Occupying
Proving they are a ‘class act’ the ABC reports that the Occupy protesters spare Queen’s Melbourne visit.
In the US some of young people really need to find useful work, rather than making bombs to throw at the people in Occupy Portland [Maine]. Imagine the howling if this had happened to a Tea Party gathering.
The city of Oakland continues to destroy its police-community relations by excessive use of force. The corporate shill version is provided by the LA Times and then a live blog version by the Mercury News. Guess what? The Albany [New York] police chief was right – Oakland is now facing a huge demonstration downtown, and more and more people are getting arrested as clashes with the police continue.
Thers has a look at Police Priorities, as NYC experiences a spike in crime. The NYPD, of course, blames Occupy Wall Street for pulling all of the officers in the City down to Zuccotti Park to watch people camp and hold meetings, rather than patrolling their normal beats. I guess I missed the report of the General Assembly that passed a resolution demanding that hundreds of police officers surround the park. In my day manning decisions were made by the police department. Maybe they should send a few ‘white shirts’ up the Hudson to Albany to learn how to deal with protests.
Occupy Baltimore attracted the reporting of the Scientific American with signs like PhD ≠ Job. There are a lot of scientists at the protest because of the degradation of science in the US. The woman who carried the “PhD ≠ Job” is near the end of her studies for her doctorate specializing in breast cancer research, and she doesn’t see much chance for employment after nearly a decade of work.
11 comments
The cops in Oakland need to be arresting the bankers who stole their pension funds with bogus “AAA-rated mortgage-backed securities”, not the folks protesting that reality of the bankers stealing their retirement. Just sayin’.
– Badtux the Seriously Annoyed Penguin
(Who’s this close to trudging up north a bit to Oakland to get arrested for holding a sign saying “Arrest the bankers who stole your pension”).
There are several cities in Florida who had the same damn problem, and the state pension fund took a hell of a hit when Lehman Brothers went South [thanks to a recommendation by John Ellis Bush].
I just don’t understand why cops don’t get it. I do understand why the mayor decided to do this while she was in Washington on a trip.
Keep working, Badtux. Someone has to provide what little consumption we have. If you go to jail, Jeep accessory stores will have to lay off salespeople.
Just seen the vidoe footage of Oakland police firing a flash bang (or whatever they are called) into protestors coming to the aid of a fallen comrade.
I suppose if that had happened in Syria or Iran there would have been an uproar in the right wing press but oh no it’s okay to do treat “DFHs” in this manner.
That isn’t a ‘flash-bang’, that’s the standard ‘tear gas’ canister, which produces a flash and a bang, but the real ‘flash-bang’ would have blown out the microphone on the camera, and left you blinded for an extended period. The CS or CN canisters are thermal, like a smoke bomb, and the acid particles suspended in the smoke cause the tearing. As such, they can cause fires, and the initial blast can cause injuries, beyond the fact that they are metal cans, a bit bigger than the average supermarket ‘tin’. Getting hit by one is the same as someone throwing a can peas at you.
Seeing those cops standing around while someone is injured, laying in the streets, really pisses me off. That is not how a professional police officer reacts, that is how a gang reacts. The Oakland PD is just another California gang.
Ah a tear gas canister. I cannot believe that they would have left Olsen to lie there without giving aid, let alone teargas people coming to his aid. Another bunch who are not fit to wear the uniform
They aren’t fit to be called human. Failure to render aid is a crime in many states, and you are liable if you do and something goes wrong [‘Good Samaritan’ laws]. It was/is a requirement in New York State for police, and a firing offense if you don’t.
All they lacked were the attack helicopters blaring the Ride of the Valkyrie to have been something out of Apocalypse Now.
Stealing my retirement: Bailouts and bonuses for Wall Street. Breaking curfew in a park: Teargas, arrests, jail, and the possible death of a U.S. Marine who survived Iraq but maybe not the Oakland PD. Nothing wrong with this picture, nosirree.
– Badtux the Snarky Penguin
My anger management regime is taking a real beating from this crap. This is why I can’t go near an Occupy site – I know I would lose it, and that wouldn’t help anyone.
I suspect I know what you mean. There was a time when I was younger when I avoided a certain situation, and someone asked, “why, are you afraid?” And I said “yes, afraid of what I might do to them.” An action… let us just say quite violent and likely resulting in permanent damage to someone… would have been a quite likely result there. As someone who has an actual moral center I could not risk that.
Sometimes it’s better to stay home and be thought a coward, than to go into a situation where you know you’re going to do something you’ll be ashamed of the next day :(.
Hi Bryan & all,
Yes, the protesters here decided to do the smart thing during the Queen’s visit (especially since the police here and in NSW have proven to be as stupid as yours).
One thing rarely ever mentioned about flash-bang’s BTW… People who use them wear either ear-plugs or have helmet’s that are actually soundproof and use mic’s to convey sound, that automatically lower sound levels to a preset level, and auto polarization goggles for the flash part. If used in a small enclosed space (a bathroom for eg.), anyone in that room not protected can expect some trauma. Including blood nose, severe headache, ruptured eardrum(s), some degree of temporary (or in some cases, some degree of permanent) blindness. They can also cause other problems if you are unprotected and in close proximity when one goes off. I was witness to an event where 4 flash-bangs were tossed into a room with a half-dozen *bad guy’s* in it. There wasn’t much left to deal with after. During SERE training, we had to experience a flash-band first hand so we would know what to expect. It wasn’t at all pleasant. *shrug* BTW, we do call it SERE here (and the UK), but the ‘E’ stands for ‘Extract’ rather than ‘Escape’. Oh, and the ‘R’ is ‘Resist’ rather than ‘Resistance’, but that’s a minor difference. At least, that’s how I remember it! 😆 😉
And I understand completely how you feel about loosing it! My new Councillor (whom I am beginning to respect considerably) is seeing me for 4 hour’s per week because she picked pretty quickly (after 2 visit’s) that I have a lot of anger to deal with and it’s getting harder for me to control on my own. Understand that I have successfully (well, apart from a few unavoidable incidents) manged my anger since I was able to walk. She is concerned that I might attempt suicide. I assured her I wouldn’t. If I did decide that suicide was my only option, there would be no attempt. It would be a done deal. 😈 I am after all a highly trained expert in taking life. Whether that be my own or someone else’s is a minor distinction. 😉 However, as I said to her, whilst I may have entertained the thought briefly over the years, my sense of honor prevents me from acting upon it, just as my sense of honor prevents me from slaughtering politicians and corporate exec’s, not that either group would even understand the concept of honor! Still, I am aware that if things get bad enough, honor might not be enough of a preventative, in either case. I am discovering that my sense of *justice* may well outweigh my sense of honor one day. Then all bet’s are off. *shrug*
I am rapidly becoming seriously… *annoyed*.
And for the record, I would not be at all ashamed nor regretful. Neither will I ever go to prison.
My main problem is that I know on an intellectual level that it won’t make the situation better, and might make it worse. I don’t want to provide anyone with an excuse to be even bigger jerks than they currently are. I have a very ingrained sense of right and wrong, and when I see wrong I want to do something, and do it immediately.
Badtux, I don’t forgive or forget. If I lost it, the target would definitely deserve it, but the bystanders don’t need to see it.
Kryten, people are seeing the flash and bang from the tear gas canisters, not the real flash-bangs. They used the F-Bs on the obstacle course at SERE, and you don’t forget them. I always felt that the trainers were constantly trying to get permission for land mines and mortars, but had to make do with F-Bs. I had a couple of trips to the hospital during the training, the most serious a phosphorus burn from a faulty flare, but you got patched and sent back on the theory that you would probably be injured in a crash, so it added more ‘realism’ to the course. Those guys were great ones for ‘realism’.
I hear you, m8, and am happy to see you have someone who has a feel for what is going on. You want to make the world a better place, but it is run by morons who don’t really care. People are treated like lab rats, and cornered rats can get very nasty.
It is possible that the constant fear mongering of the Hedgemony has inoculated people. They has been under these created threats so long, that they don’t react any more. They have become angry, not frightened, because they have nothing left to lose.