A case brought by Chris Hedges against the Obama administration

Dear Folks,

See Nation of Change website. Interesting developments in Occupy including a case brought by Chris Hedges against the Obama administration. Hedges spent roughly l5 years as a war correspondence, and then wrote two books, one on the addiction of war and the other, on the lethal ideas of evangelicals. He grew up in such a family. See the rest in article. This movement is growing. It must continue to grow if our country is to be saved from big money.

Sincerely, John G

OWS and Worldwide Protesters

Dear Folks, You already know my personal viewpoint about Occupy Wall St (OWS), that because all significant political change in history begins from the bottom up, OWS is so significant that it has now become the elephant in the room that even the brightest people are not seeing. I have been reading pundits who, pointing to this years election, are discussing strategies, but seldom are they including in their reflections the power of the people when that power is collectively felt. Now we know that this people presence is worldwide. I say this because of one of the most remarkable articles that has been written in recent decades. I learned that it was coming when I listened when Charley Rose had the Time's Managing Editor, Rick Stengel, on his talk program, discussing not only OWS but also protest movements in the world in sink with we Americans. Now we have Time magazine's vol l78,no 25 historical article, 'Person of the Year: The Protester : From The Arab Spring to Athens, From Occupy Wall Street to Moscow." The article is 50 pages long, written by Stengel, with input from people worldwide. Remarkably, this worldwide movement began with a young man who burned himself to death in Tunisia in protest against indignities laid on him by police and government officials. His mother says, "My son set himself on fire for dignity." His sister added: "In Tunisia, dignity is more important than bread."

Some thoughts on Occupy and Creation Spirituality from Matthew Fox

DEAR FOLKS, I am introducing you to one of the wisest men I have had the privilege of knowing and teaching with for many years. In l981, I met Matt when he was then heading a graduate program at little Mundelein College, now part of Loyola U on our North side. I taught with him through l982, then he moved to Holy Names College, Oakland. His course was called Creation Centered Spirituality. There I also met Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry who eventually wrote The Universe Story. Brian has made a movie called "The Journey of the Universe" and now a book of that name.  Work with these people, including eventually the so-called "witch" Starhawk provided me with some of the most creative and spiritual experiences of my life. John G

Some thoughts on Occupy and Creation Spirituality from Matthew Fox

Spiritual Dimensions of Occupy

Dear Folks, Some interesting responses to Occupy Wall St (OWS) have, recently, been spiritual in content. A few weeks ago, the Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire told Rachael Maddow that, after talking to many occupiers, he noted an underlying thceme that has been missing in our political life, that these people are experiencing community and with it a shared concern for one another, in contrast to the growing narcissism from the Right that says, I made mine; you make yours. If not, then fail, and even die in your uninsured condition. Last night I heard on MSNBC that the Archbishop of Canterbury said, "If Jesus were alive today, he would be with the 99ers." A small article appeared in the last few days in the Chicago Tribune pointing out that many Christian churches in both New York, in Portland, Ore, and other towns have opened up their church buildings and other buildings to the 99ers. An editorial in the National Catholic Reporter, Dec 8-22, first notes "Truth is the superich and the superinfluential have walked off with our government....The rest of us have largely lost our voices... The OWS protests have put front and center the growing divide between two classes of Americans --the one percent superrich and the other 99 percent....Maybe,just maybe, by November 20l2 enough of us will have had enough to demand a radical reordering of an election process that has stolen our voices and government."

A Must Read Article

'How to Occupy the moral and political high ground' by Naomi Wolf

Some Facts on Occupy in the Net

Dear Folks, I sent the following to Michael Moore in reply to one  of  his pitches for the Occupiers.

Dear Michael, You are certainly one of my heroes. Your books have given me a strong voice Now OWS has given you, I and millions a public voice we have desperately needed. Is there a plan for an Occupy Congress? In a Friday November 25th page A 20 New York Times article, entitled, "Protesters look for ways to feed the web." I read there of a national day, Dec. 6th to protest foreclosures. This is the kind of focused agendae we need. In this article, leaders of the movement hold that building "a large network on social media sites" needs also the "on the ground face to face actions" to buttress the growing network info. Agreed. However it is worth noting, as this article points out, that video on YouTube helped enormously to spread the word and pictures of the U of Calif Davis pepperspraying of peaceful students. YouTube is "now a formidable digital presence with l.7 million videos, viewed 73 million times....tagged with the word, 'occupy.' ....in the YouTube's News and Politics category." Also, "The movement counts more than 400 Facebook pages with 2.7 million fans around the world." People can go to such sites as above noted YouTube site, as well as Tumblr.com and GlobalRevolution.tv and finally 140elect.com

OWS - Some perspectives

Dear Folks, I want to share some perspectives on OWS. For one thing, I get irritated when individuals say, "Its objectives are vague." My response is simply: "Its the economy and its injustices, stupid." The disperity between the rich and the poor is the greatest since l928. However, then, we did not have a supreme court made up of five mental dunces that have declared corporations and unions "persons" and so controlling the money they spend politically is against the first amendment's free speech. Put these two realities together and we face a danger to our democracy that our founding fathers never fathomed.

Deep down millions of us know this and about l00,000 are now voicing their voices on the streets of cities on various continents. Here is an irony, however, as Robert Reich recently talked about at Univ of Cal, Berkley, where he was asked to speak, honoring Mario Savio, the voice of the l950-and l960s Student Freedom Movement that then morphed into Civil Rights and anti-Vietnam. All of these issues are dwarfed by our present threat to democracy. Yet, says Reich, even as one hand the supreme court gave to corporations such a powerful voice, we watch as Mayors and cops are thwarting the voices of all of us, who have lacked a collective voice.

The Economists and Paul Volcker

Dear Folks, We always need clarity in this confusing world. The economy has crushed billions of people. Two corrections are needed: (l) Bringing more and more of the Wall St criminals to justice and supporting the Occupy Wall St movement. Its vital power is based on the enormous sense of injustice that has befallen so many and has left unpunished the mighty few. A turn around is coming, via two Attorney Generals, both from states where so many of the big corps have their headquarters, New York and Delaware. They are on the attack. The AG from Delaware is Beau Biden, son of Joe. He is initiating a suit that will have a sweeping consequence for many of the Wall ST. companies.

Wall Street Protesters

Dear Folk, How long will the American people tolerate the absurd inequalities that our wall street traders and banks have laid on the American people. As Nicholas Kristof has written in the New York times this Sunday, the inequalities that they and conservative politics has spawned since Reagan do not only damage billions but may do damage to the very essence of democracy. There are reasons to ask, therefore, that the what the protesters are now saying in hundreds of cities and towns not only this country but throughout the globe, represents a need for a fundamental re-structuring of our very democracy. The forces that played out in the great depression are occurring in this very time: immense wealth piled up for a few. Yet when these few fail, we the many have had to bail them out. These same destructive forces also has made it possible now for 400 families and individuals to control the wealth of l50,000,000 of us and the top ten percent, 90 per cent of us, as noted to day in Kristof's article. Add to these realities the power of five men in the US Supreme Court who have made it possible ---as already seen in the 20l0 election, for conservative forces to now paralyze Washington and in many states seeing these forces seeking as many obstacles to prevent people from voting, which strikes at the very core of a democracy.

Occupy Wall Street

Dear Folks, This is a historic time, The anti-wall street movement is very understandable. We middle class people have now for thirty years lost our status as the core of any democracy and the authentic basis for a solid economy. Why because we use our money for goods and services, which makes us customers and a which causes industry large and small sell and so hire more workers. But when l percent of our population owns 40 percent of the wealth, comparable to the lowest l50,000,000 million of us, we have been significantly diminished in both voice and spending power. So what is happening all over the country is what is happening all over the world when autocracy drowns out the voices and the hopes of a people. This is a legitimate surge of strength and energy, that frightens the power brokers and their political supporters such as Erik Cantor who called the protesters a "MOB." These folk in Congress and also Fox News said this also of the people in Egypt, and other awakened populaces. We are no longer sitting home alone. We have found a common voice, that first must get the attention of those in power and then must lead to policy changes. They must be big ones: change in the electoral process in which candidates both in Washington and in the States receive public money in elections. This will offset the Supreme Court decision that opened up unlimited monies for corporations to win elections, which they won in droves in 20l0 in states. This is it. Spread the word. I believe the internet has a declaration from the Wall St Protestors. John G