We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Monday, December 12, 2011

The Anti-#Occupy/CIA Connection

Click here to access article by Maureen Tkacik from Naked Capitalism. 

There were numerous reports that leaked out in various media about coordinated efforts of municipal police departments in dealing with their local Occupiers. An article entitled, "The cop group coordinating the Occupy crackdowns" was one of the first and, if you are unaware of this phenomenon, you definitely should read it first before reading this article.

This article provides a lot of interesting background information of the growing role of the CIA - security establishment's infiltration of, and influence over, local police departments. Also, see the extensive comments following the article which add a lot of additional interesting information. 

Although the author doesn't make it clear in the article, PERF, the offshoot of the Police Foundation, stands for Police Executive Research Forum