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    Green Party Peace Sign Bumper Sticker
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  • Occupy Wall Street: What Just Happened?

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    Occupy Wall Street: What Just Happened? eBook

    Occupy Wall Street: What Just Happened? eBook on Amazon

    Occupy Wall Street: What Just Happened? eBook

    Reflections on Occupy Wall Street, with photos, fun, and good wishes for the future. eBook, Occupy Wall Street: What Just Happened? (Only $.99 !) In the eBook, the Occupy movement is explored through original reporting, photographs, cartoons, poetry, essays, and reviews.The collection of essays and blog posts records the unfolding of Occupy into the culture from September 2011 to the present.  Authors Kimberly Wilder and Ian Wilder were early supporters of Occupy, using their internet platforms to communicate the changes being created by the American Autumn.

    The eBook is currently available on Amazon for Kindle;  Barnes & Noble Nook ; Smashwords independent eBook seller; and a Kobo for 99 cents and anyone can read it using their Kindle/Nook Reader, smart phone, or computer.

Wangari Maathai, Green Party heroine and Nobel Peace Prize winner, passes away at age 71

Posted on September 26, 2011 by kwilder

Wangari Muta Maathai (1940-2011)

It is with great sadness that the family of Professor Wangari Maathai announces her passing away on 25th September, 2011, at the Nairobi Hospital, after a prolonged and bravely borne struggle with cancer. Her loved ones were with her at the time.

Professor Maathai’s departure is untimely and a very great loss to all who knew her—as a mother, relative, co-worker, colleague, role model, and heroine; or who admired her determination to make the world a more peaceful, healthier, and better place.

Prof. Wangari Muta Maathai started the Green Belt Movement in 1977, working with women to improve their livelihoods by increasing their access to resources like firewood for cooking and clean water. She became a great advocate for better management of natural resources and for sustainability, equity, and justice. A synopsis of her life and work can be read here. Read more »

Filed under: 3rd party, Ecology, Environment, green, Green Party, international politics, News, nonviolence, Peace, politics, progressive politics, sustainability, third party | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Jeremy Gilchrist: Occupy Wall Street (We Are the 99%) video

Posted on September 25, 2011 by iwilder

From http://www.youtube.com/user/eyewall41: This for all those protesting in NYC as part of the Occupy Wall Street Demonstrations. Lyrics below:

They can take our money
They can take our homes
They can steal the future
Mortage our souls

Occupy the politicians mind
Buy the truth and sell us lies
Read more »

Filed under: Action Alert!, activism, Corporations, events, music, News, original music, video | Tagged: , , | 2 Comments »

Chris Hedges at Occupy Wall Street (transcript and link)

Posted on September 25, 2011 by kwilder

Chris Hedges speaks with the first incarnation of Occupy Wall Street.

Link to a youtube of the Chris Hedges interview: here.

(An interview on Sunday Morning 9/25/2011. Ended at about 12:15pm)

Chris Hedges stopped by the Occupy Wall Street encampment, and after a slow start, they fed him excellent questions. Great stuff. Sorry for the sloppy notes, typing in real time!

Most of these are quotes or approximate quotes from Chris Hedges:

“When you are afraid you think with a different part of your brain” … which is why we have to empower people.

The police are trying to intimidate you

While Social Media is good, ultimately, for activism, you have to put your body in the way of the machine

Those of us who care must engage in these acts of Civil Disobedience Read more »

Filed under: activism, News, nonviolence, Peace, progressive politics | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Occupy Wall Street: Sunday morning update…

Posted on September 25, 2011 by kwilder

For Sunday, October 30th update, go: here.
_______________

Update on Sunday, 9/25/2011 at 5:58 am:

Had insomnia. Wanted to be useful, so I watched the Occupy Wall Street video feed. There had been a rumor that at 10pm last night, something would happen. But, I watched until about 11pm, and all was pretty calm. Now it is 5:44 am on Sunday. There are a lot of people sleeping. A few people wandering around enjoying the scene, and the poster display. And, this group clustered around the lights and video doing Live Streaming.

Interesting stuff happening: Read more »

Filed under: Action Alert!, activism, new york, News, politics, progressive politics, social & economic justice, US Politics | Tagged: , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Occupy Wall Street protest continues: At least 80 people arrested

Posted on September 24, 2011 by kwilder

The Occupy Wall Street Protest continued on Saturday, September 24, 2011. There is an article at The Seattle PI: here.

In order to keep up with what is actually going on, I think it helps to look at media reports and protester reports, and balance them to what probably happened. At the Occupy Wall Street website, it is good to keep up with what is happening, but because they are trying to report fast, they have made some mistakes, and had to make retractions. Adbusters is the group that first called for the demonstrations. Adbusters has live streaming video of Occupy Wall Street and other of these nonviolent protests in financial districts around the world.

Regular news reports say that 80 protesters have been arrested, mostly for things like disorderly conduct. One person was arrested for allegedly assaulting a police officer, whose shoulder was hurt.

The Occupy Wall Street website says that the National Lawyers’ Guild say that upwards of 100 protesters were arrested.

Here is an excerpt, with action item phone numbers, from Occupy Wall Street: Read more »

Filed under: Action Alert!, activism, News, progressive politics | Tagged: , , , , , | 5 Comments »

mindblowingly amazing discoveries: Ginsberg’s Poetry Guide & The Queen transforms All the Lonely People

Posted on September 23, 2011 by iwilder

I officially declare today the annual day of mindblowingly amazing discoveries.  While I was wondering around I heard the song at the bottom of this post playing in a food establishment.   It took a few minutes to understand what I was listening too, and when I did I was blown through the walls.  It was like the first time I saw an actual Van Gogh in a museum.

An top of that my best bud DAK sent me this link for Ginsberg’s outline on writing poetry.  I was lucky enough to see him read at Adelphi University.  Very incongrous.  The weather was bad, but I am eternally grateful to my younger self that I went.  I remember him telling a story of being mugged.  They took his briefcase. Looked inside.  And threw it back at him complaining that there was only poetry inside.  Here is the post that contains his notes on writing poetry:

I think I have posted excerpts in drips and drabs of this before, and maybe someone has shared this elsewhere. Here’s a copy of a packet Allen Ginsberg used in his Poetics Practicum at Brooklyn College and probably Naropa, in the mid-1990s. It’s not mine; I got it from a poet friend, copied it, and made a PDF of it a couple years ago. Much of this is posted and published elsewhere, but to see this whole thing together makes me 1. wish I had him as a teacher, 2. miss him dearly, and 3. want to write poems again. Hopefully you might feel the same or just find it useful. Some technical notes: I took people’s names off it it and tried to OCR the puppy in my full version of Acrobat. I don’t know if text recognition works, but gave it the ole college try.

Allen Ginsberg, Poetics Practicum packet, c. 1995 [pdf]

via Allen Ginsberg, Poetics Practicum packet, c. 1995 [pdf]. « We Who Are About To Die.  Read more »

Filed under: music, News, politics | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Ben Jealous, the world will remember that you put petty partisan politics above the life of Troy Davis.

Posted on September 22, 2011 by iwilder

IW:  I tried to reply to an email from NAACP President/CEO Ben Jealous titled, “The World Will Remember Troy Davis.” Unsurprisingly, the email it was sent from does not allow for replies.  Below is what I wanted to tell Mr. Jealous:

The world will remember that you, Ben Jealous, put petty partisan politics above the life of Troy Davis. The Obama administration did nothing, and you stood there and made apologies for them while be interviewed live on Democracy Now! last night.  I wish there were  archived video or a transcript available of your comments stating that Obama has no power to intercede and that his Justice Department has tried to determine any way they could intercede.  It’s not that hard for Obama or his Justice Department to figure out.   In a case where 7 or 9 witnesses have recanted their testimony, the Obama Justice  Department should have initiated an affirmative investigation into the corruption surrounding this case.  And you, Mr. Jealous, should have called them out for not doing it.

Similarly, you refused to call out President Obama for personally supporting the death penalty in the video of the section of your interview that is available on Democracy Now!  Instead you tried to link Obama with Illinois abolition of the death penalty in his home state.  Here is my transcript of your conversation that followed with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!:  Read more »

Filed under: Action Alert!, activism, Barack Obama, Death Penalty, News, politics, president, US Politics | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Occupy Wall Street finally releases their one demand

Posted on September 22, 2011 by kwilder

Demands Update 10/2/2011: Directly below, is the first list of demands, as presented on September 22, 2011 by Occupation Wall Street. There is a new document. The link for a new document, agreed to on September 29, 2011 and published on September 30, 2011 is available at the NYC General Assembly website HERE, and in full text in the middle of this post.

_____________________________________
KW writes: My goodness. In a wise, creative, and mischievous response to the nasty rhetoric of the press, the Occupy Wall Street folks have answered propaganda with poetry. What a graceful maneuver in the struggle for social change. Beautiful and heartwarming!

For a discussion on the media’s quest for one, clear demand from the Wall Street protesters, the group created the following consensus document:

A Message From Occupied Wall Street (Day Five)
Published 2011-09-22 07:51:42 UTC by OccupyWallSt
at OccupyWallStreet.org

This is the fifth communiqué from the 99 percent. We are occupying Wall Street. Read more »

Filed under: News, Occupy Wall Street, progressive politics | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | 107 Comments »

Yesterday was some day…

Posted on September 22, 2011 by kwilder

So, yesterday was World Peace Day. And, Ian and I hoped to do some comment or post about it, but it slipped by.

Here are some things that took our attention on Peace Day: Read more »

Filed under: activism, News, politics, progressive politics | Tagged: , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Troy Davis is being killed right now

Posted on September 21, 2011 by kwilder

Update Wednesday night at 11:21pm: Troy Davis died at 11:08pm. The reporters allowed in are now telling what happened. For his last words, Troy Davis asserted his innocence, told the family he was not the one who killed their son, and then forgave and blessed the prison guards.
_____________

The government of Georgia and the Georgia prison officials are killing Troy Davis right now.

Thoughts, prayers, and meditations for Troy and his family.

Troy Davis died at 11:08 pm EST.

It’s over. Troy Davis has been killed by the Georgia State government.

Filed under: News | Tagged: , , | 5 Comments »

10:22PM – Troy Davis refused stay. Execution appears imminent.

Posted on September 21, 2011 by kwilder

At 10:22pm, Democracy Now! reports that the Supreme Court has denied the stay. It seems expected that Troy Davis will be executed soon.

Live Coverage at Democracy Now:
https://www.democracynow.org/

Filed under: News, progressive politics | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

Troy Davis: Live coverage on Democracy Now!

Posted on September 21, 2011 by kwilder

Update Wednesday night at 11:21pm: Troy Davis died at 11:08pm. The reporters allowed in are now telling what happened. For his last words, Troy Davis asserted his innocence, told the family of the man killed, that he was not the one who killed their son, and then forgave and blessed the prison guards.

Update Wednesday night at 10:22 pm EST:
Democracy Now! reports that the Supreme Court has denied the stay. It seems expected that Troy Davis will be executed soon. 

If you would like to see the final moments before Troy Davis’ execution – scheduled for 7pm EST –  from the point-of-view of the justice and activist community, you can see live, news coverage with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now!

Live video at the Democracy Now! website: here.

Interesting: Larry Cox, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA seems exhausted. He has been vigiling, and updating, and interviewing all night at the prison Troy Davis is being held in. Even Larry Cox’s hair is messy. Amy Goodman keeps up the interview. Someone from Amy’s staff read the Supreme Court statement to Larry Cox, and he characterized it as “cowardly”. Wow! Using that word was an act of bravery and/or exhaustion! Either way, the truth came out.

The Supreme Court decision was unanimous.

Filed under: Action Alert!, activism, News, progressive politics | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

Immanuel Kant: Standing Armies Should Be Totally Abolished

Posted on September 21, 2011 by iwilder
Statue of Immanuel Kant in Königsberg

Image via Wikipedia

3. “Standing Armies (miles perpetuus) Shall in Time Be Totally Abolished”

For they incessantly menace other states by their readiness to appear at all times prepared for war; they incite them to compete with each other in the number of armed men, and there is no limit to this. For this reason, the cost of peace finally becomes more oppressive than that of a short war, and consequently a standing army is itself a cause of offensive war waged in order to relieve the state of this burden. Add to this that to pay men to kill or to be killed seems to entail using them as mere machines and tools in the hand of another (the state), and this is hardly compatible with the rights of mankind in our own person. But the periodic and voluntary military exercises of citizens who thereby secure themselves and their country against foreign aggression are entirely different.

The accumulation of treasure would have the same effect, for, of the three powers – the power of armies, of alliances, and of money – the third is perhaps the most dependable weapon. Such accumulation of treasure is regarded by other states as a threat of war, and if it were not for the difficulties in learning the amount, it would force the other state to make an early attack.

via Immanuel Kant: Prescription for perpetual peace « Stop NATO.

Filed under: activism, News, nonviolence, Peace | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Wed. morn update: Occupy Wall Street protest

Posted on September 21, 2011 by kwilder

There is a brief update for Wednesday 10/19/2011: here
(Mostly – it is raining!)
______________

It is Wednesday morning, at 7:11am, live video shows that there is still an encampment.

At 7:21am, they say “Welcome to Wednesday”. The Live Feed says there was a record number of campers in the park, about 200 people. They are claiming numbers during the day at 400 or 500.

The speaker believes that there are still two people in jail, one from the “Stream Team”.

Business people are walking by and looking at the protesters’ signs.

At 10:16am: People marching in financial district with drumming, chanting “power to the people”. Speaker on live stream says that when the video was off, one person got arrested. There is also discussion that a 17 year old girl named Mariel was arrested yesterday, and that no one knows what is happening with her in custody. It seems to me to be at intense rumor situation. I will look for clarification and keep posted.

Read more »

Filed under: activism, local, New York State Politics, News, progressive politics | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

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