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The same people who got the US into the mistaken Iraq War are now urging President Obama to use military force in Iraq again. Republican hawks are using the violence in Iraq as a political tool that is escalating pressure for US military intervention. But, if the US follows the rule of law — both US and international law — the president does not have the authority to attack Iraq without Congressional and UN authorization.

John McMain went roaring onto the Senate floor  “calling on the entire Obama administration national security team to resign.” McCain urged immediate action saying “Every hour …

Dear Diary,

Nothing much happened today in the great wide world. Some folks got whacked in, what was it, Sudan, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Palestine, something like that who can tell the difference with those people always blowing up cars with themselves in them cause this or that god told ’em to do it. Heathens. If they’d just turned Christian like the missionaries told’em they wouldn’t be in this mess.

Also, some kind of fighting broke out or ‘situation deteriorated’ as the newsguy said, in — where else? — Iraq. Serves ’em right for…uh…what was it
again? …

I have been increasingly struck over the years by how America is divided between those who hear the screams of its millions of victims abroad and those who do not. This is the fundamental issue underlying Michael Kinsley’s recent attack on Glenn Greenwald, in which Kinsley wrote “newspapers should not have the final say over the release of government secrets. That decision must ultimately be made by the government.” (( “Eyes Everywhere,” NY Times.))

As the U.S. Executive increasingly turns to secret warmaking — relying on lawless assassination from the air as U.S. drone bases spread …

The stunning upset defeat of House Majority Leader, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) by Professor David Brat, an economist from Randolph-Macon College, in Tuesday’s Republican Primary has several takeaways for progressives besides envy and shame over why they do not directly take on the corporate Democrats.

First, among all the reasons for Cantor’s fall, there were the ones encapsulated in the Nation’s John Nichols’ description of Brat as an “anti-corporate conservative.” Repeatedly, Brat said he was for “free enterprise” but against “crony capitalist programs that benefit the rich and powerful.” David Brat pointed out that Cantor and the Republican establishment have “been …

President Obama chose to ignore the most important strategic aspect of U.S. foreign policy in his major address May 28 at West Point graduation ceremonies. It was perhaps thought politically wise to emphasize current events rather than military preparations for a possible major future confrontation with China.

Instead Obama mainly focused on defending his policies against mounting criticism from warhawks in both parties variously demanding that the U.S. attack Syria, or Iran or Venezuela, and adopt more provocative measures toward Russia. He was even criticized for not being tougher toward China, which is preposterous, as we shall discuss in this article …

TEHRAN, IPS — Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has revealed for the first time that Iran has made a detailed proposal to the P5+1 group of states aimed at ensuring that no stockpile of low-enriched uranium would be available for “breakout” through enrichment to weapons grade levels.

In an exclusive interview with IPS, Zarif described an Iranian plan, presented at the meetings with the P5+1 last month in Vienna, that would exclude weapons grade enrichment. “The parameters of the proposal would be set to continue Iran’s enrichment but to provide the necessary guarantees that it would not enrich to anything over …

This week on “It’s the end of the World as We know it and I feel fine” we bring you a round up of news from the muthafrackin resistance. Starting with the shooting of three cops from the Canadian Mounted po-po and a look at its colonial history. Followed up by the FIFA world cup riots, the successful defense of Can Vies, an anarchist social space in Barcelona. And wrapping it up with the resignation of Subcomandante Marcos from the Zapatista Army of National Liberation.

Music break: Hard beats and solid decolonizing rhymes by Shining Soul.

Our featured guest this week …

On June 11th in Berlin, a new international organization was announced whose purpose is to (1) defend whistleblowers when they are facing prosecution; and (2) defend the public’s right to know.

The right to know is recognized in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and consistent with the First Amendment to the US Constitution. The importance of the right to know has become more widely understood thanks to recent whistleblowers, Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden. They exposed harsh secrets about the way the US government behaves in its militaristic foreign policy and how intelligence agencies conduct …

When it comes to recent events in Ukraine, Russia’s “White Book,” unlike the New York Times, does not claim to deliver “all the news that is fit to print.” More modestly, it simply claims to address the “violations of human rights and the rule of law in Ukraine” from November 2013 through March 2014.

Such modesty is in order, because the “White Book” inexcusably fails to mention the 30 November 2013 assault on hundreds of protestors in Kiev by Ukraine’s riot police; an assault that provoked hundreds of thousands of protestors to take to the streets there and, thus, threaten the …

Editor’s note: Oh, the pharm-ag industry. It is a complete nightmare out there, as all of humanity is one giant petri dish and mice lab. Environmental  factors, aromatic particles, nanoparticles, endless combusted materials, plastics, ugly chains of percolated fats, GMOs, pesticides, metals, resins, hydrocarbons, the entire mess that is American-European capitalism through chemistry.

Soy-soy-soy — the allergies are coming on like a Spanish flu, and America, and the transnational pigs of finance and offshoring felonies are ramping up the hyphenated compounds put into the food of Johnny and Juanita.

These people, like GM executives, like the lot of lawyers, they are worthy less …

The world has gone dramatically wrong as she is ravaged by ecosystem collapse, abject poverty, grotesque inequity, militant nationalism, and resurgent authoritarianism. Overpopulation combined with inequitable over-consumption, leading to a state of permawar, in particular are root causes destroying natural ecosystems and threatening collapse of our one shared biosphere. Either the human family learns to share, simplifies our way of living, and takes any and all truthful actions to end the current state of global ecocide; or else we collapse into nothingness.

There are alternatives to ecosystem collapse and authoritarian rule, including taking mass collective action to do together what must …

Oh, heck, I got taken to the woodshed, a bit, by a friend, on my rant around Paul Craig Roberts’ words in the Gary Corseri article-interview. Or what Paul says is a change in this country’s morality — “Whatever Became of Morality?” 

All of it, words, the rumble and rhythm of a freed mind – mine – under the weight of economic siege, forced upon me because I chose anarcho-syndicalism, or some form of arts culture socialism, of Walden Two sort of ethos, or the poet’s eye, or some youthful bravado thinking my agent would actually sell my work in …

Boys and girls inhabit two separate worlds whose boundaries are created by the relentless onslaught of commercialism. The toy industry didn’t create gender segregation, but it certainly perpetuates and reinforces it by planting a link between gender and career choice in the minds of young children. The messages sent to toddlers through colours, wording and images remain the same across the board: while girls are encouraged to focus on their appearance and partake in nurturing activities, boys are veered towards more active pursuits. Let Toys Be Toys, a UK-based lobbying group, is advocating label-free marketing and sorting according to themes …

In the celebratory atmosphere last week as the Palestinian unity government was sworn in, ending a seven-year feud between Fatah and Hamas, it was easy to overlook who was absent.

Hamas had agreed to remain in the shadows to placate Washington, which is legally obligated to refuse aid to a government that includes a designated terrorist group. The new Palestinian cabinet looked little different from its predecessor; Hamas’ input was limited to three independents, all in low-level ministerial positions.

And because this transitional government is still operating within the confines of Israeli occupation, the three ministers from Gaza were refused …

In my June 6 column, “The Lies Grow More Audacious,” I mentioned that Obama and the British prime minister, who Obama has as a lap dog, just as George Bush had Tony Blair as lap dog, had managed to celebrate the defeat of Nazi Germany at the 70th anniversary of the Normandy invasion without mentioning the Russians.

I pointed out the fact, well known to historians and educated people, that the Red Army defeated Nazi Germany long before the US was able to get geared up to participate in the war. The Normandy invasion most certainly did not defeat Nazi Germany. …