Mitt Romney – Mic Checked at Ormond Beach, January 22, 2012.
Mic checked at a rally in Florida, Mitt Romney was “interrupted” with shouts of
“Corporations are not people, We are the people. USA USA USA USA USA USA “
His response, delivered with a furrowed brow, was followed by the trademark Awkward slimey Romney smile, although it was drowned out by the chants of the OWS crowd shouting USA! USA!
“Actually, these are the people…These are the people, you’re the interrupters!…We believe in the Constitution. We believe in the right to speech. And you believe in interrupting. Take a hike!”
Although he surely meant it as an insult, snapping at the OWS protesters “You believe in interrupting” was anything but.
I must say I take that as a compliment.
Isn’t an interruption a good thing from time to time?
I assert that OWS is attempting to interrupt a runaway train.
Not just the runaway train of GOP idiocy, but the runaway train called America,we’ve all been chained to, seemingly hijacked by the corporate elite from which Romney has emerged. (Swamp thing visual)
In any event, I can’t wait for Romney to come to Ohio in March. (muahhahaha)
Make way for the interrupters Mittens, their voice will only grow louder!
I’ve spent the last hour watching my dog push his bowl across the floor in an attempt to scrape and lick every last particle of dog chow out of it. He’s now staring at it determinedly and plunking one paw down on the inside rim (He is an 8 pound Maltese terror btw) thus flipping the empty plastic bowl off the floor and directly into his noggin. (too adorable!)
Next he huffs and gives the bowl the stank eye, then proceeds to repeat the entire process 3 or 4 more times! It is absolutely hilarious in a puppy shodenfrueden kind of way….
You’re probably thinking “What does this have to do with Occupy or the New Year?”.
Truthfully nothing, it’s just that I have been sitting at my computer desk gazing down admiringly and guffawing at my little puppy, not writing a blog post.
This presents a potential problem, I could try to throw together a post on the fly…but that’s not really my style.
BAM- the Universe steps in and provides a solution for the new year!
Form of: Guest Blogger Tim Russo! (please hold your applause until the end)
Tim wrote an inspiring piece about the New Year, the events and politics of years past, Occupy Cleveland, and the crossroads of all these. After reading it I knew I wanted to share it, and Tim was kind enough to let me “borrow” it
Occupy The Fucking New Year Already (you know who you are)
I used to try on New Year’s Eve. You know, spend a lot of money, dress up in finery, do the countdown in a room full of strangers also in finery. I could probably pinpoint when that stopped being fun if I tried, but that’d be too depressing. Maybe tonite I’ll try again, because 2011 doesn’t feel wasted for once.
Spend a lifetime professionally in Democratic Party politics, and you run into a lot of leftier than thou types. Being a campaign guy, a strategist technician paid to win elections, I would chastise their lack of pragmatism, sometimes quietly, sometimes loudly, always wore it as a badge of honor. Yeah, you might be right about the world, I’d say, but it doesn’t help win this seat, or that one. Leftier than thou exits in a huff…stage left, of course.
“There’s gonna be a revolution some day,” we’d always decide though, over a keg at a law school party, or the cabernet and camembert on the way up the ladder. Someday, people will wake up. Maybe it’ll happen this year. 1990. 1992. 1994. 1996. 1998.
Or 2000. Oh yeah, Bush v. Gore. That was a high water mark for New Year’s Eve armchair revolutionaries. Then came 2002, 2004, 2006. Dark years all. Then 2008. Was Barack Obama the revolution? Turns out no. Leftier than thou got the injection of the internet’s keyboard courage, and became louder. Then 2010.
2011, and here it is. That impending revolutionary awakening I’ve been hearing the self-appointed guardians of justice pray for since the day I was an intern on Dennis Kucinich’s 1988 congressional primary, the moment that was supposed to prove pragmatism wrong and idealists right. It has arrived. Yearned for over the sushi tray in the Heights, just the right Carole King dirge giving you those goosebumps, lighting that incense, misting up those eyes over Woodstock remembrances, snowflakes falling on your buddha statue in the garden while the organic tea steeps just long enough to be perfect, like you learned how to do that one summer backpacking in Britain or Nepal.
Their bluff has been called by kids in tents, in 3 months the long-awaited revolution went from nonexistence to everywhere, and they sit there slack-jawed, 2012 their last chance to ante up, and the excuses you hear are just comical. Where’s their message? Why are they in a tent? But they aren’t demanding policy? But…but….but….leftier than thou has been flummoxed, stammered to speechlessness. A mighty wind came and blew them right over onto their couch.
Maybe they’ll come around. They know that couch isn’t secure. They didn’t sell out for a billion, they sold out for a whole lot less and they know it – that pointless non-profit gig, that consulting 1099 with no healthcare, the waitressing on your feet all night, the adjunct position at minimum wage, that laughably tiny line item in a grant with their name on it, and it can all vanish tomorrow, all of it, because the purchase of power by the 1% doesn’t care who the fuck you are if you just sit there and take it.
That’s why they’re in a tent you damn fool. And staying in it, from a warm autumn Into the freezing cold of a Cleveland winter, for your future, and your kids’ future, your grandkids, and it ain’t gonna get any more revolutionary in this country if you lived forever waiting for it. Leftier than thou was never any good at strategy or tactics, that’s always been their own proudly waved badge of honor, now suddenly instead of idealists condemning the tacticians & strategists, they’re strategic tacticians condemning….what exactly?
Last week I helped write a proposal for Occupy Cleveland to submit to Occupy Wall Street, and here’s part of the preamble, arrived at through the signature consensus process that governs the movement uniquely unlike any other movement in American history…
“OC’s purpose is to give voice, courage, and hope to the 99% through a sustained effort to expose and attack the illegitimacy and injustice of imposing on our democracy the purchase of political power in favor of the 1%. OC will deploy creative, bold, and dramatic actions to educate and persuade citizens to reject deference to authority and instead challenge and defy authority, encourage citizens to take responsibility for their communities, take to the streets, refuse to submit to or cooperate with illegitimate action by the 1%, and thereby inspire in the greater populace a new courage to resist…”
Looks like I’m the one who’s leftier than thou, aren’t I, and ya’ll still don’t know bupkus about strategy and tactics. Maybe in 2012, we’ll all meet again, if so, it’ll be on the street, where the change we’ve all claimed we wanted is to be had, and happening, right now. The revolution will be waiting for you whenever you get here, and the welcome will be very warm indeed.
Happy New Year.
A review of Occupy Cleveland’s October, 2011. Music is Sunshine (Adagio in D minor), the score of the 2007 film Sunshine.
Search for “Occupy Wall Street” on Amazon, and you’ll get more than 220 books and media choices relevant to OWS. (who knew!?)
Occupy Wall Street - Kindle edition
Ok, and there are still people out there saying Occupy hasn’t made an impact…?
Amazon is one of the best indicators of what we consume…The presence of so many Occupy and OWS themed books on Amazon not only indicates a niche market within the movement, it also presents an opportunity to learn more about Occupy Wall Street, and the 99%.
I picked 4 books from the Occupy Wall Street search results to preview on my Kindle, making sure to pick books ranging from mass media outlets like Time Magazine, to the self published authors acting as de facto Historians of OWS.
I plan to read the samples over the next week, and pick a book to purchase and review (thus creating jobs! woot I am a job creator!)
Frankly what initially attracted me to this book is the donation of royalties from the book to Occupy Wall Street. I am not quite sure how that is happening, and would love to see something more specific about the royalties and donations disclosed in the description, but I guess you can’t have everything
A TIME compilation of Occupy… I selected this book as representative of the “mainstream” opinion of Occupy. Plus.. a bit of a hat tip to Time for naming the protester Person of the Year for 2011.
This book was featured on a number of news programs and blogs I follow. It is a bit different in that it is only available as an e-book. I see this as a way to cut costs for production and purchase, and taking advantage of the kindle and e-book format by loading the book with active links and info. The active links encourage the reader to continue learning about the early history of OWS even after reading this book.
50 cents from the sale of each copy goes to Occupy Wall Street. At first glance that seems kind of slim, until you see the book is only $2.99. That’s a decent donation ratio.
This is an interesting concept, a day by day timeline of the movement, (starting Sept. 17, 2011) with updates promised by the authors. The current version goes through December 6, 2011.
This is a wonderful format for those with an intermediate level or higher understanding of OWS already. I am hearing rumblings in the blog-o-sphere of individual Occupy movements adopting this format to create and self publish their own personal time-lines and developments. I would love to see this practice adopted in other Occupy movements!
We may be watching history unfold…it would be nice to have a record of it as it happens.
I’ve already downloaded the digital sample available for each book, and I hope to have made it through all four this week, and have my reviews and take-aways posted by Monday.
Leave a comment if you have read any books about OWS or Occupy in general…I’d love to know which you have read, and what you think about the idea in general.
How do you think the writing and reading of books like these reflect the cultural phenomena of OWS embedding itself in American political discourse as a long-term social influence?
Will we continue to see more Occupy related books and media popping up on Amazon, or your local Barnes and Noble?
Occupy Cleveland is brainstorming ideas for television ads. This is the first video I have seen from the group in the “info-based” category.
I think they are looking for volunteers with a background in advertising, web design, tv or radio, video editors etc. who can volunteer their time and skillset moving this project forward.
I’ll stop babbling now, and let the video speak for itself.
The Occupy Cleveland tent downtown needs volunteers to help with daytime presence in the tent. Even if you can only volunteer once every two weeks we can schedule you to take a shift to help give breaks to the occupiers.
Email Base Operations at: OccupyCLE.baseoperations@gmail.com with your day and time.
Please help us keep a round the clock presence on Public Square and be a part of keeping the flame lit over the winter.
If you can’t make it downtown for a shift, there are still many different ways to support Occupy Cleveland. Check out their website and Facebook page for more info.
You can also cut to the chase and support Occupy Cleveland financially with a donation through their WePay page.
While I lean towards “Pro-cop” in my personal life. I’ve become increasingly disappointed in the actions of the Police Department
To clarify, I see them as 2 different entities. I see the individualcop as a regular guy, just like my husband and most of the people in America. If we are lucky enough to be employed in the current job market, we get up everyday and go to work. We need our jobs. We have bills to pay, and mouths to feed.
In the current state of affairs, no-one is taking their job lightly. There aren’t many out there, so risking ones employment over a disagreement with superiors, isn’t likely.
I ask myself, why would a Police Officer act differently?
I believe many of the orders given to police over the last 3 months are unlawful. I personally feel that our “Police Force” (taken as a whole, not most officers on the ground) has made a mockery of my constitutional rights, using the “regular guy” Police Officer as a knight on a chessboard. Individual Police Officers are likely to encounter an order they don’t agree with, or even fiercely oppose, yet feel powerless to stand against.
At this point, I don’t yet hold the individual officer completely responsible for carrying out the orders his superiors command him to follow.
However, as in an profession, there are bad guys. It would be unfair of me to hold all members of a profession responsible for the actions of a few, however it would be ethically remiss to lay back and do nothing while bad guys in uniform commit acts of brutality.
At the moment, we as a people are not able to extract just the bad eggs from the entity as a whole to hold responsible. They are too enmeshed with the authority of the Police Force as a whole.
So how can we defend against the individuals in uniform who would commit acts of brutality and entrapment?
We must arm ourselves with our most powerful weapon.
Our cameras.
Film them. Film the Police. This Revolution is NOT being televised. We are now responsible for documenting and disseminating a digital record of what is really happening. it is truly our most far reaching, long range, and powerful weapon.
If you remember bobbing your head to N.W.A. back in the day, you will recognize the reference to the song “F*ck the Police” (and you’re a real O G) in the video below.
FILM THE POLICE – B. Dolan feat. Toki Wright, Jasiri X, Buddy Peace, Sage Francis
B. DOLAN’s “FILM THE POLICE” pays tribute to N.W.A.’s infamous “F*ck the Police,” serving as a call to action for the digitized media movement while responding to the recent explosion of police brutality all across the world.
This free MP3, courtesy of STRANGE FAMOUS RECORDS, features a reconstruction of Dr. Dre’s original beat, brilliantly reanimated by UK producer BUDDY PEACE. Label CEO, SAGE FRANCIS, opens the song by picking up the gavel where Dr. Dre left it 23 years ago, introducing a blistering, true-to-style flip of Ice Cube’s original verse by SFR cornerstone, B. Dolan. TOKI WRIGHT (Rhymesayers Entertainment) follows up by stepping into the shoes of MC Ren, penning the people’s struggle against cops as a case of “Goliath Vs. a bigger giant.” Finally, Jasiri X (Pittsburgh rapper/activist) rounds out the track by filling in for Eazy-E, reminding us that police brutality disproportionately affects poor people of color.
With the Occupy Movement bringing various forms of injustice to the forefront of people’s consciousness, “Film the Police” is a reminder that cops have been a continued and increasingly militarized presence in public streets. Thanks to the widespread use of smartphones and video cameras, along with the popularity of social networks such as Twitter and Facebook, the power of the media has been put back into the people’s hands as they document the injustices perpetrated by those who have sworn to serve and protect them.
A chapter of the upcoming documentary, Occupy The Movie, an indy film aiming to be entirely funded by the 99%. Please support our crowd funding campaign at: http://www.indiegogo.com/OccupyTheMovie
5500 arrests of peaceful protesters in 90 days.
0 arrests of economic criminals in 3 years.
Who are you protecting?
