Monthly Archives: July 2012
Senate Intel Auth Bill Blasted
Twenty-five groups oppose the bill, and for good reason.
LA Times Calls Out Obama
Long overdue: Allowing the president of the United States to act as judge, jury and executioner for suspected terrorists, including U.S. citizens, on the basis of secret evidence is impossible to reconcile with the Constitution’s guarantee that a life will … Continue reading
Oxymoron: “Oversight” Of The Intelligece Community
FAS has a good piece that highlights the dysfunctionality of the Congressional “oversight” process vis a vis the Intelligence Community.
Remembering America’s Forgotten War
We’ve lived so long now with the so-called “war on terror” that we often forget that it was another of our wars in the Islamic world that actually set the precedent for large-scale American intervention in the region. I’m speaking … Continue reading
Drone Debate Update for July 27, 2012
[View the story “#Drone Update for July 27, 2012” on Storify]
“With Furrowed Brow and Humble Mien”
I’m still making my way through this excellent anthology but this chapter concluding passage by T. J. Jackson Lears sums up well the Obama approach to Afghanistan: The president’s inflation of banality into “hard truth,” his invocation of a pacifist … Continue reading
On The Military Suicide Epidemic
I just finished reading the TIME piece on suicides among troops & veterans and was struck by what was missing: any reference to the most successful military suicide prevention program in the nation, Vets4Warriors (or 1-855-VET-TALK). The original program, Vet2Vet, … Continue reading
Drones: Resistance Grows At Home And Abroad
[View the story “Drone Debate Update” on Storify]
The Drone Debate At Mid-year
[View the story “The Drone Debate At Mid-year” on Storify]
On Liberty Lost
…the sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively interfering in the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection. If English political philosopher John Stuart Mill had known when he wrote that line in his … Continue reading
Long Strange Journey 