George W. Bush advised the Iraqi people on March 17, 2003: "We will tear down the apparatus of terror and we will help you to build a new Iraq that is prosperous and free. In a free Iraq, there will be no more wars of aggression against your neighbors, no more poison factories, no more executions of dissidents, no more torture chambers and rape rooms. The tyrant will soon be gone. The day of your liberation is near." We've seen the outcome, and cringe in horror as the same liberating rhetoric is now hurled at Iran. Carol Warner Christen's powerful essay examines the devastating results when religion and free will collide in the name of power. One of the consequences, which Charles Marowitz predicted four years ago, is the increasing psychological trauma to the troops, adding yet another tragedy to the dark legacy of the Bush-Cheney administration. The only true way to do justice to this war's victims is to serve justice to this deadly duo. Gilles d'Aymery explains how this can happen, given that impeachment is off the table on which it was never placed (except by Dennis Kucinich). Despite Scott McClelland's recent revelations about the lies and deception that brought mayhem to us, the Iraqis, and the entire world, the corporate media provided limited coverage of this self-indicting story. The chattering class moved on to mourning when it lost its top-of-the-heap Citadel guard dog, a channeler of deception himself. Louis Proyect exposes the less than tough-questioning journalism that Tim Russert distilled when it really mattered.
To those holding their breath for change, Jan Baughman and Joel Hirschhorn offer their perspectives on Ralph Nader and third-party candidates' contributions to society throughout history, debunking (again) the spoiler myth, when all they "spoil" is the duopoly's unchallenged power... And speaking of challenging power, we received a late addition by South African acclaimed author and political activist Xolela Mangcu to our Chicago 1968 Special Edition that puts the '68 Democratic Convention in the context of Chicago politics and the civil rights movement and in parallel to apartheid politics. For his part, Martin Murie examines the political parallels between wolf and man -- communal, sometimes violent, survivalists...
In the cultural corner, Peter Byrne slogged through the swamp of post-9/11 literature at its best and worst; Guido Monte combines sad reality with future hope in a Dostoevsky blending; high-school student, poet, and aspiring novelist Michael Eddins reminds us of nature's beauty; and we close with your letters, on Obama, Nader, Chicago '68, the talented Art Shay, the gorgeous Florence Shay, and more.
As always, please form your OWN opinion, and let your friends (and foes) know about Swans. It's your voice that makes ours grow.
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Carol Warner Christen: Who Is Like God?
Where is the humanity, when religion and free will collide in the name of power and at the expense of the planet, its creatures, and their future? More...
Charles Marowitz: Spoils Of War
A recent Rand Corporation study on Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans confirmed the level of psychological trauma they experience, adding yet another tragedy to the dark legacy of the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld misadventures. More...
Gilles d'Aymery: Bring Back Patrick Fitzgerald: Serve Mr. Bush to Justice
There are myriad ways to bring George W. Bush and Company to justice for crimes against humanity. With impeachment off (i.e., never on) the table, we appeal to Patrick Fitzgerald to act as Special Prosecutor against citizen Bush, whose murders have no statute of limitations. More...
Louis Proyect: Tim Russert In Retrospect
Louis Proyect eulogizes a version of Tim Russert quite unlike the regular guy, tough-questioning, fair-minded journalist that the mainstream media portrays. More...
Jan Baughman: Who's Party Are We Spoiling?
To quote Sam Smith, change often comes not from the top or the center but from the edges; such is the reason to support third-party candidates -- they've been instrumental in implementing change throughout history -- and our freedom to vote for them without attack or apology. More...
Joel S. Hirschhorn: Fighting Resistance To Voting for Ralph Nader
The author debunks the psychology behind the spoiler propaganda and explains why a vote for Nader is not a lost vote if true political and social reform is ever to occur in America. More...
Xolela Mangcu: Harold Washington: A Mainstream Radical Against The Machine
An analysis of the evolution of Chicago politics and the civil rights movement as context to the 1968 Democratic Convention events; the election of Harold Washington, Chicago's first black mayor; and the parallels to South African apartheid politics and the African National Congress government, which more closely resembles Richard J. Daley's model than Mayor Washington's. More...
Martin Murie: Wolves And Us
Contrasting wolf society with our own. More...
Peter Byrne: 9/11 In The Swamp
Peter Byrne reviews the best and the worst of post-9/11 and post-Katrina catastrophe-capitalizing literature. More...
Guido Monte: Today
Monte's blending describes symbolically the sad reality of the Occidental world today, but with a little hope of future ideals, worth, moral sense. More...
Michael Eddins: Nature
A poem on the beauty of nature, which is often not revered enough. More...
On Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama, and the latest controversy named Michael Pfleger; Now is not the time....: the predicted polarization from supporting Ralph Nader; and kudos to the Special Issue on Chicago 1968, from Art Shay and the gorgeous Florence Shay, and more. More...
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