Octopi!!!
November 12, 2011
And if you’d like to save that biodiversity, then get out there and raise some hell and fight for the world you want instead of acquiescing to the one corporate interests deem good enough for the rest of us.
Unless of course you like eating genetically modified peanut butter and jellyfish sandwiches. The latter ingredient are doing quite well what with warming oceans and vertebrate marine life rapidly disappearing.
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CEPHALOBLOG 
wordpress is having a hard time authorizing me.
just wanted to say I love “Octupi…”
So wrong. That’s why I can’t stop laughing: http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lu4pzrXCo91qkq53lo1_500.jpg
Ha!
oh….my. PMPL!!!
There were up to four livestreams running from Zuccoti last night. One that I was watching had over 24K viewers at one point, and the whole apparatus was getting creaky. For those who did not watch. Amy Goodman did a stellar job this morning. She and her crew went down to the site within a short time of police arrival and got excellent footage.
She covers among other things the fact that the written eviction said possessions could be reclaimed at a specific address. (I heard that on the police loudspeaker on livestream as well.) But when she asked sanitation workers what they were doing the stuff, they responded they were taking it to the dump. There may be a very real 4th amendment case here, as belongings including electronic equipment, books, clothing, tents etc were destroyed after a mere ten minutes notice to leave,
She also spoke briefly with Dan Siegel, Quan’s former legal advisor. He left little doubt as to his reasons, describing himself as “horrified” by the actions in Oakland and Zuccotti.
Almost seems like the Portland OR mayor’s fairly reasonable request to break up the encampment was seized upon by other civic leaders who aren’t sympathetic to the movement to crack down. Guess I was mistaken in thinking it might draw some attention to the homeless and other problems and get local governments to finally pay attention and offer some assistance to the protesters with some needed services.
This response in particular seemed a little harsh –
And I was quite pleased to see Siegel resign in disgust. Oakland handled things abysmally from what I saw.
Around here, one local paper today said the city has no plans to evict anyone from the park. I imagine that could change in a hurry though, but probably not without a fight. I’ve met the lawyer involved with the protesters and he strikes me as extremely tenacious with a big axe to grind against Wall St.
Looks like I was a little off base with the above comment.
Other cities weren’t just following the Portland OR mayor’s lead, they had made a nationwide strategy beforehand – Police Crackdowns on OWS Coordinated among Mayors, FBI, DHS.
More here –
Pretty disgusting, all to kick out people who are well within their rights. All this is doing is pissing even more people off and will probably cost cities quite a bit of $$$ after people get done suing them.
More on this below.
A couple days after the Seattle city council endorse Occupy Seattle and agreed to disentangle itself from Wells Fargo, we get this: Elderly woman, priest pepper-sprayed during Occupy protest
There were actually two pepper spray incidents yesterday, but the spraying of 84 year old Dorli Rainey, a much loved elder in the activist community, and of a pregnant woman has generated a lot of anger.
There are occasions when Keith O’s bombastic style is just right:
Spot on. Bloomberg’s an even bigger douche than I had realized. As was alluded to, kind of like a little Berlusconi, minus the prostitutes. As far as we know anyways as clients 1-8 are still unidentified. If Anonymous needs anything else to do…
Learned something new while OWSing yesterday.
A woman approached our group and asked if there were any politicians who could turn things around. I answered no. I was mistaken.
The correct answer turned out to be Ron Paul.
the horror! (of the correct answer)
I posted this on FB, but it is being ignored, though I swear I have at least 120 friends:
“too funny—I was watching news clips on MSNBC, then the pre-commercial asking which ad experience I would prefer came on—-and the choice was between Bank of America and Goldman Sachs!”
I think I may start blogging again at One Small Middle Finger.
whoops. I think wordpress deleted my other blog cuz I never posted. There’s still the underwater deli…..
I still check over there from time to time to see if you’ve left any pearls. I think it’s still on.
More mic checks –
Chamber of Commerce –
Rove gets rattled –
Arundhati Roy in NYC, 11/16
The crackdowns on OWS in other cities has led to some solidarity here. Today was by far the largest group on the street I’ve seen so far with two or three dozen people holding signs and getting a lot of positive response from passers by.
At one point a Department of Homeland Security vehicle drove by the gathering prompting a few people to wonder if they were doing some surveillance. I didn’t think so since I often see DHS vehicles driving through town, especially by the customs house, but you never know. Told my buddy that I wouldn’t be surprised if there were one or two spooks among the crowd though at which point he pointed to some young guy with a Marine style buzzcut wandering around the outskirts of the group snapping photos and talking on his cell but not talking to anybody else. This guy was trying waaaaaaay too hard to fit in with his baggy sweatpants hanging just a little too low and sporting a bit too much pseudo-anarchist gear. Somebody really needs to update the cops on supposed hipster fashion – letting their hair grow longer than 1/8″ before letting them out in public might help the disguise a bit. The guy wandered off around the corner after a while and not 5 minutes later the black and whites showed up but all they did was tell drummers to knock it off (which I was actually grateful for). My buddy wasn’t 100% positive but shortly after the uniformed cops showed up, he thought he saw Mr. Obvious drive by in a police vehicle. He couldn’t tell for sure because while in the car he had put the hoody he wore for undercover purposes up.
After that the crowd went downtown and mic checked the Merrill Lynch offices and the cops soon followed as the brave bankers inside called them almost immediately. We had a little repartee with them with one woman asking them to join us (they didn’t). I thanked them afterwards for keeping their cool and not arresting anybody but they were pretty tight lipped. All I got out of them was “it’s a two way street” which could be taken in a few different ways I suppose. One of them did mouth off to a woman who had brought her young daughter along, saying “nice place to bring your kids” as he walked by. Had to wonder as we left if the four or five young kids in the crowd were the reason for the cops restraint or not. We’ll see… People seemed invigorated today though and don’t look like they are going to let up anytime soon.
Good ???s in this one – Who coordinated the raids?
Holy shit. Greece’s new Minister of Infrastructure, Transport and Networks is goddamned fascist. Really. Mark Ames: Austerity & Fascism In Greece – The Real 1% Doctrine
This whackjob Makis ‘The Hammer’ Varidis hangs out with some pretty unsavory characters, among them Jean Marie Le Pen.
And then fucking Forbes came out endorsing a military coup, which I’m sure went over like a short hair in the moussaka with the junta still fresh in the minds of most there. Met some who lived through it and it didn’t sound very pleasant. Hadn’t realized it before but Ames mentions in that first link (which is well worth reading in full) that Papandreou had dismissed the entire military brass just before proposing the public referendum. Sure sounds like he knew the crackdown was coming and at least tried to give the people a chance before being hung out to dry. Ames ends with this –
Really getting ugly out there….
Alan Grayson won me over with a John Brunner reference. Speaking of OWS on Rev Al’s show, he said
Bad ass.
And with V for vendettarific musical accompaniment –
Egyptians get tired of waiting for the new military dictatorship to get out of the way and tens of thousands protest again.
And in sharp contrast to these rather iconic moments, a local Occupier, apparently upset that the horn section had been replaced by percussion for an impromptu early AM reveille, beat the offending drummer with a hammer. And is it wrong that I find that kind of funny? Probably….
More evidence of climate change from looking out the window –
Mid-November and the weather has been abnormally warm in the mid-50s to mid-60s most of the month. Looked out into the yard and saw a couple fairly large gray animals and thought my cats had escaped. Turns out it was just the neighborhood squirrels who have gotten unusually fat this year as they continue to feast rather than hibernate. Not sure if they’ll be a bumper crop of squirrel-lettes next year or if they’ll all catch diabetes.
Missed a few plants in the yard cleanup and I’ve got a couple annual daisies and pansies putting out blossoms right now as there has been no killing frost. Not right at all.
Physicists double check and neutrinos still won’t listen to Einstein, as they are again measured traveling faster than light.
Chris Hedges speaks for me today (H/T to the Veterans for Peace guy I met on the street a couple days ago who mentioned it to me)- This is What Revolution Looks Like. Worth reading in full but this sticks out in light of recent developments –
Speaking of naked force, this one is making the rounds today, as one ratfucking cop casually pepper sprays students posing no threat whatsoever-
The way he brandished the can immediately before spraying as if they were vermin sure makes it look like he was enjoying it. But, it was just one rat bastard doing that. I imagine others could have joined in with impunity if they so chose. As Hedges mentions –
Maybe I’m overly optimistic after the events of the last couple days, but I really don’t think this is going to work. They shut down Zuccotti and more people than ever showed up locally in support. The mainfesto projected across the Verizon building in NYC must have given the Powers That Be pause, and was exactly the type of evolution of the protest I was looking for.
In Oakland, a 2nd vet was injured a few days ago by the cops who ruptured his spleen. But as much as the PTB watch us, they are being watched as well. Now a video has come out showing the cop beating the guy down. The guy who took the vid hadn’t realized at first that it was this veteran’s assault he had captured –
That ought to help the Oakland PoPo with their little “investigation” into the incident. And again, it was just one cop out of the whole line who felt it necessary to beat the shit out of this guy. Maybe I’m reading too much into a few videos, but it looks like some of those ordered to shut these protests down are reluctant to start bashing skulls. One retired cop even joined the protests (and was arrested).
You’d think the elite in this country who are shaking in their boots right now would be smart enough to realize that you can’t kill an idea. You’d think they would have come across this concept at some point during their educations, but maybe they were too distracted jizzing themselves in macroeconomics class. I’d like to think this movement is close to critical mass if it isn’t there already. The more the PTB try to suppress it, the more pissed off people will show up in the streets.
Hedges has been one of the most despondent journalists I’ve read in recent months, but his final thoughts were very heartening –
Bringing the events at UC-Davis up to date –
After the pepper spraying incident, students stand by silently and force chancellor Linda Katehi to do the walk of shame –
Katehi last I heard had refused to resign, citing the “need to heal”. Because evidently nobody can “heal” without the person who beat the living shit out of them for no good reason present.
Now here’s where things get really interesting. Katehi is Greek and with everything going on in Greece right now you’d think she’d know better, especially as she lived through the (CIA backed) military junta in Greece. Not only did she live through it, she was a student at the Athens University that led the student uprisings and eventually overthrew the junta. After the junta, Greece banned the presence of any military or police forces on any university campus, creating de facto zones of political asylum.
That is until recently. And guess who had a hand in weakening the asylum law in Greece?!??!? Linda fucking Katehi – How UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi Brought Oppression Back To Greece’s Universities:
Small world, huh?
A few words for all the Katehis of the world – as my old boss used to say “gamo to xorio sou!”
If any of our vast readership checks in today, here’s hoping you all have a great time and a tasty dinner with family and friends, no matter how you get there –
Jaysus H.
Against better judgment, I went to Thanxgvng dinner at a neighobor’s. There was some other guest there – an out-of-town loudmouth racist asshole – somebody’s friend I guess, it was hard to see whose – who piped up every two seconds with some idiotic bitching about Obama. I left as soon as seemly, since it wasn’t my house, and gave thinks I didn’t have to listen to his bullshit one second longer. I pity his poor wife and hope she gets enough and knifes him in his sleep one of these days. I defy any jury to convict her.
Looks like the little town of Bingen WA, across the river from the windsurfing paradise of Hood River, could use a little occupyin’.
I wonder what those “robust custom payloads” are all about?
Sigh. Just found out over the holiday that an in-law of mine’s new job is for a company that among other things manufactures small (think model airplane sized) unmanned aircraft for the military. Looked it up and these aren’t big enough to carry a missile – supposedly they are for recon. Linked here to an article a while ago discussing the military’s wish for smaller and smaller drones right down to insect size and it struck me that the inlaw’s company might just be helping to develop these, even if they aren’t exactly aware of it. Of course, I was told that my inlaw’s company on makes things for “defensive purposes” to “protect our troops”. Not sure how to convince them otherwise without becoming the annoying relative at the holiday gatherings myself. And the really unfortunate part is that this job is probably about the best he can get in the small rural town they live in.
Another inlaw can’t even tell us who she works for, but I’m pretty certain it has something to do with the defense industry. Background checks were done on family members when she got married evidently. I probably don’t even want to know what she really does.
Fucking defense industry really has managed to get its hooks in just about everywhere in this country
Happy Holidays!
Ok, I’m doing thanksgiving tomorrow. I don’t think I’ve ever had a frozen turkey before, so I didn’t calculate thaw time. Yeah, I could have forced it today, but see no point in stressing out. I hope all of you had something tasty, warm or interesting.
You know you can just toss it in frozen, and add ten minutes per pound. Do not stuff however. You probably won’t like the frozen as well, they really dry out. It would be worth doing the butter soaked cheesecloth thing.
I did a pretty good bird Mon before thanks, just cuz i like turkey a couple times a year and there were nice fresh ones on sale. By this weekend I was done with that and resorted to a pot of beans to get rid of all my lingering peppers etc before they rot.
Actually I have more fun messing around with the dressing than anything, but was pretty conservative this time around, just lots of peppers and apple.
Miss D on actual Thanksgiving I had a little feast with Lucky, this poor neglected Pomeranian from across the way. He’s got a whole rasta look going on, poor thing. I was messing around in yard when he busted loose and came over. Went through a whole little bag of doggie treats i keep for him, plus a very small amount of turkey. He stuck around for a couple hours and guarded me in the yard. Keep thinking of abducting him and finding a better home – it wouldn’t be hard – but he seems oddly happy with his lot and actually loves those dumb assholes.
Other than that, on a kick reading about Teddy Roosevelt and the period. Very interesting to me; I am so ignorant of American history.
Couple items that tickled the humerus –
Naked Capitalism had this satirical interview with a libertarian. Pretty funny in an appalling sort of way. I wont belabor the stupidity of libertarianism any more than I already have. Linking to it mostly as an excuse to post this graphic I ran across recently that might come in handy in the future –
And then there was this article from a blog which lays into the pharmaceutical industry- What if academics were as dumb as quacks with statistics? – which decries how scientists often misapply statistics and produce faulty results. Particularly enjoyed this terse comment –
An excellent investigative piece from Pro Publica and Frontline on all around bad actor David Coleman Headley, an American citizen who had a pretty big hand in the Mumbai attacks. From Pro Publica – The American Behind India’s 9/11—And How U.S. Botched Chances to Stop Him.
And the Frontline program – A Perfect Terrorist.
So the FBI spends untold amounts framing already marginalized citizens with diminished mental capacities, planning plots for them and providing them with “weapons”, assassinates US citizens and their children in Yemen on no evidence whatsoever except for some youtubes and Barry’s say-so, and this Headley character who aided and abetted real terrorist acts not only walked around free for years but was on the payroll of various government agencies?!?!?!?! And he’s a junkie and a heroine smuggler?!?!?!? And as this and a myriad other articles have mentioned, the Pakistani ISI foments terrorism all around the world and yet the Pakistani govt still gets billions in US aid, at least some of which presumably gets funneled right back into terrorist activities?!?!?!?!
Well worth reading and watching in full. Have to wonder whether the US really “botched” chances to stop this guy or whether he did exactly what he was intended to do. Looking at the evidence, it doesn’t appear than the Powers That Be really want “terrorism” stopped at all, being so good for business and all.
And then we have the US military slaughtering a couple dozen Pakistani soldiers but supposedly it was all a big “mistake”. And do I even want to know what’s really going on here because it sure is difficult to make heads or tails of any of it.
Some notes on how various cities have handled the OWS protests without calling in the paramilitaries –
In Detroit – A Lesson in Restraint: Detroit Police and the Occupy Movement –
In St. Louis (and from what I can tell the author is a supporter of OWS) – Gods Help Us, St. Louis Did it Right #OWS. The city gave the protesters a deadline but then the cops did not show up and instead waited for most of the protesters to leave on their own. When they finally did come to evict the remainder –
If you have to remove people, that seems a fer better way of doing it than cracking skulls.
In LA, protesters have defied orders to leave and the cops have not cracked down – yet. Who knows how long the LAPD will be able to contion themselves though.
And on the use of paramilitary tactics, former Seattle police chief Norm Stamper has seen the error of his ways and now decries the jackbooted tactics being used by police forces all around the country – Paramilitary Policing From Seattle to Occupy Wall Street –
Amen brother. Love to see Stamper out there with the rest of the protesters.
And this guy asks members of the military what they will do if, or more likely when, they are called to crack down on US citizens themselves – An Open Letter to the Winter Patriot –
And finally in the “you have to laugh a little bit or you’ll go nuts over it all” department, the UC Davis pepper spray cop has really pissed off Hitler. Normally I find these Hitler things annoying but this one was pretty good –
Dorli Rainey is one of Stamper’s biggest fans and always goes out of her way to refer people to him
Some notes –
Very odd to me that it has been Bloomberg news that has forced many financial disclosures that banks have tried to hide, like this one recently – Secret Fed Loans Helped Banks Net $13 Billion. Perhaps Mikey is doing it not out of any concern for fairness, but to get a leg up on the competition. He’s only the 12th richest after all…
Still waiting to see how this ominous news via the ACLU plays out – Senators Demand the Military Lock Up American Citizens in a “Battlefield” They Define as Being Right Outside Your Window –
Judge Jed Rakoff again says no fucking way to a proposed slap on the wrist settlement between Citigroup and the SEC –
Bravo!
Hmm. I don’t want to say too much about Moon as you should see it cold. But you should see it. There is a point at which it turns into a heartbreaking reverie on loneliness, memory, identity. And Kevin Spacey does a nice turn as a much more benevolent version of HAL from 2001.
Shhhhh! free here
Thanks! Watched it last night. That’s one of the movies I’ve been meaning to watch and then can’t remember when I get to the video store.
Excellent movie – I wish there were more sci-fi movies like that. 90 minutes and not one big explosion or car chase and yet I was still enthralled. Spacey is one of my faves and the nod to 2001 was well done I thought.
Following its recent sale (yuck) for $34,000 (we should have bought it) SciTech Daily has “a whole new look. Me no like, but then I don’t handle change well.
So I watched Eastwood’s biopic of J Edna Hoover, or rather watched the first two thirds or so.
Am a fan of Eastwood’s films, esp Gran Torino ,but this was one colossal bore at best. Three thumbs down. What in the hell was he thinking?
Part of the problem is that the film asks you to respect at least what he was up against and some of his efforts, and at the same time to laugh at him and worse. It is hard to admire and despise someone at the same time.
But the worst of it, that I couldn’t get past, is that the whole thing is shot in dark panelled interiors. On a big screen maybe it wouldn’t be quite so claustrophobic, but it left me gasping for air. Even Edna’s mother’s house doesn’t seem to have any windows. And that’s another point: when you take away the glaring oddities of his personal life, there isn’t any human interest left. No romance, no development, no journey beyond his 60 years or whatever of plodding paranoia. Just a sad little man of no interest whatsoever. Certainly not enough interest to justify a full length film.
Thx for the review. I’m a big Eastwood fan as well but I was having a hard time imagining DiCaprio playing Edna at all convincingly. Very odd casting choice. Think I’ll watch Unforgiven for about the 87th time instead.
Ha hahha ha Courtesy of Loki himself, Ron Paul, the GOP primary goes into full Auto Destruct mode:
http://www.youtube.com/user/ronpaul#p/u/7/CWKTOCP45zY
Funny stuff. Really don’t know what the little amphibian was thinking when he threw his hat into the ring – maybe that several years away from the limelight would make him look reasonable compared to the new crop? Whatever it was, it isn’t going to work. Barry is already running ads against Romney and I’ve had him pegged as the 2012 nominee since election day 2008.
Just what I was hoping for – a choice between two slick empty suits (on voting machines that don’t work properly). Yay. There’ll probably be some local ballot initiative that will make me go out and fill in the circles again but I really don’t see much point in national elections anymore since whoever wins will be largely just a figurehead.
Speaking of movies, I just saw that Spielberg is making a bio of Lincoln, starring Daniel Day Lewis. Probably should just hand him the Oscar now and save all the trouble, but I suppose it could go off the rails like Edna.
Want to hear something amazing? The little burg of Dayton WA has a new minister at the Congregational church and she is a lesbian with a partner. There were a few walkouts, but the vast majority stayed and like her, including my cousin who has been going to that church for at least 50 years
Wow, I thought the Congos were pretty hard core and wouldn’t allow that type of thing. But maybe that was just the bible-thumping one I unfortunately attended as a youngster, where I learned that if the weekend were the only time for yardwork, I really ought to mow the lawn on Sat so as not to piss off Jeebus H Weedwhacking (but never on Sunday) Xrist. IIRC, they were an independent church and not affiliated with the national Congos, so maybe they differed from the rest with their strict and literal interpretations of just about everything.
Kudos to your cousin.
I don’t know how it all works, being a heathen and all, but they are affiliated with the United CofC which is pretty progressive. It certainly seems to suit the cuz, who sees her religion as a guide to living her life, not a club to beat other people.
Movies again: Clooney’s ballyhooed Ides of March sucked too. This is leftover shit from the sixties, Allen Drury would have written it better, never mind Gore Vidal. This is some old stale shit. With everybody involved, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Dicaprio and everybody else, we had a right to expect at least a B movie and it barely qualifies. Another point while I’m bitchin, I don’t see why the gay press makes so much of Ryan Gosling. He isn’t hideously malformed or anything, he delivers his lines, but that’s about it.
Hadn’t even heard about that one. The synopsis I just read doesn’t make it sound all that interesting – political thrillers have been done to death but maybe it’s just that I’m so damn cynical about it all at this point. I have become a bigger fan of Clooney in recent years and enjoyed Syriana and Michael Clayton quite a bit. Maybe I’ll try this latest on the day you can rent two and get one free…
And speaking of Michael Clayton, it appears that somebody may have taken a scene from that movie and used it in real life recently. More on that in a new post coming up shortly if I can get it written.