OCCUPY WALLSTREET!

[Aadill]

oh yeah it's definitely still possible to point at someone and say, "HE'S ONE OF THEM!" so it's batshit insane, don't get me wrong.... but that particular article does kinda go over the top with it.

[Hasbinbad]

Call your fucking senators.

http://www.senate.gov/general/contac...nators_cfm.cfm

[Hasbinbad]

Originally Posted by Aadill [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

oh yeah it's definitely still possible to point at someone and say, "HE'S ONE OF THEM!" so it's batshit insane, don't get me wrong.... but that particular article does kinda go over the top with it.

I just called Boxer and Feinstein.. Their representatives didn't seem to think it was over the top. Boxer hasn't released an official statement yet, but Feinstein is vehemently opposed, and their office extended gratitude that I called in support.

[Aadill]

What I don't like is that it grants unending power to a single individual or group of individuals to make those sorts of judgement calls. Granted, we've pretty much been shipping suspects off to other countries under the same silent method of detaining them behind closed doors and hoping no one finds out. Happened at an airport not too far away from me a few years ago. Granted, the newspaper article is 404'd at this point, but:

http://www.democraticunderground.com...ss=104x5404828

What was Aero Contractor's alleged role in interrogations involving torture?

Investigations led by European governments and media outlets and testimony from eyewitnesses have revealed that two planes, a Boeing Business Jet and a Gulfstream V executive jet, had made a base at Aero Contractors Ltd. in Smithfield. The planes frequently flew from Johnston County to Dulles International Airport outside Washington.

The planes would then cross the Atlantic to countries such as Sweden, Italy, Germany, Ireland and Spain and then head to other countries, including Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Morocco, Jordan and Iraq, where harsh tactics were sometimes used to extract information from prisoners, the investigators said.

Some detainees, later released, said interrogators had subjected them to electric shock, malnourishment or other forms of torture.

http://www.newsobserver.com/100/story/369059.html

[Aadill]

(basically where the fuck have you been for the past decade)

[Hasbinbad]

Originally Posted by Aadill [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

(basically where the fuck have you been for the past decade)

First they came for the communists,
but I did not speak for them, for I am not a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
but I did not speak for them, for I am not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the jews,
but I did not speak for them, for I am not a jew.

Now they've come for me,
and there are none left to speak for me.

[Aadill]

also I totally didn't know about the airport stuff till a few weeks ago when one of the Raleigh Occupants told me about it. kinda freaky that the government was using this small, out-of-the-way airport to ship people off for torture... people caught on and all of the sudden the tarmac was deserted, so yeah.... that oft-used quote is sort of amusingly accurate in this case.

[Aadill]

Some might say it's too little too late, but that's the funny thing about this Occupation: whether you like what they are saying or not, someone is speaking a truth you haven't heard. It could be a personal experience, a hardship, a broken law, a shady tactic, a general message, an abomination of the American dream, but they will be heard, because they are no longer afraid to speak their minds.

I know people at work that are secretly cheering the local Occupations on only behind closed doors, "because they have too much to lose." I know people abroad in the public sector and the private sector in the same situation... they're afraid not of their convictions, but those that have power over them.

So, yeah, you can look at it as Niemoeller did... I would say this is a generational change, and it very well may be. We're the first group to LIVE with computers... we know the ins and outs of social networking and the beauty of free speech on the internet (which will hopefully not disappear with SOAP and PROTECTIP Act). This was the first time that the whole world at once knows what's going on and said, "hey this is kinda fucked up." It's not because we didn't always feel that way, we were just afraid in thinking we were the only ones thinking it.

[Anger]

Occupy Wallstreet has to be one of the dumbest, most pointless things I've seen since the rallys at the Wisconsin capital.

[Daldolma]

Originally Posted by Hasbinbad [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I just called Boxer and Feinstein.. Their representatives didn't seem to think it was over the top. Boxer hasn't released an official statement yet, but Feinstein is vehemently opposed, and their office extended gratitude that I called in support.

I genuinely don't mean to be a dick, but you realize that you were speaking to either an intern or a young-20's staff assistant (secretary) that makes $30,000 a year and has likely never spoken directly to the Senator, right? Especially someone like Feinstein, who's a huge deal.

Like I said, I'm not trying to be a dick. But unfortunately, whatever you've got to say never reaches the Senator or anyone else that matters. The best you get out of calling your senators is a clear statement on where they stand on the issue -- and even that isn't guaranteed.