NOTICE TO OUR READERS: THE EDITORS WILL BE GRATEFUL FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO A SPECIAL MESSAGE AT THE END OF THIS FEATURE. THANK YOU. WATCH THE DOCUMENTARY SiCKO by clicking here. Broadband required.

We know what the diagnosis is and what needs to be done. Now the question is whether the American public has what it takes to drive the con men and other crooks from the corridors of power.

Three reviews of this important film published in The Nation magazine.

SiCKO Is Boffo
by David Corn
Dateline: 6.21.07

In 1971, Edgar Kaiser, the son of the founder of Kaiser Permanente, one of the first big HMOs, went to see John Ehrlichman, a top aide to President Nixon, to lobby the Nixon White House to pass legislation that would expand the market for health maintenance organizations (HMOs). Ehrlichman reported this conversation to Nixon on February 17, 1971. The discussion, which was taped, went like this:

Ehrlichman: I had Edgar Kaiser come in…talk to me about this and I went into it in some depth. All the incentives are toward less medical care, because the less care they give them, the more money they make.

President Nixon: Fine.

The next day, Nixon publicly announced he would be pushing legislation that would provide Americans “the finest health care in the world.” Read the rest of this entry »

In almost any country in the world this charming couple would be classified as simply “mainstream liberals,” centrists, but in America many insist on calling them leftists. The confusion—seeded in great measure by the zealots of the right—contributes a great deal to the troubles ordinary Americans have in sorting out what’s what on the political spectrum.

BY E.J. DIONNE Jr. | Dateline: JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Friday, June 22, 2007

Why can’t the left get any respect?

Whenever you use the word “left” in American politics, you feel almost compelled to add quotation marks. Today’s left is not talking about nationalizing industry, abolishing capitalism or destroying the rich. What passes for “left” in American politics is quite moderate by historical standards. Read the rest of this entry »

THE GREAT DEMOCRATIC PARTY IMPLOSION AS A RESULT OF GROSS BETRAYAL

BY PHIL ROCKSTROH | Dateline: 6/21/07

Why did the Democratic Congress betray the voting public? Betrayal is often a consequence of wishful thinking. It’s the world’s way of delivering the life lesson that it’s time to shed the vanity of one’s innocence and grow-the-hell-up. Apropos, here’s lesson number one for political innocents: Power serves the perpetuation of power. In an era of runaway corporate capitalism, the political elite exist to serve the corporate elite. It’s that simple.

Why do the elites lie so brazenly? Ironically, because they believe they’re entitled to, by virtue of their superior sense of morality. How did they come to this arrogant conclusion? Because they think they’re better than us. If they believe in anything at all, it is this: They view us as a reeking collection of wretched, baseborn rabble, who are, on an individual level, a few billion neurons short of being governable by honest means. Read the rest of this entry »

INNOCENT ANIMALS ALL OVER THE WORLD ARE BEING CONDEMNED TO RAPID EXTINCTION ON ACCOUNT OF MANMADE GLOBAL WARMING.

BY GEORGE MONBIOT Dateline: May 12, 2007
[Note: This is a reply to Cockburn’s second article on climate politics and climate change, which, while it did not directly respond to Monbiot’s or Mann’s first reply to Cockburn’s original article, did mention Mann by name.]

People who deny that manmade climate change is taking place have this in common: they do not answer their critics. They make what they say are definitive refutations of the science of climate change. When these refutations are shown to be nonsense, they do not seek to defend them. They simply repeat them as if nothing has changed, then move on to another line of attack. Read the rest of this entry »

CLIMATE DENIER (!) ALEX COCKBURN. HIS MOTIVES FOR THIS UNCHARACTERISTIC STANCE, which makes him an objective ally of criminals outfits like ExxonMobil, ARE HARD TO FOLLOW.

BY GEORGE MONBIOT | SOURCE: ZNet Magazine | Science
Dateline: May 03, 2007

[Note: Click here for Alexander Cockburn’s precipitating article “From Papal Indulgences to Carbon Credits Is Global Warming a Sin?” Go here for ensuing debate…]

Let me begin this response with an admission of incompetence. I am not qualified to comment on the scientific claims made in Alexander Cockburn’s article. But nor is Cockburn qualified to make them.

When a non-scientist attempts to dispute the findings of an entire body of science, a good deal of humility and a great deal of research is required. Otherwise he puts himself in the position of the 9/11 truthers. Though they might know nothing about physics, structural engineering, ballistics or explosives, these people still feel qualified to assert that the experts in these fields are wrong, and that the Twin Towers were in fact brought down by controlled explosions. Read the rest of this entry »

BY MATT TAIBBI | Dateline May 10, 2007

There is a growing number of people out there who believe the Reid-Pelosi Iraq war supplemental is a gigantic crock of shit, and who think the Democratic Party leadership should now officially be labeled conspirators in the war effort. I’ve even seen it suggested that Reid and Pelosi should now be sent official “certificates of war ownership,” to formally put them in a club with Bush, Cheney, Richard Perle and the rest of the actual war authors.

The growing tension between the real antiwar movement and the Democratic Party was reflected in a long article over the weekend in the New York Times. “Antiwar Groups Use New Clout to Influence Democrats.” The piece that described how an umbrella group of antiwar activists called Americans Against the Escalation in Iraq was ready to drop the public relations hammer on the Dems, should they cave too easily in their negotiations with the president. Read the rest of this entry »

BY MATT TAIBBI
RollingStone.com
Posted on September 26, 2006
http://www.alternet.org/story/42181/

Why the “9/11 Truth” movement makes the Left Behind series read like Shakespeare.

A few weeks ago I wrote a column on the anniversary of 9/11 that offhandedly dismissed 9/11 conspiracy theorists as “clinically insane.” I expected a little bit of heat in response, but nothing could have prepared me for the deluge of fuck-you mail that I actually got. Apparently every third person in the United States thinks George Bush was behind the 9/11 attacks.

” You’re just another MSM-whore left gatekeeper paid off by corporate America,” said one writer. “What you do isn’t journalism at all, you dick,” said another. “You’re the one who’s clinically insane,” barked a third, before educating me on the supposed anomalies of physics involved with the collapse of WTC-7. Read the rest of this entry »

BY PAUL A. DONOVAN

Dear Libertarians,

I sincerely appreciate the passion and sincerity you exhibit in your endeavors, and that is why I’d like to bring up a few points to your attention. These comments originate in my recent exposure to a very large number of posts commenting primarily on an article on the Thomas Paine’s Corner blog of Cyrano’s Journal, Annals of Stupidity: The Demise of Alexander Cockburn, by Gerald Rellick. (See: https://bestcyrano.org/THOMASPAINE/?p=54 )

I discern in this thread what I have observed elsewhere, a tremendous infatuation by Libertarians with Rep. Ron Paul. That certainly strikes me as logical: Paul is one of your own. The point of divergence, however, is equally simple. The reasons and personal qualities you adduce for elevating Mr. Paul to the status of national saviour are matched, and in many dimensions clearly exceeded, by another political figure, Dennis Kucinich. What is the reason then for this partiality? I don’t want to get ahead of myself here but just let me say the following: the only conceivable reason I can find for your complete disregard of Rep. Kucinich as a serious candidate and his clear and courageous stands is that he is not a Libertarian in political philosophy, that is, he does not worship individualism at the expense of the commonwealth. Read the rest of this entry »

BY ROBERT McCHESNEY

PAUL SWEEZY, FOUNDER OF MONTHLY REVIEW

I wrote this as a paper for a seminar in history during my first year of grad school at the University of Washington in 1984. It was a labor of love for me because it gave me an opportunity to read every single issue of Monthly Review, all of which were carefully kept in bound volumes in the magnificent UW library. I was so influenced by MR coming of age in the early and middle 1970s that I wanted to understand what sort of institution and culture could produce so much wisdom and brilliance . . . and I wanted to read all the issues from the 50s and 60s I had never seen before. I never imagined anyone would ever read it aside from my professor, Robert Burke.

For the heck of it, I sent a copy to my best friend, John Bellamy “Duke” Foster, who by then was already a periodic contributor to MR. Duke liked it and shared it with MR coeditor Paul Sweezy, who I gather also liked it. Shortly thereafter, Duke mentioned to Paul that he had been approached by Verso to write a combination authorized biography of Paul and history of Monthly Review. Duke told him it would do a good deal to expand the MR legacy. Paul’s reply: “Don’t waste your time. Leave that to someone else. You have more important work to do.” Harry Magdoff, the other MR coeditor, concurred. It is fair to say that neither Paul nor Harry were publicity hounds, and that may account for the relative paucity of material on them and on MR. Read the rest of this entry »

Confusion about the nature of the Iraq War runs deep. This mother of a dead Marine chose to honor her son and his fellow soldiers by decorating a Hummer (!), and travelling across the nation on this mobile shrine honoring the war’s “noble goals.” Sadly, not all mothers figure it out like Cindy did.

CYRANO’S JOURNAL OpEds

BY CAMILLO “MAC” BICA

Originally at OpEdNews, a CJO fraternal site

Original Content at http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_camillo__070531_the_frustrations_of_.htm

Dateline: June 1, 2007

In Good Riddance Attention Whore, Cindy Sheehan’s resignation as the “face” of the anti-war movement, she makes clear the frustrations of speaking truth to power in a country that is more concerned with who will be the next American Idol than with the deaths of thousands of its own children and hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis. We who advocate peace understand and share Cindy’s frustration and dismay with the arrogance, ineptitude, and criminality of the current Administration, the moral and political cowardice of members of Congress, and the lack of outrage, apathy, and indifference of the American people. In solidarity with Cindy and the millions of others who make great personal sacrifices for peace and justice, endure the outrageous comments and intimidation of the ignorant, and easily lead, I offer the following dirge on the frustrations of activism.

They wage preemptive war based on lies and deception against a sovereign nation.We who advocate peace say such wars are illegal and immoral. And they say we are unpatriotic, treasonous, and unsupportive of the troops.

They chose not to serve or had “other priorities” when their Country called, and now cavalierly send our children to kill and to die in their war for oil and empire.We who advocate peace say that if the cause is so important and the threat so grave, our chickenhawk leaders and their privileged children should be the first to go. And they say we are unpatriotic, treasonous, and unsupportive of the troops.

They send our military into harm’s way unnecessarily, in inadequate numbers, with inferior body and vehicle armor, and expose them to harmful levels of depleted uranium. We who advocate peace say our troops are not cannon fodder and that such leadership is incompetent and indifferent to the needs of our military. And they say we are unpatriotic, treasonous, and unsupportive of the troops.

They deny a pay raise for our troops, cut the budget of the Veterans Administration, offer substandard physical and psychological treatment for our returning wounded and veterans. We who advocate peace say providing for the needs of our wounded and our veterans is a moral and legal obligation and should be our first priority. And they say we are unpatriotic, treasonous, and unsupportive of the troops.

They refuse to meet and to comfort the families of our fallen heroes, denigrate the memory, sacrifice, and dignity of our soldiers killed in battle by fabricating fantasies of their death and suffering to bolster patriotic support for their unpopular war. We who advocate peace say that exploiting the deaths of our soldiers and the grief and suffering of their families is unconscionable and depraved. And they say we are unpatriotic, treasonous, and unsupportive of the troops.

They torture detainees in Abu Graib, Guantanamo and “black sites” – secret prisons around the world — and deny “prisoners” even the most basic right of Habeas Corpus. We who advocate peace say that such acts increase the risk that our troops will be ill-treated and tortured should they be captured, and violate the United States Constitution and International law. And they say we are unpatriotic, treasonous, and unsupportive of the troops.

They exploit the fear of the American people post 9/11, violate their rights to privacy, misrepresented and now ignore the health effects suffered by First Responders and workers following the attacks on the World Trade Center.
We who advocate peace say such exploitation of a vulnerable citizenry, blatant disregard for their basic human rights, and indifference to the well-being of our First Responders and workers is “Un-American” and a violation of basic human decency. And they say we are unpatriotic, treasonous, and unsupportive of the troops.

They award no-bid contracts to favored corporations for personal benefit and to garner support for their corrupt agenda fleecing America of billions of dollars and, in many cases, placing the lives of our citizens (military and civilian) in danger. We who advocate peace say such war profiteering is an outrage and must be investigated and prosecuted. And they say we are unpatriotic, treasonous, and unsupportive of the troops.

They sat idle as the city of New Orleans and thousands of its inhabitants died while giving further unaccounted for billions of dollars to corporate criminals to salvage what remains for wealthy developers. We who advocate peace say such indifference to human pain and suffering is criminal and unconscionable. And they say we are unpatriotic, treasonous, and unsupportive of the troops.

They give tax cuts to the wealthy, tax incentives to the profit hungry oil industry that repeatedly enjoy record profits, ignore global warming and the environment, and cut aid to students and to health care. We who advocate peace say that fattening the corporate coffers and benefiting the affluent at the expense of the poor is anathema and a defilement of American values. And they say we are unpatriotic, treasonous, and unsupportive of the troops.

They waste billions of tax dollars on their illegal and immoral war, mortgaging our country to foreign interests and investors.We who advocate peace say such “selling of America” is fiscal suicide and threatens the future survival of our beloved nation. And they say we are unpatriotic, treasonous, and unsupportive of the troops.

They disclosed the identity of Valerie Plame, a CIA operative, to “punish” her husband for reporting the Niger uranium-production allegations to be untrue, jeopardizing Plames’ life, the lives of many other operatives she may have worked with in the past, and the CIA’s Counterterrorism operation…We who advocate peace say that knowingly disclosing the name of an undercover agent is treason and illegal under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act. And they say we are unpatriotic, treasonous, and unsupportive of the troops.

On Memorial Day, they stage Air shows, weapons displays and celebrate the technology of war all intended to entice other young men and women to die in war. We who advocate peace say that Memorial Day is not for celebration, or show, or deceptive recruitment, but for grieving and remembering the brave Americans already sacrificed, some unnecessarily, on the field of battle. And they say we are unpatriotic, treasonous, and unsupportive of the troops.

We thank Cindy for her courage, dedication, personal sacrifice, and commitment to world peace and social justice during a time of profound grief and suffering. We wish her health, personal peace, and happiness during her sabbatical of restoration. God speed, Cindy Sheehan.

Authors Website: www.svaphilosopher.com

Camillo “Mac” Bica, Ph.D., is a professor of philosophy at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. His focus is in Ethics, particularly as it applies to war and warriors. As a veteran recovering from his experiences as a United States Marine Corps Officer during the Vietnam War, he founded, and coordinated for five years, the Veterans Self-Help Initiative, a therapeutic community of veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He is a long-time activist for peace and justice, a member of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and a founding member of the Long Island Chapter of Veterans for Peace. Articles by Dr. Bica have appeared in The Humanist Magazine, Znet, Truthout.com, Common Dreams, AntiWar.com, Monthly Review Zine, Foreign Policy in Focus, OpEdNews.Com, and numerous philosophical journals.