Activists find ways to stay involved

People all over the world have protested for one side or the other in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. AlterNet reported that, “An unprecedented number of Americans question Israel’s actions in Gaza.* (1/6/09). There are legitimate activist organizations as well as illegitimate ones. The following story refers to the sometimes very dark and terrible side of protest. On 1/6/09, McClatchy reported on a Cross burned in yard of man who helped troubled youth*.”

“People are getting ready#” to be actively involved in helping to get our nation back on track during these very dark times. The official working website of the incoming administration is here: The Obama-Biden Transition Team.

“Grassroots for Obama” was spawned in the blogosphere. Communication on the web is also through e-mail. Activists probably receive a lot of e-mails. I am not even a real “activist,” in the classic sense, and still my box is usually full. These are tough times* and there are lots of needs. The e-mails, while absolutely legitimate, are unsolicited. I have no idea how I have gotten on these lists. I find the range of good causes heartening and interesting, however. A few examples follow:

• Blago — Grainger@GraingerTerry.com: Phil Molfese is the contact. The cause is a “citizen group to hold demonstration” outside of Governor Blagojevich’s office, 100 W. Randolph St., Friday at noon. They will ask the governor to resign. I will not be attending but you might want to show up.
• Media Bias — Sarah Coles wanted me to know about “the top 5 trend predictions for political communications and political media under the Obama presidency,” via Skewz (www.skewz.com), the first user-driven political media aggregation site for exposing media bias. I joined Skewz, an interesting twist, and intend to post biased pieces as I find them.

If I were a young person I would also find all the the communications perfectly normal, but I am a granny. Millenials are activists, very involved with each other and with their communities, their nation and the world. I am by no means a milennial, but I do get a lot of e-mails from Michelle and Barach, and David Plouffe at Barack Obama.com, where I have posted just a few times. The Democratic Strategist explains:

. . . there is probably a good reason why Obama has decided to keep his personal organization and its vast electronic relationship with millions of supporters intact instead of disbanding it or folding it into the national or state Democratic parties. This officially nonpartisan network will work overtime to keep the bipartisan grassroots engaged in the struggle in Washington, and deploy pressure accordingly. This formidable organization is a tangible asset that should not be dismissed or minimized.

The range of kinds of potential involvement in Obama’s grassroots bipartisanship is wide. The biggest thing right now, of course, is to be one of the ten people selected to attend the Inauguration as the Obamas’ guests. The first guest has just been announced. Quoting Michelle’s e-mail:

Cynthia Russell from Newberry, Florida, and her guest will attend the welcome ceremony, Barack’s swearing-in, the Inaugural Parade, and our Neighborhood Inaugural Ball.

Cynthia is a builder and has been feeling the impact of the recent economic crunch. She wrote:

“I’m a single woman who has been building homes for over 18 years. I’ve supported myself and have been able to help out my mother from time to time. Now I find myself wondering how much longer I can hold on and be able to pay my bills and keep the doors open for business. Barack gives me hope. Hope that 2009 will truly bring change to Americans who find themselves in this mess with me.”

Earlier a first set of Obama “house meetings” focused on getting people to tell President-elect Obama how to fix health care, for example. Obama coffee mugs were for sale at Christmas time. Michelle’s Christmas card suggested donating to your local food bank or to the USO care package program. Filling out a survey (550,000 participated) prompted this recent interesting information:

. . . your ideas about the future of this organization are taking shape. Here are a few things you shared in the survey:

• House meetings were the primary way supporters got involved in the campaign
• People are excited to volunteer around a number of top issues, including education, the environment, health care, poverty, and the economy
• 86 percent of respondents feel it’s important to help Barack’s administration pass legislation through grassroots support
• 68 percent feel it’s important to help elect state and local candidates who share the same vision for our country
• And a staggering 10 percent of respondents indicated that they would be interested in running for elected office

This feedback is essential to our next steps, because this movement is fueled by your ideas and your passion.

I have registered/joined several activist organizations, though I have not contributed money. They include:

1. One.org — This very active organization looked back at a great 2008. The organization’s current effort is a petition drive to ask President-elect Obama to “In your inaugural address, please make a clear affirmation of your pledge to fight poverty and preventable diseases worldwide, and support that statement with an FY2010 budget request that puts the U.S. on track to meet your historic commitments.”
2. WEcansolveit.org — The We Campaign is a project of The Alliance for Climate Protection — a nonprofit, nonpartisan effort founded by Nobel laureate and former Vice President Al Gore. The goal of the Alliance is to build a movement that creates the political will to solve the climate crisis.

Hat Tip Key: Regular contributors of links to leads are “betmo*” and Jon#.

(Cross-posted at The Reaction.)

My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.

Technorati tags: news news and politics politics presidential transition activismorganizations

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Activist’s “Little Black Book”

Activists usually are the focus of Wednesday posts here at South by Southwest. What to look for, actions to take, news from the active blogosphere, organizations to join or support, environmental concerns, etc., all have had a place at one time or another. Today the focus is more basic — how to adjust to the changing circumstances of governance and citizen participation.

“Grassroots for Obama.” What now? Ed Kilgore at The Democratic Strategist asked, “What To Do With Obama’s Army?” in a recent thought-provoking article, from which I quote:

As noted in an LA Times story today by Peter Wallsten and Tom Hamburger, one approach is to fold the Obama organization into the Democratic National Committee and state party affiliates, which is normally what happens after a successful presidential campaign. The other is to keep his organization intact as something of a personal army that will work with, but not under, the national and state parties. . . . This is an issue with more complex strategic implications than might at first appear, and bears watching as the transition turns into governing.

The Campaign Manager at Obama for America, David Plouffe, e-mailing me from Obama’s website, BarackObama.com, asked me to to respond to a member/volunteer survey in the same vein, which I did. The questionaire asked for my feedback on how the Obama movement should move forward. Personally, I committed to activism in the form of progressive blogging every day. I also offered to do what I have done in the past, to call Washington. I offered to join organized efforts from the blogosphere, such as FiredogLake and DailyKos. No doubt they will again be asking citizens to call their Congress persons or Senators, to urge passage of President Obama’s legislative offerings. For anyone who wants to join me then, here are the U.S. Capital’s toll-free phone numbers (operators will transfer to legislators’ offices): 1-800-828-0498, 1-800-459-1887, 1-800-614-2803, 1-866-340-9281, 1-866-338-1015, 1-877-851-6437.

President-elect Obama’s Internet presence is not confined to merely the old campaign website. There is now a brand new website for the transition, called Change.gov which all of us have been watching closely as it is evolving. ProPublica’s (investigative journalism’s non-profit) Jennifer LaFleur reported yesterday that the “Change.gov ‘Agenda’ pages are back.” To quote (her links):

The agenda pages that we told you disappeared from Change.gov, President-elect Barack Obama’s transition Web site, have returned in newly retooled form. Within the 22-plus agenda categories are items that address how the new administration will increase transparency in
government.

. . . The items listed on the new page are basically the same as before, but they are more tightly written and no longer include derogatory statements about the Bush administration such as: The Bush Administration has been one of the most secretive, closed administrations in American history.” Apparently, that’s now a secret.

To conclude this little black book of useful names — What follows are lists of general activism resources, along with the more specialized resources at the end that I use to find out what is happening in the world of national security, the rule of law, Constitutional questions, domestic surveillance and the other obscure stuff that still piques my interest.

Other e-mails that make my online activism easier include:

• Democracy for America - says, “We can still hit 60!” You can contribute to the cause they say: “The road to a filibuster-proof majority is in your hands. Let’s get Barack another ally in the Senate.”
• American Civil Liberties Union – Director Anthony Romero’s newsletter says: “I’ve never done this before. In my entire seven years as the ACLU’s executive director, I have never asked you to sign a presidential petition written in appreciation and support, rather than in outrage and protest.”

References on general “activism”:

1. Activism.net
2. Activism – Wikipedia
3. Posts on “activism” at South by Southwest

References regarding civil liberties activism, intelligence or investigative journalism:

1. South by Southwest: “Little Black Book” post on FISA (regarding civil liberties activism)
2. Salon.com: Glenn Greenwald — my civil liberties guru
3. TPM Muckracker – in the honored tradition of old newspapers
4. Wired Blog Network — Threat Level
5. Secrecy News: Stephen Aftergood at the FAS project on secrecy
6. Emptywheel at Firedoglake — one of the best at investigative blogging
7. Jeff Stein’s SpyTalk Blog at CQ Politics

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A bit about Activism

 

There is no time like the present – to be an active citizen for the good of the country. Here are some of the more obvious things you might consider doing:

• Vote if early voting is available in your state. Offer to take someone from your neighborhood or workplace with you to do the same.
• Go to your candidates’ websites and make your presence known there. Write a note of encouragement, make a donation, or fill out a poll form on issues of importance to you.
• Visit your party’s headquarters. Pick up some election souvenirs, or make a purchase.
• Write a letter to the editor of your local paper. Express your opinion in good form and it might get published.
• Switch channels on TV to avoid getting too exorcised by idiots. Guard your peace of mind during these tough times.
• Leave an encouraging comment at a blogsite whose author is feeling very “down and discouraged.” Think about doing that for some thoughtful Republican writer, with an eye to unity, bipartisanship and reconciliation. These are very difficult times for Republicans, after all. Be magnanimous if you can.

Continuing with this week’s tidbits on activism – First, thanks to the Internet, the truth gets out#. Count your blessings as an American for your Internet freedoms*. And count the days# (82) until Bush moves out of the White House. Remember that we will soon be free of campaign advertising. It is likely, however, that we will not be free of endless news about the sad state of Republican affairs. That will continue. Please note that most Americans are good and principled people*, and that we still have our senses of humor#. It is heartwarming, also that all rich men are not greedy, including T. Boone Pickins and Warren Buffett. Anyone have any good ideas for more things activists can do this week?

Bonus reads:

1. Newsweek’s Fareed Zakaria’s great article, “Obama For President#“
2. Bill Moyers Journal,”Media Consolidation: A primer on making your opinion heard“
3. “10 Tips for Conserving Energy This Winter,” from EcoLocalizer.
4. “The ‘Noosphere’ – Teilhard de Chardin’s vision for the Internet,” by John R. Mabry
5. From Decloned, “Sunday Salon: Creativity in reading“

Hat Tip Key: Regular contributors of links to leads are “betmo*” and Jon#.

(Cross-posted at The Reaction.)

My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.

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Activists still in a box

“We are in a box. The United States’ current economic crisis has four corners, just like any regular box,” was how I framed it in my Friday post, “Squaring off.” Again today, activists — people who are trying to influence what Congress does about the financial crisis — are boxed in by fears#, by anger, by confusion, and by disappointment. Today’s post examines how those prevailing emotions are driving what Democrats, Republicans, plain citizens and the power elites are doing to respond to the Bush administration’s demands*. Activists may have set new records this week, as they called* and e-mailed their Representatives.

Of two minds, with an uncomfortable feeling of ambivalence – I really like what Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) said in his recent e-mail about what really should be done: “We are told that we must stabilize markets in order for the people to be protected. I think we need to protect peoples’ homes, bank deposits, investments, and pensions, to order to stabilize the market.” I also like what Rep . Chris Shays (R-Conn) said in an e-mail on the other side of the argument: “While this is not 1929 all over again, it could be if we step aside and let the wonders of the market work its will in this environment. We can’t let the foolishness and greed on Wall Street bring down Main Street; at least I don’t intend to.” Perhaps this ambivalence is what kept me from trying to call members of Congress. But a huge unknown number of people had no such problem with mixed feelings. Their fierce opposition meant that, as reported by by Paul Kiel, ProPublica – 9/30/08, “Despite Lobbying, Popular Opposition Sinks Bailout Bill”. And now there is a desperate GOP spin going on to shift the blame.

Democrats in the Senate did not let disappointment immobilize them. An article atPolitico.com headlines an edgy reality: ”Bailout not dead yet,” by Ryan Grim & Martin Kady II, 9/30/08. To quote:

Senate leaders have decided to take up the failed House version of the $700 billion economic rescue bill, and plan to add a widely supported change in the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. caps.

In what is shaping up to be yet another historic vote, presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain will return to Washington tonight for a late night vote.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), embraced the idea as well, but sought to give Reid credit for attaching the FDIC measure and a widely popular tax extenders bill to the bailout.

“I’m getting to the point in my life where I can’t start over“ signals a kind of resignation in the story of how fast the situation has evolved in just a few hours. Now people are looking at “a second chance (and thoughts) on the House bail-out vote,#” in Time (10/1/08). To quote:

Representative Elton Gallegly, 64, a California Republican . . . says he doesn’t regret his “No” vote. Gallegly is adamant that the House must pass a bill to stabilize the nation’s fragile financial markets. Whereas phone calls to his office were once running 40 to 1 against the bill, now they’re “a mixed bag . . .”

It’s amazing what a 778-point drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, wiping out $1.2 trillion in equity, can do to change public opinion. An ABC News/Washington Post poll taken following the failed vote showed that 88% of Americans are concerned that the collapse of the bill could worsen the economic turndown and that 51% are confident that a bill will eventually pass. And where the people go, politicians very quickly follow. Most members explained their votes opposing the bill Monday as a reflection of their constituents’ anger about a rescue package for Wall Street. “Since the vote, it’s about half and half,” Representative Tim Murphy, a Pennsylvania Republican who voted against the bill, says of the calls coming into his office. “Half say, Do something – I’m worried about my business or my retirement; and the other half still say, Don’t vote for the bailout.”

Though we plain citizens remain anxious, angry, confused and disappointed, I am not sure that we can change now. I feel that the weight of influence has now shifted to the power elites, the investor class, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, etc. Regarding who’s likely to get the second chance, I conclude this post with a comment from Pseudocyants from my yesterday’s post at S/SW, that presents a logical prediction by this reader, along with some good advice. To quote:

Barron’s is attempting to set-up a soft-landing for the Republicans who will end up voting for the next version of the bail-out:
—————-[
After the House of Representatives Monday dramatically rejected legislation to establish a $700 billion rescue package for the financial system and helped to trigger more than $1 trillion loss in the value of U.S. stocks, Congress worked Tuesday to put together a bill that could gain passage, perhaps by the end of the week.

What changed? Reports say that House members, who previously had been besieged with messages from constituents who reacted with blind anger over the prospect of laying out $700 billion in what they saw as a bailout for Wall Street fat cats, heard a very different tune Tuesday. America's investor class reacted just as angrily at the losses suffered in their retirement and college-savings accounts as what they saw as the result of the House defeat of the bill.

Randall W. Forsyth , "Congress Reads the Returns -- of Minus $1 Trillion", Barron's, October 1, 2008
]—————-

Mighty broad definition of the “investor class”, if you ask me. In reality, the investor class are those who are pissed off about how big a percentage of their wealth now needs to be expended purchasing their monocle polish.

A great number of the persons opposed to the bail-out lost money in their 401-Ks and children’s college funds. It ain’t gonna be the Democrats would walked after the ACORN initiatives were excluded from the package who will return with a yea vote, because ACORN is off the table. It just won’t do for the “investor class” if po’ folk get a piece of the bail-out pie.

The Barron’s article goes on to describe the mark-to-market accounting rules required by Sarbanes/Oxley as a “relatively esoteric matter”. Really? A financial institution having to mark their assets to present day valuations is called transparency, and if this passes, there will be more trouble down the road, guaranteed.

My prediction is that there will be a bail-out passed by no later than next Monday, and that many of the Republicans who voted no previously will be onboard. It will be billed as bipartisan cooperation. Whenever the word bipartisan is mentioned in the same sentence as $700 billion, go and put on your best pair of steel trousers, because politicians are about to tear you a new one.

The proper way to handle this crises is to force all corporations who need government funding to completely and honestly mark down their bad debt publicly, forcing their share price to tank down to the real market value. Then whatever monies they receive, the Federal Government should receive stock warrants on a dollar for dollar basis at that value. As soon as the market stabilizes, and the Government is able to realize a profit from these warrants, they should be sold to the highest bidders at open auction, and the monies derived from these sales to be placed directly into the treasury, not siphoned off into pet projects. If Congress played free-market hardball with the financial corporations, most would suddenly discover new avenues of previously untapped investment capital, and would no longer be crying for a hand-out. Never extend credit to a lousy gambler. It’s like giving money to a junkie.

Additional References:

• “Breaking on the web – Wall Street crisis edition.” From ProPublica
• “History of U.S. government bail-outs” a fascinating “cloud” chart in color, fromProPublica
• “18 Tough Questions and Answers#” from Time Magazine
• “American financial crisis sparks German schadenfreude#” from The Local

Hat Tip Key: Regular contributors of links to leads are “betmo*” and Jon#.

(Cross-posted at The Reaction.)

My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.

Technorati tags: news news and politics economic crisis congress wall street

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Activism, Investigative Journalism or Conspiracy Theory?

CONSPIRACY THEORY – A Cuil search on “conspiracy theory” returned 2,076,650 results, so the very idea is a big deal in the blogosphere. The theories vary widely all the way from 1) the government’s unwillingness to tell us about earth having been visited by extra-terrestrials; to 2) the neocons have been planning and executing this take-over since the days of Nixon; to 3) the attacks of 9/11 having been an inside job. I do not believe any of the above. So I do not qualify for a tinfoil hat.

INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM, is evidentally a much smaller deal, returning only 149,202 Cuil results. “Book says White House ordered forgery” (8/4/08) by Mike Allen at Politico.com. To quote:

A new book by the author Ron Suskind claims that the White House ordered the CIA to forge a back-dated, handwritten letter from the head of Iraqi intelligence to Saddam Hussein.

Suskind writes in “The Way of the World,” to be published Tuesday, that the alleged forgery – adamantly denied by the White House – was designed to portray a false link between Hussein’s regime and al Qaeda as a justification for the Iraq war.

ACTIVISM, however is the biggest deal of all, according to Cuil. That single word search returned 11,394,749 results. And it also yielded some very interesting drop-down lists, including these category names, Political Advocacy Groups in the United States, Veterans Organizations Opposed to the Iraq War, Canadian Anarchists, Community Organizing, Civil Disobedience, Anti-pornography Activists, COINTELPRO targets, Anti-globalization, Social Movements, and Politics and Technology. This is the category in which I found those of us in the blogosphere (thank goodness, not under “COINTELPRO TARGETS.) The subcategories here are Internet activism, Move On, Howard Dean and Joe Trippi.

Drilling down even more, in the Google Directory, the tree looks like this: “Society> Activism> Internet> Hacktivism, and all the way to an article called, “Activism, Hacktivism and Cyberterrorism: The Internet as a tool for influencing foreign policy.” Written in 2001 by Dorothy E. Denning, then teaching in the computer department at Georgetown University, its summary paragraph says,

Activism

The Internet offers a powerful tool for communicating and coordinating action. It is inexpensive to use and increasingly pervasive, with an estimated 201 million on-line as of September 1999.3 Groups of any size, from two to millions, can reach each other and use the Net to promote an agenda. Their members and followers can come from any geographical region on the Net, and they can attempt to influence foreign policy anywhere in the world. This section describes five modes of using the Internet: collection, publication, dialogue, coordination of action, and direct lobbying of decision makers. While treated separately, the modes are frequently used together and many of the examples described here illustrate multiple modes.

Denning left Georgetown the next year for the west coast. She is currently at the Naval Post Graduate School in in the Department of Defense Analysis at Monterrey, California. Her latest two publications , which I would also love to read, are titled,

• Denning, D. E., “A View of Cyberterrorism Five Years Later,” Readings in Internet Security: Hacking, Counterhacking, and Society (K. Himma ed.), Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Boston, 2006.
• Denning, D. E., “The Ethics of Cyber Conflict,” in Information and Computer Ethics (K. E. Himma and H. T. Tavani eds.), Wiley, 2007.

Why does any of this minutia matter? For one thing, it has made me realize so much more how important it is to use correct terminology. The government thinks about citizens expressing alternate views of reality very differently than I do. We are sometimes lumped together as “dangerous,” for the purposes of domestic intelligence. I have blog friends who are dedicated activists who actually protest. My so-called little bits of “activism” are confined to sitting at this keyboard searching, researching, reading and writing. I feel puny by comparison.

I conclude with these four links sent to me recently by my blog friend, “betmo,” who writes Life’s Journey. I leave it up to you to decide into which category they belong.

1. Rising Hegemon: (8/5/08), is titled “Always the same pathetic story.” To quote the blog author’s comment regarding Mike Allen’s Politico story (above):
   

   Of course, this article is written by Mike Allen so it contains 80% White House push-back – uncritically.

   And that will undoubtedly be the end of that as far as the media is concerned.

2. OurFuture.org: “The question of right-wing terrorism: anthrax,” by Rick Perlstein, 8/1/08). To quote:
   

   Glenn Greenwald has put together a must-read account of how panic over the post-9/11 anthrax attacks, and disinformation claiming Saddam Hussein was probably behind them, convinced various members of the media and political elite to get behind the idea of attacking Iraq. His research follows reports that government scientist Bruce E. Ivins committed suicide Tuesday night because he was about to be charged with staging the attacks. Greenwald writes with scrupulous care, and asserts nothing beyond the known facts-but one of those known facts, and Greenwald’s bottom line, is that ABC News has it within its power to help clear up the mystery, and refuses to do so. . .

   This guy was no down-the-line conservative (“The Roman Catholic Church should learn from other equally worthy Christian denominations and eagerly welcome female clergy as well as married clergy,” he writes in March of 2002), but I hope I don’t exaggerate in claiming a decidedly wingnutty tilt to his thinking. If this is the same guy who composed the note framing jihadists for the anthrax attacks (“This is next/Take Penacilin Now/Death To America/Death To Israel/Allah is great”); and, as Greenwald seems to suspect, and if he was the same guy who misled ABC into reporting the presence in the anthrax of a substance that only Iraq had used to create biological weapons, what we may have on our hands here is an American ginning up a causis belli for a Christian jihad against Islam, and killing fellow Americans to do it.This is very, very heavy stuff. If any of this turns out to be the case, I will, again, take no pleasure in the vindication.



3. “betmo” says this about this link, “why would this be surprising? they outsource and contract everything else.” From The Raw Story comes this perfect illustration of how hard it is to figure out in which theoretical camp you live. “Deleted photo sparks fears DEA hiring mercenaries” by Muriel Kane, 8/4/2008
   

   However, one particular photograph from the Times story has drawn more attention than anything else. That picture, which has now been widely reproduced at blogs, shows a long-haired man, wearing a Blackwater tshirt and with a pistol at his belt, passing a box marked “DEA Evidence” to other agents participating in the raid.

   . . . The photo has since been taken down by the Times, but it has continued to circulate online. Although there has been no previous suggestion of a Blackwater role in domestic drug enforcement, the single picture was sufficient enough to set off furious discussion at both left-wing and libertarian message boards and blogs.




4. AfterDowningStreet: “Cheney, Neocons Considered Killing Americans in Pretext to Attack Iran” This article is the best summary I have found of some of the most predomimant conspiracy theories that have been around since the post 9/11/01 period. There are people that bwlieve that the 9/11 attacks were planned and carried out by the U.S. government. Even earlier another theory posits that the U.S., under Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, planned “Operation Northwoods,” a false flag attack on Fidel Castro in Cuba. British author, Phillipe Sands revealed a discussion in January 2003 between Tony Blair and George Bush involving “painting planes in United Nations colors “in order to provoke an attack which could then be used to justify material breach” and thus set in motion an invasion.” A tape revealed in May 2008 by Paul Joseph Watson regarding “efforts of former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and top military analysts to cook up another terrorist attack on America in order to gain support for their ambitious plans to decimate Muslim culture.” To quote further:
   

   Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh reveals how the neocons convened around Dick Cheney and brainstormed ways to kick off World War IV, as they fondly call their pet project to take out the Muslims and foment a contrived “clash of civilizations.”

   . . . In an exclusive Think Progress story, we learn the meeting took place in Cheney’s office and the subject on the table was “how to create a casus belli between Tehran and Washington,” part of an ongoing effort to provide an excuse to attack Iran. “There was a dozen ideas proffered about how to trigger a war,” Hersh explains. “The one that interested me the most was why don’t we build – we in our shipyard – build four or five boats that look like Iranian PT boats. Put Navy seals on them with a lot of arms. And next time one of our boats goes to the Straits of Hormuz, start a shoot-up.”

   . . . Obviously, the neocons will stop at nothing – including the murder of more Americans in a false flag terror attack – to realize their agenda.

Activism, Investigative Journalism or Conspiracy Theory? In the minds of some they all run together. In my mind it is important for me to make distinctions. That helps me continue to behave in good faith and act courageously and with authenticity. It is also about trying to tell the truth, and about trying to make a difference. These are the things all of of us have permission to do without becoming targets of domestic surveillance, as a result of our words being scooped up in mass funneling of Internet material into the NSA.

(Cross-posted at The Reaction.)

My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.

Technorati tags: activism news news and politics domestic surveillance investigative journalism conspiracy theory

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Dolores Huerta and Bonnie Riatt discuss..

Their activism and how it affected America. Two great broads who are also feminists. I marched w/Huerta for migrant workers rights back in the day. Ms Huerta is a resident of my..cough..fair city. Raitt has given much of her time to playing gratis at progressive events, not to mention she plays some awesome slide guitar.

This is the second in the series produced by The Nation magazine and Brave New Films. You can watch the first part here as well.

Hope some will take the time to watch it. Tell me if you do.

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Teaching, Learning, People, Cultures, Human Nature

As soon as I arrived in San Francisco and went to the first event about The Longest Walk I started to meet people and I started to learn new things. In such a venue, it’s easy to meet up with folks. After all, we’re all there for the event and there is a lot to break the ice with. “Where are you from?”, “Why are you here?”, “How did you find out about it?”, “What’s your name?”

The room that first night at the pot luck kick off dinner was buzzing to be sure. As human nature and the dynamics of such a potentially history making event would have it, people got involved in many types of conversations from the petty mindless talk to serious global problems and events.

I met many people that first night and saw them the next days at the concerts and fund raisers. Then we met again on the ferry boat to Alcatraz Island for the early morning sunrise spiritual ceremony. To see the people you don’t really know awake in the evening is one thing, but to see them early in the morning with the sleep barely washed out of their eyes is something else.

As time went on and the Walk started, we’d all get to see each other often in this early morning unwashed state. We’d even have to be exposed to each others morning breath at times, that’s how close we became while on the Walk.

The usual day would begin at 5:00 a.m. or so. Finding a bathroom was first and foremost, then break down the tents and stow the gear in the backpacks. Breakfast from the converted school bus turned kitchen and the organizational “circle” before the actual walking started for the day. All before 7:00 a.m. The walkers would depart following the Eagle feathered staff and the drumbeat.

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close gitmo!

who said awards shows couldn’t send a message? thank you julie christie.

of course, msm managed to dodge truth once again with their take on the story. orange stands for impeachment in the impeachment movement, but ms. christie clarified it was to bring attention to the aclu’s fight to close gitmo and other secret prisons.

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‘the road i must travel’

[youtube]yrBfPLUm5so[/youtube]

h/t to quaker dave at les enrages

please watch the video

The Yes We Can Song
by will.i.am

I was sitting in my recording studio watching the debates…
Torn between the candidates

I was never really big on politics…
and actually I’m still not big on politics…
but 4 years ago, me and the black eyed peas supported Kerry…
And we supported Kerry with all our might…
We performed and performed and performed for the DNC…
doing all we could do to get the youth involved…

The outcome of the last 2 elections has saddened me…
on how unfair, backwards, upside down, unbalanced, untruthful,
corrupt, and just simply, how wrong the world and “politics” are…

So this year i wanted to get involved and do all i could early…

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An important post from Written Rebellion..

Melissa is a wonderful woman and a fantastic blogger. She is strong, she is an activist and damn does she get busy when she gets pissed about inequality and hate crimes. This is quite long and happened over a period of days..but I love this post and had to reprint it here..hoping more people will see how hate crimes are swept under the friggin rug by our police departments around these here United States of America. I heart you M! – Dusty

Thursday, November 08, 2007
So Proud I Could Burst

This is Jess. She’s one of the most amazingly strong and courageous women I know. I first met her more than eight years ago when she was moved to southern California to become a union organizer. At that time, we were assigned to the same campaign and she quickly became my closest friend and ally in the movement for economic justice.

When we first met, she had not yet come out to her immediate family. I had the privilege of loving her and supporting her through that process, and she was an inspiration of hope to me when I divorced. In a sense, we were both working on our identities, learning and growing together.

Our kindred friendship has endured a vast geographical separation, and over these years I have grown to love and respect her even more. We have both faced significant challenges over the years, and we have managed to become stronger, better women as a consequence.

The events of last Saturday night inspired my poem. I was just so angry. Angry at the women who attacked her, angry at the society that condones this behavior, angry that I live more than 1,200 miles away and could not be with her to support and comfort her.

Then, when she sent me a link to the local news article that described her assault, I became even angrier:

Two random assault attacks that occurred over the weekend have police looking for answers in Missoula.

Authorities say that four college-aged males attacked another male student while he was walking on the UM Footbridge at 2:30 a.m. Saturday. Police say the victim was accosted, hit in the face, and kicked repeatedly.

Then less than 24 hours later, at 9:30 p.m. Saturday, a woman was accosted on Main Street in front of the Missoula Public Library. She says she recognized her attackers from an earlier incident at the Press Box. The victim claims four women followed her in their car and then attacked her, punching and kicking her until she couldn’t move anymore. Police say the suspects then stole her wallet and that alcohol was a factor in this assault.

Authorities are warning people who are out walking at night to be mindful of the areas where they choose to walk and if possible always walk with a group of people.

If you have any information about either of these assaults contact the Missoula Police Department.

I was furious that the local media had failed to mention that she had been attacked because she is a lesbian. How could they have left out such an important part of the story? I clicked on the appropriate link and I wrote this letter, which I also sent to Missoula’s local newspaper:

Read more

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