home / subscribe / about us / books / archives / search / links / feedback / events

New Print Edition of CounterPunch Available Exclusively to Subscribers: Cockburn/St. Clair: Bush and Blair's Chickens Come Home to Roost; No Poultry for the Press?; Amanpour Admits CNN Cowed by Bush and FoxNews; WMDs, Misdirection and Iraqi Defectors on the Take; Cockburn in London: David Kelly's Mistress; The Bahai Spy; Corruption at Harrod's; A Tribute to Edward Said; John Donne's Vision of Paradise as Modern Airport; The Caledonian Road; Remember, the CounterPunch website is supported exclusively by subscribers to our newsletter. Our worldwide web audience is soaring, with more than 70,000 visitors a day. This is inspiring news, but the work involved also compels us to remind you more urgently than ever to subscribe and/or make a (tax deductible) donation if you can afford it. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! Or Call Toll Free 1-800-840 3683 or write CounterPunch, PO BOX 228, Petrolia, CA 95558 CounterPunch Events: Cockburn in Berkeley / Saul Landau in No. Cal

Now Available from CounterPunch for Only $10.50 (S/H Included) Today's Stories October 22, 2003 Bill Glahn RIAA Watch: the New Morality of Capitalism October 21, 2003 Uri Avnery The Beilin Agreement Robert Jensen The Fundamentalist General David Lindorff War Dispatch from the NYT: God is on Our Side! William S. Lind Bremer is Deaf to History Bridget Gibson Fatal Vision Alan Haber A Human Chain for Peace in Ann Arbor Peter Linebaugh On the Bicentennial of the Hanging of Thomas Russell October 20, 2003 Standard Schaefer Chile's Failed Economy: an Interview with Michael Hudson Chris Floyd Circus Maximus: Arnie, Enron and Bush Maul California Mark Hand Democrats Seek to Disappear Chomsky & Nader John & Elaine Mellencamp Peaceful World Elaine Cassel God's General Unmuzzled   October 18 / 19, 2003 Robert Pollin Clintonomics: the Hollow Boom Gary Leupp Israel, Syria and Stage Four in the Terror War Saul Landau Day of the Gropenfuhrer Bruce Anderson The California Recall John Gershman Bush in Asia: What a Difference a Decade Makes Nelson P. Valdes Bush, Electoral Politics and Cuba's "Illicit Sex Trade" Kurt Nimmo Shock Therapy and the Israeli Scenario Tom Gorman Al Franken and Al-Shifa Brian Cloughley Public Propaganda and the Iraq War Joanne Mariner A New Way to Kill Tigers Denise Low The Cancer of Sprawl Mickey Z. The Reverend of Doom John Chuckman US Missiles for Israeli Nukes? George Naggiar A Veto of Public Diplomacy Alison Weir Death Threats in Berkeley Benjamin Dangl Bolivian Govt. Falling Apart Ron Jacobs The Politics of Bob Dylan Fidel Castro A Review of Garcia Marquez's Memoir Adam Engel I Hope My Corpse Gives You the Plague Poets' Basement Jones, Albert, Guthrie and Greeder   October 17, 2003 Stan Goff Piss On My Leg: Perception Control and the Stage Management of War Newton Garver Bolivia in Turmoil Standard Schaefer Grocery Unions Under Attack Ben Terrall The Ordeal of the Lockheed 52 Ron Jacobs First Syria, Then Iran David Lindorff Michael Moore Proclaims Mumia Guilty   October 16, 2003 Marjorie Cohn Bush Gunning for Regime Change in Cuba Gary Leupp "Getting Better" in Iraq Norman Solomon The US Press and Israel: Brand Loyalty and the Absence of Remorse Rush Limbaugh The 10 Most Overrated Athletes of All Time Lenni Brenner I Didn't Meet Huey Newton. He Met Me Website of the Day Time Tested Books   October 15, 2003 Sunil Sharma / Josh Frank The General and the Governor: Two Measures of American Desperation Forrest Hylton Dispatch from the Bolivian War: "Like Animals They Kill Us" Brian Cloughley Those Phony Letters: How Bush Uses GIs to Spread Propaganda About Iraq Ahmad Faruqui Lessons of the October War Uri Avnery Three Days as a Living Shield Website of the Day Rank and File: the New Unity Partnership Document JoAnn Wypijewski The New Unity Partnership: A Manifest Destiny for Labor October 14, 2003 Eric Ridenour Qibya & Sharon: Anniversary of a Massacre Elaine Cassel The Disgrace That is Guantanamo Robert Jensen What the "Fighting Sioux" Tells Us About White People David Lindorff Talking Turkey About Iraq Patrick Cockburn US Troops Bulldoze Crops VIPS One Person Can Make a Difference Toni Solo The CAFTA Thumbscrews Peter Linebaugh "Remember Orr!" Website of the Day BRIDGES   October 11 / 13, 2003 Alexander Cockburn Kay's Misleading Report; CIA/MI-6 Syrian Plot; Dershowitz Flaps Broken Wings Saul Landau Contradictions: Pumping Empire and Losing Job Muscles Phillip Cryan The War on Human Rights in Colombia Kurt Nimmo Cuba and the "Necessary Viciousness" of the Bushites Nelson P. Valdes Traveling to Cuba: Where There's a Will, There's a Way Lisa Viscidi The Guatemalan Elections: Fraud, Intimidation and Indifference Maria Trigona and Fabian Pierucci Allende Lives Larry Tuttle States of Corruption William A. Cook Failing America Brian Cloughley US Economic Space and New Zealand Adrian Zupp What Would Buddha Do? Why Won't the Dalai Lama Pick a Fight? Merlin Chowkwanyun The Strange and Tragic Case of Sherman Marlin Austin Ben Tripp Screw You Right Back: CIA FU! Lee Ballinger Grits Ain't Groceries Mickey Z. Not All Italians Love Columbus Bruce Jackson On Charles Burnett's "Warming By the Devil's Fire" William Benzon The Door is Open: Scorsese's Blues, 2 Adam Engel The Eyes of Lora Shelley Walt Brasch Facing a McBlimp Attack Poets' Basement Mickey Z, Albert, Kearney October 10, 2003 John Chuckman Schwarzenegger and the Lottery Society Toni Solo Trashing Free Software Chris Floyd Body Blow: Bush Joins the Worldwide War on Women   October 9, 2003 Jennifer Loewenstein Bombing Syria Ramzi Kysia Seeing the Iraqi People Fran Shor Groping the Body Politic Mark Hand President Schwarzenegger? Alexander Cockburn Welcome to Arnold, King for a Day Website of the Day The Awful Truth about Wesley Clark   October 8, 2003 David Lindorff Schwarzenegger and the Failure of the Centrist Dems Ramzy Baroud Israel's WMDs and the West's Double Standard John Ross Mexico Tilts South Mokhiber / Weissman Repub Guru Compares Taxes to the Holocaust James Bovard The Reagan Roadmap for Antiterrorism Disaster Michael Neumann One State or Two? A False Dilemma   October 7, 2003 Uri Avnery Slow-Motion Ethnic Cleansing Stan Goff Lost in the Translation at Camp Delta Ron Jacobs Yom Kippurs, Past and Present David Lindorff Coronado in Iraq Rep. John Conyers, Jr. Outing a CIA Operative? Why A Special Prosecutor is Required Cynthia McKinney Who Are "We"? Elaine Cassel Shock and Awe in the Moussaoui Case Walter Lippman Thoughts on the Cali Recall Gary Leupp Israel's Attack on Syria: Who's on the Wrong Side of History, Now? Website of the Day Cable News Gets in Touch With It's Inner Bigot   October 6, 2003 Robert Fisk US Gave Israel Green Light for Raid on Syria Forrest Hylton Upheaval in Bolivia: Crisis and Opportunity Benjamin Dangl Divisions Deepen in Third Week of Bolivia's Gas War Bridget Gibson Oh, Pioneers!: Bush's New Deal Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman The Bush-Rove-Schwarzenegger Nazi Nexus Nicole Gamble Rios Montt's Campaign Threatens Genocide Trials JoAnn Wypijewski The New Unity Partnership: A Manifest Destiny for Labor Website of the Day Guerrilla Funk   October 3 / 5, 2003 Tim Wise The Other Race Card: Rush and the Politics of White Resentment Peter Linebaugh Rhymsters and Revolutionaries: Joe Hill and the IWW Gary Leupp Occupation as Rape-Marriage Bruce Jackson Addio Alle Armi David Krieger A Nuclear 9/11? Ray McGovern L'Affaire Wilsons: Wives are Now "Fair Game" in Bush's War on Whistleblowers Col. Dan Smith Why Saddam Didn't Come Clean Mickey Z. In Our Own Image: Teaching Iraq How to Deal with Protest Roger Burbach Bush Ideologues v. Big Oil in Iraq John Chuckman Wesley Clark is Not Cincinnatus William S. Lind Versailles on the Potomac Glen T. Martin The Corruptions of Patriotism Anat Yisraeli Bereavement as Israeli Ethos Wayne Madsen Can the Republicans Get Much Worse? Sure, They Can M. Junaid Alam The Racism Barrier William Benzon Scorsese's Blues Adam Engel The Great American Writing Contest Poets' Basement McNeill, Albert, Guthrie     October 2, 2003 Niranjan Ramakrishnan What's So Great About Gandhi, Anyway? Amy Goodman / Jeremy Scahill The Ashcroft-Rove Connection Doug Giebel Kiss and Smear: Novak and the Valerie Plame Affair Hamid Dabashi The Moment of Myth: Edward Said (1935-2003) Elaine Cassel Chicago Condemns Patriot Act Saul Landau Who Got Us Into This Mess? Website of the Day Last Day to Save Beit Arabiya! October 1, 2003 Joanne Mariner Married with Children: the Supremes and Gay Families Robert Fisk Oil, War and Panic Ron Jacobs Xenophobia as State Policy Elaine Cassel The Lamo Case: Secret Subpoenas and the Patriot Act Shyam Oberoi Shooting a Tiger Toni Solo Plan Condor, the Sequel? Sean Donahue Wesley Clark and the "No Fly" List Website of the Day Downloader Legal Defense Fund   September 30, 2003 After Dark Arnold's 1977 Photo Shoot Dave Lindorff The Poll of the Shirt: Bush Isn't Wearing Well Tom Crumpacker The Cuba Fixation: Shaking Down American Travelers Robert Fisk A Lesson in Obfuscation Charles Sullivan A Message to Conservatives Suren Pillay Edward Said: a South African Perspective Naeem Mohaiemen Said at Oberlin: Hysteria in the Face of Truth Amy Goodman / Jeremy Scahill Does a Felon Rove the White House? Website of the Day The Edward Said Page September 29, 2003 Robert Fisk The Myths of Western Intelligence Agencies Iain A. Boal Turn It Up: Pardon Mzwakhe Mbuli! Lee Sustar Paul Krugman: the Last Liberal? Wayne Madsen General Envy? Think Shinseki, Not Clark Benjamin Dangl Bolivia's Gas War Uri Avnery The Magnificent 27 Pledge Drive of the Day Antiwar.com   September 26 / 28, 2003 Alexander Cockburn Alan Dershowitz, Plagiarist David Price Teaching Suspicions Saul Landau Before the Era of Insecurity Ron Jacobs The Chicago Conspiracy Trial and the Patriot Act Brian Cloughley The Strangeloves Win Again Norman Solomon Wesley and Me: a Real-Life Docudrama Robert Fisk Bomb Shatters Media Illusions M. Shahid Alam A Muslim Sage Visits the USA John Chuckman American Psycho: Bush at the UN Mark Schneider International Direct Action The Spanish Revolution to the Palestiniana Intifada William S. Lind How $87 Billion Could Buy Some Real Security Douglas Valentine Gold Warriors: the Plundering of Asia Chris Floyd Vanishing Act Elaine Cassel Play Cat and Moussaoui Richard Manning A Conservatism that Once Conserved George Naggiar The Beautiful Mind of Edward Said Omar Barghouti Edward Said: a Corporeal Dream Not Yet Realized Lenni Brenner Palestine's Loss is America's Loss Mickey Z. Edward Said: a Well-Reasoned Voice Tanweer Akram The Legacy of Edward Said Adam Engel War in the Smoking Room Poets' Basement Katz, Ford, Albert & Guthrie Website of the Weekend Who the Hell is Stew Albert?     September 25, 2003 Edward Said Dignity, Solidarity and the Penal Colony Robert Fisk Fanning the Flames of Hatred Sarah Ferguson Wolfowitz at the New School David Krieger The Second Nuclear Age Bill Glahn RIAA Doublespeak Al Krebs ADM and the New York Times: Covering Up Corporate Crime Michael S. Ladah The Obvious Solution: Give Iraq Back to the Arabs Fran Shor Arnold and Wesley Mustafa Barghouthi Edward Said: a Monument to Justice and Human Rights Alexander Cockburn Edward Said: a Mighty and Passionate Heart Website of the Day Edward Said: a Lecture on the Tragedy of Palestine The Great Alejandro Escavedo Needs Your Help! September 24, 2003 Stan Goff Generational Casualties: the Toxic Legacy of the Iraq War William Blum Grand Illusions About Wesley Clark David Vest Politics for Bookies Jon Brown Stealing Home: The Real Looting is About to Begin Robert Fisk Occupation and Censorship Latino Military Families Bring Our Children Home Now! Neve Gordon Sharon's Preemptive Zeal Website of the Day Bands Against Bush September 23, 2003 Bernardo Issel Dancing with the Diva: Arianna and Streisand Gary Leupp To Kill a Cat: the Unfortunate Incident at the Baghdad Zoo Gregory Wilpert An Interview with Hugo Chavez on the CIA in Venezuela Steven Higgs Going to Jail for the Cause--Part 2: Charity Ryerson, Young and Radical Stan Cox The Cheney Tapes: Can You Handle the Truth? Robert Fisk Another Bloody Day in the Death of Iraq William S. Lind Learning from Uncle Abe: Sacking the Incompetent Elaine Cassel First They Come for the Lawyers, Then the Ministers Yigal Bronner The Truth About the Wall Website of the Day The Baghdad Death Count September 20 / 22, 2003 Uri Avnery The Silliest Show in Town Alexander Cockburn Lighten Up, America! Peter Linebaugh On the Bicentennial of the Execution of Robert Emmet Anne Brodsky Return to Afghanistan Saul Landau Guillermo and Me Phan Nguyen Mother Jones Smears Rachel Corrie Gila Svirsky Sharon, With Eyes Wide Open Gary Leupp On Apache Terrorism Kurt Nimmo Colin Powell: Exploiting the Dead of Halabja Brian Cloughley Colin Powell's Shame Carol Norris The Moral Development of George W. Bush Bill Glahn The Real Story Behind RIAA Propaganda Adam Engel An Interview with Danny Scechter, the News Dissector Dave Lindorff Good Morning, Vietnam! Mark Scaramella Contracts and Politics in Iraq John Ross WTO Collapses in Cancun: Autopsy of a Fiasco Foretold Justin Podur Uribe's Desperate Squeals Toni Solo The Colombia Three: an Interview with Caitriona Ruane Steven Sherman Workers and Globalization David Vest Masked and Anonymous: Dylan's Elegy for a Lost America Ron Jacobs Politics of the Hip-Hop Pimps Poets Basement Krieger, Guthrie and Albert Website of the Weekend Ted Honderich: Terrorism for Humanity? 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

October 22, 2003 Dead is Dead There is No Civilizing the Death Penalty By CHRISTOPHER BRAUCHLI "Hanging was the worst use a man could be put to." Sir Henry Wotton, The Disparity Between Buckingham and Essex The death penalty has once again made news. October 10 the European Union marked the first World Day Against the Death Penalty by calling for the worldwide abolition of the death penalty. The United States is in the company of, among others, Iran and Nigeria in using the death penalty to modify people's behavior. It is, of course, more civilized in its use than Nigeria so some may dislike lumping the two together. On the other hand, dead is dead. The difference between the two countries was highlighted by Nigeria's Amina Lawal, a single mother sentenced to death for having had a baby out of wedlock. She was to be executed in a far less humane method than that employed in places such as Tennessee. She was to be buried up to her neck in sand and pelted with stones until dead. (Nigeria's highest court overturned her sentence not because it was inhumane but because she had not been observed when conceiving the child and was not given adequate time to understand the charges against her.) Although stoning is not favored in the United States, a report in the New York Times on October 1 discloses that contrary to popular belief, people who are executed by lethal injection are not as happy as the drugs they are given cause them to appear. Lethal injection was introduced because death by gassing was considered unpleasant and resulted in occasional misbehavior by those being executed. The most notable case occurred in Arizona when the recipient of the gas made obscene gestures at the onlookers while dying, thus spoiling the event for the onlookers. Shortly thereafter Arizona switched to lethal injection. What we learned on October 7 is that lethal injection is not as pleasant as all but those having first hand acquaintance with it, thought. People who have watched someone being killed by lethal injection have observed that those being sent on their way appear as tranquil as those in a hospital room whose lives are being preserved by the most modern techniques known to civilized people. That is in part because one part of the cocktail that is administered to the soon to be departed is the chemical, pancuronium bromide, known by the trade name, Pavulon. Pavulon paralyzes the skeletal muscles but not the brain or nerves. Thus, people receiving it cannot move or speak nor can they let onlookers know that contrary to appearances, what is happening is no fun at all. A Tennessee judge, Ellen Hobbs Lyle, commenting on the use of the drug in an appeal brought by someone on death row in that state, said Pavulon has no "legitimate purposes." Writing about the drug's use she said: "The subject gives all the appearances of a serene expiration when actually the subject is feeling and perceiving the excruciatingly painful ordeal of death by lethal injection. The Pavulon gives a false impression of serenity to viewers, making punishment by death more palatable and acceptable to society." Sherwin B. Nuland, a professor in the Yale medical school when told of use of the drug expressed surprise. He said: "It strikes me that it makes no sense to use a muscle relaxant in executing people. Complete muscle paralysis does not mean loss of pain sensation." He said, in effect, that there were other ways of humanely killing people. I'm sure he's right, but there are 28 states that use the same cocktail in the execution chamber as Tennessee. The first drug administered is sodium thiopental, used to induce anesthesia for a short period. It is followed by pancuronium bromide which paralyzes the patient and finally potassium chloride which stops the heart and is said to cause excruciating pain if the victim is conscious. It would be easy to simply condemn Tennessee for being a state that lacks respect for human life. That would be a mistake. Tennessee has a law that is known as the "Nonlivestock Animal Humane Death Act." Nonlivestock is defined to include pets, captured wildlife, exotic and domesticated animals, rabbits, chicks, ducks and potbellied pigs. Tennessee law says: "A nonlivestock animal may be tranquilized with an approved and humane substance before euthanasia is performed." The law then provides that "any substance which acts as a neuromuscular blocking agent, or any chamber which causes a change in body oxygen may not be used on any nonlivestock animal for the purpose of euthanasia. The unfortunate things, as far as those facing the executioner's needle in Tennessee is concerned, is that humans are excluded from the definition of "nonlivestock animals." Thus, the requirement for a humane execution that is imposed on those killing animals, is not imposed on those killing humans. Tennessee is not alone in being more concerned about kind executions of nonlivestock animals than humans. The American Veterinary Medical Association has come out against using the product when euthanizing animals when it is used alone or in combination with sodium pentobarbital. According to a 2000 report from the Association, "the animal may perceive pain and distress after it is immobilized." That might almost be enough to convince some people that what's good for the potbellied pig should be good for a human. On the other hand the potbellied pig is killed for what it is rather than what it did. That probably explains the more humane treatment. Christopher Brauchli is a Boulder, Colorado lawyer. His column appears weekly in the Daily Camera. He can be reached at: brauchli.56@post.harvard.edu   Weekend Edition Features for Oct. 18 / 19, 2003 Robert Pollin Clintonomics: the Hollow Boom Gary Leupp Israel, Syria and Stage Four in the Terror War Saul Landau Day of the Gropenfuhrer Bruce Anderson The California Recall John Gershman Bush in Asia: What a Difference a Decade Makes Nelson P. Valdes Bush, Electoral Politics and Cuba's "Illicit Sex Trade" Kurt Nimmo Shock Therapy and the Israeli Scenario Tom Gorman Al Franken and Al-Shifa Brian Cloughley Public Propaganda and the Iraq War Joanne Mariner A New Way to Kill Tigers Denise Low The Cancer of Sprawl Mickey Z. The Reverend of Doom John Chuckman US Missiles for Israeli Nukes? George Naggiar A Veto of Public Diplomacy Alison Weir Death Threats in Berkeley Benjamin Dangl Bolivian Govt. Falling Apart Ron Jacobs The Politics of Bob Dylan Fidel Castro A Review of Garcia Marquez's Memoir Adam Engel I Hope My Corpse Gives You the Plague Poets' Basement Jones, Albert, Guthrie and Greeder Keep CounterPunch Alive: Make a Tax-Deductible Donation Today Online! home / subscribe / about us / books / archives / search / links /