“Occupy The Caucus” Targets Iowa

Video by Rodger Routh
Two of 2011′s biggest attention getters are about to collide in Iowa. All year, a pack of Republican candidates have been relentlessly campaigning for their party’s Presidential nomination. Those candidates are about to run into protesters from the Occupy Wall Street movement.

“Occupy The Caucus” organizers have promised not to disrupt the Iowa caucuses that happen on Tuesday January 3. However, they do plan to “occupy” the candidate’s campaign headquarters and appearances, letting them know they disapprove of how government is allowing greedy corporations to run the country and accumulate most of the wealth.

More than just caucus night
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Obama NDAA OK Draws OccupyMN Protest At Reelection HQ

Think bad thoughts about the government and you could go to jail…forever. That may sound like a Soviet-era law, but civil libertarians say it’s possible under the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which is awaiting President Obama’s promised signature.

The NDAA, was passed by the US Senate 86-to-13. Minnesota senators split on the act, Franken opposing and Klobuchar voting for it.

OccupyMN organized a pre-Christmas protest at the Minneapolis Obama Reelection Headquarters.

The act is characterized by the ACLU and many others as a major assault on the Bill of Rights. The 600 pages contain provisions that allow indefinite detention by the military of anyone, including US Citizens on US soil, without trial and without legal representation.

The act makes it virtually impossible to close Guantanamo Bay.

FBI would have to give way to military.
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President Obama Hails Passage Of Payroll Tax Cut & Unemployment Benefits Extension

President Obama says Congress “got it done” with the passage of a two month payroll tax cut extension and unemployment benefits. He now heads to Hawaii for his Christmas vacation.

Transcript of President Obama’s remarks on payroll tax cut extension … Continue Reading

GOP Caves, Passes Payroll Tax Cut Extension

By unanimous consent this morning, the US House passed a two month extension of the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits.

House Republican leaders had refused to let the bill come to a vote, but relented after pressure from Senate Republicans and intense public pressure fanned by the White House.

Under unanimous consent rules, any objection would have derailed passing the bill, HR 3765.

Representative Steny H. Hoyer (D-Maryland) said “I know that the American people are pleased that we have come together to agree on this extension, to give certainty and peace of mind to the 160 million Americans who are concerned about losing their tax cut, the 48 million seniors who were concerned about their medicare, and the two point three million people who are unemployed and seeking work who were fearful of losing their benefits. And I thank the speaker.”

President Obama has promised to sign the bill.

Obama: GOP Preventing You From Getting $40 A Paycheck

President Obama calls on the House of Representatives to negotiate a compromise on extending the payroll tax cut, which already has broad bipartisan support, because the American people can’t afford to see their taxes go up next year.

Text of President Obama’s comments … Continue Reading

Occupy Forces Local News to Focus on Real Issues

The Occupy movement has successfully put the economic injustice plaguing the United States on televisions across America, says Tina Dupuy, a nationally syndicated op-ed columnist and managing editor of Crooks and Liars.

The reason that most Americans were unaware of these issues before the Occupy movement caught fire this fall is that 60 percent of us get our news exclusively from local news sources. Those 30-minute local news segments devote a full 10 minutes to commercials and two minutes to “teasers” of stories to come. That leaves very little time for real news about real issues. Dupuy says that newscasters too often fill the gap with trivial stories such as reports about “Dancing with the Stars” or news of a cat stuck in a tree in Germany.

“We don’t have a real broad knowledge of issues that affect us, like the housing bubble or about what our local and national government is doing,” says Dupuy. “But at least now the local news is showing protest signs of what economic injustice is. They’re being forced to cover these issues and cover the raids, arrests and encampments and have the protestors on television talking about these issues.”

“Now we’ve seen our local news talk about the homeless population, talk about people who aren’t able to find jobs, talk about students who are now sharecroppers to banks because they have $200,000 in student loan debt — debt they can’t renegotiate.”

Obama To GOP: “This Is Not A Game”

President Obama says that extending the payroll tax cut is not a game for the millions of people who depend on that money to make ends meet. He made the comments shortly after House Republicans refused to allow a vote on extending the tax cut for another two months. The bill passed in the Senate 89 to 10 with strong bipartisan support.

Transcript of President Obama’s remarks … Continue Reading

Wells Fargo Told, “Big Bank Bonuses Are Outrageous”

Minneapolis community advocates marched from The People’s Plaza (also known as Hennepin County Government Center) to the Minneapolis Offices of Wells Fargo Bank to protest end of year big bank bonuses for executives even as they continue to foreclose homes and curtail job creation credit.

In front of the bank offices, Grace Bowman, an unemployed data analyst from Minneapolis, said “The money big banks spend on huge bonuses and give to politicians and lobbyists could be spent helping underwater homeowners instead.”

More than $100 million in bonuses since the crash … Continue Reading

Obama On Payroll Tax Cut: Expect Less Drama Next Time

President Obama comments after Congress passes an extension of the payroll tax cut that saves the average family about $1,000 a year and the extension of unemployment benefits. He expects “less drama” when congress votes to extend this again in two months.

Text of President Obama’s statement on the payroll tax agreement. … Continue Reading

Obama, 99% Movement Echo Each Other, Change Frame Of Economic Debate

When the words generally accepted to describe a problem change, the perception of that problem changes. This past week we saw that President Obama has accepted and is using some of the same words used by Occupy Wall Street protesters to describe the nation’s economic problems. In return, the protesters are quoting his words. It’s an important development because the way an issue is talked about, or “framed,” often determines the outcome of the debate.

The national economic debate used to be dominated by language such as “deficit reduction” and “protecting job creators.” Talking about raising taxes on the rich brought the immediate rebuttal of “class warfare.”

That changed this fall with the rise of the Occupy Wall Street movement. It has forced the national debate to also include the terms “income inequality,” and “corporate welfare.” Taxing the rich isn’t summarily dismissed, because it benefits the “99%.”

When language resonates with people (as “no new taxes” has for so long), it generally works. This past week, as activists from all over the country converged on Washington, DC, to “take back the capitol,” they consistently framed the message in the language of Occupy Wall Street.

The night before the rally, President Obama used that language in his “New Square Deal” speech he delivered in Kansas. He gave it his own twist, saying “Inequality also distorts our democracy. It gives an outsized voice to the few who can afford high-priced lobbyists and unlimited campaign contributions, and it runs the risk of selling out our democracy to the highest bidder. ”

The next day on the streets of Washington, protesters were quoting President Obama saying our democracy is being sold to the highest bidder.

Protesters fear for children’s future when democracy is sold to highest bidder. … Continue Reading