Today's
Stories
April
22/23, 2006
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The General, GM and the Stryker
April
21, 2006
Jonathan
Cook
The Sinister Meaning of Olmert's "Hitkansut":
Deporting Hamas MPs
Lawrence
R. Velvel
Physical Courage, Moral Courage and
American Generals
Evelyn
Pringle
How to Out a CIA Agent
Christopher
Brauchli
The Rich are Different
Pratyush
Chandra
Pure-and-Simple Revolutions in Nepal and Venezuela
Michael
George Smith
This is What a Movement Looks Like
Missy
Comley Beattie
Serving at the Decider's Pleasure
Sarah
Hines
The Bracero Program: 1942-1964
Website
of the Day
Hunger Strike at U. of Miami
April
20, 2006
Chris
Kutalik
As Crisis Deepens, Is Labor Finally
Showing Signs of a Comeback?
Gary
Leupp
Cheney, the Neocons and China
Joshua
Frank
Stop the War! Dump the Democrats!
Diane
Christian
The Authority to Kill
William
S. Lind
Sweeping Up: the Real Problem Wasn't
the Execution of the War, But the Enterprise Itself
Ramzy
Baroud
A Case for the Palestinan Government
Justin
E.H. Smith
Doctors and Lethal Injection
April
19, 2006
P.
Sainath
More Kids? Pay More for Your Water
Norman
Solomon
When Diplomacy Means War: Bait-and-Switch
on Iran
Anthony
Papa
When Justice Isn't Blind: Double
Standards for the Rich and Poor in New York
Mike
Ferner
Movement Blues
Stanley
Heller
The Massacre at Qana, 10 Years
Later: Still No Justice
Rifundazione
"We Defeated Berlusconi"
Christopher
Reed
Secrets of the Garden of Bliss
Alexander
Cockburn
The Pulitzer Farce
Website
of the Day
Bunker
Busters: the Movie
April
18, 2006
Paul
Craig Roberts
How Safe is Your Job?
Eric
Wingerter
Washington Post vs. Venezuela
Juan
Santos
What Immigrants Need to Learn from
the Black Civil Rights Movement
Greg
Weiher
The Zarqawi Gambit Revisited
Sam
Bahour
Is Hamas Being Forced to Collapse?
Behzad
Yaghmaian
In the Gaze of New Orleans
Website
of the Day
The
FBI and the Jack Anderson Files
April
17, 2006
Kevin Zeese
An Interview with the First Arab-American
Senator: Jim Abourezk on Bush's Lies and the Dems' Complicity
Uri Avnery
Olmert
the Fox
Norman Solomon
Why Won't Moveon.Org Oppose the
Bombing of Iran?
John Ross
A
Real Day Without Mexicans?
Laila al-Haddad
The Earth is Closing in on Us:
Dispatch from Gaza
Jeffrey Blankfort
A
Tale of Two Members of Congress and the Capitol Hill Police
Website of the Day
Dixie
Chicks: Not Ready to Back Down
April
15 / 16, 2006
Jeffrey
St. Clair
How Star Wars Came to the Arctic
Ralph
Nader
Remembering Rev. William Sloan Coffin
Thaddeus
Hoffmeister
The Ghost of Shinseki: the General Who Was Sent Out to Pasture
for Being Right
Kevin
Prosen / Dave Zirin
Privilege Meets Protest at Duke
Thomas
P. Healy
Taking Care of What We've Been Given: a Conversation with Wendell
Berry
Kristoffer
Larsson
Are 40 Percent of All Swedes Anti-Semitic?: Anatomy of a Statistical
Flim-Flam
Fred
Gardner
Continuing Medical (Marijuana) Education
Edwin
Krales
New York's Katrina: the Hidden Toll of AIDS Among Blacks and
the Poor
Brian
Cloughley
Don't Blitz Iran: Risking the Ultimate Blowback
John
Holt
Walking Off Vietnam with Edward Abbey's Surrogate Son
Seth
Sandronsky
What Billionaires Mean By Education Reform: Oprah, Bill Gates
and the Privatization of Public Schools
Rafael
Renteria
Making It Plain About New Orleans
Michael
Ortiz Hill
In the Ashes of Lament: an Easter Meditation
William
A. Cook
An Israel Accountability Act
Gideon
Levy
Shooting Nasarin: a Story About a Little Girl
Andrew
Wimmer
Stopping the Bush Juggernaut: a New Citizens Campaign
Madis
Senner
Talking Points for Easter Weekend: Jesus Didn't Lie, Mr. Bush
Michael
Kuehl
The Sex Police State: Women as "Rapists" and "Pedophiles"?
Mark
Scaramella
When Even God Can't Follow His Own Commandments: the Timeless
Scarcasm of Mark Twain
Nate
Mezmer
187 Proof: Living and Dying Hip-Hop
Jesse
Walker
Playlist
Poets'
Basement
Engel, Laymon and Subiet
Website
of the Weekend
Pink Serenades Bush
April
14, 2006
Col.
Dan Smith
Candor or Career?: Why Few Top Military
Officials Resign on Principle
Saul
Landau
Ho Chi Minh City Moves On Without Regrets
Stan
Cox
The Real Death Tax
Kevin
Zeese
Hersh vs. Bush on Iran: Who Would You Believe?
Brian
McKinlay
Bad Times for Bush's Buddies
Howard
Meyers
Dwarves, Knives and Freedom: Bush, Jr. is No LBJ
Ishmael
Reed
The Colored Mind Doubles: How the Media
Uses Blacks to Chastize Blacks
Website
of the Day
Asshole: a Film Strip
April
13, 2006
CounterPunch
News Service
Powell's "Bitch"?
Norman
Solomon
The Lobby and the Bulldozer
Stanley
Heller
Time to Shake Up the Peace Movement
Jeff
Birkenstein
Bush and Freedom of Speech
Evelyn
J. Pringle
Not So Fast, Mr. Powell
Michael
Donnelly
The Week the Bush Administration
Fell Apart
Kamran
Matin
Synergism of the Neo-Cons: What's Going On In Iran?
Website
of the Day
"Don't Be Afraid of the Neo-Cons"
April
12, 2006
Vijay
Prashad
Resisting Fences
Alan
Maass
The Suicide of Anthony Soltero
Dave
Lindorff
Bush's Insane First Strike Policy: If You Don't Want to Get Whacked,
You'd Better Get Your Nation a Nuke ... Fast
Ron
Jacobs
Resistance: the Remedy for Fear
Ramzy
Baroud
The Imminent Decline of the American Empire?
Randall
Dodd
How a Wal-Mart Bank will Harm Consumers
Missy
Comley Beattie
The Boy President Who Cried "Wolf!"
P. Sainath
The Corporate Hijack of India's Water
Website
of the Day
"The System is Irretrievably Corrupt"
April
11, 2006
Al
Krebs
Corporate Agriculture's Dirty Little
Secret: Immigration and a History of Greed
Lawrence
R. Velvel
The Gang That Couldn't Leak Straight
Sonia
Nettinin
Palestinian Health Care Conditions Under Israeli Occupation
Willliam
S. Lind
The Fourth Plague Hits the Pentagon: Generals as Private Contractors
Robert
Ovetz
Endangered Species in a Can: the Disappearance of Big Fish
Pratyush
Chandra
Nepalis Say, "Ya Basta!"
Grant
F. Smith
The Bush Administration's Final Surprise?
Laray
Polk
Loud, Soft, Hard, Quiet: Marching Through Dallas for Immigrant
Rights
Francis
Boyle
O'Reilly and the Law of the Jungle: How to Beat a Bully on His
Home Turf
José
Pertierra
A Glimpse into the Mindset of Terrorists: Posada Carriles, Orlando
Bosch and the Downing of Cubana Flight 455
Website
of the Day
The Dead Emcee Scrolls
April
10, 2006
Ralph
Nader
Tinhorn Caesar and the Spineless Democrats
Heather
Gray
Atlanta and the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Uri
Avnery
The Big Wink
Joshua
Frank
Big Greens and Beltway Politics: Betting on Losers
Seth
Sandronsky
Immigration and Occupations
Michael
Leonardi
The Italian Elections: "Reality is No Longer Important"
Evelyn
Pringle
Did Bush Pull a Fast One on Fitzgerald?
Tom
Kerr
FoxNews Does Ward Churchill
Lucinda
Marshall
The Lynching of Cynthia McKinney
Website
of the Day
Brown Berets
April
7 -9, 2006
Alexander
Cockburn
If Only They'd Hissed Barack Obama
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The Saga of Magnequench: Outsourcing
US Missile Technology to China
Patrick
Cockburn
The War Gets Grimmer Every Day
David
Vest
The Rebuking and Scorning of Cynthia McKinney
Dave
Lindorff
The Impeachment Clock Just Clicked Forward
Gary
Leupp
"Ideologies of Hatred:" What Did Condi Mean?
Elaine
Cassel
The Moussaoui Trial: What Kind of Justice is This?
Saul
Landau
Vietnam Diary: Hue Without Rules
James
Ridgeway
"This is Betty Ong Calling": a Short Film
Ron
Jacobs
Why Iran was Right to Refuse US Money
John
Walsh
Kerry Advocates Iraqization: Too Little, Too Late
Ramzy
Baroud
The US Attitude Toward Hamas: Disturbing Parallels with Nicaragua
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush Finds Democracy Has Its Limits
Todd
Chretien
What the Pentagon Budget Could Buy for America
Jonathan
Scott
Javelins at the Head of the Monolith
John
Bomar
What They're Saying About Bush in Arkansas
Michele
Brand
Iran, the US and the EU
Ronan
Sheehan
Remember When the Irish First Met the Chinese?
Mickey
Z.
Let Us Now Praise OIL
Don
Monkerud
March of the Bunglers
Michael
Dickinson
The Rich Young Man: a Miracle Play
Website
of the Weekend
The Case Against Israel and Munich: Compare and Contrast
April
6, 2006
John
Ross
Mexico's Most Toxic Presidential Election
Ever
Dave
Lindorff
Time to Get on Message with the Sissy French
Don
Monkerud
The Strange Case of the American Worker
Robert
McDonald
The Texas Railroad to Death Row: How Prosecutors Fabricated a
Case Against Rodney Reed
Boris
Kagarlitsky
A Marriage of Convenience in
Ukraine
Remi
Kanazi
The Assault on Cynthia McKinney
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
Untangling the Issues in the Immigration Debates
Robert
Fisk
A Lesson from the Holocaust for Us All
April
5, 2006
Dick
J. Reavis
Pancho Bin Laden and the Terrorists'
Tombs
Mark
Brenner
Workers in the Aftermath of Katrina:
Survival of the Fittest
Brian
Cloughley
Nailing the Lies: Come Clean, Mr. Bush
Jozef
Hand-Boniakowski
Why Democrats Are At Least Half of the Problem
Matt
Vidal
Republican Bliss: the Selfish Road to Happiness
Juan
Santos
The Politics of Immigration: a Nation of Colonists and Race Laws
Alan
Maass
Week of the Walkouts
JoAnn
Wypijewski
Malevolent Power at Ft. Sill: the Army
Slays Its Own
Website
of the Day
My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
April
4, 2006
Jackson
Thoreau
How the Hammer Got Nailed: Taking
Down Tom DeLay
Gary
Corseri
Osama's Favorite Writer?: an Interview
with William Blum
Dave
Lindorff
Provocative Humanitarianism?: Bashing
Hugo Chavez at the NYT
Paul
Craig Roberts
Belligerent to the Bitter End
Norman
Solomon
When War Crimes Are Unspeakable: Bush, Always the Accuser, Never
the Accused
Michael
Carmichael
The Christocrat: Condi Does Britain
Winslow
T. Wheeler
Is the F-22 Worth the Price-Tag?
Ingmar
Lee
Is Another World Possible?: Report from Karachi
Michael
Neumann
The Israel Lobby and Beyond
Website
of the Day
West Point Graduates Against the War
April
3, 2006
Saul
Landau
Vietnam Diary: "What Socialism?"
Richard
Thieme
The CIA: Cowboys, Indians and Whistleblowers,
an Interview with David MacMichael
Timothy
B. Tyson
Race, Class and Rape at Duke
Omar
Barghouti
The Israeli Elections: a Decisive Vote for Apartheid
Iwasaki
Atsuko
"As Israelis, We Also Fight for Palestinians:" an Interview
with Jeff Halper
Julian
Edney
A Terrible Weapon in the Hands of the Rich
Roger
Morris
Catfight Among the Conservatives
April
1 / 2, 2006
Alexander
Cockburn
Truth and Fiction in Elie Wiesel's
"Night"
Ralph
Nader
Exxon/Mobil: the Corporate Superpower of Superpowers
Dave
Zirin
The Press Mob, Their Rope and Barry Bonds: Damn Right Race Matters
David
Underhill
Walkin' to New Orleans
Earl
Ofari Hutchinson
Do Immigrants Really Take Jobs from Urban Poor?
Dave
Lindorff
Sen. Orrin Hatch: Defender of Presidential Lawlessness
P.
Sainath
Where India's Brave New World is Headed
Fred
Gardner
Debunking "Amotivational Syndrome"
Clancy
Chassay
Hamas or Al Qaeda? The Gun or the Ballot Box?
Heather
Gray
The Inspiring Face of Immigration: Australia and the American
Rural Southeast
Greg
Moses
Austin Students Walkout: "We're a Group This Country Needs"
John
Chuckman
When the Violent Enforce the Peace: America's Brutal Tactics
in Iraq
Ron
Jacobs
Leaving Iraq Now is the Only Sensible Solution
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Playlist: What I'm Listening to This Week
Poets'
Basement
Holt, Engel, Subiet, Ford and Davies
Website
of the Weekend
Pentagon Thievery
March
31, 2006
Gary
Leupp
Better Off Under Saddam: an Inventory
Patrick
Cockburn
Mosul Slips Out of Control
Saree
Makdisi
Israeli Elections Big Winner: Avigdor
Lieberman
Ron
Jacobs
Where Capital is Not God: France Shows the Way
Mark
Engler
There's Much More to be Done on Third World Debt Relief
Curtis
F.J. Doebbler
An Appeal to International Lawyers: Hold Bush Accountable for
Flauting International Law
Laith
al-Saud
Iraq is Not in Civil War (Yet); It's Under Occupation
Website
of the Day
Boobies, Dolphins and Flying Fish: Sailing the African Coast
March
30, 2006
Uri
Avnery
Israeli Elections: What the Hell Has
Happened?
Sen.
Russell Feingold
A Fact Check on a Presidential Crime:
Myth vs. Reality on Bush's Warrantless Wiretapping Program
Winslow
T. Wheeler
The Saga of the Joint Strike Fighter:
Just Because Its High Tech and Costs $247 Billion Doesn't Mean
It Works
Dave
Lindorff
A Strategy of Massacres?
Juan
Santos
The Ghost of George Wallace: Immigration and White Racism
Frida
Berrigan
Privatizing the Apocalypse
Joshua
Frank
War in Search of a Justification
Vonnie
Edwards
Letter from the LA County Jail
Neve
Gordon
Does Kadima's Victory Put the Peace
Process in Reverse?
Website
of the Day
The Women of New Orleans Speak
March
29, 2006
CounterPunch
News Service
Fake
Saddam Interview Put Out by Israel Lobby Catspaw, Endorsed by
NeoCons' Pet Cassandra, Now Wiping Egg From Face
Patrick
Cockburn
Bush's Call for Ouster of Iraq PM
Widens Rift with Shias
John
Ross
When Water is Not a Human Right
Omar
Barghouti
When is Killing Arab Civilians Considered a Massacre?
William
S. Lind
Truth in Advertising from the Army?
Missy
Comley Beattie
Missing in America
Earl
Ofari Hutchinson
AWOL: Black Leaders and Immigration
Website
of the Day
Colombia Support Network
Needs Your Help
March
28, 2006
Sharon
Smith
Liberal Hypocrisy on Immigration:
Krugman and Clinton Say Shut the Door
Paul
Craig Roberts
Bush is No Conservative
Tariq
Ali
Karachi Social Forum: NGOs or WGOs?
Manuel
Garcia, Jr.
God's Torturers: from Torquemada to Opus Dei
Ramzy
Baroud
False Impressions: the Media and the Middle East
Evelyn
Pringle
Fentanyl's Body Count: the FDA's Math Problem
Seth
Sandronsky
Inflation and Speculation
Patrick
Cockburn
Shias May Now Turn on US Forces
March
27, 2006
Patrick
Cockburn
War Crime in a Mosque
Joshua
Frank
The Democrats' Daddy Warbucks
Ron
Jacobs
The Case of the Anti-Minutemen Five
Jeff
Lays
Eternal Spending for a Never-Ending
War
Davey
D.
We Didn't Cross the Border, the Border
Crossed Us
Robert
Billyard
"I Did Not Join the British Army to Conduct US Foreign Policy"
Jim
Rigby
Why We Let an Atheist Join Our Church
Lisa
Viscidi
Justice and Impunity in Latin America: the Case of Rios Montt
Nick
Dearden
Refugees: Thirty Years in the Western Sahara
Gideon
Levy
Are We Done Killing Children, Yet?
Website
of the Day
"Love Me, I'm a Liberal " (Updated)
March 25 / 26, 2006
Alexander
Cockburn
Why There's No Strategy to End This
War
Patrick
Cockburn
The Battle for Baghdad: It's Already
Begun
Ralph
Nader
Bush's Divorce from Reality
Christopher
Reed
Slave Labor and Hell Ships: Mitsubishi Awaits Judgment for Its
War Crimes
Jeff
Ballinger
Memo to Walter Mosley: the Crisis in Black Leadership
Joseph
Massad
Blaming the Israel Lobby
Brian
Cloughley
The Fifth Afghan War
Chris
Floyd
Death in the Village of Isahaqi
Elaine
Cassel
Abortion Politics: The FDA and Plan B
Dave
Zirin
Death Row Talks Back to Etan Thomas
John
Chuckman
Sorry, Prime Minister, Afghanistan is Not Canada's War
Sharon
Smith
"Si Se Puede!": On Chicago's Streets
Christopher
Fons
A City With Latinos
Chris
Kromm
Coretta Scott King a Communist? There's a History Here
John
Bomar
Neurotic-in-Chief: Bush's "Change of Course"
Ron
Jacobs
More Than Just a Band
Maymanah
Farhat
What MoMA Does to "Islamic" Art
St.
Clair / Walker / Vest
Playlists: What We're Listening to This Week
Poets'
Basement
Harley, Davies, Engel and Subiet
Website
of the Weekend
Peacecast
March
24, 2006
Cockburn
/ Sengupta / Duff
How the CPT Hostages were Freed
P.
Sainath
Bribe or Die
Todd
Chretien
Jim Crow Goes Fishing: the Racist War on Immigrants
Marty
Omoto
The Other California
Michael
Carmichael
Islamophobia at Downing Street: Tony Blair's Bipolarity
Peter
Phillips
Impeachment Movement Grows; Media Yawns
Gabriel
Kolko
The US Empire vs. Reality
Website
of the Day
Music for Peace
March
23, 2006
Charles
V. Peña
Bush's Pro-Terrorism Defense Budget
Joe
DeRaymond
El Salvador 2006: a Broken Nation
Robert
Fisk
"US Authorities Say..."
Jonathan
Cook
The Emerging Jewish Consensus in Israel
Tom
Engelhardt
Whatever Happened to Congress?: an Interview with Chalmers Johnson
Joshua
Frank
Political Lemmings: the Democrats and the Precipice
Norman
Solomon
The Ultimate Scapegoat: Blaming the Media for Bad War News
Robert
Fitch / Joe Allen
An Exchange on the State of Organized Labor
Patrick
Cockburn
Kirkuk's Dr. Death
CounterPunch
News Service
On the Proper Way to Address a Bible-Waving Republican State
Senator from Maryland
Website
of the Day
Bird-Dogging Kerry
March
22, 2006
David
MacMichael
Iranian Nuclear Showdown: an Unnecessary
Crisis
Juan
Santos
Brown Skin, Yellow Star: Making Latinos
Illegal
Paul
Craig Roberts
Hollow Nation: Americans Don't Live
Here Anymore
Patrick
Cockburn
Iraq's My Lai?: Shooting Any Iraqi Who Moves
Ramzy
Baroud
The Jericho Raid
Jason
Leopold
The Mysterious "Official One": Woodward's Plame-Leak
Deep Throat
Dennis
Perrin
Killer Lies from Cheney's Harlot
William
Blum
The Cuban Punching Bag
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Contract Casino
Website
of the Day
Bird Flu: Will It Cross Over?
March
21, 2006
Paul
Craig Roberts
Bush's Delusional Speech
Winslow
Wheeler
Lipstick on the Pig: the Fiasco of Congressional Earmark Reform
Tom
Engelhardt
Cold Warrior in a Strange Land: an Interview with Chalmers Johnson
Arnold
Oliver
To the Guy Who Called Me a Traitor:
Dissent and the Iraq War
Earl
Ofari Hutchinson
When Black Cops Go Bad: the Killing
of Elio Carrion
Mike
Whitney
Death Squad Democracy
William
A. Cook
Israeli Human Rights: Starve the Palestinians
Sophia
A. McLennen
Assault on Higher Education: the
Conservative Push for the Right Student
March
20, 2006
Paul
Craig Roberts
A Collapsing Presidency
Dave
Lindorff
Howard Dean Tells CounterPunch: DNC No Foe of Impeachment
Ralph
Nader
The DNC's "Grassroots Agenda": Howard Dean's Plea for
Advice
Diane
Christian
License to Lie: Over to You, Dante
Jeff
Halper
"To Hell with All of You": the Power of Saying No
Harry
Browne
Unhappy St. Patrick's Day: Bush's Crackdown on Gerry Adams and
Sinn Fein
Norman
Solomon
Why are We Here?: Is There a Right Way to Wage a Wrong War?
Patrick
Cockburn
Death Squads on the Prowl; Iraq Convulsed by Fear
Website
of the Day
Abugate
March
18 / 19, 2006
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
Three Years On: Where's the Resistance
Here on the Home Front?
Werther
Bombs and Butchers: "Where Do We Get Such Men?"
Chris
Kromm
Katrina Aid Package: Much Too Little; Much Too Late
Patrick
Cockburn
Halabja: Kurds Destroy Monument to Victims of Saddam's Poison
Gas Attack
Elaine
Cassel
Abortion Politics and Animus for Women: Can Justice Kennedy be
Swayed?
S.
Brian Willson
Iraq Vets and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Fred
Gardner
The War on Kids
Brian
Cloughley
General Insanity: the Prevarications of Gen. Peter Pace
Laura
Carlsen
Challenging Disparity: Toward a New US Policy in Latin America
Eamon
Martin
Life in the Shadows of the Empire: Mysterious Photographers of
Nothing
Julie
Hilden
Free Speech in the Classroom: Teachers Don't Enjoy Enough Legal
Protection
Alison
Weir
So Much for "Sunshine Week": AP Erases Video of Israeli
Soldier Shooting Palestinian Boy
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Playlist: What I'm Listening to This Week
Poets'
Basement
LaMorticella, Krieger, Louise, and Engek
Website
of the Weekend
Are the Elites Turning Against the Effects of the Israel Lobby?
March
17, 2006
Eduardo
Galeano
Abracadabra:
Uruguay's Desaparecidos
Begin to Appear
Greg
Moses
Bush and Nuclear Preemption: Do You
Feel Safe With This Man's Finger on the Button?
Richard
Falk / David Krieger
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is Dying: What Now?
Cindy
and Craig Corrie
Three Ways to Remember Rachel
Amira
Hass
Hamas's Haniyeh: "I Never Sent Anyone on a Suicide Mission"
Mike
Marqusee
Reasons to March
James
Petas and Robin Eastman-Abaya
Philippines: the Killing Fields of
Asia
Website
of the Day
Black Shamrock
March
16, 2006
Norman
Solomon
Hook, Line and Sinker: War-Loving
Pundits
Tom
Philpott
Neoliberalism at the Garden Gate:
Community Farming in LA
Heather
Gray
Anne Braden: the South's Rebel Without
a Pause
Amira
Hass
Is Hamas Playing into the Hands of Israeli Hardliners?
Missy
Comley Beattie
Dangerous-to-Society Women: Locked Up in the Tombs
Sen.
Russell Feingold
President Bush has Broken the Law; He Must be Held Accountable
Lucinda
Marshall
President Ken Doll: Bush Insults Women on Intl. Women's Day
Andrew
Bosworth
From the Man Who Voted Against Katrina Aid: Joe Barton's War
on CITGO
Clancy
Sigal
In Celebration of Dachau's 73rd Anniversary,
Halliburton Gets Concentration Camp Contract
Website
of the Day
Help Rebuild the New Orleans Public Library
Weekend
Edition
April 22 / 23, 2006
A
Deficit Hawk and Flood Funds
The GOP and California's
Levees
By SETH SANDRONKSY
"I nexcusable" is what Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger recently called the lack of federal funds to improve
the state's system of flood control. In late February on a trip
to Washington, he had asked for $56 million for emergency repairs
on 24 levee sites eroded by rising river waters in Central and
Northern California.
Following heavy rains in March
and April, Schwarzenegger had declared a state of emergency in
counties along the San Joaquin River in the central part of the
state. People there scrambled to evacuate before a flood surge
was forecast to arrive.
They dodged the flood bullet
as state funds slated for future upgrades to the levee system
were diverted to emergency labor. Workers placed tarps and sand
bags on levee sites, watching 24/7 for breaks.
The governor's recent news-conference
rhetoric referenced the federal failure to protect people from
the floods and storms of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and
the Gulf Coast. The specter of this awful disaster was as a
potential sign of things to come in Central and Northern California,
he added.
And who could argue? Obviously,
flood prevention is the best medication.
The governor promised to make
his case for federal funding for flood protection to President
George W. Bush during their meeting a week after Good Friday
in California. Yet again, the Bush administration rejected Schwarzenegger's
request for emergency funds.
Despite the evidence, there
are no grounds for declaring an emergency, with no new federal
funds for flood prevention measures offered, according to the
White House. Confused?
Consider this; the $56 million
the governor sought is 0.002% of the projected 2006 federal budget.
Perhaps the real reason for the administration rejecting Schwarzenegger's
plea can be found in deficit hawk thinking.
What? For a deficit hawk,
government borrowing crowds out other, more productive capital
investments, while increasing the cost of borrowed money.
Yet growth of the federal budget
under President Bush has not caused interest rates to skyrocket.
In fact, low interest rates have been an economic stimulus,
with the home building and mortgage refinancing booms two examples.
In California and nationwide,
people are taking advantage of low interest rates to borrow on
their homes, harvesting new cash that, of course, must be repaid
in the future. Businesses have welcomed the increased buying
power of these homeowners.
A deficit hawk that roosts
in the minds of some officials on 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. may
be challenged to explain this trend of low interest rates with
a high federal budget deficit. That is, if reporters ask such
a question.
Back in California, tens of
thousands of people live in floodplains behind weak levees, some
more than 100 years old. Contrast such real facts with a deficit
hawk's theory that the federal government is acting with fiscal
prudence by failing to provide California with emergency funds
to upgrade its weak levees.
Seth Sandronsky is a member of Sacramento Area Peace
Action and a co-editor of Because People Matter, Sacramento's
progressive paper. He can be reached at ssandron@hotmail.com