It is a time of fear in the face of freedom, a time of barricaded roads and new paths. Maps fade and direction is lost as we glance sideways at the strange lands through which we pass, knowing for certain only that our destination has disappeared. We are unready to meet these times but we proceed nonetheless, adapting as we wander, reshaping the Earth with every tread. Gone are the old times, the standard times, the high times. Welcome to the irregular times.
… rather than bring non-discrimination legislation to the floor of the House.
The ten arrested activists represented organizations that were promised H.R. 3017 (the Employment Non-Discrimination Act) would be brought to the floor of the House last year. It didn’t happen. It’s still not happening. The bill, which would prohibit hiring discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, is stuck in committee. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is keeping it there because she says the time still isn’t right.
The activists had appointments at Pelosi’s offices in San Francisco and Washington. They showed up, sat down and asked Pelosi to make a choice: bring H.R. 3017 to the floor, get used to the activists sitting in as a reminder on the bill, or have the police haul them out and arrest them.
H.R. 3017, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, has a whopping 198 cosponsors in the House of Representatives — the most recent Representative adding her signature was Betsy Markey on March 3. The bill, which would make it illegal to hire or fire people on the basis of their sexual orientation, is uncontroversial to people who oppose discrimination. It should be uncontroversial to the Democratic Party leadership which raised so much campaign cash during the 2008 election season from gay and lesbian activists. The Democrats told gay and lesbian Americans that the Change was coming.
And yet the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (aka ENDA) has seen no action on the floor.
Tired of promises and waiting and more promises and more waiting, a group of activists from Nancy Pelosi’s office. They say they won’t leave until either they are arrested or the Speaker of the House commits to bring H.R. 3017 to the floor for a vote.
From their e-mail flash announcement:
Nancy Pelosi has the ability to end workplace discrimination of LGBTQ people, but she is refusing to act. It’s time to let her know that we won’t wait any longer.
As you read this, GetEqual.org members are entering Pelosi’s offices in DC and her district office in San Francisco….
Can you call Speaker Pelosi right now to demand that ENDA (HR 3017) move to the floor for a vote? Call (202) 225-4965….
A majority of Congress supports this bill to stop job discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, but promises to bring it to a vote last fall were broken several times. ENDA has been jammed up in committee for six months, awaiting a signal from Speaker Pelosi that hasn’t come. We have visited, called and written Congress by the thousands, and have been ignored. The usual lobbying tactics do not appear to be having the needed effect. Now the midterm elections are coming, and Speaker Pelosi has promised Congress no more “controversial” votes. The “controversy” is whether LGBT Americans have the right to a job.
If you support ENDA legislation, now would be a good time to call Speaker Pelosi’s office and show your support. If 202-225-4965 is busy, call Pelosi’s California office at 415-556-4862.
My favorite result of the protest, however, was the way that the Greenpeace activists provoked a security guard to run, full tilt in an attempt to stop the balloon-wielding protest, because Homeland Security depended upon his swift response.
Run, officer, run! Before the balloons reach the ceiling! The fate of the children of America lies with you!
The sit-in outside of Senator Tom Coburn’s office is drawing attention to Coburn’s hold on legislation to promote humanitarian and diplomatic relief to the onslaught of the Lord’s Resistance Army, a group of religious zealots who have unleashed brutal violence in Uganda and bordering countries. By declaring this hold, Coburn has stopped the legislation in its tracks despite its support by two-thirds of the Senate.
Coburn claims that his hold is all about budgetary discipline. But then bill sponsor Russ Feingold called his bluff, declaring that he would alter the legislation to stipulate the use of no new federal funds for the project. Coburn’s maintaining his hold… why?
While Senators are paid handsomely to skip their own committee meetings, the Oklahoma Hold Out hasn’t been paid a cent and yet is in its 163rd hour outside Tom Coburn’s Oklahoma office, pressuring the Senator to drop his hold and let legislation proceed for relief to the victims of the Lord’s Resistance Army.
In northern Uganda and occasionally in bordering countries, the Lord’s Resistance Army has used the mask of religion to justify a decades-long campaign of abduction, slavery and brutal warfare. Senator Russell Feingold has introduced S. 1067, the Lord’s Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act. Feingold’s bill would provide humanitarian relief to those fleeing the violence and would sponsor regional diplomacy in Africa to counter the LRA’s abductions and bolster peace efforts.
In Oklahoma, activists are in the 138th hour of a political action in which they’re occupying the space in front of Coburn’s office, pressuring him to end his hold and allow the legislation to proceed.
Watch a mixture of live and recorded video in a feed of the Oklahoma Hold Out here:
Do they offer different levels of privilege, like non-harassment from the police for a basic conference rate of $300, hiring advantages if you buy a ticket to the banquet, and access to a gated community with a named sponsorship?
I can’t find a reference to the Patriarchy Convention, but I know it must be somewhere. Probably Fresno.
If you’re miffed that House Judiciary Chair John Conyers, despite a year and a month’s time to do so, failed to forge Patriot Act reform during the 111th Congress –
If you’re outraged that instead of reforming government surveillance Patriot Act powers, John Conyers actually voted to reauthorize Patriot Act powers without a single shred of reform, effective straight through to the end of the 111th Congress and well into the 112th Congress –
If you believe that the American people have the legal right and the moral obligation to speak truth to power –
If you live in the Washington, DC area –
Then I urge you to show up to the Hart Auditorium of the Georgetown University Law School, 600 New Jersey Avenue NW, Washington, DC. The Hart Auditorium is just North of the Capitol Building and just Southwest of Union Station.
You have been invited by the ACLU to attend. John Conyers will be there to make remarks at 7:00 p.m. EDT. Surely the ACLU of all organizations will allow a little free speech regarding the Patriot Act of all things at this occasion. The event will be live-streamed to the world. It’s the perfect place for a DC denizen to freely assemble and petition Rep. Conyers for the redress of grievance.
It’s a First Amendment thing. I’m sure the ACLU will be cool with it.
Searching the White House website for news of the Patriot Act reauthorization, I’ve found this, the most recent presidential communication on the matter:
The process of reauthorizing the Patriot Act bypassed the committee deliberation, involved last-minute legislative introduction on the sly, involved no debate in the Senate with a voice vote, and allowed only brief remarks in the House with the final vote held under the misleading title of “Medicare.” With this sort of secretive behavior out of the public eye, there’s been little procedural opportunity for the American public to weigh in with its wishes. Now, if you wish, the only thing left for you to do is let the office of the president know that this is all going down without your approval. I’ll be the first to admit it won’t accomplish much of anything, but that’s one small notch over accomplishing nothing.
My note to the White House:
I speak as someone who voted for Barack Obama in 2008: it is a shame that President Obama urged reauthorization of the Patriot Act without reform. It is a shame that President Obama arranged for Judiciary committee deliberations to be shelved. And it is a shame that President Obama is set to sign the reauthorization of the Patriot Act into law. As a constitutional scholar, surely President Obama knows better.
I voted for Barack Obama in 2008. I am no longer sure I will vote for him in 2012.
“Today we are on the threshold of the biggest REVOLUTION since our Founding Fathers Revolted and Declared “The Declaration of Independence”. Only two other Revolutions or Revolts can eclipse the Revolution that we are entering now, the French Revolution and American Revolution; and we are well beyond the formative stage. This Revolution will be a ” WE THE PEOPLE REVOLUTION” and it will come about. swiftly and valiantly.Our TRIUMPH is not a prediction it is a CERTAINTY. Out enemies on the left will deride us, they will propaganda against our cause. But we will not wilt under their lies. This Revolution will roll like thunder from California to Connecticut and all States in between.”
“Get the “Tea Party” Revolution widget on Widgetbox.com!”
Why? Because it’s cheap, that’s why. Facebook cares more about saving its pennies than it does about running a clean business. So, all the people who live to the east of Oregon will now be breathing Facebook’s soot.
Many Facebook users are taking part in efforts to protest Facebook’s use of coal to power its social networking. Facebook is upset about that, and has censored at least one of the protest groups on Facebook.
These protesters on Facebook don’t seem to realize the irony of using Facebook to protest Facebook. They’re using Facebook’s coal-based energy to protest the fact that Facebook uses coal-based energy.
By all means, people should protest against Facebook’s decision to use coal instead of cleaner energy sources. If they really don’t like the way that Facebook is assaulting the environment, though, they ought to stop taking part. The best way to protest against Facebook’s coal burning policy is to quit Facebook.
Three people protesting Massey Energy’s use of mountaintop removal coal mining techniques dangerously close to a coal sludge dam like the one that broke in Kingston, Tennessee a year ago were arrested yesterday after they conducted a sit in at a Massey office. They are currently seeking money for bail.
Here’s how Massey’s public relations crew described the protest:
“Three criminals clad in fatigues and carrying chains invaded a company office and chained themselves to chairs in the lobby. A terrified receptionist went into shock and was transported by ambulance to a local hospital.”
This secretary went into shock? I’m no physician, but last time I checked, being exposed to a sit-in protest is not one of the things that can cause shock. Here’s WebMD’s description of what shock is: “When the body cannot get enough blood to the vital organs , it goes into shock. Sometimes even a mild injury will lead to shock.”
Maybe that secretary felt stressed out. With an underlying high blood pressure condition, that might not feel good. Perhaps she even had a panic attack. However, I doubt she went into shock.
Nonetheless, this incident offers an opportunity for some reflection about the definition of nonviolent protest. The purpose of protest is to provoke people, making them upset. However, being upset can be unhealthy for people with cardiovascular disease, asthma, and mental illness. Does that make protest an inherently violent act?
Massey’s press release makes that suggestion. Are you willing to buy it?
My favorite result of the protest, however, was the way that the Greenpeace activists provoked a security guard to run, full tilt in an attempt to stop the balloon-wielding protest, because Homeland Security depended upon his swift response. 
