Tag Archives: Occupy Oakland

Spinny’s Been Slacking

Ugh. No excuses. A lot has been going on, especially with the Occupy Movement.

Occupy Oakland organized a general strike last Wednesday. It was very successful, except for a few cretins who thought it would be fun to throw bottles and vandalize property. That kind of crap makes the Movement look really bad. So a pox on the ones who did that.

Those I were proud of were the people who Tweeted the OPD on the whereabouts of the vandals. And those who came back the next day to clean up after those jackasses. That’s what the media needs to concentrate on. But it doesn’t make for exciting news I guess.

The National Bank Transfer Day on Saturday was amazing! Transferring your money from the big banks to small community banks and credit unions is brilliant. It’s a great way to send a message to the banks. It’s the “free market” way of protesting. I hope more people do it. I’ve been a credit union member for years now. I broke up with the big banks a long time ago. It wasn’t a healthy relationship. They just took and took. I needed a partnership, give and take.

It’s been interesting to watch the Movement. The attention it’s getting and the impact is making. I wonder where this will lead…


Real Time with Bill Maher: New Rules 10/28/11

:lol: @ “Let Barbie be Barbie.” Enjoy!


Scott Olsen and Stereotypes

It’s the end of another work week. I’ve been thinking about this Occupy Wall Street movement – the 99% and the 1%. Especially Scott Olsen. I learned more about him. In addition to being an Iraq veteran, he worked as a network engineer. He went to work every day, and then joined the protests at night. He had a nice apartment overlooking the Bay.

Right Wing pundits like to look down on the protesters as “parasites on parade” (Mark Levin’s affectionate description). It’s easy to dismiss the protesters by painting a broad brush. So what would they have to say about Scott Olsen. Lazy and on unemployment? Nope. He has a really good job. Unpatriotic and America-hating? Nope. He was a Marine with two tours in Iraq under his belt.

To the Right Wing pundits, Scott Olsen is their worst nightmare. He doesn’t fit the stereotype they love to perpetuate. Surprise! He isn’t an entitled, dirty hippie who smells like B.O. and patchouli.

And there are more just like him. A lot more. Regular people. Of course, the media and pundits won’t show and tell you that. I wonder why that is. To keep us divided? Liberal vs. Conservative. We may see and want to approach issues in a different way, but as regular Americans we have a lot more in common than they want you to believe.

I don’t know. Maybe that’s the point of my rambling Friday post. Left, Right, Center, Apolictical, Whatever. We’re Americans and just regular people trying to get through life.


Occupy Oakland and The OPD

OK I’m just disgusted with the Oakland Police Department right now, so I’m going to attempt to unspin my head in this post. I live in the Bay Area and have been hearing about what happened Tuesday night.

I get that the conditions at Frank Ogawa Plaza were deteriorating rapidly and something needed to be done. They have been warned over the past week that the encampment would be cleared. And they did just that. But throwing flash-bang grenades at protesters? Are you frickin’ kidding me?

Scott Olsen, a member of Veterans for Peace and Iraq Veterans Against the War, got hit in the head with a police projectile. When other protesters came to help him, OPD threw a flash-bang grenade. Of course, they denied, denied, denied. Video doesn’t lie:

They were just helping the guy. I don’t get it. They did get him to Highland Hospital. He’s in serious condition with a skull fracture and swelling in his brain. He’s sedated and waiting for an examination by a neurosurgeon.

Message to Scott: Thank you for your service. I’m sorry you came back from two tours in Iraq only to get injured by those sworn to protect and serve.


Sunday Evening Thoughts on Occupy Wall Street

I love this picture. The dogs are the cutest, and apparently, the movement is spreading far and wide. Maybe we’ll see Occupy the Arctic and Occupy the Sahara signs soon.

I’ve been thinking about the movement lately because protesters will probably be kicked out of the Frank Ogawa Plaza in Oakland. There are sanitation issues and rat problems. Also, violence and grafitti. This is what the notice said:

“We believe that after 10 days, the City can no longer uphold public health and safety,” the notice said. “In recent days, camp conditions and occupants’ behavior have significantly deteriorated, and it is no longer manageable to maintain a public health and safety plan.”

This is what pisses me off. People can protest without being gross. Clean up after yourselves. Don’t tag the walls. Kick out the troublemakers. When I read about Occupy sites being trashed, I think, “It’s not doing anything for the “dirty hippie” stereotype.”

That’s the thing. There are so many people from all different backgrounds. If the occupiers would keep the places clean and police themselves, there wouldn’t be many negative incidents that the media can exploit.

Check out the different faces of the 99% in this advertisement for Occupy Wall Street. I found this at Dusty’s site, Leftwing Nutjob. I hope this gets shown on TV.

I support this movement and love that we “little people” are finally speaking out.


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