What is a Country For?

At the height of the George W. Bush years, a bit of a TomDispatch piece would sometimes be reposted at a right-wing website with a disparaging comment, and I’d suddenly be deluged with abusive emails (many homophobic) that regularly advised me to take my whatever and get out of Dodge. Though I was born in New York City, as was my father (my mother’s hometown was Chicago), the phrase invariably brought to bear was “go back to...” and the only question was where. There were small ... Full Story

The United States of Fascism

    The Fascist State of America By Glen Barry #IStandWithEdwardSnowden because free nations don't spy on and murder their citizens. Democracies don't terrorize sovereign nations and their peoples with torture, false imprisonment, and drone-based perma-war. It is time to stand up against the oil oligarchy's police state that is stifling social change required to achieve universal human rights, justice, equity, and global ecological sustainability. "They who can give up essential ... Full Story

Ron Paul hates democracy

  Ron Paul's Farewell Speech in Congress Lays Bare His Hatred for "Pure Democracy," and Love of Oligarchy Paul believes in liberty... for businessmen. November 28, 2012  | By Robert Parry Rep. Ron Paul, an icon to the libertarian Right and to some on the anti-war Left, gave a farewell address to Congress that expressed his neo-Confederate interpretation of the Constitution and his anti-historical view of the supposedly good old days of laissez-faire capitalism. In a near-hour-long ... Full Story

Oath of Office?

Government for Sale?

  Unless you have been living in Newt Gingrich’s moon colony, you have heard of SuperPacs spending tens of millions of dollars in the GOP presidential candidate race. The cause of this is the decision by the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) in Citizens United v the Federal Election Commission (FEC)  that corporations are people and money is speech. The effect is that corporations and billionaires are able to spend as much money as they want on adverting to assist the ... Full Story

USA, Land of the Free? Not any more

  Looking at the Patriot Act and the NDAA We, that is We The People, of the United States have lost many of our freedoms and much of our civil liberties in the 20 years since I retired from the military. The attacks of 9/11, which Ron Paul so aptly points out were retaliation for some of our interventionist policies in the latter half of the 20th Century. While changing the way the United States does business would probably solve the terrorist problem, the government has instead used the ... Full Story

Udall Should Re-Think his Amendment

  By Isabella Woods There is no doubt that US Senator Mark Udall has a strong political pedigree, and he always seems like quite a likeable fellow.  He’s strong on the environment, civil liberties and support for veterans, and keen on adopting a bi-partisan approach to most issues.  Now he wants Congress to agree to change the constitution by accepting his balanced budget amendment. Amendments, and more Amendments The Senator is of course not the first to make such a proposal, although ... Full Story

On This Day: December 12, 1787

Pennsylvania ratifies the Constitution On this day in 1787, Pennsylvania becomes the second state to ratify the Constitution, by a vote of 46 to 23. Pennsylvania was the first large state to ratify, as well as the first state to endure a serious Anti-Federalist challenge to ratification. Pennsylvania was the most ethnically and religiously diverse state in the new nation. One-third of Pennsylvania's population was German-speaking, and the Constitution was printed in German for the purposes of ... Full Story

RIP: Fourth Amendment

  The Defense Authorization Bill amendment allowing for indefinite detention of American citizens is described by  William Fisher in Law Professors Outraged by Senate Vote on Indefinite Detention  as “Ambiguous but alarming new wording, which is tucked into the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and  is reminiscent of the “extraordinary measures” introduced by the Nazis after they took power in 1933." This is certainly no laughing matter, but satirist Jon Stewart brings ... Full Story

America the Battlefield

  America the Battlefield: The End of the Rule of Law December 5, 2011
 By John W. Whitehead  “All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined… could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years. At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. ... Full Story