Mayday!
A call for help, because our democracy is dying. Check this out and see if it doesn’t inspire you to do something…
A call for help, because our democracy is dying. Check this out and see if it doesn’t inspire you to do something…
Inspirational video posted on youtube using Charlie Chaplin’s speech from the film The Great Dictator.
The only thing I might change about the video is to include how American’s are doing the brutality and torture and are also a victim of it. The images in the video portray the problems in the speech as only belonging to other countries or peoples. Yet it appears Americans (or English speaking folks) are the intended audience.
Police protect the bull, an inanimate object, while the rest of us are left to be beaten down by filthy rich individuals and corporations. This video is another great action by OWS to show the dirty underbelly of who gets protection and who gets the billy club.
Reclaiming wall space with a “we are the 99%” bat signal. For once some outdoor art that isn’t trying to sell us consumer crap!
Thanks G for the link!
“Remember, remember the 5th of November.” A call has been made for all of us to move our savings, no matter how small, to a local bank or credit union. This is in homage to the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 in England, or for us youngsters, V for Vendetta. :)
Go to the Facebook page of Kristen Christian, the woman who started the Nov. 5th idea, or find a community bank or credit union near you at the Move Your Money site. Remember that credit unions are non-profit, which in my experience makes them the better choice.
Since things are pretty ugly out there (endless wars, massive income inequality, etc.), I thought I’d share a little Buddhism with ya’ll on this Friday. Most of this information comes from Michael Benner, a great guy who teaches about mysticism and a class called The Ageless Wisdom. I am not religious, but I do believe some of this stuff.
“I teach about suffering and the way to end it.”
— Buddha
The Four Noble Truths are quite simple and straight-forward. They are pragmatic rather than dogmatic, and actually are closer to psycho-therapy than religion.
The basic idea is that we set ourselves up for misery — disappointment, sadness, depression, anger and hatred by desiring material things, money and power. We are so attached to what we desire, Buddha realized, that we miss the majestic beauty and awe in what is happening right in front of you, moment by moment. The unfolding moment is eternal, while everything material is impermanent and unfulfilling.
According to various sources, a simple rendition of the Four Noble Truths is as follows:
Suffering does exist
Suffering arises from attachment to desires
Suffering ceases when attachment to desire ceases
Freedom from suffering is possible by practicing the Eightfold Path
A song and video was made in honor of the rebellion in Egypt which officially started January 25, 2011. The hash “#” is a shout out to Twitter*. It starts with a quote from Gandhi.
*Speaking of Twitter, one interesting thought I have heard is that when Mubarak literally turned off the internet about 4 days into the protests, he essentially took people away from their homes and computers and out onto the streets. He grew the protests by doing that. It’s a very interesting point, and also shows how the internet, while helpful, can also make people passive and stay home.
Make her president!
-Thanks G for the link
Banksy is a graffiti artist from the UK. Check out some of his work here. I don’t know how long Fox will let this intro last on youtube, so check it out while you can. I’m amazed this was allowed to air in the first place. Props to “The Simpsons” for still doing edgy stuff after 22 seasons.
Yesterday, September 7, the French had a general strike and shutdown large parts of the French system. The result is the French President is now willing to concede to some of their demands and start to negotiate. Ironically, this occurred one day after America’s “Labor Day.” However, American labor is at the end of a 50 year decline and is in such a weak state that Wall Street can take all our private and public money and very little has been done. Although that one sit down strike at Republic Windows and Doors in Chicago was a shining moment during the 2008 crash. Labor has been beaten down in America for a long time, perhaps getting its biggest defeat when the Taft-Hartley Act was passed in 1947 over Harry Truman’s veto, making among other things, general strikes like yesterday’s French one, illegal. The only way I see to balance the power in America is for workers to organize and coordinate. Workers have been thrown under the bus for 50+ years and today’s terrible wealth gap, shrinking middle class, and no power to stop it, is the result.
Check out this discussion on the American system and comments on the French strike. The segment is about 20 minutes.
Letters to Washington
September 8, 2010 at 10:00am
Click to listen or download
Here is one photo of the strike. From my brief research, size estimates of the protests range from a low of 800,000 (from police) to 2,500,000 (from organizers). This of course is on top of all those that participated in the general strike.
I have an account with them, and I will be closing it ASAP. I never use it, and so I don’t check the monthly statements often. I just checked them and they had been charging me $20 per month for the past 3 months! I haven’t made a single transaction with this account in almost a year. I called twice, and finally was told it was a glitch. They thought my account had gone under the minimum amount, but of course this was a mistake.
I had strong words for them, and they did fix the “glitch,” or so they told me. If I had stolen $60 from Bank of America, they would put me in jail. But they can steal from me and get away with it by saying its a glitch. How am I supposed to know it won’t happen again. I know one way, closing the account and moving my money to a credit union in my neighborhood!
A common sense idea is gaining steam to get your money out of those Wall Street, “too big to fail” banks, such as BofA, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and JP Morgan Chase, and move them to your local bank. They are all FDIC insured up to $250k. Credit Unions are also a great thing to use and usually have higher interest rates for your cash savings. It’s a way of both punishing the banksters and making more money from whatever savings you may have.
Find a credit union near you here:
http://www.creditunion.coop/cu_locator/quickfind.php
The “Move Your Money” website with all the info:
http://moveyourmoney.info/
Tea Party Protests vs. G-20 Protests, do you think both are treated the same by law enforcement or covered by TV news in a similar manner? Once again, The Daily Show does a better job of reporting than all other TV news.
The passion is there for the public option in Los Angeles. Check out a couple pics here.
So as of today in the United States, foreclosure is a major issue. One article says that there were 2 million foreclosures in 2008 and could be up to 10 million in “the coming years.” While this article says that “19 million homes and apartments across the country – one in seven – are now sitting vacant as the foreclosure crisis takes its toll.” And 1.5 million foreclosures a year are due to medical costs (can we get single-payer instituted TODAY please!).
So a woman in Florida is one of many homeowners who have figured out a way to fight back — force the bank to prove that they own your mortgage and show you their paperwork. A huge part of this whole mortgage meltdown is due to the fact that banks could sell away your loan to others. This previously non-existent commodity would be known as “mortgage backed securities.” This insane idea was concocted in the 1980’s at the firm Salomon Brothers (now a part of the also infamous Citigroup) and is detailed in Michael Lewis’ great book “Liars Poker.”
Check out this article explaining the story and how it may work for you.
A group of folks at a dinner on New Year’s Eve in 2005 decided to “unplug from the matrix” and stop being a conspicuous consumer for one full year. This compact has gained a lot of traction because it not only does good for the community, but it also feels good to do things other than going to the mall. And saving a lot of money helps too! Check out one of the original newspaper reports here.
The basic rule is not to buy anything new for one year. They feel the current climate crisis and economic and socioeconomic crises are a result of out of whack consumerism. They have a blog, and a yahoo group.
Check out their original blog post from 2006: http://sfcompact.blogspot.com/2006/01/new-years-resolution.html
Here is the main picture on “The Compact” Yahoo Group web page, it explains it all…
It is about 5:30pm PST, and Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich took to the floor of the House of Representatives to present 35 Articles of Impeachment against George W. Bush. The House session is being televised live on C-SPAN. Check it out on your TV or watch it online here: http://www.c-span.org/
For those who may think that impeachment isn’t worth it since he will be out of office anyway in 5 months (ahem, Speaker Pelosi), I say that this is a very important thing to do, even if it comes AFTER he is out of office. The reason is we must prosecute Presidents that abuse their power in order to prevent future ones from trying to do it too. Whether it’s Obama or McCain, they will look and say “hey if Bush can break the law without consequences, why can’t I do it too?” And when it comes to Bush, he didn’t just break any law, he broke extremely serious ones like the ultimate crime of aggression by invading another country that did not attack it.
Same thing, different day. Go here for the pictures. The turnout was much smaller this year than the 4 year anniversary. I’d say 5,000 people showed up this time. It could be due to the news no longer covering the war. Apparently “only” around 30 civilians have been killed there per day in the past few months. What progress! Let’s just forget about it and talk about election politics instead, that’s much more important apparently. It’s heartbreaking to think we have more troops in Iraq than at any time during this war, yet news coverage is so minimal. I suppose it could also have to do with the fact that more journalists have died in this war than in any other war.
Another mass protest in Los Angeles, one of many around America this weekend. Here are some pictures. The war is 4 1/2 years old now. It is unbelievable how the reasons for the war were all completely proven false, yet the war goes on. WTF! I estimate the crowd at around 7500.
Another group of major protests are planned for October 27. Most are sponsored by the A.N.S.W.E.R. coalition, and you can view the locations here. Or go to our demonstrations page to see where else demonstrations may be happening. Please go. If you have never been to a peace protest before, then I encourage you to go even more, you won’t regret it.
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December 12, 2024
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