Thursday, December 22, 2011

OUR GUEST FOR MONDAY ON WISE WOMEN MEDIA, 12/26/11, CHERRI FOYTLIN, GULF COAST ACTIVIST!

Be sure to join us Monday, December 26th, 2011 from 8 to 10PM EST (Boxing Day) for our SPECIAL GUEST, Cherri Foytlin from Rayne, Louisiana. Feel free to call in and ask questions about the current situation in the Gulf Region.
A link to the show on BLOG TALK RADIO will be posted here soon!
About Cherri: 
Cherri Foytlin is an author, journalist, speaker and mother of six. She is active in the movement for clean air and water as a human right, a co-founder of Gulf Change - "a Nationwide Collaborative Effort for Environmental Justice, based in the Gulf Coast," and has walked to Washington D.C. from New Orleans (1,243 miles) to call for action to stop the BP oil disaster. 
Recently, she was one of over 1200 people arrested in front of the capital protesting the Keystone XL pipeline, after which she made the call to an estimated 12,000 people for a sustainable future on behalf of generations to come. 
Cherri has been a constant voice concerning the health of America's people and ecosystems, and has met repeatedly with agencies and representatives in D.C. regarding the matter. In addition, she has been featured in countless forms of media, and will continue to fight for social and environmental justice in the Gulf, and beyond. 

Sunday, December 18, 2011

WISE WOMEN MEDIA on BLOGTALK RADIO-featuring Anita Stewart

My FIRST GUEST will be CAROLYNE MAS, Rock Star, Grammy Winner and Animal Rights Advocate!



CAROLYNE MAS
Once hailed by the press as "The Female Bruce Springsteen," Carolyne Mas was a pioneer of women's rock 'n' roll during the late seventies and early '80s. As a band leader, singer, and rhythm guitarist of a 6 piece hard-driving rock band, she recorded several albums in the US, but experienced her greatest success overseas, particularly in Germany where she lived and toured in the late '80s and early '90s. Her songs have been covered by artists around the world, most notably by the late Phoebe Snow.

Mas failed to gain the record label support she needed in the US to secure a long-term career for herself, and her last studio recording was completed in 1999. She subsequently released these recordings to her fans in 2005.

Mas left the music business and worked to support herself as anything from a go-go dancer to a cook to a car salesperson. She is a survivor of both a violent physical attack and rape which happened to her when she lived in Asbury Park during the mid-'80s.

When her father died in 2002, Mas became the matriarch of her family, caring for both her aunt and her mother who had Alzheimer's, even adopting her niece's son who had been born out of wedlock and abandoned in a hospital in Madrid, Spain.
Mas ran a sanctuary for elderly and abused animals in Florida for several years until she fell victim to an illegal seizure of her animals in 2009. In early 2010, fearing for her safety and the safety of her family, Mas moved from Florida to the desolate dessert of southeastern Arizona.

Following her mother's death at the end of 2010, Mas had no choice but to rebuild her life again from top to bottom. The way she chose to do this, was by purging her stories from the depth of her soul in a series of cathartic chapters which she developed into a memoir of her very complex life.

What Mas found by writing her book, is that there was something similar in the process to that of writing her songs; although the experiences were unique and her own, they were also quite universal to women everywhere. Her life has been a quest for acceptance as a woman both physically and emotionally. Bad choices in men, career difficulties, eating disorders, and issues of low self esteem are problems that plague women all over...and Mas experienced all of these things...but her take is unique because she sees herself as a survivor and not merely as a victim.

At 56, Carolyne Mas has at last come into her own with a sense of peace...and a hopeful eye to the future. She currently resides in rural Arizona, where she spends her time as an advocate for social change, and a mother to her young son.
*** 
See more here: http://carolynemas.com/

WISE WOMEN MEDIA can also be found on the web here:
Listen to internet radio with Here Be Monsters on Blog Talk Radio

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

The OCCUPY MOVEMENT EVERYWHERE Continues to Span Generations

Bo_david_5
My friends, longtime activists, the Nicholsons have attended the local OCCUPY TAMPA multiple times now and continue to inspire the activists and continue to BE inspired by them. Every time they attend the Occupy Tampa's General Assembly, they write a report and send it out to their local and very lengthy email list. The memes from the mainstream media continue to play out that OCCUPY EVERYWHERE is mostly comprised of young, unemployed people without goals or plans for their future. The Nicholson's are just two of the over 50 that are part of the 99% and continue to prove that activism does not end when someone reaches their golden years!

Their latest report is below:

REPORT OF 8TH VISIT TO OCCUPY TAMPA 12/10/11 BY NICHOLSONS

This was our fifth visit to a General Assembly (GA) and we took Joan & Walt our friends here at Freedom Plaza with us. It was a beautiful evening and the drive was pleasant as we drove the Crosstown viewing the lights of the city. We parked in the Rivergate Towers Parking Garage and walked to the beautiful amphiteater on the Hillsborough River across from the lighted minarets of the University of Tampa.

It was after 7 pm and I knew we were late as we entered the amphiteater and were surprised to find the amphiteater empty except for two dating couples who knew nothing  about OCCUPY TAMPA. I called a friend who said " Oh Yes! They have to meet on Ashley Drive because all those who were recently arrested on dubious charges are prohibited from entering the park! I'll call them and tell them to have seating available for you when you arrive" We appreciated this as we are all in our 70's and early 80's.
We proceeded to the street level sidewalk and found the group gathered and the GA in progress .While other GA's we had attended numbered 80-200 in attendance this one had about 50 I believe. We had less than 10 minutes to watch the GA and then it was over. We were so disappointed that our guests could not get the full impact of the wonderful GA experience but they were able to participate a little in the "People's Mike" which was as always an inspiration. We spent probably another 30 minutes conversing with the Occupiers and getting to know them individually which was a joy. One of the young men David & I spoke with drives a truck for 10 hours 3 nights a week to make a subsistence living as he has no benefits and must save money for health care. He is a sincere patriot and cares deeply about this country. He had been handcuffed for responding peacefully to the Tampa Policeman who got into his face and shouted and he is one of those no longer permitted to enter this public park or the amphitheater. He is a bright courageus, soft spoken young man and we would be proud to have him as our son. There were several professonals in the group as well as tradesmen and students.

Occupy Tampa in spite of being harrassed and abused by the TPD still has the compassion and courage to help the few homeless who are in the area. Again, we applaud them! OT's committment to non-violence and raising awareness about our country's economic injustice and inequality will survive and we suggest that you visit them IF you care about restoring our country. You will be welcomed. We intend to continue our visits to OT and IF you would like to ride along let us know.

GOD BLESS AMERICA!
Barbara ("Bo") and David Nicholson

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Which Side Are You On? (Second Line Band @ Occupy Boston 12/8/11)

Celebratory, Peaceful and Happy! (They have to do this to keep warm!)

RIP! KIMBERLY WOLF, GULF COAST ACTIVIST DIED TODAY!

This video is from the SPILL INTO WASHINGTON Action on Labor Day weekend 2010, in DC.


FREEDOM: What have we done?

By: Alan Wallace, Guest Writer from “Behind the Lines” in America

When future generations ask us what happened to the country, what will we tell them? When they ask us why we didn't stop it, will we have an answer? When they see us cry as we respond, will they know why? Will they have a future? Will they even have a chance to ask us at all?

How have we as a people of this nation come to this point? I will tell you. We have lost our will to fight. To fight for what is right, what is fair and what is just. But beyond that, we have lost our will to live. I do not mean in the sense that we are killing ourselves, although (in a way) we are.

I mean, in that we have made a choice to accept what we are told. I mean that we have stopped trying to make things right, and started to ask for more hand outs. We have signed our freedoms over to politicians who have sold us on the best lines BS. We have looked them in the eyes, known they where lying and still said it was okay, in the hope that maybe, just maybe this one is different.

Guess what? They weren't, they aren't and they never will be. We are sitting on a $15 trillion dollar deficit. A number so large that we cannot even comprehend it logically. We simply say to ourselves that it will get better, it has to, it always has before.

Well, it won't, it can't and above all else it is impossible for it to. With the protests that have started around the nation we are starting to learn very quickly that something is broken, and the government is learning this too. The passing of the NDAA bill is a clear sign that those at the top are tired of their peasants uprising and need it to go away before more people join.

They have now turned the entire country into a “Battlefield” and with that, we will start to see people disappearing from these protests, never to be seen again. If you are wondering where this country is headed and what the end goal is for the government, don't watch the news or ask a friend, simple watch any documentary on the rise of Hitler and his control over Germany. There you will find what we have to look forward to.

I could rattle of a long list of statistics for you. I could talk about the long list of debt, the welfare programs, the amount of people who are homeless, jobless, hungry, underwater, and the list goes on, I could talk about the numerous bills and laws, that have been, are being and will be passed that fundamentally strip us of our rights. I could talk about the food acts, drug acts, security acts and so on.

Or maybe I could put together a list of the atrocities being perpetrated by the T.S.A., the strip searches of the elderly, the children and the person who refuses to be exposed to a cancer risk. But, I won't. Instead I will talk about what this country was founded on. Freedom. Plain and simple, no moreno less. And what is worse, is we all know this, we love it, we crave it and we enjoy it.

We (however) refuse to fight for it, defend it and die for it. We seem to have no problem allowing our military to jet off to foreign countries to fight on behalf of our dictatorial government and yet we refuse to stand up to a police officer as we watch them beat to death an innocent man.

We stand idly by while they shoot our brethren with rubber bullets, tear gas and bean bags. We scream at the injustice of groups of people being pepper sprayed and chant things like “shame”. The problem is they love that we sit there and take it, they love watching us cry out in pain.

“You must be the change you want to see in the world.” Mahatma Gandhi

The time for sitting around and hoping things will get better is over. Stand up, stand out and do something, anything. Are we going to wait for a child to be hit by a rubber bullet? Maybe when they finally kill someone we will do something.

You don't have to agree with what people are protesting against.

You don't have to approve of what they want or what their message is, you just have to want something better for this country.

The fact is, that most of the Occupy protesters have no idea what to protest, and have no idea who to protest against.

They are people who simply reached a breaking point and decided to stop sitting around at home, and do something. It may be misguided at times, but at least they are trying.

They just need more people to join them, to guide them and to organize them. If generations before us had been as beaten down and had as much trepidation as us, there never would have been a revolution, a civil war, or a United States.

That is all I have. That is all I can offer. I will leave you with these questions though, and leave it up to you to decide what is right, what is fair and where it ends.

When future generations ask us what happened to this country, what will we tell them?

When they ask us why we didn't stop it, will we have an answer?

When they see us cry as we respond, will they know why?

Will they have a future?

Will they even have a chance to ask us at all?

Democrats Co-opting "Occupy"


 “Democrats occupy Occupy.” 

http://www2.hernandotoday.com/news/hernando-news/2011/dec/08/democrats-occupy-occupy-ar-332603/

BY TED RALL, Liberal viewpoint
If Democrats were doing their jobs, there wouldn't be an Occupy movement.
The last 40 years has left liberals and progressives without a party and working people without an advocate. The party of FDR, JFK and LBJ abandoned its principles, embracing and voting along with Reagan and two Bushes. Clinton's biggest accomplishments, NAFTA and welfare reform, were GOP platform planks.
These New Democrats were indistinguishable from Republicans, waging optional wars, exporting jobs overseas and coddling corrupt CEOs while the rest of us — disconnected from power, our needs repeatedly ignored — sat and watched in silent rage.
President Barack Obama is merely the latest of these phony Democrats. He's the most recent in a line of corporate stooges going back to Jimmy Carter.
The Occupiers revolted under Obama's watch for two reasons. The gap between the promise of his soaring rhetoric and the basic indecency of his cold-blooded disregard for the poor and unemployed was too awful to ignore. Moreover, the post-2008 economic collapse pushed a dam of insults and pain and anger that had built up over years past its breaking point.
Haphazard and disorganized and ad hoc, the Occupy movement is an imperfect, spontaneous response that fills a yawning demand gap in the American marketplace of ideas. For the first time since 1972, the spectrum of left from liberalism to progressivism to socialism to communism to left anarchism has an audience (if not much of an organization).
Now the very same Democrats who killed liberalism and blocked leftists from candidacies, appointments, even the slightest participation in discussion — are trying to co-opt the Occupy movement.
MoveOn.org, which began as a plea for the U.S. to "move on" during Bill Clinton's impeachment for perjury, claims to be an independent, progressive activist group. It's really a shill for center-right Democratic politicians like Obama, whom MoveOn endorsed in the 2008 primaries against Hillary Clinton, who was running to Obama's left.
All decision-making within the Occupations is consensus-based. Nothing gets approved or done before it has been exhaustedly debated; actions must be approved by 90 to 100 percent of Occupiers at General Assemblies. It can be arduous.
Without respect for Occupy's process, MoveOn brazenly stole the movement's best-known meme for its Nov. 17 "We Are The 99%" event. And no one said boo.
Some Occupier friends were flattered.
Idiots.
Why didn't MoveOn ask permission from the Occupy movement? Because they wouldn't have gotten it. "We're just days from the Super Committee's deadline to propose more cuts for the 99% or increased taxes for the 1%," reads MoveOn's ersatz Occupy "event."
"So come out and help increase the pressure on Congress to tax Wall Street to create millions of jobs."
Um, no. Lobbying Congress directly contradicts a fundamental tenet of the movement that began with Occupy Wall Street. Occupy doesn't lobby. Occupy doesn't endorse either of the corporate political parties. Occupy doesn't care about this bill or that amendment. Occupy does not participate in stupid elections in which both candidates work for the 1%. Occupy exists in order to figure out how to get rid of the existing system and what should replace it.
What MoveOn did was shameful. They ought to apologize. Donating a year or two's worth of their contributions to the Occupations would be small penance. Given how little MoveOn has accomplished since its founding, Occupy would likely make better use of the cash.
On Dec. 7 it was the turn of another Democratic "Astroturf" organization, the "American Dream Movement," to lift the Occupy movement's radical rhetoric to promote a very different, milquetoast agenda.
The American Dream Movement was co-founded in June 2011 by former Obama political advisor Van Jones and — turning up like a bad penny! — MoveOn.org.
A written statement for the ADM's "Take Back the Capitol" threatened to "make Wall Street pay" for enriching the richest 1% and to "track down those responsible for crashing the economy and causing millions of 99%-ers to lose their jobs and homes — while failing to pay their fair share of taxes."
Sounds like Occupy. Which is great.
Somewhat less than awesome is the content of the "Take Back the Capitol": begging Congressmen who ought to be awaiting trial for corruption and treason for a few crumbs off the corporate table.
"Throughout Tuesday, demonstrators visited the offices of about 99 House and Senate members, from both parties, and most were refused meetings with lawmakers," reported NPR.
Duh.
What part of "we hate you" do these ACM fools not get?
Robert Townsend, an unemployed 48-year-old man from Milwaukee, managed to meet his congressman, Republican Thomas Petri. "We asked him if he would vote for the jobs bill. He was evasive on that. And I asked him, 'Tell me something positive that you're doing for Wisconsin that will put us back to work.' He mentioned something in Oshkosh, but that's mostly for military people. He really didn't have much of an answer. It's like he had no commitment to addressing this problem."
Double duh.
If Congress were responsive, if Democrats or Republicans cared about us or our needs, if Obama and his colleagues spent a 10th as much time and money on the unemployed as they do golfing and bombing and invading and shoveling trillions of dollars at Wall Street bankers, we wouldn't need an Occupy movement.
But we won't have one for long. Not if Occupy lets itself get Occupied by MoveOn and the Democrats.

Ted Rall is the author of "The Anti-American Manifesto." His website is tedrall.com.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

AN OPEN MESSAGE TO POLICE AND MILITARY

TRAILER: Senator A. G. Crowe from Louisiana in a new movie about the GULF OIL GUSHER!


Coming 2012...
Some Secrets Are Too Big To Hide...


HALLELUJAH CORPORATIONS


A musical tribute to corporate excess in the style of the Capitol Steps.

Comedy Central Passes Governor Scott the Pi$$ Cup


Gov. Rick Scott and his drug testing policy became the unwitting target of Jon Stewart's "Daily Show" on Wednesday as a reporter for the show broke into budget news conference and asked the governor to "pee into this cup.''
One of the comments below the video on YouTube:
He refused the test? That's an automatic FAIL of the test in most situations with social services.
Story from the Miami Herald:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/12/08/2536858/daily-show-reporter-gives-fla.html
More on WMNF-FM 88.5:
http://www.wmnf.org/news_stories/hear-aasif-mandvi-from-the-daily-show-challenge-fl-gov-rick-scott-on-drug-testing-welfare-recipients

Victory: 'Occupy' occupies seized homes

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

OCCUPY THE COURTS in TAMPA on JAN 20TH, 2012!

Call to Action

Inspired by our friends at Occupy Wall Street, andDr. Cornel West, Move To Amend is planning bold action to mark the second anniversary of the infamous Citizens United v. FEC decision!
Occupy the Courts will be a one day occupation of Federal courthouses across the country, including the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Friday January 20, 2012.
Move to Amend volunteers across the USA will lead the charge on the judiciary which created — and continues to expand — corporate personhood rights.
Americans across the country are on the march, and they are marching OUR way. They carry signs that say, “Corporations are NOT people! Money is NOT Speech!” And they are chanting those truths at the top of their lungs! The time has come to make these truths evident to the courts.
➤➤ Join us Friday, January 20, 2012 at a Federal Court building near you! 
TAMPA'S EVENT ON FACEBOOK:
http://www.facebook.com/events/283957691647268/

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Police arrest 29 Occupy Tampa protesters after asking them to vacate park

By Marissa Lang, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Saturday, December 3, 2011
TAMPA — One by one, they were handcuffed, pulled from the grass and loaded into a police van. All 29 of them.
In the biggest night of arrests since the Occupy Tampa movement began three months ago, police charged demonstrators with trespassing in a public park after hours and resisting arrest without violence late Thursday. Both charges are misdemeanors.
Officers also used a city ordinance to issue trespass warnings to those who were arrested. The warning is effective in all city parks. Violators could face penalties that include a $500 fine, up to 60 days in jail and as much as six months' probation.
The demonstrators were taken into custody during a peaceful protest in which the group refused to leave Riverfront Park, police said.
Susie Shannon, 59, said the officer who arrested her was very respectful.
"I think that is a viable option for all officers," she said.
See more:
http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/police-arrest-29-occupy-tampa-protesters-after-asking-them-to-vacate-park/1204486

Saturday, December 3, 2011

CORPORATIONS ARE PEOPLE AND $$$ IS FREE SPEECH? WE DON'T THINK SO! HTTP://WWW.MOVETOAMEND.ORG IS IN FLORIDA AND COMING TO TAMPA!


David Cobb, former Green Party Presidential Candidate and rep for Move To Amend voices solidarity with Occupy Miami and invites Occupy Miami to speak out with him against Corporate Personhood at South Miami City Hall tonight at 7pm.

DAVID COBB WILL BE IN TAMPA ON FRI, DEC 9TH AT 7PM AT THE TAMPA UU CHURCH. 
SEE THE FACEBOOK EVENT HERE:
SEE THE BLOG HERE:

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Senate votes to allow indefinite detention of Americans - Josh Gerstein

Main Content

Senate votes to allow indefinite detention of Americans - Josh Gerstein: Senate votes to allow indefinite detention of Americans

December 01, 2011
Categories:

Senate votes to allow indefinite detention of Americans

The Senate on Thursday evening essentially blessed the indefinite detention of American citizens who join up with Al Qaeda.

By a 45-55 vote, senators rejected an amendment from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) that would have excluded U.S. citizens from the detention authority created by the Authorization for the Use of Military Force passed in 2001 after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Feinstein's amendment would have inserted language excluding Americans into the detainee provisions of the Senate version of the National Defense Authorization Act.

During floor debate on Feinstein's proposal, some senators argued that Supreme Court decisions make clear that American citizens can be detained under the law of war. They point to a 1942 decision upholding the trial of an American-born saboteur before a military commission and a 2004 decision in which four justices endorsed an opinion that found the government has the right to detain a U.S. citizen who joins with enemy forces. However, other senators said the facts of those cases don't squarely endorse the open-ended detention of a U.S. citizen captured on U.S. soil.

The Senate later adopted, by a 99-1 vote, a compromise amendment clarifying that nothing in the NDAA is intended to alter the government current legal authority to detain prisoners captured in the war on terror.

An earlier Feinstein amendment seeking to limit new detention-related rules to prisoners captured outside the U.S. also failed, on a 45-55 vote.

Posted by Josh Gerstein 06:55 PM
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