Tag: Occupy Wall Street

disclaimer: these working demands came through “a” working group, and is not necessarily definitive, at all.  The link came from HuffPo.

I see five major themes to the working demands of OWS.

Democracy/anti-plutocracy (items 1-5, 19):

(1) Public financing of federal elections, (2) nullify Citizen’s United, (3) 5-year ban on revolving door, (4) lifetime ban on gifts, (5) tax code reform, (19) additional campaign finance reform

Health Care (item 6):

(6) Health: single payer, Medicare for all

Environment (item 7):

(7)  empower EPA enforcement, carbon caps, transition to renewables

Economy (items 8-18):

(8) sustainable debt/GDP ratio by 2020; (9) jobs program; (10) student loan debt relief; (11) immigration reform; (12)  close non-essential military bases; (13) education with emphasis on tech and green, fair teacher pay; (14) rebuild manufacturing; (15) currency wars (?); (16) re-instate Glass-Steagall, investigate & prosecute market collapse; (17) end mortgage crisis; (18) one-year moratorium on foreclosures.

War (items 12 & 20):

(12) close non-essential bases, Congressional approval of war; (20) withdraw from Iraq & Afghanistan.

He has the thick hard fingers of a carpenter, nails short and blunt, yet he can tie a micro-filament knot with the delicacy of a surgeon. Fly fishing season was nearly over, and there was little to do these days but prep for next year. The sound of the phone not ringing was almost palpable over the drone of the local news broadcast at noon. Another idle day, the contractor must had not coughed up the money for the next delivery of materials. His girlfriend had been making noises about him moving in with her and her two very young kids. It felt too soon, but his rent was already two weeks late. The cops beating on those people was depressing as hell; he turned off the news and went outside to rake the last of the fall leaves.

She was an angel. That’s what she like to call her temp job doing in-home care for the elderly. She was getting attached to her clients, and had already gotten in trouble for cleaning one persons house while they slept. “Not in your job description,” she was told. Worse? When she helped that half blind lady write out her checks, she learned that the company was getting over three times her pay an hour for her services. She would love to work for herself, save them money and perhaps make a little more. Things were tight enough, and she was up against enough keeping custody of her two daughters being openly gay. But self-employed meant paying for a LLC license and having to insure herself heavily. Hell, they didn’t have health insurance at home, how could she afford to insure a business? She had no idea what the demonstrations were about, but the pastor at her church said they were anarchists. Sounded scary.

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Occupy Wall Street is again our topic tonight, as I assume it will be for a very long time as long as the Independent Journalists are still able to report freely.

Two very important questions remain.

The first is about how it will fail – for the odds are stacked very highly against the Populace saving themselves from a deeply entrenched and now global Oligarchy. Will it be through violence, being co-opted, being handed austerity and thrown a few bones? Or will they create violence and blame the resistance in order to turn the population against the Occupation, rewarding little Orwellian finger-pointers?

The second is about how it will succeed – for against all odds, we are the many and we could easily regain power if the will to do so is true. Is highly regulated capitalism what we must settle for, perhaps isolationist America-first selfishness, or will we truly break free into sane socialism?

These are the days we have been waiting for my friends. It has begun.

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In case anyone missed it:

From AVAAZ:

Dear Friends,

Urgent — tomorrow at 7 am, the New York City police plan to evict the Occupy Wall Street protesters.

The only way to stop the eviction is a roaring outcry to New York’s billionaire mayor, Mike Bloomberg, and to the owners of the protest park. We must show them that their global reputations are on the line.

Let’s flood their offices with phone calls! Avaaz will tell the media about the numbers of calls made, multiplying their impact on the public image of Bloomberg and Richard B. Clark — the CEO of the company that owns the park. If enough of us call now, we could turn the tide and stop the eviction–but only hours are left!

Call the Mayor and Brookfield Properties Here:

New York mayor Michael Bloomberg: +1-212-NEW-YORK (639-9675)

Brookfield CEO Richard Clark: +1-212-417-7063

Brookfield US headquarters: +1-212-417-7000

Brookfield Canada headquarters: +1-416-369-2300

Brookfield Australia headquarters: +61-2-9322-2000

After calling, post a message about how the call went — to help Avaaz count the number of calls made, and demonstrate the wave of worldwide support for the protesters.

http://www.avaaz.org/en/emerge…

Suggestions for your call:

–Say that you have a message for Brookfield CEO Richard Clark or NYC Mayor Bloomberg –(depending on who you are calling)

–Stop the eviction of Zuccotti Park

–We have a constitutional right to protest.

–This is one of the biggest shows of public outrage in decades and these people represent hundreds of thousands across the world who stand with the protesters and the movement for real democracy.

–The protesters are cleaning up the park, keeping it clean and safe

http://www.avaaz.org/en/emerge…

We can help make sure the thousands of protesters rights to freedom of speech and assembly are respected by calling Billionare Bloomberg and Brookfield. Forward to everyone!

Emma, Morgan, Maria Paz, Alice, Ben, Rewan and the whole Avaaz team

SOURCES:

Occupy Wall Street protesters fear eviction from park

http://news.nationalpost.com/2…

Update: Occupy Wall Street Responds to Bloomberg’s Cleaning ‘Eviction Notice’

http://www.observer.com/2011/1…

AND, in case you have not seen RiaD’s current OWS diary, she has these listings for action!

EMERGENCY CALL TO ACTION

EMERGENCY CALL TO ACTION:

Prevent the forcible closure of Occupy Wall Street!

1) Call 311 and tell Bloomberg to support our right to assemble and to not interfere with #OWS. If you are calling from outside NY use this number 212-NEW-YORK.

2) Come to #OWS on FRIDAY AT 6AM to defend the occupation from eviction.

SIGN PETITION: MoveOn.org CIVIC ACTION: DEFEND OCCUPY WALL STREET

At 7 a.m. tomorrow Mayor Bloomberg will effectively evict the Occupy Wall Street protesters from their home in Zuccotti Park.

We have less than 24 hours to stop it.

We need a national groundswell immediately in defense of the protesters, so we can deliver a massive petition to City Hall and Zuccotti Park tonight.

Sign the petition in defense of the protesters and their First Amendment rights and then spread the word to everyone you know.

A compiled petition with your individual comment will be presented to Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

come firefly-dreaming with me..&..do no harm

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by: RiaD @ Thu Oct 13, 2011 at 13:09:12 PDT

ek hornbeck-

Both repeat the call for activists to arrive by midnight et