Tag Archives: Occupy Wall Street

378 million reasons to hate Apple…

Well…I’ve never been a fan of Apple products and the iron-fisted control that they exert over their use and, as such, have never owned one…with that disclaimer out of the way, I do need to comment on the news that came out yesterday that the new CEO there is going to be compensated 378 million dollars…yep, you heard it right…one person at Apple is going to make more money than entire countries do…doesn’t anyone else see anything wrong with that? Especially when Apple outsources all of it’s production to sweat shop factories in China? How many American’s could they employ if this idiot only took say 50 million dollars? Or, how many dividends could they pay to stockholders? Just another example of why people are showing up at “Occupy” rallies and the conversation has changed in this country to highlight this nonsense…especially when you can’t even say with a straight face that this idiot “earned” the money…so, I will shout into the wind again…Boycott Apple until this nonsense ends…geez…

Nolan Finley has gone over the edge…

Well…I really do have to thank ole Nolan for being up to more of his nonsense this morning in the Detroit News where the latest dump from his tortured mind sees Obama and his re-election team behind the ‘Occupy” movement with a little George Soros thrown in for good measure. His main premise is that since Romney will probably be the republican nominee, (as he sees it) it is imperative for Obama to discredit the financial industry where Romney made most of his money and the best way to do this is to make a fake populist revolt of the people to make the charges. Nolan, Nolan, Nolan…..this sounds a bit like projection since your beloved tea party is just that… a fake grass-roots organization backed by billionaires for the specific purpose of killing the middle class and taking more, and more, and more for the rich and corporations. What you truly don’t understand is the “Occupy” movement started long before it had the backing of unions or really anyone on the left and Obama is still keeping his distance….and was really late to the party. I think you have the whole thing completely backwards….”Occupy” is truly a people run movement that is a direct response to republican policies that always favor the rich and, whether it was the plan or not, have decimated the middle class….so, when you talk conspiracy theories, your fear of the people taking the country back from your ilk oozes from every word…and you should be scared…

The direction I think “Occupy” should take….

Well…this little thought popped into my head the other day when I was thinking about the next phase of the “Occupy” protests and what they should look like. First, though, I think the best tactic that should be immediately employed is to declare victory and go home…the tent cities and other encampments have served the purpose of changing the national debate to include the huge disparity in income and opportunity that exists in this country, but I think the continuation of this tactic may alienate parts of the public that “Occupy” is trying to help, and in the world of faster and faster change, I think the movement has to change and grow to eliminate the avenues of attack that have been used against it. The establishment has made it clear that it will use their private armies to suppress any dissent that does not come from the right, so let’s put together some organization that directly deals with this suppression…constantly changing tactics will keep them off stride and directly address criticisms that come from friendly quarters. Tent cities have served their purpose, but let’s move on to the part that is keeping the right up at night…converting this energy into political change that will break the grip of the tiny minority of the right that run our lives…let’s get going…

Here come the bankers…

Well…a disturbing development has arisen over the past couple of days concerning the “Occupy” movement and it’s primary adversaries in the banking industry. It appears that the bankers and their lobbyists are taking a page out of the repubs playbook; that when your ideas can’t compete with your foes, you try to smear them personally with lies and fabrications. A memo has surfaced over the last couple of days that has the bankers putting up almost a million dollars to start the smear process against the members and any politicians that support “Occupy” since they are finally starting to realize that their egregious thievery is being recognized by more than the fringe…that popular opinion is swinging toward more regulation of that theft and the continued concentration of wealth at the top. They should be scared…when the dems take back the House in 2012, they will be held accountable to the people who put them there…all of us that have had enough of the rigging of the economy for the benefit of the 1%. What are these guys thinking? After their private armies called police departments coordinated attacks on the 99%, and the public relations catastrophe that came from it, they do this nonsense? It just shows how out of touch these folks, in their insular little world of summer homes and private jets truly are. The tide is turning….finally….

Okay…it’s just noodling around…

Well…it’s been an okay day today and I got tons of stuff done so I don’t really feel that bad about not doing a political one today…I do have another Manny Lopez one for tomorrow that I should have done today but I didn’t really have the outrage necessary to do it justice…I did get a charge out of the demonstrations in NY last night that saw over 10,000 people come out to protest… a large amount of people for a movement that the right has been declaring is dead for the last couple of weeks…but when have they ever been right on anything? Oh, there was a nice little piece in all of the newspapers yesterday that showed what is really happening on taxes here in Michigan… we are now one of only three states that are raising taxes on the poor while giving tax cuts to the rich and corporations…doesn’t anyone else see this as immoral? Okay…..the repubs don’t think it is but how about anyone else? This is just one of the reasons for the “Occupy” movement that the right just doesn’t get. It just isn’t fair that the poor have to have their taxes rise so ceo’s can get bigger bonuses…geez…

Where are the jobs governor Snyder? Hey…I guess this one was a little political…see what noodling can do for you?

Still an “Occupy” supporter……

Well…from the start, I have been a supporter of the “Occupy” movement but I am starting to see some things I don’t really like…in Oakland yesterday there were some idiots who thought it would be a good idea to smash windows and do other acts of vandalism and I think it will hurt the movement in the long run if these folks are allowed to continue this lawlessness. It is a first amendment right to gather and protest, but it is just criminal behavior to allow these people to continue this nonsense. I don’t really place the blame on the “Occupy” organizers, since with any movement you get the outlier idiots that take it too far, but if they want to be taken seriously, some plan to find and remove these people should at least be in the works. I think we need to remember the right wing tricks of the sixties where people that were not members of the protests were sent in by the repubs to act badly and give the right excuses that could then be used to tar the whole movement. So, I would counsel vigilance at this point…to keep an eye out for this kind of shenanigan and to end it quickly when it happens….

I find a few things funny…

Well…don’t really have a big one for the day so, as I sit here and wait for lunch to cook, I thought I’d just talk about a few small things that I find funny or ironic….I do find it funny that the repubs are so scared of the Occupy movement that they have brought out the nukes already…but, then, Keith is bringing it from the left, too but I don’t see any equivalence…the repubs protecting their rich buddies and Keith trying to finally get the message of the unheard out…I do wonder how long Current is going to let him get away with having most of his show on the protests….I find it funny that that in the struggle of millionaires against billionaires in the NBA contact talks has reached the so what? phase….most of the the people I know and the writers covering it just don’t see where canceling the entire season would be a bad thing…I know I haven’t watched a pro game in years..too much whining and self importance from those folks…I also find it funny but irritating when the ceo of Bank of America starts whining about the Occupy protesters that they are hurting the feelings of the thieves that tanked the economy….boo hoo you tone deaf idiot…you people have stolen everything from the middle class and you want sympathy? Not gonna get it here or anywhere else but in the inbred, insular little world you live in….okay, that’s enough for now…have to go check the temp on the chicken….don’t want to overcook it…..

My heart broke a little last night…

Well…as I was watching the news as I do most nights, my heart broke a little with watching the footage of the police crackdown on the OWS protesters in Oakland, California. If you haven’t seen it, the protesters and police were faced off in downtown Oakland…the protesters standing in a group, not moving, not making any threats to the police, when one of the police shot a tear gas round at point blank range into the face of one of the protesters; knocking him to the ground and fracturing his skull. While this Iraq war veteran was lying on the ground, critically injured, some of the protesters gathered around him, trying to give him aid when one of the police, in the second row of their phalanx, behind barricades, and perfectly safe, tossed a “flash-bang” grenade into the people trying to provide medical attention. On the video, you can see this jack booted thug smirking as he pulls the pin and tosses the grenade; knowing full well that he could be doing great bodily harm to these American citizens who are exercising their constitutional rights. And, what has happened to this thug? The mayor of Oakland comes out and says that her police force acted to protect their safety. Oh, really, from what? Against unarmed protesters who are clearly not moving toward this thug? I am outraged and have had enough of the police thinking they are above the law, that they can abuse American citizens like the Egyptian citizens were terrorized and abused in Tahir Square…that the police have the power to “grant” us our constitutional rights and limit them in any way. All of us should be outraged at this abuse of power, at this usurpation of our rights…rights that are not limitable to what is convenient for the police but exist to protect us from this kind of behavior….geez…

Here come the lies from the right…

Well…I am not surprised with the now concerted effort to vilify and demonize the “Occupy” movement that is spreading across the world that is coming from the right…after all, they have a vested interest in keeping the status quo where 20% of the country who are rich and connected take, and take, and take while the rest of us keep butting our heads against this money and power. Now, some of the golden oldies of division that the repubs trot out any time they feel threatened with the truth are weaving their way into the daily talking points and are getting constant airing on Fox News…that the movement is overrun by “commies” and anti-semites and propose that “Occupy” is just a cover for socialists trying to force everyone into labor camps and confiscate the wealth of the rich for redistribution. I mean, really? The rich have been confiscating the wealth of everyone else for the past two decades by the purchasing of the government through the repubs and that is okay? Oh, I get it…it’s okay to redistribute wealth up but not down. I finally have a glimmer of hope that the rich and connected have overplayed their hand by bringing their naked theft into the open and not caring who knows about it…starting in Wisconsin and continuing with the Cain 999 plan that would cut taxes for the top 5% while raising taxes on the rest of us. Keep it up “Occupy”…the screaming you hear coming from the right is fear and the repubs understand the use of fear better than anyone else…geez…

Manny misses the point…again…

Well…I really do have to thank Manny Lopez of the Detroit News today for his column that excoriates the “Occupy” protesters as people just looking for a handout and wanting to do nothing for it. He seems to think that people who have lost their jobs or homes or who are so heaped with student loans should just shut up and go home. He seems to think that people like me (and there are a lot of us) who have done everything right…gotten an education, worked hard,l paid our bills and taxes, and now find ourselves shut out of a feeble economy because what the banks and corporations have done should just stay home and go slowly broke while executive compensation rises 28% in one year.

Not gonna happen, Manny. You’ve got this thing so wrong, again, that I still can’t understand why you still have a job. This movement is about and for the people who no longer have a shot at the American dream, who no longer can compete with the overwhelming voice of corporate money in politics, and out of desperation have begun to use the only tool left to them…peaceful resistance. And, let’s be perfectly clear…the protesters don’t want anything for free, they just want good jobs and the chance to raise families in a world that is more fair than it is now. Is that too much to ask? to Manny and his repub cronies, it is…geez…