Occupy! 15 February 2012
Posted by marisacat in 2012 Re Election, California / Pacific Coast, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, NORCOM, Occupy Wall Street.91 comments
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Passing on food from local food kitchens in Athens. Those who work at the kitchens says there are always new people who show up. | Agence France Presse
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The photo is from a gallery attached to an article at der Spiegel… the close of the article:
[T]he psychologist Eleni Bekiari knows what dark thoughts the crisis and its consequences have brought to Athenians. She staffs Klimaka’s telephone number “1018.” It is a 24-hour suicide hotline, and its statistics are clear. In 2010, there were about 2,500 calls made to the number. In 2011, there were twice as many. “Most of those who call us are women,” she says. “On the other hand, it’s usually the men who end up taking their lives.”
Greece traditionally has one of the lowest suicide rates in Europe, but the increase has been dramatic. Since the beginning of the crisis, the suicide rate has almost doubled. In 2011, there were almost six suicides per 100,000 citizens. When the callers to the suicide hotline are asked for their reasons for suicidal thoughts, Bekiari says, they often answer with two words: the crisis.
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Madman sent me this… it’s cheering:
02/12/2012
For Immediate Release
February 11, 2012
Longshore workers name Occupy Movement as crucial in
settlement with EGTCoordinated action by West Coast Occupys proves effective as
ILWU Local 21 ratifies contractLongview, WA – On Friday, members of the ILWU and the labor community named the Occupy Movement as key to the settlement reached Thursday between ILWU Local 21 and the Export Grain Terminal (EGT). The contract finally provides for the use of ILWU labor in the grain terminal at the Port of Longview.
After staging the December 12 port shutdowns in solidarity with Local 21, the West Coast Occupy Movement planned coordinated action together with labor allies for a land and water blockade of the EGT ship in Longview, should it attempt to use scab labor to load. Occupys in states where EGT’s parent company Bunge has its growth and operations were also planning actions against the company on the day of the arrival of the ship.
“This is a victory for Occupy in their involvement in forcing negotiations. Make no mistake – the solidarity and organization between the Occupy Movement and the Longshoremen won this contract,” said Jack Mulcahy, ILWU officer with Local 8. “The mobilization of the Occupy Movement across the country, particularly in Oakland, Portland, Seattle, and Longview were a critical element in bringing EGT to the bargaining table and forcing a settlement with ILWU local 21.”
“West Coast Occupys had already demonstrated their ability to stage such a blockade by shutting down ports along the West Coast on December 12th, as well as the Port of Oakland on November 2nd,” said Anthony Leviege, ILWU Local 10 in Oakland. The Occupy Movement shut down ports in order to express solidarity with port truckers and Local 21, as well as responding to a nationally-coordinated eviction campaign against Occupy.
Negotiations progressed to the point where Longshore workers began loading the merchant vessel Full Sources on Tuesday. “When any company ruptures jurisdiction it is a threat to the entire union. The union jobs wouldn’t be back in Longview if it weren’t for Occupy. It’s a win for the entire class of workers in the Occupy Movement in demonstrating their organizational skills,” said Leviege.
“It is clear that the port shutdowns on November 2nd and December 12th, and the impending mobilization in Longview, is what made EGT come to the table. When Governor Gregoire intervened a year ago nothing was settled – non-ILWU workers were still working in the port. It wasn’t until rank and file and Occupy planned a mass convergence to blockade the ship that EGT suddenly had the impetus to negotiate.” Said Clarence Thomas, an officer of ILWU Local 10. “Labor can no longer win victories against the employers without the community. It must include a broad-based Movement. The strategy and tactics employed by the occupy Movement in conjunction with rank and file ILWU members confirm that the past militant traditions of the ILWU are still effective against the employers today.”
EGT itself made evident the company’s concern about Occupy’s role in the conflict in the January 27 settlement agreement: “The ILWU Entities shall issue a written notice to The Daily News and the general public, including the Occupy Movement, informing them of this settlement and urging them to cease and desist from any actions[…].”
“The Occupy Movement and rank-and-file unionists both within and outside of our ranks have forced the company to settle, but this is not over,” says Jess Kincaid of Occupy Portland. “Occupy doesn’t sign contracts. We have not entered into any agreements with EGT, nor do we intend to do so. EGT and its parent company Bunge bribe the government for military escorts, use slave labor in Brazil and systematically avoid contributing anything to our social safety net in the US or abroad. There is no ethic here beyond putting money back in the pocket of the 1% at the cost of working people and thesustainability of the earth.”
“It was the brave action of members of Local 21 blocking thetrain tracks this past summer that inspired the solidarity of the Occupy Movement up and down the West Coast and around the country. It was not until Occupy joined together with Local 21 and its labor allies that the company returned to the table. Governor Gregoire did nothing but let EGT raid Longshore Jurisdiction until Occupy responded to the call for support,” said Paul Nipper of Occupy Longview.
Options 25 November 2011
Posted by marisacat in 2012 Re Election, Afghanistan War, AFRICOM, Culture of Death, DC Politics, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, Iran, Iraq War, Israel/AIPAC, Moscow, NORCOM, Pakistan, Total fucking lunatics, WAR!.83 comments
Don’t worry! It can’t be the twilight of the American Empire, we still have options for war…. that table, the one reserved for war options, is loaded to the gills!!! We never empty that table…
You want Northern War? Southern War (always tasty! and a bonifide Reagan favorite!)? War in the East?! War in the West ??? Or, best for last… multidirectional war: Iran and China!!
We have options.
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Snicker Snax…. a second cartoon in the gallery also dealt with sabre rattling at China, employing a wicked satire of Slob. YUM.
Winning the Future 12 August 2011
Posted by marisacat in 2012 Re Election, Culture of Death, DC Politics, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, Israel/AIPAC, NORCOM, WAR!.42 comments
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A photograph provided by Israeli Aircraft Industries shows their newly-developed vertical take-off drone, or unmanned aircraft, called the Ghost, ahead of its presentation next week in the AUVSI’s Unmanned Systems North America exhibit in Washington DC. The unit, which is electrical and silent, weighs just four kilograms (nine pounds) and can hover for 30 minutes. It can provide real-time intelligence for ground troops operating in urban areas, or can be used for homeland security purposes. Picture: EPA / ISI
They plan on taking really good care of us all.
What… 30 August 2010
Posted by marisacat in 2010 Mid Terms, 2012 Re Election, Afghanistan War, AFRICOM, Culture of Death, DC Politics, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, Iran, Iraq War, Israel/AIPAC, NORCOM, Pakistan, WAR!.45 comments
Phoenix, US: Inmates spend their day under tents at the section that houses undocumented immigrants at the jail in Maricopa County [Darren Hauck/EPA]
What is that they have been saying?
The end to combat in Iraq?
Something like that, weeks of video clips of pulling out men (women too I am sure) and materiel… Tens of thousands of texters and video gamers, I guess they want us to think, left to control and command… and many more tens of thousands of contract paramilitaries left to do the job…
As if we have retreated to base, ceased house to house, ceased night patrols, ceased clear and hold, much less opened the prisons and released the political prisoners and the innocents, relinquished control of the air – it is we who control the air space over Iraq – we have stopped none of that anywhere in the world, including at “home”, tho Homeland is more accurate.
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Oh For Fuck’s Sake… why not just dispatch Barbara to the WH with the Holy Walker Bush Oil of Office and she can annoint Obby as a younger brother to adopted son Bill C?
It smacks of obeisance to the Lord of Texas…
President Obama plans to call former President Bush on Tuesday when he visits Texas to speak to troops, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said.
Obama will address soldiers at Fort Bliss, Texas, before he returns to the Oval Office to speak on the formal end of the U.S. military’s “combat mission” in Iraq.
“I don’t believe there are plans to see him, but my sense is, it will be one of the calls he makes tomorrow,” Gibbs told reporters Monday when asked if Obama will speak with Bush.
She can say something so Barbara, so Bushian … like, ”we’ve always liked Negroes. er … Africans. Well… we like some Americans, I know that. More oil Barry?”
AND I see that Simpson survived comparing all of us to nursing calves. No surprise…
Heckuva job Obby.
I even caught the last few mins of his remarks today, and I sure missed the pounding action (maybe below camera view the podium reached out and grabbed him… ). The quote sounded more like a beg to me:
Pounding the lectern, Obama continued:
“Holding this bill hostage is directly detrimental to our economic growth. So I ask Senate Republicans to drop the blockade.”
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Cracking heads… 27 June 2010
Posted by marisacat in 2012 Re Election, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, NORCOM, The Battle for New Orleans.21 comments
Protesters demonstrate during demonstrations
Protesters demonstrate in front of a line-up of riot police during demonstrations in Toronto Saturday, June 26, 2010, as the G20 Summit got underway.… (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Oh yeah, so scary. Obviously it was not all sandals, drums and tutus… but come on Toronto.
I saw that the VP of Boeing was there cheering them on. “Them” being the boychicks and two chicklets (Merkel, Kirchener…did Gillard even go?) who ostensibly run the world. FOR the Boeing suits.
So, basically, we had the G-8 and G-20 conflab of waiters and waitresses, there, in a huddle to take orders.
Something they do just as well at home in the provided mansions.
Etc.
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I caught an extended caller last night on our local talk radio… I admit I am no longer energetic enough to google up and plow thru reports on HB – – – -, the bill that has bounced back and forth between H and S, and has to do with extending Unemployment payments to the long term unemployed (as it is characterised)… Currently it sits tagged onto a mess of a bill. I did read that Olympia Snowe (you know, horrors, a R… of course from the officially designated ”moderate” NE) has formally (by letter to Reid) suggested that Unemployment benefits be addressed in a stand alone bill.
However this caller, who HAS been tracking the bill said the current reality is NOT just that those at the full extension of Unemployment need it continued and are left bereft, but for now, unless you are inside the course of either the initial 26 weeks, or in the course of receiving benefits thru a program that extends it for 13 or 6 weeks, or any of the various other lengths… YOU ARE CUT OFF.
It is not just people who have exhausted the full (current) 99 weeks.
Absolutely horrifying.
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Something worth hoping for… reading around, as Alex waxes and wanes in the Western Gulf, I see some commentary that if the oil drenched coastal areas can get rain, with no wind to drive the oil inland or deeper into the marshes, the effect MAY be a dilution, a flushing.
I’ll extend a little hope on that one.
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Suffer the little children… 13 July 2009
Posted by marisacat in 2010 Mid Terms, Afghanistan War, AFRICOM, Border Issues, Chile - Bachelet, Culture of Death, DC Politics, Europe, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, Iran, Iraq War, Israel/AIPAC, Italy, Mexico, NORCOM, Pakistan, Somalia, Venezuela - Chavez, Viva La Revolucion!, WAR!.38 comments
Islamist insurgents and Somali government forces engage in running battles in Mogadishu: More than 200,000 people have been displaced in the past two months, while hundreds of civilians are believed to have been killed and wounded [AFP/GETTY]
… and we do cause them to suffer, in our job as Gawd.
Let’s see… Centcom is happy as clams… they are focus war one, 27 countries under their command and hot beds a plenty. No end of mischief and murder, for decades. Mercy is on hold. WMD abound, Iran wants a bomb… ? Hell, I want one! Or, at the least, a gun.
Southern Command salivates to bring “restive” S and C America under control. Bill C to do bed checks in Haiti.
Africom bubbles along. “Somalia has not had a government in 18 years”.. oh surely we can help? That is what we do. Goodness and Kindness and Mercy. We follow people all of their days.
Did you know that Ob visited a slave embarcation point? (How could you miss it?) Yes he did. And a pregnancy clinic in Ghana. Yes he did. Took Michelle along. Optics.
Who can keep track of the wars? I cannot. Who can keep track of the Pretzel Global Tours? I cannot.
And then there is Norcom. That is us. And Canada and Mexico. Big plans there, you can feel it.
Stories all over the place… from Tora Bora, new ones.. to CIA looking odd… are they trying to say they are new at this? Why, I think they are! Hell, in that story, everybody is lying. Panetta and Nancy.. and everyone else. We are total fictions, that is what we are. Ghosts with guns and bombs and planes loaded down with bombs, pack mules of a sort, we send forth to kill and kill and kill again. Drones run out of Nellis Air Force Base, in Nevada.. It’s like video games, they say that as recruitment tactics.. and, it really is. Optics.
Nellis sits in a ”Federal Preserve”, of sorts, encompassing Area 51… and, over all, larger than Switzerland. Classifed.
Sasha wore not one but two – count them if you can – one two buckle your shoe – peace symbol t-shirts in Italy. Here, have some peace, rub their noses in it.
Optics.
The lights are still on… 21 February 2009
Posted by marisacat in 2010 Mid Terms, France, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, Lie Down Fall Down Dems, NORCOM, WAR!.102 comments
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Oasis of the Seas, the largest cruise ship on earth, or an artist’s representation of her and the Aqua Theatre, one of many diversions. Oasis is due to hit the seas late this year.. and construction begins soon on a sister ship, Allure of the Seas. Timing, huh?
I’d say the wealthy will cruise no matter what, but word is around in San Francisco that the “2 – 3 million dollar” local house market is in trouble. Hankies abound. And rentals on houses for the season in the Hamptons are coming down… Not a full crash, as the wealthy “have not canceled summer” but taking a deep hit.
Who knows what the sitch will be in a couple of months… worse is a good prediction. Even Miss Cleo could manage that one……… 8)
NYCO posted this near the end of the last thread… and it is a good fit for this thread…
I see Joseph Tainter’s Collapse of Complex Societies has finally reached mainstream consciousness… in the Canadian media, anyway.
Tainter is still alive and teaching. I wonder what he thinks of all these world economy developments. Especially since his final conclusion (in 1988) was that collapse could no longer happen to any society unless all of them collapsed at the same time. Which appears to be what is happening at present.
Snip from the news article linked above… I’d say we are at blast furnace level for complexity and interdependence…
[C]ompared to the Roman empire, the networks of interdependence in our present global systems are orders of magnitude more complicated — and comparably less resilient. Efficiency, the hallmark of modern economics, is precisely the fine tuning of higher levels of interdependence to minimize duplication and waste. Think of manufacturing with just-in-time delivery systems, or cities which typically store only a three-day supply of food, or hospitals which rely on the daily arrival of drugs, blood and oxygen — Michael Osterholm of the University of Minnesota reminds us that “most medical equipment and 85% of US pharmaceuticals are made abroad” (Ibid.).
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Complexity Theory is an uncomfortable subject, particularly given the unsettling stresses we are measuring in food production, climate change, resource depletion, ecosystem damage, pollution and population growth. But the theory has its saving graces. It does make us more aware of our vulnerabilities. And it does argue for simplification and local self-sufficiency, particularly for essentials such as food supply and energy production. The incentive to begin thinking and acting with foresight should compensate for the need to be apologetic.
And… a snip from a related comment of NYCO (which I agree with, and just grit my teeth when I hear that Obama and “his belief in technology” will save us. Quite popular out here, as you might imagine):
[P]ossibly the most unpopular part of Tainter’s theory, the one that would meet the most resistance, is his contention that while there may be technological magic bullets out there to discover and develop that will solve many of our current problems, we cannot possibly afford to discover and develop them: they cost much more than a complex society can afford to spend and still remain intact. In other words, investing more and more into green technology — the holy grail of most forward-thinking politicians and progressives today — will not save our civilization. Our complex civilization will collapse before we ever get near to realizing actual net benefits from our pursuit of these technologies. […]
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I am sure this, from the Daily Mail, which is linked at Instapundit, and thus soon to be picked up in the Right and Far Right slots… has the hierarchy girding their loins for battle. And drooling – where ever it is they drool from…..
[T]he first protests began a month ago when the left-wing union coalition, the Collective Against Exploitation, demanded a £180 a month pay increase for low-wage earners.
President Nicolas Sarkozy sent his minster for overseas departments to the island to meet with union leaders on response to the demands.
But the racial tensions which have been simmering for decades exploded into full-scale rioting, with colonial descendants who own 90 per cent of the wealth becoming the focus of the violence.
The unrest was further aggravated last week when wealthy white landowner Alain Huyghues-Despointes publicly criticised mixed-race marriages and said he preferred to ‘preserve his race’.
In Paris, the violence has provoked divisions in Mr Sarkozy’s cabinet with black minister Rachida Data acknowledging that Guadeloupe suffered from ‘a problem with the distribution of wealth’. …
This comment of diane’s fits in here… her comment and snip from the SF Gate link… and I am sure (tho I did nto bother to google) that the authors are coming at Obama from the right.. but no matter. I don’t care anymore. I have no clue where the Savior stands, not with me I am certain of that.
[M]eanwhile, plans for detention at home are being expanded under Democratic Party leadership. On Jan. 22, Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., a former judge who was impeached and removed from the bench before being elected to Congress, introduced HR645, the National Emergency Centers Establishment Act. This bill calls for the establishment of six centers on military installations across the United States. Previous centers were for addressing an “emergency influx of immigrants” or to support “the rapid development of new programs.” These new FEMA centers are “to provide temporary housing, medical and humanitarian assistance to individuals and families dislocated due to an emergency or major disaster.” …
Stories and reports of Northern Command have been coming out for years… 3 years, or so, that I am aware of… and iirc NORCOM went fully active around the time (fall, ’08)that AFRICOM did.
Surge on…..
Marisacat 