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> <!-- ** add dark red coloring for diams and space after --> <!-- ** replace &lt; --> <A HREF=http://www.unknownnews.org/1005-31.html><font color=black><BIG><B>Louisiana will be the new Bhopal</B></BIG></font></a> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; A month and a week after BP and Halliburton blew the bottom of the ocean open, we've finally gotten a glimmer of the truth about the situation from an official source who <I>isn't</i> lying. White House Energy Wonk Carol Browner has obliquely admitted the obvious &mdash; BP's Gulf of Mexico gusher could be unstoppable until August. Browner didn't add "if then", but if she had, well, that might have been more honesty than Americans are allowed at this point. <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/dailyRSS.html" width="350" height="425" 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/recently.html" width="350" height="1250" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="auto" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></center></TD></TR></TABLE><TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="345" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" class="fontbox"><TABLE CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="8" WIDTH="365" border=0><TR><TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%" bgcolor="#ffffff" class="fontsm"><I>Scroll down or click for more </I><BR><A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/"><B>unknownnews.org/</B></A> </TD></TR></TABLE></td></tr></table></td></tr></table> <BR><BR>BP's undersea fountain of oil continues spewing so much crude into the Gulf that it can't be reliably quantified beyond saying that it's many, many multiples of the <i>Exxon Valdez</i>, but the news coverage of this constant calamity continues to be quaint and strange. The newscasts never delve into the coming consequences, not that I've seen, so I'll offer my forecast, based on what I know about the facts of the matter. (Disclaimer: I'm not a scientist, and if someone reading this wants to debunk the hell out of me I'd welcome it.)<BR><BR>Large areas of the Gulf of Mexico are now dead zones, and larger areas soon will be. Fish, bird, and mammal corpses will be washing up on the shore for years. The beaches will be wastelands in Louisiana, and a sticky, sickening mess in Florida, in the Carolinas, in Chesapeake Bay. As the Gulf Stream flows, oil and toxins from this disaster will wash up in the British Isles, in the Mediterranean, on the Atlantic shores of Africa. Oil will join war and movies as one of America's key exports.<BR><BR>Oil on the surface of the Gulf will increase the water's temperature, and since warmer temperatures tend to magnify the strength of storms, the hurricane season that's about to start will likely be a doozy. Hurricanes, tropical storms, and routine "black rain" will drop petrofluids many miles inland, where plants, animals, and humans will be severely antagonized. Small animals will die of the petro-contamination, and their corpses will be eaten by larger animals, up the food chain right smack-dab into your hamburgers and spare ribs, but this should only be a problem for people who eat.<BR><BR>The American economy and especially the economy in the South and the Caribbean will be in tatters for a generation. We'll be seeing a general exodus of the coastal states, as nobody but the poorest and dumbest Americans will want to live within breathing distance of the toxic petroleum stench and black rains. Even far from the waterfront it will be difficult to maintain orange groves or cotton fields or much of anything else when the dirt is an oily mush.<BR><BR>As we've said before, this is what it means to get the government off the backs of big business. Send your thanks to Ronald Reagan, Ayn Rand, and their intellectual (as it were) descendants. You wanted deregulation? You're soaking in it.<BR><BR>So there's your long-term forecast &mdash; oily, with a 100% chance of more oil. It seems increasingly likely that human ingenuity won't find a way to stem the flow, leaving the world to wait months or years until the gusher is completely emptied, its vein of oil utterly tapped.<BR><BR>Yes, the South will rise again. Give the Gulf fifty years and your grandkids might see life returning to the waters and shores. In the human timescale, though, for your life and your children's lives, Louisiana will be the new Bhopal. The other Southern states, the gulf coast of Mexico, and the Caribbean nations will be hit hard, and the rest of the world will touch and taste and feel the reverberations.<BR><BR>A month and a week into a catastrophe of staggering, extinction proportions, there's no cavalry coming. The only unanswered questions are, how long will the oil spew into the water, how far will the destruction spread, and will Americans ever, <I>ever</i> demand the simple, sensible, real regulations and enforcement that would have prevented this? <A HREF="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/oil/7786953/Gulf-of-Mexico-oil-spill-will-continue-to-gush-until-August.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%"><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><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/donations.html"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/begging.jpg" border="0" width="62" height="110"></a></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><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Whine, whine, whine, that's all you do. Why don't you offer <I>solutions</i> instead of just bad news and complaints? All righty then, let's move on to the solutions portion of our program.<BR><BR>What can the federal government do to address the emergency in the Gulf of Mexico?<BR><BR>The most obvious thing to be done is that British Petroleum should be seized and dissolved. Its equipment and personnel should be redirected by the government, solely to doing whatever is possible to stop the damage. All former BP assets not required for the rescue effort should be sold at auction to pay the cost of the environmental destruction and whatever repairs are possible. With this step, decisions regarding the ongoing catastrophe would finally be unfettered from the profit motive that has colored every decision BP has made &mdash; decisions all carefully calculated to protect BP's investments and corporate image, far more than to protect people or the Gulf.<BR><BR>Inside the government, all of the regulatory bureaucracy must be rejiggered up and down to make regulation its sole objective, as it should always have been. Anyone who remains in any related agency from the Bush-Cheney era or who came with oil industry lobbying all over their resumés should be fired, along with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. It goes without saying that arrests, trials, and many years in prison should await every Interior Department operative and every BP executive whose specific, stupid, and criminal decisions played a role in the events and aftermath of April 20, 2010. <BR><BR>And you know what else goes without saying? Very little of the above is likely to happen. The Secretary of the Interior and the CEO of BP will probably be fired at some point, when their firing is useful for public relations. Some low-level BP executives and Interior Dept managers might be prosecuted, but that's the extent of any "justice" to be had.<BR><BR>The very, very wealthy people who own BP, Halliburton, Transocean, and other similar slithering corporate monstrosities, the people who set the stage for this and the next catastrophe, those people will walk away unscathed. They won't be arrested or prosecuted, they won't even be named and shamed, because they're the people who own the major media, own the Obama administration, and own the world. They won't just destroy the Gulf of Mexico &mdash; they'll get away with it. Hell, they'll probably find a way to profit from it. <A HREF="http://www.insidebayarea.com/bay-area-living/ci_15154482">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Much more on the BP-Halliburton oil gusher <A HREF=#environment><font color=blue>below</font></a>, but first let's round up the rest of the week's unknown and under-reported news ... <A NAME=warcrimes></A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; The Obama administration has decided to hold four dozen souls in prison, probably for the rest of their lives, though there's no evidence that any of them were involved in any crime. <A HREF="http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/05/29/kafka/index.html">LINK</A> <!-- WANT TO SUPPORT OUR TROOPS? --></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%"><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> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Another judge has ordered another prisoner at the Guantanamo concentration camp to be released. This time it's 27-year-old Mohammed Hassen, whose crime was spending the night at a friend's house in Pakistan, where he was arrested in a raid for reasons never explained. Hassan says he'd never heard of Al Qaida until he arrived at Guantanamo.<BR><BR>This coverage is from McClatchy, which seems to be the only big-time outfit that thinks any of this is newsworthy. It's well worth reading; please take the time and click. <A HREF="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/05/26/94878/judge-orders-yemeni-detainee-released.html">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; The use of drones by US intelligence agencies to target suspected militants in Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere, with no judge, no jurty, no sofeguards or accountability, and while routinely but "accidentally" killing innocent citizens, lacks the accountability required under international law, a U.N. human rights expert has said. Well, duh. <A HREF="http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0528/human-rights-expert-cia-drone-strikes-violate-laws-war/">LINK</A> <A NAME=terror></A> <!-- =CIVIL LIBERTIES 3.1 --> <A NAME=freedom></A><br><br><A HREF=#freedom><font color=blue>#</font></A> &nbsp; <b>FREEDOM IS THE FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHT</b> <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">Prostitution is everywhere. It will never go away, ever. That's like trying to outlaw dogs chasing cats, or cats chasing mice.<BR><BR>Gambling is legal in many states now because the tax revenues are impossible to ignore, morality be damned. The biggest casino of all is Wall Street. Gambling used to be illegal, now it is legal some places, illegal in others.<BR><BR>Alcohol is legal but it used to be illegal, and before that it was legal.<BR><BR>Pot was legal for almost 200 years in the U.S. The Founding Fathers grew it, for f*ck's sake.<BR><BR>Hugo Chavez just outlawed currency trading. No more buying and selling money. He vows to punish these "criminals".<BR><BR>The list just goes on and on and on and on. It isn't nuts to oppose wasting valuable tax resources and making permanent "criminals" out of millions of people, people who will forever find it difficult to find good-paying honest employment.<BR><BR>Most of these laws are passed and enforced by people who have, are and will continue to enjoy the pleasures they seek to punish in others. Elliot Spitzer, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bill Clinton, George Bush, etc., etc., all enjoyed themselves some "illegal" goodies while enthusiastically punishing others.<BR><BR>Bah. Control Freaks: control yourselves, leave the rest of us alone. &nbsp; &mdash;<A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1005-17-d.html#BM05170706-DF0928">Drew&nbsp;Farmington</A></td></tr></table></tr></td></table> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; This year's Defense Authorization Act instructs the Department of Defense to "conduct an investigation of the conduct and practices of lawyers" who represent clients at Guantanamo. It's blatant intimidation, of course, un-American if you still believe the ideals of civic class, but utterly American in practice. <A HREF="http://balkin.blogspot.com/2010/05/war-on-lawyers-continued.html">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Five little paragraphs here, briefly and blithely informing readers that cars at the airport will be subjected to random searches. But the searches are "voluntary", and anyone can "opt out". It's outrageous and increasingly ordinary, and it's something no free society would tolerate. <A HREF="http://www.kvue.com/news/local/Random-voluntary-car-inspections-at-ABIA-94730564.html">LINK</A> <A NAME=abortion></A><A NAME=women></A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Governor Brad Henry (D-Oklahoma) has vetoed another misogynist anti-abortion bill, the fourth piece of woman-hating legislation that he's vetoed this year. Henry seems to be the sole bulwark against the state legislature's constant drive to reduce women to chattel. A toast to you, sir. <A HREF="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gN0Ufc6xuI3YRfJtMegelAkR5JcwD9FUVARO0">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Tip-toeing into the 20th century, the American Academy of Pediatrics has reversed its position announced a month ago, and is now "totally opposed to all forms of female genital cutting". So all it takes to get the professional group that represents most kiddie doctors in America to oppose mutilation of girls' genitals is a month of bad press. <A HREF="http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/05/27/AAP.retracts.female.genital.cutting/">LINK</A> <A NAME=gay></A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; The US House and a Senate panel have voted to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell, but the legislation includes enough caveats and delays and no solid date to take effect, so it's difficult to tell whether it's for real or just for the elections. <A HREF="http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/05/28/congress.military.gays.policy/index.html">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; The American CIA considered making a fake video showing Saddam Hussein as gay. Which ought to make you wonder how many fake videos we've all seen proving things we all now know are true, that aren't. <A HREF="http://blog.washingtonpost.com/spy-talk/2010/05/cia_group_had_wacky_ideas_to_d.html">LINK</A> <small>(Use our <I>Washington Post</i> login as "unknownnews@inbox.com" with password "unknown")</small> <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><!-- =Germany--><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/flagGermany.gif" alt="Germany" border="1" width="50" height="30"></td></tr></table> <font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; German President Horst Köhler has resigned, several days after saying in an interview that military deployments could be necessary to defend German economic interests. Sieg Hurst, certainly, but what he said is just a too-blunt statement of what governments do. <A HREF="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ha5jQzjQ31DFUt4oDKuQbrw9V8TgD9G1TQRG0">LINK</A> <BR><BR><!-- =Spain --><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/flagSpain.gif" alt="Spain" border="1" width="50" height="30"></td></tr></table> <font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Following in Greece's footsteps, Spain has submitted to unjust "austerity" measures that read to me like handcuffs on the Spanish economy &mdash; another payoff to delay the international collapse that can't be delayed forever but at least won't happen today. Is that worth the price?<BR><BR>The first link is especially clickable, I think, taking you to a chat with a knowledgeable friend explaining the rather limited and ugly choices Spain and Greece face, and the "coming soon" similar future in America. <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1005-31-d.html#MM05290833-MM822">LINK</A>, <A HREF="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100527/ts_nm/us_spain_austerity">LINK</A> <BR><BR><!-- =Afghanistan --><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/flagAfghanistan.gif" alt="Afghanistan" border="1" width="50" height="30"></td></tr></table> <font color=darkred><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; </font>&nbsp; The American war and occupation and endless, senseless US-sponsored death continues in Afghanistan. <BR><BR><!-- =Iran --><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="65" align="left"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><img src="http://unknownnews.org/flagIran.jpg" alt="Iran" border="1" width="50" height="30"></td></tr></table> <font color=darkred><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; </font>&nbsp; The American war and occupation and endless, senseless US-sponsored death is coming soon in Iran. <BR><BR><!-- =Iran=Saudi Arabia=Somalia --><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="185" align="left"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><img src="http://unknownnews.org/flagIran.jpg" alt="Iran" border="1" width="50" height="30"> <img src="http://unknownnews.org/flagSaudiArabia.jpg" alt="Saudi Arabia" border="1" width="50" height="30"> <img src="http://unknownnews.org/flagSomalia.gif" alt="Somalia" border="1" width="50" height="30"></td></tr></table> <font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top American commander in the Middle East, has ordered a broad expansion of clandestine military activity in an effort to disrupt militant groups or counter threats in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and other countries in the region, according to defense officials and military documents.<BR><BR>"Secret military actions expanded", is the headline, and I expect that these "disruptions" and killings are being conducted with as much competence as the military's "secret", here blared world-wide by the <I>New York Times</i>.<BR><BR>Also, note that this kill-order comes from Petraeus, instead of from Obama. The President and the administration are only mentioned in passing, in the article's tenth paragraph, which leads to another secret not well kept &mdash; the President isn't in charge, and probably hasn't been in charge since Eisenhower. <A HREF="http://www.kentucky.com/2010/05/25/1278723.html">LINK</A> <BR><BR><!-- =Iraq --><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/flagIraq.jpg" alt="Iraq" border="1" width="50" height="30"></td></tr></table> <font color=darkred><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; </font>&nbsp; The American war and occupation and endless, senseless US-sponsored death continues in Iraq. <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> <font color=darkred><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; </font>&nbsp; The American drone attacks, "secret" CIA murders, and other senseless US-sponsored death continues in Pakistan. <BR><BR><!-- =Israel=Palestine --><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="65" align="left"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><img src="http://unknownnews.org/flagIsraelPalestine.jpg" alt="Israel/Palestine" border="1" width="50" height="30"></td></tr></table> <font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; According to the <I>London Times</i>, the Taliban is paying a bounty of $2,372 for each American or NATO soldier killed. Seems like a waste of funds to me, as I'm sure there are ample Afghans who'd kill the invaders for their own reasons &mdash; vengeance, patriotism, or just ingrained hatred &mdash; with no payment at all. <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Israel tried to secretly sell nuclear weapons to the apartheid-era government of South Africa.<BR><BR>Maybe, if there's a sense of decency to be found anywhere in the present-day Israeli government, with this in the headlines they'll at least lower the volume of Israel's feigned hysteria over Iran's alleged nuclear weapons envy. Unlikely. The sense of decency, I mean. <A HREF="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/23/israel-south-africa-nuclear-weapons">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; On Sunday night, Israeli commandos opened fire and boarded a flotilla of humanitarian aid ships, killing at least 9 people in the first reports, and lying about the circumstances. Welcome to Israel! <A HREF="http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0531/raw-video-reporter-claims-israelis-fired-activists-boarding-ship/">LINK</a> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Amnesty International has concluded that Israel committed war crimes and serious breaches of international law during its three-week slaughter in the Gaza Strip from December 2009 to January 2010. This is not exactly shocking, and was obvious to anyone who cared enough to glance toward the atrocities. <A HREF="http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=176596">LINK</A> <BR><A NAME=environment></a><A NAME=gusher></A><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%"><BR><img src="http://unknownnews.org/globalwarming.jpg" alt="global climate change" border="1" width="128" height="94"></td></tr></table><br><A HREF=#environment><font color=blue>#</font></A> &nbsp; <B>DISASTER IN THE GULF</B> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; In the last few days there s been a mix of messages from government officials about whether the Obama administration has the authority to take control of the unrelenting seabed oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico.<BR><BR>But there s no doubt, at least in the language of relevant federal law; President Obama not only has the authority, but the obligation  however politically risky that might be  to take ownership of efforts to stanch the flow. <A HREF="http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/24/if-top-kill-fails-obama-must-take-reins/">LINK</A> <small>(Use our <I>New York Times</i> login as "unknownnews" with password "unknown")</small> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; An internal BP memo suggests that a rush-rush safety short-cut played a role in the April 20 explosion that triggered the gusher. And asked about a "heated argument" on the oil rig hours before the explosion that killed eleven men and fouled the Gulf, a BP exec takes the Fifth and won't answer. <A HREF="http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10146/1060828-84.stm">LINK</A>, <A HREF="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704717004575268302434395796.html">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Louisiana fishermen, drafted to help fight back the oil, are being sickened by the toxins in BP's chemical dispersants. Flash: If exposure to the dispersants causes short-term sickness, it's almost certainly doing long-term damage too. <A HREF="http://www.wdsu.com/health/23615203/detail.html">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; President Obama says he trusted BP. Imagine that.<BR><BR>Politicians lie for a living, and I don't think Barack Obama is stupid or naïve enough to have ever trusted BP, but like everyone else who's nominally in charge he trusted the roll of the dice. <I>Nothing will go wrong this time, luck be a lady tonight ...</i> <A HREF="http://firedoglake.com/2010/05/30/why-did-obama-trust-big-oil/">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><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; The folks at BP have cordially requested that all lawsuits against them be consolidated and heard by one federal judge, and they even know which judge &mdash; since he's demonstrably in the pocket of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. <A HREF="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/05/26/94887/bp-wants-houston-judge-with-oil.html#ixzz0p8E3x6rm">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Elizabeth Birnbaum, the head of the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service (MMS), either quietly quit or was quietly fired last week. No word on whether she'll be investigated, prosecuted, or imprisoned, over her agencies orgies and drug debauchery with executives of the conglomerates MMS was allegedly regulating. <A HREF="http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2010/05/obama-fires-mms-chief-elizabeth-birnbaum/1">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; The Interior Department's much-touted post-accident suspension of drill permits never really happened. <A HREF="http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/05/24/1454509/la-plows-ahead-on-berms.html">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; The Obama administration has announced that it will "extend" the off-shore drilling ban that was announced after the BP-Halliburton explosion, and has been regularly violated since. <A HREF="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/us_and_canada/10172562.stm">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; The Obama administration has picked two old farts of no particular distinction outside Washington DC as co-chairs of his Blue-Ribbon Committee to Futz Around the Gulf. And who's the two? Former EPA administrator William K. Reilly, and former Senator Bob Graham. One's a Republican and one's a Democrat, because <I>everything</i> Obama does has to be bipartisan, but it doesn't matter which is which because the committee's sole function is to futz around. <A HREF="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100522/ap_on_bi_ge/us_obama_oil_spill">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; "BP's in charge" of the cops in coastal Louisiana, and ain't that reassuring? <A HREF="http://motherjones.com/environment/2010/05/oil-spill-bp-grand-isle-beach">LINK</A> <A NAME=politicsasusual></a><A NAME=Obama></a><A NAME=democrats> <BR><BR><A HREF=#politicsasusual><font color=blue>#</font></A> &nbsp; <b>POLITICS IN LIEU OF STATESMANSHIP</b><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">For at least decades, America's leadership has argued ferociously &mdash; Democrats vs Republicans in an eternal smackdown &mdash; but argued only about the minor details of a whole lot of seriously retarded precepts that they've unanimously agreed are sacrosanct and never to be questioned.<BR><BR>Democrats and Republicans argue about gays in the military but cheerfully agree on foreign policy based on war and threat of war.<BR><BR>Democrats and Republicans argue about a few weeks of meager unemployment extensions but agree on industrial policy that seems designed to encourage the dismantling of industry.<BR><BR>Democrats and Republicans argue about whether pot smokers and cokeheads should get long prison terms or mandated, heavy-handed counseling, but agree on drug policies that put utterly harmless or even entrepreneurial Americans in prison.<BR><BR>Democrats and Republicans argue about walls and round-ups and draconian civil rights violations to snag illegal immigrants, but agree to never seriously fund enforcement of laws that might punish the employers of illegal immigrants.<BR><BR>Democrats and Republicans argue about the imagined economic repercussions of raising the minimum wage by a dime once a decade, but agree about the wondrous goodness of "free trade" and foreign outsourcing and utterly fake derivatives and other economic policies that any fool can see are ruinous.<BR><BR>Yeah, Democrats and Republicans argue about everything except the things they all agree on, all this and more, much, much more. I could spend all day typing such conundrums but I have to get to my job mopping floors... <I>Ah, but ain't that America for you and me, ain't that America something to see ...</i></td></tr></table></tr></td></table> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; The Obama administration has, of course and predictably, sided with the Vatican and against any kind of punishment for the Catholic Church's at-least decades-long child-rape program for priests. <A HREF="http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0525/obama-backs-catholic-church-immunity-claim-sexual-abuse-lawsuits/">LINK</A>, <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/030817pedopriests.html">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Charlie Melancon (<font color="#cccccc">D</font>-Louisiana) is one of the worthless Blue Dog Democrats that populate the South and plague the Democratic Party, but he appears to have some humanity hidden deep in his soul. He literally came to tears during a House hearing on the catastrophic ruin of the Gulf region wrought by British Petroleum.<BR><BR>It's impressive and relieving to me, to <I>finally</i> see someone in government who seems to actually give a damn.<BR><BR>Melancon is running for the Senate against the incumbent David Vitter (R-Diapers and Hookers), and I'm wondering how voters will respond to his emotional display. Will his poll numbers go up, or down? Is it a good thing yet, in Louisiana, for a politician to seem to seriously care about the hugest man-made disaster in human history, or will voters just think he's a wimp? <A HREF="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XL9YXvYbk5Q&">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><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; &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. <!-- =STATE=LOCAL 2.2 --> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Bill Halter is the only Democrat running in the Democratic Party's primary run-off against Senator Blanche Lincoln (<font color="#cccccc">D</font>-Arkansas). Bill Clinton is enthusiastically backing Lincoln, which should tell you all you need to know. Halter isn't Dennis Kucinich, but more realistically he's not Blanche Lincoln and he's not Bill Clinton, so he won't block anything and everything that's even slightly Democratish, as Lincoln and Clinton usually have. That's worth a few dollars to me, and maybe you. <A HREF="http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/05/28/bill-clinton-praises-lincoln-claims-unions-trying-to-manipulate-voters-to-%E2%80%98terrify%E2%80%9D-dems/?fbid=Qtj9ncYEdLr">LINK</A>, <A HREF="http://www.actblue.com/page/billhalter">LINK</A> <A NAME=reps></A><A NAME=Republicans></A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; People who seek some principle, consistency, or even simple sense from the Obama administration are scratching their heads, trying to understand his decision to send troops to quell non-existent border violence in Arizona. <!-- WHERE'S THE CHANGE? sideways --></A><table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="8" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="154" align="right"><tr><td class="fonta" vAlign="top" align="center" width="100%"><a href=http://www.unknownnews.org/stickers.html><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/right-CHANGEsticker.jpg" alt="President Obama, where's that 'change' you promised?" border="3" width="139" height="450"></a><BR><BR><I>(from <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/stickers.html">our sticker collection</a>)</I></td></tr></table> <BR><BR>My guess is, it's a favor for Obama's friend John McCain (R-Arizona), who needs some solid right-wing stupidity like this to overcome a Republican primary challenge from neanderthal former Congressman J. D. Hayworth (R-Arizona). If there's any relaible pattern to Obama's performance so far as President, it's that his primary (albeit impossible) goal is pleasing Republicans. <A HREF="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/right-now/2010/05/mccain_gets_political_win_on_b.html">LINK</A> <small>(Use our <I>Washington Post</i> login as "unknownnews@inbox.com" with password "unknown")</small>, <A HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/us/politics/27immig.html?hp">LINK</A> <small>(Use our <I>New York Times</i> login as "unknownnews" with password "unknown")</small> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; The University of Virginia has filed a motion to quash the anti-science witch hunt of Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R-Virginia), who has effectively subpoenaed every piece of paper ever touched by climate researcher Michael Mann during Mann's tenure at UVa.<BR><BR>Cuccinelli is basically Jerry Falwell without the pulpit, or Sarah Palin without the glasses, seriously stupid and scary, and he's probably a rising star of the Republican Party. Don't be surprised if he runs for Congress. <A HREF="http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/state_regional/state_regional_govtpolitics/article/CUCC282_20100527-222607/347399/">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; As he was delivering some big speech to a flock of lawyers in the Ceremonial Courtroom at the United States Courthouse in Washington DC last week, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said that he had no problem with Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan's lack of experience as a judge.<BR><BR>As with many of Scalia's public comments, this is inappropriate and unprofessional. It is just plain unseemly for sitting members of the Supreme Court to publicly comment on nominees, just as it would be inappropriate for sitting members of the Court to publicly comment on cases that might come before the Court, and just as it's inappropriate for sitting members of the Court to go hunting with someone who has a case pending before the Court. Scalia's comment would call into question his judicial demeanor, if he hadn't answered that question in the negative so many times before. <A HREF="http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/05/justice-scalia-praises-elena-kagans-lack-of-judicial-experience.html">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1005-24-d.html#anonymous05270557">From our comments page</A>:<UL>Think hard and read your history books. What did Harriet Tubman have in terms of her actions that millions of Americans do not?<BR><BR>You can try to save your country under cover of darkness...If you think hard enough about how to do it.<BR><BR>The question is: At this point do we even want to?&nbsp;... &nbsp; &mdash;<A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1005-24- d.html#anonymous">anonymous05270557</A></UL> <font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Oliver Stone s new documentary <I>South of the Border</i> includes an interview with former Argentine President Néstor Kirchner, who tells of meeting with then-US President George W Bush:<UL>"I said that a solution for the problems right now, I told Bush, is a Marshall Plan. And he got angry. He said the Marshall Plan is a crazy idea of the Democrats. He said the best way to revitalize the economy is war. And that the United States has grown stronger with war." &nbsp; <A HREF="http://thinkprogress.org/2010/05/28/argentine-prime-bush-war/">LINK</A></UL> <font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; We're in two and a half wars, the Gulf of Mexico is filling with oil, the world economy is teetering, and China is poised to rule the world, so let's see what Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) has to offer. Why, it's a law that would <!-- 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> punish people who claim military experience they don't actually have. An obviously unconstitutional solution for a problem that barely exists &mdash; nice work, Senator. <A HREF="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/right-now/2010/05/orrin_hatch_introduces_amendme.html?wprss=right-now">LINK</A> <small>(Use our <I>Washington Post</i> login as "unknownnews@inbox.com" with password "unknown")</small> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kansas) is blocking the nomination of Donald Berwick to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. Berwick is not at all a controversial nominee, which is why you never heard of him before this paragraph and once he's confirmed or rejected you'll never hear of him again.<BR><BR>But he once described America's health care sort-of system as &mdash; brace yourself &mdash; a means of rationing health care. Of course, that's what it is, what virtually any system would be. Our current health care system makes sure that some people get top-quality health care, others get far lesser-quality health care, and millions get no health care at all. That's rationing, and Berwick's saying so (once, long ago) is what's earned him Roberts' wrath.<BR><BR>The information behind the link is important so click it already. I'll add just two tedious and very, very obvious observations, plain to anyone who's discussing politics with any honesty or integrity: First, while the recent health insurance reform that dripped out of DC will, slowly, eventually, make the American rationing of health care noticeably less vulgar, cruel, and inhuman, the problems are far from solved and it's irresponsible and disingenuous to suggest that there's no rationing of health care. And second, an even less debatable point, Senator Roberts is a colossal douchebag. <A HREF="http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/001868.htm">LINK</A><BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Follow-up point, and it's a good one &mdash; why is the Senate involved in confirming such low-level positions? Ezra Klein thinks the Senate has better things to do and I'm with Ezra. <A HREF="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/05/why_ask_the_senate.html">LINK</A> <small>(Use our <I>Washington Post</i> login as "unknownnews@inbox.com" with password "unknown")</small> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; On a related note, here are some accounts from the health care system in a country that has a health care system, Mexico. Every time there's a medical concern in my family or in my life, I wish I lived in Mexico or Canada or some other civilized nation, but nope, I'm an American. <A HREF="http://www.fredoneverything.net/MexicanWitchMedicine.shtml">LINK</A> <A NAME=fakeoutrage></A><BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; In last week's fake Republican outrage, we saw the right-wing take great phony umbrage over the Obama administration's alleged offer of enticements to keep Congressman Joe Sestak (D-Pennsylvania) from running for the Senate, and over a mosque that might be built within easy walking distance of the once and future World Trade Centers. ... Can't wait to see what next week's fake Republican outrage will be about. It's always something. <A HREF="http://mediamatters.org/blog/201005250050>LINK</A>, <A HREF="http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/05/planned_muslim_cultural_center_near_ground_zero_pr.php">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><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Household everyproduct maker Johnson & Johnson tried to perform a "phantom recall" of defective Motrin by sending contractors around the country to buy up the medicine from stores without alerting regulators or the public, according to the chairman of a Congressional committee investigating the company. Which would mean, if you already had the "defective" painkiller on your shelf you'd never know and you'd swallow it. <A HREF="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/27/AR2010052705484.html">LINK</A> <small>(Use our <I>Washington Post</i> login as "unknownnews@inbox.com" with password "unknown")</small> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; In keeping with long-time federal policy, another financial firm has been allowed to buy its way out of prosecution. Hedge fund manipulator Arthur J. Samberg and his company, Pequot Capital Management, have agreed to pay some $28-million in penalties and fees, in exchange for the feds agreeing not to press charges. It's justice for sale, it ought to be illegal, and the people in the federal government who broker such deals ought to be in prison themselves. <A HREF="http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/reuters/MTFH60876_2010-05-27_18-49-56_N27129295.htm">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Interesting story about a college student waging an on-line reputation war against a shady tow company. I had my doubts that a tow-truck operator would actually scrape someone's parking permit off his windshield, but when the paper reported that 17 of 20 BBB complaints against the tow company are un-answered, much of my doubt disappeared. <A HREF="http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100523/NEWS06/5230525/1320/Fight-with-student-may-wreck-tow-firm&template=fullarticle">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; In England, big-time hedge fund advisors are telling investors that the sovereign debt crisis will worsen, despite a multi-billion dollar bail-out from the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the European Central Bank.  Shorting the euro", says one trader, "is the biggest bet in town." <A HREF="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/7753874/Hedge-funds-bet-big-on-the-falling-euro.html">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; George Washington is alleged to have slept at the King George II Inn, a restaurant and hotel in Bristol, Pennsylvania that's been open for business since 1681. Yeah, since the year 1681. The restaurant is now closed, with the owner lamenting the recession's hard hit on "fine dining". <A HREF="http://www.buckslocalnews.com/articles/2010/05/26/bristol_pilot/news/doc4bfd56654a4a2000982514.txt">LINK</A>, <A HREF="http://www.kginn.com/">LINK</A> <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><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; The <I>Washington Post</i> is your go-to source for information about whether Elena Kagan is crossing her legs. <A HREF="http://mediamatters.org/strupp/201005250057">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; You'll recall that a few weeks ago the <I>New York Times</i> made a front-page scoop out of accusations of lying against Connecticut A.G. Richard Blumenthal, because up to several times he may have clumsily or perhaps dishonestly exaggerated his Vietnam-era military service. In light of this, it's worth remembering just how resolutely the same <I>New York Times</i> virtually refused to cover the substantial gaps in then-candidate George W Bush's Vietnam-era military service, during the 2000 election. And yeah, we mentioned this last week, but we didn't provide these details of the <I>Times</i> journalistic malpractice. <A HREF="http://readersupportednews.com/off-site-news-section/47-47/2051-ny-times-ignored-bushs-war-record">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; And we're waiting patiently for the <I>New York Times</i> or anyone else in mainstream media to give Congressman Mark Kirk (R-Indiana)'s lie about serving in the first Iraq war the scrutiny and attention given to Blumenthal. <A HREF="http://trueslant.com/level/2010/05/21/republicans-have-their-own-richard-blumenthal-but-lack-outrage/">LINK</A>, <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1005-24.html#journalism">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; The <I>New York Times</i> continues to treat Rush Limbaugh as if he's an entertaining, thoughtful political commentator, which is a lie. It would be easier to take the <I>Times</i> seriously and trust its reports on other matters, if the paper didn't insist on sidestepping the plain truth about American's most popular radio host &mdash; he's a demagogue, a liar, and a racist, and those are facts, not insults. <A HREF="http://www.thenation.com/blog/nyt-still-schizoid-limbaugh">LINK</A>, <A HREF="http://www.nndb.com/people/428/000022362/">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; A former contractor for the FBI, Shamai Leibowitz, gets twenty months in prison for leaking classified information to a journalist. Leibowitz says he was acting as a whistleblower trying to draw attention to illegal acts by the government. So what information was he trying to leak? The government won't say, the court never got to see it, and Judge Alexander Williams (appointed by Clinton in 1994) apparently never even asked what the information was about. <A HREF="http://www.fair.org/blog/2010/05/25/obamas-war-on-the-press-continues/">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; If you're in Oregon and you get arrested for drunk driving but you don't want to read about yourself in the newspaper, it helps if you're in management at the dominant daily paper, <I>The Oregonian</i>. <A HREF="http://mediamatters.org/strupp/201005250054">LINK</A> <A NAME=leftovers></a><BR><BR><A HREF=#leftovers><font color=blue>#</font></A> &nbsp; <B>LEFTOVERS AND STUPIDITY FOR DESSERT</B> <!-- =SCIENCE=MEDICINE 3.8--> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Andrew Wakefield, the researcher whose fake science fueled most of the misplaced worry over MMR vaccines and autism, has been stripped of his medical license. <A HREF="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/may/24/andrew-wakefield-mmr-gmc">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; The US Navy is using trained dolphins to provide security at military bases. Curious to see it acknowledged in a mainstream newspaper, when I distinctly remember seeing the notion treated as nutball stuff by military spokespeople a few years back. <A HREF="http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2010/may/26/dolphins-ready-for-bangor-but-bangor-not-ready/">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; By cutting daily consumption of sugary drinks by just one serving a day, people can lower their blood pressure. <A HREF="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-05/lsuh-lrf052410.php">LINK</A> <!-- =PERSONAL 3.8--> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Two brothers in their late sixties are setting out on a journey they hope will draw attention to the fake personhood of corporations. Starting out from San Francisco, Robin and Laird Monahan have begun a 3000-mile hike that will take them across ten states to Washington, DC.<BR><BR>I'm a sucker for this kind of grassroots "stunt" activism. We all gotta do what we can do, and this is doing good. <A HREF="http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0523/monahan-brothers-interview/">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Security expert Bruce Schneier had an unexpectedly pleasant moment at airport security. <A HREF="http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2010/05/scene_from_an_a.html">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; If you want to remember Art Linkletter as a TV performer, go right ahead. That's what made him rich. I'll remember him as a right-wing scumbag who indirectly supported the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth", backed George W Bush, and probably supported everything despicable about the cro magnon right agenda that's crippled America. <A HREF="http://www.nndb.com/people/643/000022577/">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; An un-named business owner has, we're told, confided to a blogger I've never read that he's going Galt.<UL>"He said he was sending out a letter to the restaurants and shops he patronized, his dry cleaners, the service companies that tended his lawns at his homes &mdash; over 200 different business owners &mdash; letting them know that President Obama had determined he was making too much money and was too rich for reason. Therefore, he was going to cut sales and production at his companies by half, himself work but one day a week, cut business spending to the bone and personally buy nothing &mdash; other than vacations out of the country &mdash; until the president exits."</UL>To mark the occasion, the beginning of his strike, this supposed business owner purchased a pair of cufflinks engraved, "Who is John Galt?" No word on whether the cufflinks are made of solid gold. <A HREF="http://alicublog.blogspot.com/2010_05_23_archive.html#6688318204290554184">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; To keep hot dogs from strangling so many children, it's proposed that extra slits be added to wieners, effectively astriskating the meat. Looks yummy but is it practical? Am I supposed to have a hot dog astriskater in my kitchen? Or are they going to astriskate the dogs at the factory? And if it's the latter they'll need new, doubtless pricier packaging ... <A HREF="http://www.slashfood.com/2010/05/27/the-kinder-cut-teaches-an-old-dog-new-tricks/">LINK</A> <A NAME=stupidity></A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; The adult lovers of several dozen Catholic priests have written a petition to the Pope, asking him to end the charade of celibacy for priests. <A HREF="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/27/italian-priests-mistresses-letter-pope">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; I'm sure I'm supposed to be all proper and liberal and not laugh my ass off when devout Muslims, offended by "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day", march in the street and shout "Death to Facebook". Problem is, people full of themselves and their religion always strike me as funny. I chuckle at furious street preachers, I chuckled at Piss Christ, and while I lack the artistic talent to draw Mohammed you can rest assured that I'm chuckling at the fury of the offended. <A HREF="http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0521/pakistanis-shout-death-facebook-burn-flags/">LINK</A> <A NAME=notnews></A><BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; And lastly, a quick recap of some of the news we don't give a damn about, and don't even think is "news"  what Venus Williams wears to play tennis, Sarah Palin's fantasy that her new neighbor is a pervert, whether Elena Kagan crosses her legs ... and much, much more nonsense and non-news.<BR><BR>See ya in a week or two with another recap of real news instead. <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><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; <I>Unknown News</i> is updated once weekly, usually on Mondays. 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Our news comes only from mainstream, professional journalists or (rarely) other sources we trust entirely, with <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/nonuts.html">no nuttiness</a> and no interest in the same news you see everywhere else.<BR><BR><center><BIG><B>What we believe</B></BIG></center><BR> We believe in liberty and justice for all, so of course, we oppose many US government policies. This doesn't mean we're anti-American, redneck scum, pinko commies, militia members, or terrorist-sympathizers. It means we believe in freedom, as more than merely a cliché. <BR><BR> We believe you have the right to live your own life as you choose, and others have the equal right to live <I>their</I> lives as <I>they</I> choose. It's not complicated.<BR><BR>We believe freedom leads to peace, progress, and prosperity, while its opposite -- oppression -- leads to war, terrorism, poverty, and misery. <BR><BR> We believe it's preposterously stupid to hate people because of their appearance, their race or nationality, their religion or lack of religion, how they have sex with other consenting adults, etc. There are far more apropos reasons to hate most people. <BR><BR> We believe in questioning ourselves, our assumptions, each other -- and we especially believe in questioning authority (the more authority, the more questions). We believe obedience is a fine quality in dogs and young children, but not in adults. <BR><BR> Like America's right-wingers, we believe in individual responsibility, hard work to get ahead, and stern punishment for serious crimes. We believe big government should not be blindly trusted.<BR><BR> But unlike most right-wing leaders, we mean it. <BR><BR> Like America's left-wingers, we believe in equal treatment under law, war as a last (not first) resort, and sensible stewardship of natural resources. We believe big business should not be blindly trusted.<BR><BR>But unlike most left-wing leaders, we mean it. <BR><BR> Like libertarians, we believe it's wrong and <I>reprehensible</i> to arrest people for what they think, believe, look like, wear, eat, smoke, drink, inhale, inject, or otherwise do to themselves. <BR><BR> But unlike many libertarians, we're not obsessed with the gold standard, we don't believe incorporation is humanity's highest achievement, and we don't believe everything in life comes down to dollars and cents. We've read and enjoyed Ayn Rand's novels, but we understand that they're works of fiction.<BR><BR> We're skeptical, and we're sick of so-called 'journalists' who aren't skeptical at all. <BR><BR>A reader asks, what are our solutions?<BR><BR>We propose no solutions except common sense, which is never common. We like the principles of democracy, and the ideals broadly described as 'American'. The US Constitution is a fine and workable framework for solutions, when it's actually read and thoughtfully understood by intelligent statesmen and women. So, no manifestos from us. We don't dream that big, and if there's one thing the world <i>doesn't</i> need it's yet another manifesto.<BR><BR>Our suggestion is: think.<BR><BR>A fact-based instead of faith-based approach leads to solutions for most of the recurring issues of our time, from abortion to global climate change, pollution to universal health care, careful but real regulation of industry and economy, hunger, war, terror, human rights for humans not for corporations, science not religious doctrine in public schools, equal protection and prosecution under law, etc. Approach problems without glorifying stupidity, without demonizing intelligence, and answers usually come into focus. <BR><BR> These pages are published by <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.net/bighowdy.html">Harry and Helen Highwater</A>, happily married low-income nom de plumes and rabble-rousers from Madison, Wisconsin (with a few friends scattered around the world helping out). <BR><BR> We try to spotlight news that hasn't gotten enough (or appropriate) attention in American media, along with our opinions and yours. <BR><BR> We bang our keyboards against the wall, because it doesn't hurt as much as banging our heads. <BR><BR><center><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/bighowdy.html"><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/Highwaters-oldtime.jpg" border="3" width="199" height="277"></A></center><BR> <DIV align="right"><i><A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/contact.html">Helen &amp; 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