The Banksters Strike Again: I promise, this time i’ll stay.

In the interests of full disclosure, Quinn is a friend.

http://quinnwick.com/2011/11/01/i-promise-this-time-ill-stay/

Are foreign investors colonising Africa?

Answer: yes.

Text and video.

http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/19526

Quote O' The Day, 31 Oct.

“Our strategy should be not only to confront empire, but to lay siege to it. To deprive it of oxygen. To shame it. To mock it. With our art, our music, our literature, our stubbornness, our joy, our brilliance, our sheer relentlessness — and our ability to tell our own stories. Stories that are different from the ones we’re being brainwashed to believe. The corporate revolution will collapse if we refuse to buy what they are selling — their ideas, their version of history, their wars, their weapons, their notion of inevitability.

Arundhati Roy

Egyptian Counterrevolution Update, Oct. 31

Prominent Egyptian blogger and activist Alaa Abdel Fattah was summoned today to Cairo’s notorious C28 military prosecution headquarters to face charges of incitement to violence in the violent 9 October Maspero clashes between Coptic-Christian protesters and military police.

Abdel Fattah, who rejects the notion of civilians being tried by military courts, has refused to be interrogated by military prosecutors as a matter of principle. He has also vociferously criticised the idea that the military prosecution should investigate the Maspero clashes, in which military police were directly involved.

As a result, the military prosecution ordered his detention for 15 days pending investigation.

Hard to tell Mubarak is even gone.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/25533.aspx

Richard Muller, Global Warming Skeptic, Now Agrees Climate Change Is Real

http://thetrialbyfire.org/2011/10/31/richard-muller-global-warming-skeptic-now-agrees-climate-change-is-real/

OWS in a Bind: Doesn’t Want to Mention the S-word

Great piece.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29563.htm

Poster O' The Day, Oct. 31

[Discovered at http://seattleducation2010.wordpress.com/2011/10/31/occupy-oakland-the-general-strike-on-november-2-2011-and-an-introduction/]

MOVE YOUR MONEY - Bank Of America Branch Manager Begs Customer Not To Close Accounts

After all the money they've embezzled from us and all the properties they bought up on the cheap, they still have enough greed and contempt left to impose punitive fees on us. Ain't capitalism grand?

http://dailybail.com/home/move-your-money-bank-of-america-branch-manager-begs-customer.html

From a teacher’s perspective: The PTA needs to do their homework on Democracy. Go to an Occupation

http://seattleducation2010.wordpress.com/tag/dan-trocolli/

OCCUPY DENVER - Police Use Pepper Spray, Tear Gas, Fire Rubber Bullets At Protesters (Video)

Undercover Oakland Cops Caught on Camera

http://occupyca.wordpress.com/2011/10/30/undercover-oakland-cops-caught-on-camera/

Blogger's Note, October 30

The reason I have not been writing about OccupySeattle is that I do not want my critique to impede the movement. Perhaps I flatter myself to think that it might, but the people involved are lovely young people who have my respect, gratitude, and support, however frustrated I sometimes become.

By the same token I refuse to become a cheerleader let alone a propagandist.

I thank those of you who have inquired, and I will have plenty to say at the appropriate time. Until then OCCUPY.

Occupy Seattle SCCC Good Neighbor Statement

https://www.facebook.com/notes/occupy-seattle/occupy-seattle-sccc-good-neighbor-statement/271316569577743

Enacting the Impossible (On Consensus Decision Making)

Don't agree with everything but a good piece. It must be said however that there has long been an argument, one which I favor, against consensus decision-making in the anarchist movement. If you are interested in the topic here are three essays I recommend. The first two are by Murray Bookchin whom, I confess, I adore. His ideas are seminal and have shaped my own.

http://www.geocities.com/collectivebook/bookchin.html

http://www.spunk.org/texts/writers/bookchin/sp000515.txt

http://libcom.org/organise/general/articles/decision-making-and-organisational-form.php



Graeber's article here:

http://occupywallst.org/article/enacting-the-impossible/

Photo O' The Day, Oct. 29

Occupy Wall Street: Outing the Ringers

No More Bunga Bunga?

Honor amongst thieves? Maybe, but not among the ruling class.

Is Berlusconi being sacrificed?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15452367

A re-posting of a brief video

The Battle For Tunisia

Good piece.

http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/2922/the-battle-for-tunisia

Ilan Grapel Charade Update, Oct. 28: Ilan Grapel exchanged for 25 Egyptians in Israeli prisons

But he's not a spy though...

I'm starting to think his arrest was engineered for just this purpose. The Mossadnik was sent there to get arrested and swapped for these people with all parties witting and willing. The fact that it's gone public means something to somebody.

http://bikyamasr.com/46706/ilan-grapel-exchanged-for-25-egyptians-in-israeli-prisons/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BikyaMasrNews+%28Bikya+Masr+|+Independent+news+for+the+world%29

The NYPD Threatens To Sue Occupy Wall Street Protesters

This is a pretty desperate attempt to win sympathy from the public after all the negative publicity, and yes it's amusing, but beware: Lunacy like this often precedes a violent police operation and provides post-action talking points for the host of apologists which will clog the airwaves in the aftermath. Something is coming.

http://dailybail.com/home/the-nypd-threatens-to-sue-occupy-wall-street-protesters.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheDailyBail+%28The+Daily+Bail%29

UPDATE - Scott Olsen To Undergo Brain Surgery, Statement From Oakland Mayor

http://dailybail.com/home/update-scott-olsen-to-undergo-brain-surgery-statement-from-o.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheDailyBail+%28The+Daily+Bail%29

message from Chinese activists and academics in support of Occupy Wall Street

The world belongs to all of the people of the world. Countries belong to the entire people of those countries. Even moreso, wealth is produced by the entire people, and therefore should be shared by the entire people, it cannot be monopolized by the 1% – or even less than 1% – that is made up of an extremely small number of elites. The demand for common prosperity in economics, and popular democracy in politics has become an unstoppable historical trend! The rapid expansion of a fictitious economy and the massive flow of social wealth has created an amply reliable material foundation for the realization of the common wealth of all people. The development of internet technology and political civilization has created the conditions for human society to make the transition from capitalist democracy to popular democracy. Human society is fully capable of transforming, on the foundation of the past democracy of slaveholders, the democracy of feudal lords, and the democracy of the capitalist class, to make the fundamental shift from the democracy of the elites to real popular democracy. Common prosperity and popular democracy will become the main content of the historical transformation of the 21stCentury. No matter how brutally the American riot police will attempt to suppress the participants in the Wall Street revolution, no matter how much the global elites – especially those in the U.S. and China –try to suppress news of the Wall Street revolution, they cannot stop the vigorous growth and ultimate victory of the democratic revolution of the people of the world.

The violent repression and virtual blockade of news about the “Wall Street Revolution” by elite groups led by the US proves that the fate of oppressed people around the world is the same, regardless of whether they are from developed or developing countries, whether they are from so-called democracies or authoritarian countries. The international elite was the first class to link-up internationally via globalization. Their plunder of public wealth and repression of popular democratic movements is cruel and far-reaching, and utterly lacking in freedom and democracy. So-called freedom and democracy in modern society is nothing more than democracy for capitalism, an elite democracy. Freedom is another word for the elite to plunder, oppress and violently suppress others. Popular forces have been completely excluded from the freedoms and democracy of modern society, and the extent of democratic rights is to choose between presidential candidates that have already been vetted by capital. You can vote once every four years, but you have no way of affecting the people above you who directly determine your fate: your boss or superior. And there is no way of constraining the capitalistoligarchs who can take away the wealth of the majority of the population with the slight of hand of fictitious capital. Freedom and democracy have become a virtual game, nothing more than a tool to subvert other countries. Now the popular and democratic world revolution – symbolized by the “Wall Street Revolution”- demands an end to this political game, and that freedom and democracy be returned to the people. Democracy is not just a check on the president, but a check on government officials; democracy is not just a check on power, but a check on capital. If the rights and privileges of feudal and absolute rulers are understood to be a sin and abomination, then giving those rights to capital is also a travesty.

http://chinastudygroup.net/2011/10/message-from-chinese-activists-and-academics-in-support-of-occupy-wall-street/

Photo O' The Day, Oct. 28

Seattle Central responds to Occupy Seattle's Capitol Hill move

The people who run the Seattle Community Colleges are political appointees aren't they...

They don't want OccupySeattle there??????????????

http://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2011/10/26/seattle-central-responds-to-occupy-seattles-capitol-hill-move?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Capitolhillseattle+%28CHS+Capitol+Hill+Seattle%29

Oakland Police Maintaining "Public Health And Safety"

Videos and pics.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29520.htm

Here's Scott Olsen's info if you want to contact him:

Highland Hospital
1411 E. 31st Street
Oakland, CA 94602

More pics here:

http://dailybail.com/home/veterans-for-peace-official-statement-on-us-marine-scott-ols.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheDailyBail+%28The+Daily+Bail%29

Quote O' The Day, Oct 27

"The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country . . . we're dominated by the relatively small number of persons . . . it is they who pull the wires which control the public mind, who harness old social forces and contrive new ways to bind and guide the world."

Edward Bernays

Oakland Policeman Throws Flash Grenade Into Crowd Trying To Help Injured Protester

Why has this happened Oakland and not elsewhere? The Occupy- there has been the most radical and militant. In fact they have been calling themselves the Oakland Commune, after the one in Paris in 1871. The latter, under vastly differnt circumstances, eventually declared itself the legitimate government. They held out heroically for a couple of months, but were crushed and mass executions followed.

The history of the Paris Commune may not be well known outside radical circles, but the people who own this planet (and own the Oakland Police Department) understand it all too well. By calling themselves the Oakland Commune, the protesters were implicitly challenging the legitimacy of the bourgeois state.

Long live the Oakland Commune!

The top ten myths in the war against Libya

http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/77439

The execution of Gaddafi and the attempted humiliation of Africa, by Horace Coleman

http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/77459

Michael Parenti On The JFK assassination And The Gangster State

I post this mainly because it is hysterical. It is informative as well, but Parenti is just hysterical. Ignore the absurdist intro, you will be rewarded if you do.

http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/program/22611

Why we didn’t let King County Councilman Larry Gossett, Democrat, speak at Decolonize/Occupy Seattle

http://thetrialbyfire.org/2011/10/27/why-we-didn%E2%80%99t-let-larry-gossett-speak-at-decolonizeoccupy-seattle/

Euro deal leaves much to do on rescue fund, Greek debt

After a summit in Brussels, governments announced an agreement under which private banks and insurers would accept 50 percent losses on their Greek debt holdings in the latest bid to reduce Athens' massive debt load to sustainable levels.

This is proof that the Greek Revolution is scaring these people, but this is nothing more than a fig leaf. Anything less than the overthrow of capitalism and the establishment of democracy is leaving the fox in charge of the hen house.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/27/us-eurozone-idUSTRE79I0IC20111027?feedType=nl&feedName=usmorningdigest

A Letter Of Solidarity For OccupyWallStreet From Tahrir Square

Solidarity Letter from Cairo

To all those in the United States currently occupying parks, squares and other spaces, your comrades in Cairo are watching you in solidarity. Having received so much advice from you about transitioning to democracy, we thought it’s our turn to pass on some advice.

Indeed, we are now in many ways involved in the same struggle. What most pundits call “The Arab Spring” has its roots in the demonstrations, riots, strikes and occupations taking place all around the world, its foundations lie in years-long struggles by people and popular movements. The moment that we find ourselves in is nothing new, as we in Egypt and others have been fighting against systems of repression, disenfranchisement and the unchecked ravages of global capitalism (yes, we said it, capitalism): a System that has made a world that is dangerous and cruel to its inhabitants. As the interests of government increasingly cater to the interests and comforts of private, transnational capital, our cities and homes have become progressively more abstract and violent places, subject to the casual ravages of the next economic development or urban renewal scheme.

An entire generation across the globe has grown up realizing, rationally and emotionally, that we have no future in the current order of things. Living under structural adjustment policies and the supposed expertise of international organizations like the World Bank and IMF, we watched as our resources, industries and public services were sold off and dismantled as the “free market” pushed an addiction to foreign goods, to foreign food even. The profits and benefits of those freed markets went elsewhere, while Egypt and other countries in the South found their immiseration reinforced by a massive increase in police repression and torture.

The current crisis in America and Western Europe has begun to bring this reality home to you as well: that as things stand we will all work ourselves raw, our backs broken by personal debt and public austerity. Not content with carving out the remnants of the public sphere and the welfare state, capitalism and the austerity-state now even attack the private realm and people’s right to decent dwelling as thousands of foreclosed-upon homeowners find themselves both homeless and indebted to the banks who have forced them on to the streets.

So we stand with you not just in your attempts to bring down the old but to experiment with the new. We are not protesting. Who is there to protest to? What could we ask them for that they could grant? We are occupying. We are reclaiming those same spaces of public practice that have been commodified, privatized and locked into the hands of faceless bureaucracy , real estate portfolios, and police ‘protection’. Hold on to these spaces, nurture them, and let the boundaries of your occupations grow. After all, who built these parks, these plazas, these buildings? Whose labor made them real and livable? Why should it seem so natural that they should be withheld from us, policed and disciplined? Reclaiming these spaces and managing them justly and collectively is proof enough of our legitimacy.

In our own occupations of Tahrir, we encountered people entering the Square every day in tears because it was the first time they had walked through those streets and spaces without being harassed by police; it is not just the ideas that are important, these spaces are fundamental to the possibility of a new world. These are public spaces. Spaces for gathering, leisure, meeting, and interacting – these spaces should be the reason we live in cities. Where the state and the interests of owners have made them inaccessible, exclusive or dangerous, it is up to us to make sure that they are safe, inclusive and just. We have and must continue to open them to anyone that wants to build a better world, particularly for the marginalized, excluded and for those groups who have suffered the worst .

What you do in these spaces is neither as grandiose and abstract nor as quotidian as “real democracy”; the nascent forms of praxis and social engagement being made in the occupations avoid the empty ideals and stale parliamentarianism that the term democracy has come to represent. And so the occupations must continue, because there is no one left to ask for reform. They must continue because we are creating what we can no longer wait for.

But the ideologies of property and propriety will manifest themselves again. Whether through the overt opposition of property owners or municipalities to your encampments or the more subtle attempts to control space through traffic regulations, anti-camping laws or health and safety rules. There is a direct conflict between what we seek to make of our cities and our spaces and what the law and the systems of policing standing behind it would have us do.

We faced such direct and indirect violence , and continue to face it . Those who said that the Egyptian revolution was peaceful did not see the horrors that police visited upon us, nor did they see the resistance and even force that revolutionaries used against the police to defend their tentative occupations and spaces: by the government’s own admission; 99 police stations were put to the torch, thousands of police cars were destroyed, and all of the ruling party’s offices around Egypt were burned down. Barricades were erected, officers were beaten back and pelted with rocks even as they fired tear gas and live ammunition on us. But at the end of the day on the 28th of January they retreated, and we had won our cities.

It is not our desire to participate in violence, but it is even less our desire to lose.

If we do not resist, actively, when they come to take what we have won back, then we will surely lose. Do not confuse the tactics that we used when we shouted “peaceful” with fetishizing nonviolence; if the state had given up immediately we would have been overjoyed, but as they sought to abuse us, beat us, kill us, we knew that there was no other option than to fight back. Had we laid down and allowed ourselves to be arrested, tortured, and martyred to “make a point”, we would be no less bloodied, beaten and dead. Be prepared to defend these things you have occupied, that you are building, because, after everything else has been taken from us, these reclaimed spaces are so very precious.

By way of concluding then, our only real advice to you is to continue, keep going and do not stop. Occupy more, find each other, build larger and larger networks and keep discovering new ways to experiment with social life, consensus, and democracy. Discover new ways to use these spaces, discover new ways to hold on to them and never give them up again. Resist fiercely when you are under attack, but otherwise take pleasure in what you are doing, let it be easy, fun even. We are all watching one another now, and from Cairo we want to say that we are in solidarity with you, and we love you all for what you are doing.

Comrades from Cairo.

24th of October, 2011.

http://anticapitalprojects.wordpress.com/2011/10/24/solidarity-letter-from-cairo/

After the Attack on the Oakland Commune

Great piece. Don't miss this.

http://occupyca.wordpress.com/2011/10/25/after-the-attack-on-the-oakland-commune/#comments

Nurses Condemn Chicago Mayor Emanuel for Arrest Of Nurses, Medical Volunteers at Occupy Chicago

http://www.nationalnursesunited.org/press/entry/nurses-condemn-chicago-mayor-emanuel-for-arrest-of-nurses-medical-voluntee/

Crisis Pushes Women into Prostitution

This story is bad enough, but it's worth noting that the trafficking rings are run by the people NATO put in power in Kosovo. Drug- and gun-running is not their only vices.

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=105519

A Chronology Of The Greek Clashes

http://www.occupiedlondon.org/blog/2011/10/20/live-updates-from-the-general-strike-october-20/

Occupy Sacramento - Police Arrest Cindy Sheehan and Cerebral Palsy Sufferer in Motorized

The first lady of revolution goes to the slammer.

The Verboten Story of Argentina’s Post-Default Economic Success

Great piece.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/10/the-verboten-story-of-argentinas-economic-success.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29&utm_content=Yahoo!+Mail

Tea Partiers: The self-hating 99 per cent

Good piece, better than the title might suggest (I promise).

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/10/2011101883450141716.html

The "Liberal" Media Update: Unable to Get Simeone Fired, NPR Drops "World of Opera"

Yesterday, NPR's PR flack was haranguing me on the phone about how NPR had nothing to do with getting Lisa Simeone fired from an independent program called Soundprint. This was despite NPR having gone public with its concerns over Simeone's "unethical" participation in democracy, and Soundprint's referencing of NPR's "ethics" rules in firing Simeone. It was also despite NPR's clear intention to get Simeone removed from our airwaves.

I have no evidence that NPR contacted Soundprint, but "World of Opera" is a different story. Today I read that NPR has dropped distribution of "World of Opera," a program produced by WDAV which contracts with Simeone to host it. NPR's original frantic email and blog post had read:

"We're in conversations with WDAV about how they intend to handle this. We of course take this issue very seriously." (The issue of participating in a democratic society and not backing a corporate agenda like bigshot NPR hosts who opinionate on Fox, in op-eds, and at big business speaking events for big bucks.)

http://warisacrime.org/content/unable-get-simeone-fired-npr-drops-world-opera

Communist Party Betrays Greek People

Resolution by the popular assembly of Syntagma square

After Varkiza [1], the Polytechnic [2], the Chemistry School (1979) [3], December [2008] [4] and a number of other instances, reality once again came to reveal the role of the Party that systematically betrays popular struggles. And if up to this point they strangled, with their political offices any generalised and determined strike during all these years, if they smeared all revolts as a “provocation”, henceforth history shows this was not “mere political errors” but a co-ordinated and conscious stance defending parliamentary dictatorship and the capitalist financial and social relationships. This is what they did yesterday (20/10), too, even if up to that point they would call the people to demonstrations for the overthrowing of the government. They guarded the smooth operation of Parliament and instead of surrounding it they acted even more barbarously than the police, cracking skulls open and handing over demonstrators to the forces of repression. The worst from all that they did was that they legitimised the state, which murdered one of their comrades, blaming the murder to some para-statist violence...

This is a very familiar scenario. It must be said that there are some communist parties which are not controlled by international capital, but they are outnumbered.

http://roarmag.org/2011/10/resolution-by-the-popular-assembly-of-syntagma-square/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+roarmag+%28Reflections+on+a+Revolution%29&utm_content=Yahoo!+Mail

Cartoon O' The Day, 22 Oct.

[Discovered at richgibson.com/blog]

Greek Communist Party Defends Government From Protesters

Carrying red flag sticks and wearing helmets, the unionists formed a human chain around Parliament. In the process, however, they ended up defending the state from the angry mob outside. Rather than turning their anger at the politicians, they protected them. Riot police were therefore happy to sit back and let the two sides fight each other. Dozens of people were injured in the clashes. One older man suffered a heart attack after being hit with a stone in the head. He died in hospital.

According to some rumors, police actually infiltrated the protests — either on the communist side or on the anarchist side, depending on whom you ask — to instigate the Leftist infighting. The truth, however, is that the Stalinist Left and the anti-authoritarian Left in Greece have a long history of antagonism. While this mutual distrust is understandable, the division itself remains a highly regrettable impediment to the creation of a united revolutionary front. Now, more than ever, we need to become and stay united.

Towards the end of the second video below, Stalinist union members can clearly be seen talking to police and telling them to attack anarchist protesters. There was a nauseating degree of collaboration between communists and police — a collaborative attempt to defend the last vestiges of the Greek state — that protesters were right to be angry about. But hurling stones and petrol bombs at fellow protesters? Following the death of three people in a bank arson last year and now the death of a communist union member, the time has come for the anarchists to revisit the use of escalating violence as a protest strategy.

In the comment section the editor, Jerome Roos, says throwing molotovs at your own people is not gonna solve a thing.As an anarchist I can tell you that we do not view Stalinists as “our own people.” And the problem predates Stalin, it goes back to Lenin and Trotsky and the latter’s “iron broom.”

While I too am interested in left unity and am currently engaged in such an effort, the differences between the libertarian and authoritarian lefts go to the heart of what proletarian revolution actually is, what its point is. Whatever potential for there is for cooperation is shattered when the authoritarians surround the legislature of a bourgeois government and defend it from democratic revolution. Agreeing with this is an renunciation of all anarchist principle. I have no idea what the Stalinists are thinking (assuming they are not Western intel), but it has no relation to social revolution such as anarchists (or Karl Marx for that matter) understand it. Unity implies a certain measure of common purpose, by protecting the Greek (and European) plutocracy, the communists have demonstrated that their goals are incompatible with ours.

Photos, videos, text and links.

http://roarmag.org/2011/10/anarchists-communists-strike-riots-violence-greece/#comment-6358

OccupySeattle Update, 21 Oct.

The Fed: Conflicts Of Interests

http://sanders.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/101911%20-%20THE%20SANDERS%20REPORT%20ON%20THE%20GAO%20AUDIT%20ON%20MAJOR%20CONFLICTS%20OF%20INTEREST%20AT%20THE%20FEDERAL%20RESERVE.pdf

Protesters arrested as chaos descends on OccupyMelbourne

Photos, Video, and text.

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/protesters-arrested-as-chaos-descends-on-cbd-20111021-1mb07.html

Wal-Mart Cuts Some Health Care Benefits

Walmart is rolling in the dough, and targeting their employees.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/21/business/wal-mart-cuts-some-health-care-benefits.html?_r=1&ref=business

Fed Is Poised for More Easing

They will never until we stop them.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203752604576643510352250474.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection

The "Liberal" Media: NPR: They are the 1%?

Dear NPR,



My profile appeared for over two years at NPR.org, where I made many relevant, uncensored comments on news pieces and was recommended by other NPR members. This week, following a spate of respectful but critical comments I made about NPR’s lack of Occupy coverage (covering OWS belatedly; covering it from the police and corporate perspective; emphasizing violence rather than the legitimate issues the movement involves), NPR pulled my profile. I was not told why my profile was removed, nor was I given an opportunity to rectify anything that might have been problematic about my profile. Suddenly, my comments ‘are being moderated’. And NPR’s ombudsman is not returning my emails enquiring why my profile was removed, nor giving me any information on how to fix my profile so I may again participate as part of the NPR community.



Naturally, this made me wonder whether NPR was in fact squelching me because NPR is against Occupy.



I’m not wondering anymore. Apparently, NPR had an affiliate fired for just participating in Occupy. Here’s the link: http://warisacrime.org/content/npr-gets-producer-fired-occupying

Apparently, NPR is a community I no longer need to be part of, bought and paid for by the 1%. I’m with the 99%, NPR, and you supposedly were, too. Shame on you for sullying the one mainstream news source that represented the people. Shame.



Sincerely,

Duana C. Welch



Duana C. Welch, Ph.D.

LoveScience

http://www.LoveScienceMedia.com

http://my.firedoglake.com/duanawelch/2011/10/20/npr-they-are-the-1/

The Killing of Awlaki’s 16-year-old Son

October 20, 2011 "Salon" -- Two weeks after the U.S. killed American citizen Anwar Awlaki with a drone strike in Yemen — far from any battlefield and with no due process — it did the same to his 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, ending the teenager’s life on Friday along with his 17-year-old cousin and seven other people. News reports, based on government sources, originally claimed that Awlaki’s son was 21 years old and an Al Qaeda fighter (obviously: Terrorist often means: “anyone killed by the U.S.”), but a birth certificate published by The Washington Post proved that he was born only 16 years ago in Denver. As The New Yorker‘s Amy Davidson wrote: “Looking at his birth certificate, one wonders what those assertions say either about the the quality of the government’s evidence — or the honesty of its claims — and about our own capacity for self-deception.” The boy’s grandfather said that he and his cousin were at a barbecue and preparing to eat when the U.S. attacked them by air and ended their lives. There are two points worth making about this:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29467.htm

Quelle Surprise! GAO Finds the Fed is a Club of Backscratching, Well Connected, White Bankers

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/10/quelle-surprise-gao-finds-the-fed-is-a-club-of-backscratching-well-connected-white-bankers.html

The Fed: Conflicts Of Interests

http://sanders.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/101911%20-%20THE%20SANDERS%20REPORT%20ON%20THE%20GAO%20AUDIT%20ON%20MAJOR%20CONFLICTS%20OF%20INTEREST%20AT%20THE%20FEDERAL%20RESERVE.pdf

Massachusetts Supreme Court Blows Whistle on How the Banks Broke the Housing Market

The highest court in Massachusetts ruled that a homeowner who bought a foreclosure that hadn’t been properly conducted by the foreclosing bank in 2006 didn’t have legal ownership of the property.

The decision by the Supreme Judicial Court casts a cloud over the legal ownership of any properties in Massachusetts where banks didn’t properly convey title when foreclosing. The problem has gained attention nationwide because of banks’ use of “robo-signing” and other dubious practices that may have broken chains of title on foreclosures.

http://news.firedoglake.com/2011/10/19/massachusetts-supreme-court-blows-whistle-on-how-the-banks-broke-the-housing-market/

MoveOn, please stop.

To be delivered to: MoveOn.org
MoveOn, we love you (well, some of us do), but seriously, your name is toxic to a substantial portion of the public, and your rigid views are toxic to a broad-spectrum movement like #OWS. Please stop trying to hijack it.

MoveOn.org is sending emails to supporters attempting to garner donations by playing on the sympathies of their base with #OWS. Moreover, they're doing their level best to shape the image of the protests to fit with their narrow political goals. This has to stop.


http://signon.org/sign/moveon-please-stop.fb1?source=s.fb&r_by=1390101

Fat Replaces Oil for F-16s as Biofuels Head to War: Commodities

I wonder if the Republicans know about this...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-18/animal-fat-replaces-crude-oil-in-f16s-as-biofuels-head-to-war-commodities.html

UK Electricians Fight Back: lay siege to Balfour Beatty

30 percent pay cuts, coming to a workplace near you.

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=26462

What’s the CIA doing at NYPD?

http://news.yahoo.com/whats-cia-doing-nypd-depends-whom-ask-073510053.html

David Graeber: On Playing By The Rules – The Strange Success Of #OccupyWallStreet

Great piece. Worth the time.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/10/david-graeber-on-playing-by-the-rules-%E2%80%93-the-strange-success-of-occupy-wall-street.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

Occupy The World! To the Barricades Comrades?

The goal of the ruling class is to prevent the servant class from becoming class conscious. And if you don't believe me, take it from them:

October 19, 2011 "Information Clearing House" -- Four years ago in a Ministry of Defence Review, the Whitehall Mandarins, more astutely than any so-called Lefty, determined the following:

“The Middle Class Proletariat — The middle classes could become a revolutionary class, taking the role envisaged for the proletariat by Marx. The globalization of labour markets and reducing levels of national welfare provision and employment could reduce peoples’ attachment to particular states. The growing gap between themselves and a small number of highly visible super-rich individuals might fuel disillusion with meritocracy, while the growing urban under-classes are likely to pose an increasing threat to social order and stability, as the burden of acquired debt and the failure of pension provision begins to bite. Faced by these twin challenges, the world’s middle-classes might unite, using access to knowledge, resources and skills to shape transnational processes in their own class interest.” — ‘UK Ministry of Defence report, The DCDC Global Strategic Trends Programme 2007-2036’ (Third Edition) p.96, March 2007

Please read this.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29456.htm

Violence erupts as strike paralyses Greece

Pension and pay reductions, tax increases, and lay-offs: coming to a country near you.

Poll Finds Ohio’s Anti-Collective Bargaining Bill, SB5, Headed for Defeat

http://www.todaysworkplace.org/2011/10/19/poll-finds-ohios-issue-2-headed-for-defeat/

CNN shows map of wrong Tripoli

http://bikyamasr.com/46052/cnn-shows-map-of-wrong-tripoli/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BikyaMasrNews+%28Bikya+Masr+%7C+Independent+news+for+the+world%29&utm_content=Yahoo%21+Mail

In Egypt, violent clashes between students, administration at Mansoura University

"Thugs" armed with tasers?????????????

http://bikyamasr.com/46033/in-egypt-violent-clashes-between-students-administration-at-mansour-university/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BikyaMasrNews+%28Bikya+Masr+%7C+Independent+news+for+the+world%29&utm_content=Yahoo%21+Mail

Police Brutality - Times Square - Occupy Wall Street - 15 OCt 2011

Video.

http://dailybail.com/home/pandemonium-amazing-video-of-nypd-charging-times-square-prot.html

Elizabeth Warren Ruse Update: Elizabeth Warren’s Jobs Plan: War with Iran

Great piece by Yves Smith.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/10/elizabeth-warrens-job-plan-war-with-iran.html

Who Killed Che?

A little off topic for this blog but you might find it interesting.

http://www.guernicamag.com/features/3164/ratner_smith_10_15_11/

Media Manipulation: Are Conflict Photos Staged?

Answer: yes. Remember all those "dead" Bosnians getting up after they thought the cameras had stopped running? That footage, minus the mass resurrections, was played 24/7 on CNN and other global media for weeks on end. It still appears every once and a while.

The media is the marketing arm of the plutocracy.

http://whowhatwhy.com/2011/10/16/media-manipulation-are-conflict-photos-staged/

Who Ya Gonna Believe: Would You Buy A Used Iran Terror Plot From The Man?

http://whowhatwhy.com/2011/10/14/who-ya-gonna-believe-would-you-buy-a-used-iran-terror-plot-from-the-man/

Electricians face 35 percent paycut in Britain

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=26409

HOLY BAILOUT - Federal Reserve Now Backstopping $75 Trillion Of Bank Of America's Derivatives Trades

A shadow bailout. This means you and I are on the hook if there is a default.

http://dailybail.com/home/holy-bailout-federal-reserve-now-backstopping-75-trillion-of.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheDailyBail+%28The+Daily+Bail%29&utm_content=Yahoo%21+Mail

Shots have been fired at the strikers.

Following an intense, and sometimes violent, month-long struggle, they finally reached agreement with the employer at the end of September.

But when they returned to work, it turned out that Suzuki had changed its mind, and was not going to abide by the agreement it had signed.

The result has been a resumption of the strike, with a violent reaction from management.

http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=f3995b46c18cb039818f29a32&id=b8e5d0417c&e=6de7821b16

Seattle Cops Steal & Destroy Over 140 Tents From Occupy Seattle Protesters

The Revolution Business

Don't agree with everything, but interesting nonetheless.

The Beijing Bourgoisie In Africa: Two Cartoons By Gado

Celebrating China’s national day: One hundred years of revolution

Another great essay from the great Horace Coleman.

http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/77095

Statement From OccupyWallStreet

As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together.

We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.

As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power.

We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments.

We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.

They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.

They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses. They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one's skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.

They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.

They have profited off of the torture, confinement,and cruel treatment of countless animals, and actively hide these practices.

They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay andsafer working conditions.

They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers'healthcare and pay.

They have influenced the courts to achievethe same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.

They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.

They have sold our privacy as a commodity.They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.

They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.

They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.

They have donated large sums of money to politicians, who are responsible for regulating them.

They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil. They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people's lives or provide relief in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantial profit.They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.

They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.

They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad.

They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.

To the people of the world, we, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.

Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.

To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal. Join us and make your voices heard!

The statement issued from Zuccotti Park, by the General Assembly, at Occupy Wall Street.

Quote O' The Day, 16 Oct.

"I'd have myself arrested for war crimes."

Noam Chomsky when asked what he would do if elected President of the U.S.

Speaking Of Revolution: New experiments on faster than light neutrinos rocks world of physics

This changes everything.

http://bikyamasr.com/45533/new-experiments-on-faster-than-light-neutrinos-rocks-world-of-physics/

Glen Beck Calls Upon The Government To Send In Tanks And The Marines To Crush Occupy- Movement

I usually don't pay any attention to right-wing propagandists--it's what they crave--but this was too objectionable to let pass.

The Democratic Party: An Insidious Threat To the Occupy Wall Street Movement

Great piece.

http://www.countercurrents.org/zadeh161011.htm

Italian Banks Occupied By Students

There have been raids and occupations all over Italy, but the one in Bologna has resulted in a violent confrontation with police.

[Italian: http://www.unicommon.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3167:occupiamo-bancaditalia-segui-la-diretta&catid=86:speciali]

As Many as 24 People Arrested for Trying to Close Accounts at #Citibank

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/10/24-people-arrested-for-trying-to-close-accounts-at-citibank.html

SWAT Teams in St. Louis Protecting Bank of America; Refusing Customer Withdrawals

It's a shame we don't have SWAT teams protecting us from the banksters.

Occupy Wall Street: The Most Important Thing in the World Now

But the biggest difference a decade makes is that in 1999, we were taking on capitalism at the peak of a frenzied economic boom. Unemployment was low, stock portfolios were bulging. The media was drunk on easy money. Back then it was all about start-ups, not shutdowns.

We pointed out that the deregulation behind the frenzy came at a price. It was damaging to labor standards. It was damaging to environmental standards. Corporations were becoming more powerful than governments and that was damaging to our democracies. But to be honest with you, while the good times rolled, taking on an economic system based on greed was a tough sell, at least in rich countries.

Ten years later, it seems as if there aren’t any more rich countries. Just a whole lot of rich people. People who got rich looting the public wealth and exhausting natural resources around the world.

http://bellaciao.org/en/spip.php?article21287

Students storm Goldman Sachs building in Milan

The Italian demonstrations are the latest bout of anger at banks and financiers as outcry spreads throughout the world following the occupation of Wall Street in New York by protesters over the past month.

Students managed to break into the hall of the Goldman Sachs building in the heart of Milan's financial district, a few steps away from La Scala opera house, police said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/14/us-italy-goldman-protests-idUSTRE79D3ZM20111014

Warren Buffet Stiffs IRS For A Billion

http://www.coveringdelta.com/2011/10/12/warren-buffet-stiffs-the-irs-for-over-a-billion-bucks/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CoveringDelta+%28Covering+Delta%29&utm_content=Yahoo!+Mail

There Never Was an Egyptian Revolution

good piece.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29385.htm

We fabricated drug charges against innocent people to meet arrest quotas, former detective testifies

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2011/10/13/2011-10-13_excop_we_fabricated_drug_raps_for_quotas.html#ixzz1ah29cALW

Egypt’s activists cry foul over military investigation of Coptic killings

On Thursday, the military prosecutor said his office would be taking over the investigation into the causes of the violence, despite widespread testimony from survivors of the attack being published across local and international media singling out the military and state television for inciting sectarian violence after the military opened fire on protesters.

“It is despicable and disgusting what the military is doing now,” said Sarah Maguid, an Egyptian activist who took part in a candlelight vigil in downtown Cairo on Thursday evening. “We know the truth and the military wants to cover up the killing of innocent people because they want power.”

The sad fact, she said, was that “too many Egyptians believe the official line and this makes it hard to battle against their propaganda.”

Amen.

http://bikyamasr.com/45695/egypts-activists-cry-foul-over-military-investigation-of-coptic-killings/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BikyaMasrNews+%28Bikya+Masr+|+Independent+news+for+the+world%29

The police raid on the Boston occupation — in pictures

http://roarmag.org/2011/10/the-police-raid-on-the-boston-occupation-in-pictures/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+roarmag+%28Reflections+on+a+Revolution%29

Foreign riot police may now be operating in Greece.

Did you know that the EU has its own riot police that can operate in any European country but is answerable directly to none of them? No I didn’t either.

http://www.golemxiv.co.uk/2011/10/foreign-riot-police-now-operating-in-greece/

OccupySeattle Update Update, Oct 15

Best day yet! Don't know what the media is saying but not less than three thousand people marched today [my guestimate is half again that many]. I don't know if the tentifada reached 500 as hoped, but Westlake is full, I'm told CHP is as well, and those who came but couldn't find space to camp have been advised to move north to Denny Park. All in all a whopping success.

Equally so on the ideological front. A much more realistic tone was taken by most who spoke at the Assembly. Motions were made for coordinating with other Occupy- groups around the world. And, at long last, it was decided to develop an agenda. Previously our demands were directed solely at the mayor's office and had to do with defending/perpetuating our occupation, now there is a groundswell of support for a national/international platform. Our list of grievances wasn't nearly as long as I would have liked, nor as radical, nonetheless, the movement now has a mission. And morale couldn't be higher.

I must confess to you, dear reader, that I despaired that OccupySeattle would never find a common voice and a clear message. Despite the disappointing start and all its vacuous, anodyne sloganeering, OS has now found an identity and a sense of gravity and purpose now prevail. It is much too early to be optimistic, but we seem to have undergone that critical transformation from factious group to collegial, united force, and are now impelled by the ethos of the collective and its own unalterable, irresistible inertia.

A genial, ennobling solidarity wafts through the park these days. Who knows, maybe this time...

Cartoon O' The Day, 15 Oct.

O-Seattle Update, Oct 15

Sanity returned to the GA Friday. After the counterproductive, one might say reactionary efforts of the accommodationists won the day the night before, O-Seattle regained its footing and is once again a protest movement rather than the truth-and-reconciliation travesty it was rapidly becoming.

The rift between the radicals and the reformists was addressed frankly. It is not likely that the two tendencies will ever unite, but at least the movement has overcome its denial and is acknowledging the divisions which exist (and always do in such insurrections).

That's all for now. Today is the big day. The odds always favor the ruling class in any single conflict, but what is unlikely in the short term is inevitable in the long run. Today global class struggle begins anew, who knows, maybe this time...

I AM NOT MOVING - Short Film - Occupy Wall Street

Don't miss this.

This channel will feature live streams from global non violent revolution spreading across the globe, with broadcasts from Wall Street Occupation in NYC. The channel will also feature live stream from solidarity protests and events in Spain, Greece, France, Belgium, Iceland and other places around the globe.

Watch live streaming video from globalrevolution at livestream.com

OccupySeattle Update, 12 Oct

The student walkout has breathed new energy into the O-Seattle movement. At the GA tonight, despite the best efforts of our "supporter" Mayor McSolidarity and the "liberal" Seattle blogosphere, an overwhelming majority voted to remain at Westlake Center.

I must confess that from the beginning I was pretty pessimistic about O-Seattle, and I still have concerns and doubts, but the movement has survived and is at this moment stronger than ever.

The acid test comes tonight. In defying the order to vacate Westlake, the city will no doubt move to evict. Arrests are inevitable. Can the O-Seattle movement be thwarted by mass detention? We shall see, and soon.

Blogger's Note, 12 Oct.

Sorry but can't possibly answer all emails. Will when I can. Also I cannot keep this blog contemporaneous with events as they unfold here in Seattle. As most of you know, students at local universities walked out at noon today and joined the protest at Westlake. Since then rumors have abounded as to what Mayor McGoon will do. [this is the same mayor who sent in the police hours before holding a photo-op in which he expressed his solidarity with OccupySeattle, and then threatened to do so again after his cameo if Westlake wasn't vacated.]

Here's the website:

http://occupyseattle.org/



Here's Twitter:

http://twitter.com/#!/search/occupy%20seattle



And here's Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/OccupySeattle



And the live feed is in a post below. Best I can do for now.

Question

Does this:

Experts: Alleged Iranian terror plot shows no fear of U.S.

have anything to do with this

Occupy Wall Street: "It Is a Revolution"?

And endless gratitude to Pepe Escobar for having the cajones to write this

The fast and furious plot to occupy Iran

OccupySeattle Live

Watch live streaming video from owsoccupyseattle at livestream.com

Occupy Seattle's Demands to Mayor McGinn As Of Oct. 11, 2011 Vis-A-Vis Relocating To City Hall

Make him an offer he can't accept.

1) To the Mayor

-- First and foremost, we demand that Mayor McGinn meet with nominated representatives of Occupy Seattle in order to discuss our long term goals.

2) Practical Demands
-- Four large tents for Medical, Kitchen, Supply and Info/Tactical
-- Twenty four hour parking at City Hall (One space for supply purposes)
-- Twenty four occupancy shelters for health and safety of protesters
-- Twenty four hour access to first floor of City Hall for access to restrooms, meetings & etc.
-- A written statement from Mayor McGinn regarding right to indefinite occupancy of City Hall site.

This list of demands has been so resolved and passed by the General Assembly of Occupy Seattle this Tuesday, October 11, 2011.

http://occupyseattle.org/demand/demandsformayor-mcginn?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

84.3% of Occupy Seattle Protesters Vote to Move to City Hall Plaza

Ugh!

http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2011/10/11/vast-majority-of-occupy-seattle-protesters-vote-to-move-to-city-hall

A History Lesson, Comparing And Contrasting The Occupy- Movement With The Seattle WTO Protest.

Interesting piece.

In the interests of full disclosure, Geov is a friend.

http://www.eatthestate.org/a-history-lesson/

Occupy Seattle - The March on Bank of America and the Shutdown of 4th & Pike

Mayor's Ban On Umbrellas Getting International Attention

From France:

OCCUPY SEATTLE – Le maire interdit les parapluies

http://lemde.fr/q1D27F



Russia:

Umbrellas banned at Occupy Seattle protests

https://www.rt.com/usa/news/umbrellas-outlawed-occupy-seattle-585/

Court rules that EGT was ‘acutely aware’ of ILWU Local 21 Working Agreement in lease agreement with Port of Longview

The foreign owners of EGT knew full well prior to coming to Longview that the Northwest grain industry is stable and productive because of its 80-year relationship with the men and women of the ILWU. EGT is trying to disrupt the positive relationship that the ILWU has in every other grain terminal, and EGT’s lawsuit against the Port of Longview shows that the company doesn’t mind shifting more legal costs to Cowlitz County taxpayers.

http://www.longshoreshippingnews.com/2011/10/court-rules-that-egt-was-acutely-aware-of-ilwu-local-21-working-agreement-in-lease-agreement-with-port-of-longview/

Seattle Mayor Expresses Bogus Solidarity With O-Seattle Then Sends In The SPD

Seattle police renew efforts to move 'Occupy Seattle' protesters

SEATTLE -- Seattle police officers returned to Westlake Park early Tuesday morning in a renewed effort to get protesters supporting the "Occupy Seattle" movement to move to another location.

Police and Parks officials have been pleading with the protesters to move to City Hall Plaza or face arrest. But protesters have held firm, even despite a stormy autumn night that featured heavy rains and blustery winds.

But additional pressure to leave may come Tuesday morning as the Parks Department is eager to complete its regularly-scheduled cleaning of the walkways and concrete at the park, but are hampered by the tents and others who refuse to leave. As the sun rose, officers were escorting cleaning crews as they began their work.

The new pleas to leave follow several attempts to get the protesters to leave Monday night. Announcements from Seattle Parks and Recreation officials came around 10:30 p.m. said the park closed at 10 p.m., and therefore the protesters must vacate.

But around midnight, a staff member of Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn appeared at Westlake Mall and said no arrests would be made overnight, according to Occupy Seattle organizers. That staff member, who refused to address the media, said the same would not be true for Tuesday night, protesters said.

http://www.katu.com/news/local/131498778.html?utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=%23OccupyWallStreet&utm_content=%23News&utm_source=twitterfeed

OccupyBoston Live Feed

Watch live streaming video from occupyboston at livestream.com

Twitter Reports of Cops Beating Participants in #OccupyBoston, Breaking Up Encampment

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/10/twitter-reports-of-boston-cops-beating-participants-in-occupyboston-breaking-up-encampment.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

Journaganda Alert: New Evidence Adds Doubt to FBI’s Case Against Anthrax Suspect

The title of this article might lead one to think that it was exculpatory. It isn't.

PBS is the government, and ProPublica are "former" Wall Street Journal folks. Their piece with McClatchy reads that way.

It would take much too long to rehash the case against Ivins, but it suffices to say that a much better case for his innocence can be made than is attempted here. This article is full of defamatory inanities camouflaged as neutrality:

“I don’t know how it would have been possible to convict him," said Fraser-Liggett, the director of the University of Maryland’s Institute for Genome Sciences. “Should he have had access to a potential bio-weapon, given everything that’s come to light? I’d say no. Was he just totally off the wall, from everything I’ve seen and read? I’d say yes.

“But that doesn’t mean someone is a cold-blooded killer."

With advocates like Fraser-Liggett, Ivins doesn't need accusers.

Ivins ran a lab involved in highly secretive WMD research on behalf of the Pentagon. And he was there for decades! What are the chances he's the freak they describe.

Ivins is obviously innocent. If interested you should watch this, read this, and rummage around here.

The worst offense by the authors of this propaganda is that they state that Ivins committed suicide as though it were fact. It is clear that they are defaulted in the direction of accepting whatever the government says as true, and only questioning it when overwhelmed by contradictory evidence. This should never be confused with journalism.

This piece is doing damage control on behalf of the real anthrax killers by keeping the increasingly unbelievable theory that Ivins is responsible alive. It is crystal clear to me that like Lee Harvey Oswald, Ivins was a loyal servant of the empire who was sacrificed.

http://www.propublica.org/article/new-evidence-disputes-case-against-bruce-e-ivins

How State Banks Bring the Money Home

Great piece. Every state should have a public bank.

http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/new-livelihoods/how-state-banks-bring-the-money-home?utm_source=oct11&utm_medium=yesemail&utm_campaign=StateBanks

Billionaires Fight Back

When the facts are on your side, argue the facts. Otherwise, smear.

Please note that anti-capitalism is anti-Americanism. Twice.

John Boehner Looks Into His Soul

Frightening thought isn't it!

And what did he see? A bailout for billionaires.

Police Attack Military Veterans, Arrest 100 At Occupy Boston

Quote O' The Day, 11 Oct.

Watching mainstream pundits try to dissect a movement that isn't about petitioning their betters to do something they want done has been pretty hilarious. It's never occurred to most of them that they, and their obsequious media, are part of the problem.

Geov Parish

On the Wall Street Occupation

Another terrific piece from Richard Pithouse.

Wall Street is usually a world away from Main Street and bringing it under control is no easy task. But its encouraging that what links Tahrir Square to Liberty Plaza, the protests in Athens and Madrid and the movements that have emerged in the shack settlements of Port-au-Prince, La Plaz, Caracas and Durban, is a concern with democracy. In Tahrir Square the primary point was to unseat a dictatorship but elsewhere there is a global sense that the standard model of parliamentary democracy is just not democratic enough. This is a crucial realisation because, in many countries, America being one of them, you just can't vote for an alternative to the subordination of society to capital. But a serious commitment to dispersing power by sustained organising from below can shift power relations. It is the only realistic route to achieving any sort of meaningful subordination of capital to society.

http://sacsis.org.za/site/article/764.1

CNN Anchor Mocks Occupy Wall Street - Cenk Responds

Cenk Uygur responds to Erin Burnett's mockery of the OccuptWallStreet protests which I wrote about here.

Poster O' The Day, 11 Oct.

[Discovered at http://www.coveringdelta.com/2011/10/10/the-world-according-to-americans/]

Two great essays from Dean Petkanas on the economic crisis

Time to Deregulate the Regulators can be found here.

And the article, Black Hole Sun, which is best read first, can be found here.

Petkanas places the blame squarely where it belongs.

Egypt Update: The Massacre's Aftermath

Egypt, Protesters killed in Maspero protest given false death certificates

CAIRO: Almost 300 protesters are in front of The Coptic Hospital in downtown Cairo, waiting for the hospital to release accurate death certificates for those killed last night when the military opened fire on a Coptic Christian protest.

The hospital is not releasing accurate information about the cause of death for those who died last night. It has claimed that people who were rolled over by tanks, for instance, had died of asphyxiation.

Most of the bodies are in the hospital at the moment, as Egyptians gather around to protest the false death certificates.

A Bikyamasr correspondent from the scene reported that the bodies are on the floor in the room of a hospital without air conditioning. A group of citizens put blocks of ice on the bodies to prevent them from decomposing.

http://bikyamasr.com/45262/egypt-protesters-killed-in-maspero-protest-refused-accurate-death-certificates/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BikyaMasrNews+%28Bikya+Masr+|+Independent+news+for+the+world%29



Egypt state television admits to making up news over soldiers’ deaths

CAIRO: Egypt’s state television announced on Monday that there are no deaths among the military forces after previously reporting there were during the bloody Sunday clashes between the military and Coptic protesters, saying that it was the fault of the news presenter.

State TV, also known as Maspero, is under fire from rights activists for falsely reporting that the Coptic protesters attacked the military forces with weapons, which resulted in the death of at least three soldiers and the called on the Egyptian people to take to the street to help protect the armed forces.

The news, when reported on Sunday evening, agitated many Muslims, who took up arms and went to the streets of downtown, clashing with protesters, both Muslims and Coptic Christians, injuring dozens in the worst sectarian violence since the fall of ousted President Hosni Muabrak’s regime.

State TV also reported that the protesters were armed and initiated the violence that killed the soldiers, which escalated the bloodshed late on Sunday.

The Copts who were marching and demanding justice for the burning of a house of worship in southern Egypt last week, were shot at by the military upon their arrival at the state TV building by the military.

http://bikyamasr.com/45280/egypt-state-television-admits-to-making-up-news-over-soldiers-deaths/



Egypt Ministry claims 24 dead, but eyewitnesses cite higher numbers

CAIRO: The Egyptian Ministry of Health raised the death toll from Sunday night’s clashes between Copts and the police to 24 dead and 272 injured. Eyewitnesses from the scene report that the number of victims is higher, however.

Military police used force to disperse a Coptic Christian march that started from the district of Shubra and arrived early Sunday evening at Maspero, the National Radio and Television building.

The military fired upon protesters, and ran them over with military vehicles.

Thousands of Copts had gathered for the evening to protest the burning of a church in Edfu, Aswan on September 30.

The Egyptian cabinet is set to meet on Monday to discuss Sunday’s events. Meanwhile, Coptic leaders are meeting Monday at noon to discuss the current situation, and are expected to issue a statement soon.

Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf gave an address to the nation early Monday morning, calling the clashes, “a conspiracy to bring down the state and not sectarian violence.”

Some families of the deceased are demanding autopsies for the bodies of their sons and daughters to determine the cause of their deaths.

http://bikyamasr.com/45259/egypt-ministry-claims-24-dead-but-eyewitnesses-cite-higher-numbers/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BikyaMasrNews+%28Bikya+Masr+|+Independent+news+for+the+world%29



Some photos here:

http://bikyamasr.com/45236/no-comment-egypts-military-attacks-protesters/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BikyaMasrNews+%28Bikya+Masr+|+Independent+news+for+the+world%29



And here is Hossam el-Hamalawy's blog, text and graphic videos. As usual, it's excellent work.

http://www.arabawy.org/blog/

OccupySeattle Update, 10 Oct.

Shamelessly, Mayor McGinn used the OccupySeattle Movement camped at Westlake Center he has done everything he can to undermine to enhance his stature as a people's mayor. He exhorted the protesters whose tents he ordered removed to "fight to get justice". In a Machiavellian flourish after arresting dozens of protesters, the duplicitous mayor told the crowd that they had his support.

McGinn has had a somewhat tense relationship with the protesters since Occupy Seattle began just over a week ago. The Mayor had to take their tents away, he’s had to arrest some of them, and he’s had to tell them to leave at night. Basically, he’s had to establish some order in Westlake Park. It would have been hard for him to come out in full support of the protesters until he came to truce with them about tactics; otherwise, he would have been criticized for letting it all get out of hand. Well, now that order is established and he’s now he’s fully on board.

Earlier today, the Mayor gave the media a preview of what he was going to say tonight. You could just feel the “protester” in him coming out.

“Of course there’s anger out there,” he said. “And, of course, we need to do something different. And that’s going to mean a whole lot of elected officials at every level of government are going to have to start re-examining some assumptions about how we do business and who we are looking out for.”

No doubt he's hoping that we will have forgotten this:



No movement can be credible nor long viable with the endorsement of weasels like McGinn, yet he was apparently well received. [I was unfortunately unable to attend.] What a pity! The Occupiers need to decide whether they are for reform or revolution. The former is a chimera, and the latter has no room for politicians, particularly of McGinn's ilk.

Below are the rules imposed upon the occupiers by their great patron in City Hall.

City of Seattle Information

Sat, 10/08/2011 - 15:37
On the City of Seattle's website they have posted their rules for our occupation of Westlake and City Hall, as of 10/08 it is as follows:

The City of Seattle supports the free speech rights of individuals and groups. We are also committed to protecting the public and providing for other legitimate uses of city property.

Accordingly:

WESTLAKE PARK:

Use of the Park shall comply with all City, County, State and Federal laws and rules.
Westlake Park is to remain open to the public and no exclusive use is allowed.
Persons may not block off public access to any portion of the park. All park pathways, walkways, stairwells and access ways must remain open all times.
Similarly, persons may not block public access to any private property adjacent to the park.
It is illegal to camp in public parks in the City of Seattle. The mayor has made City Hall Plaza available for sleeping in tents between the hours of 8:00 pm and 7:00 am.
One Informational and/or First Aid Canopy will be allowed, subject to reasonable restrictions on size and location. All equipment should be set up in the south end of the park.
No other tents or structures are allowed.
Climbing in or hanging materials from trees within the park is not permitted.
Seattle Parks and Recreation staff will need access to the park for general maintenance and cleaning from approximately 7:00 pm to 10:00 am daily.
Other permitted events are scheduled to occur in the north end of the park. Occupy Seattle should not interfere with these events, and should remain south of the tree line when other events are ongoing.
Dispose of all trash properly. Follow all City recycling rules.
Alcoholic beverages may not be kept or consumed in the park.
Amplified sound is permitted for speeches and announcements between 9:00 am and 10:00 pm only. Comply with relevant City noise rules, at http://clerk.ci.seattle.wa.us/~public/toc/25-08.htm
CITY HALL PLAZA:

Use of City Hall Plaza will comply with all City, County, State and Federal laws and rules.
The City is making City Hall Plaza available for those demonstrators who wish to stay overnight, with reasonable restrictions on the use of tents to allow free public use of the plaza during the day.
Two portable toilets will be available on the Plaza for use between 8 p.m. and 7 a.m.
Tents may be set up on the Lower Plaza only on the Fourth Avenue side of City Hall, from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m.
Demonstrators will remove all structures including tents, tables, furniture, personal articles, etc., and are responsible for returning the area to its original condition by 7 a.m. each day.
Demonstrations in other areas are prohibited.
No amplification may be used.
The interior of City Hall is closed to the public from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m., except for scheduled events.
Fires (including open fires, stoves, fireplaces or any other heating devices) are prohibited.
Demonstrators will not interfere with the operation of the Homeless Shelter located in the City Hall Red Room, nor will they interfere with anybody entering or leaving the building.
IMPORTANT CONTACT INFORMATION:
Seattle Parks Department: (206) 982-4583
Seattle Police Department: 911 (if emergency) or (206) 625-5011 (non-emergency)

Westlake is always cold and wet this time of year, often quite windy too. These regs make longterm residency at WC a virtual impossibility.

The Night Umbrellas Became Illegal in Seattle

The Stranger’s Dominic Holden reported umbrellas that are not being held by a standing individuals are considered structures, and therefor are illegal at the Occupy Seattle protest in Westlake Park. That’s right. Umbrellas are illegal in Seattle:Police are aggressively clearing people out of the park. Cops are telling people they can’t stand underneath the awnings, can’t wrap themselves in a tarp, and can’t even sit down with an umbrella. “You can’t have an umbrella open unless you’re standing and holding it,” a cop reportedly just told a few people who were sitting down next to their umbrellas. Paul Contant, intrepid reporter, just called to confirm that person’s account. And he added, “The cops are lined up under the awnings—I tried to get under an awning to type and and they told me I cannot be under the awning at all.” Police are also telling people they can’t lay under a tarp.

Occupy Seattle’s Facebook page explains how umbrellas legally become “structures”:

There is a lot of confusion about what is going on at Westlake right now as some structures have been taken down by the police. From the Occupy Seattle Police Spokeswoman:
In Westlake Park no sleeping structures are allowed (our information/food/medical tent is!) and sleeping under the awnings is not allowed. You cannot have tarps tied down to anything, but you can have them covering yourself. You can have umbrellas but someone must be holding them at all times, if left unattended they are considered to be structures. Blankets and sleeping bags are okay! We are not being kicked out of the park at this time.

http://blog.seattlepi.com/stepforward/2011/10/08/the-night-umbrellas-became-illegal-in-seattle/



Here's McGinn's specious defense:

Yesterday the Mayor received criticism after reports that umbrellas could be illegal if used as shelter at Occupy Seattle. Mayor McGinn explained his position in a statement today:

Reports have recently centered on honking, and umbrellas. SPD did ticket drivers who were honking after 10 pm. People live next to Westlake Park and SPD was enforcing the noise ordinance. In response, I understand protestors themselves starting holding up signs saying “Do not honk!” as a way of respecting the rights of nearby residents.

As for umbrellas, police were concerned that protest participants were using umbrellas and tarps to create makeshift tents to evade the no-camping rule. But no one has been ticketed or prohibited from using an umbrella at Westlake. They remain (and hopefully always will remain) legal in Seattle.

The city does feel strongly about camping at Westlake. Some have argued that the justness of the cause means we should look the other way and ignore the city’s no-camping rules at Westlake. But when it comes to free speech, government does not get to do that. We are not allowed to favor one type of speech over another. That is anathema to the Constitution. If we permit camping at Westlake for one group, no matter how worthy the cause, we will be obligated to permit camping at Westlake for any group that wishes to do so as a form of speech. That is simply not an appropriate use for Westlake. This is why we have made City Hall, a civic building that is a locus of political speech, available for camping. Anyone who wants to stay warm and dry can do so at City Hall plaza.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Seattle, City Hall Plaza is a fraction the size of Westlake Center, and farther removed from the heart of the city. CHP is entirely unsuitable as McGinn well knows.

http://blog.seattlepi.com/stepforward/2011/10/09/mayor-mcginn-responds-to-complaints-about-citys-response-to-occupy-seattle/



Nevertheless, despite the best efforts of capital's office-holding factota, the protests continue at Westlake Center, Disappointingly small, but ardent all the same.

Who knows, maybe this time...

Satire

Eyewitness in Cairo: Copts were gunned down by the military, and statement by the Revolutionary Socialists on the massacre

At least 23 protesters were killed in Cairo last night, Sunday, as the army and police carried out a massacre in front of the state TV building.

Coptic Christians had been staging a peaceful march from the working class district of Shubra to Maspero, in downtown Cairo, to denounce sectarian attacks against churches.

The international media has reported there were “clashes”—but the truth is the authorities cracked down brutally using live ammunition, while army armoured vehicles ran over protesters in cold blood.

The army also stormed the offices of two TV stations, taking them off air, to try to stop the broadcast of the videos of the attacks.

Egyptian state TV has been inciting sectarian strife, alleging Christians were armed and that they attacked the army. It also called on the "public" to take to the streets to "protect" the army. Thugs, armed with sticks and knives, attacked protesters, responding to the sectarian calls.

But the protesters were not exclusively Christian as the media tried to depict it. Many Muslims joined the clashes, and fought against the army and police. At one point a Muslim cleric carried a cross over the 6 October Bridge, leading Coptic protesters in marching on Maspero

More text and video:

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=26307



Statement:

The Revolutionary Socialists send sincere condolences to the families of the peaceful demonstrators who were murdered by the bullets of the Central Security Forces and crushed by the military’s armoured cars after they came on the night of 9 October to defend the right of Coptic Christians to freedom and equality.

The police repression of the demonstrations is an extension of Mubarak’s policies, just as it is a continuation of the policies of oppression of the Copts which goes hand-in-hand with a policy of divide and rule between Christian and Muslim working people, while the bosses and the military from both sides enjoy the fruits of their hard labour. And at the same time as these events, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has announced new decisions which will assist the followers of the old regime in their takeover of parliament, in order to tighten their grip once again.

The goal of the counter-revolution led by the Supreme Council at this moment is to distract the masses in preparation for striking a blow at the revolution. The military’s crime is an expression of their fear, and the fear of their internal and external allies of developments in our continuing revolution.

Over the last three weeks more than half a million working people, Muslim and Christian have joined the struggle, in the historic strikes by teachers, public transport workers, doctors, irrigation ministry workers and others. Muslim and Christian have been on strike together, and they have joined the sit-ins together. Sometimes they have faced repression, at other times they have been victorious. Their struggle has provided the finest examples of how to erase the false divisions which our exploiters impose on us for their own benefit.

This coalescence between Muslims and Christians proves the interconnections between the struggle for social justice on one hand, side-by-side with our fight to defend full equality for the Copts and all the oppressed in this country.

Meanwhile Mubarak’s generals continue to use the blood of the workers and peasants who fell in battle during their past wars with Israel to glorify themselves and their role in history. The truth is that the policy of the Military Council is an extension of Mubarak’s policy of weakness and subservience to the Americans and the Zionists. The generals have not taken any position against the continued aggression of the Zionists against our brothers in Palestine, or even over their killing of Egyptian soldiers. The Military Council responded with silence, and with the crushing of demonstrations demanding the rights of the martyrs.The perpetrators of the massacre at Maspero are not only those who took part in the killing in person; soldiers and those the military and the Interior Ministry like to call “honest citizens”, the thugs which the Interior Ministry put into action and some of the reactionary religious forces which spout sectarian rhetoric and whose followers are themselves directly involved in the crimes of burning churches and incitement to tear down buildings in the name of religion. They did not commit the massacre of Maspero on their own. Their accomplices are all those who published ‘facts’ in order to mislead the masses, all those who justified the slaughter in cold blood, and all those who refused to see that these are crimes against humanity and not only crimes against the Copts.

We will continue to defend our revolution, and the people’s right to free expression, to protest, demonstrate and strike, in order to restore our stolen rights, and to cleanse the country of the roots of corruption, which is still poisoning our revolution and attempting to overturn it.

In defence of freedom of expression, we declare our condemnation of the attack by the Military Council on the 25 January and Al-Hurra TV stations because they were broadcasting the massacres committed by the army and police that night.

While we know that it will probably not wipe away the tears or quench the burning loss of a son or loved one last night, we swear to continue the struggle for the success of the revolution, so that our country can become a nation of equality, freedom and justice.

The Revolutionary Socialists
4am, 10 October 2011

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=26308

To Rebuild Teamster Power — an interview with Sandy Pope

I'm not endorsing Pope, nor am I thrilled with her answers here, but Hoffa has failed and it's time for new blood. It wont be easy for a woman to head a union which celebrates its masculinity as much as the teamsters, but it is time for a change.

http://www.solidarity-us.org/site/node/3352

Dear Occupiers: A Letter From Anarchists

JFTR, I am not entirely comfortable with this letter. It's nebulous, full of vacuous exhortations about extending freedom and autonomy and the need for direct action, but risibly short on specifics. And the take-it-from-me-darling tone is patronizing/condescending and hence unanarchistic. Nevertheless, the gist is correct. So here it is.

http://thetrialbyfire.org/2011/10/10/dear-occupiers-a-letter-from-anarchists/

HILARIOUS - Geraldo Driven From Occupy Wall Street By Protesters Chanting: "Fox News Lies, Fox News Lies!"

http://dailybail.com/home/hilarious-geraldo-driven-from-occupy-wall-street-by-proteste.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheDailyBail+%28The+Daily+Bail%29

Occupy Wall Street Spreads: 32 Arrested in Iowa; Right-Wing Editor Infiltrates D.C. Anti-Drone Protest

US-backed Egyptian Military Dictatorship Runs Amok Leaving 25 Dead.

Poster O' The Day, Oct. 10

Strike Wave Sweeps Brazil: No Sector Unaffected; A New Union Movement On the March

Workers in Brazil—in heavy industry, services, the public sector, and agriculture—are involved in a series of strikes and mass protests such as the country hasn’t seen in decades. . Driving the new labor upsurge is the strength of the country’s economy, the powerful position of unions in the society, and the rising inflation. In 2007 and 2008, Brazil’s economy grew at a rate of 5%, and though in the depths of the crisis in 2009 it shrunk by .02%, last year the economy grew again at a rate of 10%. As Brazilian-born Eduardo Siqueira, a public health professional and activist in the Brazilian immigrant community says, “Workers in Brazil are not afraid of losing jobs, so they’re not afraid of striking.”

[Greve is the French word for strike so presumably it has the same meaning in Portuguese.]

http://www.solidarity-us.org/site/node/3399

Dylan Ratigan soapbox @ #occupywallstreet

At the end of the day Dylan is a capitalist, but an honest one. He deserves to be commended for his no-holds-barred critiques of Wall Street and finance capital generally.

Quelle Surprise! Servicer Consent Orders Producing Expected Whitewash

It is critical to understand that servicers are the perps in mortgage abuses. The list of malfeasance is long. This is only partial:

Rampant abuses of the HAMP program

Repeated “dog ate my homework” loss of borrower documents, often resulting in eligible homeowners being denied a mod

Widespread misrepresentation of the program’s terms, including consumers being told to default in order to qualify and failure to inform consumers that those who got trial mods but failed to get a permanent mod would be asked to make up the trial mod discounts plus late fees immediately

Abusive “dual track” strategies, in which borrowers were evaluated for a mod while the foreclosure process continued to move forward. Borrowers were almost universally told to ignore court documents related to their foreclosure when they had full legal force

Widespread forgeries and document fabrication

Wrongful foreclosures

Servicer driven foreclosures (as in the foreclosure did not result from borrower failure to pay but from pyramiding and junk fees)

Force placed insurance

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/10/quelle-surprise-servicer-consent-orders-producing-expected-whitewash.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

How Long Will it be from “No Leaders!” to “Mis-lead Us!”? Here come the unionites, the Moveon scum, the NGOs, Obamagogue goons, Postmodernists, and Poverty Pimps to Turn a Latent Movement into what it hoped to Oppose

on Wednesday, several prominent unions, struggling to gain traction on their own, made their first effort to join forces with Occupy Wall Street. Thousands of union members marched with the protesters from Foley Square to their encampment in nearby Zuccotti Park.
“The labor movement needs to tap into the energy and learn from them,” Mr. Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, said. “They are reaching a lot of people and exciting a lot of people that the labor movement has been struggling to reach for years.”
In fact, the unexpected success of Occupy Wall Street in leveling criticism of corporate America has stirred some soul-searching among labor leaders … many leaders have decided to embrace Occupy Wall Street. On Wednesday, for example, members of the A.F.L.-C.I.O.’s executive council had a conference call in which they expressed unanimous support for the protest. One A.F.L.-C.I.O. official said leaders had heard from local union members questioning why organized labor was absent.
The two movements may be markedly different, but union leaders maintain that they can help each other — the weakened labor movement can tap into Occupy Wall Street’s vitality, while the protesters can benefit from labor’s money, its millions of members and its stature.

http://www.richgibson.com/blog/