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Is it the guy who asks you after the meeting about how the antiwar movement needs to get "serious" and asks you lots of questions about terrorism and "fighting back"? Jennifer Van Bergen reports, first-hand. Part 2 of our series on what really happened on 9/11/2001: the physics of collapse, and how not to make a "pancake" by Manuel Garcia, PLUS Engineer Pierre Sprey on why "controlled demolition" theories are off target. What you just missed, but can still get, in our last newsletter: Paul Craig Roberts on the Collapse of America. 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 towards the cost of this online edition. Remember contributions are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! |
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Today's Stories October 20 / 22, 2006 Christopher
Brauchli Winslow Wheeler Michael Donnelly Susie Day Lucinda Marshall
October 19, 2006 Elaine Cassel Col. Dan Smith Manuel Garcia, Jr. Josh Gryniewicz Amira Hass Eric Holt-Gimenez Jesse Hagopian Sam Husseini John Weisheit CP News Service Website of
the Day Art Gallery
of the Day
October 18, 2006 Joshua Frank Dr. Curran
Warf, MD Saul Landau Tom Barry Bruce Jackson Dave Lindorff Frederico Fuentes Michael Simmons Daryll E. Ray Kate Doyle Website of
the Day
Michael Neumann Manuel Garcia,
Jr. Stephen S.
Pearcy Sharon Smith Al Krebs David Underhill Daniel Wolff James Brooks Website of the Day
October 16, 2006 Gary Leupp Patrick Cockburn David Wilson Robert Fisk Robert Jensen Ingmar Lee
/ Krista Roessingh Mike Whitney Jake Whitney Sanho Tree Website of
the Day
Uri Avnery John Walsh Jean Bricmont Jennifer Van Bergen Ralph Nader Floyd Rudmin Mark Weisbrot Laura Carlsen Hani Shukrallah Dr. Susan Block John Chuckman Lucinda Marshall Don Monkerud Missy Comley
Beattie Ron Jacobs Website of
the Weekend
October 13, 2006 Jorge Mariscal Stephen Philion John Blair Col. Dan Smith Alastair Crooke / Mark Perry Stephen Fleischman Charles Perroud Anne E. Brodsky Website of the Day
October 12, 2006 Jonathan Cook Norman Solomon M. Shahid Alam Paul Craig
Roberts Meredith Schafer / Chris Kutalik Carl Gelderloos Alastair Crooke / Mark Perry Charles Sullivan William S. Lind CP News Service Website of
the Day
October 11, 2006 John Feffer Dave Lindorff Jackson Katz April Howard / Ben Dangl Michael Carmichael Ken Couesbouc Gregory Afghani Alexander Cockburn Website of
the Day
October 10, 2006 Paul Craig
Roberts Robert Robideau Joshua Frank Dave Lindorff Dave Zirin Heather Gray James Knotwell Missy Beattie Mike Whitney David Rosen Website of the Day
Robert Fisk Norman Solomon Ron Jacobs Gideon Levy Walter Brasch Mickey Z. John Holt Lucinda Marshall Saul Landau Website of the Day
October 7 /
8, 2006 Alexander Cockburn Peter Kwong Ralph Nader Mark Donham Dave Lindorff Peter Bosshard Ron Jacobs Lawrence R.
Velvel Fred Gardner David Green Jim B. Missy Beattie Michael Donnelly Jackson Thoreau Jon Hung CounterPunch
News Service Tom D'Antoni Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
Alison Weir Tiffany Ten
Eyck / Mark Brenner Corporate Crime Reporter Juan Antonio
Montecino Walden Bello Christopher
Brauchli Brynne Keith-Jennings Jonathan Cook Website of the Day
John Walsh Carol Norris Paul Craig Roberts Ricardo Alarcón James Abourezk Nicola Nasser Kirkpatrick Sale Uri Avnery Website of the Day
Elizabeth Terzakis Paul Wolf Sean Penn Dave Lindorff Diane Farsetta Sharon Smith Felice Pace Sara Roy Website of
the Day
Jennifer Van
Bergen Greg Moses Stan Cox Niranjan Ramakrishnan Evelyn Pringle Fred Wilhelms Michael Abelman Gary Leupp Website of the Day
October 2, 2006 Eric Hazan Mike Whitney Norman Solomon Assaf Kfoury Missy Beattie Arthur Neslen Paula J. Caplan Website of the Day
Sept. 30 /
0ct. 1, 2006 Paul Craig
Roberts Marjorie Cohn Ben Tripp Ron Jacobs Ralph Nader Mike Whitney Christopher Reed Seth Sandronsky Fred Gardner Mokhiber /
Weissman Michael Dickinson Alan Gregory Poets' Basement
September 29, 2006 Bruce Jackson Michael J.
Smith Emira Woods William S.
Lind David Swanson Jonathan Cook Website of the Day
Sen. Russ Feingold Ron Jacobs Mokhiber /
Weissman Lee Sustar Robert Jensen John Chuckman Evelyn Pringle Nicola Nasser Uri Avnery Website of the Day
Patrick Cockburn Camilo Mejia Ben Terrall Ridgeway /
Ng Joe Allen Andrew Wimmer Franklin C. Spinney Website of
the Day
Hani Shukrallah William Blum Niranjan Ramakrishnan Barbara Becnel Paul Rockwell Dave Lindorff Rich Gibson Anthony Papa Nate Mezmer Uri Avnery Website of the Day
Patrick Cockburn Jonathan Cook Joshua Frank Paul Craig
Roberts Robert Jensen Dave Lindorff Norman Solomon Dr. Charles
Jonkel Michael Dickinson Alexander Cockburn Website of
the Day
September 23
/ 24, 2006 Jonathan Cook Jeffrey St.
Clair Dr. Anon Tom Barry Carl G. Estabrook Laura Carlsen Todd Chretien Dr. Charles
Jonkel Debbie Nathan Fred Gardner Fred Wilhelms Seth Sandronsky Ralph Nader Rev. William
Alberts Jon Van Camp Heather Gray David Vest Jeffrey St.
Clair Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend Video of the Weekend
September 22, 2006 Patrick Cockburn Michael Donnelly Ramzy Baroud Evo Morales Stanley Howard Sarah Leah
Whitson JoAnn Wypijewski Website of the Day
Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad Justin E. H.
Smith Mike Roselle Amira Hass Deborah Rich Mickey Z. Saul Landau Website of
the Day
Sharon Smith Christopher
Reed John Ross Joshua Frank Arthur Neslen Norman Solomon Michael Carmichael Evelyn Pringle Hugo Chavez Website of the Day
Patrick Cockburn Jeff Leys Brian M. Downing Col. Dan Smith Liaquat Ali
Khan Ron Jacobs Nik Barry-Shaw
/ Yves Engler Lucinda Marshall Saul Landau Photo of the Day Website of
the Day
Carl Boggs Uri Avnery Mike Stark / Jim Bullington Joshua Frank John Murphy Ramzy Baroud Dave Lindorff Bill Quigley Website of the Day
Subscribe Online
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Weekend
Edition The New Phase in Anti-Immigrant CrackdownsThe Bipartisan Border WallBy LEE SUSTAR Five months after some of the biggest demonstrations in U.S. history, immigrants have come under fire--not only from conservative Republicans, law enforcement agencies and right-wing vigilantes, but from their supposed friends among congressional Democrats. In September, a majority of Senate Democrats voted to approve construction of 700 more miles of a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border. The Democrats could have easily stalled the vote, which was held at the end of the session prior to adjournment ahead of the November elections. Instead, the Democrats scrambled to keep the Republicans from outflanking them on the immigration issue, voting for an enforcement-only immigration bill that most had vowed to oppose. Such tactics are to be expected from the likes of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who specializes in "triangulating" issues to appeal to moderate Republicans. This time, though, thanks to liberal darling Sen. Barack Obama, the Democrats had political cover to join with Republicans to back the law. Obama voted for the wall despite earlier vows never to do so without other measures to allow for the legalization of at least some immigrants. Many immigrant rights activists were shocked at the move. Dr. Juan Andrade Jr., president of the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute, called on Obama to apologize for his vote, calling the wall "an insult to those of us of Mexican ancestry." Obama pointedly refused to apologize. "I have supported and will continue to support comprehensive immigration reform that will provide a path to citizenship for the millions of undocumented immigrants in this country," the senator said in a statement. "But I disagree with those who think that we can do this without measures that allow us to control our borders." "Comprehensive immigration reform" is a code phrase for proposed Senate legislation that would divide undocumented immigrants into three categories--those who can eventually apply for a highly restricted "path to citizenship," those eligible for guest-worker status, and the most recent arrivals, who are excluded altogether. To try to obtain congressional backing for such a program, the main sponsors of the proposed Senate legislation on immigration--including Democrat Ted Kennedy and Republicans John McCain, Chuck Hagel and Mel Martinez--were willing to allow a vast expansion of immigration law enforcement mechanisms, including a border wall. The senators' strategy was to accept the harsh crackdown on immigration advocated by conservative Republicans in the House of Representatives in exchange for the guest-worker provisions coveted by Corporate America. Instead, leading House Republicans rallied around another proposal, HR 4437, written by Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.)--a measure that, if passed, would turn the estimated 12 million undocumented workers in the U.S. into felons. With the issue at a stalemate as the elections approached, House leaders decided to pass provisions of the Sensenbrenner bill piece by piece--including authorization for the additional border wall construction. At first, this strategy was seen as a political stunt to satisfy the Republicans' right-wing base. But rather than call the Republicans' bluff--or at least stall the measure--Senate Democrats shamefully went along. Seventeen Democrats voted against the Secure Fence Act of 2006, and 26 voted for it, including Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer of California as well as Clinton and Obama. The lopsided 80-19 vote gave the border wall bill a bipartisan seal of approval. The border wall wasn't the only repressive anti-immigrant measure passed in Congress on September 29. A $33.7 billion spending bill to fund Department of Homeland Security operations also gives the Secretary of Homeland Security the power to "take all actions...necessary" to stop "all unlawful entries into the United States"--that is, to accelerate the stepped-up program of raids and detentions in immigrant communities across the U.S. Besides providing a $1.2 billion down payment on the border wall, the bill will fund the hiring of 1,500 border patrol agents, create 6,700 additional beds at detention centers for undocumented immigrants, and fund new vehicle barriers and high-tech sensors along the border. Also, as the Los Angeles Times points out, the bill "significantly boosts" funding for "enforcement of immigration laws at work sites and elsewhere." In the House, the Homeland Security spending bill passed 412-6, with just three Democrats opposed. In the Senate, which voted on the measure back in July, the tally was 100-0. In fact, stepped-up enforcement of immigration law is already underway, part of a well-orchestrated backlash against last spring's immigrant rights demonstrations. The crackdown has three prongs: raids by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities; local police enforcement of both local and federal anti-immigrant laws; and moves by major employers to terminate immigrant workers on the basis of "no match" letters issued by the Social Security Administration when Social Security numbers on file don't match those provided by workers. Together, such measures create an apparatus through which the government can hunt undocumented workers--one that will be used to target the more than 2 million people who wouldn't be eligible to participate in the proposed guest-worker program, should it ever become law. These policies conform to a strategy proposed more than a year ago by Mark Kirkorian of the anti-immigrant Center for Immigration Studies. In an article entitled "Downsizing Illegal Immigration: A Strategy of Attrition Through Enforcement," Kirkorian called for "shrink[ing] the illegal population through consistent, across-the-board enforcement of the immigration law. "By deterring the settlement of new illegals, by increasing deportations to the extent possible, and, most importantly, by increasing the number of illegals already here who give up and deport themselves, the United States can bring about an annual decrease in the illegal-alien population, rather than allowing it to continually increase." The result, said Martín Unzueta, an organizer with the Chicago Workers Collaborative, is that "the authorities are trying to put the Sensenbrenner bill into practice right now, even though we don't have the law." For that reason, the organization teamed up with the Illinois AFL-CIO, Jobs With Justice, the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, and other labor and immigrant rights groups to host a two-day summit on the new attacks, held in Chicago on October 13 and 14. The first day brought together some 50 union organizers, who strategized on how to prevent employers from summarily dismissing workers on the basis of Social Security "no-match" letters and the so-called Basic Pilot Program, a voluntary program in which employers verify workers' immigration status via a government Web site. On the second day of the summit, some 60 workers attended, many of them Latino activists in the UNITE HERE union seeking to organize Cintas, the giant industrial laundry and uniform company. Cintas, like many employers, is implementing proposed federal regulations on "no-match" letters even before they take effect, and has moved to terminate 400 workers, thereby undermining unionization efforts, organizers say. Actually, "no-match" violations, which are monitored by Homeland Security, are often the fault of incorrect government databases, according to the NILC. The same is true, they say, of the information in the Basic Pilot Program. The new pressure on immigrants in the workplace is paralleled by increasingly aggressive actions by police, another major focus of the summit. "There is in many places a devolution from the federal government to state and local authorities" in immigration law enforcement, according to Joan Friedland of NILC, who spoke at the Chicago conference. While police in cities like New York and Chicago have a formal policy of not collaborating with federal immigration authorities, their counterparts in Arizona, Georgia and elsewhere are increasingly working with ICE. Now thanks to congressional Democrats' backing for expanded immigration law enforcement, the crackdown is set to intensify, with or without "comprehensive" immigration reform. "This is a real crisis that's on the verge of exploding with some of the actions that the Department of Homeland Security is taking in regard to no-match letters, worksite enforcement and collaboration with police departments," said Tim Bell of the Chicago Workers Collaborative. "The question is, is the community going to organize and put a stop to it?" Lee Sustar is a regular contributor to CounterPunch
and the Socialist Worker.
He can be reached at: lsustar@ameritech.net
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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.  The Occupation by Patrick Cockburn                        |
