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Bush's Worst Appointment Yet? Read Jeffrey St Clair's blazing expose of the new Interior Secretary nominee , Dirk Kempthorne, and make up your own mind. Even in the dingy history of Idaho's predators, Kempthorne stood proud as the dingiest of them all. Now he's poised to seize his place in history. Will he be the sleaziest Interior Secretary in history, sleazier than Watt, fouler than Fall? More on the great Israel Lobby debate! Norman Finkelstein cuts a new path, asks "Are the Neo-Cons really committed Zionists?" "Bliss was it in that dawn" Not in Michigan! Raymond Garcia describes Dem governor's appalling plan to scapegoat youth and teachers. Plus the full print version of Virginia Tilley's savage dissection on this website of the double-standard onslaught on Hamas by the US and EU. 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! |
Today's Stories May 23, 2006 Patrick Cockburn May 22, 2006 Alan Maass William Blum Elaine C. Hagopian Stan Cox Chris Floyd Alexander Cockburn Website of the Day
May 20 / 21, 2006 Patrick Cockburn Kathy Kelly Ralph Nader Hugh O'Shaughnessy Greg Grandin P. Sainath Greg Moses Stephen Philion Landau / Hassen Fred Gardner Missy Comley
Beattie Michael Dickinson Seth Sandronsky Luke Young John Zavesky Ben Tripp Jeffrey St. Clair Poets' Basement
May 19, 2006 Winslow T. Wheeler José Pertierra John Ross Dave Lindorff Jeff Juel Alan Farago Eric Johnson-DeBaufre José Martî Jonathan Cook Website of the
Day
May 18, 2006 Bill Simpich Patrick Cockburn Christopher Brauchli Nora Barrows-Friedman Victoria Buch Eric Ruder George Wuerthner Juan Santos Website of the Day
May 17, 2006 Lenni Brenner Carlos Villarreal Larry Everest CounterPunch News Service Lee Sustar Anthony Papa William S. Lind Bruce K. Gagnon JoAnn Wypijewski Website of the Day
May 16, 2006 Ward Churchill Ted Honderich Paul Craig Roberts Annie Nocenti Charles V. Peña Ron Jacobs Norman Solomon Harvey Wasserman Michael George
Smith Harry Browne Website of the
Day
May 15, 2006 Alexander Cockburn William Blum Tanya Golash-Boza
and Douglas A. Parker Dave Lindorff Debra Schaffer
Hubert Patrick Cockburn Tom Turnipseed Ken Livingstone Gideon Levy Mickey Z. Jeff Faux Website of the Day
May 13 / 14, 2006 Vijay Prashad Joan Roelofs Kathy Kelly Michael Neumann Dr. Susan Block Daniel Cassidy Christopher Reed Mike Roselle Saul Landau Robert Fisk Ralph Nader Evelyn Pringle Fred Gardner Stanley Heller Conn Hallinan Valentina Palma Novoa David Krieger Col. Dan Smith Christopher Brauchli Jeffrey St. Clair Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
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
News Service Corporate Crime Reporter Website of the
Day
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
Day
May 2, 2006 Evelyn Pringle Tariq Ali Saul Landau Paul Craig Roberts Gary Leupp Ron Jacobs Sen. Russell
Feingold Anthony Papa Website of the
Day
May Day, 2006 Norman Finkelstein Christopher Reed Michael Donnelly Dave Zirin Mike Whitney Gilad Atzmon Missy Comley Beattie Alexander Cockburn Website of the
Day
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
Leupp Paul
Craig Roberts Linda
S. Heard Ralph
Nader Mike
Whitney Michael
Donnelly Sharon
Smith Website
of the Day
April 24, 2006 Tim
Wise John
Stanton Dave
Lindorff Steve
Shore Amadou
Deme Mickey
Z. Ralph Nader Alexander
Cockburn Website
of the Day
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May 23, 2006 Who's Illegal?Shooting to Kill on the BorderBy SHARON SMITH On the afternoon of May 18, 22 year-old Oscar Abraham Garcia-Barrios was shot and killed at close range by U.S. Border Patrol and Customs agents. Garcia-Barrios was just 50 feet north of the border crossing from San Diego to Tijuana. He and a teenage passenger were transporting four undocumented immigrants-back to Mexico. Border Patrol agents told reporters that they began following Garcia-Barrios' black Dodge Durango after receiving a "tip" from a San Diego "citizen" that his car had picked up four undocumented Mexicans. As he headed back toward Mexico, the agents alerted U.S. Customs to close down its busy border crossing. Armed agents surrounded the vehicle as it stopped in the far right lane on orders to pull over, 100 feet north of the border. Agents smashed the driver's side window with a baton when Garcia-Barrios refused orders to get out of the car. They opened fire when he then accelerated in the direction of the border. Garcia-Barrios died at the scene of multiple gunshot wounds. The agents refuse to say how many rounds they fired. They had made no attempt to shoot at the vehicle's tires. Although Chris Bauder, president of National Border Patrol Council Local 1613, claimed an agent's "life was in danger," none of the agents reported even minor injuries. And no weapons were found in the Dodge Durango. In response to critics, Bauer defended the agents shoot-to-kill policy, arguing that their "job is to apprehend people who are here illegally." Expect to hear more stories like this one in the future. Both sides involved in the Congressional furor over immigration reform are jostling for red-state votes-and are mirroring the level of xenophobia and racism long associated with organizations of the far right. Last week, the Senate unanimously passed a proposal by Republican Senators Jon Kyl of Arizona and John Cornyn of Texas to deny citizenship to immigrants convicted of a felony or three misdemeanors. Senators overwhelmingly endorsed building a 370-mile fence along the U.S.-Mexico border. They also passed an amendment by former Democratic Party presidential candidate John Kerry (not to be outflanked on his right by Bush's plan for National Guard troops on the border) to increase number of Border Patrol agents by 1,000 in the current fiscal year. Most significantly, the Senate voted for a Republican-sponsored proposal to declare English the "national" language of the United States. Democrat Ken Salazar of Colorado, representing the "opposition party," retaliated with a barely discernible motion to declare English as the "common, unifying" language of the United States-also passed by a substantial majority
The Far Right is Growing In this political climate, it is not surprising that far-right organizations are beginning to grow significantly. A new report by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks racist and right-wing extremist groups, documented 803 such hate groups operating in the U.S. last year-33 percent more than in 2000. The Center's Mark Potok also
noted a growing alliance between neo-Nazis and anti-immigrant
vigilante organizations. "More and more [neo-Nazi] groups
are turning to immigration to help recruitment," he said. The American Border Patrol, a civilian group that rounds up and detains suspected undocumented immigrants to turn over to authorities across the Southwest, demonstrates this overlap. Glenn Spencer, the director of this vigilante group, defended the practice. "Our borders are unprotected, and the Border Patrol is derelict in its duty," Spencer argued. "We are trying to help by any means necessary." The Southern Poverty Law Center has also accused the Border Guardians, a new organization based in Arizona, of working with neo-Nazis to harass and steal money from undocumented immigrants. Border Guardians' director Laine Lawless vehemently denied those charges. But she also called immigrants' rights activists "brown Nazis" who are threatening to ignite a "civil war" in America, leaving considerable doubt as to whether she is capable of making such a political distinction.
Who's Illegal? Speaking of illegality, it might surprise Lawless to learn that the entire Southwestern U.S., including her home state of Arizona, was part of Mexico until the U.S. military invaded that sovereign nation in 1846 to force the Mexican government to "sell" one-third of its territory to the U.S. for a paltry sum. That military incursion, known as the Mexican-American War, allowed the U.S. to expand its territory "from sea to shining sea" across its South. By 1847, many Northern politicians were clamoring for the U.S. military to annex all of Mexico. But Southern slaveholders were loath to extend U.S. citizenship to the majority of Mexicans, for no other reason than to maintain racial purity in their budding imperialist power. Sen. John Calhoun of South Carolina expressed the majority's objections in an 1848 Congressional debate:
The "Permanent Temporary" Labor Force When the U.S. created its first broad immigration controls in the 1920s, Mexicans were singled out to play a unique role as a "permanent temporary" labor force for U.S. employers. While curtailing immigration overall, U.S. law allowed unlimited migration from Mexico and Canada. This, as historian David Montgomery argued,
Immigration laws have undergone a variety of changes since then, but this exploitive employment pattern for Mexican workers has remained. Even when federal law bans Mexican migration, immigration officials typically look the other way while employers openly flout the law. They reserve punishment for undocumented workers, arrested and deported in showcase immigration raids-to reinforce an atmosphere of fear in Mexican communities.
Two Sides of a Coin: Guest Worker Programs and Deportation This was the case even during the notorious Bracero Program, which imported more than 4 million Mexican farm laborers to work in the U.S. between 1942 and 1964, as a temporary workforce without basic legal rights-all to be deported by their employers when their contracts expired. Working conditions were described as "legalized slavery" by Lee G. Williams from the U.S. Department of Labor officer in charge of the Barcero program before it ended. While the Bracero program was in full swing, however, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service also instituted a mass deportation program in 1954, known as "Operation Wetback." Fueled by the anti-communist witch hunt already well underway, the INS, working with Border Patrol agents, rounded up and deported at least one million Mexicans and Mexican-Americans in the name of "protecting national security and American jobs." U.S. employers thus found an ideal solution to their problems, two sides of the same coin: rigorous border enforcement and guest worker status for Mexican migrants-ensuring racist scapegoating against the entire Mexican and Mexican-American population residing in the U.S. Both these elements-and only these elements--are present in the current Congressional debate over immigration now being waged in Washington over the Senate bill-which must still be reconciled with the House's unilaterally punitive HR 4437, passed in December. Democratic Senator Diane Feinstein has already suggested that that the negotiations will "not necessarily" be finished before the November elections. Let's hope so. No legislation is much preferable to what is on offer in Congress. The future for immigrants rights will be determined not by election-year Congressional wrangling but by more bodies in the streets. The mass outpouring of protest over the Sensenbrenner bill has thus far prevented Congress from passing anti-immigrant legislation. We need to redouble our efforts to continue to build a movement that stands squarely for full and complete legalization of undocumented immigrants. Sharon Smith is the author of Women and Socialism and Subterranean Fire: a History of Working-Class Radicalism in the United States. She can be reached at: sharon@internationalsocialist.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. |