Remember when Tea Partiers were maced and mass arrested just like the #OccupyWallStreet protesters?

Me neither. Read the rest of this post...

Sirte, Libya on brink of falling to anti-Gadaffi forces

The BBC reports that Sirte is on the brink of falling to anti-Gadaffi forces. The University, main hospital and conference center have fallen and according to the AP, the loyalist forces are now confined to one of Gadaffi's palaces, some houses and a hotel.

The fall of Sirte would leave Bani Walid as the last bastion of Gaddafi loyalists. The hope seems to be that the fall of Sirte may encourage capitulation in Bani Walid where fighting is also going on. Gaddafi himself is believed to be in hiding on the Southern border in the Sahara region. Read the rest of this post...

Video: Alan Grayson takes PJ O’Rourke to school on Occupy Wall Street

From the latest Bill Maher Real Time show (thanks to Crooks & Liars for the video and the transcript):

A partial transcript:

Grayson: Let me tell what they're talking about. They're complaining about the fact the Wall Street wrecked the economy three years ago and nobody's held responsible for that. Not a single person has been indicted or convicted for destroying twenty percent of our national net worth accumulated over two centuries. They're upset about the fact that wall street have iron control over economic policies of this country and that one party is a wholly owned subsidiary of wall street and the other party caters to them as well, that's the truth of the matter as you said before. And…

O'Rourke: Get the man a bongo drum, they've found their spokesman!

Sounds like an Amen to me (from Grayson; from O'Roarke, the sound of lapdogs disguised as independent thought. Bongos?).

And a very nice statement of the protest's core. We need more of this from people like Grayson. (For what it's worth, my "where next" thoughts are starting to coalesce. First pass is here for any who are interested.)

So far, this isn't going away. Good; let's keep it that way.

GP Read the rest of this post...

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Cantor spokesman tries to "clarify" attack on #OccupyWallStreet protesters

Politico

FIRST LOOK: House Democratic leader NANCY PELOSI, to CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, for ABC’s “This Week,” on whether she supports the Occupy Wall Street protests: “Well, I support the message to the establishment -- whether it's Wall Street or the political establishment and the rest -- that change has to happen. … I think one of the most angry responses I've seen to actions in Washington came after we passed the TARP bill. … People are angry … that they don’t have jobs. … [T]here's nothing that makes you angrier than not being able to provide for your family or understand what your prospects are for the future. And I do think that, from what we saw after TARP, that the focus on Wall Street was one that they thought was a legitimate place to go: ‘Don't do this again. Don't put Main Street at the mercy of Wall Street.’ … [N]ot to paint everyone on Wall Street with the same brush. That would not be fair.”

AMANPOUR: “I just want to get your reaction to some comments by Eric Cantor [at the Values Voter Summit]. He said, quote: ‘I'm increasingly concerned about the growing mobs occupying Wall Street and other cities around the country. … Believe it or not, some in this town have actually condoned the pitting of Americans against other Americans.’”

PELOSI: “I didn't hear him say anything when the Tea Party was out demonstrating, actually spitting on members of Congress right here in the Capitol. And he and his colleagues were putting signs in the windows encouraging them.”

AMANPOUR: “But do you think it's pitting Americans against Americans?”

PELOSI: “Well, that's the American system. It's the democratic system. We don't all agree. We'd have a king if we were all of one mind. We don't. We have different views. And the part of the democracy of our country is the expression that people give, and the Constitution guarantees that.”

CANTOR SPOKESMAN Brad Dayspring responds: “People are angry and obviously have the protected right to express that. His point was that some politicians in Washington who are encouraging and applauding this are ‘pitting Americans against Americans.’ … [T]he basis of the Tea Party was redress of their elected government. The goal of these protesters remains unclear, other than a unity of protest in and of itself. … Leader Cantor merely said that he was growing concerned with the occupy protests -- and I would think that most Americans, whether they agree or not with any or all of the varied causes evident there, feel the same.”

The Tea Party was about redress? No it wasn't. It was formed and run by Newt Gingrich's deputy in the 1990s, Dick Armey, and is simply an assemblage of far-right Republicans intent on kicking Democrats out of office and dismantling government. That is, when they're not spitting on black members of Congress and calling them the n-word. Does anyone remember when the Teabaggers were shutting down congressional townhall meetings with angry cries of "socialism!"? That was okay, but protesting in the streets is not.

Eric Cantor like far too many of his far right brethren running the Republican party simply isn't very comfortable with democracy, Read the rest of this post...

Pelosi supports #OccupyWallSt message

Sounds like Pelosi won't be receiving a birthday card from Cantor in the future. Good. Read the rest of this post...

#OccupyWallSt protesters need more space

It was a slow start but thanks to their determination, they're running out of room because more people are joining.

Anti-Wall Street demonstrators said Saturday they are growing out of their lower Manhattan encampment and are exploring options to expand to other public spaces in New York City.

Protesters complaining about what they view as corporate greed have been camped out near Wall Street in Zuccotti Park for three weeks, staging rallies and marches that have mostly proceeded peacefully but have also resulted in confrontations with police.

Read the rest of this post...

Seattle police now ticketing cars who honk to support #OccupyWallStreet protests

Here's the problem. I doubt the Seattle police ticket every car that honks in the city after 10pm at night. That means they're ticketing people based on politics. And that's illegal under the US Constitution. You cannot treat citizens differently under the law based on their politics. This is incredibly obnoxious. It's also something you'd expect to see in Russia or China, using the authorities to suppress freedom of expression. And these aren't small tickets - they're ticketing folks for $144. Read the rest of this post...

Video: The littlest protester at #OccupyWallStreet (adorable)

It starts about 55 seconds into the video. The kid looks under 2 years of age to me - absolutely adorable.

Read the rest of this post...

Tavis Smiley & Cornel West on Occupy Wall Street: "How will history regard the silence of blacks in this moment?"

Via Matt Taibbi, we find this great discussion between Tavis Smiley, Dr. Cornel West (him, and them) and Keith Olbermann about Occupy Wall Street (preferred hashtag: #OWS).

The endgame problem is discussed. (Olbermann: "The people who hae the answers [to what's wrong] probably aren't in the protest right now.") True? Not sure, though it's a good question to ask.

But note the issue of black silence (3:00 into the clip) — not total, of course, but far too muted — due to the presence of the first black president in the White House.

This is a critical problem if Occupy Wall Street is not to remain mostly-white. Obama's black defenders, Smiley and West seem to be saying, need to pick — either the issues or their guy. Sometimes you can't have both. Video after the jump.


An excellent chewing of these issues, and exactly what has to happen at this stage of a nascent Tahrir Square movement. As West says, "This is a step-by-step process" and we're in early stages of not just a national, but an "international movement."

Remember, the goal of Tahrir Square was constitutional change. In my view, the goal of #OWS should be the same — the return to the rule of law.

With that as a goal, all of the issues that Smiley and West discuss would be addressed.

GP Read the rest of this post...

Why Not Question Romney's Religion?

Back in 2008, the only moment when the Obama campaign looked to be in some difficulty was when the GOP attacked his church and firebrand pastor Jeremiah Wright. The attack itself was dishonest in that the McCain campaign took the words of the sermon out of context. (The idea that duty to God is above loyalty to country is hardly a new or even a remarkable concept in Christian theology.) But if a candidate attended a church that had really preached what the GOP claimed it would be a legitimate issue.

For the past twenty or so years, the Republican party has become increasingly insistent that candidates must be 'a person of faith'. How can having a faith matter but the choice of faith not matter at all? Why is it not OK to be an atheist or an agnostic but those beliefs excepted, all others are to be considered interchangeable?

There is no consistency in the GOP position.

Unlike race or sexual orientation or gender or any of the differences that the GOP has from time to time picked on for the focus of the party hate plank, religion is a choice. More than that, religion is a choice of ethical system.

What the Romney flap is really about is the media's need to avoid the awful truth that the GOP is not just the party for the very rich, it is the party of the very white and the evangelically Christian. There is room in the party for Jews and Mormons, there is even space for Gays if they stay in the closet but only if they understand that their place will always be in a supporting role, never the lead.

Romney has had no trouble at all with the GOP's strategy of pointing a finger at other minorities. He has had no problems signing onto the anti-gay and anti-Latino hate planks. So why are we meant to feel sorry for him now that the finger is being pointed at him? Read the rest of this post...

"We are the 1%"

From Boing Boing:

Arturas Rosenbacher (@USAanon) shot this photograph of windows in the building where the Chicago Board of Trade is located. The CBOT was established in 1848, and is the world's oldest futures and options exchange.

"We are the 1%," the sign reads, an apparent response to the Occupy Chicago (and Occupy Wall Street) protests. "We are the 99%" is one of the mantras of that movement for financial reform.

Read the rest of this post...