Thursday, December 15, 2011

An Open Letter to President Obama

Dear President Obama,

I've written to you a few times before, and of course I realize my messages may not have actually made it past your staff. You must get thousands a day, and I imagine only the best or most important ones will make it directly to you. So to whomever might be screening this message on your behalf, I say this: If you love your country, please forward this message to the President. I beg you.

Like many Americans, I have been shocked and terrified that the only thing Congressional Republicans and Democrats seem to agree on is removing due process and habeas corpus from our legal system. As a legal scholar and a man of principle, Mr. President, I urge you in the strongest possible terms to veto the Defense Authorization Act. You took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution from all enemies, both foreign and domestic. There is no doubt this bill is a domestic threat to the Constitution.

I don't need to tell you that requiring a charge and a trial for all criminals is a foundation of both American law and universal human rights. I know you already know that. What I do want to tell you is that if you sign this bill, you'll be ushering in an era far worse than McCarthyism: an era in which all that has to happen for someone to be locked away forever with no legal recourse is to brand them a "terrorist suspect". Whether or not you would abuse this power, do you really trust all your successors not to?

If you sign this bill, this is no longer a free country... It's a police state. If you sign this bill, you're allowing Congress to gut the Bill of Rights. If you sign this bill, you'll be selling your country and all it's citizens down the river.

Most importantly, though, if you sign this bill you'll undoubtedly be remembered as one of the worst presidents we've ever had. This bill is so bad that signing it can literally erase all the good things you've accomplished. How can that really be what you want?

Please do the right thing and veto this bill. Or better yet, sign it, and then use your new powers to lock up everyone who voted for it as a national civics lesson. They and their disregard for the Constiution are the real domestic terrorists here; you know that as well as I do.

Please reconsider. Please don't betray us (and yourself). I still have faith in you... Please don't show me it was misplaced.

Sincerely,
Jason Louis Feldstein
Pittsburgh, PA

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Kosher Jewish Magic (and Paganism!)


Everything You "Know" About Judaism is Wrong

There are a lot of things that "everyone knows" about Judaism. Everyone knows (or thinks they know) that Judaism is the first of the great monotheistic religions. While this is true, in ancient times it wasn't nearly so cut-and-dried. The reason so much of the Torah involves prophets and priests castigating the Israelites for being polytheists or planting Asherah trees is that these practices were commonplace. I might even go so far as to label them "ancient folk Judaism", in much the same way (for example) state-sponsored Shinto and folk Shinto vary widely from each other in both belief and practice.

In the text of Torah itself, the issue is also a bit muddled. Of the two most common names for God in the text, one (YHVH) is singular and the other (Elohim) is plural. Some commentators have distinguished passages written by an author called "the Yahwist" from others written by "the Elohist", the former presumably being a priest, while the latter probably fell more on the side of folk Judaism. Most scholars agree the Yahwist's writing is older, but that's hardly the point here. Taken as a whole rather than in parts, Torah is remarkably ambivalent about whether God is singular or plural... and that's exactly the point I'm making. (The rabbinic explanation is that Elohim is "like the royal 'we'", but to me that explanation falls a bit flat.)

But What About the Ten Commandments?

On its surface, the first and second of the Ten Commandments would seem to forbid any kind of polytheism. But one of the best pieces of advice a rabbi ever gave me is this: Don't read Torah like it's the newspaper. There are many levels of meaning to unravel.

What do the commandments actually say? The second is a specific prohibition on bowing down to idols or to any living thing; that seems pretty clear. But depending on what translation you look at, the first commandment forbids having any other gods "before me" or "beside me". Seems straightforward enough, until you consider the obvious question: What about "after me"?

It's a close reading, to be sure, and you might even say it's splitting hairs - but any rabbi will tell you Torah doesn't mince words. Every word in it should be taken as specifically chosen above all others for the meaning intended by God. So given that, it seems God doesn't have much of a problem with you dealing with other gods... as long as you never forget who's your daddy, so to speak. This approach to divinity is known as monolatry - the idea that God isn't the only god that's real, just the best one. (Or in these more enlightened times, the best one for you.)

This opens the way for someone be Jewish and pagan, within certain parameters. My own reading would be that beyond simply invoking YHVH first in ritual (as one would with a psychopomp such as Legba or Agni in other traditions), one must also honor YHVH highest at all times. That means Jewish rules and traditions should take precedence over those of your pagan path, and it's probably not good even to *like* another god more than you like the Big Guy, because that might make him angry. (If you're concerned about that sort of thing, of course. Some people definitely aren't.)

It's a tough line to walk, certainly, but as long as you can keep your paganism as more of a hobby than a primary path, you can (theoretically) be right with both Judaism and paganism simultaneously. This would mean, of course, that any god or goddess who might refuse to share you would be right out... unless you're deliberately trying to see which one wins. (My money is on the one whose chosen people are still alive, despite numerous attempts throughout the ages to eradicate them.)

For what it's worth, I personally choose to err on the side of caution on this issue. While I will on occasion work with non-Jewish entities, I do avoid gods associated with enemies of the Jews (Egyptian, Sumerian and other Near Eastern pantheons) since those are the ones we were specifically forbidden from dealing with in ancient times. And my worship is reserved for YHVH alone... other mostly-dead gods should be glad someone's speaking their name at all, even if they're not getting actual worship out of the deal. I do know Jewish pagans, though, and I think that much as it's good for me to know how being gay and Jewish can work halachically, it's important for them to know how being pagan and Jewish can likewise work within the context of Jewish law.

Magic vs. Miracles

It seems clear from the story of Moses facing off with Pharoah's magicians that in Torah, there's no qualitative difference between "magic" and "a miracle". It's just that "magic" is what foreign magicians do, while "a miracle" is what a prophet of God does. This illustrates that the most important thing that makes your magic kosher is its intent. In other words, it's not okay to murder someone or steal their stuff through magic, any more than it's okay to do it at knifepoint.

(The distinction between "magic" and "prayer" is a bit more grey, but I like to think of it like this: prayer is asking, while magic is telling / demanding. But that's probably a blog post unto itself.)

As the years went by, and our religion sadly became more and more corrupted by exposure to Christendom, the rabbis altered the Torah's definition of "magic" and "miracle" slightly. "Magic" became "that freaky stuff we don't like", and "miracle" became "that freaky stuff we do like". And since we don't have prophets anymore, all occultism became "magic" (often pronounced "practical kabbalah"). This was probably for the same reason the rabbinate excommunicated Spinoza over his pantheist views: better to condemn an unusual belief or practice than to have all Jews hunted down and killed by their Catholic temporal masters.

You might ask what Torah has to say on the subject of practicing "magic" or "witchcraft". Gershon Winkler handily answers this on p. 3 of Magic of the Ordinary: "The proscriptions in the Bible against divination and sorcery refer specifically to the kinds of sorcery practiced by specified cultures whose ways the Jews were forbidden to emulate. The Jewish scriptural verse [Exodus 22:17] for example, has for centuries been haphazardly translated as 'You shall not suffer a witch to live,' when literally it translates: 'You should not sustain a witch,' meaning don't get into the habit of supporting the livelihood of the village magician; don't let some guy with a lot of supernatural power drain you of your savings through fear and intimidation. Let him get a job like everybody else, and perform his magic out of the goodness of his heart and in recognition of the sacred gift he possesses. Another translation of the exact same Hebrew wording would be: 'From sorcery you should not live,' as in don't base your entire life and all of your affairs on the powers of sorcery, or, don't make a living from it."

Interestingly, the Talmud says rabbis should also get regular jobs, and should only get paid as a rabbi for the hours they have to miss from their "real job". Most rabbis I've met today conveniently seem to ignore this... and I've never been able to understand how they get around that whole working-on-Saturday prohibition either. But that, too, is probably a different rant altogether.

Kosher, Parve and Treif Magic

Up until the medieval period there were still plenty of Jews - even some rabbis - who felt practical kabbalah was nothing to be ashamed of. In their works, we find that "kosher magic" means magic that deals in three things - biblical verses, angelic names, and/or names of God. Intent is still important also, of course, but that's more of a prerequisite - an angel is not going to help you cheat or steal in the first place.


Un-kosher (treif) magic is the opposite: magic that involves foreign gods (except perhaps under the circumstances laid out above), "evil" spirits such as demons or shedim, or practices specifically forbidden by Torah - specific kinds of necromancy, divination, or temple prostitution, for example. I like to refer to all other magic as parve, which is to say "neither specifically kosher nor un-kosher". My personal favorite kind of parve magic is chaos magic, since it easily works without the use of gods, angels or demons of any kind, and since it can optionally involve invocation of fictional characters. Depending on focus and exactly how the rituals are written, though, ceremonial magic or wicca could also be considered parve magic. (Since many original members of the Golden Dawn and OTO were Jews, it's not too surprising that much of ceremonial magic is specifically kosher rather than parve - the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram being the obvious example.)

A Selection of Online Kosher Jewish Magic Sources


Sefer Shimmush Tehillim - The Book of the Uses of the Psalms. Includes kosher uses (and some not-so-kosher ones, intent-wise) for every single one of the psalms.


Hebrew Names of God - Not sure who exactly this site belongs to, but his list is comprehensive and accurate.


Angel Names and Meanings - This site isn't bad, but "A Dictionary of Angels" (on the right, under "Books on Jewish Magic & Mysticism) is way better.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

A Brilliant Debt Solution

Update: Warren Buffet didn't write this plan, but I still think it would work.

*Congressional Reform Act of 2011*

1. No Tenure / No Pension.  A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.

2.  Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security.  All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.

3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

4. Congress will no longer vote  themselves a pay raise.  Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/12.  The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.

If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S. ) to receive the message. Maybe it is time.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

On Being Gay and Jewish (Or: Why YHVH Isn't a Homophobe)

For Halloween this year, I wrote up and ran my very first explicitly Jewish magical ritual. (I had done plenty of magic before, and also plenty of Jewish rituals, but not any of what I'd call actual Jewish magic.) I plan to talk about this in a future blog post, so this is really just a teaser - and a reminder to myself to come back to the topic. Instead I'd like to talk about an issue very near and dear to me: how to deal with the apparent contradiction of being both a practicing Jew and an unapologetic queer.


When I was younger, the whole issue seemed pretty cut-and-dried to me: The Torah prohibits gay sex, so obviously I needed to look elsewhere if I wanted to find a spiritual path. Mythology and religion have always interested me - I remember switching to Norse mythology as early as elementary school, since I was already bored with Greco-Roman - so I started reading about other religions. Like most magicians, I went through a short but very educational Wiccan phase, and for a little while I was even calling myself Judeo-pagan. While I'm still a member of the <a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jewitchery/">Jewitchery Yahoo group</a>, and highly recommend it for discussing all things Jewish and magical, I no longer consider myself pagan or a "witch" per se. But it's always been important to me to find a way to resolve the problem of following a religion that seems to condemn my lifestyle - a lifestyle that I don't believe was a choice.


The turning point in figuring out how this can work came for me when a client of mine - a former Catholic cantor who lives with his boyfriend of several years - told me about Rabbi Greenberg's book "Wrestling with God and Men: Homosexuality in the Jewish Tradition". (It's featured in the reading list to the right of this blog post.) As the only openly-gay Orthodox rabbi in the world, he too had a vested interest in the same problem I found so troubling. So he started with the Torah and then worked his way through the Talmudic prohibitions later. His book is great and I highly recommend picking up a copy if this blog post interests you... but I'm going to summarize some of his main points here so that I can comment on them if you haven't read it (and I assume most of you haven't).


Let's start with Leviticus 18:22. The JPS version has: "Do not lie with a male as one lies with a woman: it is an abhorrence." Everett Fox (who's usually closer to the truth of the Hebrew, since he doesn't have an Orthodox Jewish agenda in his translation) has this: "With a male you are not to lie (after the manner of) lying with a woman, it is an abomination!" So in this case, these two translations pretty much agree. In his book, Rabbi Greenberg points out that the phrase "lie as with a woman" is a translation of the Hebrew mishkeve ishah. He goes on to explain that the word mishkeve only appears one other place in the Torah, where it could mean sex intended to humiliate the other person. Therefore, he posits that the commandment could reasonably read, "With a male you are not to lie in order to humiliate, it is an abomination!"


This is an attractive translation for more reasons than just the way it potentially permits male-on-male intercourse. It's also very close to being a Torah prohibition on rape - which personally I'd like to believe the Torah explicitly contains. In addition, it speaks to a practice that was common in Greece and Rome - anal rape of another man in order to humiliate him and force him to submit to your will. Pretty disgusting, and rightly condemned in our holy book if Rabbi Greenberg has it right. And since the Zohar teaches that each Torah verse has a near-infinite number of possible interpretations, each and every one of them specifically intended by God, Rabbi Greenberg does indeed have it right. ;)


Then there's Leviticus 20:13, which at first glance appears almost identical to 18:22. Fox renders it like this: "A man who lies with a male (as one) lies with a woman - abomination have the two of them done, they are to be put to death, yes, death, their blood-guilt is upon them!" Sounds pretty harsh, right? But in fact this commandment may be about temple prostitution, which often involved intercourse with castrated male priests. For more on Rabbi Greenberg's interpretations (and his justifications) for both this verse and the previous one, have a look at his essay here.


As he says in the essay, the Torah itself appears completely unconcerned with homosexuality as a concept. That's the reason there's nothing in it about other sex acts between men, nor about lesbianism at all. An old rabbi of mine, Rabbi Schiff, actually said he thinks the commandments above aren't about homosexuality at all, but rather about "heterosexuals behaving badly", since it's only been within the past century or so that even our society has accepted the idea of someone being solely same-sex-attracted. (In older cultures, while it was in many cases considered more normal, that was more in the sense of a phase - something you'd eventually grow out of.) He told me this when I asked him "why the Torah teaches intolerance" when it comes to gay people - the question that started my entire journey toward eventually writing this blog post.


I found this interpretation a bit too convenient at first, but the Talmud actually bears it out: everyone knows how the Talmudic rabbis feel about men and women spending time alone together, but did you know two men aren't supposed to study alone together either? Yep. Apparently it's not enough for women to have to dress modestly and avoid touching any man who isn't their husband - men are so easily tempted into sex that even another man might do in a pinch. Either the Talmudic rabbis came up with the idea for Baitbus (NSFW) hundreds of years ago, or they considered sexuality to be far more fluid than most of us do today. This means if confronted with the idea of a man who's only sexually interested in other men, they'd probably think it was a myth or a joke - and it also means it wasn't what they were talking about.


Since he realizes many people will disagree with his interpretation of Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13, he also goes on to explain how he feels the commandments should be enforced if they are indeed translated correctly in the JPS version. While I think it was a mistake to tell this to an audience full of married Orthodox couples, I do think he's completely correct that an Orthodox couple who has sex while she's menstruating (or afterwards before she's gone to the mikveh) is worse-off halachically than a gay male couple who just abstain from anal sex altogether. It seems to me this would be a workable (if difficult) path for two Orthodox men who were in a relationship. As for lesbians, I know some of the Talmudic rabbis condemn "women who rub" (as they call them), but the Torah doesn't, and I think this is just another case of the rabbis ruling on something they know nothing about. Plus, they probably didn't want to think about their wives having that much fun behind their backs.


Update


A good friend just posted this on my Facebook wall. It's wonderful to see modern Orthodox rabbis making up for the mistakes of their Talmudic forbears. I applaud their courage and compassion. Their emphasis on maintaining prohibitions on sex acts the Torah says nothing about is troubling, and their expectation that gay Orthodox Jews should just be celibate and avoid romantic relationships is ludicrous... but this is still a step in the right direction.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Occupy Wall Street Needs Musicians!

This is a formal invitation - no, more of a call to arms - for any and all recording artists who are passionate about social justice, on behalf of the protestors at Occupy Wall Street. My name is Jason Feldstein (a.k.a. DJ Tikkun Olam), and I'm a DJ from Pittsburgh who specializes in playing music about racism, feminism, self esteem and sociopolitical issues. I'm organizing a benefit concert to support and inspire the protesters, and also to bring greater awareness of what the message is (and how widespread support it has).


If I sent you this page via Twitter, it means I love your music and respect your integrity as an artist, for telling the truth in your music even when it might have cost you flak from your fans or the media. Please join me - especially the folk singers among you - in standing with the protesters until we see real change in this country and the world. Now is the time; the revolution is here. Please don't miss it.


I've written the following on behalf of Occupy Wall Street. My parents raised me on the Beatles and Peter, Paul & Mary, and I believe in peace and equality as passionately as any of you. While I'm not physically in New York, I'm with the protesters in spirit, and I know they will support my words:


As avid fans of your music, we call upon artists who support social justice such as Lady Gaga, the Dixie Chicks, Peter Yarrow, Paul Stookey, Yusuf Islam, Ani Difranco, Dar Williams, Chumbawamba, Immortal Technique, Beyonce, Melissa Etheridge, Sheryl Crow, En Vogue, Aretha Franklin, the Indigo Girls, Eric Clapton, Bette Midler, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Annie Lennox, Joan Baez, Nick Cave, Joni Mitchell, Kula Shaker, Eminem, Enya, U2, The Dandy Warhols, David Bowie, Depeche Mode, System of a Down, Too Much Joy, They Might Be Giants, Janet Jackson, Ferron, Elton John, Barbra Streisand, Jian Ghomeshi, and Jedi Mind Tricks to publicly stand with us to support positive sociopolitical change. We mourn the recent passing of such pioneers as Michael Jackson, Mary Travers and George Harrison, who should have lived to see this movement; you were true artists who helped to show society its dark side (as any good artist should). We miss you, but we'll carry on your work for as long as it takes.


All of you, living or not, are the ones who inspired us to do what we're doing. We love you. We need you to use your fame to help our message reach the whole world.


Please help by coming to perform for us in New York.
Please help by releasing your music under Creative Commons licenses, so that money is never a barrier to everyone hearing your message.
Please help us by refusing to play anywhere else until our collective voice is heard.


We promise to keep paying to come to your concerts, both because we love your music and we support your message. Many if not most of us wouldn't be involved if not for your inspirational music, and we want history to remember you for the courage and generosity it would take to support us as we've supported you. Your example will help other artists and other wealthy people to understand why social justice is so essential for a working democracy.


Until you're here, we're forced to assume you stand with the 1%... but we know that isn't true, so please come. The civil rights movement is long over - this is the economic rights movement - but we need you to lend us your voices just as much as our parents did. Record companies have tried to enslave you in the past, just as numerous corporations have tried to enslave us all; please join us in fighting back with the most potent weapon we possess: the truth.


Please have your management contact me (or contact me yourself if you have time) if you'd like to be involved in organizing this concert. Twitter has apparently decided I used their service inappropriately by inviting you, so please contact me through this blog. If you need my phone number, email me and I'll give it to you... I'd just rather not post it for the whole Internet to see.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

An open letter to Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow

Dear Keith and Rachel,
My name is Jason Feldstein, and I’m an American who wholeheartedly supports Occupy Wall Street. I also happen to be gay and a registered socialist. I joined the socialist party because I was fed up with the two-party system, so I began reading third-party platforms and I agreed most with the socialist one – especially the part about supporting nonviolent revolution from below. Occupy Wall Street is clearly exactly that, and seeing it on television and all over the Internet has really inspired me. But the way most news anchors are dealing with it strikes me as yellow journalism of the very worst kind, and I’m really sick of the lies about “these protesters don’t know what they’re protesting” or “they’re just dirty hippies who are in it for the drugs and sex”.
The truth is this country hasn’t seen protests on this scale since the 1960’s. Occupy Wall Street is in essence the largest sit-in in history, and I think the idea is brilliant. But it seems to me the movement does need more than just a position statement. I was very inspired when I heard you read the position statement, Keith, because it was obvious from the passionate way you read it that you really believe in social justice the way we do. So I hope you will read what I’ve written, because I believe it may be a game-changer for the movement.
I don’t claim to represent the opinions of every single protester at Occupy Wall Street, of course. How could I? I haven’t been there yet , and while I’m planning to visit the weekend of the 22nd, I couldn’t possibly meet and interview every single person who’s there. All I can say is that I’ve done extensive Internet research and found some solutions that seem to work well in other countries for handling many of the same issues we have.  I have long admired both of you for your journalistic integrity, so I hope you’re open to spreading these ideas. I’ve done my best to phrase them in ways that both social liberals and fiscal conservatives will be able to appreciate, since personally I am both. But this is really not about me – it’s about the message. I know that both of you, of all people, will understand that.

As citizens of the United States of America with a constitutional right to redress of grievances, we demand redress of the following grievances. We further demand a federal government that respects states’ rights and individual rights, while at the same time helping to empower all of us to help ourselves and each other. We are young and idealistic, so in a very real sense we are your future. Listen to our ideas, and together we can change the world. Until you do listen to us and do our will – which is your job as elected officials – we will never stop, never leave Wall Street, never abandon our constitutional rights to freedom of speech and assembly.
America asked to know what we want, so here are some of our ideas:
  • As taxpayers, we demand that our tax money go toward ending corruption in government. Elections must be publicly funded. All candidates with a certain reasonable number of signatures (perhaps 10,000 or 20,000) should start with the same modest amount of money from the federal, state or city government, depending on what jurisdiction level the position is. Congress must limit campaign contributions to specific candidates to a reasonable dollar amount (perhaps $500 or $1000) for both corporations and private individuals. Candidates should be prohibited from using their own personal wealth for political campaigns, but should be able to donate as much to their campaign as every other American can. This system will likely lead to candidates from 4 or 5 parties in most elections, which in turn will eventually lead to coalition governments… and countries with coalition governments don’t have the corruption problems we do, because each party in the coalition acts as a check against possible extremism by the others. We further call upon the American people to join a third party – any third party whose platform matches your values – because having candidates with as widely varying views as possible can only help to repair what’s wrong with our government and our economy. Contributions to political parties (rather than direct contributions to candidates) should still be allowed, however:
  • As voters, we demand that only other voters be allowed to contribute money to support the political party of their choice. Corporations are not actual people, as evidenced by the fact that they do not get to vote in elections, so even if the Supreme Court currently considers campaign contributions to be free speech, the right to free speech applies only to citizens. Corporations do not qualify, as they do not possess citizenship of any country. Allowing them to make campaign contributions allows them to buy votes on whatever legislation they want, no matter how much it hurts the American people. This is unacceptable and must end immediately. Ending campaign contributions and prohibiting candidates from using personal wealth to finance their own campaigns us in the public interest, since it will lead to candidates run based on their moral convictions rather than a desire to buy a Congressional seat or the Presidency. We further demand the return of the presidential debates to the League of Women Voters, who ran them in a fair, balanced, honest and nonpartisan way before the Democrats and Republicans hijacked them and changed the rules to prevent third-party involvement.
  • As pacifists who deplore violence against our fellow citizens based on factors they can’t change (such as their skin color, sex, or sexual orientation), we demand anti-hate-speech laws similar to those in Canada, but applying only to public officials. Candidates and elected officials need to understand that broadcasting a message of hatred on national television is the same as shouting “Fire!” in a crowded room; it directly incites violence against innocent people who do not deserve it, and as a result it should be a felony. We additionally demand that Congress reinstitute the fairness doctrine for television news; it’s time for a return to the journalistic integrity that makes freedom of the press so essential to maintaining democracy.
  • As free thinkers of the information age, we demand full financial transparency and accountability from our government, as well as meaningful privacy protections and public accountability from government-funded artists and universities.
    • The government must be accountable to We The People for how it spends our money, and We The People have every right to check up on it whenever we want to. We should have access to quarterly and yearly financial statements detailing exactly how every penny of our money, itemized within broad categories (education, military, social programs, medical research, etc.).  In addition, we demand that Congress legally require all meetings between politicians and lobbyists to take place in dedicated room where they are streamed live on the Internet. If politicians know their constituents are always watching, they are far more likely to behave honestly and with integrity. Full financial accountability means prosecuting every single person responsible for harming not just our economy, but the economy of the entire world; this is our mess to clean up, not the Hague's. 
    • It should be illegal for any organization to sell our personal information without our explicit consent; all organizations should be "opt-in" rather than "opt-out". Publicly funded art grants should only go to artists who are willing to release their work freely under a Creative Commons license. Publicly funded universities should similarly be required to release all their research and publications under Creative Commons licenses, rather than keeping them proprietary. The free and open sharing of art and science can only improve the quality of arts and sciences education in this country, and it is long past time. More importantly, any university or artist funded with our tax dollars is producing work that belongs to us, thus it should freely be available to every American citizen.
  • As humans who of necessity consume food every day of our lives, we demand complete freedom of choice over what goes into our bodies. We want clear, plain labeling of all products containing genetically modified crops, along with large tax incentives for farmers who grow heirloom crops. Products that contain inedible ingredients such as added wood pulp (“cellulose”) must also be labeled as such, for the benefit of those of us who do not wish to consume them.
  • As sufferers from a wide variety of diseases both physical and mental, we demand free and safe access to any and all substances that might be helpful for a given disease. Medicinal marijuana helps cancer and HIV patients to cope with the side effects of their other medications, as well as for relief of chronic pain in numerous conditions; LSD relieves cluster headaches and migraines; so can psilocybin, and its benefits for personal development work are well documented in recent psychological studies. These useful substances and numerous others remain illegal despite their potential positive uses - to the benefit of drug companies and the detriment of the American people.  We refuse to accept this hypocrisy any longer; substances with documented medical uses do not belong on Schedule I. In addition, none of the above substances has ever been shown to have the ability to kill anyone not already allergic to them, and since they're that safe, the federal government has no constitutional authority or compelling interest to keep them illegal. (Driving under the influence and selling them to anyone under 21 should still be illegal, of course, just like alcohol.) Congress must reclassify all such substances immediately, so that they can be taxed and regulated. In addition to a large new revenue stream for the government, this would free us from having to make back-room deals with shady drug dealers just to obtain medicinal plants that are found in nature, and would prevent deaths from one drug being laced with another. Anyone in prison for selling or possessing drugs with legitimate medical uses should be released immediately on time served. It's time to admit the so-called "War on Drugs" has been a dismal and pathetic failure, and it's long past time for a novel approach that allows responsible adults to determine for themselves what nonlethal intoxicants they prefer.
  • As citizens of an increasingly global world, we demand an end to American imperialism. The United States currently spends over a trillion dollars a year on the military, and we have troops in 135 countries. No wonder the rest of the world is terrified of us; we are rapidly turning into the Roman Empire. 9/11 (or some event like it) was thus inevitable, because as we know from American history, if we oppress others they're going to fight back whatever way they can. No wonder our country has no money to spend on education, health care, or infrastructure; we’re too busy buying tanks and missiles instead. Congress must constitutionally limit military spending to no more than 20 percent of the GDP, and President Obama must remove our troops from all non-combat zones immediately.
  • As workers who value our jobs and want more people to be able to find one that can actually support them, we demand an end to unfair labor laws. America’s minimum wage must be a living wage high enough for every worker to afford health insurance. Union rights must have their own constitutional amendment, so that greedy politicians can’t use union limitations to score points with their corporate masters. Our founding fathers were generally very wealthy men, but they were of that old breed of wealthy men who believed wealth carries with it the obligation to be gracious. This is why, like Warren Buffett, they spoke out against special treatment for the rich. Every American hates the IRS and agrees that our tax code is unnecessarily complex and has too many loopholes, so Congress should abolish the IRS and adopt a national sales tax system such as the FairTax instead.
  • As people terrified of financial ruin should we be caught sick and without insurance, we demand a tax-funded public healthcare plan that covers all Americans, including the homeless and the unemployed. Tax working people a little more so that those who have it worse than we do won’t have to choose between death and a life of endless debt. For-profit health care has become a grotesque perversion of the Hippocratic Oath. Hospitals and insurance companies should only be allowed to retain their nonprofit status if they adjust their fees to a level that only covers their own labor and supply costs for treatment.  Australia has free public health care for all, along with higher-quality private health plans for those who wish to pay for them; this is the system we want. Access to good health care is a basic human right, one that millions of Americans currently lack. We can’t legitimately call ourselves “the land of the free” until this changes.
  • As people of faith, we demand that right-wing extremists stop using our religions to justify their political beliefs. Judaism, Islam and Christianity in their purest forms teach their followers to pursue peace, feed the hungry, help the poor, and treat every person decently and with respect. Jesus invented “class warfare”; he said that it’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven, and that no one can serve two masters (god and money). In Judaism, the Talmud teaches that the sin of Sodom was that those living there were rich, but they refused to share their riches with those in need - so in a Jewish sense, the Tea Party are literally Sodomites. To any fundamentalist Christian or Orthodox Jew who doesn’t support what’s currently being called “class warfare”, we submit that your beliefs are not authentically Christian or Jewish at all. Read the bible and you’ll see why we say so.
  • As avid fans of your music, we call upon artists who support social justice such as Lady Gaga, the Dixie Chicks, Peter Yarrow, Paul Stookey, Yusuf Islam, Ani Difranco, Dar Williams, Chumbawamba, Immortal Technique, Beyonce, Melissa Etheridge, Sheryl Crow, En Vogue, Aretha Franklin, the Indigo Girls, Eric Clapton, Bette Midler, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Annie Lennox, Joan Baez, Nick Cave, Joni Mitchell, Kula Shaker, Eminem, Enya, U2, The Dandy Warhols, David Bowie, Depeche Mode, System of a Down, Too Much Joy, They Might Be Giants, Janet Jackson, Ferron, Elton John, Barbra Streisand, Jian Ghomeshi, and Jedi Mind Tricks to publicly stand with us to support positive sociopolitical change. We mourn the recent passing of such pioneers as Michael Jackson, Mary Travers and George Harrison, who should have lived to see this movement; you were true artists who helped to show society its dark side (as any good artist should). We miss you, but we'll carry on your work for as long as it takes. All of you, living or not, are the ones who inspired us to do what we're doing. We love you. We need you to use your fame to help our message reach the whole world. Please help by coming to perform for us if you can. Please help by releasing your music under Creative Commons licenses, so that money is never a barrier to everyone hearing your message. Please help us by refusing to play anywhere else until our collective voice is heard. We promise to keep paying to come to your concerts, both because we love your music and we support your message. Many if not most of us wouldn't be involved if not for your inspirational music, and we want history to remember you for the courage and generosity it would take to support us as we've supported you. Your example will help other artists and other wealthy people to understand why social justice is so essential for a working democracy. Until you're here, we're forced to assume you stand with the 1%... but we know that isn't true, so please come. The civil rights movement is long over - this is the economic rights movement - but we need you to lend us your voices just as much as our parents did. Record companies have tried to enslave you in the past, just as numerous corporations have tried to enslave us all; please join us in fighting back with the most potent weapon we possess: the truth.
  • As supporters of basic human rights for all, we demand a complete overhaul of America’s prison system, educational system and Israel policy:
    • Rather than mandatory minimum sentences, we need a system that allows wrongly imprisoned innocent people access to the tools they need to prove their innocence. People on death row must have the same access to such tools – particularly the appeals process – as every other inmate. If that means a few guilty people end up being released along with the innocent, fine; at least it will also mean that no more innocent people are executed in this country. If those guilty people are able to prove unfair treatment in their original trials, they deserve to go free since they never received a fair trial.
    • No one should have to go into debt to afford a college education. The national sales tax rate should be high enough for the federal government to pay for citizens to attend any college that accepts them, for undergraduate school only, much the way Australia does. Existing Stafford and other federal loan debt should be forgiven, completely and permanently. An educated working class is the foundation of a working democracy and the best possible check against fascism, and we should be willing to pay any amount of money to ensure that we have one.
    • As regards Israel, the Netanyahu administration continues to perpetrate flagrant human rights abuses upon the Palestinian people, despite 70 percent of Jewish Israelis supporting Palestinian statehood according to a recent poll. Working Israelis and Palestinians alike want an end to this conflict, and their government refuses to listen to them, just as ours has not yet listened to us. We demand our government stop coddling Israel’s disingenuous right-wing government and start treating it the way we would treat any other group of rogues or fascists. We are Jews, Muslims, Christians, and members of every other conceivable faith, and we stand united on this issue.
In the open-source spirit, I hope that this draft can be useful as a starting point for the General Assembly to discuss and customize as it sees fit. I am here to donate my time and my professional writing experience if you have a need for them. Rather than trying to write an entire platform by committee, which might take an awfully long time, you now have an existing document you need only tweak until it's exactly what you want to say. I will be at Occupy Wall Street the weekend of the 22nd and hope to discuss it with you in person. Until then, I invite anyone who supports the movement to comment with suggested changes, additions or deletions. Like Wikipedia, your input can only improve these proposals.