How did abortion rigHts come to tHis? by carol HaniscH remembering august 1914 by binoy KampmarK medical marijuana: a personal odyssey by doug Valentine tHe six dumbest decisions of my life by paul Krassner uber Vs. tHe cabbies by ben terrall TELLS THE FACTS AND NAMES THE NAMES VOLUME 21 NUMBER 9, 2014 21 AND NAMES THE VOLUME THE FACTS TELLS Contact Information Subscriptions CounterPunch Business Office 1- year print edition $55 www.counterpunch.org PO Box 228, Petrolia, CA 95558 1- year digital edition (PDF) $35 CounterPunch Magazine , Volume 21, Toll Free 1 (800) 840-3683 1- year print & digital edition $65 (ISSN 1086-2323) is a journal of progres- 1 (707) 629-3683 1- year institutions/supporters $100 sive politics, investigative reporting, civil editorial: 1- year print for student/low income $45 liberties, art, and culture published by The 1-year digital for student/low income $30 Institute for the Advancment of Journal- [email protected] istic Clarity, 631 Chambers Road, Petrolia, business: [email protected] For speedier (and less expensive) delivery California, 95558.Visit counterpunch. suscriptions and merchandise: of issues, especially if you live outside the org to read dozens of new articles daily, [email protected] US, we encourage you to consider the purchase subscriptions, order books, plus email version of the magazine, which is sent as a PDF and will reach you within a access 18 years of archives. 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Gray, Steve Horn, Lee Hall, Conn Hallinan, Send Letters to the Editor to: Barbara Rose Johnson, Binoy Kampmark, By Mail: CounterPunch Business Office CounterPunch JoAnn Wypijewski, David Macaray, Chase PO Box 228 Madar, Kim Nicolini, Brenda Norrell, PO Box 228, Petrolia, CA 95558 Petrolia, CA 95558 Vijay Prashad, Louis Proyect, Martha by Phone: or email : Rosenberg, Christine Sheeler, Jan Tucker, 1 (800) 840-3683 Mike Whitney 1 (707) 629-3683 [email protected] Poetry Editor By Email (preferred): Marc Beaudin [email protected] SOCIaL MEDIA EDITOR Donations Nathaniel St. Clair Cover Image: CounterPunch’s survival is dependent BUSINESS MANAGER & This is not a hanger, it’s the new upon income from subscriptions, dona- DESIGN PRODUCTION pill (after Magritte) by Nick Roney Becky Grant tions and book and merchandise sales. We are a non-profit, tax exempt organization SUBSCRIPTIONS & ORDER FULFILLMENT under The Institute for the Advancement Deva Wheeler of Journalistic Clarity, DBA Counter- DESIGN CONSULTATION Punch. Donations are welcome year round. In Memory of Tiffany Wardle Donate by mail, telephone or online: www. Alexander Cockburn counterpunch.org. 1941–2012 table of contents letters to the editor . 4 columns Roaming Charges . 5 The First Un-War by Jeffrey St. Clair articles How to start a war with no opposi- tion. How Did Abortion Rights Come to This? Empire Burlesque . 6 by Carol Hanisch . 9 Children of Lies Remembering August 1914 by Chris Floyd Decades pass, nothing changes. by Binoy Kampmark . 12 Grasping at Straws . 7 Medical Marijuana: A Personal Odyssey Assad in the Crosshairs by Doug Valentine . 15 by Mike Whitney Why Syria is the real target of the war Dreaming the Future on ISIS. by Lee Ballinger . 18 Day Dream Nation . 8 Uber Vs . Cabbies: Taken for a Ride The Hunt for Pink October by Ben Terrall . 21 by Kristin Kolb In and out of the cancer ward. culture & reviews The Six Dumbest Decisions of My Life by Paul Krassner . 24 COUNTERPUNCH VOLUME 21 NUMBER 9, 2014 letters to the editor Killer issue! crying because she fears that activists and fathered more A Voice of Sanity Shock & Awe in Gaza, CounterPunch might disap- than one child. They also used Dear Friends, Parasitic Finance Capital, pear? the I.D. of dead children to There are no conceivable rea- Honduras: joined by a theme Gui Rochat complete the ruse. Instead sons for me not to continue my that might have been summed Paris, France of investigating Stephen subscription, except that at 94 up by Mr. Alexandrov, who Lawrence’s murder they put there are reasons you can guess noted that the President his family under surveillance. at. Nonetheless you are a voice Misleading was locking the children of No better than the Stasi. of sanity in an incredibly ugly Central America in a house he Chris Floyd’s informative piece world. Continue my subscrip- helped ignite, while fanning was butchered by the edi- Margaret Kimberly tion. the flames. Or perhaps Mr. tors who titled it: “The Moral New York, NY Respectfully, Hossein-Zadeh, noting that it Failings of Leading Liberals.” Burton Shapiro seems to policy-makers a burst This is inaccurate. We have no The Bronx, NY Corporate Supplication bubble is best obliterated by leading liberals. blowing up another. Or Mr. Ben Tripp Now the Guardian has finally When Putin Speaks Cook, who shared the fate of a Pasadena, Cal. completely given out to corpo- CNN reporter whose ten min- rate control, I find myself on Thanks for having the guts to ute tweet from Gaza landed her your pages more and more. It’s run the text of Putin’s speech at in Moscow. Who’s Your Daddy? great work, so I subscribed, I’d Sochi. I watched that attentive- buy one of your Ramones Ts, ly on RT. I don’t particularly Thanks again, Adam Federman’s article but you don’t have any black like him; I mean, anyone who Steve Howard Deep Undercover on how a British cop, who infiltrated an ones in my size! pretends to be an Orthodox animal rights group, ended up Anyway, keep up the good Christian for political purposes No Snotzzles Please… fathering a child with one of work, and please please print deserves contempt. But he I support CounterPunch’s fund the women he was spying on some more articles from thinks on his feet and is very, drive, but please remove that was excellent. But it’s not the women contributors! very sharp. disgusting image of the nose- only case. Historically UK cops Tim, London Gary Leupp picking Kissinger. How about have infiltrated groups, male Medford, Mass. replacing it with one of Oprah under covers have had sex with Our Friend Junaid Alam Startling news came to the CounterPunch offices on the morning of October 30. Junaid Alam, a young writer who had written for CounterPunch for many years, lost his long fight with cancer. Junaid had a brilliant and far-ranging mind. He excelled in writing about complex and controversial subjects with a particular emphasis on the rise of Islamophobia during the Bush era. He had a demanding prose- style which challenged his readers--and sometimes his editors--to up their game to his lofty intellectual level. Junaid’s father, Shahid Alam, also a valued CounterPunch contributor, once told me that Junaid had an excitable personality. And, naturally, that’s what we loved most about him: his fierce excitement at being fully engaged in one of the most vital struggles of our time: the fight for human freedom against official bigotry and government repression. We will miss him deeply. –Jeffrey St. Clair 4 Let the media sell the war for you. roaming cHarges Ratcheting the fear index is the press’s new métier. They will portray ISIS as The First Un-War a kind of zombie army, capable of en- gaging in acts of unrivalled depravity. By Jeffrey St. Clair They will even provide the visuals, the terrifying optics of black flags, behead- Picture the circumstances. You’re In any event, this won’t be a war ings and gun-toting masked teenagers evaporating politically, less and less like Bush’s. In fact, it won’t be a “war” roaring into remote desert towns like remains of you every week. The nation at all. It will be the first un-war, a mili- Marlon Brando’s gang in The Wild Ones. itself is quivering with anxiety, freaking tary action of higher moral purpose, There’s no one to oppose you. Even out over each new virus or decapitation designed not for acquisition of land or Red State America recoils at the bellow- posted on Instagram.