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What You're Missing in our subscriber-only CounterPunch newsletter THE INSIDE HISTORY OF THE ISRAEL LOBBY Former top CIA analysts Kathleen and Bill Christison give CounterPunchers the real scoop on the Israel lobby and precisely how powerful it is. Read how US presidents from Wilson, through FDR to Truman were manipulated by the Zionist lobby; how Israel bent LBJ, Reagan and Clinton to its purpose; how Bush's White House has been the West Wing of the Israeli government; how Washington's revolving doors send full-time Israel lobbyists from think-tanks to the National Security Council and the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans. For all who want a true measure of the Lobby's power, the Christisons' 8-page dossier, exclusive to CounterPunch newsletter subscribers, is a MUST read. CounterPunch Online is read by millions of viewers each month! But remember, we are funded solely by the subscribers to the print edition of CounterPunch. Please support this website by buying a subscription to our newsletter, which contains fresh material you won't find anywhere else, or by making a donation for the online edition. Remember contributions are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! Get CounterPunch By Email for Only $35 a Year

Today's Stories June 6, 2006 Patrick Cockburn Bloodbath Beyond the Green Zone June 5, 2006 Bruce Jackson Why Haditha Happened Chris Floyd Return to Ishaqi: the Pentagon's Shaky Self-Exoneration Michael Neumann Jewish Opposition to Zionism Heather Gray War in the 20th Century: a Canadian Family's Experience William Hughes Bipartisan War Profiteers David Swanson Should We Stay or Should We Go Now? Alexander Cockburn Palestine: It's All Over Website of the Day Klamath Spring   June 3 / 4, 2006 Weekend Edition Robert Fisk Liberators as Murderers James Petras Is Latin America Really Turning Left? Rosemary Radford Ruether "We Have No One to Talk To:" Israel's Targeted Assassination Policy Harry Clark Truman and Israel: How It All Began Jeffrey St. Clair What a Miner's Life is Worth Ron Ridenour Return to Cuba Ron Jacobs Hand Wringing and Warfare: What Do Owe Iraq Fred Gardner Dr. Tashkin Makes the News Peter Montague The System in Crisis John Walsh MoveOn Rigs Its Own Vote; Betrays Its Membership Greg Moses Eyes of Texas: Neocon Border with Mexico Begins Next Week Sean Donahue Atlantica: Mainer's Won't Be Fooled Again Mike Whitney Swan Song for the Greenback? Dave Patten Final Examination Ali Khan Story of the Two Kings Robert Dotson, MD Couch Time for America Hammond Guthrie Revisiting Mondo Hollywood St. Clair / D'Antoni Playlists: What We're Listening to This Week Poets' Basement Bina, Engel, Ford and Landau Website of the Day Send Dr. Suzy Your Love   June 2, 2006 Kathy Kelly Right Livelihood Alan Maass "A Mercenary Army": an Interview with Jeremy Scahill on Blackwater in New Orleans Mickey Z. Haditha Massacre was Inevitable Dave Lindorff Don't Think Twice: Bush and Rumsfeld as Ethics Advisers Chris Kutalik Troqueros Flex Muscles at Long Beach Sunsara Taylor Countdown to a Betrayal: Making Change Without Democrats Sam Husseini Can Pacifica Live Up to Its Promise? Mike Ferner More, Lots More Website of the Day Free Daniel McGowan!   June 1, 2006 Brian Cloughley Haditha and the Farrago of Lies: War Crimes Start at the Top David Peterson Iran: a Manufactured Crisis Lee Ballinger Media Myths About the South: What Backlash Against the Dixie Chicks? Jonathan Cook Olmbert in DC: Bold Ideas and Ugly Intentions Mike Whitney Offers and Ultimatums: Endgaming Iran Paul Rockwell Smearing Ron Dellums Clifton Ross Millennium Blues Kevin Zeese Return of the Petri Dish Warriors: a New Biowar Arms Race Begins in Maryland Website of the Day The Monkees and Johnny Cash   May 31, 2006 Dave Lindorff DNC Death Wish 2006: the Do Nothing Party Joshua Frank Al Gore, Environmental Titan?: Some Inconvenient Truths About the Ozone Man Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz Stop Saying This is a Nation of Immigrants! P. Sainath Three Weddings and Funeral: Farmer Suicides in Vidharbha Ramzy Baroud On Palestinian Violence Seth Sandronsky The War on Nurses: a Joint Attack by US Senate and NLRB Mickey Z. Scapegoating Mexicans is an American Tradition Ralph Nader Breakaway Bases: Keeping LIttle Leaguers Safe Jeffrey St. Clair Dirk's Dirty Money: Gale Norton in Slacks Website of the Day Storm Cloud Over New Orleans   May 30, 2006 Lee Ballinger The Real Reason Rock the Vote is Falling Apart Jonathan Cook Shin Bet and the Israeli Academy: Partners in Human Rights Abuses? Gary Leupp Now Introducing, the Office of Iranian Affairs John Ross Disappearing the Disappeared Robert Jensen The Four Fundamentalisms Michael Dickinson Silencing the Peace Protester of Parliament Square Michael Carmichael Zionist Democrats: the DLC and Israel Tim Wise Of Immigrants and "Real Amurkans" Harry Browne Ken Loach's History Lesson Website of the Day Louisiana   May 27 / 29, 2006 Weekend Edition Paul Craig Roberts The Evil Within Kathleen Christison Surrender vs. the Right to Exist Kathy Kelly Fear of Flowers in Iraq: a Report from Sulaymaniyah Christopher Reed The Abominable Dr. Ishii: the Pentagon and the Japanese Mengele Lawrence R. Velvel The Moral Rot in Congress: a Constitutional Right to Graft? Tom Barry The Politics of Tom Tancredo Gary Leupp The Latest Neocon Lies About Iran Col. Dan Smith Freezing History: Iran and the Uses of "Preventive" War Ron Jacobs Blocking Military Ports: One, Two, Three Many Olympians Don Fitz EPA Goes Lead Wild: Acceptable Levels of Poisoning Fred Gardner What's the Matter with Oregon? Peter Montague Radioactive Troika: Bush, the Nuclear Power Industry and the New York Times Raymond Garcia Teens as Political Scapegoats John Farley Euston Manifesto: the Latest Gameplan from the Pro-Imperialist Left Seth Sandronsky Mexico After NAFTA: the Washington Post's Trouble with Numbers Tia Steele A Gold Star Mother's Memorial Day Plea Lenni Brenner "Howl", 50 Years Later: Allen Ginsberg's Silly Liberal Politics Dr. Susan Block God Has Sex, Makes Big Box Office Scott Michael Perey An Open Letter to Bono: Why are You Financing a Video Game Promoting the Invasion of Venezuela? Jeffrey St. Clair Playlist: Please Help Hilton Ruiz Poets' Basement Davies, Smith-Ferri, Mickey Z,, Buknatski, and Engel Recipe of the Weekend Impeach-Mint Punch Website of the Weekend Trojan Syndrome   May 26, 2006 Col. Douglas MacGregor Fire the Generals!: the Failure of Military Leadership in Iraq Brian J. Foley Who Will Stand Up to Bush's Drive to Attack Iran? Michael Dickinson Mining Glaciers: Water or Gold? Missy Comley Beattie Stuck in a Cake-Walk War Pierre Tristam The Few, the Proud, the Murderers Joe Allen Put a Disclaimer on the Bible, Not the Da Vinci Code Kona Lowell Thank You, Fox News Roger Burbach Bush Targets Chavez and Morales Website of the Day Women Resisting War from Within   May 25, 2006 Les AuCoin Faith-Based Missile Defense: the Folly of Star Wars Jeff Halper Countdown to Apartheid Dave Lindorff Bombing Without Regrets Ron Jacobs Voting Rights and Multilingual Ballots Bob Wing Finding Common Ground in New Orleans: an Interview with Malik Rahim Elise Gould College Grads Face Weak Labor Market Robert Bryce Iraq's Fuel Crisis Website of the Day Oh Lay!   May 24, 2006 Michael Donnelly Operation Backfire: Criminalizing Eco-Dissent Patrick Cockburn Why the US May Have to Quit Iraq Sooner Than It Planned Lucinda Marshall Involuntary Motherhood: the Cacophony Over RU 486 Dave Lindorff A Winning Impeachment Argument Shmuel Rosner Israeli Advice on Wall-Building: Be Ruthless Moshe Adler The Promised Land: Immigration, Israeli Style Heather Gray Land Reform and American Agriculture Pratyush Chandra Angels and Demons in Nepal Paul Craig Roberts In Memoriam: Lloyd Bentsen Floyd Rudmin Why Does the NSA Engage in Mass Surveillanc of Americans? Website of the Day Presentensing the Future   May 23, 2006 Paul Craig Roberts Paranoia as Policy: How Bush Brewed the Iran Crisis Sharon Smith Shooting to Kill on the Border Sunsara Taylor Meet the New Christian Conquistadors: Ron Luce's Holy Warriors Joel Whitney The Most Tenacious Man on Capitol Hill?: an Interview with John Conyers Alice Cherbonnier Total Information Awareness for Whom? FOIA, the Press and the Spooks Ron Jacobs Optimism of the Will Kristen Ess The Crisis for Palestinian Political Prisoners Patrick Cockburn Which is the Real Iraq? Website of the Day Pearl Jam: Life Wasted   May 22, 2006 Alan Maass Seeger, Springsteen and "We Shall Overcome": an Interview with Dave Marsh William Blum But What About the Marshall Plan? Elaine C. Hagopian It's Not Hamas Terror Israel Fears: the 1988 Compromise Revisited Stan Cox Eat Your Lawn!: Inside the Lawn Racket Chris Floyd Vexed to Nightmare Alexander Cockburn Flying Here: the Red Flag, from Berlin to West Bengal Website of the Day Mass Graves at Maza-i-Sharif     May 20 / 21, 2006 Patrick Cockburn iraq is Disintegrating Kathy Kelly Back to Iraq Ralph Nader Coerced Confessions Hugh O'Shaughnessy Chavez Takes London Greg Grandin The New York Times Versus Chavez P. Sainath What Exactly is "Development"? Greg Moses A Little Fascism Goes a Long Way Stephen Philion "Illegal": Lou Dobbs, Do You Really Wanna Go There? Landau / Hassen "United 93": Exposing Military Incompetence Fred Gardner The Humiliation of Clifford Robinson Missy Comley Beattie Handling the Truth Michael Dickinson Headscarf: Uproar in Turkey Over the Hijab Seth Sandronsky Social Security and Medicare: When Journalists Manufacture a Crisis Luke Young Inside Cambodia John Zavesky Praise the Lord and Pass the Joystick Ben Tripp Love It or Leave it Jeffrey St. Clair CounterPunch Playlist: a Short History of Funk Poets' Basement Landau, Davies, Orloski and Ford   May 19, 2006 Winslow T. Wheeler Democrats and the Defense Budget: Just as Ruinous as the Republicans José Pertierra Posada Carriles: Extradite or Prosecute, There's No Other Option John Ross The Marcos Factor: Mexico's Electoral Wildcard Dave Lindorff Virtual America Jeff Juel Ecological Extortion in the National Forests? Alan Farago Defanging the Endangered Species Act Eric Johnson-DeBaufre Building a New Sanctuary Movement José Martî Letter to Manuel Mercado: "The Revolution Desires Complete Freedom" Jonathan Cook Marriage Ban Closes the Gates to Palestinians Website of the Day Fix the Movie and Revolutionize the Movie Industry!   May 18, 2006 Bill Simpich Building a Movement that will be Stronger After the US is Out of Iraq: Lessons from the 1970 Student Strike Patrick Cockburn The Carnage in Basra Christopher Brauchli The Needle and the Damage Done: the Death Penalty's Ministers Nora Barrows-Friedman The Nakba in Palestine Victoria Buch In the Name of Israel's State Security Eric Ruder Nuclear Hypocrites George Wuerthner The Ice Cream Wilderness? Juan Santos The Border War Comes Home Website of the Day Help Stop Animal Torture at Devore   May 17, 2006 Lenni Brenner The Lobby and the Great Protestant Crusader Carlos Villarreal Immigrant Scapegoats and the Manufacturing of a Crisis Larry Everest Catching Rumsfeld Red-Handed: an Interview with Ray McGovern CounterPunch News Service Hugo Chavez: the London Sessions Lee Sustar Compromise and Conquer? Inside the Senate Immigration Bill Anthony Papa Dealing with the Rockefeller Drug Laws: a Tale of Two DAs William S. Lind Ink Blots and Super Fortresses: More Contradictions from Iraq War Bruce K. Gagnon Where are the Real Leaders? JoAnn Wypijewski Has Anything Really Changed at Fort Sill? Website of the Day The Pacific Northwest: Animated   May 16, 2006 Ward Churchill Punishing Free Speech Ted Honderich The Moral Barbarism of Blair and Bush Paul Craig Roberts Ministry of Fear Annie Nocenti "Jesus was a Zombie?": Letter from Haiti Charles V. Peña Regime Change Redux: US Plans for Iran Go Far Beyond Nuclear Efforts Ron Jacobs Circling the Wagons and Building Walls: Bush and Co.'s Immigration Policy Norman Solomon A Sick, Hungry Well-Armed Nation Harvey Wasserman Why the Fundamentalists Are Freaking Out Over the Da Vinci Code Michael George Smith Bush, Immigration and the Democrats Harry Browne New Frontiers of Shamelessness: Bono's Independent Website of the Day Seeger: "Bring Them Home"   May 15, 2006 Alexander Cockburn Abe Rosenthal's Times William Blum Appealing to the US is Not Very Appealing Tanya Golash-Boza and Douglas A. Parker Dehumanizing the Undocumented: an Immigration Policy Statement by Sociologists Without Borders Dave Lindorff Gen. Hayden's Sedition Against the Consitution Debra Schaffer Hubert The Battle Cry of G.I. Jesus: Capital Punishment for Gays? Patrick Cockburn Now It's Shia Troops Versus Kurdish Troops in Iraq Tom Turnipseed The Messianic Presidency Ken Livingstone Welcome to London, President Chavez! Gideon Levy Game Theory: Hamas is Winning Mickey Z. Is Impeachment Too Good for Bush? Jeff Faux What Bush's Speech Will Miss: Immigration and the Desperate Mexican Economy Website of the Day Iraq War Images Uncensored   May 13 / 14, 2006 Vijay Prashad The Indian Road: Left Triumph Joan Roelofs Why They Hate Our Kind Hearts, Too Kathy Kelly Imagining Survival Michael Neumann On the Value and Stability of Israel Dr. Susan Block Hookergate Daniel Cassidy How the Irish Invented Poker Christopher Reed Rebel Journalist: the Memoirs of Wilfred Burchett Mike Roselle The Fallacies of Greenpeace Saul Landau Up the Mekong to Cambodia Robert Fisk The Inescapable Beat: US Military Bases in Brazil Ralph Nader Sally Mae and the Student Loan Swindle Evelyn Pringle Rove and Fitzgerald Play Monopoly Fred Gardner The Marketing of "Cannabis Americana" Stanley Heller Is Another Mass Murder of Arabs in the Offing? Conn Hallinan China: a Troubled Dragon Valentina Palma Novoa "They Ordered Me to Lay My Head in a Pool of Blood" David Krieger Why Nuclear Weapons Should Matter Col. Dan Smith The Senate's Peace Quilt Christopher Brauchli Mister Bush and Mister Zarqawi: Video Stars Jeffrey St. Clair Playlist: What I'm Listening to This Week Poets' Basement Davies, Ford, Engel, Guthrie, Orloski and Louise Website of the Weekend Not Your Soldier!   May 12, 2006 Michael Snedeker Death by Snitch: the Attempted Murder of Michael Morales Dave Lindorff What Fourth Amendment? Leah Fishbein / RJ Schinner Santorum vs. Santorum-Lite: In Pennsylvania, Abortion is Absent from the Debate Brian Kwoba The Immigrant Rights Movement: Birth of a New New Left? Chris Kromm Why Southern Progressives Should Support an Estate Tax Kai Diekmann 45 Minutes with Bush: the BILD Interview David Swanson Bush Tops Nixon: the Most Despised President in History Virginia Tilley Hamas and Israel's "Right to Exist" Website of the Day The CounterPunch Story That Made the Front Page of the NYT Today   May 11, 2006 Sunsara Taylor Battle Cry for Theocracy: Meet the Shock Troops of the Christian Youth Jonathan Cook A Short History of Unilateral Separation Tariq Ali High-Octane Rocket-Rattling Against Iran Won't Work Wayne S. Smith Recycled Non Sequiturs: State Dept. Presents No Evidence Cuba is a "Terrorist State" Mike Whitney Secretary of Lies Pratyush Chandra The Royal Nepalese Army and the Imperialist Agency Joshua Frank Save Darfur? Not So Fast Mickey Z. Does Property Destruction Equal Eco-Terrorism? Francis Boyle Abe Rosenthal Stole My Kill Fee! Edward S. Herman / David Peterson US Aggression-Time Once Again: Target Iran Website of the Day The Missing Papers of John Roberts   May 10, 2006 Werther Axiom of Evil Larry Birns / Michael Lettieri Is Venezuela the New Niger?: the Bush Administration is Trying to Link Hugo Chavez to Iran's Nuclear Program Ramzy Baroud Iran and the US: Nuclear Standoff or Realpolitik? Kevin Zeese The Corporate Takeover of Iraq's Economy Evelyn Pringle Peter Rost vs. Goliath: an Ex-Pfizer VP Takes on Big Pharma Amira Hass Hungry and Shell-Shocked Michael Donnelly Nature Loses a Champion Ron Jacobs Singers in a Dangerous Time: Dylan and Haggard Take the Stage Sharon Smith Abstinence Backfires Website of the Day Camp In with Ray and Cindy   May 9, 2006 Ray McGovern My Encounter with Rumsfeld M. Shahid Alam The Muslims America Loves Moshe Adler Mayor Bloomberg: Even Worse Than Giuliani Walter MIgnolo Beyond Populism: Natural Gas and Decolonization of the Bolivian Economy Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor Blacks, Latinos and the New Civil Rights Movement William S. Lind The Other War Heats Up: Fighting on Afghan Time Todd Chretien Does It Really Matter Who Runs the CIA? Dave Lindorff Pelosi is in for a Big Surprise in November Ishmael Reed Furor Over the "Colored Mind Doubles" Website of the Day Two Years for One Joint   May 8, 2006 Kate McCabe "No Less Courage": Political Prisoners' Resistance from Ireland to Gitmo Paul Craig Roberts A Nation of Waitresses and Bartenders Col. Dan Smith Privatizing West Point: "Duty, Honor, Trademarks..." Norman Solomon Gag and Smear: the Misuses of "Anti-Semitism" Ingmar Lee Bush's Destabilizing Nuke Deal with India Robert Jensen "Covering" and the Law Ricardo Alarcon The Struggle for Immigrant Rights in a Neo-Liberal Economy Will Youmans / M. Kay Siblani The Danders of Misunderstanding Sudan Alexander Cockburn The Row Over the Israel Lobby Website of the Day Labelle Does The Who: We Don't Get Fooled Again   May 6 / 7, 2006 Jeffrey St. Clair The Rise and Possible Fall of Richard Pombo Ariel Dorfman Mission Akkomplished: the Secret History of George W. Bush Joe Allen Death Row at the "Castle": Inside the Military's Judicial System Fred Gardner From Ritalin to Cocaine: Steve Howe's Untold Story Jeff Taylor Democratic Masqueraders: Plutocracy and the Party of the People Saul Landau The Immigration Malaise Stephen Philion Lessons from the Fordham 9: Challenging CIA and Military Recruiters on Campus Trish Schuh Islamophobia, a Retrospective Ralph Nader The Tragedy of False Confessions Robert Fisk Through a Syrian Lens: Is the US Provoking Civil War in Iraq? Paul Cantor Parody of a Protest: We Came, We Marched, And ... ? John Holt "This Goddamn Place Looks Like Hell" James Ryan When is a West Point Grad, No Longer a West Point Grad? Lawrence R. Velvel Harvard and Its Presidents: Plagiarism, Ghostwriting, and the Character of Larry Summers Greg Moses Canto for a Cinco de Mayo Weekend Laray Polk Homeland Security Spending: a Dallas Case Study Ron Jacobs Subterranean Fire: a Review Ben Tripp No News is Good News Mickey Z. 9/11 Movies, Anti-War Protests and "Illegal" Humans Jeffrey St. Clair Playlist: My Own Private, Springsteen-Free JazzFest (Week Two) Poets' Basement Kirbach, Landau, Davies, Engel, Buknatski, Subiet, Ford and Thoreau Website of the Week Lawrence Welk Meets the Velvet Underground   May 5, 2006 Vijay Prashad The Charmless Inconveniences of the Bourgeoisie Robert Fisk Sy Hersh versus the Bush Administration (and the DC Press Corps) David Swanson Washington Post Writer Rushes to Rummy's Defense Against Ray McGovern Mearsheimer / Walt The Storm Over "the Israel Lobby" Dave Lindorff They're Back!: The Looters of Social Security Sarah Ferguson A Day Without Gringos: Immigrants Flooded the Streets of NYC on May, But Where Were the White Peaceniks? CounterPunch News Service Costs of US Wars: Bush's GWOT Now Fifth Most Expensive in US History Corporate Crime Reporter David Sirota: Still Shackled to the Democrats Website of the Day Watch Ray KO Rummy   May 4, 2006 John F. Sugg Sami al-Arian's Final Persecution Will Potter Green is the New Red: How the Bush Administration is Using Terror Laws to Prosecute Nonviolent Environmental Activists Jonathan Cook The Long Path Back to Umm al-Zinat Roger Burbach Bolivia's Radical Realignment Chris Dols Colbert's Moment (And Why the Beltway Gang Didn't Get It) Christopher Brauchli Sen. Frist Without Clothes Tony Swindell "Our Descent into Hell has Begun" Website of the Day The Two Lobbies   May 3, 2006 Robert Bryce The Self-Locking F-22 Paul Craig Roberts John Kenneth Galbraith, a Great American James Petras The Rise of the Migrant Workers' Movement Lee Sustar Democrats and Immigrants: the Grand Evasion David Bolton The War on Drugs is a War on Ourselves Joshua Frank Challenging Hillary Jeffery R. Webber Evo Morales' Historic May Day: Bolivia Nationalizes Gas! Website of the Day Happy Birthday, Pete Seeger!   May 2, 2006 Evelyn Pringle Gouge and Profit: Will Big Oil Destroy Tariq Ali On the Death of Pramoedya Ananta Toer: Indonesia's Greatest Writerthe US Economy? Saul Landau Life in the Mekong Delta Paul Craig Roberts Endgame for the Constitution Gary Leupp "Out of Iraq, Into Darfur?" Ron Jacobs May Day in Asheville Sen. Russell Feingold Our Presence is Destabilizing Iraq Anthony Papa Rush Limbaugh and the Politics of Drug Addiction Website of the Day Rainbow Books     May Day, 2006 Norman Finkelstein The Israel Lobby: It's Not Either / Or Christopher Reed Mercury's Message, 50 Years On Michael Donnelly Rummy's Not the Only One Who Should Go: What About the War's Liberal Enablers? Dave Zirin A Day Without Pujols Mike Whitney The "N' Word: Take Back the Oil Companies! Gilad Atzmon Self-Haters Unite! Missy Comley Beattie Marching for Peace Alexander Cockburn The War on Terror on the Lodi Front Website of the Day In Your Face, Mr President   April 29 / 30, 2006 Peter Linebaugh May Day with Heart Ralph Nader Break Up the Big Oil Cartel Robert Bryce The Scandal of the V-22: It Kills, It Crashes, But It Won't Die Rev. William Alberts Praying for Peace or Preying on Peace? Time for People of Faith to Censure Bush Lee Sustar Opening a New Movement John Chuckman Xenophobia in a Land of Immigrants Eric Ruder An Interview with Camilo Meija on the War and Immigrants Seth Sandronsky Securing the Homeland for Whom Ron Jacobs Neil Young's Call to Arms Ben Tripp A Fork in the American Road Fred Gardner Forgotten Memories: Personal and Political Don Monkerud Corruption Reform in the Age of Abramoff: Not a Roar, But a Whimper Tommy Stevenson JazzFest, Tears and the Renewal of New Orleans Lettrist International Proposals for Rationally Improving the City of Paris Contratiempo Back to the Back of the Yards: the Jungle, 100 Years Later St. Clair, Vest and D'Antoni CounterPunch Playlist: What We're LIstening to This Week Poets' Basement Engel, Orloski and Guthrie Website of the Weekend Survival of the Fattest   April 28, 2006 James Ridgeway What You Won't See in Flight 93, the Film Ramzy Baroud Hamas' Impossible Mission Sarah Knopp An Interview with Nativo Lopez on the May Day Protests William S. Lind Off With His Head!: But Rumsfeld's Should Not be the Only One That Rolls Werther Operation Canned Meat and Its Derivatives April 27, 2006 Winslow T. Wheeler How Much is the War Costing? How Many US Troops are Really in Iraq? Robert Fisk The United States of Israel? Juan Santos Immigration Endgame Robert Jensen Why Leftists Distrust Liberals Dave Lindorff Making America Safer: One Released War Crime Victim at a Time Jose Pertierra Honor and Injustice:the Case of the Cuban Five   April 26,2006 Robin Philpot The Rich Life of Jane Jacobs Sherry Wolf Democrats, Their Apologists and Abortion: the Jig is Up Pratyush Chandra Nepal: a Saga of Compromise and Struggle Joshua Frank Zig-Zagging Through the War With John Kerry Gary Leupp The Neo-Cons and Iran: No Negotiations Bill Quigley Katrina: Eight Months Later     April 25, 2006 Gary Leupp Wilkinson Speaks Out About the Coming War on Iran Paul Craig Roberts The World is Uniting Against the Bush Imperium Linda S. Heard Is the US Waging Israel's Wars?: the Prophecy of Oded Yinon Ralph Nader Political Science: Gingrich, "Futurism" and the Abolition of the OTA Mike Whitney Preparing for the Economic Typhoon Michael Donnelly Lutherans Betray Michigan's Loon Lake Wetlands for Pieces of Silver Sharon Smith Breathing New Life Into May Day Website of the Day SDS Ver. 2   April 24, 2006 Tim Wise What Kind of Card is Race? John Stanton Strike Iran, Watch Pakistan and Turkey Fall Dave Lindorff Dangerous Times Ahead Steve Shore Berlusconi Defeated: The Long Wait is Over ... Or Is It? Amadou Deme Hotel Rwanda: Setting the Record Straight Mickey Z. 15 Minutes of Radical Fame: America Meets Bill Blum and Ward Churchill Ralph Nader Lee Raymond's Unconscionable Platinum Parachute Alexander Cockburn Obama's Game Website of the Day Too Stupid to Be President?         Subscribe Online

6-6-6 The Developer vs. the Nation's Largest Urban Farm The Battle for South Central Farm By RALPH NADER South Central Farm, Los Angeles. The showdown is likely here this week over the preservation of this nation's largest urban farm worked by 350 families for 13 years to feed themselves and their neighbors a dazzling variety of organic produce. Will the Sheriff of Los Angeles County move on this 14 acre farm with dozens of squad cards to enforce an eviction notice on behalf of its developer-owner? Or will the Mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio R. Villaraigosa, come up with the private benefactors to match what has already been raised in order to meet the hefty selling price of about $16 million by its present owner, Ralph Horowitz? Wednesday seems to be the day of decision. The Sheriff is focusing on eviction and has laid elaborate battle plans featuring overwhelming force in the early dawn hours and hoping for a minimum of injuries. He proudly swears that this is not going to be "another Seattle," meaning a prolonged, out of control, media-saturated struggle. At the same time, the Mayor, desiring to let the farmers continue their urban community gardens and farmers' market, is racing to raise the over $1 million per acre price tag. He wants to avoid what could become a very ugly confrontation between determined residents, practicing organized non-violent civil disobedience against police with clubs, tear gas and other eviction tools. The Mayor knows that he could become either the hero of this vast, impoverished area of this city or its memorable villain. Yesterday, I visited South Central Farm and felt the energy of its people-creative energy brimming with plans to make their acres a "hub of a city-wide green movement, a learning center for schoolchildren, a demonstration garden for home gardeners, a community space for art and performance, a plaza for our farmers' market, a commons for all of us." Mr. Horowitz wanted the land for use as a warehouse. The South Central Farm is fast becoming a cause-celebre earning the designation-"The Whole World is Watching." Celebrities from Hollywood, the musical and political arenas have visited. The stalwart of stalwarts, Julia Butterfly Hill-of Redwood Residence fame-is living in a tree there and is in her 20th day of fasting. Contributions and expressions of support are coming in from many countries. Walking through the gardens felt like the two meanings of the word-verdure-"the greenness of growing vegetation and a condition of health and vigor." The corn was shoulder high, vines, vegetable and fruit plants of large varieties were coming to fragrant fruition. The seeds are a big deal. People here talk about them lovingly. Many came from Mexico and none are the kind that are subjected to a regular payment to Monsanto. They are passed from one small farmer to another. A dualistic sense of impending doom or victory is everywhere. Having experienced a series of legal defeats, due to a bizarre history of City Hall dealings with this land, there appear to be more pessimists than optimists. At least a foreboding pessimism. To people here the law is seen as an instrument of oppression instead of a mechanism for justice. A little history will frame the present conflict. In 1986, the City of Los Angeles took over this scarred, debris-ridden tract by eminent domain for the purpose of building a waste incinerator. The city paid a developer, Horowitz, $5 million with the proviso that if the land was ever resold he would have the right to buy it back. Attorneys for the farmers assert this is an illegal proviso and there is a trial date to litigate the question on July 12th. Local opposition to the incinerator stopped the project. In 1992 after the upheavals in the wake of the Rodney King verdict, then Mayor Tom Bradley let the farmers move onto the land under the aegis of the L.A. Food Bank. They cleaned up the area and in their words, "made the soil live again." In 1995, the city shifted the property to the L.A. Harbor Department as part of the Alameda Corridor plan-a commercial zone set up for development. In 2002, Mr. Horowitz sued the city alleging that the transfer violated his earlier buy back agreement with the city. Attorneys for Los Angeles won three separate motions to dismiss his case but Mr. Horowitz persisted. Suddenly city officials agreed to sell the land back to him for the same $5 million, in secrecy, even though these officials knew the land was worth over twice that sum. The developer received title in December of 2003. The next month, Mr. Horowitz told the farmers to get out immediately. A flurry of lawsuits followed-the farmers have good, conscientious attorneys-but the court ruled for the developer and issued an order of eviction on May 24th 2006. After I spoke with a well-placed city official, my prediction is that South Central Farms will be like its soil. It will continue "to breathe, drink and sweat. It will continue to harbor life and dreams." It will not be destroyed because its people are indomitable. People who are indomitable, who stay together and take a stand in a righteous cause with overwhelming public support, often can end political careers. For more, see www.southcentralfarmers.com, or contact southcentralfarmers@yahoo.com. The whole world is watching.

Now Available from CounterPunch Books! The Case Against Israel By Michael Neumann Click Here to Order Michael Neumann's Devastating Rebuttal of Alan Dershowitz WHAT'S INSIDE Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Greed and Profiteering in the War on Terror by Jeffrey St. Clair   CounterPunch Speakers Bureau Sick of sit-on-the-Fence speakers, tongue-tied and timid? CounterPunch Editors Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St Clair are available to speak forcefully on ALL the burning issues, as are other CounterPunchers seasoned in stump oratory. Call CounterPunch Speakers Bureau, 1-800-840-3683. Or email beckyg@counterpunch.org. The Book on 9/11 the White House Denounced as "ABSOLUTE GARBAGE"