Occupation victories: Trifecta week
“This nation’s fast-growing populist movement against unbridled corporate power scored an astonishing trifecta this week.”
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/occupy-wall-street-looms-wins-s...
As Occupation 2.0 rolls out this spring, small victories are greatly appreciated, but the movement has loftier goals going forward. Today's Occupy the Courts protest sponsored by Move to Amend is pushing for an amendment to overturn the Citizens United 5-4 ruling that allowed for coporations to donate unlimited funds to campaigns based on the presumption that corporations are people with a right to express themselves politically with a shitload of money. Of course, the problem is that coporations are more equal than everyone else because they can afford to toss around millions in donations and lobbying. More on this below.
Matt Taibbi: Putting it succinctly as usual
“And then I remembered that piece, and it hit me: Jeffrey Verschleiser is one of the biggest assholes in the entire world!”
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/everything-you-need-...
Taibbi also directs us to Zero Hedge's Tyler Durden piece about campaign cash flows to Mitt Romney, then gives us a chance to “guess-the-politician” (Watch video):
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/guess-politician-and-follow-money
Here's the unredacted chart for those that just want the facts about campaign contributions featuring the usual suspects from Opensecrets.org
http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/2012...
Occupy OC update:
The Occupy Orange County encampment that was located in Irvine moved to Fullerton as noted here, and the new site is at a park, apparently with the blessings of the city. The groups is a bit isolated from the preferred central location which in the past has been a key part of the protests, but it is one of the few remaining occupations in Southern California.
Fullerton Mayor Quirk-Silva is also a teacher, bless her heart, and she stopped to visit the OC occupiers on Thursday. A brief clip of her comments:
http://youtu.be/edt-obLe5IA
The occupiers I spoke to said they have enjoyed good relations with the city since their move, but they really want to be in a better spot to spread the message. Sound like they should be able to work something out.
More can be found at the city website and no doubt we'll hear more about relations between the occupiers and the city as they try and find a suitable protest site:
http://www.ci.fullerton.ca.us/depts/mayor_n_city_council/ccouncilmembers...
Speaking of mayors: Latest from Occupy DC
The latest video from Eugene Davidovich shows Oakland Mayor Jean Quan making an appearance at Occupy DC. This guy is everywhere the action is:
http://youtu.be/kIQn72EQ028
Bad policy results in “lost youth” according to Business Insider
The definition is 18-24 year old without a job and unenrolled in school. Apparently this particular demographic is huge and growing. Turns out there are some massive costs associated with high unemployment in the youth sector; the cost of joblessness. Read more:
“Each lost youth has a $13,900 fiscal burden and a $37,450 social burden per year, according to the White House Council for Community Solutions report.”
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-staggering-economic-cost-of-americas-...
From Deadline.com: Obama stiffed by Hollywood
http://www.deadline.com/2012/01/exclusive-hollywood-moguls-stopping-obam...
Wall Street 'occupied' already: Jesse Eisiner reports
“The fact that they were bailed out and can borrow for free — It’s pretty sickening.”
“Here was someone who is in the thick of the business, trading every day, and he is being sickened by the inequities and corruption on Wall Street and utterly persuaded that nothing had changed in the years since the financial crisis of 2008.”
http://www.propublica.org/thetrade/item/on-wall-street-some-insiders-exp...
And here's a personal take from Jerry Nelson regading his OWS experience:
“Why am I here? When I got here in October no one knew if Occupy DC would last a day, a week, a month or even longer. Occupy Wall Street was still in Zuccotti Park and the shifting epicenter from the center of finance to the center of government hadn't begun.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jerry-nelson/occupy-dc_b_1206763.html
Don't forget Occupy the Courts at a location near you. Check Calendar of events for details.
Grumpy
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