Jack Rider

Occupied Wall Street Journal: Noam Chomsky Live Tomorrow! #occupytogether #occupywallstreet #ows #occupy

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:55:50 -0500

Occupied Wall Street Journal: Noam Chomsky Live Tomorrow! #occupytogether #occupywallstreet #ows #occupy:

Prof. Noam Chomsky will be doing a 30 minute interview on Tuesday, Jan. 31st, at 2:15 pm EST / 11:15 am PST. The transcript and recorded mp3 will be hosted by the Occupied Wall Street Journal after the call as a podcast.

The topics he will discuss include:

1. What makes mainstream media…

oldmanyellsatcloud: Powerful, if a bit heavy handed. I can see...

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 07:58:51 -0500

oldmanyellsatcloud:

Powerful, if a bit heavy handed. I can see why people consider him the polar opposite yet idential element of Bill O’Riley. But there are some nuggets of truth in there, and his comparison (unlike O’Riley’s frequent Nazi references) are rather apt.

But I’d like to contrast this to the fact that there are more than a dozen millionares that WANT to be taxed.

Best rant since Ratigan lost his shit on air about Republicrats kicking the can down the road and multinationalists expatriating our money.

Video

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 07:40:27 -0500

wtf

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 21:01:03 -0500

wtf

Democracy 2.0: Iceland Crowdsources New Constitution

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 18:07:57 -0500

Democracy 2.0: Iceland Crowdsources New Constitution:

Iceland goes from economic collapse to revolution and back to growth, croudsources the creation of new constitution, and offers a unique case study for economically troubled nations the world over.

"you have no rights" - officer to Occupy Berkeley protestor

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 07:18:19 -0500

"you have no rights" - officer to Occupy Berkeley protestor:

A Berkeley student’s account of arrest and treatment by officers at the scene and in holding.

Footage of Marine Scott Olsen, a two tour veteran of Iraq,...

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 17:54:00 -0400

Footage of Marine Scott Olsen, a two tour veteran of Iraq, wounded during the police raid on Occupy Oakland.

Sgt. Thomas, US Marines puts NYPD on blast. Semper Fi! God Bless...

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 13:58:00 -0400

Sgt. Thomas, US Marines puts NYPD on blast. Semper Fi! God Bless the United States Marines.

Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 16:42:12 -0400

Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.

What's That Rabble Doing Down There?

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 23:46:00 -0400

I have been following the #occupywallstreet story and Twitter traffic since well before the first planning meeting materialized in New York. I have until now written little about the subject, though I’ve shared a great many links and videos. I do indeed find myself in wholehearted support for the potential of what I’m calling the Occupation Movement. In fact, I helped organize a solidarity rally in Austin, Texas on September 17th, the first day the New Yorkers took Zucotti Park (Liberty Plaza).

There is, as I am sure all have seen, an anti-capitalistic element to the movement, though I know for a fact that not all in the movement are so. Many of us have no problem with the idea of exchange of goods, services and some variety of regulated currency. However, many of us are reacting to the controversial split decision ruling of the Supreme Court in Citizens United v. FEC and have grave reservations about unlimited corporate/union donations to political campaigns, as well as the concept of corporate person-hood- ABC News coverage of “bipartisan” American opinion on the case- Of course, this kind of event coupled with that kind of material does draw a certain contingency of Communist, Democratic Socialist, and anarchist folks, but there are also independents, Libertarians, and even disenfranchised Democrats and Republicans present. None of us want to destroy anybody’s personal liberties, and this is most certainly not some Obama re-election campaign.

In my viewpoint- all the reasonable people who are involved in these occupations want nothing more than meaningful civil discourse, rather than this reality t.v. show version of politics that is constantly drummed up by the media as a whole. Many of us are sick and tired of a two party system that doesn’t accurately describe our philosophies. About about 35% of Americans now consider themselves independent voters according to the Pew Research Center- Beyond Red vs. Blue: The Political Typology. I think many of us are looking for a new paradigm of politics that doesn’t require some label and a national conference of other jackasses telling you what to think. Many of us want to bring the political focus back from Washington D.C. into our own local sphere where we can educate and learn from each other without name-calling and mudslinging and where we can have debate and find solutions in a public forum. To be politically disenfranchised, want some kind of public forum for civil discourse and actually get all those people in one physical location to have an actual conversation, you almost HAVE to occupy a public park!

I honestly believe that we need to get rid of the party labels and the name-calling and come together as Americans and have honest civil discourse or we will have a civil war. Again. I also believe that we need to create public forums specifically for the purpose of holding lectures, discussion groups, debates, and general assemblies. In times like these we need to have an open air market for ideas. Internet chat-rooms don’t work for this. The rules would be simple- No drugs nor alcohol, zero tolerance for violence, leave no trace and when participating please abide by the rules of the general assembly. These forums should become the platform for adult education, debate and consensus building in our local communities. We need a physical place for groups of people to coalesce around common ground and start working groups to achieve common goals. We need a space specifically designed to be the people’s forum in every city in what’s often referred to as “the laboratory of democracy” that each state is. I think that in and of itself may well lead to a significant amount of job creation.

We have so many more similarities than differences and a 1950’s dualistic perspective on politics is just not going to cut it any more. We have to stop allowing media to frame the political content of the news- we need to drive the content and get down to brass tacks. We can no long afford politicans be the representative of the majority, they must represent the consensus. If you can’t reach consensus on an issue then it is either not important enough yet or the decision making process needs to be deferred to a more local setting. Per example: we learned through Prohibition that a nationally binding amendment was not working for that issue. As it turned out, it was too divisive to even decide it on a state level, so it was brought down to the county level and each individual county decided whether to be wet or dry. For this reason there are still dry counties today. The fact of the matter is that you can’t paint politics in broad-brush strokes and you certainly can’t force the opinion of a third of the country on the other two thirds just because your side won and one of those thirds is politically disenfranchised from you AND your opponent.

There’s much more more piss and vinegar where this came from, but these are my opinions I wish to voice at this time. With this I merely meant to stress to all Americans that you can’t judge an entire movement by a naked communist on a street corner.

IMPORTANT---A Warning From An Ex-Tea Partier to The Occupation Movement

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 17:05:54 -0400

IMPORTANT---A Warning From An Ex-Tea Partier to The Occupation Movement

This is why we #occupywallstreet

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 04:57:00 -0400

This is why we #occupywallstreet

frozenrevolutionary: rethinksocialism: Library at the Occupy...

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 17:15:49 -0400

frozenrevolutionary:

rethinksocialism:

Library at the Occupy Wall Street protests.

This is so inspiring. The people finally shedding the cloak of apathy they’ve been forced into, and literally and metaphorically setting up shop in the centre of capitalism in the U.S. This is one of the few times I wish I was an American (or at least be IN the U.S.), so I could join in! Seriously, while things aren’t as bad here in Canada, Harper is definitely taking us in that direction. And people here are just so apathetic is makes me sick.

Day 11- 9/27/2011 - This is What Democracy Looks Like!

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 17:03:00 -0400

Day 11- 9/27/2011 - This is What Democracy Looks Like!

Stock Trader to BBC: “Goldman Sachs Rules the...

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 14:18:28 -0400

Stock Trader to BBC: “Goldman Sachs Rules the World.” Furthermore, tells us there will be another major hit to the economy soon.

Professional Journalist Jailed During #OccupyWallStreet

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 14:10:12 -0400

Professional Journalist Jailed During #OccupyWallStreet

MSNBC-The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell covers...

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 02:47:00 -0400

MSNBC-The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell covers #OccupyWallStreet

Keith Olbermann interviews #OccupyWallStreet protestor about...

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 21:35:48 -0400

Keith Olbermann interviews #OccupyWallStreet protestor about incidents of police brutality and about the general assembly process.

Great interview with journalist and author Chris Hedges this...

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 16:29:03 -0400

Great interview with journalist and author Chris Hedges this morning from Liberty Plaza about #OccupyWallstreet and our country’s current social ills.

toastergrrl: “Congress shall make no law prohibiting the right...

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 15:32:58 -0400

toastergrrl:

“Congress shall make no law prohibiting the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances”… Anyone see a problem here???