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Today's
Stories
December
13, 2004
Douglas
Lummis
The Pentagon's Neurosis: Fallujah
Gulag
December
11 / 12, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
Running an Empire on the Cheap
Ron
Jacobs
The Drugs of War: Getting High in the Green Zone?
Saul
Landau
Listening and Talking to God About
Invading Other Countries
Gary
Leupp
Bush's Capital
Sharon
Smith
The Horrible Toll on US Troops
Dave
Lindorff
Deja Vu All Over Again: 5,000 Desertions and Counting
Uri
Avnery
The Boss Has Gone Crazy
Jude
Wanniski
The Neo-Con Smear on Kofi Annan: What Food-for-Oil Scandal?
Heather
Gray
How the South Became Republican: an Interview with John Egerton
Patrick
Cockburn / Ken Sengupta
Fallujah: the Homecoming and the Homeless
John
Pilger
Return to Kosovo: Calling the Humanitarian Bombers to Account
Joshua
Frank
All the Rage: Mr. Solomon, Say You're Sorry
Ben
Tripp
O Canada!: the Truth About the Election of 2004
John
Stanton
God Speaks!
Laura
Nathan
Porn Stars are People, Too: a Talk with Christi Lake
Poets'
Basement
Capaccio, Davies, Louise, Ford and Albert
Website
of the Day
Fallujah Photos: Killed in Their Beds
December
10, 2004
Ralph
Nader
President Bush, Stop Destroying the
Mosques of Iraq
Greg
Moses
Whitewashing Voter Fraud
Nicole
Colson
Rebellion in the Ranks: Grunts Are Resisting Stop-Loss Orders
Frederick
B. Hudson
"They Still Got Those Dogs": A New Book Probes Old
Civil Rights Lessons
Patrick
Cockburn
Iraq's Insurgents Oppose the Occupation, Not the Elections
Kathy
Kelly
From Haiti to Iraq: Burying Water
December
9, 2004
Greg
Moses
Ask Not Who Bankrolled Fallujah
Joshua
Frank
Cobb and the Ohio Recount: Vote Fraud as Fundraiser!
Ralph
Nader
An Open Letter to Bush: It's Time to
Disclose the Real Casualty Figures
Lee
Sustar
Bhopal: the Making of a Disaster
Tom
Barry
Restrictionist Resurgence
Mickey
Z.
Sander Hicks and the 9/11 Truth Movement
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush in the Bubble
Mark
Donham
Why are House Democrats Trying to
Deny Cynthia McKinney Seniority?
Gary
Corseri
On the Anniversary of John Lennon's Death, 2012
Paul
de Rooij
The Voices of Sharon's Little Helpers
December
8, 2004
Ralph
Nader
Will the Real Michael Moore Ever Re-Emerge?
Ann
Harrison
The Ohio Recount: Reluctant Officials
and Few Rules
Paul
Craig Roberts
War Crime
Dave
Lindorff
They've Got a Secret: Inside the $40 Billion Black Budget for
Spying
Patrick
Cockburn / Andrew Buncombe
CIA Warning on Iraq: Fallujah Did Not Break the Back of the Insurgency
Col.
Dan Smith
Rules of Engagement in Iraq
Emily
Alves / Michael Johnson
Paradise Lost: Corruption and Clientelism in Costa Rica
Richard
Oxman
The Dylan Bob Wouldn't Mention: Up With Dylan Thomas
Ron
Jacobs
In Fallujah, Freedom Isn't Free
December
7, 2004
Patrick
Cockburn
Running Battles in Baghdad
Behrooz
Ghamari
Lost Muslim Voices of Dissent
Dave
Lindorff
American Fantasies: Psst! Hey Buddy,
Did You Hear How Well the War's Going?
Joshua
Frank
Dean at the DNC?
Richard
Oxman
Down with Dylan: the Insufferable Interview
Ray
McGovern
All Mosquitoes, No Swamp
John
Chuckman
The Invasion of Hallifax: The Imperial Wizard Visits Canada
James
Petras
Latin America: the Empire Changes Gears
Website
of the Day
ToxMap: Who's Poisoning You
December
6, 2004
Paul
Craig Roberts
Paranoia and Pre-emption: Is the
Bush Administration Certifiable?
December
4 / 6, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
Politicize the CIA? You've Got to
be Kidding
Joe
Bageant
Dining with the Rhinos
Alan
Maass
Reporting from the Ground in Iraq: an Interview with Patrick
Cockburn
Brian
Cloughley
Democracy, Bush-style, in the Gulf
Laura
Carlsen
Latin America Shifts Left
Lenni
Brenner
Jefferson, Madison, Bush and Religion
Anna
Ioakimedes
Brazil's Haitian Mission: Doing God's Work or Washington's?
Uri
Avnery
Widow of Opportunity?
Fred
Gardner
Supreme Court Hears Medical Pot Case
Dave
Zirin
Steroids to Heaven
Jackie
Corr
Mining Camp Blues: the Red State Variation
Don
Fitz
Will Greens Abandon IRV?
Lucy
Herschel
"Art can be a Weapon of the Oppressed": an Interview
with Artist Anthony Papa
Richard
Oxman
No Angels in America: Bashing the Gay Play
Ron
Jacobs
Holiday Greeting Card
Poets'
Basement
Collins, Albert, LaMorticella
December
3, 2004
Dave
Lindorff
Lie Then Escalate
Ben
Tripp
Fun With Boycotts: How to Shop in a
Time of Crisis
Joe
Allen
Murder in El Salvador: the Assassination of Teamster Organizer
Gilberto Soto
Matthew
B. Riley
Human Rights Court Fails Lori Berenson
Meir
Shalev
In the End, It is the Violin that Wins
Bob
Wing
The White Elephant in the Room: Race and Election 2004
Christopher
Brauchli
When McCain Bit His Tongue
Sasan
Fayazmanesh
The EU, the US, Israel and Iran
December
2, 2004
Tito
Tricot
No Justice in Chile: I'm a Torture
Survivor in a Country Where Torturers Still Run Free
Behzad
Yaghmaian
The Murder of Theo Van Gogh and Muslim Migration
Dr.
Susan Block
Lana and Me: Meetings with Remarkable Apes
Frank
/ Chowkwanyun
Liberalism and Its Bounds
Lee
Sustar
Standoff in Ukraine: the Bad v. the Corrupt
Patrick
Cockburn
Another Grim Record in Iraq
Mark
Engler
Seattle at Five
Michael
Donnelly
Something Stinks in South Bend: the Firing of Tyrone Willingham
Nate
Collins
The Bay Area Mall on an Ohlone Burial Grounds
Saul
Landau
The Assassination of Danilo Anderson
December
1, 2004
Phillip
Cryan
Associated with Whom? Rightist Bias
in Wire Coverage of Colombia
Dave
Zirin
What's the Matter with "Leon"?:
Budweiser's Racist Commercial
Ghali
Hassan
Iraq's Health Care Under the Occupation:
200 Children Die Every Day
Donna
J. Volatile
Beware Western Nations Threatening "Democracy"
Patrick
Cockburn
How Saddam Tried to Arm the Insurgency
Nick
Meo
Chemical War Over Afghanistan
Mike
Ferner
The Battle of Toledo
Mokhiber
/ Weissman
Shame and Determination on Global AIDS Day: 40 Million and Rising
Kathy
Kelly
Looking the Other Way: the Real Crimes
of the UN in Iraq
November
30, 2004
Jennifer
Van Bergen
The Veil of Secrecy
Toni
Nelson Herrera
Meeting Kurtz: When Art is a Crime
Paul
Craig Roberts
The Bush Delusions: Successful at Incompetence
Patrick
Cockburn
The Insurgency Strikes Back: There Are No Safe Havens in Iraq
Chuck
Munson
WTO Protests Five Years Later: Seattle Weekly Trashes Anti-Globalization
Movement
Adam
Williams
Citizenship Sold: Back to Business in Indiana
Gregory
Elich
A Dangerous Turn in the US Plans for
North Korea
Website
of the Day
Read Lynne Cheney's Lesbian Novel Online!
November
29, 2004
Dave
Lindorff
Blowback in Ukraine: The Hand of
the CIA?
Omar
Barghouti
"The Pianist" of Palestine:
Roadblock Concerto at Gunpoint
Mike
Whitney
The US Media and Fallujah: How to
Market a Siege
Uri
Avnery
The Abu Mazen Style: "Give Me
Some Credit!"
Matt
Vidal
Globalization and Economic Inequality: a Look at the Numbers
Patrick
Cockburn
An Interview with Iraq's Foreign
Minister
Alan
Farago
Sex Change and Salvation: God, Girly Men and Endocrine Disrupters
Justin
Huggler
Bhopal 20 Years Later
Antony
Loewenstein
How Australia Reported Arafat's Death and Legacy
Gary
Leupp
Ukraine: Poll Results Aren't the Real
Issue
Website
of the Day
Mosul: Images from a Kill Zone
November
27 / 28, 2004
Peter
Linebaugh
Torture & Neo-Liberalism with
Sycorax in Iraq
Alexander
Cockburn
What Happened to O'Reilly's Loofa?
Fred
Gardner
Ashcroft v. Raich: Medical Marijuana and the Supreme Court
Kathy
Kelly
What We Can Control
Diane
Christian
The Other Cheek: "Empire Doesn't Analyze, It Acts"
Gary
Leupp
One More Neocon Target: South (Yes, South) Korea
Lenni
Brenner
Equality and Rights of Return: Jefferson Instructs the New York
Times
Ron
Jacobs
Death Squads and Iraq's Elections: the Mysterious Murders of
the AMS Clerics
Joshua
Frank
An Interview with Kevin Zeese on Nader, Kerry and the ABB Crowd
Toni
Solo
The Murder of Danilo Anderson
Saul
Landau
Fallujah, the 21st Century Guernica
JoAnn
Wypijewski
Matthew Shepard Case 6 Years Later: Why Hate Crimes Laws are
No Cure for Homophobia
Justin
Taylor
Empire's Lawless Opportunities
Amos
Harel
The Case of Captain R.
Walter
A. Davis
Tabloid Justice
Stephen
Hendricks
God's Kind of Men
Poets'
Basement
Albert, LaMorticella and Ford
November
26, 2004
Peter
Feng
Gavin Newsom: Man or Machine?
Greg
Moses
It's the White Vote, Stupid
Liaquat
Ali Khan
The Devil's Work: Bush's Minority Appointments
Michael
Mandel / Gail Davidson
Why Bush Should Be Banned from Canada: a Memo to the Ministry
of Immigration
Dave
Lindorff
Nation of Sheep, Turkey of an Election: Urkrainians Show the
Way
Gary
Corseri
When Black Friday Comes...
Paul
Craig Roberts
Whatever Happened to Conservatives?
Website
of the Day
Iraq Pipeline Watch
November
25, 2004
Willliam
Loren Katz
Giving Thanks to Whom?: "Thanks
to God We Sent 600 Heathen Souls to Hell Today"
Mitchel
Cohen
Why I Hate Thanksgiving
Mike
Ferner
An Uncommon Mom
November
24, 2004
Gila
Svirsky
License to Kill: the Example of Violence
is Set by the State
Winslow
T. Wheeler
The
Other Mess in Congress
Christopher
Brauchli
The Company He Keeps: the Syndicate of Tom Delay
Dave
Lindorff
Double Standards on Exit Polls: Hypocrisy Sans Irony
Ron
Jacobs
The Occupation of Iraq is the Root of t he Problem
Ken
Sengupta
Witnesses: War Crimes in Fallujah
Diana
Barahona
The Final Holocaust or Why I Voted for Ralph Nader
John
L. Hess
Safire the Shameless
Jason
Leopold
Did Harvard Hire (Another) War Criminal?
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The Mark of McCain: the Senator Most Likely to Start a Nuclear
War
Map
of the Day
Now and Then: 2004 v. 1860
November
23, 2004
Forrest
Hylton
Bush and Uribe at the Beach
November
22, 2004
Dave
Zirin
Fight Night in the NBA: Selective Outrage
in Detroit
Paul
Craig Roberts
On to Iran: We Won't Get Fooled Again?
Michael
Mandel / Gail Davidson
Why Bush Should be Banned from Canada
Kathie
Helmkamp
Our Son: a Marine Who Won't Kill
Ken
Sengupta
The Triangle of Death: "This is Now the Most Dangerous Place
in Iraq"
Mike
Whitney
Greenspan's Hammer
Roger
Burbach
Why They Hate Bush in Chile
Website
of the Day
Fed Up with Government Lies and Corporate Spin?
November
20 / 21, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
The Poisoned Chalice
Todd
May
Religion, the Election and the Politics of Fear
Abbas
Ahmed Ibrahim
The Horrors of Fallujah: a First-Hand Account
Kevin
Zeese
Mishandling Nader
Landau
/ Hassen
After Arafat
Tom
Barry
The Vulcans Consolidate Power: The Rise of Stephen Hadley
Fred
Gardner
Pot Shots: Ask Dr. Todd
Justin
E.H. Smith
Triumph of the Will: the Sequel
Carl
Estabrook
Where We Are Now
Gary
Leupp
Imperial History-Making vs. Reality-Based Thought: a Dialogue
Dave
Lindorff
Apocalypse Soon
Jenna
Michelle Liut
Plans Colombia and Patriota: Wanton Wastes of Money, Manpower
and Lives
Mickey
Z.
The Granma Moses of Radical Writing: an Interview with William
Blum
Greg
Moses
The Same Old Struggle Against Imperial America
Sharon
Smith
Abortion Rights and the Election: What Now?
Ron
Jacobs
Sandwiches and Car Bombs
Ben
Tripp
Raising d'Etre: Finding Money in Hollywood These Days
Richard
Oxman
Basketbrawl Two Pointer: Iraq Rules!
Gilad
Atzmon
Politics and Jazz
Poets'
Basement
LaMorticella, Albert, Ford, & Anon.
Website
of the Day
Voice of the Forest
Hot Stories
Alexander Cockburn
Behold,
the Head of a Neo-Con!
Subcomandante
Marcos
The
Death Train of the WTO
Norman Finkelstein
Hitchens
as Model Apostate
Steve Niva
Israel's
Assassination Policy: the Trigger for Suicide Bombings?
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber
True Lies: the Use of Propaganda
in the Iraq War
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
Click
Here for More Stories.
|
December 13, 2004
Running an Empire on the Cheap
Be
a Hero on 805 Per Cent a Year; Casualties and Deaths in Iraq;
It's Mushroom Time!
By
ALEXANDER COCKBURN
The president went to Camp Pendleton,
togged up in his nice new USMC tanker jacket with Commander in
Chief sewn on the front. He got a gentler reception than his
Defense Secretary received the same day a few thousand miles
further east, in Camp Buehring, Kuwait.
As reported by AP's Robert
Burns, Army Spc. Thomas Wilson of the 278th Regimental Combat
Team (which is mostly made up of people from the Tennessee Army
National Guard,) asked Rumsfeld why, "do we soldiers have
to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and
compromised ballistic glass to uparmor our vehicles?" The
question got an ovation from the approximately 2,300 soldiers
mustered for Rumsfeld's visit.
Flustered, the Defense Secretary
got Wilson to repeat his question, then answered, "You go
to war with the Army you have," and "You can have all
the armor in the world on a tank and it can (still) be blown
up." The answers blew up in Rumsfeld's face on the talk
shows for the next few days.
No one in Camp Pendleton belabored
the Commander in Chief with so sharp a query, as he thanked soldiers
and families separated during the holidays. But there's no shortage
of reports about the anger over long deployments., as well as
the steady toll of dead and wounded. To date 269 of the Marines
based at Camp Pendleton have been killed in Iraq and many more
wounded.
Bush lauded groups aiding
families at the base, including a Camp Pendleton nurse, Karen
Gunther, who with other Marine families started the Injured Marine
Semper Fi Fund to raise cash for families in financial trouble.
He urged Americans to go to the Web site www.AmericaSupportsYou.mil
to offer support and donations.
Charity's not going to solve
a problem that jumps straight out of the pork barrel priorities
of the Defense budget. Fortunes for the arms-makers, foodstamps
for the grunts. Money sluices into the treasuries of defense
contractors making those poorly armored tanks. Meanwhile an E-2
level Marine gets $1,337.70 a month. Married, this Marine gets
a monthly housing allowance of $460.50 a month; unmarried, $289.20.
I was down in Oceanside, the
town just south of Camp Pendleton, earlier this year, and as
I pointed out then, you don't have to drive more than a couple
of blocks through Oceanside's main drag before the economic realities
uAmerican Empire become apparent. On the south side of the 4000
block on Pacific Coast Highway is a colorful store front with
two big signs shouting "We Support Our Troops" and
"Welcome Home Heroes". But the biggest sign of all
says "PAYDAY ADVANCE". The other side of the road there's
a pawnshop, one of several in Oceanside, and there are several
other store fronts offering advance loans for Marines who can't
make it to the end of the month.
"Being poor in America",
I wrote, " which is a reality for millions who might once
have called themselves middle class, means having to face debts
each month, without any decent financial services and hence dealing
with interest rates of around 20 per cent."
Not long after, I got a politely
instructive note from Carol Hammerstein of the Center for Responsible
Lending. It's not a matter of 20 per cent interest rates, Ms
Hammerstein pointed out. "While this may be true of predatory
mortgage lending, the rates are actually much, much higher for
small consumer loans. For instance, payday lenders actually charge
fees of about $15 to $20 per $100 borrowed. Because their loan
terms are very short, usually two weeks, and they generally do
not accept partial payments (by design), their annual interest
rates actually start at about 400 per cent, and can exceed 1000
per cent."
Payday borrowers mostly have
no idea what they're getting into. On the customer disclosure
form the annual interest rate won't carry a percentage sign.
Just a number, like 805. A payday lending business plan, cited
by Ms Hammerstein, advises: "Remember, in your response
to clients' questions regarding your fees [say] 'We charge $15
per $100 advanced.'Sounds like 15%, but in reality, since it
is an 8 day loan, the true annual percentage is 805%"
So the borrowers get caught,
paying fees for no new money, week after week. Ms Hammerstein
says her Center has found that payday lending is almost never
for that one emergency stop gap loan. The payday lending business
model is based on developing these lethal borrowing patterns.
90 per cent of all payday loans go to borrowers with five or
more loans in a single year.
The Armed Forces recruiters
target poor neighborhoods. The payday lenders target the Armed
Forces. At Fort Bliss in Texas, Paul Fain wrote earlier this
year in Military Money, "the Army Emergency Relief office
estimated nearly one-tenth of the 10,000 active duty troops stationed
there have had to undergo credit counseling because of payday
loans and other debt problems." Young soldiers and sailors,
Fain went on, " are the perfect marks for payday lenders
for reasons beyond financial naïveté. Though they
often live paycheck to paycheck, military personnel are paid
regularly, never get laid off and face penalties for failing
to repay debts." Back to Oceanside. The enlisted servicemen
and women hock stuff in the pawn shops and borrow against payday.
The generals and the contractors buy up beach property and own
stock in the institutions that bankroll the pawnshops. The military
coming home from the war face rotten prospects in the service
economy. The president was smart to make it a quick visit to
Camp Pendleton. If, like Henry V in Shakespeare's play, he'd
moved among the Marines in disguise and listened to their worries,
he'd have got a rude surprise. But in the fake world of TV News
pr, "heroes" aren't racked with worries like an 805
per cent annual interest rate.
Footnote: Just so you know,
Military Money calculated that if you borrow $200 for two weeks
from the bank under your overdraft protection, you probably pay
back $235, which translates into an annual rate of 456 per cent,
65 per cent more than the payday loan rate for the same sum.
Payday lenders aren't the only sharks in the water, and sometimes
they're the only sharks prepared to lend to the small fry.
War Crimes
and Casualties
In his fine piece on this
site last week, "War Crime,
The Human Toll" Paul Craig Roberts began thus:
"From March 20, 2003 to
December 7, 2004 (approximately 21 months) the Pentagon says
1,280 US troops have been killed and 9,765 wounded in Iraq. The
Pentagon's wounded figure conflicts with the report from the
US military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, that as of Thanksgiving
week the hospital has treated almost 21,000 Americans injured
in Iraq. According to the hospital, more than half were too badly
injured to return to their units.
"Assuming no escalation
in the insurgency, a continuation of four more years of war would
result in another 2,925 US troops being killed for a total of
4,205. Using the Pentagon's wounded figure, 22,320 more US troops
would be injured for a total of 32,085. Using the US military
hospital's figure, another 48,000 US troops would be wounded
for a total of 69,000.
"Assuming the US is able
to keep 138,000 US troops in Iraq during Bush's second term,
US dead and wounded (Pentagon figure) would comprise 26 percent
of the US force in Iraq. Using the military hospital's figure,
US dead and wounded would comprise 53 percent of our entire army
in Iraq. [The numbers drop a little, when we remember that the
wounded coming into Landstuhl also include casualties from Afghanistan.
AC.]
"At a minimum Bush is
responsible for between 14,619 and 16,804 Iraqi civilian deaths
during the 21 months since the invasion. (In U.S. equivalent
terms, this amounts to between 168,820 and 194,053 civilian deaths.)
Compiled from hospital, morgue, and media reports, these figures
understate civilian deaths. In keeping with Islam's quick burial
requirement, many Iraqis were buried in sports fields and in
back gardens during protracted US assaults on urban areas. This
figure does not include the large number of Iraqi deaths from
the embargo and US bombing for more than a decade prior to the
US invasion."
Following Roberts' column we
got this useful comment from Rachard Itani:
Dear CounterPunch,
No international economic or
financial analysis comparing different countries would be understandable
or meaningful without introducing the exchange rate variable.
To make up a simplified example, an article that stated: "Exxon
spends $3 billion on exploration and R&D while the the UK's
BP spends GBP2 billion" would provide little informative
value to Americans unless one entered the foreign exchange rate
variable into the equation, which would show the BP outspending
Exxon by 30% at current exchange rates. Ditto for foreign aid,
where the U.S. total of 9 billion dollars is less than that provided
by Europe in percent of GDP terms. A final example would be the
damage caused by an earthquake or typhoon in Japan: U.S. media
will report the figure in dollar terms, not in Yen terms that
would be meaningless to the average U.S. viewer or reader.
I believe the same rule should
be adopted universally when analysts and journalists compare
losses inflicted and sustained by U.S. forces operating overseas.
Only by expressing the casualty rate suffered by the foreign
population in U.S. equivalent terms would bring home to Americans
the full impact of their government's actions abroad. With this
in mind, and taking into account that the U.S. population is
11.55 times larger than Iraq's, I have taken the liberty of inserting
the "foreign exchange rate" adjusted figures quoted
by Mr. Roberts in his striking article. These "adjusted"
figures (those quoted by Mr. Roberts multiplied by 11.55) express
the number of Iraqi casualties in U.S. equivalent terms, an information
that adds a further dimension to the reader's appreciation of
the war's effect on the Iraqi population. In reality, given the
different social organization of Iraqi society, the effect is
even more shattering than the adjusted figures project. [We don't
include here Itani's emended edition of Roberts, but you can
do the math. AC]
Readers might also be interested
in the following comparative figures, taking the same time span
mentioned by Mr. Roberts (less than 2 years to date + 4 more
Bush years): it took four years of war waging in Vietnam before
U.S. losses totaled 1,864 killed in action and 7,337 wounded
in action (1961-1964.) In less than two years, Mr. Roberts informs
us that the U.S. has already suffered 1,280 KIAs and 21,000 WIAs
in Iraq (taking the U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl WIA figures
as more credible than those brandied by the Pentagon.) For the
first six years of war in Vietnam, U.S. losses were 7,917 KIA
and 37,329 WIA. The extrapolated corresponding figures for U.S.
losses in Iraq that Mr. Roberts projects for the same period
of time are 4,205 KIA and 69,999 WIA. Given the difference in
terrain between Vietnam and Iraq (jungle compared to desert)
the comparison is more dramatic than it appears.
Mushroom: Clouds
of Doubt
Here on the Lost Coast of Humboldt
county, Northern California, it's mushroom time. I walked up
some old skid roads on Prosper Ridge last week with my neighbor
Dan Austin, through the tan oaks and Douglas Fir. After three
days heavy rain and a warm wind coming in from the south west
mushrooms were popping everywhere: plenty of slippery jacks,
some boletes, various LBMs (little brown mushrooms) and chanterelles.
Dan has a keen shroomer's eye. Peering through the tan oaks he'd
give an excited cry and point. After a good deal of squinting
I could see some raised duff, and the merest shimmer of the edge
of a chanterelle under the leaves. Dan confines his interest
to chanterelles, regarding all other mushrooms as probably locked
in a close family relation to Amanita phalloides and the other
noted killers. He looked dubious when I collected some russulas,
just for the fun of trying to key them out later, using David
Arora's two endlessly instructive and delightful mushroom books,
the pocket size All
That the Rain Promises and More, and the mighty Mushrooms
Demystified.
Did I have the shrimp mushroom,
Russula xerampelina, with its red brown cap and chalky stem,
or the rosy Russula (Russula rosacea)? Arora hails the shrimp
mushroom as "delicious", adding "this mushroom
is vastly unappreciated, perhaps because it resembles the hordes
of other russullas that litter our coniferous forests pass these
up till you know the species better."
I think they were shrimp mushrooms,
but with mushrooming, there's always that bottom line: only when
you're absolutely sure.
As Dan and I were walking down
the road as twilight came on, Gary drove by in his car. "Look,"
cried Dan. There ahead, up on the side where the bulldozer had
cut the road into the hill years ago, there was a young beautiful
chanterelle, frozen in the headlights.
Arora is sniffy about chanterelles
as a gourmet mushroom. It's true , they're not as good as some
of the Agaricus tribe, but I wouldn't pass them up, any more
than I would one of the edible slippery jacks. Now, if only I
could train Jasper the Wonder Dog to root out the truffles.
Weekend Edition
Features for November
27 / 28, 2004
Peter
Linebaugh
Torture & Neo-Liberalism with
Sycorax in Iraq
Alexander
Cockburn
What Happened to O'Reilly's Loofa?
Fred
Gardner
Ashcroft v. Raich: Medical Marijuana and the Supreme Court
Kathy
Kelly
What We Can Control
Diane
Christian
The Other Cheek: "Empire Doesn't Analyze, It Acts"
Gary
Leupp
One More Neocon Target: South (Yes, South) Korea
Lenni
Brenner
Equality and Rights of Return: Jefferson Instructs the New York
Times
Ron
Jacobs
Death Squads and Iraq's Elections: the Mysterious Murders of
the AMS Clerics
Joshua
Frank
An Interview with Kevin Zeese on Nader, Kerry and the ABB Crowd
Toni
Solo
The Murder of Danilo Anderson
Saul
Landau
Fallujah, the 21st Century Guernica
JoAnn
Wypijewski
Matthew Shepard Case 6 Years Later: Why Hate Crimes Laws are
No Cure for Homophobia
Justin
Taylor
Empire's Lawless Opportunities
Amos
Harel
The Case of Captain R.
Walter
A. Davis
Tabloid Justice
Stephen
Hendricks
God's Kind of Men
Poets'
Basement
Albert, LaMorticella and Ford
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