I like this a lot, but I particularly like the final message that clean air and water are not commodities but basic human rights -

Friday's Maddow show had a great report on an "Occupation" of a young mother's eviction situation that led to her gaining more time to be able to deal with solutions-

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/


Also a great Great Depression Era segment with pic of 1930's "encampment" protests formed to help save people's homes- history does repeat itself- and going back and looking at the demonstrations of that era and noting the tactics used then and this action is amazing. Also police action comparisons.

Depression era photo-

http://www.laprogressive.com/wp-cont...on-protest.gif

Another article that talks about the comparisons to the 1930's protests- and that perhaps we need to look at this more intently instead of most of the 1960's protests as those in the 30's are much more related to the how & why of the Occupy movement taking hold.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...7964CY20111007

I love this post, and I am so glad one more mother wasn't put out on the streets.

Thank you At Last for evoking the Depression. I get such a charge visiting CCC camps, seeing WPA murals and understanding why and how America got to a fundamental reality in the 30s and how that understanding made us who we are.

I agree- that era is such an important part of US history. Tough times, yet both government and citizen intervention that worked together- "or and of the people" kinds of solutions.

Hey, my Dad helped build the High Point Monument in New Jersey CCC as part of the CCCs. From that he became a fantastic mason and through the years built amazing stone and brick landscape structures.

The National Defense Authorization Act Is Even Scarier Than We Thought, Allows Military To Torture American Citizens
 

LINK: http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/12...an-we-thought/

Welcome to the Fascist States of America.

The senate, the house, all our elected officials, they do the will of the people right? So I guess this is what we all wanted or at least the majority of people are not upset by it. I mean if the majority of people objected to the crap that is going on there would be more noise, more people in the street. Not ten, not ten hundred, not ten thousand, there would be hundreds of thousands. There's not. So I can only assume the majority is happy. Well then goodonya. Next they will take our internet. There is so much crap they have already done and will keep doing and with the exception of, relatively speaking, a small group of people (compared to the entire population of the U.S.) most don't even recognize a problem. So really what can ya do? What can you expect? You can't spoon feed awareness. You can't make people see. You certainly can't make them give a shit. You can bring a horse to water but you can't make him drink. You can however make him thirsty but sometimes he just ain't gonna drink no matter what. I talked to my sister the other day and with a few minor misgivings she is pretty satisfied with what is going on. Or should I say she feels like it's the best she's going to be able to get. Most seem to be okay with what's happening. I don't know maybe it's me?

I get that the mainstream news doesn't really make it easy to understand what is happening. They do the bidding of the rich who also control the government. But lots of people do get it. So it's possible to figure it out. There are people who have devoted their lives to helping people get it. So it's really a choice. And so far, I don't see change being the choice of the people.

i signed it. and i hate to say told you so. not "you" personally, but "you" as in the general public. gah i hate being right. i so so so wanted to hope that the threat of guantanomo would not be held over our heads. i feel very sad today.

Orlando has been ordered to remove personal belongings at their encampment as of midnight Monday or the police will remove it.

In other occupy news, Occupy Wal-Mart ?

8 reasons why Ronald Reagan was the worst President of our lifetime


Arguably eight reasons why this is all Reagan's fault.

Very good point, my friend. We sure could use more compassion based historical repeats! And hopefully, do something about the things in our history that were so damn wrong.

While I'm grateful something or someone has taken on the quixotic, fuzzy-wuzzy image of Reagan that has been produced for public consumption, the author fails to mention one very large reason Reagan was the worst president in recent history - he dismantled and eviscerated alternative energy research and prjoects. He had the solar panels Carter had had placed on the WH roof taken down, a symbolic gesture that American, even after an oil embargo and even after Carter's (who, remember, has an engineering background) direction and push toward energy independence, and even after abundant and mounting evidence that we were going to run out of petroleum and the GHGs were real and dangerous, Reagan made sure America kept the pump hooked up like an IV line and in fact ignored history and science and plunged head first into its fossil fuel addiction.

So many "Reagan reasons," but this one effects everything...

I can add that he was also the worst Govenor that California has ever had- hummmm.... could also talk about Arnold. Reagan dismantled our mental health system in CA to the point of cruelty for the mentally ill.

There are some very good reasons that his son, Ron is a progresssive!

Picture in LA Times, page A41 this morning
 

Occupy LA protester, with police looking @ sign woman is holding, in front of LAPD headquarters:

"Thanks for not 'Tazing, teargassing or using live bullets"

hahahahahhahaaaa

From - http://www.paramuspost.com/article.p...11203183336535

OWS Hunger Strike For Open Spaces

By Press Release Saturday, December 03, 2011, 06:33 PM EST

New York City—On Saturday, December 3, in Liberty Plaza, we—THE OWS HUNGER STRIKERS—will begin a hunger strike. We are striking to demand outdoor space for a new occupation. We will hold our strike, for its duration, outside at Duarte Square on Sixth Avenue and Canal Street in Manhattan as part of a continued effort seeking sanctuary on Trinity Wall Street's unused and vacant lot of land. Should we be arrested, we will continue the strike in jail. We are calling on Occupiers across the nation to join us.

This is a call for escalation in response to the escalated levels of government-enacted violence and repression The Occupy Movement has endured over the last few weeks. In cities across the nation, Mayors chose to stifle freedom of speech and the right to assemble by evicting peaceful occupations using illegal and unconstitutional force. Here in NYC, in the middle of the night on November 14, billionaire Mayor Bloomberg used the NYPD to illicitly evict our community from Liberty Square.

We recognize the long history of hunger strikes as a radical action that has liberated countries, communities and individuals from repression,
slavery and injustice. From colonial India to modern Turkey; from the Northern Ireland H-Block cells to Palestinian prisons; from 1970s Cuba
to present-day California, hunger strikes have amplified the voices of the oppressed.

Occupy Wall Street is a people-powered direct action movement that began on September 17, 2011 in Liberty Square in Manhattan’s Financial District. OWS is part of a growing international movement fighting against neoliberal economic practices, the crimes of Wall Street, government controlled by monied interests, and the resulting income inequality, unemployment, environmental destruction, and oppression of people at the front lines of the economic crisis. For more visit www.occupywallst.org.

Myths, Misinformation And Falsehoods About The Occupy Movement
 

LINK: http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/12...cupy-movement/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/1...comm_ref=false

WASHINGTON -- The United Nations envoy for freedom of expression is drafting an official communication to the U.S. government demanding to know why federal officials are not protecting the rights of Occupy demonstrators whose protests are being disbanded -- sometimes violently -- by local authorities.

Frank La Rue, who serves as the U.N. "special rapporteur" for the protection of free expression, told HuffPost in an interview that the crackdowns against Occupy protesters appear to be violating their human and constitutional rights.

"I believe in city ordinances and I believe in maintaining urban order," he said Thursday. "But on the other hand I also believe that the state -- in this case the federal state -- has an obligation to protect and promote human rights."

"If I were going to pit a city ordinance against human rights, I would always take human rights," he continued.

La Rue, a longtime Guatemalan human rights activist who has held his U.N. post for three years, said it's clear to him that the protesters have a right to occupy public spaces "as long as that doesn't severely affect the rights of others."

In moments of crisis, governments often default to a forceful response instead of a dialogue, he said -- but that's a mistake.

"Citizens have the right to dissent with the authorities, and there's no need to use public force to silence that dissension," he said.

"One of the principles is proportionality," La Rue said. "The use of police force is legitimate to maintain public order -- but there has to be a danger of real harm, a clear and present danger. And second, there has to be a proportionality of the force employed to prevent a real danger."

And history suggests that harsh tactics against social movements don't work anyway, he said. In Occupy's case, he said, "disbanding them by force won't change that attitude of indignation."

Occupy encampments across the country have been forcibly removed by police in full riot gear, and some protesters have been badly injured as a result of aggressive police tactics.

New York police staged a night raid on the original Occupy Wall Street encampment in mid-November, evicting sleeping demonstrators and confiscating vast amounts of property.

The Oakland Police Department fired tear gas, smoke grenades and bean-bag rounds at demonstrators there in late October, seriously injuring one Iraq War veteran at the Occupy site.

Earlier this week, Philadelphia and Los Angeles police stormed the encampments in their cities in the middle of the night, evicting and arresting hundreds of protesters.

Protesters at University of California, Davis were pepper sprayed by a campus police officer in November while participating in a sit-in, and in September an officer in New York pepper sprayed protesters who were legally standing on the sidewalk.

"We're seeing widespread violations of fundamental First Amendment and Fourth Amendment rights," said Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, co-chair of a National Lawyers Guild committee, which has sent hundreds of volunteers to provide legal representation to Occupations across the nation.

"The demonstrations are treated as if they're presumptively criminal," she said. "Instead of looking at free speech activity as an honored and cherished right that should be supported and facilitated, the reaction of local authorities and police is very frequently to look at it as a crime scene."

What they should do, Verheyden-Hilliard said, is make it their mission to allow the activity to continue.

Using the same lens placed on the Occupy movement to look at, say, the protest in Egypt, Verheyden-Hilliard said, observers would have focused on such issues as "Did the people in Tahrir Square have a permit?"

La Rue said the protesters are raising and addressing a fundamental issue. "There is legitimate reason to be indignant and angry about a crisis that was originated by greed and the personal interests of certain sectors," he said. That's especially the case when the bankers "still earn very hefty salaries and common folks are losing their homes."

"In this case, the demonstrations are going to the center of the issue," he said. "These demonstrations are exactly challenging the basis of the debate."

Indeed, commentators such as Robert Scheer have argued that the Occupy movement's citizen action has a particular justification, based on the government's abject failure to hold banks accountable.

La Rue said he sees parallels between Occupy and the Arab Spring pro-democracy protests. In both cases, for instance, "you have high level of education for young people, but no opportunities."

La Rue said he is in the process of writing what he called "an official communication" to the U.S. government "to ask what exactly is the position of the federal government in regards to understanding the human rights and constitutional rights vis-a-vis the use of local police and local authorities to disband peaceful demonstrations."

Although the letter will not carry any legal authority, it reflects how the violent suppression of dissent threatens to damage the U.S.'s international reputation.

"I think it's a dangerous spot in the sense of a precedent," La Rue said, expressing concern that the United States risks losing its credibility as a model democracy, particularly if the excessive use of force against peaceful protests continues.

New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Donna Lieberman welcomed the international scrutiny.

"We live in a much smaller, connected world than we ever did before, and just as Americans watch what goes on in Tahrir Square and in Syria, the whole world is watching us, too -- and that's a good thing," Lieberman said.

"We're kind of confident that we're living in the greatest democracy in the world, but when the international human rights world criticizes an American police officer for pepper spraying students who are sitting down, it rightly give us pause."
* * * * *

What does it say when an UN envoy has to call attention to the treatment of protestors exercising a right we so proudly put on display for the world and so often use to distinguish ourselves from the rest of the world? Great post. Thank you, Greeneyedgrrl.

you are welcome. i'm not confident that it will change anything. the u.s.has been onopposing sides of the u.n. before and has a reputation for creating and enforcing the rules while not following them. :|

you are welcome. i'm not confident that it will change anything. the u.s.has been onopposing sides of the u.n. before and has a reputation for creating and enforcing the rules while not following them. :|

Ask Google to Quit the Chamber of Commerce
 

Google: Quit the Chamber of Commerce

The petition is here -

http://civic.moveon.org/googlechambe...1.confemail.g1

Right now we have a huge opportunity to deal a serious blow to one of Washington's most powerful lobbies, the deeply conservative U.S. Chamber of Commerce. At Google headquarters, employees are intensely debating whether Google should quit the Chamber in the next few weeks. Google quitting would be a huge blow to the Chamber's credibility. Sign the petition now from Google users to Google employees to ask them to stand up for us and our democracy by quitting the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. A compiled petition with your individual comment will be presented to Google employees.

http://civic.moveon.org/googlechambe...1.confemail.g1


__________________________________________________ ___________

And if you don't know what the Chamber of Commerce represents, does and affects, learn -

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics...erm-elections/

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/1...issing-Cousins

http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/was...h-rove-chamber

Oakland Chamber of Commerce was a HUGE influence in kicking out Occupy Oakland from Oscar Grant Plaza.....they told lies about companies not coming to Oakland because of OO, convinced small business owners that were losing business before OO that it was because of OO and finally scaring people away from downtown cuz OO was dirty nasty and violent.

On the Huff Post today.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/radley...b_1123848.html

~bump~bump~bump~

skeery shit man

Worth the bump - AZ's and Diavolo's links...
 

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/12...an-we-thought/

This week, the United States Senate passed S. 1867 also known as the National Defense Authorization Act including sections 1031 and 1032 which authorize the military to arrest and indefinitely detain American citizens without trial or charge. Despite national outcry over the bill which effectively suspends the Constitutional rights of those suspected of terrorist activities and would allow Americans to be incarcerated in Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba, the Senate passed the bill by an overwhelming margin of 93-7. This means that Congress could easily override the President’s threatened veto.

But this act of Congress is even more dangerous than we first thought. Included in the bill is Amendment 1068 which was offered by Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire. This part of the bill undermines President Obama’s executive order that bans torture and overrides the list of permissible interrogation techniques in the US Army Field Manual. In other words, the US military could arrest ordinary American citizens without reading them their Miranda Rights, put them in a cell at Gitmo without the benefit of an attorney, a trial, or charges of any kind, and then torture them during interrogation. A secret list of torture techniques would be created without public knowledge...

and

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/radley...b_1123848.html

SWAT Raids, Stun Guns, And Pepper Spray: Why The Government Is Ramping Up The Use Of Force
Posted: 12/ 5/11 11:23 AM ET

In February of last year, video surfaced of a marijuana raid in Columbia, Mo. During the raid on Jonathan Whitworth and his family, police took down the door with a battering ram, then within seconds shot and killed one of Whitworth's dogs and wounded the other. They didn't find enough pot in the house to charge Whitworth with even a misdemeanor. (He was, however, charged with misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia when police found a pipe.) The disturbing video went viral in May 2010, triggering outrage around the world. On Fox News, conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer and Bill O'Reilly cautioned not to judge the entire drug war by the video, which they characterized as an isolated incident.

In fact, very little about the raid that was isolated or unusual. For the most part, it was carried out the same way drug warrants are served some 150 times per day in the United States. The battering ram, the execution of Whitworth's dog, the fact that police weren't aware Whitworth's 7-year-old child was in the home before they riddled the place with bullets, the fact that they found only a small amount of pot, likely for personal use -- all are common in drug raids. The only thing unusual was that the raid was recorded by police, then released to the public after an open records request by the Columbia Daily Tribune. It was as if much of the country was seeing for the first time the violence with which the drug war is actually fought. And they didn't like what they saw...

The 'war on drugs' is a farce and has done nothing to stop drug trafficking or drug use in the country.

Did you know pot is more dangerous than heroin or coke...according to the Schedule I classification. Coke and heroin has some medicinal use and marijuana has NO medical use....at least according to the federal government.

All drugs should be legal so we can get some control over the manufacture, distribution and sale. I would be happy to start with completely legalizing marijuana........

Occupy movement should add this to their list. More POC are in jail for pot than white folks and then there is the inconsistency between jail time for powdered coke vs crack. IF you are convicted of a felony you lose your voting rights. You can petition the courts to get your vote back but not many know that.

I'm sorry. How does this fit in or help the OWS movement.? Just trying to grasp this thought in relation to corporate greed and lowering taxes for the middle class. I think one thing at a time would benefit the movement more. Maybe they should all focus on one thing in common and attack the government and wall street with that..for instance affordable health care. Please explain..maybe it's a great idea. I'm missing it.

It's relevant because of racism, which is one of the hallmarks of corporate greed (in the US). It alo speaks to the militarization of our police (as was pointed out in the article). How in the hell do you think the CIA funds itself?

This is so true. The U.S. puts so many of its citizens in jail compared to, well actually compared to anywhere. In January 2010 the rate of incarceration was 743 adults per 100,000. Guess how many were white compared to POC. Now that the prison systems are privatized it is such a money making operation that nothing is likely to be legalized. The more jailed the better. The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world.

Whenever they declare war on inanimate objects like drugs, terrorism and poverty they are really just finding new ways to continue unchallenged and overly funded with their war on the poor. It's just their fancy way of declaring class warfare.

I agree but how could we do that? We can't even stop the senate from passing bills erasing our rights as citizens of the United States. And I don't even want to get started on the average citizen awareness of what is happening to our rights. Even when they are aware they are apathetic at best. Percentage wise people just aren't getting it.

I've pretty much decided the presidential elections don't mean squat. Congress runs the country now - a congress which is influenced by wealthy special interests. Maybe the governors run some stuff too.

I would spout off about the line-item veto and campaign reforms here, but my cynicism is starting to outweigh my optimism. I really don't know what can be done. :angry: (Is there an icon for hopelessness?)

Exactly. And we have a governor in Georgia who thinks we should use prison labor to take over all the farm labor jobs that were left when the illegal immigrants were driven out. - The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Thanks for the clarification Toughy. I don't see how legalizing drugs aids the OWS movement still. I think it would bring more financial problems still to the middle class and those that can't afford the medication they need now and aid as you say the CIA, law enforcement, and the rich and corporations are the ones who deal it. hmmm.. As for racism. I'm not seeing that either. The people in this movement that are being discriminated against are the middle class and poor and they are the ones being made to pay more for services and product, it doesn't matter what race they are only that they are in a certain income bracket and being taken advantage of. I guess if you could explain further I may see it how legalizing drugs helps anyone that is protesting for equal financial and corporate rights. Thanks.

I would love to see people not vote in the next election, especially for President. How we get people to not vote is another question and not going to happen. I do think OWS will think of something to protest though when election time comes up and I can't wait to see that and what happens.