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.”

Oakland Dampens Occupy With Mud, New Port Blockade Planned

Oakland, CA, December 5, 2011. Occupy Oakland’s original site is now a mud flat. The city has turned on the sprinklers to keep the plaza a field of mud.

A few tents border the square. The tree house which has been occupied since day one is still there. Occupiers take turns in the tree house. A bystander noted that since most of the original protestors were not homeless, they’ve merely gone home until the next action.

There are a few specific actions, Burger King was targeted that day. The group has organized a port blockade on December 12 to stretch from Oakland to Portland Oregon. Click here to see blockade organizing poster. At this point it’s not clear if the Longshoremen will support it.

Holiday lights twinkle from the City Center and quiet prevails, a far cry from a few weeks ago. Organizers haven’t given up, they are just waiting. … Continue Reading

OccupySF Creates Monument From Police Barricades

San Francisco, CA, Dec 2, 2011. The day after a major police raid on OccupySF, a raid that was stopped in mid progress, occupiers created a monument using the abandoned police barricades.

Protesters say San Francisco police made an “honorable retreat”, stopping the raid when they realized what they were doing against the citizenry was wrong.

Occupiers cheerfully went about their business of operating the camp. This was one of a series of city actions trying to minimize or remove the camp.

There has been some discussion about the city moving the group to the Mission District, but nothing has been done so far.

The power station, art studio, yoga lessons, food delivery all continued to operate.

Many of the residents believe that the city/police actions have helped them by continually drawing attention to them.

OccupySF is at Bradley Manning Plaza (formerly known as Justin Herman Plaza, across from the SF Ferry Building), and a block away in front of the Federal Reserve, 101 Market St, San Francisco, CA.

Business suits have been wandering through, asking questions. The San Francisco Chronicle, December 2, 2011, reported a slightly different version of the raid than how it was described by the occupiers.

In addition to the main protest effort, OccupySF is providing shelter and some care for San Francisco’s large population of homeless and those with mental illness and/or drug problems.

Occupy Oakland Activist Calls for Annual Occupations At City Hall

Now that the Occupy Oakland encampment in front of City Hall — and other Occupy protests, notably the flagship one in Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park — have been raided and removed by city police departments nationwide, the question lingers: what should the occupiers do next?

Oakland activist, artist, musician, poster collector and former boxer Manzel Roberson admits that they can’t stay here forever. He suggests that the activists gather every year and occupy the park in front of City Hall for one month, from Oct, 10 to Nov. 10. Roberson said that the occupiers need to build on their legacy, “because this is holy ground, right here.” Roberson, who invoked the name of Oscar Grant and displayed posters of the unarmed local resident who was killed by police in 2009, said he was part of the Occupy Oakland encampment since Day 1, and suffered a flesh wound on his left arm when he was hit by a police tear gas canister.

Obama: Vets Shouldn’t Have To Fight For A Job

President Obama speaks from the USS Carl Vinson in San Diego during Veterans Day, and he calls on all Americans to rededicate themselves to serving our brave men and women in uniform as well as they have served us.

Today, there are more than 850,000 veterans unemployed, which is why the President issued a challenge to private companies to hire or train more than 100,000 post-9/11 veterans or their spouses by 2013, and he was pleased to see the Senate pass proposals in his American Jobs Act on Thursday to give businesses tax credits for hiring veterans.

President Obama tels veterans that just as they have fought for us, he will continue to fight for jobs and opportunities for them, and that the United States will always honor their service and sacrifice.

Full text of President Obama’s weekly address … Continue Reading

Time Has Come to Leave Afghanistan, Says Congressman Garamendi

Congressman John Garamendi (D-Calif.) told The UpTake at Netroots Nation yesterday that the Obama administration needs to withdraw troops from Afghanistan. The death of Osama bin Laden, Hamid Karzai’s corrupt government in Kabul, and the U.S. military’s huge and ominous footprint in the war-torn country all make the case for pulling, Garamendi said.

President Obama Facebook Town Hall

Full text of President Obama’s remarks at a Facebook townhall … Continue Reading

Obama Hits Deficit Reduction Campaign Trail

President Obama is taking his case to the people on deficit reduction. Next week he will travel to Northern Virginia, Palo Alto, California and Reno, Nevada to speak directly to the American people about his vision for bringing down the deficit, based on the values of shared responsibility and shared prosperity.

On Tuesday, the President will hold a town hall in Northern Virginia. On Wednesday, the President will hold a town hall at Facebook Headquarters in Palo Alto, California. On Thursday, the President will conclude his three-day town hall tour in Reno, Nevada, discussing the ways the leaders in Washington can come together and meet the expectations of the American people.

Out-of-State Group Joins Effort to Recall Wisconsin 14

According to a report yesterday in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a group from Utah called the American Recall Coalition has registered electronically to set up recall committees against members of the Wisconsin 14 — the Democratic state senators who have fled across the state line to Illinois to prevent a quorum from voting on Gov. Scott Walker’s union-gutting budget bill. Reid Magney, spokesman for the Government Accountability Board, told the Sentinel that the Utah group seeks to recall Sen. Bob Wirch of Kenosha and five other Democrats — Lena Taylor of Milwaukee, Mark Miller of Monona, Julie Lassa of Stevens Point, Fred Risser of Madison and Dave Hansen of Green Bay. Though Magney’s office is still waiting to receive paper registrations from American Recall Coalition, the out-of-state group may begin collecting signatures for the recall elections in those districts.

The Mormon Church in Utah has come under fire since the 2008 national election for bankrolling Proposition 8 in California — which overturned same-sex marriage.

The Sentinel reports that the groups need about 16,000 signatures to force a recall election for each senator. The exact number will vary from 11,000 to 21,000 signatures, Magney said, depending on how many votes were cast in the 2010 governor’s race in the targeted district. Democrats and labor unions are also considering whether to recall as many as six Senate Republicans for supporting Walker’s plan. Sen. Alberta Darling of River Hills is among those targeted. Magney also told the Milwaukee newspaper that a group has formed a political action fund to collect donations to support a recall election for Walker. But an official recall effort could not start until Walker, who took office last month, has served in the Capitol for at least a year.

World Series Champs Make Pitch To Obama

President Obama calls the San Francisco Giants to congratulate them on their World Championship. The Giants take the opportunity to ask him to throw out the first pitch in next year’s season opener. The President said he’ll see if he can fit it on the schedule.