Yesterday, the President of the United States of America GAVE A DAMN. The Goddess knows, I don't agree much with what this President does as policy. Yet, yesterday he did a GOOD THING. Because of what Obama exclaimed, children, kids all over the world woke up in a world where a leader of a "world power" said THEY WERE VALID. THEY MATTER. That they have the same human rights as anyone. It took courage and I am grateful to Obama for doing this. I do think it's a calculated political tactic, because he has spoke throughout his Presidency these kinds of 'progressive' policies only to invalidate them with his demonstrations. This can not be UNDONE. What he has done for youth who wake up each day in deepest fear over who will show them the most HATE... I give Obama applause. No matter what. For that.
I am not gay. I am self identified as bisexual. It matters not what or who I am ... I am not living in fear of who I am. But kids wake up every day to life filled with HATE and they kill themselves over this. THEY KILL THEMSELVES.
So it matters. What the President did. Beyond himself.
Please do over to RoundTree7.com and read P.e.'s post. This is a good piece on where the heart is needed. Needed. We live in challenging and nasty days... we are often lied to and given false hope or we are wrecked by the eternal string of tragedy that is playing out on Home, good ole planet Earth. P.e. Nolan has something to say about it and it broadens your heart.
We
are continually buffeted ny a corporately-owned mainstream media which
either tells us outright lies, fills us to the brim with worthless,
gossip-filled celebrity NON-news, completely omits important bits of
REAL news, or marginalizes it and puts its own pop-culture, corporate
spin on it. Like a modern-day DIOGENES, we have justifiably become
cynics in serach of an honest person (or, in this specific case, an
honest MEDIA source). For if all we shine our lanterns on is a steady
diet of CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, or FOX "News", we are bound to be
disappointed and deprived. After all, they are thoroughly controlled and
influenced by the 1%, and, in varying degrees, actually try to keep us
UNinformed or MISinformed.
Thankfully, we
have a number of sources we can usually rely upon for accurate
reporting.Some are television sources; some are magazines; some are
blogs; some are online news sources. ALL are worth a look or visit. They
will help dispel any confusion or delusion you may have about what's
really happening around us. Wnenever possible, we have hyperlinked these
sources for you below, so you will always be able to view them easily
with only one click. WE ASK THAT YOU BOOKMARK THIS POST so you can
always refer to it. We also ask that you copy and paste this post and
send it to whomever you think will need or appreciate it. For TRUTH and
KNOWLEDGE is power, and the only way we in the majority 99% can ever
hope for victory in the battle against the lies of the 1% is to confront
them with it as often as we can. This, of course, is by no means a
complete list of factual sources. However, it is a good start. We
encourage you to supply us with other reliable sources we may have
overlooked in our comments section below. Please include hyperlinks if
you can. Thank you, readers, for sharing our dogged determination to persue truth in media. Below are the sites we recommend: DEMOCRACY NOW! with Amy Goodman (http://www.democracynow.org/). This may also be seen on LINK TV, channel 375 on DIRECTV or channel 9410 on Dish Network, as well as at http://www.livestream.com/democracynow. COUNTDOWN
with Keith Olbermann. Available on CURRENT TV, channel 358 on DIRECTV,
channel 196 on Dish Network, channel 107 on Comcast, channel 102 on
Verizon Fios, channel 103 in NY and 143 in LA on Time Warner Cable, or
try http://current.com/shows/countdown/. THE NATION (http://www.thenation.com/)
is a superb magazine featuring some of the best progressive writers
around. Contributors include Kristina Vandenheuvel, Chris Hayes, and
Naomi Klein, among many others. This link leads you to their online
version. THOM HARTMANN (http://thomhartmann.com/) is your online source for a man who often features news other sources often don't have. CROOKS AND LIARS (http://crooksandliars.com/) is an outstanding digest of stories often ignored or underreported by the mainstream media. POLITICS PLUS (http://www.politicsplus.org/blog/) is another not-to-be-overlooked source for a wide range of political information. MOTHER JONES (http://motherjones.com/) is a great source for a wide variety of topical issues. THE DAILY KOS (http://www.dailykos.com/) reports on a number of items rarely covered by network TV news. ALTER NET (http://www.alternet.org/)
is a tremendous source of thought-provoking info gathered from a huge
variety of sources and knowledgeable authors. This resource is
definitely worth frequent visits! BBC NEWS (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/)
gives you a wealth of worldwide news from outside our country, and even
provides us with an insight as to how events in the U.S. are perceived
by the rest of the wotld. AL JAZEERA (http://www.aljazeera.com/)
does much the same as BBC News, but gives us a unique Middle East
perspective. English language versions can also be heard daily on LINK
TV. GOOGLE (https://www.google.com/)
is a much used, highly valuable search engine that can lead you to vast
stores of knowledge found anywhere on the internet. Just go there, key
in a term or phrase, and you will instantly receive literally thousands
of choices to choose from for virtually anything you wish to find out. CBC NEWS (http://www.cbc.ca/news/)
is THE site to go for comprehensive world and local news from our great
neighbor to the north. You will find their coverage of events within
the U.S., to be quite interesting and revealing. THE GUARDIAN (http://www.guardiannews.com/)
will give you world news and insights from the UK's greatest
progressive newspaper about stories rarely found in our own TV or
newspapers. OPEN SECRETS (http://www.opensecrets.org/) is a goodie which reveals exactly who, and how much they have contributed to, the officeholder or challenger of your choice. RUSSIA TODAY (http://rt.com)
offers unique news coverage, essentially an open and HONEST
international coverage that is quickly becoming THE resource for several
co-ordinate news services such as Young Turks, Countdown and Democracy
Now. Apaer from regular news updates, yjis source offers valuable
insights into Russian history, culture, and opinions. THE REAL NEWS NETWORK (http://therealnews.com/)
provides us with great international coveragevia independent objective
video reporting of current events coupled with progressive / Left
commentary. RAW STORY (http://rawstory.com/) gives aggregate online news with sensational / objective coverage. They cover breaking news with an honest, progressive bent. WIKILEAKS (http://wikileaks.org/)
is an international online self-described not-for-profit organisation
that publishes submissions of private, secret, and classified media from
anonymous news sources, news leaks, and whistleblowers.
Vital resource in deep research or the breaking news they can be
singularly responsible for. They represent a ground breaking free
press for the new age. TRUTH OUT (http://truth-out.org/) has ontemporary writers forming the Progressive push in the United States... Chris Hedges, Robert Riech, leading the way. Truthout provides an independentplatform
for in-depth investigative reporting and critical analysis, to reveal
systemic injustice and offer transformative ideas to strengthen
democracy. _ ROLLING STONE -POLITICS (http://rollingstone.com/politics)
offers edgy, accurate, politically corrective opinions via the Gonzo
tradition! Matt Taibbi, Tim Dickerson, David Browne....honest,
competent coverage of what is really going on. BUZZFLASH! (http://buzzflash.com/) BuzzFlash's
model of progressive journalism is truly unique. They don't just write
about progressive change; they provide -- through the BuzzFlash
Progressive Market Place -- a vehicle to create change. (I'll
discuss our support of direct activism in a future blog, that is the
kind of public demonstrations the Green Movement in Iran is engaging
in). There is simply no other journalistic model we know of that helps
create a new economy to advance progressive ideals and uses a small
portion of those sales to finance progressive journalism! GRIST (http://grist.org/)
Grist has been dishing out environmental news and commentary with a wry
twist since 1999 — which, to be frank, was way before most people cared
about such things. Now that green is in every headline and on every
store shelf (bamboo hair gel, anyone?), Grist is the one site you can
count on to help you make sense of it all. OCCUPY WALL STREET (http://occupywallst.org/)
Worldwide revolution! Daily Action reports from all over the US and
the globe. Calender of Action events and coordinate Actions with sister
/ brother Occupy's global. OCCUPY TOGETHER (http://occupytogether.org) American and international coverage of Actions / Events supporting the Occupy Movement. MEDIA MATTERS (http://mediamatters.com) News correct! Watchdog news group reporting the lies and duplicity of the MSM.
PUNK PATRIOT (http://ounkpatriot.blogspot.com/)
espouses Life, Liberty and Less F*****Up Government. The Punk does
youtube, blogspot, twitter, tumbler and he brings up a new, edgy
awareness of the day. Original promoter for and GA member of OWS.
Commentary with intelligent insight and overview.ACRONYM TV (http://acronymtv.wordpress.com/)
Dennis Trainor Jr.!!! Chronicling via video the worldwide
revolution. (Formerly NoCureForThat.org). Opinionated, aggressive , and
often funny, Acronym TV shines a seriously unserious, reverentially
irreverent light on issues that are often ignored by the corporate
media; issues of interest to the progressively-minded citizen of the
world. ACRONYM, because you stand for something!
So.....Which
Side Are You On? If you are interested in hearing the objective truth,
consult the links above. They absolutely give a Progressive, Left
leaning stance... they absolutely express just and equitable opinions
concerning the vitality of a working economy, the health of environment
and the social / political issues pressing us. Use discernment with all
'news sources'. Establish a few you are compatible with and hear a
more honest, non corporate motivated recount of the events of the day.
I'm a small (read itty bitty) maker (manufacturer). I heard nothing new in the President's speech last night that makes me think my country backs my maker ideals and values nor will it ever persuade the banking industry here in the USA to give me any kind of assistance in solidifying or building ... they think better to leave me to my own 'devices' or have my creative business strengths adrift in a fiscal sea of venture capitalism that will surely give me a 'living' / after gutting my making into whatever profiteering mass production and quality standard knock down for cheap will achieve. They are sharks. And this fraud in the White House supports that business model. Make no mistake, Obama is a Goldman Sachs boy. I represent the REAL / ACTUAL 'mom & pop' main street merchants and makers who are the strength of a community and the support of the larger (integrity abiding) industry therein. I've a secured / through consistent sales and standard of product / a customer list that slowly grows (OH so slowly) all through one of the worst Depressions since the last century. He touted dirty coal, fracking for 'natural' gas, more drill baby drill and lets see, did he leave out anything that is guaranteed to extinguish the species within a next generation? He pretty well kissed their collective big oil, big energy, destroy the environment asses. He should, they filled his election war chest. Along with Goldman Sachs. What a mouthful; "reclaim American values"... which are those? The brutality on those would stand up and be counted among those redressing the government for answers and account of their wreckage? Asking for accountability from this President is an errand we are opting to take... listen again for the sound of our feet coming this Spring! This guy signed NDAA on New Years' eve! You think there is no accountability in the offing coming up his campaigning ass come Spring? Hide and watch.
He's using shades of gray to get where he needs to be to fool folks into believing him... or choosing him the less of two evils. He touts millions in increase in jobs levels... he neglects to extend the truth in that fact; they were seasonal jobs that have since begun to evaporate. There are over 45 million Americans living at the poverty level in this country. I am one. Are you? The American workers who have attained jobs are working for much less than they used to... the middle class was drone-ed in the deal to keep automotive industry in the US. This 'great Obama save' came at the cost of labor wages and benefits. And the GOP was too stupid to acknowledge it! This is the caliber of intelligence in Washington. While some may have been excessive, the majority of those wages and benefits were the hull to the ship of industry and community in making a middle class. And he still expects you to pay up or go to jail for health care in the next two years. There were smoke and mirrors all through Obama's speech... he lied to get elected, he capitulates happily or lies to achieve anything in office and he's lying to stay in that office. The powers that be, ie: WALL FUCKING STREET FOR ANY POOR SAP WHO'S NOT GETTING THAT YET, are just as happy with him as they pretty much have been all the Presidents since Reagan. Can we get a happy pappy BOO YAH here in the cheap seats?
He lied about Iraq... and he prostituted the military! They absolutely kicked us the hell outa town in Iraq! He basked in a glow of violent corruptions! The flag carried by the SEALS who killed Osma bin Laden? That's his treasure after 4 years in office?!? An open war monger? Drone director? I have friends in Pakistan and Afghanistan! I am appalled at the murder (collateral damage) committed in my name. With the money I pay in taxes! That IS NOT WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE. All so Obama can ride some fence of yes I support the arrogance of the Knesset / Israeli government old fucks that the majority of the Israeli People do not (btw). Is he looking for the 'educated' Indy vote? Hey, newsflash: they all kind of still stick him in a "but I wouldn't want my daughter to marry one", "not for my President" category, don't they? The only constituency that really ever would open their minds' to this President and is very one that put him in the oval office and he's done nothing more than piss on us like the corpses on the ground in Afghanistan, ala US Marine troops emulating X mercs our tax dollars pay for. Are you following me here? He uses the military as a campaign tool and 18 over used / abused among the throngs of homeless and jobless vets from THE LAST 11 YEARS OF NON STOP PROFITEERING FOR HALI BURTON, RAYTHEON, X, WACKENHUT, CHEVRON-EXXON-MOBIL-BP-SHELL, ETC. CORPORATIONS commit suicide every goddamned day in my country??? It's an outrageous hubris!
In his SOU speech the President spoke nothing of preserving the sanctity of life on the planet in community with all other countries...no. He spoke about the "opportunities for prosperity" = profiteering corporations to further despoil the planet and gear up to keep the hot smoking war machine on the ready for industry productivity and 'jobs plans'. He cares not at all for the environment. On October 28, 2011 we reached Ahau 13 of the long count haab in the Maya calendar, T'zolkin. On winter solstice, December 21st, 2012, we will achieve an astrological alignment that happens only once every 26,000 years... when our life giver, the sun aligns directly with the heart of heaven, the black hole center of the galaxy. Our solar system has traveled through each of the constellation neighbors of the galaxy. Each constellation has represented an 'age' or 'era' to the known history of our species. We have come to the moment that our Ancestors saw with their very responsive and responsible cosmic vision, a place of planetary evolution. So, we are done with a time of 'belief' ... aka the Age of Pieces. We are breaking in to the time of personal, authentic knowledge / experience... aka the Age of Aquarius. We are being asked to OCCUPY our Home with the cosmic vision of our Ancestors.
Obama took no responsibility for the brutality used in nationally organized force with metropolitan majors and police agencies together with Homeland Security's guidance and arsenal against OCCUPIERS. He just yoked the force and abiding service of our OWS message through innuendo. He has nothing more than outrageous hubris? We are the standard setters, the teachers of the future. Whom else is there? The question to ask: if not me, then WHO? If not Now, when?
"To be innocent in times like these___ is to be criminal." Chris Hedges
Imagine there is no heaven. It's easy, if you try. No hell below us. Above us, only sky. Imagine all the People, living life in peace? You may say I'm a dreamer. But, I'm not the only one. John Lennon
Elouise Cobell's Spirit has gone on to a new Journey She has become the midnight diamond, a bright and multifaceted twinkle among the Star Nations. She lived just long enough to witness the People rise up collectively across the world and then she took her new Journey.
Elouise stood unyielding before the U. S. Government and their imposing bosses, greedy corporations through a legal struggle in the courts that resulted in a landmark win (Cobell v Salazar), for Indigenous America. She won $3.4 billion in settlement for the raping and reaping of Native Land for its' natural resources... these bastards have committed these crimes against the Earth Mother for over 100 years... taking with impunity what they wanted. Yellow Bird Woman's wings spread over the land, protecting. Her rock was the Indian Trust Fund.
Elouise Cobell took personally the death of each American Indian who
never saw a dime in the U.S. government's $3.4 billion settlement in a
long battle over mismanaged land royalties, viewing each passing as
another person who would never know justice.
Now she is among those who won't witness the final outcome after
dedicating more than 15 years of her life to seeing through the largest
government class-action settlement in U.S. history.
Cobell died Sunday at a Great Falls hospital of complications from
cancer at age 65. The Blackfeet woman from Browning, Mont., was the
driving force that guided the lawsuit through seemingly endless court
proceedings and political bickering on Capitol Hill.
Even though she was successful at overcoming those obstacles — a judge
approved the $3.4 billion settlement earlier this year — the deal faces
still another legal hurdle.
Several potential members of the class-action lawsuit have filed appeals
in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia, promising to
stretch the case into at least next year. Each has different a reason
for challenging the deal, including allegations that the lead plaintiffs
abandoned the true aim of the lawsuit — to finally have the government
account for how much money was actually lost — in exchange for a cash
settlement from which they would benefit the most.
Dennis Gingold, the attorney Cobell has worked with since the lawsuit
was filed in 1996, said individual Indians have lost their greatest
champion. But he hopes her death will unite people and get the
settlement money to the estimated 500,000 beneficiaries before too many
more die.
"Over the years, many elders and many sick class members have died.
Elouise had been very concerned about that. That is why she agreed to
the settlement," Gingold said. "Unfortunately, the settlement is two
years old, and class members continue to die. When we told the court
that time is of the essence, it was not hyperbole."
Thousands of potential beneficiaries across the nation died during the
14-year legal battle and subsequent negotiations in Congress that took
an additional year. To Cobell, each death stung.
"We've lost three people in the last week here in the Blackfeet
(Reservation in northwestern Montana) who were beneficiaries to this
settlement, and it hurts," Cobell told The Associated Press back in
November after the Senate temporarily blocked the deal.
Former Senate Indian Affairs Chairman Byron Dorgan of North Dakota said
there would be no settlement without Cobell and her sheer force of will.
"It's a cruel irony that the woman who led the charge here all of those
years, does not live know to see the benefits," Dorgan said. "Despite
that, I know she had to feel a great sense of accomplishment with what
she did."
The claims of those who died have been taken up by their heirs — as it
will be with Cobell's heirs — and she took comfort in that, she said in
an earlier interview.
"It's mainly their children or their grandchildren that benefit, which
is fine," Cobell said in May 2010. "One thing that I've heard all the
time that I've been working on this — letters after letters after
letters — is that they want something for their grandchildren."
Cobell, a great-granddaughter of the famous leader Mountain Chief, grew up on the Blackfeet Reservation.Among her many notable accomplishments, Cobell served as the Blackfeet
Nation's treasurer for 13 years and in 1987 helped found the first U.S.
bank owned by a tribe, now the Native American Bank.
But she is best known as the lead plaintiff in the trust case that
spanned three presidential administrations. She won a $300,000 "genius
grant" from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in 1997
and used most of the money to help fund the lawsuit.
Cobell said she had heard stories since she was a child of how the
government shortchanged Native Americans with accounts for royalties
from their land that was leased for resource development or farming.
She became outraged when she actually started digging into how much
money the government had squandered that belonged to Blackfeet people
who were living in dire poverty.
She realized the amount mismanaged since the 1880s could be hundreds of
billions of dollars. She said she tried for years working with two U.S.
government administrations to resolve the dispute in the early 1990s,
then decided to sue with four other Native Americans as plaintiffs when
no progress was made.
FILE - In a Dec. 17,
2009, file photo, Elouise Cobell watches a Senate Indian Affairs
Committee hearing on the multi-billion dollar Cobell v Salazar law suit
regarding decades of mismanagement of Indian lands in Washington. A
spokesman for Cobell says the Blackfeet woman has died. She was 65. (AP
Photo/Evan Vucci, File) Close
The government dug in. Over the next 14 years, there were more than
3,600 court filings, 220 days of trial, 80 published court decisions and
10 appeals until the 2009 breakthrough.
Under the settlement, $1.4 billion would go to individual Indian account
holders. Some $2 billion would be used by the government to buy up
fractionated Indian lands from individual owners willing to sell, and
then turn those lands over to tribes. Another $60 million would be used
for a scholarship fund for young Indians.
Congress approved the deal and President Barack Obama signed it in
December 2010, a year after it was first proposed. U.S. District Judge
Thomas Hogan approved the settlement in June, calling Cobell a hero who
has "accomplished more for individual Native Americans that any other
individual I can think of in recent history."
Just a few weeks before those words, Cobell discovered she had cancer.
She traveled to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., for surgery.
Cobell grew sicker, dashing her hopes to put the lawsuit behind her and
work full time teaching young Indian adults how to manage their money
and assets.
She said she wanted to prepare the next generation in hope they would continue her work. ABC NEWS
"There was no excuse for Native communities to live in abject poverty
over the years other than pure greed and total disregard of human life.
It was just another broken treaty, just another pack of lies with years
of human suffering and abject poverty for the indigenous people across
America. Though the award actually did not even cover the interest on
what was actually owed the tribes of America it was better than nothing
and we (Native American’s) owe a debt of gratitude to this Blackfeet
woman for her efforts to regain some dignity in light of this colossal
miscarriage of justice that was perpetrated over the years by the US
Government." - Buffalohair - read more
True to their corporate masters, the MSM-media (including the MSNBC lineup) have all been ignoring the successful OCCUPATION OF WALL STREET by American citizenry (the 99%ers) fed up!
6 Days and counting!~ of OCCUPATION. Last night Keith Olbermann gave the first serious installment of news coverage to the event on Coundown over at Current TV.
The 99% (the OCCUPIERS) are scheduling a march to City Hall to address the billionare mayor, Bloomberg today. Engaging the mayor ought to bring MSM. Like a lazy catfish, MSM today is under skilled, over paid, hell... these folks don't generally even rate a 'hack' title. So, the poetry of this communique' from the group organizers is flying high and straight over their collective heads:
A Message From Occupied Wall Street (Day Five)
Published 2011-09-22 07:51:42 UTC by OccupyWallSt
at OccupyWallStreet.org This is the fifth communiqué from the 99 percent. We are occupying Wall Street.
On September 21st, 2011, Troy Davis, an innocent man, was
murdered by the state of Georgia. Troy Davis was one of the 99 percent.
Ending capital punishment is our one demand.
On September 21st, 2011, four of our members were arrested on baseless charges. Ending police intimidation is our one demand. On September 21st, 2011, the richest 400 Americans owned more than half of the country’s population. Ending wealth inequality is our one demand. On September 21st, 2011, we determined that Yahoo lied about occupywallst.org being in spam filters. Ending corporate censorship is our one demand. On September 21st, 2011, roughly eighty percent of Americans thought the country was on the wrong track. Ending the modern gilded age is our one demand. On September 21st, 2011, roughly 15% of Americans approved of the job Congress was doing. Ending political corruption is our one demand. On September 21st, 2011, roughly one sixth of Americans did not have work. Ending joblessness is our one demand. On September 21st, 2011, roughly one sixth of America lived in poverty. Ending poverty is our one demand. On September 21st, 2011, roughly fifty million Americans were without health insurance. Ending health-profiteering is our one demand. On September 21st, 2011, America had military bases in around
one hundred and thirty out of one hundred and sixty-five countries. Ending American imperialism is our one demand. On September 21st, 2011, America was at war with the world. Ending war is our one demand. On September 21st, 2011, we stood in solidarity with Madrid,
San Francisco, Los Angeles, Madison, Toronto, London, Athens, Sydney,
Stuttgart, Tokyo, Milan, Amsterdam, Algiers, Tel Aviv, Portland and
Chicago. Soon we will stand with Phoenix, Montreal, Cleveland and
Atlanta. We’re still here. We are growing. We intend to stay until we
see movements toward real change in our country and the world. You have fought all the wars. You have worked for all the
bosses. You have wandered over all the countries. Have you harvested the
fruits of your labors, the price of your victories? Does the past
comfort you? Does the present smile on you? Does the future promise you
anything? Have you found a piece of land where you can live like a human
being and die like a human being? On these questions, on this argument,
and on this theme, the struggle for existence, the people will speak.
Join us. We speak as one. All of our decisions, from our choice to
march on Wall Street to our decision to continue occupying Liberty
Square, were decided through a consensus based process by the group, for
the group.
Can we put a little "get it, got it, GOOD" to this? And perhaps do some reporting on it?
Your involvement is essential too. As a satellite protester / occupier... there are supportive actions you can take! Keep up the call in’s to ask for cooperation with the occupation at the
local precincts and the NY Police Commissioner and the Mayor’s office.
Community Affairs @ the 1st Precinct: 212-334-0640 / 1 Police Plaza – the Commissioner – 212-374-5000 and the Mayor’s office: (212) 788-0010.
These patriot occupiers are fighting for
99 percent of us. Those who are unemployed, uninsured, underemployed
and totally insecure in the face of ever increasing social and financial
inequities. They are standing up for those who cannot be there right
now.
Here’s the good news — you can help, right now today — no matter where you are.
1) Spread the word — there’s something going on.
People have started a movement — they’re occupying Wall Street. Hundreds
of people have been camped out in lower Manhattan for four days!
2) If you’re in New York and can only spare a little
time or money: bring American flags, cardboard, markers, water, etc.
down to Liberty Park.
3) If you’re in the New York area and have a day, a
morning, an afternoon, go down there. The weather appears to be holding.
Take the day off and just go. I know it sounds hard to believe but you
will be heard. This is an open general assembly effort and you will get
your say and be a real participant.
4) If you are a little ways from NYC, organize
foursomes to go to NYC for the day. It will cost you the train/bus/car
fare. Take nothing but some food and water and your body.
5) Too far to get to NYC? Sign this petition and I will read your name and comments in Liberty Park this week, I promise. Break Up Goldman Sachs Now!
6) Be subversive against the big money interests
wherever you are and encourage others to do the same. Don’t give the
banksters 4 percent of every purchase you make with a credit or debit
card — use cash. See: UseCashMovement
7) Be subversive: max out your credit card on large
ticket items and return them the next day. (This one is right out of the
Saul Alinsky playbook.)
Move your money from a big bank to a credit union.
9) Picket a local branch of a bank. When the press
asks you what the heck you think you’re doing, tell them it’s in
solidarity with Occupy Wall Street.
10) Send food to the protesters in Liberty Park through a New York friend or go to the live stream chat for information on local eats that will take your order. (Yes, you’ll have to use your credit card, big spender!)
11) Do you know anybody who knows anybody who knows a
writer, a celebrity, etc. who will show their face at the protest? Get
to them now.
This is a GLOBAL ACTION…the mistake
being made by the corporate politico’s and regimes (including the US
Congress and White House) is in thinking that these protests /
occupations are not working. Here are few things you can do to HELP: (via Alternet)
Community, loyalty, integrity… if we are squabbling amongst our “own” we are helping the ‘other’ divide and tear us apart, eventually sacrifice our activism in bringing a vital message to the community and speaking truth to power. If not for us… “us” would be every person who on their own accord take to a keyboard and type out an opinion, make a query to a given social network or community, tell a story or speak truth to power as you have discovered it… if not for us, the governments would run over the citizenry like a bulldozer.
A journalist only observes and reports. An activist, a blogger brings their truth to the community. Citizen journalist?… Not me. I’m a blogger. I am an activist. I have “a side” I’m on. I’m not in it for the “hits”, I’m in it to make a positive difference. And so when I think of the 1st Amendment,
In Congress: September 17th, 1787
Amendment I Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
My freedom of speech comes first, the press is a bystander with the same rights. So my opinion is protected with every intention of allowing me to speak to my community and to speak most specifically to my Congress and it’s leadership.
Can you say Patriot Act?
Present domestic spying grossly exceeds what the founders had in mind. The Patriot Act has opened the door to nearly every branch of government service (military, Homeland Security, FBI, CIA, state and local police …) and then there are the industries that are given access: medical, emergency responders, private security, all manner of government joint task forces against domestic terrorism… all privy to whatever dossier has been accumulated on a person, group, family, church, business, Facebook group, blog sties, blog teams, bloggers…the ability to access without a court order has exploded the government’s files to the size of Big Brother. Maybe you see where I’m going here. I have personally called (I began counting long after I started calling so this is the amount of times I recall and added to the diary I now keep of it) White House to give the President my opinion of how he is doing his job, approximately 343 times, as of today’s call. I may be just run of the mill, but I’m going to guess the Secret Service ‘know me’ … along with the local constabulary. “They” of the black helicopters might be the organizers of the government conspiracy to upload you into their files. Like they did Virginia Cody.
[Virginia Cody -- a retired Air Force officer and anti gas-drilling activist -- was shocked to mistakenly receive a bulletin from the Pennsylvania Homeland Security Director describing the monitoring of several anti-drilling groups. The bulletin revealed that Virginia and other anti-drilling activists who were peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights were included in state "anti-terrorism" reports.
Virgina's story is not unique. Similar law enforcement behavior has taken place in at least 33 states and Washington D.C.] source: National ACLU
Head’s up! [This surveillance activity is not directed solely at suspected terrorists and criminals. It's directed at all of us. Increasingly, the government is engaged in suspicion less surveillance that vacuums up and tracks sensitive information about innocent people. Even more disturbingly, as the government's surveillance powers have grown more intrusive and more powerful, the restrictions on many of those powers have been weakened or eliminated. And this surveillance often takes place in secret, with little or no oversight by the courts, by legislatures, or by the public.] National ACLU
Life is too short to be paranoid about this. However; a word to the wise is happily accepted.
and then on she walks out of our lives and into Chaos.
A good friend passionately wrote today, addressing this very issue in her post, "Riots & The Right" *please read!* She maintains that there is a very good underlying cause for the riots in a class war than any other upset abroad. We are all under this class war status.... and I agree with her. We are being assaulted by the few 'up there' who Have. Their lives revolve in a comfort campaign to make sure we provide them with Having; and for us? We Have Not. There is no denying that there is reason and need for a complete shift in our planetary lifestyle ... the base of it being that this pursuit of comfort and materialism has cost the People of Earth their Home. That's first. All the other injustices fall beneath in a list of atrocity and insanity all for one reason... because somebody with plenty or enough wants MORE. I think the Hackney woman was equating that with her own community / neighbors and dismaying over it.
From London, Laurie Penny brings the equal measure to Diane Gee's intuit @ Wild Wild Left:
{In the scramble to comprehend the riots, every single commentator has opened with a ritual condemnation of the violence, as if it were in any doubt that arson, muggings and lootings are ugly occurrences. That much should be obvious to anyone who watched Croydon burn down on the BBC. David Lammy, MP for Tottenham, called the disorder 'mindless, mindless'. Nick Clegg denounced it as 'needless, opportunistic theft and violence'. Speaking from his Tuscan holiday villa, Prime Minister David Cameron – who has finally decided to return home to take charge - declared simply that the social unrest searing through the poorest boroughs in the country was "utterly unacceptable." The violence on the streets is being dismissed as ‘pure criminality,’ as the work of a ‘violent minority’, as ‘opportunism.’ This is madly insufficient. It is no way to talk about viral civil unrest. Angry young people with nothing to do and little to lose are turning on their own communities, and they cannot be stopped, and they know it. In one of the greatest cities in the world, society is ripping itself apart.
Violence is rarely mindless. The politics of a burning building, a smashed-in shop or a young man shot by police may be obscured even to those who lit the rags or fired the gun, but the politics are there. Unquestionably there is far, far more to these riots than the death of Mark Duggan, whose shooting sparked off the unrest on Saturday, when two police cars were set alight after a five-hour vigil at Tottenham police station. A peaceful protest over the death of a man at police hands, in a community where locals have been given every reason to mistrust the forces of law and order, is one sort of political statement. Raiding shops for technology and trainers that cost ten times as much as the benefits you’re no longer entitled to is another. A co-ordinated, viral wave of civil unrest across the poorest boroughs of Britain, with young people coming from across the capital and the country to battle the police, is another.} - read the whole post
The incredibly ugly truth is that the MSM / media is biased and controlled by the plutocrats that disallow anything they feel will awaken the community to nasty reality they provide for them. Generous with repression and poverty, as they are like to be. And a young man questioned in Tottenham responded to the reason for his rioting ... "You wouldn't be talking to me now if we didn't riot, would you?"
And I am thinking that that's where this stands. Who would pay attention?
Move your money from a big bank to a credit union.
