Van Jones and Jakada Imani: "The Occupy movement is powerful, not because it is fighting for the rights of a few hundred people to sleep outdoors, but because it is fighting for the right of millions of Americans to sleep indoors. These excessive responses from law enforcement, from Atlanta to Oakland, not only violate the law, but take our collective eye away from the economic violence occurring daily in this country."

Occupy Oakland supporters rally at the Oakland Public Library before attempting to march back to Frank Ogawa Plaza, where they had been evicted hours earlier, 10/25/11. (photo: Marc Ash/RSN)

Occupy Oakland: Too Big to Fail, Too Big to Jail

By Van Jones and Jakada Imani, Reader Supported News

27 October 11

"If #occupyoakland was in Damascus, US State department would be telling Wolf Blitzer how unacceptable it was to teargas peaceful marchers." @techsoc

s two activists who have called Oakland home, we are appalled at the events of our city in the last 36 hours. Last night the country joined us to watch in anguish as the Oakland Police Department, with back up from a dozen law enforcement agencies from around the region, used excessive levels of force against hundreds of mostly peaceful Occupy Oakland protesters. In a city with a long and painful record of police violence, it is especially disturbing to witness scenes of women, children, the elderly, and the disabled under assault by rubber bullets and tear gas.

This kind of crackdown is bad for our democracy, and it's bad for public safety. Mayors and police chiefs at Occupy sites across the country should take note: this is the wrong way to respond to the Occupy movement.

Oakland, one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the nation, is a true reflection of the 99%. For this reason, the Occupy movement stands directly for the people of Oakland - so many of whom have lost their homes, lost their jobs, and lost the services they rely on. Our city's unemployment rate is over 10%. People are angry. Let us not forget that this frustration and anger is real and justified.

Oakland also has a rich history of protest and political action. Occupy Oakland builds upon this legacy. Sitting at lunch counters and burning bras were symbolic political acts of previous generations, acts which we now celebrate as part of American history. The Occupy protests should be allowed to continue, as should all political expressions protected under our Constitution's First Amendment.

Therefore it is even more embarrassing and unfathomable that the City would so badly miss the mark in its treatment of Occupy Oakland.

Let us be clear: there is no justification for the use of violence against a non-violent protest. The vast majority of people were peacefully marching and demonstrating. The police department and the mayor should apologize for an inexcusable use of excessive force. And they should publicly commit to ending these tactics immediately

Finally, let us remember what the Occupy movement is actually about. Regrettably, the City of Oakland's mis-step last night shifted the focus to a "police vs people" narrative, distracting from the real problem: the big banks and corporations responsible for causing our economic crisis.

The Occupy movement is powerful, not because it is fighting for the rights of a few hundred people to sleep outdoors, but because it is fighting for the right of millions of Americans to sleep indoors. These excessive responses from law enforcement, from Atlanta to Oakland, not only violate the law, but take our collective eye away from the economic violence occurring daily in this country.

Today, the mayor and police department should apologize. And they should apologize loudly and sincerely. And then tomorrow, they should join us all in fighting for the 99%.

P.S. Our hearts and prayers go to Iraq War veteran Scott Olsen who was injured after being hit in the head with a police projectile at the Occupy Oakland rally 10/25/11. Olsen is a member of Veterans for Peace and Iraq Veterans Against The War (IVAW). We encourage people to send donations to IVAW, who are currently accepting donations for Olsen and his family (type "Scott Olsen" in the entry box titled "Special Projects").

Comments

We are concerned about a recent drift towards vitriol in the RSN Reader comments section. There is a fine line between moderation and censorship. No one likes a harsh or confrontational forum atmosphere. At the same time everyone wants to be able to express themselves freely. We'll start by encouraging good judgment. If that doesn't work we'll have to ramp up the moderation.

General guidelines: Avoid personal attacks on other forum members; Avoid remarks that are ethnically derogatory; Do not advocate violence, or any illegal activity.

Remember that making the world better begins with responsible action.

- The RSN Team

+59 # michelle 2011-10-27 08:53

"Today, the mayor and police department should apologize. And they should apologize loudly and sincerely."

and... the people of Oakland should demand the resignation of Mayor Quan and the police chief.

+7 # John Locke 2011-10-28 05:28

and this should be a loud and clear demand by thousands of people...

+2 # judethedude 2011-10-28 15:50

put an exponent on that number, please

+53 # Cactusman 2011-10-27 09:08

"The Occupy movement is powerful, not because it is fighting for the rights of a few hundred people to sleep outdoors, but because it is fighting for the right of millions of Americans to sleep indoors."

Just one of many appropriate sentiments expressed by OWS, or Occupy Oakland in this case.

This is a movement for the long haul. it's not a day picnic like so many Tea party rallies, and it's not a junior high campout. The ultimate aims are different, and I hope that we cna maintain courage and focus in the face of what is likely to be a long winter and an even longer potential couple of years. Yet it must be done. Peacefully, nonviolently, and with moral focus. After all, even the tea partiers are part of the 99%.

+8 # John Locke 2011-10-28 05:30

"After all, even the tea partiers are part of the 99%."
yes thats true, but unfortunately they are too ignorant to realize it...

-45 # Martintfre 2011-10-27 09:08

and the Titanic was too big to sink.

+5 # John Locke 2011-10-28 05:33

The 1% are not, they NEED the 99%... we can bring the system to a complete stand still... all we have to do is stop going to work and stop buying any products... then what good is their money...

+4 # Cassandra2012 2011-10-28 11:25

Quoting

The 1% are not, they NEED the 99%... we can bring the system to a complete stand still... all we have to do is stop going to work and stop buying any products... then what good is their money...

Yes people need to remember -- no jobs =no tax revenue and no"customers".
One might begin by boycotting the Koch Bros. enterprises-- Dixie, Georgia-Pacific, Northern tissue, Brawny and Sparkle.... among others.

+29 # DPM 2011-10-27 09:18

Thanks, to the city of Oakland and others, that have given our movement a boost. Because that is just what they are doing by, once again, trampling on our rights!

+5 # John Locke 2011-10-28 05:35

It Really shows how stupid the Mayer and Police chief really are, history shows that movements bring in more people when the government acts violently, I expect the Movement to mushroom now...

+1 # judethedude 2011-10-28 15:53

we worry THEY infiltrate to cause violence among protesters in order to provide excuses for brutality---maybe WE should infiltrate to cause some increased brutality in order to increase our ranks...let's see; how to do that? maybe convince the smartest of cops they really are in the 99%, really will benefit the sooner this all shakes out and they really need to get rubber batons to go with their rubber bullets

+29 # Barkingcarpet 2011-10-27 09:41

Too big is an epic failure. We need sane government regulation, not regulations which create inexpensive products, designed to break and not be repairable, which are made and sold by people who are ffectively slaves, to enrich only shareholders, etc. Our government is beholden to corporate psychopaths, and it is past time for it to protect and serve "We the People."

Remove your money from the big banks folks. Support local credit unions and local small banks.

+1 # John Locke 2011-10-28 05:36

agreed and thats only a start

+22 # judethedude 2011-10-27 09:44

Martintfre---you can sit back and watch us succeed (and share in the rewards) or you can join us and make that happen sooner---I prefer the latter :)

-13 # Martintfre 2011-10-27 14:32

succeed at what?

Share rewards ? What rewards - from whom are they to be taken?

All I want is freedom to be left alone - to trade with who I see fit - the freedom to succeed or fail on my own decisions.

+11 # NOMINAE 2011-10-28 04:09

And perhaps it has escaped your notice that there is no way to "succeed or fail on [the basis of your] own decisions" when the game in which you attempt to participate is already rigged. They have built entire cities for people who have failed to notice that small detail ... Las Vegas, Reno, Atlantic City .....

No informed person is mad at Wall Street for being successful. It is about the game rigging and the looting of the U.S. Treasury. That is not "success". That is racketeering. Big difference.

Things must changed to benefit everyone, including the 1%. This is not ultimately "us v.s them", or even "good guys v.s. bad guys". The entire system must change to sustain all involved. We all need to look at the big picture. OWS is doing an admirable job of "keeping their eyes on the prize", and attempting to create new paradigms to benefit all.

+6 # Marjory Munson 2011-10-28 06:43

Very well said! If everyone would work from this perspective, the problem would cease to exist.

+3 # judethedude 2011-10-28 15:10

Let me make your day:

Succeed at taking OUR government back from the shackles and servitude which the corporations have placed upon us.

Rewards? Let me count the ways....1) living in a TRUE democracy 2) allowing the least of the relevant to be more so than ever 3) measuring worth of individuals in other than monetary terms 4) measuring the worth of corporations in other than current terms and, most beneficial, in terms that include their contributions to SOCIETY not just to themselves 5)oh, wish I had a trillion more words...that's a figure you probably CAN envision---while I can't....

P.S. while you are succeeding on your terms the cost of your success falls on us

+29 # angelfish 2011-10-27 09:47

Their UN-AMERICAN behavior towards the lawful protesters only reinforces the fact that, the People, UNITED, will NEVER be defeated! Justice IS Coming! Look for it on election Day 2012!

+32 # CTPatriot 2011-10-27 10:25

I gave you a thumbs up, but one thing you got wrong. Election day 2012 will do no more to restore justice in this country than election day 2008 did. Our choice is between the current bad course and an even worse one.

OWS transcends electoral politics. It will only have succeeded when either the politicians we have elected change course dramatically and start governing on behalf of the 99%, an unlikely outcome given the corporate money that controls them, or we restructure our system of government and replace our politicians with ones who DO represent us.

The current system of government is broken. Without a viable people's party, all we are doing on election day is rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

+7 # John Locke 2011-10-28 05:40

CTPatriot...boy do you have that right!but we can make a difference at the state level, elect people like minded at the state level and put through constitutional amendments making lobbying a crime, and making it illegal to take corporate money and provide favorits legislation for the doners, the States are powerful in this regard...

+10 # Marjory Munson 2011-10-28 06:48

We also need to "unperson" corporations and return them to their original chartered status - with time and purpose limits - and with the possibility to not renew the charter if that is appropriate.

-53 # Martintfre 2011-10-27 09:48

//The Occupy movement is powerful, not because it is fighting for the rights of a few hundred people to sleep outdoors, but because it is fighting for the right of millions of Americans to sleep indoors. //

If this means that they are for the government continuing to inflate the real-estate bubble forcing prices way too high, driving up housing demand with artificially low interest rates, backing rotten loans, forcing lenders to make rotten loans. Then when that market collapses again, like it did before, because the government meddled in the financing of the housing market to demand for even more failed government manipulation as if it was a solution not the problem a rational person must oppose.

One would have to be insane to continue to support the same failed socialism -

Let the free market settle this as it must else we are all screwed again by politicians buying their next election at tax payer expense.

+38 # CTPatriot 2011-10-27 10:35

Like most tea baggers, you're great at repeating whatever you heard from your right wing media, and incapable of thinking for yourself enough to recognize how wrong your analysis is.

You see, the government meddling in the housing market, which I would note was a major agenda item of GW Bush, was only a peripheral player in creating the housing bubble that resulted.

The real culprit was exactly that which you extol -- the free market -- one which enabled corporate loan sharks, unemcumbered by government oversight, to deceive homebuyers into mortgages that were bound to blow up.

The damage from those junk mortgages was then compounded by your free market which allowed banksters to package those mortgages into junk bonds/derivatives, thereby inflating the financial impact of hundreds of billions of dollars in mortgages into tens of trillions of dollars in risk.

And the only failed socialism is that which you are too blind to see. The kind where corporate losses are socialized through bailouts from the taxpayers.

And you want an even freer market? You know what they say about those who do the same thing over and over expecting a different result?

-16 # Martintfre 2011-10-27 14:44

//Like most tea baggers, you're great at repeating whatever you heard from your right wing media, and incapable of thinking for yourself //

Oh and you have the magical powers to think and speak for me?

Dude - Bail outs do not exist in capitalism
Capitalism has Larry the liquidator .
Fascism /socialism has friendly politicians from BOTH parties to write checks - from your check book.

+7 # kyzipster 2011-10-28 04:18

Wake up, the banks have been bailed out which resulted in not only saving the fortunes of the wealthy but increasing them. Home owners were left to sink and drown.

The recession brought a loss of 40% to households worth $1 million or more, socialism saved the 1% from oblivion and now the bills are due, $14 trillion in debt. Who is going to pay? I believe this is about shared sacrifice but conservatives want even more tax cuts because they're completely out of touch with reality.

+1 # judethedude 2011-10-28 15:57

$1 million or LESS????

0 # kyzipster 2011-10-29 06:01

My point is that millionaires were saved by the taxpayers while middle class people have been left to fend for themselves in the forces of the 'free market'.

+1 # John Locke 2011-10-28 05:51

actually we live under a dicotomy, our system is a combination of fascism/socialism... democracy was long ago demolished by the banks who require fascism to survive and rape

+7 # judethedude 2011-10-27 11:20

The more-or-less government is an issue separate from the 'politicians buying their next election at taxpayer expense'
We both know their ability to buy the elections is because their checkbook is 'enhanced' by the mega-corporations.
Lobbying is out-of-control and more critical than the fact they are helped to get re-elected is the fact that those re-elections are followed by the 'why' of their backers' support: preferential treatment through legislation that is unfair to the rest of us--that pillages our future. The ease-of-access of the elite is beyond my gag level. The instruments of destruction are beyond real. I speak of derivatives, credit default swaps etc. Integral to the broken down housing industry are financial devices that could have played well in Hollywood fantasies. Your comments about 'socialism' don't sit well with me. We have a society where disadvantage has trickled down, where too many children WERE left behind, where the lack of insurance means people with a runny nose get seen in the emergency room---at public expense. I could go on and on about what DIDN'T trickle down.Free market capitalism is great--when it is on a level playing field.

-7 # Martintfre 2011-10-27 14:40

I find it amusing how people despise greedy corporations yet turn a totally blind eye to greedy politicians (who are members of corporations known as Democratic and republican parties) and pretend like the politicians are helpless little babies locked in the vice grip of control by the corporations - when these politicians habitually use government to trample on people to get ahead.

+1 # judethedude 2011-10-28 15:19

I actually gave you a thumbs up on this one because I am NOT turning a blind eye to greedy politicians and, BTW: FEW OCCUPIERS ARE. We do NOT see the politicians as helpless---we see them feeding at the trough that the corporations keep re-filling. GREED is the operative word, MartinFREE. Another point of agreement (WOW!) is that the politicians who ARE on the take ARE the ones who trample on people---but I do notice that the lobby "business" seems to have a great many more supporters among the Repugnicans than among the Democrats---but we share the view that career politicians are usually tainted.

+3 # John Locke 2011-10-28 05:45

You are wrong, insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome, that is the very definition of our Government and Wall Street its handlers... we want a sane government, not to continue this insanity....for example, Wall Street imploded the housing market by the shear volume and volocity of foreclosures, yet they continue this insanity...but expect the market to stabalize...maybe bankers and economists really work with only half a brain...

+1 # judethedude 2011-10-28 15:25

the volume and velocity was mostly due to the urge to purge the mortgages that they knew damn well would fail anyway---they just kept passing it on until the final banks had no seat at the musical chair game that IS THE KIND OF PONZI SCHEME the Wall Streeters love to call Social Security----which is NOT a Ponzi scheme--but instead was set up as a sacred trust between workers and their supposedly representative government---the people who depend most upon social security in order to enjoy any sort of comfort in retirement are the ones who are hurt the most by the mortgage Ponzi scheme---my hunch is you are NOT underwater or, if you are, the lost equity isn't going to stand between you and your comforts. I will save my tears for true and defenseless victims.

+42 # NeoGeo 2011-10-27 09:50

It's also about time to quit using the term "law enforcement officers" for these brutal actions...they aren't "enforcing any law," they're just beating the hell out of unarmed people who are, in fact, following the law and exercising their constitutional right of assembly and free speech.

We went through this during the protests against the Vietnam War, so none of this police brutality is anything new...but back then, we called them "pigs" because that's the moniker their actions merited. Times have changed, but if cops keep up this one-sided battle against the citizenry, they're headed for a backlash that will once again bring them the disdain of true law-abiding citizens.

+15 # michelle 2011-10-27 10:43

"Corporate goons" might work.

+3 # RLF 2011-10-28 03:53

Pinkerton Armies maybe.

+4 # NOMINAE 2011-10-28 04:18

Quoting

"Corporate goons" might work.

Corporate goons is more than accurate, but as NeoGeo notes, we called them "pigs" in the 60's as a reference to George Orwell's book "Animal Farm" where it was the pigs who were the "enforcers" that controlled all of the other animals on behalf of the Totalitarian rulers of the "Animal Farm".

+2 # michelle 2011-10-28 10:57

True enough but with all the references to 'dirty hippies' and the Viet Nam War maybe we should use some new language divorced from that era. I don't want to reinforce their perceptions. Aside from that, do think any TPers have read Orwell or understand the reference? I don't.

0 # judethedude 2011-10-28 15:31

As I have mentioned within the chat rooms of the movement, I am not a dirty hippie. I am just dusty.

0 # NOMINAE 2011-10-29 15:44

Quoting

True enough but with all the references to 'dirty hippies' and the Viet Nam War maybe we should use some new language divorced from that era. I don't want to reinforce their perceptions. Aside from that, do think any TPers have read Orwell or understand the reference? I don't.

Thoroughly agree, on *both* points. Thank you michelle. This "knee-jerk" slander in re: "dirty hippies" truly is getting tired. There have been no hippies for forty years.

The people of OWS are definitely *not* the "counter culture", they are, indeed, the *main stream culture* - as they continue to remind us - the 99% !

0 # judethedude 2011-10-28 15:29

NeoGeo,

I remember the 60's pretty well and the way this feels quite a bit different is that we KNOW the cops are aware they are in the 99% and we know most fight because they want to keep their jobs---but, being a para-military force, many also fight because they like to fight. The military service allows only a 30 year career---but civil soldiers can last 40, if they choose---and if they comply. The only saving grace is that their eyes show fear---not because the protesters are menacing--they are not---but because they know the protesters are right. (I did go green thumb on your comment.)

+35 # Trade Unionist 2011-10-27 09:50

Van Jones makes an excellent point that the 'Occupy Movement' should not lose the focus, as it appropriately fights against Police brutality, that the real issue is "the economic violence occurring daily in this country."

-15 # Martintfre 2011-10-27 14:37

Is this a puppet master speaking?

+17 # richardswritings 2011-10-27 10:08

Thanks greatly to those with the courage to stand in public and declare the truth.
God keep you.

+13 # Goddessvoice 2011-10-27 10:11

What do we want. We know what we do not want.
We the People have the power, we always have.
We woke up and we are empowered. The old is falling away.
This is the American Revolution #2
Together we are creating a new earth. It is time.

0 # judethedude 2011-10-28 15:32

Amen Goddess. Amen. I am praying at your altar.

+29 # Fair Elections Now 2011-10-27 10:13

I find it somewhat ironic that our Supreme Court has declared that money is speech and corporations are persons -- and there can be no restraints on them. But when OWS protests the result of that policy, real persons are attacked for their real speech. It just makes the case in another way for OWS. Another way people can fight back against this is to support a constitutional amendment to overturn these Supreme Court rulings. Move To Amend, Public Citizen, People for the American Way are co-sponsoring house parties Nov 9 to raise awareness of the need for a constitutional amendment. Dylan Ratigan is gathering signatures and comments re: the language of the amendment on Get Money Out.

+16 # noitall 2011-10-27 10:16

Sadly, the quote, "The world is watching" is all too true. It is impossible for this country to strut around in a world that is progressively more Democratic and more educated than is this country. The arrogance that our 'leaders' demonstrate on the world stage embarrasses us all given the hypocracy that is blantantly bared when it is only Americans that seem to be ignorant to the truth. We murder foreign rulers who don't cooperate with the resource-raping corporate masters while hypocritically claiming their abuse of their people as the justification while we kill hundreds of thousands of THEM in our "fight for THEIR rights". Those who do stand up for THEIR RIGHTS, we label "Terrorists" and have conditioned our Sheeple to see these people as OUR enemies. Without a voice in America, our People are doomed to be and be seen by the world as co-conspirators to the outrage committed by our tax-funded police and military that have been co-opted by the multi-national corporate- Supreme Court-dubbed 'Citizens' of OUR COUNTRY. Ignorance is not bliss and it is not a defense. Allowing this to stand makes the People of the U.S.A. guilty of the crimes (that these corporations by cooperation of our government and as condoned by our elected "Representatives " who have taken the oath to defend our Constitution). I would say that we qualify as a "lawless country" by definition. World, SAVE US!

+14 # Carolyn 2011-10-27 10:19

there need to be restraints on the police. A Marine ( if I recall correctly, his name is Scott Olsen) who served 2 in Iraq was seriouslyt injured by a police projectile and taken to a hospital in Oakland. These people are our neighbors, our extended families, even us.

+1 # judethedude 2011-10-28 15:37

Yes, how ludicrous is the fact that he returned from Iraq x 2 unscathed, only to be severely injured at home, the land of the free and the home of the brave. Yeah right. Until these Occupiers started to BRAVELY stake a new claim on FREEDOM at home---we now have a hope to be again the LOTF and HOTB.

+7 # nappster 2011-10-27 10:24

there needs to be an understanding that the role of police depts is to control the 99%. this is a historic reality whether it was patorollers chaseing down runaway slaves; attacking and killing strikers at Ludlow; attacking strikers in the 1946 Oakland general strike; running a "murder inc" against the Black Panthers; attacking civil righths workers, etc. the only possibility is to convince individual cops to refuse to act against the 99%, and, when they do, they are no longer cops.

+22 # telebob 2011-10-27 10:35

We are tired of corporate arrogance. Being kicked out of our homes, being put on hold while you play a commercial ad in our ear, tired of listening to how taxing the rich will cost us jobs, how assuring health and education to everyone is just too expensive... and the whole rest of the pack of lies that surrounds us as 'the greatest nation on earth' falls into a state worse than Mexico. Rich guys with armored vehicles living behind walls while the rest of us snarl over the scraps they throw over the fence. Call me 'Sick of it', but OWS is only the beginning. Don't give up. There is a better way and a better day coming, but we are going to have to work for it.

+23 # Vardoz 2011-10-27 10:40

I just called the Obama hotline and said the police brutality and the Wall St spying at our expense and the threat that it is posing to our safety is unacceptable and Obama’s silence on the matter shows him to be weak and not on the side he hopes will vote for him. I said it is against our rights to tear gas, club, pepper spray, club and shoot peaceful protesters with rubber bullets when they have a constitutional right to peaceful assembly! Obama parades around the world proclaiming people's right to freedom, justice and Democracy while he does not uphold it here. These hollow words rob him and our government of all humanitarian and Democratic credibility. But maybe they just don’t give a damn. I said the reason people are out on the streets is because they are in an economic crisis either because of lack of jobs, healthcare, homelessness or starvation or a combination of all three. I said people would not be in the streets if they were not in a crisis. Our people have been robbed of just about everything while the rich are continuing to get richer all the time and Main St poorer = 202-456-1111

+26 # jwb110 2011-10-27 10:44

I am a third generation CA born. I cannot for the life of me understand how people like Mayor Quan and the police chief missed that part of history where then Governor Reagan sent the police into UC Berkley to surpress Mario Savio and single handedly pushed the movement underground and created a violent set of movements.
Wherever the police become involved and violent they will elicit violence. That can be written in stone.
Oakland does not belong to the Mayor or the Chief of Police. Neither does NYC, or Boston, or any other major city in the US. The city belongs to all the tax paying citizens of those cities. None of those cities belong to the non-tax paying 1%.
The 1st Amendment to the Constitution allows for free assembly and redress of grievances. Something denied us by the British and King George.
The elected officials took an oath the defend the US and St Constitutions. They have violated that Oath and should be made to step down. They are a disgrace to themselves and their office.
Oakland, the Constitution is on your side!!!

+2 # judethedude 2011-10-28 15:42

only thing I want to add is we must keep our facts straight---many of the 1% are paying some tax---the higher you go on the economic strata, the lower is the rate of taxation---mainly due to passive income, from capital gains, taxed at 15% (legislation passed when the Republicans were in charge of both houses of Congress).

+12 # fredboy 2011-10-27 10:50

We need 100,000 marchers in Oakland to counter the head-smashing they unleashed. Too bad the city doesn't realize its municipal workers are in the fire and layoff path called for by the tea party and Wall Street's antics.

+12 # pierre 2011-10-27 10:53

Welcome to Nazi, U.S.A. ... The land of the oppressed and home of the draconian laws!

-7 # Martintfre 2011-10-27 14:36

Nazi were collectivist - socialist - they despised individual freedom.

Speaking of Nazi - I saw a well reasoned argument (in his mind) by none other then white supremacist Jew hating David Dukes for supporting OWS as a way to get after the Jew bankers -

While I think the FED should be ended - audited at least... If I were you guys I'd tell him to take a long hike off a short pier and repudiate that kind of vermin.

+8 # RLF 2011-10-28 03:57

'Nazi were collectivist - socialist - they despised individual freedom'

Are you kidding??? Nazis got into office and started killing socialists!

0 # judethedude 2011-10-28 15:45

Martin, Vermin = rats etc. perhaps you meant poison---but when I hear "vermin" I think of many of those inhabiting the glass towers of Wall Street----NOT ALL, BUT MANY---Jew and Gentile alike.

+1 # Cassandra2012 2011-10-28 21:02

Quoting

Nazi were collectivist - socialist - they despised individual freedom.

Speaking of Nazi - I saw a well reasoned argument (in his mind) by none other then white supremacist Jew hating David Dukes for supporting OWS as a way to get after the Jew bankers -

While I think the FED should be ended - audited at least... If I were you guys I'd tell him to take a long hike off a short pier and repudiate that kind of vermin.

The Jew Bankers, huh? You do know that the several banking firms that are Jewish were formed because all the WASP bankers (Chase, Morgan, Whitney, et al) (and Dutch bankers like Rockefeller) would not allow Jews (or blacks or Indians ...) into their tight little cliques,don't you?
While it is true many Wall St. types are Jewish (and Indian apparently) it seems only they get the right wing media's attention and vilification... Two of these are Indians currently under indictment. How come CEO Hunt (Bof Amer.) has not been indicted? Nor the CEOs of Chase, or Citicorp or Wells Fargo.
What about 'Kenny' (Bush's pal) Lay? (Oh right-- he 'died' --- or maybe was silenced so he couldn't testify about Bush or Cheney or ?)

+11 # SteveH 2011-10-27 11:03

Quote:

Regrettably, the City of Oakland's mis-step last night shifted the focus to a "police vs people" narrative, distracting from the real problem: the big banks and corporations responsible for causing our economic crisis.

This is exactly what the banks & corporations want - their puppet cronies to take the heat off them and put it on the people struggling under the criminal actions of those banks and corporations.

However, the people in the streets and those cheering them on (87% according to the recent Quinnipiac Poll). know which side of the line is the right side of the line. We are tired and getting angry that we suffer and they eat cake - OUR CAKE.

The people of this nation work hard and have made this nation what it is - or was, while the upper class locks us under their thumbs and treats us like indentured servants. Then claim we are starting a class war, while people are left to sleep in doorways and under bridges because they can't afford housing. Then when those who can just barely afford rent or mortgages voice their concerns by sleeping in peaceful protest they get shot at, beaten and imprisoned.

The People know what's going on and they have taken the short end for too long.

Close your BofA and Chase bank accounts. Grow food in your front yards and let the PTB know their days in office are numbered.

+6 # noitall 2011-10-27 11:13

Don't forget to educate and recruit. Encourage all to fill their 2-square-feet in the street whether they do it continuously or for a hour or a few. Our greatest effort must be that of over-coming the treasonous impact that our media has inflicted on our democracy and our right to know and participate in this government. The media has ceded this right on our behalf to the immoral international corporate thugs who are raping our world's natural and people resources. They know that the only BLISS that is to be had by a moral citizenry is through IGNORANCE. Most Americans are living a fantasy. Educate your friends and neighbors, it is the patriotic thing to do. When people know, action that is required becomes obvious. Only massive citizen turn out will win this battle for the minds and hearts of those who can implement change and the incarceration of the guilty, OUR ELECTED LAW ENFORCERS AND LEADERS. Their mandated responsibility is paramount until they resign their positions. They are breaking the law; the People's actions are legit. Learn, Educate, Join. Recruit, EDUCATE!

-9 # Martintfre 2011-10-27 14:29

if you are claiming to know it all then it helps to know what you speak of.

//Our greatest effort must be that of over-coming the treasonous impact that our media has inflicted on our democracy and our right to know and participate in this government. //

We are a republic - not a democracy. The difference is not subtle.

+1 # judethedude 2011-10-28 15:48

A republic that is SUPPOSED to operate "of, by and for the people"---that is, to operate democratically. Is that better, Martin?

+11 # walt 2011-10-27 11:37

Interesting that the Oakland mayor, Jean Quan, is a Democrat and yet she sent her attack dogs against the protesters.
In Chicago we see the same police attacks with Democratic Mayor Rahm Emmanuel who influenced Obama and the White House for years before he bailed and went for this new job.
Maybe the Occupy Wall Street assembly should be looking for a new political party now and not after the 2012 elections. The Democrats are no better than the Republicans except that they pretend to represent the people.

0 # Okieangels 2011-10-27 17:34

I'm for the Green Party, as long as it's not taken over by current Democrat politicos.

+5 # NOMINAE 2011-10-28 04:29

Quoting

Interesting that the Oakland mayor, Jean Quan, is a Democrat and yet she sent her attack dogs against the protesters.
In Chicago we see the same police attacks with Democratic Mayor Rahm Emmanuel who influenced Obama and the White House for years before he bailed and went for this new job.
Maybe the Occupy Wall Street assembly should be looking for a new political party now and not after the 2012 elections. The Democrats are no better than the Republicans except that they pretend to represent the people.

Take cheer, Walt, OWS very carefully avoids affiliation with any political party in the certain knowledge that all political organizations are part of the problem .... not part of the solution.

+10 # Lolanne 2011-10-27 14:47

"The police department and the mayor should apologize for an inexcusable use of excessive force."
They should not only apologize, but they should be held accountable for their actions! At the very least, they should be turned out of office and out of their jobs; beyond that, they should be prosecuted for using violence against the peaceful, legal assembly of the people. I am appalled at what they are unleashing to try and stop OWS. They will NOT succeed in doing that but they will guarantee injuries and perhaps even deaths before they realize the people will not be stopped.

+1 # judethedude 2011-10-28 15:49

Hear, hear!!

-3 # Kootenay Coyote 2011-10-27 18:31

Arab Spring/US Autumn? & the uglies are starting down the Syria route....

+4 # walt 2011-10-28 06:01

Keith Olbermann called for her resignation.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/27/keith-olbermann-jean-quan_n_1062870.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009

Sounds right to me!

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