Monday, October 31, 2011

#OWS Egyptians March In Support Of Occupy Wall Street & Salon.com Presents "A New Declaration of Independence"



A Soldier Confronts NYPD about Police Brutality Against the Occupy Wall Street Protesters
IAmNatalieCash
Uploaded by IAmNatalieCash on Oct 30, 2011
The NYPD remain stone-faced as this decorated soldier confronts them about their role in disobeying the Constitution.



His Name Is Scott Olsen He Served TWO Tours Of Duty In Iraq Shot In The Face By Oakland Cops
MOXNEWSd0tCOMEd Schultz/ ED Show Uploaded by MOXNEWSd0tCOM on Oct 26, 2011October 26, 2011 MSNBC News
http://MOXNews.com





Over and over again the Mainstream Media in the US and here in Canada are dismissive even now of the Occupy Wall Street movement  erroneously arguing that the movement is too vague about the grievances and solutions to the current disastrous economic , political and social crisis in America.
 And yet the General Assembly at #OWS have published statement of their grievances and demands but these are ignored by the US government and by their quisling Mainstream Media.
It does bring to mind the situation the 13 Colonies were in when trying to get their overlord the British Empire to address their grievances . The British were rather dismissive and saw these New Englanders as upstarts as a lower breed of human beings who had the audacity to take on the British Empire and English crown and its Parliament .
These Newly labeled Americans essentially wanted economic, political and social justice which they did not have under the rule of the British Crown.

Now the American people are rising up and protesting to insist that the US government re-institute the basic principles of economic, political and social justice which were the basis of the original American War of Independence. So the struggle for a more just society has arisen once again as it has at other times in US history ie the Civil Rights Movement , the abolition of slavery, the rights for women movements etc.

Each time the people rose up demanding justice the powers that be and the conservative forces insisted that those rising up were a danger to American society and were UnAmerican or anti-American because they dared to question the status quo of the particular era in American history.


The staff at Salon.com have put together a list of grievances and demands which can be referred to as "A New Declaration Of Independence". What follows is a brief outline of that declaration .

A New Declaration of Independence The weight of the 1 Percent has become intolerable. How can we take our country back? Here's a fresh draft by Alex pareene via Salon.com October 30, 2011

Here’s where we are in the course of human events right now: 14 million Americans are jobless and millions more are underemployed. Those still working have seen wages fall after 30 years of stagnation. The 1 Percent of top wage earners could buy and sell the rest of us without so much as a low balance warning on their checking account apps.
The tenth-of-1 Percent earns millions more every year in barely taxed capital gains and derivatives while everyone else struggles to pay down trillions of dollars of debt. Massive, growing income inequality is now belatedly acknowledged by political and media elites, but many of them seem befuddled as to its cause and importance.
It is our belief that many of the problems facing Americans today can be directly connected to the unchecked power and complete unaccountability of the 1 Percent, a group that benefits from every unequal boom of the modern era and escapes each disastrous bust unscathed.
The 1 Percent is insulated from the negative effects of its disastrous policies by its paid representatives in government. The elite 1 Percent ensures the slavish loyalty of its political handmaidens by flooding their campaign coffers with money squeezed from the 99 Percent as deposits, fees and interest.
1. Debt relief (of student loans & mortgages etc. ) 
...We demand immediate relief for the 99 Percent, particularly the poor and young students and college graduates. The Debt Jubilee is an ancient idea, and an attractive one in an era of growing economic feudalism, as the poor increasingly devote all their labor to repaying the rich.
2. A substantial jobs program
Most American cities are filled with beautiful old buildings and monuments and parks dating back to the recovery programs of the New Deal, as well as increasingly decrepit bridges and roads and structures that have been neglected by the last couple of decades of shrinking infrastructure investment. A real, direct jobs program, done in the WPA style, would rebuild our cities and towns in addition to putting thousands of people back to work.
3. A healthcare public option
Medicare is probably the single most popular government program in the country, which is no surprise, because government-subsidized healthcare tends to be the most popular government program in every nation that has implemented it.

4. Reregulate Wall Street
...in lieu of smashing the banks with brickbats why not just reinstate the rules that effectively limited their behavior for 40 years or so? Bring back Glass-Steagall. Pass the Volcker rule, too. Ban banks from trading derivatives. Limit their behavior and tax their earnings.
5. End the Global War on Terror and rein in the defense budget
Brown University estimates that our wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan have cost 236,000 lives and $4 trillion. Millions more people are displaced refugees. If 10 years of war have weakened al-Qaida, we should draw down. If it hasn’t, we should seriously rethink our tactics. Regardless, there’s no way the world’s sole remaining superpower can justify spending more than every other country on Earth combined on its military. There’s no coherent reason why the Pentagon’s budget should be rising inexorably every year, while the rest of the country grows shabbier and poorer. Spending more on defense now than we did at the height of the Cold War is insane.
6. Repeal the Patriot Act
Speaking of expensive wastes of resources that are also in direct violation of the nation’s founding principles, let’s dismantle the expansive domestic surveillance state, hurriedly established at a panicky period of national crisis and then enshrined as permanent without a word of serious debate.
7. Tackle climate change
We may be rapidly approaching the catastrophic point of no return when it comes to preventing major, devastating climate change. To keep warming below “dangerous levels,” one recent study says, we’d need to “reverse the rise in emissions immediately and follow through with steep reductions through the century.” Immediately — like now.
8. Stop locking everyone up for everything and end the drug war
The American incarceration rate dwarfs that of our closest competitor, Russia, at 743 per 100,000 residents. A full quarter of the world’s prison inmates are American prison inmates. One in 100 American adults are behind bars. These staggering numbers have been repeated over and over again for years by activists, reporters, academics and even the very rare courageous politician, but the prison system just keeps growing, and growing, and growing.
9. Full equality for the queer community
Gay marriage is a no-brainer — rights granted to a majority are being denied to a minority based on arguments founded solely on bigotry — and should be recognized nationwide.
10. Fix the tax system
There are a million ways the tax code could be made fairer, simpler and more progressive, and most of those ways are opposed by powerful entrenched interests. But it is an inescapable fact that for most of the 20th century, federal income tax rates were very high on the wealthy — very, very high, in fact — and most of that period also happened to be a time of widespread prosperity for rich and middle-class Americans alike. The experiment in slashing taxes on the rich seems to have failed everyone but the rich.


And here's a strange twist -Egytian Pro-Democracy movement holds protest to support the American Occupy Wall Street Movement. Meanwhile the move towards creating a more democratic and free society is being undermined by the military which now rule in Egypt.

Egyptian Protesters March in Support of Occupy Oakland by Julianne Escobedo Shepherd via Alternet.org, October 29, 2011

Occupy Wall Street was unequivocally influenced by the Egyptian uprising, but yesterday the citizens in Tahrir Square flipped the script: a group of protesters, dismayed by the police brutality California protesters were met with this week, marched in solidarity with Occupy Oakland. The Egyptian activist and journalist Mohammed Maree posted an incredible collection of photos, each with protesters holding signs in support of #Occupy. Those are viewable here.


Simultaneously, Egyptians are continuing their own struggle against their abusive military, which has retained control of the country since the ouster of Mubarak in February. The military has held brutal trials in the past months, including one that left Essam Ali Atta dead. The Guardian:


Egyptian officials have tortured a 24-year-old prisoner to death, provoking accusations that the increasingly unpopular junta is failing to dismantle Hosni Mubarak's brutal security apparatus.


Essam Ali Atta, a civilian serving a two-year jail term in Cairo's high-security Tora prison following his conviction in a military tribunal earlier this year for an apparently "common crime", was reportedly attacked by prison guards after trying to smuggle a mobile phone sim card into his cell.


According to statements from other prisoners who witnessed the assault, Atta had large water hoses repeatedly forced into his mouth and anus on more than one occasion, causing severe internal bleeding. An officer then transferred Atta to a central Cairo hospital, but he died within an hour.


As one Egyptian protester's sign read: "From #Tahrir to #OccupyOakland and #USA, One Case, One Goal, Social Justice For All."

It was noted in the article from Salon.com that US has the second largest prison population than all other nations except Russia. But the US has expanded its prison mindset around the globe including those rendition(ed) by the US to other nations where "detainees" can be tortured in super secret prisons. Because these facilities are outside American soil those in authority including President Obama erroneously claim that these facilities are not within the jurisdiction of American law but even if this were true these facilities whether run officially by the US or by a proxy with the aid of the US government are in contravention of International Law as War Crimes or Crimes Against Humanity and are in breach of the Geneva Conventions .
The breaching of International Law on the part of the US is essentially an attempt at an end run around the Rule Of Law and shows America's on going disdain for International Law and Agreements .
As argued numerous times at this blog and elsewhere that it would not be much of a stretch to label the US as a Rogue State which apparently believes it answers to no one except those in power in the US and God of course.

The thing of it is that the US has lost any credibility  among the nations of the world because like other Rogue States it believes it  is above and beyond man made laws or morality or even common decency and commonsense.

Lithuania in the dock for role in CIA rendition program Via WarIs A Crime.org RT.com October28, 2011

A human rights group has filed a lawsuit against Lithuania for its role in a CIA rendition program which allegedly involved the illegal detention and torture of “high-value detainee” Abu Zubaydah.
Zubaydah, who was initially captured by American and Pakistani special services in a raid in Pakistan in 2002, spent some of his time in custody in a secret detention center in Lithuania, according to the Interights group. The European country allegedly collaborated with the CIA on its program of secret prisons, which allowed suspects to be incarcerated and tortured outside American territory.
The Saudi national was rendered to Lithuania in 2005 along with a number of other prisoners, the Interights statement says. It adds that Lithuanian officials ignored “information indicating the serious nature of human rights violations occurring in the CIA-led rendition program.”
On Thursday, Interights filed a complaint in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) over the failure of the Lithuanian government to prevent the alleged detention and torture as well as to conduct a proper criminal investigation into the secret CIA prison program on its soil.
The probe was launched after a 2009 report on the American TV channel ABC exposed the secret detention facilities in Lithuania, which closed later the same year, reports the Delfi news agency. The General Prosecutor discarded a parliamentary report which strongly indicated that the country’s special services aided the CIA in its secret transportation, detention and interrogation of prisoners.
The US authorities initially claimed Zubaydah was a senior member of al-Qaeda who had had a hand in the majority of the terror attacks it carried out. However, the US government later retracted its statements, Interights says. It is not clear what Zubaydah is being accused of or what the legal grounds are for his current incarceration at the Guantanamo Bay prison.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Occupying Wall Street in the snow & Police Violence at Occupy San Francisco & A Call For More Veterans To Attend Occupy Protests

While protesters withstand the cold and the snow in New York the crack down on protesters is spreading with the various police departments using unnecessary or excessive force.


Shocking images Police Brutality at Occupy Wall Street San Fransisco


From: justlikethischannel | Oct 29, 2011
Shocking images Police Brutality at Occupy Wall Street San Fransisco First Hand Account of the Police Assault on Scott Olson !! Occupy Wall street Oakland HD Shocking footage !!!! Occupy wall street Police brutality Compilation Occupy Wall Street (OWS) is an ongoing series of demonstrations in New York City based in Zuccotti Park in the Wall Street financial district.


Gordon Duff Veterans organization includes 500,000 Vets
Duff argues that the police are working on behalf of the 1% the Bankers and the establishment to preserve the status quo.
His organization has called for US veterans to take part in protests mainly to defend protesters from local police forces.

Oakland Police Brutality is an Act of Terror can Trigger Civil War! says Gordon Duff on PressTV
Bigsteelguy3


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It's very strange that those conservatives who insist that all citizens must show respect and support the Troops in a war zone have little to say about improving the quality of medical and psychiatric care they need and that it should be completely free as part of the debt the nation owes to these Vets.
And according to these conservatives whether in the Republican or Democratic parties all Vets must be respected unless they criticize the US military in any way shape or form no matter how legitimate the grievances and criticisms might be. During the Bush /Cheney years even to question any policy of the White House according to the likes of Bill O'Reilly , Glenn Beck , Sean Hannity and the rest was tantamount to treason.
Free Speech they argue is fine when Democrats are in power but not when a Republican is in the White House.

Veteran Adam Kokesh in the video below argues that it makes no sense for US troops to be supposedly fighting for America's freedom when those in power in the US are trying to suppress the legitimate protests of American citizens.
Kokesh also discusses how US veterans have often been treated as a nuisance and a bunch of whiners who want special treatment by the US military and the US government. For instance some 18 War Vets commit suicide every day in America.
Hundreds of thousands of Vets are homeless.
Vets do not get the on going medical care that they deserve.
Vets are also not given the necessary psychological or psychiatric care that they need and deserve to get for serving their country.
The US military and the brass at the Pentagon still insist that soldiers suffering from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD are just cowards and goldbrickers.
He talks about how the police forces in the US have become overly militarized
Anyone exercising their freedom of speech and the freedom of assembly are characterized as a threat to America.
Troops serving in Iraq or Afghanistan or elsewhere of course want to believe what they are doing is part of some noble cause rather than just another War of Aggression to extend the American Empire which enriches the 1% while robing the 99%.

A Call out to All U.S. Military Veterans around the Country - Adam Kokesh
Bigsteelguy3



Denver police move into Occupy protest encampment after earlier scuffle near Capitol The Washington Post October 29,2011

DENVER — The simmering tension near the Colorado Capitol escalated dramatically Saturday with more than a dozen arrests, reports of skirmishes between police and protesters and authorities firing rounds of pellets filled with pepper spray at supporters of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Officers in riot gear moved into a park late in the day where protesters were attempting to establish an encampment, hauling off demonstrators just hours after a standoff at the Capitol steps degenerated into a fight that ended in a cloud of Mace and pepper spray.

Saturday, October 29, 2011

#OWS Protests Still Growing & "Meet The 0.01% :War profiteers" & Millions Of Foreclosures

Welcome to the war.

GOP Tea Party hate the 99%
Millions of American homeowners Face Foreclosure
Hourly Wages not keeping pace with Cost of Living or inflation
Meet the 0.01% the War Profiteers
#OWS Protests still growing

After all of the violence mainly by the various police forces in Oakland and New York etc. it seems the mayors have decided to stand down .
As Joshua Holland of Alternet.org points out the police were out in large numbers dressed in riot gear as if they were in a war zone and that the people in the streets were the enemy .

10-27-11 1b - Breaking News - Occupy, with Joshua Holland - Countdown with Keith Olbermann
Uploaded by MiniRtist on Oct 27, 201
1



Meet the 0.01 Percent: War Profiteers
bravenewfoundation


Help give your local Occupy group the tools they need to fight corporate power by sharing our new video with them and posting it on your social networks: http://warcosts.com/1percent


War industry CEOs make tens of millions of dollars a year, putting them in the top 0.01 percent of income earners in the U.S.



Northrop Grumman CEO Wes Bush made $22.84 million last year.

Lockheed Martin CEO Robert Stevens made $21.89 million.

Boeing CEO James McNerney: $19.4 million.


These guys use their corporations' massive lobbying dollars to keep their job-killing gravy train rolling. Last year, their companies spent a whopping $46 million on lobbying, corrupting our politics and ensuring that their bank accounts continue to fatten at our expense. These executives are some of the main reasons why we're wasting so much on war instead of rebuilding our own nation here at home.
Help us fight their propaganda campaign to protect their profits. Use our list to share this video with your local Occupy group and encourage them to show it at their events: http://warcosts.com/1percent


CORRECTION: Lockheed Martin's CEO is Robert Stevens. The video refers to him as "Martin Stevens" which is incorrect.



and see: Meet the 0.01 Percent: War Profiteers
There’s the top 1% of wealthy Americans (bankers, oil tycoons, hedge fund managers) and there’s the top 0.01% of wealthy Americans: the military contractor CEOs.
by Robert greenwald at Alternet.org, October 27, 2011


If you’ve been following the War Costs campaign, you already know that these corporations are bad bosses, bad job creators and bad stewards of taxpayer dollars. What you may not know is that the huge amount of money these companies’ CEOs make off of war and your tax dollars places them squarely at the top of the gang of corrupt superrich choking our democracy. These CEOs want you to believe the massive war budget is about security — it’s not. The lobbying they’re doing to keep the war budget intact at the expense of the social safety net is purely about their greed.


In many areas, including yearly CEO salary and in dollars spent corrupting Congress, these companies are far greater offenders than even the big banks like JP Morgan Chase or Bank of America.

10.4 Million American Families Slide Toward Losing Their Homes -- Is It Time for Debt Forgiveness? by William Greider at AlterNet.org, October 28, 2011

Wages are stagnant or falling. Foreclosures are tearing through communities, and falling home prices are destroying family equity. It's like a reverse New Deal.


The rebellious citizens occupying Wall Street shock some people and inspire others with their denunciations of bankers, but everyone seems to know what they are talking about: the barbaric and suffocating behavior of the nation’s largest banks (yes, the same ones the government rescued with public money). Right now, these trillion-dollar institutions are methodically harvesting the last possible pound of flesh from millions of homeowners before kicking these failing debtors out of their homes (the story known as the “foreclosure crisis”). This is a tragedy for the people who are dispossessed. For the country, it is a generational calamity.


“We are in the reverse New Deal,” Christopher Whalen, a savvy banking expert at Institutional Risk Analytics, told me. He meant that events are dismantling the ingenious engine that helped generate America’s broad middle-class. Homeownership was the main driver in accomplishing that great social change.

Shocking Chart: Typical Hourly Wage Went Up Just $1.23 in the Last 36 Years by Laura Pereyra Think Progress via Alternet.org, October 28, 2011

In a speech yesterday, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) claimed that President Obama created “class resentment” by calling for slightly higher taxes on the wealthiest Americans. At the same time, Occupy Wall Street protesters continue to speak out in favor of an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top of the income scale.

Could their frustration be a product of the increasing inequality rather than Obama’s “divisive rhetoric?” Absolutely. In fact, a New York Times/CBS News poll released yesterday found that two-thirds of Americans believe “that wealth should be distributed more evenly in the country.”

As noted by the Half in Ten Campaign’s new report, “Restoring Shared Prosperity: Strategies to Cut Poverty and Expand Economic Growth,” the hourly wage of a typical worker grew from $14.73 in 1973 to $15.96 in 2009, for a raise in real terms (after accounting for inflation) of $1.23 over 36 years. Yes, you read that right. Only $1.23, an 8.4 percent increase over the last 36 years.

Top earners, meanwhile, saw a gain of $12.70 per hour gain (30 percent) over the same time frame. The growing gaps between the wealthy and everyone else could not be more stark.

--And so it goes,
GORD.

Friday, October 28, 2011

For #OWS Occupy Wall Street #occupyoakland The Grapes of Wrath (1940) - I'll Be There & Obama Supports Wall Street


US Hypocrisy on Democracy and Freedom
Obama and Hillary Clinton are all in favor of people power in China, Egypt, Iran, Libya, Syria etc. but not in Bahrain or Saudi Arabia or Yemen or Honduras or the USA.

From Iraq to Main St. USA.

Oakland Protests - live coverage of The Shooting As Police fired upon unarmed American citizens. !!
CelebDelaCreamTv




wall street.flv
From: FactTelevision | Oct 16, 2011
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Tom Joad's (Henry Fonda) speech in the 1940 film of Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath -this speech scares those with power, wealth and authority. It did then and it does now. Joad realizes that praying and hoping when the game is rigged as it is now is not enough. Action he knows is needed. Does the US belong to the 1% and their enablers or does America belong to all of the citizens of America.Corporations can have their profits but they must play by the rules and to pay their fair share of taxes instead of hiring lawyers to avoid paying taxes.

Those in America and the Media who are doing well have little or no regard or sympathy or empathy for those who have lost their jobs who have lost their home who are faced with crushing debt who have lost all hope.
To the privileged they dismiss the protesting and complaining as mere envy or jealousy and the privileged believe the lower classes are there just to serve them and to be happy for the crumbs from the rich man's table.




The Ghost of Tom Joad- Bruce Springsteen (Great )
YachiruXx

Uploaded by YachiruXx on Sep 18, 2010
The Great of 1929 destroyed the lives of thousands of U.S. citizens, its effects stretching as far as Europe. Bruce Springsteen's song "The Ghost of Tom Joad" from his third and most successful album "Born to Run" describes the aftermath of the crash, and the now poverty-stricken, depressed and desperate people of America.





Scott Olsen Galvanizes Protesters
TheAlyonaShow

Uploaded by TheAlyonaShow on Oct 27, 2011
One of the tragic events that galvanized the large numbers at was the story of Iraq war veteran Scott Olsen, who was hit in the head by a tear gas canister at close range, leaving him critically wounded. Olsen was upgraded from critical to stable condition, but he still remains in the hospital. Also US veterans are taking part in the movement because they've been hit harder than the average population in this economy. Matt Howard with Iraq Veterans Against the War joins the show



From the get go of the Obama Regime it has adopted the financial policies of the Bush presidency. Bail Out Corporations and Banks which should have been allowed to fail after gambling against the odds and losing.
PROOF Obama is Wall Street's Lap Dog
evmazu




and so it goes,
GORD.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Occupy Oakland Crackdown: Cop war-zone tactics? Keith Olbermann & Cops Shoot Iraqi Veteran For Protesting???


In Oakland the police have gone rogue which is not surprising since the police in Oakland are known for over reacting and have on numerous occasions been accused of brutality and a heavy handedness against their fellow citizens . Like a lot of police forces in the US or here in Canada see themselves as not being part of their community but see themselves as outsiders and as better than the rest of their community. They believe by taking their orders from the rich and powerful they are doing the right thing.

But those in positions of power and authority above the police may praise them when they are needed but when a police force asks for more job security and benefits and higher salaries those in power will refuse and if necessary pass back to work legislation if the police even threaten going on strike . In the end the police are just part of the underclass that is the 99#.

The police are supposed to be on the side of the people to serve and protect not to bash heads in and take away the citizens right to protest; the right to peaceful assembly; the right to present their grievances to those in authority without interference by the police.

Welcome Back to the war

So here's a video clip I put together about the #occupyoakland struggle against a draconian militant police force.
The music is by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers "I Won't Back Down"
It includes the lone man at the barricades scene and the flash bank video of protester shot in the face.

As one protester complains that unfortunately there are a few protesters who wear masks or kerchiefs to hide their faces as they antagonize the police and throw shit which just gives the police an excuse to beat on them and on the non-violent protesters.
So be peaceful, don't hide your face each protester should stand proud and be identified with the movement and don't needlessly provoke police.




Countdown: OccupyOakland - Cops brutally wade into peaceful crowd,




UPDATE #occupyoakland Oakland Policeman Throws Flash Grenade Into Crowd Trying To Help Injured..



Police State USA: # Tear Gas Attack III #OccupyOakland



Police treat the situation as if they were in a War Zone.
This was expected because you can't stop the illegal wars of aggression by the US Empire and the use of criminal tactics such as treating POWs etc. Detainees in brutal fashion using beatings , torture , indefinite detentions , renditions and the utter contempt that the US government and its military have for the rule of law.
Like Vietnam the chickens are coming home to roost from the Global War on Terror from Guantanamo to Abu Ghraib, from Bagram from the obliteration of cities such as Fallujah -if the US military can be so casual in ignoring not just the rule of law but common decency then why should police forces and others in positions of power or authority in America be forced to abide by what the Bush/Obama Regimes refer to as "quaint" or just old fashioned laws and agreements.

So being Americans with power they too that is the police have the right as it were to abandon the rule of law. Given this moral void that the US is now in the protesters could also claim that if the police are not behaving according to the rule of law or common decency then why should they. This would create a disaster which the police and the wealthy elite look forward to so they can show the 99% who really runs things .

Though the protesters could appeal to this sort of twisted logic it would be better if they the protesters take the higher moral ground and refuse to fight back and remain as peaceful as possible while keeping a watch out for rogue extremists or even undercover Police Provocateurs as we saw the authorities apologetically used in Toronto at the G20 protests.

The problem with President Obama and those around him is that they are part of the 1% and will protect their turf anyway they can . Remember Chicago 1968 and Kent State massacre. which those at the top relished these violent events as they always do.





Welcome to the police state as the cops do as they please and the Mainstream Media turns a blind eye. Law and order and conformity more important than freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of association- like the so called "Detainees" (POWS) everyone is guilty of something until they can prove otherwise. Franz Kafka would not be surprised.

Naomi Wolf arrested for standing on the sidewalk. She explains that municipalities across the US not liking mass demonstration or even a demonstration of just two people they have passed various ordinances, bylaws & permit granting laws to shut down protests in their towns and cities.

But these local laws are in fact in violation of the American Constitution and the 1st Amendment.
So this is an end run around the federal government or with the collusion of the US federal government, the Supreme Court of the USA , the Congress and the White House.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

The More Tear-gas then The MORE PEOPLE Join #OccupyOakland

Welcome to the police state? where all gatherings are outlawed where freedom of Assembly is outlawed where free speech is outlawed where the police do as they please - Are the police confused are they too much in love of overtime pay and a bit of action ?
They are not part of the 1% no matter how the 1% & the Media Praises them now -once the trouble passes the cities across the US will continue downsizing police forces along with everything else.

Police Use Force Against Occupy Oakland Demonstrators - October 25, 2011

#OWS Occupy Wall Street Welcome to the Police State & Gaddafi Captured Beaten Sodomized and Summarily Executed & Put On Public Display


#OWS #wearethe99% #occupyeverywhere  Update:



...When was the last time the government stepped into help you "avoid losses you might otherwise suffer?" But that's the reality we live in. When Joe Homeowner bought too much house, essentially betting that home prices would go up, and losing his bet when they dropped, he was an irresponsible putz who shouldn’t whine about being put on the street.
But when banks bet billions on a firm like AIG that was heavily invested in mortgages, they were making the same bet that Joe Homeowner made, leaving themselves hugely exposed to a sudden drop in home prices. But instead of being asked to "suck it in and cope" when that bet failed, the banks instead went straight to Washington for a bailout -- and got it...
Above quote from: OWS's Beef: Wall Street Isn't Winning – It's Cheating by Matt Taibbi Rolling Stone October 25, 2011

the other major news event has been the US &NATOs overthrow of Qaddafi who more recently was considered an ally to the West and the USA -when Qaddafi was of use to the West his crimes were ignored but now the hypocritical disingenuous leaders in the West viewed Qaddafi/Gaddafi as an impediment to the US and the West' plan to take control of Africa and take away China's role in Africa which has been more benign than how African nations will be treated by the Western Imperialists.
...For instance, only some years ago, "former British Prime Minister Tony Blair had no qualms doing business with Gaddafi and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi got cozy with him at a United Nations Summit in Rome..."
In the case of the U.S., the thoughtful comment by Matthew Rothschild on October 21 is worth mentioning: "The hypocrisy of the U.S. position could hardly be greater."
In 2003, the Bush Administration rehabilitated Qaddafi, who became an ally of the United States in the 'war on terror.' In fact, the CIA used Qaddafi's intelligence service to torture detainees that the U.S. sent over to Libya. The CIA 'rendered' eight or nine detainees to Qaddafi's intelligence service...
The CIA may even have had agents present during some of the questioning. In 2008, Condoleezza Rice visited Qaddafi in Libya. The next year, Obama shook his hand, and John McCain offered him arms. When it was convenient for Washington to support Qaddafi, it did so. When it was convenient to attack him, it did so.
...But the Obama administration didn't attack Bahrain when it cracked down on people fighting for democracy against that kingdom. No, Washington even let Saudi Arabia, another kingdom, invade Bahrain to help put down the nonviolent uprising."
Many who do not know the history of modern Libya are not aware of the historical contributions of Muammar Gaddafi to his people and the region, even when he has his own failures. Consider, for instance, the following five important contributions by Gaddafi to his country and the region: 
(a) He envisioned "the United States of Africa" and thus contributed to the formation of the African Union. In fact, "the African Union is basically the creation of Muammar Gaddafi, who saw it as a vessel for a stronger Africa," as reported by RT on October 20
(b) He succeeded in holding Libya together, which, according to Shirin Sagedhi, was previously fragmented by different "tribes and ethnicities."
(c) He transformed Libya to have "one of the highest GDPs per capita in Africa and...to provide an extensive level of social security, particularly in the fields of housing and education," in a way that many sub-Saharan countries in Africa could only dream of, in the article on Libya by Wikipedia.
(d) He managed to avoid being dominated by the Soviet Union or the U.S. during the Cold War by masterfully playing the Soviet Union against the U.S. without being a puppet of the former. After the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War, he continued to fight against Western domination in the region and thus developed bad blood with Western powers.
(e) He overthrew the Kingdom of Libya in a bloodless military coup against King Idris in 1969 and thus brought Libya into the modern era (from monarchic feudalism). 
All these achievements are no small feats for a ruler of a small country with only a few million people and thus have allowed Gaddafi to rule for 42 years. 
This does not mean that Gaddafi has no failures. Surely, there are good examples to consider, like his personal vanity, his abuse of power, his ruthlessness, and the like. But who has no failures, for a man with his historical status in the modern era? 
Above quote from: Used and Abused The Murder of Gaddafi, and the War Crimes of Western Powers By Peter Baofu, Ph.D. October 25, 2011 "Information Clearing House"October 25, 2011

Welcome to the police state USA:


"Police in riot gear, armed with billy clubs and some with shotguns, overturned tents, and the campers' wooden stalls quickly, leaving what looked like a hurricane-struck refugee camp in their wake. They ripped up dozens of cardboard signs, overturned a couch and when it was over there were scraps of carpet, personal belongings and trash all over the plaza."

INSANE! Cops fire Tear Gas at Protesters at Occupy Wall Street protest in Oakland
JPB209







Early Morning Police Raid Ousts Occupy Oakland by Kristin J. Bender at Oakland Tribune, October 25, 2011
OAKLAND -- Before dawn Tuesday, at least 200 police, many in riot gear, tore down the Occupy Oakland encampment in front of City Hall and arrested dozens of people. A smaller camp near Lake Merritt was also dismantled.

Police in riot gear, armed with billy clubs and some with shotguns, overturned tents, and the campers' wooden stalls quickly, leaving what looked like a hurricane-struck refugee camp in their wake. They ripped up dozens of cardboard signs, overturned a couch and when it was over there were scraps of carpet, personal belongings and trash all over the plaza.


And here's a few of the demands of the #OWS in a more recent attempt at presenting the core beliefs of the movement to the public and the US government .

Mic Check: Can You Hear Us, America?
by Randall Amster at CommonDreams, October 26, 2011


We find these views to be mutually relevant…
that all people, by virtue of their basic humanity, deserve the opportunity to live, work, and associate according to the dictates of their own consciences and capacities;
that the exercise of such freedoms is only tenable in conjunction with the ability of all people to do so, in the recognition that no one is free unless everyone is free;

...that individuals and communities do not exist in isolation, but are interlinked through a global network of communications and cultural exchange that enables the realization of a shared future and a common interest in effectively preserving the continued existence of humankind;

...that the fruits of the earth belong to humankind collectively, and especially to the future generations from whom we merely borrow their blessings...
that no one ought to be bound into the indentured servitude of indebtedness, which coerces people to become complicit with an alienating economy and structures of their own oppression;
that education must be free, open to all, and not merely confined to classrooms and institutions...

and:

...that the shared spaces of society, including the material bases of existence, cannot be owned or controlled by private interests but must remain the collective responsibility of humankind entire
...that there can be no peace without justice, no future without the past, no individuality without community, no opportunity without education, no liberty without equality, and no politics without participation
...that the person standing next to you is part of you, an extension of you, a reflection of you, an ally, a colleague, a relative, and a friend;

Occupy Wall Street - October 15 - Day Of Outrage


Mainstream Media either just doesn't understand the Occupy Wall Street Movements core beliefs or are disingenuously  in fact engaged in spouting their own pro-Wall Street talking points and propaganda. It is not just Fox News that refuses to take the #OWS protest seriously but all of Mainstream Media in the US and even here in Canada. The core belief is that the rich on Wall Street got bail out money from the US government while millions of Americans over the past three years lost their jobs got kicked out of their homes when the banks decided to foreclose. While those suffering the most in the US have to beg and plead to get help from the government hundreds of billions of dollars are poured into the military machinery of perpetual war to provide outrageous profits for the corporations feeding the War Machine.

Like the Bush/Cheney Regime the Obama Regime lies to the public for instance claiming that the withdrawal from Iraq is voluntary when in fact it is the Iraqi government and the Iraqi people who have stood up to the American occupying forces and ordered them to leave even though Obama wanted to prolong the "Occupation".

Meanwhile peaceful protesters are beaten and arrested the crooks on Wall Street are too rich, too big too well connected to even be charged for their crimes . The rule of law it appears applies to all American citizens but not to the rich and powerful.

Matt Taibbi argues that those protesting are not anti-capitalism per se or merely envious and jealous of the rich but are angry over the corruption on Wall Street which is encouraged by the bail outs from the US government . He also argues that the protesters are not necessarily pro-democrat since the Democrats led by president Obama have also added to these injustices as much if not more than the previous Republican administration.

OWS's Beef: Wall Street Isn't Winning – It's Cheating by Matt Taibbi Rolling Stone October 25, 2011


...Moreover, the worse the economy got, the more being a millionaire or a billionaire somehow became a qualification for high office, as people flocked to voting booths to support politicians with names like Bloomberg and Rockefeller and Corzine, names that to voters symbolized success and expertise at a time when few people seemed to have answers. At last count, there were 245 millionaires in congress, including 66 in the Senate.
And we hate the rich? Come on. Success is the national religion, and almost everyone is a believer. Americans love winners.  But that's just the problem. These guys on Wall Street are not winning – they're cheating. And as much as we love the self-made success story, we hate the cheater that much more.
...That's why it's so obnoxious when people say the protesters are just sore losers who are jealous of these smart guys in suits who beat them at the game of life. This isn't disappointment at having lost. It's anger because those other guys didn't really win. And people now want the score overturned.
All weekend I was thinking about this “jealousy” question, and I just kept coming back to all the different ways the game is rigged. People aren't jealous and they don’t want privileges. They just want a level playing field, and they want Wall Street to give up its cheat codes, things like:
FREE MONEY. Ordinary people have to borrow their money at market rates. Lloyd Blankfein and Jamie Dimon get billions of dollars for free, from the Federal Reserve. They borrow at zero and lend the same money back to the government at two or three percent, a valuable public service otherwise known as "standing in the middle and taking a gigantic cut when the government decides to lend money to itself."
Or the banks borrow billions at zero and lend mortgages to us at four percent, or credit cards at twenty or twenty-five percent. This is essentially an official government license to be rich, handed out at the expense of prudent ordinary citizens, who now no longer receive much interest on their CDs or other saved income. It is virtually impossible to not make money in banking when you have unlimited access to free money, especially when the government keeps buying its own cash back from you at market rates.


and:

...When was the last time the government stepped into help you "avoid losses you might otherwise suffer?" But that's the reality we live in. When Joe Homeowner bought too much house, essentially betting that home prices would go up, and losing his bet when they dropped, he was an irresponsible putz who shouldn’t whine about being put on the street.
But when banks bet billions on a firm like AIG that was heavily invested in mortgages, they were making the same bet that Joe Homeowner made, leaving themselves hugely exposed to a sudden drop in home prices. But instead of being asked to "suck it in and cope" when that bet failed, the banks instead went straight to Washington for a bailout -- and got it...





and from Democracy Now! Amy Goodman interviews Asmaa Mahfouz one of the main organizers of the Egyptian pro-democracy movement at Tahrir . Mahfouz has come all the way from Egypt to speak to the protesters at Occupy Wall Street .

From Tahrir to Wall Street: Egyptian Revolutionary Asmaa Mahfouz Speaks at Occupy Wall Street
Occupy Wall Street received a surprise visit Monday from several leading Egyptian activists, including 26-year-old Asmaa Mahfouz. She is one of the founders of the April 6 Youth Movement, which is the group credited with helping to organize the January 25 protests that eventually toppled the regime of former president Hosni Mubarak. Prior to the protest in January, Mahfouz recorded a YouTube video urging people to fill Tahrir Square. Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman spoke to her at Occupy Wall Street. "Many of U.S. residents were in solidarity with us," Mahfouz said. "I am here to be in solidarity and support the Wall Street Occupy protesters, to say to them, ’the power to the people,' and to keep it on and on, and they will succeed in the end."





The major headline in the Mainstream Media is not the #OWS protest but rather the capture and murder of Gaddafi. Saddam when captured was also treated in a shameless manner but he was kept alive long enough to take part in an American staged "Show Trial" and Kangaroo court followed by a lynching. The rule of Law in both cases failed as it has for tens of thousands of anonymous detainees captured and brutalized and tortured by US and British personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan .

Another even more graphic video has become available showing the Libyan rebels capturing , torturing and sodomizing Gaddafi with a knife before summarily executing him. The rebels treatment of Gaddafi is in fact a war crime. But these rebels are beyond the reach of international law since they are protected by United States and NATO. And yet the US and NATO claim to be the embodiment of superior Western values and civilization.

There has been allegations that the NATO backed rebels have committed a number of War Crimes throughout the siege of Libya. NATO itself has also been accused of committing war crimes for example deliberately bombing civilian non-military targets. As it has been throughout the so called War on Terror the Western forces themselves have committed War Crimes with impunity in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The video is rather graphic so for now see it at the link below.

Gaddafi Sodomized By NATO Supported Rebels Video shows abuse frame by frame (GRAPHIC)An analysis appears to confirm that a rebel fighter sodomized Gaddafi with a knife.By Tracey Shelton Global Post via Information Clearing House, October 25, 2011

— An analysis of video obtained by GlobalPost from a rebel fighter who recorded the moment when Col. Muammar Gaddafi was first captured confirms that another rebel fighter, whose identity is unknown, sodomized the former leader as he was being dragged from the drainpipe where he had taken cover.

A frame by frame analysis of this exclusive GlobalPost video clearly shows the rebel trying to insert some kind of stick or knife into Gaddafi's rear end.

The treatment of Gaddafi after being taken prisoner amounts to a war crime but since 9/11 the US and Westerners have abandoned International Law or the rule of law in favor of "Might is Right" and "The Will to Power" ala Frederick Nietzsche.

Used and Abused The Murder of Gaddafi, and the War Crimes of Western Powers By Peter Baofu, Ph.D. October 25, 2011 "Information Clearing House"October 25, 2011

-- - -The jubilant reaction of Western powers and the foes of Muammar Gaddafi to his barbaric murder on October 20, 2011 raises some serious questions about war crimes committed by the Western-backed National Transitional Council (NTC) fighters and NATO forces.


There are two serious violations of international law here, namely, (1) in relation to the Third Geneva Convention in 1929 and (2) in relation to the UN Security Council Resolution #1973 in 2011. Let me explain first (1) the Geneva Convention and then (2) the UN Resolution hereafter.


(1) The first violation of international law concerns the Third Geneva Convention in 1929, which offers rights to prisoners of war (POWs), such that POWs have certain rights to be protected. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov rightly said on October 21, 2011 that, "in compliance with international law, the moment that a party to an armed conflict is captured, special procedures should be applied to him or her, including assistance, as well as a ban on killing such a person."


But this right was violated, when Gaddafi was captured alive (as POW) and was then repetitively verbally and physically abused before being shot dead shortly after. As "testified by the grainy mobile phone footage seen by the world of the former leader, bloodied and dazed, being dragged along by NTC fighters" in a gruesome way, "Gaddafi can be heard in one video saying 'God forbids this' several times, as slaps from the crowd [of NTC fighters] rain down on his head," as reported by Rania El Gamal for Reuters on October 23.


Then, he was executed by a young NTC fighter named Sanad al-Sadek al-Ureibi, who claimed that he shot Gaddafi after capture, because he did not want him alive; and other fighters celebrated with him after the summary execution. Worse, his dead body was then publicly displayed in a commercial freezer at a shopping center for more celebration.


This act of Western-backed NTC fighters is not only criminal but also barbaric. The foes of Gaddafi may argue that he deserves this fate, but two wrongs do not make a right (which is a well-known logical fallacy), and the answer to criminality is not more criminality. This blatant violation of the Geneva Convention then led Christof Heyns, the UN Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial executions, to charge on October 21 that "the manner of the deposed Libyan leader's killing could be a war crime," in a report by RT on October 22.


This criminal act by Western-supported NTC fighters is not just restricted to the case of Gaddafi's death but also be extended to the murder of his son (and others in the group). For instance, Gaddafi's son, Mutassim Gaddafi, was captured alive, together with his father, and, in a video released by NTC fighters, he was shown to be "alive in custody, and even casually smoking a cigarette" in a room (surrounded by armed NTC fighters), but in a few moments later, "other images show him dead with gunshot wounds to his neck and abdomen" in the same room, in a report by RT on October 21.

------------------------

Libya: Apparent Execution of 53 Gaddafi Supporters Bodies Found at Sirte Hotel Used by Anti-Gaddafi Fighters By Human Rights Watch via Information clearing House, October 24, 2011

Fifty-three people, apparent Gaddafi supporters, seem to have been executed at a hotel in Sirte last week, Human Rights Watch said today. The hotel is in an area of the city that was under the control of anti-Gaddafi fighters from Misrata before the killings took place.


Human Rights Watch called on Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) to conduct an immediate and transparent investigation into the apparent mass execution and to bring those responsible to justice.


“We found 53 decomposing bodies, apparently Gaddafi supporters, at an abandoned hotel in Sirte, and some had their hands bound behind their backs when they were shot,” said Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director at Human Rights Watch, who investigated the killings. “This requires the immediate attention of the Libyan authorities to investigate what happened and hold accountable those responsible.”


Human Rights Watch saw the badly decomposed remains of the 53 people on October 23, 2011, at the Hotel Mahari in District 2 of Sirte. The bodies were clustered together, apparently where they had been killed, on the grass in the sea-view garden of the hotel.

and so it goes,
GORD. 

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Occupy Wall Street - Chris Hedges shuts down CBC Kevin O'Leary #OWS Pete Seeger, Sean Lennon, Rufus Wainwright ,Bill Maher

"They don't hate capitalism they hate what's been done to it" Bill Maher

Bill Maher on Occupy Wall Street [New Rules], Hundreds march in Oakland anti-Wall Street protest
From: isahaqkaippatta | Oct 24, 2011




Chris Hedges called a "lefty nutbar" on CBC ( the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation)which is funded by the government but it is supposed to be free from government interference .



Shows how far to the right the CBC has become especially during the current Harper Regime.
Amazing allowing some rich guy to attack Chris hedges who is highly respected journalist & writer.


Paul Krugman Salutes Occupy Wall Street



Pete Seeger Joins Occupy Wall Street Late-Night March Down Broadway (10/21/11)
From: mmflint | Oct 21, 2011 | 23,732 views
If can walk 36 blocks at midnight with Occupy Wall Street, then so can you.

92-year-old folk legend Pete Seeger (seen waving cane at 50-second mark) marches 36 blocks with Occupy Wall Street from a performance at Symphony Space on Broadway and 95th Street in the Upper West Side of Manhattan down to Broadway and 59th Street for a sing-a-long at Columbus Circle.

This footage was shot shortly after midnight as the protesters neared Columbus Circle.

Letting it shine at http://www.michaelmoore.com .




Pete Seeger #OWS singing "We shall overcome"




Sean Lennon Rufus Wainwright at Occupy Wall St, Oct 23, 2011 (Day 37) cover Madonna's Material Girl

From: NewYorkRawVideos | Oct 23, 2011 | 1,354 views
Recorded October 23, 2011, 6pm. Sean Lennon, his girlfriend Charlotte Kemp Muhl, Rufus Wainwright, Dustin Hamman, and others perform an impromptu cover of "Material Girl" by Madonna ....but not until Josh Fox of the film "Gasland" talks to the crowd about hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking". They dedicate the song to Ben Bernanke, and Hank Paulson.


Monday, October 24, 2011

Obama Was Forced by Iraqi government to Pull Troops Out of Iraq & Racist Corrupt NYPD Police Brutality & Murder

Even the Tundra is being Occupied
Photo from Salon.com



But first more on the so called honorable NYPD's ongoing corruption NYPD is in it for the money and sex no wonder they are upset by the Occupy Wall Street protest which may be interfering in their lucrative corruption. One wonders if the NYPD is on the take and getting their orders from wealthy Wall Street and not from the mayor's office. So things haven't changed much in the NYPD since the of the 1970s.
see for instance: The Law: Up Against the Cops  Time Magazine, May 31, 1971


Last February, Plainclothes Patrolman Frank Serpico and two other New York City policemen knocked at the door of a suspected Brooklyn heroin pusher. When the door opened a crack, Serpico shouldered his way in only to be met by a .22-cal. pistol slug crashing into his face. Somehow he survived, although there are still bullet fragments in his head, causing dizziness and permanent deafness in his left ear. Almost as painful is the suspicion that he, and perhaps his partners, may well have been set up for the shooting by other policemen. For Serpico, 35, has been waging a lonely, four-year war against the routine and endemic corruption that he and others claim is rife in the New York City police department.
His efforts are now sending shock waves through the ranks of New York's finest. An independent five-man panel known as the Knapp Commission, formed as a direct result of information provided by Serpico, is due to report its findings next month. Insiders say that the commission will charge that 60% of New York policemen are on the take. Among certain elite units of plainclothesmen and detectives that are responsible for investigating such areas as gambling and narcotics, the report is expected to say, the corruption rate is between 99% and 100%. Serpico, as a matter of fact, was one of the tiny minority that was untainted.

So why should protesters in New York or even average New Yorkers put their trust in a corrupt police force. Just because someone is in a position of authority doesn't mean they automatically deserve respect.

Narcotics cops showered junkie with crack and forced her to perform sex acts in return: testimony BY OREN YANIV DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Monday, October 24th 2011


NYPD narcs showered a junkie with crack and forced her to perform sex acts in return, she testified in the latest embarrassing revelation to emerge from a police corruption trial.
In one incident, Melanie Perez recalled on the stand last week, a cop called her to his home, made her smoke drugs then pulled down his pants and demanded oral sex.
"What was I going to do?" she testified in Brooklyn Supreme Court. "I did it."The damning account came during the bench trial of Jason Arbeeny, one of eight undercovers charged in a scandal that rocked the Brooklyn South Narcotics squad.
The trial has already yielded troubling testimony on officers "flaking" - planting drugs on innocent victims - to meet arrest quotas and get overtime pay.



Occupy Wall Street Update:

Occupy Wall Street - Day 36 - Police Brutality Protest
Uploaded by ddipasupil on Oct 23, 2011
NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 22: A general view of atmosphere during Day 36 of "Occupy Wall Street" solidarity event, the "16th Annual National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation", on the streets of Manhattan on October 22, 2011 in New York City. (Photos and video by D Dipasupil)




Pete Seeger, grandson Occupy Wall Street in long tradition of activism By ASSOCIATED PRESS October 24, 2011

Tao Rodriguez-Seeger was halfway through Friday night’s march down Broadway to support the Occupy Wall Street movement, a guitar strapped over his shoulder and his grandfather Pete Seeger at his side. Suddenly a New York City police officer stepped from the crowd and grabbed his elbow.


“Are you Tao Seeger?” the officer asked tersely. “Was this your idea? Did you think of this?”


Rodriguez-Seeger, a New Orleans-based musician, was certain arrest was imminent. The officer reached for his hand and he readied for the cuffs. Then something unexpected happened.


“He shook my hand and said, ‘Thank you, thank you. This is beautiful,’” Rodriguez-Seeger said. “That really did it for me. The cops recognized what we were about.”


That moment affirmed the message that his grandfather has preached tirelessly across nine decades. The causes and movements have changed from time to time over 75 years, but his message has always been the same: Song is the key to understanding and change.


“Music does something to you,” Rodriguez-Seeger said. “It can cross rivers of meaning that entire books can’t get across. ... You take any one of Bob Dylan’s songs and you get to the heart of the matter where it took Homer volumes and volumes of books to get to the same point.”

Chicago's mayor Rahm Manuel and Chicago Police taking a page from Bahrain's government crack down on pro-democracy protesters by arresting nurses who were at Occupy Chicago protest to provide first aid for injured protesters. According to International Law medical personnel are not to be prevented from giving medical care to either side in a dispute ie uprising or during combat whether a civil war nations at war.

Nurses to picket City Hall over arrests at Occupy Chicago protest Chicago Tribune October 24, 2011

Outraged by the arrest of two nurses and a union organizer volunteering at the Occupy Chicago protest over the weekend, National Nurses United is planning a protest at Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office today.

The group, the nation's largest union of registered nurses, is calling on its membership in Chicago to picket City Hall this morning to demand that misdemeanor trespassing charges against the nurses and all of the protesters be dropped.

The two nurses arrested were among a larger group marching with Occupy Chicago protesters and later set up a tent to provide first aid.

"It was the wrong move," RoseAnn DeMoro, the group's executive director, said Sunday. "We were there to make sure if the occupiers get harmed, they have first aid."

DeMoro said the nurses' arrest will only serve to strengthen her organization's commitment to the Occupy movement.

"The nurses are angry, and it's made us double our resolve," she said.

DeMoro said nurse volunteers have set up tents at Occupy protests in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York without any arrests.
Obama forced by Iraqi government to pull troops out of Iraq.

The mainstream Media treats Obama's announcement of pulling troops out of Iraq as if this were his choice to make. In fact it is the Iraqi government which has insited the US pull out its troops government and has rebuked Obama's pleas to extend the deadline.

"Goodbye Iraq? Not Exactly " by: David Swanson, War Is A Crime.org | News Analysis Oct. 22, 2011


...This is compliance with a treaty that Bush and Maliki made three years ago, which the Iraqi government has refused to modify to accommodate Obama's desire to keep troops in Iraq longer.


There will be U.S. troops remaining in Iraq. They simply will not be employed by the "Department of Defense" (as we call it, I'm not sure Iraqis call it that). Thousands of mercenaries will be employed by the State Department.


Iraqi police will be trained to U.S. specifications on the U.S. taxpayers' dime. We will maintain the world's largest embassy. And I have to assume the CIA is not departing.


...As U.S. troops have been withdrawn from Iraq a number of things have not happened:


· Iraq has not descended into the worst hell imaginable, many times worse then the hell we've helped to create there.


· The reputation of the U.S. military has not collapsed to the point where every little nation with a grudge to settle has attacked Washington.


· The people of Iraq have not risen up to demand a longer occupation.


· The U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq have not come back from their graves to insist that their memories require additional years of pointless killing and dying by others.


· The rule of law has not suffered a fatal blow (partly because it was already dead).


All of this suggests a few of things. One, it is possible that sometimes Fox News is wrong. Two, it is possible that the two-thirds of us who favor withdrawing from Afghanistan are right about that one as well. Three, maybe keeping the peace movement going would have been a good idea, and maybe we should revive it.


Now, Iraq is not, and will not at any time soon become, a paradise. Millions of refugees are in exile. Every family has been decimated by the slaughter. There is a long road ahead. We owe the people of Iraq reparations. But first we owe them what we shouted about eight long years ago: liberation. When most people hear that "all U.S. troops" will leave Iraq, they think that means what it sounds like it means, and so it should.


The problem with U.S. training and funding of Iraqi police is not that U.S. money is going into the wrong economy. We owe the Iraqi people far more than that. The problem with U.S. training of anyone's police can be observed in the streets of New York, Boston, Oakland, Denver, San Diego and everywhere nonviolent protesters are being beaten by a militarized state. During the course of this war, we have been turning the United States into what we were told we would help Iraq to escape from. Our first duty now is to allow Iraq to escape from us. We should support the Iraqi economy from afar, bring our troops home from every other foreign nation as well, and use the saved trillions to begin converting our own economy to nonviolent industries.
 While Obama takes credit for US troop withdrawal in fact it is the Iraqis who are the ones insisting the US leave.

" Read the fine print: The Iraq war isn’t over U.S. withdrawal leaves 5,000 mercenaries on the ground and the State Department's private air force in the skies " BY JORDAN MICHAEL SMITH at Salon.com, October 24, 2011

... “After nearly nine years, America’s war in Iraq will be over,” Obama said. That is not the case.
In his contention that the war will be over by New Year’s Eve, Obama was making the (admittedly important) distinction between members of the U.S. military and everyone else employed by the American government. And indeed, there will not be a single American soldier stationed in Iraq by the end of the year.
Except, that is, for the approximately 150 troops that will stay to protect the huge U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad. As that fact suggests, there is a lot of fine print underneath Obama’s declaration that the war is over. Besides those remaining troops, thousands of others officials in the American government will be staying in Iraq. There are the more than 5,000 security contractors hired by the State Department to guard the American presence. And there are the more than 10,000 other diplomats, the largest American diplomatic group anywhere on the planet. Those civilian workers form the full size of an Army division. The 104-acre embassy compound in Baghdad’s Green Zone — the largest embassy anywhere in the world — has an astounding 21 permanent buildings. The State Department will also run its own air service — the 46-aircraft Embassy Air Iraq — and even its own hospitals.
For Iraqis, it might matter little that the huge number of Americans serving in their country are not official members of the U.S. military. “What really matters is what those civilian workers are doing,” says Stephen Walt, a foreign policy expert at Harvard.  “If there are armed troops conducting night raids and manning checkpoints, there may not be a substantial difference in their eyes” between official combat troops and “security contractors,” who essentially act as mercenaries. On the other hand, if Iraqis feel like they are no longer occupied, they may see the Americans still in their country as simply allies acting at the request of their government. Even if American GIs are no longer stationed in Iraq in sizable numbers, the war will truly end only when Iraqis no longer believe themselves to be under an American thumb.
.. The American military may be almost entirely gone from Iraq by the end of this year. But the American presence? That will be in Iraq for many years to come. 

and so it goes,
GORD.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

#OWS Update & Call to Occupy Bank Foreclosure Sites & Call To NYPD To Cease it's Unconstitutional Stop and Search Program

photo
Police arrest civil rights activist and Princeton professor Dr. Cornel West, one of approximately 30 arrests, during a protest against police stop-and-frisk tactics in front of the 28th Precinct in Harlem as part of the Wall Street movement.


 Photo below: Folk singer Pete Seeger, 92, joins others, as part of the Occupy Wall Street movement, on a march down Broadway from Symphony Space on Broadway down to Columbus Circle late Friday night.
Wall Street and its media flunkies believe Pete Seeger who is 92 years old is a threat to National Security and to the Political/ Economic elites in America. Seeger is even armed and dangerous with not one but two canes.


So is this 92 year old activist a real threat to the NYPD and to Wall Street and therefore an enemy to the 1% status quo-will Obama demand his arrest as a a subversive along with Naomi Klein & Colonel West & other dissidents.


photo
Verizon employees and members of the Communication Workers' union, CWA Local 1101, carry a banner reading "Verigreedy Wireless" as they're joined by Occupy Wall Street demonstrators for a march to the Verizon building on West St., then back downtown for a rally on Nassau St.

Wall Street Tsunami: OWS grows in force
Uploaded by RussiaToday on Oct 22, 2011
There's been another round of protester arrests in New York. Anti-corporate demonstrators complain police are taking too heavy an approach to their continuing peaceful rallies. RT's Lucy Kafanov is at the heart of protests that inspired a global movement.




Occupy Europe: Thousands march in Germany & Spain

Uploaded by RussiaToday on Oct 22, 2011Thousands staged demonstrations against the power of banks and for greater democracy in German cities on Saturday, while several thousand Spanish teachers and parents marched in the capital Madrid to protest against austerity measures. In Berlin the second edition of the so-called 'Occupy Berlin' protest against the financial system drew several hundred demonstrators to a march which ended at the Reichstag building, Germany's parliament, on Saturday afternoon. Protesters chanted slogans against banks as they walked past Berlin landmarks such as the Brandenburg Gate. After the massive turnout at anti-bank protests last weekend, Berlin police were out in force this Saturday but no serious incidents were reported. A similar demonstration was held in Frankfurt, where several thousand people protested against the power of the banks and for greater democracy. The demonstration was organised by 'Occupy Frankfurt' and the international pro-democracy, anti-globalisation movement 'attac'.




Occupy Israel: Anger simmers over lack of change

Uploaded by RussiaToday on Oct 22, 2011Israelis inspired by American activists have spent weeks protesting and calling for social justice on the streets of Tel Aviv. But now that the rallies have ended, people are left wondering when the reforms, promised to them by the government, will emerge.




While Wall Street and big corporations , banks and investment firms make record profits they continue to lay off employees to down size and to send jobs off shore and to countries which have no history of treating workers fairly that is paid a living wage rather than be treated as mere slaves wholly dependent upon the whims of the overlords on Wall Street or elsewhere.

Note the pro-Wall Street pro-greed stance in this headline while they brand anyone criticizing the government or the disproportionate influence of the wealthy in America which is stifling true democracy as therefore being Un American or anti-American or Not real Americans. ..
 To criticize any part of the Capitalist System is deciphered as being anti-all aspects of capitalism.
 These critics who are part of the 1% or groupies for the 1% also argue that any policy which smacks in any way of socialism must be evil - taxing the rich -social security, old age pensions, maternity leave , the minimum wage, Unions, collective bargaining , food stamps, medicaid, universal Health Care for all  or civil rights legislation or international laws and agreements and the United Nations and so on.

There are those citizens who are not part of the 1% who in fact prostrate themselves at the feet of the rich and powerful.
Then these quislings tell the American people that Christianity is all about prosperity and the amassing of wealth so the wealthier one is the Holier one is and is therefore loved more by the Christian God than are those who are poor , homeless, the destitute , the millions in US prisons , the working poor etc.

Occupy Wall Street: Anti-capitalist protesters demonstrate against Wall St., corporate greed Daily News Photo Gallery , October 23, 2011

Note the pro-Wall Street pro-greed stance in this headline while they brand anyone criticizing the government or the disproportionate influence of the wealthy in America which is stifling true democracy as therefore being Un American or anti-American or Not real Americans. .

The have touched a nerve by daring to criticize the corporations and CEO's and their bought and paid for politicians.
Most people supporting the #OWS protest are not against "capitalism" per se but against rapacious, unregulated profits before people style Capitalism which has no interests in improving the lot of the average American citizen.

Instead the Media which defends Wall Street unconditionally turns the whole issue into us versus them -that is Wall Street-their claim is that those criticizing Wall Street are a mob of unreasonable extremists. But the OWS are supported by over 50% of the population.



NYPD's stop and frisk tactics protested in Harlem; Princeton Prof. Cornel West among those arrested BY MATTHEW DELUCA AND JOSE MARTINEZ DAILY NEWS WRITERS Friday, October 21st 2011

The NYPD, which stopped, questioned and often frisked a record 601,055 people last year, has come under fire for targeting blacks and Latinos in disproportionate numbers - and for stopping innocent people in the overwhelming majority of cases.

"You have to do nothing else except live in your neighborhood and be a young black or Latino male to be a suspect," Matt Main, of the National Lawyers Guild, told the Daily News.


A call to have protesters occupy foreclosure sites to challenge the banks right to foreclose.
Such protests would increased publicity and therefore public awareness and possibly a favorable response from the Obama Regime .

How to Make Banks Really Mad: Occupy Foreclosures by: Mike Konczal, New Deal 2.0 ,October 22, 2011

Could the next step after camping in Zuccotti Park be camping out in homes facing foreclosure?

As people think a bit more critically about what it means to “occupy” contested spaces that blur the public and the private and the boundaries between the 99% and the 1%, and as they also think through what Occupy Wall Street might do next, I would humbly suggest they check out the activism model of Project: No One Leaves. It exists in many places, especially in Massachusetts — check out this Springfield versionof it — and grows out of activism pioneered by City Life Vida Urbana. It is similar to activism done by the group New Bottom Line and other foreclosure fighters. Here is PBS NewsHour’s coverage of the movement.

The major goal of Project: No One Leaves is to mobilize as many resources as possible to protect those going through foreclosure and keep them in their homes as long as possible in order to give them maximum bargaining power against the banks. For those focused on “weapons of the weak,” this moment — with banks and creditors using state power to conduct massive amounts of foreclosures, thus impoverishing poor neighborhoods through a financialized rationality — is a crucial opportunity for resistance. From the webpage:

Post-Foreclosure Eviction Defense. We mobilize tenants and former homeowners living in recently or about to be foreclosed homes (bank tenants) to stop evictions, protect Springfield’s housing and communities, and mobilize bank tenants to fight back against major lending institutions and banks that are tearing our communities apart.

Their model, a two-step process known as the Sword and the Shield, works:

“The Sword”. Encouraging residents to stay in their homes, and to make their stories public, we organize blockades, vigils and other public actions to exert public pressure on the banks. The sword works together with:
“The Shield”: We inform bank tenants of their rights and work with legal services & progressive lawyers, to use aggressive post-foreclosure eviction defense to get eviction cases dismissed, win large move-out settlements (if it makes sense for that family/person), and force the banks to reconsider foreclosure evictions.
and so it goes,
GORD.