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Eamonn Fingleton gives a stunning account of how the elite press – the Wall Street Journal, The Economist, the New York Times and Washington Post - pilloried US autworkers while systematically concealing the hidden subsidies which have allowed Japan and Korea to destroy Detroit. All this with the connivance of the US government. Also in our latest newsletter: Michelle Obama comes to Merced. Bill Hatch, the Balzac of the Central Valley, gives an uproarious account of Michelle’s state visit to UC’s new campus. Get your new edition today by subscribing online or calling 1-800-840-3683 Contributions to CounterPunch are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! CounterPunch books and gear make great presents.
How the U.S. Press Helped Destroy the Auto IndustryOrder CounterPunch By Email For Only $35 a Year !
Meet & Debate (Perhaps Even Date) CPers Online at CounterPunch's New Facebook Page!
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Today's Stories June 5 -7, 200 Alexander Cockburn Paul Craig Roberts Jennifer Loewenstein Franklin Lamb Missy Comley Beattie Farzana Versey Stanley Heller Robert Weissman Dave Lindorff William Blum Ernest Callenbach / June 4, 2009 Arno J. Mayer Mike Whitney Gareth Porter Ayesha Ijaz Khan Mouin Rabbani Jordan Flaherty Adam Turl Nikolas Kozloff Yifat Susskind Website of the Day June 3, 2009 Paul Craig Roberts Kathy Kelly Alan Farago Franklin Lamb Bill Hatch Nadia Hijab Dean Baker Binoy Kampmark Manuel Garcia, Jr. Remi Kanazi Behzad Yaghmaian Website of the Day June 2, 2009 Uri Avnery Robert Weissman Conn Hallinan Gideon Spiro Roger Burbach Dylan Quigley Dave Lindorff Ray McGovern Belén Fernández Martha Rosenberg Willie L. Pelote, Sr. Website of the Day June 1, 2009 Pam Martens Yitzhak Laor Mark Weisbrot Ramzy Baroud Saul Landau Eugenia Tsao Afshin Rattansi Debra Sweet Abdul Malik Mujahid Bill Quigley John Wright Website of the Day May 29-31, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Patrick Cockburn Vijay Prashad Gary Leupp Ray McGovern Rannie Amiri Bill Hatch Chellis Glendinning, Stephanie Mills and Kirkpatrick Sale Phyllis Pollack David Yearsley Jean-Christophe Servant Dave Lindorff James McEnteer Missy Beattie James C. Faris David Macaray Harvey Wasserman Adam Federman David Ker Thomson Mark Seth Lender Stephen Martin Joseph Nevins Sophia Mihic Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend May 28, 2009 Joan Roelofs Paul Craig Roberts Ralph Nader Mouin Rabbani Joe Bageant James McEnteer Dedrick Muhammad Richard Morse David Macaray Harvey Wasserman Website of the Day May 27, 2009 Joanne Mariner Paul Craig Roberts Walden Bello Dave Lindorff Brian M. Downing Carlos Villarreal Nadia Hijab Adam Federman Laray Polk Isabella Kenfield David Michael Green Website of the Day May 26, 2009 Manuel Garcia, Jr. Mike Whitney Sharon Smith Marjorie Cohn Dean Baker Deepankar Basu Fred Gardner Jordan Flaherty Josh Ruebner Brian Cloughley Website of the Day May 25, 2009 Diane Christian John Ross Kenneth Hartman Uri Avnery Fred Gardner Cindy Sheehan Sen. Russell Feingold Sibel Edmonds Franklin Lamb Dave Lindorff Daniel Wolff Website of the Day May 22-24, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Michael Teitelman Mike Whitney Ray McGovern Sonia Cardenas / Clive Hamilton Conn Hallinan Fred Gardner Carlo Cristofori Dean Baker Rannie Amiri Andy Worthington David Macaray Nadia Hijab Franklin Lamb Ted Newcomen David Ker Thomson David Rosen Mark Weisbrot Robert Fantina Heather Gray Farzana Versey Chris Genovali Ron Jacobs Jay Diamond Dr. Susan Block Ben Sonnenberg David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend May 21, 2009 Jeffrey St. Clair / Paul Craig Roberts Chris Floyd Gerald Paoli Zach Mason Uri Avnery Andy Worthington Niranjan Ramakrishnan Norman Solomon Dave Lindorff Website of the Day May 20, 2009 Michael Hudson Gary Leupp Michael D. Yates Jonathan Cook Peter Lee Binoy Kampmark Peter Zinn William Loren Katz Gary Lapon Trudy Bond Website of the Day May 19, 2009 Kristoffer Rehder Mike Whitney Ray McGovern Vijay Prashad Mirjam Hadar Meerschwam Mustafa Barghouthi Andy Worthington Binoy Kampmark John Walsh David Macaray Website of the Day May 18, 2009 Dave Lindorff Abdul Malik Mujahid Jonathan Cook Ben Rosenfeld Patrick Cockburn Ralph Nader Stephen Soldz Eugenia Tsao Walter Brasch Roberto Rodriguez Charlotte Laws Website of the Day May 15-17, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair David Rosen Mike Whitney Bruce Page Jeremy Scahill Fred Gardner Tom Barry Mats Svensson Ramzy Baroud Mark Engler Mark Weisbrot Farzana Versey Ron Jacobs Hannah Wolfe Cal Winslow David Macaray Christopher Brauchli Mark Seth Lender Robert Fantina David Ker Thomson Stephen Martin Charles R. Larson Chase Madar Kim Nicolini David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend May 14, 2009 Michael Hudson Andy Worthington Paul Craig Roberts Jonathan Cook Ray McGovern Lance Selfa David Green Dave Lindorff Frida Berrigan Sue Udry Website of the Day May 13, 2009 Brian M. Downing Gareth Porter Robert Sandels Ricardo Alarcón Eric Walberg Dave Lindorff Deepak Tripathi William S. Lind Kevin Zeese Franklin Lamb Website of the Day May 12, 2009 Gary Leupp Richard Neville Wajahat Ali Dean Baker Franklin Lamb Norman Solomon Paul Craig Roberts Lisa M. Hamilton Bob Fitrakis / David Macaray Website of the Day May 11, 2009 Andrea Peacock Michael Hudson Patrick Cockburn Ralph Nader John Kelly Saul Landau Dave Lindorff David Michael Green Anthony Papa Paul Krassner Website of the Day
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Weekend Edition Judicial Amnesia and Federalist SocietyJudges and JunketsBy CHRISTOPHER BRAUCHLI The worst thing about disclosure of the name of the new Supreme Court nominee was not that the weeks of speculation had come to an end. It was that the public would no longer be treated to the fascinating biographies of every man, woman and child who might have been nominated by President Obama. These were biographies that, but for the vacancy on the Court, would never have seen the light of day, and the news consuming public would forever have been deprived of all the fascinating details about what in many cases were unfascinating lives that the vacancy permitted us to share. Those biographical sketches have now been replaced by bits of trivia about the actual nominee that are at least as fascinating as the biographies of the might-have-beens. For the first piece of trivia we are indebted to Nicholas Confessore of the New York Times. Mr. Confessore discovered that Judge Sonia Sotomayor “did not cast a ballot in the 2002 election . . . . Nor did she vote in the 2006 elections, which gave Democrats control of the United States Senate.” Her disregard of her civic duty was also evident in the elections of 1999 and 2007. That news suggests (although not stated in the story nor picked up by Rush Limbaugh or Newt Gingrich) that she is not a fan of our form of government. How else to explain her inaction? There is, however, a happy ending to this particular story. She voted in 2008. Since that is the most recent election to have occurred one can hope that this represents her determination to turn over a new leaf and participate in the democratic process. Her failure to vote in other elections should be explored in some depth at her confirmation hearings. Another observation that has received much attention is that if Judge Sotomayor is confirmed, she will join 5 other Roman Catholics on the Supreme Court thus giving Pope Benedict a significant voice in how the law develops. Although the Pope’s influence is a very real threat, the reassuring news is that she is at most a Casual Catholic. The Washington Post reports that a White House spokesman said, in response to Catholic conscious bloggers’ concerns, that: “Judge Sotomayor . . . attends church for family celebrations and other important events.” That demonstrates a lack of zeal that should comfort critics. Another concern is Judge Sotomayor’s involvement with the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. After she got out of law school, Judge Sotomayor became a member of the Board of Directors of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. During her tenure, according to the New York Times, “she played an active role as the defense fund staked out aggressive stances on issues like police brutality, the death penalty and voting rights.” Curt Levey, executive director of Committee for Justice wonders whether as a Justice the judge will know the difference between being a judge and serving on a board. That is probably the same thing he wondered when Sam Alito was nominated. Judge Alito was a member of the Federalist Society. The Society didn’t go around suing people. It just tried to put its members into Federal judgeships. In an article in the Washington Monthly in March 2000, Jerry Landay, a former correspondent for ABC and CBS news observed that “ The Society’s mission is to advance a conservative agenda by moving the country’s legal establishment to the right and they are succeeding. . . . [T]he Society is accomplishing in the courts what Republicans can’t achieve politically.” The Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund could probably not get Justice Antonin Scalia to skip the swearing in of a new Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court so that he could go on a junket with its members, as Justice Scalia did when he skipped Chief Justice Roberts’ swearing-in in order to go to a Colorado resort with members of the Federalist Society. Whereas Judge Sotomayor discontinued her membership on the board of the Puerto Rican Defense fund upon becoming a judge, Judge Alito continued his membership in the Federalist Society the entire 15-year period during which he sat as a federal judge on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. He has now resigned. Prior to his appointment to the Court, Chief Justice Roberts said he had no memory of belonging to that organization although he was listed as a member in the 1997-1998-leadership directory of the organization. It is too late to ask Justice Alito why he didn’t resign sooner or Chief Justice Roberts why he didn’t recall being a member or Justice Scalia why a junket with the Society displaced the common courtesy of being present for the swearing in of the Chief Justice of the court on which he serves. That should not stop the senators from in depth questioning of Judge Sotomayor on her membership in the Fund. Christopher Brauchli is a lawyer in Boulder, Colorado. He can be emailed at brauchli.56@post.harvard.edu.
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Now Available from CounterPunch Books! Spell Albuquerque:
Waiting for
Lightning
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