In a recent interview on National Pentagon Radio, Neil deGrasse Tyson discussed the interactions between (1) the U.S. military and (2) astrophysics. The former is an enterprise that I consider evil and Tyson seems to consider mildly worthy of discomfort but the necessary producer of the research for which he lives. The latter is a field of human endeavor that Tyson
What If Governments Obeyed Laws?
Do we need new laws or adherence to the old ones?
Yes.
Both.
The United States has an ancient Constitution. It doesn’t ban slavery as punishment. It doesn’t ban bribery as campaign funding. It doesn’t protect the natural world. It doesn’t guarantee basic human rights to food, shelter, education, healthcare. Its system of “representative” government doesn’t fairly represent. New laws are needed.
On the other hand, the United States has numerous laws on the
Talk Nation Radio: George Monbiot on a New Politics
George Monbiot is an author, columnist for the Guardian newspaper and environmental campaigner. Among his books and projects are Feral: rewilding the land, sea, and human life; The Age of Consent; Heat: how to stop the planet burning and the concept album Breaking the Spell of Loneliness.
Stop Killing and Dying in Afghanistan: Now More Than Ever
The Richmond (Va.) Times Dispatch recently published an editorial, republished by other papers with the headline: “Remembering why we still fight in Afghanistan.” It’s a rather striking piece of writing, because it does not even attempt to offer a single reason why anyone would “fight”
Health Professionals Tackle War
When I discovered that militarism is one of the top destroyers of the natural environment, I piled that onto my case against war. I did the same when I found out war wasted more money than anything else, was a major promoter of bigotry and racism, was the primary justification for government secrecy and the erosion of civil liberties, was the top barrier to the rule of law and global cooperation, militarized local police, etc., etc. When I came to see how counterproductive war was, increasing
Giving Resistance a Good Name
It’s popular to refer to the political line of a major corporate party in the United States as something like “the resistance” when the other of the two parties is on the throne of what both parties have, over many decades, actively converted into an unconstitutional position of something wildly beyond old-fashioned royal powers. Around 2004 the Democratic Party line was to pretend to oppose wars. Around 2018 it wasn’t. So the “resistance” of that party’s
I’ll Be Speaking in Berkeley on October 13th
“Making the World Great for the First Time”
David Swanson speaking and signing books.
3-5 p.m. at Fellowship Hall, 1924 Cedar St., Berkeley, CA
October 13, 2018.
A CODEPINK Golden Gate event.
Audio: The World after 9/11 with Peace Activist David Swanson
Audio from Gorilla Radio
Latin America’s Second World War
Mary Jo McConahay’s The Tango War is an engaging, extensive, well-researched, well-written account of a topic that still manages to offend me. World War II is sacred history in the United States, the ultimate clash of pure good and evil, the fundamental origin myth of the military industrial complex. It is the top subject of books, films, and shows. Finding a novel angle on World War II that has not yet been exhaustively covered is, at this point, a significant feat. Finding a whole