Today:
You understand what the blank patch means, right?
And what I did get
"Democrats adopt ‘occupy’ rhetoric; Street protests provide fuel for some lawmakers" November 23, 2011|By Bobby Caina Calvan, Globe Staff
WASHINGTON - When US Representative Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts sought to illustrate the divide between average citizens and the oil industry recently, his words echoed from the ragtag protests on Wall Street.
“These companies aren’t just the 1 percent of America, they are the 1 percent plus, making billions off the backs of Americans,’’ Markey declared in a news release.
Harry Reid also adopted the words of the Occupy Wall Street movement, when he railed on the Senate floor against “millionaires and billionaires’’ who get richer while the rest of America stagnates. “This 1 percent now makes more than the other 99 percent combined,’’ said Reid, the Senate majority leader, while promoting a White House jobs bill.
Reid is one of the millionaires, sigh!!
The increasingly frequent eruption of Occupy Wall Street rhetoric in the Capitol is some of the clearest evidence yet that the angry protests from Boston to the West Coast are beginning to resonate in the halls of power. Just as the Tea Party’s white-hot anger strengthened the hand of conservatives in Washington in 2010, the street protests against the excesses of corporate America appear to be giving backbone to some Democrats in Congress.
I was JUST WONDERING WHERE THEY WERE when they had a FILIBUSTER-PROOF MAJORITY!
With recent police crackdowns in Oakland and Manhattan, it’s unclear whether the movement will be able to transform its frustration into a sustained political force.
Rather than be diverted into meaningless politics, why can't the CURRENT LEADERS DO WHAT WE WANT NOW? What's stopping them?
In addition to pressure from police, the protesters may have trouble maintaining a presence in the streets once the snow flies.
Or so the authorities hope in this age of global warming.
The Occupy demonstrators - or 99 percenters, as many call themselves - also lack the sort of billionaire backing the Tea Party enjoys.
Still, some liberal members of Congress are latching on to the slogans that carry the left’s frustration....
F*** off!
Co-opting the lingo of a populist movement is a bipartisan exercise....
At some point, though, the message of Occupy Wall Street could get lost amid police crackdowns and what Christen Varley, president of the Greater Boston Tea Party, described as bad marketing. “It’s not such a good word - who wants to be occupied?’’ she said.
The corporate newspapers sure haven't been helping.
The next step, said US Representative Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat who co-wrote legislation that stiffened Wall Street rules, is to transform frustration into votes. “I don’t have a problem with their slogans,’’ Frank said. “It’s what you do with the message. They are not translating it to political action.’’
Sorry, Barn, but BEEN THERE, DONE THAT!
--more--"
Related: Wall Street Protests Winding Down
Also see: Globe Grinds Pepper Spray Protest Story
