Run away…! Run away…!

Roldo Bartimole writes:

It hardly seems possible but the Glenville Shootout – as it became known – happened 45 years ago July 23, 1968.

It was a disastrous time for Cleveland, an unnecessary gun battle between black militants and Cleveland police. It followed a peaceful Cleveland after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., April 4th.

Cleveland had remained calm in April after King’s assassination. Mayor Carl Stokes and other black leaders, including Browns football players, walked the city’s streets to keep peace. Many other U.S. cities suffered rioting and bloodshed.

The community enjoyed the “progress” of race relations that peaceful April night. It was dashed by the Glenville Shootout three months later. Seven were killed, including three police officers. Many were wounded and much destruction occurred.

The hope of racial peace via the election of a black mayor was dashed. The community response lacked understanding.

The Plain Dealer rushed to judgment referring to the gun battle as an “ambush” and “massacre.” Of police. These descriptions were determined faulty even by PD reporters in a subsequent exam (though never published), and by the results of a very similar probe by the New York Times, and other professional studies.

The Times sent a team of reporters to Cleveland to examine the shootout. It concluded:

The Cleveland explosion has been called both an ambush of police and an armed uprising by Negroes. However, the weight of evidence indicates Continue Reading »

Katie Halper writes:

Maybe one good thing that can come out of George Zimmerman’s acquittal is a new awareness about “Stand Your Ground” laws and their unequal application in our criminal justice system. One victim of this inequality — whose “Stand Your Ground” pretrial motion was denied and whose case the Zimmerman trial helped publicize — is Marissa Alexander, a 32-year-old African-American mother of three, currently serving a 20-year jail sentence for firing a warning shot, without killing or injuring anyone, to scare off her husband (she had a restraining order against him, and he at one point admitted to abusing her). It’s a stark and troubling contrast: A woman was sentenced to 20 years for firing a gun without hitting anyone, while a man who fatally shot an unarmed teenager walks free.

Yes, I understand that Alexander’s case is different from that of George Zimmerman, but by focusing on the details, the micro, we miss the meta. I think the meta is more important.

The kids are all right…

Richard Andrews writes:

I continue to shake my head how anyone could have thought, even in the immediate glow of Barack Obama’s 2008 electoral victory, that this country was entering a post-racial era. The tragic case of Trayvon Martin, where George Zimmerman got off scot-free after profiling, stalking and killing an unarmed teenager who was minding his own business, should put a halt to all such nonsensical thinking for a long time. But of course it won’t.

The case will be the centerpiece of two local community radio programs this week. Former NAACP president and current ACLU Ohio legal director James Hardiman will be discussing the case with Meryl Johnson on It’s About Justice, which airs tomorrow [today, 20 July, JH] on WRUW-FM/91.1 from 1:30-2:30PM. You can Listen Live.

On Sunday night, Mansfield Frazier will be discussing the Trayvon-Zimmerman case with C. Ellen Connally, president of Cuyahoga County Council and a retired judge, and Sheila Wright, executive director of the Cleveland NAACP. Mansfield’s show, “The Forum”, airs Sundays from 7-10PM on WTAM-AM/1100.

I’ll be listening. You?

I had a conversation the other day that the revelations by the heroic whistle blower Edward Snowden might be what saves our postal service because the very analog act of writing letters defeats the digital ease with which the Bush-Obama Security Scheme uses digital information to track our every moves. Boy, was I wrong.

From The New York Times:

Leslie James Pickering noticed something odd in his mail last September: a handwritten card, apparently delivered by mistake, with instructions for postal workers to pay special attention to the letters and packages sent to his home.

“Show all mail to supv” — supervisor — “for copying prior to going out on the street,” read the card. It included Mr. Pickering’s name, address and the type of mail that needed to be monitored. The word “confidential” was highlighted in green.

“It was a bit of a shock to see it,” said Mr. Pickering, who with his wife owns a small bookstore in Buffalo. More than a decade ago, he was a spokesman for the Earth Liberation Front, a radical environmental group labeled eco-terrorists by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Postal officials subsequently confirmed they were indeed tracking Mr. Pickering’s mail but told him nothing else.

As the world focuses on the high-tech spying of the National Security Agency, the misplaced card offers a rare glimpse inside the seemingly low-tech but prevalent snooping of the United States Postal Service.

If it were not for the actions of the Green Shadow Cabinet, I would have missed this story.

GSC Secretary of Defense Cdr. Leah Bolger and GSC Attorney General Kevin Zeese write:

It is time to end the national security spiral that leads to greater insecurity. The United States needs to stop policies that seek hegemony over the world through extreme militarism and economic domination. President Obama should renounce the NSA worldwide dragnet of phone records, Metadata and Internet communications. It is time to bring transparency to U.S. foreign policy, stop classifying materials that are not justifiably classified so that we, the American people, know what is being done in our name.

In addition to transparency, it is time to reverse the spiral and unwind the national security state. The United States needs to be spending much less on weapons, war and intelligence gathering and much more on human needs like health care, hunger, education and shelter. It needs to join the community of nations, not dominate, or bully it. We need to work in partnership with other nations to address mutual problems like climate change, poverty and disease. The only way this can be accomplished is by elevating diplomatic alternatives, while shrinking military and intelligence programs that currently dominate our foreign policy.

And, the United States needs to respect the rule of law. This includes international law which deems an aggressive military attack as the greatest crime, and where human rights are respected and the necessities of the people are met. It is time to end U.S. lawlessness as typified by extrajudicial assassinations, torture, and holding prisoners without charges. It is time to close the Guantanamo prison, return the prisoners to their homeland, or prosecute them in federal court. And, it is time to end rendition for torture, and to close U.S. prisons around the world.

Unwinding the national security state will put us on the path of real security. No amount of money will make Americans secure if militarism, spying and economic dominance remain the pillars of U.S. foreign policy.

I agree.

Same picture, different venues, very different reactions…

Some are freaking out over Rolling Stone’s decision to put Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on its cover. Dr. Hook notwithstanding, those critics need to calm the fuck down and get a grip on the very real reality that our belief that our prejudices and misconceptions somehow allow us to spot a mass murderer by the way they look is just flat out wrong. Matt Taibbi offers his thoughtful defense of the cover and correctly reminds us that Rolling Stone was not the first to use this particular photo of a killer.

I remember a few months ago, after Adam Lanza murdered 26 people, being taken aback by a family member saying that Lanza “looked scary.” My response was to ask if my sibling thought that one of my nephews, about Tsarnaev’s age, looked scary. We quickly changed the subject.

This is a discussion that we as a nation need to have. Those who would do us harm do not have the mark of Cain (or the Beast) conveniently tattooed on their foreheads. How many times do we need to hear that neighbors thought a criminal was well mannered and quiet? We can’t yet predict or diagnose a mental condition that guarantees a psychopath will turn violent.

One response is to hide in our homes (I still can’t believe that the police in Boston were able to use our irrational fears to lock down an entire city to search for one killer), the other is to realize that life is not certain or safe and that our best response is to engage our society with our eyes wide open.

Mark Ames wrote:

President Carter attempted to clean up the CIA, firing almost 20 percent of its employees, focusing on the “clandestine operatives” whose cloak-and-dagger exploits were then fresh news. He also dispersed the agency’s paramilitary arm, put legal restrictions on the agency’s power to spy within the United States, and passed an executive order banning assassinations. All of this was entirely in keeping with Carter’s mandate, after Watergate and Vietnam and revelations of various CIA misdeeds, to restore the moral integrity and authority of the federal government.

But none of Carter’s reforms would last. President Reagan signed an executive order in December 1981 authorizing the CIA to collect “foreign intelligence” inside the United States — the first of many steps his administration would take to restore the power and prestige of the agency

Despite President Carter’s best efforts, We The People have failed to hold up our end of the bargain. As a result, in President Carter’s mind, we no longer have a functioning democracy.

In 2012 I cast my presidential vote for Green Party candidates Jill Stein and Cheri Honkala. (I voted for Ralph Nader in 1996.) Unlike traditional political duos, Stein and Honkala did not go their separate ways after the election. Instead, they chosen to continue the fight and nearly 90 days ago, on Earth Day, they announced the creation of a Green Shadow cabinet.

Based on the European model, the Green Shadow cabinet will:

serve as an independent voice in U.S. politics, putting the needs of people and protection of the planet ahead of profits for big corporations. The Cabinet will operate in the tradition of shadow cabinets in other countries… responding to actions of the government in office, and demonstrating that another government is possible.

Since the inception of the GSC, the cabinet has issued a number of updates:

Full rights for immigrant workers on May Day

Stay out of Syria

Obama betrays country… appoints big corporate donors to.., offices

Too little, too late for foreclosures

Obama’s misuse of AUMF is unconstitutional, unconscionable

What must be done about the Monsanto corporation, and why

This Year’s Left Forum in New York City

GSC joins critical struggle to defeat the Trans-Pacific Partnership

From transparency to secrecy, from human rights to corporate rights

The TPP is a threat to your health and safety

Climate proposals fall dangerously short, ignore economic opportunity

In Egypt: follow the people

Independence Day Resolution: Revolt against the TPP and global corporate rule

Shameful, heartbreaking Trayvon Martin verdict calls for action

What Snowden taught us about American freedom

From My Dad, of course…

I’ve been known to apply this principle to books. I own less than a handful of books with fine bindings or printed in collector’s editions. I don’t care if a book is a paperback or enclosed in Moroccan leather; what counts are the words, not the package.

Roldo Bartimole writes:

Before even getting into the battle over extending the hefty sales taxes on wine, beer, liquor and cigarettes, so-called sin taxes, we should take a close look at who is paying and who may be benefiting without paying any of the cost.

Actually, the larger metro area where some of the most wealthy live, are getting a free ride.

Look at the map below of the 8-County Cleveland Metro area. And look at the only county paying the taxes: Cuyahoga. Not fair.

Now think of how the propaganda campaign of our politicians and leaders will direct us to once again finance our sports facilities for another 20 years. Added to 25 years already paid.

Us – being Cuyahoga County taxpayers who drink wine, beer, alcohol or smoke cigarettes provide the money. Already we have paid more than $340 million in this tax alone. We’ll be asked to pony up at least $260 million more in this tax alone. For billionaire owners and millionaire players. Is that fair?

The state legislature has already given Cuyahoga County the legal privilege of taxing itself for Cleveland’s three sports facilities – Progressive Field, Quick Loan Arena and FirstEnergy Stadium. These three – baseball, basketball and football facilities – named for private businesses but built primarily by the public Continue Reading »

We can remove a dish we think is not good for our health. p. 36

From Good Citizens: Creating Enlightened Society by Thich Nhat Hanh

Previously…

Found in my electronic chapbook.

Former United States Senator Gordon Humphrey (R-NH, ’79-’90) sent an email of support to heroic whistle blower Edward Snowden.

Humphrey began:

Provided you have not leaked information that would put in harms way any intelligence agent, I believe you have done the right thing in exposing what I regard as massive violation of the United States Constitution.

Snowden replied:

Thank you for your words of support. I only wish more of our lawmakers shared your principles – the actions I’ve taken would not have been necessary.

The media has distorted my actions and intentions to distract from the substance of Constitutional violations and instead focus on personalities. It seems they believe every modern narrative requires a bad guy. Perhaps it does. Perhaps, in such times, loving one’s country means being hated by its government.

If history proves that be so, I will not shy from that hatred. I will not hesitate to wear those charges of villainy for the rest of my life as a civic duty, allowing those governing few who dared not do so themselves to use me as an excuse to right these wrongs.

My intention, which I outlined when this began, is to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them. I remain committed to that. Though reporters and officials may never believe it, I have not provided any information that would harm our people – agent or not – and I have no intention to do so.

The exchange has been vetted by Glenn Greenwald. In confirming the provenance of the exchange, Humphrey told Greenwald:

I object to the monumentally disproportionate campaign being waged by the U.S. Government against Edward Snowden, while no effort is being made to identify, remove from office and bring to justice those officials who have abused power, seriously and repeatedly violating the Constitution of the United States and the rights of millions of unsuspecting citizens.

The Bush-Obama Security Scheme trundles on. Only We The People can stop our destruction.

As to questions of treason, well…

Over the years I have come to understand that my father and Andy Griffith (both in the characters he portrayed and in real life) had a lot in common. I could have done a lot worse than growing up Opie.

In response to the question: What is the future of the novel? Craig Nova said:

Now, in the modern age, the novel is the way we discover what we really believe. If we tell a story, and it seems true and the characters seem real, and the resolution is correct, we are able to say that we are certain, or more certain than before about what we think is true. The novel in the modern age is the answer or the response to a line in Camus’ notebook, which is, “That wild human longing for clarity….” It is this wild longing that the novel satisfies, and as long as it does that, and as along as a novelist is honest about what it is like to be human, it will not only survive, but thrive. It will become the method by which we judge our morality.

Nova continues:

I believe, and I really do, that a novelist is that last line of defense against bullshit. In the modern age, we are up to our necks in this substance, and so, as described above, the novelist’s job is to discover what he or she thinks is true and to have the courage to stick to it. Orwell says someplace that all we really ask of a writer is to say what he or she really thinks. Mostly, in the modern age, writers are afraid. They can be so easily accused. But it is this fear that a writer has to stand up to. It is the moral imperative of being a novelist: What do I really believe, how do I know it to be true, and what are the implications. And how can I tell this as a compelling story. For a novelist the story is not everything. It is the only thing.

Nova’s citation of Camus reminds me of one of the earliest bits of writing advice that I found in Ernest Hemmingway’s A Movable Feast:

Sometimes when I was starting a new story and I could not get it going, I would sit in front of the fire and squeeze the peel of the little oranges into the edge of the flame and watch the sputter of blue that they made. I would stand and look out over the roofs of Paris and think, “Do not worry. You have always written before and you will write now. All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.” So finally I would write one true sentence, and then go on from there. It was easy then because there was always one true sentence that I knew or had seen or had heard someone say. If I started to write elaborately, or like someone introducing or presenting something, I found that I could cut that scrollwork or ornament out and throw it away and start with the first true simple declarative sentence I had written.

My goal is always that true sentence. I often write great reams of garbage that, like black bile, must be purged from my system, but in the end, that which remains is true to the extent that I understand the reality I experience.

I have read Camus’ The Stranger, of course, but nothing else of his work. That ought to be corrected. So many books, so little time.

Alice Walker writes:

Contemplating Zimmerman’s exoneration for the shooting death of Trayvon Martin in a letter to a friend yesterday, I wrote this, with a few thoughts added today:

Just heard the Zimmerman verdict. It makes me think of the man given the “pleasure” of assassinating Che Guevara. He was young, and it was his birthday. He was strutting and proud to be offered this “work”, as Che stood bleeding, weakened and alone, before him.

Fast forward to recently, when the assassin became old and ill and needed surgery – and Cuban doctors (who loved Che Guevara) did their best to heal him.

The ache of realization, of what he has done, when it comes for Zimmerman, will be all the punishment he will ever deserve. I remember now, with understanding, that our parents used to say, about things they regretted they had done and that they got away with: “I’d rather take a whipping …”

Zimmerman will wish many times in his life that they had given him 100 years.

Glenn Greenwald writes:

The NSA is constantly seeking to expand its capabilities without limits. They’re currently storing so much, and preparing to store so much more, that they have to build a massive, sprawling new facility in Utah just to hold all the communications from inside the US and around the world that they are collecting – communications they then have the physical ability to invade any time they want (“Collect it all, tag it, store it. .?.?. And whatever it is you want, you go searching for it”).

That is the definition of a ubiquitous surveillance state – and it’s been built in the dark, without the knowledge of the American people or people around the world, even though it’s aimed at them. How anyone could think this should have all remained concealed – that it would have been better had it just been left to fester and grow in the dark – is truly mystifying.