By David Swanson
The Declaration of Independence is best remembered as a declaration of war, a war declared on the grounds that we wanted our own flag. The sheer stupidity and anachronism of the idea serves to discourage any thoughts about why Canada didn't need a bloody war, whether the U.S. war benefitted people outside the new aristocracy to whom power was transferred, what bothered Frederick Douglas so much about a day celebrating "independence," or what the Declaration of Independence actually said.

RootsAction.org co-founder Norman Solomon praised the U.S. Department of Justice's apparent decision to drop its threat to imprison author and journalist James Risen unless he reveals his source in reporting the story of Operation Merlin.

By Lila Garrett
The following will be the opening commentary on the "Connect the Dots" program on KPFK this Monday, 27 June, with guests Daniel Ellsberg, Ca. Assemblyman Mike Feuer, and LA City Councilman Bill Rosendahl.