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Today's
Stories
December
12, 2007
Patrick
Cockburn
What's Really Happened During
the Surge?
December 10 / 11, 2007
Uri
Avnery
How They Stole the Bomb From Us
Debbie
Nathan
The Perils of Journalism and Child
Porn
JoAnn
Wypijewski
Is There a Left Here Left?
If So, What Can It Do?
Steve
Kelly
Cheap Chips, Counterfeit Wilderness
Donna
J. Volatile
Welcome to the Revolution
December
8 / 9, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
The Coup Against Bush and Cheney
Brenda
Norrell
Seize the Land, Chain the Peace Activists
Saul
Landau
The Ruins of Empire
R.
F. Blader
A Rape in Every Drink?
Ray
McGovern
Spinning Iran's Centrifuges
Allan
Nairn
Imposed Hunger in Gaza, the Army in
Indonesia
Linn
Washington, Jr
Spotlight on Death Row
Paul
Craig Roberts
When Will Bush Come Clean?
December
7, 2007
Sean
Penn
Piano Wire Puppeteers
Arthur
Versluis
Mining Water in the Desert
M.
G. Piety
Racism and the American Psyche: Some
Thoughts on Race and Intelligence
Pam
Martens
Banksters Gone Wild
Alan
Farago
Will the Free Market Kill Suburbia?
Sprawl and the Credit Crisis
Allan
Nairn
It Takes (Out) a Village
Col.
Dan Smith
Bush, Iran and the Politics of Doomsday
Alice
Slater
The Iran Opening
Robert
Weissman
The Story of Stuff
Website
of the Day
Something
About Mitt
December
5, 2007
Mike
Whitney
Why the CFR Hates Putin
Sharon
Smith
The Anti-War Enablers: Tom Hayden
and the Dead End Democrats
James
Petras
Venezuela in the Aftermath
Ron
Jacobs
The Iran Charade
Dave
Zirin
Kicking a Dead Man: the Sliming of Sean Taylor
John
V. Whitbeck
Two States or One? Time to Choose
Peter
Zinn
Covered in New Orleans
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
Impeach Pelosi Instead
Alan
Farago
The Credit Bomb Detonates in Florida
Heather
Gray
US Meddling in Australian Politics
Website
of the Day
A Donner Summit Night Before Xmas
December
4, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
Jackboot State Stubs Its Toe in
Ann Arbor
Andy
Worthington
Guantánamo and the Supreme
Court
Paul
Craig Roberts
The Lies at the End of the American
Dream
Ray
McGovern
No-Nuke Iran
Winslow
T. Wheeler
Admiral Mullen and the Defense Budget: When White Elephants are
Too Small
Allan
Nairn
The Regime Still Stands in Burma, Where "the People Just
Want Food"
Russell
Mokhiber
The USA v. Al Arian
Nikolas
Kozloff
As Chávez Falters: Raising the Stakes for the South American
Left
John
V. Walsh
Peace Movement Paralyzed
Ghada
Ageel
Will Peace Cost Me My Home?
Stephen
Soldz
The Facts be Damned!: Psychologists' President Defends Psychologist
Involvement in Interrogations
Website
of the Day
Hands Off the People of Iran
December
3, 2007
Tariq
Ali
Venezuela After the Referendum
Bill
Quigley
New Orleans: Bulldozers for the Poor,
Tax Credits for Developers
Eric
Walberg
The Bible and Middle East History
Uri
Avnery
After Annapolis
Marjorie
Cohn
Operation Iraqi Freedom Exposed
Dave
Lindorff
Vengeance Isn't Sweet
Stephen
Fleischman
Homeless in Paradise
Martha
Rosenberg
Perp Walks for the Mink Clad on Chicago's Mag Mile
Website
of the Day
So Just Lead!
December
1 / 2, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
Emblems of the Bush Age: Adrift
in a Sea of Booze
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The Bear Minimum: the Grizzly and
the Future of the Rocky Mountain West
Mike
Whitney
"Iraq Doesn't Exist Anymore": an Interview with Nir
Rosen
Shemon
Salam
A Visit From the FBI
Roger
Burbach
The Battle in Bolivia
Benjamin
Dangl
New Politics in Old Bolivia
Brian
M. Downing
The Quiet on the Middle Eastern Front: How Much Credit Goes to
the Surge?
Greg
Moses
Night of the Living Redneck: a Texas Horror Story
Sonja
Karkar
The "Never-Never" Peace Conference
Saul
Landau
Ethics and Evil in South Boston
Margaret
Kimberley
Black America Left Behind
John
Ross
What are the Prospects for a New Mexican Revolution?
Reza
Fiyouzat
Exit on the Left: When Che's Children Visited Iran
Judith
Scherr
Berkeley Turns Right for the Holidays
Lance
Olsen
Of Forests and Finance: Logging for the Wealthy
Christopher
Brauchli
Mr. Bush and the Despots
Robert
Fantina
Iraq as U.S. Colony
Dan
Bacher
Fish Triage on Prospect Island
Michael
Donnelly
Remembering How to be Human: John Trudell and the Music of Urgency
Website
of the Weekend
Appalachian Voices
November
30, 2007
Peter
Stone Brown
The Re-Packaging of Bob Dylan
Wajahat
Ali
The Volatile Mistress: an Interview with Javed Jabbar, Pakistan's
Former Minister of Information
Allan
Nairn
Cold-Blooded Celebrity: Thomas L. Friedman and the Bali Bombers
Alan
Farago
The Sorrows of Suburbia: Politics, Sprawl and the Housing Crash
John
Ross
The Death of Latin America's First Revolution
Corporate
Crime Reporter
America's Corporate Crime Capitals
Lucia
Alvarez
Diego Gonzalez
Argentina's Political Future
James
Rothenberg
The Iraqi Miracle
Website
of the Day
Bio-Bling?
November
29, 2007
R.
F. Blader
The Most Dangerous Kind of Bribe
Ismael
Hossein-Zadeh
Distorting Fascism to Demonize Iran
Stephen
Soldz
War on the Couch: Fear, Aggression and Empire
Sheldon
Richman
Iraq 3.0
George
Wuerthner
Forest Fires, Lies and Chainsaws
Felice
Pace
Did All Things Considered Self-Censor on Annapolis?
Col.
Dan Smith
The Meaning of Annapolis
Harvey
Wasserman
Terror Target Nukes
Nikolas
Kozloff
Primetime Hate Debate: Lou Dobbs, Immigration and Campaign '08
Paul
Krassner
Huffington Post Bloggers Go On Strike!
Dave
Lindorff
News Not Fit to Print: US Coup Planned for Venezuela?
CP
News Service
The One State Declaration
Website
of the Day
A Native View of Yellowstone Bison Slaughter
November
28, 2007
James
Petras
CIA Destabilization Memo Surfaces
on Venezuela
Jeff
Halper
Annapolis: When the Roadmap is a One
Way Street
Pam
Martens
Crashing Citigroup
Peter
Morici
Economy in Crisis: Avoiding a Recession
Mohammed
Khatib
Separate and Unequal in Palestine
Helen
Redmond
The Horror and the Hope: Health Care in America
William
S. Lind
In the Fox's Lair: Quiet Before a New Iraq Storm?
Ben
Tripp
We, the People: a Trope for All Seasons
Liaquat
Ali Khan
Pakistan: First, Restore the Constitution and Reinstate the Judges
Jeff
Berg
Holbrooke Says Bush Won't Attack Iran
Website
of the Day
The Lies of Joe Klein
November
27, 2007
Joe
DeRaymond
On the Road to the Torture School
Paul
Craig Roberts
Meet the Only Two Candidates Worse Than Bush and Cheney: Hillary
and Rudy
Marjorie
Cohn
Remembering Victor Rabinowitz
Mike
Whitney
A Dollar the Size of a Postage Stamp
Ron
Jacobs
The Myths of Military Progress
Col.
Dan Smith
The Pentagon's "People System" Still Doesn't Work
Ralph
Nader
Family Learning
Karim
Makdisi
Annapolis and the Unholy Alliance: the View from Beirut
Christopher
Ketcham
Memo to Hollywood Writers: Strike Until You Drop
Ronan
Bennett
Martin Amis Does a Coulter
Website
of the Day
Celebrating the Uncensored Media
November
26, 2007
Kathleen
and Bill Christison
Heading for Annapolis
Paul
Craig Roberts
The End of All That
David
Macaray
Enter Mediator
Sameer
Dossani
Pakistan's Wounded Dictator
Roger
Burbach
The Final Battle in Bolivia
Mark
Scaramella
Guns and Greed in the Emerald Empire
Brian
McKinlay
Howard's End
Rick
Kuhn
The Fall of a Racist Union Buster
Binoy
Kampmark
Ruddslide and Dull Alec
Monica
Benderman
What Do You Know of War?
Brenda
Norrell
Return to Alcatraz
Website
of the Day
Ghostworld by DJ Spooky
November
24 / 25, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
The Ordeal of Catherine Wilkerson,
MD
Robert
Fisk
Darkness Falls on the Middle East
Saul
Landau
Norman Mailer will Not R.I.P.
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Justice Stephen Breyer, Cancer Bonds and the Origins of Neoliberal
Environmentalism
Rannie
Amiri
Beirut's Black Friday
Christopher
Brauchli
Iraq Embassy as Gilded Palace
Daniel
Gross
The Gap and Black Friday
Mike
Whitney
"A Generalized Meltdown of Financial Institutions"
Marjorie
Cohn
Iran and the 2008 Elections
David
Rosen
Senior Sex: the Real Sexual Life of Aging Americans
David
Michael Green
If Conservatism is the Ideology of Freedom ....
Kenneth
Rexroth
When Euripides Played the Hindu Kush: Greeks and Buddhists in
Afghanistan
Muhammad
Iqbal
Trans. Shahid Alam
Ghazal
Website
of the Day
Aerial Footage of Delta Fish Kill
November 23, 2007
Gary
Leupp
Killing the Buddha in Pakistan's Swat
Valley
Laura
Carlsen
Coming to Terms with Diversity in
Bolivia: an Interview with Alvaro Garcia, Bolivia's VP
David
Macaray
Keeping Labor Unions Out
Andy
Worthington
Former Guantánamo Detainee Seeks Asylum in Sweden
Clifton
Ross
Trashing Chavez: Keith Olberman's Toxic Rant
Seth
Sandronsky
Battling Sodexho
Dan
Bacher
Death in the Delta: Thousands of Fish Stranded by Bureau of Reclamation
William
A. Cook
The Myth of Middle East Peace
Website
of the Day
Waiting for the Guards: Stress Techniques as Torture, a Short
Film
November
22, 2007
Alan
Farago
Who Lost America's Everglades?
Greg
Moses
A Thanksgiving Basting
Dave
Lindorff
Impeachment is Back on the Table
Mike
Ely
Native Blood: the Myth pf Thanksgiving
Omar
Azfar
Gore for President of Pakistan?
November
21, 2007
Vijay
Prashad
Our Dictator, Their Democracy
Martha
Rosenberg
Undercover at a Turkey Slaughtering Plant
Manuel
Garcia, Jr.
Epiphany on the Glacier
John
Ross
The Last Days of Mexican Corn
Brian
McKenna
Cancer Terrorists Unmasked
Stephen
Soldz
Isolation Torture Routine at Guatánamo
Monica
Benderman
Needing Peace
Ben
Terrall
Slavery in the Fields: The Real Price of Sugar
Website
of the Day
Mercy for Animals
November
20, 2007
Oren
Ben-Dor
Why Israel Has No "Right to Exist"
as a Jewish State
Wajahat
Ali
An Interview with Norman Finkelstein
Alan
Farago
The Dark Arts and the Bush Dynasty
Marjorie
Cohn
Musharraf Plays Bush for a Fool
Ralph
Nader
Green is Gold?
Andy
Worthington
Guantánamo Whistleblower Launches a New Attack on Rigged
Tribunals
Sara
Olson
When Going AWOL is the Only Escape
Dave
Lindorff
Likelihood of Iran Attack Gains Credence
Paul
Krassner
The First Amendment, a Dialogue
Website
of the Day
Joanne Mariner on Torture
November
19, 2007
Winslow
T. Wheeler
Why Congress Won't Reform
China
Hand
The U.S. Game Plan in Pakistan
Allan
Nairn
Sitting Around Talking, in Indonesia
Uri
Avnery
How to Get Out?
David
Macaray
The Chalice that Poisoned the Labor Movements
Dave
Lindorff
Democrats in Future Shock: They Could Lose It All in 2008!
Bill
Quigley
Twenty Thousand Protest at Ft. Benning; Eleven Face Federal Criminal
Trials
Ron
Jacobs
Sitting on the Group W Bench: War, Thanksgiving and Arlo Guthrie
Sunsara
Taylor
Legalized Rights for Fertilized Eggs?
Binoy
Kampmark
Why Steve Irwin--You're Dead!
Heather
Gray
Another Look at W.E.B. DuBois
Website
of the Day
The Meat Market
November
17 / 18, 2007
P.
Sainath
Neoliberalism's Price Tag: 150,000
Farm Suicides in India
David
Rosen
The Scarlet Hypocrites: Republicans,
Christians and the Politics of Adultery
Mike
Whitney
Pentagon Cover Up: 15,000 or More US Deaths in Iraq War?
George
Wuerthner
Saving the Big Wild
Brenda
Norrell
The Case of Jim Main, Jr: In Montana, Indians are Guilty Until
Proven Innocent
George
Ciccariello-Maher
Of Submarines and Loose Screws
Karim
Makdisi
Lebanon is Hanging by a Thread
Marie
Trigona
Wal-Mart in Argentina
Valerio
Volpi
The Catholic Church, Incorporated
Fred
Gardner
The Straight-Ahead Runner
Robert
Fantina
The White House Press Office
Mike
Ferner
Thank God for the Senate Republicans!
Missy
Comley Beattie
The Radical Majority
Kenneth
Couesbouc
Circles of Power
Patrick
O'Hayer
A Portrait of Mailer and a Young Poet
Poets'
Basement
Davies, Buknatski and Ford
November
16, 2007
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
The Vices of Hillary Clinton: Secrecy,
Intransigence and War
Dave
Zirin
The Indictment of Barry Bonds: Busted by a Broken System
Gary
D. Barnett
A Day in the Life of an Unwilling Federal Agent
Alan
Farago
Sprawl, Mortgage Fraud and Political Corruption
Dave
Lindorff
Two Brothers and Two Scandals
Russell
Mokhiber
Pelosi and Me: "What Should be Done with Those Protesters?"
Robert
Ovetz
Cargo Ships in Paradise: Shipping Lanes Threaten the Yosemite
of the Sea
Brenda
Norrell
"Today We Experienced America:" Arresting Indigenous
People on the Border
David
Swanson
Wolf Blitzer Loses Democratic Debate
Peter
Letheby
Outside the Box on the Great Plains
Website
of the Day
Why Activism Fails
November
15, 2007
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
Hillary Clinton in Arkansas
Adolfo
Gilly
The Spirit of Revolt
Peter
Bohmer
10 Days That Shook Olympia
Andy
Worthington
The Trials of Omar Khadr: Gitmo's Child Soldier
Gray
/ Derks
Obama's Pitch to South Carolina's Black Churches Affronts Gay
Groups
Liaquat
Ali Khan
Liberating Pakistan
Dave
Lindorff
Where's the Party?
Christopher
Brauchli
Tipping Point: the Politics of Gossip
Anthony
Papa
Racism as Law: Crack Cocaine Sentences
Martha
Rosenberg
Merck's Big Write Off
Ben
Terrall
Thank You, Ehren Watada
Website
of the Day
On the Colorado: Drought, Climate Change and Water Supplies
November 14, 2007
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
The Making of Hillary Clinton
James
Petras
Venezuela Between Ballots and Bullets
Al
Giordano
Campaign 08: Don't Trust Anyone Over 50
Paul
Craig Roberts
The Lobby
Andy
Worthington
Innocents and Foot Soldiers
Stephen
Lendman
Torturing Palestinian Detainees
Fatima
Bhutto
Aunt Benazir's False Promises: the Dismantling of Pakistani Democracy
Martin
Smith
Norman Mailer and the "Good War"
Jeff
Leys
Slip Sliding Away: House Votes on War Funding
Website
of the Day
Why the Writers are Striking
November
13, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
Hillary's Big Problem and How Bill
Can Fix It
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Mailer and Us: the Writer as Fighter
Robert
Bryce
The Pakistan Fuel Connection
David
Macaray
The Teamsters and the Hollywood Strike
Mike
Whitney
Bulletins from the Titanic
Ralph
Nader
Pakistani Lawyers vs. American Lawyers
Nikolas
Kozloff
Chavez Blasts the Spanish King
Jordan
Flaherty
Education Versus Incarceration in Tallulah, Louisiana
B.
R. Gowani
Dear Mrs. Bhutto
Website
of the Day
Monty Python: "Fuck You, Very Much FCC"
November
12, 2007
Vicente
Navarro
Why Hillary's Health Care Plan Really
Failed
Ben
Brown
Letter from Ho Chi Minh City: a Tribute to My Vietnam Vet Father
Omar
K.
A Pakistani Lawyer's Testimony: Life Under the Brutal Emergency
Sadia
Abbas
The Roots of Pakistan's Political Crisis: Corrupt Elites and
a Kleptocratic Military
Farzana
Versey
Mailer's Miasma
Richard
W. Behan
The Political Crimes of Complicity
Paul
Krassner
Asshole of the Year: Congratulations Tim Russert!
Cindy
Sheehan
Faith and War
Peter
Stone Brown
The Return of Levon Helm
Dave
Lindorff
Dennis, You are Not Alone
Website
of the Day
Police Attack in Olympia
November
10 / 11, 2007
Alain
Gresh
Uncle Sam's New Backyard: How to Turn
a Region into a Graveyard
Mike
Whitney
For Whom the Closing Bell Tolls: the Last Dead Bull on Wall Street
Ron
Jacobs
A View from the Pakistani Left: an Interview with Farooq Tariq
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The First Dambuster: a Coyote Story
Alan
Farago
Tangled Up in Blue: a Brief History of Florida Environmentalism
Binoy
Kampmark
When Language Drowns: Torture in America
Robert
Fantina
Legitimizing Torture
Fred
Gardner
Psychological Torture in the Name of Family Values
Ayesha
Ijaz Khan
The General in His Labyrinth
Nicola
Nasser
NATO's Southward Drift
Philip
Rizk
The Blame Game in Gaza
Michael
Dickinson
Condom Nation: the Pope vs. Terry Higgins
Joel
S. Hirschhorn
The Grand Delusion: a Conspiracy of Two Parties
Paul
Krassner
Flunking Out of the Electoral College
Wadner
Pierre /
Joe Emersberger
The Ongoing War on Journalists in Haiti
November
9, 2007
Patrick
Cockburn
In the Kandil Mountains with the
PKK
Mohammed
Hanif
Musharraf and the Drunk Uncle
John
Ross
Blackwater Goes to Mexico
Mike
Whitney
Ron Paul, Big Media's Invisible Candidate
Tom
Barry
In Latin America, the Hillary Clinton Policy is the Bush Policy
Corporate
Crime Reporter
Is the AFL Trying to Derail Single Payer Health Care?
Badruddin
Khan
Pakistan and the Israel Lobby
David
Macaray
The WGA STrike: the Empire Strikes Back
Martha
Rosenberg
The Blood Sport of Vice Presidents
Website
of the Day
Stryker Blockade!
November
8, 2007
Kathleen
& Bill Christison
Meeting the Other in Israel and
Palestine
William
Loren Katz
Waterboarding in American History
Mike
Whitney
The Long Fall: a Market Without Parachutes
Sheldon
Richman
Why Woodstock May Have Saved John McCain's Life
Liaquat
Ali Khan
Solidarity with Pakistan's Lawyers
Marc
Gardner
The Victims of "Jessica's Law": Parolees Without Rights
(or Homes)
Jackie
Corr
The Big Fish from Whitefish: Montana, the Last Retreat of the
Investment Banker?
Brenda
Norrell
Between Bombs and Border Walls
Dave
Lindorff
Ridiculing Impeachment at the New York Times
China
Hand
Rewriting the History of the Sudan Calamity
Sen.
Russ Feingold
FISA and America's Basic Freedoms: Let's Not Repeat the Mistakes
of the Patriot Act
Website
of the Day
The Welfare Poets Meet Hugo Chavez
November
7, 2007
Paul
Craig Roberts
Dollar's Fall Collapses the American
Empire
Russell
Mokhiber
Pelosi and Me: Can't the Democrats End the War By Not Bringing
the Funding Bill to the Floor?
Vijay
Prashad
The Apotheosis of Bobby Jindal
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
Educating Pakistan: What Mukasey Can Teach Musharraf
Alan
Farago
To Bee or Not to Bee? The Politics of Colony Collapse
David
Macaray
The Writers' Guild Strike: Is There an Ice-Breaker?
Nikolas
Kozloff
The Case of the Slimy Senator: Chuck Schumer Greenlights Mukasey
Charlotte
Laws
What We Learned from Stephen Colbert's Presidential Campaign
Daniel
White
Zahid's Story
William
Cook
The Politics of Servility: Congress and the Israel Lobby
Website
of the Day
Safe Lawns
November
6, 2007
Mike
Whitney
Welcome to Year 27 of the Reagan
Revolution
Ralph
Nader
Who Determines the Price of Oil?
Andy
Worthington
The Torture of Ali al-Marri
Pam
Martens
Wall Street Metes Out Street Justice to Citigroup
Liaquat
Ali Khan
Pakistan's Dark Future
William
Schroder
The Return of Water Torture
Stephen
Lendman
Punishing Gaza
William
Blum
Cuba and Original Sin
Former
US Intelligence Officers
A Memo on Torture, Intelligence and Mukasey
November
5, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
How I Spent the Eighth Brumaire
Russell
Mokhiber
Pelosi and Me: The Democrats and Single Payer
David
Macaray
How to Turn Workers Against Each Other (and Make Them All Poorer)
Gary
Leupp
General Musharaff's "State of Emergency"
Dave
Lindorff
Those Minot Nukes
Ludwig
Watzal
Israel's Dilemma in Palestine
Patrick
Cockburn
Tensions Ease in Iraqi Kurdistan
Peter
Stone Brown
John Fogerty Makes Peace with His Past
Michael
Simmons
Yo! What Happened to Peace?
Website
of the Day
Petition: In Defense of the Morton West HS Antiwar Students
November
3 / 4, 2007
Tariq
Ali
Pakistan Sinks Deeper into Night
David
Price
Army's Price Salesman of Counterinsurgency
Manual Seeks to Defend Stolen Scholarship
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Splitsville
Alan
Farago
The Housing Crash, Suburban Sprawl and the Crisis of the American
Middle Class
Paul
Krassner
He's Back! Don Imus Meets Michael Richards
Rannie
Amiri
Why the U.S. is Safeguarding Iraq's War Criminals
P.
Sainath
Indexing Humanity, Indian Style
Ayesha
Ijaza Khan
Pakistan in a Daze
Robert
Fantina
Is the Bush Administration Talking Itself Into a War With Iran?
Seth
Sandronsky
The Politics of Health Care in California
Ron
Jacobs
The Bebop of Baraka
Ramzy
Baroud
A Case for Arab Dignity
Heather
Gray
When Capitalists Get a Free Ride
November
2, 2007
Dr.
Mary Pipher
Acting on Conscience: Psychologists
and Abusive Interrogations
Saul
Landau
How Pete Stark Became a Pariah
Andy
Worthington
Guantánamo as House Arrest
Sharon
Smith
A Tale of Two Stadiums
Gary
Leupp
Fascist Beatifications: the History and Politics of Sainthood
Gregory
Harms
The Chorus of Slander on Palestine
Christopher
Brauchli
Racism in High Places
Peter
Morici
The Falling Dollar and the Stubborn Trade Deficit
Dave
Lindorff
The Easy Way to Stop the Looming US Attack on Iran
David
Penner
Zombie Nation
Website
of the Day
Fall in Yosemite
November
1, 2007
Paul
Craig Roberts
The Wages of Hegemony
Patrick
Cockburn
The Most Dangerous Dam in the World
Dave
Lindorff
The Air Force Report on the Minot-Barksdale Nuclear Missile Flight
Jonathan
Feldman
The Strange Political Economy of Death in the South
Mike
Ferner
They Met the Resistance in Iraq
William
S. Lind
A Question for Would-Be Presidents
Diana
Johnstone
"Fascislamism" Versus "Shoah Business"
Jacob
Hornberger
The War on Telephone Privacy
A..K.
Gupta
The Apocalypse will be Televised
Lyuba
Zarsky /
Kevin Gallagher
The Enclave Economy of Mexico's Silicon Valley
Felice
Pace
Does the SPLC Equate Anti-Zionism with Anti-Semitism?
Website
of the Day
This One's for You, Ed Abbey
October
31, 2007
Bill
Quigley
New Orleans' Broken Criminal Justice
System
Rev.
William E. Alberts
A Trail of American Blood: From the White House to CBS News
Ray
McGovern
Attacking Iran for Israel
Eric
Walberg
Poisonous Espionage: Litvinenko and the New Cold War
V.
G. Smith
The Second Death of Guy Môquet
Luis
J. Rodriguez
"Social Cleansing" from Guatemala to LA
Sheldon
Richman
Bush has Time to Run the World
Walter
Brasch
A Real Halloween Scare
Website
of the Day
Boogie Rocks!
October 30, 2007
David
Price
Pilfered Scholarship Devastates Gen.
Petraeus's Counterinsurgency Manual
M.
Shahid Alam
The Pakistan Question
Andy
Worthington
The Epiphany of Matthew Waxman: a Government Insider Turns Against
Gitmo
Patrick
Cockburn
The Bicycle Bomber of Baquba
Anthony
Papa
The Twisted Logic of Drug Laws
Floyd
Rudmin
What "All Options are on the Table" Really Means
Sherwood
Ross
Giuliani and Torture
Website
of the Day
The Worst Lobby? You Decide
October
29, 2007
Lisa
Hajjar
Inside Israel's Military Courts
Joe
DeRaymond
The Politics of Lethal Injections
Patrick
Cockburn
The High Stakes in Iraqi Kurdistan
Isabella
Kenfield /
Roger Burbach
Corporate Murder in Brazil
Fred
Gardner
The Frivolous Investigation of Dr. Sterner
Farzana
Versey
Caricaturing Islam
Stephen
Fleischman
The Greening of the Oligarchy
Marcelle
Cendrars
The Congressional Rip Cord
Eamonn
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Cockburn
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The Dam That Isn't There
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Bovard
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Beyond the Rule of Law
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Condi Rice, the Imperial Cheerleader
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Labor at the Crossroads
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Whitney
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Lindorff
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The Fraudulent War on Terror
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The Way to Paradise?
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The Lesson of the Chrysler Rebels
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McKinlay
John Howard and the Curse of Bush
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Pete, Nancy, George and WW III
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December
12, 2007
Todd Haynes' "I'm
Not There"
Tangled
Up in Dylan
By KIM NICOLINI
If you go to I'm Not There expecting
to see a standard biopic about Bob Dylan where you can learn
about his personal life, struggles, successes and failures, forget
it. Todd Haynes' new film was inspired by Bob Dylan, but it is
not about Bob Dylan. The trailer states the film is "Inspired
by true, false, authentic, exaggerated, real, imagined, stories."
So while inspired by Dylan, the movie is actually an absolutely
brilliant treatise about the artificial construct of identity
and the fallacy of authenticity. It is about the human tendency
to project identities onto people like Bob Dylan and create fictions
that they mistake for fact. It is about how identity is a malleable
thing which is constructed by its environment and morphs and
changes depending on how we interact with and are reflected off
others and even off ourselves. The trailer for the film begins
with the Bob Dylan quote: "All I can do is be me. Whoever
that is." The film then deconstructs the idea of a "me,"
and in its deconstruction, I'm Not There offers one of the very
best, most innovative and intelligent movies of the year.
Todd Haynes and his cinematographer
Edward Lachman (Far From Heaven) use the medium of film
itself to challenge the audience's perception of identity, art
and film. Manipulating genres, actors, histories, and styles,
the movie does not allow us a fixed position in relation to its
content. Just as we think we know the character and the movie
being presented, it shifts gears and we lose our ground. In a
recent article in American Cinematographer, Haynes talks about
how Dylan liked "taunting the audience and generating friction
rather than adoration." Indeed this is just what Haynes'
film does. It undermines our expectations and fucks with our
perception of the movie and its characters. As we watch the film
and impose our interpretations and assumptions on the characters
and the genres, we are asked to acknowledge that our projections
are flawed, that identity is not a fixed form but changes according
to outside influences, including our own reflection in the mirror.
Our assumptions about the movie
shift constantly in relation to our personal experiences of film
and music. The audience becomes complicit in the manipulation
of the film's identity as our expectations and perspectives constantly
shift in relation to genre and style shifts. The movie opens
with an 11 year old black boy named Woody Guthrie in a depression
era boxcar scene. The rich greens of the countryside evoke a
kind of nostalgic pastoral narrative, while the boy's interactions
with "hobos" on the train are laden with a kind of
cliché Capraesque social dialogue. By starting the movie
with a black boy as Dylan, Haynes immediately pulls the rug out
from under our feet in relation to our identification with the
lead character. What movie are we watching anyway? We question
"how" we are going to watch this film as we struggle
to get hold of the narrative. I personally wondered if I could
make it through a movie that was operating in such clichés
and overt philosophizing. The boy's name further fucks with our
perception. Is this a movie about Bob Dylan or Woody Guthrie?
To complicate things further, we learn that the boy is not actually
living during the depression but during the 1950's. Our knowledge
of racial tensions during the 50's projects another consciousness
onto the film as this young black kid ends up in a suburban Caucasian
household that is barely one step removed from the house in Far
From Heaven. We try to get our grounding and wonder if we're
watching a melodrama, social realism, or a biopic. The social
conscious narrative imposes itself on the white melodrama narrative.
Our knowledge of Haynes' films adds yet another twist to our
perspective as we recall the lush cinematography and the racial
tensions in From Heaven. We are acutely reminded that more than
anything we are watching a "Todd Haynes" film and are
also asked to question our perception of Haynes as a director,
(which may be the ultimate question in the film). Further, the
boy's historical confusion adds yet another layer of mutability
as we question history as a construct itself. So in this one
opening scene Haynes is not only manipulating our perception
of Bob Dylan, but of film, race, genre, and history itself.
Haynes then busts the movie
wide open and we find ourselves experiencing a dizzying array
of characters, genres, and styles. In one moment we are in the
middle of a black and white Fellini-esque romp in which Dylan
is named Jude and is played by a woman Cate Blanchett.
In another we are thrust into a revisionist Western with Dylan
(Richard Gere) as Billy the Kid. Next thing we know, we are in
the home a 1970's movie star (Heath Ledger) as we watch the disintegration
of his marriage. Then we are in gritty documentary style realism
as we see the folk singer turned preacher Jack Rollins (Christian
Bale) belt out some gospel. In between, Dylan as Arthur Rimbaud
(Ben Whishaw) sits in a minimalist scene and philosophizes on
the inherent malleability of identity and the fallibility of
truth. In between all this, the film is punctuated by absolutely
brilliant segments of "faux documentary" footage in
which Julianne Moore (a utterly hysterical parody of Mimi Farina)
reflects on her experiences with Jack Rollins. In these scenes,
we have a fictional documentary about a fictional version of
Dylan which further manipulates our sense of "truth"
about the characters we are watching and the film itself. This
manipulation of identity extends itself into other characters
as well. For example, Allen Ginsburg makes an appearance with
Jude. When we see him, he looks just like Allen Ginsburg, yet
we are very conscious that he is not Allen Ginsburg. Still our
knowledge of Ginsburg projects onto the character in the film.
We want him to be Allen Ginsburg, so there is tension between
"knowing who Ginsburg is" and knowing that the man
in the movie is not Ginsburg. Because the character looks so
much like the Ginsburg we see in photographs, we are forced to
question the solidity of the identity of Ginsburg himself, and
in the end Ginsburg appears to be more of a concept than a person.
And that is the basic premise of the film that identities,
especially of artists and public personae, are concepts and constructions
that only exist in relation to the projections of others.
Despite the movie's conscious
manipulation of the audience in its attempt to undermine our
"identification" with the identities of the characters
and scenes, the film also manages to bring some amazingly strong
musical performances to the screen. But then those performances
also turn on themselves. For example, when Woody and Richie Havens
sing "Tombstone Blues" together, it's like the movie
opens at the seams. Suddenly all this real raw music and energy
pours out, and we lap it up hungrily. The music sounds so "authentic"
and "honest," yet we are reminded of the construction
of Woody and have to pull back from the appearance of sincerity
by reminding ourselves that it's "not real." Likewise,
in the Billy the Kid sequence when Jim James from My Morning
Jacket sings "Goin' to Acapulco," we again experience
this relief and catharsis in relation to the music. James's performance
is so laden with authentic feeling that we feel relief in his
sincerity. It gives us something to hold onto. But then I realized
that my personal relation to this scene was manipulated by the
fact that I was projecting my relationship to the music of My
Morning Jacket and my love for their music, and that my relationship
to the scene had little bearing on any relation to Boy Dylan
or even the movie. And it is that "personal relation"
that ultimately causes false identity constructs. An utterly
brilliant scene in which Christian Bale as the preacher Jack
Rollins sings "Pressin' On" has a similar manipulative
effect. The music is beautifully heart breaking in its unrelenting
faith, yet the sincerity of the song is undermined by Haynes'
almost parodic construction of the scene. He uses grainy 16mm
documentary type film which produces a kind of self-conscious
exaggerated tawdriness to the scene, so we end up laughing instead
of crying. The self-conscious staging deprives us from any true
identification. Not to mention, we can't trust the performance
itself. On the soundtrack John Doe sings the song, so we have
to ask is it John Doe, Christian Bale or Bob Dylan?
Certainly Todd Haynes' vision
is the true star of this movie (along with the impeccable cinematography
of Edward Lachman). Haynes' manipulation of genre, styles, sets,
gender, and race poses infinite questions about identity and
perception that we as the audience must try to answer. Haynes
pulls out all the cinematic stops -- from black and white neo
realism, to lush revisionist Westerns and pastorals, to faux
documentaries, and lavish melodrama and shows us how the
morphology of identity is unfixed. Like the highway that threatens
to tear apart the idyllic landscape of Billy the Kid's Western
oasis, our preconceptions and assumptions rip through the people
we meet, the art we experience, and the films we watch. Richard
Gere as Billy the Kid says, "Me, I can change in the course
of the day. When I wake up, I'm one person, and when I go to
sleep I know for certain that I am someone else." And that
is true for everyone. Who we are when we are alone, when we are
at work, when we are fucking, writing, performing, or screaming
changes according to how we are perceived, and those perceptions
are based on a constantly changing bank of experiences, like
seeing this movie for example. Ultimately the movie questions
the notion of authenticity in people and art. It asks if identity
is inherently false or if there is a neutral place to be "me."
Certainly according to this movie, identity is a plurality. It
is not a movie about Bob Dylan, but about the human desire to
form and contain concepts like Bob Dylan and to try to ascribe
a fixed identity to art itself. I'd have to agree with Haynes.
We are never who you think we are. At least I know I'm not.
Kim Nicolini is an artist, poet and cultural critic.
She lives in Tucson, Arizona with her partner, daughter, and
a menagerie of beasts. She works a day job to support her art
and culture habits. She is currently finishing a book-length
essayistic memoir about growing up as a punk sex worker in 1970s
San Francisco. Her work has appeared in Bad Subjects, Punk Planet,
Bullhorn and Berkeley Review. She can be reached at: knicolini@gmail.com.
|
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