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Starbucks’ Cop-Out to Gun Nuts: Customers Served Coffee While Strapped – Liliana Segura, AlterNet
Starbucks has become a popular gathering spot for some Second Amendment crusaders, and the company is pretending it doesn’t have the power to keep them out.
We spoke earlier with Chris Hellman, Communications Liaison for the National Priorities Project about the Obama administration’s proposed budget for 2011.
National Priorities Project (NPP) is a 501(c)(3) research organization that analyzes and clarifies federal data so that people can understand and influence how their tax dollars are spent. Located in Northampton, MA, since 1983, NPP focuses on the impact of federal spending and other policies at the national, state, congressional district and local levels.
The National Priorities Project:
- provides data on the impact of federal spending policies for states, cities & counties;
- educates & trains citizens, activists, media & elected officials on the federal budget, the budget’s local impact & community needs;
- collaborates with national groups on federal budget initiatives; &
- facilitates dialogue & action between national social justice & security policy groups.
- Find them on Facebook & Twitter.
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5:30 PM MST Pam Walton, Producer/Director, of a documentary on the Raging Grannies. Walton has two masters from Stanford University, one in Education and the other in Communication (Film and Video Production). Walton is an award-winning independent video producer.
Her work has screened at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, at the Margaret Mead Film Festival, and has been included in the prestigious International Public Television Screening Conference (INPUT). Her documentaries have aired on PBS member stations in major American cities, are broadcast nationally on MTV’s LOGO, and distributed by New Day Films. From 1989 to 1999 Walton was a lecturer in the Department of Communication (Film and Video Production) at Stanford University. Her films include:
- Raging Grannies
- The Forever Home: Going Green
- Liberty: 3 Stories About Life & Death
- Gay Youth
- Call to Witness
- Family Values: An American Tragedy
- Out in Suburbia
- Grassroots: Contesting Ohio
- “The women are marvelous… the footage and interviews are just priceless.”
—Bettina Aptheker, Professor
Feminist Studies, UCSC- “This thought-provoking look at the Raging Grannies is funny, inspiring, and surprisingly moving. Viewers can gain valuable insight on the workings of one of the movement’s most active chapters, observe a sample of unique Granny protests, and are treated to an incredible series of interviews with individual Grannies. I highly recommend this fascinating documentary for activists and for students at all levels in Sociology, Women’s Studies, Community Organizing, and Gerontology.”
—Dana Sawchuk, PhD, Associate Professor of Sociology
Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario- “This film was fun to watch and could be used in social studies or political science classes studying protest groups or as a primer on how to get a local group activated. Recommended.”
—Educational Media Reviews Online- “These women provide a model for us all about how to age with energy, compassion, and creativity!”
—Margaret W. Matlin, PhD- Distinguished Teaching Professor of Psychology
SUNY Geneseo, Geneseo, New York
“The Raging Grannies defy just about every stereotype our culture has about older women. They are politically active, intellectually sharp, unapologetic about their opinions and willing to do just about anything to get their message of peace and social justice out into the world.
These are women who aren’t ashamed they’ve been around the block a few times, and are ready and willing to apply some of the important life lessons they have learned along the way. Lesson No. 1 is that a hilarious ditty often catches a lot more ears than an angry chant. The group recently sang their social justice hearts out at a rally they organized to protest the passage of California’s Proposition 8”
Promoting peace, justice, & social & economic equality, these women have a lot to teach Britain about older peopleRaging Grannies light up the age with rage
Mary O’Hara, The Guardian, Wed.13.Jan.10
Maybe it had something to do with the banners, or the earnest-looking students bellowing through megaphones, but at first the march seemed pretty much par for the course. Then something happened.
As the thousand or so climate change demonstrators wove their way through San Francisco’s financial district, a group of older women walking – or rather skipping – along with their own banner came into view towards the rear. Dressed flamboyantly in electrically bright reds, greens and purples, and sporting feather boas and ridiculously large Edwardian-style hats, their appearance immediately drew the eyes of spectators. And, it turns out, for good reason. Meet the Raging Grannies of California.
In a culture obsessed with youth, where ageing is regarded as either invisible or a problem, the Raging Grannies fly in the face of any suggestions that they should quietly be drifting into dotage. These women get out and protest. And they do it in living colour.
“Usually, we seek to portray the image of someone who you would be pleased to have babysit your child – older but wiser, someone you can trust,” explains “Granny Ruth” Robertson. “Then we put on aprons and floppy hats to portray an image of someone who has lived as long as we have, through many social justice movements and wars.
“We feel that while, on the one hand, it satirises the stereotype of an old granny, that image is a good one. People trust their grannies.”
Men can become “honorary grannies”, Robertson quips, with a girlish giggle, but ultimately the grannies provide a welcoming, if somewhat unconventional, network for older women. The official website sums it up nicely: “We are out in the streets promoting peace, justice, social and economic equality through song and humour.”
…
Founded in British Columbia, Canada, a couple of decades ago, Raging Grannies‘ groups emerged in the US and, to a lesser extent, in other countries soon after. They aren’t an advocacy group as such, more a fluid collective. They are whimsical, quirkily democratic, deliciously eccentric – and they mean business.
Sometimes, the grannies simply march – often four or five times a month. Other times, they perform short comedy skits, adding a dash of whimsy to what are often dry or complicated subjects, such as banking reform. As the healthcare debate raged in the US in recent months, for instance, the California grannies could be seen outside corporate conferences dressed up as spoof Billionaires for Wealthcare, wearing plastic arses to “moon” executives driving away.
…
Ladies! Express your Inner Granny: join a Gaggle!
- Pro-Choice Ad Controversy and the Super Bowl: Internet vs Prime Time – SF Weekly
- An unexpected challenge for the prorogator Harper – Rabble, Fred Wilson
- Don’t Mess with ‘Raging Grannies’ -TPM, David Kurtz
- Counter Protest At SF “Walk For Life” – Bay Area Indymedia
- Unlucky Horseshoe – CANOE, Bob Mackin
- Raging Grannies Pissed About Tebow’s Super Bowl Anti-Abortion Ad! – Perez Hilton
- Protesters favor soft hats, tough lyrics – Boston Globe
- Betty Krawczyk: The Raging Granny, activist, and mayoral candidate on creating a real civil society, going to jail, and running for public office at age 80 – Vancouver Magazine, Michael Harris
- Harriet Nahanee Did Not Die in Vain: Let’s learn from Eagleridge Bluffs protest. – The Tyee, Rafe Mair
- Raging Grannies are fearless activists – Carrboro Citizen -
- Raging Grannies Recent Songs
The military has built a vast domestic-intelligence network to fight terrorism — but it’s using it to track students, grandmothers and others protesting the war
The Pentagon’s New Spies
Rolling Stone, Robert Dreyfuss, 18.Apr.06
…In May 2005, a California group called the Raging Grannies ran afoul of military spies when it helped organize a peaceful Mother’s Day demonstration to protest the war in Iraq. Unbeknownst to them, their action was brought to the attention of a new intelligence unit at the California National Guard — a program that went by the cumbersome title of Information Synchronization, Knowledge Management, and Intelligence Fusion. According to internal e-mails, the Guard forwarded information about the protest “to our Intell folks who continue to monitor.”
Asked why the Guard was spying on the Grannies, a spokesman suggested that terrorists might try to take advantage of the activists. “Who knows who could infiltrate that type of group and try to stir something up?” Lt. Col. Stan Zezotarski told reporters. “After all, we live in an age of terrorism, so who knows?”
Joe Dunn, a California state senator, was having none of it. He launched an investigation and helped force the Guard to shut down its intelligence center. “What got us to the point of the National Guard setting up units in which, at least in California, they start down the path of domestic spying?” he asks. “Our fear is that this was part of a federally sponsored effort to set up domestic surveillance programs in a way that would circumvent the Posse Comitatus Act.”
The ACLU, which is demanding more information about CIFA’s activities, cites a “broad and disturbing pattern” in the military’s intelligence gathering, saying the efforts are being used to target legitimate protesters. “The chilling effect of this may be the most significant,” says ACLU staff attorney Ben Wizner. “There is a real danger when the military is seen as being used as part of the administration’s political goals.”
According to Denice Denton, the chancellor at Santa Cruz, the military’s covert intelligence operation is already deterring dissent. “It has intimidated people,” she says. “I spoke to one of the students involved, and she feels intimidated about speaking openly because she is being watched. Students wonder, ‘How was this information being collected? Were people standing behind a tree?’” …
ANNOUNCING A NEW SERVICE for our listeners
Thanks to Gagarin Miljkovich in Stockholm, Sweden we offer a new service for our listeners.
A 24-hour streaming-broadcast service with rebroadcasts of the latest 1-2 weeks of our Monday-Friday shows
It is called “The Jeff Farias Show – rebroadcasts of our latest shows“:
