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Today's
Stories
October
8, 2007
David
Macaray
Lesbians for Hillary? or Teamsters
for Hillary?
October 6 / 7, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
A Rainbow Over a Graveyard
Norman
Finkelstein
Jeffrey Goldberg's Prison
James
Bovard
Are Presidents Entitled to Kill Foreigners?
Patrick
Cockburn
The Invasion of Afghanistan, Six Years Later
Jeffrey
St. Clair
At Disaster Falls
Ralph
Nader
Where Are the Lawyers of America?
Ray
McGovern
So Who's Afraid of the Israel Lobby?
Saul
Landau
A River Runs Through It
Ben
Tripp
Bring on the Next War!
Terry
Lodge
The Grateful Dead Body Parts Delivered to Your Door Reform Act
Seth
Sandronsky
Market Mystification and the Liberal Virus
Kevin
Funk / Steve Fake
Divestment and Darfur
Missy
Beattie
In the Custody of Bush and Cheney
Website
of the Weekend
Snoop Dogg vs. Bill O'Reilly
October
5, 2007
Andy
Worthington
The Anonymous Victims of Guantánamo
David
Macaray
De-Skilling America's Labor Force
Lee
Sustar
The Democrats and Iran: Can They Sink Any Lower?
Dan
La Botz
Cincinnati Six Years After the Killings and the Riots
Aaron
Hess
Hate Week Comes to Campus
William
A. Cook
Unmasking AIPAC
Website
of the Day
Range of Memory
October
4, 2007
Uri
Avnery
The Power of the Israel Lobby
Dave
Marsh
Dick Cheney, a Eulogy
Valerio
Volpi
How Italy Became a Launching Pad for the US Military
Cecilie
Surasky
Dissenting at Your Own Risk
Dave
Lindorff
Remaking Iraq, as Vietnam
Norman
Solomon
Sputnik, 50 Years Later
Laura
Carlsen
Costa Rica and CAFTA: Memo Reveals Manipulation Scheme
Walter
Brasch
When Compassion Fails: Bush and the Children's Health Act
Ben
Terrall
Haitian Human Rights Advocate Kidnapped
William
S. Lind
Beyond the OODA Loop
Website
of the Day
Musicians in Handcuffs
October
3, 2007
Vijay
Prashad
Gang of Four
Anita
Sinha
Black Ties and Bulldozers in New Orleans
Winslow
T. Wheeler
Posturing at the Petraeus Hearings: Where was the Oversight?
Sharon
Smith
The Kucinich Quandary
Jeff
Leys
Our Bonhoeffer Moment
Sen.
Russ Feingold
We Must End This Tragedy
Mohamad
Bazzi
Playing Into the Hands of Ahmadinejad
Brenda
Norrell
A Cry from the Top of the World
Robert
Weissman
No Sex, Still a Scandal at the IMF
Website
of the Day
Jena by Mellencamp
October
2, 2007
Ibrahim
Warde
Logical Lies About Bin Laden's Wealth
Gary
Leupp
"I Hate All Iranians": Frank Talk from a Defense Dept.
Official
David
Macaray
The Hunt for a Blue November: In Pursuit of the Labor Vote
Conn
Hallinan
Religion and Foreign Policy
John
Ross
The Great American Chess Match
Alan
Farago
Ripping Off Miami's Poor
Sonja
Karkar
The Right to Exist: States or People?
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
The Meteor and the Mahatma
Website
of the Day
Grandin on Che's Legacy
October
1, 2007
Al
Giordano
The Clinton Campaign's Reckless
Race for Big Money Donors
Paul
Craig Roberts
From Burma to Iraq: Hypocrisy Rules the West
Moshe Adler
The Crimes of Microsoft
Ingmar Lee
My Kayak Journey Down the Wild Pacific Coast
John V. Walsh
Ahmadinejad is Not My Enemy
Norman Solomon
Political Science and Truth of Consequences
Roger Burbach
Historic Victory in Ecuador for the Left
Ramzy Baroud
The Politics of Assassination
Stephen Lendman
The Maestro of Misery: Greenspan's Dark Legacy
Susie Day
Honey, I Shrank the Military!
Website of the Day
Letters from Fort Lewis Brig
September
29 / 30, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
Clinton Time: Do We Set Our Clocks
Forward or Back?
Uri
Avnery
So What About Iran?
Andrew
Cockburn
Iraq's WMD Myth: Why Clinton is Culpable
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Through the Gates of Lodore
Wajahat
Ali
The Good, the Bad and the Iraqi
Andy
Worthington
The Curse of the Military Commissions
Don
Santina
Ethnic Cleansing in San Francisco
Ralph
Nader
Free Lunches, for Corporations!
Fred
Gardner
The Man Behind the MoveOn Ad
Seth
Sandronsky
The US Economy Since 1980
Gideon
Levy
The Children of 5767
William
S. Lind
A Ticking Bomb
Reza
Fiyouzat
An Anti-Imperialist Case Against a Nuclear Iran
Richard
Rhames
Wag the Tail, Frag the Dog
David
Michael Green
Buyer's Remorse: Their Purchase, Our Regret
Zach
Mason
Hate and Hope in Herndon
Poets'
Basement
Gibbons, Ali, Davies and Suss
Website
of the Weekend
Domestic Crusaders
September
28, 2007
Kathleen
and Bill Christison
The Teflon Alliance with Israel
Roberto
J. González /
David H. Price
When Anthropologists Become Counter-Insurgents
Saul
Landau
September, the Cruelest Month in Chile
Tom
Clifford
Burma by the Numbers
Christopher
Brauchli
Of Toxic Almonds and Bad Beef
Martha
Rosenberg
Spinning Suicide Statistics
Dave
Zirin
Soldier in Winter: John Carlos Speaks Out on the Jena 6
Laray
Polk
Bush Library or Lockbox?
Binoy
Kampmark
When Reagan Turned Brown
James
McEnteer
Hell, Columbia: an Academic Hotshot Introduces a Petty Tyrant
Website
of the Day
Concerned Anthropologists
September
27, 2007
Alan
Farago
Housing Market Crashes and Burns
Andy
Worthington
A Bad Week at Guantánamo
Jonathan
Cook
Why Did Israel Attack Syria?
William
Hughes
Billy Graham, a Prince of War Exposed
Ray
McGovern
Bush, Oil and Moral Bankruptcy
Ron
Jacobs
Joe Biden's Plan to Chop Up Iraq
Dave
Lindorff
Quit the Party! Join the Mass Resignation Movement!
Joshua
Frank
Pruning the Green Party
Anne
Dachel
The CDC, Vaccines and Autism
Website
of the Day
The God-O-Meter
September 26, 2007
Bill
Quigley
HUD's Home Wreckers
Paul
Craig Roberts
A Pandemic of Police Brutality
Jeff
Kisseloff
Still Smearing Alger Hiss
China
Hand
Is China the True Target of Financial Sanctions Against Iran?
Behzad
Yaghmaian
At the Gates of Paradise
Sonja
Karkar
The Quality of Mercy in Gaza
Mike
Ferner
Interrupting the Empire, 30 Seconds at a Time
Col.
Dan Smith
Freedom to Speak, Freedom to Learn
Clifton
Ross
Bollinger's Barbarous and Ignorant Speech
Brenda
Norrell
A Meeting of Indigenous Peoples in Caracas
Website
of the Day
The Smearing of Jean Maria Arrigo, a Psychologist Opposed to
Torture
September
25, 2007
Nicole
Colson
On the March Against Racism
Uri
Avnery
Foam on the Water
Brendan
Cooney
Ahmadinejad on Broadway: Free Speech? Arrest Him!
Harry
Browne
Bruce Springsteen Comes Home ... to Hell
Marjorie
Cohn
The Drift Toward War with Iran
David
Macaray
The UAW-GM Strike: the Long Knives are Already Out
Ralph
Nader
Hypocrisy and Inverted Priorities in Congress
Dan
Bacher
Schwarzenegger, the Climate Change Hypocrite
Anthony
Papa
Perverted Justice & America's Drug Laws
Christopher
Ketcham
All Politicos Now Classed as Sexual Deviants
Website
of the Day
John Waters on Free Speech
September
24, 2007
George
Ciccariello-Maher
Racist Violence from Jena to Oakland
Saree Makdisi
The
War on Gaza's Children
David
Keen
Action-as-Propaganda: Learning About the Iraq War from Hannah
Arendt
Sherwood
Ross
Just How Powerful is the Israel Lobby? Only Cheney Knows for
Sure
Ron
Jacobs
Greenspan's Open Secret
Donna
Saggia
The Cult of the Military and the Decline of Democratic Values
Mike
Ferner
Free Speech Takes a Capitol Beating
Malini
Johar Schueller
Norman Hsu is a Model Minority
Monique
Dols
and Dylan Stillwood
Ahmadinejad and Columbia
Website
of the Day
The Promotion
September 22 / 23, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
On Naomi Klein's "The Shock
Doctrine"
Jennifer
Loewenstein
Beneath the Hideous Veneer of
Security
Linn
Washington, Jr.
The Injustice in Jena: Prosecutorial Misconduct More Dangerous
Than Racism
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Going Down in Dinosaur: Oil, Dams and Whitewater (Part One)
Alan
Farago
Genuflecting to China
Brian
Cloughley
Of Hate, Hubris and Atrocities
Robert
Fantina
The Deadly Pattern of US Imperialism
Roxanne
Dunbar-Ortiz
Land Tenure and Resistance in New
Mexico
Jason
Hribal
Fear of an Animal Planet
David
Rosen
Slugger Sex: Athletes, Violence and Male Sexuality
Mike
Whitney
The Era of Global Financial Instability
John
V. Walsh
Who Will Lead a Filibuster of the Iraq War Spending Bill?
Dave
Lindorff
Why Aren't We Banning Blackwater Here?
David
Michael Green
Hiding Behind a Camouflage Skirt
Fred
Gardner
Claudia Jensen (Look Back in Anger)
Cassandra
Jones
Support Our Mercenaries
Roger
van Zwanenberg
Pluto Press Under Attack by Israel Lobby
Poets'
Basement
Buknatski, Davies and Ford
Website
of the Weekend
"For the Bible Tells Me So"
September
21, 2007
Karim
Makdisi
Letter from Lebanon
M.
Shahid Alam
A History of Violence
Alan
Farago
Who Will Buy My House?
Joshua
Frank
The Demise of the Congressional Black Caucus
Dave
Zirin
Notre Dame and the Economy of Sports
Kenneth
Couesbouc
A Short History of Lending and Borrowing
Dr.
Steffie Woolhandler and Dr. David Himmelstein
Mass Health Care Failure
Ben
Terrall
The Streets of San Francisco: Where Impeachment is Taken Seriously--By
Everyone But Pelosi
Steve
Fournier
Ex-Dems, Sign Up Here
Frederico
Fuentes, et al
Voices in Defense of Bolivia
Website
of the Day
Sabra and Shatila, Remembered
September
20, 2007
Kathleen
Christison
Whatever Happened to Palestine?
Zoltan
Grossman
An Endless Occupation?
Paul
Craig Roberts
As the Empire Slips: Greenspan and the Economy of Greed
Stan
Cox
and Wes Jackson
Carbon-Free and Still Wrecking the Planet
Russell
Mokhiber
AARP to Kucinich: Drop Dead
Charles
Modiano
Jim Crow's Children: the Jena 6, Shaquanda Cotton and Blog Power
Raymond
J. Lawrence
Bush's Worrisome Use of Religion
Brendan
Cooney
Body-Snatched Nation
Website
of the Day
Mind Control for Breakfast
September
19, 2007
Paul
Craig Roberts
Why Did Senator John Kerry Stand
Idly By?
Paul
Krassner
The Power of Laughter
Sgt.
Martin Smith
The New Private Warriors: Blackwater in Iraq
Seth
Sandronsky
Living in a Dilapidated Market: To Rent or Own?
Claud
Cockburn
Looking back at the Great Crash
Victoria
Buch
Israel's Agenda for Ethnic Cleansing
and Transfer
Robert
Weissman
Oil Warriors: From Greenspan to Kissinger
Mike
Ferner
Can We Talk?
Dan
Bacher
Schwarzenegger's $9 Billion Boondoggle for Big Water
Website
of the Day
Housing Cost Calculator
September
18, 2007
Mike
Whitney
U.S. Banks Brace for Storm Surge
as Dollar and Credit System Reel
Alan
Farago
Interviewing Alan Greenspan: How 60
Minutes Blew It
John
Ross
America's Great Wall:
Where Will the Workers Go
When They Finish It?
Ron
Jacobs
Nooses Hung From Jena, La. to College
Park, Md.
Alex
Doherty
Britain's 9/11 "Truth Movement":
Who's Responsible?
September
17, 2007
Marjorie
Cohn
Erwin Chemerinsky and the Post-9/11
Attack on Academic Freedom
Paul
Craig Roberts
Conservatism Isn't What It Used to
Be
Ricardo
Alarcón
The Return of C. Wright Mills Amid
the Dawn of a New Era
Marc
Levy
Fake Vets Chasing Fame
Eva
Liddell
In 1969 We Already Knew What 2007
Would Look Like
Website
of the Day
Propaganda:
Your Job in Germany. Directed by Frank Capra, and written by
Theodor Geisel
Sept.
15-16, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
The General Came to Washington
Vicente
Navarro
How the U.S. Schemed Against Spain's
Transition from Dictatorship to Democracy
Mike
Whitney
Plummeting Dollar, Credit Crunch
Herman
Mindshaftgap
Has There Ever Been a Surge?
If so, Has it a Future?
Ellen
Cantarow
Girls! Music! Palestine!
Jordan
Flaherty
K-Ville: Fox's New Paean to the
N.O.P.D.
Zachary
Hurwitz
Julio Cusurichi on Amazonian Development
September
14, 2007
Debbie
Nathan
New York Times reporter was a member
of an illegal underage porn site, claims he was only "posing
as online predator"
Franklin
Lamb
Sabra-Shatilla, 25 Years Later
Patrick
Cockburn
Greet Bush and Die: The Killing of
Abu Risha
Farzana
Versey
The World's Richest Muslim Tycoon
Alan
Farago
This is Florida, Epicenter of the
Housing Bust and of Public Corruption
Hank
Edson
Bill's New Book is Giving Me a Headache
September
13, 2007
Patrick
Cockburn
Petraeus Confided Presidential Ambitions
to Iraqi Official
Scott
Vest, former Air Force Captain at Minot
The Barksdale Nukes
Andy
Worthington
Guantánamo: "Ghost"
Prisoners Speak At Last
Michael
Baney
Mr. Fixit of Quake-Stricken Peru Has
Death Squad Past
Dr.
Susan Block
Is U.S. Run by Secret Homintern?
September
12, 2007
Paul
Craig Roberts
American Economy: RIP
Stan
Goff
The Petraeus Report
William
Blum
When Soldiers Mutiny...Only Those Fighting
the War Can End It.
Manuel
Garcia
Forgetting 9/11
Debbie
Nathan
Why One Sex Survey Didn't Make the
Big Time
September
11, 2007
Patrick
Cockburn
The Fakery of General Petraeus
Iain
Boal
Specters of Malthus: Scarcity, Poverty,
Apocalypse
Michael
Dickinson
Osama on 9/11
Guerry
Hoddersen
Free Speech is Not Given, but Taken
Bill
Hatch
Irish Politics in Old Time California
Gary
Leupp
The Legacy of Luciano Pavarotti
Website
of the Day
Elisa Salasin's
"My September 11th"
September
10, 2007
Uri
Avnery
A Big Victory Against the Wall
Patrick
Cockburn
Petraeus's Closet
Saul
Landau and Farrah Hassen
Screwing Up In Iraq
David
Michael Green
Why Fred Thompson is Uniquely Qualified
to be the GOP's Nominee
Pius
Adesanmi
A Solidarity Letter to a Victim
of Michael Vick
Betty
Schneider
How to Deal With Sex Offenders
September
8 / 9, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
Will the US Really Bomb Iran?
Saul
Landau
The Irrational Drama of a Declining Empire
Ismael
Hossein-Zadeh
Hurricane Katrina and Bush's Wars
Ray
McGovern
Petraeus, the Westmoreland of Iraq
Matthew
Abraham
Finkelstein's Legacy at DePaul
Alan
Farago
The Governor and the Growth Machine
Christopher
Brauchli
Grand Old Party Animals
Rannie
Amiri
Battle of the Camps
Fred
Gardner
Will Snoops Get Stopped?
James
L. Secor
B-52 Flexing Nuclear Muscles: H-Bombs Over Barksdale
Missy
Comley Beattie
Choices: Shall We Stay or Shall We Go Now?
Ben
Tripp
Still in the Clover
Francis
Boyle
The University of Illinois' Little Red Sambo Show
Joe
Allen and Paul D'Amato
Jason Bourne vs. James Bond
Website
of the Weekend
Drilling Wyoming: the View from Above
September 7, 2007
Robert
Fantina
Those Iraq Reports: Bush vs. Reality
John
Ross
Coca-Cola's Raid on a Sacred Mountain
James
Brooks
The Occupation Within
Russell
Mokhiber
Robert Reich and the Elimination of Corporate Criminal Liability
Joshua
Frank
The Green Implosion Continues: Cyberlynching John Murphy
John
Walsh
On the Green Party
Mark
Brenner
New York Taxi Workers Strike Over Tracking Devices
Mike
Ferner
"I Will Salute No More Forever"
Website
of the Day
Help Save Osny Zachary's Life
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October
8, 2007
The Meaning of
"Return to Success"
Translating
Bush
By CHRISTOPHER BRAUCHLI
Mr. Bush never ceases to amaze with
his clever way of using words to divest himself of thoughts.
His most recent foray into the thicket of thought (where as usual
he appeared to be slightly lost) came on the occasion of his
September 19, 2007 speech about Iraq.
Ignoring the maxim that actions speak louder than words, Mr.
Bush chose not to focus on the endless suicide bombings that
kill and maim our fellow citizens who have been led by Mr. Bush,
from the safety of the White House, to that hapless country to
do battle with the enemy he created. He chose to ignore the fact
that those doing the killing and maiming were reportedly locals
who want Mr. Bush to go away and leave them alone. He chose
not to mention the dozens of thousands of Iraqis who have been
killed in the ongoing conflict and the millions more who have
been made homeless and have fled their neighborhoods and their
country in search of safe haven. Instead, Mr. Bush came up with
a description of what he thinks the United States is doing in
Iraq that must cause every dead conqueror whose historical reputation
has been that of "ruthless" to envy him his speechwriters.
Describing the blind president's vision for Iraq, Mr. Bush's
speechwriters coined the clever phrase "return on success."
"Return on success" does not, of course, come cheap.
As of this writing it has already cost approximately $600 billion
and another $200 billion is in the pipeline. In order to achieve
the 2007 success Mr. Bush has spent approximately $12 billion
per month. Here are some of the human statistics to which "return
on success" refers.
As of this writing almost 4000 United States troops have been
killed and almost 28,000 wounded, not including those whose injuries
are psychological rather than physical. No indicator of success
would be complete without considering the Iraqis who are the
chief beneficiaries of Mr. Bush's success. According to the
Brookings Institution's "Iraq Index" as of May 1,
2007, 2,135,000 Iraqis have been displaced inside Iraq and between
1.3 million and 1.75 million have fled to Syria and Jordan.
(There are only a few thousand who have fled to the United States
but that is because Mr. Bush prefers for them to settle in countries
other than the United States since there is always a chance that
a refugee who has been rendered homeless and lost members of
his or her family to the war may demonstrate gratitude to Mr.
Bush by becoming a terrorist rather than a refugee.)
According to the Iraq Index,
during the first four months of 2007, 90,000 persons per month
were being displaced internally and abroad.
According to a report from CNN, on July 30, 2007, 28% of the
children in Iraq suffer from chronic malnutrition, 40% of the
professionals living in Iraq before Mr. Bush's success have left
the country, and of the 34,000 of that group who lived there
before the war, 14,000 have either fled or been killed. The good
news in August, released after Mr. Bush's speech, was that Mr.
Bush's misadventure resulted in the deaths of only 922 Iraqis
in August, 922 Iraqis who would be alive today were it not for
George Bush.
Having duly considered the foregoing, George "Panglos"
Bush who lives in the best of all possible worlds (as, he would
have us believe, do the Iraqis) said that ordinary life in that
country was returning and pulling out now would cause a humanitarian
nightmare, leaving it to the listener to come up with words to
describe what has been going on since he invaded.
Ignoring the effects of his deceptively begun war he said it
was up to us to help Iraq "defeat those who threaten its
future," ignoring the fact that he is the man who set in
motion the events that threaten its future.
To cap it all off, Mr. Bush
placed a Panglossian gloss on the entire tragedy by taking off
in a flight of rhetorical fancy saying that Iraqi leaders had
"asked for an enduring relationship with America" as
though he were speaking of an infatuated couple after a one night
stand. And to add insult to injury he let it be known that he
had accepted the proposal as might many a selfish lover looking
for sex rather than love and concerned only with self-gratification
saying: "And we are ready to begin building that relationship
in a way that protects our interests in the region and requires
many fewer American forces." It never occurred to him that
the Iraqis might have an interest in how that "enduring
relationship" was to mature. Someone should explain that
to Mr. Bush and someone else should hire him a new speechwriter.
Christopher Brauchli is a laywer in Boulder, Colorado.
He can be reached at: Brauchli.56@post.harvard.edu
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