Eisenhower's Nightmare Arrives
03/06/2010 Chuck Spinney
As I indicated in CounterPunch on 3 February 2010, the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) just released by the Obama Pentagon is a bad joke. That bad joke is about to be given the good housekeeping seal of approval by a special panel...
New Heroine Sparks Movement
03/03/2010 David Swanson
Harry Hanbury has a story that any videographer or blogger would love. He created a video of Congresswoman Donna Edwards taking steps to amend the Constitution to restore our democracy following assault by the Supreme Court. A woman you've never heard of named Jessica Sharp saw the video and decided to take action herself.
We're about to witness the pretense of war lawyer hearings without the war lawyers (commonly known as torture lawyers by those willing to ignore their role in "legalizing" aggressive war). This may highlight for many observers the little-known fact that Congress no longer has the power of subpoena.
Hillary Wows the Arabs
02/25/2010 Chuck Spinney
Egged on by a nuclear-armed Israel and its wholly owned subsidiaries throughout the US government, a blizzard of recent news reports make it clear that President Obama's foreign policy team is becoming obsessed with Iran, particularly, but not exclusively, its nascent atomic energy program.
Pre-Partisan America, 1789-1801
02/18/2010 David Swanson
I'm not a big fan of post-partisan America, a notion that seems to amount to running the government through two political parties but taking care that one of them not perform in any significant way better than the other one. But I am a fan of the idea, which nobody ever seems to consider, of actually disempowering parties.
Kill the filibuster!
02/16/2010 Roger Fulton
Much of what the Democratic Party wanted to accomplish during Obama's first year as President was frustrated by the historically obscene amount of usage by Republican Senators of the procedure called the filibuster.
The current state of affairs is that even with the second-highest majority of Democrats in the Senate -- 59 -- in generations, most Senators, of both parties, especially the leadership, claim that nothing can be passed without a "super-majority" of 60 votes. Anything less than 60, and ZIP! ZING! the auto-filibuster magically goes into effect! THIS IS A LOAD OF CRAP!!
Attached is a very revealing BBC interview with Phil Jones, the head of the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia. It should be read carefully with an eye to what is said and not said.
The Horror of War on Stage
02/11/2010 David Swanson
"Prophecy" is the title of a new play by Karen Malpede, and I'm here to attempt the unamerican task of telling you to see it without telling you it's a comedy. In fact, I'm going to confess that I had to take a break from it and recover before I could write about it. I felt like I'd taken a blow with an enormous sledge hammer, even though I knew that a whole orchestra of smaller instruments had produced what I was feeling.
Mark to Market Pentagon Style
02/07/2010 Chuck Spinney
... The latest scam in the Military - Industrial - Congressional Complex (MICC) is the so-called "Buy to Budget" formula for the hugely expensive and deeply troubled F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. This formula was just gleefully endorsed in the attached email recently sent to the F-35's Stakeholders...
We Need Government Funded Media
02/07/2010 David Swanson
What it would have cost us to publicly fund independent media that would have prevented the invasion of Iraq wouldn't amount, in a year, to what we spend on a month of occupying that country.
JSF as a Metaphor for Defense Meltdown
02/02/2010 Chuck Spinney
The recent publication of the 2010 QDR reveals once again, in typically leaden and mind-numbing prose, how the Pentagon is incapable of coming to grips with the mismatches among strategy, programs, and resources
Blocking War Funding Just Got Easier
02/01/2010 David Swanson
Last June we were handed an opportunity to block the funding of our illegal, murderous, counterproductive, catastrophic, and hated wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The president insisted on an off-the-books "emergency supplemental" bill, and the Senate added an IMF bailout to the bill, leading all the Republicans in the House to commit what for years they'd called treason: they all voted No on war money.
Rep Delahunt Backs War to Please Obama
02/01/2010 David Swanson
Add Congressman Bill Delahunt to the list of misrepresentatives who claim to oppose wars when a Republican is president but agree to support them when a Democrat moves into the White House.
Now We Impeach Jay Bybee
01/30/2010 David Swanson
No one disputes that Jay Bybee's name is at the bottom of memos that were, and to some extent still are, treated as laws which legalized aggressive war at the pleasure of a president and a variety of acts of torture. For many months the House Judiciary Committee has had two excuses for not impeaching Judge Bybee, even while proceeding with the impeachments of a judge for groping and another judge for petty corruption.
The Eikenberry Cables Turn Sun Tzu on His Head
01/30/2010 Chuck Spinney
In the opening line of Book 1 of Sun Tzu's classic, The Art of War (circa 400 BC), the first treatise ever written on the subject, the Chinese master said,"War is a matter of vital importance to the State; the province of life and death; the road to survival or ruin. ...
Tony Blair Forced to Testify on War Crimes
01/29/2010 David Swanson
Former prime minister Tony Blair's testimony was streamed live at 4:30 a.m. ET at the Iraq Inquiry website and on other sites, such as the UK newspaper the Telegraph which allowed viewers to rank Blair's responses on a "Lie Meter". Telegraph readers' top desired questions pre-hearing were:
What Bush Did to Haiti
01/18/2010 David Swanson
If a group of dedicated scholars, attorneys, journalists, and activists had tried to generate a comprehensive list of impeachable offenses committed by George W. Bush as president, and only 35 of them had been introduced into Congress, one of the many discarded ones, in rough and overly detailed form, might have read something like this.
Good News: Will We Hear It?
01/11/2010 David Swanson
Whenever I write about U.S. politics, people ask me "Don't you have any good news?" (Unless the Republicans are in power, in which case people ask me "Who are you going to vote for?") But I do have good news, boatloads of good news, if Americans want to hear it.
Bring Back the Signing Statement
01/11/2010 David Swanson
Having denounced for years the presidential practice of altering laws with signing statements, I now want the practice restored, because the current president has created something even worse.
Request Filed for OPR Report on Bush's Lawyers
01/07/2010 David Swanson
An organization of attorneys, journalists, and advocates today filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act requesting the long-suppressed report from the Department of Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) regarding the conduct of President Bush's top lawyers in the Office of Legal Counsel who authored memos purporting to authorize torture and aggressive war.
Shooting Handcuffed Children
01/02/2010 David Swanson
The occupied government of Afghanistan and the United Nations have both concluded that U.S.-led troops recently dragged eight sleeping children out of their beds, handcuffed some of them, and shot them all dead. While this apparently constitutes an everyday act of kindness, far less intriguing than the vicious singeing of his pubic hairs by Captain Underpants, it is at least a variation on the ordinary American technique of murdering men, women, and children by the dozens with unmanned drones.
McCain Could Have Meant Less War
12/30/2009 David Swanson
After two stolen elections by Bush-Cheney, an election of Grandpa John "Bomb Bomb Iran" McCain and his sorority president sidekick -- whether honest or blatantly stolen and tolerated -- would have said something hugely depressing and debilitating about the American people. But arguably it could have saved a great many lives around the world. Here's how.
No, We're Not a Broken People
12/29/2009 David Swanson
In 2004 I began speaking at rallies and forums around the country on issues of peace and justice, something I've done off-and-on ever since. Up through 2008, it was extremely unusual for questions from the audience to consist of pure defeatism. In 2009, it was rare to get through a Q&A session without being asked what the point was of trying.
An Avatar Awakening
12/28/2009 David Swanson
Let's face it, if James Cameron had made a movie with the Iraqi resistance as the heroes and the U.S. military as the enemies, and had set it in Iraq or anywhere else on planet earth, the packed theaters viewing "Avatar" would have been replaced by a screening in a living room for eight people and a dog.
Want to know how the MICC Operates? ... Read This!!!!!!
12/23/2009 Chuck Spinney
The attached article written by my two good friends Winslow Wheeler and Pierre Sprey is one of the very best case studies describing how the incredible corruption of critical thinking that prevails in the day to day life of the Military - Industrial - Congressional Complex (MICC) produces techno trash.
Health Insurance Mandate vs. the Constitution
12/23/2009 David Swanson
Does the United States Constitution allow Congress to force people to purchase a product (health insurance) from a private corporation, and fine them or tax them if they refuse? The answer is a matter of debate, but there is little dispute that such an act of Congress would be unprecedented.
Resolutions, Not Hopes
12/21/2009 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.
Look Who Just Funded the Escalation
12/16/2009 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 has already happened.
Wars or Jobs: Decide Now
12/12/2009 David Swanson
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!
Why the Time for Afghan Analysis is Over
12/11/2009 Chuck Spinney
Check out this so-called after action report on the situation in Afghanistan. The author is Barry McCaffrey, a retired four-star Army general, and he prepared this report, dated 5 December 2009, for Colonel Michael Meese, a professor at West Point. McCaffrey's report contains some useful information, but for the most part, it is merely rhetorical or descriptive of inputs, as opposed to being an analysis linking inputs to real world outputs. Put bluntly, it does not appear to be connected to reality...
Unemployment Insurance in a War Bill
12/11/2009 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.
Welcome to Hopenhagen! (or how to get arrested really easily)
12/10/2009 Logan Price
[Our long time collaborator Logan Price is at again. This time in Copenhagen. He's agreed to blog while there and we'll be posting his writings here. To sign-up for his tweets or email notifications visit - http://thedispatch.info]
Here is a brief update from my first day here. After a long flight to Paris and another smaller leg to Copenhagen I found myself wandering rather aimlessly looking for info about where to go and what to do - how to plug in. I had wiped all such info from my computer, in a fit of customs paranoia after being denied entrance to Canada on the basis of activism last week. So I ended up, after some vague directions, at a place called Christiania, a squatted city of a thousand, which has now practically become a historic underground center in Copenhagen.
Obama's Rejection Speech
12/10/2009 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.
The Folly of the McCrystal-Obama Policy
12/09/2009 Chuck Spinney
Worse than pretending a simplicity of enemies, the hubris of the McCrystal-Obama policy America has now set out to embroil Pakistan and Afghanistan in a deeper conflict
News from the Counting House
12/03/2009 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.
WAR: Not the President's Decision
12/02/2009 David Swanson
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.
Afghanistan: Our 177th Colony
11/30/2009 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.
Bush's Fate and Bugliosi's New Movie
11/24/2009 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).
IRAQ MASH
11/20/2009 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.
Why Can't We Do to DC What We Did to Seattle?
11/18/2009 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.
Come Together Right Now
11/12/2009 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 Empire," by my friend and ally Bruce Gagnon.
Our Debt to Italy
11/10/2009 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.
How to End Wars
11/07/2009 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 when it comes to stopping our wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, our citizens are less clear how to go about it.
Between Hate Speech and Adoration
11/02/2009 David Swanson
Room needs to be created for other types of speech. We must be able to criticize and even legally prevent incitement of political violence, while at the same time examining what has made some people susceptible to that kind of talk, and while simultaneously speaking honestly about the failings of the people being targeted.
Congress Must End Torture
10/28/2009 David Swanson
A Call for Congress to Take Action on Torture ADD YOUR NAME TO THOSE OF 83 HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS AND LEADERS
States Permitted to Worsen But Not Improve Healthcare?
10/27/2009 David Swanson
The absence of a civilized healthcare system in the United States, almost alone among wealthy nations, results in tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths every year. But if something is to be done soon to save lives it is not going to be done in Washington, D.C. It is going to be done in Sacramento, Harrisburg, Columbus, Springfield, Augusta, Denver.
Fox IS News, Bad News
10/27/2009 David Swanson
It matters because there is a more destructive force in our communications system than a transparently rightwing buffoons gallery. That destructive force is the persistent myth of "objective" "viewpoint-free" reporting.
Blocking Escalation of War Not Good Enough
10/22/2009 David Swanson
Why is it that every time we elect "peace" candidates we defund the peace movement, stop calling for an end to wars, and limit our demands exclusively to opposing war escalations?
Your Town Can Demand Justice More Powerfully Than You Can
10/21/2009 David Swanson
Most city council members take oaths to defend the Constitution. The Constitution makes the rights and standards in its amendments and in international treaties the supreme law of the land. Our nation has a rich tradition of local governments lobbying state and national governments through the passage of resolutions. Under Clause 3, Rule XII, Section 819, of the Rules of the U.S. House of Representatives local governments may petition Congress. Under the First Amendment, we all can.
Tom Donohue and the Chamber of Open Secrets
10/20/2009 David Swanson
Pulling pranks on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is just too easy. The Yes Men held a press conference this week pretending to speak for the chamber and fooled the journalists in the room, because "We are no longer going to promote the destruction of the earth's climate" is such a compelling position that it's very tempting to imagine that any human being could adopt it.
Will You Love Every Future President?
10/15/2009 David Swanson
October 7th marked the eighth anniversary of the Bush administration's invasion of Afghanistan and so of the... well, can we really call it a war?... that won't end, that American commanders there now predict could last for another decade or more. And yet, here's the weird thing: because Congress no longer actually declares war, we officially must be fighting something else entirely. Put another way, we are now heading for the longest undeclared war in U.S. history (depending on how you count up the Vietnam years).
Rep. Obey Joins Us Idiot Liberals
10/08/2009 David Swanson
Congressman David Obey (D., Wis.) is the Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. He's in charge of spending our money. And until this week, he has always maintained that spending hundreds of billions of our dollars on wars was something he just had no choice about.
Top 15 Reasons to Get Out of Vietghanistan
10/07/2009 David Swanson
1. The planning of 9-11 was done in hotels and apartments in Germany and Spain, and flight schools in the United States. Even Paul Pillar, former CIA deputy chief for counter-terrorism will tell you that an al Qaeda base in Afghanistan would not significantly increase threats to the United States.
Who SHOULD Decide About War?
10/03/2009 David Swanson
Who actually does: the media, weapons companies, the permanent government, presidents (including simply by decreeing a "war on terror", through misspending, lying, simply acting, signing treaties), political parties, culture (the one Biden lives in, in which Israel's sovereign right to attack Iran is uncontroversial), soldiers who obey illegal orders and the culture that leads kids to that place.
McChrystal Must Testify
10/02/2009 David Swanson
On Thursday, 22 Democratic congress members introduced a bill to deny funding to any escalation of war in Afghanistan, and 60 Democratic senators voted that Congress should not even speak to a general about that war until after the president has decided whether to escalate it. These two actions come out of very different understandings of war powers.
The Conyers-Bybee Love Affair
09/24/2009 David Swanson
There is strong evidence that John Conyers, Patrick Leahy, and most of the rest of us are in love with torture-lawyer Jay Bybee. I'm not talking about sexual love and wouldn't, because people's lives are lost to such bread-and-circuses journalism every day. I'm talking deep personal devotion.
No Good War, No Good Drone
09/22/2009 David Swanson
Eight years of slaughter, and not so much as a hint at what a "victory" would look like. It's gotten to the point where even polls by Fox News show a majority of Americans against escalating the war in Afghanistan, and polls by more honest organizations show a majority wanting to bring home the troops that are there now.
Dallas Does Progressivism
09/21/2009 David Swanson
This past Saturday, I joined in a protest at a former president's house, took part in a four-hour progressive politics forum in an enormous theater packed with an enthusiastic crowd, and spoke at a fundraiser for GI resistance in a giant gay cathedral, all in the heart of the hinterlands: Dallas, Texas.
Virtual JFK, Actual Johnson
09/14/2009 David Swanson
"Virtual JFK" actually consists of a review of the evidence from Kennedy's actions before he died and of the situation that confronted Lyndon Johnson as president, thereby making the case that had Kennedy lived we would not have seen a full-scale war in Vietnam.
Army's Shopping Mall Hall of Death Closed
09/14/2009 David Swanson
The Army Experience Center, an amusement hall built in a Philadelphia area shopping mall to make killing and dying look like fun to kids, has been the focus of repeated protests and criticism. This past weekend hundreds again protested at the AEC, and police arrested six protesters and one journalist. The journalist was not with the protesters, and was picked out of a crowd, apparently because of her professional camera.
Go Inland, Young Progressives!
09/12/2009 David Swanson
Separating the Midwestern state of Ohio, where soda's called "pop" and workers are sometimes allowed to unionize, from my East Coast home state of Virginia, where a governor perched on a diseased branch of my own family tree gave the nation its first right-to-work-for-less law, is nothing other than the beautiful and brutal mountains of West Virginia. As you climb those mountains headed west two things plummet to the valleys below: the employment rate and the price of housing.
I'm Finally Hopeful
09/07/2009 David Swanson
I'm a progressive and you're a progressive, but I'm starting to find reason to hope as you're coming off a giant sugar high and plunging into the deep despair of one betrayed and scorned. What gives?
At the Beck and Call of a Sunshine Patriot
09/07/2009 David Swanson
Fox News screaming head Glenn Beck now tells President Obama to fire White House employees, and Obama obeys. While Obama presumably believes obedience will cause Beck to like him and begin praising him, Beck is building a list of additional people whose heads he will demand and denouncing Obama as hiding vast secrets by having complied with the demand to fire Van Jones.
There Are So Many Days That Have Not Yet Broken
09/04/2009 David Swanson
I got pulled over for speeding in Texas yesterday and the officer looked like the kind of guy who dreamed about using his taser. So when he asked for my license and registration, I slowly got them out and handed them over.
Day Is Breaking
09/01/2009 David Swanson
With help from BBC, my new book "Daybreak" is now, on its first day of publication, ranked on Amazon.com as the #4 politics nonfiction book, the #7 nonfiction book, and the #22 book, not to mention the #1 leaders and leadership book, the #1 criminal law book, and the #1 law enforcement book.
Hurricane Dubya Four Years On
08/29/2009 David Swanson
Hurricane Katrina is not as sexy as torture, but has killed more people and ruined more lives, and -- like many non-natural disasters in recent years -- has a chief culprit who has now settled in at 10141 Daria Place, Dallas, Texas, where he clears very little brush and where -- to my knowledge -- not a single politician or journalist or author has sought his wisdom on the affairs of the past seven months. George W. Bush, who should face nonviolent protest every minute of his life while he remains at liberty, knowingly abandoned an American city and nearby towns to a predictable and predicted natural disaster four years ago this week, and for years refused to repair the damage.
Torture Memos in a Book
08/28/2009 David Swanson
The New Press has just published seven of the torture memos with a 40-page introduction by David Cole and a 3-page forward by Phillipe Sands. For those who prefer books to lengthy PDFs or printouts thereof, this is a real service. If we were a literate society, a book like this would put a number of important people behind bars.
Holder's Bad Applism and Our Own
08/28/2009 David Swanson
Attorney General Eric Holder is addressing a war crime without addressing the wars, and is focusing on the lowest ranking participants in that crime without addressing its status as official policy established by higher ups and openly confessed to by a former president and vice president. This is bad applism, the same approach that has held a handful of recruits responsible for Abu Ghraib, claiming to thereby remove bad apples from a good system. But Congress' and the public's approach to the horrors of the past eight years is driven by our own bad applism, by our belief that the departure of Bush and Cheney in itself significantly repaired a system of government that is rotten to the core.
Bush Tortured
08/28/2009 David Swanson
It seems almost trivial to accuse someone who launched an illegal war that has killed over a million people of torture. But if we are going to prosecute the lowest ranked torturers, it makes sense to look up the chain of command.
Seattle Healthcare Forum - Just the Facts
08/19/2009 Dan Schueler
Jim McDermott appeared at the Hall at Fauntleroy for a healthcare forum on August 12, 2009. Only a few of the racist Birther-Teabaggers showed up outside the hall with their ignorant signs, and only once during McDermott's presentation was he heckled. Even the heckling wasn't very effecive, since half the audience told me they didn't even hear it.
Six Months of Immunity
08/06/2009 David Swanson Drafted in preparation for panel discussion at Veterans for Peace national convention August 7, 2009, on topic of "Holding the Architects of Illegal Wars and War Crimes Accountable."
Single Payer Summer
07/31/2009 David Swanson
The U.S. House of Representatives has committed to bringing single-payer healthcare to a vote following summer recess. Stranger things have happened, greater obstacles have been overcome, than what would be involved in winning that vote, winning in the Senate, and compelling the president to sign the bill.
Scholars, Writers, Artists, and Advocates Urge Attorney General Holder to Uphold the Rule of Law
07/29/2009 David Swanson
Several prominent Americans, including authors, artists, legal experts, and renowned voices of conscience, today transmitted a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder urging the appointment of a prosecutor to investigate allegations of torture and other violations of human rights and civil liberties committed by former government officials and others.
Change in the SOFA
07/29/2009 David Swanson
In November 2008, then President George W. Bush and then Puppet Nouri al-Maliki negotiated an unprecedented, unconstitutional treaty to "legalize" three more years of war in a manner not unlike the "legalization" of invasions, detentions, torture, and warrantless spying by secret decree of the Office of Legal Counsel in the U.S. Department of Justice.
A Joint Single-Payer Public Option United Front
07/28/2009 David Swanson
If you support a healthcare bill with a public option in it, chances are many single-payer advocates donýt trust you. If you supported that same bill in exactly the same way and also advocated leaving in it the language that allows states to create single-payer, those same missing passionate advocates might not line up perfectly with you, but many of them would be willing to work together -- or at least have a beer on a picnic table and talk about it.
Nine More Go to Jail for Single-Payer Healthcare
07/27/2009 David Swanson
Following a pattern of civil resistance in Washington D.C. and around the country, citizens in Des Moines Iowa on Monday risked arrest to press for the creation of single-payer healthcare, the establishment of healthcare as a human right, and an end to the deadly practices of Iowa's largest health insurance company, Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield.
US Troops Hiding in Iraqi Homes
07/24/2009 David Swanson
A few words from U.S. troops in Iraq, all quoted in Chapter 1 of Dahr Jamail's brilliant new book "The Will to Resist: Soldiers Who refuse to Fight in Iraq and Afghanistan":
The Risks of a Partial Prosecution
07/24/2009 David Swanson
If Attorney General Eric Holder creates a special prosecutor for torture but forbids him or her to prosecute the lawyers who facilitated torture or the top officials who ordered it, proposing to go after only torturers who exceeded the limitations outlined in the lawyers' memos, what are the risks?
Healthcare and Free Press: Two Human Rights We Lack
07/22/2009 David Swanson
Another name for "what's called a single-payer system" would be: healthcare as a human right, not a commodity to be purchased. Many humans have this right. They just aren't Americans.
Single-Payer Healthcare Gets a Vote
07/22/2009 David Swanson
Congressman Anthony Weiner (D., N.Y.) has introduced an amendment in the House Energy and Commerce Committee that would replace the convoluted please-the-public-and-the-insurance-companies-at-the-same-time healthcare bill with the single-payer plan found in HR 676 and backed by 86 members of Congress.
If Media Were Any Good
07/21/2009 David Swanson
A week ago, I published a report on 1,200 photos of U.S. torture that I have examined but the public at large has not seen. I talked about the photos on a few progressive radio shows. I received calls from some advocacy groups that have been trying for years to get hold of these photos. But I received not one single inquiry from the corporate media. Even most good blogs ignored this story despite a handful of prominent blogs promoting it. This started me thinking and fantasizing: what would the world look like if we had major media outlets that were worth more than a warm bucket of spit?
Not What Obama Promised
07/20/2009 David Swanson
In six months as president, Barack Obama has aggressively done the opposite of many specific things he explicitly and unequivocally promised as a candidate. A lot of these were things Obama's fiercest opponents never wanted. And Obama's fiercest supporters favor censoring this information. But if we expect public servants to be public servants, the public must know the facts, make of them what it will.
House Lets States Do Single-Payer Healthcare
07/17/2009 David Swanson
On Friday morning at 9:45 a.m. ET in the House Committee on Education and Labor, the committee members voted 25 to 19 to pass Congressman Dennis Kucinich's amendment to the healthcare reform bill.
Will Congress Ban States from Providing Healthcare?
07/16/2009 David Swanson
The healthcare legislation under consideration in Congress would prevent states from improving on what Congress creates. An amendment is under consideration right now in a House committee that would change that, leaving the federal initiative as is but permitting states to do better.
Happy Fifth Birthday to BBC Ally PDA!
07/14/2009 David Swanson
The most useful tool progressive political activists have in the United States, at the local, state, and national levels, was created from scratch five years ago, and has been developed and sharpened while proving itself time and again in each and every week since. Progressive Democrats of America has stood strongly behind truly progressive, majority positions more consistently than any other activist group with national weight that I'm aware of. And at the same time, PDA has maintained good working relationships with more members of Congress than probably anyone outside of corporate lobbyists. How can this be and what should it teach us?
I've Seen 1,200 Torture Photos
07/13/2009 David Swanson
This moment, in which the Attorney General of the United States claims to be considering the possibility of allowing our laws against torture to be enforced seems a good one in which to reveal that I have seen over 1,200 torture photos and a dozen videos that are in the possession of the United States military.
Two Ways to Pay As You Go
07/08/2009 David Swanson
The day after ramming through nearly $100 billion more for wars and $100 billion in loans to European banks through the IMF, the majority leader in the U.S. House of Representatives, Steny Hoyer, introduced a "PayGo" bill, requiring that any spending be paid for with cuts in other spending. But having this law on the books would not have stopped the previous day's legislation.
March on Congress or President?
07/07/2009 David Swanson
It might be ideal to protest, pressure, and lobby both the Congress and the president, but if you have to choose the top priority, which is it?
A Plan to End the Wars
07/03/2009 David Swanson
There are a million and one things that people can do to try to end the U.S. wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, and to prevent new ones in Iran and elsewhere, as well as to close U.S. military bases in dozens of other nations around the world. Certain people are skilled at or interested in particular approaches, and nobody should be discouraged from contributing to the effort in their preferred ways. Far too often proposals to work for peace are needlessly framed as attacks on all strategies except one. But where new energy can be created or existing resources redirected, it is important that they go where most likely to succeed.
Declaration of Indictment
07/01/2009 David Swanson
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with a gang of lawless thugs and insist on the appointment of a special prosecutor to enforce the laws of the land even against those until recently holding the reins of Power, a decent respect to the opinions of humankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Prosecution.
Cheney's Top Torture Lawyers Now Work for Obama
06/29/2009 David Swanson
We've heard of John Yoo and Alberto Gonzales, and maybe even Jay Bybee. Some of us recall John Ashcroft, Michael Mukasey, and even David Addington. William Haynes, Stephen Bradbury, and Douglas Feith occasionally make the news. If I had any say about it all 40 of these facilitators of torture would be universally known -- plus the eight more that readers of this article will call to my attention and angrily accuse me of trying to cover for by only being aware of 40. I would also make universally known the fact that two of the worst now work for President Barack Obama.
Rallies Around U.S. To Demand Accountability for Torture
06/22/2009 David Swanson
Thursday, June 25, 2009, has been designated Torture Accountability Action Day by a large coalition of human rights groups planning rallies and marches in major U.S. cities, including a rally in Washington, D.C.'s John Marshall Park at 11 a.m. followed by a noon march to the Justice Department where some participants will risk arrest in nonviolent protest if a special prosecutor for torture is not appointed.
What Bush Told Blair Could End the Wars
06/21/2009 David Swanson
The single most powerful, and yet largely ignored, document yet to emerge, might, now in 2009, finally, produce results. And, of course, it is our friends over in England who are, as always, two steps ahead of us.
It Could Happen to Yoo
06/18/2009 David Swanson
Sometimes, during a tsunami of bad news, it's nice to come up for a breath of encouraging air. The only way to do that this week that I know of is to read a beautiful 42-page order by a judge (PDF). Usually such things don't strike me as beautiful, but this one says that leading torture lawyer John Yoo can be sued in court by one of his victims.
Holder Refuses to Say Warrantless Spying Is Illegal
06/17/2009 David Swanson
In probably the most disturbing testimony to hit Capitol Hill since Attorney General Eric Holder appeared before the House Judiciary Committee in May and refused to rule out lawless detention or to agree that government officials can sometimes be prosecuted for their crimes, on Wednesday Holder appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee and, among much else, refused five times to agree that warrantless spying is illegal and unconstitutional. I spoke to Holder in April, and he assured me that I would be proud of my country. When?
In Congress: 32 Heroes, 21 Frauds
06/16/2009 David Swanson
The congressional elections of 2006 and 2008 were almost universally understood as shaped by public desire to end the war in Iraq. Last month, when a war supplemental spending bill (another $97 billion for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan) was expected to easily pass in the House with bipartisan support, 51 Democrats sought to please their constituents by voting No.
McGovern: I'm Voting NO on War $
06/16/2009 David Swanson
I just spoke with Keith Stern, communications director for Congressman Jim McGovern and asked him whether the report in Congress Now yesterday was true, that McGovern, who has been one of the most reliable members of Congress in opposing wars, would now be voting Yes on the war money.
Congressman McDermott's vote NO against a war supplemental for the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan may never have mattered as much as it will in the next 24 hrs. Nearly everyone has admitted that there is no military solution in Afghanistan and Iraq. The military continues to demonstrate that it is more expert in recruiting enemies than defeating them. It is time that progressives flex our collective muscle by saying NO to more money for occupations.
Single-Payer Health Care: How to pay for it
06/12/2009 Roger Fulton
At a recent meeting I attended on health care, one of the biggest topics of discussion was "What is the funding mechanism for single-payer?" I had no good answer for this at the time. I knew that the source of waste that would be eliminated under single-payer was the exorbitant overhead associated with for-profit health insurance companies, and the costs to medical providers related to managing multiple-payer plans and paperwork. What I didn't know was how to specifically realize those cost savings. Here are a couple funding examples.
Single-Payer health Care: How to pay for it
06/12/2009
At a recent meeting I attended on health care, one of the biggest topics of discussion was "What is the funding mechanism for single-payer?" I had no good answer for this at the time. I knew that the source of waste that would be eliminated under single-payer was the exorbitant overhead associated with for-profit health insurance companies, and the costs to medical providers related to managing multiple-payer plans and paperwork. What I didn't know was how to specifically realize those cost savings. Here are a couple funding examples.
Put Wars and Banksters on PAYGO
06/10/2009 David Swanson
On Tuesday President Obama proposed that any increases in federal spending on anything useful, such as healthcare or retirement security, must be balanced by cuts and savings to something else useful, such as healthcare or retirement security.
Why Would Anyone Oppose Torture?
06/09/2009 David Swanson
Someone recently asked if I could please explain to him why anybody would oppose torture. After all, we defend killing in wars, so why not defend torture? And wouldn't I torture to save my kidnapped child?
Moran for Virginia
06/08/2009 David Swanson
I ran into Creigh Deeds, candidate for Virginia Governor, at the farmer's market in Charlottesville on Saturday.
Stop the War Supplemental
06/05/2009 David Swanson
The House is about to vote on another supplemental spending bill for continued and escalated wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We're not accustomed to winning in our efforts to block war money, but the Democratic leadership has delayed the vote out of concern that we will.
Baucus Tells Single-Payer Advocates No
06/03/2009 David Swanson
Senator Max Baucus met Wednesday with advocates for single-payer healthcare, including Senator Bernie Sanders, and told them that he might drop criminal charges against 13 people arrested for speaking up in his hearings, but that he would not include any supporters of single-payer health coverage in any future hearings.
America's Future Moves Forward
06/02/2009 David Swanson
Every year in Washington, D.C., the Campaign for America's Future (CAF) convenes the largest conference of activists positioned anywhere to the left of wherever the center has drifted off to. Labor and community groups and civil rights groups play a big role, most of them strictly loyal to the Democratic Party. The focus is on domestic issues, and the approach is an inside strategy of nudging and honoring those in power. You can sense my cynicism, and yet this year I was very pleasantly surprised.
#1 Idea on Obama's Website
05/30/2009 David Swanson
The number one policy proposal on the president's website and now second most popular proposal over all calls for prosecuting Bush and Cheney.
Top Ten Proposals on Obama's Website
05/28/2009 David Swanson
You might want to hurry because the open government is about to close. Participation in the "Brainstorming" phase 1 of President Obama's online Open Government Initiative only lasts from May 21st to May 28th.
"Looting of America" Author Sees Opportunity in Meltdown
05/27/2009 David Swanson
I've just interviewed Les Leopold, who blames the recent financial disasters on trends that began over 30 years ago, explains how a great deal of Wall Street's "investing" has had as much connection to the real economy as fantasy baseball has to baseball, diagnoses the failures of labor and the left to resist the financialization of the economy, views the current situation with genuine optimism as a rare moment in which we might be able to make necessary changes to regulate finance and to shift money from a tiny group of billionaires to the rest of society, and explains why that latter step is needed to stabilize any economy.
Fantasy Finance and Real Fixes
05/22/2009 David Swanson
If you're like me you find it at least a bit disturbing that we're giving trillions of dollars to save the economy to the very people who wrecked it, and more disturbing that we're doing so without any solid basis for expecting to get much of it back and without making fundamental changes to prevent a repetition. But if you're like me, you also aren't 100 percent certain how a credit default swap works with a cubed collateralized debt obligation, much less whether such a monstrosity needs to be eliminated or reformed. What to do?
Does Cheney Make Obama Look Good Enough?
05/21/2009 David Swanson
Dick Cheney could make anyone look decent, honorable, and law-abiding by comparison. But is the existence of someone worse, no matter how many hours our media monopoly gives him, enough to make Obama's decisions acceptable? Let's look at their pair of speeches given on Thursday in Washington, D.C., and depicted as a debate by the media.
Too Slow Zelikow: UVA Backs Torture
05/19/2009 David Swanson
If I could feel more shame over my country's torture it would be over my university's support for torture. The University of Virginia, which has long paid its employees poverty wages while increasingly becoming a major partner of the U.S. military and its "intelligence" operations, nonetheless still holds for me an image of individual honor and principle. I still imagine that UVA students and professors, staff and alumni, can be expected not to stoop to the lowest possible forms of human behavior.
Proof that Single-Payer Healthcare Saves Employers Money
05/13/2009 Hank Hawkins
Who is looking out for the people instead of looking out for Big Business? Not the Republicans, and the same holds true for Democratic Senator Max Baucus and his sidekicks who show no respect for single-payer advocates. One of the many arguments that the Right Wing presents is that businesses cannot afford to pay for single-payer. The following is evidence that that is not true, compared with what businesses pay under privatized healthcare today. With single-payer, employers would save 71%.
In the Name of Womanhood and Humanity
05/08/2009 David Swanson
Imagine that tomorrow you begin to feel ill and rush to the hospital where you are eventually diagnosed with a horribly debilitating and probably incurable disease. Within a week your body and mind have deteriorated drastically. You cannot dress yourself. You have difficulty getting out of a chair or walking at all. You have no control over your bowels. You literally lack the sense to come in out of the rain or not wander into traffic. You are a danger to yourself and require a fulltime caregiver, one or more people of infinite patience and devotion who can turn their own lives into the handling of your life 24-7. And what if there is nobody who can do that for you? What if you are on your own?
Give That Man a Spineless Citation Now!
05/07/2009 David Swanson
I can't recall a better corporate news video segment in at least the past decade than the story that Ed Schultz just aired on MSNBC in which he interviews Margaret Flowers of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) and Senator Debbie Stabenow on the topic of healthcare reform.
An Even Worse Bybee Memo
05/04/2009 David Swanson
Jay Bybee wrote another memo that nobody has noticed, one purporting to authorize crimes far worse than torture, the same crimes the torture was itself intended to create false justifications for.
Give Everyone Healthcare
05/04/2009 David Swanson
Our nation has more money than any other, more weapons than all the others combined, and a majority of its citizens believing it is, in some undefined sense, superior. But the people who live in the United States trail many other nations in basic measures of health and well-being. Almost uniquely among wealthy nations, we leave tens of millions of our citizens without health coverage, and many times that number with insufficient -- albeit expensive -- health insurance. We pay more per capita than anybody else for healthcare, and we get dramatically less for it. What gives?
The Wrong Torture Question
04/28/2009 David Swanson
When Americans get "ethical" these days they ponder the great moral mysteries, like "Is public health coverage fair to insurance companies?" or "If we increase the military budget but reduce one section of it, can the whole world still be safe?" or "Would you still oppose torture if it worked?"
ICC and a Rogue Empire
04/28/2009 David Swanson
One of the best books published in Canada last year is one of the best books published in the United States thus far this year:
Torture Is Foreplay for War
04/27/2009 David Swanson
When did recent U.S. torture begin on a major scale? When September 11, 2001, provided a weak excuse to attack Iraq, an excuse that would need some bolstering. When did Bybee send the CIA a recipe for torturing Abu Zubaydah? A week after the Downing Street meeting. When did our government waterboard Khalid Sheikh Mohammed 183 times? The same month the bombs destroyed Baghdad. When did the intense torturing of key figures stop, although the routine torturing of thousands of people continued? As soon as the war on Iraq was underway.
Personal Torture Laws: Your Tax Dollars at Work
04/16/2009 David Swanson
On August 1, 2002, then-Assistant Attorney General of the United States Jay Bybee sent an 18-page official memorandum from the Office of Legal Counsel to the Acting General Counsel of the CIA John Rizzo.
Obama Protecting Bush from Spain?
04/16/2009 David Swanson
The official story is that Spain has decided not to prosecute Bush's torture lawyers. Yet the known facts suggest something else entirely.
Bring back the guillotines
04/14/2009 Chuck Spinney
Bill Moyers conducted a fantastic interview with Professor Bill Black, a specialist in securities fraud, on April 3. I found the interview fascinating, because the scam in the banking industry is so similar to the scam in the Pentagon, only the scale of the fraud perpetrated by the bankers made the milcrats in the Pentagon look like pikers. Barron's did their own interview with Black - check it out...
Perfect Politicians: Grading Congress on a Curve
04/10/2009 David Swanson
Raise your hand if you recall the 110th Congress (2007 - 2008) as having spent two years funding a war in Iraq that it had been elected to end, increasing the military's bloated budget, and adamantly refusing to hold war criminals accountable?
On Civil Liberties: Obama = Bush ?
04/08/2009 Roger Fulton
It is with great distress that I must continue to report that Obama and his administration are performing horribly in the area of upholding the US Constitution and protecting the civil liberties of US citizens.
I had such great hope that the awful damage done to the Constitution by the criminal Bush Administration would be undone by Obama. It is clear now that Obama intends to not only perpetuate this damage, but to exacerbate it.
Although the Obama Administration is still young, it is clear what its direction is and will be on civil liberties and the defense of the Constitution.
Up Is Down: The Military Budget
04/08/2009 David Swanson
The largest military budget in the history of the world is being increased. Certain weapons are being cut back, others expanded. But the overall budget is going UP. However, you don't need me to tell you that. You've learned it from these fine news sources:
Geithner Plan: Maybe it is Time for a Second Opinion
04/07/2009 Chuck Spinney
Dean Baker, a respective liberal economist and Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, recently penned the attached critique of the Geithner Plan. His central point is a good one, I think: Namely that before President Obama and Congress take the plunge the cliff bailing out the banks who created the economic mess, perhaps he or the Congress or both ought to get a second diagnostic opinion, or better yet, a number second opinions.
Afghanistan: Two Lonely Acts of Courage
04/06/2009 David Swanson
One member of Congress stood alone 7.5 years ago against the original authorization to attack Afghanistan. And one member of Congress, a different one, stood alone last week against funding a massive escalation of that war.
Feith Dares Obama to Enforce the Law
04/04/2009 David Swanson
Doug Feith is bluffing big time, and he's lifted Dick Cheney and George Bush onto the table as his bet. Now if only he could stop visibly sweating.
Truth, Crimes, Commissions, and Hope
04/02/2009 David Swanson
Good news is being taken as bad. Vermont constituents of Senator Patrick Leahy report that he's finding very little support for his proposed truth and reconciliation commission from Republicans or Democrats in the Senate. Numerous people have taken this as bad news and cause to despair. I disagree. Here are ten reasons why.
MoveOn Is Not New to Supporting War
03/30/2009 David Swanson
While General David "Betray Us" Petraeus must be thrilled with his conversion from traitor to saint in the eyes of the pseudo-left and amazed that such things can be accomplished simply by changing the political party of the president, the group that formerly bashed him with an ad in the New York Times and now supports whatever Obama does is not as new to supporting wars as this simple story suggests.
Congress: Tell Them in Person April 4 - 19
03/25/2009 David Swanson
It's just spring, when the world is puddle-wonderful, and your representative and your two senators pack up their lingerie and come dancing from hop-scotch and toy soldiers to make the trek outside the Beltway for a well-earned vacation.
IACHR Hears Complaints Against US for Torture
03/24/2009 David Swanson
Leading human rights organizations in the United States on March 20th presented charges of human rights abuse and torture against the U.S. government to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), which can recommend actions, including prosecutions, to the U.S. government, other nations' governments, or the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
What More in the Name of Love?
03/23/2009 David Swanson
If there is a day for mass action in the United States for peace and justice, April 4 is it. And if there is a place for it right now, it's Wall Street. April 3rd is a Friday, so more robber barons will be at "work" that day, but April 4th is a Saturday, so more of the robbed will be off work and able to take part. April 4 is also the anniversary, not only of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, death in 1968, but of his speech exactly one year earlier at Riverside Church in New York City in 1967.
Iraq: Deaths Rise, Pretense We Care Fades
03/22/2009 David Swanson
While the U.S. media obsesses over teeny fractions of the trillions of dollars the U.S. government is giving to bankers, 130,000 troops and 160,000 contractors continue to occupy Iraq in the name of the United States, and very few Iraqis are convinced they will ever leave, while even fewer want them to stay.
Rotten at the Core
03/19/2009 David Swanson
--Remarks on March 19, 2009, in a park in which people are living in Richmond, Va., in front of offices of the Federal Reserve--
Spring Break for Iraq
03/18/2009 David Swanson
We're now at 6 years of bloody and horrific occupation of Iraq, and 7.5 years in Afghanistan. That means that most college students in the United States were not yet college students when this began.
Torture Revealed Yet Again
03/16/2009 David Swanson
As with the evidence that Bush, Cheney, and gang intentionally lied us into a war, or the evidence of illegal and unconstitutional spying, each time a major new piece of evidence of torture emerges, it is impossible not to hope that this is the one that will compel the Justice Department or Congress or the courts or the American people to act decisively.
You Are Friends With an Atheist
03/12/2009 David Swanson
If you live in the United States, you are almost certainly friends with at least one atheist, agnostic, nonbeliever, skeptic, or unaffiliated humanist, whether you know it or not. And your friend almost certainly endures prejudice and unequal treatment, whether you know it or not. And your friend is roughly as decent, good, loyal, honest, courageous, and generous as your other friends, and you know it.
Six Years of Illegal War: Demand Accountability
03/11/2009 David Swanson
We are fast approaching the end of the sixth year since the invasion and occupation of Iraq, and seven and a half in Afghanistan. There has been no accountability for the criminals who launched these wars of aggression. The current congress and president are continuing both and escalating one.
One Step Forward, Two Steps Toward Monarchy
03/10/2009 David Swanson
It has become almost commonplace, since the release last week of seven "legal" opinions written in 2001 and 2002 by the Justice Department, to remark that unbeknownst to us we came within an inch of dictatorship. And with President Obama announcing an end to torture and a new policy on signing statements, it is extremely common to speak as if we are moving quickly and deliberately in the opposite direction. But this picture is far too simplistic.
First Tour Stop, Tempe Arizona:
03/04/2009 Caitlin Perry
We arrived in Tempe Arizona with a warm, I should say hot, welcome by group the Local to Global Justice (localtoglobal.org), who organize an annual Teach-in Event hosted us and were enthusiastic and capable collaborators. They got over 500 in the Procession, teach-in, and workshops!
Demand Single-Payer on March 5, 10, 11th
03/03/2009 David Swanson
If you want everyone in the United States to have health coverage simply paid for by the government for less money than we spend now, eliminating all health insurance companies, but allowing you to choose any private doctor or hospital of your choice, and boosting the economy with a net gain of 2.6 million jobs ...
Lessons Learned, Vashon Island, Washington to Tempe, Arizona:
03/02/2009 Caitlin Perry
After our crew came from cold and wet winter in Washington and British Columbia we were very enthusiastic to drive down the west coast and find oranges growing on trees and break out shorts and sun hats. The trip down we got...lets say better acquainted with each other and Serendipity, Sara for short.
Power Shift in the Air
03/01/2009 David Swanson
This weekend in Washington, D.C., there was a lot of preparation for Monday's massive civil disobedience for clean energy at the Capitol power plant. Nonviolence trainings, sign creation, conferences. On Sunday night, just before it began snowing hard, I attended a gathering of authors, poets, singers, and the lead organizers of the action in a large university auditorium, and blogged as follows:
Why Dems Liked Mukasey Better Than Holder
02/28/2009 David Swanson
Democrats in Congress respected former Attorney General Michael Mukasey beyond any measure he appeared to have earned, and to the extent of fully expecting him to perform his duties even in the most difficult circumstances.
Putting War Waste on the Chopping Block, by David Swanson
02/05/2009 Bill Moyer
In the ordinary course of things in Washington, D.C., and on television, there are two separate conversations. In one conversation, everything that the government spends money on (schools, transportation, police, etc.) must be trimmed back to save money. In the other conversation, the expenses of wars and the military must be unquestioned. After what he said this week on ABC, it will be interesting to see whether Congressman Barney Frank is permitted on television anymore. He combined the two conversations.
ThanksHank.org - Tax Payers Revolt Over Wall Street Bailout
09/28/2008 Bill Moyer
Hey all - This is freakin' ridiculous (politically inept) that the GOP congress has been aloud by the Dems. to look like the populists. It is criminally incompetent that they blew this opportunity to call on those who benefited who made obscene profits from the bubble - such as - Hank Paulson and his friends on Wall Street.
Watch the 1 min. video at ThanksHank.org
Then join a tax-payer revolt by sending Spineless Citations to Congress and unpaid debts to Paulson - aka "Hank."
Obama vs The Old Fart
09/26/2008 Dan Schueler
Ok, I'll chime in. Obama looked Presidential, McCain looked like an old fart. Hey, I can say that, since I just had a birthday yesterday and I'm sure that according to my kids I should be considered an old fart myself.
Accountability or Impunity?
06/10/2008 Bill Moyer
It is really quite simple, the impeachment of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney is not a political ploy, and thus not subject to the fallible political calculus of the cynical career politicians or operatives. Impeachment is rather an ethical obligation to the future of our and our children's democratic republic. After all we have been through, and with the latest revelations confirming what many have been have known and written for years, our elected representative are obliged to uphold their oath to protect and defend the Constitution.
It is incumbent upon Congress to immediately establish a precedent of accountability. The only alternative to impeachment is impunity, which would be a dire violation of duty and a betrayal of the public trust.
Congressional Dem "leadership" engages in hand-waving to run out the clock
03/01/2008 Roger Fulton
I continue to be very dismayed by the lack of spine in the Democratic Party "leadership" in Congress. Instead of holding the Bush administration to account since taking the majority in January 2007, they have waffled and procrastinated with half-measures in order to run out the clock to the current election season, in which they believe they will make greater gains. Inside-the-beltway consultants have told them that it's more important to just sit back and let the R's look bad rather than holding them to account for their multiple treasonous actions.
Inherent Contempt: Part II
03/01/2008 Roger Fulton
(I sent this post to my personal email list on July 28, 2007. Given the current news regarding AG Mukasey and Congress's attempts to have Bush officials prosecuted for Contempt of Congress, I feel it's appropriate to repeat this post here, and now.)
Although this topic may seem to be in the realm of extreme wonkiness, I urge you to educate yourself about it, because it very well may be the case in the near future that progressive activists may find the need to begin demanding the exercise of Inherent Contempt from members of the House and Senate. In the same way that Pelosi preemptively took Impeachment "off the table," I have every reason to believe that she and other "leaders" may do the same with Inherent Contempt.
Executive Privilege: And you thought it was bad with Nixon!
03/01/2008 Roger Fulton
(I sent this post to my personal email list on July 20, 2007. Given the current news regarding AG Mukasey and Congress's attempts to have Bush officials prosecuted for Contempt of Congress, I feel it's appropriate to repeat this post here, and now.)
I hardly know where to begin on this issue. King George W. continues to issue orders that, as conservative Bruce Fein said, "even King George III" wouldn't.
I am going to list King George W.'s latest edict, and then describe what appears to be the only remedy to it. However, I will then argue that Impeachment is an even better solution.
This posting is pretty long, but if you take the time to read it, you will be pretty well informed about (1) how Bush/Cheney is defying all attempts by Congress to obtain testimony from administration officials, and (2) an arcane power of Congress that it may have to utilize in order to compel such testimony.
A More Perfect Union?
01/22/2008 Bill Moyer
Even if the marginalized, but righteous Dennis Kucinich -- or for that matter Jesus of Nazareth-- were elected President he would either be assassinated, impeached or stone-walled into irrelevance. I'm not saying that it doesn't matter who sits in the White House. We certainly have learned that it matters very much. But no current or imaginary candidate by their charisma alone would be able to dismantle the military-industrial complex or the American Empire and imperial aspirations. No one would institute public financing of election systems and return credibility to our election process. No one would have the political force to challenge corporate power such as that of the health insurance industry or big oil.
No one will be able to turn the tide of this country without a massive citizen movement pushing, supporting and leading this country toward the more perfect union we aspire to be.
Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton, ...
11/26/2007 Roger Fulton
If ever there was a time when Democrats don't have to be Republican-Lite Corporatists to "win" (although IMO there is never such a time), this is it. If ever there was a demand for a return to politics-for-the-people, for populism, for liberalism, for leaders who believe in their oaths to the Constitution, THIS IS IT!
My testimony to the FCC, with lots of resources
11/12/2007 Roger Fulton
At last Friday's FCC hearing in Seattle, I had the opportunity to speak before the commission. For that testimony and lots of resources on this event, keep reading.
Roger's Amazing Research on Torture, Mukasey, and Water Boarding
11/05/2007 Bill Moyer
Researcher Roger Fulton is often behind the scene, providing technical support to the Backbone Campaignýs projects. Whether editing of First 100 Days statements, engineering the Conversations with the Cabinet, or providing web support Rogerýs help is a key piece of what keeps us going.
For this week's action alert Roger compiled an impressive collection of information on the Mukasey nomination and hearings. Check out what he compiled on the history of water boarding: woodcuts, 16th Century accounts, and report from many experts. This material is in raw form, as he did not know I was going to present it to the public, but given the fight that needs to happen in the coming days, I couldn't keep this resource to myself.
Who's Talking About a Nuclear Free Middle East?
10/27/2007 Bill Moyer
As we march today across the country to end the occupation of Iraq, let's remember that while there is much we oppose, there is also plenty that we propose. One such proposal that has grabbed my attention lately is that of the establishment of a Middle East Nuclear Free Zone. At first, having not once heard such an idea in the American press, I thought that it was a new or obscure proposal. A quick google search proves it's not. It turns out that just this month the President of Egypt proposed it to the European Union. Mohamed ElBaradei discussed it with Sharon in 2004.
Prince Saud al-Faisal proposed it at a conference in London in 2006, that leaders of Syria, Jordan and even Iran's Ahmadinejad have proposed it. As I post the News of Prof. Stephen Zunes' First 100 Days statement on Oct. 27, 2008 and people march in the streets for peace, I thought that it would be helpful to link folks to just a few international stories on the subject so that we can collectively work to bring this sensible idea to the American debate on Iran, Middle East peace, and nuclear non-proliferation.
A telephone campaign to force congress to enact progressive legislation.
10/19/2007 Dennis Baer
I have a telephone campaign to force congress to end the war in Iraq, to pass a $10 an hour minimum wage and to enact single payer universal health care and enact a significant prescription drug benefit to replace the meager benefit in Medicare Part D.
Powerful Video on War Itself
10/18/2007 Bill Moyer
This video is made by veterans, featuring veterans. It is short and powerful, a great reminder of why we must abandon war, and quit pretending that it is a means to anything of value.
NOW can they impeach Bush?
09/26/2007 Dan Schueler
As the number of reasons for impeaching Bush goes into the thousands, along comes the front-page news (in Europe, not here) that Bush told the Spanish Prime Minister that he would invade Iraq no matter what the UN agreed to.
Feinstein enables another racist, homophobic, lifetime Bush judicial nomination
09/04/2007 Roger Fulton
Bush nominated another racist, homophobic person (Leslie Southwick) to a lifetime judicial position. Thanks to Diane Feinstein, Senator and wife-of-war-profiteer, this nomination made it out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Thanks to Blue Dog Dems in the Senate, it is believed to be nearly impossible to have this horrible nominee not confirmed by the entire Senate. BUT WE CAN TRY!
Gonzales: You just can't give the man TOO MUCH power!
08/17/2007 Roger Fulton
A little over a week ago, Pelosi and Reid, by virtue of their bringing the FISA bills to the floors of the House and Senate, enabled conferring huge amounts of spying-on-Americans power to Gonzales. NOW there is a move to have even MORE power given to our Torturer-in-Chief: allowing him to force states to truncate their own death-penalty-review processes.
I'll bet there were long periods in the history of Rome, or the U.S. Confederacy, for that matter, in which you could look at the overall economy and state how "great" it was. /*sarcasm on*/ The fact that those economies were dependent on slavery? PISH, TOSH...WHO CARES? We're talking about the health of the economy here, my friend! If some people weren't chosen by the gods to be born into a privileged class, well, that's not MY problem! /*sarcasm off*/
Two interesting stories came out back-to-back this week in the MSM; put together, they demonstrate the continued Banana-Republicization of the U.S.
King Richard Ain't Comin' ..!
08/10/2007 Saab Lofton
I don't care if historians can prove the existence of Robin Hood or not; the legend is more important than the man, and in that legend, Robin held the line against the forces of evil until King Richard could return and bring justice to England once again. Well, a similar (yet twisted) situation seems to be going on in America's political arena: There are far too many activists who ain't doing as much as they could be because they too are waiting for the return of a king ý in this case, it's a Democrat winning the White House. It's as bad as resting on your laurels like Achilles in his tent because you're waiting for the Biblical Rapture to occur!
Even with the Dems supposedly in the majority in the House and Senate, they still bend over in huge numbers to give Bush what he wants to spy on Americans! To give Bush/Cheney and their minions, especially AND EXPLICITLY Torquemada Gonzales, even MORE spying power! I used to think it was just a rumor that one of the requirements, for Democrats, before assuming a Congressional office was a Ritual Neutering; I now think that rumor is true! Even with poll ratings as low as Bush/Cheney have, even with huge numbers of people wanting them Impeached (a *majority* want Cheney Impeached!), Dems ARE STILL COWERING IN FEAR OF BIG BAD BUSH? WHAT A BUNCH OF WIMPS!
What I Learned About Being a Dick-Head
05/28/2007 Barbara Cummings
Visitors to the San Diego Zoo today had a surprise in store for them, the chain gang trio (Bush, Cheney and Condi) were bobbling their heads and performing their antics, dressed in prison stripes and waving big money around. I got to wear the Cheney head, which I reluctantly admit, means that I spent the morning being a Dick-head.
I'm so tired...tired of waiting...tired of waiting...
05/16/2007 Roger Fulton
...for SOMEBODY TO SOMEDAY FINALLY RELEASE PHASE II OF THE SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE'S IRAQ PREWAR INTELLIGENCE REPORT!!! Will I live to see this released? Will my grandchildren?
A Little Story
04/24/2007 Barbara Cummings
Hey, our big blog from EARTH DAY made it to www.michaelmoore.com and www.freewayblogger.com. Don in Seattle, thanks for the tarp idea! Now......
IMPEACHMENT- Use it or lose it.
04/15/2007 Bill Moyer
Some argue that no good can be achieved through impeachment. I am with the growing number who argue that the real danger lies in neglecting to impeach. If we still believe in America, as defined by the our Constitution, then only good can come from using the accountability tool it gives, and by beginning impeachment today.
Conflict of Interest
03/21/2007 Saab Lofton
Commentary: "I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to 'order' than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: 'I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action'; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a 'more convenient season.' Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will."
$124 Billion to Put Lipstick on a PIG?! NO WAY!
03/20/2007 Bill Moyer
MoveOn and Democratic Party leadership need to show some spine in regards to the current supplemental appropriations bill. Instead of playing the right against progressives, to undermine the base, Pelosi, democratic leadership, and MoveOn should champion strong language for "Operation Homecoming" and promise Republicans that each bill will get harder and harder on them. MoveOn needs to either get some backbone, or MoveOver.
Jefferson's Manual - Basis for State Legislatures to Call for Impeachment
03/16/2007 Bill Moyer
Governor Gregoire of Washinton State was presented a Spineless Citation on March 12, 2007, for interfering in an effort in the Washington State Legislature to send a Joint Memorial to the US Congress requesting "Investigation for Impeachment" of George Bush and Dick Cheney. Memorials for impeachment from state legislatures are one of the ways impeachment proceedings are allowed to be initiated, according to US House Rules, as written by Thomas Jefferson in what is refered to as the Jefferson Manual.
What Exactly Are the Democrats Changing About Our Occupation?
03/16/2007 Bill Moyer
As Leader Pelosi is apparently blocking Rep. Barbara Lee from offering an amendment to the supplemental appropriations bill to require funding to be used for an orderly withdrawal; she simultaneously allowed a provision that required funds not be used to attack Iran to be removed...
Have Inslee and Murray forgotten where their power originates?
02/27/2007 Bill Moyer
Rep. Inslee and Sen. Murray are the ones who are out of bounds. Truly progressive representatives would never try to keep the people they represent at bay. To the contrary, they would take off their tennis shoes and loafers, put on some "shit kickers" and fight with us, not against us.
Republicans Block Debate & Show True Colors
02/18/2007 Reda StCyr
This very reckless gang of thugs that continue to pollute our system of government and dismantle our very way of life have once again blocked legislation that would put a stop to the very destructive and damaging policies of this administration
Citizens Lobby Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA)
02/13/2007 Bill Moyer
Activist Matthew Gerbasi shot this video yesterday 2-12 outside Congressman Adam Schiff's office in LA as part of the Code Pink/PDA/IVAW Adam Schiff Stop the War! Day 1.
Leader Pelosi - Holt Has The Spine for the Job.
12/01/2006 Bill Moyer
The increasing politicization of intelligence poses a severe threat to our democracy. The Backbone Campaign has joined with a number of allies to request that you appoint Congressman Rush Holt (D-NJ) to chair the House Select Committee on Intelligence.
Representative Rush Holt (D-NJ) has actively fought against the politicization of intelligence, which is crucial for making wise policy choices. The leadership he exhibited in sponsoring H.Res 363, the Resolution of Inquiry calling for disclosure information on the outing of Valerie Plame is emblematic of his commitment to protecting the safety and integrity of our intelligence agencies.
Leader Pelosi, we know you have to take into account many factors when making this decision, but no political concern should trump the security of our country.
Congressional Oversight: What is it, and why do we need it?
10/25/2006 Roger Fulton
You've heard the phrase "Congressional Oversight" used frequently during the Bush administration, but do you really know what it means? Do you know the basis for Congressional Oversight? Is Congressional Oversight explicitly authorized by the Constitution?
Never Say Never Nancy. Defending the Constitution Is Not Optional!
05/14/2006 Bill Moyer
Contrary to recent statements by Democratic Party leadership, impeachment is a matter of principle, not mere politics. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and her colleagues swore an oath to "defend the Constitution." Americans and the health of our democracy depend on them standing by that promise.
Hearing on Feingold's Censure Resolution: WHO SHOWED UP?
04/01/2006 Roger Fulton
You can find lots of news about Friday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Senator Russ Feingold's resolution to censure George W. Bush for illegally authorizing the wiretapping of US citizens.
What I'd like to focus on in this post is: WHO SHOWED UP?
I wish I could dismiss the notion
02/24/2006 Greg Fuller
Like the Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena who was shot on her way to the Airport the Atwar Bahjat murder saddens me ,a bit of hope for mankind dies with each journalist silenced . And moreover, because the Sgrena episode had clear US involvement and given the murky explanations by our government , the non naýve must surely wonder about the circumstances surrounding this latest episode of Soviet styled media control .
Reverend Yearwood Makes a Stand
02/15/2006 Dan Schueler
Lennox Yearwood, a recent guest on Conversations with the Cabinet, stood up a few minutes ago at the Senate Katrina hearings and made some comments about People being thrown out in the street right now by Homeland Security.
Time to stand up!
01/29/2006 Dan Schueler
If there was ever a time to stand up to Bush, this is the time. Today and tomorrow we have an opportunity as never before (well, the last election might have been such a time, but they cheated anyway...) to stand up to Bush. We must all do everything we can to block the Alito nomination to the Supreme Court.
Defend our democracy. Filibuster Alito.
01/20/2006 Bill Moyer
My feeling about Alito's confirmation is that, like nearly every other action of the Bush administration, his nomination and potential appointment is not so much a huge travesty of justice as another chip in a bureaucratic, systematic chipping-away at the integrity of our democracy. Sam Alito is not Satan, but he is a justice who will almost certainly weaken Congress in favor of the Executive branch. The balance of powers is already in extreme jeopardy and a "Unitary Executive" is exactly the WRONG next step for our democracy right now. That's why Alito should be passionately opposed through filibuster.
Occupation Recruits Terrorists
12/09/2005 Bill Moyer
We need a foreign policy that recruits friends, not enemies. Studies have proven that our occupation recruits terrorists in Iraq and beyond. Continued occupation will continue to recruit enemies, alienate friends and undermine the legitimacy of the Iraqi government.
Sorry Cheney,
11/26/2005 Bill Moyer
Dick Cheney's accusation that Congress is losing its "Backbone" because it is challenging their Iraq "policy" abuses the metaphor. It also falsely implies that it was courage that garnered support for their war in the first place. It was not "backbone" that drove the politically vulnerable to support this war. It was fear.
Stonewalled Again: Yet Momentum Building
11/10/2005 Bill Moyer
Today Republicans once again undermined Congressional oversight by rejecting H. Res. 505 & 'No Show' Democrats Helped, but momentum is building, and grassroots coalitions are leading the way. Thank and Spank response is called for, before next push
Ethics in the White House?
11/06/2005 Dan Schueler
Yes, I know, an amazing concept. Yet today's pronouncement from Lord Bush that all workers in the White House will go through mandatory "Ethics Training" should give us hope. Sure, the training will be orchestrated by Harriet Miers. Yes, this is the same Harriet Miers that was Borked just a week ago by the Neo-Nazis in Bush's own party for being not conservative enough. The same Harriet Miers who said that W Bush is the "smartest man I've known."
Report from D.C.
09/26/2005 Kate Hunter
Today hundreds of protesters, beginning with Cindy Sheehan, were arrested during a civil disobedience action at the White House. One of those was my sister, Perry Reeve and another good friend, Amy Paige, both from Alaska. At this time as I write, I have no idea where they have been taken, or even what police authority arrested them.
President? Or Nero Impersonator?
08/30/2005 Dan Schueler
So what was George W. Bush doing while Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast? Playing golf. This time when disaster struck there can be no question that we all had plenty of warning, and yet he chose to fiddle around.
Security and Help at Home
08/30/2005 Dal LaMagna
Close to 5 million people live in the devastated coastal areas of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. About 26 million people live in Iraq.
We've got more than 118,000 National Guardsmen and women on active duty either in Iraq...
The Sheehan/Bush Possibilities
08/14/2005 Kate Hunter
August 14, 2005 Dear George W. Bush, As the person with the most military and political power in the world, you have nothing to fear from meeting with a grieving mother. When you finally meet with Ms. Sheehan, and I believe you will, that you open your heart and mind to the possibility of finding new connection during the encounter. I urge you to put aside the trappings of office, your reputed charm, and as one pained person to another, listen deeply from your heart, for the pearl of truth she may be offering. I hope and pray you find compassion.
What is one life worth?
08/11/2005 Dal LaMagna
How many American mothers and fathers and families are going through what Cindy Sheehan is experiencing? How many Iraqi families? I donýt believe that Bush doesnýt care about the dying young men and women. I think he knows this whole situation is out of his control; that he is overwhelmed and feels helpless. There are just too many parents to console, too much grief to confront, too many wounded soldiers coming home...
Why Are We in Iraq?
08/08/2005 Dal LaMagna
The initial reasons we were given for invading Iraq was because it hadnýt complied with UN weapons inspections and we needed to find and destroy Iraqýs WMDs... [Then] And Iraq has become the ýcentral frontý in the war on terrorý mission creep number four. Huh? How can the reason or reasons for conducting a preemptive strike against another country change after the fact?
Politics As Usual?
08/04/2005 Dal LaMagna
Why the sudden noise about withdrawal from an administration that has been adamant about not leaving until our job is done? Could it be that Congressional elections are coming up? Or could it be that the talk of withdrawal is simply a ploy with smoke and mirrors and untruths ý designed to offer hope to some while the killing still continues?
Iraq War Driving Our Troops Crazy
08/03/2005 Dal LaMagna
We were crazy to go into Iraq in the first place and now Iraq is driving close to one in three of our courageous soldiers crazy. Thirty percent of United States troops returning home face mental health problems three to four months after their return, according to Army surgeon general Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley.
My Opening Remarks for the Seattle DSM Event
07/24/2005 Bill Moyer
Today is potentially, with our combined energies a tipping point of historical proportions. We will not leave the writing of history to a clutch of ideologues bent on justifying their own excesses. Their Frankenstein of fear, misinformation, intimidation, retribution, and profiteering is nearing a potential collapse. It is up to us, citizens who wish to live in a reality based democracy to write our country's history.
Is Judith Miller a Hero?
07/08/2005 Kate Hunter
Here's my question. Is Judith Miller practicing the free speech doctrine so necessary to a democracy, or is she actually undermining it by supporting and protecting a possible dangerous criminal as she has supported and protected a war-time president?
Recount Blog - Day 180 of the Washington State Recount
06/06/2005 Dan Schueler
It looks like the Washington State Governor's Race might finally be over. That is, unless the Hypocrite Party continues to contest the election even beyond today, when their ridiculous lawsuit was finally dismissed.
Future of Iraq Should be decided by Iraqis
06/05/2005 Bill Moyer
Though, there is some truth in the maxim "You broke it, you fix it" it should be up to the Iraqi people, not Republicans, Democrats or The Nation magazine HOW the U.S. help repair the damage done.
Bill Moyers speaks out
05/20/2005 Dan Schueler
Bill Moyers (not our singular Bill, but the semi-retired media superstar) gave a great speech at the National Conference for Media Reform.
Exit Strategy from Iraq
05/12/2005 Kate Hunter
The key to a plan for U.S. and Coalition withdrawal from Iraq is to combine withdrawal with clear steps to insure Iraqi sovereignty. Here is one plan and one way for citizen involvement.
Hawaiian Senators Dishonest on Native Issue
04/28/2005 Bill Moyer
(So far,only one $50 donation has been made to run the Akaka-Inouye radio ads in Honolulu at $25 a spot. Check out the below feature article and then, please hit the donate button to sponsor an ad. Thanks-Bill)
"Despite overwhelming documentation that native Alaskans are turning away from supporting oil development in their special places, Senators Daniel Akaka and Daniel Inouye of Hawaii continue to rely on outdated, misleading, and even at times false information in their public statements defending their position on oil exploration in the Arctic Refuge." Jack Kelly, Green Flash News- Feature April 26, 2005
900 new inmates a week
04/25/2005 Kate Hunter
The United States incarcerates 900 new inmates a week, according to the NY Times, 4/25/05. This is an increase of 2.3 percent over last year, athough the crime rate went down. The United States incarcerates more of it's citizens than any other country. Sixty percent of those in prison are racial or ethnic minorities.
New Washington State Prison Will Squander Over 1 Billion In Next Twenty Years
04/19/2005 Bill Moyer
Washington State is on the verge of a Billion dollar boondoggle and we aren't hearing boo from the press. Instead of funding innovation in our criminal justice system, we are going to commit twenty more years to a failed model that will bleed social programs and abort innovation.
Bolton Nomination - Yet Another Outrage
04/13/2005 Dan Schueler
George W. Bush's nomination of John Bolton to be the US Ambassador to the UN is just the latest in a long string of completely outrageous appointments. So far he has been able to get away with all of those nominations.
Tom DeLay: Sweatshops, Sex Trafficking, and Saipan
04/12/2005 Roger Fulton
Of the many horrors perpetrated by the sick excuse for a human being named Tom DeLay, what sickened me the most were his actions in preventing the resolution of the sweatshops and sex trafficking in Saipan, a United States Commonwealth.
David Korten on the Wolfowitz Nomination
03/24/2005 Bill Moyer
We asked Author David Korten, a high ranking nominee on the Backbone Cabinet what he thought about the Wolfowitz Nomination. Check out his thoughtful musings:
Help bring home your state's National Guard troops from Iraq!
03/20/2005 Roger Fulton
A number of communities and groups around the nation are submitting resolutions which call on their Governor to exercise his/her power, as Commander-in-Chief of their state's National Guard, to work to bring home their state's National Guard troops presently serving in Iraq.
Senator Pat Roberts, (R-Kan.) Chairman, Intelligence Committee: "That was then. This is now."
03/12/2005 Roger Fulton
Remember when the Repuglies kept assuring everyone that "Phase 2" of the Senate Intelligence Committee's report on prewar intelligence on Iraq (you know, the part that would deal with whether or not the Bush administration deliberately altered or massaged the intelligence data) would have to wait until after the 2004 election? Well, here we are now, well after the election, and, gosh durn it, wouldn't you just know, them Repugly fellers are not going to hold to their promise. SHOCKING!!!
Washington State Senate to Vote on Reentry Bill for Ex-Felons
03/10/2005 Kate Hunter
SB 5339, the Senate Discharge Bill, sponsored by the Transition and Reentry Coalition will come up for a vote soon. It provides ex-felons tools with which to reenter society successfully without reoffending. Write or call your senator now.
My arguments on Social Security
03/09/2005 Roger Fulton
Are YOU buying the Republican argument that the United States Treasury Bonds in the Social Security trust fund are "a bunch of IOU's that can't be repaid?" I'M NOT...
"Senator Byrd is correct to equate Bush with Hitler"
03/09/2005 Roger Fulton
Senator and scholar Robert Byrd recently made very valid comparisons between the regimes of Hitler and Bush, WITH REGARD TO HOW BOTH REGIMES OBTAINED AND MAINTAIN(ED) POWER. Of course, the response of right-wingers bordered on statements like, "Can you belive that Byrd? He says that Bush wants to exterminate Jews!"
The Backbone Campaign hits the big time!
02/25/2005 Roger Fulton
AP has a widely-distributed article, "Liberal Groups Keeping Close Eye on Dean," that has prominent items about the Backbone Campaign, including quotes from Bill Moyer and listing of our URL!!
Dahr Jamail and Bert Sacks Speak on Vashon
02/21/2005 Kate Hunter
Dahr Jamail, the unembedded and independent journalist who has reported from Iraq on DemocracyNow!, the BBC, and written for the Nation, the Interpress News Service and the New Standard, was given a Spine Award from the Backbone Campaign. Bert Sacks, peace activist who is now taking on the media through a new organization Concerned Citizens for Responsible Journalistm (ccrj-wa.org), also received an award.
My Discourse with Saab Lofton on Movement and Party
02/19/2005 Bill Moyer
Saab: It's a bit early, but as of now, Hillary Clinton is currently considered a front runner for 2008 with Barak Obama as a VP. Since neither one of them is that leftist to begin with, could it be that the DLC's NEW plan is to con left-wing voters into thinking the Party's moved to the left JUST BECAUSE Hillary's a woman and Barak's black?
Bill: I think it's a really great point. I must admit that I enjoyed Barak Obama's speech at the Democratic Convention. I did sense that he had joined the club, and checked something important at the door.
The Internet, the FEC, and the Patriot Act
02/17/2005 Roger Fulton
Many of us have been saying for some time that the next step in the christo-fascist, neocon-death-cult plan to completely rule all media is to place restrictions on the Internet. It appears that the first moves toward this may now be happening....
Build No More Prisons
02/04/2005 Kate Hunter
Some thoughts from a former judge and active member of the Transition Reentry Coalition for Washington State.
"The only knock against Howard Dean is that he's seen as too liberal," [Scott Maddox, Florida Democratic chairman] said. "I'm a gun-owning pickup-truck driver and I have a bulldog named Lockjaw. I am a Southern chairman of a Southern state, and I am perfectly comfortable with Howard Dean as D.N.C. chair."
Criminal Justice Reform
01/12/2005 Kate Hunter
Criminal Justice Reform in Washington. In Washington State the Transition Reentry and Reform Coalition has formed to educate and move the legislature to pass legislation that will help ex felons have successful reentry into society after serving their prison time.
Recount Blog - Day fourteen at the Washington State Recount
12/21/2004 Dan Schueler
Today was the final day of the recount, at least as far as the teams of temporary counters were concerned. The county asked 24 teams of counters to come back, anticipating that more than 100 precincts would need to be recounted. It turned out that we only needed to recount 26 precincts, so the day didn't last long.
Recount Blog - Day thirteen at the Washington State Recount
12/20/2004 Dan Schueler
I started counting today with one of the Republicans I had worked with before, John, the guy in the kilt. He was worse than before, though. This morning he again had trouble counting, miss-counting the first two boxes twice in a row each. That meant that all the counting we did before the first break was a waste of time.
Recount Blog - Day twelve at the Washington State Recount
12/19/2004 Dan Schueler
Today didn't have much unusual stuff going for it, except that my Republican partner for the day was the same guy under discussion in yesterday's blog entry. Pretty weird, considering that we are paired randomly now and the chances for that happening were 1 out of 40.
Recount Blog - Day eleven at the Washington State Recount
12/18/2004 Dan Schueler
Kind of a short day at the Recount Facility, but a wild one. We started off with the same instructions from Garth, like make sure you double check your precincts, don't talk to the observers. He didn't threaten to sing a song today. Since I haven't mentioned Garth before, I'll explain. He's one of the high-up King County elections workers, and has started us off each day with instructions about anything new that has come up and a repeat of the standard instructions.
Recount Blog - Day ten at the Washington State Recount
12/17/2004 Dan Schueler
Our massive recounting crew made great progress with the recount today. We finished all of the absentee ballots at the end of the day, leaving only recounts of the recounts. That is, we now have to recount the boxes where mistakes were made or where an extra ballot was found in the wrong box.
Recount Blog - Day nine at the Washington State Recount
12/16/2004 Dan Schueler
On the way to day nine of the recount, I heard on the radio that among the ballots being considered, besides the 595 ballots where the county made a mistake in looking at the signatures, there are also 245 ballots where the "voter's intent is not clear." Those 245 ballots are the first to be returned to the Canvassing Board from the recounting process that I'm involve with along with a few hundred other people. I can say without a doubt that of those 245, there are at least four where the intent is completely clear.
Recount Blog - Day eight at the Washington State Recount
12/15/2004 Dan Schueler
Day eight started for me with a move to a new table, still in the recounting area. I still worked with Margaret, but we got a new recorder, a retired engineer named Joe. Joe had his own way of looking at what work we were doing, and wanted Margaret to change her method of counting.
Recount Blog - Day seven at the Washington State Recount
12/14/2004 Dan Schueler
The seventh day at the Governor's race recount was much like was much like the sixth. I was still on one of the recount recount teams. That is, we've been recounting some of the precincts that have already been counted. Most of the time that happens because someone finds a stray ballot that has been found somehow separated from it's precinct.
Recount Blog - Day six at the Washington State Recount
12/13/2004 Dan Schueler
The sixth day, Monday the 13th, was a slow-starting day. The county staff was still working out the kinks in their procedures, since they have never had to sort more than half a million absentee ballots before. They set up most of the room with tables for people to sort the ballots into number ranges.
Recount Blog - Day four at the Washington State Recount
12/11/2004 Dan Schueler
Day four of the recount was much less troubling. There were about half of the previous number of counters there, since it was the weekend and they wanted to let half of us have at least one day of the weekend off. They moved us to new tables, since some of the whole counting areas were populated by only a few counters. I stayed with the same County tally person from the day before, Jennie, but got a new Republican counterpart, a nice guy named Don.
Recount Blog - Day three at the Washington State Recount
12/10/2004 Dan Schueler
The real vote counting got underway this morning. We were all moved to new areas and given new partners, unfortunately. I like the guy I was partnered with before, the Coastie. My new partner is a Fire Commissioner from a rural area near Issaquah.
Here's an Interesting Website
12/10/2004 Tom Gross-Shader
I found an engaging website that outlines ways progressive Catholics are addressing "moral values" issues. The site is sojo.net, or www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=sojomail.current_issue#20 and is the website for Sojourners Magazine. Check it out.
How to influence DNC members regarding the next DNC Chair
12/10/2004 Roger Fulton
I've recently received some requests about how to contact DNC members about their choice for the next DNC Chair. There has been a lot written about and organized around this issue since the November 2 disaster.&
Recount Blog - Day two of the Washington State Recount
12/09/2004 Dan Schueler
The second day of the Washington State Governor's race recount wasn't quite as interesting for me, or most of the other workers, I imagine. My Republican partner continued to show his resourcefulness, something I think he got from his ten years in the Coast Guard. He switched one of the observer chairs for one of ours, so he got the nice cushy seat all day, or at least as long as we were there.
Friday, January 21st, at DNC National Headquarters
The Democratic Party will be selecting a new executive committee and party chair on February 12th. The Democratic National Committee has 440 voting members (click here for a full state by state list, so you can lobby them). This body will shape the future of the party and we cannot afford for the DNC to repeat the mistakes of the past. Progressives need to seize this opportunity to say, "We will not be taken for granted!" The DNC has relied on progressives to swell its ranks, while we hold our noses and sacrifice our values to provide a united stand against the worst president in American history." (see November's Update) Enough is enough. Progressives are not a threat to the Democratic Party. We are its only future. Without us, it is doomed to irrelevance.
Recount Blog - Let the fun begin - Day 1
12/08/2004 Dan Schueler
The first day of the recount procedure got off to a shaky start, for me at least. When I checked in, the election staff worker gave me the wrong badge. I went in to the main counting room, took my place and the rest of the workers filed in. As the staff told us what would be happening today, one of the other Democratic Party workers asked if there was a color code to the badges or not. He pointed out that I had a purple badge instead of the radioactive green badge all the other Democrats had. Damn! They made me a Republican!
Recount Blog - Inside at the Washington State recount
12/07/2004 Dan Schueler
I'm an official election counter for the State of Washington recount. I'll be keeping you all up to date on whatever I see during the recount that might be interesting. I expect it to be boring. I expect it to be tedious. Not my commentary, but the work. We start tomorrow at 8AM, Seattle Time.
Seattle Demonstration to Support Recount in Ohio
12/06/2004 Bill Moyer
A group of citizens with backbone have put together a noon rally at Victor Steibrueck Park in Downtown Seattle, TODAY, in support of the recount effort in Ohio. We got ours here, now wouldn't we all like to know exactly what went down in Ohio? While the Democratic party under its current national leadership seems to be unable to break from the 2000 model of running away with its tail between its legs, citizens are demanding more.
Washington State Democrats Showing Backbone!
12/05/2004 Bill Moyer
Washington State Democratic Party Chair, Paul Berendt, and especially Gubernatorial Candidate and Attorney General Christine Gregoire are doing everything right. They aren't backing down and they are taking the high road.
Am I Still a Democrat?
12/04/2004 Laura Hendrix
Lately, I'm sure there are many of us wondering where we are supposed to place our political alliances and energy. We have traditionally been democrats and in our hearts or traditions, we still consider ourselves as such. However, you may be asking yourself, "who are the democrats and what are they doing out there"? In the current two party system, I know that has been a question on my mind nearly every day since the November second elections.
Progressives Should Lead on "moral values"
12/03/2004 Tom Gross-Shader
Raise your hand if the "moral values" issue was a real kick in your gut. That"s what I thought. On November third I was pretty sure that the Democratic Party had bottomed out, but apparently our culture has also.
I feel both deeply sorrowful and angry as I witness the effect of the Bush Administration's policies on this nation and the world. Clearly, this President and the Republican controlled congress have no interest in bipartisanship, unless you share their disastrous ideology or cower under their intimidation.
Instead of offering a passionate, insightful critique and a compelling alternative, the Democratic Party has shied away from controversy and differences of opinion, leaving the impression that its members ought not take any stand on any principle, nor hold true to any value or ideal. As a consequence, I feel abandoned by the Democratic Party and its leadership.
How much more can we take?
11/24/2004 Roger Fulton DEMOCRACY IS FINE FOR UKRAINE, BUT NOT NEEDED IN THE USA Democratic Party leadership has nothing to say about this hypocrisy
"The Washington Post and other leading American newspapers are up in arms about the legitimacy of a presidential election where exit polls showed the challenger winning but where the incumbent party came out on top, amid complaints about heavy-handed election-day tactics and possibly rigged vote tallies....Of course, the election in question occurred in the Ukraine."
Progressives Need to Be Articulate About What We Are FOR.
11/21/2004 Bill Moyer Progressive Democrats of America are doing an excellent job organizing progressive Democrats around the country. This week they released a "Policy Statement," calling on Democratic Party leadership to "break the silence" on the bloodbath in Falujah, and the ongoing occupation of Iraq. Admitting the war was a mistake is an obvious first step, an excellent gesture from PDA, but it is not a plan, and not a policy. I suggest we encourage some amongst the progressive/peace/policy movement to get really specific with envisioning what a real progressive Iraq policy would look like, and then create pressure from the grassroots to support such a policy.
A future reality worthy of our children vs. a present reality of empire
11/16/2004 Amy Morrison
The Backbone Campaign is about to celebrate its one year anniversary in December. I first heard of the Backbone Campaign around its inception and thought, this is what want to dedicate all my free time on. I liked its melding of politics and art and its positive approach.
Alice Paul Election Day as a National Holiday
11/15/2004 Amy Morrison
The HBO movie Iron Jawed Angels is a dramatization of the courageous and tireless efforts of suffragists Alice Paul, Lucy Burns, and other members of the radical National Woman's Party. One of the things that struck me about the story was the relevancy of their challenges to those experienced by activists today in our post 9/11 nation.
Alberto Gonzales: Bush's long-time go-to guy for death and torture
11/13/2004 Roger Fulton
It appears that Senate Dems are already preparing to roll over and further display their lack of a spine. Regarding attorney general nominee Alberto Gonzales, Senator Joseph Biden said "I think he's a pretty solid guy." Even Patrick Leahy is prepared to zip Gonzales right through the confirmation process, after making a perfunctory show of asking a few uncomfortable questions.
"Strriiiike Three! You're Out o' There!!!" A Call for the Remaking of the Democratic Party"
11/09/2004 Bill Moyer
The Democratic Party leadership as represented by DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe and other DNC/DLC "centrists" has failed yet again. While they insist that progressives have no better home than the Democratic Party, and whine if anyone considers voting for a third party candidate, they have put forth bland, ambiguous platforms and losing candidates for more than three election cycles. Meanwhile the far right has co-opted the moral vocabulary of our nation and further consolidated power. The DNC/DLC calls to move yet further to the right will spell even worse defeat down the road and it is our obligation to ensure this does not happen.
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