Organizing Notes

Bruce Gagnon is coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space. He offers his own reflections on organizing and the state of America's declining empire....

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Location: Brunswick, ME, United States

The collapsing US military & economic empire is making Washington & NATO even more dangerous. US could not beat the Taliban but thinks it can take on China-Russia-Iran...a sign of psychopathology for sure. @BruceKGagnon

Saturday, January 10, 2015

I Am a Human



Witness Against Torture protesters gather in front of the White House to recite the words of Fahd Ghazy, a man held at Guantánamo for thirteen years without charge or trial.

The People United......



“SELMA” is the story of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s historic struggle to secure voting rights for all people – a dangerous and terrifying campaign that culminated with the epic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, and led to President Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Let Me Be Bolder



Great spirit
give me strength
to be bolder
to say
what needs
to be said
to do
what I know
I must do
to stand with
those suffering
and in pain

Let me
remember
my life is
a thin
thread
in the
colorful
fragile
web
of life

Let
me feel
my
connection
to
Mother Earth
remembering
what
being
human
truly means

to serve
the present
age

Friday, January 09, 2015

A Fool or Supreme Liar



Click on the 'cc' in lower right hand corner of video for English subtitles

Russia Insider reports:

Live before millions of German viewers, in Berlin with the Reichstag in the background, Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk [US-NATO puppet agent] announced to universal amazement: "nobody is entitled to rewrite the outcome of WW II".

The setting is an interview with Tagesthemen ("Issues of the day") - Germany's second most important TV news magazine.

In a country where the denial of the Holocaust a criminal offense, and where Nazi insignia – so popular in Ukraine today - is illegal, Yats had just declared:
"Russian aggression in the Ukraine is a threat to world order."
"We can all very well remember the Soviet invasion of the Ukraine and Germany. This must be prevented from happening again."

For those not familiar with the true story it was Hitler's Nazi Germany that invaded Ukraine and Russia during WW II killing more than 20 million people inside the Soviet Union.  Historians credit the Soviet Union's heroic battle against the Nazi onslaught as the turning point in that war against fascism.

This is the kind of mind manipulation going on by US-NATO-Kiev inside Ukraine today.

In Seattle for Peace Walk


I just arrived in Seattle to join the MLK peace walk that begins on Sunday.  The walk is being organized by Senji Kanaeda the Buddhist monk from Nipponzan Myohoji.  This is the same monk who came to Maine during the last two October peace walks that I organized.  I wanted to thank him for leading our Maine walks and have come to participate in his annual peace walk.

I was lucky that my two flights went without any hitches on the way here.  I got out of Maine an hour before it was to begin snowing this morning and flew into Newark, New Jersey.  It was snowing quite heavily when we landed in Newark but stopped just 30 minutes before our plane was to take off for Seattle.

I'll post when I can during the coming days.  Always happy to do another peace walk.

Thursday, January 08, 2015

Strategy of Tension



In 1990, alarming evidence of NATO-sponsored terrorist attacks came to light. This is the shocking story of Operation Gladio; a tale of espionage, conspiracy and political violence.

Bibi Fatigue



Israel's Prime Minister has kicked off his re-election campaign, with a well-funded operation, much of which is coming from abroad. More than 230,000 dollars has come in from various donors in the United States. It makes up almost 90% of Benjamin Netanyahu's re-election funds, most of it coming just from three American families. But even all that money can't buy popularity - Bibi's ratings are languishing, as voters look to alternatives, as Paula Slier reports.

Sign Petition Now


On Tuesday, the first day Congress was in session this year, John Boehner and House Republicans launched a back-door attack on Social Security through a sinister rule change that sets the stage for drastic cuts to benefits.

The rule change House Republicans pushed through paves the way for a sudden 19% cut in Social Security Disability Insurance benefits next year – and Republicans are planning to use it as leverage to force broader and deeper cuts to all Social Security benefits.

We need to fight back now to stop Republicans from slashing Social Security benefits.

Sign the petition: Stop House Republicans from cutting Social Security benefits.

As Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote in response to the rule change, “the GOP is inventing a Social Security crisis that will threaten benefits for millions and put our most vulnerable at risk.”

The arcane rule change in question stops the House of Representatives from reallocating Social Security payroll tax income from the old-age program to the disability program. This type of routine reallocation, which is supported by neutral experts like the National Academy of Social Insurance and the American Bar Association, has taken place 11 times in the past without controversy.

But now Republicans are using it to hold Social Security hostage in a craven attempt to force radical benefit cuts that would be disastrous for the tens of millions of Americans who rely on Social Security benefits.

Our Social Security system shows that smart, effective government can improve millions of people’s lives – and it serves as a damning refutation of the right-wing's extreme anti-government ideology. And if Republicans succeed in destroying Social Security, Americans will be forced to stake our retirement security on risky investments with Wall Street brokers, who stand to make a killing handling our money.

Social Security should be strengthened and expanded, not cut. But Republicans are longstanding opponents of the program, and they have waged an unrelenting, decades-long assault to destroy, defund or privatize it. We need to fight back now to stop Republicans from slashing Social Security benefits.

Tell John Boehner, House Republicans, and Democrats: No cuts to Social Security benefits.

Sign the petition here

Wednesday, January 07, 2015

Monopoly Game is Rigged


Designed to fail
destined for jail

The rotten game
of monopoly
we play
set up by
and for
Mr. Big

rigged
like the casino
house always wins

you lose
you pay
the price

Who owns your house?

The shit
the corporations
build
in China
designed
to fail
planned
obsolescence
keeps us
coming back
for more
and more

The system
was designed
to fail
for the people

Washington
legalized
thievery
for Wall Street

Mr. Big
designed
his jails
to keep
us afraid
and in line

he doesn't
go there 
but he should

Tuesday, January 06, 2015

Banned in Germany or Become 'Putinized'



(To get English subtitles just click on 'cc' in lower right-hand corner of the video)

Banned German satire "Die Anstalt" exposes double standards on Russia and Ukraine.

The scandal episode of the German political satire program 'Die Anstalt' about the media leaders' ties to lobby organisations and their use of enemy images in the Ukrainian conflict. The major German newspaper Zeit got an injunction against ZDF to prevent this episode of 'Die Anstalt' from being aired as it questions the impartiality of the publisher of Zeit.

Hero or Just Used by the Corporate Oligarchy?


All Droned Out



The US military is planning to increase its use of drones in modern warfare tactics. But a newly uncovered memo reveals that the US Air Force is facing a significant shortage of drone pilots. Now the US drone fleet is at its “breaking point”... and turning down a request for more flight in the battle against the Islamic State. RT’s Manila Chan takes a look at the consequences of being over funded and understaffed on the USAF’s Air Combat Command.

Sunday, January 04, 2015

Slap Happy Phony Hack Attack


Obama sanctions
North Korea
for something
hacker experts
say they
couldn't do

That's the way
it works
around here
Washington slaps you
upside the head
and then blames
you
for making
its hand
hit you

Coup d'etat
in Kiev
Russia's fault
because
they wouldn't
submit

On your knees
or else
you get hit

Down south
in Venezuela
you won't submit

Turn over your oil
to Wall Street
or else you
get smacked

It's the way
of the bully
used to call it
'tin horn dictator'

Yes it is true
now
Washington
is wearing
the black hat

We are
slap happy
phony hack attack
tin horn
showdown at sunset
dictators

Russia Not Looking for Trouble



Lawrence Wilkerson is a retired United States Army soldier and former chief of staff to USSecretary of State Colin Powell. Wilkerson is an adjunct professor at the College of William & Mary where he teaches courses on US national security. He also instructs a senior seminar in the Honors Department at the George Washington University entitled "National Security Decision Making."


UK Spook Force



Britain's best and brightest are now being offered an extravagant option for the start of their careers. The government's proposing that young web experts and tech graduates work at least two years as high-tech spies. RT's Anastasia Churkina got more details on the programme.

Ca$h Cow Plane Delay



F-35, a new American fighter jet with cutting edge technical characteristics, was to enter service this year but the date of release is uncertain after a serious technical glitch was revealed.

The engines for this boondoggle plane are made at Pratt-Whitney in North Berwick, Maine.

Sunday Song