David Swanson's Blog, page 193
January 11, 2012
My Most Recent Unpublished Letters to Corporate Newspapers
To WaPo:
Who knew rats were new to DC? I could have sworn I'd seen them around for years. I could have sworn the piles of trash following inaugurations, fourths of july, and tastes of dc left swarms of rats behind. I could have sworn that every time I've been in Freedom Plaza since October 6th it's been cleaner than 15th Street. Do you have any serious reason to believe your new found awareness of rats, like some people's new found awareness of the homeless people who have been there for decades, doesn't come more from the observing than from what is being observed? Did you know that the occupation of Freedom Plaza is campaigning for the investment in public services that would begin at long last to address this longstanding problem? Did you know that detailed reports, proposals, analyses, and yes demands can be found at http://occupywashingtondc.org ? Were you aware of the rat explosion and disease explosion in cities our military has bombed - which I'm sure the Post will be getting around to covering very very soon? Can you prove the DC rat population isn't expanding city-wide because so many people have found it appropriate to discard their copies of the Washington Post, thus providing lots of nesting material?
Sincerely,
David Swanson
To Charlottesville Daily Progress:
On New Year's Eve the President signed a bill giving himself and future presidents the power to imprison anyone, including US citizens, forever with no trial, whether through the military or otherwise. President Obama stretched these outrageous powers even further in an unconstitutional law-altering signing statement. Congressman Robert Hurt voted against the Defense Authorization Act because it tosses out our Constitutional rights.
While this issue had been a major controversy for months, and the Daily Progress has never yet mentioned it in a news story, you addressed it in an editorial on January 9th, but your editorial simply argued for the flexibility of not always using the military because the legitimate justice system can reduce terrorism.
Nowhere do you mention that the final version of the bill gave the president that flexibility and more, that he now claims the power to imprison anyone forever without any formal process whatsoever. Nowhere do you mention that a week after the President signed the bill, Afghan President Karzai demanded that all Afghan prisoners be turned over within a month. And nowhere do you even touch on the question of the right to habeas corpus, the right not to be punished for treason unless convicted in open court on the testimony of two witnesses, the right to be secure in your person, or the right to a speedy and public trial and a jury trial.
Are all civil rights of simply negligible importance in comparison with fear of terrorism? Among the many many things that kill more of us than terrorism are dogs, and they're our "best friend." Take a deep breath please.
Sincerely,
David Swanson
Note to Self:
Knock it off. They can't hear you.
January 10, 2012
Audio: On Air Debate Over Whether to Attack Iran
I was on the Marc Steiner Show today talking Iran War with Reza Marashi, Research Director for the National Iranian American Council, who was excellent, and Charles "Sam" Faddis, who was a pro-war propagandist. LISTEN.
Coy Barefoot and David Swanson Discuss the Virginia People's Assembly
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[image error] Charlottesville Right Now (Subscribe)
Charlottesville Right Now: 1-10-12 David Swanson
David Swanson joins Coy live on the program.
January 9, 2012
Bad Ideas in Campaign Finance Reform
Bad idea #1: listen to Jack Abramoff.
Bad idea #2: this one I heard from Jack Abramoff who was holding forth on ethical and unethical bribery the other day on National Plutocracy Radio: If you give a candidate money because you love your country that's good. If you give a candidate money because you want a particular favor, that's bad (or, one might add, Abramoffian). The problem of course is that most people can't afford to give money, so your well-intentioned money perverts the government no matter how well-intentioned. It also opens a loophole for all the people who just want those particular favors.
Bad idea #3: leave a loophole for labor unions. This one you can hear from labor unions, which is why all the bills to amend the constitution and undo corporate rights introduced in Congress thus far abide by it. But labor unions are vastly overspent and would still be vastly overspent in a world with a tiny loophole just for unions because the mega corporations would create things that looked like unions to exploit the loophole, on top of which none of the bills will get anywhere unless they remove the loophole.
Bad idea #4: put energy into requiring disclosure of legal bribery rather than prevention of legal bribery. Most of what has already been disclosed about our government is widely unknown. Most of what is known is not acted on. Most of what is acted on is continued just the same. What's needed is an end to corporate personhood and financial speech.
January 20, 2012 – Move to Amend Occupies the Courts!
Call to ActionInspired by our friends at Occupy Wall Street, and Dr. Cornel West, Move To Amend is planning bold action to mark the second anniversary of the infamous Citizens United v. FEC decision!
Occupy the Courts will be a one day occupation of Federal courthouses across the country, including the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Friday January 20, 2012.
Move to Amend volunteers across the USA will lead the charge on the judiciary which created — and continues to expand — corporate personhood rights.
Americans across the country are on the march, and they are marching OUR way. They carry signs that say, "Corporations are NOT people! Money is NOT Speech!" And they are chanting those truths at the top of their lungs! The time has come to make these truths evident to the courts.
IN CHARLOTTESVILLE:
Occupy the Federal Courthouse, W. Main and Water St.,
Friday, January 20, 2012 from 2pm to 5pm.
Bring signs and make some noise against the judiciary that created and is expanding corporate personhood rights.
For notice of other upcoming local actions send a blank email to: 99percentaction-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Learn more:
http://movetoamend.org/occupythecourts
January 8, 2012
Corporate Personhood Worse, Ending It Easier, Than You Think
Don't take it from me. Take it from the book being published today that will mainstream the movement to end corporate personhood: "Corporations Are Not People: Why They Have More Rights Than You Do, And What You Can Do About It," by Jeff Clements with foreword by Bill Moyers.
January 7, 2012
January 6, 2012
I Just Got Banned From Capitol Hill for Speaking
This is where I can't go because I spoke.
And three of my friends got the same deal.
And in the next courtroom over our other friends were convicted by a jury of opposing torture.
And right across the hall our other friend completed her probation for having interrupted Netanyahu even though he thanked her and bragged about how she'd be treated worse in Iran, even though the assault she suffered in the US Capitol put her in a neck brace.
It was a great day for the First Amendment in Washington today.
Now, we're only banned for 6 months, and we can get invitations in writing from Congress or the Supreme Court to come and protest them as a way around the ban (I wonder how that's going to work).
We did happen to be in a Senate committee hearing when we spoke, but they were speaking quite endlessly about corporate trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and Korea. They said they'd try to help some of the people they threw out of work. I asked why they didn't just leave them their jobs. I was arrested. Then they spoke a lot about Korean tariffs vs US tariffs on beef, and one of us criminals asked why we really needed to ship beef back and forth across the Pacific. Handcuffs on her. This was in October. Here we are in January finding out what is to be done to us to protect the Homeland.
It turns out we're not a threat to the Homeland at all, just to one little hill.
January 5, 2012
Why Not Attack Iran?
The push to attack Iran has been on for so long that entire categories of arguments for it (such as that the Iranians are fueling the Iraqi resistance) have come and gone. At DontAttackIran.org we've been collecting the arguments for and against attacking Iran for years. We've campaigned against an attack, but never been able to claim a success, because decisions not to launch wars are never announced, because those pushing for wars never give up, and because those believing what their government tells them think the Pentagon never campaigns for wars but is forced into them defensively on short notice by attacks from evildoers.
