I am in D.C. covering the Take Back the Capitol "99 in DC" events. On Tuesday I wrote about the efforts of unemployed people and others to get in to talk to their senators and representatives. (Watch some of them tell their stories.) On Wednesday they marched to "K Street" -- the symbolic ground zero of the corporate takeover of our democracy. But first...
When I was waiting to get on the plane to come here, the jetway was backed up. Now that the airlines are charging $25 just to check a bag, everyone brings their bags on and tries to cram them into the limited on-plane carry-on space. But of course, the airlines aren't paying the flight attendants more because of the extra work this causes. So this guy came pushing his way down the left side, shouting, "First class, out of the way, first class, let me through," because he missed boarding first, and he was entitled to already be on the airplane and not have to wait in the line like the rest of us.
The rest of us are supposed to walk past the already-seated first-class passengers, eyeing their large, comfortable seats, while they sip their champagne mimosas and look important and... rich. We're supposed to envy them and hope to eventually be among them. But until then, we are supposed to be grateful that they "create jobs" and allow us to serve them. This is America today.
Why Occupy?
Outrages like this been getting worse and worse and have reached a breaking point, with many of us unemployed -- because actually, the rich don't "create" jobs; we do! So the rest of us -- the 99 percent -- have been getting mad about things like this for a long time and are finally starting to show it, now that things have gotten so bad. Across the country people are "occupying" places and ideas that have been taken over by the 1 percent. They are letting themselves get angry about the things that have been happening, the change from democracy to plutocracy, the way the big corporations and Wall Street now make the rules while they don't themselves have to follow the rules.
Not only has our Congress come under the control of the 1 percent, but they have done very little to help the 99 percent through this crisis that was caused by the 1 percent. This Congress -- the first since the Citizens United ruling by the Supreme Court -- has done nothing to create jobs while doing a lot to kill jobs, and worse, at the end of this year extended unemployment benefits run out and 2 million people will lose their entire income.
Take Back the Capitol
So this week Take Back the Capitol brought unemployed people and others to Washington to confront their members of Congress and the lobbyists on "K Street" that they work for, to demand a change. Today they marched on K Street, the center of lobbying activity. CAF intern Sean McMartin was observing and writes:
On December 7, 2011, a date 70 years after Pearl Harbor, another piece of history was made. Supporters of the American Dream Movement and several other organizations from all over the country marched from the National Mall up to K Street in Washington. They came to protest their outrage with the rich, corporations, and the special interests, many of which have lobbyists with offices on "K Street." They shouted they were the 99% of the country, who have not fared well over past few years with high unemployment and stagnated wages.
Just before noon the people from the Take Back the Capitol came to the intersection of 16th and K Street, which became the epicenter of the protest. Occupy DC, which happened to be camped only a block away, saw what was happening and came out of their tents to join the protest. Then a group came marching from the west, too, as Occupy DC came from the east. The coordination was something to see in real time and represented several groups coming together from all over the place.
The police had to use their cars to block off a perimeter for the protest that involved 14th Street to 17th Street and I Street to L Street. Even policemen on horses,not seen often in Washington, were used as a show of force. There was no violence from what I could see, but a good old protest where people come together to show their outrage with the status quo.
Pedestrians going to lunch stepped out of their offices to witness history in the making. They took out their cameras and smartphones to record history as it happened and some even shouted their support for the movement.
After 1 pm city workers and police ordered the protestors onto the sidewalks and of the streets. The protestors slowly but surely followed and cleared the streets as were told.
Politico reported:
Wednesday morning, protesters organized by the ADM swarmed the headquarters of major corporations and financial institutions including Verizon, General Electric, Capitol Tax Partners, the American Bankers Association and the financial lobbying firm Clark Lytle Geduldig & Cranford.
A labor organizer said the protesters targeted corporations and lobbying groups representing companies that have paid more in executive compensation and lobbying in recent years than they've paid in taxes, citing a recent study by Public Campaign.
Hundreds of protesters from around the country converged on Verizon's headquarters, chanting slogans like, "whose street -- our street" and "shame on Verizon, pay your fair share." Verizon employees and building staff looked on from the building lobby as protesters swarmed by.
Protesters also marched around the front of the American Bankers Association, where extra security had been put in place to prevent outsiders from getting into the building.
About 20 protesters were in the lobby of the Capitol Tax Partners' building for a brief time, according to a source in the building.
Also on Wednesday, activists aligned with the Occupy D.C. movement based in McPherson Square marched to protest the Podesta Group, one of the city's most powerful lobby shops, which has close ties to the Obama administration.
Here is a collection of photos and videos from the action at K Street (click through for videos):
Click here to tell House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell: stop sabotaging the economy. Quit obstructing extensions of the payroll tax cut and long-term unemployment insurance.
This post originally appeared at Campaign for America's Future (CAF) at their Blog for OurFuture. I am a Fellow with CAF.
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Dawn Teo: 99% in DC: We Deserve to Be Heard
In all of human society, throughout all of human time, that gulf has been fixed and it shall not be moved. "At this time of the rolling year," we watch the familiar parable of a lonely rich man who, thanks to the efforts of four Ghosts, became human.
And so on.
No, "Occupy" is not about that. Not at all.
I believe that "Occupy" is all about Article 2 Section 4. "All civil officers shall be removed from office for Bribery (or anything else)." It's about Article 4 which gives the Supreme Court no such powers and prerogatives as it now claims to exercise. It's about Article 5 which says that to change the Constitution's meaning you must laboriously change its text.
It's about civil officers -- nearly a thousand of them -- who are knowingly committing felonies against us all as they collude with those who are conspiring against us all to deprive us of what the Preamble promised to us all.
"High Crime Is REAL Crime." That should be your slogan on every sign.
"Book 'em, Dano." Book 'em all.
If we take the approach that "high crime is real crime," and that "in particular, the High Crime of Bribery (which is what we ARE dealing with here) has been expressly prohibited in our Constitution since the day it was first penned," then our core-issue is reduced to a simple law-enforcement issue.
Albeit one of staggering proportions: "what do you MEAN, the Entire(!) Federal Government is guilty?"
We write Laws for one reason: that they may be Enforced. We already have the world's biggest prison population, but we could certainly contract to build a Supermax facility for six hundred more people who, having been tried by a jury of their peers and found to be guilty as charged, would spend the rest of their days ... not in a Congressional office of power, but in an orange jump suit (with pink underwear).
We all watched the film noir movies where someone muttered to someone else, "Don't worry ... The Fix Is In." But we never expected to find Washington, DC saturated with it.
Once we confront the fact that we ARE truly Plaintiffs here, and that the very people in whom we sought to place a most sacred public trust HAVE betrayed us, well, we can all deal with that. We have "the due process of Law" expressly to deal with that.
But first, We the People must confront that horrible realization. It's gotta sink in.
This divisiveness is getting old and most Americans see this for what it is, misdirected anger for self-failure. And if you are going to pick an arbitrary percentage of the population to lay all the bale on why stop at the 1%, why not go big and pick on the nasty 8%, of the virulent 14.2%, or even the sneaky and wonk-eyed 22%...
Time to move on.
Kai
Perhaps I could be branded or forced to where a badge on my clothes and then be re-educated through forced taxation.
You just keep up the good work…remember to wave that little red book and shout ‘service for the people’ as you justify your taking from others without having to work for it.
We have already seen how this nonsense plays out and it ain’t pretty for the poor…they are worse off…but the difference is they become equal in their misery and poverty and are left with no opportunity to change that as the rich take their game elsewhere and create jobs elsewhere.
But you keep vilifying those class-traitor employers…nothing says ‘do not take me seriously’ like vacuous sloganeering about the greedy 1%...or is the wonk-eyed 14.8%...or the bovine 33%....
Kai
http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed
ALEC Exposed - Alec Exposed
"Through the corporate-funded American Legislative Exchange Council, global corporations and state politicians vote behind closed doors to try to rewrite state laws that govern your rights. These so-called "model bills" reach into almost every area of American life and often directly benefit huge corporations. Through ALEC, corporations have "a VOICE and a VOTE" on specific changes to the law that are then proposed in your state. DO YOU? "
http://www.news.ku.edu/2009/april/9/taxlobbying.shtml
KU News - Tax lobbying provides 22,000 percent return to firms, KU researchers find
"LAWRENCE — Three professors at the University of Kansas have found that a one-time tax break allowed several multinational corporations to receive a 22,000 percent return on lobbying expenditures.
The study was conducted by Raquel Meyer Alexander, assistant professor of accounting; Stephen Mazza, associate dean of the School of Law; and Susan Scholz, associate professor of accounting and Harper Faculty Fellow. Mazza recently presented their findings at the Critical Tax Theory Conference, sponsored by the Indiana University Maurer School of Law in Bloomington.
A recent law change provided a tax break to the corporations by lowering their tax rate 85 percent on certain worldwide income. The professors examined the extensive lobbying around the law change and found that for each dollar spent on lobbying, a corporation received $220 in U.S. income tax savings..."
requiring substantial federal funding of all federal elections after nominations are complete and limiting all contributions to any campaign by any person or organization to $100.00.