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New Reagan Memorial Edition Exclusively in the Print Edition CounterPunch Pentagon Cartoons; Hollywood Fantasies into Political Policy; From Fort Wacky to Bitburg; Star Wars, the Enron of Its Day; Touching the Gipper's Hair; How Reagan Made Clinton by Alexander Cockburn; When Reagan Was King and AIDS Was Raging: Joking About the Terminally Ill by Larry Speakes and the White House Press Corps; Parallel Lives: Watt, Reagan and Brower: by Jeffrey St. Clair; Fortress Baghdad; Iraqi Fury by Patrick Cockburn; Troy, the Iliad and Iraq by Jeffrey St. Clair. In May, CounterPunch Online was read by over 20 million viewers! 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 (tax deductible) donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! June 16, 2004: 100 Years of Bloomsday "And there came a voice out of heaven, calling: Elijah! Elijah! And he answered with a main cry: Abba! Adonai! And they beheld Him even Him, ben Bloom Elijah, amid clouds of angels ascend to the glory of the brightness at an angle offortyfive degrees over Donohue's in Little Green Street like a shot off a shovel." James Joyce, Ulysses. Call Toll Free 1-800-840 3683 or write CounterPunch, PO BOX 228, Petrolia, CA 95558

Cockburn / St. Clair's Scorching New History of a Decade of War Now Available! Today's Stories June 16, 2004 Vicente Navarro Meet the New Head of the IMF: Who is Rodrigo Rato? June 15, 2004 Harry Browne Ireland Adds a Brick to Fortress Europe Neve Gordon The Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited David Palmer Richard Armitage, Abu Ghraib and CACI John Blair Lovelock's Misguided Call: Nukes Are No Solution to Global Warming Dave Lindorff God Wins in TKO Bill Quigley Blood-Pouring Peace Activists: State Charges Dropped; Feds Step In Patrick Cockburn Carbombs and Street Dances: 13 More Killed in Baghdad Blast John Chuckman John Kerry, Political Placebo   June 14, 2004 John Stanton / Wayne Madsen Torture, Inc: Oliver North Joins the Party Kathy Kelly Requiems: What Happens When Compassion Dies? Bruce Jackson Bush Gets Testy About Torture Lee Sustar Strikers Defy Visteon's Company Thugs Kurt Nimmo The Desperate Censors: the Republican Plot to Kill Farhenheit 9/11 Jim Davis Hard Right Nativism Eliot Katz Death and War Uri Avnery The Nightmare Comes True Website of the Day Instruments of Statecraft June 12 / 13, 2004 Peter Linebaugh Remembering the Common Hood: Soweto and Runnymede Team CounterPunch CP's Favorite Albums Jeffrey St. Clair Troy, Now and Then Gary Leupp Not Really a Puppet Government in Iraq? Brian Cloughley US Military in Crisis Antonio Ponvert, III Iraqi Prisoner Abuse: the Connecticut Connection Ben Tripp The Polls Get Stupider Joe Bageant Mash Note to the "Girl with the Leash" Ron Jacobs The Return of the Hip Hop Insurgency Forrest Hylton Object Lessons from the Case of Francisco Cortés Christopher Brauchli Federal Bureau of Errors Kurt Nimmo Going After Qaddafi, Again Wayne Madsen Israel's Slap at Reagan Anthony Loewenstein Al Jazeera Awakens the Arab World Michael Donnelly A Lightship in the Forest: Greenpeace Docks in the Siskiyous Greg Moses Who Will Tell Us More About the Workers of Nasiriyah? Susan Davis Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban Joseph Ramsey Weather Report: a Review of The Weather Underground Niranjan Ramakrishnan The 18th Brumaire in the 21st Century Wayne Saunders The Gipper, D-Day and the Stanley Cup Poets' Basement Richey, Ford, La Morticella, Albert Website of the Weekend Insurgent Music   June 11, 2004 Alexander Cockburn Reagan in Truth and Fiction Ron Jacobs Ray Charles' Legacy of Spirit Chris Floyd Funeral Games Steven Sherman How Reagan Destroyed the Democrats and Paved the Way for Clinton Mokhiber / Weissman Remembering Reagan Norman Solomon Media's Mourning in America Paul Alexander The Kerry Fantasies of Chalmers Johnson CounterPunch Wire The Terror Hour: Miami TV Station Invites Commandoes to Talk About Planned Attacks on Cuba     June 10, 2004 Noam Chomsky The Apotheosis of Reagan : Divinity Through Marketing Gary Leupp Bush, the Religious Scholar Patrick Cockburn The Iraqi Street Has Spoken: New Govt. Made Up of CIA Pawns Saul Landau Force-Feeding Lies About Free Trade Scott Evans Settling for the System: How Punkvoter.com Became Just Another Tool of the Democrats Jacob Levich John Kerry's World of Hurt: Senator Supports Beam Weapons Zeynep Toufe Reagan, Neo-Cons and the "Intelligence Failures" Nico Pitney Reform at Wal-Mart? Dave Zirin Son of a Reagan: What a Sporty 6-Year Old Saw at the Revolution Jack McCarthy Where Were You When Reagan Croaked? Gary Corseri Nouns That Should be Acronyms David Price Reagan and the Black Budget Website of the Day Inequality by the Numbers   June 9, 2004 Mustafa Barghouthi Israel's Common Use of Torture Must be Exposed Mike Whitney Alan Dershowitz, Still Defending Torture John Chuckman Why the CIA will Always be a Costly Flop Jim Tarbell / Roger Burbach Bush's Democratic Charade in Iraq Dave Lindorff Put Reagan on the $3 Bill Miguel D'Escoto Reagan was the Butcher of My People Becky Burgwin The Betrayal of Smarty Jones: Flogging a Natural Born Hero Patrick Cockburn The Rich Have Been Warned to Leave Baghdad   June 8, 2004 Jeffrey St. Clair The Nature of Ronald Reagan: Will the Earth Accept His Corpse? Dave Lindorff The March on Rumsfeld's House: Is the US Anti-War Movement Running Out of Steam? Phillip Cryan Torture, Bombings & the Press in Colombia Mark Zepezauer Getting Reagan Wrong Mickey Z. Reagan, Radicals and Repetitive Reactions John L. Hess Reagan and Bush in Normandy Alex Dawoody Reagan and Saddam: the Unholy Alliance Christopher Fons Reagan in a Word: Mean Niranjan Ramakrishnan Some Tenets are More Important Than Others Ahmed Bouzid Nothing New Under the Israeli Sun Michael Leon Bush the Narcissist   June 7, 2004 Jason Leopold New Enron Docs Show Lay and Skilling Knew of California Trading Schemes Patrick Cockburn The Baghdad Bombings: the Pattern of Attacks is Changing Dennis Hans From Afghanistan to El Salvador: Reagan's Dark Global Legacy Tracy McLellan Nader at the National Press Club: a Glimpse at a Different Kind of Politics Bill Blum The Myth of the Gipper: Reagan Didn't End the Cold War Ben Tripp What I Owe Reagan: the Brylcreemed Bullshitter Susan Davis Reagan, In a Nutshell Phil Gasper Reagan: Goodbye and Good Riddance Website of the Day A Child's ABCs of Terrorism   June 5 / 6, 2004 C. Douglas Lummis Toward a Universal Declaration of Human Wrongs Saul Landau Five Cubans in Prison, Victims of Bush's Obsession Dave Lindorff John Walker Lindh, Revisited Brian Cloughley Apologies, Please, From Those Who Got It Wrong Rich Gibson The Grenada 17: the Last Prisoners of the Cold War are Black Elaine Cassel A Sorry FBI Cathrin Schütz On the Ruins of Yugoslavia Ben Tripp Call Me, Mr. Cassandra Kurt Nimmo The Madness of King George Ron Jacobs They Ain't Goin' Nowhere (Unless We Make It So) Laura Flanders The Lynne Cheney Show? Lenni Brenner Renaissance Noir: Caravaggio at the Met Abigail Jones Whatever Happened to Lori Berenson, President Toledo's Trophy Prisoner? Mark Latham Nothing Bush Said Has Changed Our Hopes Gerry Adams I Was Photographed While Tortured, Too Toni Solo Venezuela 2004, Nicaragua's Contra War Reprised Derek Seidman Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old M. Junaid Alam Torture is Just the Symptom Matt Siegfried An American Way of War Dave Zirin The Politics of Charles Barkley Poets' Basement Albert, Krieger, St. Clair Website of the Weekend Overnight Sensations     June 4, 2004 Chris Floyd Masked and Anonymous: Inside America's Animal House Cornwell / Penketh Exit Tenet: the Fall of a Fall Guy Wayne Madsen Apprehension & Frustation: Neo-Cons on the Brink Greg Moses Agitating for Workers' Rights in Iraq Yitzak Laor Before Rafah Ghali Hassan Ambassador to Death Squads: Who is Negroponte? Jane Stillwater God, the Rapture and Vera Casey CounterPunch Wire D-Day Reconsidered: Was It Really Worth the Carnage? John Borowski Woo-Wooism v. Meteorites: Why the Dems Are No Match for Bush Mike Griffin Caterpillar's Assault on the UAW Alexander Cockburn Has Bush Gone Over the Edge? Website of the Day Aquae Urbis Romae: Water and Empire     June 3, 2004 Ron Jacobs Iran's Nuclear Dilemma Dr. Susan Block America in tha Hood Michael Donnelly The Bully and the Brahmin John Chuckman Insanity in America: US Ranks Number One in the Deranged Christopher Brauchli The Return of Cardinal Law: Rome on $12,000 a Month Samia Nassar Melki Caravaggio in Iraq Mike Whitney Subverting Justice: Pre-Trial Ruminations in the Padilla Case Diane Rejman Memorial Day Isn't Just About the Dead Scott Morris "WMDs" in Cuba Paul de Rooij Palestinian Misery in Perspective     June 2, 2004 Brian Cloughley The Liars are Winning Ray McGovern How Far Would They Go? Beware "Credible Intelligence" Josh Frank The Anybody But Bush Offensive Mike Whitney The Afghanistan Failure: Bush's Warlord Patriots Jackie Corr Iraq and Ireland: Three Tales from Butte, Montana Robert Jensen The US Lost the Iraq War...and It's a Good Thing, Too Alexander Cockburn "Bye, Bye Boonville!"   June 1, 2004 Gary Leupp Instant Karma: Bush's Sins Catch Up with Him William A. Cook Manufacturers of Fear and Loathing in Rafah Dave Lindorff Will the Times Clean House? Kevin Zeese Inside the Kerry / Nader Meeting: Did the Kerry Campaign Lie About What Was Discussed? Jacob Levich Coming Soon: Return of the Draft, a Bipartisan Production Kathy Kelly Voices in the Wilderness v. the US Government Website of the Day Remind Us     May 29 / 31, 2004 Lee Ballinger / Dave Marsh The Origins of Memorial Day Janine Pommy Vega Memo for Memorial Day Mike Ferner On Their Way to Abu Ghraib Alfred W. McCoy The Cruel Shadow: the Long History of CIA Torture Research Douglas Valentine An Open Letter to the NYT: Questions, Questions, Questions Chris White First to Fight Culture: a Former Marine on the Marine Motto Bruce Anderson The Awful Injustice to Tai Abreu David Vest Get Ready for Kerry's War: the 100 Year Quagmire Saul Landau Torture: the Logical Outcome of Bush's War for Democracy? Kurt Nimmo Abu Hamza al-Mazri, Made in the USA Elaine Cassel The Secrets of Surveillance: Ashcroft, Snoops, and Gag Orders Will Potter The New War on "Terror": Protest the Torture of Chimps; Get Arrested as a "Terrorist" Ben Tripp They Fiddled While Nero Got the Matches Dr. Susan Block Save Abu Ghraib! Kia Kojouri Nukes, the US, Israel and Iran: an Interview with Sasan Fayazmanesh Mickey Z D-Day: 60 Years is Enough! Jon Brown Correcting the Correction at the Times Patrick B. Barr Pre-emptive War Insurance Stephen Gowans Bad Apples in a Bad Barrel Tom Gorman Gore on Bush in Iraq: the Approach May be Exotic, But It's Hardly New Dave Zirin Fighting for Boxers' Rights: an Interview with Eddie Mustafa Muhammad Gregory Weiher Bush to Arabs: "Go Get Yourself Some Democracy" Erik Cummings Jung Meets Bush Poets' Basement Davies, Ford, Kearney, McLellan and Albert     May 28, 2004 Rafael Rodriguez Cruz Curtain of Silence on the Cuban 5 Greg Moses Bush's Misleading Speech on Abu Ghraib Dave Lindorff Dissing Independent Contractors: Those Who Do the Dirty Work Norman Solomon Leaping for Lies at the Times Rep. Bill Delahunt Bush's Cruel New Rules on Cuba Paul McGeough Chalabi Baba and the 40 Thieves Niranjan Ramakrishnan India and Nehru: 40 Years After Alexander Cockburn NYTs: "Maybe We Did Screw Up...a Little"     May 27, 2004 Amy Goodman / David Goodman Fatal Errors: the Lies of Our Times Douglas Valentine Ragging the Dogs of War at the NYTs John L. Hess The Times Confesses...Kind Of Stew Albert Dellinger, the Wrestling Pacifist Dave Dellinger a 1993 Interview Christopher Brauchli Tax Breaks for Scions...to Hell with Poor Kids Rampton / Stauber Banana Republicans: Pumping Irony     May 26, 2004 Ron Jacobs Goodbye, David Dellinger: He Was a Friend of Ours Robert Fisk The Things Bush Didn't Say in His Speech Zeynep Toufe New Draft UN Resolution Permits Perpetual Occupation Conn Hallinan Bush and Sharon: the Oil Connection Tom Stephens 2 + 2 is On My Mind: More Morons and War Crimes Derek Medley Protesting Gov. Bigot CounterPunch Wire FBI Abducts Artist; Seizes Art Andrew Cockburn The Trail to Tehran     May 25, 2004 Joe Bageant The Covert Kingdom: On Earth as It is in Texas Col. Dan Smith A Question of Human Dignity Gary Handschumacher Visiting Lori Berenson: Time to Bring Her Home Toni Solo A Developing War in the Andes Marc Estrin September Song: Disturbing Questions About 9/11 Stephen Banko, III A Vietnam Vet on "Supporting the Troops" Website of the Day The Wizard of Whimsy May 24, 2004 Ron Jacobs Dan Senor is Safe! Kurt Nimmo Dirty Tricks & TortureGate: the Missing Taguba Pages Sam Hamod Gen. Zinni: "Wrong War, Wrong Place, Wrong Time" Mike Whitney The Wedding was a Bomb Stan Goff Open Season on MAMs Image of the Day A Photo from Abu Ghraib We Didn't See on the Front Page of the NYTs     May 22 / 23, 2004 Paul de Rooij Colin Powell, a Political Obituary Jeffrey St. Clair When War is Swell: Bush and the Carlyle Group Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Her Son Was Told He Wouldn't See Combat; Now He's Dead: an Interview with Sue Niederer Brian Cloughley America is Committing War Crimes in Iraq Saul Landau Democracy in Latin America: Great for Investors; Not So Good for People Brandy Baker Feminists Stand By Their Man: Abortion, Judges and Kerry Randall Robinson Bushwhacked in the Caribbean Uri Avnery The Rape of Rafah Ben Tripp Assume the Worst Bruce Anderson News from Ecotopia: the Truth About the Wine Business Josh Ruebner Why I Burned My Israeli Military Papers Peter Wolson, Ph. D. Exhibitionistic Revenge at Abu Ghraib Chloe Cockburn In Defense of "Troy": What Hector Could Teach Rummy Linda Burnham Sexual Domination in Uniform: an American Value Adrien Rain Burke War of the Necrophiliacs: Spc. Sabrina Harman and Her Corpse David Krieger Charting a New Course for US Nuclear Policy Ron Jacobs Turnaround Poets' Basement Ford, Albert & LaMorticella   May 21, 2004 Ray Close The Canards of the Apologists Christopher Brauchli "The Object of Torture is Torture" Amira Hass Darkness at Noon Jack McCarthy Camilo Mejia: Can the Son of a Sandinista Get a Fair Trial from the US Army? Bill Kauffman Nader v. Bush Omar Barghouti No More Tears for America Ghali Hassan Moral Failure of the "Free World" in Gaza Christopher Reed How the CIA Taught the Portuguese to Torture Website of the Day Eric Idle on the Bush Administration: Fuck You, So Very Much   May 20, 2004 Andrew Cockburn The Truth About Chalabi Kathy Kelly A Visit from the FBI Niranjan Ramakrishnan Brown and Bored of Education in India Tom Stephens & John Philo The War Crimes of Bush, Cheney & Co. Sam Bahour / Michael Dahan Genocide by Public Policy Robert Ovetz Ending the Race for the Last Turtle Billy Wilson The Most Important Thing I Learned at School This Year Website of the Day Rafah Today         Hot Stories Alexander Cockburn Behold, the Head of a Neo-Con! Subcomandante Marcos The Death Train of the WTO Norman Finkelstein Hitchens as Model Apostate Steve Niva Israel's Assassination Policy: the Trigger for Suicide Bombings? Dardagan, Slobodo and Williams CounterPunch Exclusive: 20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians Steve J.B. Prison Bitch Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber True Lies: the Use of Propaganda in the Iraq War Wendell Berry Small Destructions Add Up CounterPunch Wire WMD: Who Said What When Cindy Corrie A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter I Can't Hear From Gore Vidal The Erosion of the American Dream Francis Boyle Impeach Bush: A Draft Resolution Click Here for More Stories.     Subscribe Online

Bloomsday June 16, 2004 "Mandate My Ass" Hip Hop Reflections on Ronald Reagan By DAVEY D. Well, today is June 11th and I'm watching all these TV stations play Ray Charles rendition of 'America' [Brother Ray just passed away yesterday] while showing the funeral of former President Reagan. Some stations are even showing pictures of the two men together. I can't help thinking something is not right about what I'm seeing. In the words of Public Enemy 'Can't Truss It'. To start, I feel like my senses have been assaulted all week with non stop news coverage that seemed designed on getting me to believe that we had just experienced the passing of a Saint. I keep asking myself how is this happening?, because when I think back to the Reagan years I recall some very troubling and contentious times that we are still recovering from. It has been suggested by President Bush that we stay home to mourn and reflect upon the life and times of Ronald Reagan.. Well when I reflect I like to do it to music.. So I guess it was only appropriate that I pulled out Gil Scott Heron's 1981 album 'Reflection' which contained a highly charged 12 minute spoken word song called "B-Movie" which was directed at Reagan shortly after he took office. I also pulled out a landmark record from pioneering rapper Mele-Mel called 'Jesse' which was released in 1984. Both these songs spoke truth to power and help me cut through all the hoopla, fanfare and blatant rewriting of history with regards to Ronald Reagan. Gil Scott starts off his B-Movie song by saying: ================================== Well, the first thing I want to say is. "Mandate my ass!" Because it seems as though we've been convinced that 26% of the registered voters, not even 26% of the American people, but 26% of the registered voters form a mandate--or a landslide. 21% voted for Skippy and 4% voted for somebody else who might have been running. But, oh yeah, I remember. In this year that we have now declared the year from Shogun to Raygun, I remember what I said about Reagan, meant it. Acted l ike an actor. Hollyweird. Acted like a liberal. Acted like General Franco when he acted like governor of California, then he acted like a Republican. Then he acted like somebody was going to vote for him for President. And now we act like 26% of the registered voters is actually a mandate. We're all actors in this I suppose.." -B-Movie- by Gil Scott Heron ++++++++++++++++++++++++ As I listened to all this lavish praise being bestowed upon Reagan and US Senators proposing that his face be put on a 10 dollar bill and carved into Mount Rushmore, I kept asking myself- is this the same guy who immediately started cutting back social service programs and started scapegoating folks in the hood as the reason for inflation and overspending in government? Gil Scott early on let us know just what we were up against as he kicks is third stanza. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ....What has happened is that in the last 20 years, America has changed from a producer to a consumer. And all consumers know that when the producer names the tune. the consumer has got to dance. That's the way it is. We used to be a producer--very inflexible at that, and now we are consumers and, finding it difficult to understand. Natural resources and minerals will change your world. The Arabs used to be in the 3rd World. They have bought the 2nd World and put a firm down payment on the 1st one. Controlling your resources we'll control your world. This country has been surprised by the way the world looks now. They don't know if they want to be Matt Dillon or Bob Dylan. They don't know if they want to be diplomats or continue the same policy--of nuclear nightmare diplomacy. John Foster Dulles ain't nothing but the name of an airport now. ... -B-Movie- by Gil Scott Heron +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Mele-Mel who helped kick off a wave of message type songs from Hip Hop's than emerging scene, starting with his groundbreaking song 'The Message' in 1982, also brings home some salient points. After dealing with 3 terrible years Reagan's economic policy, the trickle down theory, also known as 'Reagonomics' Mel summed up the situation in the first verse of his song 'Jesse'... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ See Ronald Reagan speaking on TV Smiling like everything's fine and dandy Sounded real good when he tried to give a pep talk To over 30 million poor people like me How can we say we got to stick it out When his belly is full and his future is sunny I don't need his jive advice But I sure do need his jive time money. -Jesse- by Mele-Mel +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ I'm listening to these songs -reflecting and asking myself how in the world are 200 thousand people standing on line waiting to see this cats' body? Was this the same Ronnie Reagan who had no problems closing down mental wards and setting all those ill patients to fend for themselves back in our community? Is this the same Iran-Contra scandal Ronnie who back in the 80s showed his first signs of Alzheimer's by stating he didn't recall all the corruption taking place right under his nose? Was this the same Ronald Reagan, the jovial jellybean eating, 'great communicator' who is credited with ending communism and bringing down the Berlin Wall but vetoed a bill calling for sanctions against the racist South African Apartheid Regime? Is this the same Ronald Reagan who wouldn't lift a finger to help end Apartheid but in 1983 was more than willing to send US troops to smash the Black Government of the small Island of Grenada who they said had links to Cuba and Communism ? Was this the same Ronnie Reagan who got called out and embarrassed by Noble Peace Prize winner Bishop Desmond Tutu who said he was "evil, immoral, and un-Christian" because of his 'Constructive Engagement' policies toward South Africa. This article in the Boston Globe gives the break down on this http://www.boston.com/ I kept asking myself with such a sordid track record that impacted so many and continues to impact many, how are folks so shedding tears for this guy? Thank God for Gil Scott who gives the breakdown as he eloquently explains the American mindset. Peep the lyrics... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The idea concerns the fact that this country wants nostalgia. They want to go back as far as they can--even if it's only as far as last week. Not to face now or tomorrow, but to face backwards. And yesterday was the day of our cinema heroes riding to the rescue at the last possible moment. The day of the man in the white hat or the man on the white horse--or the man who always came to save America at the last moment--someone always came to save America at the last moment--especially in "B" movies. And when America found itself having a hard time facing the future, they looked for people like John Wayne. But since John Wayne was no longer available, they settled for Ronald Reagan--and it has placed us in a situation that we can only look at--like a "B" movie. Come with us back to those inglorious days when heroes weren't zeros. Before fair was square. When the cavalry came straight away and all-American men were like Hemingway to the days of the wondrous "B" movie. The producer underwritten by all the millionaires necessary will be Casper "The Defensive" Weinberger--no more animated choice is available. The director will be Attila the Haig, running around frantically declaring himself in control and in charge. The ultimate realization of the inmates taking over at the asylum. The screenplay will be adapted from the book called "Voodoo Economics" by George "Papa Doc" Bush. Music by the "Village People" the very military "Macho Man." Macho, macho man!" Put your orders in America. And quick as Kodak your leaders duplicate with the accent being on the nukes--cause all of a sudden we have fallen prey to selective amnesia--remembering what we want to remember and forgetting what we choose to forget. All of a sudden, the man who called for a blood bath on our college campuses is supposed to be Dudley "God-damn" Do-Right? "You go give them liberals hell Ronnie." That was the mandate. To the new "Captain Bly" on the new ship of fools. It was doubtlessly based on his chameleon performance of the past--as a liberal democrat--as the head of the Studio Actor's Guild. When other celluloid saviors were cringing in terror from McCarthy--Ron stood tall. It goes all the way back from Hollywood to hillbilly. From liberal to libelous, from "Bonzo" to Birch idol.born again. Civil rights, women's rights, gay rights.it's all wrong. Call in the cavalry to disrupt this perception of freedom gone wild. God damn it.first one wants freedom, then the whole damn world wants freedom. Nostalgia, that's what we want.the good ol' days.when we gave'em hell. When the buck stopped somewhere and you could still buy something with it. To a time when movies were in black and white--and so was everything else. Even if we go back to the campaign trail, before six-gun Ron shot off his face and developed hoof-in-mouth. Before the free press went down before full-court press. And were reluctant to review the menu because they knew the only thing available was--Crow. Lon Chaney, our man of a thousand faces--no match for Ron. Doug Henning does the make-up--special effects from Grecian Formula 16 and Crazy Glue. Transportation furnished by the David Rockefeller of Remote Control Company. Their slogan is, "Why wait for 1984? You can panic now...and avoid the rush." So much for the good news. As Wall Street goes, so goes the nation. And here's a look at the closing numbers--racism's up, human rights are down, peace is shaky, war items are hot--the House claims all ties. Jobs are down, money is scarce--and common sense is at an all-time low on heavy trading. Movies were looking better than ever and now no one is looking because, we're starring in a "B" movie. And we would rather had John Wayne.we would rather had John Wayne. -B-Movie- by Gil Scott-Heron +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Deregulation, the busting up of unions, trickle down theory economics, attacks and roll backs on civil rights legislation is what I recall about Reagan. For the most part it wasn't good. Reagan was the great communicator because he had a nice way of smiling and a jovial way of talking while he put a foot up your ass. The effects of Reagan are still being felt to this day. As Mele-Mel noted: ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The land of the free and the home of the brave But it might as well be the home of the slave They got me walking around saying freedom's come But my body is free and my mind is dumb The people ain't black but the house is white And just because I'm different they don't treat me right They done cast me aside and held me down Dragged my name down to the ground Oh beautiful for spacious skies With your amber waves of untold lies Look at all the politicians trying to do a job But they can't help but look like the mob Get a big kick back and put it away Watch the FBI watch the CIA They want a bigger missile with a faster yet But yet they forget to hire you the vet Hypocrites just talkin trash Liberty and Justice are a thing of the past They want a stronger nation at any cost Even if it means that everything will soon be lost -Jesse- by Mele-Mel ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Mele-Mel went on to completely embarrass Reagan by chronicling this all but forgotten incident when Reverend Jesse Jackson succeeded where Reagan failed. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The 30th day that's in december Is a day that everyone's gonna remember Because on that day a righteous man Thought about taking a brand new stand The name of the man is Jesse Jackson and his call Is for peace without an action Cause now is the time to change the nation Without just another negotiation He went to the East for human rights To free a lieutenant shot down in flight Just another statistic and the government knew it They didn't even want the man to go do it Before he left he called the president's home And Reagan didn't even answer the phone But I tell you one thing and that's a natural fact You can bet he calls Jesse when Jesse got back -Jesse- by Mele-Mel Davey D is a hip hop historian, deejay and community organizer. Visit his excellent website at: http://www.daveyd.com/ Weekend Edition Features for June 12 / 13, 2004 Peter Linebaugh Remembering the Common Hood: Soweto and Runnymede Team CounterPunch CP's Favorite Albums Jeffrey St. Clair Troy, Now and Then Gary Leupp Not Really a Puppet Government in Iraq? Brian Cloughley US Military in Crisis Antonio Ponvert, III Iraqi Prisoner Abuse: the Connecticut Connection Ben Tripp The Polls Get Stupider Joe Bageant Mash Note to the "Girl with the Leash" Ron Jacobs The Return of the Hip Hop Insurgency Forrest Hylton Object Lessons from the Case of Francisco Cortés Christopher Brauchli Federal Bureau of Errors Kurt Nimmo Going After Qaddafi, Again Wayne Madsen Israel's Slap at Reagan Anthony Loewenstein Al Jazeera Awakens the Arab World Michael Donnelly A Lightship in the Forest: Greenpeace Docks in the Siskiyous Greg Moses Who Will Tell Us More About the Workers of Nasiriyah? Susan Davis Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban Joseph Ramsey Weather Report: a Review of The Weather Underground Niranjan Ramakrishnan The 18th Brumaire in the 21st Century Wayne Saunders The Gipper, D-Day and the Stanley Cup Poets' Basement Richey, Ford, La Morticella, Albert Website of the Weekend Insurgent Music WWW http://www.counterpunch.org   Keep CounterPunch Alive: Make a Tax-Deductible Donation Today Online! home / subscribe / about us / books / archives / search / links /