Elections

By David Swanson

We’ll go vote on February 12th, and the nominees may already have been determined in other states. But we’d still like to know whether our votes are properly counted, and we will have no way of knowing. Charlottesville uses DRE voting machines (directly recording electronic voting machines). While the city brags that these are not touch-screen machines, because we turn a dial instead of touching a screen, the problems are the same. The machines we use have produced read more

By David Swanson

I don’t care right now who you plan to vote for next November. My primary concern is that, after Tuesday, you strive to – as completely as possible – ignore the election until around Halloween, because we have so many much more important things to work on as citizens of this country, not the least of them being the creation of a credible system of hand-counted paper ballots and other election reforms. But my secondary concern is for the Democratic primaries. read more

By David Swanson

Hillary Is blaming the Iraqis. I flip on the debate and that’s the first thing I have to hear. Sheesh.

Then she says they’ll stop Bush’s abuses by… passing more legislation. Sheesh.

Now she’s explaining that she voted to let Bush go to war because she trusted him not to. Sheesh.

Now CNN is pushing Obama to admit that Petraeus is making progress in Iraq, and Obama is buying it. But then he says that’s setting the bar way too low. (APPLAUSE- Hey, read more

By David Swanson

By the time November 2008 rolls around, you will have endured over two years of breathless horse-race election coverage. (I, for one, am going to spend the next few days pushing Obama over Clinton, and then tune back in on Halloween to decide whether to vote for Obama, Nader, or McKinney. There are too many important things to work on in between.) But the big question (and one of the important things to work on) is this: will you have any way to know your vote is counted?

On read more

By David Swanson

Some of you may recall the powerful evidence in 2004 that George W. Bush was cheating in the debates by wearing an earpiece. The New York Times famously (well, at least somewhat famously) documented the evidence and then refused to print it because it might have had an effect on the election: http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2012

A few of you may be aware of the extensive evidence that Bush has worn an earpiece and been prompted with answers at speaking events for the past three read more

By David Swanson

Let’s assume, just for the sake of masochism or preparedness, that the Republicans nominate McCain or somebody similar, that the Democrats nominate Clinton, and that Paul runs as an independent or libertarian. Here’s a question for those who care about peace and justice: Who’s worse, Clinton or Paul?

I’m assuming most of us will agree that McCain is the worst of the lot. Of course, I’d rather see Edwards nominated than Obama or Clinton, and I’d read more

By David Swanson

I may be a United States Senator and a candidate for President and the Republican frontrunner. But I am, more importantly (assuming you’ll take my word for it) a man who has been tortured.

There are two key types of people in the world, and I am both of them. I have been tortured, and I have tortured. I have suffered man’s inhumanity to man, and I have turned on my fellow human beings. I am a victim and a criminal. I am a victim who has turned against the victims. I read more

By David Swanson

Labor unions declined to send a message on their issues or to move other candidates to their positions by backing Kucinich, but it has now become clear that they could have backed Kucinich, and he could have failed just as badly, and labor would have accomplished no less (possibly more) than it accomplished by lining up behind Clinton, Edwards, and Dodd, all of whom have lost to Obama. And Clinton, Edwards, and Dodd could have saved the energy they spent courting labor, for all read more