Kicked out of hotel for being black....

A guest at a DoubleTree Hotel in Portland, Oregon was harassed by staff when he was asked to leave the property after taking a phone call from his mother in the hotel lobby on Saturday night.

Jermaine Massey tells Don Lemon CNN that the incident was "hurtful" and "humiliating".

Due to the publicity two workers at the hotel were fired as they should have been. 

I sent DoubleTree Hotels a message today in protest of the treatment of this clearly innocent black man.  

A dog whistle has been blown in Washington calling forward all racists, bigots and Nazis - letting them know that it is 'acceptable' to practice such ugly behavior in public.

While at the Brunswick library yesterday I ran into a Cuban woman friend who shared with me a story of local people harassing her and saying, 'We speak English in this country' when she was heard speaking Spanish with one of her students.

It appears we are back to the age of the 'Know Nothing Party' in American politics.

Bruce

Fast & vigil in North Carolina

Friend and former Mainer Ken Jones is fasting and vigiling for two weeks in Asheville, North Carolina to protest US complicity in the war in Yemen.  I asked him to share some reflections.  Here is the first installment:

I'm getting ready to head out to my corner now. Here's a quick first take, three short paragraphs. I can stew more if you like...

Standing on a corner of a tourist town during the holidays with a sign that says “No War in Yemen,” I sometimes feel like a Grinch. People are running around with friends and families trying to have a little fun and then there’s this guy shining a light on organized murder in some far away country.

I am fasting as I do this two-week vigil, so I am more in touch with my perceptions and feelings than usual. I see lots of well-dressed white people, briskly walking to the next place, posing for pictures, looking at phones for directions, laughing, and bantering. It all seems like fun, but I can also feel an emptiness. And I think about the starving, sick children in Yemen, and the hell they and their parents are living through.

I think of my vigil as a spiritual practice. I am a medium, bringing one reality to another. I am a witness, a call to conscience, a question mark. I don’t worry about the effects of my being here. I’m just standing for peace, hoping to bring some light into the darkness. Trying not to be a Grinch.

- Ken Jones

Yes, get out of Afghanistan!

There are obviously several key reasons why the US is still in Afghanistan after 18 deadly and expensive years.

Here are a few that immediately come to mind:

• The heroin crops that have flourished since the US invaded the country after 9-11 are a cash cow for the CIA-directed international drug trade.
• The enormous profits made by the weapons industry from endless war.
• Afghanistan borders Iran (as does Iraq) which means the Iranian nation is essentially surrounded as US-NATO pursues regime change there.
• Afghanistan's proximity to Russia which is of course also on Washington's regime change list.  From that location the US-NATO can create much chaos on Moscow's southern borders.
• The huge deposits of precious minerals in Afghanistan as explained in the video above.
• There are vast fossil fuel resources in the Caspian Sea region and thus US control of the area could be easier by having military bases in Afghanistan. Zbigniew Brzezinski (Jimmy Carter's National Security Advisor who got the US into Afghanistan as an anti-Soviet strategy) first wrote about the plan for US domination of Central Asia in his book The Grand Chessborad: American  Primacy and Its - Geostrategic  Imperatives. Brzezinski said that the US must have permanent military bases to control the fossil fuels available in the region. But Brzezinski suggested, US taxpayers would never allow such an expensive military commitment without a Pearl Harbor like incident that captured the imagination of the citizens.  The Bush II-era neocon Project for a New American Century also used the same phrase (Pearl Harbor like event) in their foreign policy designs.  This indicated bi-partisan support for the rolling of the dice by Mr. Big to go for the global oil pot of gold in Central Asia.  I've never believed the official story about 9-11 because of this evidence.  9-11 was a US, Israeli and Saudi Arabia staged attack to create fear and justify this provocative strategy - 'full spectrum dominance'. Washington also knew this could mean war with Russia.
• With US forces permanently stationed in Afghanistan the US has more leverage over what is happening in Pakistan, India, and China.

I must acknowledge that I do support Trump's call for getting out of Syria and cutting US troop levels in Afghanistan.  I am not so sure he really means it but one can hope.

We must increase our demands for US out of Afghanistan!

We must also demand No War with Russia!

Bruce

House is officially sold

Mary Beth, Karen and I outside of the Addams-Melman House in Bath some years ago

MB and I finished up the last of our work to move out of the house in Bath on Sunday.  It's been a daily process for at least the past month.  Going from a 15-room house (where we lived with friend Karen and others for the past 12 years) to a small apartment will be a big change for us.

The movers came on Saturday in the snow (which turned to rain) and they expertly stuffed our worldly possessions into a 10 X 10 foot UHAUL storage container in Brunswick.

We are presently staying with a friend in Brunswick until the renovations on our rental apartment are complete - hopefully soon.  The new place is an old farmhouse which was added onto in typical Maine style over the years as the original family grew in size.  Now the farmhouse has several apartments in it with ours being on the 2nd floor.  The landlady, who we like alot, is having the bathroom and kitchen redone after discovering a bad leak in the plumbing.  So we wait for the work to get finished before we move in.

We signed the final house sale papers on New Year's eve and the new owner, a young mother with a young son, handed us gifts.  She had previously brought a lovely card to our house saying that she will try to carry on the spirit of the Addams-Melman House (AMH).  The woman had been living in an off-the-grid house in northern Vermont woods with her son but wanted him to be exposed to more people as he grew up.  So lucky for us she landed in Bath.

She was the first of five people who came to look at the house soon after we put it up for sale.  She has a day care provider license and is considering doing home child care from the house - exactly what was happening before we bought it 12 years ago.  So she has a vision and we are happy that it all worked out for everyone.

I already asked her if she'd mind if I came over in the spring and helped stack firewood.  She kindly said yes.  I will miss all things connected to the wood and the fireplace.

Knowing how much I will miss the two wood stoves in our (now former) house MB found an 11-hour video on the Internet of a crackling fire that I can watch online when I feel the need.

It's an end of an era but the heart of the AMH will live on in all of us.

Our phone number will be changing but we won't know the new number until we move into the apartment.

Bruce

Will Griffin is so talented

Will Griffin (The Peace Report) liked my post below and made this short video.  He is so amazing.

We are lucky to have him on the board of the Global Network helping us expand our reach on social media.

Will is an Iraq and Afghanistan war vet who is turning his outrage from those experiences into positive transformative action.

Best to you Will always.

Bruce

New Year's resolution....

Parents and grandparents could explain to the children:

• I'm sorry I had to play tennis when there were protests.
• I don't like to get involved in controversial politics.
• You can't beat city hall - why bother?
• I might lose my job if I got involved with those groups.
• I might get my name on some FBI list if I went to those meetings.
• What would my friends and family think of me if I worked with people like you?
• I've got better things to do with my money than donate to one of those causes.
• We are all going to die anyway so why bother?
• Don't worry - be happy.
• I'm not that smart and those in government seem to know what they are doing anyway.
• I heard on NPR that everything was going to be OK.
• Think of all the jobs we get from these industries. You people just want to shut everything down!
• I wanted to help but had to put three kids through college.
• My spouse threatened to leave me if I went to one of those meetings.
• These things didn't directly impact me or my family.
•  I'm sorry but I am a capitalist and support this system.  Look what it has done for me.  This system is about freedom first and foremost.
• Should we all just live in caves?
• I read the New York Times every day so I know what is going on.

In one way or the other I've heard just about all of these excuses during my time as a full-time social justice, peace and environmental organizer - since 1978.

Most people find one or more reasons from the list above to justify spending their lives in denial of apparent reality.  The techno world and capitalism have transformed many people into automatons.  It's very sad but a fact of our time.

The goal would be that people would rediscover their spiritual connection to our Mother Earth and one another before it is too late.

It might be a bit romantic on my part but I often think about all those in my long family lineage who got our relations through the ice ages, droughts, famines, plagues, wars and the like. Now during this moment on Earth some are giving up the ghost.  I can't understand why anyone would surrender when our #1 job as a human being is to protect our children and the planet - both are the future.

It's a broken spiritual connection that we all suffer from that keeps us locked in our prison.

Best wishes in the New Year.  

Bruce

Sunday song

Living in an empire

Published by Will Griffin

 

The American Empire Defined in 3 ways:

1. National Security Spending
2. Empire of Bases
3. Status of Forces Agreements

Ultra-right Ukrainian journalist gets response from Putin

Vladimir Putin: "As long as Ukraine is run by the Russophobes who don't realize what's best for their own people this unhealthy situation will continue regardless of who holds power in the Kremlin."

Journalists from around the world asked Putin questions during the recent 3-hour news conference.

The unfriendly question from the Ukrainian journalist indicates that Putin is not shy about taking questions from anyone.

Screws getting tighter

The corporate directed screws are getting tighter.  Info has power and Mr. Big is feeling the heat from an increasingly informed and connected global population.  The Internet is now being caged - like a protest zone - what the oligarchy calls a 'free speech zone'.

That means you can speak out all you want but only in controlled and acceptable locations.  In the high-tech world that means the corporate entities control the Internet and can put you in a box so that few ever see or hear from you.

This Twitter suspension of @NoWarinSpace is the perfect example of where we are being sent - one could call it Internet prison.

On Fazebook I've seen my numbers of people viewing my personal page (and the Global Network's page) declining.  These fancy new algorithms are ensuring that if you are a certain type of organization or a thinking activist you will be put to the end of the queue where few will see your posts.

This is a key reason I still believe in having a street mailing address for Global Network members.  We can actually send them a newsletter via the post and so far the amount of government intervention on that communication process appears to be limited.

But the Internet is another story - its just a matter of time that Fazebook, this blog and more could all go the way of @NoWarinSpace.

Anything that disrupts the profit drive - whether the 'space force' or fossil fuel extraction - is being identified as the enemy and mega high-tech powers will be used to silence those voices.

Free speech is the latest endangered species.  Rattle your chains while you still can - use them or lose them.

Bruce

Holiday historical review.....

It helps to know our own history - many Americans don't.

Oliver Stone shares the stories of those who fought to make the nation live up to its much celebrated hype about freedom, democracy and justice.

He also reviews the coming to power of the corporate oligarchies who have sought to drown democracy throughout history.

Only by knowing our history do we avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.

We are spiritually disconnected from the past....

Trudell (who died at age 69) calls on us to protect our spirit.  We live in a world now where spirits get eaten by the materialist, consumerist, greed filled, techno world.

Some holiday music

Can't imagine a world without love....

My year end thoughts

Hollywood and
Madison Avenue are good
at what they do,
one must admit,
they train our minds,
make us laugh
and cry
as they stick
it to us,
the neon gods

We are branded meat

Mr. Big
is feasting on us
but don't worry
there is a pill
for heartburn

How about a pill
for heartbreak?

MB and I have been singing the blues for the past week.  I play an old blues three-chord progression on my guitar and we make up stories about our 'moving' experiences as we sing along.  It's been a wonderful gift and a great way to stay close and let go of tension.

We are packing, weeding out stuff, slimming down - getting ready for our small apartment in Brunswick.  We've done dump runs, countless trips to Goodwill and even the Restore.  It's a good process and one that should be done while you still have the energy for it.  One reason we are not politically free people is because the system has got us consuming and collecting.  It keeps us all in a prison of sorts.

The Addams-Melman House, after 12 wonderful years, is hard to let go of.  Not only for us but also for many of our friends.  The community here over time really got a strong hold on alot of people.

I'd like to call our new upstairs apartment, in an old farm house which was converted to five apartments, the AMH annex.  Not annexed by Russia - no Putin was not responsible for us selling the AMH.  Although the local BIW establishment will be glad to get us out of town.

But don't worry because Brunswick is only 10 miles from Bath.  So I'll be back. I'm a circuit riding activist - sharing the words of the people.  Shut it down - this global extraction operation is killing our mother.  Some want to go terraform Mars, I just want to take care of the home spaceship.

Brunswick is a junior Ivy-league college town - 20,000 people.  MB can walk a couple blocks and take the bus to work in Portland - and with winter here she will appreciate not driving in the snow.

Bowdoin College will be a block away and I hope to watch some basketball games there.  There is not alot of energetic political activity at the college - might want to work on that a bit.

I can't get no satisfaction out of this political world I live in.  Needless to say I am driven to speak out - no matter the condition we might be in.  I've wondered alot during my life about where this drive comes from?

In the end it comes from a deep sense of outrage because I grew up on military bases and went to their schools.  They taught me about freedom, democracy, liberty, consumerism, cynicism and a fierce sense of justice.  Once I figured out that it was a lie on behalf of Mr. Big I became determined that I had to challenge the power.

Early on I wanted to be a policeman or FBI agent.  Then I saw cops busting heads of anti-war protesters on black-and-white TV and I saw the FBI gunning down the Black Panthers.  I gave up on that career path but made a promise to myself I'd find some way to fight the mobsters.

I end the year grateful to all who support the work I and others do to make the 'founding words' real in our current world.  I appreciate all that find some way to rattle their chains.

Let's make it ring in 2019.  I can't imagine living in a world without love.

Bruce

Selling the war machine on Christmas

By Will Griffin - The Peace Report

What would Jesus say about this?

Sunday song

A love story with Mother Earth

Putin on Trump's Syria pullout tweet

Vladimir Putin: " We haven't seen any signs the United States is withdrawing its troops. But I admit it's quite possible. Moreover, we are going the path of political control over the situation. Currently, we have the issue of creation of a constitutional committee on the agenda."

How many world leaders hold a 3-hour news conference with hundreds of international media present?

I believe he answers questions quite directly - something we've not seen from the US in a very long time.  Could this be another reason for the demonization of Putin?  He talks too straight.

Bruce

Vive la liberté!

U.S. laws to support anti-BDS movement

Award-winning author and host of “On Contact” Chris Hedges joins Rick Sanchez to discuss the anti-BDS legislation sweeping the US, an effort to protect Israel’s public image by muzzling the Boycott, Divestment & Sanction (BDS) movement, which seeks to put economic pressure on Israel and bring attention to the plight of the Palestinians. Hedges says “Israel can no longer control its narrative or hide the brutality of their apartheid system.”