ÿþ<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://unknownnews.org/RSSfeeds/dailyRSS.xml"> <style type="text/css"><script type="text/javascript">var disqus_iframe_css="http://www.unknownnews.org/disqus-form.css";</script></style> <title>Unknown News | Helen & Harry's cranky weblog of news and opinion | unknownnews@inbox.com </title> <META content="bad cops, civil rights, corrupt cops news, crooked cops, freedom news, liberal news, libertarian news, police blotter, police brutality, police corruption news, police misconduct, progressive news, Fox Lies"name=KEYWORDS> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <style type="text/css"><!--.fontmicro {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 5px;}--></style> <style type="text/css"><!--.fontbox {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 8px;}--></style> <style type="text/css"><!--.fonts {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 6px;}--></style> <style type="text/css"><!--.fontz {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 8px;}--></style> <style type="text/css"><!--.font10 {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 8px;}--></style> <style type="text/css"><!--.font11 {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 9px;}--></style> <style type="text/css"><!--.font12 {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 10px;}--></style> <style type="text/css"><!--.font13 {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 11px;}--></style> <style type="text/css"><!--.fontx {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 11px;}--></style> <style type="text/css"><!--.font14 {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 12px;}--></style> <style type="text/css"><!--.fontzz {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 12px;}--></style> <style type="text/css"><!--.fontsm {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 14px;}--></style> <style type="text/css"><!--.font15 {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 13px;}--></style> <style type="text/css"><!--.fonttnr {font-family: Times New Roman, Bodoni, Garamond, serif;font-size: 17px;}--></style> <style type="text/css"><!--.fonttnrx {font-family: Times New Roman, Bodoni, Garamond, serif;font-size: 17px;}--></style> <style type="text/css"><!--.fonty {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 15px;}--></style> <style type="text/css"><!--.fontpq {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 16px;}--></style> <style type="text/css"><!--.fonta {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 17px;}--></style> <style type="text/css"><!--.font17 {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 17px;}--></style> <style type="text/css"><!--.font18 {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 18px;}--></style> <style type="text/css"><!--.fontxl {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 24px;}--></style> <!-- 1-80% 2-Danger 3-Destroying 4-EBBV 5-HNMB 6-IB 7-ISN'T THERE SOMETHING 8-BHL 9-LJ 10-NSR-H 11-SOT-BTH 12-YR 13-WWJB 14-IC 15-ION 16-ION (2) 17-BHL (2) 18-LJ (2) 19-WWJB (2) 20-unknownnews 21-unknownnews 22-unknownnews 23-unknownnews 24-wwjb 25-wwjb 26-wwjb 27-wwjb 28-wwjb 29-wwjb 30-Bushisaliar 31-Bushisaliar 32-Bushisaliar--> <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"> <!-- Begin // Set up the image files to be used. var theImages = new Array() // do not change this // To add more image files, continue with the // pattern below, adding to the array. theImages[0] = 'stic1.jpg' theImages[1] = 'stic2.jpg' theImages[2] = 'stic3.jpg' theImages[3] = 'stic4.jpg' theImages[4] = 'stic5.jpg' theImages[5] = 'stic6.jpg' theImages[6] = 'stic7.jpg' theImages[7] = 'stic8.jpg' theImages[8] = 'stic9.jpg' theImages[9] = 'stic10.jpg' theImages[10] = 'stic11.jpg' theImages[11] = 'stic12.jpg' theImages[12] = 'stic13.jpg' theImages[13] = 'stic14.jpg' theImages[14] = 'stic15.jpg' theImages[15] = 'stic16.jpg' theImages[16] = 'stic17.jpg' theImages[17] = 'stic18.jpg' theImages[18] = 'stic19.jpg' theImages[19] = 'stic20.jpg' theImages[20] = 'stic21.jpg' theImages[21] = 'stic22.jpg' theImages[22] = 'stic23.jpg' theImages[23] = 'stic24.jpg' theImages[24] = 'stic25.jpg' theImages[25] = 'stic26.jpg' theImages[26] = 'stic27.jpg' theImages[27] = 'stic28.jpg' theImages[28] = 'stic29.jpg' theImages[29] = 'stic30.jpg' theImages[30] = 'stic31.jpg' theImages[31] = 'stic32.jpg' // do not edit anything below this line var j = 0 var p = theImages.length; 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// End --> </script></A> </TD></TR></TABLE></td></tr></table> <table width="980" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="830" align="center" valign="top" bgcolor=white class="font14"> <TABLE CELLPADDING="4" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR> <TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="middle" WIDTH="32%" BGcolor="#dddddd" class="fonty"> <iframe src="http://www.unknownnews.org/mainmenu.html" height="50" width="815" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe> </TD></TR></TABLE></td><td width="150" align=center valign="middle" bgcolor="#eeeeee" class="font15"><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/stickers.html"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/buyabumpersticker.jpg" border="0" width="138" height="23"></A> </td></tr></table><TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="980" border=0><TR> <TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH="830" BGcolor="#dddddd" class="fonty"> <iframe src="http://www.unknownnews.org/frames-new.html" height="32" width="830" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></TD><TD ALIGN="center" valign="middle" WIDTH="150" BGcolor="#eeeeee" class="fonty"><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/donations.html"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/makeadonation.jpg" border="0" width="138" height="23"></A> </TD></TR></TABLE> <!-- end uniform header--> <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"> <!-- =NEWDAY=NEXTDAY= --><!-- =unk --><BR> <!-- insert nytimes password --> <A HREF=http://www.unknownnews.org/1003-15.html><font color=black><BIG><B>Is America a civilized country?</B></BIG></font></a> <A NAME=freedom></A><A NAME=torture></A> <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; America's torture policies during the Bush-Cheney administration were <A HREF="http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2010/03/09/waterboarding_for_dummies/index.html">far more brutal than anyone from the Bush-Cheney gang has admitted</A>. No surprise in that, except the surprise of seeing it acknowledged in the mainstream media. <!-- Statue of Tortured Liberty --><table border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="5" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="365" align="right"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="right" width="100%"><img src="http://unknownnews.org/torture-icon.jpg" alt="Statue of Tortured Liberty" border="1" width="350" height="467"></td></tr></table> <BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "Interrogators pumped detainees full of so much water that the CIA turned to a special saline solution to minimize the risk of death, the documents show. The agency used a gurney 'specially designed' to tilt backwards at a perfect angle to maximize the water entering the prisoner's nose and mouth, intensifying the sense of choking  and to be lifted upright quickly in the event that a prisoner stopped breathing. The documents also lay out, in chilling detail, exactly what should occur in each two-hour waterboarding 'session.'<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "Interrogators were instructed to start pouring water right after a detainee exhaled, to ensure he inhaled water, not air, in his next breath. They could use their hands to 'dam the runoff' and prevent water from spilling out of a detainee's mouth. They were allowed six separate 40-second 'applications' of liquid in each two-hour session  and could dump water over a detainee's nose and mouth for a total of 12 minutes a day. Finally, to keep detainees alive even if they inhaled their own vomit during a session  a not-uncommon side effect of waterboarding  the prisoners were kept on a liquid diet. The agency recommended Ensure Plus."<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Sitting here reading this and being utterly un-surprised by any of it, I find myself wondering, Is America a civilized country?<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I don't know the answer. Discuss amongst yourselves. It depends no doubt on how you define "civilized", and whether you can ignore a country's government in such an assessment, and whether, like so many Americans, you're willing to hold America to a far lower standard than other countries. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; Judge Nina Gershon (appointed by Clinton in 1996) has made the obviously correct ruling that it's <A HREF="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5goHmEoyYhLPQ7xhPuFBAM-gBjbUAD9EC4J0O1">unconstitutional for Congress to issue a funding smackdown to ACORN</A> for the crime of getting bad publicity. <A NAME=LATESTNEWS></A><table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="8" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="60%" align="right"><tr><td class="fonta" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><BR><TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="365" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" class="fonta" bgcolor="#CCCCCC"><BR><center><TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="350" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" class="fonta"><iframe src="http://www.unknownnews.org/dailyRSS.html" width="350" height="425" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="auto" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></center></TD></TR></TABLE><TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="345" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" class="fontbox"><TABLE CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="8" WIDTH="365" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor="#ffffff" class="fontsm"><I>Scroll down or click for more </I><BR><A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/"><B>unknownnews.org/</B></A> </TD></TR></TABLE></td></tr></table></td></tr></table> <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; A federal judge in Chicago has refused to dismiss a lawsuit <A HREF="http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/2087382,CST-NWS-rumsfeld07.article">accusing former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld of responsibility for the alleged torture</A> by U.S. forces of two Americans who worked for an Iraqi contracting firm. U.S. District Judge Wayne R. Andersen's ruling Friday did not say the two contractors had proved their claims. But he said they had alleged enough specific mistreatment to warrant hearing evidence... <A NAME=warcrimes></A> <A NAME=terror></A> <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; A group of Pakistani officials <A HREF="http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120286&sectionid=351020401">refused to pass through the full-body scanners</A> at Dulles International Airport in Washington DC, instead opting to return to Pakistan.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Under new American rules, all citizens of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Algeria, Lebanon, Libya, Iraq, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen must receive an extra check of their carry-on bags before boarding a plane bound for America, but I wasn't quite aware that they had to go through extra scanning when they arrive in America. Cripes. Better also install these machines at scary foreigners' hotels, and at restaurants and houses of worship frequented by scary foreigners, and at the homes of Americans who've been visited by scary foreigners, so we can re-scan these scary foreigners as they come and go and catch them all being so scary. <!-- =civil liberties --> <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; The on-again, off-again immigration reform effort is apparently on again, with a new provision intended to regulate Americans access to the job market  and increase government s access to Americans. According to The Wall Street Journal, a new plan being pushed by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and Charles Schumer (<font color="#cccccc">D</font>-New York) would <A HREF="http://washingtonindependent.com/78760/the-government-would-like-to-see-your-papers-please">require that all Americans get a new biometric ID card in order to work</A>. <!-- WHO WOULD JESUS BOMB? --></A><table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="8" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="60%" align="right"><tr><td class="fonta" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><BR><a href=http://www.unknownnews.org/stickers.html><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/stickerwwjb.jpg" alt="Who would Jesus bomb?" border="3" width="350" height="108"></a></td></tr></table> <BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; A person familiar with the legislative planning said the biometric data would likely be either fingerprints or a scan of the veins in the top of the hand. It would be required of all workers, including teenagers, but would be phased in, with current workers needing to obtain the card only when they next changed jobs, the person said.The card requirement also would be phased in among employers, beginning with industries that typically rely on illegal-immigrant labor.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; This is the face of bipartisanship, folks, and it's damned ugly. A system where people can't be employed without the government's permission is an invasion of privacy and an invitation to abuse. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; President Obama went on <I>America s Most Wanted</I> last week to tell the country that he'd like to see a national DNA database, with <A HREF="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0310/34097.html">DNA collected from every person who's arrested for a crime</A>. Sigh. I don't think I have to explain to our handful of readers how ghastly this proposal is, but for any nincompoops who might wander by &mdash; damn it, we're supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. Arrested people are not criminals, by definition. Cops target minorities for arrest already &mdash; a system where everyone who's arrested is forced to surrender a biometric fingerprint is an invasion of privacy and an invitation to abuse. <!-- WHERE'S THE CHANGE? sideways --></A><table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="8" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="154" align="right"><tr><td class="fonta" vAlign="top" align="right" width="100%"><BR><a href=http://www.unknownnews.org/stickers.html><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/right-CHANGEsticker.jpg" alt="President Obama, where's that 'change' you promised?" border="3" width="139" height="450"></a></td></tr></table> <BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; And Obama's the guy we're supposed to build our "hope" around? And he used to teach constitutional law? What a turd in a suit. Another sorry-ass so-called Democrat who wants to be a Republican. I swear, Obama wants to be a Republican at least as much as he ever wanted to be President &mdash; every time he opens his yap it's like he wants Republicans' approval and cooperation and love, and he doesn't give a damn about civil liberties, genuine justice, or anything Democrats are supposed to alleged to believe in. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; <A HREF="http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=obama_congress_wink_at_massive_surveillance_abuses">The serial betrayal of [Obama-related] hope</A> reached its culmination last week, when a Democratic-controlled Congress quietly voted to reauthorize three controversial provisions of the USA Patriot Act without implementing a single one of the additional safeguards that had been under consideration -- among them, more stringent limits on the national security letters Obama had once decried. Worse yet, the vote came on the heels of the revelation, in a blistering inspector general's report, that Obama's Office of Legal Counsel had issued a secret opinion, once again granting retroactive immunity for systematic lawbreaking -- and opening the door for the FBI to ignore even the current feeble limits on its power to vacuum up sensitive telecommunications records. <A NAME=abortion=women></A> <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; <A HREF="http://trueslant.com/laurieessig/2010/03/09/sex-ed-in-utah-feel-shame-act-stupidly-pay-the-price/">Utah has passed into law</A>, signed by the Governor, legislation that allows prosecution of women who obtain illegal abortions, though 93% of Utah women live in counties where there are no abortion providers. Contrary to more optimistic media reports, the new law will allow women to be charged if a prosecutor deems that the woman's  intentional behavior brings about a miscarriage. <A NAME=gay></A> <A NAME=christianity></A><A NAME=religion></A> <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled 2-1 that <A HREF="http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/according-9th-circuit-court-appeals-g">the phrase "under God", added to the Pledge of Allegiance in the 1950s, isn't about religion</A>. Like so much of the present-day political discourse, that's absurd, but at least, unlike so much of the absurdity, it's a fairly arcane and mostly symbolic matter. <A NAME=fromDIALOGUE></A><table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="8" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="60%" align="right"><tr><td class="fonta" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="100%" border=1><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" class="fonta"><center><A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/dialogue.html"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/dialogue-bubbles.jpg" alt="from recent readers' comments" border="3" width="320" height="179"></a><BR><BR><B><I>From <A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/dialogue.html">recent readers' comments</a></I></B></center> <center><iframe src="http://www.unknownnews.org/dialoguesnips.html" width="340" height="2000" marginwidth="5" marginheight="5" scrolling="auto" frameborder="0"></iframe></center> </td></tr></table></td></tr></table> <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; <A HREF="http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/state_regional/state_regional_govtpolitics/article/governor_urged_to_issue_anti-discrimination_bill/329477/">Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell has backtracked</A>, after issuing a directive repealing discrimination protection for gays, by countermanding the state Attorney General's insipid order basically requiring discrimination against gays and instead ordered the state's universities to follow the state and U.S. Constitutions and <I>not</i> disciminate against gays and lesbians. Cripes, doing the right thing sure is a difficult quandary for Republicans. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; <A HREF="http://www.kansascity.com/2010/03/08/1799138_us-supreme-court-agrees-to-hear.html">The Supreme Court will hear an appeal</A> of a case involving the free speech rights of <A HREF="http://www.nndb.com/people/908/000025833/">Fred Phelps</A> and his loony Westboro Baptist Church.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Does the Phelps gang have the right to protest the gayness of the military, or whatever they're protesting any given week? <I>Of course they have that right</I>, but thanks to just plain fascist judicial appointments by Republicans and cheerful accommodation by Democrats in approving such nominees, it's hard to have any confidence that the Supreme Court will get this case right, or any case. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; The Pope s spokesman has launched a vigorous counter-attack against a report <A HREF="http://firedoglake.com/2010/03/13/late-night-nonresponsibility-or-how-to-set-a-proper-papal-moral-example/">linking Benedict XVI to a sex abuse cover-up</a> while he was archbishop of Munich from 1977 to 1981... but of course, Pope Benedict has a long track record of downplaying the clergy sex scandals, which amounts to the effective equivalent of a cover-up.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; For readers who might assume that you have to be a decent human being to become Pope, we recommend three archived articles: From 2003, <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/030817pedopriests.html">Vatican ordered bishops worldwide to cover up priests' sex abuses</A> (Benedict wasn't Pope yet, but he's a key player in the article under his earlier name, Joseph Ratzinger); our <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/050426a-hh.html">evaluation of Ratzinger/Benedict as he got the Pope's job</a> in 2005, and a lawsuit against Pope Benedict over the child abuse scandals, which was <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/0512271223Ratzinger.html">dismissed on a technicality</A>.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; If you're too rushed to click, here's the gist of the matter:<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Until his promotion to Pope in 2005, Ratzinger ran the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Commonly called the Holy Office, it went by a different, more familiar name until 1965: The Office of the Inquisition. Yes, seriously.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In this office, Ratzinger routinely sent edicts ordering priests, bishops, and nuns to be "silenced" -- to stop outreach to gays and lesbians, to stop questioning church positions on condoms, abortion, and AIDS, etc.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; And Ratzinger's office was responsible for handling the ongoing sex scandal, involving hundreds of priests who molested children under the cover of their clerical collars. So what did Ratzinger do?<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In 2001, as the decades-long pattern of priests' abuse first started to be reported, he wrote a letter to bishops reminding them that <A HREF="http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Observer/documents/2003/08/16/Criminales.pdf">church policy since 1962</A> (pdf) mandated that the church itself would investigate, bypassing worldly police authorities, and required victims of priestly abuse to take an oath of secrecy.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; According to <A HREF="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/apr/24/children.childprotection">an article in Britain's <I>Observer</i></a>, the letter, signed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, "asserted the church's right to hold its inquiries behind closed doors and keep the evidence confidential for up to 10 years after the victims reached adulthood." What the hell would you call that, if not a plain and obvious obstruction of justice? <BR><A NAME=nodarwinhere></a><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; Christian-based materials dominate a growing home-school education market that encompasses more than 1.5 million students in the U.S. And for most home-school parents, <A HREF="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/03/06/national/a112446S05.DTL">a Bible-based version of the Earth's creation</A> is exactly what they want. Federal statistics from 2007 show 83 percent of home-schooling parents want to give their children "religious or moral instruction." <A NAME=drugs></A> <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; <A HREF="http://www.thedenverdailynews.com/article.php?aID=7570">Despite a memo sent by Obama s administration</A> in October urging law enforcement officials not to go after legal users of marijuana in states like Colorado that have permitted the drug s use for select medicinal purposes, DEA agents this year have conducted three such high profile raids in Colorado. <A NAME=HELP></A><table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="8" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="60%" align="right"><tr><td class="fonta" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="100%" border=1><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" bgcolor=white WIDTH="100%" class="fonta"><center><B>You can help</b></center><BR> If the news frustrates or angers you, please, find a group, plan a picket, and become an <I>active</i> activist. These are some of the key groups we're involved with ...<BR><BR><center><A TARGET="_blank" 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></center><BR> <TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="275" border=1><TR></TD><TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor=white class="fontsm"><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 TARGET="_blank" HREF="https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?id=36"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/thumbtack.jpg" border="0" width="30" height="30"></A></td></tr></table><BR><SPAN class="fontxl"><A HREF="http://movetoamend.org/we-corporations">Move to Amend</A></SPAN><BR><I>(corporations are not 'human')</i></TD></TR></TABLE><BR> <TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="290" border=1><TR></TD><TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor=white class="fontsm"><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="30" height="30"></A></td></tr></table><BR><SPAN class="fontxl"><A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://movetoamend.org/we-corporations">Act Blue</A></SPAN><BR><I>(support progressive candidates)</i></TD></TR></TABLE><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; ... but of course, you should join a group that cares about the issues <I>you</I> care about. If you can't your find the group you want to join, you can <A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/140535&referer=brief_results">organize that group yourself</a>. Yes, you really can. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Also, it sounds hokey and futile, but it can actually help if you <A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml">contact your elected officials</A>. We recommend sending a post card &mdash; emails and petitions are too easy to ignore, and letters to politicians are often held for weeks for x-rays and security screenings. The brevity of a post card forces you to make your point concisely, makes it more likely your message will be read, and makes a quicker and often deeper impression, especially amidst the daily flood of emails and form letters every member of Congress receives.<BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; As for our work on the website, we try <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="72" align="right"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="right" width="100%"><BR><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/begging.jpg" border="0" width="62" height="110"></td></tr></table> not to whine too much or too loudly, but we are poor and this site eats a lot of time and especially <I>money</I>. Just a buck or two can make all the difference and help keep <I>Unknown News</I> alive.<BR><BR> <center><A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/donations.html">Donations</A> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/advertising.html">Sponsorships</A><BR> <A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/stickers.html">Stickers and stuff for sale</A><BR> <A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/subscriptions.html">Subscriptions</A> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/wishlist.html">Wish list</A><BR> <A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/credits.html">Thank you</A></center></TD></TR></TABLE></TD></TR></TABLE> <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; Sen. Richard Durbin (<font color="#cccccc">D</font>-Illinois) joyously announced last week that he and Sen. Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III (R-Alabama) have reached a compromise over the entirely racist 100-to-1 disparity in mandatory sentencing for cocaine &mdash; crack cocaine, used mostly by blacks, gets 100 times the sentence of powdered cocaine, used mostly by whites. It's a shameful disparity that's been ignored by lawmakers for decades, and the Senate is finally addressing it with a fraction of a human heart.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Specifically, the fraction is one-fifth. The new disparity approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee will, as Adam Serwer explains, "make the law <A HREF="http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=03&year=2010&base_name=dems_say_no_to_ending_crack_di">one-fifth as racist as it used to be</A>". With the new improved Durbin-Sessions disparity, the penalty for use and possession of crack cocaine, used mostly by blacks, will be only twenty times the sentence of powdered cocaine, used mostly by whites. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; In Idaho, Fremont County Prosecutor Joette Lookabaugh is bragging that "<A HREF="http://www.rexburgstandardjournal.com/news/article_5ecd246e-2cc5-11df-bbc3-001cc4c002e0.html">medical marijuana certificates, even if they're from surrounding states, are not honored in Idaho</A>". Lookabaugh and an un-named judge threw the book at Aurora Hathor-Rainmenti, a sick woman from California who has a medical marijuana certificate, but still got five days in jail "with 115 days at the discretion of the court", and an $800 fine. Lookabaugh has also filed paperwork to seize Hathor-Rainmenti's car and the $514 in her possession when she was arrested.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; None of this is particularly out of the ordinary. By a sane standard of justice Joette Lookabaugh, the prosecutor, is the criminal here and Aurora Hathor-Rainmenti is the victim and the crime is still in progress. It's just a standard stupidity, though, the kind of pot-related outrage that happens hundreds of times every day here in "the land of the free". <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; Your medical marijuana certificate is also <A HREF="http://www.wzzm13.com/news/news_story.aspx?storyid=119421&catid=14">worthless at Wal-Mart</A>, even if you're the employee of the year and suffering from sinus cancer and an inoperable brain tumor. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; A Smith County jury found a Tyler man guilty on Thursday of possession of less than five pounds but more than four ounces of marijuana in a drug-free zone. The jury in the 7th District Court with Judge Kerry Russell presiding then sentenced Henry Walter Wooten, 54, to <A HREF="http://www.tylerpaper.com/article/20100305/NEWS08/3050307">35 years confinement in prison</A>.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 35 years in prison, for possession of pot. That ain't very cost-effective, people. There's not much "liberty" or "justice" in the American way, 'cuz the war on drugs is what this country is smoking and we are tanked to the gills. <A NAME=corporations></a><BR><BR><A HREF=#corporations><font color=blue>#</font></A> &nbsp; <B>GOVERNMENT OF THE CORPORATIONS, <nobr>BY THE CORPORATIONS</nobr>, <nobr>FOR THE CORPORATIONS</nobr></B> <A NAME=fascism></a><table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="8" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="60%" align="right"><tr><td class="fonta" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="100%" border=1><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" class="fonta"><B>fascism</B> : 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<BR><DIV align="right"><A HREF="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fascism">Merriam-Webster</a> </div></td></tr></table></tr></td></table> <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; Basic Food Flavors, the misleadingly-named chemical company that manufactures artificial flavors for all sorts of boxed and canned American foods, <A HREF="http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/03/13/recall-of-the-flavor-enhancing-additive-hydrolyzed-vegetable-protein-in-hundreds-of-products/">knew in mid-January that their hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP) was carrying salmonella</a>, and they did nothing about it for more than a month.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; They didn't have to do anything, because there's virtually no regulation or government oversight. And because the corporate food distribution systems in America are so complexly intermingled and very barely regulated, it's dang near impossible to get a complete list of the food products contaminated and recalled (or contaminated and <I>not</I> recalled) due to its contaminated HVP. Basically, <A HREF="http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2010/03/hvp-recalls-approach-100-products/">you're in danger if you're eating food that came out of a box or a can</A> &mdash; but that's the status quo every day you go shopping. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; For the second time this year, <A HREF="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jVwU1ju0oUHJIcQI9t7NyTLkBZcAD9ECOOB83">children's jewelry made of cadmium is being recalled</a>. Cadmium is a heavy metal, which in this realm has nothing to do with loud music. Without boring you with chemistry that I don't know too well myself, heavy metals are known to be dangerous, leading to such terms as "heavy metal poisoning". The most well-known heavy metals include cadmium, lead, and mercury. Cadmium is toxic, and using it to make children's jewelry is like combing kids' hair with mercury &mdash; not a good idea. <A NAME=JRMOONEYHAM></A><table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="8" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="62%" align="right"><tr><td class="fonta" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><BR><TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="100%" border=1><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor="#ffcc66" class="fonta"><DIV align="right"><small>(an unpaid plug)</small></div><BR><center>"A mind-blowing mix of fact and fantasy,<BR>hard science and well-grounded speculation,<BR>with concrete how-to info to top it all off<BR>&mdash; resulting in some of the best<BR>and strangest stuff on Earth..."<BR><BR><big><A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.jrmooneyham.com">www.jrmooneyham.com</A></big></center> </td></tr></table></td></tr></table> <BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; But American stores sell cadmium jewelry for American children because (same old song) there's virtually no government oversight of the crap that's imported in huge quantities and sold in America. And there's no oversight because big-money bastards own Congress, to make sure they can get away with crap like this. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; When you think of <A HREF="http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-bz.mccormick12mar12,0,7760953.story">McCormick spices</A>, think of salmonella. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; If you're feeding your pets <A HREF="http://www.naturesvariety.com/news/33">Nature's Valley chicken-based cat or dog food</A>, you might be feeding your pets poison. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; <A HREF="http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62763320100308">The International Brotherhood of Electric Workers is suing Goldman Sachs</A> over the criminal finance giant's extravagant pay schedule. The lawsuit seeks to stop Goldman Sachs from allocating roughly 47% of its net revenue from 2009 as executive pay, saying such allocations "vastly overcompensate management and constitute corporate waste." <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; In an interoffice memo from headquarters, <A HREF="http://consumerist.com/2009/10/att-asks-employees-to-oppose-net-neutrality.html">AT&T is asking its managers and employees to oppose net neutrality</A>. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; OK Go's Damian Kulash details a tiny subset of <A HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/20/opinion/20kulash.html">the almost comical stupidity of the recording industry</A>, specifically EMI's decision to refuse embedding of videos posted at YouTube. (Login as <i>unknownnews</i> with password <i>unknown</i>.) Sounds arcane, but it's exactly this kind of cluelessness that keeps me rooting for the complete collapse of corporate-controlled music. <!-- 9/11: DEMAND A REAL INVESTIGATION --></A><table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="8" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="60%" align="right"><tr><td class="fonta" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><BR><a href=http://www.unknownnews.org/stickers.html><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/911investigationsticker.jpg" alt="9/11: Demand a real investigation" border="3" width="350" height="108"></a></td></tr></table> <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; A private prison in Idaho run by Corrections Corporation of America is a <A HREF=http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=10074248>"gladiator school"</a>, says an American Civil Liberties Union (<A HREF="http://action.aclu.org/site/PageServer?pagename=FJ_donationhome&s_subsrc=top_donate_hp">donate</A>) lawsuit.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The prison sounds grisly and horrendous, and pretty much exactly what you'd expect when you take the innately gruesome task of housing criminals for the duration of their punishment is turned over to for-profit corporations. A bottom-line question &mdash; how can a corporation wring <A HREF="http://ir.correctionscorp.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=117983&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1351193&highlight=">millions of dollars in profit</a> out of prisons without making their private prisons even more cruel and barbarian than government-operated prisons? <A NAME=politicsasusual></a><A NAME=Obama></a><A NAME=democrats> <br><br><A HREF=#politicsasusual><font color=blue>#</font></A> &nbsp; <b>POLITICS IN LIEU OFSTATESMANSHIP</b> <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; <A HREF="http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/03/ny-fed-under-geithner-implicated-in-lehman-accounting-fraud.html">Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's name has popped up in yet another scandal</a>. In a nation of laws he'd already be in custody; in the Obama administration there isn't even a whisper that his job might be in jeopardy. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; The banks and high-finance criminals who toppled the American economy needn't fear any consequences or punishment, since they've ensured that regulation is toothless. And while there's been plenty of talk about installing better regulations so they can't get away with such crimes again, banks and high-finance criminals really have nothing to worry about from pending regulation, thanks to collaborators like Senator Chris Dodd (<font color="#cccccc">D</font>-Connecticut). <!-- ISN'T THERE SOMETHING IN THE BIBLE? --></A><table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="8" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="60%" align="right"><tr><td class="fonta" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><BR><a href=http://www.unknownnews.org/stickers.html><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/isnttheresomething.jpg" alt="Isn't there something in the Bible about NOT screwing over the poor?" border="3" width="350" height="108"></a></td></tr></table> <BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; He's the chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, where Democrats hold a significant majority, but <A HREF="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#35807425">Dodd has basically handed his gavel to a Republican</A> who's opposed to any form of regulatory reform. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; Monica Conyers, the wife of Congressman John Conyers (D-Michigan), screamed as she was <A HREF="http://new.whtc.com/news/articles/2010/mar/11/monica-conyers-sentenced/">sentenced to three years in prison for bribery</a>. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; The gadawful conservative Congressman Bart Stupak (<font color="#cccccc">D</font>-Michigan) has <A HREF="http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/bart-stupak-get-democratic-primary-ch">a primary challenger</A> in Connie Saltonstall (<A HREF="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/conniesaltonstall">donate</A>) who's described as pro-choice and pro-healthcare reform, both of which Stupak ain't.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; We've sent her ten dollars, but don't get your hopes up &mdash; I've never heard of her, and name recognition is worth about fifty points on election day. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; The saga of ex-Congresscritter Rep Eric Massa (<font color="#cccccc">D</font>-New York) gets weirder and weirder. He first said he was resigning from Congress due to cancer, which has since morphed into his admission that he <A HREF="http://rawstory.com/2010/03/gibbs-massa-conspiracy-ridiculous/">groped several male Congressional staffers</A>. He says White House Chief of Staff <A HREF="http://jonathanturley.org/2010/03/08/question-of-the-day-what-is-scarier-than-an-enraged-raum-emanuel-poking-his-finger-in-your-chest/">Rahm Emanuel yelled at him in some DC "members only" shower</A>, a lovely image indeed. And most intriguingly, he's claimed that he was squeezed out by his fellow Democrats because he would've been the deciding vote on health insurance reform, which he opposed. <!-- NO SPECIAL RIGHTS FOR HETEROSEXUALS --></A><table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="8" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="60%" align="right"><tr><td class="fonta" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><BR><a href=http://www.unknownnews.org/stickers.html><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/nsrheterosexuals.jpg" alt="No special rights for heterosexuals" border="3" width="350" height="108"></a></td></tr></table> <BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I'll say again what I said last week &mdash; There's no reason to believe Massa on this &mdash; he's basically a Republican and that's <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/debunk.html">a synonym for liar</a>. But if he <I>is</i> telling the truth about being squeezed out over his position against insurance reform, that would be good news indeed. It would be the first evidence that someone in Obama's gang might know how to play political hardball.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; But more to the point, when a Democrat in Congress can no longer freely tickle and grope his staff, when he can't even shower in the Congressional locker room without being fingered by Rahm Emanuel, then the terrorists have won. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; To nobody's serious surprise, <A HREF="http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20000347-261.html">President Obama is a strong supporter of intellectual property laws and treaties</A>, even as enforcement becomes more difficult and draconian in the face of new technologies.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Cyberswapping files is, I've heard, fun and easy and harms no-one except giant scum-sucking corporations, and of course no-one but giant scum-sucking corporations matters. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; Like Bush before him, Obama is playing the national security card to <A HREF="http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/03/obama-declares/">hide details of the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement</a> being negotiated across the globe. The White House last week declared the text of the proposed treaty a "properly classified" national security secret, in rejecting a Freedom of Information Act request by Knowledge Ecology International. <!-- BLOOD ON THE HANDS --></A><table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="8" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="60%" align="right"><tr><td class="fonta" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><BR><a href=http://www.unknownnews.org/stickers.html><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/Bloodontheirhands.jpg" alt="The blood is on the hands of those who lied, those who spread the lies, and those who voted for the liars." border="3" width="350" height="108"></a></td></tr></table> <BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "Please be advised the documents you seek are being withheld in full," wrote Carmen Suro-Bredie, chief FOIA officer in the White House s Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The national security claim is stunning, given that the treaty negotiations have included the 27 member states of the European Union, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Switzerland and New Zealand, all of whom presumably have access to the "classified" information.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In early January, the Bush administration made the same claim in rejecting a similar FOIA request by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. <A NAME=hooray></a><BR><BR><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="116" align="left"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><img src="http://unknownnews.org/hooray.jpg" alt="Hooray!" border="0" width="101" height="117"></td></tr></table> &diams;&nbsp; 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 &mdash; war and peace, civil rights, the environment, the economy, open government, on and on.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; But in the interest of fairness, we'll also <B><I>give Obama and the Democrats a whoop of hooray</i></B> when they get something right. This week... <BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; * <A HREF="http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheat-sheet/item/house-dems-ban-earmarks-to-private-companies/diversion/?cid=cs:headline2">Democrats in the House have banned earmarks</A>. This is pure politics, but if there aren't too many loopholes it's an idea that ought to play well with voters. Of course, this rule will evaporate the morning after the November election, if it lasts that long. <A NAME=health></A><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="50%" align="right"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="8%" bgColor="#ffffff"> </td><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="92%" bgColor="#ffffff"><BR><A HREF=#health><font color=blue>#</font></A> &nbsp; <B>WHAT THEY'RE CALLING "HEALTH CARE REFORM"</B> <!-- health --><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="122" align="left"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><img src="http://unknownnews.org/healthish.jpg" alt="health care sucks in America" border="0" width="102" height="127"></td></tr></table> <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; As indie Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) demands a Senate vote, <A HREF="http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/03/12/democrats/index.html">Democrats in the Senate are desperately looking for a way to double-cross voters</A> again and ditch the public option. I have confidence in their ability to do the wrong thing. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; Congressman Alan Grayson (D-Florida) has introduced legislation <A HREF="http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/alan-grayson-introduces-public-option-act">adding a public option to health insurance reform</A>. Realistically, it's probably a long shot, but that's better than no shot at all. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; Whatever happens with health insurance reform, employers are certain to continue buying <A HREF="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/11/AR2010031100740.html">crappier and crappier insurance plans</A>, and leaving employees to pay larger and larger premiums and co-pays. Health care through for-profit insurance policies bought by employers &mdash; what a counterproductive and just plain dumb system of health care. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; Paul Krugman efficiently <A HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/12/opinion/12krugman.html">debunks three of the right-wing's remaining lies</A> about health insurance reform. (Login as <i>unknownnews</i> with password <i>unknown</i>.) <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; The Catholic Health Association, a lobbying group that represents Catholic hospitals, has <A HREF="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100313/ap_on_bi_ge/us_health_overhaul_abortion">endorsed the health insurance reform legislation</A>. Their statement seems to specifically distance the group from <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/debunk-frame.html#20100307">the big lie of Congressman Bart Stupak</a> (<font color="#cccccc">D</font>-Michigan), that there's abortion funding hidden in there somewhere, so the endorsement might mean something among the right-wingnut crowd, if any of them can be reached by reality. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) continues to be the only honest participant in the entire debate over health care and insurance reform. He voted against the health insurance package because he sees it as a sell-out to the health insurance industry, and he's obviously correct. And he's adamantly refusing to compromise and vote for any form of the reconciliation that green-lights that sell-out.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Me, I can see the need to compromise once in a while, and I'd like this crappy health insurance reform to pass. I wish it wasn't a sell-out, but it's better than life without this reform. But that said, I agree with the writer who called him or herself <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1003-08-d.html#pec3121228">Pre-Exiting Condition</A> &mdash; "I&nbsp;think the bill should be passed, it's an improvement however meager, but I'd sure as hell rather see it go down in flames because of principled opposition from Kucinich than because of all the right-wing's bullshit." <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; A credible case can be made that the health insurance providers' loud last-minute objections to health insurance reform amount to <A HREF="http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/34445">nothing but theater</A>. The deal was sealed months ago, and it is a deal adds to the insurance industry's profits. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; The recurring dynamic of health insurance reform as propelled by Obama and the Democrats has always been what would serve the interests of Big Pharma, Big Medicine, and Big Insurance. These Big Money concerns have been far more important than, you know, providing health care for Americans who don't have it.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Well, that ethos apparently stretches across international boundaries: The US is working behind the scenes to try to <A HREF="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100306/1804328453.shtml">raise prices for pharmaceutical and medical supplies in Taiwan</A>.</TD></TR></TABLE> <BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; * President Obama seems to finally be coming out of his shell and doing <A HREF="http://www.bobcesca.com/blog-archives/2010/03/fired_up_ready_1.html">some serious work to sell health insurance reform</A>. What he's selling, as we all understand, is a sorry-ass pile of quasi-reform that's been carefully crafted to be comfortable for the insurance and medical industries, but it's better than nothing and it's good to <I>finally</i> see the President making what seems to be a serious effort to sell it to the public.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "<A HREF="http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/health-care/obama-to-dems-reform-will-kick-in-this-year-this-year-this-year/">Obama&rsquo;s message to Congressional Dems</a>: If you vote for health reform, some of your own constituents will  this year  suddenly find themselves with insurance where they had none. Your own constituents will not be dropped arbitrarily from coverage, even if they get sick. Some of your own constituents will suddenly enjoy free preventive care they didn t have before. And you will be able to take credit for it." <!-- =BUSINESS=ECONOMY= 2.2 --> <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; <A HREF="http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2010/03/11/112-billion-student-loan-industry-bailout-a-lesson-in-corporate-welfare/">With the federal government now helping to provide the financing</A> for 80 percent of the  private market for college loans through the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program, it is ridiculous to classify it as anything other than a massive corporate welfare system. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; Senator Mike Johanns (R-Nebraska) has proposed <A HREF=http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2010-03-02-toyota-hearing-japanese-cars_N.htm>banning Japanese cars</a> in America.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; As usual for Republicans, his logic is absurd &mdash; he's worried about the safety of Japanese cars, which all Toyota recalls included remain just as safe if not safer than American cars. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; <A HREF="http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-03-09/u-s-millionaires-ranks-rose-16-in-2009-study-says-update1-.html">The number of millionaires in America</A> is growing and growing fast. Millionaire households grew by 16% in 2009, following a 27 percent decline during the last year of the Bush-Cheney administration. This must be one of the more complex ruses in Obama's socialist agenda. <A NAME=reps></A><A NAME=republicans></A> <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; The Justice Department will force Election Systems & Software (ES&S), a maker of insecure vote-counting technology, to <A HREF="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7733">divest the assets of Premier Election Solutions (formerly Diebold)</A>, another maker of insecure vote-counting technology. ES&S bought Premier/Diebold last year, but the combination of the two giant insecure voting machine makers has been deemed a violation of anti-trust law. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; Florida lawmakers are considering a "family friendly" bill that would <A HREF="http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Shows_with_gays_could_lose_Florida__03092010.html">deny tax credits to films and television shows with gay characters</A> in favour of those promoting traditional values. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; Here's California's anti-gay gay Republican <A HREF="http://articles.latimes.com/2010/mar/10/opinion/la-ed-ashburn10-2010mar10">Roy Ashburn</a>, and here's Utah's Republican teenboinker <A HREF="http://www.cityweekly.net/utah/blog-3279-women-garn-lying-about-no-contact-in-hottub-when-she-was-15.html">Kevin Garn</A>, and there seems to be at least one new closeted or perv Republican every week.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; You gotta wonder, are there any Republicans anywhere who aren't boinking kiddies or boinking doggies or boinking some lady or gentleman who's not their wives, or are there only Republicans who haven't yet been caught boinking kiddies or boinking doggies or boinking some lady or gentleman who's not their wives? <A NAME=fakeoutrage></A><BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; In last week's fake Republican outrage, we saw the right-wing take great phony umbrage over <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/debunk-frame.html#20100311">President Obama's non-existent plan to ban sport fishing</a>. The stupidity of Republican followers can't be overestimated &mdash; they will literally believe anything if Glenn Beck says it's so.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Can't wait to see what next week's fake Republican outrage will be about. It's always something. <A NAME=world></A><br><br><A HREF=#world><font color=blue>#</font></A> &nbsp; <b>FROM BEYOND AMERICA'S&nbsp;BORDERS</b><!-- &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; --> <BR><BR><!-- =Iran --><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="65" align="left"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><img src="http://unknownnews.org/flagIran.jpg" alt="Iran" border="1" width="50" height="30"></td></tr></table> &diams;&nbsp; In Iran there's no grand promise of civil rights and no posturing as a beacon of liberty, and up to a dozen protesters were recently tortured to death. But the alleged torturers and killers are now facing trial.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <A HREF="http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/03/09/iran/index.html">Glenn Greenwald articulately compares this with the American way</A>, where US torturers killed up to 100 people during torture sessions that were ordered and planned in detail at the highest level of American government. Those American torturers and the American officials who ordered that torture not only haven't been prosecuted, they haven't even been seriously investigated, and <A HREF="http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2009/01/12/obama_prosecutor/">looking the other way is President Obama's official policy</a>. <BR><BR><!-- =Israel=Palestine --><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="65" align="left"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><img src="http://unknownnews.org/flagIsraelPalestine.jpg" alt="Israel/Palestine" border="1" width="50" height="30"></td></tr></table> &diams;&nbsp; Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is upset, not that Israel is building more suburbs in disputed territories, but that <A HREF="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/03/13/hillary-clinton-rebukes-israel-for-settlements-surprise-during-b/">they announced the latest construction while Vice President Joseph Biden was visiting</a>. Savage priorities you've got there, Clinton.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I don't think I saw any coverage of Veep Biden's visit to Israel that didn't lead off with Biden "condemning" Israel for breaking its promises about suburb-building for the ump-hundredth time. But near as I can ascertain, the condemnation amounted to a few words, no threats, no promises to actually do anything, so like all such pronouncements it means nothing.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Something more important, more concrete and less abstract that Biden also said was,  There is <A HREF="http://www.jpost.com/IranianThreat/News/Article.aspx?id=170613">no space between the United States and Israel</A> when it comes to Israel s security." He was promising Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the US will make sure Iran never gets nuclear reactors, nuclear weapons, nuclear anything no matter what. Seems a lot more substantial than another condemnation of another apartment building.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; And does anyone stateside ever stop to really think about such stupid statements coming from America's #2 official, and just as likely to come from #1? "No space between the US and Israel when it comes to Israel s security" &mdash; wow, the security of Israel is the same as the security of America? That's what Biden seems to be saying. I strongly doubt that most Americans feel that way. The security of Israel is in no doubt or danger, with or without such Vice Presidential pronouncements, so what's the point of such blather? Beyond the war merchants of the military-industrial complex, nobody &mdash; not even Israel &mdash; benefits from such rhetoric and veiled threats of yet another war. <BR><BR><!-- =Greece--><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="65" align="left"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><img src="http://unknownnews.org/flagGreece.jpg" alt="Greece" border="1" width="50" height="30"></td></tr></table> &diams;&nbsp; In Greece, <A HREF="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=atCWLwp4VzrA&pos=8">where they know how to do democracy</A>, hospitals, airports and schools were shut and police scuffled with protesters as unions staged the second and <A HREF="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8561311.stm">third general strike this year</a> against government budget cuts to curb the European Union s biggest deficit. <A NAME=environment></a><BR><BR><A HREF=#environment><font color=blue>#</font></A> &nbsp; <B>PLANETARY PROBLEMS</B><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="142" align="right"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="right" width="100%"><img src="http://unknownnews.org/globalwarming.jpg" alt="global climate change" border="1" width="128" height="94"></td></tr></table> <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; People who give a damn about the planet are still politely honked off about <A HREF="http://www.cleanedge.com/views/index.php?id=6722">President Obama's move to spend billions of federal dollars rebuilding the nuclear power industry</A>.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; As with so many other issues, Obama's tactics on this are stupid, accomodationist, and they're going to kill people. But the Obama gang's response will always be a big "so what" so long as the honked off multitudes remain so very polite. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; Climatologists worry about Canada's 2009-10 "<A HREF="http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/Wacky+winter+signal+years+come+Climatologist/2663423/story.html">winter that wasn't</A>". It's been "downright balmy" in much of the north, the St. Lawrence River is all but ice free, as are waters off Newfoundland, while Vancouver had to haul in snow for the Winter Olympics. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; Mississippi victims of Hurricane Katrina have re-filed a lawsuit that seeks to <A HREF="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100304/ts_alt_afp/environmentclimatewarminguscourt">collect damages from giant oil conglomerates that are effectively funding global climate change</A>. The general link and culpability are factually established, but legally establishing cause and effect for a particular storm is one hell of long shot. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; "The difference between success and failure is the survival of two rats on the entire island. We don't have to get rid of most or even 99.9 per cent of the rats &mdash; <A HREF="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20527501.200-extermination-in-paradise.html?full=true">we have to eradicate 100 per cent</A>." <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; French anti-nuclear campaigners claim a new power plant being built in Normandy carries <A HREF="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/mar/07/edf-nuclear-reactor-chernobyl-risk">an accident risk of "Chernobyl proportions"</a>. Sortir du Nucleaire, a protest network, says leaked confidential documents show that tests on the third-generation pressurized water reactor present a potentially catastrophic scenario. <A NAME=journalism></a><BR><BR><A HREF=#journalism><font color=blue>#</font></A> &nbsp; <b>IS THIS JOURNALISM?</b><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="120" align="left"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><img src="http://unknownnews.org/blogging.jpg" border="1" alt="This be journalism?" width="100" height="95"></td></tr></table> <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; The whole Toyota recall scandal seems overblown to me, and this kind of <A HREF="http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/12/toyota-autos-hoax-media-opinions-contributors-michael-fumento.html?boxes=financechannelforbes">no-questions-asked coverage of an alleged runaway Toyota</A> just adds to that impression. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; <A HREF="http://www.chris-floyd.com/component/content/article/1-latest-news/1943-cud-and-complicity-burying-the-alternatives-to-empires-dominion.html">Rep. Dennis Kucinich's proposal to withdraw from Afghanistan</A> was debated, heatedly, for hours in the House of Representatives on Wednesday. After the debate, dozens of Representatives cast their vote to end the war immediately. This was an unprecedented event in the history of the conflict, now in its ninth year.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Think about that for a moment: an unprecedented event, on the floor of the House, going on for hours, involving a question of supreme national importance. Regardless of one's position on the issue, is this not the very definition of "news"? But on Thursday morning, you could search high and low on the front pages (print and web) of both the New York Times and the Washington Post &mdash; our national arbiters of serious newsworthiness &mdash; yet find no mention whatsoever of this event. This, even though the web fronts &mdash; unlike the paper versions &mdash; contain headlines for <I>dozens</I> of stories, including sections devoted entirely to Washington politics. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; Fox's Glenn Beck, who seems to be getting crazier and crazier by the week, has now <A HREF="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/03/08/glenn-beck-urges-listeners-to-leave-churches-that-preach-social/">called for Christians to quit their churches</A> if their churches are too into social justice, a concept he apparently abhors. He's also worried that "<A HREF="http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201003120022">the same people that tried to destroy Christmas</a>" are now "inside" these churches.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The right-wing loons have long claimed ownership of Christianity, to the general silence of the more Christ-like Christians. Will the Christians who care about social justice (which ought to be just about all real Christians) be willing to take this without fighting back fiercely and fast? If the Christians are willing to take this quietly, then they're going to get a lot more of it, and it's going to start looking like real persecution. <BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; And I wonder, how long will Fox News wait, while it becomes more and more obvious that their prime time star Glenn Beck is certifiable? Out of his tree. Mentally deranged. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; <A HREF="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j8bJNmgkNXos7jmYkKGzZWbuSe6QD9EE12G01">This is a frustrating piece of lazy journalism</a> from Associated Press, wherein writer Mark Sherman tells us four times that Goodwin Liu, President Obama's latest judicial nominee, is "liberal", even an "unabashed liberal". But there's no clue anywhere in the article about <I>why</i> AP says Liu is a liberal.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; From a quick glance at <A HREF="http://www.law.berkeley.edu/php-programs/faculty/facultyProfile.php?facID=4360">his webpage at U-Cal Berkeley</a>, Liu seems qualified and he's a member of a few groups that do good work and lordy, I <I>hope</I> he's a liberal. But neither my hoping it's true or AP's saying it's true makes it true. You can label him anything, label him barbecue sauce, but I ain't going to believe he's liberal or barbecue sauce until I see what's in him. Some time in the next few days, after I find the time to research Liu's record, we'll let you know whether he's a liberal and we won't just say it, we'll say why we're saying it. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; As a former San Franciscan, I'm intrigued by the continuing battle between the pretty-good weekly <I>Guardian</i> and the relatively cookie-cutter <I>S.F. Weekly</I>, which is owned by the <I>Village Voice</i> chain and, to at least this reader, seems far less involved in its community. <I>Weekly</i> used its chain status to sell ads at below cost, and has been <A HREF="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/09/BA8B1CDD3P.DTL">found guilty of illegal price-cutting twice now</A>, but still refuses to pay the judgment, which keeps getting bigger and now sits at $21-million. <A NAME=Strupp></A><BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; Joe Strupp, who was about half of what made <I>Editor & Publisher</i> worth reading until he was summarily axed, has <A HREF="http://mediamatters.org/blog/201003080016">landed a new gig at <I>Media Matters</i></A> &mdash; good news for <I>Media Matters</i>, and for readers who want the inside scoop about the journalism business, or who simply want to see the practice of high-quality journalism. <A HREF="http://mediamatters.org/strupp/">Strupp's page</a> at <I>Media Matters</i> is up and running and we've made it part of our regular surf cycle. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; In the <I>London Daily Telegraph</i> we find a huge story, solving the mystery of how an entire town in France was seized with hallucinations almost 60 years ago, leaving at least five people dead. The <A HREF="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/7415082/French-bread-spiked-with-LSD-in-CIA-experiment.html">Central Intelligence Agency did it</A> &mdash; they spiked the town's bread and air with LSD... Except that <A HREF="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/7415082/French-bread-spiked-with-LSD-in-CIA-experiment.html">the story</a> seems to be <A HREF="http://www.globaldashboard.org/2010/03/12/telegraph-france-acid-cia/">pre-debunked, and plagiarized</a> to boot. <A NAME=leftovers></a><!-- =personal --><BR><BR><A HREF=#leftovers><font color=blue>#</font></A> &nbsp; <B>LEFTOVERS AND STUPIDITY FOR DESSERT</B> <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; <A HREF="http://www.peterbcollins.com/">Here's an intelligent and commercial-free podcast</a>, in which Peter B. Collins interviews exactly the kind of guests you'll never see or hear in mainstream media. The program is free for the listening, with several new interviews every week, usually about an hour in length and it's time well spent. If you can afford to chip in Mr Collins gently asks but does not require $5 per month, which the program is easily worth. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; <A HREF="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100306/1649198451.shtml">Here's a good article on advertising</A> from the perspective of an ethical website that depends on advertising income. " If you're reading <I>Techdirt</i>, and the ads we serve are not good, you have every right to use an ad blocker. It's your browser, do whatever you want with it. I, personally, do <I>not</I> use an ad blocker because I don't find most ads annoying -- but if you do, more power to you. You're absolutely welcome here on <I>Techdirt</i>."<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I've stated in the past that I <I>abhor</i> ads, and that we use the Mozilla browser largely because of the ease with which it can be taught to block ads. But let me clarify &mdash; we have no objection to on-line ads that work like print ads, with words, pictures, pitches to buy. We certainly don't bother to block those ads, and occasionally one of those ads catches my eye and we end up clicking and maybe even buying something. The ads we block, enthusiastically, are ads that move, dance, shout, wave, flash, slide, scroll, pop up, pop under, or roll across the screen.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Please don't do that when I'm reading. It's too annoying, too distracting, and I'm too old, too grouchy, and just plain unwilling to sit still for that crap. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; <A HREF="http://www.weirdasianews.com/2010/02/19/wasabi-smoke-alarm-wakes-deaf/">A smoke alarm for the deaf</A> &mdash; brilliant. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; Here's the feel-good story of the week, as <A HREF="http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2010/03/09/penhaul.chile.unlikely.heroes.cnn&hpt=C1">patients at a Chilean asylum rescue themselves</A> and their disabled friends in the aftermath of the earthquake and a tsunami. But I dread the inevitable TV movie. <!-- =INFRASTRUCTURE 3.8--> <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; The quake in Chile was 500 times as powerful as the quake in Haiti, so how come the Haitian quake was exponentially more deadly? <A HREF="http://www.infrastructurist.com/2010/03/01/the-power-of-building-codes-chile-death-toll-less-than-1-that-of-haiti/">The answer is building codes</A> &mdash; Chile has them and enforces them, while Haiti doesn't and doesn't. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; <A HREF="http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2010/tc20100225_189974.htm">The Tesla electric Roadster will be available for leasing</A>, at a price that looks about $1,000 per month more than it can possibly be worth. But still, it's a cool car... <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; Not as cool as <A HREF="http://content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/post/2010/03/alternative-fuel-car-puccino-runs-on-coffee-grinds/1">this car, though, that runs on coffee grounds</A>. My apologies for <I>USA Today</i>'s cutesy writing style. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; <A HREF="http://www.streetfilms.org/il-ciclista-dolce-michael-musto/">Go bike-riding with Michael Musto</A>, on the busy streets of New York City. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; I'm intrigued by <A HREF="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gwckVe8gKZJKd2w-MpXWAIyZu-BgD9EAMQFO3">Detroit's plans to demolish entire neighborhoods and install farms and parkland</A>. With the right financial backing, a pretty terrific city could emerge from the rubble, but since it's smart and expensive the odds are against it.<BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; There's also the interesting idea that Detroit might want to <A HREF="http://www.urbanophile.com/2010/03/11/detroit-embracing-the-ruins/">embrace and enhance its ruins</a>. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; Here's <A HREF="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIx6f1DrQIo&">a house made from old bottles</A>, complete with cheesy music and inexplicably sponsored by Panasonic. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; This is kind of interesting &mdash; a <A HREF="http://whereismymilkfrom.com/">website that tells you where your dairy products are manufactured</a>. Seems like the coding on the products should be mandatory, just for safety and recall purposes, but not in America. I've got a store-bought carton of milk the website can't decipher, and the explanatory notes (sorry, the website won't let me link to a specific page) mention that the coding is all voluntary. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; Why is the Education Department purchasing <A HREF="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/education-secretary-duncan/ed-department-buying-27-shotgu.html">27 Remington Brand Model 870 police 12-gauge shotguns?</A> <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; I still love watching and re-watching reruns of the sitcom <I>Seinfeld</i>, but Jerry Seinfeld &mdash; when he doesn't have a brilliant script and terrific co-stars &mdash; is the unfunniest comedian in America. He's even unfunnier than Jay Leno, a rather remarkable unaccomplishment. <A NAME=stupidity></A> <!-- flat line --><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="242" align="right"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="right" width="100%"><BR><img src="http://unknownnews.org/flatline.jpg" alt="Flatliners" border="1" width="227" height="86"></td></tr></table> <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; <A HREF="http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/archives/197198.asp">Rush Limbaugh says he'll leave America</A> and move to Costa Rica if Obama's mild health insurance reform passes Congress. But I don't think Limbaugh would feel at home in Costa Rica:<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "Costa Rica has pace-setting conservation policies, set aside large national parks and become a global magnet for eco-tourism. 'Sustainability' surveys regularly rank it among the world's top 10 countries in preserving its environment. Costa Rica has no army, and has avoided the military coups that have seized power in other Central American and South American countries. It has elected social democrats as president."<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; After Limbaugh's silly pronouncement, perhaps the best response I've read came <A HREF="http://open.salon.com/blog/sandra_no_longer_miller/2010/03/12/strange_bedfellows_me_and_rush_limbaugh_in_costa_rica">from Sandra Stephens and <I>Strange Bedfellows</I></a>, who works in the health travel industry. "... my company takes people abroad for health care. About half of our patients are uninsured and find themselves utterly priced out of the US market. But their reasons for being uninsured have nothing to do with the "bought me an iPod and a grill of gold teeth and the rest of America should pay for my Cheetohs-n-Video Games lifestyle" trope that seems to pervade any discussion of the state of American health insurance today. They are uninsured because after years of paying in, they were shut out by insurers *legally* refusing to cover their illnesses and accidents." <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; I don't care at all about Tiger Woods or, for that matter, golf, but <A HREF="http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=wojciechowski_gene&id=4986830&sportCat=golf">hiring Ari Fleischer to polish his image</A> just makes me think less of Woods.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Fleischer, if the name rings only a vague bell, was President George W Bush's press secretary during the build-up and launch of the war on Iraq, and thus stood at the press podium and uttered what are now known to be lies about the facts of that matter, over and over and over again. He played a key role, then, in the deaths of thousands of American troops and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, and now, golly, he's going to make you think warm and fuzzy thoughts about a golfer who cheated on his wife dozens or hundreds of times. You stay classy, Ari. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; A kooky Christian in Florida <A HREF="http://tampabay.com/news/health/research/polk-woman-who-died-alone-while-fasting-was-following-gods-call-husband/1079553">starved herself to death</A>, because she was so busy praying. An early frontrunner for the Darwin Awards.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; My grandma was that kind of nuts &mdash; she would lock herself in her room and scream prayers while fasting for days on end, but cripes, even my grandma wasn't kooky enough to fast for more than a few days. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; <A HREF="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article7056689.ece">The Roman Catholic Church's top exorcist</A> says that the Devil has infested the Vatican. <!-- =HATTIP--><BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &diams;&nbsp; <I>Unknown News</i> is updated once weekly, usually on Tuesdays. It's our attempt to spotlight news that was underplayed, ignored, or simply lost in the non-stop news cycle. <A HREF="http://unknownnews.org/bighowdy.html">Have a seat and some cheese puffs</A> but please, no smoking. <BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; A tip o' the hat to Daniel D., the letter Z, AK for CSS help, <A HREF="http://www.jrmooneyham.com">JR Mooneyham</A>, <A HREF="http://badattitudes.com/MT/">Bad Attitudes</a>, <A HREF="http://carlosmiller.com/">Photography is Not a Crime</A>, <A HREF="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/">Right Wing Watch</A>, <A HREF="http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/">Pharyngula</a>, <A HREF="http://theagitator.com/">The Agitator</A>, <A HREF="http://eandpinexile.blogspot.com/">E & P in Exile</A>, <A HREF="http://prorev.com/indexa.htm">Progressive Review</A>, <A HREF="http://www.newshoggers.com/blog/">Newshoggers</A>, <A HREF="http://bobcesca.com/">Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog</A>, <A HREF="http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/">Little Green Footballs</A>, <!-- Feb -->Jim B., Sherri B., Cassandra, Joseph D., Joe G., Lon Garm, J.S. (not the Watergate felon) Magruder at <A HREF="http://www.eattheblog.blogspot.com/">Eat the Blog</A>, Andrea O., HughBris, Comrade Q., SirJ, Bill T., wlgriffi, our first web-home at <A HREF="http://pitas.com/">pitas.com</a> (1999-2003, and still a great place for publishing your blog), and the love of my life (who prefers to remain anonymous). <BR><A NAME=dialogue></A><BR><TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="middle" WIDTH="23%" class="fonta"><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1003-08.html"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.org/leftarrow.jpg" alt="arrow pointing left" border="0" width="75" height="11"><BR>Older news</A><BR><BR><BR><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1003-08-d.html#dialogue"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.org/leftarrow.jpg" alt="arrow pointing left" border="0" width="75" height="11"><BR>Older comments</A></TD><TD ALIGN="center"VALIGN="middle" WIDTH="54%" class="fonta">Compiled by Helen &amp; Harry Highwater<BR><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.org/logo.gif" alt="UNKNOWN NEWS" width="150" height="31" border="0"></A><BR><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1003-15.html">Tuesday, Mar. 16, 2010</A></TD><TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="middle" WIDTH="23%" class="fonta"><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1003-22.html"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/rightarrow.jpg" alt="arrow pointing right" border="0" height="10" width="75"><BR>Newer news</A><BR><BR><BR><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1003-22-d.html#dialogue"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/rightarrow.jpg" alt="arrow pointing right" border="0" height="10" width="75"><BR>Newer comments</A></TD></TR></TABLE><BR><BR> <table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="8" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="120" align="right"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="right" width="100%"><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/dialogue.html"><img src="http://unknownnews.org/dialogue-bubbles.jpg" border="3" width="125" height="125"></A></td></tr></table> <BIG><B><I><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/dialogue.html">Readers' comments</a></I></B></BIG><BR><BR><SPAN class="fonta">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <I>We welcome readers' comments, questions, or criticisms sent to <A HREF="mailto:unknownnews@inbox.com">unknownnews@inbox.com</A>, and on <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/dialogue.html">our comments page</a> we publish any emails that (in our subjective opinion) add to the discourse. </i><BR><BR> <DIV align="right">&mdash; <I>Helen & Harry Highwater</i>, <i><b>Unknown&nbsp;News</b></i>&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><BR><BR> <BR><center><HR NOSHADE width="535">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://thinkprogress.org">ThinkProgress</A>&nbsp; &nbsp;<A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/">Washington&nbsp;Monthly</A>&nbsp; &nbsp;<A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.truthout.org/">TruthOut</A>&nbsp; <HR NOSHADE width="535"></center><BR> <A NAME=thanksmore></A><center><TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="300" border=0><TR> <TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" class="fonty"> <center><iframe src="http://www.unknownnews.org/support-wide.html" width="600" height="550" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></center></TD></TR></TABLE></center> <center><BR>© &nbsp; 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Our news comes only from mainstream, professional journalists or (rarely) other sources we trust entirely, with <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/nonuts.html">no nuttiness</a> and no interest in the same news you see everywhere else.<BR><BR><center><BIG><B>What we believe</B></BIG></center><BR> We believe in liberty and justice for all, so of course, we oppose many US government policies. This doesn't mean we're anti-American, redneck scum, pinko commies, militia members, or terrorist-sympathizers. It means we believe in freedom, as more than merely a cliché. <BR><BR> We believe you have the right to live your own life as you choose, and others have the equal right to live <I>their</I> lives as <I>they</I> choose. It's not complicated.<BR><BR>We believe freedom leads to peace, progress, and prosperity, while its opposite -- oppression -- leads to war, terrorism, poverty, and misery. <BR><BR> We believe it's preposterously stupid to hate people because of their appearance, their race or nationality, their religion or lack of religion, how they have sex with other consenting adults, etc. There are far more apropos reasons to hate most people. <BR><BR> We believe in questioning ourselves, our assumptions, each other -- and we especially believe in questioning authority (the more authority, the more questions). We believe obedience is a fine quality in dogs and young children, but not in adults. <BR><BR> Like America's right-wingers, we believe in individual responsibility, hard work to get ahead, and stern punishment for serious crimes. We believe big government should not be blindly trusted.<BR><BR> But unlike most right-wing leaders, we mean it. <BR><BR> Like America's left-wingers, we believe in equal treatment under law, war as a last (not first) resort, and sensible stewardship of natural resources. We believe big business should not be blindly trusted.<BR><BR>But unlike most left-wing leaders, we mean it. <BR><BR> Like libertarians, we believe it's wrong and <I>reprehensible</i> to arrest people for what they think, believe, look like, wear, eat, smoke, drink, inhale, inject, or otherwise do to themselves. <BR><BR> But unlike many libertarians, we're not obsessed with the gold standard, we don't believe incorporation is humanity's highest achievement, and we don't believe everything in life comes down to dollars and cents. We've read and enjoyed Ayn Rand's novels, but we understand that they're works of fiction.<BR><BR> We're skeptical, and we're sick of so-called 'journalists' who aren't skeptical at all. <BR><BR>A reader asks, what are our solutions?<BR><BR>We propose no solutions except common sense, which is never common. We like the principles of democracy, and the ideals broadly described as 'American'. The US Constitution is a fine and workable framework for solutions, when it's actually read and thoughtfully understood by intelligent statesmen and women. So, no manifestos from us. We don't dream that big, and if there's one thing the world <i>doesn't</i> need it's yet another manifesto.<BR><BR>Our suggestion is: think.<BR><BR>A fact-based instead of faith-based approach leads to solutions for most of the recurring issues of our time, from abortion to global climate change, pollution to universal health care, careful but real regulation of industry and economy, hunger, war, terror, human rights for humans not for corporations, science not religious doctrine in public schools, equal protection and prosecution under law, etc. Approach problems without glorifying stupidity, without demonizing intelligence, and answers usually come into focus. <BR><BR> These pages are published by <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.net/bighowdy.html">Harry and Helen Highwater</A>, happily married low-income nom de plumes and rabble-rousers from Madison, Wisconsin (with a few friends scattered around the world helping out). <BR><BR> We try to spotlight news that hasn't gotten enough (or appropriate) attention in American media, along with our opinions and yours. <BR><BR> We bang our keyboards against the wall, because it doesn't hurt as much as banging our heads. <BR><BR><center><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/bighowdy.html"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/Highwaters-oldtime.jpg" border="3" width="199" height="277"></A></center><BR> <DIV align="right"><i><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/contact.html">Helen &amp; 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