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in October
From AK Press
Today's
Stories
September 5, 2003
Robert Fisk
We Were
Warned About This Chaos
Recent
Stories
September 4, 2003
Stan Goff
The Bush
Folly: Between Iraq and a Hard Place
John Ross
Mexico's
Hopes for Democracy Hit Dead-End
Harvey Wasserman
Bush to New Yorkers: Drop Dead
Adam Federman
McCain's
Grim Vision: Waging a War That's Already Been Lost
Aluf Benn
Sharon Saved from Threat of Peace
W. John Green
Colombia's Dirty War
Joanne Mariner
Truth,
Justice and Reconciliation in Latin America
Website of the Day
Califoracle
September 3, 2003
Virginia Tilley
Hyperpower
in a Sinkhole
Davey D
A Hip
Hop Perspective on the Cali Recall
Emrah Göker
Conscripting Turkey: Imperial Mercenaries Wanted
John Stanton
The US is a Power, But Not Super
Brian Cloughley
The
Pentagon's Bungled PsyOps Plan
Dan Bacher
Another Big Salmon Kill
Elaine Cassel
Prosecutors Weep' Ninth Circuit Overturns 127 Death Sentences
Uri Avnery
First
of All This Wall Must Fall
Website of the Day
Art Attack!
September 2, 2003
Robert Fisk
Bush's
Occupational Fantasies Lead Iraq Toward Civil War
Kurt Nimmo
Rouind Up the Usual Suspects: the Iman Ali Mosque Bombing
Robert Jensen / Rahul Mahajan
Iraqi Liberation, Bush Style
Elaine Cassel
Innocent But Guilty: When Prosecutors are Dead Wrong
Jason Leopold
Ghosts
in the Machines: the Business of Counting Votes
Dave Lindorff
Dems in 2004: Perfect Storm or Same Old Doldrums?
Paul de Rooij
Predictable
Propaganda: Four Monts of US Occupation
Website of the Day
Laughing Squid
August 30 / Sept. 1,
2003
Alexander Cockburn
Handmaiden
in Babylon: Annan, Vieiera de Mello and the Decline and Fall
of the UN
Saul Landau
Schwarzenegger
and Cuban Migration
Standard Schaefer
Who
Benefited from the Tech Bubble: an Interview with Michael Hudson
Gary Leupp
Mel Gibson's Christ on Trial
William S. Lind
Send the Neocons to Baghdad
Augustin Velloso
Aznar: Spain's Super Lackey
Jorge Mariscal
The Smearing of Cruz Bustamante
John Ross
A NAFTA for Energy? The US Looks to Suck Up Mexico's Power
Mickey Z.
War is a Racket: The Wisdom of Gen. Smedley Butler
Elaine Cassel
Ashcroft's Traveling Patriot Show Isn't Winning Many Converts
Stan Cox
Pirates of the Caribbean: the WTO Comes to Cancun
Tom and Judy Turnipseed
Take Back Your Time Day
Adam Engel
The Red Badge of Knowledge: a Review of TDY
Adam Engel
An Eye on Intelligence: an Interview with Douglas Valentine
Susan Davis
Northfork,
an Accidental Review
Nicholas Rowe
Dance
and the Occupation
Mark Zepezauer
Operation
Candor
Poets' Basement
Albert, Guthrie and Hamod
Website of the Weekend
Downhill
Battle
August 29, 2003
Lenni Brenner
God
and the Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party
Brian Cloughley
When in Doubt, Lie Your Head Off
Alice Slater
Bush Nuclear Policy is a Recipe for National Insecurity
David Krieger
What Victory?
Marjorie Cohn
The Thin Blue Line: How the US Occupation of Iraq Imperils International
Law
Richard Glen Boire
Saying Yes to Drugs!
Bister, Estrin and Jacobs
Howard Dean, the Progressive Anti-War Candidate? Some Vermonters
Give Their Views
Website of the Day
DirtyBush
August 28, 2003
Gilad Atzmon
The
Most Common Mistakes of Israelis
David Vest
Moore's
Monument: Cement Shoes for the Constitution
David Lindorff
Shooting Ali in the Back: Why the Pacification is Doomed
Chris Floyd
Cheap Thrills: Bush Lies to Push His War
Wayne Madsen
Restoring the Good, Old Term "Bum"
Elaine Cassel
Not Clueless in Chicago
Stan Goff
Nukes in the Dark
Tariq Ali
Occupied
Iraq Will Never Know Peace
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Behold, My Package
Website of the Day
Palestinian
Artists
August 27, 2003
Bruce Jackson
Little
Deaths: Hiding the Body Count in Iraq
John Feffer
Nuances and North Korea: Six Countries in Search of a Solution
Dave Riley
an Interview with Tariq Ali on the Iraq War
Lacey Phillabaum
Bush's Holy War in the Forests
Steve Niva
Israel's
Assassination Policy: the Trigger for Suicide Bombings?
Website of the Day
The Dean Deception
August 26, 2003
Robert Fisk
Smearing the Dead
David Lindorff
The
Great Oil Gouge: Burning Up that Tax Rebate
Sarmad S. Ali
Baghdad is Deadlier Than Ever: the View of an Iraqi Coroner
Christopher Brauchli
Bush Administration Equates Medical Pot Smokers with Segregationists
Juliana Fredman
Collective Punishment on the West Bank: Dialysis, Checkpoints
and a Palestinian Madonna
Larry Siems
Ghosts of Regime Changes Past in Guatemala
Elaine Cassel
Onward, Ashcroft Soldiers!
Saul Landau
Bush:
a Modern Ahab or a Toy Action Figure?
Congratulations
to CounterPuncher Gilad Atzmon! BBC Names EXILE Top Jazz CD
August 25, 2003
Kurt Nimmo
Israeli Outlaws in America
David Bacon
In Iraq, Labor Protest is a Crime
Thomas P. Healy
The Govs Come to Indy: Corps Welcome; Citizens Locked Out
Norman Madarasz
In an Elephant's Whirl: the US/Canada Relationship After the
Iraq Invasion
Salvador Peralta
The Politics of Focus Groups
Jack McCarthy
Who Killed Jancita Eagle Deer?
Uri Avnery
A Drug
for the Addict
August 23/24, 2003
Forrest Hylton
Rumsfeld
Does Bogota
Robert Fisk
The Cemetery at Basra
Veteran Intelligence Professionals for
Sanity
Insults to Intelligence
Andrew C. Long
Exile on Bliss Street: The Terrorist Threat and the English Professor
Jeremy Bigwood
The Toxic War on Drugs: Monsanto Weedkiller Linked to Powerful
Fungus
Jeffrey St. Clair
Forest
or Against Us: the Bush Doctor Calls on Oregon
Cynthia McKinney
Bring the Troops Home, Now!
David Krieger
So Many Deaths, So Few Answers: Approaching the Second Anniversary
of 9/11
Julie Hilden
A Constitutional Right to be a Human Shield
Dave Lindorff
Marketplace
Medicine
Standard Schaefer
Unholy Trinity: Falwell's Anti-Abortion Attack on Health and
Free Speech
Catherine Dong
Kucinich and FirstEnergy
José Tirado
History Hurts: Why Let the Dems Repeat It?
Ron Jacobs
Springsteen's America
Gavin Keeney
The Infernal Machine
Adam Engel
A Fan's Notations
William Mandel
Five Great Indie Films
Walt Brasch
An American Frog Fable
Poets' Basement
Reiss, Kearney, Guthrie, Albert and Alam
Website of the Weekend
The Hutton Inquiry
August 22, 2003
Carole Harper
Post-Sandinista
Nicaragua
John Chuckman
George Will: the Marquis of Mendacity
Richard Thieme
Operation Paperclip Revisited
Chris Floyd
Dubya Indemnity: Bush Barons Beyond the Reach of Law?
Issam Nashashibi
Palestinians
and the Right of Return: a Rigged Survey
Mary Walworth
Other People's Kids
Ron Jacobs
The
Darkening Tunnel
Website of the Day
Current Energy
August 21, 2003
Robert Fisk
The US
Needs to Blame Anyone But Locals for UN Bombing
Virginia Tilley
The Quisling Policies of the UN in Iraq: Toward a Permanent War?
Rep. Henry Waxman
Bush Owes the Public Some Serious Answers on Iraq
Ben Terrall
War Crimes and Punishment in Indonesia: Rapes, Murders and Slaps
on the Wrists
Elaine Cassel
Brother John Ashcroft's Traveling Patriot Salvation Show
Christopher Brauchli
Getting Gouged by Banks
Marjorie Cohn
Sergio Vieira de Mello: Victim of Terrorism or US Policy in Iraq?
Vicente Navarro
Media
Double Standards: The Case of Mr. Aznar, Friend of Bush
Website of the Day
The Intelligence Squad
Hot Stories
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
William Blum
Myth
and Denial in the War on Terrorism
Standard Schaefer
Experimental Casinos: DARPA and the War Economy
Uzma
Aslam Khan
The Unbearably Grim Aftermath of War:
What America Says Does Not Go
Paul de Rooij
Arrogant
Propaganda
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
Click Here
for More Stories.
|
September
5, 2003
Execution May Only
Spur More Killing
Reflections
on the "Martyrdom" of Paul Hill
By ABE BONOWITZ
First, thanks to everyone who has helped Floridians
for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP) be a leading voice
against the death penalty these past few weeks, including the
few who have sent checks, the few who have turned out to events,
the many who have written letters to the editor and the Governor
and others, those who have helped monitor the press, and to those
who have helped keep the web page up-to-date. Its amazing what
can be accomplished with the help of a few.... More on that later.
I woke up today (Thursday) feeling good
about the work that was done these past few days, but physically
beat! Carolyn and I arrived home about 2:20am after making the
five hour drive from Starke, but I couldn't get to sleep until
about 3:30am. As I usually do the day after a killing, I took
it easy and took care of only vital business....
I'm not going to give a blow by blow
account of the past few days, but here are some observations.
***
FADP's strategy of raising concern about
the martyrdom issue was right on target. Jeb Bush really played
into Paul Hill's hands, and to see the coverage in the newspapers
throughout the state, the "Army of God" was given the
front page most major newspapers to trumpet its threat of renewed
violence against abortion clinics. Maybe its all bluster, but
I fear not. In any case, in its coverage of our press conference
on Tuesday, the Miami Herald noted this:
http://www.fadp.org/news/MiamiHerald-20030903.htm
ACTIVISTS' CALLS
Anti-death penalty activists renewed
their call Tuesday for a halt to the execution. Britton's stepdaughter,
Catherine Britton Fairbanks, called the execution ``murder.''
''I've been against the death penalty
for a long time,'' Fairbanks said. ``I can't make an exception
for Paul Hill.''
''We're very concerned that Paul Hill's
call for violence may be picked up by any person to whom God
speaks,'' said Abe Bonowitz, whose group, Floridians for Alternatives
to the Death Penalty, first sounded the alarm about creating
a martyr.
***
The press conference with Catherine Britton
Fairbanks came off without a hitch, and the strategy of being
available at the same time as Paul Hill's press conference, with
our formal press conference taking place shortly afterward, worked
brilliantly. Once again, thanks to those who made that happen,
most notably the good folks at St. Edward Catholic Church in
Starke, which welcomed us as family.
***
During the press conference, I introduced
FADP's growing concern about the growing trend of prisoners volunteering
for execution. This also seems to have hit a nerve, with the
Miami Herald, the Associated Press, and Time Magazine all following
up on it today for stories in the near future. More on this soon.
The AP quoted me thusly:
"I think it's a shame that Gov.
Bush gave a terrorist a platform to promote more violence,"
said Abe Bonowitz, director of Floridians for Alternatives to
the Death Penalty. "The trend of allowing prisoners to dictate
their own punishment is dangerous."
***
The atmosphere at the prison this time
was unreal. We had to get out of the car while they searched
it thoroughly and had a bomb sniffing dog check it out. They
also ran a check on our drivers licences. There were severe restrictions
on what we could take with us to the demonstration area from
the parking lot--no cameras, and I was not allowed to bring our
bell. The corrals that they usually set up for the various demonstrators
were much larger than normal, and set up with space between them.
Normally they have one for "opponents" and one for
"proponents" and one for the media in between. In this
case the breakdown was one for the "anti-abortion/anti-execution
of Paul Hill/pro-death penalty for everyone else crowd,"
one for the "anti-death penalty in all cases" crowd,
which we actually shared with the usual "pro-death penalty"
people, because they didn't want to be in the pen set aside for
the pro-deathies, which in this case was occupied by Christians
who said Paul Hill should be executed. These were the
noisiest and most obnoxious of everyone present, and the funny
thing is that they ignored us and berated the anti-abortion group
for being "bad Christians."
All of this went on in the midst of a
severe lightning storm, although the rain was brief but never
heavy while I was there....
I'll let Hannah Floyd's account fill
you in further. Hannah posted this to the Abolish list earlier
today:
It is now 7.30 florida time, on this
thursday morning- i can' temember ever feeling this tired after
a rally, emotionally more than anything.
Never in the years I have spend in USA
has the craziness of it all been so obvious. The prison ground
was heavily guarded, with state troopers, sheriffs cars police
cars, and helicopters flying over our heads- each and every car
was searched, we had to show our ID, and we were not allowed
to the media area after the killing.
And what did I see?
Little kids, toddlers practically, walking
around with big posters tied around their neck, with cut up dead
babies, babies dismembered and bleeding. And these kids with
no life on their face just aimlessly walked around, not knowing
what was going on, except for what poison their parents have
been feeding them sinse they had ears to hear... being there
, there are no time for emotions, you do your thing, you talk
to the media, you try not to remember paul hill as the nice human
being who always smiled in this quiet polite way. You try to
distance yourself from the idea that these kids with the posters
are growing up to be new paul hills, --you try not to be very
angry when you watch the fanantic parents who thinks they are
doing something good, --and in the name of all that is goodness--
you try not to hear the disturbed person who every few minutes
in a loud angry voice is spitting out the time and the minutes
until, according to him " the Lord's justice is being carried
out".
To my left I have the pro death penalty
people--who for the first time is more than two in numbers, and
who are there in the name of God. To my right this pretty big
crowd of people with their children--their very offensive and
untruthful signs, with their ballons nad trumphets and prayers
an hymns...at 6 o'clock I know they are killing paul Hill. and
Abe starts his speach as he has to, that is why he is there,
and in the back of my head a voice stars to whisper, -around
my heart the walls starts to crumble,--I want to whisper to Abe,
who I love dearly- Shut up Abe, please,- say a prayer, a human
being has just been killed--a human being has just been killed-
three kids just lost their daddy- a mummy just lost her son-
Then I shut the voice up- I have to- and I rebuild the walls
around my heart- we finish what we came fro, we go to have something
to eat, we have our meeting- and then i finally arrive home--allow
my self to be human -and I weep. for the human race and the evil
in it, and I feel so utterly ashamed for being a part of this
group of people who call themselves follower of christ--those
people who are carrying out all this evil in the name of God,
and I know that even God left religion long time ago, he left
his churches and the doctrines. He found new ground to build
on, In all the people who are not religious, who just do things
because of a sense of right and wrong, good and evil, Justice,
love, understanding and compassion... that group that was not
to my left or my right- but right there is the middle with me-
because that is who he is and always was, this God who's name
is being used to kill and spread hate and evil.. I have no more
tears. I am just tired.....
Hannah
Thanks Hannah.
***
Here's the Broward County report:
there were 4 of us at the demonstration
yesterday, Pat Woeppel, Bea Hubert, Sue Zann and me. Some beeps
of reinforcement, and only a very few negative, angry comments.
Building a community where peace is its
core,
Steve
***
Here's the Gainesville report
Today's Gainesville Sun has two articles
about the execution. I won't repeat information that you can
read in the paper. About 40 anti-death penalty activists stood
in the field across from the prison. The security was very tight.
The guards checked our ID's and also inspected the car. We were
not allowed to take cameras with us to the field. Abe Bonowitz,
Director of FADP, brought a large bell to toll but had to leave
it in the car. Rev. Glenn Dickson prepared, with our help, a
service but his car broke down on the way to FSP. Led by Abe
a few of us expressed our thoughts as we gathered in a circle.
The sky was truly frightening with flashes of lightning. We were
lucky that the rain did not come down in buckets.
Thanks to those who were able to join
us and to those who were with us in spirit. We are always mindful
that for every abolitionist who is present there are many who
are supporting us with their good wishes.
Amy Jo for GCADP
***
More from the Abolish list:
Harry, you are so correct. It is insane
and absurd.
All evening I kept thinking of the quote
(paraphrased) from someone, I don't recall whom, from the time
of McVeigh's execution: Something to the effect of: How are we
giving him what he desires, while saying that we are giving him
what he deserves. Alice again has crossed through the looking
glass.
And I'm thinking about Hill saying goodbye
to his children, and that he justifies doing that too.. and so
does Florida, leaving them fatherless. Well, it's difficult to
make sense of insanity, even for those of us in the profession
working around it daily.
Phyllis Pautrat AI-PA
From: Harry Coverston
EDU Subject: DISC: Hill killing by state of Florida
Sometimes the insanity of this whole
thing just comes to a head. This is one of those days. Paul Hill
sees abortion doctors as murderers. So what does he do? In the
name of G-d he murders them. The state of Florida sees Hill as
a murderer. So what does it do in the name of 16 million people?
It murders him. Hill's supporters see the state's officials as
murderers. So, in the name of G-d, what do they do? They send
the governor and other state officials bullets threatening to
murder them.
If ever there was a night on which the
maxim that violence simply begets violence, this was that night.
If ever there was a night of vindication for Gandhi's observation
that an eye for an eye simply leaves the world blind was observably
true, it's this night in Florida.
The stupidity of it all...and the destructiveness.
Harry Coverston, Orlando
Abe Bonowitz
is director of Floridians for
Alternatives to the Death Penalty. He can be reached at:
abe@cuadp.org
Weekend
Edition Features for August 30 / Sept. 1, 2003
Alexander Cockburn
Handmaiden
in Babylon: Annan, Vieiera de Mello and the Decline and Fall
of the UN
Saul Landau
Schwarzenegger
and Cuban Migration
Standard Schaefer
Who
Benefited from the Tech Bubble: an Interview with Michael Hudson
Gary Leupp
Mel Gibson's Christ on Trial
William S. Lind
Send the Neocons to Baghdad
Augustin Velloso
Aznar: Spain's Super Lackey
Jorge Mariscal
The Smearing of Cruz Bustamante
John Ross
A NAFTA for Energy? The US Looks to Suck Up Mexico's Power
Mickey Z.
War is a Racket: The Wisdom of Gen. Smedley Butler
Elaine Cassel
Ashcroft's Traveling Patriot Show Isn't Winning Many Converts
Stan Cox
Pirates of the Caribbean: the WTO Comes to Cancun
Tom and Judy Turnipseed
Take Back Your Time Day
Adam Engel
The Red Badge of Knowledge: a Review of TDY
Adam Engel
An Eye on Intelligence: an Interview with Douglas Valentine
Susan Davis
Northfork,
an Accidental Review
Nicholas Rowe
Dance
and the Occupation
Mark Zepezauer
Operation
Candor
Poets' Basement
Albert, Guthrie and Hamod
Website of the Weekend
Downhill
Battle
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