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Articles
APRIL
2003
U.S. Iraq Policy for Dumbbells
April 30,
2003
· What with Shia and Sunni and Ba'ath and
imams and Syria and Abu Mazer and WMDs, it's no wonder many
are confused in this post-Iraq-war period. Time once again
to turn to some easy-to-comprehend answers to difficult questions.
By Bernard
Weiner
Homeland Security, Domestic
Violence
April 30,
2003
· For those of us fed up with military homecoming
parades and demolished palace toilets, (the staples of post-invasion
reportage on Iraq), FOX and CNN's renewed and aggressive coverage
of the missing Modesto mother-to-be, Laci Peterson, comes
almost as a welcome relief. One could argue, however, that
Iraq's plundered and eviscerated artifacts and the discovery
of the pregnant 27 year old's remains are both revealing examples
of the Bush administration's agenda to corporatize, at any
cost, all aspects of social and economic life at home and
abroad. By Leilla
Matsui
No One To Beat But Ourselves
April 30,
2003
· In sports, an individual or a team will
occasionally be put into a position where they are far superior
to any opposition. They can only beat themselves, the saying
goes. That's the position we're in now. But this is a sports
season that never ends, and sooner or later something will
happen to make us stumble, and in this sport, the price for
failure is very high indeed. By Joseph
Vecchio
Can This White House Be
Saved?
April 29,
2003
· With well over a year until election 2004,
Dubya isn't even close to entering the kind of political tailspin
that makes pundits salivate. But, as the embedded reporters
return to the land of Starbuck's and infomercials, the media
coverage is starting to pick up on the Republicans' litany
of foibles, faults, and fiascos. By Martin
Matheny
The Bush Economy
April 29,
2003
· The current White House has proven its
incompetence in maintaining a healthy economy and has chosen
to pursue an agenda to help its donors and corporate bedpartners.
The talk of short-term stimulus has obviously not been the
practical aim of the administration. The reduction of the
burden on the working class has been overlooked. By Justin
Hill
Gephardt's Plan
April 29,
2003
· Congressman Dick Gephardt rolled out a
proposal for universal health coverage this week to a chorus
of jeers from conservatives who want to portray it as anti-business.
But a closer look at the plan shows that it will benefit businesses
as well as rich and poor alike. Gephardt's plan to use the
Bush tax cuts should be attractive to rich and poor alike.
The poor will get health coverage at affordable rates, and
the majority of the rich people will still enjoy their tax
cuts. By Patrick
McIntyre
Is Everything We Learned
a Myth?
April 26,
2003 · Throughout our formative
years, we were taught that might does not make right, crime
doesn't pay, cheaters never prosper, and the guys in the white
hats are always the winners. We were led to believe that justice
would prevail, that good conquers evil. Peace and solace were
gained by clinging to those beliefs. Our lives became more
manageable when we believed in these principles. Now, today,
these beliefs are shattered beyond repair. By Ronald
Gerughty
Workers Memorial Day:
April 28
April 26,
2003 · Workers' health and safety
circumstances have vastly improved since the "robber
baron" industrial era when U.S. mines, mills, and factories
were a constant, unrelieved threat to employee life and limb.
Still, a grim, unacceptable fact remains. Each year in this
country almost 6,000 workers are killed on the job. 50,000
die from occupational diseases, and additional millions are
hurt. By Dennis
Rahkonen
Rick Santorum: Conservatism
Without Make-Up
April 25,
2003 · Perhaps it's the giddiness
of success that has brought us the public slip-ups of prominent,
high-ranking conservatives. Comfortably fatted on their newfound
power, conservatives have decided to let us all in on the
sham of their linguistic spackling of the truth. But I don't
want Senator Santorum to step down. I want him to keep it
up. I want every Republican to say what they mean. By Terry
Sawyer
Can An Entire Country Go mad?
April 25,
2003 · Can an entire country go
mad? Of course it can! And history provides many examples:
the Salem Colony during the witch trials (and its 20th century
counterpart, the McCarthy mania), Nazi Germany, Cambodia under
Pol Pot, and arguably the United States under George Bush.
Worse yet, most people living at a time of national derangement
perceive that condition as perfectly normal, and even moral.
And pity the poor soul who sees things differently: the "one-eyed
person in the land of the blind." By Ernest
Partridge
The Bombs that Fall on Baghdad
Hit in Birmingham
April 24,
2003 · Some of the most curious
fallout of the War on Terror has been the fact that, despite
Bush's substantial bounce in popularity, a small group of
Republican moderate senators who previously caved to the party
line on previous votes stood up to the White House and managed
to halve Bush's tax cut, and kill the proposal for ending
taxes on dividends. Why would members of Bush's own party
defy him on such a crucial issue? By Steven
Attewell
Freedom is Another Word
for Nothing Left to Lose
April 24,
2003 · Never did we imagine, even for
a millisecond, that we could actually see the demise of democracy
here in the land of the free, home of the brave - America.
But there's a new threat to our freedom; to the rights we
thought were our birthright. It is with horror and a heavy
heart that I tell you that this threat comes from within;
from the very ones we thought were our protectors; the very
men and women held in esteem and regard; learned men and women;
men and women we, the American public voted into office. By Norma
Sherry
We Now Return to Our Regularly
Scheduled Programming
April 23,
2003 · In the weeks immediately following
September 11th, America looked more like a land under siege
then at any time since Pearl Harbor. But as the weeks passed
the more apparent signs of a society at war slowly faded from
view. Soon it seemed as though American life had returned
to its former self - albeit slightly less innocent. By Michael
Shannon
Washington Bobs
April 23,
2003 · Years ago then-Secretary of State
Dean Acheson defended Cold War policies with the principle
that "politics ends at the waters edge." In the
aftermath of Vietnam many on the right and in the military
itself blamed negative coverage for the loss of the war and
consequently American lives. The press, apparently cowed by
the criticism, has since adopted a policy that journalism
also ends at the waters edge. By Mike
McArdle
Religiosity
April 23,
2003 · Although the president of these
United States repeatedly assured the world that our wars are
against terror - not Islam - the message doesn't seem to be
sinking in. Could it be that in addition to President Bush's
inability to keep the idea that he may have been Chosen to
his own damn self, Muslims familiar with repressive countries
ruled by fundamentalism might be a tad concerned about the
born-again Christian president's growing religious influence
in the United States? By Lisa
Ashkenaz Croke
The Department of Offense
April 22,
2003 · Once again, I'm a bit confused
about this country in which we live. Amongst the two Bushes
which have found themselves in the Presidency, this current
insanity of ours is the fourth premeditated war in, to date,
the six years of their tenure. Current Bush administration
officials are hinting at new targets - even as we simply try
to get our bearings on our military location in Iraq - through
warnings issued almost simultaneously by Rice, Rumsfeld, Bolton,
et al, to Iran and Syria. North Korea awaits. By punpirate
Speaking Freely in a Time
of War
April 22,
2003 · I received a letter which
was is in many ways typical of the anti-free speech arguments
heard these days. In this essay, I will address some of the
logic behind these arguments. My goal is to expose their hidden
premises, the parts that are implicit but left unspoken. By
exposing these hidden premises, I will demonstrate that the
anti-free speech arguments used against critics of the war
are not sound. By Barry
Mauer
The Night the War Began We
Took Down Our Flag
April 19,
2003 · A few days before Mr. Bush’s sequel
to his father’s Persian Gulf misadventures, we discussed what
our flag might signify to passersby. Rather than proclaiming
us proud Americans, it might signify that we support an administration
which arbitrarily chose to invade a sovereign nation. By Jeff
Rosenzweig
The Same Old Supply-Side
Song
April 19,
2003 · If George W. Bush had chosen music
as a career instead of politics, his entire body of work would
be limited to one laboriously long treatment of 999,000 Bottles
of Beer on the Wall. You can see it in his economic policy,
a string of tax cuts, followed by tax cuts, followed by -
guess what? - more tax cuts. By Martin
Matheny
Tim Robbins, The Brave,
The Plastic Bag and The Refrigerator Magnet, or A Letter
to Tim Robbins
April 18,
2003 · After finishing reading the transcript
of your speech given at the National Press Club in Washington
two days ago and I immediately went outside to my patio, light
a cigarette I was hoping to avoid, and started to cry. I was
more than just moved by your words. Devastated and inspired
is a better description. By Elayne
Keratsis
Hockey Served with War
April 18,
2003 · You see spring and hockey go hand
in hand for us Canucks. It's what we talk about at work, its
what we watch as we eat our suppers, its what we dream about
in our sleep. This spring not only brings us our annual dose
of playoff hockey but sadly brings us war as well. By Jason
Berry
Fighting the Long Defeat
April 18,
2003 · No matter how easy the victory,
this "war" has set some horrible precedents. Taken to a personal
level, it means that, if I felt threatened by anyone, that
I not only have the right, but the duty to take them out before
they do the same to me. By Joe
Vecchio
Mourning Iraq
April 17,
2003 · Please don't talk to me of "precision
bombing" and "liberation." Don't talk of "minimal loss of
life" and cheering Iraqis. Don't come with your "I told you
so." and your "See, the war wasn't that bad." Because I know
better. I know there was little that was precise and liberating
about this war. I know while many Iraqis are thrilled to be
done with Saddam; they are equally appalled at how this war
has played out. By Carol
Norris
Good Morning, America
April 16,
2003 · Since your head is pounding, I'll
speak very softly. I know you enjoyed last night's mega winning-the-Iraq-war
orgy party. It was fun while it lasted, no doubt. But like
every party animal, you went too far this time, and did some
things you may end up regretting. What's worse, those at the
party who refrained from heavy drinking remember most of your
shenanigans and as a result have absolutely no respect for
you now. As if you cared, but still. By Wayne
Francis
In Your Face, Your Holiness
April 16,
2003 · Maybe we don't need to do anything
right now except savor the triumph of American Might, join
in on the nyah-nyah-nyah sessions the antiwar protesters -
including, presumably, the Pope - have been enduring lately,
and wonder who's going to play Jessica Lynch in the inevitable
TV movie of her story. By Kevin
Dawson
View From the Living Room
April 16,
2003 · Let's pretend I have been buying
into everything coming out of Washington. Here I am, sitting
in my living room watching my TV, waiting to be informed...
By Dr.
Dragon
Osama and Saddam: Dead or
Alive?
April 15,
2003 · When you're prosecuting a war,
and you want to get people behind your cause, personifying
your enemy is a pretty good way to motivate people. It gives
them something to focus their hatred on. There are thousands
of examples of this throughout history, even in America's
relatively brief history we've had a pretty decent share of
them. My question, then, is a simple one: where is Osama bin
Laden? And where is Saddam Hussein? The answer, unfortunately,
is a lot more complex. By
Joe Vecchio
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
April 15,
2003 · According to cave-age economics,
what's most needed is most valued. This old economic approach
works best if you are an Iraqi, currently in Iraq,
and have a hotline to someone with a good connect to the current
global head honcho. How many people can put a price tag on
the value of an Iraqi providing information that "proves"
the existence of weapons of mass destruction? By
Lisa Walsh Thomas
Wolfowitz's Confidential
Memo on Post-Iraq Plans
April 15,
2003 · An intercepted memo from Paul
Wolfowitz to Dick Cheney, Richard Perle, Don Rumsfeld, Bill
Kristol and Jim Woolsey, on PNAC's next moves. Satire
by Bernard Weiner
The Nine Contenders
April 12,
2003 · WASHINGTON, D.C., April 9, 2003
– Tonight I attended the first gathering of the nine candidates
for the 2004 Democratic nomination for President. The event
was hosted by the Children's Defense Fund, and the questions
and statements focused to a large extent on policies affecting
children. Let's look at them in order, from best to worst,
in terms of their apparent ability to serve well as president.
By David
Swanson
Don't Mess With Texas
April 12,
2003 · Teach them a lesson they'll never
forget. So goes the thinking in Texas-on-the-Potomac. And
what a lesson it has been! They'll never mess with us again,
nosirree Bob! As this childish thinking worms its way around
the neocon braintrust, now giddy with "success" of their own
definition (like toppling the Taliban?), it is instructive
what lessons might be drawn by more rational - albeit scared
to death - observers around the world. These are some of the
conclusions I've drawn, doing my humble little part to follow
Bush's sage advice. By Daniel
Patrick Welch
War is Bush's Teflon Cloak
April 11,
2003 · I think I am on firm ground saying
that never in America's history has a president taken our
nation into war on such flimsy if not out-and-out fabricated
"evidence"; and never in history have a president and his
family and friends so directly profited from waging war. They
don't even bother to use middlemen for "cover"; the owners
and directors of the companies making the munitions and supplying
the military's needs are all friends, family and campaign
supporters of George W. Bush. By Madison
Forget Sunscreen - Save
Democracy
April 10,
2003 · A lot has changed in the quarter
century since Paul Conrad sent me and my classmates out into
the world. We are involved in an immoral, unjustified, pre-emptive,
unilateral "war" against a sovereign nation. Those who dissent
against the war are branded as traitors. A sprawling bureaucratic
"anti-terrorism" apparatus, with the ominous name of "Homeland
Security," is being erected by the political party that traditionally
inveighs against the evils of big government. Who said irony
was dead? By D.G.
Bowman
What Now, George?
April 10,
2003 · What now George? Where are you
going to send our boys and girls now? What kind of threat
are you going to make up now? Who else are you going to try
and connect to our nation's worst day? More importantly, what
are you going to do for the Iraqi people? Take their oil to
pay for this liberation? Let them have democratic elections?
What happens when the new regime doesn't like you George?
What happens then? By Ed
Hanratty
Was It Worth It?
April 9,
2003 · In these cynical times of infomercials,
telemarketers, network marketing schemes, spam, and a perpetual
barrage of advertising, Americans tend to be rightly skeptical
and cautious before committing their hard-earned dollar. Should
we not expect the same from our government? Ask any conservative,
watching our budget like the proverbial bean counter. Surely
our government would not resort to the same cheap, desperate
tactics these other low-level marketers utilize when rolling
out a new product? By a_random_joel
Electronic Americans
April 9,
2003 · For the most part, Electronic
Americans don't look much different than you and me - only
whiter, less brighter and more likely to get their news from
the Fox News Network. Electronic Americans, contrary to popular
belief, were not artificially conceived in some secret, off-shore
Sony lab but rather programmed here at home. By Leilla
Matsui
Depression - And Its
Activism Antidote - Will Lead to Bush's Downfall
April 8,
2003 · Let's talk about a subject that
remains mostly hidden in American social discourse: depression.
Depression is a sane, normal way of dealing with overwhelming
grief, loss, confusion, shame - in this instance: cluster-bombs,
depleted uranium weapons, children being slaughtered as "collateral
damage," and all in our name. Because depression shakes us
up, it provides opportunities, once we regain our energy and
focus, for effective political action. By Bernard
Weiner
Blood in the Sand
April 8,
2003 · Back in the days of Desert Storm
when I was in the business of "managing" information to make
the Army look good, the cold and darkly secretive Dick Cheney
was pulling the strings over at Defense, issuing rules for
media coverage of the Gulf War. The rules, which had worked
so well for Cheney during his recent Panama invasion, were
simple - the Pentagon was to have total control over the media...
there were to be no unpatriotic questions... and there was
to be no blood in the sand. By Sheila
Samples
Speaking Truth to Ignorance:
An Open Letter to Charlie Daniels and the Warmongers
April 5,
2003 · It is understandable that people
want to rally behind our troops and attack the world's tyrants.
No one in the anti-war movement likes Saddam Hussein and they
will be relieved when he is dead and gone. That said, most
Americans are not informed about the real issues behind this
military campaign. By Christian
Dewar
Murmurs from the Urban Heartland
- Dean Meetup, Philadelphia
April 5,
2003 · Half a world away people were
people killing one another for reasons that to many made no
sense. And the man in the White House who initiated the war
was once again riding a rally-round effect to high poll numbers,
however temporary they may be. But the calendar dictates that
another Presidential campaign is about to begin so on Wednesday
night I went to a "meetup" of supporters of about
the only Democrat who seems to be attracting any attention
these days – Howard Dean of Vermont. By Mike
McArdle
Why I Can't Just Shut Up
April 4,
2003 · Okay. So you want me to shut up
and support the troops. I read the polls. I know that some
ungodly huge percentage of Americans feel duty bound to support
the war because they deeply feel the need to support the troops.
Apparently we, as a people, have yet to understand that we
can support the troops and oppose the war at the same time.
By Tom
Pain
Bi-Nationalism : A Roadmap
to Peace in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, or a Mere Pipe
Dream?
April 4,
2003 · George W. Bush recently announced
a "road map for peace" in the Israeli/ Palestinian conflict.
Drawing a roadmap for peace in there is like charting a course
through a minefield for a blindfolded sap on roller blades.
Whether or not something as intricate and convoluted as this
horrific tragedy can be understood, let alone solved by Mr.
Bush is anyone's guess. By Brian
Kupfer
The Plan
April 4,
2003 · It seems rather bleak, doesn't
it? It's coming so fast, so flagrantly, that one barely has
time to contemplate one outrage, when five others appear.
The latest, of course, being our invasion and attempted colonization
of the Middle East. I'm experiencing a growing sense of frustration
and hopelessness; a fear that the corporate despots who have
seized control of our government may very well be unstoppable;
that every possible contingency has already been contemplated,
and a response planned. By K.
Tomasi
Operation Iraq Invasion,
By the Numbers
April 3,
2003 · A variation of a question-and-answer
piece on the relationship between Iraq, the U.S., Europe,
and military campaigns circulating through cyberspace. The
numbers speak for themselves. By Jackson
Thoreau
While Watchdogs Sleep
April 3,
2003 · It is a mistake to bet against
the Bushists based on a wish to see them do badly. These illegitimate
men - these bastards?- are being permitted, by the media and
by the Democratic "opposition," to do as they please with
their ill-gotten power without anyone raising the slightest
objection to the illegitimate means that enabled them to pursue
their illegitimate ends. By Burt
Worm
Civilian Casualties Will
Soar
April 2,
2003 · The official U.S. version of what's
going on in Iraq is just so much disinformational nonsense.
A totally different picture emerges from foreign and independent
sources, which uniformly agree regarding this pivotal factor:
There have been many more Iraqi civilian casualties than either
the White House, the Pentagon or our whitewashing monopoly
news channels are admitting to. By Dennis
Rahkonen
War Gone Wild: A Programming
Disaster
April 2,
2003 · Initial television ads for the
new reality show Operation Iraqi Freedom promised viewers
a kinder, gentler, more whimsical spin on traditional warfare.
Audiences would be treated to a heartwarming desert romp featuring
jig-dancing Iraqi peasants tossing floral bouquets at throngs
of liberating U.S. troops. But even hardcore fans of O.I.F.
have become disenchanted at the presumed never-ending length
of the series, hoping the producers will cut back to two episodes
a week. By Glen
Coburn
Winning Iraqi Hearts, One
Corpse at a Time
April 1,
2003 · Fifty-eight Iraqi shoppers were
killed the other day as an errant Cruise missile slammed into
a busy Baghdad market. Tragic as that loss may be, what is
more tragic is that these dead people will never taste the
sweet flavor of American-style democracy. As the recently-expired
were mourned by their loved ones, battles raged all over Iraq
to save the still-living from the yoke of tyranny. By Phil
Lebovits
Fast Food Media
April 1,
2003 · Like its fast food counterparts,
American news relies on the statistical improbability of the
consumer ever actually opening the bun to reveal the reconstituted
offal inside. News Inc., has become the forum for generals,
commanders and CEO's to deliver a non-stop monologue of praise
for themselves and the institutions that bask in the reflected
glory of the shining tin on their chests. By Leilla
Matsui
Bush Gives Iraqis 48 Hours to
Dance in Streets
April 1,
2003 · President Bush, evidently growing
impatient with the pace of the Iraqi liberation and the attitude
of the Iraqi citizens, has issued a new ultimatum, only this
time it's to the Iraqi people themselves. "I'm a patient man"
said the President at a hastily called news conference, "but
there are limits to my patience. I feel that I have no choice
but to tell the Iraqi people that they must dance in the streets
and express their jubilant gratitude to me and our troops
within 48 hours or face the most serious of consequences."
Satire
by Mike McArdle
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