Brent Nyitray
Fairlington Blade
Let the mutherfuker burn!
jnc4p
Kevin S. Willis
Michigoose
lmsinca
markinaustin
Arcanaut
novahockey
quarterback
ScottC
yellojktOccupy San Diego holds a moment of silence “in solidarity” with the man who shot at the White House and has been charged with the attempted assassination of the President.
Wholly apart from the, er, questionable judgement, if this is the quality of intellect leading this “movement”, it is clearly not long for this world.
(BTW…is it really that cold in San Diego, necessitating scarves and gloves and winter coats? Global warming strikes again, perhaps.)
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All Things in Moderation 
The movement has no leaders, so the quality of the intellect is whoever has an idea in the moment. As a lib (sorry Liam, but there it is), I would love to see more income equality, across individuals, communities and nations. I'm not sure that snarling up Manhattan traffic or occupying a Seattle community college without paying for the security is the best way to achieve that. At what point does Occupy's presence, even assuming they can stay on message, become (a) annoying; (b) ridiculed; or (c) ignored?Yes, in the last two months we've seen an uptick of public awareness of income inequality. Hurray! How does that sustain and grow into something more substantive once the media move on to something else? Whatever that is, it apparently won't be coming from the Occupiers.I visited occupywallstreet.org to see how they would like 'the 99%' to help. I can either donate or occupy. That's it. No requests to write my congresscritter, no list of organizations that are trying to address greed and corruption, no web groups promoting social awareness, nothing.
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MsJS, great comment IMHO.I reserve any judgment on the posted video until I have time to see more context to it.MsJS and any others who might be interested, I have scheduled a Thanksgiving morning post for easy commentary for any who might check in that day. If you have a Thanksgiving story or thought [or a propos vid . . . hint, hint, Kevin] — please feel free to add to the post before it goes up. Nonpartisan, please. And AFAIC you also are welcome to post to the top of my narrative.
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Anybody know what happened to taroya? Have not seen her here or on PL for a very long time.
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Just a question, why is income inequality bad?
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okie: I'd actually been wondering the same thing, so I just shot her a quick e-mail. We'll see.Scott: In my experience, any time it drops below about 60 in San Diego they think it's about to snow. And I don't know what the speaker was thinking of when he made that incoherent request, but I sincerely doubt he was really meaning to suggest solidarity with the WH shooter.
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Heard from taroya–she's fine, just incredibly busy and she hopes to have time to start posting again soon. Good to know!
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OK, okie and I have a recipe post up. Hoping to get your comments on ideas for T-day cooking!
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Mr. T:I'm less concerned with how much money the 1% has than by how hard it is for so many diligent hard-working people to make ends meet.I also believe, perhaps naively, that if income inequality were reduced money wouldn't be able to buy as much power, access and preferential treatment at another's expense as it does now.So do I want to see income inequality reduced? Yes. Realistically, do I expect it to happen soon? Nope. Especially if the Occupy movement is what's passing as the main driver of change.
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I don't know if the OWS protesters will have any kind of impact or not but I do know that one of the issues is the cost of a University education and the kind of debt our students are left with. The college campuses here are becoming more and more angry about the tuition increases that just keep piling on growing levels of debt.I'm sure there are plenty of videos out there of kids saying stupid and unproductive things, but the videos of police action are having a greater impact than anything else IMO. If you haven't seen the video of the police officer emptying a canister of pepper spray directly into the faces of sitting protesters up at UC Davis, go look for it.SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — As video spread of an officer in riot gear blasting pepper spray into the faces of seated protesters at a northern California university, outrage came quickly — followed almost as quickly by defense from police and calls for the chancellor's resignation.University of California Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi said in a statement Saturday she was forming a task force to investigate the police action and the video images she said were "chilling."However, a law enforcement official who watched the clip called the use of force "fairly standard police procedure."In the video, an officer dispassionately pepper-sprays a line of several sitting protesters who flinch and cover their faces but remain passive with their arms interlocked as onlookers shriek and scream out for the officer to stop.As the images were circulated widely on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter on Saturday, the university's faculty association called on Katehi to resign, saying in a letter there had been a "gross failure of leadership."At a news conference, Katehi said what the video shows is, "sad and really very inappropriate" but defended her leadership and said she had no plans to resign."I do not think that I have violated the policies of the institution," she said. "I have worked personally very hard to make this campus a safe campus for all."Katehi remained in a media room for more than two hours after the news conference, eventually walking to an SUV past a group of students nearly three blocks long who, in a coordinated effort, remained completely silent. The Sacramento Bee said.The protest was held in support of the overall Occupy Wall Street movement and in solidarity with protesters at the University of California, Berkeley who were jabbed by police with batons on Nov. 9.
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Income inequality is not bad, per se; instead the inequality of opportunity is a big problem. I'd also argue that many at the top are overpaid relative to their worth. For example, the executives who crater their companies & walk away with a bonus.Having said that, I'm not saying exec compensation is something gov't can fix. Where gov't needs to get involved is in reestablishing shareholders rights.
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Excellent points, bsimon! Especially the inequality of opportunity is a big problemPity about the Golden Gophers yesterday. . . but what do you think the Vikings' chances are today against the Raiders?
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bsimon:I'd also argue that many at the top are overpaid relative to their worth. For example, the executives who crater their companies & walk away with a bonus.Two things. First, most executives that crater their companies lose a lot of money. Huge compensation packages are generally comprised largely of stock and stock options, precisely to tie the executive's comp to performance. If the company truly craters, all those stocks and stock options that he was paid over the years become worthless. Second, what standard of "worth" are you using to determine whether a given executive is worth his compensation?
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bsimon/Mich:In what other nation or nations do people from low income families have more opportunity to achieve financial success than they do in the US?Was there a time period in US history where people from low income families had more opportunity for financial success than they do now?
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