David Swanson's Blog, page 242
December 16, 2010
December 15, 2010
Is Warmaking Irrational?
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December 14, 2010
Richard Holbrooke's Deathbed Conversion
For all the talk of strategic counterinsurgency that oozes out of Washington, and all the manuals explaining that 80% of our investment in a nation-building operation should be civilian, we've been investing about 3% of our efforts in Afghanistan into a civilian project the leader of which has described it as a way to support the military. That leader was, until he died yesterday, Richard Holbrooke.
Asked at a U.S. Senate hearing earlier this year what in the world he was doing and toward what end in Afghanistan, Holbrooke repeatedly failed to produce an answer. That could explain his deathbed conversion and his final words to his surgeon: "You've got to stop this war in Afghanistan." As if his doctor could do what he refused to play any role in.
How the Pentagon Turns Working-Class Men into the Deadliest Killers on the Planet
http://www.alternet.org/story/149165/
The following is an excerpt from David Swanson’s self-published new book War is a Lie (David Swanson, 2010).
December 10, 2010
AUDIO: Peter B. Collins Show: Two Powerful Anti-War Voices; Swanson and Thistlethwaite
News and Politics from the Left Coast
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by Peter B. Collins on December 10, 2010
PBC podcast 200 [1:25:44m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadActivist/author David Swanson returns to talk about his latest book, War Is a Lie and Rev. Susan B. Thistlethwaite on her new book, Dreaming of Eden: American Religion and Politics in a Wired World. Swanson is the veteran activist who worked for ACORN and was press secretary on the 2004 presidential campaign of Dennis Kucinich. He writes and speaks passionately about America’s wars, past and present, and how war fever is generated by politicians and the media with deception and manipulation. Informed by WikiLeaks, we identify some of the current lies that surround our military operations in Pakistan, Sudan, Somalia and Yemen, and we talk about the role of the corporate media in promoting propaganda over truth. Swanson will be in California starting 12/18. While the book is available at Amazon, Swanson is boycotting Amazon for cutting off WikiLeaks servers. You can get his book for half price, and get details on his speaking tour here. Rev. Thistlethwaite is a UCC minister and former president of the Chicago Theological Seminary, where she is now a professor. In our second segment starting at 54:00, she talks about the dangers of religious fundamentalism in our wired world, the need for progressive Christian voices to counter the impact of Christian fundamentalists, and the false notion of American exceptionalism most recently promoted by Sarah Palin. We also talk about the fight for economic justice that is playing out in the battle over the Bush tax cuts. Thistlethwaite is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, and you can read her recent commentaries here.
December 9, 2010
Human Rights' Day Has Not Yet Dawned
By David Swanson
"I think there is a proliferation of rights. I am often surprised by the virtual nobility that seems to be accorded those with grievances. . . . I have to admit that I am one of those people that still thinks a dishwasher is a miracle." --Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas
I. RIGHTS WE'VE HAD
II. RIGHTS WE NEED
III. CHANGES WE CAN MAKE
I. RIGHTS WE'VE HAD
According to the Declaration of Independence, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
December 8, 2010
"War Is A Lie" Youth Study Group Launched
Some fans of "War Is A Lie" have created a youth study group and are sharing what they're doing on FaceBook.
