Listen to Diane Gee with Rocky Anderson live on WWL Radio Friday, April 27th at 6pm EDT!
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I am proud to be interviewing another of the US's finest this Friday. Rocky Anderson is the Presidential Candidate for the Justice Party. A former Democrat, (like most of us) he defected from their ranks, stating, "The Constitution has been eviscerated while Democrats have stood by with nary a whimper. It is a gutless, unprincipled party, bought and paid for by the same interests that buy and pay for the Republican Party." RIGHT ON!!!!
Rocky founded High Road for Human Rights, which primarily addressed five issues: torture and the undermining of the rule of law, genocide, slavery, the death penalty, and the human rights implications of the climate crisis. On this subject, like so many others Rocky is soundly on the side of We the People!
I am honored and thrilled to be able to speak with him on my show, and promote solutions he endorses for a saner world.
Please join us - Rocky is a brave man, soundly on our side.
The call in number is 646-929-1264 to join the conversation!
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Its time we had another talk sir. Last time it was about Occupy. This time, its about espionage, high tech and privacy.
Lets play a game, a children's game really. Its called connect the dots. I'm really good at it. In fact? So good I never needed the numbers really. I could just see the image on the page at glance, and create the picture. I used to start at any number, and just draw. Used to drive the Nuns crazy. It might make you or your supporters a little crazy too. I'm hoping against hope that maybe you are all so busy moving dot to dot, you have forgotten to pull your face back from the page, squint a little and see the big picture. This time? Lets try a mirror.
Reprinted with the kind permission of David Harris Gershon, "The Troubador" at dKos.
We've known for some time now that it was happening. How could we not? I mean, it's not as though we haven't been able to feel the widening gulf - to see the distance that has been growing between us these past years.
Don't get me wrong - I'm not naive enough to believe that things were all rosy before they turned sour. They weren't. However, in the last three decades, something has shifted dramatically within us. Within all of us. A shift that has reached a breaking point:
The Gini index tells us we're falling off the rails. For not only does the data suggest that income inequality is growing faster in America than almost anywhere else in the world, but that the gap as it stands now already places us near the bottom of the global community:
Income inequality is more severe in the U.S. than it is in nearly all of West Africa, North Africa, Europe, and Asia. We're on par with some of the world's most troubled countries, and not far from the perpetual conflict zones of Latin American and Sub-Saharan Africa. Our income gap is also getting worse, having widened both in absolute and relative terms since the 1980s.
In America, we're growing apart. We have been for some time. And unless our governing class is pressured to make a slew of drastic policy shifts by, say, movements such as Occupy Wall Street or massive voter revolts, we will continue
It's a plot, dudes.... there must be a reason that the Presidential Elections run concurrent with Leap Year. 366 days just ain't right. It sets us off balance, off kilter. It makes even a pacifist want to buy a 260$ value coin set embossed with the military Osama killers for $19.95, and wish they threw in the assault rifle. It's confusing enough to make even a Vestal Virgin spread her legs for the cause of chastity. It imbalances the most grounded to think up is down, and war is peace and that all men of good will have to vote for Satan over Lucifer. I mean, there must be some cosmic explanation for why they run the Superbowl of Insanity every four years, on those crazy Leap Years.
Why else can people of good will, who rebut the Kabuki Theater of the Uniparty those 1,095 days of the 3 years between the cycles, suddenly start regressing to the "Lesser of the Two Evils," close their eyes, tap their heels together and take the leap of faith of the cliff of Electoral Politics thinking "Maybe this time it will take us home" as once again it leads right off the Coyote's Cliff. It MUST be a LEAP year thing.
People keep jumping, and jumping every 4 years....
Provocative title, I know. When my friend Elian asked me to address whether racism and classism were separate constructs, or inextricably bound, it just kind of blurted out of my mouth. He loved the line. He's by his own definition, brown, gay and extremely non-pc. He said it was too accurate to not re-use. He laughed his ass off.
"Racism is promoted to keep the class caste system in place," I postulated, "It is entirely necessary to keep a set of gate-keepers to that caste system committed to maintaining it. White Uncle Tom's if you will. House-slaves that feel they are somehow better."
Elian is arguing his dissertation right now, in Social Work, with a focus on mental health issues among young people of color as effected by a societal alienation towards them. Or something like that. There's a statistician factor involved too. I'm not even smart enough to describe what he does.
He laughed, and said, "How come you can throw out in a sentence, what I've just tried to discern out of 3 books on the subject and make it make more sense than they do?" Well, duh. When describing something observationally basic (or at least obvious to me) I just use working class terminology.... words people "get" on a visceral level. Sure there is a cringe factor in my words - but its nothing compared to the cringe factor of reality. People of color get fucked over by white keepers of the guard to protect the Owner Class. Its a caste system borne of Capitalism, fed by Capitalism, and so self-reinforcing they barely have to lift a hand to keep it going.
We are at low simmer right now, even as Summer pops right through Spring with record temperatures after a Winter that pretty much wasn't. I'm not complaining. Its been cold in the streets. It could have been much worse.
It bodes for record heat, and far from the days of opening a hydrant after work, and dancing through its cooling spray? I fear that tempers will flare, and to mix my metaphor horribly it will become the season of our discontent.
To burn a barn, with the object of our jealousy therein; or to plan murder of they in the gilded tower that rejected us? Whether Shakespeare, Steinbeck or Faulkner - the brutal plot of the human condition under jealous and injustice proves time again... Humans don't do too well under pressure.
I feel it in my bones; like a barometric change in the pressure. This summer's heat, this seasons austerities, this rising climate of fear and repression will likely prove catalyst for the bursting of the centralist cyst of humanity that in one fell sweep will cause either an awakening, or a long and ugly battle.
We, the street prophets, the leftists and "doomsayers" have been calling it for years now. What will it take to bring people to the Streets? Apparently, an IDEA, the only idea, an idea whose time has most assuredly come.
Together, we are not alone. Together we shall be heard. Together we can wrest control over our lives again from the hands of the few who care nothing for us. Together, our love of one another and ourselves is more powerful than all the high tech weaponry pointed at us. We are legion.
What good a revolution, have you no fixed plan for what comes next?
~
Be careful what you wish for....
~
Things aren't that bad. The devil you know may be better than the devil you get...
Things are that bad. Things are unimaginably bad, had people the ability to connect dots so obvious a kindergartener with a crayon could complete the picture and probably sound out "Fascism" before the MSM could possibly do it.
I dreamed, long ago in gentler days of a 100th monkey moment of enlightenment. I prayed that humanity would evolve. I beseech-ed those who would listen that unless we did something then, that things were turning dire. I think even if my moderating forces were still around me? My radicalization is the result of facts on the ground.
Revolution is now coming whether or not you like it, dear readers. Everything is about to change so visibly that like the proverbial frog in the boiling pot, people will wonder why their world is burning around them, and wonder how we let it get so far.
"Occupy LA has brought needed attention to the growing disparities in our country and I look forward to its ongoing efforts to build an economy that works for everyone," [Los Angeles Mayor Antonio] Villaraigosa said at a press conference with police chief Charlie Beck?
"The City of Los Angeles cannot maintain the public safety of a long-term encampment," Villaraigosa explained almost two months after demonstrations started October 1?
It's obviously getting harder and harder in cities all across the country to keep sadistic rogue goon cops from attacking Americans exercising their constitutional rights of free speech and assembly.
These goons are becoming a major problem and could spark a revolution in the streets. And there are probably America companies supplying them with tear gas, rubber bullets, pepper spray and clubs, too.
Something has to be done about this problem. It's beginning to look like there will need to be hundreds of thousands or millions of people in the streets by springtime to counter these attacks on peaceful Americans if civil authorities don't start arresting these troublemakers.
Let's see what their reaction is when there are millions of people in the streets.
The two Occupy groups in Washington DC - Occupy DC in McPherson Square and Occupy Washington DC (originally October2011.org) in Freedom Plaza - both received some I'm sure very welcome support from the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church today.
...threw open its basement and laid out a spread of turkey, mashed potatoes, corn and pumpkin pie, plus kosher and vegan options, for the afternoon, with enough on hand to feed 500.
Organizing the feast was Occupy Faith DC, an inter-faith coalition set up a month ago to give food, equipment and spiritual support to Occupy DC in McPherson Square and Occupy Washington DC in Freedom Plaza.
"We understand and we are in total solidarity with you," James Lee of Occupy Faith DC and the Network of Spiritual Progressives, a faith-based social justice movement, told the diners.
"There's a lot of love for the Occupy movement," he added. "There are millions of people who want you to succeed, so don't stop... The goal is to have hundreds of thousands in the streets by springtime."
"Unlike counterparts in New York and elsewhere, the two Washington occupations -- located in public spaces belonging to the National Park Service -- has so far been tolerated by local authorities, with few serious incidents", notes AFP via RawStory.
No meals were offered to 1%'ers by the church, as far as I know. They'll have to make do with whatever they can scrounge up, I suppose. It must be rough having no friends.
Occupy makes friends the old-fashioned way. They earn them.
Wall Street might want to think about taking some public relations lessons from Occupy?
On Friday a partial 8 minute video went viral of the Occupy UC Davis event at which officers called in by Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi to disperse the protesters attacked and pepper sprayed peacefully protesting sitting students in their faces at point-blank range.
The UC Davis Police later made ludicrous claims that the students had presented a violent threat by sitting down on the ground and linking arms when ordered to leave by the police.
Later, on Saturday, youtube user BrioCloud uploaded a more complete 15 minute video of the event showing the before and after situation surrounding the pepper spraying of the students.
BrioCloud describes the situation on the ground at the protest this way:
When Occupy Davis protesters began to be arrested, students banned together, chanting to the police to release the captives and for more students to come support. Later on, the protesters sat down in linked arms, entrapping the police and the captor. After trying to negotiate, rather than stepping over the students, the police pepper sprayed the students point blank in the face. This video was shot right before, and during the pepper spraying and forceful removal of the protesters. I stood in disbelief as I watched the violence. Skip to 4:05 to where the police talks to the student one more time before bringing out the canister of pepper spray
Watch:
This morning, Sunday, Gleen Greenwald writing at Salon.com in The roots of the UC-Davis pepper-spraying gave us his analysis of the legal and social implications of the incident, noting that:
Following the disgusting and uncalled for show of force by police at Occupy UC Davis Friday at which officers called in by Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi to disperse the protesters attacked and pepper sprayed peacefully protesting sitting students in their faces at point-blank range, continuing in the spirit of non-violence that has defined the Occupy movement UC Davis Students came to the consensus that they would give Chancellor Katehi a silent walk of shame to her car.
According to wikipedia Katehi was appointed Chancellor by the University of California Board of Regents on May 7, 2009, effective August 17, 2009.
Ironically, in response to acts of hate and intolerance on campus in 2010, Katehi launched the Hate-Free Campus Initiative to reaffirm the campus's values and commitment to one another. The initiative included creation of "Beyond Tolerance Tuesday," collaboration with the Museum of Tolerance, and the creation of a speakers series and the Civility Project, which began with a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
UC Davis Police Chief Annette Spicuzza said officers used force out of concern for their own safety after they were surrounded by students. "If you look at the video you are going to see that there were 200 people in that quad," said Chief Spicuzza. "Hindsight is 20-20 and based on the situation we were sitting in, ultimately that was the decision that was made."
Watch...
I suppose, to give the officers some benefit of the doubt, there could have been some scary 84 year old women in that crowd?
My administration has been closely monitoring the situation... and I know that we will be learning more tomorrow when day breaks.
As the situation continues to unfold, our first concern is preventing injury or loss of life. So I want to be very clear in calling upon the... authorities to refrain from any violence against peaceful protesters.
The people... have rights that are universal. That includes the right to peaceful assembly and association, the right to free speech, and the ability to determine their own destiny.
These are human rights. And the United States will stand up for them everywhere.
Violence will not address the grievances of the... people. And suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away.
What's needed right now are concrete steps that advance the rights of the... people, a meaningful dialogue between the government and its citizens and a path of political change that leads to a future of greater freedom and greater opportunity and justice for the... people.
Now ultimately the future... will be determined by the... people. I believe the... people want the same things that we all want: a better life for ourselves and our children, and a government that is fair and just and responsive.
Eric Dolan at RawStory reports that "Eighty-four-year-old activist Dorli Rainey spoke to Countdown host Keith Olbermann on Wednesday night after being pepper sprayed by police the previous night during an "Occupy Seattle" protest."
The protest was formed in downtown Seattle in solidarity with "Occupy Wall Street" after it was raided by authorities. Police claimed they gave warnings to protesters for blocking streets during rush hour before trying to disperse them
Rainey said the protesters had decided to leave the intersection, and that police almost certainly knew this because of the protester's "people's microphone" method of communication. But before they could leave, police moved in and fired pepper spray at the crowd.
[snip]
Rainey, who grew up in Nazi Germany, expressed her displeasure with the mainstream American media, who only reported "soft, fluff entertainment" instead of hard-hitting news.
[snip]
"It would be so easy to say, `Well I'm going to retire, I'm going to sit around, watch television or eat bonbons,' but somebody's got to keep 'em awake and let 'em know what is really going on in this world," Rainey said.
While city governments and police forces across America - hypocritically attempting to claim that they are part of the 99% while ordering Occupy protesters to remove their tents - are this week doing everything they can think of to shut down and evict local Occupy encampments, effectively saying they'll support the protestors as long as they sleep outside in the cold and the snow this winter, the Occupy movement itself has this week begun a campaign of supporting people whom banks are foreclosing on by occupying homes at risk of foreclosure when tenants enlist its support, beginning with Occupy Minnesota working with the Take Back the Land Movement: "a national network of organizations dedicated to elevating housing to the level of a human right and securing community control over land".
Amy Goodman of DemocracyNow.org talks here with Monique White, a Minneapolis resident who is facing foreclosure and recently requested the help of Occupy Minneapolis, joined by Nick Espinosa, an organizer with Occupy Minneapolis, and Max Rameau, a key organizer with Take Back the Land, who for the past five years has worked on direct actions that reclaim and occupy homes at risk of foreclosure.
AMY GOODMAN: Bloomberg News is reporting U.S. foreclosure filings rose 7 percent in October to a seven-month high. It attributes the spike to lenders speeding up action against delinquent borrowers.
Well, we turn now to an offspring of the Occupy Wall Street movement: the Occupy Homes movement. The loose-knit coalition of activists aim to stave off pending evictions by occupying homes at risk of foreclosure when tenants enlist their support.
The movement has recently enjoyed a number of successes. In New York, Occupy Wall Street protesters occupied a derelict Harlem building's boiler room until the landlord agreed to provide adequate heat and hot water to tenants. Meanwhile, in California, Occupy Los Angeles protesters held a vigil outside a home at risk of foreclosure, then organized a sit-in at the Pasadena regional office of Fannie Mae. The bank eventually called off the eviction and agreed to renegotiate the homeowner's mortgage.
And in Minnesota, a woman is crediting the support of Occupy protesters in helping her gain more time to move out of her foreclosed home. Ruth Murman, a small business owner who has not received a paycheck in three years, explained how the Occupy Minneapolis movement helped her.
Palestinian activists in the West Bank are expanding their nonviolent protest efforts against civil and human rights abuses with a new campaign set to launch next week.
Palestinian activists are increasing their efforts to expose Israel's segregation policy in the West Bank, as well as violations on their civil and human rights. In a message to the press, the Popular Struggle Committee announced that on November 15, Palestinian activists "will reenact the US Civil Rights Movement's Freedom Rides to the American South by boarding segregated Israeli public buses in the West Bank to travel to occupied East Jerusalem."
Palestinians in the West Bank have lived under Israeli military control since 1967. Among other restrictions, they can only vote in elections to the Palestinian Authority, which has very limited power on the ground. They cannot travel out of the West Bank or receive visitors without Israeli permits, and they are tried in military courts, which curtail the rights of defendants. Jews living in the West Bank enjoy full citizenship rights.
The Popular Struggle Committee - organizers of the upcoming "Freedom Rides" - describes their initiative set for next week in this way:
Several Israeli companies, among them Egged and Veolia, operate dozens of lines that run through the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, many of them subsidized by the state. They run between different Israeli settlements, connecting them to each other and cities inside Israel. Some lines connecting Jerusalem to other cities inside Israel, such as Eilat and Beit She'an, are also routed to pass through the West Bank.
Israelis suffer almost no limitations on their freedom of movement in the occupied Palestinian territory, and are even allowed to settle in it, contrary to international law. Palestinians, in contrast, are not allowed to enter Israel without procuring a special permit from Israeli authorities. Even Palestinian movement inside the Occupied Territories is heavily restricted, with access to occupied East Jerusalem and some 8% of the West Bank in the border area also forbidden without a similar permit.
While it is not officially forbidden for Palestinians to use Israeli public transportation in the West Bank, these lines are effectively segregated, since many of them pass through Jewish-only settlements, to which Palestinian entry is prohibited by a military decree.
With the Arab Spring still reverberating, Occupy Wall Street blooming and the PA's U.N. statehood bid still on the table, expect similar efforts to be born as Palestinians in the West Bank continue to embrace nonviolent resistance to the occupation.
Mega-bank Goldman Sachs (assets $933bn), has declared war on one of the smallest banks in New York (assets $30m), the customer-owned community bank that happens to also be the banker for Friends of Liberty Plaza, Inc, also known as Occupy Wall Street. And you thought Goldman didn't care.
The trouble began three weeks ago when the occupiers suddenly found their donation buckets filling with thousands of dollars, way more than needed for their pizza dinners. Suddenly, the anti-bank protesters needed a bank. Citibank and Chase certainly wouldn't fit. So OWS opened an account at the not-for-profit Lower East Side Peoples Federal Credit Union. Peoples has a unique federal charter - designated to open accounts for low-income folk from all over New York, available to those families earning less than $38,000 per year. (Disclosure: the CEO of the Peoples bank is my dearly beloved ex. But that's another story.)
Goldman Sachs had also joined up with the Peoples bank. Goldman partners reportedly earn a bit more than $38k per annum, yet Goldman's association so far was limited to giving the credit union $5,000 toward the little bank's 25th anniversary celebration dinner. Goldman's largesse was acknowledged on the dinner invites - along with the night's honoree: Occupy Wall Street.
When a Goldman exec saw its gilded name next to Occupy Wall Street, the financial giant expressed much displeasure. In fact, my sources say, Goldman threatened legal action unless the credit union gave up the $5,000 and reprinted the invite sans the Sachs moniker. Goldman Sachs did not respond to our requests for comment on the affair.
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