http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.0dcb7d3d860d0cf5c7d1a0b3866f2f13.ad1&show_article=1

 

And here they are testing a national "emergency" system that allows them to shut down radio and TV broadcasts simultaneously.

 

The US government is preparing for something big, no doubt. And I don't want to be around to see it firsthand.

Just a few more minutes until some people will think the world is about to end...

Well I didn't see it, maybe I was on the wrong channel.

 

Either it didn't run at all, or it's delayed? Or maybe it only appeared on some channels and not others.

I thought it was supposed to appear everywhere, on all channels (I couldn't tell because I wasn't near a TV or radio).

 

What time zone are you in?

http://www.businessinsider.com/attention-your-tv-is-about-to-be-taken-over-by-the-government-2011-11-1

dude that's hilarious... yet simultaneously sadly typical

You'll probably have to do it again.

wow, just wow. Police beating up utterly peaceful student protesters from Berkeley.

This is what the eviction of Emma/Cobalt's camp in Melbourne looked like. Very very bad.

I've seen that OccupyMelbourne is suing their police/administration for that illegal assault. That's great, will take ages though, probably.

 

 

Krugman says printing more paper money is being a solution?

I liked how he linked to an article which stressed the factor of the conservatives' crazy beliefs being responsible for a very big part of all this economic and ethical mess.

That's what it looked like to me for quite a while. Though I know that things are never that black and white, but overall, yeah, I think their pharisaic ignorance is responsible for a lot of plain bad. What helped them was the apathy of those who don't share their perceptions of things. But that has obviously changed now, which is great!

Gautama, Krugman has never predicted anything with accuracy in his entire career. In fact, he is quoted as calling for a housing bubble:

 

“During phases of weak growth there are always those who say that lower interest rates will not help. They overlook the fact that low interest rates act through several channels. For instance, more housing is built, which expands the building sector. You must ask the opposite question: why in the world shouldn’t you lower interest rates?”

 

May 2, 2001

 

That's only one of many quotes like it.

 

In his mind, printing money increases spending, which increases productivity. But in reality, when you print money is hurts savers and helps debtors. It rewards consumption and punishes productivity. Basically it's stealing from the future, to pay for the now.

 

Here's a video of economist Peter Schiff talking about why Krugman is wrong (this video was made 1 year ago):

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKMryqGOlls]Peter Schiff - Spending, Krugman (1-Nov-10)(FINANCE & ECONOMICS series) - YouTube[/ame]

The problem with the quiz Jay is that it misses the point of achieving a more honest government, a more perfect union. I put faith in our ability to right wrongs and put force behind basic rights; the right to fair elections is what we must do to restore honesty in government. Even if you want much smaller government, we will still need our representative government to be accountable to us.;)

I was listening to HereOnEarth, radio without borders today on Wisconsin Public Radio, and Jean had on an interesting guest - Luis J. Rodriguez - author of the book It Calls You Back: One Man's Break With Gang Life.Here On Earth: Radio Without Borders - It Calls You Back: One Man’s Break with Gang Life

Luis grew up in Los Angeles, experienced the uprising and riots of the 60's there, and I managed to ask him a question about whether or not he felt there were violent instigators planted within the crowd of protesters in Occupy Oakland, instigators who were there as operatives to start fights (in other words attack the police) in order to allow or prompt the police to respond violently against the protesters and break up the protest.

He responded saying "Well I was fortunate to go to occupy Oakland just before the general strike was called, and my experience in a lot of these struggles especially if people are doing it peacefully, if they're doing it to bring messages out to people, they're not doing it not to hurt anybody, is you will have people who will take it to a violent level, and whether they're plants or not it ends up in the same result - it discredits the movement - you know how that goes. And then it starts undermining why people are there. so My sense of it is that there are probably some people who just want some... because I remember.. Some of them are probably planted by the police, cause.. That was in the 60's, that happened quite often, where plants showed up in all kinds of organizations, and generally they were the ones that were the quickest to go to battle, the quickest to say "let's knock things down," and then you had to question "Why is this guy going at it so hard?" and then you find out years later they were being informants, paid informants, or paid operatives. So I think that's what people are getting at or harkening back to. If this is paid for by the police or not, the end result is it's going to make the movement look bad, and hurt as much as possible some of the good things they're trying to do."

So I think much the same - some are anarchists, and their violent actions hurt the movement by making it look bad, and some may be paid informants/operatives inciting violence to allow the police to act violently, and who knows who's paying them to do this?? But the less anarchists doing violence the better, since the winning of public sentiment comes when descent people simply asking for justice and fairness rally together, and any injustices against them is then seen as a form of brutality from authorities acting as conduits for powerful behind-the-scenes people.

Check out Luis J Rodriguez's website, and "The Dream that has Yet to Be"

 

The website of bestselling author, Luis J. Rodriguez

 

Occupy the places where the power is - as Michael Moore likes to put it, we're reclaiming our language - Occupy no longer refers to the US Middle Eastern occupations, or the Israeli occupation of Gaza, now we've gone to where the real problem is - Wall Street and Main Street in every town! ;)

So I think much the same - some are anarchists, and their violent actions hurt the movement by making it look bad

 

Are they really anarchists, then?

 

But the less anarchists doing violence the better, since the winning of public sentiment comes when descent people simply asking for justice and fairness rally together

 

Sure, and the less violence the State threatens/does, the better.

Are they really anarchists, then?

> Organized Anarchists, which is somewhat contradictory I know..:laugh3:

 

 

Sure, and the less violence the State threatens/does, the better.

> Winning the will of the citizenry usually works best when one stands for peace and justice, for violence simply gives an excuse for the police to try and disband the movement, and paints it all as a bunch of rabble-rousing hoodlums, rather than what it is - a group of competent individuals demanding justice and a more inclusive world view in our system.

What the state does, under the control of those in power, paints a picture in the minds of the public; if those in power are reasonable, they will not act violently towards those who pose no threat to the public's safety, but if they do act violently towards non-violent activists, then it will be for all to see and decide who's right and who's wrong, which side is ethical in its actions and which is not.

Albert Einstein Institution - Advancing freedom through nonviolent action

Organized Anarchists, which is somewhat contradictory I know..

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5Gppi-O3a8]Power of the Market - The Pencil - YouTube[/ame]

 

Voluntary association vs. forced association.

 

What the state does, under the control of those in power, paints a picture in the minds of the public

 

What if the state educates the public when they are children? Then who's in charge? ;)

DC Douglas #OccupyWallStreet 4 Reasons: #OccupyWallStreet – 4 Reasons (2011) - D.C. DOUGLAS

 

(1) Reinstate Glass Steagall

(2) Audit the FED

(3) Reverse the Supreme Court's ruling - End Corporate Personhood.

(4) Overhaul the Tax Code - make the 1% Pay Their Fair Share.

 

=================================================================

 

But this doesn't go nearly far enough to fix the problem. Richard Wolff believes we need to change how we structure businesses, so businesses become democracies, owned by all the employees, and decisions are put to a vote. No more top heavy organizations where the top skim off all the benefits of increased productivity, no more ignoring or dodging the social and environmental implications of the business's decisions.

Many are calling for amendments, declaring that money is not free speech, corporations are not people. A good start.

I would go further, stating our inherent right to fair elections, our right to allow all candidates equal access to the modern public square - that of the broadcasting system, all registered candidates given equal and ample air time at no charge, in exchange for those broadcasters use of the frequency spectrum taken from the public commons. Cap the level of donations to a level affordable by the broad majority of citizens; less than 1/2 of 1% of the average income in the country, so broad citizen's support of candidates will count more than the very wealthiest .1% buying off the candidates and the parties.

For preventing the problems from recurring requires making democracy work first.

 

Voluntary association vs. forced association.

 

> I agree, all men and women should be free to decide whether or not to join a given association, provided they are fully aware of the gains & benefits of belonging to the association; and if they decide not to belong, then they should not benefit from the gains gotten by that association's actions. ;)

 

What if the state educates the public when they are children? Then who's in charge? ;)

> Public education is in my mind a matter of self-improvement for the citizens of the country. Moving away from public education disenfranchises the poor and weakens the country by lowering access to education which in turns creates a less capable work force and less competent citizenry.

If however one wishes to educate one's own children in an environment separate from the public educational systems, I think that's a right, provided the education is a quality one.

But I really don't like the idea of marketizing everything; if one decides to send one's children to a public school, good. If one decides to send one's children to a competent educational setting other than the public school system, good. But when forces attempt to politically drain or go the "wrecking crew" route to the public educational system, my hair starts to stand on end. And if some argue the marketplace works as well in education as it does with widgets, I take issue with this. For the purpose of education is to prepare citizens so they can be fully capable and balanced individuals in society, capable of self-initiative, creativity, compassion, as well as working well with others. If we reduce it all to standardized test-taking evaluations and competitions for chits, it becomes a mad scramble to the bottom for our civilization. And I come from that hyper-competitive background, I excelled at defeating others in tests and academic achievement; don't want to return to a system devoid of context, lacking compassion, and rewarding too heavily individual achievement at the expense of group success. What is more important is the success we achieve together, balanced with compassion and relaxation in life.;)

 

Addendum: If the issue is motivation for educators, and motivations to keep the educational quality high, I would say there are many ways of keeping the quality of education high in public schools, such as rewarding those teachers for outstanding academic excellence in teaching based on a combination of results including student improvement and peer review; to keep balance in the system, some educators in certain fields perhaps should be reviewed for the qualities to which they impart in their students; one who teaches history for example might be better evaluated for ability to impart understanding of societal effects and the thinking of the day, and to the degree to which they impart an understand of the value of empathy and compassion in their students. So to each branch of learning, a different purpose and a different method of evaluation would seem appropriate to achieve a better result. So you see there are effective ways of ensuring that the quality of the education remains high, markets are not the only means of motivating people to improve, and in some areas (such as health care) are inappropriate to the given field.

Even social media "trending" reports show a remarkable decrease of interest in Occupy Wall Street, reflecting the actual decrease in public support.

 

1) Here's a graphical look of Google trends:

 

 

FYI: The news reference volume below the search volume index shows how many times the term Occupy Wall Street appeared in Google News Stories. The peak predictably occurred in October, coinciding with the macing incidents and marches in Washington.

 

2) Here's a graphical look of the # of tweets on Twitter discussing OWS:

 

 

 

 

Small-business owners tell Occupy Wall Street: You're hurting the 99 percent. http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2011/1110/Small-business-owners-tell-Occupy-Wall-Street-You-re-hurting-the-99-percent

 

On Tuesday, members of the commercial business district in downtown Oakland sent a three-page letter to Mayor Jean Quan, demanding that the protesters go. Five city council members held a press conference Wednesday reaffirming the demand.

 

“We are aware of dozens of small businesses in and around Frank Ogawa Plaza where the tents are, reporting 40 to 50 percent losses in the past three or four weeks,” including clothing stores, coffee shops, and conference spaces, Mr. Junge says. “People don’t like walking around down there, it makes them nervous ... they are taking their business elsewhere.”

 

Everything that I predicted is coming to fruition - this "movement" was doomed from the start by not having a visible leader (How many of you can identify a leader in the OWS movement? Yeah, I thought so) or explaining their goals and objectives to the general public.

 

Public support will continue to decrease as the days go on and OWS. Polling numbers show small businesses are fed up with OWS. Cities are fed up with OWS. America's fed up with OWS. And now it looks like many of the protestors are fed up with OWS - reports are showing increasing dropouts from the OWS locations due to 1) the lack of any results to speak of; and 2) the cold weather (see how many people will stay in tents for a long period of time in freezing weather)

 

This "movement" is as good as dead. Thanks OWS for a fun 2 months. But you're yesterday's news now.

Just noticed that there's a small group of tents at the monument in Newcastle. I have no idea how many started out but they've been there consistently for the last 3 weeks.

^^ That's interesting! Gatherings are a sign of solidarity, a link of brotherhood across the globe.:sunny::clap: As long as the inequities persist, we will persist in demanding accountability and change. ;) Number ebb and flow, but this is a movement from the heart, a movement for social justice.

Even social media "trending" reports show a remarkable decrease of interest in Occupy Wall Street, reflecting the actual decrease in public support.

 

>> Waning interest for the moment, but as with the Vietnam era protests, things fluctuated back and forth. One blip on the radar screen doesn't indicate a long-term movement's progress.

Small-business owners tell Occupy Wall Street: You're hurting the 99 percent. http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2011/1110/Small-business-owners-tell-Occupy-Wall-Street-You-re-hurting-the-99-percent

> Yes it's true, and there are always sacrifices in any struggle for social justice, I am sad to see that those small businesses have lost so much business as well - they are truly not to blame for the debacle in this nation and this world, they are part of the 99%. But the right to peaceably assemble is a natural right for good reason - it is our right to petition the government for a redress of grievances and to provide a rallying point for a citizen's reform movement. To capture the public's imagination and build a broad coalition of support takes something more than small disjointed gatherings and selling cupcakes at a bake sale.

 

 

Everything that I predicted is coming to fruition - this "movement" was doomed from the start by not having a visible leader (How many of you can identify a leader in the OWS movement? Yeah, I thought so) or explaining their goals and objectives to the general public.

> Yes Lord Vader, you're plan for crushing the rebellion is working for the time being. Interesting too how every time there's a movement leader, they get assassinated. Martin Luther King Jr., Bobby Kennedy, John Kennedy, Malcolm X. Who stopped the rain? Sounds like those in power don't really like leaders of popular uprisings. But assuming there are no leaders is a red herring. Indeed, there are many leaders! People all across the social media spectrum are leading the movement, but there isn't just one leader. And have you ever considered that movements can start with issues and citizen gatherings, then leaders emerge who will bring it all together, not the other way around? And then there is DC Douglas and Elizabeth Warren's explaining their goals and objectives to the general public, in case you've been asleep all the while:

And to wit: DC Douglas #OccupyWallStreet 4 Reasons: #OccupyWallStreet – 4 Reasons (2011) - D.C. DOUGLAS

 

(1) Reinstate Glass Steagall

(2) Audit the FED

(3) Reverse the Supreme Court's ruling - End Corporate Personhood.

(4) Overhaul the Tax Code - make the 1% Pay Their Fair Share.

 

================================================== ===============

 

But this doesn't go nearly far enough to fix the problem. Richard Wolff believes we need to change how we structure businesses, so businesses become democracies, owned by all the employees, and decisions are put to a vote. No more top heavy organizations where the top skim off all the benefits of increased productivity, no more ignoring or dodging the social and environmental implications of the business's decisions.

Many are calling for amendments, declaring that money is not free speech, corporations are not people. A good start.

I would go further, stating our inherent right to fair elections, our right to allow all candidates equal access to the modern public square - that of the broadcasting system, all registered candidates given equal and ample air time at no charge, in exchange for those broadcasters use of the frequency spectrum taken from the public commons. Cap the level of donations to a level affordable by the broad majority of citizens; less than 1/2 of 1% of the average income in the country, so broad citizen's support of candidates will count more than the very wealthiest .1% buying off the candidates and the parties.

For preventing the problems from recurring requires making democracy work first.

=========================================================================

Q" Public support will continue to decrease as the days go on and OWS. Polling numbers show small businesses are fed up with OWS. Cities are fed up with OWS. America's fed up with OWS. And now it looks like many of the protestors are fed up with OWS - reports are showing increasing dropouts from the OWS locations due to 1) the lack of any results to speak of; and 2) the cold weather (see how many people will stay in tents for a long period of time in freezing weather)

 

This "movement" is as good as dead. Thanks OWS for a fun 2 months. But you're yesterday's news now.

> As long as freedom and justice live in the heart and soul of every man and woman, this movement remains alive and will re-surge. For as long as the injustices persist, so too will the call for freedom, justice, and liberty persist.;) The Bell of Liberty Rings on in the hearts and minds of each and every one of us.

Wish as much as you might, the days of the Plutocracy are numbered, for no tyranny can contain the human spirit.

The Bell of Liberty Rings on in the hearts and minds of each and every one of us.

 

It's got a little crack in it, though! Maybe it wasn't pure liberty after all. ;)

It's got a little crack in it, though! Maybe it wasn't pure liberty after all. ;)

 

The crack didn't appear until later - what does that tell ya?;) Liberty Bell - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

I think it's time to weld it back together, to restore old Liberty.

 

> What is troubling us all about this movement is the violent trend it is taking - I believe Martin Luther King Jr. was right in his assessment that violence only begets violence, and solves nothing. In his words:

 

"the most dangerous thing about violence is its futility. "

 

==========================================================

 

However, one cannot ignore the movement's roots in demanding justice, economic fairness and political reform.

For some interesting insights: Tikkun Daily Blog » Occupy Wall Street

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15725819

 

14 November 2011 Last updated at 16:45 GMT

 

Occupy OAKLAND: Pre-dawn raid clears Frank Ogawa Plaza

 

Police have moved into a camp set up by Occupy protesters in Oakland's Frank Ogawa Plaza, dismantling tents and reportedly arresting 20 people.

 

The raid comes after police issued eviction warnings to the protesters.

 

Many demonstrators appeared to have left the camp and moved to an intersection, according to reports in local media and on Twitter.

 

A similar raid ended with police in riot gear arresting 50 people in Portland, OREGON on Sunday evening.

 

Police declared the Oakland plaza a "crime scene" shortly after Monday morning's arrests and cleared media from the area.

 

Hours before the raid, a legal adviser to Oakland Mayor Jean Quan resigned, at 02:00 via Twitter, saying he supported Occupy Oakland.

 

The protest has been marred in recent weeks by repeated outbreaks of violence and a shooting incident.

 

'Crime scene'

 

Police calls for protesters to "cease and desist" increased after the shooting of 25-year-old Kayode Ola Foster near the plaza on Thursday evening.

 

Foster's family confirmed to police that he had been a frequent resident of the Occupy Oakland encampment.

 

Oakland police said witnesses have told them that one of two suspects in the shooting stayed at the plaza, but they have not released the names of either suspect.

 

Even as officials blocked the streets around the camp, some demonstrators said they would return.

 

"I don't see how they're going to disperse us," Ohad Meyer, an Oakland resident told the Associated Press. "There are thousands of people who are going to come back."

 

Johnna Watson, a police spokeswoman, told reporters the area was now a crime scene.

 

"We don't want anyone to go through where we have to document property," she said.

 

Mayor Jean Quan and other officials reportedly toured the plaza with police after it had been cleared.

 

Ms Quan has come under criticism for her handling of the last attempt to clear the protesters, in which a Iraqi war veteran was wounded.

 

Scott Olson, 25, suffered a skull fracture on 25 October and became a rallying point for protesters across the country.

 

'No riot here'

 

In PORTLAND, Mayor Sam Adams, ordered the camp to be shut down on the grounds that "crime, especially reported assaults, has increased in the area around the camps".

 

Using loudspeakers, police warned that anyone who resisted orders to leave the parks and surrounding areas risked arrest and "may also be subject to chemical agents and impact weapons".

 

Demonstrators chanted "We are a peaceful protest", "I don't see no riot here, take off your riot gear" and "The whole world is watching".

 

The protest began peacefully, witnesses said, but there were confrontations and shouting as police in riot gear attempted to move people out of the squares.

 

Police also moved in to evict protesters camping in the cities of DENVER, Colorado, and Salt Lake City, UTAH, on Saturday.

 

Seventeen people were arrested in Denver, police said.

 

Occupy Wall Street is in its second month of protest against corporate greed and economic inequality.

POLICE REMOVES TENT CAMP IN NEW YORK

 

 

During the night the police is removing the demonstrators / protestors who have camped in Zucotti Park in New York not far away from Wall Street since September. They are protesting against the inequity in the American society.

 

From Mayor Michael Bloomberg's office it is announced that the demonstrators have to leave the square / area temporarily and remove their tents.

 

The demonstrators are part of the Occupy Wall Street Movement. They says that hundreds of policemen have been deployed - the policemen have surrounded the square / the area.

 

The authorities have lit the light (lamps) in the park and try to keep people away.

 

Source: Danish text-TV / DR1 at 9:07 (I saw it at 9:16, so then it was breaking news item on text-TV)

 

 

I checked, but neither Danish TV2 Live nor CNN are reporting from this at the moment (I was just thinking that they might - as they did when events took place in Egypt).

After watching streams for a while, I'm on the police's side...this 99% thing is stupid

After watching streams for a while, I'm on the police's side...this 99% thing is stupid

 

:nod: Local residents near Zuccotti Park (the very 99% these protestors claim to be representing) have been wanting this for a long time now. They're fed up with OWS protestor's antics. All the posters who claim otherwise - I urge you to actually go to New York or any OWS site and talk to local residents. Mark my words: they've had enough.

 

Listen, I'm all for protesting - after all, the 1st Amendment does protect that right. However, that doesn't mean you can continually violate city ordinances and break the law like these protestors have been doing. From the very beginning, these "protestors" (can we even say they are protestors anymore?) have expressed a disgusting contempt for both the law and common decency.

 

The 1st Amendment does not allow public urination or defecation. Nor does it allow the harassment of business owners and the destruction of their property. Mayor Bloomberg was right to clear Zuccotti Park, especially after the increased number of reports on rape, sexual abuse, drug-dealing, theft and deaths among the demonstrators (among other things that I have not yet listed).

 

Before chuck kottke comes in with his usual spiel about the "liberty bell," I have just one question to ask: how exactly does setting up tents in parks and playing drums bring any change? I raised this question a while back and it was conveniently ignored. Probably because the reality is, these protestors' actions won't bring any change at all.