April 5, 2004

When most people hear of utilitarianism these days in the United States, if they think of anyone they think of the admirable Peter Singer, or perhaps of John Stuart Mills. When we hear of Jeremy Bentham, we think first – if of anything at all – of Michel Foucault’s critique of the panopticon. We could do better by Bentham and by ourselves.

Foucault, of course, used Bentham’s design of the panopticon ( a building in which a guard in the middle can observe prisoners read more

April 12, 2004

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

Because I’m convinced that the current occupant of the White House is off-the-charts, beyond-the-pale, outside-the-normal-range worse than any of his predecessors, I am continually amazed when I meet people who oppose Bush in the strongest terms and then indicate their plans to vote for Nader or another third-party candidate or to not vote at all, but certainly not to pour their hearts and souls into winning votes for Kerry. read more

April 19, 2004

Senator Kerry has the Democratic nomination wrapped up. I and many others for whom he was not the first choice are now working as hard as we can to win him votes. So is Dennis Kucinich. While most people never knew Kucinich was in the race, those who follow progressive politics closely know that he is STILL in it, pushing to make Kerry’s platform more progressive. What many progressives understand is that this is the politically smart move for the Democratic party.

Surveys read more

April 23, 2004

Many have compared Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to Il Duce, Benito Mussolini. Berlusconi himself has encouraged the comparison and praised and defended the fascist dictator. But the similarities are also striking between Mussolini and another imperialistic leader whom Berlusconi likes to praise, namely George W. Bush (or whoever it is that’s running the Bush Administration).

Yes, I know, Mussolini was more honest about his intentions, and, yes, I know, Mussolini read more

April 25, 2004

Last week Republican Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska said in support of a military draft for the war on Iraq: “Should we continue to burden the middle class who represents most all of our soldiers, and the lower-middle class? Should we burden them with the fighting and the dying if in fact this is a generational — probably 25-year — war?”

The problem with this is that if we pour $1 billion a day into Iraq or other new pieces of the empire for 25 years, we read more

April 26, 2004

The April issue of the American Prospect magazine carries an article called “Kerry’s Women.” The title does not refer to the voters whom Senator John Kerry needs in order to win or to his love life, neither of which topics is considered at all. Rather, it refers to his Campaign Manager Mary Beth Cahill, Press Secretary Stephanie Cutter, Policy Director Sarah Bianchi, and Campaign Chair Jeanne Shaheen.

The article includes this quote from Ann Lewis, national chair read more

April 29, 2004

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

ABC’s Ted Koppel plans to broadcast on Friday on “Nightline” the names and faces of the American soldiers who have been killed in action in Iraq. The complaints that this does not go far enough have already begun, and I agree with all of them. Koppel is excluding those who have committed suicide or been killed in an accident. He is excluding those who have been horribly wounded. He is excluding his 14 fellow journalists who read more

April 29, 2004

An Email sent yesterday by Chris Paulitz, Press Secretary of the National Republican Congressional Committee to local GOP press secretaries suggested events that could be held in the month of May, including:

“Loyalty Day (May 1): Loyalty Day is simply a day for all of us to show our loyalty to the nation. In addition to op-eds and a release, our member can call on all local governmental buildings to fly the American flag that day, as President Bush has asked all federal government read more

May 10, 2004

Also published at http://www.truthout.org

How, reporters and pundits have asked, could good American heroes behave so badly as to become torturers? There are at least three answers that most of the U.S. media will not touch.

One is that many of our soldiers entered the Army or the National Guard or Reserves bringing with them all the frustration of a class-divided society running low on living-wage jobs. Many families have filed for bankruptcy as a result of extended service in Iraq, 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