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EXCLUSIVE! HOW THE FBI SPIED ON EDWARD SAID First look at secret files: How G-Men kept Said under surveillance from 1971. David Price traces years of snooping on US's best known Palestinian Bush says 30,000 dead in Iraq but real number caused by 2003 US attack is AT LEAST 180,000, maybe twice that as Andrew Cockburn digs out the real numbers Is the US Constitution worth saving? Hmmm, maybe ... New York Times takes a year to make up its mind. Cockburn and St Clair on NYT and NSA ... 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! or write CounterPunch, PO BOX 228, Petrolia, CA 95558 |
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December 26, 2005 Lawrence R.
Velvel Ben Terrall December 24/25, 2005 Aleander Cockburn James Petras Ralph Nader Lila Rajiva Fred Gardner Ron Jacobs Dave Lindorff Gary Leupp Saul Landau John Chuckman Dr. Susan Block St. Clair / Vest / Pollack
/ Donnelly Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
December 23, 2005 John Ross Chris Floyd Lawrence Mishel
/ Ross Eisenbrey Joanne Mariner Eric Johnson-Debaufre Ray McGovern J. L. Chestnut,
Jr. Website of
the Day
December 22, 2005 Ingmar Lee Elisa Salasin Christopher
Brauchli Robin Blackburn Evelyn Pringle Amira Hass Francis A.
Boyle Stew Albert Website of
the Day
December 21, 2005 Paul Craig
Roberts Lila Rajiva Joshua Frank Dave Zirin Ramzy Baroud Sonia Nettnin Ben Saul Jonathan Cronin Patrick Cockburn Website of
the Day
December 20, 2005 Jackie Corr Earl Ofari
Hutchinson Michael Donnelly Gian Paulo
Accardo Pierre Tristam Norman Solomon Sen. Robert Byrd Dave Lindorff Website of the Day
December 19, 2005 Mike Marqusee Gary Leupp Ron Jacobs John Blair Gideon Levy Kevin Zeese Missy Comley Beattie Don Santina Website of the Day
December 17 / 18, 2005 Cockburn /
St. Clair Gabriel Kolko Susan Alcorn Werther Ralph Nader Patrick Cockburn Fred Gardner Dave Lindorff Ned Sublette Lee Sustar Jason Leopold Laura Carlsen Jeff White Ray McGovern Chris Floyd William Loren Katz Rose Miriam
Elizalde Greg Moses Heather Gray Alison Weir St Clair /
Walker / Pollack Poets' Basement Website of
the Day
December 16, 2005 Tom Kerr Mark Engler John Bomar Patrick Cockburn Pierre Tristam William S. Lind Cyril Neville Robert Jensen Saul Landau Website
December 15, 2005 Oren Ben-Dor Stan Cox Joshua Frank Ben Terrall Patrick Cockburn Monica Benderman Walter A. Davis Vijay Prashad Website of
the Day
Patrick Cockburn Paul Craig
Roberts Lawrence R. Velvel Wayne Garcia John Sugg Gary Leupp Ray McGovern Alan Maass April Hurley, MD Kevin Alexander
Gray
December 13, 2005 Stephen T.
Banko, III Patrick Cockburn Laura Carlsen Karl Grossman Niranjan Ramakrishnan Kevin Zeese Norman Solomon Michael G.
Smith Stew Albert Bob Dylan Phil Gasper Website of
the Day
December 12, 2005 Paul Craig
Roberts Lawrence R.
Velvel Jessica Stewart George Bisharat Nate Mezmer Earl Ofari
Hutchinson Alison Weir Seth Sandronsky Patrick Cockburn Website of
the Day
Alexander Cockburn Landau / Hassen Ralph Nader Linn Washington, Jr Bill Christison Mike Ferner Elizabeth Schulte Neve Gordon / Yigal Bronner Linda S. Heard Ingmar Lee Ray McGovern John Chuckman John Ryan Dick J. Reavis Christopher
Brauchli Behzad Yaghmaian Aseem Shrivastava John Ross Ben Tripp St. Clair / Pollack / Vest
/ Despair Poets' Basement Website of the Week
December 9, 2005 Linn Washington,
Jr. Dave Zirin
/ Mike Stark Patrick Cockburn Alexander Cockburn Lila Rajiva Gary Leupp Jason Leopold Bruce K. Gagnon Andrew Cockburn Website of the Day
December 8, 2005 Kathy Kelly James Petras William S.
Lind Laura Carlsen Justin Akers Thomas Graham, Jr Norman Solomon Tariq Ali /
Robin Blackburn Website of
the Day
December 7, 2005 John Ryan Gary Leupp Fran Quigley Jeremy Brecher
/ Brendan Smith Joshua Frank William W.
Morgan Dave Lindorff Patrick Cockburn Harold Pinter Website of
the Day
December 6, 2005 Ron Jacobs Patrick Cockburn Yifat Susskind Mike Whitney Pat Williams Paul Craig
Roberts Website of
the Day
December 5, 2005 John Walsh Brian Cloughley Mokhiber /
Weissman Robert Jensen Norman Solomon Peter Rost, MD Lila Rajiva Website of the Day
Alexander Cockburn Lawrence R.
Velvel Rev. William Alberts Saul Landau Ralph Nader Paul Craig
Roberts Mike Whitney Allan Lichtman Dave Lindorff Brian Concannon,
Jr. Fred Gardner Manuel Garcia,
Jr. Carol Wolman St. Clair /
Vest / Walker / Pollack Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend
December 2, 2005 Stan Goff Mike Ferner Christopher Brauchli Niranjan Ramakrishnan Manuel Talens Peter Phillips J.L. Chestnut,
Jr. Website of
the Day
December 1, 2005 John Walsh,
MD Ron Jacobs Jenna Orkin Joshua Frank Tiffany Ten
Eyck Missy Comley Beattie Eli Stephens Elaine Cassel Website of
the Day
November 30, 2005 Allen / D'Amato Mike Whitney Kevin Zeese Norman Solomon Ramzy Baroud Dave Lindorff Stephen Soldz
November 29, 2005 Phil Gasper Behzad Yaghmaian Joshua Frank Walter A. Davis Gary Leupp Len Colodny Jeffrey St.
Clair Bill Quigley Website of
the Day
November 28, 2005 Chris Reed David Isenberg Ron Jacobs Norman Solomon Justin E.H. Smith Mickey Z. Mike Whitney David Swanson Paul Craig
Roberts Website of
the Day
November 26 / 27, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Saul Landau Ralph Nader Brian Cloughley John Ross Gary Leupp Fred Gardner Christopher Brauchli Dave Lindorff P. Sainath Timothy J.
Freeman Lila Rajiva Eric Ruder Seth Sandronsky Joaquin Bustelo Lewis Alper Will Youmans Phyllis Pollack St. Clair /
Vest Barbara LaMorticella Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
November 25, 2005 David Price Brian McKenna Jeff Halper Ray McGovern Leigh Saavedra Ingmar Lee Website of the Day
November 24, 2005 James Petras Bob Shirley Mike Fox Niranjan Ramakrishnan Greg Moses Alexander Cockburn
November 23, 2005 Ramzy Baroud Mike Whitney Stan Cox Linda S. Heard November 22, 2005 Kevin Gray
/ Mike Hersh Ralph Nader Michael Donnelly Mike Ferner Pierre Tristam Marshall Auerback Website of
the Day
November 21, 2005 Mike Marqusee Josh Frank Mike Whitney Norman Solomon Russ Baker Robert Jensen Paul Craig
Roberts
November 19 / 20, 2005 Fred Gardner Rep. Cynthia McKinney Ron Jacobs David Vest J.L. Chestnut,
Jr. John R. Bomar John Ross Phillip Cryan Dave Lindorff Dick J. Reavis Jeremy Scahill Dan Wright John Stanton St. Clair / Vest / Walker Phyllis Pollack Dr. Susan Block Poets Basement
November 18, 2005 Michael Neumann Dave Lindorff Michael Donnelly Mark Chmiel
/ Andrew Wimmer Don Monkerud Tom Kerr Trish Schuh
November 17, 2005 John Walsh Rep. John Murtha Brian J. Foley CounterPunch
News Service Dave Lindorff Mark T. Harris Cockburn /
St. Clair
November 16, 2005 John F. Sugg Noam Chomsky Dave Lindorff Evelyn Pringle Sam Husseini Pierre Tristam Greg Bates Farrah Hassen Bill Christison Website of
the Day
November 15, 2005 Todd Chretien Leah Caldwell Frederick Hudson Harry Browne Jason Leopold Ingmar Lee Diana Barahona Tom Andre Website of the Weekend
November 14, 2005 Diana Johnstone Paul Craig Roberts Conn Hallinan Joshua Frank Christopher
Reed
November 11 / 13, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Gwyneth Leech Elmas Mallo Michael Neumann Saul Landau Sam Husseini Brian Cloughley Ron Jacobs Lila Rajiva Michael Donnelly Joe Allen Roland Sheppard Justin E.H.
Smith Ben Tripp St. Clair /
Vest Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend
November 10, 2005 Peterside,
Ogon, Watts and Zalik Pat Williams Steve Higgs Jimmy Massey Lucson Pierre-Charles Anthony Newkirk Lawrence R.
Velvel Website of the Day November 9, 2005 Gary Leupp Tariq Ali Chris Floyd Elaine Cassel Joshua Frank Alison Weir Diana Johnstone
Paul Craig
Roberts Roger Burbach Ron Jacobs Ralph Nader Jim McGrath David Bloom Stan Goff
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December 26, 2005 "Time and Chance Happeneth to Them All"The Toughest Challenge for Intelligence DesignBy LANCE OLSEN The diversity of the planet's many religious impulses and institutions prompted William James to write a book titled Varieties of Religious Experience. Even casual observers of the religion scene will have noticed that this variety includes a diversity among creation stories. However, any conflict between the varied creation stories is largely overlooked in a contemporary uproar between one creation story and the scientific accounts initiated by Darwin and his contemporaries. The key conflict herein is one based around purportedly discrepant versions on the origins of Life. This is an old conflict whose fires have been fanned by a movement toward so-called intelligent design. But the old conflict between Bible and science has never been anywhere near to great as some preachers prefer to have it, and the intelligent design movement will likely face tougher challenges from the planet's most popular version of the Bible than from science and law. Urban legend? In the fall of 1999, Bruce Alberts, then president of the National Academy of Sciences, said controversy over teaching evolution in the schools had become "rancorous." Writing for an online life sciences journal, The Scientist, Alberts pointed a finger directly at "those who believe in the literal accuracy of the Bible" as the major opponent to teaching evolution in America's classrooms. There is more than one version of the Bible, but the version likely to be most relevant to this debate is King James. This is the world's most widely distributed Bible, and is favored by many who take the Bible literally. There is widespread interest in the alleged conflict between evolutionary biology and King James, and not only in the United States, where it runs strongest. For example, in late November, 2005, a British newspaper, the Guardian, ran a story on the fundamentalist v. science controversy under a headline proclaiming that "America is Caught in a Conflict Between Science and God." Many in America seem to agreee. However, despite the pervasiveness of this view, a literal reading of the Bible reveals that the supposed discrepancies between the word of God and the word of Darwin are far less important than popularly imagined. One need be a religious scholar to find compelling points of agreement on the origins of species; the Bible is exquisitely explicit about them. For example, the very first chapter of Genesis says that plants were here first (1:11-12), then animals (1:20), and only then, (1:24) humanity. Darwin certainly had no argument with that view. Even more interesting, and probably more relevantly controversial, Darwin's inquiries might even be taken as scientific confirmation of this Biblical account. In fact, a literal reading of Genesis reveals that when it came time to bring living things to life, God said let the earth and waters do it. Thus, a literal reading opens a question of whether evolution was a command performance, and perhaps the world's first case history of sub-contracting or, outsourcing, or joint venture. At Genesis 1:20: "God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life." At Genesis 1:24, this -- "God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature.and beast of the earth." Darwin certainly had no argument with and posed no challenge to statements that life was brought forth by the earth and waters. In his view, and in the overall view of evolutionary biology since Darwin's day, it is indeed the earth and waters that brought forth the living creatures. But what about the bringing forth--i.e., the creation--of the human being? Once again, the Bible is exquisitely explicit in its account. After the waters and the earth had brought forth the lives of many living things, Genesis 1:26, states the process clearly: "God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." Whether or not we take the Bible literally, two rich tidbits catch the eye Genesis 1:26. First, if we are really to take that passage literally, God did not say, "Let me make man." Stating a point similar to let the waters and let the earth bring for the species that were originated prior to people, God said, "let us make man." Thus, God either "created" humanity in league with the likes of grasses and beasts, or the earlier life forms did it in response to God's command. This is remarkably similar to Darwin's view, and Genesis is not the only reference to it. It shows up again at Ecclesiastes 3: 18-21: " they themselves are beasts a man hath no preeminence above the beasts, for all is vanity." Second, if we are to give the literalists/fundamentalists a fair reading of Genesis 1:26, God did not say, "Let us make man in my image, after my likeness." He said, "Let us make man in our image and after our likeness." Although Darwin would later phrase this origin of humanity differently, he would come to the same conclusion. Again, while the language of King James and evolutionary biology are not identical, it could be argued that biology has confirmed the pre-scientific view presented in the Christian world's most-favored Bible. However, only a heartbeat later than the passages of 1:26, at 1:27, Genesis tells us, "So God created man in his own image" An apparent contradiction and a burning question raise their heads at this point. How can the Bible say, at one point, that people were created in "our" image and, at a later point, that God created man in "his own" image? We begin to find the answer by asking three questions: What does so mean, did God create man in man's own image or in God's own image, and what is God's own image? "So God created man" seems to be another way of saying "Thus God created man...", by subcontracting the job to prehuman life. It is much harder to know whether a literal reading of "his own image" means God's own image or man's. As for the question God's own image, Genesis 1:27 is far from the Bible's last word; further clarification is found at Genesis 2:7 "And God formed man of the dust of the ground." Life After Death? If God indeed formed man from his own image, and if God did it by forming man of the dust of the ground, lowly dust deserves much more respect than it gets in the origins of life. Morever, if the Biblical emphases on dust are to be taken literally, the supposed gap between science and God is nowhere near so wide as many assume. Numerous scientists have been studying interstellar dust, including dust that existed long before our solar system was formed, as an originator of life on earth. In Scientific American's 1970 special issue on the biosphere, Edward S. Deevey, Jr. wrote, "What can be said with assurance is that there is a unique and nearly ubiquitious compound, with the empirical formulaH(2960)O(1480)C(1480)N(16)P(1.8)S, alled living matter. Its synthesis, on an oxidized and uncarboxylated earth, is the most intricate feat of chemical engineering ever performed--and the most delicate operation that people have ever tampered with." Therein may lie some hints on the concept of afterlife, and even on the location of Heaven. For example, the concept of human life beyond death is explicitly challenged at Ecclesiastes 3:19, where a strictly literal reading reveals a strong theme: "that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts: as the one dieth, so dieth the other . All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?" The same point is stressed again at Ecclesiates 9:5-10, in a strong theme where " the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished . for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." But Ecclesiates isn't the only place to find clarification on what becomes of humans when we die. Jesus himself offered some important clues on the location of Heaven, and I am much reminded of dust as I read through them. According to Thomas O. Lambdin's translation of The Gospel of Thomas, Jesus says, "It will not be a matter of saying, 'Here it is' or 'There it is.' Rather, the Kingdom of the Father is spread out on the earth, and men do not see it." In King James, at Luke 17:20-2: "And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation. Neither shall they say, Lo here! or lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." Jesus' wording differs in the Revised Standard Edition: "The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, 'Lo, here it is!' or 'There' for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you." The place of chance Leaders of the intelligent design movement insist that evolutionary science differs from their alleged "science" in that evolution relies on chance. In the case of complex organisms, the intelligent design folks insist that this isn't plausible. Their view has already encountered challenges from the scientific community. And as Christmas 2005 neared, they faced a challenge from a federal judge appointed by GW Bush. But their toughest challenge seems to lie ahead, when they face down a Bible that many believe is the unerrant world of God. Ecclisiastes 9:11 states part of that challenge as explicitly as any other passage in King James: "the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all." Darwin could have hardly said it better. Lance Olsen is Project Director of the Missoula,
Montana-based Cold Mountain, Cold Rivers. This article is adapted
from a longer booklet, Profoundly Green, in preparation,
which extends the argument from the Bible's prescientific insights
about evolution to its mandate for conservation of all living
things. He can be reached at: lance@wildrockies.org
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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. |