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And I, as part of the Occupy movement, will not spend any money at your business.

Oh hey. 

The Portland GA is pretty much mired in bureaucracy and feel-good hippie bullshit where everyone is included (except when they're not), all points of view are considered (except when they're not), the process is always open to reinterpretation and refinement (except when it's not) and nothing really seems to ever get done. It's just Congress all over again and pretty much worthless.

The committees are the ones keeping it going; them, and just random awesome people doing shit on their own. But yeah, the GA system seems horribly, laughably broken here from what I've seen the past week.

Occupy Portland organized a feeder march to join the Veterans For Peace march marking the ten-year anniversary of the Afghanistan War today. The media estimates put the whole group between 3,000 and 4,000 people, which sounds about right. After the march was over, most of the group decided to just keep marching back to the Occupation, and we had plenty of newcomers at the GA tonight.

Yeah, the general sense at Occupy Portland is that we don't give a damn whether it's legal or not. We're not out to follow the law, we're out to change it.

(That said, occupying Main St. was pointless and stupid and I'm glad the way is clear.)

At this juncture, having the police break up the camps may be just what we need to get this movement really moving. The conversations have been happening. People are paying attention. It's probably time for a little push and push back.

The way I've been putting it for years now is, "Gotta burn the fields to make the soil rich enough for new grass to grow."

Just as an aside, slash and burn actually destroys a piece of land after a few years, so this turn of phrase is really off putting to me.

They burn the prairie grass around here every year to renew the soil and the grass.

This is what I'm thinking of. I grew up in northern Idaho where burning the prairies every once in a while so the soil would be renewed was common.

The only Lindsay I've met was the one who put forth the flag proposal at GA on the 9th. I know there's people on the library committee I haven't met; I'm mostly there later in the day.

I wasn't there, but was she a skinny chick with big blue eyes? Kind of hoarse from being sick? That's her.

It very well could have been; she was hoarse as hell. Kept talking about the need for a "love revolution?"

Oh yeah, other random tidbit: On Tuesday, I gave a resigned "Hail Eris" during our emergency morale pow-wow while Boston was being raided and someone in the crowd (didn't see who) shouted back "Hail Discordia!" 

[I don't WANT the economy to be fixed. I want it to crash and burn so hard our whole way of life changes because our whole way of life is sickening to me and for it get right again we need to burn this shit to the ground and try again.]

What exactly do they/we/you want? To get back to...what? To a comfortable place where we can continue fucking the world at leisure to maintain this hideous lifestyle? Maybe I'm too far removed from the US to understand this thing but the economy I see crashing DISGUSTS me. I don't WANT the economy to be fixed. I want it to crash and burn so hard our whole way of life changes because our whole way of life is sickening to me and for it get right again we need to burn this shit to the ground and try again. Or not. My point is if all this is to regain some status quo that has fucked the world for some time...I can't really get all that excited about it. Actually I just get angry.

I actually agree with this bolded part. The way I've been putting it for years now is, "Gotta burn the fields to make the soil rich enough for new grass to grow." I want the old system to come to an end. I want something entirely different to take its place.

I've met people at the Occupy movement who agree with me. There are others who want other things. Occupy Portland, at least, seems more about having the conversation than rushing out and trying to fix things before we've all agreed on what exactly is wrong... but there is a strong desire to fix things, whatever that means, that seems to permeate the community.

More than anything, it reminds me of this:

If you want in on the Discordian Society
then declare yourself what you wish
do what you like
and tell us about it
or if you prefer
don't.

There are no rules anywhere.
The Goddess Prevails.

The only Lindsay I've met was the one who put forth the flag proposal at GA on the 9th. I know there's people on the library committee I haven't met; I'm mostly there later in the day.

Probably.

More to network for what comes next than for the event itself, to be honest.

This seems to be the major theme of the movement. I'm viewing the Occupy movement as more of a social networking platform for other groups who want to get stuff done than a movement with goals in and of itself.

And I've been attending the Portland group since day one, though I'm not staying. I'm on the library committee and I've even spoken at the GA a couple times.

At occupy boston. So far ive helped out with the coffee. I might have some.

*internet high five*

I'm on the library committee in Portland. We had a near-catastrophic flood yesterday, but engineering came over and fixed up our tarp system, then someone came in with a huge bookshelf, which is exactly what we needed. The space has quickly evolved from just a "leave a book, borrow a book" system to a place where people can come in and have the kinds of open discussions about what's going on in the world that haven't been happening in society at large the past few decades. It's kind of badass and heartwarming to see happen.

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...

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.  

I don't think Stannis' "Lightbringer" is Lightbringer at all. It's just a prop. The real Lightbringer may show up later (though it may not even be a literal sword). My guess is that Mel is just plain wrong in her interpretation re: Stannis because it's increasingly obvious that it's Dany (if anyone) who fits the bill for the prophecy she's always yammering about.

One reality tunnel I've been trying out lately is something like "the Republicans usually stand for what the people really running the US government actually want and the Democrats are there as a token puppet opposition that inevitably 'compromises' so the Reps can get their way on everything, always, the way they're supposed to." It's not perfect, and it's not a viewpoint I necessarily buy into, but it's a fun way of looking at things that comes out ahead way too often.