Author name: davidswanson

What Is a Populist Caucus?

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By David Swanson

The largest caucus in Congress with 75 members is the Progressive Caucus. It even has one member in that bastion of regressivism, the United States Senate. The progressive caucus uniquely supports majority positions (majority outside of Capitol Hill, I mean) on domestic and foreign issues, on trade and the environment, peace and diplomacy, education and healthcare, speaking up for the poor, the powerless, and all the rest of us. Its positions are not perfect and often appear read more

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Perriello, Peace, and Justice

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By David Swanson

Peace and justice activists in Virginia’s Fifth District were thrilled last November when we and our neighbors replaced Congressman Virgil Goode with Tom Perriello. We got together and held a couple of meetings to discuss what we might begin talking with the new congressman-elect about. On February 17th we finally met with him. This brief report may prove somewhat useful to others meeting with their representatives and senators, and I’ve included links to useful read more

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Join the United for Peace and Justice Working Group on Accountability and Prosecution

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Join the United for Peace and Justice Working Group on Accountability and Prosecution:
http://unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=4024

and join United for Peace and Justice:
http://unitedforpeace.org/article.php?list=type&type=18

The UFPJ Working Group on Accountability and Prosecution works to achieve accountability and prosecution of high officials guilty of war crimes, including the supreme crime of aggressive war.

It is imperative that we prevent future wars and that we reestablish the rule read more

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Honestly, Judge, I Did It But Let's Look Forward

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By David Swanson

Now here’s a horrendously bad piece of thinking from a usually terrific website that occasionally lets loyalty to a political party trump common sense. Cynthia Boaz, who has written much better stuff, writes:

“In the wake of Sen. Patrick Leahy’s (somewhat) surprising and determined call for a Truth Commission to investigate the abuses of the Bush-Cheney administration, the Obama administration has been – to many progressives and those on the left of center read more

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A Plea to Rapists, Murderers, Thieves, and All Guilty Criminal Defendants

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If you want to partially redeem yourselves, please use the position you are in to help communicate a message to the country about the danger of letting far worse criminals than yourselves go free. Please publicly appeal to the courts to drop all charges on the grounds that its better to look forward than backwards. Please quote our president.

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UFPJ Promising Reform

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Nothing has actually changed yet, but the following changes have been promised by UFPJ:

— The Working Group on Accountability and Prosecutions will be permitted to have a listserve and a webpage.
— The Working Group will be permitted to submit items for inclusion in weekly Emails and in stand-alone emergency Emails, and to have someone respond with a yes or a no, and a why or why not.
— The Working Group will either be integrated into the “Yes We Can” campaign read more

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Dear Chairman Conyers

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I really hate to bring this up, but do you recall the many times you told us that you couldn’t uphold your oath of office and impeach Bush and Cheney because you were focused on electing Obama? Maybe you understood the problem with that from the start. If not, I’m guessing it’s dawning on you. If he was not a candidate who would be helped by enforcing the rule of law and upholding checks on the imperial presidency, then what reason might there be to think he would be a president read more

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UFPJ Violates Own Policies to Avoid Holding War Criminals Accountable

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United for Peace and Justice, Largest Peace Coalition in U.S., Abandons its Agenda in Order to Avoid Working for Accountability and Prosecutions

At a time when more and more organizations are speaking up for accountability, including AfterDowningStreet, Democrats.com, Progressive Democrats of America, Code Pink, Center for Constitutional Rights, Robert Jackson Steering Committee, National Accountability Network, People for the American Way, American Civil Liberties Union, American Freedom Campaign, read more

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Best Book on Iraq Occupation?

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By David Swanson

I’ve only read a fraction of the books written on the war/occupation of Iraq, and even those are a large pile. It’s tough to choose the best one, but one of the most readable and informative has got to be “Red Zone: Five Bloody Years in Baghdad,” by Oliver Poole. This is also perhaps the book most likely to engage war supporters and make them think without being didactic and without pulling any punches.

The title is accurate enough, but the book describes read more

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