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Special Print Edition of CounterPunch: The 2004 Election The Wreckage: Labor, God and Turnout; Was Gay Marriage Really "the" Issue; Can These Democrats Ever Win Again?; Blame It on the Smart-Assed White Boys by JoAnn Wypijewski; Political Diary: They Didn't Believe Him: What Really Happened in Ohio; How to Lose a County Hit By 30% Unemployment; David Cobb: Apex Vote Suppressor; Hope From Montana? by Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair. 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 (tax deductible) donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! CounterPunch Books a Holiday Gift They Won't Put Down! Call Toll Free 1-800-840-3683 or write CounterPunch, PO BOX 228, Petrolia, CA 95558

Read Why It Happened! Dime's Worth of Difference: Beyond the Lesser of Two Evils Order Here! Today's Stories December 10, 2004 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.     Subscribe Online

Weekend Edition December 11 / 12, 2004 All the Rage Mr. Solomon, Say You're Sorry By JOSHUA FRANK Stormin' Norman Solomon recently released his annual "P.U.-litzer Prizes" for shoddy commentary and wackjob journalism across these glorious United "Red" States of America. To tell the truth, it ain't all bad. He's got a few stalwarts of the corporate press in there -- like Dan Rather and that racist radio host Don Imus. Solomon doesn't pull any punches when naming journalistic abhorrence at the New York Times, either, like Judith Miller and Thomas Freidman. But Normie left someone off the list that surely made it this year, himself. There were few other progressive superstars out there opposed to Ralph Nader's independent run for President this year than Solomon. His host of anti-Nader columns in 2004 may have even surpassed that of The Nation's own in house Nader-baiter, Eric Alterman. First, Norm begged Nader's running mate Peter Camejo to throw in the towel during a debate in early 2004, well before Nader or the Greens had even announced candidates. He believed Nader would indeed tilt the election to Bush. Sorry Norm, we can give that illustrious prize to your candidate-of-choice, John Kerry. Before we get into Solomon's own ghastly commentaries over the past twelve months, a disclaimer is in order. Solomon's book False Hope, published in the mid-1990s (although at times a meandering screed), represented a great assault on the Clinton administration. Contrary to others of similar political persuasion, Solomon knew that after twelve long years of Republican control, the ascendance of Clinton meant little more than a formality cloaked in the rhetoric of "change." Solomon argued very articulately that Clinton represented another wing of the corporate class, a neoliberal and a war-monger cut from the same cloth as his Republican adversaries. Consequently, Solomon was a vocal supporter of Ralph Nader's Green Party bid in 1996 and 2000. But Solomon has changed chords since then. Writing in late October 2004, Solomon had this to say of his old friend Ralph: "In contrast to his avowed idealism, the candidate has descended into nihilism blended with macho posturing." So fearful of Ralph "stealing" the election was Solomon that he declared Nader's candidacy "a pointless project -- unless the point is to again prove that he can hurt the Democratic Party in a big way. With most polls showing a dead heat, Nader insisted on the need to keep running all-out, even -- and perhaps especially -- in the closest states." Pointless? Nader was the only progressive candidate even attempting to take Kerry to task in the states that mattered, i.e. "swing states." Unlike Solomon, who drove around the Southwest in the latter days of the campaign trumping for Kerry, Nader challenged consistently the corruption of our corporate government and their bipartisan thirst for Iraqi blood. He remained the only high-profile candidate raising questions about U.S. policy on Israel and Palestine, the pre-emptive war doctrine, the growing wealth gap, and the racist prison-industrial complex, among so many other issues. But on Solomon raged, smearing Nader, accusing the veteran consumer advocate of being in-bed with the Republicans. Of course, Judith Miller would be proud of Solomon's contempt for facts. Solomon told Socialist Worker: "In Oregon, right-wing groups--including a notorious antigay organization--have worked to get Nader on the ballot. The Oregonian (June 25) reported that the head of the Nader campaign in Oregon 'said he saw nothing wrong with the Republican outreach efforts. 'It's a free country,' he said. 'People do things in their own interest.' Building 'a political alternative' while accepting tactical alliances with xenophobic and antigay forces? I'll pass." But Solomon conveniently forgot to mention the tactics Dems took in Oregon to keep Nader off the ballot, such as sending slick operatives to the homes of Nader petition gatherers to threaten them with federal crimes if they made errors while collecting names. Writing for LeftHook.org in early October, Toby Shepard had this to say about the shenanigans: "Take Oregon. After Nader volunteers collected more than the required 15,306 signatures (a total of 18,186) needed to appear on the state's ballot, Secretary of State Bill Bradbury invented reasons to disqualify his constituents. If signatures appeared illegible, (despite printed names appearing directly below 'illegible' signatures) Bradbury disqualified them. In one instance, a volunteer had begun to write a '7' to mark the day of the month, realized the error, crossed it out and wrote '8.' Bradbury discarded the entire sheet. Bradbury even threw out 2,354 signatures (which had already been verified by individual counties) because they were submitted without page numbers. All in all, Bradbury left Nader 218 signatures short of being on the state ballot. Three cheers for democracy." Well, what about Solomon's assertion that right-wing groups were helping Nader? CounterPunch had this to say in July 2004 about the corrupt money we should really be concerned with: "Chevron Inc, who was convicted in 1992 of egregious environmental offenses, has given the Democrats over $46,000 this election cycle. Pfizer, the monstrous pharmaceutical company and maker of Zoloft and erection fortifying Viagra, has given close to $160,000 to the Democrats this go-round. Their crime? Price fixing food additives, to which they pled guilty in 1999. "Time/Warner, who will most likely be charged with a $400 million accounting violation later this summer by the SEC, has given John Kerry approximately $250,000 since 1990. That's not including the over $3.6 million they have given the Democrats since Al Gore's run for president. "Bush's homeboy, convicted right-winger Kenny "Boy" Lay, the Enron sage, used to sit on the board of directors for the Heinz Foundation, which is John Kerry's wife's ketchup rich environmental trust. His company has given well over one million dollars to the Democrats since 2000. And we all know Enron's crimes. "Archer Daniels Midland, the huge multinational processor and exporter of cereal grains and oilseeds, pled guilty in 1996 to one of the largest anti-trust lawsuits in the history of the United States. They've anteed up over $1.7 million to the Democratic Party since 2000. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. "How about the most recent on the list of corporate robber barons? Although they have yet to be convicted of any wrong-doing in Iraq (the Pentagon claims they have overcharged tax payers millions of dollars), Dick Cheney's war profiteering Halliburton has donated $37,581 to the Dems this year. And Democrats still want us to believe Nader's the only one who is sleeping with the enemy?" Some would say an apology is in order. Norman, say you are "sorry" to Ralph. Your teammate in the Kerry-or-die effort, Medea Benjamin, has already apologized in a round about way, and it's your turn now. As Medea recently told The Nation, "Many of us in the Green Party made a tremendous compromise by campaigning in swing states for such a miserable standard-bearer for the progressive movement as John Kerry. Well, I've had it. As George Bush says, 'Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me -- you can't get fooled again." Nader's independent campaign for president this year brought in close to 500,000 votes, despite being wrangled in legal battles over ballot access, and chastised by ex-supporters like Mr. Solomon for deciding to take the two corporate war parties head on. Norman's efforts to smear Nader in 2004 indeed backfired. Kerry's loss was not the fault of Nader or his cohorts, no matter how much Solomon wishes they were. It would have been easy to point the finger of blame at that grouchy old Ralph, but Solomon would do well to regress back to his old roots and again take on the Democrats for their spinelessness. In the meantime Norman, go ahead and award yourself your own lamely punned "P.U.-litzer." You deserve it. Joshua Frank, a contributor to A Dime's Worth of Difference: Beyond the Lesser of Two Evils, is putting the finishing touches on Left Out: How Liberals did Bush's Work for Him, to be published by Common Courage Press in 2005. He welcomes comments at frank_joshua@hotmail.com. 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 WWW http://www.counterpunch.org