[Turtle]

lawcat, on 13 October 2011 - 01:45 PM, said:

Turtle, is it required to have a clue in order to be a troublemaker?

no; it's required to have a turtle in order to trouble a clue-maker. remember, i am a reptilian.

all of them turned their backs on me at that time because they thought I was a troublemaker. ~ fred korematsu

this morning the cops cleared the folk from the street they were blocking in portland, but they are letting them stay in the parks on either side for now. la niña is back and we are already .75" above average rainfall for the month. this will soon make for a wet & shifty lot.

Police cleared SW Main Street between Lownsdale and Chapman Square parks about 6 a.m., making eight arrests. In a Wednesday evening vote, 88 percent of the activists had voted to reopen the street. ...

[lawcat]

Cops done good!

[Turtle]

Occupy Wall Street: More popular than you think @cbs news (accentuation mine.)

brian montopoli said:

...The conservative criticism of the Occupy Wall Street movement is that it is a "growing mob" (House majority leader Eric Cantor) of "shiftless protestors" (The Tea Party Express) engaged in "class warfare" (GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain) whose grievances - whatever they are - are far outside the political mainstream.


The polls don't back that up.


A new survey out from Time Magazine found that 54 percent of Americans have a favorable impression of the protests, while just 23 percent have a negative impression. An NBC/Wall Street Journal survey, meanwhile, found that 37 percent of respondents "tend to support" the movement, while only 18 percent "tend to oppose" it. ...

of the 99%, ~73% of some smaller percent agree on this...

Oct 5, 2011,4:48 PM The Affluent Support Higher Taxes — On the Rich @ wall street journal

robert frank said:

...According to a poll from Harrison Group and American Express Publishing, 73% of families making more than $100,000 or more in income support raising taxes on those making $1 million a year. Again, easy for them to say.

What’s interesting is that the support rises dramatically as the target income increases. So only a quarter of the respondents support higher taxes on those making $250,000 or more. That rises to slightly less than half for $500,000 or more, and shoots to 73% in support of taxing those who make $1 million or more. ...

tomorrow @ 12 noon eastern time each & every one of you will send a note to your government representatives and express your concerns.

Contact Your Government

usa.gov said:

Contact Elected Officials
Call, e-mail, or mail U.S. state and federal elected officials and government agencies.


•President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden
•U.S. Senators
•U.S. Representatives
•State Governors
•State Legislators
•Tweet a Message to Your Representatives
•Contact Your Government, by Agency
•Contact Your Government, by Topic
...

[Essay]

Y'know... a global 0.05% "levy" on financial transactions might be a good "demand" for the occupiers. It would really only affect the high volume, big money, that uses computerized trading to take advantage of natural variation in the global markets. It would be simple, and could become a fund to cover the next round of bailouts.

...whenever I think I've come up with a new idea, somebody else has beaten me to it:
Angela Merkel!! "I think this is not okay. We want, and we have to make, financial market participants contribute to the costs of crisis management."

Quote

--Oct. 15 (Bloomberg)
A European Commission proposal for a financial transactions tax, set to take effect in 2014 and raise about 57 billion euros ($79.1 billion) a year, would set minimum tax rates for financial transactions throughout the 27-nation the European Union, the commission said on Sept. 28. European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet has said a levy on financial transactions should be global.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.co...L#ixzz1auqcfOCU

Quote

http://en.wikipedia....transaction_tax

A financial transaction tax is a tax placed on a specific type (or types) of financial transaction for a specific purpose (or purposes).
This term has been most commonly associated with the financial sector, as opposed to consumption taxes [i.e. 9.%, as with the '999' plan] paid by consumers. However, it is not a taxing of the financial institutions themselves. Instead, it is charged only on the specific transactions that are designated as taxable. [my comment italicized]

...but,
"it is charged only on the specific transactions"
...such as computerized, (ultra) short-term, transactions--maybe? [asked hopefully]

Quote

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobin_tax
Tax rates of the magnitude of 0.1%-1% have been proposed by ... so "a tax on transactions in foreign exchange markets imposed ... improve international financial systems and institutions"), ....

A Tobin tax, suggested by Nobel Laureate economist James Tobin, was originally defined as a tax on all spot conversions of one currency into another. The tax is intended to put a penalty on short-term financial round-trip excursions into another currency.

...or maybe 0.1% ...on short-term financial gain.

AND maybe 1.0% on the ultra short-term gains from computerized trading....

Whatever rate, it would be a short, simple, solution... and it sounds as if Angela could use some support in the streets... if anyone in the streets needs a cause to advocate for....

~

[Deepwater6]

Great link to contact the government. I took your advice and E-Mailed my thoughts to PA reps. I may be missing it on this site, but do you know of a way to blanket copy all of Congress and or Senate at one time?

[Turtle]

Deepwater6, on 16 October 2011 - 12:49 PM, said:

Great link to contact the government. I took your advice and E-Mailed my thoughts to PA reps. I may be missing it on this site, but do you know of a way to blanket copy all of Congress and or Senate at one time?

to blanket them all i can only suggest using the CC or BCC entries on an initial e-mail. (there may be limits to the number of such entries per e-mail, but i don't know fo shizzle.) some eager beaver might get each senator & representative e-mail address one-by-one and compile them in text files [senators.txt & representatives.txt], and then distribute the text files for broader use in broader use.

[Qfwfq]

an American Autumn, or an American Fall?

That's a good one Turtle, but why discuss only an American thing when even the OWS activists say they got the idea from Egypt and Tunisia, these problems have been simmering in most of the world and, from Zuccotti they have spread not only across the U. S. but elwhere too? As participants regretfully anticipated, the Rome march on Saturday was turned violent with Black Bloc kids cauing damage for millions.

Knothead, on 12 October 2011 - 05:05 AM, said:

Sadly, you're probably right. But perhaps, if the protests really start to resonate with the public, the next election might see a lot fewer bought-and-paid-for incumbents returning to their jobs. Perhaps even without an amendment the people of this country will withhold their votes from the puppets and put up some of their own.......

Perhaps in this day and age where the internet allows us to get real information and not just rely on television and radio commercials and newspaper endorsements there is a chance that a person or persons of character actually stand a chance of being elected even without the money that usually is required.

I say this hits the nail on the head. What is the reason for it being only a dream? The essence would be for all citizens to think this way, and to wake up, especially when it is time to vote. That's the only way to avoid your legislative body being a bought one. Specific laws help but do not suffice, over here we've long had laws regulating how parties may be financed, but in the end it is the voters that determine whether democracy works. I liked that Ratigan guy's rant; that's how all citizens of all countries should be ranting these days. Over here there's a guy that's been ranting for years, in public places, against lousy politicians; passers-by stop to hear and he has them stand on his little stool to speak and some people keep coming back.

[Turtle]

Qfwfq, on 17 October 2011 - 03:36 AM, said:

an American Autumn, or an American Fall?

That's a good one Turtle, but why discuss only an American thing when even the OWS activists say they got the idea from Egypt and Tunisia, these problems have been simmering in most of the world and, from Zuccotti they have spread not only across the U. S. but elsewhere too? As participants regretfully anticipated, the Rome march on Saturday was turned violent with Black Bloc kids cauing damage for millions. ...

thank you. no reason at all to discuss only the US movement; just romancing the ball whither it will roll.

Occupy Wall Street Protests Spread To Europe, Asia @ huff post

alessandra rizzo and meera selva said:

...In the city's St. John in Lateran square, police vans came under attack, with protesters hurling rocks and cobblestones and smashing the vehicles. Fleeing the violence, peaceful protesters stormed up the steps outside the Basilica, one of the oldest in Rome.

"People of Europe: Rise Up!" read one banner in Rome. Some activists turned against the violent group, trying to stop them and shouting "Enough!" and "Shame!"

Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno blamed the violence on "a few thousand thugs from all over Italy, and possibly from all over Europe, who infiltrated the demonstration." Some Rome museums were forced to close down and at least one theater canceled a show
...
A temporary sign reading 'Tahrir Square' is shown on the wall outside Saint Paul's Cathedral in central London as protestors gather on October 15, 2011. Around 800 people rallied in London's financial heart Saturday amid a heavy police presence as part of world protests against corporate greed and budget cutbacks. Inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement and Spain's 'Indignants', people began taking to the streets across the world, targeting 951 cities in 82 countries. (Getty)

noi siamo il 99 per cento!