Charity vs. Civil Rights?

Charity vs. Tax$

The controversy surrounding the City of Olympia’s new ordinance making ‘camping’ (sleeping?) on any City owned public property a criminal offense along with the possession of ‘camping’ paraphernalia on the same (sleeping bags, tents, tarps? eating utensils? cups? canteens? sticks?) has been heated and the ordinance itself passionately denounced. Today, citizens are confronted with a municipal law virtually criminalizing the homeless, placing them in the same category as drug paraphernalia and guilty almost by definition. Yet almost all the discussion surrounding the City’s use of the homeless as pawns for political advantage in its internecine budget battles with adjacent sister municipalities and the County of Thurston, both public and private, is focused on the degree of largess to the homeless Olympia demonstrates rather than the legally fundamental question of their Civil Rights.

Big Brother’s pad

The cynical use of the term ‘camping’ as an anti-poverty tool with which to discriminate against the poor has been competently rendered by the City’s attorney given the case law permitting regulations material to ‘camping’ along with public health & safety, though not ‘sleeping’, which would be a bit too much like legislating against breathing or eating since they’re part of the human condition necessary for life itself. Common sense dictates what we all know: the homeless do not sleep on the cold hard pavement for recreation. It’s uncomfortable, dangerous, and humiliating. They do it because, despite some naysayers, they have no choice!

Protest Preparations

Monkey Business

FREE Flowing Water

The In Crowd

5:00 O’Clock World

Mike Coday, et ux

So how is it, with the Civil Rights Movement of the 60’s within memory, so many progressives fail to see this ordinance as tantamount to the contemporary equivalent of the South’s notorious Jim Crow laws? Will “Homeless–keep off the grass!” signs begin popping up on City lawns? Will its fountains and the Artesian warn they’re for landed Gentry only? Will it’s public restrooms make their taciturn hostility to the homeless (locking them out during evening/nighttime hours) more transparent by announcing, “No Homeless allowed”? Why do citizens allow the Mayor to wring his hands in angst proclaiming how generous he’s been while he shepherds the City’s version of the Nuremberg laws into passage? Yes, we’ve heard similar phrases in the past: “Some of my best friends are homeless/porpoises, but would you want your daughter to marry one?” It’s as if the City wishes to be IN the world, but not OF the world when it uses the homeless as straw men to accumulate political capital. NIMBY politics ultimately make a community MORE dangerous rather than less by refusing to manage by something other than crisis–a tactic the Mayor virtually boasted of on 1-8-13 in the City Council chamber.

March on Oly City Hall

The Eagle Has Landed

Camaraderie, Solidarity

One Dog Night

Strategy Huddle

Guy Fawkes

Make no mistake, Americans might be better served by immigrating to North Korea where oppression is served openly rather than alloyed with the base metal of hypocrisy in Olympia. Yesterday, it was busking, today it’s sleeping in all but name only. Tomorrow?–standing too close to City Hall or criticizing it? Why not simply acknowledge the bigotry within the Council Chambers by passing an ordinance, as one Florida municipality has, making homelessness, per se, illegal altogether within the city limits?

Mike Coday

He Hears His Master’s Voice

Do I Know You?

Has the Statue of Liberty become an anachronism?…a bad joke? Have we transitioned from a nation conceived in liberty with justice for all into one straight out of ANIMAL FARM where we’re all equal under the law, but some are more equal than others? Does ‘camping’ come from the Monica Lewinsky dictionary where it all depends on what the meaning of ‘is’ is? Citizens are not fools. This ordinance has little to do with camping and everything to do with the poor and the homeless. Its far reaching pernicious effects are not attenuated by charity or transfers of tax dollars to NGO’s because the fundamental underlying issue is NOT charity, but civil/human RIGHTS! The Mayor’s apologists have given him a pass for bigotry due to his large purchases of Girls Scout cookies. Worse, most bigots don’t have the opportunity to pass discriminatory laws that undermine the civil rights on an entire class by virtually criminalizing their existence.

Homeless Buffet

He Was A Cat Guy Anyway

Are We There Yet?

4th Ave Miracle

Skateboarders Next?

Homeless Youth: Most Vulnerable

It may not be a given, at least in law, that the homeless are entitled to charity or government largess. But they are entitled to one thing that’s not being discussed: The right to be left alone.

Shame City

Lock ’em Up, Move ’em Out!

Homeless Criminals On Parade

Oly’s Finest

Cavernous Vacant Bldg

The Afterlife

Irate Local Citizen

Civil Disobedience?

Street Corner Politics

Basic Education

Civil Disobedience

Urban Vegetable

Fundamentals

City Homeless

Criminality

The Party’s Over

The People’s Porch

Coday’s Band

Angel Of Mercy

A measure of the City’s intemperance is as obvious as its efforts to reduce crime by locking public bathrooms, then complaining of the homeless relieving themselves in public. If there were a litmus test for folly, surely it would closely resemble this state of affairs.

Conversations w/Oly’s Homeless 1/8 (Elena) 2-8-13

Elena works with an Olympia interfaith based outreach program attempting to provide counseling, shelter, fresh clothing, socks, food, and listening to area homeless youth trying to survive on the City’s streets. She discusses her immigration from the Soviet Union 19 years ago, the political realities that lead to its collapse, and deprecates Gorbachev’s contribution to the political changes there.

Conversations w/Oly’s Homeless 2/8 (Ruth) 2-8-13

Ruth & Elena work as part of an interfaith outreach organization providing resources, referrals, food, clothing, sox, comfort, and listening to Olympia’s homeless youth trying to survive on the City’s streets.

Conversations w/Oly’s Homeless 3/8 (march Lorian) 2-8-13

A march on Olympia City Hall from the historic Artesian well temporarily blocks traffic on 4th Ave. until demonstrators led by an (A)narchist’s black flag reach the portals of municipal government in protest against the anti-poverty laws recently passed targeting the homeless, the poor by criminalizing those caught carrying sleeping bags, camping paraphernalia, or ‘camping’ (i.e. SLEEPING) anywhere on City owned public property. The City excuses this discriminatory violation of civil rights by lauding its own generosity, attempting to substitute charity for civil rights.

Lorian says he has worked for years with an interfaith based homeless shelter which recently received $35,000 of the City’s largess. He argues the issue of charity/services for the homeless are inseparable/identical w/civil rights for the homeless, assuring the reporter that public restrooms must either be locked/on display to prevent crime. He also expresses doubt about the statistics analyzing resources available to the homeless by citing how the numbers can deliberately be based on false premises with the intent of milking the system.

Conversations w/Oly’s Homeless 4/8 (Lorian, Jo Robbinhood) 2-8-13

Lorian identifies himself as a Homeless advocate working with a faith based shelter. He discusses some of the issue surrounding neighborhood crime, public restrooms and shower availability along with suspected deceptive practices by NGO’s seeking public funding.

‘Jo Robbinhood’ protects his visual identity while leading the march on City Hall in protest of the Council’s passage of a municipal anti-poverty ordinance targeting the homeless for ‘camping’ (sleeping!) on public property, possessing camping paraphernalia on City public property (sleeping bags, tents…tarps? Sticks? Silverware? Sandwiches?) The (A)narchist black flag can be seen as an affected symbol planted against the injustice, and oppression of the state and its deaf elected officials.

Conversations w/Oly’s Homeless 5/8 (argument) 2-8-13

A local City resident for over 42 year chooses to remain unidentified as he engages in heated debate over the newly passed City ordinance targeting the homeless, their choices, and the bona fides of the protesters in challenging the law. He expresses the view that the NGO charity available is more than adequate to meet the needs of the homeless. He asks why the protester he engages with doesn’t invite the homeless to his own residence. His tone and indifference rapidly escalate the heat in the exchange.

It isn’t entirely clear whether one/both were playing to the camera. What was clear was both wanted to clarify their positions which never addressed the issue of civil rights for an entire class of people now virtually criminalized by the City’s new anti-poverty ordinance targeting the homeless.

Conversations w/Oly’s Homeless 6/8 (Whisky Saloon) 2-8-13

Across the street from the reputable Darby’s Cafe and on the block adjacent to the Capitol Theater, the Olympia Film Society’s home, stands the Whisky Saloon, a nightclub where the Vault (a bank) once was not so long ago. The area gives a visual impression of a City down on its heels needing a manicure and some pride in appearances. Many of the businesses which once catered to office supply needs and State workers are now gone, replaced with bars, restaurants, and empty walk-up apartments or 2nd story office fronts. The City has become a reflection of the greater national economic malaise. To it’s credit, the Whisky Saloon was in the midst of giving dance lessons when this reporter happened by after a dinner at Darby’s Friday night.

Conversations w/Oly’s Homeless 7/8 (homeless contrarian) 2-8-13

Conversations w/Oly’s Homeless 8/8 (homeless contrarian) 2-8-13

This homeless gentlemen had difficulty remaining on topic, but expressed reservations over ‘fighting’ for a piece of concrete. In fact, the homeless on hand for the protest were few in number, compared to the ratio of homeless advocates and political activists who arrived for the event.

Adding fuel to the gun control debate, a Southern California law enforcement officer with military training has killed 3 and, in a released manifesto, promises to go after more law enforcement officers as well as their family members. An all out manhunt is underway in much of the southern portion of the State. For those who argue our safety should be placed solely in the hands of the state while guns are banned or limited for ordinary citizens, the obvious question is: Who is going to protect you from the police? Do you really want to be limited to a 4-shot hunting rifle when defending your family from a military trained killer with a grudge?

Unlike the corporate media organs, the UNEXPURGATED version of Christopher Jordan Dorner’s ‘Manifesto’ can be found at the end of this article.

Riverside – A former Los Angeles cop with military training vowed war against other men in blue Thursday, according to police — leaving one officer dead days after he allegedly killed two other people to begin a wave of retribution for being fired.

Jittery police searched a huge swath of Southern California — from San Diego to Riverside to Los Angeles — for Christopher Jordan Dorner.

He’s a 270-pound former Navy lieutenant professing his venom against LAPD officers he claimed ruined his life by forcing him out of his dream job, then threatened them, their families and, in fact, any other police officer in any locale.

Thursday morning’s shootings of a Riverside police officer and two other officers came one day after Irvine, California, police named Dorner a suspect in the double slayings of a woman — identified by Los Angeles police as the daughter of a retired LAPD officer — and her fiance.

Dorner blamed the retired officer for bungling his appeal to get his job back, according to a letter he wrote complaining of mistreatment by the LAPD. In that letter — provided to CNN by an LAPD source — Dorner vowed to wage a violent war of retribution against police officers and their families.

“I will bring unconventional and asymmetrical warfare to those in LAPD uniform whether on or off duty,” Dorner wrote in the letter.

“I never had the opportunity to have a family of my own, I’m terminating yours.”

The fear was apparent Thursday in downtown Los Angeles, as police wearing body armor patrolled outside their own iconic headquarters. Commanders issued orders to keep all of the department’s officers on duty.

The mood in Riverside was similar, where two police officers had been shot earlier, and one died. Police there sealed off intersections, for a time patrolling with rifles hoisted to their shoulders.

“My opinion of the suspect is unprintable,” said Riverside police Chief Sergio Diaz, who added the suspect or his case has “no connection” to his city. “The manifesto, I think, speaks for itself (as) evidence of a depraved and abandoned mind and heart.”

Police also were on edge Thursday around the area, including in Torrance, where Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck said LAPD officers guarding one of Dorner’s alleged targets mistakenly opened fire on a blue pickup truck that resembled one Dorner is said to be driving.

The gunfire left two people wounded, Beck said. Torrance police also fired on another blue pickup, but no one was injured in that incident, according to a senior law enforcement source.

Police have good reason to be fearful, the chief said.

“Of course he knows what he’s doing. We trained him,” Beck said. “He was also a member of the armed forces. It is extremely worrisome and scary, especially to the officers involved.”

1 cop dies in ‘cowardly ambush’

It all started Sunday when Dorner allegedly killed two people in Irvine, according to police.

Police identified the victims as Monica Quan and her fiance Keith Lawrence.

Quan, 27, was the daughter of retired Los Angeles police officer Randal Quan, LAPD Officer Tenesha Dobine confirmed to CNN. In his letter, Dorner said Quan had handled his appeal.

On Tuesday, Dormer checked into the Navy Gateway Inns and Suites on San Diego’s massive naval base, Cmdr. Brad Fagan said. Dormer likely had access to the hotel from having been honorably discharged from the Navy Reserve — which would mean he’d have an ID card — said the Navy spokesman.

“He did not physically check out” Wednesday as expected, Fagan told reporters Thursday, while adding “we don’t have any reason to believe he’s (still) on the base.”

Police in San Diego say a man who could have been Dorner tried to hijack a boat there on Wednesday. Someone later found a wallet containing Dorner’s identification and an LAPD detective’s badge near the San Diego airport, according to police. It was unclear whether the badge was legitimate.

By about 1 a.m. Thursday, the scene had shifted about 100 miles north to Corona, California.

There, a pair of LAPD officers on a protection detail were flagged down by a citizen who reported seeing the suspect’s vehicle, LAPD Deputy Chief Jose Perez said.

The officers chased the vehicle and caught up to it on an off-ramp on the I-15 highway,

“The officers were fired upon with a shoulder weapon,” Perez said, with one of them suffering a “graze wound” to his head. The police returned fire, while the suspect set off once again.

About 20 minutes later, two police officers were in their car at a stop light in Riverside when what’s believed to be Doren pulled up beside them.

That driver unleashed “multiple rounds” from a rifle at the officers — riddling the cop car with bullets and leaving a 34-year-old officer, who had been on the Riverside force for 11 years, dead, according to Diaz. The other officer, a 27-year-old, was “seriously wounded but we expect a full recovery,” the Riverside police chief said.

It was “a cowardly ambush,” Diaz said.

A good Samaritan picked up one of their police radios and called dispatchers to send help, Riverside police said.

KTLA: Manhunt for former cop after officers shot

Suspect calls attacks ‘a necessary evil’

Dorner is a former U.S. Navy Reserve lieutenant who worked with river warfare units and a mobile inshore undersea warfare unit, among other assignments, according to Pentagon records obtained by CNN. He also provided security on oil platforms in Iraq.

He was rated as a rifle marksman and pistol expert, according to the records. His last day in the Navy was February 1.

After the police department’s Board of Rights rejected his appeal, he took the case to court. A judge ruled against his appeal in October 2011, according to court records.

Beck, the Los Angeles police chief, said Thursday that Dorner’s case had been “thoroughly reviewed” and he said the department would not apologize to Dorner or clear his name.

In his letter, Dorner complained that he had been railroaded out of the department after reporting police brutality by another officer. He also complained of a continuing culture of racism and brutality in the LAPD.

He said attacks are “a necessary evil that I do not enjoy but must partake and complete for substantial change to occur within the LAPD and reclaim my name.”

KCBS: Riverside officer fatally shot

In the letter, Dorner warned police to “look your wives/husbands and surviving children directly in the face and tell them the truth as to why your children are dead.”

Such a chilling warning prompted Los Angeles police to set up 40 protective details in an effort to safeguard people listed in Dorner’s letter, Beck said.

He acknowledged it was taxing the department, which has been placed under tactical alert — meaning all officers must stay on duty.

“It’s extremely, extremely manpower intensive,” Beck said. “But the safety of my employees, people that come on the job to protect the lives of strangers, is extremely important to me and I will expend whatever resource is necessary.”

Dorner was with the department from 2005 until 2008, when he was fired for making false statements.

Randy Quan, who became a lawyer in retirement, represented Dorner in front of the Board of Rights, a tribunal that ruled against Dorner at the time of his dismissal, LAPD Capt. William Hayes told The Associated Press Wednesday night.

According to documents from a court of appeals hearing in October 2011, Dorner was fired from the LAPD after he made a complaint against his field-training officer, saying in the course of an arrest she had kicked a suspect who was a schizophrenic with severe dementia.

After an investigation, Dorner was fired for making false statements.

Authorities in Big Bear have spotted fresh tracks believed to be those of a fugitive ex-Los Angeles police officer wanted in connection with a series of shootings and are combing the area for him, a Fire Department official told The Times.

Big Bear Lake Fire Department Asst. Chief Mark Mills also said the burning pickup discovered on a forest road has been linked to Christopher Jordan Dorner, 33, sought in connection with a series of shootings that have left three people dead and two wounded.

The truck was discovered hours into an intensive manhunt for Dorner that spanned Southern California. Although sources said there had been multiple reported sightings of Dorner’s truck in the Big Bear area on Thursday, the burnt truck was too badly charred to immediately confirm it was his.

Meanwhile, the mountain community locked down schools and closed the nearby Bear Mountain Resort as a fatigue-clad SWAT team walked through the woods, rifles drawn.

Several law enforcement agencies are involved in the manhunt for Dorner and alerts have been issued all across California and in Nevada. The Los Angeles Police Department had dispatched units across the region to protect at least 40 officers and others named in a rambling online manifesto that law enforcement officials attribute to Dorner.

Law enforcement authorities said they were concerned about Dorner’s military background and weapons training. The lengthy online message allegedly written by the former Navy Reserve lieutenant threatened “unconventional and asymmetrical warfare” against police.

Early Thursday, two women delivering newspapers in Torrance were shot by Los Angeles police who were guarding an officer named in the manifesto.

The women, shot in the 19500 block of Redbeam Avenue, were taken to area hospitals, Torrance police Lt. Devin Chase said. One suffered a minor wound, and the other was struck twice and listed in stable condition, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck told reporters.

“Tragically,” Beck said, “we believe this is a case of mistaken identity.”

Click Chris Dorner manifesto for the UNEXPURGATED version of one man’s war against the tyranny of a police state and its instrument of oppression. The sentiments expressed are erratic, jumbled, and products of a mind rendered delusional from stress, but seem to ring true nevertheless.

“How ya gonna keep ’em down on the farm once they’ve seen Paris?” -Nora Bayes, 1919-

“The ability to wage open war against a prince is within the reach of a very few, while the possibility of conspiring against him is open to everyone.” -Machiavelli-

L.A. authorities have now offered a $1,000,000 reward for information leading to the capture/neutralization of Dorner. Charlie Sheen has made a public plea to Dorner to contact him. A gold rush of bounty hunters may arrive on the scene as a consequence of the offer. Citizens would do well to stay out of the line of fire between the competing treasure hunters and jittery LEO’s. Black males should probably leave the State out of self preservation until this drama ends.

“We will not tolerate anyone undermining the security of this community,” Mayor Villaraigosa said at a news conference at LAPD headquarters downtown. “We will not tolerate this reign of terror.” [LAPD can’t stand the competition.]

Cops Deliberately Torch Cabin

The following audio contains admissions by police of torching the cabin in which ex-cop Chris Dorner died. The fire started immediately after incendiary teargas canisters were fired into it. The scenario is reminiscent of the tragic end of the many women and children who died in the Waco Holocaust some years ago. Although the government denied responsibility (now they would, wouldn’t they?), many critics believe the FBI deliberately set the fire which consumed the Davidians there. Even the feds are reluctant to admit they burn women and children alive…unless they’re brown living in foreign places. Perhaps they were a little off their game at Ruby Ridge?

Authorities Weasel On $1,000,000 Reward 

Ironically, L.A. authorities say no one will likely get the million dollar reward offer for information leading to Dorner’s capture/conviction since they killed him. One spokesperson called it a ‘no brainer’. Dorner went on his lethal vengeful rampage in an effort to expose the corruption in the LAPD. Arguably, they might have need of the money for a settlement offer arising as a result of their having gunned down an elderly Hispanic Grandmother and her daughter in a hail of bullets having misidentified the pair as Dorner while they were delivering newspapers.

Old Glory

The Vault — On the Rocks

Meeting in Darby’s Cafe (across the street from the Olympia Film Society’s Capitol Theater) the Homeless tell how they slipped between the cracks, the impact it has had on them, and the problems they’re facing. Some are struggling to remain in school, others to stay out of jail in the face of the City’s new anti-poverty laws targeting them. All have developed profound insights into our culture and its relationship to our government.

Oly Homeless Tell Their Stories 1/5 2-4-13

Oly Homeless Tell Their Stories 2/5 2-4-1

Oly Homeless Tell Their Stories 3/5 2-4-1

Oly Homeless Tell Their Stories 4/5 2-4-1

Oly Homeless Tell Their Stories 5/5 2-4-13

Can a nation conceived in liberty based on our most fundamental inalienable human rights having devolved into one that beat the Nazis only to become just like them, habitually involved in torture, genocide, extra judicial murders far from any battlefield, wars of aggression, state sponsored terror, monetary chicanery, dispossession of its own citizens, trashing the most basic due processes, and divided against itself long stand?

A newly revealed Justice Department memo finds that US citizens believed to be senior al Qaeda operators may lawfully be killed, even if no intelligence shows they are actively plotting an attack.

Pandora’s Box

Many older American’s remember Nixon’s notorious ‘Enemies List’. It’s notoriety was due, in part, to the number of articulate respected Americans noted for their political and academic opposition to the Nixon administration. That administration arranged for the targets to receive IRS audits, gratuitous police investigations, and special attention from other assorted government agencies. The difference between that administration and today’s is our current administration simply kills those on the President’s list–no oversight by the legislative or judicial branch before or after the killing, no opportunity to surrender or be notified, an expansive definition of ‘imminence’, and geographical carte blanche. In short, the President is now afforded the opportunity to sign a death warrant for almost any American based on his own secret judgment, without explanation, without recourse or appeal, without notice, while the target may be sleeping in the same room with his family. This ‘collateral damage’, of course, receives little notice or discussion. Like the weather, it’s tantamount to an act of God–or Obama in this instance.

Gitmo was the eventual receptacle of many of the victims of President Bush’s torture program–a program that included John Brennan as one of its senior administrators. Shortly after his 1st election as President, Obama reiterated what Congress had prohibited in law: No Torture! And despite his promise to close Gitmo, it remains. Yet the military prison for suspected terrorists has received no new prisoners during either of Obama’s terms in office. Why?–one suggestion has been those suspected of being hostile to U.S. interests or members of Al Qaida are now killed rather than captured…remotely…by drone warfare. These acts of war are conducted within remote regions of countries without their permission yet go largely unchallenged. The 500# canary has landed, disinclined to move.

A link to a white paper discussing the long suppressed White House memo justifying this campaign of extra judicial killings far from any battlefield or cogent understanding of ‘imminent’ is included at the end of this report.

Rachel Maddow reports:

Here Comes The Sun

by Michael Isikoff, National Investigative Correspondent

A confidential Justice Department memo concludes that the U.S. government can order the killing of American citizens if they are believed to be “senior operational leaders” of al-Qaida or “an associated force” — even if there is no intelligence indicating they are engaged in an active plot to attack the U.S.

The 16-page memo, a copy of which was obtained by NBC News, provides new details about the legal reasoning behind one of the Obama administration’s most secretive and controversial polices: its dramatically increased use of drone strikes against al-Qaida suspects abroad, including those aimed at American citizens, such as the  September 2011 strike in Yemen that killed alleged al-Qaida operatives Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan. Both were U.S. citizens who had never been indicted by the U.S. government nor charged with any crimes.

A federal search warrant issued on the basis of allegations made by an FBI agent related to Seattle’s violent 2012 May Day protests.  A close reading of the redacted version linked below reveals that contrary to the assertion of some (A)narchist apologists, the innocent were targeted along with public property and symbols of corporate-government dominion.

CLICK on search_affadavit for details on how suspicion is leveraged into carte-blanche for a fishing expedition.

The warrant appears to suggest there is already sufficient evidence for an indictment. So what are the feds waiting for? Could they have provided immunity, even for the guilty subpoenaed to testify before the federal Grand Jury, in order to target bigger fish than the youthful vacuous zealots wielding the flag poles, injuring photojournalists, assaulting innocent drivers, slashing tires, smashing car windows, or defacing & destroying public property? If this is, as some sympathizers suggest, part of a much wider net being cast, the  feds may be attempting to bring to ground those instigators and academic provocateurs behind the scenes seldom seen by and unknown to the public in their catalytic roles.

Pacific NW campuses are used as venues to brain storm and coordinate planned direct action against the state. The senior academic instigators are too clever to get their own hands dirty in such a public manner. Being privileged comfortably tenured academics, salaried by the state no less, they manipulate and encourage our callow youth instead. Thus, the state has opted to incarcerate  Grand Jury resisters who may/may not be guilty of criminal offenses/conspiracies in an attempt to break them, to coerce them into revealing the wider network of radicals plotting smashing the state. Many of these are unreconstructed retreads from SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) and Marxist-Leninist days.

Wanda 4′-11″?

Target or Victim?

Click on Non-violence in the Civil Rights Movement in the USA to read an erudite analysis of non-violent strategies used by MLK in the struggle for equal rights in America.

Race To The Bottom

The most recent national census data indicates over 10% of Mason County’s residents are Hispanic. While the Obama administration prepares for immigration reform/debate, many unemployed Americans question whether the proposal is consistent with charity beginning at home. Demonstrations for immigration reform are nothing less than rallies for lower wages, they say. Between corporate outsourcing of high-wage jobs overseas and U.S. Presidents like Bush arguing Americans don’t want the low paying jobs anyway (carpentry, construction, harvesting, slaughterhouses, child care, auto repair, forest products, home health care, etc.) they can’t feed their families or make Social Security/Medicare contributions, these displaced blue collar citizens moan.

Meanwhile, unprecedented numbers of youth and children are homeless today while the nation’s stock of abandoned/foreclosed homes has never been greater. Seniors, youth, the poor, the homeless, probationers, poor white trash, released inmates, black minorities, indigenous people, high school dropouts, the developmentally challenged–all would prefer to remain unemployed rather than accept the work these immigrants have acquired according to Presidents who are clueless about how much a gallon of milk costs, or a dozen eggs.

Parodying this race to the bottom, a classic South Park episode attempts to make this point through self effacing satire. In GOOBACKS, Humans from the year 3045 are traveling to South Park through a recently discovered time portal and are looking for work. When the boys try to earn some extra money, the time-traveling immigrants are willing to do the same work for next to nothing, causing the boys to lose their jobs–a bit raw, but funny stuff…if you’re employed.

Mayor’s Ultimatum

On 1-8-13, Olympia’s City Council unanimously passed an ordinance banning ‘camping’ (i.e. sleeping) on its public property/spaces despite unanimous public comment against the law slated  to  take effect on 2-8-13. If this story sounds familiar, it’s because it is. Elected representatives continue to stonewall their constituents everywhere in America. It amounts to nothing less than a failure of government.

That this ordinance was directed at the homeless was transparent and it virtually criminalized an entire class of people in Olympia, by definition. The preening mayor enabled by his fellow council members vacuously boasted of how generous they had been toward homeless issues (while simultaneously grousing about the relatively inferior efforts of their nearby sister cities and the County of Thurston) and openly relished the thought of how his passage of the hateful ordinance was ‘beneficial’ in that he thought it would motivate other agencies and NGO’s to do more.

The Least of These

Click HERE for a legal analysis of the unconstitutionality of Olympia’s poverty laws.

Anonymous sources promise there will be campaigns of civil disobedience in protest of the new ordinance targeting the homeless.

“You measure democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists.” -Abbie Hoffman-

The Solution

Achieving the impossible, the Obama administration has evoked sympathy for a terrorist now in its custody and on trial.

Abu Hamza Masri is being held in a supermax facility in Manhattan while he awaits trial on terrorism charges. Meanwhile, the metal hooks he uses for hands have been taken away as a security risk. Hamza lost his hands when a Soviet mine exploded n Afghanistan in the 80’s. Since then he has used metal hooks in place of his hands. While in British jail, he was allowed to keep his hooks and his cell was specially fitted to permit their use. However, in the US, prison officials quickly deemed them a risk and took them away. Without hooks or hands, Abu Hamza is being forced to eat through a straw. Prison officials are not going to feed him, so he has no choice but to consume his food, blended.

Anal Animosity