Douglas Herman's Columns
Smarter Than a Rothschild or a British Prime Minister?
Column by Douglas Herman.
Truther Long Before It Was Cool
" Thoreau was a Truther, more so than his more famous colleagues, Emerson and Longfellow. And that, my friend, is WHY Thoreau is more well known today than either of his somewhat forgotten colleagues, or his long forgotten townsmen. Thoreau, the Truther of Walden Pond, spent his days separating fact from fiction." Column by Douglas Herman.
"I’m sure readers at STR have given serious thought to the question, especially in the present time when our political leaders appear to have given so little serious thought to the consequences of their actions and what those actions do to the average citizen." Column by Douglas Herman.
The Controlled Demolition of the American Republic
"The controlled demolition of any great structure is done day by day. The painstaking plan of destruction in a structure this big requires a thousand minor explosive charges, applied by profiteers, cowards and men without consciences (bankers, lobbyists, generals, newsmen, senators, lawyers, clergy), with the complicity of millions of citizens too lazy, diverted or fearful to inspect the support pillars of the country from time to time." Column by Douglas Herman.
The First Annual Liberty Internet Awards
"Criterion Number One: Does the writer kick ass on a regular basis? Criterion Number Two: Does the writer pick important topics the mainstream media mostly ignores? Criterion Number Three: Does the writer write well, entertainingly, outrageously, effectively, and mostly on target?" Column by Douglas Herman.
Book review by Douglas Herman.
Aftermath: Day 2 of the War With Iran
Column by Douglas Herman.
"What [Thoreau] discovered was what most folks discover. Nobody much gives a damn about good and evil. Most folks were just too busy. At any moment, anywhere in the Western world, most men simply want to work and relax, 'get paid and laid,' as my younger brother so clearly defined the focus of most civilizations. The only root most men want to strike lies between their legs." Column by Douglas Herman.
Dear Senator McCain: When and Why Did You Sell Your Soul?
"...we
hear a lot about Islamofascists attacking
Working Class Hero: 40 Jobs in 40 Years
"I can honestly say, Walden wrecked me for life. That is, what was written in each chapter of Walden wrecked me as an unquestioning American worker bee, wrecked me as a student working many years towards an advanced degree." Column by Doug Herman.
Voting: Placebo Or Drug of Choice?
"What--or who--put so many vermin in Washington in the first place, that only a powerful pesticide would eradicate them all? From Frist to Pelosi, from Hastert to Emanuel, from Clinton to McCain, a whole lot of wishful American people went to the polls and dutifully put these human pests into positions of power." Column by Douglas Herman.
The Better Bitch: Condi or Hillary?
"While Rice is incompetent and thus dangerous, Clinton is dangerous because she is competent but even more devoid of ethics." Column by Douglas Herman.
Revolt in the Ranks? Be VERY Careful, Neocon
"Now, three years later, the vehemence of these common soldiers and sailors should give any Neocon a great deal to think about." Column by Douglas Herman.
"Actually
I hate immigrants. They ruin our country and wreck our institutions and
bankrupt the nation. I sincerely wish the Aztecs had slaughtered Cortez, and
the Incas had done the same to Pizzaro. I wish the Massachusetts Indians had
burned and sunk the Mayflower and all succeeding ships that tried to put
ashore in
"The chief unanswered question: How does a crashed airplane spread debris over several miles?" Column by Douglas Herman.
Vendetta: Heroism, Terrorism or Patriotism?
One could almost say the colonial Minutemen adhered to the same impassioned righteousness as this fictional film character V. They would not have their rights taken from them without a fight! They would walk their streets as free men. They would not have their homes broken into by governments forces." Column by Douglas Herman.
Young Oliver Stone in Fallujah
"He saw the dirt, the poverty, the death, the destruction. He recognized early the pervading filth of corruption, the greed everywhere, within weeks if not days of his arrival. He felt the scorn, the pity, the apathy, the outright animosity of every pair of eyes staring back at him. He smelt the stench of decay, the acrid smoke, the gunpowder, the pungent diesel fumes, the sweat, the sewage, everything overpowering the mask of tobacco smoke. He heard the rancor of a foul foreign language, the basso throb of a helicopter, the chatter of gunfire, the scream of the wounded, the shriek of hate and anguish of an occupied people. Bits and pieces would compose into a mosaic in his brain, even when he consciously tried to forget." Column by Douglas Herman.
Live Free or Die: Is Liberty an Illusion?
"We liberate ourselves one paw at a time, like wild animals chewing off a foot to escape a trap. The trap was built centuries ago and set for us long before we were born. Luckily we have a few one-footed examples hobbling around, like Solzhenitsyn, to lead by their courage." Column by Douglas Herman.
'You Disgrace Your Uniform, Sir!'
"So who, or what, did lead these top officers astray, dangerously close or directly into felonious behavior? Why none other than their top civilian leaders, of course. Because if the top men condone criminal behavior, indeed order criminal behavior, all those directly below them will obey the direct orders—or be forced to resign or face the repercussions." Column by Douglas Herman.
"And yet what had this huge, world capitol, the capitol of the mightiest nation in the world, done for these 58,000 youngsters whose names adorned the polished black granite? Had it given them many moments of pleasure while robbing their parents? Had it given these kids anything but a passel of lies before finally killing them off?" Column by Douglas Herman.
The S.O.B. Has to Go--Yeah, But Which One?
"Sons of bitches all. Despoilers, plunderers, warmongers, liars, cheats, con men, blowhards, bullies, religious hypocrites, perverts...." Column by Douglas Herman.
Gold, Silver and the Coming Crisis in Iran
"Some might call it the Deja Vu War, the same war happening all over again. The same accusers and the same accusations, the same threats and the same predictable UN sanctions, the same script and timetable. The same Shock and Awe air attack. The same stalemate. The same wasted lives, wasted resources and squandered billions by the exact same culprit, the state." Column by Doug Herman.
"Gee,
why
couldn’t
I
have
invaded
someone
instead,
even
my
next
door
neighbor,
and
gotten
a
multi-million
dollar
book
deal
out
of
it?
Why
couldn’t
I
smash
things
up
in
the
Bumper Stickers I'd Love to See
"A bumper sticker, unlike the endless stream of state or corporate propaganda, intends to question, not support the status quo. A bumper sticker may amuse, provoke, bolster, irritate, challenge, annoy, reassure, enlighten or propagandize a reader...." Column by Douglas Herman.
I Broke the Law at Walden Pond--Twice
"We break laws every day and neither the world nor our souls are worse for wear. Indeed, to be a law-abiding citizen often requires a citizen to either commit crimes ourselves or become silent accomplices to crimes committed by those we’ve foolishly empowered." Column by Douglas Herman.
Worst President Ever? You Might Be Surprised
"Wouldn’t
it be safe to say that once in power,
Heart of Darkness and the Fog of War
"The heart of darkness in the fog of war. Every soldier, even McNamara and Rumsfeld, begins his life as a civilian, in a society where arson, illegal entry, wanton destruction and murder are not only felonies but heinous crimes. Suddenly in uniform, wandering around in his own personal fog of war, a soldier realizes that all those felonies...are company policy. And he works for that company!" Column by Douglas Herman.
"The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our stars, not in our Hollywood stars or recording stars, but in ourselves. The grand ideas, the entire depth and breadth of human wisdom rarely if ever appears in the recorded diary of electronic Earthly chatter spewing out into space." Column by Douglas Herman.
The Two Million Dollar Sportfish
Sailing Around North America #7, by Douglas Herman.
The All New Devil's Dictionary!
21st Century definitions for the Neo-Age, by Douglas Herman.
Dead White Women: Which Ones Matter Most?
"Surprisingly, one beautiful, white, American woman murdered by a madman went mostly unreported by our watchdog mainstream media. Why?" Column by Douglas Herman.
Our Rogue Republic's Dangerous Game of Risk
"The Great Game, Rudyard Kipling called the global land grab that passed for empire building in the Middle East during the late Nineteenth century. Nowadays I call it Risk, the game of global domination." Column by Douglas Herman.
Cheerful Firebrand: New Job Title
"STR is home to a pretty rich and diverse range of characters. I read the bios at the end of essays with as much interest as the essays themselves. People living their lives as large and expansive as they can, coping with inner doubts, the loneliness of wayward individualism, emotional disconnections, social constraints, government restraints, and the dozens of daily compulsions that masquerade as necessities, pretty much describes us all." Column by Douglas Herman.
Part 6 of Sailing Around North America by Douglas Herman.
Sailing Around North America #5, by Douglas Herman.
"The drowned bodies in New Orleans will tell no tales, but their remains will speak volumes. Some will be featureless and grotesque, but each of them once had dreams. They loved and were loved. They laughed and cried. They lived humdrum, petty little lives, yet exalted lives, filled with fears and quiet bravery and pathetic desires. They lived large, at times, when filled with some animated spirit, some exuberant, liquid spirit that departed in a brief moment of terror." Column by Douglas Herman.
Sailing Around North America #4--Tinkerbelle
"We were all born gypsies. The urge is as much part of our heritage as in our DNA. Whether we trace our ancestors to the original Pilgrims, Puritans or prison ships, we've all come from someplace else." Column by Douglas Herman.
When Katrina Becomes Our Baghdad
"But most folks forget, in their patriotic self-absorption, that we brought the devastation on Iraq. Suddenly the shock of being on the receiving end of some equally powerful and devastating force—'Hell on earth'--stuns them." Column by Douglas Herman.
Smackdown! I Challenge Rumsfeld to a Royal Rumble
"I'll bet a million US servicemen and women would cheer wildly--'STOP LOSS!'--every time I smashed Rummy to the mat." Column by Douglas Herman.
Sailing Around North America: Sandsailor
"I love the desert almost as much as I love lakes. You can get lost--or found--in the desert. Become a mystic or madman, or enjoy lovemaking under the stars while all around you the world fossilizes." Column by Douglas Herman.
Sailing Around North America: Leaving
"'Wherever a man goes,' wrote Thoreau, 'men will pursue him and paw him with their dirty institutions....' The best solution seemed to flee those dirty institutions. Throughout the trip, I would be warned, written up, lectured, scolded, and cautioned along the way by scads of government minions--but envied too, I imagined, by more than a few folks along the shore." The first in a new series by Douglas Herman.
Column by Douglas Herman.
"Norman Morrison died 40 years ago this November in Washington DC by self-immolation. He set himself afire outside the Pentagon office of Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara. Before he doused himself and set himself aflame, he left his 15 month-old daughter nearby." Column by Douglas Herman.
The Shock (and Horror) of Reality
"No wand will wave away the woe. Yet, on the bright side, life itself is the most amazing fantasy novel, filled with horror, heroes, sinister shamans, wizards, terrified peasants and outraged villagers--us." Column by Douglas Herman.
Harry Potter and the Princes of Darkness
"The true 'wizards' of the world conjured not spells but words and deeds, everyday acts of quiet resistance. They refused to buy prepackaged ideas, prepackaged foods, prepackaged info-tainment and prepubescent fairy tales that became instant movies." Column by Douglas Herman.
" The day when enough young people refuse the threats and inducements of old people to kill other kids, all the Rumsfelds and Zarqawis (look at their ghastly mugs!) will disintegrate like those villains in an Indiana Jones movie." Column by Douglas Herman.
My Nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize
"I'm sure there are thousands, millions more, who are waging a daily counter-offensive against the tyranny that seems to encircle our globe a little bit more each day. Guys and girls and geezers like me, chiseling that mortar from between the bricks in the wall. One brick at a time or toppling entire walls." Column by Doug Herman.
Count the Bullets: Blow Away All Arguments
"Perhaps the greatest reason many Americans believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone and killed Kennedy is that a majority of Americans have never shot any guns, and certainly not a rifle with a scope. If the Warren Commission had been composed of unbiased shooters instead of senators and lawyers, the final verdict would likely have rejected the ludicrous assumption that Oswald acted alone." Column by Douglas Herman.
Legends, Tall Tales, Holy Warriors and Cartoons
"...no dragon meant no Saint George. No war against terror meant no George the War President. No war meant no re-election. No Osama The Dragon, forever terrorizing peaceful people everywhere, means no never-ending war. Without the war, a war without any foreseeable end, no enormous profits or secret agendas or consolidation of power is possible." Column by Douglas Herman.
Why We Will Lose the War in Iraq
Column by Doug Herman.
Geronimo, Cochise and Osama bin Laden
"In the end, every old warrior, chieftain or common soldier who ever fought knows what the fool continually ignores: the most enduring fort is a permanent peace built on a foundation of justice." Column by Doug Herman.
The War Lover and the Greatest War
Doug Herman reviews more war movies.
"Maybe there are no great war movies because there are no great wars. Maybe the best war movie is one that inspires people NOT to want to go to war, inspires people to practice the art of peace, rather than the science of war." Column by Doug Herman.
Last Living Will and Testament
"First of all, I wonder how I died? And when? Was I troubled or at peace with the world? Funny how unlikely we are to know the any circumstances pertaining to our own demise. But then most of us blunder through life anyway, unaware of much besides our senses and their immediate gratification—excuse me a moment while I open a cold beer--so death is simply the last and Ultimate Unawareness." Column by Doug Herman.
Nuke the Holy Land--For World Peace
Column by Doug Herman.
"Like many of those now in command of this ship of state, the SS America, the Ismays of the world always survive. Indeed they thrive, even prosper, whether in disaster or success. Whether Neocon, Bilderberger, Wall Street insider or architect of the New World Order, they’re the first ones into the lifeboats with a money belt firmly around their waist." Column by Doug Herman.
Dispatches of War: A Dozen Questions for Dahr Jamail
Interview by Doug Herman.
Serene Outlaw: Henry David Thoreau in His Second Century
MUST READ "At times, Thoreau thundered at his readers like a Calvinist preacher, rhapsodized like an Indian prophet, stung like a gadfly or chided their sensibilities as a droll friend. The odd collection of essayists who write for Strike The Root, and the thousands of readers who peruse the columns there may hardly reflect on the moralist under whose portrait their work appears, but by striving to write essays on a variety of topics, many of them dedicated to the rights of individuals, they keep his standards alive." Column by Doug Herman.
Sex, Lies and Call Girls: Why the U.S. Media Is a Whore
"The only difference between Gannon and those who write for the mainstream media is that Gannon usually got undressed before he sold himself." Column by Doug Herman.
Time and Tides Wash Us All Away
"The strange journey that took a simple native girl from her home on the bluff to a neighboring village, where she met an Englishman pivotal in the rise of colonial agriculture in Jamestown, from where they both sailed across the Atlantic with tobacco while the seeds of slavery and, hence, Civil War were being planted in Virginia roughly 250 years later, where an army gathered on the shoreline exactly opposite her birthplace, seems, in a historical sense, greater than the setting itself." Column by Douglas Herman.
Iran Time Bomb: Ticking, Ticking
"Indeed, the entire, Strangelovian scenario of trading missiles with Iran would make the present Iraq war seem like an afternoon concert with Jimmy Buffet." Column by Douglas Herman.
"Welcome, America, to the tar pits of the Persian Gulf, where we are the immense yet slow-witted mammoth, thirsting for oil instead of water, sinking slowly into the mire, befuddled and bewildered, our might and power slowly ebbing away." Column by Douglas Herman.
"When a soldier sees too much with his own eyes--too many fallen comrades and too many dead civilians--he's no good for war any more; he finally begins to question the false rationale. He begins to question the media slogans and military propaganda. He begins to believe his own eyes instead, his own conscience, his own heart." Column by Douglas Herman.
Money--Funny, Scary, Paper Money
"At the bus stop, I'd see money--coins & currency--scattered in the gutter. For the first couple of days, I'd pick up large and shiny coins and stare at their dates. A former coin collector, I'd wonder why a coin minted only a year ago now lay in the gutter ." Column by Douglas Herman.
Remember the Alamo--In Downtown Iraq
"Santa Anna won that memorable battle, but the catchphrase 'Remember the Alamo' continues to resound today with anyone defending a precarious yet precious position. History has recorded the Mexican victory as a moral loss, almost a war crime. How then might history treat Rumsfeld in the destruction of the City of Mosques?" Column by Douglas Herman.
Resident Evil--1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
"Thus we come to the George W. Bush era. Surrounded by Reagan/Bush henchmen Cheney, Rumsfeld, Bolton, et al, this minion of evil may yet outshine them all....the Bush/Cheney diabolical duo decided to launch pre-emptive terrorist attacks on Baghdad and surrounding urban areas, resulting in an estimated 100,000 Iraqi deaths and 16,000 US casualties. With four more years of unlimited power, the potential evil--destruction, death and moral decay--may yet surpass that of fellow Texan, LBJ." Column by Douglas Herman.
A Time to Love and a Time to Die
"Published in 1954, this lurid, little-known novel examines an ill-conceived occupation from the eyes of a simple soldier, corporal Ernst Graeber. Lurid (for its time) because of the almost pornographic description of warfare--and what war is not pornographic in the truest sense of the word?--the novel is nonetheless sympathetic to the individual soldiers entrapped by a war engineered by others safe at home." Column by Douglas Herman.
"George Bush won in 2004? Great! Let the damages continue to accrue until all of those responsible for keeping the maniac on the road suffer the consequences. Those of us forced to ride along on the neocon joyride will fasten our seatbelts and hope the airbags deploy for the crash we know is coming." Column by Douglas Herman.
What Ever Happened to Osama Bin Forgotten?
"What ever happened to a sense of justice in this country? Why all the concern for Laci Peterson and Jon Benet Ramsey but not for the millions of Iraq mothers who have their children dismembered by cluster bombs or poisoned by depleted uranium? What ever happened to a sense of Christianity in this country, not the smarmy love-thy-neighbor Christianity but the more difficult love-thy-enemy virtue that Jesus preached? Too tough for the telegenic Pharisees in their tailored suits, I believe." Column by Douglas Herman.
Silver: The Precious Metal That Spurred the Conquest of a Continent
"After all, the fate of nation-states is like the wind that drives hurricanes ashore; they begin meekly, with a gentle breeze and with sound principles, lofty ideals billowing sails, but build into fierce storms of cynicism and overt hostility, to smash everything in its path. The plundered treasure, whether oil or silver, lies scattered in the sand--or in the hands of those long since removed once the storm passes." Column by Douglas Herman.
A Tale of Two AWOLs: Dubya & I
"Therefore, I suggest that each officer or enlisted man, stateside or in Iraq, follow the same example set by our Commander-in-Chief. Run away for six months or a year....Leave the killing and maiming to others; you have better things to do. Like loving and living." Column by Douglas Herman.
Stupid U: College of Criminal Arts
Why Yale should be banned from politics forever. Column by Douglas Herman.
'Cover Your Ass' and Git Home Safe: An Open Letter to Occupiers
"Defending my freedoms, are you? Yeah, the same way William Tecumseh Sherman defended those of my Michigan forefathers, sacking, looting and raping Columbia, South Carolina while Mr. Lincoln kept dissident newsmen in prison." Column by Douglas Herman. Note: some bad language.
Tabloid America: Myth-Making, Mythology and Sensationalism
"Hydra is the great machinery of the modern state, and anyone who opposes the bloody waste, official lies and corruption of the state is, to some measure, Hercules." Column by Douglas Herman.
Jimi Hendrix: Anti-War Forever
"Jimi Hendrix, one of the best at voicing that betrayal and youthful rage, sang with a bluesy, cavernous force, a voice of dirt poor, Delta determination mixed with a unique, urban discontent, a voice widely ignored before that time by most of white, middle class America. In four short years, Hendrix became a combination court jester, outspoken agent provocateur and erotic Paganini to a wide swath of young people nauseous of the lies spewing forth from pompous Washington, DC and the whitebread media." Column by Douglas Herman.
Andersonville: Earlier War Crimes 'Abuse' Trial
"The true pornography of war (Is there any other kind?) whether the grim photographs of skeletal prisoners of Andersonville or the stripped and beaten Iraqi civilians of Abu Ghraib, is the willingness of so many otherwise decent people to support, encourage and partake in it." Column by Douglas Herman.
Let Us Now Thank Lynndie England
"Heap your pity or scorn on Lynndie England if you must--and she deserves it--but reserve even more for the true whores of war. For every Lynndie England with blood on her hands, there were dozens of Ann Coulters and Kathleen Parkers who hastened her there, so deeply embedded in the idea of conquest, bloodlust or vengeance they appeared as willing cheerleaders or as a succubus&