Matt Taibbi--Always interesting reporting on bank crimes and misdemeanors:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog
Companies That Pay Lobbyists--Not Taxes
http://www.uspirg.org/news/usp/thirty-fortune-500-companies-paid-more-lobby-congress-they-did-federal-income-taxes
Friday, March 23, 2012
Friday, March 16, 2012
Big Deals for Democracy, if you ask me.
"Fair to the truth": A clear article on the new NPR standards:
A Wall Street insider quits--and tells what his firm, Goldman-Sachs, thinks of their investor clients:
nytimes.com/2012/03/14/opinion/why-i-am-leaving-goldman-sachs
nytimes.com/2012/03/14/opinion/why-i-am-leaving-goldman-sachs
Monday, March 12, 2012
Occupy Update, March 10, 2012
Occupy protest groups and information:
Occupy Oakland: http://www.occupyoakland.org
* This Saturday: Occupy Oakland's First Community Speak-Out and Cook-Out, Sat. March 17th:
http://occupyoakland.org/2012/03/first-bbq-community-event-march-17th
* Occupy Oakland has two General Assemblies each week: Wednesdays 6pm, at Frank Ogawa/Oscar Grant Plaza, in front of City Hall; and Sundays 2pm, 20th & Telegraph, in the park just 'north' of the Fox Theater
Occupy San Francisco: http://www.occupysf.org
Occupy Wall Street: http://www.ows.org
A national hub of organized Occupy groups: http://www.occupytogether.org
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Recent Occupy protest-related headlines:
Banks: Women Occupy Protesters Arrested While Busting Corporate Greed & Big Bank Corruption on International Women’s Day
http://www.womenoccupy.org/
Banks: New Whistleblower Cases Allege Continued Bank Fraud; Mortgage Modifications and Appraisal Processes in Question—also posted on International Women's Day by the Center for Public Integrity
http://www.iwatchnews.org/2012/03/09/8359/new-whistleblower-cases-allege-continued-bank-fraud
Voting Rights: A March from Montgomery to Selma for voting rights—not 1965, but 2012
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marian-wright-edelman/the-american-promise-the_b_1335951.html
Voting Rights: Good news for people who like the idea of eligible voters actually getting to vote!
http://www.aclu.org/blog/voting-rights/ohio-poised-roll-back-dangerous-voter-suppression-law
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Agenda: Occupy protesters are working to:
1. stop foreclosures and help homeowners renegotiate “underwater” mortgages
2. investigate, prosecute, and punish banking criminals, and reform banking regulations
3. restore and reform public educational funding
4. reform tax laws to set rates for workers and businesses/corporations at reasonable, fair, historically precedented and socially healthy levels
5. get corporate money out of political elections and legislation, and put strong limits on campaign contributions—and overturn the “Citizens United” Supreme Court ruling
6. restore and protect voting rights from unnecessary and exclusionary voter-ID laws
7. stop excessive and ecologically threatening energy extraction—including the Keystone XL Pipeline
8. tax extraction of energy resources that belong to the people, such as oil-drilling and coal-mining
9. reform policing and the criminal justice system, including:
punishing/stopping police brutality and harassment
punishing/stopping racial profiling and guilt-by-association
repealing the “three-strikes” law and other excessive minimum-sentencing requirements
enacting/restoring humane conditions for prisoners—and realizing the correction/rehabilitation concept
10. protect and restore* the rights of workers, including collective-bargaining, minimum wages, and safety regulations—in several states, legislation has recently stripped these and other rights
11. protect immigrants and undocumented workers—and their children—from unfair immigration laws and over-zealous enforcement
12. build social services that meet the needs of people, including employment, housing, health care, mental healthcare, and financial counseling
13. shrink military spending, and end U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq
--and that's a condensed list!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ongoing News Coverage and Commentary on Occupy:
DemocracyNow!: http://www.democracynow.org/
Dr. Cornel West and Tavis Smiley's radio show, Smiley & West: http://www.smileyandwest.com/radio.html
Indybay's coverage—the Global Justice page: http://www.indybay.org/globalization/
Common Dreams' coverage and links: http://www.commondreams.org/category/occupy
Communication, Coverage and Commentary from within Occupy:
The Occupied Wall Street Journal: http://occupiedmedia.us/
Occupied Oakland Tribune: http://occupiedoaktrib.org/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Essay: More Than Enough Unproductive Violence—Mainly from Police
by Chris Weidenbach, English Dept., Laney College, Oakland CA
One of the strongest themes of the Occupy movement—including OWS and OO—has been police overreaction, aggression, and definite instances of criminal brutality, much of which has gone unpunished and under-punished, and under-reported in corporate media. Often the police have used a few protesters' own criminal activity, which has been extremely scarce, as an excuse to crack down more heavily than necessary. When they do, they crack down on not just the individuals who have behaved badly, but on anyone standing or walking in the spaces between the police and those individuals, regardless of those innocent people's peaceful, non-violent, non-criminal behavior. Such police action has worsened the public's opinion of the police, which in Oakland is already mixed at best; far worse, it has invited more volatile and sometimes truly violent responses from a few (very few) protesters. Those responses again invite police to use whatever force they can claim they are technically allowed to use on anyone they can claim they are technically allowed to use it on—which brings yet more innocent protesters under the police web.
When police have had an excuse, i.e. whenever protesters are legally subject to arrest or use of force, whether or not those people are the ones causing the ruckus and the police reaction, the police have frequently responded more heavily than seems necessary from a common-sense perspective; if such overreaction goes unattended by the people's government officials, then the legitimacy of those officials' leadership comes into question—as it has. Furthermore, police have frequently gone beyond their legally sanctioned force, and into territory that must be defined as police violence against peacefully intentioned, law-abiding people; or police brutality; criminal acts by police officers. One would be forgiven for wondering why the police don't apply the same standards and tactics they use for protesters in response to crimes committed by their fellow criminal officers; instead, we have seen little to nothing in terms of any justice-seeking response to these police officers' infractions and crimes.
Both peaceful protesters and law-abiding police officers can rightly claim their distinction from “a few bad apples”, but only police officers have the sworn duty to enforce the law, and only those police who properly do enforce the law against unlawful acts by their fellow police officers can truly separate themselves from those “bad apples”; any officers who knowingly disregard unlawful actions by other officers are indeed breaking their vow, breaking the law, and thus joining the ranks of the non-law-abiders, the criminals—oh my goodness!—they are joining the ranks of the Bad Apples!
To be sure, some irresponsible actions have been taken by individual protesters and some groups of protesters numbering between a handful at two or three marches, up to maybe a hundred people on three notable occasions in Oakland: on the evening of Oct. 25, 2011, late at night on Nov. 2, 2011, and during the afternoon and evening of Jan. 28, 2012. The most irresponsible element of actions like breaking into a building owned by someone else, or trying to; or inciting police by shouting profanity, pushing them, throwing objects at them, or vandalizing their vehicles; or using any physical force against police, including vigorously resisting arrest, in my opinion, is not the fact that they lack the purity of non-violent protest, although that element does also hurt the movement by creating a barrier between the movement and the great many people who demand that non-violent purity if they are ever going to participate; rather, the main reason any violence or vandalism or breaking-and-entering is irresponsible is that it gives the police a clear excuse to respond, and thus endangers other protesters who are trying to participate without risking their health and well-being—and their very lives. Not only are these people's security threatened by police overreaction to illegal acts, and thus those illegal acts themselves, but the peaceful protesters are likely to think twice about future participation, and some have been outspoken about standing down until Occupy Oakland as an organization makes a commitment to non-violence.
To be clear, some protesters caught up in these conflicts with police have been energized and brought to a higher level of commitment. But it must be acknowledged that the movement will definitely find the greatest success if it finds the greatest possible effective participation, and I have yet to hear of multitudes of non-participants just waiting for the movement make a commitment against non-violence. Occupy Oakland has indeed embraced “a diversity of tactics”—phrasing many of us participants think of as mind-numbingly vague—in some of its press releases and statements on its website, but this is not any kind of resolved position declared by the ad-hoc organization that can call itself Occupy Oakland; the extent of this embrace is simply that the organization has not made a resolution-level decision to be completely non-violent.
The best way forward for those who share my concerns about avoiding all rationalizeable police violence—as well as “collateral damage” and violence that comes from other protesters is to do the following: 1) participate only in events that are declared to be non-violent, and/or participate in such a manner as to protect ourselves from any potential violence; 2) participate at the general assemblies, and in the public discussion generally, and advocate your non-violent, non-instigating values; and 3) ultimately move a resolution forward that commits the organization to non-violent actions. The first suggestion involves understanding police tactics and the legal limitations on their use of force and intimidation; but regardless of police and protesters abiding by law, those committed to non-violence must be able to anticipate potentially dangerous situations, and either de-escalate them or get physically clear of them. The second suggestion requires only a time-commitment. The third would require steady commitment and a willingness to strike up conversations and present a non-violence proposal to the General Assembly, most likely through their Facilitation Committee. The best chance of success will involve some advocates serving on the Facilitation Committee, or somehow putting steady pressure on the committee to give a non-violence proposal a fair hearing, serious consideration, and a vote in the GA.
People who like the general idea of Occupy, but are dissuaded from getting involved because they are afraid of being associated with violence and property-damage by some protesters, and/or of being assaulted or detained during police reactions and overreactions—those people, people like myself, need to engage ourselves in the process of building this movement, and work to shape it. It's time for us to occupy the movement. It's not only possible to help steer this movement; it's one of the only impactful organizations built on the basis of including the voices of literally everyone concerned enough to participate. The model for our proper response to any problems we see within Occupy is basically the same model the movement itself is employing in response to the problems of the 1%-friendly political and economic systems: Occupy Occupy! If we don't, then the local, national and international Occupy movement may not get much farther—and any of us who help it stall by sitting out will have to quietly shoulder a share of the blame.
(end)
Occupy Oakland: http://www.occupyoakland.org
* This Saturday: Occupy Oakland's First Community Speak-Out and Cook-Out, Sat. March 17th:
http://occupyoakland.org/2012/03/first-bbq-community-event-march-17th
* Occupy Oakland has two General Assemblies each week: Wednesdays 6pm, at Frank Ogawa/Oscar Grant Plaza, in front of City Hall; and Sundays 2pm, 20th & Telegraph, in the park just 'north' of the Fox Theater
Occupy San Francisco: http://www.occupysf.org
Occupy Wall Street: http://www.ows.org
A national hub of organized Occupy groups: http://www.occupytogether.org
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Recent Occupy protest-related headlines:
Banks: Women Occupy Protesters Arrested While Busting Corporate Greed & Big Bank Corruption on International Women’s Day
http://www.womenoccupy.org/
Banks: New Whistleblower Cases Allege Continued Bank Fraud; Mortgage Modifications and Appraisal Processes in Question—also posted on International Women's Day by the Center for Public Integrity
http://www.iwatchnews.org/2012/03/09/8359/new-whistleblower-cases-allege-continued-bank-fraud
Voting Rights: A March from Montgomery to Selma for voting rights—not 1965, but 2012
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marian-wright-edelman/the-american-promise-the_b_1335951.html
Voting Rights: Good news for people who like the idea of eligible voters actually getting to vote!
http://www.aclu.org/blog/voting-rights/ohio-poised-roll-back-dangerous-voter-suppression-law
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Agenda: Occupy protesters are working to:
1. stop foreclosures and help homeowners renegotiate “underwater” mortgages
2. investigate, prosecute, and punish banking criminals, and reform banking regulations
3. restore and reform public educational funding
4. reform tax laws to set rates for workers and businesses/corporations at reasonable, fair, historically precedented and socially healthy levels
5. get corporate money out of political elections and legislation, and put strong limits on campaign contributions—and overturn the “Citizens United” Supreme Court ruling
6. restore and protect voting rights from unnecessary and exclusionary voter-ID laws
7. stop excessive and ecologically threatening energy extraction—including the Keystone XL Pipeline
8. tax extraction of energy resources that belong to the people, such as oil-drilling and coal-mining
9. reform policing and the criminal justice system, including:
punishing/stopping police brutality and harassment
punishing/stopping racial profiling and guilt-by-association
repealing the “three-strikes” law and other excessive minimum-sentencing requirements
enacting/restoring humane conditions for prisoners—and realizing the correction/rehabilitation concept
10. protect and restore* the rights of workers, including collective-bargaining, minimum wages, and safety regulations—in several states, legislation has recently stripped these and other rights
11. protect immigrants and undocumented workers—and their children—from unfair immigration laws and over-zealous enforcement
12. build social services that meet the needs of people, including employment, housing, health care, mental healthcare, and financial counseling
13. shrink military spending, and end U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq
--and that's a condensed list!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ongoing News Coverage and Commentary on Occupy:
DemocracyNow!: http://www.democracynow.org/
Dr. Cornel West and Tavis Smiley's radio show, Smiley & West: http://www.smileyandwest.com/radio.html
Indybay's coverage—the Global Justice page: http://www.indybay.org/globalization/
Common Dreams' coverage and links: http://www.commondreams.org/category/occupy
Communication, Coverage and Commentary from within Occupy:
The Occupied Wall Street Journal: http://occupiedmedia.us/
Occupied Oakland Tribune: http://occupiedoaktrib.org/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Essay: More Than Enough Unproductive Violence—Mainly from Police
by Chris Weidenbach, English Dept., Laney College, Oakland CA
One of the strongest themes of the Occupy movement—including OWS and OO—has been police overreaction, aggression, and definite instances of criminal brutality, much of which has gone unpunished and under-punished, and under-reported in corporate media. Often the police have used a few protesters' own criminal activity, which has been extremely scarce, as an excuse to crack down more heavily than necessary. When they do, they crack down on not just the individuals who have behaved badly, but on anyone standing or walking in the spaces between the police and those individuals, regardless of those innocent people's peaceful, non-violent, non-criminal behavior. Such police action has worsened the public's opinion of the police, which in Oakland is already mixed at best; far worse, it has invited more volatile and sometimes truly violent responses from a few (very few) protesters. Those responses again invite police to use whatever force they can claim they are technically allowed to use on anyone they can claim they are technically allowed to use it on—which brings yet more innocent protesters under the police web.
When police have had an excuse, i.e. whenever protesters are legally subject to arrest or use of force, whether or not those people are the ones causing the ruckus and the police reaction, the police have frequently responded more heavily than seems necessary from a common-sense perspective; if such overreaction goes unattended by the people's government officials, then the legitimacy of those officials' leadership comes into question—as it has. Furthermore, police have frequently gone beyond their legally sanctioned force, and into territory that must be defined as police violence against peacefully intentioned, law-abiding people; or police brutality; criminal acts by police officers. One would be forgiven for wondering why the police don't apply the same standards and tactics they use for protesters in response to crimes committed by their fellow criminal officers; instead, we have seen little to nothing in terms of any justice-seeking response to these police officers' infractions and crimes.
Both peaceful protesters and law-abiding police officers can rightly claim their distinction from “a few bad apples”, but only police officers have the sworn duty to enforce the law, and only those police who properly do enforce the law against unlawful acts by their fellow police officers can truly separate themselves from those “bad apples”; any officers who knowingly disregard unlawful actions by other officers are indeed breaking their vow, breaking the law, and thus joining the ranks of the non-law-abiders, the criminals—oh my goodness!—they are joining the ranks of the Bad Apples!
To be sure, some irresponsible actions have been taken by individual protesters and some groups of protesters numbering between a handful at two or three marches, up to maybe a hundred people on three notable occasions in Oakland: on the evening of Oct. 25, 2011, late at night on Nov. 2, 2011, and during the afternoon and evening of Jan. 28, 2012. The most irresponsible element of actions like breaking into a building owned by someone else, or trying to; or inciting police by shouting profanity, pushing them, throwing objects at them, or vandalizing their vehicles; or using any physical force against police, including vigorously resisting arrest, in my opinion, is not the fact that they lack the purity of non-violent protest, although that element does also hurt the movement by creating a barrier between the movement and the great many people who demand that non-violent purity if they are ever going to participate; rather, the main reason any violence or vandalism or breaking-and-entering is irresponsible is that it gives the police a clear excuse to respond, and thus endangers other protesters who are trying to participate without risking their health and well-being—and their very lives. Not only are these people's security threatened by police overreaction to illegal acts, and thus those illegal acts themselves, but the peaceful protesters are likely to think twice about future participation, and some have been outspoken about standing down until Occupy Oakland as an organization makes a commitment to non-violence.
To be clear, some protesters caught up in these conflicts with police have been energized and brought to a higher level of commitment. But it must be acknowledged that the movement will definitely find the greatest success if it finds the greatest possible effective participation, and I have yet to hear of multitudes of non-participants just waiting for the movement make a commitment against non-violence. Occupy Oakland has indeed embraced “a diversity of tactics”—phrasing many of us participants think of as mind-numbingly vague—in some of its press releases and statements on its website, but this is not any kind of resolved position declared by the ad-hoc organization that can call itself Occupy Oakland; the extent of this embrace is simply that the organization has not made a resolution-level decision to be completely non-violent.
The best way forward for those who share my concerns about avoiding all rationalizeable police violence—as well as “collateral damage” and violence that comes from other protesters is to do the following: 1) participate only in events that are declared to be non-violent, and/or participate in such a manner as to protect ourselves from any potential violence; 2) participate at the general assemblies, and in the public discussion generally, and advocate your non-violent, non-instigating values; and 3) ultimately move a resolution forward that commits the organization to non-violent actions. The first suggestion involves understanding police tactics and the legal limitations on their use of force and intimidation; but regardless of police and protesters abiding by law, those committed to non-violence must be able to anticipate potentially dangerous situations, and either de-escalate them or get physically clear of them. The second suggestion requires only a time-commitment. The third would require steady commitment and a willingness to strike up conversations and present a non-violence proposal to the General Assembly, most likely through their Facilitation Committee. The best chance of success will involve some advocates serving on the Facilitation Committee, or somehow putting steady pressure on the committee to give a non-violence proposal a fair hearing, serious consideration, and a vote in the GA.
People who like the general idea of Occupy, but are dissuaded from getting involved because they are afraid of being associated with violence and property-damage by some protesters, and/or of being assaulted or detained during police reactions and overreactions—those people, people like myself, need to engage ourselves in the process of building this movement, and work to shape it. It's time for us to occupy the movement. It's not only possible to help steer this movement; it's one of the only impactful organizations built on the basis of including the voices of literally everyone concerned enough to participate. The model for our proper response to any problems we see within Occupy is basically the same model the movement itself is employing in response to the problems of the 1%-friendly political and economic systems: Occupy Occupy! If we don't, then the local, national and international Occupy movement may not get much farther—and any of us who help it stall by sitting out will have to quietly shoulder a share of the blame.
(end)
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