THE LATEST UNDERNEWS
SEARCH ARCHIVES	SAM'S BOOKS	SITE INDEX	E-MAIL UPDATES OR
THE DEMOCRAT'S RIGHT WING FOLLIES		THE U.S. AND TORTURE
SIGNS ON THE ROAD TO ABU GHRAIB		THE ELECTION IS OVER WE LOST.
NEWS BY TOPIC		HISTORY OF WAR TOLD ENTIRELY IN OFFICIAL LIES
APOLOGY TO YOUNGER AMERICANS		VET: "I KILLED INNOCENT PEOPLE"
WORDS & CRUELTY	NEW ARTICLES	THE BUSH FILES	AMERICAN INDICATORS

G8: GREAT MOMENTS IN POLICE OVERRREACTION PORTUGUESE COPS TO LET BRITISH FANS SMOKE DOPE; POT USERS LESS VIOLENT THAN DRINKER STUDY: MONIED CLASSES DON'T HAVE MORE SEX COUNTRY STATIONS DISS ANTI-WAR SONGS DIEBOLD CAMPAIGN POSTERS WORD If you've ever been to Disney World, you've probably got an idea of what they've got going here. - DC Fox 5 reporter on the scene at Reagan's funeral helping viewers get a feel of it. REAGAN'S HEART OF DARKNESS SEVERE STRESS DAMAGES MEMORY KERRY'S FOR 'NON-LETHAL' BUT HIGHLY PAINFUL WEAPONS THE SAUDI MYSTERY FLIGHT A TORTURE VICTIM SPEAKS OF TORTURERS RUMSFELD OKAYED ABUSE OF JOHN WALKER LINDH ISP CENSORS JOHN STUART MILLS ON LIBERTY THE WAR AGAINST OFFBEAT ARTISTS DETAINEES' MEDICAL FILES SHARED SERBIAN REALITY SHOW HAS POLITICIANS PICKING UP VOTERS IN TAXIS AND CHATTING WITH THEM

USE OF DOGS TO SCARE PRISONERS WAS APPROVED Dog handlers say the intimidation tactic was approved by the highest-ranking military intelligence officer at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. FORMER U.S. MARINE ORGANIZING PALESTINE ˜OBSERVERS" FLORIDA ELECTIONS CHIEF QUITS; BLAMES POLITICAL PRESSURE JUDGE DISMISSES CHARGES AGAINST MAYOR IN GAY MARRIAGE CASE HALLIBURTON UNDER INVESTIGATION FOR NIGERIAN BRIBES REAGAN LIES UPDATE BALTIMORE WANTS TO SPY ON EVERYONE BAD NIGHT AT THE POLLS FOR LABOUR Labour suffers badly in English and Welsh local elections with senior party figures blaming an Iraq war protest vote. NEW YORK DEMOCRATS HAVE GALL TO CRITICIZE SOUTH BOSTON HOMELAND SECURITY CREATES WHOLE NEW SECRECY SYSTEM UNDECIDED VOTER IS BECOMING THE FOCUS OF BOTH POLITICAL PARTIES Only about 5 percent of the voting public is undecided, about one-third of what is typical at this point in the campaign. The American who really deserves a state funeral RAY CHARLES: THE SOUL OF A GENIUS AUDIO: MUSIC BY RAY CHARLES MUCH OF COASTAL U.S. MAY FOLLOW CALIFORNIA ON CAR EMISSIONS DECLINE AND FALL OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY: UNIONS PICKET CONVENTION SITE JUDGE ORDERS PICKET LINES TO CLEAR WAY AT FLEET CENTER US MARSHALS ARE DISPATCHED TO THE ARENA JUDGE DISMISSES CHARGES AGAINST NEW PALTZ MAYOR SAUDI ACQUITTED OF INTERNET TERROR

SITE INDEX RETURN TO TOP NEWS  LATEST UNDERNEWS  DAILY MEDIA ALTERNATIVE MEDIA NATIONAL POLLS  STATEWIDE RACES  ALTERNATIVE JOURNALISTS    THE REVIEW E-MAIL UPDATES PRINT SUBSCRIPTIONS  EMAIL US DONATIONS ORDER BOOKS & SUBS   ABOUT THE EDITOR    SAM SMITH INTERVIEWED  HISTORY OF REVIEW NICE WORDS ABOUT US BOOKSHOP   TOOLS  SEARCH WEB  WEB TOOLS ACTION LINKS US STATS QUOTATIONS INDEFINABLE SITES   SAM SMITH'S WRITING WHY BOTHER? 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DC LOCAL NEWS   GET OUR E-MAIL UPDATES   BACK TO INDEX  IT'S EASIER FOR US IF YOU JOIN OUR TOPICA LIST, BUT IF THAT'S TOO COMPLICATED JUST SEND US YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS GET OUR HARD COPY EDITION To receive a free trial subscription to hard copy editions, send your terrestrial address, including zip. U.S. addresses only. And please tell us where you heard about the Review. BACK TO INDEX    THE PROGRESSIVE REVIEW Edited by Sam Smith 1312 18th St NW WDC 20036 202-835-0770 202-835-0779 FAX The Progressive Review is the most recent iteration of a series of alternative journals started in 1964, when such things didn't hardly exist. The online edition is receiving over a million page views a year and is one of the leading progressive news sites. 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. He has also written four books and helped to start six organizations [including two political parties - national Green and the DC Statehood parties]. His writing has appeared in more than 30 publications. ALTERNATIVE JOURNALISTS BACK TO INDEX RUSS BAKER DAN BAUM ALEXANDER COCKBURN MATT DRUDGE ROBERT FISK AL GIORDANO WILLIAM GREIDER NAT HENTOFF MOLLY IVINS SAUL LANDAU MARA LEVERITT MOKHIBER & WEISSMAN GEORGE MONBIOT GREG PALAST JAMES RIDGEWAY CRISPIN SARTWELL SAM SMITH GARY WEBB WEB TOOLS BACK TO INDEX 1 UP INFO ACADEMIC CONF ALERTS AIRLINE LEGROOM AIRPLANE SEATING ALTERNATIVE JOURNALS AMAZON BOOKS AMERICAN AUTHORS ON THE WEB ANAGRAM SERVER BARTLETT QUOTATIONS (1901) CALL FOR PAPERS CITY, STATE & COUNTY DEMOGRAPHICS CLASSIC BOOKS I CLASSIC BOOKS II COOKING BY THE NUMBERS COUNTRY REPORTS COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD DICTIONARIES DICTIONARY II ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA EXCHANGE RATES EXPEDIA TRAVEL SERVICE FAQS BY CATEGORY HISTORY CALENDAR HISTORY NET HOUSING PRICE INDEX HOW TO DO THINGS HUMANITIES RESOURCES 1 UP INFO INTERNATIONAL CAM LINKS KING JAMES BIBLE LEGAL INFORMATION INSTITUTE LONGEVITY TRACKER MEDIA ARCHIVES MELISSA DATA LOOKUPS MUSICAL DATA BASE NAMEBASE DATABASE NY TIMES NAVIGATOR PROF LIBRARIANS 24/7 QUOTELAND POLITICAL GRAVEYARD RARE AND USED BOOKS I RARE AND USED BOOKS II REFERENCE TOOLS; REF DESK REFERENCE TOOLS: LIBRARY   SPOT REFERENCE TOOLS: BARTLEBY REFERENCE WORKS REPORT CARD OF STATES SALARY CHECKER SLANG SEARCH SURNAME DISTRIBUTION TRANSLATIONS WALL ST RESEARCH ZIP CODE DEMOGRAPHICS GOVERNMENT BUREAU OF ECONOMIC ANALYSIS BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS CAPITOL HEARINGS CENSUS BUREAU CENSUS STATS CIA WORLD FACT BOOK CONGRESSIONAL RECORD CONSTITUTION FEDERAL CRIMINAL CODE FEDERAL STATISTICS GOVERNMENT INFORMATION GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS STATISTICAL ABSTRACT SUPREME COURT CASES THOMAS [LEGISLATIVE INFO] VOTES IN HOUSE VOTES IN SENATE ZIP CODES INDEFINABLE BACK TO INDEX @149TH STREET ANNALS OF IMPROBABLE     RESEARCH BARTCOP BOONDOCKS ARCHIVES CAR TALK CENSORED SMOTHERS BROTHERS CONVENTIONAL WISDOM CUSTOMERS SUCK DAVE BARRY DESPAIR ESSEX MTN SANATORIUM FAILURE MAGAZINE FOUND MAGAZINE OUTDOOR TOILETS REGRETTABLE FOOD OFFICIAL CHEER LANDOVER BAPTIST CHURCH LOST HIGHWAYS ARCHIVES MUSEUM OF DEPRESSIONIST ART SIMPSONS ARCHIVE SINGLE MINDED SMOKING GUN ULTIMATE CONSPIRACY CHART WEIRD NEW JERSEY ZIPPY THE PINHEAD  STATS BACK TO INDEX AMERICAN INDICATORS CLINTON SCANDALS CLINTON LEGACY DRUG WAR DRUG WAR CLOCK DRUG WAR FACTS ECOLOGY CHECK YOUR ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT CLIMATE MAP EDF SCORECARD SCORECARD SMOG IN THE 50 LARGEST CITIES ECONOMICS CENSUS DATA ECONOMIC STATS MARKETING CLICHES BY ZIP UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFIT CALCULATOR EDUCATION KIDS COUNT FOOD FARM SUBSIDIES DATABASE GLOBAL ARCHIVES OF COUNTRY STUDIES CIA COUNTRY FACT BOOK GLOBAL STATS GOVERNMENT BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS CENSUS STATS FEDERAL STATISTICS HEALTH HEALTH FACTS BY STATE NUTRIENT DATA BASE HOUSING HOUSING PRICE INDEX POLITICS PROGRESSIVE PUNCH STATES FEDERAL STATS ON YOUR STATE TAXES & OTHER INDICATORS PUBLIC LIBRARIES RATED BY STATE URBAN COUNTIES RATED FOR SPRAWL ZIPCODE DATA NEIGHBORHOOD INFO NICE WORDS ABOUT US 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 COMING TO DC? BACK TO INDEX Whether you're just visiting or moving to town, you'll find our local pages of interest. They include news, progressive events, local history and more NEWS DC TRENDS DC ALMANAC DC AS A COLONY SEX AND CRIME IN DC BLACK DC HISTORY

MEXICAN JAIL TRIES AROMATHERAPY AND MOZART STATE DEPARTMENT FUDGED TERRORISM STATISTICS A REPORT FROM THE G-8 YOU WON'T READ IN THE CONVENTIONAL MEDIA E JANE DICKSON, INDEPENDENT, UK - At Beachview Books, a gathering place for embattled, vociferous liberals, attitudes are is less gung-ho. Larry, editor of The Great Speckled Seagull, a "semi-underground" periodical, is a gentle radical who wears a cowboy hat with a feather in it and carves weirdly beautiful faces in the island's trees. He has just heard a rumour that 2,000 body bags have been delivered to the clapboard Chamber of Commerce across the road from the bookstore. This intelligence is passed around like a joint at a fortysomething party, a delicious whiff of recreational danger. Five minutes later, one of the island's fire chiefs drops by, fresh from a briefing. It's not a rumour. The body bags are here, together with a refrigerated lorry to take away the corpses. "I liked it better when it was a rumour," says Larry. STATE DEPARTMENT FUDGED TERRORISM STATISTICS WEIGHT EXPERT SAYS FAT PLAGUE IS OVERRATED TRICKS JOB INTERVIEWERS USE PFIZER BULLIES CANADIAN FIRMS OVER DRUGS FOR U.S. SENIORS WHY GEORGE BUSH NEEDS A LAWYER NADER GOES AFTER THE CONSERVATIVE VOTE IN INTERVIEW WITH PAT BUCHANAN MORE THAN 300 COMMUNITIES ON PATRIOT ACT CASE CNN HIRES REAGANITE ANALYST TENET MAY HAVE BEEN VICTIM OF ANCIENT ALBANAN JINX G8 SUMMIT THE WAY THE AMERICAN PRESS WON'T COVER IT UTAH IS BOTTOM IN SCHOOL SPENDING, ABOVE AVERAGE IN SCORES MORE THAN 300 COMMUNITIES ON PATRIOT ACT CASE LIFE MAGAZINE RETURNS IN FALL [If the new Life concentrates on photos, this is great news. One of the media's giant mistakes was to assume that television had eliminated the need for photographic coverage. Most images on TV are fleeting; however with Life you can look at them over and over. Which is why old issues sell so well in antique stores]  SOME OF THE MOST REPULSIVE OF THE Reagan coverage came from MSNBC, which isn't so surprising since they were celebrating the life of a past fellow employee of defense contractor General Electric. IT OCCURS to us that one reason that some feel so nostalgic about Reagan is because they credit him with having created the country in which he came to power rather than with the mess he made of the place that now leaves them feeling so nostalgic for the way it used to be. REAGAN LIE DETECTOR Reagan conducted one of the most absurd invasions of American history, targetting the tiny island of Grenada. As president of the Screen Actors Guild, Ronald Reagan informed on fellow actors to the FBI. The Reagan admininstration was one of the most corrupt in American history, including by one estimate 31 Reagan era convictions, including 14 because of Iran-Contra and 16 in the Department of Housing & Urban Development scandal. By comparison 40 government officials were indicted or convicted in the wake of Watergate. 47 individuals and businesses associated with the Clinton machine were convicted of or pleaded guilty to crimes with 33 of these occurring during the Clinton administration itself. There were in addition 61 indictments or misdemeanor charges. 14 persons were imprisoned. Using a looser standard that included resignations, David R. Simon and D. Stanley Eitzen in Elite Deviance, say that 138 appointees of the Reagan administration either resigned under an ethical cloud or were criminally indicted. Curiously Haynes Johnson uses the same figure but with a different standard in "Sleep-Walking Through History: America in the Reagan Years: "By the end of his term, 138 administration officials had been convicted, had been indicted, or had been the subject of official investigations for official misconduct and/or criminal violations." Four members of the Reagan cabinet came under criminal investiation, as compared with five in the Clinton cabinet. Three top officials of the Harding administration were in indicted in the Teapot Dome scandal. The Reagan administration had secret plans for an unconstitutional takeover of the federal government under an ill-defined national emergency. Members of the government created by the coup had been selected and included Richard Cheney. Reagan's decision to send troops to Lebanon cost 241 lives. As the NY Times noted recently, "Mr. Reagan's decision to send marines to Lebanon was disastrous and his invasion of Grenada pure melodrama." During the Reagan administration the number of families living below the poverty line increased by one-third. Reagan's policies led to the greatest financial scandal in American history: the Savings & Loan debacle which cost taxpayers billions of dollars. Julian Bond, president of the NAACP: "He was a polarizing figure in black America. He was hostile to the generally accepted remedies for discrimination. His appointments were of people as equally hostile. I can't think of any Reagan policy that African Americans would embrace." Reagan made major cuts in Medicaid, food stamps, aid to families with dependent children, and school lunch programs. Reagan fired 13,000 air traffic controllers in a devasting blow to government union members from which the labor movement never recovered. Washington Post: "Reagan, during his 1980 campaign, blamed trees for emitting 93 percent of the nation's nitrogen oxide pollution -- giving rise to jokes about 'killer trees.'" The national debt tripled under Reagan The AIDS crisis exploded (with 20,000 deaths) before Reagan could even bring himself to address the issue six years later. In his authorized biography he is quoted as saying that "maybe the Lord brought down this plague," because "illicit sex is against the Ten Commandments." Washington Post: "The administration in 1984 secretly sold arms to Iran -- which the United States considered a supporter of terrorism -- to raise cash for Nicaraguan contra rebels, despite a congressional ban on support for the Latin American insurgency. An independent investigation concluded that the arms sales to Iran operations "were carried out with the knowledge of, among others, President Ronald Reagan [and] Vice President George Bush," and that "large volumes of highly relevant, contemporaneously created documents were systematically and willfully withheld from investigators by several Reagan Administration officials." . . . Lawrence E. Walsh, the independent counsel who ran the inquiry, said there was "no credible evidence" that Reagan broke the law, but he set the stage for the illegal activities of others. Impeachment, Walsh said, "certainly should have been considered." His administration was responsible for numerous brutal actions in Latin America, including massacres in El Salvador and the war against Nicaragua. The claim that Reagan won the Cold War is pure rightwing propaganda. The Soviet Union had long been far weaker than many American leaders knew, or wished to acknowledge, thanks to CIA gross overestimates of its economy. The Soviet Union was brought down by a number of factors including the inherent weaknesses of dictatorship and ethnic divides that eventually forced its breakup. William Blum: "[George Kennan], the former US ambassador to the Soviet Union, and father of the theory of 'containment' of the same country, asserts that 'the suggestion that any United States administration had the power to influence decisively the course of a tremendous domestic political upheaval in another great country on another side of the globe is simply childish.' He contends that the extreme militarization of American policy strengthened hard-liners in the Soviet Union. 'Thus the general effect of Cold War extremism was to delay rather than hasten the great change that overtook the Soviet Union.'" After a major tax cut, there was a long recession and unemployment that hit ten percent. Bill Press - "It was Reagan who first proposed a missile defense system -- immediately dubbed "Star Wars" by skeptical reporters -- in a March 23, 1983 speech from the Oval Office. However, as Frances Fitzgerald reveals in her brilliant history "Way Out There in the Blue," Reagan didn't get his plan from the scientists or the generals. The Pentagon wasn't even notified of his speech ahead of time. Reagan stole Star Wars directly from -- the movies. In 1940, appearing in the Warner Brothers thriller "Murder in the Air," Reagan played an American secret agent charged with protecting a super weapon that could strike all enemy planes from the air. Seed planted in Reagan's brain. Then in 1966, Alfred Hitchcock released a Reagan favorite, "Torn Curtain," in which American agent Paul Newman works on developing an anti-missile missile. In words that must have made Ronnie tingle, Newman's character asserts: "We will produce a defensive weapon that will make all nuclear weapons obsolete, and thereby abolish the terror of nuclear warfare." Sound familiar? Reagan used almost the exact words in selling missile defense from the office, 17 years later. REAGAN'S SECRET COUP PLANS RONALD REAGAN'S LAST CON MORNING LINE KERRY SHOWING PROGRESS REPORTERS SEE BOTTOM LINE PRESSURES INCREASING PEW CENTER ASHCROFT REFUSES TO RELEASE TORTURE MEMO OFFICER SAYS WHITE HOUSE WAS INTERESTED IN ABU GHRAIB RESULTS FERNWOOD FOREVER: FIRST ORGANIC CEMETARY NAPA NEWS CA -- In what may be the ultimate expression of "back to nature," three entrepreneurs are creating what they say is California's first organic cemetery, hoping their ban on floral arrangements and formaldehyde will serve as a national model. To ensure visitors pay their respects at the right spot, the cemetery will provide global positioning system devices and native boulders as markers. LOCAL HEROES JUDGE STOPS UNIVERSITY FROM CANCELLING HEMPFEST BUDDHIST MONKS HOSPITALIZED AFTER BRAWL IN SRI LANKA'S PARLIAMENT BUSH LAWYERS THINK TORTURE IS FINE HOW MUCH OIL IS LEFT? SUPREME COURT APPROVES UNSAFE MEXICAN TRUCKS ON U.S. ROADS FATHER THREATENED WITH ARREST FOR TAKING SON OFF RITALIN GLOBAL POLL FINDS PESSIMISM, LINKED TO US POWER WHERE BIG BROTHER SNOOPS ON AMERICANS CONGRESSMAN OVERCOMES EFFORT BY ISRAEL LOBBY TO DEFEAT HIM REP. JAMES MORAN has withstood an attack by the pro-Israel lobby and the Washington Post which had hyped two charges of anti-Semitism, one of which was false and the other unsubstantiated and denied by three persons present. The attack was the second attempt by the Israel lobby to punish liberal Democrats who had strayed from the Mid East coral. A similar effort against progressive Representative Cynthia McKinney was successful and is being tried again as McKinney attempts a comeback. Moran, who has a lifetime 72% ADA voting record, won by 59 to 41 percent. THE MATHEMATICS OF BUYING A HYBRID CAR Fuel savings vs. firm, high sticker price and so forth BUILDING CANNIBALIZED MOPEDS IN CUBA POST CONSTITUTIONAL AMERICA BROADCASTER FINED $2 MILLION FOR VIOLATING FCC CENSORSHIP LAWYERS FOR GITMO PRISONERS WANT TO KNOW HOW THEY WERE TREATED REAGAN'S DEATH A GIFT TO BUSH CAMPAIGN BOSTON TRANSIT POLICE TO RANDOMLY RUMMAGE THROUGH PASSENGERS' BELONGINGS KERRY BEATS BUSH WITH YOUNG CUBAN AMERICANS ALLAWI FUNNELED FAKE WMD CLAIM TO U.S. RECOVERED HISTORY THE DOWN SIDE OF D-DAY French historian Jean-Pierre Azema, quoted in the Parisian daily France Soir: "There were nearly 500 French women raped in Normandy by GIs--a phenomenon so widespread that three GIs were hanged for rape there by U.S. military tribunals as a warning to others." RONALD REAGAN'S LAST CON  SAM SMITH - Ronald Regan has carried out his last con. The first occupant of the White House to make politics just another form of show business is being buried as a hero despite having been one of the worst presidents America ever had. True, he was not as corrupt as Nixon or Clinton, nor as gleefully imperial as George Bush the Lesser, and the damage he did was largely unintentional, the fatal mischief of a small minded man granted too much power. But the result was to begin the decline and fall of the first American republic by convincing its leaders, media, and citizens that the main thing they needed for happiness was a free, unfettered market accompanied by sufficient faux cowboy rhetoric. That there was never any empirical evidence for the absurd economic assumptions didn't matter; his charm sufficed where logic failed. A quarter century later we are left with a middle class with substantially greater problems, a lower class far more ignored, an ecology far more damaged, a much larger gap between rich and poor and between CEO and employee, Medicare and Social Security in danger, and a culture of greed and narcissism that has buried ideals of democracy, community, and cooperation. The nausea-inducing elevation of Reagan into someone he never was is another triumph of rightwing spin being swallowed whole by a media that not only doesn't know the facts, it doesn't even think it has to, for it, too, has become just another part of show business. PHIL GASPER, COUNTERPUNCH - Reagan refused to mention AIDS publicly for six years, under-funded federal programs dealing with the disease and, according to his authorized biography, said, "Maybe the Lord brought down this plague," because "illicit sex is against the Ten Commandments." DAVID CORN, NATION - The firing of the air traffic controllers, winnable nuclear war, trees that cause pollution, Elliott Abrams lying to Congress, ketchup as a vegetable, public housing cutbacks, getting cozy with Argentine fascist generals, tax credits for segregated schools, disinformation campaigns, "homeless by choice," Manuel Noriega, falling wages, "constructive engagement" with apartheid South Africa, the invasion of Grenada, assassination manuals, drug tests, the S&L scandal, silence on AIDS, food-stamp reductions, Ed Meese ("You don't have many suspects who are innocent of a crime"), massacres in El Salvador, $640 Pentagon toilet seats, William Casey, Iran/contra, Robert Bork, naps, Teflon. JUAN COLE - I remember seeing a tape of Reagan speaking in California from that era. He said that he had heard that some asserted there was hunger in America. He said it sarcastically. He said, "Sure there is; they're dieting!" or words to that effect GLENN KESSLER WASHINGTON POST - Reagan's spending cuts barely nicked the fastest-growing parts of government, his tax cuts reduced revenue so much that later in his tenure taxes had to be raised repeatedly, his regulatory approach was criticized for leading to the savings and loan crisis and his unbalanced budgets to a near-tripling of the federal debt in eight years. BILLMON - The legacy of Reagan's policies in the Middle East, meanwhile, are still being paid for - in blood. The cynical promotion of Islamic fundamentalism as a weapon against the Soviets in Afghanistan, the alliance of convenience with Saddam Hussein against Iran, the forging of a new "strategic relationship" with Israel, the corrupt dealings with the House of Saud, and (perhaps most ironic, given Reagan's tough guy image) the weakness and indecision of his disastrous intervention in Beruit - all of these helped set the stage for what the neo-cons now like to call World War IV, and badly weakened the geopolitical ability of the United States to wage that war. MICHAEL BRONSKI, Z MAGAZINE - The most memorable Reagan AIDS moment was at the 1986 centenary rededication of the Statue of Liberty. The Reagan's were there sitting next to the French Prime Minister and his wife, Francois and Danielle Mitterrand. Bob Hope was on stage entertaining the all-star audience. In the middle of a series of one-liners, Hope quipped, "I just heard that the Statue of Liberty has AIDS, but she doesn't know if she got it from the mouth of the Hudson or the Staten Island Fairy." As the television camera panned the audience, the Mitterrands looked appalled. The Reagans were laughing. By the end of 1989, 115,786 women and men had been diagnosed with AIDS in the United States-more then 70,000 of them had died. CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS, SLATE - Ronald Reagan claimed that the Russian language had no word for "freedom." (The word is "svoboda"; it's quite well attested in Russian literature.) Ronald Reagan said that intercontinental ballistic missiles (not that there are any non-ballistic missiles-a corruption of language that isn't his fault) could be recalled once launched. Ronald Reagan said that he sought a "Star Wars" defense only in order to share the technology with the tyrants of the U.S.S.R. . . Ronald Reagan used to alarm his Soviet counterparts by saying that surely they'd both unite against an invasion from Mars. Ronald Reagan used to alarm other constituencies by speaking freely about the "End Times" foreshadowed in the Bible. In the Oval Office, Ronald Reagan told Yitzhak Shamir and Simon Wiesenthal, on two separate occasions, that he himself had assisted personally at the liberation of the Nazi death camps. . . GREG PALAST - In 1987, I found myself stuck in a crappy little town in Nicaragua named Chaguitillo. The people were kind enough, though hungry, except for one surly young man. His wife had just died of tuberculosis. People don't die of TB if they get some antibiotics. But Ronald Reagan, big hearted guy that he was, had put a lock-down embargo on medicine to Nicaragua because he didn't like the government that the people there had elected. THE BIGGEST REAGAN LIE THE BIGGEST REAGAN lie is that he won the Cold War by terrifying the Soviets with Star Wars, upping defense expenditures, and generally being such a tough guy. The myth, though basically just GOP campaign spin, has been widely promulgated in current news coverage. The facts of the matter are quite different. FOR EXAMPLE, two years before the breakup, the Progressive Review ran an article by Thomas S. Martin - Devolution, Soviet Style, that reported that "Mikhail Gorbachev's policy of perestroika, or restructuring, has opened a Pandora's box of separatist and devolutionary movements in the Soviety Union. The article went through the union, state by state, and spoke of the "the last desperate cry of Soviet statism." Thanks to the American right's distortion of the issue, Americans to this day have little idea of what really was happening in the Soviet Union. Besides, it's part of the delusional American creed that good things in the world only happen because we will them. ARCHIE BROWN, BBC, 2001 - The Soviet Union on the eve of Gorbachev's perestroika (reconstruction) had serious political and economic problems. Technologically, it was falling behind not only Western countries but also the newly industrialized countries of Asia. Its foreign policy evinced a declining capacity to win friends and influence people. Yet there was no political instability within the country, no unrest, and no crisis. This was not a case of economic and political crisis producing liberalization and democratization. Rather, it was liberalization and democratization that brought the regime to crisis point. . . SOUTH ASIA ANALYST GROUP - The Congressional Quarterly Researcher wrote on December 11,1992: "After the Soviet break-up, economists were amazed at the extent to which the CIA had overestimated the performance of the Soviet economy, leading many to speculate that the numbers were hyped to fuel the arms race." Mr. Allan Goodman, Dean of Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, described the CIA's economic intelligence performance as "between abysmal and mediocre." Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, former Vice-Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said after the Soviet break-up: " For a quarter century, they (the CIA) told the President everything there was to know about the Soviet Union, excepting the fact that it was collapsing (due to a bad economy). They missed that detail." FAREED ZAKARIA, NEWSWEEK - During the early 1970s, hard-line conservatives pilloried the CIA for being soft on the Soviets. As a result, CIA Director George Bush agreed to allow a team of outside experts to look at the intelligence and come to their own conclusions. Team B--which included Paul Wolfowitz--produced a scathing report, claiming that the Soviet threat had been badly underestimated. In retrospect, Team B's conclusions were wildly off the mark. Describing the Soviet Union, in 1976, as having "a large and expanding Gross National Product," it predicted that it would modernize and expand its military at an awesome pace. For example, it predicted that the Backfire bomber "probably will be produced in substantial numbers, with perhaps 500 aircraft off the line by early 1984." In fact, the Soviets had 235 in 1984. HOW THE MEDIA USED TO COVER REAGAN more headlines

NEW ARTICLES BACK TO INDEX A VETERAN SPEAKS: "I KILLED INNOCENT PEOPLE FOR MY GOVERNMENT" WORDS & CRUELTY REBEL: Written on your editor's 40th anniversary as an alternative journalist JOURNALISM'S GOOD OLD DAYS: They never were like some would have us believe OUTSOURCING FOREIGN POLICY TO ISRAEL NATIONAL HEALTH PLAN NEWS HISTORY OF THE WAR TOLD ENTIRELY IN OFFICIAL LIES THE DEMOCRAT'S RIGHT WING FOLLIES SAM SMITH'S TALK TO A TEEN SOCIAL JUSTICE CONFERENCE COLD FUSION ACHIVES THE ELECTION IS OVER. WE LOST. ON TO A NOV 3RD MOVEMENT WHY I RAN: A FORMER GREEN ALDERMAN CRITIQUES THE LEFT OUR KERRY ARCHIVES THE NON-POLITICAL SIDE OF POLITICS READER PICKS in order of hits as of last quarter BACK TO INDEX BEHIND THE BUSHES Our timeline of one of America's more curious families and fun facts about their friends. HANDLING THE BULLIES CITY DESK: For people who live in DC AMERICAN INDICATORS The stats behind the American story  THE CLINTON LEGACY 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 APOLOGY TO YOUNGER AMERICANS UNSOLVED MYSTERIES LINKS TO FREE AMERICA. A great collection of links to groups and media WHY THE DEMOCRATS ARE IN TROUBLE OUR FAVORITE QUOTATIONS WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO THE WORLD TRADE CENTER? THIRTEEN MYTHS ABOUT GENETIC ENGINEERING WHITEWATER ARCHIVES 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 BUSH'S WARS THE CASE FOR JURY NULLIFICATION GUNS AND VIOLENCE THE CREEPING COUP 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 MIDEAST ARCHIVES BUSH ART BUSH BOUNCED FROM CARLYLE BOARD IRAQ ARCHIVES MISSION CREEP: How the military has moved into civilian life JR HIGH GRADUATION SPEECH HOW TO GET ALONG WITH 290 MILLION AMERICANS WHO AREN'T QUITE LIKE YOU ALSO OF INTEREST BACK TO INDEX 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 DAILY MEDIA BACK TO INDEX GENERAL AGENCE FRANCE PRESS AP NATIONAL AP WASHINGTON BBC BOSTON GLOBE CHRISTIAN SCI MONITOR COMMON DREAMS C-SPAN SCHEDULE DC DAYBOOK DRUDGE REPORT FARK FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE GUARDIAN INDEPENDENT INDY MEDIA LA TIMES NEWSMAX NEW YORK TIMES PROGRESSIVE REVIEW REUTERS TIMES OF LONDON WASHINGTON POST WASHINGTON TIMES AFGHANISTAN AFGHAN DAILY AFRICA ALL AFRICA BLACK BLACK CHRONICLE BLACK NEWS BLACK VOICES GLOBAL BLACK NEWS COLOMBIA COLOMBIA TIMES CULTURE ARTS JOURNAL ECONOMIC FINANCIAL TIMES EDUCATION EDUCATIEWS PAKISTAN WIRE TEHELKA TIMES OF INDIA HINDUSTAN TIMES INTERNET WIRED IRAQ IRAQ JOURNAL JEWISH FORWARD LATINO HISPANIC ONLINE MEDIA JIM ROMENESKO SPIN OF THE DAY MIDDLE EAST AL-JAZEERA ANTI-WAR ARAB NEWS ARAB NEWSPAPERS ARUTZ SHEVA NEWS SERVICE BEIRUT DAILY STAR DAILY STAR- LEBANON DAWN - PARKISTAN DEBKA FILE DEMOCRACY NOW ELECTRONIC INTIFADA ELECTRONIC IRAQ GULF TIMES HAARETZ IRANIAN JANG - PAKISTAN JERUSALEM INDY MEDIA JERUSALEM POST PALESTINE CHRONICLE TEHRAN TIMES TURKISH DAILY NEWS WAR REPORT WAR TIMES MILITARY DEFENSE TECH PEACE ANTI-WAR STOP WORLD WAR 3 POLITICS ABC NEWS NOTE POLLS REAL CLEAR POLITICS POLITICS U.S. POLLING REPORT RASMUSSEN REPORT SCIENCE BIO TECH INDYMEDIA NEW SCIENTIST SCIENCE DAILY STATE POLITICS STATE LINE MISC EMERGENCY NET FARK ALTERNATIVE MEDIA BACK TO INDEX AFRICA AFRICA ONLINE ALL AFRICA ADVERTISING ADBUSTERS ALTERNATIVE NEWS ALTERNATIVE NEWSWEEKLIES AMERICAN PROSPECT COMMON DREAMS CONSORTIUM COUNTERPUNCH DISSENT DISSIDENT VOICE EMPEROR'S CLOTHES HARPER'S IN THESE TIMES LEFT TURN MIKEY 'ZINE MOTHER JONES NATION PROGRESSIVE MAGAZINE PROGRESSIVE POPULIST PROGRESSIVE REVIEW PROTEST NET TOM PAINE TOWARDS FREEDOM UTNE READER VILLAGE VOICE WAR TIMES WORLD NET DAILY YES! ZNET CIVIL LIBERTIES FIRST AMENDMENT COMMENTARY BUSH PARODY SITE BUSH VOTE BUSH WATCH BUSH WHACKED BUZZFLASH DEMOCRATS OP ED NEWS CORPORATIONS MULTINATIONAL MONITOR CULTURE POP POLITICS DRUGS MARIJUANA NEWS NARCO NEWS BULLETIN ECOLOGY BLAZING TATTLES CONSCIOUS CHOICE ECOLOGIST ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS NETWORK RESURGENCE ECONOMICS DOLLARS & SENSE ECONOMIST LEFT BUSINESS OBSERVER FOOD AGRICULTURE PORTAL ACRES AGRIBUSINESS EXAMINER GAY, LESBIAN, BI DATA LOUNGE PLANET OUT GLOBAL ONE WORLD PEACE MONGER TRADE MONITOR GREEN GREEN HORIZON GREEN PARTY NEWS HISTORY MEMORY HOLE IDEAS & CULTURE MCSWEENEY'S RADICAL HISTORY REVIEW RALPH INDIAN INDIAN COUNTRY TODAY INTERNET WIRED NEWS LABOR LABOR TALK LATIN AMERICA NORTH AMERICAN CONGRESS ON LATIN AMERICA LAW OVERLAWYERED LATINO AMERICAN LATINO HISPANIC ONLINE LIBERTARIAN REASON LIBRARIES THE WARRIOR LIBRARIAN MEDIA FAIR MEDIA CHANNEL MEDIA NEWS REPORTERS COMM FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS MIDDLE EAST BAGHDAD BLOG COUNTERPUNCH IRAQ JOURNAL JANES MIDDLE EAST MEDIA RESEARCH MIDDLE EAST REPORTS OTHER ISRAEL PALESTINE CHRONICLE WAR REPORT WAR TIMES WHY WAR? MILITARY DEFENSE & NATIONAL INTEREST DEFENSE TECH NEW ZEALAND SCOOP POLITICS BALLOT ACCESS NEWS COUNTERPUNCH POLITICAL JUNKIE ROLL CALLS STATE LINE POLLING GALLUP ZOGBY PROPAGANDA PR WATCH SPIN OF THE DAY RADIO AIR AMERICA CITIZENS MEDIA RADIO POWER TAYLOR MARSH YOUNG TURKS REGIONAL NEW ENGLAND NH GAZETTE NEW YORK CITY LIMITS ETHNIC PRESSES NY PRESS VILLAGE VOICE PHILADELPHIA PHILA CITY PAPER SOUTH ARKANSAS TIMES CREATIVE LOAFING EAGLE BONE WHISTLE PROGRESSIVE SOUTHERNER ROCKIES HEADWATERS NEWS SUMMIT FREE PRESS WEST SF BAY GUARDIAN ZPUB NORTHWEST EAT THE STATE SEATTLE WEEKLY RELIGION CHRISTIAN CENTURY SOJOURNERS WEB CAMS WEBCAM LIST MORE CAMS STILL MORE CAMS CASCO BAY CAM CORN CAM KANGAROO CAM KOALA CAM LOBSTER CAM MAINE CAMS WEBLOGS, ZINES BOING BOING EIGENGRAU FACTSHEET 5 FOLLOW ME HERE HIT AND RUN KIBO METAFILTER MIKEY 'ZINE OBSCURE STORE OPEN LETTER PATHOLOGICALLY POLYMATHIC REBECCA'S POCKET ROBOT WISDOM SPLEEN TOM TOMORROW WOMEN FEMINIST ECONOMICS MS MAGAZINE WOMEN'S E-NEWS WOMEN'S REVIEW OF BOOKS YOUTH FREE YOUTH INTERNET FREE STUDENT WIRETAP YOUTH TODAY

ELITE ETHNOGRAPHY 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 ELITE ETHNOGRAPHY ARCHIVES SKULL & BONES THE CLINGONS AND THE PROCESS PEOPLE ON PLANET POTOMAC 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 THE MEDIACRACY BACK TO INDEX REBEL: Written on your editor's 40th anniversary as an alternative journalist JOURNALISM'S GOOD OLD DAYS: They never were like some would have us believe 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. MEDIA STORY ARCHIVES BUSH BACK TO INDEX BEHIND THE BUSHES THE COLIN POWELL FILE  My Lai, Panama, Gulf War I & invading America's high schools THE WORLD BACK TO INDEX THE GEORGE BUSH CODICIL TO MY WILL PEACE MOVEMENT THE WAR DEPARTMENT NEW WORLD ORDER: Our archives on globalization. TIME WARP The generation gap and the war HOW TO TELL IF YOU'VE WON CHINA NEWS ARCHIVES 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 OIL CONNECTION OUR FOREIGN NEWS ARCHIVES FACT SHEET ON THE IMF 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 IRAQ IRAQ NEWS A VETERAN SPEAKS: "I KILLED INNOCENT PEOPLE FOR MY GOVERNMENT" BYRD SUMS IT UP: Senator Robert Byrd on the problems with an Iraq war MID-EAST BACK TO INDEX 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 IRAQ NEWS ARCHIVES MID-EAST NEWS ARCHIVES 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 AFGHANISTAN THE U.S. ARMY IN AFGHANISTAN Jason Vest examines the pitfalls of the new military AFGHANISTAN FACTS BALKANS BALKAN NEWS STORIES SPEECH AT FIRST ANTI-BALKAN WAR RALLY Washington Mall, April 23 1999 DOCTORS & DESTROYERS: Talk at Dupont Circle anti-war rally, June 26, 1999 A PEACE PLAN FOR KOSOVO ECONOMICS BACK TO INDEX 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 CORPORATE NEWS ARCHIVES THE 100 BIGGEST CORPORATE CRIMINALS OF THE 1990s. As compiled by the Corporate Crime Reporter THE BCCI SCANDAL NO FAULT CAPITALISM MEETS LEMON SOCIALISM An award-winning article on the second S&L scandal -- the federal bailout. ECONOMICS ARCHIVES LABOR ARCHIVES GREEN THINGS BACK TO INDEX GROUPS EUROPEAN GREENS GREEN PARTY OF U.S. GREEN PARTIES WORLDWIDE GREEN SHADOW CABINET EXPLORATORY COMMITTEE MEDIA GREEN HORIZON QUARTERLY GREEN PAGES READING CRASHING THE PARTY: NADER ELECTION RESULTS 2002 DRIVING MR. NADER GORE LOSS NOT DUE TO NADER GREEN HISTORY GREEN HISTORY CHART GREENS IN OFFICE GREEN OR BUST GREEN PLACE GROWING GREEN HOW NADER WON HISTORY OF THE PROVOS WHAT GREENS CAN DO IN THE BUSH YEARS WHY I RAN: A FORMER GREEN ALDERMAN CRITIQUES THE LEFT GREEN STUFF GREEN GOODIES IDEA MILL 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. YOUTH & SCHOOLS BACK TO INDEX SMALL SCHOOLS 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 A REAL TEST FOR YOUR SCHOOL OUR YOUTH ARCHIVES

SAM SMITH'S BOOKS & OTHER INFORMATION WHY BOTHER? Getting a life in a locked-down land BACK TO INDEX AN UTNE READER STAFF PICK A POWELL'S BOOKSTORE STAFF PICK WORKING ASSETS RECOMMENDED READING TO ORDER Introduction to Why Bother 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 SAM SMITH'S GREAT AMERICAN POLITICAL REPAIR MANUAL BACK TO INDEX Published by W.W. Norton, New York & London. Order direct from AMAZON.COM or from THE REVIEW.   "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.  MULTITUDES THE UNAUTHORIZED MEMOIRS OF SAM SMITH BACK TO INDEX INTRODUCTION GEORGETOWN: A child of contradictions GHOSTS: The ubiquitous past BECOMING: Playing with and putting away childish things FRIENDS A Quaker education SUMMER: PART I SUMMER: PART II 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 DC DIARY: THE SEVENTIES DC DIARY: THE EARLY EIGHTIES DC DIARY: THE LATE EIGHTIES DCDIARY: THE NINETIES THE LONELIEST MILE IN TOWN: An adventure in apostasy -- drinking upstream from the Clinton herd GROWING GREEN The birth of a movement DC DIARY: THE NEW CENTURY REBEL also by sam smith 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 Colonial Life in Modern Washington. You can buy this book for $45 at a used bookstore in Houston TX or you can order it direct from the Review for only $15. This classic description of Washington in the 1960s and 70s is full of insights and information still useful today. Fun facts about the Review (and its predecessors, the DC Gazette & the Idler) 1312 18TH NW WASH DC 20036 202-835-0770 Fax: 202-835-0779. Editor: Sam Smith © The Progressive Review, 2003 BACK TO INDEX 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. ABOUT THE EDITOR BACK TO INDEX BIOGRAPICAL NOTES COUNTERPUNCH INTERVIEW NEWSMAX INTERVIEW INSIGHT INTERVIEW JESSE WALKER INTERVIEW 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? -- Was one of the organizers of the Association of State Green Parties and, in the 1970s, was a co-founder of the DC Statehood Party, which held public office for more than two decades. He also helped to found the DC Community Humanities Council. -- 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. REPRINT POLICY Material not independently copyrighted may be republished provided your normal reprint fee (if any) is paid and TPR is given proper credit. Please also mention 'Why Bother?" THE REVIEW ARCHIVES 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.

AMERICAN NOTES BACK TO INDEX ELITE ETHNOGRAPHY PUNK AND PROTEST The beat, busted, bruised, and bamboozled generation A SHORT HISTORY OF BLACK WASHINGTON RELIGION ARCHIVES 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 OTHER MATTERS BACK TO INDEX WORDS & CRUELTY REBEL: Written on your editor's 40th anniversary as an alternative journalist CLICHE CHALLENGE: the top cliches as counted by Google CATO ON THE VIRTUES OF OLD AGE IN TECHNOCRACY WE TRUST Americans may profess Christianity but it's technocracy that they practice 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 COLD FUSION ARCHIVES 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. . ." 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 CAMPUS NEWS RELIGION & ITS ALTERNATIVES ARTS ARCHIVES CYBER NOTES ARTICLES ON ACTIVISM THE WAR AGAINST DEMOCRACY 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 CIVIL LIBERTIES QUOTATIONS THE CREEPING COUP News items from post-constitutional America. THE MILITARIZATION OF AMERICA A FEW SIGNS OF A DEMOCRACY IN DEEP TROUBLE 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 SOME KEY WACO STORIES 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. THE DRUG WAR JUST POLITICS BACK TO INDEX HISTORY'S HINTS FOR THIRD PARTIES PRESIDENTIAL POLLS STATEWIDE RACES FUN WAYS TO STEAL ELECTIONS POLITICIAN ARCHIVES GEORGE BUSH WESLEY CLARK EX-PRES BILL CLINTON PRES BILL CLINTON HILLARY CLINTON HOWARD DEAN FILE JOHN KERRY RALPH NADER A. SCHWARZENEGGER ESSAYS: THE BUSH YEARS SENATE VOTES OPPOSING & CREATING The twin tasks of a movement POLITICS NEWS ARCHIVES 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 GREEN THINGS 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. WHOSE LEFT IS IT ANYWAY? THE PARTY'S OVER 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 SENATE VOTING RECORD 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. WAITING FOR LEFTIES: How liberals and the left hold up political change. 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. THE CITY 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 URBAN NEWS ARCHIVES MYSTERIES BACK TO INDEX UNSOLVED MYSTERIES: BCCI, OKC, TWA 800 and all the other acronyms of uncertainty. WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO THE WORLD TRADE CENTER? THE CRASH OF TWA 800 SPY NEWS ARCHIVES ECOLOGY BACK TO INDEX THIRTEEN MYTHS ABOUT GENETIC ENGINEERING POKER PLAYER'S GUIDE TO ENVIRONMENTAL RISK ASSESSMENT OUR ECOLOGY ARCHIVES