April 2011

10 Ways Ellsberg and Manning Are Different

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1. More Americans learned much more of the information that Ellsberg made public.
2. It was always assumed that Ellsberg would have a trial (as of course he did), whereas I see no reason to assume Manning ever will. (I’m almost alone in this, but – hey – it’s my list.)
3. They tried to kill Ellsberg but did not torture him.
4. Ellsberg was out on personal recognizance, while Manning has been held in an isolated 6×12 cell for the better part of a read more

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Your Local Military Industrial Complex

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As in any other U.S. city, things are looking up for Charlottesville, Va., job seekers who don’t mind helping to kill tons of people for no good reason. This week’s “community job fair” features some prominent members of the Charlottesville community whom we don’t usually think of as such.

When I travel the country, people often inform me that their town is a military-industrial town as if that were unusual. I always ask them if they can name a U.S. town that isn’t read more

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White House Website Lying About Your Taxes

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The White House has a handy website to mislead you about your tax dollars at http://www.whitehouse.gov/taxreceipt

It claims that only 26.3% goes to “National Defense”. This is similar to the claim in the 1040EZ US income tax form booklet (see pages 36-37). Here are those two pages in a PDF. There the claim is that the U.S. government only spends 22% of its money on “National defense, veterans, read more

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A Unified Theory of War and Taxes

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If you hate taxes but dutifully cheer for wars, it’s lucky you also oppose school funding sufficient to produce historical literacy. Taxes are a byproduct of wars. Were it not for wars and war propaganda, this country would have never begun paying taxes. If we were to end wars, and only if we were to end wars, we could consider ending taxes too.

But wait! Wasn’t the war for independence a war against taxes? Aren’t taxes created by weakness, while militarism generates wealth? read more

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Libya: another neocon war

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By David Swanson, The Guardian

Liberal supporters of this ‘humanitarian intervention’ have merely become useful idiots of the same old nefarious purposes


Muammar Gaddafi’s deals with the west may have helped him tighten his grip on the Libyan people. Photograph: Louafi Larbi/Reuters

The US department of justice (DOJ) has submitted a written defence of the US role in this new war in Libya to the US Congress. The DOJ claims the war serves the US national interest in regional stability and in maintaining the credibility of the United Nations. Who knew?

The regional stability line would be a stretch for the UK read more

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Libya and hindsight

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By BiteBack Publishing

Hindsight can be a troublesome thing. I distinctly remember ranting on this very blog about Gaddafi’s barbaric treatment of his own people. I never went so far as to suggest that we should send in the gunboats, so to speak, but rest assured, I thought it. When I read David Cameron’s words to the Kuwaiti Parliament and then again in the UK Parliament, I felt reasurred that we should back read more

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