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Inside the New Print Edition of CounterPunch: How Go the Democrats? Democrats on the Brink: Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair; Innocent Lads, Depraved Killers and Predatory Priests by JoAnn Wypijewski; Torture Air, Inc.: the Road to Rendition: by Jeffrey St. Clair. Remember these stories are available exclusively in the print edition of CounterPunch. CounterPunch Online is read by millions of viewers each month! But remember, we are funded solely by the subscribers to the print edition of CounterPunch. Please support this website by buying a subscription to our newsletter, which contains fresh material you won't find anywhere else, or by making a donation for the online edition. Remember contributions are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! Call Toll Free 1-800-840-3683 or write CounterPunch, PO BOX 228, Petrolia, CA 95558

Coming Soon from CounterPunch Books Other Lands Have Dreams: From Baghdad to Pekin Prison by KATHY KELLY Click Here to Order! Today's Stories March 21, 2005 Paul Craig Roberts A Threat Greater Than Terrorism March 19, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Three-Card Monte and the One-Party State Tom Reeves Exposing the Coming Draft: a Draft by Any Other Name is Still Wrong Saul Landau The Grandchildren of Roy Cohn: the Politics of the Repressed Alan Maass Making Bankruptcy a Life Sentence Ron Jacobs Submit or Else: the Nuclear Demon that Won't Go Awayy David Green The Holocaust Industry Comes to the University of Illinois John Blair Hey, Dick! I'm Still Free: a Blow for Freedom of Speech in Indiana Steve Greenfield The Decline of the Green Party: the Numbers are In Ben Tripp Nature isn't Real Mike Roselle A History of White People in the Conservation Movement Joshua Frank Hope in Red State America: Lessons from the Big Sky Country Mark Weisbrot The World Bank: a Bigger Problem Than Wolfowitz Dave Lindorff Congress on Steroids Sarah Schaffer Lula's Nukes: Bush Bullies Iran, Ignores Brazil's Nuclear Ambitions Warren Hastings Why the Queen Should Chop Off Tony Blair's Head for Treason Poets' Basement Lodge, Albert. Landau, Engel, Davies, Capaccio   March 18, 2005 Dave Zirin The Congressional Urine Testers: Baseball's Theater of the Absurd Richard Thieme The Church Committee Candidate: I was a Victim of the KGB John Walsh Misdirecting the Anti-War Movement David Swanson Hunger Striking for a Living Wage at Georgetown Ben Terrall In the Spirit of Rachel Corrie: Confronting Caterpillar in San Leandro David Boyle Just Say "No" to Harvard Dorreen Yellow Bird Coping with Teen Suicide on the Standing Rock Reservation Mokhiber / Weissman Global Bully Goes to Guatemala Greg Moses They Don't Shoot Donkeys...Do They? Website of the Day 800 Protests: Find One Near You   March 17, 2005 Christopher Brauchli Rendered Unto Caesar: the Etymology of Torture Bill Quigley The St. Patrick's Four and the Resistance to the War in Iraq Brian Cloughley Bush's Herds: Willing to Kick Anyone in the Face Gary Bass / Adam Hughes Inside the Bush Budget: Rhetoric vs. Reality Dave Lindorff The Incredible Shrinking Coalition Jude Wanniski Wolfowitz at the World Bank: a Perfect Fit Alexander Billet Irish Republicanism at the Crossroads John Ross Wal-Mart Invades Mexico Website of the Day Campus Resistance   March 16, 2005 Ralph Nader Filling the Congressional Cop-Out Gap: an Idea for Local Peace Activists William Cook Resurrecting the Neo-Con Failures Kevin Zeese Two Years of Occupation: Both US and Iraq are Worse Off Jackie Corr Why is Dick Cheney Laughing? The New Tax Cut Patriotism Alan Maass Bush's Class War Budget David R. Kolker Jailed Without Charges in Haiti Cindy Ellen Hill Speculative Policing in Northern Ireland Paul Craig Roberts America's Has-Been Economy   March 15, 2005 Gary Leupp The Plan is Still on Track Dave Lindorff Free John Walker Lindh! Greg Moses The Fix-It Guys and Their Electoral Filters Hadas Their / Katrina Yeaw Military Recruiters Target Campus Activists Alison Weir Uprising on the Anniversary of Rachel Corrie's Death Matt Koehler A Line in the Ancient Forest: 50 Arrested in Blockade to Save the Siskiyous Evelyn Pringle Labeling Kids Mentally Ill for Profit Harry Browne War and Peace in Ireland   March 14, 2005 Ralph Nader Restarting the Anti-War Movement David Miller Ministry of Defence in the Control Booth: Did the BBC Broadcast Fake News Reports? Stan Cox Look Deeper, Mr. Moyers Mike Roselle Why Women Should Take Over the Environmental Movement David Swanson Nursing Against the Odds: the Workers' View Simona Sharoni To End the War, Listen to Soldiers Dave Lindorff Corporate Surveillance Dorreen Yellow Bird Incidents at Standing Rock: Suicide on the Reservation Tom Barry John Bolton's Baggage Website of the Day Spinwatch     March 12 / 13, 2005 David H. Price The CIA's Campus Spies Noam Chomsky The Toothpaste Election Laura Carlsen Women's Rights Eroding in Latin America Stan Goff On Revolutionary Optimism: the View from Cumberland Co, NC Valentina Nicoli The Game of Role-Playing and the Ambush of Giuliana Sgrena Michael Leonardi Head Shot: Lifting the Veil on the Sgrena / Calipari Incident Saul Landau / Sarah Anderson Blood Money and the Riggs Bank: Pinochet's Bank Finally Pays Up Joe Bageant It Ain't Easy Being White Manuel García, Jr. The Question of American Guilt Greg Moses Electoral Lessons from Cuyahoga and Harris Counties James J. Brittain Run, Fight or Die in Colombia Ben Tripp Communist Watch Joshua Frank A Red State Paradox: Montana on the Cusp Fred Gardner Pesticides Made Her Sick; Pot Got Her Well Walter Brasch Bush's Horse Killers Ramzy Baroud Reining in Syria on Behalf of Israel Christopher Brauchli Going All the Way for Usurers Michael Donnelly The Humiliation of Les "Timber Toad" AuCoin Ron Jacobs ZAP Comics: Still Kicking US Culture in the Ass Richard Oxman The Eternal Reciprocity of Tears Poets' Basement Smith-Ferri, Davies, Ford, Louise and Albert   March 11, 2005 Jerry Fresia Targeting Giuliana Ron Jacobs Making Lebensraum in the Middle East for Tel Aviv's Fears & Washington's Dollars Dave Lindorff America's Magical Kingdom William James Martin Ben Gurion and the Origin of the "Pushing into the Sea" Myth Muqtedar Khan Modi's Operandi: American Business and Genocide Linked Again Kathryn Ledebur Bolivia on the Brink Mike Whitney Saddam's Capture: Just Another Bush Lie? Dave Zirin Neo-McCarthyism Slugs Baseball Website of the Day William Rivers Pitt, Another Hack for the Occupation     March 10, 2005 Paul Craig Roberts So Much for the New Bush Economy John Marc Leas, Colleen McLaughlin and Ashley Smith Vermont Vs. the War Larry Birns The Pathological John Bolton Michael Donnelly The Re-Reinvention of an Oregon Timber Beast Luis Gomez In Bolivia, Reality Changes Once Again Jackie Corr Whatever Happened to the Social Security Trust Fund? Uri Avnery Bush's Guru: Natan Sharansky Website of the Day Red Alert in the Siskiyous!     March 9, 2005 Jeffrey St. Clair Dirty Harry's Fear of Flying: Making Love, War and Profits at Boeing Ward Churchill Who's the Terrorist? Robert Fisk Another Species of Cedar: a Half Million Lebanese March for Syria Bernice Powell Jackson No Justice for America's Nuclear Guinea Pigs in the Marshall Islands Mickey Z. The Revolutionary of Potential Art Dave Zirin NHL Says: "Bring On the Scabs!" Michael Donnelly Standing Up to Ecocide in Oregon James Reiss Stopping by Words in Favor of Privatizing Social Security Vijay Prashad Get Modi: a State Terrorist Visits Florida   March 8, 2005 Paul Craig Roberts Bush's Syrian Delusion Robert Fisk Lebanon's Nightmare Kurt Nimmo War is Peace: John Bolton to the UN Suzan Mazur Time for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Polygamy? Evelyn Pringle Neil Bush and Crest: Another Profiteering Scheme Giuliana Sgrena My Truth: "The Americans Don't Want You to Return" Elaine Cassel The Appalling Case of Abu Ali   March 7, 2005 Dave Zirin Bloodlust in Annapolis: Gov. Ehrlich Wants to Kill Vernon Lee Evans Brian Cloughley More War Crimes John Chuckman The Creature Walks Among Us Mike Whitney Jose Padilla and the 10 Commandments Mark Weisbrot Haiti's Torment: Why Are US Human Rights Groups Silent? Fred Gardner The Cannabinoid Messenger Richard Neville The Italian Job Uri Avnery The Next Crusades     March 5 / 6, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Arnold vs. the Nurses Gary Leupp What's Happening in Lebanon: an Interview with Fadi Agha, Advisor to President Lahoud Ron Jacobs Lies Military Recruiters Tell Tom Reeves Haiti: One Year After the Coup Jenna Orkin Memories of Kawaggi, Saudi Arabia Tom Barry Negroponte: Intel Czar or Policy Hack? Joshua Frank The Trials of Max Baucus Moshe Adler When Pfizer Came to New London: Corporate Giveways vs. Eminent Domain Jane Stillwater My Jury Questionnaire: "Do You Agree that a Corporation is a Person?" Omar Barghouti / Jacqueline Sfeir Double Standards on S. Africa and Israel: an Open Letter to UNESCO Christopher Brauchli Target: Al Jazeera John Pilger The Fall of Saigon: 30 Years Later Raúl Zibechi Colombia: Militarism and Social Movements David Krieger Saving the Nuclear Nonproliferation Agreement Three Takes on Nepal Surendra R. Devkota Another Blow to the King of Nepal Bhishma Karki Nepal in Twilight Joseph Pietri Murder at the Palace Ben Tripp The Good Old Days Poets' Basement Hassen, Chief Running Late, Wuest, Albert and Collins Website of the Weekend O'Shaughnessy's: All About Medical Pot     March 4, 2005 Frederick Hudson Caught in a Cage   March 3, 2005 Pat Williams "Social Security Protects the Young as Much as the Old" Brian Cloughley Headlines, Beliefs and Deceptions Dave Lindorff Why Do the Democrats Pamper Greenspan? Amira Hass Oslo All Over Again Greg Moses In Oscar Texas: One Down, One to Go? Lynne Landes Exit Poll Madness Nelson P. Valdés Rapture Takes Leftists John Ross Mexico's Fox Schemes to Jail Front-Running Leftist   March 2, 2005 Saul Landau / Farrah Hassen The "Noble Liars" Attack Syria Mike Roselle The State of Oregon vs. Mike Roselle: Criminalizing Environmental Dissent M. Junaid Alam Columbia University and the New Anti-Semitism Suzan Mazur Inside the Polygamy Cults of Southern Utah Jackson Thoreau Texas Congressman Calls for "Nuking Syria" Michael Donnelly No Love for Teresa Heinz; John Edwards Gets a Pass Jeffrey St. Clair Uncle Bucky Makes a Killing Website of the Day The Ghosts of Karl Marx & Ed Abbey     March 1, 2005 Scott Richard Lyons Million Dollar Bigotry David Lindorff Stealing Workers' Pensions Patrick Cockburn / David Enders Bloodbath in Iraq Ron Jacobs The Last Poets Recalled Tanya Garcia USA Next: the Industry Front Group to Privatize Social Security Joseph Pietri The Drug Trail Ends in Kathmandu: Golden Tar Heroin and the Black Prince Kona Lowell Woody: Broken in Vietnam Paul Craig Roberts The Coming End of the American Superpower Website of the Day Petition: No US Intervention in Iran     February 28, 2005 Gary Leupp Year 4 in the Five Year Plan: a June Attack on Iran? Bill Quigley Haitian Police Open Fire on Nonviolent Marchers Mickey Z. The Million Dollar Interview: Mary Johnson on Clinton Eastwood, Hunter Thompson and the "Right to Die" Paul de Rooij Why Ted Honderich is Wrong on All Counts About Israel David Swanson Basic Income Guarantee Versus the Corp Media Mario Lamo Jimenez Maria Full of Cultural Contradictions at the Oscars Emma Perez The Attacks on Ward Churchill: a Test Case in the Neocons Purge of Academia Diana Johnstone Censorship and the Empire Website of the Day Stop the War Campaign!     February 26 / 27, 2005 Alexander Cockburn An American Jew Laments Decline in Jewish Influence Noam Chomsky Nuclear Terror at Home Rev. William E. Alberts Rhetoric in the Air; Reality on the Ground Fred Gardner AARP Gets Pot-Baited Gary Leupp Bush and Camus on Freedom Saul Landau An Interview with Cuban VP Ricardo Alarcon (Part 3): the Miami Mafia Robin Philpot Second Thoughts on the Hotel Rwanda Yitkhak Laor In Praise of the Facts Ben Tripp Out of Sight; Out of Mind Justin Taylor Zizek Seen Over the Handlebars Jack Random The Wounds from Wounded Knee Rafael Renteria Ward Churchill and White America Jim B. Reflections on the Eve of Fatherhood Seth DeLong Land Reform in Venezuela: More Like Lincoln Than Lenin John Chuckman A Season of Depressing Political Reruns Alison Weir Relativity, LA Times Style Richard Oxman Political Solitude: From Garcia Marquez to Maria Full of Grace Dr. Susan Block It Always Rains in California: All About Female Ejaculation Poets' Basement Landau, Lowell, Louise, Davies, Soderstrom, Norris & Albert     February 25, 2005 Roger Burbach Murder in the Amazon Behzad Yaghmaian Iranian Distrust of America: 50 Years in the Making Kurt Nimmo Conclave of the Brats Joshua Frank Diagnosing the Green Party John Farley How to Stop the War in Iraq: Punish Pro-War Politicians Lawrence Reichard The D'Aubuisson Memorial: Flowers of Evil Pratyush Chandra The Royal Coup in Nepal and Global Imperialist Designs David Smith-Ferri When the Battlefield has No Borders Website of the Day The 2005 Election in 3-D   February 24, 2005 Omar Waraich The Galloway Saga: Smearing an Anti-War Politician Brian Cloughley Bribing and Twisting Amerian Journalists: Valerie Plame & 30 Pieces of Silver Tom Wright Torture Nation: Abu Ghraib, a Year Later Sharon Smith The Anti-War Movement After Kerry: Learning All the Wrong Lessons Dave Lindorff Do These Roosting Chickens Have Flu? Fred Feldman Lynching Ward Churchill James Reiss On Hearing About a Plot to Assassinate President Bush Diane Christian Bad Blood: Ritual & Sexual Torture in Iraq Website of the Day The Gray Line     February 23, 2005 Werther The Poisoned Well: What the CIA's Nazi Files Can Tell Us About Iraq W. John Green A Salvador Option for Iraq? How Negroponte Changes the Ground Rules James Petras A New Face to Bush Foreign Policy? Conn Hallinan Cornering the Dragon: the Return of the China Lobby Joe Pietri Cannabis: the Goose that Lays Golden Eggs (For Consumers and Cops) Louis Proyect Hunter Thompson and the "New" Journalism Alexander Cockburn Hunter S. Thompson and Gonzo Website of the Day Did You Make the Blacklist? Why Not?   February 22, 2005 Naseer Aruri The Politics of the Hariri Assassination: Remapping the Middle East Richard Manning The Economy of Hunger: Starvation is Part of the Economic Plan William A. Cook Righteous Racism Running Rampant Paul Craig Roberts The Agents of Instability Ken Krayeske Dr. Thompson is Out Dave Zirin How the Owners Destroyed the NHL Kirkpatrick Sale Imperial Entropy: the Collapse of the American Empire     February 21, 2005 Hunter S. Thompson "He Was A Crook" John Ross Mexico: the Pentagon's Proxy Army in Iraq Ward Churchill What Did I Really Say? Why Did I Say It? Dr. Teresa Whitehurst Military Recruiting on Channel One: Geometry 101, Brought to You by the US Navy David Swanson Fighting for a Living Wage, State by State Dave Lindorff All the News That's Fit to Fake Stew Albert Fear and Loathing: HST Michael Neumann Strategies in Palestine: a Shrinking Pie in the Sky     February 19 / 20, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Back to Salem: Paul Shanley and the Return of "Recovered Memory" Kathleen Christison Struggling for Justice in Palestine Ted Honderich On Being Persona Non Grata Gary Leupp Self-Hating Gays: Welcome to the White House & Welcome to Commit Suicide Don Santina Reparations for the Blues Jennifer Roesch John Negroponte: Dirty Warrior Scott Richard Lyons Ward Churchill and the Identity Police Chris Clarke Ward Churchill and Liberal Outrage George Beres Censorship in the Land of Wayne Morse: Gagging W. Churchill in Oregon Harry Browne The Belfast Heist: the Plot Unravels Manuel Garc'a, Jr. Who Killed Rafik Hariri? Mark Scaramella Lessons from the Hidden Afghan War Michael Donnelly Whatever Happened to John Edwards? John Pilger First, They Attack the Past Norman Madarasz Death Wish for Reform in Brazil? Surendra Devkota The Monarchy in Nepal Deborah Rich How Anti-GMO Ballot Measures May Miss the Mark Fred Gardner When Dr. Tod Met Merle Haggard CounterPunch News Service About King Mswati: Political Developments in Swaziland Richard Oxman CounterPunching Arthur Miller Poets' Basement Albert, Giebel, Tripp, Engel and Orkin   February 18, 2005 Ben Moxham In East Timor, the Nightmare Continues Dave Lindorff The Scum Also Rises: the Bloody Career of John Negroponte Larry Birns Negroponte: a Resume of Death Squads, Deceptions and Bribery Gregory Elich N, Korea's Phantom Nukes and the US's Subversion of Diplomacy Samuel Logan / John Meyers The Future of Colombia's Paramilitary Death Squads Nicole Colson Shock and Awe on Civil Liberties: From Lynne Stewart to Ward Churchill Suzan Mazur Whose National Security Are We Talking About? Mickey Z. "One Man Has Stopped Killing"     February 17, 2005 Joshua Frank Hogtying of the Deaniacs Paul Craig Roberts Bush's Willing Sychophants: the Conservative Media Robert Fisk Under the Shadow of Death in Lebanon Christopher Brauchli Where Time Stands Still: Kinsey and Darwin in Cobb County, GA Dr. Teresa Whitehurst Military Recruitment TV: Why Send Them to College, When Your Kid Can be Cannon Fodder? Alison Weir Russia, Israel and Media Omissions Ahrar Ahmad A Review of Shahid Alam's "Is There an Islamic Problem?" Saul Landau An Interview with Cuban VP Ricardo Alarcon: "The US Tramples the Laws It Wrote" Website of the Day Petition to Support Ward Churchill     February 16, 2005 Robert Fisk Lebanon: a Battlefield for the Wars of Others Kevin Zeese Creating a Real Ownership Society: Share the Wealth; Protect Retirement Gary Leupp Meanwhile, in Nepal... Ron Jacobs Why the Iranian Opposition Should Not Trust the Bush Administration Jessica Leight Oil-Flush Chavez Begins to Strut His Stuff Greg Moses Houston, You've Got a Problem: Documenting Voting Irregularities in Texas Mark Engler The Last Porto Alegre Jack McCarthy Where's the Outrage About Pat? Buchanan Does a Churchill Bill Christison US Foreign Policy Dangerously Slanted Toward Israel Website of the Day The World is Melting: a Photo Survey by Gary Braasch     February 15, 2005 CounterPunch News Service Dean a "Safe" Moderate, Says NYT Citing CounterPunch Robert Fisk The Killing of Mr. Lebanon Uri Avnery "Sharm-al-Sheikh, We Have Come Back Again" Stan Cox Fighting Big Pharma in Little Digwal Mickey Z. Radio Active North of the Border: an Interview with Chris Cook Dave Zirin Bashing Bush: Jose Canseco Comes Clean Nadia Martinez Ending World Poverty? Opening at the World Bank, Apply Now Lila Rajiva "Little Eichmanns" and the 'Harijan': the Danger of Magical Thinking in Politics Paul Craig Roberts The American Job Sell Out     February 14, 2005 Robert Jensen Ward Churchill: Right to Speak Out; Right About 9/11 Brian Cloughley Kuwait's Freedom, Bush-style Patrick Cockburn Outcome of the Iraqi Elections: Shortages, Corruption, Guerrilla War Gary Leupp Post-election Iraq: What Next? Michael Donnelly Sacred Nature: Just Another Commodity? Dave Lindorff When Bush Came to My Neighborhood Elaine Cassel The Lynne Stewart Verdict   February 12 / 13, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Ward Churchill's Genes Saul Landau Alarcon Speaks: an Interview with the Vice President of Cuba Paul Craig Roberts Nothing to Fear But Bush Himself Patrick Cockburn Two Years After the Fall of Saddam, the Resistance Controls All Major Roads into Baghdad John Feffer Bush v. N. Korea: Round Two Mickey Z. Right to Remain Silent; Duty to Speak Kurt Nimmo Viva la Cucaracha! Fred Gardner Waiting for Raich Dave Zirin Fighting the New Republic(ans) John Chuckman Hiroshima, Mon Amour Ben Tripp A Leftist on the Bush Payroll Carol Norris "Buddy, Can You Spare a Dwarf?" Robert Fisk No Middle East Peace Without Justice Frank / Chowkwanyun Muzzled Activist in an Age of Terror: the Case of Sherman Austin Mike Whitney Condi's Euro Tour Deborah Frisch A Psychologist's Defense of Ward Churchill Niranjan Ramakrishnan Reading Khomeini in Colorado Christine TenBarge What's So Special About Ward? Ron Jacobs Curtis Mayfield's Train to Jordan Dr. Susan Block Chemistry of Love: a Valentine's Greeting Poets' Basement Louise, Smith-Ferri, Ford and Albert Website of the Weekend Free Sherman     February 11, 20055 Manuel Garcia, Jr The Eight Percent War Kurt Nimmo Ann Coulter's Racism: Where's Geronimo When You Really Need Him? Dave Lindorff Guckert or Gannon? The Perfect Plant; He Fit Right In Larry Birns War is Peace; Slavery is Freedom: Democracy According to Elliott Abrams Bill Quigley Twenty Questions: a Social Justice Quiz Tom Barry Bush's State of Delusion Jennifer Van Bergen Lynne Stewart's Conviction Hurts Us All     February 10, 2005 Dave Lindorff What Academic Freedom? Christopher Brauchli The Love of Slaughter: From Rwanda to Iraq Patrick Cockburn In Baghdad, It's Easy to Get Killed Nicole Colson Have the Democrats Surrendered on Abortion Rights? Suzan Mazur More on the Assassination of Lumumba from Mr. Garsin of Kinshasha Michael Donnelly Salvaging an Opposition Mike Stark Driving Ossie Davis: "Give Them a Little Truth, a Little Hope" Greg Moses Taking Jesus Back from the Hijackers Website of the Day The Missionary Positions     February 9, 2005 Jeffrey St. Clair Duck and Cover Redux: Bunker Busters and City Levellers Mickey Z. What Ward Churchill Didn't Say John Ross Hecho en Mexico: the Iraqi Election Tom Barry Ambassador of Lies: Elliott Abrams, the Neocon's Neocon Conn Hallinan The Coup in Nepal: Nursing the Pinion Patrick Cockburn Sistani's Vision for Iraq: Cricket is Fine, But Chess is "Absolutely Forbidden" Steen Sohn Danish PM Says It's OK for Israel to Violate UN Resolutions Tim Wise Reflections on Empire and Uppity Indians Website of the Day Support Antiwar.com     February 8, 2005 Patrick Cockburn Shia/Kurd Coalition to Dominate New Iraqi Govt.: "It's an Electoral Pact, Not a Party" Brian Cloughley Out of the Mouths of Generals: "It's Fun to Shoot Some People" Steve Breyman Against the Selfishness of the "Ownership Society" Harry Browne "Don't Get on that Plane!": Soldiers Seek Asylum in Ireland Doug Giebel "We Love Free Speech in America": the People, the President and Ward Churchill Nate Collins The Censorship of Ward Churchill and Dancehall Reggae: It's the Same Beast Dave Lindorff It's Time for a Labor-Oriented Newspaper David Smith-Ferri Sanctions and the Health Crisis in Iraq     February 7, 2005 Paul Craig Roberts Bush's War on Jobs Carolyn Baker The New McCarthyism on Campus: Churchill and the Attack on Higher Ed Joshua Frank Marc Cooper's Hit List: First Mumia; Now Ward Churchill Mickey Z. Warning: More Hate Speech from W. Churchill Patrick Cockburn The Kidnapping Gangs of Iraq Mike Whitney Tom Friedman: Scribe for New Age Imperialism Stacie Jonas Pinochet: Fit to be Tried Dave Zirin A Miserable Super Sunday: Clinton, Bush and the FBI Tariq Ali Imperial Delusions       February 5 / 6, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Ward Churchill and the Mad Dogs Kurt Nimmo A Ward Churchill Kind of Day Joshua Frank Liberals Trash Ward Churchill P. Sainath Mumbai's Man-Made Tsunami Patrick Cockburn Sistani's Triumph; Allawi's Bust Laura Carlsen Bush, Rice and Latin America Dave Lindorff How the NYT Killed the Bush Bulge Story Pamela Olson West Bank Story Behzad Yaghmaian The Future of Sudanese Refugees in the West Saul Landau / Farrah Hassen A Threatened UN in King George's Court Roger Burbach World Social Forum: a Tale of Two Presidents Robert Fisk History by Laptop David Swanson James Forman and the Liberal-Labor Syndrome Justin E.H. Smith Gay Marriage: a Report from Canada Cacie Hart The "State" of the Union: More War and a Ban on Love Ron Jacobs Chairman Bob Avakian: a Revolutionary Life Mickey Z. Viewing America from the Outside Ben Tripp Republican Heroes: a New Breed of Good Guy Ben Sonnenberg France at the End of the Devil's Decade: Renoir's Rules of the Game Poets' Basement Smith-Ferri, Davies, Collins, & Albert Website of the Weekend John Trudell: How to Earn a 17,000 Page FBI File   February 4, 2005 Brian Cloughley The Army Symphonist: "Sometimes the Only Way to Change the Behavior of Someone Like That is to Kill Them" Bill Christison Election Parallels: Vietnam, 1967; Iraq, 2005 Elaine Cassel Did Zoloft Make Him Do It? Jacob Levich Chomsky and the Draft Kanak Mani Dixit Return of the Royalists in Nepal Ron Jacobs The Downward Spiral in Iraq     February 3, 2005 Ward Churchill On the Injustice of Getting Smeared: a Campaign of Fabrications and Gross Distortions Sharon Smith Resisting Soldiers Need Our Support Mickey Z. Leslie Gelb Asks Iraq: Who's Your Daddy? Mike Whitney President of Alienation: a Desperate State of the Union Jenna Orkin 9/11 the Sequel: the Toxic State of Lower Manhattan Saul Landau Elections Won't Prevent Civil War in Iraq Yitzhak Laor Strange is the Silence Dave Lindorff The Assault on Social Security: a New Campaign of Lies     February 2, 2005 David Domke / Kevin Coe Bush's Brand of Christianity Noam Chomsky Iraq After the Elections M. Shahid Alam O'Reilly's Fatwah on "Un-American" Professors: FoxNews Puts Me in Its Crosshairs Richard Oxman Ringing in 1984 with Ward Churchill and Derrick Jensen Joshua Frank The Suckering of Howard Dean Dave Lindorff A History Lesson from the NYT Nina Hartley Feminists for Porn Website of the Day War is a Racket     February 1, 2005 Joshua L. Dratel The Torture Memos Patrick Cockburn New Doubts About Allawi Robert Fisk "The Only Decent Food We Get is at Funerals" Uri Avnery The Stalemate Col. Dan Smith "W" Stands for Withdrawal Alison Weir Making America as "Secure" as Israel Alan Farago Heaven and Hell in the Everglades Ray Hanania Low Voter Turnout of Iraqi Expatriates: Less Than 10% of Qualified Voters Paul Craig Roberts American Police State Website of the Day Statisticians Refute Official Rationale for Exit Poll Errors                         December 22, 2004 James Petras An Open Letter to Saramago: Nobel Laureate Suffers from a Bizarre Historical Amnesia Omar Barghouti The Case for Boycotting Israel Patrick Cockburn / Jeremy Redmond They Were Waiting on Chicken Tenders When the Rounds Hit Harry Browne Northern Ireland: No Postcards from the Edge Richard Oxman On the Seventh Column Kathleen Christison Imagining Palestine Website of the Day FBI Torture Memos     December 21, 2004 Greg Moses The New Zeus on the Block: Unplugging Al-Manar TV Dave Lindorff Losing It in America: Bunker of the Skittish Chad Nagle The View from Donetsk Dragon Pierces Truth* Concrete Colossus vs. the River Dragon: Dislocation and Three Gorges Dam Patrick Cockburn "Things Always Get Worse" Seth DeLong Aiding Oppression in Haiti Ahmad Faruqui Pakistan and the 9/11 Commission's Report Paul Craig Roberts America Locked Up: a System of Injustice                                         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.     Subscribe Online

March 21, 2005 Behind the Grill at a Baltimore Diner Happy Meals By JAMES T. PHILLIPS I am working as a grill cook in a local diner. A television sits on the counter of the 1950's-style restaurant, and I'm listening to a news broadcast on the FOX channel as I flip burgers and mix milkshakes. The customers sitting at tables near the television set nod in approval as they devour ëfair and balanced' news, eat good food, and sip cold drinks. Happy meals. I bite my tongue as my customers chew cheeseburgers. My political views are not on the menu. My workday at the diner is similar to a session on the Internet reading web sites like FreeRepublic.com and the DrudgeReport.com. Except for the sound effects (burping and slurping) and the enraptured facial expressions, I get the same opinions and arguments from reading words flickering across my computer screen as I get when my customers speak their minds at the diner. I do not respond to either irritant. It is not in my job description to tell customers that their facts can be challenged, or that believing what they hear on FOX News is akin to believing that the sound of a balloon popping is a potential - code yellow - terrorist threat. When the squawking gets loud in FOX's henhouse, I turn my back and scrape crud off the grill. Yet, for the same reason that I read screeds on the Internet, I listen carefully to what my customers are saying as they express their opinions. This old habit is part my job description: I am also a reporter. * * * "Mikulski should be dead," says an older man as he orders a burger and fries. He is a U.S. Navy veteran, walks with a cane, and has thin white hair and a thick Baltimore accent. He obviously dislikes the junior Senator from Maryland, Barbara Mikulski. "Why?" I ask. "She's a liberal," snaps the elderly man. "All liberals should die." I cook food for my customers, but I do not grill them. I don't ask many questions. Queries are considered dissent, and dissent is not welcome. So, as a dutiful employee, I butter up the bread, and the diners, satisfying their hunger and their egos. I engage in very few arguments about politics and religion in America, preferring to listen, learning the unfiltered views of people like the Navy veteran. I just look at the man, notice his defiant eyes and, when I reply, I speak the truth. "Okay," I say. "Liberals are a little screwy". I begin to scrap furiously away at the already sparkling clean surface of the grill, wondering what the old man has in mind for those of us who believe that American liberals are too damned conservative. Diners, like barrooms and barbershops, are where opinions are unedited, raw and emotional, and very conformist. They are ëchat rooms' filled with real people needing conformation of their beliefs. The Navy veteran doesn't want to hear a differing opinion, nor does he expect one from a cook in an out of the way country diner. I am just part of the scenery, like bartenders and barbers. * * * During the months I have worked at the diner, I've switched the television channel from FOX News to CNN, to MSNBC, to the local stations and, of course, to C-Span. Each network, and how they report the news, elicits a response - positive, mostly negative - from my customers. In fact, many of the conversations I've overheard in the diner are initiated by television talking heads. However, any original thoughts or nuanced meanings flitting through the minds of my customers usually get lost in a stew of slogans, headlines, and blatant propaganda. When my customers regurgitate what they learn from television news programs and other media, I get indigestion. News is Food, and people are what they eat. Consumers can take the time and effort to find news and information of importance, or they can allow themselves to be enticed by blandishments from editors of television networks, newspapers, and radio stations shouting 'see me, read me, hear me' as stories are cooked up and served with a smile that really means ëeat me'. Earlier on this blustery late winter day, a news reader on the FOX network was telling the story of a judge being shot to death by a prisoner making an appearance in a Georgia courtroom. After killing three more people, the gunman escaped. A manhunt was in progress in Atlanta. I looked up and glanced at the television screen. The face of the fugitive was being shown, a mug shot photograph prominently displayed, and appropriately menacing. The alleged killer is a black man. "I figured it would be a n----r," said Ron. "They should shoot the son of a bitch when they catch him." Ron was sitting at the counter. He is a regular customer. Ron owns a liquor store in a small village about fifteen miles north of the diner, and visits every few weeks. A co-worker claims Ron carries large amounts of cash, and a small gun. A cigarette is always dangling from between his lips, and racist or sexist comments frequently spew forth from his mouth. However, it was the first time I've heard him use the N-word. I muttered an equally disgraceful obscenity - something about Ron's resemblance to female genitalia - and walked off into the kitchen. I did not challenge Ron's ignorant, racist remark, but he realized that I did not want to listen to the rest of his tirade. He sneaked a furtive glance in my direction as I left the dining room. In the kitchen, I made a lot of clattering noise washing a few dirty dishes. I wanted to confront Ron with more than an expletive or spatula (as some of my readers would undoubtedly think appropriate). Instead of telling him off, though, or flattening him like a greasy burger on a hot grill, I decided to tell his story. I am a cook in a diner, but I am also a reporter. Ron was still sitting at the counter when I re-entered the dining room. He got down off his stool, hitched up his ash-covered pants, and sauntered out the front door. Eat me, Ron. I report, you deride. * * * Justin and Rob are carpenters. They labor hard at their jobs during the week, and spend the weekends partying harder on a mountaintop in West Virginia. After work, they eat dinner at the diner. Bacon cheeseburgers are their usual fare. Justin and Rob enjoy the food, knowing that the burgers are prepared with fresh meat in a clean kitchen. The burgers are made with beef. "We can't serve venison," says my boss Mike in response to a question from Justin. "The meat has to be inspected by the USDA." Venison is deer meat, a specialty of licensed hunters - and poachers - with a taste for 'gamey' steaks and burgers, and a penchant for shooting animals in the wild. "But," added Mike, "if you eat venison instead of beef, you can avoid Mad Cow Disease. Your brain won't turn to mush." "Hey," I interrupt, speaking to my boss. "Eating venison might cause Mad Deer Disease." "Yeah," retorts Rob, "but the only problem that'll cause for humans is freezing when caught in a car's headlights. Traffic at night could be a bitch." Ah, wonderful, I say to myself, another happy meal at the roadside diner, where the grill is always clean, the food delicious, and comedy competes with tragedy when customers have something to say other than "make mine to go, buddy." James T. Phillips can be reached at: jamestphillips@yahoo.com