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

New Print Edition of CounterPunch Available Exclusively to Subscribers: Cockburn on Judy Miller's War: Unnamed Sources, the Direct Line to Rummy, Timely Book Promotion; St. Clair on Bush's Main Man, Marc Racicot: Why Do They Call Him "the White Colin Powell"; What Did He Do to Montana?; JoAnn Wypijewski on the Supremes and Sodomy: It's a Sex Thing; FrankenFoods & World Hunger: More Crap from Monsanto; What's in a Name: Smith/Smythe and NPR. Remember, the CounterPunch website is supported exclusively by subscribers to our newsletter. Our worldwide web audience is soaring, with more than 60,000 visitors a day. This is inspiring news, but the work involved also compels us to remind you more urgently than ever to subscribe and/or make a (tax deductible) donation if you can afford it. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! Or Call Toll Free 1-800-840 3683 or write CounterPunch, PO BOX 228, Petrolia, CA 95558

Coming Soon! From Common Courage Press Recent Stories July 17, 2003 Ron Jacobs Sometimes Even the President of the United States Has to Stand Naked Lisa Walsh Thomas Bush Country: the Venom and Adulation of Ignorance Martin Schwarz Bush Pre-emptive Strike Doctrine is the Bane of Non-Proliferation Watchdogs Heidi Lypps Better Justice Through Chemistry? Forced Drugging and the Supreme Court Norman Madarasz Third Ways and Third Worlds: Lula at the Progressive Governance Conference Pankaj Mehta Criminalizing the Palestinian Solidarity Movement Marjorie Cohn Bush, War Lies & Impeachment: the Boy Who Cried Wolf Hammond Guthrie (Dis) Intelligence Revisited Website of the Day No Force, No Fraud: the Soul of Libertarianism July 16, 2003 Jason Leopold Wolfowitz Told White House to Hype Dubious Uranium Claims William Cook Defining Terrorism from the Top Down Elaine Cassel Judge Brinkema v. Ashcroft: She Whom Must Not Be Obeyed Jason Leopold How Can They Justify the War If WMDs Are Never Found? Linda Heard Bondage or Freedom? Raymond Barrett From Detroit to Basra Jeffrey St. Clair Back to the Future in Guatemala: The Return of Gen. Ríos Montt   July 15, 2003 Kathleen and Bill Christison Why We Resigned from VIPS Elaine Cassel Ashcroft's War on Legal Whistleblowers: the Ordeal of Jesselyn Radack Chris Floyd Barge Poles: Oil Wars and New Europe's Mercenaries Jason Leopold CIA Warned White House Last October that Niger Docs were Forgeries Gaius Publius Considering the Obvious: Fool Us Once, Fool Us Twise...Please John Troyer The Niger Syndrome Becky Gillette No Conspiracy at Coffeen Nature Preserve: a Response to David Orrr Uri Avnery The Bi-National State: The Wolf Shall Dwell with the Lamb Website of the Day Cost of Iraq War   July 14, 2003 Lisa Taraki Hot Days in Ramallah Walter Brasch Bush: the Pretend Captain SOA Watch Training Colombia's Killers in the US Dan Bacher Yurok Tribe Denounces Klamath River Salmon Killers Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity Intelligence Unglued Website of the Day Coalition for Democratic Rights and Civil Liberties July 12 / 13, 2003 Arthur Mitzman The Double Wall Before the Future Standard Schaefer The Coming Financial Reality: an Interview with Michael Hudson John Feffer A Fearful Symmetry: Washington and Pyongyang Ron Jacobs Shades of Gray in Iran Elaine Cassel Judicial Terrorism Against the Bill of Rights Tom Stephens Civil Liberties After 9/11 David Lindorff New White House Slogan: "Case Closed. Just Move On" Jason Leopold The Mini-War Against Iraq Prior to 9/11 Lee Sustar What's Behind the Crisis in Liberia? Mickey Z. AIDS Dissent and Africa Sam Hamod Semitic is a Language Group, Not a Race or Ethnic Group Ramzy Baroud Awaiting Justice on an Old Blanket Jeffrey St. Clair Savage Incongruities: the Photographic Life of Lee Miller Adam Engel Parable of the Lobbyist Robert Sanders A Review of Ralph Lopez's American Dream Poets' Basement Albert, Witherup, Guthrie   July 11, 2003 Conn Hallinan The Coin of Empire Tim Wise God Responds to Bush Mokhiber / Weissman The Two Faces of Bush in Africa Edward S. Herman Whitewashing Sandra Day O'Connor David Orr Coffeen-gate: What's Going on at the Sierra Club Foundation? David Lindorff An Iraq War & Occupation Glossary Website of the Day Dead Malls   July 10, 2003 Ron Jacobs Dealing with the Devil: the Bloody Profits of General Dynamics Sean Donahue Bush and the Paramillitaries: Coddling Terrorists in Colombia Yemi Toure Who Outted Bush in Afrika? Robert Jensen Politics and Sustainability: an Interview with Wes Jackson Ali Abunimah US Leaves Injured Iraqis Untreated Joanne Mariner Federal Courts, Not Military Commissions Website of the Day Electronic Iraq   July 9, 2003 David Lindorff Is the Media Finally Turning on Bush? David Krieger and Angela McCracken 10 Myths About Nuclear Weapons Mickey Z. Why Speak Out? Lee Sustar The Great Medicare Fraud John Chuckman The Worst Kind of Lie Gary Leupp "Pacifist" Japan and the Occupation of Iraq Website of the Day Hail to the Thief: Songs for the Bush Years   July 8, 2003 Elaine Cassel Bully on the Bench: the Pathological Dissents of Scalia Alan Maass Nights of Fire and Rage in Benton Harbor Chris Floyd Troubled Sleep: Getting Used to the American Gulag Linda S. Heard America's Kangaroo Justice Brian Cloughley They Tell Lies to Nodders Charles Sullivan Bush the Christian? Saul Landau The Intelligence Culture in the National Security Age Website of the Day Occupation Watch   July 7, 2003 William Blum The Anti-Empire Report Harvey Wasserman The Nuke with a Hole in Its Head Ramzy Baroud Peace for All the Wrong Reasons Simon Jones What Progressives Should Think About Iran Lesley McCulloch Fear, Pain and Shame in Aceh Uri Avnery The Draw Steve Perry Bush's Wars Web Log 7/3   July 4 / 6, 2003 Patrick Cockburn Dead on the Fourth of July Frederick Douglass What is Freedom to a Slave? Martha Honey Bush and Africa: Racism, Exploitation and Neglect Jeffrey St. Clair The Rat in the Grain: Amstutz and the Looting of Iraqi Agriculture Standard Schaefer Rule by Fed: Anyone But Greenspan in 2004 Lenni Brenner Jefferson is for Today Elaine Cassel Fucking Furious on the Fourth Ben Tripp How Free Are We? Wayne Madsen A Sad Independence Day John Stanton Happy Birthday, America! 227 Years of War Jim Lobe Bush's Surreal AIDS Appointment John Blair Return to Marble Hill: Indiana's Rusting Nuke Lisa Walsh Thomas Heavy Reckoning at Qaim David Vest Wake Up and Smell the Dynamite Adam Engel Queer as Grass Poets' Basement Christian, Witherup, Albert & St. Clair Website of the Weekend The Lipstick Librarian   July 3, 2003 Patrick W. Gavin The Meaning of Gettysburg Thomas W. Croft There Was a Reason They Called It the Casino Economy David Lindorff Outlawing Subversives: Hong Kong and the US John Chuckman Lessons from the American Revolution Jackson Thoreau New Far-Right Scheme: Impeach Supreme Court Justices Stan Goff "Bring 'Em On?": a Former Special Forces Soldier Responds to Bush's Invitation for Iraqis to Attack US Troops Steve Perry Bush's Wars Web Log 7/3 July 2, 2003 Diane Christian Good Killing and Bad Killing Richard Falk After Iraq, Does UN War Prevention Have a Future? Mokhiber / Weissman Bush Administration: Causing Repetitive Stress Justin Podur Uribe's Onslaught Across Colombia Reuven Kaviner Prosecuting Ben-Artzi, the Refusenik Steve Perry Bush's Wars Web Log 7/2 July 1, 2003 Sasan Fayamanesh Weapon of Choice: Nukes, Israel and Iran Elaine Cassel Sex and the Supreme Moralizer: Scalia and the Sodomy Cops Susan Block A Love Supreme: Our Assholes Belong to Ourselves Bill Glahn RIAA Watch: No, No Bono David Lindorff Weapons in Search of a Name Gary Leupp Occupation, Resistance and the Plight of the GIs Steve Perry Bush's Wars Web Log 7/1   June 30, 2003 Karyn Strickler The Do-Nothings: an Exposé of Progressive Politics in America Col. Dan Smith The Occupation of Iraq: Descending into the Quagmire Tim Wise Race and Destruction in Black and White Neve Gordon The Roadmap and the Wall Chris Floyd The Revelation of St. George: "God Told Me to Strike Saddam" Elaine Cassel Kentucky Woman Uri Avnery Hope in Dark Times Steve Perry Bush's Wars Web Log 6/30 Website of the Day Bush El Hombre   June 28 / 29, 2003 M. Shahid Alam Bernard Lewis: Scholarship or Sophistry? Jeffrey St. Clair Meet Steven Griles: Big Oil's Inside Man Laura Carlsen Democracy's Future: From the Polls or the Populace? Alan Maass You Call These Democrats an Alternative? C.Y. Gopinath Bush and Kindergarten Noah Leavitt Bush, the Death Penalty and International Law Joanne Mariner Rehnquist Family Values Ignacio Chapela Tenure, Censorship and Biotech at Berkeley Bob Scowcroft Bush's Squeeze on Organic Farmers Jon Brown Tom Delay: "I am the Government" Kam Zarrabi Keep Your Hands Off Iran, Please! Ron Jacobs Big Bill Broonzy's Conversation with the Blues Julie Hilden Fear Factor: Art, Terror and the First Amendment Adrien Rain Burke The Anarchists' Wedding Guide Adam Engel US Troops Outta Times Square Poets' Basement Witherup, Guthrie, Albert, Hamod   June 27, 2003 Jason Leopold CIA: Seven Months Prior to 9/11 Iraq Posed No Threat to US David Vest Supreme Silence: Bush's Bunker-Hunker David Lindorff The Catch and Release of "Comical Ali" Ray McGovern Cheney, Forgery and the CIA Steve Perry Bush's Wars Web Log 6/26 Website of the Day John Kerry, Teresa Heinz & Ken Lay: The Politics of Hypocrisy June 26, 2003 Sen. Robert Byrd The Road of Cover-Up is a Road to Ruin Jason Leopold Wolfowitz Instructed the CIA to Investigate Hans Blix Paul de Rooij Ambient Death in Palestine Chris Floyd Mass Graves and Burned Meat in Bush's New Iraq Elaine Cassel Wolfowitz as Lord High Executioner CounterPunch Wire Musicians Unite Against Sweatshops Sheldon Hull Squatting in Mansions Ben Tripp A Guide to Hating Almost Anyone Uri Avnery The Best Show in Town Steve Perry Bush's Wars Web Log 6/25 Website of the Day Ordinary Vistas: The Photographs of Kurt Nimmo   June 25, 2003 Bruce Jackson Buffalo Cops Wage War on Pedal Pushers Mickey Z. The New Dark Ages David Lindorff Indonesia's War on Journalists Dan Bacher Butterflies and Farmworkers Confront USDA and Riot Cops Adam Federman "Success is Not the Issue Here" Elaine Cassel "Ain't No Justice": Fed Judge Quits, Assails Sentencing Guidelines Bill Kauffman My America vs. the Empire Steve Perry Bush's Wars Web Log 6/25 Website of the Day You Are Being Watched: Elevator Moods   June 24, 2003 Elaine Cassel Supreme Indemnity Holocaust Denial at the High Court Roya Monajem A Message from Tehran: Is It Worth It to Risk One's Life? John Chuckman The Real Clash of Civilizations David Lindorff WMD Damage Control at the Times Steve Perry Bush's Wars Web Log 6/24   June 23, 2003 Marc Pritzke Washington Lied: an Interview with Ray McGovern Conn Hallinan The Consistency of Sharon Wayne Madsen Commercials, Disney & Amistad Edward Said The Meaning of Rachel Corrie Steve Perry Bush's Wars Web Log 6/23 June 21 / 22, 2003 Alexander Cockburn My Life as a Rabbi William A. Cook The Scourge of Hopelessness Standard Schaefer The Wages of Terror: an Interview with R.T. Naylor Ron Jacobs US Prisons as Strategic Hamlets Harry Browne The Pitstop Ploughshares Lawrence Magnuson WMD: The Most Dangerous Game Harold Gould Saddam and the WMD Mystery David Krieger 10 Reasons to Abolish Nuclear Weapons Avia Pasternak The Unholy Alliance in the Occupied Territories CounterPunch Summer Reading: Our Favorite Novels Todd Chretien Return to Sender: Todd Gitlin, the Duke of Condescension Maria Tomchick Danny Goldberg's Imaginary Kids Adam Engel The Fat Man in Little Boy Poets' Basement Guthrie, Albert & Hamod June 20, 2003 Walter Brasch Down on Our Knees Robert Meeropol The Son of the Rosenbergs on His Parents Death and Bush's America Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman Grannies and Baby Bells Norman Madarasz Pierre Bourgault: the Life of a Quebec Radical Gary Leupp Bush on "Revisionist Historians" Steve Perry Bush's Lies Marathon: the Finale   Hot Stories 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 Elaine Cassel Civil Liberties Watch Michel Guerrin Embedded Photographer Says: "I Saw Marines Kill Civilians" Uzma Aslam Khan The Unbearably Grim Aftermath of War: What America Says Does Not Go Paul de Rooij Arrogant Propaganda Gore Vidal The Erosion of the American Dream Francis Boyle Impeach Bush: A Draft Resolution Click Here for More Stories.     Subscribe Online Search CounterPunch

July 18, 2003 Sovereignty and Solidarity A Journey to Indian Country...Rhode Island By DAVID GRENIER Last night I went down to Southern Rhode Island to attend the "Unity Rally" held by the Narragansett Indian Tribe on their tribal lands. It's funny, because I don't think that most folks outside of this area know that there are still Native Americans in New England. We have this image of Native Americans as either having died out almost completely, or only existing in places like North Dakota or New Mexico. But the fact is that even the Biggest Little State in the Union has a reservation, and the folks living there face many of the same problems faced by Native Americans throughout the U.S.A.--namely poverty and bigotry. The Narragansetts in some ways have more opportunity than, say, the Dineh, simply because of their location. Many Narragansetts live and work as laborers, skilled workers, or professionals in and around the region's larger cities. Still, economic opportunity is not always that great in the Ocean State, especially being in yet another Bush Recession. Even if individuals can find jobs in Providence, Fall River, or Newport, they are often still busting their ass to make someone else rich. Tribal members need jobs, and the Tribe needs money to fund its own services--just like any government. The Narragansetts, like most Rhode Islanders, are proud people and willing to put in a fair days work. They don't want to beg for handouts. They want to be self-sufficient and self-reliant. Their dream is no different than the dream of millions of Americans who want to start their own business so that they can have more control over their own life. Yet mainly because of thinly disguised racism, the Narragansetts find themselves in a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation. If they get government handouts, they are attacked by conservatives as leeching off the taxpayers. If they try to develop their own economy, they get attacked by conservatives for stealing revenue from "regular" (read: White owned) businesses or the State--which supposedly (by unspoken virtue of their Whiteness) deserve the money more than the Native Americans or their Tribal government. It's funny, Governor Carcieri is up in arms because I can drive an hour South to buy cigarettes without paying Rhode Island State Sales Tax on them, but I can also drive about ten minutes East to do the same thing in Massachusetts. Hell, I can even drive an hour North and buy liquor with no tax at all from New Hampshire's State Line Liquor Store--but I don't see the Rhode Island State Troopers invading the Granite State. This could be because the New Hampshire government is largely White--unlike the Narragansett government. Or it could be that the Carcieri and his troopers are a bunch of cowards who will only attack if they can outnumber and outgun their victims. The point remains the same. This isn't about lost tax revenue--especially from a rightwing governor who is normally so anti-tax. This is about authority and subservience. This is about the hatred and envy that petty people feel when someone they believe should "naturally" be below them (due to race, class, religion, or whatever) actually works to improve their own life. It's sad but true. There are Rhode Islanders out there who would rather see everyone else's life be worse, than their own life be better. They can't stand it that State employees have decent pensions, or that Indians might build a profitable business. At the same time these pathetic wretches have no problem with the amount of subsidies G-Tech gets, or the amount of money the head of Textron makes. They are only angry when someone does well for themselves if they see that person as inferior in some sort of hierarchy they've made up. It's no coincidence that the attack on the Narragansetts by the Carcieri administration follows his attacks on union members and hard-working immigrants. Deep down, Conservatives hate it when the "land of opportunity" actually creates opportunities for anyone but themselves. That's why for all of the talk to the contrary, it's painfully obvious that this is not about taxes or the law, it's about plain and simple racism and hatred and keeping a dark-skinned people down merely for the sake of keeping them down. There is no real logic to it. It is simply the ugliest form of bigoted emotionalism. All of this came to a head on Monday when the Narragansetts opened a cigarette shop on their land and claimed that because they are a federally recognized tribe, they do not have to charge State taxes. Carcieri sent in the Troopers to terrorize the Indians--simply to assert his authority as a White Governor over uppity Native Americans. The scene was like something out of the civil rights movement. Unarmed people set upon by attack dogs and State Troopers using violent takedowns with no provocation. Inside the smoke shop, away from the cameras, three plainclothes thugs attacked a woman and her fifteen-year-old son. The son told them men not to touch his mother, and for that they wrestled him to the ground and twisted his ankle until it broke. When the mother begged for them to stop, one of the Troopers looked right into her eye and gleefully gave another twist. This is not about taxes or fairness or law and order. This is simply about authoritarianism a nd plain, old-fashioned sadism. The outcry from both the Native and non-Native population here is tremendous. As always, a few knee-jerk reactionaries who are incapable of thinking a police officer could ever do anything wrong (or a minority ever do anything right) were quick to commend "police restraint"--that codeword for cops beating the fuck out of people for no good reason but at least not murdering them--and condemn Native Americans for having the dignity to stand up for themselves against an unlawful and immoral invasion of their land by armed terrorists--wearing a badge or no. [Note: some may quibble here with my use of the word "terrorist"--since we're only used to seeing that word applied to Muslims. However, a terrorist is commonly defined as one who uses violence against a small part of the population to inspire fear and terror in the larger population and ultimately win their political goals. Breaking a kid's ankle, training attack dogs on people, and destroying a community's vehicle for economic development is definitely violence, and its intended to terrorize the larger Narragansett population and make them afraid to try to reopen the shop or attempt any other plan to improve their lives.] When the call went out for a Unity Rally on Narragansett land, my union brothers and sisters and I all agreed to cancel our planned social night and head down to Charlestown. We were very pleasantly surprised when we got there to see that well over two thousand people showed up. The media, of course, are reporting it as "hundreds" and "up to a thousand", but I've performed in front of two thousand Rhode Islanders before (with the Cumberland Company for the Performing Arts at our old Cumberland Faire) so I know what that looks like. In fact, I'd say the two thousand figure is a conservative estimate. Even the ProJo article says that "perhaps as many as a thousand tribal members and supporters" attended the rally also says that there were 850 cars parked behind town hall. What it doesn't mention is that on top of those 850 cars, most of which most likely carried more than one occupant, there were several busses and cars parked all up and down Route 2 and in several smaller parking lots and grassy areas. There is no way that with that many vehicles there that only a thousand people attended. Add to all of that the fact that even as we left at 9:15 p.m. there were still people pouring into the event. Why reporters always feel the need to underreport the number of people at an event like this I'll never know. The rally itself was great. There were people from all over, Native and non-Native alike. Obviously there were folks from every Rhode Island town, but there were tons of supporters from CT and MA as well. Native Americans from New York bussed up, and one guy flew in from Tennessee (where Tennesseein' is Tennebelievin'). The Tribal Government's phone has been ringing off the hook, and they've been getting calls from all over the U.S. and even from the UK. There were lots of families with little kids in attendance, and a refreshing lack of socialist sects trying to hawk their newspapers. I wouldn't be surprised, though, to still hear right-wingers who were not there describe it as a bunch of rich white college kids, as seems to be their only response when people gather to support or protest just about anything. The event was well organized as well. There were food booths with hot dogs and burgers (none of this hippy vegan-lentil-soup-in-a-bucket crap), a place to make donations for the Tribe's legal fight against the State, and free t-shirts and bumper stickers. All in all a pretty huge turnout and well-organized event, considering it was in response to something that happened only three days earlier. They even had t-shirts big enough to fit a big guy like me. I was psyched. The shirts read quite simply: In support of the Narragansett Indian Tribe. July 14, 2003/. This is surrounded by the words: Homeland Security--Fighting Terrorism Since 1492. Keep on fighting. David Grenier can be reached through his website: http://davidgrenier.com Weekend Edition Features for July 12/13, 2003 Arthur Mitzman The Double Wall Before the Future Standard Schaefer The Coming Financial Reality: an Interview with Michael Hudson John Feffer A Fearful Symmetry: Washington and Pyongyang Ron Jacobs Shades of Gray in Iran Elaine Cassel Judicial Terrorism Against the Bill of Rights Tom Stephens Civil Liberties After 9/11 David Lindorff New White House Slogan: "Case Closed. Just Move On" Jason Leopold The Mini-War Against Iraq Prior to 9/11 Lee Sustar What's Behind the Crisis in Liberia? Mickey Z. AIDS Dissent and Africa Sam Hamod Semitic is a Language Group, Not a Race or Ethnic Group Ramzy Baroud Awaiting Justice on an Old Blanket Jeffrey St. Clair Savage Incongruities: the Photographic Life of Lee Miller Adam Engel Parable of the Lobbyist Robert Sanders A Review of Ralph Lopez's American Dream Poets' Basement Albert, Witherup, Guthrie   Keep CounterPunch Alive: Make a Tax-Deductible Donation Today Online! home / subscribe / about us / books / archives / search / links /