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Today's
Stories
November
13 / 14, 2004
David
Domke
Bush, God and the Election: a Theology
of War?
November
12, 2004
Forrest
Hylton / Sinclair Thomson
Insurgent Bolivia: the Roots of Rebellion
November
11, 2004
Peggy
Thomson
Encounters with Arafat
Joe
Bageant
Hung Over in the End Times: Heaven's
Foot Soldiers Escape the Dog Patch
Ben
Tripp
The Squeaky Wheel Gets the Grief
Edwin
Krales
Cuba's Response to AIDS: a Model for
the Developing World
Jordan
Green
How They Tried to Suppress the Black
Vote in South Carolina
Gary
Leupp
Guzman's Fist
Mike
Whitney
Meet Your New AG: Alberto Torquemada
Sam
Bahour
Palestine is Bigger Than Arafat
Sylvia
Shihadeh and Robert Jensen
The Irony of Arafat
Russ
Wellen
Why Do They Laugh at Us?
Mark
Scaramella
Kerry's Enablers: the Clinton
Cult Factor
November
10, 2004
Joshua
Frank
The Bright Side of Bush's Reelection
Mickey
Z.
The Worst President Ever?: Bush +
Clinton = Bubya
Stan
Goff
Debating a Neo-Con
Mike
Whitney
Exit Ashcroft
Dave
Lindorff
Taking a Leak on the Bush Bulge
Ghada
Karmi
After Arafat
Fr.
Gerard Jean-Juste
Letter from a Haitian Jail
Rev.
Bob Jones, III
A Letter to President Bush: "God Has Granted America a Reprieve"
Bernestine
Singley
Tampa Vote: Dispatches from the Ground
Website
of the Day
Free Camilo Mejia
November
9, 2004
Meredeth
Kolodner
Rebuilding the Anti-War Movement
Saul
Landau
The Appeal of George W. Bush: a Mystery for the World to Solve
Brian
Cloughley
Diego Garcia and Freedom, Bush-Style
Charles
Glass
US is Failing the Test of History in
Iraq
Robert
Fisk
Arafat Died Years Ago
Paul
Craig Roberts
The American Century is Over
Adam
Federman
Witch Hunt at Columbia: Middle East Profs Smeared as Anti-Semites
M.
Junaid Alam
The Discredited Logic of ABB
Tony
Kevin
Fallujah and the Making of a War Crime
Pierre
Tristam
Zealots on the Mount: Get Voltaire on Speed Dial!
Patrick
Cockburn
Crushing Fallujah Will Not End the
Iraq War
Website
of the Day
Don't Blame the Voters!
November
8, 2004
Roger
Burbach
Out of the Ashes: Bush Win is a Defeat
for Democrats, Not the Left
Dave
Lindorff
Lessons from a Quagmire: Fallujah, the Hue of Iraq
Greg
Moses
After the Morning After: On the Homefront of the Civil War
Greg
Bates
Nader's Election Legacy: Something to Stand On
Michael
Donnelly
The Hit-and-Run Left: From ABB to CYA
Nick
Schwellenbach
Gutting FOIA: the Harm of Too Much Secrecy
Adam
Jones
Men vs. Civilians in Fallujah
Amelia
Peltz
Note from Palestine: This Is Not the Time for Despair
David
Swanson
The Media Black Out on Vote Fraud
Brian
Rainey
The Devil Made Them Do It? Elections, Religion and the American
People
Poets'
Basement
Albert, Landau, Hamod
Website
of the Day
A Report on the US Supply of Toxic Weapons to Iraq
November
6 / 7, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Don't
Say We Didn't Warn You
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Green Out
Carl
G. Estabrook
Who Killed Cock Robin?
Saul
Landau
Che: the Man and the Movie
Gary
Leupp
Let There Be Conflict!
Ben
Tripp
You Call This a Party?
Paul
Craig Roberts
The October Numbers: Continuing Stress on the Jobs Front
Jordan
Green
Heroin, Cocaine and Espanola, NM
Fred
Gardner
Haul of Justice
J.A.
Miller
Cults of the Jealous God: the Balfour Decision Reconsidered
Ramzy
Baroud
Life Without Arafat
Dave
Zirin
Out at the Ballgame: Pro Sports and the Gay Athelete
Ron
Jacobs
The Arrow on the Doorpost
Robert
Oscar Lopez
How White Liberals Became a New Racial Minority
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
The November Surprise
Dave
Lindorff
Silver Linings
Richard
Oxman
Invitation to the Bodily Snatched
John
Whitlow
Value Wars: the View from Lexington, Kentucky
Rahul
Mahajan
Fallujah and the Reality of War
Leila
Matsui
Political "Ju-On": Carrying a Grudge
November
5, 2004
David
Vest
The Not-Bush Brothers: a Fond Farewell
Elizabeth
Boylan
The Dems and Faith-Based Politics
Conn
Hallinan
War Crimes and Iraq
David
Zonsheine
Poetry and the Courage to Refuse
Cynthia
McKinney
It's a New Day!
Elaine
Cassel
Running from the Religious Right
Chris
Geovanis
First Protect Your Vote: Lessons for Democrats on Fixing Elections
from Chicago
Rob
Ritchie
Election 2004 by the Numbers
Jo
Guldi
The Beast of History is In
November
4, 2004
Sharon
Smith
The Self-Fulfilling Prophesy of Lesser-Evilism
CounterPunch
Wire
Bush Voters: 2000 v. 2004
Ben
Tripp
My Fellow Americans...Get Stuffed!
Michael
Donnelly
Why Not Blame Rosie?
Vijay
Prashad
An Election of Homophobia and Misogyny
Jules
Rabin
De Profundis: the Morning After
Robert
Jensen
Politics and Professions of Faith:
"Your Rich Men are Full of Violence"
Zoltan
Grossman
Blue State Secession: the Only Solution?
Jonah
Birch
1968 and Today
Dave
Lindorff
What Went Wrong?
Jack
McCarthy
I Knew It Was Over When Michael Moore Showed Up: He Was For Nader...Before
He Was Against Him
Donna
J. Volatile
Ahoy Kerrycrats! Welcome to Our Nightmare
Paul
Craig Roberts
The Bright Side of Black Tuesday
November
3, 2004
James
Hodge / Linda Cooper
The CIA and Abu Ghraib: 50 Years of
Training Torturers
Ann
Harrison
The Ghost Votes in the Machine: Voting Snafus Across the Nation
Greg
Moses
Blues for Fallujah
Anis
Memon
The Moral (Values) of This Election
Mickey
Z.
Post Mortem
Josh
Frank
The Dems Should be Ashamed
Chris
Floyd
No Ways Tired: Defeat, Dissent and the Bush Machine
spArk
Smoke Signals from Portland: Karmic Blowback and the Democrats
Friedrich
von Schiller
Folly, Thou Conquerest
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
Democrats in End Time: Who to Blame
Now?
November
2, 2004
Gary
Leupp
Democratic Elections in Historical
Perspective: The Wrong Side Wins
Lance
Selfa
Selling the War on Terror
Laura
Carlsen
The US Elections and Latin America: Can the US Ever be a Good
Neighbor?
James
Davis
To Control the Event: Attention Bicyclists
Richard
Oxman
Getting Up with Osama
Dr.
Ira Kay
A Mental Map of the Bush Presidency
Jesse
Walker
Frankenstein v. Chucky: the Halloween Election
Thomas
C. Mountain
Election '24, Deja Vu?: LaFollette, Nader, & the "Most
Important Election of Our Lifetimes"
November
1, 2004
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
How Bush Was Offered Bin Laden and
Blew It
Dave
Lindorff
Bulgegate Confirmed; Press Yawns
Greg
Bates
Nader Voter Survey Results
Roger
Morris
Novel Politics: Only Fiction Can Do
This Election Justice
Diane
Christian
Death Tolls
Lenni
Brenner
Secularists Be Warned: Christlike Kerry Roams Spiritual Universe
Christopher
C. Conway
Can the Left Sink Any Lower?
Francis
Boyle
Legal Elites and the Iraq War: the Nazis Had Their Law Professors,
Too
Jason
Leopold
Rummy's Failed War Plan
Website
of the Day
Dylan Resurrects "Masters of War"
October
30 / 31, 2004
JoAnn
Wypijewski
The Long March and the Million Worker
March
Winslow
T. Wheeler
Spartacus Tells All
Bruce
Anderson
Notes from the Big Empty: When the Hippies Invaded NoCal
Vicente
Navarro
They Worked for Franco: How Sec. of State Cordell Hull and Nobel
Laureate Camilo Jose Cela Collaborated with the Fascist Regime
Robin
Blackburn
How Monica Lewinsky Saved Social Security
Greg
Bates
A Question of Character: What Makes Nader Tick?
Nancy
Welch
The American Health Care Crisis: an Interview with Dr. David
Himmelstein
William
Lind
Election Day: Which Menendez Brother Will You Vote For?
Brian
Cloughley
Uzbekistan and Bush Hypocrisies
Suzan
Mazur
Oops They Did It Again: the NYTs the Paper of Record and Rip-Offs
Greg
Moses
Standing at the Graves of Iraq
John
Chuckman
Osama's Endorsement
Richard
Oxman
Why Not Accept Osama's Offer?
Ken
Avidor
Landscape of Fear: When Ugly is Suspicious
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
Bush, Ba'ath and Beyond
Hope
Bastian
Strangling Cuba's Economy
P.
Sainath
Tower of Gabble: Toward a Sustainable Rhetoric
Dave
Zirin
Bush League: Why MLB Owners Support the Prez
Jon
Swift
The Dry Drunk Thang: Put a Cork in It
Ron
Jacobs
The Joke's on Me: a Review of Bob Dylan's Chronicles Vol. 1
Alexander
Billet
Taking Theatre Back: Are the States Ready for "Stuff Happens"?
Poets'
Basement
Jones, Laymon, Norris, Ford and Albert
Website
of the Weekend
The Origins of Halloween
October
29, 2004
Harry
Browne
No Justice for Peace Activist in County
Clare
October
28, 2004
Forrest Hylton
"The Gas is Ours:" Bolivia's
Ghosts of October
Col. Dan Smith
Rebellion
in the Ranks
Alan Maass
Jon Stewart v. the Pundits
Ron Jacobs
Ecstasy
in Red Sox Nation
Alexander
Cockburn
Kerrycrats and the War
October
27, 2004
Jules
Rabin
Crammed with Distressful Politics
Dave
Lindorff
Bulgegate: the Lies Continue
Katherine
Van Tassel
On the Home Front: Both Parties
Ignore Working Parents
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The Bi-Partisan Politics of Oil
October 26,
2004
Brian Cloughley
Three
Weddings and Lots of Funerals: Atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan
William Blum
Fear
Factors
Lenni Brenner
The
1964 Berkeley Free Speech Movement: Lessons for 2004
Ben Tripp
The
Chicken Salad Election
Fidel Castro
After the Fall
Greg Bates
The Nation's Flawed Calculus
Walter Brasch
Gag the Public: the War on Dissent
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
An Open Letter to Pat Buchanan
Mickey Z.
Rumble in the Jungle at 30: Ali, Foreman and the Congo
Amir Taheri
The Boom in Conspiracy Theories
Alexander Billet
Say It Ain't So, Bruce!: the Boss Endorses Kerry
Doug Giebel
The Religion of G.W. Bush
Kathleen Christison
Why
I Liked Thomas Friedman's Latest Column Before I Didn't
October 25,
2004
Ralph Nader
Letter
from a Minnesota Highway
Werther
West
Texas Wahabbism
Dave Zirin
Boston's Killer Cops: Death of a Fan
Fred Gardner
Pot Shots: Oregon Revokes Dr. Leveque's License
Omar Barghouti
Executing Another Child in Rafah
William J. Nottingham
Lori Berenson's Story
John Chuckman
A Foolish Consistency
Uri Avnery
On
the Road to Civil War
October 22
/ 24, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
You
Can't Blame Nader for This
Rev. William Alberts
On Bended Knee: Faith-Based Deceptions
Willliam A.
Cook
Killing for Christ
Saul Landau
George W. Bush: a Man of His Words?
Bill Quigley
I Held the Bullet in My Palm: Masked Haitian Police Shoot Children
While Arresting Priest
Christopher Brauchli
Seal It With a Frown: What Compassionate Conservativism Really
Means
William S.
Lind
Fallujah and the Moral Level of War
Sharon Smith
Guilt Trippers for Kerry
Greg Bates
Kerrynomics: "Hurt the Ones Who Vote for Us"
Justin E.H. Smith
Is Lesser Evilism a Compromise with Evil?
Rebecca Evans
Tarnished Legacy: Pinochet and the Chilean Military
Mike Whitney
Al Hurra TV: the Second Invasion
M. Junaid Alam
Purchasing Individuality in America
David Krieger
Nuclear Non-Proliferation: Examining the Policies of Bush and
Kerry
David J. Ledermann
The Emperor's New Crumbs
Lawrence Reichard
Same Old FBI Story
Website of
the Weekend
Lie Girls: the Real Coalition of the Willling
October 21,
2004
Ben Tripp
The
Undecided Voter Examined
Joshua Frank
Kerry
and the Environment:
It's Not Easy Pretending to be Green
Stan Cox
What
the Left Doesn't Get About Small Businesses
Bill Martinez
State
Depart and Cuban Visas: Only Anti-Castro Agitators Need Apply
Mark Engler
The War and Globalization
Lina Britto
and Lucia Suarez
Bolivia:
a Year After the October Insurrection
Website of the Day
Two Pampered Children of Wealth
October 20,
2004
Yitzhak Laor
"Did
You Two Squabble?": a Bullet Fired for Every Palestinian
Child
Jason Leopold
Sinclair
Broadcasting's Air War: a Long History of Journalistic Deception
Jesse Sharkey
A
Teacher's Account of How Military Recruiters Prey on High School
Students
Col. Dan Smith
Choking
Free Speech About the Draft
Dr. Teresa Whitehurst
Using My Religion
David Vest
If
Bush Wins, Blame Me
Jack Random
The Jackson 17: Reflections on a Mutiny
Ron Jacobs
Time
to Kick It Up a Notch
James Brittain
Plan Patriota and the FARC: a Change in the Countryside?
Christopher
Dols
Bombing Madison: Michael Moore's Fright Fest
Dave Lindorff
First They Came for the Nurses...
Website of
the Day
Banana Republican Catalogue
October 19,
2004
Jeffrey St.
Clair
Party
Favors: the Political Business of Terry McAuliffe
Jeff Taylor
Confessions
of a Swing State Voter
Matt Vidal
American
Myopia: "More Money in Your Pocket"
Victor Kattan
"It's Not Who You're Against; It's Who You're For":
Palestine Takes Center Stage At Euro Social Forum
William Loren
Katz
What Goes Around Comes Around
Sean Carter
O'Reilly Should Shut Up About Extortion Claiims
CounterPunch Wire
Who's Really in Bed with Republican Funders: Kerry or Nader?
October 18,
2004
Saul Landau
Facts
and Lies; Slogans and Truth
Dave Lindorff
Bulletin
on the Bush Bulge
Diane Christian
Sheep
and Goats: On the Language of Goodness
Greg Bates / Dave Lindorff
Betting on War: a Wager on the Fallout of a Kerry Presidency
Uri Avnery
Ariel
Sharon's Philosophy
Peter LaVenia
Leaving the Greens So Soon? a Response to Josh Frank
Mike Whitney
O'Reilly at the Whipping Post
Elaine Cassel
The Other War: Civil Liberties Three Years After 9/11
October 16
/ 17, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
The
Free Speech Movement and Howard Stern
Leslie Brill
Unmerciful Judge, Merry Executioners: the Death Penalty as the
True Measure of Bush's Character
Jules Rabin
Reckoning Deaths in an Agitated World
Dave Lindorff
About the Bush Bulge: Was There a Pucker in That Jacket or Was
the President Just Glad to be There?
Peter Linebaugh
Judging Judges: a Few Pages from The Mirror of Justices
Gary Leupp
Iran and Syria: How to Effect Regime Change and Expand the Empire
M. Shahid Alam
America, Imagine This!
Ron Jacobs
Trying to Cross Lake Champlain
Fred Gardner
The Flu Vaccine Question: How Bush Blew It
Jenna Orkin
The Toxic Legacy of 9/11
Dave Zirin
Name the DC Baseball Team: Contest Results
David Hamilton
Alone and Exposed: Bush as a Strong Leader?
Ralph Nader
Criticizing Israel is Not Anti-Semitism
Doug Giebel
Thinking the Unthinkable
Mark Engler
Crimes in Freedom's Name: Dick Cheney's El Salvador
Derek Tyner
Blacks Didn't Get the Vote by Voting: an Interview With Clarence
Thomas on the Million Worker March
Evan Jones
Gimme That Ole Time Religion: Cash and "The Mind of the
South"
Poets' Basement
LaMorticella, Klipschutz and Albert
Website of
the Weekend
No More Bush Girls
October 15,
2004
Paul Craig
Roberts
Where
Did These "Conservatives" Come From?: The Brownshirting
of America
Laura Carlsen
Wal-Mart
vs. the Pyramids of the Sun and Moon
Greg Bates
Empire of Insanity: Kerry's Iraq Troop Numbers
Michael Donnelly
News from a Swing State: Does Anyone Here Have a Spine?
Katherine Lahey
The Venezuelan "Threat": Why Do Kerry and Bush Fear
Hugo Chavez?
Robert Jensen
/ Pat Youngblood
Election Day Fears
Leah Caldwell
From
Supermax to Abu Ghraib: the Masterminds of Torture and Abuse
Website of
the Day
An Anti-Billionaire Policy? Why That Would Be Economic Racism
October 14,
2004
Darcy Richardson
The
Other Progressive Candidate: the Lonely Crusade of Walt Brown
Willliam A.
Cook
Turning
Myths into Truth
Laura Santina
Water, Women and War
Evelyn Pringle
Free Speech Banned by Big Pharma: What You Can't Say About Drug
Importation
Alan Farago
Lessons
from Nature
Rep. Maxine Waters
A Letter to Colin Powell on Haiti
Nicole Colson
Maimed
for Oil and Empire
October 13,
2004
Bishop Thomas
Gumbleton and Bill Quigley
Aftermath
of a Coup: The Other Disaster in Haiti
Sharon Smith
Barak
O-Bomb-a?: Democrats Target Iran
Christopher Brauchli
God and the Bush Administration
Mike Whitney
The Real Meaning of the Hamdi Case
Paul de Rooij
Amnesty
International: a False Beacon?
Website of
the Day
Operation
Truth
October 12,
2004
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
"Indian
Country"
Greg Bates
The Year of Voting Dangerously: a Survey Request of Nader Voters
in Swing States
Steven Conn
Progressives as Pawns: Kerry's War on Nader
Jason Leopold
Under Cheney, Halliburton Helped Saddam Siphon Billions from
UN Oil-for-Food Program
Security Scholars
for a Sensible Foreign Policy
Time for a Change of Course
Timothy J. Freeman
Dying for a Mistake
Pierre Tristam
Deconstructing Bush
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
The 2nd Debate: the Blurring of Act and Audience
Bill and Kathleen
Christison
Israel as Sideshow
Website of the Day
John Kerry's Personal Off-Shore Tax Shelters
October 11,
2004
Robert Fisk
Iraq:
Unforgivable Betrayals and Broken Promises
Kevin Pina
The
Untold Story of Aristide's Departure from Haiti
Patrick Gavin
Rethinking
Columbus Day
Chris Floyd
Tribes with Flags in the New Afghanistan
Daniel Wolff
Radioactive Money: Entergy, Political Cash and America's Most
Dangerous Nuclear Plant
Walter Brasch
The Only Ones Who Believe Saddam Had WMDs are Bush, Cheney...and
40% of All Americans
Mike Whitney
The Phony Afghan Elections: Ballot of the Disappearing Ink
Ari Shavit
"He Talks to Condi Rice Every Day": an Interview with
Sharon's Lawyer
Paul Craig
Roberts
The
Debates and the Big Lie
Website of the Day
Dylan's Greatest Recording?
October 9 /
10, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
"There
Are No Innocents"
Paul de Rooij
Northern Ireland is Still the Issue: a Conversation with Gerry
Adams
M. Shahid Alam
Making Sense of Our Times
Laura Carlsen
Protest and Populism in Latin America
Fred Gardner
Pot Shots: ASA Goes to Court
Col. Dan Smith
Bush's Credibility Gap
Paul Craig
Roberts
Faith-Based Economics
Greg Bates
What If Nader Critics Get What They Demand?
Joshua Frank
Cobb, the Greens and the Collapse of the Left
Felice Pace
Wilderness, Politics and the Oligarchy: How the Pew Charitable
Trust is Smothering the Grassroots Environmental Movement
Walter A. Davis
Of Pynchon, Thanatos and Depleted Uranium
William A.
Cook
The Agony of Colin Powell
Phyllis Pollack
Twas No Crank Call Love Affair: London Calling, 25 Years Later
Poets' Basement
Klipschutz, Albert, Ford
Website of the Weekend
Abu Ghraib: the Taguba Annexes
October 8,
2004
Jennifer Loewenstein
The
Israeli Invasion of Gaza
Moshe Adler
Edwards' Gambit: He Hoped No One Would Notice the Similarities
David Swanson
Media Blackout: Press Continues to Ignore Labor's Opposition
to Iraq War
Dave Zirin
CounterPunch Contest: Let's Name the New DC Baseball Team!
Rep. Ron Paul
The Draft is a Form of Slavery
William S. Lind
Keeping Our SA Up
Samar Assad
Kerry v. Bush: No Difference When It Comes to Israel / Palestine
Jim Ingalls
and Sonali Kolhatkar
The Elections in Afghanistan
October 7,
2004
Dave Lindorff
All
Out of Volunteers: A Draft is in the Air
Masha Hamilton
Fear in Kandahar
Christopher
Brauchli
Master of Corruption: the Ripening Scandals of Tom Delay
Jason Leopold
Is There Still Time to Impeach Bush?
Bruce K. Gagnon
Bombing the Panhandle: Fighting the Pentagon in Rural Florida
Meredith Kolodner
Where
is the Urgency?: The Anti-War Movement's Election Year Challenge
October 6,
2004
Jeffrey St.
Clair
"Please,
Dude, Can I Take Them Out?": Targeting Civilians in Fallujah
Ron Jacobs
Going
Nuclear: the Ghost of Edward Teller Lives
Michael Colby
The National Flip-Flop: Suddenly Bush is Unfit to Lead?
Tarif Abboushi
More of the Same: Israel Wins the Debates
Matthew Behrens
Canadian Firms Profit from Iraqi Blood
Mike Whitney
Rethinking WMDs
John Pilger
Stealing Diego Garcia
Ben Tripp
Kerry's "Triumph"
Kevin McKiernan
Cheney's Poison Lab: Wrong Time, Wrong Target
Patrick Cockburn
Elections
Will Not End the Fighting in Iraq
Website of the Day
Is There an Islamic Problem?
October 5,
2004
Anthony Loewenstein
Rupert
Murdoch and the Marginals: "Personally Creating Outcomes"
Mark Clinton
and Tony Udell
The
Suicide of an Iraq War Veteran
Greg Bates
Trading
Idiots: an Open Letter to Eric Alterman
Dave Lindorff
What's
the Frequency, Karl?
Norm Dixon
Why Washington Won't Save Darfur Villagers
Larry Kearney
God Talk and Burning Children
Bill Linville
Dirty Politics in the Land of "Clean" Government
Gary Leupp
What
Edwards Should Ask Cheney
Website of
the Day
A Guide to Halliburton for Tonight's Debate
October 4,
2004
Diane Christian
The
Gates of Hell
Joshua Frank
An Interview with David Cobb
Doug Giebel
Incurious George: What If Bush Didn't Lie?
John Chuckman
Strange Victory: Sen. Obvious and the Pathetic Lump
Ramzy Baroud
Reverse the Picture: Anatomy of a Palestinian Outrage
Julia Stein
Remembering Mario Savio and the FSM
Sean Donahue
Outsourcing
Terror: Kerry and Special Forces
Website of
the Day
Mapping
Mt. St. Helens as She Rocks
October 2 /
3. 2004
Paul Wright
John
Kerry on Criminal Justice
Kathleen and Bill Christison
An Exchange with Israeli Historian Bennie Morris
Kathie Helmkamp
My Son Trent: a Marine Who Doesn't Want to Kill
Phillip Cryan
Indigenous Mobilization in Colombia
Lenni Brenner
The First Ex-Catholic Saint: Memories of Mario Savio
Fred Gardner
Pot Shots: In Case You Missed "Montel"
Ron Jacobs
It Did Happen Here: When Neo-Nazis Terrorized Olympia
Ben Tripp
Sticker Shock
William S.
Lind
The Grand Illusion: Iraqi Security Forces
Dave Zirin
The Swindle of the Century: Baseball Comes to DC
Dave Lindorff
Lies from the Great Debate
Luscon Pierre-Charles
Haiti's Elections: a High-Tech Sham is Underway
Zoe Moskovitz
& Sasha Kramer
Separating Lies from Truth About Haiti
Nelson P. Valdes
Habana Night vs. Latin American Scholars in Vegas: 61 Banned
Cuban Academics
Alan Farago
The "Ownership Society" and the End of the Everglades
Nancy Haley
What is the Historical Jesus Trying to Tell Us?
Alex Billet
Long Live The Clash: London Still Calling After 25 Years
Steve Fesenmaier
Save and Burn: The War on Libraries
Poets' Basement
Smith, Holt, Albert
October 1,
2004
Steve Breyman
Kerry's
Missed Opportunities
Rose Gentle
My
Son Died for a Lie
Lee Sustar
Iran
in the Crosshairs
Ralph Nader
What
We Didn't Hear at the Debate: Where's the Exit Strategy?
Walter Andrews
We Are Less Secure Now Than Ever
Mike Whitney
Pandora's
Government
Mickey Z.
Debate
This
Saul Landau
The
Iraq Invasion: Lessons from the Pinochet Cases
Hot Stories
Alexander Cockburn
Behold,
the Head of a Neo-Con!
Subcomandante
Marcos
The
Death Train of the WTO
Norman Finkelstein
Hitchens
as Model Apostate
Steve Niva
Israel's
Assassination Policy: the Trigger for Suicide Bombings?
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber
True Lies: the Use of Propaganda
in the Iraq War
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
Click
Here for More Stories.
|
Weekend Edition
November 13 / 14, 2004
Marijuana:
an Election Scorecard on
Measure
for Measure
By
FRED GARDNER
A liberal medical marijuana initiative
failed in Oregon, a conservative one passed in Montana. Our funders
who art in Washington conclude that by minimizing our demands
we maximize our chances of winning at the polls. But it's not
that simple.
The vote in Oregon was to liberalize
the state's existing Medical Marijuana Act, which had been created
by ballot initiative in 1998. OMMA 2, as this year's initiative
was called by its organizers (it was "Measure 33" on
the ballot), would have legalized dispensaries, lowered the cost
of a registration card (from $150 to $20), increased the quantity
of marijuana that patients and caregivers can grow/possess to
10 plants and one pound (6lbs for outdoor growers harvesting
once a year), and allowed nurse practitioners and naturopaths
to issue approvals. It lost by a 58-42 margin (while Kerry was
carrying the state and Oregon Democrats were doing well in general).
The key reason, according to Rick Bayer, MD, chief petitioner
for the original OMMA, was that the law had been working satisfactorily
for many patients. Some feared that liberalization might draw
the feds and/or the criminal element. OMMA 1, says Bayer, "was
basically patients and doctors versus cops." OMMA 2 was
"patients and doctors vs patients and cops." The OMMA
2 campaign cost about $600,000 -$100,000 raised locally by the
Voter Power organization, plus $500,000 for advertising from
the Marijuana Policy Project.
In Montana, MPP strategists
crafted and spent about $600,000 pushing an initiative that sets
low allowable quantities (six plants, one ounce) and offers two-tiered
protection. Medical users who get registration cards are protected
from arrest or prosecution. Medical users without cards can be
arrested and tried (but can raise a "medical-use" defense
if their doctor is willing to testify for them in open court).
Diagnoses of depression and other mood disorders do not qualify
patients for registration cards. The measure passed by a 62-38
margin, and Bruce Mirken of the MPP called it "a huge win."
Time will tell. The magnitude
of the win depends on how many Montanans actually get to use
cannabis as medicine under the law, and that depends on the willingness
of doctors to issue approvals. Hundreds of thousands of Montanans
would benefit if allowed cannabis as an alternative to the painkillers
and anti-depressants they're currently taking. If the number
of physician-approved cannabis users is below100 a year from
now, the win at the ballot in 2004 will not have been "huge."
Colorado passed a restrictive medical marijuana initiative four
years ago and to date has enrolled fewer than 400 patients in
the state program. Hawaii's medical marijuana law -which MPP
uses as a model in drafting new ones- has benefited 101 patients
in three years.
Looking at the Oregon and Montana
results together, we conclude that once a marijuana law is on
the books, it's hard to pass a more inclusive measure, ITAL so
we better make sure that the first one serves the interests of
all in need. END ITAL The advocates of a weak reform measure
will say, "We'll improve on this down the road." But
they may not be able to, even when the effort is sincere and
unstinting (like MPP's in Oregon). All too often the first step
turns out to be the last.
North to Alaska, where Ballot
Measure 2 would have removed all criminal and civil penalties
for any adult growing, using or selling marijuana, with no medical
rationale required! And the state would have created and supervised
a distribution system. It got 43% of the vote.
In California, Proposition
66 would have modified the three strikes law so that mandatory
25 -to-life sentences would be imposed only on those whose third
strike was a violent or serious felony. Backed by the Drug Policy
Alliance, Prop 66 was well ahead in the polls as of Oct. 28,
when Gov. Schwarzenegger, flanked by his predecessors (Wilson,
Deukmajian, Gray Davis and Jerry Brown), warned the populace
that thousands of sexual predators would be loosed into the streets
if Prop 66 passed. It failed narrowly. The truth is, no prisoner
would have been released without a thorough review of his situation.
Now thousands of men and women whose third strike was a drug-law
violation will remain behind bars.
Several Massachusetts districts
passed symbolic measures calling for decriminalization (possession
should be a civil violation like a traffic ticket) and legalizing
medical use... Decrim and medical measures passed in Columbia,
Missouri. By reducing possession from a state to a municipal
offense, voters sought to protect University of Missouri students
from losing their loans under the Higher Education Act. The County
Prosecutor is questioning the legality of the measures In Ann
Arbor, Michigan, the vote was 3-to-1 for revising the city charter
to allow doctors to recommend and patients to grow and use marijuana
for medical purposes. The city attorney is now advising the police
chief to ignore the charter amendment because it conflicts with
state law In Oakland, where the bustling "Oaksterdam"
scene has been decimated by a city ordinance limiting the number
of downtown dispensaries to three, activists spent $200,000 on
symbolic Measure Z to legaliZe marijuana for adult use. It passed
with 64 percent of the vote. The police are now directed to make
marijuana busts their lowest priority and the city is directed
to lobby for legalization on the state level and to develop a
scheme for taxing and regulating sales. City Attorney John Russo
says he hasn't decided whether to challenge Measure Z in court
or just ignore it.
Bush's victory is seen as a
disaster by anti-prohibitionists, and some of the more affluent
are pricing residential property in British Columbia. They assume
that DEA raids on growers and distributors were put on hold during
the election so as not to cost Bush votes, and it's matter of
when, not if they resume. Optimists think the feds will hold
off until Spring 2005, when the U.S. Supreme Court is due to
rule on Raich v. Ashcroft. (In case you're just joining us, the
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in October '03 that the
feds have no jurisdiction over Californians, Oregonians and others
growing and/or using cannabis legally under state law, because
interstate commerce isn't affected by their activities. The Bush
Administration appealed. The Supremes will hear oral arguments
Nov. 29 and rule in late spring or early summer. If the ruling
goes against Angel Raich and her co-plaintiff, Diane Monson,
growers and dispensary operators who choose to remain in business
will do so in a state of low-key terror. Prices will rise, patients
will suffer for sure.
The reason the DEA might hold
off, according to attorney Rob Raich (Angel's husband), is that
successful prosecution depends on the ultimate disposition of
Angel's case. Already numerous cases are stalled at the district-court
level, or have been returned by the 9th Circuit to the district
court pending the outcome of Raich. Defendants in limbo include
Bryan Epis, Ed Rosenthal, WAMM, Steve McWilliams, Keith Alden,
Lynn and Judy Osburn, and Robert "Duke" Schmidt.
The stakes in the Raich case
would not have been so high if Bush had lost. Kerry had told
an Oregon TV station in October that he would allow the states
with medical marijuana laws to implement them. The media ignored
this highly significant pledge. It got lost in what Dr. Bayer
calls "this atmosphere of political cacophony."
Consulting
Dr. Bayer (Why Measure 33 Lost)
Rick Bayer, MD, a Portland
internist, was the chief petitioner for the Oregon Medical Marijuana
Act (OMMA) in 1998. He strongly supported OMMA 2, also known
as Meaure 33, this year's ballot initiative that would have expanded
the existing program. This interview was conducted a day after
the election.
C-Notes: In March you testified
as an expert witness on behalf of Dr. Leveque. Would you comment
on the revocation of his license?
Rick Bayer, MD: Phil Leveque
didn't hurt anybody. None of the complaints against him came
from patients. I was hoping that my explanations would have reframed
the issue away from reefer madness and towards a discussion of
actual therapeutics. We obviously didn't get all the way there.
The Board of Medical Examiners
should regard what Phil Leveque is doing as an administrative
function, like a doctor who conducts disability exams. It's important,
but it doesn't require the same medical approach as admitting
somebody into the intensive care unit. They are holding Phil
to the level of care of an emergency medicine physician or an
internal medicine physician. That's unrealistic. Phil is saying
that under the law "I only have to document that this person
has a debilitating condition and then document that medical marijuana
might help I'm performing the administrative task that's in the
law." But the Board keeps moving the goalposts. I understand
from colleagues that it's the same in California -if the Board
finds out that a doctor has been keeping records, then they insist
that the records include something additional. If you did a physical,
they'll say it wasn't complete. A physical can always be more
complete. When I left medical school I could start a physical
exam on a patient at eight o'clock and not finish until four
or five in the afternoon. Once I got into practice I realized
that if you did that, you couldn't pay your employees. And I
learned how to do pretty much a complete physical in 30 to 60
minutes. And If somebody had seen the urologist two months ago,
I would see no reason to repeat that test. Nobody finds it pleasant.
Or if somebody'd just had a pap smear by their gynecologist,
why does she need another? But if the Board reviewed her chart,
they could say 'You didn't do a complete physical.'
Phil was in a situation where
the physical exams and the documentation were already done by
the patient's own physician. Patients could not get into see
him unless they had recent records -"recent" meaning
three to six months, I believe. And 99% of these people had used
medical marijuana successfully, which puts it in a different
category than if I'm seeing somebody who has 103 and may have
a life-threatening illness and you don't know what's going on.
C-Notes:. Is there a special
term for doctors whose role is administrative, like doctors who
perform disability exams? Bayer: Some doctors are said to perform
the "independent medical exam." They see patients in
connection with disability insurance evaluations, disputed workmen's
comp claims Workmen's comp is an area where you're expected to
deal only with the work-related injury, so of course you don't
do a complete physical examination on the patient. If somebody
comes in and they've hurt their shoulder you're not going to
check their prostate The doctors I knew through my practice
who called themselves independent medical examiners usually didn't
have a hospital practice. They'd have an office practice. The
bill might or not be paid by the patient. The doctor might be
an agent of the insurance companies. Patients need to make sure
that the doctor is not in cahoots with the employer. C-Notes:
What was your role in the OMMA 2 campaign? Bayer: I wasn't involved
with the writing of it but I supported it 100 percent and did
everything I could do get it to pass. I worked closely with the
chief petititoner, John Sajo,and either wrote or edited most
of the campaign statements.
C-Notes: Why did it fail?
Bayer: It was a very ambitious ballot measure and it was difficult
to get the message across to those who were content with the
existing medical marijuana law. If you look at the Voters Pamphlet,
the no-on-33 message begins with "A no vote will retain
the current Oregon Medical Marijuana Act." That's a nice,
seductive phrase. People will say "Okay, we can keep what
we've got, it's worked well." What the campaign had to do
is come out and say 'The OMMA works really well for a certain
group of patients, but for people that are too sick to grow or
who can't find a caregiver, or an honest caregiver, then it doesn't
work for them at all." You have to be healthy enough to
grow a garden. A lot of people who are sick enough to qualify
are not healthy enough to grow a garden. If you can't grow your
own, have to go out and find a caregiver who will work for free,
because the OMMA does not even allow you to reimburse your caregiver
for labor, not to mention making a profit. So, what happened
was, access to medicine under the OMMA was limited to people
sick enough to qualify but well enough to grow a garden, or well
enough connected to find a competent, honest caregiver. Pity
the poor person who has just moved to Oregon, or who has never
had anything to do with marijuana reform, and gets cancer and
needs medicine right away. Those people are left behind. The
whole purpose of OMMA 2 was to help people who'd been left behind
by the OMMA. The irony is that the people you're trying to help
are the poorest and the sickest and the least likely to be able
to donate large amounts of money to the campaign. This was a
campaign done more on altruistic principles rather than political
science. It was written mostly by John Sajo and Lee Berger [a
Portland lawyer] and their motto was "leave no patient behind."
One part of Measure 33 would have required that the dispensaries
give away 20% of their medical marijuana to indigent patients.
That was attacked by the Oregon Medical Society heavily as some
sort of socialist manipulation when all it was trying to do was
recognize that poor people don't have access to medicine. Then
there was the requirement that there be a dispensary in every
county, so that in counties that didn't have them, the health
department would set one up. Again, this is for the people left
behind by the OMMA; but it was hard to explain to the voters.
A ballot initiative written to help people who are left behind
is a really tough sell. Single-payer health care is the prime
example.
C-Notes: Leveque thinks the
presidential race brought out the bible-beaters to vote against
gay marriage and while they were at it they voted against medical
marijuana.
Bayer: If the OMMA 2 had been
on the ballot in a non-presidential year, it might have passed.
In this atmosphere of political cacophony, our message got diluted,
almost lost. In 1998, When the OMMA passed, there were about
$125,000 worth of TV ads -less than $150,000- but the ads were
everywhere. This time there were $500,000 worth of TV ads and
I saw two of them in a month. The consultants say the ad prices
were outrageous; and the radio spots were almost as high as the
TV spots. C-Notes: Elections are highly profitable for the corporate
media. Bayer: On the Measure 35 race the Oregon Medical Association
spent something like $10 million trying to get caps on malpractice
suits Another difference: in 1998, OMMA was the most controversial
ballot measure and got a lot of free media as a result. OMMA
2 was maybe the fourth or fifth most controversial ballot measure,
and got almost no free media.
C-Notes: Was
there organized opposition?
Bayer: Law enforcement and
the major newspapers were opposed. So was the Willamette Week.
The opposition that hurt us the most was from Stormy Ray, one
of the chief petitioners for the OMMA. During the OMMA. it was
basically patients and doctors versus law enforcement. But this
time, because of Stormy Ray's defection, it became patients and
doctors vs patients and cops. The state and local cops took full
advantage; they told the media, "Well, Stormy Ray opposes
this, one of the chief petitioners for the OMMA, that's enough
reason for every voter to oppose it." C-Notes: Where was
she coming from? Bayer: I don't want to speculate on her motives,
but the campaign made it clear that some people who were doing
really, really well under OMMA 1 had no interest in working to
change it. The OMMA 2 would have spread the wealth. There would
have been dozens of dispensaries. You wouldn't have had to be
a wealthy, well-connected marijuana activist to get access to
medicine, you just would have to go to the ATM machine before
going to the dispensary. C-Notes: Is it true that the only Oregon
doctor still specializing in seeing cannabis users is Dr. Dodge
in Portland. Is it affecting the number of cards being applied
for?
Bayer: There are a lot of doctors
who will sign applications for patients whom they've known for
years and who've tried everything else. And many family practice
doctors have no problem signing marijuana applications -but they
don't want it widely known. They look at it like, "I would
give you Vicodin for your pain but you prefer marijuana, that's
fine." The clinics are set up so that the patients are all
screened -it's a totally different form of practice, as I realized
when I was testifying before the Board.
I used to wonder if the clinics
really were serving patients' needs. Now that I've defended Phil,
I'm convinced that they really were, 100 percent. I've talked
to so many patients who've had difficulties with their regular
physicians or with their employers because marijuana was documented
in their medical chart and then that chart gets sent to an employer.
It's perfectly logical for a patient to say "I want to see
Dr. Smith for all my internal medicine problems, but just to
be safe I'll go to the clinic and see Dr. Dodge to get my card,
and not even tell Dr. Smith about it unless it's necessary, that
way Dr. Smith isn't going to have anxiety about getting in trouble
with the Board of Medical Examiners or he isn't going to accidentally
reveal something to my employer." If you could talk Dr.
Smith into keeping two separate charts, it would be different.
Back in the days when we first hear of AIDS we were advised to
protect patients against discrimination by keeping separate charts.
Medical marijuana patients are discriminated against, too. Confidentiality
-that's why it's logical to go see a separate doctor who does
nothing but medical marijuana applications. Even if your doctor
would sign it, there's a risk of having that information in your
chart. [Whereas] you know your employer isn't going to get Dr.
Dodge's chart. This hit me when I was on the stand: Phil isn't
seeing primary care patients! The staff screens you and you can't
get in the door unless you've got recent records about your debilitating
condition. That's a totally different kind of practice. Concerns
about confidentiality, 99 times out of 100, that's why patients
go to cannabis specialists. If the Board of Medical Examiners
don't like that, they need to help us reschedule marijuana so
that doctors can prescribe it.
Fred Gardner can be reached at journal@ccrmg.org
Weekend
Edition Features for October 30 / 31, 2004
November
6 / 7, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Don't
Say We Didn't Warn You
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Green Out
Carl
G. Estabrook
Who Killed Cock Robin?
Saul
Landau
Che: the Man and the Movie
Gary
Leupp
Let There Be Conflict!
Ben
Tripp
You Call This a Party?
Paul
Craig Roberts
The October Numbers: Continuing Stress on the Jobs Front
Jordan
Green
Heroin, Cocaine and Espanola, NM
Fred
Gardner
Haul of Justice
J.A.
Miller
Cults of the Jealous God: the Balfour Decision Reconsidered
Ramzy
Baroud
Life Without Arafat
Dave
Zirin
Out at the Ballgame: Pro Sports and the Gay Athelete
Ron
Jacobs
The Arrow on the Doorpost
Robert
Oscar Lopez
How White Liberals Became a New Racial Minority
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
The November Surprise
Dave
Lindorff
Silver Linings
Richard
Oxman
Invitation to the Bodily Snatched
John
Whitlow
Value Wars: the View from Lexington, Kentucky
Rahul
Mahajan
Fallujah and the Reality of War
Leila
Matsui
Political "Ju-On": Carrying a Grudge
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