July 2010

The United States today may be the planet’s greatest ever war maker, but the wars are fought, the bases maintained, and the weapons manufactured against the will of the majority of U.S. citizens. We express our opposition to wars openly in ways that could not be done at all until around 1880, and in so doing we almost certainly prevent more war making and limit the tactics our government can employ. In fact, if wars were still fought in the way the U.S. Civil War was fought, with armies read more

By David Swanson

On Tuesday evening, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill already passed by the Senate that funds a $33 billion, 30,000-troop escalation in Afghanistan. The vote was 308 to 114. What could the good news possibly be?

The first good news is that, while we had no more than 35 congress members who would vote against war funding a year ago, or perhaps 55 when it was an easy vote with no pressure, we’ve now got 114. That’s serious progress. That’s a far read more

By David Swanson

To hear some activist bloggers, we only lobby because we are sure of swift victory or want to express our inner feelings. I think that neglects the most significant and effective strategy for lobbying: Pressuring Congress in order to produce a record of who stands where under pressure in order to use that for and against candidates in the next election and then come back and win. We need people on record. And, yes, we have to unelect the ones on record for the wrong thing, even read more

Here's where the hypocrisy hits the highway.  On July 1st, 162 congress members voted to require a withdrawal plan and end date for the occupation of Afghanistan, and 100 voted to fund only withdrawal, no continuation of war, while 25 voted to simply stop dumping any money into this war. 

Now all of them must vote yes or no, probably on Tuesday, on whether to fund a major escalation of the war in Afghanistan.  You won't hear anyone mention it, but read more