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June 21, 2002
James T. Phillips
Serbian
Reservations:
Kosovo 2002
June 20, 2002
Chris Kromm
The South
at War: a Tour of the US Military/Industrial Complex
Jacob Levich
The War
on Terror is
Not a Suicide Pact
Mark Weisbrot
What
are They Doing to Argentina?
Jeffrey St. Clair
and Alexander Cockburn
Fire
Walk With Me:
Terry Lynn Barton and the Flames of Colorado
June 19, 2002
Gary Leupp
Red Targets in Terror War
Lenni Brenner
The Road
Forward for the
Palestinian Movement
Bernard Weiner
Inside
Cheney's Diary:
Cakewalking Through Minefields
Alexander Cockburn
The
Incredible Shrinking President
June 18, 2002
David Vest
Raise the
White Flag in Terror War?
Ben White
Is It Possible
to "Understand" the Rise in "Anti-Semitism"?
Edward Said
Palestinian
Elections Now
June 17, 2002
Jack McCarthy
Watergate
and All That
Philip Farruggio
A Maximum
Wage Law
Ron Sullivan
Law
and Orders:
The Assault on Trial by Jury
Rev. Charles Booker-Hirsch
Taking
on the School
of the Americas
Joan Smith
G.W. Bush:
The Man is Stupid
Dave Marsh
Corporate
Buy Outs and the Decline of Teen Jive
Robert Jensen
Rhetoric
Distorts Realities
June 15 / 16, 2002
Tanweer Akram
A Review
of Noam Chomsky's 9-11
Daniel Wolff
The Day
They Shot a Wolf in the Ghetto and What It Meant
Ralph Nader
A Corporate
Crime State
David Vest
Have You
Been Serviced?
Karl Kraus
A Minor
Detail
Alexander Cockburn
The
Terrorism of Everyday Life
June 14, 2002
Mark Weisbrot
US Trade
Policy:
"Do as We Say, Not as We Did"
Starhawk
The Boy Who Kissed the Soldier
David Krieger
Farewell
to the ABM Treaty
Tom Turnipseed
The Fear Factor to Promote
War and Trample Truth
Steve Perry
How the
Bush Adminstration Buried Coleen Rowley
June 13, 2002
Linda Belanger
Israeli-Palestinian
Conflict:
The Story Behind the Headlines
Amira Hass
Indefinite
Siege
Mokhiber / Weissman
Time to Put Lives Over Patents
Robert Fisk
Bush's Weird
War
Stanton / Madsen
Democracy
in Crisis:
What is to be Done?
Roldan Tomasz Suárez
Venezuela:
Five Facts
About the Coup
June 12, 2002
Fran Shor
Dirty Bombs, Blowback
and Imperial Projections
Dave Marsh
Shelley
Stewart, Radio and the Birmingham Civil Rights Movement
Chris Floyd
Murder, Inc.
June 11, 2002
Omar Barghouti
On Dance, Identity and War
Robert Fisk
The Bush
Afghan Gang:
Murderers, Gangsters, Stooges
Minerva Wright
The Donkeys of the Holy Land
David Krieger
Stopping
a Nuclear War
in South Asia
June 10, 2002
Jeffrey St. Clair
Executioner's Last Songs
June 8/9, 2002
Gavin Keeney
Mademoiselle
M.
Or Getting Screwed in Paris
Susan Davis
Sleepless
in the Suburbs
Curing Insomnia: a new use for The Nation?
George Sunderland
"Send
in the Weekly
Standard": The Screaming Pundits Assault Corps
Resources:
100s of Links
About 9/11
CounterPunch:
Complete
Coverage of 9/11 and Its Aftermath
Five
Days That
Shook The World:
Seattle and Beyond
By Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
Photos by Allan Sekula
(Click Here to Order from CounterPunch
Online at 20% Off Amazon.com's price!)
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Published March 15, 2002
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How the CIA's Backing of the Mujahideen Created the World's Most
Robust Heroin Market and Helped to Finance the Rise of the Taliban
and Osama bin Laden
Whiteout:
CIA, Drugs & the
Press
by Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The Memphis Blues Again:
Six Decades of Memphis Music Photographs
Photos by Ernest Withers
Text by Daniel Wolff
The New Intifada:
Resisting Israel's Apartheid
Edited by Roane Carey
A Pocket Guide to
Environmental Bad Guys
by James Ridgeway
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The
Phoenix Program
by Douglas Valentine
Al Gore:
A User's Manual
by Cockburn
and St. Clair
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This Explosive
New Book at an
Amazing Discount!
Reviews of Gore:
a User's Manual
|
June 21,
2002
"Tampering
with Nature"
Stossel and Disney
Dance in the Gutter
by John Borowski
Tampering with Nature, which aired on Friday the
14th, sets new "lows" for journalistic integrity. John
Stossel aided and abetted by his producers, produced a one -hour
hoax, disavowing environmental protection and giving environmental
education a black eye. But this is only the tip of the iceberg.
Who would ever think, that Michael Sanera,
avowed enemy of environmental education, would be given a forum
for his "snake-oil" diatribe, by self-proclaimed friends
of children? Yes, the wonderful world of Disney, power brokers
for ABC news and their industry puppet, John Stossel, have environmental
education in their "cross-hairs." Stossel's producers
contacted Sanera, this nationally recognized demagogue who is
on a "search and destroy" mission to dismantle environmental
education for pointers on the program. Sanera is resolute in
his hostility towards environmental education and is akin to
Stossel in terms of being a king of rhetoric and a pauper with
factual data.
I know the story well, as an avid defender
of environmental education and critic of, Sanera, my credentials
were given to Stossel's producers. Stossel's producers tried
to set me up, but I had known of this sham for months before
the taping took place.
An urgent email from RISE (Responsible
Industry for a Sound Environment) had beckoned their members
to support Mr. Stossel and Mr. Sanera's covert attack on eco-education.
RISE, affiliated with the American Crop Protection Association,
a trade group founded to defend "urban usage of pesticides",
apparently, believes that a frontal assault on education about
the environment could be beneficial. The last line of their alert
is most revealing. "Let's try to help Mr. Stossel. He treats
industry fairly in his programs." So, the search for disgruntled
parents and their "scared green" children paid dividends.
But little did the audience know on Friday, that Stossel and
company had played little children as pawns in a game of set-up
and takedown.
While in St. Louis at a National Science
Teachers' Convention two years ago, I stumbled upon Michael Sanera,
peddling a book titled, "Facts Not Fear." His booth,
sponsored by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a well- funded
think-tank, supported by the likes of Dow Chemical, General Motors,
Texaco, and Philip Morris, was a strange sight. In the midst
of all these science teachers, Mr. Sanera was akin to a carnival
caller, alerting the unsuspecting educators to the "evils"
of environmental education. The main problem with his manifesto,
"Facts Not Fear", was on closer inspection, light on
scientific facts. From downplaying ozone loss and species extinction,
to making misleading statements about forest issues, this transparent
attack on ecological studies leaves little to the imagination.
Yet, Mr. Sanera is apparently the "point person" and
a favorite son of many think tanks troubled by the scientific
enlightenment provided by environmental education.
Even more intriguing, is that on the
web page for the Competitive Enterprise Institute; there is a
"Save John <Stossel.org>" section. Apparently,
the folks at CEI were dismayed for the tongue-lashing Mr. Stossel
took for stating that organic food is no safer than agricultural
products sprayed with pesticides. Tests that Stossel reported,
that proved his thesis, were strangely never done. CEI states
in their web page that Stossel should not be open to criticism
because he has the "right to free speech." They warn
their supporters that "politically correct causes and special
interests" are prepared to place that freedom in "jeopardy".
But shouldn't investigative probes be held accountable to the
parameters of accountability and scientific truth?
With the current occupant of the White
House downplaying everything from global warming to the dangers
of arsenic in water, the timing of this "witch hunt"
could be invaluable for debunking the value of nationwide environmental
education programs in school. The corporate flood of environmental
education materials entering schools is reaching a fever pitch
(forest lessons from Weyerhaeuser, coloring books from the coal
industry and teacher lesson manuals from the biotech folks).
Teamed with a well- financed attack on environmental education,
this could further numb our youngest citizens to the environmental
challenges that lie ahead.
So, here they are, strange bedfellows
indeed. A coalition of interests that possess the weapons for
a winning campaign: access to the media, a large cash flow from
a consortium of powerful corporations and a "Madison Avenue"
public relations plan "words-smithed" by topnotch professionals.
And the results were predictable: Tampering with Nature contained
a number of half -truths, supported by the likes of Patrick Moore,
an obsequious lapdog for the timber industry and the same scientists
that appear on the "Greening Earth Society" videos
which downplay global warming. Nowhere, to be found were scientists
fluent in the current rate of extinction or climate change. This
show was an abysmal attempt to circumvent reality, but maybe
we should expect nothing more from the masters of virtual "non-reality":
Disney.
Will educators like myself, who have
seen the power and enlightenment of environmental science classes
have the time, access and money to counter this onslaught of
formidable critics? Or will viewers be asked to follow like sheep
the lies and distortions that Stossel has paid a Judas wage to
manufacture?
The apparent Sanera, Stossel, and RISE
connection only seems to reinforce that money and power guarantee
access to a large public audience. And maybe even more evident,
are the nails that are sealing the coffin of the "liberal
media", will further tilt the power of the media to the
few and the mighty. And in the end, somewhere between the commercials
and the spin, the truth will shrink to an all time low in this
age of information. Tampering with Nature is an embarrassment
to Disney/ABC, a shrill and transparent attempt to protect their
funders from the light of day and the damage they are causing
to this planet.
But alas, I don't lose hope, because
in classrooms around the country, some dedicated teacher will
enlighten their "charges" with credible and sound data
providing the skills to make rational and sound decisions on
ecological issues. And maybe that is what the foes of environmental
education fear the most.
John Borowski has taught high school environmental science
for 24 years. his articles have appeared in the NY Times, "Z"
magazine, and UTNE Reader. He lives in Philomath, Oregon and
can be reached at: jenjill@proaxis.com
Today's
Features
James T. Phillips
Serbian
Reservations: Kosovo 2002
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