home / subscribe / donate / tower / books / archives / search / links / feedback / events

What You're Missing in our subscriber-only CounterPunch newsletter BUSH'S MELTDOWN AND THE US DEFEAT IN IRAQ He's on the floor, but can the Democrats Save Him? They're sure trying. Scorching reports on the "new jobs" myth and the end of America's housing bubble. Savage dissection of Council on Foreign Relation's Plan to "Contain" AIDS and Throw Money at the Drug Companies. Why the Military-Industrial Complex Wants U.S. Out of Iraq. What the US Press Missed about the War. Get the facts you're looking for in the 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! Get CounterPunch's Print Edition By Email! Call Toll Free 1-800-840-3683 or write CounterPunch, PO BOX 228, Petrolia, CA 95558

Today's Stories December 23, 2005 J. L. Chestnut, Jr. What White America Doesn't Hear December 22, 2005 Ingmar Lee The Citizen's Metamorphosis: I Awoke an Object of Suspicion Elisa Salasin Classrooms in Cages Christopher Brauchli Absolut Bush: "I Swear to Upturn and Rear End the Constitution of the United States" Robin Blackburn Rudolf Meidner, a Visionary Pragmatist Evelyn Pringle Dan Olmstead, Autism & the Dangers of Thimerosal Amira Hass A 14-Year Old's Prison Journey: "I Refused and He Hit Me" Francis A. Boyle Iraq and the Laws of War: US as "Belligerent Occupant" Stew Albert The Spies Who Thought We Were Messy Website of the Day How to Reach a Human Voice   December 21, 2005 Paul Craig Roberts One Nation, Under Prosecutors: Presumed Guilty Lila Rajiva A Short History of Radio Free Iraq Joshua Frank Nancy Pelosi's Truth Dave Zirin The Bray of Pigs: Bush Nixes Beisbol Cubano Ramzy Baroud US Image Problem Rooted in History, Not Media Sonia Nettnin Connect the Dots: Decoding Bush's Mumbo Jumbo Ben Saul Torture as Calculated Policy Jonathan Cronin Anniversary of a Handshake: Cherry-picking History in Iraq Patrick Cockburn Iraq Election Spells Total Defeat for US Website of the Day Nixon on Presidential Power   December 20, 2005 Jackie Corr Natural Gas: a Montana Tragedy Earl Ofari Hutchinson Nothing New About NSA Spying on Americans Michael Donnelly "Eco Terrorism": Cui Bono? Gian Paulo Accardo Empire of Shame: a Conversation with Jean Ziegler Pierre Tristam Trifler, Fibber, Sophist, Spy: How Bush Flouted the Constitution Norman Solomon The Foulest Media Performances of the Year Sen. Robert Byrd No President is Above the Law Dave Lindorff Missing Black Boxes in WTC Attacks Found by Firefighters, Analyzed by NTSB, Concealed by FBI Website of the Day FBI's Spy Files: Got Yours Yet?   December 19, 2005 Mike Marqusee The Global War on Civil Liberties Gary Leupp Feds Ask Student: "Why are You Reading that Little Red Book?" Ron Jacobs The Antiwar Movement, the Democrats and the Delusions of Bushworld John Blair Stealing the Golden Shovel: Lessons on Civil Disobedience Gideon Levy Sadism at the Qalandiyah Checkpoint Kevin Zeese The Global War on Civil Liberties Missy Comley Beattie Warnings from a Military Man and Dad Don Santina Ride 'Em Brush Cutter: Cowboy Imagery and the American Presidency Website of the Day A Call for Justice in Palestine   December 17 / 18, 2005 Cockburn / St. Clair Time-Delayed Journalism: the NYT and the NSA's Illegal Spying Operation Gabriel Kolko The Decline of the American Empire Susan Alcorn Texas: Three Days and Two Nights Werther The Democrats are an Impotent and Tolerated Opposition Party Ralph Nader The Senator Without Guile: Proxmire of Wisconsin Patrick Cockburn Counting Ballots and Bodies in Baghdad Fred Gardner When Prosecutors Deceive: Did the Feds Frame Bryan Epis? Dave Lindorff Spy Scandal Far Larger Than Just NSA Ned Sublette Essence is Gasoline Lee Sustar The Class War Economy Jason Leopold Did Karl Rove Destroy Evidence in Plame Case? Laura Carlsen Report from Hong Kong: Deciphering the Language of Globalization Jeff White Teacher Fired for Talking About Peace? Ray McGovern Torture Between the Lines Chris Floyd Pale Fire: the White Death of Fallujah William Loren Katz Remembering the First Quagmire at Xmastime: Zachary Taylor vs. the Seminoles Rose Miriam Elizalde Mashenka and the Bear: a Tale for Our Time Greg Moses Pinter's Provocation: Self Love in America Heather Gray Privatizing the Social Contract Alison Weir My Bethlehem Experience: the Sequel St Clair / Walker / Pollack Playlists: What We're Listening to This Week Poets' Basement Landau, Engel and Albert Website of the Day At Least Homeland Security Believes that Mao Still Matters   December 16, 2005 Tom Kerr CNN's Goddess of Vengeance: What's Not to Love About Nancy Grace? Mark Engler The WTO in Hong Kong: Is Market Access the Answer to Poverty? John Bomar When Ollie North Came to Hot Springs Patrick Cockburn Iraq Votes; Now What? Pierre Tristam Iraq, Ourselves William S. Lind The Fine Art of Withdrawal Cyril Neville Why I'm Not Going Back to New Orleans Robert Jensen Monkey See, Monkey Do: Reason, Evolution and Intelligent Design Saul Landau Bolivian Democracy and the US: a History Lesson Website CounterPunch & Dr. Price Vanquish Anthropologist Spies   December 15, 2005 Oren Ben-Dor The Ethical and Legal Challenges Facing Palestine Stan Cox "Agroterrorists" Needn't Bother Joshua Frank Organic Inconsistencies: Federal Food Politics Ben Terrall Waivers for State Terror: Bush and the Indonesian Generals Patrick Cockburn Silence Descends on Baghdad Monica Benderman What Peace Needs Walter A. Davis Fear and Loathing in San Quentin Vijay Prashad Our Torture Problem Website of the Day Hourly Wages After Four Years of "Recovery" December 14, 2005 Patrick Cockburn Iran Poised to Win Iraqi Elections Paul Craig Roberts Lethal Developments Lawrence R. Velvel A Bore Called Bob: On Trying to Read Woodward Wayne Garcia The Summer of Sami John Sugg Preach Peace, Sami; Get Truthful Prosecutors Gary Leupp Bush and the Constitution: "Just a Goddamned Piece of Paper" Ray McGovern Torture: a Defining Moment Alan Maass They Murdered a Peacemaker April Hurley, MD NPR Swallows Bush's Guestimate on Iraqi Dead Kevin Alexander Gray Richard Pryor's Mirror on America   December 13, 2005 Stephen T. Banko, III Heroes Patrick Cockburn America's War So Far: 1000 Days of Getting It Wrong Laura Carlsen What's at Play at the WTO Karl Grossman Nuclear Routlette in the Troposhere: Another NASA Plutonium Launch Niranjan Ramakrishnan The Original Sin Kevin Zeese Report from the International Peace Conference in London Norman Solomon At the Gates of San Quentin Michael G. Smith Ending the Death Penalty Stew Albert California Killers Bob Dylan Song for Tookie: George Jackson Phil Gasper California Murders Tookie Williams: a Report from San Quentin Website of the Day Boot Hill   December 12, 2005 Paul Craig Roberts The Defenders of Torture Lawrence R. Velvel George the Disconnected Jessica Stewart My Husband is at the Gates of Gitmo George Bisharat Busharon: a Fusion of Like Minds Nate Mezmer Killing Tookie Williams: If a Black Man Dies in America, Does It Make a Sound? Earl Ofari Hutchinson Richard Pryor Wasn't Crazy Alison Weir My Bethlehem Experience Seth Sandronsky Thank You, Richard Pryor Patrick Cockburn Iraq: the Beginning of the End Website of the Day Wrestling for Peace December 10 / 11, 2005 Alexander Cockburn All the News That's Fit to Buy Landau / Hassen The Condemned of Nablus Ralph Nader The Widening Wasteland of American Media Linn Washington, Jr The Philly Media and Mumia: When They Don't Bash, They Ignore Bill Christison Apathy, US Culpability and Human Rights Day Mike Ferner The Courage of Jim Loney Elizabeth Schulte Abortion and the Bush Court Neve Gordon / Yigal Bronner Murder in Jerusalem Linda S. Heard Saddam's Trial: Grandstanding in the Theater of the Absurd Ingmar Lee A Kayak Journey to Vancouver Island's Wildest Forest Ray McGovern Lies, Torture and the Six Blind Mice John Chuckman Torture and White Phosphorous: the Moral Hell of Condi Rice John Ryan An Honorary Degree in Child Sacrifice?: Madeleine Albright and US Foreign Policy Dick J. Reavis From Waco to Baghdad Christopher Brauchli Bush's Hired Pens Behzad Yaghmaian Trapped at the Gates of the European Union Aseem Shrivastava The Winter in Delhi, 1984 John Ross Bushlandia in Black and White Ben Tripp War, What is It Good For? St. Clair / Pollack / Vest / Despair Playlist: What We're Listening to This Week Poets' Basement Hassen, Bear Dog, Ford, Mickey Z, Albert & Engel Website of the Week Burn a Brick for Bush   December 9, 2005 Linn Washington, Jr. Roots of Gitmo Torture Lie Close to Home Dave Zirin / Mike Stark On Seeing Wesley Baker Die Patrick Cockburn Blair Tries to Cover Up $1.3 Billion Iraqi Theft Alexander Cockburn Murtha Returns to Attack; Flays Bush Lila Rajiva Shooting the Mentally Ill Gary Leupp White House Liars on the Defensive Jason Leopold Rove Running Out of Answers, Time Bruce K. Gagnon So These Are the Democrats? Andrew Cockburn Meet Rahm Emmanuel, the Democrats' New Gatekeeper Website of the Day "X-mas Time for Visa"   December 8, 2005 Kathy Kelly Blessed are the Merciful in Baghdad James Petras The Venezuelan Election: Chavez Wins, Bush Loses (Again) William S. Lind Questionable Assumptions: Dissecting the Stategy for Victory Laura Carlsen The Strange Mission of Vicente Fox: Free Trade and Mexico Justin Akers Bush's Border War Thomas Graham, Jr A Nuclear Pearl Harbor in Outer Space? Norman Solomon Rumsfeld's Handshake Deal with Saddam Tariq Ali / Robin Blackburn The Lost John Lennon Interview Website of the Day Pigs at the Trough of War   December 7, 2005 John Ryan Dershowitz vs. Chomsky: a Review of the Harvard Debate Gary Leupp Suicide Before Dishonor in Occupied Iraq Fran Quigley How the ACLU Didn't Steal Christmas Jeremy Brecher / Brendan Smith Bush War Crimes: the Posse Gathers Joshua Frank Bird Dogging Hillary William W. Morgan Rendition, Torture and Democracy Dave Lindorff A Stunning Win for Mumia Abu Jamal Patrick Cockburn Saddam: "Come Visit My Cage" Harold Pinter Art, Truth and Politics: the Nobel Lecture Website of the Day Witnesses to Torture   December 6, 2005 Ron Jacobs No One is Illegal; No One is an Infidel Patrick Cockburn Inside Saddam's Trial: Tales of the Human Meat Grinder Yifat Susskind Death, Politics and the Condom: African Women Confront Bush's AIDS Policy Mike Whitney How Greenspan Skewered America Pat Williams Public Land Should Stay Public Paul Craig Roberts Condi to Europe: Trust Us Website of the Day Debunking Woodward   December 5, 2005 John Walsh The Lies of John Edwards: What Did the Democrats Know and When Did They Know It? Brian Cloughley The Poor Dead: the Relative Value of Human Lives Mokhiber / Weissman The Corporate Crime Quiz Robert Jensen How Big Money Eviscerates the First Amendment Norman Solomon Hidden in Plane Sight: US Media Ignores Iraq Air War Plan Peter Rost, MD An Open Letter to the Justice Department: Pfizer May Have Violated Federal Laws When They Fired Me Lila Rajiva The Torture-Go-Round: CIA's Rendition Flights to Secret Prisons Website of the Day National Day of Counter-Recruitment December 3 / 4, 2005 Alexander Cockburn The Revolt of the Generals Lawrence R. Velvel Iraq, Brains and Lies Rev. William Alberts The Forgotten Christmas Story: Saying No to King Herod Saul Landau Latino Troops Have Parents Ralph Nader Consumerama Paul Craig Roberts Don't Confuse the Jobs Hype with the Facts Mike Whitney Blood Feast: Celebrating Executions in America Allan Lichtman The DeLay Scheme: Blatantly Buying Our Government Dave Lindorff A Sudden Rush for the Exits? Brian Concannon, Jr. Haiti's Elections Fred Gardner Oregon NORML Honors Growers Manuel Garcia, Jr. On Freeing the CPT Carol Wolman Remembering the 60s St. Clair / Vest / Walker / Pollack Playlist: What We're Listening to This Week Poets' Basement Albert, Engel and Orloski Website of the Weekend Free the CPT   December 2, 2005 Stan Goff An Open Letter to Congress from a Veteran and Military Dad Mike Ferner Beware Iraqization: Melvin Laird, Vietnam and Christmas Bombings Over Baghdad? Christopher Brauchli Bush's Constitutional Kamikazes: Padilla's No-Win Dilemma Niranjan Ramakrishnan Questions for the President Manuel Talens The Chávez Theorem Peter Phillips Death By Torture: Media Ignores the Hard Evidence J.L. Chestnut, Jr. Alabama's Taliban: Judge Roy Moore, Preachers and Dixie Hypocrisy Website of the Day Support the Hampton University Peace Activists!   December 1, 2005 John Walsh, MD The God Gaps Ron Jacobs Hard Rain: Toward a Greater Air War in Iraq? Jenna Orkin EPA's Latest Betrayal at Ground Zero Joshua Frank Howard Dean's Blunt Message: Forget Palestine Tiffany Ten Eyck Rank and File Resistance to Delphi Missy Comley Beattie Home on the Range: Where the Fear and the Animus Play Eli Stephens The Reed and Kerry Show Elaine Cassel A Government Game of "Gotcha" with Jose Padilla Website of the Day Rare Erotica   November 30, 2005 Allen / D'Amato Incident at Oglala 30 Years Later: the Long Struggle of Leonard Peltier Mike Whitney The Cheerleader at Annapolis Kevin Zeese The Hallucinations of Joe Lieberman Norman Solomon Colin Powell: Still Craven After All These Years Ramzy Baroud Sharon's New Party Dave Lindorff What Happened to All Those Bush/Cheney Bumperstickers? Stephen Soldz Mental Health Workers in Iraq   November 29, 2005 Phil Gasper Live from Death Row: an Interview with Tookie Williams Behzad Yaghmaian The Ghost of Sangatte Joshua Frank Jack Abramoff's Bi-partisan Sleaze Walter A. Davis Life on Death Row: a Monologue Gary Leupp Bush the Dupe? Len Colodny Woodwardgate: Still Protecting the Rightwing Jeffrey St. Clair The Duke and the Enterprise: Randy Cunningham's Crash Landing Bill Quigley Human Rights Leaders Call for Release of Haiti's Political Prisoners Website of the Day Watch Chomsky vs. Dershowitz Live, Tonight at 7PM, EST!   November 28, 2005 Chris Reed The "Bomb Al Jazeera" Documents Trial David Isenberg Cooked Intelligence: the Dog that Didn't Bark Ron Jacobs Contraindications: a Review of Blood on the Border Norman Solomon The Woodward Scandal Must Not Blow Over Justin E.H. Smith Schwarzenegger's Curious Power Mickey Z. Abbie Hoffman at 70: Steal This City Mike Whitney The Pentagon's Domestic Spying Operation David Swanson Is Impeachment an Election Issue? Paul Craig Roberts The Grave Threat of the Bush Administration Website of the Day "Don't Bomb Us!": a Blog by Al Jazeera Staffers   November 26 / 27, 2005 Alexander Cockburn How the Democrats Undercut John Murtha Saul Landau Who We Are: Torture and the Empire Ralph Nader Junk Television: Excluding Voices That Save Lives Brian Cloughley What Are They Dying For? John Ross When a Language Dies Gary Leupp The Nepal Pact Fred Gardner Dr. Denney Goes to Arkansas Christopher Brauchli Compassion for Corporations: Northrup Grumman and Katrina's Victims Dave Lindorff US War Crimes List Keeps Growing P. Sainath See, Neoliberalism Really Works: Net Worth of India's Billionaires Soars! Timothy J. Freeman The Price of Freedom Lila Rajiva Of Mice, Men and GM Peas Eric Ruder Beat the Needle: Saving Tookie Williams Seth Sandronsky Working Toward Whiteness: an Interview with David Roediger Joaquin Bustelo What Really Happened at Mar del Plata Lewis Alper Is the President's Soul in Jeopardy?: an Evangelical Christian Looks at Bush's Skull and Bones Initiation Will Youmans In Search of Paradise Phyllis Pollack The Stones' Rough Justice in Bush Time St. Clair / Vest Playlists: What We're Listening to This Week Barbara LaMorticella Poetry and the City of Ideas Poets' Basement LaMorticella, Buknatski, Engel, Albert and Davies Website of the Weekend NLR: The Chequered Rainbow     November 25, 2005 David Price How US Anthropologists Planned "Race-Specific" Weapons Against the Japanese Brian McKenna Will Bush Miss the Next Bhopal? Jeff Halper Peretz or Bust? Ray McGovern Will the US Seize the Opportunity for Troop Withdrawal? Leigh Saavedra Thanksgiving at Camp Casey Ingmar Lee How Have the Mighty Fallen? Website of the Day Saving Cathedral Grove   November 24, 2005 James Petras How to Think About War and Peace Bob Shirley Thanksgiving Torture: What the Puritans Fled Mike Fox Torture Survivors Speak for Themselves Niranjan Ramakrishnan Adrift? Perhaps. A Draft? Never! Greg Moses Thanksgiving Delayed: TX High Court Blesses Inequality Alexander Cockburn Turkeys in the Larger Scheme of Things   November 23, 2005 Ramzy Baroud The Great Gaza Border Deal: What Does It Mean? Mike Whitney Bush, Padilla and Thomas More Stan Cox Red, White and Blue Dawn: What a Bad Hollywood Film Can Teach Americans About Life Under Occupation Linda S. Heard Targeting Al Jazeera November 22, 2005 Kevin Gray / Mike Hersh Maxine Waters, the Real Leader of the Anti-War Caucus Ralph Nader What Do Dems Stand For? Michael Donnelly The "Vetting" of Bernard Kerik Mike Ferner The CIA's "Torture Taxi" in the Spotlight Pierre Tristam The Justice Deficit Marshall Auerback Bush's "Compassionate Conservativism": Neither Compassionate Nor Conservative Website of the Day I Don't Like Geldof   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         Subscribe Online

December 23, 2005 Bush's Hypocrisy, Radical Holiness and Woody Guthrie Gospel Truth By CHRIS FLOYD Countless words of condemnation have been heaped upon George W. Bush and his hard-Right regime--a crescendo growing louder by the day, with voices from across the political spectrum. But the most devastating repudiation of the Regime's foul ethos was actually delivered almost 2,000 years ago by the man whose birth is celebrated at this season of the year. We speak, of course, of Jesus of Nazareth, whose Sermon on the Mount, as reported in the Gospels, called for a revolutionary transformation of human nature--a complete overthrow of our natural instincts for greed, aggression, and self-aggrandizement. This radical vision--erupting in the turbulent backwater of a brutal world empire--is the true miracle of Jesus' life, not the primitive fables about virgin births, magic tricks and corpses rising from the dead. The vision's living force sears through dogma, casts down the pomp of church and state, and gives the lie to every hypocrite who evokes the name of Jesus in pursuit of earthly power. Bush professes to believe that Jesus is the son of God, whose words are literally divine commands. Yet anyone who compares what Jesus really said to Bush's actions in power--the abandonment of the poor, the exaltation of the rich; the dirty insider deals, the culture of corruption, the politics of smear and slander; the perversion of law to countenance murder, torture and predatory war--can readily see that this profession of faith is a monstrous deceit. Bush--and his politicized, pseudo-religious "base"--may well believe that some divine being approves of their unbridled greed, aggression and self-aggrandizement; but this mythical godling in their heads has nothing to do with the man from Nazareth who, as Matthew and Luke tell it, went up into a mountain one day and began to preach: "Blessed be ye poor; for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are ye that hunger now; for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now; for ye shall laugh." "But woe unto you that are rich! For ye have received your consolation. Woe unto you that are full! For ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! For ye shall mourn and weep." "Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth; but I say unto you: Resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away." "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you: Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. Thus you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even publicans the same? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more than others? Do not even publicans so?" "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." "No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you: Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not life more than meat, and the body more than raiment?" "Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgement ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." "Therefore, all things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets." And what would happen today if a swarthy Middle Eastern man without wealth or political connections suddenly appeared in front of the White House proclaiming such a radical doctrine of mercy, forgiveness, charity, self-denial and love--love even for the "evildoers" who "want to destroy our way of life"? Would he be targeted by the lawless spy gangs that Bush has personally loosed upon the nation, as the New York Time revealed last week? Would he be condemned as a terrorist sympathizer and expelled from the country? Would he be seized and "rendered" to some secret CIA prison or Bush-friendly foreign torture chamber for "special interrogation"? Or perhaps Woody Guthrie saw the truth years ago, as he sat in a cold boarding house in New York City, transfiguring an old folk song about an outlaw into a gospel for modern times: "If Jesus was to preach here like he preached in Galilee, they would lay Jesus Christ in his grave." Chris Floyd is a columnist for The Moscow Times and regular contributor to CounterPunch. A new, upgraded version of his blog, "Empire Burlesque," can be found at www.chris-floyd.com.

Coming in January from CounterPunch Books! The Case Against Israel By Michael Neumann Click Here to Advance Order Philosopher Michael Neumann's Devastating Rebuttal of Alan Dershowitz WHAT'S INSIDE Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Greed and Profiteering in the War on Terror by Jeffrey St. Clair CounterPunch Speakers Bureau Sick of sit-on-the-Fence speakers, tongue-tied and timid? CounterPunch Editors Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St Clair are available to speak forcefully on ALL the burning issues, as are other CounterPunchers seasoned in stump oratory. Call CounterPunch Speakers Bureau, 1-800-840-3683. Or email beckyg@counterpunch.org.