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CounterPunch
November
2, 2002
Proverbial Wisdom
Right Place, Wrong Time
by SUSAN DAVIS
"I been in the right place, but
it musta been the wrong time...."
Mac "Dr. John"
Rebennack
(Louisiana, late 20th century.)
"Why do you always have to
be right?" yelled my multiply-indicted co-conspirator.
"I'm NOT always right," I corrected
him. Just to keep the record straight.
Wham! The front door in my face.
What can you do in a situation like this?
Have another cup of coffee. Go to work and forget all about
it. Call around, find him and talk it over. Call a friend.
Seek solace in traditional wisdom. I tried this last optioin
--- it wasn't as comforting as I'd hoped.
"It's better to be right than in
the majority." (Georgia and Alabama) And also attributed
to Henry David Thoreau.
That's better, but why doesn't it feel
better?
"None but a fool is always right."
(oral tradition.: Ohio, Wisconsin).
According to anonymous badgers, cheese-heads
and buckeyes, I'm on thin ice.
"Some people would rather be right
than pleasant." (Ontario). Canadians, what's with them?
Apparently collective wisdom disapproves
of know it alls. Right trip, wrong car...right ribs, wrong sauce...born
in the right world, under the wrong sign. Dr. John's got it:
sometimes you're just wrong no matter how right you are.
Susan Davis
teaches at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. She is
the author of Spectacular Nature.
She can be reached at sgdavis@uiuc.edu
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October 26
/ 27, 2002
Michael Wolff
A Place
of Tears
Ilija Trojanow
Bali Mon Amour
Ben Tripp
Crocodile Tears
Hope Shand and Silvia Ribeiro
The Great Containment:
GM Fallout from Mexico to Zambia
M. Junaid
Alam
The Wolf Who Cried Wolf:
Charging Anti-Semitism & Extending the Iron Wall
Gavin Keeney
The Fusion Thing:
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Adam Engel
A Good Man is Hard to Misfit
Anis Shivani
Is America Becoming Fascist?
Jason Leopold
Is Thomas White Fit to Lead the Army?
Philip Farruggio
Let Them Eat (Crumb) Cake
Josh Frank
The Grassroots of Hope
Anthony Gancarski
Concerned Citizen: episode 5
Night School
M. Shahid
Alam
The Civilizing Mission
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Wayne Madsen
Pappy
Bush on Wellstone:
"Who Is This Chickenshit?"
Stuart Timmons
Harry
Hay Dead at 90:
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Vanessa Jones
Australia
Votes Green:
Historic No Vote to US War Plans
Ben Terrall
Rep.
Tom Lantos' Big Lie
Ismael Hossein-Zadeh
Behind
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The Escalating Bush Military Budget
Will Youmans
Israel's and Divestment
Norman Madarasz
Lula
on the Verge
October 24,
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Jo Freeman
How the
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Ben Tripp
George
W.: Caught Between Iraq and a Hard Place
Harry Browne
Ireland's Dreary Yes to Nice
Anis Shivani
A Guide
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Strategic Influence
T.W. Croft
America's
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William Hughes
A Free
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Alan Farago
Jeb Bush and the Environment
October 23,
2002
Daniel Wolff
Pataki,
Witt and the Indian Point Nuke
Wayne Madsen
A Saudiless
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Sam Bahour
and Paul de Rooij
Abritrary
Imprisonment
Chris White
Why I Oppose
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an ex-Marine Sergeant Speaks Out
Anthony Gancarski
Back to Bali
Adam Engel
Twilight
(of the Idols) Zone
Robert Fisk
How to Shut Up Your Critics
October 22,
2002
Jack McCarthy
A Letter
to C. Hitchens
Carol Norris
This Message
Brought to You by Breast Cancer, Inc.
Joanne Mariner
Just
Say "Not Until We're Married":
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Kathleen Christison
Excuse Me?
How Israel Justifies Killing Palestinians
Linda Heard
Iraq War
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Roger Peacock
Marketing the War on Iraq
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Whiteout:
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by Alexander
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and Jeffrey St. Clair
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