Amnesty International Calls on Canada to Arrest Bush For War Crimes & #OWS "What Would Steve Jobs Do?"

Edited and updated 2:38 PM , Oct. 14, 2011.

Time for the # #99% movement to better define their demands and to decide on what non-violent Non-cooperation forms of civil disobedience should be next.
Not everyone who supports the current movement is willing or able to take part in occupying a public space as a protest but what other actions could they take.
What for instance in this electronic age of the internet could individuals do using the internet -ie overloading a corporations or politicians or government departments with e-mails or some other simple actions which anyone with access to the internet can take part in.
for instance flooding the social network with messages e-mails or uploading or re-uploading videos for instance on YouTube etc. especially videos with content referring to the # movement or other political messages for which embedding has been disabled or for which there is a large probability that the video will be removed so we mirror them as has been done in the case of Wikileaks videos ie Collateral Murder Baghdad Massacre , article, released secret documents and the nuclear solution as suggested by Wikileaksw re-upload & re-tweet, re-upload to sites such as Facebook, My Space , Digg and so forth. etc.
When not just a handful of people take action but hundred of thousands and eventually millions then there will be a definite impact on the "status Quo and "business as usual".
The point is to get people brainstorming about actions which will have an impact.
Or to put it another way : What would Steve Jobs Do? to support such a grass roots movement.

For instance #ows supporters who are bloggers or run a website etc. could upload videos supporting the #OWS movement each and every day for the duration. After all this is in large part was done by Obama supporters in 2008 .
For instance it would be a boost just to upload the video below made by Steve Jobs as a starting point.
or the Keith Olbermann video found on the right column on this blog outlining the basic demands of the movement .

Apple Steve Jobs The Crazy Ones - NEVER BEFORE AIRED 1997



sourced from : Steve Jobs Narrates the First “Think Different” Ad (Never Aired) via Openculture.com
October 10th, 2011

For specific demands and how those demands and concerns are interrelate check out this video David Swanson interview:

David Swanson Peace, Justice impeachment The money wasted by the Military industrial Complex could be used to improve the lives of average Americans




#OWS update:

RT: Clashes follow #OWS victory at Zuccotti Park-Oct. 14, 2011.

 This man is wanted for War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity
Torture, renditions , War Of Aggression , murder of hundreds of thousands

Menu: Canada told to arrest George W. Bush
US and Canada & Mainstream Media attack Amnesty International
Occupywallstreet still going strong
New York may oust protesters today
and more on #occupyDC

Amnesty Calls on Canada to Arrest Bush 

- Amnesty International called on Canadian authorities Wednesday to arrest and prosecute George W. Bush, saying the former US president authorized "torture" when he directed the US-led war on terror.

Bush is expected to attend an economic summit in Surrey in Canada's westernmost British Columbia province on October 20.

In a memorandum submitted last month to Canada's attorney general but only now released to the media, the London-based group charged that Bush has legal responsibility for a series of human rights violations.

"Canada is required by its international obligations to arrest and prosecute former president Bush given his responsibility for crimes under international law including torture," Amnesty's Susan Lee said in a statement.

"As the US authorities have, so far, failed to bring former president Bush to justice, the international community must step in. A failure by Canada to take action during his visit would violate the UN Convention Against Torture and demonstrate contempt for fundamental human rights," Lee said.

Amnesty, backed by the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group, says Bush authorised the use of "enhanced interrogation techniques" and "waterboarding" on detainees held in secret by the Central Intelligence Agency between 2002 and 2009.

The detention programme included "torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment (such as being forced to stay for hours in painful positions and sleep deprivation), and enforced disappearances," it alleged.

Amnesty's memorandum cites several cases of alleged torture of individuals detained at the Guantanamo Bay naval facility, in Afghanistan and in Iraq, by the US military.

They include that of Zayn al Abidin Muhammed Husayn (known as Abu Zubaydah) and 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, both arrested in Pakistan, and subjected to at least 266 applications of waterboarding between them from 2002 to 2003, according to the CIA inspector general, cited by Amnesty.

The Canadian government under the Regime of Neoconservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper has responded by criticizing the internationally respected human rights organization Amnesty International.

Officials claim the whole thing is just a self-serving publicity stunt by Amnesty International and other Human Rights organizations: from: "Amnesty Calls on Canada to Arrest Bush By Michel Comte October 13, 2011 "AFP"

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney blasted Amnesty for "cherry picking cases to publicize, based on ideology."

"This kind of stunt helps explain why so many respected human rights advocates have abandoned Amnesty International," he said.

Kenney said it will be up to Canadian border officials to decide independently whether to allow Bush into the country.

One wonders would our Canadian officials now agree with the US government that Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders and others are just out to malign the Harper Government and George W. Bush and the American government and military.

It is interesting that the Canadian government and the US government and their respective Media were boosters of Amnesty International especially during the Cold War whenever Amnesty International criticized The Soviet Union and China and other Communist countries on human rights violations .

The US government used to be in favor of International human rights agreements such as the Geneva Convention and the special convention of the treatment of POWs which prohibited the use of torture unconditionally but since Dick Cheney and his lap dog Bush decided to move to the Dark Side they abandoned all such international agreements and so when it comes to War Crimes and Crimes against humanity America has become a "Rogue Nation"

The Canadian officials borrowing from the US government's slick unrelenting still ongoing  propaganda to defend all its actions claims that anyone for instance criticizing actions of the Canadian Military in Afghanistan is Un-Canadian and  is undermining the mission of our troops and is giving aid and comfort to the enemy , Taliban, the terrorists etc. I used to think Canada was better than that our record on human rights has been among the best in the world until our government sold out to American pressure. Like Great Britain & Australia and  other countries we bit by bit have given up our sovereignty in order to please the White House, the Pentagon & the CIA.

Unfortunately successive Canadian governments themselves willing abandoned the rule of law ie the Geneva Conventions etc. in order to appease the American government during the Bush/Cheney regime .

Canada cooperated with the US on deporting Canadain citizens to countries known for using torture routinely -for example the deportation to Syria of wrongfully accused Maher Arar .
Maher Arar took his case to court and the Harper government was forced to appologize to him and his family and he was awarded the sum of $11 million .

Even though Maher Arar was cleared of any allegations or charges by the Canadian Government's official investigation into his case the American government refused to admit their error & instead doubled down claiming they had secret information which they refused to disclose even to the Canadian government.

Canada also willingly and secretly took part in the US renditioning program by allowing US planes with kidnapped detainees on board who were to be taken secret or not so secret US bases to be tortured. This is a crime according to International Law.

The Canadian government and its commanders of the armed forces committed war crimes by ordering Canadian troops in Afghanistan to hand over POWs captured in Afghanistan to the Afghan authorities knowing full well that the prisoners would probably be mistreated, abused and tortured

see for instance Erna Paris' book The Sun Climbs Slow: Justice In the Age of Imperial America , pub. 208, pp.304-315


Report: 25 Percent Of Millionaires Pay Lower Taxes Than 10.4 Million Middle-Class Americans By Tanya Somanader at "Think Progress" via Information clearing house Oct. 13, 2011

--

President Obama’s “Buffett Rule” is aimed at ensuring that wealthy Americans pay their fair share in taxes. As it stands today, a wealthy individual can take advantage of preferential tax treatment of investment income and various tax loopholes to drastically lower his or her tax rate and effectively pay lower taxes than middle-class families. To prove the point behind his namesake, billionaire Warren Buffett revealed to Republicans yesterday that he made more than $62 million last year while only paying a 17 percent tax rate.

It is not surprising that Republicans like GOP candidate Mitt Romney who slam the Buffett Rule as “class warfare” simultaneously benefit from the same sort of preferential treatment. In fact, a new report by the non-partisan Congressional Research Service finds that 25 percent of the nation’s millionaires have a lower effective tax rate than 10.4 million middle-class Americans:

About 25 percent of millionaires in the U.S. pay federal taxes at lower effective rates than a significant portion of middle-income taxpayers, according to a legislative analysis.

Preferential treatment of investment income and the reduced impact of payroll taxes on high earners lets about 94,500 millionaires pay taxes at a lower rate than 10.4 million “moderate-income taxpayers,” representing about 10 percent of those making less than $100,000 a year, according to the report by the non-partisan Congressional Research Service dated Oct. 7.

In direct conflict with a favorite Republican talking point, the report also found that very few business owners are millionaires and “played down the impact of higher tax rates on job creation.” “The small share of taxpayers with small-business income in the millionaire category suggests that tax reform policies designed to ensure adherence to the Buffett Rule will affect few small businesses,” it said. This bolsters the claims from economists and business owners alike that higher tax rates on the rich make “zero difference” in hiring.

The Suicide of Liberty By Paul Craig Roberts October 13, 2011 "Information Clearing House"

Pat Buchanan’s latest book, Suicide of a Superpower, raises the question whether America will survive to 2025. The question might strike some readers as unduly pessimistic and others as optimistic. It is unclear whether the US, as we have known it, will survive its next presidential election.

...In the first decade of the 21st century, the Bush/Cheney years, America lost one-third of its manufacturing jobs. During this decade, Michigan lost 48% of its manufacturing jobs, New Jersey lost 39%, and New York and Ohio lost 38%.

...Conservatives are stuck in the canard that democracy is a tool used by the poor to provide themselves with benefits at the expense of the rich. Buchanan cites statistics of those on welfare, food stamps, Medicaid, and so on as evidence that the rich are being plundered. Yet, the facts are the opposite. The distribution of income has completely reversed since the 1960s.

In the 1960s, the top 1 percent received 11% of the income gains, and the bottom 90% received 65%, leaving 24% of income gains for the 9% of richest Americans just below the top 1%. In the first decade of the 21st century, these figures have reversed. The top 1% receive 65% of the income gains and the bottom 90% receive 12%, leaving 23% for those rich Americans in the 91-99 percentile...

The Bush/Cheney/Obama regimes have shredded the constitutional protections that gave American citizens their liberty. By dictate alone, the executive branch has acquired the power, prohibited by the Constitution, to incarcerate citizens indefinitely without presenting evidence and obtaining conviction. According to the US government, a secret executive branch panel now exists that has acquired from somewhere the unaccountable power to put citizens on a list to be assassinated without due process of law merely on the basis of an unproven government assertion. How does this differ from Stalinist Russia and Gestapo Germany?...

Wall Street reflects increasing frustration By David Suzuki via Cnews.canoe.ca, October 12, 2011

...Why have governments spent trillions of dollars in taxpayers’ money to bail out financial institutions, many of which fought any notion of government regulation or social assistance, while doing nothing for people who had life savings wiped out or lost homes through foreclosure? And why have governments not at least demanded that the institutions demonstrate some ecological and social responsibility in return?

Why do developed nations still give tax breaks to the wealthiest few while children go hungry and working people and the unemployed see wages, benefits, and opportunities dwindle – and while infrastructure crumbles and access to good health care and education diminishes?

Why are we rapidly exploiting finite resources and destroying precious natural systems for the sake of short-term profit and unsustainable economic growth? What will we do when oil runs out or becomes too difficult or expensive to extract if we haven’t taken the time to reduce our demands for energy and shift to cleaner sources?

Why does our economic system place a higher value on disposable and often unnecessary goods and services than on the things we really need to survive and be healthy, like clean air, clean water, and productive soil? Sure, there’s some contradiction in protesters carrying iPhones while railing against the consumer system. But this is not just about making personal changes and sacrifices; it’s about questioning our place on this planet.

In less than a century, the human population has grown exponentially, from 1.5 to seven billion. That’s been matched by rapid growth in technology and products, resource exploitation, and knowledge. The pace and manner of development have led to a reliance on fossil fuels, to the extent that much of our infrastructure supports products such as cars and their fuels to keep the cycle of profits and wealth concentration going. Our current economic systems are relatively new – methods we’ve devised both to deal with the challenge of production and distribution for rapidly expanding populations and to exploit the opportunities.

Yes the Republicans pledged in 2010 to represent the American people and to listen to their needs but they never did and instead told the American people to leave all matters up to the Government which is privy to secret intelligence on terrorist and on the economy and the fifth columinist commie traitors in the Obama administration.

Zombie Lobbyists Occupy Washington Swarms of money-hungry corporate gladhands fight over the brains of our elected leaders in the nation’s capital. BY BEAU HODAI October 12, 2011

Elected officials and their staffers pass from the life of public service into the walking death of the corporate sector, and many join the lucrative ranks of the lobbyist. Once bitten by the money bug, few escape its taint.

A corporate pledge for the people

On September 23, 2010, the U.S. House GOP leadership stood proudly behind soon-to-be Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) in the warehouse of Tart Lumber Company in Sterling, Va., and delivered a promissory letter to a lionized American electorate. The U.S. House of Representatives Republican Conference “Pledge to America” proclaimed:

Voices in and out of a government whisper that our standing as the world’s leader of democracy and economic growth is ending. The American people do not accept these counsels of timidity, failure and despair. … Legislators in Washington have imposed an agenda that doesn’t reflect the priorities of the people. What’s worse, the most important decisions are made behind closed doors, where a flurry of backroom deals has supplanted the will of the people.

...The Pledge echoes former Speaker Newt Gingrich and anti-tax activist Grover Norquist’s 1994 “Contract With America.” It promises to accomplish the same objectives—decreased taxation, regulation and government (defense spending excepted)—by permanently extending the Bush tax cuts, repealing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA, aka “Obamacare”), removing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from governmental control and support, and reducing government spending through massive cuts to public programs.

...Yes, members of Congress and their staffers—Republicans and Democrats—go back and forth between government offices and lobbying firms. But while the fiscal entity that writes their paychecks is ever-changing (hence the image of a revolving door), their allegience to the immortal corporations, on whose dime they toil, never wavers.

and here's a selection of articles on Occupy Wall Street:

As the author below argues non-violence protests must include actions like those of the US Civil Rights Movement and Gandhi's non-violent actions such as the Salt March.
The Salt March was followed by the illegal action of making and the selling of salt by Gandhi's followers which defied the British Rulers .

So the #occupywallstreet movement needs to find ways to challenge the status quo beond camping out and marching.
So question is what types of actions could these be .
So there needs to be a bit of brain storming about non-violent non-cooperation actions of Civil Disobedience which would be seen as a threat to the status quo.

Bringing the Salt March to Wall Street by Miki Kashtan via Alternet.org, Cross-posted from Tikkun Daily. October 12, 2011

... Nonviolence, for me, is far from being simply the absence of overt physical violence. Nonviolence is a positive approach that requires tremendous courage. Nonviolence, if I listen carefully to Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., rests on a deep love of all humans, including the ones the struggle and the resistance are mounted to topple. Nonviolence at its source emerges from clear vision, and is dramatically different from a purely oppositional movement. When Gandhi orchestrated the Salt March, he was at one and the same time violating the law as well as demonstrating with his actions the world he wanted to create. The same was true of the actions of young people during the Civil Rights Movement. A picket line outside segregated restaurants would have been pure protest. Boycotting the restaurants and blocking people from entering them would have been a disruption of business as usual. Actually sitting at the lunch counters, blacks and whites together, was what Sharif Abdullah calls “vision implementation.” Just like the Salt March, these actions were already part of the world being created, the transformation already taking place.

Occupy Wall Street Update: NYC Protesters Fight Against Eviction, Another Pepper-Spray Victim Presses Charges by lauren kelley Alternet.org, Oct. 13, 2011

--A showdown is brewing in Zuccotti Park/Liberty Plaza over clean-up of the occupation space. In one corner is Mayor Bloomberg, who's dispatching sanitation workers to the square on Friday and has ordered the occupiers to comply with the workers' clean-up efforts (which would involve "temporarily" vacating the area). Bloomberg swears the protesters will be able to return in the park "provided they abide by the rules that Brookfield has established for the park." But the protesters are (understandably) worried that officials will start enforcing park rules (no tarps, no laying down, etc.), effectively destroying the infrastructure of the space. So they have a different plan to clean up the area, while keeping their park.

and : Poll: Americans Like Occupy Wall Street a Whole Lot More Than the Tea Party via Alternet.org By Steve Benen | Sourced from Washington Monthly 
Posted at October 13, 2011