I'm Back! - Live Blogging #OWS - 11/9/11

November 9, 2011

Occupy Wall Street Sign of the Day (I thought it fit with yesterday's elections - I really am hopeful that Wisconsin and OWS are turning the political tides)

I did end up posting a bit at the end of yesterday (there's a good deal of great election news - Ohio, Arizona and Mississippi) - so, make sure to catch up with that. I do have an interview today, but hopefully, should be able to have a fairly full day of posting.

12:05 AM: I love this story:

One by one, the Occupy Wall Street protesters trickled in to Queen Mother Dr. Delois Blakely's second-floor walk-up in Harlem. They sat cross-legged on the floor or leaned in the doorways, passing muffins and listening to Blakely, a veteran activist and former nun, who praised their youth and the virtues of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

[M]ostly she talked about the tragedy that had befallen her building, which decades earlier had been a haven for struggling mothers and their families. The building, home now mostly to elderly women, has been without heat and hot water off and on for years....

Blakely claimed the landlord had refused to hand over a key to the boiler room so that maintenance workers could install a new one. That was, until a band of about a dozen Occupy Wall Street protesters last week occupied the building's basement and refused to leave until the landlord complied with Blakely's demand that the boiler be replaced....

"I've been fighting to keep this building for the community," Blakely said. "But I'm an old lady. I had no man-power."

So she said she went down to Zuccotti Park, home base for the Occupy Wall Street protests, and recruited activists.

"I saw all of these young children that had real skill and ability," she said. "I said to them, 'We're done with all the massaging and intellectualizing. What's next? If you really want to see what's really going on, [follow me],'" she recalled telling the protesters at a General Assembly. "It's time for action."

All hands went up and were wiggling, she said, the sign of agreement at Occupy Wall Street

.

12:15 AM: Proud to be a Missoulian:

Corporations aren't people, an overwhelming 75 percent of Missoula voters said Tuesday, and they don't want corporations treated like people either.

"I'm over the moon about it," said Councilwoman Cynthia Wolken, who brought the referendum to the Missoula City Council to place on the ballot.

The measure - similar to others across the country - calls on the U.S. Congress and state leaders to amend the U.S. Constitution to say that "corporations are not human beings." It earned 10,729 votes in favor and 3,605 against.

The resolution isn't binding, but it does send a message that's gaining momentum nationwide.

12:22 AM: I really loved what Bishop Gene Robinson says in this clip with Rachel Maddow.



I might write in more detail about this later. It reminds me of Mark Ruffalo's characterization of OWS as standing for decency.

Chris Hayes recently appeared on Sam Sedar's Majority Report and said something I thought was very astute: Namely, that the occupations are created in intentional opposition to the worst aspects of our society. The example he gave is that OWS's emphasis on horizontalism stands in conscious juxtaposition to a society that has become too vertical both economically and politically. I agree and would add an example of my own: The fact that occupations welcome the homeless, feed the hungry and offer free health care and education intentionally opposes those who cheer the death penalty, those who emphatically insist we let the uninsured die and those who openly and viciously ridicule the weakest members of our society.

It's not just wealth disparities or the fact that our political system has been captured by the 1% - this "rugged individualist," Ayn Randian bullshit is heartless, cruel and shameful. That this seemed to be going on everywhere without significant push back is maybe what I found most disturbing about my country pre-OWS. But OWS shows that many of us care about our fellow citizens and I sincerely hope that those who cheer death and ridicule suffering, will not feel so embolden that they'll continue expressing such sociopathic sentiments in public.

2:43 PM: OWS plans march from NYC to DC.

3:48 PM: Police brutality against occupiers in Mobile, Alabama.



3:52 PM: Michael Moore for my Mom.


Michael Moore on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, 11/8/11 from MMFlint on Vimeo.

4:10 PM: AlterNet's OWS page.

4:21 PM: I'm not going to link anything because I refuse to give these people hits of any kind, but I wanted to comments on Michelle Bachman's latest craziness. Saying the unemployed should starve is despicable at any time, but when there are 4.5 applicants for every job opening (and yes, that includes McDonald's), it's monstrous.

6:09 PM: Here's a piece on Australia's carbon tax from twitter friend, Ben Eltham.

6:39 PM: Mea culpa - so, someone tweeted me some anti-bank thing that, in my haste between interviews, I posted without serious examination. Turns out it's from crackpot nutjob Alex Jones. It's been pulled - my bad - I'll be more careful with the twitter.