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PDA Meets in Chicago

By David Swanson, PDA
December 15, 2008, Chicago, IL

Saturday night in Chicago, national and state leaders of Progressive Democrats of America met to strategize and discuss the progress of the Healthcare Not Warfare campaign. The meeting was held at the same hotel where PDA members were participating in a three-day United for Peace and Justice national assembly.

The UFPJ assembly and the PDA meeting were both extremely encouraging, and harmonized well. UFPJ not only endorsed PDA’s Healthcare read more

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The Best Defense Iran Could Have

By David Swanson

Given the fates of the other two members of Bush’s axis of evil, some would argue that the best defense Iran could have would be a nuclear bomb. They would, however, be wildly wrong. The best defense Iran could have would be awareness in the minds of Americans of who the Iranian people are, a people with great love and affection for the American people, great generosity toward others, and great commitment to peace. The best way I know that this defense could be created read more

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Bush Comparison Seen As Unfair to Dogs

By David Swanson

This is the question now raised in Iraq: If they throw shoes at your face are you a combat troop or a noncombat troop? The answer may be important in helping to guide President Elect Obama’s strategy of reducing but continuing the genocidal occupation that has made a shoeless journalist one of the most beloved, if little known, people in the world overnight.

A related dilemma is this: If shoes become weapons, were the metal detectors, searches, and bribes to phony journalists read more

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Nation's Largest Anti-War Coalition Resolves to Work for Prosecution of War Criminals

By David Swanson

United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ), the largest coalition of peace organizations (over 1,400 of them) in the United States, held a national assembly in Chicago December 12-14, and drafted documents establishing the movement’s agenda for the coming year.

Proposals to work for the prosecution of high officials guilty of war crimes, including the crime of launching an aggressive war, were approved and written into all three of UFPJ’s key documents, which are revised from read more

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Liz Holtzman for Senate

By David Swanson

New York state could soon be represented in the U.S. Senate by a woman with more respect for and understanding of democratic representation, the Constitution, and the rule of law than we’ve grown accustomed to finding in Washington, D.C., a woman who has done more to oppose the abuses of power of the Bush administration than have most current members of the House or Senate.

Elizabeth Holtzman has asked the Governor of New York David Paterson to consider appointing her to fill read more

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Somebody Should Arm the Senate Armed Services Committee

By David Swanson

I’ve never had any use for the Senate Armed Services Committee before, or even for the idea that someone who was armed could provide a service, but the report on U.S. torture policy that the committee released on Thursday is noteworthy.

There’s nothing new in it. I’ve read similar reports by lawyers and academics and activist groups with none of the resources of the SASC. The report reaches conclusions we’ve all known for years: torture has not been the read more

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Stuart Taylor Jr.'s Crusade for Torturers

By David Swanson

The Pardon Scorecard is expanding rapidly, tracking punditry and advocacy against and in support of Bush pardoning crimes he authorized. Happily, the Against column is much longer than the Support column. Sadly, Bush is highly unlikely to give a rat’s ass. Even more sadly, most of the statements against such pardons begin by announcing that Bush has every right to make them if he chooses, before proceeding to criticize, read more

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Familiar Drivel But From Obama's Deputy and No Doubt Approved By Him

This is from Steve Hildebrand:

This is not a time for the left wing of our Party to draw conclusions about the Cabinet and White House appointments that President-Elect Obama is making.

So, you’re not even going to deny that these are a bunch of right-wingers? You’re going to ask that people shut off their brains and mouths and simply obey?

Some believe the appointments generally aren’t progressive enough. Having worked with former Senator Obama for the last two years, I can tell read more

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When Would You Say "Enough"?

By David Swanson

Imagine that you took your family to the White House for a Christmas tree lighting ceremony, and you were all standing in the front row as the president made some brief remarks, you and your spouse and your two children, a little girl and a little boy. And imagine that after talking for a few minutes the president turned to his chief of staff, handed him a knife, and said “Would you mind grabbing that little girl out of the front row and bringing her up here and slitting read more

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