#OCCUPYWALLSTREET campaign - September 17

[Jeff]

From The Coming Insurrection, Jan 2009:

How does a situation of generalized rioting become an insurrectionary situation? What to do once the streets have been taken, once the police have been soundly defeated there? Do the parliaments still deserve to be attacked? What is the practical meaning of deposing power locally? How do we decide? How do we subsist?

How do we find each other?

This is the great, first magic of Occupy for me: we found each other.

[Peachtree Pam]

Is this a victory or is this a victory


Bank of America drops $5 debit card fee plan



http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Bank-of-A ... et=&ccode=

On Tuesday November 1, 2011, 2:28 pm EDT/

By Rick Rothacker

(Reuters) - Bank of America Corp scrapped plans to charge a $5 per-month debit fee, handing a victory to consumers and protesters angry with big banks.

The second-biggest U.S. bank, whose shares were down over 3 percent, said on Tuesday that the move was in response to customer feedback and competition. Bank of America was under pressure to make the change as rivals backtracked from plans to charge customers for using their debit cards.

"It's a sign of consumer power in action," said Norma Garcia, manager of the financial services program for Consumers Union. "This is a sign of the marketplace working."

Last week JPMorgan Chase & Co and Wells Fargo & Co decided to cancel test programs, while SunTrust Banks Inc and Regions Financial Corp said on Monday that they would end monthly charges and reimburse customers.

Banks began crafting the monthly charges to make up revenue lost to a law that slashes the fees they charge retailers when consumers swipe their cards. The fees sparked a firestorm of criticism from consumers and politicians, and many smaller banks and credit unions shunned the practice.

U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin, the author of the swipe fee legislation, told reporters on Capitol Hill that the reversal by major banks was "an amazing victory" for consumers across the country.

"What we have basically proven is that with transparency and competition, consumers will make a choice about where they want to do business and walk away from those they think are not treating them fairly or are overcharging them," the Illinois Democrat said. "I hope the banking industry learns from this."

Anti-Wall-Street protesters, who set up camp in a New York City park more than six weeks ago to demonstrate economic inequality, also claimed the move by Bank of America as a victory, but one they shared with several other anti-bank initiatives.

"It's certainly an indication that Occupy Wall Street and the occupations that are going on across the country are steering public discussion," said Ed Needham, a spokesman for the Occupy Wall Street movement.

"This is what the movement would consider a very, very small first step on rectifying an oppressive dynamic between the financial services industry and the 99 percent."

Protesters say they are upset that the billions of dollars in bank bailouts doled out during the recession allowed banks to resume earning huge profits while average Americans have had no relief from high unemployment and job insecurity.

Needham said that among the other initiatives that could be credited with forcing the back-down by Bank of America was the month-long Bank Transfer Day campaign.

The Bank Transfer Day campaign, started by 27-year-old Californian Kristen Christian on Facebook on October 4, is encouraging people to close their bank accounts and move their money to credit unions on Saturday.

Bank of America, which planned to start charging the fee next year, began softening its stance last week. The Charlotte, North Carolina, bank planned to give customers more ways to avoid the charge, such as maintaining minimum balances, having paychecks direct-deposited or using their Bank of America credit cards

"We have listened to our customers very closely over the last few weeks and recognize their concern with our proposed debit usage fee," Bank of America Co-Chief Operating Officer David Darnell said in a statement.

The reversal is another embarrassing about-face for Bank of America Chief Executive Officer Brian Moynihan. Last spring, he disclosed plans for a modest dividend increase this year, only to have the Federal Reserve Board deny the request.

Nancy Bush, a longtime bank analyst and contributing editor at SNL Financial, said she was surprised the bank backtracked after Moynihan's "flip-flop" on the dividend.

"If you're going to set a policy, set a policy," Bush said. "Talk it through beforehand, think through the ramifications and stick to your guns."

Bank of America's third-quarter results show Moynihan is making progress in turning around the company but his management team's communications skills "still need work," she said. The bank was also a victim of bad timing and joined other banks in misjudging customer sentiment, Bush said.

Shares of Bank of America were down 3.1 percent at $6.62 in afternoon trading. The KBW Bank Index was down 2.2 percent after a proposed Greek referendum threatened to upend a European bailout plan to contain the sovereign debt crisis.

[Bruce Dazzling]

Goldman Sachs To Be Tried By People's Court in Zuccotti Park
Posted at November 1, 2011, 10:05 am
AlterNet

Goldman Sachs will be tried this Thursday, November 3, for crimes against the American public. Cornel West, noted civil rights activist, and Chris Hedges, Pulitzer Prize winner, will be among those presiding, and testimony for the prosecution will include individuals who have been directly affected and harmed by the actions of Goldman Sachs. The trial is open to the public, and if you can't make it? Tune in to WBAI (99.5 FM in New York) or online at http://www.wbai.org this Thursday, from 10 AM to 12 noon, where it will be broadcast live. If the government won't do it? We'll take it into our own hands.

OMG!!! I would love to be there for that!!

Anyone here up for reporting on that for us far away peeps here? *on knees* "Please God (if there is a God) let it be livestreamed.."

I'm gonna try to escape my job for this, but Zuccotti Park isn't that big, and it's crowded as hell with tents, and people, so i'm not sure that I'll be able to get close enough to the "trial" to provide much in the way of details, although I definitely will try.

Here are a few crappy cell phone photos from today:

[seemslikeadream]

Witness to the ‘Occupy Oakland’ Assault
November 1, 2011

One week ago, Oakland authorities – citing safety hazards from an “Occupy” encampment – unleashed a predawn police raid to drive the protesters from a plaza. City officials called the action necessary, but a local security guard emerged to tell Dennis Bernstein a very different story.

By Dennis Bernstein

On Thursday, two days after Oakland police violently routed peaceful protesters occupying a downtown plaza in protest of America’s economic inequality, I was approached by Bill Lo, a seasoned security guard and photographer who was on duty directly across the street that night.

He had observed and filmed the entire pre-dawn raid and his compelling, soft-spoken eyewitness account contradicted much of what the police said — and the local corporate media parroted — about what happened at the camp and the supposed dangers that it presented to the city and its residents.

The assault on Oakland’s Frank Ogawa Plaza began in the early-morning dark on Tuesday, Oct. 25, as the Oakland Police Department in conjunction, with over 15 other police departments from Northern and Central California, stormed the sleepy Occupy Oakland Encampment.

YouTube image of protester Scott Olsen after he was struck by projectile.

Asleep inside tents of the makeshift Occupy encampment were over 100 men, women and children. The police force — dressed in black ninja-like outfits and special-forces helmets with full face-shields down and armed with an assortment of the latest riot gear — fired tear gas canisters and concussion grenades into the camp, as helicopters circled above.

Backed by armored vehicles, the police then attacked and ransacked the entire encampment. In a short time, the camps library, soup kitchen and children’s center were left in ruins, and many of the inhabitants were roughed up, arrested and held on high bail. Some activists suffered injuries, including broken bones. One protester, Iraq War vet Scott Olsen, suffered a fractured skull when he was struck in the head by a police projectile.

Interim Police Chief Howard Jordan and Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, who was out of town during the raid, justified the assault on safety and health concerns. The mayor repeatedly claimed that the police acted properly and with restraint in wiping out the camp and arresting the protesters.

The mayor claimed that the police were there to protect property and guarantee the safety of all Oakland’s citizens as well as to defend local banks and businesses that were under attack.

In a statement following the police raid, Quan said, “Over the last week, it was apparent that neither the demonstrators nor the City could maintain safe or sanitary conditions, or control the ongoing vandalism. We want to thank the police, fire, public works and other employees who worked over the last week to peacefully close the encampment. …

“I commend [Police] Chief Jordan for a generally peaceful resolution to a situation that deteriorated and concerned our community. His leadership was critical in the successful execution of this operation.”

Offering a differing account was security guard Bill Lo, who spoke to me on Pacifica’s “Flashpoints” program Monday:

DB: Today on Flashpoints an exclusive eyewitness account of the police savaging of the Occupy Oakland encampment and arresting over a hundred peaceful activists in their heavily armed, pre-dawn raid on that camp last Tuesday in the wee hours.

The testimony comes from a security guard who watched the entire raid from his vantage point on the second floor of a building right across the street from where the police acted.

BL: My name is Bill Lo. I work as a security officer in a high-rise building that’s directly across from the Ogawa Plaza. The reason I came to Pacifica, the word Pacifica means peace. And what I witnessed Monday night, I witnessed the raid on the Occupation Oakland, at a little bit after 4:30 in the morning, and it was just an outrage what I saw.

Now from my vantage point, well, initially I started from the lobby, I was able to see all the police gathering in the middle of 14th and Broadway. From the lobby entrance I have a direct view of that. Then, from there I went upstairs to a good vantage point where I was able see everything that happened from the building across the street.

And it was terrifying to see this because, I mean, there were just so many policemen. I mean just the numbers were incredible. And they lined up almost like in a phalanx, on the street, and then they moved in. Now I thought that, I was able to take video of this, so I thought that the video would speak for itself.

There were helicopters flying about and with high beams on the camps. So, you know, the beams were moving across every which way. Young people were waiting at the entrance to the camp; they were prepared to be arrested.

So then, the police did make an announcement over the horn to disperse in a very frightening manner, of course. But the part that was just so appalling was when they moved in, before moving in they shot these, what I, I couldn’t tell from a distance, I thought they were smoke bombs, later on I found out that it was tear gas.

Now there were young people in these camps and children, infants in a lot of the tents and this was just, seemed like this was completely out of whack with the situation. These people had demonstrated that their intent was peaceful for the entire two weeks that they were at the camp.

So [the police] shot the tear gas into the middle of the camp, and at the time, there were dumpsters lined up in front, at the entrance, on the corner because the occupiers were trying to conform to the new regulations that the city of Oakland had given to them. So they were trying to get rid of a lot of junk, in the common area.

So the police moved those dumpsters to the side and then they moved to the next stage of taking the barricades and kicking them down. And then they moved in and the first thing they hit was the information tent, and they just started just tearing everything down.

And then they just progressively moved further and further in, and you saw all the people in the middle ground, young people moving every which way, right and left, and you could hear all the voices.

DB: And did they begin to make arrests?

BL: Yes, they did make arrests of the people who were prepared to be arrested.

DB: And did it look like a military action? Was there any. … You’re sure, there were kids inside?

BL: Well, there were kids who were living in the camp, so they were further in. Make no doubt about it, this was a military type operation, the way they moved in. It harkened back to old footage I had seen of Nazi Germany where you know you had the Nazis, the SS going in and picking up innocent people. It had that tenor.

And even the helicopters, and the lights, and the loud speaker, all those were all intended to create panic and terror for the people inside, and it was totally uncalled for.

DB: And how were the cops dressed and say a little bit more about how they were acting.

BL: It was something like out of a Star Wars movie except instead of being in white they were all in black. You know they were all in riot gear, you know with the visors, they looked like automatons, that they just moved in, in a line.

DB: Having been there for a while, you’ve observed the process of the camp over several weeks, you were observing, you were in close range, you saw what was going on.

Did you have any sense, as somebody who works there on a regular basis, that this was a violent community, that these were dangerous people that would require this kind of expansive police action, heavily armed, there were helicopters you said flashing lights down.

How would you describe, say a little bit more about who was being arrested?

BL: I tell you downtown Oakland has never been safer because we had a community there. At other times, actually downtown, it’s shady, and it’s actually very dicey, if you take the chance to walk around.

But violence … the thing about the occupiers was that whenever there was an incident, if there was someone who misbehaved themselves, twenty, twenty-five people would surround the person and say “Hey, you know, you can’t do this, this is not acceptable behavior at this camp.” I saw incidents like that.

I live downtown in Oakland and I saw this thing from its inception on a rainy Monday evening. Five hundred some people gathered at the plaza and the next thing you know they were putting their tents up.

And I attended meetings. I sat in at the amphitheater, everyone was welcome, it was very peaceful, this is the thing I can’t emphasize enough. That this was all intended to be peaceful. And anyone who was violent, the group got on them, and said, you know, “This is not acceptable here.”

DB: And did you hear the cops say anything? Were there loudspeaker announcements? You said there were helicopters with lights flashing around, spotlights. Vehicles, police vehicles?

BL: Yes, they had these vehicles that looked like armored boxes, black, special riot vehicles.

DB: And, say a little bit more about what was going through your mind as you were watching it, in your city of Oakland.

BL: Well, to tell you the truth, I really, I watched this microcosm develop and [the encampment] was something that was so extraordinarily humane that happened in there … the way that they accepted people, homeless people from downtown Oakland, with open arms. They fed people. They prepared two thousand meals a day. People who lived in neighboring hotels came for free meals.

The kids who were … a little rough in behavior actually started behaving themselves because of the peer pressure. Their friends would say, “ Hey look, that’s not acceptable here, so you have to behave.” It was extraordinary, just a friendly positive energy.

And you asked me, yes, the police did make the announcement, “You have so much time to disperse.” But the way that it was done, it was like Shock and Awe. I mean something that’s terrifying even to hear that.

DB: Did you see any activist committing any types of violence? This was a peaceful resistance, that you are saying?

BL: Absolutely, they were peaceful. But the reason why I wanted to show/present this video was because, thank God, no one was killed. And that’s the thing that was an outrage. That this operation didn’t have to take place in the dead of night, when it was dark, when there was low visibility. People are still sleeping in tents.

Heaven forbid if someone pulled something out of their pockets and the police said, “Oh, we thought that he pulled out a weapon.” Something like that, it’s just amazing, that although a lot of people got hurt, there were a lot of broken bones and that kind of thing.

But for [the police] to go into the military fashion against U.S. citizens; young people, old people, infants, you know, young people, it’s just outrageous. This is state terrorism without exaggeration. And I was just, I just really couldn’t believe that the mayor had actually allowed this to happen.

DB: Anything that comes to mind.

BL: Well, I have to be careful here. This was the acting police chief, is the person that [the mayor] picked. And I attended the summit meeting for combating violence in the city of Oakland the week before, so I know that they work very closely together.

So it really kind of pushes one’s credulity that she didn’t know, maybe she didn’t know specifically what night, this action was going to take place, but I couldn’t believe that there wasn’t some coordination.

DB: Did you see any protesters attacking police?

BL: That night, on the night of the raid? Absolutely not, absolutely not because the young people who were at the front of the camp were sitting down at the steps, they were prepared for a raid. We just didn’t know when it was going to take place.

So I was down in the lobby, you know, checking every five minutes, and then when the police did appear within four minutes just hundreds of people converged right in the middle of 14th and Broadway, like nothing you’ve ever seen before.

DB: Now, you are an observer, both as a security person, you work in security, and you’re an artist.

BL: Yes, I am, I’m a photographer

DB: Sort of through the senses, what you heard, what you saw, what you were feeling as it was unfolding. Tell us a little bit more about the impact on you as you watched this untold.

BL: Well, I don’t want to sound maudlin here, because I had grown to really love OccupyOakland. And when I saw this thing happen, I mean, and when I saw this thing happen I was struggling to hold my little Canon video to shoot this film, because I was just so upset. I know really sounding really sappy, but I was close to tears but I said “No, just you have to control your emotions, because you want to get this video.”

And I didn’t know, I wasn’t thinking that I was going to send the video to any outlet. I was really very, very angry with the way that the corporate media has been presenting this whole thing and the negative spin that they have been putting on this thing is just bogus.

DB: You think that what you’ve been seeing by the corporate media is essentially a contradiction to what really happened?

BL: It’s totally slanted. They take things … there might have been certain incidents which they blew out [of proportion]. I mean when you have so many people, from so many different backgrounds you are going to find some people who are out in left field.

There are isolated incidents. But the group, the group tried to control any kind of violence in the camp. And everyone was welcome in there. But when I was shooting I was just trying not to cry, to tell you the truth.

DB: Anything incident/detail that would help us understand better what happened that night.

BL: Well, for the night of the raid I can’t really think of anything specific it’s just the thing that stays in my mind’s eye is in the middle ground with the lights from the helicopters, the police moving in and just stomping on these tents, and moving in one layer, after another, moving in deeper and deeper, and the young people who really had basically stayed put, but then you can see the movement laterally, to the right, to the left.

It was just like something out of a film, someone told me as I described it to him, people moving around like that. So in this complete chaos it’s just amazing, I don’t mean to be redundant, it’s just amazing that a gun was not pulled out and people were not shot.

DB: Clearly no demonstrators, no protesters, no occupiers pulled out any guns.

BL: No, absolutely not. Absolutely not.

DB: Could you see the different police forces, or they all just looked like one heavily armed force?

BL: All heavily armed. Almost unified, I don’t know how they were able to work that out, but that was definitely as a visual, that was definitely an advantage to create that impression.

DB: All looking exactly the same?

BL: It looked like an army of people in black. And anonymous, just like robots, you know, just moving right in. And that’s designed to create terror. You know they call it shock and awe. You want to scare the hell out of the people . Why do you want to scare the hell out of these people who are peaceful and trying to do good?

DB: Thank you for sharing all this.

BL: I thank the fact that there is a Pacifica here, because I was not going to take this to the corporate media. You know those people, the occupiers, … they welcomed those media people with open arms. They showed all the intimate facets of life in the camps.

But so many reporters are like reptiles, you know, almost like opportunistic. Because then they had a whole different line on what happened here.

DB: And they saw the camp shredded, destroyed in the aftermath, they took them in for the tour. Thank you for sharing this with us. Anything else you might like to say?

BL: I would just say on the sanitation thing and the rats. You know, I live in downtown. The rats were a problem here all the time. When I would come back from San Francisco at night time, I’d pass the plaza, you’d see rats just scurrying across the grass. I mean, really, dozens of these things going around.

The thing that was unfortunate was that, I think, I mean it was a phenomenal feat of organizing that these young people did. I, as an older generation person, you know, I’m 59 years old, I look at that and say wow these young people are really showing up the older generation because they are making possible things here that we almost just dream about. So it was just an enormous thing the way they were able to organize every facet of life at camp.

[Jeff]

An Open Letter to the Citizens of Oakland from the Oakland Police Officers’ Association

...

As your police officers, we are confused.

...

To add to the confusion....

...

It is all very confusing to us.

...

All of these mixed messages are confusing.

The police are not confused about which side they are on.

Sure, they say we're 99% too, but their beef is with the city administration not having their back when they cracked skulls.

We love Oakland and just want to do our jobs to protect Oakland residents. We respectfully ask the citizens of Oakland to join us in demanding that our City officials, including Mayor Quan, make sound decisions and take responsibility for these decisions. Oakland is struggling – we need real leaders NOW who will step up and lead – not send mixed messages. Thank you for listening.

Last year, before Quan became mayor, she was apparently something of an activist councilor, to the chagrin of the force:

Oakland police are investigating City Councilwomen Jean Quan and Rebecca Kaplan for their decision to join a human line that blocked police from moving up Broadway during the demonstration Thursday night.

When the cops say they need real leaders, I don't think it's cause to rejoice.

[Nordic]

I may have to go home tonight and put on The Terminator and rewaatch that scene where he goes to the police station and destroys it and guns everybody down. And cheer for The Terminator for once.

Do any of us really think that the cops would have done this against a group of people who were, I don't know, AWAKE? And imagine if it was a group of people who could actually put up a fight! I once watched a full blown riot break out at my college from my vantage point 17 stories up. The cops came, all around on the periphery, and hid. They were total chickenshits as long as the riot was actually going on. As soon as it died almost COMPLETELY died down, they moved in and started cracking heads an arresting people.

They are scummy bullies.

Attacking sleeping people. Jesus fucking christ.

[justdrew]

Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings is still refusing to push law enforcement to arrest peaceful protesters camped out across from City Hall.

“If people don’t like it, they can vote me out,” Jennings said on his Talk 1300 radio show. “That’s the way it goes.”

[Allegro]

.
Surprise: Study Says Perry’s Tax Plan Would Help the Rich

This might come as a shock to a handful of people: The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center has released its analysis of GOP presidential contender Rick Perry’s proposed tax plan and has come away with the distinct impression that Perry’s approach favors Americans in the upper income-earning brackets, regardless of his plan’s distracting put-it-on-a-postcard accessorizing gimmick. —KA [REFER.]

Study: Rick Perry tax plan would cut revenues by $1 trillion, benefit wealthy

Rick Perry’s so-called flat tax plan would drain a titanic sum from the federal treasury and largely benefit wealthy taxpayers over those in the lower brackets.

That’s the upshot of an analysis of the plan by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. Perry last week unveiled the plan, which calls for an optional 20% flat tax on personal income but would also allow taxpayers to remain in the current system.

[...] If Perry’s plan were to be enacted, the government would see a revenue shortfall in 2015 of almost $1 trillion, a 27% drop, under current law, in which the Bush-era tax breaks expire. Under current administration policy, which calls for the tax cuts to stay in place, the plan would cost the government $570 billion. [MORE.]

[Plutonia]

Goldman Sachs To Be Tried By People's Court in Zuccotti Park
Posted at November 1, 2011, 10:05 am
AlterNet

Goldman Sachs will be tried this Thursday, November 3, for crimes against the American public. Cornel West, noted civil rights activist, and Chris Hedges, Pulitzer Prize winner, will be among those presiding, and testimony for the prosecution will include individuals who have been directly affected and harmed by the actions of Goldman Sachs. The trial is open to the public, and if you can't make it? Tune in to WBAI (99.5 FM in New York) or online at http://www.wbai.org this Thursday, from 10 AM to 12 noon, where it will be broadcast live. If the government won't do it? We'll take it into our own hands.

OMG!!! I would love to be there for that!!

Anyone here up for reporting on that for us far away peeps here? *on knees* "Please God (if there is a God) let it be livestreamed.."

I'm gonna try to escape my job for this, but Zuccotti Park isn't that big, and it's crowded as hell with tents, and people, so i'm not sure that I'll be able to get close enough to the "trial" to provide much in the way of details, although I definitely will try.

Get in there Bruce!

It's a huge step and (one that will be noted with consternation by the 1%) for them to set up a "people's court", even if at this point it's power is mostly just symbolic.

The imposition of outsider jurisdictional authority is foundational to the colonial enterprise historically and even still in the present - as Bush did and Obama is doing by enforcing US law in what should be sovereign and independent nations.

Challenging the "just-us" system IS challenging the right to rule.

Audacious, necessary and beautiful!

[vanlose kid]

http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/vi ... oktime-rip

*

[Cedars of Overburden]

[quoteTuesday, November 01, 2011


The Chickens at St Paul's


'The skies are dark with the wings of chickens coming home to roost.'

Alan Bennett's bon mot was never more aptly applied than to the debacle at St Paul's Cathedral. It links up nicely with the skewing of another catch-phrase, 'Those who live like toffs inevitably will act like toffs'—and that is precisely what the knee-jerk reaction has been at St Paul's—with the notable and laudable exception of Giles Fraser, who is a very rare bird indeed—to a group of people willing to lay their lives on the line to call attention to the flaunted greed of the few who create utter misery for the vast majority, the legacy of capitalism run amok.

Poor Rowan Williams must be wincing, especially having just returned from Zimbabwe, where the church is flourishing in spite of the fact that it has had its buildings and resources confiscated by Mugabe's corrupt pseudo-bishop. What a depressing contrast the spectacle at St Paul's must be for him after experiencing the cries of joy of tens of thousands of impoverished and persecuted worshippers, which must still be ringing in his ear—the praises of people who have heard the gospel and know that it does not depend on status, power, and grand buildings.

On the other hand, why should anyone be surprised at the way St Paul's have acted? To paraphrase once again what Jesus says to his disciples in John 14: such hierarchical, self-regarding systems cannot behold, and therefore they cannot receive the spirit of truth.

How could clergy raised on a tradition of centuries of what I once called the seven devils of women's ordination*—which, of course, the women have absorbed from the men—that is, Power, Pretension, Presumption, Pomposity, Privilege, Preferment and Patronage—how could they be expected to know how to act otherwise? This is not to excuse them, but to point to the fact that the system is rotten to the core with these attitudes; they are inculcated during clergy training; indeed, there are those who become clergy precisely so they can exhibit these attitudes with what they mistakenly assume is impunity. Maybe they can get away with acting like this and even be rewarded for it among themselves, but they do not realise that they are the skeletons at their self-absorbed feast.

Far too many cathedrals and upmarket parishes are little more than concourses for the game of 'I spy the toff'. The denizens of certain churches (especially clerics) don't look at you when you introduce yourself. Even on the very rare occasion that they go through the motions of taking the initiative to speak to you, they merely pretend to engage, all the while looking over your shoulder, to see if there is someone they consider to be really important somewhere else in the room. Then they excuse themselves and sidle over to lionize him or her.

These are also the people who walk about, noses in the air, who wish to maintain their tidy order of persons and nonpersons by categorizing and dismissing the people who enter their buildings: 'Oh,' the cleric (or, often, the cleric's wife) might say, not really listening, '... you must be interested in spirituality. That's Mrs Bunfight's house on Wednesdays at 6 PM'—and ever after avoids you, if he or she catches sight of you, because you are now a nonentity and, worse, embarrassing because you seem to take the practice of Christianity seriously. Such people don't want to be seen talking with you: other people, people who count, might notice. You're not ordained so you're not worth listening or sharing ideas with (you're assumed to be too stupid to understand); you're not a famous face, publicly distinguished or, more important, rich; nor do you carry a title or a rank. It is hard to know if this atmosphere of fawning and social climbing and one-upping is hilarious or excruciating or simply not worth bothering with—probably all of the above.

St Paul's are an embarrassment to the gospels. I have nothing against cathedrals: they can be wonderful spaces for worship; they are living cultural treasures; they keep liturgy alive—I am aware of all the arguments. But aside from a beauty that gives the most determined philistine the opportunity to be taken out of him or her self in stupefaction, in beholding, most cathedrals come across as completely contrary to what the gospels are about; they are refuges for societies based on class and manners. There are exceptions here and there: one or two that make a gesture, even if they may be making that gesture for all the wrong reasons. St Mark's cathedral in Seattle, for example, along with several other large and wealthy parishes in the area, has for years provided space in their car park for the tent city of the homeless as a witness to the suffering of people who often are cast adrift through no fault of their own—not to mention those for whom support and care is not available because they live in a society indifferent to everything but power, money and the media. Such a witness, however, would surely be beneath the notice of snooty St Paul's—and besides, such a witness would be so very vulgarly American.

If St Paul's had chosen to support the protestors it might have finally, if only briefly, justified its existence; it could have set an example for courage and leadership to effect profound changes in society. What a tremendous opportunity has been irredeemably and irrevocably missed, botched, buried. The credibility of the C of E, already rock bottom, seems to have disappeared into the abyss. And after seeing Richard Chartres on television last night, it's completely unrealistic to hope that the C of E will understand that this situation is a catastrophic wake-up call—if not a death-knell.

On this, their feast, the Communion of Saints must be weeping.

---------

* See this blog May 18, 2009. 'The Seven Devils of Women's Ordination or She Who Lie Down With Dogs Catch Fleas' was originally published as a chapter in Crossing the Boundary edited by Sue Waldrond-Skinner, London: Mowbrays, 1994, pp. 93-131.][/quote]

http://ravenwilderness.blogspot.com/

The author, Maggie Ross, is an Anglican solitary, writer on Christian contemplation, and oftentimes just a firebrand AKA prophet.

[2012 Countdown]

vanlose- those are amusing...

Occupy Judaism


Jewish Leaders Denounce Right-Wing Smears of Occupy Wall Street
For immediate release, Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2011

Contact
Carinne Luck, luckca81 at gmail dot com
A Statement Against Smears

We are publicly engaged American Jews who support both Israel and the ideas behind Occupy Wall Street and who also strongly oppose right-wing attempts to smear that movement with false charges of anti-Semitism.
It’s an old, discredited tactic: find a couple of unrepresentative people in a large movement and then conflate the oddity with the cause. One black swan means that all swans are black.
One particularly vile example was a television ad during Sunday talk shows paid for by something called the Emergency Committee for Israel that is organized by William Kristol and Gary Bauer.
It is disingenuous to raise the canard about Jews and Wall Street in order to denounce it.
Occupy Wall Street is a mass protest against rising inequality in America, a fact documented last week by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. Anyone who visits Zuccotti Park understands that it has nothing to do with religion and everything to do “with liberty and justice for all.”
All of us irrespective of party or position should expose and denounce anti-Semitism where ever it occurs, but not tar hundreds of thousands of protestors nationwide because a handful of hateful people show up with offensive signs that can’t be taken down in a public park open to all.
We are pleased that the Anti-Defamation League agrees that some random signs “are not representative of the larger views of the Occupy Wall Street movement.”

Stuart Appelbaum, President, RWDSU*
Jeremy Ben-Ami, founder and President, J Street
Richard Brodsky, former Assemblyman, New York
Danny Goldberg, President, Goldve Entertainment
Mark Green, former Public Advocate for New York City
Elizabeth Holtzman, former Congresswoman and District Attorney (Brooklyn)
Rabbi Steven Jacobs, founder, Progressive Faith Foundation
Rabbi Jill Jacobs, Executive Director, Rabbis for Human Rights-North America
Madeleine Kunin, former Governor, Vermont
Jo-ann Mort, CEO, ChangeCommunicaitons
Eliot Spitzer, former Governor, New York State
Andy Stern, President Emeritus, Service Employees International Union
Hadar Susskind, Vice President, Tides Foundation
Margery Tabankin, President, Margery Tabankin Assoc.
Randi Weingarten, President, American Federation of Teacher
*Institutions for identification purposes only

http://blog.occupyjudaism.org/post/1220 ... -of-occupy

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Tunisians poke fun at Obama in assault on his Facebook page
Tuesday, 01 November 2011

By EMAN EL-SHENAWI
AL ARABIYA

Tunisians launched an all-out assault on Barack Obama’s Facebook page this week, posting thousands of comments making fun of the U.S. president and supporting the “occupy” protests across America.
Among the comments, Tunisian Facebook users circulated “Arab Spring” jokes, such as: “Tunisia is the first country to recognize the American Transitional National Council,” referring the revolutionary upheaval in Libya and the global recognition of the Libyan transitional council.
The Facebook users described it as a “virtual surprise attack” on. Many of the recent entries on his 2012 presidential campaign page were bombarded with as many as 20,000 comments each.
“Tunisian people are calling the U.S. authorities to respect freedom of expression and not to resort repression and assault on the rights of American citizens,” read one comment, which was reposted by several users.
Another comment read: “Tunisian people denounce violations against the American people by the security forces, which affect the freedom of expression.”
The Facebook assault was in part organized through Twitter, with the hashtag #TrollingObama helping spread the world, reported social network-inspired news site Storyful.com.
The horde of comments, which came after photos of police brutality against “Occupy Wall Street” protesters were released on social media sites.
“To overthrow any corrupt system in the world, please contact the Tunisian people,” one comment read.
Another comment mimicked Obama’s previous statements about the embattled Arab leaders: “Fouad Mbaza (the current Tunisian president) says that Obama should start the change immediately, or leave power.”
Members of the Occupy Wall Street movement, who are continuing to protest against social and economic inequality and corporate greed in the U.S., have even been offered advice from Arab Spring.
“All protesters take the same risks, from Tunisia to Egypt,” Ramy Raouf, communication officer at Front to Defend Egypt Protesters, told GlobalPost.
“When police react with violence, the protesters also need to understand the official laws of the region to understand what they can and cannot do. If they ever get arrested, they should always have a lawyer ready,” he advised.
“Protesters should always go to the streets carrying a bag. In that bag, they should carry a can of Pepsi, a bottle of water, and a bottle of vinegar. They should also carry plastic bags and extra clothes. If the police shoot tear gas during a protest and it gets in their eyes, they can immediately smell the vinegar. Then splash the water on their face. After that, add pepsi to wash out the eyes. It will reduce the effects of the gas,” Raouf added.

http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2 ... 74860.html

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Map: Occupy Arrests From Oakland to Denver to Austin (Updated)
Explore MoJo's updated map of the anti-Wall Street protests unfolding worldwide.

—By the Mother Jones news team
http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/10 ... rotest-map

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Former Marine's injury spurs vets to join Occupy movement
By Gary Strauss, USA TODAY Updated 7h 19m ago

Spurred by an injury to one of their own, military veterans are mobilizing to increase their presence and profile in the Occupy Wall Street movement.
Wednesday on Wall Street, the New York City chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War and dozens of other uniformed veterans known as "Veterans of the 99%" are expected to mass near Wall Street, where Occupy began Sept. 17.
Although they've been participating in Occupy protests throughout the country, vets say their ranks have been swelling since last week, when former Marine and Iraq War vet Scott Olsen sustained a skull fracture when he was hit by a police projectile at an Occupy Oakland protest . Although still hospitalized, Olsen, 24, is expected to make a full recovery.

"His injury has definitely galvanized veterans,'' says University of Illinois senior Scott Kimball, who served in Iraq as an Army specialist. He'll be helping coordinate today's New York City event, which begins with an 11 a.m. march from Vietnam Veterans Plaza to Liberty Square.
"We're getting calls from veterans across the country who are extremely angry and appalled that someone who served two tours in Iraq got injured as a well-behaved protester,'' says Kimball, 27. "It's rallying vets across the country. We're just seeing the beginning of it."
Interim Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan has said that the events leading up to Olsen's injury would be investigated as vigorously as a fatal police shooting.
Occupy Wall Street launched as a protest against corporate America's influence on government and the growing income disparity between the nation's rich and poor. Although some of the protests have appeared aimless and disorganized, Occupy's central themes have attracted a widening band of followers, and the protests spread to scores of U.S. cities and abroad.
The movement has been gathering support from labor unions and liberal groups such as MoveOn.org, although support from veterans has been less vocal. Occupy Marines, a Facebook support group that did not respond to calls, has been urging vets and active-duty personnel to show up at demonstrations, but not in military uniforms.
"I'm in it for the long term,'' says 25-year-old former Marine Shawn Riley, who served in Iraq and is a participant in Occupy Chicago. "This is an idea we're going to pass to future generations."
Joe Carter, a retired Army sergeant and head of the national Iraq Veterans Against the War association, expects increasing involvement from both retired and active-duty personnel.
"We're hearing from 80-year-old former Marines,'' says Carter, who served two tours in Iraq. "Scott Olsen was willing to put himself on the line, so a lot more people are willing to take a more visible role."
Carter hopes vets can parlay higher visibility in Occupy protests into heightened awareness of issues key to vets: high jobless rates and issues ranging from declining benefits to lingering physical and mental trauma of war. According to a recent Department of Labor report, unemployment among 18-to-24-year old vets is over 20%, vs. the national unemployment rate of about 9%.
Elsewhere, Oakland, city officials are bracing for a possible shutdown of the Port of Oakland today by organizers for Occupy Oakland, which is planning to disrupt the nation's fifth-busiest shipping container port today in a broad call-to-action plan that will include a march against local businesses.
More than 40 people were injured during an anti-war protest at the Port of Oakland in 2003. Oakland city officials say police will be on hand today to keep watch on demonstrators.
Contributing: Judy Keen; the Associated Press

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/sto ... 51031852/1

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We, the undersigned writers and all who will join us, support Occupy Wall Street and the Occupy Movement around the world.

NEW: Original works by Francine Prose, Lemony Snicket, D.A. Powell, Duncan Murrell, Anne Waldman, Danica Novgorodoff and Michael Voll, Maureen Miller, Daphne Carr, Alice Walker, Paula Z. Segal, John McManus, David Hollander, Blair Braverman, Scott Sparling, Joshua Cohen, Larry Heinemann, Sara Paretsky, Judith Butler, Sarah Schulman, Ann Neumann, Eileen Myles, Amirah Mizrahi, Jerry Stahl, Ursula K. Le Guin, Jorie Graham, Craig Clevenger, Nathan Schneider, Francesca Lia Block, Alfred Corn, Cara Hoffman, Dana Spiotta, JoAnn Wypijewski, Matthew Zapruder, Vanessa Huang, and Jonathan Lethem.
---
(I would include all the signees, but that list is friggin' long! Go here-)
http://occupywriters.com/

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New data on Occupy Wall Street funding
Published 1 day ago


More than a month into the Occupy Wall Street protests have many media outlets and political pundits wondering about the movement’s funding. Where do all these unemployed, so-called smelly hippie-types get their money, any way?
WePay, which is more or less an online payment and donation site, is about to shed some light on that mystery, and no -- it still isn’t George Soros.
WePay is releasing donation data related to Occupy Wall Street tomorrow, in a handy infographic, and according to data shown via e-mail to the Daily Dot, the results are surprising.

http://www.dailydot.com/news/new-data-o ... t-funding/



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Uploaded by SamSeder on Nov 1, 2011
From the Majority Report, live M-F 11:30am EST and via daily podcast at http://Majority.FM:
We spoke with Prisilla, one of the editors of the Occupied Wall Street Journal about the paper, Occupy Wall Street and journalists being attacked for associating with the movement.

[elfismiles]

Kucinich Money Bill Can Unify Protesters
October 21, 2011 By Mark Anderson -

As the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement enters into its second month, will a sizable number of protesters move beyond listing various grievances regarding corporate greed and rampant joblessness, in order to search out specific solutions that would represent lasting, fundamental changes for the better?

Well, a story recently posted on this website, about a proposed bill for permanent and historic reform of the monetary system, drew a lot of traffic. It’s just a question of whether OWS, a diverse movement that wears a lot of ideological hats, can agree on the common enemy with enough passion and focus to see what must be done: Dethrone the bankers’ system, and carefully consider what to replace it with.

So far, AFP is hearing that such a consensus is “not there” yet. But there are some basic trends that could change that.

The proposed monetary reform bill, introduced by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), is known as the “NEED” bill (the National Employment Emergency Defense Act, HR 2990). It came along just four days after rising public frustration over economic servitude for “the 99 percent” gave way to perhaps the biggest American uprising since the Vietnam War days.

This uprising started Sept. 17 in New York and by Oct. 6 had spread to the streets of Washington, Boston, and even to places as distant as McAllen in far-southern Texas and dozens of other large and small towns. Demonstrations also erupted in cities across Switzerland, Portugal, South Africa, Canada, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan and the Philippines. OWS indeed can do a world of good, provided it does not fizzle and is not broken up by police, nor co-opted by insider sophisticates posing as populists.

The best thing that could happen, based on today’s hard economic and political realities that AFP has studied closely, is for this globe-girdling movement to truly wise up to the system of the financial overlords, so the “heat” of protest can lead to the “light” of inquiry and to real, lasting reforms—specifically by permanently replacing this predatory monetary system with something that liberates the people from debt slavery and makes the production and sale of goods and services flow normally, leading to prosperity.

After having received reader feedback on the constitutionality of HR 2990, this reporter found the following statement by Rep. Kucinich, representing his view and placed in the Congressional Record: [Volume 157, Number 141, Sept. 21, 2011, House, Page H6343]:

“Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant to the following: The constitutional authority on which this bill rests is Article I, Section 8, which enumerates the power of Congress to coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures. The bill will re-assert the sole grant of constitutional authority to Congress to create money.”

Of course, if Congress reasserts this sole constitutional power, then, by definition, the private banking system, at the top of which sits the Federal Reserve as far as these United States are concerned, must be denied the awesome power of money creation. Having that power in private hands, metaphorically speaking, arrogates the Federal Reserve Note above America, showing that bankers and their partners in credit-rating agencies have the captain’s seat in a command economy—to their perpetual profit as princes of “the 1 percent” caste.

HR 2990, referred to the House Financial Services Committee as of Sept. 21, has five general headings, or titles and 33 sections. Title 1 is “Origination of United States Money,” indicating that Federal Reserve Notes would be pushed aside by U.S. Treasury money, or what the bill refers to as simply United States Money.

Title 2 is “Entry of United States Money Into Circulation.” Title 3, perhaps the touchiest, is “Reconstruction of the Federal Reserve System.” Title 4 is “Transitional Arrangements.” And the fifth title is simply “Additional Provisions.”

As telling as some of these broad titles are, the details within them cover a lot of ground and may appeal to liberals, conservatives and many points between—perhaps as diverse as the protests themselves.

The bill champions a lot of libertarian and conservative goals by denying the Fed money-creation authority, which resonates with many socialists and liberals as well. Yet, title 5 has section 508 (“universal health care funding”) and section 506 (“Social Security trust funds”) which are traditionally liberal-Democratic themes but are often seen by conservatives as schemes leading to massive debt, waste and abuse.

However, if money is created free of interest, as this bill, if passed, would mandate, the mechanism to provide or sustain such programs would differ greatly from what we have today—where every attempt to make major changes or create a social safety net is saddled with debt.

In the bill, the Social Security part’s entire wording is: “The Secretary in consultation with the Board of Trustees of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Funds shall submit to the Monetary Authority any requests to cover impending deficits in Social Security Trust Fund accounts.”

In other words, with new interest-free money comes a perceived means of shoring up suffering funds, something that ought to draw the attention of aging baby boomers and younger citizens who feel Social Security will die before they get old.

Title 5 (Section 501) also contains “direct funding of infrastructure,” while another section (507) is, interestingly, “initial monetary dividend to citizens.” The latter, at least very generally, happens to resemble part of the “social credit” monetary reform first proposed by Maj. C.H. Douglas in the early 20th century; he called it a national dividend. Here is Section 507:

“. . . the Secretary [of the Treasury], in cooperation with the Monetary Authority, shall make recommendations to the Congress for payment of a Citizens Dividend as a tax-free grant to all United States citizens residing in the United States in order to provide liquidity to the banking system at the commencement of this Act, before governmental infrastructure expenditures have had a chance to work into circulation. . . . The Secretary shall maintain a thorough study of the effects of the Citizens Dividend observing its effects on production and consumption, prices, morale, and other economic and fiscal factors.”

The Monetary Authority, a U.S. Treasury entity under the bill, also would establish the criteria for “interest-free lending of United States Money to state and local government entities, including school boards and emergency fire services . . .” (Section 510)

No one is saying the Kucinich bill is perfect, though its timing and content call for the attention of the protesters and all other concerned Americans at this pivotal time in history.

The legislation does nationalize—and therefore does not completely dissolve—the Federal Reserve, and in fact it calls for placing a specific “Fed” component within the Treasury Department. The Federal Reserve Board as we know it would be disbanded but a “Federal Reserve Bureau” within the Treasury is created.

This bureau, which deserves cautious consideration, would “administer, under the direction of the [Treasury] Secretary, the origination and entry into circulation of United States Money, subject to the limitations established by the Monetary Authority [Treasury]; and administer lending of United States Money to authorized depository institutions.”

Also, HR 2990 stipulates that “money creation is solely a function of the United States Government;” and “fractional reserve lending is ended.” The Fed bureau’s commissioner and deputy commissioner would be appointed by the president to seven-year terms.

Back on New York’s streets, Matt Lepacek, a founding member of We Are Change/New York, told AFP what he told a national Fox News audience the evening of Oct. 16: There is a regular assembly, or people’s “think tank,” called the New York General Assembly, that meets every day on one end of Zuccotti Park—the main turf of the huge Manhattan protest—to share ideas. And it’s been there from day one, despite media claims that the protest has had no organized component whatsoever from the start.

“So many people speak on a number of issues,” he told AFP, adding that for now the assembly and overall protest are mainly about naming scoundrels such as Goldman Sachs, the New York Stock Exchange itself, and, yes, the Federal Reserve. The notion of debt-free money and/or ending the Fed, are mentioned in conversation. But the money idea as brought forth by Kucinich in Congress has yet to be highlighted in the park’s “congress,” at least as of this writing on Oct. 19.

Yet, it will be interesting to see how things play out as viral ideas spread around, and a movement that seeks to stay the course, as cold weather approaches, hears ideas and sharpens its focus. May monetary reform place highly on their list as Kucinich’s bill is reviewed.



http://americanfreepress.net/?p=1094

[Bruce Dazzling]

Occupy Hartford!

[Bruce Dazzling]

The Looming Occupy Foreclosures Movement
By: David Dayen Tuesday November 1, 2011 8:55 am
Firedoglake

The Occupy Oakland general assembly, a day before a proposed general strike, ruled that they would encourage the occupation of foreclosed and abandoned properties across the city. This is a natural development, but also a useful one.

The rush to foreclose has left blighted properties all over the bubble states, serving no productive purpose. The banks have neglected these properties and allowed them to drift into disrepair, sometimes drawing fines from communities like Los Angeles, which passed a blight resolution last year. In fact, some banks are dealing with the problem by demolishing the properties, despite the clear human need for shelter. So if the Occupy movement extends to vacant homes, it creates a living space for people and saves the properties from demolition. What’s more, the dirty secret is that the banks cannot prove ownership on these properties, making it difficult for them to evict the squatters without some chicanery.

The Occupy Vacant Properties movement has been slow going, but has expanded. In California, groups like the Home Defenders League are becoming more aggressive on this front, as in San Francisco, where a family will re-enter and re-claim their home, asserting that they were wrongfully evicted. One story describes a home on Quesada Avenue in the Bayview section of the city that the family built and owned since 1962. Here’s a statement from the homeowner:

My family has been in this neighborhood for 50 years, and since I’ve been evicted, the place has been vacant, like so many homes in the Bayview. Families have been ripped off by banks, scammed by brokers and nothing’s done to them. It’s time for the families and the community to stand up and take back what’s theirs.

This battle, one home at a time, is a powerful reminder of the human costs of foreclosure fraud. The banks stole homes from citizens without due process. The citizenry has been riled up so much that they are taking them back.

Mike Konczal has been following this over the past few weeks. Here’s his latest report. I thought this quote from the head of Springfield No One Leaves, an anti-foreclosure organization in Massachusetts, was great:

I think that (the Occupy Foreclosures movement) exemplifies the importance of two things: community mobilization around eviction defense is a powerful grounds on which we can fight the banks, where our demands with concrete solutions to keep homes occupied comes directly in contrast to banks insistence on vacating homes and destabilizing neighborhoods. Funneling the incredible energy of resistance into existing or new efforts to mobilize eviction defense, demanding to pay rent or principal reduction, not only brings concrete demands to the forefront of that energy, but also mobilizes new leaders for our movements. It’s encouraging to see these two growing and powerful movements supporting and building together.

This is only going to grow.