@Al Mollitor These people, men and women, seem happy, but they require a certain commitment and a certain belief: http://www.franciscanfriars.com/

TAO Walker, do any such organic human communities exist in America today? With all our rules, restrictions, regulations, zoning, etc. are such communities even possible? With the climate of the entire globe changing around us, where would such a group find refuge?

I think one thing that should be done is to include people who agree with Ron Paul
on America’s wars.

Because the doors of constructive legal actions are shut,
we must become the catalyst for hope and effective change,
otherwise the forces of destruction which have purchased
the behaviors of the powerful will determine the
annihilation of mankind….

Note how this seminal event got exactly no coverage from the mainstream media.

Thank you Chris, Daniel, Veterans for Peace and all those there at the protest.
Your hope is contagious and inspires me to put myself on the line as well.

It’s getting closer to “Party Time!” You know, like it’s 1968! It’s truly a shame that our first minority POTUS would turn out to be a member of the corrupt and criminal majority that continues to rule this fading empire!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5pgrKSwFJE

I aint marching anymore.
Thank you all for your courage.

Hedges and Ellsberg need to lead a political revolution for legislation of either an equal political party to represent the 70% Majority Common Population that are not being represented in the making and enforcing of law and order in the United States or Multiple Political Parties legislated equal with the Democratic and Republican Parties.  Going to jail doesn’t do any good without a political agenda.  Decrying war is not a political agenda.

Hedges and Ellsberg need to lead a revolution for a new political party or multiple political parties legislated in every way equal with the Democratic Party and the Republican Party to represent the 70% Majority Common Population, then going to jail will do some good.  As long as they think everyone is the Middle Class, they can not accomplish anything, because the problem is the Middle Class that sold the rest of the population out.

When those for whom a “message” is intended pay no attention because that precious capacity in them is owned already, lock-stock-and-barrel, by the same vested “self”-interests CONducting the protested activity in-pursuit of their own privateering pyramid-scheme, is there any other “point” to the demonstration except (too often “self”-righteous) “self”-satisfaction?  Do 131 captive “individuals” taken-in by the solipsistic fallacy represent even a “drop” in the vast sea of such domesticated Humans similarly fooled by the fever-dreams incident to the presence here of a retro-viral wannabe parasite?

Chris Hedges cavalierly limits his fella ‘n’ gal prisoners’ “choices” to only these kinds of futile symbolic gestures intended to show, if nothing else, what is already painfully obvious anyway.  The institutional apparatus has been long-since hijacked by the same gangsters who invented it in the first-place and who’ve always seized-upon the machinery of CONtrol to further their own narrow and “self”-obsessed agenda.  So that yet again these psycho-/sociopaths get to enjoy their sadistic game of “keep-away,” toying-with the “self”-deluded “....huddled masses” who remain CONvinced their own worsening troubles will be over if only they can get back a bit of what they once believed foolishly was their “own” little piece-of-the-action.  That just ain’t happenin’, however, here at the DEAD END of their long-time reign-of-terror!

There is, though, a genuine real bona fide Viable Alternative, tame Sisters and Brothers.  Forget the MotherEarth-fuckers.  They’ve named their poison, and She’s already administered a lethal dose.

Instead come together, where you live-and-breathe everyday, in Her aid.  Give your own precious Person-al attention to healing the hurts She has that’re right there before you.  Coalesce into those organic Human communities that are our natural form.  Recover the organic functional integrity, as Persons and as Peoples, available to us in no other Way.  Help one another to heal those many manifestations of the “civilization” disease process in your Person-al lives.

As a vital component in Her natural immune system, Humanity must BE The Medicine so many of its “modern” members still look for in-vain outside their own essential Human Nature, here in this latter Day.

HokaHey!

Hedges is my hero, now. 

Funny, there was mention of the protest on Huffington Post, (no mention of Hedges, though, so I wondered if he had been arrested) but no where else that I could find.

Thanks to godistwaddle for that comment about Pandora and her box. It’s well worth thinking about.

I looked pretty carefully through my Boston Globe yesterday (Friday) and could find no coverage of the protest or arrests. I was disappointed, but not terribly surprised.

“Walk upside-down inside handcuffs
Kick my legs to crash it off
Say okay, I have had enough, what else can you show me?”
BOB DYLAN

we all live on u.s or u.s-nato planet. there never was laws, americans, or even
america in america.

the regional diseases are well known: politicosis, santacism, obesity, cancer,
supremacism [cultural, personal, linguistic, regional], priesthood, schooling,
reporting, warfaring, exploitation, torturing, killings, cosa mias, cosa nostra,
constitutionality, waging ignorance-poverty, etcetc

these natural events have causes. a priest, politico, teacher, columnist, plutocrat
is not ever gonna look for them.

but why don’t we? one finds cause, say, for obesity or exploitation, we may be able to remove them; if one does
not look for causes one cannot find any; thus, cannot try to remove let alone
remove them! more cld be said. tnx

anthem;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGth8iG90j0

press on, over the back of every craven head.

I add my voice in thanks to these journalists and veterans as they are in the vanguard. Our government must be stopped, its course altered and this nation returned to the people.

Today the few, tomorrow the many.

Gulam, I don’t know where you get the idea that there are equivalencies of the number of blacks incarcerated in our penal system to those held as slaves in 1860. In the 1860 Census, there were appx. 4 million slaves in the US. This was roughly 13% of the total population of just over 31 million.

Currently we see 2.1 million Americans incarcerated. That represents 1 in 133 of the total population while 1 in 9 of the Black men in America between 25 and 29 are incarcerated!  In any regard, we have a healthy Prison Industrial Complex which as a component of our Oligarchical governance system continues to support rural communities which are predominately REPUBLICAN in their political orientation, to the detriment of our society as a whole.

It gives me hope that some of us are still trying, in spite of the odds against us. Thanks Chris, Daniel, Veterans, and others for your bravery and dedication.

Congratulations Chris Hedges, putting action where ones mouth was seems most Nobel, this is just a start I hope!

What war?

Veterans for peace has my support, now I realize even more so why I do not attend VFW meetings. I will find out more about Veterans for peace.

Merry Xmas everyone, the snow was a nice touch.

Mr. Hedges and others keep a flame burning.  John Jay Chapman’s Coatesville address was attended by three persons.

In the video, note that the product of a domestic war (“natural” gas that’s not natural anymore) fuels the buses that the police used to collect the protesting veterans of foreign wars they dragged away.

Which are the prisoners of war — the arrested veterans, or the arresting police?

y.a.w.n…

For once, I must applaud Chris Hedges.  As I watched Nancy Pelosi totally connive to prevent REAL debate on that insane tax bill, I was depressed.  Every day it gets harder to accept anyone in Congress as real.  When Al Franken voted for the tax bill I was disgusted. But when it was forced thru the House I was horrified.  Then these hypocrites all cheered saying they had reached a “compromise”—1 year of unemployment benefits for 2 years of tax cuts AND a reduced estate tax.

Maybe Hedges, Ellsberg and Assange are on to something. Maybe it’s time to go back to Square One and face the issues and the PTB the way Dr. King did.

Thank you so much, Chris Hedges and all who participated. You showed us the way: let’s hope this nonviolent confrontation is the beginning of many, many more to come.

There’s no hope in the Media Establishment. For example, The Washington Post’s Bob Woodward whitewashed the role of Gen. Stanley McChrystal in the Tillman case (see the post “Lies Borne Out by Facts, If Not the Truth” to learn how the NYT’s Thom Shanker did his part)

I tried posting the following comment on Andrew Exum’s Abu Muqawama blog post at CNAS (Washington thinktank pushing the Afghan War surge):

“… here I [Andrew Exum] am on the Diane Rehm Show yesterday [12-15-10].  I got a little testy when one guest made some statements about the insurgency without backing them up with hard evidence. …”
AM [Andrew Exum], I missed your appearance on the Diane Rhem NPR show.  However, I did speak briefly with Bob Woodward on Monday’s NPR Talk of the Nation (Congratulations,  besides a mention of you in his book, he placed your Abu Muqawama blog at the head of his list of “helpful” blogs (p. 419).

First, I asked Woodward about the backstory to Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s firing, referring to the two meetings held May 6 and 11th (pp. 352, 354 of “Obama’s Wars”) during which McChrystal received “strike one” and “strike two.”  Unfortunately, Woodward provided no juicy details about what was discussed during these meetings just a month before McChrystal was fired. 

Second, I asked Woodward to comment on how Gen. McChrystal’s key role in the Army’s cover-up of Pat Tillman’s friendly-fire death has been whitewashed by the Washington establishment.  Bob Woodward responded,”...of course, McChrystal was in the chain of command, … But he was not the hands-on person making that decision.”

“Not the “hands on“ person!  Really?  Unfortunately, I called up on the fly and hadn’t prepared my questions.  Here’s the question I should have asked Bob Woodward when I had the chance:
. . .

In your book, “Obama’s Wars” (p.154), you wrote that Gen. McChrystal had merely “... signed off on the Silver Star recommendation that suggested Tillman had been killed by the enemy ...”

However, Jon Krakauer in his book, “Where Men Win Glory” (pp. 334 – 347 paperback edition), described how Gen. McChrystal personally “administered the medal recommendation process” with a false narrative that “was painstakingly written to create the impression Pat Tillman was killed by enemy fire” and directly supervised the Ranger RGT officers who altered the two Silver Star witness statements.  The Silver Star recommendation was “fraudulent” by “any objective measure.”  [Note:  based largely on sworn testimony by Gen. McChrystal, COL Nixon, LTC Kauzlarich, and LTC Bailey obtained by FOIA].

Instead of merely having “signed off” on a piece of paper that landed on his desk, Gen. McChrystal had “orchestrate[d] what can only be described as a broad conspiracy to conceal Tillman’s fratricide ...” 

And it’s not just Krakauer.  In response to President Obama’s May 2009 nomination of Gen. McChrystal as Afghan war commander, Mary Tillman wrote in her book, “Boots on the Ground by Dusk”:  “Not only is he [McChrystal] lying about the circumstances surrounding Pat’s death, … he is proposing false language for the Silver Star narrative.” 

Mr. Woodard, were you uninformed of the facts of McChrystal’s role in the Tillman case, did your high-level sources deceive you, or were you doing your part to whitewash Gen. McChrystal’s central role in the cover-up of Pat Tillman friendly-fire death?
. . .

Andrew Exum, my final questions for Woodward applies equally to you.  In the past, you’ve contributed to McChrystal’s whitewash on your blog, unfairly trashed Krakauer’s book in your Washington Post review; you’ve certainly “made some statements … without backing them up with hard evidence”

For those interested in more details, see the chapter “He Who Shall Not Be Fact-Checked” in the post “The [Untold] Tillman Story” at http://www.feralfirefighter.blogspot.com.

“The normal mechanisms by which democratic participation are rendered possible in this country have been closed shut ...”

Spot on.  Another example is the Washington establishment’s whitewash of those responsible for the cover-up of Pat Tillman’s friendly-fire death.

The title of Jon Krakauer’s book, “Where Men Win Glory,” was taken from a line from “The Illiad”.  In his book, Krakauer portrayed Pat Tillman as an Achilles figure (with a bit of Odysseus thrown in as well).  Caroline Alexander,in her book “The War That Killed Achilles: The True Story of Homer’s Iliad and the Trojan War”, painted Achilles as an figure whose iconoclastic nature was whitewashed.

Jim Gourley, in a response to a post at Tom Ricks blog “The Best Defense” (http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/12/17/the_one_percent_problem_how_the_rich_ensure_they_dont_pay_their_share) wrote that “everyone else below the rank of E-9 get roasted as fast as we can get them to a court martial. But the officers who fudged the Pat Tillman investigation ... What happens to them? Somehow, the military finds an explanation for their actions.”

LT Uthlaut (First Captain, top of his West Point Class) was ordered to split his platoon, over his protests.  He was shot in the face by the same friendly fire that killed Pat Tillman.  Yet, he was offered up as a low-ranking scapegoat and kicked out of the Ranger Battalion for his “failure” to control his platoon during the Pat Tillman’s “friendly fire” incident.

What happened to the officers who had their “hands-on” the ensuing cover-up?  Gen. McChrystal was promoted three times ending up as a four-star.  The Ranger RGT commanders have all been promoted:  COL Nixon got his star.  LTC Bailey got full-bird (recently got his star).  LTC Kauzlarich got full-bird. 

And it’s not just “the military [that] finds an explanation for their actions.”  The entire Washington Establishment (per Andrew Bachevich’s “Washington Rules”) including both the Bush & Obama administrations, Congress, and the Press (including the New York Times) have whitewashed those involved in the Tillman cover-up.

I share the enlisted grunt’s perspective.  I was an Airborne Ranger LRRP for eight years and have been a firefighter the past 20 years.  Ironically, I was watching the HBO series “Generation Kill” today at the fire station.  “Back in the day” Nathaniel Fick was the LT of the Marine Recon platoon featured in the series (and book of the same name).  Now, he’s the boss man at the Washington thinktank CNAS pushing the Afghan War whose Andrew Exum (former Ranger officer) has also played a role in the whitewash of Gen. McChrystal.

. . .

If you’re interested in learning more, a good introduction is the fine documentary film “The Tillman Story” (out on DVD 2/1/11) which is in the final 15 for the Oscar Best Documentary.

If you’re more literate, I’d suggest reading Mary Tillman’s 2008 book “Boots on the Ground by Dusk” (paperback with new foreword at blurb.com) or Jon Krakauer’s “Where Men Win Glory” (7/10 revised paperback has much more detail on Gen. McChrystal’s role in the cover-up.
 
However, the film and books do not describe how the whitewash of Gen. McChrystal was a bipartisan effort.  President Obama and the Democratic Congress continued the Army & Bush administration cover-up.

And Chris Hedges alma mater, the New York Times, contributed to the whitewash as well; their Washington Pentagon reporter Thom Shanker carried water for the Obama administraton by “exonerating” McChrystal of all wrong-doing just prior to his 2009 Senate confirmation hearing.  And Andrew Exum at CNAS played a role as well.

For details, see “The [Untold] Tillman Story” at http://www.feralfirefighter.blogspot.com  There’s plenty of links to source documents, transcripts, etc. if you care to dig deeper into the story.

Hope is action—snerk!!  Hope was the worst of the evils in Pandora’s box, put in there so we would not off ourselves and escape the suffering, but rather continue to strive so that the gods (the rich and powerful?) can further laugh at our writhings in torment.

Highly commendable action on the part of these journalists, showing the way ... whilst the rest of us pass a wintry day, comfortably ensconced behind a keyboard whilst bitching-in-a-blog.

Power and Hope to the People!!

Gulam,

Your being silly.  Making more reasonable points now does not change the original statement I was questioning and still do not comprehend.

Look back at your original statement.  You essentially asked “what did the civil war accomplish?” if after all there are just as many Blacks in prison now as there were slaves at that time”.  Again, what the hell does that have to do with the analysis of whether the Civil War was worthwhile or not?  It is entirely different to now change the argument to “this slavery would have been stopped” anyway without the cost of this war.

Funny how things take shape in the United States of Amnesia. Give Mr. Hedges and Ellsberg credit for their convictions, even if some cynically sneer at how effective these actions are. If you think corporate oligarchic control of the press is a new phenomena, you obviously never read what David Halberstam reported in The Powers That Be, about what the Chandler family was up to, “steering” the news at the LA Times.

There was no WikiLeaks when Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution. The old school press went along with the sand pan gag. In fact, in those days, news was nearly always considered gospel. The Tonkin Resolution was overwhelmingly passed in August of 1964. The Pentagon Papers did not make NY Times headlines until 1971.

So those who attack Hedges and Ellsberg for protesting the rottenness of the constant war state, should remember that their objections are grounded in historical reality.

Don’t be silly. Of course I am not advocating the continuation of slavery. In that
particular form the institution was pretty much over by the end of the 19th
century everywhere. It did not take raping a third and more of the country in order
to stop it in the United States. The main thing is that it was not the business of the
men of Vermont and Ohio to run off on a military crusade to free them, just as it
was not America’s business to free the Vietnamese, the Iraqis, or Afghan women.
Who gave the Western empires the right to dictate morality to the world? We have
been a successful species, because we have followed wildly different survival
strategies. This whole push to declare international human rights standards is
totalitarian and dangerous in the extreme. The last thing humans need is to be
putting all their eggs, quite literally, into one basket, one massive market and
community with one grand Star Trek vision of the future with Guess Who? at the
controls.

Gulam,
“There are more blacks in the penal system in the United States today than there were slaves in the United States in 1860. So what did this…accomplish”

Wow, so you are rationalizing maintaining slavery with this twisted logic?  Yes, people are capable of exponential population growth.  Did it ever occur to you to compare apples to apples?  If so recalculate how many slaves there would be now compared to then if slavery had been maintained in your utopia.

Mr. Hedges was telling us just last week that we should be heartened by the
example of emancipation and the success of the Civil War, as if those horrors
had really liberated the blacks and were worth all of the hundreds of thousands
of lives and the destruction and domination of one part of the country. Today I
had a hunch, and it turns out I was right. There are more blacks in the penal
system in the United States today than there were slaves in the United States in
1860. So what did this “tramping out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are
stored” accomplish? If you Harvard men can still justify the Civil War you are
still part of the problem today, because the same rhetoric of human liberation
(for profit) was at work in Vietnam, and it still is the primary justification for
the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The liberal political tradition has since the “Enlightenment” been the handmaid
of the ruling oligarchy; it provided the scientific justification for the slave trade
and European colonialism. It provided the justification for rich Americans to
take their colonies away from Britain. Now they are pretending that, in a day
and age when all the traditional main-line press is owned by one small sect and
most of the internet is as well, the programmed electorate is free to vote its
conscience.  Protests that nobody knows about are still important, because it
makes those who participate feel that they have pure souls, and it keeps them
occupied. When George Bush was met with protesters in London, when he came
to talk war in Iraq, he said that we were going to invade Iraq so that protesters
could express their opinions that way in Baghdad. This kind of protest not only
does no good, it provides fodder for tyranny’s propaganda.

These theatrical stunts just help keep alive the illusion that the actions of
anyone besides the super-rich are of any consequence in the West today.
Enlightenment ideals of freedom of religion always did imply freedom from
religion, and it is illegal to teach any religious education in American public
schools, except of course for the Greek gods. Western ignorance of everything
related to religion, and especially the lack of understanding regarding Islam and
Judaism, make the West prey to those who would manipulate public opinion
regarding those still very-much-alive human traditions. Perhaps Mr. Hedges’
divinity school background would be of more use were he teaching Americans
about religion, his field of training, rather than trying to teach civics lessons.

Life in a prison cell may well be compared to Advent; one waits, hopes, does this, that or the other – things that are really of no consequence – the door is shut, and can be opened only from the outside.

— Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison, 21 November 1943.

Hopefully this brave act in combination with that of Bradley Manning? and Wikileaks can act as a catalyst for other such acts of “hell no, we won’t take it anymore”.  It takes a critical mass to be achieved for this to happen.  However, it is much more difficult now than in the 60s and 70s because the corporatized press.  Additionally, I am now struck now with the most likely explanation for what the government is up to to silence Wikileaks.  I believe they are seeking to threaten Assange with a long long imprisonment, and he will be offered an out if he stops further releases.  This is the only motive that makes much sense.

Thank you Chris, Daniel, and the other participants.  Oddly, it makes one feel some since of pride in the nations citizens.

Our corporate/government controlled media will ignore this of course. To them there is profit only in war, not peace.

Veterans for Peace, Mr. Ellsberg, Mr. Hedges and all who were there, thank you.

Right on, Man!

Bravo, Chris!  And cheers to all the others as well.