Occupy Militarism

Sad Fact USA:  How our tax dollars are spent
Source:  Federal discretionary budget (billions; 2012)

Militarists now Occupy America !

Military jobs

Pollute  everyone  with  fear

We're all enlisted!

Old Man Put Down

Monroe Isadore was killed nine days ago (link) in his home. 

He was 107 years old, shot multiple times by a SWAT assault unit.

Local police and the regional SWAT team believed Isadore was a threat. They reported he had a pistol, and that he'd shot at them.

Now with hundreds of worldwide reports of the killing, and much criticism, no information or details have been released about recovery of a weapon. Did Grandpa Isadore have a gun?

At his funeral, Isadore was compared to a mighty oak which suddenly disappeared, but left behind many acorns - he's survived by 10 children, 27 grandchildren and 66 great-grandchildren.

Now an Arkansas judge has sealed all police records, and forbidden any further release of information to the public.

But among documents still online - including copies of three local police reports, we can find troubling details. In the hours after the shooting, over thirty people were recorded to have entered Isadore's home. One local commentator termed it "contamination" of the crime scene and "a sighseeing tour"

1. Chief Hubanks
2. Lt. Butler
3. Kyle Huter
4. Mozell Gipson
5. Chief Whitfield
6. Pastor T. Smith
7. Lt. Fratesi
8. CPT Hadley
9. SWAT
10. Det. J. Stephens
11. Chad Kelley
12. E. Belcher
13. Tracy Smith
14. Shea Furr
15. Officer Kirkpatrick
16. Crime Scene Tech Ruhl
17. Lt. Richardson
18. Officer Lamb
19. Officer Jerrell Johnson
20. SGT C. Willams
21. Brian Ackron
22. SGT Marcus Smith
23. Kim Phillips
24. Officer Ryan Edwards
25. Officer Joe Anderson
26. Deputy Chief Sergeant
27. Officer Ablondi
28. Chaplin John Smith
29. Det. Casandra McAfee
30. Det. T. Johnson
31. Anthony Craig
32. SGT Lynn Wright
33. Ferddie Lewis
34. Officer Keith Banks

Disposable Heroes

The press system is riddled with corporate interests - they redirection reporting to tales that sell. Our entertainment media readily spikes unwelcome stories that describe their own failings.

Sometimes these include unseemly collusion with officialdom, as with Sen. Joseph McCarthy's witch hunting. Is the crisis of Edward Snowden similar? Did we eagerly follow the hunt for Osama Bin Laden while ignoring the gross failures of National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice and the inept Bush administration? Are we deflected from fear, or from germane criticism of our officials, by lurid stories?

Remember this case?

'"Jewell saved the lives of many members of the technical staff working on live TV coverage of the Olympics. Richard ran all the way up and down the four stories of the tower and evacuated everybody, it must have been between 40 and 50 people. Seconds later the thing exploded," said Bruce Rodgers, president of Tribe Inc and designer of the AT&T Global Village, where the explosion happened.'

'"My whole corner was completely obliterated - steel shrapnel, pipe material lodged into the decking of the structure and embedded inches into the ceiling. The chairs that we usually sat in were completely sheared and ripped apart. Had he not gotten those people out, I know that at least 20 people on the first two floors of the tower would be dead."'

US news & entertainment media, along with federal law enforcement officials, developed an agenda for the Atlanta bombing that didn't include offering praise or support for a pudgy hero who lived with his mom.

Three months after the bombing, and after officially-sanctioned FBI hanky panky, the U.S. Justice Dept. explicitly exonerated Mr. Jewell.  Ten years later, Georgia's Governor officially commended him as a hero for saving lives. Jewell was quoted at that time as counting himself fortunate not to be in prison or the electric chair, but "Ten years of my life is missing..." 

(A year earlier, domestic terrorist Eric Rudolph had been sentenced to life imprisonment on pleading guilty to assorted attacks including the Olympic Park bombing).

In 2002, CBS 60 Minutes II had highlighted Jewell as a hero who'd never been treated as a hero. Nobody "ever bothered to even say thanks - not the city of Atlanta, not the state of Georgia, not the Olympic Committee in Atlanta, not the International Committee. He's so tainted that even when he was exonerated, no one still wanted to really be identified with him..."

What if this cruel bombing had killed 20 - 50 people, and maimed more? Would the 1996 Atlanta Olympics have been cancelled? Or might terrorism have been more appropriately highlighted - perhaps averting 9/11? Surely at least those dozens of people evacuated by Richard Jewell, and their families, owe Jewell & his family substantial thanks. 

A year after meeting the Governor of Georgia, Jewell was dead from a bevy of health problems. Survived by his wife Dana, and his mother Barbara (Bobbi), Richard A. Jewell was just 44.

Watergate Today

Would the revelations of White House crimes we now know as the Watergate scandal come to light today?

I rather imagine Woodward & Bernstein of the Washington Post would be silenced.

Balance & Joy

It's tough to write of balance, of how to appreciate living.

Sure, I can talk of feeling an active healthy burn at a physical workout, or admire the taste of nice foods. It's easy to speak of laughing with friends, or enjoying family time. But how to relate those experiences and a centered focus with another's more tumultuous lifestyle? 

What of when conditions are not good?

Poor conditions are part of life - often. Yet some people are able to find stability in horribly adverse situations. Aspire to such balance. Yoga & breathing exercise can help. 

We all know the words concentration, meditation, surrender & relaxation. But dynamic balance is not fatalism or ignoring areas of trouble. We necessarily refocus, and give up the unnecessary.

It's good concentrating on sport or games at least part of every day.  
Play !

Spanking Syria

Imagine any self-appointed policeman (think George Zimmerman, the heavily-armed neighborhood watchdog) - clumsily inflaming every situation by eager, misguided, unilateral bullying.

Why's the USA a self-appointed world policeman? Costs too much !

We're an arms-dealing busybody: pushing-in & causing problems.

We spent $16,000+ on Iraq war per American. Many gave their lives.  That's $80,000 for a US family of five. (We've now fewer families of 5... we can't afford the costs - can't afford these wars).

We could have saved lives and used the money to pay each Iraqi $150,000 (forty years their average annual income).

We've yet to pay for Vietnam. US combat boots still trample Afghanistan...

It's more important America invests in its own infrastructure than butt-in on far away sectarian, ethnic, tribal conflicts. Militarism causes trouble. Our militarism kills us.

Where's Whitey?

We're told James "Whitey" Bulger, now 84 years old, is in U.S. federal custody awaiting a sentencing hearing from 13 November. But who knows? An American I saw in Tuscany a few weeks ago looked very much like Bulger, and spoke with a Boston accent.

Bulger worked cozily with the FBI in the past, notwithstanding being a mass-murderer.

Does Bulger even now enjoy R&R (rest & relaxation)?

Uncover Secret Police Crime

The full extent of US secret police spying is yet uncovered, but recent revelations are important.

Knowing the forms of spying, and some types of materials collected (reports range up to "collect it all"), we can begin seeking answers to the most important question:  WHY ?

•  Is the information used for blackmail ?
•  Is competitive intelligence used by private firms for profit?
•  Is data accessed or compromised by hostile forces? 
•  Who will befriend an actively corrupting, admitted spy? 

Our secret police surveillance data is just like a gold mine, with constant guard essential for both wealth & toxic poisons. Typically, these miners corrupted our environment.

Gits wit Guns

Monroe Isadore is a tenant suddenly told to "Move Out" ...
He is 107 years old. Isadore retreats to his room... He'd just arrived in August. He's reportedly got a gun. (link) 

When landlady Pauline Lewis telephoned police, ultimately more than 25 cars of SWAT & other law enforcement officers took over the quiet neighborhood.

A Pine Bluff Arkansas SWAT team managed to end their three-hour standoff with the local man by shooting him dead. Mr. Monroe Isadore, gunned down in his home (link), was 107.

Neighbors criticized the kill.  (link)

Isadore was a regular churchgoer who liked his "Man of Faith" cap

Easier to shoot than to get the old fella workin' on the chain gang? 

Further details of the 7 September incident are still emerging. It's not been revealed if the deceased had a written lease. Police have yet to release details of Monroe's weaponry or if a gun was recovered. Aside from one dead old timer with multiple gunshots, there were no additional injuries.

A subsequent report demands answers (link): "Mr. Isadore was legally blind. Mr. Isadore had hearing impairment. Mr. Isadore was confused..."  Police have thus far continued to suppress details of any recovered weaponry.

The lesson: be very cautious before calling police to your home.

It's this year's 10th shooting death in Pine Pluff, a city in south-central Arkansas pop. 50,000 (minus ten)...

Monroe Isadore when alive (undated)