Posted Sept. 28, 2011
TACTICS FOR "DEMANDS FOR CONGRESS"
We should make the demands below very publicly at a press conference a few days after arriving in DC. When doing so, we should give a clear deadline of 3 days for a firm written commitment with signatures from at least 60% of members of House and 60% of the members of the Senate to pass these bills by the end of the year. If this commitment on the full slate of demands is not met by midnight on the 3rd day (which it won't be) we should be prepared to non-violently block access to all or part of the Capitol complex the next morning by traditional proven non-violent tactics. The purpose is to bring the leaders of the House and Senate to the negotiating table.
LIST OF PROPOSED "DEMANDS FOR CONGRESS"
CONGRESS PASS HR 1489 ("RETURN TO PRUDENT BANKING ACT"Radical huh? lol
THIS REINSTATES MANY PROVISIONS OF THE GLASS-STEAGALL ACT.
The repeal of provisions of the Glass–Steagall Act of 1933 by the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act in 1999 effectively removed the separation that previously existed between investment banking which issued securities and commercial banks which accepted deposits.
USE CONGRESSIONAL AUTHORITY AND OVERSIGHT TO ENSURE APPROPRIATE FEDERAL AGENCIES FULLY INVESTIGATE AND PROSECUTE THE WALL STREET CRIMINALS who clearly broke the law and helped cause the 2008 financial crisis in the following notable casesRadical, huh? lol
CONGRESS ENACT LEGISLATION TO PROTECT OUR DEMOCRACY BY REVERSING THE EFFECTS OF THE CITIZENS UNITED SUPREME COURT DECISION which essentially said corporations can spend as much as they want on elections.Wow?
CONGRESS PASS THE BUFFETT RULE ON FAIR TAXATION SO THE RICH AND CORPORATIONS PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE & CLOSE CORPORATE TAX LOOP HOLES AND ENACT A PROHIBITION ON HIDING FUNDS OFF SHORE.Big deal.
CONGRESS COMPLETELY REVAMP THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION and staff it at all levels with proven professionals who get the job done protecting the integrity of the marketplace so citizens and investors are both protected.Errr yeah....really socialist.
CONGRESS PASS SPECIFIC AND EFFECTIVE LAWS LIMITING THE INFLUENCE OF LOBBYISTS AND ELIMINATING THE PRACTICE OF LOBBYISTS WRITING LEGISLATION THAT ENDS UP ON THE FLOOR OF CONGRESS.Says the OWS lobby group, which seeks the above demands.....lol
CONGRESS PASSING "Revolving Door Legislation" LEGISLATION ELIMINATING THE ABILITY OF FORMER GOVERNMENT REGULATORS GOING TO WORK FOR CORPORATIONS THAT THEY ONCE REGULATED.Oh wow. Pathetic.
ELIMINATE "PERSONHOOD" LEGAL STATUS FOR CORPORATIONS. The film "The Corporation" has a great section on how corporations won "personhood status".Errr....yeah...whatever.
Real radical socialism, right? Come off it.
7 comments:
Who's saying they are socialist or radical? We Americans are a different breed, mostly stupid and shallow. There are only a few of us who are truly leftier than thou. I don't know much about this movement, but it's interesting to see Obama and Democrats supporting it. This could perhaps be a good thing. As a blind squirrel eventually finds an acorn, perhaps us Yanks will finally at least stop the bleeding. I'm sick of kinder and gentler fascism and inequality. I want some hope for the future. I doubt things will ever heal while I'm still alive, but maybe in 50 years we will be closer to the vision of the Star Trek Federation. I don't know much about that either, but it seemed to be a higher form of humanity than what's going on today. I'm not a number. I'm a human being. Dammit, it's fricken 2011. It's time for things to get better.
Who says they are radical? They do, I think. And so do lots of the media.....and they are kicking up a stink. ATM kicking up a stink is pretty radical, period, no?
Media here keeps saying "anti-capitalist".
I'm just not convinced by that at all.
Though I guess it's a pretty poor state of affairs when such a liberal non-threat to the system carries such an air of 'revolution'.
I don't believe it for a minute - revolution, I mean. But that's what some of the OWS thing is.
Some of it is a bit socialist and egalitarian. And some is simply mild reformism of the present system....to try to make it conform to it's own standards a little better.
If OWS is the new radical....then wow!
I am surprised how cynical I am about it. I was hoping for some argument about it tbh. I'm not finding anything to read about it that says anything much.
Seems to me the left is hopeless at getting its message out. Maybe it doesn't really have a message. Or at least has no confidence in it.
It's nowhere, hence we have OWS? I dunno.
You might be making a very good point. I admit ignorance. Perhaps this is a time will tell kind of thingie.
TLNL: I don't see much discussion either. I've held back from criticizing, hoping against hope this is more than just cool college students and post-grads organizing this as something they can remember nostalgically (and as 'I tried but what can you do?') in twenty years. I don't think they're conscious, though, of how unseriously they're taking a movement that had/has the potential of changing the world. If it does have that potential, it will have to be wrested from the 'consensus decision-making people' among other things. http://pffugeecamp.com/user/fairleft
I suppose it might become something quite powerful. Not that that's necessarily good.
I guess there's an argument too that it's a form of praxis and that consciousness will develop out of the struggle. So maybe my sneering is misplaced.
I just see most everyone jumping on it and applauding, no matter its obvious failings and inability to formulate any clear demands. That to me is its greatest failing and its greatest strength - a refusal to make clear demands. But that means it's a ragtag of various grievances, something anyone with a complaint could join, no matter they couldn't agree on anything beyond platitudes.
The people claiming this is part of some world revolution trouble me the most. For what is this revolution for? And the implication they are speaking for the 99%? What a joke. Haven't they ever seen election results?
I don't understand why they (and everyone else) considers them so radical. IMO they want to shout and complain (and join something) rather than actually change anything much. I fear they are just further debasing the language of dissidence and revolution. I suspect they're the pissed-off middle class. Where were all these people when house prices were doubling?
Don't expect much from fairleft. He thinks you're a smarty-pants. He actually wrote that.
And while his name and style would like to convey the idea he represents the left blogosphere, you'd be amazed at some of the things he's written.
He thinks Richard Nixon was the last liberal U.S. president. He is an admirer of Huey Long. He is anti-immigration. He espouses for big brother cameras in urban areas. He supports the Iranian theocracy and believes the recent uprising in Iran as CIA sponsored. The last bit might have some truth, if one considers what was uncovered with the Al Giordano-Narco News stuff. But to support the Iranian theocracy is nuts.
There's probably much more he has written that shows his right wing tendencies. After a while, I simply turn off individual bloggers who possess too many internal inconsistencies. I tune them out. Like with Larry. I have had him on ignore for a very long time.
Oh, I am just shocked and delighted to have anyone read and/or comment.
I don't know that I expect anything from fairleft. Beyond some comments at yours, and some pffugee camp (?) stuff, I know nothing.
On this OWS thing, I guess I'd like to be persuaded that it has some real value, beyond the thing of "it's good that peeps are protesting".
The Guardian commentariat seems pretty divided, which seems a good thing to me. Kind of. lol. There seems a bit of leftwing scorn for it there, which I found quite satisfying. ha. Quite what they're doing occupying (and closing) St Paul's cathedral is unknown, and becoming a bit silly.
If I was local I think I'd go round the camp asking people their voting history. I wonder where they've been before.
The BBC spent an entire night broadcasting from there, which I found a bit odd. It also seems a bit lame when the Euro is facing collapse......
Christ....I dunno. Heeeellllp! ;)
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