#OCCUPYWALLSTREET campaign - September 17

[kenoma]

Thanks Jeff.

Anyway, looking at that anti-anti-capitalist Alessio Rastani video, I'm reminded of when I went to my local Occupy encampment to find inspirational bullshit from Steve Jobs prominently displayed:

Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes blah blah blah

While there may be certain exceptions to the rule, there seems to be an irrational tabula rasa attitude inherent in the Occupy movement. That is, a profound and determined ignorance of the two-century old history of anti-capitalist resistance by the 99%. For the sake of non-ideological purity, occupiers seem to be junking the history of the oppressed for the blandest motivation-speak from the most dubious sources.

[Project Willow]

Occupy Oakland Calls for TOTAL WEST COAST PORT SHUTDOWN ON 12/12

http://occupywallst.org/article/occupy-oakland-calls-total-west-coast-port-shutdow/

Go op kos!

[Jeff]

For the sake of non-ideological purity, occupiers seem to be junking the history of the oppressed for the blandest motivation-speak from the most dubious sources.

I did give a bit of an eye roll at Rastani's participation. But I don't know if what you describe is a matter of purity, or rather the nature of this novel, non-hierarchical life form. So there are going to be dubious contributions from both benign and malignant sources, but IMO the collective intelligence of the movement is still sharp enough to separate the good from the bad and the bullshit.

[Jeff]

Police arrest 11 protesters occupying DC building

By BRETT ZONGKER, Associated Press – 2 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — District of Columbia police on Saturday evening arrested 11 protesters and planned to charge them with unlawful entry after officers entered and cleared an abandoned city-owned building that had been occupied by a group inspired by Occupy D.C.

Supporters of the protesters cheered as officers led demonstrators from the downtown Washington building in handcuffs and into two police vans.

The group Free Franklin began occupying the four-story Franklin School on Saturday, protesting the lack of housing for homeless people. The historic building served as a homeless shelter until 2008.

Participants with handkerchiefs over their faces lowered a banner from the roof that said "Public Property under Community Control." More than 60 supporters gathered in a park near the red-brick building and cheered the protesters. The building is two blocks from Occupy D.C.'s encampment.

Group spokeswoman Abigail DeRoberts said earlier Saturday that protesters plan to remain in the building indefinitely.

Police watched as protesters hung the banner and later called firefighters and more officers to the scene.

Protesters said police and firefighters then entered the building with crow bars and other instruments. Supporters blocked alleys around the building and chanted, "We are the 99 percent."

Demonstrators blocked alleys next to the building even after police officers went inside. By early evening, the banner had come down.

...

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/art ... b82fd2144d

[temp-monitor]

Captured by COINTELPRO. We don't need to learn that old person Baby Boomer history shit. Or get all paranoid and shit.

http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/thei ... d=10727278

Their Own Worst Enemies:
Occupy Seattle Disrupts Pro–Occupy Wall Street Forum, Drives Away Supporters

No sooner had six panelists finished opening remarks last Saturday evening than a woman scampered onstage and yelled, "Mic check!" It was an orchestrated effort by several dozen Occupy Seattle activists to use the "People's Mic" to interrupt a forum at Town Hall—a forum in favor of Occupy Wall Street, featuring three wonks and three activists from Occupy Seattle. Their stunt replaced what was supposed to be an informed discussion with an uninformative shout-a-thon about process that consumed most of the evening. They booed opinions [of their own supporters] they disagreed with and drove supporters out of the building.

"I walked in supportive and left unsupportive," said 69-year-old Mary Ann, who declined to provide her last name. "I'm turned off by the negative shouts and repetition, and all I can think about is a cult."

She added: "And I believe in every one of their damn principles."

Across the country, police and mayors have been sweeping occupiers out of their camps; conversely, here in Seattle, protesters have become their own greatest public-relations liability. After a week of media­genic protests (largely civil disobedience aimed at Chase Bank), the debacle at Town Hall was one of several recent unflattering incidents. For another example, about 30 protesters associated with Occupy Seattle stormed a public meeting at the Horace Mann building in the Central District on November 11 to "reclaim the space for the community," according to a text from one of the protesters. Their efforts failed, and it turns out they crashed a mentorship program for high school dropouts.

Meanwhile, Seattle Central Community College (SCCC) officials have grown upset with declining sanitary conditions among campers occupying the campus. "They said they would get their own Dumpster, but they haven't yet—three weeks into it," says SCCC spokeswoman Judy Kitzman. Trash has been piling up or going into the college's trash receptacles, and "rats don't wait for their process," she continues.

Back at Town Hall, activists were interrupting the panel because, some said, they opposed the power dynamic created by speakers onstage talking into microphones. While Occupy Wall Street ostensibly uses the belabored People's Mic—which involves one person speaking and the crowd repeating everything—to amplify free speech, that night the echoing cacophony was used to silence the panel.

Audience members Paula and Brian King also headed for the door early, with Brian explaining, "We are leaving because they are looking inward at themselves and their eccentric process rather than reaching out to people."

Organized by Town Hall (and cosponsored by The Stranger), the forum featured three activists from Occupy Seattle and luminaries from labor, economics, and politics: Washington State Labor Council secretary-treasurer Lynne Dodson, progressive taxation activist Nick Hanauer, and GMMB political strategist Frank Greer. Several older, hard-of-hearing audience members pleaded to let the panelists proceed: "Some of us who are old, we don't understand when people are screaming," explained Melanie Jackson to the protesters. "This process alienates people and takes a lot of time." Nevertheless, the Occupy activists demanded a vote to overtake the forum.

By a show of hands, moderator Nick Licata determined that the activists had been outvoted. But they refused to lose. They demanded another vote and a chance to read the rules of a general assembly while we repeated them back.

"Assembly time is precious," one protester yelled. "Assembly time is precious!" we all yelled back, wasting precious time. Meanwhile, an activist slept spread-eagle on the floor in front of the stage, and the man next to me worked through half a tin of chew.

It was 8:30 p.m. at this point, one hour after the event began, and we'd only heard opening statements. With a half hour left, it was apparent that the Occupy Seattle activists had repressed whatever thoughtful ideas the panelists brought to the stage and were willing to fill the time with chatter about unenlightening process. They were also being rank hypocrites. Here was a group purporting to give people a voice and cut through the bureaucratic layers of government and capitalism. Instead, they quashed ideas and replaced them with their own bureaucratic process reserved for a minority that wanted power.

One gray-haired woman who was walking out put it like this: "It was very divisive. Now they are a little group, like the 1 Percent."

JM Wong from Occupy Seattle justified the interruption, saying, "We need to respect the movement that uses this process. I stick to it because it is a democratic process." Some shouted, "This is what democracy looks like."

However, the Occupy activists seemed woefully misguided about what democracy looked like. On his way out the door, Brian King added, "They think it is more important to purify themselves rather than connect with people who are not like themselves. They probably can't get much further than they are right now."

Indeed, the group resisted connecting even with their most ardent supporters. During opening remarks, Wong declared that Occupy Seattle wanted "no leadership from the Democratic Party or union bureaucrats. Nonprofits are trying to co-opt us."

The AFL-CIO's Dodson, who represents 400,000 workers and was sitting a few feet away, politely explained that labor unions are part and parcel with the Occupy movement's push for economic reform. "I like to consider myself a union activist, not a union bureaucrat," she said. "This is labor's fight; this is our fight."

( ... )

"We need to turn the media perception," a young woman said. "We need to turn the media perception," we repeated back. "From negative to positive," she said. "From negative to positive," we echoed.

Tahrir Square, 29 January 2011:



Let Middle America See Themselves In You, And You Will Win

Let Middle America See Only Your Self-Expression, And You Will Lose

Be THEIR Mirror, And You Will Win

[82_28]

Already posted that when it broke, temp. But it bears repeating. So thanks.

Anyway's there's this:

UC Davis Professor Demands Chancellor Resign Over Pepper Spraying Of Students

A UC Davis Assistant Professor is demanding the immediate resignation of the University’s Chancellor over Friday’s pepper spraying of unarmed, non-​violent students who were passively sitting on the ground while in the midst of an Occupy Wall Street protest.

Watch: Shocking Video Of Police Pepper Spraying UC Davis Students

“I am a junior faculty member at UC Davis,” Professor Nathan Brown writes, in an open letter to Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi. “I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of English, and I teach in the Program in Critical Theory and in Science & Technology Studies. I have a strong record of research, teaching, and service. I am currently a Board Member of the Davis Faculty Association.”

Brown adds,

“I have also taken an active role in supporting the student movement to defend public education on our campus and throughout the UC system. In a word: I am the sort of young faculty member, like many of my colleagues, this campus needs. I am an asset to the University of California at Davis.

“You are not.”

Brown’s letter continues:

I write to you and to my colleagues for three reasons:

1) to express my outrage at the police brutality which occurred against students engaged in peaceful protest on the UC Davis campus today

2) to hold you accountable for this police brutality

3) to demand your immediate resignation

Today you ordered police onto our campus to clear student protesters from the quad. These were protesters who participated in a rally speaking out against tuition increases and police brutality on UC campuses on Tuesday — a rally that I organized, and which was endorsed by the Davis Faculty Association. These students attended that rally in response to a call for solidarity from students and faculty who were bludgeoned with batons,hospitalized, and arrested at UC Berkeley last week. In the highest tradition of non-​violent civil disobedience, those protesters had linked arms and held their ground in defense of tents they set up beside Sproul Hall. In a gesture of solidarity with those students and faculty, and in solidarity with the national Occupy movement, students at UC Davis set up tents on the main quad. When you ordered police outfitted with riot helmets, brandishing batons and teargas guns to remove their tents today, those students sat down on the ground in a circle and linked arms to protect them.

What happened next?

Without any provocation whatsoever, other than the bodies of these students sitting where they were on the ground, with their arms linked, police pepper-​sprayed students.Students remained on the ground, now writhing in pain, with their arms linked.

What happened next?

Police used batons to try to push the students apart. Those they could separate, they arrested, kneeling on their bodies and pushing their heads into the ground. Those they could not separate, they pepper-​sprayed directly in the face, holding these students as they did so. When students covered their eyes with their clothing, police forced open their mouths and pepper-​sprayed down their throats. Several of these students were hospitalized. Others are seriously injured. One of them, forty-​five minutes after being pepper-​sprayed down his throat, was still coughing up blood.

This is what happened. You are responsible for it.

You are responsible for it because this is what happens when UC Chancellors order police onto our campuses to disperse peaceful protesters through the use of force: students get hurt. Faculty get hurt. One of the most inspiring things (inspiring for those of us who care about students who assert their rights to free speech and peaceful assembly) about the demonstration in Berkeley on November 9 is that UC Berkeley faculty stood together with students, their arms linked together. Associate Professor of English Celeste Langan was grabbed by her hair, thrown on the ground, and arrested. Associate Professor Geoffrey O’Brien was injured by baton blows. Professor Robert Hass, former Poet Laureate of the United States, National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize winner, was also struck with a baton. These faculty stood together with students in solidarity, and they too were beaten and arrested by the police. In writing this letter, I stand together with those faculty and with the students they supported.

One week after this happened at UC Berkeley, you ordered police to clear tents from the quad at UC Davis. When students responded in the same way — linking arms and holding their ground — police also responded in the same way: with violent force. The fact is: the administration of UC campuses systematically uses police brutality to terrorize students and faculty, to crush political dissent on our campuses, and to suppress free speech and peaceful assembly. Many people know this. Many more people are learning it very quickly.

You are responsible for the police violence directed against students on the UC Davis quad on November 18, 2011. As I said, I am writing to hold you responsible and to demand your immediate resignation on these grounds.

(Emphasis mine.)

Brown accuses the Chancellor of hypocrisy, and closes with,

“I call for your resignation because you are unfit to do your job. You are unfit to ensure the safety of students at UC Davis. In fact: you are the primary threat to the safety of students at UC Davis. As such, I call upon you to resign immediately.”

Read the entire letter.

Professor Nathan Brown deserves an award. if he loses his job over this there will be hell to pay from America. Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi deserves to be fired, as does police Lt. John Pike.

http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/uc ... siLvpmmloF

[temp-monitor]

View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/153083

6 Burning Questions About the Violent Crackdowns on Occupations Around the Country
By Lynn Parramore, AlterNet

Occurring without provocation, the Occupy crackdown gives the appearance of an orchestrated effort to thwart an emerging protest movement. Early morning Tuesday, in New York City, hundreds of police officers, many in riot gear, swept down on Zuccotti Park, throwing away private property, restricting press and using aggressive tactics to remove protesters and supporters. Here are some things we’d really like to know.

1. Who convened the mayors call? In an interview with the BBC, Oakland Mayor Jean Quan alluded to her participation in a conference call with leaders of 18 US cities just prior to the raids on encampments across the country. Mayors' associations do exist, but they do not typically organize police interventions or local decision-making in such detail. Given the abuses of the past, such as the notorious COINTELPRO and other intervention programs that the U.S. government organized during the Vietnam protests, the public has a right to know the details of who organized that call.

2. Was there an attempt to control press coverage? New Yorkers awoke to front-page stories and photographs in both the New York Post and the New York Daily News. Coverage by the two papers was supportive of the mayor and the police actions but disparaging toward the protesters. An AlterNet reporter, arriving on the scene at 1:30am, shortly after the raid began, could get nowhere near Zuccotti Park due to police barricades (and was subjected to pepper spray while attempting to report on events). How did the friendly reporters gain their access? Was there advance coordination to allow certain media outlets access and block the rest? Why was press access restricted? Were some reporters' credentials confiscated? How will reports of unwarranted force on the part of police toward the press be addressed?

3. What, if any, was the role of the White House? Who was in charge of following the nationwide Occupy crackdown at the White House? What does President Obama, the man who celebrated the uprisings in Egypt (and who is currently out of the US, in Asia), think about the raids and the encroachments on the civil liberties of peacefully protesting Americans? As a constitutional scholar, what is his view of the restrictions of the press and the arrests of journalists?

4. Was the Department of Homeland Security involved in the raids? Filmmaker Michael Moore tweeted this question, asking if the Department may have given the green-light to the raid. The DHS has been reportedly following Occupy Wall Street Twitter feeds and other social media networks. Did it play any role in the crackdown?

5. What, if any, was the role of the FBI? Suggestions are circulating that the FBI and other federal agencies may have advised local law enforcement agencies on how to conduct the raids and even how to handle press relations. Did this happen? Was there any coordinating of arrests across the country on the part of the FBI?

6. Where are the libertarians? In the face of all the clamor about “states' rights,” local government and the Constitution, we want to know where all the libertarians have suddenly gone. It’s enough to drive you to drink an emergency cup of tea.

Lynn Parramore is an AlterNet contributing editor.

[Hammer of Los]

..
edited humble apologies to all

[82_28]

Occupy Denver: ACLU reacts to restriction against recording during court appearances

Westword has been present at every Sunday-morning arraignment related to Occupy Denver arrests. It was only this past Sunday, however, that I was forbidden by the court from recording anything while inside. The recent ban on anyone other than lawyers taking notes on the arrests and bond rates marks the strictest efforts taken against the occupation in court, and it has earned a direct response from the Colorado ACLU: No way, Jose.

On Sunday, court officials at the Van Cise-Simonet Detention Center warned me, Denver Post reporter Wes Gentry and the occupation's internal legal team that we would not be allowed to bring in notebooks, bags or cell phones; we were asked to put those items in our cars or in a cubby inside the lobby. In place of this, court reps told us we could each bring in a pen and a sheet of paper. Upon using them, however, we were individually asked to stop any note-taking or be required to leave the courtroom. Occupy Denver's protester-packed legal force resorted to scratching newly raised bond rates into paper with their fingernails.

arraignment meeting.jpg
Kelsey Whipple
Occupy Denver supporters gather to help their fellow volunteers post bail after the group's first arraignment on October 15.
​The decision was unexpected, and though it is unlikely to be repeated, the group's lawyers say, the ACLU of Colorado chose to address it definitively in a letter sent yesterday to the presiding judge of the Denver County Court. In addition to requesting records relating to police force, investigating the removal of protester property and stopping by the occasional Occupy Denver event, Colorado ACLU representatives have stepped into the occupation's First Amendment ring once more. (Read more about the legal precedents involved in the letter below.)

"We request that you take all necessary steps to ensure that Judge Hoffman, and any other Denver County Court judge who has adopted a similar prohibition, immediately cease such unconstitutional restrictions on public access to the courtroom," ACLU attorney Sara Rich writes. "In addition, we respectfully request that you respond to our concerns on or before December 2, 2011, and describe what actions you have taken to ensure compliance with the First Amendment protected right of access to criminal trials in Denver County courtrooms."

In all, the restriction on recording materials in court is just the latest in a string of events that has escalated gradually since the group's first collective visit to courtroom 2300. That weekend, the standard bond rate reached $750, a total equal to the max possible fine of the first round of unlawful conduct arrests. For the past two weeks, part-time magistrate John Hoffman has refused to hear any arguments on bail, which prohibits the group's lawyers from making any effort to lower the rates, even for arrestees with no prior criminal records.

The default action has become that of immediately accepting the city's bond recommendation, most recently $200 higher than it was only two weeks before. The result quickly depletes the funds of the group's legal team, fronted and financially supported by the Denver Anarchist Black Cross. After court on Sunday, the group was short more than $400 needed to bail out all of its twenty arrestees, and protester Corey Donahue's most recent stint in jail lasted from Sunday to Wednesday before funds were raised to bail him out. At present, three protesters remain in jail: Jonathan Shepard, Victor Jaime and Robert Huffman.

Below is the letter the Colorado ACLU sent yesterday:
ACLU Letter on Recording in Court

Links to the scribd document sent by ACLU at link:

http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/20 ... ctions.php

[Aurataur]

Occupy Oakland Calls for TOTAL WEST COAST PORT SHUTDOWN ON 12/12

http://occupywallst.org/article/occupy-oakland-calls-total-west-coast-port-shutdow/

Go op kos!

Thank you for posting that link, Project Willow. I believe this needs to be reproduced in full:

Proposal for a Coordinated West Coast Port Shutdown, Passed With Unanimous Consensus by vote of the Occupy Oakland General Assembly 11/18/2012:

In response to coordinated attacks on the occupations and attacks on workers across the nation:

Occupy Oakland calls for the blockade and disruption of the economic apparatus of the 1% with a coordinated shutdown of ports on the entire West Coast on December 12th. The 1% has disrupted the lives of longshoremen and port truckers and the workers who create their wealth, just as coordinated nationwide police attacks have turned our cities into battlegrounds in an effort to disrupt our Occupy movement.

We call on each West Coast occupation to organize a mass mobilization to shut down its local port. Our eyes are on the continued union-busting and attacks on organized labor, in particular the rupture of Longshoremen jurisdiction in Longview Washington by the EGT. Already, Occupy Los Angeles has passed a resolution to carry out a port action on the Port Of Los Angeles on December 12th, to shut down SSA terminals, which are owned by Goldman Sachs.

Occupy Oakland expands this call to the entire West Coast, and calls for continuing solidarity with the Longshoremen in Longview Washington in their ongoing struggle against the EGT. The EGT is an international grain exporter led by Bunge LTD, a company constituted of 1% bankers whose practices have ruined the lives of the working class all over the world, from Argentina to the West Coast of the US. During the November 2nd General Strike, tens of thousands shutdown the Port Of Oakland as a warning shot to EGT to stop its attacks on Longview. Since the EGT has disregarded this message, and continues to attack the Longshoremen at Longview, we will now shut down ports along the entire West Coast.

Participating occupations are asked to ensure that during the port shutdowns the local arbitrator rules in favor of longshoremen not crossing community picket lines in order to avoid recriminations against them. Should there be any retaliation against any workers as a result of their honoring pickets or supporting our port actions, additional solidarity actions should be prepared. In the event of police repression of any of the mobilizations, shutdown actions may be extended to multiple days.

In Solidarity and Struggle,

Occupy Oakland

I will be there.

[Grizzly]

Chuck Wexler was appointed as the Executive Director of PERF in 1993. In addition to leading
staff engaged in research, management services and executive development and selection,
Wexler has been directly involved in major projects to more efficiently deliver policing services in Minneapolis, Chicago, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Northern Ireland, Jamaica, London and the
Middle East. He oversaw PERF's analysis of the Washington sniper incidents and co-authored Managing Multijurisdictional Cases: Lessons Learned from the Sniper Investigation. He also co-authored "Good to Great" Policing: Application of Business Management Principles in the Public Sector. Wexler graduated from Boston University, earned a masters degree from Florida State University and a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He has been an instructor at Bowdoin College and MIT.

From the 2012 SMIPBrochure

Senior Management Institute for Police
hxxp://members.policeforum.org/library/ ... re2012.pdf (pdf)

Managing a Multijurisdictional Case:
Identifying the Lessons Learned
from the Sniper Investigation
GERARD R. MURPHY AND CHUCK WEXLER
hxxp://members.policeforum.org/library/ ... 5B1%5D.pdf

Lessons from DC Sniper Case Provide Guidance for
Future Complex Cases
hxxp://members.policeforum.org/library/ ... 5B2%5D.pdf

Like a Duck in a Noose WEXLER?

This WEXLER? : Paramilitary Policing of Occupy Wall Street: Excessive Use of Force amidst the New Military Urbanism
https://www.democracynow.org/2011/11/17 ... all_street

Side note: JUDGE KAREN SMITH (ret.): Yes, well, I don’t know if Mr. Stamper was the one who said this, but I think it was structural.

[IanEye]

*




"The meaning of Fawkes is, of course, not fixed."









"Now, the Fawkes mythology has come full circle."


*

[Cedars of Overburden]

Sadly accurate view of Occupy Knoxville from the Sunday business section of Our Local Daily

But when it comes to the Knoxville movement specifically, Cummings' daughter, Jasmine, may have summed it up best.

While her white Che Guevara T-shirt was an implicit challenge to the status quo, her small stature and tentative steps made for a decidedly nonthreatening persona.

The same could be said of Occupy Knoxville. While Nashville's Occupy encampment sparked a legal confrontation with the administration of Gov. Bill Haslam and members of Occupy Wall Street were recently forced out of a Manhattan park by police, Knoxville sympathizers have declined to camp out in public places and have cooperated with law enforcement.

Why the differing approaches?

Rose Hawley, a South Knoxville resident who has been active in the local movement, said Knoxville isn't New York or Nashville.

"They have the human resources to occupy (a location) 24-7," she said.
There may be more complex factors at work, though. Nathan Kelly, a University of Tennessee political scientist who has written a book about the politics of income inequality in the United States, said via email that the Occupy Wall Street message likely doesn't resonate broadly in Knoxville, which he described as a very conservative place.

[url][http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/nov/20/knoxvilles-occupation-takes-a-different-02/#comments/url]

I've avoided posting here or anywhere about my gut reaction to Occupy Knoxville because I know so much of it was totally unfair to Occupy. That is, I'm a burned out peace activist. I am bitter, suspicious tending to paranoid, and a general emotional mess.

When Occupy first began here, I spoke to one of the protesters gathering that evening for their first march. Even though I was bitchy -- telling him having leaders was a normal human condition, whether anyone has the grasp of reality to know it or not -- "tell me who's the alpha male here? who's the alpha female? Come on, it's standard primate biology and I can tell you're smart enough to know exactly what I mean ... " that little diatribe was unwarranted, and dear Iraq Vet Against the War, I'm sorry for being such a hysterical little bitch that night, but I'm old and bitter beyond even my belief. We ended up trading war stories. I told him a bit about DH's continuing bitterness over Vietnam. I told him DH was proud of all the Iraq vets with the sense to come home and try to stop that damned war. Before it was over, we were both a little teary, but yeah, I was a real bitch at first.

The following week, I met the people who were occupying downtown Knoxville 24/7, a little band of homeless people who'd decided that if they were going to be homeless, it was far better to be homeless with a point. I brought them food. I ate lunch with them twice. One of them was 19, epileptic, and pregnant and living on the street. I'm still worried about Kaylee. I told her that when I was 19, I was in full blown PTSD, homeless, and married to an insane revolutionary. (That so-called revolutionary is half the reason for my distrust of the left.)

Anyway, it's been illegal to fall asleep in a Knoxville public park for years. (The law against masks is, I suspect, an old anti-Klan law -- it's the case many places in the south, anyway. Something for all the Guy Fawkes fan to consider -- many American anti-mask laws were part of getting rid of the goddamned KKK. I lived in Georgia when it finally passed one of those laws. I wondered at the time when the time would come when it would be used against people with legit grievances.) So the homeless 24/7 protest folks did this. One of them had a car, so they had it parked where they could get to it. They'd protest and sleep in shifts.

I was so impressed with them that I decided I would actually come to an Occupy march. They changed the beginning time, so I missed it. I guess they announced that over twitter or something so I missed it. Hung out downtown until the GA finally began -- 30 to 40 people. It "smelled like Move On" to me, but I tried to argue away my misgivings. They announced they had no 24/7 presence. One of the homeless guys I'd been hanging out with had gotten drunk that day. He came up to the center of the meeting and started to roar incoherently. The Occupy enforcers dragged him off. I should have myself told them "I suspect he's pissed because you just denied that he and his friends exist, that they have been your 24/7 presence for the past week, and you just denied that they exist!"

During the GA, I stupidly signed up for one of the committees. During the meeting, I was having so many flash backs to so much stupid bullshit from the Left over my 50 years that I just got up and left. I realized that I was about to start shouting at people and possibly do great damage to something that had some real hope to it so matter how embittered I am personally. So I just got up and left.

Now they're in Our Local Daily bragging about how they're superior because they're not 24/7 and what a great relationship they have with the cops.

Personally, I'm not going to camp out. I think there are other ways to have the critically needed conversatins we've got to have to ever get anywhere. And I'm working on that, when not trying to simply make myself CALM THE &*(^% DOWN. But now Occupy Knoxville is distancing themselves from their homeless supporters , this implied criticism of their sisters and brothers in Nashville - I think I was right that day -- Occupy Knoxville really does smell one hell of a lot like Move On.

[Jeff]

It "smelled like Move On" to me, but I tried to argue away my misgivings. They announced they had no 24/7 presence. One of the homeless guys I'd been hanging out with had gotten drunk that day. He came up to the center of the meeting and started to roar incoherently. The Occupy enforcers dragged him off. I should have myself told them "I suspect he's pissed because you just denied that he and his friends exist, that they have been your 24/7 presence for the past week, and you just denied that they exist!"

Thank-you so much for your heartbreaking report, Cedars.

[Bruce Dazzling]

Lobbying firm's memo spells out plan to undermine Occupy Wall Street
By Jonathan Larsen and Ken Olshansky
11/19/2011
MSNBC TV

A well-known Washington lobbying firm with links to the financial industry has proposed an $850,000 plan to take on Occupy Wall Street and politicians who might express sympathy for the protests, according to a memo obtained by the MSNBC program “Up w/ Chris Hayes.”

The proposal was written on the letterhead of the lobbying firm Clark Lytle Geduldig & Cranford and addressed to one of CLGC’s clients, the American Bankers Association.

CLGC’s memo proposes that the ABA pay CLGC $850,000 to conduct “opposition research” on Occupy Wall Street in order to construct “negative narratives” about the protests and allied politicians. The memo also asserts that Democratic victories in 2012 would be detrimental for Wall Street and targets specific races in which it says Wall Street would benefit by electing Republicans instead.

According to the memo, if Democrats embrace OWS, “This would mean more than just short-term political discomfort for Wall Street. … It has the potential to have very long-lasting political, policy and financial impacts on the companies in the center of the bullseye.”

The memo also suggests that Democratic victories in 2012 should not be the ABA’s biggest concern. “… (T)he bigger concern,” the memo says, “should be that Republicans will no longer defend Wall Street companies.”

Two of the memo’s authors, partners Sam Geduldig and Jay Cranford, previously worked for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. Geduldig joined CLGC before Boehner became speaker; Cranford joined CLGC this year after serving as the speaker’s assistant for policy. A third partner, Steve Clark, is reportedly “tight” with Boehner, according to a story by Roll Call that CLGC features on its website.

Jeff Sigmund, an ABA spokesperson, confirmed that the association got the memo. “Our Government Relations staff did receive the proposal – it was unsolicited and we chose not to act on it in any way,” he said in a statement to "Up."

CLGC did not return calls seeking comment.

Boehner spokesman Michael Steel declined to comment on the memo. But he responded to its characterization of Republicans as defenders of Wall Street by saying, “My understanding is that President Obama is the single largest recipient of donations from Wall Street.”

On “Up” Saturday, Obama campaign adviser Anita Dunn responded by saying that the majority of the president’s re-election campaign is fueled by small donors. She rejected the suggestion that the president himself is too close to Wall Street, saying “If that’s the case, why were tough financial reforms passed over party line Republican opposition?”

The CLGC memo raises another issue that it says should be of concern to the financial industry -- that OWS might find common cause with the Tea Party. “Well-known Wall Street companies stand at the nexus of where OWS protestors and the Tea Party overlap on angered populism,” the memo says. “…This combination has the potential to be explosive later in the year when media reports cover the next round of bonuses and contrast it with stories of millions of Americans making do with less this holiday season.”

The memo outlines a 60-day plan to conduct surveys and research on OWS and its supporters so that Wall Street companies will be prepared to conduct a media campaign in response to OWS. Wall Street companies “likely will not be the best spokespeople for their own cause,” according to the memo. “A big challenge is to demonstrate that these companies still have political strength and that making them a political target will carry a severe political cost.”

Part of the plan CLGC proposes is to do “statewide surveys in at least eight states that are shaping up to be the most important of the 2012 cycle.”

Specific races listed in the memo are U.S. Senate races in Florida, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin, Ohio, New Mexico and Nevada as well as the gubernatorial race in North Carolina.

The memo indicates that CLGC would research who has contributed financial backing to OWS, noting that, “Media reports have speculated about associations with George Soros and others.”

"It will be vital,” the memo says, “to understand who is funding it and what their backgrounds and motives are. If we can show that they have the same cynical motivation as a political opponent it will undermine their credibility in a profound way.”