Author: John Hawkins

Israel has been almost universally condemned for their latest incursion into the occupied territories. Furthermore, many people are acting as if Israel is at fault for the violence in the region. Actually, nothing could be further from the truth. Israel’s position is morally superior to that of the Palestinians and I think that needs to […]

A mere eight months after the worst terrorist attack in the history of the world, we’re largely back to “business as usual” in America. Both political parties are shoveling out pork like it was kryptonite to terrorists while urgent security concerns are being largely ignored. As far as anyone can tell, airport security is just […]

Sometimes you run across a story that makes you look at an issue in an entirely different way. For some of you,: this: may be one of those types of stories’ “A two-mile-thick cloud of pollution shrouding southern Asia is threatening the lives of millions of people in the region and could have an impact much further […]

Since this is an election year, Democrats will be trying to scare voters with every smear, slander, and lie they can make-up about Conservatives and Republicans. Instead of letting them define what people like me believe, let me tell you what I believe in. I’m not rich but I don’t resent people who are. I […]

Our intelligence agencies have been taking a terrific beating lately because of their pre-9/11 bumbling. The media has painted an unflattering portrait of the CIA and FBI that makes them look inflexible, bureaucratic, and gripped by institutional lethargy. However, all of this negative attention is having an effect and will ultimately make our intelligence agencies […]

Rarely a day passes on the internet without another article being written that claims America is a “hegemon,” that we’re “like Rome,” or that we want to “create an empire.” Take it from a Conservative, ultra-nationalistic, America-first hawk: Americans on the whole would rather drive bamboo shoots under their fingernails than “rule the world.” To […]

Merriam-Webster defines “speciesism” as “prejudice or discrimination based on species; especially: discrimination against animals” and I have to admit that I am an enthusiastic practitioner of this form of prejudice. ‘ I don’t believe animals have any rights other than those that man gives to them. If animals want their rights, let them have a […]

Did you know that John Ashcroft has announced that he intends to put “U.S. citizens he deems to be enemy combatants” into camps? Well best selling author: Michael Moore: has heard about it and it reminds him of the Nazi concentration camps… “Meanwhile, Attorney General John Ashcroft proposed camps–and not the kind where you make ‘Smores over […]

The scope and scale of world poverty is titanic. In fact, the majority of the world could be fairly considered desperately poor by 1st world standards. So what do we do about it? Some people say we should forgive the debt of third world nations. Well we certainly can do that, but you have to […]

Europeans are always calling Americans ‘cowboys’ and saying that we think, ‘life is like a John Wayne movie.’ I wish they were right because it would make the entire ‘War on Terrorism’ a lot easier. Unfortunately, we seem bound and determined to play the part of the Lone Ranger while we force Israel to take […]

Acording to some non-American newspapers, the United States is responsible for most of the pollution in the world. We’re also to blame for floods in Europe, earthquakes in Afghanistan, and if global warming ever actually happens that’ll be our fault as well for not signing up for the totally ineffective Kyoto protocol. We’re regularly denounced […]

When you hear someone touting a conspiracy theory in politics, you can safely discount it without paying much attention because 999 times out of 1000, there will be nothing to it. Sadly, we’ve gotten to the same point with cries of “racism” in politics. There’s almost never any validity to complaints about bigotry or racism […]

I saw an amazing little commercial the other day. The ad was for a service that delivered your pet’s drugs directly to your door. Now you may wonder, ‘what’s so amazing about that?’ Well consider how incredible this service is when viewed through the lens of how much of the world lives. First off, many […]

When you were a kid, do you ever remember your mother asking you, ‘if your friends jumped off a bridge, would you jump off too?’ The point of that question was to illustrate that you didn’t have to do something dumb just because your friends were doing it. When you apply this lesson to US […]

Have you heard of ‘Not In Our Name‘? They’re a group of B and C level celebrities, writers, politicos, & academics who are against the war. Their numbers include Edward Asner, Noam Chomsky, Tom Hayden, Casey Kasem, Edward Said, Susan Sarandon, Gloria Steinem, Oliver Stone, Gore Vidal, & Kurt Vonnegut. The general idea this organization […]

This war is about oil just like the Gulf War. Just because the Gulf War was primarily about oil doesn’t mean that every war is about oil. WW1, WW2, Vietnam, & the Korean War certainly weren’t about oil were they? No they weren’t, but Bush and Cheney are oilmen, so this has to be about […]

I received an email yesterday titled “Not In My Name” that read in part… “…People all over the world want peace. What I’d like to ask you is what is your agenda? I love the USA and all the liberties it provides me. I’d like to see it offered to other nations but I am […]