Video of OWS today via remote control helicopter. You can see the cops using flash grenades and tear gas on the crowds.

Anne Hathaway at the protests today.

tens of thousands of people in the streets of NYC and elsewhere

with friday and saturday and ..... to come

I so hope '4 dead in Ohio' does not come to pass AGAIN.........

CBS Lies
 

CBS News online lied today in it's article about the NY Occupy protest. It said that turnout was low and there were only about 1000 people there.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-...nt;cbsCarousel

On Countdown tonight Keith Olbermann reported that it was more like 10-30k.

looks like a war zone and not an American city...gives me chills. did we just step back into the 60s?

Awesome footage and responses. So beautiful after the feeling Tuesday morning after the raids.

Great posts. Yeah!!!!

I don't know if this article has been shared or not since it's dated from October, but I had just come across it from a friend and wanted to share it as well:

http://www.disinfo.com/2011/10/jp-mo...e-of-protests/

No surprises.

Wow times Wow
 

"JP Morgan Chase Donates $4.6 Million To NYPD On Eve Of Protests

Wondering how much it costs to buy off the police department? JP Morgan Chase just gave the New York City Police Foundation the largest donation in its history. How the police show their gratitude will presumably determine whether they receive similar donations from companies in the future."

Phase 1 has been about occupying turf....parks, sidewalks, etc...with a message of social, political and economic justice. We need to keep this turf war going while doing something else....move forward.

Now it's time for Phase 2 because if there is not a Phase 2 then folks are getting gassed, beat, hospitalized and jailed for no good reason except a turf war.

So what would Phase 2 look like?
* The halls and offices of Congress should be occuppied in the form of lobbying (going in the offices and talking to them or their staff) all Senators and House members.
* Voter registration drives should be part of every protest and every encampment.
* Call a Constiitutional Convention to get money out of politics would be a good thing. There are occupy movements in (I think) all 50 states now and we should be working in our states as well as on the national scene.

The Constitutional Amendment could be only 2 lines....that's it ....short sweet and unambigious.
1. Corporations are not people and money is not speech.
2. All federal elections will be publicly financed. No private money can be spent on federal elections. (this means the president, senate and house elections....Personally I think ALL elections should be publically financed.)

Article V of the Constitution outlines how it is done. Basically there are two ways to do it. One is by Congress and the way all previous amendments have been done. The other way is if 2/3 of the states (legislatures) demand a Convention, it must be called by Congress. To ratify an amendment it must be approved by 3/4 of the states. So 34 states demand a convention, then it takes 38 to ratify the amendment.

We get money out of politics and the possibility that government would again be by and for the people exists.

I got this idea from listening to the radio.........it makes sense to me.

He takes so much corporate/bank campaign contributions, he is a bought and paid for president. This is who will be getting my vote:

http://www.jillstein.org/

This is excellent, T. I totally agree. Now, how do we get this message to the general assemblies of the Occupy groups across the US?

Bloomberg stated that media were prevented from reporting for their own protection.

We have a kind Securitarian state going on, and I guess we have for awhile. We seem to accept this.

It is a kind of totalitarianism that needs the appearance of elective democracy in order to function but the reality is that the representatives of the government agree that security trumps all. It is a government where the pursuit of elusive and illusionary security is used as an excuse to trample rights and freedom. We can thank the Occupy Movement for illuminating this for us in case we still doubted it.

And yet many still ask what are those protestors on about anyway? What do they want?

Human Rights Group Concerned Over Journalists’ Arrests at Occupy Wall Street

NEW YORK — A human rights office for the Americas on Thursday criticized the arrest and assault of journalists during Occupy Wall Street protests in New York and other U.S. cities in recent weeks.

The Washington-based Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights called for authorities to guarantee and protect the practice of journalism at public demonstrations.

The office alleged in a statement that at least three journalists have been assaulted since October by police officers, and two others by participants, in demonstrations in Nashville, Tennessee, and Oakland, California.

“In addition, at least a dozen journalists have reportedly been placed under temporary arrest while performing their professional duties,” the statement said.

The organization pointed to this week’s arrests of seven journalists during a police sweep of the Occupy Wall Street encampment in New York. The journalists included Julie Walker, a freelancer who does work for National Public Radio and The Associated Press; Patrick Hedlund and Paul Lomax of DNAinfo.com; Doug Higginbotham, freelance cameraman for TV New Zealand; Jared Malsin of The Local; Karen Matthews and Seth Wenig of The Associated Press, and Matthew Lysiak of the New York Daily News.

The Committee to Protect Journalists, a nonprofit organization that promotes press freedom, also criticized the treatment and detention of the journalists in New York.

“Journalists must be allowed to cover news events without fear of arrest and harassment,” said Carlos Lauria, CPJ’s senior coordinator for the Americas.

The Americas group also criticized the restrictions placed on media access when police moved in. Mayor Michael Bloomberg told reporters the media were kept from the site for their protection.

“The disproportionate restrictions on access to the scene of the events, the arrests, and the criminal charges resulting from the performance of professional duties by reporters violate the right to freedom of expression,” the organization said.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights was created by the Organization of American States, which includes countries from North and South America.

Sad but certainly not surprising.

Poll shows “movement is not wearing well with voters across the country.”

http://www.alternet.org/occupywallst...t/?page=entire

Austerity Alternatives
George Zornick on November 17, 2011 - 1:38pm ET

Yesterday we posted a MoveOn.org-produced video of former Labor Secretary Robert Reich explaining how the supercommittee might reduce the deficit without imposing crushing austerity measures, nor damaging the social safety net relied upon by millions of Americans. It’s really excellent, and you ought to check it out.

On the eve of some decision by the supercommittee—or no decision and painful automatic cuts—this is a time to remember the other ideas out there for balancing the budget. There are plenty of credible and thoughtful plans out there. Granted, they are not politically viable at the moment, given the Republican Party’s control of the House of Representatives, and its ability to stop virtually anything in the Senate—not to mention the six votes it controls on the supercommittee.

But to listen to most media coverage of the deficit debates—and too often, the rhetoric thrown about by Republicans and some Democrats—one comes away thinking the only way to get the fiscal house in order is via “entitlement reform” and deep domestic spending cuts, along with higher taxes and fewer loopholes.

But this just isn’t so. For example, the Congressional Progressive Caucus crafted a “People’s Budget,” which eliminates the deficit within ten years while creating a $31 billion surplus—all while protecting valuable programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. You can read the entire budget here (PDF), a one-page summary here (PDF), and an outside analysis by the Economic Policy Institute here (PDF).

Here are some of the plan’s features.

On taxes:

Ends the recently passed upper-income tax cuts and lets Bush-era tax cuts expire at the end of 2012

Extends tax credits for the middle class, families and students

Creates new tax brackets that range from 45 percent starting at $1 million to 49 percent for $1 billion or more

Implements a progressive estate tax

Eliminates corporate welfare for oil, gas and coal companies; closes loopholes for multinational corporations

Enacts a financial crisis responsibility fee and a financial speculation tax on derivatives and foreign exchange

On healthcare:

Enacts a healthcare public option and negotiates prescription payments with pharmaceutical companies

Prevents any cuts to Medicare physician payments for a decade

On defense:

Responsibly ends our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to leave America more secure both home and abroad

Cuts defense spending by reducing conventional forces, procurement and costly R&D programs

The key theme of this plan is to put investment and job creation up front, while protecting the programs that many Americans rely upon for their economic well-being during a recession. Even Bill Clinton, no flaming liberal, called the plan “the most comprehensive alternative to the budgets passed by the House Republicans and recommended by the Simpson-Bowles Commission.”

Meanwhile, Occupy DC met in downtown Washington to discuss alternate deficit reduction proposals that would protect the 99 percent and attempt to correct rampant income inequality. They drew on advice from a wide array of economists and policy experts during the meeting, which you can watch here. The outline of their plan is here—it’s quite detailed and provides evidence and documentation for many of its claims. They are careful not to say it’s a “demand” of the OccupyDC movement, but the next time someone says the occupiers have no goals, you can send them this.

The plan shares many broad goals of the People’s Budget, like taxing high and corporate incomes more fairly and protecting safety net programs from cuts, while investing in infrastructure spending and other projects that will increase employment while improving the country.

Again, in the near term—as in, within the next six days, when the supercommittee must act—there’s no chance these proposals become reality. But OccupyDC says they offer this plan as a solution once the supercommittee fiasco concludes:

Once again, the people of the United States will see corruption reign supreme. Despite evident solutions to the deficit and the economic collapse, the Congress will show its corruption and dysfunction and be unable to put forward real solutions.

We issue this report to alert everyone—the political system is broken. It is corrupted by the power of concentrated wealth, campaign donations and corporate power. The job of the occupations across the country is to build an independent nonviolent movement that replaces this corrupt system with one in which the people rule. The battle between concentrated wealth and participatory democracy will be heightened by the evident corruption of the Super Committee which will not challenge the unfair policies of the 1 percent while requiring austerity for the 99 percent.

The economic and political elite should expect protests to grow. We are at the beginning of what will be seen as a historic revolt against status quo elites that will transform this economy as well as how the United States is governed.

Finally, in the spirit of Occupy Wall Street’s participatory democracy—perhaps you can come up with your own deficit reduction plan. The Pew Charitable Trusts has an interactive calculator that lets you play with 100 different spending and tax policies to create reduce the debt to sustainable levels
http://www.pewtrusts.org/our_work_re...id=85899366327

and the New York Times offers something similar here.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...s-graphic.html

Here is the article because I don't think the PDF's work. Nor can you see Occupy DC's plan unless you click the link to the original article.

http://www.thenation.com/blog/164679...s-graphic.html

The 99% will never get anywhere unless an amendment to the Constitution is made that renders the Citizens United Suptreme Court decision unconstitutional. And this takes utilizing our voting and democratic processes to happen.

Look at the amounts of money both major parties use during elections! Obscene!

We have to get corporate money out of politics and have an election system that only uses public funds that have a maximum. No more private buying of elections!

Right now, the GOP in several states is trying to suppress voting rights of students, the elderly, the poor, and people of color.

The Fox/NYT nexus on OWS

The New York Times‘ media critic, Brian Stelter, yesterday had a long column criticizing the local Fox affiliate for claiming throughout the day — falsely — that OWS intended to “shut down” the New York City subway system. Stelter cited the “ominous” warnings from Fox anchor Greg Kelly — the son of NYPD Commission Raymond Kelly — saying things such as: “This is a big deal . . . .So far, they’ve focused their ire at the wealthy and those who support them, but when they start to shut down the commuting system for folks who are on their way to work, that’s something else.” Except, as Stelter documents, the whole thing was a fabrication from the start: while OWS announced their intention to “shut down” Wall Street, they intended merely to “occupy” the subway system by “handing out fliers.”

Stelter asked a Fox spokesperson about the sourcing for this claim and she replied: “It’s been reported elsewhere.” Ordinarily, one might be skeptical of this excuse, except that in this case — though Stelter doesn’t mention it — there is a significant source that also reported this claim: The New York Times. Yesterday’s NYT article on the various OWS protests by reporter Katharine Seelye “reported” as follows: “There was much confusion throughout the day in New York as protesters caused disruptions at the New York Stock Exchange and at Zuccotti Park before they moved in the afternoon to shut down subway stations” (h/t sysprog).

The current version of that article does not contain that passage, and there is no editorial note or correction noting that it had been removed, nor is there anything about this error on today’s Correction page. The NYT‘s own media critic apparently thought this reporting error was significant enough to warrant a long critique — when the error was Fox’s (and indeed, he noted that “other stations in New York City briefly suggested that the protesters might try to shut down the transit system”) – but the NYT, which likely played at least some role (if not the key role) in spawning this erroneous reporting, simply deleted the passage from its article without any acknowledgment of its error, even as its media critic bashed Fox for the same error. It’s like it just never happened (a not uncommon way of dealing with significant errors at the NYT).

As Stelter correctly noted: “Much of what is said on television about the Occupy Wall Street movement is opinion. Some is factual. And sometimes, it’s hard to tell the difference.” That is at least part of the reason that public opinion is souring on the movement. But as usual, the problem isn’t that people are watching falsehoods from Fox. The problem is that so much of what Fox spouts is also found — often first — in The New York Times.

http://www.salon.com/2011/11/18/the_..._nexus_on_ows/

Pepper-Sprayed At Occupy Portland
 

An interesting article.

First Steps in Reforming the U.S. Financial and Tax System

http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/11/...nd-tax-system/

Press clash with police during Occupy Wall Street raid; seven journalists arrested
By Dylan Stableford

Senior Media Reporter

PostsEmailRSSBy Dylan Stableford | The Cutline – Tue, Nov 15, 2011


Zuccotti Park, which has been ground zero for the Occupy Wall Street protest since mid-September, was cleared by police in riot gear early Tuesday morning. As NYPD officers carried out the raid, they turned away members of the media--occasionally by force, with several arrests ensuing .

And like the protesters they were trying to cover, the journalists swept up in the raid have been crying foul.

"I'm press!" Rosie Gray, a reporter for the Village Voice, claims she told a female police officer.

Her response: "Not tonight."

Reporters such as Gray took to Twitter, using a #mediablackout hashtag to update their industry colleagues.

At a press conference, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said police barred the media from covering the raid for their own protection, and "to prevent a situation from getting worse."

"The First Amendment gives every New Yorker the right to speak out, but it does not give anyone the right to sleep in a park or otherwise take it over to the exclusion of others," Bloomberg said. "Nor does it permit anyone in our society to live outside the law."

"Could #Bloomberg be a secret Occupy Wall Streeter?" Times columnist Nicholas Kristof wrote on Twitter. "He seems to have just revived the movement."

According to Gothamist.com, the NYPD restricted airspace in Lower Manhattan to prevent local news helicopters from CBS and NBC from capturing video images of the raid. Police also used pepper spray on a "large number" of reporters.

Reporters from NPR and the New York Times were among the 200 people whom police officers arrested during the initial raid. Julie Walker, a freelancer for NPR, was arrested "despite the fact that she was wearing an NYPD-issued press pass." Police held her for four hours before releasing her.

Jared Maslin, a reporter for the New York Times's local East Village blog, said he was arrested as he tried to comply with the police orders to move away from the area.

The "reporter was put onboard a police van with eight other arrestees, including two New School undergraduates, a photographer with Agence France-Presse, and city councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, all handcuffed behind their backs," the Times said. Rodriguez "had blood on his temple from what he said was an earlier confrontation with the police."

On Tuesday afternoon, police arrested at least four other journalists who were tracking OWS protestors as they tried to gather at another nearby park. Among that group of arrested reporters were journalists from the Daily News and the Associated Press, according to the Times.

This Is What America Looks Like
Thursday 17 November 2011
by: William Rivers Pitt, Truthout

Protesters with the Occupy Wall Street movement in Zuccotti Park in New York, November 15, 2011. After being evicted by the police Tuesday morning, several hundred Occupy Wall Street demonstrators returned to the park the same night, but a judge’s ruling now bans tents, tarps and staying overnight.

They say it's hard to speak
They feel so strong to say we are weak
But through the eyes the love of our people
They've got to repay.

We come from Trench Town
We come from Trench Town
Trench - Trench Town
They say, "Can anything good
Come out of Trench Town?"

- Bob Marley

Let's get a few things straight right from the jump.

First of all, despite all the gleeful obituaries that have been appearing across the scabrous landscape of the "mainstream" news media, the Occupy movement is not, in fact, over. Mayor Michael Bloomberg may have sent in cops like thieves in the night to dispossess peaceful protesters and destroy books in New York City, but there are hundreds of Occupy camps still standing from one side of this nation to the other. As for the seedcorn New York protest, well...if you're one who opposes what they've been doing, you can cross your fingers and toes to your heart's delight in the hope that matters are settled in the Big Apple, but you best be prepared for disappointment, because those people have set their caps to accomplish what they endeavored to do back in September, and they are far, far more organized and determined than people like you seem capable of apprehending.

A setback like this only adds fuel to the fire. We're talking about people who are so committed to the ideals of the Occupy movement that they abandoned the soft conveniences of modern existence - walls, a roof, a bed, plumbing, locks on the doors and the soothing babble of cable TV - to sleep in a park surrounded by strangers for almost two months. Raise your hand if you've ever gone camping for two full months, anywhere. It has been hot, it has been cold, it has rained, it has snowed, and, oh yeah, there was the ever-present threat of catching a billy club over the head or a face full of NYPD mace for their trouble. You think they're going away after enduring all that?

Ha.

Second, I'm going to slap the next person who comes out with the pat line, "They don't have a message! They need a message! They're nothing without a message!" Um, cluebag, they are the message. The Occupy movement has created modern-day Hoovervilles from sea to shining sea to point out the simple fact that things have gone badly wrong in these United States, that the American Dream of even minimal upward mobility and the promise of a better future for our children were sold for pennies on the dollar to the bastards and whores who have perverted this democracy past the point of recognition. It's a fantastic bit of irony, a towering example of cognitive dissonance, that the same people who attack the Occupy movement are also the ones packing guns to Tea Party protests because they think the country is headed in the wrong direction. What in the name of Jesus H. Christ do they think the right direction is? 99% of us are getting screwed, and the Occupy movement has been the most eloquent firebreak against that heedless, moneygrubbing trend.

I'll make it simple: Wall Street has occupied American politics and stolen America's bright future in an orgy of graft and theft, so America has occupied Wall Street - along with every Main Street in every city and town you can think of - in order to try and set things right. Got it? It is pretty simple, folks. Two plus two does, in fact, equal four. The only reasons people refuse to see this thing, simply, for what it is come down to willful stupidity, stubborn partisanship, money, or a combination of the three.

Third, anyone who claims that the Occupy movement has not accomplished anything can kiss my whole entire ass. The upward mobility of our hard-earned money into the coffers of the rich and powerful has been going on since the disaster known as the "Reagan Revolution." The politicians bought by the cash-fat elite have appointed judges to every level of the state and federal judicial systems, and the serial corporate-favoring rulings handed down by these robed criminals have given this grand theft the imprimatur of legality, but it ain't legal, and it ain't right. One look at the Supreme Court's Citizen's United decision, and the after-affects of same, can tell you that. Hell, Mitt Romney actually got up with his bare face hanging out the other day to make the very modern American argument that corporations are, in fact, people...non-existent multi-billionaire people protected from even the most minimal legal oversight or scrutiny, to be sure, but people all the same.

Is that the country you want to live in? I don't, and neither do the Occupy protesters, and what they have accomplished over these last two months is to finally, finally, finally draw major national attention to the deranged way we go about things here in America. In the immortal words of a fantastic Occupy protest sign, "I'll believe corporations are people when Texas executes one." For the first time in modern memory, people in America, along with their elected representatives and the "mainstream" media that covers it all, have had their noses rubbed in the awful yawning gap between the Haves and the Have Nots, and the manner in which this doomed system of thievery-as-governance actually operates. Those who try to tell you the Occupy movement has no message are the very people who see the message with perfect clarity, and it scares the tar out of them, so they have made a point of saying black is white in order to muddy the waters. Don't believe it. In your gut, you know better.

No one, but no one, has explained it all better than Chris Hedges:

The banks and Wall Street, which have erected the corporate state to serve their interests at our expense, caused the financial crisis. The bankers and their lobbyists crafted tax havens that account for up to $1 trillion in tax revenue lost every decade. They rewrote tax laws so the nation's most profitable corporations, including Bank of America, could avoid paying any federal taxes. They engaged in massive fraud and deception that wiped out an estimated $40 trillion in global wealth. The banks are the ones that should be made to pay for the financial collapse.

The big banks and corporations are parasites. They greedily devour the entrails of the nation in a quest for profit, thrusting us all into serfdom and polluting and poisoning the ecosystem that sustains the human species. They have gobbled up more than a trillion dollars from the Department of Treasury and the Federal Reserve and created tiny enclaves of wealth and privilege where corporate managers replicate the decadence of the Forbidden City and Versailles. Those outside the gates, however, struggle to find work and watch helplessly as food and commodity prices rocket upward...And no one in the Congress, the Obama White House, the courts or the press, all beholden to corporate money, will step in to stop or denounce the assault on families. Our ruling elite, including Barack Obama, are courtiers, shameless hedonists of power, who kneel before Wall Street and daily sell us out. The top corporate plutocrats are pulling down $900,000 an hour while one in four children depends on food stamps to eat.

Finally, any and all who say the Occupy movement is meaningless in comparison to the civil rights struggle or the fight against the war in Vietnam are, quite simply, flat wrong. Worse than that, you know you're wrong. This is not to discredit or discount those great, noble and entirely just efforts in any way, shape or form. But to claim the Occupy movement is beneath those efforts not only misses the point by miles, but viciously undercuts the very fabric of those efforts. This fight is about race, and class, and justice, and what happens to a nation when it becomes addicted to war and the profits earned for a few by the delivery of death. The Occupy movement is the culmination of every great struggle, in this century and the last, against a powerful few who would have us return to the days of aristocracy and penury. Like Rosa Parks, the Occupy movement sat down where it supposedly didn't belong and said, "I'm not moving," until what is wrong is set right once and for all.

Just so we're clear
http://www.truth-out.org/what-america-looks/1321471600

i have been saying for a very long time that we don't live in a democracy, but rather we live in an oligarchy. we live in an illusion of democracy to keep us quiet.

Great post, Toughy. Yes, like most change, this will be come in waves and phases. It's time to get out of the parks and into the community meetings and media and capitols.

Totally agree. And I also would add an analysis of racism.
The "New Deal" that came out of the great depression created the white middle class, and left People of Color behind. Unless this new "99%" movement studies history, listens, and doesn't make the same mistakes, we might be building a new set of institutional racist structures that just serve a few.

The extremist "Rght" has been getting themselves elected in school boards, county and town-level positions since the mid 90s. Then they moved onto state-wide seats from those constituencies. And now they are national players. People who want justice would do well to get to know their neighbors well-- it's become apparent who has been talking with them.

I remain hopeful!

That is an exceptional article. Some many jewels are within it -

"he basic problem today is that nearly everyone is in debt. This is the problem in Europe too."

"The banking system’s alternative to 'the road to serfdom' thus turns out to be a road to debt peonage."

"Every Democratic congressional committee chairman has to pay to the Party $150,000 to buy the chairmanship. This means that the campaign donors get to determine who gets committee chairmanships. This is oligarchy, not democracy. So the system is geared to favor whoever can grab the most money."

"Today’s economic problem is systemic. This is what makes any solution so inherently radical."

here is a livestream you can check out that has a few OWS locations. .

http://www.livestream.com/globalrevolution



Occupy Portland demands the mayor apologize for the violent crackdown

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/11/1...ent-crackdown/





Violent crackdown in NY at Zuccoti, what's next? Protestors take to the streets of NY!

So, how about members right here running for local school boards and city or county government offices? What about getting on bank or hospital boards in our communities? Join non-elected city and county committes like recreation and safety committees. Many of us have raised or are raising kids and also run small businesses or work for Mom & Pop/Mom & Mom/Pop & Pop businesses and have a stake in the schools they attend. Tea Party tactics have worked for them...... from the ground up. We can't do the same?

wtf!
 

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xXO6ODyNFZ...400/pepper.jpg

OMG Cops pepper-spray UC Davis students, point blank in face, who are just sitting there doing nothing

When I see things like this, and read about other cities and the problems they are having. I wonder, is the ACLU watching? Are they doing anything about this? It has been stated over and over again, (here) the ACLU will be watching everything. Redundant, but worth repeating. The police have been wonderful. Even the five people arrested this week, were put into plastic wrist cuffs, (not hand cuffed) and all walked nicely to the paddy wagon. I realize this could have gone the other way. ON EITHER PARTIES BEHALF>

Is this photo-shopped or real? If the latter, I'm beyond words.

It's as real as it gets. This is very hard to watch but here it is...

My God
 

What have we become...

My latest email from the NAACP
 

Imagine if everyone in Manhattan, Detroit and Chicago suddenly lost their ability to vote. That's the number of people -- 5 million and counting -- affected by passed and pending changes to voting laws in states around the country. When all is said and done, millions more could be disenfranchised.

The people passing these laws lie. They say that it's about voter fraud. What it's really about is systematically suppressing voters of color, students and the elderly.

While the NAACP is nonpartisan, the people pushing these laws are not. They know that the number of people, five million, whose votes would be suppressed by these laws is three times greater than the combined margin of victory in Florida, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia during the 2008 presidential election.

Let's call these new voter requirement laws out for what they are: Extreme attempts by the far right-wing to legislate voter suppression. We can fight back. Knowledge is power. Will you take these quick and easy steps to learn the facts about these new voter requirements?

Take our mobile text quiz. Text the word TRUTH to 62227 on your mobile phone to take a simple quiz: Learn the truth about who is affected by voter ID laws.

Like Stand for Freedom on Facebook: Join the discussion on new voter ID laws across the country, and learn how you can get involved in our efforts to ensure everyone has the right to vote.

You have a better chance of being struck by lightning than you do of being impersonated at the polls.

11% of eligible voters would not have the proper, up-to-date, state-issued ID required to vote.

African American, Latino, young, elderly and disabled voters are far more likely to lack the required identification to vote. Your support in the coming months is more important than ever. Take these quick and easy steps to start fighting back today.

Thanks,

Ben

Benjamin Todd Jealous
President and CEO
NAACP

I just read this article. It has ten police assaults on occupy protestors caught on camera. Some I had seen, some i had not. All were appalling. Particularly the ones of people trying to engage in peaceful protests being beaten for no discernible reason. I guess we are not allowed to complain anymore. I remember a quote by Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas "The difference between the communist and capitalist systems is that, although both give you a kick in the ass, in the communist system you have to applaud, while in the capitalist system you can scream. And I came here to scream". It appears now that screaming is no longer acceptable under the newest version of capitalism. Or they will give you something to scream about.

http://www.alternet.org/occupywallst...esters/?page=1

There is an alternative
 

Cops could start refusing to enforce illegal commands to attack peaceful protestors exercising their first amendment rights.

When that happens (and I believe it will) the revolution will be in full swing. Power to the Peaceful!



http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/...12_634x477.jpg