Exclusively in the new print issue of CounterPunch
HOLLYWOOD AND THE CIA — Film historian Ed Rampell details Hollywood’s entangled relationship with the CIA and the Pentagon; HOUSES OF THE DEAD: Nancy Kurshan exposes the cruel human rights offenses taking place inside America’s vast gulag of Control Unit Prisons; BROTHERHOOD OF SUMMER: David Macaray charts the history of the most powerful union in the US: the Baseball Players Association; TAR SANDS COME TO AMERICA: Steve Horn explains how the Keystone Pipeline debates have diverted attention from Big Oil’s other plans to transport Alberta’s oil into the US. PLUS: Jeffrey St. Clair on CONSTITUTIONAL ENTROPY; Mike Whitney on HOW THE BANKS TARGETED BLACKS; Chris Floyd on THE RISE OF BRITAIN’S TEA PARTY; Kristin Kolb on THE NEEDLE AND THE DAMAGE DONE; Kim Nicolini on the FILMS OF WILLIAM FRIEDKIN; and Lee Ballinger on POETS VS. THE ONE PERCENT.
Archives from August 2010
I have before me Spencer Gantt’s ...
This year’s anniversary of the historic 1963 March on Washington promises to be one of the more memorable in quite some time. The 47th anniversary of an event is usually not one organizers focus on for a big commemoration but in a few weeks thousands will be i...
In a federal election where the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and the conservative Liberal Party put forward a right-wing policy consensus, the Australian Greens have seen a huge boost to their vote – a clear indication that significant numbers of people are looking ...
Don’t look now, but someone just pushed the housing market off a cliff. The National Association of Realtors announced on Tuesday that the sales of existing homes fell a staggering 27.2 per cent to a seasonally adjusted rate of 3.83 million units. This is the lowest...
Mexico City
A small army of men and women in fluorescent orange and green uniforms pushing bright yellow carts hovers on the edge of the overflow crowd in the great Zocalo plaza of this city, ready to pounce. Whether it’s the 62 matches of the World Cup &q...
The U.S. government has now announced that direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations will resume after a September 2 launch ceremony at the White House. In making this announcement, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton stated that this new round of negotiations should ...
Nearly 600 Israelis have signed up for a campaign of civil disobedience, vowing to risk jail to smuggle Palestinian women and children into Israel for a brief taste of life outside the occupied West Bank.
The Israelis say they have been inspired by the example of ...
It’s up to the Left to construct a program to put people back to work. The captains of industry can’t do it. Obama won’t do it and the labor movement leadership hasn‘t got a clue other than to buck up the Democrats.
The 500,000 new applican...
August 23, 1927. Sacco and Vanzetti, two anarchists accused and convicted of a double murder in the course of an armed robbery, are sent to the electric chair. Ten thousand mourners come to pay their last respects, twenty thousand take to the Boston Common in protest, and...
The near total dismissal of charges against former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich signifies the tremendous extent in which the culture of corruption has taken hold among the states’ officials and populace. Anyone who’s evenly remotely familiar with th...
The two major civil service unions on strike against the South African government vow to intensify pressure in coming days, in a struggle pitting a million members of the middle and lower ranks of society against a confident government leadership fresh from hosting the Wo...
The administration took its first step towards resolving the final status of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with a big conference at the White House last week. In keeping with its housing policy to date, it seems intent on taking the worst possible course.
...
At the time, the idea of a nationwide "Recovery Summer" tour must have seemed irresistible. After all, the stock market was inching its way higher every week and there were convincing signs that the economy was on the rebound. What better time for Presiden...
Bell, California, a working-class town of some 38,000 ten miles outside of Los Angeles, is a unique place. Its local government has proven to be citizen-proof, media proof, city-council proof and even leak-proof from inside its self-enriching top officialdom.
...
Three vanishing acts are being played out in the Gulf: the disappearing of the oil from the ocean surface by Corexit, the disappearing of the story by the media blockade, and the disappearing from view of the shadowy private contractors who are making a mint helping BP an...
One wonders why only 20% of Americans believe President Obama is a Muslim, considering the overwhelming evidence conclusively proving his slavish allegiance to Islam and utter disregard for Christianity.
After Obama’s wishy-washy defense of Mus...
If I was president Ahmadinejad’s national security advisor, and he asked me what to do, I would tell him to acquire a nuclear deterrent.
– Professor John. J. Mearsheimer, July 9, 2010
...
When the Barack Obama administration unveiled its plan last week for an improvised State Department-controlled army of contractors to replace all U.S. combat troops in Iraq by the end of 2011, critics associated with the U.S. command attacked the transit...
The Iowa attorney general called him a "habitual violator" of state laws.
Labor Secretary Robert Reich called his farms "atrocious."
A federal investigator said it was "inconceivable" he didn’...
In 7th-century Arabia, the storyteller was valued more than the swordsman. The audience sat on the floor surrounding the gifted orator as he captivated the eager listeners with beautiful poetry narrating their history. In the 21st century, the art form may have evolved to...
It’s a valuable lesson we’re being taught by the administration. We are learning that 15-year olds may be treated as adults when they misbehave if those pretending to be adults believe that is appropriate punishment for the children. We are learning that 15-ye...
There has been a bit of an uproar made over Howard Dean’s recent comments on the proposed cultural center to be built near Ground Zero. Joining Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Dean is the second high profile Democrat to oppose the building.
If you missed ...
On August 13 – 15, 2010, CounterPunch published my article, “Know-Nothings of 2010: The New War of the Christian Crusaders,” and in response I received a most revealing e-mail reply included below.
The letter rev...
Here is the order of events producing this bizarre “controversy.”
2009: A Muslim organization having arranged to purchase an abandoned Burlington Coat factory on Park Place in Lower Manhattan plans to build a 13-story Islamic community ce...
“Barack Obama has established a strong record as a true friend of Israel, a stalwart defender of Israel’s security, and an effective advocate of strengthening the steadfast U.S.-Israel relationship, publicly stating that Israel’s right to exi...