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Comments Posted By Weirdwriter

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The Occupy Wall Street Thread

The buddy system is a good one — when a new face suddenly appears and seems to be encouraging anything but peaceful protest the regulars need to start asking each other, “Who is this guy? Can anyone vouch for him?” and keep an eye on him.

And never, ever should protesters be less than discreet with a journalist, or anyone who claims to be a journalist. I’m willing to bet there will be people looking to score “colorful” quotes that will reflect badly on the protesters.

» Posted By Weirdwriter On October 11, 2011 @ 6:01 pm

This could be filed under the aggression against the counterculture topic, but is also appropriate here — a striking example of how infiltration and undermining of a movement can take place if people aren’t careful.

Point to be remembered — As old hippies from the ’60s can testify, watch out for “that guy” who is always egging on others to commit public violence and gratuitous illegal acts. Back in the day, “that guy” was very likely an FBI plant; today, it could be some self-promoting conservative extremist who thinks any public attention to his antics is a victory.

From MediaMatters:

In a post that has since been removed* from the American Spectator website, Patrick Howley, an assistant editor at the conservative publication, admitted to infiltrating a group of D.C. protesters this weekend. According to The Washington Post, in the since-deleted post, Howley “openly claims to have instigated the events” that caused a closure of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.

The Washington Post reported:

Patrick Howley, an assistant editor at the American Spectator, says that he joined the group under the pretense that he was a demonstrator. “As far as anyone knew I was part of this cause — a cause that I had infiltrated the day before in order to mock and undermine in the pages of The American Spectator,” Howley wrote. (The language in the story has since been changed without explanation.)

A group called the October 11 movement had organized the march in order to protest the U.S. government’s use of unmanned drones overseas, joined by a few members of the D.C. branch of the Occupy Wall Street movement, as the Post reported Saturday. Howley writes that a small number of protesters–himself included–had tried to move past the security guards at the main entrance of the museum. He says that one protester next to him got into a shoving match with a security guard in an antechamber before they hit the second set of doors that led to the museum itself. The guard pepper-sprayed the protester, spraying Howley as well.

But, according to his account, Howley was determined to escalate the protest further. “I wasn’t giving up before I had my story,” he writes, describing how he continued to rush past security into the museum itself. “I strained to glance behind me at the dozens of protesters I was sure were backing me up, and then I got hit again, this time with a cold realization: I was the only one who had made it through the doors….So I was surprised to find myself a fugitive Saturday afternoon, stumbling around aircraft displays with just enough vision to keep tabs on my uniformed pursuers. ‘The museum is now closed!'”

Howley, in fact, chides the protesters for not taking his lead and rushing into the museum after being pepper-sprayed. “In the absence of ideological uniformity, these protesters have no political power. Their only chance, as I saw it, was to push the envelope and go bold. But, if today’s demonstration was any indicator, they don’t have what it takes to even do that.”

UPDATE: Since this was post was published, the American Spectator piece has been returned to the website.

» Posted By Weirdwriter On October 11, 2011 @ 10:33 am

I plan on taking food out to a local protest if they ever get set up enough for a kitchen.

» Posted By Weirdwriter On October 10, 2011 @ 10:18 pm

Happy to report that besides Denver the Occupation is spreading to more Colorado cities– Longmont and Boulder: http://www.dailycamera.com/

Yesterday, I tuned into CNN to see how it was covering the movement and was struck by one particular on-the-scene interview — An African-American woman, articulate and reasonable, hoping to show the teen-age grandson with her what could be accomplished against social inequity. The tone of the piece was how the protesters are “ordinary” folks from all walks of life.

That also seems to be the presentation on PBS, NPR and ABC news, in stark contrast to the Republicans scoffing about “radicals” and warning of “mobs.”

» Posted By Weirdwriter On October 10, 2011 @ 3:02 pm

Verrreeee cool.Thanks for drawing our attention to this!

» Posted By Weirdwriter On October 10, 2011 @ 12:40 pm

Agreed. We’re already seeing the mainstream news media focus on only certain protest signs and specific protesters — the ones that emphasize anarchy or anti-capitalism, who look like young, disheveled oddballs.

How many images have we seen of all the union members, older folks, people with their grandkids, signs calling for better regulation of Wall Street and similar reasonableness?

We need to encourage more video and stills of the opposite of this deceptive narrative — offer ’em to news stations and newspapers. We need to speak up if we were there and saw what was really happening. If we see news cameras, we need to get over there and present our reasonable selves. Chat up the cops in a friendly manner.

We need to remind the viewers that their friends, family members and neighbors are out there protesting.

» Posted By Weirdwriter On October 9, 2011 @ 1:41 pm

In conversations with older former hippies, I remember a discussion about this kind of subterfuge — there would always be some guy in any activist group who tried to egg everybody else into violence and illegal actions — sell drugs, vandalize, target cops, set off bombs, etc.

Perhaps the staff at an underground paper would be encouraged by this kind of guy to sell pot to fund operations. The rest of the staff would refuse out of sheer common sense, and, mysteriously, there would be a police raid that would discover — ta da! — pot hidden on the premises. Arrests all around, disruption of the paper’s publication, public characterization of the activists as “dopers” and criminals, etc.

In later years, as some of these old hippies swapped such stories and more information about past FBI shenanigans came out, they realized “that guy” was often an FBI plant.

It was typical dirty tricks on the part of the administration to disrupt and undermine its opponents as much as possible.

I hope the Occupied protesters watch out for the kind of actions that could undermine their message — people claiming to be “anarchists” breaking store windows, open use of drugs, violent rhetoric in front of TV cameras, etc.

The Occupiers will have to police themselves if they want to thwart political sabotage.

» Posted By Weirdwriter On October 9, 2011 @ 1:27 pm

Wonder how soon it will be before we see some actual violence or vandalism staged at these protests by people the regulars won’t remember seeing before that day….

» Posted By Weirdwriter On October 8, 2011 @ 4:29 pm

The Secret War Against The Counter Culture

Again,you be right, KT.

If this were a Republican administration, I have no doubt that the Occupied folks would be treated like violent anarchists. This time, they won’t be, but I’m sure a lot of people still regard ’em as a threat and will do anything to make ’em out as criminals.

» Posted By Weirdwriter On October 9, 2011 @ 6:33 pm

KT, I applaud what you wrote. To paraphrase an old saying, those who forget the past will have to fight the same battles over and over.

It should be remembered that the context of the 1960s has some differences from today’s.

J. Edgar Hoover as the first director of the FBI kept an iron rein on the bureau for 50 years, extending past the 1960s, and several presidents who probably would have gotten rid of him if they could. He was an extremist conservative who had nothing but contempt for anyone who disagreed with him, and didn’t hesitate to blackmail even those in high office.

I’ll bet a lot of people can’t even name the head of the FBI today. It’s Robert Mueller, and I have no idea what his personal politics are. That’s as it should be. The director now truly serves at the will of the President.

That’s pretty much true across the board for presidentially appointed security heads. We don’t have a vicious maverick like Hoover in charge of anything that I can tell.

The threats today as I see it come from people who have a vested interest in publicly pushing back against the current administration, trying to prove this President and the Democrats are weak on internal as well as external security.

I do think that the term “counterculture” in some way fosters the perception that is represents something that is unAmerican and different, odd and destabilizing. Truth is, it’s not as distinct from current “mainstream culture” as it was in the ’60s. And I think that needs to be emphasized — the “counterculture” IS American culture, as much as any other in the U.S.

» Posted By Weirdwriter On October 9, 2011 @ 3:41 pm

Obama Is Doomed Next Year… Or Is He?

Deeply appreciative of the welcome. And your eloquence.

The best political reporting I see on TV today is from Rachel Maddow on MSNBC, because she has a whole hour to devote to whatever she wants, she is a major political wonk, and she actually does the homework. And she presents her findings very, very well.

PBS is OK, the News Hour is far more in-depth than most news outlets. Although it’s also often so determinedly neutral that I’ve never understood why it’s become a conservative target. Ditto for National Public Radio.

Fairly recently, I’ve discovered that some of the best political reporting in print can be found in Rolling Stone magazine. No kidding. A recent deep-background piece on Michelle Bachmann broke ground that no one else touched, and did it well. Ditto for a lengthy piece on President Obama. Check out the online archives at its web site.

So, good journalism is still out there — it’s just taking different routes away from the major networks and newspapers.

» Posted By Weirdwriter On October 8, 2011 @ 11:07 pm

Gracias, Emerald, for the kind and articulate thoughts.

» Posted By Weirdwriter On October 8, 2011 @ 5:49 pm

Merry meet, my friend!

» Posted By Weirdwriter On October 8, 2011 @ 4:52 pm

Gracias, AdLib, and true, all that.

» Posted By Weirdwriter On October 8, 2011 @ 4:37 pm

Thank ‘ee, kindly, KT. I agree, and Stewart is spot-on.

It used to be said that journalism’s job was to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted. What passes for journalism these days seems to be more about affecting a pose.

» Posted By Weirdwriter On October 8, 2011 @ 4:04 pm

Much grass, compadre! Like that word “pudnuts.”

» Posted By Weirdwriter On October 8, 2011 @ 4:01 pm

I’ve been a journalist since junior high, got the degree, did the internships, worked on a newspaper, write and edit for various publications now. In more than 25 years in the industry I have never seen such a general dumbing down of political coverage in the “news media” in the United States as in the last few years.

Everything is focused on gamesmanship, conflict, and shallow controversy — who’s “winning” or “losing,” who’s dissing who, who comes up with the tastiest sound bites. What can be squeezed within less than 5 minutes of time in a half-hour news program that is largely commercials.

Real research is minimal, the results often “borrowed” from bloggers or non-mainstream journalism. Too many of today’s mainstream journalists, particularly on TV, want their stories handed to them in easy packaging they can re-heat and rush to serve up in the shortest time possible.

» Posted By Weirdwriter On October 8, 2011 @ 1:36 pm

God’s Blog – 8-25-2011

Well, gosh, Almighty, OF COURSE you express yourself well — hello?

And I’m a big fan, which makes it a teensy awkward to point out that you misquoted yourself and your son.

It’s not “Money is the root of all evil.” It’s “The LOVE of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” (1 Timothy 6:10)

Of course, you just did that to see what we remembered from Sunday School…

» Posted By Weirdwriter On October 8, 2011 @ 9:32 pm

Rick Perry – A Blind Preacher For The Pin-Eyed Congregation

Choicelady, I appreciate the depth and thoughtfulness of your response. Not everyone knows about the distinctions and agenda of these people that you’ve brought up. I agree, knowing what they are about is hugely important.

Because I’ve had my own Christian commitment challenged (remember the so-called Moral Majority?) I’m wary of publicly calling out another’s claim to Christianity as a general rule. I’d rather let their actions speak louder than my words.

The Dominionists need to be taken seriously, but they are nothing new. They are today’s Puritans — theologically narrow, generally intolerant, light on forgiveness, bent on political and theological takeover, and firm believers that God blesses the righteous with worldly wealth and worldly power (despite all Scriptural and historical evidence to the contrary).

That, of course, makes it easy for them to assume that they are meant to rule as God’s chosen on Earth. Also to assume that the poor and less-privileged are that way because they are either incompetent or being punished by God. It’s why they tend to embrace the Objectivism of Ayn Rand without her militant atheism.

Not a single true Puritan would have signed the Constitution of the United States when it was written, so it’s quite ironic that these latter-day Puritans are constantly invoking some mythic version of it that leaves out all the inconvenient parts.

Yep, I know what Rick Perry is. A latter-day Puritan who would have me in a re-education camp if a Dominion theocracy ever emerged. The way to fight Dominionists is as they did back in the day when the Constitution was being written — make common cause with everyone else, as much as possible. And defend the Constitution.

» Posted By Weirdwriter On October 9, 2011 @ 12:03 am

The thing about conservatives like Perry — despite lip service to diversity, there is no room for following one’s own conscience differently. Even as a member of the same faith.

For these folks, there can be no competition, no challenge to their seizure of religion as a political tool that they would tolerate. Politically liberal Christians would be among the first targeted for suppression and re-education in their theocracy.

» Posted By Weirdwriter On October 8, 2011 @ 10:25 pm

Bill Maher Eats His Foot

My enjoyment of Maher’s humor started to fade years ago after he devoted almost an entire episode of his old TV show to complain about something he seemed to regard as a personal insult — Christian rock ‘n’ roll.

“Rock ‘n’ roll is about rebellion!” he kept saying peevishly. “What the hell are these bands rebelling against?”

Even the nonChristian rockers on the show for the occasion seemed a little taken aback. If I remember correctly, one of ’em suggested, “Uh, maybe they’re rebelling against boring church music?”

But Bill wasn’t having any of it. At which point, I decided I wasn’t having any more of Bill and never looked back. What a relief to see I’m not the only lefty who feels queasiness about the guy,

» Posted By Weirdwriter On October 8, 2011 @ 9:55 pm

Middle East Update

K, this is the best analysis of Gadhafi’s death I’ve read/heard yet.

Kudos for the work you put into it.

(Salaam in your general direction!)

» Posted By Weirdwriter On October 21, 2011 @ 3:39 pm