November 30, 2011 - Daily Blog

Occupy Wall Street Sign of the Day

November 29, 2011 - Daily Blog

Occupy Wall Street Sign of the Day

Occupied Media: Interview With Sarah Jaffe

I'm really excited to present our most recent Occupied Media interview with journalist Sarah Jaffe. Sarah is an associate editor with AlterNet and has been covering OWS from almost the beginning. She maintains a blog at Ohyouprettythings.net and she tweets at @seasonothebitch (I really want a second interview so that we can talk about Sarah's Bowie obsession).

Sarah and I talk about OWS, her thoughts on the movement and where it might be going. We also discuss student debt and the potential for a debt strike. Sarah presents a good point of contrast to Tamara Draut, whose interview - also about student debt - will be posted later this week.



I started copying Sarah's articles on OWS, but she has written too many - make sure to check them out here.

Thanks, as always, to everyone with the Occupied Media Working Group and a huge thanks to video editor Brandon Goff.

November 28, 2011 - Daily Blog

Occupy Wall Street Sign of the Day

Brutalizing Peaceful Protesters Is NOT Doing Anyone a Favor

In response to a nationwide crackdown against peaceful, political protesters, two well-known liberal pundits (one of them the revered Paul Krugman) portrayed the evictions as a net positive. The movement - according to these pundits - was in danger of fizzling out over a long Winter and therefore, the police did the protesters a "favor" for which the protesters "should be grateful."

Are you fucking kidding me? Local police forces - recently militarized as a result of the War on Terror - pepper sprayed, beat and brutalized peaceful protesters. The first effective protest in decades is being forcefully - no, brutally! - suppressed and you're telling hundreds of thousands of readers it's probably for the best? Did you see this?

November 27, 2011 - Daily Blog

Occupy Wall Street Sign of the Day

Prestige Television, Joss Whedon and the End of History (Repost)

Update: To those of you linking from Whedonesque, welcome! This is, by and large, a political blog, but I'm a huge Buffy and Firefly geek. So, if you're here from Whedonesque, you might also be interested in this essay: Big Damn Heroes!

Note: Someone mentioned I should repost this - it was written pre-Occupy Wall Street (OWS) and I have quite a different take now (which speaks to the paradigm-shifting nature of OWS). Also, this post was originally cross-posted at Daily Kos and, it turns out, Buffy fans are OWSers - in a way, it was this essay that got me involved with OWS because two Buffy fans who commented (including David Graeber) were involved in the earliest days and, because I knew of them as fellow Buffy fans, I paid close attention. Okay, here's the essay...

Prestige Television, Joss Whedon and the End of History

Amanda Marcotte recently wrote this piece discussing today's "prestige television" and its exploration of masculine themes. Marcotte concluded TV producers have not been able to "stray away from the magic formula of building a show around a powerful man grappling with the limits of traditional masculinity."

*Gasp* I almost can't believe she said this. How can you possibly talk about the television revolution and not include Joss Whedon?! And once you include Joss Whedon, you couldn't possibly make such a claim (not to mention Veronica Mars, Gilmore Girls and The Sarah Connor Chronicles - ht Nate).

I would argue Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the watershed moment that marks the beginning of "prestige television." It was one of the first shows of "prestige television" quality and it was also one of the first shows that simultaneously pursued episodic and season-long storylines. It used to be that TV shows were short and movies were long; now, movies are short compared to television shows that pursue storylines that run for an entire season or, indeed, multiple seasons. Many will roll their eyes at the comparison (and you're an elitist snob, by the way), but I would argue it is a breakthrough on par with Dickens and Dostoyevsky publishing serialized novels in newspapers.

EPI's Larry Mishel on Our Rigged Economy and #OWS

I recently interview the esteemed Larry Mishel of the Economic Policy Institute. He has spent his entire career fighting on behalf of the 99%. Larry sent this interview, where he directly discusses #OWS and inequality and asked that we do what we can to get it out to the #OWS community. So, email it, tweet it, post comments about it - do what you can.

November 26, 2011 - Daily Blog

Occupy Wall Street Sign of the Day

November 25, 2011 - Daily Blog

Occupy Wall Street Sign of the Day

Good idea cute girl!

November 24, 2011 - Daily Blog

Occupy Wall Street Sign of the Day

Should be back soon...

Still trying to help out here in Missoula; hopefully will be back to blogging soon. Lots of great interviews currently in editing (Jared Bernstein, Corey Robin, Sarah Jaffe, Alexa O'Brien and on and on) so, stay posted.

I will be back to live blogging Friday, at the latest.

Occupied Media: Interview With Larry Mishel

Our most recent Occupied Media virtual teach-in is with EPI economist Larry Mishel. EPI is celebrating its 25th year fighting for the 99%. EPI was recently recognized by the Washington Post and Paul Krugman. Krugman had this to say about EPI and Larry Mishel:

At this point EPI is the single best source for analysis of labor issues, one of the best sources of macroeconomic analysis, and in general a bastion of humane clarity. The institute’s success demonstrates just how powerful it is when you combine intellectual integrity with commitment, when you make a point of doing the math right, but also never forget that you stand for something....

Put it this way: I’ve had a number of meetings with senior officials along with other progressive economists, and I always feel that of the group, Larry Mishel is talking the most sense — and, whaddya know, agreeing with me.

I was really struck with his clear commitment to making a more decent, more equal society (he ended the interview by saying we had to do another one).

OMG - Pepper Spray Video

Live Blogging #OWS - 11/17/11

8:48 AM: Occupy Wall Street's Day of Action
Live Updates / Live Streaming

Live Blogging #OWS - 11/16/11

9:15 AM: Apparently, all the crackdowns were coordinated with the help from--surprise!--the FBI, Homeland Security, and other federal agencies. According to the Examiner's piece Occupy Crackdowns Coordinated with Federal Officials: 

"Over the past ten days, more than a dozen cities have moved to evict "Occupy" protesters from city parks and other public spaces. As was the case in last night's move in New York City, each of the police actions shares a number of characteristics. And according to one Justice official, each of those actions was coordinated with help from Homeland Security, the FBI and other federal police agencies."

November 15, 2011

Occupy Wall Street Sign of the Day (Maybe my favorite sign of all time)

There is No Alternative - Taxing the Rich Edition

So, here's the thing: The cat's out of the bag - the 1% in this country have laid claim to more than three decades of steady growth and now have an obscene amount of the nation's wealth. One offshoot of this grave injustice is that the elite and their lackeys have to spend a huge amount of time trying to convince everyone there is no alternative. They don't usually defend the arrangement itself (you're envious for even thinking about that), but rather focus on policy proposals that would threaten the status quo.

Live Blogging #OWS - 11/14/11

November 14, 2011

Occupy Wall Street Sign of the Day

#InternationalBowieDay

In honor of the fact that it's International Bowie Day (and because I happen to be interviewing Sarah Jaffe tomorrow, who blogs at OhYouPrettyThings.net and tweets at @seasonothebitch), here is David Bowie, Oh! You Pretty Things:

The Matrix, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and #OWS

So, in the context of OWS, reform and government generally, a friend of mine brought up the speech in the Matrix about human beings being like a virus, destroying everything in their path:



Without getting into an interpretation of the Matrix - which actually I'm kind of dwelling on - I have some initial thoughts.

Hippie Crap Saves the World

Here's the note from my Mom:

I don’t save many articles—maybe 2 a decade, or something. Anyway, what Matt Taibbi wrote about changing his mind on OWS became one of those. And that reminded me of one I saved almost a decade ago—Hippie Crap Saves the World. It was written in 2003, but it’s really, really, really applicable to today. I’d have posted it up, but I don’t know how to make two pages of it, and it’s long.

Anyway, here it is. Please, PLEASE, consider posting it. It’s fucking brilliant.

Article over the fold...

Occupied Media: Interview With Dean Baker

I'm extremely pleased to present the most recent Occupied Media installment, our interview with economist Dean Baker. Dean Baker is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C. He is the author of several books, including, most recently, The End of Loser Liberalism: Making Markets Progressive. He regularly blogs at Beat the Press, which features commentary on economic reporting.

We discuss Dr. Baker's diagnosis and prescriptions for the economy. Unlike most of the econ folks I've spoken with, Dr. Baker expressed specific concern with our trade imbalances and argues making the dollar more competitive is important for recovery from our short-term economic crisis. Additionally, Dr. Baker has some really interesting ideas for tackling the housing crisis, including giving foreclosed upon homeowners the right to rent their former home for a significant period of time - an interesting solution that would give homeowners in default much-needed leverage in their negotiations with lenders.

Live Blogging #OWS - 11/13/11

November 13, 2011

Occupy Wall Street Sign of the Day

Live Blogging #OWS - 11/12/11

November 12, 2011

Occupy Wall Street Sign of the Day

Too Cool for Jazz Hands

A friend of mine recently pointed out that, apparently, some people are put off by the jazz hands used in the consensus process. I was a little taken aback - I mean with everything wrong with this country and the world, there are people who are dismissive of the first real attempt to do anything about it in years by jazz hands?

Live Blogging #OWS- 11/11/11

Occupy Wall Street Sign of the Day (In honor of Veteran's Day)

Best "We the People" Petition EVER

So, the White House developed a project called "We the People" where citizens can create a petition and then, if they get 5K signatures the White House would ... well, they really wouldn't do much of anything. In response to this bullshit project, a clever fellow citizen has created the best petition ever:

Keynes and the Holy Trilogy* (Repost)

The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones.
~ John Maynard Keynes

You must unlearn what you have learned.
~ Yoda

[W]e’re living in a Dark Age of macroeconomics.
~ Paul Krugman

[T]he Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic. Before the dark times, before the Empire.
~ Obi-Wan Kenobe

* All unidentified or unlinked quotes herein are from Paul Krugman, "How Did Economists Get It So Wrong?" Additionally, even when not directly quoted, significant portions of the following essay are paraphrased from Professor Krugman's article.

Live Blogging #OWS - 11/10/11

Occupy Wall Street Sign of the Day

Occupied Media: Interview With NEDAP's Josh Zinner

Occupied Media's next installment in its #OWS interview and teach-in series is with attorney and co-director of NEDAP, Josh Zinner. Josh witnessed the effects of the endemic mortgage fraud as it ripped through New York's communities; he does an amazing job describing the mechanics of the scam and how we got where we are today. We also discuss whether there should be criminal prosecutions - a resounding yes from Josh on that issue (the people, like Josh, who watched this fraud as it was happening are particularly adamant that the crooks who crashed the world economy and devastated communities should not escape criminal prosecution). Josh also shared his thoughts on the financial-sector reforms that are necessary to keep us from repeating this nightmare. Finally, we pull back from the housing and financial sector issues to discuss, in general terms, what needs to be done to fix our wrecked economy.

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)

11/8/11 - Minimal blogging, day 2

Occupy Wall Street Sign of the Day

11/7/11 - No Minimal blogging today

Hey everyone, I need to take a break from the blog to get something else done. Should be back tomorrow. In the meantime, check out my most recent essay.

And here's the new Chris Hedges.

Update: Here's an Occupy Wall Street Sign of the Day (and I might get to a few updates through the day, but it will be LIGHT).

No War But the Class War: Is Political Realignment Possible?

Have you ever suddenly realized that several ideas that have been rolling through your mind are connected? People who regularly write and think about ideas live for such aha moments. In fact, I think Aldous Huxley had such experiences in mind when he cleverly described “[a]n intellectual” as “a person who has discovered something more interesting than sex.” Although I certainly won’t claim to be in that rarefied ether, I did recently have a minor moment of clarity with respect to three ideas about OWS that have been preoccupying me (ha, preoccupying).

The first comes from a recent interview with Larry Mishel of EPI - who is brilliant and charming and very deserving of all of the praise he’s been getting lately (the interview is currently being edited and will be posted soon). Anyway, during the interview, Larry (we’re on a first name basis) said something that I immediately knew was correct, but that I hadn’t heard articulated: He said that he used to think of our system as broken, but it’s not; it’s functioning exactly how it is supposed to function. The 1% haven’t broken our government; they’ve captured it. And having captured it, they’ve designed it to work for their benefit and against the interests of the 99%.*

As soon as I heard this, I knew it was correct and that it has all kinds of implications (which I’m just starting to think through). But before I get to what I think the primary implication is, there’s a second idea, which is based on something Digby said. But because she said it in the context of a larger debate, it requires a bit of set up.

Live Blogging #OWS - 11/6/11

Occupy Wall Street Sign of the Day (seems to be the theme of the day)

Live Blogging #OWS - 11/5/11

Occupy Wall Street Sign of the Day

Live Blogging #OWS - 11/4/11

10:14 AM: Income inequality denialiam had been popping up before OWS, but since OWS, it's picking up speed. Kudos to Jonathan Chait for calling it what it is - bullshit!

Live Blogging #OWS - 11/3/11

11:00 AM: NYC - Protesters being arrested at sit-in at Goldman Sachs (and I heard on twitter that Chris Hedges is among arrestees).

Live Blogging #OWS - 11/2/11

10:44 AM: November 2, 2011 - Oakland general strike. There are people at rally saying longshoreman support OWS and Port of Oakland is shut down, but then we're getting word from port that it's not - so, not sure what to make of it yet.

Live Blogging #OWS - 11/1/11

12:50 PM: Looks like there are police crackdowns in Tulsa.