me neither, heaven is a place where nothing ever changes

So go ahead and throw your protest...who is stopping you?
But organization is a bitch and you should run classes on effective civil disobedience tactics before you challenge a pissed off cop!

"To preach of peace and brotherhood,
Oh, what might be the cost?
A man he did it long ago
And they hung him on a cross.
Long ago, far away;
Things like that don't happen
No more, nowadays."

"Long Ago, Far Away", by Bob Dylan

The Revolution
will not be televised

Gil Scott-Heron

I was just thinkin what might it be like to serve on a committee that debates if a man who during a campaign in Fallujah was shot multiple times in the face and lay wounded when a live grenade was thrown into the room and he rolled over on it and absorbed the blast instantly testing the hypothesis of heaven or hell, I was just wondering, what would be the criteria and how would you debate whether this man should be awarded a Medal of Honor or an award of lesser value, The Navy Cross! What the criteria? Number of bullet holes at the time of death, number of enemy testing the cosmic hypothesis as a result of the hero’s actions or the killed enemy to surviving comrade ratio? Well I heard today he got the Navy Cross and his mother was disappointed but he could not be reached for comment!

Socialism builds guns and bombs? I thought people built guns and bombs (capitalism might use robots I suppose because that way you don't have to pay anybody)! But them cities counties and states, they can use all the money I made in my 401K yesterday to fund all those projects to take care of me!

as some may remember, in 1999 a group of primarily non-violent activists
were able to shut down the World Trade Organization for a whole day...

Seattle officials had agreed not to use tear gas in the demonstrations... but Washington got so concerned they forced the issue by flying in the Pres..... no not W, but Pres. Clinton... then for security reasons, the streets had to be cleared... there actually were some police and fire workers that refused to help...

the story is inspiring, and interesting and relevant...
there is a movie coming out called "Battle in Seattle" to see some video and
hear from a real life organizer as well as a movie-maker....
scroll half way down the page at
http://www.democracynow.org


for your consideration....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBX1Bw-9rbU

Another great line

and revolution's just a T-shirt away

Annie, that's why every day I get up and head out to our local Obama office. As I tell my fellow volunteers when they show up to 'do whatever it takes' (they make phone calls, they canvass, they register voters and they make great food and treats for those of us in the office) we cannot, no matter if the polls should start to say we have a landslide, we just cannot let up for one minute. Keep working and talking to any and all about this election right up until and on election day.

Then, on election day be ready to help get voters to the polls, make sure voters are not being turned away for illegal reasons.

Get the word out to those voters who seem to be the target for dirty tricks, those who may not get all the news, the very poor or uneducated and the elderly that their polling place will not be changed at the last minute and not to accept any absentee ballots sent out by a campaign, if people receive any information of that type they need to check with their local registrar-using the phone number from the phone book or information-not the flyer or email- to make sure it is legitimate.

Maybe we need a UN task force to ensure the quality of our Democratic process!

Ha ha! I've been placed on the "don't take to the streets--ever--side." Now that is a hoot! What I said, and do believe, is that it would be counterproductive to do that BETWEEN NOW AND THE ELECTION. It would be handing the election to the R's without their even having to steal it, the way the election was handed to Nixon in 1972. That kind of couldn't be avoided; it was a different time and circumstance. But right now the undecided voters--by definition a very middle-of-the-road group--are not likely to be swayed to our side if they're seeing protests in the streets as they're making up their minds. Being in the middle of the road and all, they might be afraid they'll be run over.

What we didn't do well in the 60s/70s is think about the consequences of our actions in specific instances, and employ any kind of halfway intelligently thought-out tactics. Surely we learned something from that???!!!

After the election, however it goes, is another thing entirely. Then it's time to put the pressure on whomever wins. There will be powerful forces trying to get the Dems to compromise their wins away, and if the R's win--well, then we won't have to take to the streets because we'll all be living in the streets already.

Be sure your county has enough Democratic poll-watchers.

Ceashel, I don't think you're on the "don't take to the streets-ever-side." Even if it was shown to me that taking to the streets was a wise strategy, I'm not goin'! That's why I had kids. I am old and I feel I've earned the right to leave the dirty work to the young, on whom youth is wasted!!!

And I thought folks had 'em just to take out the garbage, rake leaves and/or shovel snow. All of mine have four legs and tails and are of no mind to perform the above mentioned tasks.

You've got it right, Captain Z, I did have kids to take out the garbage. Only this time I was refering to the garbage that has highjacked our country, and the garbage that is trying to do it some more. And like yours, my dog is way too smart to have anything to do with garbage, unless someone threw cheeseburgers in there!

It seems to me, though, that young people STILL aren't as engaged as we were when we were young. I guess that the risk of being drafted made us much more aware of what our government was doing that we didn't agree with.

Young people ARE becoming more aware, but there are still way too many who just don't 'get it' that they will be directly affected by policies and practices put into place by those in power.

I'm at a liberal arts college, and our student body is fairly well engaged, learning about the issues and making value decisions. But out in the community, it's just the opposite, with many young people just repeating the jingoism they hear from their parents or at church (I'm in Colorado Springs, home of Focus on the Family).