Oakland Police Department Lies

The lies of the Oakland Police Department disturb me.

From the Guardian...

(I)nterim police chief, Howard Jordan, was similarly defensive when he spoke to reporters, denying that his men had used rubber bullets or flash-bang grenades, as some protesters alleged and adding: "It's unfortunate it happened. I wish that it didn't happen. Our goal, obviously, isn't to cause injury to anyone."

How can someone lie in the face of such condemning evidence? It certainly looks like a flash-bang grenade was tossed right in the middle of those protestors trying to help out a fallen protestor; a Marine who survived two tours in Iraq only to return to the United States and get his skull fractured for peaceful unarmed protest.



While on the topic of the Occupy Movement...

Several people have complained recently about protestors destroying parks. We could debate that point. I choose not to. Assume their occupation destroys the parks they inhabit. Better a few trampled parks than one trampled United States Constitution (First Amendment). Anyone else have good responses to these types?

Libyarated

BBC News - Libya's new rulers declare country liberated. Crowds cheered as one leader that wasn't elected announced the death of another leader that wasn't elected.

I am as misinformed about the meaning of 'Liberated' as I was about the phrase 'Mission Accomplished'.

Obama Pulls Out

US pulls out way too late. Says, "Don't worry, baby. I'm sure everything will be fine."

BBC: All US troops to leave Iraq in 2011.

So when Obama promised an immediate withdrawal from Iraq, he meant that he would get around to it when election season started up again? Lame!

Occupy Wall Street Lunatic 'Fringe of the Fringe'

The Forbes 'Occupy Wall Street' Gaining Respect...From Wall Street? article by Kenneth Rapoza is poor journalism.

The left wing lunatic 'fringe of the fringe' is gaining respect from the very source of the movement's disdain: Wall Street itself.

A 'news' article calling a movement of thousands in New York and hundreds of thousands if not millions showing solidarity as the movement turns into Occupy Everywhere can not be called lunatic 'fringe of the fringe'. This seems like a deliberate attempt at belittling the very movement the article purports to report support for.

Whether it fizzles out or gets busted up through divide and conquer strategies remains to be seen, but the movement, which got its start in the editorial offices of Adbusters, a non-influential magazine based in Vancouver, continues to spread around the world.

Send Mr. Rapoza back to school! First and foremost, this would make a fine example of a run-on sentence in any grammar book. The poor use of commas further complicates comprehension. The opening line, "Whether it fizzles out or gets busted up..." assumes unknowable foreknowledge. It again belittles the protests and assures the reader that this too shall pass into obscurity before any results are achieved. Calling Adbusters a non-influential magazine flies in the face of all evidence. The Occupy Wall Street idea started there and has spread around the globe over the past month. While the magazine may have played almost no role in organizing the event, their influence is evident.

Did Forbes and Mr. Rapoza deliberately publish propaganda? Are they shitty journalists? Do we have to choose?

Keeping things in check

Abolish the minimum wage. Institute a maximum wage of no more than 10x what the lowest paid workers make. Watch the lowest paid workers earn more than they ever thought possible.

Customer Service

One way to view the Occupy Wall Street/Occupy America demonstrations...

This is a customer service call. The citizens subscribe to a service called American Democracy. They are unsatisfied with that service. So they are calling out the service providers. They aren't clear on what the service provider needs to do, just what the failings of that service are and that they better do something because the service sucks.

Dear Service Provider,
Make It Right!

The Occupation Continues

What's it all about?

Anti-Wall Street Protests Spread From New York to San Francisco - Businessweek

“They’re just a bunch of wacko leftists trying to get on TV,” said Onel Delorb, 33, an unemployed office worker from the Bronx. “It’s my fault that I’m not doing anything for work. It’s not government’s fault.”

He said the demonstrators undermined their credibility by carrying iPhones and iPads made by Apple Inc., which is valued at $350 billion.

A valid point. Or it is a further indicator of how giant corporations fleece the population by over-charging for their goods. Having watched a lot of the live feed, I could also argue the protesters made wise investments in tools that have allowed them to become their own media outlet and spread the word. No major media outlet filmed policeman Anthony Bologna pepper-spraying innocent protesters. The protesters did it for themselves and spread it around the world in an instant. They aren't trying to get on TV because they don't need the TV.

Using the products of corporations against them. Definitely revolutionary*.

* In the sense that many revolutions are initially armed by the forces they come up against.

Truth be Told

After ten years of intense government surveillance of the citizenry, the public is turning the surveillance back on the watchers.

There is an attempt to edit history. I will do my best to not let them get away with it. I hope you will too.

How? By making certain as many people as possible know about it. Check out The New York Times. The originator highlights the times but also check out the authorship.

Then from the BBC you have to wade through a dozen paragraphs about demonstrator disorderly conduct before getting to this.

BBC News - Hundreds of Occupy Wall Street protesters arrested

Some of the protesters said police had allowed them on to the roadway and were escorting them across when they were surrounded and the arrests began.

We can't keep them from rewriting the page but we can keep them from rewriting history.