SEARCH ARCHIVES LATEST UNDERNEWS RECEIVE UPDATES THE DEMOCRAT'S RIGHT WING FOLLIES
Democrats could take a lesson from history: When they lean right, they loseSAM SMITH'S TALK TO A TEEN SOCIAL JUSTICE CONFERENCE THE ELECTION IS OVER. WE LOST. HISTORY OF THE WAR TOLD
ENTIRELY IN OFFICIAL LIESWHY THE DEMOCRATS ARE IN TROUBLE APOLOGY TO YOUNGER AMERICANS BEHIND THE BUSHES HANDLING THE BULLIES
SITE INDEX
NEW ARTICLES BACK TO INDEX SAM SMITH'S TALK
TO A TEEN SOCIAL JUSTICE CONFERENCETHE ELECTION IS OVER. WE LOST. ON TO A NOV 3RD MOVEMENT
WHY I RAN: A FORMER GREEN ALDERMAN CRITIQUES THE LEFT
THE NON-POLITICAL SIDE OF POLITICS
AN INTERVIEW WITH YOUR EDITOR IN COUNTERPUNCH
BACK TO INDEX
READER PICKS
in order of hits
as of last quarterBEHIND THE BUSHES Our timeline of one of America's more curious families and fun facts about their friends.
CITY DESK: For people who live in DC
AMERICAN INDICATORS The stats behind the American story
HILLARY WATCH Keeping an eye on one of America's most successful futures traders
ARKANSAS CONNECTIONS A time line of the rise and fall of Clinton
MINUTES OF THE WANNSEE CONFERENCE: planning the Holocaust
LINKS TO FREE AMERICA. A great collection of links to groups and media
WHY THE DEMOCRATS ARE IN TROUBLE
WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO THE WORLD TRADE CENTER?
THIRTEEN MYTHS ABOUT GENETIC ENGINEERING
CLICHE CHALLENGE - How various clichés of the media and the establishment are faring based on the number of references on Google over the past 3 months
THE CASE FOR JURY NULLIFICATION
MORNING LINE: The latest state and national polls
HOOLIGAN NAVY: A memoir of the Coast Guard
SHORT HISTORY OF SEX AND CRIME IN THE NATION'S CAPITAL
RADIO DAYS: A memoir of radio in the 1950s
BUSH FILE: Interesting stories about our president you may have missed
BUSH BOUNCED FROM CARLYLE BOARD
MISSION CREEP: How the military has moved into civilian life
HOW TO GET ALONG WITH 290 MILLION AMERICANS WHO AREN'T QUITE LIKE YOU
BACK TO INDEX
ALSO OF INTEREST REBELLION: ITS ROLE IN PERSONAL & POLITICAL LIFE
SECURING THE HOMELAND: FREEDOM AS A LOCAL OPTION
HAT TRICK An existential approach to the current crisis.
MULTITUDES: The unauthorized memoirs of Sam Smith
MAGNA CUM PROBATION Why your editor almost didn't make it out of Harvard
WHOSE LAND IS IT, ANYWAY? Reflections on patriotism
HOW CITIES BECAME BLACK AND POOR: THE HIDDEN STORY
DESPAIR Dealing with failure and survival
SUSPECT The author becomes a 23-year-old suspected spy
THE LONELIEST MILE IN TOWN Taking on the Washington establishment in the 1990s
FRIENDS A Quaker education
SEEDS The 60s before they became the 60s
FALSE PROFITS The fallacy of modern economic politics
RIVERBEND - Over 300 are dead in Falloojeh and they have taken to burying the dead in the town football field because they aren't allowed near the cemetery. The bodies are decomposing in the heat and the people are struggling to bury them as quickly as they arrive. The football field that once supported running, youthful feet and cheering fans has turned into a mass grave holding men, women and children. . .
The hospital is overflowing with victims those who have lost arms and legs those who have lost loved ones. There isn't enough medicine or bandages. What are the Americans doing?
Some people from our neighborhood were gathering bags of flour and rice to take into the town. E and I rummaged the house from top to bottom and came up with a big sack of flour, a couple of smaller bags of rice, a few kilos of assorted dry lentil, chickpeas, etc. We were really hoping the trucks could get through to help out in the city. Unfortunately, I just spoke with an Iraqi doctor who told me that the whole convoy was denied entry...
There's an almost palpable anger in Baghdad. The faces are grim and sad all at once and there's a feeling of helplessness that can't be described in words. It's like being held under water and struggling for the unattainable surface- seeing all this destruction and devastation. Firdaws Square, the place where the statue was brought down, is off-limits because the Americans fear angry mobs and demonstrations but it doesn't matter because people are sticking to their homes. The kids haven't been to school for several days now and even the universities are empty. . .
You should see the price of your war and occupation - it's unfair that the Americans are fighting a war thousands of kilometers from home. They get their dead in neat, tidy caskets draped with a flag and we have to gather and scrape our dead off of the floors and hope the American shrapnel and bullets left enough to make a definite identification One year later, and Bush has achieved what he wanted - this day will go down in history and in the memory of all Iraqis as one of the bloodiest days ever...
FINANCIAL TIMES - The US-led administration in Baghdad was on Friday night fighting to keep Iraq's Governing Council intact after two ministers quit in protest at the US crackdown on Shia and Sunni unrest. The interior minister, Nouri Badran, and the human rights minister, Abdul-Basit Turki, stepped down, as others among the US-appointed representatives threatened to resign unless occupation forces reined in their assault. "There will be many resignations," said Haider Abbadi, communications minister, before an emergency session of ministers and the Governing Council - Iraq's representative body handpicked by the US governor, Paul Bremer, to discuss their future.
DAVID USBORNE, INDEPENDENT, UK - American military commanders and the US political leadership face the daunting prospect that its so-called "coalition of the willing", which was bound together to stabilise Iraq, is showing signs of rapidly disintegrating. The fast-spreading violence since last weekend, particularly in Shia cities in southern Iraq that were previously calm, has exposed the inability or unwillingness of troops from other countries to engage in battle. Units from countries such as Bulgaria and the Ukraine have either withdrawn to their bases or called on US support. "The coalition is beginning to weaken," said retired Air Force Colonel Sam Gardiner. "Singapore troops returned home this week. Norway has said it is going to focus on peace-keeping in other parts of the world."
ISLAM ONLINE - The United States asked al-Jazeera team to leave Fallujah as one of conditions for reaching a settlement to the bloody stand-off.
ALJAZEERA - It is risky to broadcast from inside the besieged town Aljazeera journalists have come under fire in the flashpoint Iraqi town, Falluja. The only television crew reporting from inside the besieged town, Aljazeera crew members on Friday complained they had been fired at twice during the day. Aljazeera correspondent in Falluja, Ahmad Mansur said US F16 planes also bombed places disconcertingly close to the news channel's office.
ASSOCIATED PRESS - In a split between U.S.-picked Iraqi leaders and American administrators, the Governing Council demanded an immediate cease-fire across the country Friday and a halt to military operations that punish civilians.
KERRY CONSULTANT LEAVES AFTER 72 HOURS WITH CAMPAIGN
BBC POLL: AMERICA SEEN AS BIGGER THREAT THAN TERRORISM
CLAIM: "If we had known an attack was coming against the United States...we would have moved heaven and earth to stop it." [responding to Roemer]
FACT: Rice admits that she was told that "an attack was coming." She said, "Let me read you some of the actual chatter that was picked up in that spring and summer: Unbelievable news coming in weeks, said one. Big event -- there will be a very, very, very, very big uproar. There will be attacks in the near future." [Source: Condoleezza Rice, 4/8/04]
THE AMERICAN TALIBAN
FEDERAL CENSORSHIP COMMISSIONMEANWHILE, HERE'S WHAT YOU CAN STILL SAY ON THE AIRWAVES
[Just make sure you're talking about Muslims and not Jews]
DC RTV - - 4/9 - WMAL's Michael Graham ~~ apparently said this on his 4/1 show: "I don't wanna say we should kill 'em all [Muslims], but unless there's reform [within Islam], there aren't a lot of other solutions that work in the ground struggle for survival."
- CLEAR CHANNEL DROPS STERN
- CORPORADOS WHO FIRED STERN IN TROUBLE THEMSELVES
- HOW TO COMPLAIN TO THE FCC
IRAQ
DAILY TELEGRAPH - America's top commander in Iraq has warned Washington that he will not be "the fall guy" if violence in the country worsens, it emerged yesterday, as word leaked out that US generals are "outraged" by their lack of soldiers.
ARAB NEWS - It didn't have to be this way. Had America been more informed and more sensitive to the complexities and subtleties of Iraqi society, it could probably have avoided what has become its growing failure.would be disastrous for his re-election bid.
ALJAZEEERA - At least 450 Iraqis have been killed and more than 1000 others wounded in fighting in the city of Falluja this week, says a doctor who runs the city's main hospital.
COLLEGE TEXTBOOK COSTS SOAR TO $900
INDIAN FIRM PLANS TO OUTSOURCE TO U.S.
CORRUPT & CONTENTED
JUSTICE SCALIAHARTFORD COURANT - It is appalling that a jurist on the highest court in the land would try to dictate the terms of coverage of any public speech, let alone one in which he extolled the U.S. Constitution as "something extraordinary, something to revere." Was he suggesting that a free press is fine, just as long as it does not apply to him and his speeches?
CLARION LEDGER, MS - Lucy Dalglish, executive director of The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, called the action "outrageous."
NY TIMES - "The seizure and destruction of a reporter's tape recordings is remarkable, and I think it would be difficult to find any law that would justify it," said Luther T. Munford, a First Amendment expert at Phelps Dunbar, a law firm in Jackson.
THE HIDDEN STORY ABOUT CHILDREN AND WEIGHT
ERIC KELDERMAN, STATELINE - More state legislatures are targeting junk food in public schools to remedy an epidemic of childhood obesity, but few are strengthening flabby physical education programs. Phys ed classes are being squeezed out even as the number of obese children has tripled . . . One key reason is there's less time in the school day for gym classes because of increased pressures to test children to chart academic performance. . .
STUDY WARNS AGAINST ANTI-DEPRESSANTS FOR CHILDREN
LOCAL HEROES
STUDIO MUSICIANSQUESTIONS RAISED ABOUT ALLEGED THEFT OF KERRY DOCUMENTS
THE FACE OF WAR
MOSAIC MADE OF PHOTOS
OF TROOPS KILLED IN IRAQ.
BY JOE OF THE AMERICAN LEFTISTASSOCIATED GRAPHICS ON MAIN PAGE RIDGE RUNS INTO RESISTANCE IN SEATTLE
PAUL SHUKOVSKY SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER - Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge found Seattleites in no mood yesterday to participate in his efforts to engage Americans in preparations for terrorist attacks. At a town hall meeting billed as a forum for citizens to voice their concerns, Ridge was met with more questions about Bush administration policies that allegedly damage Americans' freedoms at home and their reputation abroad than about homeland security.
[Another story about 'private security firms' that gives little hint that they are fulfilling the neocon dream of a privatized Foreign Legion, despite such mercenaries being a tad illegal under international law. Fourteen grafs in, however, these civilian contractors are suddenly transformed into 'commandos.']
SEPTEMBER 11
PLAYING POLITICS WITH THE PILL
TWO ISRAELI WORKERS GOT 2 HOURS' ADVANCE WARNING OF WTC ATTACK
CHINA, USA, IRAN, VIETNAM RESPONSIBLE FOR MOST OF WORLD'S EXECUTIONS
MAKE YOUR OWN BUSH SLOGANS END OF FREE MARKET ERA?
WALL STREET JOURNAL EMPLOYEES PICKET OVER CONTRACTMAINE PAPER FIRES REPORTER WHO UNCOVERED DUBYA'S DWI CASE
METHODIST MINISTER PUNISHED FOR ANTI-WAR STANCE
A GOOD GUIDE TO WHY YOU DON'T WANT TO USE G-MAIL
MORNING LINE BUSH 185 ELECTORAL VOTES
KERRY 181 ELECTORAL VOTES
68 TOO CLOSE TO CALL
THE REST LACK ADEQUATE POLLSDEMOCRATS UP 1 SEAT IN SENATE NEW FROM PLAYMOBIL WORD
Genius is childhood recaptured - Charles Baudelaire, born this day in 1821
HOW WE CUT THE DEFICIT AND INCREASED SOCIAL SPENDING JUST IN FIVE MINUTES
USING A NIFTY site called the National Budget Simulation, your editor managed to improve the budget in five minutes better than Bush and Kerry combined. The site was originally a project of UC-Berkeley's Center for Community Economic Research, and is now hosted by Nathan Newman, one of its creators.
I was frankly too busy to spend much time on this but increasing social spending and reducing the budget by $17 billion in five minutes isn't too bad. Here's what I did:
I cut ten percent or $40 billion from the Pentagon and an additional $5 billion from the Iraq budget. I then increased spending ten percent in the following areas: natural resources and environment, education, training, employment, and social services, Medicare, and social welfare.
I also cut the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts by ten percent.
Perhaps I should run for president but only serve five minutes a day. That would save even more money. - SAM SMITH
We may be having a hard time with the war, but at least we've got the image thing down.
IRAQ OLYMPIC COMMMITTESALT LAKE TRIBUNE - Washington City, just north of St. George, has decided to honor its founders with statues, among them the likeness of John D. Lee. This has inflamed some of the descendants of victims of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, who cannot believe that the city would honor the only man convicted and executed for his role in that mass murder, perhaps the darkest episode in Utah history.
MEXICAN BORN WORKERS 80% MORE LIKELY TO DIE ON JOB THAN AMERICAN BORN
JUSTIN PRITCHARD, ASSOCIATED PRESS - An Associated Press report, based on an analysis of years of federal statistics, found that the death toll for Mexican-born workers has grown to the point that one dies in the United States every day on average.
CLEAR CHANNEL FINED A HALF MILLION $$$ BY FCC EXTREMISTS OVER HOWARD STERN
WORD
Forward, the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Someone had blunder'd:
Their's not to make reply,
Their's not to reason why,
Their's but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred- Alfred, Lord Tennyson, cited in a recent speech by Senator Robert Byrd
JOHN KERRY AS A SECOND LANGUAGE
If the president can find time to throw out the first ball of the season, he can find the time to throw out the first efforts for real peace in the region. . .
It was an important grabbing-air moment. . .
CIVIL LIBERTIES
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE - Private citizens who are illegally searched, arrested or beaten by law enforcement officers can sue the officers and their government employer for damages under a broad California law, the California Supreme Court ruled Monday.
ECOLOGY
JIM ERICKSON, ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS - Unexpectedly high levels of mercury have been found in trout pulled from high-altitude lakes in Rocky Mountain National Park.
WASHINGTON POST - The rate of deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rose 2.1 percent last year as farmers encroached on the world's largest jungle.
WATCHING THE COUNT
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE - Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates has called for an investigation into what he called serious problems with electronic voting on March 2 that prevented some people in Berkeley from casting ballots.
LOCAL HEROES
RUTH JORDANRICHARD COHEN, WASHINGTON POST - [Ruth] Jordan's swellness is documented by her admitted willingness to have hung the Tyco jury simply because she felt the government had failed to prove criminal intent. . . "I feel very strongly . . . that even ugly people deserve justice," Jordan told the New York Times and CBS News. "Even people who have bad habits deserve justice. People who have repellent lifestyles. Even greedy people -- if they are greedy. Even people who have so much they don't know how to spend it, and still want more. Even they deserve justice when it comes to whether or not they committed a crime." . . .
ARMAGEDDON PLAN LAUNCHED AFTER SEPTEMBER 11
MIAMI POLICE CHIEF BACKS OFF FORMER TESTIMONY AS JUDGE FREES FOUR OF HIS VICTIMS
REBUILDING EAST GERMANY CALLED UNMITIGATED DISASTER
STUDIES: FLUNKING KIDS DOESN'T WORK
CALIFORNIA TOWN REJECTS WAL-MART PLAN
NASA UP THERE WITH DOD AND HUD FOR WASTING MONEY
WHERE THE CONGRESSIONAL PORK WENT: THE ANNUAL PIG BOOK
MUSEUM OF UNWORKABLE DEVICES This museum is a celebration of fascinating devices that don't work. It houses diverse examples of the perverse genius of inventors who refused to let their thinking be intimidated by the laws of nature, remaining optimistic in the face of repeated failures. Watch and be amazed as we bring to life eccentric and even intricate perpetual motion machines that have remained steadfastly unmoving since their inception. Marvel at the ingenuity of the human mind, as it reinvents the square wheel in all of its possible variations.
FARK HEADLINE OF THE DAY
U.S. Checking Report Of Iraq Mosque Attack. Thought It Was The Chinese Embassy.
OVERLAWYERED - 17-year-old Steven Terrell had a blood-alcohol level of .162 and had taken OxyContin when he lost control of his car, swerved off the road, hit a culvert, and overturned; not wearing a seatbelt, he died from the resulting injuries. "Roy Terrell and Donna F. Moore, the parents of Steven L.R. Terrell, notified [Morgan County] officials that they blamed the death on the county's failure to maintain the roadway in a reasonable safe condition, failure to warn, defective road construction and design and failure to have a proper sign. They intend to seek $2 million in damages." [Indianapolis Star]
AL KAMEN, WASHINGTON POST - If you're headed to Iraq, always remember, as uncomfortable as things are in Baghdad, they can get worse, even inside the well-protected Green Zone. "There has been a large drop in the number of local nationals that show up daily to work on the compound," a Coalition Provisional Authority aide noted to Sewell Chan, our colleague in Baghdad. "The cleaning crew for our wing of the palace didn't show up today, and the laundry folks are telling everyone to expect it to take substantially longer to get our clothes back, because their workers are not showing up right now."
MORE FREEWAY BLOGS SHI'ITE HITS THE FAN- Jeff Taylor, Reason Express
JUST POLITICS
ABC NOTE - The Wall Street Journal's Alan Murray finds one problem with President Bush's new ads criticizing John Kerry on the gas tax hikes: "Sen. Kerry hasn't proposed, never voted for and doesn't support a 50-cent gas tax."
ACCORDING TO WONKETTE, political analyst Charlie Cook told a DC gathering that Kerry's problem is that he doesn't connect well with people. "If you stuck a thermometer in his mouth, it would come out at 63 degrees." Cook said the key test was, "Would you want to go fishing with him?" More importantly, "Would you want to go fishing with him, if you knew you weren't going to catch anything?"
WORDS
"They say John Kerry is the first Democratic presidential candidate in history to raise $50 million in a three-month period. Actually, that's nothing. He once raised $500 million with two words: 'I do.'" -Jay Leno
"According Time magazine, Condoleezza Rice has been rehearsing for her appearance this week before the 9/11 commission. They say she has been practicing her answers by having her aides ask her questions. Wouldn't be easier just to tell the truth? Then you wouldn't have to remember the answer." -Jay Leno
DAILY TIMES, PAKISTAN - On the lush, volcanic slopes of the Indonesian archipelago, villagers harvest kopi luwak. The beans used for the world's rarest and most expensive coffee have already been munched by cat-like palm civets, and now they are plucked from the dung to be dried and roasted. Retailing in North America and Europe for up to $600 per kg, kopi luwak, literally civet coffee in Indonesian, is not a brew for the faint hearted.
STUPID SCHOOL ADMINISTRATOR TRICKS
A 9 year old New Hampshire boy has been suspended from school for three days for grazing a girl's buttocks with his hand while playing tag. The girl later complained.
WIRED - As more jobs move overseas, some sites are trying to profit from Americans' resentment by selling only U.S.-made goods. But it's becoming harder to determine what qualifies as American-made these days.
MOST HISTORICALLY IRONIC NAME FOR A LIBERAL RADIO SHOW OF THE WEEK
Air America
WORDS
"John Kerry had shoulder surgery this week. He had no anesthesia for the shoulder surgery. He just listened to one of his speeches." -David Letterman
"You know, I was thinking, maybe we should stop looking for weapons of mass destruction and start looking for oil." -Jay Leno
"Last night, President Bush raised $1.5 million in Washington, DC, at a fundraiser. It's all part of his new program, No Cash Left Behind." -David Letterman
HOW EDITORS ARE TRULY REGARDED
AP, COLFAX CA - In the hours before he was found dead, two people saw the body of Colfax editor A. Thomas Homer on the office floor, but neither raised an alarm because they thought he was sleeping, officials said.
JUST POLITICS
PHOENIX BUSINESS JOURNAL - Less than a year ago, six of every 10 Latinos in Arizona rated the job performance of President George W. Bush as "excellent or good," but a newly released poll finds that only 35 percent hold the same opinion.
THE MADNESS OF 'NO FLY'
JIM COUR ASSOCIATED PRESS - A 16-year Air Force veteran, Green doesn't have any idea how she may have gotten on the list. Since early in January, she has been unable to board flights without significant delays. "I've been humiliated and embarrassed in front of my supervisors and fellow passengers," Green said.
BARRY STEINHARDT, ACLU - Beyond the repeated errors in administering the No-Fly program and the inability of air travelers to have those errors corrected, many passengers on the No-Fly list have expressed concern that they may have been singled out because of their ethnicity, religion or political activity. Their concern is heightened by the fact that the lists appear to have been shared widely among U.S. law enforcement agencies, internationally and with the U.S. military.
FROM THE FOLKS WHO BROUGHT YOU WMDs: GLOBAL WARMING DOESN'T EXIST
ANTONY BARNETT, OBSERVER, UK - George W. Bush's campaign workers have hit on an age-old political tactic to deal with the tricky subject of global warming - deny, and deny aggressively. The Observer has obtained a remarkable email sent to the press secretaries of all Republican congressmen advising them what to say when questioned on the environment in the run-up to November's election. The advice: tell them everything's rosy.
NEARLY TWO THIRDS OF CORPORATIONS DIDN'T PAY ANY FEDERAL TAX 1996-2000
WHITE HOUSE TO CENSOR 9/11 REPORT
BLIX SAYS IRAQ DID BETTER UNDER SADDAM
BETTER TO BE A TERRORIST THAN A POTHEAD; THE JAIL TIME'S SHORTER
CALDONIAN RECORD, VT - A Littleton [NH] man claims he was pulled, dragged from his car and assaulted after a Bible study discussion became heated Wednesday night. The pastor of the Crossroads Church, the Rev. Ralph Green, disputes the claims. . . St. Laurent, according to Green, is a troubled young man who has been attending Crossroads for about two years. "He's a very mixed up young man," Green said. "We have tried to help him repeatedly. He has chosen to go his own way."
MORE HEADLINES O'REILLY PICKS WRONG GUY TO BULLY
NY DAILY NEWS - Liddy slipped the knife into O'Reilly when he told MSNBC's Deborah Norville that the "No Spin"-meister "is an embarrassment to our side." He twisted it when he said on CNN's "Crossfire": "O'Reilly was no good at radio, and part of that reason is because his most nuanced response to a complex question is [to tell guests] 'Shut up!'"
Now Liddy told us: "I had been invited on his show, but I was contacted [through an intermediary] and told I would not be 'allowed' on unless I apologized. I'm not going to apologize, in private, or on his show." Liddy added: "Bill did what all bullies do, he ran when someone stood up to him."
GREAT MOMENTS IN HOMELAND SECURITY
BRITISH NOVELIST IAN McEwan, who was denied entry to the US for 36 hours and underwent three interrogations, was asked by one keen-witted Homeland Security official: "What kind of novels do you write: fiction or nonfiction?"
LOCAL HEROES
WOMEN TRY TO PAY POWER BILL WITH A WHEELBARROW FILLED WITH PENNIESMELINDA O'MALLEY KBCI-TV, ID - Two women who live on a fixed income, said they are not pleased with a proposal to raise power rates by 20%. Together they delivered more than 12,000 pennies in a wheel barrow to the lobby of Idaho Power, in Boise Thursday morning. . . Communications at Idaho Power. Idaho Power could not accept the pennies scattered in the wheelbarrow, but said payment would be accepted when the pennies were rolled and certified by a local bank.
CRAZY JUB, METAFILTER - Start saving for your childrens' future therapy. What they learned this month is that dead bodies being burnt and strung up on a bridge is OK to print on the front page of a newspaper, and watch on the news at dinner time; but you better not see any nipple, even for a half a second.
GENERAL AFGHANISTAN AFRICA BLACK COLOMBIA CULTURE ECONOMIC EDUCATION ENTERTAINMENT HEALTH HISTORY IDEAS
& CULTURE INDIA-PAKISTAN INTERNET IRAQ JEWISH LATINO MEDIA MIDDLE
EAST MILITARY PEACE POLITICS POLLS SCIENCE STATE
POLITICS MISC
AFRICA ADVERTISING ALTERNATIVE
NEWS CIVIL
LIBERTIES COMMENTARY CORPORATIONS CULTURE DRUGS ECOLOGY ECONOMICS FOOD GAY,
LESBIAN, BI GLOBAL GREEN HISTORY IDEAS
& CULTURE INDIAN INTERNET JUSTICE LABOR LATIN
AMERICA LAW LATINO LIBERTARIAN LIBRARIES MEDIA MIDDLE
EAST MILITARY NEW
ZEALAND POLITICS PROPAGANDA RADIO REGIONAL NEW
ENGLAND NEW
YORK PHILADELPHIA SOUTH ROCKIES WEST NORTHWEST RELIGION WEB
CAMS WEBLOGS,
ZINES WOMEN YOUTH
RUSS
BAKER
1
UP INFO GOVERNMENT
@149TH
STREET
CLINTON SCANDALS DRUG WAR ECOLOGY ECONOMICS EDUCATION GLOBAL GOVERNMENT HEALTH HOUSING POLITICS STATES URBAN ZIPCODE DATA
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BOOKS & OTHER INFORMATION
BACK TO INDEX RECOMMENDED READING Why Bother, in a wonderfully engaging and erudite manner, addresses the great question confronting democracy, community and justice -- and that is civic motivation. Prepare to be motivated. Sam Smith is an antidote to mindless speed reading. He makes you pause between paragraphs in order to mull over the captivating morsels he is placing in your imagination. - RALPH NADER Sam Smith puts it to us straight in these essays about finding meaning and hope - JAY WALJASPER, UTNE READER An American original. . . He's got a big old cussed independent streak that keeps you guessing and hence keeps you reading. - CRISPIN SARTWELL The alienated young, the over-worked 30-something, the free-thinking 40 year-old, the downsized 55-year-old worker, the senior who society has put out to pasture are all part of an America that finds itself a fugitive from the law of averages -- the tens of millions who don't fit the media-driven stereotype of a booming, contented country. Living in a culture that has reduced their role to that of compliance and consumption, these Americans increasingly react with anger, anxiety or apathy. In this highly readable short book, journalist and social critic Sam Smith takes on this crisis not as a political issue but as a personal one: how does the individual survive in such a place? Drawing from a wealth of sources and experience ranging from philosophy and anthropology to the Internet and rock zines, from Kierkegaard and Camus to Humphrey Bogart and Rage Against the Machine, Smith confronts directly despair and survival, approaches to personal rebellion, speaking truth to power, suicide and false faith, the loss of democracy, and what to do when nobody cares whether you do it or not. This is no glib self-help book, but rather a brutally honest exploration by someone who, as an alternative journalist for more than three decades, has repeatedly been out of step with his time and culture. Yet beneath the direct, honest language is a love letter to the individual, freedom, and life itself. Smith writes: "Hectored, treated, advised, instructed, and compelled at every turn, history's subjects may falter, lose heart, courage, or sense of direction. The larger society is then quick to blame, to translate survival systems of the weak into pathologies, and to indict as neurotic clear recognition of the human condition. The safest defense against this is apathy, ignorance, or surrender. Adopt any of these strategies -- don't care, don't know or don't do -- and you will, in all likelihood, be considered normal. The only problem is that you will miss out on much of your life." Smith describes an alternative based on the existentialist "hat trick" of integrity, passion and rebellion. Describing despair as "the suicide of imagination," he writes, "the task is to bear knowledge without it destroying ourselves, to challenge the wrong without ending up on its casualty list." Despite more than three decades of challenging wrongs, bearing bad news, and bucking the system, Smith retains a spirit and humor that attracts an audience across political lines to enjoy and be challenged by his work
"Smith's book is a toolbox for hacking a corrupt system. It is also funny as hell . . . There are butts that need kicking in this country. . . Sam Smith is handing out the boots." -- Alex Steffen, The Stranger, Seattle weekly "Must read. . . combines laughter and trenchant critique to a degree seldom seen" -- John Rensenbrink, Green Horizons "The Tom Paine of the Nineties" -- Chuck Stone "Truly independent journalist" -- Patrick Mazza, Cascadia Times "Phenomenally interesting. . . I recommend it highly" -- Michelle Laxalt, co-host of Newsmakers "You'll be enlightened, challenged, even entertained" -- Chuck Harder on the Talk America Network. "Lucid . . . Keep going, Sam" -- Mario Cuomo "Desperately needed" -- Roger Morris, author of Partners in Power Featured in Utne Reader and on Weekend All Things Considered.
BACK TO INDEX GEORGETOWN: A child of contradictions GHOSTS: The ubiquitous past BECOMING: Playing with and putting away childish things FRIENDS A Quaker education SUMMER: PART I MAGNA CUM PROBATION: Falling from grace at Harvard U THE CANARIES IN STUDIO A in which a young radio reporter learns a lot about the media and Washington in a short time. SUSPECT: The author becomes a 23-year-old suspected spy. HOOLIGAN DAYS: A memoir of the Coast Guard SEEDS The 60s before they became the 60s; in which your editor discovers the civil rights and anti-war movements. HOW THE TROUBLE BEGAN: A long adventure in alternative journalism began in the mid-sixties FIRE: The Washington riots and other suspensions of hope PLACE: The battle for local power THE LONELIEST MILE IN TOWN: An adventure in apostasy -- drinking upstream from the Clinton herd GROWING GREEN The birth of a movement
SHADOWS OF HOPE. Published by Indiana University Press in 1994, this was the first book to raise serious questions about the character and politics of Bill Clinton. Said one reviewer, "I had to be forcibly restrained from quoting yards of it." Order direct from AMAZON.COM or from THE REVIEW CAPTIVE CAPITAL
1312 18TH NW WASH DC 20036 202-835-0770 Fax: 202-835-0779. Editor: Sam Smith Sam Smith began his first alternative journal, the Idler, in 1964, when there were just a handful of such publications in the U.S., such as IF Stone's Weekly, the Realist, the Carolina Israelite, and the Village Voice. In 1966 he started the Capitol East Gazette, a community paper that morphed into the DC Gazette in 1969. It became the Progressive Review in 1985 Sam Smith, so far as he can tell, has been editing alternative journals longer than anyone in the country and has been covering Washington for almost as long as anyone in the capital. He has also written four books and helped to start six organizations including two political parties (national Green and DC Statehood) that actually elected people to office. The Gazette was a leading journalistic voice against the Washington Post-backed plan to build miles of freeways that would have made DC look like an east coast Los Angeles. Was the first publication to call for DC statehood and explain how it could be achieved without a constitutional amendment. In the early 1970s became one of the first publications to support a revival of light rail and other alternatives to hyper-expensive and inefficient subway systems Was one of the first publications to call for the building of bikeways. Was a vigorous opponent of destructive urban planning practices . Was a voice of the anti-war movement in opposition to hawkish corporate media. Is one of the last surviving members of the Underground Press Syndicate. Published the first urban planning comic strip in America -- drawn by architect John Wiebenson. Published the only regular column at the time by a prison inmate for an outside publication Since the 1960s has been a critic of the punitive approach to drug addiction. In the 1980s, TPR predicted the break-up of the Soviet Union Its 1990 article on the second S&L scandal -- the S&L bailout itself -- was selected by Utne Reader as one of the top ten undercovered stories of past decade. In May 1992 it became the first publication in America to connect the pieces of the puzzle that would become known as the Clinton scandals. Its coverage of these scandals has been among the most thorough to be found anywhere. Writers and cartoonists who graced the pages of the Review over the years, in some cases well before they were discovered by larger media, have included Dave Barry, Tom Shales, Eugene McCarthy, Tony Auth, Paul Krassner, Jim Hightower, Tuli Kupferberg, Jim Ridgeway, Tom Tomorrow and Bill Griffin.
BACK TO INDEX Sam Smith is a writer, activist and social critic who has been at the forefront of new ideas and new politics for several decades. -- He
is the author of four highly acclaimed books, the latest of which
is Why Bother? -- Has had articles published in the Washington Post, Washington Star, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, San Jose Mercury News, Planning Magazine, Illustrated London News, Washington World, Regardies Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Washington Monthly, Washington Tribune, City Paper, Nashville Scene, Washington History, Designer/Builder, Progressive Populist, North Coast Express, Yes!, Potomac Review, Time Out [London] and Utne Reader -- He is a native Washingtonian who covered his first Washington story in 1957 as a 19-year-old radio news reporter. He has been an elected neighborhood commissioner, home & school association president, Coast Guard officer, semi-professional musician, and plaintiff in seven public interest law suits, three of them successful. He and 19 others sued the president and Congress for an end to DC's colonial status in a case ultimately rejected by the Supreme Court.
Complete or partial collections of back issues of the Idler, Gazette, and Review can be found in libraries at Brown, Connecticut, Delaware, George Washington, Georgetown, Maryland, Michigan, Northwestern, Tulane, and Virginia Commonwealth universities. Also at the Buffalo-Erie, Washington DC, and New York public libraries as well as the collection of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. The early DC Gazette is available on microfilm through University Microfilm. The papers of Sam Smith are in the Washingtoniana division of the Martin Luther King Jr. Library, Washington DC.
BACK TO INDEX FOOTBALL & THE RISE OF AMERICAN IMPERIALISM Long before George Bush, and in the comfort of his den on Sunday afternoon, the author saw the American empire coming THE CLINGONS AND PRACTICING ANTHROPOLOGY WITHOUT A LICENSE THE RISE OF A LIBERAL ARISTOCRACY AND THE FALL OF AMERICA: The collapse of liberalism and what's it has cost the country CIVIL SOCIETY: They say they want civil society; what they really want is for you to shut up. An uncivil look at the civil socialites. THE CLUB: How Washington really operates THE AUTISTIC CONFEDERACY Why Washington doesn't work
BACK TO INDEX LETTER TO THE WASHINGTON POST: Some years back the Washington Post asked TPR's editor for some advice. It was the last time. USA TOMORROW:: What would a really good daily newspaper look like? TPR offers a vision unlike any other -- including actual news! THE CANONIZATION OF KATHARINE GRAHAM WHY JOURNALISM ISN'T A PROFESSION TRASHING THE TRUTH Clinton may be the Dr. Kervorkian of the right-to-lie movement but he's not alone. This well-received article discusses the role of truth and falsehood in today's society. WHY THEY HATE OLIVER STONE: An essay on the politics of myth and its role in an age of propaganda. CLINTON & THE MEDIA Why did the media so misread Clinton? In Shadows of Hope, Review editor Sam Smith took on the question early in Clinton's administration. THE LONELIEST MILE IN TOWN Your editor's adventures in apostasy -- drinking upstream from the Clinton herd IMPEACHABLE DEFENSES How the media helped Clinton get away with it.
BACK TO INDEX THE COLIN POWELL FILE
BYRD SUMS IT UP: Senator Robert Byrd on the problems with an Iraq war NEW WORLD ORDER: Our archives on globalization. TIME WARP The generation gap and the war THE PRICE OF WAR: How many lives have been lost in various conflicts. LETTER TO MOSCOW: In 1991 TPR published an open letter to the new leaders of Russia about the American way of democracy and economics. It suggests some other ways things might have happened, but didn't. THE POLITICS OF NORTH-SOUTH RELATIONS Green thinker John Rensenbrink DEPLETED URANIUM: RECYCLING DEATH FAILURES OF INTELLIGENCE; The triumph of hope over experience THE REAL WAR: BETWEEN MYTH AND REALITY WHERE'S BIN BEEN? Reports on the reported whereabouts of bin Laden as compiled by the Review
THE REVISION THING - The history of the Iraq war told entirely in official lies THE COALITION OF THE SHILLING The Iraqis will have to learn democracy someplace else WATER: THE GREAT HIDDEN ISSUE OF THE MIDEAST PLAYING ETHNIC POLITICS AT GROUND ZERO BYRD SUMS IT UP: Senator Robert Byrd on the problems with an Iraq war GULF WAR I ARCHIVES Articles from the Review during the first Gulf escapade
THE
U.S. ARMY IN AFGHANISTAN
SPEECH AT FIRST ANTI-BALKAN WAR RALLY Washington Mall, April 23 1999 DOCTORS & DESTROYERS: Talk at Dupont Circle anti-war rally, June 26, 1999
DERIVATIVE AMERICA & THE ENRON GENERATION FALSE PROFITS An excerpt from Why Bother? that is increasingly apt as news of corporate criminality rolls in CORPORATIONS VS. AMERICA: The counter-revolution of corporations against the American dream THE 100 BIGGEST CORPORATE CRIMINALS OF THE 1990s. As compiled by the Corporate Crime Reporter NO FAULT CAPITALISM MEETS LEMON SOCIALISM An award-winning article on the second S&L scandal -- the federal bailout. |
BACK TO INDEX The so-called progressive sites are knee-jerk predictable, with one big exception. That's Sam Smith's Progressive Review. . . Nowhere on the Web, short of Drudge, is there a man who so heartily enjoys following a hot story. -- James Ridgeway, Village Voice The inimitable Sam Smith - Mother Jones Magazine An alternative press icon if ever there was one -- NY Press An admittedly liberal but excellent e-mail report (we read it every day) - Newsmax Sam's a cynical cat -- Marion Barry One of the nation's leading visionaries. -- Charlie Spencer, Charlie Spencer Show, WHYN, Springfield MA Best known for his tireless contributions to progressive political action. His career as a journalist, activist and author has embodied Margaret Mead's belief that "a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that has" - Hartford Advocate Notorious journalist - Seattle Weekly A truly independent journalist with his feet firmly grounded in the reality of neighborhoods and everyday people. -- Patrick Mazza, Progressive Populist A larger than life presence in the nation's capital . . .A truly original voice in American journalism: humorous and plain spoken and filled with common sense -- Jay Walljasper, Utne Reader [He's] no stranger to clamorous debate -- in fact, he's caused more than his share of it himself. -- Tom McNichols, Washington City Paper Sam's one of the few independent voices left. - Eugene McCarthy He has a wonderful combination of being absolutely realistic about the vagaries of people in political life while still being an idealist. -- Peter Edelman
ACTIVISM
BACK TO INDEX CATO ON THE VIRTUES OF OLD AGE IN TECHNOCRACY WE TRUST HAT TRICK An existential approach to the current crisis. WHY DO WE HAVE A WAR ON DRUGS, ANYWAY? THE BIG PAGE: Items of interest to big folk MINUTES OF THE WANNSEE CONFERENCE: planning the Holocaust THE LUDDITES OF MICROSOFT Making machines that smash themselves REBELLION Without revolution and rebellion we would let mating and mutation do their thing. Instead, regularly dissatisfied with our condition, our body, our home, and our government we overthrow genetics through application of imagination, dreams, ambition, skill, perseverance, and strength. Every new idea is an act of rebellion, every work of art, every stretch for something we couldn't do before, every question that begins "what if. . ." CRIME THE WAY IT OUGHT TO BE: Excerpts from a small town police log FREE THOUGHTS: Sam Smith's favorite quotations THE REVIEW INDEX A partial index of past hard copy issues of the Review and DC Gazette GADFLIES: Call TPR's editor anything you want; only don't call him a gadfly. Here's why. HISTORY OF THE REVIEW: A short summary of where we came from and what we've done DESPAIR Dealing with failure and survival
PUNK AND PROTEST The beat, busted, bruised, and bamboozled generation A SHORT HISTORY OF BLACK WASHINGTON LOSING TIME, LOSING SPACE: The politics of other dimensions THINGS IRISH-AMERICAN PROTESTANTS SHOULD KNOW ABOUT IRELAND PRACTICING ANTHROPOLOGY WITHOUT A LICENSE HOW TO GET ALONG WITH OTHER AMERICANS: Living Next Door to 290 Million Folks Who Aren't Quite Like You. IN TECHNOCRACY WE TRUST Most Americans may profess Christianity but it's technocracy that they practice
BACK TO INDEX WHAT THE PAST 25 YEARS HAVE COST CORPORATIONS VS. AMERICA. The counter-revolution of corporations against the American dream WHOSE LAND IS IT, ANYWAY? Reflections on patriotism HISTORY OF THE SHADOW GOVERNMENT THE CASE FOR JURY NULLIFICATION THE CREEPING COUP News items from post-constitutional America. A FEW SIGNS OF A DEMOCRACY IN DEEP TROUBLE THE HIDDEN FACTS ABOUT TERRORISM: WHAT THE STATE DEPARTMENT'S OWN REPORT SAY WORDS ABOUT FREEDOM QUOTATIONS ON FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY HOW TO STAY FREE: AN EXCERPT FROM SAM SMITH'S GREAT AMERICAN POLITICAL REPAIR MANUAL (WW NORTON) FOOLS' GOAL: ZERO TOLERANCE: How infinite intolerance of some things -- but not others -- is damaging our land GIULIANI ON ART, HITLER ON ART MARTIAL LAW Excerpts from an an article in a defense journal, Parameters THE CRASH OF AMERICA - In 1995, the author saw trouble coming.
NATIONAL POLLS
OPPOSING & CREATING The twin tasks of a movement THE REAL COSTS OF THE REAGAN-BUSH-CLINTON-BUSH YEARS PUNK AND PROTEST The beat, busted, bruised, and bamboozled generation THE RISE OF A LIBERAL ARISTOCRACY AND THE FALL OF AMERICA: The collapse of liberalism and what's it has cost the country WHAT GREENS CAN DO DURING THE BUSH YEARS THE CARE AND FEEDING OF A THIRD PARTY An interview with Sam Smith on the history of one of America's most durable third parties. UNEXAMINED POLITICS Life among the liberal fundamentalists URBAN STATEHOOD: Why American needs more states A COOPERATIVE COMMONWEALTH: A statement of principles for Americans who believe in common sense, common decency and common ground. CHANGING HOW URBAN PLANNING WORKS: Two charts that summarize what's wrong with urban planning and what to do about it. HOW TO GET ALONG WITH OTHER AMERICANS: Living Next Door to 250 Million Folks Who Aren't Quite Like You. CROSSOVER POLITICS: A chart that illustrates why conventional views of left and right don't add up. THE NIXON STORY YOU NEVER HEARD MEMO TO A NEW MAYOR Advice to a newly elected politician WHAT PROGRESSIVES CAN DO DURING THE BUSH YEARS WHAT GREENS CAN DO DURING THE BUSH YEARS ALL IN THE FAMILY: What's happening in the wonderful world of political nepotism CLINTON ADMINISTRATION SCANDALS COUNTING THE VOTES RIGHT: Ways to rig an election and what went wrong in the 2000 election. THE BEST OF RUDY Some of our favorite stories about Rudy Giuliani HOW TO TELL IF YOU'RE STILL A LIBERAL: A quick test to see how far you've strayed. INSTANT POPULISM What with the media declaring Al Gore a populist, this 1972 article on the past and prospects of populism is timely again. WILD SHOTS: Some facts about guns a lot of people don't want to hear. HOW TO SAVE AFFIRMATIVE ACTION A 1995 article that foresaw the trouble ahead BEHIND THE BUSHES: Those who think we were too hard on Clinton might want to check out what we have to say about the Bush family. GLOBAL DUMBING: THE POLITICS OF ENTROPY In this 1992 article, everything from Rick Rockwell to George W. Bush is explained, not to mention prescient THE CASE AGAINST LEGALIZED BRIBERY: Our system of campaign financing discussed in a speech by editor Sam Smith HOW I GOT FIRED AS A LIBERAL Your editor is one of the few certified ex-liberals in Washington.Here's how it happened. MOB POLITICS: Three decades of political racketeering in chart form. BUCKING THE SYSTEM: A chart that provides a concise crash course on how Americans have won and kept their freedoms. BRINGING
POLITICS HOME: An excerpt from Shadows
of Hope on how politics has lost connection with people.
MORNING LINE: Our tout sheet on up-coming elections. SHADOWS OF HOPE: The book about Bill Clinton the establishment didn't want you to read. While most of the media was fawning over the newly elected president and his wife, Review editor Sam Smith was checking out the facts. The result was the most prophetic description of Clintonism and the damage it would cause. SOCIAL SECURITY: Our stories on Social Security tell you things the major media won't, such as why the Social Security panic is a scam.
BACK TO INDEX A SHORT HISTORY OF BLACK WASHINGTON HOW CITIES BECAME BLACK AND POOR: THE HIDDEN STORY URBAN STATEHOOD: Why America needs more states. SAVING THE CITY FROM ITSELF: This is this the full version of an article on the American city, portions of which have been published in various magazines and newspapers
BACK TO INDEX GROUPS MEDIA READING GREEN STUFF
BACK TO INDEX THE IDEA MILL; Articles, essays and arguments of interest to the lively mind WORDS AND MEANING: A 1981 essay by Sam Smith on America's 'failure of communications' and what to do about it. WHAT'S A HUMANITIES? Your editor becomes the resident philistine on a humanities council RECOVERED HISTORY: Tales from the memory hole WHY THERE ARE SO MANY DRUG REFORM POLICY GROUPS: Adam Smith of the Drug Reform Coordination Network explainst the proliferation of some 350 groups concerned with drug policy reform FIRE ARM INSURANCE John Gear proposes a new approach to the gun issue. PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION The fair way to count votes. A fact sheet and an article explaining how we could make our elections fairer. ELECTING AN ATTORNEY GENERAL Sam Smith and Pentagon whistleblower Ernie Fitzgerald propose a constitutional amendment to provide for an independent attorney general selected in an off-year election. THE OTHER WAY TO DEAL WITH THE NATIONAL DEBT: What happens when you let the government, rather than banks, print the money.
BACK TO INDEX BACK TO SCHOOL: Memoirs of a parent association president GRADUATION SPEECH: A talk given by the editor to some 8th graders. LET 'EM PLAY: The case for extra-curricular activities PUNK AND PROTEST: Music and action
BACK TO INDEX UNSOLVED MYSTERIES: BCCI, OKC, TWA 800 and all the other acronyms of uncertainty. WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO THE WORLD TRADE CENTER?
THIRTEEN MYTHS ABOUT GENETIC ENGINEERING POKER
PLAYER'S GUIDE
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