I love those moments in all the Rush Hour films when Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker burst into "War: What is it good for? Absolutely NOTHING!" The same can be said for prejudice. Recent events in the Sunshine State of Florida have brought home the message that the ugly, smelly, nasty underbelly of white power and/or free-flowing racism is alive and well in Fort Lauderdale. It's had a long nap and now is flexing its muscles, savoring a romp in the park or Fort, as it were. Like this kind of crap:
"We have to see these billboards flourish in 2010 and leading up to the 2012 election when Obama will seek re-election," said Farah. "If he can't answer that simple question by then, he's toast. Help me make it so Obama can't go anywhere in the United States without seeing this sign." Since Jesus was an immigrant, I guess these are Christian values in action!
Last Saturday there was demonstration requesting amnesty for aliens which turned into a street fight between ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) and ALIPAC (Tea Parties Against Amnesty. Actually, it's Americans for Legal Immigration PAC).
A video posted by ALIPAC was so bizarre with it's pop-up comments that I felt compelled to deconstruct it, lest someone less compulsive than I sit through it and be misled and deluded.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekW3HmlnYS4
It's easier to watch if you turn off the sound and keep your finger on the pause button. Ignore the pop ups, (very strategically placed) because reading them will obscure what your eyes see.
Shot from the perspective of someone across the street (let's call this person "Deep Wad"), we see a group of demonstrators organized around a corner while a man (call him "Jacko") stands in the street shooting a video directly into the face of an ANSWER demonstrator (good morning!). Words are seemingly exchanged and Jacko walks behind, then into the middle of the group. The ANSWER group turns to Jacko as a man in a black shirt (so ironic we could call him "Benito") leaps into the action (#8) with another video camera hoisted, already "shooting." Benito joins Jacko as side-by-side they continue to endure (heroically or arrogantly?) more verbal confrontration from the ANSWER demonstrators who clearly had claimed that corner to express their First Amendment right.
Only now notice there's a guy in a brown hat ("Goose") to the far left (# 12) who ALSO has a video camera and has been taping (from yet a different perspective) Jack and Benito's great adventure of provoking a riot at a peaceful demonstration.
Things happen quickly now. As Jacko seem to leave by walking behind and past Goose, a black van cuts across Deep Wad's angle. Although Goose is nearly obscured by a HUGE cartoony balloon directing us elsewhere, we can see Goose is clearly making gestures towards Jacko or Deep Wad, or maybe both. Goose turns towards Deep Wad and from here to #34 we can watch Goose cross the street and past Deep Wad's camera. Goose avoids a direct look but smiles into said camera while using his brown hat to shield his face as he gets closer to Deep Wad. Mission accomplis[h]ed?
Except provoking a riot is a felony, or so I thought based upon all the Black Panthers and Yippies and pacifists and progressives who've been busted for less. And in the case of the Panthers, outright hounded and murdered.
I don't get paid to do this and need some sleep but I hope someone will use what I've noticed, continue the deconstruction and get it to the right places.
Back in the day there were plenty of slug fests started by hardhats and Nazis and yes, cops out of uniform against anti-war protestors, only this time THEY GOT THE SHIT BEAT OUT OF THEM!!!
What a surprise!
Here is ANSWER's response, appropriately titled:
Racism, Lies and Videotape
A statement from ANSWER Florida
Nov. 17, 2009
http://answer.pephost.org/site/News2/1667236835?abbr=ANS_&page=NewsArticle&id=9225&news_iv_ctrl=1621
At least the majority of American people understand the stupidity of the birthers, Birchers, Tea Baggers and repuglicans. There will be scuffling in the streets but we will continue to love and live as free Americans, despite their hatred.
November 18, 2009
Prejudice: What is it good for?
September 8, 2008
Preemptive Strike on the First Amendment
Sticks & stones may break my bones but urine is WAAAAAAAAAY over the line! It's all too ridiculously predictable, like a terrible movie. Don't you wish we change the ending?
Storm Troope
rs at the RNC
By Ray McGovern
September 8, 2008
[...] When I flew into St. Paul on the evening of Aug. 30, I encountered a din in local media about “preemptive strikes” on those already congregating there to demonstrate against the Iraq war and injustice against the poor in our country.
St. Paul’s Pioneer Press expressed surprise that “despite preemptive police searches” and arrests, a group calling itself “the RNC Welcoming Committee” was still intent on “disrupting the convention.”
[...] Ironically, it was FBI Special Agent Coleen Rowley, living in the St. Paul area, who served warning of precisely that in her hard-hitting Feb. 26, 2003, letter to FBI Director Robert Mueller, three weeks before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. [NYT, March 6, 2003]
Confronting Mueller on a number of key issues (like “What is the FBI’s evidence with respect to the claimed connection between al-Qaeda and Iraq?”), Rowley warned of the trickle-down effect of “the administration’s new policy of ‘preemptive strikes’”:
“I believe it would be prudent to be on guard against the possibility that the looser ‘preemptive strike’ rationale being applied to situations abroad could migrate back home, fostering a more permissive attitude on the part of law enforcement officers in this country.”
Rowley called Mueller’s attention to the abuses of civil rights that had already occurred since 9/11, and pointedly warned “particular vigilance may be required to head off undue pressure (including subtle encouragement) to detain or ‘round up’ suspects.”
[...] The “preemption” began on Friday, Aug. 29, well before the RNC began on Monday, Sept. 1.
An academic doing research on social movement organizations, who for several months has been observing the main protesters — the RNC Welcoming Committee, the Coalition to March on the RNC and End the War, and the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign — provided this account:
“On Friday evening the space in St. Paul that was being rented by the Welcoming Committee was raided by riot police, who knocked in the door with automatic weapons drawn, forced the 60-70 activists inside onto the floor, handcuffed them, then proceeded to confiscate all the banner-making supplies and movement literature. [Is this how a democratic country treats its citizens?]
“Over the course of several hours the cops interrogated, photographed, ran warrant checks, and eventually, released everyone one by one. Then they closed down the space for a code violation. The next morning a city code inspector arrived and found no basis for closing the space.
“Saturday morning was one of escalation and terror. The Ramsey County Sheriff Department, together with the St. Paul police, Homeland Security, and the FBI raided four private houses. At 8:00 AM, dozens of cops in SWAT gear broke down the door of one house where about a dozen activists were staying. They were awakened with rifle barrels in their faces and forced to lie face down for more than an hour. [my bold]
“The cops stole all the computers and other electronic devices in the house, and core members of the Welcoming Committee sleeping there were arrested. It being a holiday weekend, those arrested for alleged crimes could not arrive in court until Wednesday, at the earliest. Thus, those trying to organize demonstrations will be in jail for the entire time the RNC is going on. Four other houses were raided and dozens of activists were detained.”
The academic who wrote the report appealed to those concerned over “this enormous police over-kill” to contact the Twin Cities’ mayors and demand an end to the “witch hunt.”
He added, “The people who were arrested were some of the gentlest, most dedicated activists I’ve ever met.” A far cry from the “criminal enterprise” described by notorious Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher.[...]
[... St. Paul City Councilman Dave] Thune objected in particular to Fletcher’s deputies using battering rams to knock down doors, then entering with guns drawn, and forcing people to the ground, [my bold] as they did on Friday night.
[...] On the fringes there was some property damage and further arrests. What violence there was bore the earmarks of provocation by the likes of Sheriff Fletcher and his Homeland Security, FBI, and, according to one well-sourced report, Blackwater buddies.
That’s right. Agent provocateurs.
Primary targets of the repression were the alternative media, [my bold] including any and all those who might have a camera to record the brutality — as was successfully done at the RNC in New York four years ago.
The manner in which Amy Goodman and the two producers of “Democracy Now!” were deliberately mistreated was clearly to serve as a warning that the rules had gone up in smoke — the First Amendment be damned.
[...] I observed no violence at all; yet, the police/FBI/national guard/and who-knows-who-else decided they needed to clear the streets. My friends and I narrowly escaped being tear-gassed, pepper-sprayed, or worse. It was an overwhelming show of force — not to protect, but to intimidate.
[...] After the widespread kidnapping, torture, indefinite imprisonment, and our cowardly Congress’ empowerment of the president to imprison sine die anyone he might designate an “enemy combatant” — after all that...well, it seems to me that reading a person his/her rights takes on more, not less, importance.
Not to mention the massive repression then under way right outside the convention hall.
[...] The young protesters had some success in exposing infiltrators in their ranks. During confrontations, members of the Welcoming Committee, in particular, took copious photos of law enforcement officers and then memorized the faces. [my bold]
This tactic worked like a charm in one of the St. Paul parks, when a man who looked like a protester — dark clothes, backpack, a bit disheveled — walked by.
One of the protesters recognized the man’s face and searched through her camera until she found a photo of the man actually performing the raid on the Welcoming Committee’s headquarters on Friday night.
The young protesters asked the man, and two associates, to leave the park, at which point the three hustled into a nearby unmarked sedan.
The license plate, observed by a Pioneer Press reporter, traced back to the detective unit of the Hennepin 
County sheriff’s office, according to the county’s Central Mobile Equipment Division.
Protesters later picked two other men out of the day’s planned march — one because he was wearing brand-new tennis shoes. [Ah! The shoes always give cops away. Or jeans that look ironed.] The two left without indicating whether they were with the organs of public safety.[...]
Ray McGovern works with Tell the Word, the publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in inner-city Washington. He is a member of the Steering Group of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).
Hey, kids, special treat! They took everything but the kitchen sink. Read it yourself and believe it or not.
Police document
Warrant for Minneapolis raidSeptember 1, 2008
Amy Goodman Arrested at RNC
There is no way these police actions are legal. They seem to be on a wilding as they storm through houses looking for ... leaflets? Among the victims, Amy Goodman of DemocracyNow! and you can see the brief video below:
ST. PAUL, MN—Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman was unlawfully arrested in downtown St.
Paul, Minnesota at approximately 5 p.m. local time. Police violently manhandled Goodman, yanking her arm, as they arrested her. Video of her arrest can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYjyvkR0bGQ
Goodman was arrested while attempting to free two Democracy Now! producers who were being unlawfully detained. They are Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar. Kouddous and Salazar were arrested while they carried out their journalistic duties in covering street demonstrations at the Republican National Convention. Goodman's crime appears to have been defending her colleagues and the freedom of the press.
Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher told Democracy Now! that Kouddous and Salazar were being arrested on suspicion of rioting. They are currently being held at the Ramsey County jail in St. Paul.
Democracy Now! is calling on all journalists and concerned citizens to call the office of Mayor Chris Coleman and the Ramsey County Jail and demand the immediate release of Goodman, Kouddous and Salazar. These calls can be directed to:
Chris Rider from Mayor Coleman's office at 651-266-8535 and the Ramsey County Jail at 651-266-9350 (press extension 0).
Democracy Now! stands by Goodman, Kouddous and Salazar and condemns this action by Twin Cities law enforcement as a clear violation of the freedom of the press and the First Amendment rights of these journalists.
During the demonstration in which they were arrested law enforcement officers used pepper spray, rubber bullets, concussion grenades and excessive force. Several dozen others were also arrested during this action.
Amy Goodman is one of the most well-known and well-respected journalists in the United States. She has received journalism's top honors for her reporting and has a distinguished reputation of bravery and courage. The arrest of Goodman, Kouddous and Salazar is a transparent attempt to intimidate journalists from the nation's leading independent news outlet.
Democracy Now! is a nationally syndicated public TV and radio program that airs on over 700 radio and TV stations across the US and the globe.
Video of Amy Goodman's arrest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYjyvkR0bGQ
August 17, 2008
Sunday Sermon from Rev. Billy
Whisper in the American Ear: Resist Consumerism!
2008, the clock is ticking. Now, when American families momentarily break from the decades-long hypnosis of buying and debt, of toxic travel and the corporatizing of the unconscious. How do we whisper, Resist Consumerism!
American consumer confidence was supposed to finance an endless series of surges, of buy-outs, of epidemics. Now we've had a waking up. It's as if everyone in the country had a minor car accident, enough to walk away from the car shaking our head. We have a window of opportunity here. Resist Consumerism!
How to make a message as powerful as the Clash in 1979, or a Tibetan kid in a Chinese mall last March, make a whisper with a scream in it, "The ice is melting, the wheat is growing thin!" Resist Consumerism!
Just now, in 2008, when American families are sitting at tables and having a budget meeting for the first time. "Kids - what do we spend money on? Let's start this way. What is really necessary?" Resist Consumerism!
The whisper will not be televised. It might come from a neighbor nobody ever saw, who lost his job, and starts walking to town and back. One day he sees something and gets to work. Resist Consumerism! -- Rev
(Photo thanks to RoadsidePictures)
July 1, 2008
Push Back Picnic @ Union Sq!
Anarchists and church members, (Stop Shopping, of course!) First Amendment Defenders and yoga practitioners, children and caregivers, skateboarders and students, workers just having lunch and lovers lured towards a romantic rendezvous are ALL requested to reclaim Union Square as the people’s park, a not-for-profit piece of real estate
WE PAY FOR WITH TAX DOLLARS!
First, the word from the anarchists:
Friends and Neighbors,
COME TO THE PUSH BACK PICNIC JULY 2ND, 6:00PM,
BY THE ABE LINCOLN STATUE
As the nation prepares to ce
lebrate it's 232nd Birthday, and the Union Square BID (Business Improvement District) prepares to privatize the LANDMARKED Pavilion building, come join the Community Improvement District (CID), along with your favorite radical heroes of Union Square for an olde tyme hoedown and radical auction action. Make a bid on your favorite national chain store franchise! Dance circles around stodgy, stogie-smoking, sell-out politicians! Marvel as the park pushes back against the greedy takeover artists!Let's push back the privatizers and keep Union Square a place for public gatherings, public rallies, and public play! PUSH BACK THE BID! UNION SQUARE IS NOT FOR SALE! more info: www.unionsquarenotforsale.org
Here’s the word from the good Rev. Billy:
Picnic And PUSH-BACK At The Pit Of Sin!
Wednesday, July 2nd, 5pm-7pm
at Union Square in Manhattan
The Reverend and Savitri are leaving for a while, and they'd like the chance to say goodbye to the Church on Wednesday, July 2nd from 5pm to 7pm...near the Abomination Medley of Squalid Temptation known as the construction site at Union Square. We'll start at 5 pm with our petition gathering and 1st Amendment singing at the NW corner, then retire to the picnic area near the Abraham Lincoln statue at six o'clock.
Exorcisms and possessions of the spirit are always a possibility, but the ordinary fun of a July picnic will offer a safe alternative for those of you who don't have to go "over the top and into the bullets." There are many ways to enjoy and help us resist the theft of our parks by vulture investors. So bring some food and drink, let's remember our remarkable year - and create a blessing for the future!
- Sign the petition to keep our park public!
- Article About Pushing Back In The Villager
- Save Union Square 2008 Website
Sign the petition here: http://www.revbilly.com/petition/
June 20, 2008
Stop Shopping, Start Saving Our Homes!
If it weren't for Rev. Billy and the gang, I'd very likely be a drooling basket
case in a city full of scum. Thanks to them, the Church of Stop Shopping and the Not Buying it Band, I have been redeemed and blessed by the glorious light of the First Amendment! Now they're joining other New Yorkers in one of the most under appreciated events in the five boroughs, the Mermaid Parade. If you haven't been there, you must do this before it's gone, like New Orleans or America's breadbasket states and family farms. For those unable to transcend space & time, the MermaidCam will have to suffice.
In praise of solidarity, Peace-a-loo-ya!
Saving Coney Island
Queen Mermaid Savitri Will Hunger Strike After Parade
Our church leaders Savitri D and Reverend Billy are the Mermaid Queen and King Neptune of this year's Mermaid Parade - June 21.
In the role of Queen Mermaid, Savitri insists that "the mermaid will refuse to go back to the sea until Coney Island is saved." She will fast for three days in her finny queenly costume in the window at the Coney Island Side-show, that emporium of freaks, urging citizens to attend the scoping meeting that will decide t
he FATE of FUN at Coney Island:
Tuesday, June 24 6:00 PM
Lincoln High School, 2800 Ocean Parkway, Brooklyn, NY
The Queen has agreed to talk with the world via MermaidCam, check revbilly.com/mermaid for when that goes live Sunday morning!
http://www.revbilly.com/
June 3, 2008
First Amendment-A-Loo Ya!
Folks, it doesn't get better than the glorious First Amendment when it comes to ensuring a free, enduring democracy. Rev. Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping have given me lots of opportunities to personally experience the exhilaration and freedom of reciting the blessed 46 words in public spaces, clubs, churches, wherever citizens go and need to know, or be reminded of the one thing that makes the USA different. We may not be #1 in producing goods anymore, but as long as we can make our elected officials comply to our founding parents' wishes, pretty soon there will be redemption! Peace-a-loo ya!
Now turn up your speakers for a sample of what you can hear in Union Square on June 5 (please see the next post for details on how we, the people will response to the attempted privatization of Union Square:
Write this down, carry it with you wherever you go, and most of all, practice using it!Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or 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.
March 29, 2008
The 1st Amendment IS My Permit!
New Yorkers dedicated to keeping freedom of assembly and speech alive and well in our city
Support the Bill To Restore Civil Rights:
United Opposition:
There have been outcries against the NYPD rules from broad sectors of the community. More than 22 groups have joined Asssemble For Rights to oppose these rules, including religious organizations, peace activists including UFPJ, the National Lawyers Guild, health advocates, bicycling groups, etc. Nearly a dozen city councilors have spoken out against these rules. And the rules have been blasted by the New York Bar Association, which has called on City Council to overrule the NYPD
NYPD Rules:
Ray Kelly and th
e New York Police Department, with the blessing of Mayor Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, have pushed ahead with new parade permit rules which severely limit our ability to exercise our free speech rights. More than a year ago, on Friday January 28th 2007 the NYPD promulgated new rules that require groups of 50 or more to obtain a permit if they want to gather on a sidewalk, in the road, or in the parks. The rules effect pedestrians, vehicles, and cyclists alike. The NYPD began enforcing these rules February 25th 2007.http://assembleforrightsnyc.org/
December 9, 2007
Monday Event
Monday, December 10th
DEMONSTRATE
AGAINST
"The Violent Radicalization and
Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act"
WHILE YOU STILL CAN!!! GO-- Meet others outside Senator Hillary Clinton's office.
(International Human Right's Day)
12 noon to 1:30 PM
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton
780 Third Ave @ 48th Street
New York, NY 10017
Demand Clinton Stop HR 1955 & S.1959
Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act"
They already use this against so called eco terrorists, jailing one man for merely speaking about an incident for which he was already tried and jailed!
Funded by The RAND Corporation his bill is.
Tell your friends and there is a same action in Chicago, as Barack Obama is on the Committee that will hear this vote! http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2007/12/93185.html