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Commentary
Commentary, opinions, rants, debates, satire, creative expression (art, poetry...)
From the open publishing newswire:
I presented a Ground Zero Lounge about the possibility of a police state being declared in Denver if protestors rioted at the Democratic National Convention. It featured the Denver International Airport and the Masonic, religious and apocalyptic symbolism throughout the huge mural on the wall there and on other artwork throughout the building.
As I was preparing to go on stage at Dante's, I was called out of the bar by security guards. I wondered what was wrong. "Come outside, Mr. Lewis. There is something that you should see." I stepped out into the street, where, all along the curb, people scanned the sky with alarmed expressions. I thought that perhaps they were seeing some anomaly or UFO in the sky. "What's up?" I asked. "I don't see anything." One security guard said, "Shhhh, listen!" I heard a faint sound, rather like a lawn mower. As the sound got closer it drowned out the sounds of the downtown Portland streets. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. There were two low-flying black helicopters buzzing rooftops and dropping armed soldiers on top of buildings. The only time I had seen anything like this before was in an Alex Jones documentary.
From the open publishing newswire:
Something clicked when reading about Spain's basketball team doing the Chinese eye thing. My mind wondered back to The story a couple years ago of the German solders making derogatory comments about Harlem and black People. Both of these stories highlight socially unacceptable behavior being committed in an environment of different social norms. At first I thought the word was hypocrisy, where always doing things here In America that would be considers socially abhorrent elsewhere.
From the open publishing newswire:
This is a response to the article by Dante Armos titled "Student Activism Doesn't Make The Grade" (
 http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2008/07/377275.shtml). Though I valued its attack on pretention and intellectual elitism, I have a few counter-points in defense of higher education, student organizations, and required community service.
Higher education in America is bullshit. Earning a college degree has become synomymous with earning a key into the middle class and (who knows, this is America, right!) beyond. Too often, education serves to elaborate on the tactics available to enter into and thus maintain systems and games of dominance.
From the open publishing newswire:
.... sources are saying that the Pentagon denies that it plans to blockade Iran (imminently): "As a matter of policy we do not discuss current or future ship's movements. However, I can tell you that reports of an alleged naval blockade of Iran are false," said Lt.-Col. Patrick Ryder, a spokesman for the assistant secretary of defense for public affairs."
From the open publishing newswire:
As we drove to Silverton today, we passed by the memorial along Highway 213 which honors Andrew Hanlon, the Irish citizen who was shot and killed by officer Tony Gonzalez early this month. The Grand Jury has since decided that Officer Gonzalez was justified in killing Hanlon. No surprise there. We are getting used to officers being exonerated after their thoughtless and deadly actions. Will we ever get used to these memorials? There were notes from Andrew's friends, declarations of solidarity and flags of Ireland fluttering in the summer breeze. I thought about Fouad Kaady, another unarmed man killed in Sandy by officers quick to pull their triggers. In Portland there have been many such deaths. Each of them has been discussed and remembered on this site. Here are pictures of this memorial so we can put a face to this most recent murder.
From the open publishing newswire:
This week, Bark, a local forest watch group focused on Mt. Hood National Forest sent Oregon Governor Kulongoski a letter demanding he use his full authority to stop LNG from coming in and through Oregon. The concerns expressed in the letter were surrounding the Palomar Pipeline. In June, Bark staff and volunteers walked the entire 40-mile segment that crosses Mt. Hood National Forest. Many of the findings in the letter were a result of this groundtruthing effort.
From the open publishing newswire:
As sad as this is for Oregon Oregonian doesn't have much reputation for integrity or much else for that matter. Fish wrapper some call it.
Here is an example de jour, this time on what they consider acceptable speech. There was a minor domestic dispute in Hillsboro last Friday, that, as is the habit of many police departments in this country was turned in major blood bath by the local cops. The whole sorry affair was dutifully reported by the Oregonian..
From the open publishing newswire:
Each month starting 1 August 2008, we will select one person for the Dunce Award for their actions in the previous month. We will display the name each Thursday at Blumenauer's office; send out notices to all papers and radio stations and other media outlets. Here is how it will work.
The person or group who gets the most votes will be the recipient of our award. You get to cast a vote and then invite your friends to vote also, people at Blumenauer's will get a chance to cast votes. The last week of the month, we will tally up the votes and on the first Thursday of each month, we will announce the winner.
From the open publishing newswire:
Conservative Hate Radio star Michael Savage is back at it again. And although he continues to become more and more hateful against everyone, he took the gloves off to Children with Autism. Michael Savage still aires in the Portland Area on 750 KXL. And although there was an outpouring of anger at Michael Savage for his parody of Senator Edward Kennedy's brain cancer diagnosis, KXL and Rose City Radio refuse to remove the "Savage Nation" from it's line-up. Contact information for KXL, it's General Manager and Program Director can be found below.
From the open publishing newswire:
Not even 24 hours after the Silverton police brutally shot and killed Andrew James Hanlon (who had been living with his mother in France and attending art school when he came to visit his sister in Silverton last year). The Clackamas police used a "pit manuver" on bank robbery suspect Mitchell Sean Coole and caused him to bounce off the 205 freeway wall at Sunnyside rd. and cross the medium into oncoming traffic and ended up hitting several vehicles injuring multiple people.
From the open publishing newswire:
I think it's important to seriously be able to step back and give ourselves a hard look. As an Anarchist I feel that is what I should always be doing. Lately I've seen a lot of attention focused on student activism. While this can be a great avenue to explore, I think its extremely important to be able to look at the situation in which you live and compare it with other situations. In more "Liberal" cities we do a very good job of creating a comfortable utopia of "resistance". These cities generally have a number of legitimate Anarchist projects going on and have health food stores and co-ops. The music scene is usually good and getting things for free can be easy. They can be great places to live.
From the open publishing newswire:
In the recent months I have heard rumors, some true while some are a bit far off, that the Northwest anarchists have their shit together. That we are "actually doing shit". Sometimes I can't help but feel that that is what it is: shit. Sometimes people allow their head to expand a bit, even sometimes anarchists attack fellow comrades over the silliest things as if they have all the answers as to how to "create real change" and that the "stupid anarchists" are just hot headed or adhere to some doctrine called "the politics of fun". But I grin a bit, maybe in an awkward way sometimes. Like during the times when I have heard excitedly "We have been on bombs and Shields two time in the last six months!" from fellow anarchists, from people who seem to think they are in a movie.
From the open publishing newswire:
There is prattle about a possible "suitcase nuke" in the news lately. Prattle, I say, because a "suitcase nuke" is very nearly (though not quite) a unicorn. It IS possible to miniaturize a fission/fusion weapon, but it takes a high-tech/high-investment effort typical only to well-financed governments. It isn't something that some yahoo could do in a garage. Furthermore the components of any Cold War era miniaturized nuke would be heavily degraded by now--everything in it would be subject to heat (say 300-400F) and neutron irradiation, degrading everything from "shaped" explosives to control components. |
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