Peace and War

By David Swanson

Alternet is exactly right about the damaging effect of the New Yorker cover depicting Obama as Osama, and does not excuse it because the New Yorker shouts “Satire!”

And at the same time, Alternet approves of John Cusack’s “War, Inc.”, presumably because it’s “satire” and because glorifying violence is so much a part of the air we breathe that Alternet doesn’t read more

By David Swanson

Senator Obama published a sketch of a plan for Iraq in the New York Times today, and it’s about the same as his plan has always been, clearly superior to Bush or McCain and yet horribly muddled, vague, and militaristic, until he gets to the highly encouraging last few lines. Obama begins by fudging Maliki’s call to withdraw troops into his own longstanding call to withdraw “combat read more

By David Swanson

Back in March 2007, John Stauber was for forcing tough actions for peace from the new Democratic Congress, and David Sirota was opposed. Now the two of them chat as though we were all for the same principled push for peace all along. This is good news, because – to his credit – Sirota has improved his position. But just wait until we actually achieve peace. Everybody and their brother will have been sacrificing for it. And that will be a good thing.

By Bryan McKenzie, Charlottesville Daily Progress

It was an exciting weekend of patriotic fervor with a presidential appearance, minting of new citizens, protests and other fireworks.

The events and surrounding media hoopla, however, begged questions of what patriotism is and why it’s useful, so we sought answers in many different places. Here’s what we found: READ THE REST AND POST YOUR COMMENT.

That’s $4,681 per household, $1,721 per person, $341.4 million per day.

Taxpayers in Charlottesville, Virginia will pay $75.1 million for total Iraq war spending approved to date. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:
490 Affordable Housing Units
OR
1,094 Elementary School Teachers for One Year
OR
10,478 Head Start Places for Children for One Year
OR
9,350 Scholarships for University Students for One Year
OR
21,036 People with Health Care for One Year

These read more

By David Swanson

I posted the following on TomDispatch at the start of the current (and last?) Congress:

Can Congress End the War?
Democratic Leaders May Prefer to Claim They Tried But Failed
By David Swanson

The shortest route to ending the Iraq war (and preventing additional wars) is almost certainly through Congress. Influencing the White House directly is unimaginable, and stopping the war through the courts unlikely. Clearly, Congress is the way to go. But what specifically can read more

By David Swanson

I went to the trouble to get a copy of John Cusack’s film “War, Inc.” and I would have had more fun watching Congress declare national swamp moss appreciation week on C-Span.

SPOILER WARNING

I’m thrilled that the film’s release has put Cusack on TV talking against illegal wars and mercenary armies. He speaks very well off script. I’m thrilled that hunger for anti-war films gave “War, Inc” an early burst of interest and public pressure read more

“Blood and Oil” is a very, very well made film that will show you something new even if you already know that – as Dubya admits – the United States is addicted to oil, even if you know the deal that FDR cut with the king of Saudi Arabia on February 14, 1945 (and have already seen the film footage of them meeting on a US ship accompanied by the king’s slaves and astrologers), even if you know the openly oily basis of the Truman Doctrine, the Eisenhower Doctrine, the read more

By David Swanson

In the forthcoming “Savage Mules: The Democrats and Endless War,” Dennis Perrin argues that the Democratic Party (at least its elected officials, if not its loyal voters) is a party of war. I have some significant disagreements with Perrin, which I’ll come to below, but here is roughly the way this story goes:

Democratic presidents took us into two world wars, Korea, and Vietnam. A Democratic Senate authorized the war on Iraq. Jackson and Van Buren were ethnic read more

By David Swanson

Tom Engelhardt’s website TomDispatch.com is a wonderful source of news and analysis (and would be if I’d never written for it!), but there’s something to be said for books. Nobody has yet invented a blog that the reader can underline, circle, scribble in the margins of, turn down the corner of the page on, or give to someone as a present wrapped in colored paper. And there’s a lot more than that to be said for “The World According to TomDispatch: read more

By David Swanson

I would support a GI Bill if Congress were to pass one and send it to the President.

I oppose from the bottom of my soul and with every fiber of my being the near universal pretense (OK, universal except for me) that Congress is about to do just that.

Congress is NOT. What Congress is considering sending to the President is a GI AMENDMENT. It says the same things about providing education for veterans as what everybody tells you is in the “GI Bill” but it comes read more