Progress = advance or development toward a better, more complete, or more modern condition.

Think Progress is a News Blog that I read. Perhaps you may like it too. Here are some of the current headlines:

POLITICS
• BREAKING: House Republicans Again Delay Payroll Tax Cut Vote, May Resort To Procedural Gimmicks

JUSTICE

• Gingrich PAC Took $7.6 Million From One Donor, Used Money To Fly Across The Country For Public Events

ECONOMY

• Under Romney, Bain Capital Made Millions From South Carolina Business That Shut Down, Laid Off 150 Workers

POLITICS

• New Hampshire GOP Lawmakers Propose ‘Warning: You Are About To Enter Massachusetts’ Border Signs

ECONOMY

• 70 Percent Of The Cuts In GOP Sen. DeMint’s Deficit Reduction Plan Target Low-Income People

HEALTH

• In 2010, Romney Said He Wouldn’t Repeal The Individual Health Mandate In Obamacare

ECONOMY

• What Happens To The Economy If The Payroll Tax Cut Expires

ECONOMY

• Study: Wealth Inequality In America May Be Worse Than It Was In Ancient Rome

JUSTICE

• Video: 1994 Mitt Romney Explains How 2011 Mitt Romney’s Wall Street Donors Will Corrupt Mitt Romney

SECURITY

• Last Flight Out Of Iraq: ‘It’s Great Being A Part Of History. It’s An Even Better Feeling To Be Going Home’

NEWS FLASH

• PRO-ADULTERY WEBSITE ENDORSES GINGRICH

The police will eventually regret their roll after they discover that their pensions are un-funded. They are the 99% too.

Deutch’s amendment, called the Outlawing Corporate Cash Undermining the Public Interest in our Elections and Democracy (OCCUPIED) Amendment, would overturn the Citizens United decision, re-establishing the right of Congress and the states to regulate campaign finance laws, and to effectively outlaw the ability of for-profit corporations to contribute to campaign spending.

“No matter how long protesters camp out across America, big banks will continue to pour money into shadow groups promoting candidates more likely to slash Medicaid for poor children than help families facing foreclosure,” said Deutch in a statement provided to ThinkProgress. “No matter how strongly Ohio families fight for basic fairness for workers, the Koch Brothers will continue to pour millions into campaigns aimed at protecting the wealthiest 1%. No matter how fed up seniors in South Florida are with an agenda that puts oil subsidies ahead of Social Security and Medicare, corporations will continue to fund massive publicity campaigns and malicious attack ads against the public interest. Americans of all stripes agree that for far too long, corporations have occupied Washington and drowned out the voices of the people. I introduced the OCCUPIED Amendment because the days of corporate control of our democracy. It is time to return the nation’s capital and our democracy to the people.”

via ThinkProgress

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According to the memo, if Democrats embrace OWS, “This would mean more than just short-term political discomfort for Wall Street. … It has the potential to have very long-lasting political, policy and financial impacts on the companies in the center of the bullseye.”

The memo also suggests that Democratic victories in 2012 should not be the ABA’s biggest concern. “… (T)he bigger concern,” the memo says, “should be that Republicans will no longer defend Wall Street companies.”

Here is a PDF of the actual memo.

Here is a Google search that may also help you.

Remember to wash your hands.

First impressions:
People are calm and helping each other.
There is organization, agendas, and rules of conduct.
There is education, food, and spiritual services.
Visitors are welcome.
The occupy is not easy or comfortable.
Expressive signs are supported.
People who espouse unsupported agendas are encouraged to ask the General Assembly and abide by the G.A. decision.

During my time at Dewey Square I observed all this first hand, up close. The photo below with the blue arrow shows a crowd around a Baptist preacher who had the unfortunate task of following a fire and brimstone preacher (second photo, man on the right) who alienated people by preaching intolerance toward those who hold different opinions than his.

As I understand it both men showed up with their bullhorn and just started preaching. Fairly quickly a group of 20 people formed around them and in unison shouted “Equality for everyone” over and over. Shortly thereafter drums, trumpet, and clarinet joined in and effectively drowned out the first man. Recognizing the futility of continuing the first man stopped to the cheers of the crowd. The second man (gray sweater) picked up the bullhorn and proceeded to read from the bible until a woman (blue sweater) was able to engage the preacher in a conversation of sorts.

After several minutes of listening to a passionate religious harangue by the preacher. She was finally able to ask the preacher to consider the possibility that his method of delivering his message to this audience was inappropriate and that he may be better off calmly speaking to people without his bullhorn. The crowd approved with a spontaneous reply of YES! as the preacher put down his bullhorn.

Personally, I am proud to have been a witness to one part of our Constitutional Democracy in action.

Occupy Together

Sunday, 16 October 2011

Dear Tea Party Patriots, which you most certainly are,

We want you to know that we understand your grievances with the Occupy movement. For every kid that blatantly disrespects an officer without just cause, we cringe as much as you do. For every American that burns a flag, we say “you’ve disgraced yourself for nothing.” For every stereotypical “dirty hippie,” we are cursed with the taint of unprofessional behavior.

But these are glaring examples that are easy to see, much like how the Tea Party has been unfairly portrayed because of a sub-section of trouble makers and hysterical pundits.

People accuse the Occupiers of being Communists, Socialists or anti-American. The truth is that the majority of Communists in America will no doubt support the Occupy movement. These people are not, however, representative of the much wider support base that makes up the Occupy movement. This has more to do with our presentation than our actual sympathies.

The same can be said for you.

People accuse the Tea Party of being potentially terrorist because of the fundamentalist militia groups that overwhelmingly support the Tea Party. When people like Ann Coulter, a pundit that no doubt gets lumped in will all other Tea Party Patriots, say “My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times Building.” many of us try to believe that not all of you agree. Statements like that are such a public approval of terrorism. They are wanton delight in the destruction of life over political conjecture. We refuse to believe that these are the heart of Tea Party Patriotism.

We have more in common than not. We believe the government has too much power. Where we might deviate is that we believe corporate interests lobby to inflate government so that government can better serve banks and multinationals rather than the people.

We do not seek to redistribute the wealth, only to remove legalized bribery from government office. We only seek to hold criminals accountable for their misappropriation of the American economy.

How do we truly differ then? Mostly over civil liberties issues. Maybe we differ over two prolonged and costly wars. The Occupy movement is accepting of liberals and makes no judgments on the issues we’re all currently putting to the side for something far more pervasive. It is also accepting of conservatives that have not fallen into the political trap of thinking all corporations have all of our best interests at heart.

To many of us it felt like the Tea Party wanted to outright reject everyone that was socially liberal. It didn’t seem to care if we were fiscally conservative or shared common threads. Maybe that was a lie perpetuated by the media? Nevertheless, suffice it to say that you’re likely being misinformed about how accepting we would be of you if you would just join with us.

We have the same goal. Topple the regime, corporate and political, that is destroying American life. We don’t care what your background is so long as you are a patriot. Whether you’re a Conservative or Liberal, whether you’ve accepted Jesus Christ as your lord and savior or if you’re a staunch Atheist, these personal identifiers have nothing to do with the issues of big government and big corporations.

After this is all over we can go back to bickering about our own personal ideologies. Until then, however, no progress can be made on either side until this hydra headed monster we call our current government is removed from American life.

We believe you to be patriots. Join with us in solidarity