I believe this movement was started legitamately and then was co-opted by the likes of moveon.org, ACORN, etc..
Same way rightwing groups have co-opted the TEA party movement.
All the kings horses and all the kings men won’t be able to put the empire together again. -anonymous
7:27 pm October 27, 2011
jamie
Golden Apple
posts 1820
62
In Idaho what was to become the TEA party started with what I considered kind of far out Libertarians, Constitutionalists, truthers and birthers. I went to one meeting and these folks were to far out for me. But the message found a resonance with a lot of Middle America could support. Perhaps they were co-opted but the movement grew by finding a simple message and sticking to it.
OWS is not ready for prime time yet. But it doesn't mean they will stay that way. I know I had some sympathy for the anger against the bailed out banks, corporations and DC. These folks are railing against Capitalism and you look at who is providing the background support and it is the Progressive left. They money that is supporting Zucotti park in Manhattan is staggering, and the ones who will pay the price in any violence won't be the money men or the organizers. It'll be those folks protesting (ignorant/indoctrinated college kids) and the street cop, local Mom & Pop stores and not any of the TBTF banks, Union bosses, Democratic congress critters or college deans and professors that support this movement.
8:51 pm October 27, 2011
Justin Case
Bronze Apple
posts 647
63
Even though no major banker has been charged with any crime yet for putting the financial system at risk, there will likely be changes in the years ahead. After the market crash of 1929, for example, a number of changes were made years later (around the mid 1930s) to the securities and banking laws to correct what was believed to be the cause of the 1929 crash.
Meanwhile, there is a backlash by mainstream America against the Wall Street protests that goes along the lines of "stop feeling sorry for yourself and go get a job like the rest of us have done."
There is hope for America yet. Never underestimate the ability of the average American to possess common sense.
Occupy Wall Street protesters might say they represent 99% of the nation, but there's a growing number of Americans who are making it clear they are not part of the dissident crowd.
They call themselves the 53%…as in the 53% of Americans who pay federal income taxes.
The 53 percenters stress the fact that they are paying the taxes that support the government assistance the protesters say they want.
"What the 99% is missing is the element of personal responsibility."
"I am responsible for my own destiny," writes one 34-year-old father of three. "I will succeed or fail because of me and me alone."
"I took jobs I didn't want. Why don't you?" says one poster to the protesters. "Suck it up and become part of the 53%."
"We didn't go through all that struggle while raising three kids to support people who don't feel they need to work or people who feel they are entitled to something they haven't earned."
What I find really interesting is when someone goes down and talks to the protestors. Like Peter Schiff or that Russian immigrant sorry don't know his name, and asks what they want? #OWS does not answer nor dothey see their own hypocrisy or irony of denying the "Homeless" the free food/clothes/shelter they are given.
8:52 am October 28, 2011
Jarhead
Arkansas
Diamond Apple
posts 2326
65
Most of the protester are socialist sheep who can be led in any direction by their leaders. They cry about the bank bailouts (because it is popular to do so) yet support the very ones responsible (Obama and his like). They complain about capitalism, but it was the lack of capitalism (not allowing the banks and companies to fail) that was the problem. The buying of GM and Chrysler was socialism pure and simple, capitalism allows one to benefit from his success and suffer from their mistakes.
" When a well packaged web of lies has been sold gradually to the masses over generations, the truth will seem utterly preposterous and it's speaker a raving lunatic." Dresden James
2:49 pm October 28, 2011
Jarhead
Arkansas
Diamond Apple
posts 2326
66
This is so rich……I love it!
Conservative Fact of Life: Give a man a fish, and he'll stick around for another.
Providing for folks in need is a good thing, but handouts are dangerous tools. At any point in the giver-receiver relationship, there's a risk of doing more harm than good. If the recipient becomes dependent or feels entitled to his benefits, his initiative atrophies like an unused muscle. Too often the receiver is left less prepared and less likely to succeed in the future. Thus long-term well-being is sacrificed in the name of short-term "help."
The negative effects of welfare can appear quickly, as OWS recently learned. Zuccotti Park has become a hotspot for vagrants in search of free food. Protestor Lauren Digioia recently explained to reporters that OWS has "compassion toward everyone," but that "there are rules and guidelines." Specifically, "[i]f you're going to come here and get our food, bedding and clothing, have books and medical supplies for no charge, they need to give back." Digioia added, "There's a lot of takers here and they feel entitled."
(HA HA HA LOVE IT )
Conservative Fact of Life: Everybody is wealthier than somebody, but that doesn't give anyone the right to take from others.
Protester Nan Terrie allegedly came to Zuccotti Park with a $5,500 Mac laptop (near the top 1% of portable computers, perhaps). One night after Terrie succumbed to fatigue after a long day as a kitchen volunteer, preparing meals for fellow protestors, a thief made off with the high-end computer.
"Stealing is our biggest problem at the moment," Terrie told reporters. A problem indeed. Suddenly it didn't matter that the computer was $2,000 more than even the most tricked out MacBook Pro available in the Apple online store. Or that scores of laptops exist at a fraction of the price (the computer I'm using to write this article was 1/10 the price of the Terrie's stolen Mac). No, the only thing that mattered was that taking something that someone else earned was wrong. That fact holds for a college student's electronic devices as well as a hedge fund manager's compensation.
Conservative Fact of Life: Rugged individualism is the only sensible approach to life.
America was built by people who refused to wait around for someone else to make them a living. From the frontiersman who left everything to chase his dreams in the American West to the entrepreneurs of the Forbes 400 list, Americans who make their own way are the most successful.
It didn't take long for protestor Peter Hogness to learn whom he could trust. Angry about empty promises regarding the protestor status in Zuccotti Park, Hogness stumbled upon true wisdom. "One thing we have learned from this is that we need to rely on ourselves and not on promises from elected officials," Hogness told reporters.
Conservative Fact of Life: Though she's a seductive mistress, Utopia never quite works out as a wife.
Conservative author and columnist Dr. Thomas Sowell once said that he would love to live in the kind of world envisioned by the left. In such a world we would have few inequalities, few wants, and men would act as angels, working for the common good. The problem for the left is that their vision is based on a premise that does not exist in the real world.
The longer the OWS protests last, the more they confront the real world. As money has begun to roll in from supporters (reportedly $500,000), life has only become more complicated. "F**k Finance," said Bryan Smith when he couldn't get access to the funds he wanted. "I hope Mayor Bloomberg gets an injunction and demands to see the movement's books."
When Elija Moses requested $8,000 to replace his vandalized drum set, he was turned down. "We don't have the power for [purchases that large]," explained Finance Committeeman Pete Dutro. "They have to go to the General Assembly."
Moses put it best when he simply said, "I'm really frustrated." Yes, Utopia can be quite frustrating for anyone who believes it can exist. Alas, an earthly Eden does not exist, and its mortal imitations are no more than an unwieldy collection of committees, assemblies, and frustrated citizens.
It's unlikely that these experiences will change minds among the Occupiers. (But there's always hope — even Sowell was once a committed Marxist.) Unfortunately, once Occupy Wall Street has picketed its final bank, sung its last rendition of Cumbayá and gone home, it will take just one sentence to define the movement: "The truths of conservatism stared them in the face; sadly, they failed to notice."
" When a well packaged web of lies has been sold gradually to the masses over generations, the truth will seem utterly preposterous and it's speaker a raving lunatic." Dresden James
9:44 pm October 28, 2011
Gallo
Bronze Apple
posts 924
67
About socialism: show me a socialist economy and I'll show you a place where wealth is concentrated in small elite group.
5:01 am October 29, 2011
Pete
Bronze Apple
posts 715
68
Jarhead said:
This is so rich……I love it!
Conservative Fact of Life: Give a man a fish, and he'll stick around for another.
Providing for folks in need is a good thing, but handouts are dangerous tools. At any point in the giver-receiver relationship, there's a risk of doing more harm than good. If the recipient becomes dependent or feels entitled to his benefits, his initiative atrophies like an unused muscle. Too often the receiver is left less prepared and less likely to succeed in the future. Thus long-term well-being is sacrificed in the name of short-term "help."
The negative effects of welfare can appear quickly, as OWS recently learned. Zuccotti Park has become a hotspot for vagrants in search of free food. Protestor Lauren Digioia recently explained to reporters that OWS has "compassion toward everyone," but that "there are rules and guidelines." Specifically, "[i]f you're going to come here and get our food, bedding and clothing, have books and medical supplies for no charge, they need to give back." Digioia added, "There's a lot of takers here and they feel entitled."
(HA HA HA LOVE IT )
X2 Great find, Jarhead! I was originally pretty worried about this movement…is it starting to run out of steam, not getting the sympathy it needed to get mainstream?
The United States' I grew up in no longer exists…click your heals, Dorothy: you're not in Kansas anymore!!
9:08 am October 29, 2011
Jarhead
Arkansas
Diamond Apple
posts 2326
69
Post edited 9:09 am – October 29, 2011 by Jarhead
Pete
X2 Great find, Jarhead! I was originally pretty worried about this movement…is it starting to run out of steam, not getting the sympathy it needed to get mainstream?
Yeah, because they were attacking Wall Street they received much support. Once their Marxist views became apparent their popularity started to fall. The organizers had a good idea when they attacked the big banks and corporations, hell everyone is hates them but it began to fall apart once the idiot protesters opened their mouths.
" When a well packaged web of lies has been sold gradually to the masses over generations, the truth will seem utterly preposterous and it's speaker a raving lunatic." Dresden James
12:08 pm November 3, 2011
MW
Over the Rainbow
Golden Apple
posts 1622
70
Now they're resorting to violence.
All the kings horses and all the kings men won’t be able to put the empire together again. -anonymous
7:05 pm November 4, 2011
Jarhead
Arkansas
Diamond Apple
posts 2326
71
Post edited 7:05 pm – November 4, 2011 by Jarhead
ACORN Officials Scramble, Firing Workers and Shredding Documents, After Exposed as Players Behind Occupy Wall Street Protests
Hiring people to carry signs and join the protests.So that's why the protest keep growing. Maybe this is Obama's new jobs bill….hire people to join the protest and carry signs. Love it…a true grass roots uprising.
" When a well packaged web of lies has been sold gradually to the masses over generations, the truth will seem utterly preposterous and it's speaker a raving lunatic." Dresden James
1:43 pm November 17, 2011
Jarhead
Arkansas
Diamond Apple
posts 2326
72
I was a little worried about the ideas of the OWS crowd…..but after I read these demands posted on their web site I feel better now.
Repeal the Taft-Hartley Act. Unionize ALL workers immediately.
Raise the minimum wage immediately to $18/hr. Create a maximum wage of $90/hr to eliminate inequality.
Institute a 6 hour workday, and 6 weeks of paid vacation.
Institute a moratorium on all foreclosures and layoffs immediately.
Repeal racist and xenophobic English-only laws.
Open the borders to all immigrants, legal or illegal. Offer immediate, unconditional amnesty, to all undocumented residents of the US.
Create a single-payer, universal health care system.
Pass stricter campaign finance reform laws. Ban all private donations. All campaigns will receive equal funding, provided by the taxpayers.
Institute a negative income tax, and tax the very rich at rates up to 90%.
Pass far stricter environmental protection and animal rights laws.
Allow workers to elect their supervisors.
Lower the retirement age to 55. Increase Social Security benefits.
Create a 5% annual wealth tax for the very rich.
Ban the private ownership of land.
Make homeschooling illegal. Religious fanatics use it to feed their children propaganda.
Reduce the age of majority to 16.
Abolish the death penalty and life in prison. We call for the immediate release of all death row inmates from death row and transferred to regular prisons.
Release all political prisoners immediately.
Immediate withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Abolish the debt limit.
Ban private gun ownership.
Strengthen the separation of church and state.
Immediate debt forgiveness for all.
End the 'War on Drugs'.
and here I thought they were just a bunch of nuts
" When a well packaged web of lies has been sold gradually to the masses over generations, the truth will seem utterly preposterous and it's speaker a raving lunatic." Dresden James
10:36 pm November 18, 2011
MW
Over the Rainbow
Golden Apple
posts 1622
73
They're demands have already been met -albeit on a smaller scale- over the past 60 years of the welfare state.
All the kings horses and all the kings men won’t be able to put the empire together again. -anonymous
" When a well packaged web of lies has been sold gradually to the masses over generations, the truth will seem utterly preposterous and it's speaker a raving lunatic." Dresden James
11:38 pm December 1, 2011
Gallo
Bronze Apple
posts 924
76
+1
8:23 am December 2, 2011
Pete
Bronze Apple
posts 715
77
Yeah, he nailed it…good find, JH.
The United States' I grew up in no longer exists…click your heals, Dorothy: you're not in Kansas anymore!!