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Bill Van Auken (born 1950) is a politician and activist for the Socialist Equality Party and was a presidential candidate in the U.S. election of 2004, announcing his candidacy on January 27, 2004. His running mate was Jim Lawrence. He came in 15th for the popular vote, receiving 1,857 votes. [1] In November 2006, Van Auken ran for the United States Senate seat held by Hillary Clinton[2]. He finished in fifth place, with 11,071 votes [3]
Van Auken is a full time reporter for the World Socialist Web Site, and resides in New York City.
In the U.S. presidential election, 2008 he was the vice presidential nominee of the same party.
Saturday, February 11, 2012 NATO bombing kills eight Afghan children
At least eight Afghan civilians, all children according to some reports, were killed Thursday when a NATO warplane bombed a village in Afghanistan's northeast Kapisa province. The deaths drew a formal protest Friday from Afghanistan's US-backed president, Hamid Karzai.
Monday, January 9, 2012 The Pentagon's strategy review: A blueprint for world war (3 comments)
At the Pentagon, Obama introduced a new defense policy reshaping U.S. foreign policy. It opens with war with China followed by war with the rest of the world. The questions begs to be asked: have American political leaders completely lost their minds?
Friday, January 6, 2012 The scaffolding of an American police state (1 comments)
Eisenhower saw it coming, Truman used his veto to stop what he saw as a move toward totalitarianism & now Obama endorses an American police state.
Friday, December 16, 2011 Obama, Congress Back Legalization of a Police State (9 comments)
Despite the attempts of liberal and pseudo-left groups to promote illusions that Obama would veto the legislation because of concerns over its assault on democratic rights, the Democratic president's only worry was that it might call into question the sweeping powers that he and his predecessor, George W. Bush, have already seized.
Saturday, October 15, 2011 Washington and Iran: The reckless policy of provocation (1 comments)
The more that emerges about the purported Iranian "terrorist plot" to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States, the more it appears to be a crude concoction by elements of the American state apparatus to blackguard Iran and create the pretext for an escalation of US aggression.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011 Ex-SDS leader seeks to herd Wall Street protest behind Obama (4 comments)
The Democrats are seeking to co-opt the anti-Wall Street movement, lining it up behind a president who was elected with the largest campaign war chest ever funded by Wall Street and who has spent his first term in office defending the interests of the banks, finance houses and the top 1 percent.
Saturday, October 8, 2011 Occupy Wall Street and the Democratic Party (4 comments)
If those who are protesting against Wall Street are to avoid becoming regulated and rendered harmless, they must begin by rejecting the "lesser evil" fraud and fight to develop an independent political movement of the working class in opposition to both parties of big business and the profit system they defend.
Saturday, October 1, 2011 Obama boasts of assassinating American citizen in Yemen (2 comments)
Obama placed Awlaki on a "kill or capture" list of people targeted for assassination in January 2010 after his administration asserted a right not even claimed by the Bush White House: to carry out the summary execution of any US citizen deemed by the president to be a "specially designated global terrorist," without presenting any evidence or securing any judicial sanction.
Friday, July 8, 2011 Obama puts Social Security on chopping block (4 comments)
What is being prepared in the name of reducing the deficit is another gigantic transfer of wealth from the working class to the top 1 percent of American society, with both major parties, the congressional leadership and the Obama White House working together to advance the interests of the banks, the corporations and the financial elite at the expense of the vast majority of the people.
Friday, February 4, 2011 Obama's crocodile tears over Egypt's violence (1 comments)
Who do they think they are kidding? For 30 years, US administrations, Democratic and Republican alike, including that of Obama, have backed Mubarak precisely because of his ability to impose policies supported by Washington against the overwhelming opposition of the Egyptian people. That this required systematic and relentless violence was well understood.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 The Palestine papers and the dead-end of nationalism
Under the mantle of promoting statehood and "democracy," the US and Israel have foisted a police state upon Palestinians on the West Bank, an adjunct of the Israeli occupation that represents no one but the PA officials themselves and a handful of millionaires who have fattened themselves off of CIA stipends and USAID contracts.
Thursday, December 16, 2010 US spy agencies paint grim picture of Afghan war
Two reports produced by US intelligence agencies sharply contradict the American military's claims of success in the nine-year war in Afghanistan. The NIEs on Afghanistan and Pakistan were recently presented in secret to the Senate and House intelligence committees. They represent the consensus view of Washington's 16 separate intelligence agencies.
Saturday, December 11, 2010 US indictment of WikiLeaks founder said to be imminent
Both the Swedish case―which was dropped because of its patently spurious character and then reinstated―and the denial of bail in Britain are inconsistent with normal legal practices. They suggest that actions taken against Assange are aimed at using the sex charges as a pretext for meting out political punishment and giving Washington time to concoct its own frame-up and present its own extradition request.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010 Free Julian Assange! Hands off WikiLeaks!
Given the unprecedented and shameful public outcry by leading American politicians and media figures for Assange to be declared an "enemy combatant" or "terrorist" and "taken out" or "assassinated," not only would his ability to get a fair trial in the US be excluded, but his very survival would be in doubt.
Sunday, November 28, 2010 Pentagon issues grim review of Afghanistan war
The report, released this week, is titled, "Progress toward Security and Stability in Afghanistan," but its contents suggest that in doubling the number of US troops deployed in Afghanistan since taking office, President Barack Obama has only created a deeper quagmire for the US military.
Friday, November 19, 2010 New York's Mayor Bloomberg announces 10,000 job cuts
New York's billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg unveiled plans Thursday for eliminating the jobs of 10,000 city workers and slashing spending by nearly $1.6 billion. Fire fighting, schools, aid to children, care for seniors, youth jobs, libraries, cultural institutions, parks and road repair are all on the chopping block.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010 US prepares permanent Iraq occupation
The State Department last week released an audit warning that Iraq would continue to need the deployment of US troops to maintain stability after 2011 and warning that it would be too dangerous to turn over the defense of US interests in the country to civilians.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010 Obama prepares to expand military attacks in Yemen (2 comments)
the Wall Street Journal editorial page invoked the Yemeni terror allegations as justification for the Obama administration's declared intention to carry out the "targeted killing" of a US citizen, Anwar al Awlaki. It further argues that the latest terror scare "underscores how crucial it is that US intelligence be able to eavesdrop on email and phone conversations" without having to obtain a warrant.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010 Fourteen more US troops killed in Afghanistan: What are they dying for? (1 comments)
What can justify such human sacrifices? Obama, like Bush before him, has tried to frighten the American people into supporting this brutal war by claiming it is necessary to defeat terrorism. This is just as much a lie coming out of the Democratic president's mouth as it was when uttered by his Republican predecessor.
Thursday, August 26, 2010 US primaries: Millionaire candidates, right-wing politics and few voters
The lack of any surge to the polls is indicative of the widespread hostility to both parties in the general population. It is also one more indication that the so-called "Tea Party" movement touted by the mass media is largely a creation of the media itself, representing little more than the most right-wing sections of the Republican Party.
Saturday, July 31, 2010 As casualties in Afghanistan rise, Army suicides, drug use set new records (2 comments)
The Army's 350-page report issued Thursday, titled "Health Promotion, Risk Reduction and Suicide Prevention," placed the suicides in a broader context of dangerous behavior among soldiers, including rampant drug use, drunk driving and violent crime.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 US drone missiles slaughtered 700 Pakistani civilians in 2009 (2 comments)
The military-intelligence apparatus has embraced the drone missile attacks as a technological answer to the problem of waging a war that is opposed by the majority of the American people. They do not involve immediate US casualties, and the human toll they inflict remains largely concealed.
Sunday, January 3, 2010 The Northwest Flight 253 Intelligence Failure: Negligence or Conspiracy? (4 comments)
Eight years after 9/11, with all of the still unanswered questions surrounding the attacks that were used to justify an explosion of American militarism, the attempt to gloss over an event that nearly cost the lives of 300 people with this hackneyed metaphor does not hold water.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009 CIA Director Issues a Warning to Congress (2 comments)
CIA Director Leon Panetta warns Congress & all Americans to back off from investigations into CIA criminal behavior.
