Occupy Wall Street Protests

[Zaelath]

And you are still an ignorant buffoon. Small business owners and multi-million $$$$ a year CEO asshats of big businesses are NOT the same. Not even fucking close. Your ass-clown liberal fucktards want to tax everyone that the bottom feeding never worked a day in their life waste of flesh idiots THINK is rich.

There is a LARGE percentage of jobs that are created here in the US by small business owners. Those are the people who do not need taxed heavier. If the incompetent shit stains wanted to rape the salaries of people making a mil or more a year, you would not see anywhere near the outcry. Their plan sucks as it is written.

A privileged cry-baby says what?

[Spang]

Declaration of the Occupation of New York City

This document was accepted by the NYC General Assembly on September 29, 2011, with minor updates made on October 1, 2011. It is the first official, collective statement of the protesters in Zuccotti Park.

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 and safer 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 achieve the 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!

[Zaelath]

Well... that's clear....

[Boogahz]

[Winnow]

this calls for tear gas and fire hoses

[Aslanna]

Honestly they should have started this in the Spring. I imagine a bunch will defect when winter starts to settle in. NY City isn't exactly a tropical haven once November rolls around. Although with global warming... who knows.

[Avestan]

They are only talking about raising the 250k+ bracket from 35% to 39%. It's not like they are trying to fleece them.

http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts ... ?Docid=213

Funny how the debt started going out of control in the 80's. Notice any correlation!?

I am with you on raising taxes but may disagree that a 4% rise is insignificant. I also think that you need to fix the existing system (deductions & loopholes) before you raise a class based tax like this one. We need to broaden our tax base before we deepen it.

Also - revenue is one side of this, but so is spending. See any correlations here?:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Reven ... -_2008.png

[Spang]

Honestly they should have started this in the Spring. I imagine a bunch will defect when winter starts to settle in. NY City isn't exactly a tropical haven once November rolls around. Although with global warming... who knows.

Many of the #OccupyWallStreet people are homeless.

[Aabidano]

...tax everyone that the bottom feeding never worked a day in their life waste of flesh idiots THINK is rich.p.

And you still take your talking points from a source that's shown itself to show a distorted view, strongly biased to benefit 0.5% of the US population. "Conservatism" as represented by Faux News and the tea party is a total sham.

[Kilmoll the Sexy]

I really don't watch Fox news. I know...hard to believe and all, but I can't stand watching them any more than I can stand the liberal side.

[Avestan]

I really don't watch Fox news. I know...hard to believe and all, but I can't stand watching them any more than I can stand the liberal side.

ditto

[Spang]

Fox News isn't the only "news" outlet spitting out conservative talking points.

[Tyek]

Declaration of the Occupation of New York City

This document was accepted by the NYC General Assembly on September 29, 2011, with minor updates made on October 1, 2011. It is the first official, collective statement of the protesters in Zuccotti Park.

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 and safer 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 achieve the 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!

and your solution is......Also if education is a basic right, how are we going to pay the professors? Vegan burgers?

[Aabidano]

I really don't watch Fox news. I know...hard to believe and all, but I can't stand watching them any more than I can stand the liberal side.

That's the source of most of the "bottom feeder" rhetoric when it's a tiny piece of of the puzzle but a great talking point, they correctly assume people will swallow what they say. Plus "death panels" and all kinds of other silliness, always assumed you were a follower

The conservative and liberal labels used in our media are a big chunk of the problem. Our conservatives aren't conservative and our liberals aren't particularly liberal. It's like waving a cape in front of a bull including the sword in the other hand.

[Kilmoll the Sexy]

I am a fairly conservative fiscally and much more moderate on social issues. I truly wish we could completely scrap the party system and vote for individuals that represent what the majority of the people want. Our representatives today, on both sides, represent their own personal views and the views of special interest groups that throw money at them.

[Spang]

and your solution is...

The ideas and solutions are chosen via consensus of the general assembly.

[Boogahz]

and your solution is...

The ideas and solutions are chosen via consensus of the general assembly.

What percent of the 99% do they actually represent? Probably less than the 1% being targetted. How does that qualify them to speak for anyone else?

[Canelek]

That manifesto is not a very good stance to take. To me it seems more like, "gimme gimme'. When dealing or negotiating, it is critical to at least have a focus. That is merely a list of complaints and griping with a very left wing overtone. Also, the truth and reasoning is hidden amongst the inane chatter.

You can't equate nor compare bank bailouts to "animal cruelty". That is an asinine stance. Pro tip: one issue at a time, or at least smaller groupings of similar issues. Otherwise it looks childish and quite frankly, silly.

[Spang]

What percent of the 99% do they actually represent?

They represent the people who are tired of getting fucked in the ass by the banks, greedy corporations, and the politicians who sleep with them. If you're fine with having corporate cock in your asshole, or you are the corporate cock, then they're not representing you.

[Funkmasterr]

That looks like it was written by someone in third grade that isn't completely in touch with reality nor intelligent enough to speak for anyone other than their Elmo doll.

[Winnow]

seems like a bunch of losers blaming the man for being losers

[Tyek]

and your solution is...

The ideas and solutions are chosen via consensus of the general assembly.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Great so nothing gets done while your general assembly bickers over whose goals are more important. Nice.

[Spang]

Great so nothing gets done while your general assembly bickers over whose goals are more important. Nice.

They've already identified the problems, that's the first step. They've also identified some solutions:

1. Reinstate Glass-Steagal
2. Use Congressional authority/oversight to fully investigate and prosecute those on Wall Street directly involved in the financial crisis
3. Reverse Citizens United
4. Pass the Buffett Rule
5. Revamp the SEC and restaff it with people who are committed to protecting investors and the general public
6. Limit influence of lobbyists on Congress
7. Congress passes legislation preventing government regulators from going to work for companies they once regulated
8. Eliminate "personhood" status for corporations

These things take time, especially when they're done right.

[Tyek]

#7 The person we both voted for, Obama, allowed his deficit slashing committee to have 60%+ of the people on the panel be former lobbiest for the groups most likely to be cut. Unfortunately this system is too corrupt on both sides to allow these dramatic changes to happen. I know I ride you over being liberal, frankly I am very liberal on personal issues and very conservative on spending. I don't believe in any party, but as I said, this group in New York and other places is WAYYYYY to fractured. Too many agendas and not enough true solutions. On top of that, you have the attention whores, Sharpton, the union leaders. etc...co-opting your message for their own personal agendas. I wish you the best of luck, but I don't see this changing a damn thing. I hope I am wrong, but I doubt it.

[Aabidano]

Except for 2, 1 through 7 in Span's list are a reasonably focused set of tasks and could feasibly be made to happen if they were tightly targeted and repeated over and over. As far as 2 goes, while immoral, greedy, etc... I suspect the only laws that were broken involved campaign finance and other bribery. They paid very well to make the rape of our financial system legal.

Wasn't aware the remains of the big unions had gotten involved, they're a huge part of how we got into this hole, we might still have a steel industry were it not for them among others.

This movement, in the bowel sense of the word is too fractured to accomplish much as it stands.

[Bubba Grizz]

Well when I have a city in protest in my total war game, I send all the peasents off to fight a meaningless war to kill them off, recruit more troops, throw religeon at them, and then increase the government. I wonder if that would work in the real world too.

[masteen]

Well, they're trying real hard to paint Iran as the new bad guy. Meanwhile, we now have three, count 'em THREE, unfinished wars going on.

[Boogahz]

What percent of the 99% do they actually represent?

They represent the people who are tired of getting fucked in the ass by the banks, greedy corporations, and the politicians who sleep with them. If you're fine with having corporate cock in your asshole, or you are the corporate cock, then they're not representing you.

So, in other words, they are NOT the 99% they claim to be.

[Spang]

What percent of the 99% do they actually represent?

They represent the people who are tired of getting fucked in the ass by the banks, greedy corporations, and the politicians who sleep with them. If you're fine with having corporate cock in your asshole, or you are the corporate cock, then they're not representing you.

So, in other words, they are NOT the 99% they claim to be.

Technically, they still represent you, even if you do enjoy a good ass pounding every now and again.

[Tyek]

What percent of the 99% do they actually represent?

They represent the people who are tired of getting fucked in the ass by the banks, greedy corporations, and the politicians who sleep with them. If you're fine with having corporate cock in your asshole, or you are the corporate cock, then they're not representing you.

So, in other words, they are NOT the 99% they claim to be.

Technically, they still represent you, even if you do enjoy a good ass pounding every now and again.

Out of curiousity again, Spang what do you do for a career?

[Canelek]

What's with all the homophobic ass-pounding remarks?

[Chidoro]

What percent of the 99% do they actually represent?

They represent the people who are tired of getting fucked in the ass by the banks, greedy corporations, and the politicians who sleep with them. If you're fine with having corporate cock in your asshole, or you are the corporate cock, then they're not representing you.

So, in other words, they are NOT the 99% they claim to be.

Technically, they still represent you, even if you do enjoy a good ass pounding every now and again.

[Spang]

Believe it or not, all that shit would still exist in a non-greedy, regulated capitalist, or socialist society.

[Spang]

Out of curiousity again, Spang what do you do for a career?

I crew this show while going to school.

[Chidoro]

Believe it or not, all that shit would still exist in a non-greedy, regulated capitalist, or socialist society.

another dumb statement with nothing behind it

a hypocritical bunch

[Spang]

another dumb statement with nothing behind it

Thank you. I'd be concerned if you considered my statements to be intelligent.

[Kilmoll the Sexy]

That pic is the win and will be now stolen by a non-corporation to put up on a media site that is sucking wealth from the downtrodden.

[Aabidano]

That picture intentionally misses what the whole point should be.

[Leonaerd]

That picture intentionally misses what the whole point should be.

Hmm. Is it intentional?

The natural way to look at the picture is to see the irony behind protesting the corporations we rely on.

A look from the other side, and well, we could do without a lot of that stuff. Come to think of it, that paragraph at the bottom could imply we're fighting the wrong way - that we need to abandon corporate ties as much as we are able to (stop using social networking sites, don't wear sweatshopped clothes, don't use cameras, cell phones, cars). Is that the message? That we have a ton of power and we have better ways of fighting than with imperfect protests?

Let's back up...

We say we want corporations out of government. Is it wise to cut them off? They would see it coming, and they have such powerful weapons of their own, like taking the satellites and internets and gasolines.

Revolution is our trump card, and maybe our best bargaining chip. Get the fuck out of our government or we'll remove your income by growing our own food, wearing burlap sacks, walking with our damn feet and defending our land with guns because AMERICA!!

[masteen]

Corporations are not the problem. Cronyism and the corruption that invariably accompanies it is the problem.

[kyoukan]

The amount of people attending this rally that are radical anti-consumerists is fairly low. The point of the rally isn't to crusade against corporations just for corporation's sake. It is in opposition to massive money-moving corporations who are fucking the economy.

Nobody is raging against companies that offer products for money. I don't see any anti-Clairol signs.

But typical of the brainless right that pollute messageeboards with that fucking boring horseshit. You're totally and completely wrong if you these protests are anti-capitalism and and-consumerism because they are not. Although I don't know why I waste my time explaining really simple shit to you because I know that it isn't that you fail to understand it, but you pretend not to understand it so you can post your pithy moronic pictures and sit around smelling your own fucking farts and wax about how clever you are.

[Spang]

[Aabidano]

Corporations are not the problem. Cronyism and the corruption that invariably accompanies it is the problem.

Our capitalist, representative democracy society while not perfect is better over time than most others that have been tried. The crap that has crept in and hopefully peaked has happened a few times before, and it took a period of public agitation to shake it out then too.

After every one of these there has been a period of growth as the middle class rises and feeds back into the system. The 0.1% can't seem to see that though, never have.

Items like that stupid poster were created by Carnegie & Co during the unionization movement(s) 100 years ago as a distractor for the general public. The "faux news viewers" equivalent of the time gobbled it up.

[miir]

I had a good LOL at this article.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/ ... ews&rpc=71

There has been much speculation over who is financing the disparate protest, which has spread to cities across America and lasted nearly four weeks. One name that keeps coming up is investor George Soros, who in September debuted in the top 10 list of wealthiest Americans. Conservative critics contend the movement is a Trojan horse for a secret Soros agenda.

Between 2007-2009 Soros gave grants totaling 3.5 million to Tides Center.
The Tides Center gave Adbusters grants totaling less than 26k between 2007-2009.
Adbusters came up with the 'Occupy Wall St' idea this summer.



Must be a slow news day on the right.

[masteen]

So Soros' tenuous connection to OWS is somehow more sinister than the Koch Bros. very clear and direct ties to the Tea Party? LOL indeed.

[miir]

Dude, a BILLIONAIRE indirectly contributed TWENTY SIX THOUSAND DOLLARS to the cause... it's OBVIOUS he's the mastermind behind this!

[Chidoro]

Corporations are not the problem. Cronyism and the corruption that invariably accompanies it is the problem.

Our capitalist, representative democracy society while not perfect is better over time than most others that have been tried. The crap that has crept in and hopefully peaked has happened a few times before, and it took a period of public agitation to shake it out then too.

After every one of these there has been a period of growth as the middle class rises and feeds back into the system. The 0.1% can't seem to see that though, never have.

I hope you are right. I don't think a previous precedent has been set to be used as the basis of the current situation this country is in but perhaps that's because there's more transparency in this day and age.
It's questionable whether the middle class will benefit at all from this shake up if it can even be called a shake up. And I'm not really sure the middle class really has gotten out of anything because of an economy returning to that part of the cycle where the middle class rises. For the middle class to keep up over the last 40 years or so a couple things happened. Women had to enter the workforce making a large number of middle class households dual income in order to remain on par and more recently, families raised their purchasing power to keep up by borrowing against their home values. Now the middle class may be out of false corrections.

[Jice Virago]

Not to mention the surge in the middle class provided by the rise of trade unions and the end of WW2, which are two other events that are likely never to occur again in a similar manner....
The elite have taken steps to ensure that the middle class never returns to power again, anyhow. The erosion of the educational system has actually been the key factor because, as George Carlin said, if you have selfish ignorant people you get selfish ignorant government. The information age has somewhat blunted efforts on that front, mostly due to a general ignorance of the conservative elite of the impact of the internet in public discourse, but they are clamping down on that shit now too. The middle class will not return again in our lifetimes in a bloodless coupe de tat. The system has been stacked against it happening. Only outright societal collapse or a real revolution will manage to do that, which is why I think the righties are starting to get nervous. They are starting to realize that the apathetic masses are finally pissed off enough to hang a couple people from the rafters.

[Aabidano]

I don't expect another post WWII boom, I'm unsure if this will spread widely enough to get more than passing attention.

I'd agree they've worked hard to amass an ignorant following that believes them. What amazes me is the insistence to go back to the dry tit they've been working for so long. As soon as they had bailout money in hand the big banks were out rolling it right back into the same imaginary money schemes that caused the problem, and pumping billions into DC to keep it legal.

*Edit - With Fox leading the strident cry of "reregulating the markets is baaaaaad!!".

One of the biggest problems our country has, Goldman Sachs doesn't even get mentioned in passing.

[Gzette]

Chill and have a laugh for a minute

Occupy Herbstreit