If you have some time on your hands

[Erasmus]

please name 1 concrete change accomplished by OWS ?

They've shown the 53% that they're a bunch of marxist, freeloading dooshes.  That helps us, not them, though.

[TVDOC]

please name 1 concrete change accomplished by OWS ?

Realistically.....they have turned several urban parks into "superfund" sites.......that'll create some government jobs......

doc

[VivisMom]

OWS Failed. Now what? (User Submitted)

Posted Oct. 19, 2011, 1:37 p.m. EST (4 days ago) by spidey


Let's be realistic for a moment. Besides 15 minutes of fame, after a month or protests OWS has failed to accomplish at least 1 concrete demand. Holding sings and sitting around is not effective. Time to go big or go home how far are you willing to go?


 
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spidey9 points 4 days ago


please name 1 concrete change accomplished by OWS ?

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SisterRay3 points 4 days ago


Exercising an unrestricted freedom of assembly, which had not been possible in NYC for about a decade now.

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spidey5 points 3 days ago


great and what exactly did that change? something concrete please.

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SisterRay4 points 3 days ago


It re-established New Yorkers' right to assemble, a human right guaranteed by the first amendment that had been consistently denied to us for years.

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andrescepeda505 points 3 days ago


Ok thats great and all but what did you accomlish by doing so?

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SisterRay4 points 3 days ago


You just repeated the question; I'm not sure why.
 
By exercising an unrestricted freedom of assembly, which had not been possible in NYC for about a decade now, OWS re-established New Yorkers' right to assemble.
 
A fundamental human right guaranteed by the first amendment to our constitution had been subjected to the whims of the Bloomberg administration for years. OWS's success in restoring the right to assemble is a huge victory for New Yorkers and anyone who cares about human rights and the constitution.
 
It remains to be seen what else OWS can accomplish in the coming weeks and months. But even if we accomplish nothing else, we've already accomplished a tremendous victory for human rights in America by re-establishing the right to assemble.

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MeAndWeThePeople (Chicago, IL) 4 points 3 days ago


It gives us more confidence to participate in politics

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spidey1 points 3 days ago


the right to assemble in America was never lost. but ok, I'm willing to see past that. Now after a month of free assembly, what has OWS done? can't you at least mention 1 concrete improvement in the lives of the 99%?

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SisterRay2 points 3 days ago


This is the last time I'll answer the same question. After a month of assembling freely, OWS has made at least 1 concrete improvement in the lives of the 99%: we have restored the right of the people to assemble. No longer will we have to ask permission to exercise our fundamental human rights. No longer will we be herded into cages placed on the outer boundaries of town and called "free speech zones". We the people are once again free to assemble in public and voice our political views.
 
It remains to be seen what else OWS can accomplish in the coming weeks and months. But even if we accomplish nothing else, we've already accomplished a tremendous victory for human rights in America by re-establishing the right to assemble.

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gavin (Boston, MA) 2 points 3 days ago


So the measure of success for OWS is based on the current system of govt enforcing the first amendment of the constitution and allowing you to voice your opinion? I wonder what the extremists in the organisation, who would rather remove our govt, would say about making such a claim of success.

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SisterRay3 points 2 days ago


I don't know what "the measure of success for OWS" is. I know what our goal is: it's to hold Wall Street accountable. And I know that OWS has already accomplished at least one concrete change, contrary to the taunts of the derisive nay-sayers: we have re-established the right of the people to assemble in public and voice our political views. Let the scoffers scoff as they will; we should be proud of this tremendous victory we have won for human rights in America.
 
That's not the end of the movement, of course. But it is a necessary precondition for organizing as a movement in order to achieve our ultimate goal of holding Wall Street accountable.

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bouttime03000 points 1 day ago


we just need to decentralize a little bit, take the power from the federal government and give it to the people and the states. Oh and definitely cut government spending by cutting their pay, they should have a lesson in sacrifice; Congress should not have the power to control the wage.

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It reminds me of that segment from Monty Python's Life of Brian:

Francis:We get in through the underground heating system here... up through to the main audience chamber here... and Pilate's wife's bedroom is here. Having grabbed his wife, we inform Pilate that she is in our custody and forthwith issue our demands. Any questions?
Xerxes:What exactly are the demands?
Reg:We're giving Pilate two days to dismantle the entire apparatus of the Roman Imperialist State and if he doesn't agree immediately we execute her.
Matthias:Cut her head off?
Francis:Cut all her bits off, send 'em back every hour on the hour... show him we're not to be trifled with.
Reg:Also, we're demanding a ten foot mahogany statue of the Emperor Julius Caesar with his cock hanging out.
Stan:What? They'll never agree to that, Reg.
Reg:That's just a bargaining counter. And of course, we point out that they bear full responsibility when we chop her up, and... that we shall not submit to blackmail.
Omnes:(Applause) No blackmail!
Reg:They've bled us white, the bastards. They've taken everything we had, not just from us, from our fathers and from our fathers' fathers.
Stan:And from our fathers' fathers' fathers.
Reg:Yes.
Stan:And from our fathers' fathers' fathers' fathers.
Reg:All right, Stan. Don't labour the point. And what have they ever given us in return?
Xerxes:The aqueduct.
Reg:Oh yeah, yeah they gave us that. Yeah. That's true.
Masked Activist:And the sanitation!
Stan:Oh yes... sanitation, Reg, you remember what the city used to be like.
Reg:All right, I'll grant you that the aqueduct and the sanitation are two things that the Romans have done...
Matthias:And the roads...
Reg:(sharply) Well yes obviously the roads... the roads go without saying. But apart from the aqueduct, the sanitation and the roads...
Another Masked Activist:Irrigation...
Other Masked Voices:Medicine... Education... Health...
Reg:Yes... all right, fair enough...
Activist Near Front:And the wine...
Omnes:Oh yes! True!
Francis:Yeah. That's something we'd really miss if the Romans left, Reg.
Masked Activist at Back:Public baths!
Stan:And it's safe to walk in the streets at night now.
Francis:Yes, they certainly know how to keep order... (general nodding)... let's face it, they're the only ones who could in a place like this.
(more general murmurs of agreement)
Reg:All right... all right... but apart from better sanitation and medicine and education and irrigation and public health and roads and a freshwater system and baths and public order... what have the Romans done for us?
Xerxes:Brought peace!
Reg:(very angry, he's not having a good meeting at all) What!? Oh... (scornfully) Peace, yes... shut up!

[DumbAss Tanker]

Not really sure where this is best suited.
Provides some good laughs.
http://occupywallst.org/forum/

I might have already seen it here, so, sorry for the dupe.

Damn, the structure of that site blows even worse than DU or FR.

[Ballygrl]

Awwwww, their excitement is going to wane, the public opinion has gone down on OWS . Oh and they have The Troll Awards

http://occupywallst.org/forum/troll-awards-pick-your-favorite-troll-richardgates/

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

Why are some many supporters of OWS prejudiced against people who live in trailer parks? Most of the folks that live in trailer parks are low income. I thought OWS supported low income people. (User Submitted)

I am against people who live in trailer parks. We have the technology and resources to house everyone in palatial homes.
 
We have the rock and wood to give everyone 5000+ sq ft homes and put them on 1 acre plots without increasing the amount of land mass we use.
 
If we had an economic system which guaranteed you access to a job and a fair wage, that is what everyone would buy.

http://occupywallst.org/forum/why-are-some-many-supporters-of-ows-prejudiced-aga/

And then there's this one:

Are You Rebels or Revolutionaries? Choose revolution: Replace Capitalism with Democracy (User Submitted)

Posted Oct. 12, 2011, 3:06 a.m. EST (12 days ago) by DemandTheGoodLifeDotCom


Is this is a rebel movement or a revolutionary movement? Rebels oppose the existing order. Revolutionaries propose a new one.
 
The tea party has a simple demand: Get government out of the economy so we can have pure capitalism.
 
It would be truly revolutionary if OWS had a similarly simple but opposite demand: Get capitalism out of the economy so we can have pure democracy.
 
If we replaced capitalism with democracy:
ʉۢEveryone in society would be wealthy as a birth right
ʉۢYou would get paid an income of at least $115,000 per year
ʉۢThe work week could be cut in half
ʉۢPeople would no longer have to do menial work
ʉۢThere would be no difference between work and play
ʉۢInterest would be eliminated which would cut your mortgage in half
ʉۢCrime would be virtually non-existent
ʉۢWe could fast-track the transition to a green, renewable economy
ʉۢYou would get paid to go to school, not the other way around
ʉۢThere would be no such thing as recessions or unemployment
ʉۢAnd nearly every social problem we have would be gone
 
CAPITALISM IS A SYSTEM OF INEQUALITY
 
Let's be clear. Capitalism is a system of concentrating power. The goal is to maximize your individual wealth. And the more income you have, the easier it is to generate more income. And with that income comes the power to control everything.
 
It is a system designed to produce unequal and bad outcomes.
 
That inequality has left 46 million in poverty, 16% underemployed, 1 in every 5 kids in poverty, 25% of all blacks in poverty, 97% of all workers earning a below average income, 52 million without health insurance, and 55% of all workers doing pointless jobs that can be automated with existing technology.
 
Just in case you missed that, 97% OF ALL WORKERS MAKE A BELOW AVERAGE INCOME.
 
Most of those people are responsible, competent, hard-working people. They are just victims of an unfair economic system.
 
The system simply does not work. So we should do what has been proposed for the past 250+ years by some of the most brilliant, well-respected thinkers to walk this planet like Thomas Paine, John Stuart Mill, George Orwell, Martin Luther King, Albert Einstein and current Senator Bernie Sanders. We should replace capitalism with democracy.
 
DEMOCRACY IS A SYSTEM OF EQUALITY
 
Democracy is a Greek word that means people power. It is a system where power rests with everyone equally. It is the exact opposite of capitalism.
 
A democratic economic system simply means we have equal economic power. Incomes - your source of economic power - are equal.
 
Just like you get equal votes in a democratic government, you get equal dollar votes in a democratic economy. However, since income is a way to compensate work, equal income means you get equal pay for equal work.
 
If income was allocated democratically, and people were no longer treated like heads of cattle where your entire standard of living and quality life is dictated by your ability to sell yourself in a market you have very little power over, everyone would be wealthy. There would be no poverty or middle class or homeless or uneducated. And there would be little crime.
 
Our income is allocated so unequally that if we just allocated total income equally to every worker, regardless of what job they did, EVERYONE WOULD GET PAID $127,000 PER YEAR. That is more than what 97% of all workers currently make.
 
But the only fair, democratic way to allocate income is to pay an equal income for equal effort. Income should not be based on privilege, who you know, what family you were born into or how lucky you are in the market.
 
Effort is just a function of the amount of time you work and whether the job you do is mentally or physically difficult. People who work twice the hours should obviously get paid twice the income. And people who work the difficult jobs, the jobs in science, computers, engineering, medicine, construction, mining, or farming, should get paid more than the people who work jobs that are not difficult.
 
The final compensation plan would be directly voted on by the population, but if you paid difficult jobs twice the amount as jobs that are not difficult, since that is likely enough of an incentive to get people to do more difficult work, based on the American economy in 2010, that system would pay an income of $230,000 PER YEAR FOR THE DIFFICULT JOBS and $115,000 PER YEAR FOR THE REST OF THE JOBS.
 
Allocating incomes equally based on effort is the only fair way to compensate people. If two workers are successfully completing the job they were hired to do, they are both working the same hours and they are both working jobs of similar difficulty, they both deserve the same pay.
 
If you do not do the job you were hired to perform because of incompetency or laziness, you should be fired.
 
If people do not buy the good or service you are working on, it should stop being produced and you should stop being paid. You should then be forced to find a new job working on something people are buying.

http://occupywallst.org/forum/are-you-rebels-or-revolutionaries-choose-revolutio/

[Ballygrl]

http://occupywallst.org/forum/mike-moore-agrees-to-cap-income-at-150k-and-waistl/

Mike Moore Agrees to Cap Income At $150k and Waistline at 55" (User Submitted)

Posted Oct. 24, 2011, 7:31 p.m. EST (26 seconds ago) by Earnit

In a long awaited move, Mike Moore declared his solidarity with the 99% offering to cap his income and waistline. "For too long now, I've made too much and eaten too much. Frankly, I'm ashamed", sobbed the star. "I have more than my fair share and today I'm putting things right", added the newly reformed director. Responding to unconfirmed rumors that his movies will now be free, Mr. Moore replied, "What the hell do think this is, Cuba?"

Now, how 'bout a cheeseburger?

[Skul]

OK OK OK
Who's mole is this?

Are You Rebels or Revolutionaries? Choose revolution: Replace Capitalism with Democracy (User Submitted)

Posted Oct. 12, 2011, 3:06 a.m. EST (12 days ago) by DemandTheGoodLifeDotCom

That guy's too dang good for a DUmmie to come up with.
Jukin, that you?
Gobucks?

[DumbAss Tanker]

Posted Oct. 12, 2011, 3:06 a.m. EST (12 days ago) by DemandTheGoodLifeDotCom


Is this is a rebel movement or a revolutionary movement? Rebels oppose the existing order. Revolutionaries propose a new one.
 
The tea party has a simple demand: Get government out of the economy so we can have pure capitalism.
 
It would be truly revolutionary if OWS had a similarly simple but opposite demand: Get capitalism out of the economy so we can have pure democracy.

You stupid tool, Democracy is a type of societal political organization, while Capitalism is a form of economic organization.  There is no necessary linkage between any type of political organizing principle and any type economic organizing principle.  For instance, a monarchy can be so Socialist that it borders on Communism, or conversely own all the capital assets in the country and not even allow it to be inherited.

Whatever kind of useless BA you have, if any, it was money down a rat-hole.

[Karin]

The comments are hilarious at Ballygrl's MM link.  OWS:  Stop being a meanie!!!!   

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

Whatever kind of useless BA you have, if any, it was money down a rat-hole.

At least the rats keep warm.

[Erasmus]

Get capitalism out of the economy so we can have pure democracy.

Genius.  Although it's already being tried right here in the US of A.  California is doing their best to run businesses out of the state and they're succeeding.  Of course, they don't have money for the entitlement programs, food stamps, or tax refunds, but those are just minor details.

[Skul]

Very short and interesting.
Couple of things popped out.
http://occupywallst.org/forum/strategy-for-disarming-the-police-worth-the-read/

Conclusion:

"lower their morale, and dissention will sow through their ranks"

The best tactic when taken hostage is to humanize your self with your captors

By dawning uniforms and looking the same we can blend in and our actions become the groups. Soldiers dehumanize their enemy with racial names like, "Japs, gooks, hadjis" to help them make a clear distinction between us vs. them.

I've been party to wars and I've dawned a uniform,

Must have put it on in the morning.
As Bugs would say.."What a maroon".