#OCCUPYTATOOINE
Moderators: Elvis, DrVolin, Jeff
by N8wide » Wed Oct 19, 2011 8:21 pm
by seemslikeadream » Wed Oct 19, 2011 9:06 pm
by Saurian Tail » Wed Oct 19, 2011 9:14 pm
Subject: I support Occupy Wall Street
Rep. Cantor,
As your constituent, I am writing to let you know of my support for the Occupy Wall Street protests and have been dismayed to learn of your characterization of these American citizens exercising their right to assembly and freedom of speech as "mobs".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOS4SgCqLmg
How dare you? Unbelievable.
Over the last 30 years we have seen the wall between investment and commercial banking systematically dismantled. Corporations have been declared "persons" and money has flooded into the system and is eroding the Republic. And Wall Street investment firms have been empowered by Washington to create absurd "financial instruments" that only serve to allow the richest people in the world to get richer without producing anything of value in the real world.
Your list of top donors is practically a who's who of finance and insurance money ... exactly the kinds of "persons" that would benefit from your inflammatory rhetoric:
http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/ ... cycle=2012
Your job is to represent the people, not the likes of Travelers Insurance, Goldman Sachs, and Bank of America.
Rep. Cantor, the people know what is going on. The whole world knows what is going on.
As your constituent, I want to make sure you know that I hereby stand with head held high as part of the the "mob" and against the greed and corruption represented by the marriage of Wall Street and Washington.
by psynapz » Wed Oct 19, 2011 10:25 pm
About Me wrote: Sgt. Shamar Thomas USMC Veteran. I took an Oath that I live by.I am NOT anti-NYPD. I am anti- Police Brutality. I am no longer under contract with the USMC so I do NOT have to follow military uniform regulations. I DON'T affiliate myself with ANY GROUPS or POLITICAL ORG. I affiliate myself with the AMERICAN PEOPLE that's it. I REFUSE to affiliate with anything that SEPERATES. There is an obvious problem in the country and PEACEFUL PEOPLE should be allowed to PROTEST without Brutality. I was involved in a RIOT in Rutbah, Iraq 2004 and we did NOT treat the Iraqi citizens like they are treating the unarmed civilians in our OWN Country. No one was brutalized because our mission was to "WIN the hearts and minds", why should I expect anything less in my OWN Country.
by Laodicean » Wed Oct 19, 2011 10:38 pm
Jeff wrote:Boots Riley wrote:If you think your local Occupy movement isn't doing the right thing, doesn't have correct tactics, or isn't putting out clear demands- get over there and give it the right guidance. It's your chance to make history. Many of you who follow me are involved in unions that you feel- rightly so- aren't radical or militant enough. Well, this is a movement that can radicalize those groupings. It can also re-radicalize some of you out there who have thought that a movement like this would never spring up in the U.S. This whole thing is in it's infancy, and I, personally, think that the key to it working will be in it's ability to galvanize people into stopping the wheels of industry, thereby halting profits and putting the movement in a position to dictate changes in wealth distribution. That can happen faster if you go to your local Occupy movement and help articulate some key demands and solidify strategy.
via FB
by Bruce Dazzling » Wed Oct 19, 2011 10:50 pm
Song of the Day: 'Electric Avenue,' Eddy Grant
By Tris McCall/The Star-Ledger
Tuesday, October 18, 2011, 3:00 PM
In May, the warning shots were fired in Madrid. This weekend, Rome was burning. Even in New York City, where the marches were peaceful, more than 70 people were arrested. In what must have felt like a flashback to the 1968 Democratic Convention, 175 were cuffed by Chicago police in Grant Park on Sunday evening. Saturday was another international Day of Rage, and, increasingly, that is no hyperbole. The anger is palpable, and the action is real.
It is right, but irrelevant, to point out that many of the protesters don't exactly know why they're there. For better and for worse, that is the hallmark of a consequential movement. It may yet end in tears, but it's not going out in a whimper. During the revolutions that swept through Europe in 1848, few of the rioters on the barricades had full understanding of what they were doing on the streets and why they were risking their lives. They were there because they felt like they had to be; that it was the only recourse available to them. Pull aside a protester at Zuccotti Park, or in Grant Park, or in Puerta del Sol in Madrid, and you will find the same resolve. People are there because they feel like they have to be. At the moment, that's the only rationale that matters.
Populist uprisings often act as inkblot tests. After time has passed, those who appoint themselves the narrators of history conduct a public search for reasons. Ask five political theorists or newspaper journalists to explain why London rioted this August, and you will get five different answers -- each one tailored to reinforce the storyteller's version of events. One will tell you that it was a blow struck against capitalism, another that it was a reaction to a runaway police force, and another will blame it on hooligans who need to meet the business end of a billy club. But history is not logical, and effects proceed from causes messily at best. A spontaneous action is something like a Spin-Art: colors splattering all over a canvas that's anything but fixed, and nobody really sure what it's going to look like when it sets. The middle of a popular uprising is a zone of pure kinetic energy, one that shares much of the hypnotic power of the disco (which is why so many of the songs that come from uprisings are so danceable). How that energy will be channeled on any given day is impossible to predict -- and impossible to recover afterward. Historians are still arguing about what happened in Brixton and Lambeth in 1981. Margaret Thatcher and Eddy Grant will never see eye to eye about Bloody Saturday and the riots that shook Brixton in '81, and again in '85. They'll go to their graves with separate and wholly incommensurate accounts of the events; both will walk away, as Phil Ochs put it so forcefully in "Flower Lady," knowing they are right.
Grant's account has the force of documentary realism. Electric Avenue is not just a metaphor for the high street during a protest -- it's the main shopping district of Brixton, and the first market in Greater London to be lit by electric streetlamps. Many of the complaints in "Electric Avenue" resonate strongly with the feelings of inequality that make these days smolder with rage. And in Grant's attempt to determine "who is to blame in what country?," there's that inevitable search for a scapegoat. What would Grant's narrator do if he ever could "get to the one," as he sings in verse three? What would the current worldwide protesters do?
I was ten years old when I first saw this video. I knew nothing about the Brixton riots and little about the reggae tradition of dissent that Grant was drawing from; I might have heard Bob Marley on the block, but his struggle wasn't mine. At least I didn't think so. All I knew was that it bugged me out.The graininess of the film, the seediness of the avenue, the faceless paramilitary motorbikers, the self-righteousness of the narrator, the weird whiff of eugenics in the last stanza; none of that made sense, but it sure was suggestive. A few years later, I would realize why Grant kept drowning and washing up on the beach -- I'd understand why he couldn't make it to the television set that he abhorred. Years after that, I'd see friends of mine falling in that bottomless pool between the sofa and the TV, and I'd even see a few wash up on the shores under police searchlights. Everything Grant communicated so effectively in "Electric Avenue" still applies. The resentment is still with us; as the dollar continues its inexorable fall, it's going to get worse. Anybody who is not worried right now -- police, protesters, and Presidents, bankers and broke students all alike -- hasn't been paying attention.
by Laodicean » Wed Oct 19, 2011 11:10 pm
The text of the speech I gave in DC: (http://stephaniemcmillan.org)
by admin on October 12, 2011 at 5:11 pm
Posted In: Blog
The people are in motion! We’re standing up to join a global movement, what may become a global revolution.
This is beautiful! I’ve been waiting and working all my life to see this. We’re all here because in general we want the same things: a new society based on fairness, sustainability, healthy communities, a living planet. An end to domination and oppression of all forms.
What stands in our way? Is it greedy corporations that have grown to big and gone too far? It’s those, but it goes deeper than that. Profit. Profit is the problem. And a whole social/cultural/economic/political system based on accumulating profit, through the extraction of natural resources and the exploitation of labor.
We have an enemy. I’ll go ahead and name it: global capitalism.
Capitalism is not a thing, but a process: the conversion of life into commodities into toxic waste.
It’s also a social relation, where a small minority owns and controls our means of subsistence and uses this to dominate and exploit the majority of people and the world. Those in power start out by seizing land and destroying traditional land-based and indigenous communities. They push people into labor camps (commonly known as cities), and make them work for food and shelter. Would anyone consent to work in a factory or mine if they had any other way to survive? Would you? I wouldn’t.
Capitalism is based on constant expansion, on ever-increasing rates of private accumulation. This means it’s structurally unreformable. The nicest capitalist in the world might want to change that, but wouldn’t be able to. They must make profit or go out of business.
Global capitalism is in deep crisis. It’s played out. Many expect it to collapse. But the truth is, it won’t. It’s dynamic and adaptable. It could morph into fascism or neo-feudalism. But it will use up everything and keep going until all life on the planet is extinguished.
I don’t know about you, but for me that’s too late.
We must eliminate it. It’s our responsibility. We may be the last generation with the opportunity to do so.
With this action, with this movement, I’m starting to believe it’s possible!
I hope to see this grow into a radical mass movement that can unite all who can be united to fight the system, our common enemy. A diverse, non-sectarian movement, mutually supportive, and above all visionary and fearless.
We don’t know what’s going to happen or what this will become. But we have to keep it going, keep moving hand-in-hand to wherever the demands of our situation may lead us.
Sure, we’re chaotic, flawed, unpredictable. This may not be exactly what each of us wants or thinks we need. But the important thing is that we’re MOVING. We’ve woken up. We’re challenging the system.
Capitalists, we’re coming for you!
Imperialists and war-mongers, we’re coming for you!
Exploiters and oppressors, we’re coming for you!
Ecocidal maniacs and corporate bloodsuckers, we’re coming for you!
We’ll fight you, and we’ll fight you, and we’ll make mistakes along the way, and we’ll falter. But we’ll keep getting up and we’ll fight again, and fight again, and one day we are going to win.
by Nordic » Thu Oct 20, 2011 4:26 am
Bruce Dazzling wrote:Occupy Phoenix
Wall o' cops:
by Searcher08 » Thu Oct 20, 2011 7:33 am
by 2012 Countdown » Thu Oct 20, 2011 8:08 am
by Jeff » Thu Oct 20, 2011 8:27 am
2012 Countdown wrote:Laodicean - I'd never heard of 'Boots Riley', thanks. I downloaded the vid and made an mp3 for the ipod. Will be looking for more by him.
by 2012 Countdown » Thu Oct 20, 2011 8:36 am
Thank you Jeff.by seemslikeadream » Thu Oct 20, 2011 9:08 am
Let Them Eat Keller
Posted on Oct 20, 2011
AP / Andrew Burton
By Robert Scheer
Funny, he doesn’t look like Marie Antoinette. But when former New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller asks his readers if they are “bored by the soggy sleep-ins and warmed-over anarchism of Occupy Wall Street,” it displays the arrogance of disoriented royal privilege.
Perhaps his contempt for anti-corporate protesters was honed by the example of his father, once the chairman of Chevron. In any case, it is revealing, given the cheerleading support that the Times gave to the radical deregulation of Wall Street that occurred when Keller was the managing editor of the newspaper.
As the Times reported on its news pages in 1998, heralding the merger that created Citigroup as the world’s largest financial conglomerate: “In a single day, with a bold merger, pending legislation in Congress to sweep away Depression-era restrictions on the financial services industry has been given a sudden, and unexpected, new chance of passage.”
The report all too breathlessly continued, “Indeed, within 24 hours of the deal’s announcement, lobbyists for insurers, banks and Wall Street firms were huddling with Congressional banking committee staff members to fine-tune a measure that would update the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act separating commercial banking from Wall Street and insurance. …”
The “fine-tuned” law, combined with another one similarly drafted by congressional Republicans and also signed by Democratic President Bill Clinton, exempted trading in collateralized debt obligations and credit default swaps from government regulation. That was the very action that enabled the banking crisis that has brought the nation’s economy to its knees and protesters to Wall Street. Citigroup, where Clinton’s treasury secretary and deregulation advocate Robert Rubin ended up as chairman, specialized in what proved to be toxic mortgage-backed securities and had to be bailed out with massive taxpayer credits.
One would think that the failure of The New York Times to cover this sorry tale as it was unfolding would leave Keller with some humble understanding of why protesters, undeterred by rain, should be celebrated rather than scorned. But such accountability has hardly been a hallmark of those in the media or in business and political circles, who with few exceptions got it so wrong.
Just how wrong was laid out in the Tuesday night Republican debate by Ron Paul, whose consistent libertarian critique has been refreshing throughout the banking meltdown. Other presidential candidates stumbled over their earlier support of the TARP banking bailout, and one of them, Herman Cain, responding to a question about Occupy Wall Street, stuck by his statement “don’t blame Wall Street, don’t blame the big banks, if you don’t have a job, you’re not rich, blame yourself.”
Paul took him on with a clarity that plainly endorsed the main point of the Wall Street demonstrators: “Well, I think that Mr. Cain has blamed the victims.” Paul pointed to the true culprits, those on Wall Street and their partners in crime in the government and the Federal Reserve, who bailed out the banks but not the people they victimized.
“The bailouts came from both parties,” Paul observed, adding, “Guess who they bailed out? The big corporations, the people who were ripping off the people in the derivatives market. … But who got stuck? The middle class got stuck … they lost their jobs, and they lost their houses. If you had to give money out, you should have given it to the people who were losing it in their mortgages, not to the banks.”
It was heartening that many in the Republican crowd cheered Paul’s statement, as it was earlier this week when the respected Quinnipiac poll found that “By a 67-23 percent margin, New York City voters agree with the views of the Wall Street protesters.” Despite the inconvenience of the protests to New Yorkers, the poll showed that by a 72-24 percent margin voters of that city say the protesters should be allowed to stay at their Wall Street location “as long as they wish.”
That’s an admirable sentiment on the part of New Yorkers, which was echoed by Times readers who directed a torrent of criticism at Keller. He pointed out on his blog that they took issue with what he referred to as “my slightly snarky reference to Occupy Wall Street. Okay, maybe not ‘slightly.’ ” He now claims he didn’t intend to show contempt for the protesters, but that is exactly what he did.
Occupy Wall Street, MoveOn, 2012, Tuvalu and Why Lao-Tzu Went Beyond the Wall
Statue of Lao Tzu (Laozi) in Quanzhou, 2008, Photo Credit: Tom@HK
The problem is that it interferes with the most profitable industry the world has ever seen. Exxon made more money last year than in the history of money. And it doesn't take much in politics to stop things from happening. Their only goal is to delay action. It took 20 years to work round the delaying efforts of the tobacco industry. And the tobacco industry is a mere pimple on the butt of the oil industry. It is the most profitable enterprise that humans have every engaged in. Bill McKibben on tar sands, Obama, geoengineering and population growth, Guardian, 10-6-11
Occupy San Francisco, 2011, Photo Credit: Richard Power
The point is, today everyone can see that the system is deeply unjust and careening out of control. Unfettered greed has trashed the global economy. And we are trashing the natural world ... The task of our time is to turn this round ... What climate change means is that we have to do this on a deadline. This time our movement cannot get distracted, divided, burned out or swept away by events. This time we have to succeed. Naomi A. Klein, The fight against climate change is down to us – the 99%, Guardian, 10-7-11
Occupy Wall Street, MoveOn, 2012, Tuvalu and Why Lao-Tzu Went Beyond the Wall
By Richard Power
Lao-Tzu's philosophy, articulated in the Tao Te Ching, has exercised a profound influence over my life. Lately I have been contemplating a legend concerning the circumstances under which the ancient sage wrote down his teachings.
Lao-Tzu was a keeper of the Imperial Library. He looked around him, and saw that government corruption was pervasive and the social order was disintegrating, and so he slipped away and headed for the mountains. But a a sentry at the guard post recognized the great sage, and realized he was not going to leave a trail; so he compelled him to write down his philosophy, which he did, in the equivalent of two thousand or so words.
Lao-Tzu did not leave for his own survival. Nor did Lao-Tzu because he feared the adversary. Lao-Tzu lived from a perspective beyond both of these small frames.
So I have been wondering if perhaps Lao-Tzu left because he could not bare to hear how the good would defeat itself.
Consider these two unfortunate glimpses into the character of some of the players in the Shakespearian drama of the coming election cycle:
During the speech [to the Congressional Black Caucus], Obama struck somewhat of an authoritative tone to the audience. “Take off your bedroom slippers. Put on your marching shoes,” he said. “Shake it off. Stop complaining. Stop grumblin’. Stop crying. We are going to press on. We have work to do.” Obama to CBC awards crowd: ‘Stop complaining’ Raw Story, 9-25-11
POTUS' comments to the CBC were arrogant, insulting, but worst of all, STUPID.
POTUS shouted "Take off your bedroom slippers, and put on your marching boots" Seriously, POTUS? Madison, Wisconsin went marching. Where were you? Moving the Planet went marching. Where were you been? Occupy Wall Street went marching. Where were you? Tars Sands Action marched to your house, but you weren't home Where were you? Playing golf with Boehner? Oh, sorry, Martha's Vineyard. Well, they will be back in November.
POTUS, while you were speechifying, rhetorically flirting with the aura of MLK, at the ceremonial opening of a stone monument on the mall, Dr. Cornel West was offering a flesh and blood celebration of MLK's legacy by being arrested in an act of non-violent protest on the steps of SCOTUS.
Dr. Cornel West climbed on the steps of the Supreme Court and denounced court decisions that have produced money-based elections that empower corporations. Dr. West was holding a sign that said ‘Poverty is the Greatest Violence of All.’ He was arrested because holding political signs on the Supreme Court steps is illegal.” Cornel West arrested protesting at Supreme Court, Raw Story, 10-16-11
It is a lovely stroll from the Mall to the steps of SCOTUS, but it is a very long way from the corner you and your advisers painted you into, POTUS, to the beating heart of this movement.
(Nor is Dr. West the only prominent person who has felt the pulse of this moment. Read this remarkable story from Naomi Wolf: How I was arrested at Occupy Wall Street. Arresting a middle-aged writer in an evening gown for peaceable conduct is a far cry from when America was a free republic, Guardian, 10-19-11)
Well, of course, POUTS' CBC speech almost a month ago. POTUS was feeling the heat and he looking to set-up a scapegoat in case his re-election chances started to crater. (Of course, he wouldn't think to pin the blame on Emmanuel, Axelrod, Geithner or Holder. Yes, all men. ) Now, at least until winter descends, the Occupy Wall Street movement has seized the narrative. So it is the movement's chance to show whether it will lead or limit, whether it will embrace or exclude. Which will it choose?
Ah, consider this ...
Top MoveOn leaders/executives are all over national television speaking for the movement. fully appreciate the help and support of MoveOn, but the MSM is clearly using them as the spokespeople for OWS. This is an blatant attempt to fracture the 99% into a Democratic Party organization. The leadership of MoveON are Democratic Party operatives. they are divide and conquer pawns. For years they ignored Wall Street protests to keep complete focus on the Republicans, in favor of Goldman’s Obama and Wall Street’s Democratic leadership. If anyone at Move On or Daily Kos would like to have a public debate about these comments, we invite it. Move On Tries to Take Over Occupy Wall Street Protests, Washington Blog, 10-14-11
So was David DeGraw just having a bad day, or is this arrogant, insulting and worse yet STUPID statement a warning sign of a fatal blind spot in the vision of those behind Occupy Wall Street?
Bluntly, simply, my friend, MoveOn.org deserves more respect than that, even though they pull their punches sometimes, and it is both a strategic blunder and a tactical blunder not to welcome them. Paraphrasing what Thom Hartmann told a listener this a.m., don't worry about them changing you, you change them. The message you must bring is that the time for a program of incremental change has passed; it is a luxury we can no longer afford, it is now or never. And yet, at the same time, understand that whatever government is elected in 2012 will be corporatist. If it is a "D" dominated government, it will be susceptible to pressure, if it is an "R" dominated government, it will be as if blind, deaf and dumb to your petitioning, and it will bury what is left of our democratic institutions.
Here is something for you to chew on David DeGraw, IF the people who had voted in 2008 had not stayed home in 2010, thousands of more jobs would have been saved (because a "D" Congress would have moved BEFORE the initial stimulus ran out, and millions of more jobs would be on the way (because a "D" Congress would have passed Obama's current jobs bill); and whether those who didn't vote in 2010 are sleeping in a park tonight as part of the Occupy Wall Street movement, they are just as responsible for our current circumstances as the most disingenuous of corporatist "Democrats." Because anyone who did not vote against the Zombie Cult in 2010 has not taken personal responsibility, and their analysis is based on a false meme that both political parties are equally complicit in the corporate coup that led to these dire straits. It is not POTUS that did not cast your vote, it is you who allowed POTUS' failure to enable your own.
Occupy San Francisco, 2011, Photo Credit: Richard Power
I have no doubt that these remarks will lead to some "unsubscribes." Unfortunate, but so be it.
I support Occupy Wall Street, and I urge them to relentlessly, NON-VIOLENTLY confront the whole of Beltwayistan, Infotainmentstan, the Chamber of Horrors and the rest of the corrupted edifice, as some of us have been doing for over a decade, at a high price personally and professionally.
But to nurture a movement, you must expand your heart and mind enough to reach beyond your differences with those, who stand along side of you and are facing in the same direction you are. To flow in a true, deep, history -bending movement, you must be able to operate in multiple dimensions at once.
I am not an Obama apologist. I have excoriated POTUS for his failure to lead on economic crisis, on healthcare reform, on the Climate Crisis, on Darfur, on accountability for Bush-Cheney, Goldman Sachs, BP and others. NEVERTHELESS, in 2012 I will also vote for the "D" candidates and against the candidates of the Zombie Cult formerly known as the Republican Party at every level of office, including the Presidency of the U.S.; and from my perspective, anyone who does not embrace both of these positions is attempting to make progress with one hand while undoing it with the other.
The alternative is unthinkable.
Consider these three statements from the top three candidates for the Zombie Cult nomination:
Republican presidential candidate and Texas governor Rick Perry said Tuesday that "it's time for us to have a serious discussion about defunding the United Nations." CBS, 10-18-11
Mitt Romney came to the state with the highest foreclosure rate in the nation and said he wants to allow home foreclosures to "hit the bottom" to help the housing industry recover. AP, 10-19-11
Herman Cain recently criticized the Occupy Wall Street protesters, saying, "Don't blame Wall Street. Don't blame the big banks. If you don't have a job and you're not rich, blame yourself." At Tuesday night's CNN debate, Cain stood by his comments -- to loud cheers from the audience. "I still stand by my statement," he said. Amanda Terkel, Huffington Post, 1-18-11
Occupy San Francisco, 2011, Photo Credit: Richard Power
If you don't know the difference between a Sotomayor and a Roberts or a Kagan and an Alito than you don't know the difference between Bush v. Gore and an election or the difference between Citizens United and the First Amendment.
George W. Bush was not elected President of the U.S. in 2001 (or 2004).
Corporations are not people, and money is not speech.
2 + 2 = 4.
Meanwhile ...
Can You Die of Thirst While You Are Drowning?
Although I have written to you about the Climate Crisis, day after day, month after month, year after year, I have mentioned very little about the plight of the small island nations. Why? Because I know the mentality of the decision-makers, and of the public that hides behind them, and I know that to mentality, and because just as China's crimes against Tibet are tolerated for the sake of trade, and Karthoum's crimes against Darfur are tolerated for the sake of the insane war IN OF and BY terror, the loss of the small islands nations will be tolerated for the sake of fossil fuel industry profits and the deep denial required to sustain them.
But this story is such an incredibly poignant example of the bitter paradoxical nature of the Climate Crisis, a planetary emergency that far too few of us (right OR left) have come to grips with, I must cite it here:
The drought in the Pacific island nation of Tuvalu, which declared a state of emergency this month because of a severe shortage of fresh water, is likely to last until January, the government says. Tuvalu normally receives 8-16 inches of rainfall each month but hasn't had significant rain in six months ... Amid its water shortages, the tiny archipelago of nine islands, with a combined land mass of just 10 square miles, also faces being inundated by rising sea levels linked to climate change. Tuvalu grapples with drought , UPI, 10-18-11
Yes, Tuvalu, an island nature facing near-future extinction from rising sea levels, due to human-induced runaway climate change, is currently facing crippling drought, due to human-induced runaway climate change ...
And then, of course, there is the story of what it going on in Thailand.
Thailand Suffers Most Expensive Flood in History, Destroying More Than 10% of Rice Farms in World’s Top Exporter, Climate Progress, 10-14-11
Hello?
Occupy San Francisco, 2011, Photo Credit: Richard Power
Ah, someone answered ... with courage and clarity of mind from the floor of the U.S. Senate ...
Another name to scrawl on the wall of heroes; that invisible memorial to those who work, with urgency, to bring MASSIVE NON-VIOLENT EVOLUTION to our world. Perhaps the names on that wall will be the beginning of something new; perhaps they will be all that is left of something that is lost.
Mr. President, I am here to speak about what is currently an unpopular topic in this town. It has become no longer politically correct in certain circles in Washington to speak about climate change or carbon pollution or how carbon pollution is causing our climate to change. This is a peculiar condition of Washington. If you go out into, say, our military and intelligence communities, they understand and are planning for the effects of carbon pollution on climate change. They see it as a national security risk. If you go out into our nonpolluting business and financial communities, they see this as a real and important problem. And, of course, it goes without saying our scientific community is all over this concern. But as I said, Washington is a peculiar place, and here it is getting very little traction. Here in Washington we feel the dark hand of the polluters tapping so many shoulders. And where there is power and money behind that dark hand, therefore, a lot of attention is paid to that little tap on the shoulder. What we overlook is that nature — God’s Earth — is also tapping us all on the shoulder, with messages we ignore at our peril. We ignore the messages of nature of God’s Earthand we ignore the laws of nature of God’s Earth at our very grave peril. Senator Whitehouse’s Must-See Climate Speech: “We Ignore the Laws of Nature of God’s Earth at Our Very Grave Peril” Climate Progress, 10-19-11
Do you know why 350 is the most important number in your life and the lives of everyone you love? Go to 350.org for the answer.
Occupy San Francisco, 2011, Photo Credit: Richard Power
Richard Power is the author of seven books, including Between Shadow and Night: The Singularity in Anticipation of Itself and True North on the Pathless Path: Towards a 21st Century Yoga. He writes and speaks on security, risk, human rights and sustainability, and has delivered executive briefings and led training in over 40 countries. He blogs at http://words-of-power.blogspot.com and http://primalwordsofpower.blogspot.com
by elfismiles » Thu Oct 20, 2011 9:18 am
psynapz wrote:
Edited to add link to Olbermann's interview with Sgt. Thomas: http://current.com/shows/countdown/videos/marine-corps-veteran-sgt-shamar-thomas-on-occupy-times-square-veterans-rights (can't embed Brightcove videos here -- what a shitty choice of VDN Current TV made with that arrangement. Fuck Brightcove. #hobbyhorse492)
by crikkett » Thu Oct 20, 2011 9:36 am
Aurataur wrote:Here's a teaser:
What the hell are we doing?
Why the hell are we here?
All this anger that's brewing
Between our ears
We gotta take control
To make things right
We gotta break the mold
Take up the fight
'Cause we're facing a future
Of immeasurable anguish
We're circled by vultures
Who feast on the vanquished
Our freedoms have languished
While war pushes on
Don't think that it's over
Just because Bush is gone
The push has begun
Now it's time for action
While the media lies
And peddles distractions
Divides us in factions
Got us fighting for fractions
While our nation is looted
By billionaire bankers
On Wall Street it's rooted
'Cause Goldman Sachs
And Goldman Pillages
And commodity traders
Are starving whole villages...
There's more to it, but you'll have to wait for the video! Thank you for exposing my hypocrisy, wordspeak. After all, my name is Aurataur.
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