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Today's
Stories
March 27 / 28, 2004
Jennifer Loewenstein
A Journey to Rafah
March 26, 2004
Christopher Brauchli
There's
a Chill Over the Country
Robert Fisk
The Man Who Knew Too Much: the Ordeal
of Mordechai Vanunu
Joe DeRaymond
Democracy in El Salvador? Think Again
Mike Whitney
Lessons on Apartheid from Ariel Sharon
Mickey Z.
Somalia and Iraq: Looking Back and Ahead
Chris Floyd
The Pentagon Archipelago
CounterPunch Photo Wire
Cheney's Close Shave?
John Breneman
Bush's Comic Bomb
Website of the Day
Dick
is a Killer
March 25, 2004
Lee Sustar
Who
is to Blame for Lost Jobs?
Standard Schaefer
An
Interview with Michael Hudson on Offshore Banking Centers
Roger Burbach
Lula vs. the IMF: Brazil Begins
to Throw Off the Austerity Planners
Jimmer Endres
Elections Without Politics: The Military Budget Is Not an "Issue"
Larry Tuttle
Acting in Your Name: Identity Theft and Public Interest Groups
Toni Solo
Misreporting Venezuela
Dan Bacher
A Memorial Wall for Iraq War's Dead and Wounded
Saul Landau
Is
Venezuela Next?
Website of the Day
The Spiral Railway
March 24, 2004
Gary Leupp
General
Musharraf's IOU
Richard Oxman
Shakespeare
for Kerry
William Lind
The Beginning
of Phase Three: 4G Warfare Hits Iraq
Rep. Ron Paul
Iraq One Year Later
Michael Dempsey
Killing Rachel Corrie Again
Alan Farago
The Bad Math of Mercury: Bush's War on the Unborn
Benjamin Dangl
and April Howard
Media
in Cuba
John L. Hess
No Lie Left Behind: Judy Miller Does Dick Clarke
Greg Weiher
Two Cheers for Dems: "We're Not as Bad as George"
Eva Golinger
An Open Letter to John Kerry on Venezuela
Grayson Childs
Where's Cynthia McKinney?
Steve Niva
Israel's Assassinations will Only
Fuel More Suicide Bombings
Website of the Day
The Bushiad and the Idiossey
March 23, 2004
Phillip Cryan
The
Drug War's Next Casualty: Colombia's National Parks
Ron Jacobs
They Shoot Men in Wheelchairs, Too?
Dave Lindorff
A Spanish Parallel: Scare Tactics and Elections
Mike Whitney
Richard Clarke and Teflon George
Brian McKinlay
Bush's Lil' Buddy in Trouble: John Howard Starts to Wobble
JG
Driving Mr. Koon: "Jim Crow Lives Next Door"
Phyllis Pollack
Gettin' Jigga with Metallica: the Battle Over the Double Black
CD
Ahmed Bouzid
Sharon's One-Way Track
Sean Carter
The G-Word Goes to Court: One Nation Under [Your Logo Here]
M. Shahid Alam
World's Greatest Country: Do the Facts Lie
March 22, 2004
Mazin Qumsiyeh
On Extrajudicial
Executions
Uri Avnery
The
Assassination of Sheikh Yassin is Worse Than a Crime
Gilad Atzmon
Sharon's Rampage
Mike Whitney
Guilty Until Proven Innocent: the Story of Captain James Yee
Jason Leopold
Firm With Ties to Cheney Faces Criminal Indictment in Cal Energy
Scam
Greg Moses
Stop
Walling and Stalling: a Report from Houston's Peace March
Phil Gasper
San Francisco: 25,000 March for an End to the Occupation
Lenni Brenner
Report
from NYC: Old and Young Parade for Peace
Julian Borger
The Clarke Revelations
Steve Perry
Karl Rove's Moment
Website of the Day
Enviros Against War
March 20 / 21, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Gay
Marriage: Sidestep on Freedom's Path
Jeffrey St. Clair
Intolerable Opinions in an Age of Shock and Awe: What Would Lilburne
Do?
Ted Honderich
Tony Blair's Moral Responsibility for Atrocities
Saul Landau / Farrah Hassen
The Plot Against Syria: an Irresponsibility Act
Gary Leupp
On Viewing "The Passion of the Christ"
William A. Cook
Fence, Barrier, Wall
Phil Gasper
Bush v. Bush-lite: Chomsky's Lesser Evilism
Ron Jacobs
Fox News and the Masters of War
John Stanton
Which Way John Kerry? The Senator's Inner Nixon
Justin Felux
Kerry and Black America: Just Another Stupid White Man
Mike Whitney
Greenspan's Treason: Swindling Posterity
Augustin Velloso
Avoiding Osama's Abyss
Lawrence Magnuson
Eyes Wide Open: Is Spain Caving in to Terrorism?
Kathy Kelly
Getting Together to Defeat Terrorism
Tracy McLellan
Scalia & Cheney: Happiness is a Warm Gun
Kurt Nimmo
Emma Goldman for President!
Luis J. Rodriguez
The Redemptive Power of Art: It's Not a Frill
Mickey Z
The Michael Moore Diet
Jackie Corr
When Harry Truman Stopped in Butte
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
The Great Trial of 1922: Gandhi's Vision of Responsibility
Poets' Basement
Stew Albert & JD Curtis
Website of the Weekend
Virtual World Election
March 19, 2004
Jeffrey St. Clair
Zapatero
to Kerry: Back Off, Senator, Our Troops are Coming Home
Ann Harrison
So
Protesters, How Well Do You Know Your Rights?
William MacDougall
Fortress Britain's War on "Economic Migrants"
Greg Moses
Sold American: Cowboy Nation Gets Ready to Vote
Cynthia McKinney
Haiti and the Impotence of Black America: Roll Back This Coup,
Mr. Bush
Norman Solomon
Spinning the Past; Threatening the Future
John L. Hess
"Missing" Evidence and the NYTs
Vicente Navarro
The
End of Aznar, Bush's Best Friend
Website of the War
Naming the Dead
March 18, 2004
Gila Svirsky
Rachel
Corrie, One Year Later: She Never Lost Faith in Decency
Christopher Brauchli
Drilling a Hole in the Sanctions: How Halliburton Made $73 Million
from Saddam
William Kulin
Report from Iraq: Just Another Baghdad Car Bombing
Mike Whitney
Resistance: a Moral Imperative
Rep. Ron Paul
Broadcast Indecency Act: an Indecent Attack on the First Amendment
Josh Frank
The Nader Question
Jack Random
They Lied & They Lost: Madrid and the Lessons of Democracy
Greg Bates
What Makes a Nader Voter Tick? A Survey
Sam Hamod / Alfredo Reyes
Contempt of the World: Hastert, Bush and Cheney on Spain
Gary Leupp
The
Madrid Bombings: the Chickens Come Home to Roost
Website of the Day
Privatizing Armageddon: Buy Your Own Doomsday Key
March 17, 2004
Marjorie Cohn
Spain, the EU and the US: War on
Terror or Civil Liberties?
David MacMichael
Untruth
and Consequences
Michael Donnelly
Wear the Green, But Skip the Green Beer
Tom Stephens
"Steady Leadership": Let the Buyer Beware
Wayne Madsen
Sen. Kerry, Let Me Help You Out
Karyn Strickler
Who Owns the Sierra Club? Anonymous Donors and Rigged Elections
Peter Linebaugh
Bush:
Blanc Blanc
March 16, 2004
Lenni Brenner
James
Madison: the Anti-Clerical Father of the Bill of Rights
Scott Boehm
Madrid
Diary: How to Change World Order in Four Days
Alexander Lynch
From Franco to Aznar: the History
Behind the Spanish Elections
Sam Hamod and Alfredo
Reyes
The Truth About the Spanish Elections: Aznar Was Going Down Anyway
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
You Wouldn't Do a Dog This Way:
Executing David Clayton Hill
Mike Whitney
The Case for a Nuclear Iran
Robert Fisk
The Bloody Price of the "War
on Terror"
Bill Christison
The
Aftershocks from Madrid
CounterPunch Photo Wire
The Passion of St. Teresa
Website of the Day
Join the War on Art!
March 15, 2004
Harry Browne
Terror Nothing New to Europe
Mike Whitney
Justice
Not Murder: the Tragic Symmetry of Terrorism
Lidice Valenzuela
Haiti: a Coup without Consultation
Greg Moses
Lessons
from the Texas Primaries: Looking for a Coalition with Legs
Mickey Z.
Depraved Indifference: C-Sections, Patriarchy & Women's Health
Asaf Shtull-Trauring
AWOL
in New York: From Refusenik to Organizer
CounterPunch Wire
Gen. Gramajo Executed by Bees!
March 12 / 14, 2004
Gabriel Kolko
The
Coming Elections and the Future of American Global Power
Saul Landau
Oh, Jesus...It's the Movie!
William Blum
Neo-Con(tradictions)
William S. Lind
Why They Throw Rocks
Rahul Mahajan
The Meaning of Madrid: War on "Terrorism" Makes Us
All Less Safe
Neve Gordon
Demographic Wars
Kurt Nimmo
Kerry and the Progressive Interventionists
Mickey Z.
The "New" UN Blames the Poor
Mike Whitney
War Games: the American Media Leads the Charge
Helen Scott and Ashley
Smith
Aristide's Fall: What Led to the Coup?
Justin E.H. Smith
Loïc Wacquant: Against a Sociodicy
of the American Prison
Brandy Baker
Him Again? Al Gore Needs to Move On
Robin Philpot
Nobody Can Call It a "Plane Crash" Now: the Report
on the Assassination of Rwandan President Habyarimana
Mokhiber / Weissman
The Meat Monopoly Takes a Rare Pounding
Dave Zirin
She Turned Her Back on the War: an Interview with Toni Smith
Daniel Wolff
The Lord's Pier
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
March 27 / 28, 2004
A Memo to Karl Rove
Advice
from the Hollywood Caucus
By JOHN ESKOW
TO: KARL ROVE
FROM: HOLLYWOOD TASK FORCE ON POLITICAL SHOW-BUSINESS
MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE: BRUCE WILLIS, TOM SELLECK, KEVIN COSTNER,
GOVERNOR ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, DENNIS MILLER, AND KELSEY GRAMMER--AND
FEATURING CHARLTON HESTON AS "DAD"
DATE: March 25, 2004
VERBATIM TRANSCRIPT OF MEETING
Heston:
There's no time for pleasantries, Karl. We just got the overnight
Nielsens, and buddy, we're deader than the opening weekend of
Gigli. Did you see the headlines in Daily Variety? Kinda rough.
BUSH: THE NEXT EISNER? And then, under that: CONGLOM-KINGS MULL
'04 RE-WRITE AS GOP SCRIPTS DISSOLVE LIKE BRAND X TOILET-PAPER.
And under that-
Schwarzenegger:
My God, you read that so fast!
Willis:
First off, let's give the devil his due. Clarke was incredible.
First, he wrongfoots us with that apology bit-which played huge
in the room-and he was off-book on that, we believe, it sure
wasn't in the freakin' script that we got to peek at--isn't Gordon
Liddy still doing B&Es, Karl?-anyhow, Clarke sells the hell
out of that apology speech, and there isn't a dry seat in the
house--plus he's working that gravitas thing like a fuckin' mastiff
with a hamsteak, and...hey! Miller! Put that notebook away--you're
trying to steal my freakin' line, you god-damn serial flop--
Miller:
I wasn't stealing it! I was admiring it! "Working that
gravitas thing like a fuckin' mastiff with a hamsteak-"
Willis:
Right. And--
Miller:
--or, or like Winona Ryder cadging a Vicodin scrip from a cut-rate
Botox hustler-
Willis:
Uh, Dennis? 1994 called. It wants its smirk back.
(Brief silence.)
Grammer:
As a great man once said, "Life is easy. Comedy is hard."
On Frazier, we-
Heston:
Gentlemen, gentlemen, let's get back on pointwe agreed that Clarke
was very strong, doing Act Three of The Insider-that aging Russell
Crowe thing, more in sorrow than anger, blah blah blahNine-Eleven,
Schmine-Eleven: it played.
Miller:
Right. And who do we send up to book-end the dude? Rove-O, we
begged you to play the Rice card, but no. You've got a halfway-usable
Halle Berry type, with that whacked-out, hell-hath-no-fury-like-a-woman-scorned
thing working for her-and she plays all her big scenes OFF-CAMERA,
for Christ's sakes--when she was just voted "Most Likely
to Appear in Groovy Hate-Fuck Fantasies" by white males
between the ages of 55 and 70! MAKE the bitch testify, Karlie!
Don't let her sulk in her freakin' trailer like Monty freakin'
Clift on a Seconal-and-vodka weeping-jag, OK-show her the power
of that mighty Rove member, and dominate that fine brown frame,
Herr Rovemeister! Of course, I may be--
Grammer:
-incredibly boring? still doing shtick that's so old it should
getting prescription-plan benefits? managing the incredible
feat of bringing down the ratings at CNBC, for God's sake?
Face it, once and for all, Dennis-the hair is gone. It lived
a good, full life, and it gave you a shot at a career in-what-comedy
of some kind, I believe? Dennis, entre-nous, a little show-biz
tip. You look silly flipping your head as if you were whipping
back a headful of unruly hair--that whole lions'-mane thing from
the SNL days-'cause it ain't hap'nin' any more, Slick.
Costner:
Sorry to interrupt, girls, but please--can we get off of Dennis'
hair for a minute and back to the subject? Thank you. Now-speaking
as an Oscar ™ winning director-
Selleck:
Oh, Christ, here we go-
Costner:
Oh--so solly, Mr. Baseball-San! But as a creative force in this
industry, I know a little something about dramatic structure.
Climax is everything, OK? So let's compare our climaxes here.
How does Clarke end Act 3? BY HUGGING THE FAMILIES OF 9/11
VICTIMS! I mean, reallythat's cinema! It played like the last
scene of It's A Wonderful Life-where Capra uses the whole mise-en-scene
to create a sense of-
Willis:
Hey, Orson, we're on the clock here--
Miller:
The Kev-o-Matic is right, though: they close with the hug. We
close with this Richard Armitage thing up there, who looks like
the freakin' bald wrestler-zombie from those old Ed Wood movies!
Whose genius idea was that? Even with hair, the guy's a bad
George Wendt, on his best day. But with that single tooth shining
and that fourth-rate Harmless Moron shtick-I mean, talk about
overplaying! The Dickster couldn't do a cameo as a high-school
football coach in a friggin' TNT movie! He couldn't play the
slow-witted water-boy in a feel-good Jim Carrey dramedy! He
couldn't-
(Sounds of Miller talking continue, but
inaudibly, as if someone has pushed the tape-recorder to an another
end of the conference table.)
Costner:
We've got to think "outside the box," as I like to
put itI mean, the whole image of a "Senate hearing"
works against us, y'know? It brings up bad memories. I'm just
spitballing here, butis there any way to do this as a Western?
(Silence.)
Willis:
Sure, Kev, sure-any wild guess who might play the lead? Or do
you just wanna dazzle us with more of your Oscar ™ directing
chops?
Grammer:
if we could get black to-back to Condy Rice-for a second-
Schwarzenegger:
I bet that Connie Wright has big chalupas!
(Brief, stunned silence.)
Grammer:
Governor, why don't you run outside and play for a little while,
OK--the grown-ups need to talk now. And find out why Maria keeps
shrieking in the hall, would you?
Schwarzenegger:
Ah, she always does thatcan I come back later?
Grammer:
We'll see, governor, we'll see. Just go outside and grope a
few assistants until nap-time, and we'll tell you what happened
when you wake up-OK?
(Sound of heavy footfalls; Schwarzenegger
apparently walking out of the room.)
Schwarzenegger (growing fainter:)
Yah, OK. I hear that black women have really big Rumsfelds,
and--
Grammer:
Would somebody shut that god-damn door?
(Sound of door closing.)
Grammer:
Good God! The man still uses cute nicknames for women's breasts,
for God's sake.
Willis:
Right, Kel-- like those Vegas lap-dancers you keep marrying would
really be offended.
Grammer:
Hey stud, I've got two words about your manhood: Alison Kutcher.
(Sounds of scuffling; muffled curses;
and apparent crying from Grammer. It sounds like Heston and
Costner are pulling the fighters apart.)
(Brief silence.)
Selleck:
I suggest we focus on the positive for a moment.
(Long silence.)
Costner:
I kinda liked Tom Kean's choices
Heston:
Exactly. In my day we called that underplaying. But LehmanThompsonmy
God
Willis:
Again, Karl, not to be petty, butwe begged you for a rewrite
on Lehman's stuff. I mean-bad enough that he looks like some
kind of mix between an evil Don Knotts and Eddie Haskell after
thirty years of swigging Gallo Red straight from the jugbut to
try setting Clarke up with that see-through shit about being
old buddies-when everyone in the audience saw Clarke wasn't buyin'
it-and then bumbling through that terrible "I envy your
booksales" bit-which took FOREVER, it seemed like-who decided
to write in an irony beat for this clown?
Grammer:
I believe it was Twain who once observed: "Life is hard.
Irony is-"
Willis:
You're on thin ground here, Mr. Meterosexual-Before-His-Timeif
you think anyone really buys that marrying-a-silicone-blonde-again
bullshitso just shut up.
(Inaudible sullen muttering from Grammer.)
Miller:
And besides Lehman, how about this Thompson? The man isn't even
recognizably human on a basic physiological level! He looks
like a chunk of random ectoplasm that some infant God with a
case of the terrible cosmic twos threw against the bathroom wall
in an I-hate-Mommy tantrum! We give him the money line, for the
love of God, with the leaked deep-background memo from Scotty
Hannity at Fox-O-I mean, here we are, blatantly trashing the
last of the Beltway good-faith agreements to make one freakin'
point, and this cornholer who gives the term "flyover country"
a whole new depth of meaning HAS TO READ FROM HIS GOD-DAMN SCRIPT,
number one; and number two, when he FINALLY hits the punch-line,
Clarke's right there waiting for it like a debate-team Roadrunner
dropping a sound-bite anvil on Governor Wile E. Coyote's ugly
head! Or likeum
(Sound of chair scraping on floor, as
if someone's trying to move closer to table.)
Willis:
Miller, I swear, if you sneak a look at one more of my lines-I
paid good fuckin' money for this material-move your damn chair
back! NOW!
(Sound of chair scraping backward.)
Heston:
Karl, we need to take five here. We'll meet again later today
to help you formulate that warm and personal speech where you
fire Scott McClellan.
Selleck:
Oh yeah. Ari Fleischer! Now there was a pro. I'm glad we'll
be getting him back.
Grammer:
That reminds me, Karl: when you break these notes down for the
President, you might remind him of that old show-business adage-the
one that's always worked-long before Tony Blair or Ariel Sharon
were even born.
Heston:
I think I know where you're going, Kelsey, and if so, you're
right as rain-
Grammer:
Yep, Charlton: "Dress British, Think Yiddish."
(Verbatim transcript ends. Eighteen-minute silence follows.)
John Eskow
is a screenwriter. His credits include one of CounterPunch's
favorite flicks, Air America. He can be reached at: eskow@counterpunch.org
Weekend
Edition Features for March 20 / 21, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Gay
Marriage: Sidestep on Freedom's Path
Jeffrey St. Clair
Intolerable Opinions in an Age of Shock and Awe: What Would Lilburne
Do?
Ted Honderich
Tony Blair's Moral Responsibility for Atrocities
Saul Landau / Farrah Hassen
The Plot Against Syria: an Irresponsibility Act
Gary Leupp
On Viewing "The Passion of the Christ"
William A. Cook
Fence, Barrier, Wall
Phil Gasper
Bush v. Bush-lite: Chomsky's Lesser Evilism
Ron Jacobs
Fox News and the Masters of War
John Stanton
Which Way John Kerry? The Senator's Inner Nixon
Justin Felux
Kerry and Black America: Just Another Stupid White Man
Mike Whitney
Greenspan's Treason: Swindling Posterity
Augustin Velloso
Avoiding Osama's Abyss
Lawrence Magnuson
Eyes Wide Open: Is Spain Caving in to Terrorism?
Kathy Kelly
Getting Together to Defeat Terrorism
Tracy McLellan
Scalia & Cheney: Happiness is a Warm Gun
Kurt Nimmo
Emma Goldman for President!
Luis J. Rodriguez
The Redemptive Power of Art: It's Not a Frill
Mickey Z
The Michael Moore Diet
Jackie Corr
When Harry Truman Stopped in Butte
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
The Great Trial of 1922: Gandhi's Vision of Responsibility
Poets' Basement
Stew Albert & JD Curtis
Website of the Weekend
Virtual World Election
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