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Today's
Stories
February 14/15, 2004
Stan Goff
Beloved Haiti
February 13, 2004
Alan Maass
Kevin
Cooper's Fight to Live
Karyn Strickler
McCarthyism in the Sierra Club
Annie Higgins
On
a Street in America
Adam Federman
Democratic Snipers Target Nader
Mike Whitney
George W. Faces the Nation
Brian Cloughley
Our Imperial Leader Has Spoken
Website of the Day
Lying Action Figure Doll
February 12, 2004
Ray McGovern
George
Tenet's Spin Cycle
Robert Jensen
Bush's
Nuclear Hypocrisy
Saul Landau
Elegy to the Salton Sea
February
11, 2004
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
Hail, Kerry: Senator Facing-Both-Ways
Steve Perry
Bush
v. Bush?
February
10, 2004
Kurt
Nimmo
Inquisition in Iowa
Ron Jacobs
Politics and the Beatles: Don't
You Know You Can Count Me Out (In)
Elizabeth
Schulte
The Many Faces of John Kerry
Mickey
Z
Meet the Oxmans: "The Rich
Shouldn't Sleep at Night Either"
February
9, 2004
Michael
Donnelly
Will Skull and Bones Really Change
CEOs? Inside John Kerry's Closet
Chris Floyd
Smells Like Team Spirit: the Bush
B-Boys Replay Their Greatest Hits
Bill
Christison
What's Wrong with the CIA?
Dr. Susan
Block
Janet Jackson's Mammary Moment:
Boob Tube Super Bowl
February
7/8, 2004
Kathleen
Christison
Offending Valerie: Dealing with
Jewish Self-Absorption
Jeff Ballinger
No Sweat Shopping
Dave
Lindorff
Spray and Pray in Iraq: a Marine
in Transit
Alexander
Cockburn
McNamara: the Sequel
February
6, 2004
Ron
Jacobs
Are the Kurds in the Way?
Joanne
Mariner
Anita Bryant's Legacy
Saul
Landau
Happiness and Botox
Kurt Nimmo
Horror Non-fiction: A How-To Guide
from Perle and Frum
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
The Real Intelligence Failure:
Our Own
February
5, 2004
Benjamin
Shepard
Turning NYC into a Patriot Act Free
Zone
Khury
Petersen-Smith
A Report from Occupied Iraq: "We Don't Want Army USA"
Mokhiber
/ Weissman
The 10 Worst Corporations of 2003
Teresa
Josette
The Exeuctioner's Pslam? Christian Nation? Yeah, Right
David Krieger
Why Dr. King's Message on Vietnam is Relevant to Iraq
Christopher
Brauchli
Monkey Business: Of Recess and Evolution in Georgia Schools
Norman
Solomon
The Deadly Lies of Reliable Sources
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
Presenting President Edwards!
February
4, 2004
Brian
McKinlay
Bush's Australian Deputy: Howard's
Last Round Up?
Mark
Gaffney
Ariel Sharon's Favorite Senator: Ron Wyden and Israel
Judith
Brown
Palestine and the Media
Frederick
B. Hudson
Moseley-Braun and the Butcher: Campaign for Justice or Big Oil's
Junta?
Kurt Nimmo
Bush's Independent Commission: Exonerating
the Spooks
M.
Junaid Alam
Philly School Workers Fight for Fair Contract
Fran Shor
Whose Boob Tube?
Kevin
Cooper
This is Not My Execution and I Will Not Claim It
February
3, 2004
Alan
Maass
The
Dems' New Mantra: What They Really Mean by "Electability"
Nick
Halfinger
How the Other Half Lives: Embedded
in Iraq
Rahul
Mahajan
Our True Intelligence Failure
Neve Gordon
The Only Democracy in the Middle East?
Laura
Carlsen
Mexico: Two Anniversaries; Two Futures
Terry
Lodge
An Open Letter to Michael Powell from the Boobs & Body Parts
Fairness Campaign
Hammond
Guthrie
Investigating the Meaningless
Website
of the Day
Waging Peace
February
2, 2004
Gary
Leupp
The Buddhist Nun in Tom Ridge's Jail
Justin
E.H. Smith
The Manners of Their Deaths: Capital Punishment in a Smoke-Free
Environment
Tom
Wright
The Prosecution of Captain Yee
Winslow
Wheeler
Inside the Bush Defense Budget
Lee Ballinger
Janet Jackson's Naked Truth
Leonard
Pitts, Jr
For Blacks, the Game of Justice is
Rigged
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The Hollow Candidate:
The Trouble with Howard Dean
Website
of the Day
Resistance:
In the Eye of the American Hegemon
Jan. 31 / Feb 1, 2004
Paul
de Rooij
For Whom the Death Tolls: Deliberate
Undercounting of Coalition Fatalities
Bernard
Chazelle
Bush's Desolate Imperium
Jack
Heyman
Bushfires on the Docks
Christopher
Reed
Broken Ballots
Michael
Donnelly
An Urgent Plea to Progressives: Don't Give in to Fear
Rob Eshelman
The Subtle War
Lee
Sustar
Palestine and the Anti-War Movement
George
Bisharat
Right of Return
Ray
McGovern
Nothing to Preempt
Brian Cloughley
Enron's Beady-Eyed Sharks
Conn
Hallinan
Nepal, Bush & Real WMDs
Kurt Nimmo
The Murderous Lies of the Neo-Cons
Phillip
Cryan
Media at the Monterrey Summit
Christopher
Brauchli
A Speech for Those Who Don't Read
John
Holt
War in the Great White North
Mickey
Z.
Clueless in America: When Mikey Met Wesley
Mark
Scaramella
The High Cost of Throwing Away the Key
Tariq Ali
Farewell, Munif
Ben
Tripp
Waiter! The Reality Check, Please
Poets'
Basement
LaMorticella, Guthrie, Thomas and Albert
January 30, 2004
Saul
Landau
Cuba High on Neo-Con Hit List
Michael
Donnelly
Bush's Second Front: The War in
the Woods
Elaine
Cassel
Worse Than Jacko: Child Abuse at Gitmo
David Vest
More Halliburton News, Brought to You by Halliburton
Mike
Whitney
The Kay Report: Still Defending Aggression
David
Miller
The Hutton Whitewash
Sam
Husseini
How Many People Must Die Because of This "Mistake",
Senator Kerry?
January 29, 2004
Patricia
Nelson Limerick
John Ehrlichman, Environmentalist
Ron
Jacobs
Homeland Security and "Legalized"
Immigration
Rahul Mahajan
New Hampshire v. Iraq
Greg
Weiher
Bush Calls for Preemptive Strike on
Moon and Mars
Norman
Solomon
The State of the Media Union
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
Does NH Mean Anything?
January
28, 2004
Kathy
Kelly
Bearing Witness Against Teachers of
Torture and Assassination
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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Weekend
Edition
February 14/15, 2004
Bush v. Kerry
The
Power Elite's Dream Ballot
By MICHAEL COLBY
If you hear gleeful giggling from behind the curtain
shielding the political elites from the mere masses, you're not
alone. There's a party going on and we haven't been invited.
It's a presidential election party, where the puppeteers of our
democracy are celebrating an upcoming election that they can't
lose. It's a contest between two of their own.
George Bush versus John Kerry is a dream
ballot for those whom C. Wright Mills called the "power
elite," that tight little club of economic, political and
military leaders who truly rule the nation. The power elite doesn't
care about political party affiliations. That's child's play.
In their view, fools line up to vote while the real players decide
who's on the ballot. And for some reason we still refer to the
whole charade as democracy. The joke's on you.
Bush v. Kerry is simply nirvana for the
bluebloods. As they say in the business world: it's a win-win
situation. From their perspective, whomever places his hand upon
the Bible (yes, the Bible) on January 20, 2005 doesn't matter
because with a Bush/Kerry contest they're already assured there
will be no meaningful change in America for the next four years.
None. Zero. Zippo.
Before the delusional Democrats out there
start peppering me with hostile emails about the absolute necessity
of getting "anybody but Bush" in the White House, just
stop yourselves long enough to consider these facts: Kerry supported
Bush's war on Iraq; Kerry supported Bush's tax cuts; Kerry hasn't
proposed one major social or environmental initiative in over
20 years in the U.S. Senate; Kerry hasn't put forward any meaningful
policy initiatives in his campaign for the presidency regarding
jobs or healthcare. Kerry's campaign seems to be all about proving
that he qualifies as "anybody but Bush." And all that
takes is a pulse.
Bush and Kerry are also, of course, both
proud military men. Bush took the easy way out of the Vietnam
War by joining the National Guard - whether he showed up or not
is another matter. Kerry, as he's so fond of telling us, served
his country by running gunboats up and down the rivers of Vietnam.
Brace yourselves, folks, because the Bush/Kerry contest will
be filled with assertions and accusations about who loves the
military more.
Kerry is really confusing on the issue
of the military, too. Before pro-military audiences, Kerry trots
out his military medals (three Purple Hearts!) and talks tough
about his "duty and service" to the nation. But then
he'll stand before the Dean Democrats and talk about how he led
the anti-war movement when he got home. Well, John, what's it
going to be: duty and service or conscientious objections?
It's this kind of double talk that has
littered the political career of John Kerry. He's always hanging
around talking out of both sides of his mouth until it's safe
to actually pick a side - and then only if he's forced to. Kerry
doesn't need Botox injections; he needs a spinal transplant.
Then consider Kerry's oft-quoted attacks
on "special interests." Apparently, his special interests
are holier than Bush's special interests. The truth, of course,
is that they share many of the same special interests, all to
the detriment of we, the non-special people.
While it pains me to invoke the words
of David Brooks, a conservative columnist at The New York Times,
he did sufficiently lampoon Kerry's rhetoric on special interests
in a recently published column entitled "Kerry's Special
Friends." After detailing many of Kerry's special favors
to the high and mighty, Brooks concludes as follows:
"You just ask David Paul, one of
the big figures in the savings and loan scandal, if Kerry didn't
make him feel special. You just ask the high-tech executive Bob
Majumder how special Kerry made him feel, at least until Majumder
was charged with 40 counts of conspiracy, witness tampering,
fraud, tax evasion and illegal campaign contributions. You just
ask the law firms, the brokerage houses, the oil companies, the
<H.M.O>.'s and the drug companies, which have donated tens
of thousands of dollars to Kerry.
"Oh, he sometimes pretends that
he doesn't care about our special interests. He puts on that
callous populist facade. But deep down he cares. Maybe he cares
too much. When he's out on the stump saying otherwise, he's just
being a big old phony."
Of the many similarities between the
patricians Bush and Kerry, there's nothing more disturbing than
their membership in the super-secret and super-elite Skull &
Bones club at Yale University. The fact that both men are members
of this club and neither is willing to spill the beans on any
of its internal secrets and favors should speak volumes about
the apparent "choice" this nation is being offered
on the November ballot.
"America is about to choose between
two presidential candidates," writes Sam Smith, editor of
the indispensable Progressive Review (<www.prorev.com>),
"who belonged to an organization whose values were infantile,
elitist, misogynist, anti-democratic and secret and whose purposes
include the mutual support and protection of its members as they
make their into the upper ranks of American society and throughout
their adult lives. Far from apologizing for this, the two candidates
refuse to give open and honest answers about their participation.
Further, at least one of the candidates, Kerry, has retained
a close enough relationship to the organization to have sought
news members from among his young acquaintances."
If Bush v. Kerry is truly the choice
being offered to the nation in November, we don't even have to
wait for the voting to begin in order to declare the winner.
This nation's power elites are not only poised for yet another
victory, but they're thrilled by the prospects of four more years
of calm, non-threatening waters from which they float their political
boats.
Michael Colby
is the editor of Wild Matters.
He can be reached at: mcolby@wildmatters.org
Weekend
Edition Features for February 1, 2004
Paul
de Rooij
For Whom the Death Tolls: Deliberate
Undercounting of Coalition Fatalities
Bernard
Chazelle
Bush's Desolate Imperium
Jack
Heyman
Bushfires on the Docks
Christopher
Reed
Broken Ballots
Michael
Donnelly
An Urgent Plea to Progressives: Don't Give in to Fear
Rob Eshelman
The Subtle War
Lee
Sustar
Palestine and the Anti-War Movement
George
Bisharat
Right of Return
Ray
McGovern
Nothing to Preempt
Brian Cloughley
Enron's Beady-Eyed Sharks
Conn
Hallinan
Nepal, Bush & Real WMDs
Kurt Nimmo
The Murderous Lies of the Neo-Cons
Phillip
Cryan
Media at the Monterrey Summit
Christopher
Brauchli
A Speech for Those Who Don't Read
John
Holt
War in the Great White North
Mickey
Z.
Clueless in America: When Mikey Met Wesley
Mark
Scaramella
The High Cost of Throwing Away the Key
Tariq Ali
Farewell, Munif
Ben
Tripp
Waiter! The Reality Check, Please
Poets'
Basement
LaMorticella, Guthrie, Thomas and Albert
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