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May 19, 2002
Norman Madarasz
Canada,
NAFTA and Kyoto
May 18, 2002
M.G. Piety
Economic Fiction:
From Here to Annuity?
Michael Colby
Bush Fiddled
While
New York Burned
May 17, 2002
Wayne Madsen
Fox News Flashback:
Defending McKinney
James T. Phillips
Ceasefires
and Terrorists
Phillipe Dambournet
The Truth at Last:
Bush as the Energizer Bunny
Lori Berenson
In Defense
of Political Prisoners
Rep. Cynthia McKinney
Terrorist Warnings
Hussein Ibish
Clarifying
the Obstacles
to Peace in Palestine
Alexander Cockburn
Israel and "Anti-Semitism"
May 16, 2002
Marylin Robinson
A Garden
in Tent City, But Where Do You Bathe?
Paul de Rooij
Worse than CNN?
The BBC and Israel
David Krieger
The Bush/Putin
Agreement:
Nuclear Dangers Remain
Steve Perry
Unsafe at Any Speed:
Youth, Sex and the Heresies
of Judith Levine
May 15, 2002
Ahmad Faruqui
Revisiting
Camp David
Rick Giombetti
Spiderman v. Pentagon:
Working Class Hero Battles Corrupt Defense Contractors
Stanton / Madsen
When the
War Hits Home:
Planning for Martial Law, Telegovernance and Suspension of Elections
May 14, 2002
Jacob Levich
Leaving the Truth Out?
Alternative Online Publication
Tells the Big Lie about Palestine
Michael Colby
Bush's
Cuba Blunder
Dave Marsh
Scapegoats: the Music Industry's War
on Cassettes
Jensen / Mahajan
US Power
Mideast Power Plays
May 13, 2002
Robert Fisk
Why Does John Malkovich
Want to Kill Me?
Mokhiber / Weissman
IMF
and World Bank:
Out of Control
Dean Baker
Will Darth Vader do Time?
The Enron Saga Continues
Nelson Valdés
American
Democracy:
A Lesson for Cubans
May 12, 2002
Bernard Weiner
Why Is America Acting Like This? A
Letter to European Friends
John Patrick Leary
Aiding Colombia
Kathleen Christison
Israel
and Ethics
May 11, 2002
Joady Guthrie
The Holy Lands:
A Peace Vision
Patrick Cockburn
Bombing
Iraq:
the Pentagon Prepares a Prolonged Campaign
George Sunderland
CounterPunch Special
Our
Vichy Congress: Israel's Stranglehold on Capitol Hill
Resources:
100s of Links
About 9/11
CounterPunch:
Complete
Coverage of 9/11 and Its Aftermath
Five
Days That
Shook The World:
Seattle and Beyond
By Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
Photos by Allan Sekula
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Published March 15, 2002
Read Whiteout and Find Out
How the CIA's Backing of the Mujahideen Created the World's Most
Robust Heroin Market and Helped to Finance the Rise of the Taliban
and Osama bin Laden
Whiteout:
CIA, Drugs & the
Press
by Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The New Crusade:
America's War on Terrorism
By Rahul Mahajan
The Memphis Blues Again:
Six Decades of Memphis Music Photographs
Photos by Ernest Withers
Text by Daniel Wolff
The New Intifada:
Resisting Israel's Apartheid
Edited by Roane Carey
A Pocket Guide to
Environmental Bad Guys
by James Ridgeway
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The
Phoenix Program
by Douglas Valentine
Al Gore:
A User's Manual
by Cockburn
and St. Clair
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This Explosive
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Reviews of Gore:
a User's Manual
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May
19, 2002
Where's Twain's Protector
Government Now?
Think Wheat, Not Chaff
by Philip Farruggio
According to the 2000 census there are over 105
million households in the U.S., containing an average 2.59 people
each. The median household income is $37,000 per year (for the
2.59). Doing division, that works out to around $14,000 per person.
Taking all things into consideration, does one honestly think
that anyone earning that little per year should accept:
--seeing our tax dollars pay for stationing
our army and navy all over the world? Plus billions for high
tech armaments and a "defense shield" that will never
stop terror attacks anyway?
--allowing private enterprise to continue
to profit off of lighting, heating and cooling our homes? (The
CEO of Florida Power & Light took in over $36 million for
himself in one year, as rates kept going up.)
--officials, with Enron and Global Crossing
as flagships, using corporate dollars to steer our "ship"
of government in their direction? I might add that the recent
campaign finance reform bill does little to "harness"
those elites. having to shell out, on average, $4,000 - $5,000
per year per family for inadequate medical coverage through private
insurers? And how about the 44 plus million out there with zero
health coverage?
Mark Twain realized what would continue
to transpire when he gave us his brief and poignant definition
of the purpose of government: "to protect us from the crooks
and scoundrels".
Look around you. Are we protected?
In certain "nicer" neighborhoods,
many are protected from the poor fools who prey upon anyone to
buy that next "fix". Yet, who protects us from a banking
system that strangles the homeowner for $300,000 on a $100,000
sale, through a mortgage system that reeks of feudalism? A banking
system that, in many instances, charges depositors to visit with
a teller, or call for account information. You bounce a check,
they hit you with a $25 or $30 charge. You need to cash a paycheck
at your employer's bank? They can hit you with a $5 fee.
Where is Twain's "protector government"?
Out to lunch with Kenny Lay perhaps?
Confucius said "you succeeded because
you tried again". Its time for the general public--those
of us earning anywhere in shouting distance of that median level--to
demand entry into the political process. If more of the "least
protected" made our presence felt, locally first, statewide
next, and finally nationally --these politicos would have no
recourse but to listen. If a few hundred residents of any community
showed up at a city council meeting, behind one common issue,
changes would begin to occur.
If a few thousand voters sent notice
to their statehouse rep, on one common issue at a time, changes
would begin to occur. If tens of thousands of voters sent notice
to their Senators on one common issue at a time, bombarding them
with phone calls, faxes and e-mails, priorities would begin to
change.
In the 60s we did tune in on one truth.
We said "you're either for us or you 're against us."
I say "you're either for a true democratic republic, or
you're against it!" Think wheat, not chaff!
Philip Farruggio,
son of a longshoreman, is "Blue Collar Brooklyn" born,
raised and educated (Brooklyn College, Class of '74). A former
progressive talk show host, he runs a manufacturing business
and writes for many publications. He lives in Port Orange, FL.
You can contact Mr. Farruggio at e-mail: brooklynphilly@aol.com.
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