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Now Available from CounterPunch for Only $11.50 (S/H Included) Today's Stories March 18, 2004   Gary Leupp The Madrid Bombings: the Chickens Come Home to Roost   March 17, 2004 Marjorie Cohn Spain, the EU and the US: War on Terror or Civil Liberties? David MacMichael Untruth and Consequences Michael Donnelly Wear the Green, But Skip the Green Beer Tom Stephens "Steady Leadership": Let the Buyer Beware Wayne Madsen Sen. Kerry, Let Me Help You Out Karyn Strickler Who Owns the Sierra Club? Anonymous Donors and Rigged Elections Peter Linebaugh Bush: Blanc Blanc   March 16, 2004 Lenni Brenner James Madison: the Anti-Clerical Father of the Bill of Rights Scott Boehm Madrid Diary: How to Change World Order in Four Days Alexander Lynch From Franco to Aznar: the History Behind the Spanish Elections Sam Hamod and Alfredo Reyes The Truth About the Spanish Elections: Aznar Was Going Down Anyway Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg You Wouldn't Do a Dog This Way: Executing David Clayton Hill Mike Whitney The Case for a Nuclear Iran Robert Fisk The Bloody Price of the "War on Terror" Bill Christison The Aftershocks from Madrid CounterPunch Photo Wire The Passion of St. Teresa Website of the Day Join the War on Art!   March 15, 2004 Harry Browne Terror Nothing New to Europe Mike Whitney Justice Not Murder: the Tragic Symmetry of Terrorism Lidice Valenzuela Haiti: a Coup without Consultation Greg Moses Lessons from the Texas Primaries: Looking for a Coalition with Legs Mickey Z. Depraved Indifference: C-Sections, Patriarchy & Women's Health Asaf Shtull-Trauring AWOL in New York: From Refusenik to Organizer CounterPunch Wire Gen. Gramajo Executed by Bees!   March 12 / 14, 2004 Gabriel Kolko The Coming Elections and the Future of American Global Power Saul Landau Oh, Jesus...It's the Movie! William Blum Neo-Con(tradictions) William S. Lind Why They Throw Rocks Rahul Mahajan The Meaning of Madrid: War on "Terrorism" Makes Us All Less Safe Neve Gordon Demographic Wars Kurt Nimmo Kerry and the Progressive Interventionists Mickey Z. The "New" UN Blames the Poor Mike Whitney War Games: the American Media Leads the Charge Helen Scott and Ashley Smith Aristide's Fall: What Led to the Coup? Justin E.H. Smith Loïc Wacquant: Against a Sociodicy of the American Prison Brandy Baker Him Again? Al Gore Needs to Move On Robin Philpot Nobody Can Call It a "Plane Crash" Now: the Report on the Assassination of Rwandan President Habyarimana Mokhiber / Weissman The Meat Monopoly Takes a Rare Pounding Dave Zirin She Turned Her Back on the War: an Interview with Toni Smith Daniel Wolff The Lord's Pier     March 11, 2004 Ron Jacobs Bedtime for Democracy Bill Kauffman Hey, Ralph! Why Not Another Party of the People? James Hollander Slaughter in Madrid: Consolidating an Ally? Norman Solomon They Shoot Journalists, Don't They? Patrick Gavin The Salvation of Dan Quayle: Family Values Return Becky Burgwin You're Messing with the Wrong Generation John Sugg The FBI is on My Trail March 10, 2004 Hammond Guthrie Read This Book!: "Who the Hell is Stew Albert?" Chris Floyd Operation Enduring Sweatshop: Another Bush Brings Hell to Haiti Elizabeth Corrie Remembering the Death of Rachel Corrie Mike Whitney US Press Torpedoes Aristide M. Junaid Alam An Anti-Civilizational War? Bob Feldman The Occupation of Haiti: Recalling 1915-1934 John L. Hess An Overload of Crises Gary Leupp On Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and the Uses of al-Qaeda "Links"   March 9, 2004 Greg Weiher The Zarqawi Gambit, Part 2 Ben Tripp Word Up! Let's Have a Conversation Tom Barry Neo-Cons Target Syria Sharon Smith The Hypocrites in the Catholic Church Robert Fisk The Same Old Iraq Doug Giebel The Bush Strategy: Laughing All the Way Ralph Nader Pension Rights, the Trail of Broken Promises Daniel Estulin In Memory of Ricardo Ortega: a Great Journalist, Killed in Haiti Dave Lindorff Martha Stewart's Cloudy Day Saul Landau Will the Filthy Rich Dump Bush? Website of the Day Imperial Armies in the Garden   March 8, 2004 Amy Goodman An Interview with Aristide Eric Ruder An Interview with Robert Fatton on the Coup in Haiti Robert Jensen The Presidential Library Terrorist Connection Mike Whitney Expel the US from the Security Council Jason Leopold How Cheney Helped Cover Up Pakistan's Nuclear Proliferation Mazin Qumsiyeh Why is Apartheid Touted as a Solution? Kevin Alexander Gray The Legacy of Strom Thurmond Derek Seidman Radical Continuity: an Interview with Paul Buhle Steve Perry Kerry Fiddles While He Could be Burning Bush Website of the Day Patriot Act Game     March 6 / 7, 2004 Alexander Cockburn Understanding the World with Paul Sweezy Robert Pollin Remembering Paul Sweezy Jeffrey St. Clair The Politics of Timber Theft Tom Reeves Bush's Mass Deportations: 63,000 and Counting Charles Lewis Who Mugged Howard Dean in Iowa: Kerry, Torricelli and a Mysterious Frontgroup Tom Jackson My Breakfast with Sen. Judd Gregg Kurt Nimmo Is Venezuela Next? Alan Cisco A Report from Caracas Jack Random Haitian Democracy be Damned Colin Piquette Oh, Canada: the Coup Coalition Lee Sustar Labor's State of Emergency William D. Hartung Iraq and the Costs of War David Sally Rebuilding Amérique Mark Scaramella When God Mooned Moses: Test Your Bible Knowledge Mickey Z. What We Can Learn from Ashcroft's Gallbladder Ron Jacobs Politics and Baseball Dave Zirin The Longest Jump: the Blackballing of Phil Shinnick Poets' Basement John Holt and Larry Kearney Website of the Weekend National Day of Action for Rachel Corrie   March 5, 2004 Chris Floyd Uncle Sugar: How the WMD Scam Put Money in Bush Family Pockets Ron Jacobs Chaos Reigns: Haiti and Iraq Lisa Viscidi Guatemalan Refugees: a Difficult Return Yves Engler Canada and the Coup in Haiti Mike Legro Those Bush Ads: Some Dead Bodies Are Worth More Than Others Javier Armas A Night of Inspiration: Oakland Benefit for Grocery Workers Strike Bennett Hoffman "Who Cares About Haiti, Anyway?" Bill Christison Faltering Neo-Cons Still Dangerous Website of the Day Haiti Support Group   March 4, 2004 Diane Christian Sex and Ideals Sen. Robert Byrd Stop the Stonewalling, Mr. President: Fairy Tales, Bush and the 9/11 Commission Norman Solomon Assuming the Right to Intervene: The US Press and Haiti Jack Brown A Fragrant Saga of Mexico's Greens Hal Cranmer The John Kerry Experience David Lindorff Greenspan's Pension Sam Smith The Election is Over, We Lost Christopher Brauchli Goin' to the Chapel: The Gay and the Dead Brian D. Barry The "Perfect" World of E-Voting: A Computer Scientist Reports from the Polling Booth Richard Oxman Arsonists for Haiti? Peter Phillips Haitian Fantasies: Mainstream Media Fails Itself, Again Tariq Ali Notes on Anti-Semitism, Zionism and Palestine Website of the Day What If Boeing Ads Told the Truth?     March 3, 2004 Heather Williams / Karl Laraque Marines Retake Haiti Jack McCarthy Guy's Our Guy: "I am the Chief. My Hero is Pinochet." Robert Sandels The Purloined Label: The Struggle Over the Havana Club Trademark Juliana Fredman / James Davis Israeli Organized Crime JG The Yuppie Silence on Haiti Emilio Sardi The Colombia/US Free Trade Deal: It's About More Than Trade Alan Farago Swimming in Sewage Mike Whitney "Blood Will Have Blood": 143 Murdered in Liberated Iraq CounterPunch Wire Nader's Legislative Record in the 1960s Steve Perry Kerry Advisory: Remember Lena Guerrero Nelson George/ Marcus Miller Miles Davis & Hip Hop: a Conversation Website of the Day $10,000 Is Yours for the Taking: The USS Liberty Challenge   March 2, 2004 William Blum If Kerry's the Answer, What's the Question? Conn Hallinan Haiti: the Dangerous Muddle JoAnn Wypijewski The Bravo H-Bomb Test: One WMD They Couldn't Hide Mike Whitney Regime Change in Haiti: the Bush Dominos Keep Falling Ra Ravishankar Afghanistan, the Liberation That Isn't: an Interview with Mariam from RAWA Dan Bacher Merle Haggard & the Politics of Salmon: "Clearcutting is Rape" Greg Moses Oscar White Brandy Baker Mel Gibson's Minstrelsy Show Little Tucker Carlson What I Did on My Vacation Robert Fisk All This Talk of Civil War, Now This Merle Haggard Kern River Website of the Day Rebel Edit   March 1, 2004 Alexander Cockburn Morris Thanks War Criminal in Front of Billions Richard Oxman Oscar's Obit: Thanking Bob McNamara Elaine Cassel Writing and Reading as "Terrorism" Mickey Z Thomas Friedman's Education Mike Whitney George Will and Anti-Semitism: a Cul-de-Sac of Prejudice Heather Williams Haiti as Target Practice: How the US Press Missed the Story Cathy Crosson Chanson d'amour haïtienne Website of the Day God Hates Shrimp February 28 / 29, 2004 Stephen Green Serving Two Flags: Neo-Cons, Israel and the Bush Team Gary Leupp Another Senseless Bush Battle: Defining and Protecting Marriage William A. Cook Israel: America's Albatross Ron Jacobs Kucinich: Good Fight; Wrong Battlefield Ben Tripp A Nosegay of Posies: Queer Weddings at Last! Leilla Matsui Dances with Crucifixes Mike Whitney Dismantle the Military Goliath Yoel Marcus Down and Out in the Hague Uri Avnery The Dancing Bear Linda S. Heard Britons and Americans Condemned to a Hobson's Choice Al Krebs Unmasking a Secret American Empire: Land, Water & Cotton Stan Cox Life (Pat. Pend.): Genetic Commandeering JG The Haiti Boomerang: "After The Looting & Pillaging, Your Hunger Will Remain" Rick Giombetti Censorship at the Seattle P-I on Forced Psychiatry Keith Hoeller The Bankruptcy of Mental Health Insurance Parity Dave Zirin Colorado Football: Buffalo Swill NADERAMA Alan Maass Nader and the Politics of Lesser Evils Michael Donnelly Regime Rotation: Anybody But Bush...Again? Niranjan Ramakrishnan Exeunt Serenaders; Enter Nader Doug Giebel So Nader's Running? Get Over It Bruce Jackson An Open Letter to Naderites CounterPunch Wire Stalinists for Kerry! and Other Roars from the Crowd Poets' Basement Davies, Scarr, Kearney & Albert February 27, 2004 Thomas C. Mountain A White Jesus During Black History Month? Laura Carlsen Americans Abroad: Bush is Persona Non Grata John B. Anderson Nader's Campaign Brings Back Memories: Creating an Open Electoral Process Jason Leopold Spying on Kofi Annan John Chuckman Nader, Risk and Hope Standard Schaefer An Interview with Michael Hudson on Putin's Russia Ray McGovern Punished for Honest Intelligence Saul Landau The Haiti Redux Website of the Day Bush: Why I'm Running for Re-election   February 26, 2004 Brandy Baker Is Nader on to Something? Jacques Kinau AEI to Colombia: "Can't Give You Anything But Guns, Baby" Norman Solomon Bugging Kofi Annan: UN Spying and the Evasions of US Journalism Greg Weiher A Purloined Letter: the Zarqawi Gambit Walt Brasch Janet Jackson, Bush & No. 542: There are No Halftime Shows in War Shadi Hamid The Music World Explodes in Anger Norman Madarasz As Canadian as Corruption Chris Floyd Bullets and Ballots Virginia Tilly The Deeper Meaning of the Wall Amy Goodman / Jeremy Scahill Haiti's Lawyer Says US is Arming Haiti's Anti-Aristide Paramilitaries Website of the Day Clear Channel Sucks   February 25, 2004 Dr. Susan Block Saddam's Sex Therapist and the Rape of Free Speech Bruce Anderson Treacherous Bastards: The Greens and the Dems and Nader Ron Jacobs Our Power is on the Streets and in Our Hearts Mike Whitney Bush and Gay America: the Politics of Duplicity Sam Husseini Jesus in 100 Words John L. Hess Kick Off or Flub? Sam Hamod Bush's Newest Red Herring Cockburn / St. Clair Winning with Nader Website of the Day VotePact   February 24, 2004 Ralph Nader Why I'm Running for President Greg Moses Rally the Mob! Bush, Gay Marriage and the Constitution Douglas O'Hara The Merchants of Fear: Smearing Nader Phillip Cryan Frozen in Time: The WSJ's Paranoid Lens on Latin America David Lindorff John Kerry's China Connection Jason Leopold Cheney's Shame: Halliburton Faces New Charges Gary Younge Haiti: Throttled by History Kromm, Masri & Purohit Why No Democracy in Iraq? Steve Perry Tangled Up in Red and Blue: Beware the Electoral College February 23, 2004 Neve Gordon Israel's Apartheid Wall on Trial at The Hague Kurt Nimmo Richard Perle, Executioner: "Heads Should Roll" Jonathan Franklin US Soldier Seeks Refugee Status in Canada Al Krebs The Liberal "Intelligentsia" v. Nader Josh Frank Nader's Nadir? Not a Chance Bruce Jackson Nader, Another View: "He's as Evil as Bush" Gary Leupp A Misguided Attack, The Passion, Rabbi Lerner and the Gospels           Hot Stories Alexander Cockburn Behold, the Head of a Neo-Con! Subcomandante Marcos The Death Train of the WTO Norman Finkelstein Hitchens as Model Apostate Steve Niva Israel's Assassination Policy: the Trigger for Suicide Bombings? Dardagan, Slobodo and Williams CounterPunch Exclusive: 20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians Steve J.B. Prison Bitch Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber True Lies: the Use of Propaganda in the Iraq War Wendell Berry Small Destructions Add Up CounterPunch Wire WMD: Who Said What When Cindy Corrie A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter I Can't Hear From Gore Vidal The Erosion of the American Dream Francis Boyle Impeach Bush: A Draft Resolution Click Here for More Stories.     Subscribe Online Search CounterPunch

March 18, 2004 Resistance The Moral Imperative By MIKE WHITNEY "That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. " Declaration of Independence Governments do not confer legitimacy on themselves. Their legitimacy is dependent on the will of the people, elections being the accepted means for establishing the popular mandate. And, there are basic criteria for establishing whether or not an acting government is in compliance with the minimal standards of democracy. This means that the broader values of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" must be preserved and protected by those serving in high office. This is the highest obligation of public servants. Never the less, we should recognize that the most troublesome, yet, perhaps, the most admired notion in the Declaration is its "moral imperative"; the call to "alter or abolish" that government that is destructive to the "unalienable" rights of man. Are we there, yet? America is not traditionally thought of as a country that robs its citizens of their due process rights and dumps them in prison for more than two years without representation. America is not typically condemned for human rights violations and alleged torture of prisoners. America is not usually mentioned in the same breath with targeted assassinations, endless detentions, forced occupation and prison camps. This is Bush's America...it's not our America anymore. Those who believe in democracy and the founding principles of this nation must ask themselves how far the country can tilt rightward before it invites the full measure of its revolutionary message. Ultimately, that could be the moral question of our era. The Bush Administration's lock on power is dependent on deception. The deception is spontaneous and, oftentimes, with cause. Normally, we can determine the truth of a particular issue by assuming the inverse of whatever the administration says. But, this merely affects the administration's credibility, not their legitimacy. Legitimacy is the root of governance, without it the existing government must be removed. The Bush Administration has made great strides in grinding down the fundamental principles underlying American life. They have successfully eviscerated the right to privacy (Patriot Act, FICA courts; 4th amendment) and established the necessary precedents for overturning all Due Process rights (Rights to see an attorney, rights to a speedy trial, rights to be charged with a crime, rights to face your accusers; 5th and 6th Amendments) These are the heart and soul of the Constitution as they protect the citizen from the vagaries of government abuse. Particularly troubling, is the case of "alleged" dirty bomber, Jose Padilla; by all counts, a test case to see if the President can effectively repeal the Constitution. It's quite clear that this struggle to dispatch American citizens as "enemy combatants" is an attempt to assert the absolute power of the executive and put the President above the law. The disposition of this case will tell us a great deal about the future of democracy in America. The administration's approach to civil liberties has not been haphazard in the least, but, rather, a full scale assault on those legal barriers that are the cornerstone of our system. This is the crisis of legitimacy; a government that is bent on devouring democracy itself. Governments do not create freedom, at best, they can only safeguard and respect it. Man is intrinsically free, which is to say, that man and freedom are identical. "Unalienable." This is the central point of our Constitution; the bedrock principle of our ethos. The Bush Administration has put itself in direct conflict with these basic tenets. Its actions have made it the adversary of democratic values ("destructive of these ends") and, therefore, the enemy of the American people. The administration no longer bares the mantle of legitimacy. It is a threat to both itself and those it is supposed to serve. It must be removed. The founders of this country anticipated a time when liberty would be in jeopardy. They provided us with their tacit endorsement of further action. The "alter or abolish" clause in the Constitution is their summons to revolution. Their spirit pervades the grass roots movements that, even now, are fomenting a growing rage against the leadership in Washington. Liberty is no longer our birthright, but part of a greater struggle. In this context, resistance is the primary responsibility of the citizen and the highest form of patriotism. Resistance is the order of the day, and the moral imperative of a generation. Mike Whitney can be reached at: fergiewhitney@msn.com Weekend Edition Features for March 12 / 14, 2004 Gabriel Kolko The Coming Elections and the Future of American Global Power Saul Landau Oh, Jesus...It's the Movie! William Blum Neo-Con(tradictions) William S. Lind Why They Throw Rocks Rahul Mahajan The Meaning of Madrid: War on "Terrorism" Makes Us All Less Safe Neve Gordon Demographic Wars Kurt Nimmo Kerry and the Progressive Interventionists Mickey Z. The "New" UN Blames the Poor Mike Whitney War Games: the American Media Leads the Charge Helen Scott and Ashley Smith Aristide's Fall: What Led to the Coup? Justin E.H. Smith Loïc Wacquant: Against a Sociodicy of the American Prison Brandy Baker Him Again? Al Gore Needs to Move On Robin Philpot Nobody Can Call It a "Plane Crash" Now: the Report on the Assassination of Rwandan President Habyarimana Mokhiber / Weissman The Meat Monopoly Takes a Rare Pounding Dave Zirin She Turned Her Back on the War: an Interview with Toni Smith Daniel Wolff The Lord's Pier Keep CounterPunch Alive: Make a Tax-Deductible Donation Today Online! home / subscribe / about us / books / archives / search / links /