***From Out In The Be-Bop 1950s Rock Night-Carl Perkin's "Boppin' The Blues"-Take Two

From The Pen Of Frank Jackman

I remember back when I decided to place this Carl Perkins be-bop tune, Boppin’The Blues, in this space a couple of years back. I made the following comment then: “Hell, I don't need to comment here. Carl Perkins says it all-bop, bop the blues-get it.” And at some level the statement was, and is, true, true for those of us who came of age in the post-World War II cold war red scare night and who were just waiting around for something, anything, and in some cases desperately so to happen if not so for later mist of times, good old days generations. We weren’t necessarily conscious of what we were waiting for, I know I wasn’t except for this unexplained, uncharted beat circulating in my head but, damn, we were waiting for some jailbreak thing to come along. Something more than we faced daily with periodic doomsday exercises at school hiding under desks like that was going to do a damn thing if some Russkie A-bomb, or some kind of bomb, was going to be directly aimed at Hullsville South Elementary School anytime between 1950 and 1956 in retribution for whatever sins we had committed (and which we, maybe, hadn’t confessed, confessed fully to the good priest, Father Murphy, the good priest who went light on penances and saved many a prayer knee, over at Saint Mary’s Catholic Church on Main Street).

Yah, I had the beat in my head, like I said, a beat, maybe a sinful beat for all I know although I never coped, uh, confessed to its sinfulness to good priest or bad. A beat not from some Rosemary Clooney Come On To My House heard incessantly on the parent front room radio but something swaying, something primal if I had known that word then. But mainly I went along, went along with the bomb blast program then, went along with the Russkies are coming thing, kept my head down and kept that beat frame of mind to myself. I remember though Albert Ruffin, yes, that Albert Ruffin who in the late 1960s would famously, or infamously depending on your point of view, put Hullsville on the map when he as “Red” Ruffin practically brought the government down, or tried to, leading those Vietnam anti-war marches over at Boston University and down in Washington, kept standing up during those air raid drills and saying that he would fight the Russkies mano y mano. (“Red”Ruffin who has now returned, long-returned, to Albert Ruffin-hood as a federal magistrate down in New Jersey). I remember yelling to him to keep down, keep way down or he would get us all killed. Yah, I kept my head down in those days, way down.

We, we the younger set, the baby-boomers as we are called now by the historians, the sociologists, the demographists, oh, just call them the professionals, (although I prefer for political reasons to call us –“generation of ’68”but we are talking of the same thing, the Red Ruffin same thing, the same species waiting in that 1950s good night to hear the glad tidings) were pent up waiting for some movement to wash over us. But what we didn’t know, a lot of us didn’t know including me then, especially if we didn’t have older brothers and sisters, say eight to ten years older, and a lot of us didn’t since we baby-boomers were created in quick batches from 1945 on by parents who, well, who had been separated by the war and were in a hurry to get a family started, was that those older brethren were hearing some rumblings and acting out on it. Guys like holy hell’s angels motorcycle angels revved up, filled with unrequited angst and alienation not alleviated by hard- shell Great Depression traumas or wartime great deeds that were wreaking havoc on the California highways, and not just California highways, and terrifying the squares (our parents, West Coast variety). Guys handy with tire irons and chain whips and who frankly laughed at cold war words like they were so much bad hubris. Also guys, every okie arkie-bred Southern California guy with a license (and maybe some without reflecting that okie/arkie distrust of the law back home), grabbing now flush parent dough made, the old dust bowl dust just a fading memory, and building the max daddy hot rods to beat the band. Also “chicken run” racing madly down those California streets, and not just California streets. But what would East Coast young boys dreaming ocean dream breakouts, Atlantic Ocean breakouts, know of such rumblings though, except in movies.

And too others maybe not so mechanically inclined, or so filled deadweight angst, were searching for the perfect wave down in places like Malibu and LaJolla. Growing corn-fed strong to challenge old King Neptune for bragging rights. The more serious, brain serious, intellectual types, the ones I heard just a smidgeon about from overheard conversations passing through Harvard Square, were writing be-bop poems and novels and exploiting the Village and Frisco night to the beat of their own drummers. Speaking of bombs, molochs, monsters, madnesses, negro streets, and hunkering down to find their own private freedom nights on both coast roads. Yah, all that was going on but how were we in Podunk Hullsville to hear those tom-toms, heads down, from under those old ink-stained wooden desks. We, some of us, would just catch the tail end of those mad monk adventures, ride Harleys, built fast highway yellow coupes, search for ocean waves worthy of our heroic poses, write primitive imitative be-bop poems after the “beats” had faded from view and before we wrote our own messages on the stars.

Oh yah, I almost forgot, down in Memphis, some of the older guys, and it was mainly guys (although Wanda Jackson was a very bright exception), were raising a new form of hell and be-bopping away in shoddy one-horse recording studios like Sun Records blowing rockabilly riffs. And up in sweet home Chicago some black cats, mainly guys again, were blowing some blues riffs in the night, the high white note night. Somehow the mix came together and they called it rock and roll. And one Carl Perkins was right in the mix (and might have been bigger in the mix except for an accident that allowed Mister Elvis Presley to wiggle-waggle his way to stardom with Carl’s Blue Suede Shoes, one of the max daddy songs of the mid-1950s night).

But what did we down in Hullsville South Elementary School, ten, eleven and twelve years old know of those mixtures, of that primal history. All we knew was rock rocked, our parents didn’t like it (a surefire indicator that we were building our own “newer world,”or so we thought) and we could listen to it endlessly up in our rooms (mind shared with two brothers, one a year older, the other a year younger reflecting that post-war family hurry) on transistor radios away from prying parents. And the sounds on the radio started, just started, to match that uncharted be-bop, be-bop beat in my head.

Oh yah and we could dance to the stuff, dance, boy- girl dance without having to touch each other, without having to wipe sweating hands on pants and display trance-like awkward movements with some parent-taught foxtrot, waltz or something. Dance with flame Mary Ellen Riley at the Friday Night Saint Mary’s Church dance. Dance facing smiling Mary Ellen, the queen of the novena and prayer book day who just so happened to smile in my direction one day at school and dreamily asked me if I had heard Elvis’ latest Jailhouse Rock and whether I was going to that Friday night day. Not asked in a boy-girl date way, not at all. But in a come hither try your luck, brother, try your luck way. Hell, I wasn’t even going to go to the dance since I had not, even with that beat in my head, mastered the sense of rock and roll dancing. I quickly and quietly enlisted Albert Ruffian’s older sister (two years older, not an adult), Lisa, to teach me the rudiments and to watch American Bandstand like it was some new religion. And I sweating, swearing (to myself for Lisa also wore the mark of the novena and prayer book day), just barely making a dent in my awkwardness as hard as she tried.

As so there I was, Friday night dancing, facing Mary Ellen, she smiling, me smiling. And get this Mary Ellen Riley saying at intermission that she thought I was a better dancer than she expected from a guy with the beat in his head and two left feet. Of course she didn’t say it that way, that was not her good-mannered style in this wicked old world. Get this too, later, after the dance walking down toward the Land’s End section of the local beach to cool off, Mary Ellen Riley, queen of the novena and prayer book day, planted a big red-lipped kiss right on my lips. And I didn’t wipe it off. Thanks, Carl.

******

Boppin' The Blues Lyrics- Carl Perkins

Well, all my friends are boppin' the blues; it must be goin' round

All my friends are boppin' the blues; it must be goin' round

I love you, baby, but I must be rhythm bound

Well, the doctor told me, Carl you need no pills.

Yes, the doctor told me, boy, you don't need no pills.

Just a handful of nickels, the juke box will cure your ills.

Well, all my friends are boppin' the blues; it must be goin' round

All them cats are boppin' the blues; it must be goin' round

I love you, baby, but I must be rhythm bound

Well, the old cat bug bit me, man, I don't feel no pain

Yeah, that jitterbug caught me, man, I don't feel no pain.

I still love you baby, but I'll never be the same.

I said, all my friends are boppin' the blues; it must be goin' round

All my friends are boppin' the blues; it must be goin' round

I love you, baby, but I must be rhythm bound

Well, all my friends are boppin' the blues; it must be goin' round

All them cats are boppin' the blues; it must be goin' round

I love you, baby, but I must be rhythm bound

Well, grand-pa Don got rhythm and he threw his crutches down.

Oh the old boy Don got rhythm and blues and he threw that crutches down

Grand-ma, he ain't triflin', well the old boy's rhythm bound.

Well, all them cats are boppin' the blues; it must be goin' round

All my friends are boppin' the blues; it must be goin' round

I love you, baby, but I must be rhythm bound.

A rock bop, rhythm and blues.

A rock bop, rhythm and blues.

A rock rock, rhythm and blues.

A rock rock, rhythm and blues.

Rhythm and blues, it must be goin' round.

Bradley Manning’s chats and emails; authorized access: trial report, day 6

digg

Several more government witnesses testified today about Bradley Manning’s online activity, access to various programs, and what the Apache video revealed. Court is in recess until Monday, June 17.
By Nathan Fuller, Bradley Manning Support Network. June 12, 2013.

Special Agent Mark Johnson. Sketch by Clark Stoeckley, BMSN.

Another long, witness-packed Wednesday made room for another long weekend in Bradley Manning’s trial: after today’s session, court is in recess again until Monday morning.
Army CCIU special agent Mark Johnson testified for the entire morning session at Ft. Meade, discussing his forensic examination of Bradley Manning’s personal MacBook Pro and his search for connections to WikiLeaks.
On the unallocated (deleted) portion of the laptop, he discovered chats between an account associated with Bradley Manning and an account with the handle ‘pressassociation,’ which the government contends is connected to Julian Assange (along with the alias Nathaniel Frank), ranging from March 5, 2010, and March 18, 2010.
The two discussed government information, and prosecutors focused on ‘pressassociation’s comment about the United States’ Open Source Center, “that’s something we want to mine entirely.”
But on cross-examination, Johnson confirmed that ‘pressassociation’ never actually asked Manning for anything, and never asked him about his direct access to any information.
Johnson also found emails, encrypted and un-, between Bradley and Eric Schmiedel, discussing State Department cables, the Iraq War Logs, the Collateral Murder video, and on the unallocated portion, WikiLeaks. The defense established that Bradley never looked at websites associated with terrorism or anti-American beliefs – more testimony going against the government’s claim that Bradley had knowledge that WikiLeaks releases would end up in the hands of the enemy.
Defense lawyers also gleaned that the only evidence of a connection between Bradley and WikiLeaks’ submission page can be found for April 10-12, 2010. They also confirmed that files referencing Farah (see yesterday’s revelation on that video) on his MacBook Pro would have to have arrived after January 31, 2010, because that’s when Bradley wiped his computer, including its free space, and everything predating that would be gone. This lends itself further to the defense claim that Bradley sent the Farah video to WikiLeaks in April 2010, not November 2009.
Collateral Murder reveals Apache techniques
The government read stipulated testimony from Jon LaRue, a former Apache helicopter pilot who reviewed the infamous ‘Collateral Murder’ Apache video after its release. He said the release of the video, which is unclassified, revealed TTPs, or Techniques, Tactics, and Procedures. TTPs, he said, are “pieces of a puzzle,” so with other pieces, a potential adversary could put together that puzzle and be able to learn about how U.S. Apaches operate.
Manning and password decryption
The government recalled its forensic expert David Shaver to talk about Bradley’s ability to access the administrative privileges on his computer, which are more broad than his user rights and which he’d need a password to access. That password is broken up, for security’s sake, into a SAM file and a system file. While the government spent significant time proving Bradley’s installation of a Linux operating system, which allowed him to access the SAM file, the defense quickly showed on cross-examination that he never accessed the system file and therefore couldn’t have accessed any passwords.
Wget and Bradley’s “authorized access”
More and more testimony on Wget didn’t provide the final word on whether Bradley “exceeded authorized access” by adding programs to his SIPRNet computer. He added software called Wget to rapidly increase downloading of files from the network, and Wget wasn’t on a list of pre-authorized programs that soldiers could have on their work computers. However, soldiers frequently added movies, music, and (more importantly, since they’re similar to Wget in file type) video games to the shared drive. Captain Thomas Cherepko, who managed Information Assurance for Bradley’s unit, testified that even after he deleted those unauthorized files from the shared drive, soldiers would re-add them, due to a “command laxity” about enforcing those rules.
Court resumes Monday, June 17, at 9:30 AM.

***From Out In The Be-Bop 1950s Rock Night-Carl Perkin's "Boppin' The Blues"

From The Pen Of Frank Jackman

I remember back when I first placed this Carl Perkins be-bop tune in this space- I made the following comment: “Hell, I don't need to comment here. Carl Perkins says it all- bop, bop the blues-get it.” And at some level the statement is true, true for those who came of age in the post-World War II cold war red scare night and who were just waiting around for something to happen if not for later generations. Although we weren’t necessarily conscious of what we were waiting for but, damn, we were waiting for some jailbreak thing to come along, something more than periodic doomsday exercises at school hiding under desks like that was going to do a damn thing if some Russkie A-bomb, or some kind of bomb, was going to be directly aimed at Hullsville South Elementary School anytime between 1952 and 1958 in retribution for whatever sins we had committed (and maybe hadn’t confessed, confessed fully to the good priest, the good priest who went light on penances, over at Saint Mary’s Catholic Church on Main Street.

Yah, we, we the younger set, the baby-boomers as we are called now (although I prefer for political reasons –“generation of ’68” but it is the same thing, the same species waiting in that 1950s good night to hear the glad tidings) were pent up waiting for some movement to wash over us. But what we didn’t know, a lot of us didn’t know, especially if we didn’t have older brothers and sisters, say eight to ten years older, and a lot of us didn’t since we baby-boomers were created in quick batches from 1945 on by parents who, well, who had been separated by the war and were in a hurry to get a family started, was that those elders were hearing some rumblings and acting out on it. Guys like holy hell’s angels motorcycle angel wreaking havoc on the California highways and terrifying the squares (our parents, West Coast variety), every okie arkie-bred Southern California guy with a license (and maybe some without reflecting that okie/arkie distrust of the law back home) was building the max daddy hot rod to beat the band. And others maybe not so mechanically inclined were searching for the perfect wave down in places like Malibu and LaJolla. The more serious, brain serious, intellectual types were writing be-bop poems and novels and exploiting the Village and Frisco night to the beat of their own drummers. Yah, all that was going on but how were we in Podunk Hullsville to hear those tom-toms from under those old ink-stained wooden desks. We would just catch the tail end of those mad monk adventures, after they had faded from view and before we wrote our own messages on the stars.

Oh yah, I almost forgot, down in Memphis, some of the older guys, and it was mainly guys (although Wanda Jackson was a very bright exception), were raising a new form of hell and be-bopping away in shoddy one-horse recording studios blowing rockabilly riffs. And up in sweet home Chicago some black cats, mainly guys again, were blowing some blues riffs in the night, the high white note night. Somehow the mix came together and they called it rock and roll. And one Carl Perkins was right in the mix (and might have been bigger in the mix except for an accident that allowed Mister Elvis Presley to wiggle-waggle his way to stardom with Carl’s Blue Suede Shoes, one of the max daddy songs of the mid-1950s night).

But what did we down in Hullsville South Elementary School, ten, eleven and twelve years old know of those mixtures, of that primal history. All we knew was rock rocked, our parents didn’t like it (a surefire indicator that we were building our own “newer world,” or so we thought) and we could listen to it endlessly up in our rooms (mind shared with two brothers, one a year older, the other a year younger reflecting that post-war family hurry) on transistor radios away from prying parents. Oh yah and we could dance to the stuff, dance without having to touch each other, without having to display sweating hands and awkward movements, like with some foxtrot or something. Dance with flame Mary Ellen Riley at the Friday Night Saint Mary’s church hall dance. Thanks, Carl.

******

Boppin' The Blues Lyrics- Carl Perkins

Well, all my friends are boppin' the blues; it must be goin' round

All my friends are boppin' the blues; it must be goin' round

I love you, baby, but I must be rhythm bound

Well, the doctor told me, Carl you need no pills.

Yes, the doctor told me, boy, you don't need no pills.

Just a handful of nickels, the juke box will cure your ills.

Well, all my friends are boppin' the blues; it must be goin' round

All them cats are boppin' the blues; it must be goin' round

I love you, baby, but I must be rhythm bound

Well, the old cat bug bit me, man, I don't feel no pain

Yeah, that jitterbug caught me, man, I don't feel no pain.

I still love you baby, but I'll never be the same.

I said, all my friends are boppin' the blues; it must be goin' round

All my friends are boppin' the blues; it must be goin' round

I love you, baby, but I must be rhythm bound

Well, all my friends are boppin' the blues; it must be goin' round

All them cats are boppin' the blues; it must be goin' round

I love you, baby, but I must be rhythm bound

Well, grand-pa Don got rhythm and he threw his crutches down.

Oh the old boy Don got rhythm and blues and he threw that crutches down

Grand-ma, he ain't triflin', well the old boy's rhythm bound.

Well, all them cats are boppin' the blues; it must be goin' round

All my friends are boppin' the blues; it must be goin' round

I love you, baby, but I must be rhythm bound.

A rock bop, rhythm and blues.

A rock bop, rhythm and blues.

A rock rock, rhythm and blues.

A rock rock, rhythm and blues.

Rhythm and blues, it must be goin' round.

Update 6/10/13: NSA whistleblower says Manning is a classic whistleblower inspired by the public good

digg

Edward Snowden: ‘I don’t want to live in a society
that does these sort of things’

Edward Snowden is the NSA whistleblower who blew the lid on PRISM, a secret government program that created a database of American’s communications and which allowed secret wiretapping and surveillance of American citizens communications (phone, email, social media, and just about any online or cellphone communication).
In an interview he has expressed his full support for Bradley Manning, saying that Bradley is “a classic whistleblower” and that “he was inspired by the public good.” Snowden, like Manning, wants the public to know the truth, and he hopes that exposing the disturbing, and Orwellian PRISM spy program will motivate debate and reform. The program was so secretive, he says, and so powerfully controlling and invasive, that he could not support it without the American people making the decision to allow it for themselves. Do we not have the right to privacy? How has the government been willing to design and build such a massive surveillance machine without any public scrutiny? What happened to the Constitution? As Snowden explains, the program has almost no oversight, and few safeguards. He could listen in on anyone.
And knowing full well how the Government has treated Bradley Manning, Snowden is concerned for his future, “I understand that I will be made to suffer for my actions,” but “I will be satisfied if the federation of secret law, unequal pardon and irresistible executive powers that rule the world that I love are revealed even for an instant.” Read the full story.
Daniel Ellsberg has come forward saying Snowden is a hero, and that “the machinery of our democratic government is broken and we need whistleblowers.” And Glenn Greenwald, who broke the story and interviewed Snowden, said earlier that “We need whistleblowers to come forward, so we have transparency on public officials.”

Watch Democracy Now’s coverage of the release, in an interview with Glenn Greenwald,

Thank you Edward Snowden. Thank you Bradley Manning.
The United States and the world need whistleblowers like you.

Update 6/8/2013: Flashmob Dance for Bradley and how the world sees America?

digg

Bradley Manning reported the unlawful deeds of the military!

When the military breaches the conduct of law according to human rights conventions, that were signed and agreed upon by countries, including the US, what would you do?! In this article Professor Marjorie Cohen who teaches at the Thomas Jefferson school of law says that in the Collateral Murder video there are at least three violations according to Geneva Convention, and that Manning had the legal duty to report these crimes. Cohen writes “The Uniform Code of Military Justice sets forth the duty of a service member to obey lawful orders. But that duty includes the concomitant duty to disobey unlawful orders. An order not to reveal classified information that contains evidence of war crimes would be an unlawful order. Manning had a legal duty to reveal the commission of war crimes.”

For more on this story, please click here

How the world will see America through the Bradley Manning Trial?

As millions of people watch with anticipation the development of this historic case, one must wonder how the US will be seen as through this trial?

P.J. Crowley, former Assistant Secretary of State, writes “Global perceptions of military justice are already challenged by the existence of the military prison at Guantanamo and military commissions that have yet to meet international standards of justice. Many question whether Manning will receive a fair trial. The answer is yes, but the international skepticism has meaning.”

For more on this story, please click here

Flashmob for Bradley!

Supporters from the San Francisco/Bay Area put together a flashmob dance at three different locations in San Francisco: Market Street, Dolores Park and the Embarcadero. The dance comes as part of the international week of action to support Bradley Manning, as his trial finally took place last Monday, June 3rd.

To watch this video, please click here

Update 6/7/13: Upcoming witness list released, O’Reilly highlights our new video on Fox

digg

Projected witnesses to take the stand starting Monday, June 10th through Wednesday, June 12. Sessions begin at 9:30 a.m. daily.
According to the military’s public affairs office, the following projected witnesses will be taking the stand to testify in the Bradley Manning trial starting Monday, June 10th. In accordance with a protective order, personally identifying information of prospective witnesses will not be released, and initials will be substituted, until testimony is taken.

• Mr. David Shaver, Computer Crimes Investigative Unit, Criminal Investigation Command (will be recalled several times to discuss forensic analysis
• Mr. Mark Johnson, Computer Crimes Investigative Unit, Criminal Investigation Command (will be recalled several times to discuss forensic analysis)
• Mr. Mark Mander, , Computer Crimes Investigative Unit, Criminal Investigation Command (testified at the Article 32 and will be recalled several times to discuss the criminal investigation)
• Sgt. C.M., member of 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (unit operations)
• Mr. K.M. , United States Central Command (Farah video)
• Mr. M.H., Intelligence Analyst, (Army intelligence document)

Featured in the O’Reilly Factor, our new “I Am Bradley Manning” video
Fox News Bill O’Reilly featured our celebrity studded video “I am Bradley Manning” as part of our campaign to show support for the army private who blew the whistle on war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Dennis Kucinich, former Democrat Congressman, and Fox News contributor, and who was O’Reilly’s guest said “Our Highest duty should be for the truth, when we start putting the government above the truth we are in trouble!”
To watch the full segment, please click here
To take part in our campaign to support Bradley Manning, please visit www.iam.bradleymanning.org

Court Martial Or Civilian Court? Which Would Bring More Justice for Bradley?
Chase Madar from The Nation writes about whether Bradley Manning’s trial be better if dealt in a civilian court rather than a court martial. Some cases related to the US’s war on terror have been taken to federal and civilian courts, the individuals who were accused of terrorism accounts were mistreated in the most disturbing way possible.
To read more on this story, please click here

Update 6/6/13: Bradley’s supporters are “loud and online” writes New York Times

digg

Rally at Fort Meade. June 1, 2013

The New York Times has published an article highlighting the recent June 1st rally for Bradley, and the efforts of Bradley Manning’s supporters – including the recent panel with Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg. “Manning supporters are loud and online” headlines the article written by Eric Schmitt. Pointing to the Bradley Manning Support Network’s efforts online and in the court room, he writes that as the court martial commences, ”a grass-roots activist network has already blossomed in his support.” We agree! The article also comments on the recent June 1st rally for Bradley Manning at Fort Meade, which was the largest gathering of supporters yet:

A crowd of several hundred people had turned out two days earlier, on a sizzling Saturday afternoon, many of them just off chartered buses the came from as far away as Connecticut and upstate New York, to march in front of the base, which is also home to the National Security Agency.

Protesters on Saturday carried signs, some reading “Free Bradley” and “Bradley Manning: Jailed for Exposing War Crimes.” One woman pounded a kettle drum and joined a chant, “Obama, let Bradley go!”

“People came from great distances to stand with a true American hero,” Jeff Paterson, director of the Bradley Manning Support Network, said…

Read the entire article here.

Update 6/5/13: Update from third day of trial, new “I Am Bradley Manning” campaign

June 1st rally for Bradley Manning! Photo by Jenna Pope.

Using unauthorized software was the norm, intelligence officers testify.

Bradley Manning’s third day of court martial revealed that the classified information on the use of unauthorized software was quite normal within the secure SCIF office, particularly unauthorized entertainment software such as music, movies and games. mIRC was also regularly installed on secure machines. “If work was low it became allowed,” Balonek said. Asked by Coombs whether there were any restrictions on the members of the SCIF as to how much official intelligence they could download to CDs, Balonek replied: “Only the size of the CD, sir.”

For more on this story, please click here.

Join our campaign to support a hero!

Noel Sheppard, the associate editor of NewsBusters.com, comments on the recent video that featured a number of Hollywood celebrities, authors, and journalists, that was recently released in support of Bradley Manning.

“It includes the likes of Oliver Stone, Russell Brand, Peter Sarsgaard, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Moby, Tom Morello, Wallace Shawn, and the perilously liberal so-called journalists Matt Taibbi, Phil Donahue, and Chris Hedges” said Sheppard.

Sheppard concluded his short article by saying “Yes, let’s bust a traitor out of jail, shall we?”

To read more on this story, please click here.

In an interview with MSNBC Daniel Ellsberg states, “I want to see people who are part of the atrocities that Bradley Manning revealed to be tried!”

Daniel Ellsberg said in an interview with MSNBC’s “The Cycle”, that he wished there were far more Bradley Manning’s out there. Daniel Ellsberg who attended the first day of Bradley Manning’s court martial on Monday and spoke at the largest rally held to support Bradley last Saturday, addressed the need to continue to support the hero and the whistleblower.

For more of this interview, please click here.

News agencies can easily be aiding the enemy!

The New Yorker has put together an excellent piece discussing the first week of the trial. Amy Davidson writes,

“The prosecution has specified Al Qaeda and one of its affiliates, as well as a third organization whose identity, also disturbingly, it classified. (Overclassification is one of the scandals of this story.) At what point could “enemy” mean anyone who doesn’t like us? Can it mean us ourselves, at moments when we think that something has gone wrong, and has to be exposed?”

The prosecutors intend to bring in a witness from the Navy Seals to testify that he found a published document from the WikiLeaks website in Osama Bin Laden’s compound in Abbotabad. But just how can one news agency, or public online forum can control who their readers are and how can they avoid the government’s harassment if their readers are considered the “enemy” ?

For more on this story, please click here

Update 6/5/13: Turning truth inside out as Bradley Manning court martial begins

digg

Rally for Bradley at Fort Meade. June 1, 2013. Photo by Jenna Pope.

Turning truth inside out. Where is the line between secrecy and protection in Bradley Manning’s trial?

As the first day of Pfc. Bradley Manning’s trial began, over 50 people showed up at the court martial to show their support for Bradley Manning. Earlier many of them had been at the front gate of Fort Meade holding a vigil was held and carrying “Free Bradley Manning!” signs. Supporters wearing black t-shirts that read “truth” were asked to turn their garments inside-out to cover up the inscription prior to entering the courtroom.

For more details on this story, please click here

What’s this trial is really about?!

In a conversation with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! Michael Ratner, president emeritus of the Center for Constitutional Rights and a lawyer to Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, commented on the trial after attending the first day saying that “This trial is, in fact, about getting [targetting] journalists, like Julian Assange and WikiLeaks.” The military prosecutor, Captain Joe Morrow, accused Manning of “dumping” documents “into the lap of the enemy,” and he painted a picture of close ties between Manning and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Manning’s defense lawyer, David Coombs, said Manning wanted to reveal the true human cost of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. “He believed [the leaked] information showed how we value human life,” Coombs said.

To read more on this story, please click here

Lamo and Bradley in one room for the first time!

At the second day of Bradley Manning’s court martial, prosecutors called in Adrian Lamo, the internet hacker who communicated with Bradley Manning prior to his arrest. Adrian Lamo delivered his chat logs with Manning to the FBI which led to Manning’s arrest in late May of 2010.

The defence attorney, David Coombs, asked Lamo about the time he was arrested for hacking the computer systems of the NYTimes, Microsoft and Nexus Lexus. “Based on your conversation, you saw a 22-year-old with good intentions, just like you had been?” “That was not lost on me,” replied Lamo. Lamo described himself as a computer threat analyst and “gray-hat hacker” – someone who breaches computer systems, but not for malicious purposes.

For more on this story, please click here

***From The Boston Bradley Manning Support Committee Archives (June 2013 )

 

Boston Private Bradley Manning Stand-Out Part Of An International Day Of Solidarity-Saturday June 1^st Park Street Station – 1 PM

 

Let’s Redouble Our Efforts To Free Private Bradley Manning-President Obama Pardon Bradley Manning -Make Every Town Square In America (And The World) A Bradley Manning Square From Boston To Berkeley to Berlin-Join Us At Park Street Station In Boston On June 1st At 1 PM For A Stand-Out In Solidarity Before Bradley’s June 3^rd Trial

Plan to go to Fort Meade outside of Washington, D.C. on June 1^st for an international day of solidarity with Bradley before his scheduled June 3^rd trial. Check with the Bradley Manning Support Network http://www.bradleymanning.org/for information about going to Fort Meade from your area.

If you can’t make it to Fort Meade come to Park Street Station on June 1^st in support of this brave whistle-blower.

*Contribute to the Bradley Manning Defense Fund- as the trial date approaches funds are urgently needed! The government has unlimited financial and personnel resources to prosecute Bradley. And the Obama government is fully using them. We have a fine defense civilian lawyer, David Coombs, many supporters throughout America and the world working hard for Bradley’s freedom, and the truth on our side. Still the hard reality of the American legal system, civilian or military, is that an adequate defense cost serious money. So help out with whatever you can spare. For link go to http://www.bradleymanning.org/

*Sign the online petition at the Bradley Manning Support Network (for link go to http://www.bradleymanning.org/ )to the Secretary of the Army to free Bradley Manning-1000 plus days is enough! The Secretary of the Army stands in the direct chain of command up to the President and can release Private Manning from pre-trial confinement and drop the charges against him at his discretion. For basically any reason that he wishes to-let us say 1000 plus days is enough. Join the over 25,000 supporters in the United States and throughout the world clamoring for Bradley’s well-deserved freedom.

 

Let’s Redouble Our Efforts To Free Private Bradley Manning-President Obama Pardon Bradley Manning -Make Every Town Square In America (And The World) A Bradley Manning Square From Boston To Berkeley to Berlin-Join Us In Central Square, Cambridge, Ma. For A Stand-Out For Bradley- Wednesdays From 5:00-6:00 PM

6 Ways To Support Heroic Wikileaks Whistle-blower Private Bradley Manning

*Urgent: The government has announced, in the wake of Bradley Manning’s admission of his part in the Wikileaks expose in open court on February 28th, its intention to continue to prosecute him for the major charges of “aiding the enemy” (Espionage Act) and “material aid to terrorism.” Everyone should contact the presiding officer of the court –martial process, General Linnington, at 1-202-685-2807 and tell him to drop those charges. Once Maj. Gen. Linnington’s voicemail box is full – you can also leave a message at the DOD: (703) 571-3343 – press “5″ to leave a comment.*If this mailbox is also full, leave the Department of Defense a written message. Do it today.

*Urgent: The military authorities at Fort Meade, the site of Bradley Manning’s impending June 3^rd court-martial are attempting to limit media coverage of the trial.Go to the Bradley Manning Support Network http://www.bradleymanning.org/and sign the petition to Secretary of Defense Chuck Hageldemanding that he ensure journalists can record Bradley Manning’s court martial proceedings! When you sign the petition the network e-mail system will send a message on your behalf to the office of Secretary of Defense.

*Come to our stand-out in support of Private Bradley Manning in Central Square, Cambridge, Ma (corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Prospect Street near MBTA Redline station) every Wednesday between 5-6 PM. For other locations in Greater Boston, nationally, and internationally check the Bradley Manning Support Network -http://www.bradleymanning.org/ and for details of the current status of the case and future event updates as well. Also plan to come to Fort Meade outside of Washington, D.C. on June 1^st for an international day of solidarity with Bradley before his scheduled June 3^rd trial.If you can’t make it to Fort Meade plan a solidarity event locally in support of this brave whistle-blower.

*Contribute to the Bradley Manning Defense Fund- as the trial date approaches funds are urgently needed! The government has unlimited financial and personnel resources to prosecute Bradley. And the Obama government is fully using them. We have a fine defense civilian lawyer, David Coombs, many supporters throughout America and the world working hard for Bradley’s freedom, and the truth on our side. Still the hard reality of the American legal system, civilian or military, is that an adequate defense cost serious money. So help out with whatever you can spare. For link go to http://www.bradleymanning.org/

*Sign the online petition at the Bradley Manning Support Network (for link go to http://www.bradleymanning.org/ )to the Secretary of the Army to free Bradley Manning-1000 plus days is enough! The Secretary of the Army stands in the direct chain of command up to the President and can release Private Manning from pre-trial confinement and drop the charges against him at his discretion. For basically any reason that he wishes to-let us say 1000 plus days is enough. Join the over 25,000 supporters in the United States and throughout the world clamoring for Bradley’s well-deserved freedom.

*Call (Comments”202-456-1111), write The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500, e-mail-(http://www.whitehouse.gov’contact/submitquestions-and comments) the White House to demand President Obama pardon Bradley Manning- The presidential power to pardon is granted under Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution:

“The President…shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in case of impeachment.”

In federal cases, and military cases are federal cases, the President of the United States can, under authority granted by the U.S. Constitution as stated above, pardon the guilty and the innocent, the convicted and those awaiting trial- former President Nixon and former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, for example among others, received such pardons for their heinous crimes- Now that Bradley Manning has pleaded guilty to some lesser charges and is subject to further prison time (up to 20 years) this pardon campaign is more necessary than ever. Free Bradley Manning! Free the whistleblower!

 

 

***From The Boston Bradley Manning Support Committee Archives (Spring 2013 )

6 Ways To Support Heroic Wikileaks Whistle-blower Private Bradley Manning

*Urgent: The government is now prosecuting Bradley for the major charges of “aiding the enemy” (Espionage Act) and “material aid to terrorism.” Everyone should contact the presiding officer of the court –martial process, General Linnington, at 1-202-685-2807 and tell him to drop those charges. Once Maj. Gen. Linnington’s voicemail box is full – you can also leave a message at the DOD: (703) 571-3343 – press “5″ to leave a comment.*If this mailbox is also full, leave the Department of Defense a written message. Do it today.

*Urgent: The military authorities at Fort Meade, the site of Bradley Manning’s impending June 3^rd court-martial are attempting to limit media coverage of the trial. Go to the Bradley Manning Support Network http://www.bradleymanning.org/and sign the petition to Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel demanding that he ensure journalists can record Bradley Manning’s court martial proceedings! When you sign the petition the network e-mail system will send a message on your behalf to the office of Secretary of Defense.

*Come to our stand-out in support of Private Bradley Manning in Central Square, Cambridge, Ma. (corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Prospect Street near MBTA Redline station) every Wednesday between 5-6 PM.

*Contribute to the Bradley Manning Defense Fund- as the trial date approaches funds are urgently needed! The government has unlimited financial and personnel resources to prosecute Bradley. So help out with whatever you can spare. For link go to http://www.bradleymanning.org/

*Sign the online petition at the Bradley Manning Support Network (for link go to http://www.bradleymanning.org/ ) to the Secretary of the Army to free Bradley Manning-1000 plus days is enough! Join the over 25,000 supporters in the United States and throughout the world clamoring for Bradley’s well-deserved freedom.

*Call (Comments”202-456-1111), write The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500, e-mail-(http://www.whitehouse.gov’contact/submitquestions-and comments) the White House to demand President Obama pardon Bradley Manning.

***From The Boston Bradley Manning Support Committee Archives (October 2012)

From The Pen Of Joshua Lawrence Breslin- As The Afghan War Enters Its Twelfth Year - The People Are War-Weary, Very War Weary Although There Is No End In Sight- Five-Immediate Unconditional Withdrawal Of All U.S./Allied Troops From Afghanistan!-[And Today (2013) Too!]

Joshua Lawrence Breslin comment:

Several months ago Peter Paul Markin, my old merry prankster pal from the 1960s who has been through many a political struggle with me, compared notes about the condition of the struggle against Barack Obama’s Afghan War policy and the “beneath the radar” opposition to that policy. This past weekend (October 7-8-9, 2012) we attended a couple of events in Boston that have only reconfirmed the initial appraisal (see repost below).

The first event was the now monotonously familiar 11^th annual anti-war commemoration of the start of the war in Afghanistan. The most noteworthy aspect of that event was that, with the demise of the Occupy movement that energized the larger crowds seen last year, we are back to the hard core political activists. (Unfortunately hubris, and about ten other factor contributed t to that result but I would only add here it did not have to play out that way).

Second was our participation in the Honk! Parade that ran from Somerville to Cambridge, two liberal-oriented cities just outside of Boston. For those not familiar with a Honk! Parade (as I was not before this year) this is an event where every known band, faux band, pick- up band, finger clapper or stick beater around puts on some kind of costume (the more outlandish the better) and makes music for the people along the route. Great color, great costumes, great fun, dare I say it, great people’s fun in the older medieval sense. I will give Peter Paul the last word though, since he marched with the Veterans for Peace contingent. The same great respect for VFPs as vets was exhibited (as elsewhere, see below) but also the response to the slogans of no more war, no more war especially as Iran looms on the horizon. The people are weary, very war-weary. Let’s stop the madness.

*********

Repost from the American Left History blog, June 2012:

Recently my old back in the 1960s days friend, Peter Paul Markin, himself a war veteran, were comparing notes about the virtual “under the radar” place that American imperial war policies (there is no other name for it with over 1000 bases in the world and over 700 billion plus dollars eaten up by the war budget each year) has taken in this year’s presidential campaign. And, additionally, the almost total lack of organized public outcry about those policies, most notably the lingering death sore of Afghanistan. That despite the fact that some far-sighted, hell, even some jaded bourgeois commentators have placed the odds of civil war in that benighted country (I will not even dignify such a war lord and mercenaries run place as a state) after the alleged American troop draw down scheduled now for 2014 at two to one in favor of civil war. Even by the American government’s own self-serving estimates the forecast is almost as grim. I ask; what gives? Where are the mass rallies against the beast?

The reason for Peter Paul and me comparing notes on this subject was simple enough. Between the two of us we have attended over the past several months in various capacities a whole series of parades and marches only one of which I will mention more on later that was specifically a peace parade. I will describe our purpose in using those settings as a way to bring the anti-war message home below. However right now I can state that we have come to agree, without a doubt, there is a vast war-weariness that if not organized in a public way runs pretty deep just under the surface among the plebeian masses of this country.

For those who do not know, Peter Paul, over the past decade going back before the beginning of the Iraq War in 2003 has attempted to move might and main along with his fellow Veterans For Peace (VFP)to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (and lately to urge no war with Iran) to no avail. I, although not a veteran, have attempted in various journalistic endeavors and on the streets to make those same basic points to no avail as well. Those “no avails” though have never stopped us from continuing to push the rock up the mountain when the cause is righteous. And the struggle against these particular wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is righteous and has brought us closer together of late. That has not always been the case, as Peter Paul tends to take a harder anti-capitalist look at the wars as systematic of the need to bring down the whole damn American house of cards and I more from a more anti-imperialist perspective of just trying to hold the American military monster in check. We united on one idea earlier this year and that was the need to continue to get the anti-war message out to the general public. By any means necessary.

That is where the parades idea came in play, although we claim no originally for the idea, none at all. The parades notion actually kind of hit us in the face as a way to bring any kind of peace message to the folks whom we do not normally run into in our rarified big city radical circles. Of course the original focus started out last year in 2011 with Peter Paul’s chapter of Veterans for Peace in Boston, the aptly named Smedley Butler Brigade (“war is a racket”), attempts to march in the “official” South Boston Allied War Council’s Saint Patrick’s Day Parade. Without going into all the particulars of the denial of permission for VFP to march (involving reams of material from a 1995 U.S. Supreme Court decision permitting such exclusions for“private” parades) that organization was shut out of the official parade. Needless to say these resourceful vets (mainly long-in-the-tooth Vietnam era vets who cut their teeth on such symbolic actions) just created their own peace parade to follow the official parade to let those who came to South Boston know there was another voice to be heard from on the questions of war and peace.

That parade in 2011 is where a first tentative recognition of war-weariness came in. Now for those not familiar with South Boston (“Southie”) this is, or was, according to Peter Paul, the last bastion of Irish-centered working class pro-war (or at least don’t question war policy) sentiment left in the world ( a little hyperbole from him, but I am used to it). His family roots stem from that community and I will defer to his analysis (although I would argue that my own hometown, Olde Saco up in Maine filled with grateful immigrant French-Canadians and old time Down East Yankees, would give his Irish a run for his money on unquestioning patriotic sentiment). Expecting the worst all were surprised by the positive reception in Southie.

This spring when we marched (yes, I marched with Peter Paul and his VFP brethren like in olden VVAW times) the response by those same plebeian masses was even more cordial to say the least. Not in the “down with the war, slay the dragon, down with the war budget, take care of things at home” sense that we have “preached” to high heaven about in this space, and others but in the tap of the fingers to the head salute, the ubiquitous throwing up of peace signs, the response when we called for troops out, and enough is enough, as we passed by. Salutes of the VFP flag by hoary old war veterans decked out in their military attire just put icing on the cake. And that is how the Breslin-Markin antiwar “spring offensive” (with, ah, a little help from VFP and others obviously) took off.

A Dorchester Day Parade just south of Southie in one of the more ethnically diverse Irish/Vietnamese/Latino/ Brazilian you name it neighborhoods of Boston (although neighborhoods like Southie that have provided more than their fair share of troops to America’s imperial adventures) produced an even more cordial response. Here some even took up our chants from the sidewalks, shook hands, and offered vocal support as we passed by. Ditto at several Memorial Day services in the area where there was much gnashing of teeth by those who have lost loved ones in the last decade’s wars (and over the post-service stresses that are only now coming to light in huge streams). More recently parades in affluence Rockport and working- class Portsmouth, New Hampshire have only confirmed the cordiality, openness to anti-war messages, and the war weariness. That last one, Portsmouth, by the way, held in a town that depends (read: would not survive) substantially for its local economy on naval appropriations for the huge shipyard there.

So the disconnect between American governmental war policy and the genuine war-weariness of the masses is real enough. But real enough as well, despite the openly expressed sentiments, is any sense of one being able to do anything about it other than patiently waiting for withdrawal due dates. And that is where my simple suggestion comes in.

I, as well as other honest and knowledgeable anti-warriors, have recognized that we did not have any serious effect on Bush-Obama war doctrine in Iraq and have had precious little thus far in Afghanistan. There is one place, and one thing that we can do to turn that around right now. Call on President Obama, who has the built-in executive constitutional power to do so, to pardon Private Bradley Manning now being held in pre-trail detention in Fort Leavenworth Kansas pending charges that could amount to a life sentence for the young soldier. For the forgetful Private Manning allegedly passed sensitive information about U.S. atrocities against civilians and other cover-ups in Iraq and Afghanistan to Wikileaks who then passed it on to a candid world. Thus Private Manning is the “poster person” for opposition to all that has failed, all that is wrong, all that was (and is )atrocious, and all that was (and is) criminal in Bush-Obama war policy. So raise the cry with us-Immediate Unconditional Withdrawal Of All U.S./Allied Troops From Afghanistan! President Obama Pardon Private Manning!