Thomas Paine's Corner

RSS Feed Homepage

Articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Freedom? .. Snigger!
2007-05-18 19:26:00
By Ivor Hughes5/18/07http://www.herbdatanz.com/Hy de Park Corner in London used to be the place to go on a Sunday afternoon in years gone by.. from holy rollers to political firebrands of every persuasion.. Racist or Libertarian .. every impassioned speaker was sure of an audience ... The right to free speech and the right to heckle with never a cop in sight.. no lead or rubber bullets, tear gas, taser or surveillance cameras. Hyde Park Corner was duplicated in every city in the land .. but no more .. the people are informed by a media whose provenance is derived from some very doubtful quarters.Thanks to Blair the American and Zionist shirt tail sucker with his phony war on terror .. such freedoms have long gone .. Britain was led into a dishonorable war .. Protest is strongly discouraged by Police presence ... Two women were arrested at the London Cenotaph the nations war memorial for reading out the names of the British war dead in Iraq .. stand by for the 'Hate Laws' and the re...
More About: Freedom , Reed , Nigger

Ghosts of Tim Leary and Hunter Thompson
2007-05-17 23:45:00
Freedom vs. Authority under the 40-foot pulsating rainbow vaginaBy Joe Bageant5/17/07Everything Americans think they know, they learned from a televised morality play. It's all theater. You root for some good guy and boo some bad guy. You pick your own, but you dance to the tune of the men running the show. It's mind control, pure and simple, and if there is an American immune to it, then he is probably living in a snow cave somewhere in Alaska.--Gypsy Joe Hess (1919-1988), prospector, self-educated philosopher and horse traderIn my ragged assed 40 years of writing, I've been lucky enough -- or sometimes unlucky enough -- to meet and write about many of America's "somebodies," mostly vapid asshole movie and TV stars and rock musicians. When I was young, so-called "media journalism" then was just what it is now, what we called "starfucking," and amounted to writing PR for media corporations in "music journals" of the time. But we covered a few worthwhile iconic figures in the mix...
More About: Hunter , Ghosts , Leary , Thompson , Thom

Unprepared, Uncompensated, and Clueless: Prophets Have Become Historians
2007-05-17 22:57:00
by Carolyn Baker5/17/07Speaking Truth to PowerOn Monday, residents of the Borderplex, as we call the region that encompasses far West Texas, Southern New Mexico, and Northern Mexico, awoke to a beautiful spring morning. No ecovillages, intentional communities, or new urbanism exist in our region, and living as I do in a rural area, I still own an internal combustion vehicle, and periodically, as all such monstrosities do, it needs a tune-up. Driving along a winding country road on the way to visit my mechanic on that lovely morning, drinking in the green fields of our newly-flourishing alfalfa crops and feeling extraordinarily grateful to be surrounded by farmland, I noticed that traffic was slowing and coming to a halt. A car accident? I wondered. No, off to the side of the road were parents and teachers carrying signs which read, ?Celebrate with the class of 2007!!? County sheriff patrol cars, lights flashing, flanked what appeared to be a parade. Soon a barrage of cars on the opp...
More About: Come , Have , Less , Hist , Tori

Tears and a Stone for America
2007-05-17 21:29:00
By Ivor Hughes5/17/07It is said that living in each adult is a child of yesteryear. I would agree with that because I have spoken with him. He conveyed those sights, sounds, smells and the childhood illusions and intensity of feelings. And he made me cry .. silently .. unashamedly .. hot rivulets onto ice cold anger.All the kids in those mean bomb scarred World War2 British Cities .. played Cowboys and Indians. The scary savages were always vanquished by the noble white cowboy and sometimes even the besieged settlers and the horse cavalry get a look in .. down the hill they thundered .. Regimental Battle Pennants streaming .. bugle stridently warning .. We are coming .. We are coming .. long sabers to the fore and glinting in the sun .. My heroes of the 7th .. saved the day again.Six English Pennies to enter the Saturday morning kids movies .. 3 non stop hours of America n propaganda fantasy .. and in the while the circulating ice cream maid did a brisk trade.My whole perception of A...
More About: Stone , Ears , Tone

Shameless Deference to Power
2007-05-16 21:05:00
?A Review of Alexander Cockburn's and Jeffrey St. Clair's End Times?by Stephen Lendman5/16/07Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair are both veteran journalists and authors doing the kind of muckraking political and other investigative writing only found in the US online and in out-of-the-mainstream publications and political newsletters like the one they co-publish and edit - CounterPunch with its counterpart web site of the same name.Cockburn is also a regular columnist with The Nation magazine, and his writings appear regularly in the New York Free Press and Los Angeles Times. He formerly wrote extensively for numerous other publications as well including the Wall Street Journal's far right editorial page oddly in the 1980s when its late editor Bob Bartley decided to have an alternate point of view and certainly got an exceptional one the mirror opposite of the array of extremist hard right contributors he allowed regular space to all the time as does his successor today. Co...
More About: Power , Less , Ferenc , Sham , Shame

Mission Accomplished?For Iran
2007-05-16 18:30:00
by Ivan Eland5/16/07With its usual tin ear for public relations, the Bush administration provided another ?Kodak moment? of incompetent belligerence by yet again sending a high-level administration official to use an aircraft carrier as a prop for a hawkish rant. Vice President Dick Cheney did manage to refrain from displaying another ?Missi on Accomplished? banner during his address to the crew of the John C. Stennis, stationed 150 miles off Iran ?s coast. But as Cheney warned Iran against disrupting oil transportation routes or getting nuclear weapons, the speech?s imagery also reminded the American public of President Bush?s previous fiasco on another aircraft carrier. Yet Cheney?s speech may have more adverse implications for U.S. security than Bush?s earlier public relations disaster.In his address, Cheney rattled the saber against Iran.... (Click here to read the entire article)Thomas Paine's Corner is a site dedicated to advancing universal human rights, fostering social and e...
More About: Sion

MAINSTREAM MEDIA GATEKEEPERS QUACK AT THE INTERNET
2007-05-16 00:17:00
by Gary Corseri5/15/07Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? ?JuvenalWho will keep the keepers? Who will guard the guards?The question is as pertinent today as it was when the dissident Roman poet posed it nearly 2000 years ago.But for our mainstream media maggots and magnates?why bother to ask?Besotted with their privileges, their chummy access to the ?news and opinion makers,? ?embedded? and unembarrassed, our lapdog ?journalists? and sycophants dare not question the power elite that keeps them in caviar. Better, like William Saffire, Judith Miller, William Kristol to behave as consiglieri for the rich and powerful; cheer the masses onward to war; deflect criticism from those who steal elections, ransack the treasury, befoul the honor of the Ship of State.Strong words? Only antidotal to one James Harkin, writing in that bastion of Anglo-American proprietary rights, The Financial Times of May 4, 2007. Harkin, or some provocateur headline-writer, has titled his hit-piece: ?Rubbish piles up ...
More About: Media , Internet , Stream , Keep , The Internet

Deforestation: The Hidden Cause Of Global Warming
2007-05-15 21:11:00
Another of the more devastating forces behind deforestation is cattle grazing. With the international growth of fast food chains this seems to be an evident factor in the clearing of trees today. Large corporations looking to buy beef for hamburger and even pet food seek cheap prices and are finding them with the growth of cattle grazing (Heller 3). In the Amazon region of South America alone there are 100,000 beef ranchers (Heller 3). As the burger giants of industrialized society are making high demands for more beef, more forests are being torn down.---From The Choice: Doomsday or Arbor DayArticle by Daniel Howden14 May, 2007The IndependentThe accelerating destruction of the rainforests that form a precious cooling band around the Earth's equator, is now being recognised as one of the main causes of climate change. Carbon emissions from deforestation far outstrip damage caused by planes and automobiles and factories.The rampant slashing and burning of tropical forests is second ...
More About: Global Warming , Global , Rest , Cause , Hidden

Get naked, join the Dutch Reformed Church, and read.
2007-05-15 18:10:00
By Mike Palecek5/15/07#21 The American Dream Book Tour & Protest Across the USASHELDON, IOWA--You want to go where everybody knows your name.Well. I was in Boston last week. I made my way through traffic, found a parking spot, found the Lucy Parsons Center, on Columbus Avenue. Then I went out walking around for about seven hours. Part of the time I just sat on a bench at a park, watched the people and the pigeons.And then I walked over to Lucy Parsons, came up to the front desk, tired, sweating, lugging my books and stuff."I'm Mike."Mike ... Palecek."I'm supposed to speak tonight.""Oh, was that tonight?"It's kind of been like that on this book tour.In Brattleboro, Vermont there were naked people outside the bookstore.(to read the complete article at Thomas Paine's Corner's new URL within Cyrano's Journal Online, click HERE)Thomas Paine's Corner is a site dedicated to advancing universal human rights, fostering social and economic justice, and supporting the cause of all o...
More About: Church , Read , Join , Dutch , Form

Deconstructing the founding myths of France's greatness (part 1)
2007-05-15 02:24:00
By Rene Naba Translated by Xavier Rabilloud, Proofread by Nancy Almendras This paper is the author?s contribution to the seminar organized on October 6th ? 7th , 2006, by the Festival TransMéditerrannée (fmed@wanadoo.fr) in Septèmes-les-Vallons, the theme of which was « From one shore to the opposite: writing history, decolonizing memories ». The scene took place in June 1998, only eight years ago ? not such a long time - one month before a great motley communion: the first French victory at the Soccer World Cup, won by its multi-ethnic team. At the end of a press conference, the then prospective successor of Mr Jean-Marie Le Pen as head of the National Front [1], Mr Bruno Gollnisch, exhibited his attaché-case and unveiled the secret code that would unlock it, as if it had been a war trophy. By definition, a secret code should remain concealed. One usually treasures it as a sacred relic. Obviously, Mr Gollnisch does not: the secret can be widely disclosed, especially...
More About: Myths , Part , Ness , Const , Econ

Darfur: The Hourglass of Blood
2007-05-14 22:51:00
By Ramzy Baroud5/14/07The Darfur crisis in Sudan is perhaps the most politically convoluted conflict in the world today. Its underpinnings involve local, regional and international players, all selfishly vying for power and economic interests. Alliances shift like quicksand, reminiscent of Lebanon. Neither the interest of the people of Darfur, nor the sovereignty of Sudan seem to be a major concern to any of those involved: a regime fighting for survival, rebel groups readily playing into the hands of foreign powers, a superpower eager to create distraction from its blunders elsewhere, European players coveting the region?s oil wealth with growing keenness, and so forth. Meanwhile, the refugees continue to perish, dying at so alarming a speed, often in the most inhumane ways imaginable. What is to be done?A crowd of a few thousand gathered at Downing Street for Global Day for Darfur, on April 29. They were largely Sudanese, mostly from Darfur. They gathered in London?s hotspot for p...
More About: Blood , Glass , Hour , Hourglass

War-Pimping with a Smile: Of American Exceptionalism, Apple Pie, and Moral
2007-05-13 07:49:00
By Jason Miller 5/13/07 Biography of Kathleen Parker excerpted from The Washington Post Writers Group page: Now one of America's most popular opinion columnists, appearing in more than 350 newspapers, Parker is at home both inside and outside the Washington Beltway. But she came to column-writing the old-fashioned way, working her way up journalism?s ladder from smaller papers to larger ones. "I never set out to become a commentator ? and do continue to resist the label 'pundit' ? but I found that keeping my opinion out of my writing was impossible," says Parker. "One can only stand watching from the sidelines for so long without finally having to say, 'Um, excuse me, but you people are nuts.'" Despite myriad signs of the waning power and impending collapse of the abomination known as the American Empire or Pax Americana, there are those among us who insist on perpetuating history?s greatest and deadliest charade. While our nation inflicts tremendous misery and ...
More About: Apple , Smile , Mile , Exception

We might as well call ourselves tree trimmers as Christians
2007-05-11 23:00:00
?This is turning into the I Hate America Tour.?By Mike Palecek5/11/07"I ain't got no home. I'm just a ramblin' round, I go from town to town."---Woody Guthrie#20 The American Dream Book Tour & Protest Across the USANOT IN PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND ?These perfect towns of Connecticut make me want to puke.Yesterday I was heading toward Providence on I-95. I started to shake, sweat, and pulled the Honda off onto the exit for Madison, Conn.After waiting for one hundred traffic lights I saw to my right a big yard, maybe a park. I pulled around, down the lane, hurried out and got on one knee and dry-heaved on the front lawn of the First Congregational Church of Madison.You would think the yard would be filled with folks leaning out their windows, beside their cars, on both knees, hurling ? to see this sight.This humongous white church: six pillars on the front porch that two strong men could not reach around and touch pinky fingers.And behind the pillars, blowing in the breeze. Of cours...
More About: Christians , Ourselves , Call , Tree , Trim

Rising Above Politics: Can we quit talking and start walking?
2007-05-10 17:14:00
"Here in Virginia there is evidence that a populist can reach them if he can get their attention. Jim Webb did it."By Joe Bageant5/10/07Well, lo and beshit! I never thought I?d ever see the day. But even in my hardcore Republican run hometown, many conservatives are quietly sneaking away from the sing-along around the campfire of George Bush?s war-crazed hootenanny. Most of them are ordinary bona fide conservatives. But others slipping off under cover of darkness are among our richest Republicans who profiteered mightily in the security, construction and service businesses that sprouted like mushrooms from every aspect of the Iraq War. Either they have suddenly developed a streak of conscience, or they simply don?t want to be associated with the trail of crime, blood and feces Bush and his cronies have obviously tracked across the carpet of American history. My bet is on the latter.But even the little fish who voted for Bush are starting to squirm. My neighbor, Big Larry, who is usu...
More About: Politics , Walking , Start , Talking , Sing

What I Learned From the Republican Comedy Hour
2007-05-10 15:43:00
by Steven Jonas5/10/07Originally published at Buzz FlashThe First Republican Come dy Hour (otherwise known as the first Republican presidential debate) was held on May 3. It held some fascinating lessons for me, and I want to share some of them with you. I must tell you that hearing these men talk brought many a chuckle to my throat (and at times something else as well, but we won't go into that, even though I am a doctor).-- All the candidates are in favor of "returning religion to the public square." What, we don't have enough churches, usually two to three, on (or at least near) enough public squares around the country already?-- "People are entitled to their faith," unless, of course, their faith (or lack thereof) tells them that life begins at the time of viability, not conception.-- "People are entitled to their faith," unless, of course, their faith (or lack thereof) tells them that under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, persons are enti...
More About: Learn

The War on Free Expression
2007-05-09 21:45:00
By Stephen Lendman5/9/07In a post-9/11 climate, the right of free expression is under attack and endangered in the age of George Bush when dissent may be called a threat to national security, terrorism, or treason. But losing that most precious of all rights means losing our freedom that 18th century French philosopher Voltaire spoke in defense of saying "I may disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." Using it to express dissent is what noted historian Howard Zinn calls "the highest form of patriotism" exercising our constitutional right to freedom of speech, the press, to assemble, to protest publicly, and associate as we choose for any reason within the law.Even then, there are times more forceful action is needed, and Thomas Jefferson explained under what circumstances in the Declaration of Independence he authored. When bad government destroys our freedoms, we the people have the right and duty to disobey civilly and resist. Henry Da...
More About: Free , Sion , Xpress , Express , Expression

Outing the L-Word, Part II: Nature, Power, and Hierarchy
2007-05-08 18:07:00
?We have long lived with the notion - undertaken and popularized in earnest from the outset of the cold war and peaking during the Reagan era - that the American economic system is the most natural and God-given, and that the more taxes are cut, public utilities privatized, and business de-regulated, the more closely we approach some state of grace and harmony with the natural order of things.?By Andrew S. Taylor5/8/07While there are many strains and sub-categories of Libertarianism, each with their own distinct epistemology and nuances, there is one common argument that is shared by all: that laissez-faire capitalism is the most "natural" of all economic systems and that, by extension, systems of redistribution such as communism and socialism are the most "artificial." This argument is sometimes implicit, and sometimes it is quite overt. The purpose of this essay will be to discuss why it is wrong, and to further explain why the way in which it is wrong can lead us to a better, mor...
More About: Power , Nature , Word , Outing , Part

Still the Bumbling Fools
2007-05-08 03:27:00
By Anwaar Hussain 5/7/07 Truth Spring Thanks to the murderous fools in the current US administration, civil life in Iraq, now at the ?point of no return?, is teetering at the edge of total anarchy. As an accompanying fallout, along with an estimated million dead Iraqis, a morally, financially and diplomatically bankrupt America, the inept charlatans have also successfully managed to thoroughly radicalize the whole region. From Sudan to Pakistan and beyond, the ranks of America haters now stand swollen like never before. The recruiters for suicide brigades now drool non-stop with glee at the long cues of raging applicants outside their murky caves. Let us revisit some of the opening acts of the bumbling fools in this morbid theater of the absurd. Whether the Iraq and Afghanistan invasions were on false grounds or for some higher moral compulsions, the blundering fools should have known the character of state identities in these countries. They should have investigated whether s...
More About: Stil , Still , Bling

A Revenge Tragedy
2007-05-06 22:24:00
By John Steppling 4/13/07(Editor's Note: This stream of consciousness-style piece is excerpted from an ongoing online dialogue between Steppling and fellow radical, Guy Zimmerman. They are Co-Senior Editors of Arts and Culture at Cyrano's Journal Online. "A Revenge Tragedy " is but a small sampling of the brilliant conclusions drawn during the exchanges between these highly refined thinkers.) Originally published in the Voxpop section of Cyrano?s Journal Online I spent Easter weekend watching all of Adam Curtis? documentaries, but I was especially struck with Century of the Self . And it spawned many observations on Karl Rove. The mechanisms of control are more and more obvious. As for accusing your opponent of your own dark intentions, yes, this is absolutely crucial to remember. First cousin to this can be seen in anti-insurgency thinking. There was, during the Mau Mau resistance in Kenya, a certain colonel ? Kitson, I think (but his name hardly deserves to be r...

The Spirituality of Collapse
2007-05-06 21:26:00
By Carolyn Baker Speaking Truth to Power 5/6/07 The first edition of this article was written in February, 2006, but I have recently revised and updated it. Since the first writing, the theme of collapse seems to have reverberated around the world, now manifesting its symptoms in the scientific community?s latest dramatic reports on global warming, the issue of Peak Oil coming further out of the closet--being discussed openly in mainstream media, and the bursting of the U.S. housing bubble that now finds 1 out of every 264 homes in the nation facing foreclosure as each day the value of the dollar decreases and the value of precious metals soars. As I share my awareness of collapse with others, I meet a variety of responses. Many, especially those folks in academia, and the history profession in particular, view the idea of collapse with bemused scorn, asserting that while civilization might appear to be collapsing, current events are not really new and are merely variations on...
More About: Collapse , Spirituality , The Spirit , Spirit , Coll

Of Surges and Purges
2007-05-06 21:15:00
By Rowan Wolf of Uncommon Thought Journal 5/6/07I share with many of you a growing sense of anger and frustration at the constantly worsening situation in Iraq. Now, the "surge" is in place, and "gated communities" are being delineated over the objections of both Shia and Sunni residents. The Democrats have put on a good show of trying to rein in Bush, and have been rejected. However, are they really trying to rein him in, or just playing their part in an intricately choreographed deception? The bill that Bush vetoed contained certain "benchmarks" for the Iraqi government. Among them was the approval of the "PSAs" (Production Sharing Agreements) initiated by the US Coalition Provisional Authority [see Troop Surge s and Bloody Oil]. The oil agreement was moving through the approval process, but has now met opposition by both Kurd and Sunni representatives within the Iraqi parliament. There has been a lot of pressure to get these agreements into law, and they turn over the major...
More About: Purge , Urge

GREEN BEACON
2007-05-05 21:24:00
Photo: Harvey Wasserman, senior editor of The Free Press and author of ?Solartopia!? by Robert C. Koehler Tribune Media Services 5/5/07 Harvey Wasserman?s newly published ?Solartopia!? is a breath of fresh air, blowing ? well, whipping, at Great Plains velocity ?across the thinking person?s vision of the future. What a gift this book is: an informed, science-savvy vision of tomorrow that isn?t an eco-nightmare. Rather, it?s an enthusiastically optimistic look at a rational, very green near future. (To order, go to solartopia.org.) The setting is 2030; the premise is a flight in a hydrogen-fueled airship from Hamburg to Honolulu, with Wasserman serving as tour guide and eco-historian as we watch the world unfold beneath us and gradually learn about the death of King CONG, the joyous global proliferation of rooftop gardens and how all those giant wind turbines wound up off the coast of Holland, among much else. King CONG, an acronym of Wasserman?s coinage ? Coal, Oil, Nukes, Gas...
More About: Green , Beacon

Let's Help President Bush Support the Troops
2007-05-05 21:18:00
By Steven Jonas Originally published by Buzzflash 5/1/07 The President has asked for the full funding for the U.S. occupation of Iraq with no timeline for withdrawal. This is the only way, he says, it will be known throughout the world, as well as on the frontlines (however one might define them) that we as a nation are united in "supporting our troops." It appears clear to everyone at home and abroad (except, apparently for the Georgites and their Privatized Ministry of Propaganda) that a substantial majority of the American people does not support the war and wants the troops to come home, now. But, he says, a) that he's got to have the money with no timeline, and b) that he wants to meet with the Democratic Congressional leadership to discuss reaching a common ground.In the spirit of compromise, let the Democrats send up a bill with no timeline, just include the following very simple provisions "in support of the troops." In asking for a compromise, this President is obviousl...
More About: Bush , President Bush , Support , Troops

Could this solve the puzzle?
2007-05-05 21:05:00
By Gene DeVaux 5/5/07 What if George W. Bush actually has a plan? Many of us have a very hard time understanding why he stubbornly holds on to his belief that we can win the ?war? in Iraq, especially considering that the so-called war on terrorism has morphed into a civil war between Islamic factions. Many of us do not understand, as we watch the national debt rise to dizzying heights, why he insists on ?staying the course? with his faulty tax cuts that only benefited those with the highest incomes in the United States. Let?s face it, to Americans who are aware of the many problems created by the Bush administration, George W. Bush is an enigma, a puzzle that is hard to solve. Stepping back from his stubborn stance in his so-called war on terror, we have to look at a short history of the United States to get an inkling of what may be going on in the mind of our Commander-in-Thief. Imagine how he must have felt when he saw his father, George H.W. Bush; lose his r...
More About: Puzzle

BILL O'REILLY: PROPAGANDA PIMP
2007-05-05 14:42:00
Bill O?Reilly is man that cannot say the word ?left? without appending modifiers like ?far,? ?ultra,? ?committed,? or ?looney.? He is a man who is convinced that every critic is a ?smear merchant.? And his opponents are never merely disagreeing with him, they are ?vile.? By News Corpse 5/5/07 In a roomful of egomaniacal bloviating pundits, Bill O'Reilly would stand out as a towering infernal display of delusional demagoguery. His crusading rants are illustrative of a society that is weakened by a disease (a social disease?) whose predominant symptoms are a mash of masochism and narcissism. Almost any random sampling of The O'Reilly Fester will reveal a man obsessed with his own righteousness. He views himself as the singular savior of America's meek, who he refers to simply as the "Folks." The semantic approach to his message is overwhelmed with the imagery of conflict and danger. Take, for instance, the titles of his books: Culture Warrior Who's Looking Out ...
More About: Pimp , Propaganda , Bill O , Anda , Illy

Fortress America: The Criminalization of Compassion
2007-05-05 02:07:00
By Michael Goodspeed 5/4/07 On Tuesday, May 1st, I publicly posted an essay I've authored entitled, "An Open Letter to the Mayor of Hell." In this editorial, I outlined my plan to live on the streets of Las Vegas for a period of two weeks to gain a better understanding of the city's homelessness crisis. My comments in the essay were acerbic and short of etiquette -- I even my broken my long self-imposed rule of no name-calling when I referred to mayor Oscar B. Goodman as a "sociopath" and a "prick." Since nothing has changed my understanding of Goodman's policies towards the homeless, I can only stand by my impolite characterizations. (Click HERE to read the article). This afternoon, I received a phone call from my father in Beaverton, OR, informing me that the Beaverton police had been contacted by Las Vegas authorities, and had apparently been asked to do some checking in on my intentions and/or background. An officer was in my home, and I spoke with him for a perio...
More About: America , Compassion , Pass , Fortress , Sion

"There's going to be two kinds of people ? rich people and poor people."
2007-05-04 21:25:00
THIS JUST IN:Cold Type is a Canadian Magazine.Dude. Check out the front cover.www.coldtype.net"I opened up my eyes, took a look around. I saw it written across the sky.The Revolution Starts Now."--Steve Earle#16 The American Dream Book Tour & Protest Across the USABy Mike Palecek5/4/07SWALESVILLE, PA ? "I don't like today's world.""There 's going to be two kinds of people ? rich people and poor people."I was sitting in the Joseph-Beth bookstore in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, scanning through John Updike's book "The Terrorist," cozied up in a soft chair, kind of listening to these three older people. Older than me? I'd sure like to think so.I then went and put some more quarters into the meter so the Pittsburgh police don't hide my car.Then I walk over and sit next to the fountain out in the little plaza outside The Cheesecake Factory in this square on Cinema Drive. I watch some kids get wet and then walk over to Claddagh Irish pub.It's not like the Irish pub in Kansas City, more li...
More About: People , Rich , Here , Poor

"Worthy and Unworthy Victims"
2007-05-04 21:18:00
??.?worthy? victims are needed to do it. It lets a mass-murderer like George Bush honor the dead for maximum political gain and gives him cover to deflect attention away from his far greater crimes of war and against humanity.?by Stephen Lendman5/4/07Economist and media critic Edward S. Herman and social and political critic Noam Chomsky note two kinds of victims in their classic 1988 book "Manufacturing Consent." So does journalist and documentary filmmaker John Pilger in his writings. "Unworthy" ones are the many unmentioned tens of thousands killed in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and all other places by US, Israeli and other rapacious imperial warring and occupying forces. "Wort h y" ones, however, are those prominently mentioned who died or were hurt on September 11, 2001 in the US, on July 7, 2005 in a dubious London "terrorist" bombing, on March 11, 2004 in the Madrid train bombings, and the Israeli corporal practically the whole free world still knows about since he was taken c...
More About: Worthy , Victims , Victim

The Anti-Empire Report: Some things you need to know before the world ends
2007-05-04 16:50:00
By William Blum Originally published at Killing Hope 5/4/07If the United States leaves Iraq things will really get badThis appears to be the last remaining, barely-breathing argument of that vanishing species who still support the god-awful war. The argument implies a deeply-felt concern about the welfare and safety of the Iraqi people. What else could it mean? That the US military can't leave because it's needed to protect the oil bonanza awaiting American oil companies as soon as the Iraqi parliament approves the new written-in-Washington oil law? No, the Bush administration loves the people of Iraq. How much more destruction, killing and torturing do you need to be convinced of that? We can't leave because of the violence. We can't leave until we have assured that peace returns to our dear comrades in Iraq.To better understand this argument, it helps to keep in mind the following about the daily horror that is life in Iraq:It did not exist before the US occupation.The insurge...
More About: World , Report , The World , Empire , Know

McBush
2007-05-03 20:54:00
By Gary Corseri and William Shakespeare5/3/07Cast of Characters:LADY LIBERTY played by herselfPAX played by himselfJUSTICE played by himselfMcBUSH played by George W. BushLADY CHENEY McBush?s wife; played by Dick Cheney3 WITCHES played by Condoleeze Rice, Hillary Clinton, Ann CoulterFIRE HYDRANT played by Alberto Gonzalez2 ROTTWEILERS played by themselvesATTENDANTS played by Senators, media pundits and various sycophantsACT 1Scene 1: Thunder and lightning. Enter three Witches.Condoleeza: When shall we three meet again?Hillary: When the hurlyburly?s done. When the battle?s lost and won.Coulter: Fair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air.Enter McBush and Pax.McBush: So foul and fair a day I have not seen!Pax: (Noticing the Witches--)What are these, so withered and so wild in their attire,That look not like the inhabitants of the earth?You should be women, and yet your beardsForbid me to interpret that you are.Coulter: All hail McBush, that shalt be Prez herea...