This video from the USA says about itself:
Which of the richest 1% are using their wealth and power to keep down the other 99%? Give us names and the reasons behind them; we’ll take the best ones and invite you to vote on which ones we’ll expose through videos.
Bill Moyers: “Our Politicians Are Money Launderers in the Trafficking of Power and Policy”. Bill Moyers, Truthout: “We hold elections, knowing they are unlikely to produce the policies favored by the majority of Americans. We speak, we write, we advocate – and those in power turn deaf ears and blind eyes to our deepest aspirations. We petition, plead, and even pray – yet the earth that is our commons, which should be passed on in good condition to coming generations, continues to be despoiled. We invoke the strain in our national DNA that attests to ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’ as the produce of political equality – yet private wealth multiplies as public goods are beggared”: here.
OWS Oakland Takes Over City, Shutting Down One of the Biggest Ports in the Country … but Nightfall Brings More Chaos and Teargas. Joshua Holland, AlterNet: “As many as 15,000 people participated in actions across Oakland yesterday, with small marches peeling off to protest in front of banks or ‘occupy’ foreclosed homes. There were probably eight to ten times the number of people in the streets of Oakland today as I’d seen during past OWS actions. Police maintained a minimal presence throughout the day. There were a few scattered acts of vandalism – windows were broken at two banks but there was no violence, and the protests were remarkably up-beat throughout the day. But that changed when night fell as the streets of Oakland once again resonated with the sharp cracks of tear gas canisters and ‘less lethal’ projectiles being fired, and flash-bang grenades scattering the crowd”: here.
Paul Krugman | Protest Changes Austerity Debate. Paul Krugman, Krugman & Co.: “I visited Zuccotti Park on Oct. 20. Michael Moore gave a short speech, transmitted by the human microphone…. The emperor was naked, and all it took was one honest voice to point it out. As for how the emperor got that naked: read Ari Berman’s article on the austerity class and its dominance in Washington, published in The Nation on Oct. 19. It’s about ‘a central paradox in American politics over the past two years: how, in the midst of a massive unemployment crisis – when it’s painfully obvious that not enough jobs are being created and the public overwhelmingly wants policy makers to focus on creating them – did the deficit emerge as the most pressing issue in the country?’” Here.
Lessons From the Original Occupation: Gina Ray, Wisconsin State Capitol Police. Mary Bottari, Truthout: “On February 11, 2011, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker introduced a bill that would limit the collective bargaining rights of public employees, require 100 percent voter participation in union recertification and end the state’s practice of withholding and reimbursing union dues. The bill was perceived as a death blow to public employee unions and prompted massive, sustained and peaceful protests inside and outside the Wisconsin State Capitol in the winter of 2011″: here.
The Dark Side of the Mayor of New York Is Blooming: here.
Report: Military Blew $1 Trillion on Weapons Since 9/11: here.
Veterans March for Occupy Wall Street – and It’s Like Nothing You’ve Ever Seen Before: here.
TRUTHOUT’S BUZZFLASH DAILY HEADLINES
Some Iraq/Afghanistan veterans finally are fighting in a war worth winning: the battle for America’s 99 percent.
On Wednesday, in a dramatic display of support for the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement, veterans of America’s recent wars for oil marched and spoke in support of OWS. They were not the first veterans to back economic democracy at home, in this case with a military precision march through southern Manhattan. Indeed, many of them participated in yesterday’s show of support for OWS in honor of Scott Olsen. Olsen is still recovering from a traumatic head injury sustained in last Tuesday’s Oakland Police Department assault on Occupy Oakland.
A few weeks ago, a video clip went viral of an Iraq war veteran, in uniform, berating New York Police Department (NYPD) members for their continued attacks on OWS protesters. It was a remarkably dramatic moment, with one former marine facing off against a phalanx of NYPD officers. “Why are you hurting these [unarmed] people?” the former marine exclaimed, “There is no honor in this.”
It is speculative, but undoubtedly true, that few of the top 1 percent or their offspring serve as the cannon fodder in our wars for oil, natural resources and geo-positioning for corporate markets. Just look at Mitt Romney’s five sons. Not a one of them entered the military.
To see veterans participate in the now-famous human microphone (to avoid the NYPD arresting them for using a megaphone) is to be stirred to a renewed sense of patriotism. To hear them declare that “this is the only occupation [OWS] that I believe in” is to receive a chill down the spine.
As a nation, we sent these volunteer soldiers – many of whom joined the military because they couldn’t find jobs elsewhere and came home to unemployment – to fight in wars to largely benefit the interests and finances of the top 1 percent.
The “Masters of the Universe” on Wall Street and the political status quo in DC cannot easily dismiss them.
Mark Karlin,
Editor of BuzzFlash at Truthout
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