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Eamonn Fingleton gives a stunning account of how the elite press – the Wall Street Journal, The Economist, the New York Times and Washington Post - pilloried US autworkers while systematically concealing the hidden subsidies which have allowed Japan and Korea to destroy Detroit. All this with the connivance of the US government. Also in our latest newsletter: Michelle Obama comes to Merced. Bill Hatch, the Balzac of the Central Valley, gives an uproarious account of Michelle’s state visit to UC’s new campus. Get your new edition 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.
How the U.S. Press Helped Destroy the Auto IndustryOrder CounterPunch By Email For Only $35 a Year !
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Today's Stories June 16, 2009 Patrick Cockburn June 15, 2009 Michael Hudson Reza Fiyouzat Patrick Cockburn James Ridgeway Marjorie Cohn Rannie Amiri Dave Lindorff Ron Jacobs Leonard Schwartz Martha Rosenberg Website of the Day June 12-14, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Gareth Porter Mike Whitney Mark Ames Esam Al-Amin Franklin Lamb Patrick Cockburn Andy Worthington Heather Gray Felice Pace Ron Jacobs George Wuerthner Jeffrey Buchanan / David Ker Thomson Renaud Lambert Kevin Zeese David Macaray Evelyn Pringle Chris Genovali David Michael Green Brian J. Foley Charles R. Larson Kim Nicolini David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
June 11, 2009 Kathy Kelly / James Bovard Tristan de Bourbon Dave Lindorff Kevin Zeese Ralph Nader Harvey Wasserman Nicole Colson Mark Weisbrot Dan Bacher Website of the Day June 10, 2009 Ismael Hossein-Zadeh Jennifer Van Bergen / Douglas Valentine Kathy Kelly Paul Craig Roberts Rev. William E. Alberts Peter Lee Carol Miller Emily Ratner Robert Weissman Dave Lindorff Website of the Day June 9, 2009 Winslow T. Wheeler Mike Whitney Stan Cox Sibel Edmonds Jonathan Cook David Macaray Robert Jensen Nadia Hijab Mark Weisbrot Website of the Day June 8, 2009 John Ross Paul Craig Roberts Franklin C. Spinney Franklin Lamb Uri Avnery Jonathan Cook Eric Toussaint Jim Goodman Norman Solomon Reza Fiyouzat Website of the Day June 5 -7, 200 Alexander Cockburn George Galloway Paul Craig Roberts Jennifer Loewenstein Franklin Lamb Mike Whitney Andy Worthington Missy Comley Beattie Farzana Versey Stanley Heller John V. Whitbeck Robert Weissman Lee Sustar Dave Lindorff William Blum Ernest Callenbach / Greg Moses Ron Jacobs David Yearsley Tim Stelloh Belén Fernández David Ker Thomson Karyn Strickler Christopher Brauchli Charles R. Larson Kim Nicolini Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend June 4, 2009 Arno J. Mayer Mike Whitney Gareth Porter Ayesha Ijaz Khan Mouin Rabbani Jordan Flaherty Adam Turl Nikolas Kozloff Yifat Susskind Website of the Day June 3, 2009 Paul Craig Roberts Kathy Kelly Alan Farago Franklin Lamb Bill Hatch Nadia Hijab Dean Baker Binoy Kampmark Manuel Garcia, Jr. Remi Kanazi Behzad Yaghmaian Website of the Day June 2, 2009 Uri Avnery Robert Weissman Conn Hallinan Gideon Spiro Roger Burbach Dylan Quigley Dave Lindorff Ray McGovern Belén Fernández Martha Rosenberg Willie L. Pelote, Sr. Website of the Day June 1, 2009 Pam Martens Yitzhak Laor Mark Weisbrot Ramzy Baroud Saul Landau Eugenia Tsao Afshin Rattansi Debra Sweet Abdul Malik Mujahid Bill Quigley John Wright Website of the Day May 29-31, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Patrick Cockburn Vijay Prashad Gary Leupp Ray McGovern Rannie Amiri Bill Hatch Chellis Glendinning, Stephanie Mills and Kirkpatrick Sale Phyllis Pollack David Yearsley Jean-Christophe Servant Dave Lindorff James McEnteer Missy Beattie James C. Faris David Macaray Harvey Wasserman Adam Federman David Ker Thomson Mark Seth Lender Stephen Martin Joseph Nevins Sophia Mihic Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend May 28, 2009 Joan Roelofs Paul Craig Roberts Ralph Nader Mouin Rabbani Joe Bageant James McEnteer Dedrick Muhammad Richard Morse David Macaray Harvey Wasserman Website of the Day May 27, 2009 Joanne Mariner Paul Craig Roberts Walden Bello Dave Lindorff Brian M. Downing Carlos Villarreal Nadia Hijab Adam Federman Laray Polk Isabella Kenfield David Michael Green Website of the Day May 26, 2009 Manuel Garcia, Jr. Mike Whitney Sharon Smith Marjorie Cohn Dean Baker Deepankar Basu Fred Gardner Jordan Flaherty Josh Ruebner Brian Cloughley Website of the Day May 25, 2009 Diane Christian John Ross Kenneth Hartman Uri Avnery Fred Gardner Cindy Sheehan Sen. Russell Feingold Sibel Edmonds Franklin Lamb Dave Lindorff Daniel Wolff Website of the Day May 22-24, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Michael Teitelman Mike Whitney Ray McGovern Sonia Cardenas / Clive Hamilton Conn Hallinan Fred Gardner Carlo Cristofori Dean Baker Rannie Amiri Andy Worthington David Macaray Nadia Hijab Franklin Lamb Ted Newcomen David Ker Thomson David Rosen Mark Weisbrot Robert Fantina Heather Gray Farzana Versey Chris Genovali Ron Jacobs Jay Diamond Dr. Susan Block Ben Sonnenberg David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend May 21, 2009 Jeffrey St. Clair / Paul Craig Roberts Chris Floyd Gerald Paoli Zach Mason Uri Avnery Andy Worthington Niranjan Ramakrishnan Norman Solomon Dave Lindorff Website of the Day May 20, 2009 Michael Hudson Gary Leupp Michael D. Yates Jonathan Cook Peter Lee Binoy Kampmark Peter Zinn William Loren Katz Gary Lapon Trudy Bond Website of the Day May 19, 2009 Kristoffer Rehder Mike Whitney Ray McGovern Vijay Prashad Mirjam Hadar Meerschwam Mustafa Barghouthi Andy Worthington Binoy Kampmark John Walsh David Macaray Website of the Day May 18, 2009 Dave Lindorff Abdul Malik Mujahid Jonathan Cook Ben Rosenfeld Patrick Cockburn Ralph Nader Stephen Soldz Eugenia Tsao Walter Brasch Roberto Rodriguez Charlotte Laws Website of the Day May 15-17, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair David Rosen Mike Whitney Bruce Page Jeremy Scahill Fred Gardner Tom Barry Mats Svensson Ramzy Baroud Mark Engler Mark Weisbrot Farzana Versey Ron Jacobs Hannah Wolfe Cal Winslow David Macaray Christopher Brauchli Mark Seth Lender Robert Fantina David Ker Thomson Stephen Martin Charles R. Larson Chase Madar Kim Nicolini David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend May 14, 2009 Michael Hudson Andy Worthington Paul Craig Roberts Jonathan Cook Ray McGovern Lance Selfa David Green Dave Lindorff Frida Berrigan Sue Udry Website of the Day May 13, 2009 Brian M. Downing Gareth Porter Robert Sandels Ricardo Alarcón Eric Walberg Dave Lindorff Deepak Tripathi William S. Lind Kevin Zeese Franklin Lamb Website of the Day May 12, 2009 Gary Leupp Richard Neville Wajahat Ali Dean Baker Franklin Lamb Norman Solomon Paul Craig Roberts Lisa M. Hamilton Bob Fitrakis / David Macaray Website of the Day May 11, 2009 Andrea Peacock Michael Hudson Patrick Cockburn Ralph Nader John Kelly Saul Landau Dave Lindorff David Michael Green Anthony Papa Paul Krassner Website of the Day
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Bloomsday Edition What About the DH, Charlie?Charles Manson and MeBy DAVID MACARAY In 1980 I came up with the innovative (or, if you like, semi-crackpot) idea of doing a series of “oblique interviews” with celebrities. These would consist of lively Q&A sessions with well-known personalities on topics that fell totally and, it was hoped, comically outside their recognized fields. Hence, “oblique.” For example, I would discuss the Concept of Evil with Zsa Zsa Gabor, American automobiles with Henry Kissinger (“What’s your all-time favorite muscle car, Henry?”), Roadrunner cartoons with William F. Buckley, and the game of baseball with Charles Manson. It was my view that the juxtaposition itself would be so startling, so remarkable, these non-sequitur exchanges would more or less “propel” themselves. Indeed, I was so taken with the conceit, I assumed that national magazines would buy the articles and that I would soon become rich and famous (or, hopefully, enter the middle-class and remain there). I decided my first target should be Charles Manson. Besides being the most “notorious” character on the list, I’d read that, as a young inmate, Manson had played baseball at McNeil Island Prison, in Washington. I set myself the task was of locating Manson and persuading him to talk baseball; and to do that I would need help of the Corrections Department. Navigating the California prison system would be my first foray into officialdom. Other than getting my driver’s license renewed at the DMV and having dealt with low-echelon State Department officials when I was in the Peace Corps (India), I’d had zero experience with any government bureaucracy. My first step was writing to J.J. Enomoto (Director, California Department of Corrections), a governor Jerry Brown appointee, introducing myself as a free-lance journalist and asking for information on how to go about getting an interview. All I really knew about Manson was that he was sentenced to life in prison and was incarcerated at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville. Someone from Enomoto’s office wrote back and advised me to contact the warden of Vacaville, a Dr. Thomas Clanon. I discovered during my research that Vacaville wasn’t classified as a prison, but as a medical facility, and that the California state charter required its warden to be a medical doctor. Dr. Clanon was a psychiatrist. At that time, Vacaville was described as a facility where three types of inmates were housed: the mentally ill, those who couldn’t safely mingle with the general prison population (celebrities, ex-cops, certain gangsters), and “extremely aggressive or extremely passive” homosexuals. While everyone I spoke to was courteous, no one was especially forthcoming until I came across Philip Guthrie from the California Public Information Office. Phil Guthrie turned out to be one of the coolest people I’d ever talked to. At my request he generously agreed to find out the name of Manson’s lawyer and call me back. Having already learned that the only way I could see Manson was to have him place my name on his visitors’ list, I decided to make that request through his lawyer rather than by writing to Manson himself. My fear was that writing to Manson would get my name placed on some FBI “deviant” list, resulting in government agents pounding on my door. Guthrie assured me that wouldn’t happen. He said that Charlie (everyone in the Corrections system referred to Manson, their most celebrated inmate, simply as “Charlie”) received, literally, “hundreds” of letters a month, from all sorts of people—everything from death threats, to fan letters, to women proposing marriage. He also dropped a surprise on me. Manson didn’t have a lawyer. “It makes sense, doesn’t it?” Guthrie said. “The man has no chance of getting out of prison, he has no money, and he’s unstable. Why would he still have a lawyer?” He was right; it seemed so obvious once he said it. So I composed a letter to Manson. I cheerfully outlined the project, listed the magazines I planned to query (e.g., Playboy, Esquire, Hustler, et al) and told him I’d cut him in on any fee I made from the sale—either as cash or in the form of a gift, such as a guitar or top-drawer tape-recorder. Even though this arrangement probably violated the principles of ethical journalism, I felt, given the extraordinary circumstances, I could justify the move. Instead of Manson being a “subject,” I’d make him a “partner.” Because I’d read that Manson considered himself a singer/songwriter, I thought the offer of the guitar and recorder made sense. And wanting to make the proposal as painless as possible, I gave him the choice of doing the interview face-to-face or by mail. As a further inducement, I offered to send along the list of 33 questions I’d already worked up, for his approval. Sample question #1: “What is your opinion of the Designated Hitter rule?” My optimistic, hoped-for reply: “I guess you could call me a purist because I still believe a pitcher should take his turn at the plate, just like any other player.” Sample question #2: “When you were at McNeil Island, what position did you play?” My hoped-for reply: “Mainly shortstop and second-base. I was a pretty good infielder, but a weak hitter.” Etc. Before mailing the letter I checked with Guthrie one last time and asked what he thought the odds were of Manson reading it. “Charlie’s an unpredictable guy,” he said. “He might read it, and he might even answer you. Then again, he might not even bother to open the envelope. You never know.” As it turned out, Manson did read it. Two or three weeks later I got a reply from a man I’ll call “Murray” (I think Murray is still alive, and if he is, he’d be just the sort of fellow to sue me). His opening sentence is still indelibly tattooed on my brain: “Charles got your letter and, as he often does, asked me to deal with the insanity of the outside world.” Oh, Christ. So that’s how it was going to play out. Clearly, my ambitious project had backfired. America’s scariest and, arguably, craziest criminal was calling me “insane.” In a scathing letter, Murray went on to accuse me of rejoicing in another man’s suffering, of attempting to “capitalize” on Manson’s name and notoriety, of being a disgrace to my profession, and (my favorite) “of making a mockery of the game of baseball” (his precise words) Whoa. Maybe this Charles Manson dude really was a purist. I mean, even though he had no problem slaughtering a room full of people, when it came to messing with the national pastime, this man had some very serious objections. Well, they say Hitler loved his dog, so go figure. In any event, I wrote Murray a rebuttal of sorts. While I confessed to trying to “capitalize” on Manson’s notoriety, I defended myself by noting that I wouldn’t be portraying Manson in any negative way, that the interview would, in fact, avoid the one lurid topic the tabloids were obsessed with—Manson’s murderous past. Wasn’t that a point in my favor? I also reminded him that I’d mentioned in my letter that I was a baseball historian, that I’d written articles about baseball, and that if anyone had respect for the game, it was me. Indeed, the fact that virtually every American kid—college professor, truck driver, mass murderer—had played the game, was testimony to its universality. In a warped sort of way, “Manson on baseball” made sense. Anyway, that was the end of it. I never heard from Manson himself, and the last I got from Murray was a reply to my rebuttal, telling me he didn’t accept my lame attempt at an explanation, and that I was no more than a naked, scum-sucking opportunist. Years later, I saw that Murray had written a book. It was all about his association with one Charles Manson. Clearly there was money to made off the Manson franchise. I’ve often wondered if he had offered Charlie a split of the proceeds. David Macaray, a Los Angeles playwright (“Americana,” “Larva Boy”) and writer, was a former labor union rep. He can be reached at Dmacaray@earthlink.net
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