Behind Blue Eyes's Open Salon Blog

Another Hero at Occupy Wall Street

Sun, 9 Oct 2011 09:10:43 -0400

(Source)

There are meetups in over 1179 cities and counting for Occupy Wall Street protests.

If this man can do it, so can you.

Even if for only for a couple of hours.

It will give you something to post on OS.

Two Heroes at the Occupy Wall Street Protest

Thu, 6 Oct 2011 09:10:11 -0400

(Source)

Rare Journalistic Truth

Thu, 30 Sep 2010 07:09:58 -0400

Harper's Washington editor is quitting to go to work for George Soros and his candor is unusual. Read on for some unvarnished truth about the Obama regime, the corporatocracy, and the bullshit that is our political class.

Signing Out

By Ken Silverstein

This is my last post here at Washington Babylon and I’ll be leaving my position as Harper’s Washington Editor (I will remain as a contributing editor to the magazine). I’ve received a fellowship at the Open Society Institute and will also be leading special investigations at Global Witness, which has offices in London and in Washington. My work for both will focus on long-term international investigations.

I moved to Washington in 1993, when a young, new Democratic president replaced George Bush and promised to reform politics and be a transformative leader. Backed by huge majorities in Congress and with public opinion squarely in his corner, he had the opportunity to shake things up and change American politics. Instead, he and his party squandered their chance through timidity, weak leadership, a lack of any original ideas and their refusal to confront special interest groups.

Here we are seventeen years later and there’s a young, new Democratic president who replaced George Bush and promised to reform politics and be a transformative leader. Backed by huge majorities in Congress….

Well, by now you can probably guess where this is heading.

I had low expectations for Obama as I always viewed him as a fairly conventional insider. But by any measure, his presidency has been a huge disappointment. It’s true that Obama inherited a terrible economy, but his policies were timid — which is no surprise given that his economic team was composed almost entirely of the same bankers and Wall Street insiders who paved the way for and profited from our bubble economy. There are now 43.6 million Americans living in poverty and more than 15 million out of work; that’s a scandal, and when there’s a Democrat in the White House and the party has ample majorities in Congress, it’s not credible to blame everything on obstructionism by the Republicans.

Then there was the health care reform bill, that took more than a year to pass and whose primary beneficiaries were the lobbyists who got paid billions to water it down. The bill does almost nothing to control costs and left the insurance industry in charge of the system. And for that very reason, the industry will be able to contrive loopholes that minimize the impact of the few good measures left in the bill.

Joe Biden and Robert Gibbs have recently been attacking the “left” and saying that it doesn’t appreciate all the great things the administration has done. For my part, I have lived in Washington long enough to have realistic hopes; for example, given political realities, passing a single payer bill was not going to happen. But I also don’t think it’s my job, as a journalist or a citizen, to blindly repeat the mantra of the administration (and its supporters in the blogosphere), that we should “not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” Fine, but let’s also not treat the administration’s health care plan as a grand achievement. The bill is widely unpopular, and not only because of the hyperbolic attacks on it by Republicans and Fox News. It’s unpopular because it’s a terrible piece of legislation.

The current GOP is truly a scary party, but if not for that it would be impossible to care about the midterm elections. When you’re reduced to rooting for soulless hacks like the current Senate majority leader—and he’s typical of today’s Democrats—you’ve lost something fundamental at the core of your humanity.

So as you can tell from all this, I just no longer have the energy to cover Washington. I’ve loved working for Harper’s, but, as I told Mediabistro, “Washington and Washington politics has worn me down. Every time I write a story I feel like I wrote it a year ago and five years ago and 10 years ago. Nothing ever changes here.” I frequently find myself numb to political news and, even worse, to the lifeless, conventional wisdom peddled by the Washington media. When you can read an entire column by the Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz and never once feel the urge to cut out your own heart with a dull knife, you know that you no longer have the sense of outrage that is essential to reporting from our nation’s capital.

Anyway, I’m not trying to suggest that journalism isn’t an admirable profession. (And anyone who thinks otherwise should look at the amazing work that the Los Angeles Times has done on the situation in Bell, California.) As the media landscape changes, non-profits and foundations are increasingly coming forward as the institutions willing to underwrite intensive investigative journalism. At Global Witness I’ll continue working under that admirable, sustainable model that I’ve been proud to be a part of at Harper’s, in whose pages readers will see me again very soon.

Many of you recall the extremely long post I kept up for months titled:

How does all that Hope and Change taste now? (Update 47)

Just because I stopped updating that post doesn't mean Obama has cleaned up his act. If anything, his administration has gotten worse. Just because you don't hear about it on the local news, here in the OS bubble or on cable, it doesn't mean he has stopped being a war criminal, eroding the Bill of Rights and catering to his corporate masters. The swindle continues:

This week the Obama administration declared that it has to right to kill you, and that you have no right to know why it wants to kill you or prove that it should not, because killing you involves state secrets.

and

"Obama is arguing the executive has the power to execute American citizens without a trial, without even so much as an airing of the charges against them, and that it can do so in complete secrecy, with no oversight from any court, and that the families of the executed have no legal recourse."

and

Steal From the Poor, Give to the Rich: The Redistribution of Wealth. "The United States is undergoing a great redistribution of wealth from the poor to the rich. President Obama and the Congress have done nothing to alter this trend..."

and

"They don't want well-informed, well-educated people capable of critical thinking... They don't want people who are smart enough to sit around the kitchen table and figure out how badly they're getting fucked by a system that threw them overboard 30 fucking years ago." - Carlin

and

Obama says "Fight in this election for civil liberties!" then promptly returns to violating civil liberties...

and

FBI Raids Homes of Antiwar Activists in Chicago and Minneapolis.

and

Army censors photos of Afghan corpses in ‘kill-for-sport’ trial

and

Obama's drone war: “The lava of anger and hatred is flowing in the tribal areas. . .clearly, the drone attack strategy is not winning people over. It is only increasing hatred against the US and now more people are taking up arms.”

and

Predator drones kill seven people across the Pakistan border and then come back later to bomb the funeral.

and

The Obama administration is pushing for new wiretap laws that will allow them to collect anything and everything you do on the Internet. Including any calls you make on Skype, any updates on your Facebook page, and any emails you send. Welcome to Obama's police state.

and

Obama's FDA won’t allow food to be labeled free of genetic modification - Monsanto owns the government.

and I could go on and on and on, because Obama's failures go on and on and on. There is little "liberal" about him. He is a mass murderer like most of the presidents before him and we must never forget that truth.

Good reason to never eat anything from Pizza Hut again

Wed, 29 Sep 2010 16:09:35 -0400

Pizza Hut's track record of firing employees who defend themselves and probably save their own lives and the lives of their co-workers in the process is despicable.

I have little doubt the cons robbing the store would have killed the driver and manager in this article. They were beating the hell out of him and had nothing to lose.

This driver may be out of a job, but he's still breathing. The manager owes him a debt of honor and society owes him the saved costs of not having to investigate a double murder, track down and arrest the perps, conduct a trial, and then incarcerate them for the rest of their lives.

Pizza Hut sucks:

Robbery suspects shot dead by east Charlotte Pizza Hut employee

By Ely Portillo and Steve Lyttle
elyportillo@charlotteobserver.com

Posted: Tuesday, Sep. 28, 2010

A pizza deliveryman who shot two would-be robbers to death in east Charlotte said Tuesday that he didn’t draw his concealed pistol until the last possible second, when he thought he would be killed.

Throughout the robbery attempt, as the men hit and pistol-whipped him inside a cooler at an east Charlotte Pizza Hut, the driver said he kept his right elbow pinned tightly against his body – holding a Glock 22 under his shirt and out of view.

He said he didn’t want to use the gun unless he was forced to. But as one of the men lifted his shirt, nearly exposing the gun, the deliveryman opened fire.

The two men killed – Gregory James Hardy and Dauntrae Wallace – were both 21-year-old convicted felons, one on probation and one awaiting trial on unrelated charges.

Police were searching Tuesday night for a third suspect who fled the attempted robbery and was possibly wounded.

No charges have been filed against the deliveryman.

He asked that his name not be used out of fear for his and his family’s safety. Officials confirmed that the 57-year-old had worked as a jail detention officer and a sheriff’s deputy for about six years, leaving in 2004.

The robbery was reported about 11:15 p.m. Monday at the restaurant at East Independence Boulevard and Idlewild Road.

Just after closing, the deliveryman said the store manager asked if he wanted a soda from the McDonald’s across the street. The deliveryman said no, and continued cleaning while the manager left.

A moment later, three men walked in, at least two pointing guns. The first one told the deliveryman: “I mean business.”

They told him to open the safe. The deliveryman said he didn’t have access.

“‘Get down!’” one ordered. When the deliveryman didn’t, he says the man pistol-whipped him. The men then ordered him into a bathroom while they waited for the manager.

One of the robbers waited in the bathroom with the deliveryman. He ordered him to wrap his arms around the toilet, kneeling, and then demanded money.

“Every time I hesitated, he hit me. I have so many bumps,” the driver said. He turned over his $42 in tips for the night and a gold chain with a Jesus medallion he’s worn for almost 40 years.

The whole time, the driver tried to keep his gun pressed against his body, under his baggy shirt. The driver has a concealed carry permit, and started carrying the gun after being robbed twice in the past two years.

When the manager returned moments later, the suspects grabbed him. One told the deliveryman to crawl to the cooler in the back.

“I said I can’t crawl,” said the deliveryman, realizing that if he bent over any further his gun would stick out. “As soon as I stood up, he hit me. I took a big step and ended up in the cooler.”

Then, the suspect demanded car keys and hit the deliveryman again, opening a nearly two-inch gash next to his left eye.

When the suspect started to lift the deliveryman’s shirt, he realized the robber was about to see his gun.

“I thought, ‘He’s gonna kill us,’” the deliveryman said. “They’re gonna get what they want, and still kill me.

“I pulled my gun. I shot him three times, and he fell.”

The second suspect started to rush into the cooler, and the deliveryman shot him too. The third suspect ran away.

When police and paramedics arrived, they found two suspects on the floor, both dead, with guns nearby. One investigator said it’s possible the third suspect was wounded by the employee.

“We found some other evidence in the area of the business and are looking into that,” CMPD Sgt. Gerard Farley said. Police did not have a detailed description of the man.

Both of the men killed have criminal pasts, court records show. Wallace was convicted of breaking and entering and larceny in 2006. He was fined and given three years probation. In May, he was convicted of carrying a concealed gun and given another year of probation.

Court records show Hardy was convicted of car theft in 2006 and given three years probation. He was sent to prison for six months in 2007 when he violated his probation by trespassing.

Last year, he was arrested and charged with possessing and conspiring to sell marijuana, and was scheduled to be tried in November.

Their families couldn’t be reached Tuesday night.

The Pizza Hut attempted robbery was the second closing time fast-food hold-up in less than 24 hours. Early Monday, the Wendy’s on Charlottetowne Avenue near uptown was robbed by three men as it closed. A customer was pistol-whipped. Three men were arrested a short while later and charged with armed robbery.

Pizza Hut employees have been fired for using guns in self-defense. Chris Fuller, a spokesman for Pizza Hut’s national corporate office, said that “in the interest of our employees’ safety, we don’t discuss our safety policies publicly.”

However, there have been several reports in recent years in which Pizza Hut officials said corporate policy forbids employees from having weapons while on the job.

A Pizza Hut employee in Columbia resigned last year after police said he shot and killed a robbery suspect. The employee resigned, according to Pizza Hut’s Fuller, because of the company’s policy forbidding employees from carrying firearms.

In one well-publicized May 2004 case, a Pizza Hut employee in Carmel, Ind., was fired after he shot and killed a would-be robber. And in 2008, a Pizza Hut worker in Des Moines, Iowa, lost his job after shooting and wounding a robbery suspect. Both of those Pizza Hut employees were delivery drivers.

Though the deliveryman said he knew he’d be risking his job by drawing his gun, he was tired of being robbed. He does landscaping during the delay and delivers pizzas at night.

“It’s hard-earned money, and they think they can just take it?” he said Tuesday.

After killing the would-be robbers, the deliveryman went to Carolinas Medical Center for stitches and talked with investigators. Tuesday morning, he came home, talked briefly with reporters, and went to sleep until Tuesday evening.

Asked how he was feeling Tuesday night, he shook his head: “I don’t know. I don’t know.” Observer researcher Maria David and staff writer Cleve R. Wootson, Jr. contributed.

Anyone with information is asked to call detectives at 704-432-TIPS, or leave information anonymously with Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600.

March 2 Keep Fear Alive/Rally 2 Restore Sanity

Fri, 17 Sep 2010 07:09:14 -0400

A redditor, mrsammercer, asked for a Stewart/Colbert rally and after a week of flirting with us, the super stars of comedy central answered last night. It only took a bribe of 239k and counting to Colbert's favorite charity - Donor's Choose, but it's money well spent.

So put 10/30/10 on your calender and if you are able to get to the National Mall in DC, it is going to be awesome and worth the trip.

If you can't make it, pass this information on to people you think might.

If you want to read the comments of deliriously happy redditers who are busy booking flights and arranging rides, this is the place:

Breaking! Colbert Rally is confirmed for October 30, 2010. Just announced by Jon Stewart!

If you want to see the sub-reddit dedicated to making the rally happen:

http://www.reddit.com/r/ColbertRally/

If you need a place to stay for the dueling rallies or can offer up a sanity sofa to a friendly netizen or two, check this sub-reddit:

http://www.reddit.com/r/SanityCouches

Here is the reddit post that started all of this:

I've had a vision and I can't shake it: Colbert needs to hold a satirical rally in DC.

It is time to prove the sane people are really the majority.

March to Keep Fear Alive

To fight Jon Stewart's creeping reasonableness and to restore truthiness, Stephen announces his March to Keep Fear Alive. (Link takes you to the video clip)

and

Rally to Restore Sanity

Rational people will gather on the National Mall in DC to spread a timeless message -- take it down a notch for America. (Link takes you to Stewart's video clip from last night's show)

+++++BONUS+++++

Jon Stewart and the Daily show are the cover story for the NYer Mag:

America Is a Joke

Observers wondered if The Daily Show would suffer in the presumably less mockable Obama era. But Jon Stewart’s genius is that he’s not really out to make partisan arguments—he’s out to eviscerate a political-media complex that prospers no matter who’s in charge. Watching his show get put together makes things clear: Stewart and his team are definitely not running short on material. By Chris Smith

++++Extra special BONUS++++

Colbert's letter to Reddit:

Dear Redditors,

Ever since the visit of one of your Dear Leaders, Alexis "kn0thing" Ohanian, my inbox has been orangered with pleas to "Restore Truthiness." The track record of your hivemind speaks for itself. Mr. Splashypants got a name. You rescued Soapier. You frightened the sweet-and-sour Jesus out of a 90-year-old man on his birthday. Despite how silly and nonsexual reddit can be, your true colors show when someone is in need.

I almost had a pregnant when I saw what you had done at DonorsChoose.org for classrooms around the country. I am humbled and honored (a rare combination for me), and find myself wishing there was a Look of Approval.

You have inspired me by helping untold thousands of students; with the momentum you've created, we could stage a hundred rallies. I might just call on you, Redditors - for nothing is more terrifying than tens of thousands of Heroes taking to the streets with the faint odor of bacon wafting behind them. Except for bears, obviously.

One huge upvote for you.

Sir Dr. Stephen T. Colbert, DFA