June 5, 2012

Anti-Walkerites on the eve of the recall performed an "Om the Dome" ritual at the Wisconsin Capitol.

"Oma Vic McMurray, who runs a home childcare center and has been active in the effort to recall Gov. Scott Walker, instructed the crowd on breathing techniques and led a practice group 'Om.'"
McMurray says the community chant was meant to be a time to "consciously connect on a spiritual level so that we could raise the energy and have faith that this will be a good week for Wisconsin."

Connie Nadler says she felt the symbolism of the moment. "It was quite touching. I was at the connecting point where we were stretching to reach and connect to the other end of the line. The Capitol police were there and were real encouraging. People rushed from the street to help" complete the circle.
Reminds me of Allen Ginsberg at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago 1968:



And, especially since a building was involved, it takes me all the way back to 1967 and "Levitate the Pentagon"....
[A] group of hippies was trying to exorcize the Pentagon. The brainchild of Abbie Hoffman, the plan was for people to sing and chant until it levitated and turned orange, driving out the evil spirits and ending the war in Viet Nam. The Pentagon didn't move.
Related: "What do you think Abbie Hoffman would do to stop the Koch brothers?"

35 comments:

Thinking Badger said...

Clear violation of the separation of church and stupidity.

rhhardin said...

Wild Strawberries

I forget if it had nudity.

chickelit said...

Is "Oma Vic" a he or a she?
The titular appellation "Oma" suggests a she.

ricpic said...

Don't stop the spiritual stealing!

traditionalguy said...

That's a weak spell. This Capitol has erected its Hans Christian Heg memorial to courage under fire. That marked the place and eventually attracted Walker and friends also showing of courage under fire.

If the shame, shame, shame chant came in second place, then what's a weak Ohm chant going to accomplish?

Anonymous said...

Off topic -

How come, all of the sudden, whenever I try to click through to the comments section of Althouse, I get a warning that a script running on the page is causing my browser to run slowly?

Does anyone else get that message?


On topic -

Of course, this is Crack bait.

bagoh20 said...

Now THAT crap is really out of touch. I bet minds are being transformed all over the state.

Can we get Obama to do this?

rhhardin said...

An ohm chant is appropriate for resistance.

David said...

The actor in the Koch Brothers clip really sucks. I knew Abbie Hoffman and believe me, Mr. Actor, you are no Abbie Hoffman.

(Abbie had a sense of humor and usually could not go more than a couple of sentences without a smile or a small joke.)

Kev said...

(the other kev)

'Owah
tudih
kyam'

kcom said...

Did you mean "The Strawberry Statement"?

chickelit said...

An ohm chant is appropriate for resistance.

True, but they also impede the flow of current events.

Thorley Winston said...

t-man – I’m getting that message and I don’t know what’s causing it. I first noticed it when Althouse began posting images of Twitter tweets so I wonder if that may be what triggered it.

rehajm said...

owa...tajer...kiam....owa...tajer...kiam...

rhhardin said...

[No message with Firefox and ad-block, maybe it's a malformed ad]

kcom said...

Not to be confused with The Harrad Experiment

Paul said...

Ah yes. The reality based community.

Michael K said...

They really are losing their minds. Such as they were. Jay cost, whose book is terrific, has a good post today. I agree completely about craft unions, and even sort of agree on industrial unions. I belonged to the Teamsters once when I was 16. The strikes were supported by the young single guys.

Michael K said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
James said...

That chant might work.

Mark Belling was utterly depressing earlier today. He's predicting heavier than usual turn out of approx. 2.8 million and a Walker loss.

Then I just glanced at Drudge and he's saying the exit polls show Walker winning by 5 percent.

Michael K said...

The comments are a bit freaky today. I got a reject from captcha but the comment posted anyway.

edutcher said...

Dare I detect desperation?

Or just insanity?

Possibly both?

PS The Blonde's mantra is, "Ohell, Ohell".

Very popular with nurses.

a psychiatrist who learned from veterans said...

Getting incoming on that old time religion. It's like Howard Hawks movie 'Sargent York.'

kcom said...

"He's predicting heavier than usual turn out of approx. 2.8 million and a Walker loss."

It seems to me there's been heavier than usual turnout for Walker supporters ever since 2010. It's really been quite consistent. I wouldn't worry yet.

Hagar said...

I am getting that message too, and it's annoying.

Rabel said...

"Reminds me of Allen Ginsberg at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago 1968"

For some reason, it kinda reminds me of this:

Patsy

Amartel said...

Those who have nothing to contribute intellectually assemble and hold hands, to no effect whatsoever, and validate the process by giving it symbolic even quasi-religious significance with new agey word soup:
-community
-chant
-conscious connection
-spiritual level
-raise the energy
-connecting point
-complete the circle

None of this crap actually means anything; there is no spiritual connection or circle of energy or whatever. It doesn't even have a specific point of reference in an actual religion. It's all based on feelings, allowing unthinking idiots to feel better about being unthinking idiots.

It seems to me that at least the 1960s hippies were somewhat original, had a sense of humor, and were taking an actual social risk. These people are just a bunch of dolorous old sad sacks dully recycling the symbols and conduct of a bygone era.

MaggotAtBroad&Wall said...

"What would Abby Hoffman do to stop the Koch Brothers?"

It's not a hypothetical. The Koch's and Hoffman co-existed as contemporaries. The Koch's went to MIT and became engineers to prepare themselves to succeed their father in the family business. They now employ about 65,000 employees. They pay the employees good salaries to support their families, provide them healthcare insurance and retirement pensions.

Hoffman, on the other hand, provided nothing of redeeming value to society. He smoked a bunch of weed, dropped a bunch of acid, wrote some crap that appeared in counter-culture literature, got arrested a lot and whined even more. He killed himself, intentionally overdosing because he didn't want to get old. At the time, he was a miserable drug addicted alcoholic living in a chicken coop. I'm pretty sure I once read that he bragged about never having worked for a paycheck a single day in his adult life.

Hoffman, as their contemporary, did absolutely nothing to "stop" the Koch's.

Paddy O said...

He'd lie.

David R. Graham said...

"An ohm chant is appropriate for resistance."

Clever. But, past clever, resistance to what should set us AUMing? Reality? AUM is the root of reality.

Ginsburg conjured the devil, was very accomplished at that, succeeded marvelously. He was born bent, needed an audience.

Jane said...

You have GOT to show this Star Trek clip! The Obama salute!

Are You One, Herbert?

The Crack Emcee said...

t-man,

Of course, this is Crack bait.

If what you mean is, of course, I'm going to post something about the long history of Left-wing NewAge delusion, then - yeah - you're right:

These people today are crazy - as were their 60s ancestors like Hoffman and Ginsberg - but everyone wants to keep trying to maintain this fiction they were/are "visionaries" instead, oming to no one about nothing for naught. Completely worthless human beings held up as the most valuable specimens our kind had/have to offer.

It'd be funny if it wasn't such a devastating example of our fecklessness and futility in enduring.

Drop the bomb - now - it no longer matters,....

chickelit said...

♫ This is the twilight of the Age of Aquarius...
Age of Aquarius...♫

Known Unknown said...

Hippies stink.

SukieTawdry said...

LOL:

We've done all we could do. We've chanted, phone called, protested.

Yes, and now you've omed. What more could be asked of mere humans??