Today's
Stories
February
5, 2007
Ron Jacobs
The
Looming War on Iran: It's Not About Democracy
Newton Garver
Bush
and the Old Hands: Decider vs. Negotiator
Bruce Anderson
The Genocidal Namesake of the Hastings School of Law
February
3 /4, 2007
Alexander Cockburn
Who
Can Stop the War?
Tao Ruspoli
CounterViews: a Conversation with Dr. Susan Block on Sex, Censorship
and Liberation
Jeffrey St.
Clair
The Thrill is Gone: the Withering of the American Environmental
Movement
Patrick Cockburn
Iraqis
on the Run
P. Sainath
They Take the Early Train
Sen. Russell Feingold
A Symbol of a Timid Congress
Diane Christian
Dying Well: Why Killing Saddam Backfired on Bush
Brian Cloughley
Space Missiles Away!: the Irony of Bush's Indignation
Diana Barahona
How to Turn a Priest into a Cannibal: US Reporting on the Coup
in Haiti
Timothy J. Freeman
The Iraq War Hits Hawai'i: the Stryker Brigade and the Watada
Case
Conn Hallinan
The Vishnu Strategy
John Ross
Felipe's First Fifty Days
Greg Moses
The Government Blinks: Freedom for the Ibrahim Family
Missy Beattie
No More Rebukes or Non-Binding Resolutions
Joshua Frank
Unsafe in Any Seas: Cruising with Ralph Nader?
Evelyn Pringle
"These Drugs are Poison to Some People"
Stephen Fleischman
Let's Hear It for Chuck Hagel!
Muhammad Idrees Ahmad
Iraq in Fragments
Poets' Basement
Holt, Engel, Ford and Saavedra
Website of the Day
Flamenco Dali
February 2, 2007
Chris Kutalik
The
Meanest Industry
R. Gibson /
E. W. Ross
Cutting the Schools-to-War Pipeline
Pam Martens
America's "Money Honey" as Corporate Matchmaker: Maria
Bartiromo and the Co-Branding of CNBC and Citigroup
John Feffer
Picturing the President
Daryll E. Ray
Why the Family Farm is Good for Rural America
Ronald Bruce
St. John
Apartheid By Any Other Name
Mitchel Cohen
Listen Gore: Some Inconvenient Truths About the Politics of Environmental
Crisis
Website of
the Day
The Real Issue is Empire
February 1, 2007
Diane Farsetta
An
Army Thousands More: How PR Firms and Major Media Military Recruiters
Marjorie Cohn
Bush
Targets Iran: Cruise Missile Diplomacy
Mark Scaramella
Our
Founding War Profiteers
Ranni Amiri
Senator Prejudice: the Day Joe Biden Threatened to Kick My Ass
Christopher Ketcham
Die, TV!
Winston Warfield
Art Panic Hits Boston!
Corporate Crime Reporter
Jailing the Artists, Not the Executives: the Great Boston Art
Panic, Turner Broadcasting and the AG Who Won't Pursue Corporate
Crime
Thomas P. Healy
Adios Molly Ivins: Populist Journalism and Never Dull
Website of the Dau
The Ordeal of Gary Tyler
January
31, 2007
Patrick Cockburn
Waco
of Iraq?: US "Victory" Cult Leader was a "Massacre"
Jean Bricmont
What
is the Decisive "Clash" of Our Time?
Tao Ruspoli
CounterViews: a Conversation with Dr. Susan Block on Sex, Politics
and Liberation
James T. Phillips
Flashbacks de Jour: Photographing War
William Johnson
Worker Reistance at Smithfield Foods
Tim Wilkinson
A Hawk in Drag: Dershowitz and the Iraq War
Evelyn Pringle
The Judge, the Reporter and the Secret Zyprexa Documents
Joshua Frank
What America Really Needs to Hear
Ramzy Baroud
Shameless in Gaza
Mickey Z.
Nader Still in the Crosshairs
Website of the Day
What's Goin' On?
January 30, 2007
Werther
Slapstick
on Jenkins Hill: DC's Botoxed Golems
Kathy Kelly
Engagement with War
Uri Avnery
"If Arafat Were Alive"
Franklin Spinney
Embedded Without Blending: Humvees and Tactical Madness in Iraq
William S. Lind
The Real Game in Iraq
Pariah
An Iron Curtain is Descending--and Most Americans Don't Know
Mike Whitney
The Mother of All Bubbles
Rev. William
E. Alberts
Hiding America's Surging Militarism Behind Children
Fran Shor
Shadow of a Resistance: Can the Anti-War Mvt. Dismantle the War
Machine?
Anthony Arnove
The Logic of Withdrawal: There's Nothing Precipitous About It
Website of the Day
Our Boys in Iraq
January 29, 2007
Nurit Peled-Elhanan
"We
Are All Victims of the Occupation"
Patrick Cockburn
Raid on the Soldiers of Heaven
JoAnn Wypijewski
The Demo in DC: Chirpy Slogans, Empty City
Ron Jacobs
Our Fire, Congress's Feet
Dave Lindorff
The Missing Word at the Anti-War Demo
Kevin Zeese
A Republican Peace Candidate?: Chuck Hagel's Challenge to America
Reza Fiyouzat
Iran, Bush and the Banging of the Ironsmiths
Pat Williams
Turnout and Same-Day Voting: Did It Sink Conrad Burns?
Website of the Day
Galloway's Indictment of Blair
January
27 / 28, 2007
Diana Johnstone
Do
We Really Need an International Criminal Court?
Eliza Ernshire
Exiled from Palestine
Patrick Cockburn
Slaughter in Baghdad's Bird Market
David Rosen
Pay-to-Play: the Double Life of Prostitution in America
Greg Moses
Children Without a Country: Maryam Ibrahim Remains in a Texas
Jail
Bernard Chazelle
Bush the Empire Slayer
Tao Ruspoli
CounterViews: a Video Interview with Jeffrey St. Clair, Part
Two
Hermán
Uribe
Murdering Journalists in Latin America
Ralph Nader
Democracy
in Crisis
Paul Craig
Roberts
Why Can't Americans See What's Coming?
Fred Gardner
The Suppression of Collective Joy: Barbara Ehrenreich at the
Commonwealth Club
Brian Cloughley
Dying for Lies
James Abourezk
The High Cost of Congressional Trips to Israel
John V. Whitbeck
The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine: Ilan Pappe and the Nakba Deniers
Seth Sandronsky
Peace-In Politics: Localizing the Anti-War Movement
Alan Cabal
Mayday from the Circus Tent
Pam Martens
America's Money Honey Does Davos
Website of
the Weekend
Gil Scott-Heron: Winter in America
January 26, 2007
Charlotte Laws
Are
You the Terrorist Next Door?: AETA and the New Green Scare
Mike Ely /
Linda Flores
The
Workers at Smithfield
Joe DeRaymond
Paying
for Health Care and Not Getting It
Phil Donahue
Get Sarah Olson!
Zia Mian
The Three US Armies in Iraq: Grunts, Contractors and Laborers
Jeb Sprague
Haiti Struggles to Defend Justice
Evelyn Pringle
Eli Lilly, the Habitual Offender
Missy Beattie
Inside the Criminal Mind of George Bush: He Thinks; Therefore,
It is So
Martha Rosenberg
Cloned Food: From Designer Hens to the Transgenic Omega-3 Pig
Website of
the Day
Save Grand Canyon from Glen Canyon Dam!
January 25, 2007
Patrick Cockburn
What's
Really Going on in Baghdad
John Ross
Mexico
Under Calderon: Fake Left, Rule Right
Jeremy Scahill
Our Mercenaries: Blackwater, Inc and the Privatization of Bush's
War Machine
Frida Berrigan
"Hearts Ruptured with Sadness:" Protesting Gitmo
Paul Craig Roberts
Bush's State of Deception
Jason Yossef
Ben-Meir
Iraq Reconstruction Failure
Christopher Brauchli
Why Bush is Arming Fatah: When in Doubt, Start Another Civil
War
Holger W. Henke
Cuba at the Crossroads?
Dave Lindorff
Falling Dominos and Failing Presidencies
Julia Landau
From Your Young Cousin
Website of the Day
The Mighty Edwards Sisters
January
24, 2007
Tao Ruspoli
CounterViews:
a Filmed Interview with Jeffrey St. Clair
Paul Craig
Roberts
The
Empire Turns Its Guns on the Citizenry
Lt. Gen. William Odom
What Can be Done in Iraq?
Sharon Smith
Health Care Reform for the Insurance Industry
Brian M. Downing
Two Americas: the Grunts and the War Profiteers
Heather Gray
Surviving War
Ron Jacobs
SOTUS Quo
James Brooks
Out of Europe, Out of Time
Robert Day
Translating Snow
Website of
the Day
Defend Sarah Olsen
January 23, 2007
Trish Schuh
Lebanon
on the Brink of Civil War, Again
Robert Bryce
The
Politics of Cheap Oil
Stephen Soldz
Aliens in an Alien Land
John Blair
King Coal's Latest Con Job: Clean Coal is Not Clean
Gloria La Riva
Miami: a Place of Refuge for Anti-Castro Terrorists
Joshua Frank
Turning Silence into Gold: Hillary and Israel Lobby
Patrick Cockburn
In Iraq, All Foreigners are Targets
Ralph Nader
Questions for Bush on Iraq
Dave Lindorff
Pelosi and Iraq: Blunder or Treason?
Uri Avnery
Israel and Apartheid
Website of the Day
Down By the River
January
22, 2007
Manuel Garcia,
Jr.
China's
New Chip in Space War Poker
Jen Marlowe
Trapped
in Darfur: the Ordeal of Suleiman Jamous
George McGovern
War of the Belligerent Professors: Get Out of Iraq
Paul Craig
Roberts
Only Impeachment Can Save Us from More War
Norman Solomon
The Pentagon vs. Press Freedom
Amira Hass
Life Under Prohibition in Palestine
Mike Whitney
A Fool's Errand in Baghdad
Ramzy Baroud
The Things We Take for Granted
John Walsh
Support Jimmy Carter in Boston!
Website of
the Day
The Hagelian Dialectic
January
20/21 2007
Alexander Cockburn
First
Bomb Carter; Then Nuke Iran!
Gail Dines
I
Was Ambushed by Paula Zahn
Newton Garver
Evo
Morales' First Year
Gilad Atzmon
100
Years of Jewish Solitude
Seth Sandronksy
New
Push For Social Security "Reform"
Raphaelle Bail
Where
Nicaraguans Go to Work
Jim Goodman
Round
Up the Usual Experts: Make Them Live on a Dollar a Day
Larry Portis
Chouraki's
Oh Jerusalem
Website of
the Weekend
Press
Poodles Play it Safe
January
19, 2007
Jonathan Cook
Jimmy
Carter Doesn't Tell the Half of It
Glen Ford
Barack
Obama: The Mania and the Mirage
Dave Lindorff
Bush
Blinks on Illegal Spying - Don't let him off the hook
Larry Portis
Zionism
in the Cinema: Part Two
Website of
the Day
For
Whistleblowers
January
18, 2007
William Peace
Protest
From a Bad Cripple
Virginia Tilley
The
Steady March to War on Iran: What It Would Take to Stop It
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
Baghdad
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
January 12
/ 14, 2007
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
|
February
5, 2007
Tailgating and Iraq
Road
Outrageous
By JAMES T. PHILLIPS
George W. Bush has decided to escalate
the war in Iraq. This new road to victory is being supported
by the President's wife Laura, their dog Barney, Republican presidential
aspirants, and a minority of American voters.
Many other people disagree with President Bush's urge to surge,
including the majority of voters, the majority of citizens, countless
serving and retired military officers, and many flip-flopping
politicians and journalists who, not that long ago, patted Bush
on the back, congratulating him for his attack on Iraq, and subsequent
mission accomplished. Now, these same pols and pundits flagellate
the President for his mission impossible.
I was against the war in Iraq from the get-go, to the "got
him" era(1), and on through the Abu Ghraib and Gitmo disgraces.
I continue to be unequivocal in my opposition. The get out--now,
soon, next year--positions currently held by a majority of Americans
are welcome, but four years too late. The people should have
spoken out long before the President dared his enemies to "bring
it on". Push became shove, and Bush fell down on the job,
slipped in the polls, and tumbled into the quagmire of Iraq.(2)
I was thinking about the President's dilemma the other day as
I was driving north on Route 95, headed to my home in southern
Maine. When I pulled off the Interstate onto the Spur Road, my
thoughts were interrupted by a different sort of miscreant, a
road warrior as pushy and belligerent as George W. Bush, but
much more dangerous to me as I reacted locally, while thinking
globally. I glanced in the rearview mirror and noticed a black
SUV pull around the vehicle behind me, then swerve back into
the right lane only inches from my car. The driver of the SUV
was in a hurry, and I was in his way.
I was traveling east on Spur Road, heading for a convenience
store located on Route One. The SUV stayed on my bumper as I
approached the exit lane that curves onto the four-lane blacktop,
once known as the King's Highway(3). The signal at the intersection
of Spur Road stopped the southbound traffic, so I only needed
to slow down as I approached Route One. If I had stepped on the
brakes, the maniac in the SUV would have slammed into the tail
end of my car. I flipped the left turn blinker lever, checked
for oncoming vehicles, then crossed over the highway into the
left lane.
A horn blared behind me. A long, loud blast of warning. I didn't
slow down. I peered into my the side mirror. The SUV narrowly
missed hitting my car's rear bumper as it skidding away to the
left, then veered back across two lanes of asphalt into the far
right lane. The SUV raced passed my car. The driver glanced at
me, then quickly looked away. I was, at that moment, yelling
loudly, cursing imaginatively, probably red-faced and, in the
mind of the SUV driver, a crazy man in the throes of road rage.
I didn't feel enraged. I didn't pull out a pistol( 4) and fire
at the bushy-haired man with a graying beard. I didn't chase
after him, and didn't blow a gasket as I turned left and drove
into the parking lot of the store. I did think about the stupidity
of the SUV driver and his actions behind the wheel of his vehicle,
and realized that I was a victim of road outrageous.
The Counseling Center of the University of South Florida reports:
"[s]tatistics show that
250,000 people [in the United States] have died in traffic since
1990. It is believed that two-thirds of these deaths are at least
partially caused by aggressive driving, although only 218 were
found to be a direct cause of angry drivers [road rage]. According
to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
66 percent of all annual traffic fatalities are caused by aggressive
driving actions, such as passing on the right, running red lights
and tailgating."
Road rage incidents of the
red-faced, mano-y-mano, vulgar variety have killed a few hundred
people since 1990, but road outrageous has claimed the lives
of tens of thousands of innocent victims. The driver of the black
SUV might not have been angry, but he sure was impatient when
he committed the act of "aggressive driving"--tailgating--against
me and my car.
Tailgating is an outrageous crime. The thousands of annual deaths
caused by the impatience of tailgaters were not accidents. Bullies
morphed into killers playing a deadly game of bumper cars, these
auto-fascists' of the road--intent on overtaking and occupying
space they believe to be theirs--have destroyed more than the
crumpled machines now scattered in pieces throughout the junkyards
of America. They have also destroyed innocent lives, and the
futures of the families who bury their dead.
I was lucky when the driver of the black SUV failed to smash
into my car. I could have been another homeland statistic.
Road outrageous is a dangerous and deadly ailment that has killed
more people in America during the past sixteen years than all
the deaths suffered by Americans in wars and terrorist attacks
during the same period.(5) Yet, one simple cure to the domestic
problem of too many Americans dying on the roads of America--if
also prescribed by President Bush as a tonic for his failing
foreign policy--would save thousands of Americans, here and over
there: Back off.
Tailgaters and George W. Bush should slow down, and back off.
James T. Phillips can be contacted at jamestphillips@yahoo.com
Notes:
(1) "Saddam Hussein was found in a tiny cellar at a farmhouse
about 15km (10 miles) south of his hometown Tikrit. British Prime
Minister Tony Blair has welcomed the news, saying it removes
the shadow' hanging over Iraq." BBC News, 14 December 2003.
(2) "When the American media jumped on former President
Bush's bandwagon in 1990, the people of the world were able to
watch as most journalists slavishly reported, as fact, every
falsehood conjured up by the United States government and their
obsequious allies. The lies and obfuscation during Bush War I
should make most Americans wary of what their current government
pronounces and their media report during Bush War II.
Truth is the first casualty of war, and lies are the bandages
used by politicians, diplomats and military leaders to hide their
failures and misdeeds and the subsequent true consequences of
war. Media representatives who aid in covering up the unpleasant
facts of life during war are propagandists who see, hear and
speak jingo." James T. Phillips, 17 May 2002.
(3) Although the King's Highway was re-named Route One, the stretch
of road through southern Maine where I encountered the black
SUV might not be the original course used by European colonists.
(4) "A lot of road rage began in the 1980's, following the
films [like] Road Warriors, in which drivers were shooting at
other driversIn movies you can sit in the seat of the perpetrator
and actually experience vicariously what it feels like to shoot
at another car or cut them off. So that becomes part of a learning
experience." Dr. John A. Larson, as quoted in a recent New
York Times article written by Diane Sierpina. Dr. Larson is the
author of Steering Clear of Highway Madness.
(5) Wars: Iraq, 1991; Somalia, 1993; Bosnia, 1995; Kosovo, 1999;
Afghanistan, 2001-07; Iraq, 2003-07; Somalia, 2007. Terrorist
attacks: The World Trade Center, 1993; Oklahoma City bombing,
1996; the African embassy bombings, 1998; the USS Cole attack,
2000: Twin Towers, 2001; Pentagon, 2001; a Pennsylvania field,
2001. Total American deaths 1991-2006, estimated: under 10,000.
|
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CounterPunch Editors Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St Clair
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The Occupation
by Patrick Cockburn
Bruce Springsteen On Tour
By Dave Marsh
The Book on 9/11 the White House Denounced
as "ABSOLUTE GARBAGE"
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