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From Common Courage Press
Recent
Stories
July
29, 2003
Ray
McGovern
Cheney Chicanery
Website
of the Day
Julie Hilden Caught on Tape
July
26 / 28, 2003
Alexander
Cockburn
NYT's Screws Up Again; Uday and
Qusay Deaths Bad for Bush; Gen. Hitchens at the Front
Gary
Leupp
Faith-Based Intelligence
Saul Landau
A Report from Syria
Stan
Goff
Bring 'Em On Home, Now!
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Book Cooking at Boeing
Andrew
Cockburn
The Sons Are Dead; Now the Blood Feud
Begins
Jason Leopold
CIA Points the Finger at the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans
Robert
Fisk
The Power of Death
Joanne
Mariner
Monsieur Moussaoui
Standard
Schaefer
Joblessness and the Invisible Hand
M. Shahid
Alam
The Global Economy Since 1800: a Short History
Harry
Browne
Northern Ireland: the Other Faltering Peace Process
Fidel Castro
Moncada, 50 Years Later
Lula
Democracy Requires Social Justice
Edward
S. Herman
Refuting Brad DeLong's Smear Job on Noam Chomsky
Ron Jacobs
Guided by a Great Feeling of Love: a Review of Gordon's The Company
You Keep
Julie
Hilden
A Photographer, an Offer and Cameron Diaz's Topless Photos
Adam Engel
Man Talk
Poets'
Basement
Keeney, Witherup, Short, Nimba, Guthrie and Albert
July
25, 2003
Francis
A. Boyle
Impeaching Bush
David
Krieger
15 Questions
Harvey
Wasserman
Pat Robertson's Supreme Fatwah
Steve Dunifer
Seize the Airwaves!
Dan
Bacher
Federal Judge Throws Out Bush Salmon Plan for Klamath River
Kurt Nimmo
Bread, Circuses, Uday and Qusay
Steve
Perry
Bush's Wars Weblog
Website
of the Day
Stop the Wall!
July
24, 2003
Elaine
Cassel
Ashcroft Loses...Again
Robert
Fisk
The Ugly Story of Camp Cropper: The
US Torture Camp in Iraq
David
Lindorff
Dumb and Dumber in Iraq
Christopher
Brauchli
Ashcroft Demands Death Penalty in
Puerto Rico
David
Vest
Dylan in Bend
Tom Turnipseed
Killing Saddam & His Family Won't Stop Killing of US Troops
Douglas
Valentine
A Nation of Assassins
Stew Albert
Contract Killing
Steve
Perry
Bush's Wars Weblog
Website
of the Day
Report on Palestinian Child Prisoners
July
23, 2003
Uri
Avnery
Caesar's Favor
David
Lindorff
Lynne Stewart's Big Win: Ashcroft
Rebuked
Mano
Singham
Iraq's Missing WMD Scientists
Steve
Perry
Better Late Than Never: the Press, the Dems, and Bush's Lies
John Stanton
Avoiding Plato's Republic in America: Is Anarchy the Only Hope?
Patrick
Bond
Bush and South Africa: a Petro-Military-Commerce Mission
Harry Browne
A Victory for a Disarming Irishwoman
Paul
Beaulieu
When the WTO Comes to Montreal
Robert
Fisk
The Sons are Dead, But the Resistance
Will Grow
William
Witherup
Georgie Porgie
Website
of the Day
Lieberman & Falwell:
True Love at Last
July
22, 2003
Diane
Christian
Bad Guy / Good Guy: War Forces;
Peace Frees
Jeremy
Brecher
Solidarity and Student Protests in Iran
Steve
Kretzmann
and Jim Vallette
Plugging Iraq into Globalization
Sam
Smith
Greening the Golden Triangle
James
Plummer
Smile, You're on Federal Camera
Lucretia
Stewart
This Day Shall Not Define My Life:
January 18, 2003
Website
of the Day
Iraq Coalition Casualties
July
21, 2003
Edward
Said
Imperial Arrogance and the Vile Stereotyping
of Arabs
Ron
Jacobs
Shut Up and Shoot
Allan J.
Lichtman
Why is George Bush President?
Elaine
Cassel
How's the Occupation Going? Ask the People of Iraq
Christopher
Brauchli
History Recapitulates: Guantanamo and the Japanese Internment
Camps
Bruce
Jackson
Third and Arizona, Santa Monica
Website
of the Day
John Dean: Taking Apart Bush's State of the Union Speech, Claim
by Claim
July
19 / 20, 2003
Arthur
Mitzman
Will the Pax Americana be More Sustainable
Than the Dot.com Bubble?
Julian
Bond
We Shall be Heard
Cynthia
McKinney
Bush's Racial Politics at Home and Abroad
Mel
Goodman
What is to be Done with the CIA?
Jason Leopold
Tenet Blames Wolfowitz
Mickey
Z.
History Forgave Churchill
Doug Giebel
Impeachment as the Message
Jon
Brown
Whipping the Post
Mano Singham
Cheney's Oil Maps
Steven
Sherman
Nickle, Dimed and Slimed at UNC
Robin Philpot
Liberia: History Doesn't Repeat Itself, It Stutters
Khaldoun
Khelil
Capturing Friedman
Jeffrey
St. Clair
You Must Leave Home, Again: Gilad Atzmon's A Guide to the Perplexed
Lenni
Brenner
Sitting in with Mingus
Vanessa
Jones
Three Dog Night
Adam
Engel
Video Judas Video
Poets'
Basement
Foley, Smith and Curtis
Website
of the Weekend
Illegal Art
July
18, 2003
David
Vest
Drowning in Deep Doo-Doo
Rahul
Mahajan
Deceit Runs Deep
John Chuckman
Enron-style Management in a Dangerous World
Harold
A. Gould
The Bush-Musharraf Conclave
Alvaro
Angarita
In the Eye of the Storm: Colombia's War on Journalists
David
Grenier
Sovereignty and Solidarity in Indian Country...Rhode Island
Dave Lindorff
Bush and Hitler: a Response to the Wall Street Journal
Website
of the Day
Murder of a Whistleblower? Timeline in David Kelly Affair
Hot Stories
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Elaine
Cassel
Civil Liberties
Watch
Michel
Guerrin
Embedded Photographer Says: "I
Saw Marines Kill Civilians"
Uzma
Aslam Khan
The Unbearably Grim Aftermath of War:
What America Says Does Not Go
Paul de Rooij
Arrogant
Propaganda
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
Click Here
for More Stories.
|
July
29, 2003
The
Belligerent Dr. Pipes
A
Tiny Insight into the Real US Democracy
By THOMAS J. NAGY
It may be instructive to your readership how the
wonderful democracy the U.S. is exporting through the real WMDs
actually works. If I am right, there are worse governments
than the U.S. "democracy" but surely there are better
ones and U.S. "democracy" is not worth exporting or
imposing on anyone except the most desperate.
It is necessary to give the context to
my small, modest insight into the reality of American democracy.
On the well hand is a rather belligerent fellow, Dr. Daniel
Pipes who has been wonderfully successful in my opinion in
intimidating the vast majority of already spineless U.S. professors
into near total silence despite:
1) at two major wars getting progressive
worse (from the official U.S. viewpoint),
2) a threatened nuclear war with N. Korea
having the potential of killing us all, down to cockroaches
which have amazing resilience to radiation, and
3) a domestic economic crisis spinning
out of control thanks to:
a) the insane quest for world dominance
which has brought down more than one empire,
b) the maniacal looting of the US by
the chums of Bush the First and Bush, the Second. (The way to
tell them apart is B1 acts effeminate while B2 acts macho).
The case of such gems of free enterprise as B2's "Kenny
Boy" Lay of Enron infamy comes readily to mind, but you
could point a great number of other pirates of gangster capitalism
who have, quite simply, cheated the American people out of life
savings or merely stolen a big chuck of their retirement money.
So one might suspect that all is not
well with the "one indispensable nation". Indeed.
The
good Dr. Pipes identified the six leading villains in the U.S. -- I'm # 6 in a column in the NY Post, perhaps
just a few steps up from pure trash newspaper, but one which
is widely read and distributed widely -- I can get it easily
here in Washington, D.C.
B2's nominating Dr. Warmonger (if I may
call him that) to the U.S. Institute of Peace is rivaled only
by B1's the naming of Uncle Tom (also known as Associate Justice
Clarence Thomas) to the Supreme Court. . Now here comes my
modest the insight into how government really works in the "land
of the free and the home of the brave.
Foolishly I thought this truly bizarre
nomination would afford me a chance to clear my name and end
or reduced my harassment ended. (Dr. Pipes had called for adult
supervision for the 6 of U.S. evil professors). Since Pipes'
nomination by B2 required the "advice and consent"
of the U.S. senate, I asked to be a witness in a public hearing.
I asked for 3 minutes and a chance to put documents into evidence
that would give me back my good name and show the greater suitability
of Dr. Pipes, for the wet work or assassination bureau (I'm
sure it has a more noble name) of the CIA.
Well first, I thought, gosh the system
of "democracy" can work, because I thought I had an
agreement with the staff of the ranking member of committee
to which Dr. Pipes nomination had been sent for 3 minutes and
a chance to submit documents.
After hearing nothing from Senator Kennedy's
(the ranking member's) office for weeks, I discovered that there
had been a "misunderstanding". Good bye any chance
for being a witness, good bye for a chance to submit documents
into evidence, good bye to chance to clear my name and end the
harassment.
That "misunderstanding" was
hard to accept, but was nothing compared to step 2 of the workings
of what baby slayer with sanctions former Sec. of State Albright
has called "the indispensable democracy". The Chair
of the Committee, the good Sen. Gregg decided against a hearing
for accuser, Dr. Pipes, but instead an executive hearing on
July 23rd -- no witnesses or documents evidently. It's now possible
that the Sen. Gregg's committee of the senate and the senate
itself will fly Dr. Pipes though to his anointment like a stealth
bomber through the radar of any scrutiny -- well there goes
MEANINGFUL "advice and consent". Technically the Senate
will certainly give advice and consent but now it seems obvious
that it will be based on no witnesses and no evidence. How
democratic! Is this a great country or what?
Thus in microcosm works the greatest
and longest lasting democracy in history, etc., etc., etc. One
tiny defect, if one dare speak of even the possibility of a
defect in the operator of t Camp X-Ray, is the totally corrupt
committee system of congress, which would make any tyrant blush
-- total power, but the appearance of fairness.
The buffed swine (with apologies to real
pigs) who are members of congress disguise this disastrous blemish
by using pompous terms like, "I'd like to thank my distinguished
colleague, the Chairman and thank him for allowing me time to
speak," should the committee chairman permit other congress
people to speak. But it seems the chairman runs the whole shabby
show:
agenda
witnesses list
you name it.
The rest of the hypocrites properly worship
the chairman in the hope that if they live long enough, they
will, one day they will become a god (oops, I mean committee
chairman). So much for democracy... Very sad, very tragic, very
disastrous to the people of the U.S. and the world.
So unlike the movies, I don't get my
day in court. I am moving to Canada and will apply for citizenship
and try to rebuild my 20 year university career in a functioning
democracy. I think Canada's secret is simple:
* a small, peace keeping oriented, not
trigger pulling orient military
* a small weapons industry
* no empire to rule and no country to conquer. (Sending trigger
puller to Afghanistan was an aberration. Canadian troops die
if they must but as peace keepers, not a killers of essentially
defenseless peoples.
Lesson two if the your choose to read
it will be on the Democrat - Republican party -- same buffoons
serving at the pleasure of the same super rich. Wonderful, though
in giving the illusion on of real democracy. Frankly I don't
think it will matter bit (except for style if B2 is reelected,
gets reappointed by the Supreme Court with help from massive
election fraud or if even the most "radical" of the
Democrats, Kucinich (D-Ohio) get elected. I hope I'm wrong,
but doubt it -- remember Jimmy Carter, the Democrat who promised
never to lie and to put justice into foreign policy...
Another story for another day. Me, I'm
moving to Canada in a few days and hope to die there and atone
for my stupidity and culpability in paying taxes to the most
well oiled killing machine in history, the United States of
America by teaching peace studies, promoting pacifism, which
I think is the only force powerful enough to overcome the American
super weapons.
Thomas J. Nagy,
Ph.D. Associate Professor of Expert Systems George Washington
University. He can be reached at: nagy@gwu.edu
Weekend Edition Features for July 19 / 20, 2003
Alexander
Cockburn
NYT's Screws Up Again; Uday and
Qusay Deaths Bad for Bush; Gen. Hitchens at the Front
Gary
Leupp
Faith-Based Intelligence
Saul Landau
A Report from Syria
Stan
Goff
Bring 'Em On Home, Now!
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Book Cooking at Boeing
Andrew
Cockburn
The Sons Are Dead; Now the Blood Feud
Begins
Jason Leopold
CIA Points the Finger at the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans
Robert
Fisk
The Power of Death
Joanne
Mariner
Monsieur Moussaoui
Standard
Schaefer
Joblessness and the Invisible Hand
M. Shahid
Alam
The Global Economy Since 1800: a Short History
Harry
Browne
Northern Ireland: the Other Faltering Peace Process
Fidel Castro
Moncada, 50 Years Later
Lula
Democracy Requires Social Justice
Edward
S. Herman
Refuting Brad DeLong's Smear Job on Noam Chomsky
Ron Jacobs
Guided by a Great Feeling of Love: a Review of Gordon's The Company
You Keep
Julie
Hilden
A Photographer, an Offer and Cameron Diaz's Topless Photos
Adam Engel
Man Talk
Poets'
Basement
Keeney, Witherup, Short, Nimba, Guthrie and Albert
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