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What You're Missing in our subscriber-only CounterPunch newsletter EX-STATE DEPT.SECURITY OFFICER SPELLS OUT 9/11 COVER-UP Official Describes "Hands Off" CIA/FBI Response to Al Qaeda 1994 Assassination Plan for Clinton in Manila, Says It Points to Pakistan's ISI Involvement in 9/11 Attack, Passed Over by 9/11 Commission Vijay Prashad reports on Neoliberalism-as-Theft, defied by India's Left in fierce strikes Paul Craig Roberts Dissects US Jobs Decline and NYT's PollyAnna Reporting Gabriel Kolko on How Crazed America Will Destroy NATO Smearing Hugo Chavez as Anti-Semite 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 By Email for Only $35 a Year

Today's Stories February 25 / 26, 2006 Alexander Cockburn Quail in War and Peace February 24, 2006 Alan Maass War Crimes and Hunting Misdemeanors William S. Lind The Coming Fall of Pakistan Dave Lindorff Useless Democrats: a Whig's Worth of Difference? Pierre Tristam Iraq's Cambodian Jungle Meg Bannerji Bush's Port Deal: Who's the Dummy? Robert Jensen The Failures of Our First Amendment Successes Mark Engler How Costly is Too Costly?: Finding the Budgetary Tipping Point for Iraq Jennifer Loewenstein Watching the Dissolution of Palestine Website of the Day Katrina and the Failure of Black Leadership   February 23, 2006 Chet Richards Rumsfeld's New Model Military: Creating Stability or Insurgency? Jonathan Feldman Dubaigate Deconstructed Joshua Frank The Democrats' Pull Out Method: Another Election Year Stunt? Ron Jacobs Volunteers of America: the Politics of the Weather Underground Amira Hass Separate and Unequal: Forbidden to Go Home Together Samah Sabawi Hamas and the Missing Video: Editorial Delusions at the Globe and Mail Norman Solomon The Unreal Death of Journalism Christopher Reed Japan's Neo-Militarists Website of the Day Is the Pentagon Making an Anthrax Bomb in Utah?   February 22, 2006 Robert Pollin Reaganomics Revisited: Beyond the Glow of Nostalgia Phil Doe How to Pay for War and Cut Taxes for the Rich: Sell Off the Public Lands Pirouz Azadi Looking Middle Eastern? You are a Prime Suspect Saul Landau Memo to the Dems: Doesn Anyone Give a Damn? Brian McKinlay Howard's End?: Trouble Down Under Sam Smith Real Holocaust Denial Niranjan Ramakrishnan Could You Please Pass the Port? Diane Farsetta The Pentagon's Media Contracts: the Wages of Spin Website of the Day Port of No Return: Bin Laden, the Taliban and the UAE   February 21, 2006 Paul Craig Roberts Would Someone Please Interfere in Our Elections? Franklin Spinney Arab Democracy American-Style: Or How to Lose a 4th Generation War Dave Lindorff Chasing Cheney in the Ambulance Alevtina Rea Ethics, Morals and Empire Bruce K. Gagnon The Dems' Latest Stall Strategy: "Strategic Redeployment" Dave Zirin Whiteblindness: the Winter Olympics, Bryant Gumbel and Racism at ESPN Bill Quigley Six Months After Katrina: Who Was Left Behind Then? Who is Being Left Behind Now? Website of the Day Soldiers and Students   February 20, 2006 Jennifer Van Bergen The Perversions of the Bush Administration: Sexual Humiliation and Mother Murder in the War on Terror Rachard Itani The Bigoted Wombat: John Howard Does Abu Ghraib Gideon Levy A Chilling Heartlessness Joshua Frank Cindy Sheehan's Message to the Democrats Newton Garver The Challenges and Opportunities Confronting Evo Morales Pratyush Chandra What the US Ambassador Taught Nepalis Seth Sandronsky Bubblicious: the US Real Estate Market Cockburn / St. Clair The FBI and the Myth of Fingerprints Website of the Day Chickenhawks Hall of Shame   February 18 / 19, 2006 Werther A Half-Dozen Questions About 9/11 They Don't Want You to Ask Uzma Aslam Khan Live from Lahore: Watching with Glee Joe DeRaymond A Case of Injustice in Pennsylvania: the Prosecution of Dennis Counterman Edward F. Mooney Is Liberalism a Failing Religion? The Case of the Danish Cartoons Paul Craig Roberts From Conservatives to Brownshirts Elaine Cassel The Sentencing of Zacarias Moussaoui: an Issue of Competency P. Sainath Soaring Suicides in Vidharbha Thomas P. Healy An Interview with Ann Wright Brian Concannon, Jr. Haiti's Elections: Right Result; Wrong Procedure Fred Gardner Health Savings Accounts: a Boon for the Bosses Rep. Cynthia McKinney Katrina's New Underclass Brian Tokar WTO vs. Europe: Less (and More) Than It Seems Chan Chee Khoon Privatizing the World Bank? Andrew Freedman Chicago's Panopticon St. Clair / Walker Playlists: What We're Listening to This Week Poets' Basement Hassen, Anderson, Engel and Guthrie Website of the Weekend Depictionary   February 17, 2006 Floyd Rudmin Secret War Plans and the Malady of American Militarism Gervasio Rodríguez FBI Home Invasions in Puerto Rico Gary Leupp The Mad is No Longer Out of the Question: Stopping the War on Iran Before It Starts Ramzy Baroud Weathering the Globalization Storm Amira Hass Apartheid Gates: IDF Establishes "Israeli Only" Crossings Matthew Koehler Forest Abuse on the Kootenai: an Intervention in Montana Niranjan Ramakrishnan Deadeye Dick: Who Dares Call Him Chickenhawk Now? Debbie Nathan ABC's Primetime "Teen Sex Slaves" Scam Website of the Day Black Mesa Defense   Febrauary 16, 2006 Lila Rajiva Torture Pictures That Didn't Make the Exhibition Norman Solomon Dick Cheney's Fox Trot Ron Jacobs An Interview with Antiwar Faster Mike Ferner Paul Craig Roberts Their Own Economic Reality Website of the Day This Ain't No Video Game February 15, 2006 Brian Conacnnon, Jr. Haiti's Elections: Chaos, Supression and Fraud Dave Lindorff Democrats Shoot Their Own, Too Saree Makdisi Israeli Ultimatums Joshua Frank The Rhetorical Gore Amira Hass Down the Expulsion Highway CounterPunch Wire Winter of Discontent: a 34-Day Fast Against the War Robert Bryce The United States of Enron Website of the Day Osama's Game: an Interview with Michael Scheuer February 14, 2006 John Sugg Those Cartoons and the Neo Con: Daniel Pipes and the Danish Editor Don Santina DiFi and the Royal Democrats: the Curious Withdrawal of Cindy Sheehan William A. Cook Shaming Sharon Ray McGovern Who Will Blow the Whistle About Iran? John Ross Bush's Mexican Poodle Website of the Day Willie Nelson Records CPer Ned Sublette's "Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly" February 13, 2006 Lila Rajiva Axis of Child Abusers: UK Troops Beat Up Barefoot Iraqi Teens Christopher Brauchli Whistleblowers and Witch Hunters: the Bush Inquisition Dave Lindorff Deadeye Dick: If Stupidity Were Impeachable, Cheney Would Be History Ron Jacobs Black Liberation Mike Whitney Riding High with Hugo Chavez Michael Neumann Respectful Cultures and Disrespectful Cartoons Website of the Day Virtual Resistance   February 11 / 12, 2006 Alexander Cockburn How Not to Spot a Terrorist Ralph Nader Bringing Democracy to the Federal Reserve Paul Craig Roberts Nuking the Economy Pat Williams John Boehner's Dirty Little Secret: Flying Lobbyist Air at $4,000 a Junket Fred Gardner Dr. Mikuriya's Appeal: a Last Minute Twist Saul Landau From Munich to Hamas John Chuckman Cartoons and Bombs: Was Rice Right for Once? Roger Burbach Evo Morales: the Early Days Seth Sandronsky Economy on Ice Website of the Weekend Just Say Know   February 10, 2006 Carl G. Estabrook A US War Plan for Khuzestan? Sen. Russell Feingold A Raw Deal on the Patriot Act Roxanne Dunbar----Ortiz How Did Evo Morales Come to Power? Saree Makdisi The Tempest Over the Hamas Charter Website of the Day The New York Art Scene: 1974----1984     February 9, 2006 Dave Lindorff Bush and Yamashita: War Crimes and Commanders-in-Chief Mike Marqusee The Human Majority was Right About Iraq Paul Craig Roberts How Conservatives Went Crazy: the Rightwing Press Peter Phillips Inside the Global Dominance Group: 200 Insiders Against the World William S. Lind Rumsfeld the Maximalist: the Long War Christine Tomlinson Innocent Targets in the "Long War": False Positives and Bush's Eavesdropping Program Will Youmans Church of England Votes to Divest from Israel Robert Robideau An American Indian's View of the Cartoons Richard Neville The Cartoons That Shook the World: All This from the Danes, the Least Funny People on Earth Peter Rost The New Robber Barons Website of the Day Eyes Wide Open   February 8, 2006 Ron Jacobs The Once and Future Sly Stone: Soundtrack to a Riot Stan Cox Making and Unmaking History with General Myers Sen. Russ Feingold Why Bush's Wiretapping Program is Illegal and Unconstitutional Robert Jensen Horowitz's Academic Hit List: Take a Class from One of the CounterPunch 16 Rep. Cynthia McKinney Bush Should Have Wiretapped FEMA and Chertoff Niranjan Ramakrishnan Alberto Gonzales Channels Mark Twain Don Monkerud Covenant Marriage on the Rocks David Swanson Inequality and War C.L. Cook Nuking Ontario Christopher Fons Chill Out Jihadis: They're Just Cartoons! Jeffrey Ballinger The Other Side of Nike and Social Responsibility Website of the Day Encyclopedia of Terrorism in the Americas   February 7, 2006 Edward Lucie-Smith An Urgent Plea to Save a Small Estonian Museum from Neo-Nazis Robert Fisk The Fury: Now Lebanon is Burning Paul Craig Roberts Colin Powell's Career as a "Yes Man" Neve Gordon Why Hamas Won Joshua Frank The Hillary and George Show: Partners in War Peter Montague The Problem with Mercury: a History of Regulatory Capitulation Jackie Corr The Last Best Choice: Public Power and Montana Jeffrey St. Clair Rumsfeld's Enforcer: the Secret World of Stephen Cambone Website of the Day Negroes with Guns   February 6, 2006 Christopher Brauchli Spilling Blood: Two Sentences Robert Fisk Don't Be Fooled: This Isn't About Islam vs. Secularism John Chuckman What Did Stephen Harper Actually Win? Jenna Orkin Judge Slams EPA for Lying About 9/11's Toxic Air Paul Craig Roberts Who Will Save America: My Epiphany   February 4 / 5, 2006 Alexander Cockburn "Lights Out in Tehran": McCain Starts Bombing Run Mike Ferner Pentagon Database Leaves No Kid Alone James Petras Evo Morales's Cabinet: a Bizarre Beginning in Bolivia Alan Maass Scare of the Union: Dems Collaborate with Bush on Surveillance Fred Gardner Annals of Law Enforcement: a Look Inside the San Francisco DA's Office Ralph Nader Bush's Energy Escapades Bill Glahn RIAA Watch: Speaking in Tongues Saul Landau Freedom 2006: Buying Sex on the Net or Those Older Freedoms? Laura Carlsen Bad Blood on the Border: Killing Guillermo Martinez James Brooks Our Little Shop of Diplomatic Horrors Mike Roselle Hippies and Revolutionaries in Carcacas John Holt Black Gold, Black Death: Canada's Oil Sands Frenzy Sarah Ferguson Cops Suing Cops ... for Spying on Cops William S. Lind Beware the Ides of March Niranjan Ramakrishnan The Price of Globalization: Free Trade or Free Speech? Seth Sandronsky The Color of Job Cuts in the Auto Industry Derrick O'Keefe Rumsfeld's Hitler Analogy Michael Donnelly Hop on the Bus Ron Jacobs Religion and Political Power Elisa Salasin RSVP to Bush St. Clair / Vest Playlists: What We're Listening to This Week Stew Albert God's Curse: Selected Poems Poets' Basement Guthrie, LaMorticella and Engel Website of the Weekend Killer Tells All!   February 3, 2006 Toufic Haddad A Parliament of Prisoners Heather Gray Working with Coretta Scott King Tim Wise Racism, Neo-Confederacy and the Raising of Historical Illiterates Conn Hallinan Nuclear Proliferation: the Gathering Storm Eva Golinger Rumsfeld and Negroponte Amp Up Hositility Toward Venezuela Daniel Ellsberg The World Can't Wait: Invitation to a Demonstration Dave Zirin Detroit: Super Bowl City on the Brink Robert Bryce The Problem with Cutting US Oil Imports from the Middle East Website of the Day The Chavez Code   February 2, 2006 Winslow T. Wheeler Pentagon Pork: How to Eliminate It Stan Cox Outsourcing the Golden Years Rachard Itani Danes (Finally) Apologize to Muslims (For the Wrong Reasons) Mike Whitney Afghanistan Five Years Later: Buildings Down, Heroin Up Amira Hass In the Footsteps of Arafat: an Interview with Hamas' Ismail Haniya Norman Solomon When Praise is Desecration: Smothering King's Legacy with Kind Words Michael Simmons Stew Lives! Christopher Reed Japan's Dirty Secret: One Million Korean Slaves Website of the Day State of Nature   February 1, 2006 Sharon Smith The Bluff and Bluster Dems: Alito and the Faux Filibuster Jason Leopold Enron and the Bush Administration Cindy Sheehan Getting Busted at the State of the Union: What Really Happened Joseph Grosso Oprah and Elie Wiesel: a Match Made in "Neutrality" Earl Ofari Hutchinson Coretta Scott King was More Than Just Dr. King's Wife Steven Higgs Life After Roe. v. Wade Robert Robideau "God Given Rights": Palestine and Native America R. Siddharth Tales of Power: When Gandhi Rejected a Faustian Bargain with Henry Ford Jim Retherford Remembering Stew Albert: the Quiet Genius Rep. Cynthia McKinney The Legacy of Coretta Scott King Paul Craig Roberts The True State of the Union Website of the Day Candide's Notebooks   January 31, 2006 Jeffrey St. Clair Revolutionary for the Hell of It: the Good Life of Stew Albert Clancy Chassay US Prods Lebanon Towards Civil War Dave Lindorff The Democrats' Alito Debacle Niranjan Ramakrishnan Alito: Harry-Kerry in the Senate Oren Ben-Dor Hamas' Victory: a New Hope? Winslow Wheeler Pentagon Pork: What is It? Who Cooks It Up? John Ryan Canada: a Chilling Echo of Bush's Republicans Mike Marqusee Privatizing Health Care: the Poor Pay the Price Ron Jacobs For Stew Andrew Cockburn Why Bush Probably Won't Attack Iran Website of the Day Celebrating Stew Albert   January 30, 2006 Paul Craig Roberts Bush, Fox News and the Coming War on Iran Winslow Wheeler Inside the Pork Shop: the Defense Budget and Congressional Earmarks Niranjan Ramakrishnan Development Interrupted Marcus Dam "The Real Threat is from Imperial Fundamentalism": an Interview with Tariq Ali John Bomar Message to Democrats: the Case Against Pre-War Lying is a Slam Dunk, Stupid Ben Beachy Swindling the Sick: the IMF Debt Relief Sham Gideon Levy The Good News About Hamas' Victory Michael Carmichael Alito and Opus Dei Missy Comley Beattie Of Losses and Lies Norman Solomon The Question Journalists Refuse to Ask Bush Brian Concannon, Jr. Finally Some Good News From Haiti Michael Ratner Tomorrow is Today; the Time for Resistance is Now Website of the Day "I'm So Bored with Capitol Hill"   January 28 / 29, 2006 Alexander Cockburn Nicholas Kristof's Brothel Problem Ralph Nader The Impeachable Mr. Bush Col. Dan Smith Spying and Lying by the Pentagon Paul Craig Roberts Blind Ignorance: Polls Show Many Americans Simply Dumber Than Bush Tammara Rosenleaf Homefront War Diary: On Monday, My Husband Didn't Call Ron Jacobs Google This! Harry Browne Irish "Peace" Process at Recriminations Stage Fred Gardner Grover Norquist, Drug Policy Reformer? Christopher Reed North Korean Forgeries Bernard Chazelle France's Colonial Blowback Daniel Wolff Radioactive Money, 2005: How Entergy Gets Its Way at Indian Point Tom Kerr Small Fry: If You're Not in Power, You'd Better Not Lie Asad Abu Khalil The Demise of Fatah Chris Murphy The Medicare Disaster Dr. Susan Block America Wants a Divorce Kathy Deacon Hippocratic Oaf St. Clair / Walker / Palmer / Shields Playlists: What We're Listening to This Week Poets' Basement Laymon, Engel, Holt, Davies and Buknatski Website of the Weekend Your Child Can Be a NSA Spook! January 27, 2006 Suren Pillay Making the World Safe for Nuclear Violence, Again Lawrence R. Velvel The NYT and Alito: Journalistic Schizophrenia J.L. Chestnut, Jr The Cold Hard Truth: Marching Backwards on Civil Rights Uri Avnery To Talk with Hamas Gary Leupp Hamas's Victory: "the Power of Democracy" Samar Assad A New Political Landscape in Palestine Jeffrey St. Clair King of the Hill: Sen. Ted Steven's Empire of Corruption Website of the Day Bush Jobs Program: You Too Can Be an FBI Snitch   January 26, 2006 Robert Robideau An AIM Activist's View of Jack Abramoff: Another Racist Out to Defraud Native Tribes Paul Craig Roberts Bolton Orders Syria to Do the Impossible Gilad Atzmon Hamas' Victory Jason Leopold A Vaster Conspiracy?: Fitzgerald Probes Niger Forgeries Joshua Frank Iran, Nukes and Oil Dave Lindorff Bush Calls Hamas Kettle Black Susan Lee An Open Letter to the State Dept. on the Cuban Five Missy Comley Beattie A Plea to the Marines: Stop Sending Recruiting Letters to Our House! Michael Carmichael Extraordinary Alito Michael Neumann The Core of Zionism Website of the Day Who Will Stop the Slaughter of Yellowstone's Bison?   January 25, 2006 Saul Landau Domestic Spying, Now and Then: When Hoover Bugged Phone Calls with My Father James Petras Is Chile's Bachelet Washington's Best New Ally? Lawrence R. Velvel Alito and Roberts' Self-Gag Rule is a Phony Vijay Prashad From Chennai with Love Kevin Zeese Gen. William Odom Supports the Empire, But Opposes the War Alison Weir When a Mother Gets Killed Does She Make a Sound? Anatomy of a Cover-Up Bruce K. Gagnon Bush War Economy: Exporting Jobs and Security Joan Roelofs Military Contractor Philanthropy Website of the Day Bob Marley Does Dylan   January 24, 2006 Paul Craig Roberts The Patriot Police: the Unfathomed Dangers of Patriot Act Reauthorization Kathy Kelly Liberation and Deliverance Jorge Mariscal Bush's War Viewed from the South Winslow T. Wheeler Smoke and Mirrors in the Defense Budget John Walsh Why We Picket John Kerry: Join Us Friday in Boston Youmans / Muaddi The Growing Israel Divestment Movement Roger Burbach Bolivia's Evo Morales: Original Mandate for Social Revolution Fr. Gerard Jean-Juste Letter from a Haitian Prison Noam Chomsky The Terrorist in the Mirror Website of the Day Big Brother Watch January 23, 2006 Uri Avnery Pity the Orphan: Israel, Hamas and the Palestinian Elections Susan Pynchon Diebold in Florida: "I Saw It Hacked" William Loren Katz Harry Belafonte Reaffirms a Proud Tradition Christopher Brauchli Bush's IRS: Squeezing the Poor Chris Floyd The Goon Show Joshua Frank Tre Arrow and ELF: Environmentalism on Death Row Norman Solomon The Other Shoe Drops: Classified Leaks and Journalists Jackie Corr Working for the Railroad: Racicot and the Burlington Northern Paul Craig Roberts Inside Cheney's War Workshop Website of the Day Arms Against War   January 21/22, 2006 Tim Shorrock Why the Buses Didn't Come: Bush-Linked Florida Company and the Katrina Evacuation Fiasco Ralph Nader Congressional Ethics After Abramoff Peter Feng Casualties of War: Neoliberalism, Katrina and the Asian Tsunami Brian Cloughley CIA Bombs Pakistan, Hits America Michael Donnelly Tapes and Snitches: Feds Hand Down Eco-Sabotage Indictments Tom Kerr Crackdown in San Quentin: Why are They Rounding Up Tookie Williams' Friends? Tim Matson Best Not Drive While Black on I-91 (But Walk Tall With the Bloody Chainsaw You Just Topped Your Neighbor With) Dave Lindorff Rumsfeld: Venezuela "Overspending" on Military Daniel Wolff Hour of Reckoning: the Gospel Roots of Wilson Pickett Fred Gardner "Metabolic Syndrome" is to "Clinical Depression" as Acomplia is Prozac Jason Leopold How Cheney Used the NSA to Spy on Americans Prior to 9/11 Matthew Koehler Betting on Biscuit: Does Post-Fire Logging Make Ecological (or Economic) Sense? John Bomar The Emperor's Clothes: from Bonaparte to Bush Ron Jacobs When Miners March: Struggle and Lose, Struggle and Win! Becky Akers Debunking Democracy Joanne Mariner Security, Terrorism and Human Rights St. Clair / Walker / Pollack CounterPunch Playlists: What We're Listening to This Week Poets' Basement Albert, Holt, Engel and Davies Website of the Day Osama's Book Club: Featured Selection January 20, 2006 Brian J. Foley What Kind of War Doesn't Allow for a Truce? Richard Gott Revolution in the Andes Joshua Frank Israel and US Threats Against Iran Pierre Tristam Imperial Mongers: From Gladstone to "King George" Bernstein / Allegretto Hourly Wages Have Fallen in 18 of the Last 20 Months Elizabeth Schulte Abortion Before Roe Website of the Day This Dog Bites   January 19, 2006 Paul Craig Roberts Political Machines: Was the 2004 Election Stolen? Bill Simpich Those Damn Democrats: To End War, Don't Ask for What You Don't Want Kevin Alexander Gray Reclaiming King Day (From the NAACP) Sam Husseini Rot at the Top: If the Democrats Really Want to Stop Bush, They Need New Leadership Sam Smith The Real Chocolate City Monica Benderman Dare to Make a Stand Winslow T. Wheeler Just How Big is the Defense Budget? Website of the Day Leave My Child Alone   January 18, 2006 Paul Craig Roberts Gore's Speech: a Challenge That Cannot be Ignored Norman Solomon The Crime of Giving the Orders: Executing Clarence Ray Allen Jonathan M. Feldman The System Doesn't Work Anymore Michael Carmichael "Extraordinary Circumstances": the Case Against Alito Paul D'Amato The Crimes of Jimmy Carter Cynthia McKinney King's Mission Endures Norman Finkelstein Why an Economic Boycott of Israel is Justified Website of the Day The Planetary Movement   January 17, 2006 M. Shahid Alam "Real Men Go to Tehran": Has al-Qaeda's Gambit Paid Off? John Ross Latin America's Indians on the Move--in Different Directions Tariq Ali God, Blood, Oil and Iraq Michael Donnelly Killing Anna Mae Aquash, Smearing John Trudell Amira Hass No Child Left Unharassed: the Obstacle Course to School in Palestine Doug Giebel Alito's CAP: Either He Lied on His Resumé or There's a Cover-Up Bill Quigley MLK Day in a Haitian Prison Ron Jacobs Meet the Son of Jim Crow: MLK Day Below the Mason/Dixon Line Mike Stark Governor on a Killling Spree Werther The Liberties of the Subject January 16, 2006 John Walsh Tears of a Neocon: The Good News from Daniel Pipes Earl Ofari Hutchinson Black Students Under Fire: Racial Profiling in Public Schools Roger Burbach Bachelet's Victory: Leftward Drift in Chile? Norman Solomon Ted Koppel, NPR and Henry Kissinger: a Natural Fit? Robert Jensen Dreams and Nightmares: How Would King Judge America? Sam Husseini Martin Luther King and the Deeper Malady Paul Craig Roberts Bush Crosses the Rubicon Website of the Day MLK: Beyond Vietnam   January 14 / 15, 2006 Alexander Cockburn What the FBI Repairman Wore When He Tried to Bug Edward Said JoAnn Wypijewski What is an Antiwar Movement? James Petras The State of the Empire, 2006 Ron Jacobs Fifteen Years of War: Who's Better Off? Brian Cloughley Fly Boys and Lie Boys: Smart-Bombing Iraqi Families While They Sleep Marianne McDonald The Madness of Ajax: a Play for Our Time Bruce Tyler Wick Bush on Torture Echoes Charles I on Arbitrary Imprisonment Fred Gardner A Last, Desperate Plea to Stay in Canada Flavia Alaya Victory at Passaic County Jail Gary Leupp A Neocon Plan to Plant WMDs? Dr. Susan Block Peeping Tom in the Bush: Nonconsenual Voyeurism and the NSA Nicole Colson The House Jack Built: The Abramoff Giude to Buying Friends and Influencing Politics Jeffrey Kolakowski Senator as Illusionist: the Hypocrisies of John McCain Missy Comley Beattie The Stepford Hearings of Samuel Alito: The Senator, the Weepy Wife and a Secret Annoiting Charles Thomson Is Serota Dead in the Water?: the Ofili Scandal at the Tate St. Clair / Walker / Vest Playlsts: What We're Listening to This Week Poets' Basement Albert, Engel, Ford and Davies Website of the Weekend Historians Against the War   January 13, 2006 Ralph Nader The Two Questions the Senate Should Have Asked Alito Leonard Weinglass The Singular Story of the Cuban Five Amira Hass Prisoners in Their Own Land: 800,000 Palestinians Sealed Off by IDF in West Bank Chris Kutalik / Jennifer Biddle Airline Workers Fight Back Lawrence R. Velvel Alito and the Democrats Dave Lindorff Eight Who Dared: a (Short) Congressional Honor Roll Mike Whitney Countdown to War with Iran? David Price How the FBI Spied on Edward Said   January 12, 2006 Jennifer Van Bergen The Unitary Executive: Why the Bush Doctrine Violates the Constitution Jeremy Brecher / Brendan Smith Command Responsibility: Torture and Legal Accountability Lawrence R. Velvel Alito Refuses to Answer Fundamental Questions Ralph Nader / Robert Weissman Corporations, Originalism and the Bill of Rights: an Open Letter to Justice Scalia Jackie Corr Killing the Big Sky's Golden Goose: Marc Racicot and the Deregulation of Montana Power Jared Bernstein The Wage Doldrums Russell D. Hoffman New Horizons in Space, New Lows in Government Aubrey Streit I Was Born in a Small Town: the Fate of Rural America Clancy Sigal Hugh Thompson and My Lai: He Broke Ranks; He Did the Right Thing Website of the Day Nukes in Space   January 11, 2006 Kevin Zeese NSA Spied on Baltimore Peace Group (And They've Got the Documents That Prove It) Ray McGovern The Big Wiretap Allan Maass / Joe Allen Schwarzenegger's Hit List: Smearing Mandela, Killing Tookie Earl Ofari Hutchinson Snatching at King's Legacy: Mythmaking, Profiteering & Outright Distortions Annie Murphy Evo Morales' Sweater Allan Lichtman Abramoff's Kind of Big Government Ramzy Baroud Politics of Chaos: Gaza's Turmoil in Context Joshua Frank MoveOn Surrenders to Hillary Kathleen and Bill Christison "Eating Palestine for Breakfast": the Real Sharon Website of the Day Memoirs of Rummy's Geisha   January 10, 2006 Uri Avnery The Post-Sharon Landscape: Three Fingers, No Fist Saul Landau Different Americas Noam Chomsky Beyond the Ballot: Iraq, Iran and China Brian J. Foley Playing with Fire: Congress and Executive Power Lenni Brenner The War Within the Antiwar Movement Ronan Sheehan Sheehan to Sheehan: Cindy Sheehan's Irish Interview Paul Craig Roberts Bush's Con Jobs   January 9, 2006 Behzad Yaghmaian Who is to Blame for the Deaths of the Sudanese Refugees? George Bisharat US Aid to Israel is Out of Hand Dave Lindorff How the US Press Squelches Bush Impeachment Drive Norman Solomon Smoke a Marlboro, Then an Iraqi: How Media War Images Distort Not Inform Christopher Brauchli The Generosity of Credit Card Companies Aharon Shabtai A Poet's Letter on the Occupation Andrew Cockburn How Many Iraqis Have Died Since the US Invasion in 2003?   January 7 / 8, 2006 Lawrence Velvel The NYT's Unconscionable Decision to Sit on the NSA Story for a Year James Petras AIPAC on Trial: Them or US J.L. Chestnut Racism and Injustice in Alabama's Courts Mike Ely The Dead Miners in Sago Andrew Wilson The Dying of Ariel Sharon Lila Rajiva Two Moms Go to Capitol Hill William Cook The Rape of Palestine Ramor Ryan The Sub Motorcycle Diaries: On the Road with the Zapatistas Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff An Interview with Michael Scheuer on the CIA's Rendition Program Peter Montague Inherit the Wind: the Global Spread of GMO Crops Ron Jacobs Would Ethan Allen Pay to Protest? Neve Gordon Images of Real Eco-Terrorism in Twaneh Fred Gardner Business as Usual in San Diego Josh Mahon Idaho Timber Industry Leader Advocates Violence Against Green's Mom Dr. Susan Block Abramoff Family Values: the Lobbyist Who Screwed Us All Jeffrey St. Clair Playlist: What I'm Listening to This Week Poets' Basement Albert and Engel Website of the Weekend Bush Crimes Commission   January 6, 2006 José Pertierra Posada Carriles May Soon Hit the Streets Joe Allen Gary Freeman's Struggle: a Black Radical from the 1960s Fights Extradition to the US Winslow T. Wheeler Huge Defense Budget, Lousy Equipment John Bomar A Former NSA Officer on Snoopgate: the Squawkers Should be Congratulated Jason Leopold Snoop and Shred Norman Solomon Axis of Fanatics: Netanyahu and Ahmadinejad Robert Pollin Remembering Harry Magdoff: the Man Who Explained the Empire   January 5, 2006 Scott Boehm Big Profits, Buried Lives: Bulldozing the Dead in New Orleans Zoltan Grossman New Challenges for the Antiwar Movement Heather Gray Whistling Dixie Yet Again Haninah Levine Simple is Dangerous: the Pentagon's Plan for a Manhattan Project on IEDs Pierre Tristam The Sham of Homeland Security: a West Virginia Parable Remi Kanazi Stroke of Luck?: Political Hemorrhage in Israel Gilad Atzmon Sharon Meets His Maker Kathleen and Bill Christison What Hillary Clinton Doesn't Know About Palestine   January 4, 2006 Ron Jacobs Pity the Miner: A-Diggin' My Bones Lila Rajiva Terror Hits Bangalore Huibin Amee Chew Why the War is Sexist Pat Williams How the West Turned: Biting the Hands That Steal Linda Milazzo The House That George and Jack Built: Ownership Society Meets the Entrepreneurial Style Nick Dearden The Fantasy of "Even-Handedness": Blair's Cynical Policy on Palestine James Petras Evo Morales: All Growl, No Claws? Website of the Day Rat Out a Lobbyist for Jesus   January 3, 2006 James Ridgeway Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and 9/11: How Much Did the Bush Administration Know? Laith al-Saud Iraqi Intellectuals and the Occupation: an Interview with Dr. Saad Jawad Dick J. Reavis Border Walls: the View from Mexico Joshua Frank Hillary Clinton, AIPAC and Iran Rochelle Gause Inside Rafah: Collective Punishment as Normalcy Missy Comley Beattie How My Mother Went from a Republican to a Screaming Progressive Paul de Rooij A Glossary of Dispossession   January 2, 2006 Paul Craig Roberts A Gestapo Administration Clancy Sigal A Trip to the Far Side of Madness Cindy Sheehan A Tour of Europe: Friends Don't Let Friends Commit War Crimes Alexander Cockburn A NYT Editorial Contemplates Iraq         Subscribe Online

Weekend Edition February 25 / 26, 2006 Pot Shots The Investigation of Dr. Denney By FRED GARDNER "I feel invaded," said Philip A. Denney, MD, at the start of the week. "I feel violated and I'm trying to figure out what to do about it." An anonymous concerned citizen had sent him documents revealing that two of the patients he examined last Fall had come to his office under false pretenses. One was a federal agent -Steve Decker of the Alcohol, Tobocco and Firearms Bureau, using a fake name- and one was a Confidential Informant assigned by the Redding Police Department. The documents reveal involvement by DEA agents, FBI agents (from "Operation Safe Streets," which is supposed to focus on violent crime), as well Redding PD officers. Denney, who has been licensed in California for almost 30 years and has never run afoul of the medical board, has a cannabis-oriented practice in partnership with Robert E. Sullivan, MD (whose record is equally impeccable) with offices in Sacramento, Orange County, and Redding. The infiltration of their practice apparently stemmed from an investigation of Dixon Herbs, a Redding dispensary run by a man named Ron Dixon. Ironically, Denney had some qualms about Dixon's operation -"they rarely called to confirm recommendations," he says, and on a few occasions Dixon hired a doctor named Rosenthal to conduct ad hoc clinics at the dispensary, which Denney considered "ethically problematic." Dixon Herbs folded in December after being raided by a task force involving the same law enforcement agencies that snooped on Denney. Denney was sent two "investigative narratives" written by RPD officer Tracy Miller. The first described ATF Agent Decker presenting at his office on the afternoon of November 9. (Decker identified himself as Steven P. Hoffmaster.) An excerpt follows: "The receptionist asked for Agent Decker's I.D. and medical records. Agent Decker said several years ago he had been to a hospital in Santa Clara but he did not know which one. The receptionist called several hospitals in the Santa Clara area. When she did not find any record of him visiting a hospital under the alias provided, she said that was no problem, that they would go ahead with the exam and she would continue to try to come up with the records. "Agent Decker said he had a brief exam by Dr. Denney. Agent Decker told Dr. Denney his main complaint was pain in his neck. Decker had an old scar on his neck which he told the doctor was from a motorcycle accident, and that ever since the accident, he experiences daily pain. Decker said the doctor looked at the scar but did not touch or manipulate his neck in any way. After the exam, the doctor told him he was a good candidate for a medical marijuana recommendation. The doctor told Agent Decker that the recommendation was good for one year and would cost $100 to renew." The second "investigative narrative" described an earlier penetration of Denney's practice by a confidential informant. "Our taxpayer dollars at work," was the doctor's overriding thought as he read it. "The phrase 'a controlled buy of a marijuana prescription,' is very revealing," he says. "It shows they think of me, and perhaps all physicians, in the same way they think of drug dealers on the street. It's extremely insulting." Denney's receptionist comes out looking conscientious and admirable -a person wanting to help her fellow citizens, especially those in need. Here's the report in its stilted, trivial, costly, excruciating entirety. On 09-21-05 at approximately 1415 hours, Redding Police Department Investigator WALLACE, DEA Agent HALE, and I met and conducted a briefing regarding using a confidential informant to make a controlled buy of a marijuana prescription. After finishing the briefing, Investigator WALLACE went to the area of 1522 Charles drive, which is the office of Dr. Philip A. DENNEY. Investigator WALLACE got into a position that he could watch the doctor's office from the street. Agent HALE and I met with the CI, hereafter known as CI#3. I checked CI#3's person for contraband and money, while Agent HALE checked CI#3'S vehicle. Neither Agent Hale nor I located any money or contraband. Due to the fact this transaction was gong to be taking place in a doctor's office, we chose not to fit CI#3 with a covert transmitter or monitoring device. Instead we maintained communication with CI#3 via cell phone. I gave CI#3 $200.00 in recorded funds of the purchase of the marijuana prescription. Agent HALE and I followed CI#3 from our prearranged meeting point to 1522 Charles Crive in Redding, California. As soon as CI#3 turned onto Charles Drive, Investigator WALLACE advised that he had CI#3 in view. CI#3 parked directly in front of 1522 Charles Drive, got out of his/her vehicle and at 1543 hours went inside the doctor's office. While we were waiting for CI#3 to complete the transaction, an unknown female came out of the doctor's office, walked around CI#3's vehicle once, specifically looking at his/er license plate, then went back inside. At 1630 hours, CI#3 came out of the doctor's office and called Agent HALE'S cell phone. CI#3 said they had been granted the prescription but they had to wait for the certificate to be filled out, and that would take approximately 15 minutes. CI#3 then went back inside the office to wait for the prescription to be filled out. At approximately 1648 hours, CI#3 exited the doctor's office carrying a green folder. He/she got into his/her vehicle and drove away. CI#3 was in Investigator WALLACE'S field of view all the way to the intersection of Charles and Mountain Lakes, which is where agent HALE and I were waiting to follow him/her to a predetermined meeting point. Agent HALE and I followed CI#3 to a predetermined meeting point. Once at the point,m CI#3 gave me a green folder containing a recoimmendation for the use of marijuana signed by Dr. DENNEY. Also contained in the green pholder was a photocopy of the official, embossed certificate, and a receipt for $200.00. I asked CI#3 what occurred during his/her visit. He/she told me that upon entering the doctor's office, he/she met with the receptionist, "Amanda." He/she told Amanda that "Will" from Merchant St. [the location of Dixon Herbs] sent him/her and that he/she didn't have an appointment. Amanda told CI#3 that was no problem. Amanda asked CI#3 for his/her medical records and he/she told her that he/she recently moved from Mississippi, and their records were unavailable. He/she told me that the receptionist got up and went out and looked at CI#3 vehicle and confirmed there were in fact Mississippi plates on the vehicle. Amanda came back inside and told him/her that would be no problem. CI#3 said he/she had to fill out a very brief form and then saw Dr. DENNEY. CI#3 tomd me that Dr. DENNEY gave him/her a physical examination. Dr. DENNEY asked CI#3 his/her chief complaint and he/she said a pinched sciatic nerve. Dr. DENNEY asked if CI#3 had attempted any other mainstream prescription medications and CI#3 said they bother his/her stomach. Dr. DENNEY told CI#3 that he/she was a candidate for the use of medical marijuana. Dr. DENNEY explained that the marijuana was to be used only as prescribed, and not recreationally. While waiting for the prescription to be filled out, CI#3 engaged Amanda in conversation. CI#3 told me Amanda indicated she was a volunteer fire fighter, and that she and some other members of her crew were interested in going to the area struck by Hurricane Katrina to assist with recovery efforts. She then told him/her she wouldn't be able to make it, however, due to this being harvest time, and her not being able to abandon her crop. Denney says, "I examine patients in good faith and it bothers me to be treated this way. Is this not an end-run around the Conant decision [the injunction prohibiting federal agents from punishing doctors who discuss marijuana as a treatment option]? I was led to believe that if I did this appropriately and I followed the rules laid out in Conant that I would protected. And now I find out that I'm being surreptitiously investigated by federal agents. It has a very chilling effect, to put it mildly." One of the documents Denney received refers to a DEA case number - apparently from a previous investigation of which he was unaware. He fired off the following letter to Special Agent Decker, AKA Hoffmaster: "I have recently learned that your visit to our office on November 9, 2005, was under an assumed name and with a forged California driver's license. Your visit, I learned, was part of a government surveillance operation in cooperation with the Redding Police Department. "Despite signing a document stating that all the information you provided was true under penalty of perjury, you skillfully lied and falsified documents in order to obtain a medicinal cannabis recommendation. "You were such a skillful liar, I can't help but wonder how you keep track of when you lie and when you tell the truth. It must be difficult. "I'm also troubled by how much taxpayer money was spent on this operation and how you justify spending any of the taxpayers money investigating legal cannabis uers when methamphetamine abuse is such a scourge in our community. I would hate to think of any law enforcement officer as cowardly, but infiltrating a physician's office certainly seems less risky than pursuing violent criminals. "Under these circumstances I must advise that your recommendation is invalid because it was obtained by fraud. "If in the future you or any other law enforcement officer wishes to visit our office, you are welcome at any time. I would be pleased to discuss our procedures and policies regarding the legitimate use of cannabis as medicine. There is no need to be a liar. "Sincerely, Philip A. Denney, MD" By the end of the week, Denney was considering taking other steps. His lawyer, Zenia Gilg, says "The investigation of Dr. Denney's practice amounts to a clear breach of the Conant injunction." Could the feds claim they were investigating Denney to determine whether he was ITAL abusing END ITAL the protection of Conant by providing patients with cannabis or helping them obtain it? No, says Gilg. Neither Agent Decker nor CI#3 made any attempt to ask the doctor questions along those lines. Federal agents have taken part in the investigation of at least four other pro-cannabis California doctors. One, Robert Sterner, MD, of San Diego, already has a suit in the works that will charge violations of the Conant injunction. Cannaboid Blocker Blocked--For Now The Food and Drug Administration issued an "approvable letter" Feb. 16 for the drug Rimonabant, which Sanofi Aventis intends to sell in the U.S. as Acomplia. The FDA wants additional data from the company but is not requiring that more clinical trials be conducted before Acomplia can be marketed for weight loss. Sanofi's bid for approval of Acomplia as a smoking-cessation drug was turned down. Acomplia works by blocking the body's cannabinoid receptor system. California doctors who are conversant with the beneficial effects of cannabis have warned vociferously that blocking the endocannabinoid system could have dangerous ramifications. Tod Mikuriya, MD, on behalf of the Society of Cannabis Clinicians, sent the FDA a master list of all the conditions and symptoms reportedly alleviated by the herb itself. "It appears that our concerns were shared," he said upon learning of the Feb. 16 decision. But his sense of accomplishment was short-lived. Sanofi's CEO, Jean-Francois Dehecq, said on French television Feb. 22 that the FDA's questions can be answered in a matter of months and that he still expects Acomplia to be on U.S. pharmacy shelves by the end of the year. Sanofi, headquartered in France, is the world's third biggest pharmaceutical manufacturer. The Journal of the American Medical Association published results Feb. 15 of a major clinical trial of Acomplia in which a year of treatment with a 20mg daily dose resulted in weight loss of 14 pounds and waist reduction of 2.4 inches (versus 4 pounds and less than an inch for placebo takers). But 51% of the patients dropped out after a year, and 76 of the 333 patients dropped out during the second year (and all promptly regained weight). Depression and other mood disorders were almost three times as prevalent among those and other mood disorders were almost three times as prevalent among those taking Acomplia. Fred Gardner is the editor of O'Shaughnessy's Journal of the California Cannabis Research Medical Group. He can be reached at: fred@plebesite.com

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