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Today's
Stories
August 5, 2004
Peter Linebaugh
Doing Time for Political Crime:
Paul and Silas, Bound in Jail
August
4, 2004
Mickey
Z.
Two Traditions: WMD and Disinformation
Justin
Huggler
The Hunt for Bin Laden
John
Ross
Mexico's Dirty War Never Ended: Inside
Puente Grande Prison
August 3, 2004
Uri Avnery
The
Oligarchs
Ray McGovern
The 9/11 Commission Chimera
Jack McCarthy
Sexual Politics in Jeb's Florida
Eric Ruder
Meet Barak Obama: the Democrats' New Liberal Star
John L. Hess
Crying Wolf: Orange Alert!
Elaine Cassel
Civil Liberties Elections: 1800 v. 2004
Jules Rabin
The Man Who Didn't Walk By
Website of the Day
No Wall
August 2, 2004
Robert Jensen
Kerry's
Hypocrisy on the Vietnam War
Joshua Frank
Greens, Kerry and the Politics of Mendacity
Mike Whitney
The 9/11 Commission and Civil Liberties: "We Need an American
Police State"
Gary Leupp
Beyond
Good and Evil: Some Thoughts on Invasions
July 31 / Aug.
1, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Kerry:
He's the (Any) One
Merlin Chowkwanyun
Five Questions with Noam Chomsky: "The Savage Extreme of
a Narrow Policy Spectrum"
David Lindorff
The Shame of the DNC
John Chuckman
The
Disturbing Words of John Edwards
Brian Cloughley
All Slam and No Dunk; All Blame and No Responsibility
Christopher Brauchli
"Being Poor is a State of Mind": the Frowning Face
of Compassionate Conservatism
Fred Gardner
A World of Pain
Michael Donnelly
How Big Pharma Bilks the Elderly
David Nally
Genocide in Darfur?
Joshua Frank
Forest Battles Escalate in Oregon
Sam Bahour
Colin Powell and My Grandmother
Diane Farsetta
The IMF and the Indonesian Elections: The Invisible Hand in the
Voting Booth
Harold Gould
Was Iraq a Mutual Charade?
Van Bergen / Stephens
Election 9/11: Surreal Political Theater
Lee Sustar
A New Model for the Labor Movement?
Ron Jacobs
The Lost Art of Hitchhiking
M. Junaid Alam
An Interview with Palestinian-American Rapper, The Iron Sheik
Poets Basement
Albert, Ford, Krieger, St. Clair
Website of
the Weekend
Cross Cultural Poetics
July 30, 2004
Kolhatkar /
Ingalls
Shattering
Illusions: Kerry's Speech Tells Anti-War Activists They're Not
Wanted
Dave Lindorff
Murder
Not So Foul?
Bruce Jackson
Walt Whitman on the Sound of Wolf Blitzer's Voice
Fidel Castro
The
Pathology of George W. Bush
Maximilien Robespierre
Memo to Kerry and Bush: Why They Resist
Saul Landau
Bush
Charges Castro with Sex Tourism; JFK Rolls Over in His Grave
Sex, Drugs & the Blues!
Serpents in the Garden
CounterPunch's
Sizzling New Book on Culture and Sex is Now Available
Click here to purchase
July 29, 2004
Cockburn /
St. Clair
Hail,
the Conquering War Criminal: What Kerry Really Did in Vietnam
Frank Bardacke
What
Michael Moore Left Out of F9/11
Tom Barry
Shallow and Formulaic: Kerry's Latin America Plan
Ron Jacobs
Kerry
and Lennon: Hawking the CounterCulture
Robert Fisk
The Unreported War
Lichtman /
Kellis-Borok
What Kerry Must Do to Win (But Probably Won't)
William S. Lind
The 9/11 Commission Report: Cashing in on Failure
CounterPunch
Wire
Doonesbury Onto John Kerry in 1971!
Website of
the Day
Jabbing JibJab: Copyright Madness
July 28, 2004
Robert Fisk
The
Occupation at 114 Degrees: Baghdad is Swamped in the Smell of
the Dead
Kevin Mink
Kerry's Misperception of Palestine
Ray McGovern
Israel and the Iraq War: How the 9/11 Report Soft-Pedals Root
Causes
United for
Peace & Justice
An
Open Letter to John Kerry: Winter Soldiers and Summer Patriots
Mike Ferner
Vets Demand End to Occupation: "Pull the Troops or Face
Impeachment Mvt."
Imraan Siddiqi
Turning Tricks with Ann Coulter
Alexander Cockburn
Candidate
Kerry
Website of
the Day
Iraq Vets Against the War
July 27, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Why
the Democrats Deserve Nader
Dave Lindorff
Back to the 19th Century: Globalization's Coming!
Mike Whitney
Control Room: Inside Al Jazeera
Ali, Anderson, Bello, et al.
If We Were Venezuelan, We'd Vote for Chavez
Stefan Wray
Texas Plan to Grab Los Alamos Takes Hold, as DOE Shuts Down Labs
Louis Proyect
Reflections on Nicaragua: First Came the Contra Butchers, Then
the Sweatshops
Rick Giombetti
Faith in Freedom: the Challenge of Thomas Szasz
Bill and Kathleen
Christison
The
9/11 Report and Its Weak-Kneed Consensus: Dogding Israel/Palestine;
Blinkered on Causes of Terrorism
July 26, 2004
Todd Chretien
Green
Resistance: a Reply to Normon Solomon & Medea Benjamin
Robert Fisk
Terror
by Video
Richard Forno
Security
Theater in Boston: Security Expert Harrassed by DHS for Exposing
Flaws at the Fleet Center
Mitchel Cohen
Report from a Boston Demo: Arresting the Curious
Richard Moreno
Rockers
for Justice: an Interview with Tom Morello and Serj Tankian
Alexander Cockburn
Boston
Awaits a Dead Party
July
24 / 25, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
The Democrats and Their Conventions:
Part One
Dennis
Hans
Those 16 Words Still Smell, Mr. Bush
Patrick
Cockburn
The Struggle for Iraq is Only Beginning
Josh
Frank
The War Path of Unity: Dems Reject
the Peace Movement
Justin
E.H. Smith
Christianity and the Left: the Latin
American Experience
Tariq
Ali
What's at Stake in Venezuela
Fred
Gardner
The Politics of Pot: Year of the
Antagonist
Mark
Scaramella
There's Dope and There's Dope
Ron
Jacobs
The Weather Underground's Prairie
Fire Statement...35 Years On
July
23, 2004
Lee
Sustar
Revolution in Nicaragua: 25 Years
On
Dave
Lindorff
Battle for NYC: Bush 1, Protesters
0
Saul
Landau
Zaniest President in US History: Bush
Beats Reagan
Mike
Whitney
The 9/11 Whitewash: Blaming No One
Mickey
Z
Get On the Bus: 150 Years After Elizabeth
Jennings
Gary
Leupp
The 9/11 Commission and the Looming
War on Iran
July
22, 2004
M.
Junaid Alam
Ten Ways to Build a Better Democrat
Brian
McKinlay
Rusted On Down Under: Howard, Bush and Sharon
Jason
Leopold
Cheney Lobbied for Easing of Sanctions on Terrorist Regimes While
CEO of Halliburton
Chris
Floyd
Mob Rule: Ripping the Lid Off of America's Pious Myths
Uri
Avnery
Chirac v. Sharon
July
21, 2004
Paula
J. Caplan
The Emotional Casualities of War: Psychologists
Can't Heal All the Damage
Joshua
Frank
Nader Sleeping with the Enemy? Let's be Fair
Ron
Jacobs
American Exceptionalism
Reza
Ghorashi
The Elections, Iran and al-Qaeda
Amy
Martin
Will Congress Rearm the Guatemalan Generals?
John
Ross
Bush May Lose, But His Wars Will Go On and On
|
August 5, 2004
When Peace
is Off Message
The Kerry
Show
By
MIKE FERNER
BOWLING
GREEN, OH.
Remember
“The Truman Show,” starring Jim Carrey? Trapped from
birth in a huge, corporate-controlled movie set that doubled as
a fake small town, Carrey played an unwitting salesman, perpetually
on-camera. In one scene, a man tries to warn Carrey, parachuting
onto the set with a sign that says, “You’re On TV!”
He’s immediately hustled off-camera.
There’s
a smaller, mobile version of The Truman Show’s set traveling
westward across the country that you should go see if you get the
chance. The admission ticket to the John Kerry “From Sea to
Shining Sea Believe in America Tour” warned “No Signs.”
An event for the newly minted Democratic presidential candidate
and his veep, John Edwards, to which the public is invited, held
outdoors on a public street, in downtown Bowling Green, Ohio…but
no signs are allowed. No doubt, the Republicans have their own Truman
Show, probably dubbed the “Give ‘Em Hell, Dubya Tour.”
But for some reason (foolish me) I expected better from the Dems.
A
check with the local ACLU confirmed that the organizers of the event
were within legal limits. If I wanted to express an opinion, I’d
have to become a free speech criminal and secret a sign into the
tightly-controlled movie set that passed for a political rally on
Main Street in this small town, 30 miles south of the heavily Democratic
city of Toledo. Welcome to the Brave New World of Fortress America.
The
first step was getting through the metal detectors and security
guards that allowed one person at a time through the checkpoints.
My criminal accomplice and fellow Veterans for Peace member, Erhard
Kock, is an experienced world traveler. Upon seeing the crush of
people who had waited over two hours in 90-degree heat to file through
the sensors, he said, “in France or Germany, people would
never stand for this. They would rush through the checkpoints and
tell the guards where to go.”
Guards
barked, “back up, back up!” with little effect, but
the basic procedure remained intact. We were instructed to remove
all metal items—including Kerry campaign buttons, watches,
coins, keys, pens, lighters (in case anyone wanted to self-immolate);
turn on all electronic devices and then slowly pass through the
detector. The final order I received as I hurriedly picked up my
approved metal belongings, was (no kidding) “…and take
a drink out of your bottle.”
For
a second this command didn’t register. But a look at the checkpoints
on either side of us confirmed that people were dutifully swallowing
mouthfuls of suspicious-looking clear liquids from plastic bottles.
Looking at the Rent-a-Homeland-Security guard, I said incredulously,
“you gotta be kidding!” His angry visage and the increased
volume with which he repeated, “TAKE A DRINK OUT OF YOUR BOTTLE,”
prompted me to reply, “keep your goddamn bottle,” and
walk away.
We
entered the corral-stockade-movie set, unarmed, sans signs, tightly
packed and ready to hold up whatever placards the Kerry campaign
distributed.
Erhard
and I donned our VFP caps and I pulled the criminal "TROOPS
OUT OF IRAQ NOW: Veterans for Peace” banner out of my pants.
We held it up as high as we could without the aid of any deadly
sticks, hoping our message would get out through the media, indicating
that someone, somewhere in this bright land had something on their
mind other than "Kerry/Edwards 2004," or "A Stronger
America" (just what the world needs these days).
If
Erhard and I were lucky and our sign caught the eye of a photog,
maybe…just maybe, the fact that people are dying and suffering
by the hundreds every day in Iraq might intrude on an otherwise
sterile, vapid, choreographed election campaign.
More likely, though, you’ve not seen an image of a piece of
white fabric, with broad, red homemade letters, held barely over
the heads of hundreds of movie extras, that demands “TROOPS
OUT OF IRAQ NOW. Veterans for Peace.” Kerry’s choreographers
most likely succeeded in insuring that never was heard a discouraging
word.
Peace,
after all, is "off message" this year.
Mike Ferner is a recidivist First Amendment practitioner
and a member of Veterans for Peace. He can be reached at:mferner@utoledo.edu
Weekend Edition July 17 / 18, 2004
Gary
Leupp
Apocalypse Now: Why the Book of Revelations is
Must Reading
Ghada
Karmi
Vanishing the Palestinians
Lenni
Brenner
When Cattle Unite, Lions Go Hungry: Notes for Ralph Nader
Ben
Tripp
Man on a Bridge: a Ghost Story
Brandy
Baker
What Would Elizabeth Cady Stanton Make of John Kerry?
M.
Shahid Alam
Israel Builds Another Wall
Sasan
Fayazmanesh
Nuclear Hypocrisy: Israel, Iran and the IAEA
Patrick
Bond
The George Bush of Africa
Fred
Gardner
Politics of Marijuana: Cannabiniod Therapuetics
William
Blum
Bush and Thucydides
Ben
Terrall
Carter and the Indonesia Elections: "I Don't See Anything Wrong
with a General Running the Country"
Tom
Barry
John Lehman on the War Path
David
Vest
Dylan Without the Music
Phyllis
Pollack
Return to Sin City: Keith Richards Does Gram Parsons
Ron
Jacobs
Smearing Muhammad Ali: Bob Feller Strikes Out
Joshua
Frank
Kerry to Edwards: "Let's Lose!"
David
Nally
A Call for Sudan: Our Georgraphical Blindspot
Toni
Solo
Bolivia's Gas Referendum
Landau,
Hassan, Prashad & Lindorff
Three Reviews of Moore's F911
Poets's
Basement
Ford, Smith and Albert
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