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Today's
Stories
September 1,
2004
Jeffrey St.
Clair
High
Plains Grifter: Part Two: Mark His Words
August 31,
2004
Joseph Nevins
Escapism
and Global Apartheid: The Dominican Republic & the NYTs
Matt Vidal
Beyond
Bush's Rhetoric on the Economy
Neve Gordon
Kerry and the Middle East
Dave Lindorff
Bush
the Peace Candidate?
Mike Whitney
NPR Leads the Charge for War Against Iran
Jack Random
Opening Night: Playing the War Card
Jeffrey St.
Clair
High
Plains Grifter: the Life and Crimes of George W. Bush (Part One)
CounterPunch Photo of the Day
Pete Seeger in NYC
August 30,
2004
Justin Podhur
The
Disappeared Mayor
Shaun Joseph
The
Hypocrites at TheNaderbasher.com
Mike Whitney
Israeli Moles in the Pentagon: What More Could They Possibly
Want?
Ron Jacobs
Live, From New York: the Majority of Protesters Claimed No Candidate
David Lindorff
Sunday in Manhattan: the Sound of Marchin', Chargin' Feet, Boy
Dave Zirin
USA Basketball: The Team White America Loved to Hate
Sam Husseini
Israeli Spying on the US: a Long History
Sex,
Drugs & the Blues!
Serpents in the Garden
CounterPunch's
Sizzling New Book on Culture and Sex is Now Available
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August 28 /
29, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Zombies
for Kerry
Patrick Cockburn
Najaf Ceasefire Good for Iraq, But Weakens Allawi and US
Ray McGovern
Blowing Smoke on Intelligence
Dr. Juan Romagoza
From El Salvador to Abu Ghraib: Reflections of Torture Survivor
Ray Hanania
An Israeli Spy in the Pentagon? Ridiculous!
Fred Gardner
Eddie Lepp Busted by DEA: Facing Life for Growing Medical Pot
Diane Christian
Big Men: the Better Leader Lets You Live
William S. Lind
The Desert Fox
Paul D'Amato
The Left Takes a Dive for Kerry
Joshua Frank
Greens at the Crossroads
Mickey Z.
Media Declares War on Anti-War Protests
Winslow T. Wheeler
Sen. McCain's Pork Chops: an Exchange
Justin E.H.
Smith
The New Age Racket and the Left
Thomas St. John
Burning Slaves at the Stake: On "Sinners in the Hands of
an Angry God"
Ali Tonak
Help the NYPD?
Mark Engler
New York Says "No"
Justin Felux
Haiti: the Attica of the Americas
Poets' Basement
Gelman, Albert, Ford and Hamod
August 27,
2004
Gary Leupp
Neocon
Musings
Robin Cook
The
Ghosts of Abu Ghraib
Diane Christian
Disarming
Michael Donnelly
Situational Democracy: the Show Me the Green Party?
Jack Random
4F and Other Heroes: an Army of War Resisters
Mike Ferner
"To the Swift Boats!"
Mazin Qumsiyeh
7000 Palestinian Political Prisoners
Veronza Bowers, Jr.
"You Won't Be Leaving Tomorrow"
August 26,
2004
M. Shahid Alam
The
Clash Thesis: a Failing Ideology?
Diane Christian
War
Rules: Bush is No Sun Tzu
Derek Seidman
"They're As Bad As Wal-Mart:" Starbucks Workers Get
Organized
David Lindorff
Court to RNC Protesters: Drop the Rally
Christopher
Brauchli
Signs of Dissent: the Bush in the Bubble
Stew Albert
Reporting Suspicious Activity
Mark Donham
Judgement in Athens: Give the Koreans Their Day in Court
Saul Landau
Pinochet:
the Al Capone of the Southern Cone
Website of
the Day
The Kerry 527 Ad You'll Never See
August 25,
2004
Amelia Peltz
Can
I Have 9.8 Seconds of Your Time?
Noah Leavitt
Defining and Redefining Torture
Ron Jacobs
Takin' It to the Streets: It's Not About the Election, It's About
Democracy
James Brooks
Coronado Crosses the Jordan
Akiva Eldar
How to Win the Jewish Vote: Turn Gaza into a "Mini-Afghanistan"
Gemma Araneta
Chavez's New Brand of Populism
Philip Cryan
Uribe's Boys: the Death Squads of Colombia
CounterPunch Wire
Cheney Opens the Closet Door
August 24,
2004
Jeremy Scahill
John
Kerry: the Warchurian Candidate
Gary Leupp
"We
Want Them to Go Away"
David Domke
God
Willing: an Echoing Press and Political Fundamentalism
William Loren Katz
The Meaning of Hugo Chávez: Black and Indian Power in
Venezuela
Jonah Gindin
With Chavez? Reading the International Private Media
Fran Schor
Denying Atrocities: From Vietnam to Fallujah
Joe Bageant
Driving
on the Bones of God
Website of the Day
The Great America Lockdown: a Primer for the RNC
August 23,
2004
Winslow Wheeler
Don't
Mind If I Do: Porkbarrel and the War on Terror
John Pilger
Bush
May Be the Lesser Evil
Stan Goff
Swift
Boat Dogfight
Bill and Kathleen
Christison
Notes
from the West Bank: Build, Demolish, Rebuild
Mike Whitney
The Unraveling of Afghanistan
William Blum
Brave
New World of Iraqi Sovereignty
Ralph Nader
A Letter to the Washington Post: a Shameful and Unsavory Editorial
August 21 /
22, 2004
Cockburn /
St. Clair
"They
Want Blood:" The Bi-Partisan Origins of the Total War on
Drugs
Landau / Hassen
Failing
the Mission? Form a Commission
Brian Cloughley
The
Bush Team in Iraq: Moral Cowardice, as Practiced by Experts
Josh Frank
Nader as David Duke? The ADL Wants You to Think So
Mike Whitney
Reincarnating Mengele: the Torture Doctors of Abu Ghraib
Ron Jacobs
Day Labor Blues
Mickey Z.
Shooting at Whales: 40 Years After Tonkin
Fred Gardner
Dr. Wolman Comes Out: The Cannabis Consultants
Dave Zirin
Uprising in Athens: Iraqi Soccer Team Gives Bush the Boot
Josh Saxe
Witnessing Police Brutality in LA
Yanar Mohammed
Letter from Baghdad: a Democracy of Killings and Bombings
Helen Williams
Ali's Story: a Taste of Reality from Baghdad
Michael Donnelly
Elemental and NaturalForests, Fire and Recovery
Elizabeth Schulte
The Crisis in Affordable Housing
Poets' Basement
Adler, Albert, Virgil, Ford and Krieger
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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September
1, 2004
If
Darwin Had Met Schwarzenegger
Deconstructing
Arnold
By
MIKE WHITNEY
Charles Darwin never knew Arnold Schwarzenegger.
If he had, he may have reversed some of his more daring theories
on evolution. By all accounts, Schwarzenegger is an engaging
fellow; congenial, upbeat and fiercely ambitious. His appearance
at the Republican Convention last night may have put him squarely
in the "cat-bird seat" as far as potential candidates
for the 2008 election. To say he rose to the occasion is probably
an understatement. The crowd loved him and was on its feet at
every grand banality.
"I always knew America
was the place for me. In school, when the teacher would talk
about America, I would daydream about coming here. I would daydream
about living here. I would sit there and watch for hours American
movies transfixed by my heroes like John Wayne. Everything about
America seemed so big to me, so open, so possible." (The
speech demonstrated a keen understanding of the "politics
of flattery".)
"As a kid I saw the socialist
country that Austria became after the Soviets left. Now, don't
misunderstand me, I love Austria, and I love the Austrian people."
(Uh, oh, socialism, Karl Marx.repression,
gulags, national health care, very bad.)
"I finally arrived here
in 1968. What a special day it was. I remember I arrived here
with empty pockets but full of dreams, full of determination,
full of desire." (Yes, yes; Horatio Alger, "up
by your bootstraps", no government handouts.)
"The presidential campaign
was in full swing. I remember watching the Nixon-Humphrey presidential
race on TV. A friend of mine who spoke German and English translated
for me. I heard Humphrey saying things that sounded like socialism,
which I had just left."
"But then I heard Nixon
speak. Then I heard Nixon speak. He was talking about free enterprise,
getting the government off your back, lowering the taxes and
strengthening the military.
"Listening to Nixon speak
sounded more like a breath of fresh air.
"I said to my friend,
I said, "What party is he?"
"My friend said, "He's
a Republican."
"I said, "Then I
am a Republican."
"And I have been a Republican
ever since. (Richard Nixon? "a breath of fresh air?....
Tricky-Dicky was his "role model"?...A stunned silence
falls over the crowd)
"Now, many of you out
there tonight are Republican like me in your hearts and in your
beliefs. Maybe you're from Guatemala. Maybe you're from the Philippines.
Maybe you're from Europe or the Ivory Coast. Maybe you live in
Ohio, Pennsylvania or New Mexico. And maybe -- you don't agree
with this party on every single issue. I say to you tonight that
I believe that's not only OK, but that's what's great about this
country. Here we can respectfully disagree and still be patriotic...still
be American and still be good Republicans!" (aside: Of
course you'll never get into our schools or board rooms, but
it's true, we need the votes of brown people, too. Perhaps,
you can get a job washing dishes at the club for minimum wage.
After all we are a "Big Tent"; accommodating middle
aged white men of all types and sizes.)
Then, of course, Arnold's presentation
of the long litany of "How to know you are a Republican"
"If you believe this country,
not the United Nations, is the best hope for democracy, then
you are a Republican."
(We tried that in Iraq...it's
not working.)
"And, ladies and gentlemen,
if you believe that we must be fierce and relentless and terminate
terrorism, then you are a Republican.
"Now, there's another
way you can tell you're a Republican. You have faith in free
enterprise, faith in the resourcefulness of the American people
and faith in the U.S. economy. And to those critics who are so
pessimistic about our economy, I say: Don't be economic girlie-men."
The crowed roared its approval.
Forgive me, but it seems a bit odd though for a guy who spent
the better part of his adult life "gadding about" in
a thong in front crowds of adoring males, to be "dissing"
the masculinity of people who don't buy his free market mumbo-jumbo.
Isn't there a saying about glass houses?
"The U.S. economy remains
the envy of the world. We have the highest economic growth of
any of the world's major industrialized nations. Don't you remember
the pessimism of 20 years ago, when the critics said Japan and
Germany are overtaking the U.S.? Ridiculous.
"Now, they say that India
and China are overtaking us. Don't you believe it. We may hit
a few bumps, but America always moves ahead. That's what Americans
do.
"We move prosperity ahead."
("Prosperity?"...This is where Dick Cheney soiled himself.)
Then, wrap it up with a few perfunctory words about "The
Dear Leader" George W and his Manichean struggle with "scourge
of terrorism".
"He (Bush) knows you don't
reason with terrorists. You defeat them. He knows you can't reason
with people blinded by hate. You see, they hate the power of
the individual. They hate the progress of women. They hate the
religious freedom of others. And they hate the liberating breeze
of democracy. (Hmmmm...let's see...Afghanistan, Iraq, Haiti?...no
liberating breeze so far but maybe soon.Maybe in the next four
years?)
"We are still the lamp
lighting the world, especially those who struggle. No matter
in what labor camp they slave, no matter in what injustice they're
trapped, they hear our call. They see our light. And they feel
the pull of our freedom." Who writes this stuff? Has anyone
told Arnold about Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo? Seriously, is there
anyone who's still buying this "We are the lamp lighting
the world" crap?
"Well, ladies and gentlemen,
America is back -- back from the attack on our homeland, back
from the attack on our economy, and back from the attack on our
way of life. We're back because of the perseverance, character
and leadership of the 43rd president of the United States, George
W. Bush."
Yes, back to the business of
targeting defenseless countries and stealing their resources
back to locking up their people and attacking their shrines back
to spreading our "iron fisted" economic model to the
four corners of the earth.
America is back, and Arnold
is leading the charge.
Schwarzenegger "The Anointed"
So, this is the next "empty
suit" they are setting up to be President in 2008; a serial-groping
simpleton, devoid of any conviction beyond an exaggerated belief
in his own self worth. A man who has already affixed the "debtors
shackle" to California taxpayers to the tune of $15 billion
in bonds.
The political opportunists
that propel wax figures like Schwarzenegger onto the public stage,
forcing voters to decide between one of two well-coifed manikins;
have raised cynicism into a fine art.
Democracy's choices are growing
slimmer all the time. A "body building primate" adds
nothing to those options.
Mike Whitney lives in Washington state. He can
be reached at: fergiewhitney@msn.com
Weekend
Edition Features for August 7 / 8, 2004
James Petras
The
Anatomy of "Terror Experts": Meet the Mandarins of
Abu Ghraib
Fred Gardner
Run
Ricky Run: Football, Pot and Pain
Justin Delacour
Anti-Chavez Pollsters Panic: Fix Numbers; Reinvent Venezuela
Brian Cloughley
Persecuted by All; Supported by None: Who Would Be A Kurd?
Joshua Frank
The
Outsider: a Talk with Ralph Nader
Iain A. Boal
On "Shame": Warmed-Over Orientalism and Racist Projection
Chris Floyd
All About Eve: Open Season on Women in DC and Rome
Andrew Fenton
Fighting for Democracy and Justice in Haiti
Aseem Shrivastava
Saga of an Anguished Afghan
Neil Corbett
See Cuba: Sometimes a Cigar is Just a Cigar, Mr. Bush
Carol Miller
/ Forrest Hill
Rigged Convention; Divided Party: How David Cobb Won with Only
12% of the Vote
Tarek Milleron
Breaking the Principled Voter
Donald Macintyre
The
Battle of Najaf
Ron Jacobs
Spirits of The Dead: Why I Love My Petty Bourgeois Tendencies
Mickey Z.
Kid
Gavilan's Grave: Propaganda Scores a TKO
Poets' Basement
Adler, Ford and Albert
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