Thread: Thousands to occupy Wall Street in protest

good vid there miss kit.

Such exquisite irony :-

Occupy Wall Street Forms Super PAC Without Any Sense Of Irony

The filing originates from Decatur, Alabama, where, according to the OWS offshoot’s Facebook page, this organization intends to raise money for progressive political candidates including Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren and self-described Socialist Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Atlantic also quotes an election law attorney who says that the OWS PAC filing is riddled with inaccuracies and inconsistencies that will prolong the process of PAC formation, but nevertheless they are well on their way to influencing electoral outcomes.
Occupy Wall Street Forms Super PAC Without Any Sense Of Irony | Ology


I guess we'll have no way of knowing if George Soros is funding it.

Originally Posted by sabang

Such exquisite irony :-

Occupy Wall Street Forms Super PAC Without Any Sense Of Irony

The filing originates from Decatur, Alabama, where, according to the OWS offshoot’s Facebook page, this organization intends to raise money for progressive political candidates including Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren and self-described Socialist Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Atlantic also quotes an election law attorney who says that the OWS PAC filing is riddled with inaccuracies and inconsistencies that will prolong the process of PAC formation, but nevertheless they are well on their way to influencing electoral outcomes.
Occupy Wall Street Forms Super PAC Without Any Sense Of Irony | Ology

I guess we'll have no way of knowing if George Soros is funding it.

Not sure what's ironic about it? It's exactly the kind of thing the OWS need to be doing if they are ever going to gain any real credibility with the vast majority of voters. Raise money, run candidates and try to get elected if they can.

If they have anything like the kind of popular support some seem to think they have, then they should do quite well. Even if they did not win, a high percentage of the vote would have a big impact. If they don't raise enough votes to ruffle any feathers.....well, that's how the process is supposed to work.....unless you prefer chaos, arnachy and mob rule.

Real positive change does not come from having a hundred or so people chanting time worn slogans and claiming some great victory because they managed to get an ultra conservative blogger to make an idiot of himself on U-tube. Anybody would think that it was some kind of seminal event the way people keep going on about it. It was a "non event" in reality, but when you are clutching at straws, every little victory counts I guess.

If you want to change the political landscape, use politics, by getting some of your people inside the body politic. If the OWS claims to massive support are valid, lets see it proven one way or the other. You can chant yourself hoarse, and camp in city parks till the cows come home, but if 95% of the population think you'r just a pain in the ass........you ain't gonna cut it.....sorry....

Occupy claims another life. Berkeley Man Beaten To Death While Police Too Busy Monitoring Occupy Oakland Protest To Respond:

Residents of the tranquil Berkeley hills were in shock Sunday after police described a horrific slaying, with a homeowner beaten after confronting a young man – an apparent stranger – who had trespassed onto his property. Authorities did not identify the victim, but neighbors and public records indicated that the owner of the home where the Saturday night killing occurred was Peter Cukor, 67, who owned a logistics consulting firm. His family declined to talk.
Shortly after the attack outside the large home near Tilden Park, a Berkeley police officer found Daniel Jordan Dewitt, 23, of Alameda, less than a block away. Dewitt was booked on suspicion of murder, and was being held Sunday without bail.
Dewitt suffers from mental illness, said his mother, Candy Dewitt.
The victim had called police on a nonemergency line after first seeing Dewitt, according to sources familiar with the case. But police were busy monitoring an Occupy Oakland march to UC Berkeley, and officers were dispatched only to high-priority calls.
An officer who noticed the call about Dewitt on his computer told a dispatcher he would respond, but was told not to go, sources said.
Minutes later, the victim’s wife heard her husband yelling for help and called 911 after seeing the suspect dragging him into bushes and hitting him with a potted plant, sources said.


Source


How many folks have died from the Tea Party activities? That's right - Zero

Crime was down 19% in Oakland during the Occupy protests according to emails from Police Chief Howard Jordan released by KTVU.

Funny how this information was not released with any fanfare.

"Not sure how you want to share this good news. It may be counter to our statement that the Occupy movement is negatively impacting crime in Oakland." Police Chief Howard Jordan to Mayor Jean Quan.

Emails between Oakland officials reveal tensions during Occupy... | www.ktvu.com

The homeless, mentally ill, and other societal rejects gravitated to the Occupy sites, where they got food, a place to sleep, medical help, and other things they needed. They were cared for, not out on the street. The media made so much of these people being a part of the Occupy movement, when these people already existed in the communities.

Could have posted this news in several threads:

Poll: Vast Majority of Likely Voters Think Rich Already Pay Their Fair Share

No shit. I know I definitely pay too much for what little I reap...

The big majority opted for a lower tax bill when asked to choose specific rates; precisely 75 percent said the right level for top earners was 30 percent or below.

The current rate for top earners is 35 percent. Only 4 percent thought it was appropriate to take 40 percent, which is approximately the level that President Obama is seeking from January 2013 onward.

The Hill poll also found that 73 percent of likely voters believe corporations should pay a lower rate than the current 35 percent, as both the White House and Republicans push plans to lower rates.

The new data seem to run counter to several polls that have found support for raising taxes on high-income earners. In an Associated Press-GfK poll released Friday, 65 percent said they favored President Obama’s “Buffett Rule” that millionaires should pay at least 30 percent of their income. And a Pew poll conducted in June found 66 percent of adults favored raising taxes on those making more than $250,000 as a way to tackle the deficit.


Source

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

voters believe corporations should pay a lower rate than the current 35 percent

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

The current rate for top earners is 35 percent. Only 4 percent thought it was appropriate to take 40 percent,

This is what is called a 'Push Poll'. Fact is, High income earners and Corporations pay way less than their so called 'top marginal tax rates'- in the case of Corporations, on average less than half that amount.

Originally Posted by misskit

The homeless, mentally ill, and other societal rejects gravitated to the Occupy sites

Yes indeed. These folks would seem to be at the very core of this fast moving progressive movement....

Originally Posted by Minnie Maugham

didn't OWS in Zarcotti Park complain about the homeless showing up taking THEIR free food? Hilarious .

Yes, I believe they did, and I was mighty upset. Where the hell is my free food?
I'm no 1%'er I demand free food...and NOW. Do I have to occupy something to qualify? ..

Originally Posted by Minnie Maugham

Hey, Kit, you live in Thailand? Do you support the poor in your community? You won't see many mentally/physically disabled folks coz their families chain them up in sheds in the countryside. You gonna start a protest about that?

Yes, I live in Thailand. There are plenty of mentally/physically disabled people roaming the streets, begging. Yes, I give them money or something to eat. Hard to get a job when one is deranged or has no legs.

Get a job. What a f**king joke.

Originally Posted by misskit

Get a job. What a f**king joke.

People all over Michigan were awakened late last night by the sounds of OWS protesters and left wing liberals, running from the prospects of having to work.
We have to get the hell outta here said one OWS spokesperson, who gave her name as Kristen Amber Moonbat. Those fucking car companies are screwing up our whole message she said.....they got jobs begging to be filled. I'm headed for Oakland or one of them places where you can occupy parks and places like that without being harrassed by recruitment people offering jobs. It's not fair....this is America you know.....

Detroit automakers race to keep up with sales
27/02/2012 1000 PM
Tom Krisher, The Associated Press
DETROIT - Auto sales are growing so fast that Detroit can barely keep up.

Three years after the U.S. auto industry nearly collapsed, sales of cars and trucks are surging. Sales could exceed 14 million this year, above last year's 12.8 million.

The result: Carmakers are adding shifts and hiring thousands of workers around the country. Carmakers and parts companies added more than 38,000 jobs last year, with industry employment averaging 717,000 for 2011. And automakers have announced plans to add another 13,000 this year, mostly on night shifts.
Now, if sales hit 15 million by 2015, as some experts predict, the three Detroit automakers could hire another 20,000 people, predicts Sean McAlinden, chief economist for the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Laurie Schmald Moncrieff, president of a small parts-manufacturing company near Flint, Mich., says when demand for auto parts collapsed, she shifted production to parts for companies in green energy, aerospace and defence.
Now, automakers and other parts suppliers have her on speed dial, trying to line up everything from fuel pump parts to tools that make hoses. She just added six workers and may hire another five. "I see tremendous growth coming in the near-term," she says.
Like many parts suppliers, she's having trouble finding people with the skills to run machinery in her plant.
The hiring binge couldn't have happened at a better time for Michigan. Many of the new auto jobs came around the Great Lakes where the Detroit Three have most of their factories.

Foreign carmakers are also shifting production to the U.S. because of higher sales and the weak dollar, which cuts the profits they get from selling vehicles exported to America. Nissan is adding workers in Tennessee. Toyota just hired staff at a new plant in Blue Springs, Miss. Honda is hiring in Alabama and Ohio. Hyundai and Kia plants in Alabama and Georgia are running flat-out but can't meet demand for some models such as the Hyundai Sonata and Elantra.

"Like many parts suppliers, she's having trouble finding people with the skills to run machinery in her plant."

The OWS supporters will argue that expecting people with BA's in early African artforms........should not be expected to learn how to operate machines for $15-20 an hour.....

Now if we could just rid ourselves of all those surplus houses......and get the Obama's to quit stalling on pipelines and things......

Originally Posted by sabang

Hilarious- in the Link is a video of "conservative" (translated for non-amerkins, extremely right wing) blogger Andrew Breitbart foaming at the mouth to some Occupy protesters at the republican PNAC conference.

Andrew Breitbart Freaks Out On Occupy Activists (VIDEO)

Breitbart screamed at the protesters to 'behave yourself' repeatedly. He also called the protesters freaks and animals and told them to 'stop raping people.'

Breitbart died yesterday.

Andrew Breitbart Dead: Conservative Blogger Dies Suddenly At 43

Originally Posted by Minnie Maugham

You won't see many mentally/physically disabled folks coz their families chain them up in sheds in the countryside.

That sure beats the way we treat them in the West, where the 'family' abdicates all responsibility and leaves them to rot in a cuckoo's nest. Here, the family regularly lets them out too.

^Now all we need is another Dust Bowl or similar cataclysmic ecological event made far worse by human activity. Oh, wait. . .

We had the event. The story is about what people had to do once they lost their farms to big corporations. The moved and tried to find work only again to be exploited by wealthy business people and their thugs. The police help the businessmen every time. The businessmen's thugs beat and kill people and the blame is tossed on those who are speaking out for their rights. The corrupt police are even kept off federal lands by federal workers in order to protect the homeless. Lots going on in this story similar to the events these days.

Spring will soon be upon us all. The movement will soon rise...

Obama has changed the venue for the G-8 to avoid a mega-clash between protesters and police

Under pressure, G-8 abandons Chicago

Facing massive street protests, the White House relocates the May economic summit to remote Camp David

The perfect storm seemed to be brewing over Chicago. With both the G-8 and NATO summits scheduled for mid-May, Occupy groups, anarchists and allies from around the world have been making plans to descend on the city, while Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago Police Department have been[at]preparing to welcome them[at]with strong arms.

But the White House has navigated a sea-change. On Monday night it was announced that the G-8 has been relocated to Camp David, the presidential retreat in rural Maryland. “To facilitate a free-flowing discussion with our close G-8 partners, the president is inviting his fellow G-8 leaders to Camp David on May 18-19,” the White House statement announced. Protesters amping up for a “Chicago Spring” are reading a victory into the move; an admission from up top that tens of thousands of protesters would impinge on the “free-flowing discussion” between leaders of the world’s largest economies.

Under pressure, G-8 abandons Chicago - Salon.com

Originally Posted by koman

automakers have announced plans to add another 13,000 this year, mostly on night shifts.

Oh, 13,000 you say? Well that just solves everything! Now, how many auto workers were let go over the past few years, hmmm let's see...

"The auto industry, for example, is estimated to have cut nearly 200,000 jobs in the U.S. since 2006." The Layoff Kings: The 25 Companies Responsible for 700,000 Lost Jobs - DailyFinance

Oh well, as long as the 1% get to keep their villas, corporate welfare, and overseas tax shelters we're all gonna be just great! Right?

Originally Posted by Agent_Smith

Originally Posted by koman

automakers have announced plans to add another 13,000 this year, mostly on night shifts.

Oh, 13,000 you say? Well that just solves everything! Now, how many auto workers were let go over the past few years, hmmm let's see...

"The auto industry, for example, is estimated to have cut nearly 200,000 jobs in the U.S. since 2006." The Layoff Kings: The 25 Companies Responsible for 700,000 Lost Jobs - DailyFinance

Oh well, as long as the 1% get to keep their villas, corporate welfare, and overseas tax shelters we're all gonna be just great! Right?

Jeezus...AS.. is that all you managed to get out of my highly informative post? ..
Did you think the 13000 proposed jobs in Automobile factories was the main point?

Let's try again. The point is that things are starting to turn around. The Automobile industry is one of the leading indicators. There will be lots of "spin off" work generated from a recovery in this industry. It will take a bit longer for other sectors to pick up.....but they will.

That is fairly good news I think. But of course for those who just sit around and whine about the end of life as we know it.. and harping on ad nauseum about the 1%......like the wench with a BA in 12th Century poetry, who can't seem to find an employer who needs a 12th century poet.....but parts manufacturers in Michigan can't find anyone to operated their production machinery.

Joseph Stalin did not like poets. He sent them to work camps east of the Urals....
OBAMA!!!!! are you paying attention?....

Occupy Wall Street is many things, but one thing it's not is partisan | McClatchy

"NEW YORK, N.Y. — The Occupy Wall Street protest may be a movement, a momentary phenomenon or something in between, but one thing its most fervent activists insist that it's not is a team of shock troops for any partisan political campaign.
That's a big disappointment to Democrats who wish the Occupy activists would animate their party the way the tea party lit up Republicans the past two years, but the protesters at the original Occupy Wall Street scene say that's not what it's about.
"I don't see us endorsing candidates or trying to form a party," said Mark Bray, 29, a doctoral student in history at Rutgers University and a member of the Occupy Wall Street press team. Efforts to shift the movement in a partisan direction would be unlikely to be approved by the consensus process at the protesters' regular General Assembly meetings, he and other protesters say.
"There would be so many people who would balk at the endorsement of any party or candidate that I don't think it would happen," Bray said.
Not yet, at least.
Like other protesters from various Occupy Wall Street organizing groups, Bray did not rule out political possibilities for the future. Indeed, protesters from the Occupy Cincinnati group have announced a platform for a new political party — the Occupation Party.
And after all, these protests are far from apolitical in nature. It's difficult to walk even a few feet in Zuccotti Park, the New York protest's base in Manhattan's financial district, without hearing political issues being debated and finding groups weighing in on a wide range of political subjects such as healthcare, education, national debt and defense spending.
Yet though most activists at Occupy Wall Street claim to be dissatisfied with the state of American government and politics, their views come in many flavors. Some are leftists of the '60s generation, others are curious newcomers to political activism. Still others are Ron Paul supporters, anarchists, or soured Obama campaign volunteers — and many more. How this chorus of interests will evolve politically is, they say, yet to be determined.

Last Wednesday, a group of protesters left for a two-week march to Washington D.C., with plans to arrive by Nov. 23, the deadline for the congressional supercommittee to decide how to deal with federal budget deficits. The activists plan to protest extending the Bush-era tax cuts.
But beyond such singular acts of protest, most Occupy Wall Street activists hope their movement will remain outside formal politics for now. They offer several explanations.

Some say they feel the political status quo is so corrupt, it's best not to engage with it at all. Elisa Miller, 38, a New Orleans resident who came to New York for the protests in late September, said she was personally boycotting the 2012 elections.
"This system is grossly dysfunctional," she said, then entered a heated exchange with a passing organizer about why she thinks electoral reform is impossible.
Several protesters said they want their effort to avoid being co-opted by or beholden to a particular party or candidate.
Many praised the protests as a space to nurture the exchange of new, progressive political ideas entirely outside of the two-party system.
"We're literally opening a space that did not exist before," said Kobi Skolnick, 30, who said he was amazed at the creative problem solving he's seen.
Others said that the question of what would become of the protests, politically or otherwise, was missing the point.
"The question to me is, what's the right way to come up with an answer to that, based on democratic principles?" said Bray, the press team member.

Or, as one middle-aged woman who wished to remain anonymous said: "The model is the message."

Above all, most protesters said they felt it was simply too early in the organizing process to get involved formally with politics.
"We have a lot of solutions to get to first," said Devin Balkind, 25. He's been involved with reaching out to other Occupy groups. "Once we're armed with the solutions, the politics will come."
Jack, 43, a member of the Politics and Electoral Reform working group who declined to give his last name, said he considered the Occupy Wall Street movement to still be very young. Therefore, he said, "I think that it's entirely appropriate for there to be this ambiguity at this point."

Organizers from various working groups echoed this statement, saying that they were now most concerned with the logistics getting their individual groups off the ground. Indeed, the majority of proposals passed so far by the General Assembly here have not been about ideologies, but requests for funding, many related to keeping the physical camp up and running. Proposals for funding storage bins, walkie talkies, and laundry were all approved in October, for example.
One notable exception came on Thursday night, when the General Assembly passed a $29,000 proposal to send a delegation of Occupy Wall Street activists to Egypt to serve as international observers in the country's parliamentary elections later this month. The proposal was sparked by a letter from a coalition of civil society organizations in Egypt, who requested a delegation from Occupy Wall Street.
Despite this foray into international elections, Occupy Wall Street's involvement in coming domestic elections remains uncertain.

Early last week, an elderly man weaved through the crowds and tents in Zuccotti Park before approaching a young woman staffing a table in the Media, Information and Outreach tent.
"Where is this going, all of this?" he asked.
Without hesitation, she replied, "I don't know. Let's stick around and find out.""

Read more here: Occupy Wall Street is many things, but one thing it's not is partisan | McClatchy