably the most important, respected, and misunderstood modern-era breakthrough in human knowledge (if something that was figured out in 1859 can still be called a modern-era breakthrough). &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://ccinsider.comedycentral.com/2009/05/06/rep-mike-pence-is-still-on-the-fence-about-this-whole-science-thing/">Comedy&nbsp;Central</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=slt-258></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; It took the federal government years to send the payments promised to survivors of Hurricane Katrina (2005). Some people didn't get any financial help until six months ago, and others haven't received any aid, period. But &#151; time's up &#151; at the end of May FEMA is taking back its famed (for its contamination) trailer emergency housing. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.sltrib.com/ci_12323349?source=rss">New&nbsp;York&nbsp;Times</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=wdnalt-937></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Congressman Jim Moran (D-Virginia) wants to limit ads for erectile dysfunction meds. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/05/06/congressman-no-viagra-before-10-pm/">Cable&nbsp;News&nbsp;Network</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=slt-806></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Congressman Paul Broun (R-Georgia) is re-introducing a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, and Senator David Vitter (R-Louisiana) has re-introduced his constitutional amendment that would outlaw flag-burning.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Both ideas are, of course, wrongheaded for those of us who believe in equal rights and freedom of speech. Thankfully, the Republicans are in a dwindling minority so we'd be surprised to see any momentum for these proposals, or at least any momentum beyond the troglodyte right-wing. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/time-has-come-pointless-grandstanding">Right&nbsp;Wing&nbsp;Watch</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=ctkh-656></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Marcy Winograd, who is a genuine progressive, will run against Congresswoman Jane Harman ('D'-California) in next year's Democratic Party primary. Winograd is a fine candidate, she'd be a good Congresswoman, and she deserves your support if you can afford to write a check. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://firedoglake.com/2009/05/09/marcy-winograd-to-take-on-jane-harman-in-ca-36-again/">FiredogLake</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=eureka-408></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; John Bolten, one of the dingbattiest of prominent Republicans from the Bush-Cheney era, has written a <I>Washington Post</i> column where he's both for and against the Spanish Inquisition. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_05/018073.php">Washington&nbsp;Monthly</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=eureka-812></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Republicans are now running ads trying to scare people into thinking President Obama is going to take the prisoners from Guantanamo and put them up in an apartment building two blocks from your house. As if America doesn't know how to incarcerate people?<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; You know, we held some 400,000 frickin' Nazi prisoners of war during World War II, in prisons on American soil. We've managed to keep Charles Manson and Terry Nichols and any number of serial killers and pot smokers securely behind bars, in prisons on American soil. If there's anything America does well it's building prisons and keeping people locked up in them. I really don't think the 250 purported bad guys at Guantanamo are going to severely strain the US penal system if they're transferred to American prison cells. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/05/run_for_your_lives.php">Talking&nbsp;Points&nbsp;Memo</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=mc-753></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; About once every seven blue moons, the leadership of the Democratic Party in Congress does something that indicates that they're not imbeciles or shills for the Republicans. Last week we saw such a rare, magic moment, when newly-minted 'Democrat' Arlen Specter got his Senate committee assignments, and his decades of seniority as a Republican were just a memory.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13">Democrats placed Specter in one of the two most junior slots on each of the five committees for the remainder of this Congress, which goes through December 2010. Democrats have suggested that they will consider revisiting Specter's seniority claim at the committee level only after the midterm elections next <nobr> year.<img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-end.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13"></nobr><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Predictably, Democratic leadership backed away from this within days, and gave Specter the <A HREF="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/05/07/new_deal_specter_gets_a_subcom.html">chairmanship of the Crime and Drugs Subcommittee</A>, which, we're told, "holds jurisdiction over most Justice Department activities". So as we're hoping against hope that Attorney General Eric Holder will actually prosecute obvious criminals from the previous administration, turncoat Republicrat Arlen Specter is holding Holder's leash. And <i>that</i>, folks, is the Democratic Party we all know and loathe. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitol-briefing/2009/05/senate_democrats_deny_specter.html?hpid=topnews">Washington&nbsp;Post</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=eureka-613></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Porn star Stormy Daniels says she's serious about running against Senator David Vitter (R-Louisiana). &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2009/05/porn_star_considering_run_agai.html">New Orleans, LA</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=wdnalt-711></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Take the Arlen Specter douchebag challenge! &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://airamerica.com/breakroomlive/blog/2009/may/06/tough-call">Breakroom&nbsp;Live</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="170" align="left"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"> <img src="http://unknownnews.org/dc.gif" alt="Democrats & Republicans" border="0" width="150" height="113"></td></tr></table> <!-- == --><A NAME=bysiar-925></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Nevada's Secretary of State and Attorney General (both Democrats) have filed criminal charges against Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) and two of its employees for "facilitating voter registration fraud".<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; As with virtually everything else about ACORN's horrible, terrible, awful, and un-American efforts to register voters, there's just nothing in the coverage that seriously suggests ACORN has done anything horrible, terrible, awful, un-American, or even vaguely wrong. When I can afford $25, I'll send <A HREF="https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?id=36">another contribution</A> to the good folks at ACORN. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/67500.html">McClatchy&nbsp;Newspapers</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <A NAME=bysiar-841></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The US Supreme Court just can't recover from the horror and shock of Janet Jackson's areola. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-na-court-janet-jackson5-2009may05,0,3596574.story">Los&nbsp;Angeles&nbsp;Times</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=eureka-654></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Long-time arch-right losing candidate Alan Keyes was among 21 nutbags arrested at an anti-Obama protest at Notre Dame. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-05-08-notre-dame-obama_N.htm?csp=34">Associated&nbsp;Press</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=slt-800></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Organizers of the National Day of Prayer complained that the Obama administration didn't celebrate this weird annual event like the Bush-Cheney administration did, by having a bunch of right-wing preacher types gather at the White House. Instead the right-wing preacher-types had to gather elsewhere, and they made a little stink that the Obama administration hadn't even sent a representative. What they didn't mention is that the organizers had stipulated that if the Obama administration sent anyone, that person would have to be anti-abortion. Sweet Jesus, to coin a phrase, and thank you, President Obama, for keeping your distance from this National Day of hypocrisy.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; From <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/debunk-frame.html#20090508">our debunking page</A>: <I>No,</I>&nbsp; President Obama <A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_05/018080.php">didn't ignore or threaten to cancel</A> the National Day of Prayer, and virtually everything that right-wing pundits and alleged Christian leaders have said about Obama and the National Day of Prayer is a lie. The National Day of Prayer was pretty much <i>never</i> observed with White House ceremonies until the Bush-Cheney administration, and Obama's decision to not make a grand show of the National Day of Prayer is in keeping with <A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%206:6&version=9;">Christ's teachings</A> and in keeping with every administration before Bush-Cheney. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/ndp-organizers-insisted-any-white-house-representative-be-pro-life">Right&nbsp;Wing&nbsp;Watch</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- =corporations= --><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="105" align="left"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><BR><img src="http://unknownnews.org/MrBurns.jpg" alt="pictire of bank robber" border="0" width="85" height="100"></td></tr></table> <!-- == --><A NAME=ctkh-651></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; At YouTube, the principle of Fair Use is an ambiguous thing. Corporations and well-funded right-wing groups can claim it on a whim, and a video will be removed pronto. But when an individual claims it, YouTube yields to the right-wingers. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/05/youtube-restores">Electronic&nbsp;Frontier&nbsp;Foundation</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <A NAME=bysiar-1202></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Is it surprising in any way that KBR, the former Halliburton subsidiary, has a starring role in the "vast majority" of contractor fraud cases in Iraq? &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aMU8u4SgHniI&refer=home">Bloomberg&nbsp;News&nbsp;Service</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=eureka-624></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The US Postal Service lost a package that was insured for $3000, through USPS's optional delivery insurance. And they're trying to stiff the customer with a payment of just $74 plus a $38.14 postage refund. If you're going to get screwed that bad in the rare instance of a lost delivery, why buy the insurance at all? For that matter, why ship anything valuable via the Postal Service? &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://consumerist.com/5244568/usps-your-five-new-insured-laptops-that-we-lost-are-worth-74">Consumerist</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=ctkh-158></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Facebook is resisting pressure to boot holocaust deniers off the site. If you give a dang about freedom of speech, you're maybe wanting to say, good for Facebook, but clearly it's not about any principle &#151; Facebook is <A HREF="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/06/MN3617FA8K.DTL">blocking The Pirate Bay</A>. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/05/08/facebook.holocaust.denial/index.html">Cable&nbsp;News&nbsp;Network</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=ctkh-610></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; You might have seen the video McDonald's released last week, purportedly to show how safe and sparkling clean one of their meat processing facilities is. I was flabbergasted to see some people take it as McDonald's intended &#151; as evidence that, golly gee, McDonald's food is good for you. Oy my aching intestinal tract. Here's one guy who saw through the McBull.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; One factoid I remember from seeing the fine documentary <i>Food Inc</i>, is that as a result of the fast food chains' enormous economies of scale, one industrialized hamburger patty can easily contain beef from a thousand different head of cattle. Which means that one sick cow, or one little swig of the bad <i>E. coli</i>, can contaminate a lot of people's lunches. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://candleboy.com/2009/05/meatpocalypse-im-lovin-it/">CandleBoy</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=slt-127></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Only after intervention from the American Civil Liberties Union and a complaint filed with the Louisville Human Relations Commission, was McDonald's willing to apologize for calling gay customers faggots, c*cks*ckers, and bitches. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://blog.aclu.org/2009/05/06/mcdonalds-eats-a-super-sized-order-of-its-own-words-in-kentucky/">ACLU</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=slt-601></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13">In what has been described as "one of the worst sweatshops that [New York] state inspectors have visited in years," workers routinely worked a 66 hour, six-day work week at $3.79 an hour, far below the states' minimum hourly wage." The factory, which produces clothing for Macy's, Gap, Banana Republic, and Victoria's Secret, did not pay for overtime and reportedly fired a worker for taking off one Sunday to see a <nobr> doctor.<img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-end.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13"></nobr> &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://workingclassstudies.wordpress.com/2009/04/27/exploiting-my-sister-to-dress-on-a-dime-social-class-intersections-within-the-clothing-industry/">New&nbsp;York&nbsp;Times, distilled&nbsp;by Working&nbsp;Class&nbsp;Perspectives</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- =4444444444= --> <!-- =journalism= --><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="71" align="left"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><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"> </td></tr></table> <!-- == --><A NAME=tirb-813></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The <i>New York Times</i> does understand what torture is, and they're willing to use the word accurately... in the obituary of an American soldier who was tortured. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://harpers.org/archive/2009/05/hbc-90004942">Harper's</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <A NAME=mc-715></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; NBC News will run a two-hour prime time report on Farrah Fawcett's anal cancer. Read that sentence again &#151; it's not just NBC television, it's <i>NBC News</i>. Insert your own punchline about probing journalism or whatever, but it's just sad, and it's further evidence that America desperately needs publicly funded journalism, something akin to the UK's BBC News or Canada's CBC. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2009/05/06/2009-05-06_nbc_sets_farrah_fawcett_cancer_show.html">New&nbsp;York&nbsp;Daily&nbsp;News</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=wdnalt-715a></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; And speaking of anal journalism, <A HREF="http://www.nndb.com/people/420/000023351/">Rupert Murdoch</A>'s many newspapers will start charging for on-line access within a year. "You can confidently presume that we are leading the way in finding a model that maximizes revenues in return for our shareholders," Murdoch said. "The current days of the Internet will soon be over." It's a tough but understandable decision which, fortunately, won't have much impact on our operations at <i>Unknown News</i>, since with the exception of occasional reader-sent links to the <i>London Times</i>, none of <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_Corporation#Newspapers">Murdoch's newspapers</A> are on our reading list. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.eandppub.com/2009/05/news-corp-papers-to-start-charging-online.html">Editor&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Publisher</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=ctkh-222></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The <I>Washington Post</i> gave A-section coverage to the Defense Department's report in January downplaying the Bush-Cheney administration's program of planting military propaganda in American media. Last week, as <A HREF="#wdnalt-232"><FONT COLOR=blue></FONT>reported above</A> , the Defense Department rescinded this bogus report... but this hasn't yet been newsworthy in the <I>Washington Post</i>. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://mediamatters.org/research/200905070006">Media&nbsp;Matters</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=eureka-531></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; After the death of composer Maurice Jarre in late March, a college kid quickly made up some fake Jarre quotes and inserted them into Jarre's Wikipedia entry. It was an experiment, to see how many media sources would include the undocumented quotes in their obituaries. His quotes bounced back at him from reputable newspapers on at least four continents.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Then again, perhaps the kid wrote about a Wikipedia stunt he never did, and he's waiting to see if it'll make the <i>Columbia Journalism Review.</i> Moral of the story is, be skeptical. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.cjr.org/regret_the_error/the_wikiback_effect.php">Columbia&nbsp;Journalism&nbsp;Review</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=wdnalt-212></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I got a kink in my neck from shaking my head as Jon Stewart asked ABC News' George Stephanopoulos some straightforward questions exposing the supreme shallowness of the news business, and Stephanopoulos responded with chuckles and glib emptiness. So what do you think &#151; does Stephanopoulos not grasp the meaning and importance of the questions, or does he grasp the meaning firmly and drop it like a bug or a stranger's booger? &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=226599&title=george-stephanopoulos">The&nbsp;Daily&nbsp;Show</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=eureka-802></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; You know the media is blowing something out of proportion when ... . &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://graphjam.com/2009/05/07/song-chart-memes-out-proportion/">graphjam.com</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=eureka-530></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) and the California Media Collaborative (CMC) will collaborate on a new news agency covering California news. CIR I've heard of and respect, while CMC is new to me, but this sounds like a positive push against the current collapse of journalism. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.cjr.org/the_kicker/good_vibrations.php">Columbia&nbsp;Journalism&nbsp;Review</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=mc-1142></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The two biggest names in the birther movement &#151; the arch-right screwloose crowd who think President Obama wasn't born in America and thus can't be President &#151; are suing each other.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Footnote: <A HREF="http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/born_in_the_usa.html">Barack Obama was born at</A> Kapiolani Medical Center in Honolulu on August 4, 1961. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://washingtonindependent.com/41899/begun-this-birther-war-has">Washington&nbsp;Independent</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=bysiar-1244></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In an event described by House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Virginia) as meant to "gather ideas from outside the Beltway to shape the Republican agenda", a bunch of Republicans gathered at a pizza parlor in Arlington, Virginia. Clever boy Steve Benen pulled up a map and found that the pizza joint is, literally, inside the Beltway &#151; Interstate 495, the freeway that circles Washington DC. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_05/018029.php">Washington&nbsp;Monthly</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- == --><A NAME=bysiar-556></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; If you don't check our <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/mysterylinks.html">mystery links</A> you might have missed this, but even if you've seen it, what the heck, it's worth another look at the Republican Clown College. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.flickr.com/photos/30835791@N07/sets/72157614241935013/detail/">flickr.com</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <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/0905-05.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/0905-19.html"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/rightarrow.jpg" border="0" height="10" width="75"><BR>Newer entries</A></TD></TR></TABLE><BR> <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/0905-12.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=07Wig1242></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/0905-12.html#07Wig1242"><FONT COLOR=blue>#</FONT></A>&nbsp; <A HREF="http://www.alternet.org/blogs/waroniraq/139824/al_jazeera_strikes_back_at_pentagon,_releases_unedited_footage_of_u.s._soldiers'_'bible_study'_in_afghanistan/">Al Jazeera strikes back at Pentagon, releases unedited footage of US soldiers' 'Bible study' in Afghanistan</A> <BR><BR>It looks like the "ALL VOLUNTEER ARMY" is now engaged in the new "CRUSADES". <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> The game of pursuing Bush criminals seems to be a game that ends with the "no foul found" card. <A HREF="http://www.alternet.org/rights/139878/is_a_cheney_cover-up_scandal_brewing/?page=entire">Is a Cheney cover-up scandal brewing?</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> In his email to Mother Jones, Zelikow says that when he testifies next week he plans to "go through a brief chronology of the various arguments for changing the administration position." But since Zelikow doesn't appear to know who attempted to smother his memo, congressional Democrats may have to do some legwork &#151; which could include questioning various Bush White House officials &#151; to solve this latest Bush-era mystery.</TD></TR></TABLE><BR> LOL! Lotsa luck questioning "various Bush White House officials". <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://www.alternet.org/audits/139911/obama_officials_talk_about_countries_like_they_own_them_--_anyone_else_think_that's_strange/?page=entire">Washington's imperial attitude: We talk about countries like we own them</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> And this brings us to perhaps the most extreme aspect of the mentality of our national security managers &#151; what might be called their empathy gap. They are, it seems, incapable of seeing the situations they deal through the eyes of those being dealt with. They lack, that is, all empathy, which means, in the end, that they lack understanding. They take it for granted that America's destiny is to "engineer" the fates of peoples half a world away and are incapable of imagining that the United States could, in almost any situation, be part of the problem, not a major part of its solution. This is surely folly of the first order and, year after year, has only made the "situation" in Pakistan worse.</TD></TR></TABLE><BR> At one time in our history this "mentality" was referred to as the "Ugly American". There even was a movie, starring Marlon Brando I believe, called <i>The Ugly American</i>. We never seem to understand past history. We just go merrily on believing it's America's "Manifest Destiny".<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> If, however, nothing else was done, at least the president should order his national security team to calm down, skip those crisis meetings on Pakistan, tamp down the doomsday scenarios, and try to take a few minutes to imagine what the world looks like if you're not in Washington or the skies over our planet. Are there really no solutions anywhere that don't need to be engineered first in our national capital?</TD></TR></TABLE><BR> What's that you say? Don't you know if Obama does that the GOP nutcases will be out in force screaming the Democrats are eroding our national security? <BR><BR><DIV align="right">Wig &nbsp; </div></TD></TR></TABLE> <A NAME=9SG1037></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/0905-12.html#9SG1037"><FONT COLOR=blue>#</FONT></A>&nbsp; John Creasy (Denzel Washington) in <A HREF="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/173191764?referer=di&ht=edition"><i>Man on Fire</i></A> makes Jack Bauer in <i>24</i> look like a liberal tree-hugger when it comes to extracting information from Evildoers.<BR><BR>I have seen <i>Man on Fire</i> several times and it never fails to persuade me that torture is sometimes fully justified &#151; with the caveat that the torturer must fully accept responsibility and judgement for what he has done.<BR><BR>Creasy is a retired military/CIA officer with extensive experience in counter-terrorism. But he is wracked by guilt, especially when he is drunk. At the beginning of the movie he asks he old military buddy, "Ray" (Christoper Walken), "Will God ever forgive us for what we have done?" Ray replies, "I don't". Creasy says, "Me neither." Creasy even attempts suicide but the bullet is a dud. He phones Ray, who explains to him, "A bullet always tells the truth."<BR><BR>After a slow start the story moves like a 9 millimeter bullet aimed right at your skull. Creasy is hired to bodyguard a little girl, Pita (Dakota Fanning) in Mexico City. She looks up to him as a combination of father-figure, teddy bear and friend. Her love, neediness and exuberance for life combine with Creasy's wonderment at the miraculous bullet to restore his humanity. He sobers up and feels, perhaps, even, Forgiven. But when Pita is kidnapped Creasy puts down his Bible and picks up his guns. He is a one man war in Mexico City hunting down the kidnappers.<BR><BR> <!-- author page --><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="220" align="left"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"> <img src="http://unknownnews.org/delete072009.jpg" border="1" width="200" height="295"></td></tr></table> The revolting and sadistic perversions of America's torturers in Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib are completely different than Creasy's methods. He doesn't <A HREF="http://badattitudes.com/MT/archives/2009/04/what_waterboarding_specifically_is.html">waterboard</A> anyone 83 times. He doesn't need to. He doesn't have time. He is a professional. And he has nothing to lose. When Creasy asks a question you have three seconds to answer before he does something unbelievably horrible to you and asks again. To the guilty he is not just an interrogator but instant judge and jury. When the interrogation is over sentence is carried out immediately.<BR><BR>The question of whether or not "torture works" doesn't even come up. Creasy could perhaps use polite persuasion but since, in the end, he is going to kill every last one of those motherf*ckers <i>anyway</i>, it is a moot point. <BR><BR><DIV align="right">Sven Goldstein &nbsp; </div><BLOCKQUOTE><i> I had some interest in <i>Man on Fire</i>, but missed it when it came out and haven't seen it yet. I probably have less interest in it now, knowing that it features torture. That's not my idea of entertainment.<BR><BR>But I agree with your take on torture in the real world &#151; torture has to be prosecuted and punished, duh, of course and unambiguously. And I'll offer this compromise to the "ticking time bomb" enthusiasts: If your torture really does, literally, lead to the diffusing of a literally ticking literally time bomb, or even if you get there ten minutes too late, that'll be a noteworthy extenuating circumstance for your trial jury to consider. </i><BR><BR><DIV align="right"><i>Helen & Harry Highwater</i></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE> I challenge you to see the movie, then. Double dare. Not for pleasure but as a homework assignment. See if Denzel's performance persuades you.<BR><BR>The movie's cinematography is stunning with film techniques I don't remember seeing before. It is almost like a documentary in parts, giving a view of Mexico that is intimate and terrifying...<BR><BR>Part of what make the case <i>for</i> torture so compelling, not to be a plot spoiler, is that the kidnappers have official police sanction and participation...as well as corporate Evildoers. As Denzel unravels the scheme he is outraged as one person after another calls himself "a businessman". How else could The Machine be disassembled? <BR><BR><DIV align="right">Sven Goldstein &nbsp; </div><BLOCKQUOTE><i> Denzel is always fun, and I (used to) love action movies. I must've spent a week of my life watching testosteroney blow-up kung-fu vengeance movies, and that's probably included a few hours of torture. But my ability to tolerate movie-torture ended when the bastards made real torture somehow "controversial" instead of the plain, obvious crime against humanity that it's been for generations. So no </i>Man on Fire<i> for me, dear Sven.<BR><BR>If you're trying to convince me that torture is sometimes necessary or excusable or something along those lines, I think I've already conceded the point, at least hypothetically. Maybe I should have been more explicit. I can envision situations where torture is the right thing to do. I just don't care &#151; it's still illegal, and it has to be. If in some rare situation it's necessary, the perp can tell it to the judge after he's gotten the information and defused the ticking time bomb. If the judge believes torture was necessary then the perp gets off (same as you can get away with killing someone if your life is in danger, or you can get away with speeding if you're pregnant and in labor). I can accept that, if it's a genuine emergency.<BR><BR>But I don't know of any such incident that's ever actually happened in the real world, where torture saved the day. And if it's torture that's pre-approved by Dick Cheney or you have some lawyer call it something other than torture or it's torture for torture's sake or you have to do it three times a day for a month, that's just a war crime three times a day. </i><BR><BR><DIV align="right"><i>Helen & Harry Highwater</i><A NAME=13Asparagus909></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="#13Asparagus909"><FONT COLOR=blue>#</FONT></A>&nbsp; <i><B>5/13/2009:</B></i> &nbsp; Absolutely agreed about the awful wrongness of torture as entertainment. It's something I never gave any thought to in the past, just a plot element, but between the gruesome reality of American torture and the glorification of torture on crap shows like <i>24</i>, and the gutwrenching reality that Americans know their nation had an official policy of torture and know that everyone involved (except the lowest-ranking soldiers) will get away with it... nope, I don't want to see torture in movies any more. Which reminds me, I was a little bit looking forward to Quentin Tarantino's upcoming WWII movie <i>Inglorious Basterds</i>, until I saw the preview over the weekend. Torture is featured prominently, and even if the tortured are Nazis or movie Nazis, it's wrong and I'm not buying a ticket or a tub of popcorn to support it. <BR><BR><DIV align="right">Asparagus &nbsp; </div><!-- reply --> </TD></TR></TABLE></TD></TR></TABLE> <A NAME=07GQ227></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/0905-12.html#07GQ227"><FONT COLOR=blue>#</FONT></A>&nbsp; In every edition of <i>Unknown News</i>, I see that several of your readers hate Barack Obama with a flaming passion. They want him arrested, hauled off to the Hague, and OK, we get the idea. But I'm curious to know a little more about what <i>you</i> think about the Obama administration. What kind of report card would you give Obama? <BR><BR><DIV align="right">Gertrude Q. &nbsp; </div><BLOCKQUOTE><i> I don't play the "100 days" game and I don't give report cards, but since you care enough to ask my opinion I'll tell you: Obama is horribly, tragically wrong on expanding the war in Afghanistan, and wrong to leave US troops in Iraq as that nation decays into unavoidable ruin. He's half-hearted on human rights and he hasn't even considered universal health care as a solution to America's insurance catastrophe. His economic stimulus programs are too small to avert the depression we're entering, as huge numbers of workers will be laid off in reverberations of the collapse of GM and Chrysler. He's wrong on bailing out the banks and crooked financial operators who've swindled Americans out of trillions. Several of Obama's appointments have been utter losers and dopes. And of course and obviously, he's extraordinarily wrong on torture and war crimes and if he doesn't get out of the way and allow an honest and open investigation and prosecutions of those who merit prosecution, Obama deserves to be prosecuted himself.<BR><BR>On the plus side, the Obama administration has done some things that needed to be done, reversed some of the Bush-Cheney administration's most toxic decisions, made a few very good appointments, and Barack Obama is dang good at giving off good vibrations and seeming pleasantly "Presidential".<BR><BR>You ask my opinion? He looks to me like an utterly typical Democratic President, a pawn of the military-financial complex, along the lines of Carter or Clinton, and always willing to compromise principles away.<BR><BR>But he's better than any alternative that could feasibly emerge from the corrupt American political system and shallow election process. Remember, the only other viable candidates last time around were John McCain, Hillary Clinton, and long-shots Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee and John Edwards. Compared to the other realistic possibilities from 2008, Obama is about the best we could have realistically hoped for.<BR><BR>And there's one other factor that's often overlooked: If Obama moved any further from conventional wisdom into genuine progressive politics, he'd be killed. Assassination is a touchy topic, but it's a very serious danger when anyone even remotely perceived as a leftist has power. Has anybody here seen my old friend John F. Kennedy? Bobby Kennedy? Martin Luther King? Malcolm X? Paul Wellstone? Here's a rhetorical question &#151; can you think of any American </i>right-wing politicians<i> who've been assassinated in recent decades?<BR><BR>Of course, in the real world, Obama is not a leftist at all. </i>I'm<i> a leftist &#151; Obama is the yellow line down the middle of the road. But American politics doesn't take place in the real world. It happens in a phony media world where well-paid arch-right commentators constantly whisper or shout that Barack Obama is a communist, a socialist, a radical Muslim Christ-hater who's leaving America defenseless and palin' around with terrorists, etc.<BR><BR>These aren't ordinary political lies, to my experience and recollection. Even the worst lies told about Bill Clinton during his Presidency just involved sex, drugs, and killing some White House aide. With Obama the lies are far more fearful, the lies have serious national security implications, the lies are on nationwide TV every night and radio every morning, and the lies could easily trigger some schmuck to pick up a gun and aim it at the President.<BR><BR>Even if Obama wanted to punish torture or crack down on Wall Street (and there's little to suggest that he wants to) he undoubtedly knows the danger. So there's been a repeated pattern of doing things a little bit at a time &#151; announcing the closure of Guantanamo, or releasing torture memos, or last week's dismissal of charges against conscientious objector Ehren Watada, etc. And such announcements have been spaced far enough apart that the inevitable fury of the right-wing press and pundits can subside a bit, before the next announcement. That's intentional, I think. The guy wants a chance to see his kids grow up. </i><BR><BR><DIV align="right"><i>Helen & Harry Highwater</i><A NAME=07Willow228></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="#07Willow228"><FONT COLOR=blue>#</FONT></A>&nbsp; <i><B>5/13/2009:</B></i> &nbsp; Here's the thing about Obama -- he can stay calm longer than I can stay angry. I'm just viewing him as a cog in the machine now -- and maybe as Orson Scott Card used the term in his new "Ender in Exile" -- a tribal leader. (That sounds very ethnic.)<BR><BR>I just have to focus on what I can do personally -- and encourage others to do personally -- and maybe things will snowball eventually.<BR><BR>One thing, I can definitely see a WWIII on the horizon... so the amount of time to prepare is not infinite for everyone (and first, maybe, a big nasty currency crisis starring the US dollar.) Sh*t. <BR><BR><DIV align="right">Willow &nbsp; </div><!-- reply --> </TD></TR></TABLE></TD></TR></TABLE> <A NAME=08AH1041></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/0905-12.html#08AH1041"><FONT COLOR=blue>#</FONT></A>&nbsp; I was shocked to receive a letter from HSBC informing me that they had slashed my card limit by more than 50%. My crime: low utilization. Apparently, having no debt and making on-time payments to everyone I do business with for more than 10 years is inadequate. When I phoned the number they provided I was informed that they are cutting card limits across the board to limit further losses and therefore my request to undo the credit limit cut would not be approved at this time, but if the markets stabilize in the future they would inform me in writing if they decided to increase my card's limit...nothing personal, you understand. <BR><BR><DIV align="right">Austin Heiber &nbsp; </div><BLOCKQUOTE><i> It's my understanding that the bank's action in reducing your credit limit is in itself a blemish on your credit report. Reducing your credit limit also reduces your credit rating. (I have no credit cards, so this is all theoretical to me, but that's what I've read.) </i><BR><BR><DIV align="right"><i>Helen & Harry Highwater</i></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE> It is not a "blemish". A blemish would be a late payment or totally delinquent account. Credit scores are based on numerous factors, and having only one credit card is actually a negative! A high credit limit is a positive factor because, I guess, it means someone trusts you to borrow a lot of money on a moment's notice. So HSBC has in effect unilaterally lowered my credit rating. I froze my credit data about two years ago and don't plan to use credit for anything right now so I don't need to take any action immediately. If I get another card it will probably be with an American company. F*ck HSBC. <BR><BR><DIV align="right">Austin Heiber &nbsp; </div><BLOCKQUOTE><i> Info appreciated. Man, if I was an ordinary American using credit cards and valuing my credit rating, what the banks are doing would really hack me off. Such unilateral actions inarguably harm customers, and in a sane society customers could sue for damages.<BR><BR>Of course, I've never been to a sane society. I'm an American. </i><BR><BR><DIV align="right"><i>Helen & Harry Highwater</i></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE> </TD></TR></TABLE> <A NAME=07TL1228></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/0905-12.html#07TL1228"><FONT COLOR=blue>#</FONT></A>&nbsp; Whitewashing of torture by both parties, including the new con artist in the White House is particularly despicable &#151; and doomed to fail? &#151; if it is true that the US tortured many men to DEATH&nbsp;...<BR><BR> <A HREF="http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/05/06/us-interrogators-killed-dozens-human-rights-researcher-and-rights-group-say/">US interrogators may have killed dozens, human rights researcher and rights group say</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> United States interrogators killed nearly four dozen detainees during or after their interrogations, according a report published by a human rights researcher based on a Human Rights First report and follow-up investigations.<BR><BR>In all, 98 detainees have died while in US hands. Thirty-four homicides have been identified, with at least eight detainees - and as many as 12 - having been tortured to death, according to a 2006 Human Rights First report that underwrites the researcher's posting. The causes of 48 more deaths remain uncertain.</TD></TR></TABLE><BR> <DIV align="right">Theo Lipschitz &nbsp; </div></TD></TR></TABLE> <A NAME=07HR1129></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/0905-12.html#07HR1129"><FONT COLOR=blue>#</FONT></A>&nbsp; It is so rare for me to come across something on the net (as opposed to my Wendel Barry and Lester Brown and similar books that speak clearly to me) that resonates so clearly with my thinking that I am a bit stunned. Really, after reading "<A HREF="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175061/chip_ward_let_s_not_recover">Too Big to Fail: Ecological Ignorance and Economic Collapse</A> by Chip Ward, I ask myself why I should think about polluting the infospace with more meaningless redundancy.<BR><BR>I am convinced, as is Ward apparently, that catastrophe is our only hope. Repent your rapacious capitalist ways, you scum (not you guys of course), your end is in the wringer and there is no way back from the wages of sin. Maybe I should consider changing my exercise routine to walking around with such a statement on a sandwich board. It would probably do as much good as anything else as this dystopia dissolves around us.<BR><BR>Just as the Judeo-Christian bible describes in the story of Sodom and Gomorra, immoral life will eventually snuff itself out because human morality is a biological necessity for the survival of the species, not a self indulgent illusion of the middle class seeking guilt free excess. <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> Tax money made on the net, ISPs, Google, and use the money to compensate original content on the basis of page hits. Talented investigative journalist could rake it in on the basis of hits on their work spread by the news aggregators. All of a sudden fiction content might actually make money. Novel ways of attracting page hits would open up new markets and new jobs.<BR><BR>Solutions are not the problem. Political will is. <BR><BR><DIV align="right">Herb Ruhs, MD &nbsp; </div></TD></TR></TABLE> <A NAME=06SJ127></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/0905-12.html#06SJ127"><FONT COLOR=blue>#</FONT></A>&nbsp; Re: <A HREF="http://www.forbes.com/2009/04/30/associated-press-google-business-media-apee.html?feed=rss_business_media">Associated Press wants Google to give AP-sourced items priority</A><BR><BR>AP wants more than priority. They want to be PAID by Google for the privilege of listing references to any AP content whatsoever on Google's main search engine. If Google agrees to this, it will pass the cost onto all the websites who list any AP content or they will not appear on Google's search engine at all. If AP can pull this off, all the news services will follow. I hope you can see the final result: if you want your website to appear on Google's search engine results, you will be paying them.<BR><BR>I hope Google has the balls to tell AP where they can go with this crap. They have the power to ban AP content from their search engine's results in toto, and if I were Google, I'd let them know I was prepared to do just that. <BR><BR><DIV align="right">SirJ &nbsp; </div><BLOCKQUOTE><i> Google should be broken up. Too much power.<BR><BR>Associated&nbsp;Press needs some common sense and/or some competition. Too much dickage. </i><BR><BR><DIV align="right"><i>Helen & Harry Highwater</i></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE> Agreed on both counts! <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://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2009/05/06/2009-05-06_nbc_sets_farrah_fawcett_cancer_show.html">NBC sets Farrah Fawcett cancer show</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> NBC's senior vice president issued a statement which said, "Farrah wanted us to see the face of cancer." </TD></TR></TABLE><BR> Considering it's anal cancer, I'll pass on seeing its face. <BR><BR><DIV align="right">SirJ &nbsp; </div></TD></TR></TABLE> <A NAME=06CD123></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/0905-12.html#06CD123"><FONT COLOR=blue>#</FONT></A>&nbsp; Latest news, Mexico's pretty much over it while we're still shutting down schools and places of business and even pondering closing borders and taking people's temperature at the airport. According to many in the medical field it turns out that the so called 'swine' flu is really no more dangerous than the regular flu. (Which can also kill, in severe cases.) The number of deaths among infections and the rate of spread are no greater than those of seasonal flu. The only difference is that this particular strain was a newcomer to the country and was supposedly transmitted from animal to human. New studies even suggest that it may have actually happened the other way around. Pigs were catching germs from humans. Certainly odd and cause for concern but not nearly so much as to paralyze several countries.<BR><BR>The whole debacle amounted to yet another overblown freakout, our insane over-reaction causing perhaps more harm than the actual disease.<BR><BR>That said, Michael Savage is a dumbass. Seriously? A bio-weapon?! Wouldn't Al Qaida perhaps 'engineer' a virus deadlier than the common cold if they were bothering to horn in on America's corner in the manufactured viral weapons market?<BR><BR>Michelle Bachmann.... Hell it goes without saying doesn't it? Has it been a week since the last time she said something stupid already?<BR><BR>And in other health news...<BR><BR>A clinical study suggests that <A HREF="http://www.harmreductionjournal.com/content/4/1/16">marijuana use DETERS use of harder drugs</A>, including alcohol and tobacco? HA!<BR><BR>Classic.<BR><BR>Note that the 4117 cannabis users studied appeared to be somewhat responsible in their use, as opposed to my doomsaying about our culture being one of nearly pathological self-destructive excess. I admit error, but still insist that promoting responsibility and moderation is key before total decriminalization. <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> Oh. And just as a <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/0904-28.html#24TC242">quick nod to The Canadian</A>, yes the situation with the Tamil Tigers flew under notice for a while. After looking up on it I wish I'd just let it lie. Now that the Tigers are cornered they've put their entire corps of child soldiers up at the borders of a no-fire zone they've apparently been killing people in.<BR><BR>Dickwads.<BR><BR>It looks like the long, brutal civil war is drawing to a quick, brutal close. In the end it looks like nothing will have been gained for all the bloodshed. <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> What the hell man? Just after sending out reassuring notices that new cases were on the decline and the communicability of the virus was greatly over-estimated to begin with, the WHO makes a bold panic alert saying that 1 in 3 people in the world is going to get swine flu and die.<BR><BR>I'll say it again, what the hell man?! <BLOCKQUOTE><i> From everything I've heard (and having ears means we've heard plenty) swine flu isn't going to be a serious problem until autumn, if then. I've heard nothing from any reputable source, certainly not from the World Health Organization, predicting one out of three humans on earth will catch swine flu and die. I trust you're hyperbolizing? &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; H&amp;HH</i></BLOCKQUOTE> <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> Well I added the 'and die' bit myself but the front page of one my local papers, normally a reputable source, printed that the WHO warned 1 in 3 would be infected. I couldn't find the paper's version, but I found another story with the same prediction.<BR><BR><A HREF="http://www.sfexaminer.com/nation/WHO-Up-to-2-billion-people-might-get-swine-flu-44536727.html">WHO: Up to 2 billion people might get swine flu</A><BR><BR>Also in my search, I found that Obama is coming under fire for <A HREF="http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jYxI7q_KtbSrZliHuWjPINWfyEQg">his choice of mustard</A> .<BR><BR>I don't know why this came up while I was looking in world health news, but it's freaking hilarious. (Either laugher is the best medicine or it's a statement about American media's mental health.) <BR><BR><DIV align="right">Chris D. &nbsp; </div><BLOCKQUOTE><i> Our politics is way wackier than yours. <NOBR>:)</NOBR><BR><BR>Getting the flu is, yeah, substantially different than dying from it. But we all have plenty of advance warning for a pandemic that's supposed to hit in the fall. Folks who are worried should <A HREF="http://editor.nourishedmagazine.com.au/articles/swine-flu-no-ones-talking-about-building-natural-immunity">build their natural immunities</A>, get a shot, or just eat healthy and take good vitamins daily and be prepared for a battle against the disease. </i><BR><BR><DIV align="right"><i>Helen & Harry Highwater</i></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE> </TD></TR></TABLE> <A NAME=05MAF1219></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/0905-12.html#05MAF1219"><FONT COLOR=blue>#</FONT></A>&nbsp; Doug Noland spent the first 8 years of the 21st century documenting the Credit Bubble(s) in the US. So, it will surely be difficult to predict when the newest and perhaps Final Bubble collapses, a bubble which he has named the "Government Finance Bubble".<BR><BR>Bubbles are like that, they continue longer than one could possible imagine. And the larger they become the more destructive the consequences. Hence, my term for this, the "Final Bubble". It is here now.<BR><BR>Noland explains why Bernanke is blowing smoke when he claims that the Fed will take away the punch bowl, the costs of misallocating money in this way, and the likely outcome: "I fear the Government Finance Bubble is on track to destroy the Creditworthiness of the entire economy."<BR><BR> <A HREF="http://www.prudentbear.com/index.php/creditbubblebulletinview?art_id=10221">The greatest cost</A> by Doug Noland <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> ... When the Federal Reserve collapsed interest rates following the bursting of the technology Bubble, the results seemed constructive. Stock and real estate prices inflated; a robust economic recovery ensued. There was at the time some recognition of the potential for real estate excesses. But this was seen as such a small price to pay in the fight against the scourge of deflation. It was not until 2007 that the nature of the true costs of a massive "reflation" began to come to light.<BR><BR>Many would today argue that it was simply a case of the Fed's failure to take the punchbowl away in time. Such analysis misses a key facet of Bubble dynamics. Once the Mortgage Finance Bubble gained a foothold there was absolutely no way policymakers were going to be willing to risk bursting such a consequential Bubble.<BR><BR>I see ample support for my view that Bubble dynamics have taken root throughout government finance. This unprecedented inflation includes Federal Reserve Credit, Treasury borrowings, Agency debt, GSE MBS guarantees, FHA and FDIC insurance, massive pension and healthcare obligations, the myriad new market support programs, etc. This Government Finance Bubble is domestic as well as global. Amazingly, the scope of the unfolding Bubble dwarfs even the Mortgage Finance Bubble. And, importantly, it is reasonable to presume that the Federal Reserve will find itself in the familiar position of being trapped by the risk of bursting a historic Bubble.&nbsp;...<BR><BR>I'll try to explain my belief that dangerous Ponzi Finance Dynamics are in play with the current course of policymaking. First, I view panicked policymakers as seeing no alternative than to try to sustain the current (deeply maladjusted) economic structure. A more natural course of economic adjustment - from finance and consumption-driven Bubble Economy to a more balanced system - was going to be much too painful to endure. So a massive government inflation was commenced in desperation - with the grandiose objective of revitalizing securities markets, housing prices, and the overall US economy. I just don't see how this reflation goes much beyond stoking a susceptible artificial recovery.<BR><BR>First and foremost, with government finance now completely dominating the Credit system, I can't even begin to contemplate how this process might nurture an effective allocation of financial and real resources. Indeed, I see today's manifestations of Credit Bubble Dynamics as an extension of similar mispricing, misperceptions, and over-issuance that led to last autumn's near financial collapse.<BR><BR>Admittedly, the massive extension of government Credit and obligations works wonders in stabilizing a devastatingly impaired system. Inflationism is always seductive; Trillions worth is absurdly seductive. Yet this extra layer of debt does little to affect change to the underlying economic structure. Actually, a strong case can be made that it only delays and sidetracks the necessary adjustment process. And, importantly, this enormous additional layer of system debt exacerbates system vulnerability.<BR><BR>At the end of the day, a system is made or lost on the soundness of its underlying economic structure. I posit that a sound economic structure is reliant upon only moderate Credit growth and risk intermediation. Our system requires massive Credit expansion and intensive risk intermediation. I would also posit that there are no benefits - only escalating costs - to throwing massive Credit inflation upon an unhealthy economic structure. And, returning to Ponzi Dynamics, one of the major costs to such inflationism is a massive expansion of non-productive Credit - obligations that are created without a corresponding increase in real economic wealth producing capacity. The debt can only be serviced by the creation of more debt obligations.<BR><BR>The danger is that markets too easily and for too long accommodate massive Credit expansion during the boom. Federal Reserve policies are fundamental to this dynamic. But at some point and out of the Fed's control, as Wall Street learned, greed inevitably turns to fear and a reversal of speculative flows marks the onset of the bust. And it's the massive inflation of non-productive Credit that ensures the unavoidable crisis of confidence. Can the underlying economic structure service the mounting debt load or, instead, is it the massively inflating debt load that is sustaining a vulnerable economy? And it is in this vein that I fear the Government Finance Bubble is on track to destroy the Creditworthiness of the entire economy. And this Ponzi Dynamic is The Greatest Cost to what I fear is a continuation of unsound policymaking.</TD></TR></TABLE><BR> <DIV align="right">Mahdi Abdul Finkelstein &nbsp; </div></TD></TR></TABLE> <A NAME=10bmanosh610></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/0905-12.html#10bmanosh610"><FONT COLOR=blue>#</FONT></A>&nbsp; When I first visited this sight I thought finally news with no body saying it's wrong or right. It seems you are condemning people you know nothing about. It's just recently I have heard right wing left wing and I have no idea what it means, I believe in GOD, my country, and right from wrong................. Which am I?.............. I thought everyone born in this country were ALL AMERICANS.............what's happened to pit one against another like YOU are doing, I may read but won't believe anything YOU have to SAY!!!!!!!!!!!! <BR><BR><DIV align="right">bmanosh &nbsp; </div><BLOCKQUOTE><i> You haven't told me what comment or coverage you're responding to, haven't cited any examples of condemning people we know nothing about, etc., so I can't know what you're talking about. I'll only say this, with no animosity or hostility:<BR><BR>I cannot take the time to explain every fact and opinion stated on our website from step one, and I won't feign journalistic neutrality and impartiality while genuine all-American monsters are trying to destroy our beloved nation. Our website is for people who want to be awake and informed in the here and now. It is emphatically not for people who want to believe or be told that America is full of nothing but good guys who have slight policy differences.<BR><BR>You're welcome to read any or all of it. When you find something you can't believe, please drop me a note and explain specifically what and why you can't believe. I'll try to answer. </i><BR><BR><DIV align="right"><i>Helen & Harry Highwater</i><A NAME=13bmanosh530></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="#13bmanosh530"><FONT COLOR=blue>#</FONT></A>&nbsp; <i><B>5/13/2009:</B></i> &nbsp; By this email we have the same beliefs my question are we left wing or right wing? Also how did this division of AMERICANS start? If I can be of help let me know, I want MY country BACK!! No illegals etc! Also my friends and I have something we would like to email to BO do you know how to do this? It is just a letter telling him how we feel about what he has done in our country! I cannot remember a time AMERICANS have been so divided since the 60s. I have AOL as home page and at the end of each article I read the comments, what's happening in this country? I have noticed since BO took over there have been so many mass murders and murder suicides or is it my imagination?? Keep up your GREAT WORK!! I will be visiting your website often now. <BR><BR><DIV align="right">bmanosh &nbsp; </div><!-- reply --><BLOCKQUOTE><i> America has long had a steady supply of mass murders and murder suicides, so I wouldn't read much into that. Except, of course, that in three of the recent multiple murders, the killers had arch-right wing literature in their homes or posted on-line. That's probably no coincidence &#151; the Far Right has flooded the media with exactly the kind of lies that would tend to push the delusional over the edge.<BR><BR>You've no doubt seen the lies, since they're everywhere &#151; Barack Obama is a communist, a Muslim, he's going to confiscate Americans' guns, he's leaving America defenseless, he's coddling the terrorists, etc. These are all lies, of course, but they're all believed by assorted fervent splinters of the American public.<BR><BR>Yes, in my memory too, the nation has never been so divided. And it wasn't like this even twenty years ago. Always there's been left and right, always there's been heated rhetoric, always there have been schmucks and liars on both left and right, and for years we had an equal disdain for Democrats and Republicans. That's the perspective described on our "<A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/about.html">about us</A>" page, because that's what we thought as recently as when we started this website ten years ago. But our perspective has changed.<BR><BR>How did this division of Americans start, you ask? I can only speak for myself, but for me it all changed with George W Bush. I could have forgotten and forgotten the election shenanigans on 2000, if Bush had been an ordinary Republican President, if he'd been something approximating Nixon or Reagan or his own father. But there was a key difference that set the Bush & Cheney administration apart from all others: Bush, Cheney, their high-ranking officials, and every last Republican office-holder who supported them </i>lied about absolutely everything for eight years<I>.<BR><BR>And I say that without hyperbole. I mean it literally. In every matter of public policy, in every answer in every press conference, everything Bush-Cheney et al offered was a lie. Some of the lies were small. Some were huge. But </i>everything was a lie<i>.<BR><BR>It goes without saying, of course, that politicians lie, but to lie for eight years without ever telling the truth about any matter of public policy, </i>that<i> was a breakthrough accomplishment. And as always, a lot of Democrats' ideas are stupid and always have been, Democrats tell tons of lies and the vast majority of Dems in office deserve to be booted on their butts. I have nothing good to say about Democrats, except that sometimes, </i>sometimes<i>, they're telling the truth.<BR><BR>And that just can't be said of 21st century Republicans. And again, no exaggeration. I mean this literally. It used to be that both parties offered a steady mix of dumb ideas, lies, weaselly compromises, and the occasional good idea. Democrats still offer that smorgasbord with a heavy tilt toward dumb and weaselly, but for eight years Republicans have offered only the lies and dumb ideas.<BR><BR>What's ripped America in two? Easy answer: The Republicans' never-ending lies. Democracy doesn't work without an informed electorate and an intelligent debate on the issues, but it's impossible to have an intelligent, informed national debate when one side offers nothing but lies, bullsh*t, canards galore, more lies, and still more lies. There are other factors to explain what imperils America, of course, but the biggest factor is the endless flood of lies from Cheney, Bush, O'Reilly, Hannity, Limbaugh, McCain, and on and on through the list. </i><BR><BR><DIV align="right"><i>Helen & Harry Highwater</i><A NAME=14bmanosh454></A></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE> <A HREF="#14bmanosh454"><FONT COLOR=blue>#</FONT></A>&nbsp; <i><B>5/14/2009:</B></i> &nbsp; I believe we need another party the american part made up with dems, reps independents and anyone else that will be trtuhfull but i guess that wouldnt work, not many truthfull people left..... right? do you believe Obama has our best intrest at heart? I don't! Why do we let him get away being president when he can't prove and won't show his birth certificate.......... . a real simple request. Why are we letting him get away with the illegal immagrents staying here taking all our tax dollors with the freebies........ ...including his own aunt...... something that really makes me mad!!!!!!!!.. ......... any immagrent legal or not collects around $2300 per month.......i don't come anywhere near that amount..........i live in an assisted living home and they just raised my rent from $327 to $400 per month and i don't even qualify for food stamps!!!!!!!!!! i see them in stores with 2 sometimes 3 carts of food..................i come out with 2-3 bags and that has to go me 2 weeks..................i'm 64 and right now i have no car, no cable for tv and i see them with new cars all the time and they park sit on steps and drink................this is during the day!!!!! i'm mad as HELL and wish obama IF he is the great president stop this insanity............... he won t and we if you believe like i do because many are his fellow countrymen!!! i just read a statement from him about some policy and he said i will do it in 6 days and rest on the 7th..................... now he thinks he's GOD!!!!!!!!! but GOD WILL have his revenge for that i'm sure!! <BR><BR><DIV align="right">bmanosh &nbsp; </div><!-- reply --><BLOCKQUOTE><i> There's no reasonable doubt that Barack Obama is an American citizen, born at Kapiolani Medical Center in Honolulu on August 4, 1961. <A HREF="http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/born_in_the_usa.html">Read, think, and learn</A>.<BR><BR>The line you're attributing to Obama is a misquoted <i>joke</i> he cracked, that's zinged right past you.<BR><BR>The idea that "any immagrent legal or not collects around $2300 per month" is obvious horsesh*t, and you seem to think that every Hispanic-looking person you see shopping, drinking, or sitting on porch steps must be an illegal immigrant. And with that, I become convinced that you're just a completely deluded and lost soul. I can handle ignorant and gullible but I draw the line at dumbshit racism, so our chat ends here. You've swallowed so many of the Republicans' lies we have no shared reality in which to converse. Farewell, best regards, and please don't contact us again. </i><BR><BR><DIV align="right"><i>Helen & Harry Highwater</i></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE> </TD></TR></TABLE></TD></TR></TABLE> <A NAME=07alephnul1237></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/0905-12.html#07alephnul1237"><FONT COLOR=blue>#</FONT></A>&nbsp; <A HREF="http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2009/05/06/2009-05-06_nbc_sets_farrah_fawcett_cancer_show.html">NBC sets Farrah Fawcett cancer show</A><BR><BR> My first reaction to this story was to say to myself "You've got to be sh*tting me". Then I was struck down by an overdose of irony. <BR><BR><DIV align="right">alephnul &nbsp; </div></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/0905-07HR.html#08Anton1227"><FONT COLOR=blue> Anton replies to Herb Ruhs, MD</FONT></A> about America's casino economics <BR><BR><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/0904-05.html#06Wig126"><FONT COLOR=blue> Wig replies to Billie Cavanaugh</FONT></A> about injustice in America </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> <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/0905-05.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/0905-19.html"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/rightarrow.jpg" border="0" height="10" width="75"><BR>Newer entries</A></TD></TR></TABLE><BR> <center>|&nbsp;&nbsp; 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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>