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Today's
Stories
August 20,
2004
Diane Christian
Holy
Places
August 19,
2004
Lance Selfa
To
ABB or Not to ABB?
Christopher
Brauchli
The Edicts of President Bush
Mike Whitney
The "Rebel Cleric" and the Siege of Najaf
Jason Leopold
The
Oily Parachute: How Cheney Got Away with $35 Million Before the
Feds Launched a Probe into Halliburton
Jeff Nicholson-Owens
Why We Need "Free Software" Voting Machines
Bill Linville
If
the Republicans Are Funding Nader, Who is Funding the Democrats?
Well, Try Halliburton for Starters
Diana Barahona
In the Minds of the Rich, the Venezuelan Poor Aren't Even Members
of Society: Guess Who's Laughing Now?
Alan Cisco
The
Discreet Charm of the Venezuelan Opposition
Dave Lindorff
Gitlin
Tells Anti-Bush Protesters to "Cool It"
Sex,
Drugs & the Blues!
Serpents in the Garden
CounterPunch's
Sizzling New Book on Culture and Sex is Now Available
Click here to purchase
August 18,
2004
Amy Goodman
An
Interview with Mordechai Vanunu
Adrian Kuzminski
The
Death of American Politics: Why Perot Was the Last Serious Challenger
of the Political Duopoly
Uri Avnery
Israel
and the US Elections
Dave Lindorff
Librarians as Wimps: "Sorry, Sir, Some Readers May Find
Your Book Inflammatory"
Toni Solo
After the Venezuela Referendum: Bush's Dien Bien Phu?
John L. Hess
Laying Odds on Armageddon: a Midtown Hiroshima?
Rodney Thomas
Patti Smith, Another Take
Sean Donahue
Kerry
and Bolivia: To the Right of Bush?
Website of the Day
Presidential Polls: David Cobb (at 0%) is Exceeding Expectations
August 17,
2004
Norm Dixon
Darfuris
Made Pawns in Western Power Play for Oil
Alan Farago
In
Charley's Wake: Opportunity from Misfortune
John L. Hess
The
Meaning of Venezuela
Lisa Taraki
/ Omar Barghouti
Presbyterian Church Divests from Israel
Allen Thompson
Et Tu, Patti? An Open Letter to Patti Smith
John Ross
Mexicans
Dying in Bush's War
Website of the Day
List of Civilian Contractors Killed or Missing in Iraq
August 16,
2004
Gary Leupp
The
Attack on Najaf: the Ultimate Stupidity
Ron Jacobs
Iran
Through an Iraqi Mirror?
Mike Whitney
The
Guantanamo Mock Trials
Zvi Bar'el
Theater
of the Absurd in Iraq: Chalabi, Feith and Israel
John Blair
A
Culture of Waste
Sharmini Peries
Chavez
Triumphs; Crushes Opposition
Tariq Ali
The Importance of Hugo Chavez
Website of
the Day
Hurricane City
August 14 /
15, 2004
Justin Delacour
/ Diana Barahona
The
Venezuela Referendum: Can the Carter Center's McCoy be an Impartial
Observer?
Cockburn /
St. Clair
War
on the Poor: "A Risk No Sane Person Would Take"
M. Shahid Alam
The Civilizing Mission: Some Economic Results
Saul Landau
God and Botox
John Ross
Echoes of Mexico City, 1968
Fred Gardner
Is California Spying on Pro-Pot Doctors?
Jonah Girdin
The Opposition Strategy in Venezuela: Subvert Democracy in the
Name of Democracy
Katherine Lahey
"Uh!
Ah! Chávez No Se Va!": Democracy and Venezuela
Medea Benjamin
Hugo Chavez and the Poor of Venezuela
Yves Engler
The Media and the Venezuela Referendum
Zeynep Toufe
The NYTs and Chavez: More Than the Usual Bias
Mike Whitney
The Trouble in Najaf: What Was al-Sadr's Crime?
Eric Drooker
Gaza Stripped
Dave Zirin
Olympic Sized Horror in Greece: 150 Workers Died Building the
Facilities
Dave Lindorff
A29 Could be a Very Slow Day
Rebecca Brigham
The Aftermath of Guatemala's Strike: Promises Still Unfulfilled
Wayne Madsen
The McGreevey Scandal: an Israeli Connection?
David Krieger
Nuclear Disarmament in a Time of Globalization: the US Double
Standard
Tracy McLellan
The Illegality of Pot is a Crime: a Personal Account
Christina Gerhardt
Confronting Capitalism: What Has Changed Since Seattle 1999?
Poets' Basement
Adler, Albert Vijayalakshmi, Gilliam
August 13,
2004
Lee Sustar
Report
from Caracas
Mickey Z.
McProtests R Us: Why are the Dems Trying to Gag Anti-War Protesters?
Stan Goff
There
He Goes Again: Kerry's "Energy" Plan
Norman Madarasz
Thoughts on Najaf: How Could the US Ever Be Considered a "Terrorist"
State?
Victor Kattan
Press Freedom, Censorship and the War on Terror
Oscar Heck
Is Mendoza Off His Rocker? Chavez Opponents Pledge to Post Results
Online Before Polls Close
CounterPunch
Wire
Military Families File "Stop Loss" Suit
Milan Rai
Najaf: Bush Started It
Website of
the Day
The Yes Men
August 12,
2004
Jeffrey St.
Clair
How
Bush Got (and Lost) His Wings
Lenni Brenner
Take
It on Faith: Kerry's See-Through-Monk's Robe
Lee Ballinger
The Coors and the Kerrys: Drink Up, Kids!
Tariq Ali
The
Handover Fiction
Yves Engler
What's at Stake in Venezuela
William S.
Lind
Seeing
Through the Other Side's Eyes
Christopher Brauchli
Getting Bush's Goat
Website of
the Day
The Sucker Puncher
August 11,
2004
Ceylon Mooney
Who
Woke Up Sen. Joe?: Watchers of the NJ Turnpike
Voices in the
Wilderness
Hands
Off Najaf
Ray McGovern
Porter
Goss as CIA Director?
Robert Jensen
US
Supports Anti-Democratic Forces in Venezuelan Recall
Annie Higgins
In Memory of Nick Pretzlik: As Good as It Gets
Alexander Cockburn
Bush
v. Kerry: Not Even a Dime's Worth of Difference
Website of the Day
Nick Pretzlik
August 10,
2004
William A.
Cook
Silencing
the Voice of the People
Todd Chretien
California Greens at the Crossroads: Will It Be Nader or Cobb?
Dave Lindorff
Chicago on the Hudson?
Richard Gott
Loathed
by the Rich: Why Chavez is Headed for a Big Win
Toni Solo
Bluebeard's
Castle: Disappearing the Right to Development
Dave Zirin
Carl Eller's Plea
Rep. Ron Paul
Police State, USA
Patrick Cockburn
If the Chalabis Were Corrupt, They Weren't Alone
Website of
the Day
The Surveillance-Industrial Complex
August 9, 2004
Tito Tricot
Pinochet
Must Still be Tried: a Murderer and a Thief on the Loose
Ron Jacobs
In
Memory of Deep Throat: the Day Nixon Was Gone
Norm Dixon
Crisis in Sudan: Oil Profits Behind West's Tears for Darfur
Kurt Nimmo
The Politics of Entrapment
Elaine Cassel
Welcome to Bush's America
Gary Leupp
Why
Iraqi Christians are Moving to Syria
August 7 /
8, 2004
James Petras
The
Anatomy of "Terror Experts": Meet the Mandarins of
Abu Ghraib
Fred Gardner
Run
Ricky Run: Football, Pot and Pain
Justin Delacour
Anti-Chavez Pollsters Panic: Fix Numbers; Reinvent Venezuela
Brian Cloughley
Persecuted by All; Supported by None: Who Would Be A Kurd?
Joshua Frank
The
Outsider: a Talk with Ralph Nader
Iain A. Boal
On "Shame": Warmed-Over Orientalism and Racist Projection
Chris Floyd
All About Eve: Open Season on Women in DC and Rome
Andrew Fenton
Fighting for Democracy and Justice in Haiti
Aseem Shrivastava
Saga of an Anguished Afghan
Neil Corbett
See Cuba: Sometimes a Cigar is Just a Cigar, Mr. Bush
Carol Miller
/ Forrest Hill
Rigged Convention; Divided Party: How David Cobb Won with Only
12% of the Vote
Tarek Milleron
Breaking the Principled Voter
Donald Macintyre
The
Battle of Najaf
Ron Jacobs
Spirits of The Dead: Why I Love My Petty Bourgeois Tendencies
Mickey Z.
Kid
Gavilan's Grave: Propaganda Scores a TKO
Poets' Basement
Adler, Ford and Albert
August 6, 2004
Joshua Frank
David
Cobb's Soft Charade: the Greens and the Politics of Mendacity
Derek Seidman
An
Interview with Stan Goff
Mike Whitney
The
Arbitrary Imprisonment of Jose Padilla
William S. Lind
Corruption in the Marine Corps
David Price
In
the Shadow of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
August 5, 2004
Mike Ferner
The Kerry Show: When Peace is Off
Message
Bruce Anderson
Two
Rejections
Robert Fisk
The Tale of Saddam's Cameraman
Todd Chretien
Florida
Comes to California: the Democrats' Plot Against Nader
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
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
July
20, 2004
Stan
Cox
The Bush / Kerry War Ticket
Chris
Randolph
An Open Letter to Dr. Ehrenreich: It's Over, Barb!
Forrest
Hylton
The Ghosts of Gonismo: "Popular
Patricipation" and Bolivia's Gas Referendum
Mark
Scaramella
It's Official! Mendocino County is Crazier and Fatter Than the
Rest of California
Sam
Bahour
The World is Knocking on Israel's Door
George
Reiter
A Defense of David Cobb
John
Ross
Burying Iraq, Burying Bush
John
L. Hess
Girlie Stuff: Media Tolerance of Arnold & Co.
Website
of the Day
This Land is Your Land
July
19, 2004
Uri
Avnery
Marie and the Ghosts: the Hoax of
Paris
Col.
Dan Smith
What Has Been Accomplished?
Mike
Whitney
Allawi: Our Puppet with a Pistol
Karyn
Strickler
Just Marriage, Not Gay Marriage
Robert
Fisk
The Crisis of Information in Baghdad
David
Swanson
Media Blackout of US Labor Opposition
to Iraq War
Jennifer
van Bergen
The Death of the Great Writ of Liberty
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
July
16, 2004
Dave
Zirin
Adonal Foyle: Master of the Lefty Lay-Up
Shervan
Sardar
Dershowitz, the ICJ and Jim Crow Laws
Ron
Jacobs
The Lil' Engine That Couldn't: Kucinich Surrenders on Anti-War
Plank
Robert
Fisk
Iraq, According to Edgar Allen Poe:
Coffin Bombs in Baghdad
Greg
Moses
The Forts of Iraq
Mickey
Z.
Ad Infinitum?: Presidential Campaigns in the Age of TV
Dan
Bacher
A Landmark Win for Salmon and the Tribes
Dave
Lindorff
The Mumia Case: Support from NAACP,
But a Movement in Shambles
Paul
McGeough
Did Allawi Shoot Inmates in Cold Blood?
Website
of the Day
10 Reasons to Fire Bush (and 9 Reasons Kerry Won't Be Any Better)
July
15, 2004
Heather
Williams
McMissing
the Point: Supersize Me Crashes on Its Message
Werther
Iraq: Follow the Money
Tom
Crumpacker
The Birds of Guantanamo
Brian
Cloughley
What Does the Bush Regime Object To?
Bill
Christison
Reorganize the CIA? Of Course,
But...
July
14, 2004
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Chronicle of a Nomination Foretold:
the Green Deceivers
Neve
Gordon
Of Socrates and the Apartheid Wall
Diane
Christian
The Priesthood of Death
Stefan
Wray
Who Benefits from Missing Data at Los Alamos Nuclear Lab?
Josh
Frank
The Nader / Dean Debate
Conn
Hallinan
Divide and Conquer as Imperial Rules
Elizabeth
Weill-Greenberg
Bring My Brother Home!: Class, War
and Education
Website
of the Day
Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear and the Selling of US Empire
July
13, 2004
Ray
McGovern
The CIA and Iraq: an Intelligence
Debacle...and Worse
Mark
Donham
The Sierra Club's Inexplicable Treatment of Cynthia McKinney
Ben
Tripp
Politus Interruptis: With Friends Like
These, Who Needs Electorates?
Mark
Gaffney
Slipping Towards Armageddon: Israel
in Iraq
Dave
Lindorff
Osama Wins! Election Postponed!
Chris
White
Double Think: the Bedrock of Marine
Indoctrination
July
10 / 12, 2004
Kathleen
Christison
The Problem with Neutrality Between
Palestinians and Israel
Janine
Pommy Vega
Trail of the Comet: a Gathering of the World's Poets Against
War
Sherry
Wolf
From Maverick to Party Attack Dog: Howard Dean Gay-Bashes Nader
Saul
Landau and Farrah Hassen
A Transfer of Power, Sort Of
Michael
Donnelly
How to Steal an Election: the Green Version, 2004
Stanton
/ Madsen
Iraq Survey Group: Rumsfeld's al-Qaeda?
Richard
Lichtman
The End of Innocence: Reflections on American Pathology
Gila
Svirsky
Thank You, Your Honors: a Legal Blow to the Wall
Kurt
Nimmo
Clinton's Life
Toni
Solo
Empire-Speak: What Roger Noriega Really Means
Ron
Jacobs
The Black Panthers and the Rest
Camelo
Ruiz Marrero
Gene Warfare in Oaxaca: Genetic Mutation of Mexican Maize
Omar
Barghouti
Wither the Empire: Rise of a Global Resistance
Poets'
Basement
Curtis and Albert
July
9, 2004
Dave
Zirin
Carlos Delgado on Deck: Blue Jays Slugger
Stands Up Against War
Justin
Delacour
Wishing Kerry Would Shut Up About
Latin America
Robert
Fisk
Iraq in Reverse: Martial Laws Fuel Insurgency
Boris
Kagarlitsky
Two Congresses and a Funeral
William
S. Lind
The October Surprises
Sibel
Edmonds
Our Broken System: John Ashcroft's War on Truth
Ron
Jacobs
Reading Tea Leaves: What Vietnam Tells Us About Iraq's Future
Gary
Leupp
The Lie That Will Not Die: Cheney and
the Iraq/al-Qaeda Link
July
8, 2004
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
The Inexplicable John McCain
Toufic
Haddad
Protesting Israel's Apartheid Wall:
a Letter from the Hunger Strikers' Tent
Dave
Lindorff
Liberation as Martial Law
Joshua
Frank
The Fall: How Beltway Dems Sank Howard
Dean
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush & Cheney Play the Hitler Card
James
Petras
The Truth About Jimmy Carter
July
7, 2004
John
Chuckman
Kerry's BBQ: a Deafening Silence
of Meaning
Virginia
Tilley
A Line in the Sand: Azmi Bishara's
Hunger Strike
Susan
Martinez
A Letter to Bill Cosby
Mickey
Z
Elie Wiesel's Strange Parade
Michael
Donnelly
Our Own Private Wilderness: Trusting the Land in the Inland Empire
Sean
Donahue
Boston Social Forum: the Dems aren't the Only Show in Beantown
Diane
Christian
Sovereignty and Freedom in Iraq
July
6, 2004
Lisa
Viscidi
Fleeing Guatemala: Central Americans
Risk Lives to Reach El Norte
Marc
Norton
The Felonious Five Ride Again: the
Supreme Court and Enemy Combatants
James
Brooks
Chemical Warfare on the West Bank?
Ray
McGovern
Porter Goss as CIA Director?
William
Cook
Legacy of Deceit: If Dante Knew of Bush and the Neo-Cons...
July
5, 2004
Forrest
Hylton
US Imperialism in Latin America: Sept.
11, July 4 and Systematic Torture
Chris
White
A Former Marine Sgt. on the Meaning
of Independence Day
Joe
Bageant
Cranky Reflections on the 4th of July
Robert
Jensen
Stupid White Movie: What Michael Moore
Misses About the Empire
Kathy
Kelly
"Two Days an' a Wake-Up"
July
3 / 4, 2004
Elaine
Cassel
Bush's Police State and Independence
Day
Stan
Goff
ABC of Opportunism: "Progressive"
Latin American Leaders Support the Coup in Haiti
Snehal
Shingavi
"We Want Real Justice for Bhopal": Two Survivors Speak
Out
Bruce
Anderson
The Cheney-Leahy Metaphor and the Greens
Sharon
Smith
Twilight of the Greens: the Chokehold of "Anybody But Bush"
Josh
Frank
Ralph Nader's Revolt: an Interview with Greg Bates
Robert
Fisk
Pentagon Tried to Censor Saddam's Hearing
Joe
Bageant
Sons of a Laboring God: Leftnecks Unite!
Brian
Cloughley
Fortress Bush and the One Law Doctrine
Justin
Delacour
The Anti-Chavez Echo Chamber: Venezuela's Media Tycoons
William
S. Lind
Saudi Spillover
Linda
S. Heard
A Joke Called "Justice"
Greg
Moses
"It's Illegal, But It's Our Right": Korean Labor Won't
Back Down
Ron
Jacobs
"Ain't You Proud to be White on Independence Day?"
Toni
Solo
Weary of Indigenous Resistances? Just Pretend They're Not There
Dan
Nagengast
Chicken Manure as Cattle Food: Safe, But Do We Want to Eat It?
Stew
Albert
Brando, a Personal Recollection
Dave
Zirin
From the Black Panthers to Sacheen Littlefeather: a Eulogy for
Our Brando
Patrick
W. Gavin
The Progressive Case for Dodgeball
Steven
Rosenthal / Junaid Ahmad
The Problem is Bigger Than the Bushes: a Review of F911
Poets'
Basement
Kearney, Ford and Davies
Website
of the Day
Global Peace Solution
July
2, 2004
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Suicide Right on the Stage: the Demise
of the Green Party
Douglas
Valentine
Fahrenheit 911: Mocking the Moral Crisis of Capitalism
Gary
Leupp
"Just Because I Could": On Obscenities and Opportunities
Lee
Ballinger
Illegal People: Kerry Opposes Immigrant Rights
Robert
Fisk
Saddam in the Dock: Confused? Hardly
CounterPunch
Wire
"What Law Formed This Court?": a Transcript of Saddam's
Arraignment
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush's Drug Card Lottery: the Price Ain't Right
Saul
Landau
Buzz Words and Venezuela
July 1, 2004
Katherine
van Wormer
Bush's Damaged Mind: the Madness in
His Method
Joe
Bageant
Is Our President a Whackjob? Does It Matter?
William
James Martin
The Dogma of Richard Perle
Dave
Lindorff
Bush's Evacuation Moment
Robert
Fisk
Bread and Circus Trials in Iraq
Alan
Maass
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August
20, 2004
Monkeywrench
Hope
An
Interview with Jeffrey St. Clair
By
JOSHUA FRANK
Jeffrey St. Clair is an environmentalist
and author of Been
Brown So Long it Looked Like Green to Me: The Politics of Nature.
He is also the co-editor with Alexander Cockburn of several new
books including Dime's
Worth of Difference: Beyond the Lesser of Two Evils, and
Imperial
Crusades: Iraq, Afghanistan, and Yugoslavia. He currently
resides in Oregon City, Oregon.
Joshua Frank: Jeff, thanks
for agreeing to this interview. So many progressives I've talked
to, who admit John Kerry offers no alternative to the Bush Administration
on almost every issue -- often justify their support for the
Kerry ticket by saying that there is at least a stark difference
between Bush and Kerry on the environmental front. They point
out such things as Bush's disregard for science, his horrible
forest plan, his roll-back of Bill Clinton's roadless rule --
while they see Kerry as an environmental crusader who has received
ringing endorsements from all the major environmental groups.
Having covered environmental politics since the early 1990s,
how do you respond to this rationale? Do you agree that indeed
there are major differences between Bush and Kerry regarding
the environment?
Jeffrey St. Clair: Let's get
some things straight up front. The environmental movement bears
very little relationship to the "major environmental groups."
The big groups, aka Gang Green, function politically as little
more than green front for the Democratic Party. Of course, they
inflate Kerry as an environmental crusader. They would say, and
indeed have said, the same thing about any Democratic nominee.
That's their job. They do it very well, indeed. They should,
because the Beltway Greens aren't really environmentalists any
more in the way we used to think of enviros 15 or 20 years ago.
These aren't activists, but lawyers and lobbyists, mainly from
Ivy League schools, overwhelmingly white and liberal, who could
(and perhaps will) just as easily be lobbying on health care,
abortion rights, trade policy. They come packing with a PhD in
deal making. There's no driving commitment to wilderness or burning
rage about cancer alley or passionate concern about the fate
of the grizzly. It's all very congenial, nicely compensated,
prefabricated and totally uninspired.
The irony, of course, is that
the better this new breed of eco-lobbyist do their job (i.e.,
act as a kind of mercenary force against the Republicans), the
less seriously most rational people (except the perenniably gullible)
take them. With good reason. There's more threat inflation being
waged by the Big Greens, than by the Bush administration in the
run-up to the Iraq war. Does Bush want to pursue corporate-driven
environmentally hostile policies? Of course. Is Kerry an environmental
crusader? Of course, not. And there's the lie. In it's zeal to
become a Beltway player, the Big Greens have ceased to be truth-tellers.
For example, the Greens say Bush has turned his back on the Kyoto
protocols. True enough. But they neglect to say that Kerry turned
his back first, voting against Kyoto while he was a senator and
Clinton was president. This is to say that Bush was tight with
Ken Lay and covered for Enron. Right on. We all know Bush, the
inveterate nick-name dropper, dubbed Lay "Kenny Boy."
But they over look the fact that Lay and the Kerry's are also
very good friends and frequent dining companions. Moreover, Ken
Lay was recruited by Teresa Heinz Kerry for a seat on the board
of her environmental foundation, where he was assigned the task
of heading the foundation's global warming task force. They charge
that Bush, fully marinated in crude oil, wants to open the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. Horrible, but true. They
say that Kerry opposes this. And that's true, too. But they elide
the fact that Kerry told Teamster's president Jimmy Hoffa that
while he won't drill in ANWR, he does plan to drill "everywhere
else like never before." Where would everywhere else include?
The coastal plain of Alaska, offshore waters of Alaska and the
Gulf of Mexico, the Rocky Mountain Front, the red rock country
of Utah, the deserts of New Mexico, the Powder River Basin of
Wyoming. There's more. Kerry met with the American Gas Association
a few weeks ago and pledged his support for a Trans-Alaska-Canada
Natural Gas Pipeline that will cut across some of the most incredible
tundra and taiga on Earth -- a project that will dwarf the Trans-Alaska
Pipeline. No one among the Beltway Greens even squeaked. This
amounts to a grand and debilitating hypocrisy.
JF: Does this perpetual
hypocrisy of the Big Greens go any deeper? Such endorsements
seem to carry a lot of weight with potential voters. Larry Fahn,
the Sierra Club's current president, said following their endorsement
of John Kerry, "Now, thousands of Sierra Club members in
every state will be volunteering their efforts to tell voters
about the clear choice in this election [We are] encouraging
all Americans who care about the environment to vote for John
Kerry in November." This is an enviro organization that
boasts of having over 700,000 members. That's a huge number of
potential Kerry supporters. What are the reasons the Club blatantly
turns its back on its radical John Muir roots? What are their
motivations for being a "green-front" for the Democratic
Party as you say?
JSC: Yes, it goes much deeper
than just hypocrisy. It involves big money, an obscene craving
for political access, ego enlargement and a kind of political
paternalism that I (and many others) find revolting. I don't
think the environment will play that much of a factor in the
election. Nobody listens to environmentalists anymore, except
their own captive members. That's my point. The Big Greens have
marginalized the environmental movement through their blatant
partisanship. The environment isn't an election issue any more,
because there's no viable green candidate -- a fact that is apparent
to the average teenager in Lincoln, Nebraska. Essentially, Fahn
and the others play the role of cattle drivers, keeping their
own herd in line, lest it stampede over into Nader's greener
pastures. Yes, the Club has 700,000 members. But these aren't
activists. The Club doesn't want activists, indeed they run them
out of the organization. Activists have an unwelcome tendency
to think and act for themselves. They aren't great at following
marching orders, especially when it means marching over a cliff.
JF: Speaking of "no
viable green candidate," David Cobb, the Green Party Presidential
candidate, is currently polling at 0%. If that is even possible.
His support apparently isn't even a blip on the electoral radar
screen. What do you think the ramifications will be for the Greens
who, like the Sierra Club, were founded on radical environmental
ideals, but have apparently sidelined any radical tendencies,
and opted to run a "smart-state" campaign which basically
endorses John Kerry for president?
JSC: I think the Greens are
kaput, a kind of group political suicide on the order of Jonestown
or that strange cult in Rancho Santa Fe who neutered themselves,
donned their black sweat suits and Nikes, & poisoned themselves
while waiting for the Hale-Bopp Comet. David Cobb is either Jim
Jones or Hale-Bopp. Take your pick. A long time ago, in a galaxy
far far away, the founding purpose of the Green party was to
be a party of resistance. It was never about party building,
or getting school board candidates elected, or anything but being
a monkeywrench against a corrupt political system. Once the Greens
decided to play nice, they ceased to exist as a force of opposition.
Why be a Green when you can be a Dem? Why be a Dem when you can
be a Republican? The only choice now is not to vote. Staying
home on Election Day under these circumstances isn't apathy or
laziness or political mopery (as much as I admire all of those
things) but an act of supreme resistance, particularly against
those hysterical Dems who yelp that this is the most important
election of our lifetime. Bunk.
JF: Would you say that Ralph
Nader is playing nice this election season? Is there reason to
stay home with him in the race? Or is he just playing by the
rules, much like the Greens, unwilling to monkeywrench against
the political system?
JSC: I think Ralph played coy
for too long. Then he was baited into running by the very smear
artists who spent three years mugging him. They really underestimated
what Ralph is made of -- which just shows that they are as stupid
as they are politically corrupt. He wasn't going to stand by
and allow a bunch of political thugs and liars to besmirch his
character. Then he was betrayed by his own political progenies,
including the Green Party, which he almost single-handedly built
into a national force. Ralph is a lawyer and a good one. He lives
by rules and plays by them. He's not a monkeywrencher or revolutionary
or even a radical. He believes in ethical government, despite
all the odds. If Nader makes the Oregon ballot -- a long shot
given the slimy tactics used against him by Democrats and some
Greens -- I will happily vote for him. I take Foucault seriously.
Politics is really about power. The only power the Left (loosely
speaking) enjoys these days is the power of negation. We can't
elect Nader or Camejo or Jackson. But we can defeat bad Democrats,
like Gore and Kerry. Until the Democrats bend in our direction
or a new political party rises to challenge them. And it doesn't
take much, other then courage, to make this happen -- an all
out anti-war & anti-free trade campaign waged in Florida,
Ohio, Michigan, Oregon, New Hampshire, Maine and New Mexico.
Those are the states that matter. Those are the states that will
force the power elite to deal with the Left. Until that happens,
the Democratic Party will continue to move to the right, outpacing
the Repubs on several issues.
JF: On what issues have
the Democrats outpaced the Republicans?
JSC: It's a long list, Josh.
NAFTA, welfare deform, evisceration of the Endangered Species
Act, the drug war, logging the national forests (the ANNUAL cut
under Clinton was three to four times the TOTAL cut under Bush
for his first 3 years) and, most recently, their ridiculous objections
to the Bush plan for withdrawal of US from Europe, which signals
the end of NATO.
JF: We heard so much about
the rampages of Bush's "Healthy Forest Initiative"
from Big Greens, who cried foul as the horrible legislation floated
through congress. It seemed that under Bush some of these green
lobbyists were actually invigorated, where as under Clinton they
seemed to sit back and idly watch the salvage rider clear-cut
ancient forests, while NAFTA blatantly undermined environmental
regulations. Do you think that having Bush in office another
four years will energize these big enviros to do some good? How
about the radical environmental movement on the ground? For many,
it seems like dire times indeed, with little hope for environmental
salvation.
JSC: As a general rule, environmentalists,
like other social movements, are better playing defense than
offense; better at organizing against something than for something;
better at attacking enemies than holding purported allies accountable
for their actions. This has borne itself out again and again.
At the legislative level, much of Bush's most insane policies
have been stymied or sunk. The problem, naturally, comes at the
administrative level, where there's often little recourse beyond
litigation followed by direct action. And the Big Green groups
don't DO direct action. And for the past 30 years, the federal
courts have drifted steadily to the right. The "right"
is probably the wrong term since true conservatives are supposedly
suspicious of unbridled executive authority. This judiciary is
exceptionally tolerant of almost any decision made by the executive
branch. So the courts are becoming a much tougher venue to wage
these battles. Yes, the environmental movement is "invigorated"
under Bush, but for the wrong reasons.
The foot soldiers of the environmental
movement have been conditioned to hate Bush -- and I mean hate
-- and all his minions -- fair enough, they are a hateful bunch.
What's missing, of course, is any admission that it's the political
system which is aligned with the corporations against the environment;
what's missing is any acknowledgment that Bush -- from forests
to water policy, from oil leasing to power plants, from salmon
to toxic emissions -- is merely openly pursuing policies which
Clinton (with the aid of many Democrats in congress) quietly
established. And that's the fatal flaw of the Big Greens. They
have refused to act as honest brokers, as non-partisan defenders
of the planet. Instead, they seduced their own members into believing
that a change in the White House will lead to a change of direction
in environmental policy. That's the crucial lie. And it's a big
one and a dangerous one. On paper, Kerry is marginally better
than Bush on the environment. But where a unified resistance
has confounded many of Bush's plans, Kerry will face little resistance.
In fact, the Big Greens are likely to be complicit, as they were
during Clinton time. The press will play along. And that's when
the real damage will be done. Then we will be left once again
with that thin green line of defenders, Earth First!, people
in neighborhoods fighting power plants and landfills (the dreaded
NIMBYS) and the like, who put the needs of the earth & the
lives of their children above the niceties of two party politics.
Cherish those people: they are our only hope.
Joshua Frank, a contributor to CounterPunch's forthcoming
book, A
Dime's Worth of Difference: Beyond the Lesser of Two Evils,
is putting the finishing touches on Left
Out: How Liberals did Bush's Work for Him, to be published
by Common Courage Press. He welcomes comments at frank_joshua@hotmail.com.
Weekend
Edition Features for August 7 / 8, 2004
James Petras
The
Anatomy of "Terror Experts": Meet the Mandarins of
Abu Ghraib
Fred Gardner
Run
Ricky Run: Football, Pot and Pain
Justin Delacour
Anti-Chavez Pollsters Panic: Fix Numbers; Reinvent Venezuela
Brian Cloughley
Persecuted by All; Supported by None: Who Would Be A Kurd?
Joshua Frank
The
Outsider: a Talk with Ralph Nader
Iain A. Boal
On "Shame": Warmed-Over Orientalism and Racist Projection
Chris Floyd
All About Eve: Open Season on Women in DC and Rome
Andrew Fenton
Fighting for Democracy and Justice in Haiti
Aseem Shrivastava
Saga of an Anguished Afghan
Neil Corbett
See Cuba: Sometimes a Cigar is Just a Cigar, Mr. Bush
Carol Miller
/ Forrest Hill
Rigged Convention; Divided Party: How David Cobb Won with Only
12% of the Vote
Tarek Milleron
Breaking the Principled Voter
Donald Macintyre
The
Battle of Najaf
Ron Jacobs
Spirits of The Dead: Why I Love My Petty Bourgeois Tendencies
Mickey Z.
Kid
Gavilan's Grave: Propaganda Scores a TKO
Poets' Basement
Adler, Ford and Albert
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