About two weeks after the 2004 presidential election, on November 13, the British embassy held a surprise 50th birthday party for Condoleezza Rice.

On her arrival, Ambassador David Manning presented her with a red Oscar de la Renta gown. When Rice changed into the dress and emerged like Cinderella, she was met by her Prince Charming, dressed in a tuxedo, the man she once called "my husband", President Bush.

The following week, Bush appointed his national security adviser as his secretary of state.

Bush's relationship with Rice is perhaps the strangest of his many strange relationships. The mysterious attachment involves complex transactions of noblesse oblige and deference, ignorance and adulation, vulnerability and sweet talk.   more »

Turn on the radio this week and a ghoulish voice from the bowels of the former World Trade Centre seeks to curdle your blood and chill your bones.

It is yet another BBC trailer evoking the horror of the twin towers and the monster of evil, Osama bin Laden.

The corporation is desperate to outdo other media outlets in their commemorations of the fifth anniversary of 9/11.

They include movies by Oliver Stone and Paul Greengrass, and American and British 9/11 specials from stars such as Harvey Keitel and Kevin Costner called The Millionaire Widows, The Miracle of Staircase B, On Native Soil and numerous variants on twin towers.

There are comic strips and videos and where-was-I-then memoirs. The weekend is to be wall-to-wall 9/11. Not glorifying terrorism? You must be joking.   more »

Racism against Arabs and Muslims long preceded the 9-11 terrorist attacks and has much of its roots in Western imperialism in the Middle East, especially Israel's colonization of Palestine.

Yet, the escalation that we witness today can be traced to the war on terror launched after 9-11 by Bush and his neoconservative ideologues with the backing of the Democrats.

Anti-Arab/anti-Muslim racism has helped sell the detentions, wars, gulags, and occupations of US imperialism's latest and boldest venture into the Middle East and South Asia. In turn, this imperial venture has further inflamed racist views of Arabs and Muslims.

What makes this growing racism so frightening is its wide acceptance in US society, particularly by the left. With the latter, it is not as much conscious racism as not doing enough to fight it.   more »

Is anyone really surprised at this? Bush has never had the slightest intention of catching Osama bin Laden.

He needs bin Laden like he needs air or water. Without bin Laden, he is nothing. Without bin Laden, he wouldn't be a "War President" wielding dictatorial powers over a cowed, confused nation.

Without bin Laden -- whom Bush has now taken to quoting as an expert on world affairs -- the Potomac pipsqueak would be just another failed, one-term president named George Bush, a national joke, a trivia quiz answer, a half-forgotten goober ridiculed for a feckless reign that made Jimmy Carter look like Bismarck.

Without bin Laden, Bush never would have had the chance to seal his prejudices and inadequacies in the blood of tens of thousands of innocent people.

How could he ever give up bin Laden, who gave him his truest self? Bush is bin Laden, bin Laden is Bush: they gaze at each other lovingly across the smoldering ruins of cities and the festering pits of mass graves, and whisper tenderly one to the other: "You complete me."   more »

I worked for Wal-Mart just under a year. I was fired two days before Christmas, which in retrospect was probably the best holiday bonus I could have received.

When I started, I knew very little about unions, even less about workers’ power and nothing about working-class history. I’d like to credit Sam Walton with radicalizing me, but mostly, that’s because I know he would be rolling in his grave at the thought.

As a member of the 4-to-1 crew (4 p.m. to 1 a.m.), my responsibilities were to unload up to three trucks a night, with freight ranging from 1,000 pieces to 2,300 and up; stack the freight according to department; and pull it to the floor for overnights to restock the shelves.

According to the program description, this job required 14 unloaders, but we rarely had more than eight.   more »

7 SEPTEMBER

Bush's Increasingly Bizarre Behavior

Sweatshop Chic: Fashion & Exploitation

Katie Couric: America's Sweetheart Anchors the Nightly Propaganda Show

The Bush Regime's New Propaganda Spin: Surreal and Absurd

Is the US Heading for a Recession? The Boom and Bust Cycle

Blair Still Adored by Americans but Hated at Home