Field Reports: January 2012

Truth Was the First Causality

Real Time

It is Saturday, January 28, 2012. At approximately 6:32 PM PST, peaceful protestors were kettled by the Oakland Police.

According to early reports from Oakland Police is that protestors were throwing rocks at police. According to Citizen Journalist, and the few main stream journalists, on the street, the police report is pure fabrication. The Oakland Police came out in force against the Citizens of Oakland, California who participated in this night protest. There are confirmed reports of police blocking off exit routs while demanding that the protesters disperse. One Oakland Police Sargent was heard telling protestors to “submit” to being arrested while other Oakland Officers were shoving people against the wall, and throwing them to the ground. A full two block area was cut off by Oakland Police, and all within that area were subject to arrest. Most of the Citizen Journalist on the street were subsequently arrested, zip-tied, and put into Oakland Police vehicles.

There are also confirmed reports of Oakland Police using Tear Gas[1], and rubber bullets, against the protestors again. From @__Klio__, “Police just shot protester in small of her back when she was less than a foot away. Crying, limping.” @susie_c, Susie Cagle, a credentialed freelance reporter, stated, “I have a tear gas headache and sore nose and throat still. And it's early yet.” Seems Oakland Police will never learn. Susie C was briefly detained by Oakland Police, but released. Five other citizen journalists were taken into custody.

At one point in the evening, a YMCA opened its doors to allegedly allow protestors safe haven. The YMCA, according to street reports, then was besieged by Oakland Police threatening to arrest all within the building.

The Oakland Police, in spite of contrary witness, are denying ketteling protestors, using chemical agents on them, or allowing them to disband. Hundreds of protesters are being arrested on the slimmest presence of officer safety. The protest was to call attention to the number of abandoned buildings in Oakland California.

Truth

This is, to some, a Civil War. If that is correct then truth was the first causality of this war. One can see this in a post from Thursday, January 26, 2012 on the Andrew Breitbart Presents Big Government Featuring Editor in Chief Mike Flynn blog.[2] There is enough in the blog’s title to ponder before getting into the article It's Official: #OccupyChicago Feeble Pawns of the NATO/G8 Protest. Who is Andrew Breitbart? Who is Mike Flynn? Who is the author Rebel Pundit? Why should the reader care? Why should the reader consider them a credible authority on any topic, let along the NATO/G8 Protest, or #OccupyChicago? It would be best to answer those questions first.

The Players

Andrew Breitbart ^{^[3]} is, as best as one can put it, a web-based technocrat.[4] He is essentially a Regan era, self-absorbed GenXer, who embraces a certain form of Libertarianism which only want to outlaw whatever it is that others want. He uses his considerable skill at website development to puff himself up, and prove his worth to humanity. Considering his early years, one can’t fault him. Too, his skills are commendable. However, when it comes to Occupy Chicago he has no credibility. Seems a question should be asked here: If he is against Big Government, why is he pro NATO and G8? Supporting NATO and the G8 is the essence of the article posted on Thursday.

As far as Mike Flynn is concerned, a cursory search on Google doesn’t turn up much. Other than being the Editor-in-Chief of BigGovernment, there is nothing on him. It is a guess that his role in BigGovernment is the guy with the sharp pencil who makes sure the site has some kind of capability for the Target Audience. Again, there is no Chicago connection.

That of course brings us to who is @rebelpundit (to use the twitter name)? Rebelpundit[5] is not a “who,” it is a “what.” Rebelpundit is a late comer Chicago based anti-progressive, supporter of the Tea-Party. According to their website, “Rebel Pundit is a group effort based in Chicago, the belly of the progressive beast.” While Chicago based, they are not on the “inside” of Occupy Chicago.

Caustic Denunciations

According to Rebelpundit’s bombastic proclamation, “We now have the evidence to prove that the early phase of the movement was nothing more than a staging period to build an infrastructure that will culminate in a massive occupation of Chicago this May.” Really? Were they paying attention to @OccupyChicago when “Lee” first tweeted the unplanned call to support Occupy Wall Street in Chicago? Many will remember her assertion that she needed help in organizing this effort since she was not good at organizing. Lee was the first to hit the streets here in Chicago. Like so many of us, it is highly doubtful that she had any connection to AdBusters. She, and most who latter came to the original occupation site, were there in support of Occupy Wall Street, and the obscenity that wealth has made of our Democratic Republic.

Again citing the opposition website,” A source affiliated with Occupy Chicago has also revealed to RebelPundit that the Occupy Chicago leadership was totally caught off-guard that this tactical advance was coming from Adbusters; and Occupy Chicago PR is now playing it off as if they were “in-the-know” all along.” Point of fact, this was proposed by “99,” and others in the Direct Action committee, at an Occupy Chicago GA back in October. It happened to be one of the few General Assemblies where I was in attendance. The opposition would have you think otherwise.

Here is where the opposition’s logic begins to falter. Mind you they have already stated that Occupy Chicago was not “in the loop” on the plans to massively protest the NATO/G8 conventions in May 2012. They state, “[T]he location [of Occupy Chicago’s new loft] is conveniently located within walking distance to the McCormick Place convention center, the site the summit is presumed to be held.” If Occupy Chicago was not “in-the-know” about the McCormick Place Conferences then the location is a coincidence. If they were “in-the-know” then they are moving forward with plans which were first brought up in October 2011. Whichever it is, the opposition needs to get their story straight.

They also point out; “The “grassroots group” is spending over $5,000 per month on the headquarters ....” Occupy Chicago has collected over $18,000.00 in donations since September 23, 2011. $5.00, $10.00, $20.00 add up over time. The Occupation movement gained popularity in the early days. Compared to the hundreds of thousands spent by the Koch brothers to fund CATO[6] and the Tea Party[7], $18K is pocket change. One can guess that “Grassroots” fundraising is just Un-American to The Opposition because it excludes Corporate People.

“Is it any wonder that the same week Occupy Chicago secured its lease on a giant warehouse loft, Adbusters put out this grand call? This coordination is a perfect example of the strength of the infrastructure now in place and the ease with which the Occupy puppets are being strung along,” is probably the most inane statement in the entire anti-Occupy Chicago diatribe[8]. Again, either Occupy Chicago’s General Assembly planned this site to be used in conjunction with the NATO/G8 conferences protest, or they did not. They can’t be the ones planning the assistance, and the puppets dancing on the string. One cannot be both at the same time.

One does have to wonder: why does The Opposition love NATO and the G8?

Cooler Heads in Chicago

While Occupy Chicago seems about as transparent as smoked glass, and tends to “Keep people off-balance and in the dark by never revealing the purpose behind [their] action ….” [9] they are in a precarious situation. They could find themselves, at some future date, being labeled, enemy noncombatants, terrorist, traitors, saboteurs, or infiltrators.

It has to be noted that almost anything that anyone wants to know about Occupy Chicago can be found at www.occupychi.org. Navigation through the forums is a bit rough, but all the information is there … you just have to find it.

Right now, in spite of the paranoia within, and the denunciation from without, Occupy Chicago is seen as a group of protestors in opposition to Corporate Rule of The United States of America. As far as the NATO/G8 summits later this year, even Alderman Ricardo Munoz[10] (22^nd Ward[11]) sees the NATO/G8 protestors as an important part of the democratic process. Munoz is set to propose legislative protection to social networking in the coming February 15, 2012 Council Meeting. According to the Sun-Times, Munzo’s said “Social media sites are more than information-sharing tools. They are also organizing tools. They’re fundamental to our right to free speech and public assembly,”[12]

[1] List of chemical warfare agents. (2011, August 26). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 03:35, January 29, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_chemical_warfare_agents&oldid=446790477

[2] Pundit, R. (2012, January 27). It's Official: #OccupyChicago Feeble Pawns of the NATO/G8 Protest. In Big Government . Retrieved January 29, 2012, from http://biggovernment.com/rebelpundit/2012/01/27/its-official-occupychicago-feeble-pawns-of-the-natog8-protests/

[3] Andrew Breitbart. (2012, January 25). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 17:09, January 29, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Andrew_Breitbart&oldid=473223742

[4] Technocracy. (2011, December 20). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 17:17, January 29, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Technocracy&oldid=466831214

[5] Rebelpundit. (n.d.). About. In Rebelpundit: Citizen Journalism from the Belly of the Beast. Retrieved January 29, 2012, from http://rebelpundit.com/about/

[6] Project Censored. (2011, September 12). Koch Brothers Fund Tea Party. In Medium Freedom Intl.: Media Democracy in Action. Retrieved January 29, 2012, from http://www.mediafreedominternational.org/2011/10/24/koch-brothers-fund-tea-party/

[7] Fang, L. (2011, November 2). Romney Campaign Memo: The Koch Brothers Are The ‘Financial Engine Of The Tea Party’. In Think Progress. Retrieved January 29, 2012, from http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/11/03/360433/romney-koch-tea-party/

[8] diatribe. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged. Retrieved January 29, 2012, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/diatribe

[9] Maxwell, John C. Ethics 101: What Every Leader Needs to Know. New York: Center Street, 2003, p.64

[10] Ricardo Muñoz. (2011, June 12). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 19:41, January 29, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ricardo_Mu%C3%B1oz&oldid=433890666

[11] Logan Square, Chicago. (2012, January 3). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 19:45, January 29, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Logan_Square,_Chicago&oldid=469298603

[12] Spielman, F. (2012, January 27). Alderman wants to keep social media on during NATO/G8 . In Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved January 29, 2012, from http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/10270799-460/alderman-wants-to-keep-social-media-turned-on-during-natog8.html

Time to Make Some Changes

Chicagoist: Board of Trade has a message for Occupy Chicago

There is no secret on my twitter account, or other blogs, that I was an active supporter of Occupy Wall Street months before September 17, 2011.

There is also no secret that I have had misgivings about Occupy Chicago, and the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Those misgivings, however, are small in comparison to the accomplishments of that group of activist. The have brought the message of corporate accountability to the heart of Chicago’s financial district. One can’t get much closer to the pulse of Capitalism in Chicago then the corner of LaSalle and Jackson.

For those of you who do not know Chicago. LaSalle runs north and south and “T”s at Jackson. To the east, where you will often find #Ochi (Occupy Chicago), is Bank of America (will write more about them in a later installment). Across the street, on the west, is Chicago’s very own branch of the Federal Reserve. Both are imposing, if not dysfunctional, American Institutions. But the real heart of Chicago’s money movers is The CBOT.

Physically at 141 W. Jackson[1] the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT)[2], merged in 2007 with the CME[3] (Chicago Mercantile Exchange) to become the CME Group[4], reaches around the globe. It was here in this muddy, convoluted world, originally designed to protect farmers and consumers from wild price fluctuations in basic food stocks, that Wall Street’s Dirty Paper Changed hands.

At this point, pending further investigation, one can speculate (part and parcel of the CME Group’s[5] “stock and trade”) the dirty paper (toxic asset bundled commercial paper) was not generated here; it was only moved here. If true, then one would think that the boyz at the CBOT would be more sympathetic to Occupy Chicago. But, that has not been the case.[6]

As preserved by the Chicagoist[7] from the Camera of @OccupyChicago (on Twitter), the boyz of the CBOT have a different view of life. Having worked as a runner on the trading floor of the CBOT from 1980 to 1983, I can assure you that not everyone who works at the CBOT is a 1%er. There are probably fewer 1%ers at the CBOT than even the CBOT would like to admit. However, they are almost all Capitalist. I say, almost ‘cause – well, what the hell? -- I worked there; Boyz, been there, done that; know the cubby holes in the trading desk for hiding the juice cans.

The one thing that we’ve learned from the kids of Occupy Chicago is that what happens on the street is far more important than what happens on the web. The web can be a conduit to report the events from the street, but the events have to occur first. This, of course, is fundamental. However, in the Bush years, cyberactivism seemed to be about the best you could get out of most people. Their silent consent to be part of a Yahoo Group (like New Millennium News Archive [8] a.k.a. USAFWZ or The Progressive Voice) denouncing the policies that brought us to this point was the best one could hope for. Latter day baby boomers, or Generation Jones,[9] did not believe that there was the will, or the energy to take it to the streets. I did believe it was there. It was just waiting to be pushed. The recession of 2008[10], TARP[11], and the GM Bailout[12] provided that push.

For more than a generation we were all taught to be personally responsible for our own financial wellbeing. That is still the mantra of the Capitalist today. However, when it came time for the Corporation to pay for their high risk bookmaking, they stuck their hand in the public till to keep afloat. Our conservative, capitalist government invited them to the cashbox! As is often shouted, “The Banks got bailed out; we got sold out.”

That is why Occupy Chicago took to the street on September 23, 2011, and why they are still functioning out of loft space at Riverfront Work Lofts, 500 W. Cermak Rd, Chicago, Ill.[13]

So … what is changing? Succinctly, you are looking at it. I’ve acquired a new domain name, a new title, and a new mission. Actually, it is the old mission began at Forest Glen Baptist Church[14] in 1975: the attempt to make Chicago a better city.

Thank you very much, Occupy Chicago[15], and Occupy Wall Street[16] for proving I was right all along.

@cliffpotts

[1] Chicago Board of Trade Building. (2011, November 22). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 16:43, January 22, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chicago_Board_of_Trade_Building&oldid=461863866

[2] Chicago Board of Trade. (2012, January 18). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 16:43, January 22, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chicago_Board_of_Trade&oldid=471980368

[3] Chicago Mercantile Exchange. (2011, December 13). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 16:43, January 22, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chicago_Mercantile_Exchange&oldid=465687937

[4] CME Group. (2012, January 21). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 16:43, January 22, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=CME_Group&oldid=472481428

[5] http://www.cmegroup.com/company/cbot.html

[6] http://www.mediaite.com/online/traders-from-chicago-board-of-trade-dump-mcdonalds-applications-on-occupy-chicago-protesters/

[7] http://chicagoist.com/2011/10/05/board_of_trade_has_a_message_for_oc.php

[8] http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/NMNewsArchive/

[9] Generation Jones. (2012, January 8). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 16:53, January 22, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Generation_Jones&oldid=470338903

[10] Late-2000s recession. (2012, January 22). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 16:57, January 22, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Late-2000s_recession&oldid=472142593

[11] Troubled Asset Relief Program. (2012, January 14). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 16:56, January 22, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Troubled_Asset_Relief_Program&oldid=471386958

[12] Automotive industry crisis of 2008–2010. (2012, January 20). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 16:59, January 22, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Automotive_industry_crisis_of_2008%E2%80%932010&oldid=472338307

[13] http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/01/20/new-winter-headquarters-for-occupy-chicago/

[14] http://chicago.citysearch.com/profile/36778253/chicago_il/forest_glen_baptist_church.html

[15] http://occupychi.org/

[16] http://occupywallst.org/

Historical Hull House Halts Helping Hand

Hull House was founded in 1889 to help immigrants adjust to America. According to AP it helped 60,000 foster children and battered women a year. According to the story posted in The Chicago Tribune’s News website, “The agency's board chairman Stephen Saunders said Thursday that the organization will close this spring and file for bankruptcy.” [1]

According to Liam Ford and Kate Thayer, Chicago Tribune reporters, writing on January 21, 2012, in Reliance on shrinking government funds doomed Hull House; the closure of the private agency helping foster kids, and battered women was due to its dependency on Government Funding. As if echoing the voice of Occupy Chicago’s support of Occupy Wall Street, “In fundraising, ‘it's difficult to raise private money to donate to government work,’ said Margaret Berglind, president of Child Care Association of Illinois. ‘The government is asking you to do today's work at yesterday's prices.’” The article points out, “Even with high-profile fundraisers honoring prominent Chicagoans at places like the Museum of Science and Industry, it's been hard for the organization to make up for losses from government cutbacks.”[2] In a related story, “Terry Mazany, president and CEO of the Chicago Community Trust, called Hull House's bankruptcy filing “the canary in the coal mine, alerting us to the impact of successive years of cutbacks to human services in our state. This action is a reminder of just how precarious the viability of this sector is in the face of government retrenchment.”[3]

We are told that Capitalism will work to “trickle down” and assist the less fortunate, yet this is the news of the day. How much more needs to be written about the lies we are told daily about the superiority of American Capitalism? Not only is the public sector failing, but the private sector charity (or love, as it has been translated) is nonexistent. Liam Ford and Kate Thayer point out that private donation trickled to a few million for this historic institution in recent years. Even the Tribune, in print, and television (as seen on WGN’s Morning News) wants us all to embrace American Capitalism and the Voo-Doo economics started under Ronald Reagan 32 years ago.

In a recent conversation I was told (on Twitter) by an Occupy Chicago sympathizer, “I [wouldn’t] call all upper 99% (80%+) evil; they [are] doctors, [and small business] owners who worked hard. Some see the need [for] change, others don't.” There is much truth in his observation. The caveat, however, is that even in this current system, those who see the need for change can do very little.

In 2007, I shared Elliott Currie’s observations on how the free market (American Capitalism) economy leads to crime in the United States of America.[4]

Elliott Currie identifies seven pathways through which the free market economy creates the high risk of crime in the United States:

1. The progressive destruction of livelihood;

2. The growth of extremes of economic inequality and material deprivation;

3. The withdrawal of public services and support, especially for families and children;

4. The erosion of informal and communal networks of mutual support, supervision, and care;

5. The spread of materialistic, neglectful, and “hard” culture;

6. The unregulated marketing of the technology of violence;

7. The weakening of social and political alternatives.^{^[5]}

This is exactly what we are seeing played out in the nation today. People are on the street, even now when the temperatures are dropping below freezing, protesting this materialistic, neglectful, and hard culture. They are classified as criminals, and worse, even by those who are less than a paycheck away from destitution. Stories fill pages on the crime ridden, infested, unhygienic impromptu camps of the Occupation Movement around the world; some locations have even labeled the protestors as terrorist.[6]

The real crime is not committed by the Occupy Protestors. The real crime is committed by those within the system who embrace the criminal mentality, and the destruction of humanity. What are we seeing here?

Jobs are outsourced because it is more profitable to run a sweet shop in China than develop a viable business in the US.
The destruction of the Middle Class as 400 people control more wealth than 151,285,314 people.
Constant threats to popular social networking sites like Twitter, YouTube, FaceBook, the now defunct Megaupload[7], by heavy handed legislation as proposed in SOPA and PIPA.
The constant attacks against the Occupy Wall Street movement by local police acting on the behalf of a few prominent officials desperately quashing any call for accountability.
And now, The Bankruptcy of Hull House after 123 years of operation, and surviving The Great Depression of the 1930s.

Even Republican Presidential Candidate Newt Gingrich is questioning what is going on in the U.S.A. today: "[C]rony capitalism, where people pay each other off at the expense of the rest of the country, is not free enterprise; and raising questions about that is not wrong."[8] He has since decided that questioning Crony Capitalism is wrong to his constituents.

Hull House is closing. The 60,000 foster children and battered women it helps per year will now turn to the state. The 157,460,224 who don’t want to see change in the nation, those who quashed Gingrich’s criticism (politically motivated thought it may be), may indeed be qualified as accomplices to flagrant criminal activity; or just plain evil.

[1] Associated Press. (2012, January 19). Chicago's Jane Addams Hull House to close. In Chicago Tribune News . Retrieved January 21, 2012, from http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-il-hullhouseclosing,0,6480287.story

[2] Ford, L., & Thayer, K. (2012, January 21). Reliance on shrinking government funds doomed Hull House. In Chicago Tribune: Chicagoland. Retrieved January 21, 2012, from http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-hull-house-closes-20120121,0,5594743.story

[3] Kapos, S. (2012, January 20). 'Canary in the coal mine': Hull House will file for bankruptcy . In Crain's Chicago Business (blog). Retrieved January 21, 2012, from http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20120120/BLOGS03/120119729

[4] Potts, C. A. (2008). Wealth, Women and War (p. 74). Dallas, TX: WordTechs Press.

[5] Cullen, F. T., & Agnew, R. (Eds.). (2003). Criminological Theory: Past to Present (2nd ed.). Los Angeles: Roxbury Publishing Company, p. 338.

[6] Rawlinson, K. (2011, December 5). Police in City see occupiers as 'terror' risk. In The Independent . Retrieved January 21, 2012, from http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/police-in-city-see-occupiers-as-terror-risk-6272434.html

[7] Tijs, A. (2012, January 20). File-Sharing Site Megaupload Has Been Shut Down. In Noise11. Retrieved January 21, 2012, from http://www.noise11.com/news/file-sharing-site-megaupload-has-been-shut-down-20120120

[8] Finnegan, M. (2012, January 11). Newt Gingrich: 'Crony capitalism . is not free enterprise'. In Los Angeles Times . Retrieved January 21, 2012, from http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jan/11/news/la-pn-newt-gingrich-crony-capitalismis-not-free-enterprise-20120111

Games: Obama for the Block

The movie is pure fiction, but one worth watching. In 1983, David Lightman, looking to download a game, hacks into a Supercomputer, and innocently sets off a chain of events which almost set off a global thermonuclear war. The machine, as it turns out, does not know the difference between a simulation and the real thing. The movie is called WarGames.

This was brought to mind the other day when I was arguing with a troll from the CATO Institute on Twitter. His take is that government is bad, capitalism is good, and he will succeed even if all others fail. It is all a game anyway, and he will win. Nothing else matters as long as he wins. The troll is the offspring of a School Teacher in Minnesota who has raised him under the protection of the Civil Servant’s system and Union Representation, but he is anti-government, anti-union, and anti-Obama. He is also a rabid supporter of Ron Paul. Like many he embraces the lawlessness of the Libertarian ideal until it bumps up against some cherished institution; repealing farm subsidies being one of them.

During this conversation, I was informed that it is all a game; nothing but a game with deep implications. And a game he was going to win.

I use the personal pronoun there because that was the core of his argument. Nothing else mattered as long as he won in life. With a world view like that, we see the core of the 1%ers. He will probably win, and the remaining 308,745,537 U.S. Citizens can go to hell. That was the gist of the budding Gekko-ish “Greed is Good” argument. He is not alone. This is the argument behind Janie Johnson’s “Don't Take My Lemonade Stand – An American Philosophy,” and the ramblings of John Stossel, and George Will.

That brings me back to WarGames: an unwinnable game. If you have not seen the movie this is going to be a spoiler (I figure that talking about the end of a 29 year old movie is not a gross offense of public civility). In WarGames, to stop the WOPR (the supercomputer) from launching its missiles at the Soviet Union, they had it play Tic-Tac-Toe as it frantically sought the launch codes. Computer multitasking, along with Artificial Intelligence which could learn from experience, was a Si-Fi dream in Hollywood in 1983. The WOPR decided, based on Tic-Tac-Toe, that thermonuclear was a pointless, no win game. It did not launch.

Right now, politically, we are pretty much in the same boat. 1%ers, and those who aspire to be 1%ers, think this is all a game. As such they are doing all they can to block the progress of the nation. One might be so bold as to call that a class version of Global Thermonuclear War. However, it is a no win game. If 400 win at the expense of 308,745,137 citizens, that is not a win.

Using the Tic-Tac-Toe, no win, analogy all we can do is block the elite who are bent on destroying the US for the sake of their dream of domination. View it as a political version of Hollywood Squares. If that is the case, we have one choice this coming November (if we stay within the current rules of society).

I choose, Obama for the block.

Your move now ….

Games: Obama for the Block

During this conversation, I was informed that it is all a game; nothing but a game with deep implications. And a game he was going to win.

I choose, Obama for the block.

Your move now ….

Make Their War Pay Off

Technological Stratification

I did hear from the producers of 99% (The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film). There is no animosity there. The incident I shared with you is only one illustration of what people take for granted along the way (and I am a very small, infinitesimal part of that major project), but it was worth illumination.

There is allot of this technological stratification going on. It is not new. A telephone poll of November 2, 1948, proclaimed that Dewey Defeated Truman. He did not. The majority of Truman's voters in 1948 did not have phones.

This recession has gutted many people in this nation. And has caused frustration for many. As a minor example, I cannot be at Occupy Chicago’s activities because of various factors I have mentioned; I can’t afford bus fare. It is frustrating. It is frustrating because I am doing everything I am supposed to do, all the right, ethical, Christian things I am to do, and I am in the hole financially the day after I get paid. This is the America of the 1%. This is the America of the CATO institute. This is the America of the Republicans. Since Obama, the era's current version of Woodrow Wilson, is the best hope we have to block the aims of the GOP, then there is a damn good chance that he will have a second term.

Written Even Before the GOP went off the Deep End Last Night

There is a pretty good chance that before we are out of this decade we will see one more war. It will not be a colonial war on some foreign soil. It will not be against the impoverished citizens of some forgotten tribe. It will not be an asymmetrical war against some form of enemy noncombatant or “unlawful combatants.” It will be a war like WWII, a full war. It will be like the Civil War with blood on the American streets. There will be American blood, foreign blood, human blood, staining the sidewalks of Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, San Francisco, Long Beach, and hundreds of small towns along the way. It will happen because we have done this to so many smaller countries around the globe that when the power does shift we will be left standing alone on the wrong side of the history of humanity. It does not make one small speck of difference who we elect this November. This war is coming. If for no other reason it is Karma. We’ve brought it on ourselves. One can even say we have earned it.

When this happens, no matter who the US ends up calling “The Enemy,” remember that it is to the benefit of the 1%. Think not? Remember US Corporations sold strategic supplies to Nazi Germany during World War II through satellite operations in South America. Old man Bush was one of them, even as his son was in harm’s way in the Pacific Theater.

War is a money machine for the few at the cost of the general population. Need a reminder? Very few of the Confederacy soldiers owned slaves, and very few of those who stood for the Union ever saw a Black person. In the end, one out of eleven Union combatants never returned home. They were left on the battlefields of the South. The best guestimate is 612,000 dead. Why? ‘Cause of a Peculiar Institution called chattel slavery that crushed humans for the sake of the profits of a very few. Confederate States cited as much in their statements of succession.

In the end of the World War II, we did prosecute the German War criminals; we did nothing about the US traitors. The same thing occurred when the Civil War was over. There were ramifications during the Reconstruction era. That is a given. However, those who had committed treason were given a pass. They were doing their duty … and making money off the blood of others. We paid the price for their greed, and stupidity.

I’d probably do better, and be more convincing if I posted all sorts of links here. However, you can educate yourself on what happened, or you can let it be. The bottom line here is that while the buildings burn, and the smoke obscures the sun, the 1% will be wheeling and dealing to make even more off of your blood, and that of your children and grandchildren.

Of course I am not telling you anything new, but this you should consider: if we get dragged into another World War, and the enemy climbs over the hometown ridge, when you finish off the invaders, before the pen is laid on the armistice, clear out the 1% for the sake of the future generations. Send ‘em packing, penniless, destitute, and stained as the murders they are. This is no less than what God did to Cain.

Allies, and Opponents

To belabor the obvious: Welcome to the 2012.

So far this year, I’ve managed to alienate allies, and opponents.

Last Saturday, I attended the screening of 99% (The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film). You may have seen the tweets, or email which I sent announcing this event. That screening did not go well on my end. As you may know from reading this blog, I am one of the struggling 99%. I live in an extended stay hotel with two others in an “alternative living” arrangement. I am one of the many working poor. I have no extra money for frills. My access to the net is limited by what is provided by the hotel. Even at the best time, like now, I have a Wi-Fi connection which is choked to 11Mbps (best throughput on an IEEE 802.11b connection). Once the Hotel awakens it degrades to about that of a fast dial-up modem. Last Saturday, 7 January 2012, my throughput was 1 Mbps. Unfortunately, that was not enough throughput for me to watch the rush screening.

While I did participate graciously in the Theater, I also had a conversation with the services' Technical Support. I was certain they could do nothing about the data throughput, but I contacted them anyway. I figured that they needed to know the limitations of their service. I was told that I could go to a different location, and try again later if the producers of the movie would arrange to allow me to have another screening (shades of someone who was trained by Microsoft’s® Technical Support). I was not too surprised at that answer; once again, even among Occupy Wall Street Supporters the dark hand of American capitalism comes to play.

There is, even within the Occupation, an assumption of access to Middle Class Resources. Those who are not up to that level need not jostle the sensitivities of those who still retain their socioeconomic strata. I can only guess that they were somewhat surprised by my not taking the suggestion like a vagabond on the street with a “Yes, Ma’am …. Thank you, Ma’am …. God bless you Ma’am.” I did go to twitter and rip off a blistering stream aimed at no one. No names were mention. No one was condemned. No one was called out. I was venting. That is, by design and convention, one of the reasons the Internet exists.

Before moving on, let me again repeat myself; I was one of the tens of thousands who had a hand in bringing the Internet into existence. I was one of the geeks who came in to new installations and made the network work. And I was one of the tens of thousands dumped on his ass when Corporate America was done with us by the end of 2000. That puts me about eight to ten years ahead of many of the Occupiers. As I was told in 2005 by my Comp TIA A+ Certification instructor: “Success in IT (Information Technology) is not what you know, but who you know.” Mind you I had just paid $1,500.00 for the boot camp to get certified on what I already knew. I was also informed by one recruiter at TekSystems in Fort Worth that once one is out of IT for six months it is almost impossible to get back into the field. While seeming to digress here, the point is: The pervasive attitude, even among the Occupiers, is “I’ve got mine!” Sometimes that is followed by an expletive of what you, or I, should do.

Being that I am 54, I am also pretty sure that many would just as soon I shut up and die already to make room for the twenty-somethings rising to fill positions that we have clogged up on the way down. Age discrimination is rampant in the US (and I documented it in Wealth, Women and War in 2007). “I’ve got mine!” is the real battle cry in the USA today.

I’ve not heard a word from the folks at 99% (The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film) – other than the anonymous, oft’ unanswered, and repeated tweets since January 7, 2012. They do have some of my video and all of my pictures from Occupy Chicago dating from September 23, 2011 to November 25, 2011. And they have the signed agreement which has not been returned to me.

On good faith in compliance with the agreement, I have removed my pictures from Flicker, and made most of the video on YouTube private. I have left the videos up here pending the finalization of the agreement.

Exclusivity: by uploading or delivering media to the Producer, The Production Company, its representatives or agents, the Filmmaker warrants that they will not use (nor allow the usage of) the same media in another film that exceeds 25 minutes in length and is about Occupy Wall Street, which is intended for release in any format in the Unites States of America. The window of exclusivity begins now and ends one calendar year after The Film’s first commercial theatrical screening or Television or Cable broadcast that is not part of a Film Festival, or by Dec 29, 2013, whichever is first. The Filmmaker agrees to only upload and/or deliver and/or make available to The Production Company (and/or its representatives or agents) media of which they are comfortable granting exclusively to The Film. The Film is intended for Theatrical, Television, Digital, Physical (DVD and all Ancillary formats) release in the US and international markets (throughout the Universe), as well as in formats and technologies that may not yet exist.

Nothing which I have produced exceeds the 25 minutes stated herein, I will note.

At this point I’ve no idea if the work I have submitted will be used or not. The producers may be too busy with the project to answer my email. However, from what I have seen in the USA, and the Occupation movement, until we start understanding that others have limitations on resources with the upper classes take for granted, the movement is, as they say on the net, an Epic Failure.

However, I do wish the producers of 99% (The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film) continued success. With their connections and their considerable skill they have raised the funding to make the project viable. No idea if that will trickle down to me here in the extended stay hotel outside of Chicago, working on a dismal and decaying 11Mbps 802.11b connection. I am, however, getting the impression that they really don’t want to hear from any of the real 99%. I guess I am not a gracious enough bum.

Of course, I will ask, being anticlimactic here, why should I beg? I’ve done my work with my little, unprofessional, amateur Kodak Zx5 Play Sport; it may not be much, but it is what I do have to work with. Too, this movie has very little out of Occupy Chicago, so if you like what you have seen, and support true Indy reporters, tell them about it: http://www.99percentfilm.com (contact@99percentfilm.com).

Update: I did hear from the producers today. They're busy ... very busy; putting in 100 hours a week. And, yes, they will be using some of what I have contributed. I'd bet a good word to them, and/or a donation to the cause, couldn't hurt.