I spent my morning at Freedom Plaza in Washington DC for the beginning of the October 2011 rally. While the event is heavily focused on ending our highly unpopular and expensive wars, it is also about economic justice and stopping the corporate control of government that is destroying the country for the other 99 percent. This was a protest not just against the Republican policies that started under George W. Bush, but also the policies that Barack Obama chooses to continue and expand on a daily basis.

The recent Gallup poll found not only that the overwhelming majority of Americans think it is time to bring our troops home from Afghanistan, but even among Republicans there is an even split between those who say withdraw and those who think we should stay. Theoretically, this should create a potential opening for an anti-war Republican presidential primary candidate.

William Kunstler, Disturbing the Universe recounts the historic explores the live and career of one of the most controversial lawyers whose believed in justice for. Directed by his daughter Emily and Sarah the film explores not only his civil rights work and his private clients, but also how his family coped with his work

Justice is not a popularity contest

The Freedom Riders, Chicago 8/7, Wounded Knee, Martin Luther King, Jr. , negotiating at Attica made sense for a civil rights lawyer.

Set against the backdrop of the 1960s through the end of the Vietnam War, Phil Ochs: There but for Fortune traces the life and music of singer songwriter Phil Ochs, who committed suicide in 1976. Ochs was a driven artist and activist who sense of social justice was at times in conflict with his desire for recognition, a tragic American hero with a history of bipolar disorder whose life and work was deeply enmeshed with the cultural and political tapestry of his time.

The Afghanistan Study Group report is out, and the fight is on. A number of critiques have been leveled at the report, one of the most influential being Joshua Foust’s over at Registan.net, chunks of which are percolating upward into larger outlets. Foust is a smart guy with whom I regularly debate, but there’s a particularly offensive landmine hiding at the end of Foust’s post that I want to highlight, where Foust states that the anti-war movement “relies on assumption and beliefs to shape reality”.

War is not politics, it is violence – murder – on an enormous scale. It does not lead to democracy, security, or good governance, it leads to anger, humiliation, and above all else, more violence.

A response to Spencer Ackerman’s opening gambit on Pakistan diplomacy.

The propaganda tour has failed – 6 in 10 Americans want an end to the war in Afghanistan. Will Obama stick to his timeline, or will congress be forced to take drastic measures?

What are the consequences of General Kayani’s 3 year extension for the US war in Afghanistan?

What does the story of a night raid in Wardak province tell us about the consequences of our war in Afghanistan?