Occupy – Day 61
Stuff has been happening all over.
Israel – Palestinians have decided to board busses that are “Jews Only”. I was surprised to hear about this as I remember all the crap Jimmie Carter got for saying that the Occupied Palestinian lands were aparteid. Turns out, Israel proper is. “I have a dream signs” are held up, reminding one of Martin Luther King.
Mayor Bloomberg of New York ordered the cops to tear down and trash the occupation site. Since we may not say the power structure is Jewish-dominated (don’t be anti-Semitic) Bloomberg, the white Anglo-Saxon protestant ordered the middle of the night Gestapo tactics.
Cheers to the Lawyers Guild which is doing great work, there was an injunction against it. Bloomberg ignored it until he found another judge to reverse it the next morning.
One of the organizers or activists was asked if they had a plan “B”? He said they had a plan A through Z.
I keep mentioning that enough lawyers need to get behind this. There was a great deal of crap about tort reform because lawsuits were raising the costs of medicine. The total cost of such action amounts to 1.5% of the cost of medical care. In other words, it is just another bit of bull from the huge insurance companies.
Then everybody who is arrested needs first to get charges filed against them and then demand a jury trial. Our legal system is set up to protect property and money, not people, so clogging it up would be an effective tactic. I confess that I am not about to participate, however. I would not be much use to anyone in such a condition and am not physically ready for it anyway.
Over 100 cities have some form of the Occupy movement. Imagine that going around?
Quan, called a “progressive,” by herself, mayor of San Francisco ordered to cops to do the same as the white guy (Bloomberg). I think she caved in to the money forces. See, they are not bothered by the fact that there are homeless people around (in fact, they cause it and take the homes), but they don’t want them in sight. Same thing with everyone else. Quan, by her cowardly actions, has set feminism back 40 years. Anti-Oriental sentiments will also arise – why not? They can no longer be trusted. They say “Yes, Master,” so easily, eh?
Her legal advisor immediately quit, followed by the Deputy Mayor. They deserve accolades.
It is worth seeing what else is going on overseas – how does Obama come across? Arandhati Roy is welcome here in a quote from Democracy Now:
ARUNDHATI ROY: You know, what they are doing becomes so important because it is in the heart of empire, or what used to be empire, and to criticize and to protest against the model that the rest of the world is aspiring to is a very important and a very serious business. So I think that it makes me—it makes me very, very hopeful that after a long time you’re seeing some nascent political, real political anger here.
It does—I mean, it does need a lot of thinking through, but I would say that, to me, fundamentally, you know, people have to begin to formulate some kind of a vision, you know, and that vision has to be the dismantling of this particular model, in which a few people can be allowed to have an unlimited amount of wealth, of power, both political as well as corporate. You know, that has to be dismantled. And that has to be the aim of this movement. And that has to then move down into countries like mine, where people look at the U.S. as some great, aspirational model. And I can tell you that there is such a lot of beauty still in India. There’s such a lot of ferocity there that actually can provide a lot of political understanding, even to the protest on Wall Street. To me, the forests of central India and the protesters in Wall Street are connected by a big pipeline, and I am one of those people in that pipeline.
AMY GOODMAN: I asked you about the Occupy Wall Street movement. What is your assessment of President Obama?
ARUNDHATI ROY: Well, I think, you know, when—I was never one of those people who was, you know, throwing my hat in the air when he won, even though—even though the memory of, you know, old black people, you know, feeling so happy to have a black man in the White House was something you just couldn’t ignore. But to see how he has—I mean, it’s almost reprehensible. You see—what has he done? He’s expanded the war in Afghanistan into Pakistan. Those drone attacks are killing people every day. You know, it’s—I don’t think he has any idea what he’s doing in that subcontinent. You know, no idea whatsoever. It is just devolving into a completely unmanageable, horrendous situation.
In America now, I just feel—I just feel a bit upset every time I hear that smooth, silver-tongued, you know, kind of delivery, which actually means nothing most of the time. And so, if—I keep thinking that if George Bush had done what Obama does, everybody would be saying he’s a fascist, you know, but we really step back and make so much space for what’s going on here, that—you know, it’s an old dilemma, of course, that somebody can do by day what the other person does at night. And, you know, people are so caught up in this view that the only choice you have is between the Democrats and the Republicans or between the Congress and the BJP. Our imaginations have been locked into this kind of electoral politics, so we feel like we have to say nice things about him. But I don’t feel like saying nice things about him. (Italics mine).
Well, welcome to the club. Neither do I.
Is it just me, or did I see Nitwityahoo both at the European Summit and at Apec? Who invited him?
I do not think Bush would be able to get away with some of the crap Obama has pulled. That is one problem with competence – it can actually work. Maybe we should all get behind Herman Cain? Or Newt the slimey? Muddy Mitt? Perry, yeah – he seems pretty stupid – perfect candidate and next president. (See illustration above.)
Have you noticed that each President seems worse than the one before? And that each one has to have his own war? Hm. This has been going on since JFK was assassinated.
Well, that’s it for awhile. RIP.