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Today's
Stories
April 9, 2008
Paul Craig
Roberts
The
Fading American Economy
Winslow T.
Wheeler
Congressional
Theater: the Petraeus / Crocker Hearings
April 8, 2008
Mike Whitney
Should
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed be Set Free?
Nikolas Kozloff
Bush
Bullies Congress on Colombia Deal
Greg Moses
Migrant Detention in South Texas
Joshua Frank
The Other Military Draft
John Ross
Mexico City's Urban Tribes Go on the Warpath Against EMOS
Michael Donnelly
Hillary's Western Swing
John V. Walsh
Why Obama Lost Massachusetts
Jeff Nygaard
Health, Security and Mandates
Bill Piper
Last Shot for a Bush Legacy?
Sen. Russ Feingold
Legal Representation and the Death Penalty
Website of the Day
Catonsville 9, Forty Years Later
April 7, 2008
Ishmael Reed
The
Irish Black Thing
Harry Browne
Irish
Peace Activist Acquitted; Deported
Uri Avnery
Tibet and Palestine
Lenni Brenner
Obama's Constitution, His Pastor and His Unbelieving Mom in Heaven
Ayesha Ijaz Khan
America Must Respect Pakistan's Democracy
Robert Fisk
Fearful Lives in the Land of the Free
Edwin Krales
Ensuring the Success of Fascism in Spain: the US Corporate Role
Chris Genovali
Vancouver Island's Dwindling Ancient Forests
Website of the Day
LA Artists Against War
April 5 / 6,
2008
Alexander Cockburn
Did
the Elites Want MLK Dead?
Ramzy Baroud
There
are No Checkpoints in Heaven
Ralph Nader
Runaway Bailouts
David Yearsley
How Scott Joplin Had Wall Street Down
Saul Landau
Sex Politics in America
Paul Craig
Roberts
The Petraeus and Crocker Show
Lawrence Korb / Ian Moss
Rev. Jeremiah Wright, a True Patriot
Seth Sandronsky
Meet America's Promise Alliance: Colin Powell's New Gig
John Ross
La Cumbia de la Doctrina Bush: Colombia Kills Four Mexican Students
in Ecuador Bombing
Robert Fantina
McCain, Republicans and Family Values
David Michael Green
Back to Disaster: Hoover at Home, Tet Abroad
Missy Beattie
McCan't
Patrick Bond
Vultures Circle Zimbabwe
Dr. Susan Block
The New American Pot Dealers
Phyllis Pollack
The Stones Meet the Press
Adam Engel
The Boobus in the Lie
Jeffrey St. Clair
Booked Up
Poets' Basement
Diamand
and St. Clair
Website of the Weekend
Richard Pryor Goes to the Gun Shop
April 4, 2008
Dave Lindorff
The
Night I Heard King Had Been Shot
Greg Moses
Missing
King
Ron Jacobs
Two Murders, 40 Years On: Bobby Hutton and Martin Luther King,
Jr.
Alan Farago
Show Me the Size of Your Bail Out and I'll Show You Mine
Alison Weir
Funding
Our Decline: U.S. Aid to Israel
David Rosen
Rape as an Instrument of Total War
Robert Weissman
The Unrealized Dream
Jacob Hornberger
Was Killing Iraqi Children Worth It?
Jackie Corr
Hillary and Obama Head for Butte
Carl Finamore
Taking On United Airlines
Laray Polk
We Are All Dith Pran
Susie Day
Advice for the War-Torn
Website of
the Day
Winter Soldiers: a Video Portrait
April 3, 2008
Peter Morici
The Deepening Recession
Joe Bageant
The Audacity of Depression
Andy Worthington
Cleared But Still Detained:
The Ordeal of Moroccan Prisoner Said al-Boujaadia
Nikolas Kozloff
Condi's Divide and Rule Strategy in South America
Rannie Amiri
The U.S. Disdain for Mideast Democracy
David Macaray
More Labor Strife in Hollywood
Stephen Lendman
Lynne Stewart's Long Struggle for Justice
Website of
the Day
The
True Face of Da Vinci?
April 2, 2008
Diane Farsetta
Indian
Point on the Potomac
Harry Browne
Bertie
Ahern Laid Low by Secretary
Wajahat Ali
The Folly of Attacking Iran: a Conversation with Steven Kinzer
George Wuerthner
Open Season on Wolves
Col. Dan Smith
The
Militarization of America
Philippe Marlière
The Politics of Bling-Bling in France: Sarkozy's Cultivated Anti-Intellectualism
Steve Early
A Purple Uprising in Oakland
Bernard Chazelle
Saving the American Left
Reza Fiyouzat
Bowling in Hell
April 1, 2008
Jeff Leys
Fracturing
the Peace to End the War
Thomas P. Healy
Restoring the Constitution: a Conversation with Daniel Ellsberg
Winslow T. Wheeler
When Pigs Sprout Wings: Mangled Rationales for a Fatter Defense
Budget
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
New Deal Nostalgia
Patrick Irelan
Cocaine, Colombia and the Cartels
Andy Worthington
The Case of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani
John V. Walsh
The Shunning of Ralph Nader
Michael J.
Smith
Woolly Mamet
Robert Weissman
The New Philip Morris--Even Worse Than the Old?
Dave Lindorff
Bush's Defining Moments
Martha Rosenberg
Brain Mist Disease: Boss Hog's Gift to Humanity
Website of
the Day
Support Briana!
March 31, 2008
Mike Whitney
Dead
on Arrival: Paulson's Fixit Plan for Wall Street
Mats Svensson
Walls,
Tunnels and Daily Humiliations
Paul Rockwell
Hillary's
Lies About Outsourcing
Paul Craig Roberts
A Third American War in the Making?
Patrick Cockburn
Sadr
Calls for Ceasefire
Peter Dale Scott
The Showdown
Alfredo Molano
Cultura Mafiosa in Colombia
Peter Morici
Why Paulson's Reform Plan Falls Short
Uri Avnery
Day of the Land, 32 Years Later
Michael Simmons
The American Bard in New Orleans
Betsy Roberts
/ Karen Orr
The Clorox Coup
Phyllis Pollack
First the Sun and Then the Moon: Scorsese Does the Stones
Website of
the Day
Five Years Too Many
March 29 / 30, 2008
Alexander Cockburn
When
They Pick Up the Phone at 3 AM, What Will They Say?
Patrick Cockburn
Iraqi
Police Refuse to Back Maliki's Attacks on Medhi Army
Mike Whitney
Bernanke's Next Big Bail Out Plan
Christopher Brauchli
The Pastor of Armageddon and the Slave Sale: McCain, Lieberman
and Rev. Hagee
William Blum
China, Tibet and the Propaganda Olympics
Robert Fantina
Iraq
Troika: McCain, Obama and Clinton
John Ross
AMLO, the Comeback Kid? Fighting the Privatization of Mexico's
Oil
Allison Kilkenny
Shady Lending Hits Home
Nelson P. Valdés
Cuba, the Beatles and Historical Context
Suzanne Baroud
The Great Lake of Gaza: a New Crisis in the Making
Richard Rhames
Social Security: Throwing Granny from the Gravy Train
Christopher Fons
Transcending the 60s? Obama and the Baby Boomers
Carl Finamore
Misery at 35,000 Feet: Mergers Stall, Fares Soar, Services Slump
and Consumers Sour
Eamonn McCann
Hillary Misremembers Again!
Missy Beattie
Justice and the Monsters of War
Fred Gardner
Jim Thorpe, All-American
Kim Nicolini
Cock Chuggers and Cheese Curls: Richard Kelly's "Southland
Tales"
David Yearsley
"All the World's a Hospital"
Jeffrey St.
Clair
Booked Up
Poets' Basement
Valentine and Ko Un
Website of
the Weekend
Hidden Iraq
March 28, 2008
Saul Landau
Growing
Dread About Iraq
Alan Farago
Other People's Money: the Chop Shop Economy
Peter Morici
Knocking Down False Economic Gods
Andy Worthington
Plight of the Uyghus: a Chinese Muslim's Desperate Plea from
Guantánamo
Felice Pace
Ashes of Lies: Why No One Trusts the US Forest Service
Peter Montague
Sierra Club Cleans House -- With Clorox!
Dave Lindorff
The Mumia Exception
March 27, 2008
Patrick Cockburn
Basra
Erupts
Binoy Kampmark
Free Market Apostates
Joanne Mariner
"Was George Washington a Terrorist?"
Norman Solomon
NPR News: National Pentagon Radio?
William S. Lind
Mars Only Knocks Once: a Prognosis for Iraq
John V. Walsh
Obama's Speech: a Touch of Bigotry?
Robert Weissman
How Things Work
Ron Jacobs
Meeting Charlie Ehlen
Ralph Nader
Put Impeachment Back on the Table
David Macaray
Court Rules Against Grocery Workers
John Borowski
Clearcutting the History of Forest Destruction
Website of
the Day
Going Out for an English
March 26, 2008
Stan Cox
The
Germs Next Door
Sharon Smith
Greed
Pays: Welfare on Wall Street
Anita Sinha / Jill Tauber
Dreams Turned into Rubble in New Orleans
Matt Vidal
So Much for the Self-Regulating Market
William S. Lind
Operation Cassandra
Joe Mowrey
The Audacity of Hypocrisy: Obama's Pandering to Israel
Dave Lindorff
Duck and Cover (Up): Hillary Under Fire
Ray McGovern
Frontline's War: Too Timid, Too Little, Too Late
Justin Smith
Why Race and Gender are Separate Issues
Sam Husseini
The Winter Soldier Hearings and Indy Media
Martha Rosenberg
Blood on Ice: Gentlemen, Pick Up Your Clubs
Michael Dickinson
Politicians as Dogs
Website of the Day
The Wal-Mart Virus: How the Infection Spread
March 25, 2008
Ishmael Reed
The
Crazy Rev. Wright
Corey D. B.
Walker
The Politics of Jeremiah Wright
Linn Washington Jr.
Racism in America and Other Uncomfortable Facts
Alan Farago
The Money Launderers: a Picnic for Wall St. Insiders
Vijay Prashad
A Glimmer of Hope From the Gulf Coast
Joshua Frank
A Silver Lining to the Bush Years?
Ralph Nader
How Public Servants Can Help End This War
David Rovics
If I Can't Dance: Why is the Left So Boring?
Peter Morici
America's Banks are Broken
Dave Zirin
Olympic Flames: China's Crackdown in Tibet
David Krieger
The Crisis in Tibet
Website of
the Day
Memorializing Iraq
March 24, 2008
Jeffrey St.
Clair
Blonde
Ambition: Hillary's Berserker Campaign for 2012
Peter Morici
Digging Out of the Recession
Uri Avnery
Two Americas
Wajahat Ali
First of the Mohicans: an Interview with Rep. Keith Ellison
Paul Craig Roberts
Inside the Shell Game
George Ciccariello-Maher
The Coming War on Venezuela
Stephen Lendman
Sami Al-Arian's Long Ordeal
Christopher
Brauchli
Possessing Someone Else's Country
Cat Woods
A Letter to Mom on Obama
Stacey Warde
Tax Burden
Dave Lindorff
The American Dead Hits 4,000, But Who's Counting?
Website of
the Day
Live from the Longest Walk
March 22 /
23, 2008
Ralph Nader
Bush
Blisters the Truth on Iraq
Nicole Colson
Can You Afford to Feed Your Family?
James Petras
The Cost of Unilateral Humanitarian Initiatives
Laura Carlsen
From Bombs to Markets: The Andean Crisis and the Geopolitics
of Trade
Greg Moses
Tolerance and the American Pulpit
Andy Worthington
Torture Stories Dog Guantánamo Trials
Michael Dickinson
Art on Trial
John Ross
Bush's Surge Hits Mosul
Missy Comley Beattie
Killer Economics
David Michael
Green
Happy Anniversary, America!
Ramzy Baroud
The Coming Uncertain War on Iran
Martha Rosenberg
Easter Egg Shells from Hell
Paul Watson
Evolution is Going to the Dogs in the Galapagos
Isabella Kenfield
Monsanto's
Raid on Brazil
James Murren
Logging v. Water in Honduras
Jacob Hornberger
Sex and the Immigration Officer
Kathlyn Stone
Ben Heine, Master of the Art of Resistance
Seth Sandronsky
Rethinking New Mexico's History
Kim Nicolini
Class, Gender and Abortion in Communist Romania
Jeffrey St.
Clair
Booked Up: What I'm Reading This Week
Poets' Basement
Wilson, Woods, Gibbons and Orloski
Website of
the Weekend
Merci, McCain!
March 21, 2008
Marleen Martin
Land
Behind Bars: the Hidden Casualties of America's "War on
Crime"
Peter Montague
Run
Your Car on Coal? Maybe Not
Saul Landau
Monroe's
Deadly Doctrine
Anis Hamadeh
Merkel in the Knesset
Jacob Hornberger
McCain's Al Qaeda Scare: Slip or Tactic?
Khalil Nakhleh
Al Nakba of 1948: How Long Will It Persist?
Adam Isacson
Colombia, Paramilitary Threats and Assassinations
Kenneth Couesbouc
Money for Nothing
Madis Senner
Will the Feds Underwrite the Stock Market?
Monica Benderman
The Costs of Freedom: What Are You Willing to Pay?
Website of the Day
Stop Foreclosures and Evictions
March 20, 2008
Damien Millet
/
Eric Toussaint
The
Triple Failing of the Big Private Banks
Mike Whitney
Winding
Up Bear
John Ross
What Do We Owe Iraq?
Dave Lindorff
Paying the Piper: the Bodies and Bills are Piling Up
Wajahat Ali
Pakistan on Fire
Jill Nagle
Memo to Sex Workers: Stop Financing Shock Journalism
Manuel Garcia, Jr.
Obama and the Psychic Auto-Shrink-Wrapping Called Race in America
Dan La Botz
Obama's Race Speech
Robert Weissman
Alternative Power: Shutting Down the API
Stella Dallas
/
Jennifer Matsui
Apostasy Now! Mamet, Enter Stage Right
Website of the Day
The Angry Monk
March 19, 2008
Patrick Cockburn
A
War of Lies
Robert Fisk
The Little Men and the Inferno
Jeff Taylor
Five Years of War in Iraq
Ed Ruggero
From Pinkville to Iraq: the Dark Anniversary of My Lai
Ron Jacobs
Who'll Stop the Rain?
Christopher
Fons
Obama Takes the Race Bait
Sherwood Ross
In Defense of Rev. Wright
Cynthia McKinney
An Urgent Crisis: Confronting America's Racial Disparities
Joshua Frank
The Kool-Aid That Kills
Robert Weissman
Monsanto's Genetic Food Gamble
Walter Brasch
It's a Welfare State--If You're Rich
Yifat Susskind
Iraqi Women Resist the Occupation
Andrew Wimmer
War Demands Its Due
Website of
the Day
Glimpses of Nature
March 18, 2008
David Price
The
Military "Leveraging" of Cultural Knowledge
Paul Craig
Roberts
The
Collapse of American Power
Tim Wise
Of National Lies and Racial America: Jeremiah Wright, Barack
Obama and the Unacceptability of Truth
Patrick Cockburn
One of the Most Disastrous Wars Ever Fought
Conn Hallinan
Afghanistan, a River Running Backward
James T. Phillips
Monsters: Past, Present and Wannabe
Uri Avnery
The Killing in Bethlehem
David Macaray
Could Wal-Mart Revive the Labor Movement?
Marjorie Cohn
Beware an Attack on Iran
Peter Zinn
Obama in New Orleans
Dan La Botz
The Economic Crisis, Labor and the Left
Monica Benderman
Where are We Going?
March 17, 2008
Pam Martens
The
Fed's Wall Street Dilemma
Sasan Fayazmanesh
The US, Iran and the Policy of Dual Containment
Nelson P. Valdés
The Imperial Branding of Simon Bolivar and the Cuban Revolution
Peter Morici
The Corrosive Consequences of the Trade Deficit
Wajahat Ali
Disrobing the Nine: a Conversation with Jeffrey Toobin on the
Supreme Court Since 9/11
Ronnie Cummins
Beyond Progressive Malpractice: Taking Down Big Pharma
Shaun Harkin
Saint Patrick's Day in Fortress America
Ali Khan
No Pardon for Musharraf
Robert Jensen
Beyond Peace
P. Sainath
Oh, What a Lovely Waiver!
Greg Moses
Jeremiah was a Bullhorn
Dr. Susan Block
Advice for Eliot Spitzer
Website of the Day
No Cowboys
March 15 /
16, 2008
Patrick Cockburn
How
to Destroy a Country in Five Years
Mike Whitney
Bearly
Alive: Investment Giant Rushed to ICU by Panicky Fed Chief
Ralph Nader
Of
Laws and Men
Robert Pollin
It's Still the Economy, Stupid
Diane Christian
The Poetics of Perversity: From Boccaccio to Spitzer
Wajahat Ali
Faking the Hood: a Conversation with Ishmael Reed
Tom Wright
/
Therese Saliba
Rachel Corrie's Case for Justice
Alan Farago
Back to Florida: Where Bushtime Began
Greg Moses
Raiding the Family Room in Texas
Michael Hudson
A Grand Global Bargain?
Martha Rosenberg
Why Hillary's Favorite Chicken Company is Eying China
John Goekler
Fourth Generation Warfare in a Fifth Generation Conflict
Uzma Aslam
Khan
A Letter to Barack Obama: Where's the Change, Barack?
Oren Ben-Dor
The Silencing of Gilad Atzmon
David Underhill
Mammon, Morals and the Mobile Tanker Deal
Fred Gardner
The Education of Eliot Spitzer
David Michael
Green
Why Spitzer Should Have Resigned (and Why He Shouldn't Have)
Rev. William E. Alberts
Jesus, Entombed in Heaven
Gail Dines
It's All About the John: Prostitution and Male Power
David Yearsley
Conducting, Anarchy and the Problem of When to Begin
Chris Clarke
Walking with Zeke: the Luckiest of Dogs
Poets' Basement
Anderson, Lodge & Subiet
Website of
the Day
Deviant Art
March 14, 2008
Paul Craig
Roberts
Watching
the Dollar Die
Don Santina
Vichy
Democrats: Pelosi and the Politics of Collaboration
Patrick Cockburn
Iraqi
Mother Vows Revenge on US: How She Lost Her Husband and Her Sons
Tim Rinne
StratCom
Rules! The Next War Will Start in Nebraska
Robert Fantina
In
Torture We Trust
Saul Landau
Letter
to the Presidents-in-Waitings
David Macaray
Common
Myths About Labor Unions
Franklin Lamb
Is
the Bush Administration Switching Horses in Lebanon
Michael Neumann
The
One State Illusion: Reply to My Critics
March 13, 2008
Paul Craig
Roberts
Republicans
and "Free Market" Zealots Bring Disaster to America
Mike Whitney
Meltdown
Looms Larger As Credit Markets Freeze
Assaf Kfoury
"One-State
or Two State?"- Sterile Debate on False Alternatives
Andy Worthington
Afghan
Hero Who Died in Guantánamo: The Background to the Story
Adam Federman
From
Autopia to Autogeddon: Cars Reach the End of the Road
March 12, 2008
Dave Lindorff
Bringing
Down Spitzer: It's the Big Brother Who Should Bother US
R.F. Blader
The
Spitzer Backlash
Yonatan Mendel
How
to be an Israeli Journalist. Never Write "Murder" or
"Palestine"
Jonathan Cook
One
State or Two? Neither. The Issue is Zionism
Bill and Kathy
Christison
Fallon
and Gates -- At Least One Cheer
James J. Brittain
Was
the U.S. Involved in Killing the FARC-EP Leaders
Ron Jacobs
"All
the Money You Make Will Never Buy Back Your Soul"
March 11, 2008
Paul Craig
Roberts
How
to End the Subprime Crisis
Ed O'Loughlin
How
Israeli Troops Invade Homes in Gaza, Brutalize, Smash and Steal
Ramzy Baroud
'Unwavering
Commitment' to Inequality
Kathy Christison
One
State or Two? The Debate Over Israel and Palestine
China Hand
PRC
Plays it Cool, as U.S. Tries to Amp Up Pressure on Iran
John Joslin
Thank
You, Nafta! Welcome to Weirton, Home of the Discount Cigarette
Mike Averko
Serb
Politics, Kosovo and the Moscow-Washington Divide
Ben Rosenfeld
Gavin
Newsom's Kneejerk Plan
Thierry Paquot
High
Rise, Low Spirits:The Curse of the Tower Block
March 10, 2008
Uri Avnery
"Kill
A Hundred Turks and Rest": The Five-Day War in Gaza
Col. Dan Smith
Scoring
the "Surge" and What Lies Beyond
R.F. Blader
Why
"Lock Them Up and Throw Away the Key" is Losing its
Sheen
Michael Neumann
The
One-State Illusion: More is Less
Bob Fitrakis
and Harvey Wasserman
Did
the Republicans Give Hillary Her Victory in Ohio?
James J. Brittain
Anti-Uribe
Protests in Colombia and the World
Missy Comley
Beattie
The
Passion of John McCain
March 8-9,
2008 Weekend Edition
JoAnn Wypijewski
The
Only Way to Fight the Clintons
Mike Whitney
Sorting
Through the Rubble in Post Bubble America
Peter Morici
Fed
and Treasury Fiddle as Economy Plummets
Ralph Nader
The
Silent Violence of Gaza's Suffering that Candidates Ignore
Jonathan Cook
The
Meaning of Gaza's Shoah
Steve Niva
Behind
the Israeli Escalation in Gaza
Bill and Kathy
Christison
Crisis
over Teheran's Alleged Nuclear Plans Nearing Climax
Hervé
Do Alto and Franck Poupeau
Bolivia:
Morales is Checked
Eric Walberg
To
Leave and Stay at the Same Time: Putin to Medvedev to…?
Scott Johnson
City
of A Thousand Foreclosures
Mark Scaramella
James
Brown's Gate
Bill Clinton
President
Clinton's Remarks on Naming William M. Daley as NAFTA Task Force
Chairman
Poet's Basement
St.
Thomasino, Engel, Davies and Willson
Website of
the Weekend
Hillary
Blackens Barack
March 7, 2008
Patrick Cockburn
Why
Iraq Could Blow-Up in John McCain's Face
Robin Blackburn
Question
for Barrack Obama: Why Afghanistan is the'Right War'?
Saul Landau
The
Stupid Economy
Binoy Kampmark
When
Competition is Good: McCain and the Muddled Democrats
Chris Floyd
Crushing
the Ants: Admiral Fallon and His Empire
Andy Worthington
Spanish
Drop "Inhuman" Extradition Request for Guantánamo
Britons
Will Potter
Before
the Smoke Even Clears in Seattle: Bringing Out the T Word
March 6, 2008
March 6, 2008
Vincent Navarro
The
Next Failure of Health Reform
Forrest Hylton
High Stakes in the Andes: Colombia's Cornered President
Peter Morici
Why the Dollar is So Cheap
George Ciccariello-Maher
Counter-Attack of the Bureaucrats
John Ross
Taxi! Taxi! The Dark Side of the Oscars
Jacob Hornberger
No Standing to Lecture on Justice
Paul Watson
Illegal Japanese Whaling by the Numbers
Dan Bacher
Off the Deep End
Website of the Day
A Katrina Reader Online
March 5, 2008
Cockburn /
St. Clair
A
Great Day for John McCain (and Maybe Nader)
Joanne Mariner
After Guantanamo
Fidel Castro
The Raid on Ecuador: Underestimating Rafael Correa
Christopher
Brauchli
The Turkish Invasions
Steven Sherman
Obama and the Prospects for a Renewal of the Left
Dave Lindorff
Busting Bush & Co. in New England
James Murren
Bombing Somalia
Adam Engel
Necropolis Now
Website of Day
Remember Song
March 4, 2008
Wajahat Ali
Mumbo
Jumbo: Naming Names with Ishmael Reed
William Blum
How Could Hillary Have Known?
Bill Quigley
The Cleansing of New Orleans
Ralph Nader
The Prince Harry Solution
Patrick Irelan
Oil and Health in Venezuela
James J. Brittain
/
R. James Sacouman
Uribe's Colombia is Destabilizing a New Latin America
Norman Solomon
The War Election
Jacob Hornberger
Hillary in Waco: the Missing Apology
Andy Worthington
Guantánamo and the European Parliament
Mike Averko
Kosovo and the Press
Website of the Day
Tex-Mex Primary
March 3, 2008
Jennifer Loewenstein
Gazan Holocaust
Alan Farago
American Politics and the Faltering Economy
Richard Gott
Colombian Deaths in Ecuador
Wajahat Ali
Who Speaks for a Billion Muslims? Analyzing the World Gallup
Poll with John Esposito
Paul Craig Roberts
The Mukasey Conspiracy: a Bi-Partisan Attack on the Constitution
Robert Weissman
When Multinationals Say Adieu
Uri Avnery
Good Morning, Hamas
Martha Rosenberg
When Your Meat is a Downer
Eva Liddell
Leave the Next Dance for Bill
Michael Donnelly
Will Ferrell Does Flint
Website of the Day
Muddy Waters: Train Fare Home Blues
|
Apri1
9, 2008
The Anti-Immigrant
Hysteria in America
Alien
Invasion!
By WAJAHAT ALI
If one listens to the hysterical rhetoric
of certain pundits and politicians, one would surely believe
America is being attacked or infiltrated by nefarious aliens.
Like the paranoid ranting of actor Kevin McCarthy in the famous
last lines of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, we are lead
believe that, "They're here already! You're next!"
The clandestine "pod people," the aliens if you will,
exist by slowly but surely eradicating the very fabric of American
culture. They take over your jobs, replace English with Spanglish,
aid Al Qaeda, and make America as American as Apple Flautas.
The "alien threat"
generally refers to Mexican immigrant workers, some of them undocumented
and illegal, and the "scourge" of their existence on
our economic well being, security and livelihood. The "illegal
immigration" debate cannot be ignored especially in light
of the upcoming Presidential elections. Considering the topic
ranks second in terms of importance according to Republican voters,
right behind the economy, the immigration debate warrants careful
analysis. I sat with two of Senator Obama's recently appointed
"immigration advisors" Kevin R. Johnson, Associate
Dean of The University of California Davis School of Law and
author of the excellent and incisive new book on U.S.
immigration laws Opening
the Floodgates, and Bill Hing, Professor of Law and Asian
American studies.
ALI: Let me read you a latest
headline that highlights some statistics:
"The Southern Poverty Law Center, in a report titled
"The Year in Hate," said it counted 888 hate
groups in its latest tally, up from 844 in 2006 and 602 in 2000.
The most prominent of the organizations newly added to the list,
the Federation for American Immigration Reform, or FAIR, vehemently
rejected the "hate group" label, and questioned the
law center's motives. FAIR said the center was using smear tactics
to boost donations and stifle legitimate debate on immigration.
'Their banner may be 'Stop the hate' but it's really 'Stop the
debate,' said FAIR's president, Dan Stein. 'Apparently you can't
even articulate an argument for immigration reform without being
smeared.'"
Ok, first question, doesn't
FAIR and others, like Lou Dobbs, have the right to demand safe
borders and not grant amnesty to illegal immigrants? Is this
hate speech, or rather free speech? Secondly, assuming these
facts are true, give me the factors from your research causing
this sudden rise of hate?
HING: First of all, anyone
has a right to advocate for border control and safe borders.
Ok, sure. That's a given. But, it's the manner in which it's
done, and then secondly it's when you go beyond just advocating
for border control and into the area of race and ethnicity that
it becomes hate. First things first, it's the manner in which
they do it. Many members of Congress, of course, advocate for
border control. All three of the political finalists in the Presidential
candidates advocate for border control. But, do they then do
the "Willie Horton" and then focus in on the race,
the language, the out of control nature of what's happening to
society and American culture, once they start doing that they
begin to breed an atmosphere of contempt with those individuals
that are coming across the border based on their race, rather
then focusing on reform of the Visa system or the border system
in a manner in which the border can be enforced in a humane and
professional manner.
KJ: I think any American, which
includes Lou Dobbs and includes folks with FAIR, certainly have
a right to demand more secure borders and reform of immigration
law enforcement. I don't think anybody really disputes that.
The issue is sometimes when they talk about immigration and immigrants,
there is only one kind of immigrants. Lou Dobbs, night after
night, talks about immigrants from Mexico, and illegal immigrants
from Mexico, and terror from Mexico. To the extent that there's
any discussion on Dobbs' show other than any immigrants other
than Mexico, it's about terrorists from the Muslim and the Arab
world. So, what comes about is that immigration and immigration
reform is all about Mexico and terror. And that's when it crosses
the line into implementing hate and dislike for certain immigrant
groups. And when Dobbs is talking about immigration enforcement,
he is usually talking about a border fence along the Mexican
border. He is not ordinarily talking about anything with the
Canadian border.
And when you hear about FAIR,
they say often the exact same thing. Talking bout illegal aliens
as if the only undocumented peoples in this country are people
from Mexico. Talking about crackdowns on illegal aliens, and
talking about how illegal aliens are criminals, and if they're
not criminals then they are terrorists. So, I think that groups
certainly should be able to talk about what they want to talk
about. There are groups that do talk about immigration and aren't
classified as hate groups by The Southern Poverty Law Center.
But, I think some groups do cross the line. Groups like the Minuteman
certainly do cross the line, where you talk to some of them,
or if you see some of the interviews, they talk about hunting
down Mexicans. You hear about some of the folks in places like
Hazleton, Pennsylvania who say pretty clearly they want to get
rid of "The Mexicans." [Hazleton passed the notorious
Illegal Immigration Relief Act punishing landlords, who rented
to undocumented immigrants, with fines up to $1000 per undocumented
immigrant.] Not immigrants, they're just talking about "The
Mexicans." People have a right to talk and should be talking
about immigration reform, but a lot of time instead of talking
about reform, the talk is a racial code to attack certain groups.
And that is not a good thing.
ALI: Let's talk about the
upcoming elections: Democrats and Republicans have their wedges
issues--for the latter, amazingly, immigration ranks second behind
the economy. Is indeed illegal immigration a top 3 problem for
America?
HING: (Chuckles) No!
I think the so-called immigration problem is not even in the
top 100 problems facing the United States. If what we're concerned
about as a country are things ranging from National Security
to the economy to health care to the environment etc., etc. The
fact there are people in the United States with undocumented
status, that is not a direct correlation between that and any
of the four or five things I've mentioned. Of course, what anti
immigrant folks will say is, "How can you say there are
no connections between undocumented workers and national security?"
In fact, all one needs to do is look at the 9-11 Commission report
to find that there was no connection between so called "illegal
immigration" and the perpetrators of the attacks. Those
are all people who came to the country legally, they were well
vetted by Al Qaeda in terms of their backgrounds; they all appeared
squeaky clean. They did not come across the Mexican border. Illegal
immigration, to me, is not even a problem when I say it isn't
in the Top 100. The people who are the topic of the complaints
are decent, hardworking people, law abiding people. People with
strong family values. They respect the environment. They love
this country. They are conservative in many ways. If people only
took the time to get to know them, then they'd realize how it's
really not a problem.
KJ: I think that most Americans,
if pressed, will tell you that it's the economy, it's the war
and it's not immigration. If you look at the people who ran for
President whose issue front and center was immigration, people
like Tom Tancredo and Duncan Hunter, either most Americans haven't
heard of them and certainly didn't vote for them. They are gone
from the Presidential races. If you look at the Illinois Congressional
races, you have an anti-immigrant zealot who ended up not going
anywhere. Even though some polls show people thinking immigration
is an important issue, it can be a wedge issue. The people trying
to make it their issue have not gotten far in their campaigns.
I think that most Americans understand we can't deport all undocumented
immigrants. Most Americans don't want to see another New Bedford,
Massachusetts occur in their hometown. At the same time, many
Americans do want to have the borders more secure, and I think
the politicians are listening to that. I think the "get
tough on immigrant" stuff you see on Lou Dobbs and some
politicians propagating that, they aren't getting too far with
it.
ALI: Illegal Immigration
is a problem to many. Every country has to have secure borders--that's
just a fact. So, why do liberals and progressives become so passionate
in helping those, who for all intents and purposes, break the
law? And, furthermore, how we do, if it all, secure these borders?
KJ: We should have a system
where a vast majority of people enter legally and remain legally.
It's not good for the nation to have a system where people enter
illegally and aren't on any official record system. I'm all in
favor good record keeping and legal immigration. At the same
time, we currently have immigration laws which are unrealistic
and unenforceable; where economic and political needs for workers
lead to mass migration. We have 10 to 12 million undocumented
immigrants in this country, and they are employed by many in
this country: we as a nation benefit from them working here.
Then the question is if we want to secure our borders, then we
probably need to have more realistic immigration laws.
We currently have an immigration
law in effect that in my mind is very similar to the Prohibition
era, anti alcohol law. Where they are violated on a mass basis,
where otherwise law-abiding people do violate the immigration
laws, and where there are some very severe negative consequences.
Here, you have criminal elements getting involved in immigrant
smuggling, you have human trafficking, you have the revival of
slavery in certain parts of the United States where immigrants
are forced to work particular industries--not just the sex industry,
but that's just one of the industries. I think if we want secure
borders what we want to do first is come up with some realistic
"admissions criteria" that more closely match the economic
magnet that's bringing immigrants to the United States. Until
we do that, we will have people violating the laws, because the
laws are unrealistic.
HING: First of all, the reason
why I am passionate and other people are passionate in the immigration
rights advocacy movement is because we understand that there
are large, global economic forces, including NAFTA, that have
profound effects on, again, the typical undocumented immigrant
from Mexico. And how those phenomenons have visited extreme hardship
on the economies of countries like Mexico, then we begin to understand
why people come across that border in large numbers. Once we
understand that it's something out of their control. They can't
control NAFTA. They can't control competition with China. Once
we realize it's out of their control, we then begin to understand
why they come across that border. Yes, there is a border. Yes,
there is a law that makes it illegal to enter the country without
inspection. However, just like anything else, in times of understanding
why people act, I think decent people begin to respect people
in very much a manner that we saw during the Civil Rights Movement.
People will step up and understand that these are acts of civil
disobedience against laws that at their heart are emblematic
of injustice, and they are properly contested. My work as an
immigrant rights advocate is, in my opinion, in the vein of the
Civil Rights Movement, of civil disobedience. Where we are pointing
out injustices of the law that represent these greater forces
that impact immigrants.
ALI: Michelle Malkin and
other right wing, conservative individuals have made suggestions
about illegal immigration aiding and abetting terrorism--a funnel
for Al Qaeda. Bill O'reilly sparred with Geraldo last year using
a story about an immigrant who committed an assault on a woman
as an example of terrorism stemming from "porous borders."
So, talk to me about the connection between illegal immigration
and those who aid and abet terrorism.
HING: I refer to the 9-11 Commission
report. There was no connection between illegal immigrants and
terrorism. But, more importantly if we actually not only got
to know the undocumented immigrants, but granted them legal status,
we would be freeing up so many resources in this country to actually
do a better job of ferreting out those people in our midst who
would do us harm. We waste a lot of time, energy and money focusing
on the undocumented immigration problem. We can free up those
resources and start figuring out who among us, like the Timothy
Mcveighs who would do us harm, and who abroad are trying to figure
out ways of entering the country, or figuring out how to attack
the country. Those resources would be available. To me there
just isn't any connection between the image of the typical, undocumented
immigrant: namely, an undocumented worker from Mexico. Let's
be honest, that's who we are talking about. There's absolutely
no connection between that individual who is coming here to wash
dishes, or work on the farm, or work in the garden. I mean, we
found out on May 1st, 2006 we found out how indispensable those
people are to our survival when they went out on a day of protest.
It's insane to try to make a connection between illegal
immigration and terrorism.
ALI: A lot of people say
Democrats are more tolerant and enlightened regarding immigration,
yet under President Clinton the statute was passed enforcing
mandatory detention of illegal immigrants who commit certain
aggravated felonies. Furthermore, Demore v Kim, a Supreme Court case, upheld this as lawful.
So, you guys are assisting Obama's camp. Suppose Democrats win,
how will Clinton or Obama do anything different?
KJ: I think you've raised a
very important point. In my mind, immigration isn't really a
red state-blue state, Republican Democrat issue. It's a
very complicated issue. I think I have a lot more in common with
President Bush's positions on immigration than I have with President
Clinton's positions on immigration. Some people would say that
the 1996 law you refer to is one of the most draconian immigration
laws passed by Congress. It was signed by President Clinton and
enforced vigorously by him as well. Clinton was also the President
who saw the massive growth of border enforcements, things like
"Operation Gatekeeper," "Operation Hold the Line,"
and "Operation Rio Grande" which resulted in thousands
and thousands of deaths. So, this idea that immigration is an
easy Democrat-Republican issue--it's far from that. I think that
President Bush, for example, was much more sensitive to the plight
of undocumented immigrants when he said we have a shadow population
living under the radar screen, and we have to bring them out
of the shadows.
I think a lot of people in
this country agree with that and agree with the President. Now,
when it comes to immigration today in the Presidential elections,
I do think you have some choices to make between the candidates,
regardless of whether they are Democrat or Republican when it
comes to border enforcement. You have Senator McCain who at one
point in time supported comprehensive immigration reform, at
one point in time appeared to be more flexible on the issue,
now has basically said he can't support his old positions. He
has heard the American people and believes in securing the borders
first before anything is done.
You see Hillary Clinton talking
the same kind of "enforcement talk" that President
Clinton talks about, and backing away very vigorously and quickly
from her initial stance on drivers' licenses for undocumented
immigrants. She gets into debates saying she supports it, and
then she flip flops and says she doesn't support it anymore.
If you look at Barack Obama's immigration position, you see that
he does emphasize "enforcement" as one of the prongs
of his immigration policy, but he also has been unwavering in
his support of drivers' licenses for undocumented immigrants.
He has also been the only candidate who has said in a debate
on national TV that immigrants have often been scapegoated for
the problems in our country, and that it is wrong. He also mentioned
well before the Southern Poverty Law Center Report that anti
immigrant debate had led to hate crimes against Latinos, and
he said that was unacceptable. He's the only candidate who is
mentioning any of those things. And I think there could come
some change in his administration. It is not going to be as far
reaching as some people might like, but it moves in the right
direction.
ALI: Let's be honest--how
much racism and prejudice is involved in this anti immigration
hysteria? Do you believe the fever pitch would be this high and
volatile if these were Italians and Germans crossing the border?
Do you think there would be same the amount of outcry?
HING: Absolutely not. Now,
I don't want to call everyone who opposes immigrants as racists.
Because, as we all know, different people are motivated by different
reasons. But, I do think that those who are outspoken, like Lou
Dobbs, Bill O'Reilly, The Tom Tancredo, those people have problems
with race. There's just no doubt about it in my mind. The big
evidence of that is that about 20 years ago the largest undocumented
population in Chicago was Polish nationals. 15 years ago a sizeable
undocumented population in San Francisco were from Ireland. We
didn't see this uproar against Poles or Irish in SF or Chicago.
For the very fact they were "White" and had European
roots. We just didn't see that uproar, and I think it's because
they are not people of color.
KJ: I think unfortunately race
and racism influences significantly the debate on immigration.
The fact that illegal aliens is a code word for Mexicans tells
you a lot about what the terms of the debate are about. I think
the fact that people South of the border are viewed as racially
different and by many people as racially inferior leads in no
small part to their dehumanization, to attacks on them. It would
be impossible for me to say that some of the anti immigration
measures aren't discriminatory and intended to be so.
In California, with Proposition
187, it's hard to say that campaign wasn't anti Mexican or anti
immigrant. You had nightly advertisements on television showing
shadowy figures along the U.S.-Mexico border with a sort of crime
scene narrator saying, "They keep coming." When you
talk about other initiatives like Proposition 227, which ended
bilingual education in this state, you also see anti-Mexican,
anti-immigrant twist. And it's not just Mexicans although that
is one of the groups. When there's the talk of terrorists, you
often see this anti-Muslim, anti-Arab sentiment rear its head,
when people assume we have to have tough on Arab, tough on Muslim
immigration laws because they are inclined to terrorism, even
though there is no evidence that. The only evidence is that there
is some small group of people who are terrorists, some of them
who are Muslims or Arab.
I think unfortunately immigration
is about race and racism and that is seen throughout American
history. From the days of German immigration to Pennsylvania,
where Ben Franklin complained about the Germans who were a different
race and complexion. To the Irish later on, to the Japanese,
to the Chinese, to the Southeastern Europeans, to Mexicans, to
Arabs and Muslims today, it has consistently been about race
and racism.
ALI: How will the White
House and Congress deal with undocumented workers, without whom
the economy, especially that of California and Texas, will most
likely crash? How will the Democrats react? And the Republicans?
HING: I think it will be a
sad day for our economy and our lifestyle, to be honest with
you, if we got rid of all the undocumented immigrants in the
United States. We really should be addressing this from the point
of view of flexible Visas. In other words, let's recognize this.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics, the National Chamber of Commerce
has recognized this. We actually need workers of all types of
jobs because of the changing demographics. Also, the fact that
my generation, the last of the Baby Boomers, we are going to
be retiring, and we are not replacing ourselves with the numbers
we are going to need. So, we actually need immigrants of all
stripes, of all wage ranges, and we need to recognize that we
should allow these folks to come in here and work.
Now, I'm not advocating for
a guest worker program. I'm advocating for a flexible visa program.
Where individuals are able to come here, be able to work, bring
their family, and at some point the make a decision whether they
will stay or leave: say at either a 5 year point or a 7 year
point. At that point, they want to decide if they want to stay
permanently or if they want to return, and then they make a decision.
I talk to people from Mexico
and from Asia all the time from all different wage categories,
and they all say the same thing. The wealthy ones say I wish
there was a way I could come in and out of the country, because
I actually like living in Hong Kong or Taipei, but I also like
living in San Mateo. I talk to Mexicans who say the same thing.
They want to be able to come and go, they want to work and they
want to contribute. But, some of them want to stay permanently,
and some of them don't. So, we have to recognize the modern age
in which we live, and let's go with the flow and get on board
here and understand that there are greater forces that are at
play here that we ought to go with instead of resist.
ALI: Let's talk about the
Bush-McCain plan for immigration reform, which many say was more
moderate and judicious, relatively, than Bush's other domestic
policies. Why the hostility to it by Republicans? Is that plan
the best option than any other the country can possibly enforce
right now?
HING: I believe that in the
Summer of 2007 that plan was politically the most practical thing
that could have passed even though I didn't like one provision
in it that would have stripped many of the family immigration
categories; in particular, that was gratuitously thrown in to
be evil. But on a practical matter, I was surprised it didn't
pass. There was a lot of political will from both the White House
and a lot of Republicans and Democrats to pass it.
Why did it fail? Because there
is this strong contingency in the Republicans party that is rabidly
racist and against undocumented immigrants, and they don't want
to do anything that's going to help them. Anything that smells
like amnesty or legalization or makes them appear to be soft
on illegal immigration--that issue has been equated with that
rabid wing of the Republican party that doesn't want to appear
soft on crime or soft on illegal immigration. They are also very
outspoken and they were able to control the Republican party
last summer just the way the religious right has controlled the
Republican party on many social issues - even though they are
a small but vocal group.
ALI: Suppose you get to
talk to Lou Dobbs one on one about immigration. What would you
say to him?
KJ: I'd say I agree with you
that we need to work on our immigration system. But, I fear the
kind of attacks you engage on our system, generate racism, generate
fear, play on racism and play on fear. Why are you doing that?
HING: I'd say to Lou Dobbs,
"Get a grip!" Your advocacy is wasting the country's
time, money and efforts. We should be focusing on real issues.
You should go back, Lou Dobbs, to focus on what you did best
which was talk about the economy and the fact that NAFTA needed
to be questioned and the fact that Wall Street needs to be investigated.
And the fact that multinational corporations are the ones that
benefit from trade agreements - not the working class. That's
what you should be focusing on, Lou Dobbs.
Wajahat Ali is Pakistani Muslim American who is
neither a terrorist nor a saint. He is a playwright, essayist,
humorist, and Attorney at Law, whose work, "The Domestic
Crusaders," (www.domesticcrusaders.com)
is the first major play about Muslim Americans living in a post
9-11 America. His blog is at http://goatmilk.wordpress.com/.
He can be reached at wajahatmali@gmail.com
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