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Today's
Stories
November
29, 2007
R.
F. Blader
The Most Dangerous Kind of Bribe
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!
October
24, 2007
Natalie
Washington-Weik
White Fantasies About Race-Based
Intelligence
Andy
Worthington
The Guantánamo Suicides
Michael
Birmingham
What Happened in Nahr Al Bared?
Corporate
Crime Reporter
The Nuclear Democrats
Tariq
Ali
Bush's Cuba Detour
Farzana
Versey
Imagining Serfdom in a Scarf
Dave
Zirin
White Noise
James
Murren
What "Support Our Troops" Means
Todd
Chretien
Looking Reality in the Face
Martha
Rosenberg
What Came First, the Chicken or
the Cage?
Website
of the Day
Hillary Clinton on Nuclear Power
October
23, 2007
Ralph
Nader
Bush's Catastrophic Rhetoric
Lawrence
R. Velvel
Goldsmith Stands Convicted--By His Own Mouth: How a Harvard Law
Professor Justified Rendition at the Bush Justice Dept.
Vijay
Prashad
The Nuke Deal is Dead
Bonnie
Bricker /
Adil E. Shamoo
The True Cost of War for Oil
Dave
Lindorff
Christopher Dodd's Make or Break Moment
Mike
Whitney
The Big Squeeze
Farzana
Versey
Race with the Devil
Stanley
Heller /
Ben George
Something New from the Antiwar Movement
Marcelle
Cendrars
You Too Can Confront the Holy Executive
Regan
Boychuk
Burma and Haiti: Comparing the Media Response
Website
of the Day
King Corn
October
22, 2007
Ishmael
Reed
Should Blacks Go Green?
Marjorie
Cohn
Mukasey and the Constitution: Another Loyal Bushie
Rannie
Amiri
Is There a Method to Bush's Middle East Madness?
Diane
Farsetta
Time to Pay for Payola: the FCC and Pundit-for-Hire Armstrong
Williams
Todd
Alan Price
Renewing No Child Left Behind: A Hurricane Katrina Aimed at Public
Education
Robert
Jensen
The Quagmire of Masculinity
Stephen
Lendman
The UAW Leadership Sells Out Its Workers
Jemima
Khan
The Kleptocrat in an Hermes Headscarf
Sunsara
Taylor
David Horowitz Can't Handle the Truth
Binoy
Kampmark
No Ideas, Please: the Australian Elections
Website
of the Day
Support the Center for International Policy
October
20 / 21, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
The Man Who Builds Hillaryworld
Tariq
Ali
A Massacre Foretold
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Greetings from Echo Park
Andy
Worthington
The Shame of Diego Garcia
Mike
Whitney
Housing Flameout
Daniel
Wolff
Play It As It Lays
David
Rosen
Deviants on Parade: Folsom St. Fair and America's 4th Sexual
Revolution
Saul
Landau
David and Goliath in Iraq
Ron
Jacobs
COINTELPRO and the Panthers
Robert
Fantina
The Strange Love of Mitt Romney and Bob Jones
David
Heleniak
Erring on the Side of Hidden Harm
Joe
Allen
Hoffa Brown-Nosing at UPS
Prairie
Miller
Lions for Lambs
Poets'
Basement
Gibbons, Holt and Buknatski
Website
of the Weekend
Crash!
October
19, 2007
John
Ross
Che's Mexican Legacy
Sheldon
Rampton
Shared Values Revisited: a Case Study in the Limits of Propaganda
Rahul
Mahajan
A Tale of Two Atrocities: Blackwater and Haditha
Devra
Davis
Deadly Secrets: Chemical Pollution and Cancer
Christopher
Brauchli
Blasphemous Science
Wadner
Pierre
Haiti After the Deluge
Bill
Quigley
Jailed for Justice
Website
of the Day
Textbook Sticker Shock
October
18, 2007
Saree
Makdisi
Academic Freedom is at Risk
Meg
Dwyer
What I Learned from 9/11: Who Wouldn't Want Us Dead?
Alevtina
Rea
Sketches of Russian Life
Norman
Solomon
The United States of Violence
Kristoffer
Larsson
Something is Rotten in Sweden
Harvey
Wasserman
Nukes are Back and So are We
Website
of the Day
Eve Ensler: "A Filibuster Would Stop This War"
October
17, 2007
Steve
Niva
Counter-Insurgency, American-Style
Andy
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Iraq, Iran and the US: Business as Usual
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Where Have All the Rednecks Gone?
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Sex Ed at Oral Roberts University
October
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Follow the Leader: The Open Secret About the Israel Lobby
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Pipeline Through Paradise: Big Oil's Arctic Play
|
November
29, 2007
The Beaverhead-Deerlodge
Deceit
Forest
Fires, Lies and Chainsaws
By GEORGE WUERTHNER
The sprawling 3.3 million acre Beaverhead
Deerlodge National Forest (BDNF) is one of the most spectacular
pieces of public domain in America. It contains outstanding scenery,
superlative fisheries, abundant wildlife, and unparalleled wildlands.
The forest is high, dry, and generally unproductive in terms
of timber production, which is one reason why the majority of
its lands remain roadless. Of the total 3.3 million acres, 1.8
million are still essentially roadless, but only 220,000 are
currently designated wilderness. The BDNF is not the nation's
woodbox, but it could be and should be the nation's wilderness
heartland.
In attempt to divvy up lands
on the BDNF, the Montana Wilderness Association (MWA), National
Wildlife Federation (NWF), and Trout Unlimited (TU) have reached
a joint agreement with representatives of the timber industry
and other interest groups called the Beaverhead Deerlodge Partnership
(BDP). With the support of these conservation groups, this plan
proposes logging up to 730,000 acres of the BDNF in exchange
for timber industry support of 570,000 acres of new wilderness
areas. Not only is this proposal a tripling of logging over what
the BDNF originally determined as suitable for timber cutting
in its forest plan, but it also involves potential entry into
200,000 acres of roadless lands.
The BDP is based upon false
premises. To justify this increased logging, these conservation
groups have adopted the pejorative language of the timber industry,
including words such as "unhealthy" forests, "catastrophic"
fires, and other terms that feed public misconceptions about
our forests and associated natural processes like wildfire and
periodic insect population increases.
And in what can only be called
Orwellian, these conservation groups also support increased logging
to fund rehabilitation of past, present and future logging impacts.
This is like advocating the construction of casinos and using
their profits to fund rehabilitation of gamblers.
Nearly all of the roadless
lands proposed for wilderness lie outside of what the FS considers
the suitable timber base. In other words, the timber industry
would never get to log these lands anyway. With the full complicity
of the MWA, TU, and NWF, the timber industry is getting access
to more logs than they could even get from the Forest Service,
while giving up virtually nothing by supporting wilderness.
What we are getting as protected
wilderness in this plan is essentially the highest, steepest,
rocks and ice country like the West Big Hole-with heavily forested
roadless areas with gentle terrain (read good for logging) such
as the West Pioneers gaining only a small core proposed as wilderness.
All of this is justified by
flawed science, faulty economics, and deceptive ecological accounting.
Here's the some of the details that MWA, TU, and NWF, along with
their "partners" in the timber industry don't want
you to know.
LOGGING
JUSTIFIED ON FALSE PREMISE
Flawed assumption number one
is the assertion that forests of the BDNF have missed multiple
fire cycles as a consequence of fire exclusion, and thus have
unnatural accumulations of fuels that are responsible for large
blazes. However, the majority of the BDNF forests consist of
higher elevation forest types like  lodgepole pine, subalpine
fir, aspen, and other species that are naturally dominated by
mixed to high intensity blazes that occur at long intervals.
In other words, these forests don't burn frequently, but when
they do, the fires tend to be large and intense. For the most
part, even if fire suppression were always successful, which
clearly it is not, the past fifty years or so of active fire
suppression has not been long enough to significantly alter historic
fire regimes in most of these forests.
Even the lower elevation Douglas
fir forests on the BDNF may not be seriously out of whack. New
research is calling into question the assumption that fire exclusion
is responsible for increasing stand density of lower elevation
forests. For instance, one recent study on the Black Hills NF
in South Dakota found that it was wet years that increased seedling
survival, rather than fire exclusion, that has led to higher
tree density.
Other studies are calling
into question the entire validity of fire history studies, particularly
lower elevation forests. Some researchers now believe that fire
intervals may have been longer than previously assumed, and that
stand replacement blazes may not be unheard of in these forests.
All these new insights into fire ecology suggest that the forests
of the BDNF may not have experienced a significant departure
from historic conditions; therefore they are not "unhealthy"
and there is no problem that needs fixing, particularly by logging.
DROUGHT
AND WIND--NOT FUEL--DRIVES LARGE BLAZES
The second flawed assumption
is that fuel accumulations drive large blazes. Rather than fuels,
it is drought, wind, and low humidity that drive all large fires.
When these conditions prevail, large blazes are the natural outcome.
Prominent fire ecologist Tom Swetnam, long an advocate of that
the fuels due to fire exclusion is driving large blazes, has
reconsidered his opinion. Swetnam is now convinced, as are an
increasing number of fire ecologists that climatic conditions
are the driving force behind most large blazes we see today.
With global warming we are seeing a lengthening of the fire season
and drier conditions, which in turn creates ideal fire conditions.
Drought and higher temperatures are also the reason insect populations
like mountain pine beetle have swelled in recent years.
If climate is the driving force
in tree establishment and large blazes, this calls into question
whether forests are truly out of balance and "unhealthy"
as the timber industry and groups like TU, MWA, and NWF would
have you believe. In fact, large fires, insect outbreaks, and
other changes that some are mistakenly characterizing as "unhealthy,"
are really indicative of a healthy forest response to changing
climate.
And the assumption that fuels
are driving large blazes ignores the fact that we had plenty
of big fires in the past, and well before fire suppression had
any influence. The huge 1910 Burn raced across more than 3 million
acres of western Montana and northern Idaho long before the Forest
Service even thought about suppressing fires.
THINNING
DOES NOT STOP LARGE BLAZES
This brings us to flawed assumption
number three. There is a growing body of anecdotal and scientific
evidence to suggest that thinning, or fuels management-by whatever
euphemism logging is called-does not slow or reduce the likelihood
of large blazes. Again, this goes back to the fact that large
blazes are primarily a consequence of climatic conditions. You
can have a ton of fuels on the ground, but if you don't have
the right conditions for a fire to spread, fuels don't matter;
it won't burn.
On the other hand, if climatic
conditions are severe, with extended drought, high temperatures,
low humidity, and most importantly high winds, then fires will
burn through all kinds of fuel loadings, including forests with
very light fuels. Wildfires will roar through clearcuts, thinned
forests, and even naturally thin forest stands with surprising
vigor. We have seen many examples of this in recent years, including
some of the larger blazes that burned in western Montana this
summer. The Jocko Lakes fire by Seeley Lake, Montana, and the
Black Cat fire by Frenchtown, Montana are only two of many recent
fires that burned through heavily logged and managed forest stands.
In fact, there is some evidence
to suggest that thinning the forest can actually acerbate fire
spread and intensity. Remember that fires spread quickest and
burn hottest under conditions of drought, wind, and high temperatures.
When you thin the forest, you open it up to solar radiation which
dries out fuel, and increased temperatures result in additional
heat stress on trees which respond with greater evaporative transpiration
from needles and leaves, further drying soils and wood. Both
of these factors increase flammability. And thinning allows
the wind to penetrate further into a stand so that even a small
10 mph increase in wind speed can lead to a huge increase in
fire spread, since wind increases fire spread exponentially.
In addition, opening up the
canopy by thinning increases available sunlight, and the reduced
competition for nutrients spurs rapid growth of small trees and
fine fuels like grasses, thereby increasing the relative flammability
of the forest stand.
LOGGING--BY
ANY NAME-- IS NOT BENIGN
The fourth problem is that
while conservation groups have adopted the deceptive language
of the timber industry, using "Stewardship Logging"
to mask what is nothing more than the same old logging with a
new twist, they gloss over the many proven negative impacts that
come with logging.
For instance, logging roads
are major vectors for the spread of weeds. They are major sources
of sedimentation. Logging equipment compacts soils, reducing
infiltration of water, resulting in more surface runoff and erosion.
Roads alter surface and subsurface water drainage patterns. Roads
provide access to hunters and ORVs ensuring additional impacts
and disturbance to wildlife. Logging removes woody debris (i.e.
logs) from the forest that results in a loss to wildlife habitat
and nutrient cycling. Logging disturbance can negatively impact
mollusks, ants and other invertebrates that are important to
forest ecosystem function. And, of course, logging alters natural
processes like wildfire and insect populations which have proven
positive benefits to the forest ecosystem.
Logging proponents counter
by suggesting all logging roads will be temporary, and will be
"restored." However, this ignores the on going negative
effects summarized above that will occur while the "temporary"
road is being used, plus the fact that full restoration of soil
column, slope, and natural vegetation is very expensive and takes
decades-- if ever-to be successful. Given the rather poor timber
growing conditions on the BDNF, it is doubtful that any logging
program can pay for full restoration of roads.
In addition, logging will be
concentrated in the most productive sites valley bottoms and
lower elevations, and the most critical aquatic and wildlife
habitats on the BDNF. Thus any logging and human intrusion has
a disproportional impact on the biological integrity of the forest.
By contrast the proposed wilderness areas are dominated by high
elevation subalpine forests and peaks-nice to look at it, but
having little biological value.
Plus, disturbance of wildlife
from logging activities extends from roads and logging operations
to affect far more than the acres actually being cut, another
point glossed over by BDP proponents. Elk and bear, for instance,
have been shown to avoid areas for up to a mile from intensive
human activities, thereby removing considerable potential habitat
from these animals.
OTHER NON-INTRUSIVE
METHODS IGNORED
The fifth problem with the
BDP is that the plan immediately defaults to a very intrusive
proposed action-namely logging-as its method of choice to reduce
the threat of so called "catastrophic" fires to private
property. BDP supporters conveniently ignore less intrusive alternative
means of reducing fire risk such as prescribed burning or reducing
house flammability. Studies by Jack Cohen at the Missoula Fire
Lab have shown that reducing house flammability is the most cost
effective and, in fact, may be the only effective means of reducing
fire risk. Retrofitting homes with metal roofs, removing of fine
fuels from the proximity of homes, and other procedures can significantly
increase the chances that any individual home will survive a
blaze, even a crown fire.
LOGGING
NOT IMPORTANT TO ECONOMY
The sixth faulty assertion
made by BDP proponents is that logging is important to the regional
economy, and that greater logging of the BDNF will have a positive
economic impact on communities. Again, this is more wishful thinking
and propaganda from the timber industry than truth. The most
important values on the BDNF are fisheries, wildlife, scenery
and wildlands. As University of Montana economist Tom Power and
others have shown the economy of western Montana is now and will
be in the future driven by these amenity values, all of which
will be degraded and compromised by logging. Plus, all indicators
suggest that the timber industry will continue to employ fewer
and fewer people due to automation as well as a general decline
in the industry-regardless of timber supply. Building an economic
future based upon timber production while degrading the very
things that are truly valuable like wildlands and wildlife of
the BDNF is insanity.
STEWARDSHIP
LOGGING IS A DANGEROUS EUPHENISM
Like the Bush administration's
use of "Clear Skies Initiative" which is actually designed
to promote dirty air, the new positive-sounding euphemism for
logging bantered around is "Stewardship Contracts."
But like Clear Skies, stewardship logging is equally deceptive.
Stewardship logging, or logging by any other name is not benign.
Stewardship contracts will direct all of the profits from logging
back to the forest instead to the federal treasury. Proponents
see this as a funding source for the forest, but it can easily
be abused, since local forest officials will have a direct financial
incentive to log. In a perverse way this may ultimately lead
to even more logging of the BDNF as the agency seeks to maximize
financial returns by selling off more of the public forests.
ORV AND
LIVESTOCK THREATS IGNORED
Finally the BDP supports ORV
use on more than 1.6 million acres and leaving 2.2 million acres
to snowmobiles, despite a litany of negative impacts that these
machines cause to our collective natural heritage. And the "partners"
say nothing about the detrimental effects of livestock grazing,
especially its impacts upon riparian areas and wetlands, all
the while giving lip service about the need for restoring aquatic
ecosystems.
RESOURCE
ADVISORY COUNCIL (RAC)
Another long-term problem with
the BDP is that it proposes creation of a Resource Advisory Council
to be made up of industry, recreation, livestock and conservation
interests to advise the agencies about how to spend money from
logging receipts. Such a stacked deck ensures that RACs represent
local economic interests. Keep in mind that conservationists
chosen to serve on RACs are typically those known to be sympathetic
to ranching, logging, and other extractive industries. The dominance
by extractive interests ensures that RACs are a vehicle of local
control of public lands. Though these councils are technically
only "advisory," most federal employees know that they
can only ignore the RAC at their peril.
MORE WILDERNESS
NEEDED
Most of the US is already developed,
given over to human industry. Ninety percent of Montana is already
roaded and developed. We are fighting over the last few scraps
of relatively undeveloped landscapes. If we were to really have
a genuine compromise we would be advocating the closure of all
roads, termination of all logging, grazing, ORV use, and mining
so that restoration of the entire BDNF back to wilderness |
