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Today's Stories November 8, 2007 Kathleen & Bill Christison Meeting the Other in Israel and Palestine November 7, 2007 Paul Craig Roberts Dollar's Fall Collapses the American Empire Russell Mokhiber Pelosi and Me: Can't the Democrats End the War By Not Bringing the Funding Bill to the Floor? Vijay Prashad The Apotheosis of Bobby Jindal Niranjan Ramakrishnan Educating Pakistan: What Mukasey Can Teach Musharraf Alan Farago To Bee or Not to Bee? The Politics of Colony Collapse David Macaray The Writers' Guild Strike: Is There an Ice-Breaker? Nikolas Kozloff The Case of the Slimy Senator: Chuck Schumer Greenlights Mukasey Charlotte Laws What We Learned from Stephen Colbert's Presidential Campaign Daniel White Zahid's Story William Cook The Politics of Servility: Congress and the Israel Lobby Website of the Day Safe Lawns   November 6, 2007 Mike Whitney Welcome to Year 27 of the Reagan Revolution Ralph Nader Who Determines the Price of Oil? Andy Worthington The Torture of Ali al-Marri Pam Martens Wall Street Metes Out Street Justice to Citigroup Liaquat Ali Khan Pakistan's Dark Future William Schroder The Return of Water Torture Stephen Lendman Punishing Gaza William Blum Cuba and Original Sin Former US Intelligence Officers A Memo on Torture, Intelligence and Mukasey   November 5, 2007 Alexander Cockburn How I Spent the Eighth Brumaire Russell Mokhiber Pelosi and Me: The Democrats and Single Payer David Macaray How to Turn Workers Against Each Other (and Make Them All Poorer) Gary Leupp General Musharaff's "State of Emergency" Dave Lindorff Those Minot Nukes Ludwig Watzal Israel's Dilemma in Palestine Patrick Cockburn Tensions Ease in Iraqi Kurdistan Peter Stone Brown John Fogerty Makes Peace with His Past Michael Simmons Yo! What Happened to Peace? Website of the Day Petition: In Defense of the Morton West HS Antiwar Students   November 3 / 4, 2007 Tariq Ali Pakistan Sinks Deeper into Night David Price Army's Price Salesman of Counterinsurgency Manual Seeks to Defend Stolen Scholarship Jeffrey St. Clair Splitsville Alan Farago The Housing Crash, Suburban Sprawl and the Crisis of the American Middle Class Paul Krassner He's Back! Don Imus Meets Michael Richards Rannie Amiri Why the U.S. is Safeguarding Iraq's War Criminals P. Sainath Indexing Humanity, Indian Style Ayesha Ijaza Khan Pakistan in a Daze Robert Fantina Is the Bush Administration Talking Itself Into a War With Iran? Seth Sandronsky The Politics of Health Care in California Ron Jacobs The Bebop of Baraka Ramzy Baroud A Case for Arab Dignity Heather Gray When Capitalists Get a Free Ride   November 2, 2007 Dr. Mary Pipher Acting on Conscience: Psychologists and Abusive Interrogations Saul Landau How Pete Stark Became a Pariah Andy Worthington Guantánamo as House Arrest Sharon Smith A Tale of Two Stadiums Gary Leupp Fascist Beatifications: the History and Politics of Sainthood Gregory Harms The Chorus of Slander on Palestine Christopher Brauchli Racism in High Places Peter Morici The Falling Dollar and the Stubborn Trade Deficit Dave Lindorff The Easy Way to Stop the Looming US Attack on Iran David Penner Zombie Nation Website of the Day Fall in Yosemite   November 1, 2007 Paul Craig Roberts The Wages of Hegemony Patrick Cockburn The Most Dangerous Dam in the World Dave Lindorff The Air Force Report on the Minot-Barksdale Nuclear Missile Flight Jonathan Feldman The Strange Political Economy of Death in the South Mike Ferner They Met the Resistance in Iraq William S. Lind A Question for Would-Be Presidents Diana Johnstone "Fascislamism" Versus "Shoah Business" Jacob Hornberger The War on Telephone Privacy A..K. Gupta The Apocalypse will be Televised Lyuba Zarsky / Kevin Gallagher The Enclave Economy of Mexico's Silicon Valley Felice Pace Does the SPLC Equate Anti-Zionism with Anti-Semitism? Website of the Day This One's for You, Ed Abbey   October 31, 2007 Bill Quigley New Orleans' Broken Criminal Justice System Rev. William E. Alberts A Trail of American Blood: From the White House to CBS News Ray McGovern Attacking Iran for Israel Eric Walberg Poisonous Espionage: Litvinenko and the New Cold War V. G. Smith The Second Death of Guy Môquet Luis J. Rodriguez "Social Cleansing" from Guatemala to LA Sheldon Richman Bush has Time to Run the World Walter Brasch A Real Halloween Scare Website of the Day Boogie Rocks! October 30, 2007 David Price Pilfered Scholarship Devastates Gen. Petraeus's Counterinsurgency Manual M. Shahid Alam The Pakistan Question Andy Worthington The Epiphany of Matthew Waxman: a Government Insider Turns Against Gitmo Patrick Cockburn The Bicycle Bomber of Baquba Anthony Papa The Twisted Logic of Drug Laws Floyd Rudmin What "All Options are on the Table" Really Means Sherwood Ross Giuliani and Torture Website of the Day The Worst Lobby? You Decide   October 29, 2007 Lisa Hajjar Inside Israel's Military Courts Joe DeRaymond The Politics of Lethal Injections Patrick Cockburn The High Stakes in Iraqi Kurdistan Isabella Kenfield / Roger Burbach Corporate Murder in Brazil Fred Gardner The Frivolous Investigation of Dr. Sterner Farzana Versey Caricaturing Islam Stephen Fleischman The Greening of the Oligarchy Marcelle Cendrars The Congressional Rip Cord Eamonn McCann Dan Keating, the Last of the Republican Irreconcilables Martha Rosenberg For Halloween, Ann Coulter Dresses as .... Ann Coulter! Website of the Day Campaign 2008   October 27 / 28, 2007 Alexander Cockburn So Much for Islamo-Fascism Awareness Jeffrey St. Clair The Dam That Isn't There James Bovard Breaking Down an Innocent Man: The FBI's Right to Threaten Torture Ralph Nader Beyond the Rule of Law M. Reza Pirbhai The Wahhabis are Coming, the Wahhabis are Coming! Robert Sandels Pay the Invaders! Cuba, Claims and Confiscations Jacob G. Hornberger Ruling By Decree Missy Beattie The Arsonists in the West Wing John Ross U.S. Eyes on Oaxaca Robert Fantina Condi Rice, the Imperial Cheerleader Ron Jacobs Labor at the Crossroads Ali Moayedian In Search of Logic About Iran David Michael Green What If We Had a President Who Didn't Give a Damn About Terrorism? Poets Basement Block, Davies and Ford Website of the Day Bring 'Em Home: a Music Video   October 26, 2007 Brian Cloughley Revenging Bloodshed Saul Landau Portrait of Rudy Ahmad Al-Akras Getting Justice in the HLF Case Franklin Lamb Does "Loving" Lebanon Mean Never Having to Say You're Sorry? Mike Whitney Murdoch's Cuckoo's Nest Dave Lindorff Home of the Brave? Reducing US Casualties By Killing More Civilians Alan Farago A Castro Behind Every Bush Yifat Susskind Conscripting Feminism into the War on Terror Website of the Day Dead Life in a Political Prison October 25, 2007 Jeffrey St. Clair / Joshua Frank Iraq's Environmental Crisis Manuel Garcia, Jr. Homes of the Crash Test Dummies Paul Craig Roberts The Fraudulent War on Terror Col. Dan Smith The Politics of Paranoia: Jane Harman's War on the First Amendment Alan Farago The Way to Paradise? Chris Kutalik The Lesson of the Chrysler Rebels Brian McKinlay John Howard and the Curse of Bush Cindy Sheehan Pete, Nancy, George and WW III Website of the Day Support the America's Program!   October 24, 2007 Natalie Washington-Weik White Fantasies About Race-Based Intelligence Andy Worthington The Guantánamo Suicides Michael Birmingham What Happened in Nahr Al Bared? Corporate Crime Reporter The Nuclear Democrats Tariq Ali Bush's Cuba Detour Farzana Versey Imagining Serfdom in a Scarf Dave Zirin White Noise James Murren What "Support Our Troops" Means Todd Chretien Looking Reality in the Face Martha Rosenberg What Came First, the Chicken or the Cage? Website of the Day Hillary Clinton on Nuclear Power   October 23, 2007 Ralph Nader Bush's Catastrophic Rhetoric Lawrence R. Velvel Goldsmith Stands Convicted--By His Own Mouth: How a Harvard Law Professor Justified Rendition at the Bush Justice Dept. Vijay Prashad The Nuke Deal is Dead Bonnie Bricker / Adil E. Shamoo The True Cost of War for Oil Dave Lindorff Christopher Dodd's Make or Break Moment Mike Whitney The Big Squeeze Farzana Versey Race with the Devil Stanley Heller / Ben George Something New from the Antiwar Movement Marcelle Cendrars You Too Can Confront the Holy Executive Regan Boychuk Burma and Haiti: Comparing the Media Response Website of the Day King Corn   October 22, 2007 Ishmael Reed Should Blacks Go Green? Marjorie Cohn Mukasey and the Constitution: Another Loyal Bushie Rannie Amiri Is There a Method to Bush's Middle East Madness? Diane Farsetta Time to Pay for Payola: the FCC and Pundit-for-Hire Armstrong Williams Todd Alan Price Renewing No Child Left Behind: A Hurricane Katrina Aimed at Public Education Robert Jensen The Quagmire of Masculinity Stephen Lendman The UAW Leadership Sells Out Its Workers Jemima Khan The Kleptocrat in an Hermes Headscarf Sunsara Taylor David Horowitz Can't Handle the Truth Binoy Kampmark No Ideas, Please: the Australian Elections Website of the Day Support the Center for International Policy     October 20 / 21, 2007 Alexander Cockburn The Man Who Builds Hillaryworld Tariq Ali A Massacre Foretold Jeffrey St. Clair Greetings from Echo Park Andy Worthington The Shame of Diego Garcia Mike Whitney Housing Flameout Daniel Wolff Play It As It Lays David Rosen Deviants on Parade: Folsom St. Fair and America's 4th Sexual Revolution Saul Landau David and Goliath in Iraq Ron Jacobs COINTELPRO and the Panthers Robert Fantina The Strange Love of Mitt Romney and Bob Jones David Heleniak Erring on the Side of Hidden Harm Joe Allen Hoffa Brown-Nosing at UPS Prairie Miller Lions for Lambs Poets' Basement Gibbons, Holt and Buknatski Website of the Weekend Crash!   October 19, 2007 John Ross Che's Mexican Legacy Sheldon Rampton Shared Values Revisited: a Case Study in the Limits of Propaganda Rahul Mahajan A Tale of Two Atrocities: Blackwater and Haditha Devra Davis Deadly Secrets: Chemical Pollution and Cancer Christopher Brauchli Blasphemous Science Wadner Pierre Haiti After the Deluge Bill Quigley Jailed for Justice Website of the Day Textbook Sticker Shock   October 18, 2007 Saree Makdisi Academic Freedom is at Risk Meg Dwyer What I Learned from 9/11: Who Wouldn't Want Us Dead? Alevtina Rea Sketches of Russian Life Norman Solomon The United States of Violence Kristoffer Larsson Something is Rotten in Sweden Harvey Wasserman Nukes are Back and So are We Website of the Day Eve Ensler: "A Filibuster Would Stop This War"   October 17, 2007 Steve Niva Counter-Insurgency, American-Style Andy Worthington The Case of Mohamed Jawad Alan Farago The Credit Shock Russell Mokhiber The New Billionaire-Criminal Class Sharon Smith Democrats, AWOL When It Mattered Mike Whitney Time for the Banks to Face the Hangman Robert Fantina Iraq, Iran and the US: Business as Usual Chris Irwin Where Have All the Rednecks Gone? Website of the Day Sex Ed at Oral Roberts University October 16, 2007 Peter Linebaugh Doris Lessing and the Dynamite Prize Paul Findley Follow the Leader: The Open Secret About the Israel Lobby Robert Bryce Inconvenient Corrections: Al Gore's Wacky Facts Uri Avnery The Mother of All Pretexts Paul Craig Roberts The Iraqi Genocide Ray McGovern What Did Nancy Pelosi Know About NSA Spying and When Did She Know It? Norman Solomon The Pro-War Undertow of the Blackwater Scandal Martha Rosenberg The Curse of Cymbalta William S. Lind Out of the Frying Pan Joel S. Hirschborn Time to Boycott Voting Website of the Day Pipeline Through Paradise: Big Oil's Arctic Play         Subscribe Online

November 8, 2007 On the Trail of the Sonoran Pronghorn Between Bombs and Border Walls By BRENDA NORRELL Ajo, Arizona. The Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge visitor center looks like a typical national park office from the outside. Inside, however, the mysteries unfold of the Sonoran Desert, the endangered Sonoran pronghorn and the delicate complexion of the desert ecosystem. In this sleepy town of used clothing stores and Mexican auto insurance offices, the wildlife refuge visitor center is an oasis of natural wonders. Straddling the wildlife refuge is the refuge's evil non-biological twin: the Barry M. Goldwater Airforce Range, known as the Bombing Range. In this area, a small herd of the rare and endangered Sonoran pronghorn roam. Beyond the US/Mexico border, in the state of Sonora, Mexico, a larger herd roams. Fences are the biggest threat to the survival of pronghorns, according to US Fish and Wildlife. Pronghorns, the fastest animal in North America, do not jump, they run into walls and fences when panicked. With the Bush Administration declaring that it is "God of the Universe," and that no federal laws apply to border wall construction, border walls and barriers in all sizes and shapes are suddenly appearing, without public input or environmental assessment. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff waived all federal laws protecting the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area in October, located to the east of here on the Arizona border. Chertoff disavowed a federal court ruling temporarily halting construction at San Pedro, which is a World Heritage Natural Area, designated by the United Nations. The San Pedro fiasco was the third time the Real ID Act of 2005 was used to eradicate all federal laws that get in the way of building the US/Mexico border wall. The Real ID Act was first used in San Diego in 2005, then at the Barry Goldwater Range. Among the laws waived: the Endangered Species Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Coastal Zone Management Act, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act and the National Historic Preservation Act. In January, Chertoff used Real ID to direct the construction of a double-layered border wall on the Goldwater range, detrimental to the pronghorns and other wildlife. Instead of a vehicle barrier, which would have been less harmful to wildlife, Chertoff mandated a double-layered fence. The US Congress passed the REAL ID Act of 2005 as Division B of the act, "Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Tsunami Relief, 2005." This legislation was touted as an act to deter terrorism. Critics, however, say it was manipulated fear-mongering, aimed at producing a tool to eliminate all federal laws for the purpose of corporate profiteering and far-reaching government control. For endangered species, the Read ID is a real nightmare, the equivalent of open season on biological treasures. Endangered species were not the only obstacles Homeland Security disregarded to build border walls and border barriers. The Bush Administration and Homeland Security dug up American Indian ancestors from their final resting places. Border wall contractor Boeing dug up the ancestors of the Tohono O'odham in Arizona, to build a border barrier in 2007. Earlier, Kumeyaay in California protested construction of the border wall, saying it would "plow through the graves" of their ancestors. Although it violated the Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act and American Indian Religious Freedom Act, construction continued. At Cabeza, now there is the magic and wonder. Visitors are told that the Sonoran Desert has more species than any other arid region in the world. The cryptobiotic "skin" of the desert is composed of algae, bacteria and lichen. Like a human skin, it is delicate and wounds can take generations to heal. If you pour water on it and wait, it will turn green. Unique on this planet is the pronghorn -- Antilocapra americana ­ which means "American antelope goat." However, it is neither an antelope nor a goat. "The pronghorn is the only surviving member of an ancient family dating back 20 million years. The Sonoran Pronghorn (A. a. sonorensis) is one of five subspecies in western North America. "It is perhaps America's most endangered mammal," according to Cabeza. The Sonoran pronghorn is found only here in the United States, in the area around Ajo, south of Phoenix, near the border. It is also found in the state of Sonora, Mexico. In the United States, there are about 100 Sonoran pronghorns, while in Mexico, one herd numbers 15 to 20, while another numbers 300 to 400 pronghorns. "They never learned to jump over even low barriers," Cabeza says. Here at Cabeza, an enclosure for breeding is an attempt to ensure the herds survival. The recovery plan includes a captive breeding program and transplant strategy. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife says that in 2002, after a lack of rainfall and "land use activities," the Ajo herd dwindled to 21 pronghorn. However, after capturing seven pronghorns in Mexico for the Arizona herd in 2004, four died of reactions to the capture and another died of a medical problem. After the capture myopathy (resulting from overexertion in the capture), the program was shut down. Still, two survived to live in the 640-acre natural environment on the refuge, fenced to keep out predators. An Arizona Sonoran male pronghorn was captured and placed with the two females. New fawns have been seen outside the enclosure. However, there's the lingering question of the bombs. As the visitor center's video rolls, the speaker tells how the Airforce and its bombers have the right to the airspace above the wildlife refuge. The refuge controls only the natural resources on the ground. "Now, how does that work?" I ask the staff. "Are the pronghorns being bombed?" The explanation went like this: The Airforce bombers only turn around in the airspace over the wildlife refuge. Further, the bombers do not engage with ground targets if pronghorns are in the area on the rest of the bombing range. It is an interesting concept, but seems pretty bizarre, considering how pronghorns dart around at 60 miles per hour. This desert bombing range -- 1.3 million acres -- is also home to desert bighorn sheep, desert tortoises and a cornucopia of biological life. Recently, I asked a wildlife official in Arizona about the migration of the pronghorns and how a border wall would effect their migrations, since they run with lightning speed and slam into walls when panicked. The official said that the United States does not really want their US Sonoran pronghorns migrating south of the border to Mexico because of the busy traffic on the Mexican highway running along the border to the south. The United States also has some questions about the grazing and adaptation of the US pronghorns, should they elect to give up their US citizenship and join the larger crowd of pronghorns south of the border. (This all had the sound of "No way I'm telling you the truth, because if Homeland Security finds out, I'm finished.") This wildlife official said the US Sonoran pronghorns have adapted to the rainfall and grasses here and to their bombing neighbors. With Cabeza's 391 plant species and 300 kinds of wildlife, Cabeza is also home to the endangered Lesser long-nosed bats. The Lesser long nosed bats caused a stir around the new non-functional Boeing border spy tower in Arivaca. With the spy tower's layers of radar and microwave transmissions, high tech equipment and generator, questions were raised about the effect on the bats' hunting abilities, since the bats use echolation (bouncing sound) to hunt. The spy tower is being protested as a violation of privacy. At one time there was hope that environmental laws might save the day. However, the bats, along with the pronghorns and jaguars along the border of Arizona, are now facing the heavy-hand of power that is slam-dunking all environmental laws to construct the US/Mexico border wall. There's more disturbing information in the Cabeza literature. Besides Cabeza hosting "a limited desert bighorn sheep hunt," there's a note of caution about the live bombs. Cabeza's information says the military has used this as a gunnery and bombing range since World War II and many types of ordnances remain buried and on the surface. "You may encounter unexploded ordnance," Cabeza warns. Visitors are directed not to touch those and report the live bombs to the refuge staff. Of course, one has to wonder, what does a pronghorn do when it encounters an unexploded bomb. Wildlife refuges and bombing range hardly seem like good neighbors. However, Arizona seems to like the fraternity. Farther to the west in Arizona, between Yuma and nowhere, the Yuma Proving Ground is where the military tests missiles and long range weapons. It is right next to another wildlife refuge, the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge. On the 80-mile stretch between Quartzite and Yuma, the only sign of life is Stone Cabin, (literally a stone cabin) where a food vendor sells buffalo burgers. Outside of Quartzite, there were a few scattered campers, stuck here and there in the creosote bushes. I couldn't imagine what it would be like to live there, with no sign of water, electricity or anything else. It looked like the set for a B-rated "end of the world" movie. I was so anxious to get out of that area, that I couldn't stand the thought of a ten-minute wait for a burger. "You have to drive through the Proving Ground to get to the wildlife refuge," I was told, after seeing a military tank with gunnery, painted in murky green camouflage, stopped at a stop sign. Another time, thanks. Brenda Norrell is human rights editor for U.N. OBSERVER & International Report. She also runs the Censored website. She can be reached at: brendanorrell@gmail.com       The New Print Edition of CounterPunch, Only for Our Newsletter Subscribers! Israel's Very Dangerous Gamble STEPHEN GREEN reports on the real motivations behind Israel's MISSILE STRIKE on SYRIA. PETER MONTAGUE on the NUCLEAR RENAISSANCE or How the Nuke Industry is using Gore's Prize and Global Warming to Plot Its Big Comeback. WILLIAM BLUM on the DEVALUING of "ANTI-SEMITE" or How to Make a Term Meaningless. 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Now Available! How the Press Led the US into War Buy End Times Now! New From CounterPunch Books The Secret Language of the Crossroads: HOW THE IRISH INVENTED SLANG By Daniel Cassidy WINNER OF THE AMERICAN BOOK AWARD! Click Here to Buy! Cassidy on Tour Click Here for Dates & Venues "The Case Against Israel" Michael Neumann's Devastating Rebuttal of Alan Dershowitz Click Here to Buy! Saul Landau's Bush and Botox World with a Foreword by Gore Vidal Click Here to Order!   Grand Theft Pentagon How They Made a Killing on the War on Terrorism         The Occupation by Patrick Cockburn Humanitarian Imperialism By Jean Bricmont   CITY BEAUTIFUL By Tennessee Reed     Bruce Springsteen On Tour By Dave Marsh   The Book on 9/11 the White House Denounced as "ABSOLUTE GARBAGE"