View this brief and crucial history of the United States. 

Please leave us a comment on what you thought about this short documentary.

“There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part; you can’t even passively take part, and you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you’ve got to make it stop.

And you’ve got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you’re free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!”

Cut out the golf courses and turn them into public housing spaces. NIMBY!!!! The indomitable George Carlin.

UPDATE: The RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA CRUZ SUPPORTING THE RESTORATION OF DUE PROCESS AND THE RIGHT TO TRIAL BY AMENDING THE NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT was passed unanimously by the Santa Cruz City Council on April 10, 2012.

Dear Friends,

On Tuesday, April 10, 2012, between 3:00 and 5:00 PM, at the Santa Cruz City Council’s Regular Meeting in City Hall, 809 Center Street, Santa Cruz, citizens united in defense of their Constitutional rights will propose the adoption of a Resolution to Restore Due Process and the Right to Trial on the order of the resolution already adopted by Northampton, Massachusetts, in response to the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 (NDAA).

When President Obama signed the NDAA on December 31, 2011, he authorized indefinite military detention, without a trial or day in court, of anyone—even US citizens and residents—accused of a “belligerent act,” or any terror-related offense. The NDAA subjects these individuals to arbitrary detention without trial, denying the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of due process and Sixth Amendment rights to challenge evidence and confront one’s accusers. The NDAA also violates First and Fourth Amendment rights, because the radically unconstitutional PATRIOT Act deviously expanded the definition of “material support for terrorism” to include speech and association even by defendants who neither committed nor ever intended to support violence.

Your attendance is urgently needed.

We also request that you personally endorse the Resolution by sending the letter below or other letter of support along with the Model Resolution to the Santa Cruz City Council at your earliest convenience or no later than 2:00 PM, Wednesday, April 4, 2012. Email submitted to the City Council is public record. Your letter of support may also submitted at the time of the Regular Meeting.

Please copy the Organizing Committee on your communication.

Regular Meeting guidelines can be reviewed here: http://www.cityofsantacruz.com/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=17837.

The Organizing Committee can be reached at viktoriavidali@gmail.com. For additional reading/viewing, we recommend these links:

The Constitutional Crimes of Bush and Obama
Obama: A Disaster For Civil Liberties

Sincerely,

Aldo & Viktoria Vidali
Organizing Committee

SAMPLE LETTER

TO: ”Santa Cruz City Council” <citycouncil@cityofsantacruz.com>, “Don Lane” <dlane@cityofsantacruz.com>, ”Hilary Bryant” <hbryant@cityofsantacruz.com>, ”Katherine Beiers” <kbeiers@cityofsantacruz.com>, “Ryan Coonerty” <rcoonerty@cityofsantacruz.com>, ”Tony Madrigal” <tmadrigal@cityofsantacruz.com>, ”Lynn Robinson” <lrobinson@cityofsantacruz.com>, “David Terrazas” <dterrazas@cityofsantacruz.com>

Re: Resolution to Restore Due Process and the Right to Trial

Dear Mayor Lane and Members of the Santa Cruz City Council:

Santa Cruz has shown itself nationally to be a shining example of civic courage and constitutional awareness. In 1998, the Santa Cruz community declared itself a nuclear-free zone; in 2002, the City Council of Santa Cruz issued a proclamation opposing the USA Patriot Act; and in 2003, the Santa Cruz City Council became the first City Council in the U.S. to denounce the Iraq War. Please know that I am very, very proud of the Santa Cruz community, and the Santa Cruz City Council, for your progressive thinking and actions.

But our work – your work – continues, for today we’re called on to reject the monstrous illegal breach of our constitutional guarantees of due process: the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 (NDAA).

When President Obama signed the NDAA on December 31, 2011, he authorized indefinite military detention, without a trial or day in court, of anyone—even US citizens and residents—accused of a “belligerent act,” or any terror-related offense. The NDAA subjects these individuals to arbitrary detention without trial, denying the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of due process and Sixth Amendment rights to challenge evidence and confront one’s accusers. The NDAA also violates First and Fourth Amendment rights, because the radically unconstitutional PATRIOT Act deviously expanded the definition of “material support for terrorism” to include speech and association even by defendants who neither committed nor ever intended to support violence.

The grossly unconstitutional NDAA was OPPOSED by members of the President’s Administration, including Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, FBI Director Robert Mueller, and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. California’s Senator Dianne Feinstein offered a resolution by which, within that bill, American citizens would be exempted, but a compromised congressional majority and the President unlawfully rejected it.

This law is brazenly and dangerously unconstitutional, a treasonous assault on our Republic and on Democracy, and a peril to each of us and our children. It overturns over 200 years of law, which has kept the military out of domestic policing (the Posse Comitatus) and opens the floodgates to a Nazi-style police state. This extremely frightening step toward tyranny for our Republic and the impending destruction of Democracy must be uncompromisingly rejected by our community.

A video presentation by The Real News Network titled New Military Detention Powers Threatens Basic Rights explains further why Santa Cruz must reject the NDAA 2012. The ACLU has written that any military detention of American citizens or others within the United States is unconstitutional and illegal, including under the NDAA and that the breadth of the NDAA’s detention authority violates international law because it is not limited to people captured in the context of an actual armed conflict as required by the laws of war.

Santa Cruz can again be an example for all communities and real patriots in America who intend to defend the Constitution and remain free in a country under constitutional law. Cities, counties, and even states across America have already begun mobilizing. The first resolution opposing the NDAA passed in El Paso County, CO, home of the US Air Force Academy.

On April 10, 2012, at the Regular Meeting of the Santa Cruz City Council, citizens united in defense of their constitutional rights will propose the adoption of a Resolution to Protect Due Process and the Right to Trial (see attached model resolution already adopted by Northampton, Massachusetts).

Consider Hawaii Senator Inouye’s statement at the Iran-contra hearings in 1987:

“The Uniform Code makes it abundantly clear that it must be the lawful orders of a superior officer. In fact it says, ‘Members of the military have an obligation to disobey unlawful orders.’ This principle was considered so important that we – we, the government of the United States, proposed that it be internationally applied in the Nuremberg trials.”

The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) 809[890].ART.90 (20), makes it clear that military personnel need to obey the “lawful command of his superior officer,” 891.ART.91 (2), the “lawful order of a warrant officer”, 892.ART.92 (1) the “lawful general order”, 892.ART.92 (2) “lawful order.” In each case, military personnel have an obligation and a duty to only obey Lawful orders and indeed have an obligation to disobey Unlawful orders, including orders by the President that do not comply with the UCMJ. The moral and legal obligation is to the U.S. Constitution and not to those who would issue unlawful orders, especially if those orders are in direct violation of the Constitution and the UCMJ.

Consider as well the oath taken by every public official in the State of California:

CALIFORNIA CONSTITUTION ARTICLE 20 MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS   SEC. 3.

Members of the Legislature, and all public officers and employees, executive, legislative, and judicial, except such inferior officers and employees as may be by law exempted, shall, before they enter upon the duties of their respective offices, take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation:

“I, ______, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which I am about to enter.”

I strongly support the proposed Resolution to Restore Due Process and the Right to Trial. Kindly enter this letter into the public record for the Regular Meeting on April 10, 2012. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Your Name
Organization
Contact Information

Ralph Nader ’58 and Bruce Fein ’72 visited Harvard Law School for a talk on February 10, 2012, sponsored by the Harvard Law School Forum and the Harvard Law Record.

Congressman Dennis Kucinich sums up our country’s woes in a nutshell. A must-see video.

Pepper-spraying away our rights?

Uncle Sam is in crisis!

Why is acting much more marvelous than one may have first imagined? A desire to better understand human existence is basic to the nature of art and propels the desire of artistic minds to create. Acting and motion picture making are ways to search for that understanding and seek deeper awareness of the human condition.

Human healing and transformation through the Arts

Acting is one of the most essential elements of this art of human healing and transformation. Storytelling, theater, and motion pictures are critical to the stability and progress of our society. These arts give the community the opportunity to examine old and new ideas and to develop the ability of reflecting, learning, and of discovery as central reasons for the existence of the human community. Fellini’s films reflect this in a very special way because they are free from conventional constraints.

The Fellini Way

Anyone wishing to undertake the intense task of studying acting needs as much encouragement and guidance as possible. The Fellini Way strives to encourage student actors and actresses to express their inner reality and perception of human states in a manner that best harmonizes with their individual interests, aspirations, and abilities. The wonderful thing about teaching acting as Fellini did is the individualized attention which makes it easier and more stimulating to personal growth than any methodological, academic theatrical style. The focus is on nurturing the creative energy of students and fostering enthusiasm on their part for personal discovery through the acting process. Perfecting one’s acting ability is different for each aspirant.

There are basic skills actors and actresses need to understand regarding speech, movement, and character which must be developed. Refining each performance according to what works best under the circumstances is the greatest way to accomplish rapid progress.

Becoming an actor or actress in our society depends upon being strongly committed not only to the art from a personal standpoint of growth and career, but also by a commitment to the larger effect of Art as an essential power to lift our society in many rewarding ways.

Acting as science

Acting is not only art, it is also a science. For example, it should be clear that if you “act” an emotion, it will appear false. Acting must be honest in the sense that you act the emotion you really feel. That is where the very subtle science of managing self-imposed emotions comes into play.

The first aspect of it is imagination. For instance when your acting makes emotions rise in the audience, you have tapped in them one of the triggers you must learn to activate in yourself.

Clearly this requires two steps. The first is to understand the actual flavor, so to speak, of the emotion you are trying to act and evoke in the audience. For example: fear. You feel a coldness inside, a tension, a faster heartbeat, a trembling, a near expressionless face with drawn lines, dry mouth, speech difficulty…and so on. Remember that in motion picture acting you may be asked to express fear suddenly and then be asked to do it again a dozen times between takes.

Language and movement are the tools and essence of acting for they are what this art is about — communication. Communication between actor and audience, director and actor as well as actor and actor. Acting is doing. Scene work helps actors to understand that acting is a collaborative art. An actor’s responsibility is not only to his lines and the camera but also to other actors in the scene.

No correct way to act

Acting methods often get in the way of realism. There is no single correct way to act. In fact, one has to discover one’s own way through the process of work/study and trial and error. Too often actors are taught that there is one way to act instead of realizing that different styles of drama will require different approaches to acting and performance. That is why Fellini often preferred untrained people for his films to highly stylized stars.

The importance of professionalism

Film people, whether in Hollywood, Rome, New York, London or Paris, have one thing in common: they admire professionalism. Given a choice between two actors, professionalism will often be the deciding factor. Competence and reliability are crucial to the forming of a reputation far more treasured than erratic brilliance.

The student seeking to become a professional actor must develop and refine understanding of the extra disciplines that filming demands.

For example: you’ve got to know how to help the camera. In a close up, the camera magnifies your actions, so you have to know how to scale down the action of your performance without losing intensity as the shot gets tighter. The professional will reduce performance physically in a close up, but not mentally. In fact, the mind should work even more intensely in a close-up because in a close-up the performance is all in your eyes and facial expression, and you cannot use the rest of your body to express yourself.

The synesthetic medium

Fellini often remarked that movies are a synesthetic medium. The effects on the senses from peripheral images and sounds other than the central elements in any scene. The collateral effects, such as seeing good food in a scene and having one’s appetite stimulated. A song meant for the ears but which brings visualization or evokes memories or historical periods. All these effects are referred to as synestesia.

Fellini was deeply aware of synestesia and encouraged actors to use this second layer of awareness which impacts an audience almost subliminally.

The power of imagination that is the foundation of great acting is implicit if we are to achieve wholehearted harmonious collaboration especially from those who have digested the immense possibility that opens into our lives when we have decided to fully embrace the profession of movie acting.

Alertness and relaxation

The importance of alertness and the wisdom of relaxation in movie acting.

“If you are knocking yourself out, you are doing it wrong,” according to Michael Caine.

Therefore, one of the first things we have to learn is how to overcome nervousness.

We must seek what Socrates asked for in the prayer from the “Phaedrus” when he said:

“May the outward and the inward person be at one.”

It is by this “pulling oneself together” that our greatest powers and talents are helped rise to the surface. Our lives are granted periods of spontaneous grace, when we feel exceptionally well and at ease. Finding the secret for extending these periods of intrinsic happiness until almost everyday of our lives is a fulfilling joy is like finding a magic power.

Reaction vs. action

Acting, by its very nature, is a moving from the world of reactions to the world of self controlled action. In life we are often like boats without direction whose captain is asleep at the wheel as our boat is tossed aimlessly toward dangerous shores. The accomplished actor learns to handle the sails of emotions and stays awake by holding the rudder of reason to take advantage of the pressure of winds and currents, and thereby sets course for safe harbor. Achieving control of your vessel gives you immense self confidence and fills you with joy.

So, as an aspiring actor, if a life storm has pushed you off course do as all good sailors do: head into the wind, reduce sail and then reset course so that by taking advantage of the energy of the storm you make great progress in the good direction where the island of fulfillment awaits you.

Fellini’s style

Fellini had all the appearance and presence of a very simpatico man of the people. He was warmhearted and simple in his daily communications with others and cordial to the constant calls of his admirers. Under his casual and normalizing Romanesque presence Fellini manifested a world of profundity and understanding of the human condition and — least known to most in spite of its appearing in brilliant flashes and in grotesque symbols in many of his films — he had an astounding intellectual intuition of esoteric realities and a vast, refreshing spiritual vision.

His understanding of the magical power to be evoked in the synergy of a cast of actors supported by film technicians all collaborating in the art of making a movie was key to his free directing style and his teaching actors to think and become immersed in the reality of roles. He understood that it was energy and enthusiasm generated by sharing a collective creative process that made motion pictures the principal and most powerful art of the Modern Age.

The chosen art

The artist, whether a poet, singer, dancer, actor, musician, writer, or craftsman, invests first in himself/herself and follows his/her love for his/her chosen art. In many cases more than one art fills the life of the artist. Dedicated artists soon intuitively discover that as they perfect their art, after much work and even pain propelled by love of it, gradually and sometimes suddenly a luminous quality, an inner well being, enters their life and with it a profound understanding of life itself. This understanding becomes the very wine the artist produces and feels compelled to offer others so they may become “inebriated,” even if for a moment only in a theater, while reading a book, by hearing a song, and share the artist’s vision of life’s potential for perfection.

Learning to act frees our power for self expression. By gradually learning to express feelings in the interpretation of a role, a power is developed inside of us that can unleash joyful enthusiasm not only for this great art but for the infinite dimensions of life itself.

Training the will

Part of the actor’s work is to train the will so that the personality can break out of all self imposed limitations born of fear and illusion about the human condition. Only in a fearless state do we become fully empowered to manifest what is best in ourselves. That is when we can fully share and enjoy life with others.

We hear often the question: “What’s new?” and life responds, “I am always new! Haven’t you noticed?”

Acting is the art of conscious renewal. Some of the greatest actors are known to have experienced the sudden “awareness of awareness, ” what in the traditional Japanese “No” and “Kabuki” theater is known as the “Zen of acting.”

The profound transformation called “renewal” is best grasped by those who, facing the shock of imminent death, are suddenly reprieved and literally given a new lease on life. That is when human awareness fully awakes and experiences a rebirth and a full restoration of a sense of proportions: eyes see better, ears hear more sharply, and all sensations become deeply real as they were when we first entered life and had no questions yet.

We tend to forget the cyclic aspects of life, even though we are taught the lesson of cyclical repetition daily with the rise and setting of the sun and with each season, and by the four directions rotating around the axis of high and low.