And the other thing I believe is, as [our] society collapse[s] and we may see this in the next two or three years, as the policies of the new government are implemented, that there could be riots, there could be all kinds of social unrest if large numbers of people are gathering in public to eat, and they're discussing the fact that they have this shared destiny that has been forced on them by economic and political policies.
DB: We're talking with Keith McHenry. He's talking to us from Santa Cruz. He's the founder of the national organization, Food Not Bombs, and they attempt to give out free food to hungry folks, all over this country. And there are more and more people going hungry, and there are more and more people who have part-time, and full-time jobs, and they still don't have enough money to put food on the table. It is a real struggle. This is a growing, invisible group of people who are made up of veterans, people who have some kind of psychological breakdown, people who just can't hold on, given the way in which this economy is moving.
We hear that the stock market is doing great, but on the front lines...on Wall Street things are well, but on main street, things are not going so well. Keith you're going to be part of an event in Santa Cruz, coming up, I believe, this or next month, that has a lot to do with this, you want to talk about it?
KM: Yes, Chris Hedges, the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who was working for the New York Times, in the Middle East Bureau and so on. He is coming to Santa Cruz on Sunday, November 23rd. And he'll be speaking at the New Life Church, at 5:30 pm, in support of a campaign to get a constitutional protection zone passed. The legislation here where the...and this is in regards to Chris Hedges' lawsuit where he sued Obama for aspects of The National Defense Authorization Act, the NDAA, which is a law passed...signed into...signed by Obama late in 2011, actually on the last day of 2011 when he was in Hawaii.
And what it does is, it provides...makes it legal for the military to come, or this is what the Obama administration is alleging, that it makes it legal for the military to come to your community, and round up the people that they think are a national security threat, and disappear them into secret prisons, without charges, you don't have access to an attorney, and there is not necessarily even a military tribunal available. And you can be held until the end of hostilities.
And Leon Panetta, another local resident of the Monterey Bay Area, who is also speaking on Monday, at the Peace Church, of all things, is claiming that this war that we're currently supposedly involved in will go, at least, another 30 years. So you could be picked up by the military, in any community in the United States, if civil unrest grows, because of the policies that Obama might support, when he has both the House and the Senate controlled by Republicans. Could lead to civil unrest, and then the military could be called in like the Ferguson case and rather than rubber bullets, tear gas, and tanks, they could just send in the U.S. military, capture whoever they want, take them away, and disappear them for until the end of...
DB: Oh, I'm sure Food Not Bombs, out there in the streets, could be a prime candidate of violating various statutes, and taking actions that jeopardize national security. If you can get arrested, as you were, on Christmas Eve for giving out free food, then you can get arrested for violating national security, I guess.
KM: Absolutely. And that's why I've been invited to speak at this event, that's again Chris Hedges, on Sunday, November 23rd, in Santa Cruz, California, at the Inner Light Ministries, on Soquel. And people are definitely encouraged to come. It should be a pretty incredible event. And we're hoping that this will catapult our campaign into success here, where there will be a constitutional protected zone.
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