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Today's
Stories
August 5, 2004
Peter Linebaugh
Doing Time for Political Crime:
Paul and Silas, Bound in Jail
August
4, 2004
Mickey
Z.
Two Traditions: WMD and Disinformation
Justin
Huggler
The Hunt for Bin Laden
John
Ross
Mexico's Dirty War Never Ended: Inside
Puente Grande Prison
August 3, 2004
Uri Avnery
The
Oligarchs
Ray McGovern
The 9/11 Commission Chimera
Jack McCarthy
Sexual Politics in Jeb's Florida
Eric Ruder
Meet Barak Obama: the Democrats' New Liberal Star
John L. Hess
Crying Wolf: Orange Alert!
Elaine Cassel
Civil Liberties Elections: 1800 v. 2004
Jules Rabin
The Man Who Didn't Walk By
Website of the Day
No Wall
August 2, 2004
Robert Jensen
Kerry's
Hypocrisy on the Vietnam War
Joshua Frank
Greens, Kerry and the Politics of Mendacity
Mike Whitney
The 9/11 Commission and Civil Liberties: "We Need an American
Police State"
Gary Leupp
Beyond
Good and Evil: Some Thoughts on Invasions
July 31 / Aug.
1, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Kerry:
He's the (Any) One
Merlin Chowkwanyun
Five Questions with Noam Chomsky: "The Savage Extreme of
a Narrow Policy Spectrum"
David Lindorff
The Shame of the DNC
John Chuckman
The
Disturbing Words of John Edwards
Brian Cloughley
All Slam and No Dunk; All Blame and No Responsibility
Christopher Brauchli
"Being Poor is a State of Mind": the Frowning Face
of Compassionate Conservatism
Fred Gardner
A World of Pain
Michael Donnelly
How Big Pharma Bilks the Elderly
David Nally
Genocide in Darfur?
Joshua Frank
Forest Battles Escalate in Oregon
Sam Bahour
Colin Powell and My Grandmother
Diane Farsetta
The IMF and the Indonesian Elections: The Invisible Hand in the
Voting Booth
Harold Gould
Was Iraq a Mutual Charade?
Van Bergen / Stephens
Election 9/11: Surreal Political Theater
Lee Sustar
A New Model for the Labor Movement?
Ron Jacobs
The Lost Art of Hitchhiking
M. Junaid Alam
An Interview with Palestinian-American Rapper, The Iron Sheik
Poets Basement
Albert, Ford, Krieger, St. Clair
Website of
the Weekend
Cross Cultural Poetics
July 30, 2004
Kolhatkar /
Ingalls
Shattering
Illusions: Kerry's Speech Tells Anti-War Activists They're Not
Wanted
Dave Lindorff
Murder
Not So Foul?
Bruce Jackson
Walt Whitman on the Sound of Wolf Blitzer's Voice
Fidel Castro
The
Pathology of George W. Bush
Maximilien Robespierre
Memo to Kerry and Bush: Why They Resist
Saul Landau
Bush
Charges Castro with Sex Tourism; JFK Rolls Over in His Grave
Sex, Drugs & the Blues!
Serpents in the Garden
CounterPunch's
Sizzling New Book on Culture and Sex is Now Available
Click here to purchase
July 29, 2004
Cockburn /
St. Clair
Hail,
the Conquering War Criminal: What Kerry Really Did in Vietnam
Frank Bardacke
What
Michael Moore Left Out of F9/11
Tom Barry
Shallow and Formulaic: Kerry's Latin America Plan
Ron Jacobs
Kerry
and Lennon: Hawking the CounterCulture
Robert Fisk
The Unreported War
Lichtman /
Kellis-Borok
What Kerry Must Do to Win (But Probably Won't)
William S. Lind
The 9/11 Commission Report: Cashing in on Failure
CounterPunch
Wire
Doonesbury Onto John Kerry in 1971!
Website of
the Day
Jabbing JibJab: Copyright Madness
July 28, 2004
Robert Fisk
The
Occupation at 114 Degrees: Baghdad is Swamped in the Smell of
the Dead
Kevin Mink
Kerry's Misperception of Palestine
Ray McGovern
Israel and the Iraq War: How the 9/11 Report Soft-Pedals Root
Causes
United for
Peace & Justice
An
Open Letter to John Kerry: Winter Soldiers and Summer Patriots
Mike Ferner
Vets Demand End to Occupation: "Pull the Troops or Face
Impeachment Mvt."
Imraan Siddiqi
Turning Tricks with Ann Coulter
Alexander Cockburn
Candidate
Kerry
Website of
the Day
Iraq Vets Against the War
July 27, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Why
the Democrats Deserve Nader
Dave Lindorff
Back to the 19th Century: Globalization's Coming!
Mike Whitney
Control Room: Inside Al Jazeera
Ali, Anderson, Bello, et al.
If We Were Venezuelan, We'd Vote for Chavez
Stefan Wray
Texas Plan to Grab Los Alamos Takes Hold, as DOE Shuts Down Labs
Louis Proyect
Reflections on Nicaragua: First Came the Contra Butchers, Then
the Sweatshops
Rick Giombetti
Faith in Freedom: the Challenge of Thomas Szasz
Bill and Kathleen
Christison
The
9/11 Report and Its Weak-Kneed Consensus: Dogding Israel/Palestine;
Blinkered on Causes of Terrorism
July 26, 2004
Todd Chretien
Green
Resistance: a Reply to Normon Solomon & Medea Benjamin
Robert Fisk
Terror
by Video
Richard Forno
Security
Theater in Boston: Security Expert Harrassed by DHS for Exposing
Flaws at the Fleet Center
Mitchel Cohen
Report from a Boston Demo: Arresting the Curious
Richard Moreno
Rockers
for Justice: an Interview with Tom Morello and Serj Tankian
Alexander Cockburn
Boston
Awaits a Dead Party
July
24 / 25, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
The Democrats and Their Conventions:
Part One
Dennis
Hans
Those 16 Words Still Smell, Mr. Bush
Patrick
Cockburn
The Struggle for Iraq is Only Beginning
Josh
Frank
The War Path of Unity: Dems Reject
the Peace Movement
Justin
E.H. Smith
Christianity and the Left: the Latin
American Experience
Tariq
Ali
What's at Stake in Venezuela
Fred
Gardner
The Politics of Pot: Year of the
Antagonist
Mark
Scaramella
There's Dope and There's Dope
Ron
Jacobs
The Weather Underground's Prairie
Fire Statement...35 Years On
July
23, 2004
Lee
Sustar
Revolution in Nicaragua: 25 Years
On
Dave
Lindorff
Battle for NYC: Bush 1, Protesters
0
Saul
Landau
Zaniest President in US History: Bush
Beats Reagan
Mike
Whitney
The 9/11 Whitewash: Blaming No One
Mickey
Z
Get On the Bus: 150 Years After Elizabeth
Jennings
Gary
Leupp
The 9/11 Commission and the Looming
War on Iran
July
22, 2004
M.
Junaid Alam
Ten Ways to Build a Better Democrat
Brian
McKinlay
Rusted On Down Under: Howard, Bush and Sharon
Jason
Leopold
Cheney Lobbied for Easing of Sanctions on Terrorist Regimes While
CEO of Halliburton
Chris
Floyd
Mob Rule: Ripping the Lid Off of America's Pious Myths
Uri
Avnery
Chirac v. Sharon
July
21, 2004
Paula
J. Caplan
The Emotional Casualities of War: Psychologists
Can't Heal All the Damage
Joshua
Frank
Nader Sleeping with the Enemy? Let's be Fair
Ron
Jacobs
American Exceptionalism
Reza
Ghorashi
The Elections, Iran and al-Qaeda
Amy
Martin
Will Congress Rearm the Guatemalan Generals?
John
Ross
Bush May Lose, But His Wars Will Go On and On
|
August 5, 2004
The Dem
Plot Against Nader
Florida
Comes to California
By
TODD CHRETIEN
Having
spent the last month helping organize the petition drive to get
Ralph Nader and Peter Camejo on the ballot in California, I'd like
to make two observations and some comments.
1.
There are an appalling number of "liberals" or "progressives"
who are willing to scream and spit in your face (literally) when
you ask them if they'd like to sign a petition so that people who
want to vote for a candidate who opposes the occupation of Iraq
and the Patriot Act will have that right.
Here's
a typical conversation:
Petitioner:
"Excuse me, are you a registered voter in California?
We're
trying to get Ralph Nader on the ballot."
Liberal
Yuppie: "No, no, no!!! You cost Gore the election! F**k you,
b**tch!"
Petitioner:
"We're not asking you to vote for him, just help us get on
the ballot, so that people who would like to vote for him will have
that right."
Liberal
Yuppie: "I don't care about your rights. You're going to hell!"
Apologies
to the faint at heart for the strong language, but for all of Norman
Solomon's conspiracy theories about Nader being a Republican tool,
the reality is that the less than 5% of campaign contributions Nader
has received from individual Republicans (mostly old classmates
and small Arab-American businessmen who voted for Bush in 200, but
now disgusted with Kerry and Bush alike) has absolutely no influence
on the campaign. The real story is that hundreds of left-wing and
progressive people spent the last month collecting tens of thousands
of signatures from ordinary people. We didn't go to Beverly Hills
or Point Reyes. We went to Oakland and San Leandro and Stockton
and East LA and Chico and Sacramento and the Mission in San Franciso
and Santa Cruz and Davis and Butte County and San Diego and everywhere
in between. I'd like to send a warm thanks to everyone here and
across the country who has stood their ground petitioning against
the anti-democratic, and often racist and sexist abuse.
2.
There is an inverse relationship between youth, poverty and oppression
on the one hand and hostility to Nader on the other. Petitioners
encountered the MOST hostility in more middle-class areas, where
indignant liberal yuppies felt perfectly comfortable yelling all
sorts of vulgar insults. In neighborhoods that were poorer, more
working class and more multi-racial, petitioners got a much better
reception. Same goes for younger voters. And in the working class
areas, even those who did not want to sign the petitions tended
to be more respectful and support our right to speak our minds.
These
are generalizations. There are many better off progressive people
who support Nader and there are many young, poor and people of color
who do not. But the trend is unmistakable.
What can we learn from these facts?
The
Democratic Party survives off the passivity and demoralization of
the poorest and most oppressed sections of the working class.
The
Democrats do nothing to challenge the indifference of the poorest
people and youth in the United States to the outcomes of elections,
because they benefit from it. The biggest threat to the Democratic
Party's status as an alternating ruling party is an active, confident
and organized working class. The submission of most of the left
in the United States to the mantra of "Anybody But Bush"
is of enormous importance to maintaining this subjegation.
If
we held an election tomorrow in which everyone (whether or not they
are registered to vote) voted on Bush's, Kerry's and Nader's platforms,
Nader would get 20% or 30% of the vote, if not more. Would that
cost Kerry the election? Probably, but it would also terrify Bush
and paralyze the main stream parties' capacity to march lock-step
down the road of war, prisons and corporate power.
Of
course, there WON'T be that kind of election this year. Why not?
Because the Democrats and the corporate media are doing their best
to stamp out the challenge from Nader. They are determined to destroy
any left-wing opposition today and effectively cripple it for the
future. Unfortunately, they have enlisted many progressive political
people in this campaign. If they succeed in driving Nader/Camejo
from the field, then the likelihood of an election like that EVER
taking place will be set back tremendously.
In
the meantime, the damage being done to the Green Party is accumulating.
I've talked to dozens of Greens who say, "I can't believe David
Cobb is encouraging people to vote for Kerry. What's the point of
being a Green. I'm quitting the party, I'm going with Nader."
Cobb likes to talk about "growing the Green Party." But
prominently displayed on his website is an essay by Medea Benjamin
and others called, "An Open Letter to Progressives: Vote Cobb,
Vote Kerry." No doubt, this "vote Kerry" line will
earn the Green Party thanks from the pro-war forces. But it will
lose something much more valuable. Namely, the respect of people
who are looking for an alternative John Kerry's decision to turn
the Democratic National Convention into a military pep rally. Instead
of being an acorn growing into an oak, the Green Party will become
a tail to the Democratic Party dog. Every once in a while, it looks
like the tail is going in a different direction than the head, but
that is only an illusion. When the dog runs off to kill a cat, the
tail has to follow along.
The
only thing that is preventing a rout in the Green Party is Peter
Camejo's decision to stand with Nader. Camejo campaigning as a Green
gives many of the most dedicated activists a reason to stay in the
party and fight to change its direction, as well as a reason for
anti-war and civil rights activists to join it.
Last
week, Michael Moore and Bill Mahr got down on their knees on TV
and begged Nader to drop out. This disgusting display was only the
lowest episode in the organized campaign by the Democrats to silence
the Nader/Camejo campaign. It is to Nader's lasting credit that
he stood his ground and has refused to join the stampede into the
Boston harbor.
The
Democrats will no doubt keep Nader/Camejo off the ballot in some
states, using the Florida tactics pioneered by Jeb Bush in 2000.
Before those progressives who oppose Nader's campaign get too giddy
about their new found friends in the VIP boxes of the Democratic
Convention, they ought to consider who they are really muzzling.
Nader
is famous enough so that his voice will be heard in the media. The
thousands of young and Black and Latino and working class voters
who signed Nader's petitions in California are not so fortunate.
Their voices will be silenced if Nader is not on the ballot.
They
will not have the opportunity to vote for a candidate who represents
the issues that matter most to them: bringing the troops home, national
health care, drivers licenses for undocumented immigrants, gay marriage,
equal pay for women, raising taxes on the wealthy, and on and on.
They will not have the right to vote for the first presidential
candidate of Arab descent, nor the first Latino vice presidential
canidate. Their civil rights are being trampled on by the Democrats
in Oregon, Illinois, and California, just as their rights were assaulted
by the Republicans in Florida.
Todd
Chretien is the Northern California Field Coordinator for
Nader/Camejo 2004. He was the California State student coordinator
for Medea Benjamin's Green Party campaign for Senate and Ralph Nader's
presidential campaign in 2000. He is a regular contributor to the
International Socialist Review. He can be reached at:ChretienTodd@aol.com
Weekend Edition July 17 / 18, 2004
Gary
Leupp
Apocalypse Now: Why the Book of Revelations is
Must Reading
Ghada
Karmi
Vanishing the Palestinians
Lenni
Brenner
When Cattle Unite, Lions Go Hungry: Notes for Ralph Nader
Ben
Tripp
Man on a Bridge: a Ghost Story
Brandy
Baker
What Would Elizabeth Cady Stanton Make of John Kerry?
M.
Shahid Alam
Israel Builds Another Wall
Sasan
Fayazmanesh
Nuclear Hypocrisy: Israel, Iran and the IAEA
Patrick
Bond
The George Bush of Africa
Fred
Gardner
Politics of Marijuana: Cannabiniod Therapuetics
William
Blum
Bush and Thucydides
Ben
Terrall
Carter and the Indonesia Elections: "I Don't See Anything Wrong
with a General Running the Country"
Tom
Barry
John Lehman on the War Path
David
Vest
Dylan Without the Music
Phyllis
Pollack
Return to Sin City: Keith Richards Does Gram Parsons
Ron
Jacobs
Smearing Muhammad Ali: Bob Feller Strikes Out
Joshua
Frank
Kerry to Edwards: "Let's Lose!"
David
Nally
A Call for Sudan: Our Georgraphical Blindspot
Toni
Solo
Bolivia's Gas Referendum
Landau,
Hassan, Prashad & Lindorff
Three Reviews of Moore's F911
Poets's
Basement
Ford, Smith and Albert
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