Occupy vs the Tea Party

"When I give food to the poor, I'm called a saint. When I ask why they are poor, I'm called a communist." -Archbishop Dom Helder Camara.

The American political system pretty much boils down to the craven and corrupted Democratic Party, the venal and corrupted Republican Party and smaller parties who are mostly well-intentioned but don’t show the tiniest desire to become remotely electable (bearing in mind there are thousands of public offices below the presidency). What a depressing state of affairs. No wonder there’s so much frustration and anger that’s been expressed via the non-partisan Occupy movement and the formerly non-partisan Tea Party.

The Tea Party has been taken over by the Republican Party (the Dems would love to co-opt Occupy but they haven't succeeded yet), but there are still strains within it that remain independent and certainly the anger that originally animated it was organic; most of them are part of The 99 Percent too. The left likes to look down their noses at the Tea Party as comprising The Other, ignorant, racist rubes, but this ignores what the two movements share.

Both the Tea Party and Occupy reflect the anger of ordinary people against a corrupt system that serves the elites and not the people... or rather, at the expense of the people. The main difference lies in the response. The objective of the Tea Party is to starve government of money, since cash is what feeds the beast of corruption. Occupy's is to re-direct that money so it's used in a more humane manner. Both want to blow it up. One wants to replace it with something better; the other believes that something better is not possible so replace it with nothing.

Both really diagnosis the same problem, but offer different prescriptions.

APA critic pleads guilty to pollution charges

Last year, the Post-Star published a controversial story on Adirondack Park Agency critic Leroy Douglas and his battles with the agency. A follow up: Adirondack Almanack reports that Douglas recently plead guilty to two misdemeanor charges of pollution.

Occupy is not about more handouts, but fewer

"If money is constitutionally protected 'speech,' then so are tents." -seen on Twitter


NPR's All Things Considered did a piece on Wall St. profits. It noted that Wall St. has made more money during under 3 years of the Obama administration than it did during all 8 years of the Bush administration. A Washington Post reporter pointed out that these profits were the direct result of government policies -- across two administrations -- in response to the financial crisis.

THIS is what Occupy is all about. It's not hostility toward people for having money or at corporations for existing. It's an anger at public policy that represents taking money from working people to hand out to corporations making record profits. It's an anger at the most grotesque form of of wealth redistribution.

Occupy is based not on a demand for more handouts, but for fewer.



"When I give food to the poor, I'm called a saint. When I ask why they are poor, I'm called a communist." -Archbishop Dom Helder Camara.

Help Occupy Glens Falls

If you're following the global Occupy movement and would like to participate, Occupy Glens Falls has twice weekly general assemblies at the Civil War monument downtown (across from the library). They are typically held Saturdays at noon and Wednesdays at 5:30 pm. You can also follow their Facebook page or Twitter feed for further updates.

The Latest Circulation Numbers for Lee Enterprises, Inc. and the Post-Star

14th in a series by contributor Mark Wilson

(©2011 Mark Wilson)

The semi-annual report of American newspaper paid circulation was released this week by the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Readership of Lee Enterprises, Inc. daily newspapers continues to drop, with total circulation loss from a year ago at 41,298 (or 2.99 percent).

The Post-Star, which in recent years has suffered some of the worst percentage circulation losses of all Lee newspapers, improved its standing among its peers in the latest filing. The paper—still fourteenth largest in Lee’s stable with average daily circulation of 26,113—lost 665 paying readers since last year. That loss amounted to less than 2.5% of its circulation, which is better than Lee’s average percentage loss since last year, and better than the numbers the Post-Star posted six months ago. A complete breakdown of the latest circulation figures can be found here.

Since the last circulation numbers came out, Lee has combined two Illinois dailies—the Journal Gazette of Mattoon and the Times Courier of Charleston — reducing to 52 the number of daily newspapers owned or partially owned by the company. Since 2008 Lee has shuttered two papers and merged two others. The Davenport, Iowa-based company is still looking to restructure a roughly one billion dollar debt that comes due in just over five months.

On a personal note: Friday, November 4th was Mark Mahoney’s last day as the Post-Star’s Editorial Page Editor, and chief editorial opinion writer. He will soon put his legendary reasoning and writing skills to work for the New York State Bar Association in Albany. As a onetime contributor to Mark’s pages (and who, on at least one occasion, caused him all sorts of grief), I wish him all the best in his new career.

No wonder old media is dying

And media pooh-bahs wonder why people are increasingly unwilling to pay money for work which fails to meet their most basic expectations for the profession.

I recently sent an email to a senior figure at a local news media outlet complaining about a shoddy piece of reporting. In it, the journalist reported claims that were obviously untrue... to the point where if the reporter had paid attention to another part of his own story, he ought to have figured this out.

The response began, "While the reporting [sic] is not responsible for inaccurate conclusions from someone he has quoted, I would agree that the reporter did a poor job..."

So a professional reporter is not responsible for checking the veracity of claims made by someone he interviews. 

Wait, WHAT?!

Call me old school but isn't verification the fundamental difference between journalism and transcription?

Occupy America

Last Sunday, I took a day trip to Vermont's largest city. While there, I attended a bit of the Occupy Burlington general assembly. There were probably 100 people gathered in front of City Hall. It was an interesting gathering and process. Facilitators observed a loose agenda. Speakers used a "human microphone" in which their words were essentially repeated by the crowd to ensure everyone heard. There were a diversity of topics raised but they all revolved around the themes of abuses of power and the diminishing influence of citizens in American democracy.

The event was complete with a heckler (singular), who was largely ignored. He was a bit amusing though, berating protesters for not being as 'patriotic' as he. However, I noticed he didn't dare address his nastiness toward the elderly gentleman standing next to me wearing a Veterans for Peace hat.

While I've always supported its ideals, I was initially skeptical that the Occupy movement would actually influence anything. But clearly, it has the political elite nervous.

In New York state's capital, Gov. Andrew Cuomo put heavy pressure on Mayor Jerry Jennings to crack down on the Occupy Albany gathering.

As Gotham Gazette reported:Cuomo is concerned that protests could linger and add momentum to the push to renew the millionaires tax.

Jennings was rumored to be under consideration for a position in the Cuomo administration and at even one point rumored to be a choice for lieutenant governor. Jennings, according to the Times Union directed the police to make arrests but they didn’t.

The piece also quoted Albany County District Attorney David Soares as not wanting to waste scare resources on peaceful protesters.

Cuomo is now described by the protesters as "Governor One Percent," which has really been accurate since his election anyways.

Similarly, Long Island Congressman Peter King expressed his fear that the Occupy movement might change things. King told a radio shock job that he remembers a 1960s left-wing movement that took to the streets and caused policy changes... [and that] He hopes that the Occupy Wall Street protesters aren't re-creating the spirit and influence of that historical protest movement.

Inadvertently, the control freak governor and the neo-McCarthyite Congressman have conferred great legitimacy on the Occupy movement. If these erstwhile shills for The One Percent elite are this nervous, then clearly the movement is on to something.


Note: This site has information on Occupy events near you. There are events throughout not only the country but the world... in 2144 cities on all six inhabited continents.

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From Occupy Burlington - 23 Oct. '11 - (c) MOFYC

Video from Occupy Burlington general assembly - 23 Oct. '11 - (c) MOFYC

They may be loathe to admit it, but deep down, liberal Democrats know this guy has always been right.

Like any other drug, hydrofracking has serious side effects

As if poisoned drinking water isn't enough, the controversial natural gas extraction process known as hydrofracking has another serious side effect. Although backers pass it off as an economic panacea, WAMC is reporting that fracking lowers property values and, in the event you want to move away to a place with clean drinking water. it can make it almost impossible to sell your house.