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WHO RULES: THE ISRAEL LOBBY OR UNCLE SAM? The answer at last! Uri Avnery, former Knesset member, assesses the Lobby's power. "If the Israeli government wanted a law tomorrow annulling the 10 Commandments, 95 U.S. Senators (at least) would sign the bill forthwith." But, yes, in the end the dog wags the tail. Fifty years ago Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" blew the cobwebs out of millions of young minds and drove a stake through the heart of Eisenhower's America. Lenni Brenner remembers Ginsberg in the East Village. Dr Mengele died in exile, in disguise. Dr Ishii died rich and recognized, in his own Tokyo home. Christopher Reed on Japanese WW2 medical tortures and how the U.S. covered them up. 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! |
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Today's Stories May 13 / 14, 2006 Kathy Kelly May 12, 2006 Michael Snedeker Dave Lindorff Leah Fishbein
/ RJ Schinner Brian Kwoba Chris Kromm Kai Diekmann David Swanson Virginia Tilley Website of the
Day
May 11, 2006 Sunsara Taylor Jonathan Cook Tariq Ali Wayne S. Smith Mike Whitney Pratyush Chandra Joshua Frank Mickey Z. Francis Boyle Edward S. Herman
/ David Peterson Website of the
Day
May 10, 2006 Werther Larry Birns / Michael Lettieri Ramzy Baroud Kevin Zeese Evelyn Pringle Amira Hass Michael Donnelly Ron Jacobs Sharon Smith Website of the Day
May 9, 2006 Ray McGovern M. Shahid Alam Moshe Adler Walter MIgnolo Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor William S. Lind Todd Chretien Dave Lindorff Ishmael Reed Website of the
Day
May 8, 2006 Kate McCabe Paul Craig Roberts Col. Dan Smith Norman Solomon Ingmar Lee Robert Jensen Ricardo Alarcon Will Youmans / M. Kay Siblani Alexander Cockburn Website of the
Day
May 6 / 7, 2006 Jeffrey St. Clair Ariel Dorfman Joe Allen Fred Gardner Jeff Taylor Saul Landau Stephen Philion Trish Schuh Ralph Nader Robert Fisk Paul Cantor John Holt James Ryan Lawrence R. Velvel Greg Moses Laray Polk Ron Jacobs Ben Tripp Mickey Z. Jeffrey St. Clair Poets' Basement Website of the Week
May 5, 2006 Vijay Prashad Robert Fisk David Swanson Mearsheimer / Walt Dave Lindorff Sarah Ferguson CounterPunch
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May 4, 2006 John F. Sugg Jonathan Cook Roger Burbach Chris Dols Christopher Brauchli Tony Swindell Website of the Day
May 3, 2006 Robert Bryce Paul Craig Roberts James Petras Lee Sustar David Bolton Joshua Frank Jeffery R. Webber Website of the
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May 2, 2006 Evelyn Pringle Tariq Ali Saul Landau Paul Craig Roberts Gary Leupp Ron Jacobs Sen. Russell
Feingold Anthony Papa Website of the
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May Day, 2006 Norman Finkelstein Christopher Reed Michael Donnelly Dave Zirin Mike Whitney Gilad Atzmon Missy Comley Beattie Alexander Cockburn Website of the
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April 29 / 30, 2006 Peter Linebaugh Ralph Nader Robert Bryce Rev. William
Alberts Lee Sustar John Chuckman Eric Ruder Seth Sandronsky Ron Jacobs Ben Tripp Fred Gardner Don Monkerud Tommy Stevenson Lettrist International Contratiempo St. Clair, Vest
and D'Antoni Poets' Basement Website of the
Weekend
April 28, 2006 James Ridgeway Ramzy Baroud Sarah Knopp William S. Lind Werther April 27, 2006 Winslow T. Wheeler Robert Fisk Juan Santos Robert Jensen Dave Lindorff Jose Pertierra
April 26,2006 Robin Philpot Sherry Wolf Pratyush Chandra Joshua Frank Gary
Leupp Bill
Quigley
April 25, 2006 Gary
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Craig Roberts Linda
S. Heard Ralph
Nader Mike
Whitney Michael
Donnelly Sharon
Smith Website
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April 24, 2006 Tim
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Weekend
Edition At Last, a Scandal We Can Enjoy!Hookergate By Dr. SUSAN BLOCK Wake up and smell the sex! That sizzling aroma wafting up from Washington penetrates the nostrils like the scent of hot dogs grilling on the barbie. And just like that sweet meaty bouquet of backyard BBQs on Memorial Day, it's hard to tell, from a distance, just whose backyards are having all the fun. Fortunately, the FBI, a few bloggers and even some mainstream reporters are sticking their noses into this pork-laden sex scandal we're calling "Hookergate" (as well as "Fornigate," "Tailgate" and "Watergate-gate"). We do know that one of the smoked sausages belongs to freshly incarcerated Republican Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham, former Vietnam War "Top Gun," and House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Hot Dog from San Diego who was sentenced in March to more than eight years in prison for taking $2.4 million in bribes from military contractors. Cunningham's personal booty (detailed by CounterPunch's Jeffrey St. Clair in his salacious new book, Grand Theft Pentagon.) included a yacht docked on the Potomac where he lived rent-free, cutely dubbed "The Duke Stir," owned by his "owner," San Diego defense contractor, Mitchell Wade. Wade's largesse paid off well for him, as the Dukestir brought home the bacon in the form of tens of millions of dollars in defense and intelligence contracts for Wade's fledgling company MZM Inc. But this cozy arrangement that cost taxpayers millions wasn't just between Wade and Cunningham. Now the FBI is looking into just which U.S. government officials enjoyed the Wade-paid Poker 'n' Prostitutes parties at the Watergate Hotel (yes, that Watergate Hotel). Yummy yum yum. Illegal sex between powerful congressmen and classy call-girls pimped by defense contractors flanked by card sharking spies. Who can resist the smell of high muckety-muck wieners roasting between hot hooker buns? And from where else could that meaty stench be coming? Hm.Sniff, sniff Smells like there's another hot link on or about the person of one Porter Goss who was hustled out of his new job as CIA chief faster than a guilty husband could stash his lipstick-collared shirt in the laundry bin. Goss, a Yale Man who whooped it up with William H.T. Bush (uncle of President George W. Bush) as a Psi Upsilon frat boy before he followed in proto-Yalie Nathan Hale's hallowed footsteps and became a (rather hapless) spy, says he handed in his resignation so he'd have more time for "golf." With a departure so abrupt and a reason so lame, twitching noses have to wonder if that spicy scent is indeed emanating from Porter's pants. It is certainly coming from the pants of his protégé Kyle "Dusty" Foggo who also suddenly resigned from his new post as the CIA's third highest ranking official (promoted to this job by Goss). Ol' Foggo of Foggy Bottom just happens to be longtime best buddies with Brent Wilkes, another defense contractor/pimp who is said to have helped pay for those poker 'n' poontang parties at the Watergate. Wilkes also seems to have heavily bribed the Dukestir, among other well-placed congressmen, to give juicy pork-packed contracts to his company, ADCS (Automated Document Conversion Systems). Foggo admits to participating in the poker fests, but denies poking any prostitutes. At least, he didn't know they were prostitutes. But who knows who's a prostitute anyway? The contractor/pimps, Wade and Wilkes, probably didn't introduce the ladies as "prostitutes" nor were they so crass as to open their wallets and pay the hookers right in front of Duke, Dusty and the other government officials. This is the cream of America's crop we're talking about here; they know how to be cool in sensitive situations. Well, to a point. Who might those others be? With luck, we'll soon find out. Let the smell of sizzling "defense" pork be our guide. As Deep Throat used to say, follow the money. Some of the congressman who received money from Wilkes are: (on the Armed Services Committee) Duncan Hunter (CA), Chairman - $43,200, Jim Saxton (NJ) - $1,500, Ken Calvert (CA)- $8,000, (Appropriations) Jerry Lewis (CA), Chairman - $86,252, Bill Young (FL) - $6,500, Tom Delay (TX) - $70,000, Henry Bonilla (TX) - $19,500, Joe Knollenberg (MI) - $13,000, Robert Aderholt (AL) - $2,000, John Doolittle (CA) - $103,000, Don Sherwood (PA) - $1,000, Mark Kirk (IL) - $5,000, (Select Committee on Intelligence) Peter Hoekstra (MI) - $4,000, Heather Wilson (NM) - $3,000, Darrell Issa (CA) - $5,000, as well as Roy Blunt (MO) - $21,000, Larry Craig (ID) - $43,000, Benjamin Gilman (NY) - $42,146, Robert Livingston (LA) - $10,000, Devin Gerald Nunes (CA) - $13,000, Ronald Packard (CA) - $11,000, Charles Robb (VA-Senate and the only Democrat on this list) - $17,000, Billy Tauzin (LA) - $18,587 and Jerry Weller (IL) - $10,000. Interestingly, in this list of over 20 power-wielding, wiener-sporting alpha males, there is only one woman, and Wilkes only gave her three grand. Something tells me she wasn't at the Poker 'n' Poke 'Em parties either, though I could be wrong about that. To be fair, the genders of the prostitutes have not yet been revealed. Most of us assume they are female, but let's be open-minded. After all, one of the most famous hookers in Washington is Jeff Gannon, aka Jim Guckert, former White House Correspondent and Closet Gay Market Call-Boy specializing in Military Fetish Play. Not only did Gannon/Guckert have greased backdoor access to White House press briefings, according to official records of his signed-in comings and goings (compiled conveniently by Gary Leupp), he appears to have spent many hours beyond the briefings hanging out (in his briefs?) in the White House, including about a dozen *overnights* in which he signed in on one day and signed out on the next. Not that anyone's pointing any fingers, greased or not heavens, no! - but when one hears about those White House sleepovers, one can't help but envision a certain family-values-spouting President (who has been cheerfully outed by his own "Desperate Housewife" Laura for "milking a horsea male horse") playing "Brokeback Mountain" Military Cowboy with manly NeoConMan Jeff Gannon/Jim Guckert. Not that Jeff/Jim is a true Neocon, and he probably didn't con the White House (just the Press Corps). Remember, he's a hooker. Most hookers are apolitical. It's the nature of being a good hooker. You work for whoever's got the cash. In Hookergate, the hookers are working for their pimps, Wade and Wilkes, who pay them. But the pimps are getting much more money from the johns, except instead of cash on the table, its defense contracts worth millions. Since the whole defense industry seems to operate like this plus or minus a few whores, jokers, campaign contributions and stock options - one could say billions. It's common wisdom among prostitutes, especially in Washington, that Republicans are better customers than Democrats. Democrats tend not to want to pay for sex. For various reasons, some having to do with "democracy" and some having to do with being cheap, Dems like to do it with interns and volunteers. Republicans prefer to get their sex from professionals. They also seem to have more of an awareness/superstition that Sex is Bad - after all, that's what they're continuously and hypocritically preaching to their trusting constituents. Thus Republican officials tend to value the discreet privacy that professional prostitutes provide. The Hookergate hookers didn't blab about the Watergate Whorehouse like Monica blabbed to Linda Tripp. But thanks to the Dukestir's other more extravagant bribes, the whole game is being exposed anyway. Who cares who Duke and Dusty and maybe Porter were porking? I don't. That is, I don't believe having extra-marital sex or paying for sex necessarily makes them unfit representatives or even incompetent spies (look at 007). But I must confess that I do care in the sense that I'm interested. I mean, its fun to read about or better yet see hot pics of illicit sex in the higher echelons of government. It's mildly arousing, serves up interesting tidbits about the official's sexual fetishes and provides good water cooler gossip. Republicans relied on this *interest* factor when they nailed Clinton with Monica (even though the poor dears never even fully nailed each other). That's the bottom line: Sex, especially illicit sex in high places, is interesting oh, that delicious smell! Eau de Sex. What about the fact that these are prostitutes we're talking about here? I support prostitutes' rights. I'm all for sex workers making an honest buck. I believe prostitution should be decriminalized, a position I'm sure the Duke Stir would have abhorred during his pious, high and mighty, tough-on-vice congressional days. But keep in mind that Hookergate isn't even about government officials paying for sex with prostitutes. That would be an honest transaction. But the officials weren't paying! The defense contractors were paying. In turn, the defense contractors were getting paid, ever-so-much-much more, by We the American People. We are the johns in this affair, and we don't even get our buns warmed. We the People have been jacked, big-time. And - smoking pork bellies, that stinks! Of course, people are comparing Hookergate to Zippergate or Monicagate or Clinton's Folly or Ken Starr's Porn (one name never really stuck, just like the charges didn't amount to much more than a dirty blue dress). True, Clinton was risking the public trust by playing naughty games with chatty interns whilst surrounded by Republican vultures ready to swoop down at the slightest smell of blood - or semen. But Clinton wasn't spending the public's money for his personal pleasure. Monica wasn't representing any interest groups or contractors. Hookergate is different. It's the sex scandal burning at the center of a pork-stuffed $500 billion annual defense budget monster that keeps growing and killing with greater, more devastating incompetence and profligacy. The hooker sex is irrelevant to the real festering obscenity, which is how both our elected and appointed officials keep giving away American tax dollars to their cronies, most of whom seem to have something to do with defense (that's where the fattiest pork is). Whether or not Halliburton services Dick Cheney's dick is irrelevant. The important - and truly obscene - thing is that, thanks to Cheney's firm guidance of Horse-Milking Clueless George, Halliburton is making big bucks on America's disasters in Iraq, Afghanistan and New Orleans. No, the sex angle on Hookergate isn't the meat of the matter. But then, it's not the steak that sells the steak, it's the sizzle. If the FBI keeps grilling those dogs, it could just wake up the dormant journalistic instincts of the whores that report for the mainstream press. The smell of hot flaming illicit sex, properly fanned by Big Media, might even awaken the somnambulant anti-war movement and everybody else that loathes this lying, spying, faith-based, warmongering regime, which is a large majority of the country, as evidenced by Dubya's and Congress' plummeting polls. Then maybe we could make some changes that really benefit the johns - I mean, the American people. Of course, hookers, including media hookers, always work for whoever's got the cash, and corporate media bosses tend to be religiously Republican. So when it comes down to doing their jobs and actually reporting on the obscene Jacking of America, well, let's just say I'm not holding my breath. Beside, I just love inhaling the smell of sex ... Dr. Susan Block is a sex educator, cable TV host and author of The 10 Commandments of Pleasure. Visit her BRAND NEW BLOGGAMY & POST COMMENTS at http://www.drsusanblock.com/blog/blog.asp Send comments to liberties@blockbooks.com.
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from CounterPunch Books! The Case Against Israel By Michael Neumann Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Greed and Profiteering in the War on Terror by Jeffrey St. Clair 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. |