" But when Greenfield explained to the occupiers assembled in the sanctuary of the West Park Presbyterian Church how little control they would have over the funds his group was raising, their mood quickly turned from supportive to hostile. "

"Spying" on PETA? Please. Any company or university involved w/ animal research asks these questions.

" Common law courts are only an important aspect of the Patriot movement. These vigilante courts use many tactics to make their presence known and to attempt to disrupt the traditional legal system. These tactics are collectively known as "paper terrorism." Typically, common law court members issue judgments against people and file liens against property in an attempt to enforce the judgments. Sometimes, these bogus liens are little more than a nuisance. Other times, the liens wreak havoc on their victims by clouding title to property, and it is often expensive to have these bogus liens removed. Members of the Patriot movement also set up shadow governments with their own officers and officials as a form of revolt against the federal government. For example, the freemen of Montana formed "Justus Township" and appointed their own "public" officials. Patriots who attempt to print their own currency and pass bogus checks feel that their own government is legitimate and that they can back their currency by their own faith and credit in the same manner as does the United States government. "

" People who look at potentially successful protests elsewhere and imitate them make judgments, often implicit, about how similar their own situation is. These judgments don’t have to be right in order to be powerful. "

" Brumberg said the youth are holding onto an unachievable goal of “revolution”—eradicating every last vestige of the old system—when progress, overseen by powerful figures left over from Mubarak’s administration, is likely to be incremental and halting. “This is a process managed by the military, built around mobilizing and negotiating with different groups,” he said. “Whether you like it or not, you have to do politics.” "

Is a "hack scare" beginning? (or "black scare"?) Compare to "enterprise terrorism" prosecutions.

At first glance the split of the #April6 "movement" (coalition? campaign?) doesn't look uniquely Egyptian. This is common.

Huh. It's not just a line in a commercial. There are grassroots / astroturf? "vaper" groups for electronic cigarettes.

@revmagdalen @faceyet Past a point, an opportunistic fool is indistinguishable from a provocateur. #AntiSec #Anonymous

" Given the growing threats to animal research, the research community must explore ways to develop new allies to promote responsible animal research. This workshop will examine how to “widen the tent” by involving patient groups, health care providers, industry and others who have a vested interest in protecting responsible animal research. Participants also will focus on broadening the base of support by engaging leaders worldwide on the health and scientific breakthroughs made possible through animal research. "

" In their essay outlining the social movement society thesis, Meyer and Tarrow (1998b) ask, ‘‘Has something fundamental changed in the politics in contemporary industrial democracies?’’ We answer that in terms of the overall level of protest participation and in the types of people who demonstrate, there has been no fundamental change. We find only a slight trend toward greater participation in demonstrations during the past 35 years, and that cohorts born after the Baby Boomers are much less likely than their parents to have participated in a protest, although we note a small resurgence among individuals born in the 1980s. Combined with the lack of social and demographic diffusions, this suggests that the United States may have a social movement generation, but it is not a social movement society (pg. 146-47). "

Kefaya, Youth for Change, Otpor

" The Egyptian opposition has created what it calls a "confidential council," which will conduct negotiations with the interim military government and, if necessary, call for fresh protests. "

Some interesting points and some shameless bullshit. I wonder which social media academics he's been speaking with.

" Anonymous is something that, because it grew organically in cyberspace rather than reflecting the cyber version of existing real world phenomena, looks and works differently to real-world organisations or movements we’re familiar with. Something important and new is happening here. "

" In the Washington area, the Anonymous movement, which has attracted attention in recent months for attacks against the Web sites of major U.S. corporations, includes an emergency management technician in Fairfax County, an aspiring computer programmer in southern Maryland and a Montgomery County woman who is training to be a teacher. "

" The self-immolation that set off the protest wave which toppled Tunisia's leader has led to apparent copycat protests in other north African states, with four men setting themselves on fire in Algeria and one each in Egypt and Mauritania. "

" An Egyptian, a Mauritanian and at least four Algerians have set themselves alight over the past five days as a means of protesting against their governments. "

raw footage of protest at the 2010 Nov 17 Regents meeting at which a UCI police officer draws his pistol

" Seattle police say a group of self-described superheroes have been patrolling the streets at night trying to save people from crime. They call themselves the Rain City Superhero Movement and say they're part of a nationwide movement of real-life crime fighters. "

" The membership of Anonymous is impossible to pin down; it has been described as being like a flock of birds – the only way you can identify members is by what they're doing together. Essentially, once enough people on the 4chan message boards decide that an issue is worth pursuing in large enough numbers, it becomes an "Anonymous" cause. "

" Anonymous, which has its roots in the uncensored crook of the 4chan message boards, has a history of such attacks, including a recent campaign against the record industry for attacking file sharing sites, mass infiltrating an online game for kids to protest its stupidity and an long-running, earlier campaign against the Church of Scientology. "

" When they try to label and categorize the politics of these new, conservative radicals, they convince one another but don't break through to the rest of the country. "

Academics studying Tea Party activism make their colleagues look like hacks when they take sides.

" Mrs. Thomas’s supporters said she plays an important role as a bridge between grass-roots Tea Party activists and establishment Republicans in Washington. "

" the animals engaged in aggressive behavior that has been widely documented for this species, and that also occurs when they live naturally in the wild ... Furthermore, the laboratory monkeys had been able to do this because they were housed socially, rather than individually. "

Read the comments for context.

" The Tea Party evolved out of the pro-offshore drilling astroturf movement in 2008. They even share some of the same organizers and front groups, from PR operative like Eric Odom, to advocacy groups like FreedomWorks, "

"The cult, an umbrella organization based in New York, goes by names such as the Provisional Communist Party and the National Labor Federation, abbreviated as NatlFed. Historically, the stated goal of NatlFed is one that would likely even discomfit the Bay Area liberals the organization targets for recruiting: the violent overthrow of the U.S. government."

history of Chanology

"Militia rhetoric is being heard widely once more, often from a second generation of ideologues, and conspiracy theories are being energetically revived or invented anew. "Paper terrorism" — the use of property liens, bogus legal documents and "citizens' grand juries" to attack enemies and, sometimes, reap illegal fortunes — is again proliferating, to the point where the government has set up special efforts to rein in so-called "tax defiers" and to track threats against judges. What's more, Patriot fears about the government are being amplified by a loud new group of ostensibly mainstream media commentators and politicians."

"We are calling on pastors and Christian leaders nationwide to hold forums in your churches where these matters can be discussed and exposed. And it’s to that end that we are sending you the material in this package - so that you can create your own townhall meeting, just as our founding pastors did more than two centuries ago, to inform and activate the people in your pews and communities."

As if "post-abortion syndrome" weren't enough of a crank millstone around the neck of the pro-life movement, now come... the anti-vaccination cranks.

Draws parallels between anti-abortion beliefs and secular animal rights beliefs.

/facepalm

Not to mention all the possible donut-glazing metaphors. "Celebrating his inauguration with "Freedom of Choice" doughnuts – only two days before the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision to decriminalize abortion – is not only extremely tacky, it's disrespectful and insensitive and makes a mockery of a national tragedy."

Remember the true legacy of that other President from Illinois, Abraham "Pro-Life" Lincoln. Wait. Huh?

"But I also believe that in order to be successful in the long term the skeptical community must have the mainstream scientific community as an ally. In fact, we would do well to merge, at least to a degree. Skepticism is science, and all scientists should be skeptics. The skeptical community can teach the scientific community how to deal with dangerous pseudoscience. And scientists should embrace and support more fully those who seek to popularize their work and their profession."

"Many of these amateurs may have studied biology in college but have no advanced degrees and are not earning a living in the biotechnology field. Some proudly call themselves "biohackers" — innovators who push technological boundaries and put the spread of knowledge before profits."

"But there has been a growing shift in the past year or two, with evangelicals supporting environmentalism in much greater numbers, in a movement they generally call Creation Care. It is simply defined as caring for what believers say is God's creation by stopping or preventing harmful activities."

"But it looks like "personhood" is going to be a central part of ALL's mission going forward, starting with their upcoming conference:"

"There are no pink ribbons for lung cancer on products at the mall and no special coffee blends that donate to the cause, and celebrities don't accept Oscars while supporting lung cancer research on their lapels. "

"send a letter, fax and/or email to the Washington transition headquarters of President Elect Barack Obama calling for the next administration to end the Truth Embargo regarding an extraterrestrial presence and release as much relevant information to the American people as possible within reasonable constraints of national security." The best bit: they're more astute about constituency letters than MoveOn.

"Downey does not move in the ways of the late atheist spokesperson Madalyn Murray O'Hair, who was known for her caustic mockery of religion and its followers. And despite Downey's friendship with the outspoken atheist author Richard Dawkins, of The God Delusion fame (who likens the religious indoctrination of kids to child abuse), Downey is more interested in building bridges than walls."

"Robbie Barnett, a Tibet scholar at Columbia University, said the meeting appeared to be a forum in which the Dalai Lama would allow his more radical and frustrated compatriots to air their opinions but in which he would also try to consolidate support for a moderate, nonviolent approach."

"Exiled Tibetans from around the world are gathering in Dharmsala for a six-day meeting, called by the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists to discuss the future of the movement. "

"Many of those activities have been organized not by political professionals and established leaders in the gay community, but by young activists working independently on Facebook and MySpace."

"Can you imagine a more powerful influence than finding out that the gay couple down the block has a stronger marriage than you do? Can you imagine a more powerful way for that couple to earn society's respect? Here's a chance to get more marriage, less cohabitation, and less divorce. Is that what conservatives want? Or would they rather keep out the gays?"

"{Traditionally, the new president would blend his campaign operation with his party's national committee. Some of Obama's closest advisors lean toward that pragmatic view. .., Instead, Obama advisors involved in building the force think it should remain an independent entity -- organized around the "Obama brand.""

"General Motors, teetering on the brink of insolvency, has taken the extraordinary step of calling on employees and dealers to personally urge lawmakers to approve another loan package that might keep the beleaguered automaker from going under. In an e-mail obtained by Wired.com, Troy Clarke, president of GM North America, urged 29,000 employees to contact their representatives and senators and tell them to support the automaker and the domestic auto industry, saying 3 million jobs are at stake."

"To many blacks, civil rights are grounded in Christianity -- not something separate and apart from religion but synonymous with it. To the extent that the issue of gay marriage seemed to be pitted against the church, it was going to be a losing battle in my community."

"What I don't like about transhumanists is the fact that they simply refuse to understand certain arguments of their opponents... In the midst of the current crisis, the idea of humans engineering paradise seems more risible than ever. ... In spite of which, transhumanism is a coming thing, a future faith. It's time to burnish your best pro-death arguments."

""Many white supremacist groups are going more mainstream," says Jack Levin, a Northeastern University criminologist who studies hate crime. "They are eliminating the sheets and armbands. … The groups realize if they want to be attractive to middle-class types, they need to look middle-class.""

"The Third Wave is one of the largest movements in Dominionism, a group of theologies that promote taking "dominion" over the social and governmental functions of the U.S. and the world."

"Working behind the scenes, the Democrats have systematically taken over the anti-war movement, packing the nation's leading group with party consultants more interested in attacking the GOP than ending the war."

directory and forum

documentary

clearinghouse of major media coverage

directory of real-life superheroes

directory of real-life superheroes and advice articles

forum

forum, looks DOA

superhero spandex suits, masks, t-shirts, etc.

"Superheroes Anonymous is not only the first attempt to gather each and every Real Life Superhero from all over the world, but also an attempt to define what exactly defines what an RLSH truly is."

"between 150 and 200 real-life superheroes, or "Reals" as some call themselves, operate in the US, with another 50 or so internationally. Almost all share two traits in common: a love of comic books and a desire to improve their communities."

organizing information for protests of Scientology, February 10

"Now, a group of activists is starting a chapter of the border-watching Minuteman Project in a bid to lure 20- and 30-somethings into what has been a predominantly older movement."

Meet the enemy: MySpace, Facebook, the International Network for Social Network Analysis (INSNA), Wikipedia, Bertrand Russell's "intellectual sodomizing", and the entire blogosphere. Fantastic.