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| The demonic roots of the UC-Davis pepper-spraying INSIGHTS By Glenn Greenwald - "The now-viral video of police officers in their Robocop costumes sadistically pepper-spraying peaceful, sitting protesters at UC-Davis shows a police state in its pure form. It's easy to be outraged by this incident as though it's some sort of shocking aberration, but that is exactly what it is not. - Implanting fear of authorities in the heart of the citizenry is a far more effective means of tyranny than overtly denying rights. That's exactly what incidents like this are intended to achieve." Read More |
Event Reminders: British leaders support Bradley ManningThursday, 12/08/2011 THE GUARDIAN UK - of the European parliament have signed an open letter to the US government raising concerns about the treatment of Bradley Manning, the US soldier in military detention for allegedly leaking classified US documents to the whistleblowing site WikiLeaks. The call on the US government comes before a pre-trial hearing – Manning's first appearance in court – which begins on 16 December. OCCUPY Vista General Assembly Dec. 7 Annual Peace on Earth Holiday Bazaar Who is coordinating police violence against OWS? Your Second Chance is Even Better! Letters to the Editor Awards Night Jan 28 This 'N ThatThe pens which write against disarmament are made with the same steel from which guns are made.- Aristide Briand, French statesman, Nobel Peace Prize, 1926 People who are willing to give up freedom for the sake of short term security, deserve neither freedom nor security. War would end if the dead could return. What all men fear, I too must fear - how barren and pointless a thought! The first question which the priest and the Levite asked [on the Jericho Road] was: ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?' But...the good Samaritan reversed the question: ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?' Sometime in your life, hope that you might see one starved man, the look on his face when the bread finally arrives. Hope that you might have baked it or bought or even kneaded it yourself. For that look on his face, for your meeting his eyes across a piece of bread, you might be willing to lose a lot, or suffer a lot, or die a little, even. To resort to power one need not be violent, and to speak to conscience one need not be meek. The most effective action both resorts to power and engages conscience. Nonviolent actions does not have to get others to be nice. It can in effect force them to consult their consciences. Nor does it have to petition those in power to do something about a situation. It can face the authorities with a new fact and say: Accept this new situation which we have created. The arms race can kill, though the weapons themselves may never be used...by their cost alone, armaments kill the poor by causing them to starve. The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens. There is a certain kind of peace that is not merely the absence of war. It is larger than that. The peace I am thinking of is not at the mercy of history's rule, nor is it a passive surrender to the status quo. The peace I am thinking of is the dance of an open mind when it engages another equally open one -- an activity that occurs most naturally, most often in the reading/writing world we live in. Accessible as it is, this particular kind of peace warrants vigilance. We are convinced that non-violence is more powerful than violence. We are convinced that non-violence supports you if you have a just and moral cause...If you use violence, you have to sell part of yourself for that violence. Then you are no longer a master of your own struggle. Through Gandhi and my own life experience, I have learned about nonviolence. I believe that human life is a very special gift from God, and that no one has a right to take that away in any cause, however just. I am convinced that nonviolence is more powerful than violence. Sensitivity to the immense needs of humanity brings with it a spontaneous rejection of the arms race, which is incompatible with the all out struggle against hunger, sickness, under-development and illiteracy. We should take care, in inculcating patriotism into our boys and girls, that is a patriotism above the narrow sentiment which usually stops at one's country, and thus inspires jealousy and enmity in dealing with others... Our patriotism should be of the wider, nobler kind which recognises justice and reasonableness in the claims of others and which lead our country into comradeship with...the other nations of the world. The first step to this end is to develop peace and goodwill within our borders, by training our youth of both sexes to its practice as their habit of life, so that the jealousies of town against town, class against class and sect against sect no longer exist; and then to extend this good feeling beyond our frontiers towards our neighbours. What good is it to me that Mary gave birth to the son of God fourteen hundred years ago, and I do not also give birth to the Son of God in my time and in my culture? We are all meant to be mothers of God. God is always needing to be born. Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action. If we don't stop the bomb who will take care of the flowers? No one is so foolish as to prefer to peace, war, in which, instead of sons burying their fathers, fathers bury their sons. No one has a right to sit down and feel hopeless. There is too much work to do. Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of humans as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is not safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing. I am part and parcel of the whole and cannot find God apart from the rest of humanity. Whenever you are in doubt or when the self becomes too much with you, try the following experiment: Recall the face of the poorest and most helpless person you have ever seen and ask yourself if the step you contemplate is going to be for any use to him or to her . . . Then you will find your doubts and your self melting away. Nothing is so strong as gentleness; nothing so gentle as real strength. The first casualty when war comes is truth. Never underestimate the power of very stupid people in large groups. Peace is that state in which fear of any kind is unknown. I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones. It is reasonable that every one who asks justice should do justice. When I have money, I get rid of it quickly, lest it find a way into my heart. The master's tools will never destroy the master's house. In the struggle rewards are few. In the fact, I know of only two, loving friends and living dreams. These rewards are not so few it seems. The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil. The problems of this world are so gigantic that some are paralysed by their own uncertainty. Courage and wisdom are needed to reach out above this sense of helplessness. Desire for vengeance against deeds of hatred offers no solution. An eye for an eye makes the world blind. If we wish to choose the other path, we will have to search for ways to break the spiral of animosity. To fight evil one must also recognize one's own responsibility. The values for which we stand must be expressed in the way we think of, and how we deal with, our fellow humans. In the twilight of life, God will not judge us on our earthly possessions and human success, but rather on how much we have loved. Do you want long life and happiness? Strive for peace with all your heart. I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do. Peace is an environment where conflicts are resolved without violence, where people are free, not exploited, living so they can grow to their full potential. Young people say, What is the sense of our small effort? They cannot see that we must lay one brick at at time, take one step at a time; we can be responsible only for the one action in the present moment. But we can beg for an increase of love in our hearts that will vitalize and transform all our individual actions, and know that God will take them and multiply them, as Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes. In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act. By doing service, heart and mind are purified -- be convinced of this! To engage in service is a very powerful sadhana (spiritual discipline); do not become impatient. Rather serve your people with the utmost calm and have a kind word for everyone. It is not your obligation to complete your work, but you are not at liberty to quit. I believe in compulsory cannibalism. If people were forced to eat what they killed there would be no more war. Until we have the courage to recognize cruelty for what it is--whether its victim is human or animal--we cannot expect things to be much better in this world... We cannot have peace among men whose hearts delight in killing any living creature. By every act that glorifies or even tolerates such moronic delight in killing we set back the progress of humanity. Do all the good you can, Aye, fight! But not your neighbor. Fight rather all the things that cause you and your neighbor to fight. The story of the human race is characterized by efforts to get along much more than by violent disputes, although it's the latter that make the history books. Violence is actually exceptional. The human race has survived because of cooperation, not aggression. The miracle of the wicked is reinforced by the weakness of the virtuous. Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past. Someday, after we have mastered the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, shall harness for God the energies of love. Then for the second time in the history of the world, we will have discovered fire. The belief that we some day shall be able to prevent war is to me one with the belief in the possibility of making humanity really human. God looks unjust but is not. God asks more from those who more is given. They are not greater or better; they have greater responsibility. They must give more service. Live to serve. If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea. There is nothing that war has ever achieved that we could not better achieve without it. They make a desert and call it peace. The longer we listen to one another - with real attention - the more commonality we will find in all our lives. That is, if we are careful to exchange with one another life stories and not simply opinions. The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn. Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction. Peace demands the most heroic labor and the most difficult sacrifice. It demands greater heroism than war. It demands greater fidelity to the truth and a much more perfect purity of conscience. The Christian fight for peace is not to be confused with defeatism. Only in the last moment in history has the delusion arisen that people can flourish apart from the rest of the living world. The Bible has a very meaningful expression: The Spirit makes all things new. We are those who grow old, and we want everything done to our aged standards. The Spirit is never old; the Spirit is always young. The world cannot continue to wage war like physical giants and to seek peace like intellectual pygmies The ultimate measure of a person is not where one stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where one stands in times of challenge and controversy. The love of one's country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border? Truly man is the king of beasts, for his brutality exceeds them. We live by the death of others. We are burial places! I have from an early age abjured the use of meat, and the time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look on the murder of men. Abba Poeman said about Abba Prior that every single day he made a fresh beginning. Plans to protect air and water, wilderness and wildlife are in fact plans to protect man. The real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Life only demands from you the strength you possess. Only one feat is possible- not to have to run away. Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages. If it were proved to me that in making war, my ideal had a chance of being realized, I would still say "No" to war. For one does not create human society on mounds of corpses. The fragrance always remains in the hand that gives the rose. If there is to be any peace it will come through being, not having. Such as it is, the press has become the greatest power within the Western World, more powerful than the legislature, the executive and judiciary. One would like to ask; by whom has it been elected and to whom is it responsible? Immorality: the morality of those who are having a better time. Five enemies of peace inhabit with us--avarice, ambition, envy, anger, and pride; if these were to be banished, we should infallibly enjoy perpetual peace. The belief in the possibility of a short decisive war appears to be one of the most ancient and dangerous of human illusions. War stirs in men's hearts the mud of their worst instincts. It puts a premium on violence, nourishes hatred, and gives free rein to cupidity. It crushes the weak, exalts the unworthy, and bolsters tyranny .. .Time and time again it has destroyed all ordered living, devastated hope, and put the prophets to death. I have great belief in the fact that whenever there is chaos, it creates wonderful thinking. I consider chaos a gift. The poor cannot be convinced that God is neutral . . . The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality. The idea of absolute freedom is fiction. It's based on the idea of an independent self. But, in fact, there's no such thing. There's no self without other people. There's no self without sunlight. There's no self without dew. And water. And bees to pollinate the food we eat....So the idea of behaving in a way that doesn't acknowledge those reciprocal relationships is not really freedom, it's indulgence. Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it stands than to anything on which it is poured. Angry heart -- you have no chance against my prayers. No matter how big a nation is, it is no stronger that its weakest people, and as long as you keep a person down, some part of you has to be down there to hold him down, so it means you cannot soar as you might otherwise. Hitler and Mussolini were only the primary spokesmen for the attitude of domination and craving for power that are in the heart of almost everyone. Until the source is cleared, there will always be confusion and hate, wars and class antagonisms. I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends. | Articles & News: California’s Higher Education in Violence Article Commentary by Kit-Bacon Gressitt of Fallbrook - In the now notorious UC Davis pepper spray incident, although no one struck a blow, students and their families, faculty, staff, journalists, the broader community, and even the university's chancellor recognized the situation as a violent scene. It was also an unsettling one, because the perpetrators of the violence were agents of the state: two campus police officers who did their dirty deed with disturbing nonchalance, a nonchalance that indicated their actions were anticipated and approved by a higher authority, at least in general terms if not specifically for this event. In fact, someone in the university administration thought it was appropriate to send police to a nonviolent political protest armored and armed with paramilitary gear and weapons, including the canisters of pepper spray. What unites them? A common rage at economic and social injustice and the feeling that "the 99%" are being shafted by society's richest 1%. Pearl Harbor attack 70 years ago - Dec. 11, 1941 Atty: Arrest of Ray Lutz was legal 'Favor' Occupied at UC Santa Cruz Shocking document of Egyptian Winter Revolution Shocking video of Egyptian Winter Revolution
Egypt's Winter Revolution - A jerky six-and-a-half minute video by a local journalist could be the most important document of the recent violent conflict in Egypt. The film, which consists of a series of clips made over several days at the height of the unrest, directly contradicts many of the claims made by the ministry of interior regarding the type of weaponry deployed by its troops and its insistence that only "reasonable force" has been used to confront protesters. Better than anything produced by more conventional media outlets, the footage captures the dramatic reality of Cairo's recent clashes. It is also one of the most intense recordings of guerrilla warfare ever produced (GUARDIAN UK) Ray Lutz arrested for registering voters, SD Occup
Ray Lutz has been arrested at the Civic Center/Freedom Plaza in San Diego for setting up a voter registration table. See video above. The policeman arresting him said he was being charged with trespassing and refusing to leave. More info when it's known. In the meantime, please call the mayor's office and city council and police department and ask why it is illegal to register voters in a public place. SD government directory: CLICK HERE Oakland police brutally beat another war vet.
An Iraq/Afghan Army Ranger Vet, Kayvan Sabehgi, was walking away from an Occupy Oakland gathering, when confronted by a line of Oakland Police. After asking the officers why they were lining up, Kayvan was assaulted and suffered a lacerated spleen due to a brutal baton beating by the OPD. Kayvan was then arrested and held in a cell for 18 hours with no medical attention, despite his repeated requests for help. - "They lined up in front of me. I was talking to one of them, saying, 'Why are you doing this?' When one moved forward and hit me in the arms, legs and back with his baton. Then three or four cops tackled me and arrested me." - Kayvan Sabehgi, Source: The Guardian 11/4/11 - Kayvan went to an Oakland area hospital and remains in intensive care, after his release from jail. UC students turn up the heat on Regents 2 lesbians raised a baby, and this is what hey got
This video is the most viral thing that we've ever seen—it got over 600,000 Facebook shares, Likes, and comments in less than 24 hours. That's off the charts. - Plus, it's incredibly moving. If everyone in the country saw it, it could open countless hearts and maybe even change the national conversation on marriage equality. It's that good. Night rally for arrested Ray Lutz by legal team
Video - Civic and legal leaders hold rally for arrested Raymond Lutz. Five SD police officers arrested Lutz, a former congressional candidate, for practicing his civic duty by registering voters as allowed in CA in accordance with clear case law. He was arrested merely because he is an activist with Occupy SD. As pointed out, there was no violence, no threat to anyone, no sanitation problem, no obstruction of traffic or commerce… Steven Whitburn, local civic leader, stated "… it is very disturbing to see the City of San Diego use its police force as a police state." (See other video this page of the arrest of Lutz.) This woman should be the next president
Elizabeth Warren is running for Senator from Mass., but she should be drafted to run against Obama. Why Is Everyone Afraid of Elizabeth Warren?
Why Don't Republicans and Big Banks like Elizabeth Warren? Please listen to her. She is fighting for you! This is why the GOP and greed 1% are afraid of Elizabeth Warren. 84 year old woman pepper sprayed in Seattle Occupy
Nation shocked by Seattle police - Activist Dorli Rainey, 84, reacts after being hit with pepper spray during an Occupy Seattle protest on Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at Westlake Park. An elderly woman, a pregnant woman and a priest were among those who were pepper-sprayed during a protest in support of the Occupy movement on Tuesday. Witness: Rumsfeld, Bush are war criminals Actually, we are the 99.9 % B of A cooks up another scheme to rob the poor Fukushima: worse than previously thought The naked face of a police state in America
Police pepper spraying and arresting students at UC Davis - In this video, now gone viral nationwide, a group of college students are huddled on the ground in a defensive position at UC Davis on November 18. UC police Lt. John Pike, then casually douses them with a chemical agent. Bystanders who were simply watching what was going on are also exposed. - If the police had legal grounds to make arrests, it seems apparent from the video that little or no force was necessary to achieve that goal. The students are obviously not a threat to the officers. It appears that the heavily armored riot police could have simply grabbed them and put them in flexi-cuffs had they chosen to do so. That means that this entire assault appears to be a perfect example of excessive force. WmJmmnMkuEM OWS rejects take over efforts of DNC, White House Occupy Inspires Rise in US Campus Activism Cartoons of the Week Obama, the negotiatorGOP's Unplanned ParenthoodEvolution began with LimbaughUnions & the Middle ClassObama plays poker with GOP World Economy Collapse explained in 3 minutes
Witty dialogue, profound explanation of today's economic conundrum, a spiral that could collapse the world economy. The roots of the UC-Davis pepper-spraying Late-breaking news: This just in ...
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San Diego's own sage, author, scholar and prophet,Chalmers Johnson, gave his take on the Military-Industrial Complex, American defense spending and the coming downfall of the Empire years before it happened. Johnson is the author of "Blowback" and "The Sorrows of Empire".
The Collapse Is Coming - Goldman Rules The World
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BBC Speechless As Trader Tells Truth. - Goldman Sachs rules the world! Goldman Sachs advised the Greek Government on how to commit fraud by cooking the books and fooling banks to lend money it could never repay. Goldman Sachs is a criminal organisation that needs to be closed down. Employees included Robert Rubin and Henry Paulson. Who was responsible for the abolition of Glass-Steagall under Clinton? Rubin! Who bailed out the banksters with trillions of US taxpayer money? Paulson. Who paid for Obama to be elected? Get the picture!
Ted Olson Interview With Fox News Chris Wallace
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Wallace, insinuating that Gay Marriage is judicial activism, asks where is it in the Constitution that permits gay mariage. "Where is the right to interracial marriage in the Constitution" asked Ted Olsen of Wallace. Brilliant arguments by Olson. When Wallace insists the voters have the right to outlaw gay marriage, Olson asks if it would be constitutional for the voters to force blacks to drink at separate water fountains.
DICK EIDEN challenges Issa in 49th
News
By Dick Eiden - "I'm running for Congress in California’s newly revamped 49th Congressional District. This territory — which is now Darrell Issa's home turf -- I'm running for Congress because of the upsurge of people who have lost faith in the corrupt, two-party system that seems to work well for the top 1%. But not so much for the bottom 99%. This system offers only more of the same, politics as usual, crisis after crisis, war after war. I am qualified, retired, and have time to understand and to speak for those people as a candidate and a Congressman.
Manning Video:American troops slaughter civilians
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Army intel analyst Bradley Manning faces decades in prison for allegedly leaking this video of a U.S. helicopter attack killing 11 civilians and wounding two children in Baghdad, Iraq. The Army covered up the evidence and declared the war crime "justified". Now they say that exposing the massacre is criminal.
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President Dwight D. Eisenhower speaks on the insanity of war. Will humanity ever learn?
Late-breaking news: This just in ...
News
News that did not make our deadline:
King, 'Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam'
Article
YouTube = CHANGE = Martin Luther King's most controversial speech, which won him the enmity of the FBI, CIA and the military industrial complex. April 30, 1967.
Back then Life magazine called it "demagogic slander that sounded like a script for Radio Hanoi." The Washington Post patronized that "King has diminished his usefulness to his cause, his country, his people."
If Martin Luther King were alive today, O'Reilly would call him a "co-conspirator with Julian Assange". Beck would call him a "social justice junkie" and a "socialist" with "anti-American" views. Hannity would accuse him of having "sympathy for the enemy" and Limbaugh would say "this man is a racist who is using the acts of a few to condemn the entire white race". We celebrate his birthday Monday, Jan. 17.
The Republicans' Farcical Candidates
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The German magazine Der Spiegel: The US Republican race is dominated by ignorance, lies and scandals. The current crop of candidates have shown such a basic lack of knowledge that they make George W. Bush look like Einstein. The Grand Old Party is ruining the entire country's reputation. - Welcome to the wonderful world of the US Republicans. Or rather, to the twisted world of what they call their presidential campaigns. For months now, they've been traipsing around the country with their traveling circus, from one debate to the next, one scandal to another, putting themselves forward for what's still the most powerful job in the world."
DICK EIDEN challenges Issa in 49th
News
By Dick Eiden - "I'm running for Congress in California’s newly revamped 49th Congressional District. This territory — which is now Darrell Issa's home turf -- I'm running for Congress because of the upsurge of people who have lost faith in the corrupt, two-party system that seems to work well for the top 1%. But not so much for the bottom 99%. This system offers only more of the same, politics as usual, crisis after crisis, war after war. I am qualified, retired, and have time to understand and to speak for those people as a candidate and a Congressman.
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