Today's Stories

September 27 / 28, 2008

Linn Washington, Jr.
Alaska's Blacks and Palin: a Strained Relationship

September 26, 2008

Moshe Adler
Bailing Out Wall Street Won't Save Main Street

Bill Quigley
The U.S. War on Unarmed Working Mothers

Jonathan Cook
When Archaeology Becomes a Curse

Manuel Garcia, Jr.
Visions of Pinpoint Control: the Romance of Laser Weapons

Madis Senner
Why the Bailout will Fail

Brian Cloughley
US Raids in Pakistan: Violations of Sovereignty

Niranjan Ramakrishnan
Oh, Henry!

Joanne Mariner
Passport Fraud and Torture

Dan La Botz
The Financial Crisis: a View from the Left

David Macaray
Ralph's Management Indicted by Federal Grand Jury

Website of the Day
Nader and Obama Girl at the Office

September 25, 2008

Michael Hudson
The Insanity of the $700 Billion Giveaway

Sharon Smith
Democrats and Corporate Bailouts

Ralph Nader
Who Will Show Some Backbone Against the Bailout?

Christopher Ketcham
The Economy of Dead Sperm (or What I Learned From My Race-Car Grandpa Who Had No Bankers)

Eric Toussaint
Is Another Third World Debt Crisis in the Offing?

Robert Weissman
Getting Wall Street Pay Reform Right

David Estabrook
A Better Bailout Plan

Nikolas Kozloff
The Voyage of the SS Peter the Great

Steve Early
The High Price of Purple Dissent

Judith Scherr
Blue Helmets in Haiti

Laray Polk
South Ossetia and Abkhazia: Notes from the Inside

Website of the Day
Letterman Spanks McCain

September 24, 2008

Paul Craig Roberts
The Bitter Fruits of Deregulation

Nikolas Kozloff
Palin at the UN: a Tutorial from Uribe

Robert Weissman
The Financial Crisis: How and Why Congress Should Play for Time

Andy Worthington
The Guantánamo Trials: Govt. Says Six Years Not Long Enough to Prepare Evidence

Steve Conn
Will Nader's Warning be Acknowledged in the Presidential Debates?

Karyn Strickler
The $700,000,000,000 Power Punch

Diane Farsetta
Stealth Marketers Gone Wild

Dennis Loo
Poisoned Legacy

John Halle
Wealth Tax Now!

Khalil Nakhleh
Palestinians Under the Occupation

Website of the Day
Nader: Debate Crasher

September 23, 2008

Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr.
Bail Out on This Bailout

Michael Hudson
Henry Paulson and the New Yazoo Land Scandal

Tariq Ali
Why was the Marriott Targeted?

Patrick Dyer
A Death Row Visit with Troy A. Davis

Franklin Lamb
Hezbollah and the Palestinians

Joshua Frank
Oppose Barack Obama? How Dare Thee!

Alan Farago
Pushing the Referees: How the Financial Crisis Occurred

Dave Lindorff
The Bailout Will Kill the Dollar

Tanya M. Kerssen /
Roger Burbach
Bolivia's Popular Upheaval

Harvey Wasserman
Nuclear Power Liabilities Dwarf Bush's Wall Street Bailout

Website of the Day
Hammered by the Irish: the Video

September 22, 2008

Michael Hudson
The Paulson-Bernanke Bank Bailout Plan: Will the Cure be Worse Than the Crisis?

Mike Whitney
Mushroom Clouds Over Wall Street

Christopher Ketcham
Let It Collapse!

Ron Jacobs
The Predators' Bailout

Anne-Marie McManus
Lost in the Rhetoric of Crisis

Robert Weitzel
The Twin Terrors of the Holy Land: a Sexy Fundamentalist and a White-Haired Zionist

Wajahat Ali
An Interview with Howard Dean

John Ross
A New Cold War Comes to Latin America

Steve Breyman
Does the U.S. Really Need Cluster Bombs?

Patrick Bond
On the Bellies of the Filth

Uri Avnery
Fly, Tzipora, Fly

Carl J. Mayer
An Open Letter to Michael Moore (AKA God's Pen Pal): Whatever Happened to Voting Your Conscience?

Website of the Day
Stop the Execution of Troy Anthony Davis

September 20 / 21, 2008

Alexander Cockburn
Is This the Stake Through Neoliberalism's Heart?

Michael Hudson
America's Own Kleptocracy

Pam Martens
The Wall Street Model: Unintelligent Design

Lila Rajiva
Putting Lipstick on an AIG

Mike Whitney
Full-Spectrum Breakdown

Richard Rhames
A Bailout to Nowhere

Bill Moyers /
Michael Winship
The NY Yankees and the U.S. Economy

Bill and Kathleen Christison
The Making of Recent U.S. Middle East Policies: a New Study of Neocon Influence

Susan Block
Palin as Venus in Furs: the Dominatrix Politics of Drilling and Killing

Robert Fantina
Republicans and Subpoenas: Never the Twain Shall Meet

Heidi Walters
Hung Up on Route 36: an 18-Wheeler and a Nuclear Cask

David Yearsley
Germany's Lost Organs: When Bigger Was Better

Raymond J. Lawrence
The Politics of Tribulation: Sarah Palin and the Rapture

David Rosen
One Billion Pills Later: Viagra at 10

David Michael Green
Living in Sarah Palin's America

Anthony Papa
Imprisoned Voters and the Elections

Niranjan Ramakrishnan
Freddie, Fannie, Daddy, Nanny

Howard Lisnoff
When We Notice the Homeless

John Goekler
Leaving Every Child Behind

Missy Beattie
Impalement

Dave Zirin
Leave Josh Howard Alone

Charles R. Larson
Holden Caulfield, Rest in Peace

Tim Matson
Too Big for His Birches: Woodlot Economics

Susie Day
Attack of the Angry Fetus

Poets' Basement
Corseri, Gibbons, Jenkins and Ford

Website of the Weekend
Dylan & Baez: Deportees

September 19, 2008

Steven T. Banko
McCain's Passion Play

Mike Whitney
The Point of No Return

Michael Hudson
The Dow Jones' Wonderfully Cheesy Addition

William Kaufman
Shattering the Glass-Steagall Act: the Bi-Partisan Origins of the Financial Crisis

Brenda Norrell
The Fall of Lehman Bros.: Blowback for Black Mesa?

Keeanga-Yamatta Taylor
The New Rhetoric of Racism: Why Won't Obama Call It Out?

Clifton Ross
Bolivia: Cleaning Up the Bull Ring

Dave Lindorff
Hang On to Your Wallets: the Government's About to Rescue Us!

Cynthia McKinney
Seize the Time!

Susan Hurlich
Storm Survivors: a Dispatch from Cuba

Michael Donnelly
Let's Hand It All Over to the Democrats (They Helped Create This Mess)

Website of the Day
The Crisis Explained

September 18, 2008

Benjamin Dangl
The Machine Gun and the Meeting Table

Harvey Wasserman
The Senate's Drill, Drill, Drill Scam

Susan Abulhawa
The Lobby Has Spoken: Biden and Israel

Robert Weissman
After the Fall: the Financial Re-Regulatory Agenda

Anne-Marie McManus
McCain's Cinderella: the Fetishization of Sarah Palin

Corey D. B. Walker
The Poverty of 21st Century Progressivism

William S. Lind
Senator O'Bush: Why Obama is Wrong on Iran and Afghanistan

Ron Jacobs
Washington's False Logic of Torture

Dave Lindorff
American and China: Joined at the Hip

Binoy Kampmark
How Damien Hirst Got Away With It

Website of the Day
An Invisible Army

September 17, 2008

Stephen Conn
Palin and the Politics of Big Oil

Forrest Hylton
Reactionary Rampage in Bolivia

Patrick Cockburn
Petraeus Leaves Iraq

Gregory Elich
Inside North Korea

Ralph Nader
How the U.S. Auto Industry Wrecked Itself

Franklin Lamb
The Palestinians of Shabra-Shatila

Pam Martens
The Gang's All Here: Bush, McCain and the Old Iran/Contra Team

Dave Lindorff
The End of the Blue Chip Economy

Peter Morici
The Damage Deepens

Stanley Heller
The Killing of Count Folke Bernadotte

Douglas Valentine
Rambling David Foster Wallace

Website of the Day
Free Cindy McCain!

September 16, 2008

Paul Craig Roberts
US Economy: Rudderless and Reeling from Direct Hits

Tiphaine Dickson
Citizen Palin: Why Sarah Palin Quoted Westbrook Pegler

Stan Goff
America is Now Rome: an Open Letter to Christian Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan

Uri Avnery
Tzipi's Choice

Michael Winship
Lipstick on Polar Bears

Jeff Halper
Warehousing Palestinians

Patrick Irelan
Bolivia Versus the Empire

Oscar Gonzalez
Who's Dumber? Ike's Refugees or Wall Street's?

Binoy Kampmark
Cheney and His Records

Fatemeh Keshavarz
Muslims are at Peace with You

Sen. Russ Feingold
Restoring the Rule of Law

Website of the Day
The Next Great Rock Band?

September 15, 2008

Mike Whitney
The Tumbrils Roll at Dawn

Peter Morici
Toxic Lehman

Patrick Cockburn
Take Another Look at the Surge

Charles R. Larson
The Maverick Has No Clothes

Jonathan Cook
The Expulsion of Palestinians from Jaffa

Nikolas Kozloff
Racist Rhetoric in Bolivia

Roger Burbach
Morales Confronts the Insurrection: Bolivia and the Echoes of Allende

Helen Redmond
Where's the Health Care Bailout?

David Michael Green
The Democrats Do Poland

David Macaray
The Boeing Strike

Ralph Nader
Remembering Peter Camejo

Website of the Day
The Ballad of Sarah Palin

Weekend Edition
September 27 / 28, 2008

The Nigerian Emails

Dear Mrs. Abacha

By CHARLES R. LARSON

Lady Maryam Abacha sa1412@yahoo.com                             
Wed. Mar 1, 2006 at 11:16 AM
To: kmr33@hotmail.com                                                                                  
                  
Dear Friend,

I am Mrs. Maryam Abacha here, widow of the late beloved President of Nigeria, Sani Abacha, who die of a heart attack in 1998.  I am currently seeking refuge in Dakar, Senegal, under the Unite Nation High Commission For Refugees (UNHCR) and in need of your assistance.  After death and burial of my esteemed husband, I escape Nigeria with a Very Important Document (VID), a DEPOSIT CERTIFICATE (DC) of £15.5, Fifteen Million Five Hundred Thousand English Pounds, identifying me as the Next of Kin (NK).  Meanwhile, I was saddle with the Problem (P) of securing a trust worthy foreign personality or an organization to help transfer the money over to his/her country with the intention of investing it in a business under his/her directives and supervisstions, because

I have no knowledge of investment.

Please if you are so kind as to assist me, I shall send you all Vital Informations (VI) for your confirmation regarding the financial house where the DC was lodge.  I am giving you this offers as mention with every confidence on your acceptance to assist me as your own sister to manage the money on my behalf until such a time I am able to stand on my own feet.  I will be happy to hear from you.  God Bless You as you consider my plea.

Maryam Abacha

Kmr33@hotmail.com                                                           
Thur. Mar 9, 2006 at 10:12 PM
To: Lady Maryam Abacha sa1412@yahoo.com            

Dear Mrs. Abacha,

This response is somewhat awkward because—and I am certain you already know this—I was living in Nigeria at the time of your late husband’s sudden demise.  In fact, I knew the person who supplied him with the Viagra that led to his heart attack.  My understanding is that Sani Abacha did not read the safety instructions on his prescription and took all ten pills in the container at one time.  You have my utmost sympathy for the tragic results, and if you can somehow find it in your heart not to blame me or my friend (or America as far as that goes), I believe I can assist you.

Ulysses S. Grant

Lady Maryam Abacha sa1412@yahoo.com                               
Fri. Mar 10, 2006 at 7:03 AM
To: Kmr33hotmail.com                                                                                       

Dear Mr. Grant,

First, I have to thank you for bringing out your precious time to respond to my mail for assistance and I must thank you for providing me with your right full name, because of that I was not certain.  Also, as I was not present at the time of my beloved husband’s death their can be no way that I can hold you responsible so I forgive you for that.

But let me explain you more my present status here in Senegal as a refugee seeking asylum.  According to the financial governing laws of this country, people under refugees are not allow to participate personal into any monetary transaction or operate account inter national or local.

Moreover, I went into serious discussion through email with the financial outfit where this money was deposit into, for them to advise me on what to do in order to have assess to the fund, then the legal department they told me in situations like mine, the best solution to it is by soliciting for assistance of a reliable foreigner who can assist me receive the fund and invest it on my behalf as I wish.

It is important that quickly I receive from you the following informations as well as your Private Telephone Number (PTN) and also the details of the account to be use for Transfer as follows:
     Your Name: Ulysses S. Grant (which I all ready know)
     Bank Name:
     Bank Address
     Account Number:
     Swift Code Number:
     Routing Number:

I will be giving you 35% of the money for your coporation.

Maryam Abacha

Kmr@hotmail.com                                                                    
 Mon. Mar 13, 2006 at 9:43 AM
To: Lady Maryam Abacha  sa1412@yahoo.com                                          

Dear Maryam,

I did not tell you in my previous email that I am also alone in the world, a widower these several years now, and perhaps an easier way to resolve your financial issues would be for me to fly to Senegal, meet you, and if we are compatible with one another, we could get married.  Such an arrangement would make it possible for you to return to the United States with me (as my wife) which would certainly simplify the issue of the £15.5 deposited in England.  How do you fancy such a proposal?

All my best wishes,

Ulysses

Lady Maryam Abacha  sa1412@yahoo.com                           
Tues. Mar 14, 2006 at 6:55 AM
To: kmr@hotmail.com                                                                                  
                                   
Dear Ulysses,

I must say that it is a good thing for you to look for a wife but we just met and by Nigerian law I am expect to marry my late husband’s senior brother, Insani Abacha, as is our tribal custom here in Nigeria.

Please, I beg you to provide your bank information as soon as possible and afterwards we can possible talk of marriage should I decide not to marry my husband’s brother.

Maryam

Kmr@hotmail.com                                                                    
Fri. Mar 17, 2006 at 8:21 PM
To: Lady Maryam Abacha  sa1412@yahoo.com                                      
 
Dear Maryam,

If you are no longer in Nigeria, but in Senegal as your email messages have said, how can you be expected to marry your late husband’s older brother?

Love,
Ulysses

Lady Maryam Abacha sa1412@yahoo.com                            
Sat. Mar. 18, 2006 at 7:45 AM
To: kmr@hotmail.com                                                                                   

Dear Ulysses,

The pressure to marry my brother-in-law increase even though I am temporarily in Senegal seeking this refuge.  I fear that I may be kid nap back to Nigeria, since that brother has now learn of my DC and will do anything to force me into marriage I do not desire. The maturity on the DC will arrive shortly and I must arrange for transfer into your hands before that date or interest will be lost.

Also, I am nearly destitoot here, facing daily humiliations of having to pay others for my comforts, as minimal as they are.

Please send me bank information by return mail.  Other arrangements (marriage) will have to be delay.

Love,
Maryam

Kmr@hotmail.com                                                                 
 Tues. Mar. 21, 2006 at 10:48 PM
To: Lady Maryam Abacha sa1412@yahoo.com                                        

Beloved Maryam,

Please inform your bank of the following information regarding my bank, as follows:
           
Ulysses S. Grant
            Bank Name:  First Farmers Bank of New York City
            Account No:  WCBS-FM101.1
            Swift Code Number:  5.30APR
            Routing No:  1600PENNAVE

All my Love,
Ulysses

PS.  But I feel that I must join you in Senegal to protect you.

Lady Maryam Abacha sa1412@yahoo.com                          
Wed. Mar. 22, 2006 at 6:47 AM
To: kmr@hotmail.com                                                                                    
   
Dearest Ulysses,

Did you type an error with one of those numbers or is it the bank?  A friend in the refugee camp here who has been to America says he has never heard of the First Farmers Bank of New York City.  Explain me, but soon because I fear that my brother inlaw all ready has plans to take me back to Nigeria.

My Love,
Maryam

Kmr@hotmail.com                                                                   
Mon. Mar. 27, 2006 at 11:18 PM  
To: Lady Maryam Abacha sa1412@yahoo.com                                       

Dearest Maryam,

There are many so-called private banks in the United States, not listed publicly.  That name is, indeed, correct.  Please try a second time as I, myself, have occasionally encountered trouble transferring money electronically.

I have purchased a ticket to fly to Dakar in two weeks and thus I need to know your current location.  I have friends in the American embassy who can certainly assist us—both in the transfer of money and a possible marriage.

Your beloved Ulysses

Lady Maryam Abacha sa1412@yahoo.com                          
Tues. Mar 28, 2006 at 7:22 AM
To: kmr@hotmail.com                                                                                   

Dear Ulysses,

I beg you not to act to hastily and fly to Senegal.  Delay your departure.

If you can check again to see if any of the Bank Numbers you have send me are incorrect and correct them, then the banking matters can be complete before your arrival.

Matters of marriage can be discuss afterwards.

My love,
Maryam

Kmr@hotmail.com                                                                   
Mon. April 3. 2006 at 12:45 PM
To: Lady Maryam Abacha sa1412@yahoo.com                                      

Dearest Maryam,

I am unable to change my ticket without a major penalty.  I will arrive in Dakar next Monday, thus I need to know your current location.
I do not believe that you will be disappointed when you see me.  I am 62 years old, but I will bring some Viagra in case it is needed.

Then, afterwards, we can wire my bank and transfer your money to my account and enjoy many years of comfortable living together.

I need to know your location immediately.

My endless love,
Ulysses

Lady Maryam Abacha sa1412@yahoo.com                          
Tues. April 4, 2006 at   7:12 AM
To: kmr@hotmail.com                                                                                 

Dear Ulysses,

Alas, I am no longer in Senegal but back in Nigeria, confined to the premises of my brother inlaw’s compound and watch over constantly.
Yet there is still hope.  If you can make certain of your Bank Account numbers and that money can be safely transfer to you, I believe I will not longer be so desirable to my wicked brother inlaw and I will be able to join you without any fear.

Love to you,
Maryam

Kmr@hotmail.com                                                                   
Wed. April 12, 2006 at 11:43 AM
To: Lady Maryam Abacha sa1412@yahoo.co                                     

Dearest Maryam,

But I am now in Dakar at the United States Embassy.  I have already checked the flights to Nigeria and I can fly there in three more days but I will need to know where you are.

How can you respond to me from your brother-in-law’s compound?

Does he have WiFi in his compound?  How can you keep responding to my email messages?

Your excited lover,
Ulysses

Lady Maryam Abacha sa1412@yahoo.com                       
Tues. April 13, 2006 at  7:55 AM
To: kmr@hotmail.com                                                                                 

Dearest Ulysses,

I beg you not to come to Nigeria, until the transfer of money has been complete.  Then, I will be able to tell my brother-in-law that I am a pauper.

Are you certain the numbers you have sent me are correct?

I have a Blackbarry that I have from my brother-in-law’s briefcase (he is a businessman always using his notebook computer).

My deepest love,
Maryam

Kmr@hotmail.com                                                                
Mon., April 17, 2006 at 11:17 PM
To: Lady Maryam Abacha sa1412@yahoo.com                                      
                                      
Dearest,

You are right.  One of those numbers is in error.  I have just learned that myself.  Use 5.45APR for the Swift Code Number and the transaction will be complete.

I am waiting for you in Abuja, now that I am in Nigeria. 

Where are you staying?  I will liberate you as soon as possible, but I need to know your location immediately.

I am so excited.

Ulysses

Lady Maryam Abacha sa1412@yahoo.com                        
Tues. April 18, 2006 at 8:04 AM
To: kmr@hotmail.co                                                                                  

Dear One,

The transaction has still not gone through, but perhaps it will when we are together.

But you must fly to Douala, in the Cameroon, where I have escape to one of my late husband’s houses.  I am safe here because of his bodyguards. When you get to Douala, I will send you direction.

Bring ten Viagra.

Your love,
Maryam

Charles R. Larson is Professor of Literature at American University in Washington, D.C. His books include Under African Skies, Worlds of Fiction, The Ordeal of the African Writer and Academia Nuts. He can be reached at: clarson@american.edu

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