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Recent
Stories
April
30, 2003
Ashley
Smith
Under Uncle Sam's Thumb: a History
of Washington's Occupations
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 4/30
Gary
Leupp
Shooting Schoolboys: Preliminary Thoughts on the Fallujah Massacre
Robert
Jensen
Fighting Alienation in the USA
Wayne
Madsen
The Four Horsemen of Propaganda
Ahmad
Faruqui
Bush's Strategic Myopia About the Middle East
Gabriel
Kolko
Iraq, the US and the End of the European Coalition
Adolfo
Perez Esquivel
A Nobel Laureat's Letter to Bush:
"You Talk of Freedom; You Detest Freedom"
April
29, 2003
Gary
Leupp
Disorder and Opportunity: the Results
of the Iraq War
Uri
Avnery
Don't Envy Abu-Mazen
Anthony
Gancarski
Brush with the Law
Mickey
Z.
POWs: Then and Now
CounterPunch
Wire
How to Spin Israel on the Hill: Internal Lobbying Documents
Robert
Fisk
Did the US Murder Journalists?
Chris
Floyd
Bush Telegraphs His Punches on Syria
Wayne Madsen
About Those Iraqi Intelligence Documents
Wallace
Gagne
Pilgrimage or Demolition Derby?
Eliot Katz
Playing Catch with Cracked Globes
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 4/29
April
28, 2003
Ann
Harrison
Fighting Back: Medical Marijuana
Patients Sue Ashcroft
Robert
Jensen
Lack of WMD Kills the Case for War
Peter Phillips
Total Information Control
Ron
Jacobs
Get the US Out of Iraq and Its Military Out of Our Minds
Mark Hand
Peace Park: The Pentagon Solution
to a Baseball Stadium Dilemma
Linda
S. Heard
Repeat After Me: Iraq is Weapons Free
Kurt Nimmo
US Military Bases: the Spoils and
Deceptions of War
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 4/28
April
26 / 27, 2003
Elaine
Cassel
The Other War: Bush, Ashcroft and
the End of Civil Liberties
Saul
Landau
Iraq War: a Policy of Christian and Jewish Fundamentalism
William
A. Cook
Sharon Recruits US as Mercenaries Against Syria
William
S. Lind
Now the Real War Starts
John Chuckman
In Jesus's Name:
Franklin Graham's Christian Empire
David
MacMichael and Ray McGovern
Ex-CIA Analysts on WMD: Where? Find?
Plant?
Gary Leupp
Why the War on Iraq was (and Remains) Wrong
Robert
Sandels
Cuba Crackdown: a Revolt Against Bush's National Security Strategy?
CounterPunch
Wire
An Open Letter to Jerry Brown on Oakland Police Violence Against
Peace Activists and Dock Workers
Mickey
Z.
Our Ba'athists
Anthony
Gancarski
Nader Plays Pullman
Scott
Handleman
The Mumia Abu-Jamal Case in Its True Colors
Claud Cockburn
Evelyn Waugh's Ear Trumpet
Poets'
Basement
Matt Simon, Sam Hamod, Hammond Guthrie and Stew Albert
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 4/26
April
25, 2003
David
Vest
It's Not the Oil; It's the Art!
Steven
Higgs
All About Tucker Carlson
Walt
Brasch
The Shock and Awe of American Ignorance
Alexander
Cockburn
The Decline of American Journalism:
the Case of Judy Miller
Zeynep
Toufe
A Letter to the People of Iraq from an Anti-War Activist
CounterPunch
Wire
Season of the Witch: Jeane Kirkpatrick Unbound
Hammond
Guthrie
Springtime in Iraq
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 4/25
Website
of the Day
Having
a Great Time, Wish You Were Here: Postcards from a War
April
24, 2003
Lois
Whitman
An Open Letter to Rumsfeld on the
Child Detainees at Guantanamo
Uri
Avnery
Abu vs. Abu: It's Not About Egos
David
Lindorff
Day Care in the Name of National Security? About Those Kids in
Camp X-Ray
John Grebe
Rev. Pat Robertson's Message in the Temple
Dokhi
Fassihian
Monster.Com: Ethnic Cleansing on the Web?
CounterPunch
Wire
Israeli Army Chief Threatens Peace Activists
Sam
Hamod
Our Man in Baghdad
Annie
C. Higgins
Do You Regret Being an American?
Harold
A. Gould
Will They Hate Us Forever?
Stew Albert
Big Brother in Bed
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 4/24
Website
of the Day
Muscles
Abroad
April
23, 2003
Anthony
Gancarski
When Young Mothers Die in Combat
Chris
Floyd
Desolation Row: Bush's Barbarians Teach
by Example
Marjorie
Cohn
Tax the War Profiteers
William
Lind
The Fourth Generation of Modern War
Dave Marsh
Nina Simone: Freedom Singer
Binoy
Kampmark
Malayasia's America: the War on Iraq
David Vest
Who's Looting Whom?
Standard
Shaefer
Super Imperialism: an Interview with Michael Hudson
Andrew
Rodman
Lawn Poem
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 4/23
Website
of the Day
Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Middle East
April
22, 2003
Edward
Said
The Appalling Consequences of the Iraq
War are Now Clear
Sam
Hamod
What's the Deal with This War?
Kurt
Nimmo
Shi'a Will to Power
Gary
Leupp
At last! The Necessary Evidence
Carl
Estabrook
Oblivious Americans: They Distort,
We Subside
John
Stanton
Iran's Reza Pahlavi: a Puppet of the US and Israel?
Ramzy
Baroud
What Else Hasn't Israel Told America?
Steven
Sherman
About That Cuba Letter
Wayne Madsen
Bush's "Christian" Blood Cult
Stew
Albert
Creep
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 4/22
Website
of the Day
Critical Media Literacy in Times of War
April
21, 2003
Elaine
Cassel
An Administration in Contempt
Gary
Leupp
Easter Thoughts on Liberation, Jesus
and Kanaka WaiWai
Roger
Witherspoon
Why Michigan Needs Affirmative Action
Uri Avnery
At Midnight, a Knock on the Door
Col. Dan
Smith
Early Lessons from Iraq
Jo
Freeman
After the Protest Comes Politics
Michael
Berry
The Friedman Absurdities
Gray
Brechin
Hang Black Banners: Mourning the Cultural Loss
Bob Riedel
The Taliban from Texas
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 4/21
April
19, 2003
Gary
Leupp
The Rape of History
Saul
Landau
Shop, Go to Church, Support Bush's
War, Wait for Armageddon
Michael
J. Fellows
Off With Their Heads: the Constitution According to Scalia
Pablo
Mukherjee
Roadmap to Resistance
Omar
Barghouti
Sharon's Bloody Beat
Anthony
Gancarski
Tony Blair: the Most Powerful Man in the World
Mickey
Z.
Animals: the Other Collateral Damage
Will
Potter
When Police Attack Journalists
William
MacDougall
America's In-Bedded Journalism
Neve
Gordon
Haunted by History
Adam
Engel
Wal-Mart and Peace
Dr.
Susan Block
Art Bombs: American Libertines for Peace
Poets'
Basement
Albert, Buono, Guthrie
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/19
Song of
the Weekend
Baghdad to Basra
April
18, 2003
Uri
Avnery
Operation "Syrian Freedom":
This One's Not About Oil
Jorge
Mariscal
"They Died Trying to Become
Students": the Future of Latinos in an Era of War and Occupation
Mickey
Z:
Coalition of the Unindicted: Only Losers Get Tried for War Crimes
Hussein
Ibish
Syria and the Road to World War IV
Reza Ladjevardian
Tarqeting Iran? Do It With TV, Not Cruise Missiles
Matania
Ben-Artzi
You Are Not Protecting My Son's Rights: a Letter to the President
of Israel's Supreme Court
Bruce Jackson
Jews Like Us
Joe
Allen
My Lai Revisited
Carl Estabrook
Support Our Euphemism
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/18
Website
of the Day
Meet the Victims of War
April
17, 2003
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Patriot Gore: the Fatal Flaws in
the Patriot Missile System
Joanne
Mariner
Looting Antiquity: the Legal Implications
for the Pentagon
Issam
Nashashibi
Zalmay Khalilzad: the Neocon's Bagman
to Baghdad
Wayne Madsen
Another Sign of the "End Times" for American Journalism
Robert
Fisk
The Army of Occupation
Boris
Kagarlitsky
Virtual Saddam Takes Aim
Biljana
Vankovska
A Personal View of Iraq: Where
is the Truth?
Dan Brook
Oil War: Fueling the Empire
Stanley
Heller
Bomb and Steal: This is What Privatization Looks Like
Tim Robbins
A Chill Wind is Blowing Through This Nation
Harold
A. Gould
Iraq After the War
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/17
Hot Stories
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
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May
Day Edition
May 1, 2003
Meet
The Mullah Omar of Pennsylvania
Santorum: That's
Latin for Asshole
By JEFFREY ST. CLAIR
Rick Santorum had only been in the senate for
a few weeks when Bob Kerrey, then Senator from Nebraska, pegged
him. "Santorum, that's Latin for asshole." It was probably
the funniest line the grim Kerrey ever uttered and it was on
the mark, too.
Such a stew of sleazy self-righteousness
and audacious stupidity has not been seen in the senate since
the days of Steve Symms, the celebrated moron from Idaho. In
1998, investigative reporter Ken Silverstein fingered Santorum
as the dumbest member of congress in a story for The Progressive.
Considering the competition, that's an achievement of considerable
distinction.
Even Santorum's staff knows the senator
is a vacuous boob prone to outrageous gaffs and crude outbursts
of unvarnished bigotry. For years, they kept him firmly leashed,
rarely permitting him to attend a press interview without a senior
staffer by his side. They learned the hard way. While in serving
in the House, Santorum was asked by a reporter to explain why
his record on environmental policy was so dreadful. Santorum
replied by observing that the environment was of little consequence
in God's grand plan. "Nowhere in the Bible does it say that
America will be here 100 years from now." The reference
was to the Rapture, which apparently is impending.
Santorum is the self-anointed prophet
of family values on the Hill, who issues frequent jeremiads on
the threats Hollywood fare poses to the "fabric of American
culture." Of course, these sermons are hard to swallow from
a man with Santorum's resume. After all, before entering Congress
Santorum worked as a lobbyist. His top client? The World Wrestling
Federation.
But now the Republican leadership, apparently
cruising along in self-destruct mode, has elevated Santorum to
the number three spot in the senate and his staff can't run interference
for him anymore. The results have been comically predictable.
Six months ago, Santorum penned an op-ed for a Christian paper
blaming the sexual molestation scandals in the Catholic Church
on "the culture of liberalism." Surely, an omen that
the senator from Pennsylvania wasn't quite ready for prime time.
So it came to pass that on April 7, Santorum
sat down for an interview with AP reporter Lara Jordan. He should
have been on his guard. After all, Jordan is married to Jim Jordan,
who oversees John Kerry's presidential campaign. Kerry's wife,
Teresa Heinz, despises Santorum. He inherited the senate seat
left open when her previous husband, John Heinz, perished in
a plane crash. "Santorum is critical of everything, indifferent
to nuance, and incapable of compromise," Heinz said. This
should have been a warning signal to Santorum that the interview
with Jordan might be hostile terrain, but his intellectual radar
seems to function about as well as Baghdad's air defense system.
Post-war, that is.
After a brisk discussion of the degeneracy
of American culture, the interview turned to the subject of the
pending Supreme Court case on sodomy laws. Like most religious
zealots, Santorum is obsessed not just with homosexuals but with
visualizing the postures and physical mechanics of homosexual
love. He seized on her question with an enthusiasm many Republicans
reserve for discussions of the tax code.
"I have no problem with homosexuality,"
Santorum pronounced. "I have a problem with homosexual acts.
As I would with acts of other, what I would consider to be, acts
outside of traditional heterosexual relationships. And that includes
a variety of different acts, not just homosexual. I have nothing,
absolutely nothing against anyone who's homosexual. If that's
their orientation, then I accept that. And I have no problem
with someone who has other orientations. The question is, do
you act upon those orientations? So it's not the person, it's
the person's actions. And you have to separate the person from
their actions."
In the past, one of Santorum's staffers
would have found some way to interrupt the interview and deftly
muzzle the senator. But he was flying solo and evidently trying
to impress Ms. Jordan with his encyclopedic knowledge of the
work of Krafft-Ebbing. Note the senator's excited and flirtatious
tone.
AP: OK, without being too gory or graphic,
so if somebody is homosexual, you would argue that they should
not have sex?
SANTORUM: We have laws in states, like
the one at the Supreme Court right now, that [have] sodomy laws
and they were there for a purpose. Because, again, I would argue,
they undermine the basic tenets of our society and the family.
And if the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual
sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you
have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you
have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything. Does
that undermine the fabric of our society? I would argue yes,
it does. It all comes from, I would argue, this right to privacy
that doesn't exist in my opinion in the United States Constitution,
this right that was created, it was created in Griswold - Griswold
was the contraceptive case - and abortion. And now we're just
extending it out. And the further you extend it out, the more
you - this freedom actually intervenes and affects the family.
You say, well, it's my individual freedom. Yes, but it destroys
the basic unit of our society because it condones behavior that's
antithetical to strong, healthy families. Whether it's polygamy,
whether it's adultery, where it's sodomy, all of those things,
are antithetical to a healthy, stable, traditional family.
"Every society in the history of
man has upheld the institution of marriage as a bond between
a man and a woman. Why? Because society is based on one thing:
that society is based on the future of the society. And that's
what? Children. Monogamous relationships. In every society, the
definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included
homosexuality. That's not to pick on homosexuality. It's not,
you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may
be. It is one thing. And when you destroy that you have a dramatic
impact on the quality
At this point, even the unnerved reporter
tried to rein in Santorum. "I'm sorry," Jordan interjected.
"I didn't think I was going to talk about 'man on dog' with
a United States senator, it's sort of freaking
me out."
But the man was on a roll and there was
no stopping him. "And that's sort of where we are in today's
world, unfortunately," Santorum said. "The idea is
that the state doesn't have
rights to limit individuals' wants and passions. I disagree with
that. I think we absolutely have rights because there
are consequences to letting people live out whatever wants or
passions they desire. And we're seeing it in our society."
There you have it. A case study in the
politics of pathological homophobia. Despite outcries from gay
Republicans, Bush stood by Santorum in his hour of media martyrdom:
"The president believes the senator is an inclusive man,"
Ari Fleishcer informed the press. "And that's what he believes."
Santorum's pal Tom Delay, the pest exterminator-turned-Republican
House Majority Leader, was ebullient. He called Santorum's remarks
"courageous."
Trent Lott must be snickering in the
senate cloakroom.
Santorum, the Mullah Omar of Pennsylvania,
is a ridiculous spectacle but he can't be taken lightly. He is
the slick-haired darling of the neo-cons, an obedient automaton
that feverishly promotes their wildest fantasies without hesitation.
Undeterred by the First Amendment, Santorum
says planning to introduce legislation that will limit criticism
of Israel in colleges and universities that receive federal money.
And his passion for Israel is so profound
that it obviates even his rancid homophobia. When it comes to
the Middle East, liberal Democrats race to co-sponsor legislation
with him. Most recently, Santorum and Barbara Boxer teamed up
to introduce the Syria Accountability Act, which would inflict
trade sanctions on Syria like those which gripped Iraq for 12
years, killing nearly one million children. Talk about family
values.
Sure, Santorum is an asshole. But he's
not one of a kind.
Today's
Features
Ashley
Smith
Under Uncle Sam's Thumb: a History
of Washington's Occupations
Steve
Perry
Bush's War Web Log 4/30
Gary
Leupp
Shooting Schoolboys: Preliminary Thoughts on the Fallujah Massacre
Robert
Jensen
Fighting Alienation in the USA
Wayne
Madsen
The Four Horsemen of Propaganda
Ahmad
Faruqui
Bush's Strategic Myopia About the Middle East
Gabriel
Kolko
Iraq, the US and the End of the European Coalition
Adolfo
Perez Esquivel
A Nobel Laureat's Letter to Bush:
"You Talk of Freedom; You Detest Freedom"
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