Fascism Watch: Voter Suppression

Finally, the mainstream media is starting to notice that the GOP is systematically suppressing voting rights. From today's LA Times:

Early voting was reduced from two weeks to one week. Voting on the Sunday before election day was eliminated. College students face new hurdles if they want to vote away from home. And those who register new voters face the threat of fines for procedural errors, prompting the nonpartisan League of Women Voters to suspend voter registration drives and accuse the Legislature of "reverting to Jim Crow-like tactics."

What is happening in Florida is part of a national trend, as election law has become a fierce partisan battleground. In states where Republicans have taken majority control, they have tightened rules for registering new voters, reduced the time for casting ballots and required voters to show photo identification at the polls. The new restrictions were usually adopted on party-line votes and signed by Republican governors.

During Florida's legislative debate on the new law, a Republican state senator argued that it should not be easy or convenient to vote. Voting "is a hard-fought privilege. This is something people died for," said Sen. Michael Bennett of Bradenton, the chamber's president pro tempore. "Why should we make it easier?"

This is their way of undermining democracy in the U.S. Perhaps they feel only landed gentry - male - should have that right...per the original rules in the Constitution? Back when a slave was only 3/5 of a vote?

Seven states — Alabama, Kansas, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin — voted to require registered voters to show photo identification at the polling place. Democratic governors vetoed such bills in five other states.

The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law estimated that new laws across the nation "could make it significantly harder for more than 5 million eligible voters to cast ballots in 2012." The new restrictions will "fall most heavily on young, minority and low-income voters," the group said.

The Jim Crow Republican Party, with the photo i.d. as poll tax.

If Obama wins this next election, it'll be an even greater victory thanks to these rigs.

Perry the Drunk

Texas Governor Rick Perry was clearly in his cups when he made this speech to Republicans in his quest for their Presidential nomination this past Friday in Manchester, NH:



Yet another disqualification for the Presidency -- at least W had the good sense to be a dry drunk by the time he hit the Oval Office. Although, I'd say his crazy 20% optional Flat Tax plan that he just released and touted -- i.e., a 14% tax drop for the 1% on top of our economy -- is disqualification enough.

And there's a brilliant expose by Matt Taibbi in the new Rolling Stone, "The Best Little Whore in Texas." It turns out Rick Perry is all about favors -- he'll giveaway any government funds you want if you contribute enough money to his campaigns:

But it's an act that should have ended after just a few steps down the rope, when he slipped up in the Orlando debate and told the truth.

Among other attacks that night, Perry was taking criticism for his decision back in 2007 to order all sixth-grade girls in Texas to be inoculated against HPV – specifically, with three shots of Gardasil vaccine, a Merck product that sells for a tidy $120 a shot. Michele Bachmann, who not only hates the move as an intrusive use of state power but probably also because it interferes with God's ability to administer punitive cancers to dabblers in extramarital sex, blasted Perry for delivering such a blatant favor to his corporate buddies at Merck. "We cannot forget that in the midst of this executive order, there is a big drug company that made millions of dollars because of this mandate," she said, pointing out that Perry's former chief of staff was the chief lobbyist for Merck.

Perry's response was telling. "It was a $5,000 contribution that I had received from them," he said. "I raised about $30 million. And if you're saying that I can be bought for $5,000, I'm offended."

The Orlando crowd applauded nervously, not quite grasping what Perry had just said. Had the debate taken place in Austin, however, the crowd would have erupted in knowing laughter. Rick Perry, as any Texan knows, does not roll over for 5,000 measly dollars. He charges a hell of a lot more than that. The price tag varies, of course, depending on the favor. Based on the donations Perry has collected, it costs an average of $39,354 to buy a seat on the board of a state university. Landing a state road project runs about half a million, while creating an entire government commission specifically designed to protect your business interests will run you more than $13 million.

I'm looking forward to the eventual investigation(s). Texas law may somehow allow it, but it's still called graft.

Meow

Looks like some GOoPers can't take the heat...of exposing their ideas in public. First, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor bagged out on a speech about "income inequality" because of admission was not restricted, and now Texas Governor Rick Perry may skip some of the admittedly endless Republican Presidential debates because...he sucks at it.

Mmm, "manly" Republicans...maybe want a little bowl of milk with your Meow Mix?

Warzone Oakland

WTF, Oakland? WTF, Mayor Jean Quan? Last night in Oakland you unleashed the cops on Occupy Oakland and the resultant news is bad news for the powers that be -- as well as for the injured Iraq War vet:

An Iraq war veteran has a fractured skull and brain swelling after allegedly being hit by a police projectile.

Scott Olsen is in a "critical condition" in Highland hospital in Oakland, a hospital spokesman confirmed.

Olsen, 24, suffered the head injury during protests in Oakland on Tuesday evening. More than 15 people were arrested after a crowd gathered to demonstrate against the police operation to clear two Occupy Oakland camps in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Jay Finneburgh, a photographer who was covering the protest, published pictures of Olsen lying on the ground.

"This poor guy was right behind me when he was hit in the head with a police projectile. He went down hard and did not get up," Finneburgh wrote.

Damning video here:

The irony:

"He survived two tours in Iraq," said Adele Carpenter, a friend of Olsen's and a member of the Civilian Soldier Alliance. "This struggle has high stakes, I really respect the fact that Scott was standing up for what he believes in. He's really passionate about social justice causes."

Olsen appears to be the first serious injury nationwide of the Occupy Wall Street movement that has spread to virtually every major American city -- and several smaller ones -- as millions of people continue to express their rage and disappointment with the country's banking, regulatory and health care systems.

Well, Mayor Quan, I guess the movement can give thanks that you've highlighted their cause with your own police overreaction. It worked to help publicize the movement when a cop pepper-sprayed some young women protesting in NYC, so this should do wonders. If Olsen dies, it's like Kent State May 4, 1970 revisited.

Let's see how you handle the return of the protest tonight.

Sensitive Skin

This is a somewhat self-serving post, as I've been published twice now in my friend's online/print magazine, Sensitive Skin, but it still warrants writing about because the magazine is so damned good.

Described by publisher/editor Bernard "Buddy" Meisler as "Post-beat, pre-apocalyptic art, writing and what-not," the original incarnation was in NYC's Lower East Side beginning 1992, revived a little over a year ago from his current home in Marin County. With a reservoir of good will, contacts and eye for edgy, neo-bohemian literature, art, music and video, there's a wealth of great material in each issue, especially the one just released, Sensitive Skin issue #7.

Aside from an excerpt from my own screenplay, Little Punks, with an inspired-by-true-life story of meeting legendary New York Dolls guitarist/co-founder, Johnny Thunders, there's a brilliant piece on being a Bad Girl by my good friend, Erika Schickel, plus writing by Rob Roberge, Díre McCain, Marguerite Van Cook, Drew Hubner, John S. Hall and City of Strangers, a video by Flame Schon, art by Shalom Neuman and Janice Sloane and music by contemporary composer Mike Fink and Bay Area jazz combo LaMacchia/Myrner/Feiszli.

You can order print copies or just read it online. The magazine maintains an active Facebook page as well, which is a lot of fun. In 2011 there are so many more opportunities for the magazine to go viral than there were in 1992. One can only hope it continues to grow in readership, as I believe it will grow in stature.

And, if there's one piece not to your fancy, there's always another one a click -- or page turn -- away.

Disqualified by Birth

Republican Texas Governor James Richard Perry just disqualified himself from the U.S. Presidency in this Sunday's Parade magazine:

Q. Governor, do you believe that President Barack Obama was born in the United States?

A. I have no reason to think otherwise.

Q. That’s not a definitive, “Yes, I believe he”—

A. Well, I don’t have a definitive answer, because he’s never seen my birth certificate.

Q. But you’ve seen his.

A. I don’t know. Have I?

Q. You don’t believe what’s been released?

A. I don’t know. I had dinner with Donald Trump the other night.

Q. And?

A. That came up.

Q. And he said?

A. He doesn’t think it’s real.

Q. And you said?

A. I don’t have any idea.

It's like a crazy one-act play by Harold Pinter.

So he visits Donald Trump to try and get his donation if not endorsement, hears the Birther nonsense from el topo and parrots it back to a family magazine reporter.

Du-oh!

When even Karl Rove says you're wrong to join the nutbags in trying to delegitimize Obama that way, you're in trouble.

When you bring up that canard within six months of the President presenting his birth certificate and then taking out Bin Laden later that week, you're disqualified for Commander-in-Chief.

It's a judgement thing, Rick.

Check, Please

President Barack Hussein Obama keeps another promise and ends the Iraq War for good. Yes, while it does feel a bit like Groundhog's Day (didn't we already announce we were pulling out...although still leaving 50,000 troops) it's still ending Dick Cheney, George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld's war, nine years later.

He's actually keeping George Bush's promise but, sure enough, no Republican can let on that he's once again proving to be our most able Commander-in-Chief since George H.W. Bush (regardless of what you think of some of the wars he chose to fight, like Panama). Come to think of it, Bush the Senior left Iraq as well.

I'm sure President McCain would still have us there. For the next nine years.

The Ungracious

As seemed inevitable with the rising fortunes of the NATO-backed Libyan rebels, Muammar Qaddafi has been found hiding in a drainage pipe and executed with the same response to his call for mercy that he gave so many others, both Libyans and Lockerbee victims, as well as others due to his support for terrorist activities around the world. The guy ruled for four decades, from the age of 27 when he was the good guy overthrowing the assholes, but he has long since been a bad man, who got what he deserved.

Good riddance and congrats to the Libyan people on their new opportunity for a just, democratic, inclusive society. Now don't screw it up.

The response by politicians in the U.S. has been predictable. Obama did not crow, but urged responsibility; politicians of both parties took the opportunity to pontificate at various lengths; some Dems thanked the President for his leadership, at 180 degree odds with the Cheney/Rumsfeld/Bush Administration way of doing things (only $2 billion not $3 trillion, lead from behind by making good partnership not taking over and huffing/puffing our way to alienating our allies, not a single U.S. soldier killed compared to 4,478 in Iraq alone); and almost no GOoPers had the graciousness to thank or congratulate or even acknowledge that Obama provided the right decisions to support this effort at the crucial moment when a massacre was about to happen. It's not right for every situation, but this was the time to "Lead from Behind."

Least gracious of all -- and, perhaps, damaging to his rosy political prospects -- was freshman Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), whose statement was so douchey he had to walk it back a few hours later:

“Today’s not a day to point fingers,” the right-wing Florida senator said. “I’m glad it’s all working out. Ultimately this is about the freedom and liberty of the Libyan people. But let’s give credit where credit is due: it’s the French and the British that led in this fight, and probably even led on the strike that led to Gadhafi’s capture, and, or, you know, to his death.

“So, that’s the first thing. The second thing is, you know, I criticize the president, for, he did the right things, he just took too long to do it and didn’t do enough of it.”

I would say in response, "So much for your Vice Presidential chances, assbag." The President won. Your approach wasn't even tested...because a better man than you made the right decision. A guy who understands gratitude.

Hilarious to see a GOoPer praising the French nine years after the entire Republican Party vilified them for not joining in on the Iraq debacle, even renaming french fries to "freedom fries" in the Capitol cafeteria. Doh.

Rubio picked a bad day for bad PR, because he got the double whammy, making both less likely to be forgotten. It seems he lied -- or was misinformed and spread that misinformation -- about when his parents came to the U.S. from Cuba. By 2 1/2 years. They weren't driven out by Castro...they left before he came to power.

Who's the one-termer now?

Debilitating Condescension

This is why Texas Gov. Rick Perry is not going to win the 2012 GOP Presidential nomination:

The patrician doms the sheriff. CEO to SVP Sales, Western Division.

Perry not looking dumb so much as weak.

Checkmitt!

Send in the Clowns

It's Mitt's to lose. Rick is shrinking next to him, the size difference, better hair (for the first time, Rick looks like he's wearing a toup), Herman Cain is entertaining and running for Secretary of Commerce, Michelle Bachmann is disappearing, Newt and Rick are hanging in by dint of experienced stubbornness, Ron Paul will always have a seat at the Primary table, who knows what speaking spot the Party Elders give him at the Convention.

The idea of Obama running against Mitt Romney for ten months is hilarious when you think about it. Presidential elections are, in large part, for who you want to see on TV for four years. The lead role in the biggest serial of all. I'll be shocked if Mitt doesn't wear out his welcome by May.

He holds his own here, but oh that smiling scold:

Astonishing how little John Huntsman has mattered. It's not that he's too left, it's that he was spectral, a ghost of a candidate, does not bode well for 2016 for him. He even disappeared tonight altogether, not at the debate. Goodbye.

Watch Perry flop so quickly, even with $17 million in his Q3 haul, is more gratifying than I ever expected. Lots of hat.

Steel Carnage

A month or so ago I was very moved by the Senna documentary, which now seems like a too-timely release with the death of two-time Indy winner Dan Wheldon at the Las Vegas Speedway on Sunday. It's a spectacular tragedy from afar -- Real Steel, as it were, Twisted Metal. Fifteen cars and one championship driver killed.

One can only imagine the horror of being in this crash, whether you survived, were injured, or, for poor Dan, killed. It brings up all sort of questions, philosophical and regulatory. It's the thing that makes you remember that racing cars at high speeds is exceedingly dangerous, that's why there's a premium paid for those that are good at it. It's the thing you usually forget -- and want to forget -- when you're watching a race.

The crazy thing about this one is the footage captured during the event and played after, replaying it from so many different angles. Like a videogame, but real and deadly:

At times it looks like a 3D animated reconstruction. I'll bet it'll be studied for movement, to understand what happened and how to prevent these kinds of accidents in the future...and to for some sort of special effects extravaganza to come, someday not so far away, to a multiplex near you.

Mechanized death.

Occupy Goes Global

Another great American export, from the people. All this past weekend, all over the world.

$9.99

Herman Cain, self-made Godfather Pizza CEO, has never held national office but he is now leading in new GOP polls for their Presidential nomination. Is he just this week's Not-Mitt or a force to be, eventually, reckoned with?

His style is affable and he seems to believe what he says even when, as he's also said, he has no evidence to back it up. Key to his appeal is the simplicity of his message, something every good CEO learns to craft and repeat...endlessly.

He's the 9-9-9 guy. 9% income tax, 9% national sales tax, 9% corporate tax. Yep, flat and regressive. You make less than $120k/year, you pay more taxes.

He says he "didn't get it off a pizza box" when Jon Huntsman suggested that was the source. In fact, it may come from the videogame, Sim City.

He'd be a coup for the GOP, a black candidate to run against Obama, insulating them from charges of racism, maybe worth it if the economy picks up and Obama starts to look hard to beat. Take a look at the guy -- even when he's wrong, he's affable:

After all...who doesn't like pizza?

Good Week for iPhone

Despite the loss of Steve Jobs, it's turning out to be a good week for the iPhone, with the 4s breaking sales records and bringing the magic:

Android phones seem to come out every Tuesday at 3:45 p.m. Apple updates iOS and the iPhone only once a year. So Apple had a lot of catching up to do, even some leapfrogging. There are some rough spots here and there; for example, every now and then the 4S’s camera app gets stuck on its startup screen. And while the battery still gets you through one full day, standby time is shorter than before (200 hours versus 300). But over all, Apple has done an excellent job.

The question isn’t what’s in a name — it’s what’s in a phone. And the answer is: “A lot of amazing technology. And some of it feels like magic.”

One could argue that Jobs' death adds to the marketing as well. In addition, it was an exceptionally bad day for the usually reliable, if not-so-magical Blackberry:

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion has been posting updates on its U.S. site since Monday, when service outages were reported in Europe, India, Africa, the Middle East and throughout Latin America — but not here in the States. Well, that’s changed as of today, when the “core switch failure within RIM’s infrastructure” has begun affecting U.S. customers, who are experiencing messaging and browsing delays owing to a massive backup in data.

What makes the iPhone the big winner? It's Siri:

The blind woman at the end seals the sell.

The future is here.

The Incredible Shrinking Rick Perry

Not only has he been displaced as a leading candidate for the GOP Presidential nomination by Herman Cain, he's getting less than lackluster reviews for his debate performance and has topped it off post-debate by forgetting in which century we had our Revolutionary War.

Off by two.

BP

“There’s no shrimp,” explained Grant Bundy, 38. The dock should smell like a place where 10,000 pounds of shrimp a day are bought off the boats. Not this year. In all of September, Bundy’s Seafood bought around 41,000 pounds.

White shrimp season began in late August, and two months in, the shrimpers here say it is a bad one, if not the worst in memory. It is bad not just in spots but all over southeastern Louisiana, said Jules Nunez, 78, calling it the worst season he had seen since he began shrimping in 1950. Some fishermen said their catches were off by 80 percent or more.

“A lot of people say it’s this, it’s that, it’s too hot, it’s too cold, it’s BP,” Mr. Nunez said. “We just don’t know.”

We all know.

BBQ'd

It turns out Rick Perry's biggest problem in the upcoming North Carolina Republican Primary isn't Mitt Romney, Herman Cain or his educational support of the kids of illegal immigrants in Texas. It's that he's on record as having dissed North Carolina barbecue. In a big way:

Nineteen years ago, at the 1992 Republican National Convention, a barbecue taste-off pitted beef tenderloin from Joe Allen's Bar-B-Que of Abilene, Texas, against pulled pork from Kings Restaurant in Kinston, N.C. Perry, then the agriculture commissioner of Texas, sampled the Carolina barbecue and declared, "I've had road kill that tasted better than that."

...

Last month, a new generation of News & Observer reporters stumbled on the quote in the Reeds' book and thrust it back into the political limelight, announcing to the world that Perry was on record as saying that North Carolina barbecue tastes worse than road kill.

The reaction in North Carolina was swift. Newspaper columnists declared Perry unfit for office and demanded a retraction. A representative of the Smithfield's Chicken N' Bar-B-Q chain mailed Perry 2 pounds of pork barbecue and an open letter encouraging him to "revisit your experience with Eastern North Carolina Bar-B-Q and … rectify your statement."

...

So far, there has been no official response from the Perry campaign, and that doesn't bode well for his electoral prospects. Just ask Rufus Edmisten, who ran for governor of North Carolina in 1984. Late in the campaign, after eating barbecue at rallies three times a day for almost a year, he broke down at a public feed in Raleigh. "We haven't had any of the damnable barbecue," he proclaimed. "I've eaten enough barbecue. I am not going to eat any more!" The quote ran in local newspapers, and Edmisten lost by almost 200,000 votes.

When asked to comment on Perry's chance to recover from his similar gaffe, Edmisten told the Raleigh News & Observer: "He's had it. He's done. He's beef toast."

As a man who considers BBQ to be his "other woman," I'd have to agree with North Carolina. Surely in Austin Rick must take that half hour drive out to old Saltlick to eat in the big building -- feed, really, with all the barbecue brisket, ribs, chicken and pork that fills those long tables and hungry bellies.

Here in Los Angeles I recommend the incredible Memphis style of JR's Barbecue at 3055 S. La Cienaga, a freestanding one-story building on the West side of the road before you hit Target. It's the most fun -- like most BBQ places -- to go with a group of six or more. Then you can order either the Small Tray or Large Tray, and the small one is good for up to eight people:

Slab Pork Ribs

1/2 Slab Beef Ribs

1/2 Pound Sliced Beef

1/2 Pound Beef Links

1/2 Chicken

1 Pound (!) Rib Tips

Pint Baked Beans

Pint Salad or Cole Slaw

6 Rolls

Have it with a Tiger Woods and finish with either the Sock-It-To-Me Cake or the 7up Cake. Or one of the seven other delicious desserts.

I'm with North Carolina. Road kill? Really? But I'm not offended.

Unless Gov. Perry disses JR's.

More on the Good Guys

Jimmy Breslin, 10 years into retirement, comes out to cover #occupywallstreet:

This was the start of a moving day that has not been seen in this city in a great many years, back when the unions were large and nasty to those who opposed the war in Vietnam back in the '60s and '70s.

Now yesterday, they joined hands with the young, and people were mostly orderly and all for the idea that the troops be pulled out of Afghanistan and that we need jobs for the young unemployed around here.

They were angry, and they shouted about the injustice of a tiny percentage of the rich getting richer, while the middle class endures foreclosures, dwindling savings and sudden losses in employment with the jobs going to places like China.

Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine, on people finally standing up after the banks destroyed the economy in 2008:

Naomi Klein: Occupy Wall Street Oct. 5th Demo from The New Significance on Vimeo.

Ever wonder why we got into this crisis?

Twenty golden years of consolidation and concentration of ownership.

The 1%.

The King is Dead

Has there ever been a more beloved CEO than Steve Jobs? He earned it the hard way, by losing the wildly successful company he founded in his youth, watching it slide down into the depths, then getting bought back in and taking it to greater glories than it had ever achieved.

I learned about his death on one of his devices. I'm writing this on another, in his browser. My fingers have touched his products more than any other single company's products. Not even Toyota. And even the Prius looks like an iCar.

56, I mean, what a life. What a profound impact on human learning, on industrial design, on the consumption of media.

I think what remains to be seen is if Apple ever creates another revolutionary product. The Mac, the Mac notebook, the iPhone, the iPad. (Let alone Pixar.) Is the announcement of the iPhone 4S the day before his passing a harbinger of more evolution -- but no revolution -- to come?

I certainly hope not. And by the note on the Apple website (after you click on the photo of Steve in a layout I wonder if he approved), they will be working to make his spirit the permanent spirit of the company.

Per Max Weber, any organization with veer from its original purpose over time, sometimes in betrayal of its original goals and function. Apple will definitely be different after Steve Jobs, but what it becomes may be something new and what we need for the post-Steve Jobs times. If the apple has many seeds, and those seeds bear fruit.

From the one, many?

Who are the 99%?

Great post by Ezra Klein on this movement, including:

These are not rants against the system. They’re not anarchist manifestos. They’re not calls for a revolution. They’re small stories of people who played by the rules, did what they were told, and now have nothing to show for it. Or, worse, they have tens of thousands in debt to show for it.

...

But this is why I’m taking Occupy Wall Street -- or, perhaps more specifically, the ‘We Are The 99 Percent’ movement -- seriously. There are a lot of people who are getting an unusually raw deal right now. There is a small group of people who are getting an unusually good deal right now. That doesn’t sound to me like a stable equilibrium.

The organizers of Occupy Wall Street are fighting to upend the system. But what gives their movement the potential for power and potency is the masses who just want the system to work the way they were promised it would work. It’s not that 99 percent of Americans are really struggling. It’s not that 99 percent of Americans want a revolution. It’s that 99 percent of Americans sense that the fundamental bargain of our economy -- work hard, play by the rules, get ahead -- has been broken, and they want to see it restored.

Here's a rapidly growing Tumblr with faces and messages from the 99%.

Of us.

Wild Monday Roundup

Amanda Knox should never have been tried in the first place, and the prosecution's allegation of motive was Medieval and misogynistic, literally something out of a 14th Century witch trial. I'm sure it must be as hard to believe that she's finally free after nearly four years - 20% of her life -- but the relief must be epic as well. Great thanks to the Italian legal system, where the appeal is something more of a do-over than here in the U.S. Of course, in Rick Perry's Texas, she'd be executed already:

As one of the prosecutors in the case, Manuela Comodi, no friend of Knox, implied last week in his remarks: were Knox being tried in the United States, she might well be on her way to an execution. The case of Troy Davis, killed by the state of Georgia last month despite the fact that most of the witnesses in his case later recanted their testimony, should linger as the Knox saga is reviewed.

Speaking of Gov. Perry, I don't think the news about the name of the ranch leased by his family means that he's a racist. As our President would say, it's a distracting sideshow. But it does reinforce my prediction that an Obama-Perry duel would look very much like the aged battle for Abolition, and would expect to see rhetoric surrounding the candidates on all sides that mirrored that. I do like the discussion of language that's sprung up around this, like a rather unusual and admirably frank discussion today on The View.

What I do think is that he's a mindless corporatist who, like Bush from Texas before him, thinks the government treasuries are meant for the rich. Which takes us to Wall Street where a very articulate young man, Jesse LaGreca, makes the #occupywallstreet viral video of the day as he takes down Fox News to its face and lays out the real issues:

For example, the ultra-Right Koch Brothers seem to be getting away with having violated the Iran trading embargo. Because they can? Isn't that...treason?

And want to see the opposite of the guy in the above video? Isn't rich, aggrieved, entitled Hank Williams, Jr., born lucky like the Koch Bros albeit with less talent, just the Id of their rightwing Super-Ego:

Ha ha ha his theme song was cut from Monday Night Football tonight and hopefully forever.

Turn, tide, turn.

99%

Gotta love #occupywallstreet as the anti-Tea Party protest with real truth behind it -- that an unbridled Wall Street serving the 1% at the top got us into the current financial mess and they have paid no real price for it, not one that counts. Not one that will keep them from doing this again.

This weekend it spread to other cities and also intensified in NYC, with 700 arrests at the Brooklyn Bridge. People of all ages are represented and one has to wonder if the cops really want to be doing this where there's real crime going on all the time in NYC, and not just in the those towers being protested. Not to mention that those cops are the ones who get hurt when those big money-backed Republicans like those in Wisconsin start taking away public union rights. And how come 700 people have been arrested for protesting, yet not one indictment has been handed down to the high finance crooks themselves.

In the age of online social media, there is a huge amount to look at, to learn from, to help connect with the organizing. The Facebook page, the Twitter handle, the Tumblr. Here's some great pics at The Atlantic showing the sweep of the protest. Help pay the movement's media costs here.

Most importantly, the grievances. Peaceful and damning. We have yet to see if it lasts or fizzles, if it leads to change or fractures, if the authorities start sending in undercover thugs to turn things violent as they did regularly in the 1960's and the repressive Middle East regimes have done during Arab Spring, to discredit the movement.

If nothing else, it does the heart good to see there are protesters in America who aren't carrying posters of President Obama with a black toothbrush mustache.