Conservatives & Progressives Agree: #OccupyWeed

Topher Morrison
PurpleSerf.com

While I pondered the possibilities of the #OccupyWeed movement,
someone else evidently beat me to the punch.  Damn stoners.
Follow me on Twitter @PurpleSerf.

On June 17th, 1971 President Richard Nixon declared the War on Drugs, since that time our country as well as our neighbors have suffered, not from the use of drugs, but from the fact they are an artificially rare, unprotected and extremely valuable commodity.  Imagine the world of the late 50s and early 60s before the wars began, it was a different world by every measurement.  In 2011 are we as a nation safer, freer or happier because of the War on Drugs?


          The Occupy Wall Street movement has many facets, much of it is misguided, naive and offers no solutions other than benighted calls for more democracy and regulation, however, as we all know there is much the mainstream media (MSM) doesn't cover.  At Occupy Phoenix we found people from every corner of the political spectrum as we have documented and in this segment we'll show a sharp contrast between both ends of what is increasingly being viewed as our false political paradigm.


          The left and the right apparently agree on one thing in the Occupy movement - End the War on Drugs.  Apparently big banks can't Just Say No, violence rages on both sides of the boarder, but evidently it has subdued Northern Mexico into fearful submission. At Occupy Phoenix we got a taste of what people were thinking when it came to America's lost war.

         This country is much different since the 1960s.  We have more crime, the most people incarcerated as a percentage of our population on the planet and a bountiful cornucopia of exotic drugs.  The corruption one faces at the hands of a joint of marijuana is nothing compared to the market distortions caused by the billions upon billions of dollars and lives wasted in the War on Drugs.  The Obama administration may have stopped using the phrase because they feel its "counterproductive", but it's still illegal and we're no closer to ending it.

Brazen Racism at Occupy Phoenix

Topher Morrison
PurpleSerf.com


The Tea Party has been consistently accused of racism and without substantial evidence.  This is an example of some of the most vitriolic rhetoric out there, but don't expect what you are about to see to characterize (nor should it) the Occupy "X" movement that is spreading nationally and around the world.   

Will this evidence show the left and the right that racism is a benighted feature of both sides of the political spectrum?  Doubtful... Regardless I have a lot more to show from Occupy Phoenix, coming soon...

New Media the Mid-Wife of 2nd American Revolution

Topher Morrison

PurpleSerf.com

Image Source: Third World Traveler

Unbiased news and objective reporting are nothing more than modern chimeras.  What is omitted is often the most important part of context.  As in the pursuit of any ideal all journalists can honestly profess is to labor on the path of infinite progress.  Claims to have accomplished an unbiased representation or a truly objective report should be viewed as dubious.  In other words:

"Truth and news are not the same thing." 

– Katharine Graham, owner of The Washington Post 

          The complexity of any event is always best understood much later after all the facts are understood.  Hindsight after all is 20/20.  All any one individual or organization can do is report the constellation of available facts as succinctly and accurately as possible.  

          Despite the groundbreaking advances in technology journalism remains a human production.  The real achievement therefore has not been increased accuracy as much as it has been an amelioration of inequality between establishment media, grassroots journalism and the social media which tie them together.

          The world of journalism is now all, but flat.  Our access to tools and information is unprecedented even when compared with that available five years ago.  The cost of that access has similarly been reduced.  Citizen journalism is on the rise, is providing a valuable supplement to traditional news organs and is unearthing a middle ground between the traditional left and right.

   

"During times of universal deceit.  Telling the truth is revolutionary."

- George Orwell

Occupy Wall St. is 3 Years Late

Topher Morrison
PurpleSerf.com


Is Occupy Wall Street a new Tea Party?  The simple answer, no.

"Eat the Greed!"
Two things are certain, neither the rich or the greedy will ever go away so what do we do from here?

          If anything else, Occupy Wall Street is unfashionably late to the protest party.  It seems frustratingly clear that this part of the occupation is merely transient.  While I don't want to gloss over the libertarian streak clearly evident in signs protesting America's wars, police abuses and bailouts, many in the Occupy Wall Street crowd have been protesting the age old vice "greed" as if it has just reared its ugly head.  In this case their protest is about as productive as protesting lust.


          To ignore that big government (a frequent target in Tea Party demonstrations) and Wall Street (the target of this protest) collude to our detriment is to sacrifice an opportunity to point a public finger in the right direction.  This is not a failure of capitalism, but of brazen corporatism!  Washington and Wall Street created this mess by appropriating and creating nearly $13 trillion of our money in order to buttress teetering financial institutions.


          Ben Bernanke, one of the architects of the 2008 bailouts, has now admitted the recovery is "close to faultering."  Evidently their plan has failed leaving us with a debased currency, stratospheric debt and intolerable unemployment.  Much of the Occupy Wall Street is a reaction to this failure, not to the cause.  The occupiers are seeking ends not a return to restraint.  They see Wall Street getting theirs and they want in.  They are concerned about unemployment, lack of benefits and Wall Street's exorbitant bonus structure not the close relationship between elected officials and CEOs.  The opprobrium being foisted on Wall Street, is justified, but many are not seeing the forrest for the trees.


          In short, much of Occupy Wall St. are 3 years late.  The real protest should have taken place in front of the Department of Treasury, the Federal Reserve, the White House and the FDIC.  If these elements of Occupy Wall Street are sated with more government spending in the form of free college tuition, universal health care and a living wage in the form of a Restoring the American Deal Act, watch the movement dissolve as quickly as it arose.


          There are highlights in the Occupy X movement, however.  Occupy Chicago has camped in front of the Federal Reserve for 11 days and there seems to be a mix of conservative and liberal elements.  Occupy Boston melodically chanted "fuck the Fed" to the beat of drums.

          It is possible, given these recent ancillary developments, there merely has been a strong effort by traditional organizations to re-inject themselves into relevancy before the elections.  It has been reported that labor unions have thrown their weight behind Occupy Wall Street.  Maybe it's the name Wall Street itself, which calls for the traditional left to come out and try to continue where they left off, but given the new direction and the new focus on the Federal Reserve these protests may turn out to be quite different.  Lets hope they are.

Want to know exactly who we're up against, who we should be protesting?  Click here.