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The New Print Edition of CounterPunch, Only for Our Newsletter Subscribers! How Cops Extort Confessions;
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The New Print Edition of CounterPunch, Only for Our Newsletter Subscribers!
How Cops Extort Confessions;
How the U.S. “Justice System” Really WorksNinety-two per cent of felony convictions in the U.S. are obtained by plea bargains or confessions. Without them the “justice system” would grind to a halt. In an important piece in our latest newsletter, available only to subscribers, Emily Horowitz shows how totally innocent people will “confess” under police pressure, even without physical torture. Horowitz outlines the powerful case for banning confessions altogether. Also in this new edition Marcus Rediker, co-author of the legendary The Many Headed Hydra, writes of popular heroism and resistance in the favelas of Medellin, Colombia. Alexander Cockburn reports on how America’s oldest bank, patronized by the global elites, washed billions smuggled out of Russia, and how the Russians might win their money back, shaking the world’s banking system if they do so. Serge Halimi describes the real battle for the soul of Europe. Get your copy 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 gear make great presents.
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Today's Stories August 4, 2008 Uri Avnery August 2 / 3, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Patrick Cockburn Winslow T. Wheeler James Abourezk Andy Worthington Brian Cloughley Robert Fantina Benjamin Dangl Marlene Martin David Yearsley Fatemeh Keshavarz David Michael Green Obama as Dukakis Harvey Wasserman Jason Hribal Phyllis Pollack Laray Polk Ron Jacobs David Macaray David Rosen Dan Bacher Joe Allen Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend August 1, 2008 Jonathan Cook Nikolas Kozloff Rannie Amiri Peter Morici Christopher Brauchli M. K. Bhadrakumar Patrick Cockburn James J. Brittain Dan Bacher Website of the Day
July 31, 2008 Michael Hudson Carl Finamore Mike Whitney Joshua Frank Andy Worthington Ralph Nader Bill Moyers / Robert Weissman Dave Lindorff Website of the Day July 30, 2008 Brian M. Downing Chuck Spinney William S. Lind David Ker Thomson Karl Grossman Mike Whitney Martha Rosenberg James Murren Dave Lindorff Ron Jacobs Website of the Day July 29, 2008 Jeffrey St. Clair John Ross Peter Morici Alison Weir Gary Leupp David Macaray Brenda Norrell Marjorie Cohn Eric Ruder Website of the Day July 28, 2008 Dr. Bryant Welch Kathy Kelly Mike Whitney Peter Morici Christopher Brauchli Clifton Ross Stephen Lendman Website of the Day July 26 / 27, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair James G. Abourezk Joseph Nevins Uri Avnery Linn Washington, Jr. David Yearsley Binoy Kampmark Saul Landau Joshua Frank Brendan Cooney Jonathan Cook Robert Fantina Lee Sustar Michael Winship David Macaray Missy Beattie Robert Weissman Kim Nicolini Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend July 25, 2008 Harvey Wasserman Paul Craig Roberts Alan Farago Paul D'Amato Gary Leupp Niranjan Ramakrishnan Mike Whitney Paul Krassner Mike Roselle Website of the Day July 24, 2008 Greg Moses Andy Worthington James Bovard Joe Bageant George Wuerthner DC Larson William Willers David Macaray Website of the Day July 23, 2008 Winslow T. Wheeler Paul Craig Roberts Ralph Nader Mike Whitney Susie Day Website of the Day July 22, 2008 Nikolas Kozloff Patrick Cockburn Soldz, Olson, Reisner Arrigo and Welch Moshe Adler Martha Rosenberg Dan Bacher Harvey Wasserman Anthony Papa Binoy Kampmark Website of the Day July 21, 2008 Ishmael Reed Mike Whitney Andy Worthington Scott Pellegrino John Ross Robert Weitzel Mike Stark Website of the Day July 19 / 20, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Dave Lindorff Saul Landau Ron Jacobs Uri Avnery Neve Gordon Roane Carey Robert Fantina Christopher Brauchli Fred Gardner David Macaray Richard L. Hutto Bill Moyers / Ronnie Cummins David Yearsley Alison McKenna Wajahat Ali Poets' Basement Website of the Day July 18, 2008 Corey D. B. Walker Mike Whitney Robert Bryce Mike Roselle Bouthaina Shaaban Eve Spangler Website of the Day
July 17, 2008 Paul Craig Roberts James G. Abourezk Ralph Nader Allan J. Lichtman Andy Worthington"Screwed Up" and"Abused": Omar Khadr's Interrogations at Gitmo Ronnie Cummins
July 16, 2008 Jeffrey St. Clair Paul Craig Roberts Conn Hallinan Dave Lindorff William S. Lind Christopher Brauchli Website of the Day
July 15, 2008 Michael Hudson Brian Cloughley Patrick Cockburn John Ross Howard Lisnoff Website of the Day July 14, 2008 Uri Avnery Paul Craig Roberts Trish Schuh Patrick Cockburn Mike Whitney Alan Farago Seth Sandronsky Phyllis Pollack Website of the Day July 12 / 13, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair James Abourezk Nicole Colson Stan Cox Ismael Hossein-Zadeh Wajahat Ali / John Stauber Alan Farago Missy Beattie Robert Fantina Rannie Amiri Gregory Kafoury Fran Shor Martha Rosenberg David Macaray Andrew Wimmer Ron Jacobs Farzana Versey Kim Nicolini Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend July 11, 2008 Kevin Alexander Gray Sasan Fayazmanesh Peter Morici Mike Whitney Manuel Garcia, Jr. Robert Weissman Ramzy Baroud Kelly Overton Adrian Burgos Website of the Day July 10, 2008 Brian McKenna Paul Craig Roberts Saul Landau Ron Jacobs Joshua Frank Peter Morici Alan Maass Robert Weissman William Blum Alan Farago Website of the Day July 9, 2008 Ismael Hossein-Zadeh Luis Rodriguez Sheldon Richman Fatemeh Keshavarz Chad Hanson Sen. Russ Feingold Niranjan Ramakrishnan Dave Lindorff Stanley Heller Philip Rizk Website of the Day July 8, 2008 Nikolas Kozloff Laura Carlsen Mike Whitney Andy Worthington Patrick Irelan Chellis Glendinning David Macaray Dave Lindorff John Chuckman Phillip Doe Website of the Day July 7, 2008 Patrick Bond Kathy Kelly Andy Worthington Clifton Ross Elizabeth Schulte Ralph Nader Dave Lindorff Binoy Kampmark Stephen Fleischman Website of the Day July 5 / 6, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair / Patrick Cockburn Mike Whitney Robert Fantina Binoy Kampmark Rannie Amiri Eric Ruder Brian Cloughley William Blum Frank Barat Christopher Brauchli David Yearsley Ron Jacobs Karim Makdisi Wendy Thompson / N. D. Jayaprakash Ramzy Baroud Kelly Overton Richard Neville Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
July 4, 2008 Kathy Kelly Dave Lindorff Paul Krassner Jackie Corr Laray Polk Dan Bacher Walter Brasch Charles Modiano Website of the Day July 3, 2008 Sharon Smith Andy Worthington Laura Carlsen Peter Morici Ramzi Kysia Martha Rosenberg Anne Landman Dave Zirin Kristin Bricker Website of the Day
July 2, 2008 Patrick Irelan Vijay Prashad Brian Cloughley Ralph Nader Robert Fantina Dave Lindorff Parvez Ahmed Robert Bryce Website of the Day July 1, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Mike Whitney Douglas Macgregor Steven Higgs Andy Worthington Binoy Kampmark Dave Lindorff Roger Burbach Richard W. Behan Gary Leupp Website of the Day |
August 4, 2008 Is It Right?The Question Conscience AsksBy
Rev. JESSE JACKSON It is challenging but also often helpful. We must see the value of healthy critiques. We are accountable to each other. But through all of this, while I went on my sojourn to the desert, I thank you. I fasted and prayed and reflected. I went to the valley in a real search for my assignment and to renew the health and strength of my soul. I want to be morally and physically fit for this battle. I want my preaching and my living to be closely connected. Too often the preaching is higher than the living. The Gospel must not be compromised. This is a magic moment in American history. I’ve been blessed to be a part of a great era. I was jailed in 1960 for trying to use a public library. I was jailed in 1963 going to the March on Washington for trying to use a public facility. I think about our journey from slave ships to championships, from 1948 to 2008---what a journey. Jackie Robinson broke into the ranks of the white major leagues in 1947, before there was a NBA or NFL as we know them today. He, along with Jesse Owens and his victory in Berlin, and Joe Louis in his defeat of Max Schmeling, carried so much of our weight on their shoulders. They changed the cultural expectations. Our Sampsons beat their Goliaths. We rejoiced and named our children after them. Then the 1954 court triumph that ended legal apartheid, followed by 10 years of test cases in Montgomery, Little Rock, and all across the South, culminating in the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Then the shift from seeking equal protection under the law to seeking empowerment. A blow was landed by Fannie Lou Hamer and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party in 1964. Then the battle for the right to vote and the Voting Rights Act. White women couldn’t serve on juries. Farmers who couldn’t pay poll taxes couldn’t vote—Selma. Eighteen year olds got the right to vote in 1970---Selma. In 1974, student residency, you can vote where you go to school---Selma. 1975, bilingual voting---Selma. 1990, the Disabilities Act---Selma. All of these victories were rooted in that defining moment in Selma, Alabama. The 1984 and 1988 presidential campaigns which sought to break down barriers and democratized the primary system by changing the rules so delegates were elected on a proportional basis, not winner take all. The campaigns generated a multitude of newly registered rainbow voters. Now, with the barriers down, we are running the last lap of this race with a brilliant anchorman, Barack Obama---so able, intellectually, morally, and spiritually, to bring the baton home. This is a magic moment. August 28, 1955: Emmett Till was lynched. August 28, 1963: Dr. King addressed the March on Washington. August 28, 2008: Barack receives the nomination. This is a magic moment, one of those high peak moments for America and the world. July 4, 1776: Independence from Britain. 1865: The 13th Amendment ending slavery. 1954: The Supreme Court Decision that ended legal apartheid. August 28, 1963: Dr. King addressed the March on Washington. August 28, 2008: We reach the political Promised Land Dr. King saw from the mountaintop. On this journey we have faced trauma, and sometimes experienced errors of judgment, taste, and tone along the way. Yet, we play with our scars. I’ve had to reflect upon my traumatizing ordeal with sincerity and contrition. My private speech became public controversy. I addressed the hurt and the affected. I was not satisfied with my apology and response, so I went to the desert to see if there was any gap between my heart and my lips. It was a soul-searching journey. I wanted to examine my painful and errant language---whether private or public. I speak to you this way because I love you with a passion and pain, and with a pleasure and commitment that is immeasurable, to the death and beyond. I find my deepest joy in lifting people up, whether in stress or distress. In a moment away from the high mark, I let you down. It hurts. The pain sticks to my bones. My soul cries out for understanding. There is an ongoing struggle to make a more perfect union and a more peaceful world. I want to address the wound in my soul, not just my words. My investment in this struggle is not seasonal; it is a life’s work. As I enter this phase of our struggle and reflect upon my contributions and involvement, I want to be a productive finisher. I want it to be said that I kept the faith. I fought a good fight. I finished my course. I have operated in two traditions. They merge, but sometimes there is tension between them---the political and the prophetic. The allegiances are sometimes different. Where is accountability? One to God, one to voters. They co-exist, often with great inner tension. It is not my conflict with traditions that sent me to the desert. I have given much to our community and our nation, but a healed soul is required to serve. David, a popular and talented politician with great favor from God and among the masses, was the chief politician of his day. Nathan, a supporter of David, had access to him. He loved David; but his allegiance was to his higher calling. He therefore found himself raising uncomfortable questions and concerns, not because of competition or jealousy, but out of love for his mission. Dr. King would often say, vanity asks the question: Is it popular? Politics asks the question: Will it win? Conscience asks the question: Is it right? Ultimately, a matter may be neither politic nor popular. "Is it right ?” is the haunting question. Conscience often swims upstream. It is deep in your bosom, covered up by your clothes and appearance. It is a tough negotiator. It will wake you up when all of your allies and enemies are asleep. I went to the desert to talk to God, Dr. King, and myself. I tried to hear God’s still and small voice. I felt I had fallen short of what would make heaven happy. I often asked God in prayer to search my heart because he knows my ways, my weaknesses, my strengths, and my struggle. I said to him, allow me to do your assignment, your will, and gain favor with you. If you find anything within me that should not be, any hatred, jealousy, malice, evil, or ungodly intent, remove it and make me better and more fit for the Kingdom. Keep me humble and sincere and grounded. Give me a tough mind and a tender heart. You alone know the thorns in my flesh and the wounds of my heart. Only pure hearts can see you. In the presence of God you want 20-20 vision, and you will only see if your heart is pure. You want bold action, a pure heart, and vision. For my heart to be pure, I must deal with the sins that stand between me and God. If a snake bites you, you put on a tourniquet to stop the poison from spreading to the heart. Issues of life flow from the heart. Consistent with that, perfect love casts out fear. Fear of stature. Fear of sickness. Fear of death. Fear of jobs. Fear of foes. Fear of money. Or the loss of those things. I want to be fearless. Dr. Tillich would suggest that where love and power and justice meet, the new world we seek must begin in us. And we must start talking with God. I talked with Dr. King. A certain sense of joy filled my soul when I was reminded of a scripture, Revelation 2:5, that says, “remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, repent and do the first works.” I kept turning that thought over and over in my mind-- “remember your first works.” The reason I packed my wife and young child up in 1964 and moved to Chicago was to be a voice for the voiceless, to fend for the poor, and somehow help the locked out get in. He said remember the moral mandate to defend the poor, deliver the needy, and assist the fatherless and motherless. He said I told you at our last staff meeting it would be tough. You wanted this leadership challenge, and now you are into it. I observed closely our last staff meeting when he was in agony–-before we went to Memphis. I wondered why God would allow me to be a witness in that meeting. I was the agony, but I could not appreciate it fully at that time. He said, I thought of quitting because I was under so much pressure. Nonviolence is under attack. There was such division in our ranks. And then I started to fast and pray to the point of death, just to convene our family. And then I decided to get up and go on to Memphis. I saw him, in agony, turn a minus into a plus as we had done before. It was so much like the three steps of Jesus in Gethsemane. One, let this cup pass from me. Two, as he prayed the others slept. Three, not my will but thy will be done. I’m going to a higher calling. As I talked with Dr. King and asked him what to do, he said: What is left to be done? Where did I leave you? I left you in and island of poverty, in and ocean of plenty. I left you in a valley of dried bones. We won our rights but we had to redeem the soul of America. That meant a real focus on the least of these. I left you in a valley to observe the impact of poverty; to observe intergenerational poverty and joblessness, where there are middle class workers–-police and teachers and firemen and social workers and lawyers and judges, monitoring the poor. Where they have payday lenders rather than banks. Predators rather than protection. Where workers live without insurance. Where airport security workers, who can’t strike in the name of homeland security, have to go 40-50 miles a day round trip to work and can’t afford to pay for the gas to get there. Neighborhoods of fast food restaurants, jobs without benefits, $4.00 for a gallon of gas and for a gallon of milk. Houses with lead paint. Children brain damaged. First class jails that employ the middle class, and second class schools. Second class schools are the feeder system to the jails. They need each other. In Chicago’s school system, there are 500,000 students. 7 of 10 boys, and only 6,000 of 500,000, finish four years of college. A multi-billion dollar system, 46,000 employees, 26,000 teachers, where janitors often makes more than teachers. There are police officers rather than truant officers in the schools. Secure teachers but insecure students. And teachers who are often forced to teach outside of their subject area. In this valley, plants are closing and jobs are leaving. Education is funded upon a diminishing tax base. Government and the private sector are let off the hook. I’ve been anointed to preach the gospel to the poor, Dr. King reminded me, and the broken hearted, and to set the captives free. In this valley, drugs are an industry, poor pushers or mules got to jail, while the rich got to college. Funeral homes are a growth industry. Where Wal-Mart’s and big box stores are given free land and cheap labor, and the poor are forced to argue that something is better than nothing. We addressed the Middle East peace process, European security, but we must also address the poverty in Haiti or Ickes housing project or the Delta. Haiti, where 70% of the population makes a dollar a day or less. Kids often walk five miles one way just to get one meal. Many eat mud pies. Dr. King said, what’s left to be done is largely unpopular, and its risky. To fight for the poor you must first fight their monitors, their overseers, their predators, their sub prime lenders, and their drug and gun suppliers. If the poor got a return on their vote, their dollars, their work, they would end poverty. They make governors and presidents, and mayors and officials. But they give their power away. While in the desert I recalled going to South Africa in 1979 for the first time. While I walked the streets of Soweto, the overseers, with their whips and guns, were from the community. In the valley there are broken educational systems with buildings in need of repair, and a need for equal, high quality, public funding. People are surrendering -- some drop out some never show up. Ezekiel raised the question: Can these bones live? Preaching alone is not enough. Ezekiel tried preaching and praying and singing. He finally surrendered. This issue of the poverty zone was bigger than the scope of his preaching. He was dealing with individuals not with the structure of the valley, That’s why Paul said the issue is not merely about the soul of individuals and personalities, but powers and principalities. Wickedness in high places. Ezekiel stepped outside of the valley and went round about. He observed and studied the cause and effect of why the bones were dry. If at the top of the hill the water is cut off, the jobs are cut off, the airport is cut off, industry is cut off, first class school funding is cut off, decent housing is cut off, tourism is cut off, trade skills are cut off, and parks and recreation are cut off. Help is cut, promises are made, and hope is dashed. That’s why the bones are dry. You find yourself forever trying to put a size 10 foot in a size 8 shoe and think you can pray past the corns. Often the rich are rich because the poor are poor. It is not that they are smarter and work harder, but they are protected by inheritance---intergenerational inheritance laws. In that valley they trade life for life, eye for an eye, and conclude that a bullet is just a hot sensation, but then I sleep. Oh, a few get out---Tiger woods, the Williams sisters, Oprah Winfrey, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant---very talented ones. But what about the rest of them, like 'Shadrack, Meshack, and Abendigo.' Dr. King said to me: We must challenge the structure to work. We must demonstrate. Ghetto monitors resist mass action. Why demonstrate? Demonstrate to get attention, he argued, you can only ride a man’s back if he is still lying down. The biggest sins of the poor are feeling that nothing better is worth working for, and to adjust. We used to sing a song, “one thing I did wrong, let segregation stay too long. Hold on.” The poor are oppressed and trade off temporary convenience for long-term solutions. They have been taught that sacrifice is too risky. They adjust. Dr. King contended that we must be permanently maladjusted. This principle was the essence of the struggle in Birmingham; a massive few days of sacrifice the changed the entire southern culture. Even when we are on the isle of poverty, like John, we still have the right to see beyond our pain and predicament, a new heaven and a new earth, the old one passing away. The oppressor adjusts to privilege. The oppressed adjust to pain. And both get mad when you force them to change. Dr. King, like Jesus, died unpopular. He became popular when they resurrected him---the power that bullets could not stop, jail cells could not contain. The rich say I lose money if there is change. The poor say it’s risky; I may lose what I have. It’s hard to convince the poor they are giants with grasshopper complexes. That is the burden of preaching. And they are locked in this perverse marriage. There is a tension between satisfying the lust of the rich and privileged, and the pain of the poor. But ultimately, lion and lamb; black and white; rich and poor must lie together to reach peace in the valley. As I come through this valley, I urge you to join me in this reassessment, and in our actions. This is a high moment for our politics. We must vote like never before. As we seek the Olympic Games, the budget for an Olympic education system is not on the agenda. I challenge you today: We must reclaim our children. Join with us in embracing our seven point educational plan for parents and students:
We’ve lost $90 billion in home equity for blacks and $70 billion for Latinos. We must restructure loans and not repossess homes. And our banks are collapsing. In this journey, I want to be more fit for the fight. So I fast and I pray. I don’t want to let you down. We must at once fight for political change and honor our prophetic moral tradition, which is often un-political. Jail visits will give you bad press. Addressing the criminal justice collapse is swimming upstream. Equal, adequate education for all children is swimming upstream. Building an airport rather than a gambling boat in the south suburbs is swimming upstream. And yet, I urge bold action to see the big picture relating to the entrenched struggle against structural injustice. My soul cries out for relief and remedy for the poor, the downtrodden, and the disinherited. I’ve been anointed to preach the Gospel. We must drive out predators, the guns, liquor, and the drugs. The government must reinvest in America along with private sector incentives. We must develop new forms of energy. I’ve seen a lot. I’ve heard a lot. If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then God will forgive their sins, and they will hear from heaven, and there will be healing in the land. REVEREND JESSE L. JACKSON -
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