Perhaps it is about time that you learned about your strawman and how you can stop it being used against you. Knowing about it is the most important first step. You need to go on a journey of discovery, and I’m afraid that what you are about to discover is not very pleasant. However, if you decide to act on what you learn, it could change your life for the better.

If you think that you are in debt, then you can get out of it if you are willing to stand up for your rights and refuse to be swindled any longer. Interested? If so, then let’s start at the beginning and find out where your strawman came from and why you should care about it. (View full video at right).

Naomi Klein, author of the international bestseller, “The Shock Doctrine,” says the tragic destruction of Hurricane Sandy can also be the catalyst for the transformation of politics and our economy.

She’s been in New York visiting the devastated areas — including those where “Occupy Sandy” volunteers are unfolding new models of relief — as part of her reporting for a new book and film on climate change and the future, and joins Bill to discuss hurricanes, climate change, and democracy.

“Let’s rebuild by actually getting at the root causes. Let’s respond by aiming for an economy that responds to the crisis both [through] inequality and climate change,” Klein tells Bill. “You know, dream big.”

Vicissitudes underwater sculpture in Grenada in honor of our African Ancestors who were thrown overboard the slave ships during the Middle Passage of the African Holocaust.

Artist, Jason DeCaires Taylor.

View this brief and crucial history of the United States. 

Please leave us a comment on what you thought about this short documentary.

“There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part; you can’t even passively take part, and you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you’ve got to make it stop.”

“And you’ve got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you’re free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!”

Cut out the golf courses and turn them into public housing spaces. NIMBY!!!! The indomitable George Carlin.

UPDATE: The RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA CRUZ SUPPORTING THE RESTORATION OF DUE PROCESS AND THE RIGHT TO TRIAL BY AMENDING THE NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT was passed unanimously by the Santa Cruz City Council on April 10, 2012.

Dear Friends,

On Tuesday, April 10, 2012, between 3:00 and 5:00 PM, at the Santa Cruz City Council’s Regular Meeting in City Hall, 809 Center Street, Santa Cruz, citizens united in defense of their Constitutional rights will propose the adoption of a Resolution to Restore Due Process and the Right to Trial on the order of the resolution already adopted by Northampton, Massachusetts, in response to the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 (NDAA).

When President Obama signed the NDAA on December 31, 2011, he authorized indefinite military detention, without a trial or day in court, of anyone—even US citizens and residents—accused of a “belligerent act,” or any terror-related offense. The NDAA subjects these individuals to arbitrary detention without trial, denying the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of due process and Sixth Amendment rights to challenge evidence and confront one’s accusers. The NDAA also violates First and Fourth Amendment rights, because the radically unconstitutional PATRIOT Act deviously expanded the definition of “material support for terrorism” to include speech and association even by defendants who neither committed nor ever intended to support violence.

Your attendance is urgently needed.

We also request that you personally endorse the Resolution by sending the letter below or other letter of support along with the Model Resolution to the Santa Cruz City Council at your earliest convenience or no later than 2:00 PM, Wednesday, April 4, 2012. Email submitted to the City Council is public record. Your letter of support may also submitted at the time of the Regular Meeting.

Please copy the Organizing Committee on your communication.

Regular Meeting guidelines can be reviewed here: http://www.cityofsantacruz.com/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=17837.

The Organizing Committee can be reached at viktoriavidali@gmail.com. For additional reading/viewing, we recommend these links:

The Constitutional Crimes of Bush and Obama
Obama: A Disaster For Civil Liberties

Sincerely,

Aldo & Viktoria Vidali
Organizing Committee

SAMPLE LETTER

TO: ”Santa Cruz City Council” <citycouncil@cityofsantacruz.com>, “Don Lane” <dlane@cityofsantacruz.com>, ”Hilary Bryant” <hbryant@cityofsantacruz.com>, ”Katherine Beiers” <kbeiers@cityofsantacruz.com>, “Ryan Coonerty” <rcoonerty@cityofsantacruz.com>, ”Tony Madrigal” <tmadrigal@cityofsantacruz.com>, ”Lynn Robinson” <lrobinson@cityofsantacruz.com>, “David Terrazas” <dterrazas@cityofsantacruz.com>

Re: Resolution to Restore Due Process and the Right to Trial

Dear Mayor Lane and Members of the Santa Cruz City Council:

Santa Cruz has shown itself nationally to be a shining example of civic courage and constitutional awareness. In 1998, the Santa Cruz community declared itself a nuclear-free zone; in 2002, the City Council of Santa Cruz issued a proclamation opposing the USA Patriot Act; and in 2003, the Santa Cruz City Council became the first City Council in the U.S. to denounce the Iraq War. Please know that I am very, very proud of the Santa Cruz community, and the Santa Cruz City Council, for your progressive thinking and actions.

But our work – your work – continues, for today we’re called on to reject the monstrous illegal breach of our constitutional guarantees of due process: the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 (NDAA).

When President Obama signed the NDAA on December 31, 2011, he authorized indefinite military detention, without a trial or day in court, of anyone—even US citizens and residents—accused of a “belligerent act,” or any terror-related offense. The NDAA subjects these individuals to arbitrary detention without trial, denying the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of due process and Sixth Amendment rights to challenge evidence and confront one’s accusers. The NDAA also violates First and Fourth Amendment rights, because the radically unconstitutional PATRIOT Act deviously expanded the definition of “material support for terrorism” to include speech and association even by defendants who neither committed nor ever intended to support violence.

The grossly unconstitutional NDAA was OPPOSED by members of the President’s Administration, including Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, FBI Director Robert Mueller, and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. California’s Senator Dianne Feinstein offered a resolution by which, within that bill, American citizens would be exempted, but a compromised congressional majority and the President unlawfully rejected it.

This law is brazenly and dangerously unconstitutional, a treasonous assault on our Republic and on Democracy, and a peril to each of us and our children. It overturns over 200 years of law, which has kept the military out of domestic policing (the Posse Comitatus) and opens the floodgates to a Nazi-style police state. This extremely frightening step toward tyranny for our Republic and the impending destruction of Democracy must be uncompromisingly rejected by our community.

A video presentation by The Real News Network titled New Military Detention Powers Threatens Basic Rights explains further why Santa Cruz must reject the NDAA 2012. The ACLU has written that any military detention of American citizens or others within the United States is unconstitutional and illegal, including under the NDAA and that the breadth of the NDAA’s detention authority violates international law because it is not limited to people captured in the context of an actual armed conflict as required by the laws of war.

Santa Cruz can again be an example for all communities and real patriots in America who intend to defend the Constitution and remain free in a country under constitutional law. Cities, counties, and even states across America have already begun mobilizing. The first resolution opposing the NDAA passed in El Paso County, CO, home of the US Air Force Academy.

On April 10, 2012, at the Regular Meeting of the Santa Cruz City Council, citizens united in defense of their constitutional rights will propose the adoption of a Resolution to Protect Due Process and the Right to Trial (see attached model resolution already adopted by Northampton, Massachusetts).

Consider Hawaii Senator Inouye’s statement at the Iran-contra hearings in 1987:

“The Uniform Code makes it abundantly clear that it must be the lawful orders of a superior officer. In fact it says, ‘Members of the military have an obligation to disobey unlawful orders.’ This principle was considered so important that we – we, the government of the United States, proposed that it be internationally applied in the Nuremberg trials.”

The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) 809[890].ART.90 (20), makes it clear that military personnel need to obey the “lawful command of his superior officer,” 891.ART.91 (2), the “lawful order of a warrant officer”, 892.ART.92 (1) the “lawful general order”, 892.ART.92 (2) “lawful order.” In each case, military personnel have an obligation and a duty to only obey Lawful orders and indeed have an obligation to disobey Unlawful orders, including orders by the President that do not comply with the UCMJ. The moral and legal obligation is to the U.S. Constitution and not to those who would issue unlawful orders, especially if those orders are in direct violation of the Constitution and the UCMJ.

Consider as well the oath taken by every public official in the State of California:

CALIFORNIA CONSTITUTION ARTICLE 20 MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS   SEC. 3.

Members of the Legislature, and all public officers and employees, executive, legislative, and judicial, except such inferior officers and employees as may be by law exempted, shall, before they enter upon the duties of their respective offices, take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation:

“I, ______, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which I am about to enter.”

I strongly support the proposed Resolution to Restore Due Process and the Right to Trial. Kindly enter this letter into the public record for the Regular Meeting on April 10, 2012. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Your Name
Organization
Contact Information

Ralph Nader ’58 and Bruce Fein ’72 visited Harvard Law School for a talk on February 10, 2012, sponsored by the Harvard Law School Forum and the Harvard Law Record.