Luminous Animal

Luminous Animal's Journal

February 1, 2012

Martin Luther King, Jr. (with compatriots) take over a private building in Chicago in 1965.

They begin to collect rents and do repairs...

I did not know this!

http://www.communitywalk.com/location/chicago_freedom_movement_slum_building/info/162702

In February 1966, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and other representatives of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the West Side Federation, and the Chicago Coaliton of Community Organizations took over the management of this six-flat "slum building." The eighty-one-year-old building owner John Bender told the Chicago Tribune that of the six buildings he owned, the one King had taken over was, a "white elephant," and that he would be "more than happy to give it to [King] if he would take over the mortgage." King argued that the legality of their actions paled in comparison to the "moral question" of helping to clean up "slum" housing.

Some angry letters to the editor about the takeover...

http://www.thekingcenter.org/archive/document/negative-letters-editor-about-mlk

February 1, 2012

Here is where I write a post addressing the horrible actions of the flag burners with nuance...

(of course) I write in condemnation of the .001% of the protesters and in the process smear the 99.99% of the protesters who were engaged in peaceful action. I will ignore the 1000s of peaceful protesters in order to make it clear (with nuance, of course) that I firmly and absolutely decry the actions of the .001% Because, the nuanced response is to, of course, focus on the dozens at the expense of the thousands. The nuanced response is to define the whole by the handful.

And here I will assert my superiority over that 99.99% of PEACEFUL protesters for not being on hand to control that .001%. And I will ignore the fact that cops were standing there idly and letting that .001% define the 99.99%. And, I will turn my panties in a knot, to not only condemn that .001%, but to catapult the "nuanced" propaganda of the 1% to ensure that the 99.99% doesn't frighten the masses.

And here is where I will ignore the FACT that 10s of thousands have PEACEFULLY protested, nearly 5000 have been arrested for doing so and 100s have been injured. And I will ignore THAT message... that "they" may and quite likely will be subject to arrest for exercising "their" right to assemble... I will write no hang-wringing posts to decry the mass arrests and brutalization of my fellow citizens.

But, damnit! I will, I WILL, write and protest the burning of a piece of cloth.

With nuance, of course.

February 1, 2012

Here is where I write a post addressing the horrible actions

of the .001% of the protesters and in the process smear the 99.99% of the protesters who were engaged in peaceful action. I will ignore the 1000s of peaceful protesters in order to make it clear (with nuance, of course) that I firmly and absolutely decry the actions of the .001% Because, the nuanced response is to, of course, focus on the dozens at the expense of the thousands. The nuanced response is to define the whole by the handful.

And here I will assert my superiority over that 99.99% of PEACEFUL protesters for not being on hand to control that .001%. And I will ignore the fact that cops were standing there idly and letting that .001% define the 99.99%. And, I will turn my panties in a knot, to not only condemn that .001%, but to catapult the "nuanced" propaganda of the 1% to ensure that the 99.99% doesn't frighten the masses.

And here is where I will ignore the FACT that 10s of thousands have PEACEFULLY protested, nearly 5000 have been arrested for doing so and 100s have been injured. And I will ignore THAT message... that "they" may and quite likely will be subject to arrest for exercising "their" right to assemble... I will write no hang-wringing posts to decry the mass arrests and brutalization of my fellow citizens.

But, damnit! I will, I WILL, write and protest the burning of a piece of cloth.

With nuance, of course.

January 26, 2012

The bank settlement negotiations and deal are not figments of progressives' imaginations.

A revised negotiated deal was presented as of a few days ago.

California attorney general rejects foreclosure settlement
Published: Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012

Lawyers in the (California) AG's office have reviewed the settlement offer during the past several days and found that the proposal prevents the state from pursuing substantial legal actions against lenders.

"Our state has been clear about what any multistate settlement must contain: transparency, relief going to the most distressed homeowners, and meaningful enforcement that ensures accountability," said Preston.

The state's rejection came a day after President Barack Obama in his State of the Union speech called for the creation of a special investigative unit to delve into abusive lending practices that helped trigger the foreclosure crisis.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/01/26/4216052/california-attorney-general-rejects.html#storylink=cpy

Calif. AG Rejects Mortgage Settlement
Posted 1/26/2012 10:55 AM by Kirk Haverkamp

A settlement that could produce up to $25 billion in mortgage relief for homeowners is in doubt after it was rejected by the California attorney general, who said the proposed deal doesn't go far enough.

"We've reviewed the details of the latest settlement proposal from the banks, and we believe it is inadequate for California," said Shum Preston, a spokesman for Attorney General Kamala Harris.

Harris' office had withdrawn from negotiations over the settlement last fall, saying the proposed deal at that time did not go far enough in holding mortgage servicers accountable for past misdeeds or in providing mortgage relief to homeowners. Preston said yesterday that the newest version of the deal still did not measure up in those areas.

January 25, 2012

Reporters Without Borders: U.S. 47th in world press freedom index. Fell 27 pts.

The fall in ranking was due largely because of the arrests of journalists during OWS protests.

http://en.rsf.org/spip.php?page=classement&id_rubrique=1043

January 19, 2012

Michael Hastings interviews Assange in Rolling Stone (it is a great interview)

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/julian-assange-the-rolling-stone-interview-20120118

And they're going after Manning, who is facing a life sentence, to get him to say that you're a spy?
To be another chess piece on the board in the attack on us. The U.S. government is trying to redefine what have been long-accepted journalistic methods. If the Pentagon is to have its way, it will be the end of national-security journalism in the United States.

How so?
They're trying to interpret the Espionage Act to say that any two-way communication with a source is a collaboration with a source, and is therefore a conspiracy to commit espionage where classified information is involved. The Pentagon, in fact, issued a public demand to us that we not only destroy everything we had ever published or were ever going to publish in relation to the U.S. government, but that we also stop "soliciting" information from U.S. government employees. The Espionage Act itself does not mention solicitation, but they're trying to create a new legal precedent that includes a journalist simply asking a source to communicate information. A few years ago, for example, the CIA destroyed its waterboarding interrogation videos. In the Manning hearing, prosecutors described how we had a most-wanted list, which included those interrogation videos if they still existed.

The WikiLeaks site had a "most-wanted" list of stories you were eager to get?
This list was not put together by us. We asked for nominations from human rights activists and journalists from around the world of the information they most wanted, and we put that on a list. The prosecution in the Manning hearing has been attempting to use that list as evidence of our solicitation of information that is likely to be classified, and therefore our complicity in espionage, if we received such information.

From a journalist's perspective, a list like that would be the equivalent of a normal editorial meeting where you list the crown jewels of stories you'd love to get.
Exactly.

So if you're going to jail, then Bob Woodward's going to jail.
Individuals like Sy Hersh and Dana Priest and Bob Woodward constantly say to their sources, "Hey, what about this, have you heard anything about it? I heard that there's been an airstrike in Afghanistan that's killed a bunch of civilians – do you have any more details, and can you prove them with paper?" And all those would be defined as conspiracy to commit espionage under the Pentagon's interpretation.

And so much more.

January 15, 2012

Turley in WAPO: 10 reasons the U.S. is no longer the land of the free

While each new national security power Washington has embraced was controversial when enacted, they are often discussed in isolation. But they don’t operate in isolation. They form a mosaic of powers under which our country could be considered, at least in part, authoritarian. Americans often proclaim our nation as a symbol of freedom to the world while dismissing nations such as Cuba and China as categorically unfree. Yet, objectively, we may be only half right. Those countries do lack basic individual rights such as due process, placing them outside any reasonable definition of “free,” but the United States now has much more in common with such regimes than anyone may like to admit.

These countries also have constitutions that purport to guarantee freedoms and rights. But their governments have broad discretion in denying those rights and few real avenues for challenges by citizens — precisely the problem with the new laws in this country.

The list of powers acquired by the U.S. government since 9/11 puts us in rather troubling company.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/is-the-united-states-still-the-land-of-the-free/2012/01/04/gIQAvcD1wP_story.html

Also, link to article on Turley's website (in case you hit a paywall at WAPO)

http://jonathanturley.org/2012/01/15/10-reasons-the-u-s-is-no-longer-the-land-of-the-free/

January 14, 2012

America Worse Than Apartheid on Black Incarceration

Michelle Alexander, who wrote the book “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness,” was interviewed on Democracy Now on Friday, January 13, 2012. According to the interview, there are more African Americans under correctional control today than there were enslaved in 1850. More African American men are disenfranchised today than in 1870 as a result of felony disenfranchisement laws. And, as a percentage of the total population, there are currently more blacks imprisoned in the U.S. than in South Africa at the height of apartheid.

Alexander points out that the high incarceration rate for African Americans is due largely to the war on drugs and the “get tough” movement (e.g., Three Strikes laws, Zero Tolerance laws, minimum sentencing rules), which have disproportionately affected poor people of color, and which were designed as a backlash against the Civil Rights movement, as they reduce black participation in the political system in much the same way that poll taxes and literacy tests did in the past.

The majority of U.S. prisoners are serving time for nonviolent and drug-related crimes which are committed by middle class and white Americans at a similar rate to poor African Americans, but which are largely ignored in middle class white neighborhoods. Thus, the problem is not entirely due to racism, but is also due to continued class distinctions and wealth inequality.

http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2012/01/america-worse-than-apartheid-on-black.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ModernSchool+%28Modern+School%29

Also, here is the Democracy Now interview with Michelle Alexander.
http://www.democracynow.org/2012/1/13/on_eve_of_mlk_day_michelle

January 13, 2012

How you can help H20 Man with his hunger strike against fracking...

Call Senator Tom Libous: "He has offices in Binghamton and Albany. The Binghamton phone numbesr are: 607-773-8771, and 877-854-2687. The Albany number is: 518-455-2677. District Fax: (607) 773-3688. His e-mail is: senator@senatorlibous.com" .

"People can also call Governor Andrew Cuomo on this. You do not have to be a New York State resident. His phone number is: 518-474-8390."

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr's office at Pace University: "It would be good if people called his office at Pace University, and tell his secretary, Mary Beth Postman, to have Robert call Cuomo on this issue. That number is: 914- 422-4343."

William Rivers Pitt's article here:

http://www.truth-out.org/clearing-stands-boxer-one-mans-fight-against-fracking/1326401455

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Current location: San Francisco
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