I am so happy! My good friend Will (whom I often compare to HST) told me about this. I worked with Alex Gibney when he did “Taxi to the Darkside” while I was working at Amnesty International. Alex won an Oscor for this powerful film. I am so very excited to see him doing this film. Check it:
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
“From Oscar-wining director Alex Gibney and producer Graydon Carter comes a probing look into the uncanny life of national treasure and gonzo journalism inventor Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. A fast moving, wildly entertaining documentary with an iconic soundtrack, the film addresses the major touchstones in Thompson’s life-his intense and ill fated relationship with the Hell’s Angels, his near-successful bid for the office of sheriff in Aspen in 1970, the notorious story behind the landmark Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, his deep involvement in Senator George McGovern’s 1972 presidential campaign, and much more. Narrated by Johnny Depp.” Trailer after the jump.
Please join us for a one-of-a-kind coffee event percolating in Downtown Phoenix on Sunday, March 30, 2008 at Fair Trade Café, the Valley’s premiere coffee house featuring Fair Trade (fair social and environmental standards) and organic products.
Les Beans a’la Fair Trade Café will feature a rare interactive coffee roasting with renowned roaster Scott Gilliland of Adventure Coffee Roasting in addition to a delicious coffee cupping (tasting), dessert pairings and a Coffee 101 tutorial. Truly a delightful “demitasse” for those discriminating connoisseurs and aficionados who cherish their coffee and would like to learn more!
This unique engagement is in celebration of the 15th Anniversary of Arizona Women in Tune (AZWIT)*, as the weekend of events culminates with an afternoon of all things java. To mark this occasion, all guests will receive a 1 lb. bag of AZWIT 15th Anniversary Blend, a specially designed product created exclusively by our Fair Trade coffee roaster and only available during this event. Continue reading →
I just confirmed this. He has yet to be arraigned (now 2:36pm.) But the Caucus was able to secure several lawyers to speak with him. They have confirmed he has a broken leg. We do not no if he is receiving adequate medical attention, but I do know he is in pain. More soon…
(UPDATE) Rev is home with a broken leg. He is on crutches. He has several misdemeanor charges which include attacking an officer. As most know Rev… he is a simple man. He walks nearly everywhere and has always been fine doing so. So now being on crutches, this will limit his movement work significantly. Any support during this time would be appreciated. Consider making a donation to the Hip Hop Caucus at www.hiphopcaucus.org.
Please show your solidarity by coming to his arraignment on September 11th.
He is being held overnight in jail and will be arraigned tomorrow at 1:00 in DC Superior Court (500 Indiana Ave.)
This is near the Judiciary Square Metro Stop.
Rev. Yearwood did not assault the police or even resist them. We hear he is being charged with a felony resisting arrest. This is often done when police overreact and use unnecessary force in order to justify their actions. This is a serious charge. The community needs to come out today and show their support for this important spokesperson for our cause.
It evokes a tragedy that marks an epoch. From the outset, the warfare state has exploited “9/11,” a label at once too facile and too laden with historic weight — giving further power to the tacit political axiom that perception is reality.
Often it seems that media coverage is all about perception, especially when the underlying agendas are wired into huge profits and geopolitical leverage. If you associate a Big Mac or a Whopper with a happy meal or some other kind of great time, you’re more likely to buy it. If you connect 9/11 with a need for taking military action and curtailing civil liberties, you’re more likely to buy what the purveyors of war and authoritarian government have been selling for the past half-dozen years. Continue reading →
Capitol Hill Police ‘Football Tackled’ Hip Hop Activist Rev. Lennox Yearwood at Petreus Hearing
UPDATE: I am told that they are planning to charge him with attacking an officer. Please see the video for yourself. He is in the hospital recovering. I will keep you posted on details as they develop.
WASHINGTON - September 10 - Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr., president of the Hip Hop Caucus, was attacked by six capitol police today, when he was stopped from entering the Cannon Caucus Room on Capitol Hill, where General Petreaus gave testimony today to a joint hearing for the House Arms Services Committee and Foreign Relations Committee on the war in Iraq.
After waiting in line throughout the morning for the hearing that was scheduled to start at 12:30pm, Rev. Yearwood was stopped from entering the room, while others behind him were allowed to enter. He told the officers blocking his ability to enter the room, that he was waiting in line with everyone else and had the right to enter as well. When they threatened him with arrest he responded with “I will not be arrested today.” According to witnesses, six capitol police, without warning, “football tackled” him. He was carried off in a wheel chair by DC Fire and Emergency to George Washington Hospital.
Rev. Yearwood said as he was being released from the hospital to be taken to central booking, “The officers decided I was not going to get in Gen. Petreaus’ hearing when they saw my button, which says ‘I LOVE THE PEOPLE OF IRAQ.’”
Capitol Police are not saying what the charges are, but an inside source has said that the charge is assaulting a police officer. Rev. Yearwood is scheduled to be transferred to Central Processing to be arraigned tomorrow morning.
Reading his “Letter From Baghdad” column in the New York Times on Sept. 5, you’d never know that Thomas Friedman has a history of enthusiasm for war. Now he laments that Iraq is bad for the United States — “everyone loves seeing us tied down here” — stuck in the “madness that is Iraq.” And he concludes that the good Americans who have been sent to Iraq will not be deserved by Iraqis “if they continue to hate each other more than they love their own kids.”
The column, under a Baghdad dateline, is boilerplate Friedman: sprinkled with I-am-here anecdotes and breezy geopolitical nostrums. For years now, the man widely touted as America’s most influential journalist has indicated that his patience with the war in Iraq might soon run out. But, like the media establishment he embodies, Friedman can’t bring himself to renounce a war that he helped to launch and then blessed as the incarnation of virtue. Continue reading →
By Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr.
President of the Hip Hop Caucus
On July 1, 2007 I sought the support of regular Americans after receiving notification from the U.S. Air Force Reserve that they were threatening to discharge me on the basis of behavior that, in their words, is “clearly inconsistent with the interest of national security.” The behavior in question is my outspoken opposition to the occupation of Iraq and the inadequate and inhuman response to the tragedy of Katrina.
As a result of the outpouring of support I received from all over the United States and from around the world, the Air Force backed down. Thanks to my brothers and sisters in the movement, I will end my service with the honorable discharge that I earned. I am eternally grateful, and evermore committed to taking on the powers that be for the powers that ought to be.
At first, when I informed the Air Force that I would fight their harassment, they threatened me with deployment to Iraq, or even prison time. Then with the tremendous circulation and widespread publishing of my first Open Letter, the Air Force realized if they were going to challenge me, they would have to challenge thousands of Americans from across the nation outside of Robbins Air Force Base in Georgia, on my hearing date. Continue reading →
