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The
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August 21, 2003
Robert Fisk
The US
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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
August 20, 2003
Robert Fisk
Now No
One Is Safe in Iraq
Caoimhe Butterly
Life and Death on the Frontlines of Baghdad
Kurt Nimmo
UN Bombing: Act of Terrorism or Guerrilla War?
Michael Egan
Revisiting the Paranoid Style in the Dark
Ramzi Kysia
Peace
is not an Abstract Idea
Steven Higgs
NPR and the NAFTA Highway
John L. Hess
A Downside Day
Edward Said
The Imperial Bluster of Tom Delay
Jason Leopold
Gridlock at Path 15: the California Blackouts were the "Wake
Up Call"
Website of the Day
Ashcroft's Patriotic Hype
August 19, 2003
Jeffrey St. Clair
Blackouts Happen
Gary Leupp
"Our Patch": Australia v. the Evil Doers of the South
Pacific
Sean Donahue
Uribe's Cruel Model: Colombia Moves Toward Totalitarianism
Matt Martin
Bush's Credibility Problem on Missile Defense
Juliana Fredman
Recipe for the Destruction of a Hudna
John Ross
Fox Government's Attack on Mexican Basques
Sasan Fayazmanesh
What Kermit Roosevelt Didn't Say
Website of the Day
Tom Delay's Dual Loyalities
August 18, 2003
Uri Avnery
Hero in War and Peace
Stan Goff
The Volunteer Military and the Wicked Adventure
Cathy Breen
Baghdad on the Hudson
Michael Kimaid
Fight the Power (Companies)!
Jason Leopold
The California Rip-Off Revisited: Arnold, Milken and Ken Lay
Matt Siegfried
The Bush Administration in Context
Elaine Cassel
At Last, A Judge Who Acts Like a Judge
Alexander Cockburn
Judy Miller's War
Harvey Wasserman
The Legacy of Blackout Pete Wilson
Website of the Day
Fire Griles!
Congratulations
to CounterPuncher Gilad Atzmon! BBC Names EXILE Top Jazz CD
August 16 / 17, 2003
Flavia Alaya
Bastille
New Jersey
Jeffrey St. Clair
War Pimps
Saul Landau
The Legacy of Moncada: the Cuban Revolution at 50
Brian Cloughley
What Has Happened to the US Army in Iraq?
William S. Lind
Coffins for the Crews: How Not to Use Light Armored Vehicles
Col. Dan Smith
Time for Straight Talk
Wenonah Hauter
Which
Electric System Do We Want?
David Lindorff
Where's Arnold When We Need Him?
Harvey Wasserman
This Grid Should Not Exist
Don Moniak
"Unusual Events" at Nuclear Power Plants: a Timeline
for August 14, 2003
David Vest
Rolling Blackout Revue
Merlin Chowkwanyun
An Interview with Sherman Austin
Adam Engel
The Loneliest Number
Poets' Basement
Guthrie, Hamod & Albert
Book of the Weekend
Powerplay by Sharon Beder
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Charlie Wilson and Pakistan: the Strange Congressman Behind the
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Jim Lobe
Bush Administration Divided Over Iran
Ramzy Baroud
Sharon Freezes the Road Map
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Blowback in Iraq
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The Heavy Cost of Empire
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Murderous Errors: Executing the Innocent
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Impeach
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August
23, 2003
History Hurts
Why
Let the Dems Repeat It?
By JOSÉ TIRADO
Here in (now) sunny Iceland where I live, everybody
with four brain cells working knows about global warming firsthand.
So for entertainment, I watch the electoral madness in the United
States infect even hardened leftists there with the "Let's-work-with-the-Democrats-to-defeat-a-right-wing-Republ
ican" virus. Oh no, not again, I say.
My friend J. in Illinois however, agrees,
insisting progressives should stick with the Democrats and support
Kucinich banking on his moving the party leftward for the election.
I say it doesn't matter. I say that when the Dems move either
left or right, we get the same system that lacks vision, discourages
real democracy (being against proportional representation or
instant run-off voting, for example) and continues a militaristic,
imperial approach overseas. He said prove it. So I began to reflect
on my own limited time on earth and all that has passed for the
Dems since then.
When I was born, 1959, Eisenhower was
President and the Dems ran a "liberal" from Massachusetts
who tried to out hawk Richard Nixon, the shifty-eyed Vice-President.
Kennedy won, in a tight and shifty race and we got CIA assassinations,
FBI abuses, a failed invasion of Cuba, the October Missile Crisis,
and Green Berets in Vietnam.
In 1964, Lyndon Johnson, (about as "liberal"
as the Dems may ever see again), ran against Barry Goldwater
and trounced him. We got the Gulf of Tonkin lie, Vietnam, Watts
burning, the invasion of the Dominican Republic, Malcolm X and
Martin Luther King, Jr.'s deaths, and a social revolution pushing
the Dems either Left or out. By 1968, Johnson had an uprising
in his own party and decided he couldn't win and he should get
out of the picture. (He was right). The Dems had Vice President
Hubert Humphrey, Robert Kennedy, (who as a "liberal"
Attorney General had wiretapped MLK, Jr. and countless others,
while overseeing assassination attempts in collusion with the
Mafia) and anti-war candidate Eugene McCarthy. King, and Kennedy
were assassinated; the Dems chose Humphrey and got trounced by
Nixon.
In 1972 the Dems felt they had to go
Left and nominated Sen. George McGovern, a decent, truly "liberal"
Democrat. (Think: Kucinich). Apparently Nixon and his cronies
were so upset there were dirty tricks everywhere and when Gov.
George Wallace was conveniently shot, effectively putting him
out of the race (and guaranteeing no right wing split which might
have cost Nixon the election) the Dems nominated McGovern and
he got trounced. We got Watergate, Cambodia, Pinochet, a near
nuclear war in Israel, Agent Orange, the Pentagon Papers, more
Vietnam and Kissinger (who shortly after gave us East Timor).
In 1976, the Dems were still out for
a Lefty, found a few, (Jesse Jackson, Morris Udall, Jerry Brown,
etc.) but settled down for someone "electable" who
would be decent enough after Watergate, and who could "speak
to the people." We got Jimmy Carter... and El Salvador,
"ethnic purity," Afghanistan pt 1, Zbigniew Breszinski,
and a massive military buildup.
By 1980, Carter had a disastrous economy,
a botched hostage rescue and killer rabbits; the Dems had Ted
Kennedy, Jerry Brown and Carter. They nominated Carter, he got
trounced and we got Ronald Reagan, Nicaragua, Iran-Contra, "Star
Wars" and hundreds of billions of dollars in deficits while
social programs were slashed and ketchup elevated to a school
lunch vegetable.
In 1984, the Dems were out for anybody
to beat Reagan who was in the middle of MASSIVE and impeachable
intervention all over Central America. It should have been easy.
They found Walter Mondale, Gary Hart and Jesse Jackson. They
nominated Mondale (shades of Gephardt) who was they said, "electable."
He was trounced.
In 1988 the Dems said, "Lets find
a Lefty" and found one in Jesse Jackson who during the primaries,
scared the Establishment by bringing in millions of new voters.
So they nominated instead a "new Dem" from the northeast,
a Greek in a helmet, Michael Dukakis, who was more "electable"
as they kept saying. He was trounced by George Bush the First,
who gave us Gulf War 1, depleted uranium, Gulf War Syndrome,
Clarence Thomas, the Panama invasion, and a failing economy.
In 1992, the Dems felt they had to go
Right to win, found a perfect guy in Bill Clinton, who could
"feel your pain" (i.e., talk left) and after years
of corporate-right wingism, got elected as ...a right-wing Democrat!
(go figure). We got GATT, NAFTA, a massive continuation of a
massive military buildup, "welfare reform" and the
fastest declining wages in the western world along with millions
of jobs sent packing overseas (sad to say I actually voted for
him, writing a nice, pleading letter about helping us poor folks
to "dream again," and he actually responded, with a
nice letter, and new dreams--they were however, nightmares!)
Now we hear the same shit. Get a lefty
to "push" the party "back" to where it's
"heart" is (meaning Kucinich) but be prepared to settle
for someone "electable" who will aggressively challenge
Bush the Second on his (numerous and impeachable) weaknesses.
So we'll probably get Howard Dean, a "new Dem" from
the northeast who is against campaign finance reform, supported
Clinton's "welfare reform," and an AIPAC drone who
is pro-WTO and NAFTA; or Sen. Kerry, a new Dem from the northeast
who is another Israel panderer and supports "free trade,"
i.e., the WTO; NAFTA; or Gephardt, or Clark, or...
Now friends...History hurts. Why repeat
it? If you want a new system, then vote for people who are working
for one: Dump the Democrats and vote green. Our future depends
on it.
José M. Tirado is a former Green Party member from California.
He was a union president at Warner Bros. Pictures, co-founder
of the Latino Writers Group, charter-chair of the Colorado Buddhist
Alliance for Social Engagement (BASE) and long time activist
in the Engaged Buddhism movement. He currently lives in Iceland
with his family and welcomes correspondence. He can be reached
at nodozejoze@yahoo.com
Weekend
Edition Features for August 16 / 17, 2003
Flavia Alaya
Bastille
New Jersey
Jeffrey St. Clair
War Pimps
Saul Landau
The Legacy of Moncada: the Cuban Revolution at 50
Brian Cloughley
What Has Happened to the US Army in Iraq?
William S. Lind
Coffins for the Crews: How Not to Use Light Armored Vehicles
Col. Dan Smith
Time for Straight Talk
Wenonah Hauter
Which
Electric System Do We Want?
David Lindorff
Where's Arnold When We Need Him?
Harvey Wasserman
This Grid Should Not Exist
Don Moniak
"Unusual Events" at Nuclear Power Plants: a Timeline
for August 14, 2003
David Vest
Rolling Blackout Revue
Merlin Chowkwanyun
An Interview with Sherman Austin
Adam Engel
The Loneliest Number
Poets' Basement
Guthrie, Hamod & Albert
Book of the Weekend
Powerplay by Sharon Beder
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