Too old to play full court

"Those that prevent peaceful revolution insure a violent one."

That sentiment has been expressed in the past and it was the late President Kennedy that I see it attributed to most of the time. I put it on a sign at Occupy Eureka and the irony deficient police arrested me.
I have been a little remiss of late in my posting and for that I apologize. The time has been short and I have been tweeting short blurbs and using the dreaded Facebook to communicate. So to that end a little update on the journey.
We turned in our signatures. It was a wild scramble to get 15% of the electorate and I am still not sure we made it. We did get far in excess of 10% so at some point we will be running a campaign to pass it. There is of course the opportunity for the city council to just pass it and to let it start working right away but as it isn't a 1/2 million dollar give away to a rich person I am not holding my breath.
Speaking of the city council I spent Friday afternoon with the mayor. It was a little gathering in small claims court. I am suing the city and several of the thugs of EPD. It was nerve wracking to be in a room with that many evil people for that long. We go at it again on Friday morning. The state has screwed with too many of us for too long. Some one had to stand up and at least get it on the record. We were just a little backwoods outpost of the occupy here behind the Redwood Curtain so you wont see us on Court TV. When the trial is over I will give a full report.
I have court as support twice today and Wednesday as well so it would seem that I have moved Occupy inside the courthouse. Rust never sleeps.

Tax Day Vigil

For Tax Day we held a rally and march. We shut down some banks and spoke some thoughts. The late night vigils continue with a great turnout for a Tuesday night. the night before some pie

ce of garbage stole a bunch of signs including the bill of rights.

We will endeavor to persevere. The Jail holds one of our comrades as I write this and the rest of us are trying to keep the protest from getting stale. We share food or lean against the fence and continue to hold candle light vigils. hard to hang out down at the occupy without breaking the law.8 arrests under the new ordinance and they are holding Chives for some reason that will turn out to be total bullshit. calls to these folks will help put the pressure on to Dismiss all charges against the Candle light 4 and all the others hauled in on these bogus pretenses. They still continue selective enforcement allowing some groups to violate the law with impunity like the veterans foe peace while persecuting Occupy Eureka. call these folks and demand the release of Peter Camacho. District 1- Jimmy Smith: jrsmith@co.humboldt.ca.us (707) 476-2391 District 2- Clif Clendenen: cclendenen@co.humboldt.ca.us (707) 476-2392 District 3- Mark Lovelace: mlovelace@co.humboldt.ca.us (707) 476-2393 District 4- Virginia Bass: vbass@co.humboldt.ca.us (707) 476-2394 District 5- Ryan Sundberg: rsundberg@co.humboldt.ca.us (707) 476-2395 Sheriff: Mike Downey Mdowney@co.humboldt.ca.us(707) 445-7251 DA: Paul Gallegos PGallegos@co.humboldt.ca.us, districtattorney@co.humboldt.ca.us, Kelly Neel KNeel@co.humboldt.ca.us, Michele Shoshani MShoshani@co.humboldt.ca.us Paul Gallegos: (707) 267-4400 DA Office phone: (707) 445-7411 Fax: (707) 445-7416 Humboldt County Correctional Facility: 707-441-5159 cao@co.humboldt.ca.us

Am contemplating the next moves for our little band of freedom fighters but we need your help community. only 40 or 50 people willing to stand with us will grind their system to a halt so think about resurrecting that spirit of freedom that lives in all of us on the north coast and join us this Saturday as we hold a funeral for our executed friend William "Bill Of" Rights.

Occupy Boo

It is All Hallows Eve and I am back down on the curb. There is a bite in the breeze off Humboldt bay. It is just strong enough to clear the stench of car exhaust from my chapped nostrils.
The mood of the occupation is such a volatile beast. Friday we had assurances that we would be left to our own devices free from police interaction. As darkness descended on Saturday after an amazing rally rumors of a, “Police Action” began running through the crowd. At the appointed hour a single cruiser parked across the street and turned the eye of big brother upon us recording our reactions.
Now that they have recorded our response are they plotting our eviction? Will they bring the pain or whatever other sports metaphor the ex high school football hero’s care to couch their oppression in.
My guess is they will play a waiting game. We have support in the community and these political types fear waking the pacified masses.
If we can take action and stop literally shitting on the grass I think most in local power would be content to let us freeze on the lawn. This whole farce played out against the backdrop of vibrant speeches delivered with a thoughtful passion on the courthouse steps.
Sunday morning saw the occupiers scattered to the winds, recharging or relaxing I shared the curb with a couple of our weekend supporters and kept the vigil. The darkness of Sunday descended and our diverse group drifted back to occupied territory for a chill night both in mood and temperature.
That chill had turned to bitter frost by morning and the urinating in tents and the anguish of the reality challenged created another shrill standoff. Just another moment in the revolution.

Outlook not favorable

I think it is hard to imagine for the young today the system shock from the riots and assassinations of the late 60’s. When the price of gas doubled in the oil shock and then you couldn’t have all you wanted even if you could afford it. That just freaked the counter culture right the fuck out. Want to know why the peace and love generation turned into the greedy selfish fucks that everyone loves to hate the baby boomers that is what made them that way.

Over the next couple of years I am afraid that same youth will get to experience something far worse. There are no jobs. The very wealthy are doing very well, they are buying lots of new toys. Apple pads, pods, phones and their numerous clones are flying off the shelves. The top quintile is now 60 million people and that is more than enough to sustain the top quintile. As long as they can quit paying for anything needed by the other 4/5ths. The 13 million long term unemployed are about to start running out of benefits. “The little depression” as Paul Krugman calls it is upon the rest of us and the safety net we spent the last seventy years building is about to be destroyed. The government is out of money when tax burdens are at the lowest in 60 years. No brainier to raise taxes in a normal world but in Randistan that is heresy. The co-operative government that created the highest material standard of living in the history of civilization was now evil, but that is another rant. Because of Austerity measures to combat a revenue problem unemployment will go up and poverty will become endemic in a manner not seen since the 1930’s

I look around my little town and it is dying a slow death. A high end clothing shop opening at the mall will not make up for the closing of schools and restaurants. And for the newly fired most wont even get 26 weeks unemployment let alone extended benefits. It is my opinion that we are at the breaking point. There are not enough cans to pick out of the trash for us all to survive and humans being what they are it will not be pretty. The tent cities are already full. There is now a block long Bushville in the warehouse district now. It wont be fair to call the Obamavilles until he passes his grand bargain then all bets are off. When the next wave of foreclosures hit there is no place for these folks to go.

Even intellectuals and TV stars can be jerks

If we are going to get past arbitrary codes of conduct, (religion) and move to a rational society based on equal protection under the law we are going to have to check our privilege at the door. If your behavior makes another human being uncomfortable you have to be willing to look at that behavior. As a bald headed fat man with lots of scary tattoos and a long beard I do not have to worry about random assaults upon my person. People cross the street to avoid me as the saying goes so I am not going to understand the level of discomfort that an average woman may feel when confronted with unwanted advances no matter how benign in the eye of the confronter.
As the current celebrity do-gooders VS. the Village Voice dust up shows there are a lot of bad numbers when it comes to sexual exploitation and or assault but 1 in 7 women as victims of some type of sexual attack in the US is what is out there. That number is low by the experiences of women I have talked with over the years but that doesn’t put it out of the realm of possibility. This reality requires one to at least listen when a woman claims that your behavior was inappropriate. I would have thought that educated skeptics would listen to the evidence as a matter of course but that doesn’t seem to be the default position when it comes to women and their complaints.