The Incoherence of Occupy Wall Street

Get a load of this video taken by Reason.tv of an Occupy Wall Street demonstration. Now, you must understand that Reason magazine is a libertarian-leaning organization, so I'm sure there was a certain amount of bias in the editing and selection of clips that went into the 6-minute video.

Still, some of the demands are incoherent and based on factually incorrect premises. To be fair, I suppose you could say the same about some of the Tea Party rallies, too. I'd have to go back and look at the record.

Consider some of the comments at this OWS protest:

• I like the sign saying "Please no cameras at this meeting." Isn't one of the OWS protesters' complaints that they weren't getting adequate media coverage?
• The nerdy guy in the glasses said the Citizens United decision allows "unlimited donations" to campaigns. Wrong. It upholds the rights of corporations to spend on independent political broadcasts during candidate elections, not give to the campaigns themselves. The latter has been illegal for a long time — and still is. Oh, CU also allows labor unions to do the same, but the guy didn't mention that, perhaps because it doesn't bother him? Or perhaps because the news articles on Alternet never mentioned it?
• Another guy wants to get us off the monetary system and move us toward barter. Seriously?
• Yet another interviewee wants the government to take over the banks, unless, of course, it happens to be a government run by Republicans. That was a real knee-slapper.
• Did you see the looks on the protesters' faces when the NYC councilman pointed out that fully 1/3 of the city's revenues come from Wall Street? It's as if they'd never even considered where the money comes from to run the city's social programs and schools.
• As for the anti-bailout guy who said he likes capitalism but that "when you lose, you lose," I wonder what he would have said if the feds hadn't bailed out the auto industry and 100,000 union jobs had disappeared. My guess is he had no problem with sending taxpayer cash to GM. But the interviewer didn't ask him.

Back in the day, I saw an awful lot of dope smoking, so I speak from experience. I'd say there was some pretty good weed floating around that demonstration. And a lot of unemployed people who got up at the crack of noon to join in the fun.

Irene: Minimal Damage Here

Check this out:



After seeing the devastation that was heaped on neighboring communities, such as this Vermont town that saw its covered bridge ripped from its moorings and washed away, I feel fortunate to have only a little water in the basement of my Lakeville home.

We never even lost power here, although it did blink a few times. My guess is we got about 7 inches of rain in maybe 10 hours. Under that kind of assault, one of my basement windows did leak a fair amount of water.

The wind accompanying the downpours was no big deal. But after the rain moved out yesterday afternoon, the back end of the storm produced some gusts in the 40-50 mph range. Once again, I feared we would lose power, but thankfully it was not to be.

I did, however, post the following on Facebook:

I've had it with TV meteorologists standing in 50 mph winds and horizontal rain telling us how bad things are. One of these days, a broadcaster will be killed or seriously injured and then maybe their producers will reconsider this idiotic practice.

Maybe a dead broadcaster and a lawsuit will get their attention.

Social Media: An Eye-Opener

A really cool video about social media statistics and the evolution of communication and connectivity between people and ideas. Wow.

Sometimes I Wonder About This Guy

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

You have got to be kidding me. Bill Maher thinks Bill O'Reilly in his interview with President Obama on Super Bowl Sunday was "unpatriotic." And why would this be?

Because the overbearing O'Reilly asked Obama some tough questions and interrupted him a few times. Good grief! Would Maher have said the same thing about Dan Rather and his smart-alecky questioning of President Nixon ("No sir, Mr. President. Are you?")? Or Wolf Blitzer's embarrassing interview in 2007 with Vice President Cheney? That CNN piece was so bad that it succeeded in doing the impossible: making Darth Cheney into a sympathetic character.

Presidents (and would-be presidents) tend to be great bullshitters. That's how they got there in the first place. And sometimes they need to be interrupted, lest they avoid answering the question. I thought Bad Bill's interview was fine and you know what, Mr. Maher? Obama did just fine, too.

I used to like Maher back when he hosted Politically Incorrect and he routinely went after both sides. Now he's basically turned into a shill for the Democrats. That's his right if he wants to do it, but it doesn't make for very interesting television.

Wiki Crimes? No Laughing Matter ...

Update 6 a.m. Tuesday: CNN is reporting that Assange has been arrested in London on sex crimes charges.

Julian Assange in 2006 -Wikipedia

But leave it to SNL to try anyway.

I've held off commenting on the WikiLeaks scandal, mostly because it's so complex that I'm not sure I could do it justice with the little time I have available for blogging. But I'll try anyway.

Julian Assange has developed quite a following and no doubt fancies himself a hero for releasing secret U.S. military, intelligence, and diplomatic documents into the public domain. Two of my friends, for example, have urged their friends on Facebook to join pro-WikiLeaks groups or donate money to the organization. I respect both of these people, but fail to see how the release of these documents helps the case for what Time magazine calls "WikiLeaks' war on secrecy."

As a former reporter and freedom-of-information advocate, I support the idea that we should err on the side of the sunshine. But you do reach a point where the sunshine, in the case of the WikiLeaks Afghanistan document dump, irreparably harms U.S. interests by exposing the identities of valuable intelligence operatives who could be killed in reprisal.

Or, in the case of the recently released diplomatic cables, it will likely inhibit candid communication among diplomats for fear that their frank assessments will end up on the front page of The New York Times. How could anyone think that exposing our intelligence sources to death, or putting a chilling effect on the exchange of ideas, is a good thing?

I tend to agree with the those who say that Assange should be brought up on criminal charges. But the problem is that laws on publishing classified material are murky. Moreover, Assange is not a U.S. citizen and does not reside here. And persuading a sovereign nation to extradite him is highly problematic, especially if the alleged crimes are considered political in nature.

So we'll probably just have to live with this fellow unless we want to dispatch an assassin to put a bullet between his eyes. Oh, I forgot. That option is no longer available, thanks to the Ford administration.

Thankful for the Music

When I run across a great song like this, I'm thankful there is music. The soprano sax is a nice touch. Gary Brooker's song always reminds me of The Big Chill. Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Delaware Destroyer

Newly minted GOP senate candidate Christine O'Donnell has strong views on sexuality. But can she really afford to lose the pro-masturbation vote? No wonder even Karl Rove thinks she's a nut, although maybe he has other motives?

Best Shot Ever?

Pretty close to it in the first round of the 2010 US Open. Not only does Federer retrieve the lob from well behind the baseline, but he hits a winner with great pace. I'd say this one is even better than the gem he hit at last year's US Open, which they also show in this clip.