It's becoming obvious that there is a national campaign, albeit under the table, to attempt and halt the Occupy Wall Street Protests occurring in cities across the nation. As we and others predicted, Agent Provocateurs have infiltrated and brought violence to some of the protests, the press was arrested in New York for attempting to cover the story -- and the sheer brutality that some of the Police are demonstrating shows that our support of the "Arab Spring" was merely lip-service as we got what we wanted in Libya and, and at this writing, I'm not sure the Egyptian "revolution" was actually successful -- or co-opted by the military. Where is the outrage from the global community against the United States for repeatedly attempting to shut-down peaceful protests, police brutality in too many cases to list, and the failure of the government whom supported the "Arab Spring" to stand-up for their own countrymen in similar circumstances?
Like Mitch Gurney, I too have been in a Political Funk, unable to ascertain whether or not the Occupy Wall Street Protestors would be vilified by the GOP, and true to form, the 99% that had nothing to do with crashing the economy are close to being forced to pay for the greed and criminal behavior of the 1%, they are being called UN-American for attempting to stand-up against the 1% by the Corporate loving GOP -- and still, Congress is ignoring the 99% even though our voices have come across loud and clear! The GOP has totally ignored Wall Street's role in our economy's crisis, typical for those who are firmly entrenched with the 1%.
As far as I can tell, the "Super Congress" is still dead-locked; if you've been following this closely, who in the United States didn't see this one coming? The Democrats, again true to form, have even attempted to sell us out by offering to cut Medicare/Medicaid/Social Security and a host of other essential programs -- and still the GOP refuses to make the 1% pay their fair share of taxes. The GOP is refusing to admit that the Bush Tax Cuts were instrumental in placing us in this budget nightmare, and even though that fact has been well documented, the GOP/Tea Party (Koch Brothers) still keep insisting that allowing the Bush Tax Cuts to expire would harm the economy. (Keep in mind that the "Super Congress" has already received over 64 Million in Corporate donations (Sic) ):
"Super Congress' members have already received $64.5 million in corporate donationsPosted on August 19, 2011 by Gary St. Lawrence
By now, you've at least heard of that "Super Congress" they just created in Washington that's supposed to "cut through all the bureaucracy and partisan politics to devise a clear and effective path toward America's financial management."
Should it come as any surprise whatsoever that all 12 appointed members appointed to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction have received more than $64.5 million in "donations" from special interests groups over the past few years? Legal firms bought their lawmakers for about $31.5 million and Wall Street firms secured their puppets for about $11.2 million. And guess which corporations are at the top of the "biggest giver list: Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase.
The members appointed to the committee are senators Pat Toomey (R-PA), Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Rob Portman (R-OH), Patty Murray (D-WA), John Kerry (D-MA), and Max Baucus (D-MT); and Representatives Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), Fred Upton (R-MI), Dave Camp (R-MI), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Xavier Becerra (D-CA), and Jim Clyburn (D-SC).
Of the $64.5 million, $43.7 million went to Republicans; and $20.8 Million went to Democrats. LINK
The real outrage is that we recently found out through alternative news sources that Congress can legally engage in Insider Trading, a felony if you or I do it, and even so on Wall Street when they have to present the public with an "example" to demonstrate that our In-Justice Department is protecting the 99% rather than looking the other way when it comes to the real criminals -- those whom actually profited from and caused this economic crisis. The corruption in Congress is bipartisan, and only a handful of our entire Congress would pass muster to be beyond corruption. (Not a handful -- perhaps just a few") I used to wonder why anyone would spend millions of their own money to get elected to Congress, as many of us have, and now we have one of the most blaring answers:
The Congress Insider Trading Scandal Is OutrageousBy Henry Blodget | Daily Ticker -- Tue, Nov 15, 2011 7:23 AM EST
You cannot read the description of the personal stock trading allegedly conducted by Rep. Spencer Bachus and other members of Congress during the financial crisis and conclude anything other than the following:
Our government is completely corrupt.
Yes, this behavior may be technically legal, because of an absurd loophole that makes insider-trading rules not apply to Congress.
Yes, this behavior may be widespread on Capitol Hill.
But there is no universe in which a reasonable person would consider this behavior ethical or okay. And for the 300+ million Americans who aren't members of Congress, it would be just plain illegal
Many members of Congress seem guilty here, including John Kerry, Dick Durbin, and Jim Moran. But Spencer Bachus takes the cake.
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