Prison hunger strike succeeds...

at one prison, continues at others
Don't worry, peaceniks, it's a "non-lethal" weapon... unless I choose to shoot y'all in the face, which is my right because (I can say) I feel threatened -- even though I have a gun, reinforcements, and am specially trained to control, corral, and torture.

Tortured on the street and finished off behind bars. That is what US citizens can expect due to living in the freest country in the world, which the entire world envies. Of course, we are only the strongest empire. We are far from free. As we stand in solidarity with one another, 99 percent of us, we will first be stripped even of the appearance of rights. Police have official permission to riot, to provoke, antagonize, torture, and then to arrest and retaliate for the trouble they have been put through.

Those who sit on juries will sympathize with PR firms, legal consultants, county prosecutors and the tales the three concoct. But as the people occupy Wall Street and every major city in the country, there is hope that we can turn these human rights abuses around. The lowliest among us, our prisoners, have stood up to the outrages of officially sanctioned torture. And there may be a modicum of justice as the internal policing mechanism investigates itself.

The other hunger strike solidarity prisons have not even been granted that, so the protest continues. Meanwhile, on the streets of now more than 1,000 US cities, the occupation is on. Los Angeles in particular catches our attention, even though recently Occupy San Diego and Occupy Wall Street faced mass arrest for not moving on demand. Some unlucky LA demonstrators may soon find themselves in the very hell we have been protesting. Most citizens of the empire (that's us) do not care a whit about "prisoners." We may start when we suddenly find ourselves judged, juried, and waiting to be executed by a Sheriff guard having a bad day.

U.S. widens inquiry into abuse at L.A. County jails
Robert Faturechi and Jack Leonard, Los Angeles Times
Unconvicted men at the LA County Jail are routinely abused by sheriffs. The Sheriff's Department runs the jail under Lee Baca with rookie trainees who are forced to first work as guards to harden them for abusing suspects, minorities, and other "undesirables" and covering up such crimes once on the street.

Sheriff's Department seeks to curtail the extent of subpoenas, which seek data on workers since 2009. Federal authorities have widened their misconduct investigation into the Los Angeles County jail system, demanding internal Sheriff's Department documents detailing deputies' use of force on inmates over several years, as well as other records.

Sheriff's officials balked at the size and scope of the subpoenas when they were served several weeks ago and are negotiating with federal prosecutors to reduce the number of documents they must produce. More

• Code of silence among jail guards hinders abuse probes, watchdog says
• ACLU files suit over alleged racial profiling of students
• Convicting an officer is a tough challenge, experts say
• Full coverage: Jails under scrut

Panchen Lama visits Tibetans in remote China

He's just as good as the other guy. You will worship him, autonomous Tibetan serfs, for the glory of the state.

BEIJING, China (AP) - A Buddhist spiritual leader who was installed by China's communist government when he was a boy has visited a major Tibetan monastery in the latest attempt by Beijing to [enhance] his religious credentials.

The Panchen Lama is the second-ranked religious leader to Tibetans, after the Dalai Lama. But Tibetans generally do not accept this Panchen Lama because he was appointed by Beijing, while the original boy selected by the Dalai Lama in 1995 has not been heard from since.



The official Xinhua News Agency on Tuesday quoted the Panchen Lama as saying he was impressed with the amount of religious freedom enjoyed by Buddhists in the area surrounding the Labrang Monastery in western China's Gansu province.



With cues from the LAPD and former police chief Bratton, Chinese soldiers are getting the hang of how to keep Tibetan monks in line. It is said that more than 2,000,000 Tibetans have been killed so far. Bratton is currently in Britain teaching police their how to "re-educate" London protesters.

Punk Rock made me a Buddhist (video)

P. MacPherson, D. Seven, A. Wells, CC Liu (Wisdom Quarterly)

A Japanese punk scene across the sea later created cyberpunk masterpieces that focused on punks and freaks of all kinds (cinemastrikesback.com).

LOS ANGELES - Punk rock made me a Buddhist. A few hot spots in America (Boston, NYC, SF) gave rise to the American version of "punk," now devolved into pop-punk and bubblegum rock.

But it was once a rebellious act -- something that would get you arrested, beaten in Hollywood by riot police (LAPD/OCPD Gone Wild with a license to assault, jail, beat, and even shoot).

OC police now engage in brutality as bad as that of their brothers in blue next door -- killing for sport. RIP Kelly Thomas of Fullerton (abclocal.go.com).

I always thought police hated punk rock. But it seems what they hate are kids, freedom, rebellion, youthful exuberance.

Police/paramilitary troops (many back from active duty in the military killing freely in Afghanistan and Iraq) stand stiffly wielding sticks, covering their badges, deploying all sorts of "toys" -- Tasers, concussion grenades, choke holds, mace, tear gas, non-metal projectiles (that cause serious injury and death while claiming to be nonlethal, but lethality completely depends on how they are used), horses, military assault rifles, shotguns, revolvers, mace, and secret stuff (using microwaves and infiltrating provocateurs).

What's it to do with Buddhism? Like the liberating Dharma itself, punk goes against the stream. I didn't join Noah Levine in his movement. I didn't wait for Keanu Reeves to make a movie about it. And I was no Brad Warner fan, nor even a student of "Zen," except as articulated by Alan Watts on KPFK, the city's only free speech radio outlet. Their were genius front men like Jello Biafra, the person with the most integrity, to be inspired by. There were the Buddha's own words to go by, particularly the Kalama Sutra.

Steven Blush has documented what the music was really like at the time:

American Hardcore: Steven Blush Interview

Siran Babayan (Feb. 3, 2011, Live in L.A.)

"Hardcore is a Complete, Legitimate California-born Music Form"
In his 2001 compendium, American Hardcore: A Tribal History, New York writer and former promoter Steven Blush all but dispensed with your dad's glamorized spit-scabs-and-safety-pin punk, instead focusing on hundreds of DIY, anarchic hardcore bands from the scene's peak between 1980 and 1986, proving that this was one genre of rock that wasn't fun and games, especially when the crowd is trying to light the singer on fire.

While Blush interviewed the music's usual suspects, including the Dead Kennedys, Misfits and Bad Brains, a substantial amount the book is not surprisingly dedicated to SoCal, from Hollywood to Orange County to the South Bay of Black Flag and SST.

Or, as Blush rightly identified, where "American hardcore was born..." (Bad Brains singer H.R.'s interview in the accompanying 2006 Sony Pictures Classics documentary took place at Griffith Park with a quinceanera in the background).

For the book's second edition, which includes more interviews, flyers, and a new chapter, Blush hosts a readings/discussion at Book Soup today, with Keith Morris (Black Flag, Circle Jerks), Tony Cadena (Adolescents), Lisa Fancher (Frontier Records), and photographer Edward Colver. Before he left the frigid cold for sunshine, we caught up with the author and talked local pride:

• How did the book come about?
  

I started in the mid-'90s when the punk revival had happened with Green Day, Offspring, and Rancid. Everybody was talking about hardcore, but it had never really been documented. There was never any written lore other than fanzines, and some great ones, like Flipside in the L.A. area and Maximumrocknroll in San Francisco, notably. More

Rave Riot: LAPD vs. EDC primiere

Wisdom Quarterly (SPORTS COVERAGE)

(Wisdom Quarterly) Kaskade invited everyone to a private EDC movie primiere and block party, but too many ravers came. When a patrol car was damaged, LAPD overreacted as is common in Los Angeles. Police fired deadly projectiles at the crowd to retaliate for the burning of the LAPD vehicle and to cause panic and mayhem. Riots and more planking are likely to recur tomorrow night when Lady Gaga arrives to film an appearance/performance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," which is filmed very close to Grauman's Chinese Theatre near the same Hollywood intersection. A few miles away in downtown LA, the Summer 2011 X Games began. (Watch X Games launch on ESPN)

"Electric Daisy Carnival Experience" movie leads to crowds and oppressive police reaction. This view from seven floors up looks down on the massive gathering overtaking the venue (Hollywood Reporter)

(The Hollywood Reporter) Police brought out riot gear to calm down the unruly crowd outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Police donned riot gear to calm down an unruly mob in Hollywood at the world premiere of Electric Daisy Carnival Experience on Wednesday night.

According to Los Angeles' KTLA-TV, DJ Kaskade called for a "block party" outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre: "Today@6pm in Hollywood @Mann's Chinese Theatre. ME+BIG SPEAKERS+MUSIC=BLOCK PARTY!!! RT!" he tweeted.

"Literally thousands and thousands of kids showed up for this thing," reported Tim Conway Jr. of Los Angeles radio station [and Coast to Coast affiliate] KFI. Riot police shut down Hollywood Blvd. and ordered the crowd to leave. But many refused -- because they did not know why they were being turned away. The event was not cancelled; it had reached capacity. They started fighting, throwing bottles, and allegedly set fire to a cop car, KTLA reported. More

The annual corporate event has gotten so big that it was moved to Las Vegas this year.