ÿþ<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://unknownnews.org/RSSfeeds/dailyRSS.xml"> <style type="text/css"><script type="text/javascript">var disqus_iframe_css="http://www.unknownnews.org/disqus-form.css";</script></style> <title>Unknown News | Helen & Harry's cranky weblog of news and opinion | unknownnews@inbox.com </title> <META content="bad cops, civil rights, corrupt cops news, crooked cops, freedom news, liberal news, libertarian news, police blotter, police brutality, police corruption news, police misconduct, progressive news, Fox Lies"name=KEYWORDS> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <style type="text/css"><!--.fontmicro {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 5px;}--></style> <style type="text/css"><!--.fontbox {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 8px;}--></style> <style type="text/css"><!--.fonts {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 6px;}--></style> <style type="text/css"><!--.fontz {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 8px;}--></style> <style type="text/css"><!--.font10 {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 8px;}--></style> <style type="text/css"><!--.font11 {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 9px;}--></style> <style type="text/css"><!--.font12 {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 10px;}--></style> <style type="text/css"><!--.font13 {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 11px;}--></style> <style type="text/css"><!--.fontx {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 11px;}--></style> <style type="text/css"><!--.font14 {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 12px;}--></style> <style type="text/css"><!--.fontzz {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 12px;}--></style> <style type="text/css"><!--.fontsm {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 14px;}--></style> <style type="text/css"><!--.font15 {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 13px;}--></style> <style type="text/css"><!--.fonttnr {font-family: Times New Roman, Bodoni, Garamond, serif;font-size: 17px;}--></style> <style type="text/css"><!--.fonttnrx {font-family: Times New Roman, Bodoni, Garamond, serif;font-size: 17px;}--></style> <style type="text/css"><!--.fonty {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 15px;}--></style> <style type="text/css"><!--.fontpq {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 16px;}--></style> <style type="text/css"><!--.fonta {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 17px;}--></style> <style type="text/css"><!--.font17 {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 17px;}--></style> <style type="text/css"><!--.font18 {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 18px;}--></style> <style type="text/css"><!--.fontxl {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 24px;}--></style> <!-- 1-80% 2-Danger 3-Destroying 4-EBBV 5-HNMB 6-IB 7-ISN'T THERE SOMETHING 8-BHL 9-LJ 10-NSR-H 11-SOT-BTH 12-YR 13-WWJB 14-IC 15-ION 16-ION (2) 17-BHL (2) 18-LJ (2) 19-WWJB (2) 20-unknownnews 21-unknownnews 22-unknownnews 23-unknownnews 24-wwjb 25-wwjb 26-wwjb 27-wwjb 28-wwjb 29-wwjb 30-Bushisaliar 31-Bushisaliar 32-Bushisaliar--> <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"> <!-- Begin // Set up the image files to be used. var theImages = new Array() // do not change this // To add more image files, continue with the // pattern below, adding to the array. theImages[0] = 'stic1.jpg' theImages[1] = 'stic2.jpg' theImages[2] = 'stic3.jpg' theImages[3] = 'stic4.jpg' theImages[4] = 'stic5.jpg' theImages[5] = 'stic6.jpg' theImages[6] = 'stic7.jpg' theImages[7] = 'stic8.jpg' theImages[8] = 'stic9.jpg' theImages[9] = 'stic10.jpg' theImages[10] = 'stic11.jpg' theImages[11] = 'stic12.jpg' theImages[12] = 'stic13.jpg' theImages[13] = 'stic14.jpg' theImages[14] = 'stic15.jpg' theImages[15] = 'stic16.jpg' theImages[16] = 'stic17.jpg' theImages[17] = 'stic18.jpg' theImages[18] = 'stic19.jpg' theImages[19] = 'stic20.jpg' theImages[20] = 'stic21.jpg' theImages[21] = 'stic22.jpg' theImages[22] = 'stic23.jpg' theImages[23] = 'stic24.jpg' theImages[24] = 'stic25.jpg' theImages[25] = 'stic26.jpg' theImages[26] = 'stic27.jpg' theImages[27] = 'stic28.jpg' theImages[28] = 'stic29.jpg' theImages[29] = 'stic30.jpg' theImages[30] = 'stic31.jpg' theImages[31] = 'stic32.jpg' // do not edit anything below this line var j = 0 var p = theImages.length; 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// End --> </script></A> </TD></TR></TABLE></td></tr></table> <table width="980" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="830" align="center" valign="top" bgcolor=white class="font14"> <TABLE CELLPADDING="4" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR> <TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="middle" WIDTH="32%" BGcolor="#dddddd" class="fonty"> <iframe src="http://www.unknownnews.org/mainmenu.html" height="50" width="815" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe> </TD></TR></TABLE></td><td width="150" align=center valign="middle" bgcolor="#eeeeee" class="font15"><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/stickers.html"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/buyabumpersticker.jpg" border="0" width="138" height="23"></A> </td></tr></table><TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="980" border=0><TR> <TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH="830" BGcolor="#dddddd" class="fonty"> <iframe src="http://www.unknownnews.org/frames-new.html" height="32" width="830" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></TD><TD ALIGN="center" valign="middle" WIDTH="150" BGcolor="#eeeeee" class="fonty"><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/donations.html"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/makeadonation.jpg" border="0" width="138" height="23"></A> </TD></TR></TABLE><!-- end uniform header--> <TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="980" border=0><TR> <TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH="10" BGcolor="#eeeeee" class="fonttnr">&nbsp; </TD><TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH="955" BGcolor=white class="fontpq"> <iframe src="http://www.unknownnews.org/credit-frame.html" width="955" height="46" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe> </TD><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH="5" BGcolor="#ffffff" class="fonttnr">&nbsp; </TD><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH="10" BGcolor="#eeeeee" class="fonttnr">&nbsp; </TD></TR></TABLE> <TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="980" border=0><TR> <TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH="10" BGcolor="#eeeeee" class="fonttnr"> </TD> <TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH="10" BGcolor=white class="fonttnr">&nbsp;</TD> <TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH="635" BGcolor=white class="font18"><BR> <!-- search for &lt; ... search for &gt; ... add space after &diams;&nbsp; --> <!-- =NEWDAY=NEXTDAY= --><!-- =unk --> <A HREF=http://www.unknownnews.org/1005-10.html><font color=black><BIG><B>The worst-case scenario <nobr>you won't see on TV</nobr></B></BIG></font></a> <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; This disaster in the Gulf, amazingly under-reported by mainstream media, has the potential to sink the environment and economy of America and, to a lesser extent the world. Yes, it is that awful and moreso. The damage already done is huge, but it's trivial compared to the potential damage if the gusher isn't somehow capped.<BR> <A NAME=LATESTNEWS></A><table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="8" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="60%" align="right"><tr><td class="fonta" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="365" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" class="fonta" bgcolor="#CCCCCC"><BR><center><TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="350" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" class="fonta"><iframe src="http://www.unknownnews.org/recently.html" width="350" height="850" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="auto" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table><BR><TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="350" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" class="fonta"><iframe src="http://www.unknownnews.org/dailyRSS.html" width="350" height="425" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="auto" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></center></TD></TR></TABLE><TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="345" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" class="fontbox"><TABLE CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="8" WIDTH="365" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor="#ffffff" class="fontsm"><I>Scroll down or click for more </I><BR><A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/"><B>unknownnews.org/</B></A> </TD></TR></TABLE></td></tr></table></td></tr></table> <BR>The "best case scenario" is a miracle out of a movie &mdash; the genius f*cktards at BP or in the government regulatory agencies are somehow able to stem the flow before the entire Gulf is blackened. They've tried dropping an enormous cap on the underwater crude volcano, but <A HREF="http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/08/problem-for-containment-dome-in-gulf/?hp">that didn't work</A> <small>(Login as "unknownnews" with password "unknown")</small>.<BR><BR>It's unclear what might be tried next, but any strategy will be unprecedented and experimental &mdash; the world has never seen an accident like this before, and BP's pre-emergency plan was built on the assumption that what happened on April 20 couldn't possibly happen.<BR><BR>A very possible "worst case scenario" is that no way can be found to stem the flow, leaving the world to wait until the gusher is completely emptied, its vein of oil utterly tapped, with no oil remaining to be pumped into the water. By then the damage done could be almost incomprehensible.<BR><BR>The gusher's current volume is gigantic, but so far we've been lucky &mdash; the flow is being restricted by a "kink" in the mostly obliterated mechanical structure at the ocean's floor. But that kink is almost certainly going to deteriorate, allowing up to four million or more gallons of oil to spew into the gulf <I>every day</i>. That would exceed the total oil lost in the <I>Exxon Valdez</i> disaster in about two and a half days. That would be about three <I>Exxon Valdez</i>es each week, with no "off" valve and no way to stop the flow.<BR><BR>If the gusher's flow continues unabated for months after that, which isn't unlikely, the Gulf will become a stinking black hole of death. It won't be just birds coated in oil, and fish and shrimp and oysters obliterated, and tourism and fishing industries decimated. That's barely the beginning.<BR><BR>People cannot breathe oily fumes for extended periods of time without toxic effect, so if the gusher can't be stopped, and soon, we'll be seeing mass evacuations of the coastal regions of Louisiana, Mississippi, and other gulf states, up to many miles inbound. New Orleans and other cities will need to be sealed off, whole counties emptied of all humans who aren't wearing hazmat suits.<BR><BR>And of course, the ocean doesn't just sit there like the water in your bathtub. Undersea currents are constantly moving, and could take the oil virtually everywhere there's an ocean beach, world-wide. Some relatively nearby places, like the Caribbean and America's Atlantic coast, will be coated with oil. Other places farther away will see less of the mess, but still far more than anyone wants to see, with serious and severe damages on every continent.<BR><BR>This is the growing horror in the gulf. It's a story that's too big to fit onto television between the car commercials and the gas commercials, so the network newscasts have barely mentioned any of the above. But unless there's some wondrous breaking news, and soon, this is the realistic outlook for this summer and the rest of our lives &mdash; vast, toxic wastewaters where the Gulf of Mexico used to be, and spreading far beyond.<BR><BR>BP and Halliburton have given us an oily hell that could be the biggest single man-made ecological disaster ever. Forget the <I>Exxon Valdez</I>. We'll be past that shortly, and moving up the list &mdash; Bhopal, Chernobyl, Hiroshima... This might not match the atomic bombing of Japan in terms of human body counts, but for ruining huge portions of the planet, this has real potential to be Number One.<BR><BR> <!-- ISN'T THERE SOMETHING IN THE BIBLE? --></A><table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="8" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="60%" align="right"><tr><td class="fonta" vAlign="top" align="center" width="100%" bgcolor="#eeeeee"><a href=http://www.unknownnews.org/stickers.html><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/isnttheresomething.jpg" alt="Isn't there something in the Bible about NOT screwing over the poor?" border="3" width="350" height="108"></a><BR><BR><I>(from <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/stickers.html">our sticker collection</a>)</I></td></tr></table> And what can we do about it? At this point, nothing. The lawmakers and regulators who are supposed to prevent such a ghastly event did next to nothing to protect us. There was money in looking the other way, as there always is, so sensible safeguards were never required, and realistic emergency plans were never made.<BR><BR>Now, the only thing we can do is hope and pray and, more productively, kick and scream and demand that the next disaster be prevented: <I>Capitalism must be regulated.</I><BR><BR>Help America learn a lesson here. When you see and smell the black oily stinky slime that's coating the ocean waters and shores, that's the unregulated free market, brought to you by Ronald Reagan, Ayn Rand, Halliburton, and British Petroleum. When the libertarians and nutball Republicans talk about deregulation, whether they know it or not, this is what they're working toward.<BR><BR>The moral of the story is, <I>Capitalism must be regulated</I> &mdash; by real regulators not shills, with rules written by experts not insiders, with real penalties not wrist-slaps for violations, and those rules must be actually enforced instead of ignored. Because when we "get government off the back of big business", we get one disaster after another. <A HREF="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0502/Current-timeline-to-shut-down-Gulf-of-Mexico-oil-spill-three-months">LINK</A><BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; Much more on the Halliburton-BP oil gusher <A HREF=#gusher><font color=blue>below</font></a>, but first let's round up some other unknown news&nbsp;... <A NAME=freedom></A><br><br><A HREF=#freedom><font color=blue>#</font></A> &nbsp; <b>FREEDOM IS THE FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHT</b><A NAME=torture></A> <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; The usual Republicans and Democrats who are really Republicans are lining up to call for, basically, suspension of civil rights in America. Senators like John McCain (R-Arizona) and Orin Hatch (R-Utah) are demanding that certain Americans not be accorded the same Miranda reading and, presumably, other rights constitutionally promised to Americans.<BR><BR> <A NAME=fromDIALOGUE></A><table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="8" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="60%" align="right"><tr><td class="fonta" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="100%" border=1><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" class="fonta"><center><A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/dialogue.html"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/dialogue-bubbles.jpg" alt="from recent readers' comments" border="3" width="320" height="179"></a></center><BR><I>We welcome readers' comments, questions, or criticisms sent to <A HREF="mailto:unknownnews@inbox.com">unknownnews@inbox.com</A>, and on <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/dialogue.html">our comments page</a> we publish any emails that (in our subjective opinion) add to the discourse.</i> </td></tr></table></td></tr></table> Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-Connecticut) goes one step further, and wants to strip citizenship from Americans who associate with purported terrorists, not after they're tried and convicted, not even when they're arrested, but as soon as they're accused of associating with terrorists. All this because some schmuck tried to make an SUV explode, and failed.<BR><BR>House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (<font color="#cccccc">D</font>-California) says she supports the "spirit" of Lieberman's idea, but quibbles about the details.<BR><BR>Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, also nominally a Democrat, says it sounds like a good idea.  United States citizenship is a privilege", she says. "It is not a right." <BR><BR>Again, just to let it sink in:  United States citizenship is a privilege. It is not a right." says America's Secretary of State, a woman who, like McCain and Obama, thought she was up to being President.<BR><BR>In a sane society, saying something so astoundingly un-American would lead to Clinton's immediate firing, relegate Lieberman and McCain et al to lame duck status, and guarantee that for the rest of their lives they'd be seen as complete kooks, never taken seriously. They'd never again be on <I>Meet the Press</i>. Of course, that imagined "sane society" is not America. <A HREF="http://thinkprogress.org/2010/05/04/miranda-faisal/">LINK</A>, <A HREF="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_05/023679.php">LINK</A>, <A HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/07/world/07rights.html">LINK</A> <small>(Login as "unknownnews" with password "unknown")</small><BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; Regarding the above, <A HREF="http://plainblogaboutpolitics.blogspot.com/2010/05/let-me-get-this-straight.html">Jonathan Bernstein said it</a> better than I did:<UL>"You mean, there are people now who are honestly suggesting that the government should be able to grab someone off the street, take away their citizenship, and send them off to rot indefinitely in an off-shore prison camp? With no judicial constraints at all? And not only suggesting it, but attacking the president for not doing it?<BR><BR>And those same people are also complaining that the presidency of Barack Obama is the end of liberty and the beginning of tyranny." <A HREF="http://plainblogaboutpolitics.blogspot.com/2010/05/let-me-get-this-straight.html">LINK</A><A NAME=joshuaclaus></A></UL> &diams;&nbsp; The Pentagon has officially banned four reporters from covering the kangaroo trials at Guantanamo, because these reporters had named Joshua Claus, an interrogator who threatened a 15-year-old Canadian prisoner with rape as a "technique" to get him to talk. The military tribunal had demanded that the media pretend Claus's name is secret, but shushing Claus's name is an absurd demand &mdash; his name and his interrogation "technique" have been public knowledge for years, and you can <A HREF="http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2010/05/08/joshua-claus-the-rape-threat-and-the-dead-detainees/">click here</A> to get to know Sgt Claus.<BR><BR><!-- BLOOD ON THE HANDS --></A><table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="8" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="60%" align="right"><tr><td class="fonta" vAlign="top" align="center" width="100%" bgcolor="#eeeeee"><a href=http://www.unknownnews.org/stickers.html><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/Bloodontheirhands.jpg" alt="The blood is on the hands of those who lied, those who spread the lies, and those who voted for the liars." border="3" width="350" height="108"></a><BR><BR><I>(from <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/stickers.html">our sticker collection</a>)</I></td></tr></table>The reporters banned for reporting a long-known fact are Steven Edwards of <I>Canwest</I>, Paul Koring of <I>The Globe & Mail</I>, Carol Rosenberg of the <I>Miami Herald</I> and McClatchy News Service, and Michelle Shephard of the <I>Toronto Star</I>. They're reporters, to be respected.<BR><BR>The media outlets that cooperated and only identified Claus as "Interrogator No.&nbsp;1" have, in my opinion, indelibly identified themselves as complacent, compliant media not to be trusted. They include <A HREF="http://www.boston.com/news/world/latinamerica/articles/2010/05/06/pentagon_bans_4_gitmo_reporters_for_naming_witness/">Associated Press</a> and <A HREF="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100506/us_nm/us_guantanamo_journalists_1">Reuters</a>. <A HREF="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/05/06/93705/pentagon-bans-mcclatchy-reporter.html#storylink=omni_popular">LINK</A> <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; Anti-gay activist George Rekers, co-founder of the anti-gay Family Research Council, hired a gay prostitute to accompany him on a trip to Europe. This is rather ordinary &mdash; most anti-gay activists are gay, and I'd be surprised if an anti-gay activist turned out to be straight. But here's a twist that got my attention:<BR><BR>Rekers was paid $120,000 by Florida's Department of Children and Families for his expert testimony in a single court case, defending the state's ban on adoption by gay would-be parents. I was aware that alleged experts are well-paid for their court appearances, but when the state is paying $120,000 for one alleged expert in one case, I'd say that's excessive and merits further investigation. I want to know what else that $120,000 bought. <A HREF="http://eqfl.blogspot.com/2010/05/taxpayers-paid-rekers-120000-twice-what.html">LINK</A> <A NAME=HELP></A><table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="8" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="60%" align="right"><tr><td class="fonta" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><BR><TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="100%" border=1><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" bgcolor=white WIDTH="100%" class="fonta"><center><B>You can help</b></center><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; If the news frustrates or angers you, please, find a group, plan a picket, and become an <I>active</i> activist. These are some of the key groups we're involved with ...<BR><BR><center><A TARGET="_blank" HREF="https://secure.aclu.org/site/Donation2?df_id=2125&2125.donation=form1&s_src=UNW080001C00&s_subsrc=getinvolvedmenu_join_hp&JServSessionIdr006=wnbcqvc7x1.app20a"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/aclu_logo.gif" border="3" alt-"American Civil Liberties Union" width="190" height="74"></A></center><BR> <TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="275" border=1><TR></TD><TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor=white class="fontsm"><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="50" align="left"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><A TARGET="_blank" HREF="https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?id=36"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/thumbtack.jpg" border="0" width="30" height="30"></A></td></tr></table><BR><SPAN class="fontxl"><A HREF="http://movetoamend.org/we-corporations">Move to Amend</A></SPAN><BR><I>(corporations are not 'human')</i></TD></TR></TABLE><BR> <TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="290" border=1><TR></TD><TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor=white class="fontsm"><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="50" align="left"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><A HREF="https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?id=36"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/thumbtack.jpg" border="0" width="30" height="30"></A></td></tr></table><BR><SPAN class="fontxl"><A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://movetoamend.org/we-corporations">Act Blue</A></SPAN><BR><I>(support progressive candidates)</i></TD></TR></TABLE><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; ... but of course, you should join a group that cares about the issues <I>you</I> care about. If you can't your find the group you want to join, you can <A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/140535&referer=brief_results">organize that group yourself</a>. Yes, you really can. <BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Also, it sounds hokey and futile, but it can actually help if you <A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml">contact your elected officials</A>. We recommend sending a post card &mdash; emails and petitions are too easy to ignore, and letters to politicians are often held for weeks for x-rays and security screenings. The brevity of a post card forces you to make your point concisely, makes it more likely your message will be read, and makes a quicker and often deeper impression, especially amidst the daily flood of emails and form letters every member of Congress receives.<BR><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; As for our work on the website, we try <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="72" align="right"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="right" width="100%"><BR><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/begging.jpg" border="0" width="62" height="110"></td></tr></table> not to whine too much or too loudly, but we are poor and this site eats a lot of time and especially <I>money</I>. Just a buck or two can make all the difference and help keep <I>Unknown News</I> alive.<BR><BR> <center><A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/donations.html">Donations</A> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/advertising.html">Sponsorships</A><BR> <A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/stickers.html">Stickers and stuff for sale</A><BR> <A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/subscriptions.html">Subscriptions</A> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/wishlist.html">Wish list</A><BR> <A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/credits.html">Thank you</A></center></TD></TR></TABLE></TD></TR></TABLE> <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; Thanks to the American Civil Liberties Union (<A HREF="http://action.aclu.org/site/PageServer?pagename=FJ_donationhome&s_subsrc=top_donate_hp">donate</A>), Federal Judge John Richard Smoak, Jr. (appointed by Bush43 in 2005) has overturned a Florida law that made it illegal to name cops when criticizing cops. <A HREF="http://www.aclufl.org/news_events/?action=viewRelease&emailAlertID=3829">LINK</A> <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; "Sidestepping" <I>posse comitatus</i>, the capture of the latest incompetent terrorist in America, the would-be SUV-bomber in Manhattan, was helped by high-tech US military planes with equipment for gathering information from virtually all forms of electronic communication. <A HREF="http://www.thenation.com/blog/were-us-special-forces-involved-arrest-faisal-shahzad">LINK</A> <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; The Obama administration is still issuing "talking points" about how great Solicitor General Elena Kagan is, stoking the worries of civil libertarians, Democrats, and people who possess common sense that the President is about to name Kagan to the Supreme Court.<BR><BR>I sure hope the experts are wrong, because Kagan would be an awful choice. Her nomination would make me cry, sigh, and fart. She'll be bitterly and savagely opposed by the right-wingers &mdash; they'd respond the same if the nominee was Thomas Jefferson &mdash; and speaking from the left, believe me, I'll be hoping the right-wing liars can block Kagan, so maybe Obama will do better with a do-over.<BR><BR>It doesn't have to be that way, of course, so come on, Obama, you can do better than Kagan. My landlord would be better than Kagan. <A HREF="http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/05/08/kagan/index.html">LINK</A>, <A HREF="http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/45760">LINK</A>, <A HREF="http://www.salon.com/news/elena_kagan/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2010/05/06/white_house_kagan_talking_points">LINK</A> <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; Speaking of the Supreme Court, wouldn't you love to live in a country where this <I>Onion</i> report on a Supreme Court ruling was real, not a parody? I want to go there. <A HREF="http://www.theonion.com/articles/supreme-court-upholds-freedom-of-speech-in-obsceni,17372/">LINK</A> <A NAME=abortion></A><A NAME=women></A> <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; Whaa&mdash;? The American Academy of Pediatrics has come out in favor of pricking or minor incisions of young girls' clitorises &mdash; yike and ick and ouch and that's pretty damned outrageous. That's low-level genital mutilation, and I thought that was only acceptable for boys in our society. <A HREF="http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/05/whatever_happened_to_first_do.php">LINK</A> <BR><BR><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1005-03-d.html#Cass05070352">From our comments page</A>:<UL>I understand there's a movement to stop the circumcision of male infants. I don't have a personal stake in that race &mdash I am female and will not have children &mdash; and didn't know whether the hygienic arguments for it are reasonable or not, although they don't sound like it. This is just really sick, though, and I think now we should leave all infants' bits alone. Thanks to the AAP for clearing that up for me. Now it seems we need to fix the AAP instead of worrying whether mutilating infants is appropriate.<BR><BR>If an adult chooses to wear specific garments or alter their body to conform with cultural or religious traditions, that's fine. Perhaps adult males would choose circumcision to conform with Mosaic tradition (I don't think it's law, but I'm not strongly versed in the Bible). However, I can't imagine any adult female choosing any variety of FGM without unbearable pressure from her family or culture, since its only purpose seems to be to decrease sexual desire, or at least the ability to fulfill that desire. <A HREF="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/american-academy-of-pediatrics-aap-is-advocating-for-us-pediatricians-to-perform-certain-types-of-female-genital-mutilation-fgm-92871624.html">LINK</A> &nbsp; &mdash;<A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1005-03-d.html#Cass05070352">Cassandra</A></UL> <!-- NO SPECIAL RIGHTS FOR HETEROSEXUALS --></A><table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="8" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="60%" align="right"><tr><td class="fonta" vAlign="top" align="center" width="100%" bgcolor="#eeeeee"><a href=http://www.unknownnews.org/stickers.html><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/nsrheterosexuals.jpg" alt="No special rights for heterosexuals" border="3" width="350" height="108"></a><BR><BR><I>(from <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/stickers.html">our sticker collection</a>)</I></td></tr></table> &diams;&nbsp; A moment of poetry for the Oklahoma legislature, regarding the ever-increasing burden of laws designed to make abortion even more gut-wrenching and traumatic. <A HREF="http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/05/a_poem_for_the_oklahoma_legisl.php">LINK</A> <A NAME=gay></A> <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; Come out gay while you're in the military and you're not just going to be discharged, you're going to owe repayment of whatever college tuition the military has paid. In this woman's case, seventy-nine thousand, two hundred and sixty-five dollars, and fourteen cents. <A HREF="http://www.campusprogress.org/fieldreport/5468/unc-rotc-student-must-repay-80000-to-military-for-coming-out-as-a-lesbian">LINK</A> <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; Observe the serious and inarguable consequences of gay marriage, presented in graph form. Quiver in fear and worry. <A HREF="http://mariopiperni.com/stuff/charts-graphs-and-diagrams.php">LINK</A> <A NAME=drugs></A> <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; Los Angeles has notified more than 400 of the city's medical marijuana dispensaries that they must close, so municipal authorities can "regain control over pot sales". As if L.A. or any American city ever has or ever will "control" pot sales. <A HREF="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0505-medical-marijuana-20100505,0,7354914.story">LINK</A> <A NAME=world></A><br><br><A HREF=#world><font color=blue>#</font></A> &nbsp; <b>FROM BEYOND AMERICA'S BORDERS</b><!-- &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; --> <BR><BR><!-- =Greece--><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="65" align="left"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><img src="http://unknownnews.org/flagGreece.jpg" alt="Greece" border="1" width="50" height="30"></td></tr></table> &diams;&nbsp; In Greece, the people protest when they have good reason to be angry. And they have good reason to be angry &mdash; as part of the latest bailout for billionaire bankers, the Greeks are being told to tighten the hell out of their belts, repeal their fair work rules, forego their hard-earned pensions, etc., all to keep billionaires happy.<BR><BR>"For 30 years the Greek people have been held hostage," said Periandros Athanassakis, 48, a garbage collector in Piraeus, the port near Athens. "Those who stole the money should pay."<BR><BR>That's not a hard concept to grasp, unless you're the people who stole the money and control the banks and write the laws and sign "austerity" agreements that impoverish a nation. I'm with the protesters in Greece, absolutely, and I don't understand why there aren't protesters to march with in America.<BR><BR>Would you stand for having such crushing, draconian economic rules imposed on <I>your</i> country? In America the answer is sure, whatever, but for me the answer is definitely no. It's unfair, inhuman, and bonkers to make such demands of the Greeks, or of anyone. This is not far from the kind of economic castration imposed on Germany after World War I, so what could possibly go wrong? <A HREF="http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/05/06-5">LINK</A>, <A HREF="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601010&sid=ai35iM38zN08">LINK</A> <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1005-03-d.html#BC05051009">From our comments page</A>:<UL>The Greek "bail-out" package is not really a prescription for austerity. It's like sending a chubby person to a health spa ... run by the Department of Corrections in the desert. Not fun. In fact, it is a prescription for causing a harsh recession in Greece in the coming few years (and saving the banksters one more time...)<BR><BR>Assuming the EU treats the other PIIGS countries the same -- austerity for the masses, bailouts for the banksters -- the trend is recessionary and deflationary. Not at all the same thing we've had so far in the Western world, where central banks printed trillions of "money" units and dropped them from helicopters above dying bank HQ buildings. Which kind of explains the sell-off in the markets, especially since China is trying desperately to prick their real estate bubble (and Latin America is busy confiscating entire corporations to turn them into the vanguards of socialist paradises...uh huh...like I said, bad for markets!)<BR><BR>Meanwhile, the US is supposedly doing great and the dollar is rising spectacularly because it is the tallest dwarf in the room. But John Williams, creator of Shadow Statistics (ferreting out the BS in govt. stats) says the US is really running a $4 to 5 TRILLION budget deficit every year if you take into account the accrued but not yet expended Medicare and Social Security benefits. (Boomers are getting closer to PAYOUT day, etc.) So I would be inclined to use dollar strength as an big freaking opportunity to get into something else...not yet maybe but this year for sure. <A HREF="http://www.groenewegenreport.com/?p=300">LINK</A> &nbsp; &mdash;<A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1005-03-d.html#BC05051009">Bernie C.</A></UL> <!-- =UK=England --><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="65" align="left"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><img src="http://unknownnews.org/flagUK.jpg" alt="United Kingdom" border="1" width="50" height="30"></td></tr></table> &diams;&nbsp; The families of the dead are not laughing at a new comedy about the London bombings that left dozens dead in 2005. Sounds awful, but can it be worse than any random Jennifer Aniston romantic comedy? <A HREF="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8663809.stm">LINK</A> <BR><BR><!-- =Pakistan --><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="65" align="left"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><img src="http://unknownnews.org/flagPakistan.jpg" alt="Pakistan" border="1" width="50" height="30"></td></tr></table> &diams;&nbsp; Under new orders from President Obama, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) doesn't even need to have a name for its targets, doesn't need to know who it's trying to kill, before launching a killer drone attack in Pakistan. Such shameful news of such ordinary day-to-day war crimes, news that's barely news any more, ought to add a bit of sunlight to the media's favorite story of the week, the Pakistani-American who concocted a car bomb in New York.<BR><BR>To me, it's remarkable that <I>more</i> people from Pakistan (and other nations perpetually victimized by America) aren't standing in line to build car bombs or join Al Qaida and/or the Taliban or do whatever the heck they can to kill Americans. Who <I>wouldn't</i> want to become a terrorist or a jihadist or a warrior against America, when America's doing this to your home country? If some foreign power was attacking weddings and delivering death from above at random, all across America, what decent, patriotic American wouldn't be driven to fury and want vengeance? Considering what America has done to the world, what America's doing to the world right now, today, it's somewhat surprising that America doesn't echo with exploding car bombs every morning, noon, and night. <A HREF="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-drone-targets-20100506,0,2689474,full.story">LINK</A> <A NAME=environment></a><BR><BR><A HREF=#environment><font color=blue>#</font></A> &nbsp; <B>PLANETARY PROBLEMS</B><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="142" align="right"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="right" width="100%"><img src="http://unknownnews.org/globalwarming.jpg" alt="global climate change" border="1" width="128" height="94"></td></tr></table> <A NAME=gusher></A> <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; The Interior Department exempted BP's calamitous Gulf of Mexico drilling operation from a detailed environmental impact analysis last year, according to government documents, after three reviews of the area concluded that a massive oil spill was unlikely. <A HREF="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/04/AR2010050404118.html?hpid=topnews">LINK</A> <small>(Login as "unknownnews@inbox.com" with password "unknown")</small> <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; <A HREF="http://www.truthout.org/slick-operator-the-bp-ive-known-too-well59178">Greg Palast</A>: "In 1989, I was a fraud investigator hired to dig into the cause of the Exxon Valdez disaster. Despite Exxon's name on that boat, I found the party most to blame for the destruction was ... British Petroleum (BP)." <A HREF="http://www.truthout.org/slick-operator-the-bp-ive-known-too-well59178">LINK</A> <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; What does the future hold for the shores of the gulf coast and the area's fishing industry? Turn to Alaska's experience in the aftermath of the <I>Exxon Valdez</i>. <A HREF="http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/06/exxon.valdez.alaska/?hpt=T3">LINK</A> <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; I've seen some applause for a Democratic proposal in Congress that would raise the cap on economic damages for oil spills from $75-million to $10-billion. Which is, I guess, a good idea as far as it goes, but it only goes to ten-billion dollars. Why stop there? Seriously? Ten billion bucks is a fraction of what this gusher is going to cost. Who gains but the oil companies, when their liability in such a disaster has a ceiling, but the damage they can do has no limits at all? <A HREF="http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/96375-dems-propose-massive-increase-in-oil-company-liability-from-75-m-to-10b">LINK</A> <A NAME=STOPANDTHINK></A> <table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="60%" align="right"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><BR><TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="100%" border=1><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" class="fonta"><TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40" class="fonty"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/thinker.jpg" alt="'The Thinker' statue" border="0" width="40" height="40"></TD><TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="middle" class="fonta"><I><B>It made me stop and think</B></I></TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40" class="fonty"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/quesplanation.jpg" alt="Stop and think" border="0" width="40" height="40"></TD></TR></TABLE> <i><BR>"And the squandering of America's wealth... These dumpkoffs just squandered a trillion dollars to kill a million people in Iraq and Afghanistan. Which means they spent a million dollars per murder. Of borrowed money which now must be repaid with interest by the schmucks who have no power over their stupidity. Or more likely, the debt will be formally reneged at some point in the future because it is impossibly huge -- there isn't enough money in existence to pay off the national debts and promised obligations!" <DIV align="right"><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1005-03-d.html#MC05071053">Mick Caffeine</A></div><BR>"What does it say about the state of the U.S. constitution that the two main parties now divide into those who want to do away with Miranda Rights for accused U.S. citizens (but only if they're brown - white ones get out on bond) and those who want to assassinate them without trial?<BR><BR>"And what does it say about the state of our partisan punditry that most of the Dem-supporting writers castigating John McCain and others for the former aren't mentioning the latter at all? Or that GOP-supporting writers are just ok with Hutarees getting Miranda, Habeas Corpus and bail but not anyone with a non-WASP name?<BR><BR>"It mostly says, I think, that bipartisan political gameplaying now trumps everything, including the Constitution." <DIV align="right"><A HREF="http://www.newshoggers.com/blog/2010/05/fubar-usa.html">Steve Hynd</A></div></I> </td></tr></table></td></tr></table> <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; Irony: BP executives were on the rig when the trouble started, for a fancy shindig intended to honor the crew for its standout safety record. <A HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/08/us/08rig.html">LINK</A> <small>(Login as "unknownnews" with password "unknown")</small> <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; Governor Rick Perry (R-Texas) has called for more off-shore drilling, and says the Halliburton-British Petroleum oil gusher may be an "act of God". <A HREF="http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/05/03/2160779/perry-backs-offshore-drilling.html">LINK</A> <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; Disturbing evidence that honeybees are in terminal decline has emerged from the United States where, for the fourth year in a row, more than a third of colonies have failed to survive the winter.<BR><BR>The decline of the country's estimated 2.4 million beehives began in 2006, when a phenomenon dubbed colony collapse disorder (CCD) led to the disappearance of hundreds of thousands of colonies. Since then more than three million colonies in the US and billions of honeybees worldwide have died and scientists are no nearer to knowing what is causing the catastrophic fall in numbers. <A HREF="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/02/food-fear-mystery-beehives-collapse">LINK</A> <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; A brilliant ad for wind power. Click and view. <A HREF="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mTLO2F_ERY">LINK</A> <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; As the Icelandic volcano continues its unpredictable eruptions, air travel across Europe is expected to be frequently interrupted all summer long, and perhaps for years.<BR><BR>So I sit here and read the article and certainly it's sad news for the industry's employers and investors, but can I just say out loud that the more often airlines are grounded, the better for the planet and the better for our species. My dad worked in aeronautics and he'd smack me in the head for saying this, but the airline industry made globalization possible before the internet, and I wouldn't shed too many tears if the ginormous jets were grounded permanently. <A HREF="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/05/ash-cloud-flight-cancellations">LINK</A> <A NAME=corporations></a><BR><BR><A HREF=#corporations><font color=blue>#</font></A> &nbsp; <B>GOVERNMENT OF THE CORPORATIONS, <nobr>BY THE CORPORATIONS</nobr>, <nobr>FOR THE CORPORATIONS</nobr></B> <A NAME=fascism></a><table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="8" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="60%" align="right"><tr><td class="fonta" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><BR><TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="100%" border=1><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" class="fonta"><B>fascism</B> : a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition<BR><DIV align="right"><A HREF="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fascism">Merriam-Webster</a> </div></td></tr></table></tr></td></table> <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; Here's a dang near inarguable call for an audit of the Federal Reserve &mdash; not firings, not arrests, not imprisonment or tar and feathers, just a simple gol-durn audit fer cripes' sake. The idea that such a simple, obvious, and clearly needed notion is stubbornly and almost unanimously opposed by the powers that be is just further evidence that we need an audit of the Fed. <A HREF="http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/45068">LINK</A> <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; Screwed homeowners in Washington have filed a class-action lawsuit against Bank of America, alleging the obvious, that the giant bank took billions in bailout bucks from the federal government, promised to help struggling homeowners, and (surprise) didn't do diddlysquat to help struggling homeowners. <A HREF="http://www.seattlepi.com/local/417333_mortgage24.html">LINK</A> <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; One of the implied promises of a brand name, especially when it comes to drugs, is you can expect higher quality, but maybe that doesn't apply when it comes to McNeil products.The FDA says the plant that produced the recently recalled children's Tylenol, Motrin, Zyrtec and Benadryl, was using raw materials that were contaminated with bacteria. The plant also lacked adequate quality-control procedures and was dirty. So far none of the recalled medicine has tested positive for bacterial contamination, but the FDA report suggests that the contaminated material was used to make the recalled lots. The plant has been shut down indefinitely. <A HREF="http://consumerist.com/2010/05/mcneil-plant-that-made-recalled-liquid-tylenol-is-a-dirty-stinkpot.html">LINK</A> <A NAME=JRMOONEYHAM></A><table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="8" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="62%" align="right"><tr><td class="fonta" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><BR><TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="100%" border=1><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor="#ffcc66" class="fonta"><DIV align="right"><small>(an unpaid plug)</small></div><BR><center>"A mind-blowing mix of fact and fantasy,<BR>hard science and well-grounded speculation,<BR>with concrete how-to info to top it all off<BR>&mdash; resulting in some of the best<BR>and strangest stuff on Earth..."<BR><BR><big><A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.jrmooneyham.com">www.jrmooneyham.com</A></big></center> </td></tr></table></td></tr></table> <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; When Johnson & Johnson's McNeil Consumer Healthcare Unit announced a recall of children's Tylenol, Motrin, Zyrtec and Benadryl, it also provided a toll free number you could call for more info. Ron Lieber at the <I>New York Times</I> called it to find out how the refund process would work. What he got was a three minute recording telling him to throw the products in the trash, but nothing else. <A HREF="http://consumerist.com/2010/05/johnson-johnson-not-taking-refunds-on-recalled-tylenol-very-seriously.html">LINK</A> <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1005-03-d.html#JW05050500">From our comments page</A>:<UL>Visa is banning a "legal" yet wholly fraudulent ripoff scheme used by MANY American companies. Consumers shopping at Site A are (somehow) enticed to click on an advertisement for Site B, and they are automatically enrolled via their credit card in a useless "plan" which dings their card every month for a smallish amount, and which is nearly impossible to cancel! A related scheme used by 1-800-FLOWERS involves mailing a small "check" which looks like a refund but when the customer signs and deposits the "check" they are enrolled in a "plan".<BR><BR>I guess this takes advantage of the fact that Americans, by and large, are not big on reading small print :-) Or any print, really.<BR><BR>For some reason this shit is "legal" but I have to believe that if the government dropped the million pound shit hammer of RICO charges on a few of these criminal enterprises that Congress wouldn't need to pass a new "law" ("law" quoted because these days the "law" means only what the government says the words in the law mean -- and selective prosecution is the rule rather than the exception.) <A HREF="http://redtape.msnbc.com/2010/05/notorious-credit-card-tactic-banned.html#posts">LINK</A> &nbsp; &mdash;<A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1005-03-d.html#JW05050500">Justin W.</A></UL> &diams;&nbsp; It is so astronomically rare to see someone with mounds of money do the right thing despite the money, that it literally made my eyes water when Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver announced that his team would wear "Los Suns" jerseys for at least one night, Cinco de Mayo. It's just symbolism and it means nothing, except that it means a lot.<BR><BR>You see a lot of TV commercials that cost a lot of money from a lot of companies trying to masquerade as green or folksy or otherwise not the fucktards that they are, but for next-to no money at all the Suns have branded themselves the reigning good guys of big league sports. I wonder if we'll see angry white mobs picketing at Suns games? <A HREF="http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2010/columns/story?columnist=adande_ja&page=Sarver-100504">LINK</A><BR><BR> <A NAME=politicsasusual></a><A NAME=Obama></a><A NAME=democrats> <!-- IRAQ.OUT.NOW --></A><table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="8" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="60%" align="right"><tr><td class="fonta" vAlign="top" align="center" width="100%" bgcolor="#eeeeee"><a href=http://www.unknownnews.org/stickers.html><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/iraqoutnow.jpg" alt="Iraq. Out. Now." border="3" width="350" height="108"></a><BR><BR><I>(from <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/stickers.html">our sticker collection</a>)</I></td></tr></table> <A HREF=#politicsasusual><font color=blue>#</font></A> &nbsp; <b>POLITICS IN LIEU OF&nbsp;STATESMANSHIP</b> <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; As expected, Democrats in the Senate have further gutted financial reform, removing provisions that would have placed a ceiling on bank size. Without that, of course, there's nothing to prevent future recurrences of "Too Big To Fail". If there's a surprise, it's that the vote was allowed, or that it was so close, a mere 61-33 against common sense. <A HREF="http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2010051807/congress-backs-wall-street-rejects-big-bank-break">LINK</A> <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; Senator Al Franken (D-Minnesota) offers advice for finding privacy within the fanatically anti-privacy social site Facebook. <A HREF="http://consumerist.com/2010/05/senator-al-franken-teaches-you-about-critical-facebook-privacy-settings.html">LINK</A> <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; Joe Sestak, the real Democrat who's challenging Senator <A HREF="http://www.nndb.com/people/323/000023254/">Arlen Specter</a> (<font color="#cccccc">D</font>-Pennsylvania) in the Democratic primary, has pulled even in polling, despite enthusiastic support for Specter from Obama, Biden, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and all the usual milquetoast Democrats who are barely Democrats, like Specter. If you can afford ten or twenty bucks, <A HREF="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/sestak2010">donate to Sestak</a> &mdash; you'll be helping to dump Specter, and maybe sending the President and Democratic leadership a message, too. <A HREF="http://politicalwire.com/archives/2010/05/07/sestak_catches_specter_in_pennsylvania.html">LINK</A> <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; Bill Halter, the real Democrat who's challenging Senator Blanche Lincoln (<font color="#cccccc">D</font>-Arkansas) in the Democratic primary, should be doing better than he is, but he's not just running against Lincoln &mdash; he's also running against a million+ dollars worth of smear ads on TV, sponsored by a group that won't identify its financial backers. This is crap that ought to be illegal, but never will be, so long as the beneficiaries of such tactics continue writing the nation's laws. <A HREF="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2010/05/halter_demands_fec_probe_of_sh.html">LINK</A> <small>(Login as "unknownnews@inbox.com" with password "unknown")</small><BR><BR> <!-- WANT TO SUPPORT OUR TROOPS? --></A><table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="8" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="60%" align="right" bgcolor="#eeeeee"><tr><td class="fonta" vAlign="top" align="center" width="100%"><a href=http://www.unknownnews.org/stickers.html><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/stupidwars.jpg" alt="Want to support our troops? Stop sending them on stupid wars." border="3" width="350" height="108"></a><BR><BR><I>(from <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/stickers.html">our sticker collection</a>)</I></td></tr></table> &diams;&nbsp; House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (<font color="#cccccc">D</font>-California) is saying now, two years after the fact, that the Bush-Cheney administration was well-aware that the economy was about to collapse in 2008, but that high-level muckity-mucks were prohibited from talking to Congress about the danger until the collapse was literally hours away.<BR><BR>It's in perfect keeping with everything already known about the Bush-Cheney administration, and dovetails nicely with the leading theory, that their "plan" for dealing with the collapse was to put it off until after the election of 2008, a plan which came close to working but, not quite.<BR><BR>It's also in perfect keeping with Pelosi, who did her best to protect the Bush-Cheney administration, who made sure impeachment was never seriously considered no matter how obvious the high crimes and misdemeanors, and who waited two years to quietly leak this little nugget. <A HREF="http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/05/pelosi-bush-administration-barred-officials-from-asking-congress-for-financial-sector-bailouts.php">LINK</A> <A NAME=hooray></a><BR><BR><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="116" align="left"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><img src="http://unknownnews.org/hooray.jpg" alt="Hooray!" border="0" width="101" height="117"></td></tr></table>&diams;&nbsp; We give President Obama and the Democratic Party's leadership a lot of complaints because, let's face it, they deserve a lot of complaints. They're playing go-along-to-get-along and yielding on almost everything, when America desperately needs a complete about-face on any number of fronts &mdash; war and peace, civil rights, the environment, the economy, open government, on and on.<BR><BR>But in the interest of fairness, we'll also give Obama and the Democrats a whoop of hooray when they get something right, and this week ... well, if you saw something where Democrats or the White House deserve a pat on the back this week, please let us know 'cuz we missed it. <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; Michael Brown, the guy who was Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Director and displayed phenomenal incompetence and indifference to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, says President Obama <I>purposely</i> let the BP gusher gush, for his political advantage. It's a cancerous, evidence-free smear of superstellar proportions, the kind of breathtaking bullshit we see <I>constantly</i> from well-known and inexplicably well-respected figures on the right-wing. We've seen this kind of "death panel" strategy before, and it works. In a month we'll be unable to publicly discuss the efficacy of off-shore oil drilling because, after all, look what Obama did to the Gulf coast.<BR><BR> <!-- WHO WOULD JESUS BOMB? --></A><table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="8" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="60%" align="right"><tr><td class="fonta" vAlign="top" align="center" width="100%" bgcolor="#eeeeee"><a href=http://www.unknownnews.org/stickers.html><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/stickerwwjb.jpg" alt="Who would Jesus bomb?" border="3" width="350" height="108"></a><BR><BR><I>(from <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/stickers.html">our sticker collection</a>)</I></td></tr></table>Make no mistake &mdash; the Obama administration can be blamed, accurately and deservedly, and should be blamed, to the extent that they've gone along with the Republicans' endless calls for deregulation and drill baby drill. And they've gone along with the Republicans' lunacy way, way too much. Since this disaster began unfolding, though, the Obama administration's response has been about as brisk and competent as it is possible for government to be.<BR><BR>Brown's charge is ludicrous, and Fox News ought to be ashamed for having put him on TV to say it, but Fox is immune to shame. I know that President Obama prefers to remain "above the fray", and sure, anyone who's attended second grade understands that wiseacres like Brown and his ilk would crave and thrive on any White House response, but when this kind of smear goes un-answered it's just a kick in the head, in the bad way &mdash; not just a kick in the head to the Obama administration but a kick to the head to the public discourse.<BR><BR>White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs responded about as well as could be expected, but it ain't enough. I am not a smart person, and I could never keep up with all the brilliant wonktalk in the halls of <I>The West Wing</I>, but I would really appreciate it if some smart soul who understands the ways of Washington could find some way short of censorship to shame these lying schmucks into shutting the hell up. Yes, at long last they have no decency, they never have and they never will and so why are these Eternal Bastards taken seriously? <A HREF="http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2010/05/michael_brown_vs_david_sirota.php">LINK</A>, <A HREF="http://thinkprogress.org/2010/05/04/gibbs-brownie/">LINK</a> <!-- =BUSINESS=ECONOMY=DC 2.2 --> <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1005-03-d.html#EI05050519">From our comments page</A>:<UL>Senator Max Baucus (<font color="#cccccc">D</font>-Montana) is excited -- so close to giving out $10 billion in business tax cuts, including a giveaway which taxes stock sale profits at ZERO, an approach said to be favored by the White House. By way of comparison, note that the health care "reform" bill allocated just $5 billion to cover ALL uninsured Americans until 2014 via "high risk pools". The tax breaks are in the form of incentives: buy equipment, get a tax cut; buy stock now, sell later tax free. The idea seems to be to lavish even more money on US businesses in the hope that later, maybe, they'll do something good for everyone else.<BR><BR>Another tax factoid: the death tax is still zero but do we see billionaires jumping out of windows? No, because they're greedy bastards. <A HREF="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0510/36794.html">LINK</A> &nbsp; &mdash;<A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1005-03-d.html#EI05050519">Emma Ibbers</A></UL> &diams;&nbsp; <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1005-03-d.html#Parsippany2805070938">From our comments page</A>:<UL>Recently I re-watched the episode of "Angel" where he obtains the magic Ring that enables him to go to the Home Office of Wolfram & Hart (the Evil law corporation). He plans to make a one-way trip and kill as many Senior Partners as possible. At the end of a long, long hyperspatial, magic elevator ride the doors open and he sees that the eternal home of Evil is ... where he started from, back on Earth. LA, actually. The W&R executive with him explains that each and every human has Evil in their hearts -- if they didn't they would not be "human".<BR><BR>I guess that's how I see things. Nobody's perfect. Some are way worse than others, but some not so much, and that's as good as it gets.<BR><BR>Anyway, everything you own implies personal responsibility. You own US Dollar bills? Those represent ownership shares of a real Wolfram & Hart. I don't think Nestle is even 1/10th as evil as the US government. Or Siemens, for that matter.<BR><BR>Shit, I think even Exxon is less Evil than the US government. At least they're just doing it for the money. I have no idea why those evil fucks in the government do their sado-sexual power games with the innocent. Maybe because they can no longer get hard-ons they like to cause and watch acts of perverse evil. &nbsp; &mdash;<A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1005-03-d.html#Parsippany2805070938">Parsippany28</A></UL> &diams;&nbsp; With only 32 dead infants and toddlers, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has leapt into action, reminding parents to occasionally check for mechanical problems. <A HREF="http://consumerist.com/2010/05/drop-side-cribs-have-killed-at-least-32-kids.html">LINK</A> <!-- =STATE=LOCAL 2.2 --> <A NAME=arizona></A><BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; San Diego Padres all-star Adrian Gonzalez says he probably wouldn't play in baseball's All-Star Game if it's held in Phoenix next summer, thanks to Arizona's "Papers Please" law. Likewise Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen says he won't participate. <A HREF="hhttp://mlb.fanhouse.com/2010/05/02/padres-gonzalez-speaks-out-against-ump-arizona-law/?ncid=txtlnkusspor00000002&xid=si_mlb">LINK</A>, <A HREF="http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/more_sports/guillen_rails_against_arizona_immigration_3yi7XPqpUKYKBlyM9HsKZP">LINK</A>. <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; Two former vice presidents of Integrity Bank, a financial institution advertised as having been founded and operated on Christian principles, have been indicted for selling fraudulent loans in exchange for bribes. The bank itself was seized and closed by FDIC two years ago. <A HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/08/business/08bank.html">LINK</A> <small>(Login as "unknownnews" with password "unknown")</small> <A NAME=journalism></a><BR><BR><A HREF=#journalism><font color=blue>#</font></A> &nbsp; <b>IS THIS JOURNALISM?</b><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="120" align="left"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><img src="http://unknownnews.org/blogging.jpg" border="1" alt="Is this journalism?" width="100" height="95"></td></tr></table> <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; James Dolan is a very rich fellow. He owns Cablevision Systems Corporation, Madison Square Garden, the New York Knicks basketball team, the New York Rangers hockey team, the MSG Sports TV Network, and probably more entities I'm unaware of. His wealth is largely inherited, and as usually happens when someone's wealthy because of who his father was, Dolan is a well-known jackass. So in March, when there was speculation that Dolan might buy Jake Dobkin's cheeky New York blog <I>Gothamist</i>, a <I>Village Voice</i> blogger asked the rhetorical question, "Wonder how Dobkin's gonna feel with Jimmy Dolan's cock in his mouth?"<BR><BR>So far this wisecrack has cost the <I>Village Voice</i> about a million dollars, as Dolan has ceased advertising in the <I>Voice</i> for all his businesses, and convinced his buddies at Live Nation/Ticketmaster, the concert promoters, to also yank their ads out of the <I>Voice</i>.<BR><!-- WHERE'S THE CHANGE? --></A><table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="8" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="60%" align="right"><tr><td class="fonta" vAlign="top" align="right" width="100%" bgcolor="#eeeeee"><a href=http://www.unknownnews.org/stickers.html><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/CHANGEsticker.jpg" alt="President Obama, where's that 'change' you promised?" border="3" width="350" height="108"></a><BR><BR><I>(from <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/stickers.html">our sticker collection</a>)</I></td></tr></table><BR>Dolan is Dolan and the <I>Village Voice</i> is better than most of mainstream media, but this is an object lesson in how American for-profit media suppresses the news. Not out of any evil plot, just out of the facts of money. Money is what keeps the presses running, the TV towers broadcasting, and without advertising the presses don't run and the towers don't broadcast. That's why you'll never see more than a few minutes of any mainstream newscast pointing out the criminality of giant corporations. Similar or the same giant corporations own most of American media, and the news is about selling ads much more than the news is about the news. <A HREF="http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2010/05/media_mogul_jam.php">LINK</A> <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; The <I>New York Times</i> found an environmental group that was willing to downplay the Gulf of Mexico oil gusher as not all that bad, because the <I>Times</i> didn't tell readers that the group, calling itself the Gulf of Mexico Foundation, is an industry-controlled front. <A HREF="http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/05/conservation_group_quoted_in_nyt_frontpager_on_oil.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TPMmuckraker+%28TPMmuckraker%29">LINK</A> <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; The <I>Washington Post</i> might sell its newsweekly armpit, <I>Newsweek</i>. I'll bid $20, me and my wife will take over, we'll bring in a dozen or so bloggers and writers from the off-line realm, and readers will notice that <I>Newsweek</i> is a much better magazine with our first issue.<BR><BR>Seriously, my subscription to <I>Newsweek</i> lapsed years and years ago, when I finally realized that there wasn't enough news in a week of <I>Newsweek</i> to make it worth half the cover price. Come to think of it, I'm withdrawing my $20 bid. <A HREF="http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-05-05/washington-post-explores-sale-of-newsweek-magazine-update2-.html">LINK</A> <A NAME=leftovers></a><BR><BR><A HREF=#leftovers><font color=blue>#</font></A> &nbsp; <B>LEFTOVERS AND STUPIDITY FOR DESSERT</B> <!-- =PERSONAL 3.8--> <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; Forty years ago, US National Guardsmen were ordered to open fire on random students at Kent State University. They followed orders, killing four bystanders, paralyzing one, injuring several others. Some of the victims had been protesting America's plainly illegal attack on Cambodia and ongoing war on Vietnam. Some hadn't, and just happened to be in the wrong spot at the wrong moment as bullets flew.<BR><BR>It was common to hear that the protesters had it coming or that the shooters were heroes; common then, common now. I heard it from my own father, many times. Nothing newsy about it now, and you might think you don't need an eloquent think piece on the 40th anniversary of the still-popular slaughter, but you do and it's behind this first link. At the second link, a still-mourning mother laments her son, murdered by the Guard that ghastly day. <A HREF="http://www.theygaveusarepublic.com/diary/5596/four-dead-in-ohio-40-years-later">LINK</A>, <A HREF="http://www.progressive.org/mpholstein050310.html">LINK</A> <A NAME=stupidity></A> <!-- flat line --><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="242" align="right"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="right" width="100%"><BR><img src="http://unknownnews.org/flatline.jpg" alt="Flatliners" border="1" width="227" height="86"></td></tr></table> <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; Religious believers' brains shut down when they listen to prayers they're told are being uttered by charismatic preachers or Christian healers. The audience is instantly stupider than they were before the prayer. <A HREF="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627574.200-brain-shuts-off-in-response-to-healers-prayer.html">LINK</A> <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; Accumulating evidence suggests that the Christian God is smiting the American South. <A HREF="http://www.pensitoreview.com/2010/05/03/why-is-god-smiting-the-deep-south/">LINK</A> <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; If you're posting material on-line that you think your boss might not appreciate, be careful out there. <A HREF="http://www.inc.com/news/articles/2010/05/nonprofit-fires-woman-for-blogging-about-sex.html">LINK</A> <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; Who's the <I>real</i> hero, in preventing the explosion of a car bomb in New York that could have toppled twenty square blocks of our nation's great metropolis? No, it's not street vendors, and no, it's not the cops, not the feds, no sir. The real hero is Cindy Jacobs. Watch the video, and turn the volume up real loud, but put the cat outside before you do. <A HREF="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/jacobs-may-day-2010-saved-times-square">LINK</A> <BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; And lastly, a lickety-split recap of some of the news we don't give a damn about, and don't even think is "news" &mdash; Miley Cyrus, the end of <I>Lost</i>, Lindsay Lohan, Tiger Woods, <I>Friday Night Lights</i>, Betty White, Heidi Klum, the most popular names for babies, and the alleged heroics of calling cops when an SUV starts smoking and smelling of explosives. <BR><BR><table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="8" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="120" align="right"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="right" width="100%"><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/dialogue.html"><img src="http://unknownnews.org/dialogue-bubbles.jpg" border="3" width="125" height="125"></A></td></tr></table><BIG><B><I><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/dialogue.html">Readers' comments</a></I></B></BIG><BR><BR>We welcome readers' comments, questions, or criticisms sent to <A HREF="mailto:unknownnews@inbox.com">unknownnews@inbox.com</A>, and on <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/dialogue.html">our comments page</a> we publish any emails that (in our subjective opinion) add to the discourse. <!-- =HATTIP--><BR><BR>&diams;&nbsp; <I>Unknown News</i> is updated once weekly, usually on Mondays. It's our attempt to spotlight news that was underplayed, ignored, or simply lost in the non-stop news cycle. Here's the <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/about.html">why</A> and <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/nonuts.html">why not</A> of it all, and if any of our links require a password, please let us know and we'll share ours. <BR><BR>A tip o' the hat to A.K. for CSS help, Daniel D., the letter Z, <I><A HREF="http://theagitator.com/">The Agitator</A>, <A HREF="http://badattitudes.com/MT/">Bad Attitudes</a>, <A HREF="http://bobcesca.com/">Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog</A>, <A HREF="http://www.jrmooneyham.com">JR Mooneyham</A>, <A HREF="http://eb-misfit.blogspot.com/">Just an Earth-Bound Misfit, I</A>, <A HREF="http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/">Little Green Footballs</A>, <A HREF="http://www.newshoggers.com/blog/">Newshoggers</A>, <A HREF="http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/">Pharyngula</a>, <A HREF="http://carlosmiller.com/">Photography is Not a Crime</A>, <A HREF="http://prorev.com/indexa.htm">Progressive Review</A>, <A HREF="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/">Right Wing Watch</A>, </I>, and the love of my life (who prefers to remain anonymous).<BR><BR>Our website is prepared on a refurbished PC bought cheap and occasionally repaired by the good guys at Madison's <A HREF="http://www.tcswi.com/">Computer Store West</A>. Typed and edited using <A HREF="http://google.com/docs">Google Docs</a>. Chairs from <A HREF="http://www.goodwill.org/">Goodwill</A>, chips from <A HREF="http://www.hy-vee.com/">Hy-Vee</A>. Site hosted at the censor-free and reliably on-line <A HREF="http://www.pair.com/">pair.com</a>, with an emeritus hat-tip to our first web-home at <A HREF="http://pitas.com/">pitas.com</a>, a dang fine place for new bloggers to start. <BR><BR>With no thanks at all to a few faux progressive sites that probably do more harm than good, including the ethically empty <I>Huffington Post</i> and the ceaselessly snarky <I>Wonkette</i>; with a full-frontal fart in the face to Francis Boyle, RadicalViews.org, free-lance reporter Sherwood Ross, TomDispatch.com, and anyone else who's added us to their email list without even asking (the answer would've been no); and with an enthusiastically flipped finger to the closeted Republican mouthpiece <I>Politico</i>.<BR><BR>The blog's homepage is <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/">unknownnews.org</a>, our page of readers' comments is <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/dialogue.html">unknownnews.org/dialogue.html</A>, and we welcome your comments at <A HREF="mailto:unknownnews@inbox.com">unknownnews@inbox.com</A>. Our RSS feed is <A HREF="http://unknownnews.org/RSSfeeds/dailyRSS.xml">unknownnews.org/RSSfeeds/dailyRSS.xml</A>, and our Twitter trail is <A HREF="http://twitter.com/unknownnews">twitter.com/unknownnews</A>.<BR> <A NAME=dialogue></A><BR><BR><TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="23%" class="fonta"><!-- =change --><BR> <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1005-03.html"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.org/leftarrow.jpg" alt="arrow pointing left" border="0" width="75" height="11"><BR>Older news</A></TD><TD ALIGN="center"VALIGN="top" WIDTH="54%" class="fonta">Compiled by Helen &amp; Harry Highwater<BR><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.org/logo.gif" alt="UNKNOWN NEWS" width="150" height="31" border="0"></A><BR><!-- =change --> <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1005-10.html">Monday, May 10, 2010</A></TD><TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="23%" class="fonta"><!-- =change --><BR> <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1005-17.html"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/rightarrow.jpg" alt="arrow pointing right" border="0" height="10" width="75"><BR>Newer news</A></TD></TR></TABLE> <A NAME=dialogue></A><TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="100%" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="23%" class="fonta"><!-- =change --> <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1005-03-d.html#dialogue"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.org/leftarrow.jpg" alt="arrow pointing left" border="0" width="75" height="11"><BR>Older comments</A></TD><TD ALIGN="center"VALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="54%" class="fonta"><BR> <! --=change --><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1005-10-d.html">Readers' comments</A></TD><TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="23%" class="fonta"><!-- =change --><!-- =change --> <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1005-17-d.html#dialogue"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/rightarrow.jpg" alt="arrow pointing right" border="0" height="10" width="75"><BR>Newer comments</A></TD></TR></TABLE><BR> <BR><center><HR NOSHADE width="535">Recommended sites for gathering unknown or underreported news:<BR> &nbsp;<A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://mediamatters.org/">Media&nbsp;Matters</A>&nbsp; &nbsp;<A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://thinkprogress.org">ThinkProgress</A>&nbsp; &nbsp;<A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/">Washington&nbsp;Monthly</A>&nbsp; &nbsp;<A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.truthout.org/">TruthOut</A>&nbsp; <HR NOSHADE width="535"></center><BR> <A NAME=thanksmore></A><center><TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="300" border=0><TR> <TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" class="fonty"> <center><iframe src="http://www.unknownnews.org/support-wide.html" width="600" height="550" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></center></TD></TR></TABLE></center> <center><BR>© &nbsp; <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.net/bighowdy.html"><B>Helen & Harry Highwater</B></A> and the individual authors.<BR><BR><I> <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/bighowdy.html"><small>Big howdy</small></A> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/nonuts.html"><small>No nuts, please</small></A> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 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Our news comes only from mainstream, professional journalists or (rarely) other sources we trust entirely, with <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/nonuts.html">no nuttiness</a> and no interest in the same news you see everywhere else.<BR><BR><center><BIG><B>What we believe</B></BIG></center><BR> We believe in liberty and justice for all, so of course, we oppose many US government policies. This doesn't mean we're anti-American, redneck scum, pinko commies, militia members, or terrorist-sympathizers. It means we believe in freedom, as more than merely a cliché. <BR><BR> We believe you have the right to live your own life as you choose, and others have the equal right to live <I>their</I> lives as <I>they</I> choose. It's not complicated.<BR><BR>We believe freedom leads to peace, progress, and prosperity, while its opposite -- oppression -- leads to war, terrorism, poverty, and misery. <BR><BR> We believe it's preposterously stupid to hate people because of their appearance, their race or nationality, their religion or lack of religion, how they have sex with other consenting adults, etc. There are far more apropos reasons to hate most people. <BR><BR> We believe in questioning ourselves, our assumptions, each other -- and we especially believe in questioning authority (the more authority, the more questions). We believe obedience is a fine quality in dogs and young children, but not in adults. <BR><BR> Like America's right-wingers, we believe in individual responsibility, hard work to get ahead, and stern punishment for serious crimes. We believe big government should not be blindly trusted.<BR><BR> But unlike most right-wing leaders, we mean it. <BR><BR> Like America's left-wingers, we believe in equal treatment under law, war as a last (not first) resort, and sensible stewardship of natural resources. We believe big business should not be blindly trusted.<BR><BR>But unlike most left-wing leaders, we mean it. <BR><BR> Like libertarians, we believe it's wrong and <I>reprehensible</i> to arrest people for what they think, believe, look like, wear, eat, smoke, drink, inhale, inject, or otherwise do to themselves. <BR><BR> But unlike many libertarians, we're not obsessed with the gold standard, we don't believe incorporation is humanity's highest achievement, and we don't believe everything in life comes down to dollars and cents. We've read and enjoyed Ayn Rand's novels, but we understand that they're works of fiction.<BR><BR> We're skeptical, and we're sick of so-called 'journalists' who aren't skeptical at all. <BR><BR>A reader asks, what are our solutions?<BR><BR>We propose no solutions except common sense, which is never common. We like the principles of democracy, and the ideals broadly described as 'American'. The US Constitution is a fine and workable framework for solutions, when it's actually read and thoughtfully understood by intelligent statesmen and women. So, no manifestos from us. We don't dream that big, and if there's one thing the world <i>doesn't</i> need it's yet another manifesto.<BR><BR>Our suggestion is: think.<BR><BR>A fact-based instead of faith-based approach leads to solutions for most of the recurring issues of our time, from abortion to global climate change, pollution to universal health care, careful but real regulation of industry and economy, hunger, war, terror, human rights for humans not for corporations, science not religious doctrine in public schools, equal protection and prosecution under law, etc. Approach problems without glorifying stupidity, without demonizing intelligence, and answers usually come into focus. <BR><BR> These pages are published by <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.net/bighowdy.html">Harry and Helen Highwater</A>, happily married low-income nom de plumes and rabble-rousers from Madison, Wisconsin (with a few friends scattered around the world helping out). <BR><BR> We try to spotlight news that hasn't gotten enough (or appropriate) attention in American media, along with our opinions and yours. <BR><BR> We bang our keyboards against the wall, because it doesn't hurt as much as banging our heads. <BR><BR><center><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/bighowdy.html"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/Highwaters-oldtime.jpg" border="3" width="199" height="277"></A></center><BR> <DIV align="right"><i><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/contact.html">Helen &amp; 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><BR> <A NAME=height></A> <A NAME=debunk></A><TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="295" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" class="fonta"><iframe src="http://www.unknownnews.org/debunk-frame.html" width="295" height="2222" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="auto" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table><TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="295" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="375" bgcolor=black class="fontbox"><TABLE CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="8" WIDTH="295" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor="#ffffff" class="fontsm"><I>Scroll down or click for more&nbsp;</I><BR><A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/debunk.html"><B>unknownnews.org/<BR>debunk.html</B></A>&nbsp;</TD></TR></TABLE></td></tr></table><BR> <A NAME=rwradicals></A><TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="295" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" class="fonta"><iframe src="http://www.unknownnews.org/rwcause.html" width="295" height="2222" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="auto" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table><TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="295" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="375" bgcolor=red class="fontbox"><TABLE CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="8" WIDTH="295" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor="#ffffff" class="fontsm"><I>Scroll down or click for more&nbsp;</I><BR><A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/rwradicals.html"><B>unknownnews.org/<BR>rwradicals.html</B></A>&nbsp;</TD></TR></TABLE></td></tr></table><BR> <A NAME=cops></A><A NAME=cops-box></A><!-- =cops= --><TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="295" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" class="fonta"><iframe src="http://www.unknownnews.org/policelog.html" width="295" height="2222" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="auto" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table><TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="295" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="375" bgcolor=blue class="fontbox"><TABLE CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="8" WIDTH="295" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor="#ffffff" class="fontsm"><I>Scroll down or click for more&nbsp;</I><BR><A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/cops.html"><B>unknownnews.org/cops.html</B></A>&nbsp;</TD></TR></TABLE></td></tr></table><BR> <A NAME=oldnews></A><A NAME=unymhm></A><TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="295" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" bgcolor="#eeeeee" WIDTH="100%" class="fonty"><TABLE CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="center" WIDTH="100%" BGcolor="#eeeeee" class="fonty"><center><iframe src="http://www.unknownnews.org/oldnews-frame.html" width="295" height="2222" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="auto" frameborder="0"></iframe></center><TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="295" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="295" bgcolor=darkred class="fontbox"><TABLE CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="8" WIDTH="295" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor="#ffffff" class="fontsm"><I>Scroll down or click for more&nbsp;</I><BR><A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/oldnews.html"><B>unknownnews.org/<BR>oldnews.html</B></A>&nbsp;</TD></TR></TABLE></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></td></tr></table><BR> <TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="295" border=2><TR> <TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor=white class="fonty"><BR> <A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/mysterylinks.html"><b><i>Our mystery&nbsp;links</i></b></A><BR>(mostly just for fun) <BR><BR> <FONT COLOR=red>Links in red are not safe for<BR>work</FONT>, and <FONT COLOR=magenta>links in pink<BR>include audio and/or video.</FONT> <BR><BR> <iframe src="http://www.unknownnews.org/myslinks.html" width="270" height="350" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="auto" frameborder="0"></iframe><DIV align="right"><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/mysterylinks.html">... more mystery links</A>&nbsp;</div> </TD></TR></TABLE><BR> <A NAME=introduction></a><TABLE CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="8" WIDTH="295" border=1><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="300" bgcolor=white class="fonta"> <B><I>If you're new to Unknown News,</I></B>&nbsp; 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