Maybe you read my blogs, catch my reports on BBC Newsnight or Democracy Now, or have a copy of the Best Democracy Money Can Buy lying around.

But if you really want to get to the heart and soul of my investigations, pick up a copy of my new book, Armed Madhouse. Between its covers is the Full Monty that my online columns and reports for Amy Goodman can only scratch the surface of.

And, I’ve just discovered that, until Patriot Act IV goes into effect, you’re still allowed to read Armed Madhouse. Here are some comments of folks who have read it:

“I would urge you to read Greg Palast’s latest book, Armed Madhouse. He does for the national elections what I did for the Ohio election…. He shows exactly how this election was stolen–not just in Ohio but in many other states as well.” — Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“For all its humor, I find the book a serious resource of information for action and organizing, covering war, oil, economic struggle and globalization.” — Medea Benjamin, Founder, Code Pink

“Greg Palast is Jack Kerouac meets Seymour Hersh. That’s quite a combination. The guy is insightful, entertaining, and does his homework.” — Buzzflash.com

“Palast’s stories bite. They’re so relevant they threaten to alter history - simply by letting the hoodwinked public in on the game while it’s happening. Palast is exactly what a journalist is supposed to be - a truth hound, doggedly independent, undaunted by power.” — Chicago Tribune Media Services

“Palast, a tough-talking, fedora-wearing corporate fraud investigator turned intrepid journalist, has a habit for finding actual documents and then using them in edgy exposes.” — LA Times

“Upsets all the right people.” — Noam Chomsky

“I bought my father a copy.” — Janeane Garofalo, Air America

“The Sid Vicious of Journalism.” — Pacifica Radio

From Medea Benjamin
CoFounder, CODEPINK and Global Exchange:

One of my favorite investigative reporters, Greg Palast has a new book out, Armed Madhouse, which tells the stories the Bush regime would rather you not know.

For all its humor, I find the book a serious resource of information for action and organizing, covering war, oil, economic struggle and globalization.

Armed Madhouse includes the hidden story of the war for oil in Iraq and, “Kerry Won,” a sad and funny investigation of how they swiped the White House a SECOND time.

Palast’s book is subtitled, “Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Class War” — and besides digging into oil and Iraq, Palast take on the full spectrum of attacks on our economic and civil rights, including the expose, “No Child’s Behind Left,” Bush’s assault on kids and teachers.

This book is our Weapon of Massive Instruction. Read it and use it.

In peace,
Medea

Note: Today, Medea Benjamin enters the 15th day of her hunger strike — which will last until the troops come home. I thank her for this note — and thank her for a courage I cannot imagine replicating. - Greg Palast

Hear Jim Hightower, Randi Rhodes or Larry David read an excerpt, or pick up a copy of Armed Madhouse at www.GregPalast.com

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Thomas Friedman’s Underpants

[New York] Von Eckardt, our chief investigator, joined me and Krugman in the green room. She’s a big fan of Paul’s and couldn’t wait to hear two of her favorite economics writers talk privately about the great issues of the day.

“I wring them out as absolutely tight as I can,” said Krugman, “and by the morning they’re just a little damp but you can still wear them.”

I had a different technique for stretching the supply of underwear on book tours: Wear them into the shower or, in a pinch, turn them inside out.

“There’s one guy that has a clean pair Fed-Ex’d to him every day and he puts the dirty ones in a return envelope.” The “guy,” of course, had to be Thomas Friedman.

Von Eckardt was fuming. “THAT’S WHAT YOU GUYS TALK ABOUT? YOUR UNDERPANTS?!”

Actually, I thought it was all quite informative.

Arnold’s Army

[San Diego] I feel so much safer. Arnold’s Army is on the way to the Mexican border. One thousand National Guardsmen of California, guys with names like Sanchez, Kowalski, Huang and Gutierrez, are being sent by a guy named Schwarzenegger to stop the invasion of immigrants. OK, I’m down with that — ever since the first Pilgrims immigrated to these shores, just about every new American has wanted to shut the Golden Door behind them.

But the bogus border patrol has nothing to do with stopping illegal immigration. After all, even as dim a flashlight as our president, who ordered the governor to send the Guard to battle stations, knows that a couple hundred more professional border patrolmen would do a better job than a thousand weekend warriors marching around the desert. And besides, if the Guard actually stopped the flow, there’d be riots in West Hollywood when restaurant patrons discover they’ll have to bus their own dishes.

According to George Bush, there’s more to this boundary buildup than stopping trans-border commuters. The president tells us the war on immigrants is just part of the War on Terror. Our borders, he tells us, are open and the bad guys can just wade right in. But if we’ve learned anything at all from the Sept. 11 attack, it’s that al Qaeda flies business class.

Make Them Steal It

[Chicago] Martin Luther King III mentioned to a group of civil rights leaders that I was in the room. King had my book. “I’m going to take Greg’s book and place it on my father’s grave. He will be pleased.”

It was, I admit, hard not to tear up at that moment. Then I thought, “Don’t do that! You’ll get the book dirty!” And I told Martin, “I have a better idea. Let’s march down to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and throw the book through the window.”

Jesse Jackson said, “We march, we win. Every time.” Maybe. But I know this. If we don’t march, we lose.

How many times am I asked, “Why vote if they’re going to steal the election?” That’s the point: Make them STEAL it. Make them know they can’t win UNLESS they steal it.

Shoplift This Book

[Berkeley] Cody’s is closing. Just about hippest bookstore in America. It’s in Berkeley on Telegraph Avenue. In another time, I was the sandwich-sign man who stood in front of the store, surrounded by poets and pot-smokers. Today, the poets are gone.

And so is Cody’s. It was famous for its author talks: Salmon Rushdie, Gregory Corso (you’re too young to know him), Mario Savio. Cody’s just hosted its last author chat (mine).

I was tear-gassed in front of Cody’s. It was after Nixon invaded Cambodia. Lots and lots of crazy-ass memories. But Berkeley isn’t “Berzerkley” anymore. The Berzerkers have gone into real estate, third wives, hair transplants. No place for Cody’s.

I shared the Good Old Times with the crowd. “I used to shoplift here,” I said. Andy the owner frowned. “I wish you wouldn’t say that.”

I dawdled, browsed the shelves. Picked up a copy of Bukowski’s “Confessions of a Man Insane Enough to Live with Beasts.”

My driver panicked about the time. Late for in-studio radio. With a crowd of fans near the front door registers, she insisted I slip out the back.

Back of the limo, shooting down Telegraph, I realized I had left without paying for the Bukowski. Damn. I should call Andy and tell him I owe Cody’s. I owe Cody’s a lot.
“Mr. Palast”

[San Francisco] Ginsberg told me, “I’m old — I cry every time I hear a friend’s name.” Last night was the 50th anniversary of the publication of Ginsberg’s “Howl” by City Lights Bookstore. It was about 11pm, but City Lights was still open so I cabbed over to catch the big crowd celebrating the event.

But the place was empty. I was the only customer in the rambling shop. I figured there was nothing else to do but pick up a copy of the small chapbook.

I brought the “Howl” up to the skinny kid at the register.

He waved away my money.

“Oh, we can’t possibly charge you for that, Mr. Palast.”

I walked out as quickly as possible, into the North Beach midnight, fighting tears, and feeling very old.

Never for Money

Why am I on this plane? What the hell am I doing? I’m down for 30 flights in 30 days. Atlanta, Dublin, Albany, London. LET ME OUT OF HERE. I turn up “Home,” the David Byrne’s song. He’s singing about the brutal aloneness of the road tour. What the hell for?

Byrne says, “Never for money. Always for love.”

OK, David. Where next?
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For the past two years, I’ve nearly disappeared from BBC Television screens and from newspapers so my team could focus on our most important investigation yet. I’ve put it in a book: Armed Madhouse. The book travels from Beijing to New Orleans to Caracas to Baghdad to New Mexico … a five-part investigation of global economic piggery so deep, dark and devious you just have to scream or cry — or laugh.

Don’t be fooled by the fact that ‘Armed Madhouse’ is entertaining — this is my most serious reporting yet — connecting oil panic, Hurricane Katrina, Chinese currency, Venezuela’s petrodollars, disappearing ballots, Thomas Friedman, more oil, and the murder of General Motors. These are dispatches from the front lines of the class war.

Here is our new world of militarized greed, where America’s panic over lunatics with box-cutters has metastasized into a billion-dollar fear industry; where Republicans sucking on Super-sized Slurpies® are hunting dark-skinned voters to eliminate their rights; where James Baker’s fixer in alligator boots sets up the grab for Iraq’s oil on her way to the rodeo; where miners are suffocated by the same investment bankers who are siphoning off auto workers’ pensions. I add 50 illustrations, including those intriguing ones marked ’secret’ by the State Department and the World Bank, plus a brilliant recipe for shrimp curry — and Dick Cheney.

Asia Times says, “Greg Palast, the man widely considered as the top investigative journalist in the United States, is persona non grata in his own country’s media.” But it’s not ME that’s ‘non-grata’ — it’s the information about the Washington regime that is shut out of the mainstream press in the USA.

I’m writing to ask you to order the book right NOW for delivery the week of its release, June 6. Here’s why. These early sales are crucial to convincing mainstream media that America really wants to know what the hell is going on. My last book, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, helped open the forbidden topic of vote theft in America. Now, we need break the media’s omerta, the silencing of talk of class war.

I’m asked again and again, What can we DO? The answer is, we can’t do anything until we’re INFORMED. We can’t prevent the theft of the ‘08 election until you know the crazy details of the theft of ‘04. We can’t stop the coming war in Venezuela until we learn the weird story of how Big Oil mapped out Iraq’s petroleum destiny. We can’t shield ourselves from economic onslaught until we have the hard, if hidden, facts of class conflict from the Sino-dollar panic to the privatization of hurricane planning. That’s why I wrote this book.

And if you’re of a mind to buy it, please do so now here, via local or ‘Net bookstore or through our website.

Like to support our work? We don’t charge Democracy Now or the Pacifica Network or non-profit websites for our work. So we can only investigate and report if you help. Donate $100 to our non-profit foundation and I’ll send you a personally signed hardbound, illustrated copy of Armed Madhouse: Who’s Afraid of Osama Wolf?, China Floats Bush Sinks, No Child’s Behind Left and Other Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Class War. I take no salary: 100% of the funds go to keep our staff alive.

AND SIGN UP TO SPONSOR THE 20-CITY ARMED MADHOUSE TOUR. Your national or local organization can join Project Censored, Code Pink, Activist San Diego, Global Exchange, Austin Vote Rescue, Ohio Citizens Alliance for Secure Elections, Pacifica Radio affiliates, as a sponsor of the Armed Madhouse tour. Contact: sponsors(AT)GregPalast.com

And a note to MEDIA PEOPLE reading this missive: If you wish to book an interview with me [the schedule’s tight, so please book now], or need a review copy — or want to publish an excerpt — contact interviews(AT)gregpalast.com

And soon you can download Jim Hightower, Larry David, Randi Rhodes, Amy Goodman and other friends reading from Armed Madhouse at www.GregPalast.com

When the inmates are running the asylum, arm yourself with the facts.

Greg Palast & Team
New York | London