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Taylor Marsh has been writing on line since 1996, with the archives provided here a representation of that work.

Archive | October, 2011

Liberally Independent: The Electeds are Getting Nervous

By on 13 October 2011

Joyce L. Arnold: Liberal, lesbian, Independent, equality activist, writer.

Joyce L. Arnold: Liberal, lesbian, Independent, equality activist, writer. At TaylorMarsh: Liberally Independent, including the Two Parties series, and Queer Talk

The rumors were there last night, that Bloomberg may choose to close down the Occupy Wall Street camp, due to “sanitation” reasons. This afternoon he followed through. See Taylor’s earlier post for details.

From OWS EMERGENCY CALL TO ACTION: Keep Bloomberg and Kelly From Evicting #OWS.

EMERGENCY #OWS EVICTION DEFENSE:
Prevent the forcible closure of Occupy Wall Street …

NEED MASS TURN-OUT, SHOW UP AT MIDNIGHT, NOT 6 A.M.

This is an emergency situation. Please take a minute to read this, and please take action and spread the word far and wide.

Occupy Wall Street is gaining momentum, with occupation actions now happening in cities across the world.

But last night Mayor Bloomberg and the NYPD notified Occupy Wall Street participants about plans to “clean the park”—the site of the Wall Street protests—tomorrow starting at 7am. ‘Cleaning’ was used as a pretext to shut down ‘Bloombergville’ a few months back, and to shut down peaceful occupations elsewhere.

Bloomberg says that the park will be open for public usage following the cleaning, but with a notable caveat: Occupy Wall Street participants must follow the ‘rules’.

NYPD Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has said that they will move in to clear us and we will not be allowed to take sleeping bags, tarps, personal items or gear back into the park.

This is it – this is their attempt to shut down #OWS for good.

And this. Clearly they are not backing down. How To Hold Your Ground:

Basic Strategy: Sit down, link arms and do not let go! If the police drag you away, you can comply or go limp (both calmly and silently) which is arguably not resisting arrest. Please also respect a diversity of tactics.
For those of you who plan to stick around PAST MIDNIGHT—which we hope will be all of you—make sure you understand the possible consequences. Be prepared to not get much sleep. Be prepared for possible arrest. Make sure your items are together and ready to go (or already out of the park.) We are pursuing all possible strategies; this is a message of solidarity.

I wrote in yesterday’s Occupy post that, “The efforts from the Left seem to be morphing, predictably, into co-opting, with 2012 in mind. That is, and will continue to be, resisted, I think.” I also noted a recent piece from William Rivers Pitt, at Truthout, in which he concluded that, “distasteful as it may be,” the better choice by OWS is to accept the offer of support from the Dems.

Including the Democratic Party will raise the profile of the movement, and make it more difficult for it to be undermined.

My comment then, and now, is that “this way leads to co-optation.”

If you’re OWS, why should you trust the Democratic Party, and at least some of the progressive organizations with very close ties to that party, all of whom are looking with great concern at 2012? And none of whom have been particularly interested in you until you worked your way into the news cycle? Add this: would you maybe be tempted to do so if, say, Mayor Bloomberg said he was going to shut you down? Of course, there’s also the possibility that the Dems and some of those progressive organizations will be (behind the scenes) cheering Bloomberg’s steps … they can say they (finally) supported you, even that they’re really sorry it all had to end with the closing of the camp, but hey, why don’t all you OWS people join the Obama campaign, where professional organizers will show you how to get things done? Or, just go away.

Okay, pure speculation on my part, with a side of conspiracy theory. So I might as well add a couple of more pieces. First, this Saturday is the international “October 15” event, and Occupy, in NYC and many other places, have planned to participate with big action, and likely lots of participation. Maybe the largest so far. OCTOBER 15TH:

719 cities – 71 countries
OCTOBER 15TH
UNITED FOR #GLOBALCHANGE

On October 15th people from all over the world will take to the streets and squares.
From America to Asia, from Africa to Europe, people are rising up to claim their rights and demand a true democracy. Now it is time for all of us to join in a global non violent protest.

Second, this from The Denver Post Occupy Denver protesters hold meeting in preparation of expected nighttime eviction:

Protesters who have camped on a strip of state land in front of the Capitol held a meeting this afternoon to warn about an expected clash between police later tonight.

‘You have all heard the rumors. Something is going to be happening tonight. Things are going to get hairy,’ said Becca Chavez at the 3 p.m. ‘general assembly meeting’ among Occupy Denver protesters.

Chavez and a group of about 50 protesters were meeting in reaction to Gov. John Hickenlooper’s press conference this morning with Denver Mayor Michael Hancock and Colorado Attorney General John Suthers, where the three ordered the protesters to disperse from the State Capitol Grounds Park after 11 p.m. or face arrest.

Occupy will keep up the fight. It could even be that this decision will end up providing even more energy and bringing more people to the Occupy movement.

( Photo via Alternet )

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Reports Reveal Bloomberg Moving to Clear OWS

By on 13 October 2011

Raw Story reported on this yesterday, that the park was to be “temporarily cleared.” If something doesn’t feel right about this move that’s because this ploy has been used in other types of protests to remove protesters, then not let them back in.

Matt Browner Hamlin has more:

Mike Bloomberg, New York City’s billionaire mayor, is taking the first strong step towards evicting #OccupyWallStreet from Zuccotti Plaza, where the occupation has been taking place. Zuccotti Plaza used to be a public park, but was privatized. It is now owned by Brookfield Properties, a company whose board of directors, coincidentally, includes Bloomberg’s girlfriend [link added].

Bloomberg and Brookfield are asking protesters to vacate Zuccotti Plaza in stages so the park could be cleaned. Needless to say, the occupiers have been religious about keeping the park where they have been living for four months very clean and are doing a hardcore cleaning effort today and tomorrow to make sure it is spotless. [...]

Occupy Wall Street is rallying people: Tell Bloomberg: Don’t Foreclose the Occupation. Join us at 6AM FRIDAY for non-violent eviction defense.

MoveOn and PCCC are joining in.

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Cain’s 9-9-9 Would Hit Middle Class Hard

By on 13 October 2011

Republicans just don’t get it. Tea Party Republicans like Mr. Cain are the worst. They come up with snappy slogans that sell, but the bottom line always ends up hurting the people seduced to vote against their own interests by these right-wing charlatans.

From ABC News:

If you have a family of four with an income of just under $50,000, they could end up paying more under the Cain plan. Currently, they are taxed around $3,850 in income tax. Under Cain’s plan, they would be taxed at 9 percent or pay $4,500.

That’s $650 more.

Although the family would save almost $4,000 in Social Security taxes, it would have to give up the child tax credit worth the same amount. Furthermore, it would pay an additional national sales tax of 9 percent on everything purchased, including groceries and clothes, which totals about $2,000.

That means under the Cain plan that family could end up paying $2,725 more.

“It’s going to raise the price of just about everything by about 9 percent,” said former George W. Bush economic policy adviser Bruce Bartlett. “We know from experience and analysis that that tends to hurt people with low incomes.”

Today with Chuck Todd, Peter Hart talked about Cain’s appeal. He said it’s all about “balancing his own check book” and that he’s a “regular guy.”

So, now we’ve replaced the who-do-you-want-to-have-a-beer-with mentality with the Tea-Party-pack-are-regular-guys prattle. Is it any wonder we are where we are?

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Cain Up, Newt Passes Perry, Obama Assumes It’s Romney

By on 13 October 2011

“Cain is the leader … That’s the story,” said Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart, who conducted this survey with Republican pollster Bill McInturff. – NBC/WSJ poll: Cain now leads GOP pack

The other news is Newt Gingrich has passed Perry to take third, according to PPP.

Obama/Biden 2012 is having none of it. They’re bird-dogging Mitt Romney.

For Obama campaign, it’s game on against Romney

They were also motivated, top Democrats told POLITICO, by anger at the GOP field for not hitting Romney sufficiently hard on his well-documented position shifts on abortion rights, civil unions and health care reform.

“The other Republicans have sucked so bad we didn’t have any choice” but begin to target Romney months before the Iowa caucuses, said a top Obama ally, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Indeed, Wednesday marked the unofficial kick-off of the 2012 general election for Team Obama, with senior strategist David Axelrod labeling Romney a hypocrite, an ideological shape-shifter, lapsed pro-choice moderate, political cyborg and the man “carrying [Herbert] Hoover’s tattered banner.”

“The other Republicans have sucked so bad…” If that doesn’t say it all.

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Scott Brown Verbatim Text from Elizabeth Dole ‘Technical Error’

By on 13 October 2011

Sen. Brown is having a rough month.

Scott Brown web message mirrors Elizabeth Dole’s remarks on site

A Democratic group has unearthed a bit of inspirational autobiography on Senator Scott Brown’s official website that was lifted verbatim from Elizabeth Dole’s site, language that originated in a campaign speech.

In a message to students, the Massachusetts senator uses the exact words as remarks delivered by the former North Carolina senator at her campaign kickoff in 2002.

Brown’s staff acknowledged yesterday the words originally were Dole’s and said their presence in Brown’s message was the result of a technical error.

Here’s where the technical error allegedly happened:

Brown spokesman John Donnelly said the language was attributed to Brown in error, while his staff was creating the senator’s website.

“Senator Dole’s website served as one of the models for Senator Brown’s website when he first took office. During construction of the site, the content on this particular page was inadvertently transferred without being rewritten,” Donnelly said. “It was a staff level oversight which we regret and is being corrected.”

Believe it or not, does it matter or not?

I’m not sure anyone will change their mind about their candidate preference over this. If the election was held next month, maybe.

However, Gawker reports an interesting discovery:

Sure is lucky that the opening line “I am Mary and John Hanford’s daughter” was—inadvertently, we’re sure—omitted! And also the line that follows: “I am Bob Dole’s wife.”

It is certainly sloppy and lacks attention to important details to his own biography, which doesn’t say much for Brown’s leadership in his own office.

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Eric Holder on a Spit

By on 12 October 2011

Listening to Sean Hannity briefly today, because I can only take this cretin in short stints, he had Rep. Issa on for an interview over the “Fast and Furious” imbroglio that is lighting up the right. Between the two of them they flayed A.G. Holder until only bones were left, symbolically speaking, of course.

Whether this is felonious stupidity or managerial malpractice, it was hardly anything nefarious from what I can tell from the reporting. However, it hardly matters at this rate.

Earth to the Administration: Right wing radio is eating Holder alive.

It makes me wonder if they realize what they’ve got on their hands. Are they going to mount an aggressive push back on this or are you going to serve up Holder for turkey dinner (to take a question spincitysd asked in his “In the News” diary that starts with quite an article)? But spincitysd had an even better question: Sweet Baby Jesus On A Pogo Stick, is there any adult supervision going on at Holder’s romper room?

Good question.

Anyone know a good crisis manager? Calling Eli Gold.

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Liberally Independent: Occupy Day 26 and ‘Tax Me’

By on 12 October 2011

Joyce L. Arnold: Liberal, lesbian, Independent, equality activist, writer. At TaylorMarsh: Liberally Independent, including the Two Parties series, and Queer Talk

As I’ve said a few times now, and no doubt will say again: OWS has created spaces for conversations outside the economic / political system, outside the Two Party Front for the Oligarchy. It isn’t that such conversation weren’t occurring before. They were; they have been, for decades. But now there are these very visible and hearable expressions of the many who are basically saying: No matter how many times the Two Parties and the MSM tell us differently, the emperor hasn’t a stitch of clothes on, and he’s in the same room with the elephant (and the donkey).

From the Right, the predictable responses continue – lots of negativity, though now with a bit of acknowledgement that there’s some sort of problem. For one example of the “not subtle and thoroughly skewed to the Right” response, you can follow the link in this tweet, which appears on the OWS feed:

yankeemom Where would you want your kid to be? #TeaParty vs Occupy Wall Street in pictures | http://t.co/jE7FqtN3 #tcot #ows #teamhobbit

It’s a series of photos, with “good” Tea Partiers on the left (which positioning I find kind of funny) opposed to “bad” Occupiers on the right. Naturally you’re suppose to want your kid (which you are presumed to have) to be a Tea Partier. Some of the Occupier photos aren’t exactly inspiring, but of course, that’s why they were used.

The efforts from the Left seem to be morphing, predictably, into co-opting, with 2012 in mind. That is, and will continue to be, resisted, I think. The ones with the money don’t always win. They often win, but not always. The use of “too big to fail,” as applied to the “99%”, points to the obvious fact that non-1%, or probably more accurately, non-10% to 20% people, are largely seen (if and when they are actually “seen”) as background and pieces to be used as needed.

A few links to check out for Occupy news coverage and analysis:

Via Journalism.org, “Occupy Wall Street Drives Economic Coverage”:

The economy reclaimed its perch at the top of the news agenda as the No. 1 story last week, largely driven by dramatically increasing media attention to the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations.

A first-hand account from Lynn Parramore, at Alternet, “Millionaire’s March: Protesters Hit the Streets in NY and Visit the 1 Percent at Their Homes”.

The photo above, via Buzzfeed, shows that there are people at the top who do “get” what’s happening. And shows the dangers of lumping individuals into one “category.”

Another direct account, this from Kristen Gwynne, also via Alternet, “Inside Occupy Wall Street: Journalist-Participant Describes What Life Is Really Like (Complicated and Inspiring) at Zuccotti Park”.

This one directly raises the question of what OWS should do with new-found Democratic Party “solidarity” – William Rivers Pitt, at TruthOut writes “A Delicate Moment for the Occupy Wall Street Movement”:

Another delicate moment looms for the movement, one you can file under ‘With Friends Like These…’ Yes, everyone can relax, because the Democratic Party is coming to the hoedown. The very politicians whose inactivity and collusion regarding Wall Street excesses made this movement necessary in the first place have licked their finger, put it to the wind, and decided it is safe to come out and play:

Prominent House Democrats are embracing the Occupy Wall Street protests as demonstrations are spreading across the country and gaining support from traditional progressive institutions. …

The co-chairs of the Progressive Caucus, Reps. Keith Ellison and Raul Grijalva, issued a joint statement to express ‘solidarity’ with the movement … .
Even Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, the second-ranking House Democrat, agreed that there were similarities between the protesters’ message and Democratic priorities. …

Howls of outrage and disgust from OWS activists and supporters could be heard all up and down the Eastern seaboard when word reached them of their new prospective allies. No, no, and hell no, went the refrain. These are the same politicians who line the pockets of the very people being protested, and now all of a sudden they want to join the struggle? The OWS movement is protesting the Democrats as much as it protesting against the rest of the crooked institutional theft machine that shattered the economy in the first place.

So, how to respond, welcome or not welcome the Dems? Pitt’s conclusion:

Personally, I incline to the latter choice, distasteful as it may be. Including the Democratic Party will raise the profile of the movement, and make it more difficult for it to be undermined. Time will tell if they are too undermined by their own participation in the economic collapse to be of any assistance, and it is certain that their inclusion will leave a bad taste in many mouths.

Personally, I’m inclined to think “this way leads to co-optation.”

A few links to check out for some OWS actions and comments:

OccupyTogether provides a link to livestream options, in NYC and elsewhere. It’s also the site where Occupy related meetups are registered. As of 2:00 PM EST, that number stood at 1381.

From “Best Comments Today” section at OWS:

sqrltyler …

The divide and conquer spin zone is in full effect, as The Republicans shun us, while The Democrats try to own the movement.

We need to continue to make it VERY clear. Neither party represents The American People. Both parties are owned and controlled by the elites who have destroyed our economy, and flushed our prosperity down the toilet. …
We are not Democrats. We are not Republicans. We are Americans.

A good way to close, with selected tweets, also from OWS:

occupySYDNEY RT @owsbot: City of Dallas requires that #OccupyDallas have $1,000,000 insurance policy to protest. Free assembly not a right. http://t.co/4EwL4uqb #ows

bfbarbie RT @ToneyBrooks: The #OWS movement’s about ‘change you can believe in.’ It has nothing, and wants nothing, to do with the US political axis of corruption.

awatsonphoto RT @Franke4Congress: Wow. RT @RANKIS Kentucky city commissioner: ‘I feel like going Taliban’ on Occupy protesters | The Raw Story: http://t.co/QlXAxAus #OWS #p2

sunami495 RT @anonyops_: The @NYCLU plans to deliver hundreds of water bottles with ‘know your rights’ labels to #occupywallstreet #ows tomorrow. #anonyops #Respect

setv Bob Marley – Get Up Stand Up Live In Dortmund, Germany http://t.co/q6oGDnnR #occupywallstreet #ows #occupydallas #occupychicago

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Rush Limbaugh: Romney is ‘Not a Conservative’

By on 12 October 2011

“The Republican base doesn’t want Romney. The Republican base doesn’t want Romney.” – Rush Limbaugh’s opening chant on his radio show today

…and so it begins.

The Republican establishment thinks they’ve won. But if Mitt Romney’s the nominee, will the Tea Party stay around?

Conventional wisdom among non-conservatives and anti Tea Party people is that Republicans and the right will fall in line and back Mitt Romney.

Comments on my FB page have been very interesting today.

Reader GA6thDem said the same thing in the comments, with part of what he said below:

To me the Tea Party was really just the personality based mirror image of the “Obama Movement” … I also think that the majority of tea partiers will swallow hard and vote for Romney. The question in the end is will it be enough?

Today, Rush Limbaugh blew that notion out of the water, as several callers, as they did yesterday, continue to plead with Limbaugh to take Romney on. There was a lone voice pleading with Rush to remember Reagan’s 11th commandment, don’t speak ill of another Republican, and give Mitt Romney a chance.

Limbaugh also took out after Rick Perry today, who [update] couldn’t even get the date of the American Revolution correct, saying he was “too passive” and “needed to dominate, but he didn’t. Then he went further, saying Perry made himself disappear like “an a list magician in Las Vegas,” all of which I tweeted at the time.

As I’ve said before, the prospect of Obama vs. Romney is not particularly an exciting contest. Both candidates could entice challenges, with Rush Limbaugh revealing real unease in the Republican base.

What it also portends, if Romney is the nominee, is a tough Tea Party or evangelical type as vice presidential nominee.

However, any thought that the Republican base is going to blindly sign on to a Mitt Romney nomination discounts the power the Tea Party has built and portends a resurgence of a movement that has lately been slowly losing power and its clout.

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Waiting Out the Tea Party

By on 12 October 2011

A terrific piece from Matt Bai proves the intransigence of our two party system.

If that’s the case, then it now seems like only a matter of time before the Republican empire, overwhelmed by insurrection for much of the last two years, strikes back at last. “I think it’s waning now,” Scott Reed, a veteran strategist and lobbyist, told me when we talked about the Tea Party’s influence last month. Efforts to gin up primaries next year against two sitting senators — Utah’s Orrin Hatch and Indiana’s Dick Lugar — have been slow to gain momentum, Reed said, and it’s notable that more than half of the 50-plus members of the Tea Party caucus in the House ultimately fell in line and voted with Speaker John Boehner on his debt-ceiling compromise. Party leaders have managed to bleed some of the anti-establishment intensity out of the movement, Reed said, by slyly embracing Tea Party sympathizers in Congress, rather than treating them as “those people.”

Did he mean to say that the party was slowly co-opting the Tea Partiers?

“Trying to,” Reed said. “And that’s the secret to politics: trying to control a segment of people without those people recognizing that you’re trying to control them.”

This whole fight on the right is what’s given us the deplorable state of ineffectiveness in Congress today. Principles are critically important. Seeing leaders and political party heads fight hard for what they want is the stuff of battles worthy of supporting. But when stalemate comes, the American people require that elected officials swallow their partisan pride and do the work they were sent to do.

Majorities happen for a reason: people vote one party in over another.

What happened when Obama came in is that he had a majority in Congress, but acted like he didn’t. Not only did he not take the power he was given and drive to the wall for change, he compromised and created something worse than he had to, starting with health care reform.

The Tea Party pack who won in 2010 had no intention of going down that road. However, their extremism has caused paralysis and made our situation worse. It would have been an economic calamity if the Tea Party had successfully caused a U.S. default and their pushing for just that result is what’s got their power dwindling today.

From Bai:

There was a lesson in all this for the Tea Partiers, Weber said — one he had been trying to impart to them whenever he got the chance. “I think I know what they want to accomplish, and I agree with most of it,” he said. “But if they want to accomplish it, they need to ‘rise to the level of politics.’ I mean, you can’t just stand there and take a stand and say, ‘I’m not going to compromise on my position.’ Because you won’t achieve anything.”

Achievements matter in government. Pres. Obama’s got that down. It’s just his achievements in his first term don’t represent the majority with which he began, with his capitulation during times of Democratic strength proving to the Republicans he can be rolled, leading to even worse outcomes once the Tea Party came in.

But since the Tea Party doesn’t understand, respect or appreciate the point of governing, it’s allowed the Republican establishment to wait them out. Now the Tea Party pack has nowhere to go, as their power wanes in Washington, unless they pitch a fit and start their own stand alone entity, outside the two party duopoly. If Mitt Romney’s the nominee, this next spring they may do just that.

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Team Obama Goes Nuclear on Economic Pitch

By on 12 October 2011

“Their strategy is to suffocate the economy for the sake of what they think will be a political victory. They think that the more folks see Washington taking no action to create jobs, the better their chances in the next election. So they’re doing everything in their power to make sure nothing gets done.” [emphasis added] – Jim Messina, Obama/Biden 2012 (via Steve Benen)

I’ve never understood why the notion of calling out Republicans for purposefully nuking the economy to take Barack Obama down was akin to screaming political profanity. Sen. Mitch McConnell’s now famous line about making Obama a one-term president was the foreshadowing, but it came after Rush saying he hoped Pres. Obama would “fail.”

However, let’s not pretend Pres. Obama didn’t lay this out for the Republicans a long time ago through adopting conservative economic talking points in the first place. But also because he never made the progressive Democratic case as an alternative.

Joan McCarter writes what many Democrats and progressives have been thinking for ages: This is the White House many of us having been waiting for…

It’s important to add that the obvious impetus for Obama reelect “embracing” the economic “sabotage” idea is that Pres. Obama’s reelection reality is dicey, something the White House never envisioned would happen. It’s about political preservation, not an epiphany.

As an aside, it’s ironic to me that Sen. Max Baucus voted for Obama’s jobs bill, while Tester did not; but it was Baucus who made such a mess of the health care bill, selling out Obama’s chances for health care reform for some insurance mess.

The Administration’s economic… hmmm… what to call it? It’s not a vision. It certainly wasn’t a plan. It’s actually ad hoc policies, one after another, in the hopes that something would stick and also work. But nothing did.

Perhaps if Pres. Obama and his economic wizards would have been bolder, following people like Krugman and Robert Reich, things would be different. But they didn’t so things aren’t.

So, Mr. Messina’s missive comes off to me as nothing but desperation. Pres. Obama’s bipartisan Gumby gamble has gotten him into this mess and it’s too late to get out. Pres. Obama twisting himself into a political pretzel to posture reasonableness, instead of playing hard ball with the Republicans has made Obama reelect push the panic button and for good reason.

Let’s say Obama reelect continues to make the case that Republicans are sabotaging the economy in order to beat him next November. An obvious question is how did Pres. Obama get into the position to allow them to do that?

The Administration econ weenies have set the stage perfectly for Mitt Romney. That is, if slick Mitt can just make it through the primaries.

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Netanyahu Negotiates Deal with Hamas

By on 12 October 2011

I don’t know if the cliché applies, that this is Mr. Netanyahu’s China moment, but I bet a lot of people never thought they’d read a headline like the one above.

However, I am reminded of a variation on Lawrence O’Donnell’s line, which is that the negotiated swap for Gilad Shalit isn’t done until it’s actually done.

If it’s completed this is a big moment for the new Egypt, whose involvement was reportedly central to the outcome.

From the New York Times:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel told his nation in a live address on television that the soldier, Staff Sgt. Gilad Shalit, who was captured in June 2006 at the age of 19, could be home “within days,” ending what has been widely seen in Israel as a national trauma.

In Damascus, Syria, Khaled Meshal, the political leader of Hamas, said in a televised address that the negotiations had been “very, very difficult” and called the deal “a national accomplishment” that augured well for the Palestinians, who he said hoped to “cleanse the land, and liberate Jerusalem, and unite the Palestinian ranks.”

It was unclear what drove the two to accept a deal that had been on the table for years. But both stand to benefit politically and had reasons to distract attention from the efforts of Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, as he circles the globe seeking votes for his bid to gain United Nations membership for a state of Palestine.

Jeffrey Goldberg brings up a good point: If Marwan Barghouti is released as part of the exchange that will be some deal for Hamas.

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RAILROADED? Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko Gets 7 Years in Jail

By on 11 October 2011

**UPDATED**

While most people are pondering the odd intersection between Iran and a Mexico drug cartel in the alleged assassination attempt of the Saudi ambassador, which sounds like a weird spy novel, at least so far, about which I’m extremely skeptical [update: See interview with Bob Baer]. What caught my eye is something else.

This is a disturbingly tragic development:

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on Tuesday was found guilty of abuse of office and sentenced to seven years in jail, in a trial widely condemned in the West as politically motivated.

Judge Rodion Kireyev also barred Tymoshenko, now the country’s top opposition leader, from occupying government posts for three years after the completion of her prison term and fined her 1.5 billion hryvna ($190 million; euro140 million) in damages to the state.

Tymoshenko remained calm, but didn’t wait for Kireyev to finish reading the lengthy ruling, standing up from her seat and addressing reporters in the courtroom as he spoke. She compared her verdict, which she claimed was written by her longtime foe, President Viktor Yanukovych, to the horrific purges by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.

“The year 1937 has returned to Ukraine with this verdict and all the repression of citizens,” she said, adding that she would contest the ruling. “As for me, be sure that I will not stop my fight even for a minute. I will always be with you as long as it is necessary.”

“Nobody, not Yanukovych, not Kireyev, can humiliate my honest name. I have worked and will continue to work for Ukraine’s sake,” Tymoshenko told reporters earlier.

h/t to DB for the link on Tymoshenko.

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ANNOUNCING… THE HILLARY EFFECT – Politics, Sexism and the Destiny of Loss

By on 11 October 2011

A BARNES and NOBLE Exclusive!

“NOOK First” Featured Authors Selection

Goes wide December 15th, available in print and Kindle through Amazon.com,

and iBooks.

The eBook that tells the definitive story.

Published by Premier Digital Publishing.

Spanning nearly two decades of American politics, The Hillary Effect is the provocative and insightful story of the first viable female presidential candidate in history to win a primary and do so in spite of her campaign team’s mistakes. And the galvanizing impact that her loss represented for both women and men, in and out of Washington. It revolves around media coverage that treated her differently as first lady, senator and then presidential candidate – not only because she was a woman, but because she was Hillary Clinton.

Candidly written by veteran political analyst, Taylor Marsh, it is the view from a recovering partisan, someone who the Washington Post called a “die hard Clintonite” in their profile of her in 2008.

The Hillary Effect began when Hillary, as first lady, dared to challenge China’s treatment of women. A countless number of women have and will benefit from her presidential loss, the most famous being Sarah Palin (the Tea Party queen of 2010 and first female on a national Republican presidential ticket), who weaves throughout this story as the anti-Hillary. The Hillary Effect also sees Michele Bachman as a player, as the first Republican female to win a straw poll, primary or caucus.

The male leads in this stunning tale are Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama (someone who turned out to be very different from candidate Obama), with David Plouffe and Mark Penn making appearances. The story includes a host of media personalities and their outlets, but also new media and progressive voices, and famous names like Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, Sally Quinn, the late Tim Russert, Richard Wolffe, Laura Ingraham, Liz Cheney, Peggy Noonan, Maureen Dowd, Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and even Bill O’Reilly, who offered Hillary the best interview she would do during the 2008 season.

All of this is seen through the economic and political crises of today, health care, women’s individual freedoms being challenged by the right, Afghanistan, women’s rise around the world, the debt ceiling debate, tax cuts for the wealthy, Occupy Wall Street and an American public disenchanted with Republicans and Democrats, just as the race for 2012 revs up.

TM NOTE: Renowned artist Hugh Syme did the cover; Hillary bust by Karen Caldicott, who’s been featured in Newsweek and The Nation.

The announcement has been edited and updated.

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Charlie Gets a Debate

By on 11 October 2011

Republicans are back, but they’re sitting. Maybe it will help these Republicans curb their sanctimonious blathering.

Anyone watching?

Mitt Romney got testy, then got caught in economic truth of “you don’t want to bail out anybody,” but…

Then Newt Gingrich stepped in and filibustered.

One classic moment was when Rick Santorum said “I want to go to war with China…”, referencing the economy, of course.

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Liberally Independent: Occupy Day 25 and the 2011 version of “Somethin’s happenin’ here”

By on 11 October 2011

Joyce L. Arnold: Liberal, lesbian, Independent, equality activist, writer. At TaylorMarsh: Liberally Independent, including the Two Parties series, and Queer Talk

When Occupy Wall Street action began, the expectations were for 15,000 to 20,000. When only a few hundred showed up, the initiators just kept going. And now we’re at day 25 in NYC, and on OccupyTogether, as of about 3:30 PM EST, there were 1323 cities with registered meetups and events.

I’ll say again, I’m barely scratching the surface with these updates. A part of this “somethin’s happen’ here” moment is that it’s creating this huge and growing space for conversation. You can watch a livestream of OWS in NYC, and find links to similar streaming and videos to other Occupy locations.

At OWS Press you can find a lot of information and links. One is to Occupy Earth, a Facebook page serving as a “clearing house for information from the World’s ‘occupy’ actions. A quick and cursory scan:

Occupy Australia, Richmond, Winnipeg, Florida, Austria, Portugal, Vancouver, Belfast, Brazil, Tokyo, Saskatoon, Sidney, Newfoundland, Germany, and Occupy from home.

Via the OWS Library, find Occupied Wall Street Journal.

Selected tweets from OWS:

BintHouria RT @nyclu: Metro – Parents for #OccupyWallStreet: Family sleepover http://t.co/02KN3HnT #ows

fididrill @CluckandChip This is not about left vs right but corporate cronyism vs. democracy. All pols corrupted by money. #getmoneyout #ows #teaparty

merelyjim RT @VanJones68: #OWS =anti-capitalist? Under TRUE capitalism, banksters woulda gotten pink slips, not bail-outs. Wall St. would HATE real capitalism #occupy

bloomuse Not the 1st time authorities said occupying a space is unlawful assembly: Sit-ins during Civil Rights Movement: http://t.co/A2SA3Uns #ows

WatchdogJamie #ows, as long as you believe its a political party issue rather than a corruption issue you will lose. You are simply pawns. #tcot #p2

Thanks to lambert at Corrente for this link, 72 Cities That Have Joined The Occupied Movement, a gallery of photos from, at this point, 72 Occupy cities and towns.

Don’t forget Occupy America, a site at flickr, where you can see posts, photos, posters and more, submitted by individuals from around the nation.

Now, to some happenings, some which have occurred, some planned. Today’s big focus is on what happened at Occupy Boston early this morning. From OWS Press:

Occupy Wall Street would like to express our support and solidarity with both the people of Boston and the 100+ arrested at Occupy Boston last night. We commend them for their bravery in standing their ground at great personal cost to assert the right of the people to peaceful assembly in public spaces.

We condemn the Boston Police Department for their brutality in ordering their officers to descend upon the Occupy Boston tent city in full riot gear to assault, mass arrest, and destroy the possessions of these peaceful women and men. We condemn them for ordering this attack in the middle of the night. …

The Boston Police Department made no distinction between protesters, medics, or legal observers, arresting legal observer Urszula Masny-Latos, who serves as the Executive Director for the National Lawyers Guild, as well as four medics attempting to care for the injured …

THIS IS WHAT A POLICE STATE LOOKS LIKE

And we are what democracy looks like. … We call upon the rank-and-file police officers of this country to disobey such orders and remember that they protect and serve the people. You are one of us, the 99% and we’re too big to fail.

A snippet from FDL:

2:13 AM Boston sanitation workers being used to dispose of tents from the camp

2:08 AM Easily more than 100 arrested

1:58 AM Occupy Boston raided by Boston security forces including the bomb squad and riot police. Massachusetts state police come assist Boston security forces in the raid. Protesters dragged and beaten. At least one photographer charged.

1:42 AM Police in riot gear have moved in and are making arrests. Zipties are being put on occupiers. Reports of military veterans who are part of Veterans for Peace being beaten by police.

Via OWS Press: “Occupy Des Moines: Dozens Arrested In Iowa, Including A 14-Year-Old.”

Related but with a separate identity, the October 2011 action in DC is all about “occupying,” too. From October 2011, Stop the Machine:

Freedom Plaza Is Now Ours

And we’re never giving it back. Our permit for Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C., expired, we refused to leave, and the Park Police has just proposed to let us stay for four more months.

We’ve agreed. We have not said that when the four months are over … we will leave.

In NYC, OWS Press reported yesterday:

Despite Police threats, Mayor’s office assures no arrests tonight. Can’t say same for tomorrow.

This afternoon, via The Hill “Six protesters arrested at Senate Hart Building.”

Occupy Chicago is a part of a coalition called “Stand up Chicago,” Via Common Dreams which is

planning a protest against economic inequality on Monday at meeting of the Futures Industry Association and the American Mortgage Bankers Association. The coalition, representing a variety of community and worker groups, expects thousands of people marching from five different downtown locations Monday afternoon ‘to reclaim our jobs, our homes and our schools,’ according to its web site.

Among responses to Occupy are, of course, those from the Right. That includes, via WaPo:

Conservative activists have created a Tumblr called ‘We are the 53 percent’ that’s meant to be a counterpunch to the viral ‘We are the 99 percent’ site that’s become a prominent symbol for the Occupy Wall Street movement. The Tumblr is supposed to represent the 53 percent of Americans who pay federal income taxes, and its assumption is that the Wall Street protesters are part of the 46 percent of the country who don’t.

You also might want to check out “Anatomy of a Deception: How a Conservative Magazine Attempted to Discredit the Occupy Movement,” by Charlie Graspski, at OpEdNews.

As far as I can tell, the response from the professional Left includes everything from “Why aren’t they paying attention to me?” to “I understand you’re unhappy and I’m sort of sorry about it but please don’t take that as an endorsement of anything you have, are or will say or do,” to silence. Okay, there are those who actually seem attempting to be supportive, too, though almost always within the confines of electoral politics of the only Two Parties that matter.

Lots of good commentary and analysis out there, too. More on that tomorrow.

( Photo via Occupy Boston )

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BREAKING… Chris Christie Reportedly to Endorse Romney Today

By on 11 October 2011

**UPDATED**

“…in the end it was an easy decision for me.” – Gov. Chris Christie

Rush Limbaugh just reported this on his show a few minutes ago.

Fox News Radio tweeted it and Carl Cameron of Fox News confirms it will happen in New Hampshire later today.

UPDATE: Mitt Romney so far has said “New Jersey” 3 times & “hero” at least twice. He did refrain from squealing like a little girl.

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NBC Reporting: Iran faction plotted to kill Saudi ambassador

By on 11 October 2011

From NBC:

Two men allegedly working for “factions of the Iranian government” have been charged with plotting to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington and to attack the Saudi and Israeli embassies, Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday.

The criminal complaint, unsealed Tuesday in federal court in New York City, identified the two as Manssor Arbabsiar and Gholam Shakuri. Holder said Arbabsiar, who was arrested on Sept. 29 in New York, was working for the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard and had confessed to a plot.

Pres. Obama was reportedly briefed in June and ordered an investigation of the matter.

According to Pete Williams reporting on MSNBC, an F.B.I. sting is how the plot was foiled before it could manifest. A weapon of mass destruction, aka a bomb, in this instance, was uncovered.

developing…

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Taylor Marsh Authors The Hillary Effect – Politics, Sexism and the Destiny of Loss

By on 11 October 2011

Due out in November. Available on Amazon.com, on your Kindle, Barnes & Noble, Nook, and iPad.

Spanning nearly two decades of American politics, The Hillary Effect is the provocative and insightful story of the first viable female presidential candidate in history to win a primary and do so in spite of her campaign team’s mistakes. And the galvanizing impact that her loss represented for both women and men, in and out of Washington. It revolves around media coverage that treated her differently as first lady, senator and then presidential candidate – not only because she was a woman, but because she was Hillary Clinton.

Candidly written by veteran political analyst, Taylor Marsh, it is the view from a recovering partisan, someone who the Washington Post called a “die hard Clintonite” in their profile of her in 2008.
The Hillary Effect began when Hillary, as first lady, dared to challenge China’s treatment of women. A countless number of women have and will benefit from her presidential loss, the most famous being Sarah Palin (the Tea Party queen of 2010 and first female on a national Republican presidential ticket), who weaves throughout this story as the anti-Hillary. The Hillary Effect also sees Michele Bachman as a player, as the first Republican female to win a straw poll, primary or caucus.

The male leads in this stunning tale are Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama (someone who turned out to be very different from candidate Obama), with David Plouffe and Mark Penn making appearances. The story includes a host of media personalities and their outlets, but also new media and progressive voices, and famous names like Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, Sally Quinn, the late Tim Russert, Richard Wolffe, Laura Ingraham, Liz Cheney, Peggy Noonan, Maureen Dowd, Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and even Bill O’Reilly, who offered Hillary the best interview she would do during the 2008 season.

All of this is seen through the economic and political crises of today, health care, women’s individual freedoms being challenged by the right, Afghanistan, women’s rise around the world, the debt ceiling debate, tax cuts for the wealthy, Occupy Wall Street and an American public disenchanted with Republicans and Democrats, just as the race for 2012 revs up.

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DNC Nails Mitt Romney

By on 11 October 2011

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Debate Day: Cain Closes on Romney in Gallup

By on 11 October 2011

For tonight’s debate, Herman Cain will be splitting center stage with Mitt Romney, as Rick Perry moves one spot back from where he began.

What’s really remarkable in this latest Gallup poll is that undecideds match Romney’s number, 20%.

Republicans’ support for Herman Cain has surged to 18%, their support for Rick Perry has sagged to 15%, and their support for Mitt Romney remains relatively stable at 20%. However, Romney’s support is matched by the 20% of Republicans who are unsure which candidate they will back for the Republican nomination in 2012.

Mr. Cain has also moved into second place in New Hampshire, according to the latest polling, but Romney is still leading by a very large margin.

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