Friday, November 25, 2011
L.A. to Evict the Occupiers
According to reports Los Angeles plans on removing the Occupy LA protesters on Monday. What will this look like? Will it involve the police using batons and pepper spray or will it be peaceful? I guess we will see, lets hope it is peaceful.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Don't Ever Count Me Out
So many people have made the mistake of counting me out, thinking that I will give up. It won't happen, it has not happened. Thanksgiving is about appreciating what we have and I have me. I hope you have you. Be well.
Happy Thanksgiving
Easter and Christmas are for children. Neither holiday is about God, at least not how they are celebrated. Thanksgiving is the best holiday for Christians, it is about saying than you God for all that we have. Life is much better than eternal silence and separation from God and it only gets better.
In the last month I lost a very good friend that always challenged me and helped me to grow and my childhood sweetheart. I also learned that one of my loved ones was running for office and that one of my daughters is getting married. Life changes and I miss my Julia because it was not her time and I cannot fix it. I can just miss her. Still I am thankful that we can still try and do good.
In the last month I lost a very good friend that always challenged me and helped me to grow and my childhood sweetheart. I also learned that one of my loved ones was running for office and that one of my daughters is getting married. Life changes and I miss my Julia because it was not her time and I cannot fix it. I can just miss her. Still I am thankful that we can still try and do good.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Shameless Media Spin Regarding OWS
This is from Fox News. Hey, isn't Fox owned by Rupert Murdoch. The same man who owned the newspaper in England that was found to be paying cops for information and hacking the phones of celebrities?
The article's titles is "Weapons Cache Found During Zuccotti Park Cleanup, Sources Say"
One line from the article is very telling, "Officials from the NYPD would only confirm that one knife was found buried in a planter on Tuesday." We read earlier in the article about this weapon of mass destruction. "Gardeners employed by the park owners, Brookfield Properties, to clean up the mess made by occupiers during their two-month stay discovered various knives, including a large kitchen knife and other potential instruments of violence in flower beds throughout the public space, according to officials."
They had a large kitchen knife, of my, didn't they also have a kitchen? I wonder if the two things are connected? Kitchens and kitchen knives, I see a pattern here. How does this pass for reporting? In another part of the article it talks about how Sanitation workers found items that COULD have been used as weapons. No kidding, anything can be used as a weapon. What it did not say was that anyone who has been arrested or anyone who was a participant was found with any weapons, not even a gun. Across the United States over 1,000 protesters have been arrested and how many had guns on them, none.
The New York police department is not claiming that they found weapons, no, the honest and good folk at Fox news are making this garbage up. Who are these unnamed sources and why not just name them? Because it is a smear piece and not real journalism, it is propaganda.
Here is the issue. I can understand not liking what the movement stands for, I can especially understand people not liking the approach; but, why just run a smear campaign, why not deal with the issues? The reason is the same, because the people that have power see this as an attack upon the system that they use to take advantage of the rest of us.
Everybody knows that the rich got bailed out and the rest of us have to pay the bill. That is what upset everyone on the left, right and even in the middle. We know that the politicians represent the interests that get them elected and it isn't 99% of us, doesn't matter if you are left, right or in the middle. We don't matter and we don't like that. The Tea Party and the Occupy Movement have the same issues, their solutions are just different.
The Tea Party was disliked by the conservatives until they found a way to manage them. The Occupy movement is not liked by liberals because they haven't found a way to get them into the party to support their candidates. The Tea Party and the Occupy Movement members need to meet together to find out what they do agree upon and then insist upon legislation that achieves their united goals rather than agree on candidates.
The most common thing that both agree on is that the Federal Reserve should be abolished and that people should be prevented from paying off politicians with anything. At this point the goal of the media is to make sure that it does not happen and they do that by vilifying both and making both look like wackos.
The article's titles is "Weapons Cache Found During Zuccotti Park Cleanup, Sources Say"
One line from the article is very telling, "Officials from the NYPD would only confirm that one knife was found buried in a planter on Tuesday." We read earlier in the article about this weapon of mass destruction. "Gardeners employed by the park owners, Brookfield Properties, to clean up the mess made by occupiers during their two-month stay discovered various knives, including a large kitchen knife and other potential instruments of violence in flower beds throughout the public space, according to officials."
They had a large kitchen knife, of my, didn't they also have a kitchen? I wonder if the two things are connected? Kitchens and kitchen knives, I see a pattern here. How does this pass for reporting? In another part of the article it talks about how Sanitation workers found items that COULD have been used as weapons. No kidding, anything can be used as a weapon. What it did not say was that anyone who has been arrested or anyone who was a participant was found with any weapons, not even a gun. Across the United States over 1,000 protesters have been arrested and how many had guns on them, none.
The New York police department is not claiming that they found weapons, no, the honest and good folk at Fox news are making this garbage up. Who are these unnamed sources and why not just name them? Because it is a smear piece and not real journalism, it is propaganda.
Here is the issue. I can understand not liking what the movement stands for, I can especially understand people not liking the approach; but, why just run a smear campaign, why not deal with the issues? The reason is the same, because the people that have power see this as an attack upon the system that they use to take advantage of the rest of us.
Everybody knows that the rich got bailed out and the rest of us have to pay the bill. That is what upset everyone on the left, right and even in the middle. We know that the politicians represent the interests that get them elected and it isn't 99% of us, doesn't matter if you are left, right or in the middle. We don't matter and we don't like that. The Tea Party and the Occupy Movement have the same issues, their solutions are just different.
The Tea Party was disliked by the conservatives until they found a way to manage them. The Occupy movement is not liked by liberals because they haven't found a way to get them into the party to support their candidates. The Tea Party and the Occupy Movement members need to meet together to find out what they do agree upon and then insist upon legislation that achieves their united goals rather than agree on candidates.
The most common thing that both agree on is that the Federal Reserve should be abolished and that people should be prevented from paying off politicians with anything. At this point the goal of the media is to make sure that it does not happen and they do that by vilifying both and making both look like wackos.
New Lies About Occupy from L.A. and U.C. Davis
Lets start with the ridiculous. Linda Katehi, the U.C. Davis Chancellor must have cut her deal with the campus police. She has just come out and said that the police DEFIED her by using pepper spray, here is a quote from the L.A. Times article and a link.
"We told the police to remove the tents or the equipment," she told the paper. "We told them very specifically to do it peacefully, and if there were too many of them, not to do it, if the students were aggressive, not to do it. And then we told them we also do not want to have another Berkeley."
L.A. Times - UC Davis chancellor: Police defied my orders by using pepper spray
Do you believe her? If it were true then why didn't she say so when it occurred, it seems like important information to know. The most likely reasons are that she is playing word games now or that if she had said it at the time she was attempting to support clearly wrong police actions after they occurred. Neither is very hones. As for the police, if that had been her instructions then why were they ignored and riot gear and weapons brought?
As for the officers who used the pepper spray, you have officially been thrown under the bus as I predicted. Right now the Chancellor has probably told the officers involved to keep silent; but, your best bet is to speak up and tell the truth. Fact is the officers involved have been identified and no matter where they go or what jobs they are offered somewhere else, this will follow you. Something for the officers to consider is that if, as she says, they violated her instructions then when the civil suits come the University will not be responsible for representing you or paying the damages, you will be personally responsible because you acted beyond your authority according to the Chancellor.
L.A. Times - Occupy L.A., city inching into endgame for City Hall camp
Now, this story is interesting. It is claimed that the City has offered the Occupy protesters 10,000 square feet of office space in exchange for leaving City Hall at the cost of $1 a year. That my friends is called a gift of public funds and requires Council approval or it is illegal. Rather than clash with them, buy them off. The City apparently thought that their offer would be immediately accepted except there were a couple of problems, one is that it became public and the other is that the protesters that were in discussions had no authority to speak for the movement.
According to OccupyLosAngeles.org, this whole offer is a little shaky and suspicious. "The City/"liaison" Exit Deal & the General Assembly" Their article claims that someone named "Mario Brito" sort of appointed himself as their liaison without support from their general assembly. Now I am not familiar with Mr. Brito; but somewhere in the back of my mind I thought I had read his name before so I did a search.
According to numerous articles, Mr. Brito was depicted as a communist and union organizer running the encampment. Now that is interesting. He is sort of an all around patsy. When the encampment began the accusation was that communists were actually running it rather than some participating in it, big difference. Mr. Brito was the one they used to make this assertion and now apparently he is a representative working with the City to end the encampment.
I am off today and have plenty of water to drink, I like to stay hydrated even if the European Union says that people cannot legally claim that water hydrates us (that is an article that you can search for - lol). A couple of questions come to my mind, if Occupy Los Angeles is not a legal entity (incorporated) then who would the property be leased to? Mr. Brito and his organization?
It all seems sort of orchestrated with complicity on the part of the City. The mayor of Los Angeles has probably done one of the best jobs at not letting it get violent in Los Angeles and he has done it by mostly ignoring the protesters and not surrounding the camp with police day and night. The fact is that one block away from the encampment is the headquarters of the LAPD, one short block away.
What is apparent is that across the nation mayors want to have the encampments closed down before the year ends. What they don't want is for this to last into an election year and buying them off is the last offer. Now if some of the people take the offer then the remaining ones will be removed by force and will be accused of being radicals who will not work with the City, pretty nifty public relations set up isn't it.
Now, there is the chance that the Occupy movement will be removed from the encampments and that the only encampments left will be on Universities and the message will then be about student loans and tuition costs alone as fewer voices are heard because the vast majority of protesters are not students and they will not be allowed to camp out on University properties.
So what should the people within the movement do? I am not a member so I don't get a vote; but, I can make some suggestions. My first one would be don't be bought off and turned into supporters for some political party or "leader". The moment you do your relevance will go away. My second recommendation is remain peaceful no matter what. Third is be prepared to be removed, it will happen soon. The "leaked" letter from the head of Recreation and Parks was done in preparation for the removal (by the way, does anyone really believe that it was not written at the instruction of the mayor?).
Personally, I think it would be a good tactic to remove the encampment prior to the police taking action and then put it up somewhere else for a month and then return again to City Hall. In the end though, this is not about an encampment, that only works so long. It has highlighted the dissatisfaction with our system of finance and political influence; but, now what?
This is not Egypt or Libya and the Occupiers will not topple a government through protests in the streets. For any movement to remain relevant it must not just be against things, it must determine what it is for and then find a way to sustain it's message. I recommend that they consider what they want people to think the message was five and ten years from now.
This blog has often focused on corruption within the political system and continues to attempt to discuss the lies and deceit that we are confronted with in the media. When I changed the title to OCCUPY The Truth is Inside You, it was done partly tongue in cheek and mostly to support the idea of the first amendment and the right to free speech because too many people dismissed the protesters without even making an attempt to hear what they had to say.
Well, the movement has "occupied" many public spaces, the question is what do you do once you occupy, do you involve, do you revolt, do you find consensus for what specific changes you want, how do you continue to be heard as a group. In the end if you will continue to be heard you must have representatives or leaders, I wrote about that not long ago.
Many years ago there was a movement in the United States called the "good government" movement. The protesters might want to investigate it to consider a method that had some effect long term.
"We told the police to remove the tents or the equipment," she told the paper. "We told them very specifically to do it peacefully, and if there were too many of them, not to do it, if the students were aggressive, not to do it. And then we told them we also do not want to have another Berkeley."
L.A. Times - UC Davis chancellor: Police defied my orders by using pepper spray
Do you believe her? If it were true then why didn't she say so when it occurred, it seems like important information to know. The most likely reasons are that she is playing word games now or that if she had said it at the time she was attempting to support clearly wrong police actions after they occurred. Neither is very hones. As for the police, if that had been her instructions then why were they ignored and riot gear and weapons brought?
As for the officers who used the pepper spray, you have officially been thrown under the bus as I predicted. Right now the Chancellor has probably told the officers involved to keep silent; but, your best bet is to speak up and tell the truth. Fact is the officers involved have been identified and no matter where they go or what jobs they are offered somewhere else, this will follow you. Something for the officers to consider is that if, as she says, they violated her instructions then when the civil suits come the University will not be responsible for representing you or paying the damages, you will be personally responsible because you acted beyond your authority according to the Chancellor.
L.A. Times - Occupy L.A., city inching into endgame for City Hall camp
Now, this story is interesting. It is claimed that the City has offered the Occupy protesters 10,000 square feet of office space in exchange for leaving City Hall at the cost of $1 a year. That my friends is called a gift of public funds and requires Council approval or it is illegal. Rather than clash with them, buy them off. The City apparently thought that their offer would be immediately accepted except there were a couple of problems, one is that it became public and the other is that the protesters that were in discussions had no authority to speak for the movement.
According to OccupyLosAngeles.org, this whole offer is a little shaky and suspicious. "The City/"liaison" Exit Deal & the General Assembly" Their article claims that someone named "Mario Brito" sort of appointed himself as their liaison without support from their general assembly. Now I am not familiar with Mr. Brito; but somewhere in the back of my mind I thought I had read his name before so I did a search.
According to numerous articles, Mr. Brito was depicted as a communist and union organizer running the encampment. Now that is interesting. He is sort of an all around patsy. When the encampment began the accusation was that communists were actually running it rather than some participating in it, big difference. Mr. Brito was the one they used to make this assertion and now apparently he is a representative working with the City to end the encampment.
I am off today and have plenty of water to drink, I like to stay hydrated even if the European Union says that people cannot legally claim that water hydrates us (that is an article that you can search for - lol). A couple of questions come to my mind, if Occupy Los Angeles is not a legal entity (incorporated) then who would the property be leased to? Mr. Brito and his organization?
It all seems sort of orchestrated with complicity on the part of the City. The mayor of Los Angeles has probably done one of the best jobs at not letting it get violent in Los Angeles and he has done it by mostly ignoring the protesters and not surrounding the camp with police day and night. The fact is that one block away from the encampment is the headquarters of the LAPD, one short block away.
What is apparent is that across the nation mayors want to have the encampments closed down before the year ends. What they don't want is for this to last into an election year and buying them off is the last offer. Now if some of the people take the offer then the remaining ones will be removed by force and will be accused of being radicals who will not work with the City, pretty nifty public relations set up isn't it.
Now, there is the chance that the Occupy movement will be removed from the encampments and that the only encampments left will be on Universities and the message will then be about student loans and tuition costs alone as fewer voices are heard because the vast majority of protesters are not students and they will not be allowed to camp out on University properties.
So what should the people within the movement do? I am not a member so I don't get a vote; but, I can make some suggestions. My first one would be don't be bought off and turned into supporters for some political party or "leader". The moment you do your relevance will go away. My second recommendation is remain peaceful no matter what. Third is be prepared to be removed, it will happen soon. The "leaked" letter from the head of Recreation and Parks was done in preparation for the removal (by the way, does anyone really believe that it was not written at the instruction of the mayor?).
Personally, I think it would be a good tactic to remove the encampment prior to the police taking action and then put it up somewhere else for a month and then return again to City Hall. In the end though, this is not about an encampment, that only works so long. It has highlighted the dissatisfaction with our system of finance and political influence; but, now what?
This is not Egypt or Libya and the Occupiers will not topple a government through protests in the streets. For any movement to remain relevant it must not just be against things, it must determine what it is for and then find a way to sustain it's message. I recommend that they consider what they want people to think the message was five and ten years from now.
This blog has often focused on corruption within the political system and continues to attempt to discuss the lies and deceit that we are confronted with in the media. When I changed the title to OCCUPY The Truth is Inside You, it was done partly tongue in cheek and mostly to support the idea of the first amendment and the right to free speech because too many people dismissed the protesters without even making an attempt to hear what they had to say.
Well, the movement has "occupied" many public spaces, the question is what do you do once you occupy, do you involve, do you revolt, do you find consensus for what specific changes you want, how do you continue to be heard as a group. In the end if you will continue to be heard you must have representatives or leaders, I wrote about that not long ago.
Many years ago there was a movement in the United States called the "good government" movement. The protesters might want to investigate it to consider a method that had some effect long term.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Representatives or Leaders
I was thinking about all these articles that I have read where they say that the Occupy movement should pick leaders and it occurred to me how little people understand who do elect. We don't elect leaders, we elect representatives and there is a big difference.
The people we vote for are supposed to represent what we believe and want, not lead us to what we should think. That would be backwards. The problem is that we look at any politician as our "leader", they are not, leaders political "leadership" is totalitarian.
The Tea Party picked leaders and it has gotten them nothing. The problem is not "authority" the problem is looking for leaders. Why would the people of California vote for someone like Arnold, because they think that they are supposed to vote for a strong father figure. It makes them feel safe.
I have been responsible for managing people for four decades and I have never once considered myself to be anyone's leader. I think of work as a group effort with people having different roles to play.
A call for a leaderless society is not a call for anarchy, it is a call for representation. When we elect representatives they have elective authority which makes their decisions have authority. When they cease to represent us they lose this authority. If 90% of the people have no confidence in our elected representatives because they are not attempting to represent us and represent a limited group then our government loses it's moral authority as it has failed to meet it's primary responsibility of representing us. Their duty to represent us is even more important that their duty to protect us.
Before we can fix things we need to understand what went wrong. Part of the problem is what we think and how this led us to electing leaders and representatives that don't represent us. Think about the whole election process, a bunch of sociopaths offer to do things for us, give us things, we vote for them and then they blame others in congress or wherever for being unable to give us what they promised.
The people we vote for are supposed to represent what we believe and want, not lead us to what we should think. That would be backwards. The problem is that we look at any politician as our "leader", they are not, leaders political "leadership" is totalitarian.
The Tea Party picked leaders and it has gotten them nothing. The problem is not "authority" the problem is looking for leaders. Why would the people of California vote for someone like Arnold, because they think that they are supposed to vote for a strong father figure. It makes them feel safe.
I have been responsible for managing people for four decades and I have never once considered myself to be anyone's leader. I think of work as a group effort with people having different roles to play.
A call for a leaderless society is not a call for anarchy, it is a call for representation. When we elect representatives they have elective authority which makes their decisions have authority. When they cease to represent us they lose this authority. If 90% of the people have no confidence in our elected representatives because they are not attempting to represent us and represent a limited group then our government loses it's moral authority as it has failed to meet it's primary responsibility of representing us. Their duty to represent us is even more important that their duty to protect us.
Before we can fix things we need to understand what went wrong. Part of the problem is what we think and how this led us to electing leaders and representatives that don't represent us. Think about the whole election process, a bunch of sociopaths offer to do things for us, give us things, we vote for them and then they blame others in congress or wherever for being unable to give us what they promised.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Why You Should Not Vote For Any Presidential Candidate
What happened at U.C. Davis has made international news and made us look like a third world dictatorship. I personally am not very happy with that. Here is something else to consider, how many presidential candidates have said anything about what happened and I don't even care what position they took, here is why you cannot vote for them, because they have yet to take a position on what happened. They are waiting to see how it will effect them in the polls.
Our politicians have no opinions, they only think about what will get them elected. Even the idiots Gingrich and Cain have not come out with strong support or any comments that I can find on what happened at U.C. Davis and they both oppose the Occupy movement, they are cowards. Come out and say that this is how our citizens and students should be treated if you believe it. Prove to us that you are capable of firm and decisive decisions regardless of the effect on your popularity. If you actually believed what you say you do then you would say that, "While I may not agree with them, I will defend to the death their right to say it". Isn't that what the Tea Party was about Mr. Cain or was it just about taxes moron?
I have no political affiliation so don't think the Democrats are any better. Where was the President during all this, where are his statements. If you can't comment on this how can we listen to you berate other countries for doing the same. You lack all moral authority Mr. Obama.
People might think that this post is about the Occupy movement; but, it is not, it is about the lack of honest, selfless political leadership in this country. It is about asking ourselves the same questions we ask of other governments.
Our politicians have no opinions, they only think about what will get them elected. Even the idiots Gingrich and Cain have not come out with strong support or any comments that I can find on what happened at U.C. Davis and they both oppose the Occupy movement, they are cowards. Come out and say that this is how our citizens and students should be treated if you believe it. Prove to us that you are capable of firm and decisive decisions regardless of the effect on your popularity. If you actually believed what you say you do then you would say that, "While I may not agree with them, I will defend to the death their right to say it". Isn't that what the Tea Party was about Mr. Cain or was it just about taxes moron?
I have no political affiliation so don't think the Democrats are any better. Where was the President during all this, where are his statements. If you can't comment on this how can we listen to you berate other countries for doing the same. You lack all moral authority Mr. Obama.
People might think that this post is about the Occupy movement; but, it is not, it is about the lack of honest, selfless political leadership in this country. It is about asking ourselves the same questions we ask of other governments.
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