John Halle

Political Articles

 

 

Relatively Recent Short Pieces:

 

Trumka Nominated (7/24/10)

AFL-CIO Leader heads a U.S. Labor Party ticket.  

Could it happen here?

(unpublished)

 

What Brad DeLong Believes (7/4/10)

Short Poem 

(Posted as comment at Corrente)

 

Pete Peterson Moves Forward (6/23/10)

The most odious of billionaires manufactures phony consent for cutting social security via Astroturf operation AmericaSpeaks!.

(Published at Counterpunch.)

Kennedy School's (and AmericaSpeaks advisory board member Archon Fung responds to me (and to Dean Baker) on the Huffington Post here.

Dean Baker's and my responses to Fung here

Fung and Baker's final responses here.

 

 

Three Elegies (6/18/10)

 

   Our Commander-in-Chief

   What Charles Schumer Believes

   Dan Ellsberg

 

Good introduction to my perspective on the current political situation-albeit as three short poems. 

(Published at Counterpunch poet's basement.)

 

Pete Peterson: Punking the People, Punking the Left (5/21/10)

As George Carlin predicted, "Now they're coming for you Social Security. And they'll get it."

(Published at Counterpunch.)

 

Salazar Unleashed (5/15/10)

Why establishment Big Green organizations should be held responsible for the BP catastrophe in the gulf.

(Published at Counterpunch.)

 

It's Time For . . .  Liberation Lotto (4/27/10)

An idea whose time has come for addressing state budgetary woes.

(published at Commondreams and Counterpunch.)

 

From "Yes We Can" to "No You Won't": Pushing Back on the Deficit Hawks (4/20/10)

A piece supporting the Fiscal Sustainability Teach-in countering the evil doings of Pete Peterson.

 

Who Got it Right (3/1/10)

An appreciation of those few who sounded the alarm on Obamania when none were listening. 

(Published at Corrente and asitoughttobe)

 

Other Priorities: Three Lessons and a Prayer (2/23/10)

A discussion of left generational failure and its consequences. 

(Commissioned for the inaugural issue of  Bard College Radical Student Union newspaper,  The Ember.  Also published at Commondreams.) 

 

An Elegy for Howard (1/30/10) 

Some reflections on what we use to call "the movement" upon Howard Zinn's death.

 

Danner's Choice (1/25/10)

A response to Mark Danner's NY Times Op Ed "To Heal Haiti, Look to History"

(Published at Louis Proyect's excellent blog The Unrepentant Marxist and Dissident Voice.)


Bring a Brick to Wall Street! (1/18/10)

Suggestions for an appropriately grateful response to the seminal contributions of Wall Street.

(Unpublished elsewhere.)

 

Portrait of a Technocrat: Jacob Hacker and the Dershowitz Paradox (1/04/10)

A portrait of a former constituent now in the permanent constellation of mandarins defining the "Washington consensus".  

(Unpublished elsewhere.)


Quatrains (12/14/09)

A first attempt at political verse in the spirit of Dr. Seuss. Posted as a comment on the website Corrente.  

 

Run Ralph Run! (11/16/09)

Published at Counterpunch and Commondreams.

 

Free Google! (11/1/09)

Google sold to the U.S. Department of Education for One Dollar! It could (and should) happen.

(unpublished elsewhere)

 

On Obamania and Obamaitis (10/2/09)

An Open Letter to high profile leftists who proselytized for the Obama campaign, signed by Adolph Reed, Doug Henwood, Paul Street, Bruce Dixon and others.

(unpublished elsewhere)

 

Why Mayday? (9/1/09)

A Letter to Capitalism a Love Story Audiences 

or, 

How to talk to Wall Street and its Washington based subsidiary (the U.S. Federal Government) in the language it understands.

 

Requiem for Labor Day (8/15/09)

The first of a group of pieces advocating for a massive demonstration on Wall Street on May 1, 2010.

 (unpublished elsewhere)

 

Final Thoughts on the Kovel Affair (5/21/09)

A discussion of some of the issues related to the departure of Joel Kovel from the faculty of Bard College.

Published at Counterpunch.

 

Wealth Tax Now!  (9/24/08)

Published at  Counterpunch, Dissident Voice, and Progressive Review.

 

The Ascension of Rachel Maddow (8/30/08)

A portrait of the everyone's favorite radio personality and MSNBC anchor.
Published at Dissident Voice.

A Letter from Barack Obama (8/02/08)

A response to Open Letter to Barack Obama. published at the excellent blog
Stop Me Before I Vote Again
also posted to Migraines and Musings, Stan Goff's Feral Scholar,  Cross Left, Daily Kos.

 

What is to be Done

A call for a general strike on Mayday 2009. (5/05/08) published at Dissident Voice 5/07/08

 

Dennis Goes Down

A reflection on the primary challenge to Congressman Dennis Kucinich. (2/23/08) published in Dissident Voice and in Counterpunch 2/25/08

Open Letter to Cindy Sheehan

(published in Dissident Voice 2/15/08)

 

The Democrats' Big Bang

How the Democratic Party could explode. (2/13/08) So far unpublished-comments solicited.

 

The Grey Lady in the Magic Year

On "centrism" and why the Obama phenomena is "good news". (2/9/08) Also unpublished-a bit snide, I suppose.
 

Who the Left Should Support and Why

(published in Dissident Voice 1/25/08)

 

How a Green Won (Part II)

 

How a Green Won (Part I)

 

(Published in Dissident Voice 7/28 and 7/31/07-see amusing responses to negative comments here).

 

Run Cindy Run! (Nancy Pelosi and the Farm Bill) 7/24/07

(unpublished submission-shorter version of above)

 

Fallout from a Smear: Finkelstein and the Progressive

(published in Counterpunch 6/17/07)

 

Hillary Clinton Declares Victory!

(published on the excellent blog "Stop me before I vote again!" 7/13/07)

 

Who I Voted for and Why

(unpublished piece on "strategically" voting for a corporate Dem, 11/06/06-update 8/07, continues to be relevant at 10/08)

 

What are you gonna do about it, PUNK?

(published in Dissident Voice 11/6/05)

 

Older and/or longer pieces.

 

Politics Outside the Box: Introduction and Conclusion

A discussion of third party politics, where we are now and how we got there. Also included, by request, are some thoughts on Ned Lamont, the Obama phenomena and the current crop of Democrats. Those interested can find these in the last section. (5/07)

 

(Probably needs rewriting. Comments solicited from those who are more or less sympathetic with the basic assumptions.)

 

On Comrades and Cops: A Nader Campaign Memoir

(unpublished manuscript from 2002-rather long. Perhaps of some historical interest, particularly to those who have seen the recent film "An Unreasonable Man".)

 

City Progressives Should No Longer Trust Dems

Silly title courtesy of Yale Daily News.  Everything here is more true now than ever.

(editorial in Yale Daily News, January 28, 2002)

 

The Best Citizens of New Haven, A Review of Yohuru Williams

Black Politics/White Power, Civil Rights, Black Power, And The Black Panthers In New Haven

(New Politics, Summer 2001)

 

We Won. Now Let's Run!

(Connecticut Green Pages-Fall 2001)

 

Why I Ran: Reflections of a Green Alderman

(Progressive Review, February, 2003)

 

Not Even Wrong

Three Habits of Highly Ineffective Movements

(Progressive Review March 2005-scroll down)

 

Playing to Win in the post-ABB Era

(New Politics Summer 2003)

 

A Green View from New Haven: Matt Gonzalez and Me

(Counterpunch Dec 16, 2003)

 

The following were published as "Halle Sez", a semi regular column in the New Haven Advocate when I was serving as New Haven Alderman.

(I'll put more of these online when I find them. A few more are here.)

 

Public Transportation: Not a Toy

(Sept 10, 2001)

Development From the Bottom Up: The Living Wage

(August 27, 2001)

Bicycles? In New Haven?

(August 18, 2001)

What Hath God Wrought? (unpublished-gee, I wonder why?)

            (Dec. 8, 2002)

Which Side Are You On? (unpublished piece on Same Sex Unions)

            (Nov? 2001)

Learning the Tricks of the Trade: Journalistic Integrity at The Yale Daily News  

(deemed "unfit to print") (October, 2002)

Yale, the Unions and New Haven

(Spring? 2002)