Showing posts with label Occupy Together. Show all posts

Monday, November 14, 2011

#Occupy – The Legal System?

Illustration: From www.whatnowtoons.com -- Keith manages to capture the moment brilliantly.

We have received a number of questions as to why we haven’t been posting much lately. Well, frankly, if you want up to date information, the site has a link to live coverage 24/7. Second, we felt we had already said all there is to say. Third, the Nation Magazine at Nation.com has covered it better that we could anyway.

However, lately we have noticed something about how this is reflecting American values. Many occupiers are being arrested and the cops are being used to oust them around the country. This is because they did manage to achieve one thing, which is to create the mass movement away from large banks to credit unions as a result of fees for ATM cards. Now that actually cost them some money they thought they could extort, so the corporations are trying to stop these occupations.

Compare the arrests, however, with what happened at Penn State when Joe Paterno was fired as a result of one of his coaches, Sandusky, being busted for homosexual pedophilia. Yes, the guy was raping 10-year-old boys in the shower as people observed him. It was all covered up. Well, there was a huge riot in protest, even police vans were overturned, and not one person was arrested. This is Amerika, after all. And we have our priorities.

With all of the arrests for occupation, one would think there are prosecutions, no? No. So far as we have been able to determine, not one single case has been filed for prosecution. The reason would be clear – it would cost too much. In some states, the courts are only open 3 or 4 days a week as a result of budgets. Imagine if all these people were prosecuted. The courts would be clogged up. In addition, what they have been arrested for could be described as freedom of expression, hence covered by the First Amendment, and hence eventually a federal case.

Of course, foreign policy is a part of capitalism as jobs are shipped overseas and we spend money on wars. Does anyone remember a time when we were not at some sort of war?

Mossad just bombed a missile factory in Iran, Time magazine says. With only 2 to 3 hundred nuclear bombs, Israel is frightened of Iran’s nuclear program, even though our own intelligence agencies indicate they are not pursuing one.

Obama is assured re-election because of the Republican field. There are about ten candidates, only one of whom combines some intelligence and principles, and he is a psychopath.

Some other thoughts:

One feature of Capitalism that is not generally understood, even by the most militant Capitalists, is that Capitalism needs to grow, expand, and increase in order to even barely survive. Perhaps the best book on this subject, and the most comprehensive and comprehensible, was written by Wallerstein a few decades back and called The Capitalist World System. He goes back to its start in the 17^th century and shows its development. It is not written from a Marxist or a Corporatist point of view but simply looks at the facts and puts them together into a meaningful format. Of course, using facts is sometimes unfair to the libertarian elements and the current political biases, but they remain stubbornly true.

A problem that Capitalism is starting to face is that its expansion is limited by the simply fact that the planet is finite in size. It needs both new markets and new materials for exploitation (and this includes labor, or course), but these areas are shrinking. Since the more successful capitalists must keep increasing their “wealth,” the rest of humanity must be further impoverished and exploited.

This is why we no longer have a divided world. The system has expanded about all it can horizontally, so the only changes left are vertical, top down, in other words. We hear a lot of talk about Greece causing trouble for Wall Street, but the total economy of Greece is roughly equal to that of the Dallas-Fort Worth area (and this excludes Denton, btw.). Hence, foreign policy becomes, or should be considered a part of, the Occupy Wall-Street movement.

Just in!

Occupy Aloah sang for two and a half hours, 45 minutes of protest songs, in front of Obama and the APEC dinner and nobody noticed. The complete song is available:

Filed under Occupy Wall Street, Obama, Protests, U.S. Economy

Makana, renowned Hawaiian musician and guitarist.

Rush Transcript

This transcript is available free of charge. However, donations help us provide closed captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing on our TV broadcast. Thank you for your generous contribution.
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Saturday, November 05, 2011

Occupy it All

OCCUPY IT ALL

Another veteran was hospitalized, this time from a direct, Brutal beating from an Oakland cop. It was so bad, that in his cell, he could no longer stand the pain in his stomach from the ruptured spleen, he managed to crawl on his hands and knees to the bars and call for help. They sent a nurse who offered him a suppository. He is now in a hospital. I think it is clear that the 1% will not give up their status without first killing as many of the 99% as possible.

Israel stopped the two evil foreign vessels in international waters with their dangerous cargo of medical supplies. They were on their way to Gaza. A transcript is below, along with a video link, but you probably have not heard much of it because of Israel’s threats of war against Iran. See, one day, Iran may want to develop a nuclear weapon and Israel only has two or three hundred so they need help. Wolfgang Blitzkrieg, ex-lobbyist for APAC, asked about the dangerous territory Israel would have to cross. All these overweight oil barons in nightgowns are in the way, after all.

What populace there is, I suppose, was watching HLN. I went into a waiting room and heard them, and it sounded like a live play-by-play of a hockey game on the radio:

“We are waiting now as we can have a verdict at any moment now. Wait, I just got a note on my blackberry! We have a buzz, we have a buzz. I’m told one buzz means they want a break, two buzzes means a question, three means a verdict. We are on pins and needles. I’m going to Beth at the court house. Beth, can you hear the buzz – what kind is it?”

Beth: “No, Vinnie, I’m three floors about the courtroom and can’t hear a thing, I ….”

Vinnie: “No help there. Let’s go outside to Jane. Jane, what do you know?”

Jane: Loud and urgent: “We are hear with an organizer with the delegation from Croatia. What is your name ….”

Vinnie: “No help there, but I hear it was two buzzes, two buzzes, meaning a question. We are going to try to find out what kind of question – what? Oh, they asked if they can take a break. So, I don’t blame them….”

Fortunately, it was my turn and I was lucky enough to leave.

We notice that Herman Cain is getting the pro-adultery vote as his contributions and popularity have increased since at least three women recounted instances of sexual harassment. Perhaps it is the same people who supported Bill Clinton during the Lewinsky hummer debate.

Newt, by doing relatively nothing, is now in third place.

But let’s get on to the dire threat against poor Israel:

From another source:

http://theonlydemocracy.org/2011/11/video-democracy-now-footage-from-freedom-waves-flotilla/

November 04, 2011

Exclusive: Video from Gaza Flotilla as Israeli Navy Prepares to Intercept Boats

Two Gaza-bound boats carrying pro-Palestinian activists are within 50 nautical miles of their destination, but reports are emerging that Israeli Navy ships have intercepted the "Freedom Waves to Gaza" flotilla. Communication with the boats has largely been cut off. Prior to losing contact, we received two exclusive video reports from aboard the "Tahrir," the Canadian ship. Speaking to Democracy Now! correspondent Jihan Hafiz last night, passenger Ehab Lotayef said, "We are approaching the 100-nautical-mile point away from Gaza, which is usually the point where Israel declares—starts the blockade ... Will they try to come and board us? All these questions are now at the moment of truth. The major preparation we did is to prepare that we don’t want anybody to act in any violent way or in any way that can even induce violence by the Israelis." [includes rush transcript]

Filed under Gaza Flotilla, Gaza, Palestine, Israel & Palestine

Guests:

Jihan Hafiz, independent journalist currently reporting for Democracy Now! from the Canadian ship Tahrir, which is part of a flotilla heading to the Gaza Strip.

Jane Hirschmann, coordinator of the U.S. delegation for the Freedom Waves to Gaza flotilla.

Col. Ann Wright (Ret.), retired U.S. Army colonel and former U.S. diplomat who spent 29 years in the military and later served as a high-ranking diplomat in the State Department. She was a passenger on The Audacity of Hope U.S.-flagged ship in a recent Gaza aid flotilla. She was also on the first Freedom Flotilla.

Rush Transcript

Related Links

AMY GOODMAN: We’re on the road in Syracuse, New York. As we go to broadcast, we’re receiving reports that the Freedom Waves flotilla to Gaza is being approached by Israeli naval vessels. Sandra Ruch, part of the steering committee for the Canadian boat, called in this report just as we went to air.

SANDRA RUCH: ...in Istanbul, Turkey, and I’ve been in constant contact with the Tahrir. He have just lost communication. The last thing we heard was from Fintan Lane of the Irish boat that they could see the Israeli army or navy offshore, and they are at 51 nautical miles from Gaza. So we have now lost communication completely with our boats.

AMY GOODMAN: As we broadcast now, a Canadian and Irish boat are en route to Gaza, about 48 nautical miles from their destination. The Freedom Waves to Gaza flotilla marks the latest attempt by international activists to break the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza. Earlier this year, Greece blocked the departure of several ships from another flotilla heading to the region. In 2010, Israeli forces killed nine Turkish activists, including a U.S. citizen, on an aid boat called the Mavi Marmara, which was part of the first such international flotilla. The Canadian boat is called Tahrir, Arabic for "liberation."
Democracy Now! correspondent Jihan Hafiz is on board the Tahrir. She filed this report.

JIHAN HAFIZ: It’s the second day of the Freedom Waves to Gaza flotilla, and the Tahrir moved closer to its destination on Thursday. However, organizers remain on high alert. The Israeli Defense Forces threatened to block the boats from breaching the Gaza blockade by sea. Delegates and journalists met to discuss the Israeli navy intercepting the boats and the possibility of violent confrontation. After weeks of secretly planning the flotilla, activists with the Canadian boat finally made physical contact with their Irish counterparts. Although the boats did not exchange passengers due to rough waters, their proximity boosted the spirits of those on both vessels.

KAREN DEVITO: Free Gaza! Free Palestine!

JIHAN HAFIZ: Activists understand their strength is not in numbers, but rather in the powerfully symbolic act of attempting to break the siege despite the risk of another violent attack by the Israeli navy.

MICHAEL COLEMAN: Michael Coleman from Sydney, Australia. I’m representing the Free Gaza Australia on the first Freedom Waves flotilla to Gaza. My family and friends are very supportive, and I haven’t had to sort of choose between too many things. It is a financial strain on me, as I’m only a youth worker, and, you know, social services don’t get paid that well, but it’s money well spent, in my opinion.

JIHAN HAFIZ: Michael attempted to reach Gaza in the summer but never made it, when the Greek government prevented the Tahrir from leaving the country. This time he serves as a member of the crew and expresses his satisfaction about his efforts to end Israel’s four-year blockade of the Gaza Strip.

MICHAEL COLEMAN: Well, I tried to tone down my expectations on this trip, because last time, when we tried to sail out of Crete in June and July, we hit a wall of bureaucratic obstacles, which I didn’t anticipate, and I came back with a definite sense of frustration. So, I came not to have too many high hopes for this trip. But it’s with great joy I tell you I’m now sitting in international waters, and we got out of the bureaucracy in Turkey. And now Gaza awaits us. Yes, there is a level of nerves about being confronted by what I like to term the IOF, the Israeli Occupation Forces. They have a long history of targeting peaceful protesters with violence, which is totally unacceptable, but that’s meant as a deterrent to us.

EHAB LOTAYEF: Ehab Lotayef, one of the organizers of the Canadian boat to Gaza and a delegate on board towards Gaza. It’s now 7:30 Friday morning. We are approaching the hundred-nautical-mile point away from Gaza, which is usually the point where Israel declares—starts the blockade. So, at this point we are getting anxious, in a way, to know when will they put a blackout on our communications, if they will put it. When will they try to come and board us? Will they try to come and board us? All these questions are now at the moment of truth. The major preparation we did is to prepare that we don’t want anybody to act in any violent way or in any way that can even induce violence by the Israelis. All the spirits are good. Everybody is cooperating. We feel that we really have a very successful mission up to now. Everybody is happy with what’s happening. And we are still hopeful to get to Gaza, actually.

JIHAN HAFIZ: Majd Kayal, a 20-year-old university student, is the only Palestinian on board.

What is life like for you in Israel?

MAJD KAYAL: The question of who I am was always—not only for me, for all the Palestinians that grow in Israel, this—the question of identity, of who I am. I am Palestinian, but I am not. But I have a blue ID, which is the Israeli ID. Being Palestinian is not something that you choose. I didn’t choose to be part of the struggle. It’s not—I didn’t make this choice. I was born with it. I was born with the fact that I am suffering from the [inaudible] state, that I am not a citizen in this state, or citizen in a low—in a lower place than the Jewish citizen in Israel.

JIHAN HAFIZ: How do you feel about being the only Palestinian on this trip?

MAJD KAYAL: I feel sorry. I think that it has to be more Palestinians on the boats and in all the boats. I think it has to be Palestinian boats from different places in Europe. I hope it will be soon, not only for Gaza. I really think that we have idea of the return boats, boats of refugees that try to get to Jaffa or to Haifa or to Akka, to the cities that their parents were born. And I believe that only the Palestinian people can liberate itself. We need the support, and we need the world, the whole world, to stand with us, but I believe that only the Palestinian people can fight for its rights. Only the Palestinian people can really liberate itself and liberate Palestine from the colonization.

JIHAN HAFIZ: As the sun set over the Mediterranean, memories of the Mavi Marmara attack reminded passengers of the Tahrir that Israel could strike at any moment. The most violent attack against the peace convoy to Gaza came 95 kilometers off the coast of Gaza, when Isreali commandos entered international waters, stormed the flotilla, killing nine Turkish activists and wounding many others. Activists and journalists began to prepare themselves for a possible surprise attack in the later hours of the morning, as the Tahrir and the Saoirse approached Gaza. They expect to come within a hundred kilometers from the coast sometime during the evening. Jihan Hafiz for Democracy Now! on the Tahrir en route to Gaza.

AMY GOODMAN: Just as we went to broadcast this morning, we lost touch with Jihan, Democracy Now!’s Jihan Hafiz, on the boat, on the Canadian boat Tahrir, as they were moving closer to Gaza. But at this point, we have word that Israeli naval ships have surrounded both the Canadian and the Irish boat in the flotilla. But before we lost contact, Jihan filed this update.

JIHAN HAFIZ: We’re about 82 nautical miles from the coast of Gaza, and the Israeli navy has not been spotted. Activists and organizers on the ships say we’re lucky to have made it this far without an interception by the Israelis. There have been a number of preparations underway here on the boats to prepare for the Israeli navy, if they come. The captain reduced the speed of the boat last night to ensure that both vessels would arrive or would come close to the 100-nautical-mile mark at daylight. If the voyage goes smoothly and the Israelis do not intercept both vessels, then this one and the Irish one would arrive in Gaza nine hours from now at about 2:00 to 3:00 Gaza’s time. Everyone on the boat is excited to have made it this far without the Israelis intercepting the boats. There have been preparations underway all night, as well as into this morning, in the event that the Israelis do board the ships. Despite that, however, spirits remain high, and many optimistic that they will reach Gaza, if the Israelis—

AMY GOODMAN: You’ve just heard Jihan Hafiz. She was just reporting to us from the Tahrir. Now, again, we have just lost contact with the boats, so we’re bringing on Jane Hirschmann. She’s in the United States. She’s one of the coordinators of the flotilla, the international support committee.
Jane Hirschmann, if you can tell us what you understand is happening at this point.
JANE HIRSCHMANN: There are two Israeli warships that have surrounded the—our boats, and they are in contact by radio. And Canadian activist Ehab Lotayef, when he was asked, "Where are you going? What is your destination?" he replied, "The conscience of humanity." And when they repeated that question, asking for his final destination of the two boats, he said, "The betterment of mankind." So, at this point, we have lost contact with the ships, but we know that they are currently surrounded, and they are being contacted via radio. The ships are talking to the Israelis.
AMY GOODMAN: So, you have had contact with the two boats here, the Irish ship and the Tahrir, which is the Canadian ship, where Jihan Hafiz, our reporter, was just broadcasting from.
JANE HIRSCHMANN: That’s correct. But now we have all lost communication with them. They have lost [inaudible] —
AMY GOODMAN: Earlier, hours ago—actually, when we were flying into Syracuse, New York, we got word that ships and planes—this was many hours ago—had actually—were doing some kind of reconnaissance, and then they left. Is this what you heard, as well? It was last night.
JANE HIRSCHMANN: Actually, there was a ship following them for hours. And that is pretty typical in these flotillas, that ships can follow you for a very long time. Then they lost sight of the ship, and they did see an aircraft above. Then they lost sight of the aircraft. And then, in early morning hours, they saw one of the ships again. So it’s just a—
AMY GOODMAN: And Jane Hirschmann, you were on The Audacity of Hope. You were on one of the boats in the flotilla that attempted to leave Greece a few months ago, that was a U.S.-flagged ship. The significance of this secret two-boat flotilla that did make it out of a Turkish port? And, well, we’ll see what happens right now.
JANE HIRSCHMANN: Right. I wasn’t on the boat; I was the—one of the organizers of the boat. But it’s very important that this time we kept it secret. Very, very few people knew. And we had to keep it secret, because this is a civil society action, it is not a governmental one. And we wanted no interference from any governments, because we wanted to do this, and the only way was to keep it very, very secret.
AMY GOODMAN: Jane Hirschmann, I want to thank you for being with us.
We’re here in Syracuse, New York, and I want to bring in Colonel Ann Wright. She is a former diplomat. She quit over the war in Afghanistan. She is here in Syracuse, because she joined with 37 other people in protesting drone strikes, drones that are run from a base here in Syracuse, and we’re going to talk about that in the next segment.
But, Colonel Ann Wright, you were on The Audacity of Hope. In fact, you were on the first international flotilla that was challenging the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza. You were on the boat next to the Mavi Marmara, where nine Turkish citizens were killed by the Israeli military. One of those activists who were killed was actually a U.S. citizen, born not far from where we are now, in Syracuse, New York. Can you talk about the significance of, at this point, what we know is two boats—we lost touch with the Canadian boat about 48 nautical miles from Gaza, but now being surrounded by Israeli navy, but making their way, attempting, to Gaza?
ANN WRIGHT: Well, I can imagine what’s going on on those boats, as the Israeli commandos boarded us in 2010. They storm on board. There’s lots of noise. There’s lots of yelling. There’s weapons being pointed at people. "Get down! Get down! Don’t talk! Don’t do anything!" It’s a very scary time, quite honestly. But what—it’s scary, but it’s this thing that these people want to be doing. There are 27 people among the two boats. They want to be a part of the wave of citizen activists who continue to challenge the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza.
AMY GOODMAN: Describe what happened, as you were next to the Mavi Marmara, the Turkish ship. What was the name of your boat?
ANN WRIGHT: Our boat was the Challenger II.
AMY GOODMAN: How far were you from the Mavi Marmara?
ANN WRIGHT: Initially, we were about a hundred yards off its port stern. And we saw helicopters coming over, starting the assault on the Mavi Marmara. We saw commandos from the boat shooting what we didn’t know at the time was live ammunition up into the stern of the Mavi Marmara. And then, after about two minutes of that, we then took off and tried to outrun the patrol boats.
AMY GOODMAN: And how far were you from Gaza?
ANN WRIGHT: We were about 70 miles from Gaza. We were quite far away, in international waters, as are these two boats, still. Forty-eight miles is still in international waters.
AMY GOODMAN: How many people were on your boat? And why you, a colonel, U.S. military, a former ambassador, deputy ambassador to Mongolia? You quit under President George W. Bush. Why did you go on this boat?
ANN WRIGHT: Well, in my letter of resignation to President Bush, not only did I resign over the Iraq war, but also in my letter I mentioned the unequal policies that we have on Palestine and Israel. And I felt it was important to put my voice and my body where it counted and to be a part of an international group to challenge the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza.
AMY GOODMAN: The Israeli military says they just don’t want weapons being brought into Gaza.
ANN WRIGHT: Well, and these flotillas, these boats on the flotillas, are not bringing in weapons, and they very well know that. The fact that the Israelis continue, after 48 years now of blockading Gaza, of not allowing materials to come in by sea or to go out by sea, is something that international activists are going to continue to pressure the international community, the international community of governments who are supporting the Israelis, and of course the United States government, which is its biggest supporter with $3 billion a year and protection in the United Nations on every vote that concerns Israel and Palestine.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re going to come back to this discussion around people taking direct action. Again, Ann Wright, a retired Army colonel, former U.S. diplomat, who spent 29 years in the military, served as a high-ranking diplomat in the State Department. In 2001, she helped oversee the reopening of the U.S. mission in Afghanistan, then in 2003 resigned her post in protest to the war in Iraq. On two of these flotillas, the first with the Mavi Marmara and then The Audacity of Hope. That was a U.S.-flagged ship.
ANN WRIGHT: That’s correct. The Audacity of Hope was U.S.-flagged, as was the Challenger II.
AMY GOODMAN: The boat that you were on.
ANN WRIGHT: Yes. Both were U.S.-flagged. The United States government has made no investigation itself over the murder, the execution, of the U.S. citizen Furkan Dogan nor the—
AMY GOODMAN: That was the young man who was one of the nine activists on board the Mavi Marmara who was killed by the Israeli military, born because—in the United States, his father was a professor.
ANN WRIGHT: That’s right, born in Troy, New York. He was killed with five bullets to his body, including one to the head to execute him, which we can identify on the Israeli videos that they have now released.
AMY GOODMAN: And we have interviewed his father, and you can go to our website at democracynow.org. We’re going to come back to Ann Wright on another issue, why she is here in Syracuse today, one of the Hancock 38 Drone Resisters. We’ll be back in a moment.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

#ows Week 5 -- Worldwide, Idiot Obama on Iran, Primaries, Chomsky

Illustration: www.whatnowtoons.com is brilliant again. The artist gives a city count, which takes some divination, and gives a great image of corporate media.

The World Joins. From Tawain to Times Square and around the world, the 99% are joining forces. 82 countries on 5 continents are involved now. Cities are too numerous to count (you might leave out Cincinnati or Oakland where the released prisoners from Iran are making speeches against the California prison system, and others). Greece will shut down, especially the police who are tired of being maligned as part of the 1%. Thousands are being arrested. The complete address is included below. We continue to carry live coverage and, if you click on the lower right hand corner of the image, it will take you to a link called “more” with videos and a video library. I saw the NY police try to ride their horses around the crowd. One horse got freaked, bucked like something out of a rodeo -- the cop was no cowboy and provided quite a farce trying to stay mounted. Eventually, the horse decided it had had enough, went to its knees, and refused to have anything more to do with the whole scene.

Lybia. The latest I’ve heard from there is the attacks on black prisoners who are considered mercinaries. One for sure was actually a professional shepherd. Never could trust those black shepherds, you know. Next thing you know, you’d have black shepherds in the U.S. wanting to vote. They better stick to running Pizza Companies and naming them after Mafia figures.

Iran and an Assassination? So we hear about the nefarious assassination plot hatched by Iran (let’s call the President A-Jad, after all, they get away with A-Rod for Alexandro Rocridguez [or whatever] and J-Lo for Jennifer Lopez, both to shorten, no racial stuff going on here) and A-Jad. Supposedly, A-Jad hires an Islamic drug dealer, supported by the Mexican Mafia cartel, funded by Iran, to kill the Saudi Ambassador to the United States. Now stop laughing, it gets better. See, this evil assassination, owner of Jack’s Used Cars, it turns out, is really a very feckless (look it up) individual, reminding his acquaintances of the old Sad Sack of the 50s cartoon strip, the guy who walked around with a cloud dripping light rain over him all the time. He is described as hard-working but unlucky, honest but taken advantage of, a Moslem in name, but seldom going to the Mosque in Huston (much like a congressman and his church). He tried a Kabob restaurant and didn’t do well, went bankrupt, and then tried selling used cars, starting his own place because nobody would hire him. Most people felt sorry for him. Along comes a drug dealer, caught by the feds who force him to attend the Mosque and spy and ferret out enemy agents (or he gets sent to prison on drug charges). The FBI uses him as an informer.

Now this is ludicrous (look it up yourself) enough just from what we really hear on the corporate media. Really, as if Iran, if it really wanted to do the job, would not have used the drug cartel rather than its own very competent apparatus. Actually, what kind of target would that be anyway? Give A-Jad some credit. And keep in mind he does not have the sort of authority our leaders invest him with. Even letting idiot Americans off from the legal authorities requires that he allow the entire process to run its course. He has to deal with the “Supreme Authority,” after all, and that is not Rupert Murdock. He would not use the Mexican Mafia, either. Perhaps Hezbullah (the Army of God) or some other more competent and precise organization would be employed. Oh, yes, and this so-called diplomat’s most recent experience was as a translator for the previous ambassador, a prince who resigned his position after barely tolerating the madness at the U.N. for a week.

There are arguments that Iran is simply imitatinh the United States’ program of assassinating its own citizens abroad, but the U.S. does not consider others as real people, just “collateral damage”. Aside from Alwaki, we also droned his son, who was 15, not 21 as our military reported, and born in, I think, Colorado. He was a U.S. citizen as well. Things just drone on. [Hey, I’m allowed my own puns!]

The Alien Torts Act of 1897 has just been ruled as viable, so you don’t need to be a citizen to sue another citizen, persons such as Shell oil.

The real fun. You have to see clips from the Republican Primary Debates to get real low humor, however, as well as the follow ups. Have you been lucky enough to see the video of Cain singing a song to the John Lennon tune “Imagine?” The first line goes “Imagine…a world without pizza…” and continues to malign Tacos. His economic plan is 9,9,9 which will cost people about a 17% sales tax overall. One white supporter is all for him because he is “a country boy, like me.”

Michelle Bachmann points out that you need to turn 999 upside down. Of course, that is 666, a solid Republican number.

Perry was a cotton farmer, not a rancher, so why the cowboy boots? He is proud of how many prisoners he has executed and the marvelous educational program in Texas which as catapulted to last place in the United States, finally beating out Mississippi. We all now know about Perry’s all day prayer, fast and barbeque for rain in Huston for Texas. Immediately after, the fires spread, not like wildfire, but as wildfire.

Mitt Romney has never led in any of these polls and there are no prospects of this in sight – he hasn’t said anything insane yet.

John Huntsman will skip the debate in Las Vegas as will we.

Anyway, here is a transcript:

AMY GOODMAN: Shane Bauer, Josh Fattal and Sarah Shourd, the three American hikers now all free and united, made a surprise visit to Occupy Oakland on Monday. In July of 2009, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal were arrested, along with Sarah Shourd, while hiking near the Iran-Iraq border. Bauer is a freelance journalist who has contributed to Democracy Now! and other media outlets. Fattal is an environmental activist. Sarah Shourd was released last year. Shane and Josh were freed late last month. After two years in captivity, much of it in solitary confinement, the thee hikers were welcomed by a thrilled crowd of supporters as reporters jockeyed for position and a news helicopter hovered overhead.
Today we bring you their full comments. This video courtesy of Mia Nakano and KPFA’s John Hamilton. You’ll hear first from Shane Bauer, followed by Josh Fattal.

SHANE BAUER: It’s great to be back in Oakland. You know, we got out—we got out of prison over three weeks ago. We were hostages, Josh and I, for 26 months, and Sarah for 14 months. And coming home to this, I mean, we came back to this country a couple weeks ago, but this feels like coming home, coming home to Oakland, coming home to this. This is amazing, you guys. This is really amazing. To come back and see our country coming back to life and see this city coming to life like this is really, really a wonderful homecoming. A lot of people here fought for us and fought—supported our families and struggled nonstop to get us out of prison, and I want to thank you guys for doing that, for standing by us.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you!

SHANE BAUER: This is the perfect place to celebrate our freedom. We’ve been here for a couple days, and feels like this city is a part of me, it’s a part of my heart, and to see this happening is just—I can’t tell you how incredible it feels.

I wanted to mention one person that is very important to us, who has not been able to celebrate our freedom like we have. This person is—his name is Mr. Masoud Shafii. He was our lawyer in Iran. And he—for 26 months, he tried to defend us courageously and skillfully, as best as he could within Iranian law, and he had a very difficult time. And now that our case is over, we’ve been released and sent home, he is not able to celebrate. He has been living under fear of prosecution—persecution since we’ve been freed. He was arrested. He tried to leave the country to come here to see his family, and he wasn’t able to. His passport was taken. He’s constantly under the threat of being put in prison. And, you know, we stand behind him. He defended us. And he, this man, you know, he’s a lawyer, and he’s doing his job. He’s working within the law. And he doesn’t—now that we’re out, we’re free, and we’re speaking, and we’re here talking to you guys and, you know, saying what we want to say around the country, and, you know, he doesn’t have anything to do with it. He’s not influencing us. He doesn’t have any control over us. I just wanted to say that and just say that we’re thinking about him and that we love him.

You know, we were in prison, Josh and I, for 26 months, and we came out. And when we got out, we heard—I mean, this—these occupations had just—were just starting right when we got out, started in New York City, and we were hearing about it, little bit by little bit. And then—but it wasn’t until getting back here to this city that it really hit me that this is serious, this is big. And I feel proud of it. I feel proud of it, of this happening in my city.

But, you know, another thing that we learned when we got out is that there—here in California, there have been thousands of people on hunger strike in prison. You know, nobody—nobody can come out of prison, especially come out of the situation of isolation, solitary confinement, and not feel for other people in that situation. And these people, you know, there have been—from Pelican Bay, thousands of people went on hunger strike, and it’s spread throughout California. This is incredible, you guys. This is really incredible. These people are struggling, like we had to struggle in Iran, for change in their conditions. You know, we lived through solitary confinement. This is psychological torture. And they’re living through that, and they’re struggling to change that. Every day, there’s at least 20,000 people in this country that are in solitary confinement. I can’t tell you guys, standing here right now, what it means to be in solitary confinement. It’s hell. And no person should have to live—live that.

And now, recently, we’ve learned that Pelican Bay hunger strikes have stopped for the time being, because their demands—they’ve been promised by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation that the process of how people get put in solitary confinement, or the SHU, is going to be reviewed. And we hope—I hope—that this is really going to happen, and, you know, these people aren’t going to have to go back on hunger strike, they’re not going to have to starve themselves. You know, in prison, that’s the only way to be heard; the only way to be heard is to threaten that you’re going to die. I mean, this is crazy, you know? This is crazy. And we really hope that this promise will be fulfilled.

So I just want to say that, you know, inside prison, we—a lot of people here, like I said before, were supporting us and were fighting for our freedom, and we felt that. And it really is what made me get through every day. And I know that the people in prison in California now are feeling that. You know, if people here are supporting them, they’re going to feel it. And I really want to commend this camp for passing a resolution yesterday in the General Assembly in support of the hunger strikers in California. And I want to say, you know, Pelican Bay, they’ve stopped for the time being, but hunger strikes continue in Calipatria and Salinas, and I want the people there to know that my heart goes out to them and that I’m with them, and that everybody here, I think we could say, is with them. Thank you, guys.

JOSH FATTAL: I’ve been on hunger strike for 24 hours in solidarity with the prisoners who have been on hunger strike and who are continuing to be on hunger strike in the state prisons of California. Solitary confinement was the most cruel part of my detention in Iran. And while some prisoners have stopped their hunger strike, there’s still 150 prisoners on hunger strike in California right now with their demands unmet—demands of the end of group punishment, demand for the end of debriefing sessions requiring prisoners to identify gang members, the end of long-term solitary confinement. They want adequate nutrition and greater privileges for prisoners in isolation.

AMY GOODMAN: Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer—you could hear the helicopter hovering overhead—together with Sarah Shourd, they addressed Occupy Oakland.

Filed under Noam Chomsky, Gaza, Yemen, Drone Attacks, Drones

Noam Chomsky, MIT professor

Rush Transcript

Wednesday, October 05, 2011

Joining Occupy Wall Street

Here is how you do it:

About OCCUPY TOGETHER

September 23rd, 2011 · Sam · Announcements Comments Off

Welcome to OCCUPY TOGETHER, an unofficial hub for all of the events springing up across the country in solidarity with Occupy Wall St. As we have followed the news on facebook, twitter, and the various live feeds across the internet, we felt compelled to build a site that would help spread the word as more protests organize across the country. We hope to provide people with information about events that are organizing, ongoing, and building across the U.S. as we, the 99%, take action against the greed and corruption of the 1%.
We will try our best to provide you with the most accurate information possible. However, we are just a few volunteers and errors are bound to occur. Please be patient as we get this site off the ground and populated and please contact us if you have any info on new events, corrections, or suggestions for this site. You can contact us at info[at]occupytogether[dot]org.
We will only grow stronger in our solidarity and we will be heard, not just in New York, but in echoes across this nation.
For more information about us, the movement, and answers to questions, please check out our FAQ.
Important note: Occupy Together will never ask for any monetary donations. We suggest that, if you want to donate monetarily, that you visit this site to help those who currently Occupy Wall St.

Important Update Regarding Actions

October 5th, 2011 · Ella · Announcements 7 comments

If you’ve started seeing Occupy Together in your daily email box as we have, you probably know the word is spreading like a wildfire. The site has recently been linked on occupywallst.org, Adbusters, tweeted by Michael Moore and sent out in a MoveOn.org newsletter. WHEW! Talk about growing exponentially!
You have to remember, when we started this we were merely two designers who couldn’t get to NYC to support in person. We saw these solidarity actions forming in other areas and though “you know, it would be great to gather this information and make it readily available and easily accessible for everyone!” Little did we know we’d go from listing 4-5 locations in one night to receiving hundreds of emails in a day. We were slowing the flow of information because us volunteers weren’t able to keep up. This was a huge issue for us to solve because if we’re not making this information as accessible as possible then we’re not helping the movement.
This is where the internet gets awesome. Through this process we’ve been in touch with some very incredible and talented people with much more technical knowhow than we will ever have. The beauty of it all is that this just started as an idea by two and has grown into a collaboration by many. We are all in this together, it only takes one (or in our case two) to take the jump and you’ll find others to support and join you along the way.
We were contacted by the good people at meetup.com, who got in touch because they heard we were in need of some technical assistance and advice. They listened to our pressing issues at hand: adequate server space for site performance, SEO & RSS issues, and what seemed to be most daunting of all, our inability to keep up with all of the information we’ve been sent. They talked us through all of these issues, but most helpfully, showed us how we could use meetup.com as a tool to provide real-time event listings and updates. Who would have known there was a site out there that was made SPECIFICALLY for this kind of DIY, grassroots activity

All of the volunteers talked it over… we work in the spirit of the movement. No one is leading, everyone has a chance to voice concerns and we all make important decisions together. We all decided the best way to foster the growth of this movement and provide access to information around the world was to use meetup.com as the method of finding, listing, and updating events. The GREAT thing about all of this, is that it’s completely in line with the whole idea of this decentralized movement. Any single person can start an action in their area, and where one stands up there will likely be another to join you! Plus, you don’t have to belong to the site to view the information and meetup.com is very concerned with user privacy. So, if you’re not a Facebook or social media user, no fear! You can still get real time information and updates in your area too!
Long story short, we’re going to integrate meetup tools into www.occupytogether.org. For the most part there won’t be a huge difference. You will look on the map for your location and once you find it you’ll click on a link that will take you to a page with all of the information of solidarity actions being organized in your area!
We hope you all understand and share our sentiment on this decision. We’ve done our best to add all existing locations that were on our website, and we will continue to add the events that were emailed to us through tomorrow. However, now you are all individually empowered to add new and update old information at any time!
Lastly, we want to mention that we’re very aware of the server problems we’ve been encountering. We will have a new home on our very own dedicated server here within the next 24-48 hours. You have all been great in being patient with us and supporting us. We hope we won’t wear your patience out as we wait to move to our new home!
Occupy Together

Major Site Restructuring Due to Number of Cities Organizing

October 2nd, 2011 · Sam · Announcements 25 comments

Wow, the groups organizing and occupations popping up across the country is growing exponentially by the day. So much so that, in order to have proper navigation and organization on the site, we had to begin categorizing these pages by state. Because of this, every occupation’s permalink has been changed. We’re sorry for this inconvenience, especially if you have directly linked to our page, but it was necessary for people to quickly find what they were looking for on our site. We ask all of those who previously linked to their occupation’s page on our site to update their link accordingly.
Again, we apologize for the inconvenience and hope that this change will prevent us from having to do any major overhauls in the future.
Thanks.
In solidarity with Occupy Wall St.,
Occupy Together

Occupy San Francisco Takes It To The Streets

September 30th, 2011 · Sam · Announcements 20 comments

We will be posting a lot more videos from different places across the country. All of these are so incredibly inspiring that, as I write this, I have goosebumps. We will let you know how to submit your videos shortly.

Nobody Can Predict The Moment Of Revolution ( Occupy Wall Street )

September 26th, 2011 · Sam · News 30 comments

A really great video from Occupy Wall Street.

Source: Occupy Wall Street

The Occupy Portland Model

September 26th, 2011 · Ella · Announcements 29 comments

We’ve witnessed an exponentially growing list of communities that are banding together with our brothers and sisters on Wall St. by organizing solidarity actions in their cities. This rise in support has been incredibly inspiring and has promoted many of you to become active in organizing an event in your area. Through the enthusiasm and excitement of wanting to show your support you are all working diligently to organize events in a short amount of time. As we have followed some of theses group’s efforts we’ve seen many different approaches to organizing. We’ve also fielded many questions on advice and how to information on effectively organizing. We wanted to feature Portland as an example for those of you would like a model to follow or to take from as they have done a great job joining and organizing efforts in a very short amount of time. Of course, each group dynamic is going to vary and what worked for Portland may not work for you, but at least this will give you an idea of how others are doing it.
A couple of members from Portland filled us in on their process:
Basically it all comes down to networking and extensive planning. The initial construction of the Occupy Portland Facebook group was backed by some pretty frequent tweeting. Once we started getting a huge following, there were more and more discussions popping up on the Facebook group. We were discussing where it should be, what Portland laws were regarding “urban camping”, as well as a number of other concerns. We then held a General Assembly to further organize where were all in consensus with our future actions and demonstration details. After we compiled notes from the GA, we discussed them further on the Facebook group. Once we had the frame work of what everyone wanted and expected we set up a Facebook page and web site to better organize and announce future details.
Advice using Twitter:
Sending messages to those working at Occupy Wall Street was definitely helped us gain notice. People are heavily following #occupywallstreet, #takewallstreet, #usdor, as well as a number of other widely used hash tags. Each tweet sent out would include a tag with a trending tag, my city (#pdx) as well as a link to the facebook group.
Also we paid attention to the amount of followers people had, and mentioned them as well.
Portlanders were watching, so they were bound to jump on board once they knew about a protest here. Nearly all of us are using Twitter, so they used the same approach when spreading the group link around the internet.
Advice using Facebook:
We first started a Group that opened up discussion to hear out everyone’s ideas, concerns and thoughts on how they could help. This was a very important stage in our organizational efforts.
General Assembly:
I think the most important thing for us was using the General Assembly model and making each decision everyone’s decision. This helped us remain unified. Legal assistance, bike deliveries, medics, photographers, people who can stream the protest, and similar topics were brought up. We covered nearly all the bases, and most of us left with a pretty hefty amount of notes. Notes from the General Assembly were posted online on a page for everyone in the Portland group to see.
Legal Advice:
Contact your local National Lawyers Guild early on for legal advice in your area. We are holding a seminar with the National Lawyers Guild so that we can become versed in the proper execution of a demonstration like this. They have confirmed that legal observers will be present durring our demonstration. We are also planning to hold a meeting with them where we discuss the importance of nonviolence and the proper way to conduct oneself in civil disobedience.
Additional Thoughts:
It’s extremely important to make sure extensive preparation goes into a something this big. Some people have certain contacts who would be useful, others are volunteering to do a specific job. It all comes as we address what needs to be seen and done upon Occupation.
We stressed something several times: this needs to remain non-violent. Remaining peaceful helps the overall image of this nationwide movement. If things do become violent, we acknowledge that staying calm only helps the cause. If we have arrests then we will have the footage immediately uploaded. It helps those in NYC by showing that the cops are abusing our rights, and that this thing is nothing like the misleading media says.
Helpful Links:
nycga.cc Find up to date information on the NYC General Assembly.
occupywallst.org News, video feed, forum & chat.
http://nycga.cc/2011/09/24/principles-of-solidarity-working-draft/ Working Draft of the Principles of Solidarity
www.nlg.org National Lawyers Guild

A Really Great Article About Occupy Wall St. In The Guardian

September 25th, 2011 · Sam · News 15 comments

There was a really fantastic article that is making its rounds across the internet as the United States still sits in a media blackout on this topic. It will only be a matter of days, however, that this story spreads wider across the country. Already, many are beginning to hear about what is happening with those who Occupy Wall St. and the ripple effect it is having across the country.
Check out The Guardian article, it’s a good read (and don’t forget to share it with all of your friends).

“We might do well to consider the collapse of the European colonial empires. It certainly did not lead to the rich successfully grabbing all the cookies, but to the creation of the modern welfare state. We don’t know precisely what will come out of this round. But if the occupiers finally manage to break the 30-year stranglehold that has been placed on the human imagination, as in those first weeks after September 2008, everything will once again be on the table – and the occupiers of Wall Street and other cities around the US will have done us the greatest favour anyone possibly can.”

Should National Efforts Unify & Align With A National/International Event?

September 25th, 2011 · Ella · Announcements 18 comments

Brothers and Sisters on Wall St.,
We’ve been busy over at OccupyTogether.org helping people become aware of solidarity events in their area taking place and organizing. There have been many expressing that it would be a good idea to organize a national event in solidarity with Occupy Wall St. so that our voices of support can be heard louder. We would like to communicate with you on Wall St. and see how we can be most supportive of your efforts.
We’ve been discussing this topic here: https://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=294421993905616&topic=324
We also have someone who has suggested and will facilitate a national conference call if beneficial. Discussed here: https://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=294421993905616&topic=325
Occupy Together would ultimately want the word from those of you on Wall St. before we’ll organize, endorse and promote any national event. At Occupy Together we stand by the developing mission of Occupy Wall St., but we are not representatives for Occupy Wall St.
Please get in touch, we’re able to communicate with many occupying groups at once and would be able to help form a louder voice across the nation.
Solidarity,
Occupy Together

It’s Been a Busy Day

September 25th, 2011 · Sam · News 6 comments

We’ve had a huge response the last couple of days and unfortunately, the blog portion of this site has suffered a bit because of it. We are still trying to get a solid footing as we maintain the webpage, the facebook page, and the twitter feed. What you have seen so far is the product of a three person effort to provide the Occupy community with a space to organize, promote, and support this movement and it’s really been a 24/7 effort to keep things up to date. Luckily, it seems that a lot of you have been willing to lend a hand so that this will become even more efficient. Thank you all for your support so far.
There was a large march in NYC that resulted in an estimated 80 arrests. Many protestors endured police aggression, pepper spray and mace, baton beatings, and harassment during their march this afternoon. Little to no media coverage has been so far, even after such a challenging day. Still, the protestors remain steadfast and determined as the rest of country slowly begins to get word of what is happening.
Many other events, demonstrations, and assemblies were held around the country including Chicago, Atlanta, Denver, Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Jose in solidarity with Occupy Wall St. We hope that these all went well and would love to hear any news about these events that participants have to offer.
We have begun to add pictures on our Photos page from flickr sites. If you have any photos from your events, please contact us with either a .zip/.rar of your photographs or a link to your flickr page.
More downloadable posters have been added as we continue to provide a free mode of distributing information and gaining awareness about this movement. With the media largely silent, we will need to take it upon ourselves to gain numbers and even stronger momentum.
We wish everyone the best as they continue to organize and demonstrate. Stay safe, stay peaceful.

Downloadable Posters are Now Live and Available!

September 23rd, 2011 · Sam · Announcements 17 comments

This project and this movement is about mobilizing the masses and nothing is more important than numbers when it comes to a protest’s strength and longevity. That is why we are providing everyone with free downloadable posters, graciously provided by graphic designers around the country, to not only promote this site and efforts down on Wall St. but to help mobilize in other communities, to inspire, to promote, to inform, and to strengthen the occupiers’ efforts. Please, feel free to download these, print them, and start hanging them everywhere.
To all graphic designers out there, if you would like to donate some of your time and energy to this effort, we want to make your work available. Please provide us with a PDF of your poster and we’ll get your poster up ASAP.

Many New Updates Coming In

September 23rd, 2011 · Sam · Announcements 9 comments

WOW! The response from this has been overwhelming and so encouraging. Thank you so much for all of the information that all of you have been sending us. We have been making some updates to the site to make the Events more navigable, so bare with us. We’ll be updating as quickly as our fingers move to get all of you the most up to date information. Again, we are going by what organizers within these states are giving us so if you are finding some of the information to be false, please let us know and we’ll get things corrected.
Again, thank you all so very much. Once we get things better organized and updated, maybe we can tackle some of the tougher issues like “making the red seem less angry.”

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Anyone want to @occupysyracuse ? They just joined & need some support! cc @LeftBehind_CNY

Important statement about why we chose to use www.meetup.com/occupytogether to generate and update actions/events...
http://t.co/QvI5Nob7

IMPORTANT: Update Regarding Actions & Events
http://t.co/vfZlFYto

Welcome, Alaska! "@OccupyAnchorage: We're meeting at 4pm in Town Square Park this Saturday"

Aloha! "@Min_Reyes: World, welcome @OccupyHawaii :) #occupywallstreet #ows #occupytogether"

Occupy Baltimore begins their occupation today!

View and download the NYC General Assembly guide here!
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FEATURED FAQ: Can we use your logo/layout/map/copy?
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Shout out! "@GreyJack21: Is there any way we could get a shout out for #occupybakersfield ? We need support."
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Sign this petition if you wish to take money out of government "@kazrpsak: @OccupyTogether RT please "
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The Absurd Times

Monday, November 14, 2011

#Occupy – The Legal System?

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Saturday, November 05, 2011

Occupy it All

OCCUPY IT ALL

November 04, 2011

Exclusive: Video from Gaza Flotilla as Israeli Navy Prepares to Intercept Boats

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Tuesday, October 18, 2011

#ows Week 5 -- Worldwide, Idiot Obama on Iran, Primaries, Chomsky

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Wednesday, October 05, 2011

Joining Occupy Wall Street

About OCCUPY TOGETHER

Important Update Regarding Actions

Major Site Restructuring Due to Number of Cities Organizing

Occupy San Francisco Takes It To The Streets

Nobody Can Predict The Moment Of Revolution ( Occupy Wall Street )

The Occupy Portland Model

A Really Great Article About Occupy Wall St. In The Guardian

Should National Efforts Unify & Align With A National/International Event?

It’s Been a Busy Day

Downloadable Posters are Now Live and Available!

Many New Updates Coming In

Recent Twitter Activity

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https://open.substack.com/pub/absurdtimes1c2/p/free-sign-up?r=q3o1q&am

Monday, November 14, 2011

Rush Transcript

Related Links

Saturday, November 05, 2011

OCCUPY IT ALL

Exclusive: Video from Gaza Flotilla as Israeli Navy Prepares to Intercept Boats

Rush Transcript

Related Links

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Rush Transcript

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Wednesday, October 05, 2011

Recent Twitter Activity

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