How We Ended the National Day of Prayer

By David Swanson

I’m at the American Humanists Assoc. conference in San Jose at which Annie Laurie Gaylor is recounting how her Freedom from Religion Foundation won a court order requiring the president to end the National Day of Prayer.

I’m here to speak about peace and humanism. We’ll see how it goes. Apparently peace is a majority but not universal value among “humanists”.

Gaylor is here to receive an award as a Humanist Heroine, which I think is well deserved.

The read more

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If At First You Don't Secede

By David Swanson

When I think about secession, my first thought is of the Conch Republic (motto: “We Seceded Where Others Failed”), the briefly lived independent nation of Key West, Florida, now reduced to a joke and a tourist attraction. But would it necessarily be a joke to have an independent nation with some conchs, if you know what I mean, holding BP to higher standards than BO is willing to?

Or I think of Jesus Land and the United States of Canada, the division of the United States read more

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The Longest US War, The Harshest Blow to the Rule of Law

By David Swanson

The Afghanistan war has now lasted longer than the Vietnam war or any other US war, be it one of those overwhelmingly seen as criminal or “misguided” or one of those people still try to justify. Regardless, they’ve all been shorter than this one.

Of course, the United States had been criminally and forcefully harming both Vietnam and Afghanistan for many years before the official start of the wars. Here’s how the USA Today does the calculation:

“The read more

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Prophecies Are For Violating

By David Swanson

I wrote a review of Karen Malpede’s new play “Prophecy” when I had only read but not yet seen it. Karen read the review and invited me to lead the first in a series of talk-back discussions following performances in New York, and I did so on Wednesday. For that incredible privilege I’m glad I wrote that early review, but I’m sorry it was so insufficient as an attempt to convey the intensity of the phenomenon that is “Prophecy.”

“Prophecy” read more

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100 Candidates and Organizations Say No to War $

100 Congressional Candidates and National Organizations Oppose War Spending No Matter What Lipstick Is Applied to It

Seventy-six congressional candidates and 24 national organizations are opposing any more funding for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, no matter what unrelated measures are packaged into the same bill, and no matter whether the bill appears likely to pass or not.  This position contrasts strongly with that of most incumbent congress members read more

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For a Year and a Half, No Signs of Torture Ending, Willful Self-Delusion That Torture Has Ended

For the past year and a half we’ve watched the White House announce the end of torture and immunity for torturers, two policies that appear incompatible and have proven to be so.  We’ve seen the White House claim the right to torture, and seen that greeted with silence and an averted gaze by those pretending torture is over.  We’ve seen report after report of ongoing torture greeted with silence from the same pretenders, among whom we must read more

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After Throwing Shoes at Bush, Where Is al-Zaidi Now?

By David Swanson

Muntadhar al-Zaidi famously threw his shoes at President George W. Bush in December 2008, kicking off a stream of shoe-throwing protests around Iraq and the world. He then spent nine months in jail. TheRealNews.com has now posted a four-part video interview in which al-Zaidi reveals, to the certain bewilderment of many Americans, that he has absolutely no notion of “hating us for our freedoms.” In fact, al-Zaidi lists completely read more

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The Wonders of the American Way of War

By David Swanson

If a person could approach you on the street, gently caress your cheek, and walk away leaving you with the feeling of having been violently slapped and dowsed with a bucket of ice water, they would approximate Tom Engelhardt’s writing, including that in his newest book “The American Way of War: How Bush’s Wars Became Obama’s.”

Let me stipulate from the start that at least three-quarters of the book has nothing to do with Obama, but deals purely with read more

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The Common Culture of Turkey, the United States, and Iran

By David Swanson

I’d guess roughly 3% of the Americans who watch the new Disney movie Prince of Persia have any idea that Persia and Iran are the same place. A similar number are probably aware of Iranians’ demonstrations of sympathy following 9-11 and of Iran’s assistance to the United States in Afghanistan in 2001. But surely an even smaller percentage of Americans know that Iran, Turkey, and our own country read more

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PROTEST BP IN CVILLE ON MEMORIAL DAY

PROTEST BP IN CVILLE ON MEMORIAL DAY


Blow-Out Polluters, Bull Promoters, Bellowing Pigs, Beyond Prosecution?

What ever you call , it’s destroying the Gulf of Mexico, utterly destroying it. 

Think I’m kidding?  See these images.

And people in Charlottesville, in addition to through their taxes, are giving money directly to BP every day at gas stations.

This has got to end!

Memorial Day- Protest BP

Join a local protest of BP’s role in one of the worst ecological disasters read more

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This Is What a United Front Looks Like

By David Swanson

The “supplemental spending bill” in the House has peace groups against it because it funds the escalation of a war in Afghanistan that a majority of Americans oppose, makes us less safe, and kills human beings. It also has environmentalists against it because it subsidizes nuclear power, the industry that cannot compete in a free market except in the arena of catastrophes, where it may out-do BP some read more

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90 Congressional Candidates and National Organizations Oppose War Spending No Matter What Lipstick Is Applied to It

Sixty-six congressional candidates and 24 national organizations are opposing any more funding for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, no matter what unrelated measures are packaged into the same bill, and no matter whether the bill appears likely to pass or not. This position contrasts strongly with that of most incumbent congress members who “oppose” and “criticize” the wars. The new Coalition Against War Spending is inviting more candidates, including all incumbents, read more

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$5 Friday: SaveTheWildUp.org

For $5 Friday I just gave $5 to http://savethewildup.org

As my friend (and book editor) Crystal Yakacki explains (like many websites, this worthy group’s website does not explain itself to newcomers and just gives the latest developments):

“The UP is the upper peninsula of Michigan, one of the most beautiful places in the world. The native people there, and local neighborhoods, have been trying to protect a sacred site from a mine by Kennecott Eagle that will not only destroy the sacred read more

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What Does the New National Security Strategy Say About U.N. Asking the U.S. to Stop CIA Drone Attacks?

Apparently the United Nations is going to ask the United States to please stop using a secret agency to murder numerous people with drones. What the United States might say in response is found in the new National Security Strategy which, like all things hopey and changey, is pretty much like the old National Security Strategy, and which declares:

“Military force, at times, may be necessary to defend our country . . . “

and which could have stopped there, stayed legal, and left well read more

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Moving From Disclosure to Prevention of Corporate Politicking

By David Swanson, FreeSpeechForPeople.org

The US House of Representatives may soon have the opportunity to vote on whether to move forward with a constitutional amendment to ensure that we the people, not we the corporations, control our elections.

Yesterday, Congresswoman Donna Edwards introduced a proposed amendment to the DISCLOSE Act (HR 5175), a bill that would require disclosure by corporations engaged in making political expenditures as a result of the US Supreme Court’s recent ruling read more

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Rep Barbara Lee Will Bring Amendment to Block War Escalation Funding

By David Swanson

At 5 p.m. this evening, the House Appropriations Committee will begin marking up a bill to spend another $33.5 billion on escalating the war in Afghanistan. Various useful projects will be packaged into the bill in order to provide congress members with assorted lame excuses for voting yes.

Among those speaking and voting against the war funding in committee will be Congresswoman Barbara Lee, who just told me that her thinking is as follows: “Since Congress last authorized read more

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