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The New Print Edition of CounterPunch, Only for Our Newsletter Subscribers! How Cops Extort Confessions;
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The New Print Edition of CounterPunch, Only for Our Newsletter Subscribers!
How Cops Extort Confessions;
How the U.S. “Justice System” Really WorksNinety-two per cent of felony convictions in the U.S. are obtained by plea bargains or confessions. Without them the “justice system” would grind to a halt. In an important piece in our latest newsletter, available only to subscribers, Emily Horowitz shows how totally innocent people will “confess” under police pressure, even without physical torture. Horowitz outlines the powerful case for banning confessions altogether. Also in this new edition Marcus Rediker, co-author of the legendary The Many Headed Hydra, writes of popular heroism and resistance in the favelas of Medellin, Colombia. Alexander Cockburn reports on how America’s oldest bank, patronized by the global elites, washed billions smuggled out of Russia, and how the Russians might win their money back, shaking the world’s banking system if they do so. Serge Halimi describes the real battle for the soul of Europe. Get your copy today by subscribing online or calling 1-800-840-3683 Contributions to CounterPunch are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! CounterPunch books and gear make great presents.
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Today's Stories August 23 / 4, 2008 Nicole Colson August 22, 2008 Boris Kagarlitsky Laura Carlsen Bob Barr Marwan Bishara Peter Morici Manuel Garcia, Jr. Charles Mostoller Sumbul Ali-Karamali Keith Rosenthal John F. Miglio Website of the Day August 21, 2008 Allan J. Lichtman Dave Lindorff Loserville: How Obama Blew It Ralph Nader Joanne Mariner Wajahat Ali Ron Jacobs Rostam Purzal Anthony Papa Website of the Day August 20, 2008 Michael Neumann Ray McGovern Eric Walberg Fidaa Abed Daniel Haack Mike Whitney Website of the Day August 19, 2008 Paul Craig Roberts Deepak Tripathi Marwan Bishara Saul Landau William S. Lind Martha Rosenberg James Brittain Pratyush Chandra David Macaray Website of the Day August 18, 2008 Tariq Ali Gary Leupp Uri Avnery John Ross Farooq Sulehria Luis Rodriguez Manuel Garcia, Jr. Noah Baker Merrill Charles Thomson Website of the Day August 16 / 17, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Deepak Tripathi Conn Hallinan Mike Whitney Robert Fantina Ray McGovern Nicole Colson Fatima Bhutto Jean-Luis Rocca David Michael Green Ramzi Kysia Dave Lindorff Lisa Martinovic Richard Rhames Don Santina Rannie Amiri Ramzy Baroud John Stanton Howard Lisnoff Ron Jacobs Seth Sandronsky Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
August 15, 2008 Steve Niva David Remington Michael Winship Paul Craig Roberts Farzana Versey Harvey Wasserman Felice Pace Julian Critchley Website of the Day August 14, 2008 Saul Landau / Conn Hallinan Mike Whitney Reza Fiyouzat Ralph Nader Christopher Brauchli The Cheerleader in China Jack Bradigan Spula Patrick Irelan John Walsh Dan Bacher Website of the Day
August 13, 2008 Paul Craig Roberts David Remington Brian Cloughley Glen Ford Brendan Cooney Dave Lindorff Tom Lewis Stan Cox Alan Farago Martha Rosenberg Website of the Day August 12, 2008 Uri Avnery Anthony DiMaggio Bill Christison Eric Walberg Kate Connolly Diane Farsetta Peter Morici Thom Rutledge Lee Patton Niranjan Ramakrishnan Website of the Day August 11, 2008 Ishmael Reed Paul Craig Roberts Gary Leupp Douglas Kammen William Willers Greg Moses Jeff Leys Cynthia McKinney Alan Farago Website of the Day August 9 / 10, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Bruce Jackson Kevin Young Chris Floyd Joshua Frank Robert Fantina Brendan Cooney Mark Almond Lois Gibbs Rev. William Alberts Kathy Kelly John Ross David Michael Green Bill Moyers / Ron Jacobs Richard Rhames David Yearsley Lee Sustar Brenda Norrell Ben Terrall Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend August 8, 2008 Patrick Cockburn Manuel Garcia, Jr. M. Shahid Alam Andy Worthington Lawrence J. Korb David Model Alan Farago Diop Olugbala Firmin DeBrabander Website of the Day August 7, 2008 Dr. Trudy Bond William Blum Paul Craig Roberts Ralph Nader Robert Weitzel Jacob G. Hornberger Binoy Kampmark David Macaray Howard Lisnoff Website of the Day August 6, 2008 Marc Herold Greg Moses Sheldon Rampton Kevin Young Michael Estrada Robert Weissman Dr. Susan Block Cindy Sheehan Ace Hoffman Website of the Day August 5, 2008 Paul Craig Roberts Jeff Halper Patrick Cockburn Nancy Welch Peter Morici Sousan Hammad Eamon Martin Shepherd Bliss Tim Matson Website of the Day August 4, 2008 Uri Avnery Saul Landau David W. Remington Rev. Jesse Jackson Dave Lindorff Peter Morici Joanne Mariner Ramzy Baroud Christian Wright Website of the Day August 2 / 3, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Patrick Cockburn Winslow T. Wheeler James Abourezk Andy Worthington Brian Cloughley Robert Fantina Benjamin Dangl Marlene Martin David Yearsley Fatemeh Keshavarz David Michael Green Obama as Dukakis Harvey Wasserman Jason Hribal Phyllis Pollack Laray Polk Ron Jacobs David Macaray David Rosen Dan Bacher Joe Allen Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend August 1, 2008 Jonathan Cook Nikolas Kozloff Rannie Amiri Peter Morici Christopher Brauchli M. K. Bhadrakumar Patrick Cockburn James J. Brittain Dan Bacher Website of the Day
July 31, 2008 Michael Hudson Carl Finamore Mike Whitney Joshua Frank Andy Worthington Ralph Nader Bill Moyers / Robert Weissman Dave Lindorff Website of the Day July 30, 2008 Brian M. Downing Chuck Spinney William S. Lind David Ker Thomson Karl Grossman Mike Whitney Martha Rosenberg James Murren Dave Lindorff Ron Jacobs Website of the Day July 29, 2008 Jeffrey St. Clair John Ross Peter Morici Alison Weir Gary Leupp David Macaray Brenda Norrell Marjorie Cohn Eric Ruder Website of the Day July 28, 2008 Dr. Bryant Welch Kathy Kelly Mike Whitney Peter Morici Christopher Brauchli Clifton Ross Stephen Lendman Website of the Day
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Weekend Edition The Senator from Ethanol-landObama and Big CornBy NICOLE COLSON The recent news that ExxonMobil's second-quarter profits rang up at $11.7 billion--the largest quarterly profit of any company in history--rightly enraged millions of working people in the U.S. and abroad who are feeling the sting of high gas prices. Democratic contender Barack Obama, among others, has been critical of such mega-profits. As a recent Obama campaign ad warns, "Every time you fill your tank, the oil companies fill their pockets." In response, Obama promises to stand up for workers' rights by instituting a windfall profits tax on oil companies if he becomes president. But there's another industry that is currently reaping record profits that Obama most likely won't criticize: agribusiness companies that are currently raking in millions on the push towards ethanol and other biofuels. In the U.S., corn-derived ethanol has been promoted as an "environmentally friendly" alternative to traditional fossil fuels. Thanks in part to massive government subsidies, millions of acres of land has been diverted from crops like soybeans to corn, and dozens of ethanol distilleries have popped up around the country, particularly in the Midwest. Ethanol is not the savior it's made out to be, however. Some scientific studies--including one by Nobel Prize-winning chemist Paul Crutzen--show that ethanol derived from corn is potentially more polluting than fossil fuels. In addition, the diversion of cropland and corn to ethanol has helped drive up the prices of staple foods like tortillas, meat, milk and eggs in the U.S. and around the world. But while the world's poor are feeling the pinch, agribusiness is making record profits off the biofuel push. Companies like Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Cargill and ConAgra--whose environmental records were notoriously shoddy to begin with--have seen not only more money in their pockets as a result of biofuels, but an opportunity to remake their images as problem-solving "green" companies poised to head off future environmental catastrophe through corporate solutions. In April, ADM announced that its quarterly profits had risen 42 percent, largely thanks to biofuels. Unsurprisingly, ADM CEO Pat Woertz told investors, "Biofuels are a real solution to a real problem. To retreat from biofuels is wrong." Wrong from the standpoint of profits, perhaps. But as environmentalist Tom Philpott noted last year in an article on the environmental Web site Grist [1], ADM's real record has little to do with solving the "real problems" of the world's poor. As Philpott pointed out, ADM--whose slogan is "Resourceful by Nature"--is "resourceful" at manipulating markets in order to turn a profit, even if it means misery for millions. According to Philpott:
As Philpott documents, even before the current spike in corn prices, Gruma/ADM changed its production process to produce lower-quality and less-nutritious tortillas, and raised its prices (even when corn prices were falling). The Mexican government was eventually forced by protests to step in to investigate charges of price gouging by Gruma/ADM and its rival, U.S. agribusiness giant Cargill. Philpott continues:
Yet rather than investigate ADM's habitual use of political influence to manipulate markets, the Bush administration continues to openly act as an ally. Bush recently upped the ante on government support for ethanol. And the USDA trumpets its collaboration with ADM on making federal farm policy, recently awarding CEO Patricia Woertz a spot on its prominent annual Agricultural Outlook Forum panel where she'll share the floor with USDA director Mike Johanns, along with Cargill's CEO and even the president of the American Petroleum Institute. * * * BUT IT'S not only the Bush administration who has championed biofuels and companies like ADM. Barack Obama has made sure to put biofuels at the front and center of his economic proposals, and has a history of backing laws favorable to agribusiness. As the Washington Post noted:
In just this election cycle alone, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, the agribusiness industry has given $2.7 million to Democrats--with more than $1 million going to Obama's campaign. The New York Times noted that Obama has appeared several times on the campaign trail with former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, who currently sits on the boards of three ethanol companies and works at a Washington law firm where, according to his online job description, "he spends a substantial amount of time providing strategic and policy advice to clients in renewable energy." According to Obama economic policy director Jason Furman, Obama's commitment to biofuels is based primarily on "what's best for the country." But asked about his support for ethanol while on the campaign trail in April, Obama was more candid: "Look," he said. "I've been a strong ethanol supporter because Illinois...is a major corn producer." In other words, supporting the ethanol industry is just simple political logic. Unsurprisingly, ADM, the nation's largest ethanol producer, is also based in Illinois. Obama has given especially strong support to E85, a fuel comprised of 85 percent ethanol. As journalist Ken Silverstein noted in a 2006 article in Harpers [2], where he detailed Obama's support for ethanol at July 2006 speech for the group Campus Progress, E85 is "a product whose profits accrue to a small group of corporate corn growers led by Illinois-headquartered Archer Daniels Midland." Silverstein went on to note that, in his speech,
During his first year in office, Silverstein noted, Obama traveled on ADM's private jets at least twice, and introduced a number of measures that benefited the agribusiness industry--such as the "Obama Amendment" that offered oil companies a 50 percent tax credit for building gas stations that offer E85 fuel. Obama also voted for the Bush administration's 2005 energy bill and opposed a proposal to lower tariffs on cheaper sugarcane-based ethanol from Brazil and other countries. As Silverstein noted, "On condition of anonymity, one Washington lobbyist I spoke with was willing to point out the obvious: that big donors would not be helping out Obama if they didn't see him as a 'player.' "The lobbyist added: 'What's the dollar value of a starry-eyed idealist?'" Nicole Colson lives in Chicago, where she works as a reporter for the Socialist Worker.
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