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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/debunk.html">Debunked</A> &nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;&nbsp; <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/dialogue.html">Dialogue</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=02></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/0906-02.html"><font color=white><b>Tuesday<BR>June&nbsp; 2, &nbsp;2009</b></font></A></NOBR></TD><TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="1%" class="fonta">&nbsp;</td></tr></table> <!-- =unknown news=--> <A NAME=bhantm-1241></A> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation case, where the Bush-Cheney administration illegally wiretapped the charity and then inadvertently revealed the wiretap, the Obama administration is arguing exactly as the Bush-Cheney administration would have. Obama's Justice Department is citing "national security" and fighting a judge's order to disclose documents. <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/05/30/national/main5050785.shtml?tag=topHome;topStories">Associated Press</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <A NAME=bhantm-617></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Peter Schiff, the libertarian-leaning economist who's best known for seeing the economic collapse coming before it hit, says he's seriously considering a run for the Senate against Chris Dodd (D-Connecticut). If he runs, Dodd will be in serious trouble, and that really wouldn't distress me much. <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/economy/analyst-who-predicted-meltdown-leaning-towards-challening-chris-dodd/">The Plum Line</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><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/protest5.jpg" border="1" width="298" height="379"><p><i> "Democracy is not a goal, it is a path; it is not attainment, but a process ... When we grasp this and begin to live democracy, then only shall we have democracy." </i><DIV align="right"><i>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Mary&nbsp;Parker&nbsp;Follett </i> &nbsp; </div> </td></tr></table></td></tr></table> <A NAME=bhantm-154></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ben-ami Kadish passed super-secret documents to the Israeli government, repeatedly, over several years. When he was found guilty in court, US District Judge William H. Pauley 3d (Clinton 1998) scolded Kadish and ordered him to pay a $50,000 fine and go on his merry way. "When the $50,000 fine was ordered, Kadish said, "No problem."<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Why the simple slap on the wrist? <nobr>&nbsp; &#151;Wig</nobr> <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.military.com/news/article/israeli-spy-fined-scolded-released.html?col=1186032310810">Associated Press</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <A NAME=whdfal-715></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The Supreme Court has decided that you have a lot less right to legal counsel than you did a week ago. The cops can interrogate you without your lawyer being present.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; It's pretty sickening, and pretty much expected. Curse the court, sure, but don't forget to thank the Democrats, who played roll-over for years, allowing cro magnon after cro magnon to be seated on the Supreme Court. <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090526/ts_nm/us_usa_police_interrogation">Reuters&nbsp;News&nbsp;Agency</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <A NAME=bhantm-1013></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; A federal judge in California says it's constitutional, "a minimal intrusion", for police to forcibly take DNA samples from arrested persons. You don't have to be convicted of anything, says Judge Gregory Hollows (Bush41 1990) &#151; being arrested is enough to justify drawing blood or swabbing saliva for a DNA database. And this, says the judge, is no more worrisome than fingerprinting or taking a mug shot. "The court agrees that DNA sampling is analogous to taking fingerprints as part of the routine booking process upon arrest," he wrote, calling it "a law enforcement tool that is a technological progression from photographs and fingerprints."<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I try so hard not to scream, panic, or pull my hair out, but sometimes it's pretty dang difficult to remain calm. If this ruling stands and becomes the accepted legality, it's difficult to see how the concept of privacy as it was understood in my childhood could be even comprehensible to the next generation. <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10251861-38.html">CNet&nbsp;News</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><A NAME=04Wig348></A><BR> <TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="8" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR> <TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor="#eeeeee" class="fonta"> <A HREF="#04Wig348"><FONT COLOR=blue>#</FONT></A>&nbsp; <i><B>6/4/2009:</B></i> &nbsp; Ah, that slippery slope. <BR><BR><DIV align="right">Wig &nbsp; </div><!-- reply --> </TD></TR></TABLE> <A NAME=1234567890></A><table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="50%" 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="125" align="right"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><img src="http://unknownnews.org/yelling.jpg" alt="Politicians & pundits" border="0" width="115" height="115"></TD></TR></TABLE><I><B>Politicians &amp;&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://thinkprogress.org/2009/05/29/tancredo-obama-hates-white-people/">Tancredo (ret'd R-Colorado): 'I don't know' if the Obama administration 'hates white people'</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://thinkprogress.org/2009/05/29/bush-obama-socialist/">Bush wavers on whether Obama is a socialist: 'People are waiting to see what all this means'</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> <!-- =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%"><BR> <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://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200905280040">Fox's Beck on Obama: "His friends and his nominees and everything, they're all Marxist"</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200905280012">Fox's Beck suggests ACORN founders were inspired by "strategy" to "transform" US "into a socialist-Marxist state"</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200905280010">Fox's Beck says Sotomayor appointment is more evidence of a Marxist "hostile takeover" of the U.S.A.</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/fox-talker-peters-has-gitmo-solution">Fox talker Peters has a Gitmo solution: Just kill them all</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://mediamatters.org/research/200905280030">Fox Nation baselessly claims Sotomayor "wants to ban guns"</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%"><BR> <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://www.dailykostv.com/w/001800/">Limbaugh: President Obama hates white people</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 this ain't free speech &#151; it's just corporate-sponsored sedition. When mass media "news" outlets fan the flames of misinformed fury, when an audience of millions is repeatedly told blatant lies (the President is un-American, he hates God and white people, he's leaving America defenseless, etc.) that is a direct danger to democracy and to the President's life, and it should be illegal.</i> <DIV align="right"><i>&#151;H&HH &nbsp; </i></div> </td></tr></table></td></tr></table> <A NAME=wtaps-226></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Global climate change kills more than 300,000 people every year, according to this report from a group I've never heard of called Global Humanitarian Forum. And they're talking about <i>now</i>, not some hypothetical future. These are deaths caused by increasing hunger, illness, and climate-change-caused weather disasters, all of which are expected to bring the annual death toll to half-a-million by 2030. <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LS1002309.htm">Reuters&nbsp;News&nbsp;Agency</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <A NAME=whdfal-541></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Secretary of Energy Steven Chu suggests painting your roof white. It sounds like joke fodder for Kimmel and Letterman, but Chu's logic makes sense to me. <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/obamas-climate-guru-paint-your-roof-white-1691209.html">The&nbsp;Independent</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <A NAME=tyvmfdb-1019></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Remember the Uighurs? A small group of Chinese Muslims are being held at Guantanamo despite a court ruling <i>last year</i> that they pose no threat and must be released. Continuing the Obama administration's disgraceful walk-back from anything that smacks of <i>change</i> from the Bush-Cheney administration, the Justice Department is arguing that the Uighurs can't be released in America, that they "have already obtained relief" (while they're in prison at Guantanamo?), and that their imprisonment is actually quite pleasant. The people who write such legal claims are not far removed from the Bybees and Yoos, et al. <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2009/05/shameful.html">Obsidian Wings</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <A NAME=wtf-713></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has indicted several people near Kansas City for running a human-trafficking ring that spanned 14 states. They're alleged to have run ads offering foreign nationals jobs in the United States, charging the foreigners thousands of dollars, then bringing them into America, working them in major hotels and probably at other companies you've heard of (where management will feign ignorance), housing them in crap conditions, charging them up the wazoo for everything, threatening deportation if they complain, etc. It's a scheme you've heard of before, if you're paying attention, but this one's on a larger scale.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I'm extremely skeptical when management at the Westin and Doubletree hotels say they "had been assured that the workers were being paid prevailing hourly wages and were properly documented". I'm also a little skeptical that this trafficking ring would've drawn any scrutiny at all, if it had been operated by ordinary-sounding white folks instead of by a bunch of immigrants from Uzbekistan and Moldova. <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.truthout.org/052809LA">Kansas&nbsp;City&nbsp;Star</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <A NAME=wtaps-115></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Perennial candidate Ralph Nader says that Terry McAuliffe, then chair of the Democratic Party, offered him big bucks to go away during the 2004 Presidential campaign. It's news now, because McAuliffe is running for Governor of Virginia, and we're certainly hoping he loses. Virginia politics is not my area of expertise, but nobody needs another big-time Democratic Party operative in another position of high power. Screw 'im.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; That said, the allegation also makes me think less of Nader. "When you get a call like that, first of all it's inappropriate,'' says Nader. "The other thing is if you don't immediately say no, it's like taffy, you get stuck with it." Well, did Nader say no immediately? Did he say it loudly, to the press, as he should have? 'Cuz if he did, how come I didn't hear about it until five years later? <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/virginiapolitics/2009/05/post_228.html?hpid=topnews">Washington&nbsp;Post</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <A NAME=wtf-211></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The <A HREF="http://www.nndb.com/org/487/000117136/">Newspaper Association of America</A>, which represents pretty much all of America's mainstream print papers, held a "clandestine meeting" near Chicago last week, to discuss charging for on-line content. Charging a reasonable price is probably a good idea, though it'll squeeze the budget at this blog and others, but to my non-lawyer thinking the meeting sounds like an illegal collusion.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <I>Update:</I>&nbsp; The meeting was <A HREF="http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003977904">not at all secret</A>, say the attendees, it just wasn't publicized&nbsp;... <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.eandppub.com/2009/05/a-secret-meeting-you-say.html">Editor&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Publisher</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <A NAME=tyvmfdb-106></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; By all indications, the Obama administration isn't doing anything to change or challenge the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy that's already seen some 200 soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines fired just since Obama took office, and he's doing nothing about his other campaign promises to the gay & lesbian community. And if doing nothing isn't enough, <A HREF="http://blog.indecisionforever.com/2009/05/29/barack-obama-magically-turns-homosexuals-concerns-into-hilarious-joke/">President Obama made a little joke about it</A> last week. <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid86855.asp">The Advocate</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <!-- =civilliberties= --> <A NAME=whdfal-6511></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Federal prosecutors have dropped the last case against James Tobin. He's the Republican operative in New Hampshire who had Democrats' phone lines jammed on election day in 2002, as John Sununu won a very, very close Senate race. So, other than a few years of legal hassles, there's no penalty for what Tobin did. <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://wbztv.com/mainewire/22.0.html?type=local&state=ME&category=n&filename=ME--PhoneJamming.xml">WBZ-TV</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <A NAME=nsr></A><A NAME=whdfal-559></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; As you've no doubt heard, the California Supreme Court is OK with denying civil rights to gay folks. Gays already married remain married, but future gay weddings are banned. Even more so than ordinary laws blocking gays from marrying, this ruling seems to violate the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause, as I understand it. Where in the past we had first class citizens (straights) who could marry and second-class citizens (gays) who couldn't, now we have <I>three classes of citizenship</i> &#151; first class citizens who can marry, second class citizens (married gays) who remain married for state but not federal purposes, and third class citizens (unmarried gays) who can't marry. This court ruling will, as they say, live in infamy. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.gaywired.com/article.cfm?section=66&id=22889">Gay&nbsp;Wired</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- next week's main page --><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="365" align="left"><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/0905-31HS.html"><b>Big Government and Giant Corporations <nobr>are pretty much the same enemy</nobr></b></A><BR>by HappySysiphus<BR><BR> <center><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/0905-31HS.html"> <img src="http://unknownnews.org/globalization.jpg" border="3" width="210" height="300"></A></center> <BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Who tells you what time to get up in the morning? Who tells you what clothes to wear, what haircut you need to have, and what to do moment to moment, day after day, year after year until such time as she grows tired of you and banishes you to the mercy of the unwashed poor?<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Your boss at work governs you. So the next time you are fighting to shrink the power of governments, be sure to include corporations on the list of those with too much strength. &nbsp;... <DIV align="right"><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/0905-31HS.html.html"><FONT COLOR=blue><i>...&nbsp;Continue&nbsp;reading&nbsp;...</i></FONT></A> &nbsp; </div></td></tr></table></td></tr></table> <A NAME=whdfal-559a></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ted Olson, who has long been a power broker for the right-wing and who's proven himself a bastard time and time again, is going to a federal court to argue for overturning California's Proposition 8. Yeah, you read that right &#151; a long-time bad guy has switched to the good guys' side, at least for this one issue.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "It is our position," says Olson, "...&nbsp;that Proposition 8, as upheld by the California Supreme Court, denies federal constitutional rights under the equal protection and due process clauses of the constitution." For this battle, Olson is teaming up David Boies, who, you may recall, argued for Al Gore in <i>Bush v. Gore</i>, while Olson argued for Bush.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Two thoughts: First, worry, 'cuz a lot of people are thinking that <A HREF="http://www.anonymousliberal.com/2009/05/boiesolson-lawsuit.html">this strategy might be unwise</A>, with a Supreme Court tilted farther to the right than it's been in my lifetime. If the Supreme Court gets it wrong, it could set back gay marriage for a generation.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; And second, the lawyer who helped put George W Bush in the White House is doing more for gay rights than the President who promised change. If I could do that one-eyebrow-up look that Spock does on <i>Star Trek</i>, I'd be wearing that face right now. <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.americablog.com/2009/05/bush-solicitor-general-ted-olson.html">americablog.com</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <A NAME=wtf-140></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; A group of anti-gay bigots and faux Christian ministers in Washington DC are trying to raise enough signatures to put a referendum on the ballot, to challenge the city's recognition of gay marriages performed elsewhere. They only need 21,000 signatures to gain ballot access, so that's probably a given. <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/27/AR2009052703433.html?hpid=moreheadlines">Washington&nbsp;Post</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <A NAME=wtf-459></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Comic fans are pretty pissed about the collector prosecuted for possessing comic books that offended a prosecutor. It's an outrage brought to you by the "Protect Act" of 2003, yet another piece of Republican legislation that lies in its very title. <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/05/manga-porn/">Wired</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <A NAME=wtf-1012></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; According to this study, "after five years of staying clean an individual with a criminal record is of no greater risk of committing another crime than other individuals of the same age." So if he's made himself a good citizen later in life, there's no real gain in having a 50-year-old man have to 'fess up to a car theft conviction from when he was 22 every time he fills out a job application. I know I'll sound like a bleeding heart liberal, but if someone's gone five or ten years without an arrest, why not wipe his record clean? <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.cmu.edu/news/archive/2009/May/may27_crimeredemptionstudy.shtml">Carnegie Mellon University</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <A NAME=tyvmfdb-1238></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; A 15-year-old in suburban Pittsburgh gets a lengthy suspension from school for possession of an eyebrow shaver? The Associated Press has thoughtfully neglected to name the school official responsible for this sterling stupidity. <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.wpxi.com/news/19521773/detail.html">Associated Press</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <!-- =torture --><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="145" align="left"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><BR> <img src="http://unknownnews.org/torture-icon.jpg" alt="Torture is not an American ideal." border="1" width="125" height="167"></td></tr></table> <A NAME=wtf-216></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In what's described as "the most successful interrogation of an al-Qaeda operative by US officials", prisoner Abu Jandal was treated with respect and given sugar-free cookies (he's diabetic). And with that, Jandal, who had been Osama bin Laden's bodyguard, became a very cooperative prisoner. <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.eandppub.com/2009/05/no-torture-neededcookies-did-the-job.html">Time, distilled&nbsp;by Editor&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Publisher</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <A NAME=whdfal-121></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; If you're curious about those prisoner abuse photos that President Obama won't let you see, here's a description from General Antonio Taguba, who authored the report on Abu Ghraib:<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13">At least one picture shows an American soldier apparently raping a female prisoner while another is said to show a male translator raping a male detainee. Further photographs are said to depict sexual assaults on prisoners with objects including a truncheon, wire and a phosphorescent <nobr> tube.&nbsp;...<img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-end.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13"></nobr><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Taguba says <A HREF="http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/05/30/taguba/"><i>The Telegraph</i> got it wrong</A>, while Scott Horton writes that "<i>The Daily Beast</i> has <A HREF="http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-05-29/torture-photos-depict-sex-rape/">obtained specific corroboration</A> of the British account, which appeared in the <i>London Daily Telegraph</i>, from several reliable sources, including a highly credible senior military officer with firsthand knowledge, who provided even more detail about the graphic photographs that have been withheld from the public by the Obama administration." In pondering who to believe, Horton is a writer whose work I'm familiar with and trust, and I have no reason to doubt General Taguba, but plenty of reasons to doubt the Obama administration, which is <A HREF="http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/29/scotus.detainee.photos/index.html">asking the Supreme Court to help suppress the photos</A>.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Can you imagine the present Supreme Court <i>not</i> agreeing to keep the photos secret? <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/5395830/Abu-Ghraib-abuse-photos-show-rape.html">London&nbsp;Daily&nbsp;Telegraph</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <A NAME=whdfal-418></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13">A 14-year military interrogator has undercut one of the key arguments posited by Vice President Dick Cheney in favor of the Bush Administration's torture techniques and alleged that the use of torture has cost "hundreds if not thousands" of American <nobr> lives.<img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-end.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13"></nobr> <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/05/26/military-interrogator-torture-american-lives/">Raw&nbsp;Story</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <A NAME=wtaps-131></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Senator Carl Levin (D-Michigan), who's privy to exactly the same classified documents that Cheney claims would prove that torture was wildly effective, says he's seen the documents in question and Cheney is full of crap. <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/torture/levin-cia-torture-documents-cheney-wants-dont-prove-squat/">The Plum Line</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <!-- =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="ABC News" border="0" width="71" height="27"> <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/newslogo-ap.jpg" alt="Associated Press" 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=wtaps-1054></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In an impressive piece of point-missing, researchers at OSU have figured out that people prefer to read media sources that reinforce opinions the reader already holds. The press release ends with an academic scolding: "If you only pay attention to messages you agree with, that can make you more extreme in your viewpoints, because you never consider the other side." All well and good and, c'mon, pretty dang obvious.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; But there's no indication that the study asked <I>why</i> people seek out news from sources they agree with, so let me 'splain it, broadly. When I was a kid there weren't very many news sources available to ordinary people &#151; you read one or both of your city's newspapers, and augmented that by watching a network newscast. Now, of course, there are thousands of media sources to choose from, but I wish I didn't have to dig through so many sources. I would be friggin' delighted to stop surfing the web for news, stop choosing between sources I generally agree with and sources that I don't, and read one trusted newspaper again &#151; if there was a newspaper I could trust to report the news that matters.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; But there isn't. The news that matters gets buried under mountains of bullcrap and press releases presented as news, so you've pretty much gotta spend time digging through myriad news sources to find out what's going on, or you don't find out what's going on. And <I>of course</i>, when you make people work that hard to be reasonably well-informed, they're going to avoid the sources that lie or suppress the news, and they're going to concentrate on the sources that seem to tell the truth. <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/poliview.htm">Ohio State University</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <A NAME=whdfal-931></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Here's an intriguing comparison about how the Washington media is slathering Dick Cheney with love for his cutting attacks on the Obama administration, versus the same voices' opposite response when another former Vice President, Al Gore, made far less inflammatory criticisms of the Bush-Cheney administration in 2002. <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://mediamatters.org/columns/200905270004">Media&nbsp;Matters</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <A NAME=whdfal-941></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13"><I>Politico</I> catalogs attacks on Sotomayor, but is that <nobr> journalism?<img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-end.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13"></nobr> <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://mediamatters.org/blog/200905260039">Media&nbsp;Matters</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <A NAME=conversation-bubbles></A><table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="8" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="245" 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"> <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/dialogue.html"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/dialogue-bubbles.jpg" border="0" width="230" height="230"></A><BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <SPAN class="fontsm"><i>We welcome readers' comments, questions, or criticisms. Incoming emails that make sense are published on <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/dialogue.html">our dialogue page</A>.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Our email is &#60;<A HREF="mailto:unknownnews@inbox.com">unknownnews at inbox.com</A>&#62;, and if that address ever fails you can&nbsp;also reach us at <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/contact.html">these back-up email addresses</A>.</i></SPAN> </td></tr></table></td></tr></table> <A NAME=bhantm-1059></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Like anyone who's a regular reader of political reporting, I'm familiar with the byline of Jeffrey Rosen. Until recently I'd held him in medium-high esteem, but after his rather unfair report on Sotomayor and his just plain weaselly refusal to take responsibilty for what he's written, I'll never be able to see his byline again without the word "schmuck" popping into my mind. <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/05/31/rosen/index.html">Salon</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <A NAME=wtf-300></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Now that it's no longer publishing on paper, the <i>Tucson Citizen</i> is rethinking its on-line operations. Editor Mark B. Evans says they're going to publish a plethora of local bloggers, offering pay based on hits. This is a good idea, and I recognize its goodness because it's been my idea for a long while. Welcoming and paying local bloggers who do good work is, in my humble opinion, the best way to re-invent and re-invigorate the news business. <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/116739.php">Tucson&nbsp;Citizen</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <A NAME=wtaps-145></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <i>Time Magazine</i> is (surprise!) full of crap, equating the modest tensions between blacks and Hispanics in America with the historically deadly relation between blacks and whites. It's not so much that I want to bash the author for a clumsy sentence, because anyone can bang out a clumsy sentence. Hell, I don't like my first sentence in this paragraph. But doesn't <i>Time</i> have editors paid to read the copy and smooth out such bonkers bits? <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://ta-nehisicoates.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/05/especially_the_blacks_and_the_latinos.php">Atlantic Monthly</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <!-- =world= --> <!-- =Afghanistan --> <!-- =Iraq --> <!-- =Iran= --> <A NAME=whdfal-7222></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has challenged US President Barack Obama to a debate. Sounds silly, and of course it would be silly. How's about a sit-down and talk session, though, just the two of them and their translators? &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D98DBT780&show_article=1">Associated&nbsp;Press</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- =Israel --> <!-- =Pakistan --> <!-- =Europe --> <A NAME=tyvmfdb-1484></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The US put up a billion bucks for a joint Russian-American facility in Siberia that'll be used to dismantle and destroy Soviet-era chemical weapons. Nice start &#151; now start dismantling the nukes, please. <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/29/AR2009052903109.html?hpid=topnews">Washington Post</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <A NAME=think></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 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; "It was said during the presidential campaign that one of the candidates was running for George W. Bush's third term. Did you think it was Obama? ... This is truly astounding. In Obama we have a new Jekyll and Hyde. From harsh critic of Bush's trampling of individual rights, Obama has transmogrified into a champion of the omnipotent state that cannot let the niceties of the traditional criminal-justice system stand in the way of "national security."" <DIV align="right"><A HREF="http://www.fff.org/comment/com0905k.asp">Sheldon Richman</A></div><BR> <BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "Politicians normally like to be praised, but I have to wonder how President Obama feels having gotten accolades from such unaccustomed sources as Ari Fleischer, John McCain and the <i>Wall Street Journal</i>." <DIV align="right"><A HREF="http://counterpunch.org/mariner05272009.html">Joanne Mariner</A></div><BR> <BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "Instead of becoming not racist, conservatives have busied themselves changing the definition of racism so it doesn't apply to them anymore. The holy grail in this effort is the ongoing attempt to brand non-white, anti-racist activists as . racists. The essential contours of this argument are simple enough: if we're not allowed to discriminate against you for being brown, then you can't discriminate against us for being white.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "The reason so few sensible people take it seriously is that there is no effective anti-white discrimination in America or, for that matter, the world. Being white is almost universally easier than being any other color, just as being male is almost universally easier than being female. (If you're white, male, and still angry, the problem is you.)" <DIV align="right"><A HREF="http://www.vanityfair.com/online/politics/2009/05/no-newt-youre-the-racist.html">Michael Hogan</A></div><BR> <BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "Look, it's not racist to oppose a Latina judicial nominee, or to oppose affirmative action, or to point out genuine evidence of ethnic bias on the part of minorities. What we're seeing here, though, is people clinging to the belief that Sotomayor has to be some mediocrity who struck the ethnic jackpot, that whatever benefit she got from affirmative action must be vastly more significant than her own qualities, that she's got to be a harpy boiling with hatred for whitey, however overwhelming the evidence against all these propositions is. This is really profoundly ugly." <DIV align="right"><A HREF="http://www.juliansanchez.com/2009/05/29/a-sotomayor-core-dump/">Julian Sanchez</A></div> </td></tr></table></td></tr></table> <A NAME=whdfal-334></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In Ireland, <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13">the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, chaired by a High Court Judge, said priests and nuns had flogged, starved and, in some cases, raped children in Ireland's now defunct network of industrial and reformatory schools from the 1930s. Religious authorities knew about the abuse but covered it up. The Irish government colluded in the silence. A lawsuit by the Christian Brothers led the commission to drop its original intention to name the abusers and no one will be prosecuted as a <nobr> result.<img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-end.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13"></nobr><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Sounds quite a bit like detainee abuse in the US. <nobr>&nbsp; &#151;SirJ</nobr> &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE54K4AQ20090521">Reuters&nbsp;News&nbsp;Agency</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <!-- =Africa --> <A NAME=tyvmfdb-1259></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 20,000 or so souls are dead, in the final battles of the Sri Lankan civil war. For the duration of the decades-long war, the death toll is estimated to be between 80,000 and 100,000. <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090529/wl_nm/us_srilanka_war_times">Reuters&nbsp;News&nbsp;Agency</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <!-- =North America --> <A NAME=whdfal-356></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13">Canada's securities industry watchdog has opened a hotline for investors wishing to report wrongdoing, fraud or unethical behavior, mirroring steps taken in the United States following multibillion-dollar <nobr> frauds.<img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-end.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13"></nobr><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Huh? The US took any kind of action at all to encourage whistleblowing? <i>Real</i> action, as opposed to pure sham? Prove it. Show me some big fish reined in with it. Zero? That's what I thought. <nobr>&nbsp; &#151; <A HREF="http://www.jrmooneyham.com">JR Mooneyham</A></nobr> <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090526/wl_canada_nm/canada_us_securities_whistleblower">Reuters&nbsp;News&nbsp;Agency</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <!-- =South America --> <!-- =Asia --> <A NAME=whdfal-537></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; North Korea is threatening to attack South Korea. The Northside is <A HREF="http://www.nndb.com/people/261/000024189/">ruled by a rather eccentric character</A>, and I have no clue what might be an appropriate way to make Kim Jong Il play by the ordinary rules of tyranny. But he's been in power for fifteen years so I'm not sure there's a crisis every time he opens his yap.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Also, let's get real: We had similar saber-rattling and worse with George W Bush here in America, and I'll have a hard time taking it seriously if you tell me Kim Jong Il is a bigger threat to peace and humanity than George W Bush. <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/27/AR2009052701060.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2009052501053">Washington&nbsp;Post</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <!-- =bailout =economy--> <A NAME=whdfal-357></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-begin.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13">Under Obama, socialism chatter has permeated the media in 2009. But beyond sound bites, what is <nobr> socialism?<img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quote-end.jpg" alt="quote" border="0" width="15" height="13"></nobr><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; One way to tell Obama isn't bringing socialism to America is how unhappy we all are. <nobr>&nbsp; &#151;<A HREF="http://www.jrmooneyham.com">JR Mooneyham</A></nobr> <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/may2009/db20090522_329825.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index+-+temp_news+%2B+analysis">Business&nbsp;Week</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <A NAME=tyvmfdb-941></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I'm getting the impression that the Obama administration is serious about enforcing antitrust laws, which have been generally ignored since the Reagan era. Antitrust is a firewall that prevents capitalism from devolving into feudalism, and decades of government that doesn't give a damn about antitrust laws is a big part of what's brought the American economy to its knees, so this is a very welcome baby step in the right direction. <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.madison.com/tct/opinion/452861">The&nbsp;Capital&nbsp;Times&nbsp;(Madison,&nbsp;WI)</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <A NAME=bhantm-12399></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Chrysler wants Lee Iacocca's car and pension back. <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/may/29/lee-iacocca-chrysler">The&nbsp;Guardian</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <A NAME=flatline></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"><I><B>Flatliners</B></I><BR><center><img src="http://unknownnews.org/flatline.jpg" alt="Flatliners" border="0" width="235" height="65"></center> <BR><A HREF="http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200905290052">Fox's Beck: "When did we get to the place in America to where we can't have disagreements without demonizing each other?"</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/05/conservatives-sonia-sotomayor-as-harriet-miers.html">Conservatives claim Sonia Sotomayor is Harriet Miers. Oh please.</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/fox-sports-article-top-women-athletes">Fox Sports article on top women athletes includes a horse</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/rush-limbaugh-says-rush-limbaugh-should-shut">Limbaugh says Limbaugh should shut up</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/dick-morris-thinks-convincing-japanese-dev">Dick Morris thinks convincing the Japanese to develop nuclear weapons is the solution to dealing with North Korea</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://mediamatters.org/clips/200905260078">O'Reilly again claims that if gay marriage was legalized, "you could have married a duck"</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://firedoglake.com/2009/05/28/redstates-erick-erickson-compares-rush-limbaugh-to-jesus-christ/"><i>RedState</i>'s Erick Erickson compares Rush Limbaugh to Jesus Christ</A><BR> <BR><A HREF="http://www.politicususa.com/en/GOP-Lincoln-Obama">Unintentionally funny GOP video uses Abe Lincoln to attack Barack Obama</A><BR> </td></tr></table></td></tr></table> <!-- =dc= --> <A NAME=health></A><A NAME=wtaps-1035></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "By a wide margin," says President Obama, "the biggest threat to our nation's balance sheet is the skyrocketing cost of health care. It's not even close." And yet, he's allowing the only proven maximum cost-saver &#151; single-payer &#151; to be left entirely out of the discussion. <nobr>&nbsp; &#151;<A HREF="http://www.jrmooneyham.com">JR Mooneyham</A></nobr> <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/06/01/090601fa_fact_gawande?currentPage=all">The&nbsp;New&nbsp;Yorker</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <A NAME=bhantm-1042></A><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Senator Max Baucus ('D'-Montana) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the health and insurance industries, so when you see him banging his gavel as chair of Senate Finance Committee meetings on health care, you're seeing health care get sold down the river. Every time Baucus walks into the room, in his briefcase he's basically carrying the deaths of a few thousand more uninsured Americans and the sickness and misery of many thousands more. <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://baltimorechronicle.com/2009/053109Zeese.shtml">Baltimore Chronicle</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <A NAME=tyvmfdb-701></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; General David Petraeus says that Americans should live up to American values &#151; don't torture, close Guantanamo, abide by the Geneva Conventions, and by the way, Pakistan is a catastrophe waiting to happen. What Petraeus says matters to a lot of people because he was in charge of the American occupation of Iraq for a year and a half, and he's presently running the United States Central Command, which means he's in charge of the US military in the Middle East. He wears a lot of glittery stuff on his chest, so people listen to him.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In a sane, civilized society, most of what he said last week goes without saying: <i>of course</i> we shouldn't torture, <i>of course</i> we should close a prison that's a ghastly international embarrassment, and <i>of course</i> we should comply with the accepted rules of war. But since it needs to be said I'm glad that Petraeus said it. <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/gen-petraeus-believes-our-values-and-co">Crooks&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;Liars</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <A NAME=whdfal-557></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; President Obama has named Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. The Republicans' Swift-Boat gang, of course, has painted her as <A HREF="http://christyhardinsmith.firedoglake.com/2009/05/28/scotus-start-yer-ad-war-engines-the-gops-swift-boat-pr-team-is-back-in-action/">the demon spawn of Karl Marx and the Anti-Christ</A>. How tedious.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; From everything I've read about Sotomayor's record, she seems to be a choice calculated to ruffle as few feathers as possible. She's a former prosecutor and a corporate lawyer, and you'd need an imagination to spot anything leftist in her rulings. <A HREF="http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/Critics-unhappy-with-Sotomayors-role-in-CT-free-speech-case.html">Troublesome</A>: She decided that it's OK for a school to punish a kid for calling school officials "douche bags" in her off-campus personal blog. <A HREF="http://www.slate.com/id/2219251/pagenum/all/">Also troublesome</A>: She sided with a cop in a case that sounds somewhat outrageous.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; She seems like a bright woman with middle of the road perspectives, and I <i>abhor</i> the middle of the road, but I never would have expected a liberal appointment from Obama. For me the bottom line is, compared to some of Obama's more colossally stupid appointments, Sotomayor is ... adequate.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The problem (and really it's the same problem we've seen for years, decades) is that progressives (like me) believe that a certain centrism is a good idea in most aspects of government, so progressives (like me) will sigh and see someone like Sotomayor as a reasonable choice. We won't make a stink, and barring any late-breaking scandals, she'll be confirmed. <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> <BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; On the other end of the spectrum, there's no such concession to what's reasonable &#151; they want people who can't be reasoned with; dogmatic, iron-clad nominees who stand far to the right of what used to be called "conservative". And that's what they got from the Bush-Cheney administration's nominees, for the Supreme Court and for every other position, without exception. So of course, they expect the same from Obama in the opposite direction, because the media and right-wing leaders (but I repeat myself) have told them Obama is a leftist. Sigh. Obama's no leftist and neither is Sotomayor, except in comparison to Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas and John Roberts and Sammy Alito. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://blog.indecisionforever.com/2009/05/26/sonia-sotomayor-nomiated-to-supreme-court/">Comedy&nbsp;Central</A>&nbsp;]<BR> <A NAME=tyvmfdb-819></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In the Republicans' blizzard of smears against Sonia Sotomayor, we've <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/debunk-frame.html#20090530">tried to set the record straight</A> on the biggest lies, but most of the rhetorical sticks and stones thrown against her are best ignored. One attack that stood out like a pimple on the tip of your nose, though, was when former Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-Colorado) said that the National Council of La Raza is a "Latino KKK without the hoods or the nooses."<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; On the specific and absurd allegation that La Raza =&nbsp;KKK, I like <A HREF="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/05/truly_cant_help_themselves.php">Josh Marshall's response</A>: "For those who aren't familiar with it, <A HREF="http://www.nndb.com/org/941/000172425/">La Raza</A> is basically a Latino equivalent of B'nai Brith or the NAACP. Garden variety and uncontroversial unless you thinks it's a public safety issue if more than a handful of Mexicans or Puerto Ricans get together in one place at the same time." And let's add that the Ku Klux Klan has murdered tens of thousands of black people, while La Raza, to the best of my knowledge, hasn't killed anyone.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Republicans have a long history of using racism for political advantage, and Tancredo's lie about La Raza is familiar among the <A HREF="http://mediamatters.org/blog/200905310004">severest bigots</A> of the far, far, no farther than that right-wing. There's really nowhere else on the political spectrum that Tancredo could have formed this opinion.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Chat for a few minutes with the kind of conservative who thinks illegal immigrants from Mexico should be shot on sight, who thinks anyone who looks Hispanic should be stopped by police and required to produce a green card, and from the same people you'll often hear that La Raza wants to seize the American SouthWest and give it to Mexico. When you hear someone badmouthing La Raza with such silly assertions, that's the sound of racism, as surely as hearing someone speak casually of niggers, wops, kikes, and spics. <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/claim-la-raza-equals-klan-comes-stra">Crooks&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;Liars</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <A NAME=sttbth></A><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/sttsth.jpg" alt="Support our troops: Bring them home" border="2" width="225" height="70"></A></td></tr></table> <A NAME=whdfal-649></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Feds have now-Senator Roland Burris (D-Illinois) on tape offering a check for then-Governor Rod Blagojevich. But he says he <A HREF="http://www.dailykostv.com/w/001784/">changed his mind after hanging up</A> the phone. Near as I can ascertain, the evidence of Burris's corruption is every bit as clear as the evidence against Blagojevich when Blago was forced to resign. So will Burris be forced out, like Blagojevich was? <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/05/how_damning_is_the_burris_transcript.php">Talking&nbsp;Points&nbsp;Memo</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <A NAME=wtf-157></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Harry Reid ('D'-Nevada), who is routinely among the most clueless and obstinate of the blue dog Democrats and thus the Democrats' Leader in the Senate, has stepped back from his colossal stupidity of last week. You may recall that he said he'd oppose closing Guantanamo, because prisoners can't be transferred to another prison without first being released. Scratch your head over that for a while. So now he says of the Uighurs, the Chinese Muslims imprisoned at Guantanamo who've been found to pose no danger, "Should they go into a maximum security prison? Probably not." This guy is dumber than a box of corn flakes. <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://thinkprogress.org/2009/05/27/reid-guantanamo-prisons/">ThinkProgess</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <A NAME=wtf-330></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; It looks like a Democrat will run for the Senate seat currently held by Arlen Specter ('D'-Pennsylvania). Congressman Joe Sestak (D-Pennsylvania) says he'll run unless his family asks him not to. <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/05/sestak-pending-blessing-from-my-family-i-intend-to-run.php">Talking&nbsp;Points&nbsp;Memo</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <A NAME=wtf-707></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ten Commandments Judge Roy Moore is running for Governor in Alabama. <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.whnt.com/news/whnt-roy-moore-governor-announcement,0,2181619.story">WHNT-TV</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <A NAME=whdfal-437></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Former New York City police Commissioner Bernard Kerik has been indicted for lying to White House officials during the Bush-Cheney administration, when he was being vetted for Homeland Security chief. I dunno the ins and outs of the law, but always remember, kids, when you're talking to a cop or any government official, think of yourself as "under oath", 'cuz if you're lying there could be consequences. <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iMOndXWz6wfLU3CwSs4tc25xQcFAD98E8OT80">Associated&nbsp;Press</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <!-- =nsr --><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/nsrheterosexuals.jpg" alt="No special rights for heterosexuals" border="2" width="225" height="70"></A></td></tr></table> <A NAME=whdfal-117></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; While he was President, George W Bush was infamous for pre-screening the questions at his rare public appearances, so that tough questions almost never slipped by. He's apparently following the same strategy in his rare post-Presidential appearances, answering only questions that have been pre-screened. <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://thinkprogress.org/2009/05/28/bush-pre-screening-quesitons/">ThinkProgess</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <A NAME=wtaps-1252></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Rep. Pete Visclosky (D-Indiana) has been subpoenaed. He says he's confident he'll be cleared of all allegations. Sounds familiar. <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gtPf1gxxvYIFkkO6d20isMarJMzAD98G5BQ01">Associated&nbsp;Press</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <!-- =corporations= --> <A NAME=tyvmfdb-147></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The headline here ("Church of Scientology members banned from editing Wikipedia") is misleading, since church members are still free to add edits, but Wikipedia has banned edits that come from the Church of Scientology's domain. It's a move that seems to makes sense, since the Scientologists have been acting like a bunch of wankers (i.e., like a bunch of Scientologists). <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/wikipedia/5408761/Church-of-Scientology-members-banned-from-editing-Wikipedia.html">London&nbsp;Daily&nbsp;Telegraph</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <!-- =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" alt="Peculiar" border="1" width="107" height="136"></td></tr></table> <A NAME=wtaps-231z></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I glanced at <A HREF="http://www.frontiersman.com/articles/2009/05/27/faith/doc4a1b794bd0fd9907394285.txt">this article from some deluded Baptist minister</A> in Sarah Palin's home town paper claiming that the Anti-Christ will be homosexual, but sure as Satan didn't read it. But I got a kick out of Mike Malloy's radio interview with the author, Minister Ron Hamman, in which Malloy asks Hammon, "Do you have any idea which homosexual is the Anti-Christ?" <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.mikemalloy.com/bits/2009_0529_Malloy%20Punks%20Pastor%20Ron%20Hamman.mp3">The Mike Malloy Show</A> (audio)&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <A NAME=whdfal-231></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; It's from France but it's in English, it's not safe for work, and it's going to put a smile on your face. &nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV26OMSb_VQ&">YouTube</A>&nbsp;(video)&nbsp;]<BR> <A NAME=wtaps-1228></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Baseball has killed a lot more people than I would have thought. <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.slate.com/id/2218733/">Slate</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><BR> <A NAME=wtaps-254></A><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Helen & Harry seek your advice:&nbsp; We want to read webpages that behave like print pages. We are a couple of increasingly crusty old farts, and we have no patience for websites that blare unexpected sound, or for ads that move around to get your attention, etc. Audio and video are fine when you're looking for audio and video, but when we're reading we want the page to just sit there. Toward this goal, we run Firefox because it's much more user-friendly and advertiser-unfriendly than Internet Explorer, and we use NoScript and AdBlocker add-ons to silence and still unwanted sound and movement. When that fails, we can train our firewall to filter images from selected websites. 99% of the time when we're surfing the web at home, we simply don't see such annoyances, and generally it's only when we use the computer at the library (with its IE browser) that we're reminded of how awful the web experience is with Internet Explorer.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; There's really only one website we routinely visit from our home computer where we haven't been able to conquer the built-in annoyances, so I come to you, dear reader, to ask for help: When we're reading news from Reuters at reuters.com, there's a new scrolling headline at the top of the page every few seconds (<A HREF="http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54Q4SY20090527">here's an example</A>) and we've been unable to figure out how to make it stop. It isn't an image, so I don't know how to block it. It's a minor annoyance, but any advice would be appreciated. <nobr>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<A HREF="mailto:unknownnews@inbox.com">unknownnews@inbox.com</A>&nbsp;]</nobr><A NAME=03SJ1119></A><BR> <TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="8" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR> <TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor="#eeeeee" class="fonta"> <A HREF="#03SJ1119"><FONT COLOR=blue>#</FONT></A>&nbsp; <i><B>6/3/2009:</B></i> &nbsp; Try enabling IFrame blocking in NoScript. The Reuters' "teletyper", as I call it, uses an IFrame to insert the various headlines. From examining the code, it looks like the headlines are generated by Javascript, so I don't understand why NoScript isn't blocking them.<BR><BR>I haven't tried this suggestion. I don't have NoScript. I tried it but it messed up navigation on several websites I visit. Disabling NoScript for those pages didn't solve the problem so I uninstalled it.<BR><BR>You will likely have to do what the asterisked comment to FAQ 4.8 on http://noscript.net/faq#qa4_8 says [if you want every iframe to be blocked, even if same-site with its parent, you can set the noscript.forbidIFramesContext about:config preference to 0 (zero)] because the IFrame is coming from the same website, in this case Reuters.<BR><BR>You may not like the result as you use IFrames. Possibly disabling NoScript for the UnknownNews website will solve that. <BR><BR><DIV align="right">SirJ &nbsp; </div><!-- reply --><BLOCKQUOTE><i> Sounds promising. I shall give it a try. Please consider your cheek e-smooched.<BR><BR>Update, the next day: Bingo and jackpot, it worked. Thank you thank you thank you! </i><BR><BR><DIV align="right"><i>Helen & Harry Highwater</i><A NAME=05T525></A></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE> <A HREF="#05T525"><FONT COLOR=blue>#</FONT></A>&nbsp; <i><B>6/5/2009:</B></i> &nbsp; To combat the plethora of websites that attempt to distract when all you want to do is read... install 'Readability' from <A HREF="http://lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability/">lab.arc90.com</A>. <BR><BR><DIV align="right">T. &nbsp; </div><!-- reply --><BLOCKQUOTE><i> Appreciated, sincerely. I spent about twenty minutes reading about 'Readability' and Googling for reviews, and it seems to be pleasing most of the people who use it.<BR><BR>Sadly, almost no software written after about 2002 works on our computer, as it's basically a 1954 Studebaker without the wheels. But if my husband and I can both remain employed (fingers crossed!) we're hoping to buy a new computer later this year, and once that new machine is plugged in, 'Readability' gets downloaded, definitely. Grazi again. </i><BR><BR><DIV align="right"><i>Helen & Harry Highwater</i></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE> </TD></TR></TABLE> <TABLE CELLPADDING="6" CELLSPACING="5" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR> <TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" class="fonta" bgcolor="#eeeeee"> <TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR> <TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" class="fonta" bgcolor="#eeeeee"> <table border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="20%" align="left"><tr><TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="middle" WIDTH="99%" class="font18"> <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/dialogue.html"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/dialogue-bubbles.jpg" border="0" width="127" height="127"></A></TD><TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="1%" class="fonta">&nbsp;</td></tr></table> <center><BIG><I>Don't miss <B>our dialogue page</b></i></center><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <SPAN class="fontsm"><i>We welcome readers' comments, questions, or criticisms. Incoming emails that make sense are published on <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/dialogue.html">our dialogue page</A>.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Our email is &#60;<A HREF="mailto:unknownnews@inbox.com">unknownnews at inbox.com</A>&#62;, and if that address ever fails you can&nbsp;also reach us at <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/contact.html">these back-up email addresses</A>.</i></SPAN></TD></TR></TABLE> <center><iframe src="http://www.unknownnews.org/dailydialogue.html" height="32" width="600" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></center></TD></TR></TABLE><!-- =dialogue --></A> <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; 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Just a buck or two can make all the difference and help keep <I>Unknown News</I> alive.<BR><BR> <center><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/donations.html">Donations</A> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/advertising.html">Sponsorships</A> <BR> <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/stickers.html">Stickers and stuff for sale</A> <BR> <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/subscriptions.html">Subscriptions</A> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/wishlist.html">Wish list</A> <BR> <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/credits.html">Thank you</A> </center><BR> <DIV align="right"><i><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/contact.html">Helen &amp; Harry Highwater</A></i> &nbsp; </TD></TR></TABLE><BR> <TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR> <TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" class="fonta"> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; If the news frustrates or angers you, please, <A HREF="http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml"><b>contact your elected officials.</b></A> Seriously. 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/page/blueamerica08"><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/page/blueamerica08">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="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>