The Corporate Elite are Standing Dead Wood

I don't know if you've ever been in an area of old growth forest, but often you'll come across a stand of trees that look like they are solid, but they are totally dead and rotten. They are filled with termite poop and dust, and even though they may be 6 feet around, a gentle nudge is enough to send them crumbling into piles of dust.

Stop The Machine- Day 7 - It's Raining

go to October2011.org and help us get tents and ground mats and stuff!

STOP THE MACHINE- Day 6

Get your ass down here!

The Smithsonian pepperspray incident

Here is footage of the spraying as it happened from OpEdNews.com

h/t @CodePinkAlert

And here are a few mainstream media stories that need correction:

Fox News reports that "At least one" person was pepper sprayed. Not the case. 12-15 people were sprayed.

This article from the Washington Post takes the Smithsonian at their word that protesters were told that they could not enter carrying banners. That is false.

The protesters were not told anything. I was inside the museum when this happened. After the first three people entered the vestibule, the security guards rushed the doors, started shoving people, and the use of pepper spray was almost immediate. The protesters were told NOTHING. They were simply met with force, and sprayed with mace.

I also recieved word that the New York Times article on this story first took the Smithsonian's word that "only one" protester was sprayed. We talked with them, and it was later changed to "12-15". Since last night, they've dropped any mention of pepperspray from the article altogether. The New York Times is doing a lot of story changing-- about the kettling on the Brooklyn Bridge, and now about this incident with the pepper spray at the smithsonian air and space museum.

Stop The Machine- Day 3

So we went to the Air and Space museum to do a silly little demonstration. We were going to do a banner drop at the drone exhibit, a display of military fetishism that our tax dolars pay for.

I had gotten ahead of the march with my camera to video tape us entering the lobby. What happened instead was just insane.

The security guards rushed the entrance like linebackers, shoving people out the doors, flailing their arsm, pushing people in the face, and then pepper-sprayed the crowd, including women like Linda Wiener, 54, of Portland Oregon, from no more than a few inches away from their faces. In the ensuing chaos, the guards sprayed a few of their own. One security guard, seen in the video above, was choking on the pepper spray, and remarked, "God, that stuff is nasty."

Yeah, no shit.

I was pushed out of the lobby into the still-hanging cloud of pepper spray. The air was impossible to breathe. If you've ever put a 9volt battery to your tongue, that's what it felt like, but in your eyes, your nose, and your mouth and lungs. I ran outside of the cloud of spray, took a deep breath of air, and ran back into the crowd of people being flushed and treated by our first aid team.

I had no idea things were going to go like this. I figured we might be denied entry, but to be maced? Really? They shut down the museum for the rest of the day. That wasn't our intent. Our intent was to do a silly little banner drop and die-in. Pure theater.

Instead, our theatrical demonstration against unlawful use of force, was met by an unlawful use of force. Ironic.

Stop The Machine! Day 2

I have a little bit of down time, logging and capturing footage. It takes a while, so I guess I'll write a blog entry.

One question that is coming up over and over again is this: How far are we willing to go?

It's almost entirely without question that we all agree that we will remain nonviolent, but in order to separate this occupation of Washington DC from every other rally-- how far are we willing to go?

Also, the Food and Water committee needs to get their shit together. Right now Food Not Bombs is serving food, but that can only last for so long. I went to their committee meeting for a little bit (filming, as a journalist) and they were talking about food sovereignty, High Fructose Corn Syrup, GMOS and Monsanto.

That's not the point of the food and water committee. THe point is to get fucking FOOD, and fucking WATER to the plaza so we don't die. There were only five of them.

I think as soon as Food Not Bombs runs out of food, people might pay a little more attention to this rather pressing issue.

REVOLT! Dennis Trainor Jr of NoCureForThat and ACRONYM, LIVE at Freedom Plaza

Just got done editing and uploading this for No Cure For That.

TODAY IS THE BEGINNING

Things I've learned today:

1) Apparently my mobile uploading thing for this page doesn't work. In the middle of uploading video from today. Going to edit Dennis Trainor Jr's speech from Occupy Wall Street today.

2) P2 cards are incredibly expensive. We've only got 4 of them for two cameras. The reason for that is they are about $500/ea. If you want to help the No Cure For That documentary team out, please go to http://nocureforthat.org/ and click that donate button.

Why help us buy more p2 cards? Well, they take a long time to upload footage, and if we currently only have enough space for 2 hours per camera. Our HQ is about 20 min away from the plaza, and the occupation of Freedom Plaza is going on 24/7, and we're trying to capture as much as possible for this documentary.

I'm in the middle of logging four 64gig p2 video cards, and it's taking me about an hour per card. Oi. Then backing them up... If we had four more, that would give us the flexibility to send a member of our team back to log footage on our external HD, and then wipe the cards and bring back fresh recording media so we can keep shooting.

3) DC is a sweet city. I really really like it here. I've visited many times, but I've never lived here before.

4) Lee Camp is taller in person than I thought.

5) Medea Benjamin is shorter in person than I thought.

6) DC cops will clear the streets for you if you have a spontaneous march.

7) Junkyard Empire kicks ass live.

ON THE ROAD TO DC

A going away present from a friend of mine:



Oh yes.

New Anon Communique: Occupy Everywhere

You don't see that somethings wrong earth's spinnin outta control / Everything's for sale even souls / someone get God on the phone/ Northside/ Southside / Shits poppin off Worldwide

- The Roots, Rising Down

[VIDEO] Nobody Can Predict The Moment of Revolution #occupywallst

We want to share insights into the formation of a new social movement as it is still taking shape in real time.
The video was shot during the 5th and 6th day of the occupation.
This idea to occupy the financial district in New York City was inspired by recent uprisings in Spain, Greece, Egypt, and Tunisia
which most of us were following online.
Despite of the corporate media's effort to silence the protests, and Yahoo's attempt to to censor it in e-mail communication,
the occupation is growing in numbers and spreading to other cities in the US and abroad.
Please forward our video to likeminded people via email, facebook, twitter - and make the voices of dissent circulate.

Find the latest news, learn how to participate and support:
https://occupywallst.org/

Serbia and Egypt: The Legacy of "ОТПОР!"

From Deutsche Welle

The Serbian anti-regime youth movement Otpor is an inspiration to the Tunisian and Egyptian demonstrators who recently took to the streets to call for greater democracy in their countries.
In 2000, the activities of the student-led Serbian uprising, Otpor! led to the overthrow of dictator Slobodan Milošević.Some of its members went on to set up the Centre for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies, which provides training and workshops for pro-democracy activists in countries such as Egypt, Tunisia and Iraq. They teach the importance of following an idea rather than a person: and of having stamina and faith in peaceful change. And these days, student protestors can use the Internet to get organized.

Nonviolence and Democracy

October 2011, Why I Will Be There

I made this video in 2009:



Some stuff has happened since then.

I made this video earlier today:

[Music] The Whole F**king Thing Is Coming Down

Lyrics:

Hedge funds, derivatives, tea pot dome
wall street gambling, using your home
congress isn't gonna do a single fucking thing
because their campaign contributions all come attached to strings
The Democratic Party is a failing institution
what we need now is a real revolution

The United States is a global empire
The Factory owner is a fucking vampire
sucking wealth from the poor
committing wage theft
who will work for you when we've starved to death?

CHORUS: And the whole fucking thing is coming down x4

I work full time in a factory
but that doesn't mean I can afford to eat
I've got student loans, but no degree
so I'm gonna die working at a machine
No health insurance, we're all temporary hires
so if we get sick we'll just hurry up and die

wages so low we can't afford the rent
so we have to rely on the government
but the rich man doesn't want to pay his taxes
so the social programs, they'll all get the axe
we don't complain, we don't bitch
the only thing we've got left to eat is the rich

CHORUS: and the whole fucking thing is coming down x4

October 6th Documentary

I just pledged some $$ to help Dennis Trainor make a documentary.

And I'm writing this blog entry to ask you to pledge ONE DOLLAR.

Why?

First, every dollar counts. And more than every dollar, every person counts.

Increasing the number of people who pledge will show that this documentary has popular support when Dennis approaches the bigger donors.




Dennis's goal today is to get 100 people to pledge in small dollars amounts- so please take a moment right now to pledge as little as ONE DOLLAR - and then share this message with your friends!

THIS IS JUST DAY 2 OF THE PLEDGE DRIVE for a feature length film that tells the story of arguably the most urgent and ambitious protest movement of a generation (at least in the U.S.), and I am asking you to pledge and share this with people in your network who might be inclined to help fund this project.

- More than $1,500 raised in day one.

- Pledge a buck today!

Thanks for doing this!


link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/736352510/taking-freedom-plaza

Sign the pledge

From Dennis Trainor:


I've signed. I'll be there. So will:
Col Ann Wright
Anthony Arnove
Baldemar Velasquez
Ben Manski
Bhikkhu Bodhi
Bill Moyer
Bill Quigley
Brian Becker
Chris Hedges
Coleen Rowley
Cornel West
Dave Rovics
David Himmelstein
David Lindorff
David Swanson
Debra Sweet
Dennis Trainor, Jr.
Diane Wilson
Diane Wittner
Elaine Brower
Ellen Barfield
Ellen Davidson
Glen Ford
Howie Hawkins
Jack Balkwill
Jane Hamsher
Jodie Evans
Joe Lombardo
Kevin Zeese
Larisa Alexandrovna
Larry Pinkney
Lisa Simeone
Margaret Flowers
Maria Allwine
Matthew Rothschild
Medea Benjamin
Michael Prysner
Mike Ferner
Nicole Sandler
Rabbi Michael Lerner
Ray McGovern
Rev. Graylan Hagler
Richard Grossman
Rob Kall
Rosa Clemente
Russell Mokhiber
Scott Horton
Sibel Edmonds
Steffie Woolhandler
Tarak Kauff
Ted Rall
The Yes Men
Thom Hartmann
Vicente Navarro
Watermelon Slim
Zach Choate