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Occupy Wall St - Occupy Everywhere, Occupy Together!

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Zero Hero said:
Truth hurts.

My fox news watching father in law was just complaining about these 'communists' today. This guy hates Goldman Sachs yet just said wall street are the job creators. I asked him if he thinks that protesting corporate greed is communist..... no answer. I also pointed out that since it isn't an anti-Obama protest, it must be left wing thuggery. No answer.

It's infuriating
Punch him in the face and delete him from your cell phone. Done.
 

Pollux

Member
All of you worried about massive amount of debt....I have four words for you

Reserve Officer Training Corps

Apply for a scholarship. They pay for EVERYTHING. Room and board, tuition, books, food, you get a stipend every month.

I did it, and as I said earlier I went to school where the tuition + other expenses equalled around $50,000 per year.

$50,000 PER YEAR

That is an insane amount of money. However I knew that the Army was paying for it, so I went. Majored in International Relations focusing on foreign policy and security at one of the best IR undergrad programs in the country. I ended up tearing my achilles tendon at the end of my third year and got medically discharged at the end of my senior year. But I graduated with NO debt. NONE! Otherwise I was going to be an artillery officer.

I know what you may be thinking:

"But Zmoney, I don't want to go to Afghanistan....I don't like the Army!!!"

Well, if that's the case you can join ROTC (Army, Navy/Marines, Air Force) and join under the National Guard section. You still get the same benefits but when you graduate with NO DEBT you still get to go find a real job, and if you have trouble you still have some form of income.

Look into ROTC if you have no other options, don't want to saddle yourself with insane student loans, and still want to go to a more expensive college/university. At least call the detachment at your school, if you're in school, or at the school's you're interested in applying to. You really have nothing to lose. Four years in the National Guard while having a stream of income PLUS your regular job, or just a stream of income if you can't find a job, is a pretty good deal.

Who knows, you may like it.

(Also they'll pay for grad school, medical school, law school etc. in exchange for an extra year for grad school, extra two years for law school [you would then go in as a JAG], and extra three years {don't hold me to that for the medical school because I'm not entirely sure} as a doctor)

You'll also make some great friends and have experiences that will stick with you forever. As a cadet you can go to places like Airborne School and Air Assault School.

Anyway, I hadn't seen this idea mentioned yet and I know a lot of people who did this, myself included.

Also if you try it for one year and don't like it and quit after your first year then they'll still pay for your first year of college. You owe them nothing. But make your decision before your second year because if you start that second year then your in for four years when you graduate and are commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant (that's an officer for those of y'all not familiar with the military)
 
demon said:
What did he say?

He said something to the effect of, "a lot" of the things Wall Street did were not necessarily illegal, just immoral. I saw it on NBC nightly news, their website might have the clip.

Door2Dawn said:
:/

Meh.

Honestly, at the end of the day this will eventually die out and everyone will forget about it in a few weeks.

That's what people said a few weeks ago.
 

Milabrega

Member
zmoney said:
All of you worried about massive amount of debt....I have four words for you

Reserve Officer Training Corps

Going from the serf caste to the knight caste. Well at the very least its upward mobility, just got to put your life on the line in duty and service for the nobility instead of entering the debt to death cycle of our modern serfdom.
 
Manos: The Hans of Fate said:
It's his father in law, not some friend on Facebook. I'm sure that would go over well with his wife, who knows maybe it will. Lol
Yes, I'm aware of that.

If he's acting like that, I can only assume his wife thinks the guy is a piece of shit too.
 

Pollux

Member
Milabrega said:
Going from the serf caste to the knight caste. Well at the very least its upward mobility, just got to put your life on the line in duty and service for the nobility instead of entering the debt to death cycle of our modern serfdom.

You didn't read about the National Guard portion did you? Or the fact that you can branch something other than the people who get shot at.

JAG, Chemical Corps, Signal Corps, Intelligence, Civil Affairs, Transport, Adjutant General, and Quartermaster Corps...just to name a couple.
 

Alucrid

Banned
Mercury Fred said:
Punch him in the face and delete him from your cell phone. Done.

If violence is the answer how come we haven't broken into GS and taken the CEO out to be publicly beaten in the streets?

Milabrega said:
Going from the serf caste to the knight caste. Well at the very least its upward mobility, just got to put your life on the line in duty and service for the nobility instead of entering the debt to death cycle of our modern serfdom.

We should all have a period in our lives where we're forced to live a year in real serfdom. That would be fun.
 
Manos: The Hans of Fate said:
Unlike them I willingly understood the situation, choose it of my own free will and I'm paying it back with the money earned from my job. That is the what is supposed to happen with a school loan.

"Touch on wood" are you even from the United States? I've seen you spell check as cheque the British way too.


You know I am British, the problem is global

The banks used your debt to buy assets/debt from other companies. All they had was an IOU slip from you with an estimated return, which they then used to buy more debt from other banks because they believed the estimated returns on those were good.

The banks had pieces of paper with people's accumulated debt written down and they bought and sold it between each other, the more toxic it was the higher the price.
 

Quixzlizx

Member
Milabrega said:
Going from the serf caste to the knight caste. Well at the very least its upward mobility, just got to put your life on the line in duty and service for the nobility instead of entering the debt to death cycle of our modern serfdom.

When my phone contract was up this year, I could only afford an iPhone 3GS instead of a 4. I feel like the oxen that pull the serfs' plows.
 
travisbickle said:
You know I am British, the problem is global

I actually had no idea, hence why I asked.

The banks used your debt to buy assets/debt from other companies. All they had was an IOU slip from you with an estimated return, which they then used to buy more debt from other banks because they believed the estimated returns on those were good.

The banks had pieces of paper with people's accumulated debt written down and they bought and sold it between each other, the more toxic it was the higher the price.

Except I was a good investment.
 

Milabrega

Member
We may not be bound to work fields, but the amount of debt the modern worker has to take on in order to live in our modern society is suffocating to mobility. From student loan debt, to mortgage debt, to debt from health complications and credit card debt along the way. Three decades of wealth consolidation upwards has been to the detriment of laborers. I fail to see how an analogy to feudal social structure should be of such ridicule given the debt to death cycle America laborers are forced to go through. Military gets some special privileges for service like education being paid for, not that they shouldn't but the Knight Caste reference still fits. A lucky few skilled artisan's break away from the serf caste. And at the Top? Men like the Koch brothers. A bunch of brats born billionaires unhappy with being modern monarchs with more money than anyone else, they use their wealth and power to force more wealth consolidation to the top. Lords who will never be happy until they are king.
 

Pctx

Banned
Least we showed the commie's how to protest. 6k+ people here in Portland.... still no coherent message, but least they got the numbers out.
 

Quixzlizx

Member
Milabrega said:
We may not be bound to work fields, but the amount of debt the modern worker has to take on in order to live in our modern society is suffocating to mobility. From student loan debt, to mortgage debt, to debt from health complications and credit card debt along the way. Three decades of wealth consolidation upwards has been to the detriment of laborers. I fail to see how an analogy to feudal social structure should be of such ridicule given the debt to death cycle America laborers are forced to go through.

The only one of those that could possibly be unavoidable is "health complications." You can go to public school, not buy a house, and not buy a bunch of stuff on credit that you don't actually need to survive.

I seriously hope you're not a student of history, and that you're just being hysterically dramatic.
 
Alucrid said:
If violence is the answer how come we haven't broken into GS and taken the CEO out to be publicly beaten in the streets?

You know I'm almost sure that direct quote you responded to is a meme...
 

akira28

Member
water_wendi said:
These protests are far too timid, imo. The very fact that things werent investigated and everything went back to business as usual tells me we are beyond the point of using the law to bring about justice.
Whats the first act of real civil disobedience beyond chaining and blockage that won't cause more trouble than its worth? Or that won't hurt the overall movement? I mean I guess they could literally raid Wall Street, but then what? The worse thing to do would be do something that will strike back at them.

Zmoney: the military isn't for everybody. Nor should it be the solution for economic issues or bad education financial systems.
 
Zero Hero said:
Truth hurts.

My fox news watching father in law was just complaining about these 'communists' today. This guy hates Goldman Sachs yet just said wall street are the job creators. I asked him if he thinks that protesting corporate greed is communist..... no answer. I also pointed out that since it isn't an anti-Obama protest, it must be left wing thuggery. No answer.

It's infuriating

Truth hurts mang
 
akira28 said:
Whats the first act of real civil disobedience beyond chaining and blockage that won't cause more trouble than its worth? Or that won't hurt the overall movement? I mean I guess they could literally raid Wall Street, but then what? The worse thing to do would be do something that will strike back at them.

Zmoney: the military isn't for everybody. Nor should it be the solution for economic issues or bad education financial systems.

Exactly... no way in hell would I support the evils of todays military for my own selfish gain.
 

Pollux

Member
akira28 said:
Whats the first act of real civil disobedience beyond chaining and blockage that won't cause more trouble than its worth? Or that won't hurt the overall movement? I mean I guess they could literally raid Wall Street, but then what? The worse thing to do would be do something that will strike back at them.

Zmoney: the military isn't for everybody. Nor should it be the solution for economic issues or bad education financial systems.

Maybe not, but it is for some. No one is forcing you to do it. It's merely an option.
 

RSTEIN

Comics, serious business!
Milabrega said:
A lucky few skilled artisan's break away from the serf caste. And at the Top? Men like the Koch brothers. A bunch of brats born billionaires unhappy with being modern monarchs with more money than anyone else, they use their wealth and power to force more wealth consolidation to the top. Lords who will never be happy until they are king.

The Koch guys are sketchy, that's for sure.

Let's talk about this so-called 1% and the "inequity" in our society. Empty Vessel makes the claim that because the top 1%'s wealth is growing faster than the 99%'s total wealth our society is becoming "less equal." He said, "if the share of income going to the top 1% is accelerating, that must mean that somebody's share is decreasing."

The pie is shifting but this does not equate to a society becoming "less equal." In fact, the whole pie is growing. The 1%'s wealth HAS to grow faster, just like the universe HAS to expand. It's just the way the system works. It's just math.

Let's look at an example. Let's think of a simple society with two people. Both start off making $50,000. According to Empty Vessel, this society is equal because both people make the same amount of money. Now, let's assume one person wins the lottery - $1,000,000. Is the society now suddenly "less equal?" No. Both get one vote. Both have the same rights. The people are still equal.

To be sure, the wealth is not equal. The lottery winner's wealth will grow FASTER than the person who did not win the lottery. Let's assume the millionaire keeps his job. His income is still $50,000. Plus he gets 10% interest on his $1,000,000. So his total wealth change in the first year is $150,000. The other person still only makes $50,000. So because the person has wealth, he gets to create MORE wealth. That's just simple math. Over time, the lottery winner's wealth will keep growing and growing and growing. The wealth difference is growing--accelerating. But it's just math (specifically the magic of compounding). Plus, just because the non-lottery winner's wealth is shrinking as a % of the total pie, this DOES NOT mean their absolute wealth is declining (in this example it's staying the same). More importantly, this society is NOT becoming less equal. They are still given one vote each and have the same rights and freedoms.

In reality our society is full of lottery winners. They're called business people, doctors, lawyers, people who save over the years to build wealth. In other words, the top 1%. Their wealth HAS to grow faster than the rest of society's wealth. They accumulate wealth, and their wealth accumulates more wealth through compounding. But take away the wealth and they have no special rights than make you less equal than them.

I'm in the top 1%. I'm not special. I had to get school loans. I experienced many years of zero or no income. But, I won the lottery. I got a good job. Now my wealth will start to grow--and keep growing at a faster rate than the vast majority of society. Just math.
 

magicstop

Member
I'm gone for a day, and I see Manos is back to trolling, and then the vultures started circling because they saw some action.
So Manos broke his word, ignored a polite PM from me asking him to stop, and other trolls have decided to derail as much as possible.

Trollololos, I put a lot of time into making and maintaining this thread because I wanted an informative place for people who were interested in the movement or a part of the movement. I didn't set this up for you to crap all over it, troll, or general derail and muck things up. You've already ruined one thread like that, and Manos, you already started another with that purpose. Please go dump on those threads, and leave this thread alone for people who are interested in this movement, who want to discuss events as the unfold, etc. Please stop trolling.

Obviously, you genuine posters are free to deal with this how you want to, but my suggestion would be to stop feeding the trolls. I'm going to get on tomorrow and update the OP with all the stuff from yesterday and today, and we'll have enough to discuss to ignore Manos, et al., no matter how much they bait.

Don't let him have this thread too, folks. Ignore, don't take the bait, be a winner :D
 
magicstop said:
I'm gone for a day, and I see Manos is back to trolling, and then the vultures started circling because they saw some action.
So Manos broke his word, ignoring a polite PM from me asking him to stop, and other trolls have decided to derail as much as possible.

Trollololos, I put a lot of time into making and maintaining this thread because I wanted an informative place for people who were interested in the movement or a part of the movement. I didn't set this up for you to crap all over it, troll, or general derail and muck things up. You've already ruined one thread like that, and Manos, you already started another with that purpose. Please go dump on those threads, and leave this thread alone for people who are interested in this movement, who want to discuss events as the unfold, etc. Please stop trolling.

Obviously, you genuine posters are free to deal with this how you want to, but my suggestion would be to stop feeding the trolls. I'm going to get on tomorrow and update the OP with all the stuff from yesterday and today, and we'll have enough to discuss to ignore Manos, et al., no matter how much they bait.

Don't let him have this thread too, folks. Ignore, don't take the bait, be a winner :D
Just because we don't agree with you doesn't make us trolls.
 
RSTEIN said:
But take away the wealth and they have no special rights than make you less equal than them.

That's the point. Their wealth shouldn't have any influence on what our society does... it should be the majority.
 

marrec

Banned
Karma Kramer said:

Kramer, we agree on so much, but you are so left-wing it's almost a caricature. I'm not trying to argue a point based on the overall ethics of America's Military, just pointing it out.

More to the point at hand, the Military shouldn't be used as an economic crutch regardless.
 
Manos: The Hans of Fate said:
How do any of those make someone in the military evil?

By contributing to the military you are falling in line with their executive orders. You are getting paid to carry out their orders. You know orders like torturing innocent people. That kind of thing. Obviously not everyone in the military is evil and we are all in a way responsible for the actions of the military in this country... I just personally would feel I am contributing to an evil sector of our government, one that isn't really looking out for my best interests or Americans.

What media coverage omits about U.S. hikers released by Iran


In prison, every time we complained about our conditions, the guards would remind us of comparable conditions at Guantanamo Bay; they’d remind us of CIA prisons in other parts of the world; and conditions that Iranians and others experience in prisons in the U.S.

We do not believe that such human rights violation on the part of our government justify what has been done to us: not for a moment. However, we do believe that these actions on the part of the U.S. provide an excuse for other governments – including the government of Iran – to act in kind.
 

Enron

Banned
magicstop said:
I'm gone for a day, and I see Manos is back to trolling, and then the vultures started circling because they saw some action.
So Manos broke his word, ignored a polite PM from me asking him to stop, and other trolls have decided to derail as much as possible.

Trollololos, I put a lot of time into making and maintaining this thread because I wanted an informative place for people who were interested in the movement or a part of the movement. I didn't set this up for you to crap all over it, troll, or general derail and muck things up. You've already ruined one thread like that, and Manos, you already started another with that purpose. Please go dump on those threads, and leave this thread alone for people who are interested in this movement, who want to discuss events as the unfold, etc. Please stop trolling.

Obviously, you genuine posters are free to deal with this how you want to, but my suggestion would be to stop feeding the trolls. I'm going to get on tomorrow and update the OP with all the stuff from yesterday and today, and we'll have enough to discuss to ignore Manos, et al., no matter how much they bait.

Don't let him have this thread too, folks. Ignore, don't take the bait, be a winner :D

People that disagree with me = trolls?

So, doesn't that make you the troll in the last thread? Seeing as how it opened up with a "smelly hippies" post?
 

magicstop

Member
Manos: The Hans of Fate said:
In the interest of letting people discuss the issues at hand, whatever they may feel they are or however they feel about them, I withdraw from posting in this thread and any future thread on the subject.

Straight trollin'.
 

Enron

Banned
Karma Kramer said:
By contributing to the military you are falling in line with their executive orders. You are getting paid to carry out their orders. You know orders like torturing innocent people. That kind of thing. Obviously not everyone in the military is evil and we are all in a way responsible for the actions of the military in this country... I just personally would feel I am contributing to an evil sector of our government, one that isn't really looking out for the best interests of me or Americans.

What media coverage omits about U.S. hikers released by Iran

Uhm, that little nugget was in virtually every story posted online on mainstream news sites and on tv newscasts. I first read that on CNN of all places.
 

RSTEIN

Comics, serious business!
UltimaPooh said:
That's the point. Their wealth shouldn't have any influence on what our society does... it should be the majority.

How does their wealth influence your life?
 

Zabka

Member
RSTEIN said:
They are still given one vote each and have the same rights and freedoms.
According to the Supreme Court spending money = freedom of speech. Would you say someone who has $2 billion that runs a SuperPAC and a team of lobbyists is equal to a factory worker?

Until we have public funding corporations and the wealthy will always have more power in our political process.
 

marrec

Banned
RSTEIN said:
How does their wealth influence your life?

That's really a silly question, even people like me who lean more to the right on some things can recognize the effect wealth has on their lives.

If you believe that there isn't rampant corruption in government stemming from massive wealth and corporations, then you are blind.
 
RSTEIN said:
How does their wealth influence your life?

RSTEIN, even Aphex Twin agrees the wealthy are running the show.

P. Are you interested in politics? What do you think the youth riots that burn in Europe?

R. What does interest me. And I think this is the arrival of the new world order.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&langpair=es|en&u=http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/Odio/publico/elpepicul/20110617elpepicul_3/Tes

:p

He could be bsing though lol
 

Pollux

Member
Karma Kramer said:
By contributing to the military you are falling in line with their executive orders. You are getting paid to carry out their orders. You know orders like torturing innocent people. That kind of thing. Obviously not everyone in the military is evil and we are all in a way responsible for the actions of the military in this country... I just personally would feel I am contributing to an evil sector of our government, one that isn't really looking out for my best interests or Americans.

What media coverage omits about U.S. hikers released by Iran

And Iranin prison guards know sooooo much about what's happening in Cuba.

You should be happy that there is a military like ours to defend your right to criticize them.
 
zmoney said:
And Iranin prison guards know sooooo much about what's happening in Cuba.

You should be happy that there is a military like ours to defend your right to criticize them.

I am all for defense and keeping America safe. But today's military is doing a lot of harm to our national security I think. It's called blow back and it is what contributed to the 9/11 attacks. The CIA notes this... Our aggression in parts of the world, doesn't serve America's best interest, it serves the interest of the military to keep being financed.

During the first Iraq war in 1990, the US established temporary military bases in Saudi Arabia for the first time. These bases became semi-permanent to contain Iraq's potential expansionary goals, at the request of the Saudi government.

These military bases, in the land of Mecca, created tremendous hostility in the domestic population, especially amongst the radical Muslims. This became the spark for an intensified anti-Americanism amongst certain young and militant Saudis. This became a natural recruiting scenario for al-Qaeda.

Our behavior as of recently warrants even more ammunition for terrorist recruiting.
 

RSTEIN

Comics, serious business!
Karma Kramer said:
RSTEIN, even Aphex Twin agrees the wealthy are running the show.



http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&langpair=es|en&u=http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/Odio/publico/elpepicul/20110617elpepicul_3/Tes

:p

He could be bsing though lol

lol, I'm not a republican/conservative person whatsoever. I'm a liberal. I think he's absolutely right. We are on the cusp of a new world order. One that gives a voice to the majority of our society. This is fantastic and I'm watching with excitement.

However, I believe a lot of the stuff going on is misdirected.
 

Enron

Banned
So apparently Occupy Wall Street is coming to Atlanta this Friday in Woodruff Park. I used to work in that area - they are probably going for it to try and pick up as many foot-traffic passer-bys as possible. That area is a strange mix of Georgia State college student, business folk, and urban poor that spend a lot of time out on the street.

You pro-OWSers think the NYPD are assholes, they ain't got nothin' on the APD. This could get real ugly.
 

Enron

Banned
Karma Kramer said:
Link please

and my point isn't really in regards to if the media omits this or not... It was just the name of the article which you can read here:

http://politics.salon.com/2011/09/26/iran_105/singleton/

edit: I have a question, why is your username Enron? lol?

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/09/25/released-hikers-describe-ordeal-in-iran/?iref=allsearch

"The only explanation for our prolonged detention is the 32 years of mutual hostility between America and Iran," Bauer said. "The irony is that (fellow once-detained hikers) Sarah (Shourd), Josh (Fattal) and I oppose U.S. policies towards Iran, which perpetuate this hostility."

He added that he believes that reports of abuses and poor conditions in CIA-run prisons, prisons inside the United States and at the military detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, "provide an excuse for other governments, including the government of Iran, to act in kind."

How's that? Good enough for you?
Consider yourself owned? lol?
 
Enron said:
So apparently Occupy Wall Street is coming to Atlanta this Friday in Woodruff Park. I used to work in that area - they are probably going for it to try and pick up as many foot-traffic passer-bys as possible. That area is a strange mix of Georgia State college student, business folk, and urban poor that spend a lot of time out on the street.

You pro-OWSers think the NYPD are assholes, they ain't got nothin' on the APD. This could get real ugly.

Could I get that link and can you explain your username?

edit: lol, I consider myself owned. Bravo. However the reason I posted that was to make a point about how immoral tactics destroy our moral authority in the world.
 
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