Is Chalk Really A Weapon Requiring Riot Police?

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times / July 13, 2012)

So, apparently chalk drawing on the street is now a matter of terrorist security such that the LAPD had to come out in full riot gear during the monthly L.A. Artwalk.

Occupy L.A. activists and their supporters accused Los Angeles police of overreacting Thursday to chalk protesters during downtown's monthly ArtWalk, which set the stage for the violent run-in that resulted in 17 arrests.

Cheryl Aichele, 34, an informal leader of Occupy L.A., said police were aggressive early and made their first arrest shortly after 7 p.m. "within 10 minutes of getting where we wanted to be."

"Police were pushing us -- I got pushed into a garbage can -- then we were being pushed into the street," Aichele said. "They would do all these intimidation tactics -- all before 9. They would come in and snatch somebody and pull them away. Or they'd push us. Or yell at us."

One of the guys she saw got arrested "was just walking by, took some chalk and drew a heart and wrote 'police' in it."

"We were being peaceful," she said. "In our meeting beforehand, we said our goals were: Have fun. Stay safe. Speak out. Stand up. Reach out. Make friends. Chalk."

Peter White of the Los Angeles Community Action Network said he was present at 5th and Spring streets as a legal observer and believed the heavy police presence played a role in the conflict.

"I firmly believe it was an over-saturation of the police earlier in the evening, the sort of aggressive behavior earlier, that bled into things that happened later in the night," White said. On Thursday night, people began amassing and drawing and writing with chalk at 6th and Spring streets.

Berkely Man Dies Because Police On Standby For Possible Occupy Protests And Refuse To Respond To His Calls For Help

Lest anyone think that the Occupy movement has gone silent, this tidbit should be of interest.

A Berkeley, California, man is dead and some residents say it's because police were focused on an Occupy march. Peter Cukor made a non-emergency call to police last Saturday night to report a suspicious man hanging around his home. He was told police were only responding to emergency calls because the department's officers were on standby to monitor an Occupy Oakland march to the UC Berkeley campus. Cukor walked to a nearby fire station for help and was beaten to death as he returned home. The suspect in custody Daniel DeWitt has a history of mental illness. An Occupy Oakland representative says people should be furious over Cukor's killing. He said Berkeley police officials made monitoring a non-violent march a higher priority than responding to what turned into a deadly crime.

(Copyright 2012 by VERTEXNews/Newsroom Solutions)

So, the police department in Berkeley is more concerned about what may happen with respect to a bunch of protestors, and are too busy concentrating on what may happen, to actually be effective and do their job when someone reports a suspicious person trying to get into your home.

Need I point out that police, who have unions, are part of the Republican strategy of eliminating collective bargaining, which is but one of the things the Occupy movement is concerned with. Although many police unions have been given the opportunity to be "exempt" from the right to work laws enacted as of recent in many states, and the stripping down of the collective bargaining powers of government employees, it is still distasteful to me that the police side on the part of protecting the 1% when, in fact, the police are part of the 99% across the board.

“Who gives a crap about some imbecile?" Home Depot Founder's Comment On The Occupy Movement

Some of the 1%'s opinion of the Occupy movement:

– HOME DEPOT CO-FOUNDER BERNIE MARCUS: “Who gives a crap about some imbecile? Are you kidding me?”

– HOME DEPOT CO-FOUNDER KEN LANGONE: “I am a fat cat, I’m not ashamed…If you mean by fat cat that I’ve succeeded, yeah, then I’m a fat cat. I stand guilty of being a fat cat.”

– FORMER BB&T BANK CEO JOHN ALLISON: “Instead of an attack on the 1 percent, let’s call it an attack on the very productive. This attack is destructive.”

– PAYCHECX INC. FOUNDER TOM GOLISANO: “If I hear a politician use the term ‘paying your fair share’ one more time, I’m going to vomit.“

Courtesy of Think Progress. It's a good thing I don't do my own home repairs. I already won't patronize Lowe's and now I have a reason not to patronize Home Depot.

Facing Life In Jail For Protesting OC Your City

The threat of life imprisonment looms for Occupy Oakland activist Marcel Johnson - better known by his alias, Khali - after a third-strike arrest during the demonstration.

Read the rest. It's like the guy in Cali that was facing his third strike for stealing a slice of pizza. The third strike felony law was supposed to be for those that are a danger to society and commit a third DANGEROUS felony, like armed robbery, murder, etc. Not for some misdemeanor like protesting or stealing a slice of pizza.

Don't blink. If you do, you might not realize you are still living in the United States and not some third world dictatorship. Oh, my bad, we are living in a third world dictatorship!

H/T to Crooks and Liars.

A Message To John Aravosis, You Suck

You know what John, you are sometimes really an ass when you pontificate your preferred opinion on your blog. I know it's your blog, so it's your platform, but just because some Occupy the port information didn't pan out to be true, doesn't mean you are the god of all that is left wing liberalism internalized.

The Occupy Seattle team is claiming that the union employees at the port didn't lose their pay. In fact, according to the Stranger, they did.

[snip]

Some folks got upset when I wrote yesterday that this port action was giving me pause. It seems I had a point. Fancy that.

Yeah, fancy your ass, that. Let me give you a lollipop to shove up your ass. You missed the total point of that port shutdown, and you continually (lately) miss the total point of the Occupy movement. Perhaps you should just concentrate on your little pictures of your dog, and the like.

You are becoming quite a disappointment to me and many of my ilk.

Why The Occupy Movement Matters Re Port Stoppage

I didn't go to work yesterday, and I meant to post, but it was seriously very cold here, and I finally had to turn the heater on because my toes were frozen, my legs frozen, and my fingers frozen!

With all the brouha concerning the Occupy The Ports yesterday, I wanted to put up this link and part of this post from America's Port Drivers regarding their opinion about the occupation of the ports.

We are the front-line workers who haul container rigs full of imported and exported goods to and from the docks and warehouses every day.

We have been elected by committees of our co-workers at the Ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle, Tacoma, New York and New Jersey to tell our collective story. We have accepted the honor to speak up for our brothers and sisters about our working conditions despite the risk of retaliation we face. One of us is a mother, the rest of us fathers. Between the five of us we have 11children and one more baby on the way. We have a combined 46 years of experience driving cargo from our shores for America’s stores.

We are inspired that a non-violent democratic movement that insists on basic economic fairness is capturing the hearts and minds of so many working people. Thank you “99 Percenters” for hearing our call for justice. We are humbled and overwhelmed by recent attention. Normally we are invisible.

You MUST read the rest of this post. It is positively riveting in the description of the despicable conditions that are part of the "drivers" that haul the goods from the ports. Yes, many of the "drivers" complained that they were losing a days wages from the stoppage, but most of them were not telling the public that their lost wages were not from any corporation or job that employed them, because most of them are considered "independent contractors" and by that definition, get 1099's instead of W-2s, and they, therefore, lack health care, and basic benefits they would have if they were actually "employed" by someone. So, yeah, the truckers lost a day's wages, but those wages emphasized the exact point of the protest ... hitting the corporations where they hurt most, their bottom line. If the truckers don't move the goods, then they are not delivered timely to their destination, and their destinations are the big corporate owners, such as Wal-Mart, Target, etc.

Don't be fooled by reading just the headlines. Get to the bottom of the 99%/Occupy movement, and get engaged and enlightened ... and help.

So, Is A Tent An Outfit? Can Police Disrobe You If You Are Wearing A Tent?

This may not rank among the most despicable conduct of police against the Occupy movement, but still ... cutting off the woman's clothes because she was wearing an improvised "tent?" Where in the stupid people's mind is that really a reasonable act?

More Occupy Stuff

These newly elected Republican governors are seriously disturbed people. Now Scott Walker, not content with his attempts to dismantle the public sector as we know it, and already having seen some of his fellow Republicans recalled, AND being on the hot seat himself with his recall), has decided he's going to "bill" the Occupy movement for police services and other things. Isn't that just peachy!

Madison - Gov. Scott Walker's administration could hold demonstrators at the Capitol liable for the cost of extra police or cleanup and repairs after protests, under a new policy unveiled Thursday.

The rules, which several legal experts said raised serious free speech concerns, seemed likely to add to the controversy that has simmered all year over demonstrations in the state's seat of government.

The policy, which also requires permits for events at the statehouse and other state buildings, took effect Thursday and will be phased in by Dec. 16. Walker administration officials contend the policy simply clarifies existing rules.

State law already says public officials may issue permits for the use of state facilities, and applicants "shall be liable to the state . . . for any expense arising out of any such use and for such sum as the managing authority may charge for such use."

But Edward Fallone, an associate professor at Marquette University Law School, said the possibility of charging demonstrators for police costs might be problematic because some groups might not be able to afford to pay.

"I'm a little skeptical about charging people to express their First Amendment opinion," he said. "You can't really put a price tag on the First Amendment."

Although the state Department of General Services billed Occupy Nashville $1,045 to provide two troopers for security the night before they began arresting the protesters and clearing their encampment, if you read the full article it appears the Occupy Nashville group agreed to being charged for services provided by the city and the police (although it is unclear if they actually paid the bill). Of course, this is in the city where a judge has already ruled that the police have to stop arresting the protestors!

For those that have been constantly bombarded by the "media's meme" that they don't know what the Occupy movement wants, you can check their new declaration here.

We are assembled because…

• It is absurd that the 1 percent has taken 40 percent of the nation’s wealth through exploiting labor, outsourcing jobs, and manipulating the tax code to their benefit through special capital tax rates and loopholes. The system is rigged in their favor, yet they cry foul when anyone even dares to question their relentless class warfare.
• Candidates in our electoral system require huge sums of money to be competitive. These contributions from multi-national corporations and wealthy individuals destroy responsive representative governance. A system of backroom deals, kickbacks, bribes, and dirty politics overrides the will of the people. The rotation of decision makers between the public and private sectors cultivates a network of public officials, lobbyists, and executives whose aligned interests do not serve the American people.
• The entrenched two-party system overlooks public interests by pursuing narrow political goals. This climate encourages candidates to polarize voters for individual power and personal gain. Citizens’ meaningful input has been compromised by gerrymandering, voter disenfranchisement, and unresponsive politicians. Residents of Washington, D.C., continue to lack autonomy and legislative representation.
• The 1 percent benefits from economic, political, and legal structures that oppress communities long targeted by displacement, denial of sovereignty, slavery, and other injustices. These persecuted but resilient communities continue to suffer through generations of disproportionately higher rates of unemployment, poverty, criminalization, and homelessness. Facets of the 1 percent campaign to blame these groups for these problems while obstructing healing and restoration.
• Those with power have divided us from working in solidarity by perpetuating historical prejudices and discrimination based on perceived race, religion, immigrant or indigenous status, income, age, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, and disability, among other things. These divisions have inhibited our ability to work in solidarity, though today we recognize the power of uniting as the 99 percent.
• Financial institutions gambled with our savings, homes, and economy. They collapsed the financial system and needed the public to bail them out of their failures yet deny any responsibility and continue to fight oversight. Corporations loot from those whose labor creates society’s prosperity, while the government allows them to privatize profits and socialize risk.
• Corporate interests threaten life on Earth by extracting and burning fossil fuels and resisting the necessary transition to renewable energy. Their drilling, mining, clear-cutting, overfishing, and factory farming destroys the land, jeopardizes our food and water, and poisons the soil with near impunity. They privilege polluters over people by subsidizing fossil fuels, blocking investments in clean energy and efficient transportation, and hiding environmental destruction from public oversight.
• Private corporations, with the government’s support, use common resources and infrastructure for short-term personal profit, while stifling efforts to invest in public goods.
• The U.S. government engages in drawn-out, costly conflicts abroad. Numerous acts of conquest have been, and continue to be, pursued to control resources, overthrow foreign governments, and install subservient regimes. These wars destroy the lives of innocent civilians and American soldiers, many of whom suffer adverse effects throughout life. These operations are a blank check to divert money from domestic priorities.
• Government authorities cultivate a culture of fear to invade our privacy, limit assembly, restrict speech, and deny due process. They have failed in their duty to protect our rights. Exacerbated by profiteering interests, the criminal justice system has unfairly targeted underprivileged communities and outspoken groups for prosecution rather than protection.
• Corporatized culture warps our perception of reality. It cheapens and mocks the beauty of human thought and experience while promoting excessive materialism as the path to happiness. The corporate news media furthers the interests of the very wealthy, distorts and disregards the truth, and confines our imagination of what is possible for ourselves and society.
• Leaders are trading our access to basic needs in exchange for handouts to the ultra-wealthy. Our rights to healthcare, education, food, water, and housing are sacrificed to profit-driven market forces. They are attacking unemployment insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, creating an uncertain future for us all.*

Don't Mock, You Rock, Miley Cyrus

Just imagine how many young people this video reaches out to.

Occupy LA Wins Concessions From City Council - Or Not?

UPDATE: 9/24/11

It appears that the Los Angeles City Council and Mayor Villaraigosa have gone back on their word to the Occuply LA group, and now plan to evict them within the next 72 hours.

Los Angeles officials want Occupy L.A. protesters to ditch their City Hall encampment by next week so the city can begin restoring the 1.7-acre park where the group has been living for nearly two months.

An aide to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa would not say what day the city plans to close the park — or exactly how much warning protesters will be given. But during a meeting Wednesday with several protesters, the aide, Deputy Chief of Staff Matt Szabo, said they would receive "ample notice."

[snip]

Officials earlier this week offered the protesters work space in a city building, along with a package of other incentives to encourage them to peacefully abandon their camp, according to [Jim] Lafferty. But he said city officials wavered on that offer Tuesday.

So, now what?

This from Crooks and Liars:

LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa ran virtually unopposed for his second term and still only got 55 percent of the vote. Between a sex scandal involving a member of the press - to wide reports of his all around hesitancy to do actual work - he's not well liked in Los Angeles. In fact, just the most basic tiny improvements to the city like planting a million trees or making a major thoroughfare a one-way during rush hour have failed during his tenure. Politically it's the end for Mayor V, he's not going to run for higher office. He's done.

So now as he's really accomplished little in his two terms to help a city whose unemployment is 12.2 percent - whose crumbling infrastructure is highlighted in car commercials as an obstacle course - Villaraigosa's next move is to give the boot to Occupy LA.

Yeah, as an aside, that "iconic" bridge that is featured in just about every car commercial made, is to be no longer. They are not even going to attempt to create a structure that resembles this bridge. It is simply going to be torn down and replaced with a 21st century designed bridge. Sad.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We don’t hear a whole lot about #OccupyLA because the City Council has been so cool about it. But now, after nearly two months of the City Hall lawn being used as a campground, the city leaders would like to politely move the protest off the grounds while also supporting its continued work.

The solution, which has yet to be accepted but which we think is genius for all involved, is to “rent” some downtown office space the city has (10,000 square feet) to #OccupyLA for a ceremonial $1 per year. (The huge commercial space is in something called the “Los Angeles Mall” literally next door to City Hall.) And all the homeless who have come to the camp recently? They will be provided with housing. Oh yeah, and farmland will be provided to the group, so that it can be self-sufficient as far as growing food.

With an office space connected to public transit and near to City Hall, the protest movement can become a full-time revolutionary council. It can advocate for the homeless, for the people facing eviction, for those being pushed out by property speculators, for the unemployed and underemployed, for the whole 99%. Actions can be arranged against the corporations, against the military, against all the evildoers.

Read the rest here. And for all you OTHER Occupy cities contemplating what to do, take note of how Los Angeles is treating this movement.

Poop Flinging Monkeys, Pepper Spray And Megyn Kelly

There has been a lot of dismissive talk on the television as of late regarding the "pepper spraying" incident at UC Davis. In fact, the cop has become a famous meme now!

A lot has taken off from the now infamous Megyn Kelly Fox News program statement that "pepper spray" is essentially a "food product."

However, this piece from Daily Kos caught my eye, with this funny analogy.

Fox's Megyn Kelly has been taking some heat (hi-yo!) for what looks like her dismissal of the seriousness of the UC Davis pepper spraying incident and other similar incidents around the country by asserting that pepper spray, "is a food product, essentially." And that's undoubtedly an idea that deserves to be slapped down, so it's no surprise that it has been, with actual science, no less.

The ridicule has been plentiful, of course. (Mustard gas is a condiment! Bullets are nutritional supplements!) But if you watch the entire video, Kelly actually comes off as being at least within spitting distance of reasonable. Though it should be said that a poop-flinging monkey could likely do the same if he was sitting opposite Bill O'Reilly, who goes out of his way to imply both that the pepper spraying is OK because UC Davis is a liberal campus, and that say that people "don't... have the right to Monday morning quarterback the police." [my emphasis]

Read the rest here.

Another Example Of The 1% Gig

When Pfizer cut its research budget this year and laid off 1,100 employees, it was not because the company needed to save money.

In fact, the drug maker had so much cash left over, it decided to buy back an additional $5 billion worth of stock on top of the $4 billion already earmarked for repurchases in 2011 and beyond.

The moves, announced on the same day, might seem at odds with each other, but they represent an increasingly common pattern among American corporations, which are sitting on record amounts of cash but insist that growth opportunities are hard to find.

[snip]

There has been a steady drumbeat of other companies laying off workers even as they have disclosed plans to buy back more stock. On June 23, Campbell Soup said it would buy back $1 billion in stock; five days later it announced plans to eliminate 770 jobs. Hewlett-Packard announced a $10 billion stock repurchase in July, and jettisoned 500 jobs in September after it discontinued its TouchPad and smartphone product lines.

Read more here. So, if you are wondering why the Occupy movement is so concentrated on the 1%, stories like this should jog your brain a bit. It also helps identify certain products not to buy anymore, like Campbell's soup! Spending one billion dollars in stock buy backs for its shareholders and officers, at the expense of 770 real people who no longer have a job with that company, now there's a grand American gesture, and a lesson in how the rich stay rich.

And, in another bit of irony, the law firm that became famous over Halloween for their office party (the firm specialized in foreclosures, and the theme of the office party was, well, being homeless after you lost your house in foreclosure) had to close their doors thanks to all the fun publicity!

A law firm that had become a lightning rod in the controversy over mortgage-foreclosure practices has shut down, costing 89 employees their jobs.

The Steven J. Baum P.C. law firm, which has offices in Amherst, N.Y., and Westbury, N.Y., has filed papers with government agencies notifying them that it plans to close. It made the filings under a federal law requiring employers to provide notice before mass layoffs.

[snip]

...the firm’s fortunes worsened this month after The New York Times published photos of a Halloween party at the Baum firm showing employees wearing costumes mocking people who had lost their homes.

After those photos surfaced, the mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae cut off the Baum firm, forbidding servicers of their mortgages from using Mr. Baum and his colleagues. That effectively served as the firm’s death knell.

For more pictures, see here.

And you wonder why the 99% are angry? You still think this class war thing is non-existent? What mentality has to prevail such that a firm that makes its living out of kicking people off their property, hosts a party whose theme is to mock the very people they've made homeless? Apparently, in an email to the guy at the NYT that broke the story, Mr. Baum himself had this to say:

“Mr. Nocera — You have destroyed everything and everyone related to Steven J. Baum PC,” said the letter. “It took 40 years to build this firm and three weeks to tear down.”

Bravo!

Police Brutality Toward The Occupy Movement Picks Up Speed On University Campuses

I've written a few posts here and here about OWS/Occupy Your City, police brutality and the reaction of the 1%.

Now that the movement has taken hold on university campuses, campus police are at the forefront of the "beat the shit out of the protesters," bringing to mind the police and college police actions toward protestors of the Viet Nam war (my era).

When a 70 year old, former Poet Laureate (Robert Hass) and his wife get billy clubbed by the campus police at UC Berkeley's Occupy, especially since he was there just as an observer and not even a participant, you know the U.S. is seriously a police state, no better than Libya, Syria and others.

LIFE, I found myself thinking as a line of Alameda County deputy sheriffs in Darth Vader riot gear formed a cordon in front of me on a recent night on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, is full of strange contingencies. The deputy sheriffs, all white men, except for one young woman, perhaps Filipino, who was trying to look severe but looked terrified, had black truncheons in their gloved hands that reporters later called batons and that were known, in the movies of my childhood, as billy clubs.

[snip]

Once the cordon formed, the deputy sheriffs pointed their truncheons toward the crowd. It looked like the oldest of military maneuvers, a phalanx out of the Trojan War, but with billy clubs instead of spears. The students were wearing scarves for the first time that year, their cheeks rosy with the first bite of real cold after the long Californian Indian summer. The billy clubs were about the size of a boy’s Little League baseball bat. My wife was speaking to the young deputies about the importance of nonviolence and explaining why they should be at home reading to their children, when one of the deputies reached out, shoved my wife in the chest and knocked her down.

[snip]

My wife bounced nimbly to her feet. I tripped and almost fell over her trying to help her up, and at that moment the deputies in the cordon surged forward and, using their clubs as battering rams, began to hammer at the bodies of the line of students. It was stunning to see. They swung hard into their chests and bellies. Particularly shocking to me — it must be a generational reaction — was that they assaulted both the young men and the young women with the same indiscriminate force. If the students turned away, they pounded their ribs. If they turned further away to escape, they hit them on their spines.

NONE of the police officers invited us to disperse or gave any warning. We couldn’t have dispersed if we’d wanted to because the crowd behind us was pushing forward to see what was going on. The descriptor for what I tried to do is “remonstrate.” I screamed at the deputy who had knocked down my wife, “You just knocked down my wife, for Christ’s sake!” A couple of students had pushed forward in the excitement and the deputies grabbed them, pulled them to the ground and cudgeled them, raising the clubs above their heads and swinging. The line surged. I got whacked hard in the ribs twice and once across the forearm. Some of the deputies used their truncheons as bars and seemed to be trying to use minimum force to get people to move. And then, suddenly, they stopped, on some signal, and reformed their line. Apparently a group of deputies had beaten their way to the Occupy tents and taken them down. They stood, again immobile, clubs held across their chests, eyes carefully meeting no one’s eyes, faces impassive. I imagined that their adrenaline was surging as much as mine.

I suggest reading the entire piece.

An ugly picture, to say the least:



This video is difficult to watch. It starts off with one officer full on spraying the handful of protestors just sitting and doing nothing. In the end of the video, the police finally leave, but not before they actually aim guns at the crowd, and one officer has two cans of pepper spray that he keeps shaking (I guess to get it up to snuff) as if he's going to simply spray it into the crowd (this is after they had already taken away the ten or so protesters that were originally sprayed). This is at UC Davis.



In New York, this is actually quite astonishing. Two churches have offered a place for the OWS group to stay and have shelter. Now, generally, churches are a sanctuary for just about anyone. But not in New York! Bloomberg and his goons keep sending in plain clothes police officers (which, by the way, have not fooled anyone, church personnel nor the protestors), but come on! Infiltrating churches now?

With Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) ratcheting up police crackdowns on Occupy Wall Street this week, the New York Times reports that several churches in New York City are sheltering protesters who can no longer stay in Zucotti Park. About 46 protesters spent Wednesday night in the United Methodist Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew. However, instead of respecting the sanctuary, police in plainclothes are entering churches to monitor their conduct.

According to church officials, two police officers (one later identified as belonging to the intelligence division) asked to use the bathroom but instead “entered the sanctuary, one remaining near the door while the other advanced down the aisle, apparently counting the demonstrators in the pews.” Then, one officer went downstairs to a homeless women’s shelter and “asked for information about who was sleeping there” without identifying himself or showing his badge. The church’s Rev. James Karpen called the police actions “invasive.”

Read more at Think Progress.

Another from Think Progress, regarding police and their attempt to use undercover officers to infiltrate the Occupy movement, as if they will uncover come dirty secret, much like the right wingers and their news machines (yeah, FOX, I'm pointing my finger at you) that the Occupy movement is a liberal, Democratic organized movement, funded by, you guessed it, George Soros! Yeah, right. (shaking head)

Across the country, police have used undercover and/or plainsclothed police officers to monitor occupations and protests that are a part of the 99 Percent Movement. Earlier today, the Tennessean published excerpts from emails sent by the Tennessee Highway Patrol that confirmed not only that police were infiltrating Occupy Nashville but that they were hoping for the movement’s demise.

In a video released last month, Oakland Police Officer Fred Shavies was outed as one of these plainsclothed officers at Occupy Oakland.

SHAVIES: I’m a police officer. I’m part of the 99 percent. [...] In the ’60s when people would protest, would gather in order to bring about change, right? Those protests were nonviolent they were peaceful assemblies. They were broken up with dogs, hoses, sticks. [...] It looks like there was a square, and police shot tear gas. That could be the photograph or the video for our generation. That’s our Birmingham. So, twenty years from now this movement could be the turning point, the tipping point, right. It’s about time your generation stood up for something. It’s about time young people are in the streets. [...] Ya’ll don’t need to throw gas canisters into a group of people occupying an intersection.

At least one politician in Washington is paying attention:

“No matter how long protesters camp out across America, big banks will continue to pour money into shadow groups promoting candidates more likely to slash Medicaid for poor children than help families facing foreclosure,” said Deutch in a statement provided to ThinkProgress. “No matter how strongly Ohio families fight for basic fairness for workers, the Koch Brothers will continue to pour millions into campaigns aimed at protecting the wealthiest 1%. No matter how fed up seniors in South Florida are with an agenda that puts oil subsidies ahead of Social Security and Medicare, corporations will continue to fund massive publicity campaigns and malicious attack ads against the public interest. Americans of all stripes agree that for far too long, corporations have occupied Washington and drowned out the voices of the people. I introduced the OCCUPIED Amendment because the days of corporate control of our democracy. It is time to return the nation’s capital and our democracy to the people.”

Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL), has introduced a bill (cute acronym) called Outlawing Corporate Cash Undermining The Public Interest in our Elections and Democracy (OCCUPIED). This is a push back against the Citizens United decision.

In a memo from a prominent corporate lobbying firm to the American Bankers Association, it appears Wall Street, and Republicans are now afraid that some Democrats might benefit from the Occupy movement.

The memo was authored by lobbyists at the firm Clark Lytle Geduldig Cranford — and there are two key takeaways. The first is that some allies of Wall Street firms see Occupy Wall Street as a potential long term political threat. The second is that they see the Democratic strategy of embracing the populist message of the protests as something that could work, rather than something that is an automatic negative for Dems, as conservatives keep proclaiming is the case.

Read more here.

As we head into the Thanksgiving Holidays, this is an interesting idea from Working America. It's a challenge to "talk turkey" about the Occupy movement.

What's your favorite part of the holidays? Big meals? Mashed potatoes and gravy? Cranberry sauce? Sleeping off your meal over the big football game? How about those never-ending discussions with your family about everything from Dancing with the Stars to Congress?

Well, this holiday season, Working America invites you to embrace that quality family time as an opportunity to help Uncle Dave and Aunt Maggie make sense of what it means to be a part of the 99 percent. We're calling it "Turkey Talk."

How can you take on the "Turkey Talk" Holiday Family Challenge to talk with friends and family in a way that draws out the real issues? Here are some basic strategies and advice, along with some substantive facts and answers that will clear up myths, confusion or spin coming from the 1 percent.

And Now For Something Completely Different Re OWS

The video speaks for itself.

What Is Up With The Police?

I swear, I am having deja vu moments daily reading about the police beating up the OWS/99% protesters across this country. Back in the Vietnam protest era, it was mostly a generational gap argument. But these current protests span age, gender, race and creed. And the police unions are part of the target of elimination by the 1%, so it is really, really difficult for me to understand the police "rage" that is apparent and directed at the protesters.

Courtesy of the Milwaukee-Wisconsin JS:

Photographer Kristyna Wentz-Graff was covering the rally, which began at noon in a plaza beside UWM's student center. The group left campus on E. Kenwood Blvd., marching westbound in the street and on the sidewalk, chanting and carrying signs.

[snip]

"I can tell you that no one at MPD had any idea (Wentz-Graff) was a journalist until she arrived here at the police station," Schwartz said. "She never identified herself as a journalist to officers."

[snip]

"At no time did Kristyna Wentz-Graff ignore any commands by any officer," Kaiser said. "She came upon the scene to do her job as a photojournalist. She was clearly not part of the protest. She was wearing her Journal Sentinel photo press credential. She was carrying photography equipment while taking photographs of police making arrests when she was grabbed by a police officer and handcuffed. Her arrest was completely uncalled for and violates the First Amendment. No reason for her arrest has been provided."

Then there is this from the San Francisco Chronicle:

A car struck two Occupy Oakland protesters tonight as they marched with a crowd along Broadway, and an angry mob surrounded the car as emergency workers tended to the injured.

The driver, who was not identified, sat in his silver Mercedes-Benz sedan after the 7:30 p.m. incident while hundreds of people screamed at him through his closed windows.

BART police officers who were guarding nearby transit stations responded, questioned the driver and several witnesses, then let the driver leave the scene at 11th Street and Broadway in his car.

Although the tone of violence has lessened since the Oakland police shot a projectile and dramatically injured Iraq Veteran Scott Thomas Olsen, (see video here), I still have no understanding of the police, part of the 99%, and their anger at the 99%.

Goldman Sachs Backs Out Of Event Because Occupy Chicago Being Honored!

Courtesy of Think Progress:

Earlier this month, the Lower East Side People’s Federal Credit Union in New York City held a fundraiser to celebrate its 25th anniversary. It just so happened that this the credit union many of the protesters at Occupy Wall Street (OWS) were using to store funds — and the protest group became an honoree at the dinner. When Goldman Sachs found out that OWS would be at the dinner, it pulled out of the event, along with its $5,000 donation. Despite the threat from the mega-bank to pull its money if OWS would be honored, event organizers decided to go ahead anyway. “Their money was welcome, but not at the price of giving up what we believe in,” said Pablo DeFilippi, associate director of member development at the National Federal of Community Development Credit Unions. “We lost their $5,000, but we have our principles.”

Back From Chicago

Whirlwind short visit. Had its ups and downs, but overall, it was a very pleasant visit. Too many pictures taken to even start to put online. I did get to see the Robin Hood protestors crossing the river in their row boats, though, live, so that was way fucking cool! Went to the Baha'i House of Worship at night when all the lights are on. It is really a fabulous building, and I actually cried like a baby inside. I hadn't been there since I was 16, and it is such a spiritual part of my whole life that to be there (there is only one House of Worship in each country, so they are very special) overwhelmed me. My daughter, of course, loved Wilmette area, but it's way over her price range (sweety darling!). Rogers Park is like a cross between the East Village and the West Village, but with a lot more trees. That's where my grandson has been living.

Flight there was a breeze, getting around was easy, flight home was delayed a bit, today was hell trying to catch up to work.

Will post more over the weekend, both political and personal.

By the way, hat tip and shout out goes to my new favorite (Chicago) bar, Duke's! I was only one of two rooting for Detroit to beat Chicago on MNF, and it was a hoot! I had called around the Rogers Park area to talk to the bars to see where my daughter might like to go hang out after she had to bring her son back to the babysitter or the dad (although, I have to say, the dad let my grandson spend the night with her a few nights while she stayed at the motel, so props for that), so when my daughter got there and called Dukes (I told her since it was a GLBT bar, she'd probably have more fun), the bartender tells her "hey, your mom called us last night!" How funny is that? They sent someone over to her motel to walk her to the bar. That doesn't happen at most places EVER! So on Monday night, I hung out with her at Dukes. First time I was so so so drunk, but REMEMBERED everything! No blackouts whatsoever! And it was cool walking back after the bar closed (they gave me my drink "to go") we stopped off at another bar, the Glenwood, that was closed, but the bartender from Dukes knew the bartender Wally, so he opened up and poured us a round! Very friendly neighborhood, I have to say.

For not flying in 11 years, I had no problems, no gripping of the seat handles on take off, no headaches upon landing! I'm ready to get back into the traveling game.

"Occupy Wall Street"

Bumped to front page 10/5/11.

From the idiot Herman Cain: Courtesy of Think Progress.

CAIN: I don’t have facts to back this up, but I happen to believe that these demonstrations are planned and orchestrated to distract from the failed policies of the Obama administration. Don’t blame Wall Street, don’t blame the big banks, if you don’t have a job and you’re not rich, blame yourself! [...] It is not someone’s fault if they succeeded, it is someone’s fault if they failed.

No, Mr. Cain. It is corporate greed and Wall Street that did this to Americans. The unemployed need not apply is the current mantra for many companies that are actually hiring. Being unemployed is not a choice you stupid dirt bag. It's what has happened all across America thanks to corporations FIRING their workers and sending the jobs out of the country, along with closing down factories and FIRING the workers. All so the CEO's and shareholders can make more money by not having to pay living wages to AMERICANS. Dumb people like this is a true example of where we are going in this country, because a lot of people (with money) really believe this crap. And that is why I still feel there will be actual riots and violence in the future, by the have nots against the haves. "If you don't have a job and are not rich, blame yourself." That's a good one, Herman.


From AMERICAblog, entitled: "New York Observer: Exclusive "Occupy Wall Street" Unaired Fox Footage"



Great, articulate and spot on comments from a "protestor" filmed by Fox News that never saw the light of day on that network!

From Think Progress:

Workers Union is going to court today in hopes of blocking New York City from forcing bus drivers to transport any Occupy Wall Street protesters after the New York police department commandeered at least three buses to take many of the 700 protesters off the Brooklyn Bridge this weekend. Last week, the TWU voted to support the Occupy Wall Street movement and called the order to bus prisoners “a blatant act of political retaliation.” “TWU Local 100 supports the protesters on Wall Street and takes great offense that the mayor and NYPD have ordered operators to transport citizens who were exercising their constitutional right to protest — and shouldn’t have been arrested in the first place,” TWU President John Samuelsen said. Samuelson said that by instructing the drivers to follow the police directive, the Metropolitan Transit Authority violated its contract with the Local 100.

Earlier updates.

Credit: Ian Murphy's cell phone

LIBERTY SQUARE, NY--despite the early morning rain, morale is high. A reported 100,000 copies of The Occupied Wall Street Journal have just arrived. The young occupiers are busy handing out the four page broadsheet to curious passersby and the protest tourists, who linger on the outskirts of Zuccotti Park, snapping photos of signs and the occasional blue-haired hippie.

Again, H/T to C&L.

UPDATE 9/30/11:



Oh, and let's not forget the mantra "class warfare!" Let them eat cake (or in this case, drink champagne).



A picture is worth a thousand words.

It seems the movement is spreading; Video of Americans in Boston, courtesy of Think Progress.

The occupation of Wall Street appear to be organically spreading, as similar movements are popping up across the nation, in locations as varied as Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles.

Donate here.

Courtesy of C&L:

Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Wall Street firms will be the target of a nonviolent demonstration in which organizers say they want 20,000 people to participate with tents, kitchens and “peaceful barricades” in lower Manhattan.

Dubbed “#OccupyWallStreet,” the goal of the protest scheduled to start today is to get President Barack Obama to establish a commission to end “the influence money has over our representatives in Washington,” according to the website of Adbusters, a group promoting the demonstration. Organizers want participants to “occupy” the area for “a few months,” according to the website.

“People have a right to protest, and if they want to protest, we'll be happy to make sure they have locations to do it,” New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Sept. 15 at a press conference. “As long as they do it where other people's rights are respected, this is the place where people can speak their minds, and that's what makes New York New York.”

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