Posts tagged “politics/government”
-
David Swanson interviewed at Rain Taxi Review of Books
October 30, 2009
The Rain Taxi Review of Books has just put up a fantastic interview with David Swanson, author of Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union. See more within.
Tags: articles, current issues, david swanson, daybreak, interviews, politics/government, rain taxi review
-
Report on Ralph Nader’s West Hartford book signing
October 30, 2009
From the Hartford Courant:
Ralph Nader, the first-time novelist, sounds just like Ralph Nader, lawyer, father of the national consumer activist movement and four-time presidential candidate. Here’s some of what a crowd of three dozen heard Thursday afternoon at the Bookworm bookstore when Nader — 75 and a Winsted native — stopped in for an hour on a book tour to talk about his utopian novel, “Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us.”
Tags: bookworm, connecticut, fiction, only the super-rich can save us, politics/government, q&a, ralph nader
-
Single Payer Action offers signed first editions of “Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us!” for donors
October 28, 2009
Russell at Single Payer Action posted today offering a signed first edition copy of “Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us!” for anyone willing to donate $100 or more to help support Single Payer Action in its quest to pass HR 676 and to oppose President Obama’s health care plan. Find out more within, or at Single Payer Action.
Tags: fiction, healthcare, only the super-rich can save us, politics/government, ralph nader, single player action
-
David Swanson: The Militarization of America’s Youth
October 27, 2009
From Daybreak author David Swanson’s article, The Militarization of America’s Youth:
“This is so cool! This is so cool!” a thirteen-year-old boy repeated as he squeezed rounds from a real M-16, picking off “enemy combatants” in a video game while perched atop a real Army Humvee. “I just came to the mall to skateboard but everyone said this was pretty cool. I just had to try it and it’s great!”
The person reporting on this youthful enthusiasm was Pat Elder, who serves on the Steering Committee of the National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth. Elder also described young teenagers congratulating each other for “killing ragheads” and “wiping out hajis.”
All of this fun went on at the Army Experience Center (AEC), a 14,500-square-foot “virtual educational facility” in the Franklin Mills Mall in a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The U.S. Army opened the center in August 2008 and planned to run it for two years as a pilot program. If the center proved able to recruit as many new soldiers as five ordinary recruiting stations, the Army planned to build them nationally. The AEC cost more than $12 million to design and construct, but of course the Army spends several billion dollars a year on recruitment.
Tags: articles, current events, david swanson, daybreak, global research, military, politics/government
-
David Swanson: Will You Love Every Future President?
October 15, 2009
From David Swanson’s post today at TomDispatch:
Bush claimed for the presidency the power to detain people without charge or legal process — and then used it. Obama stood in front of the U.S. Constitution in the National Archives in Washington and asserted the same power, in violation of the right of habeas corpus found in that torn and tattered document. Director of Central Intelligence Leon Panetta and presidential advisor David Axelrod have similarly made clear that the president still claims the power to engage in “harsh interrogation techniques” but chooses not to use it. Torture in this way has been transformed from a crime into a policy choice, with the intended message apparently being that we can stop torture temporarily by choosing to elect Democrats.
Tags: articles, current events, david swanson, daybreak, obama, politics/government, tomdispatch, torture
-
Daybreak reviewed in the North Coast Journal
October 13, 2009
From Dave Berman’s review of David Swanson’s Daybreak at the North Coast Journal:
. . . Focusing on the relationship between the three branches of federal government, Swanson documents the illegal redefinition of roles in recent times, via signing statements and other executive overreach; abdication of spending powers; refusal to impeach and other congressional self-castration; and selective judicial activism. While recommending many Constitutional changes, Swanson also writes: “The most glaring problem with [the Constitution] is not dated concepts or ambiguous wording, but our failure to enforce it.”
Tags: current events, david swanson, daybreak, north coast journal, opednews.com, politics/government, reviews
-
David Swanson on Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize
October 9, 2009
From Daybreak author David Swanson, on the subject of Barack Obama’s being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this morning:
What a sick, sick joke. . . . Please stop telling me that the way to get Obama to actually work for peace is to cheer for him having received a peace award as a war monger. I respectfully find this well-intentioned and counterproductive. We can’t influence a president and shouldn’t want power to rest with a president. This takes us away from forcing the House to cut off the money for the war, which is the best chance we have. Not to mention the little glitch that Obama has not done anything to celebrate. Protesting a war-making president is bad enough. Celebrating him and pretending he’s peaceful is beyond pathetic. I get that it’s intended as strategic and smooth and taking advantage of big news and so forth. But intentions don’t save lives.
Tags: articles, barack obama, current events, david swanson, daybreak, nobel peace prize, politics/government
-
A Novel Idea, by Ralph Nader
October 7, 2009
At a little noticed meeting with Senate Democrats, Warren Buffett, the famous investors’ guru, told the lawmakers that rich people are not paying enough taxes.
A tax increase for the very wealthy? Many of the Senators backed away from that recommendation, even though it came from the world’s second richest man.
That is just one reason why Mr. Buffett plays a central role in my first work of fiction, “Only the Super Rich Can Save Us!”
— Ralph Nader
Tags: articles, current events, fiction, only the super-rich can save us, politics/government, ralph nader
-
David Swanson on Democracy Now: “Our elected representatives have to represent who we are right now”
October 7, 2009
On Wednesday morning, October 7, David Swanson spoke to Democracy Now about his arrest, about the Obama administration’s broken promises on Iraq and Afghanistan, about what citizens can do to influence Congress to fulfill its Constitutional obligation to check the power of the executive branch, and on his conviction: “The public was there [for the war in Afghanistan, as opposed to the war in Iraq] before the election, and now we have the majority of the public against both wars . . . Our elected representatives have to represent who we are right now, not who we were at the most recent election.”
Watch the interview at Democracy Now — and for more details on David Swanson’s views, get your copy of the Amazon best-seller Daybreak today.
Tags: current events, david swanson, david swanson arrest, democracy now, interviews, politics/government, videos
-
David Swanson on his arrest at GRITtv
October 7, 2009
On October 6, David Swanson talked to GRITtv by phone regarding his arrest, along with 61 other protesters, at the White House on Monday. Included is footage of White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs denying that the president knew about the protest and the arrest — and David Swanson’s opinion about whether or not the press secretary is telling the truth.
Tags: current events, david swanson, david swanson arrest, daybreak, grittv, laura flanders, politics/government, radio, video
-
David Swanson arrested in Washington, DC
October 6, 2009
From Daybreak author David Swanson’s blog post at Antemedius about his arrest:
The crime? Exercising free speech in a group of more than 25 people. Seriously. We’re charged with failing to obey a lawful order. And the order was to move farther away from the White House because with more than 25 people you have to have a special permit in order to exercise free speech. At least 50 of us, maybe closer to 100, went to jail, while many more chose to comply with the lawful (if unconstitutional) order.
And what did the Park Police SWAT team do? Nothing but follow orders. They followed orders to the exclusion of all thought. They asked us not to encourage them to think. They didn’t want to think about freedom of speech. They didn’t want to think about arresting nonviolent people for peacefully demanding peace. They didn’t want to think about whether protesting illegal wars actually constitutes something closer to law enforcement than what they themselves were engaged in. And they certainly didn’t want to think about the men and women and children in Iraq and Afghanistan and Pakistan who will die because the US Park Police arrested peaceful people assembling and speaking, rather than arresting war criminals like Richard Cheney who confess to felonies on television and lives right across the river.
Take a look at the full post for The Real News’s video coverage of the protest, featuring commentary from David Swanson and footage of his arrest.
Tags: arrest, articles, current events, david swanson, daybreak, politics/government, videos, washington dc
-
David Swanson with WSLR 96.5 LP FM
October 6, 2009
On October 2nd, David Swanson talked with WSLR 96.5 LP FM about Daybreak, about the imperial presidency — begun by Bush and possibly continuing into the Obama era — and the structural changes we can make to our government in order to form a more perfect union. Listen below.
Tags: current events, david swanson, daybreak, interviews, politics/government, radio
-
David Swanson’s Second Bill of Rights
October 3, 2009
In an excerpt from Daybreak published at BlackCommentator.com, David Swanson sets out the changes the country needs in the wake of eight years of imperial presidency — among them the right to vote (for real, this time), the right to basic welfare, and the right to freedom of the press from war-related obligations. Take a look within.
Tags: blackcommentator.com, current events, david swanson, daybreak, excerpts, politics/government, web articles
-
Ralph Nader Reader released as a free PDF download
September 23, 2009
With the release of the Amazon bestseller “Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us!”, people around the country and around the world are about to experience for the first time Ralph Nader’s fictional vision of, in Warren Beatty’s words, “how good he thinks things can be.” To celebrate, Seven Stories Press and Ralph Nader have decided to release an electronic version of Nader’s 2000 nonfiction collection, The Ralph Nader Reader, as a free PDF download. Click here to get your copy.
Tags: current events, ebooks, fiction, only the super-rich can save us, politics/government, ralph nader, ralph nader reader
-
Ralph Nader on Democracy Now: “Nonfiction prevents you from imagining”
September 22, 2009
From Ralph Nader’s interview with Democracy Now!, on the topic of healthcare, G20, Barack Obama and the just-published “Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us!”:
AMY GOODMAN: Ralph Nader, why fiction?
RALPH NADER: Because nonfiction prevents you from imagining.
Tags: democracy now, fiction, only the super-rich can save us, politics/government, radio, ralph nader
-
David Swanson on Russia Today: Health care debate is a moral outrage
September 16, 2009
David Swanson talks about Daybreak, institutionalized corruption, and health care to Russia Today.
Tags: current events, david swanson, daybreak, politics/government, russia today, videos
-
David Swanson’s Twelve Twisted Truths About US Politics
September 15, 2009
David Swanson speaks at Busboys & Poets about his Twelve Twisted Truths About US Politics:
Tags: busboys and poets, current events, david swanson, daybreak, politics/government, videos, washington dc
-
Bob Fitrakis on David Swanson at Areopagitica in Columbus, OH
September 11, 2009
Activist, journalist and author Bob Fitrakis introduces David Swanson at a stop on the Daybreak tour at Areopagitica in Columbus, Ohio. Take a look below:
Tags: areopagitica, bob fitrakis, current events, david swanson, daybreak, ohio, politics/government, q&a
-
David Swanson on Ohio
September 11, 2009
From The Smirking Chimp:
On a book tour in Ohio, I’ve met people underworked, overworked, and underpaid. I’ve seen shut down factories and every other sort of building. This is a depression. There are huge areas with nothing new built and nothing old properly maintained. But there are people actively engaged in struggling for economic justice and every other kind of justice, for themselves and for the rest of the world. And that is inspiring.
Mary Nichols Rhodes, Michael Carano, Pat Carano, and other leaders of Progressive Democrats of Ohio are fulltime activists with unrelated fulltime jobs caring for people’s health, driving trucks — when do these people sleep? How do they keep going? They are engaged in constant, varied, overlapping campaigns for local, state, national, and international justice. In Akron, these and lots of other activist leaders last year discovered that the mayor planned to sell off the city’s sewers. Rather than taxing wealthy corporations and individuals, why not enrich them further by privatizing sewers? The people said no, put it on the ballot, passed it, and defeated a ballot measure proposed by the mayor. This and other local victories are not heard about nationally, in part because those involved never stop to tell their stories, but push on doing their share in pressuring Washington to end wars and provide healthcare. — David Swanson
Tags: articles, current events, david swanson, daybreak, ohio, politics/government, smirking chimp
-
Daybreak excerpt at AlterNet: How Dick Cheney’s radical acts still threaten the Constitution
September 9, 2009
An excerpt from David Swanson’s best-selling Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union, as it appeared today on AlterNet:
. . . Nixon doesn’t even come close. Nixon never kept as much of our government secret as Bush-Cheney did, and when push came to shove, he gave up some of his secrets and left town. Nixon’s former legal counsel John Dean agrees that the Cheney-Bush gang far surpassed Nixonian levels of secrecy and abuse of power. Not to mention lawyerly deviousness. Cheney claimed privileges supposedly belonging to the executive branch when it suited him. For example, he refused to comply with subpoenas because “the president and the vice president are constitutional officers and don’t appear before the Congress.” At other times, Cheney claimed to be part of Congress in order to avoid complying with rules governing the executive branch. Hence the conclusion that if Cheney belonged to any branch it had to be the hitherto unheard of Dick Cheney Branch, which perhaps existed in Cheney’s well-known “undisclosed location.”
Tags: alternet, current events, david swanson, daybreak, excerpts, politics/government
-
John Talbott to Business Spectator on Obama, Wall Street, and the ongoing financial crisis
September 8, 2009
And when you describe the abhorrent behavior on Wall St, is that still going on?
Well, sure. Absolutely. Yeah. That’s the saddest thing about this whole episode. It took a major financial crisis that almost bankrupted the global financial system to make people realise that we had a very serious problem occurring in our financial system and what did we do? We raced around like Humpty Dumpty soldiers and horses trying to put the old system back together again and we put together these banks that were too big to fail. It seems silly to me for our reforms to put that same system back together again and if they’re successful in doing it, then all we’re doing is delaying the day of mourning when this all happens again. — interview in the Business Spectator between Isabelle Oderberg and 86 Biggest Lies on Wall Street author John R. Talbott
Tags: 86 biggest lies on wall street, business spectator, economics, interviews, john r talbott, obamanomics, politics/government
-
David Swanson on War Powers at Charlottesville, VA
September 4, 2009
On September 3, David Swanson talked to audiences in Charlottesville, VA about Daybreak, about war powers and about how the American executive branch starts illegal wars — and how the Congress can stop them. Take a look below.
Tags: current events, david swanson, daybreak, politics/government, q&a, videos
-
David Swanson: “Bush’s Third Term? You’re Living It.”
September 2, 2009
It sounds like the plot for the latest summer horror movie. Imagine, for a moment, that George W. Bush had been allowed a third term as president, had run and had won or stolen it, and that we were all now living (and dying) through it. With the Democrats in control of Congress but Bush still in the Oval Office, the media would certainly be talking endlessly about a mandate for bipartisanship and the importance of taking into account the concerns of Republicans. Can’t you just picture it? . . . [yet] this dark fantasy of a third Bush term is also an accurate portrait of Obama’s first term to date. — David Swanson at TomDispatch
Tags: articles, current events, david swanson, daybreak, politics/government, truthout
-
Huffington Post: Swanson bumps Beck from #1 spot on Amazon Politics
September 2, 2009
As those who follow @7StoriesPress and @davidcnswanson on Twitter already know: thanks to the efforts of progressive Democrats everywhere — as well as people just fed up with Glenn Beck — David Swanson’s Daybreak shot up the Amazon charts yesterday, peaking at #1 in Politics and #6 on Amazon overall. Read the full story from Rob Kall at the Huffington Post — and, as a special bonus, the article “Healthcare Needs Democracycare” from the ever-prolific David Swanson. Congratulations to David and to Daybreak!
Tags: articles, current events, david swanson, daybreak, huffington post, politics/government
-
David Swanson at the Progressive Picnic in Maryland
September 1, 2009
On August 30, 2009, David Swanson talked about his new book Daybreak with attendees of the Progressive Picnic put on by the Progressive Democrats of Montgomery County, Maryland. Take a look below.
Tags: current events, david swanson, daybreak, maryland, politics/government, progressive picnic, q&a, videos
“politics/government” Posts
- Oct 30, David Swanson interviewed at Rain Taxi Review of Books
- Oct 30, Report on Ralph Nader’s West Hartford book signing
- Oct 28, Single Payer Action offers signed first editions of “Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us!” for donors
- Oct 27, David Swanson: The Militarization of America’s Youth
- Oct 15, David Swanson: Will You Love Every Future President?
- Oct 13, Daybreak reviewed in the North Coast Journal
- Oct 7, A Novel Idea, by Ralph Nader
- Oct 7, David Swanson on Democracy Now: “Our elected representatives have to represent who we are right now”
- Oct 7, David Swanson on his arrest at GRITtv
- Oct 6, David Swanson arrested in Washington, DC
- Oct 6, David Swanson with WSLR 96.5 LP FM
- Oct 3, David Swanson’s Second Bill of Rights
- Sep 23, Ralph Nader Reader released as a free PDF download
- Sep 22, Ralph Nader on Democracy Now: “Nonfiction prevents you from imagining”
- Sep 16, David Swanson on Russia Today: Health care debate is a moral outrage
- Sep 15, David Swanson’s Twelve Twisted Truths About US Politics
- Sep 11, Bob Fitrakis on David Swanson at Areopagitica in Columbus, OH
- Sep 11, David Swanson on Ohio
- Sep 9, Daybreak excerpt at AlterNet: How Dick Cheney’s radical acts still threaten the Constitution
- Sep 8, John Talbott to Business Spectator on Obama, Wall Street, and the ongoing financial crisis
- Sep 4, David Swanson on War Powers at Charlottesville, VA
- Sep 2, David Swanson: “Bush’s Third Term? You’re Living It.”
- Sep 2, Huffington Post: Swanson bumps Beck from #1 spot on Amazon Politics
- Sep 1, David Swanson at the Progressive Picnic in Maryland
