Proud Liberal

Recently, the officers and enlisted personnel of Ellsworth Air Force Base at Rapid City, South Dakota, in the magnificent Black Hills under the shadow of Mount Rushmore, named a B-1 bomber “The Dakota Queen”—the name of the B-24 bomber I flew in World War II, so titled in recognition of my wife, Eleanor. After a moving ceremony attended by Eleanor and me, one of the junior officers said to me, “Senator, I don’t know whether it bothers you to be called a left-wing liberal, but just remember, a plane can’t fly without both a left wing and a right wing!” That is the kind of common sense that prompts my admiration and to which I say Amen and God bless us one and all—even those of God’s children who are unmarried, or have deeper love for those of their own sex than of the opposite sex. In the Methodist parsonage where I was reared I was taught that we should be cautious about judging one another. Such judgments are more properly left to the Almighty rather than to the political hustings and the quest for partisan advantage.

George McGovern, The Nation ( more. . .)

March 25th, 2005 || PermaLink

Inequality of sacrifice

During World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt understood that national domestic unity against Hitler depended on a sense of shared sacrifice not just by G.I. Joe and Rosie the Riveter, but also by the Rockefellers. The estate tax was increased so that fortunes exceeding $50 million would be taxed at a 70 percent rate. FDR spoke out boldly against war profiteering, saying, “I don’t want to see a single war millionaire created in the United States as a result of this world disaster.”

Our present inequality of sacrifice is not lost on some veterans’ groups. “During the Civil War, rich people could buy their way out of the draft,” said Charlie Richardson, co-founder of Military Families Speak Out. “Now the wealthy don’t have to pay anything to avoid the draft and they get tax cuts on top.”

Chuck Collins, CommonDreams ( more. . .)

March 24th, 2005 || PermaLink

The Power of Non-Violence

Perhaps the most misunderstood and maligned word in English today is “nonviolence.” Nonviolence is considered by many Americans to be a nice church piety applicable only to interpersonal relationships with people of a like mind. Whenever “peaceniks” suggest that nonviolence can be successfully applied, not only for schoolyard bullying but even to topple tyrannical regimes, they are ridiculed as “do-nothing” feel-gooders naive enough to think singing Kumbaya at a love-in can protect people from evil.

If that’s what nonviolence was truly about it would be worthy of ridicule and rightfully called a refuge for cowards. But when one considers the many political victories that have been won by means of nonviolent methods, such snickering can only be seen as ignorance.

Sean Gonsalves, Cape Cod Times ( more. . .)

March 23rd, 2005 || PermaLink

JUST News

Recently, Madison Wisconsin’s Capitol Times opined, “if we had a better press, we’d have a better president.’

It might be just as accurate to say that if we had a better press we might not have had this war at all. What puzzles me: why doesn’t the antiwar movement get that point and decide, at long last, to do something about it.

Then we might have JUST news, not just news or just us news. JUST news in the spirit of justice, not just recycled conventional wisdom.

Danny Schechter, CommonDreams ( more. . .)

March 22nd, 2005 || PermaLink

An incipient police state

The reality is that an ignorant and blundering Bush administration has created a Shi’ite crescent from Iran to Lebanon that is revolutionizing the Middle East. The reality will not penetrate the Bush administration. Reality contradicts Bush fantasy and is “against us.” Facts that don’t support Bush fantasy are “liberal” and “anti-American.” Truth is dismissed as anti-Bush propaganda.

It is America that has undergone regime change. The Bush administration constitutes a Jacobin revolution. Its fanatics have declared world war on political diversity. The first victim of Bush’s “war on terror” is the Bill of Rights. In its place we have an incipient police state.

Paul Craig Roberts, CounterPunch ( more. . .)

March 22nd, 2005 || PermaLink

Up is Down

Given Washington’s up-is-down rewards-and-punishment system, it shouldn’t come as a surprise, therefore, that the diversity of opinion is at least as narrow today as it was in those heady pre-war days.

Both then and now, the Washington “winners” have been those who got the facts about the Iraq War wrong, while the “losers” were those who correctly assessed the dangers and recognized the factual holes in Bush’s case.

But by far, the biggest losers have been the American soldiers who were sent to fight and die for the perverse logic of a dysfunctional Establishment - along with the people of Iraq who have suffered tens of thousands of deaths and the devastation of neighborhoods and even entire cities.

As Washington’s politicians and pundits continue to avoid accountability and refuse to think creatively about a possible shift in policy, both U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians can look forward to many more months - and possibly years - of bloodshed and disorder.

Robert Parry, Consortium News ( more. . .)

March 21st, 2005 || PermaLink

Preempting Democracy

Two years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the Pentagon has formally included in key strategic plans provisions for launching preemptive strikes against nations thought to pose a threat to the United States.

Respected global organizations seem to be viewed with suspicion. In describing the vulnerabilities of the United States, the document uses strong language to list international bodies - such as the International Court of Justice, created under a treaty that the United States has declined to sign - alongside terrorists.

Douglas Feith, undersecretary of defense for policy, unveiled a new US defense strategy that calls for preemptive military action. (AFP/File)
The doctrine also now stipulates that the U.S. will use “active deterrence” in concert with its allies “if we can” but could act unilaterally otherwise, Defense officials said.

John Hendren, Los Angeles Times ( more. . .)

March 20th, 2005 || PermaLink