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FRIDAY, JUNE 20, 2003
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Good Friday morning,

In Australia, one in three adults needs drugs to cope with psychological distress. But of course, if you choose a different drug than the Prime Minister, you're going to prison.

In liberated Iraq , US soldiers admit they're shooting at civilians and killing them, because hey, Iraqi civilians are trying to kill Americans. It's an ugly, grisly, and utterly predictable scenario, pretty much exactly what anyone who gave it ten minutes thought would've seen coming after an invasion. And of course, it's not exactly surprising, but accidentally killing four Canadians will lead to zip-zero-nada prosecutions.

Now and then, PBS's Frontline does dang good work. Objective journalists aren't allowed to say it in so many words, but the prescription benefit being battled about in the US Congress is a great big shit-pile of nothing. Seems they've figured that out in Maine, and they're setting up an actual prescription benefit plan instead, and the pharmaceutical giants are not at all happy about that.

In police news, today's reported rapes by cops outnumber drunk driving cops, 3-1. It's not news to anyone that they buy and sell judgeships in Brooklyn, and censorship is all the rage in today's edukashun news.

And today's dialogue is a keeper, I think, with the usual assortment of unusually thoughtful notes plus a moving letter from Khadijah on "dealing with the mindlessness of those who cannot handle freedom with responsibility." As always, we enjoy the conversation, and you're invited to participate.

*  Mayor declares art "too disturbing" for Orlando

*  Baptists to Gays: God wants you to redirect your libido

*  Baptists to "Family Video": God wants you to have no libido, not even in a back room

*  Cop fired for smoking tobacco
      A seven-year veteran of the police force has recently been fired for smoking tobacco products in violation of a little-known state law banning smoking among public safety officials.

*  Teen diagnosed with freedom, legally kidnapped to Mormon boot camp
      Alex was officially diagnosed with "Oppositional Defiance Disorder," which is defined as a disorder including symptoms such as often losing one's temper, arguing with adults, actively defying or refusing to comply with adults' requests, deliberately annoying people, blaming others for mistakes, being touchy or easily annoyed, and often being spiteful, vindictive, or angry. In a workshop during the National Conference on Organized Resistance in January it was joked several times that with a definition like that almost all those with radical and anti-authoritarian beliefs could be labeled as "disordered."

*  E-mail censorship snags city boner monitors
      Rule makers at Utah's Department of Alcohol Beverage Control apparently are too foul-mouthed to get their e- mails past the state's censor patrol.
      A proposed rule change dealing with private clubs was posted earlier this week by the Division of Administrative Rules. The rule was not sent to subscribers, however, because it was blocked by the Division of Information Technology Services, which is programmed to automatically eliminate messages containing offensive words.
      Division Director Ken Hansen said the problem has been solved and the rule was resubmitted on the electronic highway. The offensive words: "sexually oriented adult entertainment."   THAT'S THE ENTIRE ITEM

*  Baywatch star harangued on flight for someone else's anti-war views   SCROLL TO THIRD ITEM

*  Enron Hubbard: Rich corporate guys rob everybody blind and walk away untouched while powerful government figures shrug and attempt to look mystified. There He Is!

*  Pentagon may make embedded media standard issue
       This system worked so well, most Americans still have no idea what happened in Iraq.   —H&HH

*  Hatch uses unlicensed software on web site
      Woolley makes his living from his software. Like a lot of independent programmers, he struggles to get people to conform to his licensing terms, let alone pay for his software.
      "We don't want blood," he said. "We just want payment for the hard work we do. We work very, very hard. If they're not prepared to pay, they're software pirates."
* June 19: Hatch wants govt to hack your computer
      The Senator acknowledged Congress would have to enact an exemption for copyright owners from liability for damaging computers. He endorsed technology that would twice warn a computer user about illegal online behavior, "then destroy their computer."
* Parody: Hatch introduces bill to burn people’s eyes out

* Action alert: Roll back the FCC's rule changes   —Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting

*  Puritans froth at the frock over nekkid children

*  Christian Science Monitor apologizes to Galloway
      The Christian Science Monitor has admitted that a set of documents upon which it based its story on were "almost certainly" fake.
      ... However the Glasgow MP has refused to accept the apology and is demanding to know who forged the documents.
      ... Mr Galloway also called for the prime minister to investigate the source of the documents.     Say what? Background, please.

Point of interest  —
*  Witnesses and documents unveil deceptions in a reporter's work
      The New York Times continues dissecting the half-assed reporting of Jayson Blair.

*  Boston Globe pays attention to memos from the loony Right
       Here's a bit of dialogue on this.   —Slothrop and H&HH

*  Cop-killing may be prosecuted by feds ... because Vermont has no death penalty
      “One thing I’ve learned is never to underestimate the creativity of the Ashcroft Justice Department in finding a federal hook to get the case in federal court and go after the death penalty. (John) Ashcroft is a true believer, especially in states that don’t have the death penalty.”

* Commentary: Tomorrow's news today — Headlines from 2015

*  50 years ago: Betrayal and the bomb
      Most modern historians agree that Julius Rosenberg was a spy. The case against his wife, Ethel, is far weaker. Current events have conspired to render the Rosenbergs' fate extraordinarily relevant.
      Since Sept. 11, 2001, the Rosenberg case has taken on new meaning and is teaching an old lesson. When a nation feels threatened, it reacts. Sometimes, it overreacts.   [The Globe & Mail [Toronto]]

* Commentary: Homogenized news or one-size-fits-all entertainment
      A single media giant, up to now allowed to own television stations reaching slightly more than a third of the nation’s viewers, will soon — thanks to Floodgate — be able to reach nearly half, a giant’s giant step toward 100 percent “penetration.” And as for “cross-ownership” — the ability for newspapers to buy TV and radio stations in the same city and vice versa — the FCC as much as said “C’mon in, local domination by a media powerhouse is fine.”   —William Safire

THE POLICE: TO PROTECT AND SERVE
LINK HERE
*  Cop charged with raping 16-year-old in police car's back seat   Officer, on paid leave, says the girl initiated sexual contact against his will

*  Man crippled by hail of police shots sentenced to prison
      Officers said Mark Barmore, 37, accused of taking his brother's car, slashed at them with a box-cutter as they tried to rescue him from the burning vehicle, cutting one officer's uniform. Four officers fired 16 shots.
      An internal investigation supported the officers' actions.

*  Deputy suspended with pay over rape allegations
      No charges have yet been filed. Police have not yet officially identified the officer involved.

*  Police shooting being questioned
      "The autopsy reflects five bullet entries into the gentleman who died. How can an officer who's being dragged down the street securely hit right through his spine and through his neck and corner of his body five entry wounds? It's not possible," Ann del Llano with ACLU of Texas said.
      One man says he saw police reenact the scene on Sunday and claims to have talked to several neighbors. All of which he says doesn't add up to what police say happened.
      "One neighbor said that they heard one shot then three shots so we don't know if he was shot before the car accelerated, while the car accelerated or after the car accelerated," Akwasi Evans who disputes police report said.
      Before the car hit the fence, police say Officer Glasgow managed to get loose. He was transported to Brackenridge Hospital with minor injuries.
      Owens was pronounced dead on the scene. His funeral was Wednesday.

*  Cincinnati may be driven to debt by multi-million dollar police brutality verdicts
*  Cincinnati Police are continuing to investigate April allegations that Cop refused to help shooting victim

*  Charges dropped against 103 antiwar protesters   Prosecutors: We couldn't meet burden of proof
       This is utterly usual after protesters are arrested. The purpose is shutting down a protest — circumventing the First Amendment — and the purpose is accomplished.   —Annie
*  War protesters tell aldermen of police brutality

*  Cops investigating colleague who allegedly rammed suspect with cop car

*  Troubled cop takes stand
      A Chicago police officer now on desk duty who admits having been the subject of up to 10 different internal affairs probes took the stand Tuesday on the first day of trial for a man charged with pointing a handgun at him in 2001. Officer Duane Blackman, a six-year veteran, made the admissions in the first day of trial for Arthur Brown. Blackman said that after Brown pointed a gun at him, Blackman fired about five or six times after Brown refused to drop the gun. Brown was hit once in the back of the head and survived. Blackman said in court under cross examination that the gun was later traced to another police officer who worked out of his unit. Blackman admitted he is the subject of several internal investigations for his conduct in the Brown case. Blackman was assigned to the 311 center after a Dec. 24 incident where he and a partner switched price tags at a Michigan Avenue department store on Christmas Eve.   SCROLL TO 4TH ITEM   THAT'S THE ENTIRE ARTICLE

*  Sex with guards considered 'normal' by teen inmates at Florida Institute for Girls
      A few pieces of candy for a few suggestive words. An extra phone call for a pat on the bottom. The chance to escape the oppressive confines of a jail cell for a little fondling.
      That's the give-and-take between some guards and inmates at the Florida Institute for Girls, the state's only maximum-security prison for serious female juvenile delinquents.
      Some girls who have served sentences at the prison shrug off the exchanges as commonplace, even expected.
* June 18: Grand Jury will review abuses at girls' prison
      A grand jury will investigate the state's only maximum-security facility for girls following reports of inappropriate sexual contact, improper use of physical restraints and excessively long stays in isolation units.

*  Cops vow to fight county plans to close narcotics task force
      Leonard said no honest lawman would defend what happened in Tulia, but also said the case did not mean all narcotics task forces employed similarly tactics.
      "People who are in our business believe that's just as big an abomination as people not in our business," the sheriff said. 'that doesn't change anything, though, about the success or viability of our program here."
       They've learned nothing. New cycle to begin now.   —Iski

*  Lawsuit alleges 'longstanding pattern of sexual harassment and misconduct'
* June 11: More than 100 troopers investigated in 89 sexual-misconduct cases
* June 13: State Police were subjects of 118 sexual-misconduct complaints in a 6-year period   Not just 89, as they said earlier

*  Detroit police officers indicted for corruption
*  17 officers named as rogues in indictment
      They dangled one man by his legs from a second-story window.
      They threatened to kill a woman if she told anyone about the way they were treating her.
      They stepped on the face of another woman with such force that they dislodged a tooth.
      Prosecutors say these were not the acts of neighborhood gang members, but of 17 rogue Detroit police officers charged in a federal indictment Thursday. The officers allegedly stole drugs, firearms and money from drug dealers during a two-year reign of terror on the city's southwest side.

*  Jury hears closing arguments in lawsuit over killing by San Diego Cops

*  Jury awards New London man $250,000 in police shooting incident
      After a high-speed car chase in 1998, four Massachusetts police officers fired 49 shots at Richard Parker. At least six bullets pierced the New London man's stomach, legs, feet, finger and groin.
      After two weeks and multiple surgeries at Boston Medical Center, Parker survived.

*  Lawsuit says handcuffed woman was punched by cop

*  Cop gets 10 years for on-duty rape of woman who had flat tire

*  Lawsuit over police killing of man armed with aerosol can

*  Cop charged in on-duty fist fight remains on duty

*  Cop fired for working at pizza shop while collecting full disability   Not a word about possible prosecution

*  Corrections Officer charged with fatally shooting the mother of his child   SCROLL TO 5TH PARAGRAPH

*  Cop who quit over wife-beating gets anger management counseling

*  Witness in Oakland police brutality trial killed

*  Sheriff's Deputy accused of rape
      The name of the deputy, who has been with the department for 17 years, has not been released, she said.
      "This is going to take a while," she said. "There are a lot of processes we need to go through."

*  DA charges Cop with letting fellow Cop off the hook for drunk driving   Cop still on duty

*  Cop acquitted of stealing shuttle debris indicted for alleged false report

*  Local Deputy fired, accused of dishonesty

*  Cops who stole cash from stolen vehicle get three years   Lawyer says they'll seek shock probation

*  FBI agent sentenced in false swearing case

*  Policeman turns himself in on election charges   SCROLL TO SECOND ITEM

*  Guard indicted on sex charges involving 15-year-old girl

*  Defense alleges police wrongdoing
      During the past week, two Holliston graduates, including Sexton, testified that Medway police officer David McRoberts called them liars and threatened to put them in jail after they offered their accounts of what transpired during the 62-second tussle.
      Medway police prosecutor Gerald Tracy said in a phone interview yesterday that the officers, "don't lie. They don't cheat. They do their job, and they do it well."

*  Cop who was also robber gets genuine jail time

*  Ex-Cop gets 90 days for dealing cocaine

*  Councilman placed on leave from Minneapolis police force
      “Some people don’t like the idea of a public servant holding public office,” Officer Fossum said. Fossum did not specify who might be interested in causing him trouble.
      He said his base salary as a police lieutenant was around $75,000 in 2002. But through overtime, he was able to boost his pay to roughly $116,000. “It was all on the up and up,” Fossum said.

*  Cop pleads not guilty to destroying politician's ticket

*  Cops resign over drug use   Not a word about possible prosecution

*  Officer's shaken baby case ends in mistrial

*  Officer indicted on lesser charge
      The White County Grand Jury has not found enough probable cause to bind former White County sheriff’s deputy Winston Smith over to the Superior Court on charges of two counts of sexual battery and two counts of violation of oath of office.
      Smith will face one charge in Superior Court, that of making false statements while serving as a White County deputy.

*  Former deputy could lose fraudulently obtained certification

      What does it all mean?
      Wherever cops patrol, there are good cops and bad cops. We'd like to see the good cops promoted and the bad cops dismissed and/or prosecuted.
      Cops are very nearly worshipped in American society, as if it's heroic to button up a blue shirt and pin on a badge. As a result of that "support the police" attitude, there's minimal call for disciplining bad cops, and maximal call for "forgiving," and "understanding" the tough work of being a cop. Well, police work is tough — and letting out-of-control cops keep their badges only makes the work more difficult and dangerous for good cops.
      We'd like to see police held accountable for their crimes, same as anyone else. Any other policy is an invitation to abuse.
  —H&HH

AFRICA
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  UN muckymucks meet in Tokyo to talk about African refugees

*  Liberian President won't step down   Renounces his peace pledge to cede power

*  Peace monitors set for Liberia

* Commentary: Bush's Africa trip really an oil safari   —Hopewell Radebe, Business Day [Johannesburg]

*  CNN African Journalist of the Year competition boots Standard writer over "uncertainties"

ASIA
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  India considers broad censorship of "vulgarity"

*  Chinese judges warned on torture   They will lose their jobs or be prosecuted if they try to extract confessions with torture

*  Chinese Police detain man over T-shirt
      Police in eastern China briefly detained a foreign man after local residents complained they were offended by his T-shirt listing staring, overcharging and other common gripes of foreigners in China, a newspaper reported Friday.
      Police were called following an altercation between the man and diners in a restaurant in the eastern city of Nanjing, the Beijing Today weekly reported. The man, whose name and nationality weren't given, was taken to a precinct station and allowed to leave after about an hour after promising not to wear the shirt again, it said.
      The paper said the back of the man's T-shirt was printed in Chinese with a list entitled "Ten Warnings for Chinese," that included "don't stare at foreigners," and "charge foreigners the same prices as Chinese," the paper said. It said the man told police he bought the T-shirt from a vendor in China.

*  Outcry forces Beijing to scrap vagrancy law

*  Japanese encephalitis kills 18 children, infects 211 in south China

EUROPE
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  European Union leaders back "historic" draft constitution

*  Queen quite contrary about Blair's abolition of 1,400-year-old Lord Chancellor position

* Commentary: The abolition of the Lord Chancellorship has brought out all of Tony Blair's old vices — contempt for established institutions, arrogance, unthinking support for anything that can be called "modern" - as well as a new one: ineptness. It is now clear that the Prime Minister had no idea of the consequences of what he was proposing, even on the most technical, procedural level. An office that has existed for 1,400 years, and the delicate constitutional arrangements that surround it, is being rubbed out on a passing whim.   —Editorial, The Daily Telegraph [London, UK]

THE MIDDLE EAST
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  Iranian opposition plans terrorist attacks, say French

*  US says action against Iran "an option"

IRAQ: A WAR FOUGHT FOR LIES
LINK HERE
*  CIA takes over hunt for illegal weapons
       So don't be surprised if weapons of mass destruction are suddenly "found" ...   —H&HH

*  Chafee: WMD issue is one of ‘credibility’
       Sen. Chaffee was one of two Republicans to vote against authorizing the slaughter.   —H&HH

*  House Republicans reject investigation

*  Australian intelligence officer who resigned to protest war still at odds with Australian govt
      "I have a real criticism of the Australian Government for stonewalling as long as they have and I'm very curious to find out whether the Australian Government intends to call me as a witness," he said.   [Sydney Morning Herald]
*  'No court martial' for U.S. airmen who accidentally killed Canadians

*  Iraq's museums: what really happened   —Wleanor Robson, The Guardian [Manchester, UK]
*  What really happened at the Baghdad museum?   —Dan Cruickshank, The Guardian [Manchester, UK]
       Choose your reality.   —H&HH

LIFE IN LIBERATED IRAQ
LINK HERE
*  "I just pulled the trigger"."
      "There was no dilemma when it came to shooting people who were not in uniform, I just pulled the trigger. It was up close and personal the whole time, there wasn't a big distance. If they were there, they were enemy, whether in uniform or not. Some were, some weren't."
       Considering that the Iraq war was a war of aggression, without UN sanction, the war itself was a crime. The civilians killed are murder victims. The US soldiers who killed them were duped by their president into performing murder, and so can probably be forgiven — but should be discharged. If there honor in soldiering there is none in murdering.   —Iski
*  This article by Naveed Raja seems to be just a shortened version of the above article by Bob Graham   Has Jayson Blair found new employment?

*  US military doctors refuse treatment for burned Iraqi children
      A Congresswoman from Ohio says Defense Department officials promise to investigate a report of military doctors refusing to treat three burned Iraqi children.
       And speaking of promised investigations ...   —H&HH
* June 13: US officials lied about investigation of US bombing of Iraqi market
      In late March, after an American missile hit a marketplace in Baghdad and killed plenty of people — Iraqi officials said 58 — Major General Victor Renuart of Central Command said: "With every one of those circumstances, we ask the component ... who may have had forces involved, whether it's land, sea, or air, to do an investigation, and that takes a number of days to do that. The air component in this case is completing his review. We think that will be complete within the next day or so. And as soon as ... the review is completed, we'll make that available.
      "As to what do we determine to be the cause, I think certainly there are a number of possibilities. We want to make sure that if in fact there was an error on our part, that we found that out and made that available."
      A couple of days later, Brigadier General Vincent Brooks, the deputy director of operations for Central Command, said: "There is an ongoing investigation; still I think we are starting to come to a high degree of closure on it. We are still accounting for every weapon system that we released into the Baghdad area. And once we've gotten to closure on that, I think we will be able to say one way or another what role we may have played, or not."
      On April 1, Brooks was asked by a reporter if he could give a date to give the results of the investigation. Brooks responded by saying: "Well, I can't give you a date. I mean, it takes as long as it takes. And it ought to be thorough. We're not going to waste time with them, but we are going to be thorough about the work that's being done.... Our designs are to minimize the casualties to civilians as much as we can. We'd like to see that be zero. That is not something that's ever been achieved in warfare. We believe our efforts have driven it as low as it has ever been driven in warfare."
      Two and a half months after the prattle, we now have the terrible truth. There never was an investigation. That fact was embedded (pun intended) in an Associated Press report this week that it has so far counted 3,240 Iraqi civilians killed in the invasion, including nearly 1,900 in Baghdad. The AP quoted Central Command spokesman John Morgan confirming the nonexistence of an investigation.

*  U.S. troops kill two Iraqi protesters

*  Three US soldiers 'killed in Iraq attack'

*  Soldier killed in Iraq ambulance attack

*  Chronic poverty in southern Iraq may worsen

*  Just another day in Baghdad
      Yesterday Hussein Saber, 33, should have collected a $50 (£30) emergency payment which all Iraq's now unemployed soldiers are due to receive. The money did not arrive and so he and hundreds of other frustrated young men poured towards the gates of the US-led authority to protest.
      Within minutes he was shot in his right side by a young, nervous American soldier. Hussein survived but two other Iraqis standing next to him in the crowd were killed.
      Just a few miles away in the center of the city, gunmen in a passing car shot dead one American soldier and wounded another as they guarded a propane gas station. It was another strike against the US military by an increasingly bold guerrilla resistance force intent on destabilizing the reconstruction.
      Neither the Iraqis nor the Americans ever dreamed that Baghdad would be like this, ten weeks to the day after Saddam Hussein's regime was finally toppled.

*  Bayonets and bullets fail to ease fury

*  Iraqi swimming team forced from pool   Automated translation by Google
      Because the US soldiers use the only olympia [Olympic-sized] bath [swimming pool] of Baghdad for itself, the Iraqi achievement floats have a checking: Instead of in calm schwimmbahnen they must complete their training in the tides of the Tigris. For the world championship in July in Barcelona they see therefore their chances clearly diminished. "That is completely unfair", says the coach of the Iraqi achievement floats, Faisal Sajed Dschafar. After the war it and its three weeks long in selfinitiative would have cleaned and would have repaired sportsman the El-Kadissija-swimming pool. "then the US soldiers came, us out drove and said, we should not any longer be looked let itself."

NORTH AMERICA
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  Court says New Orleans can't ban sidewalk book sales

*  Naperville local access TV stays censor-free

*  Nine Canadian provinces will accept same-sex marriage

*  Tonight on 60 Minutes: Terrorist chicken laundering
      "CBS News aided and abetted a disguised and anonymous character assassin's hit-and-run tactics," says Nancy Luque, a Washington lawyer for the Muslim groups. Luque is demanding $80 million for her clients in Washington. Her Atlanta colleague, former federal prosecutor Wilmer "Buddy" Parker, seeks an unspecified amount that's certain to be in the millions.

*  Google calls in the 'language police'

* Commentary: Stop the graduation phobia about the 'G' word   —John W. Whitehead, Cybercast News Service [nee Christian News Service]

*  Reparations case lawyers claim 104-year-old man was enslaved till 1960s

*  Wbhat Republicans' crooked redistricting will mean in Colorado

*  A bit about Alberto R. Gonzales — now the White House counsel, and widely regarded as a likely future Supreme Court nominee

OCEANIA
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  One in three adults needs drugs to cope with psychological distress

*  Report warned of risks two days before Bali attack

*  Australian govt may appeal ruling against child detention
*  Outrage over plan to fight child detention ruling
* June 19: "Detention" for children seeking asylum ruled illegal
* June 19: Queen's Councilor warns release of children could take time

SOUTH AMERICA
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  Ecuador wants US to pay for refugees from drug war in neighboring Colombia

*  Scientists find rare birds in Guyana

*  Chavez wouldn't be elected to third term, says poll

*  Earthquake rumbles Amazon

BUSINESS & LABOR
I'M ALL RIGHT JACK, KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF OF MY STACK
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  How bad is the jobless rate?   Historically speaking, unemployment could be a lot worse, but it should be an awful lot better
       The article doesn't mention it and I couldn't find the facts in a few minutes of Googling, but I distinctly remember recent changes to the definitions and assumptions the unemployment rate is built upon — changes that make the unemployment rate lower than it would have been under previous definitions and assumptions.   —H&HH

*  Insurers dropping more customers who file claims
      "Right now, we are in a classic hard market, which means essentially the cost of insurance for companies is higher so it is more expensive to offer," said Jeanne Salvatore, spokeswoman for the New York-based trade group Insurance Information Institute. "Over the last 10 years we've paid out more in claims than we took in in premiums."
       Right. And the world is made of green cheese.   —H&HH

EDUCATION
AND OTHER FORMS OF CHILD ABUSE
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  Parents petition for more control over "controversial" school curriculum

*  High school's "underground" paper under fire
      School officials won’t comment publicly, but students have said administrators are angry over this year’s publication and want to put a stop to future editions.

*  Canada: 11th-grader sent home for "inappropriate hairstyle"
      The board and school say Yeadon is not suspended and could return as long as his hair is styled according to “the norms of society.”
       I think the kid in the picture pretty much is the norm in society ... Don't you?   —Matt V.
       Looks like any kid anywhere to me. The principal is Bruce Hatton, and his email address is bruce_hatton@rainbow.edu.on.ca.   —H&HH

GOVERNMENT
A SYNONYM FOR CORRUPTION AND INCOMPETENCE
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  DA unsurprised by Ex-Judge's revelations
      "Look, it is common street talk that this has been going on for eons," Hynes told reporters at City Hall, where he attended a news conference on a budget-related announcement.
      "Would I be surprised if there were judgeships for sale?" Hynes said. "I'd be naive to think it doesn't happen." Hynes said there was "too much smoke" indicating the sale of judicial spots happens.
* June 17: Ret'd Judge says he paid Democrats $35k for Judgeship
      Carrying a bag full of money, Jones said, he traveled from his central Brooklyn home to Fortune's dry-cleaning business, located on Tompkins Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant. There, in a scene that was surreal to Jones, the judge-to-be and party boss Fortune counted out the thousands of dollars in bills.
* June 18: Court buzzing about Judge's candor
      "The general feeling is it is all true, it has always been known and it is not news," said another attorney who did not want to be named. "The basic feeling, is it has been part of the system for a long time ... I don't know what to do about it."

*  Public Citizen wants investigation of DeLay

*  Army Officer pleads guilty to stealing from fellow Ft. Huachuca soldiers

*  Flow of federal cash fed housing scheme

*  In bribery charge, bill refers to 2 city officials

*  Former county worker admits he double- billed

HEALTH & SCIENCE
THOSE DARN EXPERTS AND ACADEMICS!
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  The other drug war
      The launching point for this report is the story of how a group of frustrated senior citizens led the state of Maine into battle with the powerful pharmaceutical industry. Frustrated by the skyrocketing cost of their prescription drugs, hundreds of Maine seniors began organizing bus trips across the Canadian border, where they found they could purchase the exact same prescription drugs for a fraction of what they were paying in the United States. Having to make the journey was inconvenient enough, the seniors said; but it was when they learned that people in Mexico, Japan, Germany, and most other developed nations were also paying much lower prices for drugs invented in the U.S., that their frustration turned to outrage.
      "I think it's disgusting," Maine senior Carleen Simpson says. "Every country practically in the world gets drugs cheaper than we do.
      The seniors' activism eventually led to proposed legislation that would force pharmaceutical companies to sell their drugs in Maine for the same price they were charging in Canada.
      The pharmaceutical industry reacted quickly. PhRMA, the industry's trade organization, dispatched lobbyists to Maine in an attempt to kill the bill, which came to be known as Maine Rx. When that failed and the bill passed, the industry won a court injunction barring the state from implementing Maine Rx. ...

*  White House urged EPA to delete global warming from report

*  wine trade wants to replace bottle corks with screwtops   But the side-effect is an ecological disaster that spells the end for one of Europe's oldest industries

*  Cigarettes now leading cause of death in developing world

*  The semantic web ... search engine of the future?

*  Computer error led to incorrect cancer treatment
      An investigation is under way at Sydney's Prince of Wales hospital into how a computer error led to 10 terminally ill cancer patients not receiving proper radiation therapy.
      The problem dates back to 1999 when the computer was programmed.
      The hospital's head of Clinical Oncology Professor John Dwyer says the problem was discovered on Tuesday.

*  What you should know about monkey pox, from the Centers for Disease Control

ET CETERA
AND NOW, THE REALLY IMPORTANT NEWS
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  Villagers demand reinstatement of atheist vicar

*  Business owner chases, runs over robbery suspects in Hummer
      It is not known if the man, identified only as Peter, will face charges.
THURSDAY, JUNE 19, 2003
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Good Thursday morning,

Now and then, it's good to revisit and ponder our previous insanities. It can occasionally provide some insight into the insanities of the present. So the story of eight dead Cold Warriors likely found caught my attention.

There's some delightfully pessimistic commentary from Liberez L'Ours, and in dialogue, a few good brickbats about yesterday's arch-Republican letter, and an update on my husband's health — rapidly improving since we walked out of the hospital against medical advice.

We've got police brutality and corruption that never stops, and a few random examples of your tax dollars swirling down the toilet.

Other than that, today's hypocrisy round-up is what you make of it. We think it's fairly obvious from the avalanche of evidence, US government is out of control. But we don't do a lot of lecturing, we just point to what they're doing, day after day, lie after lie, war after war.


*  A pox on both their houses! Liberez L'Ours

*  Town holds cemeteries liable for gunfire salutes at gang funerals

*  "This is not an anti-church movement," says Mayor, as new zoning eliminates churches, synagogues and mosques   City wants tax-paying businesses

*  Head of Nicaraguan IRS embezzled $500,000 to underwrite US businesses

*  Press conference about imperiled Constitution got no press

*  Justice Dept prohibits racial profiling   But agents can use it to identify alleged terrorists

*  Was Muslim soldier singled out for suspicion after fragging incident
      Two soldiers who saw an Army captain shot to death during an ambush in Kuwait last March testified Tuesday that they do not believe the assailant was Sgt. Hasan Akbar — including one witness who was so certain that he declared the 32- year-old Los Angeles native was "absolutely not" the attacker.
      Other witnesses testified that some soldiers were so angry and upset after hand grenades were tossed into three Army tents that some seemed to rush to judgment about Akbar's guilt.

*  Visa errors allow suspected terrorists in U.S., government says

*  Legislature fails to protect privacy   —Editorial, San Francisco Chronicle
       Cattle rustlers fail to protect herd ... Carjackers fail to protect vehicle owners ... Vandals fail to protect statues ...   —H&HH

*  Missouri court strikes down law prohibiting cheating in marriage

*  Nursing home fined $75,000 for patient's death
       No manslaughter charges, and no apology — the nursing home is appealing the slap-on-the-wrist.   —Marshall & HH

* Commentary: Less freedom of information
      The Bush administration has been notably hostile to the Freedom of Information Act. Attorney General John Ashcroft all but told government agencies to ignore it.
      And now the principle of open government has taken another beating, this time at the hands of a sharply divided three-judge appeals panel in Washington.
      The panel overruled a lower court's order that the Justice Department publicly disclose the names of 1,200 or so foreigners it rounded up for immigration violations in the wake of 9/11. The judge also had ordered the disclosure of the names of the detainees' lawyers and the reasons for the detentions.
      This seems elementary in a free society that prides itself on open government. As the lower court judge wrote, "... the public's interest in learning the identity of those arrested and detained is essential to verifying whether the government is operating within the bounds of law." The judge's reservations seemed borne out when a Justice Department internal report found "serious problems" with the treatment of the detainees.
      But the appeals court ruled that all of those reservations were trumped by the administration's invocation of national security.   —Dale McFeatters

*  Sept. 11 Commission reports 'substantial request' for documents
       In other words, even they haven't been told much of the facts.   —Marshall

*  General Accounting Office ponders FBI's terror priorities
      Nearly half of the FBI agents who once handled drug cases are now concentrating on the fight against terrorism, a shift that has caused concern in Congress about a possible lack of attention to other crime problems.
      The General Accounting Office, in testimony Wednesday to a House committee, found that the number of FBI field agent positions dedicated to drug crimes had dropped from about 1,400 in fall 2001 to just over 800 today.

*  Homeland Security releases redacted documents on hunt for Democrats
      The new documents, like those released Monday, were edited to remove names and other personal information.
*  Texas governor calls legislative special session on redistricting
       Sigh, here we go again. Maybe they'll handcuff the Democrats to their seats so they can get a vote this time.   —Marshall

*  Cliff Notes for Project for the New American Century
      Policies advocated in "RAD" are being enacted with terrifying speed, such as denigration of the UN, importance of Homeland Security, abrogation of international agreements, revamping of the US nuclear program and the spread of American military power into all corners of the globe by preemptive engagement. In Iraq we have seen the embodiment of "RAD" directives that call for the subjugation of regimes considered hostile to US interests and the prevention of military build-up in countries that may challenge US power. Bush's "Axis of Evil" nations Iraq, Iran and North Korea are mentioned numerous times as potential trouble spots and there is repeated insistence that the US establish military outposts in the Middle East and East Asia.   —Bette Stockbauer

*  US denies permission to attend Cuban Ag Expo
       Even the Wall Street Journal said once that it's the embargo that keeps Castro in power.   —Marshall

*  Riots rock Michigan city   [The Guardian [Manchester, UK]]
*  Michigan Police quell second night of riots
      "We have no history of a real problem with the people in the community," Police Chief Samuel Harris said Wednesday.
      "We're basically predominantly a black community," he said on the ABC program. "Many of our police officers are white, but I seldom have complaints of the racial nature."
* June 17: Crowd hurls bricks, bottles after police chase ends in motorcyclist's death in Michigan
      A motorcyclist being chased by police for allegedly speeding died in a crash, and the following night several police officers were hit with bricks and bottles and three police vehicles were damaged.
      Police said gunshots were fired during the three-hour conflict that ended about 2 a.m. Tuesday. Police said they themselves did not shoot. There were no reports of injuries.
      The violence followed the death 24 hours earlier of 28-year-old Terrance Shurn, who lost control of his speeding motorcycle before it crashed while being chased by a Benton Township officer. Police said he was dead at the scene.
      The crowd dispersed after police using a loudspeaker warned they would be charged with felonies if they didn't go home.

*  Hatch wants govt to hack your computer
      The Senator acknowledged Congress would have to enact an exemption for copyright owners from liability for damaging computers. He endorsed technology that would twice warn a computer user about illegal online behavior, "then destroy their computer."

*  Christians aghast as wacky shrinks talk about ending medical "sickness" status of pedophilia, exhibitionism, fetishism, transvestitism, voyeurism and sadomasochism

*  Embattled New Mexico lab searches for missing plutonium

*  Doctor doubled as photographer during Florida woman's fatal boxing match

*  Consider universal healthcare
      What we all know is that our current system "rations" healthcare right now. Truly free choice of doctors is reserved for those Americans who can pay cash, up front, for any medical procedure that they wish. How many people do you know in that category?
      For the rest of us, our choices are limited by the doctors on staff at our HMOs, by the insurance our employers offer (if we're employed) and by what we can afford. That feels a lot like rationing to me.   —Warren Goldstein, University of Hartford
       Communist!! Go back to Russia. Over here, in the Unites Snakes, it's every man for himself.   —Marshall

*  Truth embargo on Lynch "rescue" unwinding     Say what? Background, please.

*  Kerrysays the obvious   Bush misled Americans on war
*  Graham sings same tune
       They were silent, of course, when speaking out could have made a difference.   —H&HH
* Commentary: Democrats' high-risk strategy
      If America get hits again by a major act of terrorism, which most security officials think is inevitable, Democrats seem to be making it perfectly clear that they will hold George W. Bush responsible.
      In fact, the party's nine hopefuls for the 2004 presidential nomination already are preparing for such an eventuality, expressing what is shaping up as a major unifying theme of their campaigns — that the president has neglected the war on terrorism to pursue the one in Iraq at potential high risk to the nation. Bolstering their allegations that Bush has failed to make great headway in the fight against al Qaeda have been the deadly explosions in Saudi Arabia and Morocco, carried out apparently by suicide bombers closely linked to that network and its allies.   —Dan K. Thomasson

* Commentary: Guilt won't allow folks to leave Clintons alone
      I had to force myself to start Blumenthal's book, "The Clinton Wars," because I'm still exhausted from the whole megillah, but then I couldn't stop reading it. It's perversely fascinating. The year this country wasted on the impeachment was the most tawdry, the nastiest, the ugliest, the sorriest chapter I've ever seen in politics.   —Molly Ivins

THE POLICE: TO PROTECT AND SERVE
LINK HERE
*  Grand Jury will review abuses at girls' prison
      A grand jury will investigate the state's only maximum-security facility for girls following reports of inappropriate sexual contact, improper use of physical restraints and excessively long stays in isolation units.

*  Witness says cops made her lie on stand   San Francisco Police Chief implicated

*  Cops mum about man's "strange death"
      Air Force Col. Philip Shue had duct tape on his wrists and boots when his 1995 Mercury Tracer hit two trees on the Interstate 10 access road in Kendall County, north of San Antonio.
      Tracy Shue is convinced that her husband was abducted after leaving their Boerne home at 5:30 a.m. that Wednesday for Wilford Hall Medical Center in San Antonio, where he was a staff psychiatrist.
      She says investigators told her that his body bore evidence of torture but were not specific about the injuries.
      Sheriff's Lt. Roger Anderson declined to comment on the torture issue. And he would not say whether any suspects had been identified.

*  Video camera on school bus shows cop's chokehold of 13-year-old girl
      As soon as Officer Kaminski detained the two sisters, the mother, Temeshia Faulkner, was notified of the incident, officials said.
      While Faulkner said she was disappointed with her daughters over the situation, it wasn't until Dec. 3 that she finally was given the chance to view the tape.
      "I could not believe what I was seeing," she recalled. "My daughters had told me about it, but when you actually see it happening to your children, everything changes."
      What Faulkner saw prompted her to file a complaint against Kaminski, who is one of two officers hired to manage security at CCHS and at other schools in the district through a contract with the local Board of Education.
      Detective Maj. Malcolm Moore of the Christian County Sheriff's Department was assigned to investigate the matter.
      This was done even though the sheriff and county police offices both are under the auspices of county government and housed in the same building on South Main Street downtown. And, County Police is under the direction of the Sheriff's Department.

*  Bungling of 911 call raises questions after deadly shooting   Sheriff says it was perhaps not the best judgment to skip sending a squad car

*  Police discipline system may be flawed, some suggest

* June 17: LAPD Internal investigation: Cop who shot, killed screwdriver-wielding homeless woman acted properly
      The finding, four years after the shooting sparked protests and multiple investigations, overturns a decision by Los Angeles' civilian Police Commission, which has the final say in determining whether police shootings conform to LAPD rules but does not have the power to discipline officers.
      The commission, after months of heated debate, had ruled in a 3-2 vote that Officer Edward Larrigan had violated LAPD policy and should face discipline. Repudiating that finding, the LAPD disciplinary panel known as a board of rights concluded that Mitchell did pose a threat to Larrigan when she lunged at him and that he responded properly during the confrontation.
      "Officer Larrigan's response was defensive. It was reactive," said Capt. Richard Wemmer, who headed the three-member board consisting of him, another LAPD captain and a civilian. "It was his last, indeed his only, resort to prevent serious bodily injury or death to himself. And it was compelled in the end by the actions of the victim."

*  Man tries to kill himself at Sheriff's headquarters
       He should just get himself arrested for some petty crime. Then there is a good chance that the justice system will do his dirty work for him.   —Marshall

*  Probation officer charged with filing a false report after her fiancé, a convicted felon, wrecked her car

*  Shreveport police officers terminated
      Shreveport Chief of Police Jim Roberts terminated a Shreveport police officer arrested last week for second-degree battery, police spokeswoman Kacee Hargrave said Tuesday.
      Cpl. James Sorrells, 44, was terminated this morning following a pre-disciplinary conference, she said.
      Sorrells was placed on administrative leave June 8 after an incident occurred in the 3600 block of Old Mooringsport Road. He is accused of battering a 36-year-old woman during a domestic dispute, Hargrave said adding that Sorrells had worked for the department since November of 1990.   THAT'S THE ENTIRE ARTICLE

Today's Hmmmmmmmmmmmm dinger  —
*  Cop fired for selling invalid concert tickets?

AFRICA
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  Relief agency wants oil payments revealed
      The U.S. State Department did not respond to telephone calls seeking comment on whether it supports the transparency initiative. Gary, from Catholic Relief Services, characterized the U.S. position as favoring a voluntary system, and then perhaps only in a handful of small nations as a pilot program.

*  Nigerian leader orders probe into bribery allegations against Halliburton
       Wants his kickback, no doubt.   —Mark Z.

*  Cheers, skepticism greet cease-fire pact in Liberia

*  Coca-Cola admits rigging market test

*  Wells Fargo dishing out bank data

ASIA
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  Conservation 'ultimatum' illegal, say whalers

*  Pardoned Japanese journalist back from Jordan

EUROPE
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  Finland's Prime Minister resigns amid allegations of leaked documents

*  Italian lawmakers pass bill giving Premier immunity just as his bribery trial was nearing verdict

*  Eight dead Cold Warriors likely found
      The DC-3 and its eight-man crew were last heard from on June 13, 1952. For some 40 years, Sweden maintained it was on a training mission, and the Soviet Union said it didn't know what happened to it.
      In the late 1980s, Sweden acknowledged the plane was surveying Soviet military installations in the then-Soviet Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — all now independent states.
      Shortly before its 1991 collapse, the Soviet Union admitted its fighters shot down the twin-engine plane.
      The Swedish marine explorers said they found the wreck last week after a three-year search. Photographs and video from a remote-controlled deep-sea camera confirmed that it was the missing plane, lead researcher Anders Jallai said.

*  No-show at air show suggests US vindictiveness

*  Charges dismissed in French AIDS-tainted blood case

THE MIDDLE EAST
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  NATO considers plan to send troops outside Afghan capital

IRAQ: A WAR FOUGHT FOR LIES
LINK HERE
*  British ex-Officials reiterate, Iraq claims were exaggerated   [The Daily Mirror [London, UK]]

*  UK's 'weasel words' over Iraq
      A top UK scientist has accused the government of "weasel words" in its dossiers about Saddam Hussein's weapons capability.

*  John W. Dean , interviewed by BuzzFlash

LIFE IN LIBERATED IRAQ
LINK HERE
*  Mortar hits coalition office in Iraq

*  Rumsfeld says 'small elements' of Iraqi resistance remain
       Small enough that a US soldier is killed almost daily.   —Marshall

*  US troops detain 371
      The US army has detained 371 people in the Baghdad area and northern Iraq as part of Operation Desert Scorpion, aimed at rooting out armed resistance.
      "In Tikrit and Kirkuk, coalition forces conducted 36 raids and detained 215 individuals," Sergeant First Class Mayra O'Neil said yesterday.
      "In the Baghdad area, coalition forces conducted 11 raids and detained 156 individuals," she said.
      The US military has also confiscated banned heavy firearms, including 18 rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), in addition to 121 rifles, 19 pistols and four machine guns, she said.
      "Operation Desert Scorpion is the Combined Joint Task Force 7 operation designed to isolate and defeat remaining pockets of resistance that are seeking to delay the transition to a peaceful and stable Iraq," US Central Command (Centcom) said in a statement.   THAT'S THE ENTIRE ARTICLE

*  Regional leaders behind attacks on U.S. soldiers in Iraq, official says
       Bosh. As with anything else, effective leadership may make the attacks more efficient. But what's "behind attacks on US soldiers is not at all complicated, and does not require leaders: Conquering armies are rarely beloved by the conquered.   —H&HH

*  US soldier dies after shooting in Iraq

*  Iraq sinks into postwar morass

NORTH AMERICA
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  L.A. City Council approves lap dance ban in concept
       This reminds me of a comment by Herbert Marcuse "Obscene is not a woman who shows her pubic hair in public. Obscene is a general who shows his medals of domination and killing."   —Marshall

*  Falun Gong followers press genocide lawsuit against Chinese leader

*  Hispanics become largest U.S. minority

OCEANIA
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  "Detention" for children seeking asylum ruled illegal
*  Queen's Councilor warns release of children could take time

*  'Sorcerers' buried alive, burnt, raped and stoned, says minister

*  American journalist in Aceh says he fears for life

SOUTH AMERICA
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  Peru says 60,000 may have died in Maoist revolt
      In a dramatic upward revision of the number of victims, a Peruvian commission found that 40,000 to 60,000 people died or disappeared in the two decades when government forces battled an insurgency by Shining Path guerrillas, the commission's president said Tuesday.
      Previous estimates held that 30,000 were killed and 6,000 disappeared during the violence from 1980 to 2000.

*  Artist's 'disrespectful' work banned by Venezuelan government

* Commentary: South America's new-style military coup
      Today's new militarism is characterized by leftist military men who lead a rebellion, are jailed for it, and then emerge with the popularity to win the next presidential election with large majorities of the vote.
      With the patriarchal blessing of Fidel Castro, the model of new militarism started with Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan colonel who led a failed coup in 1992, served two years in prison, and returned to capture the presidency in 1998. Ecuador's President Lucio Gutierrez — an Army colonel who led a successful indigenous rebellion in 2000, was jailed briefly, and was elected president last November — has consolidated the trend that, without a doubt, will spread.
      There are imitators of these caudillos everywhere on a continent where confidence in free markets has been shaken and prevailing public opinion is that democracy has failed.   —Enrique Ghersi, University of Lima

BUSINESS & LABOR
I'M ALL RIGHT JACK, KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF OF MY STACK
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  Electronic Data Systems will lay off about 2,700 workers

*  Racetrack insider is suspected of ticket fraud

*  Medicaid provider is charged with fraud, money laundering

*  Police raid 13 Toronto brokerages   Stock market manipulation alleged

*  Abercrombie & Fitch too white, says lawsuit

EDUCATION
AND OTHER FORMS OF CHILD ABUSE
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  School goes from failure to first-class in seven years

*  New York Priest admits fondling altar boy

*  Illinois Priest's abuse charges upheld

GOVERNMENT
A SYNONYM FOR CORRUPTION AND INCOMPETENCE
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  Town Councilman gets probation for resisting arrest, contempt of court, violating court order, allegedly spitting on and shoving cops

*  Ret'd Judge says he paid Democrats $35k for Judgeship
      Carrying a bag full of money, Jones said, he traveled from his central Brooklyn home to Fortune's dry-cleaning business, located on Tompkins Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant. There, in a scene that was surreal to Jones, the judge-to-be and party boss Fortune counted out the thousands of dollars in bills.
*  Court buzzing about Judge's candor
      "The general feeling is it is all true, it has always been known and it is not news," said another attorney who did not want to be named. "The basic feeling, is it has been part of the system for a long time ... I don't know what to do about it."

*  Oakland calling on Big Brother to watch workers
      As part of City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente's plan to fix up the city's rundown parks, the city would install global tracking devices in 150 city work trucks to keep an eye on everyone.
      The city would also buy a slew of digital "real time" cameras that crews would be required to set up and take "before" and "after" pictures of the work done at parks.
      This way "we'll know where they are," De La Fuente said Tuesday.

*  Florida child welfare agency eliminating 160 positions   Critics call this a "funeral dirge for abused and neglected children."
       This is the agency much criticized for neglecting children under their supervision.   —Marshall
       Staff reductions could hamper their ability to lose children.   —Crabby Abby

*  Corrupt Ex-Councilor sentenced
      A contrite Angel Rodriguez, once a candidate for the powerful job of City Council speaker, was sentenced to 52 months in federal prison Tuesday for his role in the shakedown of a Brooklyn waterfront developer.
      Brooklyn federal judge Frederic Block meted out a prison term in the middle of the sentencing guideline range, saying the crime was serious and affected the perception of the public about the honesty of government.

*  30 city workers in alleged post-9/11 ATM thefts at gov't credit union

*  Supervisor of Elections overbilled seven cities

*  Former West Kendall Community Council members charged in mortgage fraud scheme

HEALTH & SCIENCE
THOSE DARN EXPERTS AND ACADEMICS!
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  Study links farm chemicals to low male fertility
       Yes, but farm chemicals make lots of money for the big chemical companies. And that's all that matters.   —Marshall

*  Depression treatment criticized

*  Wake up and smell the genetically-modified coffee

ET CETERA
AND NOW, THE REALLY IMPORTANT NEWS
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  Illinois man gets 10 years for crash that killed girlfriend while they were having sex

*  Trial begins for woman who allegedly hit a homeless man with her car, drove home with his body stuck in the windshield and left him to die in her garage
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 18, 2003
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Good Wednesday morning,

Let's start with an enthusiastic fuck you to either Oscar Meyer Foods, Frank's Kraut, Always Save mustard, Heinz catsup, Best Choice pickles, or PriceChopper bread. One of these products made my husband's hot dog literally sickening on Monday night.

The emergency room was infuriating, as emergency rooms usually are. They were literally handing out numbers — I had to make a ruckus to "cut in line," and move Harry's obvious emergency (he was delirious, couldn't stand without help, sweaty, drooling) ahead of half a dozen people who looked uncomfortable but were clearly, obviously not facing a life-threatening situation.

It was no fun living through six hours in the ER (during which we got perhaps 15 minutes of medical attention), but at least there was a little medical attention there.

After being admitted to the hospital itself, though, it's as if the medical attention has ended. In 30-some hours since admission, Harry's seen exactly one doctor, and that was for only a few minutes. The nurses and other staff may give a damn (they're so short-staffed, it's hard to know which ones do or don't), but all they're doing is replacing his drop-IV every few hours (it's just saline solution, salt and water, and it's been empty both times I arrived to visit) and giving him the exact same all-liquid "meal" three times a day — tepid and near-tasteless soup, sugary juice, sugary jello, a glass of tea with two sugar packets, and a sugar-drenched pre-manufactured dessert. Harry is diabetic, and they're feeding him nothing but sugar and then jabbing him full of insulin after every meal. Pardon my lack of medical expertise, but that's fucking insane.

He's getting better, but not because of medical attention; they're not really giving him any medical attention. He's getting better just because he's a tough old fart, and because if food poisoning doesn't kill ya, you do start getting better. But if they're doing anything for him that I couldn't do better, much better, here in our apartment, neither of us knows what it is.

We have no insurance, no possible way to pay hospital bills, and we're still being hounded by collection agencies over Harry's $4,000 hour-and-a-half in the ER a year ago. So with at least two nights in the hospital this time, who knows how many thousand dollars they'll be billing us? Let's play The Price Is Wrong — Will it be $10,000? $20,000? $50,000? Your guess is as good as the hospital's, but it's all academic: we can't pay and that's that.

After today's page goes on-line, I'll be there when visiting hours start (11AM, five hours from now). And unless someone makes a good impression on us, I'll hand Harry a pair of his pants (the hospital has lost the pants he was wearing when he came into the ER) and we'll walk out of there, with or without anyone's alleged "permission."

Meanwhile, since I hate worrying, I've channeled all my energy into today's page, which is a bit bigger than average.

We've got the usual assortment of murdering, raping, thieving, and otherwise crooked cops, and the standard bribery, extortion, kickbacks, and other corruption in business and government.

We've also got two original articles that busted me out of my blues, a moment of optimism from The Blue Rajah and some righteous al Qaeda sympathizer sympathizing from Liberez L'Ours.

Most days, the news we link to is so relentlessly bad, anger is the only sane response. Once in a great while though, there's a piece of news that doesn't stink out loud, and instead leaves me crying for joy. Today it's word that Canada, riding in the opposite direction away from America, won't spend years and millions of dollars to fight against simple, obvious human rights for gay people.

On the more typical side of things, where "news" is a short way to say "bad news," there's lots. I'll just say, if you're missing Page 2, you're missing most of the news.

And in the dialogue section, some bozo wants to feel proud of America's victory over Iraq, and I'm in no mood for such garbage. Also wit and wisdom from The Blue Rajah, Pat N., Lilith, and Glynnis O.

*  Propaganda hedge artists: "We have detained suspected suspected-Al-Qaeda-sympathizer sympathizers!" Liberez L'Ours

*  And now, we pause for a moment of optimism: I think a bunch of them sheep have noticed how standing united for Shrubya places them with their face in some Republican appointee's asshole. The Blue Rajah

*  Mother of teen murdered by soldiers is annoyed that his killers are back on active duty in Iraq

*  Smart cell phone makes reservations before you know you’re going anywhere

*  Governor has misgivings about law he signed, authorizing seizure of homes of nursing home patients after they die

*  Former Bush Aide takes aim at War on Terror
      Five days before the war began in Iraq, as President Bush prepared to raise the terrorism threat level to orange, a top White House counterterrorism adviser unlocked the steel door to his office, an intelligence vault secured by an electronic keypad, a combination lock and an alarm. He sat down and turned to his inbox.
      "Things were dicey," said Rand Beers, recalling the stack of classified reports about plots to shoot, bomb, burn and poison Americans. He stared at the color-coded threats for five minutes. Then he called his wife: I'm quitting.
      Beers's resignation surprised Washington, but what he did next was even more astounding. Eight weeks after leaving the Bush White House, he volunteered as national security adviser for Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.), a Democratic candidate for president, in a campaign to oust his former boss. All of which points to a question: What does this intelligence insider know?

*  Should Americans be above international law?
      The United Nations Security Council seems to think so.   —Editorial, Toronto Star

* Commentary: What is happening in America?
      The war in Iraq has been the most extreme manifestation of this new America, and almost a casebook study in totalitarian techniques.
      First, an Enemy is created by blatant lies that are endlessly repeated until the population believes it: in this case, that Iraq was linked to the attack on the World Trade Center, and that it possesses vast "weapons of mass destruction" that threaten the world.
      Then, a War of Liberation, entirely portrayed by the mass media in terms of our Heroic Troops, with little or no imagery of casualties and devastation, and with morale-inspiring, scripted "news" scenes — such as the toppling of the Saddam statue and the heroic "rescue" of Private Lynch — worthy of Soviet cinema.
      Finally, as has happened with Afghanistan, very little news of the chaos that has followed the Great Victory. Instead, the propaganda machine moves on to a new Enemy — this time, Iran.   —Eliot Weinberger

*  Canada won't fight court order on gay marriage
      Courts in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia have ruled that the exclusion of gays and lesbians unjustifiably violates equality rights.
      Ottawa was already preparing its response to those verdicts when it was last week by a bold ruling in the Ontario Court of Appeal. Gays and lesbians were allowed to marry immediately after the Ontario verdict, and did so, under a new right denied to them throughout most of human history.
      Ottawa was left with two major options: fight the ruling in the Supreme Court or rewrite the law. Justice Minister Martin Cauchon convinced his cabinet colleagues to drop their gloves.
      "It's a great day for Canada," he said. "I'm very proud to be part of this country. This (decision) is important for freedom, for values, for what we believe and what we have in our Charter of Rights and freedoms."   [CBC News]

*  Evidence points to mass extinction
       Have a good day!   —Jart

* Commentary: U.S. media caved in to the Bush agenda: Maybe Americans have become brain-dead from too much TV. Maybe they don't care terrorism is surging, or that recent polls show the U.S. is reviled, hated, or distrusted around the globe thanks to this administration and its neo-con mentors. Maybe they don't understand that over 288 Americans and an estimated 26,300 Iraqi civilians and soldiers have so far died in a totally unnecessary conflict. Or that the U.S. in now stuck in an ugly little colonial war in Iraq, its very own West Bank and Gaza.     —Eric S. Margolis, Toronto Sun

*  US officials lied about investigation of US bombing of Iraqi market
      In late March, after an American missile hit a marketplace in Baghdad and killed plenty of people — Iraqi officials said 58 — Major General Victor Renuart of Central Command said: "With every one of those circumstances, we ask the component ... who may have had forces involved, whether it's land, sea, or air, to do an investigation, and that takes a number of days to do that. The air component in this case is completing his review. We think that will be complete within the next day or so. And as soon as ... the review is completed, we'll make that available.
      "As to what do we determine to be the cause, I think certainly there are a number of possibilities. We want to make sure that if in fact there was an error on our part, that we found that out and made that available."
      A couple of days later, Brigadier General Vincent Brooks, the deputy director of operations for Central Command, said: "There is an ongoing investigation; still I think we are starting to come to a high degree of closure on it. We are still accounting for every weapon system that we released into the Baghdad area. And once we've gotten to closure on that, I think we will be able to say one way or another what role we may have played, or not."
      On April 1, Brooks was asked by a reporter if he could give a date to give the results of the investigation. Brooks responded by saying: "Well, I can't give you a date. I mean, it takes as long as it takes. And it ought to be thorough. We're not going to waste time with them, but we are going to be thorough about the work that's being done.... Our designs are to minimize the casualties to civilians as much as we can. We'd like to see that be zero. That is not something that's ever been achieved in warfare. We believe our efforts have driven it as low as it has ever been driven in warfare."
      Two and a half months after the prattle, we now have the terrible truth. There never was an investigation. That fact was embedded (pun intended) in an Associated Press report this week that it has so far counted 3,240 Iraqi civilians killed in the invasion, including nearly 1,900 in Baghdad. The AP quoted Central Command spokesman John Morgan confirming the nonexistence of an investigation.

*  PATRIOT Act at the bank
      "We are required by law now to ask these questions and get answers for every new account. If we don't get the answers the account does not get opened." And then she added, "This is part of the PATRIOT Act."
       Big Brother is not only watching, he's counting.   —Tim M.
*  PATRIOT Act requirements for financial institutions to screen customers now effective
      Under Section 326, financial institutions — defined as banks, insurance companies, credit card companies, money service businesses, mutual funds, broker dealers, casinos, etc. — must take steps to verify the identity of account holders and to eliminate financial transactions and flows of money to terrorist organizations.
      The new regulations call for these institutions to compare the names of new account applicants against lists of known terrorists and/or terrorist organizations, verify and confirm the identity of the account holder and maintain related records. Failure to comply with the law carries the threat of daily penalties as well as potential jail time. Boards of directors must approve and monitor such compliance programs, and bank examiners must audit such programs.

*  Court OKs forced drugging of defendants

*  Controversial measure would let "illegals" obtain driver’s license

*  'Roe' seeks to overturn historic abortion ruling

*  Nevada legislation criminalizes publishing radio frequencies

*  Shelter offers hearty meal, clean clothes and rest at last stop before U.S. border
*  Unmanned drones explored for border use
       Big brother is watching, and watching and watching.   —Marshall

*  Poll suggests world hostile to US
       And now let's hear it for a poll the president's not going to brag about. Wow! can they try for 100% next time? And check the headline — well, tell me something — if that external aggression Bush and Blair laid on Iraq was not an act of supreme hostility, than what the hell was it?   —Kathy F.

*  Peace activist's mother speaks at commencement
      One student was noticeably absent.
      Rachel Corrie, the 23-year-old student activist who was crushed to death by an Israeli military bulldozer three months ago today. She was trying to protect a Palestinian home in the war ravaged Gaza Strip town of Rafah.
      Rachel’s parents, Cindy and Craig Corrie, have tried to continue their daughter’s legacy, traveling the country and speaking about her work as an activist for peace and justice. On Friday, Cindy Corrie accepted an honorary degree from Evergreen State College.   AUDIO FILE

*  A timely example of why we [Canadians] must have the CBC   And what Americans are missing by settling for PBS

*  5 years waiting for trial, 15 minutes for acquittal
      "In a murder case, a reasonable time in jail would be 1-1/2 or two years," he said. "Anything over two years is ludicrous."
      The Wrigleyville Three walked free in May. But another 29 men and women held for at least five years in Cook County Jail remain behind bars; most have never had their day in court. And 66 more inmates have been held in the jail longer than four years.
*  Amendment VI   In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial.

*  Attack survivor on earnest quest   Injured in crash at Pentagon, he seeks answers about 9/11
       This guy sounds "perfect" for the job — there's no hint that he's asking any questions that could make anyone anywhere raise an eyebrow.   —H&HH     Say what? Background, please.

*  U.S. residents run for office in Mexico   Jose Jacques Medina is one of six U.S. residents seeking a seat in Mexico's lower house of Congress in July's midterm election

*  Court ponders if U.S. firm liable for abuse, torture it underwrites abroad
      Unocal is appealing to an 11-judge appeals panel of the Ninth Circuit Court a decision handed down by a three judge panel of the same court in September 2002 that said the company could be sued.
      The three judge panel, which overturned a lower court judge's ruling that the company could not be sued, compared Unocal's actions in Myanmar to the German armaments firm Krupp which used slave labor during World War 2 and was tried for war crimes afterward. It said a jury should be allowed to decide if Unocal was liable for human rights violations.
      The State Department has asked the court to dismiss the entire case. In its brief, the Bush administration expressed concern that similar suits could be brought against some of its closest allies in the country's war on terror. It also cited the possibility that prisoners in Guantanamo Bay could file suits against the U.S. government.
* May 15: Ashcroft attacks Human Rights Law
      A new legal brief filed by the US Justice Department would roll back twenty years of judicial rulings for victims of human rights abuse, Human Rights Watch warned today.
      On May 8, Attorney General John Ashcroft filed an amicus curiae ("friend of the court") brief for the defense in a civil case alleging that the oil company Unocal was complicit in forced labor and other abuses committed by the Burmese military during the construction of the Yadana gas pipeline. The case, John Doe I, et al. v. Unocal Corporation, et al., was originally filed in 1996 and is currently being reheard by the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
      The Justice Department brief went well beyond the scope of the Unocal case, however, and argued for a radical re-interpretation of the 1789 Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA). For over 20 years, courts have held that the ATCA permits victims of serious violations of international law abroad to seek civil damages in US courts against their alleged abusers who are found in the United States. The Justice Department would deny victims the right to sue under the ATCA for abuses committed abroad.    —Human Rights Watch
* June 2: US seeks nullification of human rights laws
      Supporters of the law said that it enables people to enforce rights guaranteed them under international agreements such as the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the United States is a party. Ending or severely limiting such lawsuits would deprive victims of political torture and murder of one of the few legal remedies they have, advocates say.
* June 7: Ashcroft sides with torturers   Unocal and the crimes of Burma   —Joanne Mariner, CounterPunch

THE POLICE: TO PROTECT AND SERVE
LINK HERE
*  Notre Dame football player says he'll sue over police beating

*  Woman testifies in case of alleged rape by police officer

*  School Cop charged with assaulting student
      Officer David Payne, 34, is accused of slamming Teraya Rowe, 14, into a wall and then later into a counter. The allegations were made in a complaint filed by the girl’s mother, Consuella Rowe. The teenager sustained a six-inch welt across her back when she was "slammed" into a counter in the school office, which led Eighth Grade Dean Meshelle Cary to intervene, the mother said

*  Assistant Chief says Police Chief violated city policy but City Manager says Police Chief didn’t violate nothing and in fact it was the Assistant Police Chief who violated policy

*  LAPD Internal investigation: Cop who shot, killed screwdriver-wielding homeless woman acted properly
      The finding, four years after the shooting sparked protests and multiple investigations, overturns a decision by Los Angeles' civilian Police Commission, which has the final say in determining whether police shootings conform to LAPD rules but does not have the power to discipline officers.
      The commission, after months of heated debate, had ruled in a 3-2 vote that Officer Edward Larrigan had violated LAPD policy and should face discipline. Repudiating that finding, the LAPD disciplinary panel known as a board of rights concluded that Mitchell did pose a threat to Larrigan when she lunged at him and that he responded properly during the confrontation.
      "Officer Larrigan's response was defensive. It was reactive," said Capt. Richard Wemmer, who headed the three-member board consisting of him, another LAPD captain and a civilian. "It was his last, indeed his only, resort to prevent serious bodily injury or death to himself. And it was compelled in the end by the actions of the victim."

*  Crowd hurls bricks, bottles after police chase ends in motorcyclist's death in Michigan
      A motorcyclist being chased by police for allegedly speeding died in a crash, and the following night several police officers were hit with bricks and bottles and three police vehicles were damaged.
      Police said gunshots were fired during the three-hour conflict that ended about 2 a.m. Tuesday. Police said they themselves did not shoot. There were no reports of injuries.
      The violence followed the death 24 hours earlier of 28-year-old Terrance Shurn, who lost control of his speeding motorcycle before it crashed while being chased by a Benton Township officer. Police said he was dead at the scene.
      The crowd dispersed after police using a loudspeaker warned they would be charged with felonies if they didn't go home.

*  L.A. cops won't respond to burglar alarms  Unwritten policy will be written

*  Man sues city, cops over 1999 murder case
      A man who spent 11 months in jail before a judge dismissed charges that he conspired to commit murder is suing the city and two police officers, claiming his constitutional rights were violated.

*  Tests show officer in fatal crash was driving drunk
      Off-duty County Cop's blood-alcohol level was three times the legal limit

*  Drunk firefighter crashes into drunk cop's car

*  Drug trafficking cop who squealed on murdering cohorts, got eight years, jumped parole, was found with a hooker and gun, is sent back to prison but fears for his life

*  Cops kill man who had a knife

*  Protesters demand justice in fatal shooting of immigrant
      There are other cases of questionable Border Patrol conduct, he said, and even children who are U.S. citizens have been known to run in fear when they spotted agents.
* June 10: Border Agent cleared in fatal shooting of immigrant who was armed with ladder, pipe
      Juan Patricio Peraza was living at Annunciation House, a temporary shelter for undocumented workers in downtown El Paso.
      After being approached by several Border Patrol agents while outside the shelter, he ran. Border Patrol officials said he struck one agent with a ladder and threatened others with a metal pipe after being confronted. One agent shot him once in the arm and once in the abdomen, an autopsy report showed.
       A stake-out?   —John C.

*  Ex-Cop has "chest pains," trial for trying to "lure" 12-year-old postponed

*  12 freed in appeal of tainted Texas drug busts
       12 down, 26 to go... C'mon already!   —Iski

*  Here’s one you won’t see on Cops: L.A. police pursuit ends in injury to 2-year-old; driver arrested for investigation of driving without a license

*  Cop arrested for drunk driving   SCROLL DOWN

*  Detroit police called the worst   Federal investigators find misconduct is 'entrenched'
       Worse than New Orleans and Dallas?   —Tim M.

*  Police clash with angry crowd in arrest at eatery
      The suspect broke away, grabbed the baton and pinned the officer in a corner. Walker grabbed the baton and struck the suspect on the arm and shoulder to keep him back. A large crowd rushed forward, surrounded the officer and tried to pull the suspect away.

*  Woman files complaint over police traffic stop
      "I'm not anti-cop," said the woman's son, Lauderhill resident Dave Gachette, who accompanied the attorney to police headquarters to deliver the complaint. "I'm just anti-bad cop. ... My mother didn't deserve this."
* June 12: Driver-cop feud sparks inquiry
      Lauderhill police are launching an internal investigation after a 72-year-old Coral Springs woman said police forced her to the ground when she refused to sign two traffic tickets Friday afternoon.
      ... In 2001, the officer was dismissed as a trainee from the West Palm Beach Police Department. A memo from West Palm police officer R.D. Bell dated June 12, 2001, said Bell was "very concerned about the outbursts and the lack of self-control that I witnessed regarding minor to nothing issues."
      Bell said that shortly into a tour of duty with VanBeber, one of the trainee's responses, which left him "in total shock," was "insubordinate, disrespectful and very rude.
      West Palm Beach police Capt. Delsa Bush wrote in a memo that VanBeber had shown "disrespect for superior officers, the department and the general public and is undoubtedly an indication of future behavior."

*  Man blasted with pepper spray by Deputy dies

*  Fired Cop indicted on 3 excessive-force charges
      The former officer said Alatorre resisted arrest and was carrying a knife. "Everything I did was just," Civiello said. "I was fearful for my life."
      Civiello, on the force for two years, was fired April 4 after an internal affairs investigation into the excessive-force allegations. Civiello said he planned to appeal his firing through the civil service panel, a group of citizens appointed by Madera City Council members to hear personnel and other matters. The outcome of the appeal was unclear Sunday.

*  Ex-cop held on homicide charge
      When he learned the man he allegedly shot in a dispute over a stolen car had died, retired York City policeman Chester Guyer Jr. confessed, according to a detective's testimony at Guyer's preliminary hearing Friday.
      West York Detective Keith Albright said he broke the news to Guyer, 73, in the borough police station, then started to advise Guyer of his Miranda rights.
      "He crossed his arms and kind of bowed his head and said, 'Don't bother — I shot him,'" Albright said.

*  Teen's final screams for help ignored at juvenile detention center

*  Cop arraigned for allegedly pocketing drug money

*  Tulare County Sheriff's Deputy accused of rape

*  Cop gets at least two weeks "administrative leave" for allegedly choking neighbor

*  Off-duty cop nabbed for molesting woman

*  Kegger-bustin' Cop canned, blames small-town politics

*  Cops accused of quashing investigations are ordered to testify

*  Badge of dishonor
      Here's the real shocker, though: Out of all these cases — 118 complaints of sexual misconduct filed against state troopers in recent years — not one resulted in a trooper getting fired.   —Editorial, The Philadelphia Inquirer
       Maybe this is "shocking" to the Editorial Board at the Philadelphia Inquirer, but it ain’t particularly surprising to people who live in the real world.   —H&HH

*  Cop accidentally shoots and kills teenaged son   "Somehow the weapon discharged"

*  Off-duty cop in brawl at Shoney's Restaurant

*  Stolen truck rams into probation officer's home
      "In our occupation, we don’t always make people happy. We’re taking someone’s freedom away and that may make some of them want to retaliate," Strolberg said.

*  Police say car theft suspect dragged officer, who shot him "several times"
      "They are always killing somebody," said Tony Davis, who lives on Lovingood Drive, near the scene of Saturday's shooting. "The police, you can't trust them. Even the kids don't trust them."
      It was the second time this year that Austin police officers shot a suspect. The most recent shooting was in January, when an off-duty officer shot and injured a car burglary suspect after a fight in which the man tried to grab his gun.

*  Deputy suspended after arrest in prostitution sting

*  Ex-manager of Police Benevolent Association's healthcare plan allegedly stole $11,000

*  Man shot in the back by police is charged with trying to kill them

*  Special Prosecutor appointed in case of narc who allegedly falsified evidence

*  Baltimore Cop faces perjury, misconduct, false arrest charges and Maryland Trooper charged with drunk driving in unmarked cop car that collided with delivery truck

*  Family: Police overreacted in killing mentally ill man

*  Cop pleads innocent to charges he shredded a speeding ticket issued to a prominent businessman

*  Video of police shooting raises questions

*  Officer's undoing began long ago  Sexual misconduct charges that ended a probation officer's career aren't his first brush with trouble, records show

*  FBI Agent's testimony was a lie, she admitted   She gets a suspended sentence

*  Senior police officer charged with drink driving

*  Probation officer faces trial for assault on parolee

*  Washington Cop charged with Baltimore shooting
      Robert Jones III, 16, told police he yelled at the driver of a passing car that nearly clipped him. He said the driver stopped, got out of the car and shot him in the legs. The gunman left the scene.

*  Glades Deputy arrested for mulch theft

*  "You bumped into the wrong cop," the officer said, according to Barba.
      By the time Barba arrived at headquarters, he said he sustained bruises on his arms and armpits, a cut on his wrist, four lumps on his head, two cuts inside his lip, one cracked tooth, four cuts on his chin, a bump on the bottom of his chin, a bruise on one side of his rib cage, four bruises to his left knee, a small scrape on his right knee, and the whole left side of his back is swollen.

*  Guard arrested in beating of inmate
      A jail nurse cleared the 22-year-old Gerresse Daniels to continue in the prison transport, though he still had no feeling in much of his body, according to reports.
      The Guard, Matthew L. O'Kon, resigned last week during an investigation of the incident. He told investigators he hurt Daniels "just to show him that he was wrong and I was right," according to a sheriff's report.

*  Deputy pleads guilty to stealing shuttle debris

*  Emmett puts Director of Public Safety on leave after he shows up allegedly sloshed to the gills
      A jury convicted Maloney of first-degree intentional homicide in February 1999, based heavily on a video tape made of Maloney talking with his girlfriend, Tracy Hellenbrand, in a Las Vegas hotel room. Investigators garnered her cooperation and videotaped Maloney admitting he was at the Huth Street house the night Sandy died.
      Prosecutors contend Maloney hit his wife in the head with a blunt object, then strangled her while she was face down on her couch. He then started a fire in the home to cover the murder, police said.
      Wasserman said the Boyles, a father-daughter legal team — didn’t do enough to get the Las Vegas tape thrown out — either by challenging the laws about secret recordings or by challenging prosecutors’ ethical involvement.

*  Ex-cop says lawyers botched defense during murder trial

*  Widow of man killed by deputies files suit The widow of a suicidal man killed by sheriff's deputies last year has filed a $5 million wrongful death suit against the deputies and the Sheriff's Department, claiming they covered up how her husband was shot.
      Victoria "Vickie" Bullock said in the suit that her husband, Richard, 43, did not point his shotgun at deputies in her Escondido-area home as deputies said, and that other facts in their accounts are wrong.

*  Alabama Deputy had prior arrest for DUI

*  Deputy charged with arson, fraud

*  These cops had been investigated before Ripon raid
      Colleagues for years praised veteran Manteca police Officers Steve Harris and Sam Gallego. And their attorney, Todd Simonson, says he understands that the officers have "completely blemish-free records."
      But records and statements by police officials show otherwise. In fact, the current federal and local investigations into a videotape that shows Harris, 44, and Gallego, 45, cursing at, handcuffing and threatening a Ripon man during a warrantless search are not the first formal inquiries into complaints against the two.
*  Officers, officials defend unit
      The operation seemed straightforward enough. A team of officers assigned to take down lower-level drug offenders and track the activities of people on probation and parole was to raid the Ripon residence of an ex-felon in search of a female acquaintance suspected of using illegal drugs.
      But as a secretly recorded videotape reveals, the unit's unannounced and warrantless visit to James Walton's one-room shed Nov. 7 was anything but routine. [An interesting slip of the propaganda pen. For all we know, the only thing that wasn't utterly routine in this "unannounced and warrantless" raid was the video camera.   —H&HH]
      The tape's emergence in May at Walton's San Joaquin County Superior Court hearing unleashed a firestorm of publicity, led to the dismissal of charges against Walton, sparked a series of investigations and potential lawsuits, and placed the Manteca Chronic Offenders Problems and Solutions task force under a microscope.
      The tape's blurry images of Officers Steve Harris and Sam Gallego cursing at, handcuffing and threatening Walton, 51, are a far cry from the image public officials and officers have of the unit.
* June 5: Man secretly videotaped his arrest, and guess what?
      The recipient of the alleged beating, 51-year-old James Walton, was charged with one count of methamphetamine possession. On the grainy home video, officers can be seen cuffing Walton behind his back. Walton is heard making a sarcastic remark and Gallegos appears to point a gun at him and say, "What's the matter with you? We can kill you right here."
* June 12: Man in taped raid moves toward suit
      Citing causes of action such as wrongful search and seizure, destruction of personal property, false arrest and imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, assault with a deadly weapon, battery and criminal threats, the claim says Walton was late in filing it because his life had been threatened by Officer Sam Gallego of the Manteca Police Department.
      "While (Walton) was handcuffed with his arms cuffed behind his back, Officer (Steve) Harris and Officer Gallego threw (him) backward onto a bed ... Gallego pulled his service pistol from its holster ... and put the pistol up to (Walton's) head," the claim states. "While the gun was pointed at ... the head ... (Gallego) said ... 'We can kill you right here.'"

*  Ex-Cop cleared of impersonating deputy in e-mail
      A fired police officer who assumed a sheriff's deputy's identity in an e-mail he sent to the news media has been cleared of criminal wrongdoing because he also identified himself as a snitch. ...
      Officer Ross was on probation for official misconduct and battery when arrested. He lost his police job in 2001 when convicted of hitting a drunken driving suspect and filing a false report.

*  Free-lance Black Power patrolmen get prison for manslaughter

*  Cop arrested for fraud

*  Officer of the Year charged with domestic violence

*  Homeless man faces 10 years for spitting on Deputy
       Imagine what he would’ve gotten if he’d spit on the Sheriff.   —H&HH

*  Tulia a textbook case of what's wrong with Texas justice system   —Editorial, Austin [TX] American-Statesman

AFRICA
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  Africa's wars hit turning points   Liberia, Congo bloodied by key conflicts

*  U.S. Marines' path home diverted to Liberia

*  Rebel ship explodes off Sri Lanka coast

*  Pleas for help, then death for U.N. workers
      Their mutilated bodies were found in Congo. For days, they had begged to be evacuated
*  French troops, Congo gunmen exchange fire
*  Groups demand halt to sex abuse in Congo

ASIA
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  Crime follows television to Bhutan
      Four years ago, Bhutan, the fabled Himalayan Shangri-la, became the last nation on earth to introduce television. Suddenly a culture, barely changed in centuries, was bombarded by 46 cable channels. And all too soon came Bhutan's first crime wave - murder, fraud, drug offences.

*  Police in Bangkok arrest man in sale of radioactive material

*  Boy-jockeys trafficked
      Plucked from their homes when some are still babies, the camel jockeys of the Persian Gulf are tied on camels' backs and often beaten because their cries make the animals run faster.
      A U.S. State Department report, released on Wednesday, identifies Pakistan — also India and Bangladesh — as the source countries for camel jockeys and the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar as the destination.
       Bottom line accreditation says "Copyright © 2001-2003 United Press International." Every year they run this story?   —John C.
       Sounds familiar to me. I think we link to it every year they publish it.   —H&HH

EUROPE
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  A British barbecue: Press feasts on Blair
      George W. Bush bloody well has it easy.
      He doesn't have to put up with the hour-by-hour pounding that the British press gives Tony Blair, with journalists calling him a liar and worse in a raging debate over whether Iraq really had weapons of mass destruction.
       And why is that?   —H&HH

*  It's time to re-think presence of U.S. troops in Germany   —Editorial, Austin [TX] American-Statesman

*  Labour Party website hacked
      On Monday morning the site's usual content of Labour Party news was replaced by an image of US President George Bush carrying his dog with Tony Blair's head superimposed on it.

THE MIDDLE EAST
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  Afghan insurgent attacks rise, U.S. says

*  Rampant administrative corruption and bribery are hampering investment, says Afghan puppet President

*  Arafat reasserts authority in talks

*  Saudi Report: Raid in alleged holy city kills 5

WHAT A CURIOUS TIME FOR PRO-DEMOCRACY PROTESTS IN IRAN
LINK HERE
*  Iran blames America for turmoil in streets

* Commentary: Washington plays into Iranian clerics' hands
      Since last Tuesday when the student protests began, without any exception, the leading figures of Iran's "conservative" and "reformist" factions have condemned them as the phase one of an American-orchestrated plan for a regime change. In such a situation, the persistence of Washington to level unfounded charges against Tehran, as it did prior to its war against Iraq, will provide a heaven-sent excuse for the Iranian ruling theocracy to suppress any pro-democracy activity, while prolonging its life. Despite what the American government claims, its policy towards Iran has not and will not likely help foster democracy in that country. However, as an external factor, it will certainly damage the Iranian people's bid for democracy and for a domestically-planned regime change.   —Hooman Peimani, Asia Times

*  "We are experiencing our 1968 social revolution right now," said Ziba Jalali, an editor at the journal Goftegoo ("Dialogue"), who has written extensively on the struggle for women's rights in Iran.
      ... The last thing Iranian reformers need now, they say, is American pressure. "You can't democratize a country with violence, with rockets and bombs," says Jalali. "It's a contradiction in terms."

*  Iranian President losing youth support

IRAQ: A WAR FOUGHT FOR LIES
LINK HERE
*  Iraqi mobile labs nothing to do with germ warfare, report finds

* Commentary: Iraq posed an unclear and dubious danger
      However strong a word, "bogus" pales in comparison with the F- word to which Powell and Rice showed themselves allergic: F for forgery. Yes, forgery. Had FOX and other news outlets adequately reported on what both Powell and Rice had already conceded was a forgery, the American people might have a better appreciation as to why they should care.   —Ray McGovern, a CIA analyst for 27 years, is now on the Steering Group of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity

* Commentary: Truth is strongest weapon in war
      on Jan. 20, George W. Bush announced in his State of the Union address something that had been known to be fraudulent for months and yet he told his country:
      "The International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed in the 1990s that Saddam Hussein had an advanced nuclear weapons development program, had a design for a nuclear weapon, and was working on five different methods of enriching uranium for a bomb. The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently bought significant quantities of uranium from Africa. Our intelligence sources tell us that he has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes suitable for nuclear weapons production. Saddam Hussein has not credibly explained these activities. He clearly has much to hide."
      That's what Bush said. Why he said it is the question. And why Cheney and Rumsfeld kept trying to justify the war with cries of "WMD" must be questioned by today's Sam Ervin. Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, Rumsfeld and Powell loved aluminum tubes. If Saddam has them, he's ready to fire. The tubes turn out to be suitable for short-distance missiles and useless for nuclear manufacture.   —Jimmy Breslin, Newsday [Long Island, NY]

* Commentary: The war built on a lie
      Should we sit back complacently and let politicians lie to us about something as important as going to war? We did that with Lyndon Johnson, and his lies about North Vietnamese attacks on American ships in 1964, and it led to our massive involvement in the Vietnam War with more than 50,000 Americans killed.
      It is easy to argue that the war against Iraq was a "good war" because it rid the world of a horrible dictator. In that sense it was a good war, but that doesn¹t justify the lies that led us into that war.
      We not only got rid of Saddam with that war, but we destroyed a country and left it in chaos, at a cost of American lives in the hundreds and still rising. Our military is overextended, our reservists are being used as permanent regular troops, and, in a shaky economy, we're putting the cost on credit and hoping our children can some day find a way to pay for it.
      Even if you assume all that is good, should we tolerate being lied to on such major issues?   —Harley Sorensen, San Francisco Chronicle

*  Americans are confident that Iraqi weapons of mass destruction have already been found
* June 4: Many Americans unaware weapons of mass destruction have not been found: A striking finding in the new PIPA/Knowledge Networks poll is that many Americans are unaware that weapons of mass destruction have not been found in Iraq. While 59% of those polled correctly said the US has not found Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, 41% said they believed that the US has found such weapons (34%) or were unsure (7%).
      Steven Kull, director of PIPA, comments: "For some Americans, their desire to support the war may be leading them to screen out information that weapons of mass destruction have not been found. Given the intensive news coverage and high levels of public attention to the topic, this level of misinformation suggests that some Americans may be avoiding having an experience of cognitive dissonance."     — Program on International Policy Attitudes, Univ. of Maryland
        Apparently the American corporate media has finally succeeded in sedating the nation with its mass deception. A sedated people is a compliant people.   —Jart

*  Bush blasts 'revisionist historians' on Iraq

*  Trotsky's ghost wandering the White House   Influence on Bush aides: Bolshevik's writings supported the idea of pre-emptive war

*  After 73 years as a professional journalist, Mark Shields has something almost worthwhile to say

*  Commentary: We owe it to those who died in Iraq to demand accountability   —Leonard Pitts, The Miami Herald
*  Vanished into thin air
      It is eight weeks since Tariq Aziz, the former Iraqi deputy prime minister, gave himself up to United States forces in Baghdad. A powerful man, he was a familiar face in the corridors of power around the globe, one of the few Iraqi leaders whose name was as well known outside his own country as inside. But since he surrendered on 24 April, Aziz has disappeared.
      He is not alone. Out of a list of 55 of Iraq’s most wanted senior figures published by the US Defense Department, 29 were in custody as of yesterday. They have also vanished from public view.
      Ask where they are being held, in what conditions or what will happen to them and the shutters come down.

*  Turning the tanks on the reporters   Iraq will go down as the war when journalists seemed to become a target   Say what? Background, please.

LIFE IN LIBERATED IRAQ
LINK HERE
*  U.S. troops raid more homes outside of Baghdad

*  U.S. attack on camp kills 68, punctuates degree of resistance
      Although some residents said the men were shepherds armed with rifles for protection, other residents of Rawah, three miles south of the camp, said many the dead were foreigners from Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen and Afghanistan.

*  US troops 'used excessive force' at Fallujah protest, says Human Rights Watch
      Iraqi witnesses and hospital officials say 17 people were killed and up to 70 injured when US troops from the 82nd Airborne Division fired without provocation on an unarmed crowd of protesters outside a local school, which the army had taken over as a base.
      The US military claim its soldiers were fired on by gunmen among the demonstrators, and from rooftops, and replied with "precision fire."

*  U.S. hunts suspected ambushers in Iraq

*  U.S. accused of killing 5 Iraqi civilians

*  Many Iraqis say they've had enough of America's "help"

*  Iraqis alarmed over reports of male American soldiers frisking women
      The issue is being talked about throughout the country — in homes and cafes and during sermons by religious readers at Friday prayers.
      "There's no doubt that unrelated men even touching Muslim women is not allowed in our religion," said Sheikh Muhammad Mahmoud al-Samarayee, a cleric at Baghdad's Imam al-Adham seminary.
      "If they really want to respect the Muslim people, they have to use women soldiers to search women."
       Is this even a Muslim-related issue? Is it really wacky to expect that much simple common courtesy?   —H&HH

*  Saddam's daughter says he's still alive
       Of course he's alive. If the CIA lets one of its dictators be killed, how will they get anyone to be their dictators in the future?   —Marshall

*  Bush turned Saddam into symbol of nationhood
      Saddam Hussein is back in business. Al Quds, the respected London-based Arabic newspaper, has received a handwritten message from him, urging relentless war against the coalition forces until they leave Iraq.
      Other messages arrive every few days from the underground movement which, it's now obvious, was in place before the invasion even started.

NORTH AMERICA
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  Haiti to France: Your account is past due  Please pay $21,685,135,571.48

*  Mother fighting promotion of general involved in her son's friendly-fire case

*  Castro to Powell: "Show a modicum of decency and correct" false report on sex trade

*  The war on ... liberty?
      Some now think that the United States has gone too far in fighting terror

*  "When confronted with the possibility of a red-light camera, people panic and slam on their brakes. They don't want to take a chance of running the red light. You end up with rear-end collisions. In one Carolina city, they ended up with a 100 percent increase in rear-end collisions."

* June 4: Report: Terror system flags David Nelsons
*  David Nelson, could you step aside for a few moments?
      "There is a 'no-fly' list," he says. "That's people who cannot fly, period," because they've been determined to be or are suspected of being "a threat to civil aviation or to national security."
      Details about the list are "considered sensitive security information and cannot be released to the public," Nico says, but the Wall Street Journal suggests there are about 300 names on the "no-fly" list.
      There's another list that Nico calls the "selectees list." Might as well call them "suspectees." This is a much larger list of names, accumulated, Nico says, from information obtained from intelligence agencies and the airlines. These folks may be allowed to fly but only after they're intensely scrutinized by airline, law enforcement and security personnel.
      People whose names are on the two lists undergo what is not a routine security screening, in which you're asked to remove your shoes or empty your pockets. This week 18 men named David Nelson, all residents of Oregon, confirmed they have been repeatedly delayed at airport counters and security checkpoints in the last year or so.

*  Thousands bike, walk across closed LA freeway in car culture snub

*  Vice Admiral to Navy's porn-swapping midshipmen: If so much as a word leaks out, "I will kill you"

*  CBS dangles multiple deals in bid for Jessica Lynch "story"
      CBS' dangling of movie, television and book deals in front of potential interview subjects has troubled some media critics who worry that in an age of media conglomerates, where news operations coexist with their entertainment counterparts, journalistic independence can suffer in the race for synergy. CBS News said there was nothing untoward in the way it approached Lynch or Ralston.
*  The myth of Private Jessica    Say what? Background, please.

*  California woman facing espionage charges was 'asset' to FBI, lawyers claim

*  California man wins suit over airplane toilet ice that damaged his boat
* Nov. 19, 2002: It's just a matter of time, and a question of who will be killed   —Jerome Doolittle, Bad Attitudes

*  Illusion of Internet anonymity crumbling under rulings, new laws

* Commentary: Have you no shame or, like, anything?
      So now there's an internal Justice Department report that the department had been overzealous in identifying and detaining suspected terrorists. This is not exactly news to people who have been paying attention, but it's nice that the Justice Department is copping to it.
      Except, really, it's not. Attorney General John Ashcroft said he and his underlings "make no apologies" for the way they handled the situation. In other words, we messed up and developed dim-bulb arrest criteria and threw innocent people in jail, but we're not sorry. Why? Because we looked so darn strong while we were doing it.   —Jon Carroll, San Francisco Chronicle

*  Guidant changes defense in wrongful death, injury lawsuits
      Guidant Corp., which has already agreed to pay a record criminal fine for hoodwinking federal regulators about the safety of one of its medical devices, is altering its defense strategy in civil lawsuits that blame the same device for deaths and injuries.
*  Guidant subsidiary to end production of killer aortic graft

*  Federal jurors rejecting execution, study says  Prosecutors obtained death penalty in 1 of 16 cases over past year

*  Hatfields and McCoys sign truce

*  Protesters say Arab, Muslim men unfairly singled out
      "What the government is doing is targeting immigrants instead of terrorists," said Jayashri Srikantiah, staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California.
      About 13,000 men mostly from Middle Eastern and Muslim countries face deportation after they registered with federal authorities under a program that officials said would help ensure the nation's security after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

*  30,000 child caregivers arrested in California this year

*  Teen who was 14 when he kidnapped businessman, shot at police, gets life in prison with no possibility of parole

*  70% of Canadians with Chrétien against Iraq attack

*  Hypocrisy: On this Flag Day, keep respect for Old Glory strong   —Sen. Orrin Hatch
       Why isn't Mr. Hatch, lover of American ideals and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, crying out over the erosion of the Bill of Rights by Ashcroft? Waving an intact Old Glory over a destroyed American democracy is an empty gesture.   —Marshall

SOUTH AMERICA
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  Brazil, Argentina push trade accord, create common currency

*  Colombia: Outlaw army fights on amid peace effort   "If you turn yourself in, they kill you"
*  Colombian civil war weapon: coaxing guerrillas to desert

*  Ill-paid police making a point   Bolivian leader unable to cope with protests

*  Villagers attack Guatemalan legislator
* June 13: Genocide disqualifies Guatemalan Presidential candidate

BUSINESS & LABOR
the idiotic intricacies of economics
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  Death of worker caught in meat machine probed
      OSHA cited the manufacturer more than two years ago for more than 50 federal health and safety violations. At the time, OSHA officials said the violations could have resulted in serious injury or death.

*  Lotsa drivers pee in bottles  Highway workers are not amused

*  Honeywell claims exclusive worldwide right to make round thermostats

*  Netscape buys its way out of legal trouble   $100,000 fine for spying on New Yorkers, no prosecution, no admission of anything

* Commentary: Is the supply of oil about to begin it's permanent decline?
      Optimists argue that the issue is still years away, and to their support is that it has never happened before and it's too often been predicted. And each time the future looks bleak, the optimists argue, it's always darkest before dawn. It is also interesting how many people basically look at undiscovered reserves and basically say that we really don't know how much we still have left to find, and that's true, but we also, with the evidence of the reserves, there's no guarantee that the reserves are actually there.
      I come back to the basics and say I think that one thing that we do all know is that oil and gas resources are genuinely non-renewable and so someday they will basically run out. And also, we are using 28 billion barrels a year, that's a lot of energy to be consuming. And peaking, as you all know, is different than running out. Is "peaking" an important question or issue?   —Matthew Simmons

*  Court decides sex.com case  Reporter just can’t stop smirking

*  $5.1 million age discrimination award upheld against Nestle Food

*  Gay websites are here, they're queer, and they're profitable

*  Foreign media control? No thanks, Canada says
       Canada is sounding more and more unAmerican. Maybe we'd better fabricate a terrorist story and take their butt's over. It's worked a couple of times already.   —Marshall

*  Putting migrants on road to rights   Laborers urged to join ride to East Coast rally

*  The cola wars get personal   Coke employee fired for drinking Pepsi on the job

EDUCATION
and other forms of child abuse
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  Annual rash of suicides following final exams in India

*  Are computers better qualified than humans to grade student essay exams?

*  School closely tracks cheaters
      Throughout the year, the names of students caught cheating were placed in a computer file that students call "the cheaters list."
      As names were added by the assistant principal, e-mails were sent to teachers informing them that the list was updated. Teachers could dig through a few files on the school's secure computer server to see if any of their students were on the list.
      "This all began with the concern that if a kid was shortcutting in the English class, why shouldn't we be concerned that he's also doing it in the social studies and math classes?" Assistant Principal Mike McGuire said.

*  Three Riverside college administrators charged with fraud

*  Super Diaper Baby conquers Riverside Unified School District

*  Faculty group condemns University for firing professor charged with terrorism

GOVERNMENT
a synonym for corruption and incompetence
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  Ex-Mayor gets 37 years for repeated rapes of prepubescent girls at City Hall

*  Campaign finance controversy offers insights
      The only surprise about Washington's latest campaign finance imbroglio, many observers say, is that we all got a look behind the curtain.
      A look at what many corporate executives, like those at Kansas-based Westar Energy Inc., expect for their money. And a look at how those donations can create the appearance that members of Congress, like Republican Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri, may be acting on behalf of corporate donors.
      Observers said the recent incidents — one involving Westar and the other involving Blunt and tobacco company Philip Morris USA — could help supporters of campaign reform as the U.S. Supreme Court considers a challenge to the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002.
      "The only time this stuff ever sees the light of day is when there's an investigation or a lawsuit," said Matt Keller, legislative director for Common Cause, a group that supports campaign finance reform. "In any other place but Washington, this would be viewed as bribery."
  [KnightRidder]
*  GOP Whip quietly tried to aid big donor
      Only hours after Rep. Roy Blunt was named to the House's third-highest leadership job in November, he surprised his fellow top Republicans by trying to quietly insert a provision benefiting Philip Morris USA into the 475-page bill creating a Department of Homeland Security, according to several people familiar with the effort.

*  Reports show senators' holdings in oil, drug industries; same Senators work on energy and health care bills   [Associated Press]
       That's the way God wants it, else it wouldn't be so.   —Marshall

*  Government says it may think about possibly maybe cutting business with MCI-WorldCom
* May 20: MCI-WorldCom settles SEC probe, wins Iraq contract

*  Wisconsin's once-clean political image, damaged by recent scandals in state, county and city government, could be further sullied this week as a trial begins for a Milwaukee Alderman accused of extortion and fraud.

*  Conflict of interest in California Governor’s office

*  Detroit City Councilwoman investigated for $100000 loan

*  New York Governor [says he] wants new ethics watchdogs for Legislature and courts

*  FBI outlines bribery probe of former Connecticut Treasurer

*  $30 million error slams taxpayers
      For more than two decades, Camden County illegally gave its retired government employees one of the most lavishly financed health plans ever offered in New Jersey, and now the bills are coming due.
      Since the program began, county taxpayers have paid at least $30 million — all for benefits that should never have been offered. Officials admit they broke state law by paying lifetime health benefits for retirees who held a county job for as little as five years. The state required employees to work 25 years before benefits were paid.

*  Broward County Commissioner investigated for conflict of interest in airport bonds

*  Generous subsidy for Pennsylvania lawmakers' cars will cost $850,000 this year

*  Air Force officer pleads no contest to peeping, gets probation

*  County Tax Assessor, two others jailed on drug charges
*  Tax assessor-collector arraigned
*  No reason she can't keep her job, though

*  Former Portsmouth zoning officer sentenced for abusing his public position

HEALTH & SCIENCE
those darn experts and academics!
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  CDC threatens to cut funding for AIDS workshops that are too relevant to real world
      The CDC specifically criticized a Stop AIDS workshop that offers guidelines on "safe and friendly relations" with male prostitutes, another that discusses oral sex, and a third entitled "Bootylicious" that provides tips for successful anal intercourse.

*  New Texas Law makes hospitals harder to sue
      Patients will find it tougher to collect damages from nonprofit hospitals that care for the poor
       Makes me think of 007. He had a license to kill, too.   —Marshall

*  Judge says farming can continue on national wildlife refuges

*  Massive diesel fuel spill in Pensacola bay

*  Founders of herbal products company face criminal charges that they laced pills with addictive prescription drugs

*  Lead poisoning killing California condors, studies say

*  Ritalin use may worsen cocaine abuse

* Press release: New low-dose birth control pill may have less stroke risk for young women   —American Heart Ass'n

*  1 in 3 kids at risk to get diabetes, CDC expert warns

*  Unapproved Alzheimer's drug offers hope

*  Genetically modified glow-in-the-dark fish OK'd as pets

*  Buzzwords of history, revealed by computer scans, indicate new ways of searching the Web

* Press release: Supposedly "safe" levels of mercury are unsafe   New Scientist

*  Cattle eat your leftovers, and far more repulsive things

*  Fishing mishaps called ruinous for dolphins, whales

*  Flush toilets called 'environmental disaster'
      Forget the convenience and sanitation of the flush toilet that industrialized nations have enjoyed for most of the past century. A growing number of environmentalists are now advocating the expanded use of compost or dry toilets worldwide to combat what they see as an international water crisis.

*  Hey, Dr. Bozo: Please engage brain before cutting
      In a letter in the current issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal, a family medicine resident at McMaster University says medical staff should go further by writing "Cut me" on the correct limb, and "Malpractice" on the other.

RELIGION
keeping an eye on God
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  Mount Sanai moved to Mohammed, says Prof

*  Former Charles Manson follower tells of redemption   He found Jesus!

*  Church leaders apologize for abuse
       It's like confession. "We're sorry," now back to business as usual, until the next "sorry."   —Marshall
       Wouldn’t such apologies seem more sincere if they came from prison?   —H&HH

*  Phoenix Bishop who facilitated kiddie-rapes now arrested in fatal hit-run

*  Defiant Keating rips Catholic Bishops
      "My remarks, which some bishops found offensive, were deadly accurate. I make no apology," the former Oklahoma governor wrote in his resignation letter to Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the U.S. hierarchy.
      "To resist grand jury subpoenas, to suppress the names of offending clerics, to deny, to obfuscate, to explain away; that is the model of a criminal organization, not my church."

*  Scandal affecting church's credibility

*  Former People's Temple building is open to possibilities
      The congregation has no members left over from the People's Temple days. Pastor Larry Glass says people doing historical research sometimes visit but that the Jones connection isn't talked about in the pews.

*  Church rues its links to Rudolph
      Group with history of white supremacist views helped bombing suspect in 1980s

ET CETERA
and now, the really important news
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  Large penis enters Dutch Parliament
      Despite all this stiff competition, the large penis stole the headlines. It remains to be seen however if the MPs will be impressed by the new member.

*  Truck filled with yogurt for the homeless is stolen

*  Depraved attackers sexually abused horses in a sickening series of assaults which caused one animal's bloody death


TUESDAY, JUNE 17, 2003
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      Good Tuesday morning,

      Probably no update today, sorry. Family emergency. We hope to be back tomorrow.



MONDAY, JUNE 16, 2003
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      Good Monday morning,

      Today we've got commentary from a new voice at Unknown, Todd J. Schneider, on rallying 'round the Democrats. And Mexico Doug has translated a remarkable speech from a Mexican mucky-muck that cuts through a lot of Bush crapola on the slaughter in Iraq.

      Not much dialogue today, just three notes — Tomas N. Pain, on how Judaism and Zionism are separate, and Annie and Sander take their daily shots at Squango. As ever and always, you're invited to participate if there's something on your mind: xoxounknown@ yahoo.com.

      In news beyond the front page, New Zealand is talking about squelching your right to act as your own attorney, Senator Lugar wants America to attack Hamas (which means Palestine), the details from Uganda's atrocious war are gruesome, there's a startling editorial called The illusion of ‘another Vietnam’ from, of all places, Arab News, the Brits seem to think Homer Simpson is a great American, and we've got your daily dose of brutal cops and corrupt politicians. And more.

      Today's crop of crap is a bit short, because hubby and I each had to work overtime over the weekend, but we'll be caught up by Tues or Wednesday.

      Meanwhile, to make up for it, try my pork & kraut stew, with fair warning — if you don't like pork and/or you don't like sauerkraut, you won't like this at all:

2 onions, chopped

2 tablespoons butter

2 cloves garlic

2 tablespoons paprika

2 pounds of boneless pork butt, or, if times are tight, substitute one can of Spam, chopped

1 teaspoon salt

3 cups sauerkraut, drained

1 tablespoon flour

2 cups sour cream

Combine the onions, butter, garlic, paprika, pork or spam, salt, and kraut in a good size pot and simmer on low, covered, for at least four hours till the pork is cooked and soft.

Then add the flour and sour cream, stir, and cook at high for ten minutes.

Eat and enjoy.


*  An open letter to Greens: The forces arrayed against us are the most powerful in the history of mankind, with endless resources at their disposal. This stands to only get worse. Todd J. Schneider

* Commentary: Suppose that an individual approaches an agent of the Public Ministry soliciting authorization to enter a house by force. Its occupant, argues the individual, is armed to the teeth and shelters terrorists. In addition, he abuses his family ... —Miguel Marin Bosch

*  Second woman says same cop raped her, too
      Former Officer Smith did not deny raping the woman, but he said he could not remember her.
*  The Police: To protect and serve

*  Some Vermonters aghast that freedom may become an option   Kids might smoke demon weed!

*  China wages silent war on dissident thought   Beijing has used the war on terror as an excuse to round up more than a thousand people on charges of endangering state security

*  Home-schooling standoff in Waltham
      Both sides agree that the children are in no way abused mentally, physically, sexually or emotionally, but legal custody of the children was taken from Kim and George Bryant in December 2001. The children will remain under the legal custody of DSS until their 16th birthdays.
      The parents have been ruled as unfit because they did not file educational plans or determine a grading system for the children, two criteria of Waltham Public School's home schooling policy.

* Commentary: What is going on in Washington?
What is the larger agenda behind the amazingly aggressive right wing moves coming from the White House?   —Steven E. Miller, Common Dreams
       US democracy: R.I.P.   —Jart

Today's Propaganda Spinner Winner  —
*  Flag poet reads flag poem on flaggity flag day
      A [Kansas City area] poet is getting national attention.
      Jerry Plantz will read one of his more popular poems, I Held the Flag Today, on Saturday at the national Flags Across America, Flag Day celebration in Pittsburgh.
      The event, sponsored by the National Flag Foundation, was organized to "put the flag back in Flag Day," said David White, the foundation's executive director. He expects hundreds of other ceremonies to be held nationwide on this first Flags Across America celebration.
      Plantz will recite as dozens of Boy Scouts carry a 1,800-square-foot flag into Flag Plaza, across from Mellon Arena in downtown Pittsburgh.
       Ironically, Plantz did not set out to write a patriotic poem. He submitted the work to the Flag Day people only after it was rejected by the Gay Pride Month Committee under its original title, I Held the Fag Today The author says he one day dreams of reciting the original version in public while 1,800 Boy Scouts act it out.   —Steph

*  Police say ex-Marine killed bar manager over comments on Iraq invasion
       I wonder why more people aren't speaking up against the war? Maybe because they know what the opposition is like?   —Phillip S.

*  US to be free one day, like China?
       I got goose bumps while reading this article about the new freedom in China! Imagine what it would be like to live in a land with such liberties:
     At a SARS press conference in Beijing this week, with every word broadcast live on television across the country, a Chinese journalist stood up and boldly asked an impudent question.
      ... A few years ago, hardball questions and sharp exchanges between Chinese journalists and government officials would have been unthinkable. The media were fully controlled by the state. They were respectful and bland, pumping out a daily quota of propaganda.
      There was never a hint of independence in their questions at press conferences, which were almost never televised live. Journalists who questioned the official version were liable to be harshly punished.
      But the competitive demands of the capitalist revolution, along with the soaring popularity of the Internet and the growing hunger for information during the SARS crisis have combined to strengthen the independence and professionalism of the media.
      Newspapers and television channels are still a long way from independence, and heavy-handed state control of most media continues to predominate, but the first signs of free-thinking journalism are beginning to emerge.
      ... "Modern forms of government are characterized by transparency and openness," Xue Baosheng, a researcher at Beijing University's School of Government Administration, writes in the official publication of the Communist Party's Central School. "The right afforded to the media and law to supervise should be fully guaranteed."
     How sad that Amerikans must turn to official organs of the Chinese Communist Party for instruction on these matters. However, in spite of our sadness let us rejoice for the happiness of the free Chinese people!   —Liberez L'Ours

*  Mine hero kills himself after conflict over movie deal

*  129,000 pounds of chicken with glass, please   And make mine USDA inspected
      ConAgra Poultry Co. is recalling 129,000 pounds of chicken because the packages may contain glass, the Agriculture Department said yesterday.
      The company is asking distributors in five states — New York, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina — to return 3.5- to 4-pound bags of "Country Pride Fresh Chicken" packages that have a sell-by date of 6-20-03, 6- 21-03 or 6-22-03.
      The packages are marked with an establishment code of P-177 inside the USDA inspection seal.   THAT'S THE ENTIRE ARTICLE

*  Boy Scouts Council "cowardly and untrustworthy — certainly two qualities good Scouts should never display"   —Editorial, The Philadelphia Inquirer

*  Church sued for $2 million over "dramatic youth service"
      The suit claims the girl suffered personal injuries as the result of "a dangerous, cult-like event that was unlawfully and deceptively conceived, sponsored, promoted and supervised by Forest Hill Baptist Church, its pastor, its deacons, its youth director and several of its members."
      Forest Hill Pastor Harry Sherrer said the event referred to in the suit was designed to help young people in the church learn more about and better understand the persecution of Christians in other parts of the world.
      "Everyone else involved was impressed by the whole activity. It was a very positive event," Sherrer said. "We are saddened that members of this family feel wronged by our church." 
* Commentary: Terrorists operating in Blount County?
      I am enraged beyond words. I had no idea churches were engaging in the kidnapping and torture of children in the name of "cultivating spiritual maturity" and "developing a close-knit relationship with Jesus". They sure have picked a hell of a way to go about "glorifying God". Somehow, I don't think Jesus would approve. In fact, true believers who practice real Christianity would probably think he is weeping in shame at the things done to these children in his name.    —SK Bubba

*  Predator suit raises questions   Must employer reveal records?
      The parents of a 10-year-old Hollywood girl are suing Publix Super Markets, alleging their daughter was sexually abused by a convicted sexual predator the grocery chain had hired, but whose criminal background it failed to divulge to other employees.

*  Intelligent airline seats could automatically alert busy cabin crew to nervous, shifty passengers, who might be terrorists or air-ragers 

*  Murray muscles a win for ports
      Here's to U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, who exerted some senatorial muscle to ensure that money Congress intended for port security programs went to port security.
      And she won.
       Ya gotta wonder, is anyone in the Bush Administration even slightly interested in protecting America from terrorism? Is it all just BS and boondoggle to these bozos?   —Mark Z.

* Commentary: Your vegan holistic President Sure an odd, spiritual guy like Dennis Kucinich doesn't have a chance in hell. But it sure is nice to dream
      Are we so deeply and repressively beaten down with war and terror and fake Orange Alerts and the idea that we absolutely positively must, no matter what, have a cold and corporatized iron-fisted leadership hell-bent on expanding American empire at all costs, that we can't even conceive of a sincere and pacifistic alternative?
      Apparently, we are. That far gone. That far removed from what this nation actually stands for, stood for. At least for the moment. The tyranny of fear is in control. We are so absolutely goddamn certain we are facing a brutal and heartless world that wishes us perpetual violent ill that we simply must have an equally heartless and guns-drawn pseudo-fascist leadership to match it.
      This is, quite simply, utter bull. We have chosen our own path. We have actively elected to become the strong-arm rogue superpower. We have created our own warmongering circumstance far, far more than it has been imposed on us.     —Mark Morford, San Francisco Chronicle

* Commentary: Americans losing the war on their freedoms
      We do not know:
      How many "enemy combatants" of what nationality are being held, and why, in Guantanamo Bay without charge or access to lawyers, in violation of the Geneva Convention.
      How many people in America have been arrested beyond the 1,200 announced back in 2001.
      How many are in jail and where, and who they are.
      How many have been deported, beyond the announced 505.
      How many have been identified by the FBI for questioning, beyond the 8,000 announced in the fall of 2001.   —Haroon Siddiqui, Toronto Star

*  Cable company pays employees to spot satellite dishes
      "If The Chronicle knew that the San Jose Mercury was being delivered to certain addresses, "I'm sure The Chronicle would be just as aggressive in trying to win back that business," he said.
      I asked Steve Falk, the newspaper's publisher, if this was the case.
      "We offer incentives for employees to sell subscriptions," he replied. "But we don't ask people to hunt down competitors and offer a reward for turning them in."     —David Lazarus, San Francisco Chronicle

*  Bill Clinton makes $9.5 million from speeches, Hillary Clinton $1.1 million on book

*  Intelligence Officer challenges Bush Administration on 'why they hate us'     GOV'T-SPONSORED SOURCE

* Commentary: What is Michael Savage's lawsuit against TBTM really about?  Here's a hint — if they could, they'd stop me from telling you
      There is a reason our sites have been targeted by this lawsuit. All three sites are tiny operations. TBTM, with a staff of four people, is the biggest of the three. SavageStupidity is run by a husband and wife, and MichaelSavageSucks is a one-man shop. By filing suit against 3 web sites where the principals barely have two dimes to rub together, the chances are better of a slam-dunk for the plaintiff.
      ... This lawsuit may seem like relatively small potatoes in the scheme of things, but it's not. This should send chills through anyone who values the right to speak their mind. Because no matter what the stated purposes are here, that is what they're truly after — they're seeking legal license to shut you up if they don't like what you're saying.   —Don Waller, Take Back The Media
* April 27: Radio host Michael Savage nastygrams SavageStupidity.com
* April 28: MichaelSavageSucks.com also nastygrammed by radio show lawyers
* May 12: Talk Radio Network sues three small websites   PDF FILE
* June 5: Savage is attempting to seize our domain name. Lawyers for Talk Radio Network, Inc. (Savage's radio syndication partner) assert that savagestupidity.com is "confusingly similar" to michaelsavage.com and say "Savage Nation" listeners are unable to tell difference between "michael" and "stupidity" (neither can we), they also claim violation of non-existent trademark.
* June 9: Shock radio and TV jock Michael Savage, who since March has had a talk show called Savage Nation on MSNBC, regularly calls homosexuals "perverts;" women "whores;" Asians "little soy-eaters;" progressives "filthy slime;" and immigrants or people of color natives of "sacred Turd World nations."
      So it doesn't seem like Savage would be one to complain about a lack of freedom of speech.
      But suppression of Savage's freedom of speech is one of the allegations made in a lawsuit filed against four individuals and one company that run three separate Web sites. Savage claims the sites criticized or parodied him and supported boycotts of sponsors of his programs that had been called for by another organization not named in the suit.     —Kari Lydersen, AlterNet

An encore presentation, by popular demand  —
*  Michael Savage's surprising letter to famous gay poet
      Dear Allen [Ginsberg],
      After speaking to you on the phone about how nice the black-white thing is in mountain villages in Fiji, I walked downstairs to the school courtyard, where a little-known black brother looks at me, takes my hand gently, we do some old-world Lower East Side finger tricks, and he peacefully kisses the back of my hand — I do the same for his hand. I told him about our brief talk, and he says, "I must have felt the vibes."

      Now, the dope-smoking, boy-loving grand dame of '60s degeneracy didn't seem like the kind of riffraff a nationally renowned homophobic zealot would have on his buddy list. But we shouldn't have been so surprised. In Savage's thinly veiled confessional novel Vital Signs, the protagonist admits he is allured by "masculine beauty," saying, "I choose to override my desires for men when they swell in me, waiting out the passions like a storm, below decks." More intriguing is the reported existence of a picture of Savage and Ginsberg swimming naked together in Fiji." These days, of course, Savage is more prone to saying, "The gay and lesbian Mafia wants our children!" Ah, the innocence of youth.

An encore presentation, by popular demand  —
*  Terror warning over electronic equipment  "Please click off your cellphones, laptops, GameBoys, and other electronic devices at this time"

Point of interest  —
*  War profiteers 

THE POLICE: TO PROTECT AND SERVE
LINK HERE
*  More than 100 troopers investigated in 89 sexual-misconduct cases
* Correction: State Police were subjects of 118 sexual-misconduct complaints in a 6-year period   Not just 89, as they said earlier

*  Cop who drank for several hours, plowed into telephone pole but was neither ticketed nor tested for drunk driving, now back on patrol

*  Cop under domestic violence protective order relieved of duty after wife is shot

*  DEA: Police worker is part of drug ring
Dispatcher charged in nationwide marijuana smuggling scheme

*  Rookie Cop charged in traffic stop shooting death
      During the stop, Gaynor said he thought Henderson was going for a gun when he got out of the car, disobeyed an order and reached back into the vehicle on the passenger side.
      ... Gaynor was in his fourth day working alone after three months as a trainee.

*  Court finds Dewey police officer violated coach's rights
      Campbell’s attorney Norman Brooks Jr. had successfully convinced a jury of eight in 2001 that Campbell had reasonable suspicion to hold Johnson until he ran an identification check on the coach and found out what brought him to a quiet street in Dewey after dark. Brooks said he and Campbell have 90 days to decide whether to appeal the Court of Appeals ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court or to file for a retrial in the Third District Court.
        ... "What brought him to a quiet street in Dewey after dark?" Hmmmm ... What color do you suppose the coach is?   —H&HH

*  Federal authorities take former Vegas DEA agent into custody

*  School Safety Officer charged with statutory rape   SCROLL DOWN

*  Cop gets undisclosed plea bargain in off-duty fist fight

*  Sheriff bungled millions, audit says   Controller finds large sums of money misplaced and a badly flawed system

*  Cop arrested on domestic violence charges

*  Cop indicted on perjury charge after police conduct an 'integrity sting'

*  Deputy held for allegedly faking claims

*  French father is sorry for mistaken ID   Jailed woman remains outraged
* June 12: Feds seize kids, jail Mom ... because she looks sorta like someone else

*  Police, lab trade charges over delay in DNA tests
Serial attacker could have been confirmed many months earlier
*  DNA tests often a police afterthought

*  Civil-rights inquiry looks at killing by Border Agent
      In fiscal year 2002, Herskovits said, the FBI opened 2,159 civil-rights investigations nationally, resulting in 179 convictions and $1.25 million in restitution or recoveries.
      Allegations of police misconduct — including excessive force and other complaints — accounted for 70 percent of the 2,159 cases, Herskovits said. She added that the Justice Department receives more than 10,000 such complaints a year from all agencies, not just the FBI. She said 1 percent are found to warrant prosecution.

*  Autopsy, police promises aren't enough for Grand Rapids protesters

*  Cop should be charged with murder, says Juror
      While she said she believes Switala, a three-year UWM police veteran, was threatened when Bauschek drove toward him next to his squad car, Ward indicated she questioned why Switala fired at Bauschek and why Bauschek was shot in the back.
* June 11: In a rare decision against a police officer, a Milwaukee County inquest jury Wednesday rejected a self-defense justification for a February shooting that ended a chase and killed a 34-year-old Greenfield man.
      But the jury also found the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee officer's actions did not amount to probable cause for a charge of second-degree intentional homicide.

*  Activist accuses police of profiling in Lauderdale teen's shooting

*  An inexcusable death   Teen dies in state detention center
      Omar Paisley, 17, died Monday of a ruptured appendix. But his death appears to have been the tragic result of something more insidious than a physical ailment — official neglect.   —Editorial, The Miami Herald

*  Suit charges cronyism in State Police

AFRICA
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  Uganda's atrocious war
      "They tied me and laid me down. They told me not to cry. Not to make any noise. Then one man sat on my chest, men held my arms, legs, and one held my neck. Another picked up an axe. First he chopped my left hand, then my right. Then he chopped my nose, my ears and my mouth with a knife."

*  Rebels accuse Liberia's Taylor of attacking them

*  Reality TV, African style   With contestants from across the continent, Big Brother Africa is a runaway - and controversial - hit

ASIA
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  South Koreans hold huge anti-U.S. rallies
      The largest protest was in the capital, Seoul, where about 20,000 people, many holding candles gathered at a plaza near the U.S. Embassy, chanting "Punish the murderous GIs!" and "Withdraw U.S. troops!"

*  Laotian authorities won't let U.S. officials see detained American pastor, others

*  Japan fights whale conservation measure

*  Taunts, catcalls and deafening desk thumping mark surreal budget debate in Pakistan's paralyzed Parliament

*  South Koreans sue Japan over years of forced labor
       Will Wal-Mart be next?   —Sander D.

EUROPE
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  How much designer bottled mineral water do you need while you address the world's shortage of adequate drinking supply?
      The answer, in the case of G8 leaders and their media entourage camped out in the spa town of Evian this week, was estimated at 7,800 gallons — enough to keep a healthy adult's thirst at bay for 40 years.  

*  Brits picking Homer Simpson as "greatest-ever American"   Doh!

*  The oldest pirate on the radio

*  Ireland's "Viagra Falls" relishes movie plans
      Asked about the town's population, Hartnett laughed: "Well, it's 1,200 this week but it could be 12,000 this time next year."

THE MIDDLE EAST
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  In Afghanistan, US turns to the Taliban
       I wonder if after a year or so of unrest in Iraq if we'll be hunting down Saddam — not to punish him but to help out in Iraq?   —Phillip S.

*  Saudi Official defends his country's payments to families of suicide bombers   Unleashed an anti-Israel tirade
       But his country has all that oil, so it's OK.   —Marshall

WHAT A CURIOUS TIME FOR PRO-DEMOCRACY PROTESTS IN IRAN
LINK HERE
* Commentary: The illusion of ‘another Vietnam’  Memo to Iran's leaders
      And yet it seems there are people who have not learned a lesson. Some of the mullahs ruling in Tehran are repeating the same hubris-inspired nonsense that came from Cedras, Mladic, Milosevic, Omar, and Saddam. “Iran is not Iraq,” says Hassan Rouhani, a junior mullah who acts as secretary-general of the High Council of National Defense in Tehran. “Our heroes will fight to the last drop of their blood. The Americans will have another Vietnam.” Similar commends have come from other Khomeinists, unable to see what has happened to their east in Afghanistan and to their west in Iraq.
      Sure, Iran is not Iraq just as Iraq was not Afghanistan and so on. But the truth is that Iran under its present regime is in no position to defend itself against a major attack by the US. This is nothing to be ashamed of. It is a fact. Iran does not have the economic power, the industrial base, the technological capabilities, the demographic base, and the advanced weaponry to fight the US. It is also certain that a majority of Iranians, knowing the facts, would not be prepared to die unnecessarily in defense of a regime that many, if not actually most, do not like.
      As the “Iran Next” lobby gathers momentum in Washington, wisdom dictates that the leaders in Tehran stop fooling themselves with old slogans. They should look for a realistic policy that addresses the problems their regime has with Washington. This does not mean surrendering to a US diktat; it means abandoning adventures that can prove deadly for Iran. A wise leadership would not provoke a situation just to see whether or not Iran becomes "another Vietnam."   —Editorial, Arab News
*  Bush praises Iranian pro-democracy protestors
       However, US cops will assault Americans with pepper spray, rubber bullets and riot police if they try that shit here in the land of the free.   —X-Pensive Winos
*  Iran threatens to get tough as the voices of protest grow ever louder

*  Iran strikes at reform movement   Police are unleashed against protesters
* Commentary: Has the American Empire passed its apex?
      With 25 U.S. soldiers dead and counting since Baghdad fell, what the empire now entails is a steady stream of caskets coming home from Afghanistan and Iraq and tens of billions of American tax dollars going the other way to pay the cost of reconstruction of countries we have defeated and occupied.    —Patrick Buchanan, The American Conservative

*  America's shameful legacy of radioactive weaponry
      The US Department of Defense (DOD) has shown little interest in pinpointing the medical effects of radioactive weaponry. In the 1991 Gulf War, an estimated 320 tons of DU ammunition was dumped on Iraq, and the Pentagon later acknowledged over 900 American soldiers had sustained "moderate to heavy" DU exposure. Few epidemiological studies have been conducted to assess the damage though, and even worse, US government officials have lied to cover up bad results.
      For example, a Pentagon spokesperson recently told the NATO press corps, "We have seen no cancers or leukemia" in a group of 60 Gulf War vets involved in a DU-study program, despite that fact that two participants had in fact contracted cancer. And in a press briefing last March, a DOD spokesperson downplayed health risks associated with DU, claiming Iraqis complained about it only "because we kicked the crap out of them."
      Fortunately, British researchers have taken the DU issue more seriously. Scientific studies in the UK have shown Gulf veterans can have up to 14 times the normal level of genetic chromosome abnormalities, which means their children are also at increased risk for deformities and genetic diseases. It's also been proven that DU-exposed vets have a greater likelihood of contracting lymphatic or bone marrow cancer.
      Findings like these have prompted the European Parliament to call for a moratorium on DU ammunition (and other types of uranium warheads) pending independent investigations into their possible harmful effects. Similarly, the UN Environment Program has announced plans to test the Iraqi environment for DU, and the World Health Organization may begin similar testing on the human population.     —Heather Wokusch, Common Dreams     Say what? Background, please.

VISIT LOVELY  PALESTINE
LINK HERE
*  Lugar: US troops to war in Palestine
       Let's sacrifice a few hundred more Americans to kill a few thousand more Arabs and make the situation worse than it already is.   —H&HH

* Commentary: No more pussyfooting around on Israel, Mr. Bush     —Rick Salutin, The Globe & Mail [Toronto]
       I don't agree at all. There will be plenty more pussyfooting around on Israel, until our grandchildren — if the world lasts that long — worry about pussyfooting around Sharon's grandchildren's massacre of Arafat's grandchildren ... if any still survive.   —H&HH

IRAQ: A WAR FOUGHT FOR LIES
LINK HERE
*  Pre-war claim Hussein tried to buy uranium was in doubt   U.S. agencies did not believe Hussein shopped for uranium

*  CIA officer: Bush ignored warnings

*  Bush must step down  They impeach murderers, don't they?
      George W. Bush told us that Iraq and Al Qaeda were working together. They weren't. He repeatedly implied that Iraq had had something to do with 9/11. It hadn't. He claimed to have proof that Saddam Hussein possessed banned weapons of mass destruction. He didn't. As our allies watched in horror and disgust, Bush conned us into a one-sided war of aggression that killed and maimed thousands of innocent people, destroyed billions of dollars in Iraqi infrastructure, cost tens of billions of dollars, cost the lives of American soldiers, and transformed our international image as the world's shining beacon of freedom into that of a marauding police state. Presidents Nixon and Clinton rightly faced impeachment for comparatively trivial offenses; if we hope to restore our nation's honor, George W. Bush too must face a president's gravest political sanction.     —Ted Rall

*  U.S. interrogates alleged Al Qaeda sympathizers in Iraq 

*  CIA experts on Iraq arms shifted to different jobs  Some say 2 staffers in 'exile' because banned weapons not found

* Commentary: The fabric of lies the Bush administration wove to hoodwink the American public into supporting the war on Iraq is starting to unravel.  —John David Rose

*  Blair sweating it out 

* Commentary: Will CIA's Tenet be fall guy?   —Eleanor Clift
       Eleanor, gee, I think you're swellinor, but there probably won't need to be a fall guy for the Iraq atrocity.
      Remember Sept. 11, 2001? A lot more Americans died then than died in this silly so-called war, but there was no fall guy. No heads rolled. On 9/11/2001, up and down America's entire expensive elaborate defense network, policies were violated, fighters never scrambled, the authorities who should have been notified at once were instead notified leisurely, while GW Bush read a book to schoolchildren and then toured America on Air Force One. There hasn't even been an investigation worth being called that.
      There will not be an open and honest investigation of the Iraq atrocity either. The controversy will be quiet and quick, not lasting more than one or two rounds of unanswered questions. An impeachment is out of the question. At most, there may be some muddled "hearings" in Congress, followed by a "report" few people will read. For the media and thus the general public, this matter is of little concern and less interest. And besides, any time the Bush Administration wants to quiet the questions, it wouldn't be very difficult to plant and then "find" the remnants of a weapons factory or armory. So in a few weeks or months, one way or another, anyone still asking why there was a war will be marginalized, outside the mainstream, out on the lunatic fringe.
      Meanwhile, in case you haven't heard, Donald Rumsfeld says Iran may have weapons of mass destruction.
  —H&HH

LIFE IN LIBERATED IRAQ
LINK HERE
*  U.S. bombs suspected terrorist camp, raids homes
Crew rescued after Iraqis shoot down helicopter
Aggressive tactics anger residents

*  Halliburton's Iraq job likely to last longer and cost more
       Surprise, surprise. Why have a war? Why not just funnel billions of tax dollars right into the hands of the big shots? It would be a lot more efficient, and massive suffering, death and destruction would be avoided. Oh well, as one of the Marx brothers said (I think it was Karl), capitalism needs deception to work.   —Marshall

*  Shepherd sues Rumsfeld, Franks
      An Iraqi shepherd is seeking $200m in damages from the US military for the deaths of 17 members of his family as well as 200 sheep in a missile strike, in the first such suit filed through the courts of the US-led occupation administration.
      The first hearing will take place on July 20 at the tribunal of Ramadi, 100km west of Baghdad.

*  Iraqi women 'forced to veil'

*  Casualties in Iraq continue to mount

NORTH AMERICA
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  Feds promise to pretend to make changes in handling terror suspects
       Perhaps they'll tie a string around feds' fingers to remind them there's still a Constitution.   —Mark Z.

*  Indian priest arrested for carrying knife into United Airlines
      A US marshal arrested Nityaprakash Das on Wednesday on board the aircraft after a flight attendant saw him pull out the knife to cut a piece of fruit, said Mike McCarron, spokesman for San Francisco International Airport.
      The plane took off in Newark, New Jersey and it was unclear how Das passed through security with the knife.

*  Al Qaeda plotted to 'demolish Brooklyn Bridge'

*  Maine Legislature approves universal health insurance program

*  U.S. threatens to yank NATO bucks over Belgian war crimes law
*  U.S. gets new exemption from war crimes court
*  Controversial world court gets first prosecutor

*  House approves bill shifting class-action suits from state to federal courts   Opponents call it "corporate welfare"
      Opponents were scathing about provisions making the bill retroactive to cases where the judge has not yet certified a class — such as in Enron's case — and allowing appeals of the class certification before the rest of the case goes forward.
      "This bill would give Enron the power to unilaterally delay the case for many more years," Rep. Martin Frost (D., Texas) declared.

*  Former TV anchor settles lawsuit over age, sex and race discrimination

*  New York City tickets people for smoking on the sidewalk 

*  Senate blocks privatization of air traffic control

* Commentary: The problem with the Democrats is that they are weak on foreign policy
      Not like the grown ups (or GOP, as they refer to themselves), who are even now negotiating with moral clarity and God most assuredly on their side.
      How this can remain conventional wisdom this far into the Bush administration is a testament to the mind’s ability to filter information as it processes and stores it.     —Mike Fullerton, Tomb of Horrors

*  New York Times finds more bull from imaginative reporter
       It's Jayson Blair again, not Judith Miller.   —H&HH

*  Three convictions thrown out in 1985 case
      Three men imprisoned since 1986 in the rape and murder of a teenage roller rink worker had their convictions thrown out Wednesday after advanced DNA testing failed to link them with the crime.

*  Lawyer wants terror aid charge dismissed
      A defense attorney asked a federal judge Friday to dismiss charges against a lawyer accused of helping a jailed Egyptian cleric disseminate messages to terrorists.
      Civil rights lawyer Lynne Stewart should be protected by the attorney-client privilege and the First Amendment, said her attorney, Michael E. Tigar.
      Prosecutor Christopher Morvillo argued that those privileges do not protect a lawyer from violating the law, especially when it involves national security.
       A lawyer colluding with terrorists, or the government intimidating an attorney? Since at least September 11, 2001, I've never seen "national security" trotted out except as an excuse for atrocities, so I sure have my doubts when it's trotted out here.   —Mark Z.

*  Mexico repaying last loans from '82 crisis   16 years before due-date

*  Castro marches against top trade mates
      While an announcer chanted ''Down with Fascism,'' Castro marched past the Spanish Embassy as supporters carried signs referring to Prime Minister José María Aznar as the ''little Führer,'' a nickname Castro gave him in a televised speech late Wednesday.
      Across town, Castro's brother and designated successor, Armed Forces chief Gen. Raúl Castro, led protesters past the Italian Embassy, where placards referred to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi as ''Benito Berlusconi'' — a reference to former fascist leader Benito Mussolini.
      Castro's outburst of bitter invective showed his willingness to alienate the 15-member bloc that is Cuba's most important source of trade and tourism. Spain is Cuba's second largest trading partner after Venezuela, and the Spanish-owned Sol Melia chain controls 21 hotels around the island, Larry Luxner, a Washington-based journalist who publishes the monthly newsletter CubaNews, told The Herald.

*  Miami targets alleged freedom
      By day, they are your run-of-the-mill Latin eateries, offering everything from medianoche to bistec empanizado to Cuban coffee. But when nightfall comes, police say, some begin serving something else: cocaine, prostitutes, and, on occasion, a free strip show.

*  Colleagues defend Professor accused in missing-plague case

* Commentary: America's imperial delusion  The US drive for world domination has no historical precedent —Eric Hobsbawm, The Guardian [Manchester, UK]

*  J.Bush's partisan foe going national
      Tony Welch, the Democratic spinmeister whose zingers got under Gov. Jeb Bush's skin during two elections, is taking his partisan act national, aiming directly at the governor's brother.

* Commentary: The history of America is the one story every kid knows  >NOBR>The unofficial history of the United States is quite different   —Kalle Lasn, Adbusters

* Commentary: The First Klutz  How the media played Carter's killer rabbit, Gerald Ford's clumsiness, and GW Bush's fall from the gyro-balanced Segway   —Jerome Doolittle, Bad Attitudes

*  Noam Chomsky, interviewed in Alternative Press Review

*  N.J. may soon expand records of criminals' DNA for probes
      Investigators finally solved the crimes after they matched DNA from a crime scene to DNA in a federal database belonging to an Englewood salesman. That man, Charles A. Rawlings, had served a 15-year federal sentence for bank robbery, and upon his release had been required to submit a DNA sample.

*  Illinois company withdraws chewing gum with KKK play-tattoos 

*  California man faces charges for hijacking Al-Jazeera
      According to Racine's plea agreement, which was filed Thursday, Racine began working to take control of the site March 24 in response to Al-Jazeera posting on its Web site photographs of captured American prisoners of war and soldiers killed in action in southern Iraq.
      "After learning that Al Jazeera had posted the photographs, defendant John William Racine II devised and executed a scheme to gain control of the Al-Jazeera Web site, domain name and all of the e-mail traffic sent to Aljazeera.net by making false statements to Network Solutions," the agreement indicated.
      ... The charges, filed Monday, claim that on March 25 Racine discovered a password that allowed him to reroute those who tried to visit Al-Jazeera's Web site to his own site, which contained an American flag in the shape of the continental United States and the words, "Let Freedom Ring."

*  Al Franken, interviewed by Buzzflash
      BuzzFlash You made an appearance on Donahue's show back in January and confronted Bernard Goldberg about his book that claimed liberals run the media. And you made the comment on Donahue's show that so much of the right-wing media is just flat-out lazy in not tracking down sources or context for what is reported.
      Franken: Well, in that one, Goldberg had a chapter called "Left Wing Hate Speech." He uses as an example something that John Chancellor said in the commentary on Nightly News with Tom Brokaw on August 21, 1991 — that was the day that the coup was put down in the Soviet Union, the one at the Parliament where Yeltsin was on the tank and stuff. And Brokaw gives this impassioned opening to the show, something like, "This is the day where the gray men of the Kremlin were finally put down. And history will speak. And that the people of Russia didn't let themselves go back into the darkness, the state oppression, blah-blah-blah."
      Total anti-communist, anti-Soviet introduction. And then, later in the show, Brokaw asks Chancellor, "What does Gorbachev do next?" Because, at this point, what brought about the coup were these horrible shortages that the Soviet Union was having, which were the worst shortages since World War II. And Perestroika, at this point, was six years old. Gorbachev had dismantled the state economy, and there was really no system — there was no communism any more. And so John Chancellor says, basically, Gorbachev is in the position where he can't blame communism — the problems are the shortages.
      And Goldberg quotes this in his book about "liberal bias" and says it refers to the absurd notion that John Chancellor believes that the shortages in the Soviet Union were not caused by communism. Of course John Chancellor isn't around anymore to defend himself.
      So I'm on the show with Donahue, and I'm in San Francisco on a satellite, which is always hard to do, and he's in the studio. And I asked him what happened on that day. I read him the quote. And I said, "What happened that day in the Soviet Union?" thinking that he knew. And then I would just say, "Then how could you leave out that context?" And in fact, he didn't know. Goldberg just didn't know. And Goldberg says, "You tell me, Al," very indignant that I would ask him. And I said, "No, you tell me. It's your book. You tell me." And basically he said, "OK, I don't know." Milton Friedman would have agreed with what John Chancellor was saying that day.
      But when you confront the right-wing media about their reporting, all they do is they get mad. Instead of saying, "You know what? I really screwed up." Well, what happened was Goldberg just regurgitated something he got from a right-wing media research center, and just put it in the book and thought that, oh, this proves that John Chancellor thought that communism wasn't a problem or something.

*  Proposed overhaul of kid-protection agency not nearly enough, child group says

OCEANIA
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  New Zealand's "legal fraternity" proposes end to right to represent yourself in court
       It's to save the government money, you see. And make money for the lawyers.   —Crabby Abby

*  More truants found in Auckland sweep
      Police have found 971 Auckland youngsters evading school in the third week of a crackdown on truancy -- 48 more than in the operation's first week.

*  Aussie businessmen 'received secret commissions'

SOUTH AMERICA
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  US voted out of human rights body in symbolic rebuke
      The member nations of the Organization of American States (OAS) have for the first time voted to exclude the US from representation on the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, considered the most prestigious human rights monitoring body in the Western Hemisphere.

*  Genocide disqualifies Guatemalan Presidential candidate

*  Peru's teachers given a raise, end month-long strike   Also, leaders' remarks raise questions about kidnapping
      On Tuesday — the day the 71 kidnapped pipeline workers were rescued — Toledo praised the armed forces, national police and intelligence service for their ''efficiency and professionalism'' in the rescue.
      The next day, Defense Minister Aurelio Loret de Mola told Congress that the kidnappers released the hostages before the soldiers arrived.

BUSINESS & LABOR
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  Upscale brothel opens in Nevada  Employees call lush decor a 'class act'

*  Upscale pizzeria served with sexual harassment suit

*  Office manager gets jail time for taking $982k, $3,000 at a time

*  Montco firm to pay fine for charging customers' cards
       No word about how much this company stole, but ringing up $79.99 to $89.95 a pop from 1998 to 2001 would seem likely to add up. Nobody's going to jail, though. Funny how that works.   —Allison

*  Computer jobs are as rare as mainframes

* Commentary: Derivative alert raised to orange  Freddie Mac and the SEC     —Matthew Goldstein, The Street

*  Reports detail intimidation by top WorldCom executives

*  Cigarette makers spending more on advertising

EDUCATION
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  Cover-up charged in dorm fire
      The two students charged with setting the deadly Seton Hall University fire three years ago stonewalled investigators from the start and engaged in an elaborate cover-up aided by relatives and friends, according to sweeping indictments unveiled yesterday.

*  Teacher's alleged theft of $10,000 from students mars class graduation

*  Could we hold up the deification of retiring Schools Superintendent for just a moment?
        SCROLL DOWN TO FINAL PARAGRAPH   "I don't doubt that Jim Sweeney loves children and had dedicated his life's career to improving education," she said. "The school district has done some wonderful things ... but (on state tests) half the students are still below the 50th percentile. That's a problem."

*  Teaching how viruses work draws ire of security field

GOVERNMENT
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  Political cash: Thinly disguised bribery
      This smelly example is further proof that America must clean up the political cash sewer.   —Editorial, The Charleston [WV] Gazette

*  GOP Whip quietly tried to aid big donor
      Only hours after Rep. Roy Blunt was named to the House's third-highest leadership job in November, he surprised his fellow top Republicans by trying to quietly insert a provision benefiting Philip Morris USA into the 475-page bill creating a Department of Homeland Security, according to several people familiar with the effort.

*  Assemblyman an accomplice to rape, says alleged victim
      The woman who said she was sexually assaulted by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's top aide two years ago yesterday charged Silver himself was ultimately responsible for this week's alleged rape by the same staffer.
      Former Assembly staffer Elizabeth Crothers — who rocked the state Legislature in 2001 with her rape charges against Silver's chief counsel, J. Michael Boxley — said Silver "sat by" after she came forward, failed to rein in Boxley, and was therefore to blame for the latest alleged attack.
*  Wild on Albany: Drunken deviants of 'Sin City'

*  "You want your kids? Get on all fours and suck my d---"
      A Brooklyn lawyer who had been accused of bribing a judge to rule for his clients — and then nailed a sweetheart deal with prosecutors in exchange for gathering evidence against the judge — was caught on tape boasting that he could get sexual favors to fix a custody case, The Post has learned.

*  Frauds must pay $2m after railroading MTA

*  New anti-nepotism policy proposed   If the ordinance passes, relatives of Camden city officials will not be able to hold municipal jobs
       In other words, there is lots of nepotism there now.   —Marshall

*  Judge violates court order by buying woman a drink
      Judge Langton, of course, routinely orders defendants to stay out of bars and abstain from alcohol while their cases are pending in his court. Late last month, he jailed a defendant on $50,000 bond for violating a bail condition about drinking.

*  Federal probe is prompting details of billboard deals
      On a February weekend last year, two large cranes pulled up to the rear of a health club here and went to work on a billboard that only recently had been erected.
      By Monday morning, the sign was back up — but 15 feet higher — making it even more conspicuous to motorists racing by on the New Jersey Turnpike.
      While the billboard was more visible than ever, still hidden from public view were its connections to longtime Woodbridge mayor and now governor, James E. McGreevey.

HEALTH & SCIENCE
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  Pew study says malpractice caps hurt patients (from the Duh Department)

*  Chimps got 'father' of HIV by devouring other monkeys

*  Human transmission of monkeypox feared

*  New Jersey residents none too pleased about contaminated soil

*  Protesters want antibiotics out of Burger King meat

RELIGION
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  Ex-Church worker jailed for fondling teen boys

*  Alaskan pastor to stand trial in killing of chapel intruders
* June 10: Autopsy shows Pastor shot burglar in the back

*  Former vicar jailed over internet child porn

*  Mexico extradites Priest to Italy

*  Former Priest found guilty of indecency with a child

*  Apocalypse now  Books for morons and their leaders

AND NOW, THE REALLY IMPORTANT STUFF
LINK HERE     TOP OF PAGE

*  Chess disagreement ends in stabbing death
       Who said chess players were wimps?   —Marshall

*  Elderly woman run over by her own car   1973 Dodge Dart claims yet another victim
      Because of the direction in which the tires were turned, the car continued to roll in reverse in a circle, and paramedics believe it backed over the woman a second time before a bystander was able to stop the car.

*  Inmates lien on judges in copyright con  Everyone needs a hobby

*  St. Paul man sentenced in sex partner's bondage death

*  Woman sentenced to jail for ripping toenails off godson 

*  Wisconsin man charged with stalking high school sweetheart from 1970s

* Commentary: When the obituarists went west
      The Fifth Great Obituary Writers' Conference was held last weekend at Las Vegas — not, alas, the Nevada gambling paradise beloved of Fr Joseph Fahey, the Jesuit priest who "played blackjack for the greater glory of God." This was Las Vegas, New Mexico, a cowboy town about two hours' drive into the desert from Albuquerque.     —Andrew McKie, The Daily Telegraph [London, UK]

*  $2 greenback making comeback — again


Unknown News is updated Monday-Friday by 11AM CST.

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