Here we are in America, home of the free, land of the brave; or so we keep on telling ourselves. We have inalienable rights: the right to speak our mind without fear, the right to read what we please, write what we want, worship as we choose, or not, to equality in the eyes of the laws passed by people we elect for the purpose, and to assemble peaceably.

I've always thought that the opening line in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather was one of the most powerful moments in cinema: "I love America". Because it rang so true; we all love this country to a greater or lesser extent and in our own unique ways, not just because this is our home, but because of the rights we have here. They are what make America special; a republic, if we can keep it.

That high ideal is now crashing against the reality of the brutal crackdown by our billionaire mayor and his ilk on the Occupy Wall Street protests, here and around the nation. Blood has been spilt.  read more »

Actually, there's no punch line or joke forthcoming, because that's exactly what I did this Tuesday; head down to Staten Island for a blogger debate with my friend and sometime sparring partner Gatemouth, hosted by the Staten Island Democratic Association. Attention whore that I am, I said to myself, "Well, why the fuck not?", and got on the boat. In the dark. By myself.

Now, I like to flatter myself on my gleaming prose and the knife-like penetration of my intellect, which is perhaps an excess of vanity. But to tell you a not very well-kept secret, under the façade, the clipped upper-class English, the designer clothes and the chiseled face, lies a somewhat shy, sweet young man a bit unsure of his place in this world. Fine. The narrow surface part of me, however, the one you'll likely be dealing with unless I choose otherwise, is precisely that façade, and lives for the well-turned phrase or shocking statement, the aforementioned glittering knife in a verbal parry and thrust. If I'm known for anything, that would be it, and that's the part of me that blogs.

My physical comfort zone is also rather narrowly defined: some, not all, parts of New York City, Paris, London, some beach resorts. My world, by and large, ends at the Hudson. As far as my blogging is concerned, like most of my friends, the people who started and defined this medium, I do not shrink from controversy. That's the whole point, isn't it; to tell stories that no other medium will or can touch, and to do so in a voice that demands attention. If I had to give a definition of blogging, that would be it.

So how did I wind up on 'the rock', as it's affectionately called? What with everything else that's going on, Occupy Wall Street, the Netroots New York conference coming up, Thanksgiving, the Presidential campaign, what not else? And me, of course, being, well, me?

Very simple: I was asked. And I'm quite curious. Curious to see what it would be like to debate old Gatey in public, curious to meet these people who wanted to know more about what we do, and lastly, curious to meet a new friend, someone interesting and smart and, I think, special, I met via that Twitter thingie that's consuming altogether too much of my time. Curious, and a bit apprehensive; that whole comfort zone concept.

And you know what? I had a fucking blast. Staten Island Is gorgeous, and the cocktails are cheap. Gatemouth, say what you will, is probably one of the smartest people you'll ever meet in the world of New York politics. That new friend, one Daniel Bauer, is an amazing human being with a fascinating story, one he's just now beginning to tell. A story like that, and the many others like it unfolding day by day in this shining City, are why I started blogging in the first place. These stories are the very fabric of humanity, the messy stuff that makes us fully human. And while my relationship with most Democratic clubs is best described as one of deep and abiding loathing, the good people - and make no mistake, they are good people - at SIDA, could not have been more pleasant. Yes, they took rather pointed exception at my penchant for swearing like a sailor, but what of it? It was their home, not mine.

What I found again that night, when I walked out of that room and left the island, was something I thought I'd lost years ago in the tumult and agonies of my life: the sense of joy and sheer pleasure that writing on a blog used to give me. I have my voice back. There are so many stories to tell. Finally, I can tell them again.

But perhaps I'll swear a bit less going forward. Time will tell.

Via email:

New York, NY: At around 6 AM on November 15, 2011, attorneys associated with the New York City Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild working as the Liberty Park Legal Working Group obtained a temporary restraining order against the City of New York, various City agencies, and Brookfield properties directing that occupiers be allowed back on the premises with their belongings.

Earlier, at approximately 1 AM, the NYPD began massing around Zuccotti Park "aka Liberty Park." In the following hours reports surfaced that the NYPD entered the park with police in riot gear backed up by numerous police vehicles, including a bulldozer, evicting occupiers. In the process they destroyed property and arrested dozens of occupiers and protestors including NYC Councilmember Ydanis Rodriguez and District Leader Paul Newell.  read more »

The Occupy Wall Street movement exploded into the national consciousness like a frag grenade when seven hundred peaceful protesters were arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge, a national landmark and worldwide symbol of the City of New York, simply because they stepped on the taxpayer-funded pavement reserved for cars.

Leaving aside for a moment all the philosophical arguments about the First Amendment and that 'right of the people to peaceably assemble and petition their government for a redress of grievances' thing, it's clear that these mass arrests were nothing short of a PR disaster for the Bloomberg administration. Those arrests were the spark that made the Occupy movement viral and took its growth from linear to logarithmic.

Presumably, this was not the outcome City Hall and the NYPD had in mind. So what to do?

Here's an idea: why don't we just clean out Liberty Square in the dead of night with hundreds of cops, dozens of arrests and illegal seizure of property?  read more »

In times of crisis, men and women of conscience have a choice to make: to be silent, or to be heard. We live in such times, and these choices are upon us.

New York City is a city of immigrants; there's a statue in the harbor about that, and the shining ideals of how America is to welcome those new to our shores. That welcome, however, is somewhat curtailed during depression and war, and this is where your choice comes into play.

The Nation:

The Associated Press has been doing some good investigative reporting lately. On August 24, the AP broke the news that the CIA and the NYPD are combining forces to spy on Muslims in New York City. Since the CIA is prohibited by law to collect intelligence on American citizens, this is more than newsworthy. It’s probably unconstitutional, which explains why the NYPD has, according to the report, kept these activities secret.

This is no ordinary program, nor does it seem to be merely about sharing expertise.

According to the report, the NYPD dispatches “rakers,” the NYPD term, into a “human mapping program” to monitor the daily lives of Muslim Americans in the places where ordinary living transpires, such as bookstores, cafés, bars and nightclubs, without the hint of criminal wrongdoing. The police department also employs “mosque crawlers,” who scrutinize imams and their sermons, and have gathered intelligence on cab drivers and food cart vendors, jobs commonly associated with Muslim workers.

New Yorkers, understandably after the carnage of the 9/11 attacks, are wary of terrorism. This is right and fitting and proper. What is not right, however, is to use the broad brush of a fear of terrorism against an entire faith group. We deserve better than this, we are better than this, and above all, we are a nation of laws that obtain equally to all of us.

If you believe in this idea, of equality under the law, or perhaps even that hoary old concept of a presumption of innocence until guilt is proven in a court of law, please stand up, this Friday, and make your voice heard.

RALLY & FRIDAY PRAYER TO STOP NYPD/CIA REPRESSION OF MUSLIM COMMUNITIES

Friday, November 18, 2011
12 - 4 PM
Foley Square (Worth St between Lafayette & Centre St.), NYC

12pm: March from Occupied Wall St. (Zucotti Park)
1-2pm: Jummah Prayer
2-4pm: Speakers & Performances

Our Demands:
1. An immediate end to all racial, ethnic and religious profiling.
2. The dismantlement and disclosure of all warrant-less surveillance operations.
3. An independent commission to investigate all NYPD, CIA and FBI operations against the Muslim community.
4. The immediate protection of our right to freedom of worship, free speech and free association.
5. The equal protection, under the law, of Muslims and all people of New York.

'Equal protection'; what a concept.  read more »