Tuesday, November 29, 2011

ARIZONA IS CALLING FOR A DIVERSITY OF TACTICS TO SHUT DOWN THE UPCOMING ALEC CONFERENCE IN SCOTTSDALE, AZ ON NOVEMBER 30TH.

Uploaded by Adamladamla on Oct 18, 2011

ARIZONA IS CALLING FOR A DIVERSITY OF TACTICS TO SHUT DOWN THE UPCOMING ALEC CONFERENCE IN SCOTTSDALE, AZ ON NOVEMBER 30TH.

ALEC thinks they're meeting in Scottsdale, AZ this November...

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a massive non-profit
body that brings corporations and legislators together to draft "model"
legislation. For example, AZ Senator Russell Pearce and Corrections
Corporation of America (CCA), the nation's largest private prison firm,
have been members for years. ALEC finalized the model legislation which
became, almost word for word, Arizona's SB1070, aka "Support Our Law
Enforcement." It's the latest in the historical pattern of colonization,
slave codes, convict leasing, and the drug war, that CREATES crimes and
therefore criminals, for profit.

With British Petroleum (BP) and the Koch brothers as some of their
funders, ALEC has pushed for Three Strikes and Mandatory Minimum
sentencing, as well as the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act. More than 200
of ALEC's model bills became actual laws throughout the country over the
past year.

We're a group of people in occupied Indigenous lands, now called Arizona,
who demand the end of SB1070 and 287g, the criminalization—and then the
incarceration—of migrants, and the militarization of the border. We oppose
private prisons, detention centers, and security companies, not simply
because they are private, but because we are sickened by profiteering on
human misery. ALEC desires "free markets" and "limited government,"
which means they use the state to support profit-making, the continuance
of colonization, and neo-liberal policies (NAFTA, CANAMEX, etc.) that draw
lines, make laws, and build freeways and prisons to exploit labor and the
earth.

Whether maintained by the state or corporations, we're against all systems
of control. We are for freedom of movement for all people.

ALEC should know there are a million better things to do with their time
than plotting mass incarceration. But there's nowhere we'd rather be than
confronting their meeting. We're calling for four days of action here in
occupied Onk Akimel O'odham lands from November 29th -- December 3rd, 2011, with an emphasis for action on November 30th (N30!). We encourage a
creative diversity of tactics on N30, the 12th anniversary of the Seattle
uprising against the WTO. No matter the acronym, ALEC is no different
than all the other gangs of businessmen, politicians, and bureaucrats that
we've been resisting for over 500 years.

In solidarity with everyone locked up and locked down in AZ, and all
O'odham, Yaqui, Lipan Apache separated by the border, and anyone
dispossessed by the wealthy and powerful...

Please Share this information with others.

Hungry Guy: Emergency in Platteville/Grant County Wisconsin

Hungry Guy: Emergency in Platteville/Grant County Wisconsin
"Hey there readers, if any of you are in the Grant county area or the city of Platteville we could really use some help. I'm down here working on the recall effort and we are encountering some serious problems. I just came back from Dem headquarters here and we are under attack.
Threats are coming in and staff is running scared. We need people to help canvass for recall signatures. We need folks to double and triple up for the sake of safety. You don't even actually need to collect signatures,..." Read More Here | Emergency in Platteville/Grant County Wisconsin

John Nichols: Under Walker, Wisconsin is No. 1 job loser

Monday, November 28, 2011

Egypt imports 21 tons of tear gas from the US, port staff refuses to sign for it - Bikya Masr

Wisconsin Democrats hit halfway mark in recall effort against Gov. Walker | The Raw Story

The Raw Story
Organizers say they have collected nearly 1,040 signatures per hour.

Wisconsin Democrats hit halfway mark in recall effort against Gov. Walker | The Raw Story

www.rawstory.com

Organizers working on a campaign to recall Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch are more than half-way to their goal, they announced Monday.

Scott Olsen Interviewed After Release From Hospital - YouTube

Scott Walker Opponents Collect More Than 300,000 Signatures In 12 Days For Recall Election

WASHINGTON -- Activists pushing to recall Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) announced on Monday evening that they have collected more than 300,000 signatures for the effort in just 12 days.

To trigger a recall election, Walker's opponents -- coordinated by the group United Wisconsin -- need to collect 540,208 valid signatures by Jan. 17, which is 60 days after the campaign launched. Organizers said they are aiming for 600,000 to 700,000 signatures.

11-29-11 Restore Goldengate | Occupy Detroit

Occupy Detroit has several neighborhood projects we are pursuing. We are working on restoring the neighborhoods that our government has neglected.

This Tuesday, November 29 we are asking for more hands involved in the restoration of our location around 160 Goldengate, located 4 blocks south of 7 Mile Rd, between Woodward Ave and John R Rd in Highland Park. The space is being prepared as a work to live location and we anticipate branching out to work on additional homes in the area. Lets work at creating the neighborhoods we desire.

We need people that can lend skills like carpentry, masonry, plumbing. We need resources like wood, plastic, insulation, brick, mortar, nails, screws, caulk, and more. Bring tools that fit your hands.

Waziyatawin Speaks to Occupy Oakland - YouTube

Fake Facebook Identity Used By Military Contractors Plotting To Hack Progressive Organizations | NationofChange

Detroit Police and the Occupy Movement » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names

Detroit Police and the Occupy Movement » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names
In the last analysis the police are like a domestic military force and like the military have been trained and paid to respond in the interests of the 1% rather than the 99%. This is true even though they themselves are a part of the 99%. However there is hope that there will be restraint and defections. It’s interesting to note, for example, that in the last week or so when faced with a reduction in pay by the financially strapped City of Detroit, some police took a page from the Occupation handbook and conducted a sick-in, refusing to report for duty. They were suspended as a result, but it’s just like being arrested, there’s a price to pay for standing up for your rights.

The BRAD BLOG : UT Paper Ballot Op-Scan 'Recount' Halted, Results Found 'Extremely in Favor of Opposite Candidate'

New Hampshire, Utah, and dozens of other states use the same type of voting systems that were shown to be easily manipulated in the climactic final scene of the 2006 Emmy-nominated HBO documentary Hacking Democracy as well as numerous scientific analyses carried out across the country over the past several years.

Nonetheless, while some 20 to 30% of voters next year will be forced to vote on 100% unverifiable touch-screen voting systems next year, the very same paper-ballot optical-scan machines that failed in 2008 in the New Hampshire primary and in this month's Provo Municipal Council race (and in dozens of other elections over the years) are set to be used once again all across the country during the 2012 Presidential election cycle.

BREAKING NEWS: Wisconsin GOP Faithful Stoop To New Lows In Tampering With Recalls | Addicting Info

Segway Jeremy Ryan revealed the people behind the hate websites and how to help shut them down.

Heidi HadenoughofWalker Waddell
Barbara With
Segway Jeremy Ryan revealed the people behind the hate websites and how to help shut them down.

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/11/28/breaking-news-wisconsin-gop-faithful-stoop-to-new-lows-in-tampering-with-recalls/

BREAKING NEWS: Wisconsin GOP Faithful Stoop To New Lows In Tampering With Recalls

www.addictinginfo.org

As many people know the recalls of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch are officially underway. These, combined with the wins in Ohio, will set an example across the country of what the people will and will not tolerate.

Occupy, Rigged Elections, and The Bastille Line | Election Defense Alliance

How Wall Street Occupied America | The Nation

Belittling the Occupy Movement – By Eugene Occupier Samuel Rutledge :: Occupy Eugene

Thursday, November 24, 2011

The Original Occupation: Native Blood & the Myth of Thanksgiving | Unsettling America

The Original Occupation: Native Blood & the Myth of Thanksgiving

Posted on November 23, 2011 | 3 Comments

This piece is available as podcast. It is part of our larger Kasama offerings on peoples’ history.

The Puritan colonists of Massachusetts embraced a line from Psalms 2:8:

“Ask of me, and I shall give thee, the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

by Mike Ely

Intro to that first occupation

It is a deep thing that people still celebrate the survival of the early colonists at Plymouth — by giving thanks to the Christian God who supposedly protected and championed the European invasion.

Let's see the reality of Thanksgiving -- and the founding of the United States in slavery and genocide

The real meaning of all that, then and now, needs to be continually excavated. The myths and lies that surround the past are constantly draped over the horrors and tortures of our present.

We are talking widely among ourselves about “occupying” Wall Street — taking the center of an empire back for the people of the world. We are talking about “Occupy Everything” — sharing our dreams of taking all society away from banks, police, and the heartless authority of money. We hope this moment marks a beginning of the end for them. Read More Here | Unsettling America

People Of Color Organize! | Decolonizing Indigenous Traditionalism

Decolonizing Indigenous Traditionalism

Posted on 31 October 2011 by Enaemaehkiw Túpac Keshena

"Spirituality is the center of our Indigenous Being and in our history our Spiritual Institutions were subject to changes where another world view was introduced which affected these things and also where our Spiritual Institutions made illegal by our oppressors which forced us to keep these things hidden underground, where these things were almost lost. Now we are seeing a resurgence of our Spiritual Societies and Ceremonies thriving. With this we should not be so ignorant to believe that our Spiritual Societies are not exempt of the colonial stains which have infiltrated our other Indigenous Institutions. We need to be conscience of this and correct oppressive behaviors within our various societies as we are seeing a majority of our people return to our ways where they are doing it through our Spiritual Institutions.

Although our spiritual societies play a significant role in our decolonization process traces of colonialism is still entrenched in them instilling passive values which are making us submissive to our oppressor. We must also not make the mistake that “Traditionalism” or our Spiritual Institutions is the only thing there is to our Identity. We also have our own political, judicial, warrior, hunting, medicine, economic societies to reestablish." Read More Here |Decolonizing indigenous TRaditionalism

Confront Racism: Zeitgeist Movement and #Occupy | People Of Color Organize!

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Privatization Nightmare: 5 Public Services That Should Never Be Handed Over to Greedy Corporations | Economy | AlterNet

Five Privatization Nightmares

Here are five nightmares resulting from privatization:

Privatized Prisons

Think through the implications of a privatized prison system: if people go to prison it means more profit for the big for-profit prison corporations. This puts corporations, with all of their influence over the government, in the position of wanting more of us sentenced to long terms in jail so they can make more money! Even worse, there is an added corporate benefit: cheap prison labor.

Of course, the result you would expect from these incentives is exactly what has been happening.

For example, you may have heard about the "Kids for Cash" scandal in which Pennsylvania judges pleaded guilty to sentencing kids to privatized detention centers in exchange for payoffs from the profit-making companies that ran the centers. First the judges arranged for public detention centers to be defunded. Then they started sentencing a disproportionate number of kids to private detention centers in exchange for bribes.

The profit incentive to put more and more of us in prison is not just an isolated local problem. This year The Nation looked into prison privatization, in The Hidden History of ALEC and Prison Labor. They found that the notorious, Koch-funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), in an effort that is sponsored by the big for-profit prison corporations and companies that benefit from the cheap labor this provides, is helping to pass laws to put more and more of us in jail. According to The Nation,

… prison labor for the private sector was legally barred for years, to avoid unfair competition with private companies. But this has changed thanks to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) .... [and their] instrumental role in the explosion of the US prison population in the past few decades. ALEC helped pioneer some of the toughest sentencing laws on the books today, like mandatory minimums for non-violent drug offenders, “three strikes” laws, and “truth in sentencing” laws.

… ALEC has also worked to pass state laws to create private for-profit prisons, a boon to two of its major corporate sponsors: Corrections Corporation of America and Geo Group (formerly Wackenhut Corrections), the largest private prison firms in the country. An In These Times investigation last summer revealed that ALEC arranged secret meetings between Arizona’s state legislators and CCA to draft what became SB 1070, Arizona’s notorious immigration law, to keep CCA prisons flush with immigrant detainees. ALEC has proven expertly capable of devising endless ways to help private corporations benefit from the country’s massive prison population.

[. . .] Much of ALEC’s proposed labor legislation, implemented state by state is allowing replacement of public workers with prisoners. Read More Here | AlterNet

Robert Reich: "The REAL Public Nuisance" - YouTube

Howard Zinn Tribute Video by The People Speak

Occupy San Diego

David M Lande
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgoWZWRAL8w

Howard Zinn Tribute Video by The People Speak

www.youtube.com

A tribute to the late great historian, activist and teacher Howard Zinn. Featuring interviews with Zinn, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Kerry Washington, Viggo Mor...

Kalle Lasn and Micah White, the Creators of Occupy Wall Street : The New Yorker

The Political Scene

Pre-Occupied

The origins and future of Occupy Wall Street.

by Mattathias Schwartz November 28, 2011

A demonstrator from Occupy Wall Street is arrested in lower Manhattan on November 17th. Photograph by Ashley Gilbertson.

Kalle Lasn spends most nights shuffling clippings into a binder of plastic sleeves, each of which represents one page of an issue of Adbusters, a bimonthly magazine that he founded and edits. It is a tactile process, like making a collage, and occasionally Lasn will run a page with his own looped cursive scrawl on it. From this absorbing work, Lasn acquired the habit of avoiding the news after dark. So it was not until the morning of Tuesday, November 15th, that he learned that hundreds of police officers had massed in lower Manhattan at 1 A.M. and cleared the camp at Zuccotti Park. If anyone could claim responsibility for the Zuccotti situation, it was Lasn: Adbusters had come up with the idea of an encampment, the date the initial occupation would start, and the name of the protest—Occupy Wall Street. Now the epicenter of the movement had been raided. Lasn began thinking of reasons that this might be a good thing.

Lasn is sixty-nine years old and lives with his wife on a five-acre farm outside Vancouver. He has thinning white hair and the small eyes of a bulldog. In a lilting voice, he speaks of “a dark age coming for humanity” and of “killing capitalism,” alternating gusts of passion with gentle laughter. He has learned not to let premonitions of apocalypse spoil his good mood. Read More Here | The New Yorker

Buy Nothing Day + Buy Nothing Christmas #OCCUPYXMAS | Adbusters Culturejammer Headquarters

You’ve been sleeping on the streets for two months pleading peacefully for a new spirit in economics. And just as your camps are raided, your eyes pepper sprayed and your head’s knocked in, another group of people are preparing to camp-out. Only these people aren’t here to support occupy Wall Street, they’re here to secure their spot in line for a Black Friday bargain at Super Target and Macy’s. See Full Post Here | Adbusters Culturejammer Headquarters

"MoveOn and Rebuild the Dream are fundamentally different from the Occupy Movement

"MoveOn and Rebuild the Dream are fundamentally different from the Occupy Movement. MoveOn/Rebuild the Dream is a top-down organization that functions to bring people into the Democrat party. MoveOn has a history of using progressive language and latching on wherever progressive momentum is being created and using it for their own agenda….We will not allow MoveOn/Rebuild the Dream to co-opt the Occupy Movement. So we say to MoveOn and Rebuild the Dream, “Back off and stop using the language of the Occupy Movement.” If you would like to encourage your membership to attend Occupy Movement actions, you are welcome. However, you have no place creating an Occupy Newspaper, holding Occupy houseparties or claiming actions organized by the Occupy Movement as your own." Margaret Flowers MD
This post generated a number of interesting comments... see this link for the comments...

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

(We MUST save our drinking water

OCCUPY MICHIGAN in LANSING & DETROIT

Cherie Walters

Okay, Folks, This is getting HUGE. I have collected more than 8,000 signatures on this petition: (We need to decide how we want to deliver it to the appropriate people in the Michigan government). Email? Making in-person appointments with our district reps would the best. Does anyone want to help?

Subject: We MUST save our drinking water.

Hi,
...
Natural gas hydraulic fracture drilling must be delayed to await impact studies by the EPA and environmental agencies inside states where drilling is to be carried out.

So I created a petition to The Michigan State House, The Michigan State Senate, Governor Rick Snyder, The United States House of Representatives, The United States Senate and President Barack Obama, which says:

"4 bills introduced to the Michigan House on Nov. 3, 2011(HBills 5149-5151 and 4736) must be passed to protect the largest source of above-ground freshwater in the world, the Great Lakes and their feeder water system inside the State of Michigan, from use by hydraulic fracturing companies seeking to drill for natural gas in Michigan shale. A moratorium must delay drilling until impact studies are completed by the EPA and Michigan's DNR and Department of Environmental Quality."

Will you sign this petition? Click here:

http://signon.org/sign/we-must-save-our-drinking?source=c.em.cp&r_by=1396061

We MUST save our drinking water
signon.org
I just signed a petition to The Michigan State House, The Michigan State Senate, Governor Rick Snyder, The United States House of Representatives, The United States Senate and President Barack Obama: Natural gas hydraulic fracture drilling must be delayed to await impact studies by the EPA and envir...See More

We MUST save our drinking water

signon.org

I just signed a petition to The Michigan State House, The Michigan State Senate, Governor Rick Snyder, The United States House of Representatives, The United States Senate and President Barack Obama: Natural gas hydraulic fracture drilling must be delayed to await impact studies by the EPA and envir...

Rachel Botsman: The case for collaborative consumption | Video on TED.com

OCCUPY MICHIGAN in LANSING & DETROIT

Monica Ross-Williams
Surfing the web today, I found this great video. The theme..."Enough is enough". Think about the Occupy Movement nationwide. Protesters are trying to express that the greed of the 1% is enough and we need to come back down to Earth to support each other in smaller, less greed filled ways. This video will be shared my podcast show but, I thought I would share it w/ my FB buddies first. Let me know what you think!

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/lang/en//id/1037

Rachel Botsman: The case for collaborative consumption | Video on TED.com

www.ted.com

TED Talks At TEDxSydney, Rachel Botsman says we're "wired to share" -- and shows how websites like Zipcar and Swaptree are changing the rules of human behavior.

Where Does Occupy Wall Street Go From Here? | MichaelMoore.com

Where Does Occupy Wall Street Go From Here? | MichaelMoore.com
November 22nd, 2011 1:51 PM

Where Does Occupy Wall Street Go From Here?

By Michael Moore

This past weekend I participated in a four-hour meeting of Occupy Wall Street activists whose job it is to come up with the vision and goals of the movement. It was attended by 40+ people and the discussion was both inspiring and invigorating. Here is what we ended up proposing as the movement's "vision statement" to the General Assembly of Occupy Wall Street:

"We Envision: [1] a truly free, democratic, and just society; [2] where we, the people, come together and solve our problems by consensus; [3] where people are encouraged to take personal and collective responsibility and participate in decision making; [4] where we learn to live in harmony and embrace principles of toleration and respect for diversity and the differing views of others; [5] where we secure the civil and human rights of all from violation by tyrannical forces and unjust governments; [6] where political and economic institutions work to benefit all, not just the privileged few; [7] where we provide full and free education to everyone, not merely to get jobs but to grow and flourish as human beings; [8] where we value human needs over monetary gain, to ensure decent standards of living without which effective democracy is impossible; [9] where we work together to protect the global environment to ensure that future generations will have safe and clean air, water and food supplies, and will be able to enjoy the beauty and bounty of nature that past generations have enjoyed." Read More | Here

Occupy Wall Street, Beyond Encampments: Lessons from Spain's Indigando Movement by Marina Sitrin and Luis Moreno-Caballud

posted Nov 21, 2011

: November 17 Day of Action celebrated the two month anniversary of OWS as well as the reoccupation of Zuccotti Park.

Photo by Brennan Cavanaugh

Marina Sitrin and Luis Moreno-Caballud—participants in the Occupy Wall Street movement and Spain's May 15 movement—share their advice for Occupy Wall Street's next step.

We write this letter as participants in the movements, and as an invitation to a conversation. We hope to raise questions about how we continue to deepen and transform the new social relationships and processes we have begun … to open the discussion towards a common horizon.

The evictions and threats to the physical occupations in the United States have again raised the question of the future of the movement. The question isn’t whether the movement has a future, but what sort of future it will be. For example, should our energy be focused on finding new spaces to occupy and create encampments? Should we be focused more in our local neighborhoods, schools, and workplaces? Is there a way to occupy public space with horizontal assemblies, yet also focus locally and concretely? Read Full Text Here | Encampments: Lessons from Spain's Indigando Movement

Ron Paul and Obama Get Mic Checked by Occupy Protesters

Occupy Israel
looking for the rest of this vid.. anyone?

Ron Paul and Obama Get Mic Checked by Occupy Protesters

www.youtube.com

Both Ron Paul and President Obama "1:25" were Mic Checked by Occupy Wall Street Protesters. Who do you think handled it better and why don't other candidates...

The unemployment rate fell in 36 states in October, but Wisconsin lost more jobs than any other state in the nation last month.

Sierra Nolan

Sierra Nolan
‎"The unemployment rate fell in 36 states in October, but WISCONSIN LOST MORE JOBS THAN ANY OTHER STATE IN THE NATION LAST MONTH. Unemployment rates fell in 36 states in October and rose in only five, including Wisconsin, according to the latest monthly report released by the U.S. Department of Labor today. Unemployment rates were unchanged in nine states. Wisconsin reported the largest October job loss, a drop of 9,700, followed by New York, which lost 8,300 jobs."

BizTimes Daily for Tuesday, November 22, 2011 - BizTimes

www.biztimes.com

The unemployment rate fell in 36 states in October, but Wisconsin lost more jobs than any other state in the nation last month. Unemployment rates fell in 36 states in October and rose in only five, including Wisconsin, according to the latest monthly report released by the U.S. Department of Labor...

Occupy Movement tells MoveOn: Back Off! | Occupy Washington, DC

Occupy Movement tells MoveOn: Back Off! | Occupy Washington, DC
We will not allow MoveOn/Rebuild the Dream to co-opt the Occupy Movement. So we say to MoveOn and Rebuild the Dream, “Back off and stop using the language of the Occupy Movement.” If you would like to encourage your membership to attend Occupy Movement actions, you are welcome. However, you have no place creating an Occupy Newspaper, holding Occupy houseparties or claiming actions organized by the Occupy Movement as your own.

Why Iceland Should Be in the News But Is Not

Kevin Zeese

Michael McNally

Why Iceland Should Be in the News But Is Not

bellacaledonia.org.uk

By Deena Stryker An Italian radio program's story about Iceland’s on-going revolution is a stunning example of how little our media tells us about the rest of the world. Americans may remember...Read More Here

News From The Associated Press

Governor Walker, Wausau Mayor Arrange $2.7 Million in Corporate Welfare to Buy 200 Jobs |

Working on recalls full time.

Working on recalls full time.
"Before the recalls started, I had several people bring up the idea of getting funding so that I could work on recalls full-time, and travel around to places that need more volunteers without having to worry about coming back to Madison to work. I put a lot of thought into this, and I decided I would like to try to make it happen." Jenna Pope
Read Full Note Here | full time.

The Great Rope a Dope trick | TPMCafe

By Jon Taplin - November 22, 2011, 12:49PM

Barack Obama learned a political trick from Muhammad Ali called Rope a Dope. For you youngsters, this refers to the epic Rumble in the Jungle Heavyweight fight against George Foreman in 1974. Here is the Wikipedia explanation.

The rope-a-dope is performed by a boxer assuming a protected stance, in Ali's classic pose, lying against the ropes, and allowing his opponent to hit him, toward the end that the opponent will tire and make mistakes which the boxer can exploit in a counter-attack. By leaning against the ropes, much of the punch's force is absorbed by the ropes' elasticity rather than the boxer's body.
In competitive situations other than boxing, rope-a-dope is used to describe strategies in which one party purposely puts itself in what appears to be a losing position, attempting thereby to become the eventual victor.

Last summer during the debt ceiling hostage crisis, Obama appeared to be the loser, but yesterday Republicans woke up to the reality that they lost Big Time--that we were going to get $1.2 trillion in deficit reductions, with 50% of the cuts coming from the military and none of the cuts from Social Security and Medicare. The Congressional water carriers for the Military Industrial Complex are in a panic. Read More Here | TPMCafe

How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the OWS Protests | Politics News | Rolling Stone

Much more than a movement against big banks, they're a rejection of what our society has become.

By Matt Taibbi

November 10, 2011 8:00 AM ET

TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images

I have a confession to make. At first, I misunderstood Occupy Wall Street.

The first few times I went down to Zuccotti Park, I came away with mixed feelings. I loved the energy and was amazed by the obvious organic appeal of the movement, the way it was growing on its own. But my initial impression was that it would not be taken very seriously by the Citibanks and Goldman Sachs of the world. You could put 50,000 angry protesters on Wall Street, 100,000 even, and Lloyd Blankfein is probably not going to break a sweat. He knows he's not going to wake up tomorrow and see Cornel West or Richard Trumka running the Federal Reserve. He knows modern finance is a giant mechanical parasite that only an expert surgeon can remove. Yell and scream all you want, but he and his fellow financial Frankensteins are the only ones who know how to turn the machine off.

Unboxing Occupy Wall Street: We still don’t know what it is, and that’s good | Grist

by David Roberts

21 Nov 2011 5:10 PM

protest sign: "Think Outside the Box" Photo: Martin ReisWhen I first heard about Occupy Wall Street (henceforth OWS), I was dismissive. Worse, I was dismissive in a smug, insider, hippie-punching sort of way. I immediately put it into a box: confused and easily dismissed lefty protests filled with Free Mumia signs, giant puppets, and drum circles. As it turned out, I was right about the drum circles, but wrong about pretty much everything else.

My sin was not so much that I put OWS in the wrong box, but that I was so eager to box it at all. The most amazing thing about the entire phenomenon, to me, is how long and how totally it has resisted simple categorization. That is a rare thing in this era of late capitalism, when everything is instantly branded and marketed to death. The introduction of genuine novelty, of possibility, is a precious thing of great power; I should have recognized that.

I've been struggling for the right metaphor, and I keep coming back to wave function collapse (physics produces all the best metaphors). In quantum mechanics, a wave function is superposition of several possible endstates. When it is measured, it collapses, transforming from several possibilities to one actuality. Putting it more poetically: a jumble of possibilities, when observed from a particular perspective, becomes a single reality.

Something (metaphorically) similar happens when we create social meaning. It's not that OWS "really" means one thing or another and we're trying to discover that meaning; it's that OWS potentially means all sorts of things and we are, via our competing narratives and interpretations, choosing that meaning. Read More Here | Grist

Please help sustain our flow of information by sharing.

McDonald’s appears to have at least one scruple about farming practices | Grist

McDonald’s appears to have at least one scruple about farming practices | Grist
If you thought it was impossible to get McDonald's to take abusive and unsafe farm practices seriously, prepare to be proved wrong! Turns out, all it takes for McDonald's to break ranks with a supplier is 13 violations of salmonella-prevention regulations, an FDA citation for "significant ... and serious violations," and undercover video showing unsanitary conditions and animal cruelty. See Video Here | Grist

The #Occupy Movement and the Militarization of Policing | People Of Color Organize!

Posted on 22 November 2011 by bot

"In our not-so-distant history, protest in the United States was handled by local law enforcement that treated demonstrations and marches as mere nuisance, mediating and directing as needed. Today, observing the interaction between Occupy movements and law enforcement suggests something different is afoot. Present Occupy protests are now being defined by a bewildering set of law enforcement strategies – and current practices display a worrying new trend.

While riot police are not necessarily an everyday feature at any given protest, the sheer frequency with which we are witnessing their presence on city streets throughout the United States is enough to give average citizens cause for concern; the excessive force being routinely deployed is alarming.

Within the first few days of Occupy Wall Street, protesters began to notice the presence of the NYPD’s Counter Terrorism Unit at Liberty Plaza. Joanne Stocker, who has become a fixture since day one at Wall Street, recalls within the first few days waking up to a Counter Terrorism Unit van, parked on the fringes of Liberty Plaza, which was taking video of her and her friends while they slept." Read More Here | Militarization of Policing

PolitiFact Wisconsin | State Treasurer Kurt Schuller says recall petitions must be signed in presence of another person

NYPD pepper sprays man to death — RT

Mic checking Big Food | Grist

Food

Mic checking Big Food

by Kristin Wartman

22 Nov 2011 7:30 AM

The Occupy Big Food rally at Zuccotti Park on Saturday."Who's Food? Our Food!" This was the rallying cry at the first Occupy Big Food event on Saturday in Zuccotti Park. The rally, which I led with Erika Lade, a graduate student in NYU's Food Studies program, gathered about 100 people with the goal of connecting the larger Occupy Wall Street effort to the food justice movement.

NYU professor of Nutrition and Food Studies Marion Nestle was the event's featured speaker. Although Nestle was intimidated at the prospect of using the human microphone for the first time, she picked up the unusual speaking technique quickly. "I'm an academic who studies social movements," she told the crowd. "Occupy Wall Street is a social movement. Occupy Big Food is a social movement."

Occupy Big Food has three main goals: To raise public consciousness, to put pressure on food corporations to change their destructive practices, and to organize and unify Americans in an alternative food system. As I told the audience that day: We have two choices. We can create our own food system now, or we can watch as corporations continue their destruction of our food, our environment, our health, and our economy. Read More Here | Food

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Monday, November 21, 2011

Carl Gibson: The Corporatocracy Is the 1 Percent

With dudes like these, who needs The Patriarchy? Why I left Occupy Denver. | Colorado Indymedia

Walker Opponents Plagued By Threats, Thefts - Politics News Story - WISC Madison

Bank Lobbying On Track To Reach Record High This Year: Analysis

In its entirety, Wall Street firms have already spent more than $100 million in total this year on lobbying related to Dodd-Frank, according to The New York Times, with some success: Many experts claim that the Volcker rule -- a regulation aimed at curbing proprietary trading -- is so watered down it bears little resemblance to the former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker's original proposal. A handful of Occupy Wall Street protesters recently launched "Occupy the SEC" in direct response to what they perceive as the weakening of the Volcker rule.

And bank lobbyists are fighting back. A notable financial services lobbying firm hatched a plan earlier this week to spend $850,000 on a variety of projects including "opposition research" on the occupy movement in an attempt to undermine it, according to Slate.

But banks may have more to worry about than just the Occupy movement. Cg42, a firm that consults with banks, estimates that big banks will lose $185 billion in deposits over the next year if they don't address consumer concerns. Consumers and lawmakers derided banks earlier this year for proposals to charge for once-free account services such as debit card use. Read More Here | Analysis

John Nichols: Wisconsin turns against Scott Walker

Pocan's right to worry about the prospect of more shenanigans from the same political insiders who ran fake "Democrats" in last summer's state Senate recall elections, proposed to amend the state constitution to make it dramatically harder to launch recall campaigns, and triggered the current recall a week early so the governor could collect unlimited campaign contributions from out-of-state donors.

But it won't work.

As hard as they may try to game the process, to weight it down with out-of-state money, to foster the fantasy that the governor's "reforms" are "working," the Wisconsinites are seeing through the gimmicks, fantasies and lies.

The new St. Norbert/Wisconsin Public Radio poll shows that Wisconsinites favor recalling Walker by 58-38 percent. The governor claims the St. Norbert poll is "notoriously inaccurate." Yet just last year the poll predicted his election and came within two points of predicting his winning percentage of the vote.

The governor will say anything, do anything to try to save his political hide.

But the people of Wisconsin are on to him. Democrats want him out. Independents want him out. In fact, more than 20 percent of Republicans now say they want to see Walker recalled.

Michigan: Ground Zero for Democracy

Diane Hebert and Michigan Forward shared a link.

Michigan: Ground Zero for Democracy

Filmed over the summer of 2011, Advancement Project,in partnership with Michigan Forward and New Media Advocacy Project,has produced a video detailing Michigan’s attack on democracy,voting rights and people of color. Michigan’s state legislature passed Local Government and School District Fiscal Accountability Act on ...March 16,2011. Also known as Public Act 4,this law greatly increases the power and authority of Emergency Managers who can be appointed by the Governor to deal with financial emergencies in schools,cities,villages and townships. Across Michigan voters have been disenfranchised in Detroit,Benton Harbor,Ecorse and Pontiac under this new legislation. More communities under the threat of Emergency Management are Flint,Highland Park and a potential 150 + school districts across Michigan. Join the Fight against Michigan's Emergency Manager Law log-on to michiganforward.org or standup4democracy.com TODAY! See More

Length: ‎7:00

From local roots, Bradley Foundation builds conservative empire - JSOnline

From its headquarters at 1241 N. Franklin Place on Milwaukee's lower east side, the low-profile Bradley Foundation gives away millions of dollars every year, acting like a venture capital fund for conservative ideas.

Less than a week after being elected governor, Scott Walker and his wife met privately with one of the most powerful philanthropic forces behind America's conservative movement.

It wasn't the Koch brothers - the bogeymen for the American left.

On Nov. 8, 2010, the Walkers broke bread at the upscale Bacchus restaurant in the Cudahy Tower with the board and senior staff of the Milwaukee-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation.

With more than $600 million in assets, the Bradley Foundation provides a cornerstone for the conservative movement in Wisconsin and across America. It has been the financial backer behind public policy experiments that started in the state and spread across the nation - including welfare reform, public vouchers for private schools and, this year, cutbacks in public employee benefits and collective bargaining.

Yet outside conservative circles, the foundation has kept a low profile. It receives a fraction of the attention given the billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch and the Scaife family.

But the Bradley Foundation is in a different league: From 2001 to 2009, it doled out nearly as much money as the seven Koch and Scaife foundations combined.

Michael W. Grebe, president and chief executive of the foundation, said there's nothing secretive about his organization. Rather, Grebe likened the Bradley Foundation to the 1960s Green Bay Packers, who ruled the football world with a fearsome ground game and a deceptively simple running play, the sweep.

"We're going to run off tackle, right over there, and we're telling you we're going to run there and we're going to knock you on your butt and carry the ball down the field," Grebe said during an interview inside the foundation's headquarters near downtown. "There are no surprises." Read More Here | JSOnline

Target given 190,000 Black Friday protest signatures | Reuters

Target given 190,000 Black Friday protest signatures

Black Friday shoppers wait for a Target store to open in Lanesborough, Massachusetts November 26, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Adam Hunger

MINNEAPOLIS | Mon Nov 21, 2011 3:28pm EST

MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - Target Corp. received six red-and-white Target bags full of petitions Monday signed by 190,000 people to protest stores opening for "Black Friday" sales at midnight, the morning after Thanksgiving.

The petitions, delivered by Target employee Seth Coleman to a representative at the retailer's Minneapolis headquarters, were the result of an effort started by Anthony Hardwick, an Omaha, Nebraska employee who said the store's decision to advance its "Black Friday" opening time interfered with family gatherings.

"Thanksgiving is a holiday for family to get together," said Hardwick, 29. "If you're having your employees show up at 11 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, they're going to spend their day sleeping so they can get ready for the busiest shopping day of the year."

Target, Macy's, Gap, Kohl's, and Best Buy all plan to open at midnight on Friday morning in an attempt to boost sales. The stores have in past years started their Black Friday sales at 3 or 4 in the morning, but hours were moved earlier to boost sales and in response to customer demands.

Both Walmart and Kmart will be open Thanksgiving Day, as well as some Gap stores. Movie theaters and many drug and grocery stores are usually open on Thanksgiving.

In a statement, Target said that it valued and respected the rights of all team members to express their opinions.

"The decision to open at midnight on Black Friday was not one we took lightly," said Anahita Cameron, a Target director of stores human resources, in a statement. "As that is the busiest shopping day of the year, it is imperative that we be competitive. Our guests have expressed that they would prefer to kick off their holiday shopping by heading out after their holiday celebrations rather than getting up in the middle of the night."

Coleman, 29, a Target worker from Northfield, Minnesota, said he has been scheduled to work two shifts on Thanksgiving Day -- the first from 4 a.m. to 10 a.m. to unload special sale items from trucks, and the second starting at 11 p.m.

Coleman started work at Target for $7.75 an hour a few weeks ago. He said that in past jobs working in delis he has had to work on Thanksgiving -- but he objects to working two shifts, which eliminates any possibility of time with family. Read Full Article Here | Target given 190,000 Black Friday protest signatures | Reuters

Northern California Grantmakers» Blog Archive » A Conversation With Van Jones: Understanding Movement Building–The Tea Party, Occupy Wall Street and Philanthropy

Blog Archive » A Conversation With Van Jones: Understanding Movement Building–

It’s Not a Movement, It’s a Swarm

Van Jones’ interest in making sense of the Occupy Wall Street movement evolved from his research in network building, brought about initially by a desire to better understand the Tea Party. As time progressed, and after the Arab Spring, it became clearer to him that something new was happening in the world when it came to movement building.

“How change happens, is changing…[We have to] recognize there’s terminology we don’t have. Occupy Wall Street isn’t a movement. It’s a swarm.”–Van Jones

What exactly is a swarm? It’s a leaderless movement that doesn’t need to depend on a charismatic top-down leader. Read Full Article Here | Van Jones: Understanding Movement Building

Foodies, Get Thee to Occupy Wall Street | Mother Jones| Occupy Wall St.

Occupy Wall St.

Sheryll Alexander
I'm posting this again because I read it all the way through and this may be the most important piece to read this year. We are being robbed, poisoned, injured and killed by the corporate industrial complex. I urge every American citizen to read this and weep. Like the story says, this is actually WORSE than our financial corruption and crisis. We have GOT to change this!!!! Occupy Orange County CA Occupy Wall St.

Foodies, Get Thee to Occupy Wall Street | Mother Jones

m.motherjones.com

The Occupy Wall Street protests grew out of anger at the outsized power of banks. But as they've expanded nationwide, the uprisings have evolved into a kind of running challenge to the way power is concentrated in all aspects of our economy—concentrated into the hands of people with an interest in m...

Occupy The Hood.... it aint all about Wall St...

Hartmann: The Midnight Ride of the Mayor Bloomberg

THE CHARGE FOR VIDEOING WAS DISMISSED

Katy FirstAmendment
Thank goodness Jim remembered to take off his tin-foil party hat before going to Court this morning to represent Arthur for his October 20 charges for videoing in the Gallery and "resisting/obstructing arrest."

THE CHARGE FOR VIDEOING WAS DISMISSED, and the "resisting" charge was reduced from a State charge to a County charge. Jim had to get off the phone, so I don't know the consequence or the next steps for the now-reduced resisting charge, but he wanted me to let people know right away about the dismissal on the video case.

BLACK FRIDAY... OCCUPY THE STORES BUT DON'T BUY A DAMN THING!!!

Cathy Runnels | Buy Black! Create handmade gifts,recycle books....This really isn't a new movement...but Welcome to all of those just now catching the bus..We've been waiting for you.

BLACK FRIDAY... OCCUPY THE STORES BUT DON'T BUY A DAMN THING!!!

We can stand in solidarity, we can fight and we can raise our voices but the big corporations don't give a damn about where we rest our heads at night unless we hit them in the pockets!! As a matter of fact, they are counting on us to spend our funds on Black Friday... counting on US!...

By: Tawana Honeycomb Petty

Rep. Deutch Introduces OCCUPIED Constitutional Amendment To Ban Corporate Money In Politics thinkprogress.org

Bev Richey via Occupy Christmas Canada

Rep. Deutch Introduces OCCUPIED Constitutional Amendment To Ban Corporate Money In Politics

thinkprogress.org

In one of the greatest signs yet that the 99 Percenters are having an impact, Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL), a member of the House Judiciary Committee, today introduced an amendment that would ban corporate money in politics and end corporate personhood once and for all. Deutch’s amendment, called the Outl...

Adbusters editorial in the Washington Post offers a vision of the movement’s future.

"In this visceral, canny, militantly nonviolent phase of our march to real democracy, we will "float like a butterfly and sting like a bee." We will regroup, lick our wounds, brainstorm and network all winter. We will build momentum for a full-spectrum counterattack when the crocuses bloom next spring."

Kalle Lasn and Micah White are editor in chief and senior editor of Adbusters magazine.

Why Occupy Wall Street will keep up the fight

www.washingtonpost.com