Coming
in October
From Common Courage Press
Today's
Stories
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
Vicente Navarro
Media
Double Standards: The Case of Mr. Aznar, Friend of Bush
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
Recent
Stories
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!
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
August 14, 2003
Peter Phillips
Inside
Bohemian Grove: Where US Power Elites Party
Brian Cloughley
Charlie Wilson and Pakistan: the Strange Congressman Behind the
CIA's Most Expensive War
Linville and Ruder
Tyson
Strike Draws the Line
Jim Lobe
Bush Administration Divided Over Iran
Ramzy Baroud
Sharon Freezes the Road Map
Tom Turnipseed
Blowback in Iraq
Gary Leupp
Condi's
Speech: From Birgmingham to Baghdad, Imperialism's Freedom Ride
Website of the Day
Tony Benn's Greatest Hits
Congratulations
to CounterPuncher Gilad Atzmon! BBC Names EXILE Top Jazz CD
August 13, 2003
Joanne Mariner
A Wall of Separation Through the
Heart
Donald Worster
The Heavy Cost of Empire
Standard Schaefer
Experimental Casinos: DARPA and the War Economy
Elaine Cassel
Murderous Errors: Executing the Innocent
Ralph Nader
Make the Recall Count
Alexander Cockburn
Ted Honderich Hit with "Anti-Semitism" Slur
Website of the Day
Defending Yourself Against DirectTV Lawsuits: 9000 and Counting
August 12, 2003
William Blum
Myth
and Denial in the War on Terrorism
Ron Jacobs
Revisionist History: the Bush Administration, Civil Rights and
Iraq
Josh Frank
Dean's Constitutional Hang-Up
Wayne Madsen
What's a Fifth Columnist? Well, Someone Like Hitchens
Ray McGovern
Relax,
It Was All a Pack of Lies
Wendy Brinker
Hubris in the White House
Website of the Day
Black
Mustache
Hot Stories
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
Elaine
Cassel
Civil Liberties
Watch
Michel
Guerrin
Embedded Photographer Says: "I
Saw Marines Kill Civilians"
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.
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August
21, 2003
Brother John's Traveling
Patriot Salvation Show
Ashcroft's
VICTORY Laps
By ELAINE CASSEL
In an unprecedented, desperate, and politically
motivated move, Brother John Ashcroft has taken to the road.
Setting up his tent in strategic cities to bring his Traveling
Patriot Salvation Show to lost Americans. With apologies to Neil
Diamond, "pack up the babies and grab the old ladies."
But take 'em someplace safe, like an old-time religion tent revival,
not Brother John's catechism on the USA Patriot Act.
Brother John senses he is in trouble.
According to a report in The Washington Post, 150 local governments--
as well as the states of Alaska, Hawaii and Vermont--have passed
resolutions condemning all or parts of the legislation. The House
also voted earlier this summer to cut off funding for a portion
of the law that allows for "sneak and peak" warrants
by adopting an amendment by Rep. C.L. "Butch" Otter
(R-Idaho) that caught the Bush administration by surprise.
His first sermon in the 2002 summer revival
series was to the friendly American Enterprise Institute. Typical
of his hell-fire and brimstone manner, he warned the audience
(which was a tad like preaching to the choir), that failure to
support efforts to renew and strengthen provisions of the Patriot
Act would lead to further acts of destruction like those witnessed
on September 11. And in characteristic hyperbolic evangelistic
fashion, he said that in hindsight the Patriot Act should have
been passed before September 11, suggesting that its passage
would have prevented the disaster. September 11 was caused, in
case you were wondering, because there was no law allowing the
information sharing that the Patriot Act enables.
Talk about snake oil and witches' brew!
The world knows that the information to prevent the attack--or
at least keep Atta and his crew out of the cockpits--was within
the purview of the FBI and CIA well before the attack. And that
performing perfunctory searches of the hijackers would have turned
up their weapons. But a good preacher never lets the facts get
in the way of the sermon.
Brother John refrained from quoting from
the Bible, but he did use the names of Winston Churchill and
Abraham Lincoln in vain in support of this attack on civil liberties
which he calls the "linchpin" in the war against terrorism.
Waving the flag, Brother John warned
that those who would curtail his powers under the act (a not-so-subtle
threat to the American Civil Liberties Union and Center for Constitutional
Rights, both of which have filed suits against Ashcroft) would
"senselessly imperil American lives and American liberty."
Brother John's deacons didn't pass the
collection plate or sell propaganda tracts after his sermon,
but they did announce the debut of his new web site devoted to
the preservation and expansion of the Patriot Act, <www.lifeandliberty.gov>.
Confess your sins and commit yourself to the Patriot Act as your
lord and savior. Come all you who want life and liberty. Believe
in John and he will keep you free.
Justice Department spokeswoman Barbara
Comstock said no political calculations went into choosing the
cities for the tour. If you believe that, Brother John has a
gallon of snake oil to sell you. Guaranteed to restore vim and
vigor and burn off warts. His venues have been carefully chosen
to maximize political gain for Brother Bush in his upcoming 2004
presidential campaign. They include the key states of Iowa, Pennsylvania,
Michigan, and Ohio.
And because the Reverend can't be everywhere,
he has anointed his federal prosecutors--those highly paid suits
on the government payroll--and ordained them to preach the Gospel
of John in their home towns. If you can't catch the Big Show
at the Big Top, check your paper for local listings and times.
I am sure there are a few budding Brothers
in U.S. Attorneys' offices waiting for the spirit to work in
them. So they, too, can, in the fullness of time, preach and
sing--let's don't forget the singing--like Brother John.
Elaine Cassel
practices law in Virginia and the District of Columbia, teachers
law and psychology, and follows the Bush regime's dismantling
of the Constitution at Civil
Liberties Watch. She can be reached at: ecassel1@cox.net
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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