How
the Press & the CIA
Killed Gary Webb's Career
Today's
Stories
January 15
/ 16, 2005
James Petras
The
Kidnapping of a Revolutionary
January 14,
2005
Robert Fisk
"The
Tent of Occupation"
Lee Sustar
Bush's Social Security Con Job
José
M. Tirado
The Christians I Know
Dave Zirin
The Legacy of Jack Johnson
Sheldon Rampton
Calling John Rendon: a True Tale of "Military Intelligence"
Tracy McLellan
Under the Influence
Yves Engler
The Dictatorship of Debt: the World Bank and Haiti
Tom Barry
Robert
Zoellick: a Bush Family Man
Website of
the Day
Ryan for the Nobel Prize?
January 13,
2005
Mark Chmiel
/ Andrew Wimmer
Hearts
and Minds, Revisited
Joe DeRaymond
The Salvador Option: Terror,
Elections and Democracy
Greg Moses
Every Hero a Killer?...Not
Dave Lindorff
The Great WMD Fraud: Time for an Accounting
Jorge Mariscal
Dr. Galarza v. Alberto Gonzales: Which Way for Latinos?
Christopher Brauchli
Gonzales and the Death Penalty: the Executioner Never Sleeps
Gary Leupp
"Fighting
for the Work of the Lord": Christian Fascism in America
January 12,
2005
Robert Fisk
Fear
Stalks Baghdad
Josh Frank
The
Farce of the DNC Contest
Jack Random
Casualties
of War: the Untold Stories
John Roosa
Aceh's Dual Disasters: the Tsunami and Military Rule
Carol Norris
In the Wake of the Tsunami
Mike Whitney
Pink Slips at CBS
Alan Farago
Can
the Everglades be Saved?
Paul Craig
Roberts
What's
Our Biggest Problem in Iraq...the Insurgency or Bush?
January 11,
2005
Tom Barry
The
US isn't "Stingy"; It's Strategic: Aid as a Weapon
of Foreign Policy
James Hodge
and Linda Cooper
Voice
of the Voiceless: Father Roy Bourgeois and the School of the
the Americas
Linda S. Heard
Farah Radio Break Down: Joseph Farah's Messages of Hate and Homophobia
Derrick O'Keefe
Electoral Gigolo?: Richard Gere and the Occupied Vote
Gila Svirsky
A Tale of Two Elections
Harry Browne
Irish
"Peace Process", RIP
January 10,
2005
Ramzy Baroud
Faith-Based
Disasters: Tsunami Aid and War Costs
Talli Nauman
Killing
Journalists: Mexico's War on a Free Press
Uri Avnery
Sharon's Monologue
Dave Lindorff
Tucker
Carlson's Idiot Wind
Dave Zirin
Randy
Moss's Moondance
Dave Silver
Left Illusions About the Democratic Party
Charles Demers
Plan Salvador for Iraq: Death Squads Come in Waves
William A.
Cook
Causes
and Consequences: Bush, Osama and Israel
January 8 /
9, 2005
Alexander Cockburn
Say,
Waiter, Where's the Blood in My Margarita Glass?
John H. Summers
Chomsky
and Academic History
Greg Moses
Getting Real About the Draft
Walter A. Davis
Bible Says: the Psychology of Christian Fundamentalism
Victor Kattan
The EU and Middle East Peace
John Bolender
The Plight of Iraq's Mandeans
Robert Fisk
The Politics of Lebanon
Fred Gardner
Situation NORML
Joe Bageant
The Politics of the Comfort Zone
Mickey Z.
I Want My DDT: Little Nicky Kristof Bugs Out
Ben Tripp
CounterClockwise Evolution
Ron Jacobs
Elvis and His Truck: Out on Highway 61
Saul Landau
Sex
and the Country
Rep. Cynthia McKinney
Time to End the Blackout
Ellen Cantarow
NPR's Distortions on Palestine
Richard Oxman
Bageantry Continued
Poets' Basement
Gaffney, Landau, Albert, Collins
January 7,
2005
Omar Barghouti
Slave
Sovereignty: Elections Under Occupation
Kent Paterson
The Framing of Felipe Arreaga: Another Mexican Environmentalist
Arrested
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
Old
Vijay Merchant and the Tsunami
David Krieger
Cancel the Inauguration Parties
Gideon Levy
New Year, Old Story
Dave Lindorff
Ohio Protest: First Shot Fired by Congressional Progressives
Christopher
Brauchli
Privatizing the IRS
Roger Burbach
/ Paul Cantor
Bush,
the Pentagon and the Tsunami
January 6,
2005
Brian J. Foley
Gonzales:
Supporting Torture is not His Greatest Sin
Greg Moses
Boot
Up America!: Gen. Helmly's Memo Leaks New Bush Deal
Petras / Chomsky
An
Open Letter to Hugo Chavez
Alan Maass
The Decline of the Dollar
Dave Lindorff
Colin Powell's Selective Sense of Horror
Jenna Orkin
The EPA and a Dirty Bomb: 9/11's Disastrous Precedent
P. Sainath
The
Tsunami and India's Coastal Poor
January 5,
2005
Alan Farago
2004:
An Environmental Retrospective
Winslow T.
Wheeler
Oversight
Detected?: Sen. McCain and the Boeing Tanker Scam
Jean-Guy Allard
Gary Webb: a Cuban Perspective
Fred Gardner
Strutting, Smirking, As If The Mad Plan Was Working
David Swanson
Albert Parsons on the Gallows
Richard Oxman
The Joe Bageant Interview
Bruce Jackson
Death
on the Living Room Floor
January 4,
2005
Michael Ortiz
Hill
Mainlining
Apocalypse
Elaine Cassel
They
Say They Can Lock You Up for Life Without a Trial
Yoram Gat
The
Year in Torture
Martin Khor
Tragic
Tales and Urgent Tasks from the Tsunami Disaster
Gary Leupp
Death
and Life in the Andaman Islands
January 3,
2005
Ron Jacobs
The
War Hits Home
Dave Lindorff
Is
There a Single Senator Who Will Stand Up for Black Voters?
Mike Whitney
The Guantanamo Gulag
Joshua Frank
Greens and Republicans: Strange Bedfellows
Maria Tomchick
Playing Politics with Disaster Aid
Rhoda and Mark
Berenson
Our Daughter Lori: Another Year of Grave Injustice
David Swanson
The Media and the Ohio Recount
Kathleen Christison
Patronizing
the Palestinians
January 1 /
2, 2005
Gary Leupp
Earthquakes
and End Times, Past and Present
Rev. William
E. Alberts
On "Moral Values": Code Words for Emerging Authoritarian
Tendencies
M. Shahid Alam
Testing Free Speech in America
Stan Goff
A Period for Pedagogy
Brian Cloughley
Bush and the Tsunami: the Petty and the Petulant
Sylvia Tiwon
/ Ben Terrall
The Aftermath in Aceh
Ben Tripp
Requiem for 2004
Greg Moses
A Visible Future?
Steven Sherman
The 2004 Said Awards: Books Against Empire
Sean Donahue
The Erotics of Nonviolence
James T. Phillips
The Beast's Belly
David Krieger
When Will We Ever Learn
Poets' Basement
Soderstrom, Hamod, Louise and Albert
December 31,
2004
Farrah Hassen
The
Palestinian Right of Return: a View from Syria
Dave Lindorff
US Air's Bold New Idea: Work for Your Boss for Free!
George Capaccio
Tsunami Hits Iraq
Mike Whitney
Iraq v. Tsunami: Media Duplicity
Peter Phillips
The Tsunami and the Corporate Media: Waves of Hypocrisy
Christopher
Deliso
War
and the Tsunami: Putting It in Perspective
December 30,
2004
Lila Rajiva
Unnatural
Disaster? Earthquakes, Tsunamis and Nuclear Testing
Robert Fisk
The
Ghosts of Vietnam
Roger Burbach
Argentina
v. the IMF
Stan Cox
9/11 and 12/26: How to React
Walter Brasch
Bush and Tsunamis: Heartless in Crawford
Christopher Brauchli
Empire of the Misers
Alexandra Spieldoch
NAFTA Through a Gender Lens: "Free Trade" Pacts and
Women
Paul Kincaid Jameison
Grief, Relief and the Stingy West
Dan Bacher
The Water Kings of California
Paul Craig
Roberts
Unbecoming
Conduct
December 29,
2004
Dave Lindorff
Us,
Stingy?: It's All Relative
M. Shahid Alam
America
and Islam: Seeking Parallels
Ronald D. Hoffman
Tsunamis
and Nuclear Power Plants
Sam Bahour
/ Todd May
Elections
Without Democracy
Fred Gardner
Ricky Does 60 Minutes
Ali Khan
Who's Feeding the Bin Laden Legend?
John Hansen
Family Farms Are Being Fed to Corporate Sharks
Sam Lewin
How the Justice Department Continues to Screw the Sioux
Richard Oxman
As Time Goes By With Andy Goldsworthy
Mickey Z.
A Wave of Questions: Putting a Disaster in Context
Website of the Day
Banking While Muslim
December 28,
2004
Brian Cloughley
The
Chief Weirdo at the Pentagon: Rumsfeld Must Go
Joshua Frank
Privacy Piracy? What Howard Dean May Bring to the DNC
Jessica Leight
The
Chilean Miracle: Less Than Meets the Eye
Dave Lindorff
A
Shameful Response to Disaster
John Walsh
Disappearing the Anti-War Movement at the NYTs
Dave Zirin
The Death of Reggie White: an Off the Field Obituary
Dr. Teresa Whitehurst
Be Careful Not to Get Too Much Education: It's Happened to a
Lot of Good Christians
Ron Jacobs
Iran
2004: The Resistance and the Western Anti-War Movement
December 27,
2004
M. Junaid Alam
"Civilization
v. Barbarism": an Interview with Noam Chomsky
Michael Donnelly
Greens and Greenbacks: How Nonprofit Careerism Derailed the "Revolution"
Greg Moses
Texas Election Scandal: Forty Faxes and a Whisper
Toni Solo
Colombia's Appalling Vista: Justice With Eyes Wide Open
Brian Kwoba
Blaming the Victims of the 2004 Elections
Genna Goodman-Campbell
Honduras Validates Its Banana Republic Status, Again
Mike Whitney
Disappearing Act: Fallujah and the Media
Ari Shavit
"Zionism Has Exhausted Itself": an Interview with Amos
Elon
Richard Oxman
Reflections on a Handful of Activists
Saul Landau
James
Cason's Cuban Delusions
December 25
/ 26, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Yup,
It's Moral Outrage Time
Diane Christian
The Christmas Christ
Dr. Susan Block
Faith-Based Sex
Gary Leupp
Rumsfeld, His Critics and the Draft
Ron Jacobs
Music in Wartime
Elaine Cassel
Articles I Didn't Write
Jim Minick
Beyond Organic
Poets Basement
Louise, Landau, Orloski, Albert
and Collins
December 24,
2004
Diane Christian
Winning:
Rummy and John Milton
Chad Nagle
Ukraine's
Real Underdog
Saul Landau
My Friend Richard Barnet
Greg Moses
Ramsey Muniz Speaks
Joe DeRaymond
The Endless War in Colombia: a View From Within
Borzou Daragahi
Iraq's Christians: Tolerated by Saddam; Targets Under Occupation
Mike Whitney
Rummy's Quagmire of Lies
Francis A. Boyle
O Little Town of Bethlehem: Another Christmas Under Occupation
William Loren
Katz
Florida 1837: Christmas Eve Resistance to the First US Occupation
December 23,
2004
Chad Nagle
Report
from Kiev: Yushchenko's Not Quite Ready for Sainthood
David Smith-Ferri
The
Real UN Disgrace in Iraq
Bill Quigley
Death
Watch for Human Rights in Haiti
Mickey Z.
Crumbs
from Our Table
Christopher Brauchli
Merck's Merry X-mas
Greg Moses
When
No Law Means No Law
Alan Singer
An
Encounter with Sen. Schumer: a Very Dangerous Democrat
David Price
Social
Security Pump and Dump
Website of the Day
Gabbo Gets Laid
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
December 20,
2004
Gary Leupp
Japan
in Iraq
Robert Fisk
An
Army Without Compassion
Uri Avnery
The Mountain and the Mouse
Francisco Letelier
My Case Against Pinochet
Patrick Cockburn
The Polls of Fear
Bill Conroy
Charles Bowden on the Legacy of Gary Webb: "He Drew Blood"
Yoshie Furuhashi
Chokeholds of a Giant: Attacking Wal-Mart's Supply Chain
David Swanson
Media Blackout of Bush's War on Labor
Chad Nagle
Did Yushchenko Poison Himself?
December 18
/ 19, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Why
They Hated Gary Webb
Saul Landau
Gen.
Pinochet Should Also Face Charges in DC
Patrick Cockburn
Losing
Mosul: Once They Called It a Model for the Occupation
Douglas Valentine
Wolves
and Revolution in Venezuela: a Caracas Romance
Ray McGovern
Laughing Dragon, Dancing Bear: the New China / Russia Alliance
Fred Gardner
DEA Upholds Grower's Marijuana Monopoly
Jean-Guy Allard
Locked Up Naked in a Hole Within a Hole: Have the Cuban 5 Been
Tortured in US Prisons?
Ron Jacobs
Drifters Escape, Again: Encounters with Berkeley's Police
Raymond G.
Helmick, S.J.
The Law and Peace in the Middle East
Sean Sellers
Values Voters, Desperate Housewives and Sweatshop Tacos
Lee Sustar
Christmas
on the Picket Line at CNH: "They Want to Break Our Unions"
Richard Thieme
Webb's Wife: "Gary Was Never the Same After They Attacked
Him"
Sam Bahour
WANTED:
Middle East Negotiator
Joshua Frank
The
Spin Doctor: an Interview with Mickey Z.
Dave Lindorff
A Man Who Confers with God Should Have Good Hearing
Stan Cox
What Kids Cost: Dallas v. Delhi
Chris Frasier
Farming By Numbers: More Poets, Fewer MBAs
Poets' Basement
Katz, Melek, Harley, Albert and Ford
December
17, 2004
Cockburn /
St. Clair
CounterAttack:
How the Press and the CIA Killed Gary Webb's Career
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
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?
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Why I Hate Thanksgiving
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The Company He Keeps: the Syndicate of Tom Delay
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Double Standards on Exit Polls: Hypocrisy Sans Irony
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The Occupation of Iraq is the Root of t he Problem
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Witnesses: War Crimes in Fallujah
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Bush and Uribe at the Beach
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Why Bush Should be Banned from Canada
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Our Son: a Marine Who Won't Kill
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Weekend Edition
January 15 / 16, 2005
Eros Day 2005
The
Counter-Inaugural Ball
By
Dr. SUSAN BLOCK
It's almost time for Thanatos, the ancient
Greek God of Death, to ascend the throne of America. This is,
of course, a throne His Immortal Ass is already sitting on. But
that doesn't mean it's not an occasion to throw the most expensive
American Presidential Inauguration in history, ushering in the
second term of one of the most universally loathed American Presidents
the world has known, including a 4-day, 9-ball, 40 million smacker
shindig, with a parade, concert, fireworks display and, at the
Ritz-Carlton, white chocolate cowboy boots (just white?)
to honor our horse-fearing Cowboy-in-Chief. The 40-mil bill for
the bash is 5 mil more than Ebenezer Bush's second offer of aid
to tsunami victims, but just a drop in the bucket of human waste
that is the American War on Iraq. Franklin D Roosevelt, another
"War President" who came from privileged stock, at
least had the sensibility (breeding?) to forego the showy parties
when he was re-elected during WWII. No such restraint for Bush
II, the Aw-Shucks White Chocolate Cowboy Prince of Thanatos.
Nobody talks much about Thanatos
these days, except the occasional discontented Freudian. But
His presence is keenly felt. Death is always with us, a constant
companion to Life. But He is most powerful in wartime. According
to the Greeks, Thanatos is the fatherless son of Nyx (Night),
twin brother of Hypnos (Sleep), a wingéd young male God
who, in Euripides' Alcestis, coolly reminds Apollo, "I win
greater honor when the victims are young."
Of course, Thanatos is no more
merciful to victims of tsunamis than He is to victims of war.
Yet there is something about being killed deliberately by our
fellow humans that twists the knife more sharply (at least to
those of us left behind) than death at the tides of nature. And
killing fellow humans is what Bush, our second-term "War
President," prides himself on. The Shrub is a Lynching Tree,
a Burning Bush of Apocalyptic Mass Destruction, an obedient servant
of Thanatos.
Thanatos will be inaugurated
into His place at the very pinnacle of the American political
pantheon, with pomp and ceremony, bands and some major balls,
as the Rape of Iraq plays on. Many of the important guests, paying
as much as $250,000 (not to mention under-the-table billions)
per "inauguration ticket package," will be leading
Death profiteers, arms dealers and world-class polluters, sponsors
of Dubya's Christian Crusade and End-of-the-World Environmental
Policies. Fine champagne will flow, but Inauguration Ballers
are sure to be high on the narcotic of war, hooked on the endgame
logic of death.
Cold Death, accompanied by
His hot handmaiden Torture, shall reign supreme, as the Chickenhawk
Pussy named Bush and the Dickless Dickhead named Dick are honored
for their crimes, and their devastatingly inept cronies and lackeys
are promoted for their doglike devotion, with deferential Presidential
Consigliere Alberto Torquemada Gonzales ascending to the post
of United States Attorney General. And we thought old Ayatollah
Asscraft was bad! Gonzales became world-famous when it emerged
that he wrote the Torture Memo essentially greenlighting all
the "disgusting" BUSH POW PORN of Abu Ghraib, Guantànamo
and other American torture chambers. Al appears to be the quiet
type, exemplifying the Moral Values of the New American Hero:
"Speak softly and carry a big stick you can shove up a detainee's
ass without calling it torture."
At least, he's come out for
abortion rights, sort of. But nobody's asking one question on
everyone's minds: Will Gonzales take Asscraft's $8000 drapes
off the venerable, half-topless Spirit of Justice?
But back to the party. I love
a good party, but for George W. Bush to have a mammoth Mother
of All U.S. Presidential Inaugural parties in his own pseudo-cowboy
honor, with the Iraq War, the Asian tsunami aftermath and American
poverty raging all around us, is, in a word, obscene. Unless
you can get yourself a quick Dumb-Me-Down-to-Red-State-Levels
lobotomy, it's enough to make you sing the Blues all over again,
and you know you've been singing that tune since November. SO,
what's a good Blue Values gal or guy who believes in Faith-Based
Sex to do to counteract the immeasurably Thanatoxic effects of
the Bush Party Blow-Out that's about to explode like a mushroom
cloud of anthrax-laced bullshit in our nation's capital and throughout
the virtual court of our 90% sycophantic media?
Why, fly the flag of Eros as
high as you can! Yes, indeed Brothers & Sisters, Lovers &
Sinners, it's time to speak out against the Bad Bush and celebrate
the Good Bush (you know what I'm saying). There are, essentially,
three ways to do this: 1) PRAY, 2) PROTEST and 3) PARTY. But
more on the Three P's in a minute
Back to Eros, who (or which)
is, as those discontented Freudians remind us, the opposite of
Thanatos. Since Thanatos is Death, that means Eros is Life. Yay!
It's good to be on the side of Life. Then again, it's not so
simple. This isn't one of those black-and-white Battles between
Good and Evil that the Red Staters love to fight. Eros has an
edge. The word is, after all, from the same root as "erotic,"
so it has something to do with sex. But we're not just talking
about Valentine sex here, true love, or procreation, or just
lust, porn, or recreational sex. We're talking about the primordial
sexual energy that is the essence of life. Yes, indeed.
The Greeks say it best. According
to the Theogeny, the Genealogy of the Gods, written in 800 BCE
by Hesiod of Boeoita, Eros was one of the four great original
Creators of the Universe, all of whom emerged from Chaos. The
other three were Gaia, Goddess of the Earth, Uranus, God of the
Sky; and Tartarus, God of the Underworld. The fourth Great Creator
was Eros, God of Life, Love and Sex. Eros blew the Breath of
Life into all beings, even the Gods Themselves. This was what
I call The Original Blow-Job. And this is why, at least mythologically
speaking, Eros gets the clout to counter Thanatos.
In later Greek mythology, the
Great Creator Eros trades some of His primal power for something
akin to our idea of rock stardom, morphing into a classical rather
naughty teenage heartthrob with glorious feathered wings, the
original sex symbol. The arrows from his potent quiver never
kill you (at least not directly), but only excite your desire.
Still, like many stars, Eros is a trickster. Some people call
him a Motherfucker. And he is. Because, in addition to billions
of other lovers, Eros does occasionally fuck his mother (or at
least, they engage in a lot of what we call foreplay), his mother
being Aphrodite (Venus to the Romans), the supreme Goddess of
Love.
Eros' father is uncertain,
in keeping with his swinging character. It could have been Zeus,
Ares, Hermes or any one of Mama Aphrodite's many lovers. It doesn't
matter. Like a bonobo chimpanzee, Eros is a mama's boy in love
with love and lust. Classical myth has him fall in love with
a human girl named Psyche, who eventually becomes the Goddess
of the Soul. Their love story is a timeless tale of passion,
jealousy, faith and betrayal, suffering and redemption. In the
happy ending, the child of their union is named Pleasure. Not
quite a savior, but definitely a blessing.
Eros became Amor in Rome, and
later, Cupid. Nowadays, Cupid is usually portrayed as a cuddly
little angel, or a troop of cuddly little angels, cute as a Hallmark
card and almost utterly drained of the potent sexuality of the
primordial Eros or the erotic appeal of the teenage Eros. But
in resisting the reign of Thanatos being inaugurated into our
White House, we need all the Powers of Eros we can get--primordial,
erotic and cuddly! No cynical retorts, now; that's succumbing
to Thanatosis! So, back to the 3 P's
1. PRAY
Brothers and Sisters, Lovers
and Sinners: Prayer
is not the exclusive domain of the Christian Right. It is not
even the domain of religion. We all pray. Even atheists pray.
It's no great virtue to pray. The best of us pray, the worst
of us pray. It's human nature, maybe even pre-human (personally,
I think bonobos pray). We all, at times, sit in contemplative
silence, or sing out with a few fellow humans, surrendering our
consciousness to forces we do not understand. We may pray from
a place where we are deeply grateful, or passionately hoping-even
asking--for something for ourselves or for others, or submitting
to the forces of nature, or marveling at the miracles of life,
or stopping and really thinking about what the hell we're doing
(or not doing) on Earth, or just singing those Blue Values Blues.
We don't have to pray in a House of Worship. We don't have to
pray in a particular direction or with our hands folded together.
We can pray when we meditate. And, by God and Goddess, we can
pray when we masturbate (or copulate, for that matter). We can
pray as we paddle our little boats down the river. We can pray
as we look up at the stars. We can pray as we watch TV (though
some call this "vegging out"). We can certainly pray
as we make love (oh God, oh God, oh baby, oh God!). We can pray
as we mow the lawn. We can pray as we sit in endless bumper-to-bumper
traffic (and a Pocket Rocket in the glove compartment can only
help in this case).
But back to the Inauguration.
You can bet your last rosary (or anal) bead that they're going
to be doing a LOT of praying there. And most of them will NOT
have the Big Tent definition of "prayer" that I have.
Not at all. They will be praying to the One and Only "Christian
God," with a little "Judeo-" thrown in as a prefix
to appease certain Semitic Neo-Cons. They will be praying to
Jesus the Bloody Christ as revealed in the Gospel according to
Mel Gibson. Don't get me wrong; though I was born and raised
Jewish, and I'm now basically an agnostic/tantric/pagan/ethical-hedonist,
I love Jesus (and Jesus Loves My Ass!). But the ketchup-streaked
masochist who virtually exhorts his followers to follow his example
and die painfully for each other portrayed in Mel's snuff movie
is not the Jesus I love. The only deity in classical mythology
that comes close to Mel's level of morbidity is Thanatos. Even
Ares takes a break from the wars to romp in the sack with Aphrodite
once in a while. Thanatos, like Mel's Christ, like Bush's legacy,
is all about the DEATH.
So yes, I plan to pray during
Inauguration week. Amen and Awomen. If I have to name
a God to whom I'll be praying--which does feel kind of silly,
but everybody's pushing their patron Gods these days, so here's
mine--Eros.
II want to reassure my fellow
agnostics: this is not quite as loopy as it sounds. Then again,
maybe it's even loopier. What I mean is, Eros is not just some
funny Valentine or mythological divinity. Eros is a planet! More
specifically, it is a "planetoid" or large asteroid,
25.3 by 9.1 by 8.8 miles in size, spinning on its own axis. Coy
astronomers say it's shaped like a banana. I say it's shaped
like the male member in its happy state. The Planetoid 433 Eros
was discovered in 1898 by astronomer Carl Gustav Witt, who, while
playing with his telescope, must have had sex on the brain, so
he named this new heavenly body Eros. Recently explored by NASA's
NEAR spacecraft, Eros is especially intriguing to astronomers
because, despite its large elliptical orbit around the Sun, it
comes closer to the Earth than any other body of comparable size,
except the Moon. Eros is also one of the most elongated planetoids
in our solar system (there's that delicious banana shape!), the
better to penetrate our hearts. And here's the relevant clincher:
the closest it comes to Earth each year is right around Inauguration
time (January 20-22).
So it's a good time to pray
to Eros. Or is it for Eros? Either way, we're talking about peace,
love and understanding here, so get down on your knees! Whether
you're watching the Inauguration on TV with a barf bag handy,
or completely avoiding it out in some mountainside teepee, whether
you're seriously helping the tsunami victims or unhappily helping
to tear up Iraq, give it a whirl. Offer up an Eros Prayer. Pray
for (or is it to?) Eros, Life, Love, Peace, Understanding, Compassion,
Passion, Sex. If you find it difficult to relax and focus, try
using a vibrator.
Okay, okay, it doesn't always
have to be about sex. There's a neat little movement to make
Inauguration Day "Not One Damn Dime" day, asking us
to "boycott all forms of consumer spending" for 24
hours.. This seems like a good way to focus your own personal
opposition toward the American corporations that support this
administration. Much as fasting from food fosters a prayerful
heightened awareness of your body as your temple, fasting from
spending can affirm your existence as more than just another
consumer. It also gives you more time for sex (the free kind)!
2. PROTEST
Just Do It. Especially if you
can get your ass over to Pennsylvania Avenue and 4th Street in
DC by 9 am on Inauguration Day. Bring all your "Sorry, World!"
signs, and get your sexy protesting self on the boob tube. Or
make a different kind of statement, like, get married to your
same-sex lover on Inauguration Day (it'll be legal again soon
enough; show a little faith)! Teach or attend a sex education
class. Wear your "Bush Sucks" T-shirt to work. Show
our international community that this King of the White Chocolate
Cowboy Boots does NOT have the "will of the people at (his)
back," at least not all the people, and certainly not the
cool people, the Eros people.
One intriguing idea is the
"Turn Your Back on Bush" protest. These folks plan
to legally infiltrate several different public inaugural gatherings
and, upon a given signal, turn their backs to the proceedings.
Being the incorrigible pervert that I am, I'm hoping that some
protestors will turn Turning Your Back on Bush into Mooning Bush,
especially if they have nice buns. If I could make it to that
protest, I'd wear my "Jesus Loves My Ass" panties,
over tights, of course (it's January!). Turn End Times into rear-end
times.
Then there's the DAWN DIE-IN,
"in memory of the dead at the hands of Bush and his Administration."
Dying is sexy, if you're not really dead, but just making a point:
BUSH KILLS. One of the die-ers really should act out Mel's Passion.
Bush might not crucify Jesus (though that first iconic tortured
Abu Ghraib detainee, with his arms outstretched, looked pretty
Christlike), but he'd certainly keep him imprisoned indefinitely
without any rights. And the torture? Well, let's just say it
would make an interesting sequel for those who enjoyed the first
Gibsonian Passion.
The theme may be Thanatos,
but the Spirit of Eros infuses any good protest--the drama, the
costumes, the excitement of marching together, laying your body
on the line, seducing hearts, minds and TV cameras, and the potent
possibility of going home with that sexy fellow protestor later
on...
Just remember the man whose
birthday we celebrate around this time, one of the greatest protesters
since Jesus, an American Man of Eros if ever there was one: Martin
Luther King.
3. PARTY
THIS is where we fight fire
with fire. Sometimes fireworks. Yes indeed, Brothers & Sisters,
Party Animals and Blue Angels: This is where we show ourselves
and others that we don't have to spend 40 million devalued dollaros
to be the Party Masters of the World. This is where we reach
out to one another to commune, comfort, collaborate and conspire,
share knowledge and desire, information and aphrodisiacs, honoring
Eros and our erotic resistance to the bullies and ninnies who
give the Thumbs-Up (a kind of new Sieg Heil?) to Death, War,
Torture, Born Again Censorship, Abstinence-Only Miseducation,
Fleecing the Poor to Soften the Beds of the Rich, Creationism,
Repression, Oppression, Regression, and did I mention Death?
This is where you hold your
own Counter-Inaugural Party that celebrates all your favorite
Blue Values that the President's Party is against (for examples
of Blue Values worth celebrating, please see my column "Blue
Values"). Charge admission and donate the profits to Tsunami
Relief, or Iraqi War Victims, or the ACLU, or Sex Education,
or the Bonobos. If you don't feel like throwing a Counter-Inaugural
Party, get a friend to do it, or you may want to come to mine
Yes, indeed. Come one, come
all or just come. Every year at this time, when the Planetoid
433 EROS is closest to Earth, I celebrate a holiday called EROS
DAY. Introduced to me five years ago by pioneering erotic filmmaker
Lasse Braun, I knew it was my kind of holiday, a celebration
of love and lust with this intriguing astrophysical aspect. Every
year, around January 22, the Planetoid Eros is at its closest
distance to Earth. Does this mean that this is the time when
some kind of astral sexual energy is closest to us? Perhaps.
Of course, our complex, neurotic
human lives are ruled by far more than the stars and planetoids.
It's not so simple to just point to a day on the calendar, and
say that this is the day when we'll all be at our hottest. But
if you believe that the positions of the Sun, Moon and other
heavenly bodies have some influence over the tides and emotions
of the Earth, if you believe in the power of Equinoxes and Solstices,
then you might believe in the power of Eros, strongest when it
is closest to us, on EROS DAY.
It certainly makes at least
as much, if not a little more, sense to expect the erotic on
EROS DAY than to, say, expect excitement or "resolution"
on New Year's Eve, or romance on Valentine's Day, a date which
commemorates the death of a Christian saint who believed celibacy
was a virtue. Halloween is kind of sexy because you get to dress
up, but it's really for kids these days. Mardi Gras is hot, but
it's never caught on outside New Orleans, and Carnavale is so
Brazil.
What truly adult holiday celebrates
sex as the essence of life, in the fullest, most unabashed, unapologetic,
orgiastic sense, AND boasts an astrophysical component? EROS
DAY! So, I make a point of celebrating it every year, usually
with a bunch of fellow Ethical Hedonist types, always with plenty
of whatever we find erotic (bacchanalian works too) -- an art
opening, a bar, music, dance, fetish, perhaps a Commedia Erotica
performance of the Passion of Eros & Psyche, perhaps a speech
and a striptease. Some of my EROS DAY celebrations have been
more political than others. Actually, the more Thanatos sinks
His cold claws into America, the more hotly political EROS DAY
becomes.
EROS DAY 2005, coming in the
wake of the Thanatoxic Bush Inauguration, will be a Counter-Inaugural
Ball (in every fine sense of that word), a tribal revival crossed
with an orgy crossed with a private peace rally, a Celebration
of Love, Lust & the Blue Values we hold dear. As my EROS
DAY '05 co-host, internationally renowned digital artist Laurence
Gartel (whose work is in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian
Institution's Museum of American History and the Bibliotheque
Nationale in Paris), emailed me, "I never get really political,
but now I just can't stop myself."
Don't stop yourself. Not now.
Now is the time to release your political art, prayers, protests
and resistance parties, while we've still got a few precious
freedoms left. As the Bushies hoist Thanatos to the top of their
pyramid, think of how you can topple that baby down. Think of
how you can honor Eros in your life. Then take it to the streets
(always with nonviolence, darling), or to the bedroom, or to
the EROS DAY Counter-Inaugurals, or take it to your webcam. And
don't let the Thanatoxic Brigade take it away from you.
Dr. Susan Block is a sex educator, cultural commentator,
host of The Dr. Susan Block Show and author of The
10 Commandments of Pleasure. Her essay on John Ashcroft's
"breast fetish" is included in CounterPunch's Serpents
in the Garden: Liaisons with Sex and Culture. Visit her website
at http://www.drsusanblock.com.
Contact her at liberties@blockbooks.com
© January 10, 2005, Dr.
Susan Block.
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