[157908] in Zephyr_Bugs
If a Republican Were President ...
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (t r u t h o u t)
Fri Oct 14 17:14:22 2011
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Date: Fri, 14 Oct 2011 17:14:16 -0400 (EDT)
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t r u t h o u t | 10.14
Robert Scheer | If a Republican Were President ...
http://www.truth-out.org/if-republican-were-president/1318598286
Robert Scheer, Truthdig: "If a Republican were president, there would be millions of properly coiffed middle-class Democrats and independents at those Occupy Wall Street marches.... With 25 million Americans unable to find full-time work... and an all-time high of 46.2 million living in poverty, the call to throw the bums out would be compelling.... Instead, we're left with a Democratic president who sooths our rage with promises of decent-paying jobs that in actuality are being vigorously exported from our shores by the president's top corporate backers."
"Bloomberg Didn't Evict Occupy Wall Street!" Demonstrators Cheer
http://www.truth-out.org/bloomberg-didnt-evict-occupy-wall-street/1318622998
Paul Mutter, Truthout: "Despite an optimistic mood at Occupy Wall Street (OWS) today due to a decision by Zuccotti Park's owner, Brookfield Office Properties, to not go forward with a planned cleanup of the space, demonstrators and police clashed in the Financial District this morning. This led to multiple arrests, as well as the arrest and hospitalization of a legal observer after his leg was caught under a moving New York Police Department (NYPD) scooter."
Links Between Climate Change and Increased Social Unrest Unacknowledged
http://www.truth-out.org/climate-change-often-unacknowledged-contributor-increased-violence-and-authoritarianism/1318276701
Michael Busch, Truthout: "In many respects, 2011 has been marked as much by the mayhem of nature as it has by the upheavals of men. Although challenges to political authority have captured the imaginations of millions and produced exciting tremors of revolution across the continents, Mother Nature's increasingly ferocious response to the heavy environmental footprint of industrial production will likely be judged the most profound source of social change around the world in the years to come."
On the News With Thom Hartmann: Bloomberg Backs Down, Allowing Occupy Wall Street Protesters to Stay, and More
http://www.truth-out.org/news-thom-hartmann-bloomberg-backs-down-allowing-occupy-wall-street-protesters-stay-and-more/1318607
In today's On the News segment: Bloomberg backs down and allows Occupy Wall Street protesters to stay; House Republicans unveiled their budget proposals for labor, health, human services and energy; House Democrats also put forward their deficit reduction measures; Huntsman jokes that Herman Cain's 9-9-9 tax plan is a pizza deal; banks may be guilty of collusion; Berlusconi barely hangs on to power; and more.
Why Privatizing the Golden Years Wouldn't Work
http://www.truth-out.org/why-privatizing-golden-years-wouldnt-work/1318451046
Michael A. McCarthy, Truthout: "The growing bipartisan consensus around stripping the US public pension system is occurring in a context of no viable alternatives. Markets simply will not replace lost retirement income with organized labor on the defensive, and in some cases, outright surrendering. Social Security cuts the elderly poverty rate from over 45 percent to 10 percent. Without it, the golden years would be much grayer."
FBI Account of "Terror Plot" Suggests Sting Operation
http://www.truth-out.org/fbi-account-terror-plot-suggests-sting-operation/1318603143
Gareth Porter, Inter Press Service: "While the administration of Barack Obama vows to hold the Iranian government 'accountable' for the alleged plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington, the legal document describing evidence in the case provides multiple indications that it was mainly the result of an FBI 'sting' operation. The legal document ... also suggests that the idea originated with and was strongly pushed by a undercover DEA informant, at the direction of the FBI."
Top Ten Giveaways to Big Oil in Rick Perry's "Jobs" Plans
http://www.truth-out.org/top-ten-giveaways-big-oil-rick-perrys-jobs-plans/1318611574
Judd Legum, ThinkProgress: "Today, Rick Perry finally unveiled his much-anticipated 'jobs' plan. The 41-page document, however, is less focused on creating jobs than providing benefits to multi-national oil and gas companies at the expense of taxpayers. Here are the top 10 giveaways to Big Oil in Perry's plan."
Occupy Wall Street Showdown: Triumph and Tense Clashes
http://www.truth-out.org/occupy-wall-street-showdown-triumph-and-tense-clashes/1318615991
Lynn Parramore, AlterNet: "The image of those cops suddenly erupting into aggressive action with their clubs out in the midst of a peaceful protest will stay with me for a long time. And so will the image of a young man reading Voltaire a little while later, immersed in the words of an Enlightenment philosopher who said, among other things: 'It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.'"
Why I Published US Intelligence Secrets About Israel's Anti-Iran Campaign
http://www.truth-out.org/why-i-published-us-intelligence-secrets-about-israels-anti-iran-campaign/1316550301
Richard Silverstein, Truthout: "In 2009, Shamai Leibowitz was working secretly for the FBI, translating wiretapped conversations among Israeli diplomats in this country. He passed some transcripts of these conversations to me, which described an Israeli diplomatic campaign in this country to create a hostile environment for relations with Iran. I published excerpts from them in my blog.... I think Americans should salute Shamai Leibowitz and wish him well. I know he has suffered a great deal and getting on with his life will be hard. If anyone deserves a break, he does."
GOP Passes "Let Women Die" Bill; Representative Praises Their "Fight for Rights of Women"
http://www.truth-out.org/gop-passes-let-women-die-bill-rep-praises-their-fight-rights-women/1318617397
Tanya Somanader, ThinkProgress: "Foregoing any interest in getting America back to work, House Republicans continued their campaign against women's health yesterday by passing the 'Protect Life Act.' Known as the 'Let Woman Die' act to women's health advocates, the radical measure would allow hospitals that receive federal funds to reject any pregnant woman seeking an abortion in any circumstance, even if it is necessary to save her life."
Occupy Wall Street: People Power vs. the Police State
http://www.truth-out.org/occupy-wall-street-people-power-vs-police-state/1318604650
Nick Turse, AlterNet: "Friday may be the most salient test yet of the young movement's people power in the face of police state tactics. The NYPD has overwhelming force, but right now, Occupy Wall Street still holds the park and is still building, they shouted in unison today, 'The society that we envision for the world!'"
The Death Penalty - Again
http://www.truth-out.org/death-penalty-again/1318612498
Peter Singer, Project Syndicate: "In the US, however, deterrence is not really the issue. Retribution is often seen as a more important justification for the death penalty. It is quite common for family members of the victim to watch the execution of the person convicted of killing their relative, and afterwards to pronounce themselves satisfied that justice has been done - it happened again with the execution of Troy Davis."
TRUTHOUT'S BUZZFLASH DAILY HEADLINES
According to The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/10/14/us/AP-US-Wall-Street-Protest.html?_r=3&pagewanted=1&hp), Mayor Bloomberg's girlfriend, Diana L. Taylor, sits on the board of Brookfield Properties, the owner of Zuccotti Park (aka Liberty Park). But that's hardly the only tie that has resulted in Brookfield becoming an active partner in Bloomberg's efforts to close down Occupy Wall Street.
The current gambit of, in essence, closing the public headquarters of the movement under the guise of "cleaning up" the park, and then imposing rules that would prohibit anything other than pedestrian traffic and sitting on benches, is now delayed. (It had originally been scheduled for 7 AM EST Friday.)
Occupy Wall Street put out a call last night for people to join them in preventing the New York Police Department (NYPD) - allegedly acting at the behest of Brookfield Properties - from effectively shutting down the active "headquarters" of the anti-Wall Street corruption and economic inequality groundswell uprising. In addition, the public advocate for New York City - a position not well known out of Manhattan, but one with considerable influence in city politics - challenged Bloomberg's coordinated effort with Brookfield to render inoperative the anti-Wall Street beachhead.
"Bill de Blasio, the city's public advocate," according to The New York Times, "had expressed concern over the city's actions as he inspected the park Thursday afternoon and listened to protesters' complaints."
Bloomberg had first tried to use the NYPD - and perhaps others - to infiltrate and perhaps bait the Occupy Wall Street protesters into some sort of violent act, which would turn public opinion against them, and allow him to use the sort of excessive police force employed in "The Battle of Seattle" several years ago to cut off the head of the populist surge that has put corporations and Wall Street on the defensive. That didn't work, even though hundreds of people were arrested after claiming that the police led them onto the street level of the Brooklyn Bridge and then arrested them.
But plan "B" was for Brookfield Properties, which technically owns the public park as a result of it being built in return for zoning variations in the area, to "ask" for police help if plan "A" didn't pan out.
Just two weeks ago, Bloomberg - the fourth-richest man in America whose fortune comes from an information software device used by financial firms (along with a growing media empire, with an emphasis on business) - spoke of a "sanitation crisis" in a rambling attack (http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/09/mayor_bloomberg_28.php) on Occupation Wall Street on a New York radio program. He implicitly threatened (http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/13051) that he would close the site down. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Brookfield Properties was expressing "deep" concern about the sanitation conditions in the park. This was not a coincidence: it was a public relations meme.
Newspaper accounts of the now-delayed Zuccotti Park cleanup generally accept that the City of New York was planning to have the NYPD arrest protesters who didn't clear the park as a response to a "request" from Brookfield Properties - and it is true that there is such a written request.
But this is not Brookfield Properties acting on its own. It could have done that a long time ago. In fact, it could have employed private security guards to clear the park of "temporary residents," by some legal interpretations of its rights as "owner" of the property.
Brookfield Properties is a multibillion-dollar commercial real estate company that is as tight as a tick with Bloomberg and the Wall Street plutocracy. It can't make a move in New York City to develop new projects without the approval of City Hall. It didn't make a move on Zuccotti Park (named after the chairman of Brookfield) until the mayor got his ducks in a row and his public relations and legal people felt they could use the "sanitation" ruse, while the mayor claimed - for media consumption - that he was in support of the constitutional right to protest. You can bet your last dollar that Brookfield Properties was asked to write its letter to City Hall at the time it did directly by City Hall. The fact that the mayor's girlfriend is on the board of Brookfield is just symbolic icing on the cake of the oligarchy's symbiotic relationship.
However, due to factors already cited, and the strong legal possibility that the NYPD could not be called into Zuccotti Park unless Brookfield Properties obtained a court order allowing for such a move, the mayor's office announced just before their scheduled de facto eviction that the police clear-out was being "delayed."
As BuzzFlash at Truthout noted in a commentary last week (http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/13053), "With the price of milk rising so high that many low-income New Yorkers can't afford it anymore (http://www.wnyc.org/blogs/wnyc-news-blog/2011/oct/03/high-price-milk-out-reach-low-income-new-yorkers/), it's hardly comforting to know that ... the priority of the multibillionaire mayor of New York is 'helping the banks.'"
Brookfield Properties does not make a move or a statement in regards to Zuccotti Park without direction from Mayor Bloomberg's office. Of this you can be certain.
Nearly every financial firm and multinational corporation in America is relying on Bloomberg to be their fellow multibillionaire point man in putting an end to this "insurrection," just like the British Tories tried to do with the American revolution.
Mark Karlin
Editor, BuzzFlash at Truthout
==============
Eliot Spitzer: Occupy Wall Street Has Already Won; Bloomberg Postpones Virtual Eviction
Read the Article at Slate
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/the_best_policy/2011/10/occupy_wall_street_s_victory_it_has_shaken_up_american_politics_.html
Parts of Alabama Immigration Law Blocked by Federal Appeals Court
Read the Article at CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/14/us/alabama-immigration-law/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
Los Angeles City Council Votes to Support Occupy LA
Read the Article at KCET
http://www.kcet.org/updaily/1st_and_spring/communities/city-council-occupy-la.html
Syria Uprising: UN Says Protest Death Toll Hits 3,000
Read the Article at BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15304741?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_morning&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_morning&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet
Separating Facts From Media on Occupy Wall Street
Read the Article at BuzzFlash
http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/13077
Occupy SF and Teachers Union Join Forces to Protest Conservative Education Summit - Rupert Murdoch to Give Keynote
Read the Article at SFGate
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2011%2F10%2F13%2FBA831LH9JC.DTL&tsp=1
Utah Firm's Gene Patent Case Could Go to Supreme Court
Read the Article at The Salt Lake Tribune
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/money/52711149-79/court-myriad-genes-aclu.html.csp
California Becomes First State to Allow People to Make Political Campaign Contributions Via Text Messages
Read the Article at Politico
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/65920.html#ixzz1aldTlpg9
Click here for more BuzzFlash headlines: http://www.buzzflash.com/
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<!-- TemplateBeginEditable name="content" --><p>Friday 14 October 2011</p>
<font><strong>Robert Scheer | If a Republican Were President ...</strong></font><br />
Robert Scheer, Truthdig: "If a Republican were president, there would be millions of properly coiffed middle-class Democrats and independents at those Occupy Wall Street marches.... With 25 million Americans unable to find full-time work... and an all-time high of 46.2 million living in poverty, the call to throw the bums out would be compelling.... Instead, we're left with a Democratic president who sooths our rage with promises of decent-paying jobs that in actuality are being vigorously exported from our shores by the president's top corporate backers."
<br /><a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=kP7q3jGKnN9%2B4CrLwrlJGnggEjav5iIV"><font color="#cc0000">Read the Article</font></a>
<br /><br />
<font><strong>"Bloomberg Didn't Evict Occupy Wall Street!" Demonstrators Cheer</strong></font><br />
Paul Mutter, Truthout: "Despite an optimistic mood at Occupy Wall Street (OWS) today due to a decision by Zuccotti Park's owner, Brookfield Office Properties, to not go forward with a planned cleanup of the space, demonstrators and police clashed in the Financial District this morning. This led to multiple arrests, as well as the arrest and hospitalization of a legal observer after his leg was caught under a moving New York Police Department (NYPD) scooter."
<br /><a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=GGz0eFNuLqNGSYjzu4ZOuUL95EWY3Gjj"><font color="#cc0000">Read the Article</font></a>
<br /><br />
<font><strong>Links Between Climate Change and Increased Social Unrest Unacknowledged</strong></font><br />
Michael Busch, Truthout: "In many respects, 2011 has been marked as much by the mayhem of nature as it has by the upheavals of men. Although challenges to political authority have captured the imaginations of millions and produced exciting tremors of revolution across the continents, Mother Nature's increasingly ferocious response to the heavy environmental footprint of industrial production will likely be judged the most profound source of social change around the world in the years to come."
<br /><a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=p5DkWub6tQmn41MnlBttGnggEjav5iIV"><font color="#cc0000">Read the Article</font></a>
<br /><br />
<font><strong>On the News With Thom Hartmann: Bloomberg Backs Down, Allowing Occupy Wall Street Protesters to Stay, and More</strong></font><br />
In today's On the News segment: Bloomberg backs down and allows Occupy Wall Street protesters to stay; House Republicans unveiled their budget proposals for labor, health, human services and energy; House Democrats also put forward their deficit reduction measures; Huntsman jokes that Herman Cain's 9-9-9 tax plan is a pizza deal; banks may be guilty of collusion; Berlusconi barely hangs on to power; and more.
<br /><a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=Ub2ZthutGwj4rVsK7DTcSXggEjav5iIV"><font color="#cc0000">Watch the Video and Read the Transcript</font></a>
<br /><br />
<font><strong>Why Privatizing the Golden Years Wouldn't Work</strong></font><br />
Michael A. McCarthy, Truthout: "The growing bipartisan consensus around stripping the US public pension system is occurring in a context of no viable alternatives. Markets simply will not replace lost retirement income with organized labor on the defensive, and in some cases, outright surrendering. Social Security cuts the elderly poverty rate from over 45 percent to 10 percent. Without it, the golden years would be much grayer."
<br /><a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=3sa%2B%2FTjgwsL%2FVoO1QxYZm3ggEjav5iIV"><font color="#cc0000">Read the Article</font></a>
<br /><br />
<font><strong>FBI Account of "Terror Plot" Suggests Sting Operation</strong></font><br />
Gareth Porter, Inter Press Service: "While the administration of Barack Obama vows to hold the Iranian government 'accountable' for the alleged plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington, the legal document describing evidence in the case provides multiple indications that it was mainly the result of an FBI 'sting' operation. The legal document ... also suggests that the idea originated with and was strongly pushed by a undercover DEA informant, at the direction of the FBI."
<br /><a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=d0XPWuBwS4Pl%2BXKbC4abO3ggEjav5iIV"><font color="#cc0000">Read the Article</font></a>
<br /><br />
<font><strong>Top Ten Giveaways to Big Oil in Rick Perry's "Jobs" Plans</strong></font><br />
Judd Legum, ThinkProgress: "Today, Rick Perry finally unveiled his much-anticipated 'jobs' plan. The 41-page document, however, is less focused on creating jobs than providing benefits to multi-national oil and gas companies at the expense of taxpayers. Here are the top 10 giveaways to Big Oil in Perry's plan."
<br /><a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=0DKuAsuh%2F6tteCSryxSQV3ggEjav5iIV"><font color="#cc0000">Read the Article</font></a>
<br /><br />
<font><strong>Occupy Wall Street Showdown: Triumph and Tense Clashes</strong></font><br />
Lynn Parramore, AlterNet: "The image of those cops suddenly erupting into aggressive action with their clubs out in the midst of a peaceful protest will stay with me for a long time. And so will the image of a young man reading Voltaire a little while later, immersed in the words of an Enlightenment philosopher who said, among other things: 'It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.'"
<br /><a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=%2FnOJw5vCV3xj014YURWNUHggEjav5iIV"><font color="#cc0000">Read the Article</font></a>
<br /><br />
<font><strong>Why I Published US Intelligence Secrets About Israel's Anti-Iran Campaign</strong></font><br />
Richard Silverstein, Truthout: "In 2009, Shamai Leibowitz was working secretly for the FBI, translating wiretapped conversations among Israeli diplomats in this country. He passed some transcripts of these conversations to me, which described an Israeli diplomatic campaign in this country to create a hostile environment for relations with Iran. I published excerpts from them in my blog.... I think Americans should salute Shamai Leibowitz and wish him well. I know he has suffered a great deal and getting on with his life will be hard. If anyone deserves a break, he does."
<br /><a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=lINPZmCCLiUeHqc0R1b8VUL95EWY3Gjj"><font color="#cc0000">Read the Article</font></a>
<br /><br />
<font><strong>GOP Passes "Let Women Die" Bill; Representative Praises Their "Fight for Rights of Women"</strong></font><br />
Tanya Somanader, ThinkProgress: "Foregoing any interest in getting America back to work, House Republicans continued their campaign against women's health yesterday by passing the 'Protect Life Act.' Known as the 'Let Woman Die' act to women's health advocates, the radical measure would allow hospitals that receive federal funds to reject any pregnant woman seeking an abortion in any circumstance, even if it is necessary to save her life."
<br /><a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=SeJ%2F56kFNBy3cNRUmyCm%2B3ggEjav5iIV"><font color="#cc0000">Read the Article</font></a>
<br /><br />
<font><strong>Occupy Wall Street: People Power vs. the Police State</strong></font><br />
Nick Turse, AlterNet: "Friday may be the most salient test yet of the young movement's people power in the face of police state tactics. The NYPD has overwhelming force, but right now, Occupy Wall Street still holds the park and is still building, they shouted in unison today, 'The society that we envision for the world!'"
<br /><a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=G8rOj7MdQvCnpNdehE13kXggEjav5iIV"><font color="#cc0000">Read the Article</font></a>
<br /><br />
<font><strong>The Death Penalty - Again</strong></font><br />
Peter Singer, Project Syndicate: "In the US, however, deterrence is not really the issue. Retribution is often seen as a more important justification for the death penalty. It is quite common for family members of the victim to watch the execution of the person convicted of killing their relative, and afterwards to pronounce themselves satisfied that justice has been done - it happened again with the execution of Troy Davis."
<br /><a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=bBtB3McbAWJGSYjzu4ZOuUL95EWY3Gjj"><font color="#cc0000">Read the Article</font></a>
<br /><br />
</p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=wW0POHjspWllDoWONpCOkXggEjav5iIV"><font color="#cc0000"><em>Click here for more Truthout articles</em></font></a></p>
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<div align="left"><strong><em>BUZZFLASH DAILY HEADLINES</em></strong></div>
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<i><p>According to <a target="_blank" href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=AYw%2FZHdYOAMsrT3JzaEUAnggEjav5iIV"><font color="#cc0000">The New York Times</font></a>, Mayor Bloomberg's girlfriend, Diana L. Taylor, sits on the board of Brookfield Properties, the owner of Zuccotti Park (aka Liberty Park). But that's hardly the only tie that has resulted in Brookfield becoming an active partner in Bloomberg's efforts to close down Occupy Wall Street.</p>
<p>The current gambit of, in essence, closing the public headquarters of the movement under the guise of "cleaning up" the park, and then imposing rules that would prohibit anything other than pedestrian traffic and sitting on benches, is now delayed. (It had originally been scheduled for 7 AM EST Friday.)</p>
<p>Occupy Wall Street put out a call last night for people to join them in preventing the New York Police Department (NYPD) - allegedly acting at the behest of Brookfield Properties - from effectively shutting down the active "headquarters" of the anti-Wall Street corruption and economic inequality groundswell uprising. In addition, the public advocate for New York City - a position not well known out of Manhattan, but one with considerable influence in city politics - challenged Bloomberg's coordinated effort with Brookfield to render inoperative the anti-Wall Street beachhead.</p>
<p>"Bill de Blasio, the city's public advocate," according to The New York Times, "had expressed concern over the city's actions as he inspected the park Thursday afternoon and listened to protesters' complaints."</p>
<p>Bloomberg had first tried to use the NYPD - and perhaps others - to infiltrate and perhaps bait the Occupy Wall Street protesters into some sort of violent act, which would turn public opinion against them, and allow him to use the sort of excessive police force employed in "The Battle of Seattle" several years ago to cut off the head of the populist surge that has put corporations and Wall Street on the defensive. That didn't work, even though hundreds of people were arrested after claiming that the police led them onto the street level of the Brooklyn Bridge and then arrested them.</p>
<p>But plan "B" was for Brookfield Properties, which technically owns the public park as a result of it being built in return for zoning variations in the area, to "ask" for police help if plan "A" didn't pan out.</p>
<p>Just two weeks ago, Bloomberg - the fourth-richest man in America whose fortune comes from an information software device used by financial firms (along with a growing media empire, with an emphasis on business) - spoke of a "sanitation crisis" in a <a target="_blank" href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=Rr26vYtkVvjSZ0aTcL0Nk3ggEjav5iIV"><font color="#cc0000">rambling attack</font></a> on Occupation Wall Street on a New York radio program. He implicitly <a target="_blank" href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=DZ8f4gm83EDj44fq1paBMXggEjav5iIV"><font color="#cc0000">threatened</font></a> that he would close the site down. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Brookfield Properties was expressing "deep" concern about the sanitation conditions in the park. This was not a coincidence: it was a public relations meme.</p>
<p>Newspaper accounts of the now-delayed Zuccotti Park cleanup generally accept that the City of New York was planning to have the NYPD arrest protesters who didn't clear the park as a response to a "request" from Brookfield Properties - and it is true that there is such a written request.</p>
<p>But this is not Brookfield Properties acting on its own. It could have done that a long time ago. In fact, it could have employed private security guards to clear the park of "temporary residents," by some legal interpretations of its rights as "owner" of the property.</p>
<p>Brookfield Properties is a multibillion-dollar commercial real estate company that is as tight as a tick with Bloomberg and the Wall Street plutocracy. It can't make a move in New York City to develop new projects without the approval of City Hall. It didn't make a move on Zuccotti Park (named after the chairman of Brookfield) until the mayor got his ducks in a row and his public relations and legal people felt they could use the "sanitation" ruse, while the mayor claimed - for media consumption - that he was in support of the constitutional right to protest. You can bet your last dollar that Brookfield Properties was asked to write its letter to City Hall at the time it did directly by City Hall. The fact that the mayor's girlfriend is on the board of Brookfield is just symbolic icing on the cake of the oligarchy's symbiotic relationship.</p>
<p>However, due to factors already cited, and the strong legal possibility that the NYPD could not be called into Zuccotti Park unless Brookfield Properties obtained a court order allowing for such a move, the mayor's office announced just before their scheduled de facto eviction that the police clear-out was being "delayed."</p>
<p>As BuzzFlash at Truthout noted in a <a target="_blank" href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=2B6zWAHpIx%2BNH%2FgSfNOAp0L95EWY3Gjj"><font color="#cc0000">commentary last week</font></a>, "With the price of milk rising so high that many low-income New Yorkers <a target="_blank" href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=YEKODf3dOSc3kdtA%2BT2YAHggEjav5iIV"><font color="#cc0000">can't afford it anymore</font></a>, it's hardly comforting to know that ... the priority of the multibillionaire mayor of New York is 'helping the banks.'"</p>
<p>Brookfield Properties does not make a move or a statement in regards to Zuccotti Park without direction from Mayor Bloomberg's office. Of this you can be certain.</p>
<p>Nearly every financial firm and multinational corporation in America is relying on Bloomberg to be their fellow multibillionaire point man in putting an end to this "insurrection," just like the British Tories tried to do with the American revolution.</p>
<p>Mark Karlin<br />
Editor, BuzzFlash at Truthout</em></p></i>
<p><strong>Eliot Spitzer: Occupy Wall Street Has Already Won; Bloomberg Postpones Virtual Eviction<br />
</strong><a target="_blank" href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=swtAZ2bp6CV5y4zKGzLEHHggEjav5iIV"><font color="#cc0000">Read the Article at Slate</font></a><br />
</p>
<p><strong>Parts of Alabama Immigration Law Blocked by Federal Appeals Court<br />
</strong><a target="_blank" href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=MUV56NZ8j%2BrMgBL8N16iSkL95EWY3Gjj"><font color="#cc0000">Read the Article at CNN</font></a><br />
</p>
<p><strong>Los Angeles City Council Votes to Support Occupy LA<br />
</strong><a target="_blank" href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=7I0XxR3fRWvEplLMqQEFRXggEjav5iIV"><font color="#cc0000">Read the Article at KCET</font></a><br />
</p>
<p><strong>Syria Uprising: UN Says Protest Death Toll Hits 3,000<br />
</strong><a target="_blank" href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=4QwW6JchCu4P7SLKlXCQgnggEjav5iIV"><font color="#cc0000">Read the Article at BBC</font></a><br />
</p>
<p><strong>Separating Facts From Media on Occupy Wall Street<br />
</strong><a target="_blank" href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=a6MJJrjYPXbSUwlAfaKY4XggEjav5iIV"><font color="#cc0000">Read the Article at BuzzFlash</font></a><br />
</p>
<p><strong>Occupy SF and Teachers Union Join Forces to Protest Conservative Education Summit - Rupert Murdoch to Give Keynote<br />
</strong><a target="_blank" href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=o%2BgPwnfepA5PmrED073Ob3ggEjav5iIV"><font color="#cc0000">Read the Article at SFGate</font></a><br />
</p>
<p><strong>Utah Firm's Gene Patent Case Could Go to Supreme Court<br />
</strong><a target="_blank" href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=Jo68N2EepitCtS3V2f3kc3ggEjav5iIV"><font color="#cc0000">Read the Article at The Salt Lake Tribune</font></a><br />
</p>
<p><strong>California Becomes First State to Allow People to Make Political Campaign Contributions Via Text Messages<br />
</strong><a target="_blank" href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=ucba1K7otjXAMezT8zyID0L95EWY3Gjj"><font color="#cc0000">Read the Article at Politico</font></a><br />
</p>
<p><a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=kgOgMuqtkWB9K4Yc0%2FJd0HggEjav5iIV"><b><font color="#cc0000"><em>Click here for more BuzzFlash headlines</em></font></b></a></p>
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