thank you for speaking to this. while some of the officers may hold your view, i have talked to several officers in my state who have a different viewpoint... that seems to be that the ows are wasting everyone's time, money and energy and should go home and if they don't they deserve and should expect a violent smack down from the pd. i would love to believe that it is just a lack of training, but having known at least one of these officers (she is my cousin, unfortunately) i have to say that this is how she thought prior to becoming part of the police department. i believe that it goes much deeper than training, it is who the pd recruits, allows to wear a badge, it is the qualities and behaviors in the officers that are nurtured and encouraged. in cali (at least) it seems that officers that show a penchant for violence and power are promoted and rewarded. imho my cousin has NO business whatsoever wearing a badge and carrying a gun. her language is violent, angry and racist, she boasts about the power of her position, and quite frankly i am very glad that she lives some 400 miles away from me, but i know that there are many more out there like her. i know more officers like her. i also see from posts like yours that there are people in law enforcement who are not, and it gives me hope.

greeneyedgrrl



I do know there are those in law enforcement that believe that brute force is always the answer...and they thrive on it. However, I do not have that mentality, nor do many of my co-workers nor the vast majority of the people in law enforcement in my area. There will always be those who go overboard, or want to, when it comes to using force. It is up to the rest of us to stop the culprit when it is out of order and not justified. Luckily, we have those in my facility who aren't afraid to step in and stop those actions when warranted. Ultimately, it falls on the shoulders of supervisors, higher ranking officers, to maintain the humanity of law enforcement. That is the training needed at this point for the Occupy protests...find a better way to handle the situation at hand to do your job and do it effectively.
I have promoted through the ranks and am now a Lieutenant. I did not earn this because I can "kick ass" if need be. I earned it because I use the most important muscle in my aresonal first...my brain.
The tide is changing...it still needs encouragement to continue to do so.
And yes there is fear on our part...as I said, WE want to go home at the end of our shift safe. I have been trained how to maintain my selfcontrol when in fear for my life without severly hurting or killing anyone...I believe anyone can.

it sounds like you know more officers that think like you than not... and that is fantastic. i really hope that change is happening here as well; i have not seen it in my state, and i realize that doesn't necessarily mean it isn't taking place, it is just outside of my experience... i have had experiences with both pd and co in my state which has been mostly, not all, negative.

BstlMyHart wrote - "I have promoted through the ranks and am now a Lieutenant. I did not earn this because I can "kick ass" if need be. I earned it because I use the most important muscle in my aresonal first...my brain. The tide is changing...it still needs encouragement to continue to do so. And yes there is fear on our part...as I said, WE want to go home at the end of our shift safe. I have been trained how to maintain my selfcontrol when in fear for my life without severly hurting or killing anyone...I believe anyone can."

This is the kind of wisdom and thinking that needs to accompany any position of power and force. Thank you for your post.

greeneyedgrrl writes--it sounds like you know more officers that think like you than not... and that is fantastic. i really hope that change is happening here as well; i have not seen it in my state, and i realize that doesn't necessarily mean it isn't taking place, it is just outside of my experience... i have had experiences with both pd and co in my state which has been mostly, not all, negative.

SoNotHer writes-This is the kind of wisdom and thinking that needs to accompany any position of power and force. Thank you for your post.



It boils down to respect. I get the behavior I expect by showing respect...and am respected back. Makes defusing a potentially bad situation in the facility much easier.

well put and better the I could have expressed it most in my department feel that way and honestly I have always known that I can get further with communication first and as a Corporal I try to lead with that in mind

Neither you nor anyone else in this "Occupy" movement has the right to judge, same as religious zealots do not have that right. Two sides of the same coin in my book and the coin looks rather tainted.

How the **** do you know what St. Peter thinks? :|

Your interpretation of "acting like christians" is different from mine. just sayin.

The Guy Fawkes Mask
 

This is an article about the Guy Fawkes masks that some of the people wear at the protest. The article is an interview with Alan Moore. The gentleman that wrote V for Vendetta which is where the mask is from.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011...?newsfeed=true

Above is only part of the article. Check out the link if you want to read the whole thing.

It seems that quite often people forget about the Christ part of their Christianity. This is really cool to hear.

Also
 

US Senate To Vote On Bill That Will Allow The Military To Arrest Americans On American Soil And Hold Them Indefinitely

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/11...-indefinitely/




http://tribuneofthepeople.files.word...29397606_n.jpg

Are you kidding me? WTF

if this is true...this seems to me to be the first phase of a civil war, with only one side is armed to the hilt with weapons while the other is not, this concerns me.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...ackdown-occupy

http://inthesetimes.com/uprising/ent...ccupy_attacks/

Come to Texas. You can buy any arms you need and support local business all at the same time.

if i believed in such things i'd agree with you. i think the idea of a jesus is as bizarre as adam and eve, virgin moms, resurrections, talking snakes, and parting an ocean with a stick. however, the "message" of christianity is to love thy brother. and i'm pretty sure "jesus" was quoted in the bible speaking out against wealth. if i really gave a shit i could look it up. nope...too lazy. neener.

c'mon.....this isn't really a surprise, is it? told ya...the infrastructure is in place. i mean, they don't make any bones about it and it's obvious (at least to me) what the temperature is on this issue in the white house. this comes on the heels of that other horrid bill about limiting internet access.

uuum... thanks, but no. i'm not a fan of guns... they make it too easy for people to kill people instead of problem solving. if i had my way guns would be made into something useful... like planters. ;)

And of course we are talking about rectal temperature taking...

Thank you for bringing up the internet bill. Folks should be focusing on it -

http://americancensorship.org/

One of the things I am most thankful for has to do with my nephew. He is a NM State Policeman and has been for about 10 years. He is no longer a patrol officer.....thank all powers to be.....he is a detective which means he investigates crimes. He is no longer stopping cars on deserted highways with crappy training.

What I know about cops is this: every single cop is inadequately trained in every area.....but particularly in de-escalation techniques.....it's way to easy to do pepper spray and taser rather than talk......it's way to easy to be a cop/prison guard.

by the way.....tazer kills people every year.....it is not a non-lethal deterrent method and cops should never be told nor trained as if it is non-lethal.....

in my day we talked to the cops and told them when we would be doing arrest worthy acts....the sit-in's at UCDavis are classic examples.....you cuff them and take them away......you NEVER EVER NEVER use military grade (which is what has been used in all cases) pepper spray on non-violent protestors risking arrest.....this is not the 60's....

China is ripe for its own Occupy protests
Occupy Wall Street protests have not spread to China, but Beijing's crackdown on media coverage and Internet activity related to OWS isn't surprising. What's less predictable are ways that Occupy protests could shake up China’s internal politics, especially among neo-Maoists.

By Daniel K. Gardner / November 8, 2011


Occupy Wall Street protests have not spread to the People’s Republic of China. But word of the protests has, and the Chinese authorities are trying to figure out how to respond.


Their reactions have run the gamut: from gloating denunciations of American capitalism, to a crackdown on all media coverage of Occupy Wall Street (OWS). Of course, there is no real surprise in this sequence of responses. More interesting, and less predictable, are the ways in which the Occupy Wall Street protests could substantively shape China’s internal politics.

In the early days of the OWS movement, when protests were confined to US cities, a China Daily OpEd (Sept. 30) harshly attacked the American media for journalistic hypocrisy, for not giving coverage to protests in their own country even as they had relished covering protests in the Arab world just a few months earlier. A couple weeks later, state-run Xinhua News was harsher still, arguing that the protests in New York's Zuccotti Park “laid bare malpractices of the US government and ailments of its political and economic systems.”


But as the Occupy movement spread globally, the Chinese response shifted. Assault on the silence of the American press gave way to anxiety about the possible effects Chinese media coverage might have on their Chinese audience.

On Oct. 17, a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, after remarking that the issues raised by OWS may be “worth pondering,” cautioned the Chinese media, saying that their “reflections should be conducive to maintaining the sound and steady development of the world economy.” On the same day, editors of the Chinese Communist Party-run Global Times called for people to “calmly observe the protest movement and the global situation, and not be confused by extreme points of view.”

A few days later, on Oct. 19 and 20, Beijing authorities – setting aside any ambivalence they might have had about the Occupy movement – issued an order to the Chinese media to cease all reporting and commenting on the OWS movement.

What happened? Perhaps Beijing had examined the numbers in the intervening three days, and been reminded that as high as the income gap in the United States is, China’s income and wealth inequality is right up there as well, even higher according to some estimates. Or perhaps recognition had set in that China’s elite 1 percent just might – like America’s 1 percent elite – be open to charges of greed and corruption.

Given, too, that 36 percent of the Chinese people (that’s 481 million people) live on $2 a day or less, the Beijing leadership might have become worried that the Chinese would not remain as “calm” in the face of news about the US protests as the Global Times might wish.

Cyberspace censorship quickly followed after the media gag order. Searches for “Occupy Wall Street” and, more pointedly, for “Occupy Beijing,” “Occupy Shanghai,” “Occupy Guangzhou,” “Occupy Zhongnanhai,” and “Occupy Lhasa,” among a growing list of banned terms, now yield blank screens on microblogging sites like Sina Weibo (China’s version of Twitter).


Such a crackdown was predictable. Since the Arab Spring uprisings, the Chinese leadership, vigilant about any signs of civil unrest at home, has been aggressive in promoting the “harmonious society” that is the Community Party’s mantra.

But tensions in the ruling Chinese Communist Party have surfaced in recent years. New Leftists, sometime called New Maoists, have become more voluble about the widening gulf between rich and poor; corporate and official collusion; the state’s inattentiveness to the needs of the elderly, the infirm, and the impoverished; and the rise in “mass incidents” of protest against official corruption. It is time, the New Leftists suggest, to put the brakes on the liberal reform experiment launched in the post-Mao era by Deng Xiaoping. It is time to resurrect the revolutionary, egalitarian spirit of Chairman Mao.


Will the message or spirit of the Occupy Wall Street protests resonate with China’s 99-percenters and give momentum to China’s New Maoist agenda? OWS has already produced small demonstrations in nearby Hong Kong and Taiwan. If OWS endures and expands its reach to mainland China, savvy politician Bo Xilai, party chief of Chongqing municipality in China’s southwest, would likely have much to gain. The leading figure and public face of the New Maoists, Bo is angling – some would say campaigning – to win a position on the all-powerful nine-member Standing Committee of the Politburo in 2012.

Described as “handsome,” “outgoing,” and “Kennedy-esque,” Mr. Bo has made a name for himself as an activist party chief – even as he has ruffled feathers along the way. He launched a popular campaign targeting organized crime and official corruption in 2009. He also sponsored low-income housing projects and welfare programs for the working class and the poor in Chongqing. This summer, he inaugurated the Red Culture Movement, calling for a renaissance of the revolutionary spirit embodied by Chairman Mao.


Residents of Chongqing are encouraged to come together in parks and stadiums to sing “red songs” – songs extolling the achievements of Mao and the Chinese Communist Party – and to watch the revolutionary dramas that have replaced the soap operas on Chongqing TV. With such efforts, charismatic Bo has struck a strong populist chord in Chongqing and beyond.

But winning acclaim from the people and winning a place on the Standing Committee of the Politburo are two different matters. Bo’s flamboyant style is at odds with the staid style of present members of the Standing Committee (which in a process lacking any transparency will select the replacements for those retiring from the Standing Committee next year).

His support for a more tightly state-controlled economy is at odds with the more liberal state capitalism now in vogue. And his Maoist rhetoric is at odds with the liberal reform rhetoric embraced by the Chinese leadership for the past decade, and especially by current Premier Wen Jiabao. Bo’s words and actions have conjured up, at least for some, the specter of a return to Cultural Revolution days.



Still, in the words of the press, Bo is a “political rock star.” Excluding him from the Standing Committee may be difficult. But should China’s 99-percenters awaken to the call of Occupy Wall Street and coalesce around the movement, excluding Bo from the Standing Committee mix would be more than difficult – it would simply be too risky, even for China’s authoritarian ruling party.

White House Says Each City Should Determine How To Handle Occupy Protests
By Mary Bruce
Nov 16, 2011 1:01am

Following the police raid on Occupy Wall Street protesters in New York, the White House said it’s up to each city to determine how to handle the demonstrations.

“The President’s position is that obviously every municipality has to make its own decisions about how to handle these issues,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters aboard Air Force One.

Carney said the President was “aware” from reports that protesters had been evicted early Tuesday morning from Zuccotti Park, where they had camped out for weeks.

“We would hope and want, as these decisions are made, that it balances between a long tradition of freedom of assembly and freedom of speech in this country, and obviously of demonstrating and protesting, and also the very important need to maintain law and order and health and safety standards, which was obviously a concern in this case,” Carney said



srsly? that's the entire article. talk about understatement. complete and utter bullshit. not to mention it was written more than ten days ago.

http://news.yahoo.com/video/business...-27392988.html

this is awesome :)

Let me do the heavy lifting for you. ;-)

Mark 10:25

"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God"

Matthew 6:19

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal."

Luke 12:15

“Then he said to them, ‘Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.’ ”

Mark 12:43-44

“Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, ‘I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.’ ”

Luke 14:33

“In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.”

Matthew 25:34-40

34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’"

I think that just about covers it. And it makes it pretty clear what St. Peter's job is as well.

Court order allows Occupy Wall St. protesters back
By COLLEEN LONG and VERENA DOBNIK - Associated Press Tue, Nov 15, 2011



NEW YORK (AP) — Hundreds of police officers in riot gear raided Zuccotti Park early Tuesday, evicting dozens of Occupy Wall Street protesters from what has become the epicenter of the worldwide movement protesting corporate greed and economic inequality.

Hours later, the National Lawyers Guild obtained a court order allowing Occupy Wall Street protesters to return with tents to the park. The guild said the injunction prevents the city from enforcing park rules on Occupy Wall Street protesters.

At a morning news conference at City Hall, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the city knew about the court order but had not seen it and would go to court to fight it. He said the city wants to protect people's rights, but if a choice must be made, it will protect public safety.

About 70 people were arrested overnight, including some who chained themselves together, while officers cleared the park so that sanitation crews could clean it.

By 9 a.m., the park was power-washed clean. Police in riot gear still ringed the public space, waiting for orders to reopen it.

The city told protesters at the two-month-old encampment they could come back after the cleaning, but under new tougher rules, including no tents, sleeping bags or tarps, which would effectively put an end to the encampment if enforced.

Bloomberg said the evacuation was conducted in the middle of the night "to reduce the risk of confrontation in the park, and to minimize disruption to the surrounding neighborhood."

"The law that created Zuccotti Park required that it be open for the public to enjoy for passive recreation 24 hours a day," Bloomberg said. "Ever since the occupation began, that law has not been complied with, as the park has been taken over by protesters, making it unavailable to anyone else."

Concerns about health and safety issues at Occupy Wall Street camps around the country have intensified, and protesters have been ordered to take down their shelters, adhere to curfews and relocate so that parks can be cleaned.

Hundreds of former Zuccotti Park residents and their supporters marched along Lower Manhattan before dawn Tuesday.

Some paused and locked arms outside the City Hall gates but left peacefully when police in riot gear appeared on the scene. About 300 to 400 kept moving along the sidewalks, taking care not to block them.

Some were chanting, "This is what democracy looks like."

Others chanted: "Hey, hey, ho, ho, our billionaire mayor has got to go."

At about 1 a.m. Tuesday, New York City police handed out notices from Brookfield Office Properties, owner of Zuccotti Park, and the city saying that the park had to be cleared because it had become unsanitary and hazardous.

Paul Browne, a spokesman for the New York Police Department, said the park had been cleared by 4:30 a.m. and that about 70 people who'd been inside it had been arrested, including a group who chained themselves together. One person was taken to a hospital for evaluation because of breathing problems.

Police in riot gear filled the streets, car lights flashing and sirens blaring. Protesters, some of whom shouted angrily at police, began marching to two locations in Lower Manhattan where they planned to hold rallies.

Some protesters refused to leave the park, but many left peacefully.

Ben Hamilton, 29, said he was arrested "and I was just trying to get away" from the fray.

Rabbi Chaim Gruber, an Occupy Wall Street member, said police officers were clearing the streets near Zuccotti Park.

"The police are forming a human shield, and are pushing everyone away," he said.

Hundreds of police officers surrounded the park in riot gear with plastic shields across their faces, holding plastic shields and batons which were used on some cases on protesters.

Police also came armed with klieg lights, which they used to flood the park, and bull horns to announce that everyone had to clear out.

Jake Rozak, another protester, said police "had their pepper spray out and were ready to use it."

Notices given to the protesters said the park "poses an increasing health and fire safety hazard to those camped in the park, the city's first responders and the surrounding community."

It said that tents, sleeping bags and other items had to be removed because "the storage of these materials at this location is not allowed." Anything left behind would be taken away, the notices said, giving an address at a sanitation department building where items could be picked up.

Alex Hall, 21, of Brooklyn, said police walked into the park "stepping on tents and ripping them out."

Occupy encampments have come under fire around the country as local officials and residents have complained about possible health hazards and ongoing inhabitation of parks and other public spaces.

Anti-Wall Street activists intend to converge at the University of California, Berkeley on Tuesday for a day of protests and another attempt to set up an Occupy Cal camp, less than a week after police arrested dozens of protesters who tried to pitch tents on campus.

The Berkeley protesters will be joined by Occupy Oakland activists who said they would march to the UC campus in the afternoon. Police cleared the tent city in front of Oakland City Hall before dawn Monday and arrested more than 50people amid complaints about safety, sanitation and drug use.


another old yet new to me story

The Congress Insider Trading Scandal Is Outrageous
By Henry Blodget Daily Ticker – Tue, Nov 15, 2011 7:23 AM EST


..You cannot read the description of the personal stock trading allegedly conducted by Rep. Spencer Bachus and other members of Congress during the financial crisis and conclude anything other than the following:

Our government is completely corrupt.

Yes, this behavior may be technically legal, because of an absurd loophole that makes insider-trading rules not apply to Congress.

Yes, this behavior may be widespread on Capitol Hill.

But there is no universe in which a reasonable person would consider this behavior ethical or okay. And for the 300+ million Americans who aren't members of Congress, it would be just plain illegal

Many members of Congress seem guilty here, including John Kerry, Dick Durbin, and Jim Moran. But Spencer Bachus takes the cake.

According to a new book called Throw Them All Out by Peter Schweizer, as relayed by Dave Weigel at Slate, Rep. Bachus made more than 40 trades in his personal account in the summer and fall of 2008, in the early months of the financial crisis.

The fact that Bachus personally traded on private information he received as a result of his job is bad enough. The fact that he was the ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee at the time is simply outrageous.

In one case, the day after getting a private briefing on the collapsing economy and financial system from Ben Bernanke and Hank Paulson, Rep. Bachus effectively shorted the market (by buying options that would rise if the market tanked.)

A few days later, after the market tanked, Bachus sold his position and nearly doubled his money.

If a corporate executive or Wall Street trader did this--cashed in personally after getting private, non-public information from his work--Rep. Bachus and every other member of Congress would be screaming from the rooftops about how the financial system is deeply corrupt and how the executive should be charged with insider trading.

And they would be right.

Rep. Bachus should return whatever money he made by betting on the direction of the markets (or anything else) in the fall of 2008. He should apologize for his behavior and jaw-dropping lack of judgement. He should urge his fellow members of Congress to immediately enact legislation that defends the fairness of the markets by holding Congress to the same insider trading laws as everyone else. He should then resign in disgrace.

Here's the passage from Throw Them All Out, as relayed by Slate's Dave Weigel. According to Weigel, it is only one of many examples of Bachus's insider trading:

On the evening of September 18, at 7 p.m., Bachus received [a] private briefing for congressional leaders by Hank Paulson and Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Ben Bernanke about the current state of the economy. They sat around a long table in the office of Nancy Pelosi, then the Speaker of the House. These briefings were secretive. Often, cell phones and Blackberrys had to be surrendered outside the room to avoid leaks.

What Bachus and his colleagues heard behind closed doors was stunning. As Paulson recounts, "Ben [Bernanke] emphasized how the financial crisis could spill into the real economy. As stocks dropped perhaps a further 20 percent, General Motors would go bankrupt, and unemployment would rise . . . if we did nothing." The members of Congress around the table were, in Paulson's words, "ashen-faced."

Bernanke continued, "It is a matter of days before there is a meltdown in the global financial system." Bachus was among those who spoke. According to Paulson, he suggested recapitalizing the banks by buying shares.

The meeting broke up. The next day, September 19, Congressman Bachus bought contract options on Proshares Ultra-Short QQQ, an index fund that seeks results that are 200% of the inverse of the Nasdaq 100 index. In other words, he was shorting the market. It was an inexpensive way to bet that the market would fall. He bought options for $7,846 on a day when the Dow Jones Industrial Average opened at 8,604. A few days later, on September 23, after the market had indeed fallen, he sold the options for over $13,000 and nearly doubled his money.

old again but i can't stop reading about it.

Kind of funny in that Blodget was one of the architects of the dot.com bomb when he was the head of global Internet research at Merrill Lynch. Let's see...pets.com, he had a buy on that until the morning they imploded.

I am sorry I don't live in Mass. to vote for her. I always find her inspiring and genuine, and now that she's in Karl Rove's crosshairs, I find her even more so and more essential than ever.

https://secure.actblue.com/entity/fu...tblue_homepage

The case for a green economy
 

Has anyone read this yet, and if so, what did you think?

"Friedman delivers the bad news in lively style, filled with anecdote. In the last 50 years the world's population has almost tripled. By 2054 it will be 9.2 billion. The drive to establish a middle class in India, China, Brazil and Russia to consume and produce goods is inevitable. But the previous way of exploiting resources is not replicable. In the book Carl Pope said it best: "Every previous economic spirit and takeoff in history by one country or a region was nurtured by an unexploited biological commons." Today there are no new virgin commons."

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_eIzSn91JTR...nd_crowded.jpg

The Average Bush Tax Cut For The 1 Percent This Year Will Be Greater Than The Average Income Of The Other 99 Percent
 

LINK: http://thinkprogress.org/economy/201...t-one-percent/

OWS and African Americans- food for thought
 

http://blogs.the-american-interest.c...acks-shun-ows/

Occupy The Plantation? Blacks Shun OWS

http://hotair.com/headlines/archives...y-wall-street/

Why blacks aren’t embracing Occupy Wall Street

Yolo Akili- Interviews of African Americans On Occupy Wall Street

Occupy the Courts - January 20, 2012
 

http://movetoamend.org/OccupyTheCourts

January 20, 2012 – Move to Amend Occupies the Courts!
Jan 20, 2012: Occupy the Courts!Call to Action

Inspired by our friends at Occupy Wall Street, and Dr. Cornel West, Move To Amend is planning bold action to mark the second anniversary of the infamous Citizens United v. FEC decision!

http://courts.lohudblogs.com/files/2011/11/otc-ad.png

Occupy the Courts will be a one day occupation of Federal courthouses across the country, including the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Friday January 20, 2012.

Move to Amend volunteers across the USA will lead the charge on the judiciary which created — and continues to expand — corporate personhood rights.

Americans across the country are on the march, and they are marching OUR way. They carry signs that say, “Corporations are NOT people! Money is NOT Speech!” And they are chanting those truths at the top of their lungs! The time has come to make these truths evident to the courts.

➤➤ Join us Friday, January 20, 2012 at a Federal Court building near you! Click here to sign up.
Sites (so far)

Buffalo, NY
Cedar Rapids, IA
Cleveland, OH
Columbus, OH
Des Moines, IA
Denver, CO
Dover, DE
East St. Louis, MO
Eureka, CA
Golfport, MS
Houston, TX
Kansas City, MO
Madison, WI
Milwaukee, WI
Minneapolis, MN
Nashville, TN
New York, NY
Oklahoma City, OK
Peoria, IL
Portland, OR
Rochester, NY
San Francisco, CA
San Jose, CA
Savannah, GA
Seattle, WA
Springfield, MO
St Louis, MO
Tampa, FL
Tacoma, WA
Washington, D.C. (US Supreme Court)
Wilmington, DE
Wilmington, NC

Organizing Resources
Locations

List of Federal District Courts
US Court of Appeals
US Supreme Court

Obtaining a Permit

To obtain a permit for your action, contact the Court you will be targeting and submit this application (pdf) to the GSA Facilities Manager. Find out how they want you to submit the permit application, often times it can be done by fax.
Outreach

This folder contains handbills and posters to promote your event. Black & white or color options in each download folder. Click the links to begin downloads.

Poster with text box (with text box to add your local event info) (download zip folder)
Poster (download zip folder)

Handbills have a letter to Occupy events from MTA on the back - if that isn't useful for your outreach just print side one.

Handbills with text box (with text box to add your local event info) (download zip folder)
Handbills (download zip folder)

Action Materials

Instructions to Make a Corporate Personhood Costume (pdf)
Corporate Personhood Skit: Video, Script & Sound Effects
Adapt one of our 4th of July ideas for Occupy the Courts
“Interview with a Corporate Person” Skit (pdf)
Corporate Personhood Song
"As the Country Turns" Skit for a short drama
Build a freeway banner

Informational Resources

Outreach Materials (Petitions, Signs/Posters, Stickers, Brochures)
Declaration of Independence from Corporate Rule
What Could Change if Corporate Personhood Were Abolished?
Why Abolish All Corporate Constitutional Rights

Spread the Word

Corporate Personhood Talking Points
Tips for Using Social Media (pdf)
Tips for Writing Letters to the Editor
How to Hold a News Conference

Additional Resources

Recording of November 2011 Webinar on Occupy the Courts with Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap (MTA Field Director) and Steve Justino (MTA Occupy the Courts Coordinator) (skip to 20:00 mark to avoid pre-meeting logistics)
Move to Amend Local Action Toolkit

➤➤ Join us Friday, January 20, 2012 at a Federal Court building near you! Click here to sign up.

If you have additional questions or ideas contact us: OccupyTheCourts@MoveToAmend.org.

Passing stuff on...
 

No one has been able to explain to me why young men and women serve in the U.S. Military for 20 years, risking their lives protecting freedom, and only get 50% of their pay. While Politicians hold their political positions in the safe confines of the capital, protected by these same men and women, and receive full pay retirement after serving one term. It just does not make any sense.





Monday we learned that the staffers of Congress family members are exempt from having to pay back student loans. This will get national attention if news networks will broadcast it. When you add this to the below, just where will all of it stop?

This will take less than thirty seconds to read. If you agree, please pass it on.

This is an idea that we should address.

For too long we have been too complacent about the workings of Congress. Many citizens had no idea that members of Congress could retire with the same pay after only one term, that they specifically exempted themselves from many of the laws they have passed while citizens must live under those laws. The latest is to exempt themselves from the Healthcare Reform... in all of its forms. Somehow, that doesn't seem logical. We do not have an elite that is above the law. I truly don't care if they are Democrat, Republican, Independent or whatever. The self-serving must stop.

If each person that receives this will forward it on to 20 people, in three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message.. This is one proposal that really should be passed around.

Proposed 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution: "Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators and/or Representatives; and, Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators and/or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States ."

You (all) are one of my 20+

Secret Fed Loans Helped Banks Net $13 Billion
 

LINK: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-1...in-income.html

The rest of the article
 

THIS is a crime. It goes against the the spirit of the constitution. Tax payer money can't just be lent out to banks without disclosure and approval of elected representatives. I mean, apparently it can, since it happened, but that is a crime. The 7.77 trillion the FED lent to the big banks makes the 700 billion dollar TARP bail out look like pocket change. THIS is why we need to keep up the pressure with Occupy.

BUMP
 

I think this should be bumped on a regular basis- as well as any info on an amendment that would make the Citizens United SC decision unconstitutional (that is what it may take to get to public ONLY finance of elections. Merrick (or anyone)- do you have any links to sites with proposed constitutional amendments?

I keep thinking that the only way this movement will advance real change for the 98/99% will be through eventual constitutional amendment. BUT, that is a huge task and with the current division of the US population politically would be one hell of a feat. But I see where the left and right could join in the middle to stop all of the true "waste" of elected officials. I admit, I have a problem even with politicians I align with getting these perks and the fact is that once in office, these folks become millionaires if they didn't start as such.

Scott Olsen interviewed yesterday
 

His asking everyone to stay non-violent is impressive. So glad he is getting his speech back and re-joining with Occupy Oakland!