Occupy Economics

Occupy Economics from Softbox on Vimeo.

Why America’s 99% Have Rebelled | Common Dreams

Why America’s 99% Have Rebelled | Common Dreams

One Year of Republican Assaults

Which do you think is the worst? Click here to vote:

• Bring Back “Pre-Existing Conditions”: Health care reform is one of President Obama’s signature achievements. No longer can children born with health conditions be denied insurance. No longer can insurance companies deny care for “pre-existing conditions.” About 2.5 million young adults who lacked health insurance now are covered by their families’ plans. So what did Republicans do? Try to repeal “Obamacare” and put control back in the hands of insurance companies.

• Kick Grandma Off Medicare & Give Her a Coupon: Republicans all lined up in favor of Republican Rep. Paul Ryan’s extreme budget plan earlier this year that would kill Medicare as we know it and turn it into a voucher program. Thank goodness the Democratic Senate was there to stop them and keep our promise to seniors.

• Hand Over Cash to Corporations and the Wealthy: Another part of Paul Ryan’s plan: Give huge tax cuts to corporations and the wealthy. While the middle class struggles to get ahead, Republicans tried to make things worse by reducing taxes on the wealthiest – and sticking everyone else with the bill.

• Rip Away Workers’ Rights: When Republicans won the governorships in Wisconsin and Ohio, among other states, one of the first things they did was go after public workers, including taking away the rights of teachers and prison guards to bargain for better pay and benefits. Bad move. They clearly overstepped their bounds, and voters will remember at the ballot box in 2012. 

Paul's Birthday Celebration & Free Concert

Island of Black & White

Thursday, December 22, 9pm

Side Bar Nightclub

4364 Town Center Blvd., Ste. 124

El Dorado Hills, California95762

Dear Friends,

Not sure if you all are aware, but Jesus and I are both celebrating birthdays this week. Since you are most likely going to be celebrating Jesus' birthday with your families, we thought you might want to celebrate mine with Leisa, me and our favorite local band, Island of Black and White, at the Side Bar Nightclub in El Dorado Hills. Great music, nice people, no cover charge, what better way to celebrate the Holiday Season... and tease me about getting old? Hope you can join us.

Happy Holidays!

Paul & Leisa 

The Ten Greediest Americans of 2011

The 10 Greediest Americans of 2011

By Sam Pizzigati

You don't have to make millions to rate as an all-star greedster. You do have to be ruthless, self-absorbed, and insensitive to others. Here's my list of the 10 greediest Americans of 2011.
10. Michael T. Duke, Wal-Mart CEO

Duke takes home his millions — $18.7 million in the company's latest fiscal year — by squeezing workers. He ended "premium pay" for the hours Wal-Mart workers have to put in on Sundays, eliminated profit-sharing, sheared health care benefits, and cut staffing levels so low, Retailing Today reports, that customers sometimes can't find shopping carts because the store where they're shopping has no employees available to collect carts from the parking lot.
9. Paul Hoolahan, Sugar Bowl CEO

The Sugar Bowl, one of college football's top four postseason games, enjoys tax-exempt status and regularly touts its contributions to good causes. But Hoolahan's favorite cause may be his own. He took home just under $600,000 in 2009, almost quadruple his $160,500 paycheck for the same job 13 years earlier. Meanwhile, the Sugar Bowl and its three "Bowl Championship Series" partners are contributing to charity only 20 cents from every $10 in revenue, theArizona Republic reports.
8. Robert Iger, Disney CEO

His annual compensation topped $28 million last year, a neat 35-percent increase. In October, Iger picked up a new pay deal that extends his CEO contract into 2015 and then adds on a cushy final year as Disney's "executive chairman" — at $2.5 million — to help him make the transition into retirement.
7. Doug Oberhelman, Caterpillar CEO

In California, 305, 400 will Lose their Unemployment Assistance

Unless Congress acts now, lifeline aid for nearly 2 million workers who have lost jobs will be cut off

Dec. 31 as the extended unemployment insurance benefits expire. In California alone, 305,400 will lose

unemployment benefits. Over the course of 2012, an estimated 6 million U.S. workers struggling to find jobs

will lose these essential benefits if Congress continues to focus on keeping tax cuts for the 1% who crashed

our economy rather than helping the 99% by extending unemployment insurance.

If Congress fails to act, the impact on families, communities and our economy

will be devastating.

The average weekly benefit for an unemployed worker on the federal extension is about $297, which amounts

to only half of the income needed to cover the most basic necessities of food, housing and transportation, as

measured by the annual Consumer Expenditure Survey. In California, the weekly benefit averages $292.64.

While barely enough for a family’s survival, unemployment aid also supports

local economies in critical ways.

Unemployment benefits are pumped back into the economy immediately, flowing to local grocery stores, gas

stations, landlords and utilities. In California, the loss to communities could total $89,372,256 a week.

Nationwide, the economy grows by $2 for every dollar spent on unemployment insurance.

With unemployment rampant, now is not the time for Congress to delay or play

political games with the extension of unemployment aid.

Unemployment in CALIFORNIa

Total* 11.7 percent

African Americans** 19.5 percent

Latinos** 14.7 percent

20- to 24-year-olds, all** 19 percent

*October 2011

**2010 averages

A Jobless Sheetmetal Worker Urges Congress to Extend Unemployment Insurance

House Republicans tonight voted (234-193) to cut more than in half the number of weeks jobless workers can collect unemployment insurance (UI) benefits next year. The bill ^[1] also cuts pay for public employees, cuts preventive health services, reduces premium assistance for low- and middle-income individuals buying health insurance and raises premiums for many Medicare beneficiaries.
A new report ^[2] from the National Employment Law Project (NELP ^[3]) says the legislation:

abandons millions of U.S. workers and those communities hardest hit by the most severe jobs crisis since the Great Depression.

While the legislation extends the federal UI program that is set to expire Dec. 31, the huge reduction in weeks of benefits and other changes in the UI program are “reckless and irresponsible,” says NELP Executive Director Christine Owens.

Laid off and Left out

Instead of acting to renew the vital lifeline of federal unemployment insurance, now set to expire Dec. 31st, the House majority leadership is fast-tracking a bill that would slash the federal benefits program -- drastically cutting weeks of benefits in every state, and imposing the harshest cuts in states with the highest unemployment rates.
Sound perverse?  Actually, it's even worse.
HR 3630, sponsored by Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI) was introduced just last Friday.  Already, House leaders are pushing for a floor vote as early as Tuesday, Dec. 13.
The bill would cut 40 weeks of federal benefits in the highest unemployment states, and between 20 and 33 weeks in most other states.  A minimum of 14 weeks of federal unemployment benefits would be cut in every state in America.
Call your Members of Congress now!  Call toll-free 1-888-245-3381.  Tell your Representative as well as your Senators to oppose HR 3630.  Tell them to support a full renewal of the federal unemployment insurance program for 2012 now!
Even if you've called previously, please call again now.  Here's why...
In addition to slashing unemployment benefits and hitting high unemployment states with the largest cuts, HR 3630 would also:
* Allow states to impose mandatory drug-testing on all unemployment insurance claimants. (Yes, you read that correctly.)
* Take money out of jobless workers' weekly benefits to "pay for" reemployment services (Yes, you read that correctly.)
* Allow states to divert funds intended to pay unemployed workers' benefits, and use those funds to subsidize private employer's 'workfare'-type programs (Yes, you read that correctly too.)
Call your Members of Congress now!  Call toll-free 1-888-245-3381.  Tell your Representative as well as your Senators to oppose HR 3630.  Tell them to support a full renewal of the federal unemployment insurance program for 2012 now!

The Saving American Democracy Amendment

Budget cuts and tuition hikes coming this week

Additional state budget cuts to higher education, k-12, and other services are predicted for this week.

They are called Trigger Cuts.

http://www.sacbee.com/2011/12/12/4116082/californias-financial-forecast.html

Major corporations pay few taxes

265 Major, Profitable U.S. Corporations' Tax Avoidance
Costs States $42 Billion Over Three Years; Sixty Eight
Companies Have At Least One Tax-Free Year
Citizens for Tax Justice
December 7, 2011
http://www.ctj.org/corporatetaxdodgers50states/CorporateTaxDodgers50StatesPR.pdf

Washington, DC -- A comprehensive new study that
profiles 265 consistently profitable Fortune 500
companies finds that 68 of them paid no state corporate
income tax in at least one of the last three years and
20 of them averaged a tax rate of zero or less during
the 2008-2010 period. These are among the findings in
"Corporate Tax Dodging in the Fifty States, 2008-2010"
released today by the Institute on Taxation and Economic
Policy (ITEP) and Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ).

"Our report shows these corporations raked in a combined
$1.33 trillion in profits in the last three years, and
far too many have managed to shelter half or more of
their profits from state taxes," said Matthew Gardner,
Executive Director at the Institute on Taxation and
Economic Policy and the report's co-author. "They're so
busy avoiding taxes, it's no wonder they're not creating
any new jobs."

Bobby's Story: Facing Foreclosure

Film: Which Way Home

The Friday Night Film Series Presents

"Which Way Home"

Oscar Nominee – Best Documentary

“Tremendous eye-opening filmmaking.” – Esquire


“A riveting documentary.” – Cinematical

100% Rating on Rotten Tomatoes!

Friday, December 9, 2011

 Hinde Auditorium

Sac State University Union

 Shorts--6:00pm   Feature Film--6:30pm

Info: 916-248-3970 or paulb1221@sbcglobal.net

Sacramento Police break up Occupy protest

City of Sacramento plays Grinch again as 23 are arrested 

by Dan Bacher 

The City of Sacramento played the Grinch again on December 8 when they arrested 23 Occupy Sacramento supporters defending their First Amendment rights at Cesar Chavez Park. 

However, this Grinch, unlike the Dr. Seuss character, didn't just try to steal Christmas, but to deprive people of their rights under the Constitution. 

The activists - including military veterans from the Vietnam and Iraq wars marking the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor - were arrested early Thursday morning about 2:30 a.m. during a "First Amendment Party" at Cesar Chavez Park. 

21 of the 23 were booked into Sacramento County Jail and all were released by 2:30 p.m. 

President Obama makes economic sense

Osawatamie, Kansas. Dec. 6,2011.

Comedy Central passes Rick Scott the cup

Occupy our Homes.

Occupy Our Homes: Tuesday, Dec. 6 Tomorrow marks a huge day of action to fight back against the housing crisis and launch a new phase in the Occupy movement - occupying foreclosed homes and property. 99%ers will challenge Wall Street banks and demand they negotiate with homeowners instead of fraudulently foreclosing on them. Around the country people will stand up for the idea that everyone deserves to live with dignity in decent, affordable housing. Events are taking place in Brooklyn and Rochester New York; Los Angeles, Oakland, San Francisco, San Diego, San Jose, Petaluma and Contra Costa California; Lake Worth, Florida; Atlanta, Fayetteville, and DeKalb Georgia; Chicago, Illinois; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Denver, Colorado; Detroit and Southgate Michigan; St. Louis, Missouri; Portland, Oregon; Seattle, Washington and beyond. Get more info at http://occupyourhomes.org/.

Support unemployed workers

The clock is ticking.  Congress has yet to act to renew federal unemployment insurance for 2012, and the program that has helped more than 17 million long-term jobless Americans is set to expire December 31st.
If Congress fails to act, nearly 2 million unemployed workers will be cut off of federal unemployment benefits in the month of January alone.  Millions more would be cut off in ensuing months -- more than 6 million during 2012.
Last week, with your help, we delivered 80,000 Petition to Congress online signatures, gathered with key allies, to a rally with unemployed workersand Members of Congress on Capitol Hill.
Now, we need to make sure that all the Congressional leaders and every Member of Congress receives this message directly from you:  Renew Federal Unemployment Insurance Now!
Send a message to your Members of Congress and Congressional leaders:  Renew Federal Unemployment Insurance Now!
Tell your Senators, your Representative and the leaders in Congress from both parties to Renew Federal Unemployment Insurance Now!
Many thanks.
The UnemployedWorkers.Org Team

"I'll Occupy" : The 99 is Pissed and We Will Not Be Dism...

Growing Housing Crisis in Sacramento

Wall Street Banks and the Growing Housing Crisis in Sacramento.

California has been one of the hardest hit states by the foreclosure crisis. Wall Street’s reckless lending practices devastated California with high-cost loans homeowners couldn’t afford, while inflating the housing bubble that reaped record profits for the 1 percent. The consequences of Wall Street greed is that millions of Californians have lost their homes and thousands more continue to struggle with finding quality and affordable housing.

While vacant bank-owned properties litter Sacramento neighborhoods, rental vacancies are in decline, rental prices are up in many areas, and there are 2,734 homeless in Sacramento County.12 In parts of Sacramento rent rates increased by more than 3 percent from 2007 to 2012.13

War Times analyzes Occupy Movement

(excerpts)

Occupy has changed the country.  People are fighting back.  And the developments are happening faster than anyone could have guessed even a few months ago. The Occupy movement has gone from a few dozen in Zuccotti park in New York to thousands of participants in hundreds of cities.  Across the country occupations have become pitched battles between the people’s movement and municipal police forces. 

The speed with which this unfolded, the degree of brutality leveled against the occupiers, and the resilience of the Occupy movement are all remarkable.  In times like this the movement outstrips the best expectations of organizers and organizations.  And while these developments defy simple explanation, their impact is undeniable.  People are no longer talking about deficits and budget cuts, but about Wall Street and the one percent. 

So it is with Occupy.  It has bypassed traditional forms of political mobilization, leaving more established organizations trying to play catch up. And the movement has changed form, from public occupations, to marches and rallies, civil disobedience and city-wide strikes – all faster than anyone would have expected. 

But the forces opposed to Occupy are moving fast too. Occupiers have faced serious police repression around the country, with pepper spray attacks in Seattle and Davis, California, life-threatening injuries in Oakland, and in Seattle a miscarriage caused by police violence.

Meanwhile, Wall Street’s agenda of austerity for the poor and attacks on the public sector has not yet been derailed. In Europe, the bankers and bondholders are remaking governments and economies in Greece and Italy. But gutting the public sector and democratic governments may not satisfy the IMF and German bankers, nor avoid collapse. The euro zone’s whole single-currency project is approaching a systemic meltdown that threatens to contaminate U.S. banks and to bring on a rerun of the 2008 crash, perhaps worse this time. 

Congress is close to destroying the internet (no hyperbole)

Congress is close to destroying the internet (no hyperbole)

Judge rules taking money from First 5 illegal

A Fresno judge ruled last week that California's attempt to take $1 billion from First 5 commissions was illegal.

Gov. Jerry Brown and state lawmakers initially relied on the money in March to help balance a then-$26 billion shortfall. Two months later, state leaders backed away from the budget solution because First 5 commissions filed suit to block it. But Brown continued to defend the move in court.

Fresno Superior Court judge Debra J. Kazanjian determined in her ruling that the First 5 take was illegal because it required voter approval under the initial 1998 ballot measure, Proposition 10.

First 5 programs are funded by a voter-approved tobacco tax to provide early childhood development services. State leaders instead dedicated that money toward ongoing Medi-Cal costs for children 0 to 5 years old.

The governor argued that the move was legal because it was consistent with Proposition 10's goal of supporting children in their first five years of life. His defense essentially was that the budget crisis would have otherwise left those children without Medi-Cal services.

Kazanjian disputed that interpretation: "But that argument is disingenuous in that it was the legislature that 'chose' to cut funding to existing services instead of taking what might be the unpopular step of raising revenue."

She also said elsewhere, "To claim that transferring decision-making from local communities to the state legislature is 'consistent with' Prop 10 is like asking the court to find that black means white."

Kevin Yamamura. The Sacramento Bee

Comment:   The judges argument applies to many of the dubious reductions in the budget.  That is, the legislature can't just argue- we don't have the money.  Of course they have the money, they decline to raise the money due to political pressure. Duane Campbell

UC General Strike

OCCUPY UC DAVIS CALLS FOR CAMPUS-WIDE STRIKE
Board of Regents Declared Illegitimate by General Assembly

On Monday, November 21, 99.5% of the 1,729 participants attending the Occupy UC Davis General Assembly--the basic organizing unit of the Occupy Movement--voted for a nonviolent campus-wide general strike, to take place on Monday, November 28. The strike is to coincide with a statewide meeting of the Regents, which the Assembly maintained “has repeatedly shown itself unfit to represent the interests of the students, faculty, and workers who constitute the University of California.”

Undergraduate student fees have tripled over the past ten years, resulting in an unprecedented explosion in student debt. At the same time, departmental budgets have shrunk, which has led to diminishing benefits, swelling workloads, and non-existent job security for academic and non-academic workers alike. Following two successive years of sharp tuition increases, accompanied by millions in department and resource cuts, layoffs, and furloughs, the board has now proposed a new 81% fee increase and drastic budget reductions.

Huge Crowd at Occupy UC Davis Rally Today, Nov. 21

Pepper spraying cop

Cop from U.C. Davis.
graphic by Peppersprayingcop.tumbir.com

Occupy Colleges Now: Students as the New Public Intellectuals | Truthout

Occupy Colleges Now: Students as the New Public Intellectuals | Truthout

UC Davis Rally at the Quad - Monday, Nov. 21, Noon

Rally in solidarity with the students at UC Davis. On Friday afternoon, Chancellor Katehi ordered the UC Davis police to attack students protesting peacefully on the UC Davis quad. Her actions have been met with international shock, outrage, and condemnation. Occupy Sacramento will join them in their rally.  RSVP on facebook.

Voters Overwhelmingly Reject GOP Agenda

Occupy lawyer asks Gov. Brown to arrest police for pepper spray incident

"Physical attacks on persons violate California Penal Code 242 (Battery) and such violence perpetrated by those in uniform is a criminal violation of Federal civil rights law 18 USC 242,” said Jeff Kravitz, a constitutional rights attorney.

Photo of Occupy lawyers Jeff Kravitz (left), Josh Kaizuka (middle) and Mark Merin (right and speaking) at a press conference in Cesar Chavez Park on October 24. Photo by Dan Bacher. 

Occupy lawyer asks Brown to arrest police for pepper spray incident

by Dan Bacher, http://www.alternet.org/

The officers involved in the shocking pepper-spray attacks on UC Davis students Friday should be immediately arrested because they’ve violated federal and state laws, said one of the lawyers from Occupy Sacramento in a letter to Governor Jerry Brown, Attorney General Kamala Harris and other law enforcement officials.

“Physical attacks on persons violate California Penal Code 242 (Battery) and such violence perpetrated by those in uniform is a criminal violation of Federal civil rights law 18 USC 242,” said Jeff Kravitz, a constitutional rights attorney. 

Kravitz suggested the state, through AG Harris, as well as Yolo District Attorney Jeff Reisig and US Attorney Benjamin Wagner should make the arrests of the UC Davis officers immediately. “It is imperative that proper action be taken by County, State and Federal authorities… initiating criminal proceedings including the arrest of those who committed the acts of violence or bringing the issues before a grand jury. Leaving he matter solely in the hands of the University is not a reasonable option,” said Kravitz.

He added that the University of California’s promised investigation is “clearly self-serving and bears resemblance to the investigation conducted by Penn State into the allegations of sex crimes by Jerry Sandusky…an investigation used to protect the university and not the victims.”

For a copy of the letter contact Jeff Kravitz, 916-553-4072 or 916-996-9170. Occupy Sacramento said it will send its occupiers to UC Davis today, November 21, to support the Occupy UC Davis students brutally pepper-sprayed and violently assaulted Friday by UC police. A caravan will leave from Cesar Chavez Park shortly after 11 a.m. for a NOON rally at UC Davis. “We feel it is a necessity to support and assist our friends at UC Davis in their time of need,” said Cres Vellucci, an ACLU board member in Sacramento, and Legal Team coordinator for Occupy Sacramento. “This kind of brutality as seen by the citizen videos circulating the world needs to stop. When someone next asks ‘why’ is there an Occupy, we only need to point to this example of the 1 percent ordering their public servants to punish – without trial – peaceful, non-violent demonstrators.” “The Occupy movement will not stand for it,” said Vellucci.

There have been 84 arrests at Occupy Sacramento since Oct. 6; Last week, 31 cases were dismissed “in the interest of justice” by the City of Sacramento, which is pursuing charges against 25 others. The District Attorney refused to prosecute the nonviolent occupiers, forcing the City to proceed. Occupy Sacramento and members of SEIU and other unions marched on Governor Jerry Brown’s loft home Saturday to call for an end to the epidemic of violence by law enforcement agencies against the Occupy movement, as exemplified in the shocking video of police brutally pepper spraying peaceful UC Davis students at a protest.

 (http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2011/11/20/occupy-sacramento-marches-on-jerry-browns-home/) The video of the November 18 protest (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AdDLhPwpp4&utm_source=General&utm_campaign=f6cc05a348-Daily_Update_11_20_2011&utm_medium=email) has gone viral throughout the world, highlighting the routine violence that has been used by police agencies in California to suppress any dissent to rule by Wall Street and the 1 percent. For more information, contact: Cres Vellucci, 916-996-9170, civillib@comcast.net, www.occupysac.org

Please Sign Petition Urging UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi to Resign!

http://www.change.org/petitions/police-pepper-spray-peaceful-uc-davis-students-ask-chancellor-katehi-to-resign

Petitioning

1. UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi

Why This Is Important
Join University of California at Davis, Assistant Professor Nathan Brown in calling for the resignation of UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Kathei for her failure to protect UC Davis student's First Amendment right to assemble, or even their physical safety.

Nathan Brown's Open Letter To The Chancellor is below:

Open Letter to Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi

Linda P.B. Katehi,

I am a junior faculty member at UC Davis. I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of English, and I teach in the Program in Critical Theory and in Science & Technology Studies. I have a strong record of research, teaching, and service. I am currently a Board Member of the Davis Faculty Association. I have also taken an active role in supporting the student movement to defend public education on our campus and throughout the UC system. In a word: I am the sort of young faculty member, like many of my colleagues, this campus needs. I am an asset to the University of California at Davis.

You are not.

I write to you and to my colleagues for three reasons:

1) to express my outrage at the police brutality which occurred against students engaged in peaceful protest on the UC Davis campus today

2) to hold you accountable for this police brutality

3) to demand your immediate resignation

Today you ordered police onto our campus to clear student protesters from the quad. These were protesters who participated in a rally speaking out against tuition increases and police brutality on UC campuses on Tuesday—a rally that I organized, and which was endorsed by the Davis Faculty Association. These students attended that rally in response to a call for solidarity from students and faculty who were bludgeoned with batons, hospitalized, and arrested at UC Berkeley last week. In the highest tradition of non-violent civil disobedience, those protesters had linked arms and held their ground in defense of tents they set up beside Sproul Hall. In a gesture of solidarity with those students and faculty, and in solidarity with the national Occupy movement, students at UC Davis set up tents on the main quad. When you ordered police outfitted with riot helmets, brandishing batons and teargas guns to remove their tents today, those students sat down on the ground in a circle and linked arms to protect them.

A Disgraceful Display of Police Brutality at UC Davis

Published on Saturday, November 19, 2011 by MSNBC

Video Spreads of UC Davis Cops Pepper Spraying Occupy Students

Demonstrators were protesting dismantling of encampment

University of California, Davis, student Mike Fetterman, receives a treatment for pepper spray by UC Davis firefighter Nate Potter, after campus police dismantled an Occupy Wall Street encampment on the campus quad in Davis, Calif., Friday, Nov. 18, 2011. UC Davis officials say eight men and two women were taken into custody. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)DAVIS, California -- A video of police in riot gear pepper spraying demonstrators is spreading after 10 Occupy protesters were arrested on the University of California, Davis campus Friday, Sacramento NBC station KCRA reported.

The demonstrators were protesting the dismantling of the "Occupy UC Davis" encampment that was set up in the school's quad area.

"Police came and brutalized them and tore their tents down and all that stuff. It was really scary. It felt like there was anarchy everywhere," said student Hisham Alihbob.

Police told Sacramento's KTXL TV stationthat the students were given until 3 p.m. Friday to remove their tents from the campus. When students refused, police arrived at the given time. Students sat down cross-legged and locked arms when cops showed up and the pepper spraying began.

UC Davis Police Chief Annette Spicuzza said it would not be safe or sustainable for demonstrators to camp in the quad.

"It's not safe for multiple reasons," Spicuzza said.

At least one woman left by ambulance for treatment of chemical burns.

"We just successfully booted the police off campus in a non-violent way," Chris Wong, a student protester who said he was speaking for himself, not the Occupy group, told the Sacramento Bee.

Wong said he was one of the students sprayed, but he looked down and didn't get a full dose. He said students then circled the police and tried to hold their ground. The police eventually left.

© 2011 NBC News

Mario Savio Memorial Lecture: Robert Reich on Class Warfare in America

The 15th annual Mario Savio Memorial Lecture & Young Activist Award will present Robert Reich, Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley, speaking on Class Warfare in America

CSU Trustees vote to raise fees 9 %

CSU Trustees vote for 9 % fee hike amid protests.  Student fees will increase by $500.  The 9-to-6 vote was taken behind closed doors and out of public view after police removed chanting, whistle-blowing protesters from the meeting room. Several protesters were taken into custody after a group tried to storm the meeting room.

The vote comes as students, faculty and labor groups have intensified pressure on University of California and Cal State leaders to oppose further fee hikes and education cuts.

Students and members of the group ReFund California tried to storm the front door and police released tear gas to push them back. Several protesters were handcuffed and arrested.

Smear Campaigns Fuel Shutdowns of Occupations Across Country | Truthout

Smear Campaigns Fuel Shutdowns of Occupations Across Country | Truthout

Hartmann: Meet a Real Democratic Socialist

CSU proposes tuition hike- again

California State University considers 9% tuition hike

California State University trustees will vote Wednesday on raising fees by $498, or about 9 percent, for fall 2012. That would bring annual tuition for undergrads at CSU's 23 campuses to $5,970, not including books, room or board. Most campuses charge an additional $1,000 in local fees.

The tuition increase is part of the university's larger plan for its 2012-13 budget. Trustees are also voting Wednesday on a proposal to ask the state for $2.4 billion in funding next year, an increase of $330 million over this year. If all of it comes through, CSU will not implement the tuition hike.

"We won't have to increase tuition for the fall if the state provides adequate funding in next year's budget," Chancellor Charles Reed said this morning in a phone call with reporters.

Universities make budget requests to the state every year but it's been many years since they received anything close to what they requested. For the current year, the state cut both CSU and University of California by $650 million. The state will cut the two systems by another $100 million each next month if mid-year budget projections are not met. A $750 million cut would translate to a 27 percent drop in funding for CSU compared with last year, Reed said.

Read more: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2011/11/csu-considers-9-tuition-hike.html#ixzz1diI5fjzB

Taibbi: How I stopped worrying and learned to love OWS

..And here's one more thing I was wrong about: I originally was very uncomfortable with the way the protesters were focusing on the NYPD as symbols of the system. After all, I thought, these are just working-class guys from the Bronx and Staten Island who have never seen the inside of a Wall Street investment firm, much less had anything to do with the corruption of our financial system.

But I was wrong. The police in their own way are symbols of the problem. All over the country, thousands of armed cops have been deployed to stand around and surveil and even assault the polite crowds of Occupy protesters. This deployment of law-enforcement resources already dwarfs the amount of money and manpower that the government "committed" to fighting crime and corruption during the financial crisis. One OWS protester steps in the wrong place, and she immediately has police roping her off like wayward cattle. But in the skyscrapers above the protests, anything goes.

This is a profound statement about who law enforcement works for in this country. What happened on Wall Street over the past decade was an unparalleled crime wave. Yet at most, maybe 1,500 federal agents were policing that beat – and that little group of financial cops barely made any cases at all.

Democratic Socialists support Occupy Wall Street

   Democratic Socialists Hold Convention in Washington:  Responding to the Economic Crisis: Beyond the Washington Consensus. DSA is a member of the Progressive Alliance.

“Occupy Wall Street and the Struggle for a Democratic Society-“

A plenary session at 1:30 PM  on Friday  will kick off  national convention of DSA, the Democratic Socialists of America to be held from  Nov. 11 through Nov. 13 at the Sheraton Premiere at Tysons Corner located at 8661 Leesburg Pike, Vienna, VA.

DSA, the U.S. affiliate of the Socialist International, is the largest socialist political organization in the country with over 7000 members and active locals in more 40 U.S. cities and college campuses. DSA members reside in all 50 states. 

A public outreach event “Equality and Jobs for the 99%: Economic Justice for All” featuring speakers  labor leader and immigration reform activist Eliseo Medina, author John Nichols, and  local activists  occurs at 7 p.m. on Nov. 11 at the St. Stephen and Incarnation Church at 1525 Newton St. NW, Washington, D.C.

Occupy Cal 11/9/11

Nov. 8, 2011: Ohio Voters Repeal Anti-Worker Law

Unions win critical battle in Ohio.

I'm in Ohio right now, where working families just won an incredible victory.

Ohioans overwhelmingly voted to repeal Senate Bill 5--Gov. John Kasich's attack on middle-class jobs that was designed to destroy collective bargaining rights in Ohio.

Rally to Defend Your Education

Rallies Call for Tax on Wall Street

Let’s Talk Democratic Socialism, Already -- In These Times

Let’s Talk Democratic Socialism, Already -- In These Times

by Maria Svart.

Senator Harkin and Representative DeFazio Introduce Financial Transactions Tax Proposal

Senator Harkin and Representative DeFazio Introduce Financial Transactions Tax Proposal

Greeks' Choice — and Ours: Democracy or Finance? | Common Dreams

Greeks' Choice — and Ours: Democracy or Finance? | Common Dreams

Robert Reich

The Economic Crisis- Presentation on Saturday

The Economic Crisis- What is it Costing Your Students? Presentation (with slides) on the continuing economic crisis, the looting of the economy, causes, effects, and alternatives.

Presented  as a part of the  annual conference of The Bilingual Multicultural Education Department (BMED)  Sat . Nov. 5, 2011.  11;30  Am. In the University Union, at  Sacramento State. The Mountain Room.  Free. Open to the Public.

While the Great Recession officially  ended in 2009,  a CNN/Opinion Research  poll, shows that   over 74 % of U.S. citizens  believe the economy continues in recession. ( Sept.26, 2011)  The unemployed and the under employed face the toughest job market in decades.  

  “ It’s now impossible to deny the obvious, which is that we are not now and have never been on the road to recovery. “ Paul Krugman.  NY. Times.