Coming
in September
From AK Press
Featuring Essays by:
Edward Said, Robert Fisk, Michael Neumann, Shahid Alam, Alexander
Cockburn, Uri Avnery, Bill and Kathy Christison and More
Today's
Stories
August 12, 2003
Ray McGovern
Relax, It Was All a Pack of Lies
Recent
Stories
August
11, 2003
Douglas
Valentine
Homeland Security for Whom?
Mickey
Z.
Bush's Progress
Bill
Glahn
RIAA Watch: Meet the New Bitch, Same
as the Old
Elaine
Cassel
Indicting DNA
Dr. Mohammad
Omar Farooq
Civil Liberties and Uncivil Super-Patriotism
Uri
Avnery
Who Will Save Abu Mazen?
Website
of the Day
RIAA Subpoena Clearinghouse
August
9 / 10, 2003
Alexander
Cockburn
California's Glorious Recall!
Saul
Landau
Bush and King Henry
Gary
Leupp
On Terrorism, Methodism, "Wahhabism"
and the Censored 9/11 Report
Paul de
Rooij
The Parade of the Body Bags
Michael
Egan
History and the Tragedy of American Diplomacy
Rob Eshelman
A Home of Our Own
Daoud
Kuttab
Life as an ID Card
Philip
Agee
Terror and Civil Society: Instruments of US Policy in Cuba
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Marc Racicot: Bush's Main Man
Walt Brasch
Schwarzenegger, "Hollyweird"
and the Rigtheous Right
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush, Bribery and Berlusconi
Josh Frank
Mean, Mean Howard Dean
Elaine
Cassel
Will the Death Penalty Ever Die?
Sean Carter
Total Recall
Poets'
Basement
Hamod, Engel, Albert
August
8, 2003
John
Chuckman
What the US Says Goes
Roberto
Barreto
Defend the Vieques 12!
Bruce Gagnon
Iraq War Emboldens Bush Space Plans
Elaine
Cassel
The Reign of John Ashcroft
Dave
Lindorff
Snoops Night Out
Website
of the Day
Zero Boy
August
7, 2003
M.
Shahid Alam
It the US a "Terrorist Magnet?"
Toni
Solo
Neo-liberal Nicaragua: a New Banana
Republic
Adam Lebowitz
Hiroshima Commemorated: the View from Japan
Hanan
Ashrawi
When the Bully Whines
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
Conscience Takes a Holiday
Jason
Leopold
Wolfowitz Lets Slip: Iraq Not Behind 9/11; No Ties to Al-Qaeda
Mike Kimaid
What's the Score?
Elaine
Cassel
The Smell of VICTORY: Ashcroft's Latest Stinkbomb
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
August 6, 2003
Steve
Higgs
Going to Jail for the Cause: It's Not
Easy Confronting King Coal
David
Krieger
Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Robert
Fisk
The Ghosts of Uday and Qusay
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush's War on the National Forests
Elaine
Cassel
No Fly Lists
Stan
Goff
Military Equipment and Pneumonia
Hugh Sansom
An Open Letter to Nicholas Kristof on the Nuking of Japan
August
5, 2003
Uri
Avnery
The Prisoner of Ramallah: Arafat at
74
Forrest
Hylton
Terrorism and Political Trials: the
View from Bolivia
Ray
McGovern
"We Cook Estimates to Go"
David
Morse
Poindexter's Gambit
Edward
Said
Orientallism: 25 Years Later
George
W. Bush
My Darn Good Resumé
Hammond
Guthrie
It's Incremental, Watson!
Website
of the Day
National Prayer Day
August 4, 2003
Bruce
K. Gagnon
Another Peace Activist Detained by
Airport Cops: My Story
David
Lindorff
Fear-Mongering About Social Security
Mark
Zepezauer
George F. Will: Descent into Self-Parody
James
Plummer
Tracking You Through the Mail
Mickey
Z.
Marriage Insecurity from Sharon to Bush
Bruce
Jackson
News that Isn't News: How the NYT's
Pimps for the White House
August
2 / 3, 2003
Tamara
R. Piety
Nike's Full Court Press Breaks Down
Francis
Boyle
My Alma Mater, the University of Chicago, is a Moral Cesspool
David
Vest
Sons of Paleface: Pictures from Death's Other Side
Neve Gordon
Nightlife in Jerusalem
Uri
Avnery
Their Master's Voice:
Bush, Blair and Intelligence Snafus
Robert
Fisk
Paternalistic Democracy for Iraq
Jerry
Kroth
Israel, Yellowcake and the Media
Noah Leavitt
What's Driving the Liberian Bloodbath: Is the US Obligated to
Intervene?
Saul
Landau
The Film Industry: Business and Ideology
Ron Jacobs
One Big Prison Yard: the Meaning of George Jackson
Thomas
Croft
In the Deep, Deep Rough: Reflections on Augusta
Amadi Ajamu
Def Sham: Russell Simmons New Black Leader?
Poets'
Basement
Vega, Witherup, Albert and Fleming
August
1, 2003
Joanne
Mariner
Stopping Prison Rape
Alex Coolman
Who Moved My Soap: Trivializing
Prison Rape
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Stan Goff
Injury and Decorum: The Missing Wounded in Iraq
Wayne
Madsen
Europe Unplugs from the Matrix
Robert
Fisk
Wolfowitz the Censor
Elaine
Cassel
Ashcroft Loses Big in Puerto Rico
Website
of the Day
Stop Prisoner Rape
July
31, 2003
Ray
McGovern
The Prostitution of Intelligence
Brian
Cloughley
Wolfowitz's Operative Statement
Sheldon
Hull
The RIAA's Jihad:
The Devil's Music (Industry)
Elaine
Cassel
The Next Time You Crack a Lawyer Joke, Think of These Attorneys
Sheldon
Rampton
and John Stauber
True Lies: Propaganda and Bush's
Wars
Hammond
Guthrie
Speculation Blues
Website
of the Day
Army of One?
Congratulations
to CounterPuncher Gilad Atzmon! BBC Names EXILE Top Jazz CD
July
30, 2003
David
Lindorff
Poindexter the Terror Bookie
Marjorie
Cohn
Why Iraq and Afghanistan? It's About
the Oil
Elaine
Cassel
How Ashcroft Coerces Guilty Pleas
in Terror Cases
Zvi
Bar'el
The Hidden Costs of the Iraq War
Lisa Walsh
Thomas
Killing Mustafa Hussein: Death of a Child, Birth of a Legend?
Sean
Carter
Pat Robertson's Prayer Jihad: God, Sodomy and the Supremes
ND Jayaprakash
India and Ariel Sharon
Steve
Perry
Bush's Top 40 Lies
Standard
Schaefer
Correction about Bloomberg and Outscourcing
Website
of the Day
Bring Them Home Now!
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.
|
August
12, 2003
Hubris in the White
House
What
Would J.R. Do?
By WENDY BRINKER
A common element found throughout the Greek tragedies
is the damnable condition of hubris. Through a character flaw
inherent within the hero's psyche, a flaw sometimes referred
to as hamartia or bad judgment, the hero becomes lulled by his
own charm. Miscalculating reality and overestimating his invincibility,
he begins to believe his own myth and defy the gods. As a matter
of course, our misguided hero develops a raging case of hubris,
or megalomania, and through his defiance and arrogance invites
catastrophe and with it, his own demise. We, the audience, experience
a catharsis and feel purged or psychically cleansed witnessing
this tragic figure fall to humiliating, complete and total ruin.
W was born the least of the Bush sons,
into an empire headed by an ex-CIA director and ex-president
who's used the lines of the globe as his own personal chess board
for decades. At first glance it is difficult to understand why
the story should read that W rises to power. But it becomes apparent
if you follow the subplot. Terrible forces have intervened and
W turns out to be a mischievous god's gift to the Carlyle Group--a
perfect patsy. And he's just stupid enough to believe his own
myth. A terror to those he rules, but a blessing to those who
rule him. Biggy Rat and Itchy Brother have finally ousted King
Leonardo and they reign supreme over Bongo Congo. (Biggy's the
one with the smirk--the one whose company got the no-bid contracts.)
And if there's anything to be learned
from one of pop culture's greatest "real-life-as-told-by-rich-Hollywood-stars"
episodics--there are two things an oil man can never get enough
of--oil and power and they'll stop at nothing to get more. Greed
and power-driven Cheney and Bush could not resist the urge to
take the blank check they imagined receiving on 9/11 and spend
it taking Iraq, a country rich in oil and strategic position.
And they really thought they could get away with it--however
nonexistent the evidence for an invasion. This current scenario
in America's foreign policy is a worse farce than the infamous
"dream" season of Dallas. The audacity of the writers
to think we'd buy it! Well, we did keep watching.
Joseph Campbell, a scholar in the field
of comparative mythology, would have perhaps characterized the
present quandary as a classic "Good v. Evil" tale.
A maniacal madman sets out to rule the universe. Like a dark
overlord, Bush has used the US military to build his empire,
sending young Americans to kill and die for oil, insulted the
world community, broken international law and set dangerous protocol.
At home, he's given the rich huge tax cuts while unemployment
is estimated in double digits, is spending 5 billion a month
to occupy the Middle East, and reversed years of progress on
protecting the environment. But everyone knows when you mix total
evil with total stupidity, stupidity always foils the dastardly
devils, unraveling the evil plot in the end.
Surely good will triumph--right? We're
more connected and much more educated about what's happening
in geopolitics. And even under the well-crafted stewardship of
Colin's begotten, Michael, the FCC, the corporate media conglomerates
like Clear Channel and the defense contractors posing as journalists
have not managed to block out every ray of truth in the media.
Some truths do survive and grow, even thrive between the cracks
of gray area and doublespeak. Surely mainstream media's smart
enough to get with the program and hard questions will keep coming
forth--right? Here is where we, the audience, must pick up our
pens and write the end of the story.
The cold fact is that war doesn't read
like fiction to the people of Iraq nor the soldiers sent there
to carry out the oil men's bidding. They can't pick up another
book, they can't turn the channel. Death, war and occupation
are their reality. Thousands of innocents have died since this
unprovoked campaign of violence and greed began in March. We
must demand that special prosecutors be appointed, impeachment
procedures initiated, and we should accept nothing less for this
administration than complete and total ruin. There is no happy
ending, but a lesson in justice would be the cathartic closure
the world needs to experience.
Wendy Brinker
is an artist, activist and co-host of The
Seed Show, a morning drive-time talk radio show in Columbia,
SC. She can be reached at: maat156@earthlink.net
Weekend
Edition Features for August 9 / 10, 2003
Alexander
Cockburn
California's Glorious Recall!
Saul
Landau
Bush and King Henry
Gary
Leupp
On Terrorism, Methodism, "Wahhabism"
and the Censored 9/11 Report
Paul de
Rooij
The Parade of the Body Bags
Michael
Egan
History and the Tragedy of American Diplomacy
Rob Eshelman
A Home of Our Own
Daoud
Kuttab
Life as an ID Card
Philip
Agee
Terror and Civil Society: Instruments of US Policy in Cuba
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Marc Racicot: Bush's Main Man
Walt Brasch
Schwarzenegger, "Hollyweird"
and the Rigtheous Right
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush, Bribery and Berlusconi
Josh Frank
Mean, Mean Howard Dean
Elaine
Cassel
Will the Death Penalty Ever Die?
Sean Carter
Total Recall
Poets'
Basement
Hamod, Engel, Albert
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