Archive for October, 2011
by lizard The Indy came out with it’s endorsements for city council last week, and apparently there is reason for concern: The way we’re reading the wind, the conservative bloc should expect to lose two seats. Meanwhile, a Copple victory would give progressives unprecedented control of city government. For some, that’s an exciting prospect. But [...]
by lizard Before I took my little 7 day break, someone speculated how I would spin Obama’s announcement that combat troops were leaving Iraq, and would be gone by the end of this year (Bush’s timeline). I think maybe this person was making the still-common mistake of believing the words being delivered from our president’s [...]
by lizard (above painting, titled World’s Tallest Disaster, by Roger Brown) Cate Marvin is a poet to keep your eye on. The poem for this weekend’s edition of LWPS is the last poem from her first book of poems, World’s Tallest Disaster. Get to know her a bit in this interview with Kathleen Rooney. * [...]
by jhwygirl Some good news from out near Hood River. Yesterday the Condit dam was breeched by PacifiCorp, freeing the river for the famous Pacific Northwest steelhead and chinook fisheries. There’s some pretty dramatic footage of the breech to be found around the innertubes – I’ll offer this video from The Oregonian: Pretty impressive, huh? [...]
By CFS People will do anything to claw their way to the top, and anything to stay there.
by jhwygirl OccupyHelena is calling for an Occupy Our Capitol for Saturday…and they’ve got a full agenda, starting at noon in Hill Park. Highlighting the day is a soapboxing event at 2:30 on the steps of the capitol…and then later at 5 p.m. there’s a soup & bread supper and General Assembly. If you’re looking [...]
by jhwygirl Tell me, honestly, how many of you were surprised to read that two star Griz players, quarterback Gerald Kemp and cornerback Trumaine Johnson, had scuffled with police, resulting in their arrest in the early Sunday morning hours after their game at Northern Arizona University? I’m kinda shocked it’s just the second incident to [...]
By JC I received the follwoing note from Forward Montana in my inbox today: There are two days left until election day. You may be asking, “isn’t election day on November 8th?” You’re half right. While that is the day that votes will be counted up it’s not when the vast majority of Missoulians will [...]
by jhwygirl What Dave Budge says. He’s right – it’s a 12-step program.
by lizard When problembear recently signed off, I didn’t say anything. I knew why, but I didn’t want to admit it. I think it was the phrase my passion has been supplanted by anger that really jumped out at me. Good luck on the writing, Bill. I’m thinking the same thing. And then there’s this: [...]
by lizard The US empire is a fickle friend indeed. With news of Gaddafi’s death this morning, I could only shake my head, reading the celebratory tweets and examining the grizzly death-porn on my twitter-feed. How many people recall how, just two years ago, US politicians like John McCain were giving this alleged monster accolades: [...]
By JC My previous post got me to thinking about a better way to visualize how corporations have inserted themselves into America as a 4th power. I hope the diagram below might better illustrate what I’m trying to get across. Click on the graphic to get a full sized pdf version to print out if [...]
By JC It was only a matter of time till people started coming to the same conclusion that many of us have made recently, that there may be more overlap between the tea party and OccupyWallStreet than is readily apparent. James Sinclair over at howconservativesdrovemeaway draws an interesting comparison of the two movements: We should [...]
by lizard The midterm elections of 2006 saw strong national Democratic gains in Congress due in large part to their opportunistic co-optation of the anti-war sentiment against Bush’s preemptive war doctrine. People like me voted for politicians like Jon Tester based on the stated intentions of politicians like Nancy Pelosi, that giving them congressional control [...]
by lizard One of the concerns I’ve had since OWS first kicked off was whether or not those involved on the ground were going to be able to keep it non-violent. So far, the only significant violence has come from the police state response, which is sadly expected these days. Unprovoked macing of unarmed women [...]
by jhwygirl This post has been updated Mainstream media is reporting that #occupywallstreet is calling for a Global Day of Protest tomorrow (Saturday), with over 800 cities participating. OccupyHelena get’s the nod here as Saturday is their first General Assembly (GA). Hill Park, time apparently unspecified. I found this link (warning: facebook link) on twitter. [...]
by lizard The twin pillars of modern poetry—T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound—cannot fulfill the role poetry now must play in our current struggles. The Waste Land and The Cantos echo back to us notes of isolation and archaic knowledge far removed from the spinning crust we occupy. Navel-gazing confessionals need no longer dribble from the [...]
by jhwygirl This is rich, all things considered. Here in Montana we’ve got two Canadian companies working on condemnation of private property (via the gift of Governor Schweitzer and this past legislative session’s HB198) for their Canadian-incorporated tar sands pipeline and the MATL transmission lines. And in New York City there’s Canadian company Brookfield Properties, [...]
by jhwygirl A private park, right? Is it the NYPD planning on coming in to remove the protesters? Is it their job to enforce trespassing? And are the trespassers really trespassing on a public space that has been open without discrimination to people of the public? In other words – Does the public have a [...]
By JC So Jon Tester has moved to the right of Max Baucus. Now just why is he running unopposed as a “Democrat?” Primary, anyone? From the Billings Gazette …Tester has been saying in recent interviews that he doesn’t like the president’s approach to jump-starting the economy. He called the tax breaks “gimmicks” that “do [...]
by jhwygirl I haven’t seen this – nor have I been able to find anything – in any newspaper in the state (if I’ve missed it, please let me know) – but apparently former leader of the neo-Nazi Aryan Nation group Karl Gharst has sent the Montana Human Rights Network (MHRN) a letter saying that [...]
by problembear nothing seems quite as evil as the legacy of the catholic church in supporting, aiding and abetting child molesters. this letter addresses the issue quite well i believe ….. http://drnickmazza.wordpress.com/2011/10/08/good-people-address-catholic-bishop/ UPDATE the above link was taken down by the blog owner … here’s the explanation … http://drnickmazza.wordpress.com/2011/10/11/removed-bishops-letter-posting-from-forum/
by lizard Here is the lead-in from today’s Missoulian piece on the occupation of Missoula: “The rhetoric was rough but the action was mostly peaceful as about 300 Missoulians launched a local version of the Occupy Wall Street protests on Saturday.” (my emphasis added) Mostly peaceful? Really? Why just mostly? What “actions” occurred to not [...]
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“To Petition the Government for a Redress of Grievances”
October 15, 2011 in #OccupyWallStreet, Congress, Constitutional Convention, Corporate Personhood, Corporatism, Crony Capitalism, Editorial Commentary, OccupyMissoula, U.S. Constitution
By JC (This is but the opinion of one Occupier in Solidarity, and not the consensus of OccupyMissoula) Many people do not understand what the Occupy movement is all about, and preconceptions and prejudices abound. I have spent most of the last two weeks working to understand this movement and help organize OccupyMissoula. I’m not [...]