Showing posts with label Liberals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Liberals. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Who funds the U.S. government: Comparison Chart - Total Reported Income Vs. Total Income Taxes Paid (2007)

Yes, this is a chart we do not see much of at the Occupy protests.

But who can afford to fund the government?  The fact of the matter is that, while the top 25% earners in the country pay 86.6% of the taxes, a percentage that drives conservative wild, just asking the bottom 75% to "pay their fair share" is not a workable solution.

While it sounds good on paper, at the end of the day, the bottom 75% can't afford it.  Small percentage changes in the tax rate for most Americans have a dramatic effect on their day to day lives, much more so than it does for the wealthiest members of society.

And at a certain point, taxes become uncollectable.  Are we really going to ask someone to choose between paying their tax bill and putting food on the table for their children?  Those are taxes that won't get paid and then we'll be sending good money after bad trying to collect and prosecute those damn, poor and lazy tax evaders that are not pulling their weight in society.

And if we are asking the average American to give more of their money to the government instead of spending their money in the free market, how are the top 25% going to keep earning their money?  Raising prices to compensate for smaller sales?  Double tapping the purchasing power of the average American and driving the economy even further into the darkness?

Blah...  Too burned out for a thoughtful, well written argument on this topic today, but I did want to look into the facts and to offer a couple splintered fragments of my humble opinion..



Thursday, October 06, 2011

CNN Anchor Mocks Occupy Wall Street - Cenk Responds

I like the comment on YouTube... "Wow, someone released the kraken..."

Wednesday, October 05, 2011

Occupy Portland: Thursday, October 6, 2011

From 2011-09 (Sep)

ABOUT OCCUPY PORTLAND, OR | Occupy Portland"A note from the Morale Team and Occupy Portland Organizers regarding posts on this page, the forum, the facebook group or any other gathering place virtual or otherwise in Occupy Portland’s name: Occupy Portland WILL NOT tolerate calls to violence, drugs or illegal activity (property destruction etc). Please find a different place to debate those topics, and if you become aware of any topics of this matter PLEASE let us know so we can take the proper actions against instigators. Thank you so much!"


'via Blog this'



The Occupy Portland Model | Occupy Together"As we have followed some of theses group’s efforts we’ve seen many different approaches to organizing. We’ve also fielded many questions on advice and how to information on effectively organizing. We wanted to feature Portland as an example for those of you would like a model to follow or to take from as they have done a great job joining and organizing efforts in a very short amount of time. Of course, each group dynamic is going to vary and what worked for Portland may not work for you, but at least this will give you an idea of how others are doing it.

A couple of members from Portland filled us in on their process:

Basically it all comes down to networking and extensive planning. The initial construction of the Occupy Portland Facebook group was backed by some pretty frequent tweeting. Once we started getting a huge following, there were more and more discussions popping up on the Facebook group. We were discussing where it should be, what Portland laws were regarding “urban camping”, as well as a number of other concerns. We then held a General Assembly to further organize where were all in consensus with our future actions and demonstration details. After we compiled notes from the GA, we discussed them further on the Facebook group. Once we had the frame work of what everyone wanted and expected we set up a Facebook page and web site to better organize and announce future details."




Occupy Seattle/Occupy Wall St.: Video from Seattle (10-2-2011)

Looks like the Seattle Police Department and the protesters are handling things a bit differently than they did on N30, over a decade ago.  Also looks like the crowd is smaller by several thousand people.  Video spotted by The Young Turks on Facebook.


Tuesday, October 04, 2011

Occupy Wall Street: A couple Facebook posts from Nicholas D. Kristof...


Thanks for your comments on my "Occupy Wall Street" column, and apologies to those like Christy and Jessica who thought I sounded condescending. And if you have trouble with the link, try this: http://nyti.ms/pM4oNd My basic take is that capitalism itself is an amazing system for raising living standards (hey, I lived under Communism, in China), but that banking needs better regulation to function properly -- and that we need plenty more accountability all around. Other suggestions for measures to recommend welcome as well.



My column looks at the "Occupy Wall Street" protests: Are they Tahrir on the Hudson? http://nyti.ms/pM4oNd More important, I offer some suggestions for specific reforms to address the protesters' concerns. Read the column and let me know what you think.



Sunday, October 02, 2011

Dangerous Minds | First ‘official’ statement from the Occupy Wall Street movement

A little strange seeing an ad for TGIFriday's at the top of the web page this lives on, but what the hell?  The revolution will need chicken wings.

Dangerous Minds | First ‘official’ statement from the Occupy Wall Street movement:



This was unanimously voted on by all members of Occupy Wall Street last night, around 8pm, Sept 29. It is our first official document for release. We have three more underway, that will likely be released in the upcoming days: 1) A declaration of demands. 2) Principles of Solidarity 3) Documentation on how to form your own Direct Democracy Occupation Group. This is a living document. you can receive an official press copy of the latest version by emailing c2anycga@gmail.com.
Declaration of the Occupation of New York City
As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.
As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.
They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.
They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.
They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.
They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.
They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless nonhuman animals, and actively hide these practices.
They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.
They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.
They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.
They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.
They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.
They have sold our privacy as a commodity.
They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.
They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.
They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.
They have donated large sums of money to politicians supposed to be regulating them.
They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.
They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantive profit.
They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.
They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.
They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.
They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad.
They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.
They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.*
To the people of the world,
We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.
Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.
To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.
Join us and make your voices heard!
*These grievances are not all-inclusive.
Via reddit



'via Blog this'

Nice design: Occupy Wall Street

Organizations with good design sense have a short cut into my heart.  Isn't this true with most political movements?  "Yeah, those guys are scary, mean, and bad for the country, but they have great design, so what the hell?  Hand me a brown shirt."

But these Occupy Wall Street folks do have some legitimate points...


Occupy Wall Street on CNN iReport

Full disclosure:  I haven't had a chance to look through these yet



Occupy Wall Street protests continue: News & Videos about Occupy Wall Street protests continue - CNN iReport"The protests, dubbed "Occupy Wall Street," are a decentralized and leaderless movement begun by activist magazine AdBusters and modeled after social-media-driven demonstrations in the Middle East. The sit-in is planned to last for two months, or longer.

Are you attending or covering the protests in Wall Street? Have you witnessed the marches, sit-ins, and arrests taking place? Send us your photos and video."


'via Blog this'

Occupy Wall Street demonstrators, the police, and the New York Times


Spotted by Bryley on Facebook...


It is a small tweak, but it does shift the emphasis.  It changes the focus from the police to the demonstrators as the actors to whom the other party was responding to.

I really haven't been paying any attention to these demonstrations yet.  I plan on taking a closer look next week. But this did catch my eye and I wanted to share it.

Still, I do not think there was an intentional shift in the bias here.  Another reporter was also added to the by-line and I am assuming that the story was updated with more details here during the 20 minutes between one screen capture and the other.

However, these little sorts of tweaks, when done unintentionally, can have a small effect on the readers' interpretation of events.  When done somewhat intentionally, they can have a larger effect.

I would guess that the change might have come from information the second reporter had from the police that was unavailable to the first reporter, such as... "No, we didn't want to let them on the bridge, but we couldn't stop them in time."

Having not read the article, I do not know for sure.  But I suspect that this change is meant to be more innocent than it looks.  However, I do agree that the effect it has on the reader may be significant.

Sunday, December 05, 2004

Turn Me into a Liberal

I just had an odd idea for a website: turnmeintoaliberal.com.

Each week or so, we'd post a profile of a Bush Voter, from middle of the road swing voters to hardcore theorcratic conservatives, and their reasons for pulling the Elephant Lever in November and then we would use post comments using logic to try and change their mind.

Unfortunately, this would have been better before the election, but we do have the 2006 Congressional Elections coming up quicker than we can blink.

I am not putting this together yet, just sharing the idea. I think it would be good practice for taking the message to Red America.

This idea probably came around because I consider myself a centrist, but things are moving so far to the right in this country that I feel like I am turning into a Liberal myself.

I don't know... it would be amusing. I don't know which would be better, creating fictional Republican profiles or finding real people to submit to our assaults.

Today is Sunday. Douglas Adams wrote about an immortal being who went insane because of Sunday afternoons. But that is a better topic for my personal blog, Rubble.