I'm sick of reading peoples comments “There are good ones and there are bad ones” under police abuse videos. It's simple the entire system of Policing in America is bad- that's not a judgment on all officers, but the system that violent criminal officers is in itself bad. It's a shame that the “good” officers are a part of that system. When people dismiss the bad behavior of police (especially when it's caught on film) it helps perpetuate the culture of lawless violence that has developed in policing.

Policing is out of control. Officers are above the law and they know it. Officers have so many tools- including military weapons- which they deploy against citizens that it boggles my mind. Police are trained and instructed to use intimidation tactics especially around free speech, or when they are being filmed. This is all wrong.

How many times do you see a video on the news of police beating someone only to be told it is “under investigation” but that the officer's chief has stated that the officer “acted within policy”? If that's the case then how can it be under investigation- given that the not guilty verdict has already been issued? Officers are very seldom held accountable even drastic illegal actions. This is the “policy” and it's a bad one.

If there are so many good officers around why don't they arrest the violent illegal bad ones? I understand that the police is a gang and you don't go after members of your own gang... but the police are public servants sworn to uphold the law- to serve and protect, and their authority comes from our trust in their judgment and honesty. To often this trust is betrayed. I have spoken with many officers, and I respect them. They have a difficult dangerous job. I will be the first to say that the majority of the officers I’ve dealt with in my life have fallen into the “good” category, so either that's my good luck or most officers are decent people. If there are more “good” officers than “bad” why are bad officers tolerated?

The only person you can change is yourself, so any change begins within. To change the system of abuse by police we must be ready to change ourselves. We must become a community because together we are strong. We must film (legally) any police interactions we witness or are part of. We must publish them and we must seek to press charges, or sue police departments. Change can be built this way because the more people who film and put pressure on the system the more transparent it will become. The more people who stand up and press charges the more monsters we take off the street, and the more lawsuits we win the more expensive it becomes for the police system to operate brutally. Ultimately if we work together we can have a police force that knows it is being scrutinized and knows it will be held accountable. The “good” officers will obviously not need to worry, and we will have a clear document of their good deeds.

Don't make excuses for bad officers and bad police policy, and don't blame the victims of police abuse.

Remember if you see something film something.

     I totally get it- I mean it makes sense for the police to be in the streets rioting all the time- just look at what they are up against. The Democrats have slashed police budgets all over the place- in Boston they lost their pension and then there's the Pennsylvania folks who got their pay dropped to minimum wage. The republicans are running a candidate who has said he wants to fire policemen so yeah i'd be pissed off too-
wait... you mean they're hitting- no sorry SHOOTing other protesters? Oh so the police aren't protesting? Why?

     Okay so I guess I don't understand at all. I figured the police were on strike and marching in solidarity with the protesters, but I guess they've been shooting us with “less lethal” rounds instead. I'd say they are shooting their on toes... but it's more like they're shooting women, kids, elderly, and every other group of unarmed protesters. The polices actions leave me bewildered because it is clearly against their own interests- and against public interest so again why? It seems to me that the police certainly look bad when they are tear gassing teenagers, or shooting up an artwalk- or pepper-spraying students so why would they do it when they gain seemingly nothing?

     Who do you serve? Who do you protect? I think these chants are completely fair questions because Police officers are public servants sworn to serve and protect- yet are consistently oppressing and assaulting the citizenry. They are certainly “just doing their job” which is what officers have said to me at protests I’ve attended- but I think what they mean is they are doing what they are told by their superiors. Well sure but that's not doing your job is it? If they truly did their job then wouldn't they have arrested the bankers- for instance HSBC who launder Mexican drug cartel money or standard charter bank for breaking the sanction with Iran? Of course that would be serving and protecting Americans, but as we see the only thing the police serve is the corrupt leaders of society and they would rather shoot us in the streets than do an honest days work.

    Every single police officer makes a decision about their involvement in the assaults on protesters, and it's time for them to start making better decisions. Yes protesters are very angry with you for assaulting us, but you are the 99% and if you are ready to join us peacefully we'll welcome you- because you are us and we're all being screwed by the people whose bidding you have been doing. Better yet when you join us protect us! Officers you of all people should know that we need to be protected from those who want to see us shot and arrested and beaten. Some of you must have your doubts about the course this country is taking and some of you must know it's wrong to shoot unarmed protesters (I hope this is the case anyway since you hold jobs of high responsibility and authority granted to you because we believe you have good judgment). Please join us when we march and protect us when we are assaulted- arrest those who illegally attack protesters. In all likelihood this means arresting other police, but at this point isn't that really your job?

    You need to start actually doing you job as opposed to blindly following orders that are illegal because if the police officers across this country continue to show that they are not interested in upholding the law and are merely the paid thugs you will teach the populace to hate you. Maybe you don't care, but you are members of the community and we will revile you. Police have a reasonable reputation in our society- heck kids grow up wanting to be officers... you are dismantling your own reputations each time you assault us or stand by and allow us to be assaulted by other officers. My personal belief is that there are only a few officers who are sadistic and enjoy harming protesters, but they are protected (and encouraged) by the whole system- I think they are likely repugnant to the officers who have honor and want to do their jobs. There is very little we protesters can do to change the system, but any officer who is honorable can do their part to change the system much more. So any officer who does have honor left, and who doesn't want to be lumped in with the sadistic officers stand up to them and stop them- and refuse to stand with them at protests- arrest them when they break a law.

Chick-fil-A and the simple solution to the Gay Marriage question:

      Chick-fil-A isn't particularly interesting to me in terms of a (very successful) cooperate gimmick to stir up controversy and free press, but what is interesting to me is the reactions to their anti gay rights stance. There are those who simply find homosexuality to be gross, and don't want GLBTQ rights in America because of pure hate which is disgusting but at least I can recognize it as a sort of logic. What I am continually bewildered by is the lack of Christianity practiced by Christians who try to claim GLBTQ rights are against their religion, so maybe it's time to stop thumping your bible long enough to read it because you'll find you'll be in hell just as quick as any GLBTQ person.

     First of all let's get it out there- In the old testament Leviticus 20:13 (and no where else) homosexuality is mentioned as a sin. “Do not lie with a man as you would with a woman” and it's even punishable by death. Okay- but what does Jesus say about GLBTQ? … nothing of course. Not a single mention in the entire new testament (perhaps because Jesus was a confirmed bachelor who spent his life traveling with 12 other “single” men?). Jokes aside Jesus did have a few things to say that you should keep in mind; first of all everyone is your neighbor (and remember- Love thy neighbor) especially the people who you might not want to consider your neighbors. Second of all let he who is without sin cast the first stone- and when we're talking strict biblical sin remember we are all sinners.

     Back to Leviticus where we learned that homosexuality is a sin- if we are going to strictly enforce the biblical laws of Leviticus let's think this through for a minute. Right now the Christians who are using the bible to justify being anti homosexuality are playing a game of picking and choosing what laws are important. Leviticus has some more rules for you to follow:

Leviticus 19:27
Don't cut your hair or Shave

Leviticus 19:19
Don't wear clothes of more than one material

Leviticus 20:9
Anyone who curses their mother or father must be killed

Leviticus 20:18
If a man has sex with a woman during her period they must both be shunned by the community

Leviticus 21:17-18
People with flat noses, or who are blind or lame, cannot come to the alter of the lord

...or for a laugh
Deuteronomy 25:11-12
If two men are fighting and the wife of one o the men tries to help him by grabbing the other mans... genitals... you must cut off her hand.

     There are many many many other old testament laws (most of which Christians are not clamoring to follow) that main stream Christianity has decided to let go of, so why die in a ditch over a single line chosen out of many and why go so far as to use that one sentence to try to curtail the rights of your biblical neighbors (whom you have a commandment to love)? When your neatly groomed (cut hair and shaved) priest tells you hell awaits homosexuals while wearing a cotton-wool blend stole (mixed materials) it's just arbitrary, mean, and unchristian. Jesus came to the people who were held in low societal regard- the detested minorities of the day- and to those who were called sinners. He was the prince of peace, the lord of love and preached acceptance and universal neighborliness, yet his followers are practicing the exact opposite on GLBTQ rights.

     Now as promised I will simply solve the whole issue without any major problems. Marriage is a holy sacrament- it is religious, and we have a very important separation of church and state. The state cannot dictate how churches handle their holy sacraments... so gay marriage should not be legalized. Neither should marriage. The rights involved in present marriage should be conferred only by a civil union between consenting citizens (so no animals, or children ect). This would mean religious ceremony is completely up to each individual religion to determine without interference from the state, and it means that every citizen has the same rights and terminology under the law. Grandfather in the statuses of those who are already recognized as legally joined, and well isn't this easy? The only issue I can see is that cooperations are people, so they might start getting civil unions... wait is Chick-fil-A seeing anyone?

Why should we protest in America?

Recently I told a coworker I wanted to film the ongoing protests, and his response was to ask what protests I was referring to. I said the occupy protests and other related activities (like the NATO, or Anaheim protests) and my coworkers said... oh what's occupy? We need to spread the message better. We need to reach out better. We need to get wiser. There are people who haven't noticed that we've been protesting for the last whole year.

One issue people have is it's hard to identify why we are protesting. There are many reasons that people come to protests, and the fact that we have some many different issues with our government has been used to say we lack focus and direction. It should be eye opening that there are so many important issues that our country is currently failing to appropriately address that there are many people massing in protest. I can't speak to every reason people have for protesting but I can give a general blueprint for what I am protesting about and why I believe many others are involved in the protests as well.


We are protesting because:

1. The economy is crashing due to unrestrained greed culture lead by the elites
   
   
2. Our government is restricting our civil liberties
   
   
3. Our country is in the longest continuous war in its history
   
   
4. Our president is a war criminal
   
   

The economy is a crashing- we've been in a recession since 2009. Economic abuses and runaway greed is the major culprit. Greed has become the culture norm for our country and it is unchecked at the highest levels. Over the past three decades the gape in wealth (and power) has widened to unsustainable margins- the result is the collapse of our economy.

The problem is multifaceted and the solution therefor is complex as well. Here is a rundown of problems dealing with the extreme greed culture of the 1%:

The 1% have corrupted our government, and have used the government to pass laws in their favor at the expense of the 99%. It takes money to get into office, and special interests donate to every major campaign (and both parties) leaving our representation indebted to the groups of already wealthy people. Additionally the already indebted members of government (which is every member) need to continue to collect funds to get reelected. Governmental power is therefor beholden to special interests (or to put it nakedly the wealthy elites) and not to the people. The greed culture is worsened by the fact that it is now the same wealthy elite who get into the so called “revolving door” between lobbyist, executive, and member of government. The revolving door is named such because of the frequency with which elites shift between those three roles. Our government has become of the elite by the elite and for the elite (and the 99% can F*ck off).

Why is this bad and how does it ruin our economy- and what can we do to stop it? It's bad because we have lost all say in our governance which flies in the face of our constitution and everything that America stands for. It's bad because we have lost any ability to regulate greed- greed has become legalized through this coup. The passage of legislation like Citizens United that allows unlimited corporate funds to be used in campaigning is the embodiment of the greed culture. How does greed ruin our economy? In 1996 Clinton suspended the Glass/Steagall act which removed the legal separation between investment and mortgage banks- the economic collapse on wall-street and in our real estate was directly due to this breakdown. Subsequently our government bailed out the banks (in a direct blow against capitalism). These are naked abuses by the government which benefit only the excessively wealthy while ruining the lives of the 99%.

The excessively wealthy have led a very successful campaign to limit and restrict unions- most recently in Wisconsin. They are breaking all forms of restriction on greed. The government is now a wing of the 1%- and the laws are now in their favor. Unionised voices are being silenced too, and more and more industries are being left to “self regulation” or as it should be called “no” regulation. This lack of any way to work within the system is a great reason to protest, and the seven demands here are simple and would dramatically improve the situation for the 99%.

1. Protest to reinstate Glass/Steagal- end the mad banking schemes.

2. End bank bailouts, and demand the money back- foreclose on banks if they fail.

3. Overturn Citizens united, Corporations are not people, and should not have the freedoms people have.

4. Change campaign finance laws. It is simply the only way to limit corruption. Either create campaign pools that all candidates on the ballot have equal access too- and track expenses of the candidates. End superPACs and restrict third party campaigning, or stop ad campaigning altogether and only allow tv appearances by candidates in the form of debates- or interviews (where every candidate gets interviewed).

5. End the revolving door. Make it illegal to have conflicting interests.

6. End positive interest on money. Money that is sitting in banks making money while not being used to create jobs is doing the 99% no good and we have such little money in comparison in our accounts that the only group who makes anything appreciable off of interest is the 1%.

7. Set ultra low interest rates for borrowing to go to college or to start a business.


Reason 2 to protest in America- Our government is restricting our civil liberties. They are doing this rapidly and very openly. The first massive assault on freedom was the Patriot Act under Bush, but recently Obama and the present congress has dismantled most of the constitution. This is not an overstatement- it is fact.

The NDAA provided provisions for a wartime curtailment of rights for citizens of the United States on an unparallelled scale. Remember the “war on terror” is legally a perpetual war thus all wartime powers granted to the government apply... perpetually. The NDAA has a few serious issues- one it defines US soil as a battlefield (IE the military can conduct operations in America), and it calls for military internment of anyone “suspected” of being a terrorist, or aiding a terrorist organization indefinitely without trial... or rights. This very specifically includes US citizens. Our constitutional right to due process has been suspended because now anyone can be held forever without any rights or a trial based on “suspicion.”

The NDRP allows the government (again in times of war) to seize any resources, utilities or foodstuffs deemed necessary (by the government)- it also allows the government to seize any personnel. This is a suspension of every right and every freedom we have. Anyone and anything can be taken as government property at any time legally with no oversight.

Our government has been working on ending free speech on the internet. CRISPA ACTA are the latest iterations of these attempts PIPA and SOPA having already failed. This is a first amendment issue. As is the nationwide often violent crackdown on protesters. The anti protest activity by our government is a suspension of the right to peaceful assembly and free speech. The anti protest legislation called the Trespass act bans many types of protests- and gives the government the ability to arrest detain and imprison protesters at will (for example the government can declare any site a critical site which makes it illegal to protest at- and then can scoop up protesters and imprison them for years).

We have no functional rights, not ability to challenge authority for our rights (because our right to due process has been removed), we do not have the right to talk about it (ACTA and CRISPA), and we cannot protest our lack of rights (Trespass). This is a great reason to protest. Yes it's dangerous, but it is so important because we are losing every right rapidly.

Every member of congress and the President has broken their oath of office (because the oath of office states that they will defend the constitution). They have either actively broken their oaths, or they they failed, and in either case they should be held accountable- none of them should remain in office.

Our demands on this point- restore our civil liberties

1. Overturn NDAA provisions for detention, and home soil battleground

2. Overturn trespass bill

3. Cease crackdowns on peaceful protests

4. overturn ACTA and suspend all further Internet censorship bills.

5. Overturn NDRP.

6. remove the oath-breakers from office (recall elections or impeachment) or regular elections.

Reason three to protest- We are in the longest continuous war in the history of our country. I'm not even talking about the government's declaration of forever war here- the war in Afghanistan is the longest war in our nations history. Why are we there? We are bleeding money into the military industrial complex to gain... nothing? Worse we are sending our young men and women to die for... nothing. Our army is being misused in Afghanistan and in Iraq, Armies exist to win battles and to defeat enemies. When they are used to do anything other than that they are being misused- they are not peacekeepers they are not nation-builders. This must end in both countries we are occupying.

Our demand:

End the wars.


Reason four to protest our President, and government, are war criminals. We must hold our leadership accountable for their actions because they reflect on our whole culture. It is not legal to carry out assassinations especially not internationally, but under the direct command of our president our military is doing just that around the globe. This is a war crime. President Obama's Kill list (and the fact that he has been actively assassinating people worldwide should have him impeached and put on trial at the Hague.

Our government considers cyber-attacks an act of war, yet at the direction of Obama our government carried out a cyber attack on Iran (a country we are not at war with). By our governments definitions we have carried out war operations against an government we are not at war with without the approval of congress and without declaring war. This is vastly illegal.

Demands:

Immediate cessation of assassinations, and cyber attacks.

Impeachment of Obama and trials for him and anyone else who is directly involved at a high level in these illegal acts. Willingness to extradite them to face any charges from the Hague.


This is not an all inclusive list of reasons to protest, but they are the reasons that I find most compelling. Without protests we will not exert any pressure on the system at all (it's designed to keep us powerless and isolated). We must protest because we have no direct way to make changes in our government- and our government must be changed due to the myriad reasons mentioned.

The other thing people say is that Occupy is not effective... and it pisses me off- especially when it's cited as a reason why it's okay that police are violently cracking down on protesters (this was the argument two college students tried to make). A single protest alone does not instantly change a situation, but it does publicly air grievances and bring together people who push changes. We have no other way to show our dissent with the current situation, and we have raised awareness about income inequality. This is a success. Beyond that we are continuing to protest because the situations we are protesting against haven't been corrected. By all measures Occupy and the general protests are exerting pressure on the system with is exactly what we want to do. Political candidates must discuss issues we care about, and have been. Without continued protests we will lose our voice again to the special interests.

It will take a lot of work and a long time to achieve many of the goals mentioned in this article, but continuing protests are the beginning of a process of change for the betterment of the 99%. some of these goals are very achievable- ending the wars, ending drone strikes, repealing Citizens United, Trespass, ACTA, NDAA, and NDRP , and reinstalling Glass/Steagall could all be done by putting increasing pressure on the system. We need to start voting angrily. We need to start pulling people out of office. The more we protest, and the more we show that we can and will fire members of our government who support/are part of the greed culture the faster we will regain control of our country.

Don't sit on the sidelines. Spread the word, and get into the streets. Talk about the issues, and plan marches and rallies. Show the world, and the 1%, that we are the 99% of true Americans and we do not accept greedy rule, we do not the suspension of civil our rights, we will not fight their wars, and we will not see this country disgraced though illegal war-crime policy. Do not turn your back on us while we are facing violent suppression by our government.