Occupy.... the Simthsonian?

I kinda understood the protests against Wall Street, the Banks and so forth. But protesting a museum seems a bit of a reach. These kinds are luck to live in a country that even with all it's faults doesn't believe too strongly in water cannons and rubber bullets.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44829459/ns/us_news-life/

Washington's National Air and Space Museum was closed Saturday afternoon after sign-wielding demonstrators tried to storm the building on the National Mall.

At least one person was pepper sprayed when the crowd pinned a guard against a wall and another guard came to his rescue, Smithsonian spokesperson Linda St. Thomas told NBC station WRC.

"You cannot bring that stuff in the museum under any circumstances," St. Thomas told WRC.

Protesters included people from the October 2011 Stop the Machine group and Occupy D.C., an offshoot of the larger Occupy Wall Street movement in New York.

About 100 to 200 people arrived about 3 p.m. at the museum, said Smithsonian spokesperson John Gibbons.

Ann Wilcox, a lawyer working with Stop the Machine, said a 19-year-old woman from Madison, Wisc., was arrested by police. She paid a fine and was released later Saturday. Wilcox said the protesters went to the Air and Space museum to demonstrate against a military drone exhibit.

I'd sic the dogs on 'em.

This group is insane.

Wally wrote: Ann Wilcox, a lawyer working with Stop the Machine, said a 19-year-old woman from Madison, Wisc., was arrested by police. She paid a fine and was released later Saturday. Wilcox said the protesters went to the Air and Space museum to demonstrate against a military drone exhibit.

Ok, I can kinda see that.

< evil genius voice > Darn. You just can't get quality minions these days...I had sent them over there to bring me a hat-in-the-ring Nieuport 17 < /evil genius voice >

So why didn't they protest a military base? Oh yeah, cause they're rich kids who don't have to work, and they just want to be seen, and not really do anything that might require actual jail time.

There is a reason for the escalation.

It is being noticed.

Yeah, cause when two sides escalate a problem, it always turns out for the best.

racerfink wrote: So why didn't they protest a military base? Oh yeah, cause they're rich kids who don't have to work, and they just want to be seen, and not really do anything that might require actual jail time.

Lessee, they've managed to get noticed, bring coverage and attention to their protest, and not get arrested (mostly). They're clearly idiots for not getting arrested to garner the same results.

The folks I know who were at the local version are neither rich nor kids.

In my experience, I have found 19 year old girls to be somewhat unreasonable and difficult to negotiate with.

Unless you have a cause, Woody. Then they are quite, uh... pliable.

Mildred: Hey Johnny, what are you rebelling against? Johnny: Whadda you got?

I don't know how many there are, but I believe there's a certain number of people who are basically full time protestors - I wouldn't be surprised if some of the people who were camping out on Wall Street or in front of the Smithsonian were also protesting at the RNC convention a couple years ago.

Some of these people are even being paid to protest. They are cornering NYC cops with angry mobs pushing the cops to defend them selves with force. They are invading public parks and leaving piles of human crap and mounds of garbage behind. They have, with the Smithsonian, tried to over run nation treasures. Do you think if they had gotten in this frenzied mob would have been respectful of the people and displays in there? Or would they have destroyed something?

When the TEA party protested we heard about how evil they were. We heard how they were violent nazis. We heard Nancy cry crocodile tears about how the TEA party reminded her of the evil that lead to the killing of Harvey Milk. Yet there was no TEA party violence. The violence seen was committed by the leftists who bit fingers and union goons who beat a black man. When the TEA party left a protest they cleaned the area and left it better than they found it. They didn't get arrested. They didn't get driven back by guards with pepper spray and they didn't get swung at by cornered cops.

These people have no respect as evident in their actions. They are lead by communists like Van Jones. It wont be long until these protests become riots. They are close enough all ready. Businesses are being hurt by these protests. Peoples lively hoods are being hurt because a bunch of leftists are too busy being greedy and demanding things. I saw one sign by a girl that said "fund my education not the occupation" I assume she means Iraq and Afghanistan. And while I agree we should leave those people to rot of grow on their own I can not agree that any one other than her self should fund her education. This is the greed the the left and they have been teaching it for a long time. Alynski is even on the NEA recommended reading list.

On Monday I have to go into DC and around the area these vagrants are causing trouble. I will have no qualms with physically confronting any one of these slobs who get in the way of me and my employees putting food on our family's table.

I can understand protesting a display "dedicated" to drone aircraft. While I realize they are VERY significant in the battle against "world-wide terrorism", I think I've seen too many futuristic movies (or read too many Philip K. Dick novels) that I'm worried about the day "they" start using drones on "us".

Imagine using drones for speed detection/patrolling.

BTW, ALL of the bigger bases have VERY dedicated security patrols...as compared to the Smithsonian. Protests outside Andrews Air Force Base (about 30 minutes drive from the Smithsonian)would be taken care of swiftly.

Seems more appropriate to protest on K Street if these people really want to make a statement against the system.

Invoking a shutdown of a Smithsonian museum only serves to make look ever more uninformed and immature.

Protesting a drone which goes places without endangering a human?

Drones do what? Drop atomic bombs?

In the 60's many of the protest groups were funded and run by the Soviets as as way to destabilize and weaken America.

As they say on the cop shows, follow the money. Who would benefit the most from these protests? Who would love to deflect negative attention?

Whoever that is, that's who is orchestrating them.

If somebody is orchestrating these things they are not doing a very good job. They are protesting at the Fed building in Dallas about three blocks away from my office and I actually walked down there to see what was going on. It seems like a mix of libertarian groups and socialist/leftist groups who are on opposite sides of the political spectrum. There were also quite a few conspiracy theorists who were protesting against the Builderbergs, the Rockefellers and the Zionists. I saw signs there saying that 9/11 was an inside job and some anti-Obama signs that were downright racist.

The sad thing is that we have a large group of young people who are buried in student loans, can't find jobs and are facing a lower standard of living than their parents had. The don't understand why it happened and are ready to jump on any conspiracy theory that might explain it and support any extreme political belief that might cure it. If their knowledge of history and political science came from something other than radio talk show hosts and internet sites, they might actually be able to know where and what to protest and how to do it coherently.

There is no doubt that every conspiracy theorist is out there in the middle of it trying to sell their specific beliefs and probably a few books as well. Some of them might be making money, or at least trying to make money. The fact that people think there is yet another conspiracy theory to explain who organized these protests and for what reason is just about as laughable to me as some of the many varied beliefs of the protesters.

I have a major problem with people protesting something when they aren't even sure why.

So, here's the unofficial "list of demands"

Linky Occupy Wall Street demands

Occupy Wall Street's website said: Demand one: Restoration of the living wage. This demand can only be met by ending "Freetrade" by re-imposing trade tariffs on all imported goods entering the American market to level the playing field for domestic family farming and domestic manufacturing as most nations that are dumping cheap products onto the American market have radical wage and environmental regulation advantages. Another policy that must be instituted is raise the minimum wage to twenty dollars an hr. Demand two: Institute a universal single payer healthcare system. To do this all private insurers must be banned from the healthcare market as their only effect on the health of patients is to take money away from doctors, nurses and hospitals preventing them from doing their jobs and hand that money to wall st. investors. Demand three: Guaranteed living wage income regardless of employment. Demand four: Free college education. Demand five: Begin a fast track process to bring the fossil fuel economy to an end while at the same bringing the alternative energy economy up to energy demand. Demand six: One trillion dollars in infrastructure (Water, Sewer, Rail, Roads and Bridges and Electrical Grid) spending now. Demand seven: One trillion dollars in ecological restoration planting forests, reestablishing wetlands and the natural flow of river systems and decommissioning of all of America's nuclear power plants. Demand eight: Racial and gender equal rights amendment. Demand nine: Open borders migration. anyone can travel anywhere to work and live. Demand ten: Bring American elections up to international standards of a paper ballot precinct counted and recounted in front of an independent and party observers system. Demand eleven: Immediate across the board debt forgiveness for all. Debt forgiveness of sovereign debt, commercial loans, home mortgages, home equity loans, credit card debt, student loans and personal loans now! All debt must be stricken from the "Books." World Bank Loans to all Nations, Bank to Bank Debt and all Bonds and Margin Call Debt in the stock market including all Derivatives or Credit Default Swaps, all 65 trillion dollars of them must also be stricken from the "Books." And I don't mean debt that is in default, I mean all debt on the entire planet period. Demand twelve: Outlaw all credit reporting agencies. Demand thirteen: Allow all workers to sign a ballot at any time during a union organizing campaign or at any time that represents their yeah or nay to having a union represent them in collective bargaining or to form a union. These demands will create so many jobs it will be completely impossible to fill them without an open borders policy.

There is not a SINGLE THING on that entire list that makes the least possible sense. Not one. Unless, of course, Marksism is the goal.

OK, don't get all hot under the collar. I understand. It's user posted, not official.

But it makes even less sense that Occupy Wall Street put it on their website.

Worse than that is they actually put there official position at the top of the page:

Occupy Wall Street's official demands said: There is NO official list of demands.

Worse than that, is President Obama seems to be endorsing it, or at least approving it.

Anarchy is a good leadership tactic? I guess so if it targets business and might get the Republicans caught in the crossfire.

Ridiculous.

It is a disgrace to compare this to Arab Spring, or the protests in the 1960's against the Vietnam war.

Both had very legitimate causes.

This is anarchy for the sake of anarchy.

Plus, why are they picketing Wall Street with issues (if they have any real issues) that should be addressed by government?

It is a propaganda tool. Nothing more.

I've read more realistic demands in those "leading up to the end of the world" science fiction books.

Those things always end up with huge blocks of housing and the hero breaking out into the world and finding out it wasn't destroyed in a war, the politicals just wanted power and to control them.

Criticize the goals all you like. This movement has tapped some emotion and feeling of unfairness. If not, it would've faded away. This is a burgeoning movement. The goals and methods will be refined over time. Right now, it's enough to spread.

Let the politicians realize that there are alternatives to Right and Left when both only serve the rich, powerful, and corporate.

Xceler8x wrote: Criticize the goals all you like. This movement has tapped some emotion and feeling of unfairness. If not, it would've faded away. This is a burgeoning movement. The goals and methods will be refined over time. Right now, it's enough to spread. Let the politicians realize that there are alternatives to Right and Left when both only serve the rich, powerful, and corporate.

Boo hoo stuff is unfair. I am so sick of hearing people cry about that E36 M3.

Maybe they can tell me how my working to pay for their "free college" is fair. This movement is a leftist movement and has "leaders" like Van Jones. Socialism is ,what they want and it is as it always will be, a failure. The emotions its tapped are of the ignorant. I keep hearing how corps own the pols but when I point out that if that were the case we wouldn't overly burdensome EPA regulations based on junk science.

just bring me a biplane from the museum. That's all I ask. ;-)

Anyone else find these two demands to be incompatible with each other?

Occupy Wall Street's website said: Demand one: Restoration of the living wage. This demand can only be met by ending "Freetrade" by re-imposing trade tariffs on all imported goods entering the American market to level the playing field for domestic family farming and domestic manufacturing as most nations that are dumping cheap products onto the American market have radical wage and environmental regulation advantages. Another policy that must be instituted is raise the minimum wage to twenty dollars an hr. ... Demand nine: Open borders migration. anyone can travel anywhere to work and live.

Xceler8x wrote: Criticize the goals all you like. This movement has tapped some emotion and feeling of unfairness. If not, it would've faded away. This is a burgeoning movement. The goals and methods will be refined over time. Right now, it's enough to spread. Let the politicians realize that there are alternatives to Right and Left when both only serve the rich, powerful, and corporate.

Their initial demands appear, for the most part, classically Communist (except for "spend a trillion on environmentalist projects", when Communism has usually been "Berkely the environment, let's build some massive factories!"). Hard for me to take a group like that seriously unless they can come up with some sort of explanation of why they believe they have "fixed" Communism so it will work when they try it, not to mention how they expect to balance the Federal budget and otherwise deal with the consequences of defaulting on all the national debt.