We Can Do This

Too often we turn to history for the basis of our current revolution. History is only going to bring us back around to where we are today. We must look to the new revolutions of today that are WORKING, and continue their lead.

Pelican Bay

Just over a year ago I took part in a mass hunger strike for basic rights within the prison system. The hunger strike began within the Pelican Bay SHU and quickly spread to many other prisons and outsiders in unity for the basic rights of those in prison.
These actions were not to create debate as to the innocence or guilt of those in prison but to express that they have rights and those rights must be upheld for the sake of humanity. To be a human and not within the social or rather legal norm does not change the fact that these are human beings who must be treated with compassion.
If torture were the purpose of the american judicial system then the prisons must no longer be called Department of rehabilitation and Corrections.

Today Was a Good Day!

Tonight my favorite band of all time is playing just a few miles from my apartment, but I'm not there. $20 for a show, VIP passes, age restrictions, bag and body searches, the list of reasons for me to not be there go on and on. The meaning to the music is very much in me, I live my feelings everyday and I don't need to pay to reconfirm them. I used to travel literally thousands of miles to see bands that shared my convictions, but those bands are too few and my convictions are mine with out the need for community.
 We have become scarce in this world of justifying flying to far away countries to help others when help is needed not only at home, but in ourselves. Our efforts can go so much further if we look to our own abilities and make the best of them for others and not to promote our opinions to a community that already agrees.
Today my $20 is going to feed a friend who is out of work, in the cold, and hungry. My $20 is better spent sharing, rather than going to a show. The words are in my heart and in my actions, that makes them more powerful than any show or band. I love you Into Another. I miss the good old days, but more powerful than that omission is the feeling I get when putting our words and feelings into motion.

Greg LeMond The last Great American Cyclist!

Teammates ratted on 'dope' Lance Armstrong: authorities By BILL SANDERSON Last Updated: 5:19 AM, October 11, 2012 Posted: 12:46 AM, October 11, 2012 Lance Armstrong’s heroic cycling career — which included a record seven Tour de France wins — was a monstrous lie, US anti-doping authorities said yesterday. They released a devastating 164-page chronicle of Armstrong’s doping between 1998 and 2005, backed by thousands of pages of documents and testimony from 11 teammates. “The US Postal Service Pro Cycling Team ran the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen,” US Anti-Doping Agency chief Travis Tygart said. Armstrong was deeply involved in organizing the doping, and made clear to his teammates that they would lose their jobs if they didn’t go along, the USADA report says. AFP/Getty Images Lance Armstrong “He was not just a part of the doping culture . . . He enforced and re-enforced it,” the report says. Even Armstrong’s most loyal lieutenant, Queens native George Hincapie, ratted him out to anti-doping probers. Hincapie admitted he began doping early in his career, and said Armstrong gave him drugs. “It was not possible to compete at the highest level without them,” he said in a statement yesterday. US Postal rider David Zabriskie had vowed never to dope because drugs destroyed his father’s life. But driven to tears in 2003 by pressure from team bosses, Zabriskie caved. “I felt cornered. I had pursued cycling to escape a home life torn apart by drugs,” Zabriskie told USADA investigators. The doping methods included blood transfusions and the drug EPO, which enhance performance by increasing red-blood-cell counts. Armstrong’s lawyer called the report a “one-sided hatchet job.” But Armstrong decided not to challenge the agency’s decision in August to strip him of his Tour de France titles and the rest of his pro cycling record. He could still appeal to the International Cycling Union, which has feuded with US officials over jurisdiction in his case.

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Two Days In October