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Meat and Empire
The pig-raising factories of Smithfield Farms stretch from Mexico to Rumania and back to home sty in North Carolina, where swine flu first mutated. Viewing Earth from outer space an alien ecologist might conclude cows are the dominant species of our planet. Alexander Cockburn on the conquest landscapes of the meat-producers. Nanotechnologies, say their boosters, are changing the way people think about the future. They rush to buy nano-products. But how safe are they? Steven Higgs has a chastening message for us. And Senator James Abourezk concludes his vivid “Adventures in Indian Country”, with the story of the occupation of Wounded Knee. Yes, he was there and he was one scared senator. Get your new edition 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 presents.
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Today's Stories May 18, 2009 Dave Lindorff Abdul Malik Mujahid Ben Rosenfeld Patrick Cockburn May 15-17, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair David Rosen Mike Whitney Bruce Page Jeremy Scahill Fred Gardner Tom Barry Mats Svensson Ramzy Baroud Mark Engler Mark Weisbrot Farzana Versey Ron Jacobs Hannah Wolfe Cal Winslow David Macaray Christopher Brauchli Mark Seth Lender Robert Fantina David Ker Thomson Stephen Martin Charles R. Larson Chase Madar Kim Nicolini David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend May 14, 2009 Michael Hudson Andy Worthington Paul Craig Roberts Jonathan Cook Ray McGovern Lance Selfa David Green Dave Lindorff Frida Berrigan Sue Udry Website of the Day May 13, 2009 Brian M. Downing Gareth Porter Robert Sandels Ricardo Alarcón Eric Walberg Dave Lindorff Deepak Tripathi William S. Lind Kevin Zeese Franklin Lamb Website of the Day May 12, 2009 Gary Leupp Richard Neville Wajahat Ali Dean Baker Franklin Lamb Norman Solomon Paul Craig Roberts Lisa M. Hamilton Bob Fitrakis / David Macaray Website of the Day May 11, 2009 Andrea Peacock Michael Hudson Patrick Cockburn Ralph Nader John Kelly Saul Landau Dave Lindorff David Michael Green Anthony Papa Paul Krassner Website of the Day May 8-10, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Paul Wolf Steve Niva Neve Gordon Mike Whitney Warren Hinckle Serge Halimi Gareth Porter Sharon Smith Andy Worthington Mark Weisbrot Rosa Miriam Elizalde Cyber Command and Cyber Dissident: More of the Same? David Macaray Missy Beattie Ron Jacobs Diane Farsetta Ramzy Baroud Phelie Maguire Robert Fantina Kevin Zeese Margaret Flowers, MD Dave Lindorff Richard Rhames Ben Sonnenberg Kim Nicolini Stephen Martin Charles R. Larson David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend May 7, 2009 Paul Craig Roberts Chris Floyd Andy Worthington Alan Farago Ray McGovern Dave Lindorff Eric Toussaint / Ana M. Malinow, MD Jeff Armstrong Norman Solomon Website of the Day May 6, 2009 Doug Peacock Patrick Cockburn Richard Neville Manuel Garcia, Jr. Winslow T. Wheeler Deepak Tripathi Stephen Soldz Reuven Kaminer David Macaray Kevin Zeese Marjorie Cohn Coalition for an Ethical Psychology Website of the Day
May 5, 2009 William Blum Uri Avnery Steven Higgs Dean Baker Daniel Wolff Sibel Edmonds Carole King Klein Fidel Castro Belén Fernández Dan Bacher Website of the Day May 4, 2009 James G. Abourezk Jeff Leys Patrick Cockburn Andy Worthington Jaime Avilés David Swanson Paul Craig Roberts P. Sainath Eugenia Tsao Benjamin Dangl Sami Al-Arian Website of the Day May 1 - 3, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Gary Leupp Peter Linebaugh Jeffrey St. Clair / C. G. Estabrook Patrick Cockburn Mike Whitney Pierre Sprey / Andy Worthington Mairead Maguire Nadia Hijab Diane Farsetta Michael Calderón-Zaks Richard Rhames Russell Mokhiber Ramzy Baroud Rannie Amiri Deb Reich Steven Higgs Brian Cloughley David Michael Green Farzana Versey Jim Goodman Carl Finamore Christopher Brauchli Susie Day David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Peter Stone Brown Poets' Basement Dominguez, Orloski and Springate Website of the Weekend April 30, 2009 Ellen Cantarow Dana L. Cloud Paul W. Lovinger / Binoy Kampmark Brian Downing Frank Snepp David Swanson Conn Hallinan Ron Jacobs John Goekler Jasmine L. Tyler / Website of the Day April 29, 2009 Joann Wypijewski Patrick Cockburn Andy Worthington Chris Floyd Dave Lindorff Jeremy Scahill Doug Henwood Michael Hudson Russell Mokhiber Eric Toussaint Website of the Day April 28, 2009 Uri Avnery Jeremy Scahill Dean Baker Michael D. Yates Conn Hallinan John Stauber Tom Barry Harvey Wasserman Jeff Nygaard Frederico Fuentes Website of the Day April 27, 2009 Pam Martens Patrick Cockburn Andrew J. Bacevich Guardian of the Status Quo: Obama's Sins of Omission Mitu Sengupta Franklin Lamb Firmin DeBrabander Dave Lindorff Russell Mokhiber Mike Whitney Mark Weisbrot Rev. José M. Tirado Website of the Day April 24-26, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Marjorie Cohn Andy Worthington Jeremy Scahill Chris Floyd Mike Whitney Anthony DiMaggio Chris Kromm Saul Landau Dave Lindorff Greg Moses Joshua Frank Fred Gardner Manuel Garcia, Jr. David Michael Green Ramzy Baroud Rannie Amiri Laura Carlsen Richard Morse Nikolas Kozloff Kent Peterson Robert Bryce Niranjan Ramakrishnan The Financial Experts Ron Jacobs Richard Rhames Stephen Martin David Yearsley Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend April 23, 2009 Eamonn Fingleton Ray McGovern Michael Ratner Alan Farago Rob Larson Nadia Hijab Fawzia Afzal-Khan Dave Lindorff Helen Redmond Adam Federman Website of the Day April 22, 2009 Chris Floyd Joanne Mariner Vijay Prashad Gareth Porter Dean Baker Peter Morici Winslow T. Wheeler Barucha Calamity Peller Harvey Wasserman Aisha Brown / Teo Ballvé Website of the Day April 21, 2009 Randy Rowland Dave Lindorff Fidel Castro George McGovern Greg Moses Benjamin Dangl Sonia Nettnin Frank Barat Binoy Kampmark John V. Walsh David Macaray Website of the Day April 20, 2009 Mike Whitney Andrea Peacock Henry A. Giroux Liaquat Ali Khan Fred Gardner Stephen Soldz Nadia Hijab Dave Lindorff P. Sainath Nelson P Valdés Mark Engler Belén Fernández Website of the Day
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May 18, 2009 Subterfuge and the Science of Repeating LiesWar and TortureBy ROBERTO RODRIGUEZ It is apparent that regardless of who is in power, conservative ideals are firmly entrenched not simply in the American psyche, but are an integral part of U.S. policies. One could blame liberals for not having a backbone when combating conservatives, but chances are that the real reason may be even more onerous; one likely explanation is governmental psychological warfare. Why did Congress last week quietly approve almost another $100 billion for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars? Why are displaced Mexican migrants scapegoated for all the ills of U.S. society? Why does the United States escape blame for its insatiable thirst for drugs [in fueling the drug wars in Mexico]? Why is the United States always supposed to side with Israel, without ever having a debate? Why does “war as peace” continue to be U.S. policy? With President Obama, things were supposed to be different; the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars were supposed to come to a screeching halt. Guantanamo would be immediately closed down and torture would unequivocally be denounced and those flouting U.S. and international laws would finally be held to account in a court of law. Instead, we see vacillation or escalation on virtually every front. Just on economic grounds alone, one would think that shutting down both wars would be a no-brainer. So the question is logical; with Obama in the White House and Democrats in control of Congress, why do conservative ideals and policies – such as the right to permanent war – continue to be entrenched throughout the U.S. political landscape? Most assuredly, the answer lies in the lies that this nation has swallowed as part of its national narrative. For example, several years ago, as I was finishing up my PhD studies, one of my professors was explaining how language and minds can be manipulated – simply by the words we employ and the order in which they are employed. Such a sophisticated process can pre-determine not only what we think and discuss, but when we do this. Who delivers the words and ideas can also influence how people will feel towards any given issue. One example is the use of Colin Powell [and his contrived account] to convince a skeptical world before the UN about the need to invade Iraq [Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld and Rice had zero credibility]. As the seminar professor was explaining this process, I raised my hand: “This sounds like psy-ops – like CIA work.” At this, the professor laughed: “You must not be too familiar with our field. The great majority of all mass communications research is funded by the defense department.” This confirmed what I had always suspected; this would explain how the Iraq War was sold – through an unquestioning media that simply acted liked stenographers – repeating complete fabrications, affirmed by “military experts” (in the employ of Defense contractors) that even grade school children could see through. Yet that would not have been enough to have convinced a skeptical public. For such a special operation to work, fear, hate and ignorance had to be thrown into the mix, helping to advance the nonsensical argument that Iraq constituted a grave threat to the world. Yet, on the heels of the Cold War – in which the United States was pitted against a superpower that actually had a nuclear arsenal of thousands – Americans were supposed to be afraid of a country that, in effect, used slingshots as part of its air defense. While fear, hate and ignorance usually work in any society, all this was not enough to sell this war. To sell the war – in fact, to sell the notion of a right to permanent worldwide war (The so-called War on Terror) – required bringing in three additional factors: God, hyper-nationalism and a “homeland.” If Bush could convince the public that God was siding with the United States against fanatical Arab/Muslim terrorists who were responsible for 9-11, then all that remained was to convince the public that it was their patriotic duty to support the president in this God-inspired civilizational war to protect the Fatherland against infidels. This civilizational Jihad or Crusade included warring against Iraq, a nation that had nothing to do with 9-11 and that had not ever been a threat to the United States (see Rumsfeld’s “religious” memos to Bush at this week’s GQ Issue at: http://men.style.com/gq/features/topsecret) This war – for the hearts and minds of Westerners – appears to have failed except amongst the FOX-TV-viewing public and its right-wing radio auxiliaries. And yet, even with a change in administrations, conservative ideals and the conservative agenda continue to dominate the national agenda. Specifically, in regards to Iraq and Afghanistan – the wars continue and Dick Cheney and his ultra-conservative cohorts continue to dictate the nation’s political agenda. The reason: think psy-ops and think subterfuge. While we discuss the proprieties of torture and other enhanced interrogation techniques – we never get around to discussing illegal wars that have resulted in the deaths and maiming of tens of thousands and the displacement of millions. Within this context, we ignore the larger crimes against humanity by the Bush administration and instead debate whether torture works or not. In a nation of laws – beyond a bad cliché, “going forward” – or not pursuing justice – has now become “conventional wisdom.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi advanced this nonsensical conservative idea when she refused to hold impeachment hearings. In a poetic sense of justice, her strategy of “not looking back” is coming back to bite her. Rather than the architects of the criminal war being investigated, she now is on the hot seat. It is possible that this same “going forward” agenda – which has also been accepted by President Obama – may come back to derail the president’s seemingly naïve agenda. Roberto Rodriguez can be reached at: XColumn@gmail.com |
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