Month: November 2011

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SEE LIVE STREAM FROM OCCUPY WALL STREET – SIDEBAR

By Colin Moynihan and Corey Kilgannon / New York Times / November 15, 2011

The New York City police began clearing Zuccotti Park of the Occupy Wall Street protesters about 1 a.m. Tuesday, telling the people there that the camp would be “cleared and restored” before the morning and that any demonstrator who did not leave would be arrested.

The protesters resisted with chants of “Whose park? Our park!” as the police began moving in and tearing down tents. The protesters rallied around an area known as “the kitchen” near the middle of the park and began building barricades with tables and pieces or scrap wood.

Last Tuesday citizens of the bellwether state of Ohio handed Republican John Kasich a crushing defeat as they voted overwhelmingly to repeal Senate Bill 5 that would have undermined collective bargaining rights for public sector workers. This and other Republican losses across the country last week has excited many Democrats who are hoping these elections are a signal that the Tea Party wave has crested and the gloomy horizon for President Obama and his party may be brightening.

This week’s story is the utter appalling hypocrisy exposed in how the police responded to two protests on November 9. The first took place at Cal Berkeley, where a thousand students protested the steep hikes in student tuition and the ongoing administrative tilt toward privatization. They attempted to establish an occupation on the campus with tents. The police viciously lunged with their batons at students who had linked arms. There were 39 arrests that day and no one knows how many of these young people are still walking around with welts on their body from that barbaric attack. As a post script, we now know that linking arms is a form of violence that justified the police response.

….and lobbing tear gas canisters and shooting rubber bullets at us?

“And so, demonstrating like this is as American as apple pie. We have been marching up and down and demonstrating throughout our history…” Former Secretary of State Colin Powell

Why is there the footprint of a jack boot in the America pie?

We’ve all seen by now the “people’s” videos of non-violent women in NYC being surrounded with orange net and pepper sprayed by the police…

By Martha Sullivan

Per the San Diego Police Department’s webpage , “A citizen who is dissatisfied with police services or believes they have witnessed or been a victim of police misconduct can file a complaint using one or more of the following methods:” — which include email to the Police Chief, Citizens Review Board and/or Mayor, all of whom are addressed here.

My name is Martha Sullivan, and I am a resident of the City of San Diego at 2354 Carmel Valley Road, 92014; I also own a small business which is based in Sorrento Valley.

On the evening of Tuesday, November 8, 2011, I attended the musical, “Come Fly Away” at the San Diego Civic Theater ….

Here are matters that concern our very own version of Occupy Wall Street : Occupy San Diego – going since October 7, 2011.

• 90% of Calls and emails to Mayor Sanders Support OccupySD

At the City Beat, Dave Maass reports:

Of the 877 emails and phone calls regarding Occupy received by the Mayor’s office, 90 percent have supported the movement.

This is great – as the OB Rag and others solicited support for the occupiers with a call for people to telephone or email the Mayor’s office. Maass doesn’t say over what period of time these emails and calls came in, but we’re smiling like a Cheshire cat. Sanders should start chanting “You are the 90 per cent!”

• Local College Campuses Hold Occupy Rallies

Editor: This timely article by Norm Stamper – a former assistant police chief of San Diego – and former police chief of Seattle – is worthy of your time. Stamper is also a member of LEAP – Law Enforcement Against Prohibition of marijuana.

By Norm Stamper / The Nation / Nov. 28, 2011 Issue

They came from all over, tens of thousands of demonstrators from around the world, protesting the economic and moral pitfalls of globalization. Our mission as members of the Seattle Police Department? To safeguard people and property—in that order. Things went well the first day. We were praised for our friendliness and restraint—though some politicians were apoplectic at our refusal to make mass arrests for the actions of a few.

A letter written by Larissa Danielli to Police and government officials

My name is Larissa Danielli. I am a mother, a voter, a taxpayer, a business owner and a medical marijuana patient. I am writing about the apartment fire I was victim of on November 3, 2011, and the way Officer Crane and the SDPD handled the disaster. I am writing to express my concerns about the way my case has been handled so far, and to ask your help in resolving these problems as soon as possible.

I am prescribed medical marijuana due to a debilitating accident I suffered from 15 years ago. I was hit by a drunk driver and went thru the windshield of my car, causing permanent damage to my face, neck and spinal cord. I suffer from severe and chronic pain which I have tried many prescriptions for and have found medical marijuana to be the most effective with the least side effects. It is the only medication I use. I am responsible about my medication and never medicate around my children.

The Washington Post has picked up the story about how our local Sheriff mistreated those arrested during the October 28th raids on the Occupy San Diego sites. This report at the venerable DC daily – although only on their blog column – has been nearly the only national attention that San Diego’s movement has received.

The Sheriff has admitted that dozens of arrestees were left in vans and a bus after the raids for many hours with no access to restroom facilities or water. Reports from those arrested have said that they were held from four to eight hours or even as much as twelve hours before they were processed at a detention center.

Dave Maass at San Diego City Beat reported:

The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department has ordered a formal internal review of its involvement in the mass arrest of 51 Occupy San Diego activists on Oct. 28, particularly in regards to detainees who had no choice but to urinate and defecate while detained in county buses and vans.

OBcian One of Activists on Hunger Strike

At least two San Diego activists are currently on a hunger strike because of the attitude of the City of San Diego and its Police Department toward allowing Occupy protesters to have tents at Civic Center Plaza as part of the protest.

Nancy Casady and John Kenney have both been on a hunger strike since earlier this week. Nancy began hers on Monday, November 7th*, and John, his the next day, Tuesday the 8th. So, it’s Nancy’s fifth day and John’s fourth day.

Nancy stated: “I am on a hunger strike until the City Council takes up our request for tents.”

There are a multitude of events scheduled today to honor our Veterans, a few of those are noted here. Come inside for more information!

8 AM until dark: The San Diego Veterans For Peace, Chapter #91, will be honoring the fallen soldiers/sailors/airmen from Southern California killed to date in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars by the installation of our “Arlington West” Memorial on the lawn of the USS Midway Museum near the intersection of Harbor Drive and Broadway. Newly produced markers, similar to those found in Arlington National Cemetery, will honor those killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, whose home of record was in San Diego County, Imperial County, Orange County and Los Angeles County, approximately 250 to date.

Rally and press conference this Saturday afternoon

Come join me, Patty (am I still considered middle-class?), and more than 50 middle-class women from throughout San Diego County as we hold a press conference and rally in the Civic Center Plaza at 4 p.m. this Saturday, Nov. 12, to announce their support for Occupy San Diego.

What began with a few friends a week ago has snowballed as women are signing up by the dozens on Facebook and SignUpGenius.