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Articles
MAY
2004
The Strange Case of Dr.
Ahmed Chalabi
May 28,
2004 · And so, in the midst of
a half dozen or so other calamities that made its final whimper
almost inaudible, the maniacal neoconservative bid to take
over the world crashed into the dust. By Raul
Groom
The America I Know
May 28,
2004 · Considering the lofty
nature of America's assignment, it should come as no surprise
that some of her citizens interpret their good fortune as
a divine mandate to rule other peoples. They represent the
regressive forces of civilization, whose discredited ideologies
are clearly at odds with America's natural calling. By Violet
Lake
The Story Judith Miller
Got Right
May 28,
2004 · The New York Times
has finally acknowledged the serious flaws in many of the
stories written by Judith Miller and other staff reporters
about Iraq's alleged WMD programs. If that had been all that
Miller wrote about in recent years, her career would be in
jeopardy. But within the time frame of her WMD coverage she
penned several solid stories for the sports department. One
is regarded as the greatest scoop in the history of Times
sports. Satire
by Dennis Hans
Oil Wars
May 27,
2004 · During campaign 2000,
Bush promised Americans an energy plan that would reduce prices
at the pumps. But here we are four years later, saddled with
the highest gas prices in US history. Bush's failed energy
policies have already cost the average household $500 a year.
And even though higher oil prices pose a serious threat to
America's overall prosperity, Bush has not lifted one finger
to stop the escalating costs. By Evelyn
Pringle
The Leadership of George
W. Bush
May 27,
2004 · George W. Bush's re-election
campaign is underway, and the Bush camp has but one platform
to run on: Bush's supposed leadership in the war on terror,
and his leadership as the President of the United States.
Yet George W. Bush's concept of leadership is to delegate
everything, spend a lot of time napping, and then blame someone
else when something horrible happens. By Scott
C. Smith
Bush Has a Plan - Really
May 26,
2004 · So Bush has a "war aftermath
plan." He only waited until more than a year after "major
combat" was supposedly over to fill in Americans about his
plan. Could it be because his approval rating is fast approaching
single digits? By Kismet
Oz
If You Can't Say Something
Nice...
May 25,
2004 · In keeping with our national
zeitgeist of misdirected rage and futile political gesticulation,
I offer a proposition: a Constitutional amendment that would
make Ann Coulter the official spokesperson for the Republican
Party. By Michael
Haddock
United States Grammar School
Interim Report to Parents
May 25,
2004 · Dear Mr. and Mrs. G.H.W.
Bush, once again, it is that time of year when we update the
parents of our students on their child's progress, and we
regret to inform you that your son, Georgie, is not doing
as well as we'd hoped and expected when he embarked on his
four-year program at our school. By Nancy
Gregg
Morality Play
May
22, 2004 · The curtain rises. A man in
a white Stetson calls out a skulking varmint in a black beret.
They square off on a dusty road near a Basra waterhole, and
draw. The bad guy topples, the locals cheer, and the man in
the Stetson vanishes into an aircraft carrier, mission accomplished.
The curtain falls. By grl2watch
How to lie, cheat,
steal, torture, and murder your way to the pinnacle of the
moral high ground
May
22, 2004 · All the time that the right
was trash-talking about their opponents, they were triumphing
their own great moral strength and character. They knew right
from wrong. The President knows "Just where I want to lead
this country". By virtue of their moral superiority, they
were above the mistakes of lesser, failed people. By Kevin
Cloyd
Voting is for Young People
May 21,
2004 · The votes of a lot of young people
could achieve regime change in the presidential election on
November 2nd. Voting is one small step in the larger effort
to bring about the massive social change that we need. This
year young people have a greater incentive to vote and work
for change than at any time in decades. Old people are now
implementing policies that will have big effects far into
the future. By Randy
Schutt
The Half-Assed Fascists
May 21,
2004 · I've come to the conclusion that
Bush just isn't much of a fascist. No, really, don't laugh.
Many of my leftist friends think Bush is Hitler arisen, but
really, let's get serious. These incompetent idiots make Mussolini
look like Alexander the Great.
By The Watcher
Dick Cheney: Soft on Defense
May 20,
2004 · The Bush campaign has accused
John Kerry of voting for proposals to cut defense programs.
Never mind that the cuts were presented to Kerry back in 1991
by Bush Sr., Dick Cheney, and Colin Powell. By Evelyn
Pringle
Alleged War Crimes in
Falluja
May 20,
2004 · Media outlets around the world
are filled with stories about the war crimes perpetrated in
Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad by US forces, but it's abundantly
clear a new war crime investigation will have to be initiated
soon: allegations on the slaughter of Iraqi civilians during
the siege of Falluja. By Joseph
Arrieta
Playing the CYA Game
May
19, 2004 · Seymour Hersh didn't suddenly
appear fullblown on the war-on-terror horizon. Even though
Richard Perle labeled him as "the closest thing American journalism
has to a terrorist," Hersh is quite simply the most respected
investigative journalist in America, if not the world, today.
Hersh has forced Team Bush to huddle and look at their game
plan - which didn't take long, since there are only three
rules in their "Cover-Your-Ass" game. By Sheila
Samples
Escaping the Maelstrom
May 19,
2004 · Don't know about you, but for
me the political events of the past several weeks have been
a kind of nightmare experience. It's like we're in a vortex
of violence and cruelty, a maelstrom where our leaders' mendacity
and bungling behavior drag us down in a terrible, dangerous
swirl. By Bernard
Weiner
The Dupe of Oil
May 19,
2004 · According to recent statistics
in the daily business news, the increase in energy prices
will cost consumers a minimum of $50 billion before the end
of this year. That is $50 billion less that customers will
have to spend in Wal Mart and other stores on consumer products.
By Richard
A. Stitt
Can We Endure Four More
Years of Misery?
May 18,
2004 · For over three years, all we've
heard about is tax cuts, tax cuts, and more tax cuts. When
is Bush going to admit that his tax cuts have done nothing
to stimulate the economy or produce job growth and come up
with a plan B? By Evelyn
Pringle
Labor Media May Be Our Best
Hope Against the Corporate Version
May 18,
2004 · The labor media may be the secret
weapon that our other "alternative" media, as well as activist
organizations whose work is ignored, need if they are to become
more than alternative. The potential reaches beyond what we
can reasonably expect to achieve through current media reform
efforts, and does so by truly allowing working Americans to
become the media. By David
Swanson
Inhofe Already!
May
15, 2004 · Of all possible reactions
to the news of the Abu Ghraib prison abuse and the uproar
it has caused, Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe's outrage is
perhaps the most shocking, not because the Republican Senator
has expressed outrage at the atrocities that were committed
by American soldiers, but because he had the unbelievable
gall to take umbrage at those who have responded to these
incidents with horror and dismay. By Alex
Hacker
The Bush Campaign's Attack
Dog in Chief
May
15, 2004 · Cheney, who's only experience
with military service comes from sending other people's children
off to die, has the gall to question Kerry's ability to handle
matters of defense and national security, and his suitability
to be commander-in-chief during a time of war. By Evelyn
Pringle
How to Beat a Fixed Election
May 14,
2004 · John Kerry and his Democratic
Party may have the votes, but the other side has the machines
that record and count the votes. How can the Democrats win?
A win over the Bushevik regime is not impossible, but it will
be difficult and it will require considerable persistence
and initiative. Here are a few suggestions. By Ernest
Partridge
Democracy Muffled
May 14,
2004 · Even before the prison scandal,
the nation's international credibility was at an all-time
low due to its flagrantly dishonest presentation of its case
for war against Saddam Hussein. Like the Boy Who Cried Wolf,
the Bush White House is neither listened to nor trusted in
many areas around the world. By Nancy
Waterman
Stand By Your Man
May 14,
2004 · If Rumsfeld were a man of honor,
he'd step down. Unfortunately, many in Bush's cabinet are
far too arrogant to do anything like take responsibility for
abhorrent behavior committed by people under them. By Scott
C. Smith
The Ballad of Lynndie
England
May 13,
2004 · Once upon a time the king came
down to the village and told the villagers that there was
a monster living across the sea. The king said that an army
had to be assembled, to bring across the sea to kill the monster.
By Joshua
Shelov
With Friends Like These,
Who Needs Democrats?
May 13,
2004 · Conservatives, clearly an important
pillar of Bush support if he is to still have a chance of
winning in November, seem to be going rather wobbly on the
old boy. I'm talking about real conservatives here, not the
Hannitys, Limbaughs and other ersatz armchair faux "conservatives"
who wouldn't know real conservatism if it came up and bit
them on their Goldwaters. By Brad
Friedman
The Problem of the Military
Mindset
May 12,
2004 · We have taught the soldiers, as
we do in every war, that the enemy is not human... and then
put the same soldiers in charge of the prison camps. This
is why combat troops make lousy policemen. By Hawker
Hurricane
How the Mighty Have Fallen
May 12,
2004 · I have long been personally aware
of the "damned if we do and damned if we don't"
position in which Bush has put the loyal opposition. Due to
the fact that the stakes are so high - environmentally, economically,
fiscally and of course, in regards to foreign affairs and
national defense - as a patriot it was impossible for me to
wish him to fail. That he would fail was never in question.
By Michael
Shannon
Car Keys or Underwear?
May 12,
2004 · So there I was looking for some
of my missing freedoms and wondering if they were going to
wind up like my car keys, which I always end up finding, or
my underwear, which get lost in some as yet unexplained black
hole. Satire by
Joe Fields
Who is Responsible?
May 11,
2004 · No matter how one felt about the
wisdom and morality of invading Iraq, the barbarism that took
place in Abu Ghraib cannot be defended. This is an affair
that brings dishonor and disgrace to Americans. By Jack
Rabbit
It's Not Too Late
May 11,
2004 · The expanded executive and judicial
powers contained in the USA Patriot Act and its companion,
Patriot Act II, must be rejected. The only way they can and
should be rejected is to jettison the entire arrogant and
dictatorial Bush/Cheney anti-Constitutional government. By Richard
A. Stitt
The Rich Get Richer, The
Poor Get Killed
May 11,
2004 · The Iraq war has cost upward of
$120 billion so far, but that is just the tip of the iceberg.
Every month, Bush's war costs our future children and grandchildren
an additional $4.7 billion. That's more than $100,000 per
minute, 24 hours a day, until we are finally able to leave
Iraq years or decades down the road. By Padraigh18
Who's Sorry Now?
May 11,
2004 · When a few soldiers discovered
Saddam Hussein, it wasn't spoken of as "the actions of a few
soldiers." Nope, their Commander in Chief was right there
accepting kudos. When a few soldiers rough up Iraqi POWs,
however, it's nothing more than the actions of a few soldiers.
By Kevin
Dawson
Horrid Thoughts about Horrid
Leaders
May 8,
2004 · Once Bush&Co. make up their minds,
it's full speed ahead. It they run into a brick wall, they'll
back and fill and try to go around another way, but the ultimate
goal remains to get to where they wanted to get to originally
and, by golly, they will get there - even if it requires them,
stealthlike, to pretend for a while that they're changing
their destination. By Bernard
Weiner
The Children's Crusade
May 8,
2004 · We have sent our children on a
crusade of dubious value and purpose. We instructed them in
who to kill and gave them reasons to do so, specious as those
reasons may have been. We encouraged them to devalue the lives
of others for purely political purposes. We helped teach them
how to do these things of which we are now so ashamed and
paid for those miseries with our taxes. By punpirate
Continuing to Kill the Messenger
May 8,
2004 · If the right hopes to remain anywhere
within the American mainstream after all of this nonsense
eases up, they would be wise to re-examine their own self-proclaimed
set of "American values" as they continue to perpetrate reprehensible
attacks on the messenger instead of the message. By Brad
Friedman
The New Guy Line
May 8,
2004 · The NRA crowd, who constantly
tell us that you won't make guns disappear by criminalizing
them, that they may indeed become less safe, should realize
that the same holds true of abortions. By Kevin
Dawson
Every Picture Tells a Story
May 7,
2004 · Let's not kid ourselves. If there
had been no photographs, if all it had been was words on paper
or the recorded testimony of witnesses and victims, there
would be barely a ripple in the public consciousness. This
outcry over Abu Ghraib is not about compassion, it's about
our own embarrassment. By Pamela
Troy
Our Last Chance to Get it
Right?
May 7,
2004 · Make no mistake: we have lost
whatever moral authority we once had in Iraq. This is what,
the fourth or fifth major, mission-threatening screwup that
occurred simply because our top people are disinterested in
unpleasant, unglorious details? By W.V.
Micko
Militarism, Fear, and the
New Communism
May 7,
2004 · Even though almost three years
have passed since the horrendous crime of September 11, we
still seem to be focusing so much on investigating how
it happened, that we've carefully avoided any real examination
of why it happened. By Bret
T. Saalwaechter
When John Negroponte was
Mullah Omar
May 6,
2004 · It turns out that Mullah Omar
has much in common with - may even have patterned his career
after - John Negroponte, the veteran U.S. diplomat who's about
to be confirmed as our Ambassador to Iraq, where he'll oversee
the largest embassy and CIA station in the world. By Dennis
Hans
It Ain't Over But It's Lost
May 6,
2004 · Oh what a difference a year makes.
On May 1, 2003 George Bush pulled off one of the most audacious,
over-the-top stunts in the sordid history of political grandstanding.
On May 1, 2004, Mr. Bush announced to a decidedly less receptive
audience that the United States and its coalition allies are
"implementing a clear strategy in Iraq." By Michael
Shannon
2004 National Republican
Convention Schedule
May
6, 2004 · It's the 2004 National Republican
Convention Schedule! By Pat
Henry
Kerry vs. Bush: More Than
a Dime's Worth of Difference
May 5,
2004 · It is a mistake to assess a politician
solely on his record, and still worse to condemn him on the
basis of a "cherry-picked" list of his worse legislative errors.
Far more important, though impossible to quantify, is the
measure of the person himself: the intellectual and moral
qualities that he might bring to the office. And by these
criteria, there is simply no comparison between the candidates.
By Ernest
Partridge
Taking Secrecy One Step
Too Far
May 5,
2004 · As with the presidency itself,
in the right hands the role of National Archivist is an honored
and noble position. But if the person holding that position
has some other agenda, then the potential damage is frightening
indeed. By
Tab Julius
Kerry Trumps Bush's Shortsighted
Energy Policy
May 4,
2004 · While the Bush team is busy running
silly Keystone Cops-style commercials which completely mischaracterize
Kerry's positions, the Senator from Massachussetts has laid
out a thoughtful plan that not only will meet our energy needs
of the future, but will eliminate our ties to Mideast oil.
By Joe
Fields
Bill O'Reilly, Conservatives,
and the Culture War
May 4,
2004 · Bill O'Reilly is really offended
by the runaway secularists that have, I guess, taken over
the world. O'Reilly frequently refers to the culture war.
Actually I think it's more accurate to say that Bill O'Reilly
whines about the culture wars. All the time, it seems.
By Scott
C. Smith
Who's French Now, Karen?
May 4,
2004 · Seeing how integral a component
Karen Hughes is to the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign, one would
expect Hughes to at least, you know, not have been born in
France. But she was, as Senator John Kerry was wise to point
out. By
Robert Furs
Homepage Tribute to Iraq
War Casualties
May 1,
2004
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