Wall Street Protests

[Trilby]

/janis/Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose/joplin/

[SamIam]

Originally Posted by ZenGum

People with nothing to loose are dangerous.

Yes, and corporate congress is making a mistake by putting people in that position. Americans want to work. The people of this country have always had a strong work ethic. But so many have been put out of work completely or forced to into part time jobs by the sour economy created by the greed of the huge financial outfits and the resulting collapse of the whole financial house of cards.

Recent college graduates can't find jobs and often have a huge educational loans they must repay. The men and women who served this country in the Middle East come home to no jobs and a VA system which is just as likely to kill then as help them. Just ask Big Sarge.

Yet, today the GOP will vote against another jobs bill yet again. I do not understand what makes people think that "producers" need tax breaks before they will create jobs. Remember the huge expansion in the economy, the corporations vying with each other to hire workers, the excellent wages employees received back in W.'s administration when he cut all those taxes on the corporations and the wealthy? Me neither.

Americans don't want to be on food stamps. Its shameful. Its a personal defeat. In Colorado, able-bodied people must do a certain amount of civic work in exchange for their food stamp card. That's a great idea. Why not implement this program nation wide and have everyone doing useful work? It would make the food stamp program less costly and the recipients could get a little of their self respect back. Scrapping the food stamp program will only cause even more demoralization and children will be denied things like milk and fresh vegetables and a little meat - foods a child needs for healthy growth.

This is the kind of stuff that turns citizens into people with nothing to lose. And it is completely unnecessary.

There is a wonderful statement by Bill Moyers explaining what has and is happening in the US today. It's a little long but the content is outstanding.

@ Dana and Brianna - Thank you for your kind replies. When I posted that, I had just finished sending a bunch of e-mails to Congress and the energy sort of overlapped here.

[Lamplighter]

It's early in the news reporting on Occupy Oakland, but I'm thinking
the events of yesterday are getting a bad rap in the news media.

I've been reading as many news reports as I can,
and the text of reports do say demonstrations were calm and non-violent.
There were large crowds of marchers in various parts of Oakland,
and the Port of Oakland was blocked... with no violence.
Yes, there was some vandalism and a few broken windows,
which was condemned by Occupy Oakland leaders.
When police cleared those areas, it was done peacefully.
Only one person was injured... a marcher hit by a passenger car.

But the headlines are, almost without exception, portraying the events
as deteriorating into "violence and chaos".

The main "violence" seems to have been a nightime bonfire that was lit
at an intersection - in groups of metal trash cans that had been pushed together.
OK, that makes for a dangerous situation,
and the police were justified in ordering the crowd to disperse.

It reported that order was given police close to the bonfire,
speaking directly to people in the immediate vicinity.
But almost immediately the area was filled with teargas and flashbombs.

Several people report they were not aware of the order to disperse.
Further, they report that when people ran from the teargas,
they were beaten by the police and ordered to remain still.
When people stayed in place, they were arrested.

If the general public reads only today's headlines, I'm convinced
they will be mislead to believe the entire Occupy Oakland went badly.

[tw]

I was amused by (if I remember correctly) a news report on Nightly Business Report. Bloomberg wanted to remove the Occupy Wall Street encampment for health and sanitary reasons. The report on his concern and intent showed people sweeping and cleaning around and inside their tents. The audio from Mayor Bloomberg completely contradicted what almost all the video showed. Bloomberg later conceded. The encampment remains.

[tw]

Never forget why the government must cut a $trilllion from the budget. We are now paying a $trillion for Mission Accomplished. Who lied about that war? Who gets to suffer for it?

[SamIam]

Originally Posted by Lamplighter

If the general public reads only today's headlines, I'm convinced
they will be mislead to believe the entire Occupy Oakland went badly.

I think the general public has learned to be skeptical of the media. People who are opposed to the Occupy movement will point to the headline with glee (think Merc), but many others will read the entire story.

And Occupy Denver is doing some great stuff (hate to disappoint you, UT). They are moving the occupation to the front of the Federal Building on Saturday so as not to impede the Veteran's Parade which is scheduled for that day. Very many appreciative comments and thanks to the vets on the Occupy Denver blog. After the parade, Occupy will return to their regular place.

And best of all, Michael Moore is coming to give a talk to the Occupy Denver folks today! I'd love to be there for that.

However, I have a tentative plan to drive over to Denver the week of November 23rd. Hell, its only 400 miles and It feels like the right thing to do. I'll be with a group advocating the end of corporate government on the same day that government announces my and many other's fate.

Camping in downtown Denver at the age of 60 - I'm insane! But everyone here is aware of that already.

[SamIam]

Originally Posted by tw

Never forget why the government must cut a $trilllion from the budget. We are now paying a $trillion for Mission Accomplished. Who lied about that war? Who gets to suffer for it?

I addressed that a few posts back.

[glatt]

I was walking around on my lunch hour, and my path took me past the second site in DC where these guys are camped out. This place had more critical mass than the one I reported on a couple weeks ago. It's on K street in the heart of the lobbyists. And the park, McPherson Square, was completely full of tents and people. I was actually offered a box lunch when I walked past, because someone (some registered nurses group) had given out a ton of lunches, and they had a lot left over.

[classicman]

We are also paying for loaning money to people who could not afford the loans they got and/or were too ignorant to understand what they signed on for and the subsequent bailout of those banks.

[classicman]

Thats really cool glatt. I think that is great, but it is bringing a lot of people who are not interested in anything other than free food or whatever to "hang out" with the demonstrators. These people are, my guess, causing most of the crime problems that some in the media are reporting.

[SamIam]

Originally Posted by classicman

We are also paying for loaning money to people who could not afford the loans they got and/or were too ignorant to understand what they signed on for and the subsequent bailout of those banks.

The financial outfits that made the loans are equally if not more to blame. They got to get bailed out by the tax payer at the same time that many Americans were losing their homes.

[classicman]

I didn't mean to imply that the banks were innocent in any way, shape or form.

BUT - I have not heard one person who had a gun held to their head at closing.

[Aliantha]

Originally Posted by Brianna

/janis/Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose/joplin/

I woke up singing this song in my head today.

[TheMercenary]

Those folks in LA are really doing the protests justice. When is the Rape count going to go up?

[classicman]

Apparently not until you get there.