Slice up Palast, win a prize for it, or vote on the best hack-job -- in the absolutely fantabulous re-mix contest sponsored by Creative Commons and Air America Radio. Win immortal glory in the first-ever competition to mash up an audio book -- Greg Palast's New York Times bestseller, "Armed Madhouse." (Show me more...)

by Greg Palast
Monday August 14, 2006

So, Osama Walks into This Bar, See? and Bush says, "Whad'l'ya have, pardner?" and Osama says...

But wait a minute. I'd better shut my mouth. The sign here in the airport says, "Security is no joking matter." But if security's no joking matter, why does this guy dressed in a high-school marching band outfit tell me to dump my Frappuccino and take off my shoes? All I can say is, Thank the Lord the "shoe bomber" didn't carry Semtex in his underpants. (Show me more...)

The Brilliantly Profitable Timing of the Alaska Oil Pipeline Shutdown

by Greg Palast
For The Guardian (UK)
Tuesday, August 9, 2006

Is the Alaska Pipeline corroded? You bet it is. Has been for more than a decade. Did British Petroleum shut the pipe yesterday to turn a quick buck on its negligence, to profit off the disaster it created? Just ask the "smart pig."

Years ago, I had the unhappy job of leading an investigation of British Petroleum's management of the Alaska pipeline system. (Show me more...)

by Greg Palast
excerpted from, "Armed Madhouse" (Penguin 2006)

It has been a very good war for Big Oil -- courtesy of OPEC price hikes. The five oil giants saw profits rise from $34 billion in 2002 to $81 billion in 2004, year two of Iraq's "transition to democracy."

But this tsunami of black ink was nothing compared to the wave of $113 billion in profits to come in 2005: $13.6 billion for Conoco, $14.1 billion for Chevron and the Mother of All Earnings, Exxon's $36.1 billion. (Show me more...)

Mexico's Lesson In The Dangers Of The Paper Ballot

By Greg Palast
for The Guardian, Comment is Free
Monday August 7, 2006

In the six years since I first began investigating the burglary ring we call "elections" in America, a new Voting Reform industry has grown up. That's good. What's worrisome is that most of the effort is focused on preventing the installation of computer voting machines. Paper ballots, we're told, will save our democracy. (Show me more...)

Ain't too proud to beg: The Palast investigative team is aiming to film and report four stories that will make the ruling regime deeply unhappy... (Show me more...)

...Bobby Kennedy Jr. and Palast on why Saddam had to go.

"This war in Iraq has been the best thing in the world for Big Oil and OPEC. They've made the largest profits in the history of the world. The interesting thing about your book is you show how it was all planned from the beginning. The story is like a spy thriller." -- Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Listen to RFK and Greg Palast on Iraq, a 20-minute conversation about blood and oil for 'Ring of Fire' from Air America. (Show me more...)

 

 Greg Palast on Ring of Fire, Air America Radio with Bobby Kennedy [16:34m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

OK, class, answer this question -- and let's not see the same hands:

President George W. Bush says, "Syria has been a primary sponsor of Hezbollah and it has helped provide Hezbollah with shipments of Iranian made weapons...[which] threaten the entire Middle East."

This month marks the twenty-first anniversary of a shipment of 508 anti-tank missiles to Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini in support of Hezbollah. Who approved that shipment? (Show me more...)

by Greg Palast
for The Guardian, Comment Is Free
Monday, July 31, 2006

East Hampton, New York -- Anthony Marshall, the tabloids tell us, wouldn't buy his elderly mother her prescribed medicine, locked her dachshunds in the pantry and refused to buy her hair dye or her favorite make-up. His mom is Brooke Astor, the ultra-rich socialite, now frail, helpless and dependent on her son.

While others merely gossiped about this tragedy of dogs and cosmetics, George Bush acted. In a deft maneuver at the end of last week, Bush rammed through Congress a massive reduction in the inheritance tax. As a result of the tax change engineered by the White House, Marshall stands to save $9 million on the $45 million he expects to inherit from his mom. (Show me more...)

The failure to stop the bloodletting in the Middle East, Exxon's record second-quarter profits and Iran's nuclear cat-and-mouse game have something in common -- it's the oil.

By Greg Palast | The Guardian

I can't tell you how it started -- this is a war that's been fought since the Levites clashed with the Philistines -- but I can tell you why the current mayhem has not been stopped. It's the oil. (Show me more...)