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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</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; --> <!-- =NEWDAY=NEXTDAY= --><!-- =unk --> <A HREF=http://www.unknownnews.org/1006-07.html><font color=black><BIG><B>Kill baby kill, kill here, kill now</B></BIG></font></a> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; The extent of the BP Gulf gusher is ever-so-slowly beginning to hit home across America, despite media coverage that still &mdash; still &mdash; seems to be sidestepping any honest appraisal of the catastrophic consequences yet to come. The death, toxicity, and general awfulness of the Gulf coast and the Gulf itself by the end of the summer will be unlike anything America has ever seen, and as awful as <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1005-31.html">my expectations of the damage</a> are, the reality could be even worse. <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/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>Physicist Michio Kaku says BP's Gulf oil gusher could spew unchecked for years. This got my attention because Kaku is rather famous in physics circles for his work on string theory and other aspects of heavy-duty supergeek science. He's so famous that I'd actually heard of him, and I'm no physicist. He is Nobel bait, so it's hard to dismiss Kaku as a kook. <A HREF="http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/node/37464">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; But, not to worry. BP is spending $50-million on a "we're sorry" ad campaign. <A HREF="http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/06/bp-turns-to-political-shop-for-50-million-ad-buy-to-convince-you-the-company-will-get-this-done-and-.html">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 delayed and ultimately changed the language in its revision of the military commissions manual because Bush-era language left open the interpretation that CIA drone operators would be considered war criminals, according to the <I>New York Times</i>. And wallah, just like that, no war criminals! <A HREF="http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/05/report_obama_admin_shifted_commission_rules_to_pro.php">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Former President George W Bush has joined former Vice President Dick Cheney in publicly acknowledging their administration's war crimes. "Yeah, we waterboarded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed," the former president told a business audience in Grand Rapids, Michigan. "I d do it again to save lives."<BR><BR>Waterboarding is drowning someone and, if it's done properly, bringing the victim back just before his actual death &mdash; numerous people died during the Bush-Cheney torture era when they were waterboarded not quite correctly. So of course, waterboarding is torture and of course, this is universally acknowledged by everyone who's seriously knowledgeable about human rights. And of course, nobody's life was saved by waterboarding Khalid Sheikh Mohammed an amazing one-hundred-and-eighty-three times. And of course, Bush and Cheney will never be brought to account for their years of countless crimes against humanity. <A HREF="http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/former-interrogator-all-george-bush-did-gi">LINK</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%"><BR><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 fuck'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 Schwarzennegger, 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. <BR><BR><DIV align="right"> &mdash;<A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1005-17-d.html#BM05170706-DF0928">Drew&nbsp;Farmington</A></DIV></td></tr></table></tr></td></table> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; The American Civil Liberties Union (<A HREF="http://action.aclu.org/site/PageServer?pagename=FJ_donationhome&s_subsrc=top_donate_hp">donate</A>) has sued the federal government for the release of documents relating to what it calls an unconstitutional spying law that gives the executive branch power to collect Americans' international e-mails and phone records without a warrant or suspicion of wrongdoing. The lawsuit, which challenges the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, was filed in Federal Court against the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Justice Department, the National Security Agency and the Defense Department. <A HREF="http://www.courthousenews.com/2010/06/03/27810.htm">LINK</A> <A NAME=arizona></A><BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; The City of Tucson, Arizona has filed court papers backing city cop Martin Escobar's lawsuit against the state's new anti-immigrant "papers please" law, agreeing with Escobar that SB 1070 will violate the US Constitution. <A HREF="http://www.kgun9.com/Global/story.asp?S=12578063">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; The ACLU and several other civil rights groups have gone to court to block Arizona's obviously-unconstitutional "papers please" law, which compels cops to ask "suspected illegal immigrants" (ie, brown people) to produce proof of citizenship on the spot, every time they're seen by a cop as they're going about their business. <A HREF="http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20100605/UPDATE/100605013">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; In Hollywood, police are "cracking down" on actors who wear superhero costumes, pose for photos with tourists, and live off tips. Near as I can figure it's the asking for tips that's illegal, though it's hard to imagine how such a law could pass even Antonin Scalia's constitutional muster. <A HREF="http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/06/03/hollywood.superhero.crackdown/">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; A little bit worrisome: Due to bugs in the way 9-1-1 centers handle calls from internet-based sources, it's easy for pranksters to spoof the caller ID and appear to be calling from anywhere they please. It's called Swatting because usually the end result of these malicious calls is a Police SWAT Team being sent to your home. <A HREF="http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=7479233&rss=rss-wpvi-article-7479233">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has levied a $25,000 fine against Fox (the broadcast network, not the faux news channel, though the ownership is the same) because a horse semen joke offended little old ladies everywhere, and the network failed to respond to the FCC's inquiry with the promptness and completeness that feds are accustomed to.<BR><BR>As with so many other things, this isn't an appropriate function of government. <A HREF="http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/06/04/american-dad-fcc/">LINK</A> <A NAME=gay></A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; By executive order, the President has granted gay federal employees a few more benefits that have long been available to straight employees. Not all the benefits, of course, but a few more than President Obama bestowed in an executive in June of 2009.<BR> <!-- 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%" ><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> <BR>All snark aside and in all sincerity, it's appreciated, even as I think it's just weird to parcel out benefits in annual doses. Perhaps in June of 2011 another executive order will move gays even closer to being treated as equals. <A HREF="http://carnalnation.com/content/56926/897/obama-extends-benefits-same-sex-couples">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; In explaining why he voted to deny a permit for Oklahoma City's gay pride parade, bigoted city councilmember Brian Walters inadvertently demonstrates why gay folks need to stage pride parades. <A HREF="http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2010/06/phoboquotable-brian-walters.html">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum (R) seems to have hired gay anti-gay loon George Rekers for "expert" anti-gay court testimony, for $120,000, against the advice of McCollum's own staff. <A HREF="http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2010/06/florida-ag-bill-mccollum-hired-dr.html">LINK</A> <A NAME=drugs></A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; In Arizona, a referendum to legalize medical marijuana has earned a spot on the ballot. <A HREF="http://elections.firedoglake.com/2010/06/02/medical-marijuana-makes-the-ballot-in-arizona/">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; In Washington, petitioners are trying to get pot legalization &mdash; not medical marijuana, but just plain marijuana &mdash; on the ballot for this November. A similar referendum is already on the ballot in California. The Washingtonians have solid support in a poll, but could use any help you might send their way. <A HREF="http://elections.firedoglake.com/2010/06/02/washington-state-favors-marijuana-legalization-52-to-35/">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><!-- =Venezuela --><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/flagVenezuela.jpg" alt="Venezuela" border="1" width="50" height="30"></td></tr></table> <font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; I've tried for a long time to see the bright side of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, because the Americans who hate him most are the Americans who hate America most, but... I gotta say, he's getting bonkerser and bonkerser, and as Venezuela's economy swirls down the toilet he's declaring war on the bourgeoisie. <A HREF="http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-06-02/chavez-declares-economic-war-against-bourgeoisie-update2-.html">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>&diams;</font>&nbsp; The American war and occupation and endless, senseless US-sponsored death continues in Afghanistan. <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Six operators of a US unmanned drone who attacked and killed 23 ordinary non-terrorist folks in Afghanistan have been officially reprimanded by the US military. The reprimand is presumably going into their permanent file, which will surely calm the anger of the family and friends of the dead and mangled. <A HREF="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/south_asia/10189462.stm">LINK</A> <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>&diams;</font>&nbsp; The American war and occupation and endless, senseless US-sponsored death is coming soon in Iran. <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; "Iran has enough nuclear fuel for bombs, inspectors say", according to the headline. According to the article, "bombs" means two bombs, if Iran is actually constructing bombs, and after a time frame of presumably years of effort (the article doesn't specify), and assuming Iran doesn't ship the stuff out of country as they've said, which would leave enough material for one bomb.<BR><BR>Golly. Are you scared? You're obviously supposed to be. So where's the headline that says Israel has a hundred or so nuclear weapons now, many of which are aimed at Iran? Wouldn't that be scary too? <A HREF="http://www.denverpost.com/nationworld/ci_15200160">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>&diams;</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>&diams;</font>&nbsp; The American drone attacks, "secret" CIA murders, and other senseless US-sponsored death continues in Pakistan. <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Al Qaida's fourth in command is up for a promotion. <A HREF="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127352134">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; A senior U.N. official said Wednesday that the United States should halt the CIA's drone campaign against al-Qaeda and Taliban forces in Pakistan, explaining the astoundingly obvious &mdash; that the drone strikes and the secrecy surrounding the strikes violate the legal principle of international accountability. <A HREF="http://www.pressherald.com/news/nationworld/u_n_-official-calls-on-u_s_-to-halt-cias-drone-strikes_2010-06-03.html">LINK</A> <BR><BR><!-- =Israel=Palestine --><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="65" align="left"><tr><td class="fonty" vAlign="top" align="left" width="100%"><img src="http://unknownnews.org/flagIsraelPalestine.jpg" alt="Israel/Palestine" border="1" width="50" height="30"></td></tr></table> <font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; First-hand report from an Al Jazeera correspondent who was aboard the ship as the Israelis opened fire sure seems to put the lie to Israel's official version of events, which ain't surprising. <A HREF="http://english.aljazeera.net/video/middleeast/2010/06/201063123021327499.html">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; The IDF has released edited audio of communications between Israeli military and the people on the ship, with what appears to be some crude splicework for pro-Israel propaganda purposes. Also not surprising. <A HREF="http://maxblumenthal.com/2010/06/idf-admits-it-doctored-flotilla-audio-clip-washington-posts-kessler-must-retract/">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Autopsy reports show all nine of the dead were killed by gunshots. Five were killed by shots to the head. One was killed by a shot to the head point blank, execution style.<BR><BR>Remember, when the raid was fresh news the Israelis claimed that their commandos had been armed with paintball guns:<UL>"I was armed with a paint gun and had no other weapons. It was a civilian paintball gun that any 12-year-old can play with," one of the men, quoted by the AFP news agency, said. "We didn't come for war, we just came to tell please stop, move the vessel back."</UL>Riiight. <A HREF="http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/06/01/2915586.htm?section=world">LINK</A>, <A HREF="http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/06/04/gaza.raid.autopsies/index.html">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; As reliably as milk sours if you leave it in the sunshine, the US has come to Israel's defense after Israelis opened fire on that aid ship destined for Gaza. Senator Harry Reid (<font color="#cccccc">D</font>-Nevada), Congressman Anthony Weiner (<font color="#cccccc">D</font>-New York), and what seems to be most Democrats and virtually all Republicans are basically blaming the dead for getting in the way of Israeli bullets.<BR><BR>Israel's recurring atrocities are like <AHREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/cops.html">police crimes</a> &mdash; whatever version of events police describe, no matter how preposterous, is taken as gospel truth, unless there's unedited video of the entire event, and often even if there is.<BR><BR>Israel will judge itself in the right and that judgment will be respected by all Judeo-Christian nations, unless someone on the boat had a camera running and the film was miraculously not destroyed by the Israeli invaders. <A HREF="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/01/israel-investigation-attack-gaza-flotilla-us">LINK</A>, <A HREF="http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0604/reid-statement-defends-israels-essentially-blames-activists-deaths/">LINK</A>, <A HREF="http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/06/03/weiner_turkey_ally">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Get to know your Israeli blockade of Gaza. It's pretty startlingly inhumane and cruel, and I wonder how anyone might respond to such conditions. If I lived in Gaza, even if I didn't know an Israeli from an apricot, this would be enough to make me listen to people suggesting hatred and violence. Presumably, that's Israel's goal? <A HREF="http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/06/03/what_exactly_is_the_blockade_of_gaza">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1005-31-d.html#AA060301109">From our comments page</A>:<UL>Can you begin to imagine the international furor and the American and Israeli cry for war if the Iranian military had attacked a small boat full of Israeli volunteers carrying humanitarian aid? Tehran would be in flames by now, and Israeli and American missiles would still be flying like fireworks on the Fourth of July. &nbsp; &mdash;<A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1005-31- d.html#AA060301109">Angry Annie</A></UL> <font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Those wacky Israelis, the good guys of the Middle East we're told, shot the eyeball out of an American protester in Jerusalem. <A HREF="http://faithfulprogressive.blogspot.com/2010/06/israeli-soldiers-shoot-at-american.html">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Blast from the past, but well worth remembering: The US government requires that businesses report it to federal officials when anyone asks whether merchandise for sale came from Israel. <A HREF="http://unknownnews.org/0626-2.html">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%"><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; Observe a compendium of recent Republicans cheering to "drill baby drill" and "drill here, drill now", layered under photos of the destruction and death of the Gulf of Mexico. And remember, this tragedy which has only barely begun and will last longer than anyone reading this lives, could have easily been avoided with reasonable enforcement of sensible regulations. <A HREF="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShxhzwNNlBs&">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Here's an excellent piece written by the guy who's running the fake but funny BP public relations Twitter account. Take-away quote:<UL>"You know the best way to get the public to respect your brand? Have a respectable brand. Offer a great, innovative product and make responsible, ethical business decisions. Lead the pack! Evolve! Don t send hundreds of temp workers to the gulf to put on a show for the President. Hire those workers to actually work! Don t dump toxic dispersant into the ocean just so the surface looks better. Collect the oil and get it out of the water! Don t tell your employees that they can t wear respirators while they work because it makes for a bad picture. Take a picture of those employees working safely to fix the problem. Lastly, don t keep the press and the people trying to help you away from the disaster, open it up so people can see it and help fix it. This isn t just your disaster, this is a human tragedy. Allow us to mourn so that we can stop being angry." <A HREF="http://streetgiant.com/2010/06/02/leroy-stick-the-man-behind-bpglobalpr/">LINK</A></UL> <font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; A fisherman who was hospitalized after helping BP with the oil clean-up has filed papers to force BP to provide protective gear. My guess is, BP doesn't want to provide protective gear because doing so would provide legal grounds establishing that BP knows this crap is toxic. <A HREF="http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/05/31/oil.spill.order/index.html">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; BP has hired Dick Cheney's former press secretary to help polish its public image. Which pretty much confirms that BP is run by inept fools, if any doubt remained. <A HREF="http://www.mediaite.com/online/bp-hires-dick-cheneys-former-press-secretary-to-quell-pr-disaster/">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; The Ixtoc oil disaster of 1979, also in the Gulf of Mexico, has several key similarities to the current catastrophe. It was and remains one of the biggest oil spills in history, but it presented less complicated problems and it took place less than 200 feet below the surface &mdash; and it took ten months to cap it. <A HREF="http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/05/ixtoc_oil_spill.php">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; In a 2009 filing with the federal government, BP assured regulators that it had the know-how and a plan in place to handle an oily blowout of up to 300,000 barrels per day. Apparantly, BP was mistaken. <A HREF="http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/05/bp_claimed_it_could_handle_mega_spill.php">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; There was much snickering at the US government's call to moviemaker James Cameron for advice on the disaster, but I say kudos for good sense. Filming <I>Titanic</i> with major sequences underwater, Cameron developed new camera equipment and techniques, and he probably knows as much about underwater photography and high-tech machinery designed for underwater use as anyone in the world. <A HREF="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/reliable-source/2010/06/this_just_in_director_james_ca.html">LINK</A> <small>(Use our <I>Washington Post</i> login as "unknownnews@inbox.com" with password "unknown")</small> <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%"><BR><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><BR><BR><DIV align="right">&mdash;Helen & Harry Highwater &nbsp;<BR><I>Unknown News &nbsp;</i></div></td></tr></table></tr></td></table> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; The man-made catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico is by far America's biggest crisis since at least World War II. If ever there was a need for genuine take-charge leadership this is that time, but instead we're just getting further proof that the corporate-controlled, Big Money-owned election system ensures that such leadership isn't possible.<BR><BR>Case in point: It is grotesquely inappropriate for President Obama to be chatting on television about basketball, or for Vice President Joseph Biden to be posing with Muppets, as this national and world disaster unfolds. <A HREF="http://washingtonscene.thehill.com/in-the-know/36-news/4467-obama-wonderful-story-if-lebron-james-stays-in-cleveland">LINK</A>, <A HREF="http://www.indecisionforever.com/2010/06/03/joe-and-jill-biden-and-a-bunch-of-muppets/">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; President Obama invited Governor Jan Brewer (R-Arizona) to visit the White House and chat about her state's draconian or Hitlerian "papers please" law.<BR><BR>Brewer, as you know, supports the law and is using it to power her re-election campaign, so tell me, what's the point of this meeting? It's Obama <I>again</i> reaching out to the vilest elements of the right-wing, when he rarely if ever reaches out to anyone who's even vaguely on the left.<BR><BR>Furthermore, this meeting is an extra-extra stupid idea &mdash; it gives Brewer an even bigger platform for grandstanding her policy and candidacy, and of course, as with all the other times Obama has reached out to the right-wing, there's zero chance that anything productive will come of it. Brewer is not going to change her mind or change her policy, so Obama gains nothing by this, except <i>even more</i> annoyance from the left and center constituency that elected him? <A HREF="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2010/0603/Obama-Arizona-Gov.-Brewer-face-off-over-illegal-immigration">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1005-31-d.html#EM06040657">From our comments page</A>:<UL>Barack Obama's presidency is a failure. On every front his policies are a disaster and worse than that, he is just as clueless as George W. Bush. I thought having a smart president in office would be a decisive factor. How wrong I was.<BR><BR>Obama's brain is irrelevant. It does not contain the necessary information to successfully lead the US out of crisis. As for heart, he hasn't shown it. No courage either. Time to go visit the Wiz...<BR><BR>Obama's signature policy initiative was health care reform. Most of the new law doesn't take effect until 2014 and the law does not control costs. Insurance companies can continue to raise rates by 10% a year until only the rich and the very poor (who receive government aid) will be able to afford insurance -- the rest of America will get fined for not buying insurance they can't afford, and taxed to pay for the health care of others.<BR><BR>None of Obama's other policy initiatives are successful. He's quagmired in Afghanistan now. (Heckuva job, Barky.) And the bailouts for the banks simply bankrupted us. They aren't lending our money back to us, they're parking it at the Fed to earn interest! Doh. Moreover, Barack is as happy as a toddler with a warm, full diaper:<BR><BR><I>President Barack Obama says <A HREF="http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9G4GCNO1&show_article=1">the addition of 431,000 new jobs in May</A> shows "the economy is getting stronger by the day."</I> Unfortunately, all of those jobs were census taker jobs -- except for 41,000 new jobs in the private sector (probably at McDonald's and debt collection agencies...).<BR><BR>Even when Israel massacres aid workers in international waters, shooting an American citizen in the head 4 times, Obama shows no leadership. He says it is "tragic" and calls for an investigation. That doesn't work for me, but apparently it is the party line... Joe Biden asked, "<A HREF="http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2010/06/03/this-says-it-all/">So what s the big deal here?</A>"<BR><BR>Even as the US continues fighting 2&frac12; wars and is being drowned by BP's oil, Obama's days are filled with photo-ops. As Jon Stewart showed us last week, each time Obama says he won't rest until the leak is stopped and that he is fully engaged, he heads off to another photo op concerning basketball or girl scouts. In my book, when the United States is at war &mdash; and we are, aren't we? &mdash; the president should be working 24-7 on winning the war.<BR><BR>I was shocked at Bush's ability to leave the thinking to others, but I am totally dumbfounded to discover that Obama really doesn't participate much in whatever passes for thinking in the US government; he knows nothing except what he is told, and like Bush, seems to always agree with the last advisor in the Oval Office (or actually, he agrees with everyone, which is worse!).<BR> <!-- 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>Bah.<BR><BR>If you want to begin worrying now, understand that the GOP positions are that a) the deficit and budget debt must be reduced; b) taxes must be cut, especially for corporations and investors; and c) the wars must continue until victory and probably Iran should be taken out forthwith. If you add those up, the implication is that they're going to disassemble everything except for the US police state apparatus and the "defense" department.<BR><BR>Compared to this, Obama seems like a moderate &mdash; except for the fact that his policies are a total failure and he is leading the country to an epic disaster. &mdash;<A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1005-31-d.html#EM06040657">Ernie M.</A></UL> <font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Artur Davis (no H for him) has failed in what seemed his surefire bid to win the Democratic primary for governor of Alabama by positioning himself as a Republican. Alabama deserves better, and will get better. <A HREF="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/02/AR2010060202926.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; If California passes Proposition 15 on Tuesday, two specific elections in the next few years will be publicly financed instead of corporate-owned. A big step forward, toward government of, for, and by the people instead of the corporations. <A HREF="http://crooksandliars.com/mary-rickles/california-dont-mess">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. <A NAME=reps></A><A NAME=Republicans></A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Congressman Don Young (R-Alaska) says the oily Gulf of Mexico is "not an environmental disaster". Which should make a dandy anti-Young commercial for his Democratic opponent in the upcoming election. <A HREF="http://www.adn.com/2010/06/02/1304209/don-young-gulf-oil-spill-not-an.html">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Governor Jan Brewer (R-Arizona) lied last week, publicly claiming that her father died fighting Nazis in World War II when he actually died ten years after that war ended. This is, of course, nowhere near as noteworthy as <A HREF="http://thinkprogress.org/2010/06/02/brewer-nazis-father/">LINK</A>, <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1005-31.html#journalism">LINK</A> <BR> <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><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; The last time the multi-millionaire Fred Malek had a government job was during the Nixon administration, when he made his mark by demoting Jews and suspected Jews at the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the last known officially-sanctioned act of official anti-Semitism by the United States government. And now, in 2010, Governor Bob McDonnell (R-Virginia) has appointed Malek to chair a Commission on Government Reform and Restructuring. <A HREF="http://www.slate.com/id/2254653/">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; It is curious that the quasi-libertarian Rand Paul, running for Senate in Kentucky, apparently has no respect for the property rights of the rock group whose music is being stolen for his campaign rallies. <A HREF="http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/06/03/rush_rand_paul">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Carly Fiorina, who very nearly drove Hewlett-Packard into the ground and is now running for the US Senate as a Republican, mocks global climate change in a new television ad. I don't think Californians are stupid or regressive enough to elect Fiorina, but I do hope she runs this ad <I>a lot</i>, as it's basically announcing that she's stupid and proud of it. <A HREF="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3opch_q4M0&">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Main Minuteman Chris Simcox has been hit with a restraining order after allegedly purportedly probably threatening to kill his wife. <A HREF="http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bastard/2010/06/jd_hayworth_supporter_chris_si.php">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; In an unofficially sanctioned "citizen grand jury" trial, heavily publicized on fringe websites, a right-wing "prosecutor" and "judge" have found US President Barack Obama and Columbia University guilty of fraud and other charges, for their purported conspiracy to create a false transcript making it appear that Obama attended Columbia.<BR> <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><DIV align="right">&mdash;Helen & Harry Highwater &nbsp;<BR><I>Unknown News &nbsp;</i></div> </TD></TR></TABLE></TD></TR></TABLE> <BR>In the real world, of course, Obama did indeed attend Columbia, but the real world is a long commute for these folks. <A HREF="http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2010/05/28/news-flash-obama-%E2%80%98convicted%E2%80%99-of-fraud-in-birther-trial/">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Concerned Women for America, the radical anti-women's rights group founded by Armageddon writer Tim LaHaye and his wife, apparently has a staff of very, very fast readers. They were able to offer an evaluation of 45,000 pages of Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan's Clinton-era work within 45 minutes of the documents' release. <A HREF="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/06/the_concerned_speed-readers_of.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; I am flabbergasted that Dale Peterson, the Alabama Agriculture Commission candidate who made that great TV commercial that became a YouTube sensation, finished in third place in his Republican primary and will now be riding that horse into the political sunset. <A HREF="http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2010/06/mcmillan_grace_in_runoff_for_g.html">LINK</A>, <A HREF="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU7fhIO7DG0&">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1005-31-d.html#WA06030410">From our comments page</A>:<UL>Obama's coming impeachment: A curious dynamic is about to take place: Blagojevich's trial is now underway, and it is likely that he will be dragging Obama and Rahm Emmanuel into the pigpen. And given the Joe Sestak scandal (which may seem insignificant but really is not because it demonstrates how the party machines prevent voters from effecting regime change) the Rod Blagojevich defense will be given more credibility -- it is simply that way Illinois and US politics works: a gigantic orgy of crime, greed, fear and loathing...with selective prosecution of the Outs by the Ins.<BR><BR>The Blago trial may last four whole months! That'll take us right up to October, one month before the elections! How exciting. Regardless of how the trial concludes, the journey will be a slam to the Dems and Obama. And it couldn't come at a worse time.<BR><BR>The GOP needs to win 40 new seats in the House to take control back (and 10 in the Senate.) If the GOP wins the House they can go ahead and pass Obama's articles of impeachment by a simple majority. Just like they did to Clinton.<BR><BR>And given how Obama has betrayed his base a lot of us will be rooting against him. (Insert swear words here.)<BR><BR>This looks bad for Obama and the Dems. They're the new Bush, hated and loathed. Count on them to really talk left and do some lefty window dressing prior to the November elections. Nothing significant, like fulfilling campaign promises to end the Iraq War in 2008, haha. Personally speaking, I won't be voting for the lesser evil ever again. That is a sucker's game. The Dems think the base has nowhere to go, no refuge except to re-elect their betrayers. Well, we can stay home or just vote for 3rd party candidates as a protest; take a stand, for once! &nbsp; &mdash;<A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/1005-31-d.html#WA06030410">Washboard Abs</A></UL> <A NAME=fakeoutrage></A><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 President Obama pointing out that Republicans love deregulation, and over Sir Paul McCarthy making a very, very mildly critical comment about George W Bush. Can't wait to see what the next fake Republican outrage will be about. It's always something. <A HREF="http://firedoglake.com/2010/06/03/john-boehner-how-dare-obama-claim-republicans-hate-government-and-regulations/">LINK</A>, <A HREF="http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/06/04/boehner_buried_paul">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; Raymond McDaniel, CEO of the Moody's ratings agency, says investors shouldn't rely on ratings agencies. Adding the obvious, as every aspect of Wall Street is revealed to be unreliable, corrupt, or a scam, I suspect there will soon come a time when investors take their investments elsewhere. The suckers can only be ripped off a limited number of times. <A HREF="http://slatest.slate.com/id/2255778/entry/3/">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; The <I>Wall Street Journal</i> reports that some trading firms pay for early access to stock prices, a head start of mere fractions of a second that, in the highly computerized world of Wall Street, gives those firms an advantage. But is it a fair advantage?<BR><BR>Sure seems to me, again, that if investors are allegedly smart, they'll be less and less interested in investing in the stock market as they more and more understand that the markets are rigged. Capitalism without regulation doesn't work for anyone but criminals &mdash; and it's working really well, for criminals. <A HREF="http://www.cjr.org/the_audit/wsj_finds_some_traders_getting.php">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; The Johnson & Johnson plant that made most of the recalled medicines was a pit of filth and was staffed with under-trained temps. 'Cuz companies can save so much money (and trash their reputations) by laying off experienced workers and bringing in temps and rookies they can pay less. Shrewd move, J&J. <A HREF="http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/27/nation/la-na-tylenol-hearing-20100527">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Do you have an Admiral, Amana, Crosley, Jenn-Air, Magic Chef, Maytag, or Performa dishwasher? If you do, you're going to want to make sure your kitchen isn't on fire. <A HREF="http://consumerist.com/2010/06/17-million-maytag-dishwashers-lay-waiting-to-burn-down-your-house.html">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Advanced Call Center Technologies, a debt collection agency, has been ordered to pay $50,000 in mental anguish and $1.5 million in punitive damages for the company's pattern of leaving racist, insulting comments on peoples' answering machines. <A HREF="http://www.wfaa.com/news/consumer/Vulgar-voicemails-force-debt-collector-to-pay-15M-95163714.html">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Tropicana is now selling under-filled cartons of orange juice, containing five ounces less juice than the same-sized cartons used to contain. <A HREF="http://www.mouseprint.org/2010/05/31/tropicana-inconspicuously-downsizes-half-gallons-of-oj/">LINK</A> <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%"><BR><a href=http://www.unknownnews.org/stickers.html><img src="http://www.unknownnews.net/isnttheresomething.jpg" alt="Isn't there something in the Bible about NOT screwing over the poor?" border="3" width="350" height="108"></a><BR><BR><I>(from <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/stickers.html">our sticker collection</a>)</I></td></tr></table> <BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Kellogg has been told by the federal government, again, to stop claiming that its sugary cereals are healthy. <A HREF="http://consumerist.com/2010/06/ftc-kelloggs-agrees-to-stop-saying-its-cereals-will-make-your-smarter-healthier.html">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds and Lorillard are suing the City of New York over anti-smoking posters that the tobacco giants claim are unconstitutional, since local shopkeepers are required to display the posters. <A HREF="http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/06/04/2010-06-04_cigs_bigs_give_city_a_lungful.html">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Do you wear contact lenses? Do you enjoy having un-scorched corneas? Then you should look out for Clear Care, a contact lens solution that uses peroxide to disinfect lenses. <A HREF="http://consumerist.com/2010/06/dont-rinse-with-this-contact-lens-solution-unless-you-want-burned-corneas.html">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp;  I want to first thank you for the feedback, said a member of AT&T s executive response team, in a voicemail recording.  Going forward I want to warn you that if you continue sending e-mails to [AT&T CEO] Randall Stephenson a cease-and-desist letter will be sent to you. <A HREF="http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/06/att-legal-threa/">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; A study at Texas A&M University suggests that "the more subsidiaries a parent company has, the higher the likelihood it will restate its finances". Meaning, falsify its financial statements. <A HREF="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-06/asa-ssr060210.php">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; "I eat from the earth. Food is free, and indiscriminately so. The apple tree doesn't ask if you've got enough cash when you go to pick its fruit; it just gives to whoever wants an apple. We are the only species, out of millions on the planet, that is deluded enough to think that it needs money to eat. And what's worse, I often observe people walking straight past free food on their way to buy it from all over the world via the supermarket." <A HREF="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/jun/02/mark-boyle-moneyless-man-food-for-free">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; A reporter for the <I>Fayetteville Observer</i> was barred by the US military from covering a soldier's arraignment because the reporter refused to sign a pledge not to reveal the names of the alleged perp's victims. Sure sounds unconstitutional to me. <A HREF="http://www.fayobserver.com/articles/2010/06/03/1003640">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; White House reporter Helen Thomas has apologized for saying that Jews should "get the hell out of Palestine" and "go back home to Poland, Germany, America and everywhere else". <A HREF="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2010/06/05/2010-06-05_white_house_press_icon_takes_heat_after_slam_of_jews.html">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Glenn Beck, Fox News's most obviously insane host, bites the hand that feeds him. Last week he blamed the <nobr>9/11</nobr> attack on Alwaleed bin Talal, the world fifth richest man and the #2 stockholder in News Corp &mdash; and thus part-owner of Fox News. <A HREF="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvP_zgE_wOM&">LINK</A> <A NAME=leftovers></a><BR><BR><A HREF=#leftovers><font color=blue>#</font></A> &nbsp; <B>LEFTOVERS AND STUPIDITY FOR DESSERT</B> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Words to live by: Shake your booty, boys and girls, for the beauty in the world. <A HREF="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qX7ZsxD3Ik&">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Jeanne Robinson, the beloved wife of author Spider Robinson, has passed. Sounds like she had a heck of a life. <A HREF="http://www.spiderrobinson.com/index2.html">LINK</A> <BR> <!-- 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%" ><BR><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> <BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; "Please support <I>Crooks & Liars</i> by removing ad blocking on our site", says the little box on my screen where <I>Crooks & Liars</i> wishes there ad was visible. Yup, we use ad-blocking software, and I don't understand how anyone can stand to surf the web without it. So our reply to <I>Crooks & Liars</i>?<BR><BR>You've got a pretty good website there, and you provide a valuable service to people who want to be informed of the facts. I'd be more than willing to fill my browser with your ads, if you didn't run ads that move, jiggle, scroll, flash, or otherwise seek to distract readers from reading the context. Those are the only ads we bother to block so if we're blocking your site, it's only because you run such scummy and annoying ads. I will unblock, view, and even click the ads on your site when you change your policy and stop running such annoying ads. <A HREF="http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Baptists in New Hampshire shipped a 15-year-old girl out of state when she was raped and impregnated by a leading church member, apparently to obstruct a police investigation. It only came out 13 years later, when the girl (now 28) gathered the courage (and it takes plenty) to go to police. <A HREF="http://jonathanturley.org/2010/05/31/fifteen-year-old-girl-raped-by-leading-church-member-then-forced-to-apologize-to-congregation-and-shipped-out-of-state/">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; The financial empire of painter and general scumbag Thomas Kinkade is crumbling, so all the news ain't bad. <A HREF="http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/la-fi-kinkade-20100603,0,1292119.story">LINK</A><BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Also: Lick your lips, Texas, you're getting an In-N-Out Burger, and they're every bit as good as you've heard. <A HREF="http://fastfood.freedomblogging.com/2010/05/26/in-n-out-opening-stores-in-texas/62545/">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; If you surf at all I'm sure you saw this but it really brightened my spirits. Lots of people have figured out that they can just stop paying their mortgages and live rent-free until foreclosure &mdash which can take years. <A HREF="http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/06/01/509904_in-foreclosure-and-staying-put.html">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; If you're mechanically inclined (I'm not) and you need to save money (we sure do), perhaps you'd like to try building your own washing machine. Here are the plans. <A HREF="http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/06/flashback_off-grid_laundry_machine.html">LINK</A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Fifty healthy foods you can probably buy for less than a buck a pound. <A HREF="http://www.thedailygreen.com/living-green/blogs/save-money/cheap-healthy-food-460610">LINK</A> <BR> <!-- 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><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Here's an amusing list of some of the worst money-saving ideas I've seen. My favorite off the list is rinsing out used paper towels and drying them &mdash; over the stove &mdash; for re-use. <A HREF="http://consumerist.com/2010/05/28-of-the-worst-money-saving-ideas-ever.html">LINK</A> <A NAME=stupidity></A> <BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; Longtime pedophile priest Oliver O'Grady is getting $94,560 in pension from Roman Catholic Church, and I just shake my head. I've said it before, and I'll say it one last time: If you're paying tithes or offerings to the Catholic Church, you're making it all possible. <A HREF="http://www.lodinews.com/articles/2010/06/05/news/3a-ogrady-100605.txt">LINK</A> <A NAME=notnews></A><BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; This is where we usually say "see ya' next week", but we'll be gone next week and the week after that. Between my increasing depression at the murder of the Gulf of Mexico and some personal matters that require my immediate attention, it'll be a while before we post again. Perhaps months, perhaps longer. It's hard to predict, but what in life isn't?<BR><BR>We've been publishing this blog pretty much non-stop since 1999, a year that now seems like a stale sit-com compared to the ugliness and savagery of the Bush-Cheney era, and compared to the thin layer of change coating the Obama-Biden administration's depths of general sameness. A break will do us good, and anyway, we can't seriously keep asking people to write to their Congresscritters, pretending to believe that makes a difference. We all know better than that, don't we?<BR><BR>We'll still be posting new <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/mysterylinks.html">mystery links</A> and updates to the endless lists of <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/cops.html">bad cops</a> and <A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.org/rwradicals.html">dangerous Republicans</A>, and we might pop in at <I>Unknown News</i> with a paragraph or two if there's truly important news that isn't bubbling up through the corporate media. Helen will still be cranky at <SPAN STYLE="background-color: #ffcc66">&nbsp;<A HREF="http://www.drsputnik.com/"><i>Dr Sputnik's Society Pages</i></a>&nbsp;</span> &mdash; a mini-blog on current events and celebrity silliness published by the delightful <A HREF="http://www.rotten.com/">rotten.com</A>, where Helen writes most of the posts for a little extra income, which we certainly need. And we'll still be emailable, though any responses will probably be hurried and brief. Sorry.<BR><BR>Until we meet again, our love to all of you. We'll miss you, and we'll miss prepping and publishing this page. Thanks for eleven years of friendship, encouragement, and occasional prickliness. As always, peace and freedom and best of luck (especially the latter, as peace and freedom seem to be out of the question). All our agnostic prayers for America &mdash; bless her soul and may she rest in the peace she's daily denying the world. <!-- =HATTIP--><BR><BR><font color=darkred><B>&diams;</B></font>&nbsp; <I>Unknown News</i> is 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://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>,</i> and <I><A HREF="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/">Right Wing Watch</A></i>.<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. <A NAME=nothattip></A><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, makethemaccountable.com, 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/1005-31.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/">Monday, June 7, 2010</A></TD><TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="23%" class="fonta"><!-- =change --></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/1005-24-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/1005-31-d.html">Readers' comments</A></TD><TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="23%" class="fonta"><!-- =change --><!-- =change --> </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="1500" 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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