Incredible Video: University chancellor in silent 'walk of shame' after pepper spraying
The Raw Story
Posted November 21, 2011
Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi of the University of California-Davis has come under heavy criticism and calls for her resignation following her support of the use of pepper spray by campus police on unresisting demonstrators.

On Saturday, students and supporters surrounded the building where she was holding a press conference, and Katehi simply refused to leave for several hours.

She finally emerged after the students sat down with linked arms and watched in complete silence as she walked between their ranks.
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Open Letter to Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi
Bicycle Barricade.com
Posted November 21, 2011
Today you ordered police onto our campus to clear student protesters from the quad. These were protesters who participated in a rally speaking out against tuition increases and police brutality on UC campuses on Tuesday—a rally that I organized, and which was endorsed by the Davis Faculty Association. These students attended that rally in response to a call for solidarity from students and faculty who were bludgeoned with batons, hospitalized, and arrested at UC Berkeley last week. In the highest tradition of non-violent civil disobedience, those protesters had linked arms and held their ground in defense of tents they set up beside Sproul Hall. In a gesture of solidarity with those students and faculty, and in solidarity with the national Occupy movement, students at UC Davis set up tents on the main quad. When you ordered police outfitted with riot helmets, brandishing batons and teargas guns to remove their tents today, those students sat down on the ground in a circle and linked arms to protect them.

What happened next?

Without any provocation whatsoever, other than the bodies of these students sitting where they were on the ground, with their arms linked, police pepper-sprayed students. Students remained on the ground, now writhing in pain, with their arms linked.

What happened next?

Police used batons to try to push the students apart. Those they could separate, they arrested, kneeling on their bodies and pushing their heads into the ground. Those they could not separate, they pepper-sprayed directly in the face, holding these students as they did so. When students covered their eyes with their clothing, police forced open their mouths and pepper-sprayed down their throats. Several of these students were hospitalized. Others are seriously injured. One of them, forty-five minutes after being pepper-sprayed down his throat, was still coughing up blood.

This is what happened. You are responsible for it.
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Ret. police captain: To be arrested in solidarity 'was the proudest moment of my life'
The Raw Story
Posted November 21, 2011
Retired Philadelphia police captain Ray Lewis, who was arrested last week alongside others in the Occupy movement, calls the ordeal “the proudest moment of my life.”

“I saw all of you sleeping out here,” Lewis recalled to a videographer in New York City’s Zuccotti Park. “The cause, you were for justice. It’s not like you guys were putting up with this so you could get jobs on Wall Street. You were doing this for justice. All over the world, in fact. And that inspired me. I had to come down here an join you.”

“That day, I had no intention of being arrested. None whatsoever. But when I saw a lot of you sitting down and being drug off, I’m saying, they’re losing their freedom for justice, for other people. And that inspired me again to be arrested.”

Lewis added: “I’m going to tell you a very important thing here. I’ve had a lot of proud moments in my life, a lot of proud moments in my career. But when I had those handcuffs on and was being marched over there with the other protesters in solidarity, that was the proudest moment of my life.”
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'A Teamsters semi is back on the square!!!' in WI
Teamster Nation
Posted November 21, 2011
An estimated 30,000 -- or maybe 60,000? -- Wisconsinites return to the streets of Madison today to kick off the "Recall Walker" campaign.

Tweeters were excited to see a Teamsters semi back on Capitol Square. Back during the spring protests, Joint Council 39's semi was parked on the square for weeks. peerless blogger blue cheddar told us how good it was to see such a big, bold, proud union symbol.

@legaleagle tweeted:

A Teamsters semi is back on the square!!! 

Today, Joint Council 39 is running a can drive in conjunction with the rally ("Can Scott Walker" -- get it?). People are signing petitions to recall both Koch whore Gov. Scott Walker and his lieutenant governor, Rebecca Kleefisch.
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"More than 40,000″ rally for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker recall at the Capitol; no arrests.
The Policial Carnival
Posted November 21, 2011

Via The Wisconsin State Journal:

Tens of thousands gathered at the Capitol Saturday in support of the ongoing effort to recall Gov. Scott Walker, the largest such rally since the historic month-long protests over collective bargaining ended in March. 

Department of Administration officials estimate that 25,000 to 30,000 people filled the square, marching through the cold drizzle holding signs and chanting every possible derivation of “Recall Walker.” [...]

Walker’s opponents need to collect 540,208 valid signatures by Jan. 17 to trigger an election.

Need more good news? In less than a week, organizers of the effort to recall Gov. Scott Walker say they have collected more than 100,000 signatures.
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Newt Gingrich On Occupy Wall Street: Protesters Should 'Get A Job' And 'Take A Bath' (VIDEO)
Huffington Post
Posted November 21, 2011
Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich mocked the Occupy Wall Street protesters on Saturday, saying they need to "get a job" and "take a bath."

"All the Occupy movement starts with the premise that we all owe them everything," Gingrich said at the Thanksgiving Family Forum in Iowa, as noted by Igor Volsky at ThinkProgress. "They take over a public park they didn't pay for, to go nearby to use bathrooms they didn't pay for, to beg for food from places they don't want to pay for, to obstruct those who are going to work to pay the taxes to sustain the bathrooms and to sustain the park, so they can self-righteously explain they are the paragons of virtue to which we owe everything."

"That is a pretty good symptom of how much the left has collapsed as a moral system in this country, and why you need to reassert something by saying to them, 'Go get a job right after you take a bath,'" continued Gingrich, to loud applause from the audience.
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VIDEO: Rep. Joe Walsh Calls Veterans Protesting Wall Street Un-American
Think Progress
Posted November 21, 2011
At a November 19 town hall meeting in Gurnee, Illinois, Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) smeared Occupy Wall Street protesters as “generally spoiled, pampered, unfocused, clueless young people and a smattering of other people who don’t understand this country and are advocating anti-American solutions.”  When asked by a subsequent questioner if his attack applied to “veterans who fought in foreign wars” who are part of the 99 Percent Movement, Walsh replied that they were advocating “socialist solutions” and that “they don’t understand this country.”  Walsh later admitted that he’d never actually been to any of the protests.
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#OccupyUCDavis: Police in Riot Gear Use Chemical Agent on Students
Crooks and Liars
Posted November 21, 2011
A video of police in riot gear pepper spraying demonstrators is spreading after 10 Occupy protesters were arrested on the University of California, Davis campus Friday, Sacramento NBC station KCRA reported.
The demonstrators were protesting the dismantling of the "Occupy UC Davis" encampment that was set up in the school's quad area.

"Police came and brutalized them and tore their tents down and all that stuff. It was really scary. It felt like there was anarchy everywhere," said student Hisham Alihbob.

Police told Sacramento's KTXL TV station that the students were given until 3 p.m. Friday to remove their tents from the campus. When students refused, police arrived at the given time. Students sat down cross-legged and locked arms when cops showed up and the pepper spraying began.

Students chanted at the officers, "Shame on you, shame on you!" KTXL said.

UC Davis officials said the group is allowed to occupy the quad for as long as they want, but cannot camp, KCRA reported.
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CLGC Lobbying Firm's Memo Spells Out Plan to Undermine #OWS: Chris Hayes
Crooks and Liars
Posted November 21, 2011
A well-known Washington lobbying firm with links to the financial industry has proposed an $850,000 plan to take on Occupy Wall Street and politicians who might express sympathy for the protests, according to a memo obtained by the MSNBC program “Up w/ Chris Hayes.”

The proposal was written on the letterhead of the lobbying firm Clark Lytle Geduldig & Cranford and addressed to one of CLGC’s clients, the American Bankers Association.

CLGC’s memo proposes that the ABA pay CLGC $850,000 to conduct “opposition research” on Occupy Wall Street in order to construct “negative narratives” about the protests and allied politicians. The memo also asserts that Democratic victories in 2012 would be detrimental for Wall Street and targets specific races in which it says Wall Street would benefit by electing Republicans instead.

According to the memo, if Democrats embrace OWS, “This would mean more than just short-term political discomfort for Wall Street. … It has the potential to have very long-lasting political, policy and financial impacts on the companies in the center of the bullseye.”

The memo also suggests that Democratic victories in 2012 should not be the ABA’s biggest concern. “… (T)he bigger concern,” the memo says, “should be that Republicans will no longer defend Wall Street companies.”

Two of the memo’s authors, partners Sam Geduldig and Jay Cranford, previously worked for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. Geduldig joined CLGC before Boehner became speaker; Cranford joined CLGC this year after serving as the speaker’s assistant for policy. A third partner, Steve Clark, is reportedly “tight” with Boehner, according to a story by Roll Call that CLGC features on its website.
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The Last Big City with an Occupy Camp: What's Los Angeles to Do?
Time
Posted November 21, 2011
After police raids swept the country from Zuccotti Park in New York City to City Hall in Oakland, California, Occupy protesters are being forced to evolve to keep their movement alive. The Oakland protester, for example, have migrated to neighboring encampments, while others contemplate turning indoors as winter draws near. However, many protesters don't want to lose their biggest emblem, the urban encampment. So, Occupy Los Angeles has become a success story of sorts. Unlike most cities, L.A.'s encampment on the lawn outside City Hall is still standing. Occupiers here have even received handshakes and an official resolution of support from the city council. Even as other urban centers crack down on their local Occupations, Los Angeles says proudly that there have been no "serious incidents" between authorities and protesters.

Still, L.A.'s Occupiers are growing concerned that their movement won't last forever — at least not in its current form. The mayor's office said this week that city was in dialogue with the movement and that the campers will not be able to remain on city property indefinitely. "In the last few days, there have been some shifts," says Lisa Clapier, a member of the movement's media team. "We have heard rumors about them wanting to move us." That means considering new ways of getting their message out. "The civil rights movement took 10 years," says protester Chase Golding, 26, who had a facemask on his forehead. "So for us, 47 days isn't going to cut it." What's becoming clear is that Occupiers believe they have to become more creative and more provocative.
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No Longer Laughing, but Still Clueless
In These Times
Posted November 21, 2011
Occupy Wall Street stumped the media from the beginning. Here was a movement that didn’t support either political party. Unlike the Tea Party, it was not backed by a giant corporate overlord. It did not have traditional leadership.

From its inception, OWS has existed outside traditional beltway games, and so the establishment media, which is generally only comfortable covering a story in “horse-race” terms, didn’t understand it. Are the protesters supporting Obama? No. Who is the leader? We have no leader.

The New York Times has rightfully become the archetype for how not to cover a social upheaval of this magnitude. From Ginia Bellafante’s opening salvo when she called the craziest woman she could find at OWS a “default ambassador” of the movement to Andrew Ross Sorkin’s confession that he only visited the protest at the behest of a “major bank” CEO, the Times repeatedly revealed itself to be irrelevant, out-of-touch and all-too-cozy in its role as sycophant to the rich and powerful.
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Solis Highlights Plight of Vulnerable, Underpaid Workers
AFL-CIO Now Blog
Posted November 21, 2011
With a new webcast series, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis is shining a spotlight on the plight of the nation’s most vulnerable workers. This month’s edition focused on perils faced by women who work in restaurants, where the pay for most is low and benefits nonexistent. Addressing the webcast panel discussion, Solis said:

[R]estaurant jobs provide poverty wages and little access to benefits, such as paid leave when a parent or their child gets sick. And because the majority of restaurant workers are women, the pay gap issue that affects all of us, affects them even more adversely. The gender pay gap for female restaurant workers is 86 cents on the dollar compared to male restaurant workers.

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Occupy Atlanta mic checks Home Depot for union busting
Teamster Nation
Posted November 21, 2011
An Atlanta Home Depot got occupied on Thursday, the International Day of Action, by 75 protesters including Teamsters from Local 728, Jobs with Justice and Occupy Atlanta. They came to protest Home Depot for attacking workers' rights. "We stand with the rights of workers, not their millionaire bosses," they shouted in unison.

Home Depot contracts with Republic Waste, a Teamsters employer that's trying to cut workers' health benefits.

Three television cameras waited outside just before the scheduled mic check. Though the police knew the Occupiers were coming, there wasn't much they could do as they arrived at Home Depot separately. Protesters placed fliers that said "Home Depot, Stop the Hate," among the products. They then converged to "mic check" the store. (Here's the Daily Dot with an explainer of "mic check.
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Michele Bachmann: Get Rid of the Earned Income Tax Credit, Food Stamps, Public Housing
Crooks and Liars
Posted November 21, 2011
During her recent interview with the Des Moines Register editorial board, Michele Bachmann's statements about torture and waterboarding were not the only outrageous statements the GOP presidential candidate made. She also decided to double down on her recent debate performance, where she said we should "Be more like China, and end "Great Society" programs. During this interview, Bachmann came straight out and advocated eliminating the earned income tax credit, food stamps and public housing.

Naturally during this same interview she was advocating lowering the corporate tax rates and for an extremely unfair and regressive flat tax, because heaven forbid we can't have those lazy poor people out there not paying their fair share in taxes.
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Anger Sowing Seeds of a New Consumer Movement
In These Times
Posted November 21, 2011
As we all know, America is angry. Really angry. To put it in pop culture terms, we’ve moved from the vaguely inspiring agita of Peter Finch in Network to the wild-eyed, primal-scream rage of Sam Kinison in Back to School.

When we pay attention to politics, we get peeved at Congress and the presidential candidates. When we tune into sports, we’re annoyed with squabbling players and owners. When we turn on the news, we fume at the smug pundits. And when it comes to the economy, we’re in a tizzy at big corporations.

Most of this indignation is nothing new; it is atavistic fury expressed in the modern vernacular. Yet, one strand of our anger—the kind directed at big business—may be truly novel, as our chagrin is no longer just that ancient animosity toward excessive corporate power. Instead, it has also become a personal disdain toward firms we deal with on a daily basis. This is the key finding of the latest report from the Center for Services Leadership at Arizona State University. Its findings show that after years of rising anger, consumer rage has reached an all-time high.
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Genius! Occupy Cal gets around rules outlawing tents
Daily Kos
Posted November 21, 2011
Forbidden from pitching tents on Sproul Plaza, and facing an extreme response from the campus police response for even trying, Occupy Cal uses balloons to float tents above the plaza:

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