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April 6, 2002
Bill Christison:
A Former CIA Official on
Oil and the Middle East
April 5, 2002
Charmaine
Seitz
In
Ramallah: The Grueling Reoccupation Grinds On
Nancy Stohlman
The Invasion of Bethlehem
and Our Tax Dollars at Work
Beth Daoud
The
Siege of Bethlehem:
"What Do You Mean God Is Punishing Me?"
Fareed Marjaee:
Demonizing Iran
Mokhiber
/ Weissman
Philip
Morris to Canada:
"Drop Dead"
Alex Lynch
Tampa Campus Mirrors
Middle East Strife
Alexander
Cockburn
Sharon's
Wars: How the
News Gets Through
April 4, 2002
Ray Hanania
Sharon's Latest Lie About the Church
of the Nativity
Mike Leon
Rightwing
Assault on Madison Progressives Misfires
Tom Turnipseed
Stop the Killing Now!
Nancy
Stohlman
An
American Under Siege in a West Bank Refugee Camp
Christopher Reilly
Kissinger, Chile and Justice
at Long Last?
M. Shahid
Alam
The
Lies of Thomas Friedman
April 3, 2002
Don Henley
Dear Loathsome Trade Hacks
Bernard
Weiner
An
American Jew Talks
About His Shame
David Vest
Sting of Stings
Tzaporah
Ryter
Under
Fire: an American Student in Ramallah
Gabriel Ash
America's Bravest
John Chuckman
Of
War, Islam and Israel
Robert Fisk
The Siege of Bethlehem
Alexander
Cockburn
The
Sins of the Church
April 2, 2002
Uri Avnery
Murdering Arafat?
Jeff Chang
Is
Protest Music Dead?
Lev Grinberg
Israel's State Terrorism
Norman
Madarasz
Bullying
Brazil
Robert Fisk
Farce and Terror
in Ramallah
Steve
Perry
Let's
Roll! ®:
The Marketing of Lisa Beamer
April 1, 2002
Stanton / Madsen
America's War Inc.
Rep. Dennis
Kucinich
Peace
and Nuclear Disarmament: a Call to Action
Bahour / Dahan
Bloodshed in Palestine:
A Way Out
Molly
Secours
Tennessee's
Kangaroo Court
Phyllis Pollack
The Making of Exile
on Main Street
Dave Marsh
DeskScan:
This Week's
Top 10 CDs
Francis Boyle
The Big Lie:
Palestine, Palestinians
and International Law
March 31, 2002
Jordan
Flaherty
Last
Night the Israeli
Military Tried to Kill Me
Kristen Schurr
Live from Bethlehem
Maha Sbitani
The
Israeli Army Took Over My House
Robert Fisk
Lies Leaders Tell When
They Want to Go to War
March 24/30, 2002
Alexander Cockburn
The Year
of the Yellow Notepad:
Plagiarism and History
Rep. Ron Paul
Slavery and the Draft
Fidel
Castro
A
Better World is Possible
Edward Said
What Price Oslo?
José
Saramago
Justice
and Democracy Denied
Azmi Bishara
Talking to Tanks
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Clearcutting
Montana
Alexander Cockburn
50 Years of James Bond
Wilhelm
Reich
Gethsemane
Claud Cockburn
The Horror of It All
Dave Marsh
What's
Playing at My Houe
David Vest
Remembering Tammy Wynette
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Waylon
Jennings:
an Honest Outlaw
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
(Click Here to Order from CounterPunch
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TO
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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
Buy
This Explosive
New Book at an
Amazing Discount!
Reviews of Gore:
a User's Manual
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April 6, 2002
War, Snake Oil and Circuses
By Philip Farruggio
Take a few minutes to channel surf.
Ah, the choices they give us, our corporate
controlled media. Lets see, Channel X has the regular newstalk
show, covering our "War against Terror". They inform
us of how many troops we are sending, how many warships, airstrikes
and "collateral damage" to stop this spread of terror.
Not one show ever questions the increased
military spending, or how more weapons and troops can stop suicidal
maniacs. Not one show focuses on why today's "most wanted"
were yesterday's "most favored" (and financed) allies-
or the futility of a multi-billion dollar missile defense shield.
My streetwise grandfather said it best:
"things are never what they seem!" The enemy of my
enemy should not necessarily by my friend.
Whatayasay we switch channels now? Let's
see, Channel Y has the televangelist network. Just in time,
too, as the preacher is telling us what Jesus stood for and
what his parables meant.
sYet, though Jesus castigated the Pharisees
for their riches and their hypocrisy, these preachers never
take that road to salvation. They never quote Jesus': "easier
for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man
to go to heaven! "Inbetween the requests for donations
and more donations, the sale of videos and pilgrimage bookings,
one never hears mention about the polarizing wealth in the hands
of the few, to the detriment of the many.
Let's see what's on Channel Z. Oh, right
on, it's the sports center show. All day, all night, we can
get up to the minute scores and highlights. Its so important
to know, over and over again, who won last night, who scored
how much, and of course, who signed what new contract for how
many millions.
Meanwhile, Mr. and Mrs. average family
of four, with Mom and Dad both working full time, cannot afford
the $200 needed to attend a professional game. That cash is
better spent (and better be spent) paying off the too often
used (lately) credit card. While on the topic of commercial
ventures, how about that NCAA tournament? I call it the National
Commercial Advertisement Association. Wasn't it great to see
a little basketball inbetween those commercials?
So there you have it. Under the "spell"
of the boob tube, to be patriotic is to follow the "pied
pipers' of the airwaves. They direct us to wave our flags, support
any war, (undeclared or not), give up the Bill of Rights and
agree to suspensions of civil liberties. They want us to occupy
our free time with prime time miracles and sports, sports,
sports. Follow them we must, like lemmings into a sea of turmoil.
Well, I'll tell ya who the true patriots
were. Men like Mark Twain, who said the purpose of government
was "to protect us from the crooks and scoundrels"
(hear that Kenny Lay?). Another patriot was "muckracker"
George Seldes. He called apathy " the disease of civilization".
Seldes questioned government and corporate leaders so much that
he was censored out of a mainstream career.
Remember the founders of this republic?
Those Patriots investigated many sources (censored or not) and
compiled as many facts as possible. Then they questioned authority
before it ended up questioning them!
As for me, I'm gonna catch that channel
with the black and white film noir, especially the one about
the "Pods" taking over.
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, Philip runs a mfg. rep. business
and writes for many publications. He lives in Port Orange, FL.
He can be contacted at:
brooklynphilly@aol.com.
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