"Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast"
-Oscar Wilde		 Brilliant at Breakfast title banner "The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth, shall be watered also himself."
-- Proverbs 11:25
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"I came here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And I'm all out of bubblegum." -- "Rowdy" Roddy Piper (1954-2015), They Live
Saturday, November 05, 2011

Remember, Remember, the 5th of November...
Posted by jurassicpork | 12:20 PM

...teargas and reason and plot.
I see no reason why teargas, reason
Should ever be forgot...

There's something ironic about a faction, 99% or no, that, while espousing nonviolent resistance at all costs, chooses to impersonate and make relevant again a man who'd plotted to blow up the House of Lords with kegs of gunpowder. But I'll let that percolate in your addled craniums for now.

For now, let's recap the Occupy Wall Street movement and its various and sundry analogs all over the country and at the conclusion I'll let you judge for yourself if this movement is actually going anywhere.

The day before yesterday, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker got mic-checked while he was trying to give a speech in Chicago. The bloated Republican scumbags in attendance, unlike the Elizabeth Warren heckling last week, tried to drown out the Occupy Chicago protesters until even they ran out of hot air and support for Walker.

At Occupy Oakland, Iraq War veteran Scott Olsen was shot in the face with a tear gas canister, suffering possibly permanent brain damage. Just yesterday in the same city, another Iraq War hero was beaten and injured by Oakland police then denied medical attention for hours while suffering agony for a ruptured spleen.

Also at Occupy Oakland, a driver rammed through a crowd of Occupy Oakland protesters, sending two to the emergency room. He was later released by Oakland police without so much as a slap on the wrist as a pat on the head.

Last Saturday, another motorist ran over three people at Occupy DC. The historically worthless and corrupt Washington DC police department didn't cite the driver because he had the green light. Audaciously, one of the injured pedestrians was cited for "blocking a roadway."

Right wingers, some of whom having long since (always unsuccessfully) infiltrated Occupy Wall Street (including Breitbart butt boy Jimmy O'Keefe), will play havoc and seek to discredit the Movement.

Elsewhere, Occupy Philadelphia is showing that Occupy Wall Street could easily metastasize into various Campaign Occupations such as the march on a Romney fundraiser at a ritzy hotel that helps to underscore where the true priorities of politicians lie.


And banks. They want your money and your assets, not you.

Today is merely a focal point, a means, not an end. Today is Guy Fawkes Day in Great Britain and it's also Transfer Day (here's some handy information if you live in any of these states that may facilitate the transfer of your funds out of a Wall Street Bank and into a local community bank or credit union).

This is not a mere fad, if you're paying attention, Wall Street. The Credit Union National Association (CUNA) reports that last month alone 650,000 people joined non-profit credit unions, a greater number than all of 2010. This is an estimate based on 5000 account holders they'd polled but extrapolated or no, the message is alarming if you're a Wall Street bank and the message is one that's obviously been lost on Wall Street: Enough is enough.

And the problem is that Wall Street never has enough. At a time of constant near double digit unemployment, a years-long recession if not outright depression and rampant inflation, Bank of America and others tried to extract a $3-5 monthly fee on debit card usage, a neolithically stupid, self-destructive, Kill-the-Goose-That-Laid-the-Golden-Egg tactic that blew up in their fat, jiggling faces like a giant prank cigar.

And the people are speaking. There is a run on major banks going on even as I write these words. It won't be anything like 1929 but it'll be enough to send a clear message to the banks: You are not too big to fail and we the people have options and they are community-owned banks and credit unions.

But we have to remain vigilant. Starting Monday in bank boardrooms all over Wall Street, executives will be commiserating on what tepid rewards to give whatever account holders they have left. Some will say rescinding minor fees, others might suggest an extra 1% on interest-bearing accounts, the less imaginative will suggest toasters and blenders. But whatever income they'll lose by rescinding debit card fees they still think of as theirs, as lost income, as stolen income, they'll seek to make up in other ways.

And they will think of slimier, less overt ways to get that money back whether it means upping overdraft fees or creating new ones for whatever very few services that are still free. And the worst betrayal we can commit is by getting complacent and sliding back to where are now.
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