Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Jackson Browne and Dawes play occupy Wall Street tomorrow at one P.M.
Jackson Browne and Dawes will perform for Occupy Wall Street protesters tomorrow, December 1. The Americana acts—who have toured together recently—will perform at New York’s Zuccotti Park at 1 PM. They join a long list of performers who have played the park, including Crosby & Nash, Tom Morello and Jeff Mangum. From there, Dawes will head to Woodstock, NY for an appearance at Levon Helm’s Midnight Ramble on December 3.
Bloomberg has his own army NYPD
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/11/30/1041161/-Bloomberg:-I-have-my-own-army-in-the
“I have my own army in the NYPD, which is the seventh biggest army in the world. I have my own State Department, much to Foggy Bottom’s annoyance. We have the United Nations in New York, and so we have an entree into the diplomatic world that Washington does not have,” Mayor Bloomberg said.
“I have my own army in the NYPD, which is the seventh biggest army in the world. I have my own State Department, much to Foggy Bottom’s annoyance. We have the United Nations in New York, and so we have an entree into the diplomatic world that Washington does not have,” Mayor Bloomberg said.
The Shocking Ways the Corporate Prison Industry Games the System | | AlterNet
The Shocking Ways the Corporate Prison Industry Games the System AlterNet
The United States, with just 5 percent of the world’s population, currently holds 25 percent of the world's prisoners, and for the last 30 years America’s business entrepreneurs have found a lucrative way to cash in on the incarceration surplus: private for-profit prisons. While the implications of an industry that locks human beings in cages for profit is an old story, there is an important part of the history of private prisons that often goes untold. Just a decade ago, private prisons were a dying industry awash in corruption and mired in lawsuits, particularly Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the nation's largest private prison operator. Today, these companies are booming once again, yet the lawsuits and scandals continue to pile up. Meanwhile, more and more evidence shows that compared to publicly run prisons, private jails are filthier, more violent, less accountable, and contrary to what privatization advocates peddle as truth, do not save money. In fact, more recent findings suggest that private prisons could be more costly. So why are they still in business?
The United States, with just 5 percent of the world’s population, currently holds 25 percent of the world's prisoners, and for the last 30 years America’s business entrepreneurs have found a lucrative way to cash in on the incarceration surplus: private for-profit prisons. While the implications of an industry that locks human beings in cages for profit is an old story, there is an important part of the history of private prisons that often goes untold. Just a decade ago, private prisons were a dying industry awash in corruption and mired in lawsuits, particularly Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the nation's largest private prison operator. Today, these companies are booming once again, yet the lawsuits and scandals continue to pile up. Meanwhile, more and more evidence shows that compared to publicly run prisons, private jails are filthier, more violent, less accountable, and contrary to what privatization advocates peddle as truth, do not save money. In fact, more recent findings suggest that private prisons could be more costly. So why are they still in business?
How Occupy Wall Street Can Restore Clout of the 99%: Scott Turow - Bloomberg
How Occupy Wall Street Can Restore Clout of the 99%: Scott Turow - Bloomberg
This comes from a friend of the blog Sue.
Now that the Occupy Wall Streetprotesters have been driven from many of their encampments, I have an unusual suggestion for how they should next deploy their considerable energies: work across the nation for a constitutional amendment requiring Congress to regulate the expenditure of private money on elections. Let me connect the dots. The heart of the protests is a lament about widening income inequality in the U.S., brought about, in part, by a government that seems to favor disproportionately wealthy interests. The Occupiers have focused their outrage on the bailout of banks that reaped huge profits on mortgage-backed securities and are now profitable again, while millions of homeowners have been foreclosed upon or lost their jobs. The best antidote to this imbalance of income and influence would be to greatly reduce the role of private funding in our elections. Nothing is more empowering to the well-heeled -- corporations, unions, lobbyists, political-action committees, trade associations and bundlers -- than our political leaders’need to come to them hat in hand for the money to get elected.
This comes from a friend of the blog Sue.
Now that the Occupy Wall Streetprotesters have been driven from many of their encampments, I have an unusual suggestion for how they should next deploy their considerable energies: work across the nation for a constitutional amendment requiring Congress to regulate the expenditure of private money on elections. Let me connect the dots. The heart of the protests is a lament about widening income inequality in the U.S., brought about, in part, by a government that seems to favor disproportionately wealthy interests. The Occupiers have focused their outrage on the bailout of banks that reaped huge profits on mortgage-backed securities and are now profitable again, while millions of homeowners have been foreclosed upon or lost their jobs. The best antidote to this imbalance of income and influence would be to greatly reduce the role of private funding in our elections. Nothing is more empowering to the well-heeled -- corporations, unions, lobbyists, political-action committees, trade associations and bundlers -- than our political leaders’need to come to them hat in hand for the money to get elected.
Boston going to evict Occupy Wall Street
Banker & Tradesman
Shocking you can stay as long as you want. Until we gather up enough people to tell you to get lost. The people's representatives.
Shocking you can stay as long as you want. Until we gather up enough people to tell you to get lost. The people's representatives.
New Hampshire Will Not Be A 'Right-to-Work' State
New Hampshire Will Not Be A 'Right-to-Work' State
The New Hampshire state House of Representatives failed Wednesday to override Gov. John Lynch's veto of legislation that would've made the state a so-called "right-to-work" state. The assault on workers' rights was vetoed by the governor in May after it passed the Republican-led legislature, but House Speaker William O'Brien led efforts to override the veto. The vote was 240-139, short of the two-thirds needed for the override to be successful.
The New Hampshire state House of Representatives failed Wednesday to override Gov. John Lynch's veto of legislation that would've made the state a so-called "right-to-work" state. The assault on workers' rights was vetoed by the governor in May after it passed the Republican-led legislature, but House Speaker William O'Brien led efforts to override the veto. The vote was 240-139, short of the two-thirds needed for the override to be successful.
Olbermann on the hank Paulson story
KEITH OLBERMANN: A secret meeting — here in New York, in July 2008 — between President Bush’s Treasury Secretary and about a dozen top hedge-fund managers, right before the economy fell apart.
In our third story on the “Countdown” — nothing suspicious there, huh? News today that those hedge-fund managers got advanced word from Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson about how he would deal with the impending disaster at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and their trillions of dollars of mortgage-backed securities.
The story, released this morning by Bloomberg Markets magazine, said Paulson’s little lunch group included at least five former employees of Goldman Sachs, which he used to run. Did Paulson’s inside information really help the hedge-fund managers? Remembering that hedge funds are exactly what the name implies — means for big money investors to hedge their bets in case the stock market falls — consider the context. The morning of Paulson’s illicit meeting, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had opened at nearly 11,500 and, seven months later, the market had fallen so far that it had lost more than one-third of its value. It’s not the first time Paulson’s dealings have been questioned. Before a Congressional committee a year later, Republican Representative Cliff Stearns of Florida seemed appalled by how Paulson had bailed out some financial institutions.
(Excerpt from video clip) HENRY PAULSON: The next thing I would to say to you, and say it very, very clearly, is I — you know, I behaved with the —
(Excerpt from video clip) CLIFF STEARNS: You don’t think you should’ve recused yourself when you asked Lehman to go into bankruptcy and you didn’t put Bear Stearns in bankruptcy and then you folded Merrill Lynch into — I mean, isn’t there some point where you gotta say, “Hey, I got a conflict of interest here”?
OLBERMANN: Always a pleasure to welcome in the economist Jeff Madrick, senior fellow at the Roosevelt Institute and the author of “Age of Greed.” Good to see you again, sir.
JEFF MADRICK: Good to see you, Keith.
OLBERMANN: This sounds to me — as a layman — as if this is the ultimate insider trading. The hedge-fund managers get inside info from the Treasury Secretary before he does what he’s going to do. What do they do, theoretically, and what’s the evidence that they actually did it?
MADRICK: There is not much evidence that they actually did it.
OLBERMANN: Um-hmm.
MADRICK: What they could have done was sell Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac. He told them he was going to take them into conservatorship. That means they were gonna wipe out the stock. They could have sold the stock to unsuspecting investors and not have to pay it back. So, they could have made 10, 14 bucks on that — those shares with no risk. Did they do it? We don’t know for sure.
Is it likely that none of them did anything — even tell their best buddies in the other hedge funds about it? You know, I think the question answers itself. But I really have to answer — I really have to make clear how much this is taking advantage.
OLBERMANN: Yeah.
MADRICK: Of those who are not on the inside.
OLBERMANN: Right.
MADRICK: Because people often call insider trading a victimless crime. In the last “Wall Street” movie, they used that phrase. It’s not — let me go on.
OLBERMANN: Of course — no, yeah, I was just gonna say — how — people actually consider it a victimless crime when — when people who have more information are playing on the same field as — it’s as if you had people playing football who had wheels on the bottom of their feet, rather than shoes.
MADRICK: Exactly, it is indeed. I always use the example — and maybe I’ve used it with you — of the 1800s, when, if you knew where the train tracks were going —
OLBERMANN: Exactly, yes.
MADRICK: Boy, you could make a fortune. Well, needless to say, some people named Gould and Harriman and so forth knew and their cronies knew and so forth. You buy up the land from the unsuspecting farmers —
OLBERMANN: Right.
MADRICK: At a very low price. Farmland goes up. Same thing with insider trading. So, the idea that Paulson talked to these friends of his about this kind of thing suggests to me a set of values that’s very disturbing.
OLBERMANN: Uh-huh.
MADRICK: Not surprising. What’s surprising is we actually found out about it. Congratulations to Bloomberg. But the set of values that suggests, “It’s okay to take advantage of those people on the outside — who are they? We don’t have to worry about them. We have a privilege. We are special people.” And I think that’s what’s driven “Age of Greed,” if you don’t mind my saying that — the new title of my book. That kind of attitude — “Let’s not care about the little guys, the medium-size guys, even some of the big guys who, after all manage pension funds for all of us. Let’s just care about ourselves.”
OLBERMANN: Right, so we know, ethically, this has — this has very little legs to stand on. Is it — is it illegal in any way? Is there any — you can put Paulson in jail or anything?
MADRICK: No, you cannot put Paulson in jail. If they traded on the inside information — and it can still be discovered that they did, if the SEC decides to investigate or the Justice Department — if they traded on inside information, it would be illegal. Insider-information law is not entirely clear. It’s much less ambiguous than it used to be. What is clear is they could not trade and make money on that information. But again, to me, the shock — but the non-shock — is the set of values.
OLBERMANN: Right.
MADRICK: These people — this willingness to take advantage of others.
OLBERMANN: And there’s a personal twist to this? He wound up — Paulson wound up at the University of Chicago? What’s the meaning of that?
MADRICK: Well, to me, it has some meaning.
OLBERMANN: Yeah.
MADRICK: I do not treat Milton Friedman very well in my book. That was the House of Milton Friedman built — the House of Deregulation, laissez-faire, “Keep government out of almost everything” — and it’s entirely appropriate that Hank Paulsen is there.
OLBERMANN: In the Friedman chair. All right, we had this thing yesterday — $13 billion in pure profits out of the Fed. Now, we have this — about the ethically null-and-void Treasury Secretary. What are you expecting next to fall out from the Bush administration and the falling of the economy in 2008?
MADRICK: Well, there’s a good question. I think that we have to begin to understand — for a moment — TARP, Ben Bernanke and the Obama stimulus looks enlightened, compared to what’s going on in Europe. I mean, that is really something.
But the fact that they couldn’t use their advantage to get the economy going again — I don’t know what secrets lie of that. What’s very clear is the banks were bailed out, friends were bailed out. They made a lot of money. It was very easy to make money, as we found out in that story.
You just borrow at very low rates, you invest in slightly higher rates — riskless on that side — and then you borrow a lot of money to lever your investment and you’re making a fortune.
One friend of mine, Herb Allison — who’s now looking into the solar investments for the administration, hired by them, used to be president of Merrill Lynch — says nobody should get a bonus based on that kind of trading — borrowing low, investing a little more and just levering up your investment. And they got millions — tens of millions, twenties of millions — of dollars in bonuses. It’s pretty ugly.
OLBERMANN: Yeah.
MADRICK: I would call it corrupt.
OLBERMANN: I think that’s — that’s the polite term for it. The author of “Age of Greed,” Jeff Madrick. A pleasure, as always, sir.
MADRICK: Thank you.
Philly reporter from Fox affiliate
I was there all night and saw first hand how respectful, professional and courteous @PhillyPolicehandled #OcccupyPhilly. Well done#beproud
Got to hand it to those police they were able to avoid beating peaceful protesters. Not that easy to do. At least they were courteous getting rid of the first amendment.
Breaking: Mitt Romney DOESN'T flip-flop ... about which book he 'just' read
Breaking: Mitt Romney DOESN'T flip-flop ... about which book he 'just' read
Slow and steady Mitt consistent when it comes to meaningless things like what he last read.
Senate Votes To Let Military Detain Americans Indefinitely, White House Threatens Veto
Senate Votes To Let Military Detain Americans Indefinitely, White House Threatens Veto
Why should Americans expect any more rights from our military political industrial contract.
Why should Americans expect any more rights from our military political industrial contract.
Raid at @OccupyLA right now.. !!
Another camp raided by a politician who loves the movement right up to the point they close it down and return to bribery as normal.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Bruce Springsteen Bring Them Home - San Francisco 2006
If you want to start curing the US debt and its crumbling school and infrastructure here's a good step. How much does it cost to fight 90 wars all over the globe and for what?
11-28-11 2 - Money For (Almost) Nothing, with Alan Grayson - Countdown w...
Why can't we get more congressmen like that. I know they vote them out.
Already have way there on sending Walker packing.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
John Nichols: Under Walker, Wisconsin is No. 1 job loser Read more: http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/john_nichols/john-nichols-under-w
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Read more: http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/john_nichols/john-nichols-under-walker-wisconsin-is-no-job-loser/article_e8984ba1-f2c5-5f5a-bc96-943cf53e8fd8.html#ixzz1f7lFzWCh
Gov. Scott Walker has repeatedly assured Wisconsinites that his assaults on local democracy, public services, public education and collective bargaining rights would create jobs and prosperity.
In contrast, the governor has argued, the decision of Illinois officials to tackle budget challenges with fair tax policies, respect for public employees and efforts to maintain services would cause doom and gloom for that state.
The Illinois comparison has been a constant in Walker’s speeches, media appearances and press releases since January. The governor has been unrelenting in his claim that the best measure of Wisconsin’s progress when it comes to job creation is against Illinois.
“They didn’t fix the problems,” Walker ranted in May with regard to Illinois officials. “In contrast, we’ve done that. And I believe that’s going to help us attract not only businesses coming in from Illinois (but) reassure employers here in the state of Wisconsin that this is the place, now is the time, to grow.”
This has been Walker’s steady mantra, repeated as recently as this month when he traveled to Chicago.
Unfortunately for Walker — and for the state that suffers under his misdirection — the measure has been made.
And the governor has been proven wrong. Way wrong.
The October jobs figures for the United States were just released. Illinois led the nation in job creation, adding 30,000 new jobs.
And what about Wisconsin?
Under Walker, Wisconsin now leads the nation in job losses.
In fact, of the states that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics described as experiencing “statistically significant unemployment changes” in October, only one actually lost jobs: Wisconsin.
Wisconsin lost 9,700 jobs in October, almost all of them in the private sector.
But that is not the worst news. The worst news is that the job losses are part of a pattern that began around the time that Walker’s “reforms” took hold.
Read more: http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/john_nichols/john-nichols-under-walker-wisconsin-is-no-job-loser/article_e8984ba1-f2c5-5f5a-bc96-943cf53e8fd8.html#ixzz1f7lFzWCh
Governor Christie: What the hell are we paying you for?
Obama probably should have flown to Colarado to find out what they'd do. Or turning away federal dollars from New Jersey.
What's wrong with journalism I think Colbert nailed it.
The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive
Cheated & Disowned: 'Greek 'tragedy' will take down rest of Eurozone'
Government of the banks, and for the banks.
Homeless kids in the "Sunshine State"
I don't know why they are not achieving high standards. Meanwhile I don't think the politicians have any responsability for this problem.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Former Rival Pawlenty’s Got Mitt Romney’s Back On Flip Flop Attacks | TPM2012
Former Rival Pawlenty’s Got Mitt Romney’s Back On Flip Flop Attacks TPM2012
Not bad to be backed bt the governor who had a major bridge fall down on his watch.
Not bad to be backed bt the governor who had a major bridge fall down on his watch.
MittvMitt.com: The story of two men trapped in one body
The worst thing Romney has got going for him is the invention of video tape.
NWO Conspiracy: George W. Bush - How The Republicans Subverted Democracy
This was on the BBC and still has many unanswered questions.
Secret Fed Loans Gave Banks Undisclosed $13B - Bloomberg
Secret Fed Loans Gave Banks Undisclosed $13B - Bloomberg
The Federal Reserve and the big banks fought for more than two years to keep details of the largest bailout in U.S. history a secret. Now, the rest of the world can see what it was missing. The Fed didn’t tell anyone which banks were in trouble so deep they required a combined $1.2 trillion on Dec. 5, 2008, their single neediest day. Bankers didn’t mention that they took tens of billions of dollars in emergency loans at the same time they were assuring investors their firms were healthy. And no one calculated until now that banks reaped an estimated $13 billion of income by taking advantage of the Fed’s below-market rates, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its January issue. Saved by the bailout, bankers lobbied against government regulations, a job made easier by the Fed, which never disclosed the details of the rescue to lawmakers even as Congress doled out more money and debated new rules aimed at preventing the next collapse. ...
...In the end, Geithner had his way. The Brown-Kaufman proposal to limit the size of banks was defeated, 60 to 31. Bank supervisors meeting in Switzerland did mandate minimum reserves that institutions will have to hold, with higher levels for the world’s largest banks, including the six biggest in the U.S. Those rules can be changed by individual countries. They take full effect in 2019. Meanwhile, Kaufman says, “we’re absolutely, totally, 100 percent not prepared for another financial crisis.”
The Federal Reserve and the big banks fought for more than two years to keep details of the largest bailout in U.S. history a secret. Now, the rest of the world can see what it was missing. The Fed didn’t tell anyone which banks were in trouble so deep they required a combined $1.2 trillion on Dec. 5, 2008, their single neediest day. Bankers didn’t mention that they took tens of billions of dollars in emergency loans at the same time they were assuring investors their firms were healthy. And no one calculated until now that banks reaped an estimated $13 billion of income by taking advantage of the Fed’s below-market rates, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its January issue. Saved by the bailout, bankers lobbied against government regulations, a job made easier by the Fed, which never disclosed the details of the rescue to lawmakers even as Congress doled out more money and debated new rules aimed at preventing the next collapse. ...
...In the end, Geithner had his way. The Brown-Kaufman proposal to limit the size of banks was defeated, 60 to 31. Bank supervisors meeting in Switzerland did mandate minimum reserves that institutions will have to hold, with higher levels for the world’s largest banks, including the six biggest in the U.S. Those rules can be changed by individual countries. They take full effect in 2019. Meanwhile, Kaufman says, “we’re absolutely, totally, 100 percent not prepared for another financial crisis.”
Sunday, November 27, 2011
For-Profit Certification for Teachers in Texas Is Booming - NYTimes.com
For-Profit Certification for Teachers in Texas Is Booming - NYTimes.com
Instant teacher. The race for new teachers has produced a news gold rush for companies that can exploit this man made problem and once again Texas is leading the way.
Instant teacher. The race for new teachers has produced a news gold rush for companies that can exploit this man made problem and once again Texas is leading the way.
Egyptian Protestors Vow To Resist U.S. Made Toxic Gas
US exporting tear gas, two companies from Pennsylvania, and they say we don't make anything
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Joe Lieberman U..S. needs Internet kill switch like China
Is Liebermann still in the senate why doesn't he just go to K street and get his lifelong job for a career of helping out these people. Some sound ideas from the Liebermann from Liebermann party.
Vermont towns vote to arrest Bush and Cheney | Reuters
Vermont towns vote to arrest Bush and Cheney Reuters
Got to love Vermont. Let's hope they decide to go skying.
Got to love Vermont. Let's hope they decide to go skying.
Still Unpopular, Mayor Villaraigosa Announces Eviction Deadline for #OccupyLA
Still Unpopular, Mayor Villaraigosa Announces Eviction Deadline for #OccupyLA
Don't leave until the politicians do anything, like namely their jobs, other than pay lip service to the movement.
Don't leave until the politicians do anything, like namely their jobs, other than pay lip service to the movement.
"Wis. GOP blasts plans for recall work near malls" by Latest News -- GazetteXtra
I thought they wanted us to go shopping. It will help get the crowds to the malls.
Friday, November 25, 2011
Occupy OKC Mic Checks Wal-Mart on Black Friday
Americans will sell their soul for a quarter off on socks.
Spread sheets for arrest at Occupy Wall Street.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?hl=en_US&hl=en_US&key=0Ales8jo3cdcYdEVqZ0pZLTBmSGVGeTVKVmMwc1RpaHc&output=html
Spread sheet for arrests of bankers who blew up the economy: 0
Spread sheet for arrests of bankers who blew up the economy: 0
Gingrich, the Ultimate Beltway Bandit | Consortiumnews
Gingrich, the Ultimate Beltway Bandit Consortiumnews
You maybe should think twice when even Jack Abramoff thinks you’re beneath contempt. Not that Newt Gingrich cares.Abramoff, America’s favorite convicted influence peddler, told NBC’s David Gregory that presidential candidate and former Speaker of the House Gingrich is one of those “people who came to Washington, who had public service, and they cash in on it. They use their public service and access to make money.”Ex-House Speaker Newt GingrichNewt, he continued, is “engaged in the exact kind of corruption that America disdains. The very things that anger the Tea Party movement and the Occupy Wall Street movement and everybody who is not in a movement and watches Washington and says why are these guys getting all this money, why do they go become so rich, why do they have these advantages?”Why indeed? Granted, Abramoff’s in the middle of his promotion tour of confession and attempted redemption, a pot obscenely eager to call his kettle and former mentor black — especially if it sells books. But Casino Jack does have a point.Gingrich personifies everything rotten about the ATM machine we call Washington: the merchandising of favors and votes; the conversion of past incumbency into insider information, making your contacts and the ability to play the system available to the highest bidder; the archetypal revolving door between government service and shilling for corporate America.Yet there he is, suddenly riding at the top of the polls, his debate skills lauded, his churlish dismissal of the media praised, and infused with sufficient cheek to portray himself to gullible elements of the electorate as an outsider. It’s as if Kim Kardashian proclaimed herself American Housewife of the Year.(Gingrich now is trying to play the inside-outside game both ways, proclaiming last week, “We just tried four years of amateur ignorance and it didn’t work very well. So having someone who actually knows Washington might be a really good thing.”)
You maybe should think twice when even Jack Abramoff thinks you’re beneath contempt. Not that Newt Gingrich cares.Abramoff, America’s favorite convicted influence peddler, told NBC’s David Gregory that presidential candidate and former Speaker of the House Gingrich is one of those “people who came to Washington, who had public service, and they cash in on it. They use their public service and access to make money.”Ex-House Speaker Newt GingrichNewt, he continued, is “engaged in the exact kind of corruption that America disdains. The very things that anger the Tea Party movement and the Occupy Wall Street movement and everybody who is not in a movement and watches Washington and says why are these guys getting all this money, why do they go become so rich, why do they have these advantages?”Why indeed? Granted, Abramoff’s in the middle of his promotion tour of confession and attempted redemption, a pot obscenely eager to call his kettle and former mentor black — especially if it sells books. But Casino Jack does have a point.Gingrich personifies everything rotten about the ATM machine we call Washington: the merchandising of favors and votes; the conversion of past incumbency into insider information, making your contacts and the ability to play the system available to the highest bidder; the archetypal revolving door between government service and shilling for corporate America.Yet there he is, suddenly riding at the top of the polls, his debate skills lauded, his churlish dismissal of the media praised, and infused with sufficient cheek to portray himself to gullible elements of the electorate as an outsider. It’s as if Kim Kardashian proclaimed herself American Housewife of the Year.(Gingrich now is trying to play the inside-outside game both ways, proclaiming last week, “We just tried four years of amateur ignorance and it didn’t work very well. So having someone who actually knows Washington might be a really good thing.”)
The Shocking Truth About the Crackdown on Occupy | Common Dreams
The Shocking Truth About the Crackdown on Occupy Common Dreams
Since Occupy is heavily surveilled and infiltrated, it is likely that the DHS and police informers are aware, before Occupy itself is, what its emerging agenda is going to look like. If legislating away lobbyists' privileges to earn boundless fees once they are close to the legislative process, reforming the banks so they can't suck money out of fake derivatives products, and, most critically, opening the books on a system that allowed members of Congress to profit personally – and immensely – from their own legislation, are two beats away from the grasp of an electorally organized Occupy movement … well, you will call out the troops on stopping that advance.So, when you connect the dots, properly understood, what happened this week is the first battle in a civil war; a civil war in which, for now, only one side is choosing violence. It is a battle in which members of Congress, with the collusion of the American president, sent violent, organized suppression against the people they are supposed to represent. Occupy has touched the third rail: personal congressional profits streams. Even though they are, as yet, unaware of what the implications of their movement are, those threatened by the stirrings of their dreams of reform are not.Sadly, Americans this week have come one step closer to being true brothers and sisters of the protesters in Tahrir Square. Like them, our own national leaders, who likely see their own personal wealth under threat from transparency and reform, are now making war upon us.
Since Occupy is heavily surveilled and infiltrated, it is likely that the DHS and police informers are aware, before Occupy itself is, what its emerging agenda is going to look like. If legislating away lobbyists' privileges to earn boundless fees once they are close to the legislative process, reforming the banks so they can't suck money out of fake derivatives products, and, most critically, opening the books on a system that allowed members of Congress to profit personally – and immensely – from their own legislation, are two beats away from the grasp of an electorally organized Occupy movement … well, you will call out the troops on stopping that advance.So, when you connect the dots, properly understood, what happened this week is the first battle in a civil war; a civil war in which, for now, only one side is choosing violence. It is a battle in which members of Congress, with the collusion of the American president, sent violent, organized suppression against the people they are supposed to represent. Occupy has touched the third rail: personal congressional profits streams. Even though they are, as yet, unaware of what the implications of their movement are, those threatened by the stirrings of their dreams of reform are not.Sadly, Americans this week have come one step closer to being true brothers and sisters of the protesters in Tahrir Square. Like them, our own national leaders, who likely see their own personal wealth under threat from transparency and reform, are now making war upon us.
Miley Cyrus Rock Mafia - IT'S A LIBERTY WALK!
You know you got problems when we have Hannah Montana on our side.
Black Friday Store Stampede! [Compilation]
While it's that time of year again when Americans turn into a stampede because one blinking item will guarantee that all their needs are met. And the US media will turn into one vast commercial. They'll alternate
between telling what a great holiday season its been to yelling at their customers, I mean viewers,that they aren't spending enough. Somewhere in February, buried on the bottom of page 29C, you'll actually see a little note that will tell you how they did.
