I have 193 fans: Become a Fan. You'll get emails whenever I post articles on OpEdNews
on Twitter
Rob Kall is executive editor, publisher and site architect of OpEdNews.com, Host of the Rob Kall Bottom Up Radio Show (WNJC 1360 AM), President of Futurehealth, Inc, inventor . He is also published regularly on the Huffingtonpost.com
With his experience as architect and founder of a technorati top 100 blog, he is also a new media / social media consultant and trainer for corporations, non-profits, entrepreneurs and authors.
Rob is a frequent Speaker on the bottom up revolution, politics, The art, science and power of story, heroes and the hero's journey, Positive Psychology, Stress, Biofeedback and a wide range of subjects. He is a campaign consultant specializing in tapping the power of stories for issue positioning, stump speeches and debates, and optimizing tapping the power of new media. He recently retired as organizer of several conferences, including StoryCon, the Summit Meeting on the Art, Science and Application of Story and The Winter Brain Meeting on neurofeedback, biofeedback, Optimal Functioning and Positive Psychology. See more of his articles here and, older ones, here.
To Watch me on youtube, having a lively conversation with John Conyers, Chair of the House Judiciary committee, click here Now, wouldn't you like to see me on the political news shows, representing progressives. If so, tell your favorite shows to bring me on and refer them to this youtube video
My radio show, The Rob Kall Bottom Up Radio Show, runs 9-10 PM EST Wednesday evenings, on AM 1360, WNJC and is archived at www.opednews.com/podcasts Or listen to it streaming, live at www.wnjc1360.com
Rob also host a health/mind/body/heart/spirit radio show-- the Rob Kall Futurehealth radio show. Check out podcasts from it at futurehealth.org/podcasts
A few declarations.
-While I'm registered as a Democrat, I consider myself to be a dynamic critic of the Democratic party, just as, well, not quite as much, but almost as much as I am a critic of republicans.
-My articles express my personal opinion, not the opinion of this website.
(27 comments) The Department of Homeland Security has a long list of words it tracks online. Want to get in their radar? Use those words. Want to stay off their radar? You'll have to do a serious dance with your vocabulary. It's a long, very general list.
(8 comments) Uncommitted took second place to Obama, with 42.1 percent of the vote compared to Obama's 57.9%. That's a huge message of discontent the Obama campaign will probably ignore.
(9 comments) There is a playbook with a collection of tools and strategies conservatives use to erode democracy and strip mine the treasures, assets and strengths of the USA. They are almost always masked as changes aimed at serving democracy, the constitution, rights or capitalism. They are not separate. They are not coincidental.
(21 comments) I had to go see the movie, THE AVENGERS, in 3D Imax And it was entertaining.
But having been through the past year's Occupy Wall Street experience gave me new eyes.
And what those eyes viewed brought me to an epiphany. Superheroes serve the 1%. They serve the top down powers that are waging a massive war with the 99%-- we on the bottom.
(24 comments) O'Reilly said, literally, "I despise progressives." He then went on to say something, and this in not necessarily the literal quote, "but liberals are okay."
So I asked leading progressives what they thought about it.
(27 comments) If you think things can be changed with electoral politics today, think again. Matt Taibbi's lastest Rolling Stone article has certainly confirmed my attitude towards electoral politics.
The system, at this time, is totally broken.
(31 comments) The US is really screwed. Right wing duped fools and delusional libertarians and Democratic faithful are all helping the transnational corporatist predators to strip mine the USA's resources.
(202 comments) I'm switching my voting registration from Democrat to independent.
I'm doing it to send a message to the democratic party that I'm not happy with the way they operate, not happy with their leadership and not happy with their pseudo-liberalism and the pro-corporatist policies that they have embraced.
I'm changing to independent because the two party system is killing America and killing democracy.
(25 comments) We need to build on this meme-- that CEOs taking huge paychecks are pigs, are psychopaths, are traitors to America, loyal to transnational, soulless nations. This is a very aggressive label to put on these people.
It's best that we, the 99.999% know who our real enemies are. They are no better than cannibals, and actually, just as bad or worse.
(9 comments) As the shadow of the security state looms larger and larger, darkening mankind's future, this action by Israel could accelerate the darkness.
(2 comments) This morning, on Morning Joe, regular guest, Donny Deutsch, commented that now, with the purchase of the LA Dodgers by a hedge fund fronted by Magic Johnson, all the major sports teams are owned by Hedge Funds.
(20 comments) I'm finally coming to face the reality that voting only feeds into the illusion the system creates that different candidates really make a difference. The truth is, voting for the lesser of two evils only moves us towards the next election with two worse evils.
There ARE things we can do though.
(6 comments) .
The theater was filled with teenagers, but to me, Hunger Games is more than a hot movie. It's a media phenomenon, fueled by sales of over 26 million copies of the first three books in the series.
I was not to be disappointed. First, though I tried, the Imax version of the show was sold out. So I had to see the old fashioned 2-D version. It was still worth it
(3 comments) Opednews.com was one of over 200 small non-profit organizations that had funds vanish.
There are a number of articles, the major ones listed below, which tell the sad tale.
(23 comments) Manchurian candidates have been characterized as plants, put into positions of power, so they can do their work for the entity that plants them many years earlier. In some ways, I am feeling like some of the many Catholics in government now have blossomed as Manchurian plants, particularly when we look at the unfolding attack on the right to access to birth control the Catholic Church seems to be systematically orchestrating
(6 comments) We know that AIPAC meddles in US policy, exerting huge influence on congress.
I have no doubt that any member of congress who attacks US policy of blindly supporting Israel will be targeted to be primaried.
Could it get any worse? Maybe it can. Maybe Israeli leaders are literally taking actions, talking war, operating a playbook with the intention of influencing the 2012 presidential elections.
(19 comments) Some of the same old Catholic Bishops and their proxies are making a lot of noise about Obamacare's requirement that hospitals and schools cover contraception costs.
(4 comments) At this point, it is impossible to deny that the Citizens United Supreme Court decision was an act of treason, totally exposing the US election system to unlimited influence by foreign nations.
(12 comments) I left the BBC America channel on last night. When I put the TV on today, the Torchwood series was playing.
It tells the story of a world where aliens are returning. They communicate by taking over the children-- all the children in the world-- who freeze and then start mouthing the same message;
(16 comments) Mark Perry goes beyond what he reported in his Foreign Policy article to discuss multiple Israeli False flag operations and how supporters of Palestinians fall into the languaging trap, using the words Jews and Jewish.
(13 comments) Congress has handed President Obama more executive branch power, further damaging the "balance of power" that protects Democracy. This time he's signed ACTA, an international treaty that could make the worst fears about SOPA and PIPA seem minor.
(21 comments) FLAME, (Facts and Logic About the Middle East,) a rabidly right wing, organization which generates Pro-Israel, anti-palestinian, anti-Iran, anti American Left propaganda, has stooped to a new low. It has sent out an email titled, " Killing Iranian Nuclear Scientists May Be the Best Hope for Stopping the Mullahs."
(13 comments) Opednews.com stands with Google, Wikipedia, and countless other Internet activists protesting Internet censorship today. The Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA) and Protect-IP Act (PIPA) threaten the many glorious freedoms of the web and the communities that have risen from it--including our own.
(2 comments) Corporate personhood has not been an issue that's been on the table in terms of presidential campaigns or debates. That was until the superpac Stephen Colbert just transferred to Jon Stewart, Americans for a Better Tomorrow Tomorrow, created an ad that pulls together a quote from Romney, affirming that corporations are people, with the idea of executing corporations. Is "Mitt the Ripper a Serial Killer? Read on.
(14 comments) Congress is punting again, this time on the tax cut extension. This pattern, which has led to the lowest approval levels since measures of approval were taken, has become chronic. It's really about the bulk of the members of congress being cowards who are intentionally destroying the balance of powers between legislative, Judiciary and Exectutive, so they can save their jobs.
(1 comments) This year, I don't want to buy crap from box stores to give for presents.
I don't want to give money to a commercial, consumer system that has been designed to break down community, isolate people.
What are YOU giving that builds community and connection, that supports people, not corporations, that is ecologically sound.
(20 comments) Chris Matthews just asked his guests on his Sunday show the question, "What's the Biggest Event or Thing that Happened This Year?"
Guests mentioned the shooting of congresswoman Gifford, the economic mess in Europe, the Killing of Bin Laden.
(2 comments) If the unemployed and poor are to be drug tested, why not drug test legislators as well? That's the idea of Georgia Democratic legislator Scott Holcomb, according to an article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution,
(4 comments) Corporate personhood is one of the biggest issues for Occupy Wall Street. Thom Hartmann, who wrote THE book on it, discusses it and related issues as they relate to Occupy Wall street, Citizens United and the current state of affairs.
(25 comments) The US real estate market went to hell when bankers centralized home financing. Before then, local bankers worked with people in their communities. The move to centralized, algorithm driven banking led to the massive increase in foreclosures and the collapse of the real estate market.
Now, French and German leaders Sarkozi and Merkel are calling for increasing the centralization of control of European economic policies
(7 comments) a report on the first major action of Occupy Philly since the encampment was shut down and blockaded. There was a real question of whether people would show up. This gave an answer, bigtime. Videos included.
(10 comments) Police have taken over the Dilworth Plaza where Occupy Philly has been. Occupiers marched to Rittenhouse Square, a small park in center city Philly surrounded by expensive condos.
In LA the police have been reportedly gathering at Dodgers stadium in preparation for clearing Occupy LA. Live feed reports over 500 people there.
(13 comments) I witnessed the waning of Occupy Philly's encampment, but also saw what looks to me like a pattern of energy and development that suggests that occupy evictions will lead to a Metamorphosis of the Occupy Movement to something that not only walks but flies, that is more beautiful, more powerful than anything we have seen so far.
(1 comments) The enemy of the middle class and the 99%, the United States Chamber of Commerce is lobbying to end laws making it illegal to engage in the corrupt practices of bribery. The fines big corporations are paying are for some, the only money the government is getting from them, since they avoid paying taxes.
(18 comments) Did police use of pepper spray on OWS protesters "prime" the woman who pepper sprayed Walmart shoppers this morning. If so, and people avoid shopping the box store melees, those police actions could have led to losses of hundreds of millions if not billions in Black Friday sales.
(19 comments) The Arab spring occupations did not tweak their political systems. They replaced them with big, huge changes. There was no waiting for the end of a political term. The occupiers re-set the terms.
Now, in Tahrir Sqaure, hundreds of thousands protesters are standing up against violent military & police, laying their lives on the line for true democracy, I say, follow the Tahrir Square model HERE. Demand these BIG changes
(23 comments) Ron Paul has again distanced himself from the mainstream right wing echo chamber and its lock step messaging attacking and defaming Occupy Wall Street.
At a recent event, Paul was subjected to the "human mike," where people start by saying "mike check," then repeat words. "we will be heard." When they were done, Paul asked, "Do you feel better?" which brought cheers and standing ovations.
(5 comments) Israeli defense minister and former prime minister Ehud Barak says Obama is "extremely strong supporter of Israel in regard to its security"
(24 comments) Across the nation a "safety" meme is emerging as the excuse police chiefs, Mayors, etc. are using to justify intensifying, brutal levels of violence against peaceful Occupy Wall Street protesters. Many have speculated that the fingerprints of the FBI and Homeland Security are behind the pattern of assaults and evictions of OWS locales and protesters. To me, that suggests President Obama is allowing, perhaps even encouraging..
(19 comments) Some are calling it Obama punting, but I say that the protesters who were arrested at the White House gates and elsewhere, Bill McKibben, 350.org and the 10,000 plus protesters who circled the Whitehouse this past weekend flat out WON!!
(22 comments) Go to many of the occupied territories and there are signs that read,
"I'll accept corporate personhood when Texas executes a corporation."
In a recent thread, a few commenters were speculating on what an execution of a corporation would look like.
That got my imagination spinning.
(39 comments) Is the Occupy Wall Street movement fetishizing the spaces that they occupy? Are they defining the movement based on place rather than the many, many other powerful elements and symbols the movement has developed as it has birthed and evolved?
(11 comments) I first heard the term, "Occupied Territories" from Vanessa, a press person and occupier living at Occupy Philly.
Occupied territories!!
It struck me as such a more powerful word than the words I had been using to describe the different Occupy Wall Street locales and communities.
Locales or communities exist. They are. But Occupied Territories, well that's a term with some muscle in it, some fight, some power.
(4 comments) The biggest "progressive" think tank has a new, non-progressive leader. But maybe, with the embryonic Occupy Movement developing, that doesn't matter.
(21 comments) When the right attacks the Occupy movement, and suggest that the Tea Party is better, or that the people of the Occupy movement are not of the best class-- you know they are either lying or ignorant. There is no comparison between the two. The Occupy movement is profoundly more kind, more evolved, more deep and nurturing than the Koch funded tea party.
(20 comments) Last night I covered a Trenton City council meeting where Occupy Trenton was being discussed. There, I met Trenton Tea Party president, Darrell Brooks, who has been supporting and participating in Occupy Trenton and the Occupy movement in general. We talked about his support for the movement and how that gibes with the Tea Party and we discussed corporate personhood.
(7 comments) Could the Koch brothers be buying the Republican presidential nomination with a Koch-Cain (pronounced like cocaine) campaign? They've been funding Cain as their mouthpiece for a long time.
(5 comments) Brookfield Properties, the company which owns Zuccoti Square, has ordered that it be cleared and cleaned, with new rules that prohibit laying down or using sleep bags to follow. The question is, will activists in the many cities where Brookfield Properties rents office and retail space, launch actions against the company that seems to be launching an attack on the Occupy Wall Street movement.
(8 comments) I asked Noam Chomsky, "What's your take on the criticism that Occupy Wall Street people don't have demands, don't have leaders, are not clear on what they stand for?"
He replied.
(11 comments) The Occupy Wall Street movement is freaking out leaders on the right. Fact is, they are not scared or worried enough. The OWS movement is a huge, explosive development, with bigger more profound implications than they can imagine, just like the US space program had a much greater affect on every occupant of the planet.
(25 comments) Cain doesn't get why his "go to the White House" admonition is the exact opposite of what the Occupy Movement is all about.
There's a lot of work yet to be done by the Occupy movement. Like a fresh tapped oil well, the energy is gushing and not yet fully harnessed. But it will be soon and when it is, look out. Changes are going to happen, in spite of the powers at the top. This is a truly bottom-up movement.
(46 comments) It's become clear that besides pepper-spray wielding police there is another threat to the "Occupy" movement-- agents provocateur.
An agent provocateur admitted perpetrating actions at the protest at the National Air and Space museum. There was another person who engaged in a violent act-- who the other protesters quickly stopped and challenged.
Discussion of the dangers of these kinds of people for the Occupy movement.
(26 comments) Starting from the Freedom Square, Occupy Washington DC staging area, a group of 700-1500 protesters marched through Washington DC to the National Air and Space Museum to protest the US of drones to kill.
(11 comments) Thousands, maybe tens of thousands showed up at Freedom Square in DC on a perfect, sunny day.
The big themes were the ten year anniversary of the Afghan war and getting corporations out of government.
(13 comments) The same people and entities that have corrupted the three branches of US government so they are no longer accountable to the people are also waging class war on Europe and the rest of the world.
The Occupy Wall Street movement IS going international and well it should. The conversation is about opposing corporate personhood, as it should but it should also be about opposing globalization and international trade deals.
(9 comments) Actions are showing up all over the world. Opednews wants YOU to report on ones near you-- in comments or articles or diaries. Become a part of the action. Become a citizen journalist today.
(9 comments) The people who have showed up at Occupy Wall Street are succeeding, inspiring people all across America. Photos from Brooklyn Bridge and Boston
(40 comments) People are coming out into the streets because going into voting booths has not helped them. People are joining "occupation" protests because they've realized that things are getting so bad that they have to do something.
(9 comments) Today, President Barack Obama said that since congress has been unable to act, to "fix" No Child Left Behind-- he will act. He'll change education to reflect the approach that his administration, led by Arne Duncan, has used to get states to become more innovative with education.
(36 comments) I'm attending three days of whistleblower conferences and activities. Why? Because a few years ago, when I was naive about the state of whistle blowing in the U.S
(5 comments) For at least the past week, my 2008 article on Ron Paul,
Gawker just discovered, Center for American Progress reports following Gawker, Truthout is now reporting-- what Opednews reported in July 2008, how Ron Paul's loyal campaign manager died penniless. Kinda like Paul described in the debate the other day. Guess his campaign manager was the irresponsible type.
(26 comments) For at least the past week, my 2008 article on Ron Paul,
Gawker just discovered, Center for American Progress reports following Gawker, Truthout is now reporting-- what Opednews reported in July 2008, how Ron Paul's loyal campaign manager died penniless. Kinda like Paul described in the debate the other day. Guess his campaign manager was the irresponsible type.
(23 comments) It looks like Obama's political leadership team is going to try to spin the loss of Anthony Weiner's NY District 9 seat on Tuesday as a local anomaly primarily due to a large Jewish population.
Don't buy it. EVERY demographic is going to run away from Obama and his reverse coat-tails.
(24 comments) This is a sad Labor day. But perhaps, if we face the betrayal of those we thought were on our side we can make some progress. The people still do have the power, if they wake up and choose to use it.
There are no political parties out there that unflinchingly support social and ecological justice, that defend the middle class. We are on our own, almost. These are dark times.
(54 comments) We must face the reality that Barack Obama is a wimp, a smart guy, even a nice guy, who just doesn't have the spine to be as tough as the people of the United States and the rest of the world need.
This gaffe should lead to the firing of whoever orchestrated it for Obama, and whoever failed to nix it and that includes the withdrawal of Barack Obama as a candidate for the 2012 presidency.
(33 comments) a response to an article critical of Ron Paul, not that it is off the mark entirely, but that it ignores the ways that Obama is as or close to as objectionable.
(29 comments) The pollsters are all siding with President Obama. By failing to ask how voters would vote if given an option other than Obama, they make his election seem inevitable. Asking poll questions that let poll respondents express their preferences for Democrats other than Obama will open up the conversation.
(25 comments) BART police shut off cell phone service the other day for a few hours at a number of underground stations, raising questions of restrictions of freedom of speech and access to the internet, and making fears and concerns and conspiracy theories that the government and major phone and internet access providers would be restricting access for political reasons. This could be the 1st time that such a shutdown occurred in the US
(51 comments) The Tea Party has a reputation of unwillingness to compromise. But who knew that this inflexibility would extend to reality. Michele Bachmann proves, on CNN, that she's unwilling to accept reality. You can't do president without that capacity.
(43 comments) one of the most entertaining, funny debates I can ever remember seeing. Over and over again it felt like I was watching Saturday night live.
