| |
|
Sanchez accuses Bush Administration of 'gross incompetence'| |
Excerpt: In a new memoir set to be published May 6, the former commander of US forces in Iraq provides new intimate details of the goings-on at high levels of the Bush Administration in the first year of the Iraq war.
His sharp tongued conclusion: "Hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars were unnecessarily spent, and worse yet, too many of our most precious military resource, our American soldiers, were unnecessarily wounded, maimed, and killed as a result. In my mind, this action by the Bush administration amounts to gross incompetence and dereliction of duty."
An excerpt from Sanchez's book, Wiser in Battle: A Soldier's Story, published in Time, buries the quotation on the third page of the article. |
Pelosi tries to get social spending in exchange for war funding| |
Excerpt: House Democratic leaders are putting together the largest Iraq war spending bill yet, a measure that is expected to fund the war through the end of the Bush presidency and for nearly six months into the next president's term.
Pelosi is plotting a "guns-for-butter" strategy to try to force Bush to accept some new domestic spending in exchange for the money he needs to fight the war. The speaker is floating a proposal to extend unemployment benefits for 13 weeks for those whose benefits have run out. The package also could include a new GI Bill benefit to help veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan pay for college.
Comment: This strategy of threatening to cut off war funding if Bush doesn't approve these other programs might make sense if everyone on the planet didn't already know that there's no chance in hell the Dems are cutting off war funding. Madeline Zane PERMANENT LINK |
Burger King stands firm on screwing over tomato farmers| |
Excerpt: As Fair Food activists gather today in Miami to deliver the first 75,000 signatures on a petition urging Burger King to eliminate slavery and human rights abuses from Florida's tomato fields, new information has come to light about who was behind online postings attacking the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, an advocacy group that has been pressuring the company to take action. Turns out Burger King Vice President Stephen Grover posted the remarks using his daughter's online identity.
The petition campaign was launched following the December 2007 discovery of a slavery operation in which farm bosses in Immokalee are accused of locking tomato pickers inside trucks and beating those who tried to escape. |
UN Officials: Biofuels are a
"crime against humanity"| |
Excerpt: The United Nations special rapporteur on the right to food, Jean Ziegler, has called for the suspension of biofuels production. He said it is a major cause for the food crisis that has thrown millions into poverty.
According to Jean Ziegler, the United States burned 138 million tons of corn last year and transformed it into bioethanol and biodiesel. In an interview with Al Jazeera, Ziegler said, “Burning food today so as to serve the mobility of the rich countries is a crime against humanity.” Ziegler’s comments came while the UN held an emergency summit in Switzerland to tackle the global food crisis.
Bush doesn't think that
burning corn in cars
raises food prices
Comment: Yes, because a huge increase in demand for something, without an increase in supply, does absolutely nothing to the price. Apparently those Harvard business degrees aren't worth the thousand-dollar bills they're printed on. Madeline Zane PERMANENT LINK
Big agribusiness
reports record profits
Excerpt: Giant agribusinesses are enjoying soaring earnings and profits out of the world food crisis which is driving millions of people towards starvation.
The World Bank says 100 million more people are facing severe hunger. Yet some of the world's richest food companies are making record profits.
Monsanto last month reported that its net income for the three months to the end of February had more than doubled over the same period last year. Cargill's net earnings soared by 86 per cent over the same three months. And Archer Daniels Midland, one of the world's largest agricultural processors of soy, corn and wheat, increased its net earnings by 42 per cent in the first three months of this year.
Comment: Big agribusiness is one of the biggest sponsors of American news shows, so expect in-depth discussion of this topic in the mainstream press approximately never. Madeline Zane PERMANENT LINK
Bush promises extra food
aid ... but not until a couple
days before the election
Excerpt: President George W. Bush has proposed spending an additional $770 million in emergency food assistance for poor countries, responding to rising food prices that have caused social unrest in several nations.
Some Democrats criticized the fact that the aid would not be available until the next fiscal year begins in October. |
City will fight Blackwater's permit for mega-military base;
company got OK by applying under different name| |
Excerpt: San Diego officials will challenge Blackwater Worldwide's permit for an indoor military training facility in South County, saying the public didn't know about the plan.
“Residents deserve to know when a facility like this is approved -- before it is approved,” San Diego City Council President Scott Peters said.
The North Carolina company received a permit in March for a training site in Otay Mesa, an industrial section of south San Diego, shortly after abandoning its controversial proposal to build a larger facility in Potrero in East County.
Peters said Blackwater wasn't upfront about its plans to operate out of a 61,600-square-foot building owned by Los Angeles company Hometex in a business park on Siempre Viva Road, just south of Brown Field.
“They filed for a permit under the name of a subcontractor as a deliberate dodge to keep our city and community in the dark,” Peters said. |
Network newscasts continue refusing to mention military propaganda exposé| |
Excerpt: According to a search* of transcripts available in the Nexis database, the broadcast networks -- ABC, CBS, and NBC -- still had not reported on the revelations in the Times story on any of their news programs through May 1. According to the Project for Excellence in Journalism's (PEJ) News Coverage Index, there were "only two related stories in the week of April 21-27, both of them in the April 24 PBS News Hour broadcast." As Media Matters for America previously noted, the three major broadcast networks ... and the three major cable news networks -- CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC -- all reportedly declined to participate in a segment on the April 24 edition of PBS News Hour about "the role of military analysts on TV and in the Pentagon.
Comment: The longer the big boys of journalism refuse to even mention their participation in illegal propaganda aimed at Americans, the plainer it becomes that the networks weren't "victims", they were participants. Angry Annie PERMANENT LINK
House members press Pentagon for investigation into illegal propaganda program
White House SpokesLiar Perino defends Pentagon's illegal US propaganda program
Washington Post's Kurtz says media won’t cover
propaganda revelation ‘because they are embarrassed’
|
Strike against war briefly
shuts down West Coast ports| |
Excerpt: Ports along the US West Coast, including the country's busiest port complex in Los Angeles, shut down on Thursday as some 10,000 dock workers went on a one-day strike to protest the war in Iraq, port and union officials said.
Twenty-nine ports from San Diego to Washington state that handle more than half of US waterborne trade ground to a halt, but shipping experts said the economic costs of the walk-out would be limited.
"We are hearing there is no activity taking place up and down the West Coast," said Steve Getzug, spokesman of the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents all 29 ports. "There is no unloading or loading." |
Tens of thousands rally
for immigrant rights| |
Excerpt: Tens of thousands of people marched across the nation Thursday in what has become an annual May Day protest for immigrant rights. Although smaller than previous years, large marches were held in New York, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles and Milwaukee. This year’s protests focused on the recent spike in deportations, which rose 44 percent last year to 280,000. |
Al-Jazeera cameraman freed from Guantanamo after 6 years| |
Excerpt: An Al-Jazeera cameraman was released from US custody at Guantanamo Bay and returned home to Sudan early Friday after six years of imprisonment that drew worldwide protests.
Sami al-Haj, who had been on a hunger strike for 16 months, grimaced as he was carried off a US military plane by American personnel in Sudan's capital, Khartoum. He was put on a stretcher and taken straight to a hospital.
Al-Jazeera showed footage of al-Haj being carried into the hospital, looking feeble and with his eyes closed, but smiling. Some of the men surrounding his stretcher were kissing him on the cheek.
Comment: I remember reading rare but joyous accounts like this, of dissidents being released from gulags in the Soviet Union, or ordinary citizens escaping from behind the Iron Curtain. This is what Bush has accomplished -- he's made America a place to escape from, to find freedom.
And is there a word of apology from American officials, the people who called this man a dangerous terrorist for six years, and for six years refused him a trial? Nope. Not a word of regret, not even an oops. Helen & Harry PERMANENT LINK
Long-imprisoned reporter
criticizes US captors
Excerpt: "In Guantanamo ... |
|
|
|
Lightning round news |
|
|
|
|
The dialogue page is our "letters to the editor" section.
To participate, email your comments to unknownnews at inbox.com.
|
|
|
|
| | rats are treated with more humanity. But we have people from more than 50 countries that are completely deprived of all rights and privileges. And they will not give them the rights that they give animals," he said. |
Iran: America's next war
Relying on discredited reporter, NY Times highlights
alleged (but undocumented) Iranian interference| |
Excerpt: Michael Gordon, the military writer for the New York Times who contributed several false stories about Iraqi WMD in the run-up to the U.S. attack on Iraq in 2002, has written several articles in the past year about Iran’s alleged training of Iraqi insurgents -- or supplying them with weapons to kill Americans. He produced another major report on this subject for today’s Times -- based solely on unnamed sources -- which is at odds with an account from McClatchy’s Baghdad bureau.
Gordon asserts that ... “The United States has long charged that the Iranians were training Iraqi militia fighters in Iran, which Iran has consistently denied, and there have been previous reports about Hezbollah operatives in Iraq. ... But the Americans say the reports of Hezbollah’s role at the Iranian camp offer important details about Iranian assistance to the militias, including efforts Iran appears to be making to train the fighters in unobtrusive ways.”
But McClatchy has a quite different take.
Leila Fadel, the bureau chief, and Shashank Bengali report: “The Iraqi Government seemed to distance itself from U.S. accusations towards Iran Sunday saying it would not be forced into conflict with its Shiite neighbor. And Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki ordered the formation of a committee to look into foreign intervention in Iraq. ...
"The government spokesman, Ali al Dabbagh, told reporters Sunday that a committee was formed to find ‘tangible information’ about foreign intervention, specifically Iran's role in Iraq rather than ‘information based on speculation.’
"’We don't want to be pushed into any conflict with any neighboring countries, especially Iran. What happened before is enough. We paid a lot,’ Dabbagh said, referring to the eight years war between the two nations in which an estimated 1 million people died.”
Also today from Agence France-Press: “Iraq said on Sunday it has no evidence that Iran was supplying militias engaged in fierce street fighting with security forces in Baghdad. |
Iraq says there's no hard evidence of Iranian support for militia| |
Excerpt: Asked about reports that weapons captured from Shiite fighters bore 2008 markings suggesting Iranian involvement, [Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-] Dabbagh said: "We don't have that kind of evidence... If there is hard evidence we will defend the country."
Dabbagh said an Iraqi parliamentary delegation which visited Iran last week had useful discussions with authorities there and secured assurances of support and understanding of the crisis. |
Iran rejects nuclear inspections unless Israel also allows inspections| |
Excerpt: An Iranian envoy said Monday his government will not submit to extensive nuclear inspections while Israel stays outside the global treaty to curb the spread of atomic weapons. ...
Israel, which does not discuss whether it has atomic weapons, did not sign the nonproliferation treaty, which requires all signatories except the major powers to refrain from obtaining nuclear arms. India and Pakistan, which have developed nuclear weapons, also are not signatories. |
Secret Bush "finding" widens war on Iran| |
Excerpt: Six weeks ago, President Bush signed a secret finding authorizing a covert offensive against the Iranian regime that, according to those familiar with its contents, "unprecedented in its scope."
Bush’s secret directive covers actions across a huge geographic area -- from Lebanon to Afghanistan -- but is also far more sweeping in the type of actions permitted under its guidelines -- up to and including the assassination of targeted officials. This widened scope clears the way, for example, for full support for the military arm of Mujahedin-e Khalq, the cultish Iranian opposition group, despite its enduring position on the State Department's list of terrorist groups. |
Fox News brings on wacko ex-ambassador John Bolton,
who says striking Iran ‘is really the most prudent thing to do’
US prepares ‘new options’ to attack Iran, deploys second carrier to Persian Gulf
Hamas serving as Iran's 'proxy warriors,' Rice says
|
|
|
Microsoft provides free device to help police search computers| |
Excerpt: The device contains 150 commands that can dramatically cut the time it takes to gather digital evidence, which is becoming more important in real-world crime, as well as cybercrime. It can decrypt passwords and analyze a computer's Internet activity, as well as data stored in the computer.
It also eliminates the need to seize a computer itself, which typically involves disconnecting from a network, turning off the power and potentially losing data. Instead, the investigator can scan for evidence on site.
More than 2,000 officers in 15 countries, including Poland, the Philippines, Germany, New Zealand and the United States, are using the device, which Microsoft provides free. ...
Law-enforcement officials from agencies in 35 countries are in Redmond this week to talk about how technology can help fight crime. Microsoft held a similar event in 2006. Discussions there led to the creation of COFEE (Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor). |
Life in liberated Afghanistan & Iraq
US bombs Baghdad hospital| |
Excerpt: "I can confirm that we conducted a strike in Sadr City this morning," a US military spokesman told AFP. "The targets were known criminal elements. Battle damage assessment is currently ongoing."
However, witnesses and an AFP reporter at the scene said the main Al-Sadr hospital had been badly damaged and a fleet of ambulances were destroyed. |
Derelict medical district is sad symptom of Baghdad's decline| |
Excerpt: Before the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, Al-Batawin's main thoroughfare, Al-Sadun Street, bustled with restaurants, hotels, up-market stores and -- most famously -- medical centers.
Today just a scattering of businesses still bother to open their doors, residential blocks stand empty, and those buildings that are occupied have few tenants willing to risk living above the first floor. Electricity is supplied only sporadically and water in a trickle, and there are no other services to speak of, so it makes no sense to live too far from the ground in what is now a rapidly eroding urban wasteland. |
US sees golden future for Green Zone| |
Excerpt: Forget the rocket attacks, concrete blast walls and lack of a sewer system. Now try to imagine luxury hotels, a shopping center and even condos in the heart of Baghdad.
That's all part of a five-year development "dream list" -- or what some dub an improbable fantasy -- to transform the U.S.-protected Green Zone from a walled fortress into a centerpiece for Baghdad's future.
But the $5 billion plan has the backing of the Pentagon and apparently the interest of some deep pockets in the world of international hotels and development, the lead military liaison for the project told The Associated Press.
Comment: Navy Capt. Thomas Karnowski and everyone else involved on this project should be assigned to latrine duty. I can't come up with a wisecrack to describe just how absolutely delusional this is. Do these maniacs believe their own drivel, or is it all just supposed to fool the stupidest sliver of the American public, and keep them solidly in the Republican camp? Helen & Harry PERMANENT LINK |
Turkey confirms air strikes on Kurd rebels in Northern Iraq
Former KBR employees say workers stole from Iraq, ‘melted down gold to make spurs'
|
|
|
Group demands explanation of racist lending practices at Wells Fargo| |
Excerpt: Meanwhile, Wells Fargo Bank is coming under new scrutiny for its lending practices. Members of the group Responsible Wealth plan to present a shareholder resolution at the bank’s shareholders meeting today requesting that the company explain racial and ethnic disparities in its subprime loans.
According to bank data, African Americans were almost four times more likely than whites to receive high-cost subprime loans from Wells Fargo in 2006. Latino borrowers were almost twice as likely as whites to receive the high-cost loans. |
Building manager: Palfrey's death was not suicide| |
Excerpt: "She insinuated that there is a contract out for her and I fully believe they succeeded," her building manager said.
Palfrey's Lexus is still parked in the Park Lake garage and the staff said on Monday, she asked about making sure her condo fees would continue to be paid during what Palfrey anticipated would be six years in prison. |
Democrats win Congressional seat in long-time ‘red’ Louisiana district| |
Excerpt: In March, the first big contest of 2008 was a special election in Illinois’ 14th district. Republicans felt good about their chances -- the district had been represented by former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R), Bush won the district twice by double digits, and Republicans have held the seat for decades. But when voters headed to the polls, a Democrat won by six points.
Yesterday, the second big contest of 2008 was a special election in Louisiana’s 6th, and once again, the GOP went into the race optimistic. Bush won the seat by 19 points in ‘04, and Republicans have dominated the district for decades. And now it’s represented by a Democrat ...
Don Cazayoux, a lawyer and state lawmaker, beat Republican Woody Jenkins to cap a race that Democrats viewed as a chance to further tighten control over Congress. The seat opened when Republican Richard Baker, a 20-year incumbent, resigned to take a lobbying job. |
Election 2008
Robocalls lie to black voters about registering; group responsible tied to Clinton| |
Excerpt: A D.C. advocacy group called Women's Voices, Women Vote is being accused of waging a high-tech voter suppression campaign, after voters in predominantly black districts in North Carolina began receiving automated phone calls implying that they hadn't properly registered to vote in the upcoming Democratic primary.
"In the next few days, you will receive a voter-registration packet in the mail," the recording said. "All you need to do is sign it, date it and return your application. Then you will be able to vote and make your voice heard. Please return the voter-registration form when it arrives. Thank you."
The recording does not identify the group behind the calls. But what most concerned some recipients of the calls is that they had already registered to vote. And, notwithstanding the message's promise, the calls were placed well after the deadline for submitting a new registration.
The Institute for Southern Studies notes that North Carolina isn't the only state in which Women's Voices, Women Vote has caused a ruckus among voters and election officials, and that many of its officials have connections with Hillary Clinton, either by having worked in President Bill Clinton's administration or through campaign donations. |
McCain's "health plan" same as Bush's: tax cuts for the wealthy| |
Excerpt: On the Republican side, Senator John McCain has unveiled the healthcare plan he’ll campaign on this November. At a speech in Tampa, Florida, McCain called for a similar approach to President Bush’s failed healthcare effort.
Tax rebates would go to individuals seeking private insurance outside of company health plans. McCain says he’d promote the use of health savings accounts and grants for hospitals that cut costs. And McCain vowed to create a program to help care for vulnerable Americans but offered no details.
Comment: The only people who can afford private insurance outside of company health plans, or who can afford to put aside enough money in a health savings account to actually cover medical expenses down the road, are the wealthy. They are also the only ones who pay enough income taxes (as opposed to sales tax or Social Security taxes) that an income tax break makes a real difference in their budget.
Meanwhile, taking the richest and healthiest people out of the already-broken health care system is just about the only thing you could do to make it even worse.
Basically, it should be illegal to refer to McCain's "health plan" without using the sarcastic quotation marks. Madeline Zane PERMANENT LINK |
Clinton-MCain gas tax cut would benefit oil companies, not consumers| |
Excerpt: Senator Clinton joined Senator McCain in calling for the temporary elimination of the 18.4 cent a gallon gas tax over the summer. Actually, almost all economists would agree that the tax cut proposed by Senators Clinton and McCain would save consumers nothing. With the supply of gas largely fixed by the capacity of the oil industry (they claim to be running their refineries at full capacity), the price will not change in response to the elimination of the tax.
The only difference will be that money that used to go to the government in tax revenues will instead go to the oil industry as higher profits. |
Clinton-McCain gas tax holiday would benefit oil companies, not consumers| |
Excerpt: A gas tax holiday proposed by US presidential hopefuls John McCain and Hillary Clinton is viewed as a bad idea by many economists and has drawn unexpected support for Clinton rival Barack Obama, who also is opposed.
"Score one for Obama," wrote Greg Mankiw, a former chairman of President George W. Bush's Council of Economic Advisers. "In light of the side effects associated with driving ... gasoline taxes should be higher than they are, not lower." |
Obama calls for $15 billion tax on oil company profit| |
Excerpt: The plan would target profit from the biggest oil companies by taxing each barrel of oil costing more than $80, according to a fact sheet on the proposal. The tax would help pay for a $1,000 tax cut for working families, an expansion of the earned-income tax credit and assistance for people who can't afford their energy bills.
Comment: I'm not sure this is wise. The proposal is fine, heck, I'd favor a windfall profits tax ten times as big, but I wonder if it's wise to propose it now. We all remember that Howard Dean was shot down in the media almost immediately after he said that if elected he'd look into breaking up mass media monopolies. Wham, all of the sudden he went from being a media darling to being portrayed everywhere as a nut (even before the phonied-up "scream"). The oil industry frickin' owns the United States of America, and with one phone call to Media Inc., the CEO of ExxonMobil could probably obliterate Obama's campaign. Angry Annie PERMANENT LINK |
"America is under the curse of God", says McCain's favorite pastor| |
Excerpt: "As a nation, America is under the curse of God, even now." That ominous slam at America came from Pastor John Hagee, whose endorsement Republican presidential candidate John McCain sought, secured, and recently affirmed to ABC News that he is "glad to have." Hagee claims God's "curse" and "doom" is upon America because of two key issues: reproductive freedom and broad support for the teaching of the theory of evolution. |
Annenberg "Fact Check" program takes right-wing tilt| |
Excerpt: McCain and his surrogates are demanding something no one else gets: namely, the right to have their words repeated only in their fullest context and most generous, most amply spun interpretation. He wants his own set of rules, an election with a stacked deck.
True. Why the non-partisan Annenberg Public Policy Center wants to help in this endeavor is a mystery.
Comment: I've appreciated the Annenberg group's work in recent elections, but this is such a plainly unfair and partisan decision that it amounts to flushing the Annenberg Public Policy Center's credibility down the toilet. Max PERMANENT LINK |
Iran files complaint with UN about Clinton's threat to "obliterate" them
McCain’s staff and Bush’s staff talk 'every day'
McCain’s foreign-policy incoherence becomes slightly more embarrassing
McCain is lying about health care
Clinton distances herself from "elite" economists and experts
After voting to declare English as the national language,
McCain launches Spanish-language website
'91 war, not Iraq war, was over oil, McCain clarifies
McCain's office has disabled activists arrested
McCain wants to kick Russia out of the G8
McCain in 2003: Americans ‘need some straight talk’ about ‘how long we’re going to be’ in Iraq
McCain backs further and further away from "no earmarks" promise
In 2003, McCain claimed ‘Mission Accomplished’ in Iraq,
but now he claims he 'thought it was wrong at the time’
McCain's own photo ops repeatedly spotlight his ineptitude
McCain was against a long-term presence in Iraq before he was for it (more than once)
|
|
|
Cheney lawyer claims ‘Congress lacks Constitutional
power’ to investigate VP’s role in torture approval| |
Excerpt: Ruling out voluntary cooperation by [Cheney’s chief of staff David] Addington, Cheney lawyer Kathryn Wheelbarger said Cheney’s conduct is "not within the [congressional] committee’s power of inquiry."
"Congress lacks the constitutional power to regulate by law what a vice-president communicates in the performance of the vice president’s official duties, or what a vice president recommends that a president communicate..."
Comment: Only in the movies have I ever seen criminals issue such taunts. And in the movies they always get caught, but of course, Cheney will never see justice until he's barbecued in Hell. Helen & Harry PERMANENT LINK |
America's rigged elections
Supreme Court approves Republican vote suppression in Indiana| |
Excerpt: Was there any evidence of a voter-fraud scourge in Indiana? No. Would the law make it harder for "certain kinds" of voters (i.e., the elderly, minorities, and the poor) to participate? Yes. Did this look a whole lot like Republican lawmakers trying to discourage likely Democratic voters from taking part in elections? You betcha.
But that didn’t stop the Supreme Court today from approving the Indiana law.
Comment: This is a rerun from last week's Unknown News, because it's damned important and it's barely penetrated the mainstream media, so pay attention: This is one of the worst and most un-American Supreme Court rulings since Dred Scott, with ramifications that could disenfranchise millions of Americans. Helen & Harry PERMANENT LINK
The Supreme Court and the vote fraud fraud
Comment: This is a good analysis of just how wrongheaded and un-American this ruling is. Helen & Harry PERMANENT LINK Excerpt: ...So the only type of fraud shown to have occurred in Indiana history is a type the statute specifically doesn't address, and as it happens this apparently irrational choice happens to coincide with the partisan interests of the legislators who enacted the statute. This really isn't good enough if you want to burden the fundamental right to vote.
How "voter ID" hands victories to Republicans
Excerpt: The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School has found that 25 percent of adult African Americans, 15 percent of adults earning below $35,000 annually, and 18 percent of seniors over 65 do not possess government-issued photo IDs necessary to vote. |
Did the US Supreme Court just elect John McCain?| |
Excerpt: The decision turns back two centuries of jurisprudence that has accepted a registered voter's signature as sufficient identification for casting a ballot. By matching that signature against one given at registration, and with harsh penalties for ballot stuffing, the Justices confirmed in their lead opinion that there is "no evidence" for the kind of widespread voter fraud Republican partisans have used to justify the demand for photo ID.
Voting rights activists have long argued that since photo ID can cost money, or may demand expensive trips to government agencies, the requirement constitutes a "poll tax." Taxes on the right to vote were used for a century to prevent blacks and others from voting in the south and elsewhere. They were specifically banned by the 24th Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1964. |
How to cast a ballot in Indiana if you don't have state-issued photo ID| |
Excerpt: It doesn't matter if you've voted in every single election for the last 40 or 50 years at the same polling place. Nor does it matter, as Justice Souter pointed out his dissent yesterday, "that the State has not come across a single instance of in-person voter impersonation fraud in all of Indiana’s history." You'll still need to do the following if you don't happen to have an Indiana drivers license! |
Palast and Kennedy seek funding for disenfranchisement investigation| |
Excerpt: One million Democrats attempting to vote in this year’s primaries found their names missing from voter rolls. WHERE THE HELL DID THEY GO? ...
The investigations team needs your help. RIGHT NOW. The not-for-profit Investigative Fund needs support to pay the cost of phones, airfare, microphones (hidden, when needed), detective agency fees, camera crew, researchers and all the infrastructure of inquest. |
Hard evidence of voting machine addition errors| |
Excerpt: Now [Princeton Professor Ed Felten] has found (well-printed) tapes that show what appears to be hard proof that it's the vote totals that are wrong, since two different readout methods don't agree. Sequoia has made trade-secret legal threats against those wishing to mount an independent examination of the equipment. One small hat-tip to Sequoia: at least they are reporting enough raw data in different formats that these kinds of errors can come to light -- that lesson should be kept in mind when writing future requirements for voting machines. |
Ohio County prepares to sue Diebold
Spakovsky (Bush's nominee for vote suppression office) says
Supreme Court photo-ID ruling ‘vindicates the Bush Justice Department'
|
|
|
NY Times gives neocon warmongers even more op-ed space| |
Excerpt: The New York Times inexplicably surrendered most of an entire page of its Sunday Opinion section to allow the champions of America's disastrous invasion and occupation of Iraq to explain what we should do to achieve "mission accomplished."
Predictably, none of the 9 contributors says "wrong question." And none suggests we should just leave, or that our invasion was a strategic and immoral blunder or that our continued occupation is the core problem. |
Bill would penalize companies for aiding (foreign) internet censorship| |
Excerpt: There are just a couple of catches that make this bill not quite as great as [Rep Chris Smith (R-NJ)] and the handful of human rights groups that support it make it out to be. For one, the term "legitimate law enforcement" is extremely vague, and is left up to the US Department of Justice to decided on a case-by-case basis. If complying with the requests of law enforcement officials to turn over information on what they consider illegal in specific countries does not count as legitimate, then what does, exactly?
Secondly, you guessed it -- the bill has a convenient exit plan for anyone who tries to apply its rules to the United States. The President would have the authority to waive the provisions of the Act as long as "the important national interest of the United States requires the exercise of such waiver authority." As TechDirt points out, the US has done its own share of requesting data for questionable purposes, such as when it subpoenaed Google for 1 million random web addresses and all search records from an unspecified one-week period. It wouldn't be surprising to see the US waive the Act in the name of national security at the drop of the hat, so it seems dubious that our government would be take on the responsibility of holding others to these standards. |
United Methodist Church balks at housing Bush Library at SMU| |
Excerpt: While SMU faculty have previously criticized and spoken out against the library, the United Methodist Church (UMC) may be following suit. At yesterday’s 2008 Quadrennial General Conference, the UMC’s governing body voted overwhelmingly -- 844 to 20 -- to refer a petition "for the library’s rejection to the South Central jurisdiction of the church which owns the university property." ...
"Many are offended by the contempt shown by the administration in areas like torture," says Rev. Andrew J. Weaver, Ph.D. a minister and psychologist in Brooklyn, New York. "Torture is not a value of the Methodist church." Rev. Weaver is a graduate of SMU’s Perkins School of Theology, and told Dallas South that torture in today’s terms would be the moral equivalent of slavery." |
Lurita Doan finally forced out at GSA| |
Excerpt: Doan became the subject of congressional scrutiny last year for allegedly using GSA to help Republican lawmakers win re-election. Doan denied the allegation, but her appearance before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee was disastrous. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the panel, called on Doan to resign over the allegations, but Doan refused to do so. |
Who should MDs let die in a pandemic? Report offers answers| |
Excerpt: If followed to a tee, such rules could exclude care for the poorest, most disadvantaged citizens who suffer disproportionately from chronic disease and disability. |
|
Our front page is free from nudity and profanity, but interior pages and external links may not be safe for work, and you may be shocked, offended, or in trouble with your boss. A link doesn't imply that we agree with every sentence and every sentiment on every site we link to. We use our noggins, and suggest you use yours.
Anything sent to Unknown News may be published. If you don't want it published, say so plainly. Of course, we publish all incoming hate mail.
Unknown News is more fun and more informative with your participation, so please don't be shy. Consider yourself invited to speak your mind.
|
|
|
| |
We sell our own progressive bumper stickers:
pro-peace,
anti-Bush,
pro-freedom,
anti-Republican
stickers you won't
find anywhere else.
$3 each or two for $5
bumper stickers
|
|
| |
|
Because we respect peoples' privacy, we do not keep records of friends' and contributors' contact information. This means we can't forward private communications between readers and writers, but we always welcome dialogue for publication.
When we publish incoming emails, we usually edit out the sender's last name, email address, or anything else that would tend to uniquely identify the author (if we slip up, please let us know). But if your email is unambiguously intended only to annoy, insult, or threaten us, we'll publish all the details, and leave it on-line forever.
We're especially interested in hearing and considering different perspectives. All we ask is that you conduct yourself sanely and civilly. For the most productive dialogue, it helps if you'll cite a specific article or concept we've gotten wrong.
You can contact Helen & Harry at <newsuneed at yahoo.com>. If that address ever fails, our back-up email address is <unknownnews at inbox.com>.
But please, don't email us unless you're really and truly, honestly, actually trying to send the publishers of News a communication you're not sending to anyone or everyone else.
Please don't send attachments or other cr*p we don't want.
If you're trying to reach us but getting no reply, it's probably because you've sent us cr*p we don't want, so we're filtering your emails into the trash, unopened and unread.
If you'd like to have your email address unblocked, simply send a sincere apology (from an un-blocked email address).
| |
| |
|
|
This week's
commentary
|
Chicken Little saves the world from the Dogs of War
by Herb Ruhs, MD, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Meanwhile, ever-greater chunks of sky were falling everywhere, burying cities and towns, and causing great consternation. The Dogs of War, Commerce, Industry and Finance continued to claim that the Terrorist Goats were behind the destruction and that the Illegal Sheep crossing the border were also a big part of the problem. |
Bush regime rewards incompetent and dysfunctional corporations
by Mr. Chuckles, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Imagine a country with countless Paris Hiltons -- millionaires never tested by reality, never forced to dig deep and excel, never offered any incentive to improve.
Which is pretty much what we have today: an upper class of wealthy bunglers who have too much time on their hands and want to run for office. Like George W. Bush, our inbred, water-brained, devo chuckle-monkey president. How did we get him? It is as if his father screwed a chimpanzee when the circus came to town! If not for the wealth and power of the Bush-Walker clan, Curious George W. would probably have ended up as an alcoholic, cokehead con-artist used-car salesman with a sub-prime mortgage in foreclosure. |
Blast from the past: Whip Inflation Now (WIN)
by Juan P., Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Or in elementary terms, chum, the price of everything else must now rise if real estate and stock prices are not allowed to fall. Otherwise, real estate would not be economically viable. |
The audacity (and consequences) of truth
by Chris M., Unknown News| |
Excerpt: It took being bombed to rubble for Japan and Germany to finally get over most of their race-based nationalism which the people rallied around for their identity. And it may take the same thing for this country to finally be brought into reality and out of its delusional little bubble of denial. 9/11 was just a shot across the bow. |
Hillogic, Billogic
by Leigh Saavedra, My Town| |
Excerpt: Personally, I had promised myself to say nothing negative about any Democratic candidate. And while I still believe that the nation would not be nearly as bad under Clinton as it would be under McCain (Clinton might live up to her word and end the Bush Wars), I do not believe we can thrive under her logic, and as she continues to try to destroy Obama's character, perhaps we must speak up. While she surpasses Bush in double digits regarding intelligence and education, I have found nothing to convince me she is any more truthful than Bush. As for her indignity about Reverend Wright, I would beg you to listen to Bill Moyers' interview, in order to put the sound clips into perspective. Jeremiah Wright is very angry about the injustices perpetrated by people in the name of the country that he too loves and has served. You'll not get entire transcripts from those trying to ruin Obama. |
Why gas prices are so high
by jimbyrd, Buffalo Bill's Wild West| |
Excerpt: If crude oil prices are $45 per barrel and the price of a of gasoline is $1.50 per gallon, then if oil prices rise to $80 per barrel and the price of a gallon of gas rises to $2.35, what would the approximate price of a gallon of gasoline be if a barrel of crude oil rose to $110 per barrel?
a) 50 cents per gallon
b) 1.10 per gallon
c) $3.49 per gallon |
On sexist media coverage of Hillary Clinton
by Jessica Wakeman, Huffington Post| |
Excerpt: Whether they call themselves a feminist or not, many women and many men have noticed how different mainstream media coverage of Hillary Clinton's run for the Democratic nomination has been from coverage of male candidates. From her tone of voice and her style of dress, her eyes welling up with tears to her credentials as a senator, Clinton's run for the Democratic nomination has been awash with the most dispiriting ridicule I have seen in my (albeit short) lifetime.
(Let me say right up front that I voted for Barack Obama in the Connecticut primary -- in fact, I took a Metro North train back home to Connecticut to vote for Barack Obama in the Connecticut primary in the flesh. So I can tell you all about why Hillary Clinton gives me the heebie-jeebies -- but that conversation will include words like "Mark Penn," "Wal-Mart" and "Iraq War," not "crying" or "nagging wives.") |
One nation, under a heartless God
by Ted Rall, syndicated columnist| |
Excerpt: What ought to happen to the nearly 300 detainees [at Guantanamo] is obvious. Hand each of them an apology, a bag of cash -- a million bucks wouldn't be nearly enough for what they've been through -- and a plane ticket home. Those who can't return to their countries of origin because their US-backed dictatorships would murder them receive a penthouse suite in the US city of their choice.
I'd let them switch places with their guards and 300 top-ranking members of the Bush Administration for a couple of days first. No questions asked. Just get on the plane, and don't forget your bag o' cash. |
Previous commentary
Endless war for endless profit
by Herb Ruhs, MD, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Victory, in this setting, is the last thing desired, as it would mean an end to the flow of profit. Defeat and retreat, likewise, are unthinkable for the same reason. The business plan is endless war for endless profit. |
Next bubble: Food (and other necessary commodities)
by Mahdi Abdul Finkelstein, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Because governments no longer back their currencies with gold, increases in money supplies have resulted over the past several decades, which greatly exceed the growth in planetary production. Therefore, in the years following the implosion of the internet stock bubble and the real estate bubble, both of which had global reach, another bubble was "needed" by the "investors" managing the excess trillions of dollars. |
Why democracy does not matter right now
by Herb Ruhs, MD, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Almost anything that substitutes local sources of goods and services for corporate ones extracts another drop of blood from the beast. It doesn't seem like very much at the time, but every effort to feed, clothe, house and care for ourselves that does not send money toward the center of the exploitive economy are blows that can, when taken cumulatively, weaken the beast to the point of harmlessness. |
Freedom is for brave people, not for farm animals
by Mr. Chuckles, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Let's face it, the long and slow decline of America is well deserved. We are ignorant, lazy, fearful sheep who inherited a rich paradise and watched placidly as it was stolen and obliterated. Freedom is for brave people, not for farm animals. |
Making it harder for the speculators
by Marie K., Unknown News| |
Excerpt: The more prices rise, and big profits are made, the more others invest, hoping for big returns. Look at the financial web sites: everyone and their mother is piling into commodities. ... The trouble is that if you are one of the 2.8 billion people, almost half the world’s population, who live on less than $2 a day, you may pay for these profits with your life. |
Problems & solutions with Yanquis & corporations
by Marie K., Unknown News| |
Excerpt: The European Union has put pressure on and been negotiating with 77 countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and Pacific since 2002 to sign on to "Economic Partnership Agreements" (EPAs) -- sanctions were threatened if they didn’t sign. In general, this will result in local production in these countries being further exposed to big international corporations. |
Obama's "get out the vote" emails delayed
by Enduring in the East, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Who is Comcast endorsing? Is some other ISP interfering? Is there a mole in the Obama camp? Have aliens messed with our satellite transmissions? |
Which numbers deserve our attention?
by Herb Ruhs, MD, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Compassionate people recognize that our suffering here at home is dwarfed by the unbelievable suffering that these wars have inflicted on the people of the Middle East. Their suffering, as well as our own, will echo down through generation after generation. |
A society that erects pedestals, and digs dungeons
by Herb Ruhs, MD, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: All our professions and institutions are now led and controlled by people whose only claim to superiority is their political cleverness and ruthlessness. This is what comes from idolizing wealth and fame, and being influenced by the lies that ambitious people use to entice and confuse us. The way out of the corner is start forming small, local groups where the true character and capacity of the membership can be accurately assessed. |
The mote in Hillary's eye
by Hazel Burke, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: OK, so we know for a fact that Hillary Clinton is a chronic, serial, truth-avoider who lies frequently but is not actually very good at it, at least compared to her husband's skill as fabulousity and prevarication. |
It's a lie to say it's a mis-statement
by Amber Perez, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Basically, anyone making actual, real-life decisions involving money, property, liberty or happiness would be well advised to ignore television news completely. Even when they are right, they're wrong because their information is so dated that it is nearly impossible to use -- when they say buy houses that means that the richies are selling houses and short-selling banks! |
Without sexism, where would Hillary Clinton be?
by Lloyd B., Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Hillary Clinton deserves the respect due any person with six years' experience in politics, with no apparent ideals, with no original ideas of consequence, with a track record supporting an idiotic war, and with a political agenda that can only be described as Hillary Clintonist. There is nothing, absolutely nothing in her life to suggest that she is of anything remotely approaching Presidential stature. |
A supersized stack of good advice
by Pavel C., Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Eventually I realized that I needed to do work for which I already had skills and training, which would, even though I disliked it, pay be some ok money and use my abilities. And that meant moving back to Civilization, or at least, near a big city in California. |
The destructive power of greed
by Herb Ruhs, MD, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Eventually, as we now see, a corporate infrastructure of lobbying and public relations firms, wielding massive budgets for campaign "contributions" and espionage activities, becomes the true governmental power, and proceeds to systematically loot the ostensible governmental tax coffers. |
Democrats must be cautious
by JR Mooneyham, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: If impeachment were feasible, I think the Democrats would have done it. Their razor-thin Congressional majority though -- diluted still further by Lieberman and a few others -- plus the Republican-dominated Supreme Court, and the Republican-owned mainstream media, would simply make a real impeachment effort on the part of Democrats worse than futile: it would likely help the mainstream media to hand the next election over to the Republicans in a landslide. |
Limbo debate: How low can these candidates go?
by Penny Nichols, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Both Clinton and Obama swore blood oaths not to raise taxes on those making less than $200,000 a year. FYI, that cap works out to $100 an hour. I don't think even Obama has measure the depths of bitterness and rage "out there" if he is considering people who earn $99 an hour "middle class". |
America has just out-evilled Evil itself
by Chris D., Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Not only does your Congress, Democrats and Republicans alike, deign to openly dictate what Iraq's government will do while claiming it tastes freedom for the first time, they now force the Iraqi people to reimburse the military that carpet bombs entire city blocks for the fuel they expend in the process of raining death and terror upon them and have publicly declared that all aid Iraq received after being crushed beneath jack-booted heels was some undeserved kindness. |
How to destroy a great nation's economy
by JR Mooneyham, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: In a nutshell, this is what the whole country of America has been doing to itself, via outsourcing and miscellaneous other wage depression schemes, for decades now. If we're not yet beyond the point of no return, we sure as hell must be close! |
Less is more, and tarnished is better
by Herb Ruhs, MD, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Please spare me from bigger, better, prettier, brighter, quicker, faster, cleaner, cooler, hotter, freer, slimmer, fitter, fancier, trendier and more of anything than I need to get through my day. |
Will America become one huge tent city?
by Sherri B., Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Just how close are we to the homeless that we help, but hope like hell we never to have to live their lives? What happens to us, the USA, as a family? |
Heckuva job, GMie!
by Mr. Chuckles, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: As with many other things, GM was at an all time high shortly before Bush took office -- up over $90 a share. After 7+ years of our first MBA president, GM is down to $19 a share, and the only reason it is still alive (I'm guessing) is that they're hoping for a government bail-out. OR... the Bush Regime doesn't want to preside over the bankruptcy of General Motors. |
The new war of independence
by Herb Ruhs, MD, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Once we begin to recognize each other as coming from a common humanity, we can begin again to knit together the kind of local communities that were the true motive force i |
|
|
|
|
