|
Today's
Stories
January 18, 2007
William Peace
Protest From A Bad Cripple
Virginia Tilley
The Steady March to War on Iran
Michael Donnelly
The Real Reason I Can't Stand Obama
B.R. Gowani
Democracy: Everywhere and Nowhere
Larry Portis
Zionism in the Cinema: Part One
Jason Hribal
A Horse is Worth More than Riches
Website of the Day
Bagdad Clampdown
January 17, 2007
Franklin Spinney
Why Time is not on Bush's Side
John Ross
Oaxaca's Rising: Vibrant as the Paint on the Walls
Susan George
Can World Trade Ever Be Fair? Back to Keynes!
Paul Craig Roberts
Attacking Iran: What's In It For Bush
Joshua Frank
Obama and the Middle East
David Lindorff
Towards Oil at $200 a Barrel
January 16, 2007
Col. Sam Gardiner
Escalation Against Iran
Marjorie Cohn
Stimson's Outrageous Threat
Saul Landau
Gore Vidal in Havana: Part 2
Ron Jacobs
Welcome Back to 1965
Susan Block
From Snowjob to Blowjob
Ken Couesbouck
Year of the Pig
Website of the Day
Amazon's Hit on Jimmy Carter
January 15, 2007
Roger Morris
Another War the Voters Hoped to End
Paul Craig Roberts
Bush Must Go
Kathy Kelly
Umm Heyder's Story
William Blum
The Anti-Empire Report
Ralph Nader
The Class War's New Map
Saul Landau
Gore Vidal In Havana
Website Of the Day
Building Bridges Between Jew and Arab
January 12
/ 14, 2007
Alexander Cockburn
Nomads Beware!
Patrick Cockburn
"21,500
More Troops": Will America Ever Leave Iraq?
David Rosen
Bush's Domestic Sex Policy: the Teen Abstinence-Only Crusade
William S.
Lind
Less Than Zero
Laith al-Saud
The
Ironies of Bush and Iraq
Paul Craig
Roberts
Surge and Mirrors: What Bush Really Said
John Ross
Celebrating the "Sum of the World" in Chiapas
George Ciccariello-Maher
The Case of Venezuela's RCTV: Not About Free Speech
Christopher Brauchli
How to Avoid an IRS Audit: Become a Millionaire!
Robert Buzzanco
Rogue State, Redux
Evelyn Pringle
The Secrets in Eli Lilly's Cabinet
Peter Rost,
MD.
Promises, Promises: Playing Politics with Drug Reimportation
Mike Whitney
Baghdad Crackdown
Yifat Susskind
Beyond the Surge: Demanding an End to Bush's Wars
Saul Cohen
Latin America's Real Mr. Danger: Negroponte's Latest Gig
Missy Beattie
A Day of Action and Questions
Stephen Lendman
Holiday Hypocrisy
Website of
the Weekend
Bruegel on Bush War Plan
January 11,
2007
Ismael Hossein-Zadeh
The
Profits of Escalation
Paul Craig
Roberts
Carter's Inconvenient Truths
Kathy Kelly
Refugee Dreams
Dave Lindorff
Blood for Face
Jeff Leys
The War Widens
Richard W.
Behan
Barrels and Bodies
Col. Douglas MacGregor
Surging Right Into Al-Sadr's Hands
Website of
the Day
An Explanation from Google
Speech of the Day
Is There Even One Politician Alive Who Could Give This Speech?
January 10, 2007
Peter Linebaugh
A
Walk in Oaxaca
Robert Fantina
Punishing
Deserters: Prosecution or Persecution?
Patrick Cockburn
Why Troop Escalation Won't Bring Peace to Iraq
Paul Craig Roberts
Distracting Congress: Troop Escalation and Iran
Col. Dan Smith
Why U.S. Policy is Failing
Ben Tripp
The Politics of Bad Karma
Evelyn Pringle
How the FDA Protects Big Pharma
Ron Jacobs
Coalition of the Lunatics: Trying to Create the Next World War
Mike Ferner
If Not Now, When?
Dave Zirin
Judgment of the Juiced: Why McGwire Wasn't Elected to the Hall
of Fame
Website of
the Day
Revolting Students!
Bootleg of the Day
Bob
Dylan: Live at Scotia Bank Place
January 9, 2007
R. T. Naylor
The
Somalian Labyrinth
Jonathan Cook
Israel's
Purging of Palestinian Christians
Mike Ely and Linda Flores
The Smithfield Strikers: No Longer
Hidden, No Longer Hiding
Joshua Frank
The Democrats and Iran: More Bellicose Than Bush
Norman Solomon
The Headless Horseman of the Apocalypse
Sen. Russell
Feingold
An Open Letter to President Bush: So Now You Want to Snoop Through
Our Mail?
Joe Allen
Justice for the Omaha Two: Black Power, Racism and COINTELPRO
in the Heartland
James T. Phillips
"Lasciate Ogne Speranza, Voi Ch'Intrate": The Hell
That is Iraq
Brian Concannon
Resolutions for Haiti
Leonard Peltier
When the Truth Doesn't Matter: 30 Years of FBI Harassment and
Misconduct
Website of the Day
Kick Out the Jams, MFers!: Meet the New RRC
January 8,
2007
Werther
Why
We Fight
Jeff Leys
The Occupation Project: a Campaign of Civil Disobedience to End
Iraq War Funding
Paul Craig Roberts
Nuking Iran
Shulamit Aloni
Israeli Apartheid: Sorry, This Road is For Jews Only
Dave Lindorff
The Party of Invertebrates Reverts to Form
Sunsara Taylor
The Democrats' First Day: Same As It Ever Was
Seth Sandronsky
Syndicated Error: George Will and the Minimum Wage
Dr. Susan Block
Baghdad Cockfight Ends in Snuff Film
Website of the Day
Watch CounterPuncher Sunsara Taylor Take on Bill O'Reilly!
January 6 / 7, 2007
Alexander Cockburn
The
War and the NYT
Franklin C.
Spinney
Stalingrad
on the Tigris
Paul Craig
Roberts
The
Urge to Surge
Ralph Nader
Democrats in the Spotlight
Walden Bello
Globalization in Retreat?
Marleen Martin
The Needle and the Damage Done: Tortured in the Death Chamber
Brian Cloughley
We Do What We Like: Return Our Rapist or Else ...
Uri Avnery
The Kiss of Death
Saul Landau
Fidel Castro in the Fields
Ron Jacobs
From Cointelpro to the Patriot Act: a Legacy of Torture
Joseph Nevins
Crimes Against Humanity from Ford to Saddam
William S. Lind
A State Restored? Somalia and 4GW
Gary Leupp
Attention John Conyers: Impeach the President!
Elisa Salasin
Bringing Life to Numbers
George Ciccariello-Maher
Beyond
Chavistas and Anti-Chavistas: Deepening the Bolivarian Revolution
Stefan Wray
Confronting Recruiters: the Story of the Bush Street Raiders
Michael Leonardi
Toward an International Moratorium: Italy's Crusade Against the
Death Penalty
Richard Rhames
Reality TV: Triumph of the Thugs
Jeffrey St. Clair
Playlist: What I'm Listening to This Week
Barbara LaMorticella
Two Poems
Website of the Weekend
FBI Witch Hunts
Song of the
Weekend
End Times: a Soundtrack
January 5, 2007
Jorge Mariscal
Growing
the Military: Who Will Serve?
John Walsh
Clash of the Elites: Beltway Insiders vs. Neo-Cons!
Christopher Brauchli
The Great Relaxer: Bush and Federal Regulations
Travis Sharpe
No More New Nukes, Please
Tom Barry
Hawk for Hire: Roger Noriega's New Gig
Linda Schade
/ Kevin Zeese
Americans Voted for Peace: Has the New Congress Already Let Them
Down?
Tiffany Ten Eyck
Workers' Centers and Unions: a New Alliance
Mahmoud El-Yousseph
A Challenge to Pelosi
Lucinda Marshall
3003 Funerals: "And They're Still Burying Ford!"
Website of
the Day
Van the Man: Warm Love
January 4, 2007
Patrick Cockburn
The
Martyrdom of Saddam Hussein
Winslow T.
Wheeler
A Guide to Earmarks: Will the Democrats' Reforms Do Anything
to Curb Pork Barrel Spending?
M. Shahid Alam
Has Regime Change Boomeranged?
Raed Jarrar
So This is Plan B? The US Attack on Saleh Al-Mutlaq's Headquarters
Bert Sacks
Can the US Legally Kill Iraqi Children?: a Challenge to the Supreme
Court
Kathy Rentenbach
Report from Oaxaca
Stephen Fleischman
The Rain of Riches: Bonuses, Then and Now
George Bisharat
Carter's Truths
Peter Rost, MD
Hail the Hangman, Jail the Cameraman!
Evelyn Pringle
Can Eli Lilly be Held Criminally Liable for Zyprexa?
Website of the Day
Courage to Resist
January 3,
2007
Kathy Kelly
Wrapped
Around a Bullet
Paul Craig
Roberts
His Last Hurrah: Bush Cuts and Runs from Reason
William Johnson
No Worker is Illegal: SEIU Members Push Their Union to Change
Its Policy on Immigration
Stan Cox
Under a Brown Cloud: Money vs. the Monsoon
Trita Parsi
A Lose-Lose Situation with Iran
Declan McKenna
Ireland's Slavish Hostility Toward Cuba
Joe Bageant
Dispatch from the Chinese Landfill
Nicola Nasser
Somalia: New Hotbed of Anti-Americanism
Missy Beattie
Dead Wrong
Website of
the Day
Pharmed Out
January 2, 2007
Michael Watts
Oil
Inferno
Amina Mire
Return of the Warlords: Death and Destruction for Somalis
James Brooks
Pushing the Wedge in Palestine
Alevtina Rea
The Tyrant is Dead! Long Live ... ?
Al Krebs
Global Food Security: a Call to Action
Peter Rost
Invitation to a Hanging: the Saddam Hussein Execution Video
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
A Deadly December
John Stanton
Appetites for Destruction
Website of the Day
Out Now: Petition
January 1,
2007
Patrick Cockburn
Iron
Man, Tin God: the Meaning of Saddam Hussein
Uri Avnery
What
Makes Sammy Run?
Joshua Frank
Eliot Spitzer's Constitutional Hang Up: Architect of New York's
Patriot Act
December 30
/ 31, 2006
Weekend Edition
Alexander Cockburn
2006,
Hard to Call It Vintage, But 2007 Could Finally Be Bobby Byrd's
Year
Patrick Cockburn
Iraq
2006: a Nation Soaked in Blood Tears Itself Apart
Paul Wolf
Dying for Our Sins: A Lawyer for Saddam Describes How His Execution
on the First of Eid May Transform Him Into a Martyr
Manuel Garcia,
Jr.
Executing
Saddam, Protecting the Rackets
Tariq Ali
Saddam
at the End of a Rope
Paul Craig Roberts
The New Dark Age: Official Lies, Dogma and Unaccountable Power
Douglas Valentine
At the End of My Rope: Hanging With Saddam
Brian M. Downing
The New Iraq Policy: Escalation
Michael Donnelly
Injustice in Black and White: the Duke Non-Rape Case
Stephen Lendman
Did Sharon Order the Assassination of Arafat? The Revelations
of Uri Dan
Fred Gardner
Comes Now the Ghost of "Decrim:" Nixon and Marijuana
Bailly / Caudron / Lambert
Who Owns Ikea?: the Opaque Legacy of Ingvar Kamprad
Ralph Nader
The Prospects for Progressive Politics
Nick Dearden
The War on Terror Hits Africa
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
The Third Degree: an Interview with AC Thompson on the Origins
of the CIA's Secret Rendition Flights
Missy Beattie
In Harm's Way: How Our National Coward Describes War
Ron Jacobs
Sigh of the Oppressed: Religion and Politics
Dan La Botz
Defend Illegal Immigrants: Help Them! Harbor Them!
Andrew Wimmer
An Act of Contrition: the Peace Movement in 2007
Dr. Carol Wolman, MD
Psychiatrist: Impeach Bush for Good of Country
Martha Rosenberg
New Year's Resolutions for Big Pharma
Dick J. Reavis
News Before It Happens: Bush's 2007 MLK Day Speech
Jeffrey St.
Clair
Listening to James Brown and His Followers
Poets' Basement
Grima, Curtis, Davies, Orloski and Engel
Website of
the Weekend
Charlie Fowler's Photolog: a Life at Altitude
Music Video of the Weekend
"We're Winning the War on Drugs!"
December 29, 2006
Bill Quigley
A
Tale of Two Sisters: Why is HUD Spending Tens of Millions in
Katrina Money to Bulldoze 4,534 Public Housing Apartments in
New Orleans?
Norman Finkelstein
The Dershowitz Treatment
John Borowski
Curb Your Environmentalism: Laurie David and Me
Abid Mustafa
The Re-Talibanization of Afghanistan
Greg Moses
World Responds to Palestinian Family's Jailing Despite Media
Blackout
Uri Cohen
Stand Up for Herod: a Seasonal Story of Ancient Palestine
Bailly / Caudron
/ Lambert
The
Secrets in Ikea's Closet
Website of
the Day
Justice for New Orleans
December 28,
2006
Norman Finkelstein
The
Ludicrous Attacks on Jimmy Carter's Book
Anthony Cowell
Highway Robbery: Privatizing New Jersey's Toll Roads
John Ross
Gateway to the Next Mexican Revolution?
Hilaria Cruz
I'm Going to Stay Right Here: Story of a Oaxacan Prisoner
Greg Moses
Palestinian Immigrant Jailings in Texas
Brittany Bond
The Blood Trail of Luis Posada Carriles, Washington's Preferred
Terrorist
Website of
the Day
Godfather of Soul and Father of Funk
December 27,
2006
Alexander Cockburn
Farewell
to Our Greatest President: Adieu, Gerald Ford
Faruq Ziada
Is
There a Sunni Majority in Iraq?
Christopher Brauchli
Burning EPA's Books: What They Don't Want You to Read Might Save
Your Life
Michael Ortiz
Hill
Journey to Vietnam: Dare We Not Say Genocide?
Nikolas Kozloff
Saving
Caracas
Mark Schneider
Why Hope? Reasons for Optimism
December 26, 2006
Peter Stone
Brown
James
Brown: Please Don't Go
Tito Tricot
Chile: the Ghosts of Torture
Gary Leupp
Cowboys Differ on Iran Attack: Cheney/Bush vs. the Baker Commission
John V. Walsh
Dershowitz vs. Carter in Beantown: Peace Movement AWOL, Again
Reza Fiyouzat
Red Christmas: Why Santa Was Hot in China This Year
Ron Jacobs
The Golem: a Conversation with Marc Estrin
Website of
the Day
JB:
Prisoner of Love
December 25, 2006
Saul Landau
A
Jeep Trip with Fidel
Lang / McGovern
To
Surge or Not to Surge?
Michael Dickinson
Should Stupid Thoughts Be Crimes?: Deny Santa If You Will, But
...
Website of
the Day
James Brown, RIP
December 23 / 24, 2006
Marjorie Cohn
What's
Going On?
Jeffrey L.
Gould
The Capital of Salvadoran Memory: El Mozote After 25 Years
Diane Christian
The Rape of Iraq
William Loren
Katz
From the Raid on "Fort Negro" to Iraq: Lessons from
the First US Invasion
Greg Moses
This War Can't be Made Right by Winning
M. Shahid Alam
An Islamic Civil War: Chaos by Design?
Fred Gardner
Exposé as Inoculant: HRT, Zyprexa, Lilly and the Press
Dave Lindorff
Crime of the Century
Azmi Bishara
Ways of Denial
Ralph Nader
The BCS: a Monopoly on College Football
Seth Sandronsky
Fiscally Imperiled Social Security?
William Hughes
Cop Assaults Activists at Lockheed Protest
Ron Jacobs
Making Stones Weep
Jeffrey St.
Clair
Playlist: What I'm Listening to on New Year's Eve
December 22,
2006
David Rosen
Bush's
Foreign Sex Policy: Imperialism's Second Front
Christopher
Brauchli
When the Secret is the Question: Secret Prisons, Top Secret Interrogations
John Ross
Flashlights
in the Tunnel of Hate
J.L. Chestnut,
Jr.
Political
Sell-Outs in Black and White
Rahul Mahajan
Dennis Kucinich: Maverick or Stalking Horse?
Arthur Neslen
Provoking Civil War in the Occupied Territories
Peter Rost, MD
The Secrets of His Success: Fired Pfizer CEO Walks Away with
$198 Million
Website of
the Day
10 Ways to Change the World in 2007
December 21, 2006
Rosa Mariam
Elizalde
An
Interview with Gore Vidal: "I am Jealous of Cuba"
Arundhati Roy
Breaking the News
Brian Cloughley
Poppies Rising: Afghanistan's Drug Catastrophe
Daniel White
Jimmy Carter in Austin: Time to Come Clean on the Shoot Down
of That Itavia DC-9
John V. Whitbeck
On Israel's Right to Exist
Sam Smith
Still Smearing Ralph Nader for 2000
Paris Reidhead
GM Ice Cream: Something's Fishy in Your Good Humor Bar
Kevin Wehr
Denying Disaster: Katrina and the Case for Impeachment
Website of the Day
Pesticides and Amphibians: a Vital New Database
December 20, 2006
Gabriel Kolko
Rumsfeld
and the American Way of War
Winslow T.
Wheeler
The Pentagon Measures the Chaos in Iraq
Tariq Ali
The War is Lost
Saree Makdisi
Israel, Apartheid and Jimmy Carter
Bruce Jackson
Saying "Oh!": John Mohawk and the Power to Make Peace
Dave Lindorff
Democrats Walk Into a Bush Trap on Iraq
Leslie Radford
The Winter Harvest of the South Central Farmers
Dave Jansson
Divided We Stand, United We Fall: Secessionists Confront the
Empire
Johnny Barber
Jesus is a Terrorist
Website of
the Day
Is It for Freedom?
December 19, 2006
Alexander Cockburn
Democrats
Prepare to Fund Longer War
Jonathan Cook
End
of the Strongmen
Greg Moses
Globalized Gulag: Palestinian Refugees and Children Held in Hutto,
TX Jail
Sean Penn
Georgie,
There's a Crowd Downstairs
Dave Lindorff
Innocents Abroad: Cracking Down on Gitmo Detainees Despite Overwhelming
Evidence Most Are Not Terrorists
Ralph Nader
Going
Postal
Laura Carlsen
Latin America's Pink Tide?
Carlos Villarreal
The
Well is Poisoned: Victory Requires an Immediate Pull-Out
Website of
the Day
Chuck Spinney on the Pentagon
December 18, 2006
Luis J. Rodriguez
En
Lak Ech: Chicanos, Mayans and Mel Gibson
Norman Solomon
Washington Refuses to End the War: Powell, Baker, Hamilton--Thanks
for Nothing!
Uri Avnery
Lebanon: War Without a Plan
Ron Jacobs
More Troops, More Body Bags
Phil Gasper
Afghanistan: Bush's Other War Unravels
Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi
Iran's Elections: The World Isn't Florida and Bush Isn't Its
Supreme Leader
William Blum
The United States of Punishment
Jim Goodman
So What's the Big Deal If Wal-Mart Makes a Mistake?
James Brooks
Talking Surge: Let's Kill Some More Before We Go
Maria C. Khoury
Walking Into the Art World: Designing a Palestinian Academy for
the Arts
Website of the Day
Got Powell
December 16 / 17, 2006
Weekend Edition
Vijay Prashad
A
Perilous Way to Socialism
Saul Landau
Filming Fidel
Anthony Arnove
The US Occupation of Iraq: Act III of a Tragedy of Many Parts
Paul Cantor
The Puppet and the Puppeteer: Pinochet and Kissinger
Annie Nocenti
Baluchistan's Fight: The Khan of Kalat Gathers the Tribes
Nicole Colson
Hard Times on the Killing Floor: Smithfield's Rotten Record
Stephen Gowans
Tehran's Holocaust Conference
Jordan Flaherty
A Catastrophic Failure: Foundations, Nonprofits and the Second
Looting of New Orleans
Fred Gardner
Dustin Costa Faces 15 to Life
P. Sainath
There's No Such Thing as a Free Cow
Seth Sandronsky
The Democrats and Social Security: Watch What the Party Says
and Does
Nadia Hijab
An AIPAC Shot Across Baker's Bow?
Deb Reich
Dear Santa, (Or Someone): Greetings from the Occupied Holy Lands
Susie Day
Cops Shoot Another Rich White Man!
Albert Wan
Why Does It Take 50 Bullets?
Missy Beattie
Will the Next Leader Stand Up? Please!
Martha Rosenberg
Kicking the Wyeth Habit Saves Women's Lives
Lee Ballinger
The Devil's Highway: Clinton, Border Checkpoints and the Deaths
of the Yuma 14
Michael Dickinson
Kingdom of Fear
Jeffrey St.
Clair
Live/Evil: Listening to Miles Davis
Poets' Basement
Davies, Buknatski and Ford
Website of
the Weekend
"I Heard It Through the Grapevine"
December 15,
2006
Eliza Ernshire
Palestinian
"Civil War" and the Israeli Chocolate Ration
Virginia Tilley
What
Are You Going to Do Now, Israel?
Mike Ferner
Roll Call for the Choir: If They Vote for War, Occupy 'Em!
John Ross
Mad Mel's Mayan Apocalypse
Fred Wilhelms
The Flip Side of Ahmet Ertegun: Where Did You Get Those Shoes?
Kevin Zeese
Dennis Kucinich's Strange Mission: Can You Be a Real Anti-War
Candidate in a Pro-War Party?
David Severn
Social Engineering Begins at Home: Jeffrey Skoll, Billionaire
Philantropist
Dave Lindorff
Sen. Tim Johnson Death Watch: Senate Gridlock May Be Best Outcome
Sunsara Taylor
As American as Shopping and Torture
Website of
the Day
June 2, 2004: When Iraq Was There For The Looting
December 14,
2006
Jonathan Cook
The
Recognition Trap
Riz Khan
An Interview with Jimmy Carter
Jason Hribal
Kasatka, the Sea World Orca
Pennick / Gray
The Plight of Black Farmers: Racism in the US Farm Program
Richard Levins
That Embezzled Anti-Castro Money
Pat Williams
The College Crisis: Universal Access, Student Loan Debts and
Pell Grants
Peter Rost, MD
Simply Irresistible: Do Women Prefer Bad Boys?
Website of
the Day
The Sound of Rummy
December 13,
2006
Patrick Cockburn
Iraq
is Beyond Repair
Greg Moses
The Dixie Chicks Come Home to Roost
Elizabeth Schulte
Hungry for the Holidays
Joshua Frank
Death By Coke
Debra Eschmeyer
Corporations Control Your Dinner
Leon Hadar
Baker's Rescue Mission: Too Little, Too Late
Peter Rost, MD
I've Been a Very Bad Boy
Margaret Knapke
Mow bé and Malachi, Presenté!
Reza Fiyouzat
Are Cows Free?
Fred Wilhelms
A Last Minute Appeal: If You Know One of These Musicians Let
Them Know They Are Owed Money--By Friday!
Website of
the Day
The Crimes of Augusto Pinochet
December 12, 2006
Fernando A.
Torres
The
Last Man of the Junta: an Open Letter to Kissinger from One of
Pinochet's Political Prisoners
Paul Craig
Roberts
America's
Injustice System is Criminal
Stephen Soldz
Abusive Interrogations
Uri Avnery
Baker's Cake
William S. Lind
Knocking Opportunity: From Vulcans to Vultures in Iraq
Missy Beattie
Convicted for Our Convictions: Trespassing for Truth at the UN
Dave Lindorff
The 35-Year Long Scream: Torture, Impeachment and a Vietnam Vet's
Tears
George Pyle
Our Perverse Farm Plan: Where Christmas Comes Every Five Years
Norman Solomon
Is the USA the Center of the World?
Website of
the Day
Citizens' War Tribunal
December 11,
2006
Virginia Tilley
Banning
Mandela
Roger Burbach
The Condor Model: the Atrocities of Pinochet and the US
Col. Douglas MacGregor
There's Only One Option Left: Leave!
Fawwas Traboulsi
Lebanon on the Brink
Ron Jacobs
Death of a Pig: Poetic Justice for Pinochet
Gideon Levy
The Cruel Line into Gaza: Elbow to Elbow, Like Cattle
Mary McGrane
Burning Books at Harvard Law
Bernardo Ruiz
The Disappeared of Oaxaca: a Message from One of the Actors in
Apocalypto
Website of the Day
La Cancion de la Unidad
Video of the
Day
Killing
Castro: Congresswoman as Contract Killer?
December 9
/ 10, 2006
Weekend Edition
Alexander Cockburn
Liberal
Consensus for More Troops in Iraq
Sen. Gordon Smith
Out of Iraq: Cut and Run or Cut and Walk
Greg Grandin
Jeane
Kirkpatrick, Mid-Wife of the Neo-Cons
Paul Craig Roberts
How Many More Will Die for Bush's Ego?
Col. Dan Smith
The Vietnamization of Iraq: Inside the Military Training Program
Ralph Nader
The Man from NAM: John Engler's Trail of Destruction
Behrooz Ghamari
The Donkey and the Date: Iran's Upcoming Municipal Elections
Rev. Willliam Alberts
Doing Unto Others: Pastor Haggard and President Bush
James T. Phillips
The James Gang: "Did You Kill Her?"
Bennis / Leaver
A Bi-Partisan Occupation
Dave Lindorff
A Congress of Hucksters and Pipsqueaks
Nikolas Kozloff
Robert Gates and Venezuela: Another Saber Rattler in Latin America
Seth Sandronsky
Activating White Racism
Lucinda Marshall
McKinney and Karpinsky: Silenced for Telling the Truth
Mike Whitney
Something's Gotta Give: James Baker vs. the Lobby
John V. Whitbeck
Recommendation No. 80
Faisal Kutty
Is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Merely a Western
Construct?
Hugh Sansom
Smearing Jimmy Carter: an Open Letter to the New York Times
Robert Gold
My South American Journey: Impunity in Colombia
Boots Riley
Crash and Burn: an Urgent Message from The Coup
Jeffrey St.
Clair
Playlist: What I'm Listening to This Week
Poets' Basement
Engel & Buknatski
Website of
the Weekend
Alive in Mexico
December 8, 2006
Patrick Cockburn
The
Iraq Study Group's Cautious Appraisal
Leutisha Stills
Just
How Progressive is the Congressional Black Caucus?
Norman Finkelstein
The Media Lynching of Jimmy Carter
Will Youmans
Mr. Lieberman Comes to Washington: Brookings Hosts an Ethnic
Cleanser
Peter Rost, MD
What Went Wrong at Pfizer?
Jonathan Demme
My Friend Bruce Langhorne: a Great Musician Needs Your Help!
Ray McGovern
Senate Democrats Give Gates a Free Pass
Lucinda Marshall
What She Wore
Tariq Ali / Robin Blackburn
The Lost John Lennon Interview
Website of
the Day
John Lennon's FBI Files
December 7,
2006
Alex Friedman
Rev.
Phelps' Hate-Fueled Fanatics Find a Home in the Kansas Prison
Industry
Maureen Webb
Risk Scoring and the National Insecurity State
Paul Craig Roberts
Catastrophe Still Awaits
Dave Lindorff
Prosecutor Admits: Mumia Abu-Jamal Had "No True Defense"
Matt Vidal
Drug Pushers, Inc.: Power and Profit in the Legal Drug Trade
Yifat Susskind
Looking for a Few Good Principles: What Should be Done in Iraq
Rodriguez / Jones
NYPD's Death Squads: From Diallo to Sean Bell
Website of
the Day
2006, Remixed
December 6, 2006
Robert Bryce
Omitting
the Obvious with James Baker: From the S&L Crisis to the
Iraq Study Group
William S. Lind
The Boomerang Effect: When Will the First IED Strike Cincy?
Zoe Blunt
The Clearcut Truth About the Great Bear Rainforest
Corporate Crime Reporter
The New Conventional Wisdom: Prosecute Individuals, Not Corporations
Amira Hass
A Regrettable Indifference: Israel's Treatment of Palestinian
Prisoners
Richard W. Behan
The Surreal Politics of Premeditated War
Sophie McNeill
Why Hezbollah is Broadcasting Sunday Mass
December 5, 2006
Virginia Tilley
Apartheid
Israel: a Beacon of Hope?
Sharon Smith
The New Washington Consensus: Blame the Victims in Iraq
Joe Bageant
Somewhere a Banker Smiles
Ron Jacobs
A War Washington Can't Win
Norman Solomon
Media Consensus, Stay in Iraq!
Mike Whitney
Rumsfeld's Final Snowflake: "I Was Just About to Change
Everything ... "
Derrick O'Keefe
Regimes Unchanged: Chavez's Victory Strengthen's Cuba
Julian Assange
The Road to Hanoi
Missy Beattie
Bush, the Unhappy Helmsman
Website of
the Day
Lessons of Suez and Iraq
December 4,
2006
Alexander Cockburn
Gaza
and Darfur
George Ciccariello-Maher
Tears of the Escualidos: Election Diary, Venezuela
Ray McGovern
Lame Ducks, Hold That Nomination!: a CIA Insider's Take on Gates
John Ross
Repression on the Menu in Mexico
Walden Bello
Hurricane Milton: Friedman, Bayonets and Markets
Peter Rost,
MD
Pfizer's Clueless Executives
Stephen Lendman
The Withering of the Bush Dynasty
Gideon Levy
This Ceasefire will Go Up in Flames
Website of the Day
The "Babes" of Hizbullah?
December 2
/ 3, 2006
Weekend Edition
Barucha Calamity
Peller
The
Dirty War of Oaxaca
Paul Craig
Roberts
Is Bush Sane?: When Denial Goes Pathological
Ralph Nader
The Big Boys of Financial Crime
Winslow T.
Wheeler
Committee of Enablers: Is Gates Fit to Serve? Are the Senators?
Amira Hass
The Checkpoint Generation
Maymanah Farhat
Depoliticizing Arab Art: Christie's and the Rush to "Discover"
the Arab World
Dave Lindorff
Fighting the Iraq War--At Home
Fred Gardner
Dr. Jimenez Defends His Practice Methods
Col. Dan Smith
The Semantics of Civil War
Raed Jarrar
Maliki's Monopoly of Power
Seth Sandronsky
US Prison Nation: Locking Up Surplus Labor
K.-Y. Taylor
The Bride Wore Black: the Shooting of Sean Bell and the Resurgence
of American Racism
Yifat Susskind
Greed, Dogma and AIDS
David Rosen
Made in China: the Global Trade in Sex Toys
Ron Jacobs
All Hands on Deck!: the New Pirates of the Caribbean
Nikolas Kozloff
Venezuela Prepares to Vote
Talli Nauman
Fighting La Choya: the Secret Toxic Dump on the Border
Alan Gregory
Shadow Trout: Why Hatchery Fish Aren't Real
Joe Allen
RFK and Hollywood Mythmaking: Emilio Estevez's Beatification
of Bobby Kennedy
St. Clair /
D'Antoni
Playlist: What We're Listening to This Week
Poets' Basement
Davies, Engel, Ford and Orloski
Website of
the Day
Demo for Oaxaca
December 1,
2006
Greg Grandin
Midnight
in Mexico: Calderón's Inauguration Behind Closed Doors
Linn Washington,
Jr.
The
Mumia Case After 25 Years: Still More Keystone Kops Antics
George Ciccariello-Maher
Sleeping with the Enemy: At Home with the Anti-Chavistas
Brian J. Foley
Taking Responsibility for Iraq
Dave Zirin
Rebel Athletes: Organizing the Jocks for Justice
Joshua Frank
The Montana Formula: Jon Tester's Neopopulism
Chris Floyd
Hideous Kinky: Thomas Friedman Comes Undone
Ingmar Lee
Atomic Porker Strikes Indian Point Nuke Plant
Manuel Garcia,
Jr.
Dark Fire: the Fall of WTC 7
Website of the Day
No Gun Ri Revisited
Video of the
Day
Drunken Hack Goes Ape at Aussie "Pulitzers"
|
January 18, 2007
Democracy:
Everywhere and Nowhere
By B.R. GOWANI
The word “democracy” is of Greek origin and means “people power,” from the combination of demos + kratia.
Basically, what democracy then denotes is the power or rule (that is, the government) of the people which they may exercise either directly themselves or indirectly through those persons whom they may have chosen to represent their interests. This in turn would empower people to better their lives.
Now let’s say a certain person is living by herself and is managing her own affairs. How would she manage them? A reasonable answer would be that she would try to prevent misery and introduce happiness in her life. And if there is distress and not much joy then she would do her best to abolish and if not possible then minimize the pain and make efforts to maximize the pleasantness as much as possible.
Let’s assume that the person in the above case is not taking care of her own affairs but has instead hired some one to look after things for her. We’ll suppose that this person is decent and would not mind that her manager should also gain as much happiness as a result of the task he is assigned to perform as she would get. However, if somehow it happens that the manager gains much more happiness as a result of the work he performed or pretended to perform, then a question arises, would she allow that to happen? Or in another scenario, her life becomes miserable but the manager’s happiness knows no bounds. Is this possible? In some cases, of course, it is possible, such as where the person is mentally not sharp, or the manager is a crook or terrorizer. However, in most cases, the person hired is not going to gain more benefit than the person he was asked to work for.
When we extend the above argument to a city, state, or federal government, people would naturally expect similar results from the people they voted in office because democracy is not just a piece of paper called a vote. Democracy is made up of various components such as food, education, health, shelter, voting, justice, security, peace, a humane working environment, decent pay, public transportation, preservation of environment, and several other things which give some meaning to life and makes it a worthy thing to live, and to feel part of the nation as equal to other fellow citizens. Why would you put someone in office that would benefit more than you?
The more people that have access to the country’s resources, the more people have democracy.
Democracy can be many things. When people of any nation have free access to university education, one can say that they have university-level-education democracy.
When more women are elected to government positions, it is likely that more women have democracy. Of course, one has to determine whether the number of women elected have also been able to better women’s condition and to what extent, or if they have just become part of the system. Like in any other case, one has to judge carefully whether the victory was symbolic or substantive.
The argument (when more people benefit there is more democracy) can be further extended to gauge nuclear democracy. When few nations have nuclear weapons and others do not have or are prevented from having those weapons, it is safe to say that those countries have been denied nuclear democracy. The much maligned (in western press) Pakistani scientist Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan was doing a wonderful job of spreading nuclear democracy by supplying the necessary technology and components to built nuclear weapons to Third World countries. But due to pressure from the US, his mission came to an abrupt halt depriving many countries of nuclear security (real or imagined).
In this same fashion, democracy in other fields of life can be measured too.
A simple analogy would be an umbrella: it protects you from sunlight, rain, snow, and wind. Similarly, a real democracy cannot just be a right to vote, but much more. Equality is the essence of democracy.
It is contrary to democracy’s nature to be inegalitarian.
Is the US a Democracy?
The United States is known as “the greatest democracy” and so it would be useful to examine if it is living up to its title.
Various statistics related to political, economic, and social issues do not paint a rosy picture because the concentration of power is in merely a few hands, and the rest of the people are there to say yes; those saying no would be gently ignored and if they are assertive then would be treated as outcasts.
Many people exist in a miserable condition trying to make ends meet and to meet deadlines imposed by managers, who in turn are under pressure from their superiors; who then have their bosses on their nerves. Also, there are people who are in search of employment with their own set of problems.
On the other hand, the people elected (and unelected, such as big corporations and capitalists) to govern public affairs roll in happiness—not of a simple kind but a luxurious one.
The central reason for this disconnection is the way democracy is practiced by the United States (which also has become a model for many other countries), the majority of people are not permitted to be a part of the decision making process—even when those decisions may involve their welfare and their lives.
The US led crusade, with its weapon of NED, or National Endowment for Democracy, is busy imposing this model throughout the world.
Last year’s mid-term elections in November gave the Democratic Party a slight lead in Congress. The lead was the culmination of anti-war feelings in the country. If the Democratic Party was an opposition party (in the true sense of the word) it would have threatened to boycott the Congress if the Bush administration didn’t pull out all the troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. Some of them are making some right noises (including few Republicans), but the President is sending 21,500 additional troops to win the war, nevertheless. Not only that, but the US has opened up another front in Africa by supporting Ethiopia’s invasion of Somalia, in addition to directly bombing some sites in Somalia. On top of that, within hours of Bush’s speech on January 10, the US troops raided the Iranian consulate in Iraq, arresting five employees and seizing computers. This seems like a warm up for the planned war with Iran. In his speech, he warned Iran and Syria to stay out of Iraq.
The war in Iraq has cost the lives of over 650,000 Iraqis and 3,000 US soldiers without counting the wounded on both sides. Just for nothing. What could be a better excuse than the untimely death of hundreds of thousands of people to act like an opposition party?
Besides a few differences, even a telescope would fail to detect any major policy difference between both parties. People have been victimized by both parties. Republicans violate them shamelessly where as the Democrats screw them after a bit of fondling—but screwing nonetheless.
In ten years, one of the parties has decided to raise the minimum hourly wage by almost nine-quarters over a period of two years! That is, if the other party goes along with it and the president signs it.
In 2005, 479,000 people were employed at minimum wage. For millions of other workers it wasn’t so good either; they just received a dollar or two more than their minimum wage counterparts.
Since 1997, the federal government has not raised the minimum wage of $5.15 per hour. For an individual working at that rate, a forty hour work-week brings in an annual amount of $10,712. (Though some states, including Washington, California, and Massachusetts, have more than the presently proposed $7.25, they are all below $8.00.) On January 10, the House passed by 315 to 116 an increase in minimum wage to $7.25 over a period of two years; (8) which would enable the worker to see $15,080 annually. The bill would now go to the Senate for a passage. The median household income for the year 2005 was $46,326.
On the other hand the representatives and senators earn $165,200, the minority and majority leaders of both houses get $183,500, and it is $212,100 for the speaker.
president.
We won’t even discuss the pay of the unelected leaders: the Brahmans—they are beyond the reach of the achhuts (untouchables) or the average people. These Brahmans are the real masters who run the whole show.
The 1998 figures for wealth distribution throw some light on the democratic disparity between different classes:
Top 1% own 38.1% of wealth
Next 4% own 21.3%
Next 5% own 11.5%
Next 90% own 29.1%
So 90% of the people in the US own 29.1% of the wealth as opposed to 10% who control 70.9% of the wealth.
In 2005, 46.6 million people, that is, 15.9%, did not have health insurance while 37 million people, that is, 12.6% of the total US population, were living in poverty.
On the other hand, the US is wasting $10 billion every month on its so called “war on terrorism.”
There is so much political, economic, and social discrepancy in the US that one can go on, and on, and on.
The question then arises: Can people do anything to change this state of affairs?
One can say vote, write letters and make phone calls to your elected officials. How much would it change? To some extent it works; but not much. It has now been 230 years that the United States separated from Britain and has never experienced a coup or any other kind of serious disruption in its governmental functioning of building a global empire. (There has been constant opposition from the people such as the movement against the Vietnam War but every time government has recovered and grown more powerful and violent.) The tradition, if one can call it that, has remained unbroken since then—the rich class has maintained its grip on power with the façade of democracy. For a long time now, the Democratic and Republican Parties have stayed in power (of course, through legal means) by carrying on elections in which the candidates are financed by mostly the same corporations.
This raises another query: Then why do people vote those lawmakers in of whom many are simply the hirelings for the moneyed and propertied class?
This is only possible when the voters have been misled through sheer lies, have been made fearful of foreign foes, have been made apolitical, have been subdued through display of massive state power, and through other tactics.
The US ruling class uses all these tactics on a regular basis. Million dollar anchor persons on corporate owned television networks and radio stations, influential reporters and columnists in print media, the academics and intellectuals in universities, and think tanks take care of the lies.
Just one example: Rarely, there comes an occasion when a former US president speaks out openly for the underdog. Jimmy Carter has raised the question of Israeli inhumane treatment of Palestinians in his book, “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.” And what happens? The news media, the pro Israel lobby AIPAC (American Israel Political Affairs Committee), and many academics, instead of thanking Carter for bringing a six-decade old problem into the open, have hounded Carter as if he has killed their puppy. Carter has also been accused of anti-Semitism—an overused old weapon to malign anyone critical of the Israeli government.
Like people addicted to drugs and alcohol, the United States cannot survive without foreign foes. It constantly needs enemies, which has a twofold function: firstly, it takes care of the economy to a good extent through the sale and manufacturing of arms and ammunitions and other related industries while giving it unhindered access to the labor and resources of the Third World, and secondly, it keeps people in constant fear that some or other international enemy (at present it is the “Muslim terrorists” or “Islamic terrorists” or “Islamo-fascists”) is going to get them. It also makes them appreciate the greatness of the US.
In contrast to other countries, political discussions are not very encouraged. In other countries, one would find people discussing politics at work places, restaurants, street corners, and other places. That culture is not very visible here in the US.
Once in a while, Thomas Jefferson did say something nice, such as in a letter he wrote to a friend: “I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing.... It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government.... God forbid that we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion.... The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is a natural manure.” But the government has become disproportionately huge and extremely violent. If Jefferson were here today, he would have faced a dilemma: the government won’t listen to you, and you can’t have “a little rebellion” because the ruling class controls the means of violence.
So what are the people left with? Just a vote. The ruling class in the United States has reduced democracy to the ritual of voting right. And even that is conducted on Tuesday, a work day, rather than a holiday so more people could participate.
So is the United States a democracy? The answer is both yes and no. It is a democracy and it is not.
One recent incident is necessary to point out. In the ending days of August 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the states of Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi. Over 970 people died in Louisiana and more than 200 in Mississippi. Despite early warnings, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) failed to do much. “If a hurricane comes next month,” director of Louisiana State University's Center for the Study of Public Health Impacts of Hurricanes, Ivor van Heerden, had warned in July, “New Orleans could no longer exist.”
The pictures of stranded people, mostly blacks, in a convention center in New Orleans begging for help didn’t look like they were in the US; it seemed more like the Haitian refugees trying to make it to the US.
For these people there is no democracy. For the then FEMA Director Michael Brown, there is democracy.
For George Bush there is democracy. He is doing what he likes to do. The families in the US whose members are dying in Iraq and Afghanistan and are opposing the war do not have democracy.
When a Wal-Mart comes to any place it is enjoying its democracy. Several small business owners trying to be their own bosses but affected by Wal-Mart’s entry do not have democracy.
Pharmaceutical companies in the US have democracy to loot. Many people who cannot afford to buy these medicines do not have democracy. (But they do have the democracy to go to Canada and Mexico to buy affordable medicines. And many people do go there to buy medicines manufactured by the same US companies. The difference in price is because the Canadian government regulates prices.)
Exxon Mobile, the largest energy company in the US, has the democracy to make a profit of $36.13 billion in 2005.
President George W. Bush has democracy to refuse to tax high profits of oil companies. People do not have democracy to get oil at a discounted price. They have to turn to Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez who is supplying oil at 40 per cent discount to many in New York and elsewhere.
So basically, US style democracy belongs to those who have the force: either financial or political. When the elite class feels safe and secure and have too much, they wouldn’t mind sharing some of the benefits with the general population, in order to avoid trouble and to maintain its hegemony.
Is Every Nation a Democracy?
If we take the US democracy as a barometer, then the answer is yes.
Let’s see, for example, if Saudi Arabia’s government is a democracy. Yes, the ruling class has democracy. When a Saudi prince loses millions of dollars in gambling he has democracy, but if someone wants to criticize government policies, that person does not have democracy.
In 2002, two thousand people, mostly Muslims, were massacred by Hindu nationalists under the rule of Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the Indian state of Gujarat on the false pretext that certain Muslims were responsible for the killing of 59 Hindu pilgrims when they set on fire one of the train compartments. Modi and those Hindu nationalists have democracy. Many Muslims living in fear in that state do not have democracy. (By the way, India is known as “the largest democracy.”)
When Pakistan’s defense forces eat up 19 per cent percent of the country’s budget, it has democracy, but the ordinary people suffering due to economic crunch do not have democracy. (
Conclusion
By constantly barking through corporate controlled media, a country does not become a democracy, or to use the favorite phrase of the US ruling class “the greatest democracy.”
There are more social welfare programs for the average citizens in Scandinavian countries or for that matter in Europe and Canada than in the US. So people in Europe feel more secure, which means they have more democracy of social welfare programs than their counterparts in the US. Cuba, despite US economic embargo and other harassments, has done (with its small economy and limited resources) comparatively more for its citizens in 48 years than what the US has done for its citizens in its entire history of 231 years.
Some have economic democracy, some have voting democracy, some have writing democracy, some have shouting democracy, some have looting democracy, some have warring democracy, some have a combination of democracies.
Little or more democracy is everywhere. Total democracy is nowhere. It is not an impossible task; it is the greed for money and hunger for power which prevents the ruling elites from spreading total democracy.
B.R. Gowani can be reached at brgowani@gmail.com
|
Coming
Soon from
CounterPunch
Books / AK Press
The Gang's
All Here: Judy Miller, Bob Woodward, Kay Graham, Rupert Murdoch,
Bill O'Reilly...End Times Leaves No Reputation Unstained!
Buy End Times Now!
"The Case Against Israel"
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.
The Occupation
by Patrick Cockburn
Bruce Springsteen On Tour
By Dave Marsh
The Book on 9/11 the White House Denounced
as "ABSOLUTE GARBAGE"
<A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1844675343/counte
|
