Rebane's Ruminations
October 2011
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George Rebane

As a fresh face in 2008, community organizer, ‘resigned’ lawyer, and sometime senator Barack Obama outspent opponent McCain by $665,000,000 to win the White House.  Most of this advantage was contributed by public service unions.  Given the man’s demonstrated record of incompetence or intention (your pick), stronger medicine is needed for him to prevail in 2012.

It took about two summer months of demagoguery for Team Obama to launch the so-called ‘Occupy Wall Street’ demonstrations that are destined to turn into what unfettered history will record as the Obama riots.  In these months the socialists were able to assemble a gaggle of the uneducated, unemployed, and unthinking into a mass of “activists” that first occupied a lower Manhattan park, and then spread to satellite demonstrations in cities across the land.  More to come.

At first these concerned people came together to protest “Wall Street”.  When the media stuck microphones in their faces, the babble that came out made progressive eyeballs roll up from the Oval Office to Berkeley.  These idiots had no message and demonstrated no understanding of what was going on – they just wanted “more” money from a government that was broke and unwilling to go after the “fat cats” to wring out the “fair share” that was purloined from their share of the national weal.

OccupyWS

Led by worthies such as former administration Green Czar Van Jones, consumer protector Elizabeth Warren, and The Man himself, the message was fashioned, conferences held, and everyone now has their talking points.  They still don’t know what they are talking about, but at least the words are there.  Local progressives from far and wide – Nevada County included – have held their sympathy demonstrations, are planning solidarity junkets to ‘occupied’ cities, and preparing for the real protests when the proclaimed “revolution” really takes off.

All this is needed now that Obama’s latest gambit for the next ($447B) stimulus has received a bipartisan rejection.  Obamacare has turned out to be an albatross of titanic proportions for the country (see 17oct11 update below).  There is no sustainable green industry, only a subsidized sham.  The millions of “jobs created and saved” at the cost of trillions cannot be verified by the most dedicated of government agencies.  And a coalition of Democrats (reported by Rep Jim Matheson D-UT) is even joining with Republicans to reduce offshore profits taxes to 5.25% from its current 35% rate which keeps about a trillion dollars from coming back to the United States.

Meanwhile, Pennsylvania’s state capitol Harrisburg is preparing for a Chapter 9 bankruptcy filing because of unfunded government employee pension liabilities – an event watched by uncounted cities in similar straits.  And now we hear from many knowledgeable sources that we really don’t know the full magnitude of the government’s involvement in creating the current recession (or Depression2 IMHO), and that the whole matter deserves careful study if we are to come out of it better informed.  This, of course, is the last thing that people preparing to fundamentally transform America want.

So now we see that Obama’s planned billion dollar war chest will not carry the day no matter how much he outspends his Republican opponent, and it is time for the next stage of strong medicine to keep the ball rolling toward a new USSA – please study the Rebuild the Dream proclamation for the Occupy demonstrations.  The unions will have to contribute more than their hundreds of millions, they will now have to take an active part in organizing the demonstrations and then fill their ranks with bussed in members.  The call for an end to capitalism is loud and clear.  It is even evident on the better quality of professionally printed signs that these “grass roots” demonstrators are carrying as the weeks pass.  How many arrests are needed before these demonstrations turn into undeniable riots?  Nothing less will divert attention from the sad road to socialism on which Obama is leading the nation.

[17oct2011 update]  Obamacare’s so-called Class (long-term care) program is just one of the many big lies of which the entire nationalized healthcare scam is composed of.  The Democrats now agree with Paul Ryan’s analysis when he dismantled Class at the recent White House healthcare summit.  The math in this sham insurance program doesn’t add up, and that was known from the gitgo by the bill’s authors.  They just wanted another bamboozle added in that would appear to “bend the cost curve downward”, and when it didn’t, it would be repealed by a future Congress.  Well the damn thing won’t add up and the cat’s out of the bag with Sen Judd Gregg’s inserted proviso in Obamacare that says if Class doesn’t measure up actuarially, then it must be omitted from the overall legislation.  So Class is dead and so are all the ballyhooed “savings” of Obamacare since Class was the major contributor to the advertized savings.  A similar treatment now is proposed for all the other gimmicks that make up Obamacare.  And if that bit of responsibility passes Congress, Obamacare will be toast.

The White House and Dems need to do everything possible to keep this development from becoming the banner headline of the election season.  A solution at hand is to turn on the heat under the OWS demonstrations and see if they can be blown up into Occupy America affair – the messier the better – which will keep the nation’s angry un/underemployed and rent seekers from paying attention to what’s going on behind the curtain.

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121 responses to “Obama Riots – The last full measure of desperation (updated 17oct2011)”

  1. bill tozer Avatar
    bill tozer

    Nice picture of the streets, Dr. Rebane. The puzzling thing about the photo is I believe the UAW got bailed out when GM was forced to put billions up front into the that union to fund their under water health care plan. Did not someone bailout GM by letting them bankrupt 300 billion (the largest in US history)and loan them billions to achieve equal footing with the likes of Ford Motor Company? Did not Obama’s bankruptcy dude screw the bondholders of GM by kicking them down to the bottom of the priority list and pay them pennies on the dollar while giving the UAW class A shares at 6-9% interest rate….millions of shares. I find it ironic at best there would be UAW signs at Occupy Wall Street since they got one of the biggest bailouts in memory. Didn’t the UAW get an exemption from Obamacare so the UAW workers would not be required to pay the “Cadillac” tax? No pun intended. Didn’t the UAW….

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  2. George Rebane Avatar

    Yes they did indeed – a well formed and timely observation BillT.

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  3. Russ Steele Avatar

    They are in it for the long haul. The World Net Daily has this story HERE.
    A George Soros-funded economist taught a course to the Occupy Wall Street protesters purportedly to help the activists better understand what caused the global financial crisis.
    Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz also recently addressed the so-called social protests rocking Spain.
    Besides accepting funding from the controversial billionaire, Stiglitz has engaged in numerous projects with Soros and sits on the boards of Soros organizations, including one openly seeking to remake the world’s economy.
    ooo
    Stiglitz is deeply tied to Soros, the billionaire whose own connections to the Occupy Wall Street movement have come under scrutiny the past few days.
    Stiglitz serves on the international advisory board of Soros’ Open Society Foundation.
    The economist is the co-founder and president of the Initiative for Policy Dialogue, a globalist group which is funded by Soros’ Open Society Institute.
    Along with numerous other Open Society Institute leaders, Stiglitz is a member of the Collegium International, a globalist group that proclaims in its official declaration “the Earth, home of humanity, constitutes a whole denoted by interdependence.”
    Perhaps most significantly, Stignitz sits on the board of the Institute for New Economic Thinking, or INET, an organization literally seeking to reorganize the entire global economic system.

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  4. bill tozer Avatar
    bill tozer

    Can’t call the street protesters ‘unemployed’ anymore, well not all of them. A search of Craig’s List reveals job openings to protest in NYC for $600/week. Wonder if they pay bennies?

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  5. George Rebane Avatar

    The Union reports that Nevada City councilwoman Reinette Senum is heading for NYC later in the month. With the ‘job openings’ you report BillT, maybe she won’t have to worry about airfare.

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  6. Mikey McD Avatar

    It appears that I posted my long diatribe on the wrong post… here it is again (my apologies for redundancy).
    The Use of FORCE (collective) vs. Voluntary Action (individual)
    Kudos to the various movements emerging in American politics (Tea Party, Occupy, etc). The Unites States needs to be having deep, rational and constructive conversations about solving the various crisis in America today. One can hope that the grassroots movements will require participation (though thought and action) of more Americans in the political process. Maybe, just maybe such movements will cure some of the pervasive apathy towards public policy.
    As WE attempt to solve the almost countless crisis in America (continual unconstitutional wars, abominable education system, unethical/inequitable tax structure, debauchery of the US Dollar, unfunded liabilities, failing entitlement programs, central banker manipulations, etc etc) we need to debate the foundational values which will guide our solutions. The aforementioned movements set the stage for real, productive debates.
    The Declaration of Independence and US Constitution seem to be a natural starting point for this conversation. Were these documents written to enable government or to protect the people from government?
    When is the use of force moral? Every single law requires the use of force to implement; behind every law is a prison cell, policing body and ‘a gun.’ What are you willing to force upon another American knowing the punishments for his/her transgressions?
    How much control should an individual American have in pursuing “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”? Should Americans have a choice (education, participation in entitlement program, diet, etc)? When should force be applied to members of society to attain “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?”
    Should an individual be forced to participate in entitlement programs? Should an individual be forced to pay into and forced to participate in a failing education system? Should some individuals be forced to pay taxes while others are not? Should all Americans be forced to live under the manipulations of Central Bankers (The Federal Reserve)? Should all Americans be forced to contribute financially or otherwise to unconstitutional wars? What laws does our society believe moral enough to be back up by force?
    Does individuality or collectivism provide a better foundation to live the promise of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”?
    Should force continue to be available to the highest bidder (labor unions or corporations)?
    Voluntary: proceeding from the will or from one’s own choice or consent.
    Would the promise of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” be better served by the voluntary consent of each individual? Would the absence of force and the presence of voluntary actions drive the solutions demanded of both individuals and collectivists? Would competition through voluntary actions in everything from education to commerce allow individual freedoms to promote the values of society as a whole better than force?
    Are the problems facing America the result of collective force or individual voluntary action?
    http://media.mises.org/mp3/HS_2010/05_HS2010_Woods.mp3

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  7. Mikey McD Avatar

    I remember how much of a pain it was for me to leave work early for 1 day to attend the first (or was it the second?) Sacramento Tea Party rally protesting the economic policies of Bush and Obama. As a productive member of society I cannot imagine spending days/weeks+ required for an occupy strategy…
    Great post George, welcome home.

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  8. Mikey McD Avatar

    p.s. Pimco says that pension plans simply need to return 11% ‘forever’ to save pensions. With treasuries paying zilch… good luck.
    http://www.pimco.com/EN/Insights/Pages/Prediction-Pain.aspx

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  9. Scott Obermuller Avatar

    Greek bonds are around 17% and climbing, but I’m not sure about the Germans being able to pay them off ‘forever’. Otherwise, the pension funds could look into ‘green energy’. If they act quick, the feds will kick in billions and they’re not real concerned about ever getting the money back.
    Welcome back, George. The world is continuing it’s death spiral as the whiners and non-producers continue to beg, threaten and then finally, demand ‘what’s theirs’ with violence. The Euro money crisis has been averted yet again, with a kick of the proverbial can down the Yellow Brick Road worthy of a MU striker.
    Hope your vacation was restful and entertaining, you are back just in time to cover the Nevada County protests.

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  10. Walt Avatar
    Walt

    So just what’s their exist strategy?

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  11. Walt Avatar
    Walt

    This comment from Jones needs a little explaining from our
    locals.
    “Former White House green jobs czar Van Jones called on Americans to “stand in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street” and praised protesters’ refusal on Friday to leave their encampment in New York as “truly amazing” and “a victory.”
    “Truly amazing,” read a statement released via email by the non-profit organization “Rebuild the Dream.”
    “Early this morning in New York, faced with the threat of eviction, the protesters at Occupy Wall Street were joined by union members, by community organizers, and by thousands of other New Yorkers standing in solidarity with them,” Jones gushed. “And because they refused to back down, the park’s owners had to.”
    This isn’t city property, it’s PRIVATE property.
    Let;s see how our local .99% say this is fine and dandy.

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  12. bill tozer Avatar
    bill tozer

    Dr Rebane, me thinks you hit the nail on the head with the title of this article. Yep, the left is desperate and acting unhinged, although they would never admit it. Only 14 protesters arrested this early morn, one for overturning a police scooter, some for blocking entrances, and a a few for overturning trash cans. Police in riot gear showed great restraint when a group tossed beer bottles at them. The police did nothing but stood there and did not retaliate with news crews rolling tape in tow. Bummer, how can you start a revolution when the other side just stands there and ruins good footage for the 5 o’clock news. So much for recycling bottles and putting trash in the can. With the old stiff upper lip, New York Senator Charles E (Chuck E Cheese) Schumer declared confidently and without hesitation that the Democrats will easily retain the Senate and win the elections next year. Hmmm, meanwhile the Republicans don’t like the current Administration, the Independents think the country is headed in the wrong direction, and the Dems are disillusioned with Obama and are taking their frustration out on the street demanding their beggars cups be filled. All the while the Tea Party has not gone anywhere and are quietly building steam and numbers behind the scenes, despite what Chuck E and Nancy and Meet the Press say. Believe the Beatles were correct in their song “Revolution” when they wrote “carrying pictures of Chairman Mao ain’t going to make it with anyone anyhow”…Yes, there are no signs of Chairman Mao or Huey Newton, or The Weather Underground, yet I see a resemblance to the YIPPIES (Youth International Party, the party of my partying youth)

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  13. Russ Steele Avatar

    According to CNN’s Roland Martin, the Occupy Movement should not be political, but a moral partisan movement.
    Whenever there is an uprising among the people of this country in the form of protests and organized dissent, especially with a presidential election 13 months away, the discussion inevitably shifts to what it will mean for one of the nation’s two political parties.
    No matter how hard they’ve tried to suggest that they aren’t partisan, the tea party is nothing more than a sub-group of the Republican Party. If there were a healthy number of tea party Democrats, then that would be true. But there isn’t, so it’s nonsensical to waste time not calling the tea party Republicans exactly what they are: tea party Republicans. From Day One the movement aligned itself with the GOP, and that is true today.
    Yet the attempt by Fox News, conservative radio show hosts and the GOP presidential candidates to associate Occupy Wall Street protesters with the image of far-left radical hippies being in lockstep with the Democratic Party is wrong, shameful and pure intellectual dishonesty.
    Being concerned about the nation’s well-being, and the depths to which the big-monied interests are driving the nation’s policies is not a partisan question; it is a moral one.

    It makes a great cover story, but it does not address reality, someone is paying the freight for this movement. And, who ever is paying the bill is calling the shots. Speaking of shots, the talking head on MSNBC are rooting fo a Kent State Moment.

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  14. D. King Avatar
    D. King

    “how can you start a revolution when the other side just stands there…”
    LOL!
    It’s not easy, but, if it were a revolution of mimes, I could see it; especially if they climbed up the rope and got out of the box!

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  15. Walt Avatar
    Walt

    That would be the likes of Moveon, Soros, the ACORN retread, and what ever Jones’s outfit is called.
    But now he has his useful idiots at his disposal.

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  16. D. King Avatar
    D. King

    “Yet the attempt by Fox News, conservative radio show hosts and the GOP presidential candidates to associate Occupy Wall Street protesters with the image of far-left radical hippies being in lockstep with the Democratic Party is wrong, shameful and pure intellectual dishonesty.”
    Yeah Russ, no link at all.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHG6dfjXpUY

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  17. Megan Avatar

    I think conservatives and Republicans do ourselves a huge disservice by writing off all the Occupy Wall Street folks. No offense, guys, but I get the feeling a lot of you, along with a lot of the conservative leaders out there remember vividly the original hippies and justly resent the hell out of them. I was born in the eighties, but I resent them too for the garbage they installed in our educational and political systems. There is a new kind of hippy now. MANY of my home schooling friends are also gardening, child-rearing, home-birthing, doctor-eschewing, dread-locked, hemp-skirt-with-no-underwear-wearing and are rabidly libertarian in the most unexpected ways. They’re told by the elders they learn macrame and herbal medicine from that they should be liberals and traditional feminists, but they are increasingly turning to conservatism, and they are very well thought-out.
    I was recently talking to another kind of hippy, who I assumed was all for government handouts because she doesn’t have much of a job, no kids or apparent purpose in life, and is frequently drug-addled. She told me she’s uninterested in politics, but that she has voted for Ron Paul in the last two elections. I’m with Mikey. Interest is a good thing. We need to focus more on getting the message of freedom to these folks and less on disparaging them. More of them than you realize want to fight on our side. Ron Paul should have co-opted occupy wall street before the unions had a chance.

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  18. RL Crabb Avatar

    Oh, but it’s so much easier to lump all those weird lookin’ freaks into one easy-to-hate mob. Sound familiar, Tea Party?

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  19. Russ Steele Avatar

    Megan,
    Interesting insight, please continue to post your thoughts and ideas. We can all learn from another point of view.

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  20. George Rebane Avatar

    Thank you Megan for those good thoughts. We often do over-lump together things that are much more nuanced. But how can we do justice to the various shadings of belief if they allow themselves to be co-opted by a distinct ideology, and subsequently don’t separate from that ideology?
    Keep the good thoughts coming.

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  21. Todd Juvinall Avatar
    Todd Juvinall

    The world belongs to those that show up. With voter turnout under fifty percent the process is now run by a majority of the fifty percent. That is a small number but when I read musings about conservative hippies I get a tingle up my leg there may be hope.

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  22. Russ Steele Avatar

    Occupy Wall Street garners $150,000 in donations … From Who?
    This rats nest of radicals is being funded at a 501(c)(3) non-profit, at least that is the cover story.
    From Hot Air:
    A couple of days ago, CNN reported that the Alliance for Global Justice, a far-left organization that backs anarchist demonstrations and anti-military protests as well as operating as a sponsor for the more notorious World Can’t Wait “resistance” group, has set itself up as a receiver for donations to the Occupy Movement. 
    ooo
    One tax attorney who prefers to remain anonymous e-mailed me [Ed Morrissey] about this arrangement:
    I’m a liberal in good standing and an attorney with a good deal of experience with charities..  While I obviously disagree w/ you on most things political, you’ve always struck me as reasonable, and my loathing of the abuse of charitable status is one of those things that really gets under my skin.  You may or may not think any of this is interesting, but if you do I’d greatly appreciate confidentiality.
    That said: I saw the other day that Occupy Wall Street had gotten $150k in contributions, so that led me to the site to figure out their tax status, assuming that there wouldn’t be anything in particular, which would mean the income should be taxable.  That, in turn, led me to their donation page at an organization called “Alliance for Global Justice.”  It turns out that AGJ is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt public charity, and it’s using its exemption to collect tax deductible contributions and then disbursing the funds to the protesters (under the aegis of “fiscal sponsor,” a generally accepted tool for charities).  So AGJ is taking the position that the protests are “charitable,” and getting the taxpayers to subsidize the protests to the tune of 35 cents per dollar contributed.  On their 3/31/11 Form 990, they report zero lobbying expenses, which, based on a cursory review of their website, seems absurd.  Granted, “lobbying” is a bit of a term of art in exempt organization law, so it may or may not be accurate.
    At any rate, this is flatly outrageous.  While I couldn’t stand the tea party, at least they didn’t have the nerve to call themselves a charity and accept deductible donations.

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  23. Megan Avatar

    I hesitate to stick my neck out too far in disagreeing with you, George, because I don’t have time to research the news. But, based on the NPR I listen to while doing chores around the house, I think we might be really shooting ourselves in the foot here by not jumping in and supporting the legitimate gripes of the OWS. When they first started camping in that park in New York I was really interested because the NPR reporters seemed to be sweating bullets. Young people are unhappy with the Great Leader? College kids have opinions on economic policy all of a sudden? They’re unhappy with the crappy education we have deigned to force upon them? One reporter was at the park the day after the Unions showed up and he and the lady back at the studio were having this cute little conversation about the “legitimacy” of the protestors. After a minute or two they decided that now that the unions were there to babysit, everything was going to be A OK. It might not be too late for us to get it together. We HAVE to start fighting the real war and quit bickering over armpit hair and who’s in a cult and who’s not if we’re going to win this. George Washington was not exactly pleased when he met the Continental Army. He privately called New Englanders filthy and uncouth and wrote that he never would have accepted the job had he known what he’d be dealing with. People who love freedom are going to be radically different from each other. We should be the party with real diversity because we should be the party of all thinking, honest people who want to make their own choices.

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  24. Walt Avatar
    Walt

    Megan,I take this group vary seriously. Some do have a legitimate, point, that sort of mirrors Conservative gripes. But the majority of of them are the ones that are demanding the “free ride” continue. Now we have some “super left” wanting to pay people up to 30 grand for nothing.
    That would be Jessy Jackson Jr.
    With all due respect Mr Crabb,the hate mob is there and growing fast, with the call for violence getting louder and louder.

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  25. RL Crabb Avatar

    That’s right, Walto. And a lot of it is coming from the right as well as the left. I read the truly wacko blogs too.

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  26. bitt tozer Avatar
    bitt tozer

    Thank you Megan. I am guilty of the lumping , but there is some common ground. O course the idealism of youth should not be dismissed out of hand and the bailouts left a lot of Americans shaking our heads from all sides of the political spectrum. Got arrested myself in the day for protesting Richard M Nixon and got deported from Canada once for starting a brawl/riot in Montreal (nothing to do with politics, just shouted in English the “French are pigs” and then shouted in French “the English suck” which started a melee on a rather pleasant train ride). The ensuing investigation by the Mounties had the bloodied passengers pointing fingers at me when asked who started this, but I digress. I know many folks that I would lump as libheads who share many of my concerns: i.e. public education, household and national debt, safety of the food chain, and basically get turned off by the whole political process and wear the old “Don’t Tread on Me” flag on their hearts, not on bummer stickers. The people on the streets are not really protestors, they are occupiers. Not to the level of the 60’s sit ins in the Dean’s office, but the same idea. Heck, my cousin was one of those long haired freaky dudes that got dragged away in handcuffs for occupying the dean’s office and now works for Macys in corporate. I just wish they knew that Wall Street is the wrong place to occupy. Goldman Sacks has move to Jersey, and most of the Big Boys have moved uptown to the “new financial center” to join the likes of JP Morgan. But, your points are taken Megan. Keeping an open mind never hurts and a closed mind is a bar to all learning.

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  27. Mikey McD Avatar

    Most free thinking folks (left and right) understand the problems. However the OWS crowd is begging for MORE government, MORE entitlements, MORE regulations, MORE taxes on the rich… (with a tiny fraction in the End the Fed corner). The OWS crowd (co-opted by special interest labor unions) are begging for the government to use FORCE to attain equality (equality through FORCE = fascism). FORCE is not the answer and I pray it doesn’t come to that.

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  28. Mikey McD Avatar

    p.s. Obama started another war yesterday in Africa and here I thought unconstitutional wars were not en vogue anymore. my bad.
    http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/96706.html

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  29. Mike Thornton Avatar

    Apparently there are some “Tea Party” folks who don’t agree with (all 8 of you) self appointed arbiters of what is good, patriotic and Holy, when it comes to OWS.
    http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/10/14/tea-party-co-founded-expresses-support-for-occupy-wall-street/
    I have to admit that I now have some hope! Before I was basing my opinion(s) on baggerism based on what I read here. But it’s clear that for folks who actually get out in the world (even Tea Party people) a broader vision is alive and well!

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  30. George Rebane Avatar

    Re Mikey’s 1013am – I tried unsuccessfully to comment on ToddJ’s Sierra Dragon’s Breath that our interest in helping the Ugandans with their war against the 400 some thugs might have something to do with maintaining a little-reported Predator base in that country. Just for giggles, draw a 500 mile radius circle around Uganda.

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  31. George Rebane Avatar

    Re MikeT’s 1025am – It appears that word is getting out that the tea party movement is not homogenous as is often claimed by the left. As a member of the Tea Party Patriots, I have no idea who this “Tea Party co-founder” is, nor do I have to know. Nevertheless, more power to him as long as he keeps pushing the principles that unite all tea party factions – limited government, constitutionality, capitalism, and individual liberties.

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  32. Ben Emery Avatar

    George,
    Your disdain for working class/ poor people continues, it is really sad.
    Occupy Wall St is about corruption, period. The term taxation without representation is ringing very true these days, except for those in the top 1%. Their mantra is to much taxation with all the representation.
    There was a private/ public contract the lifted all boats. It used to be private sector that paid workers enough for a middle class lifestyle. It used to be private sector that had pensions. It used to be private sector that provided health insurance. During the time of this public/ private sector contract industry was very profitable but they decided it wasn’t enough and broke free of the contract. As these things were no longer part of the public/ private contract people went to the credit card to continue the lifestyle they grew accustom to living. Why wouldn’t we assume that we would be fine in the long run? We were told that Trickle Down and Free Trade would be great policies for all boats to rise once again. What many of us knew and the rest of the nation has now found out, these policies benefit a very small wealthy/ transnational corporations. Hence the growing inequality and increasing corruption of our government. This equates to more money being invested into political parties, which translates into a rigged social/ economic system.
    Everyone likes to focus on the public debt but the private debt of the US is even bigger which led directly to the public debt.
    As wages went stagnant and benefits disappeared private debt increased dramatically. When private debt was no longer a choice the government stepped in to try and fill in the holes left behind, which has skyrocketed the national debt. Both of these things are directly linked Free Trade and the decent wages leaving our nation.

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  33. George Rebane Avatar

    BenE – we must have different definitions for ‘disdain’. I have only characterized correctly the parameters that define the competitiveness of our workforce in the global labor markets. Progressive politicians (you included?) have chosen to bury this critical issue and cover it with a morass of populist demagoguery that favors the performance ignoring unions. More here –
    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203914304576626821782577248.html?mod=ITP_opinion_2
    “Occupy Wall St is about corruption, period.” is IMHO beyond naive.

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  34. Mikey McD Avatar

    Ben, Rebane is fighting for every class of human through peace, voluntary cooperation and freedom (while you advocate the use of force on one class or another).
    How can the 45% who don’t pay any income tax complain about ‘taxation without representation?” LOL.
    As an entrepreneur I can attest to the fact that government taxes and regulations and failed public education have done more to discourage employee benefits than any other factor.
    The contract you speak of never existed… employers pay the bare minimum to keep good employees… it was ever thus.

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  35. Todd Juvinall Avatar
    Todd Juvinall

    George, I can’t figure out why you could not post a comment. I have all the boxes checked in the Blogger. Could you please experiment with each of the selections with which you an post? I want to get this narrowed down. I use Firefox as my browser so maybe it is a browser issue? I am perplexed.

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  36. Russ Steele Avatar

    Megan,
    How would you feel if the Occupy Wall Street were to take this path reported by Reuters?
    Hundreds of hooded demonstrators clashed with [Italian] police in some of the worst violence in the Italian capital for years on Saturday, setting cars on fire and breaking shop and bank windows.
    Police repeatedly fired teargas and water cannons in attempts to disperse them but the clashes with hard-core demonstrators continued hours after tens of thousands of people in Rome joined a global “day of rage” against bankers and politicians.
    ooo
    The violence at times resembled urban guerrilla warfare as protesters hurled rocks, bottles and fireworks at police, who responded by repeatedly charging the demonstrators.

    I perdict that this is where these demonstration are headed. There has to be a reason for declaring marshal law if it becomes clear that Obama and the Senate Democrats are going down in a landslide. The left will be staring into the face of defeat and they are not going down without a fight. There will be blood in the streets.

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  37. Mike Thornton Avatar

    Once again the hypocrisy abounds.
    When it’s regressives running around with guns threatening “2nd Amendment Solutions” the wingnuts beat their chest and talk about freedom and The Constitution, but when it comes to the working class demanding that the Wall Street crooks be held to account, it become dangerous anarchy.

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  38. Paul Emery Avatar
    Paul Emery

    Russ
    Russ
    You’re so dramatic. You should be a Hollywood scriptwriter.
    This is the story, correct me if I’m wrong. The demonstrators, who are funded by old Communist money lie in wait and are ready to turn violent when Obama and the Dems go down to defeat allowing Obama to declare martial law and prevent a Republican takeover. You should copyright that one.

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  39. George Rebane Avatar

    MikeT – who are these threatening “regressives” and the chest-beating “wingnuts”? Do they gather in the thousands on the streets of the world’s cities? Are they confronting platoons of helmeted and shielded riot police? Is there a cry from them to bring down sitting governments, for “fundamental transformation”, for “revolutions”?

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  40. Mike Thornton Avatar

    You know who they are George!
    You and the rest of the “Gang of 8” are constantly sining their praises.
    I think the real story is that, as you correctly point out, there are (actually tens if not hundreds) of thousands of people in the streets of the worlds cities. Far more than was ever mustered by the Tea Bag Nation.
    Those platoons of helmeted and shielded riot police are their to protect who, from who?
    Every so often a little “fundamental transformation” is called for.
    That’s what the “Founding Fathers” did, remember?
    Don’t worry, if things get really bad, Hospitality House has a new shelter. I’m sure they’ll make room for the RR crew if ya need it!

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  41. Mike Thornton Avatar

    Paul:
    They ALWAYS have a dark “conspiracy” to rally fear and hate around!

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  42. Paul Emery Avatar
    Paul Emery

    Can any freedom loving American deny the patriotism in this?
    “There’s a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious—makes you so sick at heart—that you can’t take part. You can’t even passively take part. And you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you’ve got to make it stop. And you’ve got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you’re free, the machine will be prevented from working at all.”

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  43. Mike Thornton Avatar

    Oh, and by the way, the OWS groups have told organizations like Move On and others that they don’t want anything to do with supporting Obama or Democrats!

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  44. D. King Avatar
    D. King

    As to the WSJ link George, we have changed our hiring practices. We didn’t become more stupider. We stopped training our own engineers (in company). At Hughes we had the Advanced Technical Education Program (ATEP). When Raytheon bought Hughes from GM they shut this program down and hired only degreed engineers. Instant shortage; and then the whining began for cheap foreign engineers. Don’t get me started on Affirmative Action and what that did; well, let’s just say it exacerbated the problem.
    Water, water, every where,
    And all the boards did shrink;
    Water, water, every where,
    Nor any drop to drink.

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  45. Mike Thornton Avatar

    I wondered how long it would be before you guys went with the “it’s the Black’s fault”
    It never seems to take too long for that to happen here!

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  46. George Rebane Avatar

    MikeT, my 1159am question was not rhetorical; I truly don’t know who they are. And most certainly, if there is any symmetry to your argument, then these thousands of “guns threatening regressives” have also eluded the lamestream who would love nothing better than to expose any violent tendencies from the right or the tea party factions.
    And the numbers – you may want to check the numbers that total the tea parties vs the OWS numbers that have shown themselves on American streets. Nevertheless, I do believe that OWS may be the next best recruiting operation that the tea parties will see in 2012. We may even get some of the OWS folks that Megan (703am) has described above. These people will definitely eschew the corrupt union organizers and the Soros front organizations like moveon.

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  47. Brad Croul Avatar
    Brad Croul

    TEA and OWS protestations are both about reform. I think it is a mistake to label and pigeonhole these groups just because of some fear that you might be thought of as a some kind of a “traitor” to your political party if you agree with some of their ideas. That would be kind of sad because neither of these movements are just left, or right.
    There are finge wingnuts using both TEA and OWS movements as platforms to further their own agendas.
    Even if you think the TEA is rightwing and OWS is leftwing, it pretty much means that both sides of the isles in Congress better wake up and make some changes because both sides are being put on notice that “business as usual” is not good enough.

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  48. RL Crabb Avatar

    Mike T….Your diatribes are getting as tiresome as those from the fright-wingers. Having spent a good deal of time around both sides of this ongoing spewing, I can safely say that there are elements of truth in what is being said, but it is drowned out by the endless and brainless stereotyping.
    You Yankee Doodle revolutionaries should really step back and think about where this is all headed.

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  49. D. King Avatar
    D. King

    OK Mike,
    Here you go, you and Paul can pull out your tatty raciest card out again and instead of fixing the problem YOU and your ilk created, you can pretend you’re immune. YOU ARE NOT!
    OWS protesters need to focus their anger here; don’t you agree?
    Megan, have you and your friends seen this?
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxMInSfanqg

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