Consumerism

Black Friday Police Brutality at Walmart 2011

November 26, 2011 by T Kelly Leave a Comment

Police in Buckeye Arizona decided to take extreme action against an elderly man suspected of shoplifting this Black Friday, November 25th 2011. The man placed two video games he was carrying under his shirt to free his hands because his grandson had been knocked down by a mob of rushing customers. The man was then confronted by police and was cooperating when the arresting officer, a K-9 cop, tripped the man and sent him face first into the hard floor knocking the man unconscious and possibly breaking the man’s nose.

To top it off they continued to handcuff the elderly unconscious bleeding man. Then the man continues to suffer as the Police do not know how to treat the man. It is a full minute before a customer steps forward to help the poor man. It is not clear what injuries the man sustained at this moment.

Legally, you are not stealing anything until you have left the store with the questioned item(s).

We as American citizens cannot allow things like this to happen.

What has happened in America where elderly men are beaten savagely by Police Officers. And we pay them to do it.

All the while, corporate criminal International Bankers looting trillions, and bankrupting nations, go unpunished.

Filed Under: Consumerism, Occupy, USA

Surreal WW3 “Modern Warfare” Programming by Chrysler (Video)

November 25, 2011 by T Kelly Leave a Comment

You’re going to find this almost hard to believe. I turned on some raw TV today after three delightful months without it while on the road.

Besides the incredible shopping screech idiocy with gurgling mad housewives drooling for the start of the well named “black Friday”, this Jeep Wrangler commercial came on that left me with my mouth hanging open.

Filed Under: Consumerism, Media, Uncategorized, War

Occupy: Demonstrators Plan To Occupy Retailers On Black Friday

November 25, 2011 by T Kelly Leave a Comment

Some demonstrators are planning to occupy retailers on Black Friday to protest “the business that are in the pockets of Wall Street.”

Organizers are encouraging consumers to either occupy or boycott retailers that are publicly traded, according to the Stop Black Friday website.

The goal of the movement is to impact the profits of major corporations this holiday season.

“The idea is simple, hit the corporations that corrupt and control American politics where it hurts, their profits, ” states the Occupy Black Friday Facebook page.

A few of the retailers the protesters plan on targeting include Neiman Marcus, Amazon and Wal-Mart.

Their website states the following:

“Keep in mind that we are not occupying small businesses or hardworking people - we must make a distinction between the businesses that are in the pockets of Wall Street and the businesses that serve our local communities.

We are NOT anti-capitalist. Just anti-crapitalist.

Below is a shortlist for publicly traded large businesses to Occupy or to boycott on Black Friday. Luckily, most of them don’t have good presents anyway. If you want to see the top 100 retail businesses for 2010 to boycott, click here.

On Black Friday, Occupy or Boycott:

- Amazon.com (yes, we have to stay away from Amazon, too!) [AMZN 188.99 -3.35 (-1.74%) ]

- AT&T Wireless [ATT 27.21 0.17 (+0.63%) ]

- Burlington Coat Factory

- Dick’s Sporting Goods (I was surprised, too!) [DSG-FF 28.505 -0.43 (-1.49%) ]

- Dollar Tree [DLTR 76.61 -0.48 (-0.62%) ]

- The Home Depot [HD 36.52 -0.58 (-1.56%) ]

- Neiman Marcus

- OfficeMax [OMX 4.25 -0.24 (-5.35%) ]

- Toys R’Us [JPM 28.38 -1.03 (-3.5%) ]

- Verizon Wireless [VZN 95.50 1.20 (+1.27%) ]

- Wal-Mart [WMT 56.64 -0.21 (-0.37%) ]

Solidarity!”

This is not the first time the demonstrators have taken action against corporations by using their money as weapon for change.

Consumer Nation - Holiday Edition - A CNBC Report

On Nov. 5th many demonstrators participated in “Bank Transfer Day” and moved their money from banks to credit unions.

Source: https://www.readersupportednews.org/news-section2/320-80/8562-demonstrators-plan-to-occupy-retailers-on-black-friday

Filed Under: Consumerism, Corporations, Justice, Occupy

Graphic Meet Your Meat - The Transformation Of Animals Into Food

November 25, 2011 by T Kelly Leave a Comment

Life on the farm isn’t what it used to be.

The green pastures and idyllic barnyard scenes portrayed in children’s books have been replaced by windowless sheds, tiny crates, wire cages, and other confinement systems integral to what is now known as “factory farming.”

Today the majority of farmed animals are:

-confined to the point that they can barely move,
-denied veterinary care,
-mutilated without painkillers,
-and finally slaughtered — often while fully conscious.

Fortunately, each one of us has the power to help end this suffering by simply choosing to eat vegetarian.

Filed Under: Animal Cruelty, Animal Rights, Consumerism, Health, Torture, Tyranny

Attention Black Friday Shoppers: You Will Be Tracked

November 25, 2011 by T Kelly 1 Comment

The busiest shopping day of the year is set for a new level of consumer exploitation at two American malls.

A notice appearing at Promenade Temecula in California, and Short Pump Town Center in Richmond, Va. will advise shoppers that their cell phone signal will be used to track them as they move from store to store.

Although the system that is being employed claims it is guaranteed not to collect personal data, and people can opt-out by turning off their phone, we have heard this all before when justifying why it is OK to track, trace, and database the movements of everyday citizens.

According to a CNN report:

“The goal is for stores to answer questions like: How many Nordstrom shoppers also stop at Starbucks? How long do most customers linger in Victoria’s Secret? Are there unpopular spots in the mall that aren’t being visited?”

This is supposedly being done, of course, to identify which stores and items people desire most, thus enhancing the shopping experience for store customers. This is the very same reason that was presented to encourage people to sign-up for “loyalty cards” and “frequent-shopper” cards. However, as we have come to find out, these systems of convenient shopping are more accurately described as data collection systems that can be used to profile people’s shopping habits, their physical movement, as well as for other uses far beyond the scope of the shopping experience.

This overall database of collected information has been used in numerous cases by law enforcement to establish the time and place of potential suspects, which has sometimes caused innocent people to be caught in the dragnet as a result of ordinary purchases that may suddenly look suspicious to law enforcement mining the data.

We know that there has already been a push by Federal agencies to employ warrantless cell phone tracking, so we can’t reasonably expect the validity of reassurances by mall management that the system, “doesn’t collect any personal details associated with the ID, like the user’s name or phone number. That information is fiercely protected by mobile carriers, and often can be legally obtained only through a court order.” An article by Declan McCullagh at CNET News states more accurately the following:

Whether state and federal police have been paying attention to Hollywood, or whether it was the other way around, cell phone tracking has become a regular feature in criminal investigations. It comes in two forms: police obtaining retrospective data kept by mobile providers for their own billing purposes that may not be very detailed, orprospective data that reveals the minute-by-minute location of a handset or mobile device.

(…)

Obtaining location details is now ‘commonplace,’ says Al Gidari, a partner in the Seattle offices of Perkins Coie who represents wireless carriers. ‘It’s in every pen register order these days.’ (source)

The Federal government is also fighting a recent Texas ruling declaring warrantless wiretapping to be a violation of the Fourth Amendment. So these are supposedly the “protectors” to whom we should surrender our data.

And in case one believes that store management really holds the customer in the highest regard and cares deeply for their shopping experience, the following quote should reverse that thought immediately. Vice president of digital strategy for the management group of both malls, Stephanie Shriver-Engdahl, makes it quite clear how her group views shoppers:

The system monitors patterns of movement. We can see, like migrating birds, where people are going to.

The specific technology is called FootPath^TMand utilizes data collection and mapping to chart physical movements and behavior patterns, offering a service to mall management that promises to help them make more accurate business decisions (demo here). Again, this is one of the principal reasons given by the providers of customer loyalty cards.

As an aside, the U.K-based company that developed this technology — Path Intelligence — also employs tracking within transportation systems such as airports and trains, even going as far as determining “What nationalities are the passengers passing through the transportation hub?”

None of this technology is necessarily bad in-and-of itself, but time and again we have seen its dual-use capabilities being exploited by law enforcement and government agencies which has resulted in innocent people being subjected to the data dragnet.

Whether knowingly, or unknowingly, the companies that offer this technology — and the establishments that implement it — are aiding and abetting the eradication of privacy, as well as the manipulation of human decision making.

And this is what it is really about: total surveillance being used to predict behavior in order to enrich and empower those who own the technology, and to disempower the individuals on the receiving end. It is merely one more data point in the overall matrix of information used by corporate-government groups to reduce human beings to numbers.

This cell phone tracking program, running from Black Friday to New Year’s day, is clearly a test run for a system that will be rolled out on a much wider scale in the months and years to come if we don’t oppose it from the outset. We must resist by reconnecting with our local communities and shun any store or institution that views its customers as traveling information sources, or a time will come when we won’t even be notified that we are permitted to opt-out.

If you would like to voice your outrage over this tracking program, please contact the management company for both malls, Forest City Commercial Management, by clicking the home office indicated by a star on the map HERE.

You may also want to contact any of the stores that reside within these two malls to tell them you refuse to shop at their store while you are being surveiled. Pressure on individual stores might ultimately be more effective, as they will undoubtedly complain to management for the loss in sales due to the policy of management.

Management tends to listen well to those who are paying the rent.

Source: https://www.activistpost.com/2011/11/attention-black-friday-shoppers-you.html

Filed Under: Consumerism, Surveillance

US Military Legacy Rubs Off On Iraqi Youth

November 25, 2011 by T Kelly Leave a Comment

BAGHDAD (AP) — After more than eight years in Iraq, the departing American military’s legacy includes a fledgling democracy, bitter memories of war, and for the nation’s youth, rap music, tattoos and slang.

In other words, as the Dec. 31 deadline for completing their withdrawal approaches, U.S. troops are leaving behind the good, the bad and what “Lil Czar” Mohammed calls the “punky.”

Sporting baggy soldiers’ camouflage pants, high-top sneakers and a back-turned “N.Y.” baseball cap, the chubby 22-year-old was showing off his break-dancing moves on a sunny afternoon in a Baghdad park. A $ sign was shaved into his closely cropped hair.

“While others might stop being rappers after the Americans leave, I will go on (rapping) till I reach N.Y.,” said Mohammed, who teaches part-time at a primary school.

His forearm bore a tattoo of dice above the words “GANG STAR.” That was the tattooist’s mistake, he said; it was supposed to say “gangsta.”

Eight million Iraqis — a quarter of the population — have been born since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003, and nearly half the country is under 19, according to Brett McGurk, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York and, until recently, senior adviser to the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

So after years of watching U.S. soldiers on patrol, it’s inevitable that hip-hop styles, tough-guy mannerisms and slangy English patter would catch on with young Iraqis.

Calling themselves “punky,” or “hustlers,” many are donning hoodie sweat shirts, listening to 50 Cent or Eminem and watching “Twilight” vampire movies. They eat hamburgers and pizza and do death-defying Rollerblade runs through speeding traffic. Teens spike their hair or shave it Marine-style. The “Iraq Rap” page on Facebook has 1,480 fans.

To many of their fellow Iraqis, the habits appear weird, if not downright offensive. But to the youths, it is a vital part of their pursuit of the American dream as they imagine it to be.

“Lil Czar” Mohammed, a Shiite Muslim, says he was introduced to American culture by a Christian friend, Laith, who subsequently had to flee the anti-Christian violence that broke out in Baghdad. “I had nothing to help my friend, he left,” he said. “But when I get the money and become a rich boss, I will tell my friend Laith to come back.”

Meanwhile, he said, he is trying to record a rap song in Arabic and English. “It is about our situation. About no jobs for us.”

“I love the American soldiers,” said Mohammed Adnan, 15, who pastes imitation tattoos on his arm. Adnan lives in the Sadr City, the Baghdad base of followers of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who has threatened violence against U.S. troops if they stay beyond 2011.

But, surprisingly, Adnan says the U.S. gangsta look is accepted in his neighborhood.

“All young men in Sadr City wear the same clothes when we hang around,” he said. “Nobody minds. And we’re invited to weddings or celebrations where we perform break-dancing.”

It all adds up to a taste of the wide world for a society which lived for decades under Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship that deprived them of satellite TV, cell phones and the Internet, and then through invasion, terrorism and sectarian killing.

Not all Iraqis welcome the culture the Americans brought. Dr. Fawzia A. al-Attia, a sociologist at Baghdad University, says one result is that young Iraqis now reject school uniforms, engage in forbidden love affairs and otherwise rebel against their elders.

“There was no strategy to contain this sudden openness,” she said. “Teenagers, especially in poor areas where parents are of humble origin and humble education, started to adopt the negative aspects of the American society because they think that by imitating the Americans, they obtain a higher status in society.

“These young Iraqi people need to be instructed,” she said. “They need to know about the positive aspects of the American society to imitate.”

Like many Iraqis, high school student Maytham Karim wants to learn English. But the English he hears most often from his peers — and mostly those who listen to American music — is laden with profanity.

“The F- and the ‘mother’ words are used a lot, which is a very negative thing,” Karim said.

As U.S. forces began closing their bases Iraqis rummaged through their garbage for discarded uniforms, caps and boots to sell to youngsters who pay top dollar to dress like soldiers. Baghdad’s tattoo business is also booming. Hassan Hakim’s tattoo parlor in affluent Karradah neighborhood is covered with glossy pictures of half-naked men and women showing off their ink, regardless of Islam’s strictures on baring the skin.

The storefront caused a stir when it opened last summer, but complaints soon died down and the business is thriving.

“Iraqi youth are eager in a very unusual way to get tattoo on their bodies, probably because of the American presence here,” said Hakim, 32, who is attending graduate school at Baghdad’s Fine Arts Academy. “Four years ago, people were concealing their tattoos when in public, but now they use their designs to show off. It is the vogue now.”

Most of Hakim’s customers are Iraqi security guards imitating their American counterparts. They demand tattoos of coffins, skulls, snakes, dragons, bar codes, Gothic letters and crosses. Female customers prefer flowers and butterflies on their shoulders. Also, many young women now dare to wear tight tops and hip-hugging jeans with their hijabs, or head coverings. Some also sport miniature dogs.

Showbiz and military chic aside, young Iraqis agree that the American troops opened their minds to the outside world. The wait for a place in an English classes, for example, can last months.

“I found that all Iraqis want to learn English,” said Nawras Mohammed, and using the Internet or watching satellite TV is fine. But users need to be selective, the 24-year-old college graduate said.

“The positive and the negative aspects of the American presence,” she said, “depend on us.”

Source:

https://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/Article_2011-11-23-ML-Hip-Hop-Iraq/id-p4a0057099d87440292fe754ab2ed5b13

Filed Under: Consumerism, Iraq, Symbolism, War

The Century Of The Self - Full Length Documentary

November 23, 2011 by T Kelly Leave a Comment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyPzGUsYyKM&feature=related

To many in both business and government, the triumph of the self is the ultimate expression of democracy, where power is truly moved into the hands of the people. Certainly the people may feel they are in charge, but are they really? The Century of the Self by Adam Curtis tells the untold and controversial story of the growth of the mass-consumer society.

How is the all-consuming self created, by whom, and in whose interest?

The Freud dynasty is at the heart of this compelling social history. Sigmund Freud, founder of psychoanalysis; Edward Bernays, who invented public relations; Anna Freud, Sigmund’s devoted daughter; and present-day PR guru and Sigmund’s great grandson, Matthew Freud. Sigmund Freud’s work into the bubbling and murky world of the subconscious changed the world. By introducing a technique to probe the unconscious mind, Freud provided useful tools for understanding the secret desires of the masses.

Unwittingly, his work served as the precursor to a world full of political spin doctors, marketing moguls, and society’s belief that the pursuit of satisfaction and happiness is man’s ultimate goal.

Part 1-Happiness Machines:

Part one documents the story of the relationship between Sigmund Freud and his American nephew, Edward Bernays who invented ‘Public Relations’ in the 1920s, being the first person to take Freud’s ideas to manipulate the masses. He showed American corporations how they could make people want things they didn’t need by systematically linking mass-produced goods to their unconscious desires.

Part 2-The Engineering of Consent:

Part two explores how those in power in post-war America used Freud’s ideas about the unconscious mind to try and control the masses. Politicians and planners came to believe Freud’s underlying premise that deep within all human beings were dangerous and irrational desires. They were convinced that it was the unleashing of these instincts that had led to the barbarism of Nazi Germany, and in response to this, they set out to find ways to control the masses so as to manage the ‘hidden enemy’ within the human mind.

Part 3-There is a Policeman Inside All Our Heads, He Must Be Destroyed:

In the 1960s, a radical group of psychotherapists challenged the influence of Freudian ideas, which lead to the creation of a new political movement that sought to create ‘new people’, free of the psychological conformity that had been implanted in people’s minds by business and politics. This episode shows how this idea rapidly developed in America through “self-help movements”, into the irresistible rise of the expressive self: the Me Generation.

Part 4-Eight People Sipping Wine in Kettering:

This episode explains how politicians turned to the same techniques used by business in order to read and manipulate the inner desires of the masses. Both New Labor with Tony Blair and the Democrats led by Bill Clinton, used the focus group which had been invented by psychoanalysts in order to regain power. Both set out to motld their policies to manipulate people’s innermost desires and feelings, just as capitalism had learned to do with products.

Filed Under: Consumerism, Corporations, Propaganda, Psychology

Save the Internet and boycott these companies

November 19, 2011 by T Kelly 4 Comments

SOPA would put completely legitimate sites, like End the Lie and countless other alternative news outlets at risk of being shut down, along with literally any site that freely allows users to post content. That includes YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, WordPress, Blogger, Craigslist, Dropbox and literally any website or service that allows users to upload content.

The United States Attorney General can not only seek court orders against “foreign infringing sites,” meaning any website with a non-U.S. domain name, but can also demand that internet service providers (ISPs) would have to cut off access to the site by not resolving domain name requests.

Furthermore, if served with one of the Attorney General’s court orders, search engines would have to remove any links to the site, payment networks would have to stop all payments to the site from U.S. customers and advertising networks would be forced to stop serving advertisements about the website or for the website.

But wait, it gets even worse.

SOPA would require that within five days of receiving an allegation by a copyright holder, payment services and advertising networks would have to cut off all business with the site either U.S. based or foreign.

All the copyright holder has to do is allege that the site is “dedicated to the theft of property,” and if the payment provider and advertising networks don’t cease business within five days, the copyright holder can file a private lawsuit against the site compelling the payment service and others to cut off relations.

Furthermore, The Atlantic reports that the definition of “dedicated” in this bill “has little relation to common usage,” and in addressing the bill they characterize it as “dangerous.”

As experts in the technical, operational, academic and research communities who are the leading domain name system (DNS) designers, operators, and researchers who have also published numerous peer-reviewed academic studies regarding the architecture and security of the DNS, this will create major cybersecurity and other technical concerns that did not exist previously.

The above-linked technical whitepaper regarding the PROTECT IP Act also quite interestingly points out that the DNS filters could be easily circumvented, essentially making one of the biggest parts of the bill null and void.

The thing that the House and Senate don’t seem to realize is that there will always be online pirates and they will always find a way around whatever roadblocks are put in their way.

The issue is that this can and likely will be used to target important platforms for sharing information like YouTube and blog platforms like WordPress and Blogger.

All it would take is for a copyright holder to find one bit of infringing content and then it could very well be the end of the website, despite the massive amounts of legitimate content.

We must remember that major websites like YouTube and blog platforms are quite skilled and hasty when it comes to removing infringing content from their websites.

SOPA would also endanger the entire spirit of the internet which has pioneered social media and free expression, giving a platform to writers like myself who might otherwise be sidelined by the establishment media.

If you care about the internet, free speech and the future of sharing information with the world, I beg of you: take action and boycott the companies below and make it clear why you will be boycotting them. And tell everyone you know to do the same.

Please do not forget to contact your Congressperson and Senator to ask if they are supporting either bill and tell them why you think it would be a horrible idea for them to do so.

Hopefully we, as the collective users of the internet, can create a large enough buzz to shut down these bills before they get major support.

The following are companies that signed this letter which was written in support of the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, which is the House’s equivalent of the PROTECT IP Act, which I have previously exposed as China-style internet censorship on steroids.

I encourage everyone to not only boycott these companies but flood them with letters, e-mails and phone calls telling them why exactly you are boycotting them.

If “We the People” still have any power in this country, we need to flex it now when it really matters!

1-800 Contacts, Inc.
1-800-PetMeds
2b1 Inc
3M Company
ABRO Industries, Inc.
Acushnet Company
adidas America
Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed)
Allen Russell Photograph
Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers
Alliance of Visual Artists (AVA)
Altria Client Services
American Apparel and Footwear Association
American Association of Independent Music (A2IM)
American Board of Internal Medicine
American Federation of Musicians
American Gramaphone LLC
American Made Alliance
American Mental Health Counselors Association
American Photographic Artists
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP)
American Society of Media Photographers
American Society of Picture Professionals
American Watch Association
Anatoly Pronin Photography
Andrea Rugg Photography
Anti-Counterfeiting and Piracy Initiative (ACAPI)
Applied DNA Sciences
Art Holeman Photography
Association of American Publishers (AAP)
Association of Equipment Manufacturers
Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP)
Association of Test Publishers
AstraZeneca plc
Australian Medical Council
Autodesk, Inc.
Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association
Baker & Taylor Ent.
Bay State Psychological Associates
Beachbody, LLC
Beam Global Spirits & Wine
Blue Sky Studios, Inc.
Bose Corporation
Braasch Biotech LLC
Brian Stevenson Photography
Brigid Collins Family Support Center
Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI)
Burberry
C. F. Martin & Co., Inc.
Callaway Golf Company
Cascade Designs Incorporated
Caterpillar Inc.
Caveon, LLC
CBS Corporation
Cengage Learning
Center for Credentialing & Education
Center Stage Photography
CFA Institute
Chanel USA
Christopher Semmes Photography
Church Music Publishers Association
CMH Images
Coach
Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Piracy (CACP)
Columbia Sportswear Company
Comcast Corporation
Commercial Photo Design
Commercial Photographers International
Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment System
Consumer Healthcare Products Association
Copyright Alliance
Copyright Clearance Center (CCC)
Coty Inc.
Council of Fashion Designers of America
Country Music Association
CropLife America
Cross-Entertainment LLC
CSA Group
CVS Caremark
D’Addario & Company, Inc.
Dan Sherwood Photography
Danita Delimont Stock Photography
Dayco Products, LLC
Deluxe Entertainment Services Group
Dennyfoto
Derek DiLuzio Photography
DeVaul Photography
Direct Selling Association (DSA)
Directional Insight
Distefano Enterprises Inc.
Doriguzzi Photographic Artistry
Dolby Laboratories, Inc.
Dolce & Gabbana USA, INC.
Dollar General Corporation
Don Grall Photography
Dunford Architectural Photography
Eagle Rock Entertainment
Ed McDonald Photography
Educational & Industrial Testing Service
Electronic Arts, Inc.
Electronic Components Industry Association (ECIA)
Eli Lilly and Company
Englebert Photography
Entertainment Software Association (ESA)
ERAI, Inc.
Eric Meola Studio Inc
Evidence Photographers International Council
Ex Officio
Exxel Outdoors
FAME Publishing Co., LLC.
FAME Recording Studios
Far Bank Enterprises
Fashion Business Incorporated
Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy
Fender Musical Instrument Company
Footwear Distributors & Retailers of America (FDRA)
Ford Motor Company
Fortune Brands, Inc.
Fred J. Lord Photography
GAR Associates
Gelderland Productions, L.L.C.
Gemvision Corporation
Gibson Guitar Corp.
GlaxoSmithKline
Gospel Music Association
Governors America Corp.
Graduate Management Admission Council
Graphic Artists Guild
Greeting Card Association (GCA)
Greg Nikas Photography
Guru Denim
H.S. Marketing & Design, Inc.
Harley-Davidson Motor Company
HarperCollins Publishers
Harry Fox Agency
Hastings Entertainment, Inc.
ICM Distributing Company, Inc.
IDS Publishing
IEC Electronics corp.
Images Plus
Imaging Supplies Coalition (ISC)
Independent Distributors of Electronics Association (IDEA)
INgrooves
Innate-gear
International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition (IACC)
International Trademark Association (INTA)
IPC-Association Connecting Electronics Industries
Ira Montgomery Photography
J.S. Grove Photography
James Drug Inc.
Jaynes Gallery
JCPage Photography
Jean Poland Photography
Jeff Stevensen Photography
John Fulton Photography
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Johnson & Johnson
Juicy Couture, Inc
Julien McRoberts Photography
K&R Photographics
kate spade
Kekepana International Services
Kenneth Garrett, photographer for National Geographic
Killing Jar Productions LLC
Lacoste USA
Leatherman Tool Group, Inc.
Lexmark International, Inc.
Light Perspectives
Linda Olsen Photography
Little Dog Records
Liz Claiborne, Inc
L’Oréal USA
Lucky Brand Jeans
LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton
Macmillan
Major League Baseball
Marcia Andberg Associates LLC
Mark Niederman Photography
Marmot
Marona Photography
McLain Photography Inc
Merck & Co., Inc.
Messy Face Designs, Inc.
Michael Stern Photography
MicroRam Electronics, Inc.
Minter Works of Art
Mira Images
Monster Cable Products, Inc.
Moose’s Photos
Morningstar Films LLC
Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. (MPAA)
MotionMasters
Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association
MPA – The Association of Magazine Media
Mr. Theodor Feibel (sole proprietor)
Music Managers Forum-U.S.
Nashville Songwriters Association International
Natalie Neckyfarow Actor/Dancer/Singer
National Association of Broadcasters
National Association of Manufacturers
National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM)
National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO)
National Basketball Association (NBA)
National Board for Certified Counselors
National Board for Certified Counselors Foundation
National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA)
National Football League (NFL)
National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA)
National Retail Federation (NRF)
NBCUniversal
Nervous Tattoo Inc., dba Ed Hardy
New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc.
New Era Cap Co Inc
New Levels Ent. Co. LLC
News Corporation
Next Decade Entertainment, Inc.
NHL Enterprises, L.P.
Nicholas Petrucci, Artist, LLC
Nike, Inc.
Nintendo of America Inc.
Nissle Fine Art Photography
North Dakota Pharmacists Association
North Dakota Pharmacy Service Corporation
Oakley, Inc.
One Voice Recordings
OpSec Security, Inc.
Outdoor Industry Association
Outdoor Power Equipment Institute (OPEI)
Outdoor Research, Inc
Pacific Component Xchange, Inc.
Party Killer Films LLC
Pearson Clinical Assessment
Peavey Electronics Corporation
Perry Ellis International
Personal Care Products Council
Peter C. Brandt, Architectural and Fine Art Photography
Peter Hawkins Photography, Inc.
Petzl America
Pfizer Inc.
PGA of America
Philip Morris International
Photojournalist Dave Bartruff
Picture Archive Council of America (PACA)
Pigfactory Music
PING
PNW Images
Premier League
Production Music Association (PMA)
Professional Photographers of America
Quality Float Works, Inc.
Raging Waters Music
Ralph Lauren Corporation
Ramsay Corporation
Rebel Photo
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)
Red4 Music/Doogs Rock Inc
Red Wing Shoe Company
Reebok International Ltd.
Reed Elsevier Inc.
Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA)
Revlon
Richard Flutie Photography
Rite Aid
Robin Davis Photography, Inc.
Rodger Scott Craig, a member of Liverpool Express, The Merseybeats, Fortune, Harlan
Cage, 101 South, and Mtunz Media
Roger Smith Photography Services
Rolex Watch USA Inc.
Romance Writers of America (RWA)
Rosetta Stone Inc.
Saddle Creek
Sage Studios LLC
Sam D’Amico Photography
Schneider Electric
Sean McGinty Photography
Secret Sea Visions (Photography)
SESAC, Inc.
SG Industries, Inc.
Shure Incorporated
SIGMA Assessment Systems
Six Degrees Records
Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council
SMC Entertainment
SMT Corp.
SoBe Entertainment
Society of Sport & Event Photographers
Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA)
Sony Electronics Inc.
Sony Music Entertainment
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Soul Appeal Records and Music
SoundExchange
Southern Gothic LLC
Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA)
SPI (The Plastics Industry Trade Association)
Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association
Sports Rights Owners Coalition
Spring Fever Productions LLC
Spyder Active Sports, Inc
Stenbakken Photography
Stephen Dantzig Photography
Stock Artist Alliance
Stuart Weitzman Holdings, LLC
Student Photographic Society
Studio 404
SunRise Solar Inc.
Taylor Glenn Photographs
Taylor Guitars
Taylor Made Golf Company, Inc.
Tednologies, Inc.
The Cambridge Don
The Collegiate Licensing Company/IMG College
The Donath Group, Inc.
The Dow Chemical Company
The Estee Lauder Companies
The McGraw-Hill Companies
The Music People! Inc.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)
The Recording Academy (National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences)
The Timberland Company
The Walt Disney Company
Tiffany & Co.
Time Warner Inc.
Tony Bullard Photography
Toshiba America Business Solutions, Inc.
TRA Global
Tricoast Worldwide
Trio Productions, Inc. / Songscape Music,
Twist & Shout, Inc.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Ultimate Fighting Championship
Underwriters Laboratories Inc.
Universal Music Group
Uniweld Products Inc.
VF Corporation
Viacom
Vibram USA, Inc
Virtual Chip Exchange USA, Inc.
Voltage Pictures, LLC
W.R. Case & Sons Cutlery Co.
Walcott Studio, LLC
Wal-Mart
Warner Music Group
Wendy Kaveney Photography
Western Psychological Services
Westmorland Images, LLC
Wild & Associates, Inc.
Wild Eye Photos LLC
William Sutton Photography
Willis Music
WindLegends Ink LLC
Winestem Company
Winslow Research Institute
Wolfe Video
Wolverine World Wide, Inc.
Woolrich, Inc.
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.
Xerox Corporation
Zippo Manufacturing Company
Zumba Fitness, LLC

Source: https://beforeitsnews.com/story/1399/350/Save_the_Internet_and_Boycott_These_Companies.html?currentSplittedPage=0

Filed Under: Banks, Censorship, Consumerism, Corporations, Corruption, Education, Imperialism, Internet, Justice, Martial Law, Media, Military Industrial Complex, Money, Occupy, Police, Politicians, Politics, Privacy, Protests, Revolution, Rights, Surveillance, Technology, USA

The Police State vs. Occupy Wall Street: This is not going to end well for any of us

November 19, 2011 by T Kelly 1 Comment

Right now, we are watching the early rounds of a heavyweight fight between two extremely determined opponents. Occupy Wall Street has no plans of losing this fight and neither do law enforcement authorities.

Perhaps those running the show actually believed that raiding Zuccotti Park and more than a dozen other “Occupy camps” around the nation would end these protests, but that is just not going to happen.

Whatever your opinion of Occupy Wall Street is, everyone should be able to agree that this is one dedicated bunch. They are absolutely obsessed with their cause and in response to the recent raid on Zuccotti Park organizers are calling for “a national day of direct action” on Thursday. But if Occupy Wall Street protesters want to take things to “the next level”, they should not underestimate the resolve of the police state. Over the past decade, the homeland security apparatus of the federal government has been slowly but surely turning this country into a “Big Brother” police state.

Today, our law enforcement authorities are obsessed with watching us, listening to us, tracking us, recording us, and gathering information on all of us. We are constantly reminded that we live in a prison grid (just think about what they do to you before you are allowed on an airplane) and they are not about to put up with anyone challenging their authority or their control. Have you even known parents that constantly feel the need to prove that they are “the boss” of their children? Well, that is essentially what the homeland security apparatus in this country has become.

All over the United States, law enforcement personnel are taught that every American is a potential terrorist and they are actually trained to “act tough”, to bark orders at us and to not let anyone question their authority. If Occupy Wall Street believes that it can get the police state to “back down”, they are sorely mistaken. Hopefully everyone will cool off a bit as the temperatures go down this winter. But if we do see a “cooling off”, it probably will not last for long. As the U.S. economy continues to get worse, these kinds of protests are going to keep growing and they will become even more intense. Eventually, mass civil unrest will cause the streets of many of our major cities to closely resemble war zones.

When it is all said and done, this is not going to end well for any of us.

The stunning police raid of Zuccotti Park at 1 AM on Tuesday morning made headlines around the world. Protesters were hauled off, tents were cut down and garbage trucks hauled off the personal possessions of those that had been encamped there. It was swift and it was brutal.

But it was just another in a long line of raids that we have seen over the past couple of weeks. Occupy camps in Portland, Oakland, Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, Atlanta and several other cities have also been raided.

There is an increasing body of evidence that these raids have been coordinated. For example, Oakland Mayor Jean Quan recently made the following statement during a recent interview about the Occupy movement….

I was recently on a conference call with 18 cities across the country who had the same situation

Does anyone want to guess who was running that conference call?

Heidi Bogosian, the executive director of the National Lawyers Guild, is convinced that the recent raids were coordinated at the federal level….

“We definitely feel, especially in a movement like this that has arisen so quickly in a number of cities, that there will be a coordinated national effort to try and shut it down”

Someone probably thought that cracking a few skulls and cutting up a few tents would probably make the hippies go away.

Yes, that might have worked in 1991.

But this is 2011. Whether you agree with Occupy Wall Street or not, one thing that should be clear to all of us is that these boys and girls are deadly serious.

In response to the recent raids, organizers have declared “a national day of direct action” on Thursday.

One of the “major actions” being planned is a “shut down” of Wall Street.

Of course that will not happen because thousands of law enforcement personnel will be dispatched to protect Wall Street if necessary.

But what does seem clear is that Occupy Wall Street seems determined to take things to the next level.

In this video, a wild-eyed protester can be seen making the following statement….

“On the 17th, we gonna burn this city to the ************* ground.”

Later on in the video, the same protester makes an even more inflammatory statement….

“No more talking. They’ve got guns, we’ve got bottles. They’ve got bricks, we’ve got rocks…in a few days you’re going to see what a Molotov cocktail can do to Macy’s.”

That is a very frightening statement.

As I noted the other day, one recent survey found that 31 percent of all Occupy Wall Street protesters “would support violence to advance their agenda”.

Let us hope that cooler heads prevail and that we don’t see outbreaks of violence.

If we do see violence in the coming days, it will just give law enforcement authorities an excuse to crack down even harder.

Up to this point, local law enforcement authorities have been advised to seek “legal reasons” for evicting Occupy protesters.

Since just about everything is illegal in America today, that has not been too difficult. So far “zoning laws”, “curfew rules” and regulations that target homeless people have been used as justifications to evict Occupy protesters.

In New York City, Mayor Bloomberg has said that protesters can gather in Zuccotti Park, but that “the rules” do not allow them to have tents, sleeping bags or any sort of heavy equipment.

So will the protesters go along with this, or will this turn into a prolonged struggle over Zuccotti Park?

It is hard to say, but one thing is for sure - police all over the nation have already shown that they are prepared to use brutal force against these protesters in order to get their way.

We have seen tear gas used, we have seen pepper spray cannons used, we have seen rubber bullets used and we have seen flash-bang stun grenades used.

And they are just warming up. When it comes to protecting “national security”, there is a vast array of technologies and weapons that law enforcement authorities have at their disposal.

Many Americans are cheering the crackdown on these protesters, but we all should remember that real people are getting seriously injured. For example, just check out this photo of 84-year-old Dorli Rainey after pepper spray was blasted directly into her face.

Rainey and several other Occupy Seattle protesters are still in the hospital.

We all need to realize that these confrontations are not just a bunch of “fun and games”.

A lot of people have been sent to the hospital already, and this is just the beginning.

One of the key things that the American people will need to understand is that they don’t have to pick sides.

When law enforcement authorities commit atrocities, we should denounce them.

When Occupy Wall Street protesters commit acts of violence or vandalism, we should denounce them.

It would be nice if all Occupy Wall Street protests would be 100% non-violent.

It would be nice if the police would be reasonable and would carry out their duties with gentleness and respect.

But sadly, those things are probably not going to happen.

The civil unrest we are seeing now is only the beginning.

Things are going to get a lot worse.

If things keep getting escalated to “the next level”, eventually we will see martial law imposed in some of our largest cities.

Don’t think that it can’t happen.

The United States is increasingly becoming a very unstable place.

As America comes apart at the seams, this is not going to end well for any of us.

Source: https://beforeitsnews.com/story/1387/785/The_Police_State_Vs._Occupy_Wall_Street:_This_Is_Not_Going_To_End_Well_For_Any_Of_Us.html?currentSplittedPage=0

Filed Under: Banks, Capitalism, Censorship, Consumerism, Corporations, Corruption, Economy, Education, Federal Reserve, Income Inequality, Justice, Law, Martial Law, Media, Military Industrial Complex, Money, Occupy, Police, Politicians, Politics, Poverty, Privacy, Propaganda, Protests, Revolution, Rights, Surveillance, Symbolism, Taxes, USA

“According to the Supreme Court, money is now speech. Corporations are now people, but when real people without money assemble to express their dissatisfaction with the political [system], they’re treated as public nuisances & evicted”

November 18, 2011 by T Kelly Leave a Comment

Big Corporations Have More Free Speech than REAL People

Robert Reich sums up the 1%’s hypocrisy towards the First Amendment:

A funny thing happened to the First Amendment on its way to the public forum. According to the Supreme Court, money is now speech and corporations are now people. But when real people without money assemble to express their dissatisfaction with the political consequences of this, they’re treated as public nuisances and evicted.

Of course, the Constitution is supposed to provide the right to free speech no matter what type of threat we’re supposedly under. That was the whole idea.

And the Founding Fathers loathed big corporations. They were as suspicious of big corporations as they were the monarchy. So they only allowed corporate charters for a very brief duration, in order to carry out a specific, time-limited project.

As James Madison noted:

There is an evil which ought to be guarded against in the indefinite accumulation of property from the capacity of holding it in perpetuity by…corporations. The power of all corporations ought to be limited in this respect. The growing wealth acquired by them never fails to be a source of abuses.

Indeed, while the Boston Tea Party was a revolt against taxation without representation, it largely centered on the British government’s crony capitalism – and disproportionate tax breaks – towards the East India Company, the giant company which dominated the tea market and hurt small American business.

Protesting against the government propping up today’s giant banks – who are ruining the chance for small businesses to have a fair chance at competing – is exactly the same idea.

Later presidents had a similar view. For example, Grover Cleveland said:

As we view the achievements of aggregated capital, we discover the existence of trusts, combinations, and monopolies, while the citizen is struggling far in the rear or is trampled to death beneath an iron heel. Corporations, which should be the carefully restrained creatures of the law and the servants of the people, are fast becoming the people’s masters.

And Teddy Roosevelt had to break up banking trusts which had taken over the country.

Adam Smith – the founder of free market capitalism – also railed against corporate monopolies.

And conservatives as well as liberals are war loudly warning against American corporations becoming overly powerful in relation to the people.

For example, as I noted last month:

The Oathkeepers announcement zeroes in on this issue in a way that both conservatives and liberals can agree on:

When a corporation becomes larger than is useful, and seeks to concentrate financial power into the political and governmental spheres, its likeness is no longer the King Snake, but instead is more like a Rattlesnake. At a point we call such corps “Monopoly Capitalists”. By the time a grouping of such Monopoly Capitalist corps are setting U.S. foreign policy, which the arms industry certainly does nowadays, the problem becomes unbearably apparent. Bechtel comes to mind, along with Halliburton, the Carlyle Group, Monsanto, General Electric, et al.

***

Monopoly Capitalism is un-Constitutional and must be opposed.

Source: https://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/11/according-to-the-supreme-court-money-is-now-speech-and-corporations-are-now-people-but-when-real-people-without-money-assemble-to-express-their-dissatisfaction-with-the-political-system-theyr.html

Filed Under: Banks, Campaigning, Capitalism, Censorship, Consumerism, Corporations, Corruption, Economy, Education, Employment, Imperialism, Justice, Law, Martial Law, Media, Military Industrial Complex, Money, Occupy, Police, Politicians, Politics, Population, Poverty, Privacy, Propaganda, Protests, Revolution, Rights, Surveillance, USA, War, Weapons

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The Police State vs. Occupy Wall Street: This is not going to end well for any of us

Right now, we are watching the early rounds of a heavyweight fight between two extremely determined opponents. Occupy Wall Street has no plans of losing this fight and neither do law enforcement authorities.

“According to the Supreme Court, money is now speech. Corporations are now people, but when real people without money assemble to express their dissatisfaction with the political [system], they’re treated as public nuisances & evicted”

Big Corporations Have More Free Speech than REAL People

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