Egypt Votes, Barney Frank Retires, Unions March, Occupy Lives

November 29th, 2011 - by: danny

Interview on OWS and the media on Press TV

Quote of the day from another Dan (Rather) RSN

“As you know, we are living in an age when big money owns everything … including the news. That cash bought a lot of silence for a long time. Enough time for unchecked power to get this country tangled into messes all around the world. We all know that money talks. But, so do the people. They tire of conflicts at home and abroad … conflicts that avert our eyes from the corruption and callowness that does little more than spill our blood and misspend our treasure. ‘We had fed the heart on fantasies,’ wrote William Butler Yeats, ‘the heart’s grown brutal from the fare.’ In other words, we have gotten used to it.”

Dissecting Is Not Always Fun

Yesterday, my day began with fear and loathing, suspecting the worse from the threatened LAPD shutdown of Occupy La. (Maybe because I just saw the new film Rampart featuring Woody Harrelson’s brilliant portrayal of a brutal member of that esteemed force and also remember what happened in Watts.)

At the same I grew up with Jack Webb’s “Joe Friday:, a TV Cop who followed LAPD rules on Dragnet, Don-da-Dom Don…!

But it wasn’t to be. At least not yesterday although the pressure is till on.

And neither was the shutdown yet of Occupy Philly, as OpEd News editor Rob Kall observed, “I witnessed the waning of Occupy Philly’s encampment, but also saw what looks to me like a pattern of energy and development that suggests that occupy evictions will lead to a Metamorphosis of the Occupy Movement to something that not only walks but flies, that is more beautiful, more powerful than anything we have seen so far.”

And then I heard that Miley Cyrus has done a pro-Occupy music video.

That Miley spirit was not so evident at Occupy Wall Street’s main base with only a small contingent wandering around in a rather dispirited mood. I was on a bus on 23rd Street when a spirited march of students against cuts in education marched by chanting, “Students United Will Never Be Defeated. Today at 2, there will be a protest to support the Egyptian people at the Egyptian consulate at 58th and 2nd Ave.

Speaking of Egypt…:

Egypt Votes Under A Cloud of Military Menace

Egyptian citizens lined up on the streets Monday to vote in the country’s first free election in decades. They’re electing members to the lower house of Parliament, and the Muslim Brotherhood is expected to do well. The long lines indicated good turnout despite the fact that political parties had little time to campaign.

Meanwhile, Egypts military leader, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, issued a stark and troubling warning. Either we succeed politically, economically, and socially or the consequences will be extremely grave, and we will not allow that, he said.”

Talk Radio News Service: Barney Frank retiring

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) announcing he will not seek re-election in the next election cycle.

This will bring an end to the 71-year-old’s 32-year career serving the 4th District of Massachusetts. Frank is currently the ranking member on the House Financial Services Committee. He played a major role in the creation of the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill that passed in 2010 and is a champion of gay rights who helped campaign for the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

If the bankers hate Frank, they will be apoplectic when the next Democrat in line for the Committee chair takes over; Maxine Waters, the Congresswoman from California who is also an outspoken black leader. That is, if the Democrats regain Congress:

Daily Beast: Announcing his decision Monday, Frank blasted his Republican colleagues for “dropping the ball” on financial regulation, and the media for creating partisan echo chambers. “It would have been a tough campaign,” Frank said. “In some ways, if you’re an incumbent representing people you haven’t represented you get the worst of both worlds.”

Comments: Statement by Rea Carey, Executive Director, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force

“Barney Frank is one of kind. He has brought his own brand of brashness, boldness, unmatched wit, discipline and skill to Capitol Hill, at times ingratiating and infuriating friend and foe alike. We thank him for his years of service. As an openly gay member of Congress for nearly a quarter century, Barney Frank has made his mark on history. Yet his legacy is much more than that — for 30 years, he has dedicated himself to bettering the lives of the people he serves, and the country he serves. His voice — often loud and uncompromising — will be missed by many, including me.”

Openmarket.org: Barney Frank’s Cognitive Dissonance on Liberties and Risk-Taking.

“Congress will certainly be different and, for the country, better with the absence of Rep. Barney Frank, who announced today he will not seek reelection. Frank’s record on civil and constitutional liberties can best be described with a paraphrase of a nursery rhyme. On the rare times he was good, he was very, very good; but when he was bad — which was most of the time — he was horrid.”

Occupy Philly and LA Hanging On

Occupy Wall Street.org: Even as hundreds of police gathered around City Hall, Occupy Los Angeles continued to peacefully assemble in impressive numbers in Solidarity Park (formerly City Hall Park) throughout the night. Accounts put the crowd at over 2,000.

Early this morning, LAPD moved in to evict the encampment. Around 5am PST, police armed with batons and riot gear ordered the nonviolent Occupiers to disperse from the street or face violent arrest. The crowd responded by asking LAPD to lay down their weapons and join them. At least four arrests were made, before the police backed down.

In the words of one Occupy LA participant who was interviewed by the New York Times, “It wasn’t in their best interest to come in when there are thousands here.” And the whole world continues to watch; the livestream OccupyFreedomLA reported that it had over 37,000 views last night

•Though ordered by the city to leave yesterday and threatened with arrest, Occupy Philly remains peacefully assembled.

•Threat to Occupy DC ” National Park Service Gives Warning to Freedom Plaza
“Freedom Plaza is treating this as a threat of eviction and arrest”

Washington, DC: Today, Freedom Plaza responded to a memorandum dated November 23rd to Occupy Washington, DC at Freedom Plaza. The response denies serious accusations of assaults, violence, drug and alcohol abuse, lack of sanitation and other issues.

The memorandum, which was also addressed to McPherson Square, is viewed as a first step to eviction and arrest. It was delivered to every tent at Freedom Plaza, posted on the General Assembly Board and delivered to individuals who were present. This was the first notice received by Freedom Plaza.

“Six weeks ago we were warned by the Park Police that before any enforcement action was taken the police would give us written notice of the illegal activities on the Plaza. Freedom Plaza is treating this notice as a threat of eviction and arrest. This is a serious threat to the Occupy Movement in Washington, DC,” said Kevin Zeese, a organizer of Freedom Plaza. “The notice contained numerous false accusations against Freedom Plaza and therefore we are providing a thorough response to their claims.”

“There were several inaccuracies in the memorandum with regards to Freedom Plaza. First, we support the efforts of the Park Service to protect Freedom Plaza. We have consistently taken great care to protect the Plaza, keep it clean and sanitary.

No harm has been done to the Plaza by Occupy Washington, DC. We know the importance of public space and treat it as our commonwealth.

Second, we appreciate the National Park Service tradition of allowing the exercise of First Amendment rights. As we have said throughout this occupation we are acting in the great tradition of citizenship. As the preamble to the Constitution states: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union . . .” We are acting in this great tradition, confronting issues that have been ignored by elected officials in order to create a better country for us and future generations.

Third, our actions are protected by the First Amendment. You recognize that we are exercising our First Amendment rights to Freedom of Speech and our Right to Assemble to Redress Grievances. The language of the Amendment could not be clearer: “Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” We are acting with the protection of the Constitution. We have been flexible to work with other permit holders, but the Constitution is the supreme law of the land and trumps all others…

As we explained to the Park Service when we applied for our permit. all over the United States Americans are living in tent cities, much like what we show at Freedom Plaza. The tents, sleeping bags, kitchen and other parts of our tents city has been erected virtually since the beginning of the occupation. The tent city that is the occupation of Freedom Plaza is a stark political statement of the economic reality many Americans are facing today.”

There are also debates underway within the Occupy Movement about its future.

David DeGraw, who coined the 99% versus the 1% concept, noted:

…something I notice frequently in this movement – you have people who spend time fighting over specific issues and you have people who spend time working together to find common ground and move forward in constructive ways. it’s certainly not easy, it’s a very messy and humbling process, to say the least. The first thing we have to do is defeat the enemy, a corrupt and rigged system of exploitation, we can fight over the best ways to move forward after that.

After spending the past 3 years trying to herd cats / unite the 99.9%, there were only two places where common ground was consistently found: 1) get money out of politics. 2) break up the banks.

Until those two things happen, all other battles are a waste of time. i have my own strong opinions on monetary systems, healthcare, education, environment, etc, but i don’t pretend to have the perfect solution to problems that have rarely been successfully addressed throughout the world. until we get the boot off our throat, what’s the sense in fighting over those issues right now?

I definitely get that there are many vital issues that need to be addressed urgently, but it’s like trying to change a light bulb when there is no electricity. as with most the people fighting 24/7 within this movement, we don’t have the luxury of sitting behind our computers envisioning the perfect future, we’re much too busy fighting the people who have destroyed our families and set our futures on fire. while the ideologues are yapping and fussing, we are fighting and pushing forward. i have great respect for everyone on this email, just don’t have time for pissing contests, back to the front – “there’s a battle outside and it is ragin’” ;-)

Note from the AFL-CIO; Time To Act

If Congress does not act before it adjourns for the year, unemployment insurance (UI) will expire and 6 million jobless workers will lose their UI lifeline….

Unions Plan March This Thursday: 4 PM: .

The March for Jobs and Economic Fairness on Dec. 1 is a call to action and a show of unity. Join us. We hope you will join with us as we march down Broadway from Herald Square to Union Square and fill the street from curb to curb so government and corporate CEOs get our message: Enough is enough.

News from The Beltway: Senate Dems plan to move $1 trillion omnibus in December (The Hill)

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Monday he plans to move a massive omnibus spending bill in December, a move that will fire up opposition from Tea Party conservatives.

Reid says he wants to avoid the prospect of the federal government running for another year on stopgap spending measures.

Democratic aides argue that Reid, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and President Obama have already agreed to set the level of federal discretionary spending at $1.043 trillion for fiscal year 2012 so there’s no need for further drama.
Reid said he will encourage meetings between appropriators in the Senate and House to iron out differences over specific programs and policy riders and combine the remaining spending bills in one large package.

Business Week: Dems Debate New Tax Plan

Global Developments

•Election in DR Congo experiences violence, is extended to get ballots to 63,000 ballot stations. Fraud and irregularities reported on Al Jazeera

• South Africa’s Mail & Guardian: Trust issues stalk COP17 as UN climate talks open

The UN climate talks in Durban have kicked off amid distrust over carbon cuts, and worries that the Kyoto Protocol will be “murdered on African soil”.

Washington Post: The chief economist for the International Energy Agency said Monday that current global energy consumption levels put the Earth on a trajectory to warm by 6 degrees Celsius (10.8 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels by 2100, an outcome he called “a catastrophe for all of us.”

•Madre: To Reverse Climate Change, We Need the Voices of Grassroots Women

Today, as world policymakers gather in Durban, South Africa for a major summit on climate change, MADRE underscores that prioritizing the expertise of grassroots women worldwide is critical to addressing climate change while upholding human rights. Our grassroots partners represent women on the frontlines of the climate crisis, and they are there to present solutions that can meet these twin challenges.”

• Misurata: Libya’s New Rulers Offer Weapons to Syrian Rebels

Syrian rebels held secret talks with Libya’s new authorities on Friday

“There is something being planned to send weapons and even Libyan fighters to Syria,” – “There is a military intervention on the way. Within a few weeks you will see.”

•Noam Chomsky: The US Game Plan For Egypt and The Arab World
Economy

Economy

Jim Cramer, CNBC: We are in Defcon 3, 2 Steps from Major Financial Crisis

•NYT: Crisis in Europe Tightens Credit Across the Globe

As European banks pull back on lending, companies around the globe are finding it harder to borrow, edging the world economy toward another slump.

•60 Minutes, Hard Times Generation: Families Living in Cars

•Judge strikes down Citigroup’s $285 million settlement with SEC

A federal judge in New York has struck down a $285 million settlement that Citigroup reached with the Securities and Exchange Commission, citing a need for truth about the financial markets.

He says the bank did NOT admit wrongdoing!

Here’s More on The Case.

The deal would have imposed penalties on Citigroup even as it allowed the company to deny allegations that it misled investors on a complex mortgage investment. The SEC has accused the bank of betting against the investment in 2007 and making $160 million, while investors lost millions.

Via Liz Burbank: “The amount of money the central bank parceled out…dwarfed the Treasury Department’s $700 billion TARP. Add up guarantees and lending limits, and the Fed committed $7.77 trillion as of March 2009 to rescuing the financial system”

•Secret Fed Loans Helped Banks Net $13B

The Federal Reserve and the big banks fought for more than two years to keep details of the largest bailout in U.S. history a secret… the financial crisis of 2007 to 2009 emerges from 29,000 pages of Fed documents obtained under the FOIA and central bank records of more than 21,000 transactions.

Edward Jay Epstein, NY Review of Books: WAS DSK SET UP AT THE SOFITEL HOTEL?

Media

Why Americans Are Kept In The Dark: Common Dreams Shows the Cover of Time Magazine in The US And The Rest of The World.

RSN: Julian Assange: Internet Is Now The World Largest Surveillance Machine

The Internet itself had become ‘the most significant surveillance machine that we have ever seen,’ Assange said in reference to the amount of information people give about themselves online. ‘It’s not an age of transparency at all … the amount of secret information is more than ever before,’ he said, adding that information flows in but is not flowing out of governments and other powerful organizations.”

AFP: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has blasted the mainstream media, Washington, banks and the internet itself as he addressed journalists in Hong Kong via videolink from house arrest in England. Fresh from accepting a Walkley award for journalism on Sunday, Assange spoke to the News World Summit in Hong Kong on Monday before keeping a regular appointment with the police. He defended his right to call himself a journalist and said WikiLeaks’ next “battle” would be to ensure that the internet does not turn into a vast surveillance tool for governments and corporations.

Letters

Stephen writes from Ireland

My name is Stephen Nolan, I am Irish and just seen your contribution on Max Kaiser. I then visited your site and watched the clip from your film “Plunder” …

I have been researching all this financial crime stuff over the past two years – I am in the middle of doing a Professional Certificate in Financial Crime Prevention. The major problem over here in Ireland is that the crimes were aided and abetted by the Regulators – and the investigations are taking an inordinate amount of time to complete – and this has me wondering why!

We still have to see one person charged with unlawful behaviour – we have a catch all offence of failing to keep proper books of accounts – but all the proposed misconduct was reported to the regulators who apparently agreed with the schemes to save their own asses while the collapse was playing out between 2007 and 2009.

How many of these people in the US have faced justice? I known very little right but people like Bernie Madoff have been tried and convicted and that must have been a very complex case to unravel – our Director of Corporate Enforcement (equivalent to the SEC in the US) is still investigating crimes that were reported to him over three years ago and continuously asks the courts for more time to do the investigating.

The major issue in this country now is that we just had an election where we replaced a deeply corrupt government in hock and in the pockets of the banks with a government in hock and in the pockets of the EU/IMF. People are very tried and don’t have the energy to fight anymore.

I just don’t know where this is all going. I am nearly thinking that people in Ireland should start an Occupy ODCE (the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement) to highlight his shy approach to his public enforcement duties!

Mark Sashine writes: “Noise covers what is not reported”

If you slander a messenger his message then is not propagated. NONE of the legit. concerns of OWS was even slightly analysed by the MSM. And that is what it was all about.

Robert James They (Mainstream Media) don’t “miss it”.

Their misses are deliberate. The for profit corporate media limits discussion to a few topics and omits anything that doesn’t fit the corporate elites’ agenda, like Ron Paul, for example.

Pam Parker writes

My new Journalism site called http://www.topjournalismschools.org is
up and running! Would you help me share this site with your visitors by
adding it to your resources page of http://infousa.state.gov/media/media_links.html?

After hearing about the challenges many colleagues faced when trying
to find a degree, I saw the need for a truly effective Journalism
education resource on the web. As a result, I designed http://www.topjournalismschools.org to include a comprehensive listing of schools offering a degree in Journalism as well as practical information on possible careers in the field.

Doc “Old Codger” McCoy writes:

The OWS story is unique

For those who support the goals of OWS, it is an important story that needs telling. For those who do not support the unstated goals or actions of OWS, it is a non-story. Obviously, since you support OWS, you want more to be written. As a non-supporter, the story is old.

Barry David Butler writes: “Maybe Ralph will run again…..THIS IS HIS TIME.

If he starts filling up Madison Square Garden for Rallies….the press will not be able to ignore it.

The energy is THERE…He needs to run with Elizabeth as his Vice President….talk about shaking up the status quo…lol”

Ugly Goes Prime Time

I few years ago I made a film about the exploitation of sex on television by focusing on the life and slimes of Ugly George—a public access phenomenon in New York who won big audiences and high ratings for his “Ugly George’s Hour of Sex and violence.”

I couldn’t get arrested promoting the film here because it was assumed that I was supporting Ugly, not just reporting on his many outrages in a film that raised questions about all the hypocrisy over sex in the TV world.

I finally got the film on TV in prime time—in Australia!--and was happily surprised by the review in the Age, a leading Australian newspaper:

“Ugly George Urban drips with sleaze and gets around wearing a tatty backpack with an attached satellite dish but there must be something about him. In the days before reality television and Girls Gone Wild, he approached women in the street and convinced them to get their kit off on camera. The result was a low-budget but widely watched American cable-TV show.

Ugly George’s sheer bravado can be the only explanation for his success with women and it is also the reason this documentary about him works as well as it does. An unreliable and often unappealing character, he is a shameless self-promoter with a habit of making breathtaking statements. He claims, for instance, sole responsibility for the success of cable television. He also claims a female lawyer who opposed his program did so because of the size of her breasts.

The documentary is interesting enough as a character study but interviews with Urban’s contemporaries and archival footage from sex-education videos and anti-smut campaigns broadens its perspective. It is a portrait of a moment in time as well as an eccentric individual.”

Now if can get my work out of the outback and in front of audiences here….

Thanks for tuning in. Sorry for so many items in a blog that has been referred to, not favorably. as a modern version of the Dead Sea Scrolls. There’s much, maybe too much, to comment on.

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