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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If our email address ever fails, please use one of <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/contact.html">our back-up email addresses</a>. <BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Your participation is sincerely appreciated unless you're a poopy- head. Also, <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/deletedelete.html">don't be a poopyhead</a>.</i><BR><BR> <DIV align="right">&mdash; <I>Helen & Harry Highwater</i>, <i><b>Unknown&nbsp;News</b></i>&nbsp;&nbsp;</div> </TD></TR></TABLE><BR> <TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="8" WIDTH="100%" border=1><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor=white class="fonta">Like the URL says, this website is about unknown news.<BR><BR>We present a <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/">once-weekly wrap-up of news</a> that was underplayed, ignored, or simply lost in the non-stop news cycle. 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; Harry Highwater</A></i> &nbsp; <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;(from <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/about.html">About <I>Unknown News</i></A>)&nbsp;&nbsp;</div></TD></TR></TABLE></TD></TR></TABLE><A NAME=dialogue></A><A NAME=comments></A> <A NAME=Pen032601569></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#Pen032601569"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Penguin</B></BIG> on Friday evening &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR> I gotta laugh at all the booger-eaters who are all up in arms over "baby killers" and blocking abortion and blahdi blah blah. The Republican rhetoric is all against abortion like it's genocide but when Bush was president and Republicans had big majorities in both houses of Congress, lawmakers never touched the topic of abortion. The nose-pickers and snot-swallowers are too stupid to figure out that they're being played by Republicans, year in year out and up the yingyang. <A NAME=GQ03260229></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#GQ03260229"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Gertrude Q.</B></BIG> on Friday evening &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR> This is going around in a viral email, something I wouldn't ordinarily pester you with, but it's so damn perfect I thought you might like it:<BR><BR><I>You're mad?<BR><BR>You didn't get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and appointed a President.<BR><BR>You didn't get mad when Cheney allowed Energy company officials to dictate energy policy.<BR><BR>You didn't get mad when a covert CIA operative got outed.<BR><BR>You didn't get mad when the PATRIOT Act got passed.<BR><BR>You didn't get mad when we illegally invaded a country that posed no threat to us.<BR><BR>You didn't get mad when we spent over 600 billion (and counting) on said illegal war.<BR><BR>You didn't get mad when over 10 billion dollars just disappeared in Iraq.<BR><BR>You didn't get mad when you saw the Abu Grahib photos.<BR><BR>You didn't get mad when you found out we were torturing people.<BR><BR>You didn't get mad when the government was illegally wiretapping Americans.<BR><BR>You didn't get mad when we didn't catch Bin Laden.<BR><BR>You didn't get mad when you saw the horrible conditions at Walter Reed.<BR><BR>You didn't get mad when we let a major US city drown.<BR><BR>You didn't get mad when the deficit hit the trillion dollar mark.<BR><BR>You finally got mad when.. when... wait for it... when the Government decided to pass a measure that is meant to save lives. I repeat: save lives. Is it perfect? No. But don't you find it kinda funny that you're more mad over a life-saving issue than issues that have unquestionably led to poverty, decreased national security, and death?</i> <A NAME=JSM03260913></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#JSM03260913"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>J.S. Magruder at <A HREF="http://www.eattheblog.blogspot.com/">Eat the Blog</A></B></BIG> on Friday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR> Just when you think the bills to restrict abortion couldn't get more outrageous...<BR><BR> <A HREF="http://www.omaha.com/article/20100326/NEWS01/703269872#senators-advance-abortion-bill">Senators advance abortion bill</A><BR><BR><I>State lawmakers gave first-round approval Thursday to a first-of-its-kind bill that would require extensive screening of women seeking abortions in Nebraska and hold doctors responsible civilly if a screening falls short.</I><A NAME=JSM03260913-HH914></A><UL> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#JSM03260913-HH914"><font color=blue>#</font></A> <BIG><B>Helen & Harry</B></BIG> on Friday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->Steam rises from my ears. The men who want to own women are very insistent pricks, aren't they.<BR><BR>According to the Guttmacher Institute, there were <A HREF="http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/sfaa/nebraska.html">half a dozen abortion providers in Nebraska</a> as of 2005, and they're the targets of this legislation. On the bright side, Wikipedia tells me that the bill's sponsor, Rep Merton L. "Cap" Dierks, is <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cap_Dierks">77 years old</a>.<A NAME=JSM03260913-JSM12320></A><UL><BR> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#JSM03260913-JSM12320"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>J.S. Magruder at <A HREF="http://www.eattheblog.blogspot.com/">Eat the Blog</A></B></BIG> on Friday evening &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->This was interesting timing as they just cut off medicade funding for prenatal care in Nebraska . As more poor women are hit with having little choice but to abort, along comes this bill making it more difficult. I would expect a rise in birth defects, but maybe that's part of the plan &mdash; the brain damaged tend to vote conservative...<A NAME=JSM03260913-HH12321></A><UL><BR> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#JSM03260913-HH12321"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Helen & Harry</B></BIG> on Friday evening &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->They're the Republicans' most reliable constituency.</UL></UL></UL> <A NAME=Cass03260848></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#Cass03260848"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Cassandra</B></BIG> on Friday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR> Thanks for <A HREF="http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=the-manipulative-meow-cats-learn-to-2009-07-13">the article on cats training us</a>. I'd just hit my rage level with the news for the day and was about to go drown my sorrows in chocolate.<BR><BR>I doubt you've followed recent news about fashion photographer and [alleged] sexual predator Terry Richardson - there are much bigger stories - but I'm damned glad I haven't bought a fashion magazine in close to a decade, and although I doubt I can afford the clothing lines he does ads for, if I can find a trustworthy list those companies are dead to me.<A NAME=1STREPLY-HH849></A><UL> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#1STREPLY-HH849"><font color=blue>#</font></A> <BIG><B>Helen & Harry</B></BIG> on Friday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->I don't know anything about Terry Richardson, and a quick Googling makes me <A HREF="http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/fashion/article7072976.ece">glad I don't</A>. Sounds like he's the scum you'd expect to rise to the top where the scummy advertising business meets the scummy modeling business.<BR><BR>I have always been immune to fashion. I wear sensible shoes and the same clothes I was wearing a year ago, or five years ago if I haven't dripped curry on it.</UL> <A NAME=DC03260945></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#DC03260945"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>David C.</B></BIG> on Friday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR> It wasn't everything we wanted, sure, but this health care reform is everything Obama wanted, and it's not awful. It's a meaningful step forward, it's the first legislation since the 1960s that's really going to be helpful to society's down and out, and I wish you'd stop ragging on Obama about this. It's a big success, OK? <A NAME=FMIC03260952></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#FMIC03260952"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Flithy maggot-infected corpse</B></BIG> on Friday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR> Don't you ever get tired of the lies, the fear, the hypocrisy, and knowing there's nothing else in the news but those three stories... <A NAME=FMIC03260952-0952></A><UL> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#FMIC03260952-0952"><font color=blue>#</font></A> <BIG><B>Helen & Harry</B></BIG> on Friday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->Every day.<A NAME=FMIC03260952-Britany1235></A><BR><BR> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#FMIC03260952-Britany1235"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Britany</B></BIG> on Friday evening &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->Take a bath! Use some soap! Stop sleeping in a coffin!</UL> <A NAME=Cass03250239></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#Cass03250239"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Cassandra</B></BIG> on Thursday evening &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR> <A HREF="http://www.620wtmj.com/news/local/89003717.html">Women Not Allowed To Speak at Meeting about School Principal's Firing</A><BR><BR>Not unknown, just hard to believe. It's right up there w/ the religious folks praying that all the Democrats who voted for the health bill die.<A NAME=Cass03250239-239></A><UL> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#Cass03250239-239"><font color=blue>#</font></A> <BIG><B>Helen & Harry</B></BIG> on Thursday evening &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->I will always defend the right of crazy and stupid people to be crazy and stupid, at least so long as their craziness and stupidity isn't manifested in violence, but of course I'll also laugh at their craziness and stupidity. This particular craziness and stupidity is about a hundred miles from my apartment, which goes to show something but I don't know what. I also don't know how these people can go about their business, even in a small town like Baraboo, without being snickered at everywhere they go.<A NAME=Cass03250239-Cass830></A><UL><BR> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#Cass03250239-Cass830"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Cassandra</B></BIG> on Friday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->I, too, defend their non-violent right to be crazy and stupid, I just wish they'd do it further away. Perhaps we could find them a lovely tropical island somewhere, with all the amenities and FOX piped into every home? Of course, it'd have to be humongous and unpopulated...we've done enough displacing for any million species.</UL></UL> <A NAME=BB10103250908></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#BB10103250908"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Beer Bottle 101</B></BIG> on Thursday evening &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR> <A HREF=" http://www.marketwatch.com/story/what-this-country-needs-is-a-good-10-pace-duel-2010-03-24">The political climate calls for just one solution: dueling</A><BR><BR><I>It's time to revive the custom of dueling to resolve our disputes -- and not just political, although certainly that would be the first place we'd like to see some diehards on both sides of the aisle squaring off. But duels in media, academics and corporate boardrooms would also be welcome. [...]<BR><BR>First up on the firing line could be Congressmen Bart Stupak, a Michigan Democrat, and Randy Neugebauer, the Texas Republican whose outburst of "Baby killer!" ("It's a baby killer!" if you accept his version) disrupted the House of Representatives debate on the health-care reform bill. [...]</i><BR><BR>The only real problem with this suggestion is that dueling was about honor. Either person could decline to duel, but at the cost of their reputation. These days few politicians could even meet the basic requirements of a combatant. A gentleman would never duel with a cowardly, scurvy dog or a man with no honor. Unless, one day, Ron Paul decides to duel himself we are unlikely to see two politicians dueling.<A NAME=BB10103250908-Sisk545></A><UL> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#BB10103250908-Sisk545"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Siskiyousis</B></BIG> on Friday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste --><I>"The only real problem with this suggestion is that dueling was about honor. Either person could decline to duel, but at the cost of their reputation. These days few politicians could even meet the basic requirements of a combatant."</I><BR><BR> Or anyone else I know, come to think of it; present company excepted.<A NAME=BB10103250908-BB551></A><UL><BR> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#BB10103250908-BB551"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Beer Bottle 101</B></BIG> on Friday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->I was mostly just making stuff up to jerk your chain. Really, I believe in synergy, but that is something that is inherently difficult to predict or manufacture (due perhaps to Soros' Theory of Reflexivity).<BR><BR>Speaking of relativism, there is this:<BR><BR><A HREF="http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2010/03/updates-from-department-of-really-weird.html">LINK</A> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <A HREF="http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2010/03/evidence-grows-for-multiverse.html">LINK</A><BR><BR>In the first article, quantum effects of present actions altering the past are not news to me -- there is a similar experiment showing diffraction effects when the slit is mounted on a pendulum.<BR><BR>In both time experiments, the english interpretation "measurements an observer makes can influence events that have already happened in the past." reflects a worldview not present in the experiment. An alternative interpretation is that the observer's actions decide which universe he will inhabit.<BR><BR>In the second blog there is a discussion of so called "dark matter" and "dark energy". Again, these names -- the nomenclature -- is an english interpretation. It may be that there are gravitic effects on our universe from other universes in the multiverse.<BR><BR>Finally, in case your mind isn't yet blown to smithereens, you should consider carefully the fact that instantaneous communication -- faster that light -- is now a proven phenomenon (again, this is an english interpretation of phenomena.) Quantum entanglement is now being used in commercial and top secret military/intelligence products.<BR><BR>I think, you pessimist glass less than half full person, that the next hundred years will see magnificent advances in science and technology that will make the "economics of scarcity" a joke, or if not a joke, a political choice enacted by totalitarian governments wanting to retain control and reduce populations for ideological reasons.</UL></UL> <A NAME=CS03250824></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#CS03250824"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Charisse S.</B></BIG> on Thursday evening &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><A HREF="http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1931582,00.html">Why California is Still America s Future</a><BR><BR>Well, I read page 1 and basically I agree: the outlook over the intermediate to long term is A-OK, relative to the rest of the country (except that I think Oregon and Washington are *excellent* too.)<BR><BR>CA has excellent weather and natural resources. In addition, the people of California are those who were intelligent enough -- or their ancestors were -- to haul ass out of whatever pestilent shitpile they were in and come here. Smart, hard-working, good-looking, and above-average (not *all* above average, haha, that's Lake Wobegone.)<BR><BR>Take, for example, Hollywood and LA. Thousands and thousands of beautiful people move there every year from places like Bumfuck, Iowa and Dipstick Illinois to become movie stars. 99.9% don't make it in the Big Time so they settle down there and make beautiful babies. Repeat process for a a few generations and send the losers via Greyhound Bus back where they came from, and eventually you have naturally selected a superior crop (relatively speaking.)<BR><BR>There is a similar process for nerds in Silicon Valley.<BR><BR>On the negative selection side, high real estate prices intimidate easterners from making the move, just like the prairies and Death Valley did in ye olden days. So people stay put out of fear of not being able to buy a home here. But wages are higher and many costs are lower, and for many, the career prospects are excellent.<BR><BR>And there is synergy: if you live in a dynamic place with people who are smart and optimistic about the future your chances of doing well are much improved. You may not be the baddest dog in the pack but it doesn't matter, you will eat well thanks to your alpha dog buddies.<A NAME=CS03250824-HH824></A><UL> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#CS03250824-HH824"><font color=blue>#</font></A> <BIG><B>Helen & Harry</B></BIG> on Thursday evening &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->The article seems to make more sense than much of what's in <I>Time</i> these days, and your response makes more. Hadn't thought of the advantage of being descendants of pioneers, and being a descendant of pioneers I like the sound of that. Plausible family legend has it that my grandma, as a little girl, came west on a wagon train, and I'll take any advantage I can get.<BR><BR>There's a certain inarguable genetic advantage, an advantage I can't get, in beautiful people descended from beautiful forebears. In my experience with beautiful people, their beautiful heads are likely to echo from emptiness. But yeah, beautiful people have the advantage in hiring and promotion, over the less beautiful people who do most of the thinking and working and creating.<A NAME=CS03250824-246></A><UL><BR> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#CS03250824-246"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Charisse S.</B></BIG> on Thursday evening &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->I was kidding about most of it -- except that I do like the West...if there were 3 states west of Ca, Or and Wa those would be my favorites. Sometimes "Eastward Ho!" makes sense. My grandparents moved from Nebraska, where they were farmers, to Kansas City where grandpa became superintendent of the Sears store...and had 7 kids, haha. Then child went to Texas and one went to California...</UL></UL> <A NAME=DM03250228></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#DM03250228"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Doug M.</B></BIG> on Thursday evening &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR> Is this site (<A HREF="http://www.unknownews.com">www.unknownews.com</A>) pretending to have something to do with yours? &nbsp; (<A HREF="http://samspade.org/whois/www.unknownews.com">who is</a><A NAME=DM03250228-HH230></A>)<UL> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#DM03250228-HH230"><font color=blue>#</font></A> <BIG><B>Helen & Harry</B></BIG> on Thursday evening &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->Probably not. We're nobodies, so there's no advantage in pretending to be us. We're certainly not involved there.<BR><BR>We briefly controlled unknownnews dot-com many years ago, through some shady "free" website reservation system that we quickly decided we wanted nothing to do with. We moved on to dot-net and dot-org, and for several years someone ran a sleazy ad site at unknownnews dot-com. They offered to sell us that address several years back, and of course we'd love to have it, but we're not going to pay top dollar, middle dollar, or anything more than bottom dollar, so the answer was no. Looks like they found another buyer, who hasn't done anything with it since last November. No hard feelings and we wish him or her well. What's there now is better than the sleazy ads that were there before.</UL> <A NAME=SirJ03251129></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#SirJ03251129"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>SirJ</B></BIG> on Thursday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR> <A HREF="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36020516/ns/us_news-census_2010/">Census: 16 percent filled out surveys so far</A><BR><BR>Excerpt: <I>The 10-question census asks you to fill out your usual place of residence as of April 1, but the Census Bureau is encouraging people to send in their forms sooner if they already know what their location will be. The bureau will continue to accept mailed-in forms through most of April.</I><BR><BR>Do you know when you will die? If you are sure you will be alive on April 1, then by all means do as the Census Bureau encourages and send in your census form now. IGNORE their statement which says "The Census must count every person living in the United States on april 1, 2010." IGNORE the way the questions are asked in the past tense. The Bureau has made a mockery of the census by ENCOURAGING people to fill out their forms ahead of time.<A NAME=SirJ03251129-HH1135></A><UL> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#SirJ03251129-HH1135"><font color=blue>#</font></A> <BIG><B>Helen & Harry</B></BIG> on Thursday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->I remember hearing talk like that in previous censuses, how they wanted a precise snapshot of that one day. Early filing does seem at odds with that, but I can't get too worked up about it. It's all a rough guess, ain't it? The early filers who die are probably few, in comparison to the non-filers who'll be alive on that day.<BR><BR>Just as an aside, we've received a census form, which makes me feel like I've really arrived in the world. I moved out of my parents' home, let's say, several censuses ago, and this is the first time I've ever received a census form. I guess that's why it all seems a rough guess to me.<A NAME=SirJ03251129-SJ248></A><UL><BR> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#SirJ03251129-SJ248"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>SirJ</B></BIG> on Thursday evening &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->Yes, it's a rough guess. They could've waited until after April 1 and then encourage people to send it in, or chosen a date the form asks about to be in the past, say March 1. But no, they decided to muck it up. Can you imagine the IRS encouraging you to send in your tax returns before the year ended?</UL></UL> <A NAME=Cass03251118></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#Cass03251118"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Cassandra</B></BIG> on Thursday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR> <A HREF="http://www.macon.com/2010/03/24/1070478/gay-rights-backers-reach-out-to.html">Gay-rights backers reach out to Bleckley senior</A><BR><BR>Gay young man gets to go to prom w/ bf... but is kicked out by his parents.<A NAME=Cass03251118-HH1122></A><UL> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#Cass03251118-HH1122"><font color=blue>#</font></A> <BIG><B>Helen & Harry</B></BIG> on Thursday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->Still a pretty inspirational story. I like that he decided to go to the prom after the lesbian in Mississippi was told she couldn't. Every action causes ripples and repercussions, hopefully for the good.<A NAME=Cass03251118-242></A><UL><BR> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#Cass03251118-242"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Cassandra</B></BIG> on Thursday evening &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->Yeah, it is.<BR><BR>I was so pissed off about the kid who used the PA at Wal-Mart [I didn't see his possible sentence until you posted it, and agree that it's ridiculous]because of something personal. I met someone last month who seemed perfectly intelligent/reasonable/etc. One night I was talking about family photos from the 1800s and mentioned that two women were obviously not the usual German/French/Brit mix...one looked Native American and another had light skin but African American features and hair. His response was 'I know what you were thinking...the "n-word" in the woodpile!'.<BR><BR>Since that phrase hasn't ever entered my mind unless I read it and I had never heard anyone use it, I was horrified and astounded. While it won't ever happen, I'd love for bigots of any stripe to have a big B tattooed on their forehead or something so the rest of us could be warned off. Sadly, it would probably become a popular accessory around here.</UL></UL> <A NAME=Robbie03240416></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#Robbie03240416"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Robbie</B></BIG> on Wednesday evening &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR> Dear Helen, Harry, and the distinguished Mr. P,<BR><BR>I was first outraged by American politics when I was 14. A local politician in my hometown, a man I knew personally and respected, admitted to stealing over three hundred thousand dollars from a children's hospital. He was caught because he spent it on an antique car and drove it around town, looking to pick up chicks. In those Dark Ages before the World Wide Web had truly come into its own, I remember thinking, "I sure wish some newspaper would just publish a list of all the lies. Isn't that their job? Just be straight with me--publish a point-by-point list every time someone in authority lies to me."<BR><BR>You three heroes have made this selfish dream of mine a reality. I stumbled upon <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/debunk.html">your "debunked" list</a> today. I've been reading, on and off, for two hours. After my first exposure to the emotion called "outrage" back in my teenage years, an unhealthy cynicism has kept me from returning to that feeling of shame, hurt, and rage... until now. I am happy to say that, thanks to your fine efforts, I've never felt more betrayed by so many people at once. It absolutely stuns me that we live in a world where people get paid millions of dollars to lie to millions of people--more money for more lies!<BR><BR>I'm depressed, which means you've done a fantastic job. Thank you.<BR><BR>P.S.: I'll be even more depressed in an hour or so, when I realize that 75-150,000,000 people believe these lies (even the ones that are so obvious that they make you choke bitterly in text form).<A NAME=Robbie03240416-HH0417></A><UL> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#Robbie03240416-HH0417"><font color=blue>#</font></A> <BIG><B>Helen & Harry</B></BIG> on Wednesday evening &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->Hey, I was depressed too <I>before</I> your email arrived, but you've definitely cheered me up. I don't think we're heroes, but we'll take a hug when it's offered. Thanks.<BR><BR>There was a time when I bought newspapers two at a time, reading sometimes half a dozen newspapers in a day, front to back. I wanted the facts, and for a dime or a quarter a newspaper served up a lot of facts. I can't mark exactly when that changed, but it's staggering how much that's changed. Even five years ago I never would have believed I'd be subscribing to <I>no</i> newspapers, but here I am. And it's not the internet that's driven me away from newspapers &mdash; it's that the newspapers no longer make any serious effort to separate the truth from the lies.<BR><BR>The new ethos of journalism is demonstrated by the health care debate. Sarah Palin says that the health care reform legislation includes "death panels" that will decide whether handicapped children and elderly grandparents live or die, and the media reported that Palin said this, but none of the news accounts said point-blank that Palin's statement was a lie. The standard disclaimer, instead, was that Democrats deny that there are death panels in the legislation, so it's "he said, she said" &mdash; one side says that children will be slaughtered and old folks left to die, while the other side says that's incorrect. End of story.<BR><BR>To my thinking, a newspaper is supposed to provide news. Presenting fact and fiction side-by-side without helping readers recognize the difference isn't journalism, it's stenography, or just plain propaganda. And I'm not plunking down two or three quarters every day for propaganda.<BR><BR>Every day there's a new think piece about the problems faced by newspapers, about newspapers laying off reporters or closing down, but it's a problem largely of the media's own making. Show me a daily newspaper that hasn't been a collaborator in telling lies over the past few years, and I'll show you a newspaper that should survive ... but can you show me that newspaper? It isn't sold in any stores around here, that's for sure.<BR><BR>By the by, it's just the two of us here, Helen and Harry. Mr P was a friend's cat who died, and the friend asked us to post a picture of Mr P on <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/bighowdy.html">this page</A> as a memorial. Several years later we accidentally deleted Mr P's picture, and by then we no longer had the friend's address (so if you're out there, old friend, please send the picture of Mr P again and we'll restore him to his rightful place).<A NAME=Robbie03240416-R1119></A><UL><BR> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#Robbie03240416-R1119"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Robbie</B></BIG> on Thursday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->I would love to believe in journalistic karma; the idea that newspapers are failing because of their refusal to provide news is a delightful one. But, then I turn on the 24-hour networks......<BR><BR>"Tonight, at 11: Helen and Harry claim that Mr. P has passed on, but their own <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/bighowdy.html">Big Howdy</a> page tells a different tale! Which is it? Glenn Beck is our expert guest--what unsubstantiated opinion will he form about this simple, binary question of fact? Perhaps he'll postulate that Mr. P is neither dead nor alive, but in a comatose state brought on by the encroaching socialist agenda! Later, a panel of six multi-millionaires will argue about whether or not it is raining right now. Stay tuned for the overblown graphical effects that Washington insiders don't want you to see! Also, BUY GOLD!!!<BR><BR>Later, on a Spike News special report, one of the keys on your computer keyboard could kill your unborn child. We'll tell you which, after this sixteen minute commercial break..."<A NAME=Robbie03240416-HH1118></A><UL><BR> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#Robbie03240416-HH1118"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Helen & Harry</B></BIG> on Thursday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->We find that rabbit ears are fully adequate for all our corporate-overlord supplied television entertainment, so we don't have cable. My experience of Glenn Beck and his cohorts, then, is somewhat removed, but I've seen enough clips to earn the unshakable impression that Mr Beck is out of his mind.<BR><BR>The line about <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/bighowdy.html">Mr P</a> is only meant to confer that the cat is with us in spirit. In reality Mr P was never here, in spirit, in fur, in any way. We never even met that cat. How's that for debunking the media's lies? Our own cat is the world's greatest feline, but she gets no credit for the website since she does only a small portion of the coding and proofreading.</UL></UL></UL> <A NAME=LG03240328></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#LG03240328"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Lon Garm</B></BIG> on Wednesday evening &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR> <A HREF="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/03/23/state/n145645D10.DTL&type=health">CA officer charged with fraud in sex club shooting</a><BR><BR> the background story: prison guard and wifey at swinger club, his condom broke while doing other woman, other woman's man very angry, shoots prison guard in back, then the lying starts... <A NAME=GM03240754></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#GM03240754"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Gary M.</B></BIG> on Wednesday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR> The coverage of the health care bill -- I guess it's the Health Care Act now -- continues to be as shallow and lie-filled as it ever was. Flipping across the wasteland of my local newscasts last night, the top story on one channel was that this controversial new legislation adds trillions to the federal defecit, which isn't true but wasn't challenged.<BR><BR>On another channel was the happy story of a cancer survivor who said he would've died if not for his excellent insurance coverage, and how wonderful it is that even people who don't have his excellent policy (the brand name was mentioned twice on-air, with payment I'm sure) will have the best healthcare in the world if they get diagnosed with cancer. Neither Mr Cancer nor the newscaster added, that's provided you're lucky enough to make it to 2014 before you get that diagnosis, and provided you pay your insurance bills in a timely manner and of course when you're so sick you can't work and can't pay those insurance bills your insurance will "lapse", your health care will end, and your loved ones will be price-shopping for cemetary services. <A NAME=Cass03240742></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#Cass03240742"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Cassandra</B></BIG> on Wednesday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><A HREF="http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Right+wing+firebrand+Coulter+will+file+grievance+with+rights+panel/2713903/story.html">Right-wing US firebrand Ann Coulter will file grievance with rights panel</a><BR><BR> She's such an idiot.<A NAME=Cass03240742-HH935></A><UL> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#Cass03240742-HH935"><font color=blue>#</font></A> <BIG><B>Helen & Harry</B></BIG> on Thursday evening &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->You have inspired me to spend half an hour assembling and tidying up my jumbled mess of notes about the Coulter monstrosity, now available on our new page, <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/AnnCoulter.html">The wit and wisdom of Ann Coulter</A>.</UL> <A NAME=TO03230402></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#TO03230402"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Tall Order</B></BIG> on Tuesday evening &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR>The Constitution grants the Federal government the right to regulate interstate commerce, but is breathing commerce? How can not buying health insurance be regulated under the commerce clause?<BR><BR>Or is that even relevant?<BR><BR>As a logical question it seems true that if Congress can pass laws raising income taxes and granting tax credits and deductions then they can collect a health insurance penalty. This is clear if you imagine that Congress wrote the law as a tax increase of 3.2 percent but simultaneously granted a tax credit of 3.2% for those who could prove they maintained health insurance during the entire year.<BR><BR>TANSTAAFL and Obama's new Air Tax aside, I find the healthcare insurance mandate repugnant, and I worry about the many people who will periodically lose their new insurance because they do not have the rock-solid financial stability of our Senators and Representatives. Living paycheck to paycheck and dealing with financial emergencies means sometimes choosing between paying rent and paying luxuries--like insurance when you're not sick. And I don't know how many millions of people who are just totally out of the system altogether. It would be far better if those who are not covered by their employer to be automatically and instantly enrolled in a public plan. On the other hand, most healthy young people not covered at work will find it cheapest and easiest to just STFU and pay the penalty... and then vote against the rat bastards to wrote the law.<A NAME=TO03230402-HH4074></A><UL> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#TO03230402-HH4074"><font color=blue>#</font></A> <BIG><B>Helen & Harry</B></BIG> on Tuesday evening &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->I see so many opportunities for <I>millions</i> of people to slip between the Connecticut-size cracks, it annoys the hell out of me when I hear idiot pundits refer to the legislation that's just passed as "universal health care". It most certainly is not that.<BR><BR>My understanding of the Democrats' party line is that they wrote the mandate as a fee for not having insurance, and thus it's a tax instead of what it obviously is, money we're all required to pay to insurance conglomerates. As to how the current Supreme Court will see it, flip a coin. I've read that there's plenty of precedent for such fees, but the precedent of following precedent has been overturned, and if I was a gambling man I'd gamble that the whole damn thing gets tossed by Scalia et al.<BR><BR>And meanwhile, people on a tight budget will miss payments and find themselves un-insured. People on a not-so-tight budget will skip insurance payments to instead buy a big-screen TV. People who have jobs and insurance will still be weighing the worry about their bloody bowels or genital rash against the cost of a co-pay and the weekly food and gas budget. People desperately tethered to their jobs because that's where their insurance is will continue to be desperately tethered to their jobs. People who don't have jobs will have a new bureaucracy's's hoops to jump through. People who won't jump through hoops, and there are millions, will continue to die for lack of health care. People who <I>can't</I> jump through hoops &mdash; the homeless, the hopeless, the runaways, the sickest of the sick, the non-conformists, the lost souls, the dumbest and most fearful, and their children &mdash; all these and many more will continue to die for health care. And politicians will brag about all this, since they have have no conception of real life outside their world of fundraisers and kickbacks.<BR><BR>And yeah, that's just the life and death, but there's also the politics. People who don't want health insurance will be forced to buy it, and they will remember who forced them to buy into this system.</UL> <A NAME=VE03231125></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#VE03231125"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Viagra Enema</B></BIG> on Tuesday evening &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR> <A HREF="http://justjared.buzznet.com/2010/03/23/sarah-pain-headed-to-discovery-networks/">Sarah Palin Headed to Discovery Networks?</A><BR><BR> With about a minute's button-pushing, I can and will remove the Discovery Channel from my television if she gets her "reality" show on that channel.<A NAME=VE03231125-235></A><UL> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#VE03231125-235"><font color=blue>#</font></A> <BIG><B>Randall A.</B></BIG> on Thursday evening &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->I would like to add, that for readers to try to stop this, you can send your comments to the Discovery Network by going to <A HREF="http://extweb.discovery.com/viewerrelations">http://extweb.discovery.com/viewerrelations</A>.</UL> <A NAME=Plurn2203230504></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#Plurn2203230504"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Plurn22</B></BIG> on Tuesday evening &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR> I just finished reading Frederick Forsyth's story collection titled, "The Veteran". Really, it is two novellas and two short stories. The mindblower is the novella at the end titled, "Whispering Wind". It is the story of the only survivor of Custer's Last Stand. But that is like describing (as Harry Harrison wrote) the atom bomb, "It went off." This is a magical story unlike anything else I've read by Forsyth. Truly surprising. For that reason I strongly urge you not to look it up on the internet and spoil it. You should be able to get it at the library as Forsyth is one of the Big Time authors. <A NAME=DF03231222></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#DF03231222"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Drew Farmington</B></BIG> on Tuesday evening &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR> This week's U.N. update impresses the hell out of me. Your editorial commentary just keeps getting better and the scope of U.N. is extensive. I find myself learning something new each week even as I think to myself, they're being very reasonable, they don't sound like anarchists at <i>all</i> :-)<BR><BR>One quibble though, my socialist friends...haha... no disrespect intended, haha:<BR><BR> <I>"<A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1003-22.html#stateandlocal">In the first two months of this year</a>, state and local governments across the U.S. cut 45,000 jobs. Additional layoffs are expected as states move ahead with their budgets for fiscal 2011. Increasingly these budgets, instead of helping people, are hurting them, undermining the quality of their lives, depriving them of educational opportunities, preventing them from accessing desperately needed medical care, and so on. The federal government has tried to help, but much more assistance is needed."</i><BR><BR>==&gt; "...much more assistance is needed"???<BR><BR>Agreeable minds can disagree on this one, but my complaint with your position is that state governments are choosing to cut back on human needs related budget items so that they can continue to fund other priorities. Federal money is perpetuating bad local and state government choices.<BR><BR>In my city one extra cop job was saved thanks to the stimulus money from the Feds. Could we have survived without that one extra cop? My guess is that if the city council had decided that they really needed that cop they could have reduced the landscaping. Or something.<BR><BR>Here is <A HREF="http://www.ppinys.org/reports/2010/innovation/StateGovernmentEmploymentGrowth.html">some data I googled up</a> showing growth in state government employment over the last decade (2000 to 2008).<BR><BR>As you can see, during boom times hiring was way up -- and no doubt spending was way up. It was punch, cake and balloons for everyone!<BR><BR>It is only now in 2010 that <b>finally</b> a few state and local workers are being asked to go find honest employment in the real world... :-)<BR><BR>And we are still faced with the problem of higher pay and benefits in the public sector than workers receive in the private sector.<A NAME=DF03231222-HH1226></A><UL> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#DF03231222-HH1226"><font color=blue>#</font></A> <BIG><B>Helen & Harry</B></BIG> on Tuesday evening &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->Due to the time constraints of holding two jobs, we've been relying much more on excerpts and much less on writing our own link-blurbs over the past few months. We're not too careful with quote marks and attribution, but that line was borrowed so I can't defend it. I believe the facts reported on the layoffs and cut-backs and I wouldn't demand that federal aid be rejected, but it goes without saying that more money from DC ain't the solution. That's like eating catsup for dinner when you're starving &mdash; when you're starving catsup will maybe keep you alive overnight but you really can't solve the long-term starvation problem with catsup.<BR><BR>You know the problem as well as I do, or better: Top to bottom government policies are designed to help those on the top and screw those on the bottom, and as these stupid and backwards policies cause economic ruin, governmental spending priorities are designed with the same goal of helping those with money and screwing those without. Of course it would make a lot more sense to address societal problems with common sense &mdash; end the damn fool wars, break up the giant corporations, prosecute the bastards at the top of the bastard heap, add rules to protect against outsourcing instead of encouraging it, on and on, and watch the entire situation get much, much better for everyone but the rich. But such concepts are contraband &mdash; not allowed on the table, as Nancy Pelosi famously put it as she arranged for George Bush and Dick Cheney to get away with all their crimes.<BR><BR>Instead we get more cops, more corruption, more bailouts for the rich and flipped fingers for the poor, a law requiring we all buy health insurance, and an endless supply of proposals to crack down on welfare fraud and make food stamps harder to get. And so it goes. </UL> <A NAME=Cass03230720></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#Cass03230720"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Cassandra</B></BIG> on Tuesday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR> <A HREF=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/03/19/national/main6315475.shtml>Judge Orders Polygraphs for Rape Victims</a><BR><BR><I>For reasons still unclear, a judge ordered four teenage sex-assault victims to take polygraph tests &mdash; after she convicted the boys accused in the cases.</I><BR><BR>More let's assault the victims. And charge them, of course.<A NAME=Cass03230720-HH720></A><UL> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#Cass03230720-HH720"><font color=blue>#</font></A> <BIG><B>Helen & Harry</B></BIG> on Tuesday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->Unless something's changed since every episode of every cop show I've ever seen, polygraphs remain inadmissible because they don't work. But stupidity is forever, ain't it?<BR><BR>Judge Alison Floyd may be reached at (216) 443-8415. Well, at least that's her office telephone number, but I rather doubt she can be reached, if you catch my drift.<A NAME=Cass03230720-522></A><UL><BR> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#Cass03230720-522"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Cassandra</B></BIG> on Tuesday evening &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->I had to take a polygraph for my first job, at a convenience store. They got a false positive because I have an anxiety disorder. I'm quite sure a rape victim is quite a lot more anxious &mdash; terrified or terrorized would probably be more accurate &mdash; on being given a polygraph about her assault than I was at the time. <A NAME=Cass03230720-522hh></A><UL><BR> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#Cass03230720-522hh"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Helen & Harry</B></BIG> on Tuesday evening &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->I'd need a lot more evidence that polygraphs are reliable and a lot less of the evidence I've read suggesting that so-called lie detectors can be beaten, before I'd be comfortable jetisoning the American system of justice for a polygraph-based system of justice. The only thing to be changed here is the person wearing the silly black robe.</UL></UL></UL> <A NAME=SirJ032307251></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#SirJ032307251"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>SirJ</B></BIG> on Tuesday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR> Why the a-bomb wasn't used on the Germans. <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1003-22.html">You wrote</a>, <I>"You'll notice that the US didn't drop atomic bombs on Germany, where the people are generally white and Christian."</i> The atomic bomb wasn't used against Germany because Germany surrendered before the a-bombs were tested.<BR><BR>Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945.<BR><A HREF=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Instrument_of_Surrender>LINK</A><BR><BR>The atomic bomb was first tested on July 16, 1945.<BR><A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki">LINK</A><BR><BR> If you read Wikipedia's description of the <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firebombing">incendiary firebombing</a> done to both Germany and Japan prior to the use of the atomic bomb, you are forced to reach the conclusion that the Allies would have been delighted to have had the a-bomb in time to use against Germany and would have used it. Christianity and race had nothing to do with not using the a-bomb against Germany.<A NAME=SirJ032307251-725></A><BR><UL> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#SirJ032307251-725"><font color=blue>#</font></A> <BIG><B>Helen & Harry</B></BIG> on Tuesday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->I trust that your timeline is right, but to convince me that Harry Truman would've A-bombed Berlin I'd need to see original documents that don't exist. It was well before my time, but from my father who fought (well, cooked) in World War II, from Japanese-American friends and neighbors in childhood whose families were interred while German-Americans weren't, from the casual way German prisoners of war were housed here in Wisconsin (with weekend passes to visit town), I can't imagine how you could convince me that American hatred of Germany during WWII was equal to the hatred of Japan.<A NAME=SirJ032307251-SJ1125></A><UL><BR> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#SirJ032307251-SJ1125"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>SirJ</B></BIG> on Thursday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste --> I'm not trying to convince you that there wasn't racism towards the Japanese more than the Germans because they're obviously was. All I'm saying is the use of the a-bomb is not an example of that racism because it was not ready in time to use against Germany.<A NAME=SirJ032307251-HH1125></A><UL><BR> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#SirJ032307251-HH1125"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Helen & Harry</B></BIG> on Thursday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->Is that all you're saying, or are you saying that you think Truman would've nuked Berlin, if he would've had that option?<A NAME=SirJ032307251-SJ252></A><UL><BR> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#SirJ032307251-SJ252"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>SirJ</B></BIG> on Thursday evening &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->Truman decided to nuke Japan because he didn't want to invade. It would have been an invasion by sea, which would have been like Normandy in loss of life, but on a much grander scale because the Japanese had decided to fight to the last man. With Germany, the invasion into that country had already begun. There was a race between U.S./England and Russia to see who could gobble up the most territory before Germany surrendered. Complicating the issue with Japan was the possibility that Russia might opt to invade Japan if the U.S. did, with the result that another country would be split in two at the end of the war. Truman would have opted to nuke Berlin if he had the bomb and it would have shortened the war substantially. He had no problem with making tough decisions, unlike the presidents of today. He said, "The buck stops here" and he meant it. <A NAME=SirJ032307251-HH252></A><UL><BR> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#SirJ032307251-HH252"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Helen & Harry</B></BIG> on Thursday evening &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->You think Truman would've dropped the bomb on Berlin and I'm doubtful, but short of waking him up there's no way to know. I'm not fair and impartial, certainly &mdash; I don't much like what little I know about Truman, but I'd condemn him to Hell for A-bombing Japanese women and children, among other war crimes. But wtf, I don't much like anyone, dead or alive.<A NAME=NEXTLEVEL-TIME></A><UL><BR> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1003-29-d.html#SirJ03301015"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1003-29-d.html#SirJ03301015">Dialogue continues</a></B></BIG> on March 30 &mdash;</SPAN></UL></UL></UL></UL></UL></UL> <A NAME=JSM03231126></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#JSM03231126"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>J.S. Magruder at <A HREF="http://www.eattheblog.blogspot.com/">Eat the Blog</A></B></BIG> on Tuesday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR> Did you see this?<BR><BR><A HREF=http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=10157112>Texas Church Bans Child's Photograph of Passion</A><BR><BR> Of course, the church won't display it. I like how parents are complaining it would be upsetting to kids. I thought that was the point. The Stations of the Cross are supposed to be upsetting. I'll go out on a limb and guess the same people wouldn't be "upset" by Mel Gibson's two hour torture fest movie of the Passion.<A NAME=JSM03231126-1127></A><UL> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#JSM03231126-1127"><font color=blue>#</font></A> <BIG><B>Helen & Harry</B></BIG> on Tuesday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->It ain't wise to look for wisdom or artistic integrity from a church. With a little luck this kid has learned that lesson, and he'll take his inarguable talent elsewhere.</UL> <A NAME=P03230719></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#P03230719"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Phillip</B></BIG> on Tuesday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR> I'm sure this is supposed to be heartwarming, like a big tweeted hug from the President of the United States as he <A HREF="http://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/10852146480">tweets "Yes we can."</a> Me, I do not feel hugged by the words. Instead it just feels like further proof that Obama is completely clueless about the tidal wave of frustration building against him in the Left. He's passed a turd and he thinks it's sapphire and gold. <A NAME=KL03230715></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#KL03230715"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Kathy L.</B></BIG> on Tuesday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR> The Democrats can dance and celebrate now, but the party's going to be over as soon as Americans understand that they're required by fucking law to buy health insurance from the same insurance companies that have been killing us. <A NAME=Peng03221216></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#Peng03221216"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Penguin</B></BIG> on Monday afternoon &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR> I just saw some booger-eatin' teabagger on TV telling me that health care reform is un-American and, swear to God, treason... and he said this while standing in front of a rebel flag, a confederate flag. So it has come to this -- we are being lectured on national TV about patriotism and treason by treasonous booger-eating Confederate flag-waving America haters.<BR><BR>Needless to add, the TV reporter took this all very seriously. Not even a raised eyebrow. <A NAME=Sisk03220924></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#Sisk03220924"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Siskiyousis</B></BIG> on Monday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR> I have read novels about the LAPD and the NOPD, by Michael Connolly and James Lee Burke, respectively, all of which were well-researched and most involved police corruption. It's been a fact of daily life in every city where I have lived...<BR><BR>You don't mess with that system, unless you want to be on the run for the rest of your life.<BR><BR>And I've had enough problems of my own. <A NAME=Cass03220918></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#Cass03220918"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Cassandra</B></BIG> on Monday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR>I tried to find another source that covered all of this guy's twittered threats to assassinate Obama but couldn't <A HREF="http://jezebel.com/5498461/conservative-blogger-calls-for-obamas-assassination-on-twitter">LINK</A> <A NAME=Cass03220918-HH0918></A><UL> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#Cass03220918-HH0918"><font color=blue>#</font></A> <BIG><B>Helen & Harry</B></BIG> on Monday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->Jezebel.com is an adequate and reliable source. Never heard of this twit Forell until now, but judging from his clever bon mots he certainly seems to be among the "top conservatives on Twitter", as he brags.<A NAME=Cass03220918-Cass1202></A><UL><BR> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#Cass03220918-Cass1202"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Cassandra</B></BIG> on Monday afternoon &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->Yeah, with 219 followers now, he's clearly a power player [need a sarcasm emoticon]. When I sent the link I think he had about 50 more. I quit twitter a couple of months ago, but someone who lives for it told me this sort of thing isn't uncommon.<BR><BR>[Later] ... I was mistaken - his followers have gone up since he suggested assassination. We live in a nation of lunatics.<A NAME=Cass03220918-HH1208></A><UL><BR> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#Cass03220918-HH1208"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Helen & Harry</B></BIG> on Monday afternoon &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->I can vouch for that.</UL></UL></UL> <A NAME=BB1010322916></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#BB1010322916"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Beer Bottle 101</B></BIG> on Monday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR> Excerpt from Richard Flanagan's "The Unknown Terrorist":<BR><BR>P. 74<BR><BR><I> And yet he knew his wife loved him, and he loved her but something had happened, something had broken and he knew neither how to fix it nor end it. They had continued together, losing themselves in the dream that is life, because they didn't know what else they could do. The world was large, their troubles insoluble, and they waited together as strangers might huddle in a shelter biding their time until a storm has passed. He hoped for a sign, a gesture, a moment.</i><BR><BR>* * *<BR><BR>So far, to page 175, <I>The Unknown Terrorist</i> is quite a good read. It explores the witch-hunt quality of post-9/11 terrorism propaganda: the demogogues, the fear mongers and national security sluts growing rich exploiting the fears of the masses, caring not how many innocent lives they ruin nor the number of deaths they will cause.<BR><BR>The quote above demonstrates Flanagan's abilities as a writer. The fact that the man in question is a cop who fell in love with a pole dancer but did not have the courage to leave his wife just makes the wordsmithing all the more poignant :-)<A NAME=BB1010322916-BC1206></A><UL> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#BB1010322916-BC1206"><font color=blue>#</font></A> <BIG><B>Bernie C.</B></BIG> on Monday afternoon &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->that is a GREAT book. recommend it to all. several more at the library by richard flanagan, i will be getting those next week (i am working my way through the library alphabetically, one bag of books a week -- i am now at the F's)<BR><BR>published 2007.<BR><BR>it is set in Australia, which as you know is a Bush-lite "democracy". home of News Corp (Murdoch) which has a key role in the book, but with a different name.<BR><BR>i'm seeing the newly rebranded authoritarian "democracies" in the US and UK (which includes Canada and Australia) as Lords of the Flies. That's what this all boils down to. Savagery, primitivism masquerading as fundamental morality, profound ignorance claimed as the wisdom of simple, good-hearted men.<BR><BR>i recall 6th grade as a newcomer to a parochial (catholic) school. that's what these governments remind me of: insider cliques ruling over persecution of the non-elites. (that memory takes me back a ways. i switched schools constantly. had to get in actual fights as a newcomer in 3rd and 6th grades, haha, that is how you make friends...)<BR><BR>anyway...the book is beautifully done. a great, satisfying ending. really good ending :-)</UL> <A NAME=MK0322941></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#MK0322941"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Marie K.</B></BIG> on Monday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR> NOTE: I hope you won't mind, but I'm also sending this e-mail to Mike Rivero.<BR><BR>I've obtained some news that I feel I MUST pass on. For those who receive health care on a sliding fee basis, things could get worse.<BR><BR>The problem is that the providers offering these sorts of fees are using up their budgets alloted to them. Of course, when they run out, some patients will no longer be able to obtain the care they need. Importantly, the providers will probably ALSO have a budget called, "Charity Care." It seems that the staff that actually help/treat patients are told NOT to mention this budget even when it is clear that their patient will no longer be able to receive the sliding fees they depend on.<BR><BR>The solution to this problem is for the patient to go to the provider's financial services department and directly request "Charity Care." The EXACT name that the provider uses for this care MUST be mentioned or it won't become an option. In fact, some providers DO use the name "Charity Care," but others may use some other name. The patient must find out the exact name and then use it in their request for care. It sounds pretty weird, but this IS what is going on now in America.<BR><BR>Unfortunately, it is only a matter of time before the "Charity Care" budgets also run out. In the meantime, PLEASE pass on this info. to those who are losing their care. <A NAME=C8703210224></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#C8703210224"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>churrero87</B></BIG> on Sunday afternoon &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR> Canadian sci-fi writer, Peter Watts, is now a "felon". Facing 2 years in prison resulting from incident at U.S. border. Didn't comply with lawful order quickly enough...<BR><BR><A HREF="http://www.rifters.com/crawl/?p=1186">Guilty</A><BR><BR><I>From the keyboard of a freshly-convicted felon& <BR><BR>Okay, so the word is out. That was fast. I suppose I should weigh in.<BR><BR>[...]<BR><BR>The press has frequently characterized the charge against me as  assaulting a federal officer . The alleged (and discredited)  choking episode has been repeated ad nauseum. Here at the Sarnia Best Western I don t have the actual statute in front of me but it includes a lengthy grab-bag of actions, things like  assault ,  resist ,  impede ,  threaten ,  obstruct  hell,  contradict might be in there for all I know. And under  obstruct is  failure to comply with a lawful order , and it s explicitly stated that violence on the part of the perp is not necessary for a conviction. Basically, everything from asking  Why? right up to chain-saw attack falls under the same charge. And it s all a felony.<BR><BR>What constitutes  failure to comply with a lawful command is open to interpretation. The Prosecution cited several moments within the melee which she claimed constituted  resisting , but by her own admission I wasn t charged with any of those things. I was charged only with resisting Beaudry, the guard I d  choked . My passenger of that day put the lie to that claim in short order, and the Prosecution wasn t able to shake that. The Defense pointed out that I wasn t charged with anything regarding anyone else, and the Prosecution had to concede that too. So what it came down to, ultimately, was those moments after I was repeatedly struck in the face by Beaudry (an event not in dispute, incidentally). After Beaudry had finished whaling on me in the car, and stepped outside, and ordered me out of the vehicle; after I d complied with that, and was standing motionless beside the car, and Beaudry told me to get on the ground  I just stood there, saying  What is the problem? , just before Beaudry maced me.<BR><BR>And that, said the Prosecutor in her final remarks  that, right there, was failure to comply. That was enough to convict.<BR><BR>[...]<BR><BR>I do not know what the jury said amongst themselves. But a question they sent out to the court yesterday afternoon   Is failure to comply sufficient for conviction?  strongly suggests that this was the lynchpin event. (Certainly Defense had demolished every other, and the Prosecution had conceded as much.) If that is the case, I cannot begrudge the jury their verdict. Their job is not to rewrite laws, or ignore stupid ones; their job is to decide whether a given act violates the law as written. And when you strip away all the other bullshit  the verbal jousting, the conflicting testimony, the inconsistent reports  the law doesn t proscribe noncompliance  unless you re dazed and confused from being hit in the face . It simply proscribes noncompliance, period. And we all agree that in those few seconds between Beaudry s command and the unleashing of his pepper spray, I just stood there asking what the problem was.<BR><BR>Whether that s actual noncompliance or simply slow compliance is, I suspect, what the jury had to decide. That s what they did, and while I think they made the wrong decision I m obviously not the most impartial attendee at this party. I still maintain I did nothing wrong; but as far as I can tell the trial was fair, and I will abide by its outcome.<BR><BR>[...]</I><A NAME=C8703210224-HH0225></A><UL> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#C8703210224-HH0225"><font color=blue>#</font></A> <BIG><B>Helen & Harry</B></BIG> on Sunday afternoon &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->Comparing the <A HREF="http://www.thetimesherald.com/article/20100319/NEWS05/100319004/Watts+guilty+of+Blue+Water+Bridge+assault">news account</a> with <A HREF="http://www.rifters.com/crawl/?p=1186">Watts' entries at his blog</a>, I have to admire Watts' patience, and I have less than zero doubt that the bad guy here is the guard, Andrew Beaudry.<BR><BR>In January a local paper, the <I>Times-Herald</i>, submitted a FOIA act request for the video footage of the confrontation between Beaudry and Watts, and in coverage that's no longer on-line the request was declined with the explanation that the matter was "under investigation". Presumably now that the verdict has been rendered the investigation is closed &mdash; I'd sure like to see the video, but I doubt we ever will see it. And of course, if the video showed Watts choking the guard it would've been released without any newspaper having to ask.<A NAME=C8703210224-DF927></A><UL><BR> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#C8703210224-DF927"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Drew Farmington</B></BIG> on Monday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->Every trip out of the house must be undertaken with an air of seriousness befitting a secret mission into a police state. You have your papers and your story ready -- where and why you're going -- and you have yourself ready for *anything*. I've been told it is best to carry traveller's checks at all times because they will return those to you when you make bail or get OR'd, but if you're carrying cash they just give you a paper check.<A NAME=C8703210224-HH929></A><UL><BR> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#C8703210224-HH929"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Helen & Harry</B></BIG> on Monday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->Bleak but wise advice. I really should stop and think things through more thoroughly as I dart out of the apartment. Freedom is a hard habit to break... </UL></UL></UL> <A NAME=HC03210154></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#HC03210154"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>HalfCocked</B></BIG> on Sunday afternoon &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><A HREF="http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2010/03/danziger_bridge_details.html">Danziger Bridge case suggests culture of corruption at NOPD</A><BR><BR>Well, duh, of course it does. But let's pull the camera back a bit &mdash; the police misconduct at Danziger Bridge was known <I>as it happened</i> &mdash; I read about it at UnknownNews while Katrina was still all over the front page every day. It was more than two years before I saw any mention of it in mainstream media, and it's been almost five years now and I still haven't seen it get any serious coverage outside of New Orleans and Democracy Now. So what does that say about the culture of corruption in mainstream media?<A NAME=HC03210154-HH0157></A><UL> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#HC03210154-HH0157"><font color=blue>#</font></A> <BIG><B>Helen & Harry</B></BIG> on Saturday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->The coverage you're referring to was from Sept. 6, 2005: <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/0509090906ems.html">Police lied to survivors, blocked escape from city</A>.</UL> <A NAME=MAF03210136></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#MAF03210136"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Mahdi Abdul Finkelstein</B></BIG> on Sunday afternoon &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR>Repeated deployments to atrocity zones may be a factor, as well as cognitive dissonance about the truthiness of the rationales for war (WMD, bringing democracy, protecting America, defending the constitution, yada yada yada.<BR><BR><A HREF="http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/03/military_psychiatric_drugs_031710w/">Medicating the military</A>: Use of psychiatric drugs has spiked; concerns surface about suicide, other dangers<BR><BR><I>At least one in six service members is on some form of psychiatric drug.<BR><BR>And many troops are taking more than one kind, mixing several pills in daily  cocktails  for example, an antidepressant with an antipsychotic to prevent nightmares, plus an anti-epileptic to reduce headaches  despite minimal clinical research testing such combinations.<BR><BR>The drugs come with serious side effects: They can impair motor skills, reduce reaction times and generally make a war fighter less effective. Some double the risk for suicide, prompting doctors  and Congress  to question whether these drugs are connected to the rising rate of military suicides.<BR><BR> It s really a large-scale experiment. We are experimenting with changing people s cognition and behavior, said Dr. Grace Jackson, a former Navy psychiatrist.<BR><BR>[...]</I><A NAME=MAF03210136-HH0142></A><UL> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#MAF03210136-HH0142"><font color=blue>#</font></A> <BIG><B>Helen & Harry</B></BIG> on Sunday afternoon &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->The public perception of the Vietnam war is that most of the American soldiers were stoned, and I don't see anything in the article comparing now to then. I'd be curious to find out, but not curious enough to do the research.<BR><BR>Me, I wouldn't sign up for the American military unless someone pointed a gun at my head. If I was stuck in the Middle East fighting any of the stupid counterproductive wars America loves to start, I'd desert. But if I was stuck there and couldn't get away, hell, I'd need to be self-medicated every morning.<A NAME=MAF03210136-MAF926></A><UL><BR> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#MAF03210136-MAF926"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Mahdi Abdul Finkelstein</B></BIG> on Monday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->I've heard soldiers are increasingly using non-prescription drugs in Afghanistan -- of which, hashish and opium are probably easiest to score.</UL></UL> <A NAME=JE03210120></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#JE03210120"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Jim E.</B></BIG> on Sunday afternoon &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1003-15.html"><I>Is America a civilized country?</I></A><BR><BR>I saw that headline and wondered if you'd seen the Chinese response to the U.S. State Department's annual report on human rights:<BR><BR> <A HREF="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-03/12/c_13208219.htm">Full Text of Human Rights Record of the United States in 2009</A><BR><BR>Introductory paragraph:<BR><I>"The State Department of the United States released its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2009 on March 11, 2010, posing as "the world judge of human rights" again. As in previous years, the reports are full of accusations of the human rights situation in more than 190 countries and regions including China, but turn a blind eye to, or dodge and even cover up rampant human rights abuses on its own territory. The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2009 is prepared to help people around the world understand the real situation of human rights in the United States."</I><BR><BR>Apparently we aren't any more civilized than anyone else. Probably more brutal than most, due to the U.S. oligarchy's "full-spectrum dominance" of the world's political economies. <A NAME=JE03210120-HH0122></A><UL> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#JE03210120-HH0122"><font color=blue>#</font></A> <BIG><B>Helen & Harry</B></BIG> on Sunday afternoon &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->The US is more civilized than some countries, I imagine, and lots less civilized than others. America's most remarkable achievement in human rights is in its public relations posturing for consumption at home, where the audience wants to believe America is all things good. It doesn't play so well outside the country's borders, where there's sometimes real reporting and often real victims.</UL> <A NAME=Cass03210948></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#Cass03210948"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Cassandra</B></BIG> on Sunday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><A HREF="http://www.rollcall.com/news/44438-1.html?ET=rollcall:e7035:80069656a:&st=email">Tea party crowd taunts black Congress members with n-word</a><BR><BR>I also just read about a 16 year old kid [not an employee] using the intercom at a Wal-Mart to tell all 'black people to leave'. He wasn't named in the report since he's a juvenile. Someone from the NCAAP said something about education, which I thought was sadly optimistic. I don't think bigots can learn better, any more than the religious nut I went out with a month ago didn't understand that -much less why- I was offended that he was okay with a potential wife or girlfriend going to hell because she wasn't saved. <A NAME=uns03200720></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#uns03200720"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>unsigned</B></BIG> on Saturday evening &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR>so the short version is you hate america and you want america to surrender and the terrorists to win and the troops to die<A NAME=uns03200720-HH720></A><UL> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#uns03200720-HH720"><font color=blue>#</font></A> <BIG><B>Helen & Harry</B></BIG> on Saturday evening &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->Of course not, but we couldn't possibly simplify our message simply enough for you to grasp it. We've paid attention long enough to chuckle and block your email address, and now we bid you adieu and wish you good luck dealing with such everpresent challenges as crossing the street and answering the phone.</UL> <A NAME=Cass03200644></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#Cass03200644"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Cassandra</B></BIG> on Saturday evening &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR> I really hope they stop charging victims for rape kits. Too many people don't come forward as it is; many of those who don't aren't believed, and the cases that go to court are often bungled.<BR><BR> <A HREF="http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-2736">S. 2736: Justice for Survivors of Sexual Assault Act of 2009</A><A NAME=Cass03200644-HH645></A><UL> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#Cass03200644-HH645"><font color=blue>#</font></A> <BIG><B>Helen & Harry</B></BIG> on Saturday evening &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->And there's Senator Franken again, doing the right thing again...</UL> <A NAME=JPB03200649></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#JPB03200649"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>James Patrick Banholzer</B></BIG> on Saturday evening &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><A HREF="http://www.irishcentral.com/story/news/periscope/seaman-suspended-for-stamping-shamrocks-on-the-staten-island-ferry-87767797.html">Sailor suspended for stamping shamrocks on Staten Island Ferry</A><BR><BR> I find this incredibly ridiculous when in Chicago <A HREF="http://www.greenchicagoriver.com/">they paint the whole river green</a> for St. Paddy's Day. <A NAME=MM03200122></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#MM03200122"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Mary McNarry</B></BIG> on Saturday afternoon &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR> <A HREF="http://dailyreckoning.com/declining-us-household-debt-signals-the-beginning-of-the-end/">Declining US Household Debt Signals the Beginning of the End</A><BR><BR>By Bill Bonner<BR><BR><I>[...]<BR><BR>Mainstream economists and mainstream financial media tell us that the worst is over& that the  recession has passed& and that things are getting back to normal.<BR><BR>Nope, we reply. Not a chance. The old economy that existed since the end of WWII is dead. No way could it recover; you can t revive a corpse.<BR><BR>It was beginning to look as though we would have to eat our words: the cadaver was sitting up in bed and watching TV.<BR><BR>Everything was beginning to look eerily normal, after all. A year after the stock market hit bottom, it still has not resumed its downward slope. Businesses that should have gone bust are still in business. Politicians who should have been run out of town on a rail are still putting their earmarks on everything. Bankers who should now be parking cars are still making loans.<BR><BR>The government is still misleading& Economists are still mis-interpreting& Investors are still mis-understanding& <BR><BR>& it sure seems like things are back to normal!<BR><BR>But something important has changed. And here comes the proof from the good ol FT.<BR><BR>The FT, by the way, has the same dim economists as everyone else. While we wouldn t trust a government employee to manage a coffee shop, the FT s leading economist, Martin Wolf, thinks they can manage the whole world s economy. It s just a matter of getting the balance right, he thinks.<BR><BR>But beneath the surface of the flow of silly opinions and distracting noise, there is a powerful tide& an undertow that is sweeping everything out to sea. For the first time since 1946, household debt in the US is actually going down.<BR><BR>This is what de-leveraging is all about. The credit expansion is over. The tide has turned. Credit flowed for 61 years. Now it ebbs. No more increases in household credit. No more increases in consumer spending, over and above wage gains. No more extra sales. No more  growth at the expense of private sector debt.<BR><BR>It s over.<BR><BR></i>===<BR><BR>That *is* the essence of <A HREF="http://www.kondratieffwinter.com/">Kondratieff Winter</a>, in action.<BR><BR>And you know, the Feds will fight Winter, All The Way.<BR><BR>It's worse than the "War On Terror".<BR><BR>According to Doug Noland of Prudentbear.com, something like $2 trillion of new credit is needed each year just to keep GDP growth positive. Hence the new bubble in Government Finance (actually a global government finance bubble!)<A NAME=MM03200122-Sisk638></A><UL> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#MM03200122-Sisk638"><font color=blue>#</font></A> <BIG><B>Siskiyousis</B></BIG> on Saturday evening &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->It's the '1984' that never happened in the 20th century, and giving it a Special Delivery push into Kondratieff Winter.<BR><BR>The survival skills folks are out in force around here... Me, I'ma going for a walk in the warm sunshine.</UL> <A NAME=MOF03200110></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#MOF03200110"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Man on Flute</B></BIG> on Saturday afternoon &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR> Reactionary but true:<BR><BR><I>"Still, I want to caution those talking about major govt defaults on their bonds. YOU will likely default long before the Gman does, because he ll make you default. Do you seriously think that if the Gman is totally out of money, if his printing press doesn t work anymore, that he ll default?<BR><BR>Wrong, wrong, and wrong.<BR><BR>The Gman, almost without exception, has a 5000yr history of turning into a real monster when faced with drastic loss of power. Just as he stole all your gold in the 1930s, then repriced it higher for himself while leaving millions of already-impoverished taxpayers on the breadline holding the devalued USD toilet paper bag, he would seek to take what you have to save himself again, if faced with a real default situation. We ll all be stuck into internment camps long before the US Gman defaults on his bonds. I d say he s more likely to nuke his own people than to default. Think about that, especially given that I see the US Gman s financial situation as potentially terminal, given the triple combo of a. unfunded liabilities b. OTC derivatives ($500 trillion of which suddenly no longer exists, how do you go from $1.1 quadrillion to $600 trillion in 6mths, via contract offsets? Answer: You pretend you did. I don t believe there s any less than 1 quadrillion in OTCD s outstanding. The $600 trillion number was created by mass marking to model and special accounting), and c. the banksters scheme to move US wealth and technology to China and make it the new USA, exactly as the USA became the new UK 100 years ago."</I> --<A HREF="http://www.321gold.com/editorials/thomson_s/thomson_s_031710.html">LINK</A><BR><BR>===<BR><BR>That quote is "reactionary" -- it states things in extremes to elicit a reaction back towards a new middle. It is rhetorical flim-flammery. But the gist of it is true. popular unrest will only be met with escalation of government force, ALL the way. And the govt. printing press will *never* be out of order. Nor will the Lie Machine ever stop because the appearances of Fairness, Normalcy and Stability are just as important to the government as the real realities thereof. I.E. Government is the last to starve in a famine...for our own good...<BR><BR>WRT to Thomson's trading opinions and tactics, I can't recommend them. Maybe they work for him. Whatever...I wish him good luck with that...<A NAME=MOF03200110-HH0111></A><UL> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#MOF03200110-HH0111"><font color=blue>#</font></A> <BIG><B>Helen & Harry</B></BIG> on Saturday afternoon &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->I've got a lot of canned chili and jarred sauerkraut and bottled water and bullets, and I am <I>determined</i> to enjoy the coming apocalypse as much as possible. I've earned that enjoyment, don't you think?<A NAME=MOF03200110-MOF950></A><UL><BR> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#MOF03200110-MOF950"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Man on Flute</B></BIG> on Sunday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->I think all we can do is make the best of what happens.<A NAME=SAMELEVEL-SB1212></A><BR><BR> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#SAMELEVEL-SB1212"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Sherri B.</B></BIG> on Monday afternoon &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->I just had to say that this comment <I>"I've got a lot of canned chili and jarred sauerkraut and bottled water and bullets, and I am determined to enjoy the coming apocalypse as much as possible. I've earned that enjoyment, don't you think?" </I> was awesome:)<BR><BR>I think America is now being slapped awake and ain't pretty. There's a lot of shaking and crying going on. I share your way of thinking. You let me know if you need any supplies.</UL></UL> <A NAME=DF03200952></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#DF03200952"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Drew Farmington</B></BIG> on Saturday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR> EXAMPLE of the humor of Mike Rivero (I.E. why we love him :-)<BR><BR>===<BR><BR>The United States has become well accustomed to imposing economic sanctions against any state that defies it. Such actions are taken without regard to how badly they affect the quality of life of the people in the sanctioned country. The cruel rationale in Washington is that, if people suffered the terrible consequences emanating from those sanctions, they would overthrow the existing government. When that did not happen, as in Iraq for instance, the administration of George W. Bush decided to topple the regime of Saddam Hussein through a military invasion.<BR><BR>--<A HREF="http://www.ehsanahrari.com/2010/03/18/iran-the-next-crisis/">LINK</A><BR><BR> Iran: The Next Crisis<BR><BR> Mike Rivero: <i> So, according to US Government thinking, if the people of a nation are suffering cruel economic hardships, they should overthrow the government?<BR><BR> Are you </i>sure<i> this is a path you want us all to go down, Mr. Obama? </i><BR><BR>===<BR><BR><A HREF="http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/03/20-0">LINK</A><BR><BR> Published on Saturday, March 20, 2010 by The New York Times<BR>A Ruinous Meltdown<BR>by Bob Herbert<BR><BR>A story that is not getting nearly enough attention is the ruinous fiscal meltdown occurring in state after state, all across the country.<BR><BR>Taxes are being raised. Draconian cuts in services are being made. Public employees are being fired. The tissue-thin national economic recovery is being undermined. And in many cases, the most vulnerable populations - the sick, the elderly, the young and the poor - are getting badly hurt.<BR><BR>Arizona, struggling with a projected $2.6 billion budget shortfall, took the drastic step of scrapping its Children's Health Insurance Program. That left nearly 47,000 low-income children with no coverage at all. Gov. Jan Brewer is also calling for an increase in the sales tax. She said, "Arizona is navigating its way through the largest state budget deficit in its long history."<BR><BR>[...]<BR><BR>* * *<BR><BR>(((Me: My town's "city council" (pop 48,000) just voted to fire 20% of its employees. But they decided to keep the city's police dog. Doh! Seems to me that bailing out every city and state is like trying to cure alcholics with tiny sips of whiskey. States and cities can choose to keep funding lavish pension schemes, gold-plated health benefits and juicy overtime schedules, especially for police and firefighters who are already earning $100K+. That would mean being able to afford fewer public employees. Or maybe they could freeze pay and benefits, basically forever, or until public employees are no longer the highest paid class of citizens... Or maybe they could butt out and leave people alone, stop funding enforcement of morality and victimless crime laws, like drugs, prostitution, and gambling. Maybe instead of using schools to produce "good citizens" they should just focus on producing junior scholars who know how to learn for themselves. Whatever :-) ))) <A NAME=Sisk03200948></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#Sisk03200948"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Siskiyousis</B></BIG> on Saturday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR> <A HREF="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/19/BAJ81CGP6A.DTL">LINK</A><BR><BR> a beautifully crisp image of Saturn...<BR><BR> <A HREF="http://www.truthout.org/silent-spring-has-sprung57796">LINK</A><BR><BR> an update on Silent Spring...<BR><BR> <A HREF="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/19/DDDK1CHL6S.DTL">LINK</A><BR><BR> a review of our favorite TV show.<BR><BR> ...and finally, Jon Carroll's column has a take on assisted suicide; one of his readers provided a link to a current Atlantic article on the subject --<BR><BR> <A HREF="http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/03/death-becomes-him/7916/">LINK</A> <A NAME=GM0319625></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#GM0319625"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Gary M.</B></BIG> on Friday evening &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR> Here's what I know about this bullshit health care reform: Millions of new customers for insurance companies that make their profits by denying coverage. Millions of Americans still deciding whether to see a doctor or buy groceries. Thousands of Americans still dying every year for lack of health care. Something to be ashamed of. Something to oppose, not endorse. <A NAME=HS0319110></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#HS0319110"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Howard Sprague</B></BIG> on Friday afternoon &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR> jon stewart did a 15 minute glenn beck imitation last night. hilarious stuff.<A NAME=HS0319110-HH0111></A><UL> <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#HS0319110-HH0111"><font color=blue>#</font></A> <BIG><B>Helen & Harry</B></BIG> on Friday afternoon &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR><!-- paste -->I'm a few days behind on Stewart but I'm looking forward to it... he did Beck a few months ago and it was great. The guy (Beck) really should be institutionalized.</UL> <A NAME=MK0319430></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#MK0319430"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Marie K.</B></BIG> on Friday afternoon &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR> I got curious about what is actually happening in Thailand. I once had some fellow classmates from there and found them to be very bright. Obviously, I cannot claim that I know from experience what's going on there, but I can read, and I found a few links that provide some good clues, I think.<BR><BR>First off, as Wikipedia explains in its Thailand article, Thailand is a country with "a constitutional democratic monarchy, whereby the Prime Minister [PM] is the head of government and a hereditary monarch is head of state. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislative branches."<BR><BR>The recent news involves those termed the "red-shirts" protesting since Mar. 13, 2010 in "the largest anti-government protests the country has seen in years" and occupying the area outside their parliament building as <A HREF="http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50678">this article dated Mar. 16</a> explains. They are demanding "that the coalition government of PM Abhisit Vejjajiva step down or call a new election."<BR><BR>So who are the "red-shirts" and who is this PM? The caption under the picture showing the protestors says that "We, the commoners and the lower class, must gather" is written on one of the placards. This quote gives more info. about them: "The red-shirt wearing members of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) . . . have become a powerful player on the political stage. They cannot be ignored anymore," says Michael Nelson, a German academic who has written on Thai political parties. 'Nobody would have imagined in the early 1990s that the RURAL PEOPLE [my caps] who are red shirt supporters today would have come out to show their political strength.'"<BR><BR>This quote explains their dress and the link between these protests and earlier protests: "The current clash . . . is the latest in a trend that emerged shortly before the country s last military coup in September 2006 [the 18th coup] -- which forced out of power the then-twice elected PM Thaksin Shinawatra . . . During his time, Thaksin was hounded by yellow-shirt wearing protesters . . . " Today's "red-shirters" are his supporters even though he "is living in exile to avoid a two-year-jail term for corruption." It seems that "Thaksin . . . remains widely popular among voters in the RURAL [my caps] north and north-east due to a raft of pro-poor policies he implemented during his five-and-a-half- year term in office. The former telecommunications tycoon has since emerged as the political godfather of the UDD [party, see above]."<BR><BR>So what has happened since that coup? <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Thailand">This Wikipedia article</a> offers some good info. I've dropped out as much as possible to focus on the main details.<BR><BR>Following the coup on Sept. 19, 2006, "the military drafted a controversial new constitution . . . [and] a national referendum accepted the 2007 constitution with significant disapproval in Thaksin's stronghold, the north and northeast. . . . On Dec. 23, 2007 a national parliamentary election was held . . . [and] the People Power Party (PPP) which is Thaksin's proxy party, gained the majority . . ."<BR><BR>"During 2008, Thailand saw increasing political turmoil, with the PPP government [headed by Samak Sundaravej] facing pressure to step down amid mounting civil disobedience and unrest lead by the PAD [the People's Alliance for Democracy]. . . . [Those] anti-government protesters were . . . mostly better educated, more affluent, urban Thais [also described as "a group of royalist businessmen, academics and activists"] . . . The anti-Thaksin protesters [were] vastly outnumbered by Thaksin's supporters, the rural MAJORITY [my caps] . . . Their loyalty was rewarded by generous social and economic welfare programs for previously neglected provincial areas. . . . [i.e.] Thaksin introduced government programs which greatly benefited rural areas of the country. These programs included debt relief for farmers still reeling from the Asian Financial Crisis and a new health care program which brought coverage to all Thais for 30-baht per visit (about 1 dollar)."<BR><BR> Finally, from Wikipedia's Thailand article and its discussion of the 2008-2009 political crisis: PM Sundaravej [also the host of a TV cooking program] "was found guilty of conflict of interest [due to the TV prog. which ended his term in office and] . . . he was replaced by PPP member Somchai Wongsawat [who] . . . was unable to gain access to his offices, which were occupied by protesters from the PAD." Then the PPP was closed down after being found "guilty of electoral fraud . . ." This opened the door for the opposition Democrats Party to form a government. It's leader 'Abhisit Vejjajiva' was appointed and sworn-in . . . on Dec. 17, 2008." Thus, I guess the PAD people got what they wanted until Mar. 13, 2010 when the "red-shirters" of the UDD [formed after the PPP was closed] started their protests against the leader the PAD members support.<BR><BR> In sum, it seems that Thailand's court system and perhaps its military, too, were used to oust the leaders today's "red-shirters" supported and to close down the parties Thaksin was in or backed. It seems clear that Thaksin is a wealthy man who came to the aid of the rural poor, and that they still support him or those he backs. Did he offer the rural poor the best possible programs or not? Did Thaksin himself benefit from the pro-poor policies he implemented? What I mean is did he dupe the poor or really help them? Those are the questions that I don't have answers to. <A NAME=PA03191115></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#PA03191115"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Pinata American</B></BIG> on Friday afternoon &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR> Well now we're supposed to think health care reform is going to pass, and we're probably supposed to be happy about it. I hear that the ban on excluding people because of "pre-existing conditions" kicks in in 2014 (quicker for children, because adults aren't people). Whoopee. <A NAME=MK03190615></A><P><SPAN STYLE="background-color: #eeeeee"><A HREF="#MK03190615"><font color=blue>#</font></A>&nbsp; <BIG><B>Marie K.</B></BIG> on Friday morning &mdash;</SPAN><BR><BR> [<I>Marie sent this letter to </i>Asia Times<i>, responding to the paper's March 16 article <A HREF="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/LC16Ak01.html">Obama in more trouble than Netanyahu over Iran</a>. I thought it was worth sharing here, too. &mdash;H&amp;HH</I>]<BR><BR> This Spengler/David P Goldman article definitely wins the worst piece I've ever read at Asia Times "award." In fact, a few more like it will prompt me to end my visits to the Asia Times site. So, where to start? Remarkably, that is a difficult question because the article goes from one unproven and, I assume, intended to misinform sentence to another right on to the end. That leaves looking at the "arguments" in the article.<BR><BR>1) "Many suspect [Iran's nuclear program] is designed to acquire nuclear weapons" - Well, all of us who follow the IAEA inspections in Iran and the resulting reports know that Iran is acquiring ONE nuclear power station geared to producing electricity. What actually worries us is that Israel is NOT being inspected because Israel hasn't signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). What's Israel's problem with this treaty, anyway?<BR><BR> 2) Iran could "make a shambles of America's [Potemkin village]"/seeming control of Iraq - I don't think so unless Iran wants to start WW3 which they seem smart enough NOT to want to do, unlike the "crazies" in the US-Israel. As for Muqtada al-Sadr, he seems to be a nationalist who wants to see his country regain its sovereignty. That sounds like a pretty sane wish to me since the US attack on Iraq and its current occupation of this country was and is illegal, but pushed on and supported by Israel. Why - in order to break up and weaken another of it's neighbors and get its hands on "Kurdistan's," if only they could create it, oil - so that it can be sent through a new pipeline to Haifa.<BR><BR> 3) Joe Biden was in Israel last week "to warn Israel against launching an attack on Iran" - REALLY? I thought he was there to perhaps finalize the plans for such an attack. Given the constant war-mongering and propaganda provided by the controlled US mainstream media, Spengler and Israel's obvious support of "kicking" Iran, and Israel's control of the US government, it is very very hard to believe that Biden was there on such a sensible mission. ie preventing WW3. As with all of the "arguments" in this article, I'd sure like to see some solid proof.<BR><BR> 4) Finally, there is the most ridiculous argument of all - "if the Obama administration attempted to punish Israel for doing what most Americans seemingly want to do [attack Iran] . . . Obama's party would pay at the polls in November." Oh, boy, give me patience. Let's see - first, there are those "poll" statistics from "The Israel Project" and Fox News that are intended to show us that MOST Americans want "force" used against Iran. Such sources for statistics. Give me a break. In fact, Americans are sick and tired of "force" being used in so many places and of the huge amounts of tax money spent on it. In addition, if Obama ends up losing at the polls, it will be because he did NOT keep his promises and because he has assisted the US military and Wall Street in looting the wealth of We the People in the SAME way that Bush did. That's because the "enormous difference in outlook between the last administration and the present one" is totally non-existent since both main parties became ONE a long time ago. Oh, yes, there's this sentence - "no one cares about the Palestinians" and a negotiated settlement. Well, that's completely false. 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