Occupy

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Here's the article I ripped those pics off from: http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20111007/NEWS/110070337/Thousands-demonstrate-Portland-part-Occupy-Wall-Street-movement?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CNews

It will be interesting to see what next weekend brings.

[Doktor Howl]

Oh, OK. It's only been four days for Portland, but it's growing really fast.

How long before some "protesters" give the cops an excuse to Seattle everyone?

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Oh, OK. It's only been four days for Portland, but it's growing really fast.

How long before some "protesters" give the cops an excuse to Seattle everyone?

I don't know, but the cops are under strict orders not to use threatening movements of intimidating body language, which I think is 

The protesters and the cops are making a distinct effort to be friendly to one another, and there are signs everywhere that say things like "be nice to the police, they're 99%ers too". When I was there yesterday I saw a lot of cops and protesters talking and joking. It's a little strained, but I think the realization is that there's a lot at stake. A massacre in the park in front of the courthouse would not go over easy.

[Doktor Howl]

Oh, OK. It's only been four days for Portland, but it's growing really fast.

How long before some "protesters" give the cops an excuse to Seattle everyone?

I don't know, but the cops are under strict orders not to use threatening movements of intimidating body language, which I think is 

The protesters and the cops are making a distinct effort to be friendly to one another, and there are signs everywhere that say things like "be nice to the police, they're 99%ers too". When I was there yesterday I saw a lot of cops and protesters talking and joking. It's a little strained, but I think the realization is that there's a lot at stake. A massacre in the park in front of the courthouse would not go over easy.

Here, the cops either looked into it, or stood around bored and drank coffee.

Which is how things ought to be.

[Laughin Jude]

I didn't see/hear it, but I heard some of the cops were actually doing the whole "solidarity fist pump" and chanting with us at the march in Portland on Saturday.  

[Doktor Howl]

I didn't see/hear it, but I heard the cops were actually doing the whole "solidarity fist pump" and chanting with us at the march on Saturday. 

OH, SHIT!  Terrorist cops!

[Laughin Jude]

I'm going to write up a piece on the idea of symbolism as it regards the Occupy movement today. I already wrote a piece on trying to find "meaning" for the movement yesterday. I'm wondering if it might be best to look at the Occupy movement as a type of social networking platform in meatspace for various groups that are dissatisfied. We're probably shooting ourselves in the foot if we start trying to stand for something specific, though of course the media/government (same thing) want us to do so because that makes us easier to argue against directly. Still working on how I want to put it...

[Doktor Howl]

GIT OFF MAH LAWN!
\

[LMNO]

It begins...

http://politics.salon.com/2011/10/11/the_worst_ows_moment_so_far/

On Monday night, Boston police broke up the Occupy Boston protest, and in the process, they tore down an American flag and knocked down at least one American military veteran...when the American flag starts to totter, it's like the Iwo Jima moment in reverse.

[The Rev]

It begins...

http://politics.salon.com/2011/10/11/the_worst_ows_moment_so_far/

On Monday night, Boston police broke up the Occupy Boston protest, and in the process, they tore down an American flag and knocked down at least one American military veteran...when the American flag starts to totter, it's like the Iwo Jima moment in reverse.

I will leave it to you to guess which master was chosen.

"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God  America and Money.

[Doktor Howl]

It begins...

http://politics.salon.com/2011/10/11/the_worst_ows_moment_so_far/

On Monday night, Boston police broke up the Occupy Boston protest, and in the process, they tore down an American flag and knocked down at least one American military veteran...when the American flag starts to totter, it's like the Iwo Jima moment in reverse.

It's only gonna get funnier from here.

What, you fuckers want more Slack™? 

[Cain]

Conservatives are getting their counter-meme on.

Red State owner, Erik Erikson (yes, that is his real name, sadly) has helped set up a blog called "We are the 53%", based on the statistic that only 53% of Americans pay taxes and, uh, non-taxpayers are not allowed to get involved in politics, or something.

Erikson's own post to the site is hilarious:

I work 3 jobs.
I have a house a can't sell.
My family insurance costs are outrageous.
But I don't blame Wall Street.
Suck it up you whiners.
I am the 53% subsidizing you so you can hang out on Wall Street and complain.

Two of those jobs involve blogging, and one of them involves appearing on CNN.  Clearly, Erik son of Erik is a true representative of the average working American.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Conservatives are getting their counter-meme on.

Red State owner, Erik Erikson (yes, that is his real name, sadly) has helped set up a blog called "We are the 53%", based on the statistic that only 53% of Americans pay taxes and, uh, non-taxpayers are not allowed to get involved in politics, or something.

Erikson's own post to the site is hilarious:

I work 3 jobs.
I have a house a can't sell.
My family insurance costs are outrageous.
But I don't blame Wall Street.
Suck it up you whiners.
I am the 53% subsidizing you so you can hang out on Wall Street and complain.

Two of those jobs involve blogging, and one of them involves appearing on CNN.  Clearly, Erik son of Erik is a true representative of the average working American.

Total fail.

[LMNO]

Surely, he only means income taxes, and not payroll, et al?

[Cain]

Oh, it gets even better!  Erikson is working with Josh Trevino, blah blah think tank wotsit, but better known for his endorsement of concentration camps in Iraq:

The fundamental strategic flaw in the American war effort has always been one of under-manning coupled with a too-soft approach to the civilian population in which the insurgency thrives. This last may seem grotesque in light of the recent Lancet study alleging c.600,000 civilian deaths in Iraq since 2003 (which, unlike most of my conservative colleagues, I suspect is not wildly off the mark), but the point is not to urge killing or repression of civilians for its own sake. Rather, the point is to do what it takes to win. In this case, with a popular resistance to occupation and ethnic divisions at play, the applicable counterinsurgency models are Algeria and South Africa. In the former, the French military was able to seal Algerian borders to virtually end the influx of weapons and men to the FLN; and they put more Muslims under arms for France â€" the harkis â€" than fought for independence. (Algeria was lost due to French politics rather than military events, so we may still look to it for pragmatic lessons on the latter front.) In the latter, the Boer War period saw the Afrikaner nation virtually united in its opposition to British conquest. The exploits of the Boer guerrilla columns were models for insurgencies in the subsequent century, tying down nearly a quarter-million Imperial soldiers in pursuit of a few thousand horsemen. The British did what they had to do to win: they separated the women and children from the men, and caused the veld to be strewn with barbed wire and blockhouses. It was massive, it was expensive, it was heartbreaking, and it worked. A decade later, South African units went into battle for the King in the First World War.

    [...]Conceptually, the Algerian-style sealing of Iraqi borders coupled with Boer War-style civilian control measures are workable and even just.[...]

Trevino is quite obsessed with the British response to the Boer War, as any casual reading of his blog will show.