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Erotic capital: love and sex in the neoliberal age
Luciana Bohne

First, let us remember what the political philosopher, Karl Marx, said
(synthesized; he's long-winded, like most Victorians) in the Communist
Manifesto about capitalism: “It has resolved personal worth into exchange
value, and in place of the numberless and feasible freedoms, has set up that
single, unconscionable freedom-Free Trade. In one word, exploitation, veiled
by illusions: naked, shameless, direct, brutal exploitation.”
<http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/5143>

Apps for apes.  Why not for Republicans?
Jayne Lyn Stahl

Amazingly, orangutans now use iPads to paint and video conference. And, if
the old maxim Neanderthals have more fun is true, then we should be having
more fun, too. After all, orangutans may be our closest relatives.
<http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/5140>

Why can't Americans have democracy?
Paul Craig Roberts

Syria has a secular government as did Iraq prior to the American invasion.
Secular governments are important in Arab lands in which there is division
between Sunni and Shi'ite. Secular governments keep the divided population
from murdering one another.
<http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/5137>

Manning on my mind: The sacrificial lamb
Missy Comley Beattie

I sent friend David a song, Joan Osborne's “One of Us,” and he, now, sings it
while riding his bike. This morning when I ran, the lyrics cycled in my mind.
“What if God were once of us, just a slob like one of us?” Of course, this
generated an oppositional image-of the current crusade sweeping our
country-you know, Rick Santorum, the self-appointed, elitist god, and his
mission to “save” us from Satan's gracelessness.
<http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/5135>

Star Gazing: Comets, actors, and Angelina's right leg
Walter Brasch

In 1973, some friends and I went to the rooftop of our apartment building to
watch Comet Kahoutek, touted by astronomers and the media as the comet of all
comets. We were sure we'd see it since we had the requisite
equipment-binoculars and beer.
<http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/5132>

NYPD scours Northeast to monitor Muslim students
Jerry Mazza

One morning in autumn in Buffalo, N.Y., a college student named Adeela Khan
logged into her email to find a message announcing an upcoming Islamic
conference in Toronto. Gun shy of these meetings, Khan clocked “forward,”
sending it to a group of fellow Muslims at the University of Buffalo, and
simply forgot about it. But the seemingly simple act on Nov. 9, 2006, was
enough to arouse the suspicion of an intelligence analyst at the New York
Police Department 300 miles away. Incredible.
<http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/5161>

Netanyahu solicits Canadian support for Iranian position
Jim Miles

While on his way to Washington, Benjamin Netanyahu stopped in Ottawa to
confer with his patriot in arms, Stephen Harper. Following their morning
meetings, of which we know little, the two held a very brief 'press
conference' that simply highlighted the double standards under which the two
operate, especially Netanyahu.
<http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/5159>

Are your sleeping pills doing more harm than good?
Martha Rosenberg

As the nation increasingly relies on sleeping pills, new information last
week suggests they may not be as safe as thought.
<http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/5154>

We should probably thank Rush Limbaugh
Mel Seesholtz, Ph.D.

Rush Limbaugh. The Voice of the GOP
<http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/emanuel-limbaugh-voice-gop>. The
Voice of Conservatism <http://mediamatters.org/research/200901280001>. The
Voice indicted in “a long-running prescription fraud case
<http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-201_162-1561324.html>”:
<http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/5152>

Losing constitutional competition
Joel S. Hirschhorn

Among Americans there remains strong pride about the US Constitution, even
though there is widespread support for creating reform amendments to it.
Globally, however, what should surprise Americans is a significant loss of
respect for it. Other nations, especially those creating new democracies, see
better constitutions elsewhere. This is not opinion. It is fact. And it is
important to understand this historic shift.
<http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/5149>

Biology 101 for politicians and pundits: The class they missed in freshman
biology
Sara S. Dehart, MSN, PhD

It is not just Rick Santorum, Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly who missed
freshman biology it is also a vast number of state legislators who fall into
that category. What has caused this severe knowledge deficit about human
biology, or to put it more quaintly-why don't many males understand how
women's bodies function? For that matter, why don't they have basic knowledge
about their own genitourinary systems?
<http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/5174>

The perfect storm is already here
Larry Pinkney

The United States remains, in the words of the late Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr., “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.” This U.S.
corporate-government's violence is physical, economic, and psychological; and
it is directed against everyday Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people
in this nation and throughout the entire world.
<http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/5172>

A third Palestinian intifada may be in the cards
Linda S. Heard

Palestinian leaders are talking tough these days. And who can blame them! For
decades they've been listening to empty Israeli promises and put their future
in the hands of a succession of US presidents duplicitously claiming to be
impartial peace brokers.
<http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/5170>

Triage on Uncle Sam
Linh Dinh

As is clear to any doctor, new age healer, medicine man or back alley quack,
Uncle Sam is in terrible shape. Though his organs are barely vital, save one,
his head remains strangely swollen, and his priapic condition is more steely
than ever, to the world's dismay. Like a hybrid dipstick and divination rod,
it always shoots straight for the oil, usually Muslim-owned. America's
current motto, LEAVE NO SHI'ITE OR SUNNI UNTURNED.
<http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/5168>

Summoning an America of break-believe
Ben Tanosborn

If we don't come to terms in America to the reality around us, we will be
doomed; and not just as an empire-holder, but as a serious major player in
any future affairs of planet earth. We need to step down from that land of
make-believe, and accept once and for all that Americans are neither a
special cast divinely placed on this earth to rule it, nor the
self-proclaimed virtuous people born with an added limb of exceptionalism.
<http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/5165>

President Obama, 'Just say no' to Israel on Iran
Jerry Mazza

Monday, the eagle landed and President Barack Obama welcomed his least
favorite person: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. I use Obama's full title
to remind myself and him that he is the President of the United States and
Netanyahu is Prime Minister of Israel. And all of these pressing Bibi words,
“You are us, we are you” are a faux fraternity that needs to stop. We are two
nations and Iran is definitely not a threat to us.
<http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/5194>

US, Israel play-acting with a purpose
Linda S. Heard

Interesting scenario being concocted between Tel Aviv and Washington!
Apparently, we are meant to believe that the Obama administration is going
all out to restrain Israel's hawkish prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, from
preemptively striking Iran's nuclear sites.
<http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/5192>

Criminalizing free speech: Is this what democracy looks like?
John W. Whitehead

One of the key ingredients in a democracy is the right to freely speak our
minds to those who represent us. In fact, it is one of the few effective
tools we have left to combat government corruption and demand accountability.
But now, even that right is being chipped away by statutes and court rulings
which weaken our ability to speak freely.
<http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/5190>

Obama, AIPAC and the rest of us
Gilad Atzmon

Monday at AIPAC's annual conference, the American president had to go out of
his way to appease his Jewish crowd. He used every trick in the book, he even
peppered his talk with some Yiddish sporadic words and he did it all just to
justify his decision not to launch a World War as yet.
<http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/5188>

Bank of America strikes again
Michael Winship

Just a few months after public outrage forced Bank of America to drop a
planned $5 fee for using debit cards to make purchases
<http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-01/bank-of-america-drops-plan-for-5-deb
it-fee-as-competitors-scrap-charges.html>, the financial institution is at it
again.
<http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/5186>

Free market health care: True stories
Michael Parenti

I recently wrote an article <http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/4700>
about my personal experiences in dealing with the medical system while
undergoing surgery (“Free Market Medicine: A Personal Account”). In response,
a number of readers sent me accounts of their own experiences trying to get
well in America.
<http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/5209>

The corrupt influence of money in the American political system
Rodrigue Tremblay

The 2012 U.S. presidential election is the first one to be held under the new
electoral financing rule
<http://www.TheNewAmericanEmpire.com/tremblay=1121.htm> decreed by a majority
of five on the Roberts Supreme Court on January 21, 2010. With this fateful
decision, the Roberts Supreme Court really changed the meaning of the
Preamble of the U.S. Constitution
<http://www.answers.com/topic/preamble-to-the-constitution> that says, “We
the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union . . .”
and decided on its own to change it for “We, the rich corporations of America
. .”
<http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/5207>

Banks and Congress grapple with stubborn, stupid facts
Michael Winship

Facts are stubborn things, said founding father John Adams, a basic truth
Ronald Reagan famously mangled at the Republican National Convention in 1988,
when he tried to quote Adams and declared, “Facts are stupid things,” before
correcting himself.
<http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/5205>

Back to basics in Palestine: Redefining our relationship to a people's
struggle
Ramzy Baroud

The Winter 2012 edition of Palestine News features a photograph of an old
man. His white beard and traditional jalabiya give him the appearance of any
Palestinian grandfather. His name is not given; he could be a Muslim or a
Christian. We know that he comes from the West Bank village of Qusra, and
that he is holding the broken branches of his olive trees.
<http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/5203>

The saga of Bradley Manning, Julian Assange, and WikiLeaks, to be put to
ballad and film
William Blum

It's unfortunate and disturbing that Bradley Manning's attorneys have chosen
to consistently base his legal defense upon the premise that personal
problems and shortcomings are what motivated the young man to turn over
hundreds of thousands of classified government files to WikiLeaks. They
should not be presenting him that way any more than Bradley should be tried
as a criminal or traitor. He should be hailed as a national hero. Yes, even
when the lawyers are talking to the military mind. May as well try to
penetrate that mind and find the freest and best person living there. Bradley
also wears a military uniform.
<http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/5199>

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