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When you, the people, surround the police stations, here is a slogan you may wish to call out and place in written print upon your huge placards:
WE, THE PEOPLE, PAY YOUR WAGES. YOU WORK FOR US! IF NOT WITH US.
Free trade only works in markets where we are free to NOT buy something. Markets involving necessities are more of a shake down where the law of supply and demand breaks down. The demand for health care doesn't rise and fall as a function of scarcity and price. Demand is contant even at super high prices because the buyer can't refuse to buy it. There needs to be an economic firewall between markets for necessities and everything else.
With communications being so advanced around the world, today, the US can no longer hide what it has been doing for decades. It, now, must take credit and consequences in a "real-time" world. There are few real secrets, or those that last very long. Criminals lie when caught to force controversy and, hopefully, confusion....the current successful US gov't approach to everything.
Of course, it is quite obvious to most of us that Obama is owned by Wall Street. The Republicans would like to be in overt power but their taskmasters, the ruling elite, know that if they put the Republicans back into power that they would have a really big problem with the masses, the 99%, of the people they screwed all these years. The ruling elite, the ones backing Obama, knows that they have a better chance of beguiling the masses with someone who poses as a Democrat especially if they put up a bunch of clown Republican candidates who make fools of themselves and make Democrats think "oh wow, what if one of these idiots actually get into the White House...yup, we have no other choice but to vote Obama back for another term..despite his dismal record of helping the ruling elite with their agenda."
If it is a choice between those right-wing idiots or the one currently in the white house...that is no choice at all! We're doomed either way...unless the Occupy Wall Street protests grow and keep it up till it forces change in our direction.
The news media are putting up pictures of Ghadafi, now that he's been murdered, saying something like "live by the sword, die by the sword"...but..but..isn't that what the US does itself. The US holds itself up to be a model for all others to follow and brags about democracy and rule of laws but when it comes to people like Osama bin Laden or Moamar Ghadafi it thinks that it is ok to violate those principles. I don't know who it was that killed Khadafi, NATO, the US, or rebels but we do know that the US murdered the unarmed Osama bin Laden in his home right in front of his wife and then dumped the body in the sea. If the US no longer lives by the rule of law and "lives by the sword" then....
I guess the US thinks it is alright to go into other countries and assassinate people our ruling elite doesn't like....what goes around often comes around especially if you are setting precedence...you are setting the example for others to follow and your words of democracy, jurisprudence, and rule by law all ring hollow and are just as meaningless as any two-bit right-wing dictator in some banana republic. Although these right-wing dictators, ruthless murdering thugs are often viewed by the US as allies, if we can no longer jerk them around to our whims then we assassinate them if we can't depose them through covert subversion.
I don't know if some of what is happening in these Middle East countries is being instigated and fomented by covert 3-letter organizations or if the people are rising up on their own. After reading some of the pieces from www.projectcensored.org ...I wonder...like:
"Operation Earnest Voice (OEV), which was first developed in Iraq as a psychological warfare weapon against the online presence of al-Qaida supporters and other extremists resisting the US military and political presence in Iraq.".... and their current program to manipulate what Americans think and believe:
"The US military is developing software that will let it secretly manipulate social media sites by using fake online personas to influence internet conversations and spread pro-American propaganda."
"...will allow one US serviceman and woman to control up to 10 separate identities based all over the world."
...makes me wonder how many of those object-oriented pasties have infiltrated our favorite progressive blogs with a right-wing manipulative agenda.
Problem with these US covert operations is that they usually end up being blown back our way...it's called "blow back". What these covert operations hoped to achieve in other countries end up coming back to bite them. Keep on truckin' Occupy Wall Street..you are doing honorable and worthy deeds...you are all heros...maybe we can oust a few of our own ruthless dictators.
Hi,
I tried to introduce info published in Wash Post today and got run by Thom. I wasn't defending or supporting it, just wanted a take on whether the Occupy Wall Street was focused in the right direction?!
Wall St. cash still backing ObamaHe out-raisesGOP candidates DNC money gives president an advantageBy Dan Eggen, Wednesday, October 19,11:48 PM
Despite frosty relations with the titans of Wall Street, President Obama has still managed to raise far more money this year from the financial and banking sector than Mitt Romney or any other Republican presidential candidate, according to new fundraising data.
Obama’s key advantage over the GOP field is the ability to collect bigger checks because he raises money for both his own campaign committee and for the Democratic National Committee, which will aid in his reelection effort.
As a result, Obama has brought in more money from employees of banks, hedge funds and other financial service companies than all of the GOP candidates combined, according to a Washington Post analysis of contribution data. The numbers show that Obama retains a persistent reservoir of support among Democratic financiers who have backed him since he was an underdog presidential candidate four years ago.
Obama’s fundraising advantage is clear in the case of Bain Capital, the Boston-based private-equity firm that was co-founded by Romney, and where the Republican made his fortune. Not surprisingly, Romneyhas strong support at the firm, raking in $34,000 from 18 Bain employees, according to the analysis of data from the Center for Responsive Politics.
But Obama has outdone Romney on his own turf, collecting $76,600 from Bain Capital employees through September — and he needed only three donors to do it.
The battle for Wall Street cash has become a crucial subtext in the 2012 campaign, which is shaping up to focus heavily on federal banking and markets policies and the struggling economy.
Top Republicans have courted major U.S. bank executives and financiers, arguing that Obama’s policies have hurt them, while Democrats are seeking to turn the erosion of support on Wall Street to their populist advantage.
Channeling ‘Occupy’ anger
Obama’s ties to Wall Street donors could complicate Democratic plans to paint Republicans as puppets of the financial industry, particularly in light of the Occupy Wall Street protests that have gone global over the past week.
In response to the protests, the Obama campaign and other Democrats have stepped up their attacks onRomney and other Republicans for their opposition to Wall Street regulations.
One top banking executive who raises money for Obama, discussing fundraising efforts on the condition of anonymity, said reports of disaffection with the president “are exaggerated and overblown.” He said a strong contingent of financiers in New York, Chicago and California remains supportive of Obama and his economic policies, even as some have turned on him.
But, this donor added, “it probably helps from a political perspective if he’s not seen as a Wall Street guy.”
Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said the former Massachusetts governor’s success in the financial sector is evidence of the business community’s confidence in him as well as its unhappiness with Obama.
Donors support Romney because of “the state of the economy and the president’s failure to create jobs,” she said. “President Obama and his campaign will say anything to distract voters from his failed economic record.”
Unlike the Republican candidates, Obama can raise money for both his own campaign account, which can take donations up to $5,000 for the 2012 cycle, and for his party’s national committee, which can accept $30,800 per individual each calendar year. The same donors will be able to give another $30,800 to the DNC next year.
The result is more money from fewer donors in the finance business.
Obama has raised a total of $15.6 million from employees in the industry, according to the Post analysis. Nearly $12 million of that went to the DNC, the analysis shows.
Romney has raised less than half that much from the industry, while Texas Gov. Rick Perry brought in about $2 million. No other Republican candidate has raised more than $402,000 from the finance sector, which also includes insurance and real estate interests.
Even so, Obama clearly has trouble appealing to Wall Street fundraisers, who have emerged in recent years as among the most important sources of campaign cash for major national politicians.
Put aside the DNC money, for example, and Obama’s numbers look much worse: just $3.9 million from the financial sector, compared with Romney’s $7.5 million.
Obama’s campaign committee has raised notably less money from major banking firms such as Goldman Sachs, whose employees gave him more than $1 million in the 2008 cycle. So far this year, about two dozen Goldman employees together have given Obama’s committee about $45,000, one-sixth of the amount Romney’s campaign has taken in.
But six Goldman employees also gave a total of $92,000 to the DNC side of Obama’s fundraising effort.
During his interview with Pat Buchanan, Thom should have brought up the research of Dr.Claude Steele, who discovered how the stereotype threat negatively affects student testing. In WHISTLING VIVALDI, Claude Steele shares the experiments and studies that show, again and again, that exposing subjects to stereotypes—merely reminding a group of female math majors about to take a math test, for example, that women are considered naturally inferior to men at math. Likewise, African-American testers achieve lower scores when faced with a "stereotype threat" and score higher when there is no stereotype threat, i.e. the test subjects believe they are capable of scoring as high as any other group. Also, schools like The Children's Zone in N.Y. have taken black children who were failing in other schools and developed them into top achievers. How is that possible if the children's abilities are supposedly limited, according to test scores?
cygnus1 Give corruption a run for it's money.
"Integral" is emphasized on the first syllable--/IN-teg-ral/, not /in-TEG-ral/. Trust me, I tutored calculus.
I should also add, because of a couple of callers, that "permit" shifts its emphasis depending on whether it's a noun or a verb. /PER-mit/ is a noun, /per-MIT/ is a verb.
The Republicans' ONLY goal is to see the failure of Barack Obama.
Test :
jkh6148 Labor creates Fortunes. This situation is a semi tractor trailer full of $#!+ headed down a one way alley in the wrong direction.
Question by Pat Prachter:
"teneraansis, palidromedary, and cygnus 1: can you guys tell people what they can be doing right now to change any part of this system? What kinds of financial acts? What social acts? What about buying strategies? How can people begin to empower themselves and their local communities right this minute, as we wait for the revolution of unfold. How can we be a part of it?"
Answer by Teneraansis:
"Mr. Prachter, I am pleased to be of service. In answer to your questions let me give you and your brave friends out in the streets this advice right from my own fingertips:
I advise all protesters to direct their energies not exclusively to occupy Wall Street but to also include demonstrations in front of administrative buildings of the U.S. military, the Federal Reserve, central bank buildings, the FBI, CIA, NSA and sundry police stations. Demonstrations in front of government buildings (the White House in your case) I believe are pointless, for the officials housed in them are puppets who will never cave in to public pressure for fear of offending their masters, the hidden hand of the elite. Appeals to elected representatives I find also a waste of time. Do not vandalise banks and government administrative buildings, nor overturn and burn vehicles, nor smash store front windows, nor fight the police, if you can help it.
Demonstrations in front of the Federal Reserve Bank should include a demand for monetizing (quantitative easing) to be applied for the benefit of the people without interest costs to the taxpayers. A call for erasing the entire national debt of 14,5 trillion dollars would also be appropriate for it is just as easy to erase a standing debt as it is to create credit.
The leaders among you should now retreat and begin networking among each other as the winter approaches, and exchange with each other all vital information pertaining to strategy for the time when spring arrives. Collect as many names of politicians and elite 1%'ers dictating iniquity from the top down, including the places of their residence, their friends, connections to organizations they control, clubs (secret or open) they belong to, as well as the names of all "eyes" who spy on their behalf and are known to be devout supporters of elite iniquity. Your listings will grow into the thousands, I believe. On this one you must all put your heads together and work through social networking interlinking. All such information must be shared by all and yet kept as tightly secured as technology permits.
In addition to the above you must collect all names and addresses from people in authoritative control of the following governmental departments. These names will hopefully become the names of all your friends:
a) all military generals and their high-ranking officers,
b) all FBI police chiefs and their administrative staff members,
c) all CIA officers and their administrative staff members,
d) all NSA officers and their administrative staff members,
e) all sherrifs throughout the country, and all police chiefs.
You must befriend all patriotic defence organizations dedicated to the carrying of arms, Gun clubs, etc. Your arsenal of information must be tight and flawless in its accuracy.
When spring arrives and the weather has cleared from winter's frost, select the following targets for demonstrations with banners and placards:
a) all military administrative buildings, including the Pentagon
b) all CIA administrative buildings
c) all FBI administrative buildings
d) all NSA administrative buildings
e) all police administrative buildings
Demonstrate peacefully and without provocation. Should your people become brutalized or shot at by authories under elite control, then retreat for your safety's sake, and for the next demonstration surround yourself with massive number of armed patriots and gun club members for your protection the second time around. These fine people are enraged with the corrupt order, and will fire to kill anyone posing an actual threat to the safety of any demonstrator.
Chances are that by spring you may already have garnered military support, for the time between now and next year will give military leaders enough time the decide what to do before the masses begin surrounding their buildings and offices. They may by that time already have decided to give you potection rather than await the demonstrators with a confrontational attitude. Should that support from the military leadership be forthcoming, then the FBI, CIA, NSA, and sundry other police forces all follow suit. However, positive military support remains an unknown factor for now.
And finally, should you by then have succeeded in gaining official protection from all authorities, then hand over your lists of all personages having betrayed their offices of public trust for arrest and possible prosecution for crimes they may have commited against you, the public."
jkh6148
Labor creates Fortunes. This situation is a semi tractor trailer full of $#!+ headed down a one way alley in the wrong direction.
Under_employed Underground. The UU generation. George UU Bush.
I remember a teacher in one of my college classes telling us students that throughout our history as people live longer and work longer there is a phenomenon that our society requires young people to stay in school longer to keep them outta the work force.
ALTHOUGH there may be some degree of this at play in the economy I still believe the rich are social darwinists. THEY believe the government should help the rich live long and prosper, not because of their race but because of their economic status. THE government should let the rich exploit the working class until they die from hard work and exhaustion. AND the government should just let the poor die off from starvation and disease because they will never amount to anything anyway and are just a drain on society.
Who won?
The "Tea Party" (Right Wing Fringe of the Republican Party)! The "Tea Party" has been one of the Koch Brothers' best investments.
If we're going to coin a name for this generation, in the tradition of playing around near the end of the alphabet, it should be Generation W.
Thanks Dubya
So I understand the Republicans are going to hold their convention underwater next year. Or at least the banner for the convention says "Tampa Bay" on it, as opposed to the city known as Tampa. (The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were named so as to include St. Petersburg, on the other side of the bay, in the fan base. But the convention is a one-time event, and it's supposed to be about the whole country.)
I wish they would hold their convention "underwater", so maybe they'd find out how people feel about their mortgages.
Thom Hartmann, 10/20/2011
I can only tell you who lost - the people.
Thanking you for this opportunity to comment -
James M. de Laurier
I Think we are a nation of dry drunks and all the psychologica; problems and distorted feeling that go along with it. Other characteristic are dishonesty,gullibility,loss of morality ectra. this is generational and goes back to the trauma of the civil war, slavery, and the resulting alcoholism that resulted from that and lead to the passing of Prohibition. Prohibition lead to a transference of the alcohol adiction to religous addiction only with out going through the recovery process. This lead to the corruption of the christian faith into fundamentalism. This has lead to generations of family disfuntions. Moral Politics by Lakoff and Four your own Good by Miller talks about this in the formation of Nazi Germany. This process as it manifest here is not unlike what went in the 20/30 in germany.
We need to nationalize the banks. A national strike might do the trick. I used to think that we didn't have enough solidarity in the general population, but we may be getting there. People need to be told the facts over and over. The banks get a cut of almost every financial transaction that involves plastic. Every time you swipe a card, any card, they TAX you. And then the corporation that owns the bank pays no taxes. Nationalize the banks. Firewall economics. Socialism for necessities with capitalism restricted to luxuries.
RT@PeggyWireman Gingrich promises jobs instead of food stamps. Millions using stamps HAVE jobs, just low pay #occupywallstreet#foodstamps
Mr. Prachter, I am pleased to be of service. In answer to your questions let me give you and your brave friends out in the streets this advice right from my own fingertips:
I advise all protesters to direct their energies not exclusively to occupy Wall Street but to also include demonstrations in front of administrative buildings of the U.S. military, the Federal Reserve, central bank buildings, the FBI, CIA, NSA and sundry police stations. Demonstrations in front of government buildings (the White House in your case) I believe are pointless, for the officials housed in them are puppets who will never cave in to public pressure for fear of offending their masters, the hidden hand of the elite. Appeals to elected representatives I find also a waste of time. Do not vandalise banks and government administrative buildings, nor overturn and burn vehicles, nor smash store front windows, nor fight the police, if you can help it.
Demonstrations in front of the Federal Reserve Bank should include a demand for monetizing (quantitative easing) to be applied for the benefit of the people without interest costs to the taxpayers. A call for erasing the entire national debt of 14,5 trillion dollars would also be appropriate for it is just as easy to erase a standing debt as it is to create credit.
The leaders among you should now retreat and begin networking among each other as the winter approaches, and exchange with each other all vital information pertaining to strategy for the time when spring arrives. Collect as many names of politicians and elite 1%'ers dictating iniquity from the top down, including the places of their residence, their friends, connections to organizations they control, clubs (secret or open) they belong to, as well as the names of all "eyes" who spy on their behalf and are known to be devout supporters of elite iniquity. Your listings will grow into the thousands, I believe. On this one you must all put your heads together and work through social networking interlinking. All such information must be shared by all and yet kept as tightly secured as technology permits.
In addition to the above you must collect all names and addresses from people in authoritative control of the following governmental departments. These names will hopefully become the names of all your friends:
a) all military generals and their high-ranking officers,
b) all FBI police chiefs and their administrative staff members,
c) all CIA officers and their administrative staff members,
d) all NSA officers and their administrative staff members,
e) all sherrifs throughout the country, and all police chiefs.
You must befriend all patriotic defence organizations dedicated to the carrying of arms, Gun clubs, etc. Your arsenal of information must be tight and flawless in its accuracy.
When spring arrives and the weather has cleared from winter's frost, select the following targets for demonstrations with banners and placards:
a) all military administrative buildings, including the Pentagon
b) all CIA administrative buildings
c) all FBI administrative buildings
d) all NSA administrative buildings
e) all police administrative buildings
Demonstrate peacefully and without provocation. Should your people become brutalized or shot at by authories under elite control, then retreat for your safety's sake, and for the next demonstration surround yourself with massive number of armed patriots and gun club members for your protection the second time around. These fine people are enraged with the corrupt order, and will fire to kill anyone posing an actual threat to the safety of any demonstrator.
Chances are that by spring you may already have garnered military support, for the time between now and next year will give military leaders enough time the decide what to do before the masses begin surrounding their buildings and offices. They may by that time already have decided to give you potection rather than await the demonstrators with a confrontational attitude. Should that support from the military leadership be forthcoming, then the FBI, CIA, NSA, and sundry other police forces all follow suit. However, positive military support remains an unknown factor for now.
And finally, should you by then have succeeded in gaining official protection from all authorities, then hand over your lists of all personages having betrayed their offices of public trust for arrest and possible prosecution for crimes they may have commited against you, the public.
David Abbot: Yeah, but the Occupy Wall Street movement is like a suppository..do you suppose? I am counting on it loosening up a lot of A$$-holes...then maybe they won't be so smug and retentive in the future.