Personhood and the Police

[UPDATE Below - Recognizing Personhood from little gods - What it means to be an American Elite]

Law enforcement officials frustrated with Occupy signs

This is today's Times-Standard frontpage headline for Friday, March 9, 2012. "Law enforcement" being Humboldt County Sheriff Mike Downey and the so-call "Interim Eureka Police Chief Murl Harpham.

This title actually misrepresents "law enforcement's" real frustration. Their issue is really with the District Attorney and the fact they don't have carte blanche or the full discretionary power and unconditional authority to eradicate the Occupy people from Eureka's streets at will. Be assured they are diligently working on a so-called legal solution to rectify that problem and solidify their State police power authority.

We all know their history dealing with the local Occupy Movements - Brutal, Arbitrary and Perverse in total disregard to any legitimate right to peacefully protest or demonstrate. Which, by the way, is the general public's legally provided way to "give direction" to elected representatives.

The following statement in the Times-Standard by Sheriff Mike Downey sheds some light on why.

Downey said he hopes members of the public fed up with the activities in front of the courthouse will go to the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors with their concerns. 

"The public generally is no longer in support of what's going on" Downey said. "The public needs to give direction to the Board of Supervisors." [Emphasis added]

Who is this "fed up public" Sheriff Downey is speaking for or representing? Is this not what the Occupy Movement is trying to do, speak for the general, fed up public? Or is he talking only about the people that financed his election? Why does he and Murl Harpham make a distinction between the Occupy Movement who purport to represent the 99% of Americans and the so-called general "public" who obviously only make up 1%?

Herein lies the crux of the issue and goes right to the heart of what happened to Felix Omai and why. The general population that votes believes that they have some say in matters relative to their existence. In other words, they believe that their vote guarantees their recognition and general personal representation. Or, at the very least, a hearing ear and at least some consideration for their needs and wants. What the 99% don't or won't accept is that their vote, as such, is both redundant and irrelevant. The only vote that counts to all elected representatives is the dollar; the more dollars, the more personhood. They know that the one with the most dollars usually always gets voted into office. Hence the attitude of the elected representative toward their supposed constituents is disparaging, demeaning and belittling consistent to their lying acts of betrayal. They see, if at all, the general population as sub or non-human, not much better than and subject to about as much consideration as mongrel dogs. Throw them a few scraps, or lying promises and they'll rollover on command.

The problem is that the select class of ruling elites do not see nor do they hear anything from such people as make up the likes of an Occupy Movement - people that believe they actually count in this system. Did you notice that the only people mentioned by Sheriff Downey that matters are the few fed up people like him making complaints about the Occupy people? Accordingly, those of the Occupy Movement that are trying to express the wants and needs of the majority of people are considered nothing more than a gang of trouble-makers that are a blight on the community, interfering in the affairs of normal people.

What the Occupy Movement has proven is that there is no reasoning or communicating with City or County governments regardless of what they are currently doing. There's only one way to communicate with these elite, exceptional oligarchy that presides over an ever constricting police state. They, the police and their masters, must FIRST see you as an equal. For that to happen YOU must see them exactly for who and what they are and deal with them accordingly. This reality was demonstrated in superb form in the movie Avatar. I suggest all wannabe Occupy Movement people go see it or see it again and this time take a realistic lesson into what it means to become and act like a person worthy of being seen and heard.

Currently there are 106 comments on the Humboldt Herald for their Quote of the Day:

So with this I am suspending all efforts to do anything with the continued assault on the courthouse, the employees and the general public due to the immunity given to them by your [the District Attorney's] office. — Humboldt County Sheriff Mike Downey in a letter to DA Paul Gallegos regarding the ongoing Occupy Eureka protest outside the courthouse.

Check out some of the local blog-talkers if you think what they say is representative of local opinion. In particular I recommend the comment by Janell Eggar. As someone in the mix or on the firing line, she makes or proofs my article and reason for writing it. Before you can ever hope to talk to someone, let alone communicate with them, you must FIRST get their attention. Only an authentic, legitimate person can do that.

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[UPDATE :: Thursday, March 15, 2012 – Link to SoHum Parlance II – Estelle Event in Fortuna]

Here is the initial statement I made and Eric's reply. 

March 10, 2012 at 3:56 pm

Joe Blow

Still promoting the auction, I see…

March 10, 2012 at 5:28 pm

Eric Kirk

Voted in every election since I turned 18 Joe. It’s not even just about politics. It’s part of what it means to be American. So yes, I’m still “promoting the auction.” Always.

Currently there are over 70 comments on this thread. Many of the comments associated with the above exchange deal with the issue of "Personhood." Without the acceptance and recognition of EQUAL personhood, whether it be by individuals, communities or nations, there can be no meaningful communication and certainly NO peace. Many of the comments and their writers clearly demonstrate the war-mongering attitude of the elitist bully constantly striving to control everyone and everything. To these people, intellectual and ideological diversity and exchange is their pariah. So, be warned.

Once the difference between the common American individual (one of personhood, that of individual legitimacy and value) and the Elitist American God, so aptly demonstrated in this blog thread, I closed down further conversation on Eric Kirk's blog. The simple truth is, there is absolutely nothing you can say that these kinds of self-centered oligarchic elitist will ever hear as long as they believe they are a god. I found it quite interesting that, with just a little coaxing from me, Ernie Branscomb identified and defined this as the very issue alienating him that he thinks justifies his constant litany of degrading, racist insults. 

--Joe

Brutality Versus Terrorism

Time for the Occupy Movement to wake up to reality.

The question, until now remained unanswered: Why did city governments and their police officers respond so violently and with so much brutality against peaceful people threatening no one, simply asking for a little consideration?

Today, at least for Eureka, California, we got a partial answer – PARANOIA.

The Times-Standard reveals in their “County emails outragemembers of Occupy Eureka” the existence of “nefarious” “emails” “that led to police action against the Occupy Eureka encampment on the Humboldt County Courthouse lawn.” Why? Read the condemnatory words of the leading police official and law enforcement officer, District Attorney Paul Gallegos:

“While I do not suspect that any of those tents contain any explosives or otherwise dangerous materials, I cannot confirm that they do or do not and I do not believe that we can allow the risk of such an occurrence to continue.” [Emphasis added] 

No fact-based reality contained in anything Gallegos says, only his paranoid, fantasy-based vilifying accusations of “terrorism” that demonstrates his true attitude regarding the people of the Occupy Movement – inept, incompetent, gullible, and stupid terrorist.

Grant Scott-Goforth of the Times-Standard puts it this way: “Gallegos said he worried it was possible for people not directly associated with Occupy Eureka to guise the group as cover for illegal activity.”
The hypocrisy of Gallegos is mind-blowing, if nothing else. He says: “Candidly I support the movement. Unfortunately here it has been somewhat co-opted locally by our local protesters.”

In what way? What could these local protesters possibly want the the movement doesn't want when dealing with the dregs of society; homeless people and a “leaderless nature” that obviously couldn't know what it wants other than issue “hyperbole.” Notice how unreasonable these “Occupy People” are according to Gallegos and why he refuses to recognize and engage them: “If people want to sit down reasonably, they're going to find complete cooperation.” Then immediately contradicts that propagandist assertion by saying: “Occupy Eureka doesn't have a monopoly on concerns about the county and the community.” Why? Because in his mind they do not represent the 99% of Americans. He and his supporters do. That's why he and his police deal with them for the “terrorists” that they really are.

A good lesson on what “terrorism” and what makes “terrorist” – how the wanton accusatory use of the word automatically vilifies, condemns and justifies the extreme forms of sanctioned brutality and criminal conduct – is explained and defined by Glenn Greenwald in his Salon.com article, “Iranand the Terrorism game” - to quote from his:

UPDATE: There’s one point that should be added about why this matters so much: the fact that Terrorism has no fixed meaning does not mean it is inconsequential. The opposite is true. Terrorism is one of the most consequential words in our political lexicon. The term designates Supreme, Unmitigated Evil. Once someone is successfully branded a Terrorist, it means that anything and everything can and should be done to them without constraints.

And concludes with:

As I’ve said before, Terrorism is simultaneously the term that means nothing and justifies everything. That’s why such strong emotions are evoked when it is used in a way that deviates from mandated orthodoxies. It’s a meaningless term, but incredibly (perhaps incomparably) significant in governing how power and violence can be wielded and against whom.

So now you know why Gallegos painted the local Occupy People and their “peaceful protests” as “terrorist” - stupid people that believe they have some God-given or Constitutional right to be recognized for who and what they “think” or “believe” they are. He wants to be, as he claims here, to be the man of the people, but he's co-opted by his own attitude, actions and hypocrisy as defined and established by the Occupy Eureka people.

Whether or not it was the newspaper Editor or their writer's intention or not, they did expose the truth about Paul Gallegos' hypocrisy. The issue, as applied to these people peacefully protesting, went far beyond simply “taking down a few tents” to branding the local people as potential terrorists and their protest actions as terrorism. It went to the very heart of why the local so-called representative government went so far to renounce and denounce the legitimacy of a courageous people willing to Occupy their rightful space on this Earth equal to all others.

The citizens of Humboldt County and particularly Eureka are quite capable of deciding for themselves what is and what is not “public safety.” Despite the arrogance of the one percent, we're not a bunch of dogs that need to be told when to “sit” and when and how to “speak.”
(Credit Times-Standard and AP-Salon.com)

--Joe

Humboldt Shame

[UPDATE]

When I picked up my Wednesday, November 23, 2011, Times-Standard paper today and the this picture pasted on the front-page, Use of pepper spray at Davis brings back memories of '97 Palco protest; university president launches investigation and read the caption where they used the word, "allege,"  I was instantly enraged – AGAIN!

Allege means to "assert without proof." Then writes, "Eventually, officers swabbed pepper spray on the protesters' eyes in order to remove them." The fact is, they didn't need to "swab" anything in their eyes to "remove them." They used pepper spray just like they us the Taser to force submission and forced yielding - coercive rape at it's essence. The paper, regardless the writer, in this case Dona Tam, never gives-up on the biased propaganda justifying the crimes.

I was out of this area when that incident took place. When people found out that I was from Humboldt County they wanted to know what kind of neanderthal barbarians Humboldt County people had on their police forces? The only conclusion anyone could accept is that these people were not only sick, but sadistically sick.

We're not talking about just the Sheriff and Police Chief and their officers, but the whole damned community. The sickness that permeates this community was quite well defined when the justification for what amounts to a form of sadistic rape legally declared acceptable. What did the people in this community do about the District Attorney, the Sheriff, the Eureka Police Chief and the officers involved? The consequences of those acts that day are clear in the pictures of how the police deal with peaceful people all over the world. No father of any worthwhile value, including one of the girl's father, Jan Lundberg, would ever tolerate their daughter's treatment recorded here for the whole world to see. When you look to the criminal for justice, and get injustice, you are as guilty of the crimes committed as they are.

Shotgun pellets or pepper spray, what's the difference?

When you read articles like this one: Torture’s Future, By ERIC LEWIS in the New York Times and this one by Glenn Greenwald: The roots of the UC-Davis pepper-spraying along with pictures like this of what the heroic police and courageous solders are doing to their neighbors it all kind of jumbles together as something that doesn't involve YOU. Problem is, when you pickup your local newspaper and see similar pictures that happened right in your own hometown and know there is a twenty year legacy of such acts of vile hatred and sadistic barbarity, you've got to face the facts – like it or not.

When Eureka Police Chief Murl Harpham tells the homeowners and business people in Eureka that he has “tough” cops at their beck and call. These are the kind of “tough” people he's talking about. Notice in the accompanying article: Police pay third visit to Occupy Eureka at courthouse – Notice this statement: [O]one woman was arrested Tuesday morning after she allegedly became aggressive with a county employee, Harpham said.” “Became aggressive” in what way justifies an arrest? Raise their voice in objection? And the county employee didn't precipitate the incident with aggressive conduct? That “county employee” kept their business to themselves, just walked quietly by and never said a word or made a filthy gesture? Eureka police officers are, when they want to be, are extremely thin-skinned. Simply asking them a question can be cause for aggressiveness in their minds. Consequently, everyone walks a tightrope when dealing with the police.

These words by Swellsman are worth repeating:

And, yeah . . . the rest of us might want to think about trying to undo some of the power and public relations imbalance that we have allowed to creep into law enforcement’s favor by our past apathy in the face of public abuses. 

Despite what they’ll tell you, and what we’ve been conditioned to believe, the cops are not the law. The law resides in a system, not in a person, not even in a group of people. Cops are merely citizens – just like you and me – who have been given special dispensation to arrest people under certain circumstances and then turn them over to that system . . . and nothing more. 

And it seems to me that America would be a lot better off trying to keep that basic fact in mind.

His blog is located here. Picture source is the Times-Standard and Sharif Kouddous.

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[UPDATE :: HUMBOLDT HERALD has an posting on this subject: Humboldt’s history of pepper spray recalled. The comment section is worth considering. By the way, Heraldo's is uncustomarily candid of this longstanding wrong in this community and why he thinks the heavy-handed Government/Police way will ultimately fail.

--Joe

Occupy Eureka – Conflict and Contradiction

There was once a very astute and powerful Japanese Samurai warrior, Miyamoto Musashi. He became famous for his fighting prowess - he was never defeated, in part for writing The Book of Five Rings. A book I read and studied many years ago. He is reputed to say that the battle is won and lost before the first blow is struck. Herein lies the secret of a true master. “The heart of Musashi's ideas is the mind.  The Mind should be pure, uncontaminated by self-serving distortions and preconceived ideas.  The mind should be flexible, able to change shape according to the situation without resorting to rote learning.” (A guiding principle applied by the Joe Blow Report) Musashi proved that harmony within oneself and with the Universe took priority by living a long life and dying of old age.

Another older man that had much to do with the establishment of Christianity once said to a younger man: “Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” -1 Timothy 4:7, 8. This man's understanding of “godliness” is clearly defined in his, rather extensive writings and coincides nicely with what Musashi said. From my point of view, such people demonstrate the defining qualities of life's value, self-worth, dignity and honor which is demonstrated by their inner sense of power, absolute control and inner calm. Simply put, their actions are totally harmonious with their inner being – what they are is defined by what they do.

How does any of this apply to the Occupy Movement? First question that needs answered is, what does the Occupy Movement intend? Are they acting in harmony with their goals and objectives?

What makes the Occupy Movement different for most all other such social or political phenomena is that it operates completely different from what everyone knows and understands - pure Democracy working from a Horizontal Way. Here on Humboldt Bay you can occasionally see large flocks of black birds flying over the bay. What's striking is how they move and fly as one body. If you observe a flock of geese flying overhead, you'll always see a leader at the head, not so with the black birds. What distinguishes the Occupy Movement is that it is leaderless, yet somehow they have the ability to learn, adjust and move as one, but not in ways always expected. They are an alive, ever evolving and growing movement. They stand for their legitimate rights and when forcibly deprived, they move to another more defensible place. Locally, however, they are still not completely “able to change shape according to the situation without resorting to rote learning.”

By chance I found what is titled the “Occupy Eureka Edition” of what appears as an electronic newspaper dated November 9. 2011. On this page the Occupy Movement states its purpose and goals.

“Our form of protest, shared with tens of thousands across the nation and world, is rooted in the continuous, peaceful occupation of public properties, both day and night, and taking back these places for prolonged periods of me. 

It is a widely shared sentiment that ill motivated entities have acquired control of our Country’s political, economic, and social spheres by deceptive and inequitable means, and are acting to the detriment of the American people. Our intent is to make it clear to all that this is not an acceptable development, and to encourage dialogue that will lead to positive solutions. Please help the Occupy Eureka participants take back the lawn by standing in solidarity. Come give a couple of hours to the Occupation. [Emphasis added] 

Occupy Eureka and Arcata have requested that Porta Potties be established on site, at no expense to the city. This request has been rejected by our authorities. Our local governments are creating a situation that negatively affects the community. The unwillingness to work with protestors will not deter them, nor will it benefit the community at large.”

The above statement is backed up by this comment on Occupy Eureka's Facebook page this morning (11-16-2011).

“Laura Cutler:
Morning! I may not be able to attend General Assemblies for a while due to addressing Occupation related legal matters. I wanted to suggest that folks work on putting together a well attended General Assembly with an agenda item addressing how folks want to make proposals to the County, City of Eureka, etc. during this temporary "truce." One possibility is to put a proposal together that everyone buys into. That may be difficult. Folks might not agree. I suggest folks consider the option of reaching consensus simply that everyone in the occupation and the general public individually make their proposal to all of the agencies involved. With that approach, the occupation continues to support the commitment to allowing all voices to be heard, the agencies will receive many letters to read rather than one, and the agencies will have proposals before them quickly rather than after the weeks or months it might take to get a unified proposal together. Just a suggestion.”

Similar statements of intent with consistent courses of conduct are outlined in the Tuesday, November 15, 2011, edition of the Time-Standard: Occupy Eureka camp raided for a second time; 31 protesters arrested. Regarding,

“Local attorney Laura Cutler said she has been trying to set up a dialogue between city and county officials and Occupy Eureka organizers, but she has yet to hear back from the local government. Some options Occupy Eureka organizers were interested in discussing were moving the encampment to another location in the city and using the courthouse lawn as a place to hold rallies and disseminate information, she said. Cutler said she has been trying to initiate a meeting with local government for the past three weeks.”
"The agencies Cutler has contacted include the Eureka city manager, county supervisors, the sheriff's office, Eureka police, the county administrative officer and the county counsel."
"'Occupy Eureka has expressed interest in having a dialogue about camping issues, but there's been absolute silence from government agencies,” she said. “Any request has gone unheeded.'
Cutler said she wants to continue her role as mediator but has been considering taking part in Occupy Eureka's legal defense and potential civil rights lawsuits."

Ms. Cutler clearly demonstrates the weakness problem afflicting Occupy groups in America. You can talk or you can act (occupy). You cannot threaten, dictate and make accusations, i.e., that the political leaders or public representatives are bought and paid for corrupt and then expect reasonable, peaceful sit-down negotiations. (Turn a deaf ear.) We learned today that cities all across America coordinated their attacks on these camps. The reason no one talked to Ms. Cutler is because no one is the least bit interested in talking. They talk with their police billy club, don't you know?

Right now the police believe they possess their legitimate right to enforce their master's laws any way they see fit. Until these issues, legitimate existence and personal rights, are addressed they will continue to act violently and aggressively.

--Joe

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For some additional followup, Glenn Greenwald has some really pertinent observations.

Will the Real Matt Owen Please Stand Up

I'm writing about the “Matt Owen” that got a rather lengthy MY WORD opinion published Friday, November 4, 2011, called “Occupy Eureka: Hopefully, a peaceful resolution.” Maybe what he wrote says more about the Editor's of the Times-Standard newspaper than it does about himself. He clearly does not admittedly understand what the “Occupy” movement is all about, yet here he is telling everyone why he thinks they should be summarily dealt with. Here we have groups of people all over the World and the United States taking a stand for their legally guaranteed Constitutional right to petition their governments for redress of grievances. Unfortunately, you can't petition anyone until the agree to recognize and accept you – ONLY then will they hear you. Matt Owen has clearly decided that these people, the dregs of society, are unfit and therefore unworthy to be heard let alone seen. Which begs the question, what kind of a person is the “real Matt Owen”?

We know that other such citizen movements removed, but not necessarily replaced,  decades old authoritarian, dictatorial despots with the purpose of establishing an incorrupt Democratic government that actually worked for and represented the BEST interests of the people. Ever wonder how such murderous criminals could stay in power for so long at the total detriment of the majority (99%) of the people? You'll find the answer to that question contained in Matt Owen's words and attitude as expressed within [his (worthless) opinion]. Opinions promoted and based upon the exceptionalism of the despot; the wannabe Elitist tyrants. Everyone of these individuals Muammar Gaddafi, Hosni Mubarak, Bashar al-Assad, Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Joseph Stalin to name only seven historical individuals retained their power because of people like Matt Owen.

The Occupy Movement has a clear and distinct message. Despots and tyrants and their supporters are always unable to understand that message. Every bully I ever dealt with NEVER saw what was staring them right in the face. When the confrontation was all over, they never could figure out what had happened.

The following is an excerpt from Glenn Greenwald's Saturday, November 5, 2011, article: The Drone Mentality – in both senses of the word. It's relevant because what Glenn Greenwald lays out here is the foundation also demonstrated by Matt Owen for same way to deal with everyone associated with the Occupy Movement or the 99% of Americans being dispossessed. I would also like to point out that the same mentality is also demonstrated by four other individuals: Dave Stancliff, Ernie Branscomb, Eric Kirk and Kimberly Wear of the Times-Standard newspaper. Here is Greenwald speaking about the movement:

“Over the last week, I had the genuine privilege of spending substantial amounts of time with participants in the truly inspiring Occupy movement around the country, including visiting Occupy Oakland on Thursday. This same dynamic is at play there. Many sneer at the protest encampments because they include the homeless, the unstable, the “dirty,” the jobless, and those who are otherwise downtrodden, dispossessed and unable to live decent lives. Much of that sneering is due to the desire that these people remain hidden from sight, invisible, so that we can avoid facing the reality of what our society has produced on a large scale (having Dirty, Disobedient People be part of a movement vaguely associated with liberalism also harms the ability of progressive media stars to maintain their access to the Halls of Seriousness). But they are and should be part of that movement precisely because the disappearance of the middle class and booming wealth and income inequality produces exactly this type of human suffering. There are those who love to parade around as supporters of the marginalized and poor who prefer that they remain silent and invisible — distant abstractions — because being viscerally confronted with their human realness is unpleasant and uncomfortable. That’s exactly why victims of President Obama’s relentless drone attacks remain invisible and many prefer to keep it that way — it’s best not to confront the reality of the misery that one’s policies wreak — and it’s exactly why everything should be done to prevent that disappearing from happening.”

Matt Owen's concluding comments could come from any of Bashar al-Assad's supporters or Ali Abdullah Saleh's supporters or Hosni Mubarak's thug supporters: “I believe we all want to avoid the anarchy and violence, like what happened in Oakland the other night. Hopefully a peaceful resolution can be reached; otherwise law enforcement will enforce the laws.” I'm sure he does, since this Occupy Movement is standing directly AGAINST people like Matt Owen. Like the four individuals mentioned in the previous post: A knee-jerk is ALWAYS a knee-JERK – they had ample time to stakeout their positions. 

So, Will the Real Matt Owen Please...

Here's a quote from Humboldt Herald's: Hodgson (North Coast Journal publisher Judy Hodgson) calls bullshit on Tyson’s cheerleaders August 3, 2011 and we all know who and what "Tyson's cheerleaders" are - Republicans: 

Supervisor Virginia Bass admits that it was her husband who suggested including a portion that he knew to be untrue:

Finally, on Tuesday, I got my answer via email from Virginia Bass.
”I take responsibility for the discussion and the inclusion of this portion of the article [both Journal and Bradlee references]. … Matthew (referring to her husband, Matthew Owen) suggested the inclusion of the comment by Benjamin Bradlee and Mike [Jones] and I thought it was appropriate.” [Emphasis added]

[Source] Jager/Owens [Source]

--Joe

Will This Work?

Deepak Chopra Leads Meditation at Occupy Wall Street

Here was Deepak’s meditation for the group. “I just want to do a two minute meditation, or even less. Put your hand on your heart and just ask yourself internally what kind of world do I want to live in? And listen. Do it now. And now ask yourself how can I make that happen? How can I make that happen from a place of love, compassion, joy and equanimity? Simple anger will only perpetuate what already is out there. It was created by greed and fear. We have to go beyond that, and come from a place of compassion, centered equanimity and creativity. Once again, ask yourself, how can I be the change that I want to see in the world? Thank you.”

 How do you defeat fear, greed and anger? Deepak says: "[A]sk yourself, how can I be the change that I want to see in the world?" It all starts with you. That's the little known secretive message coming out of all these "Occupy" movements all over the World.

"[A]sk yourself how can I make that happen? How can I make that happen from a place of love, compassion, joy and equanimity? Simple anger will only perpetuate what already is out there." 

What is the answer? How does a calm person working "from a place love, compassion, joy and equanimity" effect ANY positive change? Without HARMONIOUS INTENT, you don't. It's as simple as that.
It's also how you defeat bullies when they believe they have the right to beat you - You stop cooperating with them. You stop giving them permission to beat you. You act with purpose and right. You defend you legitimate right to exist same as everyone else.

So, there you have it - How to occupy and take possession of yourself while taking possession of what is rightfully yours - the Earth.

Locally there are the Occupy Humboldt: Bringing the Revolution to Humboldt and Occupy Eureka movements.  [Source]

--Joe