http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dq46DY4GXio

It was a very standard and mainstream campaign speech, but it was great to see thousands of excited supporters of liberty in Davis, CA.

May 14 Update: Ron Paul will stop campaigning, but will continue delegate hunt. So this was one of the last speeches on his campaign.

Video and editing by Morgan Lesko for the artists, Occupy Sacramento, Wiki World Order, We Are Change, Peace Revolution, and peaceful Occupations everywhere.

Description by Brian McNally and Kimberly Sloan of Occupy Sacramento…

Occupy Sacramento invites you to an unusual night of diverse musical acts expressing in many unique ways our individuality within one unified community of many minds. See below for descriptions, bios, and links to the work of featured performers and show details. Please help us Occupy Coffee Garden and see for yourself without media filter who we are. People new to Occupy (in person) are most welcome). We promise you won’t get arrested.

FREE to ALL, but $5 Suggested Donation (no pressure!) will be solicited from the audience between acts to pay the artists.

SHOW DETAILS

Show starts promptly at 7:00 pm, and ends at 9:30 pm, Coffee Garden closes at 10 pm. Show will be in the outside back garden. Seating is limited and we may exceed capacity, so please arrive early. Volunteers wishing to help out with onsite arrangements – please message either one of the admins of this page.

MORE DETAILS on our PERFORMERS:

FREEDOM MOVEMENT featuring KNEEL and the STRAWMEN is a local Sacramento post hip hop group dedicated to personal freedom and financial liberation of the economically oppressed. They have performed for many community events in Sacramento focused on social justice. Influences include T-Reazy, DUC, Benner, and William Hung. Although several members are dedicated Occupy Sacramento organizers this will be their first performance at an Occupy Event. Much credit goes to Kim Sloan, Co-Producer and one of two lead organizers on the April 22nd Project for recommending and obtaining their participation. Like all our guest performers they prove that showcasing talent and an entertaining program are best achieved through a truly diverse offering of music styles. Our youngest performers on stage also invite you to check out their music tracks on FB:
http://www.facebook.com/kneelandthestrawmen/app_178091127385

JOE STEVENS, SPECIAL GUEST OF THE OCCUPY

Joe Stevens, performing solo on April 22nd, is a Sacramento local now taking a break from his band of many years, Coyote Grace. He has toured from coast to coast and recorded an impressive number of CDs, mixing bluegrass, blues, soul, and southern twang into a unique sound that hovers just beyond the edge of familiar. His touring schedule is very generous to small audiences in small towns. Whether solo for Occupy Sac or with his band on tour, he combines virtuoso craft as a musician, inspirational and introspective song writing, with a humble, warm, charming and humorous stage presence. Mr. Stevens is also seriously funny on stage in between songs and knows how to break the ice with some gentle, humble humor.

Website for Coyote Grace, featuring Joe Stevens and Ingrid Elizabeth
www.coyotegrace.com
Joe w/Coyote Grace performs DaughterSon at Marilyn’s on K, January 2011.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWD3MyLadFU&feature=related
Joe performs Ghost Boy solo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa5bec5CsxQ&feature=related

“Talented and devoted musicians, Joe and Ingrid move forward into the mainstream public eye with personal integrity and a musical sound all their own. In honoring who they are, they refuse to be told who or what they should be as people. It is that candor, combined with impressive musical craftsmanship, that transcends boundaries and speaks to a wide audience.”
–Performer Magazine
http://performermag.blogspot.com/2009/08/coyote-grace.html

“There’s a yearning, freight-train-hopping, propulsive energy to many of (Coyote Grace)’s songs that suggests not only an indie-band road tour, but the road to one’s true identity, a destination on a map still being written. These youthful travelers depend on the kindness of strangers and of lovers, and on their journey they’ve experienced enough joy and heartbreak to last a lifetime (…) If wholeness and grace are forms of political power, Stevens and Elizabeth are wielding it with quiet intensity, in a growing community of kindred spirits. An army of lovers cannot fail.”
– Sylvia Sukop, Huffington Post.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sylvia-sukop/transamericana-from-folk_b_424035.html

Sounds like my time in the Occupy, but you decide.

EVAN GREER (Of Riot Folk, Now on tour with Bonfire Madigan):

Evan Greer, taking time out of a busy schedule to perform for Occupy Sac, is a radical gender queer singer/songwriter, parent, and community organizer based in Boston. (S)he writes and performs high-energy acoustic songs that inspire hope, build community, and incite resistance. At 25 years old, Evan tours internationally as a musician and facilitates interactive workshops to support movements for justice and liberation. Wielding an arsenal of fiercely radical songs that vary in style from pop-punk poetry to foot-stompin’ bluegrass singalongs, Evan has been honored to collaborate, tour, and share stages with artists as musically diverse as Pete Seeger, Immortal Technique, Billy Bragg, Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, Pamela Means, Boots Riley of The Coup, Anne Feeney, Oi Polloi, State Radio, Leftover Crack, Emma’s Revolution, The Mammals, Defiance Ohio, Holly Near, Chumbawamba, and Vicci Martinez (featured on NBC’s “The Voice”.)

Picket Line Song – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8KlKTZqp0g
Never Surrender - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XuuNFf0tUM
Evan Greer – Love Me I’m a Liberal (Phil Ochs Cover)
UPCOMING SHOWS – Evan’s Current Tour with Bonfire Madigan on the Tiny Fists Tour:
http://www.riotfolk.org/?m=evangreer&p=shows
Evan Greer on the Riot Folk Website
http://www.riotfolk.org/?m=evangreer&p=about

Reviews: Evan Greer
“Evan Greer is an eloquent and energetic writer. (S)he reminds me of Phil Ochs.” –Howard Zinn, historian and author of A People’s History of the United States
“Evan Greer continues to write inspiring folk music in the tradition of the great protest singers. ‘Never Surrender’ contains an urgency and earnestness that is uniquely her’s…and (s)he’s a heck of a guitar player. I suspect that songs like ‘Ya Basta!’ and ‘Picketline Song’ will be heard at the barricades for years to come.”–Tom Morello, guitarist of Rage Against the Machine
“Evan feeds off the energy of the crowd, putting some of the punk back into the sound with a raw and passionate performance. Being in the crowd at an acoustic show where the kids genuinely care about the message and dance and sing along with fists in the air in a crowded basement or open performance space, is a whole different type of folk show from the typical coffee house style. It’s refreshingly alive and a striking contrast to sitting down and listening to someone singing about their feelings.”–Urban Folk, NYC
“Current folk is sometimes stereotyped as sappy, weak, and boring. Despite this contemporary betrayal, the Riot Folk collective champions the genre’s radical roots … Behind all the exclamation points and proclamations of anarchy, lies a genuine sense of revolution. The Riot Folk Collective may just re-establish folk music as a revolutionary staple.” –VenusZine
“Phenomenal activist folk!” –Pacifica Radio KPFA-FM
“Examples of modern day singers who use their music to make political points.” –MSNBC, Today.com

After marching to the California state capitol, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo, Bay Area Moratorium and Occupy Sacramento deliver ten packets documenting illegal foreclosures to the California Attorney General.

Stream On YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fupv8lO1b3g
Download Video: http://WikiWorldOrder.org/video/Occupy/OccSac-Feb29-Foreclosure_March.divx

COME COLLABORATE WITH US! Cesar Chavez Park, every day.

http://OccupySac.com — @OccupySacto — facebook.com/OccupySacramento

Please come show your support for Tat at the farm on Saturday night, March 3rd for an Occu-Farm party with live music!

Download Video: http://WikiWorldOrder.org/video/Occupy/OccSac-Feb29-Tat.divx

COME COLLABORATE WITH US! Cesar Chavez Park, every day.

http://OccupySac.com – @OccupySacto – facebook.com/OccupySacramento

Kim from Occupy Sacramento documents Congressman Dan Lungren’s Feb 22 Town Hall in Fair Oaks, CA.

Stream on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-PT8Kqc0To
Download Video: http://WikiWorldOrder.org/video/Occupy/OccSac-Feb22-Dan_Lungren_Town_Hall.divx

COME COLLABORATE WITH US! Cesar Chavez Park, every day.

http://OccupySac.com – @OccupySacto – facebook.com/OccupySacramento

Given by occupier, Dave.

Download Higher Quality Video: http://WikiWorldOrder.org/video/Occupy/WWO-OccSac-Feb25-Visions-4.divx
Stream Video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ELdFcHviTE

Recorded with the help of Tayeh and edited by Morgan Lesko for Wiki World Order, We Are Change, and Occupations everywhere.

You should be here. COLLABORATE WITH US! Cesar Chavez Park, every day.

http://OccupySac.com – @OccupySacto – facebook.com/OccupySacramento

Download Higher Quality Video: http://WikiWorldOrder.org/video/shorts/WhyRonPaul.divx

Why Ron Paul?

Even though the puppet President position of the United Corporation of America, can do little alone to change the game.

Even though we ALSO need to VOTE OUT AT LEAST 95% OF CONGRESS with millions of simple steps (voting absentee in advance is relatively easy).

I’m registering Republican this election and voting for Ron Paul because he is the ONLY “electable” candidate talking about PEACE!

The ONLY candidate in either party talking about ending our current wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and others…and NOT starting new ones!

Even if Paul doesn’t get elected, we deserve a real challenge to Obama in the general election and NONE of the other candidates have a chance at beating the incumbent.

If nothing else, this Air Force veteran can bring a radical policy of PEACE to a wider audience than the republican “debates”.

Try listening to a Ron Paul highlights reel on YouTube for a debate on one of the Cartoon News Networks,

and even if you don’t agree with all his very consistent positions, SURPRISE!…you will hear rational discourse!

I know his vision of dramatically reduced government may scare many. But since the revolving doors surrounding most regulatory agencies allow them to be used more as a tools FOR the corporate-industrial complex to maintain hegemony…is less of THAT really worse?

Why Ron Paul?

Not just because he is the only mainstream candidate in both parties with any real empathy for the worldwide Occupation of the 99.99%.

Not just because the mainstream still insists that nobody predicted the “Great Recession.”

I’m voting for Ron Paul because he is the ONLY candidate in either party talking about the FEDERAL RESERVE.

Because he tried to prevent this extra radical consolidation of wealth and the “Great Recession”…at least ten years ago.

I don’t agree with him on every single issue, but he nails all the ones that matter most [urgently].

Not just because all the other “electable” candidates support the continued expansion of the war on drugs, war on terror, and cybersecurity.

I’m voting for Ron Paul because he was one of the few who voted AGAINST THE USA PATRIOT ACT and the recent treasonous National Defense Authorization Act!

I’m voting “Blue Republican” without expectations or HOPE for CHANGE by replacing one seat in corrupt government.

But if nothing else, it will send a message to the world that WE THE PEOPLE of America want PEACE!

Not because paperless electronic voting machines are intended to be rigged, and our votes don’t matter as much as they used to.

I’m voting for Ron Paul AND TELLING PEOPLE ABOUT IT, because he really could win as a Constitutionalist right now in this year of 1776 — I mean 2012.

Why Ron Paul?

I’m voting for Ron Paul because when he speaks, he almost always speaks from the heart…unlike most politicians.

You can feel him telling you what he truly believes, instead of just what his polls or handlers say.

So who should he choose for Vice President?

Who else speaks from principled and good positions?

I would LOVE to see him run with Dennis Kucinich

…or Cynthia McKinney, another of my few heroes in Congress.

…or maybe Buddy Roemer, who is running on the single issue of campaign finance reform and backs Occupy Wall Street.

I would trust most compromises found with such a team of “rivals” in the White House…

at least wildly more than any other “electable” options presented in any election in my lifetime.

I would LOVE to vote for such a team of allies for PEACE in 2012.

Even though we must also outgrow the octopus, and occupy the world.

Even though we must also apply critical thinking to more of our thoughts and daily dollar votes.

Even though we must also spread love and solidarity for our fellow humans around the world.

Not to immediately realize the world we want..

But to at least help shift the consciousness towards PEACE.

That’s Why Ron Paul.

Download Higher Quality Video: http://WikiWorldOrder.org/video/Occupy/WWO-OccSac-Feb18-Visions-3.divx
Stream Video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itpeWqwfBPc

Recorded with the help of Tayeh and edited by Morgan Lesko for Wiki World Order, We Are Change, and Occupations everywhere.

You should be here. COLLABORATE WITH US! Cesar Chavez Park, every day.

http://OccupySac.com – @OccupySacto – facebook.com/OccupySacramento

Download Higher Quality Video: http://WikiWorldOrder.org/video/Occupy/WWO-OccSac-Feb4-Visions-1.divx
Stream Video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuOPBQrK0JI

Recorded with the help of Tayeh and edited by Morgan Lesko for Wiki World Order, We Are Change, and Occupations everywhere.

You should be here. COLLABORATE WITH US! Cesar Chavez Park, every day.

http://OccupySac.com – @OccupySacto – facebook.com/OccupySacramento

Stream Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4jfJvK_e68
Download High Quality Video: http://WikiWorldOrder.org/video/Occupy/WWO-OccSac-Jan28-Econ104.divx

Recorded and edited by Morgan Lesko for Wiki World Order, We Are Change, and Occupations everywhere.

You should be here. JOIN US! Cesar Chavez Park, every day.

http://OccupySac.com - @OccupySacto - facebook.com/OccupySacramento

Stream Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1w7zTEggFk
Download High Quality Video: http://WikiWorldOrder.org/video/Occupy/WWO-OccSac-Jan7-Federal_Reserve_Teach_In.divx

Recorded and edited by Morgan Lesko for Wiki World Order, We Are Change, and Occupations everywhere.

You should be here. JOIN US! Cesar Chavez Park, every day.

http://OccupySac.com – @OccupySacto – facebook.com/OccupySacramento

9am, Nov 28, 2011 – Day 12 of Occupy UC Davis

Ten  Days  After Lt. John Pike Pepper  Sprayed Peaceful Protesters

UC Regents Meeting, Public Comment / Open Forum

During the start of the University of California regents teleconference meeting, over an hour and a half was provided for public comments at all four locations: UC Davis, UCLA, UC Merced, and UC San Francisco-Mission Bay. While this video includes some voices from each campus, it does include all of the speakers from Davis. Attendance included Chancellor Linda Katehi, provost and executive vice chancellor Ralph J. Hexter, student regents Alfredo Mireles and Jonathan Stein, and California State Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez.

Stream on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzqucSRnmPE
Download High Quality Video: http://WikiWorldOrder.org/video/Occupy/WWO-OccUCD-Nov28-Day12-UC-Regents-Public-Comments.divx

UC Regents Meeting Taken Over As Peoples’ Regents Meeting

Once the financial committee began their meeting, public comments were no longer sought out. Occupiers at each of the four locations (UC Davis, UCLA, UC Merced, and UC San Francisco-Mission Bay) took turns mic checking, and declared “peoples‘ regents meetings” in place of the hierarchical meeting which had proceeded. After a bit of time, the official regents meeting moved behind closed doors as occupiers continued to hold general assemblies.

Stream on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqTq6BZA848
Download High Quality Video: http://WikiWorldOrder.org/video/Occupy/WWO-OccUCD-Nov28-Day12-Peoples-Regents-Meeting.divx

Interesting Pepper Spray Info: CA PENAL CODE SECTION 12403.7

( ~Side Note ) leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=pen&group=12001-13000&file=12401-12404

California PENAL CODE SECTION 12403.7 - Notwithstanding any other law, any person may purchase, possess, or use tear gas and tear gas weapons for the projection or release of tear gas if the tear gas and tear gas weapons are used solely for self-defense purposes, subject to the following requirements:
   (a) ...
   (g) Any person who uses tear gas or tear gas weapons except in self-defense is guilty of a public offense and is punishable by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170 for 16 months, or two or three years or in a county jail not to exceed one
year or by a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both the fine and imprisonment, except that, if the use is against a peace officer, as defined in Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 830) of Title 3 of Part 2, engaged in the performance of his or her
official duties and the person committing the offense knows or reasonably should know that the victim is a peace officer, the offense is punishable by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170 for 16 months or two or three years or by a fine of one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both the fine and imprisonment.

And One More WWO Contribution To The Meme

Alex Gray Pepper Sprayed by Lt. John Pike at Occupy UC Davis

You should be here too. JOIN US! UC Davis Quad, every day.

http://OccupyUCDavis.org
@OccupyUCDavis
http://facebook.com/pages/Occupy-UC-Davis/262907633759444

Almost all raw, uncut footage captured from Town Hall organized by Chancellor Linda Katehi in response to pepper spraying of peaceful protesters by Lt. John Pike on Nov 18 (and following protests). The event was held in Freeborn Hall, a primary auditorium next to the student union. Katehi shared the stage with

• Fred Wood, vice chancellor of Student Affairs
• Lt. Matt Carmichael, UC Davis Interim Police Chief
• Ralph J. Hexter, provost and executive vice chancellor
• and later joined by John Meyer, vice chancellor for Administrative and Resource Management

Stream on YouTube: http://youtube.com/watch?v=InlJZub1mOg
Download High Quality Video: http://WikiWorldOrder.org/video/Occupy/WWO-OccUCD-Nov22-Day6-Katehi-Town-Hall.divx

You should be here too. JOIN US! UC Davis Quad, every day.

http://OccupyUCDavis.org
@OccupyUCDavis
http://facebook.com/pages/Occupy-UC-Davis/262907633759444

Stream on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gubu_PNsw5s
Download High Quality Video: http://WikiWorldOrder.org/video/Occupy/WWO-OccUCD-Nov21-Day5-Rally-GA.divx

Nov 21, noon – Highlighted speakers and moments from the huge Occupy UC Davis rally and general assembly in response to pepper spraying of peaceful protesters by Lt. John Pike on Nov 18. A resolution was passed with 1,729 votes recorded to have a general strike on Nov 28 in hopes of blocking the UC regents meeting on campus that day.

Occupy University of California, Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi. In the long run, she only pepper sprayed herself.

You should be here. JOIN US! UC Davis Quad, every day.

http://OccupyUCDavis.org
@OccupyUCDavis
facebook.com/pages/Occupy-UC-Davis/262907633759444

Thank you so much for this wonderful report from your experience with Occupy San Francisco, Chris! You might be giving me more credit than I’m due, wish I could spend more time in the park and will probably get there once we’re finally allowed to camp (occupy).

Chris and I worked together under the We Are Change umbrella in the bay area and have done many truth actions on the street together. You and Manny do ROCK at the bullhorn wit, so glad you are appropriately well received. I love you, you are an amazing citizen activist. Miss you brother, see you next time I’m in town.

Download m4a file (copy of original, WWO mirror)
Download mp3 file

Please check out more from Flash Gordon:

http://web.me.com/guitarman/FlashGordon/Wonder_Pod/Entries/2011/10/25_Inside_Occupy_SF-_Enter_Weekend_Warrior.html

On October 11^th, at 6pm, Occupy Sacramento officially made it’s presence known to the City Council during its regularly scheduled meeting. First rallying outside, occupation supporters flooded the meeting, and many gave testimony to share their perspectives on the record. But even after opening this dialogue with our elected officials, we continue to be arrested for staying in the park after the extended hours (11pm on weekdays, midnight on weekends).

While our occupation continued to grow, organize, and evolve over the next week, Occupy Sacramento continues to have the extra daily tasks of setting up and breaking down our entire infrastructure, and taking turns spending nights in the jail three blocks away from Cesar Chavez Park. Activist hero Cindy Sheehan, of nearby Vacaville, has also joined Occupy Sacramento and was arrested alongside fellow occupiers last Saturday night (Oct 15-16, night 10).

Occupier Testimonies:

You can watch entire city council meetings, as published by the city, via their web site:

http://sacramento.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=22

October 18^th, 6pm: With around 250 Occupy Sacramento participants present for the meeting, 40 citizen speakers shared their perspective with the Sacramento City Council. Here are just a few minutes worth of highlights:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tA2mgDoyk7I
Download High Quality Video: http://WikiWorldOrder.org/video/Occupy/WWO-OccSac-Oct18-Day13-Part1-Short.divx

And in the spirit of our new experiments in direct democracy, here are highlights from every single occupier who gave testimony on the 18^th:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgpxfhA3RBo
Download High Quality Video: http://WikiWorldOrder.org/video/Occupy/WWO-OccSac-Oct18-Day13-Part1-Long.divx

Responses By Elected Officials:

Here is the uncut, unsatisfactory response given by our elected representatives. These representatives may face tough re-elections should they continue on the wrong side of history, and continue to arrest us during our nonviolent assemblies in OUR public park.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdTv2MrNjh0
Download High Quality Video: http://WikiWorldOrder.org/video/Occupy/WWO-OccSac-Oct18-Day13-Part2.divx

Oct 18th Arrests After Second City Council Meeting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oe20BFavH5o
Download High Quality Video: http://WikiWorldOrder.org/video/Occupy/WWO-OccSac-Oct18-Night13.divx

On October 18^th, Occupy Sacramento spent it’s second Tuesday night in another very disappointing Sacramento City Council meeting. During this meeting dozens of occupiers thoughtfully presented our shared positions, but this seemed to fall on largely deaf ears. Mayor Kevin Johnson did offer to expand our level of discussion, and possibly work with us on a resolution he could take to Washington DC in November.

Representatives Steve Cohn and Angelique Ashby came closest to supporting us, maybe leaning towards a compromise allowing us to keep only our primary infrastructure tents and key volunteers overnight. While this pledge for enhanced collaboration could be positive, no one on the council defended our right to fully occupy Cesar Chavez Park and camp there 24/7. Citizens who remain at the park past its hours will continue to be arrested for being at a place of riot.

This limit and persecution on our right to assembly during this time of potential revolution is completely unacceptable…so we the people will continue to be peacefully arrested in OUR park.

In our current corporatocracy, you too, are likely part of the 99%. Please join us in this experiment in 21st century democracy!

Corbett Report: “Morgan Lesko of WikiWorldOrder joins us to discuss his attendance at Occupy Sacramento and the significance of the greater Occupy movement.”

http://www.corbettreport.com/interview-393-morgan-lesko/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXU7xYSDrpM

Download High Quality Video: http://WikiWorldOrder.org/video/Occupy/Corbett_Interview_393-Morgan_Lesko.divx

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzKJBkMMgNk
Download High Quality Video: http://WikiWorldOrder.org/video/Occupy/WWO-OccSac-Oct7-10-Days2-5.mp4

On October 3rd, when I first heard about the plans to Occupy Sacramento, I had also been thinking about going from Davis to San Francisco to participate in the Occupy The FED to focus on ending (or nationalizing) the privately-owned Federal Reserve. I knew I wanted to participate heavily in one of these two local occupations, and decided to go with Sacramento so I could spend more time there and simultaneously focus on local and other issues.

The first day, Thursday, October 6th, I mostly just participated in marches, enjoyed the self-chosen speakers, had some individual discussions, and did my best to record the event as a citizen journalist. But this weekend, I took less video footage and got more involved.

I didn’t get to Cesar Chavez Park until around 7pm after I finishing my day’s work, but it sounds like it was another great day, with a bit less attendence than Thursday. Our standard formula continued, with regular general assemblies to decide the nature of our occupation, open forums where anyone can share their views over a bullhorn, workshops, and periodic mid-town marches.

Friday night, when the park closed at midnight, many people began to occupy the public park after hours but most left after the first warning to disperse. This left one brave soul, Patrick Riordan, to hold down the occupation for the night. He was arrested alone that night, and although he is fine, he faced a rougher night in jail than any of the rest of us have had. Thank you so much Patrick, we love you!

On Saturday morning, I asked one of our amazing Resource coordinators, Laura, how I could help. And so I began the creation of an official information booth for Occupy Sacramento, so the Media team could focus their energy on all their publication and online presence. This was a great deal of fun and aside from the general information and daily schedules we post there to inform attendees, we had a tarp — and now a real table — for informative materials free for the taking.

About half of the table is dedicated to more “official” materials generated by the group like the Occupy Sacramento Newsletter, flyers, and the first official statement from Occupy Wall Street. The other half of the table is reserved for ANYONE to leave ANY materials they wish to share. I like to call it, “Need some info? Take some info. Have some info? Leave some info.” And¬†given our big tent of 99%, you can find anything from Tea Party magazines, to socialist flyers.

Throughout the day, Occupy Sacramento continued to hold general assemblies, open forums, workshops, art and music sessions, and marches. At midnight, around 30 of us sat down just inside one corner of Cesar Chavez park to remain after it closed. We performed this civil disobedience in defense of our rights to freely assemble in this public park and freely speek with one another. After some private discussion and planning by the handful of Sacramento police officers already on the scene, a couple dozen police vehicles all rolled in together. Soon after arriving, the lead officer on the scene ordered us to disperse, and the occupiers who did not want to risk arrest crossed the invisible line of the park’s borders to join the rest of our observers on the sidewalk.

This left 14 citizens sitting with signs and most of our hands clearly visible, continuing to chant things including “Police are the 99%.” After one or two more warnings by the police for us to disperse, a few dozen police officers surrounded the sit-in. They wore helmets and held clubs and at least one pepper spray paintball gun which I remember seeing. But my 13 brothers and sisters and I all successfully remained completely non-violent and our respect to the police was once again reciprocated. None of us were harmed during our arrests and the hardest part tended to just be the discomfort, fatigue, and bordem of sitting in jail all night.
{* Videos of LIVE video stream during Saturday night’s arrests: ¬†*}

Arrest document with charges, and police Polaroid taken during initial processing

Although some of us were released from jail earlier, I was released around noon the next day after almost 12 hours in police custody, but safe and sound. I was charged with two misdemeanors:

• PC 409 – Remaining at place of riot post order to [disperse]
• SCC 12.72.090 – Loitering in parks during certain hours

The media team and citizen journalists who are actively participating in this citizen occupation have been doing an amazing job of getting the words, images, and videos out to all of our brothers and sisters across the world online. As far as local mainstream media goes, Natalie Sentz of Sacramento’s local ABC, channel 10, has been doing a relatively great job of reporting on Occupy Sacramento:

And Derek Shore of CBS Sacramento, channel 13, has also been doing a better job than most (including an interview of me):

On Sunday and Monday nights, all occupiers staying past the park’s curfew voluntarily removed themselves from the park upon the first order to disperse by the police, then marched around the perimeter of the park for a while. My understanding of this action is that after making our point very clearly the past three nights, we wanted to help save city resources while still making our continued presence known. With each day that passes, our general assemblies and open discussions are making Occupy Sacramento more organized, connected, and ever closer to concrete lists of grievances and demands.

As the Occupy Together movement continues to extend and expand the principles and actions of Occupy Wall Street, we grow ever closer to reclaiming our world. Just in case these really are the beginning seeds of a true American revolution, the rest of the 99% needs to join us and help direct it in the ways we can all agree upon. Let us communicate and collaboratively organize in discussions where our elected representatives fail. This is as much about education as anything else, as we continue to learn and teach one another through open forums and unlimited face-to-face human interaction.

This is the most exciting time to be alive in centuries, so please stay off the couch and join us. Let’s keep it peaceful, positive, equal, and open-minded to create something remarkable during this once in a lifetime opportunity.¬†I love you all!¬†We are the 99%!

Credits:

Raw footage from arrest nights largely taken by Occupy Sacramento Media team Ustream account “dummey”
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/dummey

Occupy Sacramento Day 1 Video Mixtape: Marches, Signs and Voices

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4_QZxk37Hs
Download High Quality Video: http://WikiWorldOrder.org/video/Occupy/WWO-OccSac-Oct6-Day1.divx
Day 1 of Occupy Sacramento, starting around 10am on October 6th, 2011. Compilation of video taken throughout the first day of the Sacramento iteration of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Occupy Sacramento Night 1 UStream Clips: Demonstrations & Arrests by Polite Police

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5NwNdbSGO8
Download High Quality Video: http://WikiWorldOrder.org/video/Occupy/WWO-OccSac-Oct6-Night1.divx

Night 1 of Occupy Sacramento, just after midnight in the first hour of October 7th. Compilation of remarkably LIVE UStream Clips captured from home while editing footage from the first day of Occupy Sacramento.

I had to get some work done today, and couldn’t be in jail last night. But I will be camping there this weekend and will likely spend a night or two in jail, it’s a relatively excellent group of people out there. We have been treating the police with respect and 20 of my new friends, who were arrested last night (now already out), were treated with respect in return.

I’m not very worried, but wish me luck, and let me know if there are any messages you want me to share or highlight. Much love!

Occupy Everything.

Stream Higher Quality: http://blip.tv/file/4784305

I Love You because you know we already live in 1984 with false wars against false enemies worldwide, a police state in place, and history written in offensive double-speak.

I Love You because you feel the spirit of 1776 and want a revolution…NOT with guns, but with information and love. A revolution of the mind and/or peacefully reclaiming government.

I Love You because YOU ARE REVOLUTIONARY!

Some Day We Can And Will Unite To…

• End Corporate Ownership of Government.
• End Anglo-American Imperialism.
• Print Our Own Currency.
• Free Energy For All. (via classic renewables + hemp, cold fusion, water fuel cells, magnetic motors, Rodin coils)

Sure, a modern revolution has yet to come to America. Much of America is still hypnotized by their television’s flicker rate, but with the ubiquity of the internet people are starting to wake up to new layers of reality at an exponential rate. Putting our economic trends in the context of history brings forecasts of civil unrest due to economic and possibly food shortages (*food riots*).

Unless real reforms are made legislatively, such days seem likely to come. But if and when they do, let us take a lesson from the people of Egypt. No matter how their 2011 revolutionary process turns out in the long run, let us learn their brilliant example of peaceful resistance. Given the strength of our military-industrial complex, any future American revolution which involves violence will only bring despair.

Instead we will join hands with our brothers and sisters in our police departments and military to ensure there is no violence. Let our revolution look less like The Road and more like Burning Man, sustained by sharing, respect, equality, peace and love.

But until that day, there are infinite of ways that you, yes YOU, can be a revolutionary ever day. Here are a few revolutionary steps that I believe in…

1. Think about something important, directly affecting your world
2. Read a book on an important topic
3. Research something important
4. Discuss important things with your friends
5. Discuss important things with strangers
6. Spread information in your physical community as well as online
7. Call or personally write your legislators in Congress and your state capital about anything
8. Testify at local town halls, county councils, state legislatures or even Congress
9. Take your money out of all the major banks, moving to local banks like most credit unions
10. Ditch your car and ride a bicycle as much as possible for transportation (and fun!)
11. Install some solar panels…and demand that at least the government goes completely renewable (like government office buildings and vehicle fleets)
12. Buy as much local food as you can (Organic and NON-GMO)
13. Grow as much of your own food as you can
14. Eat less meat, or even transition to being vegan,¬†which saves water and other resources so more people can eat around the world. “One personal act that can have a profound impact on these issues is reducing meat consumption. To produce 1 pound of feedlot beef requires about 2,400 gallons of water and 7 pounds of grain. Considering that the average American consumes 97 pounds of beef (and 273 pounds of meat in all) each year, even modest reductions in meat consumption in such a culture would substantially reduce the burden on our natural resources.” – Center for a Livable Future, Johns Hopkins
15. Minimize how many of your dollars go to corporations larger than most countries
16. Support non-profits and social businesses
17. Start a social business
18. But most importantly: Follow Your Passion!

Completing just one of these steps is amazing, and should reward you with satisfaction. And maybe we can still fix things with a strong enough revolution of the mind before we need a full-blown revolution. But until that day, keep doing what you can to make the world a better place. And on that day, be ready to remain peaceful no matter what is thrown at us.

The answer to 1984 is 1776, and I Love You because YOU ARE REVOLUTIONARY!

V for Victory!

Download Full High-Quality Video: http://WikiWorldOrder.org/download/episode4

Download Audio Podcast Version: http://WikiWorldOrder.org/download/podcast4

Watch Full-Length Video in One Part:
http://blip.tv/file/4194291

Watch Video In Three Parts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ywfxVeZn1w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwiRrXooLz8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Efm5U9ccmXA

Full Transcript/Essay

We now see Americans increasingly rebelling against the endless predictable crises promoted by the established left and right throughout this decade. Even the mainstream media has had to cover such transitions both parties must undergo.

Acknowledgment of the corruption found on both sides of the political aisle is one of the core concepts which amazing outlets like We Are Change, Infowars and the Corbett Report attempt to spread. I have always found the current two-party system completely inadequate for aggregating the will of the people. I have long adored the idea of having either more parties or no parties.

On larger issues, both parties give us the same results. On smaller manufactured issues, the polarizing effects of having primarily two extreme camps to choose from is hurting more than helping. The negative effects of such polarization also skyrocket when single ideologies are forced on all scenarios, instead of a more flexible case by case basis.

Fortunately the freedom movement has loud voices warning people not to follow any one ideology. So this is a humble request for everyone to keep pushing past the confines separating us, to keep finding increasingly targeted solutions to counter-offer those provided from the top-down system. Avoiding the following two pitfalls might help the movement hone our arguments and improve the messaging of our alternative analysis of deep politics.

More Government VS Less Government?
No. Quality Over Quantity.

The first pitfall I see appeals to many of my good patriot friends who stand firmly behind slogans for “Less Government.” To my eyes and ears, such statements feel a bit counterproductive to our shared goals.

The concept of “Less Government” (or “More Government” for that matter) is vague enough to be co-opted by almost any harmful solution provided. This formula should also not be endlessly applied, and our libertarian friends sometimes follow this mantra far too blindly. Most importantly, the slogan implies that the size of government has a causal relationship with its level of corruption or negative impact. Larger organizations of any type may have more room for bad apples to hide and prosper, but they also have potential for greater good as they grow, like Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. So I argue that our society’s policies and incentives, promoted by our manufactured culture, have far greater influence on the positive or negative nature of the impact of organizations (governmental or not).

With a smaller government than our current monstrosity, in a similarly apathetic political climate, it might be even easier for a given corporation to influence the government and its policies. At the same time, there is a real threat of “Big Government” when corporations can entrench entire departments. They are pro-actively using government agencies to directly enact their corporate agenda and creatively increase their government contracts and budgets in order to keep growing.

We saw this quite publicly during George W Bush’s years as the military-industrial puppet, when in that “small government” administration we saw corporate-owned departments strip themselves down as much as possible, completely disassembling any form of meaningful regulation over themselves. A fresh and painful example of this came to light with the documented failures of the Minerals Management Service to provide any meaningful oversight or regulation on British Petroleum’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig. But don’t worry, the department has been re-branded as the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement so we should probably assume it’s all fixed. Our current, predictable “Great Recession” also could have been avoided or at least postponed if trillions of dollars in profit incentives had not been allowed to manifest in the first place as derivatives, sub-prime mortgages and other legal Ponzi schemes.

But if the incentives of our culture were shifted enough, and more procedures were made ~100% transparent to the public, we might be able to find some governmental G spot where the government actually reflects the public’s interest. This may be theoretical, but it should be nearly attainable, not even requiring a revolution but incremental changes in the correct direction. And isn’t this what we should be striving for: an ever more pure realization of those constitutional ideals inspiring us to believe in our remarkable republic, or democracy?

But this process must begin with all deliberate speed. The Tea Parties, initially started years ago by the Ron Paul rEVOLution, were recently co-opted and largely taken over by the GOP in 2009…at least as far as the mainstream eye can see. And I give props to the now very rare Tea Party candidates and their supporters who remain opposed to the GOP, and are willing to keep thinking outside of the mainstream box and trying new things…no matter how distasteful some of their select views may be to me.

On the other side, Democrats don’t seem to be promoting interesting candidates to vote FOR, and are settling in for classic fights for the lesser of two evils…despite ever present disapproval for congress and their utter failure to progress in the past two years. I need to see more liberal candidates to grow balls as big as those rare tea partiers, resisting the lame/moderate/useless Democratic party line…no matter how distasteful select views of theirs may be to me.

The causality implied between more government and bad government does not seem theoretically sound. With a truly responsible government, an increase in size could simultaneously increase citizen freedoms. We must look at the results of our government’s efforts, and its degree of transparency, in order to judge it. We need to focus on uprooting the incentives for corruption in government, perhaps starting with campaign finance reform and revolving door protections, instead of just saying we want to change its size. A wise woman once told me it is not really the size of your government that matters, it’s all about how you use it.

The Capitalism VS Socialism Paradigm

This paradigm is even more polarizing, and I consider it another ridiculous pitfall. Capitalism and socialism often represent the only two options offered to align with, but we don’t even consider trying to come up with any new forms of national economic or governmental organization. Case by case, those rooting for capitalism might tend to dismiss socialist solutions, and vice versa…staying loyal to their dominant ideology. But as humans we sometimes get trapped into acting like these ideologies are some mythical unified theory.

How many “socialized” or “nationalized” services and industries does the public generally approves of? I think of “free” government services like the Highway System, Federal Waterways, National Park Service, Federal Bureau of Investigations, Bureau of Prisons, Census Bureau, Social Security, Small Business Administrations and of course, THE MILITARY and the services for veterans. And how many “capitalist” services does the public generally approve of? And are we the people currently healthy and happy with the choices provided for necessities like our food, housing, health care and energy?

From the start, our country (and most “developed” countries) has used a collection of “capitalist” and “socialist” tools. For an added challenge, try to factor in the constant increase of private contractors used by nationalized services, like with Blackwater and Halliburton. A September ProPublica headline highlights a classic example of this: “This Year, Contractor Deaths Exceed Military Ones in Iraq and Afghanistan.” Even better are the number of recent cases we’ve seen where the profits were privatized while the risks were socialized, such as the painful bank bailouts and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

I also think the nature of who or where the finances come from to run our government should be a critically important factor in what people think is worth paying for. Just 100 years ago, typical American citizens did not pay ANY income tax. Now Fortune 500 companies just move to the Cayman Islands and in August of 2008, CNN reported:

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) examined samples of corporate tax returns filed between 1998 and 2005. In that time period, an annual average of 1.3 million U.S. companies and 39,000 foreign companies doing business in the United States paid no income taxes – despite having a combined $2.5 trillion in revenue.

The study showed that 28% of foreign companies and 25% of U.S. corporations with more than $250 million in assets or $50 million in sales paid no federal income taxes in 2005. Those companies totaled a combined $372 billion in sales for the largest foreign companies and $1.1 trillion in revenue for the biggest U.S. companies.

I strongly oppose any Bush-style income tax cuts which worsen our wealth disparities. But I do like the idea of taxes being collected from corporations where profits are created from business models, instead of collecting from a laborer’s wages. There are also many who argue that our income tax of last 100 years is even unconsititutional, and I think this is a topic worth considering. For more info on this, you might start your research by watching Aaron Russo’s 2006 film, America: Freedom to Fascism.

The point of terms like ‘crony capitalism’ or ‘predatory capitalism’ is to point out just how far we are from the pure idealized form of capitalism touted by talking heads, or even Adam Smith. It seems the massive mutant capitalist corporations have become so efficient at their business that they went ahead and took over our governments for us, saving us the trouble of regulating those companies. But if we reign in the corporate-industrial complex soon, and we force our government to start buying solar panels instead of bombs, we will encourage the growth and development of less destructive markets.

Unfortunately these ‘ism’s may be false options on yet another level. Because for decades now, our country might best be defined as fascist. This is rooted in the comprehensive corporate influence on the most important functions of government, and controlling both candidates in a single-party state. It might also be defined as a plutocracy (or corpocracy, or corporatocracy) — whatever it is, it has now emerged quite clearly.

I also find it bizarre that there is such passion for any of these existing economic systems, as we have seen examples of all of them producing failed states when implemented inappropriately…bringing us back my focus on quality over quantity. Our capitalist experiment has been going for just a few hundred years, and this current incarnation of crazed crony-capitalism has clearly dominated at least for the past three decades.

Our form of capitalism has been incentivized by selfish wealth maximization without regard to externalities, while providing amazing technological advances with potential for enormous benefits for our species in the long run. But the jury is still out due to our pollution, loss of biodiversity, food mono-cultures, unregulated GMOs, and nuclear and biological weapons industries. But at least we’ve got record-high wealth disparities.

The final problem I have with these false options is that capitalism and socialism don’t seem to be mutually exclusive. As Noam Chomsky says, there is no reason businesses cannot be managed democratically, controlled by their workers and community, and compete with other businesses managed the same way and others. But there are other ways to improve the capitalism formula without even giving up the typical management hierarchies of today’s world.

Social Businesses and Nu Capitalism

One of my dad’s core mantras I’ve adopted is about looking for the right questions to ask. Despite Chomsky’s blind spots and/or self-censoring on select topics he is of course brilliant and inspiring, and he is a relatively early influence on my world view. I really like his approach on this (click here for video):

“We don’t have capitalism, it’s nothing remotely like it. We have some various varieties of state capitalism, including the USSR. That was one variety of state capitalism, was based on wage labor, on management control, central coordination of production. In fact its’ in many ways very much like corporate capitalism. It’s just a different kind of organization.

So of the various kinds of state capitalism that are around, which are the best? I don’t honestly think that’s the kind of question we should be asking. Suppose you’re in the 18th century. Should you be asking, ‘Which is the best kind of feudalism?’ I mean that’s all it was. So which is the best kind of feudalism, and slavery, and monarchy and so on and so forth. It just wasn’t the right question. I mean the right question is, ‘Is there something better?’ Like say, parliamentary democracy. Even though there were no examples of it. There were seeds of it, but no functioning examples. I mean seeds of had it been developed and usually crushed, as in England, but these were legitimate struggles. And you know, they succeeded. I mean by now you have parliamentary democracies, which aren’t fantastic but are better than feudalism.” – The World: The Noam Chomsky Sessions

So suppose you’re in the 21st century, what is the best kind of capitalism? What is the best kind of socialism? Is capitalism better than socialism, or vice versa? Why are we limited to these options?

Currently, businesses think they must only compete by maximizing-profits in ways which are very selfish and short-sighted. But this is just how we’ve been taught to play, and what consumers have been taught to buy. Businesses used to be thought of as helpful members of their communities, not psychopaths. If you haven’t yet, please watch the 2003 film titled, “The Corporation.”

Capitalism is very flexible, and we must stop supporting large-scale businesses which make themselves legally bound to maximize profits for shareholders no matter the side-effects. We must support businesses which try to maximize benefits for all dimensions of human life. But customers and investors must take more initiative to carefully vote daily with their dollars for social-benefit-maximizing businesses which show enough conscience to mitigate their externalities while providing the world beneficial products and services.

In the “Nu Capitalism” paradigm, the companies which provide the most net social benefit will also be the most profitable. Let me repeat that. In the “Nu Capitalism” paradigm, the companies which provide the most net social benefit WILL ALSO BE THE MOST PROFITABLE.

The Social Business model of maximizing social-benefit is a marvelous idea championed by Muhammad Yunus. Yunus pioneered the potentially world saving concept of microcredit when starting Grameen Bank in Bangladesh in 1976 which is credited for bringing millions out of poverty. Wikipedia describes the Grameen Bank as

…a microfinance organization and community development bank … that makes small loans (known as microcredit or “grameencredit”) to the impoverished without requiring collateral. … The system of this bank is based on the idea that the poor have skills that are under-utilized. A group-based credit approach is applied which utilizes the peer-pressure within the group to ensure the borrowers follow through and use caution in conducting their financial affairs with strict discipline, ensuring repayment eventually and allowing the borrowers to develop good credit standing.

I will discuss microcredit more in a future episode on why and how we should End The Federal Reserve. And I strongly recommend you explore this concept and this beautiful human much more, but here is a quick excerpt to whet your appetite:

Muhammad Yunus – The Social Business Model

This general concept of a social business is also finally catching hold in America. Yunus was just last year awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama. And a few test-runs of similar microcredit banks are finally being started up in America.

B Corporation (B Labs) is a leading firm to certify businesses adhering to enough social business principles. According to their web site, over 300 companies have become certified with a branded B Corporation status since 2006, including one I always see at the store named Seventh Generation. The 315 businesses represent $1.5 billion in revenues and 54 industries.

There is a parallel movement around the country to grant legal tax status to B Corporations which will offer various benefits back to these businesses. Already, my home state of Maryland signed the nation’s first Benefit Corporation legislation on April 13th and Vermont passed it on May 19th of this year. Whether or not your state is ready for it yet, your business can start NOW by taking a confidential survey on their website to learn what areas they need improvement on, to work towards a longer-term goal of becoming fully certified, or just becoming a Social Business.

Dollar votes are currently the most powerful form of voting we have, far better than false choice A or B every 2 to 4 years. Quick resources of information needed to educate our daily decisions will be in higher demand, like the The Better World Handbook and a very intriguing iPhone App called the GoodGuide. The GoodGuide app takes advantage of the Universal Product Code system and allows you to scan product barcodes at the store with your iPhone’s REGULAR CAMERA (not the special barcode scanner) and pulls up a quick rating of the product and the company that makes it. It gives four scores for each product scanned: Health, Environment, Society, and an Overall Rating, plus more detailed breakdowns if you’re interested. It of course doesn’t have every product in the world rated yet, but the app is free and you can suggest new items to be rated if you don’t find them in there.

GoodGuide is also certified as a B Corporation, but just like with food, we must perpetually fight to ensure product labeling is as honest, accurate and informative as possible. This is absolutely essential. There is also a separate problem of people buying all the totally useless sh*t they don’t need, whether or not it is made by a good company in a good way. We call this “trinket capitalism.”

So tools like the GoodGuide are already helping consumers take charge of their purchasing powers to make capitalism more consciously democratic. But at the same time, wise progressive businesses will find more ways of clearly posting (and lying about) how good their products are for the health of your mind, body, community, society and world. Already, the battle is on for proper labeling of organic or non-GMO foods. But companies can, and hopefully will, also start directly labeling their products with something like their GoodGuide scores or B Corporation ratings to make it easier for consumers to choose their products over others.

———

Used alone, neither left nor right, neither more nor less government, neither capitalism nor socialism can save us. So let us please not choose our preferred solutions solely because they fit into one ideology or another. We need to rationally look at the situation and find the maximum good we can muster, no matter what ‘ism’ it implies.

Either ideology, taken to the extreme, can become quite a scary beast, so please don’t use them as your primary basis for every decision. We cannot be tempted to just vote with our party on every issue…are we voting for the lesser of two evils? Such ideologies are like many drugs, which can only be used safely in moderation.

‘Do you lean towards Capitalism or Socialism?’ – Nope, I’m mostly into Social Businism!

In this current economic transition, we need to replace a portion of the worthless trinket capitalism products and services, as well as industries of destruction, with social businesses. We must compete with the corporate-industrial complex, first targeting the industries vital to human life and well-being. With the proper public education via accurate product labeling and wider accessibility to healthier products, we can gradually shift to only pay for products made with our long-term interest in mind, instead of someone else’s bottom-line.

We absolutely need our key industries to start offering competitive Social Business options in the marketplace. There will also always be room for profit-maximizing businesses to coexist, but the decision between social businesses or purely profit-maximizing options would be in the hands of consumers. Simultaneously, we need efforts to upgrade labeling to help customers support healthier options for our minds, bodies, communities, societies and planet.

We can fight with our dollars NOW. We can buy products from Social Businesses NOW. We can start Social Businesses NOW. We can start converting our current employers into Social Businesses NOW. Why wait for Washington when we can make these moves ourselves?

In the 21st century, we the people of the world will do everything possible to ensure that companies which provide the most net benefit to the world WILL ALSO BE THE MOST PROFITABLE companies in the world.

Appendix A: My Personal Preferences for Nu Capitalism

For each area of our society I have listed, I will describe my best estimate for how our current system runs, followed by my current preference…the point to which I want to see us grow.