January 8, 2012

NOT FIT TO PRINT: Hundreds of NYT Editors/Reporters (99%) Revolting Against Paper's Executives (1%)

The spirit of Occupy Wall Street has entered the hallowed halls of The New York Times. Not because the paper is covering OWS, mind you. Rather, an uprising has arisen within the paper itself.

The reason for the uprising: while The Times is demanding that rank-and-file employees make sacrifices for the financial health of the paper – sacrifices that include pension freezes and the scaling back of health savings plans for foreign correspondents and staff working overseas – the paper is simultaneously granting outgoing CEO Janet Robinson a $15 million golden parachute. (Note: while $10.9 million come from pension benefits, Robinson has access to the funds immediately – ahead of schedule – despite being 61.)

Oh, and how much is the paper expected to save from the sacrifice of its 99% staff? According to Kyle Smith of Forbes, approximately $9 million, or just over half the amount being granted to a single executive who completely failed during a tenure that saw the paper's stock price drop from $40 to $8 in seven years.

Feeling betrayed by the paper's greedy executive class, over 500 current and former Times staffers – including reporters and editors – have signed a sharply-worded open letter to the paper's publisher, Arthur Sulzberger Jr....

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/01/05/1051987/-NOT-FIT-TO-PRINT:-Hundreds-of-NYT-Editors-Reporters-%2899%29-Revolting-Against-Papers-Executives-%281%29

January 8, 2012

January 15th: A world-wide vigil for Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday!

http://j15global.org/

7PM in each time zone globally.

On his birthday and in the spirit of Dr. King's vision for racial and economic equality, peace, and non-violence, we are holding candlelight vigils to unite our world in a global movement for systemic change.

Wherever we may be, whether in our homes, in city squares, online, Occupies, or at work, we lift a beautiful message high above the political dialogue. We light the dream of a more equitable world in our hearts. We can overcome!

Dr. King said "A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and say: 'This is not just.' "

January 8, 2012

Santorum is only going to last a minute. There are two reasons why.

1. Everyone is so sick of the ones they knew they "threw another hero up the pop charts" =because= Santorum was so far behind no one had listened to a word he had to say.
2. Now that they've hearing him, they're realizing that he's no tabula rasa, no Rorschach test. He's like the rest of them, or worse.

They may kick him to the curb even more quickly than the rest. And wait for their circus to get worse...klown kars spinning out of control, klowns flying everywhere...

January 7, 2012

Considering the appearance of tombstone potential in GD

it would be nice to have a "letter of the law and the spirit of the law" pespective.

-Sun Worship/Origins of religion:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/100271276

-Ron Paul Flips Out Over Accusation That He Believed 9/11 Conspiracy Theories (VIDEO)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/100299262

-Crazy Ron Paul Supporters Clean the Sky with Vinegar

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002128567

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People likely should not be posting known OT material and if the thread content includes the terms "conspiracy theory" or "crazy", perhaps that should also be considered a sign of possible OT, even if it contains people currently involved in today's headlines/politics? Dennis Kucinich says he once saw something only attributable to being a "UFO". Would we want anyone tombstoned over that? I really appreciate DU3 but it's a little harsh in here...and we're all working for the same result, democracy.

January 6, 2012

“When, through the law's intervention, the common people shall have lost their homes...

“We must go forward cautiously and consolidate each acquired position, because already the inferior social stratum of society is giving unceasing signs of agitation.


“Therefore, prudence dictates to us a line of conduct that seems to give in to the will of the people, until the execution of our plans be well-enough established for us to be able to declare our intentions without having to fear any organized resistance.


“Our confidence men shall have to closely watch the Farmers Alliance and the Knights of Work, and take steps immediately, either to control both associations in accordance with our interests, or to break them.


“Our men will have to attend the Convention that will be held in Omaha on the 4th of July, and be in charge of all activities. Otherwise, this Convention could muster such an antagonism to our plans that we would have to resort to force to overcome it.


Now, at the present time, using violence would be premature. We are not yet ready to confront such an assault. Money must first of all seek maximum protection in schemes and in legislation.


“Let us make use of the courts. Let us go forward as fast as possible at perceiving debts, at foreclosing (depriving of recourse to justice when a certain time limit has been transgressed) on debentures and mortgages.


“When, through the law's intervention, the common people shall have lost their homes, they will be more easy to control and more easy to govern, and they shall not be able to resist the strong hand of the Government acting in accordance with the orders of the central power of imperial wealth, under the control of the leaders of finance.


“Our top leaders are perfectly aware of the truth. They are presently working at establishing an imperialism of the capital to rule the world. But while they are implementing this plan, they must keep the people busy with political antagonisms.


“We'll therefore speed up the question of reform in the custom rates by the political organization called the Democratic Party; and we'll put the spotlight on the question of protection and of the reciprocity by the Republican Party.


“By dividing the electorate this way, we'll be able to have them spend their energies at struggling amongst themselves on questions that, for us, have no importance whatsoever, and on which we only touch upon as instructors of the common flock.


“It is thus that, through discreet acts, we can maintain what was so generously projected and executed with such a remarkable success.”

-United States Bankers' Magazine 1892

January 6, 2012

‘Wild Old Women’ Close San Francisco Bank Of America Branch

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2012/01/05/wild-old-women-close-san-francisco-bank-of-america-branch/

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) – It was a slow-moving Occupy Wall Street protest, but it was an effective one. A dozen senior citizens calling themselves “the wild old women” succeeded in closing a Bank of America branch in Bernal Heights Thursday.

The women, aged 69 to 82, who live at the senior home up Mission street from the Bernal Heights Bank of America branch, decided to hold their own protest by doing what they called a “run on the bank.”

Tita Caldwell, 80, who led the charge of women with walkers and wheelchairs, said that they’re demanding the bank lower fees, pay higher taxes, and stop foreclosing on, and evicting, homeowners.

January 6, 2012

Public health concerns: an #Occupy Los Angeles eviction myth

http://www.laactivist.com/2012/01/05/public-health-concerns-an-ola-eviction-myth/

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and multiple news media outlets repeatedly alluded to the issue as a necessity for ousting the two-month long sit-in demonstration at City Hall. However, reports from the LA County Dept. of Health tell a different story, showing that minor issues were quickly dealt with by occupy organizers.

Angelo Bellomo, the department’s director of Environmental Health, told LA Activist that the health dept. made daily visits to the occupy encampment. He said occupiers routinely complied with the department’s orders and that issues were dealt with on the same or next day of notification.

Bellomo said the occupiers were “fairly well organized” because they had committees that dealt with serving food and portable toilet inspections.

“We would bring [code violations] to their attention and the organizers would respond immediately to correct the conditions,” he said. “In fact, they had shared with us it was their intent to comply with the basic health and sanitation laws so that it did not become a basis for their removal.”

January 6, 2012

I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it any more!

January 6, 2012

Citizen Journalist avatar: Cameras are the new guns.

January 5, 2012

Occupy Oakland plans City Hall protest in response to Wednesday arrests

OAKLAND, Calif. —

Protesters from Occupy Oakland are planning to return to the city's downtown Thursday afternoon to erect a canopy in Frank Ogawa Plaza and then enter City Hall to occupy the mayor and city administrator's offices.

Members of Occupy Oakland's interfaith coalition called for Thursday's action after police entered the plaza late Wednesday night and arrested 12 protesters.

They were granted a permit to erect a teepee in the space, provided it was removed at 10 p.m. each night. The protesters could then rebuild the teepee each morning at 6 a.m.

However, the city revoked the protesters' permit earlier this week, saying the protesters had violated many of the permit's conditions, such as by storing personal belongings in the plaza, including sleeping bags and food, erecting garbage cans and distributing food without health permits.

http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/occupy-oakland-planning-city-hall-protest-response/nGGYD/