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The Impossible Distance: A Choice to Kill

I watched them marching toward the border. Row upon row of them in the hot, bright sun. They marched without guns, without tanks and missiles — although some, like the shepherd boy David, did pick up a few rocks to hurl into the impossible distance. I watched them stream down the green hill toward the heaps of dirt and wire. I saw them, old and young, walk toward the occupied land. I saw them come closer — close enough for the heavily-armed occupying force to have them in range. From a distance — behind the barbed wire, with the occupiers,

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For This Relief, Much Thanks

(UPDATED BELOW) Just a quick note to say that I am overwhelmed by the support shown for Empire Burlesque after the recent pitch for donations. It was completely unexpected; I had no idea there was such feeling for the website out there. I just want everyone who gave to know how very much their gift is appreciated, however large or small. Words fail me on this, really. Thank you again. Now I’ll have to get to work and try to write some posts worthy of such an outpouring! UPDATE: I also wanted to note that due to security measures to

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Money, Murder, and the Madness of Empire

As always, I hate to do this, but I just wanted to put out a brief call for donations, if anyone feels moved to pitch a few coins into the hat. Regular financial support for this site has dwindled down to almost nothing; there is now only one regular subscriber, where once there had been dozens. (Was it something I said?) People do chip in from time to time, and I’m enormously grateful for that. And of course, times are hard all over, and there are needs far greater than mine. (Arthur Silber, for one; don’t you dast give anything

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Borderline Case: Some Real News Beyond the “Reset” Rhetoric

In the last few days, Barack Obama has delivered two “major,” “landmark,” even “historic” speeches, which apparently have “reset” American policy in the Middle East, reaffirmed the overwhelming importance of “the West” (i.e., Britain and America) to the proper functioning of the world, and, we are told, “squarely” put the United States on the side of the dissidents and rebels of the Arab Spring.  All of these claims, put forth in reams of earnest analysis and paeans of praise, call to mind the immortal words of Brick Pollitt: “Wouldn’t that be funny if that was true?” Of course, none of

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Some Direction Home: Down the Old Plank Road With Dylan

In honor of Bob Dylan’s 70th birthday, here’s a reprise of a piece I wrote back when he was just a whippersnapper of 63: There’s a legend in my family that we are kin to Uncle Dave Macon. We are for certain distant cousins to the Macons of Wilson County – and Uncle Dave lived in the next county over. My parents met him once, driving to his farm one afternoon when they were teenagers, not yet married. This was not too long before his death. They found him sitting in a rocking chair on the front porch. He greeted

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A Brief Primer on the Recent Supreme Court Decision in Kentucky v. King

Can cops now invade your home without a warrant anytime they feel like it? Sure they can. Doesn’t this completely and literally eviscerate the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures, and specifically requires the use of a warrant? Sure it does. So, was there really any point in having an American Revolution, if we have ended up with a tyranny far more implacable, intrusive, violent and extremist than anything in the wildest dreams of the most retrograde royalist serving King George III? Reckon not.

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Quick Takes: Slaughter, Suppression and Fighting for the Light

1. Aiding Enlightenment Arthur Silber, one of the great voices of enlightenment in our benighted age, is in the direst of straits, suffering through one of the worst bouts of the chronic ill health that has afflicted him for years. He has not been able to write for many weeks, but has now surfaced, very briefly, to give us the good news that he is still alive, and the bad news that he is suffering mightily, and that one of his beloved companions also needs medical care. If you have any money to spare, please consider making a contribution to

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“Tear Out My Eyes”: New Murder is Imperial Business as Usual

The Chilean poet Gonzalo Rojas died late last month at the age of 93, having survived persecution and exile at the hands of American client-tyrant Augusto Pinochet. His obituary in the Guardian quoted these apt Rojas lines: I tear out the visionsI tear out my eyes every dayI will not and cannotsee men die each dayI prefer to be of stoneto be in darknessthan to tolerate the disgustof going soft insideof smiling right and leftand getting on with business Unfortunately, America’s bipartisan imperium is still “getting on with business” in Latin America in much the same manner as in Pinochet’s

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