This Magic Moment

Waxing nostalgic, the nominee/billionaire *magic moment* network t.v. missed (or more like, deliberately shielded millions of viewers' tender eyes from) and unflinchingly described by Amy Goodman in the prior recorded segment, as well (guest is Code Pink activist Medea Benjamin):

 

Inquiring Minds Want To Know

Delegates at the Republican Convention in Tampa try to prevent reporter Amy Goodman with Democracy Now! from confronting top GOP donor David Koch about whether the unchecked concentration of wealth subverts democracy.

 

Some weeks earlier U.S. Senator Rand Paul reportedly tried to get Media Roots journalist Abbie Martin arrested and fired for asking him questions in the capitol building concerning the undue influence of money in politics. She speaks about that experience with Luke Rudowski at WeAreChange.org.   

 

In further developments around the treatment of inquiring minds at the Republican National Convention, the daughter of yet another major billionaire donor shoved a producer asking questions, then grabbed his camera and threw it to the ground;  also,  two convention attendees threw nuts at an African American CNN camerawoman, shouting, "This is how we feed the animals!"  Democracy Now! reports that the attendees were later removed from the convention which they have been covering at their website here throughout.

Divisions

Editors at Real News and Reason Magazine look at divisions within the Republican Party concerning foreign policy, specifically Ron Paul's supporters, and where they may be headed.  Real News also talks RNC here with Lawrence Wilkerson.


 

RNC

Tampa demonstrators on the eve of the Republican National Convention (RNC) Monday.

 

Sólo Le Pido A Dios

Mercedes Sosa with León Gieco in his now classic, Sólo Le Pido A Dios.

Poetry

Saul Williams in Coded Language.


 

Republicans And Women

PBS News Hour on Tod Akin's (R-Mo) remarks about rape.  (He won't be thrown in prison, but will he be thrown out of the Republican Party?)  There is a whole constellation of views in play here, ya know, psychologically speaking.

 

Watch GOP Sidelines Akin But Asserts It's 'Proud Pro-Life Party' on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.

C'mon Baby Light My Fire

Pussy Riot releases a new single, Putin Lights Up The Fires.  Making me realize I must be a little old if I can still remember when Jose Feliciano was highly controversial.  (Though he wasn't thrown into prison.)

 

From ScarceMedia, an English google translate of the Russian lyrics: 

Putin Lit Fires' 

State more time in prison 

The more arrests - more happiness 

And every arrest - with a love of sexist 

After swinging his cheeks, as the chest and abdomen 

But we can not be resealed in the box 

Security officers overthrew the better and more 

Putin ignites the fires of revolution 

He was bored and frightened people in the silence 

Whatever punishment he had - that rotten ash, 

With no time in many years - the subject for wet dreams

Chorus. 

The country is, the country goes to the streets with audacity 

The country is, the country is going to say goodbye to the regime, 

The country is, the country is a wedge of feminist 

And Putin is Putin goes, leave cattle 

Arrested on May 6 the whole city 7 years we have little, give me 18 

The ban yelling, slander, and walk, 

Take his wife's dad Lukashenko 

Chorus 2 times.

Eat Thy Words

Michael Moore and Julian Assange have a short film circulating on Wikileaks and a "global community," Revolution Truth, aiming to defend Wikileaks, whistle blowers, and "legitimate democracies."

One of a number of decent trailers - "Obama, eat thy words." (Also known as "chickens coming home to roost.")

Classes

Quebec students are reported returning to classes, as Quebecers take their battle to the polls in early September.  In the CBC clip below, students are interviewed still wearing the red felt, and stating they will "vote PQ," or Parti Québécois, and running Pauline Marois, who has stated that she is against the tuition hikes.  She recently debated Charest, the incumbent under heavy attack during massive student demonstrations and widespread community opposition to notorious "Loi 78," or "Bill 78," legislation also internationally decried by the United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay.  Charest was satirized in the hit sensation Canadian hip hop number, Libérez-nous des Libéraux, or "Liberate Us From The Liberals" by Loco Locass, performed at the Montreal Jazz Festival to a wildly enthusiastic audience of 80,000 who observed a symbolic (and iconoclastic) "moment of silence" marking "the end of the liberal regime."

 

Whistle Blowers

 Courtesy of RT

Photographer:  Paul Hackett

Supporters of Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange 

gather outside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London

Julian Assange stepped outside to make a statement from a balcony at the Ecuadorian embassy in London Sunday (full video below). U.K. police reportedly entered the embassy illegally a night earlier, but left, deterred by demonstrators keeping vigil outside.   

In dramatic developments, foreign ministers from countries across South America now back Ecuador's decision to grant the Wikileaks founder asylum with a formal announcement at a Union of South American Nations meeting today, "in the face of the threat" to Ecuador's London Embassy.

After Ecuador's Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino finished reading the final declaration from the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) summit, he joined hands with his fellow foreign ministers and raised them aloft.

The BBC's Will Grant said it was a symbolic but important show of unity in a region which considers the UK government's approach over Mr Assange to have been colonialist and threatening.

Ecuador has described a letter from the British government drawing attention to the Diplomatic and Consular Premises Act 1987 as "intolerable" and an "explicit threat".

 Courtesy of PressTV

Foreign ministers of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) meet in Ecuador's biggest city Guayaquil on August 19, 2012.

BBC also reports

It is an established international convention that local police and security forces are not permitted to enter an embassy, unless they have the express permission of the ambassador.

That principle was backed by the ministers at the Unasur summit. In their final document, they agreed on a series of general principles, including as "the inviolability of local diplomatic missions and consular offices".

 

Appearing before a cheering crowd, Mr. Assange expressed his appreciation to the many supporters, including Ecuador's President Correa, Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino, the Ecuadorian People, and the Union of South American Nations - naming each one.  He spoke on behalf of pardoning several whistle blowers including Private Bradley Manning, describing him as a hero, role model, and "one of the world's foremost political prisoners," decrying his captivity and treatment, and calling for his release.  Mr. Assange also called upon the U.S. to do the right thing and to reaffirm the revolutionary values it was founded upon, and to end its war on whistle blowers:

As WikiLeaks stands under threat, so does the freedom of expression and the health of our societies.  We must use this movement to articulate the choice that is before the government of the United States of America. Will it return and reaffirm the values - the revolutionary values - it was founded on.  Or will it lurch off the precipice, dragging us all into a dangerous and oppressive world, in which journalists fall silent under the fear of prosecution and citizens must whisper in the dark. I say it must turn back.  I ask President Obama to do the right thing. The United States must renounce its witch hunt against WikiLeaks. The United States must dissolve its FBI investigation. The United States must vow that it will not seek to prosecute our staff, or our supporters. The United States must pledge before the world that it will not pursue journalists for shining a light on the secret crimes of the powerful. There must be no more foolish talk about prosecuting any media organization, be it Wikileaks or be it the New York Times. The U.S. administration's war on whistle blowers must end.

Courtesy of Musicians For Freedom

 People demonstrate outside the UK’s embassy in Quito, Ecuador. 

Courtesy of BBC

The South American ministers embracing 

after their announcement of solidarity

with Ecuador

God On Our Side

Isaac Guillory in Bob Dylan's With God On Our Side.  There are so many wonderful versions of this now classic.  I find Issac Guillory's rendition one of the most reasonable modern interpretations -- a mind's quiet awakening.  Peace will never provide the same *electric charge* to your system as some bloodthirsty, patriotic, glory-invoked battle.  

Sadly, wiki reports that Mr. Guillory died of undetected cancer on New Year's Eve, 2000.  I guess he was the casualty of another war our government wages, against its own people, on their own soil, claiming the lives of 45,000 Americans every year.  As they still don't open Medicare.  That, too, would be too quietly reasonable.


 

Poetry

Poet and peace activist Ron Faust reads his poem for Bradley Manning at a Free Bradley Manning rally in Kansas City.

 

I Am Bradley Manning

Courtesy of Occupy Wall Street

Iraq and Afhganistan War veterans occupy the Obama Reelection Campaign headquarters in Oakland to demand the full pardon and immediate release of whistle-blower, U.S. Private Bradley Manning.  Two youtubes below - the first uploaded by Russia Today;  the second, by veteran and peace activist Scott Olsen, who was shot in the head with a police projectile during Mayor Quan's massive police crackdown on Occupy Oakland.  He is shown in the photo above, seated with the group in the middle.

A boisterous rally outside:

In the next segment, demonstrators are reportedly attacked by an irate male staffer or volunteer who hits at least one of the veterans with a chair (OWS reports that he hit Scott Olsen with a chair - I believe he is holding the camera and leaves to upload the video). Six protesters are then arrested.  I am not seeing any report that the assailant was arrested.

Third party candidate Rocky Anderson has stated that he would pardon Bradley Manning if he were elected President.  At the video link shared, he synopsizes the reasons for Private Manning's arrest and the deplorable conditions surrounding his detention.  Long-time activist and Pentagon Papers whistle-blower Daniel Ellsberg also discusses the Bradley Manning case here in his interview about Ecuador's decision to grant political asylum to Julian Assange.

Pussy Riot

 Courtesy of Wire

 Pussy Riot members (from left to right) Maria Alyokhina, Yekaterina Samutsevich and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova show the court’s verdict from within a glass-walled cage today in a Moscow courtroom.

Democracy Now! reports that members of feminist punk group Pussy Riot have been sentenced to two years in prison for staging the reported anti-Putin protest in an Orthodox church.  The three women were kept in a cage during a trial widely decried for lack of separation between church and state, and as a symbol of political intolerance for free speech and feminism - feminism, a term the judge wouldn't even allow discussion of, during the trial.

"The girls' actions were sacrilegious, blasphemous, and broke the church's rules," said Judge Marina Syrova while sentencing.

During the described performance protest, the group sang the following lyrics, the English translation shared on Democracy Now! by feminist punk musician JD Samson with the groups Le Tigre and MEN:

Virgin Mary, Mother of God, put Putin away
Put Putin away, put Putin away
Black robe, golden epaulettes
All parishioners crawl to bow
The phantom of liberty is in heaven
Gay-pride sent to Siberia in chains
The head of the KGB, their chief saint,
Leads protesters to prison under escort
In order not to offend His Holiness
Women must give birth and love
Virgin Mary, Mother of God, become a feminist
Become a feminist, become a feminist.

Here is a video of Pussy Riot in the performance protest they are now sentenced to two years in prison for, titled Punk Prayer:

Empires

Long-time activist and whistle-blower Daniel Ellsberg expresses appreciation to Ecuador for standing up to self-anointed empires and monarchs.  Legal analysts for Julian Assange state that Swedish authorities could easily settle allegations in London, thereby freeing Mr. Assange to leave the U.K. for Ecuador.  Alternatively, a lengthy stand-off seems likely since the U.K. cannot simply "storm" Ecuador's embassy without first legally abolishing the embassy's status altogether.

 

History

From Star Trek, "the OK Corral shootout replays as history dictates at first, but history is soon changed by Kirk, Spock and the Enterprise crew (Spectre of the Gun)."  

Note Kirk's concluding choice - non-violence instead of violence - and Spock's observantly raised Zen-like eyebrow.  History is not only changed, the proverbial karmic cycle is broken.


 

Showdown

Ecuador stands up to the U.K. and the U.S., announcing asylum for Julian Assange.  Other democratic countries can do this, too, ya know.

In-depth video coverage here and here from Democracy Now! including an interview with Michael Ratner, legal advisor to Julian Assange and Wikileaks.

The question continues to be whether U.K. can raid Ecuador's embassy. But this ain't the O.K. Corral, anymore, is it.


 

Expectation

Now that the Olympics are over, Ecuador's president Rafael Correa is expected to announce a decision on political asylum for Julian Assange.

 

H.R. 4170

Congressman Hansen Clarke, who sponsored H.R. 365 to forgive student loans, is now sponsoring H.R. 4170, The Student Loan Forgiveness Act of 2012, which is also being supported by Occupy Student Debt,  blogged about here, and linking back from there.  There is a petition via the Occupy Student Debt link concerning the bill.

Don't know anyone like Hansen Clarke running for office in the Pacific Northwest.  (Though feel free to share a name and substantiating link, if the reader knows differently.)

Peace Caravan

Poet and activist Javier Sicilia's Peace Caravan crossed the Mexican/U.S. border this month.  They are traveling the U.S. to promote a U.S.-Mexico alliance to fight the drug war and calling upon the U.S. to legalize drugs.

In November, Washington State votes on Initiative 502 to legalize and regulate the recreational use of marijuana.  Washington State is one of 16 states and the District of Columbia with legalized medical use.  If the initiative passes, Washington could become the first state in the country to legalize recreational use, reportedly putting it at odds, however, with federal laws.  

June 2012 polling shows voters favoring the initiative by a 50-37 percent margin.  The legislation could provide over 1.5 billion dollars in revenue over the next 5 years, including money for jobs and the state health care program that had over 100,000 people on a waiting list.

Oregon and Colorado are considering similar measures in November.

Poetry

There is nothing else to say

The world is not worthy of the word
They drowned it, deep inside of us
As they asphyxiated you
As they ripped your lungs apart
And the pain does not leave me
All we have is a world
For the silence of the just
Only for your silence and my silence, Juanelo.

- Javier Sicilia, from his last poem before joining the national protest against the drug war. His son was a victim of the related violence sweeping Mexico.


photo credit:  courtesy of wikipedia, photographer/Zapata, "Javier Sicilia dando su discurso después de la marcha por la paz de Cuernavaca a la Ciudad de México el 8 de mayo de 2011." (Javier Sicilia giving his speech after the peace march from Cuernavaca to Mexico City on May 8, 2011.)

Peace Train

Written on a train, thinking about Alfred's chin.

Capitalism

Johnny Carson interviews Paul Ryan's guru in 1967.  She gets era applause from the audience for denouncing the immorality of conscription, though emphasizing that she is not opposed to the Vietnam War for "the same reasons as those yitniks."  

Part One:

 

Part Two:

The Sting

On nose swipes.

 

Hong Kong

Occupy Hong Kong gets an eviction notice.  They have been "in the belly of the beast," camping out for ten months literally under the bank - HSBC's Asia headquarters.


 

Food Prices

Real News interviews Tim Wise, Policy Research Director at Tuft University's Global Development and Environment Institute on drought induced rising food prices.  Mr. Wise says that public policy "should absolutely address climate change" and urges the building of food reserves now.


 

Vision

Mitt Romney picks his running mate.  More here.

Capital

 

The diarist 

returns 

to standard 

capitalization, 

satisfied,

with results

of poetic 

experimentation,

showing

heedless Capital 

mostly habitual--

overall,

unnecessary--

time 

to eat 

again,

time 

to break 

the fast.




- o.s.r.

military madness

michael franti and spearhead remix with nutkaze - bomb the world.

extended coverage

nativeinteface has released this 44:32 extended coverage of national gathering demonstrations in philadelphia.  the tape includes various occupy sites around the country, along with commentaries about the police policies and why people are there at the demonstrations.

america's new reality

another interview on the widening inequalities in american society.  rt america interviews robert johnson, executive director for the institute for new economic thinking.

 

level playing field

from occupy tvny, a protester named jake shares why he traveled to zuccotti park.  even though mainstream news stations are still scratching their heads over these questions, i knew why he was there .. did you?

from little things big things grow

a song about standards, and people standing together for "more than" (and, for example, small minimum wage increases compared to real social security) - from little things big things grow.  Kev Carmody, John Butler and Paul Kelly perform at the Make Poverty History concert in Melbourne 2006.


 

more on the story about vincent lingiari here at wiki.

song lyrics, courtesy of lyricsmode:

Gather round people let me tell you're a story
An eight year long story of power and pride
British Lord Vestey and Vincent Lingiarri
Were opposite men on opposite sides

Vestey was fat with money and muscle
Beef was his business, broad was his door
Vincent was lean and spoke very little
He had no bank balance, hard dirt was his floor

From little things big things grow
From little things big things grow

Gurindji were working for nothing but rations
Where once they had gathered the wealth of the land
Daily the pressure got tighter and tighter
Gurindju decided they must make a stand

They picked up their swags and started off walking
At Wattie Creek they sat themselves down
Now it don't sound like much but it sure got tongues talking
Back at the homestead and then in the town

From little things big things grow
From little things big things grow

Vestey man said I'll double your wages
Seven quid a week you'll have in your hand
Vincent said uhuh we're not talking about wages
We're sitting right here till we get our land
Vestey man roared and Vestey man thundered
You don't stand the chance of a cinder in snow
Vince said if we fall others are rising

From little things big things grow
From little things big things grow

Then Vincent Lingiarri boarded an aeroplane
Landed in Sydney, big city of lights
And daily he went round softly speaking his story
To all kinds of men from all walks of life

And Vincent sat down with big politicians
This affair they told him is a matter of state
Let us sort it out, your people are hungry
Vincent said no thanks, we know how to wait

From little things big things grow
From little things big things grow

Then Vincent Lingiarri returned in an aeroplane
Back to his country once more to sit down
And he told his people let the stars keep on turning
We have friends in the south, in the cities and towns

Eight years went by, eight long years of waiting
Till one day a tall stranger appeared in the land
And he came with lawyers and he came with great ceremony
And through Vincent's fingers poured a handful of sand

From little things big things grow
From little things big things grow

That was the story of Vincent Lingairri
But this is the story of something much more
How power and privilege can not move a people
Who know where they stand and stand in the law

From little things big things grow
From little things big things grow
From little things big things grow
From little things big things grow

poetry

michael wharton reads an ode to poverty.

offshore wealth

real news interviews james henry of tax justice network on how big banks help clients hide trillions in off-shore accounts, and how these tax havens cause poverty.

part two:

update, august 12, 2012. part three: 

a people's win

ballot initiative progress in missouri.  small comforts, really, considering math discussed by mr. diaz at the earlier link and here too by ms. catlin.  (i mean, o joy, we can live to breath for the metaphorical equivalent of another .25 cents per hour?)  what this nation really needs is a guaranteed liveable and minimum income. 

teach in

from positivemoneyuk, why money really rules the world.

sweet peppers wrap

courtesy of wikipedia

photographer link

a variety of colored bell peppers

sweet peppers wrap with garlic and chicken

appliances

- wok and stirring spoon (for peppers and garlic)

- baking pan and lid (or alumnium foil - for roasting chicken breast)

- pot with lid (for rice)

- grater (if you are grating or shredding the cheese yourself)

courtesy of wikimedia

photographer:  cyclonebill

"parmesan"

ingredients

1-4 large burrito wraps, depending on how many are eating or how hungry they are.  then the ingredients are based in 3 groups as follows:

for peppers and garlic -

* 1-2 tablespoons of canola oil

* about 8 oz of green, yellow, and red bell pepper strips, frozen (or 1/2 a 16 oz package)

* 5-7 cloves of fresh garlic, peeled and sliced

for chicken -

 

* 1 boneless, skinned chicken breast

* 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil (for chicken breast roasting)

* juice of 1/2 lemon

* seasonings, to taste - curry, paprika, sea salt, freshly ground black pepper

for rice - 

* 1 cup of brown rice

* 2-3 cups of chicken stock (or plain water)

additionally -

* grated or shredded parmesan and/or romano cheese

courtesy of wikimedia

photographer:  jonathunder

 "A basket of garlic (allium sativum) offered for sale at the farmers' market in Rochester, Minnesota"

procedure

1.  prepare your chicken.  preheat oven to 350 degrees.  place chicken breast in roasting pan, add a little olive oil, lemon juice, and seasonings, as indicated (and to taste).  I prepared mine with rather generous amounts of curry and a very nice paprika i found at a local food co-op.  roast covered in the oven for about 1/2 hour or a little longer (if the chicken isn't ready yet).  you do want your chicken moist, though.

2.  prepare your brown rice after your chicken goes into the oven.  combine rice and chicken stock (or alternatively, just water), bring to a boil in a pot with a lid, lower heat, and simmer covered for about 20 minutes, or until water is absorbed and rice is fluffy. 

3. prepare your garlic cloves.  oil your wok and add the garlic.  a few minutes before the chicken and rice are ready, heat up your wok, browning your garlic cloves nicely at the same time, and to desired amount.  before they are "too" crisp, add your frozen peppers and stir and toss for 3-5 minutes until ready.

4.  serve your chicken, rice, and stir-fried sweet peppers and garlic cloves on wraps.  top with grated or shredded parmesan and romano.

enjoy!  serves anywhere from 2-4 people, depending on appetites.

courtesy of wikimedia

photographer:  Aravindrocks2

 "naatu kolhi"

discussion

you may find that the mixed sweet peppers and garlic in this recipe make other processed condiments moot.  and while healthful variations abound.  this recipe also stretches a chicken breast - or other meats you may find tasty in a burrito.  you can, of course, use fresh peppers, along with other varieties like the spicier ones.  but for those who seek convenience, or can't get to fresh food markets easily, mixed frozen bell peppers along with fresh garlic and frozen boneless chicken breasts are a way to still create tasty healthful meals, and more economically, with fewer highly processed, artificial, and potentially poisonous ingredients. as always, the better the quality of your ingredients (meat, frozen vegetable varieties, etc.), the better the food will taste.

disproportionate

 courtesy of david amerland

on the evolution of police riot gear

many occupy observers have commented on the often disproportionate police presence, along with disproportionate police gear (e.g. swat or riot apparel) - in response to peaceful occupy protesters - even a very small number of peaceful protesters.

an occupy l.a. video has surfaced here at occupypoetry on youtube providing a birds eye example.

gee, who'd they think those people were?

bard of ayrshire

from keltickev27's channel, There'll Never Be Peace Til Jamie Comes Home:  "[Robert] Burns wrote or collected many songs about the Jacobite Rebellion. This is unusual in that it is about the 'Old Pretender'. Not Bonnie Prince Charlie but his father James. The self styled James (VIII) and (III); son of the deposed James (II). He instigated the Rebellion in 1715 but it was ill-planned and ill led. This is a suitably sad song."

poetry

muddy dreams by tim kroft, performed by william zhang.  video by anthony di salvo.

stop and frisk

another retired police officer speaks out, in this case, against "stop and frisk" in n.y.c.  real news examines the politics behind the city's police practice, as well as growing community opposition.  




the new york times also has this article here on how women are further humiliated in these police tactics by male officers.  wendy ruderman writes:

When officers conduct stops upon shaky or baseless legal foundations, people of both sexes often say they felt violated. Yet stops of women by male officers can often involve an additional element of embarrassment and perhaps sexual intimidation, according to women who provided their accounts of being stopped by the police. And many incorrectly believe that the police, like Transportation Security Administration officers, are required to have female officers frisk women.  

residents report that stated reasons for "stop and frisk" may appear even blatantly fabricated by police - in light of the claimed "rationale" for investigation, combined with the residents' gender:

Crystal Pope, 22, said she and two female friends were frisked by male officers last year in Harlem Heights. The officers said they were looking for a rapist. It was an early spring evening at about 6:30 p.m. The three women sat talking on a bench near Ms. Pope’s home on 143rd Street when the officers pulled up and asked for identification, she said.

“They tapped around the waistline of my jeans,” Ms. Pope said. “They tapped the back pockets of my jeans, around my buttock. It was kind of disrespectful and degrading. It was uncalled-for. It made no sense. How are you going to stop three females when you are supposedly looking for a male rapist?”

Besides, Ms. Pope said, she thought male officers were required to summon a female colleague when conducting a frisk.

steinbeck

 

from film portrayals of lennie small 

in john steinbeck's of mice and men -

adapted for film several times,

also for stage and radio.

pleas for justice fall again upon deaf ears as the state of texas executes a developmentally disabled man named marvin wilson who had an i.q. of 61.

robert mackey with the new york times reports that john steinbeck's family has expressed outrage that a texas judge used of mice and men to support the decision to take marvin wilson's life.  thomas steinbeck, the writer's son, released a statement reading, in part:

On behalf of the family of John Steinbeck, I am deeply troubled by today’s scheduled execution of Marvin Wilson, a Texas man with an I.Q. of 61. Prior to reading about Mr. Wilson’s case, I had no idea that the great state of Texas would use a fictional character that my father created to make a point about human loyalty and dedication, i.e., Lennie Small from “Of Mice and Men,” as a benchmark to identify whether defendants with intellectual disability should live or die.

My father was a highly gifted writer who won the Nobel Prize for his ability to create art about the depth of the human experience and condition. His work was certainly not meant to be scientific, and the character of Lennie was never intended to be used to diagnose a medical condition like intellectual disability. I find the whole premise to be insulting, outrageous, ridiculous and profoundly tragic. I am certain that if my father, John Steinbeck, were here, he would be deeply angry and ashamed to see his work used in this way. And the last thing you ever wanted to do, was to make John Steinbeck angry.

 

mr. mackey continues:

In 1937, the novelist himself told The New York Times that the model for his character, a killer who did not comprehend his own actions, was shown leniency by the American legal system of the time. “Lennie was a real person,” Mr. Steinbeck said. “He’s in an insane asylum in California right now. I worked alongside him for many weeks. He didn’t kill a girl. He killed a ranch foreman. Got sore because the boss had fired his pal and stuck a pitchfork right through his stomach. I hate to tell you how many times I saw him do it. We couldn’t stop him until it was too late.”

the following youtube was released by democracy now! the night before mr. marvin was executed, and includes discussion with mr. wilson's attorney, lee korvarsky, and richard dieter, executive director of the death penalty information center, a nonprofit group working to educate the public about capital punishment.

mr. dieter says that texas is disturbingly experimenting with humans in new ways to execute death row prisoners, and that they are purchasing various drugs for execution indirectly from european companies that did not manufacture the drugs for this purpose.  

the european nations - which have outlawed capital punishment - are expressing outrage that these drugs are being used to execute people in the united states.

the texas tribune reports that prior to mr. wilson's execution, and amidst an outcry of objections, 

State Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, on Monday wrote to Gov. Rick Perry seeking a stay of execution on Wilson's behalf. Human Rights Watch also decried the planned execution.

“Texas is circumventing the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment,” said Antonio Ginatta, U.S. advocacy director at Human Rights Watch.

sb 408

john jay continues a discussion on a maryland single payer health care system with economics professor gerald friedman from the university of massachusetts, amherst. 
 

captain lewis

in the youtube below, occupytv speaks with retired philadelphia police captain ray lewis who was arrested at the stock exchange during occupy protests.  the video also includes footage of his arrest in uniform by his fellow officers.

in speaking on camera about why he was arrested he states:  

"There are people in this society who use gold-handled water faucets, and sit on gold-plated toilet seats.  While other people in this same country are scavenging in dumpsters behind restaurants to eat, and they're sleeping in subways.  Now what kind of system would allow that disparity?  In lifestyle?  It's totally unacceptable.  It blows my mind.  Common sense tells you that there's something wrong with the system that allows that." 

 He also speaks about the wall street bailouts and says, 

"What I'm looking for with this movement is getting mainstream America [involved] - because they're suffering the same things.  They're losing their homes, they're losing their pensions, they're losing their jobs - they're all feeling the same way we're feeling here.  But they can't quite relate because the media is displaying them [the protesters] as not quite one of them.  So I'm hoping to get more and more people to realize, 'Hey, I'm like that person.  I'm like that person.'  Because they share the same hardships.  And once we get those people involved, that is when the movement is going to really take off."

spirit of democracy

courtesy of boston.com

photographer:  brynn anderson/ap

presidential candidate dr. jill stein 

arrested at fannie mae protest.

green presidential and vice presidential candidates jill stein and cheri honkala were reported arrested in philadelphia wednesday during a fannie mae protest.  the candidates were charged with "defiant trespass and conspiracy to commit a sit-in at a bank" (wow).  they were among five arrested at the demonstration, on video, in part, below.

seated cross-legged on the floor, dr. stein spoke about the importance of publicly funded college education for the public good, health care as a human right, the right to protest and petition for grievances without fear of being thrown into jail or put into indefinite detention, and protecting the environment in a way that supports our food supply and our economy.  she described an economy driven downhill by wall street whereby, "one of two americans are now in poverty, or low income heading to poverty" and that the people in the room were "no longer the exception" - but "the rule" - and that they are "bringing the spirit of democracy" into these matters by leading the way into a green future. 


 

from ap: 

Attorney Lawrence Krasner says Stein and Honkala spent the night in jail and were released without bail Thursday afternoon. 

and

The demonstrators included several city residents struggling to keep their homes. Two met with Fannie Mae officials.

photos of the arrest at the green party's website here.

ap reports that cheri honkala is a long-time philadelphia activist.  as blogged earlier, she was the first woman to run for sheriff in philadelphia, and on a no-eviction platform.  she has been arrested over 200 times in eviction protests, and is regarded as one of the nation's leading poverty organizers.  ms. honkala is a single parent who has experienced homelessness first-hand herself.
  

 courtesy of alameda county green party blog

vice presidential candidate cheri honkala 
kisses her son before she is taken away by the police
at a philadelphia fannie mae protest.

more blogging on third party presidential candidates here and linking backwards from there.