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Surrender monkeys wear blue

      ♦  Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says she'll start holding regular meetings with the same prominent Republicans who've been calling her a surrender monkey and claiming that she's left America open to terrorist attack.
      Spinelessness doesn't really convey what's going on here. It's not merely the absence of spine we're seeing in the Obama administration, it's as if they're trying to establish some new standard, some opposite of spine, an eagerness to assume the bent-over backwards position every morning as soon as they climb out of bed.


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      ♦  President Obama is proposing spending more, consistently, on defense — excluding the cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars — than did President Bush.

      ♦  Nice try at shaming President Obama out of addressing the National Prayer Breakfast, an annual weirdness and hopscotch around the separation of church and state sponsored by the super-secretive anti-gay cult called The Family.
      But I don't think there was any real doubt that Obama wouldn't stick his neck out, and yup, there he was at the Prayer Breakfast, joking with Republicans again. He's not much at the kind of boldness it would've taken to say no, and I'm sure he'll keep attending and supporting this event until The Family's curious shenanigans and support for murder of gays becomes much more well-known than it already is. And if or when it ever does become politically more of a minus than a plus to be seen hanging around with this group of extremely sick faux Christians, my prediction is that Obama will start his own Prayer Breakfast, probably with an even more direct governmental link.

      ♦  Senator Al Franken (D-Minnesota) reportedly laid into White House adviser David Axelrod over President Obama's gutless lack of leadership.
      Franken, who always seemed like a middle-of-the-road guy when I was listening to his radio show for several years, has (much to my surprise) become one of my favorite Democrats in the Senate. Of course, there's almost no competition.
from recent readers' comments

From recent readers' comments


      ♦  The Obama administration's budget includes $150-million to close Guantanamo. Which sounds good, but I'll believe it when it isn't compromised away, and it will be.

Hooray!
♦  We give President Obama and the Democratic Party's leadership a lot of complaints because, let's face it, they deserve a lot of complaints. They're playing go-along-to-get-along and yielding on almost everything, when America desperately needs a complete about-face on any number of fronts — war and peace, civil rights, the environment, the economy, open government, on and on.
      But in the interest of fairness, we'll also give Obama and the Democrats a pat on the back when they get something right. This week...
      * Despite being told it would greatly displease America's Chinese overlords, President Obama insists that he will meet with the Dalai Lama.
      Seems an odd moment and an odd matter over which to develop some hint of a backbone, but evolution has to start somewhere so I guess it's a good thing.
      * And that's about it. That's the only thing Obama or the Dems did this week that didn't make me retch.

      ♦  The Obama administration is gung ho for nuclear power.

      ♦  Congressman Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) has proposed a Republican budget, and it's worth a close look. Ryan is from my part of the country, a good-lookin' smooth-talkin' guy who's a Republican darling, who's always talking the empty Republican talking points about belt-tightening and family values even as his district has lost its manufacturing base with factory closures. And his alleged strong point is touted as budget number-crunching. He's the Republicans' ranking member on the Budget Committee, so when Republicans come back into numerical power, Ryan is going to be in charge of their budget process. So when the Washington Post's Ezra Klein takes a close look at Ryan's budget proposal, it's a good chance to get to know your Republicans, and glimpse your future:
        To move us to surpluses, Ryan's budget proposes reforms that are nothing short of violent. Medicare is privatized. Seniors get a voucher to buy private insurance, and the voucher's growth is far slower than the expected growth of health-care costs. Medicaid is also privatized. The employer tax exclusion is fully eliminated, replaced by a tax credit that grows more slowly than medical costs. And beyond health care, Social Security gets guaranteed, private accounts thatCBO says will actually cost more than the present arrangement  ... 
       It's hard, given the constraints of our current debate, to call something "rationing" without being accused of slurring it. But this is rationing, and that's not a slur. This is the government capping its payments and moderating their growth in such a way that many seniors will not get the care they need. This is, in its simplest form, a way to limit the use of a finite resource: Money. 
      Klein leads off his analysis, though, with this sentence — "As you all know by now, the long-term budget deficit is largely driven by health-care costs." Well, no, I don't really know that, Ezra. In fact, I sorta suspect it's bullsh*t. Health care costs are a serious and growing problem, but c'mon, the American war machine is a bigger, more long-lasting problem, and like health care reform, it's another problem American politicians in both parties have decided never to address. Which is why America is over.

      ♦  Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-Minnesota) says critics of health care reform will be denied health care.

      ♦  Daily KOS has spent big bucks to conduct a serious survey of Republicans, and even after having our noses rubbed in Republipoop for a decade now, it's still staggering to read again just how amazingly stupid the Republican base is. I'm sure you'll have seen the results of the poll all over the blogosphere by now, but let's briefly recap a few highlights:

President Obama, where's that 'change' you promised?

      * More than a third of Republicans believe Barack Obama wasn 't born in America, and that number climbs to more than half if you include the "don't know" responses. 63% say yes, Obama is a socialist.
      * More than half say they're "not sure" whether ACORN stole the 2008 election.
      * Huge majorities of Republicans have blatantly homophobic responses to gay marriage, gays in the military, gays teaching in school, gays basically being allowed the rights other humans take for granted. On and on.
      This is the willful, intentional ignorance and refusal to think that drives the one political party controlling American politics and government, even when the other party is allegedly in charge.

      ♦  But wait, there's more evidence, as if more evidence is needed, that Republicans are amazingly stupid.

      ♦  Former Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-Colorado) says that Obama was elected President because "we do not have a civics, literacy test before people can vote in this country." Again, get to know your Republicans.

      ♦  It is more than moderately pleasant to follow along as Fred Clark very patiently explains to the "teabagger" crowd how they're stabbing themselves in the back.

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

      "Howard Zinn didn't want or need flowery eulogies. He wanted us to get out there and do the work he chronicled. In lieu of flowers, organize, document and tell the stories of that organizing so that others may, too, be inspired to do the same. That — and not a book on a coffee table — is the legacy of Howard Zinn. Like the song says, if you wanna go to heaven, you gotta raise a lotta hell."

      "About that outpouring of heartfelt sympathy and aid for the poor people of Haiti following their earthquake. Where is the same outpouring of sympathy and aid for the poor people of Afghanistan or Iraq? We are to be sure at war there, but, at the same time, supposedly we're fighting in those countries because we want to help their people, right?"

      "Speaking for myself and myself only, it is my personal belief that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would be the right thing to do. No matter how I look at this issue, I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy that forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens."

      "Stay angry — you should be angry — but start directing that anger toward the system that’s screwing you over and taking money out of your pocket. Start directing that anger toward fixing problems instead of toward making sure they never get fixed. Instead of demanding that Congress oppose health care reform so that you never, ever, get another pay raise, start demanding that they pass health care reform, as soon as possible. Because until they do, you’re just going to keep on getting screwed. And it’s going to be that much worse knowing that you brought this on yourself — that you demanded it."


      ♦  And remember, the teabaggers aren't racists. No way. (Way.)

      ♦  Is it news that right-wing "sting"videomaker James O'Keefe attended a racist conference a few years back?
      Sorry, no. I love Max Blumenthal but that ain't news. It's news when you can find people on the right side of the American political spectrum who aren't racists. Get to work on that scoop, Max.

      ♦  OrlyTaitz, the top birther, is considering a run for elected office in California.

      ♦  Senator Richard Shelby (R-Alabama) has put a "blanket hold" on all Obama administration nominations. Nobody's getting through the Senate, he says, until he gets a few dozen billion dollars for pork in his home state.
      Like so many other things the Republicans do, this could easily be turned into a PR disaster for Shelby and his crowd, but that would require a desire to win that Democrats just don't have, so my guess is that there won't be much publicity about this. Take a look at this pathetic, almost unintelligible ad from the ball-less Dems. That's their response? Sigh. They won't shame Shelby, won't use this to ridicule Republicans, and in the end Shelby will probably get a lot of what he's demanding.

      ♦  No teleprompter for Sarah Palin. She cheats the way I cheat, with notes written on her hand.

      ♦  In last week's fake Republican outrage, Sarah Palin was outraged because White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel used "retarded" as an adjective behind closed doors, though she was much less outraged when Rush Limbaugh used the same term on hundreds of radio stations. Can't wait to see what next week's fake Republican outrage be about. It's always sumfin.

      ♦  Right-wingers have announced a march on Washington to protest the Obama administration's non-existent plans to confiscate everyone's guns. With apologies to Gov Palin, "retarded" is an appropriate word to describe this.

      ♦  So a 12-year-old gets arrested, hauled off in handcuffs, for doodling on her schoolroom desk... in erasable marker. Heads ought to roll, but my pessimism has doubled in recent weeks and I doubt there will be any punishment for the school officials who did this.

      ♦  Adolf Hitler's autobiography Mein Kampf is to be republished in Germany in 2015 for the first time since being banned under the country's constitution at the end of the Second World War.
      Ending censorship is always good news.

(an unpaid plug)

"A mind-blowing mix of fact and fantasy,
hard science and well-grounded speculation,
with concrete how-to info to top it all off
— resulting in some of the best
and strangest stuff on Earth..."

www.jrmooneyham.com


      ♦  Anyone with an e-mail account likely knows that police can peek inside it if they have a paper search warrant. But cybercrime investigators are frustrated by the speed of traditional methods of faxing, mailing, or e-mailing companies these documents. They're pushing for the creation of a national Web interface linking police computers with those of Internet and e-mail providers so requests can be sent and received electronically.

      ♦  Well, sure, US intelligence operatives have permission to kill U.S. citizens abroad who are involved in terrorist activities if they are "taking action that threatens Americans". But not to worry, says Intel Czar Dennis Blair. There are safeguards and procedures in place and our assassins know what they're doing and and blah blah blah.
      This is, of course, quite contrary to the Bill of Rights. The American Civil Liberties Union (donate) is officially displeased, and you ought to be furious too.

      ♦  Two years after the state promised to solve the long delays in its food-stamp and Medicaid programs, Colorado is out of compliance with a legal settlement that requires food stamps and Medicaid to be delivered within federal time frames, typically 30 days after an application is filed for food stamps and 45 days for Medicaid.
      Fortunately, I'm sure nobody in Colorado is actually hungry or needs the air. She said, sarcastically.

      ♦  It's time for another round of worried hand-wringing over school bullying. Lots of lives are routinely ruined, and fewer (but still lots of) lives are just plain ended, but everyone will pretend this is shocking and new. More maddeningly they'll pretend that with enough hand-wringing, the school administrators who see the bullying every day and never do a damn thing about it will now do something more than say "Kids will be kids".

Isn't there something in the Bible about NOT screwing over the poor?


      ♦  Bryan Fischer, a nationally-heard radio host for the American Family Association, wants the gays rounded up and imprisoned for re-education.

      ♦  More and more upside-down mortgage-holders are walking away from their homes. I get the impression it's a sad decision, and it shouldn't be. (Login as unknownnews with password unknown.)

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


      ♦  Google is cuddling cozy, sharing champagne, and puffing up the pillow for the National Security Agency (NSA), and could well be facilitating the NSA's next routine and massive project of spying on Americans.

      ♦  KBR would like to rape Jamie Leigh Jones again, this time in court.

      ♦  The Justice Department is allegedly investigating evidence that Blackwater (which now calls itself Xe) “tried to bribe Iraqi government officials...” (Login as unknownnews with password unknown.)
      Sorry to sound Republican but do we really need an investigation or a trial? It's Blackwater — of course they tried to bribe Iraqi officials. Blackwater probably made it clear they'd kill the officials if they didn't take the bribes. Ain't that the Blackwater way?

      ♦  The publicity has gotten so bad that Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein's bonus of $100,000,000 might be trimmed back a bit.

      ♦  “We need a constitutional amendment to make it clear once and for all that corporations do not have the same free speech rights as individuals,” says Senator John Kerry (D-Massachusetts).
      And since he's John Kerry (D-Massachusetts), you can bet the rent that he'll drop the ball unless there's an avalanche of public support, and probably even if there is.

      ♦  Like a good neighbor, State Farm has canceled 125,000 home insurance policies because Florida regulators wouldn't allow a 47% rate hike.

Iraq. Out. Now.


      ♦  White people across the country freaked out when the NBC Cafeteria offered fried chicken, collard greens, cornbread, and black-eyed peas, in a tongue-in-cheek menu honoring Black History Month. "I don't understand at all", says the cook. "It's not trying to offend anybody and it's not trying to suggest that that's all that African-Americans eat. It's just a good meal," and it sounds yummy to me.

      ♦  Go Greyhound, and get treated like sh*t. Dozens of passengers were stranded in Memphis, and the depot security guard kicked a ticket-holder out into the cold after she complained to a TV reporter.

      ♦  We added an update last week when Urban Outfitters explained, quite reasonably, why it sells shirts in a color called Obama/black, but it was a "late-breaking update" so most of our few readers probably missed it.

Pakistan
♦  When are we going to start treating this conflict in Pakistan as a real war — with real oversight and real disclosure about what the hell our people are really doing there? Maybe at one point, this conflict could’ve been swept under the rug as some classified CIA op. But that was billions of dollars and hundreds of Pakistani and American lives ago.

Haiti
♦  The theft of Haiti has been swift and crude. On January 22, the United States secured “formal approval” from the United Nations to take over all air and sea ports in Haiti, and to “secure” roads. No Haitian signed the agreement, which has no basis in law.
      Power rules in a US naval blockade and the arrival of 13,000 marines, special forces, spooks and mercenaries, none with humanitarian relief training. The airport in the capital, Port-au-Prince, is now a US military base and relief flights have been rerouted to the Dominican Republic. All flights stopped for three hours for the arrival of Hillary Clinton. Critically injured Haitians waited unaided as 800 American residents in Haiti were fed, watered and evacuated. Six days passed before the US air force dropped bottled water to people suffering dehydration.

Honduras
♦  The Obama administration will resume non-humanitarian aid to the coup government of Honduras. So the State Department's penalty for toppling a democratically-elected leader is a six-month suspension in foreign aid, but don't be surprised if the US makes quick "back payments" to ensure that there's no real penalty at all.

health care sucks in America
      ♦  President Obama says "we should take our time" getting to a final health care bill. He said Thursday he wants to go through the legislation in detail with Republicans to examine their ideas and Democratic ideas to see whether there are better ways to improve the nation's health care system than have already been proposed. And he's scheduled a meeting with Republicans to see if he can get their support and cooperation.
      It's like a real-life Charlie Brown asking Lucy to hold the football and this time please let him kick it. We've seen a year of this, and all indications are that we're going to see three more years of this and nothing but this.
      I'm really starting to look forward to working phone banks and ringing doorbells for a candidate worth voting for in 2012, and that candidate certainly won't be this spineless son of a bitch Obama.

      ♦  The Virginia Senate has passed legislation that would make it illegal for the government to require citizens to purchase health insurance, a potential monkey wrench in the already thoroughly monkey-wrenched health care reform at the national level. The bill is expected to pass the state's other house and be signed into law.

      ♦  Terri Carlson has a pre-existing medical condition, and she's willing and eager to marry for the health insurance that would save her life.
      Sure, it's a publicity stunt, but it's also true, and that makes it the best kind of publicity stunt. May God bless America and may the people working to make sure "health care reform" is fake and weak burn in hell soon, but not before dying in agony with no health coverage.

This be journalism
      ♦  If you're one of the six people in America unaware that syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer is a propagandist and hack, this autopsy of his latest column will be a revelation.

      ♦  I'm sure you've heard all about Jon Stewart vs. Bill O'Reilly, a wildly overhyped and edited chat between the good-guy millionaire who does a competent job of journalism while working as a comedian, and the bad-guy millionaire who doesn't while not. Sure, the interview was heavily and unfairly edited by Fox, but what else would anyone including Stewart have expected?

      ♦  CBS was actively involved in "negotiating" the content of Focus on the Family's anti-abortion ad for the Super Bowl.

      ♦  There's been another round of layoffs at whatever's left of CBS News, but Katie Couric will continue to bring home $15-million a year.

      ♦  Just an observation: When you're watching or listening to a newscast and music has been laid over the soundtrack, it's not a newscast you're watching. Usually it's mood music, perhaps a tinkling piano or a gently strumming guitar, or an orchestral piece intended to match the tone the piece is trying to convey. It doesn't really matter what the music is — it's a signal that you're being propagandized. News doesn't have a musical score.

      ♦  In past years when I talked to American progressives about the growing media imbalance – as the Right gained dominance in books, magazines, newspapers, talk radio and cable TV – a typical response was, “well, the Left is stronger on the Internet.” But now even that advantage is disappearing, as should have been expected.

Poopybrains on parade
      ♦  Anne Frank's Diary is a little too frank for school officials in Culpepper County, Virginia.

      ♦  "Christian" leaders in Georgia want to make sure children who've been forced into prostitution are arrested and face the full brunt of the law, 'cuz that's what Christ would want. Or at least, that's what their Christ wants, but curiously, their Christ seems to resemble Rush Limbaugh more than anything out of the New Testament.

      ♦  The science journal The Lancet has retracted a study it published in 1998, a study which has been a keystone of anti-vaccine fears ever since. The study, by Dr Andrew Wakefield, linked measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism, but the British General Medical Council has found that Wakefield's data collection was "dishonest and unethical".
      I fully expect to receive emails telling us that The Lancet is in on the conspiracy.

      ♦  Unknown News is updated once weekly, usually on Mondays. It's our attempt to spotlight news that was underplayed, ignored, or simply lost in the non-stop news cycle. Have a seat and some cheese puffs but please, no smoking.
      A tip o' the hat to Daniel D., the letter Z, AK for CSS help, Pharyngula, JR Mooneyham, Jim B., Sherri B., Cassandra, Joseph D., Joe G., Lon Garm, J.S. (not the Watergate felon) Magruder at Eat the Blog, Andrea O., Alexander Shaumyan, SirJ, Bill T., wlgriffi, our first web-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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Our privacy policy  is that we're in favor of privacy. We make no effort to track or identify anything about visitors to our website. We never share, trade, or sell email addresses. We never send spam. Our site has no pop-up ads. We never send email, except in response to readers' queries. We never send (or open) attachments of any kind, and we delete un-opened any emails received with attachments.

If you see or receive any of the above, it's not from us. It's coming from spyware you picked up elsewhere, or an "exit" pop-up from another site you have visited, or spammers mimicking our email address.

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If you donate or buy something we'll say thank you, and never bother you again. We do not send any reminders to re-donate or buy more stuff. Incoming emails and orders are deleted within 72 hours, and we keep no records of contact information about donors, emailers, or sticker orders.

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Nothing at Unknown News bounces, flashes, flickers, sings or speaks, twinkles, or moves. We try to avoid coding practices that intentionally frustrate or annoy readers.


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