PORTLAND, Ore. – For the past nine months a group of people has taken over the home of a 66-year-old school teacher and Portland police say they’re part of a radical arm of the Occupy Movement.
Freedom?…or Fraud?
When is a building ‘abandoned’ and how does defrauding the owner square with the anti-capitalist sentiments of politically radical street elements? One sometimes hears “F(*)CK YOUR STUFF!” from this crowd. Have they become the new consumption police deciding pursuant to their own lights whose property rights are to be respected and whose are not?–or perhaps no one at all?
This Brave New World we’re seductively invited into on the basis of the multitude of sins and atrocities committed everyday by the existing regime appears to lead to the edge of the abyss where the old, the infirm, and the gullible are simply objects to be exploited on the theory that ‘rights’ don’t really exist, or at least we shouldn’t see the state as defending them.
In the wake of R-74’s passage, Gay Marriage is now legal in the State of Washington. Thus, it wound its way into the State Capitol campus as ~20 couples tied the knot in mass & multiple ceremonies beneath the stately Rotunda this Saturday. The first couple (having reserved the building for the day) to give their vows was Tina and Teresa Guajardo. They generously shared the joy of this historical occasion by inviting all gay couples to hold their weddings there the same day. Yours truly wasn’t about to miss such a seminal event and brought all the tools to capture the many joyful moments.
11:30a-12:30p The Yelm Community Choir performed by the Christmas Tree beneath the Rotunda.
12:30p Teresa & Tina were wedded on the 3rd Floor North Balcony.
1:00p-2:30p Individual marriage ceremonies were held on 3rd & 4th floor balconies.
1:30p A Large simultaneous marriage ceremony has performed on the East Balcony.
1:00p-3:00p A Potluck reception was held in the Columbia Room.
4:00p-? The Capitol building closed and the ongoing reception migrated to the Urban Onion at the historic Olympia Hotel on Legion Way.
Officials were available for both religious and non-religious ceremonies. Photographers were available, offering their services free of charge.
The atmosphere was electric. Smiles were everywhere mixed with laughter and an occasional trembling voice as the newly weds swore their love and devotion to one another. The place was packed. The good vibes were so intense, this reporter had to decompress in a humbler nearby environment by helping the ‘Food, Not Bombs’ program that feeds the homeless hot meals on Saturday evenings at the Olympia Timberland Library.
It’s been said a picture is worth a thousand words. The happiness radiating from the faces of newly wedded same-sex couples and their friends seen in the following snaps speaks volumes and proves the maxim.
The Jaybirds hail from Kitsap County to peform what they call a raucous acappella experience. Dressed in cowboy drag while singing Christmas Carols and old western standards, they cut a sweet image straight from Norman Rockwell’s Americana.
The charming quartet consisted of Mike Menefee, Marshall Starkenburg, Jaymes Dunlap, and Will Dunlap.
Unfortunately, the Shelton Timberland Library manager (Patty Ayala Ross) played the Grinch. But you can read/hear more on that by checking out the audio at the end of this article.
It’s a little thing, especially for a library, known as the 1st Amendment and journalism.
The dude w/kid blocking the view toward the end of the 2nd clip seemed on a mission and refused to share the view of these talented singers. Frankly, he should wear a whole lot more makeup if he wants to mug for the camera.
Singing w/The Jaybirds
(1/2)
Singing w/The Jaybirds
(2/2)
It was all smiles & good vibes up until the end when the schmuck w/toddler on his shoulders decided to park on the viewpoint. No amount of wincing dissuaded him–clearly he wanted to be in pictures.
As it turns out, the angst expressed by library mgr. Patty Ross wasn’t so much her heart felt urge to be the Jaybirds’ knight errant as a pretext for her family. Ms. Ross has converted the Shelton Public Timberland Library into her front room and imposes the same rules upon patrons. What she failed owning up to was she resented photos being taken that included her loved ones. Reckoning she had the brute force of the state behind her, Ms. Ross proceeded to create a scene and call local police when told her permission to record in a public space/venue wasn’t required. The audio of this exchange and later conversation with officer G. Blaylock of the Shelton police can be heard by CLICKING on the link below.
Patty Ross: petty tyrant
Swine Flew
Dude & Dog
Dude & Jackson
Jackson Riley
Patty & Ashley Ross
Mistress w/Pet
The Ross House
CLICKING on Reporter offers Ross a Clue will provide the audio of the self appointed Ross trying to be everyone’s lawyer as a pretext for shutting down the exercise of 1st Amendment guarantees.
CLICKING on 911-audio will provide the recording of Patty Ross making a false police report to unlawfully trespass a reporter from Shelton’s Public Library. Early on, in the tape, she can be heard baiting the reporter, asking, “Don’t you want to wait for the police?”
20 Connecticut children and 7 adults are dead as a result of 1 heavily armed mentally imbalanced individual w/a grudge. Ban guns, demand the naysayers. THIS, they argue, is why.
Lisa Belkin, a liberal columnist for the Huffington Post argues Gun Control Is A Parenting Issue. She writes:
More than a dozen children went to elementary school this morning and were dead before lunch.
White House spokesman Jay Carney says today is not the day to talk about gun control.
I disagree. That’s all we should talk about today.
We are heartbroken, yes. But saying that will fix nothing. It won’t bring anyone back, and it won’t keep this from happening again. And of course we know the parents of Newtown could have been any one of us. That’s important to remember, but it isn’t enough, because the knowing doesn’t change the fact that we could still be next.
So we can’t just do as we did after Columbine, after Virginia Tech, after Aurora. We can’t just grieve and hold our children close. We have to demand that our country earn the right to call itself a civilized nation. We need to do this because our central job as parents — maybe our only job, really — is to keep our children safe so they can grow up. Easy access to guns keeps us from doing that job.
Yet we haven’t banned aircraft in the wake of 9/11, nor have we eliminated traffic during school hours. The uncomfortable truth is, Guns prevent more crime by at least 10:1 than they’re used to commit. Arguably, guns provide a measure of security and independence to seniors–just ask the victims of some home invasions…which are growing in numbers, even in bucolic Mason County.
It’s well known the huge assembly line hamburger factories put public health at risk from e-coli, yet the abattoirs grind on. It’s also known, but conveniently ignored, that the #1 killer of children is NOT guns, but cars. Far more children/teens die from auto accidents than any other cause or combination. Yet does the Parent in Chief allude to prohibiting all teens from driving? Of course not. Many animal lovers feel it’s cruel to de-claw cats precisely because the felines can no longer defend themselves. Yet these same geniuses think nothing of ‘de-clawing’ humans to where they can no longer effectively defend themselves. We’re to be left cowering in our homes, etc. praying that whoever is smashing in the door for their home invasion or discovering whatever dark crevice we choose to hide will be slow enough for the cops to arrive or even lose interest.
Ms. Belkin is quick to hesitate at the prospect of armed school teachers, suggesting this would be too brutal an atmosphere to contemplate for our kids. Yet armed guards at our local social security office, federal & county courthouses, and bullet proof windows at our college campuses & DSHS office scarcely raise an eyebrow. Perhaps if we made our children honorary CEO’s and government minions, they’d be better defended?
More likely Tim McVeigh was right: Collateral Damage! There are no fences in Shelton to keep the kiddies off the train tracks that course a couple of feet away from back yards. And for those children who are homeless?–they don’t even merit a public restroom open 24/7. Let us not forget this is a County that was eager to ban smoking from the parks our children use unless it was rendered in the service of Adage and Simpson (aka: Green Diamond). Many of our County & City officials are still on that track–it’s all LEGAL, they say! Get a job and choke a kid. Choking kids is good for the economy, they reason. And who has tested the milk from Mason County mothers for Dioxin? Parts of the County are saturated with this most persistent, most toxic, and most mutagenic of poisons deliberately dumped into our harbor and uncertified local landfills by none other than the Santa of Mason, aka: Simpson, Green Diamond, etc.
But guns do kill people quicker–they’re designed to do precisely that. The 2nd Amendment is NOT about duck hunting. While we’re apologizing to the parents of the 20 children slaughtered in Connecticut, perhaps New York (where the Sullivan law makes possession of handguns illegal) should apologize to all the victims shot like fish in a barrel on the Long Island commuter train that carried Colin Ferguson charged with shooting 23 people, 5 of them fatally. Mr. Ferguson wasn’t tackled until he stopped to reload a 3rd time. If even a couple of passengers had been armed, he could have been stopped much earlier.
Or, the diners at the Luby’s massacre, a mass murder that took place on October 16, 1991, in Killeen, Texas, United States when George Hennard (born October 15, 1956) drove his pickup truck into a Luby’s cafeteria and shot 23 people to death while wounding another 20, subsequently committing suicide by shooting himself. It was the deadliest shooting rampage in American history until the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre. Any of those victims, were they still alive, would argue in favor of the right to meaningful self defense. The 2nd Amendment codifies that right, a right some argue is tantamount to a duty.
If the police, the social security office, the federal and local courthouses, the park rangers, the mall/Wal-Mart rent-a-cops, airport security drones, FBI, banks, factory/lumber mill guards, juvenile probation officers, college campuses, and even FEMA goons need guns, then (WE!) the People need guns for precisely the same reason: To defend against ALL enemies, both foreign and domestic! If ever that proposition was valid, it is more so today. Guns are serious business–too serious to allow a mental basket case to destroy as a bulwark for democracy and against tyranny/violence, state sponsored or otherwise. It is a giant mistake to contemplate allowing the state to have a monopoly on the tools/instruments of force.
Come to think of it, voting undoubtedly leads to some totally asinine laws and elected officials–sometimes precipitating vanity wars which put EVERYONE at risk or worse. But few propose banning voting. The reason is simple: We don’t make the rule from the exception! Rather, the exception proves the rule. It’s been estimated some 10% of Americans are afflicted with some variety of mental illness–ALL THE MORE REASON FOR DEFERENCE TO THE 2nd Amendment!
Mental Illness: A Mom’s Dilemma
From: Soccer Mom
In the wake of another horrific national tragedy, it’s easy to talk about guns. But it’s time to talk about mental illness.
Three days before 20 year-old Adam Lanza killed his mother, then opened fire on a classroom full of Connecticut kindergartners, my 13-year old son Michael (name changed) missed his bus because he was wearing the wrong color pants.
“I can wear these pants,” he said, his tone increasingly belligerent, the black-hole pupils of his eyes swallowing the blue irises.
“They are navy blue,” I told him. “Your school’s dress code says black or khaki pants only.”
“They told me I could wear these,” he insisted. “You’re a stupid bitch. I can wear whatever pants I want to. This is America. I have rights!”
“You can’t wear whatever pants you want to,” I said, my tone affable, reasonable. “And you definitely cannot call me a stupid bitch. You’re grounded from electronics for the rest of the day. Now get in the car, and I will take you to school.”
I live with a son who is mentally ill. I love my son. But he terrifies me.
A few weeks ago, Michael pulled a knife and threatened to kill me and then himself after I asked him to return his overdue library books. His 7 and 9 year old siblings knew the safety plan—they ran to the car and locked the doors before I even asked them to. I managed to get the knife from Michael, then methodically collected all the sharp objects in the house into a single Tupperware container that now travels with me. Through it all, he continued to scream insults at me and threaten to kill or hurt me.
That conflict ended with three burly police officers and a paramedic wrestling my son onto a gurney for an expensive ambulance ride to the local emergency room. The mental hospital didn’t have any beds that day, and Michael calmed down nicely in the ER, so they sent us home with a prescription for Zyprexa and a follow-up visit with a local pediatric psychiatrist.
We still don’t know what’s wrong with Michael. Autism spectrum, ADHD, Oppositional Defiant or Intermittent Explosive Disorder have all been tossed around at various meetings with probation officers and social workers and counselors and teachers and school administrators. He’s been on a slew of antipsychotic and mood altering pharmaceuticals, a Russian novel of behavioral plans. Nothing seems to work.
At the start of seventh grade, Michael was accepted to an accelerated program for highly gifted math and science students. His IQ is off the charts. When he’s in a good mood, he will gladly bend your ear on subjects ranging from Greek mythology to the differences between Einsteinian and Newtonian physics to Doctor Who. He’s in a good mood most of the time. But when he’s not, watch out. And it’s impossible to predict what will set him off.
Several weeks into his new junior high school, Michael began exhibiting increasingly odd and threatening behaviors at school. We decided to transfer him to the district’s most restrictive behavioral program, a contained school environment where children who can’t function in normal classrooms can access their right to free public babysitting from 7:30-1:50 Monday through Friday until they turn 18.
The morning of the pants incident, Michael continued to argue with me on the drive. He would occasionally apologize and seem remorseful. Right before we turned into his school parking lot, he said, “Look, Mom, I’m really sorry. Can I have video games back today?”
“No way,” I told him. “You cannot act the way you acted this morning and think you can get your electronic privileges back that quickly.”
His face turned cold, and his eyes were full of calculated rage. “Then I’m going to kill myself,” he said. “I’m going to jump out of this car right now and kill myself.”
That was it. After the knife incident, I told him that if he ever said those words again, I would take him straight to the mental hospital, no ifs, ands, or buts. I did not respond, except to pull the car into the opposite lane, turning left instead of right.
“Where are you taking me?” he said, suddenly worried. “Where are we going?”
“You know where we are going,” I replied.
“No! You can’t do that to me! You’re sending me to hell! You’re sending me straight to hell!”
I pulled up in front of the hospital, frantically waiving for one of the clinicians who happened to be standing outside. “Call the police,” I said. “Hurry.”
Michael was in a full-blown fit by then, screaming and hitting. I hugged him close so he couldn’t escape from the car. He bit me several times and repeatedly jabbed his elbows into my rib cage. I’m still stronger than he is, but I won’t be for much longer.
The police came quickly and carried my son screaming and kicking into the bowels of the hospital. I started to shake, and tears filled my eyes as I filled out the paperwork—“Were there any difficulties with….at what age did your child….were there any problems with…has your child ever experienced…does your child have….”
At least we have health insurance now. I recently accepted a position with a local college, giving up my freelance career because when you have a kid like this, you need benefits. You’ll do anything for benefits. No individual insurance plan will cover this kind of thing.
For days, my son insisted that I was lying—that I made the whole thing up so that I could get rid of him. The first day, when I called to check up on him, he said, “I hate you. And I’m going to get my revenge as soon as I get out of here.”
By day three, he was my calm, sweet boy again, all apologies and promises to get better. I’ve heard those promises for years. I don’t believe them anymore.
On the intake form, under the question, “What are your expectations for treatment?” I wrote, “I need help.”
And I do. This problem is too big for me to handle on my own. Sometimes there are no good options. So you just pray for grace and trust that in hindsight, it will all make sense.
I am sharing this story because I am Adam Lanza’s mother. I am Dylan Klebold’s and Eric Harris’s mother. I am Jason Holmes’s mother. I am Jared Loughner’s mother. I am Seung-Hui Cho’s mother. And these boys—and their mothers—need help. In the wake of another horrific national tragedy, it’s easy to talk about guns. But it’s time to talk about mental illness.
According to Mother Jones, since 1982, 61 mass murders involving firearms have occurred throughout the country. (http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/mass-shootings-map). Of these, 43 of the killers were white males, and only one was a woman. Mother Jones focused on whether the killers obtained their guns legally (most did). But this highly visible sign of mental illness should lead us to consider how many people in the U.S. live in fear, like I do.
When I asked my son’s social worker about my options, he said that the only thing I could do was to get Michael charged with a crime. “If he’s back in the system, they’ll create a paper trail,” he said. “That’s the only way you’re ever going to get anything done. No one will pay attention to you unless you’ve got charges.”
I don’t believe my son belongs in jail. The chaotic environment exacerbates Michael’s sensitivity to sensory stimuli and doesn’t deal with the underlying pathology. But it seems like the United States is using prison as the solution of choice for mentally ill people. According to Human Rights Watch, the number of mentally ill inmates in U.S. prisons quadrupled from 2000 to 2006, and it continues to rise—in fact, the rate of inmate mental illness is five times greater (56 percent) than in the non-incarcerated population. (http://www.hrw.org/news/2006/09/05/us-number-mentally-ill-prisons-quadru…)
With state-run treatment centers and hospitals shuttered, prison is now the last resort for the mentally ill—Rikers Island, the LA County Jail, and Cook County Jail in Illinois housed the nation’s largest treatment centers in 2011 (http://www.npr.org/2011/09/04/140167676/nations-jails-struggle-with-ment…)
No one wants to send a 13-year old genius who loves Harry Potter and his snuggle animal collection to jail. But our society, with its stigma on mental illness and its broken healthcare system, does not provide us with other options. Then another tortured soul shoots up a fast food restaurant. A mall. A kindergarten classroom. And we wring our hands and say, “Something must be done.”
I agree that something must be done. It’s time for a meaningful, nation-wide conversation about mental health. That’s the only way our nation can ever truly heal.
WALLA WALLA, Wash. – A Washington state Corrections Department spokeswoman says four units of the Washington State Penitentiary remain on lockdown a day after three correctional officers were injured in an altercation with multiple inmates.
Spokeswoman Shari Hall said late Wednesday that preliminary reports indict Tuesday’s assault was gang-related.
She says the three officers suffered “significant injuries.” They have been released from a hospital and are recovering at home.
Superintendent Steve Sinclair commended the officers.
No inmates were seriously injured. Hall said earlier that nine inmates from the prison’s West Complex were segregated after the incident.
The West Complex is a close-custody unit that houses about 800 offenders, including the prison’s gang units.
First come the reports that the victims had a gun, and fired shots at officers (Initial reports said the suspects in the car had fired shots at police officers). Those items headline the biggest stories, leaving a lasting impression in the public’s mind. Only days later do we find out that no gun was ever found and no casings were ever discovered. (The Oakland Police initially reported that Alan was in a “gun battle” with the officer who shot him, a disreputable lie of the highest order, only retracted days after the stories had already been published).
Almost as quickly comes the slander: the person or people killed were “bad guys”, with police records, somehow justifying the killing. (The Oakland Police immediately released information that Alan was on probation and had a juvenile record, as if this somehow justified his murder. They later went on to suggest he was involved in a “drug deal” just minutes before he was killed, another blatant lie.) Only the most astute realize that all this “information” is irrelevant — the police at both scenes had no access to this knowledge; it could not have affected their actions because they were unaware of it, and yet it is used to imply justification for what actions the officers took and to suggest the victims “had it coming.”
As more and more evidence is released, more and more doubt appears. In the Cleveland case, we learn that police were apparently ordered to halt the high-speed chase; instead they continued it. Police, who have claimed their lives were in danger, apparently “stopped to reload.” (In Alan’s case, the officer who shot him multiple times behaved in a bizarre and inconsistent manner, if one is to believe his own sworn statement, let alone if we consider the statement’s apparent conflict with witness claims and the evidence).
Cleveland’s police don’t have dashboard cameras on most of their units, nor are their officers equipped with chest or lapel cameras. So the claims they make as to what occurred can never be verified. (In Oakland, police are supposed to enable their lapel cameras whenever engaging the public. But for some “mysterious” reason Office Masso, who shot Alan, failed to turn his on, even though there was no emergency situation when he and his partner made the decision to stop Alan and his friends).
In Cleveland, the driver of the vehicle apparently used the car as a weapon once cornered, driving it at police. But what of the passenger? Did the police give any thought to the possibility that she might have been an unwilling rider, caught up in a crazy 100-mph chase, unable to extricate herself? Was there no plausible alternative to conducting a high-speed 22-mile chase at night that could have easily resulted in pedestrian, bystander or police deaths (…innocent bystanders constitute 42 percent of those killed or injured in police pursuits.) and which probablyviolated their own policy on vehicular pursuit? (In Oakland, Officer Masso chased Alan Blueford into a crowd of people attending a party, then shot Alan amidst the partygoers, apparently oblivious to the risks of ricochets or stray bullets.)
“The real problem here is the criminal element,” D’Angelo said. “The criminals have become more lawless. But we, as a society, focus on the officers who respond to the lawless element. We don’t call out the people who initiate this conduct… officers daily are forced to respond to an ever-growing criminal element.”
I don’t know what “The criminals have become more lawless” means, but facts are facts. Crime has diminished by almost startling amounts in the last couple of decades. That police feel the need to confront less and less of it with more and more violence is symptomatic of paranoia, not a “real problem.” (Oakland’s police are similarly convinced that lurking around every corner is a gang of young men of color ready to commit every conceivable violation of the criminal code. Hence their calls for gang injunctions, curfews and further crackdowns so that they will have not only the right but the obligation to stop every young man of color on the streets of Oakland to harrass them.)
Finally all police believe they are never wrong, their actions never unjustified. As the Cleveland Plain Dealer relates
The figures involving investigations of use of force have dramatically favored officers. All of the 4,427 investigations by supervisors from Jan. 1, 2003, through Sept. 9, 2006, ended in the officers’ favor, The Plain Dealer reported in 2007.
Uh, “dramatically favored” is nothing less than studied understatement here when every single investigation of 4,427 comes up empty of officer misconduct. Even Mother Teresa couldn’t have scored that highly when she appeared before St. Peter. (One of the principal complaints the Federal Monitor of the Oakland Police noted in his latest scathing report was that OPD’s Internal Affairs Department almost inevitably sided with their own when conducting use of force investigations, and that superior officers always concluded that their underlings use of force or behavior was justified).
No one knows what the ultimate results of the investigations into these deaths on the streets of Cleveland, and Alan’s death on the street in Oakland, will show. But based on all past evidence, we can make some pretty confident predictions, and their arc does not bend towards justice.
Hard on the heels of their return from performing in the NYC Lincoln Center, Matthew Blegen directed Anna’s Bay Chorale in wowing his Shelton patrons with what has become the group’s signature piece: a rousing exquisitely sung rendition of Handel’s Messiah. One must travel far to much larger venues before finding anything faintly comparable. Salt Lake City and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir come to mind.
Sunday’s Matinee schedule managed about 3/4ths of a full house, but those in attendance were enthusiastically appreciative. They’d arrived to discover a finely tuned elegant performing arts machine incorporating local talent as the jewels and mainspring. The $12 tickets were a steal for what would easily cost $35+ in Seattle without the frustration of searching for a parking spot or fighting traffic.
Sopranos: Tess Altiveros, Erin Burgman, Miceal Carnahan, Barbara Nesmith
Tenor: David Carnahan
Baritone: Eric Blegen
Mezzo Sopranos: Rachel Manning, Cathryn Mecham, Jubilee Whitman
Bass: Paul Nakhla
Violin I: Katherine Sartori (Concertmaster), Monica Boros, Jon Hanson, Dan Szekely
Violin II: Tonni Johnston, Debra Akerlund, Jennifer Kwintner, Joshua Grice
How is it victims of oppression cooperate in their own repression/doom? The documented tales of how Warsaw Jews cooperated in policing their own for the Nazis seems incomprehensible though we’re witnessing a repetition as the very basics of life are exhausted for corporate profits while we collectively wring our hands and debate whether these companies are people.
(A)narchists argue pacifist ‘liberals’ are the enemy inasmuch as their non-action, their criticism of violent means or the polemics of violence, emasculates the power of the people to take back what is rightfully theirs from the state and dominant corporations. The interviewee reminds listeners Gandhi and King did not operate in isolation from other groups employing a variety of not so passive tactics. Yet other (A)narchists chillingly assert ‘morality’ is immaterial/a fiction which interferes with weighing the efficacy of any given tactic–that being the only legitimate revolutionary litmus test. All else, they say, is a ‘liberal’ sop and Gandhi was a collaborator.
Perhaps, living in the U.S. and being born after Gandhi’s success makes it difficult to argue authoritatively on the point with respect to India. Not so, however, when it comes to the U.S. and the Civil Rights movement. If memory serves, many white ‘liberals’ (at the time) opined Blacks indeed did deserve the inalienable rights they demanded just as Dr. King had so eloquently championed. But, they continued, Blacks should be *patient* and allow a ‘natural’ transition over TIME, not so demanding for change NOW!
This crisis continued on low boil for many years…more than a decade…while ‘liberals’ wrung their hands in intellectual angst, the Black community suffered and Congress dithered–UNTIL Watts, Detroit, and Newark erupted. After that, during the Johnson administration, civil rights legislation proceeded apace as Congress quickly passed remedial federal laws making racial discrimination illegal heralding a new era in the legal landscape of America ultimately leading to the 2008 election of the first Black U.S. President.
The following video clip perhaps makes the best argument for this kind of violence, given who the proponents are. Unfortunately, comparisons with such (A)irheads may be damning it with faint praise. e.g. The clip never alludes to other successful non-violent revolutions or how powerful any number of creative but devastating non-violent tactics can be. Still, it’s worth watching and considering, if for no other reason than to be aware of the arguments being advanced today among impressionable youthful idealistic activists.
What Price Freedom?
mol n labé
“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen!”
–Samuel Adams–
Parodying Pacifist ‘Liberals’
Canadians Debate Black Bloc Ethics
ELF Makes Its Case
(A)LF Makes Its Case
**WARNING: The video included in the following article contains shocking graphic cruelty and violence. Viewer discretion is advised and parents may want to prevent their children from viewing it.
ALF is the accepted acronym for Animal Liberation Front, a radical underground movement opposed to animal cruelty, slaughter, and exploitation. The illegal actions against the industry responsible for these abuses has been controversial and given rise to laws in a few state jurisdictions criminalizing the covert filming of animal cruelty as documented in the video below.
ELF (Earth Liberation Front), ALF, and (A)narchists consider themselves ‘affinity’ groups–meaning they tend to like each other or the cause each represents. Ironically, the Pacific NW (A)narchists spearheading the protests against the federal Grand Jury inquiries/subpoenas into the Seattle May Day street violence have issued ‘fatwas’ against photojournalists who video record/photograph these events (including rallies/vigils) in public venues. Yet, the same elements would be the first to applaud the publishing of police/state violence/abuse or cruelty to animals. In the same breath, they’ll argue (sometimes violently) they’re entitled to prevent their photos from being taken. It’s a given the police and abattoirs don’t either. Each conveniently ignores those guarantees enshrined in the 1st Amendment.
The following video displays ample reason why investigatory photojournalists must be protected:
ALL CREATURES, GREAT & SMALL
“Journalism is the printing of what someone doesn’t want published. Everything else is Public Relations.” -George Orwell-
Gary Yourofsky Argues Animal Rights
Civilization’s End: Resist/Die
Or, maybe BOTH? There’s no guarantee anything we do now can retrace where we’ve been…almost certainly not. In a world disappearing before our eyes, limited rapidly depleted resources, and a global climate collapse underway, There isn’t GOING to be some bright tomorrow or promising future. Existence is going to be violent, brutish, and short. For many, that’s the case now–quiet desperation and suffering. Our privileges (for those who have them) are built on that foundation. Frankly, I’m grateful I wasn’t born any later than I was. There were slightly more than 2 billion souls alive at that time. Now…there are over 7 billion–a tripling in my lifetime…and I’m still here! Global collapse of the climate isn’t a future specter, it’s here NOW–we’re living/seeing it today! Predictions of a ‘population bomb’ when I was young were naive. We’d already passed the threshold of what the Earth can sustain indefinitely. Since then, the rush into the abyss has only accelerated and shows no sign of slowing. I wish I had better news…if this is ‘news’. The only hope left is for a humane death–for us and our animal cousins…to die mercifully in our sleep.
The End of Civilization
END:CIV examines our culture’s addiction to systematic violence and environmental exploitation, and probes the resulting epidemic of poisoned landscapes and shell-shocked nations. Based in part on Endgame, the best-selling book by Derrick Jensen, END:CIV asks: “If your homeland was invaded by aliens who cut down the forests, poisoned the water and air, and contaminated the food supply, would you resist?”
The causes underlying the collapse of civilizations are usually traced to overuse of resources. As this is written, the world is reeling from economic chaos, peak oil, climate change, environmental degradation, and political turmoil. Every day, the headlines re-hash stories of scandal and betrayal of the public trust. We don’t have to make outraged demands for the end of the current global system — it seems to be coming apart already.
But acts of courage, compassion and altruism abound, even in the most damaged places. By documenting the resilience of the people hit hardest by war and repression, and the heroism of those coming forward to confront the crisis head-on, END:CIV illuminates a way out of this all-consuming madness and into a saner future.
Backed by Jensen’s narrative, this film calls on us to act as if we truly love the land. The film trips along at a brisk pace, using music, archival footage, motion graphics, animation, slapstick and satire to deconstruct the global economic system, even as it implodes around us. END:CIV illustrates first-person stories of sacrifice and heroism with intense, emotionally-charged images that match Jensen’s poetic and intuitive approach. Scenes shot in the back country provide interludes of breathtaking natural beauty alongside astoundingly clear cut evidence of horrific, but commonplace, destruction.
END:CIV features interviews with Paul Watson, Waziyatawin, Gord Hill, Michael Becker, Peter Gelderloos, Lierre Keith, James Howard Kunstler, Stephanie McMillan, Qwatsinas, Rod Coronado, John Zerzan, et ux.
“In the face of collapsing ecosystems, mass-extinctions, and global genocide, END:CIV is undoubtedly one of the most important films of the 21st century. López unapologetically burns all indoctrinated illusions and exposes critical truths and realities carefully kept from the public. López has crafted a brilliant and courageous exposé which fully exposes the mainstream environmental movement’s self-inflicted paralysis, stemming from a false sense of moral superiority, deep denial, delusion and, in many cases, unparalleled greed on behalf of those in positions of power in the champagne circuit. This is the film the corporate- colluded state hopes you never watch. This is the film the non-profit industrial complex hopes you never watch. Watch this film. ”
-Cory Morningstar- (theartofannihilation.com)
“In END:CIV, Franklin López does a refreshingly thorough and well packaged job of laying out the inherently self-destructive nature of westernized civilization and the ineptitude of peaceful reform. Using Derrick Jensen’s Endgame as a lose framework, López not only identifies root causes of systemic oppression and exploitation, but also exposes the deceptive nature of reformism and green-washing, instead spotlighting examples of indigenous resistance and the Earth Liberation Front. By the end of the film, passionate viewers will no longer just be questioning not whether western civilization is justified, but what they themselves can do to help bring it down.”
-Leslie James Pickering- (Former spokesman for the Earth Liberation Front)
“A fierce critique of systematic violence and industrial civilization, End:Civ is not intended for garden-variety environmentalists. If you are anywhere below, say, an 8 on that sliding scale of pissed off, then this film is going to scare you — which means you should watch it.” -Eugene Weekly-
”A tour de force film from Franklin López which does more than justice to Derrick Jensen’s thesis that industrial civilization is destroying life on the planet. Employing all the contemporary audio visual techniques our digital world makes possible for a single brilliant penurious filmmaker, López harvests sounds and images from our demented world to relentlessly show the rape of the mind and the earth. To those outside the small choir who see the message of resistance as obvious, this powerful film makes them deal with it either by denial or acknowledging, yes I see it is obvious.” -James Becket= (Director of The Best Revenge)
“Franklin Lopez is a fantastically talented filmmaker, who has created a powerful and important film about the most important topic ever: how to stop this culture from killing the planet.” -Derrick Jensen- (Author of Endgame)
“By far the most routinely praised contemporary media activist is Franklin López. His shows and films not only possess a distinctive look and feel, but they also contain a wicked sense of humor that is often sorely lacking among alter-globalization activists. López’s work engages in constructing a new vision where popular culture serves the interests of the poor and dispossessed, where humor is reignited within activism, and the D.I.Y. ethics of punk and hip-hop allow those with talent and gumption to be the media, once again.” -Chris Robé- (Pop Matters)
“Franklin Lopez’ END:CIV is a labour of love, a stunning 75 minutes film…” -John Zerzan- (author of Future Primitive)
“It brought me to tears…” “I recommend it to people” -Alex Smith- (Host of Radio Ecoshock)
“Franklin Lopez’s END:CIV project is awesome.” -Shannon Walsh- (Director of H2Oil)
**END:CIV by subMedia.TV is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
“Both the quantity and the quality of this movement’s filmmaking is increasing. This is the big battlefield on which we fight right now.” -Michael Rupert- (CollapseNet.com)
Our Forefathers’ Case
Ask a neighbor shocked by the vandalism our youth have brought to city streets and corporate infrastructure how they feel about the Boston Tea Party, they’ll light up with patriotic pride. Our Declaration Of Independence is, perhaps, the most radical document in our national historical archives. It describes not only a right to overthrow a tyrannical government, but a DUTY to do so. The words are deliberate, measured, thoughtful, and profound. They lay out the proposition for natural/inalienable rights with which we are endowed by our Creator, not government largess.
mol n labé
“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen!”
–Samuel Adams–
F(*)CK PATIENCE!
Pacifying Resist(a)nce
“None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free.”
-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe-
In a County far far away, long long ago (last Tuesday) in the ongoing duel between Mason County environmentalists and social justice activists arrayed against the evil industrialists, senator/commissioner/board of directors member/timber baron Tim Sheldon makes a cameo appearance as Darth Vader in the following video clip:
