Wars
of the Laptop Bombers
Today's
Stories
February 21,
2005
Michael Neumann
Startegies
in Palestine: a Shrinking Pie in the Sky
February 19
/ 20, 2005
Alexander Cockburn
Back
to Salem: Paul Shanley and the Return of "Recovered Memory"
Kathleen Christison
Struggling
for Justice in Palestine
Ted Honderich
On Being Persona Non Grata
Gary Leupp
Self-Hating Gays: Welcome to the White House & Welcome to
Commit Suicide
Don Santina
Reparations for the Blues
Jennifer Roesch
John Negroponte: Dirty Warrior
Scott Richard
Lyons
Ward
Churchill and the Identity Police
Chris Clarke
Ward Churchill and Liberal Outrage
George Beres
Censorship in the Land of Wayne Morse: Gagging W. Churchill in
Oregon
Harry Browne
The Belfast Heist: the Plot Unravels
Manuel García,
Jr.
Who Killed Rafik Hariri?
Mark Scaramella
Lessons from the Hidden Afghan War
Michael Donnelly
Whatever Happened to John Edwards?
John Pilger
First, They Attack the Past
Norman Madarasz
Death Wish for Reform in Brazil?
Surendra Devkota
The Monarchy in Nepal
Deborah Rich
How Anti-GMO Ballot Measures May Miss the Mark
Fred Gardner
When Dr. Tod Met Merle Haggard
CounterPunch
News Service
About King Mswati: Political Developments in Swaziland
Richard Oxman
CounterPunching Arthur Miller
Poets' Basement
Albert, Giebel, Tripp, Engel and Orkin
February 18,
2005
Ben Moxham
In
East Timor, the Nightmare Continues
Dave Lindorff
The
Scum Also Rises: the Bloody Career of John Negroponte
Larry Birns
Negroponte: a Resume of Death Squads, Deceptions and Bribery
Gregory Elich
N, Korea's Phantom Nukes and the US's Subversion of Diplomacy
Samuel Logan / John Meyers
The Future of Colombia's Paramilitary Death Squads
Nicole Colson
Shock and Awe on Civil Liberties: From Lynne Stewart to Ward
Churchill
Suzan Mazur
Whose National Security Are We Talking About?
Mickey Z.
"One
Man Has Stopped Killing"
February 17,
2005
Joshua Frank
Hogtying
of the Deaniacs
Paul Craig
Roberts
Bush's
Willing Sychophants: the Conservative Media
Robert Fisk
Under
the Shadow of Death in Lebanon
Christopher
Brauchli
Where
Time Stands Still: Kinsey and Darwin in Cobb County, GA
Dr. Teresa
Whitehurst
Military
Recruitment TV: Why Send Them to College, When Your Kid Can be
Cannon Fodder?
Alison Weir
Russia, Israel and Media Omissions
Ahrar Ahmad
A Review of Shahid Alam's "Is There an Islamic Problem?"
Saul Landau
An
Interview with Cuban VP Ricardo Alarcon: "The US Tramples
the Laws It Wrote"
Website of the Day
Petition to Support Ward Churchill
February 16,
2005
Robert Fisk
Lebanon:
a Battlefield for the Wars of Others
Kevin Zeese
Creating a Real Ownership Society: Share the Wealth; Protect
Retirement
Gary Leupp
Meanwhile, in Nepal...
Ron Jacobs
Why the Iranian Opposition Should Not Trust the Bush Administration
Jessica Leight
Oil-Flush Chavez Begins to Strut His Stuff
Greg Moses
Houston, You've Got a Problem: Documenting Voting Irregularities
in Texas
Mark Engler
The Last Porto Alegre
Jack McCarthy
Where's the Outrage About Pat? Buchanan Does a Churchill
Bill Christison
US
Foreign Policy Dangerously Slanted Toward Israel
Website of the Day
The
World is Melting: a Photo Survey by Gary Braasch
February 15,
2005
CounterPunch
News Service
Dean
a "Safe" Moderate, Says NYT Citing CounterPunch
Robert Fisk
The
Killing of Mr. Lebanon
Uri Avnery
"Sharm-al-Sheikh,
We Have Come Back Again"
Stan Cox
Fighting Big Pharma in Little Digwal
Mickey Z.
Radio
Active North of the Border: an Interview with Chris Cook
Dave Zirin
Bashing Bush: Jose Canseco Comes Clean
Nadia Martinez
Ending
World Poverty? Opening at the World Bank, Apply Now
Lila Rajiva
"Little Eichmanns" and the 'Harijan': the Danger of
Magical Thinking in Politics
Paul Craig
Roberts
The
American Job Sell Out
February 14,
2005
Robert Jensen
Ward
Churchill: Right to Speak Out; Right About 9/11
Brian Cloughley
Kuwait's Freedom, Bush-style
Patrick Cockburn
Outcome
of the Iraqi Elections: Shortages, Corruption, Guerrilla War
Gary Leupp
Post-election Iraq: What Next?
Michael Donnelly
Sacred Nature: Just Another Commodity?
Dave Lindorff
When Bush Came to My Neighborhood
Elaine Cassel
The
Lynne Stewart Verdict
February 12
/ 13, 2005
Alexander Cockburn
Ward
Churchill's Genes
Saul Landau
Alarcon
Speaks: an Interview with the Vice President of Cuba
Paul Craig
Roberts
Nothing
to Fear But Bush Himself
Patrick Cockburn
Two Years After the Fall of Saddam, the Resistance Controls All
Major Roads into Baghdad
John Feffer
Bush
v. N. Korea: Round Two
Mickey Z.
Right to Remain Silent; Duty to Speak
Kurt Nimmo
Viva la Cucaracha!
Fred Gardner
Waiting for Raich
Dave Zirin
Fighting the New Republic(ans)
John Chuckman
Hiroshima, Mon Amour
Ben Tripp
A Leftist on the Bush Payroll
Carol Norris
"Buddy, Can You Spare a Dwarf?"
Robert Fisk
No Middle East Peace Without Justice
Frank / Chowkwanyun
Muzzled Activist in an Age of Terror: the Case of Sherman Austin
Mike Whitney
Condi's Euro Tour
Deborah Frisch
A Psychologist's Defense of Ward Churchill
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
Reading Khomeini in Colorado
Christine TenBarge
What's So Special About Ward?
Ron Jacobs
Curtis Mayfield's Train to Jordan
Dr. Susan Block
Chemistry of Love: a Valentine's Greeting
Poets' Basement
Louise, Smith-Ferri, Ford and Albert
Website of the Weekend
Free Sherman
February 11,
20055
Manuel Garcia,
Jr
The
Eight Percent War
Kurt Nimmo
Ann
Coulter's Racism: Where's Geronimo When You Really Need
Him?
Dave Lindorff
Guckert
or Gannon? The Perfect Plant; He Fit Right In
Larry Birns
War is Peace; Slavery is Freedom: Democracy According to Elliott
Abrams
Bill Quigley
Twenty Questions: a Social Justice Quiz
Tom Barry
Bush's State of Delusion
Jennifer Van
Bergen
Lynne
Stewart's Conviction Hurts Us All
February 10,
2005
Dave Lindorff
What
Academic Freedom?
Christopher Brauchli
The Love of Slaughter: From Rwanda to Iraq
Patrick Cockburn
In Baghdad, It's Easy to Get Killed
Nicole Colson
Have the Democrats Surrendered on Abortion Rights?
Suzan Mazur
More
on the Assassination of Lumumba from Mr. Garsin of Kinshasha
Michael Donnelly
Salvaging an Opposition
Mike Stark
Driving Ossie Davis: "Give Them a Little Truth, a Little
Hope"
Greg Moses
Taking
Jesus Back from the Hijackers
Website of
the Day
The Missionary Positions
February 9,
2005
Jeffrey St.
Clair
Duck
and Cover Redux: Bunker Busters and City Levellers
Mickey Z.
What Ward Churchill Didn't Say
John Ross
Hecho
en Mexico: the Iraqi Election
Tom Barry
Ambassador of Lies: Elliott Abrams, the Neocon's Neocon
Conn Hallinan
The
Coup in Nepal: Nursing the Pinion
Patrick Cockburn
Sistani's Vision for Iraq: Cricket is Fine, But Chess is "Absolutely
Forbidden"
Steen Sohn
Danish PM Says It's OK for Israel to Violate UN Resolutions
Tim Wise
Reflections on Empire and Uppity Indians
Website of
the Day
Support Antiwar.com
February 8,
2005
Patrick Cockburn
Shia/Kurd
Coalition to Dominate New Iraqi Govt.: "It's an Electoral
Pact, Not a Party"
Brian Cloughley
Out
of the Mouths of Generals: "It's Fun to Shoot Some People"
Steve Breyman
Against the Selfishness of the "Ownership Society"
Harry Browne
"Don't
Get on that Plane!": Soldiers Seek Asylum in Ireland
Doug Giebel
"We Love Free Speech in America": the People, the President
and Ward Churchill
Nate Collins
The Censorship of Ward Churchill and Dancehall Reggae: It's the
Same Beast
Dave Lindorff
It's Time for a Labor-Oriented Newspaper
David Smith-Ferri
Sanctions and the Health Crisis in Iraq
February 7,
2005
Paul Craig
Roberts
Bush's
War on Jobs
Carolyn Baker
The New McCarthyism on Campus: Churchill and the Attack on Higher
Ed
Joshua Frank
Marc Cooper's Hit List: First Mumia; Now Ward Churchill
Mickey Z.
Warning: More Hate Speech from W. Churchill
Patrick Cockburn
The
Kidnapping Gangs of Iraq
Mike Whitney
Tom Friedman: Scribe for New Age Imperialism
Stacie Jonas
Pinochet: Fit to be Tried
Dave Zirin
A Miserable Super Sunday: Clinton, Bush and the FBI
Tariq Ali
Imperial
Delusions
February 5
/ 6, 2005
Alexander Cockburn
Ward
Churchill and the Mad Dogs
Kurt Nimmo
A Ward Churchill Kind of Day
Joshua Frank
Liberals Trash Ward Churchill
P. Sainath
Mumbai's Man-Made Tsunami
Patrick Cockburn
Sistani's Triumph; Allawi's Bust
Laura Carlsen
Bush, Rice and Latin America
Dave Lindorff
How the NYT Killed the Bush Bulge Story
Pamela Olson
West Bank Story
Behzad Yaghmaian
The Future of Sudanese Refugees in the West
Saul Landau / Farrah Hassen
A Threatened UN in King George's Court
Roger Burbach
World Social Forum: a Tale of Two Presidents
Robert Fisk
History by Laptop
David Swanson
James Forman and the Liberal-Labor Syndrome
Justin E.H. Smith
Gay Marriage: a Report from Canada
Cacie Hart
The "State" of the Union: More War and a Ban on Love
Ron Jacobs
Chairman Bob Avakian: a Revolutionary Life
Mickey Z.
Viewing America from the Outside
Ben Tripp
Republican Heroes: a New Breed of Good Guy
Ben Sonnenberg
France at the End of the Devil's Decade: Renoir's Rules of the
Game
Poets' Basement
Smith-Ferri, Davies, Collins, & Albert
Website of
the Weekend
John Trudell: How to Earn a 17,000 Page FBI File
February 4,
2005
Brian Cloughley
The
Army Symphonist: "Sometimes the Only Way to Change the Behavior
of Someone Like That is to Kill Them"
Bill Christison
Election
Parallels: Vietnam, 1967; Iraq, 2005
Elaine Cassel
Did Zoloft Make Him Do It?
Jacob Levich
Chomsky and the Draft
Kanak Mani Dixit
Return of the Royalists in Nepal
Ron Jacobs
The
Downward Spiral in Iraq
February 3,
2005
Ward Churchill
On
the Injustice of Getting Smeared: a Campaign of Fabrications
and Gross Distortions
Sharon Smith
Resisting
Soldiers Need Our Support
Mickey Z.
Leslie
Gelb Asks Iraq: Who's Your Daddy?
Mike Whitney
President of Alienation: a Desperate State of the Union
Jenna Orkin
9/11 the Sequel: the Toxic State of Lower Manhattan
Saul Landau
Elections Won't Prevent Civil War in Iraq
Yitzhak Laor
Strange is the Silence
Dave Lindorff
The
Assault on Social Security: a New Campaign of Lies
February 2,
2005
David Domke
/ Kevin Coe
Bush's
Brand of Christianity
Noam Chomsky
Iraq
After the Elections
M. Shahid Alam
O'Reilly's
Fatwah on "Un-American" Professors: FoxNews Puts Me
in Its Crosshairs
Richard Oxman
Ringing in 1984 with Ward Churchill and Derrick Jensen
Joshua Frank
The Suckering of Howard Dean
Dave Lindorff
A History Lesson from the NYT
Nina Hartley
Feminists for Porn
Website of the Day
War is a Racket
February 1,
2005
Joshua L. Dratel
The
Torture Memos
Patrick Cockburn
New Doubts About Allawi
Robert Fisk
"The Only Decent Food We Get is at Funerals"
Uri Avnery
The Stalemate
Col. Dan Smith
"W" Stands for Withdrawal
Alison Weir
Making America as "Secure" as Israel
Alan Farago
Heaven and Hell in the Everglades
Ray Hanania
Low Voter Turnout of Iraqi Expatriates: Less Than 10% of Qualified
Voters
Paul Craig
Roberts
American
Police State
Website of the Day
Statisticians Refute Official Rationale for Exit Poll Errors
December 22,
2004
James Petras
An
Open Letter to Saramago: Nobel Laureate Suffers from a Bizarre
Historical Amnesia
Omar Barghouti
The Case for Boycotting Israel
Patrick Cockburn / Jeremy Redmond
They Were Waiting on Chicken Tenders When the Rounds Hit
Harry Browne
Northern Ireland: No Postcards from the Edge
Richard Oxman
On the Seventh Column
Kathleen Christison
Imagining
Palestine
Website of the Day
FBI Torture Memos
December 21,
2004
Greg Moses
The
New Zeus on the Block: Unplugging Al-Manar TV
Dave Lindorff
Losing
It in America: Bunker of the Skittish
Chad Nagle
The View from Donetsk
Dragon Pierces
Truth*
Concrete
Colossus vs. the River Dragon: Dislocation and Three Gorges Dam
Patrick Cockburn
"Things Always Get Worse"
Seth DeLong
Aiding Oppression in Haiti
Ahmad Faruqui
Pakistan and the 9/11 Commission's Report
Paul Craig
Roberts
America
Locked Up: a System of Injustice
Hot Stories
Alexander Cockburn
Behold,
the Head of a Neo-Con!
Subcomandante
Marcos
The
Death Train of the WTO
Norman Finkelstein
Hitchens
as Model Apostate
Steve Niva
Israel's
Assassination Policy: the Trigger for Suicide Bombings?
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber
True Lies: the Use of Propaganda
in the Iraq War
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
Click
Here for More Stories.
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February 21, 2005
Military Recruiting on Channel One
Geometry
101, Brought to You by the US Navy
By
Dr. TERESA WHITEHURST
"Nearly every graphic
contains the Channel One logoThe omnipresent logo "1"
throughout the program on the monitors and floor is interspersed
with "Power of One" music video montages, which might
include heroic individuals (sometimes thematically presented
such as pilots and astronauts)
"When one examines the
"Power of One" montages alongside the advertising content
in the regularly repeated United States Marine ad "The Few,
The Proud, The Marines"-an ad that features a single, young
muscular man catapulted into what looks like a dungeons and dragons
video game where he slays a techno-dragon with a techno-sword-there
is no sense of discontinuity. The computer graphics, the science-fantasy,
the "Power of One" theme are nearly seamless from program
to advertisement. Indeed, the running theme for the U.S. Army
recruitment campaign at the time of the study, "Be an Army
of One," would fit equally well with the celebration of
"oneness.""
"Neo-liberal news for
kids: Citizenship lessons from Channel One"
by Bybe, Fogle and Quail,
Studies in Media & Information Literacy Education,
Volume 4, Issue 1 (February 2004).
"Are you sure they're
military recruiting commercials, not just news stories about
the military?", I asked my daughter Isa, when she complained
that every morning in homeroom all students are required to watch
Channel One News, during which military recruiting ads are aired,
often two in a row. (See "Guess What Your Child is Watching
on "Educational" Television at School?", Commondreams.org).
"They're ads, Mom.
They're all about "The Power of One"-you know, the
military theme. They mainly aim at black and Hispanic kids."
As we pulled into a Barnes
and Noble parking space, I asked, "How often do these recruiting
ads appear on Channel One news? I really can't imagine this-educational
TV is supposed to abouteducation! And how do you know they target
Hispanics and blacks more than whites?"
She emphasized in words reminiscent
of Erin Brockovich: "I've been keeping a log."
Well, that's what her best teachers always taught her: Don't
just spout off opinions-keep records, take notes, do your research.
Isa has given me permission to share her log (verbatim) of the
last few days' programming on Channel One News that all homeroom
classes at her public high school watch:
Thursday, 2/10/05:
1st Commercial Break:
Navy ad: Isa describes this one as "Boring,
showing boats and stuff".
Army ad: Close-ups of Latinos and Latinas
looking out of foxholes, piloting planes, holding automatic weapons,
and working on large computers while wearing headphones. Isa
says, "Their Hispanic names were highlighted under their
determined-looking faces, as they turn towards the camera with
a look of great purpose. There are voiceovers so we can hear
their strong Hispanic accents."
AdCouncil ad: Isa notes, "This ad said, "You
never forget the people you hurt when you're high" (re:
drugs). AdCouncil ads come right after the military ads. Sometimes
they say "stay in school", "don't smoke weed",
that kind of stuff. Nobody pays any attention to these."
2nd Commercial Break:
Gatorade ad: "Get Active" theme
Friday, 2/11/05:
One Commercial Break:
Pop Quiz: A male announcer says, "Today's
pop quiz brought to you by the US Army". A picture of the
army graphic is at the bottom right of the screen during the
"fun" trivia quiz that Isa describes as "utterly
useless, irrelevant trivia".
Black Heroes ad: This seemed tailored to Black History
Month because it showed, Isa notes, "lots of black people
doing heroic things. Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. were
mentioned, but not Malcolm X or the more radical people".
At the end of the ad, on a large black strip across the middle
of the screen, with photos of black heroes on the top and bottom
borders, these words were written in bold white letters (and
spoken by a male narrator): "Black Heroes, Brought to You
by the US Army".
Monday, 2/14/05:
1st Commercial Break:
UPN ad: "Ads for the loudest, most slapstick black
sitcoms on UPN"
Winterfresh Gum Ad
MADD ad (Mothers Against Drunk Driving)
2nd Commerical Break:
United Negro College Fund
ad
US Navy ad: "Shows lots of big gray boats
toolin' around, and lots of people yelling commands and "Sir,
Yes Sir!", looking really determined and filled with purpose."
Pop Quiz: Announcer says, "Today's pop
quiz brought to you by the US Navy". Isa says, "just
like the Army Pop Quiz, this one shows the US Navy graphic at
the lower right corner of the screen during the quiz".
"En
Loco Parentis" and "No Child Left Behind": Working
Together in American Schools to Supply the Military with Young
Warm Bodies
Nobody asked for my consent
before exposing my daughter to military recruiting ads at her
public school, where I thought she was getting an education,
not getting into the hands of military recruiters. But times
have changed, and so have our schools.
Since the No Child Left Behind
act, many public and private schools stress the total
authority of school personnel over the child, which "overrides"
the parent's authority during school hours. The term "en
loco parentis" is used in schools all over the U.S. to intimidate
students and parents so they'll be reluctant to disagree
with, oppose or even question school policies.
"En loco parentis"
is used to justify and protect everything from adult male principals
getting their jollies by paddling the buttocks of nubile female
students, to military recruiters using sophisticated marketing
techniques to lure children away from college and into the military.
When I attended high school in the 1970's, I never heard that
term. Parents were considered the ultimate authorities in their
children's lives, not the teachers, the principals, or anyone
else.
I guess those days are gone.
Kids today are taught to trust and obey without question
the "father figure" of the militarized school environment,
which allows them to then transition seamlessly into the military
itself: This is an ideal setup for War Presidents who require
a continuous stream of young warm bodies.
But this doesn't mean we should
roll over and play dead. We can't sit back, relax, and trust
that our schools can stand up to the pressures of military recruiters
who have the backing of the Bush administration and its aggressive
supporters. If we want our children to remain moral individuals,
we can't allow them to fall in with the wrong crowd. Our once-proud
military, transformed as it's been these last years by evildoers
like Bush, Rumsfeld and Gonzales, has become a very bad
crowd for our children to get drawn into, a crowd wherein orders
to "soften" prisoners through depraved sexual torture
or to bomb neighborhoods must be obeyeda crowd where commanders
teach kids that "shooting people is fun", and that
killing is "a hoot".
Today's imperial military exerts
a new kind of peer pressure on impressionable youth: It can change
your beautiful, moral child into a ruthless killer with twisted
moral values, or a wounded soul tormented with guilt and shame.
Call your child's school
today, and ask if Channel
One News is shown to students, and if these include military
recruiting commercials. It's your right to watch this "news"
program to see what your children are being exposed to at school,
where violent ways of handing conflicts (whether interpersonal
or international) should not be taught, and where safety
from seduction and harassment ought to come first.
Arrange to visit a class or
some other room at the school where you can observe this programming
for yourself. If you really love your child and want to keep
him or her alive, call today, before it's too late and your child
has signed that dotted line.
"The world's solution-identical
to that of Christians who ignore Jesus' charter-is not
to reevaluate the ways our children are being taught to handle
problems, but to come down harder on kids who fight back to prove
their toughness as they've learned to do from the heroes
our culture holds up as winners and tough guys. If we don't actively
teach them a realistic alternative, our children can't be blamed
for learning conflict-resolution skills from video games, films
and TV shows glamorizinggood guys who win by behaving just like
the bad guys-only more efficiently." From Jesus
on Parenting: 10 Essential Principles that Will Transform Your
Family
Dr. Teresa Whitehurst is a clinical psychologist and writer.
Her most recent book describes the nonviolent guidance of children,Jesus
on Parenting: 10 Essential Principles that Will Transform Your
Family, Baker Books, 9/2004.
You can contact her at DrTeresa@JesusontheFamily.org
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