The OB Media Rundown for 12/13/2011

Beyond the Rhetoric: The Complicated, Brief Life of Occupy Boston

Whatever you think of the Occupy Wall Street’s tactics, methods or politics, one thing is indisputable: the Occupy Wall Street movement make people emotional. Even after wading through confusion to understand how Occupy actually works, people tend to love it or hate it.

And Boston is an emotional city. More than any occupy I visited, passersby would scream and honk in support and derision many times a day.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/12/brief-complex-life-of-occupy-boston/?pid=212&pageid=34330&viewall=true

Occupy Boston: ‘This is a movement of the mind’

Occupy Boston protesters marched back to Dewey Square on Monday. It doesn’t look like the place they remember. Barricades up, police standing guard, walling off the newly planted sod at Dewey Square from the occupiers who took over and called this place home for more than two months.

“I’m glad we’re here just to show that we’re not locked down on a physical property because this is a movement of the mind,” Carlos Ashmanskas of Quincy said, adding that he had camped out since Sept. 30.

http://www.necn.com/12/12/11/Occupy-Boston-This-is-a-movement-of-the-/landing_newengland.html?blockID=610998&feedID=4206

Boston counts, counsels homeless

In Downtown Crossing, Mayor Thomas M. Menino and emergency shelter director Jim Greene offered assistance to Courtney Smith, 35, during Boston’s homeless census last night.

Menino and Greene spent several minutes talking to Harris, as an activist passing by with a tray of sandwiches from an Occupy Boston meeting handed him one.

“I’ve been feeding the homeless for a long time,” said the activist, David Lamoso, 30, of East Boston. “We did it a lot in Dewey Square” where Occupy Boston had been located. As the night and the count went on, some homeless residents accepted transportation to shelters, while other refused.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2011/12/13/boston-counts-counsels-homeless/IcX5EnERCaG84LkqsTfr6I/story.html

Boston Herald runs photos of arrested Occupy protesters as columnist mocks

Howie Carr: A mug shot is worth a thousand words. And these BPD mug shots from Occupy Boston tell us quite a story, namely, how greasy and dirty you’ll look if you stop bathing for weeks at a time.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view/2011_1213wonder_why_occupy_lugs_have_no_jobs/

Occupy Boston Closed Saturday Morning

Boston police closed in on the Occupy Boston encampment in the wee hours of Saturday morning, ending the more than 70-day-long occupation of Dewey Square.

The Boston police first issued an eviction notice to the occupiers on Thursday night. While some of the protestors removed their belongings, the half-acre encampment attracted more than a thousand people to the square, according to the New York Times.

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2011/12/12/occupy-boston-evicted/

Gov. Patrick: Occupy Boston tapped economic fears

BOSTON – Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is crediting Occupy Boston protesters with reflecting the frustration that many feel about income inequality and whether the American dream is increasingly out of reach.

Patrick was commenting Monday for first time since the Occupy Boston encampment was dismantled over the weekend and dozens arrested. He also praised Mayor Thomas Menino’s handling of the protest movement’s decision to camp out on a slice of ground in downtown Boston. Patrick, speaking to reporters in his office after returning from a trade mission Monday, said Menino showed “a really wonderful sense of balance.”

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/12/12/gov_patrick_occupy_boston_tapped_economic_fears/

An inside look at Occupy Boston’s last morning in Dewey Square

At 5 a.m. Saturday morning, hundreds of Boston Police officers converged on Dewey Square Park to evict the Occupy Boston tent community that was established on September 30 and had become the oldest standing Occupy encampment in the US.

http://blastmagazine.com/the-news/local-news/an-inside-look-at-occupy-bostons-last-morning-in-dewey-square/

Protesters pick fight over folly

Lots of you today will get your jollies poking fun at scruffy mug shots of the occupiers arrested this weekend. You can count how many are homeless and unemployed, though iron worker Peter Johnson would surely prefer a job.
. . .

I know. Lots of you apparently prefer getting fleeced to fighting the fleecers. You are gullible, beaten down, sad sacks. You have my sympathy. But lots of us prefer any American – Mohawked, braided, dirty, smelly, slightly or utterly batty – who’s not afraid to tell these greedy Wall Street thieves and their government enablers to go straight to hell. Occupy today. Occupy tomorrow. Occupy for as long as it takes.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view/2011_1213protesters_pick_fight_over_folly/

Dewey Square returning to normal after eviction of Occupy Boston protesters

Two days after Boston Police ended Occupy Boston protesters’ 70-day residency in Dewey Square, the park is well on its way back to being green and serene.

Downtown office workers stopped by the park at lunchtime on Monday to observe the work, some with relief but others with disappointment.

http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/downtown/2011/12/dewey_square_returning_to_norm.html

Dispatches from Dewey Square: A response to Michael Graham

The dismantling of camps across the country — including Occupy Boston’s Dewey Square encampment early on Saturday morning — has prompted many to declare the Occupy movement over. Take, for example, an op-ed by Michael Graham in today’s Boston Herald, entitled “Occupy history’s ash heap,” in which the author delights in polls that suggest support for the Occupy movement is waning.

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/blogs/thenextgreatgeneration/2011/12/dispatches_from_dewey_square_a_1.html

Dewey Square repairs costly, but there’s help

Workers wasted no time after police cleared out the Occupy Boston campsite over the weekend before planting trees and laying down fresh dirt and sod. Brennan estimated the cleanup cost would run the conservancy $40,000 to $60,000, a far shot from the $15,000 they anticipated.

During their first week of occupation, protesters vowed to help restore the land when they left. So far they have raised $3,000 to go toward the refurbishment.

http://www.metro.us/boston/local/article/1048755–dewey-square-repairs-costly-but-there-s-help

Occupy shuts down US West Coast ports

Before noon on Monday, ports were successfully shut down by protesters in the cities of Portland, Longview and Oakland, with demonstrators waging similar strikes in other cities on the Pacific Coast. In Canada, the port of Vancouver, British Columbia was also closed and operations at Long Beach, California were slowed due to protester action.

http://rt.com/usa/news/occupy-west-coast-ports-619/

Percussion grenades used to disperse WA protesters

Police who used “flash-bang” percussion grenades to disperse protesters who blocked an entrance to a Port of Seattle facility say 11 demonstrators have been arrested.

The demonstration Monday was part of a national effort to disrupt West Coast port traffic. Officers moved in Monday evening after Occupy Seattle protesters tried to set up a makeshift barrier near the entrances to Terminal 5 and Terminal 18, using scraps of wood and aluminum debris.

http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Percussion-grenades-used-to-disperse-WA-protesters-2397204.php

Utah protestors try to block Walmart trucks with bikes in support of Occupy movement

More than a dozen Occupy protestors tried to block trucks going to Grantsville’s Walmart headquarters this afternoon by riding their bikes across the entrance.

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=18469168

Port truck drivers thank ‘Occupy Wall Street’ protesters

A group of port truck drivers thanked the “99 Percenters” on Monday for bringing attention to their profession, which they claim is rife with labor abuses. “Occupy” protesters disrupted traffic at ports along the U.S. west coast on Monday, as a small number were arrested for seeking to shut down the major trade cargo hub, officials said.

The port truck drivers, who were affiliated with the Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports, stopped short of supporting the effort to shut down the ports. But they were “humbled and overwhelmed” by the attention the action brought. “Normally we are invisible,” they said.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/12/12/port-truck-drivers-thank-occupy-wall-street-protesters/

Bomb threat targets Portland (ME) occupy camp

Police are investigating a bomb threat targeting Occupy Maine protesters in Lincoln Park. The Portland Police Department received a report this morning that a Westbrook man claimed to have placed a bomb near Lincoln Park, according to a news release from the department.

Police have identified a suspect, but are not releasing his name.

http://www.pressherald.com/news/Portland-police-search-for-bomb-at-Occupy-ME-camp.html

Report: 5,425 Occupy arrests in 94 cities

There have been 5,425 arrests at Occupy Wall Street protests in 94 cities as of December 12, according to a collection of news reports conducted by St. Pete for Peace, an Occupy-affiliated group from St. Petersburg, Fla.

http://dailycaller.com/2011/12/12/report-5425-occupy-arrests-in-94-cities-video/

Black women were hit hard with job losses in economic crisis

According to a recent study by the National Women’s Law Center, black women have lost more jobs during the recovery – 258,000 – than they did during the recession – 233,000. Put another way, black women represented 12.5 percent of all women workers in June 2009. But between then and this June, black women lost 42.2 percent of jobs lost by women overall.

“For women as a whole, and particularly black women, cuts in public sector employment have been devastating,” said Joan Entmacher, vice president for family economic security at the National Women’s Law Center in Washington. “When it comes to job growth in the private sector, women are also doing less well than men. Whether employers feel it is more important to put men back to work first, we just can’t say at this point.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/2011/12/11/gIQAEo5GoO_story.html

MF Global: A Romance With Risk That Brought On a Panic

Although Mr. Corzine had been a United States senator, governor of New Jersey, co-head of Goldman Sachs and a confidant of leaders in Washington and Wall Street, he was at heart a trader, willing to gamble for a rich payoff.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/12/11/a-romance-with-risk-that-brought-on-a-panic/?ref=business

Federal reserve dishonesty, and how it’s been fighting against an audit since 2009

It is important to put something on the record about the Federal Reserve’s politics. From 2009 onward, the Fed fought bitterly and fought dirty to prevent any disclosure whatsoever. I’ve never told this story before, about the Fed’s nasty and dishonorable lobbying campaign against a Fed audit.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/12/matt-stoller-how-the-federal-reserve-fights.html

Portuguese workers hit by massive austerity package

Manuel Carvalho da Silva, head of the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers (Confederação Geral dos Trabalhadores Portugueses, CGTP), declared last week that the recent budget, together with earlier cuts, will see public sector take-home pay decline by 27 percent next year compared to 2010.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/dec2011/port-d12.shtml

The Swiss Government Is Getting Ready For The Collapse Of The Euro

The Swiss government is preparing for a collapse of the euro, according to Swiss Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf.

She told parliament that a work group was studying the imposition of capital controls and negative interest rates to protect Switzerland from the capital flight that a euro collapse would engender

http://www.businessinsider.com/sarkozy-the-risk-that-europe-will-explode-2011-12

US Federal Reserve lending in Europe: Identities of borrowers hidden from the Fed itself

For all the transparency forced on the Federal Reserve by Congress and the courts, one of the central bank’s emergency-lending programs remains so secretive that names of borrowers may be hidden from the Fed itself.

As part of a currency-swap plan active from 2007 to 2010 and revived to fight the European debt crisis, the Fed lends dollars to other central banks, which auction them to local commercial banks. Lending peaked at $586 billion in December 2008. While the transactions with other central banks are all disclosed, the Fed doesn’t track where the dollars ultimately end up, and European officials don’t share borrowers’ identities outside the continent.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-11/no-one-says-who-took-586-billion-in-fed-swaps-done-in-anonymity.html

The 1% Election

It’s clear enough — or should be by now — that the electoral process has been occupied by the 1%; which means that what you hear in this “campaign” is largely refracted versions of their praise, their condemnation, their slurs, their views, their needs, their fears, and their wishes.  They are making money off, and electing a president via, you.  Which means that you — that all of us — are occupied, too.

So stop calling this an “election.”  Whatever it is, we need a new name for it.

http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175478/tomgram%3A_engelhardt%2C_the_1%25_election/

Economic Crisis + Offshore

Many of the roots of the current global economic crisis trace back to offshore financial centres located in tax havens. These include both those located in the smaller, mostly island states like Cayman and Jersey, and the larger tax havens like the City of London, Switzerland, Dublin, Delaware or Luxembourg.

These tax havens did not “cause” the crisis, but they contributed powerfully to it. This happened in  a number of interlinked ways:

http://www.taxjustice.net/cms/front_content.php?idcat=136

Unemployment is world’s fastest-rising fear – survey

Unemployment is the world’s fastest-rising worry, a BBC World Service survey covering 11,000 people in 23 countries suggests.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16108437

Russia’s middle class rises up against Putin

In Moscow, the change of mood among the new middle class is palpable.

“It’s amazing how quickly the atmosphere in the office has changed,” said one Western businessman working in Moscow. “The Russians in the office were never politicised, they never wanted to talk about politics. Suddenly, all the office conversations are about politics, everyone is debating whether or not they should go to protest. I don’t think there is anyone who really hates Putin there, but it certainly seems like people have lost respect for him.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russias-middle-class-rises-up-against-putin-6275073.html

Citigroup Lawyers Using Digital Copyright Law To Suppress Sharing of the ‘Plutonomy Memos’

A leaked series of Citigroup memos about the benefit of the world turning towards economic feudalism (the so-called Plutonomy Memos), once known mostly to lefty blogs, gained some notoriety after Michael Moore featured them in his movie, Capitalism: A Love Story. As you can imagine, the memos resurfaced in the last few months with the rise of Occupy Wall Street.

But recently, Citigroup’s lawyers have sent takedown letters to blogs and websites that have featured the memos. Using the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, Citigroup’s attorneys have successfully pressured Scribd and other document sharing websites to scrub the pdf from the web (here’s an example). Just a few weeks ago, they sent a takedown request to John Schmitt’s blog, demanding that he scrub a copy of the Citigroup Plutonomy memo from his site.

http://thesecondalarm.com/2011/12/12/citigroup-suppressing-memo/

NPR Reports that Debtors’ Prisons Are Alive and Well

Although debtors’ prisons are illegal across the country, you can apparently still end up in debt for an unpaid bill.

NPR  tells the story of Illinois debtor Robin Sanders in Illinois, who was stopped by police for a loud muffler but taken directly to jail on an arrest warrant for failure to appear at a hearing on an unpaid medical bill, all in a lawsuit she was unaware of. Similar stories have been reported in Indiana, Tennessee and Washington, and all involve selling debt to a collection agency, that then files a lawsuit against the debtor requiring a court appearance. A notice to appear in court is supposed to be given to the debtor. If they fail to show up, a warrant is issued for their arrest. According to the story, despite that debtor’s prisons were outlawed early in our country’s history, one-third of all states still allow people who have not paid bills to be jailed.

http://www.creditslips.org/creditslips/2011/12/npr-reports-that-debtors-prisons-are-alive-and-well.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+creditslips%2Ffeed+%28Credit+Slips%29