Photo by Pam M.

Today, hundreds of people gathered in Cesar Chavez Plaza today to protest against the excesses of the Corporations and Super-rich, and a call for reform. With various issues, but mostly a sense of serious dissatisfaction with the current state of the country and economy and society. The government has stopped working for the citizenry and instead for the corporations. The Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court, and an entire series of decisions going all the way back the 19th-century Santa Clara decision have given corporations more and more “rights” previously reserved for real human beings. The idea that cash is equal to speech is abhorent to natural human rights, and to the idea that all citizens are equal. If a corporation or super-wealthy individual can drown out all other conversations and ideas, then the best idea may not get heard, and the country cannot progress.

If Wisconsin’s protests are any indication, the Teapublicans are in for a very long two years. They want nothing less than a return to feudalism with a destruction of the middle and working classes.

Tomorrow the California Supreme Court will render it decision regarding the constitutionality of Proposition 8. There are Day of Decision events planned for all around the state.

• Check here for Day of Decision events.
• Check here for Meet in the Middle events set for 30 May at Fresno City Hall.

No matter which way the decisions go, we must be ready to celebrate or protest.  Do not be afraid to get arrested tomorrow if the decision goes against us.  Non-violent civil disobedience is important.

Thanks to Techno Cowboy for point me at this article. Scott Johnson is a whining like a child:

The Media Research Center detailed the teabagging references in an informative press release. The Huffington Post noted the references as well as more “jokes” in the same vein (including a video of Cooper’s jape, over which David Gergen cluelessly chortles).

While sitting in for Keith Olbermann on April 15, MSNBC’s David Shuster packed the teabagging puns into his report on the protests. Shuster is like a juvenile student who has commandeered the loudspeaker system at his high school to commit the prank of a lifetime. Maybe it was just a case of Olbermann’s writers feeding Shuster the same good stuff they usually give to Olbermann.

Andrew Sullivan is giddy; he seems to think the phenomenon is a big ball of fun.

There is something funny going on here, if not exactly where Cooper, Maddow and Sullivan find it. Cooper is widely reputed to be homosexual. Maddow and Sullivan are of course public homosexuals. It is funny in an ironic sort of way that these folks choose to disparage the tea party protestors from somewhere inside the homosexual subculture. Why not just call the protestors girly boys and let everyone in on the joke? Or would that spoil the fun?

via Power Line – An obscene insult.

Or Rachel Maddow pointing out the fact that the right-wing over on Fox News actually called their astroturf protest action “teabag the White House” – and that the commentators were only responding to the stupidity.

So, Scott Johnson, just because you didn’t bother to realize that your side actually started this by calling themselves teabaggers, doesn’t make this fault of Maddow, et al. Sometimes when you do something stupid, you laugh at yourself and move on, hopefully learning something in the process.

The victim, Oscar Grant, was face down, handcuffed on the cold, hard concrete platform floor, with an officer kneeling on his back or neck. The shooting officer draws his gun out of his holster, stands up, and shoots at essentially point blank range. But then look at the expression on his face: he looks down at his hand holding the gun, and the look on his face is one of shock, dismay, mortification. The officers don’t immediately call for medical attention, though. They flip the guy over onto his back, and at that point, the train upon which the videographer was filming takes off.

So, I don’t know what was in Johannes Mehserle, the now-former officer’s mind when he did this. But there are some good questions here, like why on earth does someone carry their gun and their taser right next to each other where the possibility of mistake is so high? Why did he draw his gun to begin with, even if he thought it was his taser, as he claims? The man in custody was handcuffed and face-down, and the other officer was kneeling upon him. He didn’t need to be electrocuted nor shot.

I don’t know if he meant to commit murder, but he did shoot an unarmed, defenseless man. Mehserle needs to go to jail for a good long time.

Current Mood:  angry

Why does a police department get to interrogate an 8 year old boy without his parent or attorney present?  This case should be immediately dismissed with prejudice.

When a people believe they have the right to deny civil rights to one group of people, the government takes that idea more steps further.  In a free society, this child would have never been questioned without an advocate present.

Thomas Jefferson was right: 

The oppressed should rebel, and they will continue to rebel and raise disturbance until their civil rights are fully restored to them and all partial distinctions, exclusions and incapacitations are removed.

Current Mood:  angry

Margaret Cho to emcee No on 8 Rally! 
Saturday, Nov. 22, 2 to 5 pm, State Capitol West Steps

Unity in Diversity… Equality for All!

Join GLBT individuals and organizations, PFLAG and our straight brothers and sisters at a peaceful outreach on the steps of the California State Capitol.

Please join us as we reach out to all the citizens of California to demonstrate that we will not tolerate discrimination to be written into our State Constitution!

Contact: n_kimutis@yahoo.com
tina@EqualityActionNOW.org

A Zipcar split four ways would be a huge bargain, if anyone wanted to go with me.  If you’re interested, let me know!

I did a search on Flickr on “join the impact” and here are the results… The protests were huge all over the country.

Saturday 15 November 2008, join the nationwide protest for Gay Rights. You can visit this website to find out where and when in your neck of the woods.