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CounterPunchers! We Mean It!
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Today's Stories November 4, 2009 Robert Weissman November 3, 2009 Patrick Cockburn Mike Whitney Franklin C. Spinney Laura Carlsen Serge Halimi John Stanton Sophia Weeks Dave Lindorff November 2, 2009 Steven Higgs Ishmael Reed David Macaray Bouthaina Shaaban David Michael Green David Swanson Ellen Brown Adam Federman James McEnteer Stephen Fleischman Website of the Day October 30 - Nov. 1, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair / Carl Ginsburg Mike Whitney Joe Bageant Gareth Porter Saul Landau Anthony DiMaggio Dave Lindorff Rannie Amiri Niranjan Ramakrishnan Jayne Lyn Stahl Rev. William E. Alberts Alvaro Huerta Martha Rosenberg Binoy Kampmark Norm Kent Charles R. Larson Roth's "The Humbling:" Nothing Like a Novel From an Old Pro Ron Jacobs David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Kim Nicolini Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend October 29, 2009 Michael Neumann Mike Whitney Gary Leupp Conn Hallinan Marshall Auerback Laura Flanders Eamonn McCann David Macaray Mark Weisbrot Stephen Soldz Christopher Brauchli Website of the Day October 28, 2009 Moshe Adler Dave Lindorff Frank Joseph Smecker Alexandra Early M. Shahid Alam Vijay Prashad John Ross Franklin Lamb Gregory Travis Susan Galleymore Website of the Day October 27, 2009 Mike Whitney Patrick Cockburn Stewart J. Lawrence Alan Farago Ralph Nader Dave Lindorff Bouthaina Shaaban Brian M. Downing Elections in Afghanistan, the Second Time Around Iain Boal Carl Finamore Jayne Lyn Stahl Website of the Day October 26, 2009 Bill Quigley / Paul Craig Roberts Uri Avnery Mike Whitney Michael Snedeker Shamus Cooke David Michael Green Martha Rosenberg Patrick Bond Binoy Kampmark Website of the Day October 23-25, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Christopher Ketcham Jeff Gore Gareth Porter Jayne Lyn Stahl Saul Landau Mike Whitney Nikolas Kozloff Ron Jacobs Russell Mokhiber Missy Beattie Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada Stephen Lendman David Ker Thomson Rannie Amiri Ronnie Cummins Norm Kent Charles R. Larson David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Ben Sonnenberg Kim Nicolini Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend October 22, 2009 Dan Pearson / Jonathan Cook Paul Craig Roberts The US as Failed State Mark Engler Johann Hari Brian M. Downing Eric Toussaint Tom Mountain Israel Shamir Charles Thomson Website of the Day October 21, 2009 Pam Martens Linn Washington, Jr. Liaquat Ali Khan D. K. Wilson Franklin Lamb Norman Solomon Stephen Fleischman Patrice Higonnet Binoy Kampmark Kevin Coval / Website of the Day October 20, 2009 Sharon Smith Tariq Ali Mark Brenner Bouthaina Shaaban Michael D. Yates Dean Baker Dave Lindorff John Ross Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada Kevin Zeese Gilad Atzmon Website of the Day October 19, 2009 Mike Whitney Greg Moses John Ross Michael Donnelly Jayne Lyn Stahl Eric Walberg Russell Mokhiber Barbara Rose Johnston John V. Whitbeck Christopher Ketcham Website of the Day October 16-18, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Saul Landau Paul Craig Roberts Carl Ginsburg Ralph Nader Nikolas Kozloff Carlo Galli Dave Lindorff Catherine Rottenberg
/ Neve Gordon Marshall Auerback Nicola Nasser Windy Cooler James L. Secor Ron Jacobs Wes Jackson Jesse Lerner-Kinglake David Ker Thomson Against Leaders Missy Beattie Emily Ratner Stephen Martin Michael Snedeker Charles R. Larson David Yearsley Peter Stone Brown Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend October 15, 2009 Andrew Cockburn Brian M. Downing Ramzy Baroud Danny Weil M. Idrees Ahmad Margaret Kimberley Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada Harvey Wasserman Nirmal Ghosh Charles R. Larson Website of the Day October 14, 2009 Michael Neumann M. Reza Pirbhai Gareth Porter Paul Craig Roberts John Strausbaugh Fortress Moon Ralph Nader Dean Baker Charles Modiano Nadia Hijab Walter Brasch Website of the Day October 13, 2009 Peter Linebaugh Shamus Cooke John Ross Brendan Cooney Frida Berrigan Yves Engler David Macaray Dave Lindorff Mark Weisbrot Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada Binoy Kampmark Website of the Day October 12, 2009 Pam Martens Mike Whitney Martha Rosenberg Jessica Arents Eamonn McCann Bill Hatch Sen. Russell Feingold Niranjan Ramakrishnan Gideon Levy Iyad Burnat Alan Cabal Dan Bacher Website of the Day October 9-11, 2009 Alexander Cockburn James Bovard Kathleen and Bill Christison Andy Worthington Marc Levy Tariq Ali Mike Whitney Paul Craig Roberts Alan Nasser Jack Z. Bratich Steve Breyman David Michael Green Dave Lindorff Paul Buchheit Jim Goodman Missy Beattie Michael Leonardi Nadia Hijab Mel Packer David Macaray James T. Phillips Charles R. Larson Michael Donnelly David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend October 8, 2009 Saul Landau Paul Fitzgerald / Linn Washington, Jr. Marshall Auerback Dave Lindorff David Rosen Chris Darimont / Misty MacDuffee John V. Walsh Stewart Lawrence Charles R. Larson Website of the Day October 7, 2009 Brendan Cooney Paul Craig Roberts Dean Baker Jonathan Cook John Stanton Joanne Mariner Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada Stephen Lendman Sen. Russell Feingold Mary Lynn Cramer Website of the Day October 6, 2009 Mike Whitney Gareth Porter Jonathan Cook Boris Kagarlitsky Iain Boal Ron Jacobs John Ross Michael Dickinson Stephen Fleischman Ira Glunts Missy Beattie Website of the Day October 5, 2009 Pam Martens Mike Whitney Paul Craig Roberts Harry Browne Sara Mann Omar Barghouti Shamus Cooke Brenda Norrell Fred Gardner Binoy Kampmark Copenhagen Blues: McChrystal and the Afghan Trap Website of the Day October 2-4, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Saul Landau Diana Johnstone Greg Moses William Blum Brian Cloughley Russell Mokhiber John Ross Ellen Brown David Ker Thomson David Macaray Gary Engler Robert Fantina Lisa Stolarski / Naomi Archer Anthony Papa Joe Allen Harry Browne Ron Jacobs Charles R. Larson David Yearsley Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
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Economic ConscriptionOf Veterans and VolunteersBy SUSAN GALLEYMORE Veteran's Day 2009 coming up November 11 and the United States economy founders on rocky shoals after decades of deregulation. It's messy out there...and, by most accounts, the unemployed flotsam and jetsam will only increase. According to low ball calculations, unemployment hit a 26-year-high of 9.8 percent. Associated Press reports nearly 6 million Americans volunteered for something in 2008, the largest total in the past four years. “As the economy worsens, the number of Americans trying to make a difference is going sky-high.” Lou Reda, executive director of the HandsOn network says, “It's absolutely stunning...It's getting harder to put together enough projects for all the volunteers.” Organizations with tight budgets rely on volunteers – or unpaid interns. Fundraising is the top volunteer activity followed by collecting and distributing food, general labor, and teaching. Even internships, the “in” to competitive careers for recent college graduates of a certain class are hard to come by as someone, a parent or family member, must pays the bills. Then there's the US military. The Pentagon accounts for more than half of U.S. discretionary spending; the US spends more on defense than the rest of the world combined. In fiscal year 2009, the regular defense budget totaled $518; tax payers are not privy to the hidden black budget. Accordingly, as the economy worsens and the pool of under- or unemployed grows, young Americans “volunteer” for the military. Curtis Gilroy, a senior Pentagon official, said a 10 percent increase in the national unemployment rate generally translates into a 4 per cent to 6 per cent “improvement in high-quality Army enlistments.” Bill Carr, deputy undersecretary for defense for military personnel policy, states, “We're pleased to report that, for the first time since the advent of the all-volunteer force, all of the military components, active and reserve, met their number as well as their quality goals.” Another Pentagon spokesperson reports a “banner year for recruitment”...the military is meeting “all its goals for the first time since creating an all-volunteer force in 1973.” The spirit of volunteerism, according to Webster's, is to offer oneself for service of one's own free will, to render a service or take part in a transaction while having no legal concern or interest. But what does it mean to volunteer when few generative alternatives exist? I met a volunteer in Sea-Tac Airport recently. Amir, a Muslim and first generation Arab-American, was heading to Ft. Worth, then Kuwait, then Afghanistan. His battle dress uniform was neat, his boots replaced after his most recent tour of duty in Baghdad. He was involuntarily extended three months beyond the one year he – and his family – expected. His fourth child was born while he was gone. This time, his wife and his ten-, eight-, and six-year-old children wish he was redeploying to Iraq. “They think I have a better shot at surviving in Baghdad since I already know how things work there.” We agreed this is a bad time to deploy to Afghanistan. Amir said if he wasn't married with children, if his buddies didn't need him, he'd consider going AWOL. I asked, “But aren't you a volunteer?” He laughed. “Yeah, right. What a joke. When is a volunteer not a volunteer? When he's deployed to combat three, and four, and five times. Americans can't get real jobs anymore. We're forced by circumstances to sign up – or re-up – to feed our families. So much for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; I can't afford a declaration of independence.” Indeed, a more accurate definition of Amir's relationship to the military is indenture: a person who binds himself to work for another for a specified time, in return for payment of travel expenses and maintenance. Yes, the US military has young people who more accurately fit the definition of volunteer; my own son is one. He enlisted with a goal, fulfilled that goal, then discharged to earn the formal college education that he was unable to earn as a volunteer (despite his recruiter's promises that he would attend college while in the military). But hundreds of thousands of Amirs in the military indenture themselves to keep families afloat. More than 6,000 American volunteers are dead and tens of thousands have lost limbs or suffered brain injury. Surely if risking one's life for one's country is the noble cause George Bush promoted – and Barak Obama echoes – recruiting volunteers would be a cakewalk? Yet the military spends, on average, between $9,000 and $10,000 per recruit including the cost of advertising and employing thousands of recruiters across the country. The US Army spends about $22,000 per recruit. This Veteran's Day remember that President Eisenhower signed the 1954 bill as a call to We, the People to dedicate ourselves to peace. This Veterans Day look into a veteran's face, shake his or her hand, sincerely ask about, and deeply listen to, stories from the combat zones. Then ask yourself, isn't it time to ensure that none of our people bare the burden of false volunteerism? Isn't it time you, and I, and our nation reexamine our priorities, dedicate ourselves to people over profit, and ensure a truly secure future? Susan Galleymore is author of Long Time Passing: Mothers Speak about War and Terror, host of Stanford University's Raising Sand Radio, and a former “military mom” and GI Rights Counselor. Inside the New Print Edition of Our Subscriber-Only Newsletter! Obama and Black America Ten months into Obama-time, the plight of black Americans is terrible. Yet overwhelmingly they rally behind the president. In a powerful report from the Deep South Kevin Alexander Gray asks the question: what should the black political agenda be? Mark Rudd counterposes “organizing” with “activism” and describes what it will take to build a movement. H. Bruce Franklin gives a chronology of the march into Afghanistan. Get your new edition today by subscribing online or calling 1-800-840-3683 Contributions to CounterPunch are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! CounterPunch books and t-shirts make great presents.Order CounterPunch By Email For Only $35 a Year !
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Now Available from CounterPunch Books! Yellowstone Drift:
"Powerful and shocking ..
Waiting for
Lightning
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