Despite the best efforts of the Mainstream Media to fill its 24/7 cycle with such pressing stories such as a New Jersey governor who’s still not running for President and Nancy Grace having a nipple slip on Dancing With The Stars, the news of an ongoing student-powered occupation and protest against Wall Street has trickled into their coverage.
The Occupy Wall Street protest has been going on since September 17th and the only angle of coverage from the MSM has been righteously defending their lack of coverage of it by dissing the youth and idealism of the participants.
Throughout last week, a growing protest movement took hold. No, no, not the Occupy Wall Street protests themselves, but the complaints of Occupy Wall Street protesters that the mainstream media was ignoring their cause.
Last Wednesday, five days into the protest, Keith Olbermann asked on his cable news show, “Why isn’t any major news outlet covering this? If that’s a Tea Party protest in front of Wall Street about Ben Bernanke putting stimulus funds into it, it’s the lead story on every network newscast.”
This, of course, gave journalists at several “major news outlets” a great opening to go ahead and cover the Occupy Wall Street protests using their favorite self-reflexive method: covering the (non) coverage.
And their verdict? No foul. Columnists at well-regarded news outlets who chose to respond concluded that there were plenty of great reasons not to cover Occupy Wall Street. In delineating those reasons throughout this week, they got to write at length about the protestors’ quirks and shortcomings, making their defense of non-coverage of a protest read a lot like colorful coverage of a protest.
As pointed out in this Atlantic article, when a handful of lunatics with teabags hanging from their hats show up in a park with misspelled signs, it’s wall to wall coverage across the MSM but hundreds of young people occupying Wall Street? That’s not news.
At least, it’s not news that benefits the media’s corporate ownership and shareholders as the “agenda” of the tea bag decorated wacko crowd does. So…it’s not news that’s fit to print.
The problem for the media is that the story isn’t cooperating and going away. So, going by the playbook, the same MSM that helped promote and elevate a tiny minority of ignorant people financed by corporate interests into controlling the US House of Representatives, has tried to discount the Wall Street protest by attacking and ridiculing those protesting.
Whether this is reflective of corporate loyalty on the parts of some in the media or the ignorance that being in a bubble and removed from the lives of real people nurtures, there may be a far bigger story behind what is going on and what will follow.
To a less biased observer than the American Media in general (fortunately, there still are some insightful and professional journalists out there), the pattern of Americans giving up on their democracy to solve their problems would be pretty apparent.
There are more “independents” today and smaller percentages of self-identified Democrats and Republicans than ever before. Disapproval ratings of Congress are at record lows, around 87%. The astroturf Tea Party did attract many disaffected people. The “government is bad” drumbeat by the GOP is resonating louder. People are participating in more protests as their government aids or merely observes attacks on the working class, public employees and unions. The Citizens United ruling and the faceless Superpacs pouring millions into even state elections has engendered even greater futility about elections in the minds of the public.
The goal of the corporate interests, in cutting government’s hamstring to cripple it or simply buying it out in a hostile takeover has become terribly transparent to many Americans.
In the 1980’s, when the US government financed the Mujaheddin in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union, as brilliant as many in the military and government were, they were wholly blind to the blowback that would result, in the form of having funded and trained Osama Bin Laden and essentially helped create Al Qaeda. In the long run, the US may have been far better off to allow events to unfold in Afghanistan without our involvement, the Soviet Union would likely have faced the same results they did (and which we are now suffering…without a superpower backing our adversaries) and Al Qaeda may have never been brought into existence. How different might today be if that was the path chosen?
Blowback is the most troubling, haunting and dangerous aspect of any battle. The term refers to the unintended consequences that result later down the line from an action. Blowback can sometimes be completely unexpected, very hard to predict even for those keen on doing so, let alone in cases when those in power are so focused on obtaining their goals, they’ll believe only what validates what they want.
The Iraq War is another sad but prime example. Neocons collaborated and planned during the Clinton Administration how they would “liberate” Iraq when they could re-take power and all nature of rosy scenarios were envisioned. Blowback often occurs because of self-delusion and the ignorance that comes from projecting one’s own sensibility on those one attacks instead of having the ability to genuinely empathize with them.
The corporate war on Americans for control of our economy and government is like any other war. One force is advancing and putting a population under siege, fighting battle after battle to take the ground that used to belong to the people they attack. They invest their formidable resources on becoming victorious and claiming the spoils and give little thought to the one issue that can undermine any victory in the long run.
Blowback.
What the wealthy and corporate executives are incapable of, both intellectually and emotionally, is truly understanding those who they attack and what their attacks are generating in those people.
As the reverse is true for many in the majority of Americans, it is hard for many to fully comprehend and understand how the wealthy can be so destructive and mercenary in their greed. One can only guess that like their fellow millionaire conservatives in the Bush Admin, they just believe that their war on Americans will end up paying for itself and once they have won the war, they will be greeted with flowers and candy.
What they may be failing to recognize, what the blowback may be from their war on Americans, might be similar to what is happening in a number of other countries around the world right now. Once a population begins accepting that their power in their society has been usurped, once they recognize that their democracy can no longer function to serve them and solve their problems, they don’t just shrug their shoulders and call it a day, as the wealthy seem to think.
They stop looking to elections and politicians to solve their problems and come together with other citizens to take their destiny in their own hands.
This is not to say it leads to violent revolution but as we’ve seen in The Arab Spring, oppression of the majority by an elite minority and blocking their ability to use their collective will through the system to change things, can lead to popular uprisings that take back a nation and society from the elite.
“Really?” you may be asking. In America where people usually respond to periods of collapse in our society by just building a more comfortable surround-sound system in their home in which to escape?
Yes. It’s already happening on Wall Street, in Wisconsin, in Ohio and in many parts of this nation…even though the MSM isn’t exactly predisposed to show that to the American public and put the pieces together.
As economic insecurity and inequity touch more and more Americans, as the expectation that their children’s lives will be better than theirs fades, as faith in our democratic system dries up…when the pain and oppression becomes too much and there is no legitimate system or hope for changing the way things are…people will indeed eventually take to the streets, even in America.
The wealthy think that fully owning our government will give them total power. They don’t understand that locking off democracy as a relief valve for a population will instead build up a powerful pressure that will eventually explode against them and their society which they’ve carved in their image.
And this is not a situation unique to the US, here are some excerpts from an interesting article about this as a global phenomena, from yesterday’s New York Times:
As Scorn for Vote Grows, Protests Surge Around Globe
Hundreds of thousands of disillusioned Indians cheer a rural activist on a hunger strike. Israel reels before the largest street demonstrations in its history. Enraged young people in Spain and Greece take over public squares across their countries.
Their complaints range from corruption to lack of affordable housing and joblessness, common grievances the world over. But from South Asia to the heartland of Europe and now even to Wall Street, these protesters share something else: wariness, even contempt, toward traditional politicians and the democratic political process they preside over.
They are taking to the streets, in part, because they have little faith in the ballot box.
Economics have been one driving force, with growing income inequality, high unemployment and recession-driven cuts in social spending breeding widespread malaise. Alienation runs especially deep in Europe, with boycotts and strikes that, in London and Athens, erupted into violence.
But even in India and Israel, where growth remains robust, protesters say they so distrust their country’s political class and its pandering to established interest groups that they feel only an assault on the system itself can bring about real change.
The rising disillusionment comes 20 years after what was celebrated as democratic capitalism’s final victory over communism and dictatorship.
In the wake of the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991, a consensus emerged that liberal economics combined with democratic institutions represented the only path forward. That consensus, championed by scholars like Francis Fukuyama in his book “The End of History and the Last Man,” has been shaken if not broken by a seemingly endless succession of crises — the Asian financial collapse of 1997, the Internet bubble that burst in 2000, the subprime crisis of 2007-8 and the continuing European and American debt crisis — and the seeming inability of policy makers to deal with them or cushion their people from the shocks.
Frustrated voters are not agitating for a dictator to take over. But they say they do not know where to turn at a time when political choices of the cold war era seem hollow. “Even when capitalism fell into its worst crisis since the 1920s there was no viable alternative vision,” said the British left-wing author Owen Jones.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/28/world/as-scorn-for-vote-grows-protests-surge-around-globe.html
(apologies to journalist Nicholas Kulish and the NYT for such a long excerpt, I had to restrain myself from posting this brilliant article in full. Please click on the link above and read the whole intriguing article…after you’ve finished this one of course!)
What we may be on the brink of is the blowback from the corrupt system that capitalism has evolved into. As the old saying goes, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. With no real rival anymore, capitalism has become an absolute power and is absolutely corrupted.
It is as bad if not worse in this nation to say “Capitalism is bad” than to say “America is bad”. Capitalism has become a political party, a life philosophy and even a religion (check out The Family). It has usurped and corrupted many of the most important social values of America in one way or another.
Corporations now are actually openly called “people” and afforded the same rights as human beings…yet can evade taxes, steal the life savings of Americans, strip workers of pensions and jobs, financially destroy communities, poison actual people, even try to take away the few safety nets that protect those they have left jobless, ill and destitute…and be legally entitled to do so as long as it is profitable for them.
Perhaps the real outrage isn’t so much that corporations have become people but that people have become corporations. The people who run these corporations exhibit no more conscience or empathy than the inhuman entity that they operate.
It would behoove corporations to have a limit to their greed and need to corrupt democracy, settling for owning 60% of America’s wealth instead of 100%. However, corporate greed is insatiable. As a person (as the fantastic documentary, “The Corporation” presented), corporations are sociopaths. They have no sympathy for the lives of any others, just focused like a laser on their own gratification.
A news story from yesterday enlightens on this:
New Study, Old News: Stock Traders Are Psychopaths
The hubbub is just starting to pick up after NZZ Online’s report yesterday on a University of St. Gallen study that shows stock market traders display similarities to certified psychopaths. The study, authored by MBA students Pascal Scherrer and Thomas Noll, compares decisions made by 27 equity, derivative and forex traders in a computer simulation against an existing study of 24 psychopaths in high-security hospitals in Germany. Not only do the traders match their counterparts, but, as Der Speigel succinctly puts it, the “stockbrokers’ behavior is more reckless and manipulative than that of psychopaths.”
The traders, according to Noll, were fixated on gaining more than their competitors in the computer simulation – to the extent that they “spent a lot of energy trying to damage their opponents.” He compared the behavior to bashing a neighbor’s fancy car with a baseball bat in order to make your own car the nicest in the neighborhood.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/chrisbarth/2011/09/26/new-study-old-news-stock-traders-are-psychopaths/
Sound like any Republican members of The House to you?
Actions have consequences and not always those that are anticipated. As the wealthy’s Class Warfare savagely continues against the majority of Americans to take from them the equity they have and the democracy they were given, history indicates that there will eventually be a powerful pushback if not an uprising, politically or literally.
Though the prospect of the wealthy being run out of the country on a rail…without their wealth is attractive, it is late but not too late to use our democracy to effect change.
There’s still time to repair and protect our society and democracy. Voting out the corporate and sociopathic members of Congress and keeping corporate control out of the White House could help turn things around in 2012.
It will be a massive war though, with millions, possibly over a billion in corporate spending to fool voters into handing our democracy over to them. We must fight this in a peaceful and democratic way while at the same time, supporting and participating alongside our fellow citizens such as those occupying Wall Street, those fighting the anti-union assaults in WI and OH and other states and all others who have had enough of being attacked and are getting out there in the streets to make a real difference (tweeting and blogging is helpful but nothing beats meeting up with other concerned people and coming together as human beings to protest for the rights we share).
As for the wealthy, I have this wisdom to share…be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.
And the blowback along with it.
![](https://i0.wp.com/img.zemanta.com/pixy.gif?w=696)
Fuck you very much Rahm Emanuel, you Blue Ball Dem:
Chicago cops arrest 130 Occupy Chicago protesters in Grant Park
http://markcrispinmiller.com/2011/10/chicago-cops-arrest-130-occupy-chicago-protesters-in-grant-park/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NewsFromUnderground+%28News+From+Underground%29
I think corporate America does understand blowback….it’s why the Supeme Court contorted itself to “reach down” and bring forward the Citizens United case out of line. It’s also why they crafted particular, partisan and insupportable ruling. It takes a lot of money to keep people down … especially when they’re beginning to see the light. That ought to encourage the most of us. Money’s been defeated before. It won’t be easy and it won’t be quick but it can be done.
Hi Carolina919 and welcome to The Planet!
Maybe so, maybe corporations do get the concept of blowback but they’ve totally miscalculated.
Citizens United actually is part of what’s driving the anti-corporate movement. The more power they take, the more opposition they empower.
I’m right with you on this, money can and has been overcome and it will be a challenge but I think we will prevail.
Here in CA, we defeated Fiorina and Whitman who spent massive amounts of money. Others like Linda McMahon were taken down even in such an anti-Dem year as 2010.
We’ve got our work cut out for us but the momentum and energy is on the side of the 99%!
Goverment is bad, n’kay.
Breaking:
Did Ben Bernanke just join the Occupy cause?
Bernie Sanders is the Man! A genuine representative of the people. Bernake? Not so much.
#occupywallstreet hits the front page!
[img]http://static8.businessinsider.com/image/4e887ea4ecad04ad6800001a-512-554/nypost-wall-st-cover.jpg[/img]
Fucking A+! Semper Fi! Thanks for posting this Khirad!
Oohrah.
‘The Marines are Coming to PROTECT the Protestors’
http://www.in5d.com/occupy-wall-street-the-marines-are-coming-to-protect-the-protestors.html
Occupy Wall Street: FAQ
http://www.thenation.com/article/163719/occupy-wall-street-faq
Too bad they’re no longer on active duty.
They wouldn’t be permitted to do this while active. But I think this just great. Like they said, they fought for America, not for Wall St.! Now these guys are true patriots.
Good morning/evening Kalima! Thanks for your round-up. I am posting this under the news about Wall Street for obvious reasons. David Graeber has written several articles that are most pertinent, including this one, and I wanted everyone to see it. From the “Guardian” in the UK:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/sep/25/occupy-wall-street-protest?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487
“We might do well to consider the collapse of the European colonial empires. It certainly did not lead to the rich successfully grabbing all the cookies, but to the creation of the modern welfare state. We don’t know precisely what will come out of this round. But if the occupiers finally manage to break the 30-year stranglehold that has been placed on the human imagination, as in those first weeks after September 2008, everything will once again be on the table – and the occupiers of Wall Street and other cities around the US will have done us the greatest favour anyone possibly can.”
David Graeber seems to have his finger on the pulse of the Wall Street protesters. I look forward to more of his analysis.
The MSM blockade against reporting on Occupy Wall Street has just had it’s last vestiges flushed away…this is the top story on Yahoo News at this moment:
http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111002/ts_nm/us_wallstreet_protests
Hope you don’t mind a brief rant.
700 arrests??? Is this not a movement that is growing? Tea Baggers can’t get 50 to attend speeches and rallies, had to cancel their convention for non-attendance…I ask the MSM once more, is this not a movement?!
Props to Bito for tweeting the link to http://www.occupytogether.org/ . Man, so many posts there from so many people in so many locations…one can only imagine how many people not commenting each comment represents!
The proposition here is that if the Occupy Wall Street protest simply brings people together across America as a community, in a shared sensibility that our government has failed to protect 99% of us from being preyed upon and dominated by the top 1% and it is time for us to get up out of our homes and refuse to let it continue, it will have succeeded enormously.
They may not have a central demand and conventional organization and strategy but what they do have is a simple message that should resonate with most Americans and their setting an example that despite ridicule and calls of futility by the forces that dominate this nation, they can and are making a difference and we can too.
It’s still early but it certainly is exciting to contemplate that a real grass roots movement really may be growing here, something that could be far bigger than anyone imagined when this all started.
Adlib, you are so right! I remember how the teabaggers came to Washington DC last year…droves of them in paid-for buses. The buses were lined up for blocks down either side of the mall. No doubt Dick Armey and the Koch brothers shelled out a pretty penny for all those charters! They don’t rent you a bus for nothing!
The Occupy Wall Street protesters have shown something here…this is what a REAL grassroots movement looks like! And even with all those hand-lettered signs on pizza boxes, I still have yet to see one misspelled message!
Em: Because our children “is” learning, in the words (paraphrased) of W.
It may serve us all well that there isn’t a central demand or conventional organization. This might instead be more like a kind of “climate change”….or even, do we dare to hope, the awakening of a lot more of us?
If anyone has missed it, here is the link to “We Are the 99%”. The stories told there are worth reading, most of them just a few lines. Jobless, homeless, hungry and hurting people telling their stories. I highly recommend it.
http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com/
Scroll down and read them. It will be a real eye-opener, I promise!
Amazing stories.
Not having a job gives the time to protest. The best way to keep the people in line is to suffocate their free time by giving them JOBS!
No doubt, Questinia! There are going to be some hungry anarchists in the streets!
So good to see you here, Q!
HI kes! Perfect quote.
OCCUPY WALLSTREET
“It’s heartening to see anarchy being rediscovered, but it’s disheartening to see it being reinvented.
Anarchism:
The name given to a principle or theory of life and conduct under which society is conceived without government- harmony in such a society being obtained, not by submission to law, or by obedience to any authority, but by free agreements concluded between the various groups, territorial and professional, freely constituted for the sake of production and consumption, also for the satisfaction of the infinite variety of needs and aspirations of a civilized being.
Peter Kropotkin (Encyclopedia Brittanica)
There are times when the stupidest thing one can do is raise the red or black flag and issue defiant declarations. Sometimes the sensible thing to do is just to pretend nothing has changed, allow state representatives to keep their dignity, even show up at their office and fill out a form now and then, but otherwise, ignore them.”
~ David Graeber, Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology (recommended reading)
These people, the wealthiest and those who want to take us back in time and severely limit the freedoms of “we the people,” can no longer be ignored. I don’t think anyone is really advocating anarchy, but things MUST change. The problem is, how to bring about such change without violence.
The people have a right to free assembly, as stated in our Constitution. This is not anarchy.
Anarchy isn’t necessarily violence. It is the institutions that become violent against anarchists. Anarchy means “without a ruler”. Anarchist philosophy is based on the role of freedom and equality as necessary factors for facilitating human progress.
The United States Of Anarchy
Q, I didn’t mean to imply that anarchy only entails violence. I understand the idea. My point was how do you get people in power to listen? How do you get them to make changes when they refuse to listen? Is violence the only way, like in the 60s? Was Che Queverra right when he said violent revolution is sometimes necessary? This is what I was getting at.
I think one gets people in power to listen by not listening to THEM !
Ignore them as much as possible! Every now and then give them something to do… like sign a document or something. It’ll make them feel valued.
Q, maybe listening is the wrong word for keeping abreast of the republicans. Keeping an eye (and ear) on their actions and proposals is absolutely necessary. We have to know what the opposition is up to. Ignoring them would be dangerous and irresponsible.
I’m not sure what you mean by saying “ignore them as much as possible.” Do you mean, give them no publicity? If so, I would agree, but they own the largest part of our media. They control the message, to a very large extent. That’s hard to overcome, maybe immpossible.
Questinia, that’s the way I understand it. But anarchists are always portrayed as violent. I guess there are many who think that a government is necessary to prevent violence. This movement across the country would prove otherwise! All I have seen is violence BY the government (police)!
The status quo has to go.
When personal consciousness evolves between the individual and the group, mutuality and compassion develops.
There is a tendency toward equilibrium in nature. Generally it does not include violence!
Hi Questinia! Nice to see you here!
I found an article by David Graeber a few days ago that came out on AlterNet. I have included it in a piece here at PlanetPOV that is still pending. I hope it will publish soon. Graeber basically outlined the reasons for the occupation of Wall Street. I like the way this man thinks and writes.
Thanks for posting! 🙂
Hi Em.
I can’t wait to read it!
Q’, I am not going to reply to that but just say it’s so very nice to see you! I have missed you Ms. Q’.
Likewise bito’
Q! So nice to see you!
I would say that it is the Republicans who are the party of anarchy, they’re the ones who want government to die from a thousand cuts then drowned in the bathtub.
Then maybe pushed off a cliff, boiled in oil and baked into a pot pie that is fed to ravenous Baggers.
Mmm…democracy, it tastes so good going down!
Big hello to my Libster!
Republicans are only anarchists when the government is involved. They then turn around and dictate, amongst other thing, a draconian morality which excludes human nature and a corporate communism which sucks its blood.
Those occupying Wall Street are there because they sense the growing fascism and their powerlessness in it. The government has ignored them, corporate America has ignored them. This is the first gesture of the people feeling themselves as separate entities and not as defined by political parties, business, religious, governmental etc….
We are defining ourselves as we speak. It’s about the definition through consensus by the people not by authoritarian decree.
As a child of the 60’s who spent a lot of time in demonstrations, in organizing for change, in railing against the machinery that churned out societal evil, we grew up….Today feels so much like those days.
The Tea Party was and is sham. A front for corporate interests. The Occupy movement seems to be significantly different. We Shall Overcome…I hope.
Murph, couldn’t agree more. Good to see you here. Hope to see more of you.
Hey there funky….it will take a while to figure out to navigate this site.
But I am giving it a try.
How do you get your avatar image to show?
Hello Murph and welcome to the Planet!
These are found on the header of all pages so check them out:
http://planetpov.com/faq/
http://planetpov.com/faq/terms-of-use/
Yawp. I did that and nothing so far. I already had my avatar at my e mail address so???? Thought there was a trick.
I want to use the same avatar here as I use as HP (the same with my name
I will keep working on it.
Murph it is showing up in the RC’s (recent comments.) It can take awhile to show up sometimes.
Another tip is that it’s best too post your questions in the “Help” area.
Click the square marked help on the right hand side and bingo.
You will also find Morning Blog there for Kalima’s “Bit’s and Bobs from around the world every morning.
Ok….my candle avatar is showing up at a few places here (scroll up and look to the right at the comment summary strip) BUT not showing up in the comments.
Is there something I need to turn on or set? I also have a phrase associated with my avatar (Proud to be an Independent Progressive).
Any help would be appreciated.
The list of cites is rapidly growing and the whole #occupy movement is getting “organized” and spreading a ton of info via the interTubes.
This site has a bunch of information and they are getting overwhelmed by it the with all that they have been receiving.
OCCUPY TOGETHER
http://www.occupytogether.org/
Ton of news and information and some very kewel posters that are downloadable.
http://www.occupytogether.org/downloadable-posters/
[img]http://www.occupytogether.org/posters/posterThumb9.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.occupytogether.org/posters/posterThumb7.jpg[/img]
Bito, this is a great site! Thanks for posting! I found out that there are two Occupy demonstrations within two hours of me here in North Carolina! There is a long list of sites, set up by regions of the country. It is amazing how many there are now with many more in the planning stages.
Hi Murph! I was right there in the 60’s with you, in college and bucking the system! I’ve never really quit! 🙂
I have often wondered why the college campuses in this country were not up in flames (figuratively, of course) because of the wars. But then I realized that there is no draft…a HUGE difference. This movement does feel like it did then. We are seeing just the beginning! At the risk of sounding like the teabaggers, we MUST take our country back!
We are the 99%!
WOO-HOO!
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka Backs ‘Occupy Wall Street,’ Says Going To The Streets May Be ‘Only Recourse’ We Have
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/09/30/333362/trumka-backs-occupy-wall-street/
Watch the entire program here: http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/Trumkao
Very cool, Bito! The train keeps a rollin’!
Mayor Bloomberg Claims ‘Occupy Wall Street’ Protesters Are Targeting Bankers Who ‘Are Struggling To Make Ends Meet’
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/09/30/333038/mayor-bloomberg-wall-street-make-ends-meet/
Huh, Mr. Mayor, the protests aren’t aimed at the rank and file bank workers making middle class wages and don’t set policy, it’s the boys upstairs in the boardrooms making millions, setting policy and speculating on junk and commodities.
No chit Cherlock! I don’t think the anger is directed to the secretaries, the file clerks, the mail clerks, the receptionist. At least that’s not why I’M mad.
Really AB, it was all those nasty tellers that invested your money in junk while the big boys tried to stop them. The mayor was way off on this, the people are blaming his buddies not clerk ‘Nancy’ cashing your paycheck.
I once saw some subway graffiti in Boston that said “There is more crime in the suites than there is in the streets!” A truer statement would be hard to find.
Well, Jon Stewart has finally joined the ranks of folks in the media who are recognizing the Occupy Wall Street protest. A funny bit, it does veer a little from social commentary into wacky but is quite amusing:
Ha! “Lactose Intoleroni!” Stewart does a great NYC wiseguy voice.
Adlib, hilarious! Thanks! LMAO
“We are the 99%” is growing. This page from their website shows a woman and a brief summary of her troubles:
http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com/
=============================
“My salary was cut in 1/2 a year ago.
My husband is under-employed and has been laid off twice in the last two years.
My stepson just went to jail for 10 years. We he couldn’t find a job, he sold drugs to feed his kids and keep a roof over their heads.
My 19 yr old still lives at home. We can’t afford college, and make what someones deems to be “too much” for any assistance. He busts his ass working construction in the Florida son and considers himself lucky.
My father in law lives with us too, who can afford Senior Care? He sits in a chair all day, alone, while we work.
Life is a stressful struggle daily. We want opportunity, not handouts. We need jobs.
We are the other 99%”
==================================
Very poignant and telling! The corporate fat cats had best not drink champagne on their balconies anymore…