Saturday, October 1, 2011
Pastors try to pick a tax fight with IRS
Pastors try to pick a tax fight with IRS: "This weekend, hundreds of pastors, including some of the nation’s evangelical leaders, will climb into their pulpits to preach about American politics, flouting a decades-old law that prohibits tax-exempt churches and other charities from campaigning on election issues.
The sermons, on what is called Pulpit Freedom Sunday, essentially represent a form of biblical bait, an effort by some churches to goad the Internal Revenue Service into court battles over the divide between religion and politics...."
The sermons, on what is called Pulpit Freedom Sunday, essentially represent a form of biblical bait, an effort by some churches to goad the Internal Revenue Service into court battles over the divide between religion and politics...."
Help me to help myself. I am the 99%
To be able to see things picture better I suggest click on it, a new screen will pop open and then from there you can magnify the image again by clicking on it.
Friday, September 30, 2011
How Anti-Authoritarians Can Transcend their Sense of Hopelessness and Fight Back
Critical thinking anti-authoritarians see the enormity of the military-industrial complex, the energy-industrial complex and the financial-industrial complex. They see the overwhelming power of the U.S. ruling class. They see many Americans unaware of the true sources of their oppression or with little knowledge of the strategies and tactics necessary to overcome it. They see American society lacking the psychological and cultural building blocks necessary for democratic movements—the self-respect required to reject the role as a mere subject of power, the collective self-confidence that success is possible, courage, determination, anti-authoritarianism, and solidarity. They see how the corporatocracy pays back those few Americans who do question, challenge, and resist illegitimate authority with economic and political marginalization....."
California’s New Personhood Law Masquerading as Human Rights Amendment
California’s New Personhood Law Masquerading as Human Rights Amendment: "In California, where haters once peddled Proposition 8, we see the the sinister but very positive-sounding “California Human Rights Amendment.” Humans Rights – and from a conservative group. It’s a bit of an oxymoron, isn’t it?
And if you think it’s too good to be true – well, it is. What passes for support for rights is just another ill-disguised attack on women’s reproductive rights – because rights, when used by conservatives in this country, are always “subtractive” rights. In fact, the only real right this bill grants is the right for rapists to procreate by way of their victims.
That doesn’t sound like progress to me...."
And if you think it’s too good to be true – well, it is. What passes for support for rights is just another ill-disguised attack on women’s reproductive rights – because rights, when used by conservatives in this country, are always “subtractive” rights. In fact, the only real right this bill grants is the right for rapists to procreate by way of their victims.
That doesn’t sound like progress to me...."
Thursday, September 29, 2011
There Is No Greater Danger To Our Constitution Than Religious Frenzy
There Is No Greater Danger To Our Constitution Than Religious Frenzy: "America’s experiment as a sort-of democratic republic has lasted for about 235 years, and for the most part, the system has worked relatively well. Since 1980 though, there has been a movement to change the nature of this country and the Republicans’ man-turned-god, Ronald Reagan, is responsible for unleashing the Religious Right on the nation and they are close to achieving their goals after the 2010 midterm elections that gave power to malignant teabaggers to collapse the government. Republicans are awash with funding from religious groups to enforce biblical laws against gays and women, but there is a bigger threat from Dominionists to form a theocratic government that is just now becoming evident to many Americans...."
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Our Heroes
To me it's irritating when people say that the only two people to die for you are Jesus and the American Soldier. What about firefighters, EMTs and Police Officers? Too often they are taken for granted. Lets not forget the work that they do everyday to make sure that the rest of us are safe.
Note: I'm not in anyway saying that our soldiers don't do amazing things too, but lets not forget about the other heroes in our lives.
Note: I'm not in anyway saying that our soldiers don't do amazing things too, but lets not forget about the other heroes in our lives.
Occupy Wall Street: help us reconstruct the 'pepper spray' incident
Occupy Wall Street: help us reconstruct the 'pepper spray' incident: "Eyewitness accounts, video and photographs posted online tell some of the story of the moment when a police officer used pepper spray on Occupy Wall Street protesters. Help us piece together the rest of what happened.
As my colleague Karen McVeigh has reported, internet activists who support the Occupy Wall Street protests identified the New York police officer who used pepper spray on female protesters by studying video and photographs posted online.
A brief glimpse of the incident, which took place on Saturday near Union Square, was caught on video by one eyewitness – although it was difficult to see exactly what happened until an annotated, slow-motion edit of the same clip was posted on YouTube.
Another eyewitness, who photographed the protest for his blog, then posted what he said was a close-up image of the officer's badge. Using that information, the Hacker collective Anonymous correctly deduced that the officer who had used his small gas canister against four female protesters was Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna, a veteran commander in Manhattan....."
As my colleague Karen McVeigh has reported, internet activists who support the Occupy Wall Street protests identified the New York police officer who used pepper spray on female protesters by studying video and photographs posted online.
A brief glimpse of the incident, which took place on Saturday near Union Square, was caught on video by one eyewitness – although it was difficult to see exactly what happened until an annotated, slow-motion edit of the same clip was posted on YouTube.
Another eyewitness, who photographed the protest for his blog, then posted what he said was a close-up image of the officer's badge. Using that information, the Hacker collective Anonymous correctly deduced that the officer who had used his small gas canister against four female protesters was Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna, a veteran commander in Manhattan....."
The Revolution Begins at Home: A Clarion Call to Join the Wall Street Protests
What is occurring on Wall Street right now is truly remarkable. For over 10 days, in the sanctum of the great cathedral of global capitalism, the dispossessed have liberated territory from the financial overlords and their police army.
They have created a unique opportunity to shift the tides of history in the tradition of other great peaceful occupations, from the sit-down strikes of the 1930s to the lunch-counter sit-ins of the 1960s to the democratic uprisings across the Arab world and Europe today....."
I do believe that more people need to join in if they're able too. But at the same time I feel that people need to do what they're able. Like spreading the word by blogging or tweeting.
Don’t Make The Economic Mistake Of Voting Republican
Don’t Make The Economic Mistake Of Voting Republican: "In the past 100 years, America has progressed in terms of equal rights, but on the economic front, equality is relatively non-existent. At the turn of the century there were approximately 400 families that controlled the lion’s share of the wealth and that figure has hardly budged in 2011. The American middle class that emerged after World War II is responsible for much of the economic prosperity the country experienced for a generation, but their numbers are dwindling as Republicans assail unions and public employees with spending cuts and their ridiculous deficit reduction scams. When Republican governors and legislatures began eliminating public employees’ collective bargaining rights, the middle class finally woke up and protested because they saw their way of life coming to an end. However, where was the middle class for the past 30 years as Republicans assailed the poor and minorities? They were silent because their income, lifestyle, and position in society were safe and secure with little chance it would ever change. How foolish they were....."
Motivated In Ohio: The gun crime map of America: interactive | News |...
Motivated In Ohio: The gun crime map of America: interactive | News |...: The gun crime map of America: interactive | News | guardian.co.uk [This is a must see of Gun Related Crime in America--MIO]
The Book of Cletis: Don't Look Too Closely by Ruth Marie Hicks
The Book of Cletis: Don't Look Too Closely by Ruth Marie Hicks: Note from Cletis: This recent post from the gifted Ruth Marie Hicks and accompanying video broke my heart and that shows that, at least, I s...
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Occupy Together!
With No Future Visible, Young Activists Have Few Options but to "Occupy Wall Street"
Why are people occupying Wall Street? Why has the occupation – despite the latest police crackdown – sent out sparks across America, within days, inspiring hundreds of people to send pizzas, money, equipment and, now, to start their own movements called OccupyChicago, OccupyFlorida, in OccupyDenver or OccupyLA?
There are obvious reasons. We are watching the beginnings of the defiant self-assertion of a new generation of Americans, a generation who are looking forward to finishing their education with no jobs, no future, but still saddled with enormous and unforgivable debt. Most, I found, were of working-class or otherwise modest backgrounds, kids who did exactly what they were told they should: studied, got into college, and are now not just being punished for it, but humiliated – faced with a life of being treated as deadbeats, moral reprobates...."
The People Occupy Wall Street While Wall Street Dreams of Another Recession
Uh....seriously? WTF is WRONG WITH YOU?! :|
Which State Is Winning the Race to the Bottom to Become the Worst Place for Women?
Every day, it becomes a little bit harder for women to get the health care they need in America, particularly if that health care has anything to do with sexual and reproductive health.
The "war on women" began almost the moment that 2011's new class of legislators took their oaths of office, and it's still going on as we speak. Anti-choice groups have successfully created blueprint legislation for waiting periods, parental consent laws, mandatory ultrasounds, and targeted regulations of clinics. These kinds of laws have been passed in statehouse after statehouse....'
Wall Street Is Committing Economic Genocide
Correcting the Abysmal 'New York Times' Coverage of Occupy Wall Street
Correcting the Abysmal 'New York Times' Coverage of Occupy Wall Street: "Over the weekend, my inbox exploded with angry messages from people who had just read this New York Times article (though it reads more like an op-ed) about the Occupy Wall Street protest. Ginia Bellafante gives a devastating account of the event’s attendees, depicting them as scatterbrained, sometimes borderline-psychotic transients.
Bellafante, who is not a reporter but a columnist for the Times, offered a representation of the protesters that is as muddled as the amalgam of activists’ motives she presents in the span of the article. She first claims a Joni Mitchell lookalike named Zuni Tikka is a “default ambassador” of the movement. In one of the following paragraphs, she then describes the protest as “leaderless.” Either the people at Zuccotti Park have official leadership or they don’t (they don’t, by the way). So either Tikka is an official spokesperson who warrants first-paragraph favorability, or Bellafante’s own biases persuaded her to put the kooky girl dancing around in her underwear in the spotlight..."
Bellafante, who is not a reporter but a columnist for the Times, offered a representation of the protesters that is as muddled as the amalgam of activists’ motives she presents in the span of the article. She first claims a Joni Mitchell lookalike named Zuni Tikka is a “default ambassador” of the movement. In one of the following paragraphs, she then describes the protest as “leaderless.” Either the people at Zuccotti Park have official leadership or they don’t (they don’t, by the way). So either Tikka is an official spokesperson who warrants first-paragraph favorability, or Bellafante’s own biases persuaded her to put the kooky girl dancing around in her underwear in the spotlight..."
Monday, September 26, 2011
How the U.S. Is Becoming a Third-World Nation
Yet most of us don’t see a third world when we look out our windows. We see paved roads, a working power grid, and overall a functioning first world economy. But first world status comes from things we don’t see from our windows: broad public services shared by all classes, shared resources, a social safety net, and a social compact that creates a foundation for long-term development. It comes from a strong middle class preventing the wealthy from getting too wealthy and the poor from staying too poor. To the extent that we have lost and continue to lose these things, we slip into the third world...."
Obama Slams GOP’s Booing Of Gay Soldier: ‘That’s Not Reflective Of Who We Are’
“Some of you here may be folks who actually used to be Republicans but are puzzled by what’s happened to that party, are puzzled by what’s happening to that party. I mean, has anybody been watching the debates lately? You’ve got a governor whose state is on fire denying climate change,” he said, to applause. “It’s true. You’ve got audiences cheering at the prospect of somebody dying because they don’t have health care and booing a service member in Iraq because they’re gay.” “That’s not reflective of who we are,” he added. “This is a choice about the fundamental direction of our country. 2008 was an important direction. 2012 is a more important election.”..."
Inside the Wall Street Protests: An Eyewitness Account of Police Crackdown on Peaceful Demonstrators
Deep in the belly of the beast, among the financial district’s skyscrapers, next to derivatives traders in business suits and Rolex watches, you will find a one-block large democratic society, governed by consensus, whose features include free food, free professional childcare, an arts and culture area, medical and legal teams, a media center, constant music, a library and a stand with refreshments for the many police stationed to supervise the area. This is the one-week-old occupation of Wall Street, located at Liberty Plaza Park.
A group of protestors from the camp ventured outside the park and marched on Union Square Saturday morning, and around 100 of them were arrested. Police sprayed peaceful protestors in the face with pepper spray, threw them to the ground and assaulted them with elbows, dragged a woman around by the hair, jumped over barricades to grab and rough up young people, and, when all was said and done, laughed to themselves triumphantly. This is exactly the sort of violence and brutality American authorities routinely condemn when perpetrated against non-violent civilians demonstrating for democracy in Middle Eastern dictatorships, even as they employ horrifying cruelty right here...."
Stand Up And Speak Out Against The Conservative Culture Of Hate
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Mindless Mouthpieces
Police crack down on 'Occupy Wall Street' protests
Police have been accused of heavy-handed tactics after making 80 arrests on Saturday when protesters marched uptown from their makeshift camp in a private park in the financial district.
Footage has emerged on YouTube showing stocky police officers coralling a group of young female protesters and then spraying them with mace, despite being surrounded and apparently posing threats of only the verbal kind...."
March Guidelines for #OccupyWallStreet
- Stay together and KEEP MOVING!
- Don't instigate cops or pedestrians with physical violence.
- Use basic hand signals.
- Empowered pace keeps at the front, back and middle of every march. These folks are empowered to make directional decisions and guide the march.
- We respect diversity of tactics, but consider how our actions may affect the entire group.
80 Arrested as Financial District Protest Moves North
Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman, said in a statement, “There were approximately 80 arrests, mainly for disorderly conduct by individuals who blocked vehicular and pedestrian traffic, but also for resisting arrest, obstructing governmental administration and, in one instance, for assault on a police officer.”
Protest organizers estimated that about 85 people were arrested and that about five were struck with pepper spray. Among those was Chelsea Elliott, 25, who said that she was sprayed after shouting “Why are you doing that?” as an officer arrested a protester at East 12th Street....."
Occupy Wall Street March Turns Violent
Palestine's losing battle for land
It's the show that time and the world forgot. It's called the Occupation and it's now in its 45th year. Playing on a landscape about the size of Delaware, it remains largely hidden from view, while Middle Eastern headlines from elsewhere seize the day. Diplomats shuttle back and forth from Washington and Brussels to Middle Eastern capitals; the Israeli-Turkish alliance ruptures amid bold declarations from the Turkish prime minister; crowds storm the Israeli Embassy in Cairo, while Israeli ambassadors flee the Egyptian capital and Amman, the Jordanian one; and of course, there's the headliner, the show-stopper of the moment, the Palestinian Authority's campaign for statehood in the United Nations, which will prompt an Obama administration veto in the Security Council.
But whatever the Turks, Egyptians or Americans do, whatever symbolic satisfaction the Palestinian Authority may get at the U.N., there's always the Occupation and there -- take it from someone just back from a summer living in the West Bank -- Israel isn't losing. It's winning the battle, at least the one that means the most to Palestinians and Israelis, the one for control over every square foot of ground. Inch by inch, meter by meter, Israel's expansion project in the West Bank and Jerusalem is, in fact, gaining momentum, ensuring that the "nation" that the U.N. might grant membership will be each day a little smaller, a little less viable, a little less there...."
Wall Street Protests Continue, With at Least 6 Arrested
Office workers heading to their desks passed the protesters on the sidewalks with little incident. At times, the two groups squeezed shoulder to shoulder through narrow passages formed by metal police barricades.
The first three arrests came on Pine Street, when a police lieutenant ordered that two men wearing ski masks be taken into custody. Officers then arrested a woman wearing a plastic mask on the back of her head...."
Man With Assault Rifle Walks Down Street Shooting In Every Direction In Issaquah Washington
Remind me again why we don't need more gun control to prevent like this from happening?
Cops Maced Peaceful Females Protesters "Because Of Disorderly Conduct"
If this had been Tea Partiers, they would of gotten more than 28 seconds of news coverage over being maced on Fox So Called News. And that didn't look like 'Disorderly Conduct' to me!
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