#OCCUPYWALLSTREET campaign - September 17

[eyeno]

[ninakat]

Yeah, I loved it the military guy's rant, except for the part about going and killing Iraqis if you really want to hurt somebody. That kind of spoiled the whole thing for me. If that wasn't what he meant that wouldn't have been what he said.

Maybe if he'd said "go to Bank of America and start killing executives" I would have at least had to think twice.

And I really hate to be a party pooper, but I'm still not as inspired by Chris Hedges as others seem to be. I think it's the abject lack of good spokespeople that makes anyone remotely articulate seem like a hero.

Well, I think he's VERY articulate about the core objectives and intent of the movement, but he's the first to also say he's not a leader. I don't see him that way, nor do I want him to be in that position (or anyone else, for that matter). And I've certainly criticized Hedges' position on 9/11 in the past, and that's still a factor for me, BUT he is contributing in a big way to this movement and helping keep the detractors at bay. A hero? Probably not the word I word choose.

So, what are your criticisms and/or thoughts about Hedges, if I may ask for further elucidation?

[Simulist]

Hey, I like Chris Hedges and Ninakat.

So sue me.

[2012 Countdown]

Naomi Wolf Arrested While Occupy Wall Street Protests

By Jen Chung in News on October 18, 2011 9:33 PM

While members of Occupy Wall Street were outside a Soho event that Governor Cuomo was attending—to protest his refusal to reinstate the "millionaires tax"— the feminist author and activist Naomi Wolf was arrested.
Firedoglake's Kevin Gosztola Tweeted, "Naomi Wolf shows up to inform protesters confronting Cuomo they do not need permit for a megaphone." Police claim that protesters can't be outside Skylight Soho (at 275 Hudson Street) because they need a street activities permit. New Yorkist reported, "Lt someone w/Manhattan South Precinct say people marching are obstructing pedi traffic. Naomi wolf talking, he said: "tell it to the judge!'" ANIMAL NEW YORK further explains, "NYPD told Naomi Wolf that they were going to arrest her for marching in front of Skylight Soho in violation of the event space's SAP permit." And so they arrested her.
Apparently Cuomo was being given the "Game Changer of the Year Award" from the Huffington Post. Wolf, who contributes to the HuffPo, had been attending the event. Now protesters are marching to the 1st Precinct, where Wolf has been taken.

http://gothamist.com/2011/10/18/naomi_w ... testin.php

[Jeff]

Apparently Cuomo was being given the "Game Changer of the Year Award"

Under normal circumstance I would have thought that hilarious, if it weren't so sad. Thanks to OWS, it is self-evidently hilarious.

[Nordic]

Wow, I never watch The Daily Show any more, because, well, it sucks, but I was bored tonight and my DVR had recorded it, so I checked out an episode. DAMN does he find the weirdest most fucked-up looking people from the OWS movement and make fun of them.

It's almost like he's one of the 1%'ers. Oh wait ....

[Jeff]

Good video from Tampa.



Maybe the most encouraging and surprising aspect of all this is its political and economic literacy.

[2012 Countdown]

Commander Who Pepper-Sprayed Protesters Faces Disciplinary Charge
By AL BAKER
Published: October 18, 2011

A New York police commander who pepper-sprayed protesters during the opening days of the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations last month faces an internal disciplinary charge that could cost him 10 vacation days, the police said Tuesday. The commander, Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna, has been given a so-called command discipline, according to a law enforcement official. Officials said investigators found that the inspector ran afoul of Police Department rules for the use of the spray. The department’s patrol guide, its policy manual, says pepper spray should be used primarily to arrest a suspect who is resisting arrest, or for protection; it does allow for its use in “disorder control,” but only by officers with special training.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/19/nyreg ... r=1&src=tp

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Occupy Wall Street officer Anthony Bologna 'broke pepper-spray rules'
Internal NYPD review finds Bologna violated departmental standards on use of pepper spray, according to reports
Associated Press
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 18 October 2011 18.36 EDT

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oc ... CMP=twt_gu
===

So, initially the statement came out from the police that he did nothing wrong and that he was correctly following police procedure. What heppened shown on video has never changed, yet somehow now they say he didn't follow procedure. Moreover, he gets docked a mere 10 days for this?

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cognitivedissonance:

Alec Baldwin visits Occupy Wall Street. He came with no press or entourage. Some of the 1% support the 99%.

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http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/1 ... log_792316

[Bruce Dazzling]

Occupy Phoenix

Wall o' cops:

[2012 Countdown]

Oh yeah...they are crushing all the satellite OWS camps. San Fran, Denver, Seattle, etc...which is why , well, I don't think we can field all these camps for this long. No matter, so long as we keep the WS one going, that is all we need.



Why Rush Limbaugh Is Freaking Out About Occupy Wall Street
POSTED: OCTOBER 18, 10:54 AM ET


Got a flurry of emails yesterday after the inimitable Rush Limbaugh lumped me and Dylan Ratigan in with the behind-the-scenes power structure. Apparently Rush got hold of Breitbart’s story about the email list and decided to run with it:
Journalists have been advising the protesters – emails have been found. Dylan Ratigan of MSNBC and some guy named Matt Taibbi… Dylan Ratigan and Matt Taibbi are sending emails back and forth with organizers , telling them how to position their demands, how they can improve their coverage.

Here Rush paused before making his Sherlock Holmesian deduction from these facts:

This whole thing is a construct of the media-Democrat complex, industrial complex…

I nearly fell over laughing when I heard this. What the fuck is the Media-Democrat-Industrial Complex? Has Rush been reading Noam Chomsky books on the side? Calling any group that includes me and Glenn Greenwald an “industrial complex” is extremely high-concept comedy. We should have t-shirts made...

(Also, I love the phrase “emails have been found.” Actually, it was more like “a sleazy cyber-provocateur and amateur FBI informant stole the emails.” But who’s quibbling?)

Anyway, if you listen to the whole Rush segment, you can hear frustration and croaking, bullfroggish anxiety in his voice at the fact of so many different politicians capitulating, at least verbally, to OWS. He’s sensing that politicians are seeing danger in the “99%” concept, and he's expressing dismay that everyone from Mitt Romney to Barack Obama is now trying hard to position himself as not being in the 1%.

This isn't evidence that mainstream politicians are caving to the movement, of course, but what it does show is that those same politicians are endorsing OWS rhetoric, and by extension tacitly admitting the basic truth of the great-many-versus-very-few protest narrative.

Rush chalks this up to a media deception, a mirage of TV images and “media-Democrat-industrial complex” manipulations designed to con the country into believing in the existence of a mass movement.

The reality, of course, is that people like Rush, Romney and Obama are all becoming cognizant of the deep frustrations that exist across the political spectrum and are growing desperate to prevent the powder keg from blowing completely – hence the intense effort to describe OWS as a top-down manipulation.

Of course the notion that this is all a media fabrication is ludicrous. Dylan Ratigan didn’t invent four million people in foreclosure, he didn’t invent ten trillion dollars in bailouts, and he didn’t invent Wall Street’s $160 billion bonus pool the year after the crash of its own creation.

People out there do not need media figures to tell them how fucked things are, or how pissed they should be that the same bankers who caused the crash are now enjoying state-supported bonuses in the billions, while everyone else gets squeezed. As someone who has been covering this stuff for three years, I can say with confidence that people across the country don’t need a push to be angry. They’re already there, and have been there for years. Rush should go hang out outside a foreclosure court in his home state of Florida for a few hours, if he wants to see where the rising heat under these protests is coming from.

Anyway, the hysterical responses from the Rushes of the world are just more signs that these protests are working. I never thought I’d see it, but some of the dukes and earls high up in America’s Great Tower of Bullshit are starting to blink a little bit. They seem genuinely freaked out that OWS doesn’t have leaders or a single set of demands, which in addition to being very encouraging is quite funny.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/bl ... t-20111018

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BTW, I heard Ron Paul gave big support for OWS in last nights' Republican debate. Good for him, good for us.

[JackRiddler]

Moreover, he gets docked a mere 10 days for this?

Actually docked no days. Losing 10 days of vacation means he's put on the street for 10 days more than he would have had. That's his punishment: another 10 days of opportunity to pepper-spray defenseless trapped women.

.

[Laodicean]

Moreover, he gets docked a mere 10 days for this?

Actually docked no days. Losing 10 days of vacation means he's put on the street for 10 days more than he would have had. That's his punishment: another 10 days of opportunity to pepper-spray defenseless trapped women.

.

With the video evidence, and now an admission of misconduct, if I was a civil lawsuit attorney I would take him and the NYPD to the cleaners for each of those women. I'd take his pension and then some.

[Bruce Dazzling]

There is a kind of compromise you are master of
Your endless gentle nudging left us polarised
It's hard to talk to enemies – and we are enemies
What we had in common makes it even worse
You're proud of being middle class (meaning upper class)
You say you're self sufficient (but you don't dig your own coal)

I think that what you're frightened of more than anything
Is knowing you need workers more than they need you
"A herd of independent minds" Chomsky got it right
You're jogging into battle waving old school ties

[Bruce Dazzling]

Denver.

[elfismiles]

BTW, I heard Ron Paul gave big support for OWS in last nights' Republican debate. Good for him, good for us.

Ron Paul on Occupy WallStreet CNN Las Vegas Debate 10/18/2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cGwDJ0C0X8