OWS Week 7/4 – Philly National Gathering, Anti-foreclosure, End Drones, Anti-WalMart and more

This week’s episode of OWS Week covers Sacramento, CA: Anti-foreclosure rally.  Chicago, IL: Occupy Chicago joins Picket against Threats of War, Hands off Syria and Iran; end the drone wars.  OWS Week also covers Washington, DC: protesting rate increases and cuts to employee pensions; Solidarity march with striking U.S. Postal workers. Long Island City, NY: Occupy action against Citigroup.  Los Angeles, CA: RAGE (Rally against Gentrification Everywhere), coalition of LA Community Action Network, Occupy Skid Row, Occupy the Hood and Occupy LA rally against the Central City Association.  Last but not least, LA Anti-Walmart demonstration against expansion of Walmart.  Philadelphia, PA: Occupy National Gathering, first and second day, occupy groups from around the country and supporters begin their assembly in NYC, NY: HighLine Rally against the Spectra pipeline.

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Chris Hedges – Live in Los Angeles / Part One

A film by Michael Sosebee

submitted by Gabrielle Price

On June 28, 2012 Chris Hedges gave an historic talk to a sold-out audience at the Immanuel Presbyterian Church, in Los Angeles, California.  In part one, Chris begins by discussing his father’s impact on his career and integrity, then on to speak about the populist movements and writing of early journalists, propaganda and how it has historically seduced the public into war in the US.  He explains how this led to the decline of the liberal class and the birth of consumerism.

Travel Music – Joe Pug / Hymn 101

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Music has always inspired my photography.  Before I put my camera down for a pen — I hosted house concerts in my hometown.  Booking only unsigned, independent artists who had a certain flair for storytelling; old souls who could truly turn a phrase and hold an audience spellbound.  I regret to say my music project didn’t bear fruit long enough for me to book Chicago native, Joe Pug.

I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Joe in Indianapolis at a songwriter’s showcase in 2008.  When he performed this song in front of a packed crowd waiting to hear Justin Townes Earle, you could have heard a pin drop.  I maintain this is one of the finest songs that year, hands down. It continues to be a beloved and incredibly profound tune for this traveler.  Please look him up online — his last CD is called Messenger.  Joe will be on the road with me to New Mexico (at least on my mp3 player). Lyrics below the video:

Yeah I’ve come to know the wishlist of my father.
I’ve come to know the shipwrecks where he wished.
I’ve come to wish aloud among the overdressed crowd.
Come to witness now the sinking of the ship.
Throwing pennies from the seatop next to it.

And I’ve come to roam the forest past the village
With a dozen lazy horses in my cart.
I’ve come here to get eyed
To do more than just get by
I’ve come to test the timbre of my heart.
Oh I’ve come to test the timbre of my heart.

And I’ve come to be untroubled in my seeking.
And I’ve come to see that nothing is for naught.
I’ve come to reach out blind
To reach forward and behind
For the more I seek the more I’m sought
Yeah, the more I seek the more I’m sought.

And I’ve come to meet the sheriff and his posse,
To offer him the broad side of my jaw.
I’ve come here to get broke,
Then maybe bum a smoke.
We’ll go drinking two towns over after all.
Well, we’ll go drinking two towns over after all.

And I’ve come to meet the legendary takers.
I’ve only come to ask them for a lot.
Oh they say I come with less than I should rightfully possess.
I say the more I buy the more I’m bought.
And the more I’m bought the less I cost.

And I’ve come to take their servants and their surplus.
And I’ve come to take their raincoats and their speed.
I’ve come to get my fill
To ransack and spill.
I’ve come to take the harvest for the seed.
I’ve come to take the harvest for the seed.

And I’ve come to know the manger that you sleep in.
I’ve come to be the stranger that you keep.
I’ve come from down the road,
And my footsteps never slowed.
Before we met I knew we’d meet.
Before we met I knew we’d meet.

And I’ve come here to ignore your cries and heartaches.
I’ve come to closely listen to you sing.
I’ve come here to insist
That I leave here with a kiss.
I’ve come to say exactly what I mean.
And I mean so many things.

And you’ve come to know me stubborn as a butcher.
And you’ve come to know me thankless as a guest.
But will you recognize my face
When God’s awful grace
Strips me of my jacket and my vest,
And reveals all the treasure in my chest?

US Lifestyle Options Are Currently Out Of Stock

submitted by Gabrielle Price

I’m working on a few projects and haven’t been watching the news feeds as vigilantly as I have in the past.  Not because I don’t care about the news and delivering it but the news somehow isn’t saying much that I haven’t heard before.  And I hate repeating myself like a mainstream parrot.
Alas, that is part and parcel of media and its wretched 24 hour news cycle.  The public’s attention span has been whittled away, their focus is emotionally political rather than grounded in civics and to keep one’s finger on that pulse too long is to be awash in a sea of petty idiocy and hot air.
Free press is a lone boat with one tattered sail praying to see a lighthouse.  It’s a shitty job but someone has been doing it for a long time – longer than me – only to be met with more censorship the harder we row.  There is no quitting, however.  For those of us who respect and love the power of the pen, quitting is simply not an option.
I’m working on building some lighthouses with other media people.   The horizon ahead isn’t clear for many because the mainstream media fog gets thicker every day.  While stories like these go unheeded by the majority – like so many buried columns or spun into fodder to keep people ordering dessert while the Titanic takes on more water:

Banks Are Failing Left and Right Today – 6/28

At the top of that list…JP Morgan.  Keep in mind that Jamie Dimon received a $23 million pay package for fiscal year 2011, more than any other bank CEO in the United States.

Mike Krieger: Where Food Stamps Go To Die – 6/28

“Marion Nestle, Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at NYU, came out with some interesting tidbits regarding the food stamp program.  One of them is extraordinarily disturbing.  She shows that Wal-Mart gets as much as 25% to 40% of revenue at some stores from food stamp dollars.  This says it all folks.  Food stamps are of course the perfect business for Wal-Mart and JP Morgan, which as I pointed out previously makes a lot of money running the program and keeping the populace in perpetual serfdom.”  [What do you think will happen when JP Morgan fails?  See first headline…]

Not Spain, Uganda, Or Greece; But Stockton CA: Largest US City Bankruptcy Now Official – 6/28

The EU Summit: Europe Needs Capital, NOT Political Posturing – 6/29

“…none of the measures address the most critical issue pertaining to Europe: where is the money going to come from?”

Guest Post: It’s Time To Connect The Dots – 6/29 [please see #3]
“When you connect the dots, the next steps lead to what may soon be regarded as an obvious conclusion: the system, as it exists right now, is crumbling.  No amount of self-delusion can make this go away.”

This really isn’t rocket science.  Mainstream media talks to the public like children with no basic math skills to keep them from asking questions.  The hard questions are and have been being asked by independent press and the truth delivered with stunning accuracy.  But because money equals speech and attention spans are have waned – critical thinking people will have to work harder if they love life and the people they share it with.  I’m no math scholar but I have connected these dots.
Time and a lot of meditation brought me to understand and accept the picture that is forming.  It no longer scares me more than it makes me concerned for others who have not yet made the connections.  It is the reason I keep going.
“How radical are you?  Do you love life?  Are you willing to fight for it?“
Many of those dear to me who are not connecting the dots, I love as much as I love life, so I am willing to be as radical as necessary – for them.  That is why I am scouting ahead to learn about a more durable set of living arrangements.  I think of it as choosing the option of a stronger foundation for my lighthouse so I can be prepared, not just for myself but for others who will need these skills when the time comes.  I will personally become more durable.  Resilient.
This system hates that…so of course, it is in my nature to automatically relish it.
It is so surreal and odd that my grandparents victory gardening skills, ability to create community to survive through the Great Depression by sharing skills, food and resources would be or seem at all radical.  This is how I know the current system is very, very sick and I do not wish to participate in it.  It quite honestly, made me spiritually ill.
My whole life, I have been willing to fight for what I love…what I learn in New Mexico will only make me more able.  Quitting is not an option. Quitting this system, however, is easy when its function prevents the exercise of inalienable rights like life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness on a global scale, not just at home.
American rights and democracy aren’t lifestyle options – these are things that die when they aren’t used.