diamond===have a lovely Thanksgiving. ... and when you’re stuffed into semi-
serenity…. pop open a dictionary and look up the meaning of “usurp”

maybe you’ll be able to figure out how holding public property for the exclusive
use of a small group fits the definition.

“nothing is elucidated except a lazy-mindeded dullness.”

How anyone can be ‘lazy-mindeded’ is not clear to me. But a lazy-minded dullness is an exact description of your whole approach to the issue of a citizen’s right to protest against government and corporate injustice. And explain, if you can, how the people can ‘usurp’ a public park or any public space? Public spaces, by definition belong to the public. The police are paid by public money, taxpayers’ money, and they therefore work for the people they are currently harassing and beating up. You seem, amazingly, to have no clue that any of this could be true. I can only conclude that you have been lazy minded since birth and your dullness is as dull as listening to Herman Cain try to remember where Libya is and why he should care about it. It’s not hard to pick which party you support: your lack of moral standards, absence of interest in social justice and your ignorance of history combined with your weak analytical skills make it plain.

how about YOU following a straight line?  how does giving electricity to NYPD
cause the world to be harmed?

you’re attempting to fuse an enormous number of distinct things into a whole,
highlight the parts that you think harmful , and then declare all of the mass to be
evil.

that’s sophomoric. you can’t paint that big picture and then denounce every daub
in every corner.

nothing is elucidated except a lazy-mindeded dullness.

“maybe if you spared a moment to elucidate how giving electricity to the NYPD is
directly related to the causes of war and homelessness, I might be enlightened
and dazzled.”

You clearly can’t follow a straight line and using words like ‘elucidate’ is a sign of desperation.

The worship of the market and of profit is not some random aberration of history. It is willed. It is enforced. It is intentional. As Charles A. Reich wrote in ‘The Greening of America’: ‘...life is made distinctly unpleasant, for the man (or woman) who wishes to contend publicly that our form of government is wrong. All of this repression is upheld under the legal doctrine…that the ‘national interest’ prevails over any individual interest. And it is enforced by an elaborate system of official surveillance, including wire tapping, eavesdropping, invasions of privacy, by police searches, police photography of demonstrators, Congressional investigations and all the other methods with which we have become familiar’.

Of course, I know and you know that no amount of ‘elucidation’ will shine a light into the dark recesses of your brain. You’re a nitpicker, willfully blind to the big picture, either because it scares you shitless or because you support what the big picture represents. Either way you’re not much use.

diamond—stop, please, being an ass. pretty please…..you’re just being a wanker.

you’ve not the faintest idea about what I think of the Department of Defense,
whether I support them in all things criminal or whether I’m silent about any and
all of it.

please respond or not to what I’m saying, but please, should you respond, do it at
least semi-responsively.

“no, gerard, they can not always be confined without violence…..and they must
be identified as violent and criminally transgressive and that must be proven in
a court of law for them to be confined other than briefly.  ....”

Well, I’ve been saying exactly that for years about the Pentagon-the shock troops of the corporations. Their crimes of violence are well known and well documented but I don’t see anyone trying to ‘confine’ them in any way. Organizations like them turn democracy into a travesty of itself, a form of theater. I would suggest that is a much bigger crime and a much bigger threat to democracy and civil society than anything the occupy protesters have done or will do. Your response to their protests is completely over the top - just like that of your friends the cops. But you are silent on the crimes of the Pentagon and the CIA and the elites they work for and that speaks for itself. Having chosen the side of the elites and the police you cannot then pretend to be objective and a solid citizen.

gerard—-for the love of reality, please, please get a grip. taking phoytos ain’t
waging war..

you can’t go around equating things that you don’t like with things that involve
wide death and destruction without getting yourself lost in a rhetorical miasma.

heterochromatic—I love the “not really damage in and of itself…...”
  War is “not really damage in and of itself”.  For instance, to read about it in a history book is “not really damage.” The really damaging stuff was done and the people are long dead.
  Fear is “not really damage in and of itself” so long as not too many people are fearful.  But if too many people are fearful, then panic and stampede may occur. And if an entire country is scared, they can easily be pushed around and abused.
  Violence is “not really damage” either—unless, of course, you are the victim of it, in which case it damages your body. And if you are the one who did the damaging, then you damaged your own soul.
  But then again, “soul” does not really matter. Nobody can even prove there is such a thing!  It’s all in the way you think about it.  Ho hum!)

gerard——-and you left out those dangerous yet cowardly utilizers of
dactyloscopy.

it can all be traced back to those cravens.

———-

“There may be a few people among protesters who want to stir up violence, but
they are an easily recognizable minority and can be singled out and confined
without violence.”

no, gerard, they can not always be confined without violence…..and they must
be identified as violent and criminally transgressive and that must be proven in
a court of law for them to be confined other than briefly.  ....

photographic evidence of their transgressive actions comes in right handy for
that purpose…...whereas photographic evidence of people who are not violent
or transgressive is of little avail and not really damage in and of itself…...

diamond——- I’m just not aghast at the granting of access to electricity to the
NYPD from Brookwhatever Properties…...and I’m also not bent out of shape that
the cops would record events occurring in public.

These are the things that I’m too stupid and rusted-out to be outraged at.

That might possible be due to the fact that there are a hell of a lot worse things
going on the world about which I am outraged and I’m not willing to waste my
emotions on things that are not in themselves even slightly transgressive.

I’m so burnt-out that I’m not outraged that OWS has been involved in illegally
usurped Zuccotti Park and that OWS has done more gratuitous harm to the
owners of the park than Brooketcetera is doing in return with this horrible
electricity thing.

Of course, you must be completely correct when pointing out that this means
that I’m indifferent to abusive violence against kids on campus, that I’m a
champion of unnecessary war and that on Saturdays I’m out cheering the
clubbing of baby seals after which I go around setting fire to homeless and
disabled war veterans.

It’s all seamlessly logical and of a piece….and I would know as much if only I
were not so stupid and heartless.

heterochromatic:  Excuse me.  Drug dealers go underground because drugs are “illegal” even though some of the “best people” use them too excess and are never “punished” while others serve long jail sentences for completely irrational but highly lucrative reasons.  Drug cops go underground because drug dealers work underground; that’s where they’re driven by “Wars on Drugs.” The entire scene is reeking with cowardice.

The entire use of cameras to apprehend is a dangerous precedent which so far has proliferated to the extent where universal full-time electonic surveillance of everybody at all times is actually being seriously considered.  Yes, it’s cowardly—and repressive and dishonest and anti-democratic etc.

Non-violent protesters are not in the least interested in “fighting the cops” and to say so is an unfounded accusation.  There may be a few people among protesters who want to stir up violence, but they are an easily recognizable minority and can be singled out and confined without violence. The violence, wherever it comes from, is what has a “chilling effect”.  Armed violence by police included. Armed violence by police is a sign of a police state.  Police states are inevitably cowardly. If they were not, they would refuse to use force against non-violence in order to quell protest(Instead they would simply make opportunities to listen, and do something helpful to diffuse anger.)
  In fact, it would appear that all armed violence is cowardly since 99 times out of 100 it is used to kill, maim and intimidate weaker people, because the weapons are bigger and stronger than the weapons of opponents which are smaller and weaker. In the end it all qualifies as bullying.

Yes, hec. It’s all about you and me isn’t it? There’s no bigger picture here. And the sight of that cop spraying those passive, unresisting students in the face with pepper spray doesn’t horrify you, does it? You would have also defended the national guardsman who said that using a helicopter to spray students with chemicals in the seventies at Berkley was ‘logical’. The truth is, you’re as big a thug as that policeman is and if you were wearing the uniform you would do what he and the other cops are doing. Those who defend wrong are doing wrong themselves. Those who defend Fascism are fascists themselves. It’s really very simple:

Democracy = the state exists to serve the people
Fascism = the people exist to serve the state
Democracy = the economy exists to serve the people
Fascism = the people exist to serve the economy

The last is what the police are defending and it is what you are defending when you defend the police and their violence towards unarmed and non-violent protesters. If you can’t see that America is being ruled by a corporate, fascist elite who control the state and the police are working for that state and not the people and are defending that corporate state with violence, it can only be because you don’t want to. You want to talk about electricity so you don’t have to talk about violence and injustice and the collusion of the police with the corporations but you don’t fool me. People like you always claim that the left is making a fuss about nothing but I think this fuss may go on for some time, so get used to it. Now that the Republicans and the international bankers have paralyzed democracy with their blind idiocy the people are holding Congress and Parliament in the streets. I don’t really see what else they can do.

sure gerard cops go undercover to infiltrate drug gangs because they’re cowardly.

the use of cameras to photograph cars running red lights is cowardly.

the use of overwhelming force to cow, control and arrest people while denying
them a fair chance to fight the cops has a cowardly “chilling effect” on people
interested in seeing if they can outfight the cops.

enough, gerard you’re right about it’s enough.

Enough already! The powerful taking advantage of the weak is cowardly. Sneaking is cowardly.  Government conducting secret surveillance of its citizens is cowardly. Armed police in military garb sent in to
“supervise” and “control” nonviolent protesting citizens is cowardly. Overwhelming force is cowardly.  Sneak attacks are cowardly.  Drones are cowardly. Hiding behind wealth is cowardly. Allowing people (especially children)  to starve to death is cowardly. Not providing adequate health care to people who need it is cowardly. Opposing social security is cowardly. Abusing women and children is cowardly. Get it?

Police state uh..huh, 5 yups to you my friend.

diamond—-thank you for your opinion, despite its non-responsive and rabid
nature.

I guess I’m just too stupid and rusty to note the clear connections running through
your brilliant mind and comment.

maybe if you spared a moment to elucidate how giving electricity to the NYPD is
directly related to the causes of war and homelessness, I might be enlightened
and dazzled.

gerard——my dictionaries, general and legal, must define collusion differently
than yours or you need to review the definition and explain how supplying
access to electricity is collusive rather than cooperative.

I’m not all that big a fan of but your attempt to equate stealthy filming of public
actions with cowardice is hard to understand.  I can’t see that the cops are
hiding because they’re afraid for their own safety. don’t at all see that as a likely
explanation.

would it be cowardly for someone to secretly use a cell phone camera to record
cops ejecting protesters from the park?

“but the possibility that the NYPD has been granted access to electrical power
via Bloomfield Properties property is ..............Nick suggests, UNFAIR!!!!!!”

If you think this article is about electricity you are either very stupid or a rusted on supporter of the right, no matter what they do. I’m guessing it’s the latter. I often wonder exactly what kind of crime the right would have to commit for people like you to abandon them or to have a road to Damascus moment where you actually see the light (and that’s not about electricity either). Considering that the American right and their corporate overlords continue to commit theft and murder all over the world, as well as in America itself, I don’t think there’s all that much left for them to do, so you will continue to march on only your right foot.

And just in case you were wondering, a full third of all homeless people in the US are returned soldiers, the collateral damage of US wars. They aren’t even loyal to their military pawns. And the police are just the home guard of their military pawns. That the police would collude with the corporations is not a revelation: it’s just business as usual. They’ve done it throughout US history.

heterochromatic:  Look up two words in a good dictionary:  “cowardly” and “collusion”.

Surveillance (especially secret surveillance)  of citizen’s nonviolent political action is cowardly.  Secret surveillance using electrical power plugged into the circuits of an agency protecting the interests of the 1% and working against the interests of the 99% is cowardly.

Question: Would it be courageous if the protesters were secretly tapping into City Hall’s electric line in order to surveille the occupants of Brookfield Properties?

All joking aside, my honest gut feeling is that any kind of secret surveillance is cowardly and no amount of justification can make it courageous. It is just one more way for the more powerful to take unfair advantage of the less powerful.

gerard—-what part of allowing the cops to plug in rather than run off the van’s
engine constitutes screwing the 99% ?

even when you decide that it’s black and white good guys/bad guys….you still
have to stretch reality to decide that everything the bad guys do is an improper.

Idiotic, weird Gerard here:  I rest my case. The entire 1% screwing over the 99% is cowardly. Period. Full stop.

gerard——you’re taking some weird turns there…. supplying access to electric
power is not reasonably ascribed to cowardice and there’s not a reason in hell why
somebody hasn’t a right to show preference to the NYPD and disfavor to people
squatting on their property.

It’s entirely idiotic to say and think that people aren’t entitled to support the cops
and scant the protesters.

It doesn’t take a lot for the 1 percent to control those below them if the masses
are confused, afraid and fighting amongst themselves. 

Read how the Occupy London movement in Canada fell on its own sword here:

http://www.josephcouture.com  “How To Blow A Revolution- The London Model”

It’s all so one-sided—hence, cowardly. Electrical power for surveillance of innocent protesters is granted to the police, and then police are granted the power of the State to come and take away generators that protesters needed for warmth and for cooking and communication.
  Protesters can be tasered, peppered and dragged to be carted off to jail for unproven “offenses” and raided in the middle of the night, their property destroyed, and they are blamed for “health hazards” that the city could have prevented in the blink of an eye and with less cost than the cleanup and policing.
  When military force is used to squelch peaceful civilians protesting against gross injustice, it is high time to “petition the government for a redress of grievances.”  Pity is, if the government can taser you for nothing and steal your property and deny you access to public spaces, petitioning is close to useless and it would appear that the government is asking for more trouble so they have excuses for more intrusions.  Time for continuous new, creative, different, harmless, widespread, patient and effective action by the 99% of abused citizens.
  Take courage.  These people in power seem to be more stupid than cruel. They could settle things peaceably in a split second by simply passing laws to make the economic system work more fairly for the 99%. Danger is, they are acting more like children, upping the ante by doing nothing, just to see what may happen.  It requires lots of intelligenc and skill to work with that situation. Think pre-teens
addicted to bullying.

Black—-what are the obvious reasons for excluding bystanders from the middle of
a scrum?

When a police action is taken, the media is usually sidelined for obvious reasons.  It doesn’t matter whether it’s Damascus or New
York——police act the same way all over.  Cell phones and the Internet are the salvation of protesters, but it won’t be long before local authorities are able to selectively shut down cell stations.

Nick Turse——-The evidence, however, suggests that Brookfield is offering the
NYPD perks—power for their surveillance efforts and aid and comfort for their
officers—that it does not extend to the general public, much less the
protesters in Zuccotti Park ....———

Nick has uncovered something so awful that it’s mind-boggling in it’s
ramifications.

Bloomfield Properties is not doing enough for the people who have usurped the
Park!!!!!!!!! 

Bloomfield Properties had, of course, accepted the request from Bloomberg and
NYPD and had not demanded that the protesters be enjoined from their two-
month occupation and has not, to my knowledge, demanded monetary
compensation from the squatters…....

but the possibility that the NYPD has been granted access to electrical power
via Bloomfield Properties property is ..............Nick suggests, UNFAIR!!!!!!

Wow. I encourage everyone to read all of that article. 

It defines what journalism is. Real journalism. The idea of training
oneself to observe then record what one sees, experiences and
thinks during the course of the observation.

I can say this. I studied creative writing in college. It’s the
reason I’m so hard on the journalism profession in my TruthDig
posts. The tools I learned in creative writing are much
better for capturing the world accurately than whatever fucked
up brain washing happens to people who study journalism and then
go on to work for the MSM. 

“Write down exactly what people say… look at James Joyce, see how
he captures the real world so precisely… don’t just read, listen to
the poetry of Robert Creeley, see how he captures natural speech so
precisely, the cadence, the emotion.”  These were the things taught
in creative writing.

Compare that with the horseshit of modern journalism. “You can write
down what people say, as long as they don’t use profanity…  you can
write down the words of a pathological liar, as long as you don’t
tell the audience he is a pathological liar… you cannot write down
your own thoughts and observations unless of course you are lucky
enough to be taken hostage…  as soon as someone says ‘off the record’
you must stop taking notes.” 

Yes. The article on http://www.alternet.org is awesome.  It hits right on
the money.  Private security working with police is a very very
dangerous proposition.  We risk it at our peril.

But the journalism being employed there—that is the real story. That
is the journalism that can get this country on the right track, letting
writers write.