Today's Stories

February 6-8, 2009

Alexander Cockburn
Obama's First Bad Week

James Abourezk
Obama, Mitchell and the Palestinians

Patrick Cockburn
Maliki's Triumph

Henry A. Giroux
Educating Obama

Jules Rabin
Israel's Disproportionate Responses

February 5, 2009

Michael Mandel
Self-Defense Against Peace

Saul Landau /
Philip Brenner
Killing the Monroe Doctrine

Ralph Nader
Tax the Speculators!

Robert Bryce
The Unraveling of the Ethanol Scam

Russell Mokhiber
Occupied Territory

Sameh Habeeb /
Janet Zimmerman
Innocents Lost

Dave Lindorff
Small Change

Carmelo Ruiz-Marrero
Beyond Green Capitalism

George Ochenski
A Blow to Big Coal in Montana

Website of the Day
Putting CEO Pay in Context

February 4, 2009

Arno J. Mayer
On Corruption

Paul Craig Roberts
The War on Terror is a Hoax

Patrick Cockburn
The Iraqi Elections

Jonathan Cook
An IDF Jihad?

Fred Gardner
Obama's Mixed Messages on Marijuana

Stan Cox
Slumwrecking Millionaires: India's Fragile New Temples

Margaret Kimberley
The Deepening Economic Crisis

Lawrence Velvel
Agony & Desperation: Madoff's Victims

Dave Lindorff
A Generals' Revolt?

Doug Giebel
A Helping of Bitter Beltway Baloney

Serge Quadruppani
Student Protests Sweep Italy

Website of the Day
The San Francisco 8

February 3, 2009

David Price
Counterinsurgency & Anthropology: Roberto Gonzalez on Human Terrain Systems

Bill Moyers
Obama's Wars: an Interview with Pierre Sprey and Marilyn Young

Kirkpatrick Sale
Obama's Lincoln Thing

Conn Hallinan
When Mind Wounds Don't Count

Peter Morici
The Slippery Slope of Stimulus

George Ciccariello-Maher
From Oakland to Santa Rita: "Fired Up, Can't Take It No More"

Muhammad Idrees Ahmad
The BBC's Nadir

Allan Nairn
What Does It Take to Get a Meal Here, an Earthquake?

Norman Solomon
Why are We Still at War?

David Macaray
The Late, Great UAW

Website of the Day
The Bloody Cove

February 2, 2009

Uri Avnery
Under the Black Flag: Israeli War Crimes

Ralph Nader
What to Do About Wall Street

Gareth Porter
Generals Move to Obstruct Obama's Iraq Withdrawal Orders

Paul Craig Roberts
The Death of American Leadership

Harvey Wasserman
The Nuclear Industry's Latest Money Grab

Rannie Amiri
Gaza and the Crimes of Mubarak

Cal Winslow
Stern's Gang Seizes UHW Union Hall

Steve Early
Checking Out of Stern's Hotel California

Alan Farago
Superbowl as Panopticon

Diane Farsetta
Banning Domestic Propaganda

January 30 / February 1, 2009

Alexander Cockburn
Obama and the Oddsmakers

Michael Hudson
Obama's New Bank Giveaway

Ismael Hossein-Zadeh
"Too Big to Fail:" a Bailout Hoax

Dave Lindorff
The Ugly Truth: the American Economy is Not Coming Back

Saul Landau
Freedom Fighters, Terrorists or Schlemiels?

Andy Worthington
Blame the Chef: How Cooking for the Taliban Can Get You Life in Gitmo

Subcomandante Marcos
Gaza Will Survive

Robert Jensen
Future Farming: an Interview with Wes Jackson

Ron Jacobs
Return of the Democrats

Gareth Porter
Is Gates Undermining Another Opening to Iran?

Allan Nairn
Hope for the Dump Cities?

Laura Carlsen
NAFTA's Dangerous Security Agenda

Rev. William E. Alberts
The Feelings of a Stranger

Christopher Brauchli
From Gitmo to Supermax?

Jules Rabin
Israel and the Bomb

Col. Dan Smith
Thoughts From an Inauguration Refugee

Missy Beattie
The US Garden of Evil

Tom Barry
Obama's Immigration Challenge

J. Michael Cole
The Downfall of an Academic

Manuel Garcia, Jr.
Burning the First Amendment

Dan Bacher
How Dam Removal Can Save the Klamath River

David Rosen
Last Gasp of the Culture Wars?

Don Monkerud
Religion in the American Bedroom

Binoy Kampmark
Updike: Apostle of the Middlebrows

Lorenzo Wolff
Playing Down a Bad Reputation: the Lovin' Spooful's Near Perfect Record

David Yearsley
When Orfeo and Euridice Lived Happily Ever After in Upstate New York

Poets' Basement
Valentine and Rihn

January 29, 2009

Peter Linebaugh
Tom Paine's Birthday

Paul Craig Roberts
Is It Time to Bail Out of America?

Riz Khan
The Future of Gaza: an Interview with Jimmy Carter

M. Reza Pirbhai
Pakistan: a New Cambodia?

Wajahat Ali
Obama's Al-Arabiya Interview

Gregory Vickrey
What About the Environment? Cap and Trade and Selling Out

Dina Jadallah-Taschler
Whither the Two State Solution?

Alison Weir
Killing Palestinians Doesn't Count: Fact-Checking Ceasefire Breaches

Alan Farago
Economy Without Escape Routes

Walter Brasch
Taxing a House of Cards

Website of the Day
Madoff Inc.

January 28, 2009

Norman Finkelstein
Behind the Bloodbath in Gaza

Noam Chomsky
Obama's Emerging Policies on Israel, Iraq and the Economic Crisis

Patrick Cockburn
Is Mitchell's Mission Already Doomed?

Rob Larson
The Clinton Foundation Donors

George Wuerthner
Who Will Speak for the Forests?

Allan Nairn
South-East Asian Groups Threaten Retaliation Over Gaza Invasion

M. Junaid
Levesque-Alam
A Muslim's Memo to Obama

Stefan Simanowitz
The Silent Trade

Charles R. Larson
The Autumn of the Patriot

Website of the Day
Veggie Love: PETA's Banned Superbowl Ad

January 27, 2009

Winslow T. Wheeler
Save the Economy by Cutting the Defense Budget

Yigal Bronner /
Neve Gordon
Fueling the Cycle of Hate

Joshua Frank
Obama's Neocon: the Curious Case of Richard Holbrooke

Jordan Flaherty
Torture at a Louisiana Prison

Ralph Nader
Access to Economic Justice

Rev. José M. Tirado
How Iceland Fell: a Hundred Days of (Muted) Rage

Benjamin Dangl
Bolivia Looking Forward

Russell Mokhiber
What If Israel Were in Your Neighborhood?

Martha Rosenberg
Who Says Technology Transfer Doesn't Pay?

C. G. Estabrook
The Inaugural Address: the Digested Read

Website of the Day
Who Profits From the Occupation?

January 26, 2009

Paul Craig Roberts
Speaking the Truth is a Career-Ending Event

Deepak Tripathi
The BBC's Day of Shame

Vijay Prashad
The India Lobby: Drunk with the Sight of Power

Peter Lee
Geithner's Pop Gun Volley at China

Allan Nairn
The Torture Ban That Doesn't Ban Torture

Uri Avnery
On the Wrong Side of History

John Sayen
The Next Shoe to Drop

Dave Lindorff
Afghanistan is No Threat to America

Lawrence R. Velvel
Investing with Madoff

David Macaray
Obama vs. Labor

Roger Burbach
Winds of Change in Cuba

Norman Solomon
The Ghost of LBJ

Website of the Day
Landscapes of Occupation

January 23 / 25, 2009

Alexander Cockburn
The Ghosts at Obama's Side

P. Sainath
The Freefalling Economy

Patrick Cockburn
In Israel, Detachment From Reality is the Norm

Saul Landau
Reasons for War?

Sasan Fayazmanesh
Our Current Economic Crisis: the Monks' Cure

Alan Farago
The Problem with the Stimulus

Christopher Brauchli
When Due Diligence is a One-Way Street

Andy Worthington
Return to Law?

Ron Jacobs
Obama's Pentagon: Bowing to the Masters of War?

Lawrence Velvel
Investing with Madoff: My Experience (Part Four)

Henry A. Giroux
The Audacity of Educated Hope

David Yearsley
The Music That Wasn't There: Chamber Music for Obama's Masses

Raymond F. Gustavson
Here We Go Again: General Shinseki and Veterans

Dave Lindorff
The Way Forward

Roberto Rodriguez
Fighting for Migrant Justice in the Desert

Dina Jadallah-Taschler
The Struggle of an Un-People

Fidel Castro
Meeting Cristina

J. Michael Cole
Can Obama's Shift on Terror Succeed?

Bob Fitrakis /
Harvey Wasserman
It's Time to Free Leonard Peltier

Ramzy Baroud
Breaking Gaza's Will

Mohammad Ali Shabani
The Aftermath of the War on Gaza

Richard Rhames
Panning for Pyrite on a Cold Day at the Mall

Stephen Martin
Voices in the Mirror

Lorenzo Wolff
Jurassic Radio

Kim Nicolini
Katrina's Endless Loop

Poets' Basement
Fleming, Henson, First, Jaramillo and Glendinning

Website of the Weekend
Cartoon Love

January 22, 2009

Paul Craig Roberts
Another Real Estate Crisis is About to Hit

Kathy Kelly
Worse Than an Earthquake

Allan Nairn
US Intel Nominee Lied About Church Murders

Lawrence Velvel
Investing with Madoff: My Experience (Part Three)

Andy Worthington
Halting the Gitmo Trials

Peter Morici
How to Fix the Banks

Joseph G. Davis
The First MBA Presidency and the Business Academy: a Damage Assessment

Adriana Kojeve
The Democrats on Israel: a Brief Oral History

Benjamin Dangl
Bolivia Poised for Historic Vote

Website of the Day
Support the Gaza Community Mental Health Program

January 21, 2009

Gabriel Kolko
Understanding Gaza

Harry Browne
Obama's Work Ethic

Michael Colby
Ready. Aim. Organize.

Lawrence R. Velvel
Investing with Madoff: My Experience

Audrey Stewart
Starting Over in Gaza

Wajahat Ali
Obama and the Muslims

Binoy Kampmark
The Marketing of Hope

David Kεr Thomson
Abolition

John Ross
In My Own Bones

Allan Nairn
Killer in Chief: Will This President Murder Civilians?

Sheldon Richman
The Peaceful Transfer of Violent Power

Website of the Day
Globistan

January 20, 2009

Chuck Spinney
Hosing Obama Israeli Style

Kathy Kelly
The Strongest Weapon of All

Raymond Deane
The EU, Gaza and the Lisbon Treaty

Ralph Nader
State Terrorism Against Gaza

Audrey Stewart
Why I am in Gaza

Jonathan Cook
Israel's Doctrine of Destruction

Harvey Wasserman
A Ten-Point Solar Agenda for Obama

Christopher Ketcham
Inauguration Ad Nauseam

Robert Jensen
A Citizen's Oath of Office

Dave Lindorff
Commie Chorus on the Mall: This Land Really is Made for You and Me

David Macaray
SAG Watches It All Slip Away

Weekend Edition
February 6-8, 2009

A Parable for an Empire in Decay

The Wrestler: an American Tragedy

By SAUL LANDAU

As a kid, I watched the Super Swedish Angel, Gorgeous George, and Primo Carnera (former boxer), wrestle on a small black and white TV screen. I would scream from my living room at the TV because the ref always looked elsewhere when the villain delivered a rabbit punch. The “bad guys” used dirty tactics and occasionally even “won” the match.

I also adored watching Roller Derby. The “bad” team members pulled the hair of or punched their virtuous rivals and threw them over the rail of the skating rink. After pretending to suffer excruciating pain they would return heroically moments later to the skating procession.

Such “sports” transfixed my pre teen imagination long before I understood such spectacles as symptoms of a sick streak lodged in popular culture – and in me as a twelve year old. I adored that “entertainment” (vicarious sensation) in which audiences (like me) sucked pleasure from watching one person administer pain – theatrically -- to another. Indeed, “ultimate fighting” on TV and deadly dog matches fought clandestinely have become as integral to pop culture as NASCAR.

As an adult, I made movies which, like wrestling, are based on tricks to make the product look real. Audiences check their bullshit detectors at the box office to escape for two hours of joy at feeling vicariously other people’s pain in the ring; or romance and death from fleeting and very large images on the big screen.

By the 1980s, “show business” wrestling combatants inflicted deep pain on their opponents. Such violent choreography enlarged the meager audience of my childhood. The wrestling industry grew from a hokey TV show into extravaganzas with major advertisers and large, raucous crowds. Multiple TV cameras showed veritable orgies inside the arenas as show-biz wrestlers broke chairs over their opponents’ heads and tossed them into the titillated crowd. Hulk Hogan became a national icon, albeit not necessarily beloved.

“The Wrestler,” directed by Darren Aronofsky, brings to the screen a hero and heroine from both garish “sports.” Randy “The Ram” Robinson (Mickey Rourke) knows his career peaked more than a decade earlier. His clippings and publicity photos from bygone eras hang on a wall as mementos of his past. He now works at a low-paid day-job in a chain market, carrying boxes from the delivery truck to the shelves. But, on weekends, he still forces his battered, sun-lamp tanned, steroid filled body into the ring at second rate arenas – no more TV for him. Randy takes pills for pain, we understand, as a medic bandages his cuts and sutures his wounds. The phony fights hurt like hell.

Rourke consciously uses his oversized physique to contrast with the gentleness of his body language – outside the ring. His muscles belie his powerlessness, another metaphor for America in the world. Rourke’s every word and body movement suggests pain as his dominant feeling. Alongside the scars, Rourke also shows the character lines of determination that keep him fixated on the only thing for which he has won the adoration of fans – none of whom know him. The face, which we see in close-ups through the film, shows his stoic core. This lonely giant has his followers, his reputation, and his community of wrestlers, men who smash each other over the head with hard objects and shoot staples into each other’s flesh to please the seedy hordes who scream for blood and violence. Backstage his fraternity brothers compose their ring moves with brotherly intimacies before stepping into their show roles of evil monsters and noble warriors.

The choreographed matches include maneuvers in which Randy inserts a piece of razor blade into adhesive tape, and then, when the crowd focuses on his evil foe blustering, cuts his own forehead and bleeds. These rehearsed fights offer old time morals in which the crowd boo the bad and cheer the good as the men slap, smash, crush or staple each other. One of Randy’s ring partners affirms before their match: “I’m the heel, and you’re the face.”

Randy is hot for Cassidy (Marisa Tomei), a stripper-lap dancer at a Bad a Bing equivalent in New Jersey, where the film takes place. She feels ambivalent about Ram’s advances  when he suggests something beyond a customer-client relationship. Like Ram, she earns her living from her body and like the giant wrestler time has worn away her unlined face.

Like Randy, she sells her body to clients. Her still firm breasts must give horny men their money’s worth while she straddles them. Randy’s artificially muscled and much scarred hulk offers a similar temptation to those who lust after vicarious violence. One tempts customers with false sexuality, the other with staged violence. In each case, those who pay want the sensation of sensational sex and violence.

Contemporary culture has transformed desire into vulgar lust at the strip clubs; wrestling shows offer a vent for hatred, a chance for the frustrated to scream with pleasure at others writhing in pain. Tits and ass and violence and blood: commodities sold by the entertainment industry to sectors of the unfulfilled working classes.

In the locker room, putting on their costumes, the wrestlers embrace one another as members of a fraternity who share pain and pretend to hate one another in the ring. Just as Ram feels no malice toward those who shoot staples into his flesh, Cassidy does not feel attraction to those she dry humps: two sad pretenders.

In the trailer park where he lives, the landlord locks him out when he doesn’t pay his rent. But the local kids adore him. He fake wrestles them and lets them play him as a character in a real Nintendo wrestling game. He clings to that fragile identity as his only link to life.

Lonely and in pain, we see him downing pills with his beer, steroids, painkillers, uppers and downers that allow him to keep getting chairs smashed on his head and staples sunk into his flesh. He regrets deserting his daughter, and his failure to build an intimate relationship with Cassidy.

After he suffers a post-fight heart attack, the doctors forbid him to keep wrestling. Randy signs on for extra hours working the deli counter, where suspicious customers behave as polar opposites of his idolizing fans. Randy must wear a name tag, Robin Ramsinski, an identity he has long abandoned for the image of Randy The Ram.

Alone, with death hovering, Randy attempts again to connect with Cassidy who also has made bad life decisions. Both live on the edge where a missed payment means eviction, homelessness and the final infliction of pain on the streets. When the big, broken down, gentle wrestler offers her companionship, her deep inner caution responds to eschew involvement, not with a lovable guy, but with a client, to whom she has administered lap dances. No matter how sweet and attractive she finds him, it’s too risky for a woman who has obviously paid a heavy price for her earlier romantic risks: a single mom having to risk her dignity to support her kid.

Having screwed up his reconciliation attempt with his daughter Stephanie (Evan Rachel Wood), he then clumsily fails to convince Cassidy to make a life with him.  He quits his job after a customer recognizes him behind the market’s deli counter scooping potato salad into a plastic container. With no visible options, the broken-hearted (literally) Ram reschedules a fight with the arch fiend of wrestling, a black man who named himself The Ayatollah (Ernest Miller).

“The world don’t give a shit about me,” he rationalizes. The only ones who care don’t know him except as the blond muscled hunk in tights that takes all the pain bad guys dish out and still wins: the American dream.

The Ayatollah enters the ring, and the crowd without John McCain sings “Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Iran.” The berserk patriots cheer Randy’s entrance. He deserves them since he thinks of himself as “an old, broken-down piece of meat.” He’s the idol they don’t know; they’re his vicarious extended family. He fights for them – an abstraction. That’s what he does.

The film with hand held camera records trailer parks, V.F.W. halls, modern mall markets and sleazy arenas. No fancy people or houses, just New Jersey working class neighborhoods in the winter; a fitting parable for the USA in 2009. The Wrestler, like much of low income America, remains uncomplaining in distress. He sees no relief from the pain in his body – even when hundreds cheer for him. He embodies the prototypical macho male feelings, hurting deeply and unable to share his deep sadness -- the impossible weight of loneliness.

Saul Landau is an IPS Fellow, author of A BUSH AND BOTOX WORLD (Counterpunch) and director of forty films, available on dvd from roundworldproductions.com

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