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Calling All CounterPunchers!
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Calling All CounterPunchers!
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Today's Stories October 31, 2008 Alexander Cockburn October 30, 2008 Cockburn / St. Clair Vijay Prashad Paul Craig Roberts Glen Ford Stanley Heller William Loren Katz Joshua Frank James McEnteer Felice Pace Jonathan Cook Reza Fiyouzat Website of the Day
October 29, 2008 Arno J. Mayer Eric Toussaint Matt Gonzalez Steven Conn Jonathan Cook Patrick Bond Ramzi Kysia Douglas Valentine Stephen Martin Margaret Dooley-Sammuli Amee Chew Website of the Day
October 28, 2008 James G. Abourezk Andy Worthington Gary Leupp Paul Craig Roberts Mike Whitney Gregory V. Button Ralph Nader P. Sainath Martha Rosenberg Charles R. Larson Website of the Day October 27, 2008 Michael Hudson Barbara Rose Johnston John Dinges Mike Whitney Mary Lynn Cramer Greenspan's Higher Power Alan Farago David Michael Green Andy Worthington George Wuerthner Niranjan Ramakrishnan Website of the Day October 24 / 26, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Ishmael Reed Mike Whitney Don Santina Scott Boehm Saul Landau Ron Jacobs Binoy Kampmark Linn Washington Jr. Nicole Colson Bernard Chazelle Brian Jones Christopher Brauchli Benjamin Dangl Val Strange Steve Early David Macaray Allison Kilkenny Richard Rhames Jim Bell Kris De Welde Barry Clemson Adam Engel Mark Scaramella Tuli Kupferberg Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend October 23, 2008 Allan J. Lichtman Todd Chretien John Ross Peter Morici Mats Svensson Marlene Martin Robert Jensen / Margaret Kimberley Deepak Tripathi David Morris Website of the Day October 22, 2008 Brian Cloughley Heather Gray Jeff Birkenstein Ralph Nader DC Larson David Swanson Keeanga-Yamatta Taylor Race and the Election: When the "Real" America Enters the Voting Booth Larry Everest Robert Fantina Martha Rosenberg Stephen Martin Website of the Day October 21, 2008 Vijay Prashad Paul Craig Roberts Corey D. B. Walker Steve Breyman Eric Toussaint Wajahat Ali Robert Weitzel Brendan Cooney Dave Lindorff Marqueece Harris-Dawson / Bob Wing Patrick B. Barr Omar Barghouti Website of the Day October 20, 2008 Michael Hudson Anthony DiMaggio Tariq Ali Uri Avnery Bill Quigley Ben Rosenfeld David Michael Green William S. Lind Chris Genovali Stephen Martin Howard Lisnoff David Yearsley Website of the Day October 17 / 19, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Pam Martens Paul Craig Roberts Mike Whtney Michael D. Yates Suzanne Smith Carl Boggs Ralph Nader Fidel Castro Dave Marsh Saul Landau Jo Guldi Kevin Zeese Larry Everest Steve Early David Macaray Ben Terrall Missy Beattie Don Monkerud Helen Redmond Dan Bacher Wajahat Ali Farzana Versey Vladimir Frolov Kim Nicolini Poets Basement Website of the Day
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October 31, 2008 McCain the "Gook Hater"Johnny's TantrumsBy PATRICK IRELAN When John McCain III was about two years old, he acquired a habit that worried his parents. He developed an “outsized temper” that he expressed in an unusual fashion. “At the smallest provocation, I would go off in a mad frenzy, and then, suddenly crash to the floor unconscious.” (John McCain and Mark Salter, Faith of my Fathers, 1999) Little Johnny’s parents took him to see a Navy doctor, who concluded that their son’s behavior was nothing to get upset about. “It was self-induced,” McCain writes. “When I got angry I held my breath until I blacked out.” The doctor then prescribed a cure. “He instructed my parents to fill a bathtub with cold water whenever I commenced a tantrum, and when I appeared to be holding my breath to drop me, fully clothed, into it.” “Eventually,” McCain and Salter assure the reader, “I achieved a satisfactory (if only temporary) control over my emotions.” Little Johnny is now running for the office of president of the United States, and his emotions require consideration. McCain comes from a military family. Both his father and grandfather worked and studied hard and became admirals. So no one found it surprising when John McCain III entered the U.S. Naval Academy in the summer of 1954. But by his own admission, he did not excel at the academy. While there, McCain took up the sport of boxing. Robert Timberg’s I hate to criticize any athlete, but John III could have improved his style by watching Sugar Ray Robinson at work in the ring. Boxers who charged Robinson in such an awkward fashion soon found themselves lying on the canvas. And they didn’t get there by holding their breath until they blacked out. Even when in the Naval Academy, McCain still had not escaped the self-defeating anger of his childhood. While not flailing away in the boxing ring, John III flailed away academically. After four years of this sport, he graduated from the Naval Academy and enrolled in Navy flight school. Once again, McCain found himself in a succession of unhappy situations. While in flight school, his trainer landed in the Gulf of Mexico instead of on an airstrip at Corpus Christi. I don’t know the details. Perhaps he was holding his breath again. In 1965, McCain crashed another plane, this one in the state of Virginia. With a record like his, I can see why John III frequently argues for a larger military budget. Eventually, McCain found himself at the controls of U.S. A-4 bombers in the Vietnam War. He flew 23 missions, during which he dropping bombs on fields, buildings, and people in and around Hanoi and Haiphong. “The A-4 is a small, fast, highly maneuverable aircraft, a lot of fun to fly, and it can take a beating,” he wrote. On his last mission, he had just released his bomb load when a surface-to-air missile blew off the right wing of his plane. John III ejected from the A-4 bomber, breaking both arms and his right leg in the process. He floated down toward a civilian section in the center of Hanoi, where his bombs had just landed. His parachute dropped him into Truc Bach Lake, a body of water designed for the enjoyment of the citizens. One of those citizens swam out and saved his life. Others reacted with less sympathy. Fortunately for McCain, a truck full of Vietnamese soldiers arrived and saved him from the civilians. John III spent the next five years in a POW camp. He claims the guards tortured him. I don’t know how many people he killed with his bombs. * * * After returning to the United States after the war, John III went into politics. In this field, as in others in the past, his anger has often guided his actions. He seems not to have escaped the childhood tantrums that led to an unknown number of cold swims in the tub. And he combines his anger with the use of foul language that I’m sure his mother did not approve of. Using the “F” word, for example, McCain once insulted Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa so much that Grassley refused to speak to him for two years. John III used similar language to insult Senator Pete Domenici. Decades after killing an unknown number of Vietnamese, he still calls them racist names. “I hate the gooks,” he said in 2000. “I will hate them as long as I live.” These are only a few examples of McCain’s outbursts. He also insults members of his staff and complete strangers. But does all this unpleasantness really matter in an election? Perhaps it means a great deal in a presidential election. Early in 2008, Senator Thad Cochran of Mississippi said, “The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He is erratic. He is hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me.” (Boston Globe, 1/27/2008) McCain has another problem that relates to all this. He’s a compulsive gambler, and he loses thousands of dollars every year. He shoots craps, which any professional gambler will tell you is a sucker’s game. It’s all a matter of luck, unlike five-card stud, for example, where you can see and remember some of the cards dealt. And you can calculate the odds of what cards will appear next. Do we really want an angry, racist president, one who makes decisions by rolling dice? Think about it. If you’re still not sure, take a nice cold bath. Patrick Irelan is a retired high-school teacher. He is the author of A Firefly in the Night (Ice Cube Press) and Central Standard: A Time, a Place, a Family (University of Iowa Press). You can contact him at pwirelan43@yahoo.com.
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