What Would Jesus Buy?

What Would Jesus Buy?

A fantastic film from Reverend Billy who heads up the Church of Stop Shopping. It will be in Tucson at the Loft on December 7th. At the Loft. Be there or be square.

The Loft Cinema
3233 E Speedway Blvd, Tuscon AZ 885716
520-795-7777

Organize a trip to see it with friends. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll wonder how our society ever became so ill with consumerism. Sacrilegious? Yep. On target. Yep. A must see? Absolutely.


From The Loft's Website:

Official Website View Trailer WHAT WOULD JESUS BUY? - Opens December 7th 90 mins, Rated NR "A fast and funny documentary ... might make a viewer think twice about that next purchase at The Gap." - Laura Kern, THE NEW YORK TIMES Brace yourself for the onslaught of the holiday season "shopacalypse" with this hilariously insightful new documentary from executive producer Morgan Spurlock (Super-Size Me), starring the one-and-only Reverend Billy and the members of his Church of Stop Shopping! The film follows the white-suited, big-haired Rev. Billy and his 35-member choir as they hit the road in two biodiesel-fueled buses in December 2005, on a guerrilla U.S. tour against rampant consumerism! They invade shopping malls, megastores and Starbucks coffee shops with a message preached in mock-religious fervor that there is evil – a looming “shopocalypse” – at the heart of U.S. consumer culture. Rev. Billy tries to “exorcise” discount chain Wal-Mart's home office in Arkansas. He is arrested in Disneyland on Christmas Day after marching with his red-robed choir and denouncing the Walt Disney Corp. for outsourcing merchandise production. In an outlet of lingerie shop Victoria's Secret, known for its blizzard of catalog promotions, Rev. Billy exhorts, “O Victoria, we know your secret – we don't need a million catalogs a day to have our sexual fantasies.” As the holiday shopping season grows ever-longer, and the malls become ever-more aggressive with their siren call of consumption, Reverend Billy is on a mission to reveal the dangers of holiday over-spending, and help heal the shopping-scarred souls of a cashed-out population. Filled with biting satire, wacky humor, revealing interviews with psychiatrists, politicians, kids and their exasperated parents, and the gale-force charisma of Rev. Billy himself, this is the perfect holiday film for anyone who's "mad as hell and not going to take it anymore!"

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Rev. Billy joined CODEPINK in the hallowed halls of Congress for “Don’t Buy Bush’s War” actions this past spring. Can you say, "Peacealujah!! my friends?

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Film screenings (from the website:)

GET A GROUP TOGETHER AND SAVE BIG BUCKS
PLEASE CALL 877-447-4670 FOR DISCOUNT INFORMATION

NOVEMBER 16
Cinema Village
22 East 12th Street, New York, NY 10013
212-924-3363
Website

NOVEMBER 21
Sunset 5
8000 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles CA 90046
323-848-3500
Website

Westpark Theatre
3755 Alton Pkwy, Irvine, CA 92606
Website

NOVEMBER 23
Shattuck Cinemas
2230 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94704
510-464-5980
Website

Ross Media Arts Center
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Website

Lumiere Theatre
1572 California St., San Francisco, CA 94109
415-267-4893
Website

Cinema 21
616 NW 21st Ave, Portland, OR 97209
Website

NOVEMBER 30
Aquarius Theatre
430 Emerson St., Palo Alto, CA 94301
650-327-3241
Website

Landmark Varsity Seattle
4329 University Way N.E., Seattle, WA 98105
Website

Landmark Century
2828 N. Clark St., Chicago
Website

Edina 4
3911 West 50th Street, Minneapolis, MN 55424
Website

Criterion Cinemas
86 Temple St, New Haven, CT 06510
203-498-2500
Website

Plaza de Oro Twin
371 South Hitchcock Way, Santa Barbara, CA 93105
805-963-9503
Website

Charles Theater
1711 N. Charles St, Baltimore, MD 21201
410-727-3456
Website

Westgate
340 Westgate Mall, Madison WI, 53711
203-498-2500
Website

DECEMBER 3
The Screen
Santa Fe, NM
Website

DECEMBER 5
The Movies on Exchange
10 Exchange St, Portland, ME 04101
207-772-9600
Website


DECEMBER 7
Chez Artiste/Landmark
2800 South Colorado Boulevard at Amherst Denver, CO
Website

The Magnolia
West Village
3699 McKinney Avenue, Suite 100, Dallas, TX 75204
214-764-9106
Website

Regal Arbor Cinema @ Great Hills
9828 Great Hills Trl, Austin, TX, 78759
512-231-9742
Website

The Loft Cinema
3233 E Speedway Blvd, Tuscon AZ 885716
520-795-7777
Website

Landmark Greenway
5 Greenway Plaza., Houston, TX 77046
Website

Tower
876 East 900 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84105
Website

Regal's Tara
2345 Cheshire Bridge Road N.E. Atlanta, GA 30324-3758
Website

Landmark Hill Crest Cinemas
3965 5th Avenue, San Diego, CA 92103
Website

Real Artways Cinema
Hartford, CT
Website


DECEMBER 14
Crest Theater
1013 K St, Sacramento, CA 95814
Website

DECEMBER 21
Guild Theater
3405 Central Avenue NE., Albuquerque, NM 87106
Website


JANUARY 11, 2008
Nickelodeon
Columbia, SC
Website

CODEPINK Human Rights Delegation to Pakistan

CODEPINK & Global Exchange cofounder Medea Benjamin, and LA and DC CODEPINK activist Tighe Barry are traveling to Pakistan as a CODEPINK human rights delegation to Pakistan. A letter from Medea per this delegation and its mission follow. Codepinkalert.og will have blogs and reports from Medea and Tighe on the site as they are received.

Hold them and peace in your hearts.

---

From: Medea Benjamin
November 23, the day after Thanksgiving

Human rights activist Tighe Barry and I are on our way to Pakistan today. It's a bit of a trek--leaving from New York to Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates), where we have an 11-hour layover, then on to Karachi for a week, then Lahore and perhaps Islamabad.

This is the beginning of what we hope will be an on-going presence of US human rights observers in Pakistan until the elections are scheduled to take place in January.

We've been very troubled by the state of affairs since General Musharraf imposed martial law on November 3. Under the guise of the war on terrorism, he has jailed thousands of lawyers, human rights advocates and opposition leaders. Some have been released, but many remain in prison or under house arrest. He sacked the Supreme Court and then stacked it with his own judges, thereby wiping out an independent judiciary. And he clamped down on the press, closing several stations and restricting others.

So we are going to learn more about the situation, hoping to interview the lawyers and activists who have been victimized by the crackdown. We'll get their stories and learn how we can be of support as they take great risks to bring the rule of law back to their country.

With the US government shoring up Musharraf and continuing to give millions of our taxdollars to his regime every month, we in the US have a great responsibility toward the people of Pakistan. Thanks why this trip--and hopefully the subsequent delegations--are so important.

Below is a description of the delegations and their purpose. We hope you'll help us spread the word, so that more people from the US will join us or donate funds so that others can come.

Much love and happy holidays to all.

Thanks so much,
Medea Benjamin
Cofounder, Global Exchange and CODEPINK: Women for Peace

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Emergency Delegations to Pakistan to Support the Rule of Law

The Ad-Hoc Committee for the Rule of Law in Pakistan (ACRLP) is organizing a series of delegations to Pakistan starting November 25, 2007 and continuing through January, 2008 -- when elections promised by President-General Parvez Musharraf may or may not be held. The delegates include lawyers, human rights activists, free press advocates and labor supporters who will travel to various parts of the country to meet with Pakistan-based democracy activists, as well as representatives of local political parties.

The delegations' purpose includes:
To show support for the secular progressive communities in Pakistan that have been victimized by emergency rule, as well as local human rights and democracy activists who have been especially targeted by authorities;
To produce a well-researched report documenting the crackdown on human rights and democracy activists
To consult with local human rights and democracy activists and develop recommendations for restoring democracy and the rule of law in Pakistan;
Upon returning to the U.S., to pressure the White House and Congress to adopt the recommendations crafted with the advice of local human rights and democracy activists;
To educate the U.S. public about the dire situation in Pakistan, its implications for the region and U.S. national security, and how to support a return to democracy and the restoration of the rule of law.
If January elections do indeed move forward, to assess the conditions for free and fair elections.

On the ground in Pakistan, we will be assisted by professors and students from the Law and Policy Program of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS).

The first delegation will start the week of November 25.

The ACRLP currently faces several needs:

Groups to sign on to the Ad-Hoc Committee for the Rule of Law in Pakistan
Individuals to join the delegations
Funds to support the effort. Checks (tax-deductible) can be made out to Global Exchange/Pakistan and sent to 2017 Mission St, 2nd fl, San Francisco 94110.

UN SECURITY COUNCIL MUST LISTEN TO IRAQ'S PEOPLE AND PARLIAMENT

Please forward this letter widely and ask that recipients take action. The signers of this letter are some of the most involved and informed individuals in the Progressive community. Take a moment to consider that pressure must begin to come from the global community to get the U.S. out of Iraq. Our supposed leaders in the U.S. ignore the wishes of the citizenry, this is the next best hope. Peace.

---------------------------------------------

LISTEN TO IRAQ'S PEOPLE AND PARLIAMENT

The United Nations Security Council will soon consider re-authorization of the U.S.-led occupation force in Iraq. The Iraqi cabinet, led by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, is about to send a letter to the Council requesting extension of the mandate of this so-called "multinational force." The U.S. government is drafting a Council resolution, and the vote will come up in a matter of days.
But the Iraqi constitution clearly calls for ratification by the parliament of any such international agreement. And the parliament is demanding a voice. Last April, 144 members, a majority of Iraq's parliament, signed a letter calling for a timetable for withdrawal of occupation forces. And the same letter denounced as "unconstitutional" a move by the al-Maliki cabinet to unilaterally request a mandate renewal without consulting the parliament. As the current mandate comes closer to expiring, it appears that al-Maliki, under pressure from the U.S., is about to repeat the same unconstitutional and illegal process.

In May, by majority vote, the Iraqi Parliament passed a law reaffirming the Constitution's requirements – that the cabinet must get two-thirds majority approval from parliament for any force renewal request to the Security Council. An overwhelming majority of Iraqis want a complete withdrawal of all the occupation forces, as numerous polls have shown. While the Bush administration insists that it wants to "build democracy," it is ignoring the Iraqi people and their elected representatives. Washington wants to renew the UN mandate without approval of the Iraqi parliament-- another illegal step to justify and prolong the U.S.-led occupation.

TELL YOUR GOVERNMENT TO STOP UN SUPPORT FOR OCCUPATION!

ANY EXTENSION OF THE UN MANDATE MUST BE RATIFIED BY THE IRAQI PARLIAMENT AND INCLUDE A TIMETABLE FOR TROOP WITHDRAWAL.

People worldwide should take action. Nations sitting on the UN Security Council are particularly important: United States, United Kingdom, Russia, China, France, Belgium, Congo, Ghana, Indonesia, Italy, Panama, Peru, Qatar, Slovakia, South Africa

For background., see: http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/mnfindex.htm

TAKE ACTION! See sample letter at http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/mnfrenewal/2007/1119sampleletter.htm

Jim Paul, Global Policy Forum

Gael Murphy, Code Pink

Medea Benjamin, Global Exchange

Leslie Cagan, United for Peace and Justice

Phyllis Bennis, Institute for Policy Studies

Emira Woods, Foreign Policy in Focus

Anna Polo, Europe for Peace

Alice Slater, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, NY

Alfred Marder, International Association of Peace Messengers

Bruce Gagnon, Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space

Anna Goodhun, Fairbanks Coalition for Peace and Justice

Stacey Fritz, No Nukes North

John Burroughs, Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy

Jacqueline Cabasso, Western States Legal Foundation

New Impeach Cheney Campaign

Just got this impeach Cheney campaign info that is aimed at draft age students. I suggest forwarding it to every teen and young adult you know.



You will need a Facebook account to access this page.

Pakistan, societal dissociation, and Sapir-Whorf

Okay... do you get it now? We've supported a military dictatorship in Pakistan since 1999 and enabled this rogue dictatorship's development and ownership (and thus USE) of nuclear weaponry. Yes -- we -- not our government... not our administration, not any other euphamistic term that downplays our individual responsibility for allowing this to happen. Listen for the use of the phrase "came to power" by the talking heads rather than any referenced to an election.

Whatever the Bushites do, we do, because we are not stopping them. I cannot continue to use language that separates we the people from we the government because it leads to dangerous societal dissociation. WE must stop using language that minimizes our responsibility for the fascistic government we have governing us. Language is power. The language we use in the present changes future pattern of thoughts and thus what is likely to happen.

While not all things scale up, I think this is an organizing principle of social systems. We must visualize and speak of a societally created, better and just governance or we will have no chance of enacting it.

So -- this week's exercise: watch how the corporate media describes the Pakistani military dictatorship's suppression of the fragile tendrils of democracy in the courts and government and how you talk about the situation.

Update on Liz's condition

Thought I should update you all per Liz's condition. Received this email this morning from the Phoenix CODEPINK Coordinator.

Yesterday, Liz was released from jail after 30 hours, despite the vice-chair of the House Foreign Relations Committee calling the Capitol Police several times to request her release. While she was in quite a bit of pain, she was never actually hospitalized because she wanted to stay with the other people who had been arrested. She was charged with resisting arrest although, as you can see from the videos, it would have been difficult for her to willfully resist arrest. Her glasses were broken, she has at least one black eye and cuts on her face, and she feels generally battered, but she's well and back at the Code Pink house.

You can see a series of video clips on http://www.codepinkalert.org/codepinkarrests .

From my take on what happened, and you can see that she wasn't doing anything and was sitting when the attack began - she was also being exceptionally quiet as as she'd been informed that if she so much as burped in the hearing that she would be arrested. The cops grabbed her from either side, were in fact, pulling her in two directions and slamming her face into the chairs in the row in front of where she was seated. This was an unprovoked attack on her that resulted in serious bodily injury. She was at no time in any condition to even attempt to resist arrest. The charge is totally bogus. Furthermore the refusal of the Capitol Hill police to release the CODEPINK five after direct instructions from the Committee heads -- who are supposed to be entirely in charge of what is happening in their hearings is outrageous. None of the seated CODEPINKers showed disrespect to Congress or even the War Criminal Rice; it was the police who expressed their contempt of Congress.

A friend reports, "Captain Mark Sullivan, perhaps on a signal from the Secret Service, brutally yanked Liz out of her seat and dragged her down the row. At one point, one officer had her feet and another had her arms and they were pulling her in opposite directions, banging her face on a chair leg."

We Arizonans need to contact Gabrielle Giffords and Jeff Flake, both members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee,non-Arizonans can contact other members of the Committee, and urge them to issue a statement of apology to the seated CODEPINKers who were brutalized by these police captains and to request formal reprimand of officers Captains Gerber and Sullivan.

Phoenix CODEPINKER Kept in D.C. Jail Overnight

UPDATE on Liz's condition (from a Phoenix friend):

"I just got off the phone with Dana in Washington. She says that she's heard that Liz is fine, although the Capitol Police broke her glasses and her head was cut in the scuffle. She apparently did not go to the hospital. She, Medea, and Lori will see a judge today at 1:00 eastern time to see what happens next. I'm not sure when Desiree (the woman with the red hands) will be released or what she's going to have to go through. I think it's significant that the vice-chair for the House Foreign Relations Committee called the Capitol Police to say that the committee's policy is to only escort activists out and not to arrest them. The vice-chair asked for their prompt release, but everyone was kept over night. I'm guessing that the Capitol Police are now just the strong arm of the administration."

What a lot of people don't realize is that law inside the Capitol, especially when a hearing is in session, is a bit different from what people might presume it to be. The chair of the session has authority over his or her hearing room. For me, this is the most deeply disturbing aspect of yesterday's arrests. From what I can tell from out here in the western U.S.A., the Vice Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee asked the police to immediately release those arrested and act according to the known policy of that committee. The police knew this policy and should have honored the law. Furthermore, once the will of the Committee Chairwas iterated, those arrested without provocation should have been immediately released. They were kept in jail overnight.

Desiree knew, I'm sure, what the consequences of confronting Rice might be. She is an extremely intelligent woman. She was also careful not to touch Rice and to keep her hands clearly visible. Plus these cops know these women. They know that these are not violent women. The psychological profiles I'm sure they have done must show this or they wouldn't have been allowed into hearings on an almost daily basis for the last couple of years.

The wonderful thing about CODEPINK is that it values the individual and nothing is "policy written in stone" other than those necessary for 501c3 status. Those pink women sitting in the "audience"/gallery did nothing wrong. The police acted in defiance of known Congressional authority. And they did this repeatedly. If the police are no longer respecting the laws of the land and the procedures of the leaders on The Hill, we are in watching a slow motion military/police cout d'etat.

Call/write/contact your Congresspersons and let them know you are outraged by this flagrant police abuse of the law and disrespect of Congress.

Liz Hourican, from Phoenix, roughed up and arrested by Capitol Hill police

, Liz Hourican of Phoenix was assaulted and injured by Capitol Hill Police today when the police defied the policy of the House Foreign Relations Committee to escort Citizen Protesters from the room without arrest if they are nonviolently disruptive vocally or written signs.

“The blood of millions of Iraqis is on your hands!” yelled Desiree Fairooz to Condi Rice during the hearing and displayed her hands covered in red paint simulating blood. She was escorted from the room. Four women and one man ended up being arrested. Fairooz was arrested. Then two women who were sitting quietly in the hearing room were forcibly dragged from the room into the hall where they, who had engaged in no provocation, were brutally treated by the police. One of the women, Liz Hourican, had to be take to the hospital. Lori Perdue was also inexplicably dragged from the room and arrested. Medea Benjamin who had no written signs and who had not said anything in the hearing room was asked to leave when she made a peace sign with two fingers, She gathered her stuff and left the room. She was then arrested in the hall as was a gentleman who was vocally challenging the actions of the police as they happened.

You can watch the videos and judge for yourself.

Later in the day the press was given the following information in a statement from Dana, a CODEPINK spokesperson:

"Liz Hourican is now being treated at a local hospital for her injuries. The Deputy Chief of Staff of the House Foreign Relations Committee contacted the Capitol Police later in the day to again relay that their is a policy of that committee to not arrest Citizen protesters but to instead escort them out of the room. The Deputy asked for the CODEPINK members to be released promptly from custody.

For more information please contact Dana Balicki at 202 422 8624 or Gael Murphy at 202 412 6700."

I know Liz. She is a sincere, peaceful person, active in Arizona and Phoenix politics and an incredibly patriotic person who takes her duties and responsibilities as a citizen very seriously. She also is one of the least wimpy folks I know. To hear her crying in pain is horrible enough but to hear the despair in her voice when she is saying "I didn't do anything" is equally as painful for me as I know she believes in justice and truly was aghast at the abuse of justice by the police.

I haven't yet heard how Liz is doing or if she is out of the hospital. I will post again when I find out more.

Cops out of control in case you needed any more evidence

Thanks to the Sonoran Progressives for making me aware of this gross abuse of power by out of control Maricopa Sheriff Joe Arpio. Seems the owners of the Phoenix New Times, a weekly newspaper, were arrested yesterday on charges of revealing Grand Jury information. The New Times, a Village Voice company, has had its executives, reporters and names of readers subpoened by a special prosecutor. The special prosecutor was appointed to see if the newspaper violated the law when they published the home address of Sheriff Joe Arpaio three yeares ago. A sheriff's department spokesperson refused comment on the subpoena, saying that Arpaio is a "crime victim."

Hmmmm.... Woman dies in Phoenix airport within minutes of being "taken down" by airport security staff. Sheriff arrests persons named in grand jury probe centered on info about the sheriff. None of that would make me want to travel to Phoenix or spend one second there that I didn't have to. Do I need to say that this city is also the home of Hell-bent Hawk John McCain and Bush administration apologist and right hand boy Jon Kyl.

If anyone doubted that Phoenix was a hell-hole, this should get them on the path to changing their minds.

And if anyone doubts that police are way out of control in this country, along with our purported "leaders," these stories of high level abuse of power parallel and encourage the street level abuse of the citizens of this country.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyvrqcxNIFs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8ndctwAJmU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1J9_Xcs0Tho


Read more here about the Phoenix abuse of the legal system in the New Times case:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/19/business/media/19cnd-arrest.html?hp


http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1019newtimes1019.html#

Warning: You'll be part of the subpoena if you read the New Times online.

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2007-10-18/news/breathtaking-abuse-of-the-constitution/

Shame in Tucson

Louis Vitale, 75, a Franciscan priest, and Steve Kelly, 58, a Jesuit priest, were each sentenced on Wednesday, October 17th to five months in federal prison. Their crime? Attempting to deliver a letter opposing the teaching of torture at Fort Huachuca in Arizona. The priests are now in prison.

Common Dreams describes the offense thusly:

The priests were arrested while kneeling in prayer halfway up the driveway to Fort Huachuca in November 2006. Both priests were charged with trespass on a military base and resisting orders of an officer to stop.

In a pre-trial heating, the priests attempted to introduce evidence of torture, murder, and gross violations of human rights in Afghanistan, Abu Ghraib in Iraq, and at Guantanamo. The priests offered investigative reports from the FBI, the US Army, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Physicians for Social Responsibility documenting hundreds of incidents of human rights violations. Despite increasing evidence of the use of torture by U.S. forces sanctioned by President Bush and others, the federal court in Tucson refused to allow any evidence of torture, the legality of the invasion of Iraq, or international law to be a part of the trial.

Demonstrations against the teaching of torture at Fort Huachuca are scheduled for November 16 and 17 this year.

Despite the Disney-esque image that comes to mind with use of the Fort's nickname, "Fort Sneezy," the real nature of what goes on there is far more sinister. Fort Huachuca is Army Intelligence HQ. Oxymoronic but still dangerous.

In Friar Kelly's words, "“We will keep trying to stop the teaching and practice of torture whether we are sent to jail or out. We have done our part for now. Now it is up to every woman and man of conscience to do their part to stop the injustice of torture.”

Every man and woman... that's us folks. Shall we begin?

Reason for Hope, Reason for Despair

Al Gore wins Nobel Peace Prize. Hope.

World ice caps gone in 23 years. Despair.

Torture as a routine American practice. Despair.

Mainstream TV covering the topic of U.S. Government-sanctioned torture on prime time, network TV show "Without A Trace," Thursday October 11, 2007. The information divulged under torture was useless. Hope.

Creating and engaging in a reasonable and ethical life amidst the volatility and utter unbalance of lives set in this world that seem to be caught in a vortex of destruction requires a focus on calmness and peace that is difficult to maintain. But we have to keep on trying. Everything is generational and continuous. The illusion of individual as a significant element is what gets us in trouble. We are but a sputter in a candle. Light is the the process, the essence. We must acknowledge the difficulties, the despair, but we must move on and continue to attempt to create beauty and peace as a part of the process of hope that will never cease as long as there is a single bit of humanity in our species.

Newt Gingrich in Second Life

Guest Post by Ana Herzog

Second Life passed another milestone today (Ouch! That sounds painful!) when Newt Gingrich used Capitol Hill SL today to announce his new plan to take over America.


























This photo of Gingrich is courtesy of Liz Link. Used with permission.
























The metaverse becomes more like real life every day.... the buying of Capitol Hill is nothing new in RL, but in SL this use was groundbreaking in that a precedent was set for Free Speech Zones in SL. I am gravely concerned about the creation of and tolerance for the zoning of free speech in RL, but in SL, well that is probably a good precedent. Capitol Hill folks, TROI Timtam and Kiwini Oe and their group that runs the Capitol Hill SL sim gave five of a very limited number of slots for avatars who could be in SL attendance at today's Capitol Hill SL event. Newt spoke to his minions and groupies in Atlanta and Second Life about the future of corporate politics and the emerging metaverse.

Most of the initial part of the speech was filled with him describing the metaverse. It didn't really take all that long to get Newt acclimated to presentation procedure in Second Life (which he repeatedly called Second Voice). I've been told by people in the know that Gingrich likes to drive his own avatar, but there was no evidence of that today. The avie appeared, sat, then stood in exactly the same spot for the duration of the talk.

In the second pic, above, you can see the back of him, the guests who were allowed invites into the sim, and at the very back beyond a virtual fence, invisible at a distance, there were the five lonely protesters.

It sort of honks me off that the sim folks presumed we would grief folks. I take my civic DUTY very seriously, as do other very courageous protesters. That is civic as in civil and civilization.

Anyway, you can see more photos of the event on flickr. i like the Venice Vandal's and Liz Link's photos of the event. But in these I took you can see the basic setup.

I may get around to the content portion of his speech eventually, but first I would like comment on the meta messages broadcast via this event today.

(Isn't In beautiful as she flies in protest?)
























I'm not sure Newt really understands the whole merging of a personally expansive identity into a new and larger self that encompasses an electronic persona that is every bit as real as a corporate face, or the identity one puts on for family as opposed to the one puts on at church or in the supermarket.

Conservatism and corporatism are starting to "get it" as far as understanding the networking abilities that Second Life affords.

It does seem that Newt understands much more of the metaverse and Second Life than most RL politicos do.

This isn't surprising to me. Newt is intelligent. This is the thing that makes him most dangerous. It always has been. Newt took out his Contract on America with the help of Tom DeLay. Newt was major player in the creation of K Street and the corporate coup d'etat that knocked off the last semblance of the representation of the people of the U.S.A. His contract was such a snow job. He promised the conservative Chrisitian right that the contract would help to clean up Congress and America. It carefully tended the seeds of the demise of America that had been sown by Ronnie Raygun. Bush is harvesting that demise.
















The hypocrisy shown by so many of the supposedly moral men who came into power in '94 by lying through their teeth to the American People about what their intentions were has become common knowledge and well documented. The longer serving hypocrits became emboldened. Foley, Craig, Stevens, Vitter, rode in with Newt. Opiate addicted Linbaugh served as a cheerleader. Stevens became the pork barrel king. Just look at this list of Republican scandals -- a major one every week this year. The Culure of Corruption is real and was orchestrated by Newt, Delay, Abramoff.....

So today Newt sang the praises of IBM (Yes the same IBM who allowed certain South American leaders to be tortured to death in their buildings a few decades back...) and the corporatization (is that a word) of SL. And this as the IBM Strike is going on. Oh, the irony... The double speak of Gingrich is scary. I believe he was well aware of the allusion to taking out a Contract on America. His current American Solutions campaign smacks of Dachau and Germany's Solution. He had to be aware of the similarity to Final Solution. This man is a soulless, corrupt maggot. He served divorce papers to his wife as she received chemotherapy for cancer. He told his second wife he wanted to divorce her over the phone at a holiday dinner. What a cowardly little sleeze bag. There is nothing honorable about this man and I am disturbed that so many folks continue to revere him.

Now back to the event itself.




















Here (above) you can see the paltry presence the five allowed protesters made ion the Capitol Lawn But this Cap Hill group's dedication to showing there was dissent is good.

It would have been better if I could have had a banner drop off the Washington Monument but they nixed that.

Guess that is it for now.

So we were left to our rather "normal" protest signs. I had some problems in that I couldn't get the shake fist animation to work so I had a wilted protest sign most of the time. Oh well.

Probably the avie schmoozing after the event had as much impact as the avie attendance at the event. Gingrich just wanted to make a pr statement. We felt compelled to dissent. But as always, talking to people is the key to understanding and a better world.
Here you can see Liz Link and I in real discussion after the event.

More police brutality.

So students asking questions in a school sponsored event of national figure are appropriate tazer targets?

Read the article at: http://www.miamiherald.com/466/story/241219.html


Watch this video.


The police in this country have gotten way too full of themselves under this fascist national administration. We need to send a clear message that we will not tolerate this crap! Four cops on top of an unarmed guy do not need to taze him.

Ideas?



Aren't Tazers made in Glendale, AZ?

More on the Assault of the Rev. Yearwood and the illegal abduction of Lori Perdue by the Capitol Police

View the video by IPS of Reverend Lennox Yearwood Jr. speaking about the attack on him and the police brutality that resulted in his severe injury.

Another video in which the Rev. Yearwood talks about the police brutality he experienced for simply attempting to listen to a hearing on The Hill. He encourages us to not give up and to continue to fight tor justice.

A third video puts his abuse in a broader contast and highlights his military service.

Also listen to/watch Colonel Ann Wright talk about her arrest and about the treatment of Rev. Yearwood. as well as the heinous routine treatment of prisoners in the D.C. jail.

Another ridiculous situation from Capitol Police in the last couple days was police abduction of a woman that consisted of the false arrest, imprisonment, and shackling of Lori Perdue for a nonexistant stay away order. This fifth video includes an interview with her shortly after being released from jail for doing absolutely noting wrong. It also includes a brief interview with a member of Democracy Rising discussing the Reverand's and Lori's outrageous abuse.

Call the Speaker and protest her "boys" assault on the Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr.

I'm trying to find out how the Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr. is doing today after being tackled by 6 Capitol Hill cops who decided Rev. Yearwood shouldn't entrer the Patraeus hearings yesterday. He had waited in line with the women of CODEPINK and other progressive folks for hours in order to get in to the hearing. Of course the Washington Post iterates the police propaganda by saying, "Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr., of the D.C.-based Hip Hop Caucus, who allegedly refused to move back after jumping in front of a line of people waiting to get inside the room. "

This so pisses me off! The black man as target of police violence shit has to stop. Non-whites as targets of hate (yes, police can be guilty of hate crimes) is beneath us. The U.S. is still predominantly composed of sensible and generous people, but if we do not collectively step forward and stop the militarization of our protective service forces, insist they live by the laws of our land, we are no better than the creeps who are currently running our country. A peaceful and honorable nation does not allow public servants cleanse our streets of select ethnic groups nor selectively single them out for assault.

Watch the video and join me in outrage and action. Pam's House Blend has the second video (after the police assault) when the medical personnel made the call that Yearwood was injured and needed a wheelchair to be moved.

This is NOT what democracy looks like from firedoglake has the most complete report I've yet found on the bogus charges against Yearwood and verification that the cops broke his leg during their assault on him.

I'm with Siun from FireDogLake:

The Capitol Police work for the Speaker’s Office. I’m calling the Speaker’s office to “discuss” this and I hope you will too. Her office number is:
(202) 225-0100.

This crap has to stop. I've faced off against these same cops doing very similar crap this past February. These tactics are totally bogus and anyone who has spent more than a couple days on The Hill know there is selective enforcement and the "rules" change from day-to-day. They insisted on misdirecting me to the wrong line as I waited to get into a hearing where Condi-LIE-za was to speak. They pulled the same crap but I remained calm and kept repeating, to a storm trooper who didn't deserve the respect, "But sir, may I say something. Sir. Please listen to us. We want to get in to the hearing at which Ms. Rice will speak. I I will move to where you want me to but I would like to ask a question as to how we can get in when we are directed to the wrong line. Sir, please may I speak?" as he was blaring out his orders and not at all assessing the situation. Finally another cop told him to cool the aggression. Yearwood wasn't as fortunate as I was.

Liz from Phoenix arrested at Petraeus hearing today.

Several CODEPINKers were arrested today and many more were removed from the "Betray us" hearings.

The early story coverage can be found here. The CODEPINK press release from before the hearing can be accessed for background on the group and their motivations for action.

Lydia's post on the CODEPINK DC Blog is well worth the read too. Seems they are now refusing entry to Gael. Many courageous women are there to disrupt if necessary -- and those who are carrying on as if this is business as normal after stolen elections, unconstitutional executive branch power grabs, illegal and immoral war that has escalated to all the way to enabling ethnic cleansing have gone from foolish to being criminal.

Hell yes this protestation is right and justified. Thank you CODEPINK! Thank you Ray McGover for yelling out,"SWEAR HIM IN". Betray us Petraeus is a war criminal as his crimes have gone far beyond being a twitchy little puppet. Just following orders doesn't cut it when you are directing a war while knowingl backing a failed tactic masquerading as policy.

According to Lydia, Cindy Sheehan, her sister DeDe, and the Reverand Yearwood were arested in the hall (as they were denied entry) for raising their voices. See the Washington Post article for the "approved for broadcast" version.

I guess the Halls of Congress have lost their status as a free speech "zone." This is one of my biggest causes of outrage. Free Speech "Zones.!!!" When the bleep did the First Amendment become "zoned?"

WAY TO GO, LIZ. Thank YOU for being brave enough to say what the vast majority of the country is thinking. Thanks to Desiree, Mona, Lydia and all the tireless pink souls temporarily "stationed" (voluntarily) in D.C. Special thanks to and request for support of the Rev. Yearwood who undoubtedly got assault charge for being a black man.

News Release per TORTURE ON TRIAL from Nuclear Resister

NEWS RELEASE
from the Nuclear Resister newsletter

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 5, 2007

Contact in Tucson:
Jack or Felice Cohen-Joppa 520-323-8697

EFFORT TO PUT TORTURE ON TRIAL SUFFERS MAJOR SETBACK

Three weeks after the conclusion of a pretrial motions hearing for
two priests facing trial for their November, 2006 arrest at Ft.
Huachuca, U.S. Magistrate Hector Estrada issued his rulings on the
various motions before his Tucson, Arizona court. He denied the
defense requests for a jury trial and dismissal of the charges
against Jesuit Fr. Stephen Kelly and Franciscan Fr. Louis Vitale. He
also denied the government's motion to use Fr. Vitale's prior arrests
and convictions as prima facie evidence of trespass.

In a significant order that effectively gags the defense, Estrada
granted the government's motion in limine to preclude defenses. The
gag order forbids the defendants from introducing evidence at trial,
either documentary or testimonial, about: the defenses of duress,
justification, necessity, or self-defense; the morality or immorality
of the government's use of interrogation techniques, training of
soldiers in interrogation techniques; the legality of the wars in
Iraq or Afghanistan; any military actions to support interrogations
in any foreign countries; the legality of the Military Commission Act
of 2006; the defense of international law; or the wisdom of any
political question or government policy.

Magistrate Estrada also ordered Fr. Vitale to report to court on
September 21 for a hearing on his conditions of pretrial release.
Because of the unavailability of his attorney, Bill Quigley, on that
day, another date will be scheduled for the hearing. On August 13,
at the end of the pretrial motions hearing, Estrada sent Vitale to
the court's pretrial services for evaluation, after learning that the
priest had been cited a few days earlier for a Nagasaki Day
line-crossing at the Nevada nuclear weapons test site. At their
April arraignment, Estrada had ordered the two priests not to break
local, state or federal laws.

The two are charged with federal trespass and an Arizona state charge
of failure to comply with a police officer following their attempt to
speak with enlisted personnel and deliver a letter denouncing torture
and the Military Commissions Act of 2006 to Major General Barbara
Fast, then commander at Fort Huachuca, on November 19, 2006. If
convicted of both charges, they each face ten months in prison.

A trial date is expected to be set later in September.

For more information, visit http://TortureOnTrial.org

-

Naomi Klein points out the villain... Disaster Capitalism

This is what I like to see... women leading the way against corporatist evil. Any person can lead the way of course, but so far men haven't been really good at this at Horatio Alger dreams seem to live in most of them.

I was so pleased to open my laptop this morning and see CommonDreams.org leading with a repost of the Toronto Star's piece about Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.

My recommendation? Find an Independent Bookstore and order it today.

If you want to get behind a movement that can change the world, and has a proven track record, go anti-corporation, after all it is a major concept upon which our once great United States was founded.

Presidential handlers worried about the ultimate fragging?

How come none of the military folks around Bush today had any weapons? Very interesting.

And the the hoo-ha's sounded rather forced throughout the speech.

Patriot Act Co-author Favored as Gonzales Replacement

Alberto Gonzales publicly announced his resignation as Attorney General of the U.S. publicly today after having turned in his resignation in to Bush on Friday.

This is no victory for America. This is a shuffle of a sniveling little suck-up and power-hungry elitist to a duplicitous situational ethicist. Even his old school legal buddies abandoned Alberto months ago.

Those of you who read Build Peace regularly or have even read it a few times know that I am an old fashioned girl who believes in old fashioned politics at least as they are presented if not how they actually existed--The Great McGinty is one of my favorite films of all time- watch it for a refresher course on how politicians are created and the power of a single act -- Simplification is dangerous in that "flip-sides" are far too simple of descriptive tools to ever be accurate... but the old

Republicans = Big Business
Democrats = Little Guys

dichotomy holds great appeal for me. That is how it was supposed to be in the world in which I was raised. Business versus the little guy. Nice and simple. But now what we have is:

Republican Party = Gigantic Business
Democratic Party = Enormous Business
Current Administration = Fascistic Corporatism

Gonzales was brazenly arrogant in his disregard for the essence of the law and ideology that shaped a pretty damn good country that had continued to expand individual rights while maintaining respect for education and moral training that supports the notion of responsibility in an individually empowered society.

Chertoff was an architect for the Patriot Act. He co-authored that tool used for the atrocious and vile perversion of American Justice. The P.A. is the document that undercuts the great original documents upon which the idea that was our noble America was based.

Gonzales ruthlessly applied the Act, but a greater though less overtly arrogant evil in Michael Chaertoff is set to step into the Attorney General's office. The bureaucrats who actually build a corrupt administration wield tremendous, underestimated power. Joe Demsey might have been talking about Chertoff and company when reviewing Zackary Shore's book. "By creating a climate of distrust, uncertainty, and fear, his regime inadvertently denied itself the benefit of receiving important foreign policy information. Instead of performing their jobs, the first priority for career officers quickly became protecting their own livelihoods (and lives)."

Chertoff knows on which side his bread is buttered, and most assuredly works for his masters, and spews out what is advantageous to him at any given stage in his career. He played both sides after being brought in as a US Attorney in 1990 by Bush the 1st, then he was the sole US Attorney kept on by Clinton in '93, but as the tide turned toward Republican control, his balance shifted to a more partisan stance with his appointment as special prosecutor for Whitewater as he chose to align with the single ascending master of the emergent species of Republican ideology. He currently serves no other master than Bushite Corporatism.

As author of the Patriot Act Chertoff should be considered more dangerous to have in the Attorney General's slot than Gonzales.

A simple rule to follow is do not use an auto-mechanic who has named his or her business "Quality Mechanics," or buy your veggies from the "Fresh Market," or have your taxes done by "Value Accountants" -- adjectives tend to only be put in names when the good or service marketed under the name lacks or falls short in that area. The name doesn't require the adjective if the quality is present in the product or service. This axiom has never been better illustrated than in the case of the Patriot Act.

Another basic element of the Chertoff make-up seems to be his hesitation to act within clear bounds of authority and responsibility before checking with higher ups. Remember Katrina? Well it was Chertoff who effed-up royally and did not take the necessary steps to allow FEMA to begin to act (even under Brownie's "heckuva job" type leadership) until days into the disaster.

Someone stop these people! House? Congress? Last year didn't we as voters tell you loud and clear that we want all this ineptitude and all the duplicitous machinations stopped? I think so. If you are reading this it is your responsibility to make them listen to you and act to stop the Bushite's in their tracks. Now!