From Craig Louis Stehr's FB entries 1st post: January 17, 2012: Occupy Congress action report

Occupy Congress Report

 01/17/12   By Craig Louis Stehr (craigstehr [at] hushmail.com )

[WASHINGTON, D.C]  "Hundreds arrived last night at both McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza encampments in Washington D.C., coming from Occupy camps from around the USA. It rained all night, and then cleared up just in time for our 9AM march. We went straight up Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol building. Protest marchers assembled on the front west lawn until 3:00PM. Returning congress heard the people's dissent!  [See more photos and huffington post article]

"They trickled in last night at both Occupy D.C. encampments, from other Occupy camps near and far. Occupy Monterey CA, Portland Oregon, Bellingham WA, Atlanta, OWS, Florida, Delaware, they kept coming in all night. The temperature shot up and it rained until morning, providing a relatively warm day in the 50s, compared to the usual mid-30s

"At 8:30AM, a huge wave of anarchists came down 14th Street NW (three blocks from the White House), LOUDLY chanting revolutionary slogans.[Editor's note :4 of them were arrested later that day] They merged with us at Freedom Plaza and promptly at 9AM, we collectively marched straight up Pennsylvania Avenue behind an OCCUPY D.C. banner. It was LOUD!   

"Uncountable police from an uncountable number of agencies accompanied us. At the Capitol building we encountered the plastic green fencing announcing that the turf was being upgraded, and we ignored this stupidity of an attempt to alter our assemblage, and marched over and around the fencing onto the west front lawn. We continued to convey our feelings to the returning U.S. Congress inside until 3:00PM, guaranteeing that the voice of the 99% of the people was heard. 

"Tonight, we're having the mother of all Occupy parties at both encampments. Here are a couple of links: http://www.kctv5.com/story/16536289/occupy-congress ...No doubt more videos will be available soon...check out the DC IMC ones.

"Nota bene by Craig Louis Stehr: "My personal thanks to everyone who financially and otherwise backed up my being at both NYCs OWS and later at Occupy DC, since I arrived in Manhattan October 18th. I'm flying back to Cali Saturday morning to crash in the Compared to What jazz band's rehearsal studio in Oakland. Mission accomplished! RIGHT WING SCUM...YOUR TIME HAS COME."

Just another Saturday night...

A quick note to say that I am moving out of San Francisco's Emperor Norton Travel Inn Monday morning, and going nearby to a travel hostel for one week.  I don't have any idea what the future looks like, but will continue creating space and being spiritually available.  I have sent out an email to say that if anybody has more insight than this, please share the vision.

    Have been attending Catholic Mass at St.Patrick's historic church (across the street from the not so historic Metreon, on Mission Street).  As the priest said in his sermon, we are the Children of the Light!  Our future is not defined by earthly existence only, but in the hereafter also, which gives one an entirely more positive view.  Received Holy Communion to be able to glow a bit more also.

     Am attentive for spiritual instructions tonight, ;-)))))  Craig

Collective Literary Work in Progress

"Whereas I am not attached to the third dimension, because when postmodernism isn't stupid, it's insane...

August 27, 2016. ...You are invited to add to this, and send it on to others, (as we continue boycotting the 2016 American presidential election).  This is a collective literary work in progress.  When the piece is sufficiently blossomed, wheat paste it everywhere. 

I mean, if you are really done with the aggravating, demeaning, fecal matter of a pig culture of consumerism, then contribute to killing the unholy ugly thing off!  Wouldn't you just love to walk right up to the monster, punch it in the face as heard as you can with a hatchet, cut its heart out with a can opener, and feed the still warm pumping muscle to a passing vulture?  And then attend a dinner dance with all of your divinely anarchistic friends?  What are we waiting for?

Craig Louis Stehr
26.VIII.'16
Email: CraigStehr@inbox.com

Rockin' It!

August 18, 2016. Woke up this morning in my travel hostel bed in San Francisco, Larkin & Ellis in the tenderloin.  Before moving, began chanting Krishna's maha mantram:  Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.  Not allowing random discursive thoughts to appear, instead only the maha mantram being repeated.  

Following morning ablutions, went to the coin laundry mat recommended by the front desk, put in a load, returned to Hostelling International for the complimentary breakfast, returned to the laundry mat to load the dryer, finished, folded the happy, clean clothes, went back to my room and put everything away.  You might ask: "So what?"  I might respond: "Continuous chanting of the maha mantram changes a forgettable mundane experience into an ongoing mystical reality."

     Checked emails and discovered that my dental appointment has been moved up, due to a cancellation, to tomorrow morning for a crown replacement.  This changes everything, in terms of how long I need to be in San Francisco, or how I might be here; staying at travel hostels, or month to month at an inn, or maybe leaving the city for an unknown destination.  Instead of dwelling on this, continuous chanting.  Instead of worrying about the unknown, continuous chanting.

     Mailed friends in Honolulu a gift package for the newly designated meditation room at The Plumeria travelers hostel.  Picked out a groovy design gift box at Rincon Annex post office.  Got back on BART and went to Oakland's The Buttercup for a Spanish omelet and an English muffin.  Coffee.  Sat at the counter and watched the confusing news report on a big high definition flat screen.  No wonder I've called for a boycott of the 2016 American presidential election in the name of "Earth First!".  Continuing to chant the maha mantram while eating breakfast and attempting to make sense of the televised news.

     Went to Berkeley to check my post office box...no mail today.  Am now at the Berkeley Public Library on a public computer composing this message, (silently) chanting Krishna's maha mantram, remaining spiritually centered in the fourth dimension, not caring where I go and not having to do anything that is pressing in the third dimension.

     I invite all creative radical individuals who are aware of the paradigm shift happening on the earth plane to contact me.  What would you do in this world if you knew that you could not fail?

Craig Louis Stehr
Email: CraigStehr@inbox.com

Hello America, Anybody Goin' Beyond "Drinking Beer and Accepting the Situation"?

August 13, 2016. Please appreciate the fact that I am seeking others to form a spiritually based nomadic action group, for now being active in the United States of America. I offer this as an alternative to the default choice, which is to "drink beer and accept the situation".   

Considering the stupidity of the 2016 American presidential election, (starting with the fact that neither major political party has an environmental plank), what is the point of going along with this spectacle?  

How about instead we form groups and bring in our mojo, work our magic, and create a reality to live in on earth which is satisfactory.  If this strikes you as being superior to "drinking beer and accepting the situation" for the rest of your life, then go ahead and contact me at CraigStehr@inbox.com.  

I will be at a San Francisco travel hostel until August 22nd, and then am ready to hit the road, can get on an airplane or train and meet others anywhere, have sufficient money to maintain myself, and all that I am asking for is cooperation to intervene in history.  What are we waiting for?  Thank you very much, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Craig Louis Stehr
August 13, 2016
San Francisco

August 13, 2016 We did our best,

Craig Louis Stehr cooking for congressional candidate Andy Caffrey in Garberville, CA.

Onward and Upward

April 16, 2016 Blisteringly hot socio-political and steaming mulch radical environmental greetings to you,  Democracy Spring continues to occupy the Capitol in Washington, D.C. as best that it can (without getting shot!), and will continue doing so to deliver the message that a corrupted, bought by global capitalism and run by a psychotic consumerist international freak show, will no longer be accepted by the American people.  

The prevailing attitude in front of the White House is that it would be preferable to padlock it after the Obamas move out rather than let the Clintons move back in.  Majority opinion is that the Republicans will not advance beyond the convention in late July in Cleveland, where anarchists plan to take dissent to a higher level.  Also, the Democratic convention in Philadelphia in late July is perceived by some of the Democracy Spring marchers to be even more necessary to be shut down, because the Democrats represent a greater and possibly longer lasting insidious problem in terms of a lack of transparency, and general pandering to special interests.  Also, the foreign policies of the two parties are an ongoing environmental death knell, specifically in terms of the extractive industries which are run by multinational corporations.  Obviously, climate destabilization is scary and needs to be addressed, regardless of the stupidity of American politicians and their corporate masters.

     A sense of frustration is being felt by protesters in Washington, D.C. insofar as credible third party candidates are concerned, since corporate media, for example, is not allowing the Green Party into the televised debates, and also the miracle which would be required to have Uncle Bernie prevail does not appear to be happening, although supporters are hopeful.  This is fueling a growing sense of futility, as the possibility of a Republican administration with either the NYC billionaire rookie or the fracking evangelical Texan moving into the oval office becomes more likely.

     The usually quiet under-the-table discussion of using tactics other than "non-violent" is becoming more openly advocated by participants out of the cameras eye, as the Capitol police lead away an endless line of handcuffed Capitol steps occupiers.  Even historically pacifistic groups who are here look more indrawn that usual, and I am referring to the religious.  Catholic workers and Pax Christie, Jewish middle east peace advocates, Muslim moderate types, inter-faith council members such as Unitarians, and neopagans of various types are all part of the Democracy Spring group, which is evident at the early assembly in front of Union Station where the free breakfast is being served.

     The collective gossip over morning coffee is in regard to the quicksand sinking feeling that most are experiencing this week, and that the global ecological situation is approaching implosion; which is irrelevant to global capitalism, which requires inflation for its necessary growth, and has a more critical need of constant war to spur the global economy.  The fact that this is insane is not comprehended by either main political party's current front runner, which is resulting in a reconsideration by Democracy Spring activists of the basic intelligence of continuing with an essentially "non-violent" and in some cases pacifistic approach by protesters.  Intimations that collaboration with other tendencies at the late July conventions, for example, and certainly before that at scheduled bioregional gatherings, is a definite possibility.  The elderly who led one of the Capitol step occupations are being tight lipped in response to a younger generation's advocacy of a return to tactics of previous anarchist blocs, such as what was seen at the Republican convention in Philadelphia in the summer of 2000, and some of the eighty year olds are recalling a certain police riot in Chicago in 1968.

     The Earth First! annual Round River Rendezvous will take place in Michigan this year in early July, and a lot of the philosophical questions will be answered then.  Radical environmentalism has been pushed against the wall, so to speak, by years of fascist political regimes worldwide, with recent murders in central America being the latest examples of how far global capitalism is willing to go to ensure its own continuance.  None of this is lost on the Democracy Spring assemblage on the Capitol hill steps this week, which will go on through Monday April 18th.

Craig Louis Stehr
April 16, 2016
Washington, D.C.

I'm Seeking a Creative Opportunity by Noon on Sunday

Hello everybody, I am booked into Berkeley, California's Piedmont House travel hostel until Sunday January 17, 2016 I am able to go to the SFO airport and fly to either the New York City~Washington D.C. region to participate in more frontline radical environmental-peace and justice activities.  

Or, I could consider any other worthwhile situation.  

Or, I could continue drinking "Trouble Coffee" at San Francisco's Ocean Beach, watching the eternal witness watch thoughts, which just float on past continuously.

Feel free to contact me at CraigStehr@inbox.com, or telephone 510-849-4800 and chat it up with the outstanding staff who maintain Berkeley's most significant bohemian residence, and leave me a message for room Lucky 13.  But you better hurry, because in addition to my guest reservation being up in 38 1/2 hours, the travel hostel is up for sale.  Hey, nobody here actually knows what is going to happen in the next five minutes!

Is Anything Rad Happening on the East Coast Anymore?

Warmest spiritual greetings, 
Am sitting here at a computer at the Berkeley Public Library, enjoying kind of a balmy day following a light rain.  Might go again to walk the length of Ocean Beach, but I don't need it.  

Not really interested in hanging out in a hardcore bar in the Mission neighborhood either.
I have given money to the Piedmont House travel hostel, and am chillin' in room Lucky 13 until January 17th  

 I can afford to go to the SFO airport and get on an airplane, and like, go somewhere and be active in a radically environmental manner.  I could also be somewhere participating in related peace and justice activities, since now we all know that you cannot really separate the ecology from the society; I mean, not really.

     You may contact me at this email address: CraigStehr@inbox.com, or telephone Piedmont House at 510-849-4800 and chat it up with all of the cool people there who keep the hostel hummin'.  And please leave a message for me, which will help to determine precisely what I can do next to contribute.  Like, it would be just insane to wait for spring.  

What's wrong with now?  After all, the politicians aren't taking the winter season off.
  
While anticipating tonight's Powerball drawing, I lots of time to read emails.  So go ahead and send me one.  Considering the fact that nothing is happening of any critical nature on the eastern seaboard right now, and like, the president said last night that everything is basically fine, go ahead and send me an email message.  I'll answer it.  And then we can all be active again in support of Mother Earth, and we can be for one another, and love all, and be enlightened, and drop these bodies and minds and go up.  

Aren't you just superstoked? Let's go!!

Craig Louis Stehr
January 13, 2016
EMAIL: CraigStehr@inbox.com

Into the Mystic

Thanks to everyone for your emails, and to Jesse Schultz for his invitation to camp with he, Pepper, and the cat outside of the Washington D.C. beltway.

     Am still at Berkeley's Piedmont House until noon Sunday the 17th and have no plan at all beyond that.  Spent this morning at the Kabuki Spa in San Francisco's Japantown, watching six pounds of water go down the drain, and later in the day wandered around the Mission in a serene condition, before returning to the east bay.  Went to sleep at  8:30pm because I don't have anything else to do.  Awoke at midnight and am presently on the travel hostel's guest computer.

     Watching random thoughts all the time, not identifying with the body nor the mind, enjoying the annual free trip around the sun, casting aside the irrelevance of postmodernism, unconcerned with the idiocy of the political primaries, lost track of the world economy weeks ago, have no reason to pay attention to the weather, abandoning the stupidity of conventional behaviour, (never really wanting to be an automaton-with-skin anyway), awaiting the new issue of the Earth First! Journal, I wish you insight beyond the point of no return.

Craig Louis Stehr
January 12th, 2016

Happy, Happy, Happy

New Year's Eve greetings my fellow Americans, Although I see no magic particularly in regard to the date of December 31st, I have nevertheless brought in a box of chocolates for the Piedmont House travel hostel in Berkeley. I look forward to taking rest at the relatively early hour of 10 pm but for the rest of the region, the BART train will run until 3AM.
    

I have not received any offers of solidarity on the east coast to return there, after continuously sending out messages stating that I am eager to get on an air plane, have some money, don't give a hoot about the annual winter weather, and am uncertain what to do about this.  

I don't think that a "fair weather radicalism" is going to work for me; since that would imply that there is not really any serious problem.  Indeed, I am not getting any favorable responses to return to the NYC-D.C. power strip for more front line activity against the insane idiocy which we have been collectively protesting against for around 50 years, for some of us, so I sit here tonight in front of the travel hostel computer, wondering just what I am going to do.

If you agree that this is insufferably stupid, go ahead and contact me.  I need to give the travel hostel two more weeks worth of money on Sunday if I wish to be here longer.  But then, I do not have any reason to be here any longer at all.  Maybe I just don't relate to postmodernism.

Happy New Year, Craig Louis Stehr

Craig Louis Stehr
EMAIL: CraigStehr@inbox.com