Re: [Redbadbear] Not AWOL -- but occupied on several fronts

(RBB has been relatively silent lately.  A friend wondered where I was -- maybe AWOL?)

Well, I have been busy with a few things.  But I've never gone AWOL (GI pron. - A-Wall).  And sometimes I just sit in the bushes and Think.

There do seem to be some interesting parallels between the Wilson administration and that of Obama.  Both were elected as "peace presidents" -- and each betrayed that commitment early on in their administrations.  Wilson exuded what soon became seen by a great many as fraudulent "liberalism" and that seems to me to characterize the Obama reign very aptly.  Wilson's record on civil liberties was abysmal -- as is that of Obama's.  Wilson engineered the "Espionage Act" in 1917 -- as a measure against the militant unionism of the IWW and the lawful activities of the anti-War Socialists.  As a result of that act, 150 IWW leaders  went to prison via Federal trials at Chicago, Wichita, and Sacramento -- and so did some Socialists including, of course, Debs.  Imprisoned by the "liberal" Wilson,  the remaining Espionage Act victims were pardoned by the Republican, Harding.  Idaho Senator William Borah, who had been one of the prosecutors of Bill Haywood in the infamous Boise trials of 1907, was one who vigorously championed amnesty for the Wobbly prisoners.

Obama and Holder obviously like the Espionage Act -- they've been trying to use it against an intrepid mainline newsman and now are using it against "Leaker" Snowden.  I personally have little use for anyone who would sell his or her nation's secrets to an adversary.  But that's not the case here.  Like his Wikileaks compadres, Snowden is informing the World of some things the World definitely needs to know.

When a very physically sick Bill Haywood, along with a few colleagues, jumped bail and fled to Russia in 1921, Clarence Darrow was asked to comment.  "I'm glad he made his get-away," said Darrow.  Well, I hope that for Snowden.

Meanwhile, the Scandals roll across the White House lawn like the hordes of North Dakota tumbleweeds moving as a veritable wave across I-90.  In all of this, there are likely bona fide crimes committed under the Obama aegis.  His smiling mask and bouncy step up to the podium, and the disingenuous words so pervasively characteristic of himself and his administration, are all wearing very, very thin,

Solidarity Forever -

Hunter

HUNTER GRAY [HUNTER BEAR/JOHN R SALTER JR] Mi'kmaq / 
St. Francis Abenaki / St. Regis Mohawk 
Member, National Writers Union AFL-CIO
www.hunterbear.org 
(much social justice material)

For the new and expanded/updated "Organizer's Book," 
JACKSON MISSISSIPPI -- with a new and substantial 
introduction by me. This is the 50th Anniversary
 of the massive Jackson Movement of 1962-63.
This book is a full, very detailed discussion of the rise and
development of that Movement, including its external life
and internal dynamics.  And this book is also an
organizer's how-to manual.
http://hunterbear.org/jackson.htm   

And see the related http://crmvet.org/comm/hunter1.htm 
 ("Militant and Radical Organizer": -- and also "Fifty Years:
Remembering Medgar Evers")
 http://www.solidarity-us.org/site/node/3876
 
See the Stormy Adoption of an Indian Child [My Father]:
http://hunterbear.org/James%20and%20Salter%20and%20Dad.htm
(Many photos.)