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Today's
Stories
December
1, 2007
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The Bear Minimum: the Grizzly and
the Future of the Rocky Mountain West
November
30, 2007
Peter
Stone Brown
The Re-Packaging of Bob Dylan
Wajahat
Ali
The Volatile Mistress: an Interview with Javed Jabbar, Pakistan's
Former Minister of Information
Allan
Nairn
Cold-Blooded Celebrity: Thomas L. Friedman and the Bali Bombers
Alan
Farago
The Sorrows of Suburbia: Politics, Sprawl and the Housing Crash
John
Ross
The Death of Latin America's First Revolution
Corporate
Crime Reporter
America's Corporate Crime Capitals
Lucia
Alvarez
Diego Gonzalez
Argentina's Political Future
James
Rothenberg
The Iraqi Miracle
Website
of the Day
Bio-Bling?
November
29, 2007
R.
F. Blader
The Most Dangerous Kind of Bribe
Ismael
Hossein-Zadeh
Distorting Fascism to Demonize Iran
Stephen
Soldz
War on the Couch: Fear, Aggression and Empire
Sheldon
Richman
Iraq 3.0
George
Wuerthner
Forest Fires, Lies and Chainsaws
Felice
Pace
Did All Things Considered Self-Censor on Annapolis?
Col.
Dan Smith
The Meaning of Annapolis
Harvey
Wasserman
Terror Target Nukes
Nikolas
Kozloff
Primetime Hate Debate: Lou Dobbs, Immigration and Campaign '08
Paul
Krassner
Huffington Post Bloggers Go On Strike!
Dave
Lindorff
News Not Fit to Print: US Coup Planned for Venezuela?
CP
News Service
The One State Declaration
Website
of the Day
A Native View of Yellowstone Bison Slaughter
November
28, 2007
James
Petras
CIA Destabilization Memo Surfaces
on Venezuela
Jeff
Halper
Annapolis: When the Roadmap is a One
Way Street
Pam
Martens
Crashing Citigroup
Peter
Morici
Economy in Crisis: Avoiding a Recession
Mohammed
Khatib
Separate and Unequal in Palestine
Helen
Redmond
The Horror and the Hope: Health Care in America
William
S. Lind
In the Fox's Lair: Quiet Before a New Iraq Storm?
Ben
Tripp
We, the People: a Trope for All Seasons
Liaquat
Ali Khan
Pakistan: First, Restore the Constitution and Reinstate the Judges
Jeff
Berg
Holbrooke Says Bush Won't Attack Iran
Website
of the Day
The Lies of Joe Klein
November
27, 2007
Joe
DeRaymond
On the Road to the Torture School
Paul
Craig Roberts
Meet the Only Two Candidates Worse Than Bush and Cheney: Hillary
and Rudy
Marjorie
Cohn
Remembering Victor Rabinowitz
Mike
Whitney
A Dollar the Size of a Postage Stamp
Ron
Jacobs
The Myths of Military Progress
Col.
Dan Smith
The Pentagon's "People System" Still Doesn't Work
Ralph
Nader
Family Learning
Karim
Makdisi
Annapolis and the Unholy Alliance: the View from Beirut
Christopher
Ketcham
Memo to Hollywood Writers: Strike Until You Drop
Ronan
Bennett
Martin Amis Does a Coulter
Website
of the Day
Celebrating the Uncensored Media
November
26, 2007
Kathleen
and Bill Christison
Heading for Annapolis
Paul
Craig Roberts
The End of All That
David
Macaray
Enter Mediator
Sameer
Dossani
Pakistan's Wounded Dictator
Roger
Burbach
The Final Battle in Bolivia
Mark
Scaramella
Guns and Greed in the Emerald Empire
Brian
McKinlay
Howard's End
Rick
Kuhn
The Fall of a Racist Union Buster
Binoy
Kampmark
Ruddslide and Dull Alec
Monica
Benderman
What Do You Know of War?
Brenda
Norrell
Return to Alcatraz
Website
of the Day
Ghostworld by DJ Spooky
November
24 / 25, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
The Ordeal of Catherine Wilkerson,
MD
Robert
Fisk
Darkness Falls on the Middle East
Saul
Landau
Norman Mailer will Not R.I.P.
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Justice Stephen Breyer, Cancer Bonds and the Origins of Neoliberal
Environmentalism
Rannie
Amiri
Beirut's Black Friday
Christopher
Brauchli
Iraq Embassy as Gilded Palace
Daniel
Gross
The Gap and Black Friday
Mike
Whitney
"A Generalized Meltdown of Financial Institutions"
Marjorie
Cohn
Iran and the 2008 Elections
David
Rosen
Senior Sex: the Real Sexual Life of Aging Americans
David
Michael Green
If Conservatism is the Ideology of Freedom ....
Kenneth
Rexroth
When Euripides Played the Hindu Kush: Greeks and Buddhists in
Afghanistan
Muhammad
Iqbal
Trans. Shahid Alam
Ghazal
Website
of the Day
Aerial Footage of Delta Fish Kill
November 23, 2007
Gary
Leupp
Killing the Buddha in Pakistan's Swat
Valley
Laura
Carlsen
Coming to Terms with Diversity in
Bolivia: an Interview with Alvaro Garcia, Bolivia's VP
David
Macaray
Keeping Labor Unions Out
Andy
Worthington
Former Guantánamo Detainee Seeks Asylum in Sweden
Clifton
Ross
Trashing Chavez: Keith Olberman's Toxic Rant
Seth
Sandronsky
Battling Sodexho
Dan
Bacher
Death in the Delta: Thousands of Fish Stranded by Bureau of Reclamation
William
A. Cook
The Myth of Middle East Peace
Website
of the Day
Waiting for the Guards: Stress Techniques as Torture, a Short
Film
November
22, 2007
Alan
Farago
Who Lost America's Everglades?
Greg
Moses
A Thanksgiving Basting
Dave
Lindorff
Impeachment is Back on the Table
Mike
Ely
Native Blood: the Myth pf Thanksgiving
Omar
Azfar
Gore for President of Pakistan?
November
21, 2007
Vijay
Prashad
Our Dictator, Their Democracy
Martha
Rosenberg
Undercover at a Turkey Slaughtering Plant
Manuel
Garcia, Jr.
Epiphany on the Glacier
John
Ross
The Last Days of Mexican Corn
Brian
McKenna
Cancer Terrorists Unmasked
Stephen
Soldz
Isolation Torture Routine at Guatánamo
Monica
Benderman
Needing Peace
Ben
Terrall
Slavery in the Fields: The Real Price of Sugar
Website
of the Day
Mercy for Animals
November
20, 2007
Oren
Ben-Dor
Why Israel Has No "Right to Exist"
as a Jewish State
Wajahat
Ali
An Interview with Norman Finkelstein
Alan
Farago
The Dark Arts and the Bush Dynasty
Marjorie
Cohn
Musharraf Plays Bush for a Fool
Ralph
Nader
Green is Gold?
Andy
Worthington
Guantánamo Whistleblower Launches a New Attack on Rigged
Tribunals
Sara
Olson
When Going AWOL is the Only Escape
Dave
Lindorff
Likelihood of Iran Attack Gains Credence
Paul
Krassner
The First Amendment, a Dialogue
Website
of the Day
Joanne Mariner on Torture
November
19, 2007
Winslow
T. Wheeler
Why Congress Won't Reform
China
Hand
The U.S. Game Plan in Pakistan
Allan
Nairn
Sitting Around Talking, in Indonesia
Uri
Avnery
How to Get Out?
David
Macaray
The Chalice that Poisoned the Labor Movements
Dave
Lindorff
Democrats in Future Shock: They Could Lose It All in 2008!
Bill
Quigley
Twenty Thousand Protest at Ft. Benning; Eleven Face Federal Criminal
Trials
Ron
Jacobs
Sitting on the Group W Bench: War, Thanksgiving and Arlo Guthrie
Sunsara
Taylor
Legalized Rights for Fertilized Eggs?
Binoy
Kampmark
Why Steve Irwin--You're Dead!
Heather
Gray
Another Look at W.E.B. DuBois
Website
of the Day
The Meat Market
November
17 / 18, 2007
P.
Sainath
Neoliberalism's Price Tag: 150,000
Farm Suicides in India
David
Rosen
The Scarlet Hypocrites: Republicans,
Christians and the Politics of Adultery
Mike
Whitney
Pentagon Cover Up: 15,000 or More US Deaths in Iraq War?
George
Wuerthner
Saving the Big Wild
Brenda
Norrell
The Case of Jim Main, Jr: In Montana, Indians are Guilty Until
Proven Innocent
George
Ciccariello-Maher
Of Submarines and Loose Screws
Karim
Makdisi
Lebanon is Hanging by a Thread
Marie
Trigona
Wal-Mart in Argentina
Valerio
Volpi
The Catholic Church, Incorporated
Fred
Gardner
The Straight-Ahead Runner
Robert
Fantina
The White House Press Office
Mike
Ferner
Thank God for the Senate Republicans!
Missy
Comley Beattie
The Radical Majority
Kenneth
Couesbouc
Circles of Power
Patrick
O'Hayer
A Portrait of Mailer and a Young Poet
Poets'
Basement
Davies, Buknatski and Ford
November
16, 2007
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
The Vices of Hillary Clinton: Secrecy,
Intransigence and War
Dave
Zirin
The Indictment of Barry Bonds: Busted by a Broken System
Gary
D. Barnett
A Day in the Life of an Unwilling Federal Agent
Alan
Farago
Sprawl, Mortgage Fraud and Political Corruption
Dave
Lindorff
Two Brothers and Two Scandals
Russell
Mokhiber
Pelosi and Me: "What Should be Done with Those Protesters?"
Robert
Ovetz
Cargo Ships in Paradise: Shipping Lanes Threaten the Yosemite
of the Sea
Brenda
Norrell
"Today We Experienced America:" Arresting Indigenous
People on the Border
David
Swanson
Wolf Blitzer Loses Democratic Debate
Peter
Letheby
Outside the Box on the Great Plains
Website
of the Day
Why Activism Fails
November
15, 2007
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
Hillary Clinton in Arkansas
Adolfo
Gilly
The Spirit of Revolt
Peter
Bohmer
10 Days That Shook Olympia
Andy
Worthington
The Trials of Omar Khadr: Gitmo's Child Soldier
Gray
/ Derks
Obama's Pitch to South Carolina's Black Churches Affronts Gay
Groups
Liaquat
Ali Khan
Liberating Pakistan
Dave
Lindorff
Where's the Party?
Christopher
Brauchli
Tipping Point: the Politics of Gossip
Anthony
Papa
Racism as Law: Crack Cocaine Sentences
Martha
Rosenberg
Merck's Big Write Off
Ben
Terrall
Thank You, Ehren Watada
Website
of the Day
On the Colorado: Drought, Climate Change and Water Supplies
November 14, 2007
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
The Making of Hillary Clinton
James
Petras
Venezuela Between Ballots and Bullets
Al
Giordano
Campaign 08: Don't Trust Anyone Over 50
Paul
Craig Roberts
The Lobby
Andy
Worthington
Innocents and Foot Soldiers
Stephen
Lendman
Torturing Palestinian Detainees
Fatima
Bhutto
Aunt Benazir's False Promises: the Dismantling of Pakistani Democracy
Martin
Smith
Norman Mailer and the "Good War"
Jeff
Leys
Slip Sliding Away: House Votes on War Funding
Website
of the Day
Why the Writers are Striking
November
13, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
Hillary's Big Problem and How Bill
Can Fix It
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Mailer and Us: the Writer as Fighter
Robert
Bryce
The Pakistan Fuel Connection
David
Macaray
The Teamsters and the Hollywood Strike
Mike
Whitney
Bulletins from the Titanic
Ralph
Nader
Pakistani Lawyers vs. American Lawyers
Nikolas
Kozloff
Chavez Blasts the Spanish King
Jordan
Flaherty
Education Versus Incarceration in Tallulah, Louisiana
B.
R. Gowani
Dear Mrs. Bhutto
Website
of the Day
Monty Python: "Fuck You, Very Much FCC"
November
12, 2007
Vicente
Navarro
Why Hillary's Health Care Plan Really
Failed
Ben
Brown
Letter from Ho Chi Minh City: a Tribute to My Vietnam Vet Father
Omar
K.
A Pakistani Lawyer's Testimony: Life Under the Brutal Emergency
Sadia
Abbas
The Roots of Pakistan's Political Crisis: Corrupt Elites and
a Kleptocratic Military
Farzana
Versey
Mailer's Miasma
Richard
W. Behan
The Political Crimes of Complicity
Paul
Krassner
Asshole of the Year: Congratulations Tim Russert!
Cindy
Sheehan
Faith and War
Peter
Stone Brown
The Return of Levon Helm
Dave
Lindorff
Dennis, You are Not Alone
Website
of the Day
Police Attack in Olympia
November
10 / 11, 2007
Alain
Gresh
Uncle Sam's New Backyard: How to Turn
a Region into a Graveyard
Mike
Whitney
For Whom the Closing Bell Tolls: the Last Dead Bull on Wall Street
Ron
Jacobs
A View from the Pakistani Left: an Interview with Farooq Tariq
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The First Dambuster: a Coyote Story
Alan
Farago
Tangled Up in Blue: a Brief History of Florida Environmentalism
Binoy
Kampmark
When Language Drowns: Torture in America
Robert
Fantina
Legitimizing Torture
Fred
Gardner
Psychological Torture in the Name of Family Values
Ayesha
Ijaz Khan
The General in His Labyrinth
Nicola
Nasser
NATO's Southward Drift
Philip
Rizk
The Blame Game in Gaza
Michael
Dickinson
Condom Nation: the Pope vs. Terry Higgins
Joel
S. Hirschhorn
The Grand Delusion: a Conspiracy of Two Parties
Paul
Krassner
Flunking Out of the Electoral College
Wadner
Pierre /
Joe Emersberger
The Ongoing War on Journalists in Haiti
November
9, 2007
Patrick
Cockburn
In the Kandil Mountains with the
PKK
Mohammed
Hanif
Musharraf and the Drunk Uncle
John
Ross
Blackwater Goes to Mexico
Mike
Whitney
Ron Paul, Big Media's Invisible Candidate
Tom
Barry
In Latin America, the Hillary Clinton Policy is the Bush Policy
Corporate
Crime Reporter
Is the AFL Trying to Derail Single Payer Health Care?
Badruddin
Khan
Pakistan and the Israel Lobby
David
Macaray
The WGA STrike: the Empire Strikes Back
Martha
Rosenberg
The Blood Sport of Vice Presidents
Website
of the Day
Stryker Blockade!
November
8, 2007
Kathleen
& Bill Christison
Meeting the Other in Israel and
Palestine
William
Loren Katz
Waterboarding in American History
Mike
Whitney
The Long Fall: a Market Without Parachutes
Sheldon
Richman
Why Woodstock May Have Saved John McCain's Life
Liaquat
Ali Khan
Solidarity with Pakistan's Lawyers
Marc
Gardner
The Victims of "Jessica's Law": Parolees Without Rights
(or Homes)
Jackie
Corr
The Big Fish from Whitefish: Montana, the Last Retreat of the
Investment Banker?
Brenda
Norrell
Between Bombs and Border Walls
Dave
Lindorff
Ridiculing Impeachment at the New York Times
China
Hand
Rewriting the History of the Sudan Calamity
Sen.
Russ Feingold
FISA and America's Basic Freedoms: Let's Not Repeat the Mistakes
of the Patriot Act
Website
of the Day
The Welfare Poets Meet Hugo Chavez
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!
|
December
1, 2007
The Grizzly and
the Future of the Rocky Mountain West
The
Bear Minimum
By JEFFREY ST. CLAIR
The one true symbol of wilderness today
is the grizzly bear--ursus arctos horribilis. Grizzlies
and humans (Doug Peacock, excepted) just don't get along. More
humans, less bears; less bears, less wilderness. And since the
larger part of American history has been that of humans subduing
wilderness, the great bears have not fared well.
Thirty years ago, the mighty
grizzly bear of the American Rocky Mountains landed on the Endangered
Species list. It was one of the first animals honored with this
dubious citation.
By 1973, the giant bears, which
once ruled the great plains and Rocky Mountains from the Dakotas
to California and struck terror into the Lewis and Clark expedition
and many who followed, existed only in a few patches of isolated
and still wild land in Montana and Wyoming: greater Yellowstone,
Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness, the Cabinet
Mountains, the Selkirks and the Swan Range.
Even in these last remote refuges,
the bear was hardly thriving. Perhaps 350 bears remained in Yellowstone.
Then the Park Service closed the open dump, a stable source of
food, and the population dropped. The Cabinet-Yaak, Selkirk and
Swan populations totaled less than 200 bears combined. The healthiest
population existed in the chunks of wilderness in and around
Glacier National Park, which tallied perhaps 500 bears in the
early 1970s. But this was something of an illusion, since the
Glacier population was being buffeted by Canadian bears crossing
the border to escape the merciless hunting campaigns to the north.
Grizzly refugees.
Extinction loomed as a real
possibility for the greatest living symbol of the American Rockies.
It still does.
From the time the bear was
listed, the State of Montana clamored to have the bear removed,
particularly in the Glacier area, where it wanted to auction
off lucrative grizzly bear hunts. The Forest Service, which manages
most of the bear's habitat in the region, griped that if taken
literally the Endangered Species Act protections would put a
serious dent in its annual timber sale offerings. The agency
refused to interpret the act literally. The Park Service, which
manages Yellowstone and Glacier, liked having the bear as an
attraction, but chafed at suggestions that the agency should
scale back its plans to construct resorts for tourists in bear
habitat; when, inevitably, tourists got mauled and dismembered
by irritated bears, the Park Service, whose mission is to protect
wildlife, sent assassination teams out to track down the killer
bears and dispatch them.
Across much of Montana, federal
land is checkerboarded with private holdings, a legacy of the
railroad land grants. This was, of course, one of the greatest
government sanctioned rip-offs of all time, where the railroad
barons were given alternating sections of federal land as an
inducement for the construction of the trans-continental railroads.
In secret deals, the railroads eventually sold of these lushly
timbered parcels to big timber companies. The deals were covert
because under the terms of the land grants, the land was supposed
to revert to the federal government if they weren't needed for
the construction of the railroad corridors.
For decades, the railroad grant
lands were owned by two timber giants, Plum Creek and Champion
International. Through the 1960s, the timber companies did little
logging on these mountainous lands. They were remote and the
timber wasn't that valuable. Then beginning the late 1970s two
things happened. The Forest Service began building roads into
these lands, thus reducing the logging costs for Plum Creek and
Champion. And the price of timber soared.
The timber companies struck
while the iron was hot. Over the next 10 years, Plum Creek and
Champion went on a logging frenzy, cutting without restraint.
By the end of the 1980s, more than 2 million acres of forest,
most of it prime grizzly habitat, had been liquidated. Internal
memos from executives at both companies unearthed by reporter
Richard Manning revealed that each company had logged off more
than 90 percent of its holdings. So much for sustainable forestry.
Predictably, both firms began
to shut down their operations in the Rockies, closing the mills
and laying off thousands of workers despite their repeated pledges
to stay in Montana for the long haul. Champion left Montana altogether,
moving to the southeast and Mexico. Plum Creek stuck around,
but transformed itself from timber company to real estate developer,
turning its clearcut forests into wilderness ranchettes and mountain
subdivisions.
Meanwhile, the Fish and Wildlife
Service, the federal agency charged with ensuring the bear's
survival, took a laissez-faire approach toward ursus horribilus,
partly on its on initiative, partly at the insistence of Wyoming/Montana/Idaho
congressional junta. Under the strictures of the Endangered Species
Act, the Fish and Wildlife Service is tasked with identifying
the lands that are considered essential for the survival of a
listed species and designating those lands as critical habitat.
These lands are then considered sacrosanct and the agency is
permitted to prohibit any activities therein, which might harm
the species.
With the grizzly, this never
happened. The Fish and Wildlife Service neglected to designate
critical habitat and their decision was backed by congressional
rider that prevented environmental groups from suing the agency
for violating the law. Without a critical habitat designation,
it was almost impossible to challenge incursions into the bear's
last redoubts.
Not that they would have sued,
mind you. Nationally and locally, environmental groups considered
the grizzly politically toxic. It threatened to put them in conflict
with some of their favored politicians in the region, most notably
Senator Max Baucus.
So the grizzly never had much
of a chance. Its habitat was under assault by loggers, miners,
oil companies and real estate barons, while the bureaucrats and
NGOs charged with looking out for its survival took a pass.
This all changed in 1990 when
a group of young and radical greens came together in Missoula
and formed the Alliance for the Wild Rockies. Headed by Mike
Bader, a former Yellowstone Park ranger who had conducted extensive
research on grizzlies, the Alliance unleashed a barrage of lawsuits
on behalf of the bear. It frontally attacked Democratic politicians,
such as Baucus, Bill Clinton and Representative Pat Williams,
who spouted green rhetoric, but worked to undermine the bear
at every turn, often through the noxious practice of congressional
riders to appropriations bills which shielded destructive logging
schemes from environmental challenges in the federal courts.
What other groups in the region
took as a liability, the Alliance seized on as a calling card.
More than any other animal in North America, the grizzly craved
large expanses of roadless terrain. The northern Rockies were
the only place in the lower-48 with grizzlies and a sizable chunk
of wilderness, about 16 million acres spread across Idaho, Wyoming
and Montana. Protect the bear and you could save most of this
land from the chainsaw and oil wells. Save the roadless areas
and you ensure a future for the grizzly and dozens of other species,
such as the bull trout, lynx, Pacific fisher and gray wolf.
But it turns out you have to
go beyond merely saving the roadless areas and wildernesses.
They are now islands, isolated refuges in a sea of clearcuts,
ranchettes and oil patches. To give the grizzly a real shot,
these archipelagos of forest need to be linked together through
a network of wildland corridors that are off-limits to logging,
road building, mining and oil development. That's the logic behind
the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act.
NREPA, or something even bigger,
may be the last chance to save the grizzly. The news has not
be good for the great bear. In early 2007, the Bush administration
moved to strip the Yellowstone population of bear of its protections
under the endangered species. This unwelcome event occurred despite
the fact that several sinister internal assessments have concluded
that the grizzly faces dire threats in all three of its final
strongholds, a crisis brought on by Homo sapiens voracissim.
Otherwise known as ranchers, timber companies and the oil and
gas industry.
If there's been one human subspecies
more antipathetic to Ursus horribilis than any other,
its probably been the bear's supposed protector: Homo bureaucraticus,
AKA the federal lands bureaucrat, who sees the irascible bear
as an unmitigated nuisance. That's because grizzlies are the
original sylvan Luddites, frightening tourists (occasionally
taking one out), shredding pretty North Face tents, rummaging
around dumpsters at local resorts and generally raising hell
in the neighborhood.
You can hardly blame the bear.
One example: after the grizzly was put on the endangered species
list, the Park Service approved the huge Grant Village resort
complex on the western shore of Yellowstone Lake, right in the
middle of prime grizzly fishing habitat. In exchange, the Park
Service promised to dismantle the Fishing Bridge campground on
the other side of the lake, also favorite habitat for the bear.
Enter Senator Alan Simpson, who put a stop to that. So the bears
went fishing for cutthroat trout as they have done since time
immemorial and got caught up in the tourist traffic. First time
ursine intruders get drugged up with sodium pentothal (which
turn many into psychotics) and airlifted to remote, troutless
regions of the park. Two strikes and you're out. Repeat offenders
are shot to death. In 2004, 19 grizzlies were killed in the Yellowstone
region, half of them by wildlife and Park Service officials.
So after thirty years of this,
the Feds have had enough. They've pronounced their work done
and have moved to de-list the grizzly in Yellowstone. The rationale
for such de-listing is an old stratagem of Homo bureaucraticus,
namely: a robust declaration of victory. The Bush administration
(following a template laid down in Clinton time) declared flatly
that the government believes it has "achieved recovery plan
goals for the Yellowstone ecosystem." And then wash their
hands of the blood.
Grizzlies, for obvious reasons,
are hard to count, except for the ones you've dispatched. But
most non-government scientists believe that there are fewer female
grizzlies in the Yellowstone and Glacier regions now than there
were when the bear was first listed. In fact, of the 19 bears
killed in Yellowstone in 2004, 10 were adult females, some leaving
behind cubs to that soon perished as well. Does this mean the
Endangered Species Act is a failure? No. It means that federal
bureaucrats have lacked the will to enforce the law.
To truly defend the bear, those
bureaucrats would have been forced to confront the designs of
some of the most ruthless lobbies in America-for whom Ursus
horribilis has been an irksome obstruction to making money.
The grizzly stands in the path of oil and gas companies such
as Chevron, which wants to sink wells in the Rocky Mountain Front
east of Glacier Park; in the path of Boise-Cascade and Plum Creek
Timber, which wants to log off the remaining six million acres
of wild forest in the Northern Rockies; in the path of Club Yellowstone,
and other elite ski resorts; in the path of mining companies,
who want to excavate giant holes in the Absaroka and Pioneer
Mountain ranges in search of gold.
Facing these opponents, where
may the beleaguered grizzly turn for succor, aside from an unwary
hiker? An apparent ally would seem to be the wildlife lobby,
but here too peril lurks in the path of Ursus horribilis.
A few years ago someone sent me an internal memo from the National
Wildlife Federation set forth a plan for establishing a "grizzly
recovery zone" in central Idaho. The plan was written in
consort with Defenders of Wildlife and, yes, two timber industry
groups. Alas, the Idaho grizzlies won't, in all likelihood, be
given much chance to recover. Plowing through the virtually impenetrable
prose of the memorandum, we find that these two conservation
groups placed some codicils on the tails of their plan. For example,
oversight of the recovery zone was to be partially surrendered
to local boards, dominated by such disinterested parties as Potlatch
Timber and Hecla Mining.
The bear's status under the
scheme is somewhat of a giveaway, as any alert Ursus horribilis
skimming the contents would speedily realize. The intent is to
reclassify the great bear as "a non-essential experimental
population", which means the bears could be killed by any
rancher or hunter claiming thereafter that their lives or livestock
were at risk.
Characteristically, this cautious
approach surrenders the fruits of a tremendous legal victory
for the Endangered Species Act in the so-called Sweet Home case
by the Supreme Court. The court ruled that destruction of a listed
species' habitat is the same as killing the species outright.
But in their "fair compromise" with industry, the neoliberal
green's conceded that the notion of "harm" should not
be understood to include "any actions that modify grizzly
habitat." In other words, the grizzly should not be considered
an impediment to timber sales or gold mines. They were expendable.
Under these perilous conditions,
give the grizzly another 50 years at most in the lower-48. The
only hope for their survival resides in legislation like NREPA
that locks up huge chunks of land away from the bulldozer and
the chainsaw, locks the land up tight as inviolate wilderness,
with no exceptions.
No wilderness, no grizzlies.
No grizzlies, no real wilderness.
Jeffrey St. Clair is the author of Been
Brown So Long It Looked Like Green to Me: the Politics of Nature
and Grand
Theft Pentagon. His newest book is End
Times: the Death of the Fourth Estate, co-written with Alexander
Cockburn. This essay will appear in Born
Under a Bad Sky, to be published in December. He can be reached
at: sitka@comcast.net.
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