Occupy Detroit

[ordinary]

Global armed forces and international militia groups must be formed to protect the Earth against sudden paranormal and extra-terrestrial invasions.

Now that's what I'm talking about! We need some kind of common enemy to unite us!

[East Detroit]

2 guys were out on the city property in front of a Bank of America branch in St Clair Shores today. Had a sign. Surrounded by two cop cars. I should have snagged a picture.

[313WX]

The irascible and generally intemperate Donald would not graciously forgive being mistaken for the somewhat charming, but severely socially-dysfunctional, Daffy, even though both are hilariously amusing ducks.
And Darkwing, while arguably much better-adjusted, socially, than Donald or Daffy, is just not all that funny.
Which brings me to my mercifully-final point: They don't make ducks like they usedta.

Right!!! They make them all like Uncle Scrooge [[Scrooge McDuck) now.

[oldredfordette]

Those two guys were doing more for their country than many of the people who post here.

[Scottathew]

Time for these occupiers to do things that are more likely to improve their situation such as:

1) Get a haircut
2) Tend to personal hygiene
3) Create\update a resume
4) Distribute said resume online and in person
5) Attend job fairs
6) Make your full-time job to obtain a job, apply for at least 10-20 jobs a day

Want political change? Organize, get your message out, and vote for candidates that support your views, while trying to persuade others to do the same.

What isn't going to help?

Occupying\Camping out in a public space instead of doing the above suggestions.


We all understand the point, you're upset and are choosing to express this via urban camping.

Guess what, it's time to give the park back to the rest of the people instead of trying to force a completely unnecessary confrontation with police.

These "occupiers" across the county want, bait, incite, and develop ways to create interactions with the police. This isn't to say that the police are always acting properly, I've seen a lot of completely unnecessary brutality. However, this is exactly the imagery that these people want, that they're the victims of the economy, the "man", the police.

Keep pressing on with your political views, but do so in a way that allows you to be a contributing member of society.

I'm glad that the Detroit occupiers have been very peaceful and civil. However, there are already people saying they won't leave. Guess what, that park doesn't belong to you; it belongs to EVERYONE. You've been allowed exclusive access to it for a very long period of time. Clean up after yourselves and move on.

I genuinely wish you all success and the best of luck.

[oldredfordette]

In other words, Get Off My Lawn!

[Scottathew]

In other words, Get Off My Lawn!

LOL. Well, more of a "Get off my lawn. Get a job. Stay politically active and engaged [[even if 48091 doesn't agree with you!)".

[ordinary]

2 guys were out on the city property in front of a Bank of America branch in St Clair Shores today. Had a sign. Surrounded by two cop cars. I should have snagged a picture.

They were just really stupid bank robbers. That sign said, "Give us all your money". They just couldn't seem to get it into the slot under the teller window. They were armed with shillelaghs.

[Detroitnerd]

48091 is like our resident Archie Bunker...


"Stifle!"

[Russix]

LOL. Well, more of a "Get off my lawn. Get a job. Stay politically active and engaged [[even if 48091 doesn't agree with you!)".

I like the "Do this, but don't do that" ethos of conformity that you spread here like manure.

[Planner3357]

With just a few tents yet to be dismantled and the stench of Patchouli oil fading, I think it's safe to safe the Occupants stay in GCP is all but over. Thank God and good riddance!

[Detroitnerd]

With just a few tents yet to be dismantled and the stench of Patchouli oil fading, I think it's safe to safe the Occupants stay in GCP is all but over. Thank God and good riddance!

Wow! What a clever post! Did you see what he did there? He sort of hinted that, since there are fewer tents, their impact is dwindling. And then there's that reference to patchouli oil, which, you know, implies that they're all hippies there. Hahaha. And then, as a capper, he says "good riddance" -- to let you know that he didn't want them there. Did you get all that? It's not only clever to almost a fault, it's so ORIGINAL! Wow. Please keep posting that stuff here. I'm sure you're doing a lot of damage to the international Occupy movement with that razor-sharp wit of yours!

[Scottathew]

48091 is like our resident Archie Bunker...

"Stifle!"

I'm not old enough to understand the reference, but coming from you I'm sure it's one of admiration!

[Planner3357]

Wow! What a clever post! Did you see what he did there? He sort of hinted that, since there are fewer tents, their impact is dwindling. And then there's that reference to patchouli oil, which, you know, implies that they're all hippies there. Hahaha. And then, as a capper, he says "good riddance" -- to let you know that he didn't want them there. Did you get all that? It's not only clever to almost a fault, it's so ORIGINAL! Wow. Please keep posting that stuff here. I'm sure you're doing a lot of damage to the international Occupy movement with that razor-sharp wit of yours!

I could care less about the Occupy movement. The fact that I think it's a waste of everyone's time is not the point. It could have been a pro-life for kittens movement and I would still have been equally pissed that they were taking up space in our public space. The fact that these assholes have taken over one of the nicer green areas in the city, have used our city services, which they don't pay taxes for, and shit and piss all over the place is what pissed me off.

I'm so happy that now I can at least not be bothered by their pointless chanting and live shit music when I get home from working the midnight shift.

Yes....GOOD RIDDANCE!

[antongast]

which they don't pay taxes for...

Citation needed.

[Bham1982]

They were up in Bloomfield, the other day, though, not at any financial establishments.

They probably grew up there. Likely a cold night, so crashed with the parents, on Vaughn Road. Keepin it real...

[Detroitnerd]

I could care less about the Occupy movement. The fact that I think it's a waste of everyone's time is not the point. It could have been a pro-life for kittens movement and I would still have been equally pissed that they were taking up space in our public space. The fact that these assholes have taken over one of the nicer green areas in the city, have used our city services, which they don't pay taxes for, and shit and piss all over the place is what pissed me off.

I'm so happy that now I can at least not be bothered by their pointless chanting and live shit music when I get home from working the midnight shift.

Yes....GOOD RIDDANCE!

Now the park gets to go back to its original residents. The homeless, who shit sunshine and burp rainbows! Hooray!

[noise]

There are a lot of "thank you, sir, may I have another?" type of posters on this forum. Disheartening, really. No wonder the Detroit area has been in trouble for so long.

[Scottathew]

Now the park gets to go back to its original residents. The homeless, who shit sunshine and burp rainbows! Hooray!

It's not exclusively used by the homeless. My daughter and I used that park this summer\fall until it got occupied. I've seen other, non-homeless looking people using it as well on my trips.

[Detroitnerd]

It's not exclusively used by the homeless. My daughter and I used that park this summer\fall until it got occupied. I've seen other, non-homeless looking people using it as well on my trips.

I just gotta laugh at some of this shit. At the root of this, many of these complaints are political complaints disguised as quality-of-life complaints. Oh, some may deny it, but, let's face it: We know what's driving these complaints.

Now that the park will be a site for public defecation [[but non-political!), many will be satisfied.

[BShea]

Shea lost me with the ludicrous "Obamaville," describing Occupy as an "anti-capitalist movement" is nonsense and Shea should be intelligent enough to understand nuance.

This article's nothing more than another dismissive agenda-driven, right-wing rant, straight from the conservative template. It's littered with the usual clichés and Frank Luntz approved buzz phrases; "clad in a red Che Guevara baseball cap", "midnight drum circles" "urinating and defecating in the park", "clouds of marijuana smoke," blah de flippin' dah.

I thought Shea was a serious journalist with some semblance of integrity; apparently I was mistaken. Perhaps these kids can explain this movement in terms he might understand?



Addendum: Anyone bother to check the Daily Caller's About Us page?

Founded by Tucker Carlson, a 20-year veteran of print and broadcast media, and Neil Patel, former chief policy adviser to Vice President Cheney, The Daily Caller is a 24-hour news site providing original reporting from an experienced team of professional reporters, thought-provoking commentary and breaking news.

Need I say more?

Ah, something has integrity only if you agree with it? If I'd written a piece of hagiography for HuffPo, you'd be all in favor of it, no?

Nuance? I was there.

I wrote exactly what I saw and heard. I've attended several of the general assemblies. OWS is a Leftist movement -- as noted [[and lovingly mocked in recent days by Colbert, Stewart and Triumph the Comic Insult Dog from Conan). I read the Occupy Detroit official Facebook page several times a day, and it's extremely evident that the local movement includes hardcore anarchists and Marxists, as much as left-leaning centrists. The World Workers Party had a table set up in Grand Circus Park to distribute literature -- and I have photos of the nice guy in the red Che hat. So please, don't intimate that I'm making things up out of whole cloth. It's a Leftist movement whose organizers sit on the Hard Left, and those insisting it's some populist/centrist groundswell representative over everyone is engaging in the most gross intellectual dishonesty. The anti-capitalism is proudly on display in both Zuccotti Park and Grand Circus Park. Trying to argue otherwise is the worst sort of lie.

One of the key minds and organizers of the Occupy Wall Street movement, from the Adbusters summer planning before it was mainstream, is an anarchist [[link). Unless you think Businessweek is lying, of course.

The complaint about the midnight drum circle came from a Kales Building resident who complained during the first emergency general assembly. She's also the one who complained about the public urination/defecation in the park while tearfully expressing support of the overall OWS aims. Maybe she was an agent provacatuer planted as a mole by DHS? Because people at the GA were warning of that very thing -- paranoia and a massively inflated sense of self importance despite the fact the city stopped sending cops over there.

The Tea Party was a politically effective movement, from an X's and O's mechanical perspective. But the same criticisms apply to it: Until that movement exiles the Birchers and their like, it'll rightly be dismissed as a collection of Roundhead Know-Nothing Falangist yahoos. Until OWS expels the Marxists and anarchists, it'll be toxic to Middle America. Embracing the fringe means you'll be forever on the sidelines.

Any journalist that doesn't pen a fawning assessment of OWS is instantly accused of being too craven, too ignorant and too co-opted by the oligarchs to possibly understand Occupy Wall Street. Which is utter nonsense, of course, but I get it. We're accused of focusing on the baroque fringe ... when the truth is that the occupiers ARE largely the fringe. That doesn't negate their valid concerns -- there is corruption and an unhealthy influence of corporate money in politics. But quoting Marx and discussion of nationalizing the banks is asinine -- which you can find on the OD general assembly Facebook page right now.

Again, let me say it again [[this time with feeling!): Criticism of OWS doesn't automatically mean one is supportive of Wall Street's scofflaws.

The Economist's "Democracy In America" blog summed it up nicely recently: "... one may well agree with the general stance of OWS—that Wall Street is rife with corruption, that inequality and the influence of the wealthy need to be reined in—while disapproving of tent cities reeking of trash and the supercilious entitlement of liberal arts majors aggrieved by the realisation that student loans aren't gifts."

Of course, The Economist is to be dismissed as a fascist mouthpiece of the 1 Percent, I'm sure. Right?

If a movement is going to demand attention from the populace and the media, then it should rightly expect to be feel the heat of the spotlight. Please don't speak of "usual cliches" when they're on full display in the park and during the endless direct-democracy soviets. Sitting in a public park and being angry at everything and demanding someone, somewhere, do something about everything isn't exactly following the proven templates for change -- despite the New Age-y rhetoric from academics and pundits trying to explain away the movement's purposeful aimlessness.

But you have every right to waggle all the "down sparkles" at me that you wish. I just call it as I see it, and I'm not trying to change minds. I enjoy arguing too much, and am repulsed by the idea of mandatory consensus and ideological purity [[I fit into neither the Republican or Democratic parties, and disagree with Tucker Carlson on many issues). The idea of one-party rule, or single ideology [[such as all Progressive, all the time), nauseates me with fear.

Oh, and Occupy Detroit physically chased out a small batch of Lyndon LaRouchites last month. I guess they're not part of the 99 percent, and didn't fit the Occupy movement's notion of who gets to pitch a tent in a public park.

[Melocoton]

I've attended several of the general assemblies. OWS is a Leftist movement

We got ourselves a regular Woodward and Bernstein here, folks!

[Detroitnerd]

We can always count on the occasional eruption of Mt. Shea from time to time. With it comes a great quaking of the earth, a great noise, and much thunder -- but all that it leaves in its wake is a sulfurous odor, like that of a long, wet fart.

[BShea]

Do you dispute anything I wrote, or are you just offering up something that almost, but not quite, reaches the level of a balcony bon mot from Waldorf and Statler of The Muppets?

[Detroitnerd]

Do you dispute anything I wrote, or are you just offering up something that almost, but not quite, reaches the level of a balcony bon mot from Waldorf and Statler of The Muppets?

If you need me to tell you if I'm heckling you, god help you.