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Obama continues the Bush-Cheney war on pornography

      ♦  Just like the Bush-Cheney administration, the Obama administration's Justice Department continues its absurd and anti-freedom prosecutions for pornography. So two Cleveland cousins, Sami and Michael Harb, will spend a year and a day in prison for the "crime" of filling a customer's order for smutty movies, because the order came from Utah.

Health care hell in America
health care sucks in America

      ♦  After such a loud and stupid debate, you might want to get to know the lousy sack of crap Democrats are calling "health care reform". It doesn't end anti-trust exemptions for the insurance industry. It doesn't end rescission, despite pretending to.

      ♦  In the interest of fairness, I yield to Senator Harry Reid (D-Nevada), whom I don't respect, and Washington Monthly's Steve Bennen and the Washington Post's Ezra Klein, whom I do, as they try to convince you that the pending health care legislation is actually pretty good.

      ♦  A stroll down Memory Lane, to 2003, as the Republicans pushed through the prescription drug benefit, aka Medicare Part D. It cost more than the health care reform currently being debated, and the Bush-Cheney administration illegally lied about the cost and used direct threats to suppress the facts of the legislation's cost. It was designed and enacted as simply an expense of hundreds of billions of dollars added to the budget deficit, with no offsetting cost reductions or revenue sources. It was thus exponentially more "big government" and "big deficit" than what's under consideration today.
      And yet there were no hysterical "tea parties", no talk of succession or Marxism, and the opposition party didn't flood the discourse with hyperbolic lies about the legislation. How unpeculiar.

      ♦  At George Washington University, an analysis of the ramifications of Congressman Bart Stupak (D-Michigan)'s amendment to the health care reform bill is that it would effectively end insurance coverage for abortion in America.

      ♦  |The Senate's version of health care reform would restore federal funding for "abstinence only" education.

      ♦  Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Arizona) has stated publicly that no Republicans in the Senate will vote for the health care reform legislation.
      Let's take him at his word, and ask what seems the logical follow-up question: Since Republicans' minds are made up and their votes aren't necessary to pass legislation, why not stop compromising and begin un-compromising? Why not pass meaningful health care reform instead of the band-aid and Merthiolate that Democrats are pushing?


      ♦  As the state of California swirls down the drain, they're raising tuition at state universities by staggering amounts, effectively condemning a generation of working-class kids to become working class adults and quit dreaming of a college education. Some students are protesting, and more ought to be out on the streets. The whole mess is an outrage brought to you by wasteful and overpaid edu-bureaucracies.
      As Howard Sprague explains, "... for years public institutions have been allowed to quietly grow their expenditures as if they were actual private-sector competitive businesses. They spend vast sums on IT, employee perks, infrastructure of all kinds and then add on inflation adjustments in every department -- whether the economy is rising or falling. Vast sums have been burned in the bonfires of the vanities of bureaucrats. When times were good no one complained, but now that the economy is in the sh*tter, when the fat must be trimmed, the bureaucrats naturally decide to not share in the sacrifices."

      ♦  If you're on medication, especially life-saving medication for, say, AIDS or diabetes or a heart condition, etc., it's a good idea not to be arrested and jailed. Today's story comes from Houston, where the hoosegow is especially barbaric, and you ought to read it, but bear in mind that the facts from Houston are not out of the ordinary — I've heard similar horror stories for years, from the incarcerated and from activists from all over America. If you're incarcerated you won't be allowed to possess your own prescription meds, and the drugs you need will be low on the list of jailers' priorities. Your drug regimen will be interrupted, and for how long? That depends on random factors like, how busy are the jailers tonight and tomorrow and the day after? How seriously do they take your medical condition and how seriously can you convince them to take it? And another factor, mentioned in the article but worth re-mentioning, is that a doctor who's treating jail inmates is, shall we say, unlikely to be at the pinnacle of his profession.

      ♦  In a stand at least three decades behind common sense, the American Medical Association (AMA) has finally asked the Drug Enforcement Administration to remove marijuana from its harshest and most dangerous classification, the Schedule I category, where it sits alongside heroin and a host of other drugs deemed to have no medicinal value.

      ♦  In clumsily outlawing gay marriage, Texas lawmakers may have outlawed straight marriage as well. I'm not a lawyer but as I understand this it makes sense — they illegalized "any legal status identical or similar to marriage", and there's really nothing more identical to marriage than marriage.

      ♦  It is, of course, inappropriate for President Obama to promise a guilty verdict in the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, but that's what he's done.

      ♦  Two librarians in Lexington have been fired for conspiring to keep a graphic novel from circulating. Censorship, in other words.
U.S. Bill of Rights

The First Amendment

      Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

The Second Amendment

      A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

The Third Amendment

      No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

The Fourth Amendment

      The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

The Fifth Amendment

      No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

The Sixth Amendment

      In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

The Seventh Amendment

      In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

The Eighth Amendment

      Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

The Ninth Amendment

      The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

The Tenth Amendment

      The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.


      ♦  Courtney Love is being sued over an insulting tweet, in a case which could matter to ordinary people if the verdict goes the wrong way.

      ♦  Would-be airline traveler Phil Mocek did his homework, and confirmed in advance that there's no law requiring that passengers present ID cards in order to fly, if both the departure and arrival airports are within the United States. Mocek was arrested at the airport in Albuquerque when he declined to show his identification to Transportation Security Authority (TSA) employees.
      He was accompanied on his would-be journey by his friend, Jesse Gallagos, who had confirmed in advance that there's no law banning photography at the airport. Gallagos was "detained" for attempting to take pictures of his friend's arrest.

      ♦  A New Hampshire man named Dustin Almon noticed he was being followed down a darkened street late at night, and glanced back at the two men behind him. He continued walking and glanced back again, and they were still there, following him. The third time he turned and asked the two men behind him, "Why are you following me?", while holding a two-inch knife, pointed down at the ground.
      The two men following him were both armed, and both cops. When one of them answered, "Police", Almon put away his knife and complied with every command the cops issued. But Almon was convicted of placing the cops in fear of bodily injury. It's his first arrest or conviction, and the newspaper's coverage gives no indication of why he was being followed, except that one cop was training another, presumably in the fine art of following someone so he could be arrested when he noticed he was being followed.

      ♦  According to un-named whistleblowers at the International Energy Agency (IEA), the rather shadowy organization run jointly by the governments of a few dozen nations, its estimates of the world's oil reserves have been systematically exaggerated for years.

      ♦  President Obama has appointed Bush-Cheney spokesliar Dana Perino to the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which oversees US propaganda efforts overseas, including Voice of America, Alhurra television, Radio Sawa, TV Marti, Radio Free Asia and Radio Free Europe.
      Even by ordinary DC standards of doublecross and backstabbing, this is a flabbergasting affront to anyone who ever had an ounce of hope for Obama's promise of "change". Perino's qualifications are nil. She's currently a chief exec at Burson-Marsteller, the PR firm for any evil cause with a big enough checkbook, and her former job was to stand at the podium for Bush & Cheney and lie for them. You might recall, she was not at all competent even as a liar, and she was on TV lying about the Obama administration as recently as a month ago. And now she's going to be in a position ofresponsibility in determining the content of America's vast foreign propaganda network. Make sense of this if you can, and get back to me.

      ♦  Mary Beth Buchanan, the Bush-Cheneyadministration's corrupt and incompetent US Attorney in Pittsburgh, has finally quit, almost ten months after the change of administrations. She says her only regret was accepting a plea-bargain from comedian Tommy Chong, whom she sent to prison for selling bongs.
      I love Chong's retort: "Karma is so sweet! She's looking for a work while Cheech and I start our second multi-million dollar tour thanks to the publicity she created for us! Thank you Mary Beth — may you find peace and happiness in your search for your soul." Between Chong and Buchanan, one seems to have a stockpile of good sense and good character, and the other is probably a future Congresswoman.

      ♦  Which of these two concepts strike you as more frightful? Raising the ceiling on the national debt so that the federal government can keep borrowing anddefecit spending? Or sidestepping the constitution by empaneling an independent commission to write legislation that can't be amended, requiring reductions in Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security benefits?
      The former sounds to me like stupid business as usual in DC, while the latter seems like the right-wing's "to hell with you" wet dream, a long hoped-for opportunity to end the New Deal and return America to about 1929. Of course, that latter-day right-wing wet dream is what's being pushed and pushed hard by right-wing Democrats like Senator DianneFeinstein (D-California) and her crowd. They won't vote for raising the debt ceiling unless slashing Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security benefits is part of the deal.

      ♦  It's been increasingly clear that the Obama administration will turn a blind eye to the railroading of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, and now Obama's Justice Department has filed papers with the Supreme Court making it official. They're siding with the Bush-Cheney administration on this malfeasance.
      Has there been any Bush-Cheney malfeasance that the Obama administration has sided against?

fascism  :  a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition
      ♦  A lot of people on TV and in newspapers keep telling me that the economy is turning around and happy days are here again, presumably because of the rosy fake profits being posted by the same (or the surviving) Wall Street firms that caused last year's meltdown. It's kind of hard to believe the optimism, though, as more and more low-risk mortgages — home loans to people considered good risks — slip into foreclosure.

      ♦  European financial giant Société Générale is telling its clients to be prepared for "global economic collapse" soon.

      ♦  Last year, when now-Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, he arranged for giant Wall Street firms like Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Société Générale, and UBS to be paid in full for credit default swaps they'd bought from toppling insurance giant AIG. Geithner didn't even ask Goldman Sachs et al for the slightest concessions, he simply provided them the full protection they needed.

      ♦  The Obama administration is creating .a multi-agency task force to go after the bad guys of the financial crisis, the "unscrupulous executives, Ponzi scheme operators and common criminals" of Wall Street. This was announced at a joint press conference by Attorney General Eric Holder, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, and a few other high-level muckity-mucks.
      When the press conference was over Geithner wasn't in handcuffs, which strongly suggests that the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force is a sham.

      ♦  In the real world, meanwhile, President Obama continues coddling the criminal high-finance industry, opposing a sensible plan to restore some semblance of regulation to Wall Street.

      ♦  US District Judge Stanwood Duval (appointed by Clinton in 1994) has ruled that the US Army Corps of Engineers showed gross negligence in its poor upkeep of the levees that keep New Orleans from being submerged by the sea, and thus the Corps is financially liable for at least some of the cost incurred to homeowners in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

'The Thinker' statueIt made me stop and thinkStop and think

      "Are you satisfied with the health care bill that passed the House? After all the compromises, after all the "asses of Blue Dogs are to be kissed, those of progressives are to be stomped" concessions, after stripping out authorities for state-level single-payer plans and adding in abortion bans, after changing "Medicare plus 5%" to "negotiate one provider at a time," after creating a flimsy, weak, unattractive "public option" consciously designed to be no better than private insurance and which will cost more than private insurance, after creating an individual mandate but omitting any rate caps and removing the prospect of serious competition, after creating a system of what amounts to multibillion dollar taxpayer handouts to the insurance industry, after getting zero concessions from the right or the insurance companies that they weren't prepared to give even before the debate began, are you really satisfied?
      "Well, no, of course you're not "satisfied" and I know you're not. But here's what I was really asking: Do you think this bill was good enough to pass? Do you think the health care system it creates, the one of the actual facts on the ground, not the lofty rhetoric, is worthy of active support? Would you have voted for it?
      "I say it was not, it is not, and I would not have."

      "From now on — for abortion, for universal health care, for stopping climate change, for a real jobs program, for gay rights, for bulldozing Wall Street, for the whole liberal wish list: No Retreat. No Surrender. No Quarter."


      ♦  It's been proposed in Congress that the Federal Reserve be audited, and of course, all manner of banks and brokerages and businesses are audited all the time. You can count on all kinds of shenanigans, though, to make sure that the Fed is never audited.

      ♦  The Obama administration has come through with another big bailout, this time for homebuilders. That's home builders, not home buyers. Of course and obviously, there are already more homes on the market than there are potential buyers, so it's hard to imagine how a bailout for builders will provide any countable jobs. I'm an ignorant cuss when it comes to economics and I'll always admit that, but everything I see about the Obama administration's economic plan of action keeps shouting to me, foolhardy andassbackwards.

      ♦  The scam outfit that employed Ben Stein, costing him his New York Times gig, is scummier than you know, and they're in bed with such allegedly reputible sites as priceline.com, 1800flowers.com, and JP Morgan Chase.

      ♦  Thursday, November 19, 2009 might have been an important day in computer history. That's when Google first demonstrated its on-line operating system, which could eventually kick Microsoft's butt to the pavement.
      I do, of course, realize the silliness of rooting for one giant corporation over another, but Microsoft is substantially more evil and incompetent than Google and Google hasn't crashed my computer hundreds of times.

      ♦  The Catholic Church is backing the coup in Honduras, which helps explain why it's been successful and why US half-attempts to undo the coup have collapsed. In perfect Catholic fashion, Honduran Cardinal Óscar Rodríguez Maradiaga says he resents the implication that the church supported the coup, right after he says that the coup was conducted legally.

Take care of Mother Earth
♦  Here's a rather prescient 1962 ad for the corporate predecessor of Exxon, featuring a photo of an enormous ice field with the tag line, "Each day [Exxon] supplies enough energy to melt 7-million tons of glacier". And that was 47 years ago.

      ♦  Climate change will lead to increased rates of depression, kidney stones, lyme disease, malaria, and respiratory illness. Take a bow, America.

      ♦  Oliver North, another Republican criminal who never spent any time in prison, is using the "socialist" and "liberty-killing 'Cap and Trade' boondoggle" to raise fears and raise funds for his Scaife-backed and, of course, misleadingly named Freedom Alliance.

      ♦  There's been plenty of hype and hysteria over some hacked emails from scientists' accounts which prove conclusively that global climate change is all a hoax. Whew, sure glad we don't have to worry about that any more.
      This latest debunking of global warming is bollocks, of course, like all the other debunkings, and cleverly timed to coincide with the big summit on global climate change. Sit down, folks. I hate to break it to you, but global climate change is real and the twenty minutes I've spent reading breathless summaries of the hacked emails convinces me only that scientists are human and that they aren't above playing politics — but my poppa was a scientist so I already knew all that.
      I'll tell you what, though. I've got an old Oakland A's baseball cap that has several peculiar stains on it, and my wife would be happy to see it go. So if it turns out that these emails overturn all the science we've been reading for years and all the evidence that's been increasingly obvious to anybody with eyeballs and lo and behold it's all just been a big ol' hoax and the same right-wing and big business sources who lie about virtually everything else were telling the truth about this and the scientists have conspired to fool us all, I will squirt massive amounts of mustard and mayo on my baseball cap and eat it. And post pictures on-line.

      ♦  The giant companies that make alleged food — Frito-Lay, Nestle, etc. — are trying to reach consumers by reaching out to "mommy bloggers".

      ♦  A mere 19 years after light rail service resumed in Los Angeles, a new extension has opened providing service to East L.A., the city's poorest area.

      ♦  It's been a year since America "met" Sarah Palin, and I'm still not sure whether she's scary dishonest or scary stupid.

      ♦  Palin is a distinct danger to America, because she is so very disconnected from reality yet so very beloved by a huge and stupid segment of the population. That much is obvious. The danger ofPalin, however, is not in her legs, and this Newsweek cover is utterly inappropriate, if Newsweek is still a media source that wants to be taken seriously..

      ♦  New York Times columnist David Brooks has admitted publicly that he thinks Palin is "not even close" to Presidential material and described her as a "cancer" on the Republican Party, but he said this only at a speaking engagement. In his New York Times columns and ever-present appearances on The PBS News Hour, he continues to treat Palin with general deference, offering only the mildest criticisms, which leads to the question: When reading or listening to political commentary, isn't it reasonable to expect that you're getting the pundit's opinion?

      ♦  Fox's Bill O'Reilly doesn't usually announce where he's coming from so plainly as saying "I don't care about the Constitution", but it's only the honesty that's surprising.

      ♦  Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) might be facing a serious primary challenge, and it's from another one of those wingnut right-wingers.

      ♦  The Senate's fake Ethics Committee has given Sen. Roland Burris (D-Illinois) the tinyest admonition possible.

      ♦  Senator John Ensign (R-Nevada) was aware he was breaking Senate ethics rules as he arranged the payoff for his ex-mistress, but he was also aware that Senate ethics rules don't mean diddlysquat.

      ♦  After an eight-month fake-filibuster, theflamboyantly moderate David Hamilton, nominated by President Obama for the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in March, has been confirmed by the Senate.

      ♦  Senator Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) placed a secret hold on legislation he doesn't like, single-handedly blocking aid for disabled American veterans. And then, after his strategy became public knowledge, he lifted the hold.
      But just imagine what he might do if he didn't support the troops.

      ♦  Is anyone really surprised that Sarah Palin doesn't believe in science?

      ♦  Has Mrs Palin become the "community organizer" she once disdained?

      ♦  After so many years of dumbed-down discourse, with media standards constantly stupider than mere months earlier and public debate that's reached the level of morning recess in second grade, I suspect Palin has a pretty good shot at the Republican Party nomination in 2012. And with Obama making it his mission to scuttle the economy and always, always compromise with the right-wing on everything, the odds are about 50/50 that she'll win the White House in 2012. Tell me I'm wrong, please.

      ♦  Judge Clay Land has ordered the U.S. attorney's office to collect $20,000, plus interest, from "birther" lawyer Orly Taitz.

      ♦  Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (R-North Carolina) wants to remind you that though Democrats love to engage in revisionist history, Republicans "were the people who passed the civil rights bills back in the ’60s without very much help from our colleagues across the aisle".

      ♦  Doug Hoffman, the far-right kook who narrowly lost a special election to Congress in New York a few weeks ago, now says ACORN, unions, and Democrats stole that election. And he's not alone. According to a new poll, 52% of Republicans and 26% of Americans think ACORN stole last year's election for Barack Obama.

      ♦  Former New York City Mayor and Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani is seriously concerned that President Obama isn't using the three magic words "war on terror".

      ♦  Is it possible that Fox's Glenn Beck isn't just acting, that he's actually so ignorant of reality in America that he can't grasp why blacks in America tend to self-identify as African-Americans instead of just Americans? "I don't identify myself as white, or a white American", he says, and then three paragraphs later he's saying, "I have to tell you, as a white guy, as a white guy, I'm just being real honest with you, as a white guy ..."

      ♦  What would you consider to be "the most naïve and dangerous decision" you have "ever witnessed the United States government make"? I can think of plenty of nominees, just off the top of my head — installing Bush as President instead of counting the votes in Florida... Attacking Iraq on the pretext of lies... Trillions in bailouts for bankrupt bandits on Wall Street... And years earlier, dismantling the regulations to allow those bandits to thrive... On and on, and I'm sure you can come up with plenty more.
      Well, Congressman Mike Pence (R-Indiana) has a different "most naïve and dangerous decision" he's ever seen. It's the decision to prosecute one alleged terrorist in a federal courtroom.

      ♦  Fox's Glenn Beck has announced his 100-year plan to end the two-party system.

      ♦  Arch-right-wing commentator Andrew Breitbart is threatening to reveal more tapes like the weird fake pimp and hooker at Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) tapes, "and it's not just ACORN," he says. All this will be revealed, unless Attorney General Eric Holder launches a big investigation of ACORN.
      Why, yes, that does sound like blackmail, which is, I think, illegal. Past evidence suggests that if Mr Breitbart had any slime to sling he wouldn't be holding it back, but if he's got slime in reserve we would urge him to hurry up and fling it.

      ♦  Some flamboyantly stupid auto dealer in Colorado has posted a billboard demanding to see PresidentObama's birth certificate and asking whether the President is a terrorist. The locals are not charmed.
      The President is a terrorist, of course, if the word has any meaning whatsoever. Ask the Afghans, the Iraqis, the Pakistanis. But that's a difficult issue to address in a billboard.

      ♦  Smoking voids the warranty on your Mac, or so says Apple.

      ♦  Is it because we recently stepped up to a newer used computer so we're seeing websites' bells and whistles that used to be invisible to us, or are the standards of web design just getting uglier and uglier? Man, it is one butt ugly web out there. And I say that knowing full well that Unknown News is not exactly a beauty queen of on-line design.
      When I'm on the web I'm usually reading, and as a reader I want web "pages" to act like the pages of a book, a newspaper, or a magazine — pages should sit there and let me read, dammit. Apparently that's a quaint concept.
      All over the web, images enlarge and menus explode as the cursor approaches, unwanted options drop down or pop up, sidebars provide a nonstop flow of tedious Twitter posts as they happen, scrolling text tells me all about things I don't care about, animated icons andfavicons twirl endlessly, extra menu bars appear at the bottom of pages, ads shout like carnival barkers, images shuffle and flutter and fade in and out. With the help of the free Firefox browser (highly recommended) and a fleet of free Firefox aps all my favorite websites have been trained to behave properly, and I do declare, site-by-site the rest of the web will learn its lessons. Mark my words, internet: If you dance at me, twirl at me, drop down, pop up, explode or enlarge at me, I shall joyously nuke that element from your page and never see it again.

      ♦  Unknown News is updated once weekly, usually on Mondays. Have a seat and some cheese puffs but please, no smoking. With a tip o' the hat to AK for free quick and efficient software assistance, JR Mooneyham, Chris P., Photography is Not a Crime, Sherri B., Cassandra, Joseph D., Joe G., Lon Garm, J.S. (not the Watergate felon) Magruder at Why Not Resist?, SirJ, Bill T., Wig, the letter Z, our first home at pitas.com (1999-2003, and still a great place for publishing your blog), and the love of my life (who prefers to remain anonymous).

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Comments on previous entries
♦ 11/30 Gertrude Q. replies to Sherri B. about skipping Sherri's posts
♦ 11/29 Sherri B. replies to Gertrude Q. about skipping Sherri's posts
♦ 11/22 Marie K. replies to Sherri B. about Sibel Edmonds
♦ 11/22 Bob Gazzola replies to Mahdi Abdul Finkelstein about speculators

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Like the URL says, this website is about unknown news.  We try to track news that merits more attention, only from mainstream, professional journalists, or (rarely) other sources we trust entirely.

What we believe

We believe in liberty and justice for all, so of course, we oppose many US government policies. This doesn't mean we're anti-American, redneck scum, pinko commies, militia members, or terrorist-sympathizers. It means we believe in freedom, as more than merely a cliché.

We believe you have the right to live your own life as you choose, and others have the equal right to live their lives as they choose. It's not complicated.

We believe freedom leads to peace, progress, and prosperity, while its opposite -- oppression -- leads to war, terrorism, poverty, and misery.

We believe it's preposterously stupid to hate people because of their appearance, their race or nationality, their religion or lack of religion, how they have sex with other consenting adults, etc. There are far more apropos reasons to hate most people.

We believe in questioning ourselves, our assumptions, each other -- and we especially believe in questioning authority (the more authority, the more questions). We believe obedience is a fine quality in dogs and young children, but not in adults.

Like America's right-wingers, we believe in individual responsibility, hard work to get ahead, and stern punishment for serious crimes. We believe big government should not be blindly trusted.

But unlike most right-wing leaders, we mean it.

Like America's left-wingers, we believe in equal treatment under law, war as a last (not first) resort, and sensible stewardship of natural resources. We believe big business should not be blindly trusted.

But unlike most left-wing leaders, we mean it.

Like libertarians, we believe it's wrong and reprehensible to arrest people for what they think, believe, look like, wear, eat, smoke, drink, inhale, inject, or otherwise do to themselves.

But unlike many libertarians, we're not obsessed with the gold standard, we don't believe incorporation is humanity's highest achievement, and we don't believe everything in life comes down to dollars and cents. We've read and enjoyed Ayn Rand's novels, but we understand that they're works of fiction.

We're skeptical, and we're sick of so-called 'journalists' who aren't skeptical at all.

A reader asks, what are our solutions?

We propose no solutions except common sense, which is never common. We like the principles of democracy, and the ideals broadly described as 'American'. The US Constitution is a fine and workable framework for solutions, when it's actually read and thoughtfully understood by intelligent statesmen and women. So, no manifestos from us. We don't dream that big, and if there's one thing the world doesn't need it's yet another manifesto.

Our suggestion is: think.

A fact-based instead of faith-based approach leads to solutions for most of the recurring issues of our time, from abortion to global climate change, pollution to universal health care, careful but real regulation of industry and economy, hunger, war, terror, human rights for humans not for corporations, science not religious doctrine in public schools, equal protection and prosecution under law, etc. Approach problems without glorifying stupidity, without demonizing intelligence, and answers usually come into focus.

These pages are published by Harry and Helen Highwater, happily married low-income nom de plumes and rabble-rousers from Madison, Wisconsin (with a few friends scattered around the world helping out).

We try to spotlight news that hasn't gotten enough (or appropriate) attention in American media, along with our opinions and yours.

We bang our keyboards against the wall, because it doesn't hurt as much as banging our heads.



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