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Democracy depends on an informed public discourse, and it's imperiled when lies and misinformation are multiplied by mass media, or by bloggers or panicked emailers. Please — our nation and our world face very serious, very real problems, and you can help, by being a little skeptical about all the phony, non-existent problems that are only distractions. —H&HH |
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Our mystery links
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include audio and/or video.
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© Helen & Harry Highwater and the individual authors.
Big howdy
No nuts, please
Our privacy policies
Bill of Rights
Declaration of Independence
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This is not a comprehensive list of all the flip-flops, prevarications, and falsehoods written, uttered, or implied by every politician, every radio host, or every pundit. Good heavens, no — almost all politicians lie on occasion, so we'd need a much bigger computer and a staff of dozens just to catalogue the endless supply of whoppers with cheese.
On this page we're primarily tracking a small subset of political lies — the bold-faced hokum that's been repeated so often it's become difficult to seriously discuss the issues without bumping into the bull. Shrewd observers have pointed out that almost all the lies listed on this page are lies from right-wingers, and that's correct.
Of course, no honest observer can dispute that the Democrats in Congress are largely liars and hypocrites, but Democratic office-holders are usually lying about what they believe, not about supposed facts. Generally speaking, when Democrats in politics and punditry lie about the facts, they're repeating Republicans' lies.
It's sad but it's a fact — in present-day America it's the right-wing, not the left, that builds its arguments on plain lies about plain facts, lies told often and loudly across the mainstream media. Saying "both sides do it" is just another lie, because one side does it on purpose, as a well-planned and executed strategy, and the other side doesn't.
This page is about how the national debate is being intentionally subverted and debased by lies about the facts of the matter, on almost every matter. Those lies come almost entirely from Republicans and conservatives. There is no left-wing equivalent of right-wing leaders' perpetual lies about Obama's birth or radicalism, lies about "death panels", lies about historical fact, et cetera and ad nauseum. And there's no left-wing equivalent of Fox News to act as a lie megaphone.
If we're wrong, please explain how. We dare you.
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Like the URL says, this website is about unknown news.
We present a once-weekly wrap-up of news that was underplayed, ignored, or simply lost in the non-stop news cycle. Our news comes only from mainstream, professional journalists or (rarely) other sources we trust entirely, with no nuttiness and no interest in the same news you see everywhere else.
What we believe
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.
We believe you have the right to live your own life as you choose, and others have the equal right to live their lives as they choose. It's not complicated.
We believe freedom leads to peace, progress, and prosperity, while its opposite -- oppression -- leads to war, terrorism, poverty, and misery.
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.
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.
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.
But unlike most right-wing leaders, we mean it.
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.
But unlike most left-wing leaders, we mean it.
Like libertarians, we believe it's wrong and reprehensible to arrest people for what they think, believe, look like, wear, eat, smoke, drink, inhale, inject, or otherwise do to themselves.
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.
We're skeptical, and we're sick of so-called 'journalists' who aren't skeptical at all.
A reader asks, what are our solutions?
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 doesn't need it's yet another manifesto.
Our suggestion is: think.
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.
These pages are published by Harry and Helen Highwater, happily married low-income nom de plumes and rabble-rousers from Madison, Wisconsin (with a few friends scattered around the world helping out).
We try to spotlight news that hasn't gotten enough (or appropriate) attention in American media, along with our opinions and yours.
We bang our keyboards against the wall, because it doesn't hurt as much as banging our heads.
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