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Today's
Stories
January 2,
2008
Jeff Taylor
The
Left and Ron Paul
January 1,
2008
Iain A. Boal
City
of Disappearances
B. R. Gowani
Benazir's Death in Crisistan
Shahid Mahmood
Bhutto and the Press
Linn Washington,
Jr.
Old Injustices Endure: From Crack Sentences to Racial Profiling
Harvey Wasserman
Taking Leonard Peltier to Iowa: the Moral Low Point of the Clinton
Era
John Ross
2008, Already a Year to Forget
Website of the Day
The Thrill is Gone: BB and Gladys
December 31,
2007
Alexander Cockburn
Goodbye
2007 and Good Riddance!
Tariq Ali
Pakistan, the Aftermath
Liaquat Ali Khan
The Perfidy of Pakistan's Rulers
Wajahat Ali
After Bhutto, a Nuclear Pakistan?
Robert Fisk
Who Killed Bhutto?
Ajai Sahni
Myths and Realities About Benazir Bhutto and Pakistan's Dark
Future
Marwan Bishara
You Say Talk, I Say Attack: The Middle East and the US Presidential
Election Campaigns
Uri Avnery
The Beilin Syndrome
Mark T. Harris
Does This Happen in Canada?
Brenda Norrell
Resistance and Censorship
Website of the Day
A People United Will Never Be Defeated
December 29
/ 30, 2007
Alexander Cockburn
Options
in America: Kill Yourself or Have a Baby
Tariq Ali
Indignation and Fear Stalk Pakistan
Fawzia Afzal-Khan
My Encounter with Benazir Bhutto
Gary Leupp
The U.S. and Pakistan After 9/11: Blowback from an Unholy Alliance
China Hand
Pakistan Stares Into the Abyss
Jacob Hornberger
Stop Medddling in Pakistan
John Chuckman
Pakistan and the Failure of Quick-Fix Politics
Missy Beattie
Evaluating Bush with the Bhutto Corruption Standard
Ralph Nader
Who Will Take the Next Step?
Fidel Castro
There Hasn't Been a Day in My Life When I Haven't Learned Something
Robert Fantina
The Sham of Homeland Security
Greg Moses
Beauty from the Heart of Texas
Catherine Lutz
What We Can Not See: Art and Bombing
Kristin Van
Tassel
Seeing in the Dark
Kim Nicolini
Redacted: Brian DePalma's Scream of Outrage
Phyllis Pollack
Keith Richards Runs With Rudolph Once More
Poets' Basement
Landau, Gibbons and Davies
Website of
the Weekend
Driving Karachi in Search of the Perfect Naan
December 28,
2007
Farzana Versey
The
Complex Electra
Wajahat Ali
A
Pakistani Requiem
Binoy Kampmark
Death in Rawalpindi: Bhutto and Her Legacy
Ayesha Ijaz
Khan
Not Dead Yet: The Pakistan People's Party Still Survives
Anthony DiMaggio
Turkey's Bombing of Iraq
Ray McGovern
Creeping
Fascism
Jim Goodman
Biofuels, the Biggest Scam Going
Ron Jacobs
Transcending the Colonizer's History: Iran, a People Interrupted
Russell Hoffman
Mini-Nukes by Toshiba
John Murphy
Greens Gone Wild
Website of the Day
Guiliani Campaign Official: "Only Rudy Can Defeat the Muslims"
December 27,
2007
Dilip Hiro
A
Tragedy Foretold: Will Bhutto's Death be a Boost for Her Party?
Murtaza Shibli
Who Killed Bhutto?
Stephen Soldz
Fallujah,
the Information War and U.S. Propaganda
Bill Quigley
Locked
Outside the Gates
Paul Craig Roberts
The Great American Lock-Up
Omer Subhani
Killing Bhutto: What Happens Next in Pakistan?
Marjorie Cohn
The Torture Tape Cover-Up: How High Does It Go?
Allan Nairn
Cataclysm By Money Whim
Jacob G. Hornberger
Smearing Ron Paul: Shame on the NYT
Norman Solomon
Channeling Suze Orman
Patrick Irelan
Rumsfeld Spills the Ink
Ben Tripp
Pass the Razor Blades
Website of the Day
Quagmire, For What It's Worth
December 26, 2007
Charles Tripp
From
One Saddam to Fifty
Paul Armentano
No-Knock, You're Dead
Rannie Amiri
Lebanon in Search of a Government
Stanley Heller
Brzezinski and Charlie Wilson's War
John Walsh
Two Unreasonable Men
Martha Rosenberg
The Strange Career of Scott Gottlieb
Norman Madarasz
Bolivia Amends New Constitution and Faces Mutiny from Within
Website of
the Day
Cockburn at the Battle of Ideas
December 25,
2007
Patrick Cockburn
Conscience
and Empire
December 24,
2007
Andrea Peacock
A
Dark Ride on the Border
Tariq Ali
Thinking of Edward Said
Uri Avnery
Help! A Ceasefire!
Jill Jameson
Burma is Not Back to Normal: A Trip from Rangoon to Mae Sot
Steve Melendez
Russell Means Goes to Washington
Mike Whitney
The Big Fix
Chuck Munson
Not Getting It About New Orleans
John Walsh
Clueless Crusaders
Farzana Versey
Tony Blair and the Hawking of Religion
Richard Neville
Dreaming of a White House Christmas
Website of the Day
Back in the USSR
December 22 / 23, 2007
Alexander Cockburn
Mike
Huckabee's Ascending Chariot
Ralph Nader
Politics
and Profits: How the Oil Cartel Gets Its Way
Andy Worthington
Intelligence Failures, Battlefield Myths and Unaccountable Prisons
in Afghanistan
Ahmad Faruqui
The Comedian of Pakistan
Bill Moyers
Society on Steroids
Rev. William
E. Alberts
Blessed are the Peacemakers
Timothy J. Freeman
From Kant to Lennon: Can War Really be Over?
Anthony DiMaggio
Democrats Continue to Capitulate on Iraq
Fred Gardner
Molecule of the Year, Cannabiodiol
Paul Krassner
Enhanced Hazing Techniques
Seth Sandronsky
17 Years of Meanness: Repealing California's Three Strikes Law
William Loren
Katz
Christmas Eve Freedom Fighters: Recalling the Battle of Lake
Okeechobee
Michael Dickinson
In the Dungeon of the Zabita
Ron Jacobs
Why Leon Russell Still Matters
David Vest
Doyle Bramhall's "Is It News?"
Poets' Basement
Orloski, Davies and Ford
Website of the Weekend
George W. Hates Santa
December 21,
2007
John Ross
New Massacres Loom in Mexico
Jacob Hornberger
Nothing Can Morally Justify the Invasion of Iraq
Dick J. Reavis
A
Way Out of the Newspaper Abyss
Jeff Cohen
and Norman Solomon
The 2007 P.U.-litzer Prizes
Peter Morici
Business as Usual as Recession Looms
Jack McCarthy
Let Us Now Praise Judith Regan (Even If She Did Sleep with Bernie
Kerik)
Raúl Zibechi
Sex and Revolution
Steve Early
How the Presidential Candidates Made Me an Atheist
David Macaray
Union Aftermath
Patrick Bond
Zuma, the Center-Left and the Left-Left in S. Africa
Lakota Freedom Delegation
A Declaration of Independence from the USA
Website of
the Day
Solomon v. Beck: Tale of the Tape
December 20,
2007
David Rosen
Mitt
Romney's Secret Life as a Pornographer
Alan Farago
The
Huckster and the Wreckage: Jeb Bush and the Subprime Mortgage
Crisis
Laura Carlsen
Standing Up to NAFTA
Ashley Dawson
The Return of the Bread Riot
Wayne Smith
and Jennifer Schuett
Cuba Changes, US Policy Stagnates
Website of
the Day
How to Talk to a FoxNews Reporter
December 19,
2007
Saul Landau
Is
the NIE Bush's Watergate?
Paul W. Lovinger
Hillary the Hawk
Norman Solomon
The Mad Corporate World of Glenn Beck
Dave Zirin
George Mitchell's Drugs of Choice
Marjorie Cohn
Bush Still Spinning Iranian Nukes
Sen. Russell
Feingold
The Iraq War is Exhausting Our Nation
Sonja Karkar
A Christmas Reflection on Palestine
Anthony Papa
Open the Drug Gulags
Christopher Ketcham
Pave the Holy Lands with Good Intentions
Davey D
Britney's Little Sister is Pregnant: Should We Blame Hip Hop?
Website of
the Day
When Republicans Use the F-Word on TV
December 18,
2007
R. F. Blader
The
Politics of Teen Pregnancy
George Wuerthner
Gunning for Wolves in Idaho
Steven Higgs
Can the NAFTA Superhighway be Stopped?
Vijay Prashad
Encounters with Ghadar
David Macaray
The Free Rider Problem
Ralph Nader
Nine Books That Make a Difference: a Reading List for the Holidays
Eva Liddell
Privatizing War Abroad, Invading Privacy at Home
Martha Rosenberg
While the Bodies are Still Warm: Drugs, Shrinks and Shooters
Dave Lindorff
When Impeachment is Out of Print
Peter Morici
The Consequences the Trade Deficit
Website of
the Day
Ron Paul: How Fascism Will Come to America
December 17,
2007
Mike Whitney
Staring
Into the Abyss
Tom Barry
Planning
the War on Immigrants
Uri Avnery
A
Gaza Masada?
Greg Moses
Crossing the Line in Texas
Allan Nairn
Terrorism; Counter-
Terrorism: Excuses for Murder
Patrick Bond
South Africa's Fight Between Hostile Brothers
Stephen Lendman
Police State America
Charles Jonkel
Grizzly Right of Way
Laray Polk
An Inside-Out Crisis in Gaza
Stephen Fleischman
Pawns in Their Game
December 15
/ 16, 2007
Peter Linebaugh
A
People's Penny for the Magna Carta
Howard Zinn
Bomb After Bomb
Standard Schaefer
The Greening of Big Tobacco
Raymond J.
Lawrence
Let's Take Christ Out of Christmas
Alan Farago
Down on Desolation Row: the Vultures and the Growth Machine
Saul Landau
Lord Byron and the Bad Tourists
Jenna Orkin
Lying to "Reassure" the Public: Bush's EPA and the
Post-9/11 Toxic Air Cover-Up
Ahmad Samih
Khalidi
Why a Palestinian "State" is a Punitive Construct
Robert Fantina
Politics By Photo-Op
Missy Comley
Beattie
Resistance Amid the Ruins
Ramzy Baroud
Of Mormons and Muslims
James L. Secor
A Vision for China's Future
Elijah Wald
Ike Turner's Music Won't be Forgotten
Website of
the Weekend
The Alliance for the Wild Rockies Needs (and Deserves) Your Support
December 14,
2007
JoAnn Wypijewski
The
Dirty Cad: What Giuliani's Sex Life Tells Us About Him
John Ross
Iraqi
Refugees Return: One Cruel Hoax
Jacob Hornberger
Terror Suspects Belong in Federal Court
Andy Worthington
Guantánamo and the Supreme Court: What Happened?
Allan Nairn
"Shoot Them on the Spot": Rewarding War Crimes
Dave Zirin
The Mitchell Report: Absolving the Owners
Dave Lindorff
The First Cut is the Deepest
Misty MacDuffee
Toxic Grizzlies
Ben Terrall
What Happened to Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine?
Dr. Mustafa
Barghouthi
Prerequisites for Peace
Website of the Day
Sen. Kit Bond: "Waterboarding is Like Swimming"
December 13,
2007
Paul Craig
Roberts
Shrinking
the Dollar from the Inside-Out
Mike Whitney
Dershowitz for the Defense--of Waterboarding
Ron Jacobs
Blank Check DemocratsL the Great War Funding Conspiracy
Norman Solomon
The USA's Human Rights Daze
Peter Morici
The Dragon and the Toothless Dog: China Doesn't Flinch
Sandy Mayes
Blocking the Strykers: 13 Days of War Resistance at Port Olympia
Franklin Lamb
The UN in Lebanon: Whose Mission Is It Fulfilling?
Jacob Hornberger
Don't Reform the CIA, Abolish It
Nadim Rouhana
An Interloper in My Own Land
Dave Zirin
On Pigskin and Petrol
Website of the Day
Rachel's Needs (and Deserves) Your Support!
December 12, 2007
Allan
Nairn
US Intelligence is Tapping Indonesian
Phones
Alan
Farago
How Sprawl Eats Its Young
Ray
McGovern
Torture, Lies and Videotape
Winslow
T. Wheeler
The Phony Pentagon Budget Cuts
Evan
Jones
The Raid on Great Western: Why an Australian Bank Might Spell
Doom for the US Farm Belt
James
Petras
An Open Letter to Sarkozy on the Exchange of Political Prisonsers
Joel
Hirschorn
The Horserace Fiction: Clinton, Obama and the Democratic Machine
Joshua
Frank
Why Ron Paul Deserves Our Attention
Sherry
Wolf
Why the Left Should Reject Ron Paul
Dan
Bacher
Survey of a Fish Graveyard
Website
of the Day
Men Eating Bugs
December
11, 2007
Patrick
Cockburn
What's Really Happened During
the Surge?
Diana
Johnstone
The Next Kosovo War
Paul
Craig Roberts
It's Waco All Over Again: Preventive Detention and the Constitution
David
Macaray
Impasse in Hollywood
Ralph
Nader
Gail Collins Versus the Underdogs
Andy
Worthington
Guantánamo Britons to be Released: a Mixed Result
Martha
Rosenberg
No Holiday for High Risk Sex Workers
Steve
Champion /
Anthony Ross
Words for Our Brother, Tookie Williams
Kim
Nicolini
Tangled Up in Dylan
Michael
Dickinson
Say Goodbye to Purgatory: Pope Rat Gets Indulgent
Website
of the Day
A Charming (and Worthy)
Pitch
December 10, 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
|
January
2, 2008
Letter to a Liberal
Friend
The
Left and Ron Paul
By JEFF TAYLOR
"Equal rights for all;
special privileges for none."
"Though the will of the
majority is in all cases to prevail, that will, to be rightful,
must be reasonable . . . the minority possess their equal rights,
which equal laws must protect, and to violate which would be
oppression."
"[The purpose of representative
government is] to curb the excesses of the monied interests."
"The influence over government
must be shared among the people. If every individual which composes
their mass participates in the ultimate authority, the government
will be safe; because the corrupting of the whole mass will exceed
any private resources of wealth."
"Peace, then, has been
our principle, peace is our interest, and peace has saved to
the world this only plant of free and rational government now
existing in it."
"Peace, commerce, and
honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with
none."
-- Thomas Jefferson
You asked for a treatise to explain
my support for the "lunatic" Ron Paul. Since you asked,
I'll send you some thoughts.
Why should Americans left-of-center--with commitments to peace,
justice, and democracy--see Congressman Paul as a real option
rather than as a right-wing wacko? That's the question. Several
years ago, I was hoping that Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) would
run for president in 2008. He's a principled statesman with a
consistent record of opposition to war and empire, and support
for democracy and civil liberties. He also has the potential
to reach beyond his base of liberal Democrats to conservatives
and libertarians with his stance on government frugality and
bureaucratic waste. So, I was excited about a Feingold candidacy
until he bowed out of the race.
Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) did not appeal to very many
voters in 2004 and he is repeating that dismal showing in 2008.
Part of his problem was his flip-flop on abortion when he entered
the '04 race. A principled pro-choicer like Feingold and a principled
pro-lifer like Paul can earn respect from a wide range of people,
but it's hard to admire someone who jumped from pro-life to pro-choice
seemingly as a matter of political convenience. As if the Democratic
power brokers would ever consent to the nomination of Kucinich,
regardless of how enthusiastic he becomes for "reproductive
freedom"! So, from the get-go, Kucinich hobbled his efforts
by undercutting his strongest selling point: his integrity.
My favorite candidate for the '08 Democratic presidential nomination
is Mike Gravel, former U.S. Senator from Alaska. But Gravel,
like Kucinich, is treated as a joke by the mainstream media,
has not raised substantial money, and languishes at the bottom
of the polls. Thomas Jefferson was not perfect, but the founder
of the Democratic Party had a platform that is not only remarkably
good but still applicable and popular in 21st century America.
Leavened with the racial egalitarianism of King, Abernathy, and
Hamer, the Jeffersonian platform could be used by politicians
for electoral success and wise policy.
Senator Feingold and Representative
Paul, who have often voted together on major issues of the day
despite being tagged as a "liberal Democrat" and "conservative
Republican," are examples of modern Jeffersonians. Senator
Gravel is the most Jeffersonian candidate running among the Democrats
this year, but he has failed to catch on with a wide portion
of the citizenry. That's where Ron Paul comes in.
Not only does Ron Paul represent Jeffersonian values usually
termed "conservative" or "libertarian" today
(fidelity to the Constitution, frugal government, states' rights,
Second Amendment, national sovereignty), but he is also a leading
example of support for Jeffersonian positions nowadays described
as "liberal" or "leftist" (e.g. opposition
not only to the Iraq War but to war in general, anti-imperialism,
ending the federal war on drugs, hostility to the Patriot Act
and other violations of civil liberties). This accounts for the
wide appeal of the Paul campaign. It's precisely the sort of
trans-ideological, cross-generational populist-libertarian-moralist
coalition that I was hoping to see with a Feingold presidential
campaign.
If we stipulate that a candidate
polling at least 5% in national polls is a "major candidate,"
there is simply no other major candidate in 2008 who is more
Jeffersonian, more committed to peace, justice, and democracy,
than Ron Paul. He puts pretenders like Edwards and Obama to shame.
I like a lot of what John Edwards is saying on the campaign trail
today, but I don't think he means a word of it. He's a limousine
liberal phony when it comes to the rich/poor issue. He supported
the Iraq War until it became widely unpopular. He voted for the
Patriot Act. He claims to be against outsourcing of American
jobs but he voted for permanent normalized trade relations (MFN)
for China.
I think Barack Obama would be much preferable to Hillary Clinton
as president, but his campaign is built on glossy generalities
like "hope," "youth," and "unity."
It's more about style than substance. If you study what he's
had to say about foreign policy when addressing elite audiences,
you see that he's not much different from Clinton and the DLC
crowd. He's in the mainstream of the U.S. foreign policy establishment
and its perpetual commitment to empire and globalization. Even
his strongest selling point for the left--his opposition to the
Iraq War in 2002-03--is suspect upon close examination. In his
October 2002 speech, he told the anti-war crowd FOUR times that
he was not opposed "to all wars." He summed up his
philosophy by saying, "I am not opposed to all wars. I'm
opposed to dumb wars." There is nothing about war in general
that is offensive to Obama. He objected to the Iraq War only
on strategic grounds, not ethical grounds.
Referring to the U.S. Senate authorization vote of 2002, in July
2004, Obama told the New York Times, "What would
I have done? I don't know." Asked about the pro-war votes
of Kerry and Edwards, Obama told NPR, "I don't consider
that to have been an easy decision, and certainly, I wasn't in
the position to actually cast a vote on it. I think that there
is room for disagreement in that initial decision." Not
exactly a stunning statement of the peace position! Obama told
the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, in November 2006, "We
cannot afford to be a country of isolationists right now. 9/11
showed us that try as we might to ignore the rest of the world,
our enemies will no longer ignore us. And so we need to maintain
a strong foreign policy, relentless in pursuing our enemies and
hopeful in promoting our values around the world." So 9/11
occurred during a period in our history when we were minding
our own business (practicing "isolationism")? That's
a novel explanation of events!
In April 2007, Obama told the CCGA, "I reject the notion
that the American moment has passed. I dismiss the cynics who
say that this new century cannot be another when, in the words
of President Franklin Roosevelt, we lead the world in battling
immediate evils and promoting the ultimate good. I still believe
that America is the last, best hope of Earth. We just have to
show the world why this is so." Spoken like a true neoconservative.
This messianic imperialism continues throughout the speech: "In
today's globalized world, the security of the American people
is inextricably linked to the security of all people. . . . World
opinion has turned against us. And after all the lives lost and
the billions of dollars spent, many Americans may find it tempting
to turn inward, and cede our claim of leadership in world affairs.
I insist, however, that such an abandonment of our leadership
is a mistake we must not make. . . . We must lead the world,
by deed and example."
Obama even endorsed the Persian
Gulf War of 1991, a bloodletting that had nothing to do with
U.S. national security: "No President should ever hesitate
to use force--unilaterally if necessary--to protect ourselves
and our vital interests when we are attacked or imminently threatened.
But when we use force in situations other than self-defense,
we should make every effort to garner the clear support and participation
of others--the kind of burden-sharing and support President George
H.W. Bush mustered before he launched Operation Desert Storm."
In contrast to Obama's narrow and perhaps opportunistic reasons
for opposing the Iraq War, Ron Paul has consistently opposed
every U.S. military intervention since the 1970s. He's the only
major candidate who openly speaks out against the American empire
and imperialism. Can you even imagine Hillary Clinton or John
Edwards using the e-word or the i-word? Not in connection with
our own government! When it comes to foreign policy, Ron Paul
sounds as radical as Noam Chomsky. In fact, Paul is more
radical because he refused to vote for Bush in 2004 while Chomsky
was willing to vote for Kerry over a real anti-empire candidate
like Nader. Paul not only talks the talk; he walks the walk.
Yet he's more acceptable to Middle America than someone like
Chomsky or Howard Zinn because he volunteered to serve in the
U.S. Air Force in the early 1960s and he has an obvious patriotism
that makes him less vulnerable to the "hate-America"
smear.
Ron Paul is the only major
contender who calls for cutting off the billions of dollars of
foreign aid we give to the Israeli government each year (and
all other foreign aid as well, including the money going to Egypt
and Colombia). None of the "progressive" Democrats
care about justice for the Palestinians or dare to question the
power of the pro-Israeli-government lobby. Congressman Paul does.
None of the leading Democrats voted against the Iraq War or the
Patriot Act. Paul voted against both. All of the leading Democrats
have voted time and again to fund the war in Iraq, thereby ceding
the only power they have to end the war. Paul has always voted
against Defense Department appropriations which include funding
for the war. Unlike leading Democrats in the Clinton-Gore-Kerry
tradition, Ron Paul opposes the death penalty because he believes
in the sanctity of life.
Only Ron Paul funds his campaign without the assistance of PACs
and the corporate rich. There is simply no other Democrat, including
John Edwards, who has an equal record when it comes to relying
on grassroots support, opposing plutocratic policies, and earning
the enmity of Big Business. This is why the Wall Street Journal
and FOX News detest the "Ron Paul Revolution." The
revolution includes stripping the overprivileged of many of their
political and economic privileges. While the Manhattan-K Street-Hollywood
crowd disdain Paul, supporters working on his behalf raise $6
million in a single day from the "common people" (average
contribution: $100). If that's not democracy at work, I don't
know what it is.
Ron Paul opposes both the warfare state and the welfare state.
The welfare state includes much-publicized handouts to poor people
(although far fewer than in the past, thanks to the Bill Clinton-Newt
Gingrich gutting of AFDC), but even more importantly it includes
middle-class entitlements and billions in taxpayer giveaways
to the wealthy. Paul's opposition to NAFTA and GATT is motivated
not only by his belief in national sovereignty, but also by his
suspicion of cozy deals between Big Government and Big Business.
Ron Paul does not play favorites. He wants to end corporate welfare
across the board. His monetary policy of using sound, constitutional
money would help the poor by curtailing the hidden "inflation
tax." A Paul effort to eliminate the U.S. Department of
Education and other manifestations of federal big government
would make special interest lobbies unhappy but they would not
hurt poor or average citizens. On the contrary, it would free
up money and power to deal with problems at the state and local
levels. Lower levels of government have been far more "progressive"
than the feds in most policy areas over the years, in things
ranging from corporate regulation to health policy to medicinal
use of marijuana.
Ron Paul is not perfect as either a candidate or a policy maker.
I don't agree with him on everything. He has a few personal flaws
and weaknesses. He has some disreputable supporters (e.g., racists
and anti-Semites who like his opposition to globalization and
plutocracy). As I write in my book, in contrasting the mainstream
media's depiction of politicians like John Kerry to more genuine
liberals like Cynthia McKinney, "The disingenuous nature
of their careers and campaigns is politely ignored while the
flaws, real and imagined, of party mavericks are trumpeted by
the smug talking heads and the frothy news magazines." (p.
256) As with possible Green Party candidate McKinney, Paul's
real and imagined flaws are in the process of being magnified
by the mainstream media as his popularity rises.
Journalists with the corporate
press are enthusiasts of war, empire, global capitalism, political
correctness, Leviathan statism, and other respectable projects
of the Power Elite. Such things are the antithesis of Ron Paul.
If you're forming your opinion of Paul on the basis of coverage
by the New York Times, The New Yorker, and NPR,
it's not surprising that you think he's a "lunatic."
If you listen carefully, you'll "learn" that he's not
only a lunatic, but a dangerous "racist lunatic." It's
not true, but the truth is irrelevant when the special interests
of the wealthy and powerful are threatened.
Meanwhile, a principled leftist like Alexander Cockburn recently
wrote, "Huckabee's single rival as a genuinely interesting
candidate is another Republican, Ron Paul, who set a record a
few days ago, by raising $6 million in a single day. Unlike Huckabee,
Paul's core issues are opposition to the war and to George Bush's
abuse of civil liberties inscribed in the U.S. Constitution.
His appeal, far more than Huckabee, is to the redneck rebel strain
in American political life--the populist beast that the US two-party
system is designed to suppress. On Monday night Paul was asked
on Fox News about Huckabee's Christmas ad, which shows the governor
backed by a shining cross. Actually it's the mullions of the
window behind him, but the illusion is perfect. Paul said the
ad reminded him of Sinclair Lewis's line, that 'when fascism
comes to this country it will be wrapped in a flag and bearing
a cross.' In the unlikely event they had read Lewis, no other
candidate would dare quote that line." (CounterPunch,
December 22/23, http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn12222007.html)
Even though they disagree on some policies, Cockburn can respect
a Republican who publicly warns against imperialism and fascism,
and who views the Constitution as a still-binding set of rules
. . . instead of "just a G**-d***** piece of paper,"
as George W. Bush was quoted as saying to members of Congress
in 2005. (http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_7779.shtml)
I know it's hard for many to
see the possibility of any good Republican, but it's worth remembering
that the GOP heritage includes not only the plutocracy of Calvin
Coolidge but also the democracy of Robert La Follette, not only
the Wall Street of Thomas Dewey but also the Main Street of Robert
Taft. Paul is in that La Follette-Taft tradition of anti-monopoly
at home and non-intervention abroad. If the Gravel or Kucinich
campaigns had caught fire during the past year, we would see
some anti-war Republicans crossing party lines to support one
of their candidacies as the vehicle of choice in 2008. Instead,
we're seeing some Democrats backing Paul.
While the stray neo-Confederate
may like Ron Paul, he is also the recipient of more African American
support than any other Republican. Paul is backed by both realistic
veterans and idealistic pacifists, Christians and atheists, John
Birchers and NORML members. It's a kaleidoscope campaign--not
of pandering or double-talking but of an honest commitment to
an array of deeply held American values. Liberty and peace are
popular. It's not a cult of personality like Obama.
Who's the real kook: the middle-class
woman in Peoria concerned about the unconstitutional monetary
system or the neoconservative in Washington who wants to remake
the world in our image through the barrel of a gun? Who's the
real threat: the yahoo in Mississippi who thinks multiculturalism
is destroying our traditional culture or the corporate lobbyist
who buys and sells elected officials? Who's the real isolationist:
the young person who doesn't want to tell people in other countries
how to live their lives or the intellectual who turns our nation
into the pariah of the world by sending Americans off to kill
foreigners?
I don't expect that you'll support Ron Paul during the primary
season, but I wanted you to at least understand why he could
have some appeal for a three-time Nader voter such as myself.
Many anti-war, pro-limited-government, grassroots democracy
advocates will support Edwards, Obama, or some other mainstream
candidate in the coming months, but I think we're selling ourselves
short when we do so. We may well end up with crumbs from the
table in the end because that's how the system is set up. But
if we start the process by making it clear that we'll settle
for crumbs, we assure that we'll never get anything more. Radical
change will never happen because the Establishment understands
that progressive voters can be taken for granted. In the end,
most will fall into line behind the candidate with the (D) behind
her/his name, no matter how unprogressive s/he is.
To me, voting for Kucinich,
Gravel, McKinney, or Paul makes some sense even though they're
unlikely to win. At least we're asking for something honest
and principled during the first round of voting. Ron Paul isn't
the perfect candidate and his Jeffersonianism is not as full-bodied
as I would prefer (e.g., he's too weak on the ecological dimension),
but at least he's a step in the right direction and his ability
to attract a wide range of grassroots support is commendable.
He's not the only good choice, but he's no lunatic and there
is some logic behind his campaign. It's not everything, but
it is something. In a rigged system with a populace divided
by secondary issues and exploited by a bipartisan elite, it may
be the best we can do in 2008.
The Ron Paul campaign does
not represent a madness brought on by the moon. It's closer
to the truth to say it's a hopeful manifestation of the sun shining
on the political realm. It brings some clarity and accountability
to government.
Jeff Taylor is a political scientist. His book
Where
Did the Party Go?: William Jennings Bryan, Hubert Humphrey, and
the Jeffersonian Legacy was published last year by University
of Missouri Press. He contributed a chapter to the book A
Dime's Worth of Difference (Cockburn and St. Clair, eds.).
For more information, see: http://www.popcorn78.blogspot.com.
.
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