We are the 99 Percent

[epicSocialism4tw]

Merry Christmas from Occupy:
http://www.newschannel5.com/story/16392221/occupy-protestors-fight-on-christmas-day

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[alkemical]

http://www.blacklistednews.com/Bank_Of_America_Dumps_%2475_Trillion_In_Derivative s_On_U.S._Taxpayers_With_Federal_Approval/17137/0/38/38/Y/M.html

Bank Of America Dumps $75 Trillion In Derivatives On U.S. Taxpayers With Federal Approval
Bloomberg reports that Bank of America (BAC) has shifted about $22 trillion worth of derivative obligations from Merrill Lynch and the BAC holding company to the FDIC insured retail deposit division. Along with this information came the revelation that the FDIC insured unit was already stuffed with $53 trillion worth of these potentially toxic obligations, making a total of $75 trillion.

[alkemical]

http://www.blacklistednews.com/50_Economic_Numbers_From_2011_That_Are_Almost_Too_ Crazy_To_Believe/17054/0/38/38/Y/M.html

50 Economic Numbers From 2011 That Are Almost Too Crazy To Believe

The following are 50 economic numbers from 2011 that are almost too crazy to believe....

#1 A staggering 48 percent of all Americans are either considered to be "low income" or are living in poverty.

#2 Approximately 57 percent of all children in the United States are living in homes that are either considered to be "low income" or impoverished.

#3 If the number of Americans that "wanted jobs" was the same today as it was back in 2007, the "official" unemployment rate put out by the U.S. government would be up to 11 percent.

#4 The average amount of time that a worker stays unemployed in the United States is now over 40 weeks.

#5 One recent survey found that 77 percent of all U.S. small businesses do not plan to hire any more workers.

#6 There are fewer payroll jobs in the United States today than there were back in 2000 even though we have added 30 million extra people to the population since then.

#7 Since December 2007, median household income in the United States has declined by a total of 6.8% once you account for inflation.

#8 According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 16.6 million Americans were self-employed back in December 2006. Today, that number has shrunk to 14.5 million.

#9 A Gallup poll from earlier this year found that approximately one out of every five Americans that do have a job consider themselves to be underemployed.

#10 According to author Paul Osterman, about 20 percent of all U.S. adults are currently working jobs that pay poverty-level wages.

#11 Back in 1980, less than 30% of all jobs in the United States were low income jobs. Today, more than 40% of all jobs in the United States are low income jobs.

#12 Back in 1969, 95 percent of all men between the ages of 25 and 54 had a job. In July, only 81.2 percent of men in that age group had a job.

#13 One recent survey found that one out of every three Americans would not be able to make a mortgage or rent payment next month if they suddenly lost their current job.

#14 The Federal Reserve recently announced that the total net worth of U.S. households declined by 4.1 percent in the 3rd quarter of 2011 alone.

#15 According to a recent study conducted by the BlackRock Investment Institute, the ratio of household debt to personal income in the United States is now 154 percent.

#16 As the economy has slowed down, so has the number of marriages. According to a Pew Research Center analysis, only 51 percent of all Americans that are at least 18 years old are currently married. Back in 1960, 72 percent of all U.S. adults were married.

#17 The U.S. Postal Service has lost more than 5 billion dollars over the past year.

#18 In Stockton, California home prices have declined 64 percent from where they were at when the housing market peaked.

#19 Nevada has had the highest foreclosure rate in the nation for 59 months in a row.

#20 If you can believe it, the median price of a home in Detroit is now just $6000.

#21 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 18 percent of all homes in the state of Florida are sitting vacant. That figure is 63 percent larger than it was just ten years ago.

#22 New home construction in the United States is on pace to set a brand new all-time record low in 2011.

#23 As I have written about previously, 19 percent of all American men between the ages of 25 and 34 are now living with their parents.

#24 Electricity bills in the United States have risen faster than the overall rate of inflation for five years in a row.

#25 According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, health care costs accounted for just 9.5% of all personal consumption back in 1980. Today they account for approximately 16.3%.

#26 One study found that approximately 41 percent of all working age Americans either have medical bill problems or are currently paying off medical debt.

#27 If you can believe it, one out of every seven Americans has at least 10 credit cards.

#28 The United States spends about 4 dollars on goods and services from China for every one dollar that China spends on goods and services from the United States.

#29 It is being projected that the U.S. trade deficit for 2011 will be 558.2 billion dollars.

#30 The retirement crisis in the United States just continues to get worse. According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, 46 percent of all American workers have less than $10,000 saved for retirement, and 29 percent of all American workers have less than $1,000 saved for retirement.

#31 Today, one out of every six elderly Americans lives below the federal poverty line.

#32 According to a study that was just released, CEO pay at America's biggest companies rose by 36.5% in just one recent 12 month period.

#33 Today, the "too big to fail" banks are larger than ever. The total assets of the six largest U.S. banks increased by 39 percent between September 30, 2006 and September 30, 2011.

#34 The six heirs of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton have a net worth that is roughly equal to the bottom 30 percent of all Americans combined.

#35 According to an analysis of Census Bureau data done by the Pew Research Center, the median net worth for households led by someone 65 years of age or older is 47 times greater than the median net worth for households led by someone under the age of 35.

#36 If you can believe it, 37 percent of all U.S. households that are led by someone under the age of 35 have a net worth of zero or less than zero.

#37 A higher percentage of Americans is living in extreme poverty (6.7%) than has ever been measured before.

#38 Child homelessness in the United States is now 33 percent higher than it was back in 2007.

#39 Since 2007, the number of children living in poverty in the state of California has increased by 30 percent.

#40 Sadly, child poverty is absolutely exploding all over America. According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, 36.4% of all children that live in Philadelphia are living in poverty, 40.1% of all children that live in Atlanta are living in poverty, 52.6% of all children that live in Cleveland are living in poverty and 53.6% of all children that live in Detroit are living in poverty.

#41 Today, one out of every seven Americans is on food stamps and one out of every four American children is on food stamps.

#42 In 1980, government transfer payments accounted for just 11.7% of all income. Today, government transfer payments account for more than 18 percent of all income.

#43 A staggering 48.5% of all Americans live in a household that receives some form of government benefits. Back in 1983, that number was below 30 percent.

#44 Right now, spending by the federal government accounts for about 24 percent of GDP. Back in 2001, it accounted for just 18 percent.

#45 For fiscal year 2011, the U.S. federal government had a budget deficit of nearly 1.3 trillion dollars. That was the third year in a row that our budget deficit has topped one trillion dollars.

#46 If Bill Gates gave every single penny of his fortune to the U.S. government, it would only cover the U.S. budget deficit for about 15 days.

#47 Amazingly, the U.S. government has now accumulated a total debt of 15 trillion dollars. When Barack Obama first took office the national debt was just 10.6 trillion dollars.

#48 If the federal government began right at this moment to repay the U.S. national debt at a rate of one dollar per second, it would take over 440,000 years to pay off the national debt.

#49 The U.S. national debt has been increasing by an average of more than 4 billion dollars per day since the beginning of the Obama administration.

#50 During the Obama administration, the U.S. government has accumulated more debt than it did from the time that George Washington took office to the time that Bill Clinton took office.

[alkemical]

http://www.blacklistednews.com/30_Major_U.S._Corporations_Paid_More_to_Lobby_Cong ress_Than_Income_Taxes%2C_2008-2010/16936/0/38/38/Y/M.html

30 Major U.S. Corporations Paid More to Lobby Congress Than Income Taxes, 2008-2010

[alkemical]

http://www.blacklistednews.com/Gingrich%3A_Terror_Attacks_Would_Remind_People_How _Much_We_Need_Government_To_Protect_Us/16902/0/38/38/Y/M.html

[mhgaffney]

I was not able to open that link. Not sure why. I got a message -- about it being "unsafe."

Sounds like malarkey to me. Possible censorship?

[Smiling Assassin27]

Yup, the 99%:

More than 30 people gathered for a vigil to remember a man who died after a fight in the Occupy Eugene camp.

Occupy Eugene leader Kristen Carpenter told KVAL-TV, “We’re sorry we couldn’t have stopped the violence in the system sooner.” She said the Friday night vigil was not just for 54-year-old Rich Youngblood of Florence but also for all victims of street violence.

Police said Youngblood was beaten and choked at the camp on Monday. Authorities are still investigating.

The City Council ordered the camp be disbanded.



That makes the death toll of OWS 9..unless you count the OWS Raleigh protestor that shot up a food store injring three and then committing suicide.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

^

Still playing the guilt by association/character assassination game because you can't dispute the message, I see.

Right-wing SOP.

[El Minion]

Norman Lear on fighting the good fight (http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-lear-occupy-the-new-year-20111230,0,4956520.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MostEmailed+%28L.A.+Times+-+Most+E-mailed+Stories%29)

The Occupy Wall Street movement has unleashed patriotic outrage. If you don't want to camp out or protest in the street, find another way to let your voice be heard in the new year.




http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2011-12/67052721.gif
Occupy Wall Street protesters carry American flags up Seventh Avenue toward Times Square. (John Minchillo / AP Photo)


By Norman Lear December 30, 2011

I was recently shown a picture from one of the Occupy protests taking place across the country. It featured a young woman surrounded by police. She was the only protester in the picture, but she didn't seem intimidated. All by herself, up against the police barricade, she held a handwritten sign saying simply "I am a born again American."

I've never met this woman, but I think I know exactly what she's feeling.

I had my first "born again American" moment 30 years ago, when I was moved to outrage and action by a group of hate-preaching televangelists who were trying to claim sole ownership of patriotism, faith and flag for the far right. One of them asked his viewing congregation to pray for the removal of a Supreme Court justice.

I did what I knew how to do and produced a 60-second TV spot. It featured a factory worker whose family members, all Christians, held an array of political beliefs. He didn't believe that anyone, not even a minister, had a right to judge whether people were good or bad Christians based on their political views. "That's not the American way," he wound up saying. I ran it on local TV, and it was picked up by the networks. People For the American Way grew out of the overwhelming response to that ad.

One of the most encouraging things to happen in 2011 was the birth of the Occupy Wall Street (http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/activism/protest/occupy-wall-street-EVGAP00019.topic) movement, which is giving the entire country the chance for a "born again American" moment. In calling attention to the country's widening chasm between rich and poor, the Occupiers have unleashed decades of pent-up patriotic outrage against the systematic violation of our nation's core principles by the "say good-bye to the middle class" alliance of the neocons, theocons and corporate America.

To those many millions of Americans whose guts tell them the Occupy movement is on to something but aren't the sort to camp out or protest in the street, I say find another way to let your voice be heard in the new year. Work with others who share your passion for equal opportunity and equal justice for all Americans, and find ways to channel outrage into productive action. I'm betting you'll find, as I have over my nearly four score plus 10, that you'll form some of the most rewarding relationships and have some of the most meaningful experiences of your life.

I have been lucky in many ways. I was raised by my immigrant grandfather to treasure the freedom and opportunities America offers. I also learned early to fear the power of demagogues with megaphones, as an 11-year-old listening to the anti-Semitic ravings and attacks on President Franklin D. Roosevelt (http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/franklin-delano-roosevelt-PEPLT005656.topic) from radio priest Father Coughlin, the spiritual godfather of those who poison our airwaves and online forums today. By the time I was a teenager, I knew that the values of individual and religious liberty were worth fighting for, which is why I dropped out of college to enlist in the war against Hitler.

Since then I have repeatedly seen Americans get off their couches to hold this country accountable to its stated values. They did it to fight for civil rights and the dismantling of the legal apartheid of Jim Crow; for the women's movement; for equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans. They have rallied to ensure that immigrants are treated with dignity and justice. All these efforts to overcome bigotry and institutionalized prejudice are still works in progress, but I am awed by the progress we have made.

Generations of Americans have worked to create a nation in which individual liberty can thrive alongside commitment to the principle that all members of a community should have the opportunity to pursue their dreams and build a decent life for themselves and their families. In recent decades, that dream has been betrayed.

The religious right leaders who got me engaged in politics often portray such things as free expression and equal protection for all Americans no matter their race, religion or sexual orientation as anti-Christian and un-American, as symptoms of cultural decline. I couldn't disagree more. What strikes me as un-American are the greed, deception and systematic corruption that have infected politics, business and so much of our culture in recent years. Some of those with power and privilege have worked to create a system that continually reinforces that privilege and power, leaving ever-increasing numbers of Americans without reasonable hope for the kind of life their parents worked to give them.

Many Americans are in despair, and it has left them open to demagoguery and political manipulation. Blame gays, liberals, unions, immigrants or feminists for your family's struggles, for shrinking economic opportunity, for foreclosures and disappearing wages and benefits. Blame secularists or Muslims, or both, for the sense that our values have gone haywire.

A year out from the 2012 election, I am already tired of those who use the phrase "American exceptionalism" to reassert the far-right's claim that God, the Founding Fathers and any decent freedom-loving American must share their reactionary political agenda. I embrace the idea too that our nation should be a "shining city on a hill." We are the spiritual heirs to those Americans who struggled to end slavery and segregation, to end child labor and win safe conditions and living wages for workers, to enable every American to enrich his or her community and country by finding a place and a way to flourish in the world. We must make ourselves worthy of that legacy.

Call it the American dream, the American promise or the American way. Whatever term you use, it is imperiled, and worth fighting for. It is that basic, deeply patriotic emotion that I believe is finding expression — bottom-up, small-d democratic expression — in the Occupy movement. We can, and I would say must, fully embrace both love of country and outrage at attempts to despoil it. What better cause? What better time?

Television writer and producer Norman Lear (http://www.latimes.com/topic/entertainment/norman-lear-PECLB0000007688.topic) founded People for the American Way.

[epicSocialism4tw]

Yup, the 99%:



That makes the death toll of OWS 9..unless you count the OWS Raleigh protestor that shot up a food store injring three and then committing suicide.

They have been a successful movement...successful in making the Tea Party movement look like it was led by Mensa Angel Ninjas of an awesomeness unparalleled.

[Rohirrim]

Palin, Bachmann to Activate “Large Moron Collider” at Tea Party Nation Opryland Confab

In the most ambitious bid yet to create an unstable fusion reaction between negatively-charged particles of American Exceptionalism and the man-made carbonate nuclei of Home Shopping Network gemstones, Tea Party Nation has announced that US Rep. Michele Bachmann will join Facebook celebrity Sarah Palin to headline the National Tea Party Convention in February.

The event will be held at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, TN, the former geographical location of Branson, MO.

Cover charge for the just-plain-folks “grassroots” meetup is a workingman-priced $549. How you get there and where you sleep are your own lookout, Pilgrim.

No word yet on expected attendance, although scientists at the Rumproast Blogospheric Institute speculate that any number exceeding 1,000 will be sufficient to achieve “Critical Boobosity,” causing the entire venue to instantly teleport back to the “mindset-synchronous” year of 1873.
http://www.rumproast.com/index.php/site/comments/palin_bachmann_to_activate_large_moron_collider_at _itea_party_nation_i_opry/

[epicSocialism4tw]

Ahhh...sweet satisfaction.

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/H5xi7DEiLuA?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Palin, Bachmann to Activate “Large Moron Collider” at Tea Party Nation Opryland Confab


:rofl:

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

https://s-external.ak.fbcdn.net/safe_image.php?d=AQB_ZbSpT8V4J3N9&w=90&h=90&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.addictinginfo.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2F12%2FTheAdventuresofRea ganHood.jpg (http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/12/30/the-last-refuge-of-failure-is-myth-the-real-ronald-reagan/)The Last Refuge of Failure is Myth: The REAL Ronald Reagan (http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/12/30/the-last-refuge-of-failure-is-myth-the-real-ronald-reagan/)

Republicans are celebrating the 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s birth as if it was the birth of their savior, rewriting the history of failed 'Trickle Down' policies that have turned the once vibrant American middle class into economically insecure Serfs.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

<IFRAME style="POSITION: absolute; WIDTH: 10px; HEIGHT: 10px; TOP: -9999em" id=twttrHubFrame tabIndex=0 src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets/hub.1324331373.html" frameBorder=0 allowTransparency scrolling=no></IFRAME>Nice job stickin it to the MAN LABF!!!! LMAO!! fail


You and the rest of the "save the billionaires" crew will do anything to avoid a discussion re: what the OWS people are actually protesting about, won't you?

The top 1% couldn't ask for better sycophants than you guys.

[Atwater 27]

https://s-external.ak.fbcdn.net/safe_image.php?d=AQB_ZbSpT8V4J3N9&w=90&h=90&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.addictinginfo.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2F12%2FTheAdventuresofRea ganHood.jpg (http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/12/30/the-last-refuge-of-failure-is-myth-the-real-ronald-reagan/)The Last Refuge of Failure is Myth: The REAL Ronald Reagan (http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/12/30/the-last-refuge-of-failure-is-myth-the-real-ronald-reagan/)

Republicans are celebrating the 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s birth as if it was the birth of their savior, rewriting the history of failed 'Trickle Down' policies that have turned the once vibrant American middle class into economically insecure Serfs.

I'll take trickle down economics over your trickle up poverty any day. How many poor people do you know that create jobs? Exactly. None. As much as you libs hate to admit it, deep down you know Rich folks are the ones who create jobs and hire people to work. the government? They don't create jobs. They just use our tax money and throwit at other people.

[Atwater 27]

You and the rest of the "save the billionaires" crew will do anything to avoid a discussion re: what the OWS people are actually protesting about, won't you?

The top 1% couldn't ask for better sycophants than you guys.

Lmao!!! If the occutards want to stick it to the corporations and politicians they disagree with, then let them. Tell your slimy friends to stop making the common taxpaying individual have to pay for the damage and police overtime. They are sticking it to the wrong man! And while you are there, ask them to stop raping eachother, assaulting eachother and destroying their bodies with illicit drugs. Or not. I want the general public to see them for who they truly are... idiot college kids, anarchist thugs, communists and criminals. :thumbs:

[Atwater 27]

Don't let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya. BwA Ha ha!

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/y95Qqpry5co" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Lmao!!! If the occutards want to stick it to the corporations and politicians they disagree with, then let them. Tell your slimy friends to stop making the common taxpaying individual have to pay for the damage and police overtime. They are sticking it to the wrong man! And while you are there, ask them to stop raping eachother, assaulting eachother and destroying their bodies with illicit drugs. Or not. I want the general public to see them for who they truly are... idiot college kids, anarchist thugs, communists and criminals. :thumbs:

Right on cue with your usual smear job/avoidance of the issues.

SOP for brownie hounds of the top 1% like you.

[epicSocialism4tw]

Don't let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya. BwA Ha ha!

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/y95Qqpry5co" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Bless that woman.

Who ever made us think that it was okay that a few left over radicals from the 60's and their drug addled youth disciples could shout down everyone else and ruin their right to free speech?

[mhgaffney]

Bless that woman.

Who ever made us think that it was okay that a few left over radicals from the 60's and their drug addled youth disciples could shout down everyone else and ruin their right to free speech?

So how would you know? Were YOU there in the 60s? Of course not.

Idiot.

[Atwater 27]

When they're not trying to cause economic havoc, they are busy draining the treasuries of state and local governments. The Washington Examiner reported yesterday that Occupy DC has cost the Metropolitan Police Department $1.3 million so far. Across the country, Occupy encampments have cost city law enforcement agencies at least $22 million, and that number will surely rise.

Local government budgets are already tight. So are the family budgets of middle-class Americans who depend on our nation's business and commerce. Perhaps the Occupiers can afford the luxury of setting aside productive activity for weeks and months to create new burdens for the rest of us, but the real 99 percent cannot. It is time for liberal leaders like President Obama to own up to their responsibilities and tell the Occupiers to go home.


Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/editorials/2011/12/real-99-percent-cant-afford-occupiers/1997236#ixzz1iJfjeTkz

[Tombstone RJ]

http://www.blacklistednews.com/Bank_Of_America_Dumps_%2475_Trillion_In_Derivative s_On_U.S._Taxpayers_With_Federal_Approval/17137/0/38/38/Y/M.html

Bank Of America Dumps $75 Trillion In Derivatives On U.S. Taxpayers With Federal Approval Bloomberg reports that Bank of America (BAC) has shifted about $22 trillion worth of derivative obligations from Merrill Lynch and the BAC holding company to the FDIC insured retail deposit division. Along with this information came the revelation that the FDIC insured unit was already stuffed with $53 trillion worth of these potentially toxic obligations, making a total of $75 trillion.

anyone see Margin Call?

[Tombstone RJ]

http://www.blacklistednews.com/50_Economic_Numbers_From_2011_That_Are_Almost_Too_ Crazy_To_Believe/17054/0/38/38/Y/M.html

50 Economic Numbers From 2011 That Are Almost Too Crazy To Believe

The following are 50 economic numbers from 2011 that are almost too crazy to believe....

#1 A staggering 48 percent of all Americans are either considered to be "low income" or are living in poverty.

#2 Approximately 57 percent of all children in the United States are living in homes that are either considered to be "low income" or impoverished.

#3 If the number of Americans that "wanted jobs" was the same today as it was back in 2007, the "official" unemployment rate put out by the U.S. government would be up to 11 percent.

#4 The average amount of time that a worker stays unemployed in the United States is now over 40 weeks.

#5 One recent survey found that 77 percent of all U.S. small businesses do not plan to hire any more workers.

#6 There are fewer payroll jobs in the United States today than there were back in 2000 even though we have added 30 million extra people to the population since then.

#7 Since December 2007, median household income in the United States has declined by a total of 6.8% once you account for inflation.

#8 According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 16.6 million Americans were self-employed back in December 2006. Today, that number has shrunk to 14.5 million.

#9 A Gallup poll from earlier this year found that approximately one out of every five Americans that do have a job consider themselves to be underemployed.

#10 According to author Paul Osterman, about 20 percent of all U.S. adults are currently working jobs that pay poverty-level wages.

#11 Back in 1980, less than 30% of all jobs in the United States were low income jobs. Today, more than 40% of all jobs in the United States are low income jobs.

#12 Back in 1969, 95 percent of all men between the ages of 25 and 54 had a job. In July, only 81.2 percent of men in that age group had a job.

#13 One recent survey found that one out of every three Americans would not be able to make a mortgage or rent payment next month if they suddenly lost their current job.

#14 The Federal Reserve recently announced that the total net worth of U.S. households declined by 4.1 percent in the 3rd quarter of 2011 alone.

#15 According to a recent study conducted by the BlackRock Investment Institute, the ratio of household debt to personal income in the United States is now 154 percent.

#16 As the economy has slowed down, so has the number of marriages. According to a Pew Research Center analysis, only 51 percent of all Americans that are at least 18 years old are currently married. Back in 1960, 72 percent of all U.S. adults were married.

#17 The U.S. Postal Service has lost more than 5 billion dollars over the past year.

#18 In Stockton, California home prices have declined 64 percent from where they were at when the housing market peaked.

#19 Nevada has had the highest foreclosure rate in the nation for 59 months in a row.

#20 If you can believe it, the median price of a home in Detroit is now just $6000.

#21 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 18 percent of all homes in the state of Florida are sitting vacant. That figure is 63 percent larger than it was just ten years ago.

#22 New home construction in the United States is on pace to set a brand new all-time record low in 2011.

#23 As I have written about previously, 19 percent of all American men between the ages of 25 and 34 are now living with their parents.

#24 Electricity bills in the United States have risen faster than the overall rate of inflation for five years in a row.

#25 According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, health care costs accounted for just 9.5% of all personal consumption back in 1980. Today they account for approximately 16.3%.

#26 One study found that approximately 41 percent of all working age Americans either have medical bill problems or are currently paying off medical debt.

#27 If you can believe it, one out of every seven Americans has at least 10 credit cards.

#28 The United States spends about 4 dollars on goods and services from China for every one dollar that China spends on goods and services from the United States.

#29 It is being projected that the U.S. trade deficit for 2011 will be 558.2 billion dollars.

#30 The retirement crisis in the United States just continues to get worse. According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, 46 percent of all American workers have less than $10,000 saved for retirement, and 29 percent of all American workers have less than $1,000 saved for retirement.

#31 Today, one out of every six elderly Americans lives below the federal poverty line.

#32 According to a study that was just released, CEO pay at America's biggest companies rose by 36.5% in just one recent 12 month period.

#33 Today, the "too big to fail" banks are larger than ever. The total assets of the six largest U.S. banks increased by 39 percent between September 30, 2006 and September 30, 2011.

#34 The six heirs of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton have a net worth that is roughly equal to the bottom 30 percent of all Americans combined.

#35 According to an analysis of Census Bureau data done by the Pew Research Center, the median net worth for households led by someone 65 years of age or older is 47 times greater than the median net worth for households led by someone under the age of 35.

#36 If you can believe it, 37 percent of all U.S. households that are led by someone under the age of 35 have a net worth of zero or less than zero.

#37 A higher percentage of Americans is living in extreme poverty (6.7%) than has ever been measured before.

#38 Child homelessness in the United States is now 33 percent higher than it was back in 2007.

#39 Since 2007, the number of children living in poverty in the state of California has increased by 30 percent.

#40 Sadly, child poverty is absolutely exploding all over America. According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, 36.4% of all children that live in Philadelphia are living in poverty, 40.1% of all children that live in Atlanta are living in poverty, 52.6% of all children that live in Cleveland are living in poverty and 53.6% of all children that live in Detroit are living in poverty.

#41 Today, one out of every seven Americans is on food stamps and one out of every four American children is on food stamps.

#42 In 1980, government transfer payments accounted for just 11.7% of all income. Today, government transfer payments account for more than 18 percent of all income.

#43 A staggering 48.5% of all Americans live in a household that receives some form of government benefits. Back in 1983, that number was below 30 percent.

#44 Right now, spending by the federal government accounts for about 24 percent of GDP. Back in 2001, it accounted for just 18 percent.

#45 For fiscal year 2011, the U.S. federal government had a budget deficit of nearly 1.3 trillion dollars. That was the third year in a row that our budget deficit has topped one trillion dollars.

#46 If Bill Gates gave every single penny of his fortune to the U.S. government, it would only cover the U.S. budget deficit for about 15 days.

#47 Amazingly, the U.S. government has now accumulated a total debt of 15 trillion dollars. When Barack Obama first took office the national debt was just 10.6 trillion dollars.

#48 If the federal government began right at this moment to repay the U.S. national debt at a rate of one dollar per second, it would take over 440,000 years to pay off the national debt.

#49 The U.S. national debt has been increasing by an average of more than 4 billion dollars per day since the beginning of the Obama administration.

#50 During the Obama administration, the U.S. government has accumulated more debt than it did from the time that George Washington took office to the time that Bill Clinton took office.

BO is total fail. Chicago politics...

[Rohirrim]

Bless that woman.

Who ever made us think that it was okay that a few left over radicals from the 60's and their drug addled youth disciples could shout down everyone else and ruin their right to free speech?

Yeah. Instead let's have a tiny minority of evangelical American Taliban destroy the Constitution and replace it with their fascist interpretation of a hodgepodge of the writings of some ancient desert nomads.

[Tombstone RJ]

http://www.blacklistednews.com/30_Major_U.S._Corporations_Paid_More_to_Lobby_Cong ress_Than_Income_Taxes%2C_2008-2010/16936/0/38/38/Y/M.html

30 Major U.S. Corporations Paid More to Lobby Congress Than Income Taxes, 2008-2010

Only one person can fix this kind of corruption: Ron Paul

[epicSocialism4tw]

Yeah. Instead let's have a tiny minority of evangelical American Taliban destroy the Constitution and replace it with their fascist interpretation of a hodgepodge of the writings of some ancient desert nomads.

You're not supposed to breathe what comes out of the tailpipe.

[sirhcyennek81]

I had a history professor who constantly said "ancient people were not any dumber than we were. Not knowing does not equal incapable of knowing."

And this 99% OWS nonsense has yet to have a cohesive message. Occupy Iowa...protest getting rid of the EPA. Occupy Oakland...protest the raiders. Occupy DC something silly about residents voting rights. I suppose protesting everything will eventually get that magical 99%. Cast a wide enough net and then you find you have neo communists and neo nazis at the same protest on the same side.

:Broncos:

[epicSocialism4tw]

I had a history professor who constantly said "ancient people were not any dumber than we were. Not knowing does not equal incapable of knowing."

And this 99% OWS nonsense has yet to have a cohesive message. Occupy Iowa...protest getting rid of the EPA. Occupy Oakland...protest the raiders. Occupy DC something silly about residents voting rights. I suppose protesting everything will eventually get that magical 99%. Cast a wide enough net and then you find you have neo communists and neo nazis at the same protest on the same side.

:Broncos:

They're just yelling the same old liberal talking points.

Its a bit trying to drum up excitement in their base of moron youth to vote for Obama.

[alkemical]

They're just yelling the same old liberal talking points.

Its a bit trying to drum up excitement in their base of moron youth to vote for Obama.

Yet the #OWS movement, doesn't like Obama.

How's that work?

[Atwater 27]

Yet the #OWS movement, doesn't like Obama.

How's that work?

You kidding me? I guarantee 99 percent of the supposed 99 percent votes vor Obama. :P

[epicSocialism4tw]

You kidding me? I guarantee 99 percent of the supposed 99 percent votes vor Obama. :P

They don't like that Obama is only far left instead of being a communist/socialist/anarchist. Thats the only thing they don't like about Obama/

[alkemical]

You kidding me? I guarantee 99 percent of the supposed 99 percent votes vor Obama. :P

No, actually i'm not. If you actually talked with people, and not listen to the media, you'd understand that.

I mean, that is unless the teapartiers are all racist douchebags, right?

[Atwater 27]

No, actually i'm not. If you actually talked with people, and not listen to the media, you'd understand that.

I mean, that is unless the teapartiers are all racist douchebags, right?

Or spineless racebaiting assclowns like yourself?

[alkemical]

Or spineless racebaiting assclowns like yourself?

Hey don't blame me, i'm just illustrating what the media does to distort reality. You only have a problem with it, when the labels stick close to "home".

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/395110_10150508791227446_513197445_8676175_1526174 078_n.jpg

[epicSocialism4tw]

^ Ha!

You guys should know that if LABF is here spamming the board with it, its clearly something that the dems are using to drum up anger for their base so that they'll go out and vote.

Its not even creative. They tried to copy the Tea Party and did a horrible job of it.

[Atwater 27]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/395110_10150508791227446_513197445_8676175_1526174 078_n.jpg

The only thing that gay ass sign deserves......

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-Xzz8MhM338" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

You guys should know that if LABF is here spamming the board with it, its clearly something that the dems are using to drum up anger for their base so that they'll go out and vote.

No need to "drum up" anger - there's already more than enough to go around outside the Christopublican Fox News bubble you inhabit.

Its not even creative.

Oh, the irony. :D

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

The only thing that gay ass sign deserves......



Notice you didn't try to dispute the sign's message, i.e., that the middle class - not the super rich - build our country.

But if right-wing simpletons like you were forced to argue such issues, then your party would never win another election, would it?

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/402311_326683154020223_114270361928171_1107915_165 8752908_n.jpg

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

http://www.bartcop.com/ows-main-graph.jpg

<big><big>If we could just get the Democrats to list the facts...</big></big>

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

http://www.bartcop.com/reagan-hood_n.jpg

[alkemical]

http://ldsgeek.tumblr.com/post/14479671292/this-is-crony-capitalism

http://i.imgur.com/PVpFY.jpg

[Rohirrim]

^ That's just sad. America, Inc.

[alkemical]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/12/22/1047874/-NOT-SATIRE:-LA-Tells-Arrested-OWS-Protesters-They-Can-Pay-for-Free-Speech-Classes-to-Avoid-Court

The Los Angeles City Attorney's Office has offered Occupy protesters a get-out-of-jail card: all they need to do to skip their court dates is pay $355 for private "free speech lessons" where they will be taught a highly selective version of Constitutional law that holds that the First Amendment doesn't include the kind of protest they enjoy.

It's like they combined traffic school with Maoist "self-criticism sessions" from the Cultural Revolution to make something worse than both combined.

As a civil rights attorney working with some of the approximately 350 protesters who have been arrested in recent weeks noted, the offer is nothing short of "patronizing."

However, it's much more than that. It's a disgusting and cynical way to alleviate the strain on city courts by having protesters pay for an unofficial guilty plea.

In short, the city is offering protesters the chance to purchase courses in which they will learn about the free speech LAPD officers stripped from them.

Apparently, in L.A., you can pay to learn about the free speech you don't actually have.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

https://fbcdn-profile-a.akamaihd.net/hprofile-ak-snc4/71036_218610566124_2352569_q.jpg (https://www.facebook.com/SmirkingChimp)Smirking Chimp (https://www.facebook.com/SmirkingChimp)


Brad Reed in today's Chimp: "The entire Republican economic philosophy can basically be boiled down thusly: Rich people are magical wealth-creating leprechaun fairies who sprinkle their sparkle dust over all of us worthless dirtbags to bless us with the gift of employment. But if any nasty populist ever says anything relatively nasty about rich people, they will vanish from the realm and take their magical job-creating powers with them and none of us will ever work or have food to eat ever again."

[Rohirrim]

https://fbcdn-profile-a.akamaihd.net/hprofile-ak-snc4/71036_218610566124_2352569_q.jpg (https://www.facebook.com/SmirkingChimp)Smirking Chimp (https://www.facebook.com/SmirkingChimp)


Brad Reed in today's Chimp: "The entire Republican economic philosophy can basically be boiled down thusly: Rich people are magical wealth-creating leprechaun fairies who sprinkle their sparkle dust over all of us worthless dirtbags to bless us with the gift of employment. But if any nasty populist ever says anything relatively nasty about rich people, they will vanish from the realm and take their magical job-creating powers with them and none of us will ever work or have food to eat ever again."

LOL

[Play2win]

^ That's just sad. America, Inc.

Yeah, Public Service... my arse...

[Atwater 27]

Notice you didn't try to dispute the sign's message, i.e., that the middle class - not the super rich - build our country.

But if right-wing simpletons like you were forced to argue such issues, then your party would never win another election, would it?

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/402311_326683154020223_114270361928171_1107915_165 8752908_n.jpg

Says Count Spamula..... :giggle:

[Atwater 27]

^ That's just sad. America, Inc.

Don't defend any of those Democrats ever again then.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Says Count Spamula..... :giggle:

This is your best rebuttal?

No wonder people like you are such tricks for con men like GeeDubya.

[alkemical]

http://occupywallstreet.tumblr.com/post/16064168809

lemonsandkiwi: A few snapshots of Occupy Congress

[Tombstone RJ]

http://ldsgeek.tumblr.com/post/14479671292/this-is-crony-capitalism

http://i.imgur.com/PVpFY.jpg

It's all Democrats too!! All the DC connections to big business/special interests/media are all democratic!!!

sad.

[alkemical]

I wonder if the connections vary due to whom has "control of power"?

[Smiling Assassin27]

What was once a misguided, sad, and embarrassingly pathetic (bowel) movement has now become--well, more so.

Three months on, this is what the Occupy movement looks like: a network of mutual support for the lost and destitute, with anti-capitalist overtones. The Bank of Ideas, an abandoned building owned by the Swiss banking giant UBS and transformed into a space for art sessions, lectures and late-night discussion on the future of the free market, is one of four sites squatted by London's branch of the movement. The occupations began with the encampment on the steps of St Paul's Cathedral, which has just lost its battle against eviction at the Royal Courts of Justice, and branched out to Finsbury Square, and an empty magistrate's court on Old Street. As other world cities have seen similar protests violently evicted by local police, the occupiers of London have clung on through a winter that has seen the nature of the camps change profoundly.



As the winter drags on, many of those who have stayed are those, like Spiral and his cat, who can't or won't go home. They are the waifs and strays and nuts and eccentrics, the wide-eyed young men with theories about how computers can calculate the perfect democracy, the straggle-haired women with bags full of paintbrushes and dirt in the creases of their cheeks. For the more media-savvy organisers of Occupy London, this has created something of a public relations dilemma.

The people who live full or part-time in the camps can now be divided into roughly three categories: those who were homeless before the occupations, those who will shortly be homeless, and those who merely look homeless. Three months of sleeping in tents, washing in the bathrooms of nearby cafes and working around-the-clock to run a kitchen feeding thousands with no running water and little electricity will transform even the most fresh-faced student into a jittering bundle of aching limbs and paranoia.


On the roof, the talk turns to meditation, and to the spiritual toxicity of the banking sector. A young Romanian man called Valentin will not stop grabbing my hand and demanding my phone number. Subtle and then decidedly unsubtle hints about personal space do not put him off, and eventually Muriel invites me to sleep beside her; I observe, not for the first time, that there are far fewer young women here than there were in November. When I wake in the morning, someone has put a borrowed sleeping bag around my shoulders. There is a dawn chorus of hippies and homeless teenagers coughing up last night's tar, and the kettle is on.



http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/laurie-penny/2012/01/occupy-movement-london

[Tombstone RJ]

I wonder if the connections vary due to whom has "control of power"?

It shows some republicans, but very few. I don't think it has anything to do with who is currently in the white house.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/401705_335454673143071_114270361928171_1130462_111 2657056_n.jpg

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Turning America into Pottersville

by Robert Parry

For many years, it appeared that the Right wanted to take the United States back to the 1950s - when blacks "knew their place," women were "in the kitchen" and gays stayed "in the closet" - but it turns out that the intended back-in-time-travel was to the 1920s, to an era of a few haves and many have-nots, not only before the Civil Rights Movement but before the Great American Middle-Class.

The Right's goal has been less to recreate the world of "Father Knows Best" than to establish a national "Pottersville," like in the movie, "It's a Wonderful Life," where the existence of the average man and woman was brutish and unfulfilling, while the 1 percent of that age lived in gilded comfort and held sweeping power.

That is the message ironically coming from the expensive ad wars of the Republican presidential battle, where Romney has emerged as the personification of the 1 percent and has been attacked by rivals who - while supporting similar policies favoring the ultra-rich - have savaged his career as a venture capitalist, or as Texas Gov. Rick Perry puts it, a "vulture capitalist."

Romney's response has been telling. The former Bain chief went beyond the Right's usual lament about "class warfare," terming the criticism of high-flying financiers who use layoffs to fatten their bottom lines "the bitter politics of envy."

Full article: http://lists.readersupportednews.org/ss/link.php?M=19654&N=2005&C=3d6f39a58b6e3878798b7881c20eed28&L=2549

[alkemical]

It shows some republicans, but very few. I don't think it has anything to do with who is currently in the white house.

I think it would. Just because you'd have to be investing in whom has power. I mean, Rumsfeld has ties to Monsanto also...

[Tombstone RJ]

I think it would. Just because you'd have to be investing in whom has power. I mean, Rumsfeld has ties to Monsanto also...

Then how do you explain the overwhelming majority of democrats? It's not a small majority of demcorats, it's a vast majority of dems.

How do you explain that??

[alkemical]

Then how do you explain the overwhelming majority of democrats? It's not a small majority of demcorats, it's a vast majority of dems.

How do you explain that??

Uhm, they are the ones in POWER at the moment...am i right?

[Tombstone RJ]

Uhm, they are the ones in POWER at the moment...am i right?

Going all the way back to the Ford administration?

[Odysseus]

http://www.bartcop.com/ows-main-graph.jpg

<big><big>If we could just get the Democrats to list the facts...</big></big>

Our political system is more polarized, more choked with its own bile, than any time since the Civil War. - Foreign Affairs Nov/Dec 2011

[Smiling Assassin27]

PROVIDENCE, RI, January 30, 2012 – Demonstrators from the Occupy Wall Street movement threw condoms on Catholic schoolgirls, refused to allow a Catholic priest to give a closing prayer, and shouted down a pro-life speaker at a Rhode Island right to life rally on Thursday, according to its organizer. The event marked the third time protesters associated with the movement have disrupted a pro-life meeting in a week.




The pro-life organization’s executive director, Barth E. Bracy, told LifeSiteNews.com that, near the end of the rally, the Occupiers “strategically fanned out with military precision.”

That’s when they “started showering condoms down on some of the girls from a Catholic high school.”

They gathered around speakers at the podium, shouting them down or otherwise jostling them and members of the audience.



We are the 99%.

[Smiling Assassin27]

Attend a TEA Party, kill your parents? I think not:


Friends and relatives said Susan Poff and Robert Kamin of Oakland were the perfect pair to adopt a foster child.

They had dedicated their careers to helping others escape poverty, she as a physician assistant in a city-run clinic in the Tenderloin and he as a clinical psychologist for inmates in the San Francisco County Jail system.

But now, less than a decade after they adopted, their 15-year-old son stands accused of strangling both Poff, 50, and Kamin, 55, then hiding their bodies in the back of the family's PT Cruiser.





Co-workers said Poff and Kamin were having some arguments with their son, some of it having to do with him spending too much time in the Occupy Oakland encampment, but nothing that sounded beyond the scope of typical teenage rebelliousness.



http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/30/BA9P1N089K.DTL

Let's face it, when your approval/disapproval rating is -22 in San Francisco, you've lose the battle of ideas horribly. The only thing left is to see what you can get away with.

[Odysseus]

One of the best protests ever devised.

Read a book.

[Tombstone RJ]

We are the 99%.

This type of behavior is unacceptable. OWS should not allow this type of militant intimidation to happen to others who are expressing the right to free speech. This is why OWS fails.

[alkemical]

One of the best protests ever devised.

Read a book.

:)

Start a garden!

:)

[Odysseus]

:)

Start a garden!

:)

Read a book in a garden. :)

[alkemical]

Read a book in a garden. :)

:)

I'm telling ya man - reading & gardening are two of the most subversive things you can do.

Planting seeds... :)

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/426195_375229709169213_108038612554992_1470766_451 672847_n.jpg

[Play2win]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/426195_375229709169213_108038612554992_1470766_451 672847_n.jpg

Right, or it would be termed something else, by definition.

[Odysseus]

:)

I'm telling ya man - reading & gardening are two of the most subversive things you can do.

Planting seeds... :)

Reading used to be a forum where we could share information, conversation and teach other about the world. I ask about Ron Paul, Austrian, and all manner of information and yet posing and posturing seems to matter more than honest inquiry.

It is too bad I cannot attach .pdf files to this forum. There is an amazing amount of information that can be shared through that.

[alkemical]

Reading used to be a forum where we could share information, conversation and teach other about the world. I ask about Ron Paul, Austrian, and all manner of information and yet posing and posturing seems to matter more than honest inquiry.

It is too bad I cannot attach .pdf files to this forum. There is an amazing amount of information that can be shared through that.

It could be shared - you'd just need to have it accessible for the public like on skydrive or dropbox or something like that.

I know what you mean about people wanting to talk more than conversing.

You still on vacation?

[mhgaffney]

Brandeis was the servant of the rich -- not the masses.

BTW, I was at the Occupy Oakland protest last Saturday. I saw the confrontation with the cops, and even got gassed (slightly).

The tear gas was nasty stuff.

99% of the protesters were peaceful. I saw really cool signs like "Power to the Peaceful" and " "Resistance is Fertile."

There were old hippies and young street kids. Quite a mix.

Get used to it.As the economy tanks the occupy Wall Street movement will grow geometrically.

[Odysseus]

Oil is going down. Gas prices are going up.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Oil is going down. Gas prices are going up.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/431085_375229845836446_138121286213971_1513766_132 3091653_n.jpg

[Odysseus]

I think the hypocrisy of corporate welfare is these are the same people who are paying lobbyists to promote a free market economy.

America has had an unfair advantage for many years regarding "one price" and "invisible hand" advantages. Globalization is inevitable but the way we face that challenge is the root of 99% contention.

[alkemical]

I think the hypocrisy of corporate welfare is these are the same people who are paying lobbyists to promote a free market economy.

America has had an unfair advantage for many years regarding "one price" and "invisible hand" advantages. Globalization is inevitable but the way we face that challenge is the root of 99% contention.

User adoption is always the challenge isn't it?

[mhgaffney]

Chris Hedges is right on in his latest -- as usual.

This is one thread that must not die.
MHG



Occupy Draws Strength From the Powerless


By Chris Hedges

February 13, 2012 "Truthdig" -- There is a recipe for breaking popular movements. I watched it play out over five years in the war in El Salvador. I now see these familiar patterns in the assault against the Occupy movement. It goes like this. Physically eradicate the insurgents’ logistical base of operations to disrupt communication and organization. Dry up financial and material support. Create rival organizations—the group Stand for Oakland seems to be one of these attempts—to discredit and purge the rebel leadership. Infiltrate the movement to foster internal divisions and rivalries, a tactic carried out consciously, or perhaps unconsciously, by an anonymous West Coast group known as OLAASM—Occupy Los Angeles Anti Social Media. Provoke the movement—or front groups acting in the name of the movement—to carry out actions such as vandalism and physical confrontations with the police that alienate the wider populace from the insurgency. Invent atrocities and repugnant acts supposedly carried out by the movement and plant these stories in the media. Finally, offer up a political alternative. In the war in El Salvador it was Jose Napoleon Duarte. For the Occupy movement it is someone like Van Jones. And use this “reformist” to co-opt the language of the movement and promise to promote the movement’s core aims through the electoral process.
Counterinsurgency campaigns, although they involve arms and weapons, are primarily about, in the old cliché, hearts and minds. And the tactics employed by our intelligence operatives abroad are not dissimilar to those employed by our intelligence operatives at home. These operatives are, in fact, often the same people. The state has expended external resources to break the movement. It is reasonable to assume it has expended internal resources to break the movement.

The security and surveillance state has a vast arsenal and array of tools at its disposal. It operates in secret. It dissembles and lies. It hides behind phony organizations and individuals who use false histories and false names. It has millions of dollars to spend, the capacity to deny not only its activities but also its existence. Its physical assets honeycomb the country. It can wiretap, eavesdrop and monitor every form of communication. It can hire informants, send in clandestine agents, recruit members within the movement by offering legal immunity, churn out a steady stream of divisive propaganda and amass huge databases and clandestine operations centers. And it is authorized to use deadly force.

How do we fight back? We do not have the tools or the wealth of the state. We cannot beat it at its own game. We cannot ferret out infiltrators. The legal system is almost always on the state’s side. If we attempt to replicate the elaborate security apparatus of our oppressors, even on a small scale, we will unleash widespread paranoia and fracture the movement. If we retreat into anonymity, hiding behind masks, then we provide an opening for agents provocateurs who deny their identities while disrupting the movement. If we fight pitched battles in the streets we give authorities an excuse to fire their weapons.

All we have, as Vaclav Havel writes, is our own powerlessness. And that powerlessness is our strength. The survival of the movement depends on embracing this powerlessness. It depends on two of our most important assets—utter and complete transparency and a rigid adherence to nonviolence, including respect for private property. This permits us, as Havel puts it in his 1978 essay “The Power of the Powerless,” to live in truth. And by living in truth we expose a corrupt corporate state that perpetrates lies and lives in deceit.

Havel, who would later become the first president of the Czech Republic, in the essay writes a reflection on the mind of a greengrocer who, as instructed, puts up a poster “among the onions and carrots” that reads: “Workers of the World Unite!” The poster is displayed partly out of habit, partly because everyone else does it, and partly out of fear of the consequences for not following the rules. The greengrocer would not, Havel writes, display a poster saying: “I am afraid and therefore unquestioningly obedient.” And here is the difference between the terror of a Josef Stalin or an Adolf Hitler and the collective charade between the rulers and the ruled that by the 1970s had gripped Czechoslovakia.


“Imagine,” Havel writes, “that one day something in our greengrocer snaps and he stops putting up the slogans merely to ingratiate himself. He stops voting in elections he knows are a farce. He begins to say what he really thinks at political meetings. And he even finds the strength in himself to express solidarity with those whom his conscience commands him to support. In this revolt the greengrocer steps out of living within the lie. He rejects the ritual and breaks the rules of the game. He discovers once more his suppressed identity and dignity. He gives his freedom a concrete significance. His revolt is an attempt to live within the truth.”

This attempt to “live within the truth” brings with it ostracism and retribution. Punishment is imposed in bankrupt systems because of the necessity for compliance, not out of any real conviction. And the real crime committed is not the crime of speaking out or defying the rules, but the crime of exposing the charade.

(Page 2)

“By breaking the rules of the game, he has disrupted the game as such, he has exposed it as a mere game,” Havel says of his greengrocer. “He has shattered the world of appearances, the fundamental pillar of the system. He has upset the power structure by tearing apart what holds it together. He has demonstrated that living a lie is living a lie. He has broken through the exalted façade of the system and exposed the real, base foundations of power. He has said that the emperor is naked. And because the emperor is in fact naked, something extremely dangerous has happened: by his action, the greengrocer has addressed the world. He has enabled everyone to peer behind the curtain. He has shown everyone that it is possible to live within the truth. Living within the lie can constitute the system only if it is universal. The principle must embrace and permeate everything. There are no terms whatsoever on which it can coexist with living within the truth, and therefore everyone who steps out of line denies it in principle and threatens it in its entirety.”

Those who do not carve out spaces separate from the state and its systems of power, those who cannot find room to become autonomous, or who do not “live in truth,” inevitably become compromised. In Havel’s words, they “are the system.” The Occupy movement, by naming corporate power and refusing to compromise with it, by forming alternative systems of community and society, embodies Havel’s call to “live in truth.” It does not appeal to the systems of control, and for this reason it is a genuine threat to the corporate state.

Movements that call on followers to “live in truth” do not always succeed. They failed in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as in Yugoslavia in the 1990s, triggering armed insurgencies and blood-drenched civil wars. They have failed so far in Iran, the Israeli-occupied territories and Syria. China has a movement modeled after Havel’s Charter 77 called Charter 08. But the Chinese opposition to the state has been effectively suppressed, even though its principal author, Liu Xiaobo, currently serving an 11-year prison term for “incitement of subversion of state power,” was awarded the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize. Power elites who stubbornly refuse to heed popular will and resort to harsher and harsher forms of state control can easily provoke counterviolence. The first Palestinian uprising, which lasted from 1987 to 1992, saw crowds of demonstrators throw rocks at Israeli soldiers, but it was largely a nonviolent movement. The second uprising, or intifada, which erupted in 2000 and endured for five years, with armed attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians, was not. History is dotted with brutal fratricides spawned by calcified and repressive elites who ignored peaceful protest. And even when nonviolent movements do succeed, it is impossible to predict when they will spawn an uprising or how long the process will take. As Timothy Garton Ash noted about Eastern Europe’s revolutions of the late 20th century, in Poland the revolt took 10 years, in East Germany 10 weeks, in Czechoslovakia 10 days.

Occupy’s most powerful asset is that it articulates this truth. And this truth is understood by the mainstream, the 99 percent. If the movement is severed from the mainstream, which I expect is the primary goal of the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI, it will be crippled and easily contained. Other, more militant groups may rise and even flourish, but if the Occupy movement is to retain the majority it will have to fight within self-imposed limitations of nonviolence.

I do not know if it will succeed. If it does not ,then I fear we will see the classical forms of violent protest that are used by an enraged and frustrated populace; for me such a turn to violence, while understandable, is always tragic. Violence is a poison, even when it is ingested in a supposedly just cause. It contaminates all who use it. I watched this poison work on repressors and the repressed from Latin America to the Middle East to the Balkans. I am not a pacifist. I know there are limits. But I desperately want to avoid going there.
“We would not have a movement if violence or property damage were used from the outset,” Kevin Zeese, one of the first activists to call for an Occupy movement, told me. “People are not drawn to violent movement. Such tactics will shrink rather than expand our base of support. Property damage justifies police violence to many Americans. There is a wide range of diversity of tactics within a nonviolent strategy. Disciplined nonviolence is often more difficult because anger and emotion lead people to want to strike back at the police when they are violent, but disciplined nonviolence is the tactic that is most effective against the violence of the state.”

The organizer Lisa Fithian is an author of one of the most concise arguments for nonviolence, “Open Letter to the Occupy Movement: Why We Need Agreements.” The essay points out that without agreements that enshrine nonviolence, “the young [are privileged] over the old, the loud voices over the soft, the fast over the slow, the able-bodied over those with disabilities, the citizen over the immigrant, white folks over people of color, those who can do damage and flee the scene over those who are left to face the consequences.”

“ ‘Diversity of tactics’ becomes an easy way to avoid wrestling with questions of strategy and accountability,” Fithian and two other authors write of the slogan used by the Black Bloc anarchists. “It lets us off the hook from doing the hard work of debating our positions and coming to agreements about how we want to act together. It becomes a code for ‘anything goes,’ and makes it impossible for our movements to hold anyone accountable for their actions.”

“The Occupy movement includes people from a broad diversity of backgrounds, life experiences and political philosophies,” the article goes on. “Some of us want to reform the system and some of us want to tear it down and replace it with something better. Our one great point of agreement is our call for transparency and accountability. We stand against the corrupt institutions that broker power behind closed doors. We call to account the financial manipulators that have bilked billions out of the poor and the middle classes.

“Just as we call for accountability and transparency, we ourselves must be accountable and transparent,” the authors write. “Some tactics are incompatible with those goals, even if in other situations they might be useful, honorable or appropriate. We can’t be transparent behind masks. We can’t be accountable for actions we run away from. We can’t maintain the security culture necessary for planning and carrying out attacks on property and also maintain the openness that can continue to invite in a true diversity of new people. We can’t make alliances with groups from impacted communities, such as immigrants, if we can’t make agreements about what tactics we will employ in any given action.”

We must assume we are targets. And we must fight back by relying on our strength, which in the great paradox of resistance movements is embodied in our weakness. This does not mean we will avoid being repressed or persecuted. It will not keep us safe from slander, lies or jail. But it does offer the capacity to create internal divisions in the apparatus of the oppressors rather than permit the oppressors to create internal divisions within the movement. Divided loyalties create paralysis. And it is our job to paralyze them, not allow them to paralyze us.

Chris Hedges writes a regular column for Truthdig.com

[baja]

HEY MARK - LOOK HERE;

http://www.americandeception.com/index.php?page=usercat&catid=9

[alkemical]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01c2y2b/Panorama_Poor_America/

BBC: With one and a half million American children now homeless, reporter Hilary Andersson meets the school pupils who go hungry in the richest country on Earth. From those living in the storm drains under Las Vegas to the tent cities now springing up around the United States.....

[Odysseus]

User adoption is always the challenge isn't it?

Maybe we need a website for corporate Jesus.com to go with Tea Party Jesus.

[Odysseus]

http://www.aflcio.org/corporatewatch/paywatch/

Some of the graphics are telling.

[alkemical]

Maybe we need a website for corporate Jesus.com to go with Tea Party Jesus.

What if I told you I have something in mind (already). I've been working/chewing on it. :D

[alkemical]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/front_page/newsid_9694000/9694094.stm

America's homeless resort to tent cities

Panorama's Hilary Andersson comes face to face with the reality of poverty in America and finds that, for some, the last resort has become life in a tented encampment.

Just off the side of a motorway on the fringes of the picturesque town of Ann Arbor, Michigan, a mismatched collection of 30 tents tucked in the woods has become home - home to those who are either unemployed, or whose wages are so low that they can no longer afford to pay rent.

Conditions are unhygienic. There are no toilets and electricity is only available in the one communal tent where the campers huddle around a wood stove for warmth in the heart of winter.

Ice weighs down the roofs of tents, and rain regularly drips onto the sleeping campers' faces.

Tent cities have sprung up in and around at least 55 American cities - they represent the bleak reality of America's poverty crisis.

Black mould

According to census data, 47 million Americans now live below the poverty line - the most in half a century - fuelled by several years of high unemployment.

One of the largest tented camps is in Florida and is now home to around 300 people. Others have sprung up in New Jersey and Portland.

Find out more
Michigan poverty
Hilary Andersson presents Panorama: Poor America
BBC One, Monday, 13 February at 8.30pm
Then available in the UK on the BBC iPlayer.

In the Ann Arbor camp, Alana Gehringer, 23, has had a hacking cough for the last four months.

"The black mould - it was on our pillows, it was on our blankets, we were literally rubbing our faces in it sleeping every night," she said of wintering in a tent.

The camp is run by the residents themselves, with the help of a local charity group. Calls have come in from the hospital emergency room, the local police and the local homeless shelter to see if they can send in more.

"Last night, for example, we got a call saying they had six that couldn't make it into the shelter and... they were hoping that we could place them... So we usually get calls, around nine or 10 a night," said Brian Durance, a camp organiser.

Michigan's Republican-controlled state government has been locked into a programme of severe budget cuts in an attempt to balance its books.

The cuts have included benefits for many of the state's poorest residents.

Between the cuts and the economic conditions pinching, there is increased pressure on homeless shelters.

Michigan's Lieutenant Governor, Brian Calley, was asked about the reality of public agencies in his state suggesting the homeless live in tents.

"That is absolutely not acceptable, and we have to take steps and policies in order to make sure that those people have the skills they need to be independent, and it won't happen overnight," he said.

Depression-type poverty

There are an estimated 5,000 people living in the dozens of camps that have sprung up across America.

The largest camp, Pinella's Hope in central Florida - a region better known for the glamour of Disneyworld - is made up of neat rows of tents spread out across a 13-acre plot.


In Steinbeck's Footsteps
Dorothea Lange is best known for her photos taken during the Great Depression
America's middle under-class once again searches for work

The Catholic charity that runs it has made laundry available, as well as computers and phones.

Many of the camps are organised and hold regular meetings to divide up camp chores and agree on community rules. They have become semi-permanent homes for some residents, who see little prospect of getting jobs soon.

These tent cities - and this level of poverty - are images that many Americans associate with the Great Depression.

Unemployment in America today has not reached the astronomical levels of the 1930s, but barring a short spike in 1982, it has not been this high since the Depression era.

There are now 13 million unemployed Americans, which is three million more than when President Barack Obama was first elected.

The stark reality is that many of them are people who very recently lived comfortable middle-class lives.

For them, the economic downturn came too fast and many have been forced to trade their middle-class homes for lives in shelters, motels and at the far extreme, tented encampments.

Panorama: Poor America, BBC One, Monday, 13 February at 20:30 GMT then available in the UK on the BBC iPlayer.

..

[alkemical]

http://www.disinfo.com/2012/02/the-movement-to-teach-the-economy-what-it-is-doing/

The Movement To Teach The Economy What It Is Doing

Posted by JacobSloan on February 15, 2012

EMAIL to disinfoIn an essay penned over a decade ago titled “In Distrust of Movements”, farmer, author, and critic Wendell Berry beautifully summed up the nature of and need for an Occupy movement. Via the irrisistible fleet of bicycles:

One way we could describe the task ahead of us is by saying that we need to enlarge the consciousness and the conscience of the economy. Our economy needs to know — and care — what it is doing. This is revolutionary, of course, if you have a taste for revolution, but it is also a matter of common sense.

People in movements…often become too specialized, as if finally they cannot help taking refuge in the pinhole vision of the institutional intellectuals. They almost always fail to be radical enough, dealing finally in effects rather than causes. Or they deal with single issues or single solutions, as if to assure themselves that they will not be radical enough.

And so I must declare my dissatisfaction with movements to promote soil conservation or clean water or clean air or wilderness preservation or sustainable agriculture or community health or the welfare of children. Worthy as these and other goals may be, they cannot be achieved alone. I am dissatisfied with such efforts because they are too specialized, they are not comprehensive enough, they are not radical enough, they virtually predict their own failure by implying that we can remedy or control effects while leaving causes in place.

Let us suppose that we have a Nameless Movement for Better Land Use and that we know we must try to keep it active, responsive and intelligent for a long time. What must we do?

What we must do above all, I think, is try to see the problem in its full size and difficulty. If we are concerned about land abuse, then we must see that this is an economic problem. Every economy is, by definition, a land-using economy. If we are using our land wrongly, then something is wrong with our economy. This is difficult. It becomes more difficult when we recognize that, in modern times, every one of us is a member of the economy of everybody else.

The Captains of Industry have always counselled the rest of us to be “realistic”. Let us, therefore, be realistic. Is it realistic to assume that the present economy would be just fine if only it would stop poisoning the air and water, or if only it would stop soil erosion, or if only it would stop degrading watersheds and forest ecosystems, or if only it would stop seducing children, or if only it would quit buying politicians, or if only it would give women and favoured minorities an equitable share of the loot? Realism, I think, is a very limited programme, but it informs us at least that we should not look for bird eggs in a cuckoo clock.

We are involved now in a profound failure of imagination. Most of us cannot imagine the wheat beyond the bread, or the farmer beyond the wheat, or the farm beyond the farmer, or the history beyond the farm. Most people cannot imagine the forest and the forest economy that produced their houses and furniture and paper; or the landscapes, the streams and the weather that fill their pitchers and bathtubs and swimming pools with water. Most people appear to assume that when they have paid their money for these things they have entirely met their obligations.

Undoubtedly some people will want to start a movement to bring this about. They probably will call it the Movement to Teach the Economy What It Is Doing — the mtewiid. Despite my very considerable uneasiness, I will agree to this, but on three conditions.

My first condition is that this movement should begin by giving up all hope and belief in piecemeal, one-shot solutions. The present scientific quest for odourless hog manure should give us sufficient proof that the specialist is no longer with us.

My second condition is that the people in this movement (the mtewiid) should take full responsibility for themselves as members of the economy. If we are going to teach the economy what it is doing, then we need to learn what we are doing. This is going to have to be a private movement as well as a public one. If it is unrealistic to expect wasteful industries to be conservers, then obviously we must lead in part the public life of complainers, petitioners, protesters, advocates and supporters of stricter regulations and saner policies.

My third condition is that this movement should content itself to be poor. We need to find cheap solutions, solutions within the reach of everybody, and the availability of a lot of money prevents the discovery of cheap solutions. The solutions of modern medicine and modern agriculture are all staggeringly expensive, and this is caused in part, and maybe altogether, because of the availability of huge sums of money for medical and agricultural research.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Maybe we need a website for corporate Jesus.com to go with Tea Party Jesus.

Gotcha covered...

http://addictinginfo.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/republican-jesus-248x300.gif

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/11/17/republican-jesus/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Republican-Jesus/105540572819026

[alkemical]

http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/26119746/566180377/name/Confessions-of-an-economic-hit-man-by-John-Perkins.pdf

[Odysseus]

What if I told you I have something in mind (already). I've been working/chewing on it. :D

My psychic powers have failed me. You will have to use words/email.

[Odysseus]

Gotcha covered...

http://addictinginfo.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/republican-jesus-248x300.gif

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/11/17/republican-jesus/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Republican-Jesus/105540572819026

Amazing grace! LOLLOLLOLLOL

[Odysseus]

http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/26119746/566180377/name/Confessions-of-an-economic-hit-man-by-John-Perkins.pdf

Amazing read. I liked a lot of the connections uncovered there.

I have uncovered a raft of .pdf files that are amazing connections on many levels. Is there a .pdf server online where these can be shared? Which is better for reading .pdf downloaded? Kindle? Nook?

You really should look at Republican Jesus links from an economic perspective. The consistency is refreshingly pointed.

[alkemical]

Amazing read. I liked a lot of the connections uncovered there.

I have uncovered a raft of .pdf files that are amazing connections on many levels. Is there a .pdf server online where these can be shared? Which is better for reading .pdf downloaded? Kindle? Nook?

You really should look at Republican Jesus links from an economic perspective. The consistency is refreshingly pointed.

I don't have an eBook reader - but Librarians I know - enjoy the Sony one. Kindle can be rooted and provide more android support...

We might be able to set something up on drop box or some other file sharing site. I have a skydrive account tied to my MicroSoft Live account....

On the subject of Republican jesus - i'll have to spend more time on it - and i'm just now starting 'confessions of an econ hitman".

Last night someone was talking to me about bolivia and how they might be a model for what we have to do:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolivia

So, it kinda made me chuckle when I ran into this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoconservatism

[Odysseus]

I love this from the links you shared. Interesting!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:EffectOfTariff.svg

Orangemane...political think tank? Too funny.

[mhgaffney]

Greek police refuse to fire on occupy protesters

Don't miss this latest interview with Gerald Celente -- one of our top futurists.

http://www.kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/Broadcast/Entries/2012/2/12_Gerald_Celente_files/Gerald%20Celente%202%3A12%3A2012.mp3

[alkemical]

http://www.dangerousminds.net/comments/fked_the_united_states_of_unemployment

F**KED: The United States of Unemployment

http://www.dangerousminds.net/images/uploads/damienhirstskullsighnvchchc.jpg


Salon’s got a great series of videos exploring the lives and coping strategies of “the 99ers”—no, not the 99%, although they are certainly a part of that, too—the people who have exhausted 99 weeks of unemployment insurance and have nowhere else to turn.

In this most recent installment, Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker Immy Humes listens to members of the longtime unemployed tell how the Occupy movement inspired them. There is something in the emotional core of this short film that captures perfectly, I think, the life-affirming realization of “Holy ****, this is really happening and it’s wonderful” that went on for those few months last Fall. Almost more than any other document I’ve seen about Occupy Wall Street, this one really speaks to the kind of experience I personally had there. It captures what it inspired in many people.

For our 99ers, an informal group of jobless New Yorkers who have exhausted their 99 weeks of unemployment benefits, the Occupy Wall Street movement came as a dream fulfilled.

As the protests took root in Zuccotti Park, the 99ers found a mass of people who care about the plight of the jobless and want to do something about it. As seen in last week’s episode of our video series, “Occupy Meets MacArthur’s Tanks,” Occupy Wall Street is just the latest in a long line of American protest movements demanding economic justice. The emergence of the Occupy movement, one 99er said, felt “like the early stages of a revolution.”

And then the question arose: What do America’s jobless want? As the video shows, the 99ers have some answers.

[Odysseus]

Wall Street is not our only problem. Globalization seems to be what controls Wall Street's attention.

[Odysseus]

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2011/10/19/what-percent-are-you/

What percent are you?

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/418129_394478967244287_108038612554992_1522856_111 0181141_n.jpg

[baja]

The poster nails it.

Just think how little they will need us when drones and robots are perfected and become the military on the "ground".

...and if they don't need us.........

[Odysseus]

The poster nails it.

Just think how little they will need us when drones and robots are perfected and become the military on the "ground".

...and if they don't need us.........

In the Matrix even the "batteries" have a "powerful" role to play.

[Odysseus]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/24/banker-1-percent-tip-receipt_n_1299280.html?ref=mostpopular

banker leaves 1% tip in response to 99%

Mention the “99%” in my boss’ presence and feel his wrath. So proudly does he wear his 1% badge of honor that he tips exactly 1% every time he feels the server doesn’t sufficiently bow down to his Holiness. Oh, and he always makes sure to include a “tip” of his own.

[Odysseus]

I work in the corporate office of a major bank for a boss who represents everything wrong with the financial industry: blatant disregard and outright contempt for everyone and everything he deems beneath him. On top of that, he’s a complete and utter tool. At the same time, I’m still cashing paychecks, an admittedly willing—albeit reluctant—cog in the wheel of this increasingly ugly industry, so I’ve created this blog as a confessional of sorts. It won’t entirely clear my conscience, but hopefully it’ll help. I’m sure I’ll get fired eventually. Until then, enjoy.

[alkemical]

http://static.neatorama.com/images/2012-02/1-percent-tip.jpg

[Rohirrim]

Newport Beach is full of assholes. It's kind of the asshole central of the California coast.

[alkemical]

http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2012/02/mac-mcclelland-free-online-shipping-warehouses-labor

I Was a Warehouse Wage Slave

My brief, backbreaking, rage-inducing, low-paying, dildo-packing time inside the online-shipping machine.

[alkemical]

http://www1.rollingstone.com/extras/13637_DHS%20IP%20Special.pdf

Internal DHS memo on OWS

[alkemical]

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/national-affairs/exclusive-homeland-security-kept-tabs-on-occupy-wall-street-20120228

[alkemical]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-29/wall-street-bonus-withdrawal-means-trading-aspen-for-cheap-chex.html

Bloomberg's Max Abelson takes us deep into the spectacle of members of Wall Street's 1% bemoaning their difficult straits as they struggle to make ends meet with their reduced bonuses. One doesn't know how he'll tell his children that they can't go to an exclusive private school anymore, another bemoans his mere 1200sqft New York apartment, and a third is gutted at the thought that he and his family no longer toss away the coupon circular that is left in their doorway -- now they glance at it!

“People who don’t have money don’t understand the stress,” said Alan Dlugash, a partner at accounting firm Marks Paneth & Shron LLP in New York who specializes in financial planning for the wealthy. “Could you imagine what it’s like to say I got three kids in private school, I have to think about pulling them out? How do you do that?”

...“They have a circular that they leave in front of the buildings in our neighborhood,” said Arbeeny, 49, who lives in nearby Cobble Hill, namesake for a line of pebbled-leather Kate Spade handbags. “We sit there, and I look through all of them to find out where it’s worth going.”

...The malaise is shared by Schiff, the New York-based marketing director for Euro Pacific Capital, where his brother is CEO. His family rents the lower duplex of a brownstone in Cobble Hill, where his two children share a room. His 10-year- old daughter is a student at $32,000-a-year Poly Prep Country Day School in Brooklyn. His son, 7, will apply in a few years. “I can’t imagine what I’m going to do,” Schiff said. “I’m crammed into 1,200 square feet. I don’t have a dishwasher. We do all our dishes by hand.”

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/6KpeGP-FMvs/146495.html

[alkemical]

http://propagandatimes.com/images/propaganda/minimal_minimum.jpg

[alkemical]

http://propagandatimes.com/images/propaganda/businessasusual.jpg

[jhns]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/24/banker-1-percent-tip-receipt_n_1299280.html?ref=mostpopular

banker leaves 1% tip in response to 99%

Mention the “99%” in my boss’ presence and feel his wrath. So proudly does he wear his 1% badge of honor that he tips exactly 1% every time he feels the server doesn’t sufficiently bow down to his Holiness. Oh, and he always makes sure to include a “tip” of his own.

Never happened...

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

The new documentary film "Heist" concludes that "there are only two kinds of power in America: organized money and organized people."


https://s-external.ak.fbcdn.net/safe_image.php?d=AQDHdqUjol4_U490&w=90&h=90&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.truth-out.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2F022912heist.jp g (http://www.truth-out.org/who-stole-american-dream-broad-daylight/1330539102)Who Stole the American Dream in Broad Daylight? (http://www.truth-out.org/who-stole-american-dream-broad-daylight/1330539102)

Opening in New York City on March 3 at the Quad City Cinema, "Heist: Who Stole the American Dream?" is a feature documentary about the emergence of plutocratic control of the US government.

[Odysseus]

The new documentary film "Heist" concludes that "there are only two kinds of power in America: organized money and organized people."


https://s-external.ak.fbcdn.net/safe_image.php?d=AQDHdqUjol4_U490&w=90&h=90&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.truth-out.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2F022912heist.jp g (http://www.truth-out.org/who-stole-american-dream-broad-daylight/1330539102)Who Stole the American Dream in Broad Daylight? (http://www.truth-out.org/who-stole-american-dream-broad-daylight/1330539102)

Opening in New York City on March 3 at the Quad City Cinema, "Heist: Who Stole the American Dream?" is a feature documentary about the emergence of plutocratic control of the US government.

The only people who are organized have money. I don't see anybody storming the Bastille in these modern times. All that PC docility has taken the spine out of most people.

[alkemical]

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/10/tech/innovation/solar-powered-led-lamps/index.html?hpt=hp_bn7

Solar lamps replace toxic kerosene in poorest countries

"You have some night-fisherman spending up to a dollar a day on kerosene -- a huge chunk of their income. If they buy a solar lamp they've potentially recouped their investment in a month or so, freeing-up extra money to invest in their business," he says.

Influenced by C.K. Prahalad's book "The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid" -- championing the collective buying power of people earning a few dollars a day -- Chugh and his American founding partner Matt Scott have predicated their business model on the idea that world's poorest can be the drivers of commercial innovation.

"The MightyLight is really a co-creation with the target users. We developed it exactly how they wished it to be ... and the result is a product that would appeal even to the wealthy in New York," he says.

proving to be a more effective mechanism at providing long-term solutions than government or NGO aid
Patrick Avato, Lighting Africa Project director

According to Avato, it's this focus on entrepreneurship -- as opposed to aid -- that has underpinned much of the progress around off-grid lighting over the last few years.

"It's taken a while to convince investors that there is a viable market here. But you just have to look at the figures -- Africans alone spend $10 billion a year on kerosene, and there are 600 million people without electricity," he says.

At the recent Lighting Africa Conference in Nairobi, Avato claims there were over 50 companies promoting their off-grid lighting products -- up from just a handful only two years ago. This, he says, has helped enable 1.5 million people across the continent to acquire some form of cheap, off-grid, renewably powered light.

"The market is proving to be a more effective mechanism at providing long-term solutions than government or NGO aid," he says.

For Mills, the entrepreneurial model in this case has both social and environmentally practical benefits.

"Rather than the old 'relief' mentality around solar where you have charitable organizations dumping these lights from a helicopter, you now have individuals making small investments for themselves and yielding big returns. It's a more sustainable model that fosters aspiration," he says.



____

What do you guys think about this "vision" and "use" of capitalism?

[alkemical]

The only people who are organized have money. I don't see anybody storming the Bastille in these modern times. All that PC docility has taken the spine out of most people.

Something clicked today. Focus on statergy! I re-read a PDF some guy sent me titled:

Twenty-Eight Articles
Fundamentals of Company-level Counterinsurgency
by David Kilcullen

I think I need help with forming strategies. Understanding more about business & economics is important (thanks to the angel_investmentAdvisor) - But i've also come to realize the gaps i also need to learn.

Sometimes playing catch-up really sucks when you're in your early 30's. Also learning that seeing obstacles removes the focus from the goal.

Strategery, strategery, strategery.

Goals:

Off Grid long term Sustainability. (Need to find a # for that)
continue to build & grow business(es).
Camp Under Northern lights
Stay Alive during Zombie Apocalypse ;)

[Odysseus]

smallwarsjournal.com/documents/28articles.pdf

http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/recent?page=147

Found it!

[mhgaffney]

Gerald Celente on MF Global rip off of $1.2 billion

Don't miss this great interview -- Celente is spot on as usual - as he compares the bankers to the mafia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wcYPjdwEfU

[mhgaffney]

Wall Street Journal says missing $1.2 billion "Vaporized"...

You can't make this stuff up... are you kidding me?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203920204577191014034430488.html

[mhgaffney]

As PCR reports below, the latest numbers about job creation are not encouraging. Don't believe the presstitutes when they tell you the recession is over!
MHG

No Jobs For Americans

The land of the mega-rich

By Paul Craig Roberts

March 11, 2012 "Information Clearing House" --- Today (March 9, 2012) the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced that 227,000 new nonfarm payroll jobs were created by the economy during February. Is the government’s claim true?

No. Statistician John Williams (shadowstats.com) reports that 44,000 of these jobs or 19% consist of an add-on factor derived from the BLS’s estimate that 44,000 more unreported jobs from new business start-ups were created than were lost by unreported business failures. The BLS’s estimate comes from the bureau’s “birth-death model,” which works better during normal times, but delivers erroneous results during troubled times such as the economy has been experiencing during the past four years.

Taking out the 44,000 added-on jobs reduces the February jobs number to 183,000, but does not provide a full correction. In an economy as troubled as the US economy is, most likely the deaths exceeded the births, but we don’t know what the number is. Was it 20,000? 50,000? What number do we deduct from the 183,000? We simply do not know.

Williams reports that seasonal adjustment factors do not work properly during troubled economic times and add their own overstatement to the jobs figure. If anyone could estimate the overestimate of new jobs that results from malfunctioning seasonal adjustments, it is John Williams, but he doesn’t provide an estimate.

Most likely, the new jobs did not exceed 150,000, a figure that would merely keep even with population growth and thus not reduce the rate of unemployment, which, consistent with this deduction, remained constant.

Let’s look now at the kind of jobs that were created. Of the new jobs reported by BLS,
92% are in services. Of this 92%, only 7% could possibly relate to exportable services--architectural, engineering, and computer systems services.

Of the reported new service jobs, 29% are in health care and social services. The categories that account for the health services jobs are ambulatory health care services and hospitals. Waitresses and bartenders account for 20% of the reported new jobs.

Employment services account for 29% of the new reported jobs. Transportation and warehousing accounted for 5% of the reported new jobs, despite a loss of 60,000 jobs in general merchandise and department stores.

In other words, the vast majority of the new jobs are low paying jobs, except for a few truck drivers.

Other conclusions that we can draw are:

The US has nothing to export to reduce its massive trade deficit, which has, sooner or later, disastrous implications for the US dollar.

Middle class income jobs are declining, with polarization at the two extremes.

US economic policy continues to focus on the mega-rich at the expense of 99% of the population. US interest rates are kept at, or near to, zero in order to maximize mega-bank earnings, while depriving tens of millions of retired Americans of interest income on their lifetime savings, forcing them to spend their capital in order to live, thus depriving their heavily indebted children of inheritance.

In short, the US is well on its way to becoming a third world country, as I predicted would be the case in 20 years at a Brookings Institution conference in Washington DC early in the 21st century.

America is no longer the land of the free and independent. It is the land of the 1% mega-rich.

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following. www.paulcraigroberts.org

[mhgaffney]

Don't miss this short history of US predatory capitalism!


The title is borrowed from the writings of Thoreau: Let Your Life Be a Friction to Stop the Machine

http://youtu.be/N2Xh5eN2fXY

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

http://www.bartcop.com/98-broke-it.jpg

[mhgaffney]

The untold history of US banksters -- and the fed

This is the best video ever made about the fed -- bar none. It shows how central bankers have worked tirelessly since the founding of the US to destroy democracy and liberty.

This is the real history they never taught us in school.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOZ2l6UNY34&feature=related

[W*GS]

The untold history of US banksters -- and the fed

3h 30m?

Snore.

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Money_Masters">The Money Masters</a>, for those of us who have lives.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/557683_390537404307840_196601040368145_1460906_589 440352_n.jpg

[Odysseus]

The conversation has to be global in order for 99% to have any clue which direction to make things better.

[mhgaffney]

The conversation has to be global in order for 99% to have any clue which direction to make things better.

Huh?

What about think globally - act locally?

[alkemical]

The conversation has to be global in order for 99% to have any clue which direction to make things better.


Nobody has any clue on anything. When you ask for direction & help, nobody knows nuttin'....or they know 'everything', and aren't willing to do the work.

Very frustrating...

[mosca]

Americans have long had an independent streak ingrained in us - I know I do. We're afraid to think globally.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Ask a TeaTard...

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/546071_424027600956090_108038612554992_1616216_161 9702676_n.jpg

[Odysseus]

Huh?

What about think globally - act locally?

Thinking globally is the only way to understand what acting locally means.

[Odysseus]

Nobody has any clue on anything. When you ask for direction & help, nobody knows nuttin'....or they know 'everything', and aren't willing to do the work.

Very frustrating...

Understood.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Right Off A Cliff (https://www.facebook.com/RightOffACliff)


Why is it "fair" for Republicans to reduce our deficits by placing the burden solely on the shoulders of our poor, elderly and middle class but feel it is "unfair" to ask the wealthy to pay higher taxes when the corruption within that top 1% led to this mess in the first place?

[mhgaffney]

Gerald Celente has it right. The big banksters = mafia hoodlums.

Why do so many not yet understand this?

Answer: thought control has been extremely effective at keeping people asleep or preoccupied.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Calvin and Hobbes explain crony capitalism

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/526387_424454617580055_108038612554992_1617392_103 4731318_n.jpg

[Odysseus]

Americans have long had an independent streak ingrained in us - I know I do. We're afraid to think globally.

This is why cowboy politician's appeal to us and seem honest when, as a point of fact, our nostalgia is what prevents us from seeing what our real problems and choices are.

We cannot bomb our way out of where we are. We cannot bribe, buy, threaten, or barter our way out of where we are. An untapped resource IS th 99%. We need to INVENT our way out of this situation and this is something that common American innovation has done well since inception.

The vileness of the 1% is not their wealth but their abuse of our greatest national treasure which is our ability to re-invent ourselves and create better trade opportunity for all Americans.

[mhgaffney]

This is why cowboy politician's appeal to us and seem honest when, as a point of fact, our nostalgia is what prevents us from seeing what our real problems and choices are.

We cannot bomb our way out of where we are. We cannot bribe, buy, threaten, or barter our way out of where we are. An untapped resource IS th 99%. We need to INVENT our way out of this situation and this is something that common American innovation has done well since inception.

The vileness of the 1% is not their wealth but their abuse of our greatest national treasure which is our ability to re-invent ourselves and create better trade opportunity for all Americans.

The 1% have the wrong understanding of what wealth is. They think it's money when as you point out -- it's our innate creativity and resourcefulness.

The 1% are motivated by greed. Their top priority is to hold on to -- and even increase -- their money wealth.

They have been effective at blocking positive change -- by buying up creative solutions -- and putting them on the shelf -- or deconstructing and selling off the pieces.

[chadta]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEqkphVOkHc&feature=fvwrel

long as were posting links to videos

[mosca]

This is why cowboy politician's appeal to us and seem honest when, as a point of fact, our nostalgia is what prevents us from seeing what our real problems and choices are.

We cannot bomb our way out of where we are. We cannot bribe, buy, threaten, or barter our way out of where we are. An untapped resource IS th 99%. We need to INVENT our way out of this situation and this is something that common American innovation has done well since inception.

The vileness of the 1% is not their wealth but their abuse of our greatest national treasure which is our ability to re-invent ourselves and create better trade opportunity for all Americans.I hear ya on that nostalgia. When I talk to my parents, I can feel their nostalgia whenever I discuss any current issues and the path that should be taken. The inherent differences between our generation (as we transition more and more to a world resembling William Gibson's Neuromancer) and that of the 1950s/1960s is astounding. Just imagine how nostalgic we'll be when speaking with the next generation of humans thirty years from now, the children of today who have never experienced life without Internet or cellphones.

My question is - how do we (humanity, both the 1% and 99% together) invent our way out of this situation when so much of the resources required to do so are controlled by the 1%? Just look at the difficulty of any start-up trying to succeed when they are up against companies like Google, Microsoft, etc. who will just copy or buy out and of their ideas?

[mosca]

They have been effective at blocking positive change -- by buying up creative solutions -- and putting them on the shelf -- or deconstructing and selling off the pieces.
Exactly - so how do we combat the danger of the 1%, who have in so many instances represented such a large obstacle to succeeding with any creative solution? So far I've heard the vague examples of "thinking globally and acting locally"... And I too fall into the group that doesn't have the solutions. Just seeing what anyone else can recommend.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Exactly - so how do we combat the danger of the 1%, who have in so many instances represented such a large obstacle to succeeding with any creative solution? So far I've heard the vague examples of "thinking globally and acting locally"... And I too fall into the group that doesn't have the solutions. Just seeing what anyone else can recommend.

One thing you can do is stop feeding the tapeworm!

http://www.care2.com/c2c/share/detail/2907703

http://www.karavans.com/tapeworm.html

Hit them where it hurts: In their pocketbooks!

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/385769_429500707075446_108038612554992_1635200_211 9300120_n.jpg

[Odysseus]

I hear ya on that nostalgia. When I talk to my parents, I can feel their nostalgia whenever I discuss any current issues and the path that should be taken. The inherent differences between our generation (as we transition more and more to a world resembling William Gibson's Neuromancer) and that of the 1950s/1960s is astounding. Just imagine how nostalgic we'll be when speaking with the next generation of humans thirty years from now, the children of today who have never experienced life without Internet or cellphones.

My question is - how do we (humanity, both the 1% and 99% together) invent our way out of this situation when so much of the resources required to do so are controlled by the 1%? Just look at the difficulty of any start-up trying to succeed when they are up against companies like Google, Microsoft, etc. who will just copy or buy out and of their ideas?

United States overall is stifling creativity, discouraging development, and positioning our country to be compromised by other nations willing to ask questions we are not even thinking about.

We need to re-think consumerism, innovation, as well as our core values to be inclusive instead of exclusive. The world works in waves. Something bad has to happen in order for something good to find it's way. It seems to be the nature of the beast.

[alkemical]

Mosca & Ody -

Why...in America, do we say we want creativity/out of the box stuff: But when it comes for decisions makers to decide, or leaders to lead - do they pick the same old bull****?

"Nobody gets fired for buying IBM"

[mosca]

Mosca & Ody -

Why...in America, do we say we want creativity/out of the box stuff: But when it comes for decisions makers to decide, or leaders to lead - do they pick the same old bull****?

"Nobody gets fired for buying IBM"
It's almost to the point that 'thinking out of the box' is a tired old cliche. It really shouldn't be - innovation is the name of the game in human progress and evolution. But as with too many things - paying lip service to things is all the voters want these days. Just witness the hundreds of millions who STILL vote R/D in elections. GTFO.

These politicians can keep on talking the talk, but very few walk the walk. Any battles these days are fought incrementally - I am hoping that in 20 years, just for example, that marijuana is legal. I don't even smoke, and I knew 10 years ago that none of the current referendums would gain enough popular support -- but thinking long term - if each year you can gain enough support on an issue like this that the older generation is clearly out of touch with - that true change might one day come about. The one thing we need is for the electorate to keep the politicians accountable.

When I say that, Republicans criticising Democrat presidents just because they are Democrats, and Democrats criticising Republican prezs just because they are Republicans - that doesn't count... People in this country just have a serious problem with being HONEST and owning up to what needs to be done.

[Rohirrim]

I think our government is totally bought out and has turned to concrete. We need a constitutional convention. Of course, in the current climate, that would just lead to a civil war. We're pretty much stuck.

[mhgaffney]

Your idea of a constitutional convention is absurd --

The problem is not with the Constitution. The problem (the federal reserve bank ) was created by a simple majority of Congress in 1913.

The US Treasury Department already has the authority to create money at no interest.

A simple majority of Congress could repeal the federal reserve act.

[Odysseus]

Mosca & Ody -

Why...in America, do we say we want creativity/out of the box stuff: But when it comes for decisions makers to decide, or leaders to lead - do they pick the same old bull****?

"Nobody gets fired for buying IBM"

We are completely divided as a country and there are no reliable sources that are working to reverse that.

Media are doing their best to whip everybody into a frenzy over dog**** issues while defusing real issues with tangential questions. The pace of change is high but the amount of change is limited because of the level of fear that is maintained.

What do you do when the sheep are agitated and rounding around the question rather than addressing it directly? How do you bypass stupidity?

Our basis for decisions, our inability to think or innovate is wrapped in the very fear we choose to embrace. We don't look for solutions. We look for quick answers and simple truths. We are such short term thinkers and incapable or reading, thinking, or dealing with truth rather than lies or supposition. We have no patience and short attention spans.

[alkemical]

It's almost to the point that 'thinking out of the box' is a tired old cliche. It really shouldn't be - innovation is the name of the game in human progress and evolution. But as with too many things - paying lip service to things is all the voters want these days. Just witness the hundreds of millions who STILL vote R/D in elections. GTFO.

These politicians can keep on talking the talk, but very few walk the walk. Any battles these days are fought incrementally - I am hoping that in 20 years, just for example, that marijuana is legal. I don't even smoke, and I knew 10 years ago that none of the current referendums would gain enough popular support -- but thinking long term - if each year you can gain enough support on an issue like this that the older generation is clearly out of touch with - that true change might one day come about. The one thing we need is for the electorate to keep the politicians accountable.

When I say that, Republicans criticising Democrat presidents just because they are Democrats, and Democrats criticising Republican prezs just because they are Republicans - that doesn't count... People in this country just have a serious problem with being HONEST and owning up to what needs to be done.



100% agreed.

You're always welcome where-ever iam.

[alkemical]

We are completely divided as a country and there are no reliable sources that are working to reverse that.

Media are doing their best to whip everybody into a frenzy over dog**** issues while defusing real issues with tangential questions. The pace of change is high but the amount of change is limited because of the level of fear that is maintained.

What do you do when the sheep are agitated and rounding around the question rather than addressing it directly? How do you bypass stupidity?

Our basis for decisions, our inability to think or innovate is wrapped in the very fear we choose to embrace. We don't look for solutions. We look for quick answers and simple truths. We are such short term thinkers and incapable or reading, thinking, or dealing with truth rather than lies or supposition. We have no patience and short attention spans.



Why are Americans unable to face the fact that they have to be just as accountable in their everyday?

Back when the #Occupy protests started I had told my community that: "the goal should be #OWS (occupy wall street), Occupy_Local, then Occupy Office. You can't even get people to name their township supervisors, or who is on the school board.

America has turned into a country, that believes its own hype - but never delivers. "America, **** yeah!"

I could go on & on & ON about this. But then I sound like the guy in my 20's with the sandwich board, ringin' the bell. I'd rather just find solutions and implement them with people i can work with.

I don't know how you bypass stupidity...maybe I should use a cattle prod first. :) it's also some weird "spell" that keeps cognitive dissonance invisible to the "user". I don't get it either man, i don't.

Philosophy is a team sport folks.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/428080_326994237348771_246310432083819_869242_1590 913868_n.jpg

[Odysseus]

Why are Americans unable to face the fact that they have to be just as accountable in their everyday?

Back when the #Occupy protests started I had told my community that: "the goal should be #OWS (occupy wall street), Occupy_Local, then Occupy Office. You can't even get people to name their township supervisors, or who is on the school board.

America has turned into a country, that believes its own hype - but never delivers. "America, **** yeah!"

I could go on & on & ON about this. But then I sound like the guy in my 20's with the sandwich board, ringin' the bell. I'd rather just find solutions and implement them with people i can work with.

I don't know how you bypass stupidity...maybe I should use a cattle prod first. :) it's also some weird "spell" that keeps cognitive dissonance invisible to the "user". I don't get it either man, i don't.

Philosophy is a team sport folks.

Philosophy is NOT a team sport. Society is a team sport. Philosophy is personal, private, and individual. The minute you mandate religion or atheism you are are risk of being deceived.

Bypassing stupidity is also personal and private. Nobody gives a ****. No matter how idealistic we are as societies, ultimately, societies don't care. Think about it? How many Chinese died during WWII? We don't know because we don't care. Google is useless as a tool if you do not think for yourself.

This is why storming the Bastille is bad. Nobody cares if you save the world. History is written by cowards, bullies, and least common denominator among men. Show me where the history was written by the loser and i will show you a society that died heroically.

There is no real bypass to stupidity. We all have to start someplace. The Taliban figured out if you keep the people stupid they stay in your corner. This is what is happening in America. Our media, process rules, and vile politics is creating a system where "stupidity" can make you relevant.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s320x320/295156_440335239325326_108038612554992_1663400_205 2068938_n.jpg

[alkemical]

Philosophy is NOT a team sport. Society is a team sport. Philosophy is personal, private, and individual. The minute you mandate religion or atheism you are are risk of being deceived.

Bypassing stupidity is also personal and private. Nobody gives a ****. No matter how idealistic we are as societies, ultimately, societies don't care. Think about it? How many Chinese died during WWII? We don't know because we don't care. Google is useless as a tool if you do not think for yourself.

This is why storming the Bastille is bad. Nobody cares if you save the world. History is written by cowards, bullies, and least common denominator among men. Show me where the history was written by the loser and i will show you a society that died heroically.

There is no real bypass to stupidity. We all have to start someplace. The Taliban figured out if you keep the people stupid they stay in your corner. This is what is happening in America. Our media, process rules, and vile politics is creating a system where "stupidity" can make you relevant.

Totally disagree (even though it's as granular as the individual - that i do agree with): Philosophy IS a team sport. It's all around you, it's how you work with people..it's how people are galvanized or congregate together. Who said anything about MANDATING? (Well, other than you.)

Communities are philosophies in extension.

Capitalism is a philosophy - Ethics, are philosophies. How you live everyday, is a philosophy. How you responded to my posts, are reflective of your philosophies.

How groups work together, is also reflective of philosophies: A good example is the "food movement" in the USA. (sports teams, militaries, etc - if everyone's operating on independent directives - and there is no coordination, nothing gets done).

I'm not going to storm the bastille - i'll just dig a channel and let the water erode the wall and let it fall down. I'll just HELP nature along.


Humans often forget they are mammals, and they are prodded along by people who push the animal buttons. They are kept stupid, but the cleverness is that humans PAY people to do this to them & for them. So, if you can't join them - beat them.

I'm not worried about making history Ody - i'm more concerned with the future. :)

[alkemical]

http://www.disinfo.com/2012/04/150-million-americans-are-in-poverty/

Tavis Smiley and Cornel West discuss their new book on Democracy Now!:

The latest census data shows nearly one in two Americans, or 150 million people, have fallen into poverty — or could be classified as low income. We’re joined by Dr. Cornel West and Tavis Smiley, who continue their efforts to spark a national dialog on the poverty crisis with the new book, The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto.

[Odysseus]

Totally disagree (even though it's as granular as the individual - that i do agree with): Philosophy IS a team sport. It's all around you, it's how you work with people..it's how people are galvanized or congregate together. Who said anything about MANDATING? (Well, other than you.)

Communities are philosophies in extension.

Capitalism is a philosophy - Ethics, are philosophies. How you live everyday, is a philosophy. How you responded to my posts, are reflective of your philosophies.

How groups work together, is also reflective of philosophies: A good example is the "food movement" in the USA. (sports teams, militaries, etc - if everyone's operating on independent directives - and there is no coordination, nothing gets done).

I'm not going to storm the bastille - i'll just dig a channel and let the water erode the wall and let it fall down. I'll just HELP nature along.

Humans often forget they are mammals, and they are prodded along by people who push the animal buttons. They are kept stupid, but the cleverness is that humans PAY people to do this to them & for them. So, if you can't join them - beat them.

I'm not worried about making history Ody - i'm more concerned with the future. :)

Capitalism, despite accolades to Adam Smith, is a philosophy that comes from David Hume but here is the problem....Philosophy, is what it is supposed to be but rarely what it actually is. I don't think Adam Smith would be very pleased with what we did with his philosophy.

I think that man, despite his best inspirations, is a herd animal. Even Machiavelli ended up being tortured despite knowing what works and does not work. Communities, in my opinion, are living organisms that could care less from what earth they have sprung. They do whatever it is they are intent on doing and even if you are it's creator it comes with it's own programming instructions and data set.

Philosophy, in my view, is like religion. It is personal, private, and even if you explained it nobody sits in your seat in whatever church you chose except for you. There are no two theist/atheist that are alike.

Society is an agreement forged in sacrifice. It is individuals agreeing to a perceived greater good and willing to compromise their own personal good for the good of the nation, king, and/or ideal.

I agree with you in concept but in reality the reason the 99% will not prosper is they are not approaching the 1% in a manner that is inclusive...thus the expanding divide. How do you convince the rich to consider the philosophy of the 99% when they are so divided. You have to consider who divided them and why.

The facts are out there but the rich have created doubt. The 1% innovation/create/expand their wealth but their philosophy disagrees with the 99%. How do you bridge THAT gap?

http://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_foley_the_other_inconvenient_truth.html

[Odysseus]

http://www.disinfo.com/2012/04/150-million-americans-are-in-poverty/

Tavis Smiley and Cornel West discuss their new book on Democracy Now!:

The latest census data shows nearly one in two Americans, or 150 million people, have fallen into poverty — or could be classified as low income. We’re joined by Dr. Cornel West and Tavis Smiley, who continue their efforts to spark a national dialog on the poverty crisis with the new book, The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto.

If you looked poverty globally you would see this in perspective as to why insourcing employment is so difficult. Global poverty is weighing down any considerations for America or Americans.

[alkemical]

Capitalism, despite accolades to Adam Smith, is a philosophy that comes from David Hume but here is the problem....Philosophy, is what it is supposed to be but rarely what it actually is. I don't think Adam Smith would be very pleased with what we did with his philosophy.

I think that man, despite his best inspirations, is a herd animal. Even Machiavelli ended up being tortured despite knowing what works and does not work. Communities, in my opinion, are living organisms that could care less from what earth they have sprung. They do whatever it is they are intent on doing and even if you are it's creator it comes with it's own programming instructions and data set.

Philosophy, in my view, is like religion. It is personal, private, and even if you explained it nobody sits in your seat in whatever church you chose except for you. There are no two theist/atheist that are alike.

Society is an agreement forged in sacrifice. It is individuals agreeing to a perceived greater good and willing to compromise their own personal good for the good of the nation, king, and/or ideal.

I agree with you in concept but in reality the reason the 99% will not prosper is they are not approaching the 1% in a manner that is inclusive...thus the expanding divide. How do you convince the rich to consider the philosophy of the 99% when they are so divided. You have to consider who divided them and why.

The facts are out there but the rich have created doubt. The 1% innovation/create/expand their wealth but their philosophy disagrees with the 99%. How do you bridge THAT gap?

http://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_foley_the_other_inconvenient_truth.html



I will get back to this (i want to watch the vid), but i disagree. societies aren't an agreement, societies are the control mechanism. The way the conditioning works, is the individual doesn't set the taboo, their* community does.

There are ways to bridge the gaps Ody - that's what i'm working on. I walk between the two worlds.

In the internal information age, you don't teach philosophy as they did after feudalism. You perform it. If Aristotle were alive today he'd have a talk show. -


"around 3000 years ago, a group of human beings in Athens, Greece, developed a new philosophy... the basic religion of humanity, is called humanism... Socrates said, the aim of human life is to know thyself... create and design your own order out of chaos... Socrates did not give commandments, Socrates did not impose order, Socrates asked questions... he encouraged to speculate, design, create, interact their own versions of reality... Socrates said the way to perform philosophy, in small groups, raising questions, learning from each other, change, changing your mind, growing together, linking together... "


"it has been the authorities, the political, religious, educational authorities, who attempted to comfort us by giving us order, rules, regulations, in-forming, forming our minds, with their view of reality... to think for yourself, you must question authority, and learn how to put yourself in a state of vulnerable open mindedness, chaotic, confused, vulnerability, to inform yourself..."

[Odysseus]

I will get back to this (i want to watch the vid), but i disagree. societies aren't an agreement, societies are the control mechanism. The way the conditioning works, is the individual doesn't set the taboo, their* community does.

There are ways to bridge the gaps Ody - that's what i'm working on. I walk between the two worlds.
-

We work between multiple worlds within worlds to be individuals in modern society. There is, for example, an entire gaming society that goes by it's own rules. There is the clan of Facebook, Google Plus, and even Orangemane. Each socialized network has it's own rules, governance, and issues. Remember when "what was good for GM was good for the nation"?

The underlying conversation was true but what it implied/revealed/shared was essentially true.

The problem the 99% percent face is that many of them have commonalities that they cannot be seen. Enemy of my enemy, in modern terms, is still my enemy. How do the 99% get a voice in the media with so many poorly shared or intuited connections?

We are faced, oddly enough, with too many choices. This is why stupidized mediocrity has gathered cult status. This is what makes Reagan great. This is why storming the Bastille is stupid. Gil Scott Heron was correct. The revolution will not be televised.

[Requiem]

We are the revolution, turd.

[sirhcyennek81]

This thread still exists?

:Broncos:

[Requiem]

****ing right it does ****a.

[sirhcyennek81]

So have the 99% triumphed yet? I'm sure a police station still has intact windows somewhere in SF.

:Broncos:

[Odysseus]

We are the revolution, turd.

There is a turd revolution?

[Odysseus]

So have the 99% triumphed yet? I'm sure a police station still has intact windows somewhere in SF.

:Broncos:

The 99% are supposed to win?

[sirhcyennek81]

The 99% are supposed to win?


Why yes. The memo clearly states rioting in Seattle, attacking police stations in SF and sending white powder to government buildings in NYC will make the 1% relent.

Duh.

:Broncos:

[Odysseus]

Why yes. The memo clearly states rioting in Seattle, attacking police stations in SF and sending white powder to government buildings in NYC will make the 1% relent.

Duh.

:Broncos:

White powder? Are you a racist? Why not green powder or cherry Gatorade?

Is rioting like claiming Jihad? Is it effective?

[Arkie]

So have the 99% triumphed yet? I'm sure a police station still has intact windows somewhere in SF.

:Broncos:

Oh, yeah! :redpunch: The 99% have triumphed. After we choose our next President, we can go Forward and Believe in America because we made our choice between red Goldman Sachs and blue Goldman Sachs.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/559566_452646808094169_108038612554992_1694041_137 055572_n.jpg

[Odysseus]

We are the revolution, turd.

Turds are revolting?

[alkemical]

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/nMaP-bIKcSc/philly-police-union-wants-to-o.html

Philly Police Union wants to oust retired officer for legally wearing uniform at an Occupy Wall Street rally


Radley Balko says:

The Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police is looking to strip a retired captain of his union membership, because he had sex with a 14-year-old girl illegally raided immigrant-owned bodegas across the city, then stole from and threatened their owners illegally arrested and nearly killed a man for legally carrying a firearm beat his girlfriend and threatened to “stamp” her “heart out” sexually assaulted three women during drug raids . . . hmm. It appears to have been none of those.

… *****Embedded links @ source for the above section.

Lewis’ inexcusable offense?

He wore his police uniform to the Occupy Wall Street protest in Zuccotti Park last year.

…

“He’s not respecting the uniform,” [union president John] McNesby said. “People died for that uniform. It’s not Halloween.”

Not only should Lewis be punished by the union, McNesby said, he “absolutely” should be locked up every time he sets foot in Philly with his uniform on.

Philly Police Union Looks To Oust Retired Cop

[alkemical]

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/4guRTVYXz9c/occupy-footage-exonerates-jour.html

Occupy footage exonerates journalist; cop lied under oath

Photojournalist Alexander Arbuckle, arrested while covering Occupy Wall Street protests, was acquitted Tuesday after a short trial. Moreover, footage shown in court suggests that police lied about what happened.
Arbuckle was charged with disorderly conduct when police rounded up New Year's Day protestors near Sixth Avenue. The arresting officer claimed that he was blocking traffic in the street—a version of events repeated under oath.

Nick Pinto at The Village Voice:

There was a problem with the police account: it bore no resemblance to photographs and videos taken that night. Arbuckle's own photographs from the evening place him squarely on the sidewalk. All the video from the NYPD's Technical Research Assistance Unit, which follows the protesters with video-cameras (in almost certain violation of a federal consent decree), showed Arbuckle on the sidewalk. And in an indication of the way new media are transforming the dynamics of street protest, a clip from the live-stream of journalist Tim Pool showed that not only was Arbuckle on the sidewalk, so were all the other protesters. The only thing blocking traffic on 13th Street that night was the police themselves.
The arrests begin about 32 minutes into the clip embedded above.

BB reader Geoff Shively writes in:

This is the first win in a series of cases where the NYPD is accused of manufacturing false accounts to make arrests of journalists, activists and legal observers. I asked an NLG observer in Chicago yesterday if its likely the police officer could be charged for perjury and he replied "Unfortunately, police are rarely rarely rarely held accountable for false arrests". We hope Arbuckle can change that and bring a case to court against this officer so that police understand that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated.

[Odysseus]

Mitt is looking polished.

Poor 99%

[alkemical]

Must be why Glenn Beck was talking about how retirement is an "idea", and you should have to work till you can't. Then depend on neighbors to help you out.

[Odysseus]

Must be why Glenn Beck was talking about how retirement is an "idea", and you should have to work till you can't. Then depend on neighbors to help you out.

What has happened is retirement, globally, is no longer an expectation. The crisis in Europe has revealed that and people in America are being forced to look globally for solutions to retirement rather than count on American institutions as they have in the past.

Social Security, as an entitlement, is being sold to the younger generations who won't have this as an option.

Retirement math is different than making a living math. What you have stashed as your retirement fund, if you want it to be stretched out to 30 years needs to be tapped 4% at a time. This is not good if you include inflation, cost of living, shrinking dollar value, increasing medical costs, and other costs associated with aging.

The 99 percent are screwed. They are either dealing with Clinton Jr. (Obama) or Bush III (Romney)

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

What has happened is retirement, globally, is no longer an expectation. The crisis in Europe has revealed that and people in America are being forced to look globally for solutions to retirement rather than count on American institutions as they have in the past.

Social Security, as an entitlement, is being sold to the younger generations who won't have this as an option.

Retirement math is different than making a living math. What you have stashed as your retirement fund, if you want it to be stretched out to 30 years needs to be tapped 4% at a time. This is not good if you include inflation, cost of living, shrinking dollar value, increasing medical costs, and other costs associated with aging.

The 99 percent are screwed. They are either dealing with Clinton Jr. (Obama) or Bush III (Romney)

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/296035_463934233628447_1980241195_n.jpg

[Meck77]

It's almost official. QE3 is coming. After 4 years the economy and job creation is a failure.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/qe3-is-necessary-bernanke-suggests-2012-08-31

Gold going nuts, dollar going down the gutter....All too predictable. Gold a bad investment! lmfao

[Jetmeck]

It's almost official. QE3 is coming. After 4 years the economy and job creation is a failure.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/qe3-is-necessary-bernanke-suggests-2012-08-31

Gold going nuts, dollar going down the gutter....All too predictable. Gold a bad investment! lmfao

call your republican representative and have him vote on a multitude
of job and tax bills that would have greatly helped us all.

You cannot blame the prez when his most of his policies were blocked by republicans and they have blatantly said that was their agenda.

IF HIS POLICIES WERE ALL ENACTED AND IT FAILED I WOULD BE RIGHT THERE VOTING THE OTHER WAY BUT OBVIOUSLY WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT THE ECONOMY WOULD BE LIKE IF HE WAS NOT OBSTRUCTED AT EVERY TURN.

GET a clue

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

^

Yep.

Meck77 and the rest of the right-wing jackals who frequent this forum have been crossing their fingers and hoping for economic bad news since Obama was sworn in.

The repukes are perfectly willing to destroy America if that's what it takes to defeat Obama.

These sh*t stains are all about party before country.

[Meck77]

^

Yep.

Meck77 and the rest of the right-wing jackals who frequent this forum have been crossing their fingers and hoping for economic bad news since Obama was sworn in.

The repukes are perfectly willing to destroy America if that's what it takes to defeat Obama.

These sh*t stains are all about party before country.

No. I'm a fan of America. Not a fan of devaluing the dollar and stunting growth/jobs.

[ant1999e]

call your republican representative and have him vote on a multitude
of job and tax bills that would have greatly helped us all.

You cannot blame the prez when his most of his policies were blocked by republicans and they have blatantly said that was their agenda.

IF HIS POLICIES WERE ALL ENACTED AND IT FAILED I WOULD BE RIGHT THERE VOTING THE OTHER WAY BUT OBVIOUSLY WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT THE ECONOMY WOULD BE LIKE IF HE WAS NOT OBSTRUCTED AT EVERY TURN.

GET a clue

900 billion dollars wasted in a failed stimulus wasn't enough to convince you?

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

No. I'm a fan of America. Not a fan of devaluing the dollar and stunting growth/jobs.

This from a guy who carried Dubya's water for eight years?

Too funny! ROFL!

[Jetmeck]

900 billion dollars wasted in a failed stimulus wasn't enough to convince you?

First off do you ever get tired of being wrong ?

Stimulus kept us out of another great depression and was in response to another of your boy Bush's **** ups but go head say the stimulus didn't except it did and every President since forever
including Reagan has done a freakin stimulus after a recession.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

First off do you ever get tired of being wrong ?

Stimulus kept us out of another great depression and was in response to another of your boy Bush's **** ups but go head say the stimulus didn't except it did and every President since forever
including Reagan has done a freakin stimulus after a recession.

When it comes to capturing the essence of these right-wing pukes, sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words...

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/394771_4347062678179_614306810_n.jpg

[Meck77]

Cities in California going bankrupt. Crazy.http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/08/san-bernardino-bankrupt-raid-funds.html

City council just voted to raid restricted funds just to make payroll.

The mayor. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Morris_(politician)

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

900 billion dollars wasted in a failed stimulus wasn't enough to convince you?

Keep parroting the BS talking points.

For everyone else, there's the facts...

http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2012-08-29-cbpp_debt_chart.jpg

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Cities in California going bankrupt.

Cities (plural?)

The article mentions one.

In any event, shouldn't you be worried about the problems in your own back yard?

[Meck77]

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2012/0711/Why-San-Bernardino-and-two-other-California-cities-are-going-bankrupt-video

[houghtam]

"But...the money!"

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2012/0711/Why-San-Bernardino-and-two-other-California-cities-are-going-bankrupt-video

Q: So what does your article tell us?

A: The Housing Fiasco/Great Bush Recession has taken its toll on American cities.

Thanks for that bombshell. :wave:

[houghtam]

Q: So what does your article tell us?

A: The Housing Fiasco/Great Bush Recession has taken its toll on American cities.

Thanks for that bombshell. :wave:

Also, it's from the Christian Science Monitor.

Hilarious!

[Smiling Assassin27]

We are the 99%:

Police Thursday identified an Occupy Wall Street participant who is wanted for raping a fellow demonstrator and then throwing her over a second-story park railing earlier this week.

The NYPD released a photo of suspect Jackie Barcliff, 44. Detectives believe met his 56-year-old victim during previous Occupy activities, police said.

After the sex attack, the victim was tossed from the elevated park space, falling about 20 feet, breaking her pelvis and right arm, police sources said. She was found about 2 a.m. Monday morning. Her pants and underwear had been removed, the sources said, before she was thrown from the elevated park, which is at Pier 15 near South Street Seaport in Manhattan.



Yup, this happened all the time at Tea Parties.

[Dexter]

We are the 99%:



Yup, this happened all the time at Tea Parties.

Yeah one dope defines the whole movement.

On the other hand Tea Parties aren't full of hate and bigotry AT ALL.

<object width="420" height="315"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/NutFkykjmbM?version=3&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/NutFkykjmbM?version=3&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="420" height="315" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>

[Meck77]

http://imageshack.us/a/img826/4045/rombama.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/826/rombama.jpg/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

Rombama will win in 2012!

[barryr]

We are the 99%:



Yup, this happened all the time at Tea Parties.

The occupiers also vandalized and left tons of litter as well.

[Blart]

It's called Civil Disobedience. GOOGLE IT


http://www.365daysofprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/365_10_17_2011_AJ-600x443.jpg

[Mecklomaniac]

http://media.hotair.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/taxation-wo-representation.jpg

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

^

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/546370_470602729628264_422532171_n.jpg

[Mecklomaniac]

http://friskaliberal.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/teaparty-vs-ows.jpg

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

^

Right-wing chimps and their special talent for getting things bass-ackwards... :oyvey:

http://www.bartcop.com/end-class-war_n.jpg

[houghtam]

^

Right-wing chimps and their special talent for getting things bass-ackwards... :oyvey:



Yep. Just trying to get it back to demand side econ. Like we have for the past 30 years before the wealth was redistributed away from the poor and middle classes.

[Odysseus]

When it comes to capturing the essence of these right-wing pukes, sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words...

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/394771_4347062678179_614306810_n.jpg

Interesting.

[Odysseus]

http://entertainment.time.com/2012/11/07/election-watch-karl-rove-vs-the-arithmetic/

Food for thought regarding why the 99% feel betrayed.

[Odysseus]

^

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/546370_470602729628264_422532171_n.jpg

If Republicans were really Republicans back then none of this would be happening. It's like the two parties are arguing over who gets to burn all the money.

[Arkie]

Clinton left office 5.7 trillion in debt. The reference to a 5.6 trillion surplus was only an optimistic projection made in 2001 for the next ten years.

[Bacchus]

Clinton left office 5.7 trillion in debt. The reference to a 5.6 trillion surplus was only an optimistic projection made in 2001 for the next ten years.

Clinton left office with a balanced budget. Bush then came in started two wars, had two separate tax cuts and did the MedicareB program and paid for ZERO of them.

[Arkie]

Clinton left office with a balanced budget. Bush then came in started two wars, had two separate tax cuts and did the MedicareB program and paid for ZERO of them.

We had a temporary balanced budget based on a lot things beyond Clinton's control. The second half of the '90's were fueled by the dot-com boom. The "5.6 trillion surplus" over ten years was an optimistic projection based on the current boom to break even on the 5.6 trillion debt. It would have been a historic financial position we haven't seen since Andrew Jackson paid off the debt. It doesn't matter who the President is, we weren't going to pay off the debt, and we never will in our lifetimes.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

We had a temporary balanced budget based on a lot things beyond Clinton's control. The second half of the '90's were fueled by the dot-com boom. The "5.6 trillion surplus" over ten years was an optimistic projection based on the current boom to break even on the 5.6 trillion debt. It would have been a historic financial position we haven't seen since Andrew Jackson paid off the debt. It doesn't matter who the President is, we weren't going to pay off the debt, and we never will in our lifetimes.

Same old Fox News spin, different day.

Even if you ignore the projected surplus, the fact remains that Clinton turned the Red Ink Ron and Poppy deficits into actual surpluses by the time he left office. Anyone can check this by going to the CBO site.

As for the projections, your guy Dubya mentioned them in his 2000 campaign, i.e., stated he would use the projected surpluses to pay for his tax cuts for the super-wealthy.

And, BTW, the GOP Congress opposed every single deficit reduction plan proposed by Clinton from day one.

[broncocalijohn]

Clinton left office with a balanced budget. Bush then came in started two wars, had two separate tax cuts and did the MedicareB program and paid for ZERO of them.

Yes but don't act like the balanced budget was some love affair with democrats. While the 2 wars were costly and the Iraq war was a complete joke, the medicare prescription bill brought up by Bush to kiss ass to the Democrats and the old farts was a complete billion dollar failure and continues to do so.
Problem with Republicans back then was they didnt scream at the spending by Bush. Only when McCain lost did it seem it picked up steam with the Tea Party. We had one major voice on this concern and his name was Ron Paul. Not exactly the big name you want in politics or media screaming about the problem.

I have no problem with the Tea Party idea. I had a problem of the late timing of the movement.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

<big>http://www.bartcop.com/tax-truths-1993-2012_n.jpg</big>

[mhgaffney]

Job killing tax increase.

yeah right.

Job killing for Citi, Goldman, Bank of A, Morgan-Stanley, Chase, etc etc

[Odysseus]

It's too bad fact checker websites are not profit driven or business would be booming.

[Rohirrim]

http://www.thenation.com/blog/170933/occupy-sandy-occupy-wall-street-helps-storm-victims#

[Odysseus]

http://i.imgur.com/mAY3V.jpg

Now the fiscal cliff? Really? Poor 99%