Our #1 story talks about how the MSM is not only covering the OWS story, but they are part of it. In the meantime, the New Republic warns liberals not to jump too quickly into praising and supporting the OWS movement. It could represent a trap for actual liberals. Our third article tells us in a new poll finds only 1 in 3 people blame Wall Street for the economic mess and 56% blame the government. We then go into a number of videos. Story 4 gives you a musical economics education. Article 5 is a series of interesting interviews with Occupy LA protesters and article 6 has two musical videos with songs from early in the Obama Presidency. See which one seems more accurate today. Story 7 has two videos contrasting the protesters with those that serve and the final story is a new scandal that is rising up in the Obama Administration. It seems the powers that be aren’t crazy about Freedom of Information Laws.
1. MSM colluding with Occupy Movement
A LEAK OF EMAILS REVEALS THAT MEDIA FIGURES HAVE BEEN WORKING ACTIVELY WITH OCCUPY ACTIVISTS. This should surprise exactly no one, but documentary proof that media figures conspire with the left is always valuable in convincing the fair-minded members of the public that the mainstream media are corrupt and not to be trusted….
... the Occupy Washington DC movement is working with well-known media members to craft its demands and messaging while these media members report on the movement. (snip) Journolist 2.0 includes well known names such as MSNBC'S DYLAN RATIGAN, ROLLING STONE'S MATT TIABBI WHO BOTH ARE ACTIVELY PARTICIPATING; INVOLVEMENT FROM OTHER LISTERS SUCH AS BILL MOYERS AND GLENN GREENWALD PLUS WELL-KNOWN RADICALS LIKE NOAM CHOMSKY, remains unclear. The list also includes a number of Occupy organizers, such as one of the Occupy Wall Street main organizers Kevin Zeese.
In these emails we see MSNBC's RATIGAN, HAWKING HIS BOOK IN THE FOOTNOTES, INSTRUCTING OCCUPIERS ON HOW PROPERLY TO PRESENT THEIR DEMANDS AND MESSAGES WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY APPEARING ON TELEVISION REPORTING "OBJECTIVELY" on the story (when he's not taking part in the protests himself as content.)
That's a nice touch, combining self-interest of the capitalist profiteer variety, with left wing activism.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/10/journolist_20_leaked_emails_reveal_occupy_activists_collaborating_with_media.html
Nothing to be really be surprised at, but I do remember when you couldn’t tell a newsman’s politics as they reported who, what, where, why and when without an editorial.
2. The New Republic warns Liberals about OWS
…ONE OF THE CORE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN LIBERALS AND RADICALS IS THAT LIBERALS ARE CAPITALISTS. They believe in a capitalism that is democratically regulated—that seeks to level an unfair economic playing field so that all citizens have the freedom to make what they want of their lives. But these are not the principles we are hearing from the protesters. Instead, WE ARE HEARING CALLS FOR THE UPENDING OF CAPITALISM ENTIRELY….
…And it is just not the protesters’ apparent allergy to capitalism and suspicion of normal democratic politics that should raise concerns. IT IS ALSO THEIR TEMPERAMENT. The protests have made a big deal of the fact that they arrive at their decisions through a deliberative process. But ALL THEIR TALK OF “GENERAL ASSEMBLIES” AND “COMMUNIQUÉS” AND “CONSENSUS” HAS AN AIR OF GROUP-THINK ABOUT IT THAT IS, OR SHOULD BE, TROUBLING TO LIBERALS….
…The air of group-think is only heightened by a technique called the “HUMAN MICROPHONE” that has become something of a signature for the protesters. When someone speaks, he or she pauses every few words and the crowd repeats what the person has just said in unison. THE IDEA WAS APPARENTLY LOGISTICAL—TO PROJECT SPEECHES ACROSS A WIDE AREA—BUT THE EFFECT WHEN CAPTURED ON VIDEO IS GENUINELY CREEPY….
…In the face of the current challenge from Tea Party conservatism, it is more important than ever that liberals make a compelling case for our vision of America. But WE WILL NOT MAKE THIS CASE STRONGER BY ALLYING WITH A MOVEMENT THAT IS OUT OF SYNC WITH OUR VALUES. And so, on the question of how liberals should feel about Occupy Wall Street, count us as deeply skeptical.
http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/magazine/96062/occupy-wall-street-zizek-lewis?passthru=NWJhNDIyNzAzNmU5MWExYzI1ZmM0ZGU0MDJiZTU2MTk&utm_source=Editors+and+Bloggers&utm_campaign=4e29fdf4cc-Edit_and_Blogs&utm_medium=email
This actually makes me more hopeful for the left. My experience is that many on the left are socialists and anti-liberty in their beliefs. The New Republic’s stance appears to be a wise warning for Democratic politicians.
3. Poll: Most Blame Washington, not Wall Street
…The Hill poll found that ONLY ONE IN THREE LIKELY VOTERS BLAMES WALL STREET FOR THE COUNTRY’S FINANCIAL TROUBLES, WHEREAS MORE THAN HALF — 56 PERCENT — BLAME WASHINGTON.
Moreover, when it comes to the political consequences of the protest, voters tend to believe that THERE ARE MORE PERILS THAN POSITIVES FOR OBAMA AND THE DEMOCRATS.
A plurality believe that the Occupy Wall Street movement will hurt Democrats and Obama in the 2012 election. EVEN THOSE WHOSE SYMPATHIES LIE ON THE LEFT OF CENTER SEEM UNSURE ABOUT THE LIKELY POLITICAL REPERCUSSIONS. JUST HALF OF ALL LIBERAL LIKELY VOTERS — THE GROUP MOST LIKELY TO BLAME WALL STREET FOR THE RECESSION — AND FEWER THAN HALF OF ALL DEMOCRATS BELIEVE THE PROTESTS WILL HELP THEIR SIDE NEXT YEAR….
http://thehill.com/polls/187837-the-hill-poll-voters-say-dc-worse-than-wall-street
Things are not looking good for the Democrats. 2012 will not be their year.
4. Economics for beginners
Dorian Electra has produced another great video about Keynesian vs. Austrian economics called “MY DATE WITH KEYNES.” I particularly appreciate the way Frederic Bastiat crashed that date.
Watch the video. It has some simple truths laid out in a way that is entertaining.
5. It’s Not the Individual, It’s the Collective
OWS video from Occupy LA.
This is an interesting video. It’s a series of interviews with Occupy LA protesters which is definitely worth watching.
6. Two musical videos about Obama
http://legalinsurrection.com/2011/10/those-were-the-days-my-friend-2/
http://viralfootage.com/?p=1797
Both were created just after Obama was elected or after the stimulus was passed. Which one seems more accurate today in light of the past 3 years?
7. Two Different Kind of Idealists—Who do you Support?
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/280349/two-kinds-young-idealists-david-french
This isn’t really fair, but the contrast is striking. The left certainly has gone out of their way to support the first one.
8. Obama Scandal Update: Holdren’s illegal eMail Accounts for Official Business
…CEI has learned OF A UN PLAN RECENTLY PUT IN PLACE TO HIDE OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE ON NON-GOVERNMENTAL ACCOUNTS, WHICH CORRESPONDENCE A FEDERAL INSPECTOR GENERAL HAS ALREADY CONFIRMED ARE SUBJECT TO FOIA. This ‘cloud’ serves as a dead-drop of sorts for discussions by U.S. government employees over the next report being produced by the scandal-plagued IPCC, which is funded with millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars.
As our FOIA request details, the UN informed participants that it was motivated by embarrassing releases of earlier discussions (“ClimateGate” key among them), and to circumvent the problem that national government transparency laws were posing the group.
CEI reminds OSTP that this practice was described as “creat[ing] non-governmental accounts for official business”, “USING THE NONGOVERNMENTAL ACCOUNTS SPECIFICALLY TO AVOID CREATING A RECORD OF THE COMMUNICATIONS”, in a recent analogous situation involving lobbyist Jack Abramoff. CEI expects similar congressional and media outrage at THIS SIMILAR PRACTICE TO EVADE THE APPLICABLE RECORD-KEEPING LAWS.
This effort has apparently been CONDUCTED WITH PARTICIPATION — THEREBY DIRECT ASSISTANCE AND ENABLING — BY THE OBAMA WHITE HOUSE which, shortly after taking office, seized for Holdren’s office the lead role on IPCC work from the Department of Commerce. THE PLAN TO SECRETLY CREATE A FOIA-FREE ZONE WAS THEN IMPLEMENTED.
This represents politically assisting the IPCC to enable UN, EU and U.S. bureaucrats and political appointees avoid official email channels for specific official work of high public interest, performed on official time and using government computers, away from the prying eyes of increasingly skeptical taxpayers….
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/10/17/breaking-an-ipcc-backchannel-cloud-was-apparently-established-to-hide-ipcc-deliberations-from-foia/
Obama has come a long way FROM being the most open administration in history. In fact, the more we learn, the more we realize how laughable that characterization is.
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