#OCCUPYWALLSTREET campaign - September 17

[Luther Blissett]

Apropos of nothing (and please don't let this derail the thread): the ubiquitous guy (and it's always a guy) holding the infowars.com sign.

Every demonstration I attend, there's that guy. Of course I don't mean that guy, but rather a guy, with that sign. They sure know in which direction the cameras point.

Anyway, I suppose, God love 'em. They mean well, though I think Jones is poison. I just abhor the attempt to piggyback and brand mass action.

Bruce made the same observation. There were some freaks out there, a Ron Paul crew that I legitimately thought at first were some sort of triangular counter-protest.

[Project Willow]

Longer arrest footage with girl, age 12, arrested at around 4 minutes.

[Free]

Bruce Dazzling wrote:

I thought that we'd be safe there from any NYPD involvement because I figured that they'd concentrate all of their forces on the road portion of the bridge. I was wrong, though. By the time I left, I'd guess that there were at least 75 cops on the pedestrian bridge, and that was quite enough to kettle everyone in, which I'm certain they did not long after I escaped

.

I walked off the pedestrian walkway into Brooklyn and took the subway back. The police closed off the Manhattan side but didn't stop anyone from walking off the bridge into Brooklyn.

Cheers Bruce. We were probably on the same stretch of bridge taking pictures.

[ninakat]

Thank you everybody -- I'm there with you in spirit at least.

[Laodicean]

We all are.

[Luther Blissett]

RI is certainly there in spirit.

[Plutonia]

Yep.

[Laodicean]

[Free]

The protest was very loud, with lots of call and response chanting, drumming and other musical instruments. There wasn't an aggressive vibe. It was quite serene and very creative, with lots of great outfits and signs. Many people on the sidelines watched with a thrilled look on their faces. People are hungry for this. When we were marching onto the Brooklyn Bridge, many protesters were chanting "Whose bridge? Our bridge! Whose bridge. Our bridge." It was so loud that even if some police were telling people not to pass, who would have heard them...

I've got some decent photos, and also some of Slutwalk which was INCREDIBLY AWESOME too. It's not possible to post photos directly from my computer though I guess. If it's possible, maybe a mod could pm me with instructions.

[Laodicean]

I upload photos to photobucket. There is always flickr too.

[Free]

Laodicien wrote:

Code: Select all

I upload photos to photobucket. There is always flickr too.

Thanks! I think this will have to wait till tomorrow though. Goodnight all.

[AlicetheKurious]

a little feedback would have been nice, negative or positive. No feedback, particularly within this context, has caused a rather nasty burn.

Obama is not the problem, he is but a symptom, a product of the disease that is ravaging America's body politic. Nothing would serve the purposes of the Powers That Be better than channeling the people's anger at the eminently expendable front man Barack Hussein Obama. Dumping him and replacing him with another pawn from their large and superficially diverse stable would only reinforce the fatal illusion that American citizens have an actual say in the running of their own country.

In the event that the pressure became too much for the president, if he were to actually resign would be a
tremendous boon for the continuing success of Occupy Wall Street. Maybe then we could manage a fresh 2012 candidate
that's not just another Wall Street tool. Perhaps Bernie Sanders!

Oh, for God's sake, get a clue!

• Weekend Edition, September 31-32, 2011
  
  Senator Bait-and-Switch
  The Myth of Bernie Sanders
  by THOMAS H. NAYLOR
  
  Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has recently been elevated to near godlike status by the political Left in the United States. Some of his fans have even suggested that he should challenge Barack Obama in the Democratic Presidential Primary. The more often he is accused of being a socialist by his political enemies on the Right, the more convinced the Left becomes that he surely walks on water.
  
  Although Sanders may have once been a socialist back in the 80s when he was Mayor of Burlington, today, a socialist he is not. Rather he behaves more like a technofascist disguised as a liberal, who backs all of President Obama’s nasty little wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen. Since he always “supports the troops,” Sanders never opposes any defense spending bill. He stands behind all military contractors who bring much-needed jobs to Vermont.
  
  Senator Sanders rarely misses a photo opportunity with Vermont National Guard troops when they are being deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq. He’s always at the Burlington International Airport when they return. If Sanders truly supported the Vermont troops, he would vote to end all of the wars posthaste.
  
  Senator Patrick Leahy, Senator Bernie Sanders, and Congressman Peter Welch could hardly contain their enthusiasm over the news that Burlington International Airport had been named as a possible site to house the Air Force’s new F-35 fighter jet scheduled to replace the Vermont Air National Guard’s aging fleet of F-16s. The new high-tech instruments of death will cost $115 million a pop in sharp contrast to the F-16s which cost a mere $20 million each.
  
  From whom might these F-35s protect Vermont? Possibly, Canada, separatist-minded Quebec, upstate New York, the New Hampshire Free State, or the Commonwealth of Massachusetts? Why on earth would anyone want to invade Vermont? Vermont has no military bases, no large cities, no important government installations, and no strategic resources unless you count an aging nuclear power plant. What if Canada, China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, or even the U.S. Marines were to invade the Green Mountain state? Just what would they do with it? Would all of the black-and-white Holsteins be confiscated, or perhaps the entire sugar maple crop be burned? Imagine trying to enslave freedom-loving Vermonters. Good luck!
  
  Vermont is too small, too rural, and too independent to be invaded by anyone. It is a threat to no one. Furthermore, Vermonters, not unlike the Swiss, tend to stick to their own knitting rather than intruding into the affairs of their neighbors. Vermont has always been that way and probably always will be.
  
  Major General Michael Dubie, head of the Vermont National Guard, has expressed the hope that the Vermont Guard might be morphed into a center for unmanned drone aircraft. Sanders, not unlike President Obama, thinks drones are cool.
  
  Sanders is the darling of the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee and the right-wing Likud government of Israel. He has done everything within his power to keep the myth of Islamic terrorism alive. He never questions the U.S. government’s unconditional support of Israeli acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians. It is as though these are nonevents.
  
  Last, but by no means least, is the U.S. government-owned Sandia National Laboratories. For over two years Sanders and former University of Vermont President Daniel Fogel have been encouraging Sandia to open a satellite laboratory in Vermont. Sandia, whose historical origins can be traced back to the Manhattan Project in World War II, designs, builds, and tests weapons of mass destruction. The Vermont laboratory envisaged by Sanders would not be involved with nuclear weapons but rather would be engaged in projects related to energy efficiency, renewable energy, and electric grids. Sandia, interestingly enough, is operated under contract by Lockheed Martin, the largest defense contractor in the world. Lockheed Martin produces F-35s and drones. General Dubie, who has close ties to Lockheed Martin, recently received an honorary doctorate from UVM. No one at UVM seems to care whether or not the University gets in bed with a manufacturer of atomic bombs.
  
  Bernie Sanders loves to rail against Corporate America, Wall Street, and the super-rich, but has nothing to show for it. He’s done little to constrain their power and influence. But everybody on the Left loves Bernie.
  
  Thomas H. Naylor is Founder of the Second Vermont Republic and Professor Emeritus of Economics at Duke University; co-author of Affluenza, Downsizing the U.S.A., and The Search for Meaning. Link

[Elihu]

"You can't win, Darth. If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine." ―Obi-Wan Kenobi.

[vanlose kid]

wish i could be there with you all. here's a song for you. be safe.



Soak me to my skin
Will you drown me in your sea
Submission ends and I begin

Choke me smoke the air
In this citrus sucking sunshine
I don't care you're not all there

Every backbone and heart you break
Will still come back for more
Submission ends it all

Here he come
Got no question got no love
I'm throwing stones at you man
I want you black and blue and
I'm gonna make you bleed
Gonna bring you down to your knees
Bye bye badman
Ooh bye bye

Choke me smoke the air
In this citrus sucking sunshine
I don't care you're not all there

You've been bought and paid
You're a whore and a slave
Your dark star holy shrine
Come taste the end you're mine

Here he come
Got no question got no love
I'm throwing stones at you man
I want you black and blue and
I'm gonna make you bleed
Gonna bring you down to your knees
Bye bye badman
Ooh bye bye

I've got bad intention
I intend to
Knock you down
These stones I throw
Oh these french kisses
Are the only way I've found

I've got bad intention
I intend to knock you down
These stones I throw
Oh these french kisses
Are the only way I've found

*

[stefano]