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Volume III, Number 328 January 2003

This Week's Articles:

The Bush Administration's Penis Envy

Paul Corrigan

"Iraq must comply, or it will be made to comply with military force"—Secretary of State Colin L. Powell

It is that time of year. The holidays are over. Another National Football League season is culminating in the Super Bowl. Men across America are responding to their feelings of personal inadequacy by puffing out their chests and letting the world know that they have plenty of lead in their pencils. But the Super Bowl is just part of the pre-game ceremonies. America's premier team of peacocks, the Bush administration, has their plumes of feathers out in full display. America is going to war.

Parody of Lincoln

Tim Francis-Wright

February may not be the cruelest month, but it features some cruel ironies. On the 12th, Americans will commemorate the 194th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, whop ended America's horrible legacy of chattel slavery and quashed a civil war. Republicans have always claimed to be the Party of Lincoln, but the party's national vigor depends in no small part on voters who despise what the Republican Party of 1860 stood for.

To its shame, the Party of Lincoln come to depend on white voters who hate black people. While the party's official positions are not racist in the least, its political strategies and tactics have catered to racist white voters, particularly in the states of the Confederacy.

[Click on a title to read a particular article.]

Last Week's Articles:

Anatomy: Art, Science, and Politics

Paul Corrigan

What is it about the human body that makes people so uncomfortable? The reasons seem endless. An exhibition, "Body Worlds: The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies," left me totally fascinated, challenging my attitude about life, death and politics. Controversy has surrounded the Body Worlds installation. The displays in the exhibition comprise the remains of real human beings.

Déjà Vu All Over Again

Paul Corrigan

You can dress reactionary politics up, wrap it in the flag, and put a guy with MD after his name as the face of the party. Reactionary politics is still reactionary. That is a lesson that the GOP should have learned back in 1996 when the "Contract With America" flamed out after two short years. Back then, Newt Gingrich, an advocate of realpolitik with political savvy equal to his ego, stole control of Washington from an incredulous Democratic Party. Gingrich would soon overplay his hand and leave an impeached but popular Democratic president standing, while Newt and many of his minions checked out of the government they attempted to shut down.

A Stimulus Only Humpty Dumpty Could Love

Tim Francis-Wright

Earlier this month, the Bush administration proposed a truly laughable plan to stimulate the economy. Most of the tax cuts in the plan would go to the wealthiest Americans, not to Americans who are unemployed or struggling to make ends meet. Instead, the proposal is larded with provisions that benefit the natural constituents of today's Republican party.

[Click on a title to read a particular article.]

Older Articles:

Articles from previous weeks are in our archives. If you're not careful, you might learn something.

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Links of the Week

  • The Cold Test: The Bush administration knew long ago about North Korea's nuclear program and how Pakistan was helping (Seymour Hersh, The New Yorker).
  • Out of the Ordinary: A new kind of politics is emerging in Argentina after years of military dictatorship and corrupt rule (Naomi Klein, The Guardian, in two parts).
  • US Claim on Iraqi Nuclear Program Is Called Into Question: The United States continues to lack any evidence of an active Iraqi program to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons (Joby Warrick, Washington Post).
  • The Nuclear Option in Iraq: The moral giants in the Bush administration are actually thinking about using nuclear weapons against Iraq (William Arkin, Los Angeles Times).
  • This Drive to War is One of the Mysteries of Our Time: The case for war is based more on intuition than on reason (Martin Woollacott, The Guardian).
  • The Quota Code: When President Bush decried "quotas" this month, he continued a Republican tradition of substituting code words for argument (Michaelangelo Signorile, New York Press).
  • Mickey Mouse Clubbed: The libertarians wonder what Mickey Mouse would say if he could speak out on the decision in the Eldred case (Jesse Walker, Reason Online).

Links of Previous Weeks are in our voluminous archives.

Check out our Link Library for news, opinion, and just plain interesting stuff!

Fact of the Week

The Republican National Committee has enlisted thousands of its members to pass off the Committee's talking points as original letters to newspaper editors. "Team Leaders" can earn "GOPoints" redeemable for fabulous Republican bric-a-brac for getting official talking points onto talk shows or getting letters to the editor published. With access to the site—which we have thoughtfully provided—you can see what Republicans around the country are taught to think.

Source:
GOP Team Leader web site (use email: "tim@bear-left.com" and password: "bearleft").

 

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