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The New Print Edition of CounterPunch, Only for Our Newsletter Subscribers! General Petraeus' Fake War
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The New Print Edition of CounterPunch, Only for Our Newsletter Subscribers!
General Petraeus' Fake War
How the Press and Congress Eagerly Swallowed It
EXCLUSIVE to subscribers in our latest newsletter, Gareth Porter dissects two years’ worth of successful lying by Gen Petraeus and his propaganda team. Guess what? The FBI AND DOJ didn’t specially target Muhammad Ali. Those G-men were just following normal procedures! Alexander Cockburn reviews the latest effort to “revise” the Sixties. Dick Cheney “didn’t understand the legalities.” James Abourezk describes his efforts to close down the lethal liquor operators that prey on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Whatever happened to the class war? Read Serge Halimi and find out. Get your copy 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.
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Today's Stories July 5 / 6, 2008 Robert Fantina July 4, 2008 Kathy Kelly Dave Lindorff Paul Krassner Jackie Corr Laray Polk Dan Bacher Walter Brasch Charles Modiano Website of the Day July 3, 2008 Sharon Smith Andy Worthington Laura Carlsen Peter Morici Ramzi Kysia Martha Rosenberg Anne Landman Dave Zirin Kristin Bricker Website of the Day
July 2, 2008 Patrick Irelan Vijay Prashad Brian Cloughley Ralph Nader Robert Fantina Dave Lindorff Parvez Ahmed Robert Bryce Website of the Day July 1, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Mike Whitney Douglas Macgregor Steven Higgs Andy Worthington Binoy Kampmark Dave Lindorff Roger Burbach Richard W. Behan Gary Leupp Website of the Day June 30, 2008 Peter Lee Jeff Sommers David Macaray Martha Rosenberg David Price Alexandra Early June 28 / 29, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Joan P. Mencher Nikolas Kozloff Jason Hribal Alan Maass Robert Fantina Bill Moyers / Mike Whitney Justin E. H. Smith Pham Binh David Yearsley Christopher Ketcham Jeremy R. Hammond Kathleen M. Barry Walter Brasch Brett Drugge Susie Day Website of the Day June 27, 2008 Franklin C. Spinney Jonathan Cook Brian Cloughley Saree Makdisi Liliana Segura Paul Krassner William S. Lind Candace Cohn Ron Jacobs Binoy Kampmark Website of the Day June 26, 2008 Patrick Cockburn Nikolas Kozloff William P. O'Connor Saul Landau Ashley Smith Dave Lindorff David Macaray Binoy Kampmark Matt Reichel Remi Kenazi Website of the Day
June 25, 2008 David H. Price Stephen Soldz Andy Worthington Marjorie Cohn Joanne Mariner Ralph Nader Robert Weissman Christopher Brauchli Suren Pillay Seth Sandronsky Website of the Day June 24, 2008 Ishmael Reed P. Sainath Nikolas Kozloff Gregory Kafoury Betty Shamieh Mike Whitney Andy Worthington Bill Christison Philippe Marlière Website of the Day June 23, 2008 Michael Hudson John Ross Peter Montague Ramzy Baroud Robert Fantina Robert Weitzel David Macaray Howard Lisnoff Richard Rhames Gail Dines Tim Matson June 21 / 22, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Pam Martens Mike Whitney Chris Floyd Tim Wise Paul Craig Roberts Michael Winship Ron Jacobs Ramzy Baroud Alan Farago Michael Yates Dave Lindorff Bernard Chazelle Linda Mamoun Jo-Shing Yang Robert Jensen Website of the Weekend
June 20, 2008 Robert Oscar Lopez Paul Craig Roberts Bouthaina Shaaban Bill Quigley Moshe Adler Patrick Cockburn Andy Worthington Norman Solomon Martha Rosenberg June 19, 2008 Ralph Nader Chellis Glendinning Neve Gordon Dave Lindorff Sheldon Richman George Bisharat Jackie Corr Farzana Versey Website of the Day June 18, 2008 Nicole Colson Rev. William E. Alberts Vijay Prashad Parvez Ahmed Bob Moss Dave Lindorff David Wilson June 17, 2008 Conn Hallinan Wajahat Ali Marjorie Cohn Uri Avnery David Macaray Rannie Amiri Website of the Day June 16, 2008 Uri Avnery Corey D. B. Walker Howard Lisnoff Dennis Loo Paul Craig Roberts June 13 / 15, 2008 Douglas Valentine Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Peter Linebaugh Ishmael Reed Joe Bageant Harry Browne Andy Worthington Jeff Sharlet Binoy Kampmark Alan Farago Brian Cloughley Manuel Garcia, Jr. Reza Fiyouzat Patrick Bond / David Yearsley Niranjan Ramakrishnan Ronnie Cummins Dan Bacher Michael Dickinson Seth Sandronsky Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
Saul Landau Paul Craig Roberts Brian McKenna Patrick Cockburn B. R. Gowani Dr. Trudy Bond Cindy Sheehan John Mohawk Remi Kanazi Robert Day Website of the Day |
Weekend Edition Prepare for a High-Chair Rebellion Bitch Fights and Tomorrow's Top ModelBy RICHARD NEVILLE As baby boomers lay down their weary tunes and fantasize communal psychedelic retirement yurts, while actually destined for nursing homes reeking of urine, several new generations have taken take the stage. Indulge me while I generalize about these interlopers; bristling with six packs, fussed-over hair and an encyclopaedic knowledge of pop lyrics, now giving the world a make over, one step at a time. Fabulous food, cheap travel (for now), reality TV, A-list porn stars, activism lite … and so much more. And yet:
In short, despite all the eco heroes and an explosion of creative artists and innovators, these are dangerous and disgusting times, with much of its horror kept hidden. Murdoch’s News Corp is a propaganda machine; while the Sydney Morning Herald is merely pragmatic, “But the reality is we are selling newspapers”, notes its boss Brian McCarthy, “Iraq to me now is a boring subject on page one." Yep, nothing more boring than the plight of 5 million Iraqis displaced by our invasion, half of whom are trapped abroad without rights, struggling for their next crust. “Those who are unable to flee the country”, notes an Iraqi journalist, “are now in a queue, waiting their turn to die." But in the Herald editor’s nook, it’s still a yawn. Hold on – let’s open the newspaper’s online issue and check the promoted stories: 1) Pamela Anderson’s “bitch fight” with Jessica Simpson, 2) Glamorous teenager wins this year's Australia's Next Top Model final, 3) Twins on the way for Hollywood star Angelina Jolie, who is, alas, “not expected to give birth immediately.” This is not news. It is not journalism, it is not even entertainment. It is a virus known as infantilization, which shields us from uncomfortable truths and panders to consumer narcissism. Infantilization exalts the trivial, laces it with brothel slang, then adds a dash of Hollywood and a heap of misinformation, serving it up as a vital scoop. According to academic Benjamin Barber, this disease is “affiliated with an ideology of privatization, the marketing of brands, and a homogenization of taste”. It works to sustain our unsustainable consumer capitalism at the “expense of both civility and civilisation and at a growing risk to capitalism itself”. While capitalism once contributed “marginally to democracy, responsibility and citizenship”, according to Barber, he believes today’s version is allied with vices that undermine democracy. And let’s add that it undermines the eco system. As Mike Davis wonders, “to what kind of future are we being led by savage, fanatical capitalism?” For a start, the rights of citizens are being stripped away, with barely a murmur from the media or any concerted direct action. Maybe the NSW Government will finally trigger rebellion with its bizarre attempt to stifle protests at the World Catholic Youth Day soon to engulf Sydney. Police are empowered to arrest and fine those who annoy the pilgrims, display provocative slogans or hand out condoms. At least these powers are temporary. When it comes to the permanent dismantling of human rights safeguards by Western states, the re-introduction of torture and even the massacre of civilians, both the media and the masses seem to shrug it off. Rupert Murdoch seems partial to an authoritarian warrior state. His Wall Street Journal was so enraged by the decision of the US Supreme Court in the case of Boumediene v. Bush, which upheld the principle of Habeas Corpus in relation to the kidnapped inmates of Guantanamo Bay, that it launched a vicious attack on the presiding Judge. This is classic Murdoch character assassination. Judge Kennedy was excoriated for his “willfulness”, lack of modesty, his usurpation of war making power. (Yes, look whose talking). The Journal claimed that all Guantanamo prisoners were guilty of “trying to kill Americans”, whereas most were hapless victims of hysteria and bounty hunting. The editorial expressed “confident horror that more Americans are likely to die as a result” of the court’s ruling on human rights, whereas it is the barbarous treatment of the inmates that escalates the resolve of America’s enemies. Murdoch World saw the ruling as akin to the court signing a “suicide pact” with terrorists. Meanwhile, the unwarranted intrusions into daily life roll on like an avalanche. It may interest those enthralled by Sex in the City and turned off by savagery in Baghdad, that for several years, officials have been searching and seizing laptops, digital cameras, cell phones and other electronic devices belonging to passengers arriving at US borders No-one quite knows why. ”I assume they just copy everything," moaned one freelance journalist whose laptop was confiscated. Is this a taste of the future? Random acts of discourtesy and plunder on the ground, greed and torture at the apex of the pyramid? When we embrace the consumer society, with all its distractions, luxury and fun, we need to ponder the hidden traps. Where will the era of opulence and excessive waste take us? How can we transcend peak oil, peak water, relentless misinformation and nuclear build up? By routing the real enemies of freedom and restoration, of course. For this to be effective, new cohorts need break out of infantilized media cocoons and re-assert direct action. The UK environmental network Plane Stupid was set up to protest Heathrow airport’s planned third runway, and, according to The Guardian, it has no official leader or formal hierarchy, or media figurehead, which hasn’t stopped the staging of illegal protests. A condition of membership is a willingness "to get nicked". Mass civil disobedience is on the agenda. Perhaps we are heading to a time when many more will leap out of the high chair, gliding gracefully into targeted direct action, watched amiably by addled boomers sinking into the midnight. Richard Neville has been around a while. He lives in Australia, the land that formed him. In the Sixties he raised hell in London and published Oz. He can be reached through his bracing websites,
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