Paper 'reveals Banksy's identity'
Mysterious graffiti artist Banksy is a 34-year-old former public school pupil called Robin Gunningham, The Mail On Sunday has claimed.

The paper says it has identified the "guerrilla artist" from a photograph taken four years ago in Jamaica, which shows a man kneeling by a spray can.

But a spokeswoman for Banksy refused to comment on the report. "We get these calls all the time," she told the BBC.

"I'll say what I always say: I never confirm or deny these stories".

FUNNY LETTERS
FROM SUMMER CAMP
AND THEIR NOT-SO-
FUNNY RESPONSES.
BY MIKE SACKS
- - - -

Dear Mummy and Daddy:

Camp is fun and I'm eating a lot of candy!!! Kevin today caught a frog and it climbed into his shirt!

Todd

Dear Todd:

Mummy and I are getting a divorce. Will give you specifics when you come home. Tell Kevin's frog we say hi!

Mummy and Daddy

- - - -

Dad and Mom:

News

It's The Blowback, Stupid!
The 1953 coup is widely seen as having set the conditions for the 1979 Islamic Revolution. It is a consequence the US and Iran are still dealing with today.

On the verge of abandoning his seven-year exploration for oil in Iran, British socialite William Knox D’Arcy struck black gold in 1908. D’Arcy’s fortuitous find meant incredible wealth for the British government, but set off the series of cataclysmic events over the next century that are at the core of why the United States is on the brink of invading Iran today.

Talking Shop: Black Kids

A party-starting pulp of indie, pop and funk has helped US band Black Kids become one of the hottest new groups around.

With echoes of 1980s stars like Prince, The Cure and The Human League, their debut album Partie Traumatic has just come out in the UK.

They have also won over live crowds and scored a UK hit with their single I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You.

Singer Reggie Youngblood discusses his band's rise and explains why he is ready to be a pop star.

by Democracy Now

The Senate is expected to vote on a controversial measure to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act tomorrow. The legislation would rewrite the nation’s surveillance laws and authorize the National Security Agency’s secret program of warrantless wiretapping. We speak with Mark Klein, a technician with AT&T for over twenty-two years. In 2006 Klein leaked internal AT&T documents that revealed the company had set up a secret room in its San Francisco office to give the National Security Agency access to its fiber optic internet cables.

Guest:

by Jeremy Herron, AP

When media and technology tycoons convene Tuesday in idyllic southern Idaho for five days of dealmaking and outdoor recreation, the mountain air will carry more than a whiff of uncertainty as most arrive with their businesses in various states of disarray.

Powerful moguls come to Allen & Co. investment bank’s annual retreat in Sun Valley seeking new acquisitions and alliances and _ increasingly in recent years _ the opportunity to retool their businesses.

by Danny Schechter

California Real Estate Insider Sues Financial Greed Industry In The Public Interest

It has been nearly a year since what we now know as the subprime crisis melted down the markets, caused banks to begin writing down assetless assets and forced The Federal Reserve Bank to come to the attempted rescue of the American economy by injecting billions of dollars into the banking system and cut interest rates seven times

Read this or George W. Bush will be president the rest of your life
July 4, 2008
by William Blum
www.killinghope.org

Some thoughts on "patriotism" written on July 4

Most important thought: I'm sick and tired of this thing called "patriotism".

by Ramzy Baroud

The world of journalism, like any other profession, can be muddled with a plethora of distractions, self-interests and agendas that certainly do not serve the cause of a free press. Outside as well as inside pressures and interests often compromise the very essence of the journalist's mission.

Inter Press Service
By Dahr Jamail

SAN FRANCISCO, Jul 3 (IPS) - U.S. journalist Zoriah Miller says he was censored by the U.S. military in the Iraqi city of Fallujah after photographing Marines who died in a suicide bombing.

On Jun. 26, a suicide bomber attacked a city council meeting in Fallujah, 69 kms west of Baghdad, between local tribal sheikhs and military officials.

Mr. Twain Offers a Lesson on Patriotism
By Scott Horton

It was March 16, 1901. A lanky man with elegant and flowing white hair and a prominent moustache strode to the podium. He hardly needed an introduction: the audience would immediately have recognized what was arguably the best-known face in America. The event was a meeting of the Male Teachers Association of the City of New York. It was a convivial gathering for dinner at the Albert Hotel in Greenwich Village, at the corner of University Place and Eleventh Street.

By Priyamvada Gopal
June 29, 2008, ZNet

[This is a longer version of a piece carried by the Guardian June 27th.]

Dan Glaister in Los Angeles
Sunday June 29, 2008
guardian.co.uk

Welcome to Strike 2008 - the sequel. Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the negotiating room, the Hollywood unions and their studio paymasters have devised a new dispute to threaten an already precarious industry.

Reuters

Sunday, 29 June 2008

Analysts said before Friday's vote that Mugabe defied a chorus of calls to call off the one-candidate election so that he could negotiate with Tsvangirai from a position of strength

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was sworn in today after being declared the landslide winner of a widely condemned election which African observers said was scarred by violence and intimidation.

Mugabe was the only candidate and went ahead with the vote in defiance of much world opinion, including in Africa.

Pistol may hand advantage to those closest to the starting official

by Katharine Sanderson - www.Nature.com

The Olympics may not be the bastion of pure sporting contest that people might think. Although the pistol used to start sprint events in the Games might make good theatre, it may mean that sprinters in lane 1, nearest the gun, get away from the blocks faster.

From www.PCRM.org

The 2008 Farm Bill recently enacted into law by Congress is a dramatic disappointment. The number one cause of death in this country is chronic disease related to the over-consumption of fat and cholesterol—yet the new Farm Bill continues to support, in the main, the production of foods high in fat, sugar and cholesterol.

[From Scientific American]

Global warming is leaving trees behind, according to a new study in Science. An analysis of forest species in six French mountain ranges (the western Alps, northern Pyrenees, Massif Central, western Jura, Vosges and the Corsican range) shows that more than two thirds of them moved at least 60 feet (18.5 meters) higher on the mountainsides per decade during the 20th century.

Inter Press Service
By Ahmed Ali and Dahr Jamail*

BAQUBA, Jun 24 (IPS) - Iraqis seem divided on who they would like to see as the next U.S. president, but few believe that either will end the occupation.

"The U.S administration has committed a big mistake in Iraq," Adil Ibrahim, a local physician in Baquba, capital city of Diyala province, located 40 km northeast of Bagdhdad, told IPS. "We hope that whoever wins the election, the new administration can mend the huge mistakes of this one."

From MediaLens.org

Yesterday, we published a media alert (http://www.medialens.org/alerts/08/080625_selling_the_fireball.php), in which we discussed our exchange with Times commentator, Bronwen Maddox. In response, Times commentator Oliver Kamm wrote to us:

Gentlemen,

From MediaLens.org