Comments
Please wait...
Comments are closed.
Commenting on this item is available only to members of the site. You can sign in here or create an account here.
Editors' Picks
is a proud member of the
media network
media network
All contents © Index Newspapers LLC
PO Box 86208, Portland, OR 97286
PO Box 86208, Portland, OR 97286
Does this explain the police actions?
You think a drum circle is annoying? Guess what buddy, you don't understand the impact of PSU's Thanksgiving Break. Tomorrow PPB is the identified enemy - not Wall Street.
I'm sure you gonna do alot of change for the 99% fighting cops.
Why do you take the side of people who will never be on YOUR side?
If you weren't born rich, you'll never be rich. Face it, frankie, you're out in the cold like the rest of us are.\
Stop enabling your economic abusers.
It's hard work to be an economist, a lawyer or an accountant. But it's easy to grab some numbers off a web site, force the police into a situation where they must dress up in armor and use weapons against "peaceful protesters", then *bombard* the social media airwaves with pictures of octogenarians getting pepper-sprayed. It's hard to win elected office, but it's easy to shout down a Mayor who's been damn good for this city in a time of economic challenges.
This city was *working* - we were slowly digging our way out of an economic hole. Small tech businesses are flourishing in incubators and getting funded. Mayor Adams played a key role in that. I've met him numerous times. Portland has one of the best public transit systems in the world. It is one of the best cities in the world for pedestrians and cyclists. Beautiful parks, a 24x7 classical radio station, great food and beer - you know the story.
I am now afraid to go downtown. The random "peaceful, nonviolent" motions of large crowds disrupts traffic, over a month of camping trashed two beautiful parks and our world-class transit system can be disrupted by people exercising their Constitutional right to peaceably assemble and speak. I don't feel safe downtown. What did Portland do to deserve this invasive meme?
His response, "You guys want to be arrested and we are NOT going to accommodate you."
My response, "Wait - so you are beating us with batons because we are NOT resisting arrest?!"
There was no response.
I spoke with another officer, who told me that such police behavior should be reported to 503-823-3333, which is the Citizen's Review Board (if I recall correctly, that is the name).
Video from inside the bank of this 'peaceful protest' looked very intimidating - and with a mob roaming the streets, I'd say Police in riot gear was called for.
Unfortunetly.
Tea Baggers affected change influencing elections and, yes, the narrative of debate. At least those idiots managed to do it without costing the taxpayers so much money too.
I am 44, a grad student at Marylhurst, a Portlander for 10 years. I voted for Sam. I supported him during the witch-hunt. Whatever his future ambitions, he has lost my support. Now I hear Reese has mayoral ambitions. It is to laugh.
I say, what then? How is the protest helping to solve any of the problem with the banks, the economy, the financial sector, etc.?
We all have had enough of groups of people who are not acting in responsible ways; who are not accountable for their actions. Unfortunately, the very qualities that brought the protests are now being exhibited by them How easy it is to sink into the same morass against which they push.What if the protesters used their time and presence down there to voluntarily clean up the mess THEY made and are continuing to make. News flash.. The world does not owe any of them a living.
They are not the only ones that are having a difficult time these days. If they want to make a difference, then maybe it can start with becoming part of the solution... not adding to the stress. The police are NOT the problem. They have a job to do. They did not sign up specifically to deal with thousands of protesters over this last 6 weeks or so.
What do you want? What would it take for you to stop the protest? Really? What would it look like? I don't see any corporate CEOs looking to sit down with any of the OWS people to discuss solutions. Banks may have felt a bit of the sting when hundreds of thousands of people moved their money. But besides that? I'm sincerely asking. I have yet to hear much beyond the anger. Are we in trouble as a nation? Of course! Where will it end? I really don't know... I just suspect that what is happening down town is becoming a product of the Law of Diminishing Returns.. The more either side pushes, the less effective it will be, unfortunately, going forward.
When you play with fire, sooner or later, you either got to turn off the heat or somebody's gonna get burned - and get burned badly! Just my two cents.
Settlements for Pepper Spray without the 9th District warning are running about $200K each.
Get the police some more training and next contract they have to start sharing the risk from these lawsuits.
Expect to see the police ponies cut from the next budget.
Settlements for Pepper Spray without the 9th District warning are running about $200K each.
Get the police some more training and next contract they have to start sharing the risk from these lawsuits.
Expect to see the police ponies cut from the next budget.
Or, you can get in the way of people trying to contribute to society in a positive way.
Ohhh, I get it, it's a protest against the banks, now you are occupying actual targets that are in line with the message.... bah-bah-bah, that's, gasp!, illegal civil disobedience! That's never, gasp, worked or anything in the past before.... Why can't you guys just mindlessly obey authority like the rest of us and quit scaring our children!
Oh, and Tom da sizzle bomb, you're wrong. The banks have *everything* to do with housing prices. It was their fevered trading in derivatives, collateralized debt obligations and credit default swaps, not to mention their willingness to loan enormous amounts of money to people they very well knew wouldn't be able to pay it back, that created the housing bubble, and the resulting crash, in the first place. Personal responsibility is all well and good, but it doesn't mean shit in the face of institutionalized grift. Grow up, dude.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTuFWZFW-Gs&sns=em
"The only way to reduce the power of lobbyists is to reduce the power of government. That choice rests with the voters. If voters keep electing Democrats and Republicans, then the power of government and lobbyists will continue to grow."
http://www.lp.org/news/press-releases/lobb…
I also don;t understand why the cops kept yelling at people to stay on the sidewalk while pushing them into the street. Very confusing. The only ones blocking traffic were the police.
The difference between than and now is people weren't trying to close down private businesses via trespassing during the first march. Granted, the vast majority of people on the streets weren't participating in trying to disrupt business, but it's not really possible for the polic to segment out there tactics. It's somewhat of misnomer to call sit ins "peaceful" as they are predicated on the assumption of assured conflict (as in, if someone is in your house and refuses to leave, would you really call that person a "peaceful" guest?).
Provocateurs among both the protesters and police color both sides negatively.
Huge kudos to the Merc, specifically Denis and Sarah, for their work covering this protest. I've thought at times that the Merc coverage had trended toward PR for Occupy, but in this instance, you've got my sincerest respect. Excellent story telling (even the parts i don't necessarily agree with) under very dangerous circumstances.
Judging by the comments, it's badly needed too - there are evidently still people who have no fucking clue what is actually going on down there and are still watching the teevee noooze. No faster way to get the wrong impression than watching a panoramic salad shot of people doing nothing but singing over a narrative like, 'AND THE TENSIONS ARE RISING HERE IN DOWNTOWN PORTLAND' to give frightened, middle-class people in the 'burbs the absolute wrong impression of what's happening on the ground.
If you're the sort of person who has a job downtown (lucky!) and more importantly, you drive your own car (as in, it's not chauffeured for you), then that's your clue that you're also the 99%. The policies in place have hurt you a little less because you've been insulated by some class of privilege, and being white and male are two of the obvious ones. But make no mistake, your benefits are disappearing just as quietly as the 1% can manage it. You stand at the edge of a sand cliff, do you realize this? And while you bark at the people below who fell before you, about how your hard work got you this fine real estate - the wealthy are still digging. The last shovel-full those robber barons take from underneath will send you tumbling down to join the people you've been barking at, and boy are you going to feel like an asshole then. Specifically, a poor asshole.
So, white males, think a few more minutes before you post your angry retort against the protestors. You could be back in the coal mines working 80+ hour weeks without UNARMED people willing to risk their safety against fucking COPS IN RIOT GEAR the way the union organizers in the past did.
Sweet Jesus I'm afraid for them.
The officer either dismounted his horse first, or (if he remain mounted) he lifted her up and dropped her. You can't tug somebody down from six feet high. The physics, the veracity, or the semantics are wrong.
Less than 20% of all millionaires in the US inherited more than 10% of their wealth from their families. Almost all of the 1% got where they are by working hard. If you're upset about being in the 99%, you only have yourself to blame. There is no conspiracy keeping you down; it's your own laziness and bad decisions.
I still don't understand why people are so upset about the banks for giving out loans, and not upset at the people who chose to take them. One of these articles mentioned a note pushed through a bank door that said "You helped make me homeless!" That's ass-backwards. You borrowed money and didn't pay it back - that ain't the bank's fault, that's yours.
And I'm so tired of the Occupiers that say I shouldn't point out your absolute stupidity because "you are fighting for me and my rights." Get it through your head - you are fighting AGAINST me. I don't support you, I don't agree with you, and I want you off the streets and in jail where you belong. You don't have my support, and every time you say you are "the 99%," you claim you do. Stop lying.
What pious bullshit.
Like a preacher wanting to save your soul.
And people are mad at the banks and not the borrowers because the financialization of the housing market, healthcare and education over the past 30 years has made it impossible for the average American to afford a basic, middle-class lifestyle. In 1960 the average price of a 3-bdrm house was $12,000 and the average annual salary was $7,000. You do the math on that. Wages aren't rising, but cost of living definitely is. Something's gotta give if a middle class is going to survive.
You may be doing fine, Reymont. Good for you. The rest of us are getting the uneasy feeling that, as the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer, the system may be rigged.
That, to me, is the number one thing to get the middle-class in the middle again.
It is complicated though, right? Tarrifs on foriegn made objects...? etc etc.
'occupy' - outrage is easy. Things won't change just because you're mad about it (as I am too) and rant downtown at banks and such.
And, I have been down there too and seen this all first-hand, not just from behind a TV screen. Nor is my only soarce of info the TV, the O, or even the Merc.
Give me something to vote on. Support a candidate. Get a platform....
Give me something to vote on! Just throwing a tantrum downtown won't do shit.
Here's an idea. How about making yourself presentable, getting yourself on the biggest public forum in the world, which just so happens to be that TEEVEE you seem to despise, win some hearts and minds with sympathetic rhetoric and get some folks who share your agenda voted into political office.
If the Tea Party folks managed to do it, why can't you? Those fuckers even took LOADED firearms to public debates. And don't give me that "Waaaaahhh, they had money from secret donors, waaaahhhhh" bullshit. They sure as fuck knew how to work a message.
Get a commercial friendly face. Stop freaking people out with your masks and mobs and beat the people you despise at their own game. It may not make you feel as big as standing against a line of cops, but that's the way shit gets done in this country.
Figure it out.
At the same time, there are people at these protests who want to get one foot from a cops face and yell obscenities at them. I know that I would want to hit such a person with a stick if I were that cop.
Hopefully, Reese and his staff aren't just closing ranks and blaming the protesters, but actually disecting how their tactics might have escalated this.
@REYMONT: YOUR SUPPOSED SOURCE DOESN'T ACTUALLY CITE ANY SOURCES. ALSO, IT'S BULLSHIT AND 14 YEARS OLD AND WRITTEN DURING THE SINGLE LARGEST EXPANSION OF THE ECONOMY EVER (HINT: THAT MAY HAVE UNDULY INFLUENCED THE AUTHORS). YOU'RE ESSENTIALLY CLAIMING THAT 99% OF PEOPLE ARE LAZY. YOU ALSO DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW PERCENTAGES WORK. THERE WILL TECHNICALLLY AND MATHMATICALLY ALWAYS BE A 99% AND A 1%. THAT'S HOW NUMBERS WORK. WHAT PEOPLE ARE COMPLAINING ABOUT IS THE VAST AND HORRIBLE DISPARITIES IN INCOME BETWEEN THE 1% AND 99%; AND THE UNDUE UNINFLUENCE THE 1% CURRENTLY HAS ON THE POLITICAL SYSTEM. (HINT: GOOGLE PLUTOCRACY).
I'm just suggesting that the movement coalesce and start working to create a meaningful change through legislation. Also, winning support for said legislation might require an image change.
I don't think a loud standoff with police, or demanding that the streets are your streets, or trying to occupy private property is going to win the support of the people OPDX claims to be fighting for.
I'm sympathetic to the idea that there is a vast inequality of wealth in this country, and I think a part of it is due to corporate influence in politics, but Occupy lost me with their woo woo twinkle-finger bullshit.
I want a way to participate, but I'm not going to stand in front of a line of riot cops and shout. I know what that's all about. Been there. Done that. Got tear-gassed. Blah blah blah.
When Occupy offers up some concrete way I can make a lasting legislative change in the way our systems operates. I will sure as shit vote for it.
In the meantime, I'm not going to feel particularly torn up about people, participating in direct action, drawing riot police who do what riot police do when people are occupying private property.
And besides, isn't this what they want? All this talk of "Every time you pepper spray a Occupier the movement gets stronger," seems to be a tacit way of saying: "Thank you sir may I have another?"
But wait, you guys take forever just to decide to unblock a street, right?
A lot of small businesses failed because the banks are holding on to the money (which is suppose to be circulated to stimulate the economy) from SB to use as working capital. It's a greedy mentality that is destroying this great country. America is starting to look like 3rd world country.
Thomas Jefferson once said. "I believe that banking institutions are MORE DANGEROUS to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around these banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power of currency should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs."
You are fucked #2, because you are in charge of allocating police resources, and right now you are more interested in protecting the 1%"s bank buildings then responding to anti-social crime. that is, you are showing where your priorities lie.
Mayor Reese? Really?
The cops no longer represent or protect the people that pay their salaries, they represent and protect corporate interests.
@PatrickColeman - Your comments pretty much describe my own position toward Occupy. But it seems we (as part of the so called 99%) our opinions are meaningless unless we want to subject ourselves to drum circles and leaflets. To have a moderate, logical opinion about how to change the status quo is to be, it seems, in direct conflict with Occupy. For every Occupier I've asked to vote, to publicize a policy outline, to register as a political party and work for change has told me that I am a dumb suburbanite (I'm neither) who must love banks and capitalism ( I don't, within reason) and had better just shut up and be grateful that the Occupiers are out there (in the park!) *standing up* for me.
It seems you either need to fall in line with Occupy's message or be dismissed as an idiot who doesn't know what's best for them. I'm not really into to either of those things.
Many people had placed some hope in relief with the Obama Administration. For many reasons, this has evaporated. So in comes “Occupy”. It started in NYC 2 months ago, and spread rapidly too many many places across the country, and across the globe. For many people, it is there first time being engaged politically. This was not stage managed.
It can only be categorized as a leftist populist movement. The anti-capitalist left in the United States is very marginalized by institutional power; I mean the media and the electoral process. This is not to say that it does not marginalize itself as well, but compared to many countries, it is shut out of the “official” processes. Because of this, the infrastructure to direct a “message” is lacking. The tea party was able to direct a message because they had million dollars NGOs, corporate PR machines, as well as a major American cable news channel supporting their work.
So, to expect “occupy” to have clear and delineated political programs, to have tight and disciplined organization, to speak with one voice, is ahistorical notion. To come to occupy and say “this is not how I would want resistance to capitalism to look” is a fool’s errand. One can complain about drum circles and homeless people. But that is what you are looking for. That is a small part that you are extrapolating out, in order to dismiss or too direct this social explosion.
In fact, it is precisely the fact that “occupy” is an organizing pole for many different grievances is a strength. There is a lot of clumsy thinking around this issue. Attempting to shoe horn “occupy” into the political process, into the media system as it exists today is exactly what should be avoided.
Our current media system, which wants bullet points and 5 second sound bites, cannot grasp the totality of the failure in legitimacy that capitalism is facing. It cannot do so because it is lazy, stupid, and is in service to power. Students have no jobs and are burdened by debt, vets return home to devastated families and unemployment, 50 million people have no health insurance- and many that do cannot afford to use it. Rents are skyrocketing, people are being foreclosed on. Unemployment grinds on. These are all reasons to “Occupy”.
People want one 5 second notion to get their heads around. But our problems are much larger than that, more complicated. And the political process, the media system, and capitalism are ill prepared to reflect that complexity.
So start to think. This is the shape of things to come.
@69, you make a valid point. What was the estimate for the restoration of the parks Occupy trashed? Between $50,000 and $100,000? Yeaaah think of all the good that money could have done to people that really need it. What a waste.
Regarding the parks. Yes, this is a cost that will be born by tax payers. As well as billions and billions of other costs that get shuffled onto society by capitalists every day. At some point is seems a little silly to get outraged about small cost brought out by social protest, while the other much higher costs go on day after day with little in the way of protest.
Sitting in the parks for a few months was a spontaneous reaction to the action in NYC. it spread to hundreds of cities in the US. There were occupys in Seaside, Astoria, and other small towns. this is less an example of a functional political strategy, but an expression of the failure of electoral politics to have an impact on peoples lives. The massive groundswell of support, and the breadth of it's reach shows the extent of failure official channels offer citizens.
So if you, in the wave of history, want to obsess on the shortcomings of peoples attempts to become agents of change in their lives, you can. but you are picking a side. be clear about it.