It’s been three years since the Supreme Court issued it’s outrageous decision in Citizens United vs. FEC, overturning the flimsy campaign finance protections afforded under McCain-Feingold law. The case opened the floodgates to billions of dollars perverting our elections, much of it completely unreported, and some amount even coming from foreign corporations and governments. The Court literally legalized bribery, and wealthy individuals and special interests took full advantage of it.
“There is no peace because the making of peace is at least as costly as the making of war - at least as exigent, at least as disruptive, at least as liable to bring disgrace and prison and death in its wake.” -Daniel Berrigan
Imagine it is June 3, 1944, and you are a soldier in England as part of the U.S. military preparing for a land invasion to evict the German occupiers. Presumably you are extremely nervous, as you think of your family back home. You probably wonder if you will survive the invasion.
In a recent column responding to the shootings in Newtown Connecticut, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof asked, “Why can’t we regulate guns as seriously as we do cars?” Kristof didn’t follow up on that question, but it’s something I’ve been thinking about for a long time.
Everyone has a stake in issues like the prevention of nuclear war, and indeed of conventional war, like the potential war between Israel and Iran or the U.S. and Iran. These potential wars would only delay, but not resolve, conflicts that portend nuclear confrontation down the time stream.
During the 2012 International AIDS Conference in July, ACT UP activists protested U.S. HIV/AIDS policies, including the PEPFAR anti-prostitution pledge. (Michael Fleshman/ Flickr/ Creative Commons)
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, a practicing Catholic, sought a blessing on Wednesday from Pope Benedict XVI. Afterward Panetta reported that the Pope said, “Thank you for helping to keep the world safe” to which Panetta replied, “Pray for me.”
In seeking those prayers, Panetta knows better than the Pope what moral compromises have surrounded him during his four years inside the Obama administration, as CIA director overseeing the covert war against al-Qaeda and as Defense Secretary deploying the largest military on earth.
“The climate movement needs to have one hell of a comeback.” –Naomi Klein
The energy was there. It was an overcast spring morning in April 2011 in the nation’s capital. Thousands had shown up to take action on climate change. The earlier march led us to the Chamber of Commerce, BP’s Washington D.C. offices, the American Petroleum Institute and other office buildings associated with oil spills, coal mining, carbon emissions and more. We heard speakers. We saw street theater. It was all very tame and managed. It lacked confrontation.
