How
the Press & the CIA Killed Gary Webb's Career
Today's
Stories
December
18 / 19, 2004
Joshua Frank
The
Spin Doctor: an Interview with Mickey Z.
December
17, 2004
Dave Lindorff
Racism:
Philly Style
Dan Bacher
Bush Abandons Salmon Restoration
Marisa Jacott
NAFTA and the Environment: Trade Still Runs Roughshod
Francis Thicke
How Now, Industrial Cow?
Rupert Cornwell
The Inuit Strike Back
Cockburn /
St. Clair
CounterAttack:
How the Press and the CIA Killed Gary Webb's Career
Website of the Day
Franz Boas Unrolls Over in His Grave
December
16, 2004
Michael
Neumann
How We Became Barbarians
Merlin
Chowkwanyun
An Interview with Ralph Nader
Gabriel
Espinoza Gonzales
The Dubious Career of John Bolton
Christopher
Brauchli
Louis Freeh's New Gig: Usurer
Patrick
Cockburn
Allawi's Pre-Election Ploy: Putting "Chemical Ali"
on Trial
Mike
Whitney
Gearing Up for a Draft?
Walter
Brasch
Hillbilly Humvees and Rumsfeld's New Physics
Bill
Conroy
How Gary Webb Saved My Ass from the FBI
Website
of the Day
Saturday Memorial for Gary Webb
December
15, 2004
Robert
Fisk
Who Killed Baha Mousa?
Jennifer
Van Bergen
The Monster Under the Bed
Heather
Gray
Will the Real Christians Please Stand?: a Personal Testimony
Dave
Lindorff
The DNC, Albright and the Iraq Elections
Luis
Hernandez Navarro
To Die a Little: Migration and Coffee
in Mexico and Central America
Joshua
Frank
The Ohio Recount: an Exercise in "Dumbocracy"
Greg
Moses
Eighty-Sixing Civil Rights in Ohio?
George
Caffentzis
The Petroleum Commons
December
14, 2004
Dave
Lindorff
DNC Meddling in the Ukraine Elections
Larry
Birns / Seth DeLong
Haiti is Unraveling and No One is Saying
Anything
Richard
Thieme
My Last Talk with Gary Webb: "I Knew It Was the Truth and
That's What Kept Me Going"
Patrick
Cockburn
A Year After Saddam's Capture, Iraq
is Getting Worse
Chris
Floyd
Client State: Moral Values and Voluntary Servitude in Bush's
America
Akiva
Eldar
A One-time Hanukkah Miracle
Burbach
/ Cantor
The Legacy of Pinochet: Kissinger
and the Teflon Tyrant
December
13, 2004
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
Gary Webb: a Great Reporter, Trashed
by the CIA's Claque
David
Phinney
"Contract Meal Disaster" for Iraqi Prisoners: Rancid
Food Sparked Abu Ghraib Riots
Paul
Craig Roberts
A Dose of Non-Delusional Reality
for Douglas Feith
M.
Junaid Alam
The War is the War Crime
Robert
Jensen
The US Has Lost the Iraq War...and That's a Good Thing
Richard
Oxman
Kafkaesque Lessons for the Left
Greg
Moses
Send No Messengers of Defeat
Douglas
Lummis
The Pentagon's Neurosis: Fallujah
Gulag
December
11 / 12, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
Running an Empire on the Cheap
Ron
Jacobs
The Drugs of War: Getting High in the Green Zone?
Saul
Landau
Listening and Talking to God About
Invading Other Countries
Gary
Leupp
Bush's Capital
Sharon
Smith
The Horrible Toll on US Troops
Dave
Lindorff
Deja Vu All Over Again: 5,000 Desertions and Counting
Uri
Avnery
The Boss Has Gone Crazy
Jude
Wanniski
The Neo-Con Smear on Kofi Annan: What Food-for-Oil Scandal?
Heather
Gray
How the South Became Republican: an Interview with John Egerton
Patrick
Cockburn / Ken Sengupta
Fallujah: the Homecoming and the Homeless
John
Pilger
Return to Kosovo: Calling the Humanitarian Bombers to Account
Joshua
Frank
All the Rage: Mr. Solomon, Say You're Sorry
Ben
Tripp
O Canada!: the Truth About the Election of 2004
John
Stanton
God Speaks!
Laura
Nathan
Porn Stars are People, Too: a Talk with Christi Lake
Poets'
Basement
Capaccio, Davies, Louise, Ford and Albert
Website
of the Day
Fallujah Photos: Killed in Their Beds
December
10, 2004
Ralph
Nader
President Bush, Stop Destroying the
Mosques of Iraq
Greg
Moses
Whitewashing Voter Fraud
Nicole
Colson
Rebellion in the Ranks: Grunts Are Resisting Stop-Loss Orders
Frederick
B. Hudson
"They Still Got Those Dogs": A New Book Probes Old
Civil Rights Lessons
Patrick
Cockburn
Iraq's Insurgents Oppose the Occupation, Not the Elections
Kathy
Kelly
From Haiti to Iraq: Burying Water
December
9, 2004
Greg
Moses
Ask Not Who Bankrolled Fallujah
Joshua
Frank
Cobb and the Ohio Recount: Vote Fraud as Fundraiser!
Ralph
Nader
An Open Letter to Bush: It's Time to
Disclose the Real Casualty Figures
Lee
Sustar
Bhopal: the Making of a Disaster
Tom
Barry
Restrictionist Resurgence
Mickey
Z.
Sander Hicks and the 9/11 Truth Movement
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush in the Bubble
Mark
Donham
Why are House Democrats Trying to
Deny Cynthia McKinney Seniority?
Gary
Corseri
On the Anniversary of John Lennon's Death, 2012
Paul
de Rooij
The Voices of Sharon's Little Helpers
December
8, 2004
Ralph
Nader
Will the Real Michael Moore Ever Re-Emerge?
Ann
Harrison
The Ohio Recount: Reluctant Officials
and Few Rules
Paul
Craig Roberts
War Crime
Dave
Lindorff
They've Got a Secret: Inside the $40 Billion Black Budget for
Spying
Patrick
Cockburn / Andrew Buncombe
CIA Warning on Iraq: Fallujah Did Not Break the Back of the Insurgency
Col.
Dan Smith
Rules of Engagement in Iraq
Emily
Alves / Michael Johnson
Paradise Lost: Corruption and Clientelism in Costa Rica
Richard
Oxman
The Dylan Bob Wouldn't Mention: Up With Dylan Thomas
Ron
Jacobs
In Fallujah, Freedom Isn't Free
December
7, 2004
Patrick
Cockburn
Running Battles in Baghdad
Behrooz
Ghamari
Lost Muslim Voices of Dissent
Dave
Lindorff
American Fantasies: Psst! Hey Buddy,
Did You Hear How Well the War's Going?
Joshua
Frank
Dean at the DNC?
Richard
Oxman
Down with Dylan: the Insufferable Interview
Ray
McGovern
All Mosquitoes, No Swamp
John
Chuckman
The Invasion of Hallifax: The Imperial Wizard Visits Canada
James
Petras
Latin America: the Empire Changes Gears
Website
of the Day
ToxMap: Who's Poisoning You
December
6, 2004
Paul
Craig Roberts
Paranoia and Pre-emption: Is the
Bush Administration Certifiable?
December
4 / 6, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
Politicize the CIA? You've Got to
be Kidding
Joe
Bageant
Dining with the Rhinos
Alan
Maass
Reporting from the Ground in Iraq: an Interview with Patrick
Cockburn
Brian
Cloughley
Democracy, Bush-style, in the Gulf
Laura
Carlsen
Latin America Shifts Left
Lenni
Brenner
Jefferson, Madison, Bush and Religion
Anna
Ioakimedes
Brazil's Haitian Mission: Doing God's Work or Washington's?
Uri
Avnery
Widow of Opportunity?
Fred
Gardner
Supreme Court Hears Medical Pot Case
Dave
Zirin
Steroids to Heaven
Jackie
Corr
Mining Camp Blues: the Red State Variation
Don
Fitz
Will Greens Abandon IRV?
Lucy
Herschel
"Art can be a Weapon of the Oppressed": an Interview
with Artist Anthony Papa
Richard
Oxman
No Angels in America: Bashing the Gay Play
Ron
Jacobs
Holiday Greeting Card
Poets'
Basement
Collins, Albert, LaMorticella
December
3, 2004
Dave
Lindorff
Lie Then Escalate
Ben
Tripp
Fun With Boycotts: How to Shop in a
Time of Crisis
Joe
Allen
Murder in El Salvador: the Assassination of Teamster Organizer
Gilberto Soto
Matthew
B. Riley
Human Rights Court Fails Lori Berenson
Meir
Shalev
In the End, It is the Violin that Wins
Bob
Wing
The White Elephant in the Room: Race and Election 2004
Christopher
Brauchli
When McCain Bit His Tongue
Sasan
Fayazmanesh
The EU, the US, Israel and Iran
December
2, 2004
Tito
Tricot
No Justice in Chile: I'm a Torture
Survivor in a Country Where Torturers Still Run Free
Behzad
Yaghmaian
The Murder of Theo Van Gogh and Muslim Migration
Dr.
Susan Block
Lana and Me: Meetings with Remarkable Apes
Frank
/ Chowkwanyun
Liberalism and Its Bounds
Lee
Sustar
Standoff in Ukraine: the Bad v. the Corrupt
Patrick
Cockburn
Another Grim Record in Iraq
Mark
Engler
Seattle at Five
Michael
Donnelly
Something Stinks in South Bend: the Firing of Tyrone Willingham
Nate
Collins
The Bay Area Mall on an Ohlone Burial Grounds
Saul
Landau
The Assassination of Danilo Anderson
December
1, 2004
Phillip
Cryan
Associated with Whom? Rightist Bias
in Wire Coverage of Colombia
Dave
Zirin
What's the Matter with "Leon"?:
Budweiser's Racist Commercial
Ghali
Hassan
Iraq's Health Care Under the Occupation:
200 Children Die Every Day
Donna
J. Volatile
Beware Western Nations Threatening "Democracy"
Patrick
Cockburn
How Saddam Tried to Arm the Insurgency
Nick
Meo
Chemical War Over Afghanistan
Mike
Ferner
The Battle of Toledo
Mokhiber
/ Weissman
Shame and Determination on Global AIDS Day: 40 Million and Rising
Kathy
Kelly
Looking the Other Way: the Real Crimes
of the UN in Iraq
November
30, 2004
Jennifer
Van Bergen
The Veil of Secrecy
Toni
Nelson Herrera
Meeting Kurtz: When Art is a Crime
Paul
Craig Roberts
The Bush Delusions: Successful at Incompetence
Patrick
Cockburn
The Insurgency Strikes Back: There Are No Safe Havens in Iraq
Chuck
Munson
WTO Protests Five Years Later: Seattle Weekly Trashes Anti-Globalization
Movement
Adam
Williams
Citizenship Sold: Back to Business in Indiana
Gregory
Elich
A Dangerous Turn in the US Plans for
North Korea
Website
of the Day
Read Lynne Cheney's Lesbian Novel Online!
November
29, 2004
Dave
Lindorff
Blowback in Ukraine: The Hand of
the CIA?
Omar
Barghouti
"The Pianist" of Palestine:
Roadblock Concerto at Gunpoint
Mike
Whitney
The US Media and Fallujah: How to
Market a Siege
Uri
Avnery
The Abu Mazen Style: "Give Me
Some Credit!"
Matt
Vidal
Globalization and Economic Inequality: a Look at the Numbers
Patrick
Cockburn
An Interview with Iraq's Foreign
Minister
Alan
Farago
Sex Change and Salvation: God, Girly Men and Endocrine Disrupters
Justin
Huggler
Bhopal 20 Years Later
Antony
Loewenstein
How Australia Reported Arafat's Death and Legacy
Gary
Leupp
Ukraine: Poll Results Aren't the Real
Issue
Website
of the Day
Mosul: Images from a Kill Zone
November
27 / 28, 2004
Peter
Linebaugh
Torture & Neo-Liberalism with
Sycorax in Iraq
Alexander
Cockburn
What Happened to O'Reilly's Loofa?
Fred
Gardner
Ashcroft v. Raich: Medical Marijuana and the Supreme Court
Kathy
Kelly
What We Can Control
Diane
Christian
The Other Cheek: "Empire Doesn't Analyze, It Acts"
Gary
Leupp
One More Neocon Target: South (Yes, South) Korea
Lenni
Brenner
Equality and Rights of Return: Jefferson Instructs the New York
Times
Ron
Jacobs
Death Squads and Iraq's Elections: the Mysterious Murders of
the AMS Clerics
Joshua
Frank
An Interview with Kevin Zeese on Nader, Kerry and the ABB Crowd
Toni
Solo
The Murder of Danilo Anderson
Saul
Landau
Fallujah, the 21st Century Guernica
JoAnn
Wypijewski
Matthew Shepard Case 6 Years Later: Why Hate Crimes Laws are
No Cure for Homophobia
Justin
Taylor
Empire's Lawless Opportunities
Amos
Harel
The Case of Captain R.
Walter
A. Davis
Tabloid Justice
Stephen
Hendricks
God's Kind of Men
Poets'
Basement
Albert, LaMorticella and Ford
November
26, 2004
Peter
Feng
Gavin Newsom: Man or Machine?
Greg
Moses
It's the White Vote, Stupid
Liaquat
Ali Khan
The Devil's Work: Bush's Minority Appointments
Michael
Mandel / Gail Davidson
Why Bush Should Be Banned from Canada: a Memo to the Ministry
of Immigration
Dave
Lindorff
Nation of Sheep, Turkey of an Election: Urkrainians Show the
Way
Gary
Corseri
When Black Friday Comes...
Paul
Craig Roberts
Whatever Happened to Conservatives?
Website
of the Day
Iraq Pipeline Watch
November
25, 2004
Willliam
Loren Katz
Giving Thanks to Whom?: "Thanks
to God We Sent 600 Heathen Souls to Hell Today"
Mitchel
Cohen
Why I Hate Thanksgiving
Mike
Ferner
An Uncommon Mom
November
24, 2004
Gila
Svirsky
License to Kill: the Example of Violence
is Set by the State
Winslow
T. Wheeler
The
Other Mess in Congress
Christopher
Brauchli
The Company He Keeps: the Syndicate of Tom Delay
Dave
Lindorff
Double Standards on Exit Polls: Hypocrisy Sans Irony
Ron
Jacobs
The Occupation of Iraq is the Root of t he Problem
Ken
Sengupta
Witnesses: War Crimes in Fallujah
Diana
Barahona
The Final Holocaust or Why I Voted for Ralph Nader
John
L. Hess
Safire the Shameless
Jason
Leopold
Did Harvard Hire (Another) War Criminal?
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The Mark of McCain: the Senator Most Likely to Start a Nuclear
War
Map
of the Day
Now and Then: 2004 v. 1860
November
23, 2004
Forrest
Hylton
Bush and Uribe at the Beach
November
22, 2004
Dave
Zirin
Fight Night in the NBA: Selective Outrage
in Detroit
Paul
Craig Roberts
On to Iran: We Won't Get Fooled Again?
Michael
Mandel / Gail Davidson
Why Bush Should be Banned from Canada
Kathie
Helmkamp
Our Son: a Marine Who Won't Kill
Ken
Sengupta
The Triangle of Death: "This is Now the Most Dangerous Place
in Iraq"
Mike
Whitney
Greenspan's Hammer
Roger
Burbach
Why They Hate Bush in Chile
Website
of the Day
Fed Up with Government Lies and Corporate Spin?
November
20 / 21, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
The Poisoned Chalice
Todd
May
Religion, the Election and the Politics of Fear
Abbas
Ahmed Ibrahim
The Horrors of Fallujah: a First-Hand Account
Kevin
Zeese
Mishandling Nader
Landau
/ Hassen
After Arafat
Tom
Barry
The Vulcans Consolidate Power: The Rise of Stephen Hadley
Fred
Gardner
Pot Shots: Ask Dr. Todd
Justin
E.H. Smith
Triumph of the Will: the Sequel
Carl
Estabrook
Where We Are Now
Gary
Leupp
Imperial History-Making vs. Reality-Based Thought: a Dialogue
Dave
Lindorff
Apocalypse Soon
Jenna
Michelle Liut
Plans Colombia and Patriota: Wanton Wastes of Money, Manpower
and Lives
Mickey
Z.
The Granma Moses of Radical Writing: an Interview with William
Blum
Greg
Moses
The Same Old Struggle Against Imperial America
Sharon
Smith
Abortion Rights and the Election: What Now?
Ron
Jacobs
Sandwiches and Car Bombs
Ben
Tripp
Raising d'Etre: Finding Money in Hollywood These Days
Richard
Oxman
Basketbrawl Two Pointer: Iraq Rules!
Gilad
Atzmon
Politics and Jazz
Poets'
Basement
LaMorticella, Albert, Ford, & Anon.
Website
of the Day
Voice of the Forest
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.
|
December 18 / 19, 2004
The Mass Psychology
of Superstition
By ELIOT KATZ
"The only Jews
he doesn't seem to like," said
another rabbi, who spoke on the condition of
anonymity," are the ones who aren't religious,
because he can't understand them."
"Personal and Political, Bush's Faith Blurs Lines,"
--NY Times, 10/26/04
By the time the sunrise's molecules
had materialized,
the nation's temperature
was 12 degrees hotter
in the southern states, one degree for each
of morning light's disciples upset
that three hurricanes in one season
Jeb's state
had not been clear enough scientific sign
to multitudes
that global warming
ought be higher priority
this new millennium than issue of whether
some bitter herb skilled
at backroom reward & ruin games
really believes he's hearing
god's voice simply because he listens
thru red hotline telephone receiver
that doesn't have
any numbers to dial.
An illegal war of choice was
waged & justified
by bankrupt
baseball card pack
of lies & exaggerations
& now between 20 and 100 thousand
Iraqis have died.
It is impossible to know exact number
because the five-sided building
seeking revenge for others' callous lack
of appreciation for human life
has decided it doesn't do
civilian body counts.
Along the bumpy road to Abu Ghraib & Fallujah,
a nation's pretzel-shaped values
have been twisted even further,
while the car's softest
safety net cushions have been ripped
from interior seats
by most expensive
remote-controlled robots
any anti-Hollywood mind ever dreamed up,
and a slow-burning match
that will never flame out
has been lit
under arctic ice & the paws
of hungry polar bears.
Who was it let loose this mass
psychology
of superstition?--
watched as lush biblical texts
were reduced
to life-threatening anorexic readings, blind nationalism
that wears a spiked patch
pointing inwards over its left eye,
vague musty aroma
of fear winding like 21st century bird flu
thru heartland's small-town neighborhoods
least in danger
from any realistic foreign threat,
while New York City & DC rode the crest
of a tidal wave
against their shivering agenda?
When did we change
the rules so 3-time loser of debates
would get the job?
When did we turn keys
to Election Day's mechanical mechanisms
over to swing state Republican Party hacks?--
Deciding which registration forms to toss
midnight trash can bonfires,
which district lines to lengthen five hours
by removing few machines from underfunded
urban high school auditoriums,
which paperless-trail computers
& half-closed red-eye chad readers
would be allowed produce a count
which almost half of us
would foreever wonder?
And yet, it's undeniable about
half
voting public
checked box next
to Commander of Disaster
even as dire news rolled daily
across nation's TV screens,
death & permanent disfiguring
of U.S. soldiers & Iraqi civilians
growing like house plants in the living room,
everpresent & plain to see
for anyone willing take
even a slow stroll
over to window sill, revelations
that war waged
to make American infants safer
has allowed looting
of untold high explosive tons, while barrels full
of Bush team excuses
leak steadily to hardwood floors
& dry up.
I admit to my own superstitions, I once wore
Allen Ginsberg's necktie to a job interview.
But how can a third millennium
presidential election
be won by virtue of the biggest rabbit's foot?
This was a rabbit's foot the
Bush team
mailed with tiny bribes
skimmed from taxpayer funds,
this rabbit's foot
is called "God's throaty voice," this rabbit's
foot called "blue blood taxes
for those scarred
by American dream,"
this rabbit's foot is called "don't-get-sick healthcare,"
this foot gives folks peer-approval
at Sunday's church picnic, this is
all-or-nothing
Alcoholics Anonymous rubber replica
of a rabbit's foot, this is blindfolded
cross-your-fingers patriotism
on steroids,
these were rabbit's feet downed
with semi-automatic weapons
& cluster bombs,
this rabbit's foot
is called "stick with the ditto team,"
through global warming hell
& oxycontin high waters,
this is denial-filled addiction
with ten thousand replaceable media heads
acting as enablers,
this rabbit's foot was placed
in all of our jacket pockets
when we were just kids reading third-grade
Cold War-era history books.
They told us communists
were coming
& somehow kneeling under cafeteria tables
with hands over heads
might keep us safe
as long as we didn't vote
for anyone who used the word "socialism"
or spoke out strongly
against Vietnam War.
Even the candidate
who spoke out strongly against Vietnam
War was given this rabbit's foot
as a child & somewhere
along the way forgot to remove it.
A small Minneapolis news group
searched
file cabinets & found video footage
proving Bush team was talking shit
when it said high explosives
at Al Qaaqaa likely went missing
before war.
It was most underpublicized scoop
of campaign season.
But even more invisible were TV news teams
while Bush's HUD office
was trying to loot
federal Section 8 housing program,
when they were tearing out energy reg pages
letting oil & coal software programs
write their own conservation claws,
when they were cutting
college Pell grants by locking cellar doors
so bottom-line bureaucrats could secretly alter
a few multiplications signs & rewrite
dollar formula downwards.
Why haven't any mass media video teams
asked president
when he will apologize
for littering Afghanistan & Iraq
with depleted uranium dusty tons
that'll cause cancer
& birth defects
for decades to come?
Doesn't America's media ever carry a rabbit's foot,
or the exposed picture
of a rabbit's foot,
of it own?
Well, it was refreshing to
read in NY Times
that Bush doesn't like me either,
until then I wasn't sure whether
he even knew folks
like me existed, that we were living breathing
human beings, not just specks
on some declining graph
of a targeted focus group.
Just before election, a Bush aide told
journalist Ron Susskind
that he was in wrong camp,
a reality-based community,
while Bush team works from headquarters
of faith-based empire's arena,
engaging in militaristic adventures
to create new ground truths
reality-based observers will simply continue
to study. Well, almost half the country
rejected direction
the Unrealistic Empire is moving,
Young people voted 10 points against
this president's vision
for their future.
My own pet theory
is that an opposition candidate with small
botox injection of charisma
would've moved enough personality-based
rather than policy-based voters
to root for other team and thus avoid
the long day's journey
into Centrist Democratic hand-wringing
about best way
to tap into god's not-quite-master plan.
While nation's policy bears
go for a rough swim these next four years
and it will be a very rough swim,
the sliver of light seen if one experiments
at squinting a flexible left angle
is the passion of movement possibilities.
In the internet age,
activist groups retain their mailing lists!
The filibuster mustn't be allowed
to be nuked!
It's been a long time
since the 3rd grade.
By time
one reaches adulthood
reality-based history books
can easily be found to teach us
that sanity's mass psychology
can also be spread.
It depends on the undead.
Eliot Katz is the author of three
books of poetry, including Unlocking the Exits (Coffee House
Press) and a coeditor of Poems
for the Nation
(Seven Stories Press). He is poetry editor of the online politics
quarterly, Logos. He can be reached
at: unlockingexits@earthlink.net.
Merry Christmas
America
By NESREEN MELEK
Bells are ringing here
Bombs are falling there
Red ribbons are tied to everything
here
White sheets are covering dead bodies there
Christmas trees are sold everywhere
here
Palm trees are raising high and are burned there
Present boxes are wrapped with
different colours here
Empty boxes are filled with hopes there
Christmas decorations are on
every house here
Darkness and death are covering many cities there
Children are waiting for Santa
here
Children are amputated there
Cards are sent to families
and friends here
Bullets are targeting civilians there
Handles messiah is playing
on the radio here
Soft voice of hurt women can be heard there
Christmas carols are sang in
churches here
Funeral services are held in churches there
Prayers for good days can be
heard here
Screams for help are heard there
Love and c! ompassion are filling
the atmosphere here
Frustration, hatred and anger are the norm there
Malls are filled with goods
here
Starving people are waiting for food there
Homes are filled with families
and guests here
Houses are demolished on people there
Glasses of wine are tossed
here
Glass from broken windows fills the houses there
White snow is covering the
streets here
Soldiers with weapons are walking in the streets there
Dogs are getting Christmas
present here
Dogs are eating deceased on empty streets there
Families are gathering for
Christmas dinner here
Civilians are crying for their lost ones there
Merry Christmas and a Happy
new year is a wish here
Agony and despair is the feeling there
Can we feel for each other
here and there?
Nesreen Melek is an Iraqi exile living and working in
Canada, hoping one day to return to her homeland. With each passing
day of this illegal and inhumane war in Iraq, Nesreen says:
I left Baghdad in 1978 but
Baghdad never left me. The longer I stay away from Iraq the more
Iraqi I become. I worked in Baghdad as a teacher of Zoology and
Microbiology in a Medical institute. I lived in England, Syria
and Egypt before immigrating to Canada. I am working here Canada
as an employment counsellor and have two lovely boys, 29 and
25 years old. I lived all this time on the hope that
in my old age, I'd be be able to go back and live in
the home I left and plant the garden that has been
left for decades. Thanks to the Americans who
have made this wish impossible.
She may be reached at: n_melek@hotmail.com
How An Army Travels
On Its Stomach
By PETER HARLEY
He is the stomacher of bad
news:
having joined the army, he stomachs it,
and is frequently given a stomachful.
Currently, he has a stomachache:
they insist he spend more time in Iraq.
He goes on his stomach before his commander,
a stand-in for stomachy USA.
"This news, Sir, I really
can't stomach it,"
he says with no hands on his stomach.
"Are you stomachless for your duty?, he's asked
"Not at all, but I've stomached as much as I can."
"Are you calling your duty, stomaching?"
"Much, I would say, Sir, is stomachal."
"Then stomach it, Private!
And stomach it now!
Your job is to get your ass back to Iraq!
And let us have no more belly-aching!"
Peter Harley can be reached at: pharley@nl.rogers.com
Last Act
By STEW ALBERT
Old people parked in the Mojave,
a gathering of despair
hanging out
sharing coffee
American dreams barely remembered,
it was only something for kids,
they're just waiting
for the Angel Of Death and deliverance
to come
beating its wings
on their mobile homes
waking them up
from a life long boredom
of desperate depression
proclaiming to the heavens
today's your dying day,
your lucky day.
Stew Albert runs the Yippie
Reading Room. His memoir, Who
the Hell is Stew Albert?, is just out from Red Hen Press.
He can be reached at: stewa@aol.com
Silent Night
By FRANK
B. FORD
All is calm
Dogs are eating
All is bright
bodies in Fallajah.
Sleep in...
Frank B. Ford resides in Florida, where a massive
condo will soon block the ocean from Jacksonville Beach to Key
West. He can be reached at: frank_b_ford@yahoo.com
Weekend Edition
Features for November
27 / 28, 2004
Peter
Linebaugh
Torture & Neo-Liberalism with
Sycorax in Iraq
Alexander
Cockburn
What Happened to O'Reilly's Loofa?
Fred
Gardner
Ashcroft v. Raich: Medical Marijuana and the Supreme Court
Kathy
Kelly
What We Can Control
Diane
Christian
The Other Cheek: "Empire Doesn't Analyze, It Acts"
Gary
Leupp
One More Neocon Target: South (Yes, South) Korea
Lenni
Brenner
Equality and Rights of Return: Jefferson Instructs the New York
Times
Ron
Jacobs
Death Squads and Iraq's Elections: the Mysterious Murders of
the AMS Clerics
Joshua
Frank
An Interview with Kevin Zeese on Nader, Kerry and the ABB Crowd
Toni
Solo
The Murder of Danilo Anderson
Saul
Landau
Fallujah, the 21st Century Guernica
JoAnn
Wypijewski
Matthew Shepard Case 6 Years Later: Why Hate Crimes Laws are
No Cure for Homophobia
Justin
Taylor
Empire's Lawless Opportunities
Amos
Harel
The Case of Captain R.
Walter
A. Davis
Tabloid Justice
Stephen
Hendricks
God's Kind of Men
Poets'
Basement
Albert, LaMorticella and Ford
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