You may notice a slight difference in the lede of this post from a lot of the postings I’ve done this past year. Since the Firedoglake Membership Program began last Match, I have started most of my diaries here at MyFDL with the following:

Author’s Note: Please take a few minutes and Join the Firedoglake Membership Program today. FDL provides the tools that help me and others extend our reach with our rants, so we need to support FDL when we can.

I’m not real sure why I have done this other than I believe in Firedoglake and what Jane Hamsher ‘s team is doing and have ever since I first discovered FDL back during the Libby Trial days.

When the Membership program first began, I made phone calls to welcome folks to their new Firedoglake Membership. Many of the folks I called when the Membership Program began were individuals whose nom de blogs I had seen in the comments across multiple FDL posts. There were many more folks who joined FDL who had never commented at all but had lurked and enjoyed the original reporting and snark and activism of Firedoglake.

During this first year of the Firedoglake Membership Program, we have seen members only webinars with guests such as Alan Grayson or Michael Moore, just to name two. You might have seen the news reports that came out of the Michael Moore visit because he proposed Matt Damon as a candidate for president!

Even more important has been the creation of Occupy Supply as support for the various #Occupy Wall Street and other local efforts across the country. Hearing the reports from the local Member Liaisons at the twice weekly webinars and reading the diaries they post at MyFDL has re-newed my hope that we can effect the change needed. As Brian Sonenstein said in his diary yesterday:

But financial support alone would not have made Occupy Supply what it’s become. Our extensive network of member-volunteers providing intimate ground support across the country is what has made Occupy Supply an important fixture of the movement. These passionate, devoted members have taken up the important and often difficult role in the movement of caretaker, source of moral support and sometimes even mediator. They do so much more than just deliver supplies; they attend GA’s, march, protest, do maintenance work, speak with the protesters about their problems and concerns, provide a hot shower, warm bed or hearty meal when Occupiers needed a break, help fight eviction, do outreach to the community, etc.

Of course, FDL members have supported and taken part in many other FDL/Member actions besides Occupy/Supply, including actions in Congress, audit the Fed, Just Say Now, and protests involving Bradley Manning and opposing threats to Social Security and other vital programs.

For as little as $5 a month or $45 a year, you can join the Firedoglake Membership and help support the activism. At this time last year, none of us had any inklings of how the Membership and the state of activism in the US and around the world would evolve. Join with others as we start Year 2 of this particular journey.  And for all the folks who have already joined, my most heartfelt thanks for your continuing support for what Jane has established here.

The reporting of David Dayen at FDL News and Kevin Gosztola at The Dissenter, the snark of Tbogg (A somewhat popular blogger), Pam Spaulding and Pam’s House Blend, Lisa Derrick and LaFiga, Just Say Now, and Book Salons are available to us because of FDL Members underpinning everything. If you think about all the information available at FDL and all the activism supported by FDL, it is truly amazing that only $45 a year can help to support all of this.

Picture courtesy of Occupy Rochester Member Liaison Sandy F.

We’ve had a lot of good posts and diaries about Occupations around the country since the last Occupy the Blog! As always, the reports are a mix of good news and bad news. Occupy Buffalo was evicted this week while supposedly the city was negotiating with the occupiers. Kevin Gosztola reported here while Jane Hamsher called out the authorities here and here. The folks at Occupy Buffalo reported here for us on the “Myths and Facts”:

MYTH 1: Since Occupy Buffalo has been evicted, the movement is over.
FACT 1: Occupy Buffalo is not going anywhere. We are still in Niagra Square and continue to organize and be active in the community!
General Assemblies are still scheduled for Saturdays at noon, and Mondays & Wednesdays at 7pm at Niagra Square. There is a calendar of events on our facebook page and our website www.occupybuffalo.org.

Come join us!

Kevin also reported on the eviction of Occupy DC here and here. Diarist jest also provided a first person account of the eviction in DC here with a lot of good pictures.

Kevin again provides an update for the extra steps the folks at Occupy Rochester are having to deal with here.

Kyushukev has had a couple of reports from Occupy Nashville. First up is this report from Tuesday on plans to Occupy the Legislature on Wednesday. Here is his report with some videos from the Wednesday action.

CTuttle has had a couple of reports on Occupy Honolulu and Occupy Hilo activities.

RFShunt had a report on some attempted generational warfare/mis-direction from a Koch Brothers mouthpiece here:

The uproariously named “Reason.tv” has a video out entitled “Why Geezers Are the True Enemy of the Occupy Movement” featuring Veronique de Rugy. In the video, Ms. de Rugy explains to young occupiers that the elderly have done deplorably well in the preceding few decades. This makes Nonna and Nonno the natural enemies of the young and should therefore be stripped of Social Security and Medicare. In her defense, she does stop short of suggesting they be taken to the nearest frozen mountaintop and set adrift.

Lest she be mistaken for some class warrior, Ms. de Rugy hastens to point out that even though many of the aged are rolling in enough gelt to keep them in poligrip and corrective shoes for the rest of their lives, they differ from the one-percent. The heroic one-percenters, you see, amassed their riches by making contributions to the economy, unlike grandma who fritters away her days watching Matlock reruns and has yet to outsource a single job.

He followed that up with the news that Occupy Pittsburgh had been given notice of eviction here. Read the rest of this entry →

We’ve received some excellent Occupy related diaries these last few days that are a joy to read. They span the country, including some of the more conservative areas, and even up into Canada.

First up, we have this diary (with video) from tobiasfox on Occupy Newark.

From the other side of the country we have this diary (with video) from djvjgrrl and Occupy Tacoma:

A $100 grocery gift card from Fire Dog Lake’s occupy supply arrived just in time for the end of the holiday season at Occupy Tacoma. The camp, which is now the only full time occupation in western Washington State, was delighted to stock up on sorely needed staples…coffee, creamer, sugar and instant soup topping the list.

Despite raids on other large occupations throughout the state, Occupy Tacoma continues to have a positive relationship with local law officials and has been free to focus on community building, organization, and supporting local and state wide actions.

A short tour of the camp taken this week can be found below. (warning, audio recorded very loudly – i suggest turning down volume significantly before starting video) Read the rest of this entry →

In this week between Christmas and New Years, I want to start with some of the bad news on Occupy efforts that have been covered at Firedoglake and partners. Jane has had some posts on the status of occupations around the country (here, here, and here for example.)

Delivery to Occupy Erie. (photo: Mentatmark)

I have to applaud the persistence of some of the Occupy efforts. Mentatmark tells us of the Occupy Erie problems here:

Occupy Erie had Official Visitors again yesterday morning, for at least the seventh time since the middle of October. Each time they come, more gear is taken, more stringent rules announced. Canopies, tarps, sleeping bags, cardboard, and a child’s tent, all thrown into the back of a City truck each time. We are told we can get our stuff back, but it will only be returned to the proper owner. And we have yet to be told when and where to go to get it. Maybe this spring or summer. There has only been one arrest to date.

Robert Alexander Dumas lets us know about the second eviction that Occupy Tucson had faced then tells us a couple of days later about Occupy Tucson finding a third location to Occupy. As cadogblog said in this diary about Occupy San Luis Obispo a couple of weeks ago, “We’re not going anywhere.”

Amerigus let us know about Occupy Albany’s eviction and Gibraltor kept us informed about Occupy Santa Cruz. Read the rest of this entry →

Author’s Note: Please take a few minutes and Join the Firedoglake Membership Program today. FDL provides the tools that help me and others extend our reach with our rants so we need to support FDL when we can.

Well, we have some great diaries from our Occupy Supply liaisons around the country since our last Occupy the Blog diary on Wednesday.

First up is this great diary from djvjgrrl and Occupy Tacoma:

It’s been a busy few weeks at Occupy Tacoma. We can’t thank you enough for your second package filled with thermal underclothing, fleeces, jackets, hats and facemasks. The weather has been hovering in the 30′s all week, and so many occupiers have expressed their sincere gratitude for the extra warmth your donations provided them. (sorry for the lack of light in the video; it gets dark now around 4pm and I didn’t get the donations passed out quickly enough to catch the end of daylight).

And here’s the video she references:

Moistenedbink had this diary with a video from one of the local Providence TV stations where Occupy Supply is prominently featured in the background: Read the rest of this entry →

Author’s Note: Please take a few minutes and Join the Firedoglake Membership Program today. FDL provides the tools that help me and others extend our reach with our rants so we need to support FDL when we can.

Hey folks! I’m sure you are aware that Firedoglake has been providing support to the Occupy efforts throughout the country via Occupy Supply. This is the first in a series of periodic diaries that I will be writing that will highlight diaries written by Firedoglake members who are acting as Liaisons to their local Occupy efforts. I will also be including some other Occupy related links to FDL posts and diaries that I think you might find interesting.

Just in two months time, Occupy Wall Street has already made a significant impact in moving the national dialogue towards the needs of people rather than the needs of the elite.

KrisAinTX had a couple of diaries at the end of November. This first one covers the delivery of Occupy Supplies to the Austin encampment while this second one is on some positive coverage for Occupy Supply by the student run newspaper at the University of Texas, Austin.

This diary from Bob Brigham is on Occupy Charlottsville. Unfortunately, Charlottsville is one of the sites that has been evicted.

Djvjgrrl let us know about the reception in Tacoma, WA of Occupy Supplies along with an update on the Tacoma and Washington State Occupy efforts.

Popyeye99 let us know about Occupy St. Louis with a great video of a march by local Shia Muslims accompanied by Occupy St Louis folks in solidarity.

RF Shunt wrote about the delivery of Occupy Supplies to Occupy Pittsburgh.

Figaro tells us about Occupy San Diego, including a video of a march led by a seven year old boy.

While not directly related to Occupy Supply, JiminTampa tells us how Occupy Tampa has been feeding breakfast to occupiers for 18¢ per person.

Finally, in case you missed it, here is yesterday’s (Saturday, December 10) FDL Book Salon on The 99%: How the Occupy Wall Street Movement is Changing America.

Below is a slideshow of pictures taken for Occupy Supply at some of the efforts around the country:

This link is to an FDL Activism Toolkit in case you want to write a diary for your local efforts (or just wish to write a diary at MyFDL for whatever topic you choose). Keep us informed as you fight the power!

Income Chart - click to embiggen

Author’s Note: Please take a few minutes and Join the Firedoglake Membership Program today. FDL provides the tools that help me and others extend our reach with our rants so we need to support FDL when we can.

I was doing my normal review of news web sites this morning when I came across this headline at the Washington Post:

The median U.S. wage in 2010 was just $26,363

At first I was shocked by this but then, not so much. David Dayen had this post at FDL News back in September

There were a couple other pieces of big news from the release of Census data. First, real median household income declined in 2010 by 2.3%. The average household now makes $49,445 a year.

My bold. If you think about it, with the rise of multi-person earners in households, the two figures are not at all incompatible. Nevertheless, it is still a concern It reinforces the message being sent by the folks at the various #Occupy efforts around the country.

This post from NASDAQ.com points out some of the aspects of this: Read the rest of this entry →

No Tarp For You, Hippy!! (Photo: raptortheangel, flickr)

Author’s Note: Please take a few minutes and Join the Firedoglake Membership Program today. FDL provides the tools that help me and others extend our reach with our rants so we need to support FDL when we can.

So there I was this morning, having completed my daily check for jobs in my chosen field of Software Quality Assurance and Testing (I do wish it would take longer than five minutes as that would mean there are actually some improvements in the economy but such is life), when I reached the NY Times and saw this article with the headline from Mayor Bloomberg that “‘Tent City’ Goes Beyond Free Speech”:

“The Constitution doesn’t protect tents,” he said at a news conference in Queens. “It protects speech and assembly.”

The mayor expressed concern that those exercising a “right to be silent” might be getting drowned out amid the din of the protests.

“We can’t have a place where only one point of view is allowed,” he said. “There are places where I think it’s appropriate to express yourself, and there are other places that are appropriate to set up Tent City. They don’t necessarily have to be one and the same.”

A quick check of der Google shows that a lot of elected officials in places such as Durham, NC, Hennepin Co, MN, Seattle, WA, San Francisco and even Sydney, Australia are apparently in full agreement with Mayor Bloomberg. In fact, in this quick check, it was only Hartford, CT that did not seem to think tents and Tarps are the cause of the decline of Western Civilization. (I’m sure there are other cities fighting the use of tents and tarps and there may even be a couple of others allowing them besides Hartford). Read the rest of this entry →