As US Occupation Drags on, Afghanistan Suffering at Record High.

This is not uniquely the fault of the US. The Taliban are to blame too. They kill more Afghan civilians than the US, and often do so intentionally.

However, the badness of the Taliban is not a good reason to prolong an unwinnable war.

Noteworthy ways in which Vice President Cheney supported torture.

The US is relaxing requirements for home mortgages, inviting another housing bubble that could pop and make another crisis.

US citizens: please call your House member right away. (General House phone number 202-224-3121). Tell them to stop this deal while there's still time!

"I'm a constituent. My name is...

"I'm calling about an outrageous provision that Wall Street lobbyists and a few House and Senate leaders are trying to sneak into the budget agreement. It would let the biggest banks go back to using taxpayer subsidies and guarantees to gamble on the riskiest derivatives - the exotic financial instruments that blew up the economy in 2008.

"This would be a huge giveaway to a tiny handful of the biggest Wall Street banks, and it would put the country's financial and economic stability at risk. Please do all you can to remove this provision from the spending bill, and make it clear that you will oppose the bill unless it is removed."

Reflections comparing the first and second world wars.

I reject the idea that there is something wrong with fighting an invading army. It was right for France and Britain to fight against Germany's aggression (in Poland) in 1939, and just as it was right for Iraqis to resist US occupation in the 2000s. This doesn't exempt the conduct of the war from moral criticism. If the greatest legacy of the second world war is massive deaths of civilians, the German air force may have started it, but that doesn't justify the the US and UK in responding in kind.

As it turned out, the bombing of German cities was not even effective in stopping German weapons production. They moved the factories underground, but not the civilian population.