Tag: occupy

By Eugene Davidovich

After a busy morning, participants in the Occupy San Diego InterOccupy Conference arrived at Children’s Park. News reporters from CW6, as well as other local media outlets, converged in anticipation of the protesters’ arrival and a planned action to take place at the San Diego Convention Center.

Frank Gromlie of Save The Bill of Rights group and Occupy San Diego took the bullhorn and spoke about the dangers of the National Defense Authorization Act recently passed Congress and signed into law by the president.

He explained the government can now indefinitely detain U.S. citizens without trial, judge or jury for simply being dissenters. He went on to talk about how the bill limits U.S. citizen’s rights to a fair trial, free speech, and pointed out that both the Democratic and Republican party failed their constituents by allowing such a draconian measure to pass.

By Eugene Davidovich

On Saturday morning as planned at 8:30am, protesters with Occupy San Diego began to assemble at Civic Center Plaza on 3^rd and B for the all day InterOccupy conference.

The first couple hours at the plaza were filled with sign making, passing out welcome packets which contained information about the day’s events, and getting to know the protesters who came down to Occupy San Diego from other cities and states for the day.

By Kali Kat / Special to the OB Rag

Now with its fourth month anniversary, Occupy San Diego continues to make a presence in the San Diego community, this morning challenging a proclamation by the City Council that the City of San Diego is re-committed to protecting the rights of free speech expression in San Diego.

The proclamation was in response to the 100 year anniversary of the Free Speech fight in San Diego during which the 1912 San Diego City Council passed Ordinance No. 4623 banning free speech or assembly in a 49 block radius of downtown San Diego.

Join us at the Sat. Feb. 4 – Occupy San Diego County Summit

Workshops at Centro Cultural de la Raza, Park Blvd, Balboa Park

Saturday, Feb. 4, 2012 –

(10:30a- 7:00 pm) Occupy SD County SUMMIT at Centro Cultural de la Raza.

• Teach-ins,

• Work-Shops

By Brittany Joy Cooper / Taste of Country / Jan. 29, 2012

Occupy this AlbumAs previously reported, Willie Nelson is rallying behind the Occupy Wall Street protests. While many country artists have kept mum about their thoughts on the movement, Nelson posted a video in October of him and his wife reciting a poem they wrote in favor of Occupy.

Now, he’s joining forces with other famous musicians who share his stance on the topic by contributing to the album ‘Occupy This Album: A Compilation of Music By, For and Inspired by the Occupy Wall Street Movement and the 99%.’ The album is expected to release in the spring.

Our very own Congressman Darrel Issa is currently in a snit, a tift, a rift – over – among other things damaged sod – with the National Park Service in DC. It seems he doesn’t like the Service’s attitude toward the encampments of the Occupy Washington movement. Issa doesn’t support the Occupy movement and he feels the Park Service has been too liberal with them – and he’s using the power of his panel to do some snooping around. And the Park Service has pushed back.

In the meantime, there is a waiting game going on in DC between the Park Police and the Occupy protesters. There have not been any large-scale arrests such as has gone down at other Occupy campsites around the country. The U.S. Park Police began enforcing a ban on Monday, Jan. 30th, on anyone camping at two parks. Dozens of Occupy protesters took refuge at one park under a huge blue tarp. This all according to CNN .

Hey, there’s people
out there stressin’
going”What’s up with all this ‘Occupy?'”
Well, I tell you one thing
and this ain’t no lie.
Occupy
as a concept,
ain’t something
that just dropped from the sky.
Unh. Unh.
Not even a close try….

by Ralph Lopez / truthout / January 19, 2012

It’s a quid pro quo. Only the most gullible rube ready to buy swampland in Florida could think otherwise. The citizen’s watchdog MAPlight.org found that congressmen who voted for TARP, the “Troubled Assets Relief Program,” received nearly 50 percent more in campaign contributions from the financial services industry (an average of about $149,000) than congressmen who voted no.

And House Energy and Commerce Committee members who voted yes on an amendment in 2009 favored by the forest products industry, to allow heavier cutting of trees, received an average of $25,745 from the forestry and paper products industry. This was ten times more than each member voting no. The pattern repeats itself over and over, ditto for why wars go on when polls show most of the population is against them.

Sitting reflecting
on my lifetime.
And, man, I’ve ridden
the currents
of many kinds
of times:
times when I’ve danced in the street
like when Mandela was set free
as though he was ever really imprisoned,
if you hear me;
times when I didn’t want to open my eyes,
knowing the ugliness that was in front of me;
times when life was just a flatout mystery,
like George W. Bush
twice winning a presidency
in the land of the freakin’ free,
do you hear me?;
times when they played my song,
“Ernie, Ernie, he’s our man
if he can’t do it nobody can!”

The (mis-) adventures of our pals traveling to Occupy Congress demonstrations that begin tomorrow, Jan. 17th, was picked up the Rachel Maddow Blog (see above). This drove hundreds of viewers to our site – thanks Rachel – we watch you nearly every night. By 9:00 a.m. this morning (1/16/12) the post had over 1700 hits.

Occupy San Diego Road to Congress – Update Day 2

From Las Crusas to the Amarillo 13

By Eugene Davidovich/Special to the OB Rag / January 15, 2011

With no breaks from the road all night, and after traveling hundreds of miles through California and Arizona, the group of activists from Opccupy San Diego finally got a chance to stretch their legs in Las Cruces, New Mexico in the early hours of Saturday, January 14th.

When the bus pulled into the Las Cruses station at 7:30am, everyone’s hopes for a working restroom were shattered as the sign on the door read, “Restroom Not Operational.”

To add to the difficulties, weather outdoors was a crisp 30 degrees Fahrenheit, a sharp change form the relatively blazing 70 degrees most protesters are used to in San Diego.

At the Las Cruses Greyhound station the group was met by Jeff and Stella Miller from Occupy Las Cruces who brought loafs of freshly baked hot bread and coffee for the travelers. After everyone got their fill and had an opportunity to stretch, the group quickly organized a small rally with protest signs and chants outside the bus station.

It appears our brothers and sisters from Occupy San Diego who are on their way to Washington DC to “Occupy Congress” were rudely thrown off the Greyhound bus by an unsympathetic bus driver. This was in Amarillo, Texas in the middle of the night, Saturday, Jan 14th.

Here is a report from Michael All-In Ponsler:

“Don Ainsworthy, Greyhound’s most psychotic driver really screwed up tonight. This man was completely rude to all passengers waiting to board and when he saw our Occupy logos he made several negative comments.

Once we were on the bus this guy began shouting at people to sit down and shut up. This did not go over well with any of the passengers, but I made it clear that we will not be treated so disrespectfully.