Three killed as Myanmar troops battle protests, Four killed in Myanmar protest crackdown, Five feared dead as Burmese Junta attacks protesters. AFP confirmed.

Would any of those *protesters* happen to be Monks? Yes, I'm afraid they would.

I've been trying to find more news from that region. Now I see from Reporters Without Borders why. There's a news blackout.

Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association are outraged by the measures adopted by the military junta to prevent journalists and activists covering the on-going crackdown on protests. Most of the country’s mobile phone lines have been cut and the Internet network has been drastically reduced. Charges by police and troops on demonstrators in Rangoon, especially near the Shwedagon pagoda, have left several dead, while dozens of people have been arrested and injured.

"The generals have not hesitated to use force to repress peaceful demonstrations widely reported in the international press," the two organisations said. "Knowing it is protected by China and the international community’s impotence, the junta has cut the country off from the rest of the world in order to better crush the nascent saffron revolution. We appeal to the international press to step up its coverage by trying to get journalists into the country so that this dramatic situation is not played out behind closed doors."

At 3 p.m. today, the military authorities disconnected most of the country’s mobile phone lines, preventing journalists and demonstrators from reporting on the crackdown launched by the security forces in the heart of Rangoon. Several journalists have been injured today, including Than Lwin Zaung Htet of the magazine The Voice.

The authorities have closed Internet cafés in Rangoon while the government-controlled Internet Service Provider, Bagan Cyber, reduced Internet traffic speed. It is getting harder and harder to send or receive photos and videos sent from Burma. Dozens of foreign journalists have been refused tourist visas by the Burmese embassy in Bangkok.

Burmese blogs, websites and Internet cafés have been closed for the past few days, while it is becoming increasingly difficult to call Burmese mobile phones from abroad, especially to Ba Maw, Mandalay and Myitkyina.

Outrageous!

JENA 6
"Thousands of protesters gathered in Jena, Louisiana, today to show support for the "Jena 6," six black teens charged in the beating of a white classmate. Today was the day Mychal Bell expected to find out his punishment for his alleged role in the beating at Jena High."

Bush: "The events in Louisiana have saddened me."

Thanks for sorting it all out for me, o mighty pontificator .

link

The White Rose Society
By Dorothy Snodgrass

Am I foolish to dream of a White Rose Society in this country to restore our honor and atone for the needless loss of American military and innocent Iraq’s?

Were it not for that distinctive T-shirt, it’s doubtful I would ever have known about the White Rose Society. But meeting a friend recently, I was attracted by his T-shirt. At the top there was a line of Arabic script, beneath that the phrase, “We Will Not Remain Silent.” I was informed that this motto dated back to 1943, when a small group of students at the University of Munich, sickened by the atrocities of the Nazi’s, especially the persecution of the Jews, formed a resistance movement, which they named “The White Rose Society.”

Spending almost an entire day at the Berkeley Public Library, and assisted by a reference librarian who was equally intrigued by this Society, I unearthed a wealth of materials, the most valuable being the book, “A Noble Treason: The Revolt of Munich Students Against Hitler.” Thanks to the librarian’s computer skills, I was provided with a print-out of all four leaflets written by these students—leaflets calling for German youth to overthrow the regime.

"The name of Germany will be dishonored forever lest German youth finally rise to smash [Hitler’s] tormentors and invoke a new, intellectual and spiritual Europe.” These leaflets were not the rabid ravings of wild-eyed radicals, but rather were beautifully-written, scholarly documents with quotations from Aristotle, Friedrich Schiller, Goethe and Lao Tzu. I was especially taken by the opening sentence in the First Leaflet:

“Nothing is so unworthy of a civilized nation as allowing itself to be ‘governed’ without opposition by an irresponsible clique that has yielded to base instinct. It is certain that every honest German is ashamed of his government.”

Given today’s shameful Iraq war debacle, might we not substitute “honest American” for “honest German"?

[Read More »]

The parallels to the Iraq slaughter are obvious and the writer asks: "Why are today’s university students not rebelling at the Iraq war and other injustices?" Go. Read the rest of this piece to find out what happens to these 4 students. Thank you, Dorothy Snodgrass. Outstanding piece of work on an exceptional group of students.

Related:
Read the leaflets
White Rose Society Martyrs
Protest of the Youth

I keep forgetting to post this...

Asheville Naked Bike Ride, part of the global World Naked Bike Ride began today in Asheville at 1:00 PM at the French Broad Food Co-Op on Biltmore Avenue. Ride as bare as you dare.

There is an Asheville Yahoo Group. There wasn't a bike ride last year, but 2004 and 2005 held them.

**Here we go. Updated June 9 @ 10:00p

PHOTO: Asheville Yahoo Group.

Global photos on Flickr of World Naked Bike Ride.

x-posted to Around Asheville

Asheville Cyclists Confront Bank of America for Investments in Coal Industry

Today dozens of cyclists paid a surprise visit to Bank of America to protest their financial backing of coal companies as a part of the International Day of Action Against Climate Change and G8. After tying up downtown traffic, the 30-strong bike ride descended on the downtown Asheville headquarters of Bank of America.

Once there, a number of people dumped coal in front of the main entrance, while another person spontaneously sacrificed their bike lock and locked the front doors shut. With police still not in sight, the bike ride continued on to another Bank of America branch, where participants plastered the bank in stickers, handed out flyers to customers, and held banners reading, "Stop Banking on Climate Change" and "Climate Chaos: Brought to you by Bank of America."

Outstanding!!

link | via | photos

More On The G8 Summit Protests

700 anti-war activists started a new settlement in two places on the planned bombing range at the Kyritz-Ruppiner Heide. The former command tower was painted in anti-militaristic pink, accompanied by a performance by musicians from "Lebenslaute" and over 100 clowns. Tons of accommodations for protesters. link

Here you can see underreported videos on g8tv, g8 radio transmissions, and get updates from the g8 protest timeline, see the anti-g8 camps, etc.

Links:
Dissent!-Network
G8 Podcast
G8 Protests Timeline
G8-TV
G8 Radio
Indymedia - Germany

ARTIST EATS A CORGI

In an extraordinary art event artist and animal rights activist Mark McGowan ate a Corgi dog live on the Radio on Tuesday 29th May 2007, in a protest against the Royals and their treatment of animals. The dog died at a Corgi breeding farm in Southern England and was prepared and cooked for McGowan's consumption on the Bob and Roberta Smith radio programme on 104.4 Resonance FM. McGowan says,

'I know some people will find this offensive and tasteless but i did this to raise awarness about the RSPCA's inability to prosecute Prince Phillip and his friends shooting a fox earlier this year, letting it struggle for life for 5 minutes and then beating it to death with a stick.'

All together now... EWWWW

Mark McGowan | Via | You Tube

No Honor For Andy Card

Outstanding!

link

Live from the electronic teat..... the Anti-War edition

* On March 19 the fifth year of the illegal, immoral, disastrous war in Iraq will begin. Activists across the country are mobilizing to mark the occasion with demonstrations, vigils and direct actions from Friday March 16 through Tuesday March 20. Add your voice to the rising call for peace: right here

* Congress is expected to vote on the bill to suspend operations at the SOA/WHINSEC in as early as May 2007. April will be a critical time for us to organize and make our voices heard.

This April 25-27, SOA Watch activists will organize local public fasts and events throughout the United States to educate the general public and members of Congress on the SOA/WHINSEC issue. link

* Activists 'Purify' Site After Bush Visit link

* 20 Arrested At SDS New York Counter Recruitment Action - link

* Do you have a protest or topical song available on the web? As of today Neil Young's Living With War website has 1430 song listings. Send your song link to: songs@lwwtoday.com

* Sign The Petition - The US Copyright Office has released their new set of rates for the payment of royalties by Internet Radio -- royalty rates so high that they will put RP and every other US-based indie webcaster out of business.

Quote For Today
"Those who love peace must learn to organize as effectively as those who love war." --Martin Luther King, Jr.

Anarchy in the DK

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) - Demolition crews on Monday started tearing down a disputed youth center that was at the heart of recent street riots in Copenhagen.

Workers wore face masks under their helmets to conceal their identities as an excavator tore into the so-called Youth House, a graffiti-sprayed brick building in the Noerrebro district of the Danish capital.

A police anti-terror squad on Thursday evicted squatters from the building, triggering three nights of clashes with leftist youth that turned parts of the city into a battle zone.

More than 600 people were arrested and more than 20 injured as protesters hurled cobblestones at riot police and set fire to cars and trash bins in Copenhagen's worst riots in 14 years.

Punk Status

The Youth House for years served as a popular cultural center for anarchists, punk rockers and left-wing groups. The squatters considered it as free public housing, but courts ordered them out after the city sold the building to a Christian congregation.

The building, which has served among other things as a concert venue and featured performances by big stars like Icelandic pop artist Bjork and Australian musician Nick Cave, was recently sold to the Christian group Fadershuset, which requested the eviction of the youths.

An August 2006 court ruling ordered the occupants to be evicted from the centre, which they insist belongs to them. Riots have also been taking place around the Freetown Christiania area.

Related:
Solidarity Action
CopenBlog
History
Comments
ungdomshuset

2 arrested for scaling billboard to protest power plant

Two local environmental activists protesting a power plant proposed for northern Buncombe County took over a billboard along U.S. 19-23/Future I-26 this morning. The residents are part of Rising Tide North America, a group dedicated to fighting the root causes of climate change. The protest lasted over three hours until local police and fire department forced them down.

Micah Lee, 21, and Abigail Singer, 27, both of Asheville, scaled the billboard around 7:30 a.m. and put up their own sign that read "Burning Oil Ain't Progress. No new Woodfin power plant." The sign, which the Asheville Fire Department cut down around 9:30 a.m., featured 3-foot-tall letters and was clearly visible to interstate travelers.

"Western North Carolina is already suffering from some of the worst air
pollution in the country. By building an oil burning plant that we don’t
even really need, Progress is choosing to endanger our health for the
sake of profit instead of making the necessary investments in energy
conservation and clean energy." said Micah Lee, a life-long Asheville
resident.

SEE VIDEO OF PROTESTORS

link//via//back story
x-posted to around asheville, blog asheville

2 Upcoming Films With Links To The 60s

Neal Cassady - From the bars of Denver to the Steel Mills of Utah to the avant-garde parties of Manhattan, across a nation whose heart is calling for a role-model, a leader, a hero... Neal Cassady's on the road again, and all his old pals are there with him--Jack Kerouac, Ken Kesey, The Merry Pranksters. They're searching for Neal's long-lost father, who holds the key to the great unwritten American novel. But in the end it's Neal alone, and in the rear-view fast-approaching are cops, groupies and the dark chimera of his own vanity.

Release Date: To Be Announced
link


Across The Universe - A love story set against the backdrop of the 1960s amid the turbulent years of anti-war protest, mind exploration and rock 'n roll, the film moves from the dockyards of Liverpool to the creative psychedelia of Greenwich Village, from the riot-torn streets of Detroit to the killing fields of Vietnam. The star-crossed lovers, Jude (Jim Sturgess) and Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood), along with a small group of friends and musicians, are swept up into the emerging anti-war and counterculture movements, with "Dr. Robert" (Bono) and "Mr. Kite" (Eddie Izzard) as their guides. Tumultuous forces outside their control ultimately tear the young lovers apart, forcing Jude and Lucy – against all odds – to find their own way back to each other.

I don't know if I would like this one or not. I've read that it's more like a series of punctuated scenes and characters each represented by a Beatles song - 32 in all. Too much of a musical for me...maybe it has more of a story.

Now the Neal Cassady film sounds promising because the people are interesting. Cassady, Kesey, Kerouac, the the Pranksters, of whom I thought were the end-all and be-all of the universe when I was growing up.

Release Date: September 28, 2007.
View trailer
Link

Molly Ivins, Columnist, Dies at 62

Molly Ivins, the liberal newspaper columnist who delighted in skewering politicians and interpreting, and mocking, her Texas culture, died yesterday in Austin. She was 62.

Ms. Ivins waged a public battle against breast cancer after her diagnosis in 1999. Betsy Moon, her personal assistant, confirmed her death last night. Ms. Ivins died at her home surrounded by family and friends. link

We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war. Raise hell. Think of something to make the ridiculous look ridiculous. Make our troops know we're for them and trying to get them out of there. Hit the streets to protest Bush's proposed surge. If you can, go to the peace march in Washington on January 27. We need people in the streets, banging pots and pans and demanding, "Stop it, now!" link

One hellraising writer and feminist is gone far too soon and I already miss her.

The campaign to force companies not to invest in Sudan is moving into new territory: your mutual funds.

For years, Sudan's Darfur region has been the scene of brutal militia attacks that have left hundreds of thousands dead -- violence described by the United Nations as getting support from the Sudanese government, and by the Bush administration as constituting "genocide."

At the same time, Sudan is home to investments by large international companies that are fixtures in many Americans' mutual funds and retirement plans.

Through its mutual funds, Boston-based Fidelity is the largest U.S. holder of American depositary shares in PetroChina Co., a Chinese oil giant with Sudanese projects. *Fidelity's Contrafund, one of its top performers, has the largest stake in PetroChina of any mutual fund.

*Some of you may have some of their 401K money in Fidelity's Contrafund. It's a very popular fund and has been one of the best mutual funds around for years. As a disclaimer, I personally made a nice sum of money in the early 90s due to my investing in Contrafund. Not anymore. Do look into your portfolio and if it's feasible, move your money away from Fidelity altogether.

There have already been some successes: In the past week, Siemens AG, the German electronics giant and a target of activists, said it would pull out of Sudan for "humanitarian" reasons by July. Some financial corporations are considering Sudan-free mutual funds.

There are ways for investors to see if a mutual fund has Sudan-related investments. The site sudandivestment.org includes a feature, "The Sudan Screening Tool," which evaluates fund holdings based on criteria related to Darfur. Another site, investedinterests.com, offers a similar tool that examines an array of issues, from Sudan to terrorism.

Look at Fidelity Out Of Sudan for email instructions and phone numbers to Fidelity. While you're there, consider signing the petition, which anyone can do, or call to voice your opinion.

(via: wsj)



North Carolina pension to divest from 9 companies linked to Sudan violence

RELATED:
11/26/06
01/18/06
07/30/04

Webtrail | November 28

Thich Nhat Hanh's Walking Meditation - Can you walk your way to a calmer mind, more resilient heart, and kinder soul? Walking Meditaion, a book CD/DVD set featuring Zenmaster Thich Nhat Hanh, and dharma teacher and principle author Anh-Huong ushered readers into becoming "fully present and alive with every step, filling each moment with peace and joy." link

* Syd Barrett - A public look (You Tube) at the now-for-sale home of the late Syd Barrett, at 6 St. Margaret's Square in Cambridge. This link probably won't be up much longer, but you can check out the array of his possessions up for bid this Wednesday; includes a variety of his bright colored, hand-painted furniture, a fake Christmas tree, notebooks and more. [via]

* President Bush Promises To Kill More American Troops, Ejaculate Into Iraqi Vagina: link

* Protest News - Police are to demand new powers to arrest protesters for causing offence through the words they chant and the slogans on their placards and even headbands. link

* Absinthe Spoons might be a nice gift for someone this season. Or the whole set of glass, spoon, sugar cubes. I may snap some up for myself. I have several absinthe glasses and zero spoons. link

* Quote Of The Day: What's the last thing you saw on Broadway? (the Dylan musical) "The Times They are A-Changin'. Very Cirque du so Lame." --Michael Musto (gotta love that queen)

* George Bush Quote: "The problem with the French is that they don't have a word for 'entrepreneur'."

* Today in Radical History: Nov 28 - 1944: Birth of San Francisco Digger, author Emmett Grogan.

One of the students involved in the production of the racially charged video that ignited a storm of criticism and protest at Texas A&M University, has issued an apology.

"First and foremost, my sincerest apologies to the Texas A&M community, but especially to the African-American community, and all others who have viewed the video," the student writes in an apology published in the university's student-run newspaper, "The Battalion."

The video in question shows a white student in blackface being disciplined by a second white student playing the role of a slave master with a belt. During the three-and-a-half minute tape, the student in blackface is put through a mock whipping and sexual assault.

The video sparked campus-wide student protests and petitions as well as a strongly worded letter of condemnation from Texas A&M President Robert Gates, who was nominated just last week by President Bush for Secretary of Defense.

How disgusting. Apologies like this are rarely any good. Anybody who has it in his/her heart and soul to act in this way as some kind of "joke" is a total waste of white meat.

The Blotter

Blogged with Flock

Vigil to Close the SOA/WHINSEC November 17-19, 2006

Together We'll Shut it Down!

This November 17-19, thousands will gather at the gates of Fort Benning, Georgia for the Vigil to Close the School of the Americas! Following on the heels of our first vote in Congress in seven years, this year's Vigil is shaping up to be a powerful time for movement building and an effective tool in the campaign to close the SOA/ WHINSEC.

See if there's a group in your area.

link

I bitch about the SOA a couple of times a year and I always find it hard to believe this annual protest doesn't get more buzz than it does.

New York Protests

SDS New York marched to the United Nations on Tuesday, September 19th, 2006 to protest the presence of George W. Bush in New York City. Bush, whom the SDSers regard as a war criminal, was in New York to "try to sell the world community a bill of goods - a handful of irrational, unbelievable, excuses for acts of barbarism in Iraq and elsewhere - committed in the name of the people of the United States", said Lauren Giaccone of Pace (University) SDS. John Cronan, also from Pace SDS, said: "we are also sending a message to the anti-war movement - it is time that the students' voice be heard as we are the group that is most directly affected by Bush's murderous policies".

link

SDS Pace was the first chapter within SDS New York to endorse the "Number The Dead" protest - held on September 17th, 2006 on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue. They were followed by MDS New York. Members of New School, Pratt and UCF SDS. The goal was to have 2700 participants stand along the east side of Fifth Avenue - in a human chain extending from 8th Street to 98th Street.

Yoko Ono donated 3000 buttons that stated: "Imagine Peace" - these were distributed to participants by the organizers. At the event, each participant held a placard that contained the name of a dead US soldier or stated "11,000 Iraqis". A documentary film crew videotaped the vigil. More photos by Fred Askew

Tuesday - September 19, 2006 - 17 Arrested at UN Rally

So exhilarating to see the students pick up the torch as they organize their SDS chapters and take it to the streets.

link

THE UNDERGROUND PRESS

Did you ever read/see any of the great underground newspapers of the late 1960's - mid 1970's in the US? There was The East Village Other (NY), The Great Speckled Bird (ATL), Black Panther, Berkeley Barb (Berkeley, CA), LA Free Press, The Paper, of East Lansing, Michigan, and many more?

I was a faithful Speckled Bird reader. We bought these most of the time from people on street corners in Atlanta; on the corner of 14th St, where all the other freaks hung out. As surely as you'd see a Bird vendor around there, you'd also see someone selling flowers for a small fee to wear in your hair or wherever. And you knew who was selling "what" "where". And someone was in a doorway playing guitar; a few bumming spare change passing by. All waiting for the next musical, sexual, or pharmaceutical experience.

Receiving The Last Whole Earth Catalog was a spiritual experience. Sort of a hippie Sears catalog and was one of the very few books we had at Peace Tree (a lakeside commune in Tennessee) when we first began. It was all about survival, metaphysics, learning to grow organic, live natural, how to build a shelter-- how to build or make just about anything. Stewart Brand (Burning Man) was the founder. We've still got one around the house someplace.

Many college libraries have some of these newspapers on Microfilm. Some are for sale on Ebay. Why are there no equivalent newspapers/websites? "Where is that one great progressive balls to the wall website that has it all?" Music, protest and boycott info, in-depth interviews, sex (& relationships), drugs, literature? more»

from the archives

New Neil Young Album Is Finished
Filmmaker Jonathan Demme, who filmed the award-winning documentary 'Neil Young: Heart of Gold,' writes in an e-mail to Harp Magazine, "Neil just finished writing and recording – with no warning – a new album called 'Living With War.' It all happened in three days." How rock ‘n ‘roll is that?

Demme continues, "It is a brilliant electric assault, accompanied by a 100-voice choir, on Bush and the war in Iraq…Truly mind blowing. Will be in stores soon."

Details are pretty scarce, but the featured track, titled "Impeach the President," features a rap with Bush’s voice set to the choir chanting “flip/flop” and the like.

Link

~:|:~ ~:|:~ ~:|:~ ~:|:~ ~:|:~ ~:|:~ ~:|:~ ~:|:~ ~:|:~

UPDATE: Cyndy at Mouse Musings pointed me to these following sites. From the Living With War site, I found Down With Tyranny, written by the man who used to be the president of Reprise Record Company and has add'l Neil Young info. That's where I found Justice Through Music, who is launching a new campaign called Harmony Vids to motivate artists, bands, filmmakers and others to create a whole series of new protest videos. Watch George Bush lies by the Violent Femmes, Counting Bodies by A Perfect Circle and more.

THE DEATH OF KEVIN CARTER

An Oscar nominated film with a South African connection is the short documentary "The Death of Kevin Carter", by Dan Krauss.

Carter was a member of the "Bang-Bang Club" of photojournalists who became (in?)famous in the early nineties for their work covering violence in the townships.

*In 1994 Carter won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for this image of a starving child in the Sudan.

For a more complete description of Carter's dark but fascinating life visit this link, or buy the book "Bang-Bang Club" (highly recommended).

[via: South Africa Blog]

*I guarantee that you'll never forget that photograph.

Stew Albert 1939 - 2006

Berkley 1968 - Portland 2002
Stew Albert a prominent anti-Vietnam war activist, an early supporter of the Black Panthers and a founder of the Yippie radical protest group, died Monday at age 66 in Portland, Oregon.

Initially diagnosed with Hepatitis C, he spent a whole year enduring grueling chemotherapy. He spoke openly about it on his website, documenting each day and each weekly shot. He was finally declared free of the disease only to be diagnosed with liver cancer this past December. The ultimate Fuck You. (My sister passed away this past Thanksgiving also from liver cancer from Hep C.) We spoke thru email about Hep C, how it sucked and how the treatment felt worse than the disease. I was always inspired by his spirit. From 1968 in Chicago throughout his life. People with true 60s ideals are a rare breed. Tom Robbins said, Disbelief in magic can force a poor soul into believing in government and business. Stew certainly believed in magic.

On his website...from Judy
"Stew will be buried tomorrow (Wednesday) in Jones Pioneer Cemetery in Portland. He will be wrapped in a tallis (Jewish prayer shaw), holding a stuffed flower from the Haight and wearing his kick-ass Frye boots and our wedding ring."

There are beautiful sentiments expressed on his website, Bay Area Indymedia, Infoshop News, SFGate, and on Counterpunch.


More On Hepatitis C
Allen Ginsberg died from complications of it. Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead, and David Crosby of Crosby, Stills, & Nash, both had liver transplants and still suffer from it. Ken Kesey, author of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, suffered from it and died of liver cancer in 2001. Penny Arcade, the 55-year-old performance artist for the East Village avant-garde art scene since Andy Warhol roamed the city, also suffers from it.

Miles Keaton Andrew, a 52-year-old author who contracted it when he experimented with intravenous drugs as a teenager, has kept a blog, www.mkandrew.com, since 2001 about his experiences battling H.C.V. His blog has received a million hits in the past year. “I understand the whole stigma thing,” he told The Villager. "There are a lot of people like me who might have experimented with drugs. Some of us got sick from it and it isn’t anything to be ashamed about."

Hep C Life After Interferon is another blogger who documents his experience with it.

2 Things You Can Do Now To Help Darfur

What will you tell your grandchildren you did during the Sudan genocide? A grassroots movement is taking place in North Carolina. North Carolina is the 14th State in a growing coalition of States to have filed or passed divestment legislation.

Across our community concerned individuals are supporting House Bill 1294, which calls for divestment of North Carolina public funds from companies that do business with the Sudanese government.

*1) Please support this effort by signing an on-line petition


Dear President Bush,
During your first year in the White House, you wrote in the margins of a report on the Rwandan genocide, "Not on my watch."

I urge you to live up to those words by using the power of your office to support a stronger multi-national force to protect the civilians of Darfur.

*2) Send Postcard To George Bush

"Scrota Contra Vota" (2000-) is a form of radical political comment for 50 percent of the elective population.

Your scrotum counts!

Attention, male individuals (biological and/or gender)! Please undress and sit down on a flat bed scanner and scan your scrotum. Anatomize the hi-res JPEG to monochrom via email. As a form of protest, monochrom reserves the right to send these digital images to various public people of political interest.

NSFW - Obviously, a site full of scrotums in all their glory won't be safe for work. But for the curious, take a peek and see if you recognize anyone. heh heh

Link

No Direction Home: Bob Dylan On TV in the US tonight and tomorrow night - (PBS)

For the first time, The Bob Dylan Archives has made available rare treasures from its film, tape and stills collection, including footage from Murray Lerner's film Festival documenting performances at the 1963, 1964 and 1965 Newport Folk Festivals, previously unreleased outtakes from D.A. Pennebaker's famed 1967 documentary Don't Look Back, and interviews with Allen Ginsberg, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Maria Muldaur, and many others. In anticipation of the film, members of Dylan's worldwide community of fans also contributed rarities from their own collections.

With this rare footage from his archives and from fans, count me in.

Bob Dylan

Link

9/26/05-Edited To Add--DO NOT MISS
Being a Dylan fan enables me to hear one of his songs and recall the specific year it came out, what album it was on, the chords it's played in, and where you first sang it or learned to play it on the guitar.

Having watched, read, and listened to most anything Bob Dylan's ever done, Part 1 of this PBS special had much I'd never seen before. What immediately struck my husband and I first was the depth and candor in which Dylan spoke as if it were just him and you chatting one on one.

When word prophet Allen Ginsberg returned from India to hear Hard Rain for the first time, he wept. It was the time of passing the torch from one generation of poets and bohemians to the new era of songwriters and protest singers. In that context I remembered myself in teenage years discovering who I was, and seeking guidance from the poets that were prophets, and the singers who were worshipped.

Vegans file lawsuit over surveillance at ham store

By JILL YOUNG MILLER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 09/23/05 They don't eat ham. And they don't like to be spied on, either. The story begins outside a HoneyBaked Ham store on Buford Highway just before Christmas 2003.

Vegans Caitlin Childs and Christopher Freeman were arrested after a protest at a HoneyBaked Ham store.

That day, two vegans — vegetarians who eat only plants and plant products — were wrapping up an animal cruelty protest with a handful of other vegans when they noticed a man in a CVS pharmacy parking lot taking pictures of them.

After the ham protest, Childs and Freeman walked over to the mysterious man's car and wrote down his license plate number. When they drove off, they noticed the car following them.

They pulled into a parking lot at a Mexican restaurant. The car and a police car pulled in behind them. The vegans were ordered out of their car and told to hand over the piece of paper with the tag number on it. Childs refused and was handcuffed and searched. She and Freeman were arrested for disorderly conduct and jailed.
[More »]

This case illustrates the overreaching of homeland security by monitoring clearly peaceful protesters. This is a poor allocation of resources and chills free speech.
Thanks Carol

Buy Your Gas at Citgo: Join the BUY-cott!

Looking for an easy way to protest Bush foreign policy week after week? And an easy way to help alleviate global poverty? Buy your gasoline at Citgo stations.

And tell your friends.

Of the top oil producing countries in the world, only one is a democracy with a president who was elected on a platform of using his nation's oil revenue to benefit the poor. The country is Venezuela. The President is Hugo Chavez. Call him "the Anti-Bush."

Citgo is a U.S. refining and marketing firm that is a wholly owned subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil company. Money you pay to Citgo goes to Venezuela -- not Saudi Arabia or the Middle East. There are 14,000 Citgo gas stations in the US. By buying your gasoline at Citgo, you are contributing to the billions of dollars that Venezuela's democratic government is using to provide health care, literacy and education, and subsidized food for the majority of Venezuelans.

Instead of using government to help the rich and the corporate, as Bush does, Chavez is using the resources and oil revenue of his government to help the poor in Venezuela. A country with so much oil wealth shouldn't have 60 percent of its people living in poverty, earning less than $2 per day. With a mass movement behind him, Chavez is confronting poverty in Venezuela. That's why large majorities have consistently backed him in democratic elections. And why the Bush administration supported an attempted military coup in 2002 that sought to overthrow Chavez.

So this is the opposite of a boycott. Call it a BUYcott. Spread the word.

Of course, if you can take mass transit or bike or walk to your job, you should do so. And we should all work for political changes that move our country toward a cleaner environment based on renewable energy. The BUYcott is for those of us who don't have a practical alternative to filling up our cars. StoreLocator

So get your gas at Citgo. And help fuel a democratic revolution in Venezuela. Link

(Related: Chavez maintains that the DEA has been using the fight against drugs as a pretext to gather intelligence on Venezuela. [more »])

Inside Stones Info

The title of the album is not yet decided. The album and the tour will have the same name. For now we just call it the "On Stage" album, as this is the official name of the 2005/2006 world tour. A total of 18 songs have been mixed in Los Angeles. The mixing was finished by June 28, and then Don Was, Mick and Keith went straight into mastering the day after. Songs that may appear on the album:

* Oh No, Not You Again
* She Saw Me Coming
* Neocon

The song "Neocon" has got a political message about moralism in the White House.

Very interesting....they don't usually do the protest or political thing.

Link

Day 12 On Hunger Strike for Darfur - On June 30, 2005, Nathan Kleinman went on a hunger strike to raise awareness of the ongoing genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan. Since February 2003, an estimated 400,000 people have died due to violence, starvation and disease. More than 2.5 million people have been displaced from their homes and now live in camps lacking adequate food, shelter, sanitation, and health care. It is time for the international community to take action. Click for picture; Link

In June, CNN, FOXNews, NBC/MSNBC, ABC, and CBS devoted over 8, 000 segments of coverage of trivial matters like the “runaway bride,” the Michael Jackson trial, and actor Tom Cruise. Meanwhile, the same stations aired only 126 segments on Sudan. via

London. It was such a terrible thing and my heart is heavy with sadness. And hopelessness. Hopeless because there's nothing I can personally do to make it better. So I find something I feel I can make a difference with and that helps me deal with most the inadequacies in the universe. I vote. I march. I protest. I speak out. I send emails and write letters. It doesn't seem like much sometimes, but it helps me cope and I don't feel so hopeless. Besides, I've seen it work before.

"There will be no rescue, no intervention... you must shame them to action." (from Hotel Rwanda) The obscene tragedy in Darfur IS shameful. From the actions of the killers to the inaction of world leaders to insist on stopping it.

*You can Take Action Now by visiting this site, putting in your zip code and a letter will be ready for your signature along with the email addresses of your area newspapers and television stations. A couple of clicks will get your voice to the editors and managers of your local media.