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Occupy Capitol Hill | SCCC has state lawyers looking at how to boot Occupy Seattle


Occupy Seattle, originally uploaded by photosbysomeguy.

It’s not really news that Seattle Central wants Occupy Seattle off its campus — the school’s administration said please don’t camp here from the start. It is news that the school says it is working with the Washington Attorney General’s office to boot the Occupiers from Broadway and Pine.

We don’t have many details yet but the effort is being talked about by SCCC in Seattle’s big media outlets. Fed up with costs, college wants Occupy Seattle out, KING 5 reports. Meanwhile, the PI gets a headline every few days by updating the running tally of “Occupy Seattle costs” — now more than $500,000 if you’re keeping score at home.


SCCC says only that they are working with the assistant AG at this point. We haven’t heard back from gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna’s people yet and probably won’t today with the holiday.

In the middle of the discussion is the Washington Administrative Code. The sprawling chain of documents lays out the rules by which state agencies must govern themselves and conduct business. SCCC president Dr. Paul Killpatrick said ambiguity in the code left the door open to Occupy Seattle’s camp to be created on his campus.

Occupy took up residence at Pine and Broadway at the end of October and many organizers have done their best to keep the camp functioning and maintain a “good neighbor” set of rules. But introducing a settlement of 60-some tents into a constricted space means constant challenges for anybody trying to be a good neighbor. And incidents involving activities that are clearly not neighborly at also occur, of course. Some are unsafe. Some are unsanitary. Some, like the video sent to CHS of a man leaving the camp and defecating on the sidewalk nearby, are just gross. (Yes, it’s not the first time somebody has taken a crap on Broadway.)

Reading the most recently posted minutes from the camp’s nightly general assembly makes it clear the campers are aware of the frustration from school officials, police officers who now regularly patrol the camp and nearby businesses. Occupy’s weekly Tuesday meetings with school officials and security have been described as “tense” and one speaker said the group needs better participation in dealing with the school.

But the indications are that the weekly meeting with SCCC’s administration won’t matter with the state’s legal team now on the case.

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JS
JS
12 years ago

While I support the idea of the movement, I don’t see them doing anything but squatting on the school grounds. It’s starting to get out of hand, tons of trash and other shit all over the place. There’s FUCKING HAY BALES NOW?! WTF?! It makes our neighborhood look disgusting and they’re not doing anything but bitching about Chase and getting arrested.

PS: Since when do dirty hippies in skinny jeans represent the 99%?

poseur
12 years ago

I walked by here on the Saturday before Halloween and was perplexed. I’m all for rights to assemble and protest, but for what are they assembling and protesting?

No one can seem to explain. Perhaps they just like camping and drum circles.

poseur
12 years ago

Skinny jeans are the counter culture, man. Don’t be such a square.

Johnny888
Johnny888
12 years ago

Well, it was fun while it lasted,,,

AJ
AJ
12 years ago

Run to the GOP AG’s office. Makes sense out of an administration that heaps austerity measures on an already stressed out student body.

benjammin509
12 years ago

The school uses the money that is given to them, no? The “austerity measures” are heaped onto them as well, no?

JimS.
12 years ago

Moving to Capitol Hill was the stupidest thing they could’ve done. Wiped out any credibility they had before, now they’re just a bunch of generic Seattle protesters who are easily ignored.

oiseau
oiseau
12 years ago

Yeah, that’s right. They should have run to the Democrat AG’s office instead. Wait, we don’t have a Democrat AG? Really? Party affiliation doesn’t actually have any context in this situation? Really? REALLY?

Pretending to know things about politics and how the political system works is annoying? Nahhh.

anon
12 years ago

Looks like a homeless tent city to me! Also, I know area stores have a major increase in theft (almost double since the protests have moved here and some vandalism to stores and their restrooms as well. Some have even had to add extra staff/security which costs money. Go downtown where the big companies and tourists are… get noticed you morons! Protest is doing more harm than good to the locally owned businesses and home owners in the neighborhood. The protest is too quite too… stir up some action if you want to get noticed, otherwise it just looks and smells like a homeless camp. Also environmentally speaking… completely destroying a perfectly good park space.

Ella
Ella
12 years ago

I said it looked like it was turning into tent city last week and people went crazy on the blog. I couldn’t agree with you more.

Ella
Ella
12 years ago

I have been saying all along what a nice fall we have had and how as soon as the weather turned for the worse which it has today the Occupiers would most likely get fed up and go home. Unless as I also said before they were all homeless and didn’t have a home to go to.

fakestats
12 years ago

How exactly do you know that area stores have seen an increase in theft? Sounds made up.

tco
tco
12 years ago

Hard to believe that there were teachers at SCCC encouraging this initially. Anyone with an ounce of good sense knew it was headed in this direction. But now that the encampment is there, it will be tough to get them to move on. Ultimately this will cost the city over a million if not much more. How could the city be so stupid?!! I feel sorry for the businesses down there. I honestly refuse to go down to the PikePine area until this mess is resolved. And you can bet a lot of people feel like myself. Who wants to go to resaurants and shops (not to mention use the ice rink they are planning at Cal Anderson) when there’s such filth accumulating. Just a goddamn, infuriating shame

JS
JS
12 years ago

I don’t know about the theft stuff, but I do know that there has been an increase in vandalism in the area. A lot more graffiti showing up on Pine and the surround blocks.

It’d be one thing if they had real signs and were actually PROTESTING, but it looks like they’re content just sitting there doing nothing (which is probably why they can do this anyways because they don’t have jobs).

Seriously though, what’s the end game? It’s not like the manager of the chase or BOA branches on Broadway will come down here and give these guys money. I’m sure the CEO of Chase Bank isn’t losing any sleep over this (though maybe he would if a significant number of people would leave Chase for a credit union).

Godwin
12 years ago

The county health department can shut them down quite easily.

what_now
12 years ago

“While I support the idea of the movement, I don’t see them doing anything but squatting on the school grounds. …”

Shorter: NIMBY.

R.P.
R.P.
12 years ago

Occupy Seattle has accomplished nothing. Just a bunch of dirty pot-smoking hippies looking for free food and a place to stay. The camp is a disgusting eyesore.

I was really hoping this movement would lead to something, but there is no endgame. At least the Tea Party movement elected people into office and effectively CHANGED the conversation and AFFECTED policy. The Occupy movement is going nowhere.

calhoun
calhoun
12 years ago

This indeed is good news. They never should have been allowed there in the first place, and I just have to wonder why the AG didn’t look more closely at the legality prior to the move. I am absolutely outraged that we taxpayers have already spent $500,000 on this OS movement…and counting (I wonder how much it will cost to replace the lawn once they are gone?). There is absolutely no reason why these people could not live wherever they call home, and demonstrate all they want at Westlake during the day.

I say: MOVE ‘EM OUT!!

oiseau
oiseau
12 years ago

Ella,

I have been feeling the same about the homeless camp situation.

Can’t the city see this as what it is? Nicklesville 2.0, but with poorer management. Where is SHARE/WHEEL when you need them with this tent city?

It’s evident that this neighborhood is fed up and that the protestors have stopped seriously caring about an actual cause. It’s cool to be a crust punk from ages 17-18, but maybe you can do it by actually living on the streets and not mooching off of SCCC? Also, again, please stop vandalizing our neighborhood.

Lastly, to the 4 or 5 actual protestors left in this group: Head to New York.

whoseapublican
12 years ago

Wait a minute…

How do we know who is who on these comment threads? How much stock do we put in what is said? Do we repeat what we read in the comments? Who would hate this camp so much?

Trust no one!

cloey
cloey
12 years ago

It’s costing taxpayers $20,000.00 a week to clean up, repair, secure the college. How many scholarships would that provide? This city is insane, the college president and teachers are insane. If I set up a conservative protest there I wouldn’t last a day. Our city decided to support these lunatics and chose to side with them. Now we all have to suffer the consequences.

etaoin shrdlu
etaoin shrdlu
12 years ago

They use phrases like “anarchosocialist anti-authoritarian,” “Autonomia North,” and “unctious troll.”

Don’t believe me? Just wait.

etaoin shrdlu
etaoin shrdlu
12 years ago

“If I set up a conservative protest there I wouldn’t last a day.”

Nor would your sex life.

etaoin shrdlu
etaoin shrdlu
12 years ago

“I honestly refuse to go down to the PikePine area until this mess is resolved. And you can bet a lot of people feel like myself.”

Yes, you can tell by the throngs of people there every night.

We’ll try to soldier on in your absence, tco. It won’t be easy, because you ARE the PikePine area, mister. Without you, without your spark of life, what is it? Just a bunch of restaurants and bars filled with people getting totally plastered and sometimes throwing pool balls or hurling on the sidewalk.

etaoin shrdlu
etaoin shrdlu
12 years ago

You sound like someone who’s had a tussle or two with the county health department yourself!

exposed Chase exec
12 years ago

Bravo. You must be part of the Working Group assigned to troll the neighborhood blog and further antagonize the neighbors. Way to strike a blow against corruption and money in politics!

Unless that isn’t your agenda, but rather the usual anarchosocialist anti-authoritarian shit that usually destroys legitimate grassroots movements.

This is not Autonomia North you unctious troll. Stop showing the same contempt for your neighbors up here as you did down there.

etaoin shrdlu
etaoin shrdlu
12 years ago

No one at Occupy Seattle could explain why they’re there? Even though you perplexedly walked by the site on the Saturday before Halloween?

Maybe your perplexity was not sufficiently obvious. Or maybe they thought you were just made up to look perplexed for Halloween.

But I bet if you actually stopped at the site and asked someone there they could tell you what it’s all about.

etaoin shrdlu
etaoin shrdlu
12 years ago

I didn’t know they could do that, being inanimate objects and all.

etaoin shrdlu
etaoin shrdlu
12 years ago

See? They can’t help themselves, even when they’re pretending to be just regular Capitol Hill people who dislike Occupy. So that’s how you can spot ’em.

justified
12 years ago

@ etaoin: I wouldn’t comment on Cloey’s, or any other conservative’s sex life. There’s actually a nice edge to having a
….job….car….house….and life.
The “parent’s basement” and “leaky-Broadway-tent-thing” are big-time
buzz kills. Sorry..

etaoin shrdlu
etaoin shrdlu
12 years ago

I assume you’re talking about the US as a functioning democracy. You know, before it became a wholly owned subsidiary of Wall Street.

etaoin shrdlu
etaoin shrdlu
12 years ago

Even the lures of a job, a car, and a house can’t disguise the conservative’s shrunken, blackened, and embittered heart. Potential mates can sense that kind of emotional and moral vacuum a mile away, and that’s why “conservative sex life” is an oxymoron.

justified
12 years ago

Etaoin: Bitterness consumes the vessel that contains it.

Shrdlulululu
12 years ago

JSeattle,

In the past you have deleted excessive comments by one asshole on one article. Maybe you could do it here since the comments are primarily negative about another person rather than moving the conversation forward.

I realize Etaoin is bored in his tent tonight sucking power for his MacBook from SCCC.

etaoin shrdlu
etaoin shrdlu
12 years ago

Serious. Did you know that Coca Cola can dissolve a styrofoam cup?

etaoin shrdlu
etaoin shrdlu
12 years ago

Striking a little too close to home for you, eh, Shrdlulululu?

Censorship and playing the victim: two other charming conservative behavior patterns.

You guys can dish it out, with comment after comment consisting of ad hominem attacks on Occupy. But you sure can’t take it. “Delete him, jseattle! He’s hurting our feelings!”

As Shrdlulululu demonstrates, one side effect of being an emotional and moral vacuum is the complete lack of a sense of humor.

jseattle
jseattle
12 years ago

Agreed that this conversation is no longer anywhere near productive. I’ve enjoyed Etaoin’s rehabilitation into an interesting contributor to the site so have been patient on this thread. Let’s cut out the jerking on each other’s chains, picking at wounds, jesting at scars.

terry
12 years ago

Look at section 242. it’s only 4 paragraphs long, a 10 year old can understand it, it is federal in scope and gives you absolute rights over all government and state officials. If you have any legal team at all you could drop this onto a supreme court docket and basically nobody with any state authority could touch you in any way for any reason.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/civilrights/federal-

AlpineLady
12 years ago

SCCC is wasting tax payer funds to the tune of $20k per week for a security guard? That’s one well paid guard!

As a student there I can tell you that the 1st floor bathrooms are always vandalized and I have not seen any evidence of increased hazards, drug use, rats or trash. I have seen many people of color at the Occupy Seattle camp. I wonder if the school is being racist.

maku520
12 years ago

I started out writing a post about how I was shocked at the hatred and ignorance in the comments on this post, but then I remembered that every Seattle online forum is filled with people who post those things. I remembered that while all the liberal/radical Seattleites are braving the weather, giving up desperately-needed work opportunities, foregoing meals, and battling illnesses in order to affect change in their communities, nation, and world, the “moderates” and “conservatives”, in their dry homes with heat, a couple rooms away from the garage with their nice shiny car, with their well-fed and well-indoctrinated (read: “educated”) children tucked away in their snug beds, are finding posts that mention the “other” and instinctively lash out and scoff at them. “Oh, they don’t know what they’re protesting!” Go talk to anyone down there and they will tell you why they are protesting. “Oh, they’re smelly!” It’s a modern convenience to smell “nice”. “Oh, they’re druggies!” Do you drink coffee? Do you drink alcohol? Do you eat too much sugar? These are drugs, too. And my favorite: “Oh, they’re unemployed and homeless!” First, a national poll has found that 70% of those participating in the Occupy movement *do* have jobs. Second, why does it surprise you that, in the third year of the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression which goes on unabated, there are homeless people in this city? Not only have the multitude of economic crises thrown people out on the streets in record numbers, but the state’s austerity measures are closing homeless shelters all over the city. Yes, there is homelessness. No, the homeless are largely not poor by their own volition or their own fault. No, you did not cause homelessness. It’s not your fault either. Stop using “They’re unemployed” as a reason to discredit the Occupy movement. It’s just not true, and homelessness is a huge and growing problem that the aims of the Occupy movement would actually help.

I urge you to turn off Fox News and interact with your fellow Seattleites.

calhoun
calhoun
12 years ago

Etaoin, your frequent and smarmy comments add nothing to any discussion here. Please go away.

calhoun
calhoun
12 years ago

Homelessness has been around now for several decades. I don’t think it’s increased in the past few years, as you assert. Extended unemployment benefits have allowed people to stay in their homes/apartments. As for shelters “closing all over the city,” I have seen no reports of this anywhere….please provide specific examples of this in Seattle.

By the way, caffeine and alcohol and sugar are legal products…street drugs are not.

monkey god
12 years ago

I sense that the boards of Goldman Sachs, Chase and the like are shaking in their boots as they assess the impact this movement is having. Anybody taking a walk past SCCC will realize that the investment banks that own our congress have finally met their match.

George
12 years ago

Please don’t be so ill informed.

1. Fees which were about to be imposed by all major are not going to happen. Saving American consumers hundreds of millions, maybe billions over a few years. Occupy is a NATIONAL effort, its voice is giant, in NEW YORK CITY, the money is rolling in and they have over 500,000. to back up their game.

Polling supports their basic them that America’s banking system is screwed and on a very wrong track. Esp. after the trillions poured out in tax dollars to bail them out.

I think all in all they are right on target – carping about some dah de dah in Seattle misses the elephant staring you in the face.

Of course, you think the economy is perfect, all is fat and happy, and banking is the love of our lives and has served the country well in this dire recession. Duh.

Xavier
12 years ago

…HORROR, street drugs alert.

Mama, they are smoking weed.

Get a clue, we have never had adequate resources for the homeless in this city, never. Not five years ago, not this year. Play dismissive if you wish, you sound a bit out of touch.

And street drugs in the C. Hill neighborhood, where they have been common for 50 years …. such a new and amazing issue.

Someone needs to Needle Exchange the site. Seems a reasoned solution to me. And I have never done any hard drugs.

srsly?
12 years ago

Shaking in their boots? They don’t even know what Occupy is or they don’t care. Keep dreaming.

crockupy seattle
12 years ago

For #@%& sakes will the limp noodles and weak sisters at the helm of this city and college please stop this BS about “no state law prohibits camping on campus”?!
It’s called TRESPASSING idiots and yes, college president Killpatrick does have the authority to evict the occupy camp anytime he manages to conjure up the cajones to do so. How about trying to sleep on the couch in the president’s office to prove that point? What he is waiting for is some back up from someone, anyone in the local power structure (he is new in town) so he doesn’t become the fall guy for the inevitable violent shitstorm that will land on his doorstep. For a preview of that watch what happens in Portland tonight. Maybe they will take up the Mayor’s offer now and make city hall more of a hub of illegal activity than it already is.
Bottom line the occupy camp will be evicted. We live in a democracy and can’t tolerate mobs usurping elected authority, voiding laws on the books and declaring themselves the new government, whether they are comprised of smelly bums or earnest social workers.
If they want change then they can form a political party and run candidates, lobby elected officials or demonstrate peacefully and legally without infringing on others’ rights.
And if they want to “drop out” and live in a tent do so in the wilderness somewhere in Alaska. There are already plenty of people doing just that.

ERF
ERF
12 years ago

Dear etaoin shrdlu (are you related to qwerty by any chance),
I suspect by your “weatherman” comment from the other day that you probably know that the USA has never been a functioning democracy. We are a republic.

Xavier
12 years ago

…. and that silly very brown guy named Ghandi, who the hell cares?

…. and that Black preacher named King, who does he think he is?

…. some of the posters her have led sheltered lives, fat and smug when it comes to mass movements.

…. and those fucking revolutionary street trash idiots who dare challenge the Czar, shit, pass the wine and humming bird fillet.

…. by the way, Occupy is an international effort, Seattle is a speck.

etaoin shrdlu
etaoin shrdlu
12 years ago

A visible consequence of Occupy is the much increased focus in the press, both print and electronic, on issues such as the income divide and corporate tax shirking. Such stories, rare before Occupy, are now frequently at the top of the news.

As Occupy serves as a symbol of resistance to Wall Street and other corporate malfeasance, it reveals the magnitude of public disgust with corporate America and the widespread desire for justice. When polls consistently show that twice as many Americans approve of Occupy as disapprove, this sends an inescapable message to politicians that the benefit of generous corporate contributions must be weighed against the cost of losing the next election. It’s that sort of political calculus that will lead to more corporate oversight and regulation.

The fact that the police are harassing Occupy sites all over the country, often brutally and far out of proportion to the supposed threats to public safety that these sites represent, is evidence of the effectiveness of Occupy in making those corporate and congressional boots shake, “monkey god.”

Fuck Capitol Hill Yuppies

I see where the Capitol Hill snobby yuppies get their “Not in my backyard” attitude.

Weave
12 years ago

You meander a bit.

Publicly owned space, free speech and the right to assemble, bothe rock solid in both State of Wa.Constitution and Federal.

Your angst is not at all viable in a courtroom. Freedoms are not subject to the whims of those who do not agree … with no real point except the catch all, grow some balls thing.

Sorry.

etaoin shrdlu
etaoin shrdlu
12 years ago

The reason why Occupy and other movements that work to restore rule of law and democracy in the US must work outside electoral politics has been made blindingly obvious in recent years: You can’t vote against the banks and corporations in America, because they own both parties.

After the Wall Street-caused econocataclysm at the end of the Bush years, the American people who elected Obama expected justice and reform. But as we know, Obama’s policies toward Wall Street and corporate America are simply continuations of Bush’s. There has been no justice and little reform. Which is not surprising when you look at Obama’s campaign contributions from investment banks and other megacorps. The second largest contributor to the 2008 Obama campaign was Goldman Sachs, and numerous former Sachs employees hold influential positions in the Obama administration. John McCain’s top contributors showed the same profile, and we can reasonably expect that he too would have ignored calls for justice and reform.

That’s why we can’t change things at the ballot box, “crockupy seattle.” That’s why people need to go to the streets. That’s why we need movements like Occupy.

etaoin shrdlu
etaoin shrdlu
12 years ago

After you, Calhoun.

A yuppie
12 years ago

I hate to break it to you but yuppies are part of the 99%.

etaoin shrdlu
etaoin shrdlu
12 years ago

Regardless of its supposed form, we have a government of the corporations, by the corporations, and for the corporations. There are two sets of laws: those for the privileged 1% and those for the rest of us. Because of that, the 1% can commit banking and investment fraud on a massive scale and escape justice. If fact, we see them rewarded with multimillion dollar bonuses after they wrecked the economy.

But of course I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know. These aren’t theoretical arguments. The evidence is right in front of your nose.

That’s why the attacks on Occupy are consistently ad hominem. Everybody knows that the Occupy critique is correct, even the rightie tighties. That’s why you’re splitting hairs over “democracy” vs. “republic,” ERF. You can’t dispute the fact that Americans lost control of their government to the 1%. It’s long past time to take it back.

ERF
ERF
12 years ago

I would like to apologize. Your post deserves a respectful response that I don’t have the time for at the moment. I will have to wait until this evening.

Richard
12 years ago

Hi friend. Sorry to tell you Seattle is a bastion of the left, sometimes the far left. Historical, goes back to the timber labor wars, the docks, and the western frontier.

Do your thing, but, really yours is a voice in the gale. And no one is Insane?, not so, we have a most beautiful city, high wages, many, many billions of wealth, solid middle class, many freedoms as in Gay rights and a diverse ethnic and many races population.

Conservative it ain’t. Your rally would have 15 people, and, yup, not one day, one hour.

Insane is such a droll word in this context. When did you move here?

Signed, Seattle native, from a Wobblie Family … Richard

Richard
12 years ago

Most of the Occupy folks use the same list …. cars … less. You need to check the stats on these groups. Young, educated, dedicated, the tent is like the right pair of tennis shoes … and working on the project is most likely a sex magnet …. helps to keep things united too. And cool tempers.

Comrade Bunny
Comrade Bunny
12 years ago

I’d like to think there is a way to work this out between Occupy Seattle and SCCC. This can’t be easy on either of them. SCCC has no money and now they have a full on village on their lawn incurring costs they can’t afford. Occupy Seattle is camping in the cold, working out an experiment in self-governance, and dealing the best they can with many of the social ills that are the symptoms of an economically unjust society with a massive wealth gap. They both have issues to deal with and must be at the ends of their ropes.

Maybe its naive of me to think they can work this out. But in this conflict it’s the 99% vs 99%. Both parties have been hurt by how our economy works. I just hope they realize that they’re more allies than enemies, and can find a way to see eye to eye.

calhoun
calhoun
12 years ago

RE: George

It is very doubtful that the “occupy movement” caused BOA to cancel their pending debit card fee. This was purely a business decision, because other major banks had announced they would not levy the fee, and BOA would have lost alot of customers if they had gone ahead.

Do you have any credible examples of real accomplishments from the occupy protests?

zeebleoop
zeebleoop
12 years ago

@maku520 & @xavier

please, educate us all on how bong hit after bong hit while camping on the law of a community college is changing the big corporations’ ownership of our government? please explain how anything the tent city has been doing the past few weeks has promoted change of any kind in our nation?

i’m in agreement that the nation is “fucked up and bullshit” but i don’t see your snarky comments and camping as anything else but navel gazing. you are intentionally antagonizing a population that you claim to represent while the wealthy elite sit comfortably on their estates. hey, here’s a thought, why not occupy them? why not go to medina and camp on the lawn of one of those billionaires? in other words, protest the people you have the beef with.

maybe if you did that, or something else even remotely productive, “moderates” might actually come out and join the cause.

zeebleoop
zeebleoop
12 years ago

@etaoin shrdlu

i believe you, both parties are basically the same with their acceptance of lobbying dollars from special interest groups, big business and the wealthy. our politicians are, for the most part, bought and paid for and will create laws that will serve only the most wealthy.

but please explain how occupy’s campaign of community college camping has done anything to change our current political system?

etaoin shrdlu
etaoin shrdlu
12 years ago

It’s a two month old protest movement, “zeebleoop.” Be patient. Rome wasn’t burned in a day.

Mass movements like this have effects over time frames measured in years. In recent US history, you can find comparable phenomena in the civil rights and antiwar movements in the 60s.

Occupy’s objective, which is nothing less than the reversal of the corporate coup d’état and the restoration of democracy and rule of law in the US, will not be met passing a few bills in a statehouse or the Congress, or by electing a progressive politician or two. The American political system works in damage control mode, and its objective, in contrast to Occupy’s, is to preserve the status quo by tinkering with it as little as possible.

Occupy and the movements that follow it must continue to educate the American people about about the corporate capture of our government and and its causal role in the very grim economic conditions here and elsewhere. It must focus the still largely incoherent rage of Americans against the real cause of their distress and encourage the 99% to come together in the streets and to demand, in no uncertain terms, the end of the status quo and the return of our country. Then you’ll see the kind of political change that could make a real difference.

zeebleoop
zeebleoop
12 years ago

@etaoin shrdlu

“…the restoration of democracy and rule of law in the US, will not be met passing a few bills in a statehouse or the Congress, or by electing a progressive politician or two.”

and how is democracy and the rule of law supposed to be restored by camping on sccc’s lawn? sorry, but your argument about educating americans is flaccid. american’s know their government has been overtaken but we don’t know how to get it back. camping on a lawn, fighting cops, locking ourselves together in a bank branch brings about as much change as voting. so tell me, how is occupy changing anything?

“it’s a two month old protest…”

yes, well, that’s all well and good until it works for some to say that it’s changed things. i’m asking what that change is since it’s been commented on that change has happened in the two months. i’m asking a direct question based upon occupy participant’s comments. funny how stances change when it serves their purposes – just like it does for the 1% that got us into this mess.

“It must focus the still largely incoherent rage of Americans against the real cause of their distress and encourage the 99% to come together in the streets and to demand, in no uncertain terms, the end of the status quo and the return of our country.”

and how, tell me, is camping at sccc focusing this rage? how is it encouraging the 99% to come together? it seems your rhetoric is meant to inflame the very people you claim to be trying to pull together. maybe you are part of the problem?

etaoin shrdlu
etaoin shrdlu
12 years ago

Your comment above didn’t really make much sense, zeebleoop. And your bitter animosity toward Occupy is showing.

If the supposedly alienating rhetoric of Occupy is a problem, then it’s one they can live with: recent polls show twice as many support Occupy as oppose.

With regard to the effect of Occupy in its infancy, it has already changed the boundaries of the debate in American society. Before Occupy, there was vanishingly little mainstream news coverage of the extraordinary income and ownership divide in the US and of the causative factors in its three decade long rise. That income chasm, and related stories like widespread corporate tax evasion, got attention only on leftist websites.

Because of Occupy, in less than two months, stories about American income disparity and corporate tax shirking regularly appear as top headlines in mainstream print and electronic news sources. As a result, many Americans are finally becoming aware of the financial crimes of the 1% and of how those crimes are a principal cause of their own dire economic plight. That knowledge is very dangerous to the 1%, as their militarized police attacks on Occupy sites illustrate.

Not a bad start at all for a two month old movement, don’t you think, zeebleoop? Or don’t you.

checkinit
12 years ago

The original question still has gone unanswered. What is the purpose of OCCUPYing SCCC?

etaoin shrdlu
etaoin shrdlu
12 years ago

In the words of British mountaineer George Mallory, “Because it’s there.”

calhoun
calhoun
12 years ago

etaoin:

You actually think that the “attacks” by the police on occupy camps are directed by the 1%? The 1% could care less about these camps as they do not affect anything they do.

The days of the SCC camp are obviously numbered. Pack your bags!

etaoin shrdlu
etaoin shrdlu
12 years ago

In July, Insite Security and IBOPE Zogby International surveyed Americans with liquid assets of $1 million or more. 94% of those polled are concerned about the unrest around the world today. (That group encompasses more than the top 1%, of course.)

You can be sure they worry about Occupy, the face of unrest right here at home.

etaoin shrdlu
etaoin shrdlu
12 years ago

Hey, somebody took a crap on a Cap Hill sidewalk! That NEVER happened before Occupy!

And someone else has nothing better to do than to record somebody taking a crap on the sidewalk!

You can tell the crapper in question is part of Occupy because…because…well, I guess you can’t, really. And as the videographer notes in his charmingly animated voice over, Occupy Seattle has portable toilets on site for its participants.

Nevertheless, it sure makes for a popular vid with the bowel movement obsessed anti-Occupy crowd!

So I can too!
12 years ago

Due to the “ambiguity” in the legality of camping at SCCC, not only can Occupy Seattle occupiers pitch a tent and camp; but any person or groups of persons can as well……a precidence is set! Awesome?

KSumud
12 years ago

I’d like to see an itemized list of how the University got to 500k or otherwise it either sounds like the administration should be fired for their inability to properly manage costs from normal contracts or they are pulling that number out of their collective asses.