By David Swanson
I resolve to do everything in my ability, while preserving my power to continue in future years, to reverse the destruction of the environment, the proliferation of weapons and wars, and the concentration of wealth.
I resolve neither to panic nor to behave as if we have a moment to lose.
I resolve neither to be gratuitously rude nor to value politeness above life-saving actions.
I resolve not to discriminate for or against elected officials or candidates on the basis of poli…
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Added by David Swanson on December 21, 2009 at 12:57pm —
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By David Swanson
The U.S. House of Representatives approved on Wednesday another $130 billion for the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and (it goes without saying) Pakistan, money that will be used to continue the wars and to escalate the war in Afghanistan. In the spring, they will try to pass another $30 billion or more, labeled as funding for the escalation, but 4 out of 5 spineless warmongering congress members will tell their constituents at that point that they can't vote against something that…
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Added by David Swanson on December 16, 2009 at 8:55pm —
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By David Swanson
Speech at White House, December 12, 2009
Can you imagine the outcries of national shame from liberal commentators if George W. Bush had accepted a peace prize by advocating for war and announcing his right to launch wars of aggression? What an embarrassment that would have been!
But Bush would have made such a speech with fewer troops in the field, fewer mercenaries in the field, a smaller war budget, a smaller military budget, bases in fewer nations, the imperial powers of th…
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Added by David Swanson on December 12, 2009 at 5:12pm —
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By David Swanson
Sometimes it's relief for victims of Hurricane Katrina, sometimes it's hate crimes legislation, sometimes it's education funding for veterans. One day soon it will be free kittens for children with cancer. It's always something. It's always something that could pass just fine on its own. But it's included as lipstick on the recurring and ever-fattening pigs of U.S. politics: war funding bills.
Next week, the warfunding bill that was passed in June will come up for a final vote…
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Added by David Swanson on December 11, 2009 at 2:10pm —
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By David Swanson
That was not a peace prize acceptance speech. That was an infomercial for war. President Obama took the peace prize home with him, but left behind in Oslo his praise for war, his claims for war, and his view of an alternative and more peaceful approach to the world consisting of murderous economic sanctions.
Some highlights:
"There are the men and women around the world who have been jailed and beaten in the pursuit of justice; those who toil in humanitarian organ
…
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Added by David Swanson on December 10, 2009 at 2:34pm —
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By David Swanson
In every village of the kingdom the heralds would cry out the news. And always it would be the same news from every herald who wore the purple sash. But other heralds would cry out different news, crazy news, news that wasn't news at all.
The royal heralds got their news from the king's palace, which is why they all cried out the same news at the same time. The other heralds told about the inner workings of the palace as well, but it was clear they did not know what they were…
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Added by David Swanson on December 3, 2009 at 9:30pm —
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The U.S. Constitution leaves the decision to wage war to Congress, and Congress can enforce its decision not to wage war by refusing to fund it. Blocking a funding bill for wars requires the House of Representatives alone, and both Democrats and Republicans in the House are rapidly joining us in saying No to war funding.
It's time to finally get serious, to lobby, to protest, to sit in, to nonviolently disrupt and resist in local district offices until enough Representatives commit to
…
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Added by David Swanson on December 2, 2009 at 7:56pm —
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By David Swanson
During a televised football game on Sunday, an announcer welcomed the members of the U.S. military viewing the game in 177 nations around the world. When the news came on, the topic was the same one it's been for weeks, speculation as to whether and how much a single individual will escalate war by sending tens of thousands of additional troops to nation number 177, Afghanistan.
Somehow it remains eternally controversial to mention the imperial presidency. Yet the positions on…
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Added by David Swanson on November 30, 2009 at 7:45am —
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By David Swanson
One of the best features of a visit to Los Angeles is the opportunity to hang out with the guy who put Charles Manson in prison, the most successful criminal prosecutor we're ever likely to see, Vince Bugliosi (105 convictions in 106 felony jury trials, 21 convictions in 21 murder trials). I spoke with him on Tuesday about his forthcoming documentary film (pre-order DVD here
http://www.indiegogo.com/bush ).
I consider Vince a friend,…
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Added by David Swanson on November 24, 2009 at 7:05pm —
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By David Swanson
I had to read a lot of books about the current war and occupation in Iraq before I found one that's laugh out-loud hilarious. It's a book about a U.S. military hospital in Iraq, a journal kept for a 10-month tour of duty by an operating room medic. The story never leaves the hospital, and it focuses in large part on the relationships among the characters working there, including pranks and hijinks aplenty. One almost inevitably thinks of MASH and its fictional Army hospital in…
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Added by David Swanson on November 20, 2009 at 7:03pm —
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By David Swanson
I've been reading a brand new book called "The Battle of the Story of the Battle of Seattle," which is in large part an analysis of what worked in the protesting of the World Trade Organization 10 years ago. Why is it, I wonder, that activists were able to shut down the center of this major city in Washington state, but for years we have been unable to shut down the center of Washington, D.C., in opposition to wars.
Certainly, we've turned out more people to march around DC on…
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Added by David Swanson on November 18, 2009 at 4:41pm —
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By David Swanson
My dear Republicans friends, it's probably not my place to ask. I'm not one of you, but I'm not your enemy either. I'm not an apologist for the other party or a third party. I'm an advocate for replacing the two parties with three branches. We still teach our children about the three branches of our government, but I'm afraid most adults have forgotten what that was supposed to mean.
Like you, I'd like us to be able to unelect people as well as elect them in fair and verifiabl…
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Added by David Swanson on November 15, 2009 at 6:08pm —
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By David Swanson
The last time I was on Laura Flanders's GRIT tv I argued that the American public opposed the occupation of Afghanistan, but another guest -- some Washington, D.C., "progressive" -- argued that this had no relevance, since the American public didn't know anything about Afghanistan.
When the RAND Corporation held a forum on Afghanistan recently on Capitol Hill, Zbigniew Brzezinski claimed that it was uncontroversial that US troops had to stay in Afghanistan. I pointed him to po…
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Added by David Swanson on November 13, 2009 at 12:31pm —
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By David Swanson
If you have an interest in grassroots organizing, international alliance building, the peace movement, the labor movement, the conversion of the U.S. economy from weapons to human needs, the preservation of life on earth (come on, admit it), the weaponization of space, or the autobiographical insights of smart and determined people, then I cannot more strongly recommend that you get a copy of "
Come Together Right Now: Organizing Stories from a Fading…
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Added by David Swanson on November 12, 2009 at 4:36pm —
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By David Swanson
The Congressional Progressive Caucus has 82 members, 81 in the House and 1 in the Senate, but has taken the anti-progressive onslaught of recent years lying down. The CPC can be counted on to say some pleasant things, but in the end 1 or 2 or 8 or 14 of its members will vote a progressive position. Almost never will the CPC attempt to organize its members to all take a stand. When it did organize 90 members to sign
a letter…
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Added by David Swanson on November 12, 2009 at 11:06am —
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By David Swanson
The United States of America owes much of the hope it has right now of remaining what John Adams called "a nation of laws, not men" to Italian law enforcement. Were it not for the fact that Italian prosecutors, unlike their American counterparts, answer to the law rather than a president, the enforcement of laws against a massive crime spree by U.S. officials (and their Italian accomplices) would not have begun.
In 2003, the CIA and the United States military kidnapped a man,…
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Added by David Swanson on November 10, 2009 at 1:59pm —
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By David Swanson
Around the United States, peace groups are engaged in effective campaigns against proposed new military installations, local funding of weapons companies, and the routine destruction of the environment and of workers' health by such companies. Activists are building better media outlets, educating young people, educating old people, keeping military testing and recruiting out of schools, and discouraging the Army from building real-weapon video arcades in shopping malls. But wh…
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Added by David Swanson on November 7, 2009 at 8:50am —
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By David Swanson
Statements of undisputed facts about President Barack Obama's actions can generate declarations on progressive websites that one has "gone too far" or said something that "should not be said." Honesty has been replaced by loyalty.
The most common place to find accurate statements on presidential abuses of power is buried in a sea of lunacy on rightwing websites that conclude their analyses with encouragement of violence, gun purchasing, and assassination.
Denunciations of rig…
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Added by David Swanson on November 2, 2009 at 6:09am —
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By David Swanson
"Glaubt es mir - das Geheimnis, um die größte Fruchtbarkeit und den größten Genuß vom Dasein einzuernten, heisst: gefährlich leben." - Friedrich Nietzsche
On Thursday night I had the privilege of viewing a premier of a film together with its star. The theater was in the U.S. Capitol, and the film was "The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers" (
http://www.mostdangerousman.org ). This is a powerfull…
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Added by David Swanson on October 30, 2009 at 10:47am —
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A Call for Congress to Take Action on Torture
October 28th, 2009
ADD YOUR NAME TO THOSE OF 83 HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS AND LEADERS AT
http://afterdowningstreet.org/stop
Whereas over seven years have passed since President George W. Bush fraudulently induced the U.S. congress, the American people, and the world into the illegal war in Iraq,
Whereas it is nearly five years since Specialist Darby revealed the photos of Abu Ghraib that showed us torture…
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Added by David Swanson on October 28, 2009 at 11:23am —
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