Elections

By David Swanson

If, like General Electric and Fox News, ordinary citizens were permitted to ask questions of candidates for U.S. President, these are a few of the questions I think they might ask:

If you are elected president, which of the new presidential powers assumed by the Bush-Cheney administration will you use? Which will you leave available in case you decide to use them? Which will you issue orders banning the use of?

Will you ever spy on Americans in violation of the Foreign Intelligence read more

By David Swanson

MSNBC, owned by weapons-maker General Electric, opened Thursday night’s debate with the unavoidable topic of Iraq, and unavoidably allowed each of the eight candidates on the stage to address it. Two of them, Congressman Dennis Kucinich and former Senator Mike Gravel, spoke in favor of ending the war. Kucinich advocated cutting off the funding. Gravel proposed passing a law to make it a felony to remain in Iraq.

Of course, it’s also a felony to spy in violation read more

By David Swanson

It is not election season. It is citizen activism season. The eternal election season is draining all sorts of energy away from our democracy. And it’s not just the corporate media promoting it. Activist groups like Moveon.org are involved. Not just Moveon, many groups are buying into and promoting the idea that an election (like a mushroom cloud) is imminent. Those interested in promoting third-party candidates are among the most passionate promoters of this deadly read more

By David Swanson

On Monday, July 17, 2006, at Fox News headquarters in New York City, Rupert Murdoch hosted a fundraiser breakfast for Hillary Clinton. Then he rushed off to a fundraiser lunch for John McCain, and Hillary rushed off to announce her unqualified support for Israel’s and Bush’s war policies.

Hillarupert Murdoclinton strikes some people as an unusual combination. I’m sure someone could create a funny cartoon out of that name and a merger of their two smirking masks. read more

By David Swanson

A new study by Stan Greenberg and James Carville of Democracy Corps reports on polling and makes recommendations to Democratic Congressional candidates, including this:

“As a starting point, challengers must continue to nationalize the elections around Bush and whether to continue Bush’s direction. That is where the desire for change is growing the most: the percentage who strongly support going in a significantly different direction rather than continuing Bush’s has risen read more

I voted in a local election today in Charlottesville, Va., a progressive town in a regressive state in a very backward nation. The electronic machine I voted on creates no paper trail. The friendly woman who directed me to it reassured me that they would produce a paper record later, which I could read at the registrar’s office, completely missing the concept of producing a simultaneous record that could later be compared with what the machines produce. But I did have to show an ID, so read more

By David Swanson

Want to replace a leading pro-war Congress Member with an outstanding anti-war candidate? Listen to Marcy Winograd in this 30-minute interview recorded earlier today.

By David Swanson

The race for Massachusetts Secretary of State has reached a new level of urgency. On March 10, the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) confirmed it is investigating Voting Rights violations in Springfield. Today, the DOJ confirmed that they are actively investigating Voting Rights violations in Lowell as well. In each city, the lack of voting assistance to Latino and Cambodian Americans, respectively, is at the center of the probes. But it doesn’t end there.

In 2005, the City of read more

By David Swanson

For the past 10 months I’ve worked on a project at www.afterdowningstreet.org to urge Congress Members to hold the Bush Administration accountable for crimes and abuses of power. Some Democratic members of Congress have been as helpful in this effort as Fox News. Some have been less. In that last category you can list Jane Harman.

When Congressman John Conyers wrote a letter to Bush asking him to explain the Downing Street Memo, and 120 Congress Members signed it, Harman read more

Simulating Sex: Aesthetic Representation of Erotic Activity by Steve Bachmann

At a time when pornography has become mainstream and sex haters have gained national political power, it would seem than sex is all around us. But most of us are unaware that much interesting thinking about sex is going on. Mostly, I, for one, find myself wishing people could get their minds onto some OTHER topic for a few minutes. MoveOn.org became a political force by channeling our frustration with Congress’s read more