home / subscribe / donate / about us / books / archives / search / links / feedback / events
|
|
|
Questions Labor's Leaders Daren't Ask: Where and Why Did We Go Wrong? by JoAnn Wypijewski; Oil on Ice: How Bush Won ANWR, with an Assist from the Dems by Jeffrey St. Clair; The Self-Rehab of George Kennan by Alexander Cockburn; The State and Terri Schiavo: a Conversation with Ralph Nader; Lisa Frittko: She Escorted Walter Benjamin Across the Pyrennes by Lawrence Reichard. Remember these stories are available exclusively in the print edition of CounterPunch. CounterPunch Online is read by millions of viewers each month! But remember, we are funded solely by the subscribers to the print edition of CounterPunch. Please support this website by buying a subscription to our newsletter, which contains fresh material you won't find anywhere else, or by making a donation for the online edition. Remember contributions are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! or write CounterPunch, PO BOX 228, Petrolia, CA 95558 |
|
Other Lands Have Dreams: From Baghdad to Pekin Prison by KATHY KELLY  Today's Stories April 18, 2005 Harry Browne April 16 / 17, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Mark Dow Omar Waraich Robert Buzzanco Sherry Wolf Fred Gardner Ron Jacobs Mark Weisbrot John Pardon Yoshie Furuhashi Mike Roselle Ralph Nader Ramzy Baroud Jackson Thoreau Michael Dickinson Richard Neville Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
April 15, 2005 Brian Cloughley Bill Glahn Mickey Z. Stephanie McMillan Josh Mahan David Russitano Jorge Mariscal Rodolfo "Corky"
Gonzales Tom Reeves
April 14, 2005 Karyn Strickler Pat Williams Jessica Pupovac Joshua Frank Jerzy Mankowski Talli Naumann Antony Loewenstein Virginia Rodino Saul Landau
/ Farrah Hassen Website of the Day
April 13, 2005 Maria Carrión Mike Whitney Terry Jones Dave Lindorff Nathaniel Livingston, Jr. Kurt Nimmo Don Fitz Tom Crumpacker JG Jack McCarthy Kevin Zeese Jeffrey St.
Clair
April 12, 2005 John Wheat
Gibson Kevin Zeese Alan Farago Dave Lindorff Ron Jacobs Nelson P. Valdes Dave Zirin Website of the Day
April 11, 2005 Tom Barry Saul Landau Monique Dols Phil Gasper Mike Whitney Edwin Krales Paul de Rooij Website of the Day
April 9 / 10, 2005 Jeffrey St.
Clair William A. Cook Gary Leupp Alan Maass Laura Carlsen Joe DeRaymond Nikolas Kozloff Dave Lindorff Greg Moses Fred Gardner Justin Smith Ron Jacobs M. Junaid Alam Ira Kay Elizabeth Schulte Jackie Corr Christopher
Brauchli Leslie A. Fiedler Ben Tripp Poets Basement Website of
the Weekend
April 8, 2005 Rob Eshelman Hom Raj Acharya
/ Sally Acharya Felice Pace Neve Gordon Mike Whitney Don Monkerud Adam Engel Vicente Navarro Website of the Day
April 7, 2005 Joshua Frank Yitzhak Laor Alan Maass Steven Sherman Dave Lindorff Gerry Adams John Chuckman Michael Dickinson John Ross Website of the Day
April 6, 2005 Peter Camejo Kevin Wehr Matt Vidal Robert Creeley
/ Bruce Jackson Nikolas Kozloff Sea Shepherd Crew Brenda Child Terry Eagleton David Swanson Cindy Ellen
Hill Website of
the Day
April 5, 2005 Jim Connolly Paul Craig
Roberts Gary Leupp Dave Lindorff Ron Jacobs Dan Smith Mark Engler Richard Oxman Greg Moses Website of the Day
April 4, 2005 Kevin Zeese Paul Craig Roberts Larry Birns
/ Sarah Schaffer Karyn Strickler Joshua Frank Michael Dickinson Surendra R.
Devkota Derrick O'Keefe Uri Avnery Website of the Day
April 2 / 3, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Stan Goff John Ross Saul Landau Robert Creeley Mike Roselle Joshua Frank Fred Gardner Greg Moses Fran Quigley Kurt Nimmo Nicole Colson Chris Genovali Alan Farago Lawrence Reichard Ben Tripp Avantika Regmi Lee Sustar Ron Jacobs Dave Lindorff Poets' Basement Website of
the Day
April 1, 2005 Tom Barry Rahul Mahajan Charlie Cray
/ Jim Vallette Dave Lindorff Zeynep Toufe Suzan Mazur Michael Dickinson Stan Cox Ra Ravishankar Daniel Wolff
March 31, 2005 Sharon Smith Ron Jacobs Tariq Ali Michael Dickinson Kanak Mani
Dixit Mitchell Zimmerman Xuan-Trang
Ho Dave Zirin Joe Bageant Jeff Halper Website of
the Day
March 30, 2005 Gary Leupp Ralph Nader
/ Kevin Zeese Chase Madar Toni Solo Jackie Corr Ahmad Faruqui Mike Roselle Jude Wanniski Francis A.
Boyle Jeffrey St.
Clair Website of
the Day
March 29, 2005 Ralph Nader Gary Leupp Sonia Cardenas Stew Albert Mark Weisbrot Dave Lindorff Carl G. Estabrook
March 28, 2005 Jeremy Scahill Sonali Kolhatkar Sasha Kramer Kevin Zeese Tom Stephens Dr. Teresa Whitehurst Newton Garver Paul Craig
Roberts Website of the Day
March 26 / 27, 2005 Gary Leupp Peter Linebaugh Marc Robert Laura Carlsen Saul Landau
/ Puja Patel Dave Foreman Fred Gardner Jennifer Matsui Dave Lindorff Dharma Adhikari Joshua Frank Patrick Barr Christopher
Brauchli Ramzy Baroud Jackie Corr Ben Tripp Dr. Susan Block Mickey Z. Justin Taylor Richard Joseph Poets' Basement
March 25, 2005 Scott Richard
Lyons Yoshie Furuhashi Pat Williams Mark Engler Rahul Mahajan Lance Selfa Ralph Nader John R. Llewellyn Jo Guldi
March 24, 2005 Joshua Frank Talli Nauman Martin Espada Dave Lindorff Elaine Cassel Jack McCarthy Jack Random Barbara Ferguson Suzan Mazur Dorreen Yellow Bird Andrew Wimmer
and Mark Chmiel
Patrick Bond Mike Whitney Becky White Michael Donnelly Niranjan Ramakrishnan Ashley Smith David Swanson Derrick O'Keefe Paul A. Moore Dalton Walker Patrick Cockburn
March 22, 2005 William Blum Jim Vallette Greg Moses John Farley Ron Jacobs M. Junaid Alam Rep. Cynthia
McKinney Dave Lindorff James Petras
March 21, 2005 John Walsh Werther Mike Stark David Swanson James T. Phillips Mike Ferner Robert Jensen Paul Craig
Roberts Stew Albert Website of
the Day
March 19, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Tom Reeves Saul Landau Alan Maass Ron Jacobs David Green John Blair Steve Greenfield Ben Tripp Mike Roselle Joshua Frank Mark Weisbrot Dave Lindorff Sarah Schaffer Warren Hastings Poets' Basement
March 18, 2005 Dave Zirin Richard Thieme John Walsh David Swanson Ben Terrall David Boyle Dorreen Yellow Bird Mokhiber /
Weissman Greg Moses Website of
the Day
March 17, 2005 Christopher
Brauchli Bill Quigley Brian Cloughley Gary Bass / Adam Hughes Dave Lindorff Jude Wanniski Alexander Billet John Ross Website of the Day
March 16, 2005 Ralph Nader William Cook Kevin Zeese Jackie Corr Alan Maass David R. Kolker Cindy Ellen
Hill Paul Craig
Roberts
March 15, 2005 Gary Leupp Dave Lindorff Greg Moses Hadas Their
/ Katrina Yeaw Alison Weir Matt Koehler Evelyn Pringle Harry Browne
March 14, 2005 Ralph Nader David Miller Stan Cox Mike Roselle David Swanson Simona Sharoni Dave Lindorff Dorreen Yellow Bird Tom Barry Website of the Day
March 12 / 13, 2005 David H. Price Noam Chomsky Laura Carlsen Stan Goff Valentina Nicoli Michael Leonardi Saul Landau
/ Sarah Anderson Joe Bageant Manuel García,
Jr. Greg Moses James J. Brittain Ben Tripp Joshua Frank Fred Gardner Walter Brasch Ramzy Baroud Christopher
Brauchli Michael Donnelly Ron Jacobs Richard Oxman Poets' Basement
March 11, 2005 Jerry Fresia Ron Jacobs Dave Lindorff William James
Martin Muqtedar Khan Kathryn Ledebur Mike Whitney Dave Zirin Website of the Day
March 10, 2005 Paul Craig
Roberts John Marc Leas, Colleen McLaughlin
and Ashley Smith Larry Birns Michael Donnelly Luis Gomez Jackie Corr Uri Avnery Website of the Day
March 9, 2005 Jeffrey St.
Clair Ward Churchill Robert Fisk Bernice Powell Jackson Mickey Z. Dave Zirin Michael Donnelly James Reiss Vijay Prashad
March 8, 2005 Paul Craig
Roberts Robert Fisk Kurt Nimmo Suzan Mazur Evelyn Pringle Giuliana Sgrena Elaine Cassel
March 7, 2005 Dave Zirin Brian Cloughley John Chuckman Mike Whitney Mark Weisbrot Fred Gardner Richard Neville Uri Avnery
March 5 / 6, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Gary Leupp Ron Jacobs Tom Reeves Jenna Orkin Tom Barry Joshua Frank Moshe Adler Jane Stillwater Omar Barghouti / Jacqueline
Sfeir Christopher
Brauchli John Pilger Raúl
Zibechi David Krieger Three Takes on Nepal Surendra R. Devkota Bhishma Karki Joseph Pietri Ben Tripp Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend
March 4, 2005 Frederick Hudson
March 3, 2005 Pat Williams Brian Cloughley Dave Lindorff Amira Hass Greg Moses Lynne Landes Nelson P. Valdés John Ross
March 2, 2005 Saul Landau
/ Farrah Hassen Mike Roselle M. Junaid Alam Suzan Mazur Jackson Thoreau Michael Donnelly Jeffrey St.
Clair Website of the Day
March 1, 2005 Scott Richard
Lyons David Lindorff Patrick Cockburn
/ David Enders Ron Jacobs Tanya Garcia Joseph Pietri Kona Lowell Paul Craig
Roberts Website of
the Day
Hot Stories Alexander Cockburn Subcomandante
Marcos Norman Finkelstein Steve Niva Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams Steve
J.B. Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber Wendell
Berry CounterPunch
Wire Cindy
Corrie Gore Vidal Francis Boyle
Subscribe Online
|
April 18, 2005 Documentary on Dow's Dioxin Scandal Ignored by Four Local PBS StationsDow Chemical Buys Silence in MichiganBy BRIAN McKENNA Ann Arbor, Michigan Three "Justice for Bhopal" terrorists were shot dead at a Dow Chemical facility in Piscataway, New Jersey on December 14, 2003. Bhopal activists - seeking redress for Dow's failure to compensate victims of the worst industrial accident of all time - stormed the Dow facility, took eight Dow workers hostage killing one. Later a SWAT team took out the three terrorists. For the record, it was Piscataway police dressed as the Bhopal "terrorists" in a mock drill. The slur had no basis in fact. But it gives a portal into the chemical giant's consciousness where democratic inquiry is linked to terrorism. On December 3rd 1984, just after midnight, 40 tons of poisonous substances leaked from Union Carbide's (now Dow's) pesticide plant in Bhopal, central India. A huge yellow cloud exposed a half million people to the gases, which hung over the city for hours. It remains the worst industrial accident of all time, with an estimated 7,000 deaths and 190,000 injuries the first few days and over 15,000 claims of deaths to date.
Dow has not learned its lesson. It is successfully fighting U.S. Homeland Security initiatives that would require them to use safer chemicals and processes where available, to better protect the 8 million residents surrounding their plants across the country. But they are reluctant to consider risk reduction alternatives beyond guns and guards. And guns and guards are having a field day. Midland, Michigan is Dow's international headquarters. In Spring 2003, filmmaker Steve Meador was taking digital video footage of the Dow chemical facility there while sitting in the back of his pick-up truck as his girlfriend drove on a public road. They were soon pulled over and detained by Midland police, Dow security, and a deputy from the Midland County sheriff's office. "It was pretty scary until they figured out we weren't terrorists casing the place." Meador was making a documentary on dioxin pollution in Midland and downstream. Police took his picture and let him go. "Dow security said that if we had been pulled over on their property that they could have confiscated the video," said Meador. Meador made his 90-minute documentary "The Long Shadow" - a critical investigation of Dow's dioxin dealings with Michigan state government. The film was part of Maeder's Master's Project at Michigan State University's Center for Environmental Journalism. It shows how Dow and state agencies collaborated to weaken regulatory enforcement, delayed public notification of possible health hazards associated with dioxin, and dragged their feet with an investigation.
In 2001 the Engler administration learned that dioxin levels in the Tittabwassee River floodplain, downstream from Midland's Dow Chemical were found at over 7,000 parts per trillion near parks and residential areas (80 times Michigan's cleanup standards). But they didn't bother to tell anyone. Finally the Lone Tree Council and the Michigan Environmental Council filed a Freedom of Information Act request to get the data, alerted by conscientious DEQ insiders. In January 2002 the FOIA revealed that MDEQ Director Russ Harding had blocked further soil testing and was suppressing a state health assessment that called for aggressive state action. Later the Engler administration secretly tried to work out a "sweetheart deal" with Dow to raise the clean-up level of dioxin to 831 parts per trillion, thus circumventing clean-up of the dioxin in most areas. A judge later threw this out. "I never even knew what dioxin was," said Kathy Henry, one of the floodplain residents interviewed in the film. "My first reaction to hearing the news was fear, then denial. I didn't want to know." The MDEQ recommends that Henry remove her clothing the moment she enters the house after mowing her lawn. She looks out at her property as a wasteland. All the above and more is detailed in the film, along with an interview with Harding. The story continues to devolve. A few months ago, in November 2004 the state of Michigan issued a game consumption advisory for the Tittabawassee -river floodplain because of Dow's dioxin. Turkeys and deer are now considered potentially toxic. This was only the second time in Michigan history that such a warning was made. Still, the crisis is vastly underreported in Michigan media. "Unfortunately, The Long Shadow was never shown on Michigan PBS," said Meador. Meador sent a rough cut to four stations - WCMU (Mt. Pleasant), WFUM at the University of Michigan (Flint), WTVS (Detroit), and WKAR at Michigan State University (East Lansing) in December 2003. "All of these stations had broadcast a previous documentary of mine entitled 'A May to Remember' about the Bath School bombing of 1927, Strangely, all of the stations were completely unresponsive to 'The Long Shadow' (i.e., phone calls and e-mails not returned)." Meador says the film's merits have been recognized by environmental reporters from the Bay City Times (Jeff Kart) and Detroit Free Press (Hugh McDiarmid). "The affected residents in the floodplain also had very nice things to say about it," he added. "I'm not sure why the PBS stations didn't bite. A number of people have suggested that the stations shied away because they are underwritten by Dow, and I think that is a possibility."
Dow is big funder to universities which house three of these public television stations. WCMU is at Central Michigan University, 30 miles from Midland. In 1978 DOW's President withdrew money from CMU after Jane Fonda spoke there on economic democracy. "[It] will not be resumed until we are convinced our dollars are not expended in supporting those who would destroy us.'" CMU got the message. It's new "Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow College of Health Professions" touts Dow even though DOW only gave $5 million, MI taxpayers gave $37.5 million. The University of Michigan (home of WFUM) has a similar tale. During WW2 top secret work on a shell fuse that later developed into a "smart bomb" was aided by University of Michigan physicists, working in an old gravel pit outside of Ann Arbor. Later, DOW CEO Leland Doan served on the UM Board of Regents from 1952 to 1959, running as a Republican. In recent years Dow and its offshoots have contributed more than $10 million in direct contributions to the University of Michigan. Dow has sunk millions into Michigan State University (home of WKAR). For example it gave $5 million to build the Dow Institute for Materials Research, a 46,000-square-foot addition to the east wing of MSU's Engineering Building, in 1996. In the spring of 2002 Dow co-sponsored a seminar series at MSU's Detroit College of Law, called, "Creating Sustainable Cities in the 21st Century." On March 19th the talk was titled, "Abandonment of the Cities." Unlike the University of Michigan, which has an active "Justice for Bhopal" student group, at MSU there was no such chapter, and so no one was on hand to ask whether Dow had abandoned the city of Bhopal. So it's not just guns and guards but the cash greenery that helps Dow to mold public perception.
In point of contrast, Michigan PBS stations were enthusiastic with Maeder's other film, "A May to Remember," which detailed the worst act of mass murder in American history prior to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Andrew Kehoe sought revenge after his farm was foreclosed upon, due in part to the taxes required to build the new Bath school. So he blew it up, killing 45 people, mostly schoolchildren. When the focus is on a single demented terrorist the public airwaves are available, but when the gaze turns to a transnational guilty of poisoning vast swaths of mid-Michigan with dioxin -- what the EPA calls, "the worst known to man," that's a different story, especially when the public airwaves are partly underwritten by the transnational. In fact, Maeder could have gone much further with his critique of Dow. There are stories recounting conflict over asbestos, breast implants, vinyl chloride contamination in Louisiana, labor decertification campaigns in Texas, union fights in Midland, and Bhopal. Especially Bhopal. Given the death counts, the prolonged agony, and the persistent callous treatment of its victims, the Union Carbide/Dow Chemical disaster is worse than the September 11th tragedy. When cast this way I recall Nietzsche's observation that, "Insanity in individuals is rare, in nations, epochs and eras it is the rule."
"Growth [is] the opiate we're all hooked on. . ." said Frank Popoff, former CEO of DOW Chemical in Growth Company, DOW Chemical's First Century. The 1997 book was written by E. N. Brandt, a 40 year public relations man at Dow who now has a $1.3 million chair named after him at Michigan State University. Universities are also interested in growth, it seems. Is DOW a drug abuser? Obsession with "growth" does help explain its behavior. Yet as Alcoholics Anonymous followers know, breaking the denial is the first step in overcoming an addiction. Indeed, Dow seems to view anyone who challenges its growth manifesto as a terrorist. Keith McKennon, DOW research director from 1985-1990 told a writer that "During that period Dow transmogrified from the company that sets up antiaircraft guns to shoot down EPA flyover planes to the company that exists today." McKennon doesn't say if he's kidding or not about the guns. But Dow is surely not kidding with its ability to buy silence [i.e. the company that exists today]. Dow even dabbles in public health and journalism. In 1999 Hillsdale College received $500,000 for the Herbert H. Dow II Program in American Journalism. It is "devoted to the restoration of ethical, high-minded journalism standards and to the reformation of our cultural, political, and social practices." That year the Dow Program sponsored Richard Lowry, Editor-in- Chief of the National Review, as a guest speaker. In his speech, titled "The High Priests of Journalism Truth, Morality, and the Media," Lowry criticized American journalism for "reinforc[ing] the radical side in America's culture wars." Not likely to be recruited to speak is Linda Hunt who informs us that in her excellent 1991 book, "Secret Agenda," that in 1951 Dow hired Otto Ambros, the Nazi war criminal convicted at Nuremberg for slavery and mass murder in the killing of thousands of Jews with nerve gas. Dow's close relationships with defacto state terrorists is also less likely to see curricula time at Hillsdale. In 1973 Dow was first company to receive a phone call from Pinochet's military in 1973, according to Brandt, soon after his forces assassinated democratically elected Chilean President Salvador Allende, toppling his government, asking Dow to come back, which Dow "readily accepted" (a Dow official saluting the economic "miracle" of Pinochet). One wonders how Hillsdale or PBS for that matter would explore the 1941 charge by the U.S. Justice Department that Dow conspired with the Nazi's I.F. Farben to hold down magnesium production in the United States in the prewar era (Dow later pleaded nolo contendere). Which gets us back to dioxin.
According to Tittabawassee River Watch www.trwnews.net when Governoral
candidate Jennifer Granholm visited the area during her campaign
she promised an open, transparent process and a timely response
to public health issues. But once in office Granholm went back
on her word and engaged in closed door negotiations with Dow,
greatly disappointing the Michigan environmental community and
many residents living along the 53 mile stretch of the contaminated
Tittabawassee and Saginaw Rivers. Privatization is the name of the neoliberal game. Maeder cannot get his film shown on WKAR even though the WKAR offices are just downstairs from the environmental journalism offices in the MSU Communication Arts Building. Citizen groups from Mid-Michigan to Bhopal India are linked in their battles to defend their homelands against the terror of Dow. But Michigan media and universities are quiescent, fearful of offending the behemoth. Brian McKenna can be reached at: MCKENNA193@aol.com
|
