Floating for Peace on the Golden Rule

It’s 10 p.m. at Montrose Harbor in Chicago. Kiko and Tamar help me step from the dock into the wobbly rowboat. Kiko rows us out to the Golden Rule and I climb aboard in wonder. Oh my God! This is it – the 30-foot, anti-nuke sailboat with a history going back almost...

‘The Enemy Is Not a Human Being’

There’s a crucial, overlooked aspect of Daniel Ellsberg’s legacy that’s very much worth saluting, you might say: his transformation from a believer in the Vietnam war to a horrified opponent of it, ready to risk prison time to bring classified truth about its...

Before the Bombs Come the Platitudes

What is democracy but platitudes and dog whistles? The national direction is quietly predetermined – it’s not up for debate. The president’s role is to sell it to the public; you might say he’s the public-relations director in chief:". . . my...

Ukraine and the Nuclear Paradox

Somewhere out there in the geopolitical wilderness of Eastern Europe, two powerful beasts stalk each other. One of them is good. One of them is evil. The future of all life on this planet is at stake.We’ll be back after these messages . . . (or maybe not).This seems...

The Myth of the Good War

Love thy enemy? I get a chance to do so on a regular basis, thanks to the email (or nasty-mail) I sometimes get in response to my column, e.g.:"Must be a dearth of anyone with anything intelligent to say for the News to put your drivel out for us to chew on. Not...

Separating the Cross and the Sword

What is a gaffe but an inadvertent uttering of an awkward truth? For instance:"This crusade, this war on terrorism, is going to take a while."The "gaffe" part of George W. Bush’s post-9/11 announcement that the War on Terror had begun was, of...

Nukes, Lies, and Invisible Murder

Let's listen in for a moment to the gentle, awkward language of mass killing:"The employment or threat of employment of nuclear weapons could have a significant influence on ground operations. . . . Integration of nuclear weapons into a theater of operations...