When pundits name-check “the welfare-warfare state,” we usually mean, and are usually understood to mean, something along the lines of “bread and circuses at home, military adventurism abroad.” That’s as good a definition as any, I suppose, and certainly an accurate description of today’s global political environment, but it fails to really capture the nature …
Continue reading “War, Children: It’s Just a Welfare Check Away”
Tom Knapp on McCain’s fake outrage and real meddling
The usual suspects are at it again — doing their damnedest to escalate a war they have no intention of either fighting in or paying for themselves, and to involve you in it. US Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Joe Lieberman (of the "Connecticut for Lieberman" Party, in which the ordering of names conveys his …
Continue reading “Syria: Let’s You and Him Fight”
Well, OK, yes, there are some “good guys” in Syria: People trying to live their lives in the midst of civil war, doctors treating the wounded, and, yes, almost certainly some who are genuinely fighting for freedom. But neither of the two sides of that civil war are worthy of support. Everything which either side …
Continue reading “Syria: There Are No ‘Good Guys’”
One major problem with writing political commentary is that it’s often difficult look at something that seems … well, crazy … and find a rational explanation for it. It’s easier to just write off what looks like craziness as craziness and move on. But in the real world, there is in fact method to most …
Continue reading “If You Have to Ask Why, the Answer is Usually ‘Money’”
Having held Private First Class Bradley Manning prisoner for nine months, under conditions tantamount to torture and beyond doubt intended to break his will, the US Army recombobulated its allegations against him on Wednesday, adding 22 counts to an already lengthy charge sheet. As a practical matter, these changes probably don’t make a lot of difference to …
Continue reading “Manning Prosecutors: The Enemy is Us”
As I write this, the Egyptian state seemingly totters on the brink of collapse. One last push from what appears to be a genuine, spontaneous popular uprising may be all it takes to send “president for life” Hosni Mubarak into exile or to a wall with (perhaps) a blindfold and final cigarette. That’s how it …
Continue reading “Let My People Go”
… but, of course, it isn’t, says Tom Knapp
‘Advisory’ troops will still kill and die, says Tom Knapp
Leave it to the U.S. Department of “Defense” to continue fighting a war it’s already irretrievably lost. On Friday, the Pentagon “asked” online whistleblowing facilitator WikiLeaks to “do the right thing” by erasing all classified U.S. government documents from its servers and handing over any copies. I put the “asked” in scare quotes because although …
Continue reading “The Valley of the Shadow of WikiLeaks” 
