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The New Print Edition of CounterPunch, Only for Our Newsletter Subscribers!

The Lesser of Two Evils: Bill or Hillary?

Alexander Cockburn profiles the couple, as they battle to recapture the Oval Office PLUS Why You Can't Discuss Immigration without Dealing with "Free Trade". Alexandra Early on why 42 per cent of ALL Salvadorans would leave for the U.S. if they had a chance. PLUS Israel and Palestine: One State or Two? Kathleen Christison makes the case for One State. Get your copy today by subscribing online or calling 1-800-840-3683 Contributions to CounterPunch are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! CounterPunch books and gear make great holiday presents.

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Today's Stories

February 16 / 17, 2008

Ralph Nader
We the Corporations ...

February 15, 2008

George Szamuely
The Absurdity of "Independent" Kosovo

Patrick Cockburn
Ground-Truthing the Surge: Is the US Really Bringing Stability to Baghdad?

Wajahat Ali
Pakistan is Burning: an Interview with Steve Coll on the Taliban, Bin Laden and the Bush Administration

Mike Whitney
Henry Paulsen's Wild Ride on the Economic Hindenberg

Alan Farago
God and the Democrats

Chris Genovali
Alberta's Black Gold Rush

Jacob Hornberger
Courting Injustice: Scalia on Torture

Dave Lindorff
Snoops Always Ring Twice: Bush's Protect America Bill Bull

Website of the Day
Live From the Land of Hopes and Dreams

 

 

February 14, 2008

Kathleen and Bill Christison
Palestine in the Mind of America

Mike Whitney
Swan Song for NATO

Clancy Sigal
Strike Notes from a Screenwriter

George Wuerthner
A Bloody Sham: the Yellowstone Bison Slaughter

Peter Morici
Is Bernanke Headed for the Exit?

John Ross
Drug War Mayhem Boils Over from Border to Border

Allan Nairn
Mafia Rules in the Middle East: If You're Big Enough, You Can Whack Anyone

Rannie Amiri
Lebanon's Warmongers

Niranjan Ramakrishnan
The New Tractatus: Where Wittgenstein Meets Feinstein

Donna Volatile
Be Careful What You Vote For, You Just Might Get It

Seth Sandronsky
The Student Squeeze: Fighting California's Tuition Hikes

Website of the Day
Conventions: the Land Around Us

 

February 13, 2008

Nikolas Kozloff
Meet John McCain: Mr. Big Stick in Latin America

Alan Farago
Hell to Pay: Warren Buffett on the Goal Line

Christina Kasica
King's Dream Foreclosed: the Subprime Crisis in Black America

Vicente Navarro
How to Read the U.S. Primaries

Hall Greenland
Australia's Finest Hour

Lee Sustar
Strange Stimulation: Too Little for Those Who Need It Most

David Macaray
The Writers' Strike Finally Ends

Roderick Frazier Nash
Celebrating Wilderness

Patrick Irelan
Hugo Chávez and High Anxiety at the NYT

Anthony Papa
Mean Mister Mukasey: AG Tries to Block Crack Cocaine Releases

Carl Finamore
Another Parade Passes Me By: Don't Let Your Movement be Coopted by Politicians

Website of the Day
John He Is

 

February 12, 2008

Frank J. Menetrez
The Case Against Alan Dershowitz

Paul Craig Roberts
War Without End

Dr. Trudy Bond
The Elephant at Gitmo: Camp 7 and the Torturer's Shrink

Andy Worthington
The Guantánamo Six: Why Charge Them Now? What About the Torture?

Col. Dan Smith
The Psychology of Killing: Close In or Far Away?

Ronnie Cummins
Globalization: Standing at the End of the Road

Ralph Nader
Open the Government

John V. Walsh
Antiwarriors, Divided and Conquered

Dave Lindorff
Obama and Progressive Change: Let's Hope the Movement Transforms the Candidate

Michael Donnelly
Who's Pimping Whom? The Clintons' Selective No Talk Rules

Ron Jacobs
La Lucha Continua: Castro's "Life"

Ben Tripp
Beggars Collide

Website of the Day
Springsteen and Youngstown

 

February 11, 2008

Cockburn / St. Clair
Lessons for Obama: When is a Delegate Not a Delegate?

Wajahat Ali
A Discussion with Walt and Mearsheimer on the Israel Lobby

Ray McGovern
Waterboarding for God and Country

Allan Nairn
The Shooting of Jose Ramos Horta

Uri Avnery
An End Foreseen?

Chris Floyd
American Psycho: the Meaning of Mitt Romney's Exit Speech

Martha Rosenberg
School Lessons in a Lunchbox: Lunchmeat from Tortured Cows

Stephen Fleischman
The Bonnie and Clyde of American Politics

Marc Lamont Hill
Not My Brand of Hope

Liliana Segura
Obama and Torture: the Sounds of Silence and Equivocation

Peter Morici
Challenges for the New President

Christopher Brauchli
A Drug Rant from a Former Taker

Website of the Day
Annie vs. the Blue Angels

 

February 8 / 10, 2008

Paul Craig Roberts
Does the GOP Have Aces Up Its Sleeves?

Patrick Cockburn
Will Moqtada al-Sadr's Truce Hold?

Mike Whitney
The Great Bust of '08

Anthony DiMaggio
How the Press Covers Waterboarding

Andy Worthington
The Guántanamo Trials: Where are the Terrorists?

Linn Cohen-Cole
Hillary, Will You Renounce Your Ties to Monsanto?

Firmin DeBrabander
Notes from the Foreclosure Front: Suing Your Way to Solvency

Cpt. Paul Watson
The Other Whaling Industry: How Greenpeace Cashes In on the Suffering and Deaths of the Great Whales

Kenneth S. Pope
Why I Resigned from the American Psychological Association

Jacob G. Hornberger
American Soldiers Will Pay the Price for Bush's Torture Policy

Robert Bryce
Beyond Group Think on Climate Change: If More CO2 is Bad ... Then What?

P. Sainath
The Last of the Buccaneer Editors

Allan Nairn
Give Me Back My Land

Fred Gardner /
Pebbles Trippet

"The District Attorney of Shasta County Doesn't Know the Law!"

Andrew Wimmer
Growing Up Catholic: Ignorance is Death

Robert Fantina
America's Disgrace: the Case of Omar Khadr

David Michael Green
Partycide in Six Easy Steps: Watch the Democrats Destroy Themselves

Kevin Zeese
Is Dennis Kucinich Being McKinney'd?

Peter Morici
Wall Street Gives Bernacke a Vote of No Confidence

Chris Driscoll
Could Nader be the Come-Back Kid of 2008?

Prairie Miller
Black August: Bringing George Jackson's Life to the Screen

Poets Basement
Davies and Buknatski

 

February 7, 2008

Patrick Cockburn
Why Baghdad Will Explode Again

Bill Christison
Potholes Bigger Than Ever for Palestinians

David Anderson
NBC's "To Entrap" a Predator: Perverting Justice for the Sake of Ratings

Ron Jacobs
Innocent Flesh: Recruiting Kids to Kill

Nikolas Kozloff
Hugo Chávez's Coca: It's the Real Thing

Jane Rockefeller
The Moral Economy of an Anti-Poverty Foundation

Andy Worthington
On Waterboarding: Two Questions for Michael Hayden

Dave Zirin
Instep Intifada

Saul Landau
The "Honestest" Candidate Since Lincoln

Susie Day
Our Blob in the White House

Website of the Day
George Carlin on Voting

 

February 6, 2008

Cockburn / St. Clair
Super Tuesday's Vote for Chaos

Ben Rosenfeld
Informant Games: The Disturbing GreenScare Case of Briana Waters

Vijay Prashad
An Intellectual Hustler Lays It All Out

Joe Bageant
Nine Billion Little Feet on the Highway of the Damned

Michael Donnelly
What White Women Do In Private Voting Booths

Allan Nairn
Does the US Need a Civilizing Mayan Invasion?

Kathryn Gray
Wilderness on Edge: The Fate of Donner Summit

Ray McGovern
Powell's UN Fiasco

Sheldon Richman
The Whining Empire

Paul Cantor / Roger Sparks
A Presidential Aptitude Examination

John Chuckman
Political Bits and Pieces

Website of the Day
Save the Albatross

February 5, 2008

Winslow T. Wheeler
The Chaos in America's Vast Security Budget

Tariq Ali
Why I Will Not Participate in the Turin Book Fair

Stephen Soldz
The Secret Rules of Engagement in Iraq: Did Rumsfeld Authorize War Crimes?

Chris Floyd
Strange Fruit: America's Gulag and the Good War

William S. Lind
Saddam's Secret War Strategy: Die and Win

Martha Rosenberg
Live From the Killing Floor

Heather Gray
Conversations with Georgia Voters

Ayesha Ijaz Khan
Obama, Bhagwandas and the Battle for a Secular Politics

David Macaray
Unions Need to Stop Being So Nice

Eliza Ernshire
Making Music and Laughing Till the Tears Run

Brenda Norrell
Hated Nation

Website of the Day
The Things I Used to Do

 

 

February 4, 2008

Marc Levy
Winter in America

Patrick Cockburn
The Bird Market Bombings

Saree Makdisi
Strangling Gaza

Uri Avnery
From Stalingrad to Winograd

Alan Farago
Let's Get Bambi! Someone is Slaughtering Florida's Key Deer

Ben Tripp
Spare Change: the Whine of the Progressive Voter

Paul Wolf
Civil Wars North and South

Paul Craig Roberts
Why Were the 9/11 Tapes Destroyed?

Joshua Frank
MoveOn's Obama Endorsement: Why There's No Hope for Change

John Halle
Whither Progressive Democrats?

Website of the Day
How to Cheat in School

 

February 2 / 3, 2008

Alexander Cockburn
Hot Democratic Properties

Pam Martens
Bankers Gone Bonkers: Global Finance and the Insanity Defense

Ralph Nader
The Great Clinton-Obama Debate: Questions They Weren't Asked

John Ross
Hilaria vs. "El Moreno"

Wajahat Ali
Hillary, Obama and the Clash of Civilizations: an Interview with Imam Zaid Shakir

Robert Fantina
A Colony by Any Other Name: Iraq as Stepchild of the American Empire

B. R. Gowani
Not All Veils and Guns

James L. Secor
China in Winter: On the Western Edge of the Great Snow

John V. Walsh
The Invisible Green Primary

Niranjan Ramakrishnan
Barack's Bubble, Bubba's Trouble

Dave Zirin
Who Stole the Super Bowl's Soul?

Jeremy Scahill
Blackwater and Blood

Fidel Castro
Reflections on Lula

Joe Allen
Tet Reconsidered: the Turning Point in the Vietnam War

Stephen Lendman
Life in Occupied Gaza

Patrick Irelan
What Happened to the Streetcars?

Andrej Grubacic
Ziga Vodovnik
Caligula's Horse: the USA, New Europe and Kosovo

Josh Karpoff
Dead Soldiers and the Antiwar Movement

Ron Jacobs
Carl Oglesby's War

Paul Krassner
Tom Waits Meets Super-Joel

Website of the Weekend
Company Woman: Hillary and Wal-Mart

 

February 1, 2008

Ray McGovern
The Iniquities and Inequalities of War

Diane Farsetta
The Wild Career of James "Dow 36,000" Glassman

Patrick Cockburn
The Most Dangerous Country in the World for Journalists

Tariq Ali
Et Tu, New York Times?

Allan Nairn
Eating Dirt for Lunch in Haiti

Rannie Amiri
Collective Punishment in Beirut

Ramzy Baroud
People Power in Gaza: They Simply Did It

Kenneth Couesbouc
The Mother of All Snowballs

Peter Morici
Recession Looms

Mumia Abu-Jamal
Witha "Brutha" Like This: Bill Clinton as White Negro

Rosemary Jackowski
27 Reasons Nader Should Run for President

Scott Campbell
Direct Action to Stop the War Re-emerges

Website of the Day
Betes et Hommes

 

January 31, 2008

Saul Landau
Return to Afghanistan

Andy Worthington
Horror at Guantánamo

Mike Whitney
Rate Cut as Dagger: America's Teetering Banking System

Jeff Ballinger
Sustainability for Dictators Initiative? Clinton Praises the "Suharto of the Steppe"

Tiffany Ten Eyck
The Saga of the Freightliner Five

William Loren Katz
Waterboarding: Torure or Mystery?

Alan Farago
Why the Republicans are in Deep Trouble

Col. Dan Smith
Oh Say Can You See the 2009 Budget?

China Hand
Slouching Toward Islamabad

Dave Lindorff
The Usual Suspects Once Again

Wadner Pierre
Fake Democracy in Haiti

Website of the Day
One Big Union

 

January 30, 2008

Cockburn / St. Clair
McCain vs. Clinton?

Christopher Ketcham
The Genius of the Development Industrial-Complex

Robert Weissman
America By the Numbers: The Shameful State of the Union

Neve Gordon
An Experiment in Famine

Paul Craig Roberts
Regulation or Deregulation, Which is Worse?

Joanne Mariner
How Anti-Terror Laws Threaten Free Speech

David Macaray
Labor's Only Real Weapon

Liaquat Ali Khan
Is NATO Committing Genocide in Afghanistan?

Raymond J. Lawrence
Prankster-in-Chief: Bush's Troubling Non-Verbal Communication

Dan Bacher
The Collapse of the Central Valley Salmon

Website of the Day
Onward Through the Fog

 

January 29, 2008

Franklin C. Spinney
Bush's New War Budget: the $70 Billion Hand-Off

Mike Whitney
The Great Credit Unwind of 2008

Alan Farago
Buyer Beware: Florida, the Candidates and the Latin Builders Association

Patrick Cockburn
"The Americans Bring Us Only Destruction"

Gary Leupp
"We Can't Afford to Let Them Spill the Beans:" a Sibel Edmonds Timeline

R. F. Blader
A World Without Abortion: USA v. Romania

Ahmad Faruqui
Musharraf's Post-Electoral Prospect

Fran Shor
Obama, the Kennedys and "Change We Can Believe In"

Jeremy Scahill
Secret Trials and Criminal Convictions: the Ordeal of the Blackwater Protesters

Allan Nairn
Bush's SOTU: Entitlement, Justice and the War of All Against All

Website of the Day
The Ghost of Rambo

 

January 28, 2008

Patrick Cockburn
Return to Fallujah

Paul Craig Roberts
The End of American Liberty

Allan Nairn
The Breaking of the Gaza Wall

Eyad al-Sarraj / Sara Roy
Ending the Stranglehold on Gaza

Martha Rosenberg
Obit for the "Front Page" City

Corporate Crime Reporter
How They Rip Us Off

David Michael Green
Kristolizing Iraq: What a Great Freakin' War

Jennifer Van Bergen
What's Left?

Nancy Oden
Survival Tips for Hard Times

Divya Karnad
Saving India's Sea Turtles

James L. Secor
Pissed About Pistorious: Why the Olympics Needs a Gimp

Website of the Day
Yellow Journalism?

 

January 26 / 27, 2008

Uri Avnery
Worse Than a Crime

JoAnn Wypijewski
How the Clintons Lost It, Whatever the Outcome in S. Carolina

Ralph Nader
Ambition, Power and the Clintons

Paul Craig Roberts
How Bush Destroyed the Dollar

Paul Watson
I'm Proud to be a Pirate!

John Ross
Murder and Cover-Up in Mexico

Fred Gardner
Ross v. Raging Wire: Employer's Right to Fire Workers Held Sacred by California Supreme Court

Allan Nairn
Little Hands with Fever: Some Consequences of Poverty Death

Joshua Frank
Why Bush Wants to Legalize the Nuke Trade with Turkey

Binoy Kampmark
Société Générale and the Economic Meltdown

James T. Phillips
America's Sick Comedy: Bringing the War Home

Stan Cox
The Depressing Truth About Anti-Depressants

Eamonn McCann
Hillary's Lie: "I Brought Peace to Northern Ireland"

Ron Jacobs
The Horizons of History: What's at Stake in Bolivia

Seth Sandronsky
California's Health Care Crisis

Ben Terrall
The Future is Unwritten

Poets' Basement
Tripp, Gardner, Gibbons and Davies

Website of the Weekend
City of Immigrants

 

 

January 25, 2008

Douglas Valentine
Operation Two-Fold: How the CIA Infiltrated the DEA

Patrick Cockburn
US Troops Will Be In Iraq for 10 More Years: an Interview with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari

JoAnn Wypijewski
Down to the Wire in South Carolina

Heather Gray
Are We Seeing a Racial Shift in the South? Conversations with South Carolina Voters

Marjorie Cohn
Senate Democrats Poised to Fold to Cheney on FISA

Erica Rosenberg
Environmentalists Out on a Limb: the Perils of Collaboration

Alan Farago
Jeb Bush Goes Nuclear

Robert Weissman
Reclaiming Economic Freedom

Laura Carlsen
Wild Cards: Mining the Hispanic Vote in Nevada

Stephen Lendman
Israeli Repression in the Hebron

Website of the Day
The FIX is In

 

January 24, 2008

JoAnn Wypijewski
Obama as Anthologist of Uplift

Paul Craig Roberts
President Hillary

Alexander Cockburn
Hillary Wants to Talk About Dirty Legal Dealings? Remember Her Nursing Home Scam?

Kathleen Christison
One and Two State Solutions and the Myth of International Consensus

Jeff Halper
Power to the (Palestinian) People!

Stanley Heller
The Siege of Gaza is Broken

George Wuerthner
The Moronic Sport: ORVs on the Public Lands

Patrick Cockburn
Desperate Iraqi Farmers Turn to Opium

Jeff Sher
Just How "Good" is Your Health Insurance?

Patrick Irelan
Musharraf, the Steadfast Ally?

Charles Modiano
Restoring the Anti-War King

Website of the Day
An Illustrated History of Trepanation

 

January 23, 2008

David Rosen
The Great Disappearing Act: the Presidential Candidates and the Politics of Sex

David Isenberg
Is It Really So Hard to Believe That Iran Stopped Its Nuclear Weapons Program?

Farzana Versey
Hillary's Harem

Paul Craig Roberts
The Empire That Must Be Obeyed

Alan Farago
Where Did All the Good Times Go?

Allan Nairn
Indonesian Intelligence Service Threatens to Kill Human Rights Activist

Kenneth Couesbouc
Another Turn of the Screw

Niranjan Ramakrishnan
How the West was Re-Sold

Michael Donnelly
Obama Strikes Back

Norman Solomon
The Power of Love

Website of the Day
Rafah Today

 

January 22, 2008

Paul Craig Roberts
Farewell to Old Economic Nostrums

JoAnn Wypijewski
King Day in Columbia, South Carolina

Al Giordano
Divide and Conquer Politics: How the Clinton Campaign Armed a Black-Latino Time Bomb in Nevada

Felice Pace
Power Politics in the Klamath: Water, Dams and Salmon

Paul Wolf
Bolívar's Sword

Robert Weissman
Deregulation and the Financial Crisis

Dave Lindorff
The Bush Dollar Trap

Marjorie Cohn
Cheney Impeachment Gains Traction

Richard Neville
Keeping Shakespeare in a Box

Don Fitz / Zaki Baruti
St. Louis Mayor Booed Off MLK Platform

Ben Terrall
Cindy Sheehan and the Virtues of Divisiveness

Sam Husseini
Stoning Martin Luther King, Jr.

Website of the Day
Defend the Mapuche!

 

 

January 21, 2008

Kevin Alexander Gray
Playing the Race Card

Linn Washington, Jr.
Deferring Dreams, Delusions of Democracy

Pam Martens
How Wall Street Blew Itself Up

David Macaray
Labor's Grim Dilemma: Do We Need a Labor Party?

Uri Avnery
Look Who's Talking

Omar Barghouti
Europe's Collusion in Israel's Slow Genocide

Joe DeRaymond
Protest and Trial in D.C.

B.R. Gowani
Why Islam Should Tolerate Images

Shepherd Bliss
The False U.S. Economy

Jean-Guy Allard
Philip Agee Versus the CIA

Dan Bacher
Leaping Steelhead!

Website of the Day
Destroyed By a Rising Flood


January 19 / 20, 2008

Alexander Cockburn
The Campaign in Black and White

Saul Landau
Good Time Charlie's War

China Hand
Endgame for Pakistan?

Conn Hallinan
Desert Mirage: What Was the Bombing of Syria Really About?

Ron Jacobs
No Retreat

Dave Lindorff
A Tax Rebate Won't Fix This Mess

Andy Worthington
Canada's Humiliating Double Standard on Torture

Paul Armentano
What's the Going Price for a Joint? More Than You Might Think

Seth Sandronsky
High Crimes and Economics

Michael Donnelly
Dodging Ecocide

Patrick Irelan
The Ordeal of Dr. Safdar Sarki

Martha Rosenberg
The Drug Industry Takes Another Hit

Sherwood Ross
Making the World Safe for Despots: Bush's Global Arms Trade

David Michael Green
So You Want to be My President, Eh?

James Rothenberg
Unimpeachable: Under House Protection

Daniel Gross
Starbucks Shortchanges Dr. King

Peter N. Carroll
In Memory of Milton Wolff

Susie Day
Croakin' on Hudson

Paul Krassner
Woody Allen Meets Tongue Fu

Poets' Basement
Wolff, Buknatski and Orloski

Website of the Day
Rocky Mountain Blues

 

January 18, 2008

Allan Nairn
Killing Civilians, Carefully

Ralph Nader
When the Big Boys Get in Trouble, Who Pays the Ultimate Bill?

Joanne Mariner
Terrorism and Preventative Detention

Alan Farago
The Stimulus and the Meltdown

P. Sainath
Pity the Brahmins

R.F. Blader
Beyond Steinem's Feminism

Andy Worthington
A Letter from Guantánamo

John Jonik
Private Insurance is Bad for Your Health

Brian McKenna
Where Even Sharing is Prohibited: Notes from Inside a Michigan Women's Prison

Daoud Kuttab
This Time Next Year?

Website of the Day
Those South Carolina Voting Machines

 

January 17, 2008

Paul Craig Roberts
Leader and Vassal

Christopher Brauchli
The FBI's Bills Come Due

Robert Fantina
Leadership, Bush and the New York Times

Patrick Irelan
Eternal War

Paul A. Moore
When the Rich Pay No Taxes

Stephen Lendman
Institutionalized Spying on Americans

Beena Sarwar
Bhutto and the "State Within a State"

Walter Brasch
Buzzwords in the Echo Chamber: Change and the Establishment

Brenda Norrell
Bush Legacy in Texas Sours

Adam Federman
End of the Left?

Website of the Day
Democrats for Romney

 

January 16, 2008

Jeffrey St. Clair
Return of the Native

Franklin Lamb
The Bombing at Qarantina

Julian Sanchez
David Weigel
Who Wrote Ron Paul's Newsletters?

Sharon Smith
Ron Paul and the Left: a Slippery Slope?

Allan Nairn
Economic Indicator: No Free Lunch, No Free Market

Ayesha Ijaz Khan
How the American Media Enables Bush's Iran Fixation

Andy Worthington
A Strategic Call to Close Guantánamo

Richard Behan
Nancy Pelosi, You Must Impeach!

Website of the Day
Obama the New JFK? He's Not That Bad!

 

January 15, 2008

Andrea Peacock
Breach of Trust in America's Most Toxic Town: How the EPA is Rubbing Poison Into Libby's Wounds

Wajahat Ali
An Interview with Seymour Hersh on Iraq, Bush Foreign Policy and the Prospects of War with Iran

Joe Bageant
Getting Out the Bling Vote

Ralph Nader
The Candidate Taboos

John Ross
Zero Hour: NAFTA and Mexico's Agrarian Apocalypse

Elaine Cassel
Jose Padilla vs. John Yoo: Can a National Disgrace be Rectified?

Peter Morici
The Fed Needs More Than a New Communications Strategy

Beena Sarwar
Pakistan's Dirty Tricks Brigade

Robert Weissman
Big Business is Even More Unpopular Than You Thought

Binoy Kampmark
Going Tata in India

Dave Zirin
Dennis Brutus Smacks Down the Hall of Fame

Website of the Day
David Lynch on the iPhone

 

January 14, 2008

Ishmael Reed
Ma and Pa Clinton Flog Uppity Black Man

Roger Morris
Burials in the Sind

Uri Avnery
The Hands of Esau

Mike Whitney
Bush's Voodoo Stimulus Package

Allan Nairn
General Suharto of Indonesia: One Small Man Leaves a Million Corpses

William Blum
Oh, By the Way, the Iraqis Don't Really Want Us

Alan Farago
A Subprime Wake Up Call

David Macaray
Are Labor Unions Ready for Prime Time?

Eva Liddell
Getting Drunk with Obama

Zoe Blunt
Road Kill: New Highway Blocked by Protesting Raccoons

Website of the Day
Doug and Andrea Peacock on Grizzlies

 

January 12 / 13, 2008

Andrew Cockburn
How the New England Journal of Medicine Undercounted Iraqi Civilian Deaths

Saul Landau
60 Years of Empire

Corey D. B. Walker
Barack Obama and the Crisis of the White Intellectual

Col. Dan Smith
Bush, Iran and the Magician of the Tarot

Eric Toussaint
The US Subprime Crisis Goes Global

Ron Jacobs
Television, Murder and Vietnam

Fred Gardner
The People vs. Christopher James Chakos

Stan Cox
Don't Take That Pill!

Jacob G. Hornberger
The Warfare State

Ramzy Baroud
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Joseph Grosso
The Anglosphere: a Special Relationship of Elites

David Díaz-Arias
Imagining An/Other Latin American Left

Stacey Warde
Before We Move On ...

Dan Bacher
Pumped to Extinction: the Decline of the Delta Smelt

Michael Dickinson
Georgie in Jesusland

Website of Weekend
CounterPunchers Protest Outside NYT Offices

 

January 11, 2008

Dave Lindorff
Did Hillary Really Win New Hampshire? More Questions About Diebold Voting Machines

Paul Craig Roberts
No Escape from War and Unemployment

Andy Worthington
Six Years of Guantánamo

Kenneth Couesbouc
Banking on Thin Ice

Jeff Ballinger
Inside the Vienna Consensus

Christopher Brauchli
Lethal Injection, the Supremes and China

Manuel Garcia, Jr.
Paying No Attention to the Presidential Campaigns

Andrew Silverstein
Bush's Weepy Visit to Jerasulem

Marwan Bishara
Bush in the Middle East

Robert Weissman
The First Amendment Gone Wild

Patrick Irelan
Damn the Small Boats!

Website of the Day
Hillary and the Superdelegates: Or Why She Wins Even When She Loses

 

 

January 10, 2008

Alexander Cockburn
Now Nader Claims He Didn't Endorse Edwards

Bob Wing
Marqueece Harris-Dawson

Race Within the Race: Obama, the NH Vote and the Specter of Tom Bradley

Michael Donnelly
White Women Gone Wild?

David Macaray
Three Big Reasons for the Decline of Labor Unions

China Hand
Bush's Delusional Policy Pushes Pakistan to Brink of Catastrophe

Ayesha Ijaz Khan
Saudi Arabia and Pakistan: Brotherly, Friendly Countries?

Rannie Amiri
Obama, Man of Kansas or Kenya?

Website of the Day
Iranian Video of the Hormuz Incident

 

January 9, 2008

Cockburn / St. Clair
The Empire Strikes Back

Dave Lindorff
The Bad News from New Hampshire: Death By Triangulation

John Chuckman
Pardon My Laughter: Watching the US Primaries from Canada

James Bovard
Stomping Freedom: Inside the Martial Law Act of 2006

Alan Farago
As Florida Sinks: the View from the Titanic

Russell Mokhiber
Why Picket the New York Times in DC on Friday?

William S. Lind
Kicking the Can Down the Road in Iraq

Peter Morici
Beyond the Sophistry: Why the Trade Deficit Matters

Josh Reubner
Sudan vs. Israel: Double Standard on Divestment

Mike Roselle
The Pursuit of Happiness

Website of the Day
Bottles of Tears on the Wall: Steve Perry on NH


 

 

 

Subscribe Online

Weekend Edition
February 16 / 17, 2008

Unwholly Warriors

Attack of the Info-tainment Circus

By WAJAHAT ALI

Note: This is an excerpt from Wajahat Ali's play, Unwholly Warriors.

Scene II

"Attack of the Info-tainment Circus"

NARRATOR

The scene begins in a gaudy, over lit news studio with several Hi definition cameras and lights (Made in Japan) focused on a mahogany news desk and an overpriced red, white and blue, firm, patriotic and potent, ergonomic chair (Made in Singapore). There is a mug, a manly mug, (Made in Bangladesh) with "NO BULL" written in Ivory white letters on a blue and red cup. The fertile American flag (Made in Mexico) is shimmering behind the news desk either via a digital screen or an actual hanging flag. There is 1 ergonomic, main anchor's chair, which is sturdy chair made by and for MANLY men and not girly-sissy boys. To the left of this main, manly anchor chair, there are 5 girly-sissy boy, non-ergonomic chairs made by and for unmanly, girly-sissy boy men.

The highly melodramatic and pompous theme song to "No BULL Zone with Bull 'Bob' Riley" blares as the lights slowly illuminate the stage. A mighty bull roar is heard. ROAR. The Announcer gloats - "And now its time for the NO BULL ZONE. Only the most pressing, urgent matters of national news are discussed in a fair, respectful, professional and balanced manner!" A Mighty bull Roar is heard again.

ROAR
And now, here's your hostBULL RILEY!

(Suddenly "Zombie Nation" the sports anthem played at every sporting event is heard blasting through the speakers. Bull explodes from behind the curtains like a theatrical, egotistical superstar with his hands in the air waving to the crowd. He gives audience members high fives. He pumps his chest, chin up, and struts and dances about the floor and then on the stage. He poses a couple of times like GQ magazine cover stars and blows kisses to the air.)

BULL
The Shiite has hit the fan in I-rack! Not so, according to The White House which openly rejected the notion that I-rack is near a total civil war between the Sunny's (Deliberately mispronounced) and Shee-ites! But according to your beloved Bull Riley (Points to himself) the No Bull Zone says "The Shiite has hit the fan in America" and we are mad as hell, and we're not gonna' take it anymore!

NARRATOR
The studio screen cues the "applause and whooping" sign for the live audience. (NARRATOR look at audience) This where you, the audience, yes you, applaud and whoop. (Wait for some applauding and whooping). There is also a 'Yeehaw' heard in the background. (Yee-haw!)

BULL
First--if you're like the Bull -

NARRATOR
There is the sound of the Mighty Bull Roar. ROAR!

BULL
-
you've noticed some disturbing behaviors in this free, glorious, tolerant country of ours that can no longer be tolerated. Illegal immigrants and terrorists. Border hopping Frida Kahlos, Amphibian Dr. Zhivagos, Stow Away Charlie Chans, Underwater Ann Trans, Aerodynamic Osama Bin Ladens, Magic Carpet Aladdins and other ethnic undesirables. Aliens, ladies and gentlemen. Illegal aliens using illegal immigration to cover deadly illegal immigrant terrorists. To discuss these E.T., extra-terrestrial terrorists soiling our very own pure, pristine, fertile unsoiled American backyard, we welcome 5 distinguished darki- excuse me minoriti--I meant­ members of the Moslem, Mexican, Middle Eastern, and "The White is Right" communities.

NARRATOR
Stage left is now illuminated and 5 members of the infotainment circus are trotted out one by one

BULL
We have Izod Mangee, a feminist liberal lesbian Muslim South Asian refusenik pop culture scholar--author of the best selling bold and original "Failure of Islam" and also author of the incendiary "Die Darkman Die" Trilogy, with its scorching sequel, "Die Darkman Die II: Darkman Die Harder," and the recent best seller "Die Darkman Die III: Why won't you die, Darkman? Please Die. For the love of God, just die. Seriously. Please. Just Die." (Looks to IZOD and sincerely says -) Very subtle.

(Izod comes in to the song "Raining Men" and makes an entrance.)

NARRATOR
Izod rips the flag of a poster that says "Man" on it.

BULL
Next up, a man capable of producing Satanic Verses-- the Ayatollah Khomeini's favorite, most bestest author (chuckles to himself), the fatwah-tastic fantastic author-in-hiding Saleem Rush-to-die making a rare public appearance-- "shhh don't tell Iran" - to promote his new books "I is for Infidel," P is for Pagan" and "H is for Heathen."

(He walks into "Magic Carpet Ride." )

NARRATOR
Rushtodie becomes enraged and rips Iran's flag.

 

BULL
The noted civil libertarian and human rights lawyer, Alan Doochawitz, promoting his new brilliant book - "Torture: It's what's for dinner, biiiitches," which is a compassionate, humane plea for the "legal" torture of terrorism suspects -

(Dooch walks into "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley.)

 

NARRATOR
Dooch becomes enraged and rips the Universal Declarations of Human Rights.

BULL
and we're lucky to have Ward Chavez author of "Assimilate NOW! Abstaining from Mexifornicating" (Chavez comes in to "Oye como va")

NARRATOR
Chavez rips a picture of a burrito in halfAnd then he eats it.

BULL
.and the superstar of the evening, John Yu Kazuo, whose last name "Kazuo" means a "Man of Peace"! Here to promote his new book "Defending Internment!" (Kazu comes in like a rockstar, down the aisles, posing and giving high fives. He struts to "Kung Fu.")

NARRATOR
He rips the photo of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Then he composes himself and looks in the camera and says--

 

KAZUO
I am Kazuo.a Man of Peace.

 

BULL
And finally - (rolls eyes and annoyed) from the whiners known as the Civil Liberties Coalition , we have Saddam Hussein Osama Bin Ladin Noriega Syria­

(He comes in to "Loser" by Beck.)

EMANON
That's NOT my name. My name is Sala-Ema -


BULL
Right, Obama.

EMANON
Sala-

BULL
Gotcha Ayatollah . Who will whine, whine, whine usual like a flaming pansy pussy boy about civil liberties and amendmen-shmamendments and all that retarded commie pinko nonsense. You are all now in the NO BULL ZONE.

NARRATOR
A Mighty Bull Roar is heard. ROAR!

BULL
First up--Islam. (Pause) What went wrong? Now I know not all Muslims are terrorists, no, no, no but all terrorists are Muslims! Don't you agree, Izod?

IZOD
Absolutely 100% I totally agree--

 

RUSHTODIE
(Eagerly butts in)
In complete agreement, Bull. What you said is spot on, in my book--

IZOD
(Cutting him off)
In my book-- "The Failure of Islam" -

BULL
Brilliant, by the way -

CHAVEZ
In my book-- Assimilate NOW!

BULL
Double brilliant!

DOOCHAWITZ

"Torture, it's what's for dinner, biiiitches!"


BULL
Touché!

KAZUO
Defending Internment! Yeah!

BULL
Double Touche!

EMANON
IRA, Tamil Tigers, Stern gang-- all examples of non - Muslim terrori --

BULL
Strike one, Moussaoui . 3 strikes you're out . Wait your turn!

(Rushtodie seethes at Izod. Izod returns it with smug smile plastered on her face.)

 

IZOD
I achingly searched my soul as a lesbian, feminist, liberal, born again refusenik, non threatening, non practicing, aesthetically pleasing, Muslim South Asian, modernist, pro-woman woman to inquire why all the terrorists are Muslims--

BULL
And are all Muslims terrorists?

EMANON
Whoa, easy there, how can you broadly generalize 1.4 billion Muslims in --

CHAVEZ
Assimilate now!

BULL
THIS IS the no BULL zone, Khaddafi . Strike 2­

EMANON
It's Sala--

BULL
Enough, Sally. Let the lady speak. In our culture, we let women have a voice-


IZOD
Thank you Bull I apprec--

BULL
(Puts hand quickly in front of her face and muffles her voice)
And let me tell you, the No Bull Zone is a No broadly generalize zone, either. I've been to Africa, Ching Chong China, Wacky Paki Pakistan, Meck-ee-ko and heathen continents 3 times, all right, Siegfried and Roy? You just can't bring Western reasoning into all "their" cultures. The same way you can't bring it into fundamental Islam."

CHAVEZ
Assimilate NOW!

IZOD
(Sharp rebuke) Wait your goddamn turn, Chavez!

BULL
The No Bull Zone is also a NO blas-pher-mer-size zone!

IZOD
(Meekly and slavishly) Apologies for blas-pher-mer-sizing.

BULL
Goddamn right!

RUSHTODIE
(Whiny, girly voice making fun of his opponent) "Apologies for blasphermersizing." (Points at her and cackles) Hahahaha.

IZOD
(Slaps his finger down) Not all of us are lucky to ride a fatwah for the rest of our career?

BULL
Saucy!

RUSHTODIE
You're just jealous you haven't got one yet

BULL
Counter-Saucy!

NARRATOR
"Wa-toosh" makes a whip cracking noise and gesture with his hand cracking an Indy Jones whip. In the meantime, Rushtodie and IZOD have begun fighting with each other like little children.

BULL
Ah, Divide and Conquer. Exxxcellent. "Fortunately, there will never be Islamic unity" . I think it might be a good idea to convert all these heathens (Points to Izod and Rushtodie and Chavez and Emanon) to Christianity; it's a better hobby for them than slaughtering infidels, and cheering and dancing like homicidal maniacs. (Now directly facing the camera/audience.) Speaking of maniacs, this brings me to this week's so-called "scandals" and the pansy media "mania" complaining about warrantless spying and anti immigration and terrorism measures. Listen, I think the government should be spying on all A-rabs, Moslems, immigrants, Mexicans, Underage College Sorority girls, Game show hosts, big breasted women, Chinese restaurant waiters, Chia Pets, circus clowns, liberal college professors, (All actors slowly and suspiciously turn heads right and give a slow stare to the Professor narrators sitting stage right) black sports players, Black Stallions, Black Russians, White Russians-- heck-- All Russians (Looks directly in the camera now) 'cause you can never be too sure, and finally- big breasted women-- if you ask me. We should be engaging in torture as a televised spectator sport-- and dropping daisy cutters, Playboys, extra strength deodorants, shampoo and American flags wantonly through out the Middle East, and git-git-git Pinkos, winos, and protestors to the Gitmo G- Unit." But let me guess "boo hoo woo woo." (Looking at Emanon.)

EMANON
First, a state of war is not a blank check for the President and his administration to trample on a citizen's constitutional rights.

DOOCHAWITZ
I'll write a blank check to trample on you, citizen boy!

EMANON
(Looks utterly confused by the previous comment and composes himself) Second, 14 of the nation's top constitutional scholars agree that the NSA spying program appears on its face to violate existing law . It bypasses the fundamental requirement of needing probable cause for a search and seizure, and obtaining a warrant from the FISA court --

CHAVEZ
Bullshit court! (Then quietly under his breath -) Assimilate now!

BULL
Ring Ring. Ring Ring. (Holds up a fake telephone to his ear.)

(Emanon is perplexed. Just stares at Bull. Then left and right at confused guests. Looks forward at audience/camera.)

EMANON
Uh-- Idon't understand. What? I--

NARRATOR
Flustered and impatient, Bull mimes the existence of a "phone" in front of Emanon and picks up the "imaginary" receiver. Emanon "gets it," and he hesitantly picks up the phone.

BULL
Ring Ring. Ring Ring.

EMANON
Oh, Ok, I get it. Strange. Um, Uh, Hello?

BULL
Salaams. Knock Knock.

EMANON
Salaams. Uh, (Concerned Pause) who's there?

BULL
Osama.

EMANON
Osama, (Takes a second or two) Who?

BULL
O-sama. IM GONNA BLOW UP YO' MOMMA! (Shouts into imaginary phone. Spit shower covers most of the guests. Bull is red in the face and he's steamed.) "What are we supposed to do if Osama bin Frikkin' laden calls the United States? If Osama calls America, should we listen in or worry about his civil liberties?" Can you nutheads please "stop stripping the Presidency of its Constitutional authority to defend America?"

EMANON
Defending America does not allow powerful men and women to make a mockery of the Constitution and existing laws. We have the FISA court­

CHAVEZ
(Pretends to cough to muffle what he's about to say, very similar to what elementary school kids do) Bullshit court! Ahem. Cough. Cough. Assimilate now!

BULL
(Puts hand in front of Emanon's face and looks away disgusted. The other hand's index finger rapidly points to Doochawitz.) Dooch, drop knowledge like a hot SCUD missile on Saddam over here.

DOOCHAWITZ
As a respected civil libertarian, human rights advocate and esteemed law professor, I agree with recently appointed Assistant Attorney General John Yu Kazuo, a sterling Chinaman Jap of the highest order -

BULL
Out of order, Doochawitz!!

EMANON
You're out of order!

IZOD
I hold you in contempt!

DOOCHAWITZ
Objection, your Honor!

RUSHTODIE
Overruled!

BULL
Sustained! Chinaman Jap is NOT a socially acceptable legal term of art!

KAZUO
(Sheepishly offers his own opine) I, honestly, don't mind. I am, after all, a "Man of Peace."

BULL
The jury will disregard Dooch and Kazuo's previous comments. Strike that politically incorrect rhetoric from the record. (Looking at the camera) Dear Jury, follow these instructions instead. They (Points to Kazuo) prefer being called Jap or Jackie Chan (Kazuo acquiesces and nods his head)­ it's more economic and easier on the ears. God bless that John Yu Kazuo. What a brilliant and bold Jackie Chan!

MANGEE
A brilliant, bold, and brave Jackie Chan.

RUSHTODIE
A brilliant, bold, brave, intellectually erect Jackie Chan!

DOOCHAWITZ
A brilliant, bold, brave, intellectually erect and potent Jackie Chan!

CHAVEZ
Assimilat - ed.

KAZUO
Suc-cess-fully!

EMANON
How can you (Looks with disbelief to Kazuo) and you (Looks with anger at Bull) condone such blatant, shameless racism and prejudice on your show, BULL?

BULL
I am NOT racist and prejudiced, you traitorous Benedict Arnold! I love Japs!

KAZUO
(From the monitor)
I feel your pain, brother. I feel your pain.

BULL
Thank you, Jackie Chan, thank you. Like I said I am NO racist! I love the Oriental Tulips, the Middle Eastern Sunflowers, The Darkie Daisies, The Jasmines from Disney's Aladdin, The Ebony Queens, Apu's wife from the Simpsons, and The Spicy Chiquita Bananas!! (There is an awkward silence and sheepish glances exchanged by all the members). Hell, my last girlfriend, before I was married of course, was an ASIAN CHICK! (High Fives Dooch and Rushtodieand even Izod) I am no oppressor! In fact, I'm the victim! I have been clinically diagnosed as suffering from-- (takes a pause and gasps) Yellow fever!

KAZUO
(Consolingly) Have no shame, brother. Have no shame. I, too, like you, once suffered from this same disease--this fever--this yellow fever. After my recent Amazon.com best selling book, my promotion to Assistant Attorney General, and newfound fame I, too, have finally nabbed me a Unicorn-- excuse me--I meant my SeaBiscuit, my Pegasus, I mean The Greatest Prize on Earth--ahem (Fake coughs and clears throat)--ahem- excuse me- (Clears throat) I meant my new Caucasian bride-- don't worry, don't worry, she's more Cauc than Asian. (Smiles).

BULL
Kim Jong, you're a life saver

DOOCHAWITZ
Motion to continue, your honor?

BULL
Motion granted.

DOOCHAWITZ
This brilliant, bold, brave, intellectually erect, potent, titular behemoth of a Jackie Chan said the FISA court does not apply during this war against loony terrorists who don't use deodorant and eat strange, multi-syllabic foods, because Congress doesn't have the authority to interfere in the President's wartime means and methods of engaging the enemy!

KAZUO
Those abo-litionists have abo-so-luteley no o-thority!

EMANON
Inside officials have said the administration knew their secret, illegal, surveillance program "could never meet that standard, that's why didn't go through" FISA courts in the first place! Following Kazuo's perverted logic -

BULL
Sexy Logic!

EMANON
Twisted logic! A wartime President can do anything he wants! This dangerous precedent, if not immediately remedied, can "lie around like a loaded gun, able to be used indefinitely for any future occupant!"

BULL
I wish I had a loaded gun right now!

DOOCHWATIZ
Oh, what a coinci-dink! I've got a gun right here. (Doochawitz, getting into the mime game, pulls out a fake gun from his coat.)

KAZUO
Let me load that gun right now. I am, after all a man of peace.

NARRATOR
Smiles and loads the "fake mimed" gun. Hands it over to Bull, who cocks the imaginary gun, points it at Emanon and fires. Emanon pretends he is shot in his chest and Gasps! He then blows "Dirty Harry-style" the smoke from the revolver.

EMANON

Is this secrecy and unilateral exercise of immense power necessary considering that fewer than "10 US citizens or residents a year, according to an authoritative account, have aroused enough suspicion during warrantless eavesdropping to justify interception of their purely domestic calls?" Why can't the news media, journalists, and politicians muster the backbone to challenge this belligerent profiling--

BULL

Bumper Sticker for whiners. News magazines, journalists, Wireless phone taps, politicians, soldiers, torture, and unilateral wars don't kill people --- Muslims do!

RUSHTODIE

(Very quickly interjects almost if defending his life.) Not this secular, humanist, modernist, non-threatening, light skinned toned, non-practicing, Muslim American citizen, Bull!

NARRATOR

Points to his chest, more specifically he points to an American flag pinned on his left lapel.

RUSHTODIE

This token Muslim is tired, tired, tired of this "paranoid Darkie" that blames outsiders, infidels, heathens, politicians, news media, Hollywood, racial profiling, racism, oppressive foreign policy, Zionism, good hygiene, toothpaste, Girls Gone Wild and Brittany Spears for all their problems!

EVERYONE except EMANON and IZOD

Britney Spears! Grumblegrumblegrumblegrumblegrumblegrumble

RUSTODIE

All of these heathens like to play-- (A pause)

EVERYONE

The Blame Game!

RUSHTODIE

"Their only remedy is to close their Dark Age societies to the rival project" of a glorious enlightened modernity that is The West --

EVERYONE

The West!!!!

CHAVEZ

(Highly excited like Austin Powers) The West is the best, baby, yeah, baby, yeah! (Sober, serious face) Assimilate now!

RUSHTODIE

These Muslims-- and immigrants and foreigners and Axis of Evil and generally anyone who disagrees with us, The West -

CHAVEZ

Yeah, baby, yeah! (Sobers up) Assimilate Now!

RUSHTODIE

They have a loathing of modern society in general; what with our music, godlessness, sex, big breasted women, and Girls gone wild dvd's 2 for $9.99! Specifically, they loathe and fear the prospect their Darkie societies could be taken over by the liberal Western style way of life --

CHAVEZ

The only style of life, yeah baby yeah! Assimilate now.

RUSHTODIE

They all fear (Takes a deep dramatic flamboyant shocking breath then exhales). West-oxi-cation!

(The entire guests' panel, even Emanon, dramatically gasps in unison and raise their eyebrows in shock!)

IZOD

(Very nervous and panicked, quickly interjects a defensive, protective measure by saying -) Not me! Not me! I love the West. I'm currently intoxicated by my Westoxication!

BULL

Prove you're America-holic, Missy-Mister-whatever.

IZOD

(Eagerly like a rookie coming off the bench.) I can prove it, master! I mean, Bull! You see, Bull, "only within Islam today is literalism the mainstream. And this is dangerous" because most of us, even well educated professionals, and even sadly me sometimes due to the Islamo-fascist, patriarchal, eastern, ethnic, oppressive misogynist, die darkie, darkie darkman die virus genetically infecting my ovaries and womanhood from birth "have no clue how to debate, dissent, revise, or reform" because we 1.2 billion have not been introduced to virtues of critical thinking."

BULL

(Very sarcastically and mocking tone) Islam-- it even infects your ovaries. A Middle Eastern kryptonite! Explains why the Muslim womb is a warehouse of future suicide bombers!

EMANON

Rumi the best selling poet in America today-- Muslimlived 700 years ago! Ibn Sina wrote the celebrated Canon of Medicine, the medical bible of "the West" for over 500 years-- Muslim -

IZOD

(Completely ignoring the valid points Emanon just made.) Terrorist martyrs. Suicide bombers! They are the rock stars of the Muslim world!" The Madonna's of Palestine, the Elvis's of Baghdad, the Liberace's of Libya! The only thing they're all missing is a Nike contract and Wheaties commercial!

RUSHTODIE

More like a Hummus commercial. Ahahahahahha.

BULL

Nice one, fruit cake. (Looks to Izod) Congratulations, sir, you've passed the test

CHAVEZ

Assimilationcompleted! Yeah!

BULL

Darkie, tell me about your people. Yo quero Citizenship?

CHAVEZ

Like the Moslemites, the Mexican threat is a grave peril to our "porous borders" that provide sanctuary and safe haven to illegal aliens and terrorists. Granted, "the overwhelming majority of illegal alienshave no connection to terrorism," regardless, "our continued high tolerance for massive illegal immigration gives terrorists deadly cover." Like the incessant hyper fornicating turban headed Moslem terrorist immigrants with their incessant magic carpet Islamecegination, the Mexican illegals are "strengthened demographically both by natural reproduction", as evidenced by their incessant, Telemundo Mexifornicating, "and by immigration, which reinforces their stubborn ethnic, burrito segregation - their domineering enchilada nature" if you will. This is their taco world in all its guacamole "aberrations." I agree with Alfredo Gonzalvez, the good Italian Mexican American son of Italian Mexican immigrants that he is, and John Yu Kazuo, a sterling Chinaman-Jap

BULL

Jackie Chan Jap!

CHAVEZ

Sorry! A Jackie Chan Jap of the highest order, that a "virtual barrier" needs to be erected to cover "every mile of our 2,000 mile long border with Mexico." Assimilate now and forever!

IZOD

I don't want to live in Mexifornia! (Starts sobbing)

DOOCH

Then Stop Mexifornicating and Islamiceginating!

RUSHTODIE

Say Noto Mexifornication! If you must, use protection! Choose Caucasionor-

KAZUO

Asian! The only protection against Mexifornication!

CHAVEZ

Damnation!

BULL

Invasion! Soldiers to Battle Station!

DOOCH

Salvation!

IZOD

Emancipation!!

RUSHTODIE

Intoxication!!

CHAVEZ

Assimilation!

EMANON

Frustration! You are misleading the public. "Terrorism was not an issue in this." This was and is an "immigration issue."

BULL

Strike 3, you're outta the ball game, Noriega! 3 up and 3 down. End of an inning.

KAZUO

I think he's "ticking."

BULL

"Ticking?"

DOOCH

"Ticking like a Time Bomb!!!"

NARRATOR

The entire guest panel erupts in pandemonium for about 25 seconds of rehearsed chaotic choreography of mass hysterical, hyperbolic panic. Chavez is standing while Kazuo slaps his head like a rhythmic, island, Congo drum and humming "Man of Peace a' Man of Peace a' Man of Peace"--

KAZUO

Man of Peace a' Man of Peace a' Man of Peace a' Man of Peace--

NARRATOR

Rushtodie is HIDING in the corner whimpering like a frightened schoolgirl - "I don't want to die. I don't want to die."

RUSHTODIE

"I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die.

NARRATOR

Izod becomes enraged like a South Asian feminist Hulk and can't help but compulsively shout "Die Darkman Die," "Die Darkman Die"!!! Doochawitz keeps obsessively repeating Ticking Timebomb Ticking Timebomb Ticking Timebomb like Dustin Hoffman from Rainman.

 

DOOCH

TickingTimebombTickingTimebombTicking TimebombTickingTimebomb TickingTimebombTickingTimebomb -

NARRATOR

- and out of nowhere, Bull pulls a double barrel sawed off shotgun from under his desk and points it at Emanon.

 

BULL

All right, Al-Qaeda. It's the showdown at the OK Corral and you're definitely NOT O.K., so it's time for you to show and go down. Hand over the bomb, McVeigh.

DOOCHAWIZ

TickingTimebombTickingTimebombTickingTimebomb.

EMANON

(Very slowly as if being surrounded by LAPD cops.) It's only a Timex watch.

BULL

I bet it tells Terror Time.

EMANON

Pacific Standard.

NARRATOR

Everyone automatically regains their composure and goes back to their seats as if nothing had happened. The change in tone and direction is swift and jarring. Very nonchalant and "oh, well, we were wrong, let's get back to work immediately" type mentality.

BULL

Oh, well, we were wrong, let's get back to work immediately.

DOOCHAWITZ

And this perfectly illustrates my thesis detailed in my book-- "Torture, it's what's for Dinner, Biiiitches!" on why we need to immediately legalize and implement torture with "torture warrants" ! As to protect ourselves from a potential ticking terrorist immigrant who puts us in a position where we have to defend our civilians.

KAZUO

And that is the highest calling of democracy - to defend its civilians against guilty murderers that are out trying to kill ourchildren." (Points to Emanon as he says all of this.) As long as we can torture in a way "in which we can be proud and hold our heads up and say, yes, we did this," then it's acceptable.

DOOCH

Mind you, "torture is bad"--bad, bad! However "some things are worse" worse, worse! "And under certain circumstances," such as illegal alien terrorists invading our land, impregnating our women, not using deodorant, eating our grandchildren with hummus and falafels, and canceling Girls gone wild, "it may be the lesser of two evils. Because some evils are pretty evil." And torture is evil. But aliens are super evil. So we must de-evil the lesser evil of torture by leveraging its evil against the superior super evil of aliens who use ultra evil methods to engage in ludicrous amounts of ridiculous terrorist evil!!!!

EMANON

(Sarcastically) Even though torture is a federal crime under the U.S. War Crimes Act of 1996 and a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions?

NARRATOR

Bull gives a nod. Izod and Rushtodie put Emanon into a sleeper and he quietly faints and slithers away in his chair.

BULL

Doochawitz, I'd kiss you on that beautiful mouth of yours that is able to produce such pretty, eloquent words, but unfortunately that would be very, very gay, so I won't. We'll return with the NO BULL exclusive-- an Al Qaeda Sleeper cell in a sunny California townheaded by a 16 yr old, female mastermind no less? Osama's new baby momma to be driving a SUV in your valley? The truth after this commercial break. And remember America--

EVERYONE
Torture, it's whats for dinner. BITCHES!

 

Wajahat Ali is Pakistani Muslim American who is neither a terrorist nor a saint. He is a playwright, essayist, humorist, and recent J.D. whose work, "The Domestic Crusaders," is the first major play about Muslim Pakistani Americans living in a post 9-11 America. His blog is at http://goatmilk.wordpress.com/. He can be reached at wajahatmali@gmail.com





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