This is What Democracy Looks Like

America, the Democratic Republic

Democracy 

a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections

Republic
a country that is governed by elected representatives and by an elected leader (such as a president) rather than by a king or queen

America is government of by and for the people. We elect our representatives, congressmen, senators, governors, presidents.  We run for office ourselves. We petition the government to fix our problems. We hold them accountable.

we must vote, have universal voting rights, be informed by the media which holds public leaders accountable, and have campaign finance reform, so that our votes matter.  

right now states are moving to restrict voting rights

not enough people vote, even though they can

media covers anything that gets ratings, instead of what matters

campaign finance is broken--billionaires buy their candidates and lobby for issues that harm the majority of the population

elected officials focus more on fundraising and getting reelected rather than helping people while in office

we make our voices heard, and are ignored----change happens slowly

Occupy!!! Resist!!! Protest!!! Change!!!!

The People's Bank

an idea for Occupy Wall St

most are already here http://www.occupycooperative.com/

a people's bank, that would give depositors an opening balance--can be $1,000, $10,000, up to $250,000 maybe with FDIC?? not sure there http://www.fdic.gov/deposit/insurance/index.html

bank would go along with better loans, interest checking and savings, debt education and solid banking regulations 

Understanding Debt

there already is the GREAT Debt Resistor's Operations Manual PDF here

PrePaid Card

Occupy Cooperative Card link here

another world is possible #Occupy

Dissent

Dissent
to publicly disagree with an official opinion, decision, or set of beliefs
to differ in opinion
political opposition to a government or its policies
religious nonconformity
a justice's nonconcurrence with a decision of the majority link

without dissent there would be no America, no Declaration of Independence, no end to slavery, segregation, women's right to vote, fights for civil rights and civil liberties, no President Barack Obama, no change ever.

the majority rules in a democracy, but is not always right, and it is up to the minority to protest, investigate, run for office, yell at the majority, change public opinion and become the elected majority, in our long fight bending the arc of justice.

breaking the law is wrong, but so is corruption, fraud, abuse of power.  exposing truth should not be a crime, even when the law is broken to do it.

Thank you whistleblowers, ignored whistleblowers who became leakers, journalists, lawyers, hackers, protesters, public servants, elected leaders, patriots---YOU are what makes America great!!!


FREE Chelsea (Bradley) Manning, Edward Snowden, Julian Assange, Barrett Brown, Jeremy Hammond and everyone else.

Veteran's Day

To every Veteran or every war, Thank you for your service to our country!

Whether you volunteered or were drafted, agreed with the war or not, whether the war was for self defense, sold to us with lies as self defense, an unprovoked attack on others, or not even called a war, thank you.

If you went to gain discipline, travel the world, serve with friends, family, or get money for college, thank you.

If you lost your life, lost a friend, lost a limb, lost your innocence, suffered PTSD or were a victim of rape or assault, thank you for your sacrifice. I am sorry for your loss----too often it has been in vain.

If you went to serve our country, and instead found lies and exposed the truth, thank you--especially those punished and prosecuted for doing so THANK YOU for your service to our country!!

For every veteran who served in every war, my family, friends, those who will serve in the future........thank you.

We must never forget, we must work to help you before, during and after the battles.

Veterans, POW/MIA, Killed in action, PTSD, Military rape and assault victims, whistleblowers and truth tellers in Military and intelligence

Thank you!!

Alexa O'Brien facts on Chelsea (Bradley) Manning and trial

Facts about Manning Trial and US V. Wikileaks that media ignores

From Twitter @carwinb   alexaobrien.com

1.) The wanton publication accusation regarding WikiLeaks is totally bogus. tweet

2.) Only 223 docs from 4 larger datasets of #Manning charged under "reason to believe" 116 cables, 102 SIGACTS from Afghan AND Iraq, 5 GTMO tweet

3.) Add to that the 1x 2008 USACIC memo on WL; 2 CIA Red Cell Memos; handful of investigative docs re May 2009 US bombing in Farah tweet

4.) All classified as SECRET or below. Ridiculous propaganda continues regarding #Manning #Assange #WikiLeaks tweet

5.) Take GTMO files (only 5 charged under "reason to believe" ie. Espionage Act. 3 docs are Tipton Three. tweet

washington post and NSA

some thoughts on Wahington Post, Jeff Bezos and NSA

From Christopher Soghoian (ACLU) tweet here
             Guess which major cloud computing company still hasn't published a transparency report for gov                  surveillance? Amazon.

so Bezos buys Washington Post in August link here with lots of implications----move paper online, make it a private company, expand Amazon empire (although it's Bezos buying paper NOT Amazon).

Snowden gave NSA documents in June to Guardian Glenn Greenwald, NYT Laura Poitras, with others like Bruce Schneier, and Barton Gellman of the Washington Post.

the questions are when did Bezos first plan to buy Washington Post----did he know about PRISM and Amazon cloud and NSA??? and how has NSA coverage been at Washington Post (besides Barton Gellman)???

More NSA

Videos on NSA, FISA, Intelligence Community

NSA surveillance Authority March 28 2006

Pre 9/11 Intel Failures

James Bamford Body of Secrets 2002

James Bamford Shadow Factory

Chatter----Global Eavesdropping

Pentagon Papers 35 years later


NSA Bill Binney Mass Surveillance before Snowden Revelations 
Bill Binney presentation on NSA from November 2012----why Snowden was so important-----NSA abuse was not in  the mainstream like it is now

MIT page here    Youtube

Binney answers some questions in the video-----

how much NSA can collect  20 terabytes a minute

Why General Hayden (audio & blog post) said earlier that ""in a perfect world he would brief the House/Senate intelligence committtees""

Bill Binney explains that the collection was illegal (as we know now) so NSA would only brief the Chair and Co-Chair of each committee---the House and Senate intelligence committees----so brief 4 people instead of 40

what was in the news before Snowden?? General Petraeus and his mistress, and Corporate spying, knowing you're pregnant based on your shopping habits.

Also discussed is European standards---you own your privacy, not how it works in the US

also discussed is the Jones Supreme Court case, discussing police placing a GPS on a car to investigate possible drug sales Jones Case interview On The Media