home / subscribe / donate / about us / books / archives / search / links / feedback / events

Inside the New Print Edition of CounterPunch: Labor at the Crossroads First the Wedding; Now the Wake: Big Labor's New Unity Partnership by JoAnn Wypijewski; Report from Baghdad: How Did the Votes Add Up: by Patrick Cockburn. Tsunamis of Blood: Wolfowitz in Indonesia: by Joseph Nevins; ALSO Alexander Cockburn on Tsunami Aid: How the People Scored. Remember these stories are available exclusively in the print edition of CounterPunch. CounterPunch Online is read by millions of viewers each month! But remember, we are funded solely by the subscribers to the print edition of CounterPunch. Please support this website by buying a subscription to our newsletter, which contains fresh material you won't find anywhere else, or by making a donation for the online edition. Remember contributions are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! Call Toll Free 1-800-840-3683 or write CounterPunch, PO BOX 228, Petrolia, CA 95558

Coming Soon from CounterPunch Books Other Lands Have Dreams: From Baghdad to Pekin Prison by KATHY KELLY Click Here to Order! Today's Stories March 2, 2005 Jeffrey St. Clair Uncle Bucky Makes a Killing   March 1, 2005 Scott Richard Lyons Million Dollar Bigotry David Lindorff Stealing Workers' Pensions Patrick Cockburn / David Enders Bloodbath in Iraq Ron Jacobs The Last Poets Recalled Tanya Garcia USA Next: the Industry Front Group to Privatize Social Security Joseph Pietri The Drug Trail Ends in Kathmandu: Golden Tar Heroin and the Black Prince Kona Lowell Woody: Broken in Vietnam Paul Craig Roberts The Coming End of the American Superpower Website of the Day Petition: No US Intervention in Iran Wars of the Laptop Bombers   February 28, 2005 Gary Leupp Year 4 in the Five Year Plan: a June Attack on Iran? Bill Quigley Haitian Police Open Fire on Nonviolent Marchers Mickey Z. The Million Dollar Interview: Mary Johnson on Clinton Eastwood, Hunter Thompson and the "Right to Die" Paul de Rooij Why Ted Honderich is Wrong on All Counts About Israel David Swanson Basic Income Guarantee Versus the Corp Media Mario Lamo Jimenez Maria Full of Cultural Contradictions at the Oscars Emma Perez The Attacks on Ward Churchill: a Test Case in the Neocons Purge of Academia Diana Johnstone Censorship and the Empire Website of the Day Stop the War Campaign!   February 26 / 27, 2005 Alexander Cockburn An American Jew Laments Decline in Jewish Influence Noam Chomsky Nuclear Terror at Home Rev. William E. Alberts Rhetoric in the Air; Reality on the Ground Fred Gardner AARP Gets Pot-Baited Gary Leupp Bush and Camus on Freedom Saul Landau An Interview with Cuban VP Ricardo Alarcon (Part 3): the Miami Mafia Robin Philpot Second Thoughts on the Hotel Rwanda Yitkhak Laor In Praise of the Facts Ben Tripp Out of Sight; Out of Mind Justin Taylor Zizek Seen Over the Handlebars Jack Random The Wounds from Wounded Knee Rafael Renteria Ward Churchill and White America Jim B. Reflections on the Eve of Fatherhood Seth DeLong Land Reform in Venezuela: More Like Lincoln Than Lenin John Chuckman A Season of Depressing Political Reruns Alison Weir Relativity, LA Times Style Richard Oxman Political Solitude: From Garcia Marquez to Maria Full of Grace Dr. Susan Block It Always Rains in California: All About Female Ejaculation Poets' Basement Landau, Lowell, Louise, Davies, Soderstrom, Norris & Albert   February 25, 2005 Roger Burbach Murder in the Amazon Behzad Yaghmaian Iranian Distrust of America: 50 Years in the Making Kurt Nimmo Conclave of the Brats Joshua Frank Diagnosing the Green Party John Farley How to Stop the War in Iraq: Punish Pro-War Politicians Lawrence Reichard The D'Aubuisson Memorial: Flowers of Evil Pratyush Chandra The Royal Coup in Nepal and Global Imperialist Designs David Smith-Ferri When the Battlefield has No Borders Website of the Day The 2005 Election in 3-D   February 24, 2005 Omar Waraich The Galloway Saga: Smearing an Anti-War Politician Brian Cloughley Bribing and Twisting Amerian Journalists: Valerie Plame & 30 Pieces of Silver Tom Wright Torture Nation: Abu Ghraib, a Year Later Sharon Smith The Anti-War Movement After Kerry: Learning All the Wrong Lessons Dave Lindorff Do These Roosting Chickens Have Flu? Fred Feldman Lynching Ward Churchill James Reiss On Hearing About a Plot to Assassinate President Bush Diane Christian Bad Blood: Ritual & Sexual Torture in Iraq Website of the Day The Gray Line     February 23, 2005 Werther The Poisoned Well: What the CIA's Nazi Files Can Tell Us About Iraq W. John Green A Salvador Option for Iraq? How Negroponte Changes the Ground Rules James Petras A New Face to Bush Foreign Policy? Conn Hallinan Cornering the Dragon: the Return of the China Lobby Joe Pietri Cannabis: the Goose that Lays Golden Eggs (For Consumers and Cops) Louis Proyect Hunter Thompson and the "New" Journalism Alexander Cockburn Hunter S. Thompson and Gonzo Website of the Day Did You Make the Blacklist? Why Not?   February 22, 2005 Naseer Aruri The Politics of the Hariri Assassination: Remapping the Middle East Richard Manning The Economy of Hunger: Starvation is Part of the Economic Plan William A. Cook Righteous Racism Running Rampant Paul Craig Roberts The Agents of Instability Ken Krayeske Dr. Thompson is Out Dave Zirin How the Owners Destroyed the NHL Kirkpatrick Sale Imperial Entropy: the Collapse of the American Empire     February 21, 2005 Hunter S. Thompson "He Was A Crook" John Ross Mexico: the Pentagon's Proxy Army in Iraq Ward Churchill What Did I Really Say? Why Did I Say It? Dr. Teresa Whitehurst Military Recruiting on Channel One: Geometry 101, Brought to You by the US Navy David Swanson Fighting for a Living Wage, State by State Dave Lindorff All the News That's Fit to Fake Stew Albert Fear and Loathing: HST Michael Neumann Strategies in Palestine: a Shrinking Pie in the Sky     February 19 / 20, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Back to Salem: Paul Shanley and the Return of "Recovered Memory" Kathleen Christison Struggling for Justice in Palestine Ted Honderich On Being Persona Non Grata Gary Leupp Self-Hating Gays: Welcome to the White House & Welcome to Commit Suicide Don Santina Reparations for the Blues Jennifer Roesch John Negroponte: Dirty Warrior Scott Richard Lyons Ward Churchill and the Identity Police Chris Clarke Ward Churchill and Liberal Outrage George Beres Censorship in the Land of Wayne Morse: Gagging W. Churchill in Oregon Harry Browne The Belfast Heist: the Plot Unravels Manuel García, Jr. Who Killed Rafik Hariri? Mark Scaramella Lessons from the Hidden Afghan War Michael Donnelly Whatever Happened to John Edwards? John Pilger First, They Attack the Past Norman Madarasz Death Wish for Reform in Brazil? Surendra Devkota The Monarchy in Nepal Deborah Rich How Anti-GMO Ballot Measures May Miss the Mark Fred Gardner When Dr. Tod Met Merle Haggard CounterPunch News Service About King Mswati: Political Developments in Swaziland Richard Oxman CounterPunching Arthur Miller Poets' Basement Albert, Giebel, Tripp, Engel and Orkin   February 18, 2005 Ben Moxham In East Timor, the Nightmare Continues Dave Lindorff The Scum Also Rises: the Bloody Career of John Negroponte Larry Birns Negroponte: a Resume of Death Squads, Deceptions and Bribery Gregory Elich N, Korea's Phantom Nukes and the US's Subversion of Diplomacy Samuel Logan / John Meyers The Future of Colombia's Paramilitary Death Squads Nicole Colson Shock and Awe on Civil Liberties: From Lynne Stewart to Ward Churchill Suzan Mazur Whose National Security Are We Talking About? Mickey Z. "One Man Has Stopped Killing"     February 17, 2005 Joshua Frank Hogtying of the Deaniacs Paul Craig Roberts Bush's Willing Sychophants: the Conservative Media Robert Fisk Under the Shadow of Death in Lebanon Christopher Brauchli Where Time Stands Still: Kinsey and Darwin in Cobb County, GA Dr. Teresa Whitehurst Military Recruitment TV: Why Send Them to College, When Your Kid Can be Cannon Fodder? Alison Weir Russia, Israel and Media Omissions Ahrar Ahmad A Review of Shahid Alam's "Is There an Islamic Problem?" Saul Landau An Interview with Cuban VP Ricardo Alarcon: "The US Tramples the Laws It Wrote" Website of the Day Petition to Support Ward Churchill     February 16, 2005 Robert Fisk Lebanon: a Battlefield for the Wars of Others Kevin Zeese Creating a Real Ownership Society: Share the Wealth; Protect Retirement Gary Leupp Meanwhile, in Nepal... Ron Jacobs Why the Iranian Opposition Should Not Trust the Bush Administration Jessica Leight Oil-Flush Chavez Begins to Strut His Stuff Greg Moses Houston, You've Got a Problem: Documenting Voting Irregularities in Texas Mark Engler The Last Porto Alegre Jack McCarthy Where's the Outrage About Pat? Buchanan Does a Churchill Bill Christison US Foreign Policy Dangerously Slanted Toward Israel Website of the Day The World is Melting: a Photo Survey by Gary Braasch     February 15, 2005 CounterPunch News Service Dean a "Safe" Moderate, Says NYT Citing CounterPunch Robert Fisk The Killing of Mr. Lebanon Uri Avnery "Sharm-al-Sheikh, We Have Come Back Again" Stan Cox Fighting Big Pharma in Little Digwal Mickey Z. Radio Active North of the Border: an Interview with Chris Cook Dave Zirin Bashing Bush: Jose Canseco Comes Clean Nadia Martinez Ending World Poverty? Opening at the World Bank, Apply Now Lila Rajiva "Little Eichmanns" and the 'Harijan': the Danger of Magical Thinking in Politics Paul Craig Roberts The American Job Sell Out     February 14, 2005 Robert Jensen Ward Churchill: Right to Speak Out; Right About 9/11 Brian Cloughley Kuwait's Freedom, Bush-style Patrick Cockburn Outcome of the Iraqi Elections: Shortages, Corruption, Guerrilla War Gary Leupp Post-election Iraq: What Next? Michael Donnelly Sacred Nature: Just Another Commodity? Dave Lindorff When Bush Came to My Neighborhood Elaine Cassel The Lynne Stewart Verdict   February 12 / 13, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Ward Churchill's Genes Saul Landau Alarcon Speaks: an Interview with the Vice President of Cuba Paul Craig Roberts Nothing to Fear But Bush Himself Patrick Cockburn Two Years After the Fall of Saddam, the Resistance Controls All Major Roads into Baghdad John Feffer Bush v. N. Korea: Round Two Mickey Z. Right to Remain Silent; Duty to Speak Kurt Nimmo Viva la Cucaracha! Fred Gardner Waiting for Raich Dave Zirin Fighting the New Republic(ans) John Chuckman Hiroshima, Mon Amour Ben Tripp A Leftist on the Bush Payroll Carol Norris "Buddy, Can You Spare a Dwarf?" Robert Fisk No Middle East Peace Without Justice Frank / Chowkwanyun Muzzled Activist in an Age of Terror: the Case of Sherman Austin Mike Whitney Condi's Euro Tour Deborah Frisch A Psychologist's Defense of Ward Churchill Niranjan Ramakrishnan Reading Khomeini in Colorado Christine TenBarge What's So Special About Ward? Ron Jacobs Curtis Mayfield's Train to Jordan Dr. Susan Block Chemistry of Love: a Valentine's Greeting Poets' Basement Louise, Smith-Ferri, Ford and Albert Website of the Weekend Free Sherman     February 11, 20055 Manuel Garcia, Jr The Eight Percent War Kurt Nimmo Ann Coulter's Racism: Where's Geronimo When You Really Need Him? Dave Lindorff Guckert or Gannon? The Perfect Plant; He Fit Right In Larry Birns War is Peace; Slavery is Freedom: Democracy According to Elliott Abrams Bill Quigley Twenty Questions: a Social Justice Quiz Tom Barry Bush's State of Delusion Jennifer Van Bergen Lynne Stewart's Conviction Hurts Us All     February 10, 2005 Dave Lindorff What Academic Freedom? Christopher Brauchli The Love of Slaughter: From Rwanda to Iraq Patrick Cockburn In Baghdad, It's Easy to Get Killed Nicole Colson Have the Democrats Surrendered on Abortion Rights? Suzan Mazur More on the Assassination of Lumumba from Mr. Garsin of Kinshasha Michael Donnelly Salvaging an Opposition Mike Stark Driving Ossie Davis: "Give Them a Little Truth, a Little Hope" Greg Moses Taking Jesus Back from the Hijackers Website of the Day The Missionary Positions     February 9, 2005 Jeffrey St. Clair Duck and Cover Redux: Bunker Busters and City Levellers Mickey Z. What Ward Churchill Didn't Say John Ross Hecho en Mexico: the Iraqi Election Tom Barry Ambassador of Lies: Elliott Abrams, the Neocon's Neocon Conn Hallinan The Coup in Nepal: Nursing the Pinion Patrick Cockburn Sistani's Vision for Iraq: Cricket is Fine, But Chess is "Absolutely Forbidden" Steen Sohn Danish PM Says It's OK for Israel to Violate UN Resolutions Tim Wise Reflections on Empire and Uppity Indians Website of the Day Support Antiwar.com     February 8, 2005 Patrick Cockburn Shia/Kurd Coalition to Dominate New Iraqi Govt.: "It's an Electoral Pact, Not a Party" Brian Cloughley Out of the Mouths of Generals: "It's Fun to Shoot Some People" Steve Breyman Against the Selfishness of the "Ownership Society" Harry Browne "Don't Get on that Plane!": Soldiers Seek Asylum in Ireland Doug Giebel "We Love Free Speech in America": the People, the President and Ward Churchill Nate Collins The Censorship of Ward Churchill and Dancehall Reggae: It's the Same Beast Dave Lindorff It's Time for a Labor-Oriented Newspaper David Smith-Ferri Sanctions and the Health Crisis in Iraq     February 7, 2005 Paul Craig Roberts Bush's War on Jobs Carolyn Baker The New McCarthyism on Campus: Churchill and the Attack on Higher Ed Joshua Frank Marc Cooper's Hit List: First Mumia; Now Ward Churchill Mickey Z. Warning: More Hate Speech from W. Churchill Patrick Cockburn The Kidnapping Gangs of Iraq Mike Whitney Tom Friedman: Scribe for New Age Imperialism Stacie Jonas Pinochet: Fit to be Tried Dave Zirin A Miserable Super Sunday: Clinton, Bush and the FBI Tariq Ali Imperial Delusions       February 5 / 6, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Ward Churchill and the Mad Dogs Kurt Nimmo A Ward Churchill Kind of Day Joshua Frank Liberals Trash Ward Churchill P. Sainath Mumbai's Man-Made Tsunami Patrick Cockburn Sistani's Triumph; Allawi's Bust Laura Carlsen Bush, Rice and Latin America Dave Lindorff How the NYT Killed the Bush Bulge Story Pamela Olson West Bank Story Behzad Yaghmaian The Future of Sudanese Refugees in the West Saul Landau / Farrah Hassen A Threatened UN in King George's Court Roger Burbach World Social Forum: a Tale of Two Presidents Robert Fisk History by Laptop David Swanson James Forman and the Liberal-Labor Syndrome Justin E.H. Smith Gay Marriage: a Report from Canada Cacie Hart The "State" of the Union: More War and a Ban on Love Ron Jacobs Chairman Bob Avakian: a Revolutionary Life Mickey Z. Viewing America from the Outside Ben Tripp Republican Heroes: a New Breed of Good Guy Ben Sonnenberg France at the End of the Devil's Decade: Renoir's Rules of the Game Poets' Basement Smith-Ferri, Davies, Collins, & Albert Website of the Weekend John Trudell: How to Earn a 17,000 Page FBI File   February 4, 2005 Brian Cloughley The Army Symphonist: "Sometimes the Only Way to Change the Behavior of Someone Like That is to Kill Them" Bill Christison Election Parallels: Vietnam, 1967; Iraq, 2005 Elaine Cassel Did Zoloft Make Him Do It? Jacob Levich Chomsky and the Draft Kanak Mani Dixit Return of the Royalists in Nepal Ron Jacobs The Downward Spiral in Iraq     February 3, 2005 Ward Churchill On the Injustice of Getting Smeared: a Campaign of Fabrications and Gross Distortions Sharon Smith Resisting Soldiers Need Our Support Mickey Z. Leslie Gelb Asks Iraq: Who's Your Daddy? Mike Whitney President of Alienation: a Desperate State of the Union Jenna Orkin 9/11 the Sequel: the Toxic State of Lower Manhattan Saul Landau Elections Won't Prevent Civil War in Iraq Yitzhak Laor Strange is the Silence Dave Lindorff The Assault on Social Security: a New Campaign of Lies     February 2, 2005 David Domke / Kevin Coe Bush's Brand of Christianity Noam Chomsky Iraq After the Elections M. Shahid Alam O'Reilly's Fatwah on "Un-American" Professors: FoxNews Puts Me in Its Crosshairs Richard Oxman Ringing in 1984 with Ward Churchill and Derrick Jensen Joshua Frank The Suckering of Howard Dean Dave Lindorff A History Lesson from the NYT Nina Hartley Feminists for Porn Website of the Day War is a Racket     February 1, 2005 Joshua L. Dratel The Torture Memos Patrick Cockburn New Doubts About Allawi Robert Fisk "The Only Decent Food We Get is at Funerals" Uri Avnery The Stalemate Col. Dan Smith "W" Stands for Withdrawal Alison Weir Making America as "Secure" as Israel Alan Farago Heaven and Hell in the Everglades Ray Hanania Low Voter Turnout of Iraqi Expatriates: Less Than 10% of Qualified Voters Paul Craig Roberts American Police State Website of the Day Statisticians Refute Official Rationale for Exit Poll Errors                         December 22, 2004 James Petras An Open Letter to Saramago: Nobel Laureate Suffers from a Bizarre Historical Amnesia Omar Barghouti The Case for Boycotting Israel Patrick Cockburn / Jeremy Redmond They Were Waiting on Chicken Tenders When the Rounds Hit Harry Browne Northern Ireland: No Postcards from the Edge Richard Oxman On the Seventh Column Kathleen Christison Imagining Palestine Website of the Day FBI Torture Memos     December 21, 2004 Greg Moses The New Zeus on the Block: Unplugging Al-Manar TV Dave Lindorff Losing It in America: Bunker of the Skittish Chad Nagle The View from Donetsk Dragon Pierces Truth* Concrete Colossus vs. the River Dragon: Dislocation and Three Gorges Dam Patrick Cockburn "Things Always Get Worse" Seth DeLong Aiding Oppression in Haiti Ahmad Faruqui Pakistan and the 9/11 Commission's Report Paul Craig Roberts America Locked Up: a System of Injustice                                         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.     Subscribe Online

March 2, 2005 On Second Thought Geocachers Get a Break; Teresa Heinz Gets No Love; John Edwards Gets a Pass By MICHAEL DONNELLY Putting an e-mail address at the end of any piece one writes for CounterPunch obviously invites a lot of feedback. Depending on whose ox I've gored, the count runs from twenty to about 300 responses. Usually the scorecard runs about 80% attaboys; about 10% uncivil stuff you wouldn't want to print in a fine family newsmag like CP; and the rest are reasoned rebuttals ­ the favorites of a perverse sort like me. I'm always willing to respond to an articulate appeal. Geocaching: A Second Look As a result of many lucid rejoinders from dozens of geocachers (I did note they are techno-literate, if not techno-junkies -- got to drop that word "fetishists," as they really don't like that!), I've found out more about who geocachers are and what they are about and I've softened my stance; though thankfully I did not know about the three caches in the Opal Creek Wilderness when I wrote about the other offending one. But what could be wrong with people getting out and exercising on our public lands, no matter what the motivation? Simple hiking is a lost healthy pleasure these days. And what could be wrong with a group that, while hiking, encourages a policy of Cache In; Trash Out? Just a couple things: Wilderness and other eco-sensitive areas. (The Sacred Nature argument alas is completely dismissed by these folks.) Geocaches are not allowed in designated Wilderness. Why? Well, ALL technologies are off-limits there --- from mountain bikes, to wheel-barrows, to high-tech items. And, nothing is to be taken from or left in the Wilderness. This ethic is under assault from many angles, mostly commercial in nature and most are far greater threats than geocaching. A major element of Wilderness is what one attaboy respondent called "the disconnect." When hiking/camping in a Wilderness Area, one becomes but another warm-blooded mammal, nothing more. Wilderness is a great leveler. You are on your own. Nature treats all the same. That disconnect with the modern, anthropocentric reality of much of the rest of the planet is what most folks are seeking when they visit these lands. Even cell phones get in the way of the disconnect. (Yes, someone also took me to task for opposing cell phone use in Wilderness. I once saw a guy buy a cell phone off a rafter in a different party just to silence it.) Most importantly, that disconnect is also what makes life for the species there so much different than just it being a large, outdoor zoo. Earth First! co-founder Howie Wolke noted that "It's not really Wilderness unless there's something there that can eat you." That level of disconnect is rarely attainable anywhere anymore --- outside the big wild areas of Montana and Alaska. Regardless, we can and must be vigilant on encroachments into typical Wilderness areas in the Lower 48 states. Given that geocaches are not allowed in Wilderness and that conscientious geocachers have no problem with this (some have settled on Virtual Caches), what really remains to be done is this: 1)  identify and remove ALL caches in Wilderness Areas (perhaps a team of geocachers could take this on); 2) before placing a cache on Multiple Use areas of Public Lands, be sure to consult with the local Rangers as to other concerns about sensitive species, Cultural Sites, etc. The posted Geocaching Rules state that the landowner should be contacted first, but from the responses I got from Wilderness Rangers, it appears that this hasn't been happening with Public Lands; 3)  no drive up caches. And, certainly no Off Road Vehicle (ORV) caches. If folks are out there exercising and hauling off trash left by other, less considerate recreationists, I'm all for it.   Heinz and the Election Loss Responses to my piece on who is Teresa Heinz and where is John Edwards were quite telling. I did not receive a single missive about her though my writing had twelve paragraphs on Maria Teresa Thierstein Simões-Ferreira Heinz. No one stepped up to rebut or defend her role as Non-Profit Professional-in-Chief. No one had anything to say about Heinz's campaign gaffe. Nor did anyone from the ABB Campaign challenge my assertion that immediately after Heinz's statement about Laura Bush's never having had a "real job," hubby suffered an easily definable major drop in the polls ­ two weeks before Election Day. Perhaps the Campaign's own internal polling confirms that of TIME and others who noted the reaction and they'd prefer to remain silent? ABB entered the campaign with 48% of the public disapproving of the current Imperium. All he had to do was gain two percent. Not only failing to oppose the invasion and occupation of Iraq; running on a platform of I'll "hunt them down and kill them," coupled with the prospect of an arrogant, clueless heiress as first lady negated any chance of picking up that 2%. Heinz is the billionaire who told a black crowd, "I'm an African-American," inanely playing on her role as a child of the colonial ruling class in Mozambique. She also famously told a group of New Mexico citizens; Hispanics whose families were living there long before there was a USA, "I am an immigrant, too." No wonder she gets no love or defense from readers, much less defense from the ABB campaign.   John Edwards' Focus But the final three paragraphs on the whereabouts of ABB's running mate John Edwards unleashed a stream of bile, mostly along the lines of "you SOB. His wife has cancer and he's focused on that." Ah, but that was partly my point. You see, I already had a copy of Edwards' schedule since the election when I wrote the piece. I was hoping that it would prompt readers to find out what he's actually been doing themselves. Well, let me spell it out. A schedule is usually a good indicator of focus. Here's the Breck Girl's own take on what he's been up to since the debacle: "Since this election, I have been so focused on Elizabeth and on doing the work that I'm going to be doing here, I haven't even made a decision about what I'm going to do," Edwards told ABC News "This Week with George Stephanopoulos." (Of course, no mention of how he tried desperately to beg off the ABC appearance because he has "been so focused on Elizabeth.") "Focus on Elizabeth?" Since the election, Edwards has been making the rounds of the pundit shows and giving speeches to Democratic Party insiders. Some of the stops on his schedule: 12/14 Charlie Rose Show; 12/19 Larry King; 2/5 New Hampshire speech (must be the oncology clinics there); 2/20 that Stephanopoulos show on ABC. Coming up; a 2/26 Florida Democrat Dinner speech; 3/4 Kansas Democrat Speech. And somehow during all this focusing, the superior multi-tasker somehow was able to form his own nonprofit think tank at the University of North Carolina. He was recently named Director of the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity. He also has his website up and running and is clearly running for president ­ a position I'll give him the inside track on given that he is now able to conduct all this politicking under the radar as no one wants to question his "focus" and then be on the receiving end of invective like this from one incisive respondent: "Hey guess what. Don't know if you heard but his wife has breast cancer and is quite ill. He already lost a son, and right now he's caring for his wife. Gee, what a loser, huh. You insensitive, ignorant fuck. You toss around the breck shit like the clever nothing writer you are. But you're no man, you're a fuckin punk. If you need proof let's meet up, asshole."  Was Elizabeth Edwards' Cancer a "Life Choice?" Another who also took me to task for "being insensitive," also made a major point that merits notice: "After their son died, Elizabeth decided to have more children. I believe she is about 55, and has a 6 year old and a 4 year old? That means she gave birth at 49 and 51.  This is not impossible, but is unusual. There has been no public comment on the subject, but it is at least possible she might have used hormones (fertility "treatments") to improve her chance of getting pregnant.  Although the medical and pharmaceutical profession have been pushing hormones for women for 30+ years, they only recently have acknowledged the association (if not causation) with various forms of cancer. My own theory is that they take a small "growth," which might not otherwise turn into anything until a woman is in her 70s or 80s, and they cause it to reproduce, so the woman ends up with deadly (breast, ovarian, uterine) cancer at a relatively young age. I imagine both John and Elizabeth Edwards are now dealing with not only her illness, but also the possibility that one of their life choices could have caused this." Wow! If so, the famed trial lawyer should indeed abandon the presidential race and really focus on Elizabeth and the many other women who bought into this Big Pharma-driven hormone fertility treatment for aging moms and file a class action lawsuit while he still can, i.e. before his fellow Democrats knuckle under on yet another bedrock issue. Michael Donnelly lives in what used to be the moist side of Oregon. He can be reached at pahtoo@aol.com WWW http://www.counterpunch.org