May the Prisons Rot and Burn in Hell

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/09/18/may-the-prisons-rot-and-burn-in-hell/

The West is the Best? Stoney Spring's New CD

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/09/11/the-west-is-the-best-stoney-spring-checks-in/

KBOO-FM Interview with Paul Roland

Subject:  Daydream Sunset...

https://kboo.fm/sites/default/files/episode_audio/kboo_episode.2.150909.0800.15845.mp3

Bernie Sanders’ Vision: As Myopic as Every Other Candidate or Not?

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/09/04/bernie-sanders-vision-as-myopic-as-every-other-candidate-or-not/

The League of Empire

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/09/02/the-league-of-empire/

If Daydream Sunset:60s Counterculture in the '70s had a playlist, this would be it

“I’m Free”----The Who from Tommy

“Good Times, Bad Times”----Led Zeppelin

“The Israelites”---Desmond Dekker and the Aces

“Gimme Shelter”----Rolling Stones from Let It Bleed

“Okie From Muskogee”---Merle Haggard

“New Speedway Boogie”---Grateful Dead from Workingman’s Dead

“Luv & Haight”---Sly and the Family Stone from There’s a Riot Goin’ On

“For Everyman”---Jackson Browne from For Everyman

“I Threw It All Away”---Bob Dylan from Nashville Skyline

“God”---John Lennon from John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band

“Them Changes”---Jimi Hendrix from Band of Gypsys

“Ohio”---Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

“Out of Gas”---Prairie Fire

“Here’s to the State of Richard Nixon”---Phil Ochs

“H₂0 Gate Blues”----Gil Scott Heron/Brian Jackson from Winter in America

“Hurricane”---Bob Dylan and Rolling Thunder Revue from Live 1975

“Break It Up”---Patti Smith Group from Horses

“Before the Deluge”---Jackson Browne from Late For the Sky

“Rebel, Rebel”---David Bowie from Diamond Dogs

“Backstreets”----Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band from Born to Run

“Simple Man”---Lynyrd Skynyrd from (Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd)

“Red Headed Stranger”---Willie Nelson from Red Headed Stranger

“Sitting In Limbo”---Jimmy Cliff from The Harder They Come

“White Riot”---The Clash

“Rebel Music”---Bob Marley and the Wailers from Natty Dread

“Long Hot Summer”---Tom Robinson Band from Power in the Darkness

“God Save the Queen”---The Sex Pistols

“Less Than Zero”---Elvis Costello and the Attractions from My Aim is True

“What About Me?”---Quicksilver Messenger Service from What About Me?

“Estimated Prophet”---Grateful Dead from Dick’s Picks Volume 15/Live Englishtown, NJ 9/3/1977

“Respectable”---Rolling Stones from Some Girls

“Vicious”---Lou Reed from Transformer

“The Pretender”---Jackson Browne from The Pretender

“Factory”---Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band from Darkness On the Edge of Town

 “Jimmy Jazz”---The Clash from London Calling

“California Über Alles”---Dead Kennedys

“You Gotta’ Serve Somebody”---Bob Dylan from Slow Train Coming

“Comfortably Numb”---Pink Floyd from The Wall

“US Blues”---Grateful Dead live 1/15/1980 Cambodian Refugees Benefit, Oakland, CA.

Africa, China and the West: an Exchange With Thomas Mountain

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/08/21/africa-china-and-the-west-an-exchange-with-thomas-mountain-2/

Show a Little Faith, There's Magic in the Night

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/08/14/show-a-little-faith-theres-magic-in-the-night/

The US Military's African Footprint

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/08/07/the-us-militarys-african-footprint/

Black Literature and the FB Eye Blues

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/07/31/black-literature-and-the-fb-eye-blues/

Police, Racism and Progressives

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/07/22/police-racism-and-progressives/

Women, Girls and the War on Terror

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/07/17/women-girls-and-the-war-on-terror/

What Did In the Counterculture?

http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/159756

The Ship of the Sun Bids Farewell

The line I said is from the Tibetan Book of the Dead is really from the Egyptian Book of the Dead---

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/07/07/the-grateful-dead-the-ship-of-the-sun-bids-farewell/

Midsummer Shorts

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/06/26/midsummer-shorts/

Walking On the Wild Side: An Interview With Filmmaker Denis Mueller

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/07/03/walking-on-the-wild-side/

Ishmael Reed Gets in the Ring

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/06/19/ishmael-reed-gets-in-the-ring/#

The Stuff No One Talks About

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/06/12/the-stuff-no-one-talks-about/

Enhancing Paranoia is Part of Power--An Interview with Betty Medsger

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/06/05/enhancing-paranoia-part-of-the-nature-of-power/

Changing the World for Profit

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/05/29/changing-the-world-for-profit/

Conversation on the Radio with Dylan Kelley

http://yourlisten.com/dylan.kelley.1044/5-13-ron-jacobs

Inside the Drug Wars

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/05/15/inside-the-drug-wars/

Keeping Time for the Grateful Dead

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/05/06/keeping-time-for-the-grateful-dead/

The Problem With Bernie

Sanders was elected to the Senate in 2006, not 2008.  I apologize for the typo.

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/04/30/the-problem-with-bernie/

Deadly Eye Contact: Freddie Gray and the Baltimore Police

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/04/27/deadly-eye-contact-freddie-gray-and-the-baltimore-police/

Talking About Palestine

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/04/24/talking-about-palestine/

Outlaws in the Eyes of Amerika

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/04/17/outlaws-in-the-eyes-of-amerika/#

The Tragedy of Capitalism

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/04/10/the-tragedy-of-capitalism/

Springtime Sounds for a Spring Barely Sprung

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/04/03/springtime-sounds-for-a-spring-barely-sprung/

Rejecting Revisionist History: Losurdo's War and Revolution

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/03/27/rejecting-revisionist-history/

Embodiment of Absolute Evil

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/03/20/embodiment-of-absolute-evil/

Upstairs, Downstairs/India, Pakistan

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/03/13/upstairs-downstairsindia-pakistan/

A US War Resister in Germany: A Matter of Conscience

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/03/06/a-us-war-resister-in-germany/


a slight correction...Since the piece began with Andre thanking you for "a forum in which I can provide factual information on the case,"  I thought it might be helpful to correct some of the mis portrayal of who qualifies as a CO. 

Andre is right that the person needs to be opposed to any war they can imagine themselves fighting in.  (It is not a requirement that the person state whether they accept or reject the war that gave birth to the US.)  Someone who says they would fight in certain wars probably would be turned down.

Religious basis is not a separate way to get out.  No matter what religion the person still must be opposed to participation in all war.  Also, a person need not be religious at all as long as the moral principles that direct their life are comparable in strength to those held by religious people.  We deal with many atheist and agnostic applicants who still get out for CO.

The third issue is sincerity.  A person's lifestyle can help indicate their sincerity. Giving up paintball and combat video games can indicate sincerity of a conscientious objector but a person does not have to give up these things. I have worked with legitimate, sincere conscientious objectors who still bow hunt and nevertheless were discharged.  (There is more than one way to show sincerity).

I realize that for Andre conscientious objection didn't feel right and that is fine.  I just want to be careful that others who might well qualify don't mistakenly believe themselves ineligible because of Andre's mis characterization of the actual definition.  Anyone who even wonders whether they qualify can call the GI Rights Hotline 877-447-4487 to explore whether or not conscientious objection might be the right fit for them.  People who are having issues with the military often go online to learn about others with similar beliefs.  For others reading this interview with Andre it may be helpful to include a note of clarification so as not to unnecessarily limit the pool of future Conscientious Objection applicants.   

Peace,

Steve W.

Car Bomb in Washington, DC, 1976

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/02/27/car-bomb-in-washington-dc/

Different Story-Same Futile War

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/02/20/different-story-same-futile-war/

Creating a Crisis--It's NATO's Way

https://www.counterpunch.org/2015/02/13/creating-a-crisis-its-natos-way/

Recalling Occupy Wall Street

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/02/06/recalling-occupy-wall-street/

The US Presidency—Who Does It Serve? An Exchange With the Authors of The Unsustainable Presidency

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/01/30/the-us-presidency-who-does-it-serve/

Revolutionary Communists in the US of A...And the Feds That Hated Them

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/01/23/revolutionary-communists-in-the-us-of-a/

Assassination Nation

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/01/16/the-islamophobes-have-arrived-2/

Idiocy in the Name of God: The Heresy of Religion

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/01/12/idiocy-in-the-name-of-god/

The French Revolution Untarnished

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/01/09/the-french-revolution-untarnished/

Free Speech in Manhattan? Illusion of Victory?

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/01/02/free-speech-in-manhattan/

The Sense of Disconnection is Unreal

Originally appeared in Torture:Asian and Global Perspectives

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/12/26/the-sense-of-disconnection-is-unreal/

It's Not a War on Cops in NYC

The first sentence should read...who allegedly SHOT...."

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/12/22/its-not-a-war-on-cops-in-nyc/

Ron Jacobs presents: Revolution in the Air? The 1960s Become the 1970s a...

Drug Wars and Neoliberalism

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/12/19/drug-wars-and-neoliberalism/

Love Letter From Paris: Alain Mabanckou’s 'letter to jimmy'

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/12/12/love-letter-from-paris/

Elvis Presley:Southern Man

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/12/05/elvis-southern-man/

San Francisco in the 1970s...With Paul Krassner

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/11/28/san-francisco-in-the-1970s/

You Didn’t Really Think Darren Wilson Would be Indicted, Did You?

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/11/25/you-didnt-really-think-darren-wilson-would-be-indicted-did-you/

Going Down Highway 61, Again

The last sentence should read pedal to the metal, not petal....damned autocorrect:)

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/11/21/going-down-to-highway-61-again/

No Hope, No Change

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/11/11/elections-make-things-worse-again/

Ain't No Fortunate Son

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/11/07/aint-no-fortunate-son/

Revolution in the Air? The 1960s Become the 1970s and the S**t Hits the Fan...

Pardon the few factual errors....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Za3VMPlhMJE&app=desktop

The Media and the Paranoid State

http://beta.counterpunch.org/2014/10/31/the-media-and-the-paranoid-state/

Making Liberation: In the Wake of Abolitionism

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/10/24/making-liberation/

A Sordid Mix of Murder and Racism

http://dissidentvoice.org/2014/10/a-sordid-mix-of-murder-and-racism/#more-56018

How Will We Protest the Permanent War?

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/10/10/how-will-we-protest-the-permanent-war/

Redefining Urban Renewal

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/10/03/redefining-urban-renewal/

Lying to Ourselves About the Air War

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/09/26/lying-to-ourselves-about-the-air-war/

Rejecting the Army of One

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/09/19/rejecting-the-army-of-one/

Imperialism, Repressive Tolerance and Resistance

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/09/12/imperialism-repressive-tolerance-and-resistance/

Mr. Kurtz Comes to America

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/09/05/mr-kurtz-comes-to-america/

The Rational Unreason of Imperial War

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/08/29/the-rational-unreason-of-imperial-war/

Reading in Burlington, VT.

three part invention 4

Fomite authors read from their works

• Ron Jacobs - Seventies Trilogy (novels)
• Tina Escaja and Kristin Dijkstra - (poetry - Tina reads in the original Spanish, Kristin reads the English translations)
• Jack Pulaski - Love’s Labours (stories)

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Off Center for the Dramatic Arts

294 N Winooski Ave, Burlington

7:00 pm

Amnesty for Anslinger's Lawbreakers

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/08/22/amnesty-for-anslingers-lawbreakers/

Quantrill's Raiders Come to Ferguson

http://dissidentvoice.org/2014/08/quantrills-raiders-come-to-ferguson/

The Pacification That Never Ends

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/08/15/the-pacification-that-never-ends/

Making Rabble Rousing Relevant Again--The Return of Class Struggle Unionism

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/08/08/making-rabble-rousing-relevant-again/

Tonkin and Watergate--The Significance of History

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/08/01/tonkin-and-watergate/

Seduced by Surveillance

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/07/25/seduced-by-surveillance/

US and Israeli Exceptionalism--With or Without God on Their Side

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/07/15/us-and-israeli-exceptionalism/

From Liverpool to Olympus

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/07/11/from-liverpool-to-olympus/

The Evil That was Phoenix

http://dissidentvoice.org/2014/07/the-evil-that-was-phoenix/

Haven't We Had Enough?

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/06/20/havent-we-had-enough/

Solidarity Requires Sacrifice

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/06/13/solidarity-requires-sacrifice/

Deserters are Heroes

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/06/06/deserters-are-heroes/

From Stokely to Kwame

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/05/30/from-stokely-to-kwame/

A Bohemian Comic Rhapsody

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/05/23/a-bohemian-comic-rhapsody/

September: A Mirage of Hope In the Shadows of Despair

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/05/16/a-mirage-of-hope-in-the-shadows-of-despair/

Dance with the Devil: Breaking Down Brazil’s Games

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/05/09/breaking-down-brazils-games/

Afghanistan—A Nightmare of Failure

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/05/02/afghanistan-a-nightmare-of-failure/

Communist at the Cotton Club

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/04/25/communist-at-the-cotton-club/

On Leave From Imperial War

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/04/18/on-leave-from-imperial-war/

The Workers United Are Not Always Defeated

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/04/08/the-workers-united-are-not-always-defeated/

Hugo Chavez: A Revolutionary Life

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/04/04/hugo-chavez-a-revolutionary-life/#.Uz6DmTcQD8w.facebook

Strikes and Class Consciousness

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/03/28/strikes-and-class-consciousness/

Complicity is Complicity

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/03/24/complicity-is-complicity/

The Islamophobes Have Arrived

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/03/14/the-islamophobes-have-arrived/

Pentagon Gets What it Wants Again

Clarification:  Sanders voted for Afghanistan attack in 2001, against Iraq resolution, but supported funding once war had begun, and voted for several more funding authorizations before opposing one in 2007

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/03/11/the-pentagon-gets-what-it-wants-again/

Why I Won't Cross the CCTA Picket Lines

                I ride CCTA buses every day back and forth to work.  This is why I support the drivers call for a strike.  I started riding CCTA buses when I first moved to Burlington in 1992.  The improvements in the service since then are immeasurable.  One thing that has not changed, however, is the professionalism, courtesy and commitment to safety exhibited by the bus drivers.  I have seen drivers help disabled folks get on the bus, help mothers with babes-in-arms get their children situated, give precise directions to newcomers and tourists, and more. 

                Recently, CCTA management walked out on negotiations between the drivers and management.  These negotiations have been going on since April 2013.  When I talk with drivers I am told that the real issue is not the money, but the working conditions and the way they are treated by management.  Foremost among these issues is the question of safety.  As I remarked earlier, I have always found the CCTA drivers’ attention to safety first-rate.  I always assumed that management shared this commitment.  However, their proposal to add an additional hour of time between shifts for drivers assigned to split shifts seems to prove my assumption wrong.  What this proposal would do is keep drivers on call for 13.5 hours.  In other words, a driver who drove school kids to school early in the morning would be expected to still be driving thirteen hours later.  Drivers have told me that, when they have raised the issue of how this would affect passenger safety, management dismissed their concerns.

                Another issue is one many of us have experienced in our own workplaces.  This involves the addition of part-time workers to the staff in order to avoid providing benefits to the workers.   This ploy by management is just wrong.  It ignores the fact that the people who do most of the work in CCTA-the drivers—are real people with families, mortgages, rents and other bills.  Like management, which usually only has full-timers with benefits, the drivers can perform their work better if they have a full-time job with benefits.  Otherwise, their lives take on added stress as they struggle to make ends meet.

                The final element of the contract where there are major disagreements is the way CCTA management treats it drivers.  For those who do not ride public transit, nowadays most buses have surveillance cameras on them.  Although the cameras are there to record instances of passenger disturbances in case a crime occurs on the bus, CCTA management seems to use their cameras to spy on the drivers.  According to drivers, management spends a fair amount of time reviewing surveillance tapes looking for any driver infractions.  If any are found, drivers are called in and threatened with suspension or firing.  The contract proposed by CCTA management would prevent any suspended or fired driver from appealing any such disciplinary action.  Besides creating an abusive work environment, this type of managerial behavior is just plain wrong, especially if the worker is not allowed any type of appeal.

                After unanimously rejecting the contract offered by management on March 12, 2014 (after driving through the worst March snowstorm in Vermont since 1969), the CCTA drivers will go on strike.  I will not cross their picket lines.  There is one right way to prevent a strike.  That is for CCTA management to get off its managerial high horse, and sign the contract as proposed by the drivers.   Chittenden County has taken the CCTA bus drivers for granted long enough.  If there is a strike we will discover just how important they really are. 

Crimean Shock Waves

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/03/05/crimean-shock-waves/

Justice for Palestine

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/02/28/justice-for-palestine/

Twentieth Century Knave--The Pyat Quartet

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/02/14/hes-a-twentieth-century-knave/

One of History's Biggest B & E's--The Burglary

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/02/07/one-of-the-historys-biggest-b-es/

The Campus Wage Gap

This is about two schools in Vermont, but applies elsewhere...

http://vtdigger.org/2014/02/02/ron-jacobs-campus-wage-gap/

Welcome to Stoney Spring

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/01/31/welcome-to-stoney-spring/

Both Sides of the River: Legalization for All Undocumenteds

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/01/24/both-sides-of-the-river/

A Struggle Composed, A Struggle Performed

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/01/17/a-struggle-composed-a-struggle-performed/