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Today's
Stories
November
30, 2007
Peter
Stone Brown
The Re-Packaging of Bob Dylan
November
29, 2007
R.
F. Blader
The Most Dangerous Kind of Bribe
Ismael
Hossein-Zadeh
Distorting Fascism to Demonize Iran
Stephen
Soldz
War on the Couch: Fear, Aggression and Empire
Sheldon
Richman
Iraq 3.0
George
Wuerthner
Forest Fires, Lies and Chainsaws
Felice
Pace
Did All Things Considered Self-Censor on Annapolis?
Col.
Dan Smith
The Meaning of Annapolis
Harvey
Wasserman
Terror Target Nukes
Nikolas
Kozloff
Primetime Hate Debate: Lou Dobbs, Immigration and Campaign '08
Paul
Krassner
Huffington Post Bloggers Go On Strike!
Dave
Lindorff
News Not Fit to Print: US Coup Planned for Venezuela?
CP
News Service
The One State Declaration
Website
of the Day
A Native View of Yellowstone Bison Slaughter
November
28, 2007
James
Petras
CIA Destabilization Memo Surfaces
on Venezuela
Jeff
Halper
Annapolis: When the Roadmap is a One
Way Street
Pam
Martens
Crashing Citigroup
Peter
Morici
Economy in Crisis: Avoiding a Recession
Mohammed
Khatib
Separate and Unequal in Palestine
Helen
Redmond
The Horror and the Hope: Health Care in America
William
S. Lind
In the Fox's Lair: Quiet Before a New Iraq Storm?
Ben
Tripp
We, the People: a Trope for All Seasons
Liaquat
Ali Khan
Pakistan: First, Restore the Constitution and Reinstate the Judges
Jeff
Berg
Holbrooke Says Bush Won't Attack Iran
Website
of the Day
The Lies of Joe Klein
November
27, 2007
Joe
DeRaymond
On the Road to the Torture School
Paul
Craig Roberts
Meet the Only Two Candidates Worse Than Bush and Cheney: Hillary
and Rudy
Marjorie
Cohn
Remembering Victor Rabinowitz
Mike
Whitney
A Dollar the Size of a Postage Stamp
Ron
Jacobs
The Myths of Military Progress
Col.
Dan Smith
The Pentagon's "People System" Still Doesn't Work
Ralph
Nader
Family Learning
Karim
Makdisi
Annapolis and the Unholy Alliance: the View from Beirut
Christopher
Ketcham
Memo to Hollywood Writers: Strike Until You Drop
Ronan
Bennett
Martin Amis Does a Coulter
Website
of the Day
Celebrating the Uncensored Media
November
26, 2007
Kathleen
and Bill Christison
Heading for Annapolis
Paul
Craig Roberts
The End of All That
David
Macaray
Enter Mediator
Sameer
Dossani
Pakistan's Wounded Dictator
Roger
Burbach
The Final Battle in Bolivia
Mark
Scaramella
Guns and Greed in the Emerald Empire
Brian
McKinlay
Howard's End
Rick
Kuhn
The Fall of a Racist Union Buster
Binoy
Kampmark
Ruddslide and Dull Alec
Monica
Benderman
What Do You Know of War?
Brenda
Norrell
Return to Alcatraz
Website
of the Day
Ghostworld by DJ Spooky
November
24 / 25, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
The Ordeal of Catherine Wilkerson,
MD
Robert
Fisk
Darkness Falls on the Middle East
Saul
Landau
Norman Mailer will Not R.I.P.
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Justice Stephen Breyer, Cancer Bonds and the Origins of Neoliberal
Environmentalism
Rannie
Amiri
Beirut's Black Friday
Christopher
Brauchli
Iraq Embassy as Gilded Palace
Daniel
Gross
The Gap and Black Friday
Mike
Whitney
"A Generalized Meltdown of Financial Institutions"
Marjorie
Cohn
Iran and the 2008 Elections
David
Rosen
Senior Sex: the Real Sexual Life of Aging Americans
David
Michael Green
If Conservatism is the Ideology of Freedom ....
Kenneth
Rexroth
When Euripides Played the Hindu Kush: Greeks and Buddhists in
Afghanistan
Muhammad
Iqbal
Trans. Shahid Alam
Ghazal
Website
of the Day
Aerial Footage of Delta Fish Kill
November 23, 2007
Gary
Leupp
Killing the Buddha in Pakistan's Swat
Valley
Laura
Carlsen
Coming to Terms with Diversity in
Bolivia: an Interview with Alvaro Garcia, Bolivia's VP
David
Macaray
Keeping Labor Unions Out
Andy
Worthington
Former Guantánamo Detainee Seeks Asylum in Sweden
Clifton
Ross
Trashing Chavez: Keith Olberman's Toxic Rant
Seth
Sandronsky
Battling Sodexho
Dan
Bacher
Death in the Delta: Thousands of Fish Stranded by Bureau of Reclamation
William
A. Cook
The Myth of Middle East Peace
Website
of the Day
Waiting for the Guards: Stress Techniques as Torture, a Short
Film
November
22, 2007
Alan
Farago
Who Lost America's Everglades?
Greg
Moses
A Thanksgiving Basting
Dave
Lindorff
Impeachment is Back on the Table
Mike
Ely
Native Blood: the Myth pf Thanksgiving
Omar
Azfar
Gore for President of Pakistan?
November
21, 2007
Vijay
Prashad
Our Dictator, Their Democracy
Martha
Rosenberg
Undercover at a Turkey Slaughtering Plant
Manuel
Garcia, Jr.
Epiphany on the Glacier
John
Ross
The Last Days of Mexican Corn
Brian
McKenna
Cancer Terrorists Unmasked
Stephen
Soldz
Isolation Torture Routine at Guatánamo
Monica
Benderman
Needing Peace
Ben
Terrall
Slavery in the Fields: The Real Price of Sugar
Website
of the Day
Mercy for Animals
November
20, 2007
Oren
Ben-Dor
Why Israel Has No "Right to Exist"
as a Jewish State
Wajahat
Ali
An Interview with Norman Finkelstein
Alan
Farago
The Dark Arts and the Bush Dynasty
Marjorie
Cohn
Musharraf Plays Bush for a Fool
Ralph
Nader
Green is Gold?
Andy
Worthington
Guantánamo Whistleblower Launches a New Attack on Rigged
Tribunals
Sara
Olson
When Going AWOL is the Only Escape
Dave
Lindorff
Likelihood of Iran Attack Gains Credence
Paul
Krassner
The First Amendment, a Dialogue
Website
of the Day
Joanne Mariner on Torture
November
19, 2007
Winslow
T. Wheeler
Why Congress Won't Reform
China
Hand
The U.S. Game Plan in Pakistan
Allan
Nairn
Sitting Around Talking, in Indonesia
Uri
Avnery
How to Get Out?
David
Macaray
The Chalice that Poisoned the Labor Movements
Dave
Lindorff
Democrats in Future Shock: They Could Lose It All in 2008!
Bill
Quigley
Twenty Thousand Protest at Ft. Benning; Eleven Face Federal Criminal
Trials
Ron
Jacobs
Sitting on the Group W Bench: War, Thanksgiving and Arlo Guthrie
Sunsara
Taylor
Legalized Rights for Fertilized Eggs?
Binoy
Kampmark
Why Steve Irwin--You're Dead!
Heather
Gray
Another Look at W.E.B. DuBois
Website
of the Day
The Meat Market
November
17 / 18, 2007
P.
Sainath
Neoliberalism's Price Tag: 150,000
Farm Suicides in India
David
Rosen
The Scarlet Hypocrites: Republicans,
Christians and the Politics of Adultery
Mike
Whitney
Pentagon Cover Up: 15,000 or More US Deaths in Iraq War?
George
Wuerthner
Saving the Big Wild
Brenda
Norrell
The Case of Jim Main, Jr: In Montana, Indians are Guilty Until
Proven Innocent
George
Ciccariello-Maher
Of Submarines and Loose Screws
Karim
Makdisi
Lebanon is Hanging by a Thread
Marie
Trigona
Wal-Mart in Argentina
Valerio
Volpi
The Catholic Church, Incorporated
Fred
Gardner
The Straight-Ahead Runner
Robert
Fantina
The White House Press Office
Mike
Ferner
Thank God for the Senate Republicans!
Missy
Comley Beattie
The Radical Majority
Kenneth
Couesbouc
Circles of Power
Patrick
O'Hayer
A Portrait of Mailer and a Young Poet
Poets'
Basement
Davies, Buknatski and Ford
November
16, 2007
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
The Vices of Hillary Clinton: Secrecy,
Intransigence and War
Dave
Zirin
The Indictment of Barry Bonds: Busted by a Broken System
Gary
D. Barnett
A Day in the Life of an Unwilling Federal Agent
Alan
Farago
Sprawl, Mortgage Fraud and Political Corruption
Dave
Lindorff
Two Brothers and Two Scandals
Russell
Mokhiber
Pelosi and Me: "What Should be Done with Those Protesters?"
Robert
Ovetz
Cargo Ships in Paradise: Shipping Lanes Threaten the Yosemite
of the Sea
Brenda
Norrell
"Today We Experienced America:" Arresting Indigenous
People on the Border
David
Swanson
Wolf Blitzer Loses Democratic Debate
Peter
Letheby
Outside the Box on the Great Plains
Website
of the Day
Why Activism Fails
November
15, 2007
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
Hillary Clinton in Arkansas
Adolfo
Gilly
The Spirit of Revolt
Peter
Bohmer
10 Days That Shook Olympia
Andy
Worthington
The Trials of Omar Khadr: Gitmo's Child Soldier
Gray
/ Derks
Obama's Pitch to South Carolina's Black Churches Affronts Gay
Groups
Liaquat
Ali Khan
Liberating Pakistan
Dave
Lindorff
Where's the Party?
Christopher
Brauchli
Tipping Point: the Politics of Gossip
Anthony
Papa
Racism as Law: Crack Cocaine Sentences
Martha
Rosenberg
Merck's Big Write Off
Ben
Terrall
Thank You, Ehren Watada
Website
of the Day
On the Colorado: Drought, Climate Change and Water Supplies
November 14, 2007
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
The Making of Hillary Clinton
James
Petras
Venezuela Between Ballots and Bullets
Al
Giordano
Campaign 08: Don't Trust Anyone Over 50
Paul
Craig Roberts
The Lobby
Andy
Worthington
Innocents and Foot Soldiers
Stephen
Lendman
Torturing Palestinian Detainees
Fatima
Bhutto
Aunt Benazir's False Promises: the Dismantling of Pakistani Democracy
Martin
Smith
Norman Mailer and the "Good War"
Jeff
Leys
Slip Sliding Away: House Votes on War Funding
Website
of the Day
Why the Writers are Striking
November
13, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
Hillary's Big Problem and How Bill
Can Fix It
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Mailer and Us: the Writer as Fighter
Robert
Bryce
The Pakistan Fuel Connection
David
Macaray
The Teamsters and the Hollywood Strike
Mike
Whitney
Bulletins from the Titanic
Ralph
Nader
Pakistani Lawyers vs. American Lawyers
Nikolas
Kozloff
Chavez Blasts the Spanish King
Jordan
Flaherty
Education Versus Incarceration in Tallulah, Louisiana
B.
R. Gowani
Dear Mrs. Bhutto
Website
of the Day
Monty Python: "Fuck You, Very Much FCC"
November
12, 2007
Vicente
Navarro
Why Hillary's Health Care Plan Really
Failed
Ben
Brown
Letter from Ho Chi Minh City: a Tribute to My Vietnam Vet Father
Omar
K.
A Pakistani Lawyer's Testimony: Life Under the Brutal Emergency
Sadia
Abbas
The Roots of Pakistan's Political Crisis: Corrupt Elites and
a Kleptocratic Military
Farzana
Versey
Mailer's Miasma
Richard
W. Behan
The Political Crimes of Complicity
Paul
Krassner
Asshole of the Year: Congratulations Tim Russert!
Cindy
Sheehan
Faith and War
Peter
Stone Brown
The Return of Levon Helm
Dave
Lindorff
Dennis, You are Not Alone
Website
of the Day
Police Attack in Olympia
November
10 / 11, 2007
Alain
Gresh
Uncle Sam's New Backyard: How to Turn
a Region into a Graveyard
Mike
Whitney
For Whom the Closing Bell Tolls: the Last Dead Bull on Wall Street
Ron
Jacobs
A View from the Pakistani Left: an Interview with Farooq Tariq
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The First Dambuster: a Coyote Story
Alan
Farago
Tangled Up in Blue: a Brief History of Florida Environmentalism
Binoy
Kampmark
When Language Drowns: Torture in America
Robert
Fantina
Legitimizing Torture
Fred
Gardner
Psychological Torture in the Name of Family Values
Ayesha
Ijaz Khan
The General in His Labyrinth
Nicola
Nasser
NATO's Southward Drift
Philip
Rizk
The Blame Game in Gaza
Michael
Dickinson
Condom Nation: the Pope vs. Terry Higgins
Joel
S. Hirschhorn
The Grand Delusion: a Conspiracy of Two Parties
Paul
Krassner
Flunking Out of the Electoral College
Wadner
Pierre /
Joe Emersberger
The Ongoing War on Journalists in Haiti
November
9, 2007
Patrick
Cockburn
In the Kandil Mountains with the
PKK
Mohammed
Hanif
Musharraf and the Drunk Uncle
John
Ross
Blackwater Goes to Mexico
Mike
Whitney
Ron Paul, Big Media's Invisible Candidate
Tom
Barry
In Latin America, the Hillary Clinton Policy is the Bush Policy
Corporate
Crime Reporter
Is the AFL Trying to Derail Single Payer Health Care?
Badruddin
Khan
Pakistan and the Israel Lobby
David
Macaray
The WGA STrike: the Empire Strikes Back
Martha
Rosenberg
The Blood Sport of Vice Presidents
Website
of the Day
Stryker Blockade!
November
8, 2007
Kathleen
& Bill Christison
Meeting the Other in Israel and
Palestine
William
Loren Katz
Waterboarding in American History
Mike
Whitney
The Long Fall: a Market Without Parachutes
Sheldon
Richman
Why Woodstock May Have Saved John McCain's Life
Liaquat
Ali Khan
Solidarity with Pakistan's Lawyers
Marc
Gardner
The Victims of "Jessica's Law": Parolees Without Rights
(or Homes)
Jackie
Corr
The Big Fish from Whitefish: Montana, the Last Retreat of the
Investment Banker?
Brenda
Norrell
Between Bombs and Border Walls
Dave
Lindorff
Ridiculing Impeachment at the New York Times
China
Hand
Rewriting the History of the Sudan Calamity
Sen.
Russ Feingold
FISA and America's Basic Freedoms: Let's Not Repeat the Mistakes
of the Patriot Act
Website
of the Day
The Welfare Poets Meet Hugo Chavez
November
7, 2007
Paul
Craig Roberts
Dollar's Fall Collapses the American
Empire
Russell
Mokhiber
Pelosi and Me: Can't the Democrats End the War By Not Bringing
the Funding Bill to the Floor?
Vijay
Prashad
The Apotheosis of Bobby Jindal
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
Educating Pakistan: What Mukasey Can Teach Musharraf
Alan
Farago
To Bee or Not to Bee? The Politics of Colony Collapse
David
Macaray
The Writers' Guild Strike: Is There an Ice-Breaker?
Nikolas
Kozloff
The Case of the Slimy Senator: Chuck Schumer Greenlights Mukasey
Charlotte
Laws
What We Learned from Stephen Colbert's Presidential Campaign
Daniel
White
Zahid's Story
William
Cook
The Politics of Servility: Congress and the Israel Lobby
Website
of the Day
Safe Lawns
November
6, 2007
Mike
Whitney
Welcome to Year 27 of the Reagan
Revolution
Ralph
Nader
Who Determines the Price of Oil?
Andy
Worthington
The Torture of Ali al-Marri
Pam
Martens
Wall Street Metes Out Street Justice to Citigroup
Liaquat
Ali Khan
Pakistan's Dark Future
William
Schroder
The Return of Water Torture
Stephen
Lendman
Punishing Gaza
William
Blum
Cuba and Original Sin
Former
US Intelligence Officers
A Memo on Torture, Intelligence and Mukasey
November
5, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
How I Spent the Eighth Brumaire
Russell
Mokhiber
Pelosi and Me: The Democrats and Single Payer
David
Macaray
How to Turn Workers Against Each Other (and Make Them All Poorer)
Gary
Leupp
General Musharaff's "State of Emergency"
Dave
Lindorff
Those Minot Nukes
Ludwig
Watzal
Israel's Dilemma in Palestine
Patrick
Cockburn
Tensions Ease in Iraqi Kurdistan
Peter
Stone Brown
John Fogerty Makes Peace with His Past
Michael
Simmons
Yo! What Happened to Peace?
Website
of the Day
Petition: In Defense of the Morton West HS Antiwar Students
November
3 / 4, 2007
Tariq
Ali
Pakistan Sinks Deeper into Night
David
Price
Army's Price Salesman of Counterinsurgency
Manual Seeks to Defend Stolen Scholarship
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Splitsville
Alan
Farago
The Housing Crash, Suburban Sprawl and the Crisis of the American
Middle Class
Paul
Krassner
He's Back! Don Imus Meets Michael Richards
Rannie
Amiri
Why the U.S. is Safeguarding Iraq's War Criminals
P.
Sainath
Indexing Humanity, Indian Style
Ayesha
Ijaza Khan
Pakistan in a Daze
Robert
Fantina
Is the Bush Administration Talking Itself Into a War With Iran?
Seth
Sandronsky
The Politics of Health Care in California
Ron
Jacobs
The Bebop of Baraka
Ramzy
Baroud
A Case for Arab Dignity
Heather
Gray
When Capitalists Get a Free Ride
November
2, 2007
Dr.
Mary Pipher
Acting on Conscience: Psychologists
and Abusive Interrogations
Saul
Landau
How Pete Stark Became a Pariah
Andy
Worthington
Guantánamo as House Arrest
Sharon
Smith
A Tale of Two Stadiums
Gary
Leupp
Fascist Beatifications: the History and Politics of Sainthood
Gregory
Harms
The Chorus of Slander on Palestine
Christopher
Brauchli
Racism in High Places
Peter
Morici
The Falling Dollar and the Stubborn Trade Deficit
Dave
Lindorff
The Easy Way to Stop the Looming US Attack on Iran
David
Penner
Zombie Nation
Website
of the Day
Fall in Yosemite
November
1, 2007
Paul
Craig Roberts
The Wages of Hegemony
Patrick
Cockburn
The Most Dangerous Dam in the World
Dave
Lindorff
The Air Force Report on the Minot-Barksdale Nuclear Missile Flight
Jonathan
Feldman
The Strange Political Economy of Death in the South
Mike
Ferner
They Met the Resistance in Iraq
William
S. Lind
A Question for Would-Be Presidents
Diana
Johnstone
"Fascislamism" Versus "Shoah Business"
Jacob
Hornberger
The War on Telephone Privacy
A..K.
Gupta
The Apocalypse will be Televised
Lyuba
Zarsky /
Kevin Gallagher
The Enclave Economy of Mexico's Silicon Valley
Felice
Pace
Does the SPLC Equate Anti-Zionism with Anti-Semitism?
Website
of the Day
This One's for You, Ed Abbey
October
31, 2007
Bill
Quigley
New Orleans' Broken Criminal Justice
System
Rev.
William E. Alberts
A Trail of American Blood: From the White House to CBS News
Ray
McGovern
Attacking Iran for Israel
Eric
Walberg
Poisonous Espionage: Litvinenko and the New Cold War
V.
G. Smith
The Second Death of Guy Môquet
Luis
J. Rodriguez
"Social Cleansing" from Guatemala to LA
Sheldon
Richman
Bush has Time to Run the World
Walter
Brasch
A Real Halloween Scare
Website
of the Day
Boogie Rocks!
October 30, 2007
David
Price
Pilfered Scholarship Devastates Gen.
Petraeus's Counterinsurgency Manual
M.
Shahid Alam
The Pakistan Question
Andy
Worthington
The Epiphany of Matthew Waxman: a Government Insider Turns Against
Gitmo
Patrick
Cockburn
The Bicycle Bomber of Baquba
Anthony
Papa
The Twisted Logic of Drug Laws
Floyd
Rudmin
What "All Options are on the Table" Really Means
Sherwood
Ross
Giuliani and Torture
Website
of the Day
The Worst Lobby? You Decide
October
29, 2007
Lisa
Hajjar
Inside Israel's Military Courts
Joe
DeRaymond
The Politics of Lethal Injections
Patrick
Cockburn
The High Stakes in Iraqi Kurdistan
Isabella
Kenfield /
Roger Burbach
Corporate Murder in Brazil
Fred
Gardner
The Frivolous Investigation of Dr. Sterner
Farzana
Versey
Caricaturing Islam
Stephen
Fleischman
The Greening of the Oligarchy
Marcelle
Cendrars
The Congressional Rip Cord
Eamonn
McCann
Dan Keating, the Last of the Republican Irreconcilables
Martha
Rosenberg
For Halloween, Ann Coulter Dresses as .... Ann Coulter!
Website
of the Day
Campaign 2008
October
27 / 28, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
So Much for Islamo-Fascism Awareness
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The Dam That Isn't There
James
Bovard
Breaking Down an Innocent Man: The FBI's Right to Threaten Torture
Ralph
Nader
Beyond the Rule of Law
M.
Reza Pirbhai
The Wahhabis are Coming, the Wahhabis are Coming!
Robert
Sandels
Pay the Invaders! Cuba, Claims and Confiscations
Jacob
G. Hornberger
Ruling By Decree
Missy
Beattie
The Arsonists in the West Wing
John
Ross
U.S. Eyes on Oaxaca
Robert
Fantina
Condi Rice, the Imperial Cheerleader
Ron
Jacobs
Labor at the Crossroads
Ali
Moayedian
In Search of Logic About Iran
David
Michael Green
What If We Had a President Who Didn't Give a Damn About Terrorism?
Poets
Basement
Block, Davies and Ford
Website
of the Day
Bring 'Em Home: a Music Video
October
26, 2007
Brian
Cloughley
Revenging Bloodshed
Saul
Landau
Portrait of Rudy
Ahmad
Al-Akras
Getting Justice in the HLF Case
Franklin
Lamb
Does "Loving" Lebanon Mean Never Having to Say You're
Sorry?
Mike
Whitney
Murdoch's Cuckoo's Nest
Dave
Lindorff
Home of the Brave? Reducing US Casualties By Killing More Civilians
Alan
Farago
A Castro Behind Every Bush
Yifat
Susskind
Conscripting Feminism into the War on Terror
Website
of the Day
Dead Life in a Political Prison
October 25, 2007
Jeffrey
St. Clair /
Joshua Frank
Iraq's Environmental Crisis
Manuel
Garcia, Jr.
Homes of the Crash Test Dummies
Paul
Craig Roberts
The Fraudulent War on Terror
Col.
Dan Smith
The Politics of Paranoia: Jane Harman's War on the First Amendment
Alan
Farago
The Way to Paradise?
Chris
Kutalik
The Lesson of the Chrysler Rebels
Brian
McKinlay
John Howard and the Curse of Bush
Cindy
Sheehan
Pete, Nancy, George and WW III
Website
of the Day
Support the America's Program!
October
24, 2007
Natalie
Washington-Weik
White Fantasies About Race-Based
Intelligence
Andy
Worthington
The Guantánamo Suicides
Michael
Birmingham
What Happened in Nahr Al Bared?
Corporate
Crime Reporter
The Nuclear Democrats
Tariq
Ali
Bush's Cuba Detour
Farzana
Versey
Imagining Serfdom in a Scarf
Dave
Zirin
White Noise
James
Murren
What "Support Our Troops" Means
Todd
Chretien
Looking Reality in the Face
Martha
Rosenberg
What Came First, the Chicken or
the Cage?
Website
of the Day
Hillary Clinton on Nuclear Power
October
23, 2007
Ralph
Nader
Bush's Catastrophic Rhetoric
Lawrence
R. Velvel
Goldsmith Stands Convicted--By His Own Mouth: How a Harvard Law
Professor Justified Rendition at the Bush Justice Dept.
Vijay
Prashad
The Nuke Deal is Dead
Bonnie
Bricker /
Adil E. Shamoo
The True Cost of War for Oil
Dave
Lindorff
Christopher Dodd's Make or Break Moment
Mike
Whitney
The Big Squeeze
Farzana
Versey
Race with the Devil
Stanley
Heller /
Ben George
Something New from the Antiwar Movement
Marcelle
Cendrars
You Too Can Confront the Holy Executive
Regan
Boychuk
Burma and Haiti: Comparing the Media Response
Website
of the Day
King Corn
October
22, 2007
Ishmael
Reed
Should Blacks Go Green?
Marjorie
Cohn
Mukasey and the Constitution: Another Loyal Bushie
Rannie
Amiri
Is There a Method to Bush's Middle East Madness?
Diane
Farsetta
Time to Pay for Payola: the FCC and Pundit-for-Hire Armstrong
Williams
Todd
Alan Price
Renewing No Child Left Behind: A Hurricane Katrina Aimed at Public
Education
Robert
Jensen
The Quagmire of Masculinity
Stephen
Lendman
The UAW Leadership Sells Out Its Workers
Jemima
Khan
The Kleptocrat in an Hermes Headscarf
Sunsara
Taylor
David Horowitz Can't Handle the Truth
Binoy
Kampmark
No Ideas, Please: the Australian Elections
Website
of the Day
Support the Center for International Policy
October
20 / 21, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
The Man Who Builds Hillaryworld
Tariq
Ali
A Massacre Foretold
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Greetings from Echo Park
Andy
Worthington
The Shame of Diego Garcia
Mike
Whitney
Housing Flameout
Daniel
Wolff
Play It As It Lays
David
Rosen
Deviants on Parade: Folsom St. Fair and America's 4th Sexual
Revolution
Saul
Landau
David and Goliath in Iraq
Ron
Jacobs
COINTELPRO and the Panthers
Robert
Fantina
The Strange Love of Mitt Romney and Bob Jones
David
Heleniak
Erring on the Side of Hidden Harm
Joe
Allen
Hoffa Brown-Nosing at UPS
Prairie
Miller
Lions for Lambs
Poets'
Basement
Gibbons, Holt and Buknatski
Website
of the Weekend
Crash!
October
19, 2007
John
Ross
Che's Mexican Legacy
Sheldon
Rampton
Shared Values Revisited: a Case Study in the Limits of Propaganda
Rahul
Mahajan
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Davis
Deadly Secrets: Chemical Pollution and Cancer
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Brauchli
Blasphemous Science
Wadner
Pierre
Haiti After the Deluge
Bill
Quigley
Jailed for Justice
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of the Day
Textbook Sticker Shock
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18, 2007
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Academic Freedom is at Risk
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Dwyer
What I Learned from 9/11: Who Wouldn't Want Us Dead?
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Rea
Sketches of Russian Life
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Solomon
The United States of Violence
Kristoffer
Larsson
Something is Rotten in Sweden
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Wasserman
Nukes are Back and So are We
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Eve Ensler: "A Filibuster Would Stop This War"
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17, 2007
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Counter-Insurgency, American-Style
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Worthington
The Case of Mohamed Jawad
Alan
Farago
The Credit Shock
Russell
Mokhiber
The New Billionaire-Criminal Class
Sharon
Smith
Democrats, AWOL When It Mattered
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Whitney
Time for the Banks to Face the Hangman
Robert
Fantina
Iraq, Iran and the US: Business as Usual
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Irwin
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of the Day
Sex Ed at Oral Roberts University
October
16, 2007
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Linebaugh
Doris Lessing and the Dynamite
Prize
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Findley
Follow the Leader: The Open Secret About the Israel Lobby
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Bryce
Inconvenient Corrections: Al Gore's Wacky Facts
Uri
Avnery
The Mother of All Pretexts
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Craig Roberts
The Iraqi Genocide
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McGovern
What Did Nancy Pelosi Know About NSA Spying and When Did She
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Solomon
The Pro-War Undertow of the Blackwater Scandal
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The Curse of Cymbalta
William
S. Lind
Out of the Frying Pan
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S. Hirschborn
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|
November
30, 2007
"I Had to
Rearrange Their Faces and Give Them All Another Name"
The
Re-Packaging of Bob Dylan
By PETER STONE BROWN
The autumn of 2007 saw the marketing
of Bob Dylan by Sony/BMG like no previous year. Of course promotion
has happened every time Dylan releases anything, but this year
smacked of product with a corporate touch. Sometime around the
end of the summer, visitors to Dylan's official website, BobDylan.com
were greeted not by the usual home page but by a page proclaiming
in huge letters that essentially took up the entire screen, "Dylan
07," which turned out to be a new retrospective set spanning
Dylan's career. Actually the album is simply titled "Dylan,"
and is available in three formats, a single disc sampler, a 3
CD digipak, and a cloth-bound box set. An I-tunes bonus was a
remix by Mark Ronson of the Blonde On Blonde classic,
"Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)." All
this was accompanied by invitations to fans to send in stories,
participate in a video, and add their own slogans to the cards
Dylan tosses away in the "Subterranean Homesick Blues"
video. At the bottom of the page was a slogan: EVERYTHING EXCEPT
COMPROMISE. To long-time Dylan fans, it seemed exactly like compromise.
On various the Dylan internet
forums across the Internet, the reaction was generally negative,
with threads along the lines of "Who isn't buying Dylan
O7?" Most fans had everything on it several times over and
there were no outtakes or new live tracks included. Only a completist
would buy this one. This set was obviously intended for those
who came aboard for Dylan's last studio release, Modern Times.
Not lost in all this was the
announcement of a new Dylan DVD, chronicling Dylan's performances
at the Newport Folk Festival, from 1963 to 1965. Filmed by Murray
Lerner who directed the '60s Newport documentary, Festival,
this was Sony/BMG's gift to the fans, as it promised full-length
versions of songs briefly sampled in Festival as well
as many other not only never seen, but never heard but never
heard as well legendary 1965 electric set which not only changed
the Newport Folk Festival, but music in general. The track list
was eventually leaked before the DVD was released, and the usual
forums expressed consternation at what wasn't included.
In addition to this was the
impending release of Todd Haynes' not exactly bio pic, I'm
Not There, in which six different actors portray various
aspects of Dylan. Dylan had apparently given his blessing to
the project by granting Haynes song rights and as it turns out
a bit more. Accompanying the film was a two CD soundtrack album,
featuring covers of Dylan songs by a wide assortment of artists
as well as the first official release of the long bootlegged
song "I'm Not There," from the sessions for what eventually
became known as The Basement Tapes.
* *
*
Just as all these were about
to be released, Dylan managed to infuriate his fans (something
he has seemingly delighted in doing his entire career) by appearing
in an ad for the Cadillac Escalade. Cadillac is the sponsor of
his Theme Time  Radio Hour on XM, and the
theme the week they ad appeared was, Cadillac. However as one
perceptive person pointed out in a post to several Dylan forums,
the music in the ad is by Smog (aka Bill Callhan) and the images
in the ad run contrary to what the ad is saying.
The just as the Cadillac furor
was dying down, Dylan records a new version of "A Hard Rain's
A-Gonna Fall" as well as a new video for the International
Exposition on Water and Sustainable Development in Zaragoza,
Spain. Two days before the Expo video appear, people who subscribe
to the official newsletter of Bobdylan.com received an email
"from Bob Dylan" offering discounts on a unisex robe,
a Zippo lighter, and a "camo military hat."
All of the above only helps
to add to Haynes' multi-person concept and while I had lived
through all of Dylan's various changes, I went to see the film
highly skeptical. The various trailers that made their way to
Youtube did little to dissuade me.
I'm Not There ended up being a delightful and intriguing
surprise. By not doing the film in linear fashion, often bouncing
back and forth between time periods, at times in a dizzying manner,
and toying with identity and myth as well as and fact and fiction,
Haynes has managed to capture Dylan. I am usually a stickler
for historical accuracy, but in this case it doesn't matter that
quotes that took place in 1965 are placed in 1966, that Dylan
didn't actually meet Allen Ginsberg in England in 1966 (it happened
long before that) or that the character representing Dylan's
manager at the time, Albert Grossman didn't fight with the character
representing Pete Seeger. (In reality he fought with Alan Lomax
and it was concerning Lomax's introduction to the Paul Butterfield
Blues Band, not Dylan.) Just like Dylan's music, it's the feel
that matters and the feel is of being inside a Dylan song for
a couple of hours.
Haynes made some brilliant
casting decisions including the choice of the young black actor
Marcus Carl Franklin to represent the young Dylan named "Woody
Guthrie." Watching him I couldn't help but recall the descriptions
of early Dylan by New York Times critic, Robert Shelton,
who not only gave Dylan his first big break, by reviewing him
when he was an opening act
Not quite as successful is
Christian Bale as "Jack Rollins," the folk/protest
singer. Bale is too straight forward, and lacks the intensity
Dylan generated as well as his humor. The same can be said for
Mason Jennings who provides the musical performances during Bale's
early folk segments. Bale does succeed in mimicking Dylan's restless,
nervousness during a TV interview based on Dylan's 1964 appearance
on the Steve Allen show, where Allen dragged on and on with interminable
questions treating Dylan as something of a freak in the process.
Sometimes two actors will overlap
during the same period of time. Ben Whishaw as Dylan/Arthur Rimbaud
and Cate Blanchett as Dylan/Jude Quinn both represent 1965/1966.
Heath Ledger as Dylan/Robbie Clark and Richard Gere as Dylan/Billy
the Kid cover the late '60s, early '70s. Ledger appears playing
a Dylan-like character in a film during the '60s and Bale reappears
as the born again Dylan of the late '70s, early '80s.
Whishaw is kind of a commentator
on the proceedings, and his setting which never changes is based
on the legendary televised San Francisco 1965 press conference.
The majority of Blanchett's scenes portray the stoned and amphetamine
driven Dylan of '66 who mostly spoke in absurdities. Bordering
exaggeration, she captures both the vocal mannerisms and the
marionette aspects of Dylan's physical movements during that
time.
Ledger portrays clean cut the
family man Dylan following the 1966 motorcycle accident, who
was trying to escape his past and perhaps himself as much as
possible. The epitome of this is a fictional scene that could
be the Café Espresso in Woodstock sitting with his wife
and another couple, where the man has to be based on singer/guitarist
and Dylan friend from the Village Folkie days, Happy Traum. In
1968, Dylan did his first post-accident interview in Sing
Out! (the folksong magazine) with John Cohen and Traum who
was the magazine's editor at the time. Traum futilely tries to
engage Dylan in discussing the war in Vietnam and Dylan is oblique
at best, commenting "How do you know I'm not as you say,
for the war?" In the movie, this character tries to coax
an unsympathetic and evasive Rollins to take a stance and is
met with hostile resistance.
The closest Dylan (in real
life) ever came to some sort of a stance on the war was his name
was listed as being on the board of directors for the benefit
concert, Sing-In for Peace at Carnegie Hall in the fall of 1965,
meaning he helped fund it. Of course a good case could be made
for the war being present in the songs and in one of the more
comical scenes in the film, Lyndon Johnson is seen mouthing words
to "Tombstone Blues." Nonetheless the war is present
in the movie. The character representing Jack Rollins' wife is
continually watching news reports of the war on TV and as Nixon
announces the war's end, she announces the end of the marriage,
something that is roughly accurate time-wise and one of Hayne's
surprising insights.
Gere portrays the darker, dream
mode Dylan, the creatively lost Dylan, but one who still sees.
On one hand he looks too old, too wizened for the part but in
his role as the seer, it works. The time frame is murky and confusing.
However in the early '70s, there were a few years where Dylan
was barely creating new songs. His appearance in Sam Peckinpah's
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid signaled the end of that
period and a few months later Dylan's 1974 return to the stage
which is not covered in the film was announced.
In this segment Billy/Dylan
is at first walking with his dog who runs away, and wanders into
the town of Riddle (mentioned earlier by the young Guthrie Dylan)
where it Halloween all the time and the characters range from
Shakespearian to cowboys to medieval clowns and carnival sideshow
freaks. Many of the characters, their names as well as the lines
they speak are right out of The Basement Tapes. as well
as the much later Rolling Thunder Revue. The town is controlled
by a fictional Pat Garrett who wants to put a highway through
the middle of the town and "Billy" wearing a plastic
mask reminiscent of the one Dylan wears in the opening song of
his film Renaldo & Clara is forced to take a stand.
However in this particular segment it's the vision, the made-up,
costumed townspeople that's as important if not more important
than the storyline, perhaps signaling that the spark is still
there, waiting to be unleashed. Ultimately "Billy"
is arrested, breaks free, leaves town, finds his dog who stays
behind as he hops a freight train and finds the same guitar case
the young Dylan early in the film was carrying.
Somewhere in the middle of
this, the born again segment is thrown in which is possibly the
one time the film (to me) fails, precisely because it feels like
it was thrown in, almost as if Haynes knew he had to work it
in, but wasn't sure how.
Following the born again scenes,
is where "Billy" finds the guitar case, but before
that the film flashes again to the Blanchett Dylan riding in
a limo explaining the myth and mystery of folk music in somewhat
absurdist terms, and then as Gere picks up the guitar, suddenly
Bob Dylan himself from 1966, in footage from his film, Eat
The Document appears playing a wonderfully wild harp solo
on "Mr. Tambourine Man" while a crowd of people at
the obviously full hall listen on speakers placed outside. A
fitting conclusion. Though the post gospel era Dylan is not represented,
the lengthy rap on traditional music covers much of what Dylan
has done in the last 20 years onstage and on record, he re-explored
the traditional music that initially inspired him.
But the scenario does not capture
the film. Beautifully filmed, alternating between black and white
and color, almost every scene pays homage to a known photo or
a (Dylan) film scene as well as referencing a host of other movies
and virtually every line (or so it would seem) is from a song,
a poem, an interview, or a previous Dylan film. That they're
often mixed up time-wise, or who originally said them for
instance, when the character representing Albert Grossman is
actually speaking the words of Phil Ochs when he says, "It's
too dangerous for him to go on stage" doesn't matter.
It's the effect Haynes is aiming for and it adds up in the end.
If the film has a failing it
that only the diehard fan is going to recognize the references.
I'd be willing to bet as I'm writing this someone somewhere is
hard at work on a website that will eventually catalog and annotate
the origin of every scene and every line.
At the same time it is why
the film works as a convincing portrait because all of Dylan's
work is loaded with references whether musical, literary, cinematic,
historic or spiritual. It's why his work has been analyzed and
dissected for four decades and more than likely will be for decades
to come.
Not to be forgotten is Haynes' use of Dylan's music, often by
Dylan himself and far more than the soundtrack album would lead
you to believe. Again Haynes goes for mood more than anything
else and one of the more revealing things he does is to songs
from the past decade to punctuate scenes from 40 years ago, making
you think of those songs in a new light. Two songs used in the
period they were written are particularly effective, "Ballad
of a Thin Man" used in tandem with an obnoxious reporter
and "Idiot Wind" in the scene depicting the end of
the fictional marriage. Interestingly enough the version of "Idiot
Wind" used is the more meditative outtake version from the
original sessions for Blood On The Tracks which was eventually
released on The Bootleg Series, Volumes 1-3.
What is also remarkable about
Hayne's achievement is the number of classic songs that are nowhere
to be found, for instance "Blowin' In The Wind."
Dylan of course has attempted
to explore the same territory in the much maligned, perhaps over
ambitious Renaldo & Clara and to a degree in the more
recent Masked And Anonymous. In the former he jokingly
cast Ronnie Hawkins as Bob Dylan, while he played Renaldo. My
brief impression of that movie was that every male character
represented Bob Dylan. In Masked And Anonymous, he portrayed
an imprisoned ex-rock singer named Jack Fate, and my impression
was that movie was more about what was happening in the background
than the actual storyline. Dylan's never really succeeded onscreen
as an actor portraying someone else. At the same time he's been
great at playing the ever changing role of Bob Dylan for well
over 40 years, and that most of all is what Haynes captures.
By comparison the impact of
Murray Lerner's The Other Side of the Mirror is tame.
But it does provide not only an excellent glimpse of what Dylan
was like as a performer at the beginning of his career and chronicles
the astounding changes he went through as both performer and
song writer in three years. The changes in his physical appearance
are obvious as well as he goes from the bumbling comical kid
in loose fitting clothes who takes several tries to get a capo
on his guitar correctly to the total professional of 1965, in
a well cut sports jacket.
Once he starts singing however,
the performances are for the most part riveting. In 1963 the
standouts are the rarely played "North Country Blues"
and "Only A Pawn In Their Game." Dylan came to Newport
as one of a bunch of young topical singer-songwriters playing
in Greenwich Village and left a star in the folk world. This
was the Dylan I first saw a few months later, a week after the
Kennedy assassination playing a sparsely attended concert at
the Mosque Theater in Newark, New Jersey. Included is the all
(folk) star version of "Blowin' In The Wind" where
Dylan is joined by Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Peter, Paul and Mary
and the Freedom singers. Also included are a couple of duets
with Joan Baez, one of which, "With God On Our Side,"
was included on the Vanguard album of 1963, Newport Broadside.
As for the Baez duets (two more are included in the 1964 segment,
one a brief reprise of "With God On Our Side," let's
just say that when the reunited a little over a decade later
for the Rolling Thunder Revue, they were far more rehearsed and
had learned how to sing with each other. Also on the Broadside
album was a duet with Pete Seeger on "Playboys and Playgirls"
which is not in the film. The cover of the DVD case is a replica
of the Jules Halfant design of the cover of Newport Broadside.
By 1964, the protest singer
Dylan is nowhere to be found, except for the Baez duet. Instead
he sings two new songs, a beautiful "Mr. Tambourine Man"
at an afternoon topical songs "workshop" and an astonishing
though slightly edited "Chimes of Freedom" at the evening
concert. On the latter song, you can see the delight in Dylan's
eyes as he sings. It's almost as if he can't believe he wrote
the words he's singing. It was these performances that caused
Sing Out! editor Irwin Silber to write his "Open
Letter to Bob Dylan" in the issue following the festival
that chastised Dylan for singing "inner directed, inner
probing songs" instead of protesting. Following "Chimes,"
the audience to the consternation of emcee Peter Yarrow refuses
to leave calling for an encore for at least five minutes. Finally
Dylan reappears, jokingly says, "It's a time thing,"
and tells the audience he loves them.
The inner probing Dylan is
still there in 1965, performing acoustic versions of "All
I Really Want To Do," which opens the film (the remainder
is mostly chronological) "Love Minus Zero/No Limit"
and "If You Gotta Go." By this time Dylan is a seasoned
professional, though the friendly interaction with the audience
which is in all the previous performances is much in evidence.
At the beginning of Dylan's afternoon segment, Yarrow again tells
the audience that following Dylan's set they have to "split
as quickly as possible" because they're already overtime
and holding up the next workshop. If you watch real closely,
Dylan says, "Who says?" while he's putting on his guitar.
Unfortunately missing from this segment is the debut of "Tombstone
Blues."
The action quickly switches
to an electric rehearsal sound check where a shirtless Yarrow's
clueless-ness (and that's being kind) is all too evident. As
they start to play he stops them reprimanding them to not only
check but remember their sound levels. Dylan and the members
of the Paul Butterfield band plus Al Kooper are jokingly ignoring
him as Butterfield sitting on a wall watches in the background.
Then suddenly it's nighttime
and they're into "Maggie's Farm" with Bloomfield's
guitar dominating. Dylan is totally confident and assured. At
the songs conclusion loud booing is heard. This booing (also
heard in the brief film clip used in Martin Scorcese's No
Direction Home is not evident on any of the bootleg recordings
of the show. Then skipping "Phantom Engineer" (an early
version of "It Takes A Lot To Laugh") they're into
the live debut of "Like A Rolling Stone" which was
already a hit on Top 40 radio stations. During the song you can
hear an equal mix of booing and cheering and at the song's somewhat
stumbling conclusion, Yarrow again tries to placate the crowd
saying, "Bobby thought he only had a certain amount of time."
Yarrow clearly does not know what to say, and then says, "Bobby's
coming back, he's getting his acoustic guitar." Dylan, putting
on an acoustic guitar shoots him a look that one would not want
to be the receiver of. Dylan seeming unfazed returns for "Mr.
Tambourine Man." Unprepared to be doing an acoustic set,
he asks the crowd for an E harmonica, and you can hear the thud
of several harps being thrown on stage. Dylan then offers his
appropriate farewell to Newport, "It's All Over Now Baby
Blue." The Newport Folk Festival continued for a few more
years and then was resurrected a couple of decades later. It
never really recovered though and for all intents and purposes
it was the end of the folk music movement of the '60s.
As for the albums, the I'm
Not There soundtrack is a huge cover album. It's interesting
for the songs it doesn't have (many of the standard classics
are missing) as for the songs it does have. Many of the songs
are drastically rearranged, but hell Dylan himself does that
every night. Some of the arrangements are interesting for what
they add to the song, others fail completely. Some of the songs
that are actually in the film such as Tom Verlaine's "Cold
Irons Bound" work in the context of the film, but fall flat
on record. Others are just too damned pretty. To sing Dylan,
you need to sing with a certain amount of intensity, power and
grit. The Band for instance knew how to do it. Too often that
intensity is missing.
Occasionally the musicians
sound like they're having fun, as Yo La Tengo clearly are on
"I Wanna Be Your Lover." And fun is an important ingredient.
As Levon Helm once told me during an interview, "If you
ain't havin' fun, it ain't worth a shit." And Dylan clearly
likes to have fun both on record and in concert. Again one of
the great things about the Newport video of "Chimes of Freedom"
is that as serious as the song is, he's having fun singing it.
The two other songs that really
work for me other than Dylan singing "I'm Not There,"
which is simply one of the greatest things he ever did even if
half the words are gibberish he's making up as he's going along,
are Los Lobos' excellent version of "Billy 1" from
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, and Jim Jones and Calexico's
"Goin' To Acapulco" from the Basement Tapes.
The horn arrangement perfectly adds to the song, and Jones' soulful
vocal makes the song his own.
The box set Dylan is sort of
okay if you want to introduce somebody to Dylan's music. Programmed
chronologically (though "It's All Over Now Baby Blue"
is out of place, the album with the most songs included is Freewheelin'.
Several important albums have one song and Saved is ignored
entirely. The hits and near hits are all included and one could
quibble forever about what's not included. For every song on
there, another could easily take it's place. However there is
one serious omission, the song many consider to be the greatest
of all, where poetry, mood and tension all add up to one starting
narrative, "Visions of Johanna."
Peter Stone Brown is a musician, songwriter, and writer.
He can be reached at: psb51@verizon.net
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