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Today's Stories December 2, 2005 J.L. Chestnut, Jr. Alabama's Taliban: Judge Roy Moore, Preachers and Dixie Hypocrisy December 1, 2005 John Walsh, MD The God Gaps Ron Jacobs Hard Rain: Toward a Greater Air War in Iraq? Jenna Orkin EPA's Latest Betrayal at Ground Zero Joshua Frank Howard Dean's Blunt Message: Forget Palestine Tiffany Ten Eyck Rank and File Resistance to Delphi Missy Comley Beattie Home on the Range: Where the Fear and the Animus Play Eli Stephens The Reed and Kerry Show Elaine Cassel A Government Game of "Gotcha" with Jose Padilla Website of the Day Rare Erotica   November 30, 2005 Allen / D'Amato Incident at Oglala 30 Years Later: the Long Struggle of Leonard Peltier Mike Whitney The Cheerleader at Annapolis Kevin Zeese The Hallucinations of Joe Lieberman Norman Solomon Colin Powell: Still Craven After All These Years Ramzy Baroud Sharon's New Party Dave Lindorff What Happened to All Those Bush/Cheney Bumperstickers? Stephen Soldz Mental Health Workers in Iraq   November 29, 2005 Phil Gasper Live from Death Row: an Interview with Tookie Williams Behzad Yaghmaian The Ghost of Sangatte Joshua Frank Jack Abramoff's Bi-partisan Sleaze Walter A. Davis Life on Death Row: a Monologue Gary Leupp Bush the Dupe? Len Colodny Woodwardgate: Still Protecting the Rightwing Jeffrey St. Clair The Duke and the Enterprise: Randy Cunningham's Crash Landing Bill Quigley Human Rights Leaders Call for Release of Haiti's Political Prisoners Website of the Day Watch Chomsky vs. Dershowitz Live, Tonight at 7PM, EST!   November 28, 2005 Chris Reed The "Bomb Al Jazeera" Documents Trial David Isenberg Cooked Intelligence: the Dog that Didn't Bark Ron Jacobs Contraindications: a Review of Blood on the Border Norman Solomon The Woodward Scandal Must Not Blow Over Justin E.H. Smith Schwarzenegger's Curious Power Mickey Z. Abbie Hoffman at 70: Steal This City Mike Whitney The Pentagon's Domestic Spying Operation David Swanson Is Impeachment an Election Issue? Paul Craig Roberts The Grave Threat of the Bush Administration Website of the Day "Don't Bomb Us!": a Blog by Al Jazeera Staffers   November 26 / 27, 2005 Alexander Cockburn How the Democrats Undercut John Murtha Saul Landau Who We Are: Torture and the Empire Ralph Nader Junk Television: Excluding Voices That Save Lives Brian Cloughley What Are They Dying For? John Ross When a Language Dies Gary Leupp The Nepal Pact Fred Gardner Dr. Denney Goes to Arkansas Christopher Brauchli Compassion for Corporations: Northrup Grumman and Katrina's Victims Dave Lindorff US War Crimes List Keeps Growing P. Sainath See, Neoliberalism Really Works: Net Worth of India's Billionaires Soars! Timothy J. Freeman The Price of Freedom Lila Rajiva Of Mice, Men and GM Peas Eric Ruder Beat the Needle: Saving Tookie Williams Seth Sandronsky Working Toward Whiteness: an Interview with David Roediger Joaquin Bustelo What Really Happened at Mar del Plata Lewis Alper Is the President's Soul in Jeopardy?: an Evangelical Christian Looks at Bush's Skull and Bones Initiation Will Youmans In Search of Paradise Phyllis Pollack The Stones' Rough Justice in Bush Time St. Clair / Vest Playlists: What We're Listening to This Week Barbara LaMorticella Poetry and the City of Ideas Poets' Basement LaMorticella, Buknatski, Engel, Albert and Davies Website of the Weekend NLR: The Chequered Rainbow     November 25, 2005 David Price How US Anthropologists Planned "Race-Specific" Weapons Against the Japanese Brian McKenna Will Bush Miss the Next Bhopal? Jeff Halper Peretz or Bust? Ray McGovern Will the US Seize the Opportunity for Troop Withdrawal? Leigh Saavedra Thanksgiving at Camp Casey Ingmar Lee How Have the Mighty Fallen? Website of the Day Saving Cathedral Grove   November 24, 2005 James Petras How to Think About War and Peace Bob Shirley Thanksgiving Torture: What the Puritans Fled Mike Fox Torture Survivors Speak for Themselves Niranjan Ramakrishnan Adrift? Perhaps. A Draft? Never! Greg Moses Thanksgiving Delayed: TX High Court Blesses Inequality Alexander Cockburn Turkeys in the Larger Scheme of Things   November 23, 2005 Ramzy Baroud The Great Gaza Border Deal: What Does It Mean? Mike Whitney Bush, Padilla and Thomas More Stan Cox Red, White and Blue Dawn: What a Bad Hollywood Film Can Teach Americans About Life Under Occupation Linda S. Heard Targeting Al Jazeera November 22, 2005 Kevin Gray / Mike Hersh Maxine Waters, the Real Leader of the Anti-War Caucus Ralph Nader What Do Dems Stand For? Michael Donnelly The "Vetting" of Bernard Kerik Mike Ferner The CIA's "Torture Taxi" in the Spotlight Pierre Tristam The Justice Deficit Marshall Auerback Bush's "Compassionate Conservativism": Neither Compassionate Nor Conservative Website of the Day I Don't Like Geldof   November 21, 2005 Mike Marqusee Clinton's Hypocrisies on Iraq Josh Frank Democratic Hawks: the Avian Flu of the Antiwar Movement Mike Whitney Hugo Chavez vs. the King of Vacations Norman Solomon Getting Out of Iraq Russ Baker Woodward's Weakness Robert Jensen A National Day of Atonement Paul Craig Roberts Lies and Official Secrets   November 19 / 20, 2005 Fred Gardner The Raid on MendoHealing Rep. Cynthia McKinney The House GOP Has Done a Heinous Thing: Stop Playing Politics; Get the Troops Out Now Ron Jacobs A Pathetic Congress: If It Walks and Talks Like a Withdrawal Resolution, Why Won't You Vote For It? David Vest The Politics of Surrender: It's as American as Robert E. Lee J.L. Chestnut, Jr. Condi Rice's Disdain for the Civil Rights Movement John R. Bomar Staying the Course on "Freedom's Frontier": a Vietnam Vet on Iraq John Ross The Dragon Flies High, But Not Over Mexico Phillip Cryan Colombia: "Political Kidnapping" and Murder in Cauca Dave Lindorff RIP In These Times Dick J. Reavis The Future of the Daily Press Jeremy Scahill Vegetarian Between Meals: This War Can't Be Stopped by a Loyal Opposition Dan Wright Cleaning Up Alaska's Scan Bay John Stanton Scowcroft Talks Turkey; Edmounds Fights Fascism St. Clair / Vest / Walker Playlist: What We're Listening to This Week Phyllis Pollack The Stones: Rarities Dr. Susan Block Our Night of Weimar Love Poets Basement Albert, Engel, Ford, Harley and Louise   November 18, 2005 Michael Neumann The Palestinians and the Party Line Dave Lindorff Murtha and the L Word Michael Donnelly Black November 15 Mark Chmiel / Andrew Wimmer Uncrucify Them Don Monkerud A Decent Workplace Tom Kerr Grant Clemency to Tookie Williams Trish Schuh Faking the Case Against Syria   November 17, 2005 John Walsh A Fractured Anti-War Movement Rep. John Murtha Iraq Must Be Freed from the US Occupation Brian J. Foley We Are All In GITMO Now CounterPunch News Service Guardian Apologizes to Chomsky; Publishes Total Retraction of Brockes' Slurs Dave Lindorff In Post-Saddam Iraq, There are No Civilians Mark T. Harris Coming Out in an Up-and-Coming Sport Cockburn / St. Clair From Reporter to Courtier: the Decline of Bob Woodward   November 16, 2005 John F. Sugg Al-Arian Speaks: In His First Interview Since the Trial Began, Al-Arian Talks About What the Jury Didn't Hear Noam Chomsky Putting Out the Englightenment Dave Lindorff Shake and Bake: Pentagon Admits Using Phosphorous Bombs on Fallujah Evelyn Pringle Laurie Mylroie's War Sam Husseini Trying to Look a Female Suicide Bomber in the Eye Pierre Tristam Toturers' Theater Greg Bates Waffling Alito Charms DiFi Farrah Hassen Moustapha AkkadDavid Lean of the Middle East Killed in Amman Blast Bill Christison Evidence Mounts That Bush Wants New Wars Website of the Day Violent Oscillations   November 15, 2005 Todd Chretien My Evening in the No Spin Zone; Or Why Bill O'Reilly Hates San Francisco Leah Caldwell Death of the Jailhouse Press Frederick Hudson Rosa's Wreath: Miss Parks and Robert Williams Harry Browne Bush-Linked Judge Bows Out: Another Mistrial in Irish Ploughshares Case Jason Leopold Secret CIA Testimony: Iraq Posed No Threat Ingmar Lee Logging Lackies vs. Canada's Most Endangered Species Diana Barahona Showdown on the Silver Coast Tom Andre New Orleans, Two Months Later Website of the Weekend Ernest Crichlow: 1914-2005   November 14, 2005 Diana Johnstone The Origins of the Guardian's Attack on Chomsky Paul Craig Roberts Power Over All: Unlimited Detentions and the End of Habeas Corpus Conn Hallinan Provoking Syria: Cambodia All Over Again? Joshua Frank Off She Goes: Hillary in Israel Christopher Reed The Persistence of Racism in Koizumi's Japan   November 11 / 13, 2005 Alexander Cockburn First the Lying, Then the Pardons Gwyneth Leech Cross Connections: a Painter Reimagines the Passion of Christ in the Wake of Abu Ghraib Elmas Mallo Chillin' in the Blazin' Texas Sun: Inside the Texas Prison System Michael Neumann The Rebel King of Bluegrass: Jimmy Martin, an Appreciation Saul Landau Leakgate: the Screenplay Sam Husseini Bush and Zarqawi Bomb Because We Let Them Brian Cloughley Sleaze, Deceit and Torture Ron Jacobs Rep. McGovern's Withdrawal Resolution: a Step in the Right Direction? Lila Rajiva Dover Bitch: the Curses of Pat Robertson Michael Donnelly Hypocrisy Watch Joe Allen Murder in El Salvador: Who Killed Gilberto Soto? Roland Sheppard Lessons from the Montgomery Bus Boycott Justin E.H. Smith Another Monkey Trial? Ben Tripp The Cost of War St. Clair / Vest Playlists: What We're Listening to This Week Poets' Basement Jones, Louise, Ford, Smith, Albert and Engel Website of the Weekend Iraq Vets and Against the War Need Your Help!     November 10, 2005 Peterside, Ogon, Watts and Zalik Delta Blues Again: Ken Saro-Wiwa, 10 Years Gone Pat Williams Will Alito Cost the Republicans the Senate? Steve Higgs Bush Crony Targets Indiana's Forests: 400% Hike in Logging Jimmy Massey Is Ron Harris Telling the Truth? Lucson Pierre-Charles Haiti: Insanity Takes Over Anthony Newkirk Syria in the Crosshairs Lawrence R. Velvel Why Did Libby Lie? Website of the Day Imperial Margarine November 9, 2005 Gary Leupp The Niger Deception / Plame Affair: an Incomplete Chronology Tariq Ali Blair Defeated on Terror Laws Chris Floyd The Philosopher's Stone Elaine Cassel The Shocking Trial of an American Citizen: the Case of Ahmed Abu Ali Joshua Frank Sen. Max Baucus's NASCAR Pay Day Alison Weir Memo to Jon Stewart: Glad You're Against Torture, So Why'd You Give Israel a Pass? Diana Johnstone Rage in the Banlieue November 8, 2005 Paul Craig Roberts Still No Jobs Roger Burbach Bush v. Chavez: the Imperial President Meets the Bolivarian Democrat Ron Jacobs An Interview with Behzad Yaghmaian on the Paris Uprising Ralph Nader "The Worst Marketed Disease on the Planet" Jim McGrath Voter Beware: a Cautionary Tale for Election Day David Bloom McCain, Israel and Torture: Setting the Record Straight Stan Goff Jimmy Massey, Ron Harris, and Ambush Journalism   November 7, 2005 Dick Reavis The Origins of Mr. Danger Jason Leopold Cheney and the Cover Up: the Vice President Lied Dave Lindorff What Country was Bush Talking About? Eli Stephens A Tale of Two Generals: the Lies of Colin Powell David Swanson The Bush-Cheney Ethics Refresher Course: a Syllabus M. Junaid Alam An Interview Stan Goff Matt Reichel Paris Uprising: a Rebellion in Real Time Naima Bouteldja Paris is Burning Jeff Halper Israel as an Extension of American Empire Website of the Day Dispatches from Paris   November 5 / 6, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Storm Over Brockes' Fakery: Guardian Fabricates Chomsky Quotes Lawrence R. Velvel Lying, Law Schools and Executive Power: What Senators Should Ask Alito Diana Johnstone Srebrenica: a Response to Certain Criticisms of My Essay Roosa / Nevins The Mass Killlings in Indonesia, 40 Years Later Niranjan Ramakrishnan Missing the Bus: When Conscience Bows to Calculation John Ross The Zapatistas' Otra Campaign for Mexico's Presidential Elections Mike Whitney Globalizing Sadism: the United States of Torture Mark Engler Will Big Business Turn On Bush?: the Economic Nightmare Unfolds Juliano Mer-Khamis They Shoot at Children, Too Ron Jacobs When Gen. Westmoreland Visited Jill S. Farrell Bird Flu and the Posse Comitatus Act Missy Comley Beattie Trent Lott's Untroubled Sleep Mitchel Cohen People of the Dome, Revisited Evelyn J. Pringle Bush-Cheney and Big Oil's Big Summer Reza Fiyouzat Signs of Life or Last Gasp? Structural Problems in the Democratic Party Charles Sullivan When Courage Fails: a White Southerner on Rosa Parks Zachary Richard Return to Louisiana Ben Tripp Beginning of the End? Don't Start Cheering Just Yet St. Clair / Vest Playlists: What We're Listening to This Week   November 4, 2005 Jeffrey St. Clair Blood on the Tundra, Betrayal in the Rotunda: Losing ANWR Dave Lindorff A Majority Now Favors Impeachment: If He Lied, He Must Be Tried Phillip Cryan Crackdown in Colombia Christopher Brauchli Katrina and Tax Breaks for the Very Rich William S. Lind Exit Strategy: You Can't Stay the Course in a Lost War Daryl G. Kimball Of Madmen and Nukes George Beres Laurels for Negroponte? Peter Montague Why We Can't Prevent Cancer   November 3, 2005 James Petras The Libby Affair and the Internal War Saul Landau Torn Families and Shot Down Planes: a Cuba Story Rep. Cynthia McKinney An Occurrence at Gretna Bridge Michael Dickinson Bang! Bang! You're Deaf! Sonic Weapons Over Palestine Joshua Frank Sham Behind Closed Doors Remi Kanazi Dancing with Perseverance Reza Fiyouzat Taxation or Racketeering? Website of the Day CIA Leak Investigation: Bigger Fish, Deeper Water?   November 2, 2005 Cockburn / St. Clair Holy Alito!: Not as Crazy as Scalia, But Just as Bad Robert Oscar Lopez Saving Rosa Parks from American Hypocrisy John Walsh The Philosophy of Mendacity: From Leo Strauss to Scooter Libby Brian J. Foley Why Most Americans Don't Care About Gitmo (and Why They Should) Ramzy Baroud Rolling Back Syria M. Junaid Alam What Moral Values? Todd Chretien Judgment Day for the Governator Bruce K. Gagnon The Democrats' Slap Happy Day Website of the Day Hands Off Dave!   November 1, 2005 Ron Jacobs An Interview with Kent State's Dave Airhart Gary Leupp The Plame Affair Leads to Rome John Ross Days of the Dead on the Border Bill Quigley Why Are They Making New Orleans a Ghost Town? Joseph Nevins From a Boundary of Death to One of Life Dave Lindorff Thinking About Impeachment Linda S. Heard Bashing Syria: Another Trojan Horse from the UN? Heather Gray Thank You, Mrs. Parks Michael Dickinson To Di For: Charlie and Camilla Cross the Pond Jeffrey St. Clair Kent State: Wise Up and Back Off   October 31, 2005 Elaine Cassel Libby's Lies Mark Weisbrot Pop Goes the Bubble: Bernancke and the Fed Mike Whitney Carry On, Patrick Fitzgerald Norman Solomon After the Libby Indictment, the Press Acquits Itself Farooq Sulehria Trading Weapons While Kashmir Burns Nicole Colson Scapegoating Immigrants Madis Senner Dhafir Sentenced to 22 Years: Another Erosion of Civil Rights Paul Craig Roberts Scooter and the Neocons October 29 / 30, 2005 Cockburn / St. Clair The Libby Indictment: Gotterdammerung for the Bushies? Peter Linebaugh The Wedges of Hephaestus Tim Wise Framing the Poor: Katrina, Conservative Myth-Making and the Media John Chuckman Bushspeak: Dark and Garbled Words Steven Higgs Green Hoosiers: Forging a New Democracy in the Heartland Brian Cloughley The Fifth Afghan War M. Shahid Alam Israel and the Consequences of Uniqueness Nikki Robinson Crack Down at Kent State Ralph Nader Let the PIRGs Begin!: Student Activism Thrives Joe DeRaymond Requiem for Bethlehem Steel? Joshua Frank Karl's Great Escape: Did Rove Rat on Scooter? Laura Santina Tongue-Tied on Iraq: Why Aren't the Dems Screaming Bloody Murder? Fred Gardner Death of an Organizer Michael Dickinson Insult Your Country Ron Jacobs Autumn in America Dr. Susan Block Fear and Sex: a Halloween Greeting Vanessa S. Jones Self-Portrait, 1994. Bronte Beach Jeffrey St. Clair Playlist: What I'm Listening to This Week Poets' Basement Marbet, Gardner, Ford, Albert, Engel, Krieger & St. Clair Website of the Weekend Red State Update   October 28, 2005 Jared Bernstein Inflation Up; Wages Down: Fastest Decline in Wages on Record Virginia Tilley Embracing the Anti-Aparthied Movement in Israel/Palestine Phil Gasper The Race to Execute Tookie Williams Jennifer Matsui It's Mardi Graft Time! Manual Garcia, Jr. Is the US Really Against Torture? Monica Benderman In the Name of Justice Jason Leopold Fitzgerald Focuses on the Forgeries Dave Lindorff Suddenly, Bush Endorses Right of Fair Trials Otober 27, 2005 Saul Landau The Scandal Isn't the Leak, But the Illegal War Stuart Hodkinson Bono and Geldoff: "We Saved Africa" Oh No, They Didn't! Ingmar Lee Stop the Troops!: No Glory or Honor in Iraq Lila Rajiva License to Bill: Gates Does India Ilan Pappe The Last Moment of Hope Niranjan Ramakrishnan Waiting for Fitzgerald Michael Donnelly Look Who's Talking Now: the GOP on Perjury Ron Jacobs Escape the Weight of Your Corporate Logo Cockburn / St. Clair White House in Meltdown   October 26, 2005 Kathy Kelly For Whom They Toll Gary Leupp Dialectics of the Plame Affair Mike Marqusee Empire of Denial Eric Ruder War Crimes in Afghanistan Patrick Cockburn Iraq: a Constitutionally Divided Nation Joshua Frank Fitzgerald v. the Bushies: Hold Your Elation in Check J.L. Chestnut, Jr. The Legacy of Rosa Parks Website of the Day Decent Work in America: the 2005 Work Environment Index     October 25, 2005 Paul Craig Roberts Condi and Syrian Regime Change: Could Somebody Recommend a President? Ken Sengupta / Patrick Cockburn Attack on the Palestine Hotel Conn Hallinan Sleight of Hand: Iran, India and the US Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed Pulling the Court Strings Jackie Corr Barbara Bush: Poster Gorgon of the Houston Astros Robert Day Talk to Strangers John Sugg Judith Miller and Me   October 24, 2005 Dave Lindorff Revoke Judy Miller's Pulitzer Michael Donnelly Shades of Iran/contra Patrick Cockburn A Nation Stands on Trial Mike Whitney Apres Rove Norman Solomon Iraq is Not Vietnam, But... Bill and Kathleen Christison US Foreign Policy and Palestine   October 22 / 23, 2005 Alexander Cockburn When Divas Collide: Maureen Dowd v. Judy Miller Billy Sothern Letter from the Circle Bar, New Orleans Saul Landau Bush, an Assessment Ralph Nader An Open Letter to Bush on Harriet Miers Behrooz Ghamari Whose Justice Does Saddam's Trial Serve? Brian Cloughley Bush the Strategist: Pyrrhus Without a Victory? Diana Barahona Venezuela's National Workers' Union Fred Gardner Dershowitzed! Lee Sustar What the War on Terror is Really About Patrick Cockburn Murder of Saddam Trial Defense Lawyer Laura Carlsen Mexico City Seamstresses Recall 1985 Quake James Petras China Bashing and the Loss of US Competitiveness Joshua Frank Invading Iran: Who is to Stop Them? Manuel Garcia, Jr. Disasters are Us Michelle Bollinger When Abortion Was Illegal Missy Comley Beattie CSI: Iraq Kona Lowell Intelligent Design: Making High School Fun Ben Tripp Tanks for the Memories Jeffrey St. Clair Playlist: What I'm Listening To This Week Poets' Basement Albert and Engel Website of the Day Indictment Watch   October 21, 2005 Dave Lindorff The Democrats' Abortion Hypocrisy Winslow T. Wheeler Paying for Their Mistakes: Incompetence, Deception and the Defense Budget Col. Dan Smith The Destruction of the National Guard Norman Solomon Media at Crossroads: 25 Years After Reagan's Triumph Madis Senner Abusing Katrina Michael Donnelly Richard Pombo: DeLay in Cowboy Boots October 20, 2005 Dave Lindorff Impeachment Comes to NYC Ray McGovern 16 Fatal Words: Cheney's Chickens Come Home to Roost Jeremy Brecher / Brendan Smith Attack Syria? Invade Iran?: By What Constitutional Right? Patrick Cockburn Saddam Refuses to Recognize Court Kevin Zeese Was the Iraqi Constitution Vote Fixed? Ross Eisenbrey Millions Would Lose Pay and Protections Under Enzi Amendment Randy Shields James McMurtry Makes It in Dayton Justine Davidson Prosecuting Bush in Canada for Torture: a Small Victory After Lucas Cranach Judy and Holofernes Joe Allen The Scandalous History of the Red Cross     Subscribe Online

December 2, 2005 How Venezuela Pulverised the Rhetoric of the Neo-Liberal Left The Chávez Theorem By MANUEL TALENS I looked for the word "theorem" in two of my favourite dictionaries, the DRAE of the Real Academia Española, establishes that it is a "demonstrable proposition that logically comes from axioms or other already demonstrated theorems, through accepted rules of inference." It's a bit nebulous of an explanation that is in contrast with that of the María Moliner dictionary, an example of transparent Castilian: "affirmation susceptible to scientific demonstration." For the purposes of this article, I want to use both of the definitions, beginning with that of the DRAE, which insists upon the deductive aspects of reasoning. The media that we are surrounded by habitually empty some indispensable words of their content, and that is for the purpose of inducing the unreflecting citizen to continue to accept them as if they still had the original meaning. I have here two examples which all of us meet up with in the newspapers: "democracy" and "left". In the Spain of my adolescence, those who abhorred the policies of Franco dreamed of those two words. Time passed, the dictator died, the transition took place, democracy was established and with it, even the left came to power. But have those dreams come true? In conformity with the DRAE, if we start from the double linguistic axiom according to which the Greek root demos means people and crazia stands for government, a hypothetical Democracy Theorem should be defined as follows: "Democracy is a political system in which the people are the government". That which escapes the wisdom of the academics is that many post-modern think tanks today deliberately alter language and so, just like the dead civilians of some imperialist war are now collateral damage, the word Freedom on Bush's lips means Slavery in Iraq, or the respect for minorities isn't the same thing for a white leader of either the Mexican PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) or PAN (National Action Party) and for a Zapatist Indio, so then, with "democracy" the same thing happened: every similarity between the elite who control our bourgeois democracies and the people that they presumably represent is pure coincidence; that changes the definition of the DRAE of theorem into something useless for its scarse deductive applicability on the terrain of contemporary political praxis. Let's examine the word "left" as well, After the French Revolution, the masses of the capital collocated themselves on the left side of the Legislative Assembly, while those who offered unconditional support to the Constitution of 1792 went to the right. This was the origin of the political adoption of the term "left", thus received in inheritance for the parties of Marxist orientation that had succeeded it up to the 21st century. Let us se how the Left Theorem sounds, still following the indications of the DRAE: "Left is that which tends to substitute capitalism with socialism." Is this still the truth in our democracies? The Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) renounced Marxism during the rule of Felipe González and now it is Social Democrat, which means that it submits to capitalism and aspires to give it a human face. It is not socialist any more, and yet, it continues to define itself as left, much in consonance with its fellow parishioners, that seem to lose their plumes as they move along: the French, Portuguese and Chilean Socialist parties are becoming Neo-Liberal so as to increase their votes, the Labour Party in Great Britain is losing in the land of Iraq what little honour that remained; the Mexican PRD (Democratic Revolution Party), as Gilberto López y Rivas says well, abandons its founding principles and the International Socialist survives, with more sorrows than glory, after having accepted an economic system that its forefathers refused with vehemence. The arguments exposed justify my reservations on the definition of theorem offered by the DRAE. I prefer the sobriety of María Moliner, because it mentions science ("affirmation susceptible to scientific demonstration") introduces a measurable difference, near to the mathematical exactness of the theorems of Pythagoras or Euclid. Let us look at how this definition applies to the political trajectory of the Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, a man that is adored by his people, but who is victim to the ire of the most rancid right of Venezuela and the West, and the verbal disgust of many "leftists" who today crowd the media and the parliaments of America and Europe. If we apply to Chávez the axioms so unassailable such as the overwhelming results of all of the elections that he has won cleanly or the numbers in millions of the poor Venezuelans who, for the first time in the history of their country are provided with medical care, access to culture and the hope of prosperity since he arrived in power, it is simple to conclude that in Venezuela the above cited theorems of Democracy and of Left (as much in the deductive point of view of the DRAE as the scientific one of María Moliner), that permits me to formulate, "through rules of inference", the definition of a Creole theorem that, to my mind, has the double virtue of unmasking the imposters of the left as it renders justice to a generous man who is providential for the future of Latin America. I have called it the Chávez Theorem and it goes thus: "A leftist is anybody who defends Chávez." Manuel Talens is a Spanish novelist, short story writer and columnist. His columns appear mainly in the Madrid newspaper El País and the electronic alternative site Rebelión , where he is also a frequent translator of both Francophone and Anglophone leftwing writers and activists. He has also translated works by authors like Georges Simenon, Edith Wharton, Groucho Marx, Paul Virilio, Derek Walcott, Geert Lovink, James Petras and Donna J. Haraway, among many others. His website is www.manueltalens.com. This article originally appeared at www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=23021 English translation by Mary Rizzo http://peacepalestine.blogspot.com

Coming in the Fall from CounterPunch Books! The Case Against Israel By Michael Neumann Click Here to Advance Order Philosopher Michael Neumann's Devastating Rebuttal of Alan Dershowitz WHAT'S INSIDE Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Greed and Profiteering in the War on Terror by Jeffrey St. Clair CounterPunch Speakers Bureau Sick of sit-on-the-Fence speakers, tongue-tied and timid? CounterPunch Editors Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St Clair are available to speak forcefully on ALL the burning issues, as are other CounterPunchers seasoned in stump oratory. Call CounterPunch Speakers Bureau, 1-800-840-3683. Or email beckyg@counterpunch.org.