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August 9, 2002
Mokhiber / Weissman
Corporate
Crime:
More Shareholder Power
Not the Solution
Ansar Ahmed
The Waning
of the
Pax Americana
Alexander Cockburn
War,
the Military and the Hunt for the "Violence Gene"
August 8, 2002
Ron Jacobs
Iraq:
The Final Storm?
Dave Marsh
Now Ain't
the Time
for Your Tears
Mark Weisbrot
Bush
Administration Tries to Hide Role in Venezuela Coup
Anthony Gancarski
AIPAC,
Congress and Iraq
Robert Fisk
Families
of the Disappeared Demand Answers
Gary Leupp
Karzai's
Bodyguard
August 7, 2002
Anis Shivani
The First
21st Century
Police State
Jeffrey St. Clair
Fallon's
Fallen
Is the US Navy Killing
Children in Nevada?
Robert Fisk
For the
Forgotten Afghans,
the UN Offers a Fresh Hell
Dr. Susan Block
Rigas in
Cuffs
Bill Christison
Disastrous
Foreign Policies of the US Part 5: the Call of Democracy?
August 6, 2002
Philip Farruggio
Signs
of the Elites
Bruce Gagnon
We Must
Come Alive
David Krieger
From
Hiroshima to Hope
Jerre Skog
Global
Reach of Corporate Crime or What the Hell are
They Teaching at Harvard?
Robert Fisk
Return to
Afghanistan:
Collateral Damage
Alexander Cockburn
The
Fox in the Pension Fund
August 5, 2002
Rahul Mahajan
Iraq
and the New Great Game
Jordy Cummings
The
Last Frontier of
Israel and Palestine
Bernard Weiner
Inside
Saddam's Diary
Mike Leon
US Mute
to Israeli Brutality
Norman Madarasz
Brazil:
the Most Important Election of 2002?
August 4, 2002
Susan Davis
Fat Americans
August 3, 2002
David Krieger
Nuclear
Apartheid
Gilad Atzmon
The End
of Innocence
Gavin Keeney
Everybody's
a Critic
Alexander Cockburn
Can the Times' Jeff Gerth
Save Dick Cheney?
Resources:
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About 9/11
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Five
Days That
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Seattle and Beyond
By Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
Photos by Allan Sekula
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How the CIA's Backing of the Mujahideen Created the World's Most
Robust Heroin Market and Helped to Finance the Rise of the Taliban
and Osama bin Laden
Whiteout:
CIA, Drugs & the
Press
by Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The Memphis Blues Again:
Six Decades of Memphis Music Photographs
Photos by Ernest Withers
Text by Daniel Wolff
The New Intifada:
Resisting Israel's Apartheid
Edited by Roane Carey
A Pocket Guide to
Environmental Bad Guys
by James Ridgeway
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The
Phoenix Program
by Douglas Valentine
Al Gore:
A User's Manual
by Cockburn
and St. Clair
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This Explosive
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Amazing Discount!
Reviews of Gore:
a User's Manual
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August
9, 2002
Leafing
Through
the Bush Legacy
by Walt Brasch
Usually, it takes years, even decades, for a political
leader to develop his legacy. George W. Bush, over-achiever that
he is, has done it in about 18 months. And, there's still two
and one-half years left for him to expand that legacy.
Bush, the semi-smart smirking statesman,
has already told the Palestinians he didn't want them voting
for Yassir Arafat to chair the PLO. He has botched discussions
with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Undoubtedly, he has
alienated, or at least infuriated, secretary of state Colin Powell.
And now he is planning to overthrow the
government of another nation. Juveniles who don't really want
to fight, yet want to make a "statement," will claim,
"My father can beat up your father." In George W.'s
case, his father couldn't finish off Saddam Husseim, so the mantra
is now, "I'll do what Daddy didn't," better known as
the "Daddy Doo Doctrine." In clear terms, W. says he's
going after Saddam. Says he plans to take out that dictator.
In his own country. A "pre-emptive" invasion against
a sovereign nation! The vice-president and the  attorney general, both of whom are too
old to enlist in the war, neither of whom ever served in the
military, are salivating at the thought of the invasion. Does
anyone else have a problem with the leader of one country deciding
that Texas imperialistic cowboy vigilante justice is how we should
be portraying America to the rest of the world?
If precedent has any meaning, we won't
capture Osama bin Laden until one of the semi-sober party-hearty
Bush twins is elected president.
The Bush Administration, with attorney
general John Ashcroft and Vice-President Dick Cheney as its pointmen,
believe the people not only should willingly give up their civil
rights, but shouldn't have any right to know what their government
is doing.
Ashcroft created a system in which suspects
can be summarily identified as "enemy combatants,"
held indefinitely without charges being filed, their names not
released to the public, and their rights to attorneys abridged.
His belief in secret tribunals is more a philosophy of King Henry
VIII (and now America's George III--the first one seemed to tower
well above the next two) than Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.
He also has whittled the USA Patriot Act to allow the government
to violate numerous other civil rights.
A federal district court has finally
ruled that the government was wrong to detain people and refuse
to release their names. Even if the Department of Justice appeals,
and all the appeals are denied, Ashcroft and Bush still got almost
10 months of freedom to violate the freedom of others.
And now the Bush surrogate proposes RAYN
DOWN ("Rat on Your Neighbor/DO What's Necessary"),
but euphemistically calls it the more sugary "TIPS."
Ashcroft would have holier-than-Gabriel terrorist-fearing citizens
trumpet the evil deeds of "suspicious" citizens to
the police. This, of course, is similar to the programs that
helped fuel the Nazi Party's dominance before World war II, the
Communist witch hunts of the 1950s, and which led the FBI and
other agencies to keep maliciously false records against anti-war
and civil rights leaders during the 1960s. Only under intense
pressure from senators of both major parties did Ashcroft finally
back down and say he didn't really mean all that stuff he said
about amateur spies. He now believes the government should only
record complaints, not keep a data base that could haunt Americans
for decades. ("My neighbor was seen coming home drunk late
at night--I think he was up to no good. Could be a terrorist.")
Yeah, it's "tips" all right -- the tip of an iceberg
that would further destroy civil liberties.
Bush's other surrogate, Dick Cheney who
has seldom met a business leader, honest or corrupt, he didn't
like, says that those who protest the administration's handling
of just about anything is almost like giving aid and comfort
to the enemy. Bush himself opposes all independent commissions
to investigate the nation's apparently botched intelligence gathering
agencies, the administration's handling of the nation's security
following 9/11, or anything that questions governmental action--or
inaction. Nevertheless, by a 215-189 vote, with 25 Republicans
in the majority, the House of Representatives voted to establish
an independent 10-member bipartisan commission. Bush claims the
commission would "cause a further diversion of essential
personnel from their duties fighting the war." It's a nice
piece of rhetoric that serves only to make people believe that
a government has no responsibility to be honest with its people,
only 47.9 percent of whom actually voted for this president,
a half-percent less than those who voted for Al Gore.
After 9/11, the Administration's mantra
was it needed to sacrifice civil liberties for homeland defense--you
know, the one with the five colors. Ironically, Americans have
become this administration's willing lambs. Almost every time
the administration unfurls the flag and declares it's necessary
to keep secrets because it's protecting the people, the president's
approval ratings go up. However, the latest numbers, combined
with public opinion, may be the most important. Sales of existing
homes in a declining economy plunged 11.7 percent in June, and
first time unemployment claims in July were 362,000. Equally
important, according to a Gallup poll, 45 percent of all Americans
say they are worse off financially than they were a year ago.
Only 32 percent, the lowest in 10 years--count back to the beginning
of the Clinton administration--say they are better off. Bush's
high popularity ratings are an illusionary bubble created by
the desire of Americans of all political views, and social and
economic classes, to unite against a common enemy; it should
not be seen as support for the man, but for the country and the
Presidency itself.
Bush says he will veto proposed legislation
to create the Department of Homeland Security if the bill includes
language allowing the workers to be under civil service protection
or to be members of unions. Again invoking the catch-all word
"terrorism" to advance a political agenda, the Commander-in-Business
says he needs "flexibility" to be able to move people
in the national interest. But, even the most naive observer has
to know that Bush has no desire to be "flexible," and
has every desire to destroy worker rights while skirting official
governmental policies that advocate collective bargaining. Perhaps
Bush needs to reflect that almost every firefighter, every police
and port authority officer, and every emergency medical service
worker who responded with courage and heroism to the events at
the World Trade Center not only was protected by civil service
rules but was also a member of a union.
During the 2000 Presidential election,
Bush and a forest of Republicans vigorously argued their plan
to allow Americans and the federal government to invest social
security funds in American business. The Democrats vigorously
opposed. During the past year, even with a business-friendly
White House, dozens of executives of major corporations have
been charged or are being investigated for numerous federal violations,
including fraud, insider trading, and--if it could be illegal--greed
and stupidity. Workers have been losing their jobs and pensions,
while the executives, even those under indictment, have gotten
even richer from numerous deals they cut. Americans' confidence
in American business is at one of its lowest levels, leading
the stock market to drop faster than a bumble-fingered juggler.
Although Bush mouthed the words others had to write for him to
rant against corporate greed, he still believes in privatization
of social security funds. But, try finding any elected Republican
today who will say anything positive about investing social security
funds in the stock market. If it was such a good idea two years
ago, why isn't it such a good idea today?
Bush is languidly whistle stopping America
from his ranch in Crawford, Texas, during August to let us know
we should have confidence in American business. This series of
well-orchestrated pseudo-events, complete with bands and photo
ops, might help some of us feel better about losing our jobs,
but it's doubtful that this former corporate executive's meetings
with Americans will do much to assure us he "feels our pain"
at corporate betrayals.
The White House residence has private
phone lines. This is so seven layers of government employees
don't screen W's calls from his closest relatives and friends.
What if Bush isn't available when the phone rings. Does he leave
an answering machine message--"Thank you for calling. I
can't come to the phone right now. But, if you'll leave your
name, phone number, and what corporate crime you've been charged
with, I'll get right back to you."
Finally, just about everything Americans
need to know about this President is wrapped up not in what he
does or says, but by what he hasn't done. Once a month, several
White House staffers get together for a discussion of current
literature and social issues. Guests often include best-selling
authors. Among those who haven't attended the discussions have
been the Vice-President-in-Hiding, former librarian Laura Bush,
and the "education president."
Walt Brasch
is the author of "The
Joy of Sax: America During the Bill Clinton Era,"
a witty and penetrating look at the American culture, media,
and politics during the 1990s. The book is available at local
and on-line bookstores. You may reach Brasch by e-mail at wbrasch@planetx.bloomu.edu
Today's Features
Mokhiber / Weissman
Corporate
Crime:
More Shareholder Power
Not the Solution
Ansar Ahmed
The Waning
of the
Pax Americana
Alexander Cockburn
War,
the Military and the Hunt for the "Violence Gene"
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