More people are behind bars in the United States than any other country. In 2006 a record 7 million people were in prison, 2.2 million, on probation, or on parole. The People’s Republic of China ranks second with 1.5 million. The United States has 5% of the world’s population and 25% of the world’s incarcerated population. [from Wikipedia]

June, 2007: New York City Police do not care for artist, activist Joey Skaggs’ attire:

Here is a link to a thirty minute BBC radio program by Mike Thomson, plus articles written by Scott Horton and David Swanson about a little known coup attempt on the U.S. government in 1934 by prominent American businessmen, one of whom is the grandfather of the current president of the United States.

The Whitehouse Coup
by Mike Thompson
BBC
July 23, 2007

Document uncovers details of a planned coup in the USA in 1933 by right-wing American businessmen. The coup was aimed at toppling President Franklin D Roosevelt with the help of half-a-million war veterans. The plotters, who were alleged to involve some of the most famous families in America, (owners of Heinz, Birds Eye, Goodtea, Maxwell Hse & George Bush’s Grandfather, Prescott) believed that their country should adopt the policies of Hitler and Mussolini to beat the great depression.

Mike Thomson investigates why so little is known about this biggest ever peacetime threat to American democracy. Listen to the BBC program here.

(more…)

Richard H. Carmona

In testimony before Congress, former U.S. Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona accused the Bush administration on Tuesday of muzzling him on sensitive public health issues. According to the Washington Post this makes him “the most prominent voice among several current and former federal science officials who have complained of political interference. Carmona, a Bush nominee who served from 2002 to 2006, told the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that political appointees in the administration routinely scrubbed his speeches for politically sensitive content and blocked him from speaking out on public health matters such as stem cell research, abstinence-only sex education and the emergency contraceptive Plan B. ‘Anything that doesn’t fit into the political appointees’ ideological, theological or political agenda is often ignored, marginalized or simply buried,’ he said. ‘The problem with this approach is that in public health, as in a democracy, there is nothing worse than ignoring science or marginalizing the voice of science for reasons driven by changing political winds.’”

   Originally by Sheldon Rampton from Center for Media and Democracy - Publishers of PR Watch on July 11, 2007

The Propaganda III World Tour opens today, July 4, 2007, at the Phoenix Hotel in San Francisco at 601 Eddie Street from 2 pm to 6 pm. Artists everywhere have been invited to submit their work. Organized by John Doffing, the show promises no curation and no censorship regardless of viewpoint. The exhibition will travel to cities throughout the U.S. and the world. If you can’t be there physically, you can visit the voluminous and fascinating online gallery at Flickr.

Says Doffing, “This is not a commercial art show, but rather a truly global celebration of free speech and untrammeled freedom of expression.” After the tour has ended, all original artwork will be donated to the Center for the Study of Political Graphics (CSPG) in Los Angeles.

From Carol Wells, Executive Director, Center for the Study of Political Graphics:

“There has never been a movement for social change without the arts—music, poetry, theater, posters—being central to that movement. Political posters are powerful historical documents reminding us of worldwide struggles, past and present, for peace and justice. Communication, exhortation, persuasion, instruction, celebration, warning: graphic art broadcasts its messages through bold images and striking designs.

“All art is political, but not all art is overtly political. Protest posters flaunt their politics to generate awareness or controversy. Raw and aggressive or polished and sophisticated, political posters are the graphics of dissent against existing injustices. Slapped on walls surreptitiously, often at great risk, by collectives and anonymous individuals, or carefully fashioned by recognized artists in well-equipped studios, protest posters communicate instantly and directly to both literate and non-literate viewers. (more…)

‘Reverend Billy’ Arrested at Critical Mass Bike Rally

New York (1010 WINS) — An antic activist who said he was sticking up for cyclists’ rights was arrested while loudly reciting the First Amendment, according to police and the activist.

Bill Talen, an actor and performance artist who crusades against consumerism as “Reverend Billy,” was arrested Friday before a monthly mass bicycle ride that has spurred friction between riders and police. (more…)

Matt Lepacek of Infowars confronts Rudy Giuliani pollster Ed Goeas with a question in the spin room after the 6/5/07 Republican debate in Manchester, New Hampshire while streaming live video. His subsequent arrest is captured by numerous cameras and his live audio continued to feed from inside the police vehicle after video was shut off by police. Later, his colleague Luke Rudowski is led outside by police. Rudowski is let go and explains what just happened.

Reporter Arrested on Orders of Giuliani Press Secretary
by Aaron Dykes & Alex Jones
Jones Report
June 5, 2007

Charged with Criminal Trespass Despite Protest of CNN Staff and Official Event Press Credentials at GOP Debate in New Hampshire

Manchester, NH - Freelance reporter Matt Lepacek, reporting for Infowars.com, was arrested for asking a question to one of Giuliani’s staff members in a press conference. The press secretary identified the New York based reporter as having previously asked Giuliani about his prior knowledge of WTC building collapses and ordered New Hampshire state police to arrest him.

Jason Bermas, reporting for Infowars and America: Freedom to Fascism, confirmed Lepacek had official CNN press credentials for the Republican debate. However, his camera was seized by staff members who shut off the camera, according to Luke Rudkowski, also a freelance Infowars reporter on the scene. He said police physically assaulted both reporters after Rudkowski objected that they were official members of the press and that nothing illegal had taken place. Police reportedly damaged the Infowars-owned camera in the process. (more…)

Censorship ‘changes face of net’
BBC News
June 6, 2007

Amnesty International has warned that the internet “could change beyond all recognition” unless action is taken against the erosion of online freedoms.

The warning comes ahead of a conference organised by Amnesty, where victims of repression will outline their plights.

The “virus of internet repression” has spread from a handful of countries to dozens of governments, said the group.

Amnesty accused companies such as Google, Microsoft and Yahoo of being complicit in the problem. (more…)

The NYPD decided not to appeal a judge’s decision that the NYPD should declassify its surveillance documents from the 2004 RNC, so it has set up a special NYPD RNC Documents website with the documents. Of course, you have to scroll down to the very bottom for a zip file of the 600 pages of documents. And what’s above the documents is the NYPD’s rather thorough explanation/ defense justifying why it did such extensive surveillance of disparate groups and people, listing various terror incidents between 2001 and the convention as well as other incidents of protest. Here is Police Commissioner Ray Kelly’s statement:

“I think a close examination of the documents is going to show that the New York City Police Department did an outstanding job in protecting the City during the Republican National Convention. People wanted to come here and shut down the City, to replicate what happened in Seattle, Montreal and Genoa. We simply didn’t let that happen, and I think it’ll just underscore the outstanding work of the men and women of the Department. In terms of gathering information, the vast majority of information that was gathered was open-source information. It was gathered from the Internet; these groups that were coming here were advertising what they were going to do — bragging about what they were going to do. It wasn’t particularly difficult to get the vast majority of this information.”

Good to know that the NYPD is watching all of us, including MSNBC and the Sierra Club. The NY Times has all the documents plus highlights which people and/or groups were mentioned in the documents. Here are but a few:

ACT UP, Sierra Club, City Council members (Charles Barron, David Weprin, Bill Perkins), Sept. 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, Johnny Cash Bloc, MSNBC, A31 Coalition, NYCLU, NOW, Planned Parenthood, New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, Stuyvesant High School Students, Westboro Baptist Church, Indymedia, Democratic National Committee, Coalition of Fire and Police Unions, Grandmothers Against War, Falun Gong, Arab Muslim American Foundation, Time’s Up, Billionaires For Bush, United for Peace and Justice, The Surveillance Camera Players, ACLU, Hip Hop Summit Action Network, The Federation of East Village Artists, Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign, Restaurant Opportunity Center of New York

The NYCLU’s executive director Donna Lieberman said, “These documents paint a picture of a surveillance program that was broad, clumsy, and often unlawful. The NYPD failed to differentiate between unlawful behavior and behavior that is not only lawful but should in fact be cherished and protected. Today the public can finally bear witness to that failure.” The NYCLU also offers an index of the groups monitored as well as the documents released yesterday, plus others previously released.

And City Councilman Charles Barron told the NY Times’ Sewell Chan, “First of all, I’m going to be getting some legal advice. I’m not going to let this go. This is ridiculous that you would spy on democratic, legal, political activity. This smacks of former fascism. It certainly is selective spying. It is absurd that people in this city can’t exercise their constitutional right to protest without being spied on by the police.”

Photograph by ireallylovecake on Flickr

   Originally by Jen Chung from Gothamist on May 17, 2007

Mural of the side wall of the Englewood, Colorado Headed West smoke shop put there to deter taggers.

From FOX 31: “Some say it’s art, some say it’s promoting drug use. A mural on the side of an Englewood building is creating controversy… on South Broadway.” Video here.

More on this story from: News2 KWGN and The Denver Channel

This video is presented by the Media Education Foundation, which produces and distributes video documentaries to encourage critical thinking and debate about the relationship between media ownership, commercial media content, and the democratic demand for free flows of information, diverse representations of ideas and people, and informed citizen participation.

Directed by Byron Hurt, former star college quarterback, longtime hip-hop fan, and gender violence prevention educator, this is a “loving critique” of a number of disturbing trends in the world of rap music. He pays tribute to hip-hop while challenging the rap music industry to take responsibility for glamorizing destructive, deeply conservative stereotypes of manhood…

Dealing with issues of race, gender violence, and the corporate exploitation of youth culture, it is a terrific follow-up to yesterday’s blog post from the Black Agenda Report.

We mourn the loss of a crusader for truth. The following excerpts are from the Associated Press - JS

Author David Halberstam Dies in Crash
By Lisa Leff
Associated Press
April 23, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — David Halberstam, a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer who chronicled the Vietnam War generation, civil rights and the world of sports, was killed in a car crash Monday, his wife and local authorities said. He was 73.

Halberstam, of New York, was a passenger in a car that was broadsided by another vehicle in Menlo Park, south of San Francisco, San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault said. The cause of death appeared to be internal injuries, he said.

The accident occurred around 10:30 a.m., and Halberstam was declared dead at the scene, Menlo Park Fire Chief Harold Schapelhouman said.

The driver of the car carrying Halberstam and the person driving the car that crashed into his were injured, but not seriously…

In an interview earlier this month with The Associated Press, Halberstam recalled the zeal with which he and his colleagues covered Vietnam.

“Maybe we were 28, 29, 26 and we had a great story, which we knew and we had a lock on the truth because we had such great sources. When for a variety of reasons - a flawed, deeply flawed policy - the government starts lying, that is when independent journalism really matters,” he said.

Such reporting, he said, is a key component of democracy.

“The idea that somewhere before it is a big story that there is some young person… putting themselves on the line morally, ethically, journalistically, that is a great thing,” Halberstam said. “I mean, that is what a free society is about.”

Read the whole AP story here.

This New York Times article by Alex Williams about the history and psychology of the heckler from Shakespeare’s time to the present was sent in by Scott Pellegrino. Both artists and their critics are grappling with First Amendment freedom of speech issues… and bad manners.

Rise of the Takedown
by Alex Williams
The New York Times
April 8, 2007

To Alicia Estrada, a professor of Central American studies who was ejected from a screening of Mel Gibson’s “Apocalypto” last month after grilling him about the historical accuracy of that Maya epic, which he directed, she was not a “heckler,” as Mr. Gibson’s representatives called her, but a dutiful academic asking of him what she asks of students in her classroom.

To Kyle Doss, an audience member who helped spark Michael Richards’s tirade at a Los Angeles comedy club last November by yelling “You’re not funny” following a racially charged joke, he was not a heckler, but a champion of tolerance. “I think freedom of speech should have some kind of limit,” Mr. Doss later told a reporter.

To Jean Sara Rohe, one of the students who assailed Senator John McCain about Iraq at his commencement address at the New School last May, she was not a heckler, as newspapers later called her, but a crusader for peace, doing what her “conscience called for.”

For decades, hecklers who railed at entertainers, politicians and athletes were confined to the margins — (more…)

Margaret Engel is the managing editor of the Newseum, which will re-open Oct. 15, 2007 in new headquarters on the Mall in Washington, D.C.. She wrote this article specifically for the April 1, 2007 launch of Pranks.com. - JS

April 1 is a lighthearted celebration in America, but joking the other 364 days often gets civic pranksters in trouble.

It’s not that anything goes on April Fool’s Day, it just seems that the public gets the punchline that day, before quickly returning to a grim analysis of what is and what isn’t acceptable.

Although the First Amendment is supposed to defend our freedom of speech, press, religion, assembly and the right to petition our government, the reality is that officialdom often can’t take a joke. (more…)

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”