Protest Reports
It was not until Secretary of State Hillary Clinton walked to the George Washington University podium last week to enthusiastic applause that I decided I had to dissociate myself from the obsequious adulation of a person responsible for so much death, suffering and destruction.
I was reminded of a spring day in Atlanta almost five years earlier when then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld strutted onto a similar stage to loud acclaim from another enraptured audience.
Introducing Rumsfeld on May 4, 2006, the president of the Southern Center for International Policy in Atlanta highlighted his "honesty." I had just reviewed my notes for an address I was scheduled to give that evening in Atlanta and, alas, the notes demonstrated his dishonesty.
I thought to myself, if there's an opportunity for Q & A after his speech I might try to stand and ask a question, which is what happened. I engaged in a four-minute impromptu debate with Rumsfeld on Iraq War lies, an exchange that was carried on live TV.
That experience leaped to mind on Feb. 15, as Secretary Clinton strode onstage amid similar adulation.
I was reminded of a spring day in Atlanta almost five years earlier when then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld strutted onto a similar stage to loud acclaim from another enraptured audience.
Introducing Rumsfeld on May 4, 2006, the president of the Southern Center for International Policy in Atlanta highlighted his "honesty." I had just reviewed my notes for an address I was scheduled to give that evening in Atlanta and, alas, the notes demonstrated his dishonesty.
I thought to myself, if there's an opportunity for Q & A after his speech I might try to stand and ask a question, which is what happened. I engaged in a four-minute impromptu debate with Rumsfeld on Iraq War lies, an exchange that was carried on live TV.
That experience leaped to mind on Feb. 15, as Secretary Clinton strode onstage amid similar adulation.
Thousands of public employees packed the east and west entrances to the Ohio Statehouse today. There were firefighters in full safety regalia and others with bagpipes. There were police officers in plainclothes, not there to do surveillance on the crowd, but to storm the Ohio Senate. Other high-ranking officers were there in dress uniforms to protect the rights of police to collectively bargain.
Statehouse Lockout--Video from Feb. 22 2011 Statehouse Rally
Teachers and prison guards mingled together. The gathered demonstrators chanted “Kill the bill” in reference to Ohio’s Senate Bill 5 designed to destroy collective bargaining by all of Ohio’s public employees.
When the workers arrived at 1pm, they found themselves locked out of the Statehouse. They immediately began to chant “Let us in! Let us in!” U.S. Reps Tim Ryan and Dennis Kucinich urged the workers on, and former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland denounced the attack on the middle class and the brutal nature of balancing the budget on the backs of nurses, police, and teachers.
Statehouse Lockout--Video from Feb. 22 2011 Statehouse Rally
Teachers and prison guards mingled together. The gathered demonstrators chanted “Kill the bill” in reference to Ohio’s Senate Bill 5 designed to destroy collective bargaining by all of Ohio’s public employees.
When the workers arrived at 1pm, they found themselves locked out of the Statehouse. They immediately began to chant “Let us in! Let us in!” U.S. Reps Tim Ryan and Dennis Kucinich urged the workers on, and former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland denounced the attack on the middle class and the brutal nature of balancing the budget on the backs of nurses, police, and teachers.
“This is Ground-Zero, D-Day for worker rights in Ohio,” said Firefighter John Anthony. “It really is one for all & all for one, now! We all need to stand together for the rights to bargain, or we’ll all loss our rights!”
Anthony stated that his family had been part of this struggle their entire lives. His family had been fired from the railroad for standing up for worker rights during the Rhodes administration in the ‘70’s.
“I’d like to think we’re fighting for him, also,” he said!
He was part of the massive crowds of workers that crammed into the Ohio Statehouse this past week, protesting the anti-labor SB-5, which would strip Ohio’s public workers of the hard-won bargaining rights. The crowds of angry workers are growing, as a series of mobilizations gripped Ohio’s Capital. Crowds of 800, then 2,000, and over 4,000 this past Thursday have packed the Capital building in Columbus. Another, much larger mobilization is expected on Tuesday, the 22nd.
Anthony stated that his family had been part of this struggle their entire lives. His family had been fired from the railroad for standing up for worker rights during the Rhodes administration in the ‘70’s.
“I’d like to think we’re fighting for him, also,” he said!
He was part of the massive crowds of workers that crammed into the Ohio Statehouse this past week, protesting the anti-labor SB-5, which would strip Ohio’s public workers of the hard-won bargaining rights. The crowds of angry workers are growing, as a series of mobilizations gripped Ohio’s Capital. Crowds of 800, then 2,000, and over 4,000 this past Thursday have packed the Capital building in Columbus. Another, much larger mobilization is expected on Tuesday, the 22nd.
Nearly 300 demonstrators braved chilling temperatures in front of Ohio’s capitol on Saturday, January 8 in order to “defend Ohio” against the incoming administration of John Kasich. A coalition of labor activists, leftists, progressives, and environmentalists wanted the incoming budget hawk to know that they would not stand for the Buckeye State $8 billion deficit being balanced on the backs of poor and working people.
A reoccurring theme at the rally is that the former Lehman Brothers manager would bust out the state of Ohio’s remaining assets and enrich his Wall Street buddies instead of rebuilding the infrastructure and creating a high-tech economy.
A reoccurring theme at the rally is that the former Lehman Brothers manager would bust out the state of Ohio’s remaining assets and enrich his Wall Street buddies instead of rebuilding the infrastructure and creating a high-tech economy.
As is to be expected, mainstream media forgot to cover the antiwar protest at the White House today. Readers of the Free Press understand that the frustration of protesting under a media blackout. According to Rob Kall, editor of OpedNews, “Today, 131 rebels were arrested for civil disobedience at the snow covered gates of the White House, including Daniel Ellsberg, Ray McGovern, Chris Hedges, Margaret Flowers, Coleen Rowley, Medea Benjamin, Jodie Evans and scores of veterans and supporters from WWII, Viet Nam, Iraq, Afghanistan... The message chanted in the freezing, 22 degree F snowy day was "Obama, Troops Out. End the War."
You tube video here
You tube video here
Libby and Jerica are in the front seat of the Prius, and Mary and I are in back. We just left Oklahoma, we're heading into Shamrock, Texas, and tomorrow we'll be Indian Springs, Nevada, home of Creech Air Force Base. We've been discussing our legal defense.
The state of Nevada has charged Libby and me, along with twelve others, with criminal trespass onto the base. On April 9, 2009, after a ten-day vigil outside the air force base, we entered it with a letter we wanted to circulate among the base personnel, describing our opposition to a massive targeted assassination program. Our trial date is set for September 14.
The state of Nevada has charged Libby and me, along with twelve others, with criminal trespass onto the base. On April 9, 2009, after a ten-day vigil outside the air force base, we entered it with a letter we wanted to circulate among the base personnel, describing our opposition to a massive targeted assassination program. Our trial date is set for September 14.
On Saturday I marched with ten thousand people in downtown Detroit demanding "Good Jobs Now" as part of Rev. Jesse Jackson's "Rebuild America" rally. I then visited my desolate boyhood westside Detroit neighborhood, Brightmoor, to remind myself what happens when an advanced nation foolishly refuses to have an industrial policy. Brightmoor was a thriving community in post-World War II society, when we actually manufactured things at home instead of outsourcing them to oppressive Third World regimes.
It felt surreal to be inside the home of Erik Prince, the founder, owner and chairman of Blackwater (or Xe, as it is now called). Prince, a former Navy Seal, provides security for the CIA, the Pentagon and the State Department. His company trains 40,000 people a year in skills that include personal protection. Yet his home in McLean, Virginia, has no security. None. Not even a fence or a guard dog or a No Trespassing sign. And his mother-in-law, who helps care for his young children, invited a total stranger--me--into his home without hesitation.
Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
U.S. Constitution Amendment I
An old cliché says that anyone who has herself for a lawyer has a fool for a client. Nevertheless, going to trial in Washington, D.C., this past June 14, I and twenty-three other defendants prepared a pro se defense. Acting as our own lawyers in court, we aimed to defend a population that finds little voice in our society at all, and to bring a sort of prosecution against their persecutors.
An old cliché says that anyone who has herself for a lawyer has a fool for a client. Nevertheless, going to trial in Washington, D.C., this past June 14, I and twenty-three other defendants prepared a pro se defense. Acting as our own lawyers in court, we aimed to defend a population that finds little voice in our society at all, and to bring a sort of prosecution against their persecutors.