The Plug Nickel Times is proud to bring you archived website links to select opinion articles. All links are offsite unless otherwise noted- followed links should open in another browser window. Links can become dated or otherwise fail to function, for this reason we quote the title of an article. This may allow you to find an alternate copy of the article through a news index or search engine. Some sites we link to may require a registration process to view an article- this website may be useful to you in those instances. Comments, corrections and submissions are welcome- an email link is at the bottom of the page.
September 1-15, 2004
September 14, 2004
Bonfire of the Humanities by Lindsay Waters
"Product is all that counts, not the reception, not the human use. This is production for its own sake and precious little else. If we stay this course, we can achieve what Angus Fletcher calls not economies of scale, but 'bankruptcies of scale.'"
Jefferson on the Evils of War by Laurence M. Vance
September 13, 2004
Loving Our Children by Butler Shaffer
"Our propensities for metabolizing lies are so well-established within most of us that we insist our children be inoculated against the forces of truth. We send them to government schools for the same indoctrination that produced our confused and contradictory state, and condemn - as "elitists" - those who homeschool their children or send them to private schools. Perhaps most of us believe that our normally neurotic state is simply 'human nature,' the inevitable 'way things are,' and that the best we can do for our children is help them learn to conform to the same regimented, lockstep lifestyles that we have learned to endure."
Exploiting Horror To Win Election by Regis T. Sabol
"...has much of the American electorate gone through the looking glass into a bizarre wonderland where fiction is fact, fantasy is reality, and blatant lies are accepted as immutable truths?"
Protected My Ass--The Sequel: Attacked By The Clowns by L. Reichard White
Saudi Arabia, a Libertarian Analysis by Steven LaTulippe
September 12, 2004
Terrorism and the Decline of the Democratic Nation State by David MacGregor
The scenes at Beslan weren't so unfamiliar by Khassan Baiev
"I do not claim to understand the mentality of a terrorist willing to sacrifice children. However, as a Chechen and a doctor with firsthand experience of the war, I can offer some context into what turns ordinary people into extremists willing to commit such atrocities."
September 11, 2004
Of homeland, identity and occupation by Ahmed Janabi
September 10, 2004
The unwinnable war by James Carroll
"War is an abstraction in the American imagination. It lives there, cloaked in glory, as an emblem of patriotism. We show our love for our country by sending our troops abroad and then "supporting" them, no matter what. When images appear that contradict the high-flown rhetoric of war -- whether of young GIs disgracefully humiliating Iraqi prisoners or of a devastated holy city where vast fields of American-created rubble surround a shrine -- we simply do not take them in as real. Thinking of ourselves as only motivated by good intentions, we cannot fathom the possibility that we have demonized an innocent people, that what we are doing is murder on a vast scale."
Bush has no idea to end his quagmire by Bob Herbert
"But to the insurgents, the Americans epitomize evil. Americans are the crazed foreigners who invaded their country and killed innocent Iraqi civilians, including women and children, by the thousands. Washington calls that collateral damage. They call it murder. For them, this is total war."
We should not have allowed 19 murderers to change our world by Robert Fisk
"Three years ago, it was all about Osama bin Laden and al-Qa'ida; then, at about the time of the Enron scandal and I have a New York professor to thank for spotting the switching point it was Saddam and weapons of mass destruction and 45 minutes and human rights abuses in Iraq and, well, the rest is history. And now, at last, the Americans admit that vast areas of Iraq are outside government control. We are going to have to "liberate" them, all over again."
Iraqi Resistance Shifts From Saddam to Allah by William S. Lind
"Throughout Iraq, the balance had already swung away from the Ba'ath and any other forces that might have been able to re-create an Iraqi state, to non-state, Fourth Generation elements."
September 9, 2004
America needs a Middle East policy made in the USA, not in Tel Aviv by Patrick J. Buchanan
The Likudization of the world: 9/11's real legacy is that Bush has adopted Sharon's rigid views by Naomi Klein
"The underlying message is unequivocal: Russia and Israel are engaged in the very same war, one not against Palestinians demanding their right to statehood, or against Chechens demanding their independence, but against 'the global Islamic terror threat.' Israel, as the elder statesman, is claiming the right to set the rules of war. Not surprisingly, the rules are the same ones Mr. Sharon uses against the intifada in the occupied territories."
Afghanistan, American Drug Colony by Mike Whitney
"Despite President Bush's delusional palavering at the Republican Convention, the US has no reasonable expectation of succeeding in Afghanistan. The countryside is dominated by warlords, the commitment of troops and resources is insufficient, and the farcical American stooge, Hamid Karzai, must be shadowed by an entourage of 400 mercenaries just to keep him among the living."
Russia and Chechnia after Beslan by Bulent Gokay
Many Thanks to the Fascists by Bob Wallace
"Fascists of all degrees have certain phrases they use to unwittingly identify themselves. One is "the ultimate sacrifice." They use it to describe soldiers who died in combat, ones who supposedly 'died for their country.' Now, I could understand that comment if an army actually attacked the United States. But fascists use that phrase to mean American soldiers who attack and invade other countries that did not attack us. If a soldier mows down non-combatant women and children, and gets killed in the process, to fascists this soldier 'made the ultimate sacrifice.'"
Cheney, Halliburton and Iraq: The Purloined Letter by Juan Cole
"Not all corporations make money on war. Some actually lose money. But Halliburton, Bechtel and a few other components of the Military Industrial Complex do benefit from war. Strengthening that sector of the American economy strengthens the political Right. Turning the Republic into a praetorian state would permanently yield profits for the military industrial complex in such a way as to create a permanent Republican dominance of all the branches of the US government."
Daddy, Meet Mommy
September 7, 2004
Cry Havoc - Bush's Own Personal Janjaweed by Chris Floyd
"If you would know the hell that awaits us--and not far off--there's no need to consult ancient prophecies, or the intricate coils of hidden conspiracies, or the tortured arcana of high-credentialed experts. You need only read the public words, sword before God, of top public officials, the great lords of state, the defenders of civilization, as they explain--clearly, openly, with confidence and pride--their plans to foment terror, rape, war and repression across the face of the earth."
Reject the National ID Card by Rep. Ron Paul, MD
"The much-hailed 9/11 Commission report released in July recommends a federal identification card and, worse, a "larger network of screening points" inside the United States. Does this mean we are to have 'screening points' inside our country where American citizens will be required to 'show their papers' to government officials? It certainly sounds that way!"
"Silence is Health" by Claire Wolfe
"Who needs government censorship when we muzzle ourselves so effectively?"
Bush exploits the 'mythic reality' of war by Paul Krugman
"Step by step, the fight against Al Qaeda became a universal 'war on terror,' then a confrontation with the 'axis of evil,' then a war against all evil everywhere. Nobody knows where it all ends. What is clear is that whenever political debate turns to Bush's actual record in office, his popularity sinks. Only by doing whatever it takes to change the subject to the war on terror - not to what he's actually doing about terrorist threats, but to his 'leadership,' whatever that means - can he get a bump in the polls."
9/11 Skepticism by Morgan Reynolds
Jesus Is An Anarchist by James Redford
Maybe it's a Capricorn proclivity...?
Hey, you Assholes: The 60s are over! by Matt Taibbi
"Protests can now be ignored because our media has learned how to dismiss them, because our police know how to contain them, and because our leaders now know that once a protest is peacefully held and concluded, the protestors simply go home and sit on their asses until the next protest or the next election. They are not going to go home and bomb draft offices, take over campuses, riot in the streets. Instead, although there are many earnest, involved political activists among them, the majority will simply go back to their lives, surf the net and wait for the ballot. Which to our leaders means that, in most cases, if you allow a protest to happen... Nothing happens."
September 6, 2004
Russia's War on Chechnya by Yuri N. Maltsev
"Vladimir Putin apologized for the loss of life but made no comment addressing what everyone knows is the underlying motive force of all violence: Russia's refusal to permit the Chechen nation freedom from Moscow's despotic rule."
(from October 2002)
CONNECT THE DOTS: THE LATEST ISRAELI SPY SCANDAL by Eric Margolis
based on his article presented in the Toronto Sun yesterday, but more detailed.
America's Security Dilemma: Search for a New World Order by Armand Clesse
Legitimate and Illegitimate Authority by Bob Wallace
"The history of the world has not always been a fight between freedom and slavery. It has also been a fight between forced submission to an illegitimate authority, and voluntary submission to legitimate ones."
September 5, 2004
Hearsay Convictions at Guantanamo by Jacob G. Hornberger
"The Pentagon’s decision to admit hearsay evidence at its military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay flies in the face of one of the most important principles in the administration of criminal justice - the right to confront one’s accuser and cross-examine him in the presence of the jury."
Fortress New York by Steven Greenhut
"Be careful what you wish for: The city's convention set-up might be the model for real homeland security."
Mike Ruppert blows the top off 9/11
"As Mike Ruppert will delinate in his upcoming book "Crossing the Rubicon" there were at least five "Training Exercises" in progress on the morning of 9/11 2001. Each and every one, and any others we may not yet know of, was under the control of our vice president Dick Cheney."
September 4, 2004
The President Speaks, the Crowd Goes Wild by Anthony Gregory
"Bush says this is the 'compassionate conservative philosophy: that government should help people improve their lives, not try to run their lives.' This is a charade, all to unite both the welfare statists and conservatives under one ideology and program: Compassionate Fascism."
The Republicans' bizarre parallel universe by Bob Herbert
"If McCain is correct - and the belief in official Washington is that he is - then American boys and girls who are 5 or 10 years old now will get their chance in 2015 or 2020 to strap on the Kevlar and engage the Iraqi "insurgents" who, like the indigenous forces the United States fought in Vietnam, will never accept the occupation of their country by America."
Our Future? by Murray Polner
AIPAC Spy Case Update by Juan Cole
September 3, 2004
Neocons Preparing the Sequel to Plan of Attack by Gordon Prather
All terror, all the time - Nailing the frames of the Republican National Convention by George Lakoff
"Interestingly, Giuliani's speech used September 11 to justify attacking failed states. Although terrorists are not a state phenomenon - they exist separate from governments and national boundaries - conservatives are trying to use the notion of the failed state to justify the only kind of war they know how to wage, which is against countries."
Paul Krugman: Feel the hate, fear and loathing in New York by Paul Krugman
"But the vitriol also reflects the fact that many of the people at that convention, for all their flag-waving, hate America. They want a controlled, monolithic society; they fear and loathe the nation's freedom, diversity and complexity."
The following two links are a small sampling of my Googling for information about Senator Brownback (Ks.) and the 'culture wars' he's referred to on occasion. The links are posted simply to allow one to sample a couple different perspectives. It's probably notable that - from a Libertarian-type perspective - either side seems perfectly willing to bludgeon it's critics with available state institutions, even if only in 'self-defense'...
On the Frontlines of the Culture War by Dr. David R. Koepsell
"War has been declared in America. The battle lines were drawn some time ago, in the early 1980s, when a small but vocal element of fundamentalist Christians declared a certain segment of society to be public enemy number one. Since then, these forces, often posing as something less than they actually are, have been working to take power in the public sphere and transform this country into a form of theocracy."
Senator Brownback's speech by Jonathan Rosenblum
"For the tens of millions of devout Christians, who are America’s most ardent supporters of Israel, and who wield great influence in the Republican party, the more Jewish Israel is, and the more Israeli Jews are identified with the Jews of the Bible, the greater their support for Israel."
September 2, 2004
Friends in High Places by Justin Raimondo
"If the 'A' in AIPAC stood for Arab, the assets, headquarters, and very existence of the organization would have been impounded and key personnel shipped off to Guantanamo, where the latest Gitmo-ized interrogation techniques would soon persuade them to talk."
(would that quote work better if he'd written about the 'I' in AIPAC...?)
The Ownership Society by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
"It is especially remarkable that the slogan "Ownership Society" should come from an administration that has tried to end many ownership rights we once took for granted. We once held possession over our homes, financial records, travel plans, and political associations. But now, under the Patriot Act and assorted presidential edicts, all of these can be taken by the government at any time. Even our persons are no longer safe."
What Good Can A Handgun Do Against An Army.....? by Mike Vanderboegh
"No one, repeat, no one, will conquer America, from within or without, until its citizenry are disarmed. We remain, as a British officer had reason to complain at the start of our Revolution, 'a people numerous and armed'."
Be Prepared for the Fearmongers by Scott Blackburn
FEMA CONCENTRATION CAMPS: Locations and Executive Orders
The CEO Test for Bush by Juan Cole
Bush's medals
Siamese Twins by Laurence Vance
September 1, 2004
Larry Franklin: Just a Sideshow on the Road to Total War by Kurt Nimmo
How oil brought the dogs of war back to Malabo by Raymond Whitaker
"Languishing since March in the island's Black Beach prison are eight former members of South Africa's apartheid-era special forces, six Armenian aircrew and five local men. They are accused of being the advance guard for a coup planned by Simon Mann, a former SAS officer turned mercenary soldier, allegedly supported by his friend Sir Mark Thatcher, Lord Archer and his friend Ely Calil, a Lebanese-born oil trader based in London, who is said to have commissioned the whole operation."
