LITTLE KNOWN FACTS

* Did you know that a South Texas (Willacy County) grand jury has indicted V-P Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on charges related to the alleged abuse of prisoners in Willacy County's federal detention centers. The indictment criticizes Cheney's investment in the Vanguard Group, which holds interests in the private prison companies running the federal detention centers. It accuses Cheney of a conflict of interest and "at least misdemeanor assaults" on detainees by working through the prison companies. Gonzales is accused of using his position while in office to stop an investigation into abuses at the federal detention centers.

* Speaking of attorney generals, President-elect Obama has appointed Eric Holder as his Attorney General. Holder served as the number two top official in the Clinton Justice Department. Holder will have to give up his lucrative corporate law practice at Covington & Burling where he is currently a defense lawyer for Chiquita Brands international in a case in which Colombian plaintiffs seek damages for the murders carried out by the AUC paramilitaries - a designated terrorist organization. Human and labor rights lawyer Dan Kovalik reports that, "Chiquita has already admitted in a criminal case that it paid the AUC around $1.7 million in a 7-year period and that it further provided the AUC with a cache of machine guns as well. Indeed, Holder himself, using his influence as former deputy attorney general under the Clinton Administration, helped to negotiate Chiquita's sweetheart deal with the Justice Department in the criminal case against Chiquita. Under this deal, no Chiquita official received any jail time. Indeed, the identity of the key officials involved in the assistance to the paramilitaries were kept under seal and confidential. In the end, Chiquita was fined a mere $25 million which it has been allowed to pay over a 5-year period."

* On November 17 the No Bases organization in the Czech Republic held another protest in Prague opposing the deployment of a U.S. Star Wars radar facility that would be used to help the Pentagon develop a first-strike capability against Russia. More than 600 people joined the protest. Green Party Member of Parliament (MP) Kateřina Jacques showed up with an American flag to express her support for the U.S. radar deployment. And you thought the Greens were supposed to be the good guys!

IN THE TOTALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO BELIEVE, IT HAS TO BE A JOKE, CATEGORY

* During the recent pirate high jacking off the coast of Somalia a familiar face was caught on film. Wearing a black eye patch was a white man who upon closer scrutiny appeared to be George W. Bush. The White House had no comment on the incident.

* The Democratic party has just announced that Sen. Joe Lieberman will be the official party nominee for president in 2012. A party spokesman yesterday said, "When we embrace someone like Joe who has gone astray like he did during the recent campaign we do all we can to make him feel welcome again under our big tent."

* The Congress has at last agreed to give the U.S. auto industry more than $25 billion in federal funds after General Motors decided to give each member of Congress a gas guzzling SUV. One Congressional representative told the media, "This way if Congress takes the inventory of big SUV's off GM's hands then they can get right to work making cars that get at least 23 miles per gallon. That way we can tell the American people that we have a new product that they can be proud of. I know people are already tired of taking the bus to work, that is if they can even find one in their community."

* The war in Afghanistan is picking up. Said one Obama transition spokesman, "Now we can finally have a good war that we can all feel good about and one that we can win. I know the Soviet Union got bogged down there years ago but we have a secret winning plan. We will kill the Taliban because we know them very well. Just remember that Obama foreign policy adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski helped arm them during the Jimmy Carter presidency so we know where they hang out. We'll get them now."