*In Honor Of Our Class-War Prisoners- Free All The Class-War Prisoners!-Herman Bell,

Click on the headline to link to more information about the class-war prisoner honored in this entry.

Make June Class-War Prisoners Freedom Month

Markin comment (reposted from 2010)

In “surfing” the National Jericho Movement website recently in order to find out more, if possible, about class- war prisoner and 1960s radical, Marilyn Buck [now deceased], whom I had read about in a The Rag Blog post I linked to the Jericho list of class war prisoners. I found Marilyn Buck listed there but also others, some of whose cases, like that of the “voice of the voiceless” Pennsylvania [former] death row prisoner, Mumia Abu-Jamal, are well-known and others who seemingly have languished in obscurity. All of the cases, at least from the information that I could glean from the site, seemed compelling. And all seemed worthy of far more publicity and of a more public fight for their freedom.

That last notion set me to the task at hand. Readers of this space know that I am a long -time supporter of the Partisan Defense Committee, a class struggle, non-sectarian legal and social defense organization which supports class- war prisoners as part of the process of advancing the international working class’ struggle for socialism. In that spirit I am honoring the class war prisoners on the National Jericho Movement list this June as the start of what I hope will be an on-going attempt by all serious leftist militants to do their duty- fighting for freedom for these brothers and sisters. We will fight out our political differences and disagreements as a separate matter. What matters here and now is the old Wobblie (IWW) slogan - An injury to one is an injury to all.

Note: This list, right now, is composed of class-war prisoners held in American detention. If others are likewise incarcerated that are not listed here feel free to leave information on their cases here. Likewise any cases, internationally that may come to your attention. I am sure there are many, many such cases out there. Make this June, and every June, a Class-War Prisoners Freedom Month- Free All Class-War Prisoners Now!

*In Honor Of Our Class-War Prisoners- Free All The Class-War Prisoners!-Free Mumia

Click on the headline to link to more information about the class-war prisoner honored in this entry.

Make June Class-War Prisoners Freedom Month

Markin comment (reposted from 2010)

In “surfing” the National Jericho Movement website recently in order to find out more, if possible, about class- war prisoner and 1960s radical, Marilyn Buck [now deceased], whom I had read about in a The Rag Blog post I linked to the Jericho list of class war prisoners. I found Marilyn Buck listed there but also others, some of whose cases, like that of the “voice of the voiceless” Pennsylvania [former] death row prisoner, Mumia Abu-Jamal, are well-known and others who seemingly have languished in obscurity. All of the cases, at least from the information that I could glean from the site, seemed compelling. And all seemed worthy of far more publicity and of a more public fight for their freedom.

That last notion set me to the task at hand. Readers of this space know that I am a long -time supporter of the Partisan Defense Committee, a class struggle, non-sectarian legal and social defense organization which supports class- war prisoners as part of the process of advancing the international working class’ struggle for socialism. In that spirit I am honoring the class war prisoners on the National Jericho Movement list this June as the start of what I hope will be an on-going attempt by all serious leftist militants to do their duty- fighting for freedom for these brothers and sisters. We will fight out our political differences and disagreements as a separate matter. What matters here and now is the old Wobblie (IWW) slogan - An injury to one is an injury to all.

Note: This list, right now, is composed of class-war prisoners held in American detention. If others are likewise incarcerated that are not listed here feel free to leave information on their cases here. Likewise any cases, internationally that may come to your attention. I am sure there are many, many such cases out there. Make this June, and every June, a Class-War Prisoners Freedom Month- Free All Class-War Prisoners Now!

**************

Mumia Abu-Jamal Attorneys Challenge Resentencing Process

On February 25, attorneys for class-war prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal filed an appeal challenging the secretive court order that sentenced him to life without parole last August. The sentence was mandated by Pennsylvania statute following Mumia’s removal from death row in December 2011, after the Philadelphia district attorney’s office ended its campaign to legally lynch him (see “Drive to Execute Mumia Halted,” WV No. 993, 6 January 2012). Mumia’s legal papers note that while the outcome of a hearing may have been preordained, the deprivation of his basic due process rights jeopardizes future legal efforts to fight for his freedom. Seeking a new sentencing hearing, the brief details how the court violated both Pennsylvania law and due process rights by imposing sentence without notice to Mumia or his counsel, preventing Mumia from being present and offering information and argument. The brief further notes, “In fact, there is no record that the sentencing took place in open court at all.” The secret resentencing of Mumia had more in common with the conclave of the College of Cardinals to anoint the new pope than the due process that purports to be the underpinning of American “justice.” Barring Mumia recalled his eviction from most of the 1982 trial in which he was sentenced to death by a judge who was overheard promising, “I’m going to help them fry the n----r.” Once again the courts have demonstrated that from the day he was falsely charged with the killing of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner, this lifelong fighter for black freedom has no rights the capitalist rulers are bound to respect. Mumia was targeted by the racist cops from the age of 15, when he donned the beret of the Black Panther Party. The murderous fury of the police was reinforced when he became a renowned journalist known as the “voice of the voiceless” and, in the late 1970s, a supporter of the demonized and brutalized Philadelphia MOVE commune. Mumia’s innocence of Faulkner’s murder is a fact as demonstrable as the earth is round. But court after court has refused to even consider the mass of evidence proving this. Mumia’s conviction was based on lying testimony extorted by the cops, a “confession” manufactured by the police and prosecutors and phony ballistics “evidence.” In 2001, Mumia’s attorneys presented in state and federal courts the sworn confession of Arnold Beverly that he and another man were hired for the job because Faulkner “was a problem for the mob and corrupt policemen because he interfered with the graft and payoffs made to allow illegal activity,” such as prostitution, gambling and drugs (see the September 2001 Partisan Defense Committee pamphlet, Mumia Abu-Jamal Is an Innocent Man!). At the time, the Philadelphia police were under three corruption investigations by the Feds, encompassing virtually the entire chain of command that oversaw the “investigation” of Faulkner’s death. Mumia may no longer live in the shadow of the executioner, instead condemned to what he describes as the “‘slow’ Death Row” of life in prison. From the 1887 execution of four anarchist labor organizers known as the Haymarket martyrs, the gallows and dungeons are the capitalist rulers’ reward for fighters for the exploited and oppressed. Today such prisoners include American Indian Movement leader Leonard Peltier, eight MOVE members and Jaan Laaman and Thomas Manning of the Ohio 7. The PDC, a class-struggle legal and social defense organization associated with the Spartacist League, urges union militants, black activists and radical youth to take up the cause of freedom for Mumia and all the class-war prisoners. *   *   * Contributions for Mumia’s legal defense can be made out to the National Lawyers Guild Foundation, earmarked for “Mumia,” and mailed to: Committee to Save Mumia Abu-Jamal, 132 Nassau Street, Room 922, New York, NY 10038. To correspond with Mumia, write to: Mumia Abu-Jamal, AM 8335 SCI Mahanoy, 301 Morea Road, Frackville, PA 17932. * * * (reprinted from Workers Vanguard No. 1021, 5 April 2013) Workers Vanguard is the newspaper of the Spartacist League with which the Partisan Defense Committee is affiliated.

 

*In Honor Of Our Class-War Prisoners- Free All The Class-War Prisoners!- Grant Barnes

Click on the headline to link to more information about the class-war prisoner honored in this entry.

Make June Class-War Prisoners Freedom Month

Markin comment (reposted from 2010)

In “surfing” the National Jericho Movement website recently in order to find out more, if possible, about class- war prisoner and 1960s radical, Marilyn Buck [now deceased], whom I had read about in a The Rag Blog post I linked to the Jericho list of class war prisoners. I found Marilyn Buck listed there but also others, some of whose cases, like that of the “voice of the voiceless” Pennsylvania [former] death row prisoner, Mumia Abu-Jamal, are well-known and others who seemingly have languished in obscurity. All of the cases, at least from the information that I could glean from the site, seemed compelling. And all seemed worthy of far more publicity and of a more public fight for their freedom.

That last notion set me to the task at hand. Readers of this space know that I am a long -time supporter of the Partisan Defense Committee, a class struggle, non-sectarian legal and social defense organization which supports class- war prisoners as part of the process of advancing the international working class’ struggle for socialism. In that spirit I am honoring the class war prisoners on the National Jericho Movement list this June as the start of what I hope will be an on-going attempt by all serious leftist militants to do their duty- fighting for freedom for these brothers and sisters. We will fight out our political differences and disagreements as a separate matter. What matters here and now is the old Wobblie (IWW) slogan - An injury to one is an injury to all.

Note: This list, right now, is composed of class-war prisoners held in American detention. If others are likewise incarcerated that are not listed here feel free to leave information on their cases here. Likewise any cases, internationally that may come to your attention. I am sure there are many, many such cases out there. Make this June, and every June, a Class-War Prisoners Freedom Month- Free All Class-War Prisoners Now!

 

***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

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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

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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?

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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.”

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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.”

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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

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

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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.”

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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?”

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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” ?

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