"...it's not the training to be mean but the training to be kind that is used to keep us leashed best." ~ Black Dog Red

"In case you haven't recognized the trend: it proceeds action, dissent, speech." ~ davidly, on how wars get done

"...What sort of meager, unerotic existence must a man live to find himself moved to such ecstatic heights by the mundane sniping of a congressional budget fight. The fate of human existence does not hang in the balance. The gods are not arrayed on either side. Poseiden, earth-shaker, has regrettably set his sights on the poor fishermen of northern Japan and not on Washington, D.C. where his ire might do some good--I can think of no better spot for a little wetland reclamation project, if you know what I mean. The fight is neither revolution nor apocalypse; it is hardly even a fight. A lot of apparatchiks are moving a lot of phony numbers with more zeros than a century of soccer scores around, weaving a brittle chrysalis around a gross worm that, some time hence, will emerge, untransformed, still a worm." ~ IOZ

Dec 17, 2010

Truth to power

"This is the police's role at demonstrations - to invite and provoke violence.They've done it in the past and they're continuing to do it now. I am not the real victim, here. There real victim are the students, like Alfie Meadows, who is in hospital within an inch of his life after a policeman struck him on the head with a truncheon. He needed emergency brain surgery. Now imagine if it was Prince Charles or Camilla or a police offer who had been within an inch of their lives...But what is clear now is that the media is trying to distract the public from the real issues..." ~ Jody McIntyre, interview with the BBC

*

"...According to David House, a computer researcher from Boston who visits Manning twice a month, he [Bradley Manning] is starting to deteriorate...

'As time passed and his suicide watch was lifted, to no effect, it became clear that his time in solitary – and his lack of a pillow, sheets, the freedom to exercise, or the ability to view televised current events – were enacted as a means of punishment rather than a means of safety...'

...House said many people were reluctant to talk about Manning's condition because of government harassment, including surveillance, warrantless computer seizures, and even bribes. 'This has had such an intimidating effect that many are afraid to speak out on his behalf,' House said...

...On 3 November, House, 23, said he found customs agents waiting for him when he and his girlfriend returned to the US after a short holiday in Mexico. His bags were searched and two men identifying themselves as Homeland Security officials said they were being detained for questioning and would miss their connecting flight. The men seized all his electronic items and he was told to hand over all passwords and encryption keys – which he refused. The items have yet to be returned, said House. He added: 'If Manning is convicted, it will be because his individual dedication to human ethics far surpasses that of the US government.'"

Source.

2 comments:

Ethan said...

That was one of my favorite parts of the McIntyre interview.

Excellent post.

Randal Graves said...

Damn rabble rousers always trying to throw wrenches in the gizmos of the state.