Author name: davidswanson

How Progressive Young People Can Have an Impact In These Times
By David Swanson

(Remarks for gathering of progressive caucus interns at US Capitol, July 27, 2005)

Well, what kind of times are these? They seem to me to be times not just of an increase in plutocracy, but also of a decrease in awareness of it.

A majority of Americans favor single-payer health coverage, a shift to renewable energy, the protection of natural resources, investment in education, and protection of civil rights. And very read more

The Case Against Hauling 44 Thousand Metric Tons of Nuclear Waste Through 45 States and Storing it Above Ground on Native American Land, Against the Tribe’s Sovereign Will and Next to an Air Force Bombing Ground, Without a Single Hearing or Safety Investigation

Or

How to Lobby Congress With a Hammer

By David Swanson, Board Member of Progressive Democrats of America, http://www.pdamerica.org

Over 100 people, few if any of them employed by the corporate media, filled a press conference room in read more

How the United States Marked the 3rd Anniversary of the Downing Street Memo
By David Swanson

Hundreds of people were turned away today as capacity crowds packed public forums in U.S. cities to discuss the Downing Street Memo and related evidence that President Bush lied about the reasons for war. Halls were filled to capacity and beyond in LA, Oakland, Seattle, Detroit, Northampton, New York, and elsewhere, for events led by Congress Members, including Maxine Waters, Barbara Lee, Jim McDermott, read more

Congressional Town Hall Meetings, Public Forums, Dramatic Recreations, House Parties, Rallies, and Study Circles on July 23, 2005

On July 23, 2005, events around the United States will mark the three-year anniversary of the meeting at #10 Downing Street in London, England, that was recorded in the now infamous minutes known as the “Downing Street Memo.”

At least eight events will be hosted by or participated in by Members of Congress, including John Conyers in Detroit, Jim McDermott read more

INSTITUTE FOR POLICY STUDIES
Defining The Issues Series
From Downing Street to Tavistock Square:
How will a Terror Attack in London Change British and World Policy toward Iraq?

Wednesday, July 20, 2005
12:30 – 1:30pm
Institute for Policy Studies
733 15th St. NW (15th and H), Ste.1020
(McPherson Square Metro)

From the earliest planning stages, Great Britain has been the Bush Administration

By David Swanson

Remarks prepared for workshop at the 50th Anniversary Convention of the American Federation of Teachers Communications Association.

To follow viewing of a George Lakoff film and discussion of the fight to save Social Security.

I didn’t think too much of George Lakoff until I’d read enough of him myself. I was scared off by his praise for Clinton’s stealing right-wing language on welfare, and by his asking Howard Dean to write a forward to one of his books. Lakoff read more

By David Swanson

Remarks prepared for July 4, 2005, anti-war rally in Washington, D.C.
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/622

An ABC News/Washington Post poll last week found 52 percent of Americans believe the Bush administration “deliberately misled the public before the war,” and 57 percent say the Bush administration “intentionally exaggerated its evidence that pre-war Iraq possessed nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.”

A Zogby poll last week found 42 percent read more

Bush’s Speech: Let’s Count the Lies
By David Swanson, AfterDowningStreet.org
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/569

In the coming free 30 minutes of uninterrupted airtime that ABC News and the Disney Corporation will no doubt give to a spokesperson for the majority of Americans who believe that the war on Iraq was a mistake, I expect we’ll see some of the following points made about the speech that Bush just gave.

First, it was curious to see Bush adopt usage of the French read more

Downing Street Minutes 3rd Anniversary Events: The Smoking Gun that Proves Bush Lied About Iraq

Mourn the Losses, Learn the Truth, and Investigate the Lies

SIGN UP TO ATTEND. Check for an event near you.
SIGN UP TO HOST. Announce an event that you will host, so that people can sign up for it.

Celebrate the 3-Year Anniversary of the Downing Street Meeting with Your Own Town Hall Meeting or House Party

Be part of a national day of action on Saturday, July 23, 2005.

You and your organization should work read more

For Immediate Release: June 10, 2005

On Thursday June 16, 2005, Rep. John Conyers, Jr., Ranking Member of House Judiciary Committee, and other Democratic Members will hold a Democratic hearing to hear testimony concerning the Downing Street Minutes and the efforts to cook the books on pre-war intelligence.

On May 1, 2005 a Sunday London Times article disclosed the details of a classified memo, also known as the Downing Street Minutes, recounting the minutes of a July 2002 meeting of Prime Minister read more

By David Swanson, www.AfterDowningStreet.org

A teach-in on ending the Iraq War was held in Washington, D.C., on June 3, organized by Progressive Democrats of America (PDA). It followed, in part, a pattern established by other teach-ins, but also took an exciting new turn.

Photo gallery:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/images/pdateachin/index.htm

The event was familiar in that the speakers argued for the speedy withdrawal of U.S. troops, and most of the audience agreed, while others insisted that read more

Media Black Out Downing Street Minutes
By David Swanson, www.afterdowningstreet.org

Aggressive followers and participants in U.S. politics often have strong opinions about the Downing Street Minutes. Most other Americans have not heard of or are not clear about what the Downing Street Minutes are.

How is this possible? Here we have the official government minutes from a meeting of British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his top national security officials, including a briefing by Richard Dearlove, read more

A coalition of veterans’ groups, peace groups, and political activist groups announced a campaign today to urge that the U.S. Congress launch a formal investigation into whether President Bush has committed impeachable offenses in connection with the Iraq war.

The campaign focuses on evidence that recently emerged in a British memo containing minutes of a secret July 2002 meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his top national security officials.

READ MORE

John Bonifaz, a Boston read more

By David Swanson

Presentation on May 24, 2005, at the Second National Summit on Equitable Development, Social Justice, and Smart Growth, www.policylink.org, in Philadelphia, Penn.

It is with some hesitation that I speak about communicating ideas on regional equity and smart growth to a gathering of experts on the topic. I am not an expert on regional sustainability, but I would never admit that in front of a television camera! Like anyone else, I know enough that’s worth saying, and like read more

April 28, 2005

See Photo Album on This Site

A forum held in a US House of Representatives office building on April 28 brought together leaders of the movement to withdraw US troops from Iraq, including Congresswomen Lynn Woolsey and Barbara Lee, both California Democrats and Co-Chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Woolsey is the sponsor of H. Con. Res. 35, a resolution calling for the withdrawal of troops to begin immediately.
http://www.woolsey.house.gov/newsarticle.asp?RecordID=391

Woolsey read more

April 27, 2005

See Photo Album on This Site

Former Vice President Al Gore gave a lengthy speech on Wednesday on the topic of Republicans’ attempt to eliminate the right to filibuster in the Senate.

The event was organized by MoveOn.org, and MoveOn member Sarah Landon introduced Gore. Landon pointed out that Gore had worked in an administration that saw more judicial nominees blocked by Republicans than the current one has seen blocked by Democrats. We hear about activist Democratic judges, read more

A Press Conference for Theocracy
April 26, 2005

See Photo Album on This Site

Two white Republican U.S. senators and a group of largely African-American preachers held a press conference in the U.S. Capitol building on Tuesday to demand a vote on the nomination of Janice Rogers Brown to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Brown’s is one of the nominations that Democratic senators are opposing by means of the filibuster.

Because the Democrats are in the minority, even if they could discipline read more

May 17, 2004

Also published at http://www.democraticunderground.com

There is a growing consensus in the United States that mainstream commercial media are by and large not mainstream at all but instead are supportive of the corporate agenda. Of course, the largest media companies (which provide most Americans’ news) and their large advertisers are themselves mammoth corporations. In addition to promoting policies that advance corporate interests, our major media often appear to place profits read more

May 11, 2004

By Martin Fishgold and David Swanson

U.S. soldiers and CIA contract professionals, with the knowledge and encouragement of their superiors, committed war crimes against Iraqi prisoners that are all too clear in the graphic images that Dan Rather and CBS executives chose to suppress for two weeks at the request of the Pentagon. There was no justification for this delay or for the argument, as made by the reactionary columnist William Safire in the May 10th New York Times, that the delay read more

Also published at BuzzFlash at http://www.buzzflash.com and at Bartcop Reader at http://www.bartcopnation.com.

May 16, 2002

Last week conservatives and liberals separately filed suit to claim that various parts of the recently passed Shays-Meehan/McCain-Feingold bribery reform legislation should be thrown out as unconstitutional. Last night (May 15) in a debate at the National Press Club over the proposition “The Government is Still for Sale,” all four participants, two arguing the read more