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Today's
Stories
November 22,
2005
Kevin Gray
/ Mike Hersh
Maxine
Waters, the Real Leader of the Anti-War Caucus
Marshall Auerback
Bush's "Compassionate Conservativism": Neither Compassionate
Nor Conservative
November 21,
2005
Mike Marqusee
Clinton's
Hypocrisies on Iraq
Josh Frank
Democratic Hawks: the Avian Flu of the Antiwar Movement
Mike Whitney
Hugo Chavez vs. the King of Vacations
Norman Solomon
Getting Out of Iraq
Russ Baker
Woodward's Weakness
Robert Jensen
A National Day of Atonement
Paul Craig
Roberts
Lies
and Official Secrets
November 19
/ 20, 2005
Fred Gardner
The
Raid on MendoHealing
Rep. Cynthia McKinney
The House GOP Has Done a Heinous Thing: Stop Playing Politics;
Get the Troops Out Now
Ron Jacobs
A Pathetic Congress: If It Walks and Talks Like a Withdrawal
Resolution, Why Won't You Vote For It?
David Vest
The Politics of Surrender: It's as American as Robert E. Lee
J.L. Chestnut,
Jr.
Condi Rice's Disdain for the Civil Rights Movement
John R. Bomar
Staying the Course on "Freedom's Frontier": a Vietnam
Vet on Iraq
John Ross
The
Dragon Flies High, But Not Over Mexico
Phillip Cryan
Colombia: "Political Kidnapping" and Murder in Cauca
Dave Lindorff
RIP In These Times
Dick J. Reavis
The Future of the Daily Press
Jeremy Scahill
Vegetarian Between Meals: This War Can't Be Stopped by a Loyal
Opposition
Dan Wright
Cleaning Up Alaska's Scan Bay
John Stanton
Scowcroft Talks Turkey; Edmounds Fights Fascism
St. Clair / Vest / Walker
Playlist: What We're Listening to This Week
Phyllis Pollack
The Stones: Rarities
Dr. Susan Block
Our Night of Weimar Love
Poets Basement
Albert, Engel, Ford, Harley and Louise
November 18,
2005
Michael Neumann
The
Palestinians and the Party Line
Dave Lindorff
Murtha and the L Word
Michael Donnelly
Black November 15
Mark Chmiel
/ Andrew Wimmer
Uncrucify Them
Don Monkerud
A Decent Workplace
Tom Kerr
Grant Clemency to Tookie Williams
Trish Schuh
Faking
the Case Against Syria
November 17,
2005
John Walsh
A
Fractured Anti-War Movement
Rep. John Murtha
Iraq Must Be Freed from the US
Occupation
Brian J. Foley
We Are All In GITMO Now
CounterPunch
News Service
Guardian
Apologizes to Chomsky; Publishes Total Retraction of Brockes'
Slurs
Dave Lindorff
In Post-Saddam Iraq, There are No Civilians
Mark T. Harris
Coming Out in an Up-and-Coming Sport
Cockburn /
St. Clair
From
Reporter to Courtier: the Decline of Bob Woodward
November 16,
2005
John F. Sugg
Al-Arian
Speaks: In His First Interview Since the Trial Began, Al-Arian
Talks About What the Jury Didn't Hear
Noam Chomsky
Putting Out the Englightenment
Dave Lindorff
Shake
and Bake: Pentagon Admits Using Phosphorous Bombs on Fallujah
Evelyn Pringle
Laurie Mylroie's War
Sam Husseini
Trying to Look a Female Suicide Bomber in the Eye
Pierre Tristam
Toturers' Theater
Greg Bates
Waffling Alito Charms DiFi
Farrah Hassen
Moustapha
AkkadDavid Lean of the Middle East Killed in Amman Blast
Bill Christison
Evidence
Mounts That Bush Wants New Wars
Website of
the Day
Violent Oscillations
November 15,
2005
Todd Chretien
My
Evening in the No Spin Zone; Or Why Bill O'Reilly Hates San Francisco
Leah Caldwell
Death
of the Jailhouse Press
Frederick Hudson
Rosa's Wreath: Miss Parks and Robert Williams
Harry Browne
Bush-Linked Judge Bows Out: Another Mistrial in Irish Ploughshares
Case
Jason Leopold
Secret CIA Testimony: Iraq Posed No Threat
Ingmar Lee
Logging Lackies vs. Canada's Most Endangered Species
Diana Barahona
Showdown on the Silver Coast
Tom Andre
New Orleans, Two Months Later
Website of the Weekend
Ernest Crichlow: 1914-2005
November 14,
2005
Diana Johnstone
The
Origins of the Guardian's Attack on Chomsky
Paul Craig Roberts
Power Over All: Unlimited Detentions and the End of Habeas Corpus
Conn Hallinan
Provoking
Syria: Cambodia All Over Again?
Joshua Frank
Off She Goes: Hillary in Israel
Christopher
Reed
The
Persistence of Racism in Koizumi's Japan
November 11
/ 13, 2005
Alexander Cockburn
First
the Lying, Then the Pardons
Gwyneth Leech
Cross Connections: a Painter Reimagines the Passion of Christ
in the Wake of Abu Ghraib
Elmas Mallo
Chillin' in the Blazin' Texas Sun: Inside the Texas Prison System
Michael Neumann
The Rebel King of Bluegrass: Jimmy Martin, an Appreciation
Saul Landau
Leakgate: the Screenplay
Sam Husseini
Bush and Zarqawi Bomb Because We Let Them
Brian Cloughley
Sleaze, Deceit and Torture
Ron Jacobs
Rep. McGovern's Withdrawal Resolution: a Step in the Right Direction?
Lila Rajiva
Dover Bitch: the Curses of Pat Robertson
Michael Donnelly
Hypocrisy Watch
Joe Allen
Murder in El Salvador: Who Killed Gilberto Soto?
Roland Sheppard
Lessons from the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Justin E.H.
Smith
Another Monkey Trial?
Ben Tripp
The Cost of War
St. Clair /
Vest
Playlists: What We're Listening to This Week
Poets' Basement
Jones, Louise, Ford, Smith, Albert and Engel
Website of
the Weekend
Iraq Vets and Against the War Need Your Help!
November 10,
2005
Peterside,
Ogon, Watts and Zalik
Delta
Blues Again: Ken Saro-Wiwa, 10 Years Gone
Pat Williams
Will Alito Cost the Republicans the Senate?
Steve Higgs
Bush Crony Targets Indiana's Forests: 400% Hike in Logging
Jimmy Massey
Is Ron Harris Telling the Truth?
Lucson Pierre-Charles
Haiti: Insanity Takes Over
Anthony Newkirk
Syria in the Crosshairs
Lawrence R.
Velvel
Why Did Libby Lie?
Website of the Day
Imperial Margarine
November 9,
2005
Gary Leupp
The
Niger Deception / Plame Affair: an Incomplete Chronology
Tariq Ali
Blair Defeated on Terror Laws
Chris Floyd
The
Philosopher's Stone
Elaine Cassel
The
Shocking Trial of an American Citizen: the Case of Ahmed Abu
Ali
Joshua Frank
Sen. Max Baucus's NASCAR Pay Day
Alison Weir
Memo to Jon Stewart: Glad You're Against Torture, So Why'd You
Give Israel a Pass?
Diana Johnstone
Rage
in the Banlieue
November 8, 2005
Paul Craig
Roberts
Still
No Jobs
Roger Burbach
Bush
v. Chavez: the Imperial President Meets the Bolivarian Democrat
Ron Jacobs
An Interview with Behzad Yaghmaian on the Paris Uprising
Ralph Nader
"The Worst Marketed Disease on the Planet"
Jim McGrath
Voter Beware: a Cautionary Tale for Election Day
David Bloom
McCain, Israel and Torture: Setting the Record Straight
Stan Goff
Jimmy Massey, Ron Harris, and Ambush Journalism
November 7,
2005
Dick Reavis
The
Origins of Mr. Danger
Jason Leopold
Cheney and the Cover Up: the Vice President Lied
Dave Lindorff
What Country was Bush Talking About?
Eli Stephens
A Tale of Two Generals: the Lies of Colin Powell
David Swanson
The Bush-Cheney Ethics Refresher Course: a Syllabus
M. Junaid Alam
An Interview Stan Goff
Matt Reichel
Paris Uprising: a Rebellion in Real Time
Naima Bouteldja
Paris is Burning
Jeff Halper
Israel
as an Extension of American Empire
Website of the Day
Dispatches from Paris
November 5
/ 6, 2005
Alexander Cockburn
Storm
Over Brockes' Fakery: Guardian Fabricates Chomsky Quotes
Lawrence R.
Velvel
Lying,
Law Schools and Executive Power: What Senators Should Ask Alito
Diana Johnstone
Srebrenica: a Response to Certain Criticisms of My Essay
Roosa / Nevins
The
Mass Killlings in Indonesia, 40 Years Later
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
Missing
the Bus: When Conscience Bows to Calculation
John Ross
The Zapatistas' Otra Campaign for Mexico's Presidential Elections
Mike Whitney
Globalizing Sadism: the United States of Torture
Mark Engler
Will Big Business Turn On Bush?: the Economic Nightmare Unfolds
Juliano Mer-Khamis
They Shoot at Children, Too
Ron Jacobs
When Gen. Westmoreland Visited
Jill S. Farrell
Bird Flu and the Posse Comitatus Act
Missy Comley
Beattie
Trent Lott's Untroubled Sleep
Mitchel Cohen
People of the Dome, Revisited
Evelyn J. Pringle
Bush-Cheney and Big Oil's Big Summer
Reza Fiyouzat
Signs of Life or Last Gasp? Structural Problems in the Democratic
Party
Charles Sullivan
When Courage Fails: a White Southerner on Rosa Parks
Zachary Richard
Return to Louisiana
Ben Tripp
Beginning of the End? Don't Start Cheering Just Yet
St. Clair / Vest
Playlists: What We're Listening to This Week
November 4,
2005
Jeffrey St.
Clair
Blood
on the Tundra, Betrayal in the Rotunda: Losing ANWR
Dave Lindorff
A Majority Now Favors Impeachment: If He Lied, He Must Be Tried
Phillip Cryan
Crackdown
in Colombia
Christopher Brauchli
Katrina and Tax Breaks for the Very Rich
William S.
Lind
Exit Strategy: You Can't Stay the Course in a Lost War
Daryl G. Kimball
Of Madmen and Nukes
George Beres
Laurels for Negroponte?
Peter Montague
Why We Can't Prevent Cancer
November 3,
2005
James Petras
The
Libby Affair and the Internal War
Saul Landau
Torn
Families and Shot Down Planes: a Cuba Story
Rep. Cynthia McKinney
An Occurrence at Gretna Bridge
Michael Dickinson
Bang! Bang! You're Deaf! Sonic Weapons Over Palestine
Joshua Frank
Sham Behind Closed Doors
Remi Kanazi
Dancing with Perseverance
Reza Fiyouzat
Taxation or Racketeering?
Website of the Day
CIA Leak Investigation: Bigger Fish, Deeper Water?
November 2,
2005
Cockburn /
St. Clair
Holy
Alito!: Not as Crazy as Scalia, But Just as Bad
Robert Oscar Lopez
Saving Rosa Parks from American Hypocrisy
John Walsh
The Philosophy of Mendacity: From Leo Strauss to Scooter Libby
Brian J. Foley
Why Most Americans Don't Care About Gitmo (and Why They Should)
Ramzy Baroud
Rolling Back Syria
M. Junaid Alam
What Moral Values?
Todd Chretien
Judgment Day for the Governator
Bruce K. Gagnon
The Democrats' Slap Happy Day
Website of the Day
Hands Off Dave!
November 1,
2005
Ron Jacobs
An
Interview with Kent State's Dave Airhart
Gary Leupp
The Plame Affair Leads to Rome
John Ross
Days
of the Dead on the Border
Bill Quigley
Why
Are They Making New Orleans a Ghost Town?
Joseph Nevins
From a Boundary of Death to One of Life
Dave Lindorff
Thinking About Impeachment
Linda S. Heard
Bashing Syria: Another Trojan Horse from the UN?
Heather Gray
Thank You, Mrs. Parks
Michael Dickinson
To Di For: Charlie and Camilla Cross the Pond
Jeffrey St. Clair
Kent State: Wise Up and Back Off
October 31,
2005
Elaine Cassel
Libby's
Lies
Mark Weisbrot
Pop Goes the Bubble: Bernancke and the Fed
Mike Whitney
Carry On, Patrick Fitzgerald
Norman Solomon
After the Libby Indictment, the Press Acquits Itself
Farooq Sulehria
Trading Weapons While Kashmir Burns
Nicole Colson
Scapegoating Immigrants
Madis Senner
Dhafir Sentenced to 22 Years: Another Erosion of Civil Rights
Paul Craig
Roberts
Scooter
and the Neocons
October 29 / 30, 2005
Cockburn /
St. Clair
The
Libby Indictment: Gotterdammerung for the Bushies?
Peter Linebaugh
The
Wedges of Hephaestus
Tim Wise
Framing the Poor: Katrina, Conservative Myth-Making and the Media
John Chuckman
Bushspeak: Dark and Garbled Words
Steven Higgs
Green Hoosiers: Forging a New Democracy in the Heartland
Brian Cloughley
The Fifth Afghan War
M. Shahid Alam
Israel and the Consequences of Uniqueness
Nikki Robinson
Crack Down at Kent State
Ralph Nader
Let the PIRGs Begin!: Student Activism Thrives
Joe DeRaymond
Requiem for Bethlehem Steel?
Joshua Frank
Karl's Great Escape: Did Rove Rat on Scooter?
Laura Santina
Tongue-Tied on Iraq: Why Aren't the Dems Screaming Bloody Murder?
Fred Gardner
Death of an Organizer
Michael Dickinson
Insult Your Country
Ron Jacobs
Autumn in America
Dr. Susan Block
Fear and Sex: a Halloween Greeting
Vanessa S. Jones
Self-Portrait, 1994. Bronte Beach
Jeffrey St.
Clair
Playlist: What I'm Listening to This Week
Poets' Basement
Marbet, Gardner, Ford, Albert, Engel, Krieger & St. Clair
Website of
the Weekend
Red State Update
October 28,
2005
Jared Bernstein
Inflation
Up; Wages Down: Fastest Decline in Wages on Record
Virginia Tilley
Embracing
the Anti-Aparthied Movement in Israel/Palestine
Phil Gasper
The
Race to Execute Tookie Williams
Jennifer Matsui
It's Mardi Graft Time!
Manual Garcia,
Jr.
Is the US Really Against Torture?
Monica Benderman
In the Name of Justice
Jason Leopold
Fitzgerald
Focuses on the Forgeries
Dave Lindorff
Suddenly, Bush Endorses Right of Fair Trials
Otober 27, 2005
Saul Landau
The
Scandal Isn't the Leak, But the Illegal War
Stuart Hodkinson
Bono
and Geldoff: "We Saved Africa" Oh No, They Didn't!
Ingmar Lee
Stop
the Troops!: No Glory or Honor in Iraq
Lila Rajiva
License
to Bill: Gates Does India
Ilan Pappe
The
Last Moment of Hope
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
Waiting for Fitzgerald
Michael Donnelly
Look Who's Talking Now: the GOP on Perjury
Ron Jacobs
Escape the Weight of Your Corporate Logo
Cockburn / St. Clair
White House in Meltdown
October 26,
2005
Kathy Kelly
For
Whom They Toll
Gary Leupp
Dialectics
of the Plame Affair
Mike Marqusee
Empire of Denial
Eric Ruder
War Crimes in Afghanistan
Patrick Cockburn
Iraq: a Constitutionally Divided Nation
Joshua Frank
Fitzgerald v. the Bushies: Hold Your Elation in Check
J.L. Chestnut, Jr.
The Legacy of Rosa Parks
Website of
the Day
Decent Work in America: the 2005 Work Environment Index
October 25,
2005
Paul Craig
Roberts
Condi
and Syrian Regime Change: Could Somebody Recommend a President?
Ken Sengupta / Patrick Cockburn
Attack on the Palestine Hotel
Conn Hallinan
Sleight of Hand: Iran, India and the US
Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed
Pulling the Court Strings
Jackie Corr
Barbara Bush: Poster Gorgon of the Houston Astros
Robert Day
Talk to Strangers
John Sugg
Judith
Miller and Me
October 24,
2005
Dave Lindorff
Revoke
Judy Miller's Pulitzer
Michael Donnelly
Shades of Iran/contra
Patrick Cockburn
A Nation Stands on Trial
Mike Whitney
Apres Rove
Norman Solomon
Iraq is Not Vietnam, But...
Bill and Kathleen
Christison
US
Foreign Policy and Palestine
October 22
/ 23, 2005
Alexander Cockburn
When
Divas Collide: Maureen Dowd v. Judy Miller
Billy Sothern
Letter
from the Circle Bar, New Orleans
Saul Landau
Bush, an Assessment
Ralph Nader
An
Open Letter to Bush on Harriet Miers
Behrooz Ghamari
Whose Justice Does Saddam's Trial Serve?
Brian Cloughley
Bush the Strategist: Pyrrhus Without a Victory?
Diana Barahona
Venezuela's National Workers' Union
Fred Gardner
Dershowitzed!
Lee Sustar
What the War on Terror is Really About
Patrick Cockburn
Murder of Saddam Trial Defense Lawyer
Laura Carlsen
Mexico City Seamstresses Recall 1985 Quake
James Petras
China Bashing and the Loss of US Competitiveness
Joshua Frank
Invading Iran: Who is to Stop Them?
Manuel Garcia,
Jr.
Disasters are Us
Michelle Bollinger
When Abortion Was Illegal
Missy Comley
Beattie
CSI: Iraq
Kona Lowell
Intelligent Design: Making High School Fun
Ben Tripp
Tanks for the Memories
Jeffrey St. Clair
Playlist: What I'm Listening To This Week
Poets' Basement
Albert and Engel
Website of
the Day
Indictment Watch
October 21,
2005
Dave Lindorff
The
Democrats' Abortion Hypocrisy
Winslow T. Wheeler
Paying for Their Mistakes: Incompetence, Deception and the Defense
Budget
Col. Dan Smith
The Destruction of the National Guard
Norman Solomon
Media at Crossroads: 25 Years After Reagan's Triumph
Madis Senner
Abusing Katrina
Michael Donnelly
Richard
Pombo: DeLay in Cowboy Boots
October 20, 2005
Dave Lindorff
Impeachment
Comes to NYC
Ray McGovern
16
Fatal Words: Cheney's Chickens Come Home to Roost
Jeremy Brecher
/
Brendan Smith
Attack Syria? Invade Iran?: By What Constitutional Right?
Patrick Cockburn
Saddam Refuses to Recognize Court
Kevin Zeese
Was the Iraqi Constitution Vote Fixed?
Ross Eisenbrey
Millions Would Lose Pay and Protections Under Enzi Amendment
Randy Shields
James McMurtry Makes It in Dayton
Justine Davidson
Prosecuting Bush in Canada for Torture: a Small Victory
After Lucas
Cranach
Judy and Holofernes
Joe Allen
The
Scandalous History of the Red Cross
|
November 22, 2005
Neither Compassionate,
Nor Conservative
Bush's "Compassionate
Converatism", a Report Card from the Front
By MARSHALL AUERBACK
"Couple a multi-state disaster
of Katrina's magnitude, (including some of the poorer and less
well-governed states in the union), add on a dysfunctional federal
bureaucracy that had deteriorated in recent years, and a chief
executive whose motto seemed to be, until yesterday, the buck
stops there, and we get a helluva mess."
--Richard Murray, Houston-based
public policy expert quoted in the Washington Post
"The worst storm in our
history proved perfect for exposing this president because in
one big blast it illuminated all his failings: the rampant cronyism,
the empty sloganeering of 'compassionate conservatism,' the lack
of concern for the 'underprivileged' his mother condescended
to at the Astrodome, the reckless lack of planning for all government
operations except tax cuts, the use of spin and photo-ops to
camouflage failure and to substitute for action."
--Frank Rich, NY Times
Describing the President's panicked
political response to his falling poll numbers as "compassionate
conservatism", (as New York Times columnist David Brooks
did last Sunday, "A Bushian Laboratory", September
18, 2005), borders on the ludicrous. Mr Bush has now overseen
the fastest increase in domestic spending of any president in
recent history. Furthermore, he has never resolved the inherent
contradiction between his so-called "compassionate"
spending policy and his small-government tax policy (which was
ostensibly designed to "kill the beast" of Big Government
once and for all, according to the President's conservative apologists).
And his casual dismissal of the remnants of civilian authority
in the Gulf basin - "It is now clear that a challenge on
this scale requires greater federal authority and a broader role
for the armed forces -- the institution of our government most
capable of massive logistical operations on a moment's notice"
- evokes something more along the lines of Mussolini-style fascism
than any coherent, mainstream conservative, philosophy.
Hurricane Katrina is only the
latest example of the President's extraordinary fiscal largesse
- this time, borrowing hundreds of billions of dollars under
the guise of "clear[ing] away the legacy of inequality."
Sixty-two billion dollars has already been appropriated in the
storm's aftermath, but total spending on hurricane relief could
hit $200bn before all is said and done. This for an area in
which a substantial proportion of people are unlikely to return.
Occurring so late in the fiscal year, the hurricane will have
little effect on federal spending in 2005, when the deficit is
forecast to come in around $330bn, but the 2006 deficit is looking
likely to hit the $450bn mark. No wonder the gold price hit
a fresh 17-year high last week.
Not even the most liberal social
engineers would dare to have been as bold as the Bush administration.
The President gives no accounting of how the money will be found.
His governing philosophy appears to be: "It's going to cost
whatever it's going to cost" in contrast to the vision of
"focused and effective and energetic government", David
Brooks imputes to him. Mr Bush has left the oversight in the
hands of his political operative, Karl Rove, suggesting that
this a major PR exercise, rather than (per Brooks) "a positive
use of government that is neither big government liberalism nor
antigovernment libertarianism".
For all of the talk of the President's radical foreign policy,
an even more remarkable metamorphosis has taken place domestically:
The Republican Party has come full circle from, "Government
is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem"
to an acceptance of the primacy of government responsibility
for all things. The man elected ostensibly to curb the excesses
of the "spendthrift Democrats" has presided over an
expansion the likes of which put FDR and LBJ to shame. According
to the Heritage Foundation (not exactly a liberal propagandist),
the rebuilding effort in New Orleans follows a 33 percent expansion
of the federal government since 2001, a period that saw:
* The 2001 No Child Behind
Act, the most expensive education bill in American history, which
led to a 100 percent increase in education spending;
* The 2002 Farm Security and
Rural Investment Act, the most expensive farm bill in American
history;
* The 2003 Medicare Modernization
Act, the most expensive Great Society expansion in history;
* A war in and the rebuilding
of Iraq that, while justified, could cost between $300 and $600
billion, in total;
* International spending leap
94 percent;
* Housing and Commerce spending
surge 86 percent;
* Community and regional development
spending jump 71 percent;
* Health research spending
increase 61 percent;
* Veterans' spending increase
51 percent; and
* The number of annual pork
projects leap from 6,000 to 14,000
This from a Federal government,
which has hitherto shown a singular inability to conduct an evacuation
and relief effort properly, but is now expected to lead the way
in reconstructing New Orleans, a city in which the school system
is virtually bankrupt and racked by corruption (the U.S. Education
Department reported in February that $70-million in federal funds
for low-income students had been misspent or could not be accounted
for), presumably to be part-administered by a mayor whose stunning
failure to mobilize resources to evacuate car-less residents
and hospital patients - despite warning signals from the city's
botched response to the threat of Hurricane Ivan in September
2004 - demonstrates that ineptitude extends to all levels of
government.
What a change in course from
just a mere year ago when the administration pressured Congress
to cut $71 million from the budget of the Army Corps' New Orleans
district despite warnings of the epic hurricane seasons close
at hand. In fact, during the early stages of the Bush Presidency,
then director of FEMA, former Bush campaign manager Joe M. Allbaugh,
(now a lobbyist for Kellogg Brown & Root Services, a subsidiary
of Halliburton), decried disaster assistance as "an oversized
entitlement program" and urged Americans to rely more upon
the Salvation Army and other faith-based groups.
The reality today is that there
remains a fundamental contradiction between the planned Gulf
Opportunity Zone approach (is there a Wizard of GOZ?) which rhetorically
fits the Ownership Society theme of this Administration, and
the actual botched dirigiste response to date, which further
begs the question: what good has all that money dropped into
homeland security done if the government cannot execute natural
disaster relief effectively? So much for a consistent governing
philosophy!
To be fair, one element of
consistency has always been evident during the Bush Presidency:
that of cronyism. Within days of this disaster striking, Halliburton
was awarded a Navy contract for repairing naval installations.
This company's ongoing involvement in the operations of the
US Federal government is nothing new, but it is not the only
beneficiary from the latest example of "compassionate conservatism".
Many other Bush-allied companies that have performed so well
in the field of Iraqi "reconstruction" are getting
the lion's share of new no-bid contracts, while smaller, local
businesses (which arguably have a far greater stake in the economic
survival in the region) are essentially being locked out of the
rebuilding effort. According to the St. Louis Post Dispatch,
"Tom Cason, president
of Kingston Environmental Services in Kansas City, said his company
had plenty of experience in hauling away contaminated soil and
water. He even has a business license in Louisiana for his line
of work.
But thus far, his calls and
e-mails 'have gone into a black hole somewhere,' he said.
Coz Passalacqua, 63, who runs
Golden Eagle Marine Services in Rolla, Mo., says he has the equipment
to salvage boats as long as 60 feet damaged or destroyed in the
storm.But, he added, 'I'm not hearing anything at all, and I
figure that it's gotten too late.'"
Among the other recipients
who did hear from the Bush administration were California-based
Fluor Corp., which has contributed more than $800,000 to political
campaigns this decade, about three-fourths of it to the GOP,
the Shaw Group Inc. of Louisiana, (another client of consultant
Joe Allbaugh), and Kellogg.
President Bush's "compassionate
conservatism" appears neither particularly compassionate,
nor conservative (nor particularly efficient: with all of the
reconstruction work largely conducted via contractors and sub-contractors,
it is difficult to see how the government will effectively monitor
the funds provided for this exercise). But it does reward political
loyalty.
If Halliburton et al actually
provided value for money for the American taxpayer, it would
be one thing. The reality is quite different: Henry Waxman,
a Democrat and the ranking minority member on the House of Representatives
Committee on Government Reform has uncovered evidence that Vice
President Cheney's former company was being grossly overpaid
by the American occupation authorities for the petrol it was
importing into Iraq from Kuwait, at a profit of more than $150
million. Waxman and his assistants found, for example, that Halliburton
was charging $2.64 a gallon for petrol for Iraqi civilians, while
American forces were importing the same fuel for $1.57 a gallon.
The reconstruction of Louisiana,
Mississippi, and Alabama provides a fascinating picture of how
the Bush administration actually works. His government represents
an odd melding of corporatism and cronyism, more in tune with
the workings of 1930s Italy or Spain. In fact, if one looks
at fascist regimes of the 20th century, it is appears that the
Bush administration draws more from these sources than traditional
conservatism. Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes
of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto
(Indonesia) and several Latin American regimes. Britt found 14
defining characteristics common to each:
1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend
to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs,
and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag
symbols on clothing and in public displays.
2. Disdain for the Recognition
of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for
security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human
rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need."
The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture,
summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners,
etc.
3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats
as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying
patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common
threat or foe: racial, ethnic or religious minorities; liberals;
communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.
4. Supremacy of the Military
- Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military
is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and
the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service
are glamorized.
5. Rampant Sexism - The governments
of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated.
Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more
rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and
the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family
institution.
6. Controlled Mass Media -
Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government,
but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government
regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives.
Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.
7. Obsession with National
Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government
over the masses.
8. Religion and Government
are intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use
the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate
public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common
from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion
are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.
9. Corporate Power is protected
- The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation
often are the ones who put the government leaders into power,
creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship
and power elite.
10. Labor Power is suppressed
- Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat
to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely,
or are severely suppressed.
11. Disdain for Intellectuals
and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open
hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon
for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested.
Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.
12. Obsession with Crime and
Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost
limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing
to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in
the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force
with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.
13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption
- Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends
and associates who appoint each other to government positions
and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends
from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for
national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even
outright stolen by government leaders.
14. Fraudulent Elections -
Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other
times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or
even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation
to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and
manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use
their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.
(Source: The Fourteen Defining
Characteristics of Fascism, Dr. Lawrence Britt, Spring 2003,
Free Inquiry)
Perhaps it is unfair to characterise the Bush Presidency in these
terms, because it would imply the existence of a coherent governing
philosophy.
In fact, the President's actions
in regard to the "war on terror", Iraq, and now the
reconstruction efforts in the Gulf basin smack of panic and political
expediency: When there's a problem, throw money at it. For all
of the talk about the President "accepting responsibility"
for the fiasco, his speech was certainly not Trumanesque "The
buck stops here" oratory; it was rather a promise to rebuild
New Orleans with other people's money, saying that his people
(not the President himself, mind you) had made mistakes and they
would fix them.
Of course, part of the point
of fiscal responsibility, after all, is that disasters do happen
and the government should have fiscal leeway to respond to them.
But the US today has no leeway at all, thanks to this president
and his party. The "compassion and resolve of our nation"
are amply demonstrated by a whopping huge expenditure, the costs
of which are to be imposed on future generations of American
taxpayers. Or more accurately, coming during a week which also
saw the annual rate of growth in the current account deficit
hitting nearly $750 billion, (more than 6% of GDP), the President's
latest act of "compassionate conservatism" puts the
rest of the world on notice that it is going to have to stump
up even more credit for this Argentina of the northern hemisphere.
One wonders whether these particular creditors' goodwill is
likely to prove as durable as the levees of New Orleans.
Marshall Auerback is an international equity strategist
work with RAB Capital in London.
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