Julian Assange of Wikileaks spoke from the Ecuadorean Embassy in London today (video, text):
The next time somebody tells you that it is pointless to defend the rights we hold dear, remind them of your vigil in the dark outside the Embassy of Ecuador, and how, in the morning, the sun came up on a different world, and a courageous Latin American nation took a stand for justice.
The British government made a stunning mistake in throwing away the worldwide goodwill just gained through the London Olympic Games, by actually beginning to storm a sovereign embassy in violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations that was observed throughout the Cold War. How could they be so foolish? This man, this reporter and publisher, they think is somehow more dangerous to them than the armed might of the Soviet Union was? This is as if JFK arrested MLK after John Glenn’s first orbital flight (a step which JFK fortunately did not take).
Come help us find out what’s going on and connect the dots,
When: 5:30PM tonight, Tuesday, 2 August 2011
Where: Moe’s on North Ashley in Valdosta
3145 North Ashley Street
Valdosta, Georgia
333-0649
The food is good at Moe’s, and you can see what they put in it.
In their minds
every name signed as attending is part of their consensus, which is why
I never sign in. It is also why they keep trying to say
Sam Allen is for
consolidation even though
he chairs the group against consolidation.
I went to the June & July CUEE meetings just to see what they were
doing & to dialogue about consolidation. At both meetings dialogue on
consolidation was a forbidden zone. I keep telling you their game plan is
textbook UN Agenda 21. Debate is not allowed. They manipulate everything
to create what they misname “consensus” which means per their numbers &
statistics everyone who does not speak out against their agenda is for
their aganda including anyone who never shows up at all. In their minds
every name signed as attending is part of their consensus, which is why
I never sign in. It is also why they keep trying to say
Sam Allen is for
consolidation even though
he chairs the group against consolidation. They
made sure they got photos of him at the July meeting to further their
consensus game.
If you live in the city or the county & you want to hear
real dialogue about consolidation
Received today on
Three things to actually improve education.
This CUEE supporter completely ignores all three things
I recommended to improve education; I will respond in more detail in
the next post. -jsq
I have actually attended several of the public meetings and listened to
the discussions from the Education Planning Committee. I’m not sure if
you realize this or not, but the committee consists of parents, concerned
residents and educators from both school systems and VSU. The committee
also has members who are supportive and opposed to school unification,
and it includes both city and county residents. In fact, Sam Allen even
attended and participated in the last meeting.
The objective of the Education Planning Committee is to
Local food is more than healthier, it’s even more than tasty.
It’s also local economy and local community.
In the U.K., small local shops are being replaced by big-box supermarkets.
A widespread argument for this conversion is that consumers get
more choice.
Peter Wilby wrote in the Guardian 3 May 2011 about
why that’s not good enough:
Even the “good for consumers” defence of the big stores requires
scrutiny. Supermarkets may offer mangoes and kiwi fruit as a blessed
relief to generations who recall the surly greengrocer grunting “no
demand for it” when asked for anything out of the ordinary. But the
option to buy locally grown produce is increasingly closed off; many
varieties of English fruit disappeared long ago. Supermarkets stock food
not for its taste, but for its longevity and appearance. Conventional
economists count numbers, assuming that a huge increase in toilet roll
colours represents an unqualified gain to the consumer. They neglect
more subtle dimensions of choice.
The central issue, however, is whether “what the consumer wants” should
close down the argument. What people want as consumers may not be what
they want as householders, community members, producers, employees or
entrepreneurs. The loss of small shops drains a locality’s economic and
social capital. Money spent in independent retail outlets tends to stay
in the community, providing work for local lawyers and accountants,
plumbers and decorators, window cleaners and builders.
Monthly LAKE Meeting
When: 6 PM, Tuesday 3 May 2011
Where: Sonny’s Real Pit Bar-B-Q
1088 Lakes Boulevard
Lake Park, GA 31636-3013
(229) 559-0052
That’s on Lakes Blvd at exit 5 off of I-75.
They’re open until 9PM.
However, at 7PM the
Lake Park City Council meets.
We can go see a city council that talks to its people during its meetings!
Help cover food, water, transportation, incarceration, solar energy,
biomass, and regular local government meetings: you never know when
news will be made!
If you follow the LAKE blog,
On the LAKE Front,
which you can also see through the
LAKE facebook page,
you know what we cover, from protesters to private prisons to gardening
to schools,
all of which turn out to be related.
What else do you want to investigate?
You can be LAKE, too!
Continue reading →
This came in Sunday as a blog post on
To Speak or Not to Speak.
As a contrast, Lowndes County Commissioners do usually talk to people before and after
their meetings, and sometimes they use that time to answer questions citizens asked during the meeting. -jsq
Yost engaged Dr. Noll (and was unpleasant about it) at one meeting that I attended, Mayor Fretti engages people sometimes, Attorney Talley engaged J. Smith last Thursday, and sometimes others at other meetings, myself included, and Vickers talks pretty much to whomever he wants whenever he wants. The whole CTBH policy is a smokescreen. The Council Comments period ought to be followed by adjournment and then the Councilmembers making their remarks from the dais during Council Comments ought to have to walk out into the audience and deal with the voters’ concerns directly.
When Jimmy Rainwater was Mayor, I may not always have agreed with him, or he with me, but he always came out into the audience and talked to us.
This Council is not responsive to the concerns of its citizens,
The mayor prefaced a comment that he’s read (apparently in this blog)
that he’s been criticized for not paying attention while people are speaking.
He clarified that he’s often taking notes.
Then Dr. Mark P. George spoke, wondering when people would get answers
to their more substantive questions.
I have an attorney.
These folks have an attorney.
He’s sitting right there.
Dr. Mark P. George @ VCC 7 April 2011 Part 1 of 3:
Regular monthly meeting of the Valdosta City Council (VCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 April 2011,
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Dr. George amplified the not paying attention comments
by adding in body language,
and saying he did appreciate taking notes.
He asked if the meeting is recorded.
Mayor Fretti answered yes.
Dr. George remarked:
It seems to me you are now cloaking the lack of response
in legalities.
…
Legality does not equal morality.
Council Sonny Vickers remarked that he
already told everyone he is for the biomass plant.
Dr. George recommended conversation,
following up on new information.
The mayor asked Dr. George to wrap up.
Dr. George responded:
Dr. Mark P. George @ VCC 7 April 2011 Part 2 of 3:
Regular monthly meeting of the Valdosta City Council (VCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 April 2011,
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
More back and forth between Dr. George and the mayor
about how or whether or when he or somebody might answer
questions, followed by interchange between Dr. George
and the audience.
Dr. Mark P. George @ VCC 7 April 2011
Part 3 of 3:
Regular monthly meeting of the Valdosta City Council (VCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 April 2011,
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
[T]he term ‘a representative of the news media’ means any person or
entity that gathers information of potential interest to a segment of
the public, uses its editorial skills to turn the raw materials into a
distinct work, and distributes that work to an audience. In this clause,
the term ‘news’ means information that is about current events or
that would be of current interest to the public. Examples of news-media
entities are television or radio stations broadcasting to the public at
large and publishers of periodicals (but only if such entities qualify
as disseminators of ‘news’) who make their products available for
purchase by or subscription by or free distribution to the general
public. These examples are not all-inclusive. Moreover, as methods
of news delivery evolve (for example, the adoption of the electronic
dissemination of newspapers through telecommunications services), such
alternative media shall be considered to be news-media entities.
The next time somebody tells you that it is pointless to defend the rights we hold dear, remind them of your vigil in the dark outside the Embassy of Ecuador, and how, in the morning, the sun came up on a different world, and a courageous Latin American nation took a stand for justice.
LAKE