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Today's Stories September 19, 2005 Kathleen and Bill Christison Travels in Palestine: Horror Story September 17 / 18, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Levee Town Ralph Nader The CEO's Chief Justice Diane Christian Abortion and the Politics of Death Ned Sublette Mr. Bush's Tuba William Cook Katrina and Poverty: the Poor Have No Lobbyists Barbara Ehrenreich Finding a Coach in the Land of Oz Nikolas Kozloff Demeaner of the Faith: Pat Robertson and Gen. Rios Montt Dave Lindorff One Big Sham: New Orleans as Potemkin Village Heather Gray Wake Up White America! C.A.N. "This is Solidarity, Not Charity": a Student Report from Louisiana James Petras From Victims to Vandals: Katrina and the Mass Media Bill Pahneles Born Again in New Orleans? Jeff Chapman Katrina's Victims and the Minimum Wage Dave Zirin Eton Thomas Rises to the Challenge Ron Jacobs The Politics of Withdrawal from Iraq Fred Gardner The Millworker's Argument Peter Harley The Wall and the Holes in the Wall Matthew Koehler Battering the Bitterroot National Forest Ben Tripp Some Optimistic Thoughts Poets' Basement Nettnin, Albert, Engel and Louise Website of the Weekend How to Identify Misinformation   September 16, 2005 Ishmael Reed Race, Katrina and the Media J.L. Chestnut, Jr. Bush's Judges and Black America James Petras The St. Patrick Four: the Feds Confront the Anti-War Movement Louis Proyect Brawl at Baruch: Hitchens vs. Galloway Christopher Brauchli Baked Brownie: Cooking a Resumé Naomi Archer "It's Not that the Government isn't Responding, They are Obstructing Responses" Edward Gibbon The Patron Saint of Defense Contractors Francis Boyle Grounds for Impeachment? Paul Craig Roberts America is in the Clutches of Autocrats   September 15, 2005 Jeffrey St. Clair Flirtations with Disaster Brian J. Foley The Profit-Driven War Justin E.H. Smith Frances Newton and the Prospects for a New Abolitionism Dave Lindorff Sacrificial Murder by Texas: Frances Newton Died for Bush's Sins Kevin Zeese Katrina and Iraq: the War Comes Home to Roost Jason Leopold Funeral Gate in New Orleans Todd May There are Palestinians Here!: the Demographic Factor Niranjan Ramakrishnan Brawl in the Family Pat Williams Lewis and Clark in Montana William S. Lind Swept Away in Iraq Saul Landau Bush, God and Katrina   September 14, 2005 Gary Leupp Managing Perceptions of Presidential Ignorance Evelyn Pringle Iraqis to Bush: Where Did All Our Money Go? Jordan Flaherty Back Inside New Orleans Jeff Chapman The WJS's Flawed War on the Minimum Wage Ramzy Baroud The Perils of Normalization with Israel Manuel Garcia, Jr. The Power of Water Mickey Z. Eugene V. Debs and the Legacy of Dissent Sam Husseini A Statement from Mother Nature Ralph Nader Questioning Judge Roberts   September 13, 2005 Uri Avnery Who Murdered Arafat? Werther Jackals and Jackasses JG Where's the Outrage Over the Jailing of Kevin Pina? Marlene Martin The Texas Killing Machine: Will Another Innocent Woman be Executed? Joshua Frank Katrina's Political Aftermath: Blame More Than Bush Ron Jacobs Saving America's Serengetti Dave Lindorff Compassion for the Camera Ben Tripp It's an Ill Wind Dave Zirin Galloway Goes to Washington Billy Sothern How the Other Half Lived in New Orleans Website of the Day Save the Life of Frances Newton   September 12, 2005 Bill Glahn Tears of Rage in New Orleans Jason Leopold How Michael Brown Helped Bush Win Florida Bill Simpich Confronting Nancy Pelosi Mike Whitney Padilla and the Death of Personal Liberty Justin Felux Free Kevin Pina!: US Journalists Arrested in Haiti Rep. Cynthia McKinney No One Came to Get Them Carol Norris Let Them Eat Toxins Robert Jensen Our Grief is Not Special Gideon Levy The Mean Streets of Tel Rumeida Paul Craig Roberts Power Grab in New Orleans Website of the Day New Orleans Artists Relief Fund   September 9 / 11, 2005 William A. Cook From New Orleans to Palestine Saul Landau How the US Supplied Iran with Nuclear Know-How Lance Selfa Confederacy of Dunces: Why FEMA Failed Col. Dan Smith Paying the Piper Elaine Cassel Judge Roberts: On the Far Right of a Far Right Party Ron Jacobs Food as Govt. Weapon in New Orleans Elisa Salasin My September 11th Christopher Brauchli When "Action" is Delay: Bush's Picnic & Plan B Evelyn Pringle War Pays: Douglas Feith's Platinum Parachute Tom Crumpacker The Posada Case: When Injustice is Justice Dave Lindorff The Big Blowback Robert Jensen Race Stories: the Heart of Whiteness Gary Bass A Civics Lesson from Katrina Dr. Susan Block Katrina Speaks! Steven Sherman The American Left and the Battle of New Orleans Col. Douglas A. Macgregor Escape from Oz: the Pentagon's Light Show Barghouti / Grima Re-Thinking the Mediterranean Jeff Berg Katrian and the Baghdad Dead: Bush's Tipping Point? Fred Gardner Marijuana Might Really Make You Cool Charles Sullivan It's Not Easy Being King Dan Vojir God's Ambulance Chasers Website of the Weekend On the Road in Louisiana September 8, 2005 John Chuckman Lessons from Hell Dan La Botz Rehnquist: the Chief Injustice Carol Norris The Psychological Aftermath of Katrina David Krieger Cindy, Katrina and Iraq Irma Thomas An SOS from the Soul Queen of New Orleans Roger Morris Legacy of Neglect September 7, 2005 Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz John Wayne and the New Orleans Indians Werther Victor Davis Hanson: Bard of the Booboisie Chris Floyd No Direction Home Jason Leopold The Rich and the Dead Michael Donnelly Cassandra, Apollo and the Red Queen Niranjan Ramakrishnan Clueless in Crawford; Witless in Washington Linda Milazzo / John Stern Idiot Wind: Haley Barbour, Katrina and Hiroshima Gary Leupp Nepal: the Prachanda Path Pierre Tristam Commander-in-Zilch Fails New Orleans Kevin Zeese Kucinich Speaks: Dem Leadership Needs to Get Out of the Way Charmaine Neville How We Survived the Flood   September 6, 2005 Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor Our Birmingham: Did Katrina Blow Off the White Sheets of American Racism? Dan La Botz Katrina: State Failure and Human Solidarity Larry Bradshaw / Lorrie Beth Slonsky Trapped in New Orleans: First By Floods, Then By Martial Law Chuck D. Hell No We Ain't Alright Debbie Dupre / Bill Quigley Thank God There's No One to Bomb in Retaliation Omar Wariach Edward Said vs. Orwell and Hitchens: "It's Racism at the Bottom" Mike Whitney Why Rehnquist Doesn't Deserve to be Buried on US Soil Carol Norris In the Wake of Katrina Norman Solomon Firing Mike Brown is not Enough Michael Neumann But What About the Snipers? September 5, 2005 Paul Craig Roberts Resurrecting Karl Marx David Vest The Battle of New Orleans:It's Looking a Lot Like Fallujah John Blair Don't Rebuild New Orleans, At Least Where It Was Fidel Castro What Cuba Has Offered the People of the Gulf Coast Mike Whitney 80,000 Rodney Kings in New Orleans Alan Farago Talking Points for a City of Corpses Doug Giebel Bush's New Orleans: "So This is Where He Used to Come to Get Drunk" Mark Chmiel Beatitudes for This New American Century Carol Wolman, MD God to Bush: "You Blew It" Norman Solomon Bush's Answer to Cindy Sheehan: "It Was About Oil" Eli Stephens An Administration Without Shame Peter Linebaugh Loo! Loo! Lulu! Loot!   September 3 / 4, 2005 Alexander Cockburn From Mitch to Katrina Paul Craig Roberts Failure on Every Front Gary Leupp New Orleans and the System that Destroyed It Dave Lindorff Profiteering from Disaster: the Real Looters Wear Pinstripes Dan La Botz Time for the U.S. to Start Over Jonathan M. Feldman From Iraq to New Orleans: the U.S. as a "Failed State" Landau / Hassen The Cuban 5: In Prison for Fighting Terrorism Tim Wise In the Name of the Lord: "Those Looters Should be Shot" Mitchel Cohen People of the Dome: "Let Them Eat Shit..." Dave Zirin The Superdome: the Earth's Most Damnable Homeless Shelter Mike Ferner Waiting on the Outside World: Who Will Rescue America? Rep. Cynthia McKinney Shame on the Bush Administration Jason Leopold Bush's Demented Priorities: the State of Marriage Over the State of Louisiana Justin Felux Kayne West is My Hero: "Bush Doesn't Care About Black People" Monica Benderman Iraq War as Thrill Ride: Getting Off the Rollercoaster Ben Tripp Grab a Towel, You're Next Jordan Flaherty Notes from Inside New Orleans Bill Pahnelas A Rising Tide has Swamped All Boats Seth Sandronsky Hurricane Katrina Exposes the True Face of Capitalism Mark Donham Where's Karl Rove? Fred Gardner CHP Agrees to Follow Law; Justice Stevens Apologizes Joshua Frank Winning the West Jackie Corr The Privatization Mob Poets' Basement Albert, Engel, Louise   September 2, 2005 Evan Jones Katrina and the Corps of Engineers: Manufacturing Disaster David Stocker How Good is Your Levee? Frankly, Scarlet I Don't Think He Gives a Damn Dave Lindorff Baghdad on the Big Muddy Norman Solomon The Smirk of a Killer: Ending the Impunity of the Bush White House Mike Whitney How Bush Deals with a Disaster He Helped Create: Blame the Looters Eli Stephens What They Should Have Learned from Hurrican Ivan Ron Jacobs Katrina, Iraq and Blood Profits Christopher Brauchli Onward Christian Assassins Harvey Wasserman Bush to New Orleans: Drop Dead CounterPunch Wire Faith-Based FEMA? Feds Directing Katrina Money to Pat Robertson Glen Ford Will the "New" New Orleans be Black?   September 1, 2005 Dr. Greg Henderson, MD Situation Critical: a Doctor in the Flood Paul Craig Roberts How New Orleans Was Lost Mike Whitney Hurricane Donald: How Rumsfeld Smashed the National Guard Lee Sustar Left Behind to Drown: the Poor and Hurricane Katrina Dave Lindorff The Real Disaster: Bush and the Democrats Lynn Gonzalez The Cindy Spark: Mainstream America Stirs Chris Floyd The Perfect Storm August 31, 2005 Cockburn / St. Clair New Orleans After Katrina John Walsh Democrats and the War Bernstein / Mishel Bush Economy: Incomes Down; Poverty Up! Alan Farago What are the Hurricanes Trying to Tell Us? Norman Solomon The National Guard Belongs in New Orleans, Not Baghdad Bryan Newbury "Hey, Shoot that Black Guy Running Off with the Bottled Water!" Jason Leopold What's Eating Cindy Sheehan? Website of the Day The Swiftboating of Cindy Sheehan   August 30, 2005 Gary Leupp Venezuela: Launch Pad for Muslim Extremism? Joshua Frank Bunny and the War Profireers Evelyn Pringle The Woman Who Blew the Whistle on Halliburton Gets Canned Urariano Mota To Die by Mistake: the Killing of Jean Claude de Menezes Ron Jacobs High Water Everywhere CP News Service An Open Letter to Alberto Gonzales: Free the Cuban 5 Roger Morris The War for the Future   August 29, 2005 Seth Sandronsky Pat Robertson, Big Oil's Televangelist Norman Solomon War Liberals and Cindy Sheehan Charles Sullivan Nation of Fools Paul Craig Roberts Does Anyone Know What We're Doing in Iraq? Website of the Day Monsanto Threatens "Bitter Greens" August 27 / 28, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Assassination: as American as Apple Pie (and Torture) Ricardo Alarcon The Cuban 5 in Atlanta: a Long March Towards Justice Diane Christian The Politics of Death: Assassination M. Shahid Alam How to be a Good Victim Laith al-Saud Baghdad Circus: Iraq's Constitutional Process Diane Farsetta School of the Americas Fights Back: PR Plan for Pentagon's "Demonstration Village" Saul Landau Reagan and Bottled Water: the Privatization of Everything Tom Barry Hurricane Hugo: Relating to Venezuela Nicholas Rowe Barenboim in Ramallah: an Unfinished Symphony George E. Bisharat Enforce the Ban on Settlements Dave Lindorff Another Mother for War: the Exploitation of Tammy Pruett Fred Gardner Pot Shots: Doing the Right Thing, Even If You Are Fearful John Francis Lee The Juggernaut of Jingo Evan Jones I.F. Stone on the Perils of Empire Ali Khan Defining Aggression Poets' Basement Albert, Nettnin, Engel, Ford, Krieger, Louise August 26, 2005 Lee Sustar Showdown at Northwest Ramzy Baroud Cindy Sheehan and the Power of the Ordinary Christopher Brauchli The Return of Edwin Meese Peter Harley The Wall as a Good Thing? John Snider Not One of the Gang Kathleen Christison Can Palestine be Put Back in the Equation?     August 25, 2005 Paul Craig Roberts Hegemony Lost: the American Economy is Destroying Itself Cockburn / St. Clair Loewenstein's Big Mail Bag: Gaza and "the Shame of It All" J.L. Chestnut, Jr. Racial Politics in California They May Vote for You, But They Won't Have Lunch with You Chhandasi Pandya Libeling Venezuela Richard Ward Impressions from Camp Casey Norman Solomon Exploiting the 9/11 Anniversary: Will the Media Help Bush, Again? Joshua Frank Will the Real Leaders Please Stand Up? Seth Sandronsky GM, the UAW and US Health Care Lucinda Marshall The Democratic Unraveling: How Not to Mention the War VIPS Memo to Bush: Try a Circle of Wise Women Ralph Nader It's Time to Make the Iraq War Personal     August 24, 2005 Stan Goff Containing the Anti-War Movement: the Hayden Plan Rachard Itani Papal Double Standards Elisa Salasin The Militarization of Our Children Ron Jacobs Who Would Jesus Assassinate? John Chuckman Robertson and Posada: Bush's Kind of Terrorists Leibowitz / Heller Gaza: Disengagement or Military Redeployment? Douglas Valentine Suicide as Sacrament Thomas Nagy Congress Should Go to Crawford: an Open Letter to Cindy Sheehan Alexander Cockburn Hitchens Backs Down, Says Sheehan "Not a La Rouchie" Website of the Day Stations of the Cross       August 23, 2005 Rev. Graylan Scott Hagler Pat Robertson is Not a Christian Karen Kilroy Pittsburgh and Salt Lake City Protests: Violent Echoes of Kent State Stew Albert Fascism in America: Are We There Yet? Joshua Frank The Democrats and Cindy Sheehan Dave Zirin Pedaling Away from Principle: Lance Armstrong Cozies Up to Bush Julia Olmstead Our Reckless Chemical Dependence: A Little Round-Up With Your Precautionary Principle? CounterPunch Wire Prosecuting Bush in Canada for Torture: a Legal Update Jason Leopold Bush's Lips Move, But He Says Nothing Diane Christian The Politics of Death     August 22, 2005 Sonia Nettnin Gaza Stripped, the Occupation Remains Mike Whitney "Shoot to Kill": Tony Blair's First Trophy Kevin Zeese The Latest Falsehood: the US is in Iraq to "Stablize It" Norman Solomon Bush's Bloody Option: Escalate the War in Iraq Christopher Brauchli Secret Talkers Jeff Bale The Left's Challenge in Germany Greg Moses Raw Talk Revival at Camp Casey Two     August 20 / 21, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Can Cindy Sheehan End the War? Saul Landau Terrorism Then and Now: Townley Talks Kevin Zeese an Interview with Tom Hayden Greg Moses A Daytrip without Cindy Ray McGovern Cindy Sheehan and Creative Protest Fred Gardner Merck Gets Whacked Martin Smith Rebellion in the Ranks: the Soldiers' Revolt in Vietnam Benjamin Granby Gaza's Economy: the Key to Sharon's Strategy? Frankie Lake Dirty Tricksters: How the Federalist Society Operates Joshua Frank Failing Nature: the Democrats and the Environment Ron Jacobs When Sympathy is Not Enough Tom Crumpacker Moral Values and the CIA Mike Ferner "All of Our Stories are Sad" James Petras Suicide Bombers: the Sacred and the Profane Col. Dan Smith The President's Dilemma Dr. Teresa Whitehurst What de Menezes Didn't Know Ben Tripp Moses on Top of Old Smokey Poets' Basement Landau, Albert, Engel and Louise     August 19, 2005 Alexander Cockburn A Short History of Meat, Part 4: Cutting Up Mochie Neve Gordon After the Withdrawal Gary Leupp The Pandora's Box of Iraq's Constitution William S. Lind Getting Swept Vijay Prashad The Rosa Parks of the Anti-War Movement Dave Lindorff Something Has Happened Pat Williams Social Security and the American West John Pilger Free Speech and the War on Terror Elaine Cassel Judge Roberts and the Death Penalty     August 18, 2005 Alexander Cockburn A Short History of Meat, Part 3: Vegetarians, Nazis for Animal Rights, Blitzkrieg of the Ungulates Greg Moses Cindy, the Peace Train and the Little Ditch that Could Ramzy Baroud Theatrics in Gaza: the Disengagement That Isn't Joshua Frank Bush's Emotional Incapacities Monica Benderman For Cindy: There's No Glory in Dying Paul Craig Roberts Courthouse Jackboots: Corrupted Justice   August 17, 2005 Alexander Cockburn A Short History of Meat: Part Two, the March to Porkopolis Robert Jensen America's Good Germans? Carl G. Estabrook News Notes from the Global War on Terrorism Mike Whitney Greenspan and the Housing Bubble Niranjan Ramakrishnan Shaming the Shameless Norman Solomon Slurs, Lies and Innuendos: Blaming the Antiwar Messengers Dave Zirin In Defense of Felipe Alou Jennifer Loewenstein The Shame of It All: Watching the Gazan Fiasco CounterPunch Clarification     August 16, 2005 Greg Moses Mona in a Field of Crosses at Camp Casey, Texas Thomas Larson The Unmitigated Gall of Dinesh D'Souza Diana Barahona Uneasy Standoff in Venezuela's Media Wars Dave Lindorff The Inquirer's Minds Don't Want to Know Rep. Cynthia McKinney A Letter to President Bush: Meet with Cindy Sheehan Elisa Salasin Hitchens Slimes Cindy Sheehan David Krieger Amazing Grace and Cindy Alexander Cockburn A Short History of Meat: Part One, Peter's Dream Website of the Day Reclaiming Appalachia: a Mountain Takeover     August 15, 2005 Greg Moses Pilgrims of Protest in Crawford Paul Craig Roberts Slouching Toward Armageddon? Mike Whitney Failing in Iraq Robert Jensen The Challenges We Face CounterPunch Wire Judge Fines Voices in the Wilderness $20,000 for Taking Medicine to Iraq; Voices Refuses to Pay Norman Solomon Someone Tell Frank Rich the War Isn't Over Kathleen Christison Camp David Redux: Anatomy of a Frame-Up   August 13 / 14, 2005 Cockburn / St. Clair When Down is Up: the "Stricken" President William Blum The al-Dubya Training Manual Gary Leupp High Tide for the Neocons? Jack Z. Bratich Secreting the News: Anonymous vs. Confidential Sources Brian Cloughley The Ridiculous Rice Ron Jacobs Klan Justice: Mississippi is Still Burning John Farley "Beyond Chutzpah" Too Hot for Harvard Bookstore? Dave Lindorff Making the World Safer...for Nukes Tim Wise Animal Whites: PETA and the Politics of Putting Things in Perspective J.L. Chestnut, Jr. There's Not One Real Liberal or Conservative in the Senate John Gershman The Bolton Opportunity Felice Pace Saving Northwest Forests: Time for a Fresh Look Fred Gardner Feds Takeover Prosecution of Dustin Costa David Krieger The Fable of the Emperor and the Grieving Mother Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz Being a Protestant Fundamentalist Ben Tripp GWAT: a Tone Poem Poets' Basement Reiss, Nettnin, Engel and Louise     August 12, 2005 Christopher Brauchli Courting God: Justice Sunday II Greg Moses A Crawford Peace House Morning with Cindy Sheehan Ramzy Baroud Israel's Nuclear Puzzle Norman Solomon Cindy Sheehan's Message: Repudiating Bush and Dean Chris Genovali Why is a Canadian Politician Trying to End Protections for US Grizzly Bears? Chris Floyd Cheney and Halliburton, the Stench Gets Worse Tariq Ali Blair's New Authoritarianism     August 11, 2005 Saul Landau Globalization and Its Discontents Dave Lindorff Privatization will Harm Same Sex Couples Ralph Nader Dear Cindy Sheehan: May You Prevail Where Others Have Failed Talli Nauman Radioactive Border: the Hot Mounds of Samalayuca Gary Leupp Politics of an Outing: Plame, Ledeen and Iran Sharon Smith The New Anti-War Majority Paul Craig Roberts Why is Cheney Lobbying for a Boost in China's Nuclear Capability?     August 10, 2005 Tim Wise Indian Mascots and White Rage Ron Jacobs Rumsfeld's Delusions Joshua Frank Dean and the PDA: Don't Believe the Hype Cynthia McKinney The 9/11 Op-Ed the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Refuses to Run Rick Wilhelm Peter Jennings, Excuse Maker for War and Empire Stan Goff Homegrown Resistance     August 9, 2005 Mike Ferner What One Mom has to Say to Bush: Cindy Sheehan in Dallas Monica Benderman Is Being a Conscientious Objector Now Criminal? Mike Marqusee Making Excuses for Killing De Menezes Rep. Cynthia McKinney Strange Fruit and Tree-Shakers Paul Craig Roberts Watching the US Economy Crumble     August 6-8, 2005 Alexander Cockburn How the British Destroyed India Jason Leopold Halliburton and Iran: Still Doing Business After All These Years? Ray McGovern Iran, Truth-Tellers and the Devotees of Preemption David Krieger From Hiroshima to Humanity Sharon K. Weiner / Robert Jensen From Hiroshima to Iraq and Back Fred Gardner The Budtender's View of a Rip-Off     August 5, 2005 Bill Christison New NIE Report on Iran's Nukes will Not Deter US's Posture of Extreme Aggressiveness Paul Craig Roberts Kelo: a Supreme Assault on Personal Liberty Alexander Cockburn The Taj Mahal as Kitsch; the Editor and the Water-Walking Guru     August 4, 2005 Tom Barry Inside Bush's "World Democracy Movement" Lila Rajiva John Bolton's New Internationalism Greg Moses Bush Teaches Intelligent Design in Prison Alexander Cockburn Indian Journal: Why Indian Farmers Kill Themselves August 3, 2005     August 3, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Broken Arrows and Iran: a B-52 Pilot Remembers Paul Craig Roberts The Kelo Calamity: Money, Power and Eminent Domaine William A. Cook Innocent Victims: From Hiroshima to Lower Manhattan Dave Zirin Bush's Texas Rangers: a Crackhouse for Juiced Players? Dave Lindorff Court Packing and Worker Rights José Pertierra Why Hamdi Isaac Yes and Posada Carriles No?   August 2, 2005 Ramzi Kysia Disengagement and Diaspora: High Walls and Razor Wire in the Hebron William A. Cook Words Without Meaning: Torturing Bodies and Language Paul Craig Roberts When Armageddon Gets No Press Mike Whitney Chertoff's Preemptive Crackdown: 600 Arrests, Only 76 Charged Ron Jacobs Be a Hero: Demand That Johnny Come Home Norman Madarsz Before the Stun Gun: Jean Charles de Menezes, RIP Tim Wise The Faulty Logic of "Terrorist" Profiling     August 1, 2005 Virginia Rodino Why Bono and Geldof Got It Wrong: War and Global Poverty are Linked Diana Barahona Return to Venezuela: Land Reform and Neighborhood Doctors Joshua Frank Gitmo's Kangaroo Courts: First Torture Them, Then Rig Their Trials Mike Whitney The Consolidation of Powers: Rubber Stamp Roberts Norm Dixon The Worst Terror Attacks in History Norman Solomon Operation Withdrawal Scam James Petras The Corruption of Lula's Regime     July 30 / 31, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Lost Nuclear Warheads Now in Iran? JoAnn Wypijewski Scenes and Silver Linings from Labor's Crack-Up: a Special Report from Chicago Sheldon Rampton War is Fun as Hell: the Video Games Recruiters Play Jack Z. Bratich Fingerprints of Power: a Summer of Double Super Secrecy Greg Moses How to Cool Your Heels in Texas When It's Late July Across the World Jordan Green From Woolworth to Wal-Mart: Economics and the Race Divide in a Southern City Patrick Cockburn Getting Out of Iraq: 5,000 US Troops Have Gone AWOL Brian Cloughley The Bush-Cheney Fixation on Iran Justin Taylor Harry Potter and the War on Terror Saul Landau Enhancements for the Imperial Life: Fashionism Takes Command! John Walsh Dems Field Another Pro-War Candidate: Meet Hack the Hawk Joshua Frank Color-Coded Justice: John Roberts's Racial Hang Up Ron Jacobs Who Needs Feminism? We Have Condi Rice! Fred Gardner The Ethan and Gavin Show John Chuckman Friedman on Terrorism: the Dumbest Story Ever Written Liaquat Ali Khan Lessons City Bombers Need to Learn from Newton and Donne Remi Kanazi Annexing Justice in Palestine Naveen Jaganathan The Gurgaon Riots Rock India Richard Heinberg Where is the Hirsch Peak Oil Report? Max Watts Francis Ona, the Napoleon of Mekamui Ben Tripp Write Your Own Editorial! Poets' Basement Whalen & Engel, Landau, Albert and Krieger       July 29, 2005 Cockburn / St. Clair Who's the Real Martyr? Judy Miller or Jim DeFede? P. Sainath The Class War in Gurgaon Niranjan Ramakrishnan How the West Was Lost: CAFTA and the Disassembling of America Dave Lindorff Marvelous Marvin Bush J.L. Chestnut, Jr. America's Racist Inventory: Oppression Breeds Violence Pat Williams Giving Away the Last Best Place Norman Solomon In Praise of Kevin Benderman: a Moral Leader of the Nation Goes to Prison Sen. Russ Feingold The Bad News About the Energy Bill     July 28, 2005 Paul Craig Roberts Departing Iraq William S. Lind The Duke of Alba and George W. Bush Gilad Atzmon Blair the Camera Man Joshua Frank Passing CAFTA: Blame the Democrats Lila Rajiva Vision Mumbai Submerged Amina Mire Pigmentation and Empire: the Emerging Skin-Whitening Industry Website of the Day Gateway to Underground News     July 27, 2005 Roger Morris The Source Beyond Rove: Condoleezza Rice at the Center of the Plame Scandal Gary Leupp Is Iran Being Set Up? Paul Craig Roberts US Falling Behind Across the Board Jackie Corr Class War on the Ruby River: the Billionaire with His Foot in His Mouth Mike Whitney The Coming End of the Housing Bubble Dave Zirin Why Lance Armstrong Must Break with Bush Christopher Bradley Why I Have Trouble Reading the News Norman Solomon Thomas Friedman, Liberal Sadist? Website of the Day Stormin' Norman                   Subscribe Online

September 19, 2005 Going, Going, Almost Gone.... Compromise with a Chainsaw in the Rainforests of British Columbia By INGMAR LEE In December 2002, British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell wrote the New York Times to tell Americans that all was well in the BC Forests. A negative article about ancient forest destruction and the impending extinction of the Spotted Owl had appeared in the newspaper, and Campbell wished to set the record straight with American consumers. He wrote that "habitat decisions are made with the best available understanding of scientific and socioeconomic factors affecting species sustainability, not with lumber interests solely in mind." His final statement in that letter sums up the esurient hypocrisy that has characterized the biggest ramp-up of ancient forest destruction in 150 years of industrial logging in BC under his watch: "There is more old-growth in British Columbia than 100 years ago, amounting to 62 million acres. That total is projected to increase in the century ahead." In British Columbia, forestry science is specifically bought and controlled to prove that black is white. It's no wonder that the fanaticism of scientism has garnered such unquestioned support amongst those whose primary religion involves nothing other that the making of money. Seven of Campbell's top-ten 'corporate contributions' (a euphemism for quasi-legal bribery) for his 2001 election campaign were from giant logging interests, and British Columbian's know that it's the Weyerhaeusers, CANFOR's and Interfors who call the tune on BC forest policies. The transnational logging industry simply bought themselves a BC government for the shameful pittance of around a million bucks over 10 years. But having bought the science, as well as the government to prosyletize it, this still couldn't placate an increasingly sceptical and alarmed public that isn't buying the bull. Campbell took a beating in the 2005 election over his George Bush style "green-as-an-oil-slick" environmental policies. His was a government that axed the entire Ministry of the Environment and tried to privatise the entire British Columbia public landbase for the logging industry. The electors of BC sent a powerful message to the industry/government consortium that environment is a priority on a planet facing ever more disturbing ecological catastrophe. The Premier's spin-stories about increasing amounts of old-growth in a province with an annual 70 million cubic metre cut, the scam of 'variable retention' logging, and the biggest lie of all, ~that voracious industrial destruction of forests was in any way sustainable were wearing thin. Yet the avalanche of regressive anti-environmental legislation and the onslaught of destruction on the ground during 4 years of Campbell was so sweeping, it completely overwhelmed any voices pleading for sanity in the beleagured BC forests. Such a trashing of BC's magnificent forested landbase is having severe negative consequences for the economy and ecology of the province, and the spin-meisters know that the seething undercurrent of outrage and despair are bound to develop traction, sooner, rather than later. Progressive customers around the world are demanding ethically-produced forest products, especially products which are not derived from the destruction of ancient forests. While the big companies log like there's no tomorrow, forest-dependent communities, forest workers and First Nations have been atrociously abused and they are getting more and more agitated. Logging has never approached sustainability in BC, contrary to decades of propaganda, and today, more than 80% of the BC timber harvest continues to be derived from primaeval frontier forests. Big Logging and the global-warming-induced Mountain Pine beetle epidemic are now locked in a flat out race to exterminate the provinces interior forests, and with all easily accessible coastal forests on Vancouver Island and the mainland inlets now exhausted, including second-growth forests mowed down to the 30-40-year-old age class, the insatiable eye of industrial logging has now set its sights onto that most lucrative final frontier forest on the continent: the 20 million acre tract of endangered temperate rainforest which has become known as the "Great Bear Rainforest" (GBR). To acquire unfettered access to the timber, the government/industry consortium required further buy-in from its most troublesome critics, namely BC's largest environmental organizations, who had once positioned themselves in the preceding decade as a major threat to the global market for BC forest products. Highly successful international market campaigns identified the grossest destroyers of wilderness, and by staging effective protests at retail outlets, consumers around the world began to shun BC forest products. People are recognizing the impending ecological disaster, and with the loss of ancient forests as one of its most prominent features, the logging interests liquidation scheme for the Great Bear Rainforest needed some big-name Greenwash. That's when Weyerhaeuser, Interfor, Canfor, Western Forest Products and Norske Skog decided to sit down with Greenpeace, the BC Sierra Club, Forest Ethics and the Rainforest Action Network, known collectively as the Rainfrest Solutions Project (RSP), to see how they might legitimize their rapacious scheme. To get things rolling, 17 independent scientists were appointed by government, industry and the environmental groups to study the GBR area for 3 years. But when the results of the study finally came in, it threw a big wrench into the logging company's hopes for the area. The scientists analysis concluded that between 44% and 60% of the GBR was essential for preservation in order to guarrantee species survival. Even so, the team found that this amount of protection from logging, mining and hunting would only ensure that 30% of the most important habitat of all focal species of the area would be protected. Well that just wasn't going to cut it for the companies which were slathering at a vastly larger cut, so the wheeling and dealing began in earnest. Astoundingly, in January 2004, without any discussion, consultation, democratic process or mandate from the people of BC, or even from the larger BC environmental community, the RSP negotiators emerged with a compromise concensus deal with industry, and agreed to shelve the independent scientific conclusion. Now the pressure is on Gordon Campbell to finally endorse the deal. There's little doubt that this will happen, and the industry is already sharpening its saws. These American-foundation-funded environmental groups had inexplicably sold out the GBR forest and cut up the pie accordingly: industrial logging: about 80%, protected areas: 20%. Immediately, in December 2003, before news of the 'concensus' even went public, and years prior to Campbell's official sign-on, the BC government was sending out faxes to its lumber customers all around the world, announcing that "Peace in the Woods" had been achieved, and all ethical obstacles to the purchase of BC forest products had been resolved. Meanwhile, during the period of 'talk-and-log' negotiations, full-on destructive clearcutting continued apace in the GBR, and under the deal, will continue until 2009. According to a David Suzuki Foundation study, since 2001, when the GBR discussions first began, 74% of all logging which has occurred on more than 600 cutblocks in the GBR forest has been by clearcutting, with 46% of it in the regions most productive salmon-bearing watersheds. Only 8% of salmon creeks which flowed through these cutblocks were properly protected. More than 65% of the most critical areas of the GBR will be available for logging and other development. The Ecosystem Based Management (EBM) Handbook which is being hailed by the RSP as the primary excuse for the embarrassingly small amount of protected areas offers no legally binding changes to the status quo described above. In fact, the EBM version being put forward as groundbreaking for the GBR is nothing more than a recommendation which will allow the massive industrial exploitation of these forests to continue. From the Suzuki website: "[Our] analysis concludes that few elements of the Coast Information Team (CIT ) recommended prescription for EBM remain in proposed land-use agreements, thereby seriously reducing the effectiveness of the landuse plans in protecting biodiversity on the landscape outside of proposed protected areas...To date, the BC government and forest industry have not demonstrated the slightest willingness to ratify even a small number of important EBM principles and have proposed that consideration of the full suite of EBM recommendations proposed by the CIT could take another four years to complete, thereby providing the forest industry with an open playing field and no requirements to improve logging standards to meet EBM requirements. Essentially, this means more 'talk and log.'" Nobody, neither the industry, nor the RSP has much of an idea what EBM as slated for the GBR will look like, and there is zero regulatory enactment to define it. From the RSP's own website: "Ultimately, a shallow application of EBM based on a wavering commitment will not cut it. The implementation of EBM must be stringent and entrenched, or otherwise, the long-term health of Great Bear Rainforest will remain in jeopardy." Bill Bourgeois, spokesperson for the Coast Forest Conservation Initiative, a coalition of Canadian Forest Products, Western Forest Products, International Forest Products, Weyerhaeuser and Norske Canada, the parties which want to log the GBR, states that "Work has already begun, but [foresters] need further clarification on how to implement EBM. It's one thing to have it written down on paper and another when you are standing on the edge of a creek deciding which to cut and not cut and why," he says. He adds that "government must act, not only to ensure certainty for the forest companies, but in order for them to fully implement this new way of doing forestry on the ground." Bourgeois said it has taken longer to bring about on-the-ground changes than anticipated but logging companies are voluntarily moving towards ecosystem-based management without the actual plan and guidelines in place. There are still examples of clear-cut logging, he said, as roads and cutting plans are developed years in advance. Voluntarily, eh? Indeed. It's clear that Gordon Campbell will sign the deal, all the current "Stand-Tall for the GBR ~write the Premier Now" RSP hype notwithstanding. Obviously, if Weyerhaeuser etc. think this is a great deal, Gordo will certainly sign. He wavered on signing it just before the recent election, but wimped out at the eleventh hour. I doubt if that was a politically expedient calculation for him, as his tardiness in appearing to "turn over a new leaf" cost him the re-election of most of his obviously pro-logging MLA's. His imminent endorsement of the deal will perpetuate his use of 'pseudo-science' to justify the sustainability of BC's forest practices, proving the outright lie of his NYT article . But what about the "socioeconomic" considerations he promised? According to Will Horter of the Dogwood Initiative, a BC Environmental think-tank, "in the North Coast Forest District, home to a big portion of the yet unprotected Great Bear Rainforest, over 85% of the logging produces only 25 cents a cubic metre." Horter asks, "Would you allow someone to log a tree the size of the average Canadian telephone pole from your backyard and pay you only a quarter?..." This is exactly the kind of BC tax-payer subsidy that Campbell has lavished on his logging industry friends which has brought about the disastrous US Softwood Lumber tariffs, which have so devasted revenues derived from the BC forests. The American lumber industry quite rightly argues that Campbell virtually gives away the public forest to the companies. This enormous giveaway of irreplaceable ancient forests exposes the other lie in his NYT statement, and makes it clear that forest policy BC-style is completely framed "with lumber interests solely in mind.". Finally, why, oh why are BC's largest environmental organizations agreeing to this unprecedented giveaway of one of the Earth's most precious final tracts of wilderness? How is it that our society's so-believed primary defenders of the environment have compromised so much with those who will destroy it so utterly? Even the Rainforest Action Network admits that the deal has terrible consequences for forests far beyond the GBR. From their "BuyGoodWood" website: "RAN also acknowledges that the consensus failed to live up to the recommendations of the Coast Information Team and the balance of scientific opinion stating that the plan leaves these fragile ecosystems and the life that they support at risk. Specifically, the concensus only protects 22% of the Central Coast landbase with a further 11% off-limits to logging and hydro-electric development, but open to mining and road building that could substantially erode forest habitat. Moreover, RAN is deeply concerned that the central coast recommendations are being used to validate habitat destruction on Vancouver Island and elsewhere in the province. Already, companies like Weyerhaeuser are using the concensus in the media as a green-ticket for their old-growth logging operations throughout Canada." This deal cannot be based on any sense of "trust" that the Weyerhaeuser's and ilk will finally live up to the hallucinatory pipe-dream of an as-yet un-defined "EBM" standard in their logging practices. Weyerhaeuser, the company that invaded, occupied and massacred Vancouver Island for 7 years and then 'cut and ran' is the world's largest forest destroyer. There is not a single precedent in all of BC's sorry logging history which demonstrates any semblance of ethical practices by a single one of these players. Tragically, there appears to be only one single rationale which has made such quisling compromise possible, ~it's all about the money Heather Ramsay quotes Merran Smith in a recent article which appears on "The Tyee" website, "Landmark Great Bear Agreement Is Down to the Wire." Smith, one of the RSP negotiators, argues that "one of their biggest concerns is the potential for $200 million in pledged conservation financing to fall apart, [should Campbell fail to endorse the deal] leaving a myriad of First Nations and coastal community projects, like shellfish aquaculture, tourism, non-timber forest products and sustainable logging to fail.Smith says the money, raised from private industry, government and foundations, became an important piece of the complicated Great Bear Rainforest Agreement, because communities demanded it. Environmental groups helped to secure $110 million dollars intended to help First Nations implement the land-use plans in their territories, Smith says. Some of the money will become seed capital for business ventures and some will be set aside to help First Nations go about the physical task of managing and monitoring the streams, forest and ocean. She sees it as one way to help First Nations build capacity and control in their territories. An additional $80 million in socially responsible investment dollars may be available to larger communities like Prince Rupert for sound business projects." Indeed. So the funding lined up by the RSP for the so-called benefit of coastal First Nations is only contingent on the giant logging companies having their way with the place. At 25 cents a cubic metre in stumpage revenue to the taxpayer for the logging of 80% the GBR, the logging industry cut will totally dwarf that measely $200 million. We're talking a trade-off of the equivalent value of 200 Victoria waterfront homes, ~in exchange for the Earth's largest, contiguous remaining tract of intact temperate rainforest! That forest is simply priceless, -irreplaceable. The entirely unceded forested lands of the GBR already belong entirely to the First Nations of that coast . Why not follow the example of the Haida who have recently so ably demonstrated what it really takes to rid their forests of the rapacious scourge of Weyerhaeuser and ilk? There is no need to negotiate, nor is there any moral justification for environmentalists to cut big, ugly compromise deals with those who would destroy the final forests of the planet. Working together with First Nations AGAINST these destroyers, we could seriously damage the current BC forest industry for the benefit of all. We should have stayed the course with the market campaigns, and only by working together with First Nations to rid the province of the scourge of Big Logging and its lying Gordon Campbell lackies. Compromise collaborationism with a voracious industrial menace will never protect the final forests of the world. British Columbian's should quit supporting any environmental organization which does not have NO MORE ANCIENT FOREST LOGGING, as its primary, uncompromising stance. As Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society says: "Greenpeace protests, we intervene." Greenpeace has removed that kind of active interference from its arsenal. Greenpeace is a corporation now," We are rapidly losing all of the Earth's final, irreplaceable primaeval forests. The loss of these forests is a global emergency!! Massive extinctions of intricate biodiversity accompany the destruction. When will people finally act to protect wilderness?? When there's 15% left? 10%? 5%? It's going, going and so nearly almost gone. Ingmar Lee has planted more than 1,000,000 trees in the clearcuts of British Columbia in his 21 year career as a professional treeplanter. He now lives in Pondicherry, India He can be reached at: ingmarz@gmail.com                               CLARIFICATION ALEXANDER COCKBURN, JEFFREY ST CLAIR, BECKY GRANT AND THE INSTITUTE FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF JOURNALISTIC CLARITY, COUNTERPUNCH We published an article entitled "A Saudiless Arabia" by Wayne Madsen dated October 22, 2002 (the "Article"), on the website of the Institute for the Advancement of Journalistic Clarity, CounterPunch, www.counterpunch.org (the "Website"). Although it was not our intention, counsel for Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi has advised us the Article suggests, or could be read as suggesting, that Mr Al Amoudi has funded, supported, or is in some way associated with, the terrorist activities of Osama bin Laden and the Al Qaeda terrorist network. We do not have any evidence connecting Mr Al Amoudi with terrorism. As a result of an exchange of communications with Mr Al Amoudi's lawyers, we have removed the Article from the Website. We are pleased to clarify the position. August 17, 2005

Coming in the Fall from CounterPunch Books! The Case Against Israel By Michael Neumann Click Here to Advance Order Philosopher Michael Neumann's Devastating Rebuttal of Alan Dershowitz Coming This Fall Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Greed and Profiteering in the War on Terror by Jeffrey St. Clair