David Swanson's Blog, page 224
April 14, 2011
Lockheed Loved Obama's Speech. Did You?
On Wednesday, President Obama gave a speech about the greatest danger facing us. Wars? Environmental collapse? Joblessness? Homelessness? No, the federal deficit. With two years left on the job, Obama proposed a 12-year plan to fix the deficit that won't fix the deficit. And how did he propose to fail at this misbegotten task? The President proposed to end no wars, make no serious cuts to the military, tax no estates or investments, raise no taxes on any billionaires, REDUCE corporate taxes, and give an unelected commission the power to slash Medicare.
This catastrophic class-war on behalf of the war profiteers has "progressives" cheering and collapsing with adoration, because Obama spent half the speech denouncing the Republicans' budget plan. But if you set aside the rhetoric and look at Obama's plan, a different reaction is likely. Step one, he said, is to slash away at domestic spending.
Step two, is to keep increasing military spending until it destroys us all. Obama claimed to have already cut $400 billion from the Pentagon and to want to do so again. But he has increased the Pentagon budget every year, and the $400 billion cut from one place has been more than wasted in another. His plan is not to reduce the Pentagon's budget by a dime.
Step three in Obama's plan is to give an independent commission the power to start killing off ("improving") Medicare. For step four, Obama promised not to renew the Bush tax cuts for billionaires again. But he made that promise before and broke it. Shouldn't the cheering wait until he keeps it this time? Obama added this delicate touch to his vague and almost vacuous plan:
"And as I called for in the State of the Union, we should reform our corporate tax code as well, to make our businesses and our economy more competitive."
Here's what Obama said in that State of the Union:
"So tonight, I'm asking Democrats and Republicans to simplify the system. Get rid of the loopholes. Level the playing field. And use the savings to lower the corporate tax rate for the first time in 25 years."
At least until this speech informed them of their children's hopeless future on the unchanging path of militarism, people were beginning to talk, just in recent weeks, about the need to challenge Obama. The only real solution will be turning DC's Freedom Plaza into Tahrir Square and shutting this machine down. But a first step is publicly committing to not support Obama as long as he works for the war machine.
Do That Here.
http://warisacrime.org/petition/56390
April 13, 2011
David Swanson just back from Afghanistan at Random Row, Next Wednesday, April 20th at 7 PM
David Swanson recently visited Afghanistan with Voices for Creative Non-violence. He will be speaking at Random Row on Wednesday April 20th at 7 p.m.
Random Row Books is a used bookstore at 315 W. Main St. in Charlottesville, VA. It also contains a collective of other businesses including Splintered Light Bookstore (New Books), The Pomp Print Shop, and BA21 Web Design. The main space in which the bookstore resides is a capacious industrial space which is also used as a general event space. It is set up with seating to host film screenings, lectures, theater, poetry and can be rented out for parties, weddings, and such. Contact: rderamus@hotmail.com or 434.295.2493.
A Twelve Year Plan From a Guy With Two Left
Obama's speech on the deficit on Wednesday was a flop. He proposed to end no wars, make no serious cuts to the military, REDUCE corporate taxes, tax no estates or investments, raise no taxes on any billionaires, and give an unelected commission the power to slash Medicare.
Obama began by blaming tax cuts, wars, and healthcare:
Justice Department Asks Spain Not to Prosecute U.S. Torturers
Spain is pursuing a case against former top U.S. officials who authorized the use of torture, including David Addington, Jay Bybee, Douglas Feith, William Haynes, John Yoo, and Alberto Gonzales. U.S. activist groups have been encouraging Spain in this endeavor.
April 12, 2011
Why Am I a Peace Activist? Why Aren't You?
Written for the forthcoming collection, "Why Peace?"
More than any other description, except for perhaps husband and father, I have been for the past six years a peace activist. Yet, I hesitate on the question of how to tell my personal story of experience with war. I recently visited Afghanistan briefly, in order to speak with people who have experienced war. I've spoken with many U.S. soldiers and non-U.S. victims of war. But I have no experience of war. Being in Washington, D.C., on September 11, 2001, doesn't change that; by the time a crime had been transformed into a war, the war had been moved elsewhere.
Lies About the U.S. Civil War 150 Years Later
Tuesday marks 150 years since the start of the U.S. Civil War. Newspapers everywhere are proclaiming it the deadliest war in U.S. history, the costliest U.S. war in terms of the loss of human life. That claim, like most things we say about the Civil War, is false.
Most humans, it will surprise our newspapers to learn, are not U.S. citizens. World War II killed 100 times as many people as the U.S. Civil War, with World War I not far behind. U.S. wars in Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq are among those that have killed far more human beings than the Civil War killed.
The South, we're told, merely wanted to be independent; slavery had nothing to do with it. Of course, this is nonsense. The South wanted to be independent in order to maintain slavery.
April 11, 2011
Lesser-Evil Math Doesn't Compute: Freedom Plaza Has the Same Name as Tahrir Square
In an electoral system corrupted by money, media, and parties, the U.S. people are offered a choice every four years between two hideously awful candidates for an office that increasingly resembles an imperial throne. And increasingly the primary motivation of voters is to oppose the candidate they believe is the greater evil.
April 8, 2011
An Afghan Peace Movement, Not a US Peace Jirga
By David Swanson, Truthout
Kabul, Afghanistan - The United States, on the verge of shutting down its own government for lack of funds, just forked over another $50 million for a peace jirga (or council) to negotiate peace in Afghanistan or at least sponsor an upcoming conference in the United Arab Emirates and - perhaps more so - bribe Taliban fighters to temporarily stop fighting.
