Civil Disobedience: The Courage of Tim DeChrisotpher

I had not heard of Tim DeChristopher, a brave young man who, in the dying days of the Bush administration in 2008, attended an oil and gas auction in Utah in 2008 and disrupted it by submitting winning bids on various tracts of land, with no intention of paying for them. Despite the fact that the auction was later determined to be largely illegal, DeChristopher was charged with disrupting an auction and sentenced to two years in prison this past July.

An indication of how threatened the 'powers that be' felt by DeChristopher's actions can be inferred from this excerpt from the prosecution's sentencing report:

The rule of law is the bedrock of our civilized society, not acts of “civil disobedience” committed in the name of the cause of the day. A significant term of imprisonment will underscore this truth for the defendant and the community.

In other words, the system protecting the forces of greed and environmental depredation felt the need to send a strong warning to discourage others from trying to alter a status quo that seems impervious to conventional avenues of remediation.

In a time when there seems to be a growing recognition of the need for civil disobedience, this young man's story is a very important one. You can read about him and see a number of short interviews with him here.

Panic of the Plutocrats

That's the title of an excellent article by the New York Times' Paul Krugman as he writes about the hysteria being elicited in the power elite over the implications of the Occupy Wall Street Movement.

From Eric Cantor, the House majority leader, describing the protesters as “mobs” and “the pitting of Americans against Americans” to Mitt Romney accusing the protesters of waging “class warfare", and Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain calling them "anti-American," it is clear that the ultra wealthy, those used to having their political agenda enacted unimpeded, and their minions are feeling deeply threatened by a movement of citizens who are finally paying attention to the man behind the curtain.

Please sign this petition urging Prime Minister Harper to stop threatening Michaela Keyserlingk and to stop exporting asbestos.

Tim Harper on the One-Year Anniversary of U.S. Steel's Hamilton Lock-out

We are approaching the one-year anniversary of U.S. Steel's lockout of the workers from its Hamilton plant; the lockout would seem to be in contravention of the guarantees that the company undertook when seeking approval from the Harper government for its foreign takeover of the steel-making facility. (We citizens, of course, are not allowed to know the details of the agreement.)

The Star's Tim Harper offers his analysis of the situation in an article entitled Broken promises and impotent government hurt Hamilton
and reminds us that last year, while in a minority situation, the Harper government promised a review of the Investment Act, responding to prompts by the NDP and Liberals. Needless to say, now that he has achieved a majority, Mr. Harper has backed off from that promise.

I guess he doesn't want to send the wrong signal to the corporations. As for the locked out workers? Well, they don't really count, do they?

Please sign this petition urging Prime Minister Harper to stop threatening Michaela Keyserlingk and to stop exporting asbestos.

Chris Hedges Addresses the Occupy D.C. Protesters

The acclaimed journalist offers a stirring indictment of the American Dream that has become a living nightmare for the majority of Americans:

Chris Hedges From The Occupy D.C. Protest

In a very informative interview from Washington, Chris Hedges incisively and very articulately holds forth on the implication of the protests, the difference between the Occupy Movement and the Tea Party, and how Obama is no different from preceding American Presidents.

An Interview Fox News Refused To Air

I have to say that my life has been immeasurably enriched since becoming a regular visitor to truthdig.org. In addition to providing important perspectives on issues that are either largely ignored or heavily filtered by the mainstream media, the site features well-known writers such as Chris Hedges, who has a focus in his work that we can ill-afford to ignore.

Truthdig's value, I think, is evident in the following video that has gone viral, featuring an interview by Fox news with a very articulate Occupy Wall Street protester Jesse LaGreca. In the piece, LaGreca launches into a skillful criticism of the kind of journalism practiced by Fox. For reasons that will become apparent, the interview was never aired.

Republican Eric Cantor Concerned About Growing 'Mobs' On Wall Street

In a shameless but hardly surprising display of partisan hypocrisy, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) referred to the Occupy Wall Street protests as “growing mobs.”

Why is this hypocritical? Well it has something to do with his enthusiastic support of Tea Party protests back in 2009.

You can hear his almost 3:00 minute peroration here, and you will note that very few American platitudes are overlooked, including reference to American exceptionalism and what a giving and generous people Americans are. Few emptier speeches have I recently heard.