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Amazing Plan Surfaces: "We Need Ethno-Weapons!" David Price tells how top-flight US anthropologists eagerly obeyed US government's mandate to "think in a-moral terms". One scheme of OSS's willing executioners: target Japanese physical "weak spot", the respiratory tract, with anthrax germs. Gabriel Kolko asks What's so New About the Neo-Cons? If they had not existed, would the policies have been the same? Jeffrey St Clair digs up more dirt on Halliburton's secret history. Alexander Cockburn on why we need more "celebrity justice". Get the answers you're looking for in the latest subscriber-only edition of CounterPunch ... CounterPunch Online is read by millions of viewers each month! But remember, we are funded solely by the subscribers to the print edition of CounterPunch. Please support this website by buying a subscription to our newsletter, which contains fresh material you won't find anywhere else, or by making a donation for the online edition. Remember contributions are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! or write CounterPunch, PO BOX 228, Petrolia, CA 95558 |
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Other Lands Have Dreams: From Baghdad to Pekin Prison by KATHY KELLY  Today's Stories July 5, 2005 Elaine
Cassel July 2 / 4, 2005 Alexander
Cockburn Lenni
Brenner Laura
Carlsen James
Petras William
A. Cook Brian
Cloughley Saul
Landau Tom
Crumpacker Greg
Moses Dr.
Susan Block Fran
Shor Fred
Gardner Moshe
Adler David
Model Seth
Sandronsky Ramzy
Baroud Suzan
Mazur Ben
Tripp Justin
Taylor Brendan
Bailey Poets'
Basement Website
of the Weekend
July 1, 2005 Christopher
Brauchli Pat
Williams Gary
Leupp John
Stauber John
Chuckman Justicia
y Paz Cockburn
/ St. Clair
June 30, 2005 Kathy
Kelly John
Stauber Virginia
Rodino Jason
Leopold Dave
Lindorff Greg
Moses Norman
Solomon Joshua
Frank Alexander
Cockburn
June 29, 2005 Mike
Schaefer Roger
Burbach / Paul Cantor Sharon
Smith Sam
Husseini John
Stauber Ahmad
Faruqui Linda
S. Heard Stew
Albert Ray
McGovern
June 28, 2005 Paul
Craig Roberts Landau
/ Hassen John
A. Murphy Mike
Whitney CounterPunch
News Service Dave
Zirin Dave
Lindorff Patrick
Cockburn
June 27, 2005 Paul
Craig Roberts Mike
Marqusee Mark
Scaramella Leigh
Saavedra Kathy
Kelly
June 25 / 26, 2005 Alexander
Cockburn Jennifer
Van Bergen George
Corsetti Mark
Chmiel / Andrew Wimmer Kevin
Zeese P.
Sainath John
Stauber Scott
Handleman Tom
Barry John
Walsh Justin
E.H. Smith Alan
Wallis Ben
Tripp Frederick
B. Hudson Poets'
Basement
June 24, 2005 Ray
McGovern Jorge
Mariscal Desiree
Hellegers Zeynep
Toufe Joshua
Frank David
Lindorff Michael
Neumann Website
of the Day
June 23, 2005 Christopher
Brauchli Clay
Conrad Standard
Schaefer P.
Sainath Mark
Engler Norman
Solomon Cockburn
/ St. Clair Kathy
Kelly
June 22, 2005 Kevin
Zeese William
S. Lind Arsalan
Iftikhar Dan
Nagengast David
Krieger Kathleen
& Bill Christison
June 21, 2005 Brian Cloughley Mike Whitney Dave Lindorff Mark Weisbrot Matthew R.
Simmons Dave Zirin Virginia Rodino Paul Craig
Roberts
June 20, 2005 Alan Maass Tariq Ali Mickey Z. William Blum Gary Leupp Jason Leopold Dave Lindorff Alan Maass Uri Avnery Website of
the Day
June 18 / 19, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Greg Moses Benjamin Shepard Stan Goff Lee Sustar Jude Wanniski Diana Barahona Brian Concannon, Jr. Fred Gardner Mike Whitney Ahmad Faruqui Manuel García, Jr. Roger Howard Ron Jacobs Ben Tripp Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend
June 17, 2005 Ricardo Alarcón Clay Conrad Marc Estrin Colin Brown Christopher
Brauchli Joshua Frank Norman Solomon Mary Rizzo Bond / Brutus
/ Setshedi
June 16, 2005 John Walsh Dave Lindorff Adrian Lomax Tom Crumpacker Jeffrey Kolakowski Julene Bair Michael Dickinson Francois Houtart / Isabel Parra,
et al. Tom Barry
June 15, 2005 Stan Goff Daniel Wolff Tim Wise Ricardo Alarcón Joshua Frank John Hilary Norman Solomon Alexander Cockburn
/ Jeffrey St. Clair Website of the Day
June 14, 2005 Paul Craig
Roberts Forrest Hylton Richard Gott Fred Gardner Steve Breyman Dave Zirin Robert Kent Paul Craig
Roberts
June 13, 2005 Gary Leupp Dave Lindorff John Stauber Fred Gardner Evelyn J. Pringle Norman Solomon Winslow T.
Wheeler
June 10 / 12, 2005 Alexander
Cockburn Sharon
Smith Brian
Cloughley Chris
Kromm Heather
Gray Kevin
Zeese Mickey
Z. Gary
Leupp Eli
Stephens Nick
Dearden Oscar
Olivera Robert
Fisk Michael
Dickinson Poets'
Basement Website
of the Weekend
Len
Colodny Christopher
Brauchli Ron
Jacobs Dave
Lindorff Katrina
Yeaw / Alex Schmaus Alan
Farago Saul
Landau
June 8, 2005 Jim
Hougan Alan
Maass Jason
Leopold Niranjan
Ramakrishnan Dave
Zirin Derrick
O'Keefe Diana
Johnstone Website
of the Day
June 7, 2005 Forrest
Hylton Greg
Moses / Susan van Haitsma Lenni
Brenner Col.
Dan Smith Joshua
Frank Dave
Lindorff Margot
Veranes / Adrian Navarro Michael
Neumann
June 6, 2005 Stew
Albert Paul
Craig Roberts Nicole
Colson Ali
Khan Jason
Leopold Charles
Walker Poff Ramzy
Baroud Rep.
John Conyers Evelyn
Pringle Gary
Corseri Website
of the Day
June 4 / 5, 2005 Alexander
Cockburn James
Petras Robert
Fisk Patrick
Cockburn Rev.
William Alberts Saul
Landau Mario
Lamo Jimenez Dave
Lindorff Lance
Selfa Tom
Crumpacker Joshua
Frank Fred
Gardner Michael
Dickinson Roger
Martin Reza
Fiyouzat Ben
Tripp Graeme
Greenback Poets'
Basement
June 3, 2005 Paul
Craig Roberts Joseph
Massad Jeff
Halper Tom
Barry Bruce
K. Gagnon Joshua
Frank Mickey
Z. Gary
Leupp Website
of the Day
June 2, 2005 Paul
Craig Roberts Forrest
Hylton Mike
Whitney Brian
Cloughley Mazin
Qumsiyeh Russell
D. Hoffman Norman
Madarasz Norman
Solomon David
Price Website
of the Day
June 1, 2005 James
Petras Justin
Delacour Edward
Jay Epstein Omar
Barghouti / Lisa Taraki Dave
Lindorff Kevin
Zeese Jason
Leopold William
S. Lind
May 31, 2005 Sen.
Mike Gravel David
Krieger Tad
Daley Joshua
Frank Richard
Gott Norman
Solomon Tom
Segev Walter
Brasch Diana
Johnstone
May 28 / 30, 2005 Alexander
Cockburn Richard
Lichtman Sharon
Smith Paul
Craig Roberts Dave
Lindorff Ramzy
Baroud Brian
Cloughley Fred
Gardner Lee
Sustar Joshua
Frank Justin
E.H. Smith Jackie
Corr Michael
Kimaid Toufic
Haddad Justin
Taylor Amir
Butler Ben
Tripp Poets'
Basement
May 27, 2005 Gary
Leupp Daniel
Estulin Kevin
Zeese Robert
Fisk Dave
Zirin Website
of the Day
Hot Stories Alexander Cockburn Subcomandante
Marcos Norman Finkelstein Steve Niva Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams Steve
J.B. Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber Wendell
Berry CounterPunch
Wire Cindy
Corrie Gore Vidal Francis Boyle
Subscribe Online
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July 5, 2005 Here Come the Judicial VisigothsWhy This Progressive Will Miss Sandra Day O'ConnorBy ELAINE CASSEL On Friday, July 1, I was preparing to debate issues related to Bush's judicial nominees with an employee of a well-known conservative "think tank" The audience was a group of 400 high school students in Washington, DC for a week. My opponent's think tank connection had a scoop--at 9 am his "office" had learned that Justice Sandra Day O'Connor would be submitting her resignation to the White House an hour later. I knew what my opening statement was going to be about. We each had an opening 4 minutes to talk about anything we wanted to. I told my opponent--let's call him Mr. Republican--that he could go first. After announcing the O'Connor resignation, he waved the Constitution (note to Mr. Republican: You are no Harry Byrd!). and said how happy "we" were that O'Connor was leaving--by "we" it was unclear if he meant his think tank or all Bush supporters. He said it was time to put an end to the runaway judges who were acting contrary to the Constitution. O'Connor was the worst kind of activist, he said. I was a little shocked that he attacked her so. So I jumped in and said why I, who disagreed often with O'Connor's decision, felt that the Cour--and Americans--had lost an honorable public servant and a critical member of the Supreme Court. O'Connor, I said, always considered how her decision would affect the people whose case was before her to be judged. That is why her opinions often appear straining at gnats to achieve some logic. Sometime, the logic was missing. But a sense of injustice and a desire to do justice generally shown through. In an abortion case dealing with parental notification, for instance, she worried about a girl having to approach an abusive father who might be even more abusing when he finds out his teenager daughter is pregnant. As for a young mother was arrested (yes, arrested, and taken into custody) for violating a seat belt law in Texas, she expressed outrage. They arrested a mother, who had a car full of kids, and who was pregnant, and took her to jail, in the pouring rain? That can't be right, she argued. And her outrage carried the day. There are many such cases. Of course, there are many cases where she turned a blind eye to justice for the people, and ruled for big business. But no one showed quite the care she did when she did. What I said to the young people
on Friday was, maybe because of her temperament, her age, her
upbringing, or her experiences--or all of the "That's just the problem," Mr. Republican Party-Line blurted out. Judges aren't supposed to care about people. They are only supposed to care about the law. That is why "we" are so glad that "she" is gone. Waving the Constitution again, he warned, that the Constitution required that O'Connor, and her fellow jurists, decide the law "as the framers meant it at the time" (ah, an Originalist, in the fold of Scalia, I thought), not what a judge thinks it ought to mean today. He went on to whine about how his public high school had students "bussed" in to create "diversity," and how he could not pray in school. And how he was going back to his home state and running for office, to make his country the way he--and Bush--want it to be. I had little time to rebut this one, but I got in how the law was a social institution, created by people. How the Declaration of Independence, which we celebrate today, speaks of a government being of the people, by the people, and for the people. What is the law if not a tool of the people? A servant of the people? What kind of judge does not care for people? There is an answer to that rhetorical question. Most of George Bush's judges don't get a damn about people. Except, perhaps rich people. I think I won that round and 400 impressionable minds came away with a more honest view of O'Connor than they would have gotten if Mr. Bush mouthpiece had been left to his own devices. What I did not have time to talk about was another reason why Justice O'Connor will be missed: She was a lady, in a time when there are few ladies in this world. She had a sense of decorum about the law, the Court, and her place in it. Unlike some of her colleagues on the bench, who have raised ad hominem attacks to an art form, she never denigrated fellow justices. She was proud of her ability to listen to all sides of an argument before deciding --a novel concept for a judge, and one not on Bush's list of qualifications. Indeed, listening to all sides is likely a disqualifier for a Bush nominee. She said she was always read to be "persuaded" She did not call her fellow brethren/sister names if they did not agree with her. She was a model of judicial temperament--firm, stern, but affording litigants a fair hearing and, according to accounts of her law clerk, fair and full deliberations. She worked hard, long hours. She worked through breast cancer. She donned a wig and came to work, never missing a day of oral arguments, never missing out on an opinion. Like Chief Justice Rehnquist, she put those of us to whine about a cold to shame. If you read the opinions of most of the judges on Bush's short list, you will find, I bet, lots of meanness, pettiness, doctrinaire ideologues, and lack of compassion. You will find plenty like Clarence Thomas who, in a case a few years back, said, in dissent, that a state prisoner could tie up a prisoner to a hitching post in the boiling hot sun and deny him water or shade. Yea, that kind of justice is what the Republicans want. They would have one of these in Janice Rogers Brown or Michael Luttig. Luttig is famous for saying that there are absolutely no limits on presidential power in the" war on terror" Janice Rogers Brown is so out there, so mean-spirited, that she could be the female Scalia. Sharp, stinging opinions often insult her opponents. Maybe a Democrat justice would be the same today. Maybe the age of civility of temperament, and compassion for one's sister and brother is an old-fashioned virtue that can't be found in the 50-somethings Bush wants on the bench. Black, white, Hispanic, male, female--I bet there is not one on the list that gives a whit for people, or believes that justice should be tempered with mercy--and common sense. Hardliners all, Bush's judicial nominees, many of whom are already on the appellate bench, will soon, through their opinions, usher in an age of conservative, hard-line judicial activism that will take away established rights, subordinate the interests of people to that of the government and business, and leave us longing for the Rehnquist court. (Not that the people haven't lost a lot of rounds in the past 25 years, but those losses will pale in comparison to what we can expect when Bush puts two, maybe three, hard right ideologues on the bench. How about instead of one Thomas and one Scalia, we get two of each?) And longing, notably, for Sandra Day O'Connor. A plain-spoken woman who understood that her rulings affected real people with real problems. And that those people were who she was there to serve.She served us well--Republicans and Democrats, conservative and liberals. On one of the Sunday talk shows yesterday, some Republican assailed her for trying to decide a case so as to insure social stability within the confines of stare decisis. We don't need to overturn, Roe v. Wade, she argued. We have been down that road before. It is the law of the land. What's wrong with that, asked the host? What's wrong with it, said the Republican, is that is not her job. Her job is to decide the constitutional issues in the wary the framers meant it, there is not right to privacy in the Constitution, blah blah blah, and Roe v. Wade must be overturned in order to bring the law back in line with the Constitution. But the Republicans have disowned her, or at least distanced themselves from her, so wise Democrats are doing the right thing to urge that Bush nominate someone like Sandra Day O'Connor. And when they say "like," they mean a pragmatic consensus-builder who was concerned about how her decisions would affect litigants and society. Republicans, rest easy. Bush is not interested in putting someone on the bench who shares O'Connor's personal and judicial temperament. This is the age of the "nuclear" option, of "shock and awe," of "slash and burn" The Bush administration believes it is its divine right to remove all sense of humanity from the courts of this land. Administration spokespersons say Bush owes it to his constituents to put the kind of person on the high court he said he would"someone like Thomas and Scalia. That's the last thing we need. But that is what we will get. And if Rehnquist resigns or dies in office. We will get another justice devoted to the Bush world view. Anyone except a rich white man better start turning back the clocks now. Because you are going to have to turn them way back, and forget the past 50 years of Supreme Court decisions. Bit by bit, the rights and freedoms we hold dear will be chipped away by a gang of 9 that will be increasingly turning deaf ear to all but what Republicans hold dear--money and power. Power and money. So, Hail to the Chief. And goodbye, Justice O'Connor. You were, as you hope to be remembered, a great role model for women (and men), mothers (and grandmothers), and all citizens. Your devotion to your work, your work ethic, your temperament is a relic of a better time. Most of all you were, as you said you want to be remembered, a good judge. Elaine Cassel practices law in Virginia and the
District of Columbia, teaches law and psychology, and follows
the Bush regime's dismantling of the Constitution at Civil
Liberties Watch. Her new book The
War on Civil Liberties: How Bush and Ashcroft Have Dismantled
the Bill of Rights, is published by Lawrence Hill. She can
be reached at: ecassel1@cox.net
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