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Hysteria, Exploitation and Witch Hunting In the Age of Internet Sex
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Today's Stories April 17, 2007 Jean Bricmont
/ April 16, 2007 John F. Sugg Ismael Hossein-Zadeh Carl G. Estabrook Paul Craig Roberts Uri Avnery Ralph Nader Eamon McCann Lee Sustar Mike Whitney Don Fitz Stephen Lendman Website of the Day
April 14 / 15, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Jorge Mariscal Jeffrey St. Clair Dave Marsh Dr. Trudy Bond Joe Bageant Fidel Castro Alfredo Molano Alan Farago Michael Neumann Fred Gardner Ron Jacobs Gail Dines Linda Ford Missy Beattie Dan La Botz Giuliana Sgrena Laura Carlsen Abu Spinoza Elizabeth Schulte Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend
April 13, 2007 Patrick Cockburn Stephen Soldz George Ciccarriello-Maher Laith al-Saud Dave Zirin John Ross Ramzy Baroud Harvey Wasserman Lopez, Olivo and Garcia Dols, Fukumori,
Judd and Tillett-Saks Website of the Day
April 12, 2007 JoAnn Wypijewski Paul Craig
Roberts Marjorie Cohn Evelyn Pringle Ron Jacobs Norman Solomon Joe DeRaymond Nicola Nasser Nikolas Kozloff William S.
Lind Siegfried L. Sassoon Website of
the Day
R. T. Naylor Vijay Prashad Patrick Cockburn Winslow T. Wheeler Jack Balkwill Alan Farago Russell D.
Hoffman Peter Rost, MD Mike Whitney Dave Lindorff Susie Day Website of the Day
April 10, 2007 James G. Abourezk Earl Ofari
Hutchinson Joshua Frank Lee Sustar Joseph Grosso Nirmal Ghosh Robert Jensen Ramzy Baroud Paul Rockwell Mario Joseph
and Fred Wilhelms Website of
the Day
April 9, 2007 Saul Landau Uri Avnery Nicole Colson Gideon Levy Corporate Crime Reporter Evelyn Pringle Hill Kemp Martha Rosenberg Keith Rosenthal Jane Stillwater Website of the Day
Alexander Cockburn Sara Roy Arno J. Mayer Jeffrey St.
Clair Vicente Navarro Fidel Castro Fred Gardner Ralph Nader David N. Rahni Arthur Neslen Pratyush Chandra Missy Beattie Marc Levy Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
April 6, 2007 Franklin Lamb Gloria La Riva Corporate Crime Reporter Ron Jacobs Felice Pace Walter Brasch David Swanson Sylvia Syracuse
Patrick Cockburn Tom Barry Richard W. Behan Nicola Nasser Bernadine Dohrn Laray Polk Helen Redmond
April 4, 2007 Col. Dan Smith Joshua Frank Margaret Kimberly Sharon Smith Jeff Cohen and Norman Solomon Martin Luther
King,Jr. Bill Quigley Dave Zirin Evelyn Pringle Peter Rost,
MD Website of the Day
April 3, 2007 Patrick Cockburn Marjorie Cohn Brian M. Downing Corporate Crime
Reporter Carol Norris Ralph Nader Dave Lindorff Scott Bontz Thomas Dolby Website of
the Day
Gary Leupp Uri Avnery James Petras Norman Solomon Robert Fisk Stanley Heller Sherwood Ross Monica Benderman Stephen Fleischman Anne McElroy
Dachel Website of the Day
Cockburn /
St. Clair Fred Gardner Greg Moses Gary Leupp Robert Fisk Roger Morris Conn Hallinan Kristin J.
Anderson Jason Hribal John Ross Christopher Brauchli David Underhill Elizabeth Schulte Ben Terrall Missy Beattie Sonja Karkar Daniel Wolff David Vest Ron Jacobs Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
Alan Maass Veteran Intelligence
Professionals for Sanity Richard W. Behan Gabriel Kolko William S. Lind Stedjan / Weis Kevin Zeese David Busch Fidel Castro CounterPunch
News Service Website of the Day
Saul Landau Patrick Cockburn Dave Lindorff Arthur Neslen Michael Dickinson Ingmar Lee Aseem Shrivastava Marlene Martin Mahmoud El-Yousseph Michael Foley Website of the Day
March 28, 2007 Nicole Colson Harry Clark Larry Everest Jonathan M.
Feldman Dave Zirin Jane Stillwater Ayesha Ijaz Khan Jim Wilfong Hawra Karama Website of
the Day
Iain Boal /
Patrick Cockburn Monica Benderman Corporate Crime
Reporter Joshua Frank Harvey Wasserman Sen. Russell Feingold Tillman Family Patrick Bond David Judd Website of the Day
Patrick Cockburn Uri Avnery Greg Moses Bill Hatch John V. Walsh Diane Christian Dan La Botz Frederico Fuentes Sunsara Taylor Mickey Z. Website of the Day
Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St.
Clair David Rosen Ron Jacobs Robert Fantina Alan Maass Atul Gawande Marianne McDonald China Hand Kaz Dziamka Andrew Wimmer Don Monkerud Anthony Papa Matthew Provonsha Missy Beattie Stephen Fleischman Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend Song of the Weekend
March 23, 2007 Saul Landau Patrick Cockburn Greg Moses Rep. Ron Paul Franklin Lamb Stephen Gowans Roger Burbach Dave Lindorff William S. Lind Alan Mammoser Russell Hoffman Website of
the Day
March 22, 2007 Patrick Cockburn Robin Blackburn Michael Donnelly Uzma Aslam
Khan Lee Sustar Robert D. Skeels Rev. William Alberts Anne McElroy
Dachel Mickey Z. Website of
the Day
Tao Ruspoli James Petras Fred Gardner Corporate Crime
Reporter Faisal Kutty Robert Fantina Isabella Kenfield and Roger
Burbach Lucinda Marshall Winslow Wheeler Website of
the Day
March 20, 2007 Patrick Cockburn Winslow T.
Wheeler Sharon Smith Uri Avnery Stan Cox Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz Alan Farago Richard W.
Behan Juan Antonio Montecino Latin America Has Moved On David Krieger Peter Rost, MD Mickey Z. Website of
the Day Webclip of
the Day
March 19, 2007 Paul Craig
Roberts Patrick Cockburn Stauber / Rampton Werther Noam Chomsky Jeff Leys Richard May Ron Jacobs Mike Whitney Website of
the Day
March 17 / 18, 2007 Alexander Cockburn John Scagliotti Jeffrey St. Clair Paul Craig
Roberts Greg Moses Harry Clark Brian Cloughley Mehran Ghassemi William Loren Katz John Ross Ralph Nader Walter Brasch Samer Assad Dave Zirin Ron Jacobs Missy Beattie Don Santina Sami Adwan Dr. Susan Block Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend
March 16, 2007 R. T. Naylor Paul Craig
Roberts Joshua Frank Diane Farsetta Tom Barry Stephen Lendman Al Krebs Jackie Corr Ramzy Baroud Reza Fiyouzat Website of the Day
March 15, 2007 Alison Weir Patrick Cockburn Veteran Intelligence
Professionals for Sanity Franklin Spinney Standard Schaefer Conn Hallinan Maureen Webb Sonja Karkar Margaret Kimberly Anthony Papa Katherine Hancy Wheeler Bush's Latin American Tour: Good Will Lost Video of the Day Website of
the Day
March 14, 2007 Tao Ruspoli Philip Agee Bruce Dixon John Walsh Sunsara Taylor William Johnson Richard Thieme Jeffrey Klein Nicola Nasser Dave Lindorff Website of
the Day
March 13, 2007 Catherine Wilkerson,
M.D. Jonathan Cook Robert Bryce Corporate Crime
Reporter Pierre Rimbert Dave Lindorff Elizabeth Schulte Norman Solomon Kevin Zeese Jeff Conant Website of the Day
March 12, 2007 Marjorie Cohn Col. Dan Smith Paul Craig Roberts Ingmar Lee Fred Gardner Ron Jacobs Ralph Nader John Ross Stephen Fleischman Eva Carazo Vargas Website of
the Day
March 9 / 11, 2007 Sameer Dossani Jeffrey St.
Clair Dave Marsh Patrick Cockburn Jennifer Van Bergen James P. Stevenson Arthur J. Versluis Corporate Crime
Reporter Missy Beattie Michael Simmons Kevin Zeese David Swanson John A. Murphy Dave Lindorff Nikolas Kozloff Christopher
Fons Mike Roselle Mike Mejia Susie Day Michael Donnelly Tao Ruspoli Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
March 8, 2007 Elaine Cassel Yifat Susskind Corporate Crime Reporter Col. Dan Smith William S. Lind Mark Engler Roger Burbach Dana Cloud Isabella Kenfield Lucinda Marshall Tao Ruspoli Website of
the Day
Christopher Ketcham Christopher
Ketcham Alexander Cockburn / Jeffrey
St. Clair Winslow T.
Wheeler Sean Donahue Dave Lindorff Evelyn Pringle Tao Ruspoli Website of the Day
March 6, 2007 Gary Leupp Uri Avnery Patrick Cockburn Saul Landau Corporate Crime Reporter Ron Jacobs Mike Roselle P. Sainath Joshua Frank Aniket Alam Dave Zirin Website of
the Day
March 5, 2007 Greg Moses Patrick Cockburn James Petras Frida Berrigan Marjorie Cohn Douglas Kammen
and S.W. Hayati Sen. Barack Obama Michael Young Dave Lindorff Sonja Karkar Website of the Day
March 3 / 4, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Corporate Crime
Reporter Jeffrey St. Clair Patrick Cockburn Ralph Nader M. Shahid Alam Gilad Atzmon Fred Gardner George Ciccariello-Maher Rock &
Rap Confidential Gillian Russom Michael McPhearson Kevin Zeese Sunsara Taylor Wendy Thompson Kenneth Rexroth Missy Beattie Don Monkerud Tina Louise Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
March 2, 2007 Roger Morris Phil Gasper Mike Roselle Robert Bryce John V. Walsh Sherwood Ross China Hand David Rosen Chris Genovali Peter Harley Website of the Day
March 1, 2007 Laura Carlsen Paul Craig
Roberts Ray McGovern Christopher
Brauchli Najum Mustaq Brent Bowden Tina Richards Ethan Nadelman Mike Stark Wadner Pierre
/ Jeb Sprague Mike Whitney Website of
the Day
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April 17, 2007 Emily the Cow and Tyke the ElephantResistance is Never FutileBy JASON HRIBAL In November of 1995, Emily the cow escaped. The three-year old heifer had just arrived at a slaughter-facility in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. Reaching the end of her employment as a dairy worker, Emily had one final and vastly profitable task to perform: to be ground into beef and bone-meal. Yet, this 1,600 pound cow had other ideas. Namely, she wanted out. Leaping over a five-foot fence, she made a dash for the nearby woods. The facility staff tried to catch her but Emily was too fast. The staff tried for a week to trap her with cachés of hay but Emily was too smart. For forty days, she roamed about the rural community. There would be infrequent sightings sometimes she would be seen foraging with a herd of deer. During this six week period, Emily became a national celebrity and folk-hero. Many people cheered for the cow and supported her struggle against exploitation. In fact, the slaughter-facility sold Emily if she ever resurfaced to a local peace abbey for one dollar. In due course, she did emerge from the woods and, for the coming years, lived on a large pasture at the abbey. Sadly, "the Cow who saved herself," as Parade Magazine wrote, died from uterine cancer (a side-effect of rBGH) in March of 2004. In her honor, the Sherborn abbey erected a bronze statue of Emily the cow. In actuality, escapes from farms, slaughterhouses, laboratories, etc. are not unusual. Most of these instances pass unnoticed, as the animals are quickly rounded up and sent back to work. But occasionally, they can elude capture for a significant amount of time. Among the more notable recent examples, there was Molly B. from Montana. In January of 2006, she jumped the fence of a Great Falls packing plant, ran in front of an on-coming train, plowed through police fences, withstood three tranquilizer darts, and swam across the Missouri river. "I watched her do things that are just not possible for a cow," the manager of the packing-facility later explained. Molly was eventually cornered, but her considerable efforts earned her a permanent reprieve. As the manager continued, "at this point, I have no desire to slaughter her." "If the owner insists, I'll have to tell him to take her somewhere else." There was the bull that fled from a Newark, New Jersey slaughter-facility in May of 2004. Running through these tough streets for several hours, he was later taken to a sanctuary to live out the rest of his life. This same scene repeated itself only two years later, as another escapee bull roamed the city of Newark for ten hours. After being taken into custody, he also would be moved to a sanctuary. There was the cow that broke out of a Cincinnati, Ohio slaughter-factory in February of 2002. Scrambling over a six-foot fence and heading into the nearby park, the 1,050 pound Charolais rambled for twelve days. She was only trapped after authorities utilized three decoy cows, a banquet of hay and water, lassos, and two tranquilizer darts. But because of her elongated struggle and appearance on Good Morning America, the mayor granted her amnesty and a key to the city. There was the pig from Green Bay, Wisconsin who in September of 2006 escaped while in route to a butcher and shrugged off two Taser hits from the police. Similarly, in December of that same year, a pig from Vancouver, Washington vaulted out of a truck and dodged cars, semis, and cops for several hours. Both were detained and sent back to their owners. Some pigs, however, have gained more public attention. One of those successful few was Babe. Headed for slaughter, she climbed a four-foot grate, leapt from a moving vehicle, and dashed into the woods. The Massachusetts police gave up after two days of searching. When she reappeared, Babe was sent to nearby Sherborn to live with Emily. There was the two dozen sheep from Danielsville, Georgia. For a three week period in March of 2007, they out-hustled border collies, cops, and four-wheelers. Indeed, the age-old method for inducing sleep counting sheep is far more than just a folk-tale. It is a reality: sheep really can jump over fences. The Danielsville dozen hurdled over several of them and a police car for good measure. Picked off one by one, they were all caught and sent back to work. The sheep of Port Adelaide, England fared better. While being boarded on a ship for live export, they managed to get themselves out and, for ten weeks, hid in Mutton Cove (no joke). They would be placed in a sanctuary. There was the rhesus macaque from the National Primate Center in Davis, California. In February of 2003, she vanished while her cage was being cleaned. Two weeks later, the Level Four facility remained stumped. No word on her fate. That same month, two macaques from the BPRC lab in the Netherlands broke out of their exterior cage and were able to avoid authorities till the next day. It was only five years earlier at the Tulane Regional Primate Research Center that two dozen macaques actually made it through multiple layers of security and off lab grounds. Some of them managed to hide out in a nearby forest for several days. Yet, no escapees have garnered as much fame as the Tamworth two nicknamed by the British press: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Pig (although one was male and other female). Immortalized in their own BBC film, these two pigs made a run for it while being unloaded at a Wiltshire slaughterhouse in January of 1998. Slipping under a fence and swimming across an icy river, the two evaded capture for one week. A few local residents secretly aided the pigs by throwing out kitchen-scraps to them. But we should not think that humans are the only creatures to ever help in such actions. While on an expedition in Northern Africa, the prolific 18th century animal-collector, Carl Hagenbeck, described how baboons would "battle" hunters in order to save their trapped brethren. "One little baboon, who had been injured by a blow from a cudgel," he remembered, "was picked up and safely carried off by a great male in the very midst of the enemy." "In another instance, a female who already had one infant on her back, picked up and went off with another whose mother had been shot." More recently in 2003, there was the case of a herd of antelopes being held in a boma in Empangeni, Zululand. Conservationists watched as eleven elephants encircled the enclosure. In time, the matriarch, named Nana, came up to the main entrance, opened each of the latches, and swung open the gate. After the antelopes fled, the elephants marched into the night. As one of the ecologists wondered, "elephants are naturally inquisitive but this behavior is certainly most unusual and cannot be explained in scientific terms." But to return to the fate of the Tamworth two, they would be detained but, due to overwhelming public demand, their lives would be spent in a sanctuary. Sometimes, the escapees are never caught. Takoma the dolphin, for example, was a soldier in the US military. Serving in Iraq as a mine hunter, she slipped off one day in 2003 and never returned. As a matter of fact, the term cimarrones (or maroon) first applied, not to humans, but to other animals. In contemporary Anglo-America alone, there are countless autonomous communities: horses in Utah, cows in Georgia, sheep in Hawaii, burros in California, goats in Southern Illinois, and pigs in Pennsylvania. Ranchers hate them. Conservationists plot against them. Suburbanites hire people to kill them. Yet, these creatures continue to survive. Indeed, the idea of paternalism as applied towards other animals is a political invention. Cows can take care of themselves. Consider the cities of India. Here, cows can be found living on the streets. But don't let their placid image fool you. As one Counterpuncher who resided in India for several years wrote me, "they are sneaky thieves when they have to be, beggars when effective, and conniving hustlers when they can pull it off." These cows are "a joy to behold (even though somewhat emaciated), and a very different entity than the repressed victims of western style farming." Whether from the thoughts of the owners or the print of the media, the language used to describe these "escapes" (their term) is most illuminating: "captured," "fugitive," "amnesty," "outlaw," "criminal." These words, in reality, reflect a hidden truth a truth that is only exposed when actions are taken by other animals against human domination. In other words, when the curtain is pulled back, our fellow creatures emerge as active beings each of whom has the ability to shape the world around them. Agency is not unique to the human animal. Cows, pigs, monkeys, and elephants can also resist their exploitation. Over the centuries, humans have learned to deal with this. Farmers, ranchers, factory owners, and managers have tried a multiplicity of methods to deter or prevent escapes. Wooden-post fences were erected. Cows leapt over them or crawled under them. Taller, stronger metal fences were developed. Cows found their weak points and busted through them. Barbs were put on the wire to cause pain. A few cows still got over them. The wire was then electrified to cause even more pain. Humans have used tethers, clogs, and yokes to lessen movement. They have used bull-whips, bull-hooks, and electrified cattle-prods to scar and frighten. They have cut tendons, pulled out teeth, blinded eyes, ringed noses, and muzzled mouths to punish. They have castrated testicles, removed ovaries, and chopped off horns to control aggressiveness. These techniques are not called "breaking" because their targets are mindless, spiritless machines. Quite to the contrary, they are deemed as such because turning autonomous, intelligent beings into obedient, productive workers is difficult. If these methods failed, humans employed specialized bounty-hunters. They constructed pounds for the detained. Local, state, and federal laws were written. Fines and penalties were levied. The death penalty has always been the final option for those chronic troublemakers. FEMA itself has detailed strategies on how to deal with animal escapes. For this form of resistance can have serious consequences for owners, businesses, and governments. The run-away macaque from Davis, CA, for example, almost brought about the closure of the entire research center. The Tamworth two incited spot inspections and steep fines for the Wiltshire slaughterhouse. But more than bad press and possible loss in profits, these escapes can produce a public awareness of exploitation and resistance. This combination of struggle and recognition then ultimately forces such industries their operators, executives, scientists, and engineers to adopt animal-welfare legislation and practices. On 20 August 1994, the city of Honolulu entertained its last circus for Tyke the elephant came to town. This 20 year-old performer had enough of her employer, the Hawthorn Corporation. She was tired of being leased out to circuses and amusement parks. She was tired of the dismal and dangerous working conditions: the routine beatings, untreated injuries and wounds, the constant travel. She was through with the lack and poor quality of food. She was through with the lack of sanitation and basic health-care. But most of all, she was through with performing day in, day out. It was only one year earlier that Tyke stormed off stage in Altoona, Pennsylvania, ripping off the building's doors in the process. Three months after that in Minot, North Dakota, she trampled her handler during a show and darted into the fairgrounds. In both instances, trainers were eventually able to calm her down. In Honolulu, though, Tyke was finished with her job. In front of hundreds of spectators, she killed her trainer, mauled her groomer, and ran out of the arena. On the street, Tyke chased down a clown and stomped the circus promoter. The police, true to form, wasted little time - firing 89 shots into the elephant. Ironically, in March of 1933, the Honolulu police similarly gunned down another recalcitrant pachyderm entertainer, Daisy. Yet, contrary to what some readers may be thinking, Tyke's actions that day were anything but futile. In fact, hundreds of lawsuits were filed against the city, state, and Hawthorn Corporation. Public discussions intensified. Private individuals, who beforehand never thought about circus performers, were engaged and moved into activism. Animal-rights organizations were fueled. Outrage was voiced. Protests and boycotts were staged. The US Department of Agriculture (who oversees the industry) was consequently spurred into increased vigilance, enforcement, and prosecutions. In 1994, the federal government confiscated sixteen circus elephants from John Cuneo Jr. the owner of Hawthorn. Indeed, Tyke's resistance that August day propelled the development of social change. She made history. Jason Hribal is co-author of Cry
of Nature. He can be reached at: jasonchribal@yahoo.com
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The Gang's All Here: Judy Miller, Bob Woodward, Jeffrey Goldberg, Rupert Murdoch, Bill O'Reilly...End Times Leaves No Reputation Unstained!  Buy End Times Now! CounterPunch Books! Saul Landau's Bush and Botox World with a Foreword by Gore Vidal  Click Here to Order!  Michael Neumann's Devastating Rebuttal of Alan Dershowitz Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Greed and Profiteering in the War on Terror by Jeffrey St. Clair           The Occupation by Patrick Cockburn           CITY BEAUTIFUL By Tennessee Reed        Bruce Springsteen On Tour By Dave Marsh                   |
