UC Berkeley plans massive rally 11-15-11

OccupyBerkeley.org

Occupy Cal has not gone anywhere. Tents were destroyed and teenage students dragged away by "storm trooper" style police in jack boots. In outrage students are holding teach outs and a general student strike. People -- supporters, faculty, graduate student teachers, Occupy Oakland (who are marching to Cal in support), Occupy San Francisco, and UC students -- will not stand by for 1960s history to repeat itself as the country (empire) is again engaged in secret wars around the world and strip mining the planet from its base on Wall Street and anti-environment corporations (Monsanto, ADM, Halliburton

• Occupy Yale
  
• Student loans add to angst at Occupy Wall Street
• Bank of America expects $1.8 B gain from Chinese bank
• Is "Occupy Rose Parade" organizer former corporate lawyer?
• (Susan Swift) We can put a face behind the Occupy movement -- and it appears to be a wanna-be one percenter. Peter Thottam is the creator of Occupy Los Angeles and also the progressive force behind Occupy the Rose Parade.

  

  Thottam’s been planning this occupation disruption of the Rose Parade for the last six months — at least that’s how long he’s had the “Occupy the Rose Parade” Twitter feed going. Ironically, Peter Thottam is a Goldman Sachs alum, an Ivy-Leaguer, and former corporate lawyer from an international mega law firm, and recent MBA grad. Yale, Boalt Hall Berkeley Law, and UCLA MBA. Does this sound like a community organizer or a one percenter? While Peter Thottam’s CV reeks of Wall Street elitism, his bio depicts someone grabbing for the corporate brass ring. But he is strangely unwilling or unable to keep a job at such elite corporate employers as Goldman Sachs or O’Melveny and Myers.

Oakland re-attacked by Police (video)

Wisdom Quarterly, RT.com, Global Grind,

(RT) Nov. 14, 2011 - The City of Oakland paid for 1,000 paramilitary troops in this planned take down. Now police in occupied Oakland have cleared out a re-formed occupation after threatening Occupy demonstrators with more heavy handed violence.

Oakland PD and agents from other San Francisco Bay Area cities encircled the downtown encampment before dawn and moved in at about 6:00 am. They escorted handcuffed protesters away soon afterward to be imprisoned, strip searched, humiliated, and potentially violated further.

• Eyewitness: Occupy Oakland raided again
• Storm Troopers hit one Oakland camp, leave other
  
• Student loans add to angst at Occupy Wall St.

The police state action comes a day after police attacked hundreds of Occupy Wall Street-style demonstrators from encampments in Portland, Oregon arresting more than 50 people. Oakland officials insisted on an end to their city's encampment using the pretext that a man was fatally shot Thursday near the camp.

Scott Olsen regains (free) speech

War veteran/peace activist Scott Olsen releases statement

Berkeley (Occupy Cal), St. Louis, Salt Lake City, Eureka, Denver, Albany (NY), Riverside, Portland, and other camps have been attacked as part of an organized suppression campaign.

• PHOTOS: Can police end occupations and save Wall St.?
• PHOTOS: Occupy Oakland and Wall Street solidarity
• VIDEO: Crackdown on UC Berkeley student protest
• Keystone Tar Sands: Ring Around the Rose Garden
  

Power to the People Film Series


(Theendofpoverty.com)

• Police clear Occupy Oakland tent city

  (San Jose Mercury News) Police cleared Occupy Oakland early Monday in what has so far been a peaceful raid. Hundreds of protesters gathered at... More
• Occupy Oakland: Pre-dawn raid on Frank Ogawa Plaza
• #OWS: The Most Important Thing in the World Now
• Special Report: Food for the Soul at Occupy LA
• Vatican City's gay love triangle murder
  
• How do we dismantle rape culture
  
• Capitalism versus the climate
• Racism in the Occupy Movement?
• Occupy Wall Street and its offshoots have been catching flak for being so "white." Occupy Atlanta is no exception, getting off to a rough start...when a civil rights movement hero-turned-Congressman stopped by to offer his support, only to be waved off by the mostly white G.A.

Police shoot cameraman on video

Ernest A. Canning (BradBlog.com)

New video has emerged, courtesy of ThinkProgress, of an apparently unprovoked Oakland police officer shooting a cameraman during a recent stand-off with Occupy Oakland demonstrators.

In an email to The BRAD BLOG, Sgt. Christopher Bolton, Oakland PD's Chief of Staff, confirmed that the incident involved an "OPD use of force," which took place at 16th Street near San Pablo Ave. in Oakland on the morning of Nov. 3, 2011.

The matter was "under investigation." (Recall that a general strike took place in Oakland on Nov. 2. This event, according to the cameraman, took place shortly after midnight.) More

• INN World Report radio's Wall St. Teach-In
• VIDEO: Scott Walker gets checked after betraying voters
  
• Wolf: The people versus the police (CNN)
• Second Iraq Vet critically injured by Oakland PD
  The police's violent Oct. 25 crackdown on Occupy Oakland demonstrators sent another vet to surgery, one who wasn't even protesting...
• City Council hears testimony on Occupy Oakland
• The Oakland City Council heard hours of emotional testimony on the Occupy Oakland encampment and the city's brutal crackdown. Supporters urged a resolution opposing police brutality.

(democraticunderground.com)

Occupy returns, police clamp down (video)

The Blaze, The Guardian, Wisdom Quarterly, RT, SF Chronicle
Minute 2:00 shows Wisdom Quarterly analyzing what is motivating the police state.

Tear gas was used in a military action against peaceful civilian protesters under the pretext of shooting at, arresting, destroying the encampment and materials, and brutalizing them for their own good. Like the My Lai Massacre, the police are "destroying them to save them."

A crowd of roughly 400 Occupy Oakland protesters clashed with police Tuesday evening while trying to reclaim a campsite that they had been ousted from earlier in the day. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the crowd marched from the public library toward [Oscar Grant] Plaza at about 5:00 pm, vowing to confront police.

(The Blaze/Jonathon M. Seidl) - We’ve already brought you some pictures and video from the Occupy Oakland eviction last night, but this morning it seems things were much worse.... police used [deadly, canon-style projectile] rubber bullets on the crowd. Intrepid blogger Zombie put together a collage of videos and pictures the seem to capture the full chaos of what happened. Here’s how he describes it in his piece, “Rioting in Downtown Oakland as Occupiers Clash with Police”... More

Police shoot Vet, toss grenade at people who come to his aid

(Guardian.co.uk) Protesters have returned to downtown Oakland, California, to demand the resignation of the city's mayor and an investigation to explain how an Iraq war veteran, Scott Olsen, was hit in the head by a teargas canister at close range, leaving him critically injured [skull fracture, brain swelling]. About 2,000 people -- half as many as Tuesday night -- massed in front of City Hall on Wednesday, tearing down a steel barricade intended to keep them off the grass in [Oscar Grant] Plaza. More

Police storm Occupy Oakland (video)

Marcus Wohlsen (AP), Huffington Post, Wisdom Quarterly, Occupy Oakland

Paramilitary tactics on a peaceful civilian demonstration? It's what US police have been waiting to unpack as they take us from Brave New World Order to Orwellian nightmare.

OAKLAND, Northern California - Shock and awe. Police in full riot gear with tear gas and three helicopters overhead cleared anti-Wall Street Occupy Oakland protesters this morning (Oct. 25) from the plaza in front of Oakland's City Hall where they have been camped out for about two weeks. TV news footage shows numerous people in plastic handcuffs being led away from the site by police around after the 5:00 am raid. The protesters did not appear to be resisting, although an officer did fire a [potentially deadly] non-lethal projectile from a shotgun at a protester who lobbed a bottle, authorities told the San Francisco Chronicle. More

• Occupy Together
• Occupy Berkeley: End the Monied Corruption of Democracy
• Occupy San Jose
  
• Occupy San Francisco
• Occupying the Message (Right-wing style)

This morning at 5:00 am over 500 police in riot gear from cities all over central California brutally attacked the Occupy Oakland encampment at the intersection of 14th & Broadway. Riot police attacked the peaceful protest with flash grenades, tear gas, and [deadly canon style] rubber bullets after moving in with armored vehicles. Apparently, the media was not allowed in to document this repression, and one was warned or allowed to leave. Police established barricades as far apart as 11th and 17th. Over 70 people were arrested, and the camping gear was destroyed and/or stolen by riot police. Contact the mayor and tell her what you think of her actions.

• Reconvene today (Tuesday, Oct. 25) at 4:00 pm at the Oakland Library on 14th & Madison.
• We're not finished. We have only begun.
• We will be protesting this planned atrocity at the next City Council meeting.

• Riot police occupy Oakland, evict protesters (CBS)

Occupy Together vs. The Police (cartoons)

Wisdom Quarterly, Occupy Everywhere Demand Nothing, Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Los Angeles, Occupy Boston, Occupy San Francisco, Occupy Tokyo... Occupy TOGETHER
Officer Cartman: "You will respect my authority!" (Runescaper443*)

• CLICK IMAGES FOR VIDEOS

PHOTOS: Occupy Los Angeles (UPI.com)

Hippie InfestationSOUTH
PARK

Occupy Together

Wisdom Quarterly
Occupy Los Angeles has cooperated with police requests on where to squat and what space to leave open. Amazingly, things have remained peaceful. Usually, the LAPD is eager to riot, arrest, and brutalize. Fellow at work forces in New York, Boston, San Francisco, Yemen, Egypt, Syria, Greece, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and other places that feel the Arab Spring resonate with the American Fall. The police see to it because the motto of a police state is "We don't want to have to tell you twice." You have no rights -- unless you assert them. What gets into Little Eichmanns/Officer Cartmans? It is a different view of the world from that side of the line, where punitive, obedient, conservative, oppression, and (often) hypocrisy rules. Many officers are ex-military or active-reserve agents of the state. They are trained to humiliate, brutalize, and kill civilians in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Northern Africa, and in other secret "kinetic actions." They take that training into American society saying, "I fought in Afghanistan for your free speech, so the h*ll if I'm going to stand here and let you mouth off!" Officer, isn't that a contradiction? "You will respect my authority!" Deploy pepper spray, baton, Taser, tear gas, less-than-lethal projectile shotgun, disorienting EMF emitter, microwaves, semi-automatic handgun, automatic weapons, water canons at will. Why? It is because, as we learn from an observation by the Dead Kennedys, "Police can riot all that they please."

Diverse issues invite diverse solutions at Occupy LA; clip from "Hippie Infestation."

*Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976: "Allowance is made for 'fair use' for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational, or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."

Karma Police: Protesting in 1984 vs. 2011 (video)

Wisdom Quarterly

(Against Apathy Blog, video by Earley15, "Karma Police" by Radiohead) Occupy SF

• LIVESTREAM: Occupy San Francisco
• Food Not Bombs.net: Cooking for Peace
• LIVE VIDEO: Occupy Los Angeles
  
• Occupy Los Angeles: "American Spring"
  

History is very educational. If we learn from it, there is no need to repeat it. Some gods say there is nothing new under the Sun. And back in 1984, the hardest workers among the other 99 percent of the British population went on strike. How most people viewed the action depended on how the mainstream media portrayed it.

Those who saw it from the side of police and bankers (funding the police and politicians) sympathized with the right. But when images started to emerge from the side of the demonstrators, suddenly people could sympathize with striking coal miners. At least the miners had a job.

• AUDIO: Who is Occupying Wall Street? (SCPR)
  

US citizens, dissidents, students, and rabble-rousers who are occupying Wall Street are usually sinking into debt with or without a job. When they protest, to begin with people blame them. But as time goes on, it becomes clear that society (the banking-credit-debt system) will be upheld by paramilitary forces (peace officers) brutalizing anyone standing up for civil rights, economic fairness, constitutional rights, equality, or even basic human rights.

(SH) How does Wall Street feel about protests? Unidentified occupants watching from on high in balconies along Wall Street sip champagne and watch the show (Source).

What are the bankers up to as poorly paid blue collar police do the dirty work of holding white collar crime in place?

• Wall Street mocks protesters by drinking champagne 2011
• Occupy Wall Street movement has grown quickly
• "Occupy Wall Street" gains institutional cheerleaders
• Occupy Wall Street; The Romper Room Revolution
• "Occupy LA" protesters take residence at LA's City Hall
• What is "Occupy LA" really protesting?
• Occupy Wall Street
• Tumblr: We Are the 99 Percent

Bay Citizen: 99 percent occupy NY and SF

Against the Grain: Anarchy and Zen

David Kupfer (The Sun Magazine, June 2011)

Performers in New Delhi with innovative moves and the Buddha as backdrop (mayankpandey)

Actor Peter Coyote suggested we meet for this interview at his home north of San Francisco. Nicknamed “the Treehouse,” it has a striking view of Mount Tamalpais and is close to Golden Gate National Recreation Area and San Francisco Zen Center’s Green Gulch Farm. It is a long way from Hollywood, where Coyote has worked since 1980, appearing in more than ninety films and television programs. He says that he is “a Zen Buddhist student first, an actor second.” He will be ordained as a Zen priest in August.

Coyote has had an eclectic life, having done everything from farming to being a stockbroker. A self-described “socialist radical hippie anarchist environmentalist,” he’s seldom without an opinion on an issue and never one to hold back his views. Born Rachmil Pinchus Ben Mosha Cohon in New York City in 1941, Coyote took his stage name from an experience he had while taking peyote in the Southwest. He has been socially and politically engaged since the age of fourteen, when he volunteered for the Adlai Stevenson presidential campaign in Englewood, New Jersey. Coyote’s passion for progressive reform continued at Grinnell College in Iowa, where, during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, he helped organize a group of twelve students to travel to Washington, D.C., and protest nuclear testing. They fasted for three days outside the White House before President John F. Kennedy invited them in to talk with National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy.

After college Coyote joined the San Francisco Mime Troupe, a guerrilla street-theater group still in existence today. He and some of his fellows from the mime troupe went on to form the Diggers, an anarchist group that “acted out” its ideas of what culture should be, questioning the core values of capitalism and distributing free food to runaways in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco, sometimes feeding hundreds of people a day. They also ran a Free Store, a Free Clinic, and even (briefly) a Free Bank. The Diggers evolved into the Free Family, a network of communes around the country pursuing an alternative economy and culture.

Coyote is the author of the memoir Sleeping Where I Fall: A Chronicle, a portion of which won a Pushcart Prize. A new book, about what he calls the “present mass hypnosis afoot,” is currently in revision. More

"Sugar: The Bitter Truth" (video)

UCSF Mini Med School for the Public [7/2009] [Health & Medicine] [Show ID: 16717]

We have an "epidemic" of obesity. It can't be that our genetics have changed in three decades to account for it. It can't be that we're suddenly lazy, for there is now an epidemic of obese six-month olds. We exercise more, and yet we're fat. We eat in moderation, and yet we're fat. Why? It's what we eat. The food industry has changed it, and the government has gone along. For instance, they have filled soda with salt. But we do not taste that salt. They cover it with sugar (14 teaspoons worth). The average American is now secretly being fed 141 pounds of sugar, which has been denatured and made into a toxin on purpose. Our leptin (the satiety hormone) systems have been disrupted. We have been deprived of good fats (unadulterated, raw, and unprocessed) and been stuffed with carbohydrates, in liquid form and as fluffy starch. It all adds up to a compelling talk: "Sugar: The Bitter Truth."

(UC Television) Robert H. Lustig, MD, University of California San Francisco Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology explores the damage caused by sugary foods. He argues that fructose (too much) and fiber (not enough) appear to be cornerstones of the obesity epidemic through their effects on insulin.

• Fats That Heal, Fats That Kill (Udo Erasmus)
  
• Why We Get Fat And What To Do About It (Gary Taubes)
• Normal regulation of blood glucose (insulin vs. glucagon)
  
• UprisingRadio.org (May 11, 2011)
  
• Ian Masters (May 10, 2011)
  
• UC Television (uctv.tv)