All posts by Augustus

EFF: Congress Shamefully Passes CISPA; Stop US Senate

from the Electronic Freedom Foundation

U.S. House of Representatives Shamefully Passes CISPA;

Internet Freedom Advocates Prepare for a Battle in the Senate

CISPA - The solution is the problem
CISPA – The solution is the problem (Photo credit: DonkeyHotey)

Today, Internet freedom advocates everywhere turned their eyes to the U.S. House of Representatives as that legislative body considered the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act.

For the second year in a row,  the House voted to approve CISPA, a bill that would allow companies to bypass all existing privacy law to spy on communications and pass sensitive user data to the government.  EFF condemns the vote in the House and vows to continue the fight in the Senate.

“CISPA is a poorly drafted bill that would provide a gaping exception to bedrock privacy law,” EFF Senior Staff Attorney Kurt Opsahl said. “While we all agree that our nation needs to address pressing Internet security issues, this bill sacrifices online privacy while failing to take common-sense steps to improve security.”

The legislation passed 288-127, despite a veto threat from Pres. Barack Obama, who expressed serious concerns about the danger CISPA poses to civil liberties.  Continue reading EFF: Congress Shamefully Passes CISPA; Stop US Senate

Opening a CSA Greenhouse: Biophilia

Biophilia CSA: Greenhouse in March2013
Biophilia CSA Greenhouse

We recently posted on our sister site about going to a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Fair to join a farm. That post can be found at CSA’s on Long Island: Photos from a NOFA event.   We joined a local CSA named Biophilia.

By joining a CSA, you pay for a share which entitles you to a portion of the vegetables harvested during a season.  Many CSA’s, including the one we joined, are organic.  It is a way to support local farmers directly and get fresh produce.

Many CSA’s take the “community” part very seriously by having events throughout the growing season for the members to participate.  At Biophilia, we helped out at the opening of the greenhouse  by planting seed flats.

The farmer had mentioned that the name Biophilia was taken from a book by Edward O. Wilson, but Susannna had noticed that the farm’s name had the farmer’s name in the middle of it.  Coincidence?

We got to choose what vegetable we wanted to plant. Farmer Phil made the mistake of asking my favorite food. Continue reading Opening a CSA Greenhouse: Biophilia

Daniel Berrigan & Thich Nhat Hahn discuss Communities of Resistance

The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by Advocates of PeaceDaniel Berrigan and Thich Nhat Hahn‘s 1975 dialogue Communities of Resistance: A Conversation is the eighteenth chapter of The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by Advocates of Peace .  This dialogue leads off the Post-Vietnam to the Present (1975-  ) section of the book.  Hahn and Berrigan’s hopes for communities of resistance springs from their own experience with religious communities in the Buddhist and Catholic faiths, respectively, and with the experiences of their late mutual friend Thomas Merton.

We have already discussed Merton’s essay The Root of War is Fear from a previous chapter in the same book.   In it, Merton defines the calling of a Christian to “work for the total abolition of war.”  Merton reminds us that the place to end war is within ourselves.  My comments in the post about Merton’s essay could easily be applied to Berrigan and Hahn: Continue reading Daniel Berrigan & Thich Nhat Hahn discuss Communities of Resistance

Imagine an Occupy New Years Eve 2012

On New Years Eve in Times Square they will probably play John Lennon’s  Imagine.  It has also resonated with folks from the Occupy Wall Street movement. “Imagine” was one of the tunes sung by the small group of stalwarts who gathered at Liberty Square/Zuccotti Park for Christmas. [See story at DNA Info: here]

Below the first video are links to lots and lot of videos of Occupiers singing Imagine.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5F5SK63voxE]

If you want to spend New Years Eve with Occupy:

http://www.nycga.net/events/occupy-new-years-eve-smash-the-baricades/

Date/Time: Mon. Dec 31, 2012 until Jan 1 2013, 9:00 PM – 6:00 AM

Location: Liberty Plaza (aka Zuccotti Park), New York, NY

A time to ring in the New Years with family and friends, this event is dedicated to the brave souls who last year took done the barricades in the park and danced in the New Years, come one and all and ring in 2013 in style and meet new friends old friends and map out the coming year.  Starts at 9:00pm to 12midnite and beyond. As always no drama, we are one! We will try to have small toy barricades for everyone to have at midnite and smash as a symbol of our right to protest any public space.

Contact: Apollo OWS Special Projects Affinity Group and OWS Outreach Working Group.

Email: owsspawg@Gmail.com or Phone: 917-225-3704 or Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/events/146642922152523/

 

Continue reading Imagine an Occupy New Years Eve 2012

Progressive Holiday Music Mix

Happy Holidays 2015. Here is a post from the Peace Couple Archives:

from 99 Silver Bells and other Occupy Christmas Carols ………(was our Peace Song of the Day for 12/13/11)

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FyroWM65rF4]

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMdo6l5x_7k]

from Happy Xmas (War Is Over): Peace Song for 12/12/2011  Continue reading Progressive Holiday Music Mix

Occupy Holiday Gifts

Occupy This AlbumIt’s the eternal question for a gift-giving activist:

How do I give a good present and at the same time do good?

There is always fair trade, organic, vegan chocolates or non-toxic toys.

This year we added a musical choice.  Occupy This Album: a compilation of music by, for and inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement and the 99%.  Lots of good stuff here.  The album artists include: Ani DiFranco, Aeroplane Pageant, Crosby and Nash, Devo, Immortal Technique, Jackson Browne, Joseph Arthur, Lloyd Cole, Loudon Wainwright III, Lucinda Williams, Patti Smith, Stephan Said, Tao Rodriguez Seeger, The Guthrie Family, Third Eye Blind, Thievery Corporation, Tom Morello, Toots And The Maytals, Warren Haynes, Willie Nelson, Yoko Ono, Yo La Tengo & more.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws7zy5y1vN0]   Continue reading Occupy Holiday Gifts

The Genius of “Alice’s Restaurant”

I realized a little after 12 noon this Thanksgiving that Arlo Guthrie has had a much broader cultural impact in terms of bringing a progressive message to the general population than his father, Woody Guthrie.   As a reader of this post is probably aware, across the radio dial across the United States, it is a tradition to play Arlo Guthrie’s song, Alice’s Restaurant at 12 noon on Thanksgiving.  This tradition has been going on for four decades.  We are not just talking about the anti-war song being played on granola-crunchy college radio stations.  I listened to Alice’s Restaurant on a Clear Channel owned classic rock station that won’t even play Imagine most of the year.  The DJ announced and dedicated the song as a favorite Thanksgiving tradition of a recently deceased listener.  No mention was made of the song’s lengthy anti-war message.  The song had transcended into a widely-celebrated annual tradition for the general population who never expresses a sentiment about war for the rest of the year.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8DtpdXZi0M]

Continue reading The Genius of “Alice’s Restaurant”