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Are you old enough to remember when liberal groups openly admitted that the war on Iraq was illegal and fraudulent, based on oil and profit and sadism?

Well, can you recall when the proponents of the war claimed it was a defense against nonexistent ties to terrorists and nonexistent weapons?

Even if you've wiped those memories, let me assure you, NOBODY ever claimed that attacking and destroying Iraq was necessary to protect civil liberties in the United States (which have been seriously eroded during the course of the war).

Yet, in recent months the generic defense of murdering large numbers of people far away has taken over as the explanation for the war on Iraq.

The ACLU on Friday used the voice of my fellow Charlottesvillian Khizr Khan to claim that attacking Iraq was done "in defense of our country's ideals."

In Liberal America, there's a growing feeling of hysteria

Conditioned to accept whatever's claimed

As long as it's Donald and the Russians blamed

Mr. Putin says he'll be friends with you

I don't subscribe to this point of view

It would be such an ignorant thing to do

If the Russians hate their children too

How can I risk my little boy with Oppenheimer's deadly toy

There is no monopoly in common sense

On either side of all the missile defense

We share the same biology

Regardless of ideology

Believe me when I say to you

The Russians hacked your cell phone too

There is no historical precedent

To put a stooge in the office of the President

There's no such thing as a winnable war

It's a lie we don't reject anymore

Obama says we will protect you

I don't subscribe to this point of view

Believe me when I say to you

I know the Russians hate their children too

We share the same biology

Regardless of ideology

What might kill us, me, and you

New Department

Both South Korean consumer groups and politicians have been for quite some time calling for mandatory GMO labeling, which, starting in February, will be the enforced law.

Because the article that this article is about was in Korean in the original, I will post the translation with a brief comment of my own.

In view of the fact that the Trump FDA Commissioner will be even more manipulated by corporate interests than prior administrations, not much at all is going to get done over the next four years in the realm of protecting consumers. I say that because of the demonstrated record thus far of appointing 4 climate change deniers to Cabinet positions. I am all for giving a new regime a chance to prove themselves, but in this department, that of the FDA, I hold out no hope at all.

The mainstream media and the alternative media in the USA are difficult to submit articles that educate consumers, so I have entirely shifted all of my efforts to other nations. The most significant involves my presenting my initial evidence to the Health Minister of India requesting him to ban Aspartame.

You might be forgiven for imagining that laws are serious things. When you violate them, you can be locked in a cage for decades. That’s not true for big-time weapons dealers like the U.S. government.

From all around the globe, nearly 50,000 people have signed this statement:

I understand that wars and militarism make us less safe rather than protect us, that they kill, injure and traumatize adults, children and infants, severely damage the natural environment, erode civil liberties, and drain our economies, siphoning resources from life-affirming activities. I commit to engage in and support nonviolent efforts to end all war and preparations for war and to create a sustainable and just peace.

US is Incapable of Removing Aspartame from Market, Consumer Protection shifts to International Focus

A horrifying conclusion, but these are the facts: without a massive overhaul at the FDA resulting from a very large hue and cry from the American public, nothing will ever get done in terms of the FDA removing this neurotoxic carcinogen from the market. There is considerable hope, however, in efforts going on right now in Sacramento, California to require a carcinogen label on aspartame containing products, as well as international efforts to fight back against the misleading corporate propaganda that assures hundreds of millions that "aspartame" is somehow safe to consume.

Talk about Fake News! These Ajinomoto guys in Japan win the Gold Prize for getting away with audaciously lying to consumers in every nation.

Demesia Padilla’s sudden resignation as Taxation and Revenue Department secretary last week sent a jolt through state government. It was also a blow to Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, who had stood by Padilla, one of her longest-serving Cabinet members, as the Attorney General’s Office carried out a monthslong investigation into Padilla’s personal finances and allegations that she tried to thwart a state audit into one of her former tax clients.

That changed last week as the contours of the investigation came into focus with the release of a stunning search warrant affidavit. The document, released a day after agents raided Padilla’s state offices, revealed that investigators were looking into a host of possible criminal activities, including tax evasion and embezzlement.

Martinez, who had once challenged the investigation as a politically motivated attack, accepted Padilla’s resignation and said she had ordered the tax department to fully cooperate with investigators.

World Beyond War, with your help, is expanding our staff, our organizing, and our activism. As we start the new year, I'll be staying on as director and we'll be adding a fulltime organizer and a part-time education coordinator (both already hired), as well as many volunteers -- including our growing global coordinating committee, chaired by Leah Bolger.

We've also just launched a campaign to divest public pension funds from weapons dealers. This will be a major undertaking. We've begun a campaign in support of international justice including moving remaining nations to join the International Criminal Court, and moving that court to apply the law equally. We're also working with allies around the world on closing military bases and restoring land to its people.