David Swanson's Blog, page 174
July 14, 2012
Abolishing War: One Last Step
Remarks delivered at Peacestock 2012
I want to thank Bill Habedank for inviting me here and everyone who's been involved in setting up this wonderful event, which ought to be replicated all over this country. Almost our entire population claims to favor peace. At least three quarters of us favor getting the U.S. military out of Afghanistan and ending that particular war, which by the way isn't ending. When carefully surveyed and shown what the federal budget is, a large majority of U.S. residents favors cutting huge amounts of money out of the military and putting it to better use.
July 11, 2012
Ralph Nader Lists 11 Books You Should Read
Below is Nader's list of books you should read to jolt your mind into action.
I'm going to skip number 8 because I wrote it, but I'd like to offer it to you at a discount.
Talk Nation Radio: An Israeli General's Son Meets Palestinians, Reverses His Beliefs
What happens when an Israeli from a Zionist military family meets Palestinians and hears their side of the story? Miko Peled was brought around to researching the history of Israel and of his own family. His grandfather signed Israel's Declaration of Independence. His father was a general in the war of 1967. His neice was killed in a suicide attack in Jersalem. He has come to see the story of Israel as virtually the reverse of what he had believed. Peled discusses his new book, The General's Son: Journey of an Israeli in Palestine, with a foreword by Alice Walker.
Total run time: 29:00
Host: David Swanson.
Producer: David Swanson.
Engineer: Christiane Brown.
Music by Duke Ellington.
Download or get embed code from Archive.org or AudioPort or LetsTryDemocracy.
Syndicated by Pacifica Network.
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Past Talk Nation Radio shows are all available free and complete at http://davidswanson.org/talknationradio
July 10, 2012
Should Military Use Our $$ to Sponsor NASCAR Teams?
Is the ideal military recruit an independent thinker who refuses illegal orders, an obedient automaton who does anything he's told, or a vicious sadist eager to rape and kill? Is courage more important or strength? Does it make the slightest difference if a soldier is gay?
Hope to See You in Minnesota and Wisconsin This Weekend
On Friday July 13th, David Swanson will be speaking at 7 p.m. at Mayday Books
301 Cedar Ave S
Minneapolis, MN 55454
Learn more.
And Saturday, July 14th is PEACESTOCK 2012 in Hager City, WI, with music, tents for shade, lots of cold water, and speakers including Father Roy Bourgeois, the Rev. Duane Kamrath, Josh Ruebner, and David Swanson. Learn more at
http://peacestockvfp.org
July 4, 2012
Talk Nation Radio: Bombs Bursting in Air, Alice Slater on Nuclear Weaponry in the World Today
Host David Swanson provides his thoughts on the Fourth of July, and interviews guest Alice Slater on the state of nuclear weaponry in the United States and around the world. Slater is New York Director of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, a Founder of Abolition 2000, a Board Member of the Lawyers Committee for Nuclear Policy, a member of the Steering Committee of Shut Down Indian Point, and of the Energy Committee of the New York City Bar Association, a member of the Antiwar and Environmental Solidarity Working Groups at Occupy Wall Street, and on the advisory boards of the Rideau Institute and the Global Network Against Weapons in Space. Slater provides the listener with an overview of nuclear weaponry and nuclear power. Who has the weapons? Where are they? What is their legal status? What is being done to reduce or proliferate? Can nations acquire nuclear power without nuclear weapons? And is the Obama administration helping or hurting?
Total run time: 29:00
Host: David Swanson.
Producer: David Swanson.
Engineer: Christiane Brown.
Music by Duke Ellington.
Download or get embed code from Archive.org or AudioPort or LetsTryDemocracy or RadioProject.
Syndicated by Pacifica Network.
Please encourage your local radio stations to carry this program every week!
Embed on your own site with this code:
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June 27, 2012
American Autumn: An Occudoc
Dennis Trainor, Jr., has produced a full-length movie of the Occupy movement, and he's done a hell of a great job.
The Occupy movement was created, as are all movements in the United States, in large part by the corporate media. They didn't understand it. They didn't want it. They didn't originate it or take part in it or develop its brilliants insights, effective techniques, or inspiring courage. They transmitted what to them was an indecipherable code that reached their viewers and readers with the obvious clarity of a crack on the head. They got huge assists from brutal cops and incompetent mayors. But it was the corporate media that took something in one city and made it big and made it national.
Talk Nation Radio: Contempt, Congress, and Elizabeth Holtzman on How to Prosecute George W. Bush
The political parties in Washington, D.C., have switched sides for the moment. Now the Democrats accept presidential power abuses, while the Republicans are outraged, selectively, by a few of them. Host David Swanson gives his thoughts. Guest Elizabeth Holtzman discusses the possibility of creating a climate of accountability by prosecuting George W. Bush. Holtzman was a member of Congress and of the House Judiciary Committee that voted for articles of impeachment against Richard Nixon. She proposed the bill that required review of state secrets claims, as well as the bill that created a special prosecutor -- a law that was allowed to lapse following Kenneth Starr's abuse of it. She was there for the creation of FISA. She has brought Nazi war criminals to justice. She was a leading advocate for impeaching George W. Bush. Liz Holtzman's new book, co-authored with Cynthia Cooper, is called Cheating Justice: How Bush and Cheney Attacked the Rule of Law and Plotted to Avoid Prosecution, and What We Can Do About It. In the book, and in this interview, Holzman builds a case that Bush and his vice president Dick Cheney went out of their way to carefully protect themselves from prosecution but nonetheless left themselves open to it.
Total run time: 29:00
Host: David Swanson.
Producer: David Swanson.
Engineer: Christiane Brown.
Music by Duke Ellington.
Download or get embed code from Archive.org or AudioPort or LetsTryDemocracy or RadioProject.
Syndicated by Pacifica Network.
Please encourage your local radio stations to carry this program every week!
Embed on your own site with this code:
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June 26, 2012
The End Is Near
Apocalypse has been given a bad name. The Seventh Day Adventists are still around. The Nike sneaker cult failed to open Heaven's Gate. The new millennium brought us George W. Bush, not Jesus H. Christ. And everybody's terrified of "drinking the Kool-Aid."
But our species is living beyond its means. If we continue down this path, the planet, our food supplies, our climate, and life as we know it will collapse. If we bring population growth, consumption, and pollution under control, the damage already set in motion will play out for centuries, but complete catastrophe will likely be averted.
