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Inside the New Print Edition of Our Subscriber-Only Newsletter! Drug Companies and Psychiatrists
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Inside the New Print Edition of Our Subscriber-Only Newsletter!
Drug Companies and Psychiatrists
Partners in CrimeEugenia Tsao reports on the upcoming revision of one of the most important books in America, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Here’s where the drug lords, the shrinks and the insurance companies collude in establishing hundreds of bogus psychic conditions requiring the psychotropic drugs from which they reap billions every year. There are about 250,000 migrant laborers in Israel, mostly from the Philippines and Thailand. Meanwhile tens of thousands of Palestinians can’t find work. From Tel Aviv, Yonatan Preminger reports on Israel’s vicious employment strategy. Also in this latest newsletter Andrew Cockburn updates his CounterPunch world exclusive on how the U.S. has secretly helped build Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal. 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 t-shirts make great presents.
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Today's Stories
Manuel Garcia, Jr. July 14, 2009 Eamonn McCann Joanne Mariner Franklin Spinney Steve Heilig Ali Abunimah Dave Lindorff Nikolas Kozloff Ellen Brown Alice Slater Ron Jacobs Joe Allen Website of the Day July 13, 2009 Uri Avnery Mike Whitney P. Sainath Gareth Porter Paul Moore Tim Wise Andy Worthington Former Insider Shatters Credibility of Military Commissions David Macaray Cal Winslow Niranjan Ramakrishnan Website of the Day July 10-12, 2009 Alexander Cockburn José Pertierra John Ross Conn Hallinan Nikolas Kozloff Clifton Ross / Carl Ginsburg Michael Neumann Gilad Atzmon Jeffrey St. Clair Ellen Hodgson Brown Jim Goodman Christopher Bickerton Wendell Potter Dave Lindorff David Ker Thomson Anthony DiMaggio Raymond Lawrence Walid El Houri Stephanie Westbrook Roger Gaess David Yearsley Kim Nicolini Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
July 9, 2009 Ronnie Cummings Jonathan Cook Nikolas Kozloff James Bovard Norman Solomon Afghanistan: the Escalation Scam Allan Nairn Andy Worthington Tomas Borge Nadia Hijab Paul Krassner Website of the Day July 8, 2009 Saul Landau Dean Baker Winslow T. Wheeler Eric Walberg Ray McGovern David Rosen Dr. Mona El Farra Ron Jacobs Benjamin Dangl Alan Farago Website of the Day July 7, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Uri Avnery Brian M. Downing Gary Leupp Gregory A. Burris David Macaray Laura Flanders Alan Farago Greg Moses Dan Bacher Website of the Day July 6, 2009 Patrick Cockburn Diana Johnstone Nikolas Kozloff Gary Leupp Jonathan Cook Tim Wise Franklin Lamb Charles R. Larson Carlos Benemann Shepherd Bliss Jerry Kroth Karyn Strickler Website of the Day July 3-5, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Eamonn Fingleton Jeffrey St. Clair Mike Whitney Pam Martens George Ciccariello-Maher Paul Craig Roberts Patrick Cockburn Anthony DiMaggio Roger Burbach John Ross Nikolas Kozloff Gareth Porter Andy Worthington Saul Landau David Macaray Adam Federman Jane Slaughter Labor's Vague Rally for Health Care Russell Mokhiber Black Caucus Muzzled on Israeli Kidnapping of McKinney Robert Jensen Robert Bryce Belén Fernandez Missy Comley Beattie C. G. Estabrook Stephen Martin Charles R. Larson Lorenzo Wolff Kim Nicolini Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend July 2, 2009 Andrew Cockburn Nikolas Kozloff Wendell Potter Ellen Hodgson Brown Christian Christensen Iran: Networked Dissent? Patrick Irelan Binoy Kampmark Returning Iraq Nicola Nasser Brian Tokar Dan Bacher Website of the Day July 1, 2009 Vijay Prashad Alberto Vallente Thorensen Paul Craig Roberts Robert Weissman Manuel García, Jr. Victor Figueroa-Clark / Pablo Navarrete Norman Solomon Franklin Lamb Martha Rosenberg Diane Rejman Website of the Day June 30, 2009 Michael Hudson Esam Al-Amin Benjamin Dangl Jonathan Cook Franklin Lamb George Wuerthner Todd Gordon Ron Jacobs Kenneth Libby Julian Vigo Website of the Day
June 29, 2009 Ishmael Reed Nikolas Kozloff Clifton Ross Patrick Cockburn Uri Avnery Conn Hallinan James G. Abourezk Ralph Nader Carol Miller Greg Moses Website of the Day June 26-28, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Doug Peacock Daniel Wolff Mike Whitney John Ross David Rosen Emily Ratner Gareth Porter Farid Marjai Nadia Hijab Paul Craig Roberts Fred Gardner Carl Ginsburg Paul Watson David Ker Thomson Farzana Versey Geoff Berne Todd Alan Price Ramzy Baroud Jeff Sher Dr. Carol Paris Despite My Arrest by Max Baucus, I Will Continue to Advocate for Quality Health Care for All Walter Brasch Adultery as Family Value? Glen Johnson Charlotte Laws Charles R. Larson Kim Nicolini David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend June 25, 2009 Kathy Kelly Jack Bratich Wendell Potter Charles R. Larson Alan Farago Jonathan Cook Gareth Porter Bitta Mostofi / David Macaray Mark Schuller Website of the Day June 24, 2009 Andrew Cockburn Dean Baker Andy Worthington James Bovard Diana Gibson / P. Sainath Gareth Porter Robert Alvarez Dave Lindorff Steven Colatrella Remembering Giovanni Arrighi Website of the Day
June 23, 2009 David Price Patrick Cockburn James Ridgeway / Dave Lindorff Carmelo Ruiz-Marrero Gary Leupp Brian M. Downing Robert Bryce Nicholas Dearden Yousef Munayyer Website of the Day June 22, 2009 Michael Hudson Esam Al-Amin Chris Floyd Jack Z. Bratich Atash Yaghmaian Laura Carlsen Paul Craig Roberts Vijay Prashad Fred Gardner Andy Thayer David Macaray Website of the Day
June 19 - 21, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Patrick Cockburn Al Giordano Henry A. Giroux Anthony DiMaggio Paul Craig Roberts John Ross Gareth Porter Carl Ginsburg Tommi Avicolli Mecca Joe Bageant Serge Halimi P. Sainath Jim Goodman Dave Lindorff Rannie Amiri Robert Fantina Harvey Wasserman Walter Brasch David Ker Thomson Charles R. Larson David Yearsley Kim Nicolini Ben Sonnenberg Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
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The Sotomayor Hearings and the Culture WarsShouts From the GalleryBy DAVID ROSEN The first two days of the Senate hearing on Sonya Sotomayor’s confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court were remarkable for the noticeable downplaying of culture or values issues. With the exception of a handful of anti-abortion protester disruptions, including by Norma McCorvey, the “Jane Roe” of Roe v. Wade, culture-war issues have been noticeably absent from the hearings. So far, Sen. Dianne Feinstein is the only senator to seriously raise the issue of abortion. Sotomayor insisted that, as a staunch adherent to Court precedent, Roe is established law and, therefore, she affirms it. Abortion, gay marriage and pornography were the litmus test of judicial standards for more than two decades. Senate Supreme Court confirmation hearings were long fought over an omni-present question: Are you or are you not in favor of Roe? An analogous challenge was posed a half-century earlier: Are you or are you not a Communist? The abortion issue was noticeably absent from the first two day’s festivity in democracy. The absence of abortion or other “values” issues in the Sotomayor hearing is important for two reasons. First, it indicates just how far the political debate has shifted away from the Bush-Christian right’s anti-sex agenda. Second, and perhaps more troubling, it reveals just how little Sotomayor has written or spoken about a woman’s right to medical privacy, abortion or Roe. In fact, she has issued only one opinion that tangentially touched on abortion and in that decision supported Bush administration anti-abortion policy. * * * Much of the first-day’s hearing was devoted to retelling Sotomayor personal story. Her life fulfills the American dream. She was shaped by the great social lottery: genes, family circumstance & chance. She’s the million-dollar winner, the exception that proves how rigged the system really is. Like the Barack and Michelle Obama stories, the American genius is the ability to replenish generation after generation of a national leadership by carefully, selectively drawing from all walks of life. For those who do not win this social lottery, life is a free fall. Those who succeed, like Sotomayor and the Obamas, become managers of the very system that they once questioned, if not challenged. They seem to critically know the nation’s shortcomings. They exemplify moderate, Sotomayor’s Puerto Rican heritage and working-class origins were repeatedly invoked. So too was the fact that she attended a Bronx Catholic high school. However, little was made of her Catholicism. It is unclear as to her current religious affiliation. Senators have not raised this issue. Long forgotten, the American political elite assailed Catholics as un-American. As recently as 1960, when John Kennedy ran, fear of the influence of the Pope was raised as a campaign issue. While born and raised a Catholic, Sotomayor is a divorcee. Perhaps a lapsed Catholic?; likely still some type of believer? If confirmed, she will become the sixth Catholic on the Court, joining Justices Roberts, Alito, Anthony Kennedy, Antonio Scalia and Clarence Thomas. A Catholic Court, what does that say about America? Over her 17-year career on the federal bench, Sotomayor has not dealt directly with the issue of abortion. However, in 2002, she ruled on what is known as the Bush administration’s “Mexico City Policy,” a program barring the use of federal funds by foreign organizations to provide abortion information and services. In Center for Reproductive Law and Policy v. Bush, Sotomayor ruled in favor of the Bush administration, arguing that the government “is free to favor the anti-abortion position over the pro-choice position” with public funds. At the Senate hearing, Feinstein voiced particularly alarm over the contentious 1992 battle known as Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, then the Pennsylvania governor. In that case, the Supreme Court upheld a woman’s right to an abortion, but tightened restrictions relating to informed consent, parental notification and waiting period. She was especially critical of the earlier confirmation hearings for John Roberts (in 2005) and Samuel Alito (in 2006). Rambling on in the way an America political aristocrat tends to do, she observed, “I've found it increasingly difficult to know, from answers to questions we ask from this dais, how a nominee will actually act as a Supreme Court justice, because answers here are often indirect and increasingly couched in euphemistic phrases.” Feinstein is painfully correct. The Roberts and Alito confirmation hearings were framed by the demands of the Christian right. Two issues dominated: judicial activism and moral values. Most stunning about the Sotomayor hearing, moral or values issues like abortion and gay marriage have been absent from the questioning. Warnings of judicial “activism” were invoked by numerous Republicans and systematically discredited by Democrats; they argued that one’s political opponent is always the activist. These Bush-era hearings were remarkable in that both nominees, in effect, lied to the Senate and the American public. Drawing from the Karl Rove-school of political misinformation, both nominees engaged in obfuscation and falsification. Neither spoke the truth. They said what they were told by their White House handlers. And it worked. When confirmed, they took up the extremist conservative positions that everyone but the Senators knew they would adopt. It remains to be seen whether the same will be said about Sotomayor; only time will tell. The first-day’s hearing was devoted to retelling Judge Sotomayor’s life story. It represents the fulfillment of the American dream. Her Puerto Rican heritage and working-class origins were repeatedly invoked. So to was the fact that she attended a Bronx Catholic high school. It is unclear as to her current religious affiliation. While born and raised a Catholic, she is nonetheless a divorcee and may well be a lapsed Catholic. If confirmed, she will become the sixth Catholic on the Court, joining other Catholic Justices Roberts, Alito, Anthony Kennedy, Antonio Scalia and Clarence Thomas. Over her 17-year career on the federal bench, Sotomayor has not dealt directly with the issue of abortion. However, in 2002, she ruled on what is known as the Bush administration’s “Mexico City Policy,” a program barring the use of federal funds by foreign organizations to provide abortions. Sotomayor ruled in favor of the Bush administration that, in Center for Reproductive Law and Policy v. Bush, the government “is free to favor the anti-abortion position over the pro-choice position” with public funds. So far, no Senator directly challenged Sotomayor over the issue of a woman’s right to an abortion. Nor has any Senator raised “values” concerns like gay marriage, teen sex or pornography; issues which can be reframed into Constitutional issues like state rights, age-of-consent and free speech. The Christian right agenda, the culture wars, is slowly vanishing from the nation’s political discourse. This is one lesson of the Sotomayor hearing. David Rosen is the author of “Sex Scandals America: Politics & the Ritual of Public Shaming” (Key, 2009); he can be reached at drosen@ix.netcom.com.
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Now Available from CounterPunch Books! Yellowstone Drift:
Spell Albuquerque:
Waiting for
Lightning
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