City: Reopen Main St, 'Occupy' protesters: No | kgw.com Portland

City: Reopen Main St, 'Occupy' protesters: No | kgw.com Portland:

""We're going to take Main Street no matter what," a protester shouted into a bullhorn, as a pair of police officers on bicycles stood watch nearby. "We are prepared to be arrested."

But Occupy Portland activists distanced themselves from the faction in the street.

"All I want to say is that it is not the intention of Occupy Portland to continue to block the street," protester Owen Sanders said."

---

If 80% of the protesters want the street opened, then maybe THEY should remove their colleagues.

This reminds me of when 13th Ave., which went through campus, was closed in Eugene. It began as a fraternity stunt, then radicals took it over, at one point a faction from Springfield drove their pickups and brought their shotguns to open the street ... ah me. If only history wouldn't repeat itself so often. If you get old enough, you get BORED because you've already seen this movie. Been there, done that. I still wish for a different ending. But it will take brains and something the protesters don't seem to like, a leader with vision.

How's that Cummings poem end? There's a hell of a neat universe next door, let's go ...

Common ground?

Occupy Yourself

When you've been an observant adult for over half a century, as I have, you experience a lot of "been there, done that" moments. I get some of that observing the Occupy Portland scene here. The same youthful marriage of idealism and ignorance (particularly in identifying the "enemy"), reinventing the wheel, a poor sense of history, a lot of posturing, but also some sincere, dedicated people as well. But somehow the dumber elements seem to get the press. At any rate, clearly the system isn't working, and the real question is how do you change it. Can it be changed legally, within the system, or must it be changed illegally, as our Founding Fathers reluctantly came to realize? And if the latter, at whom do you point the guns? There will be guns. The assassinations of JFK, King, Bobby K, various Black Panthers, reveal the stakes when power gets threatened. And everything is made more complicated by the international parameters, including our indebtedness to China. May you live in interesting times.

None of this will be decided in the few years I have left. I'm an observer on the sidelines, no heirs to be affected by the outcome. But I'm interested and curious, of course. And so goddamn delighted not to be younger than I am!

I think the best thing that could happen is the birth of a genuine third party focusing on getting money out of politics. Get Bernie and Liz on board. There are some decent progressive politicians out there. The Democrats haven't been worth a shit in decades. Maybe campaign finance reform and a complete overhaul of the tax system are the places to begin. But that's just my opinion, which matters not at all. And the occupy folks and the tea party folks actually share some concerns.

The kids are going to do it their way. I hope the brightest among them take charge. I hope the dumber ones don't find any cameras to speak to.

Meanwhile my protagonist will struggle with these issues even as I do. I occupy myself.

Main Street access divides Occupy Portland protesters |

Main Street access divides Occupy Portland protesters |

The beginning of the end? We'll see. Alas, I am not optimistic about this in the long run, mainly after hearing interviews with protesters. Hopefully this was far from typical ("we're not opening the street because it'd be like having a parade, always moving.")

Daily Kos: Topeka, Kansas legalizes domestic violence to save money

Daily Kos: Topeka, Kansas legalizes domestic violence to save money:

The myth of liberal media

Daily Kos: Occupy Wall Street has an important lesson for protesters: keep at it:

"There was immediate national buy-in for tea party protests from traditional (newspaper and television) media outlets. Occupy Wall Street, by contrast, had to keep protesting for three weeks before it was able to achieve the level of coverage the tea party received just five days."

'via Blog this'

Standing in line

I don't stand in a lot of lines these days but one I stand in several times a week is at Starbucks. I'm reminded of how much of a person's personality is revealed by how s/he stands in line. Today, for example: at Starbucks on my way to the university, stopping for my usual iced coffee, I found one person at the counter and a student standing some eight feet behind him. Are you in line? I asked. Yes. So here we have a person who gives the person in front of her eight feet. I give about two. Different notions of space, privacy, standing in line itself. Fascinating.

Here early, hope to do some rewriting on the novel. Busy class, going over their story ideas. I'm using the net in class more, a more labor intensive approach than before, but I think it will be helpful to students. That's the point ha ha.

Hope and fear

The Occupy Wall Street movement may or may not have important consequences in the real political world. I hope it does. However, locally, I am not impressed by the young "occupiers" I've seen on TV. They talk without any sense of history, as if no one has ever done what they are doing before. Naive, young. If this is going to work in the universe of Realpolitik, it has to be different. There has to be some awareness of the real power structure they are facing, of what is and is not worth fighting for.

Here in Portland, we may see this played out right on Main Street. It's a major city street that the protesters have blocked. The police want them to unblock it, staying in the parks on each side but letting traffic through. The protesters' arguments for not clearing the street, the ones getting play on TV, are idiotic: "we're not a parade, always moving." "We want to feel safe." (by alienating the police?) There is no practical reason whatever to block the street -- except to show off. They have to keep their eyes on the prize.

In practical terms, what needs to come out of this is a viable third party, a genuinely progressive party. But in reality, I confess to too much cynicism to believe this will happen. I fear the worst -- violent confrontations, splintering, the 60s dance. Backlash, a conservative sweep in 2012. And things become worse than ever.

Let me be wrong.

The Woman Who Knew Too Much | Politics | Vanity Fair

The Woman Who Knew Too Much | Politics | Vanity Fair: "

“G.E. doesn’t pay any taxes and we are asking college kids to take on even more debt to get an education, and asking seniors to get by on less. These aren’t just economic questions. These are moral questions.” (Elizabeth Warren)

Good profile of her.

Scientists '95 Percent' Certain They've Found Elusive Siberian Yeti

Scientists '95 Percent' Certain They've Found Elusive Siberian Yeti:

Will Bigfoot be next?

Musical dog

Columbus Day

"October 12. The Discovery. It was wonderful to find America, but it would have been more wonderful to miss it." Puddn'head Wilson by Mark Twain.

Protesters needs suits

Suits for Wall Street from Wall Street Suits on Vimeo.

Keeping their sense of humor. But also true.

Right Here All Over

Right Here All Over  (Occupy Wall St.) from Alex Mallis on Vimeo.

This is a beautiful film. But I feel a certain sadness watching it because I've seen this film before -- and I don't like the ending. So how do these kids write a new ending? That's the question. And is a different ending possible without the R word? The REAL R word?

Yes, But You Don't Understand by Terry Simons in Arts & Photography

Buddy at Chess

Yes, But You Don't Understand by Terry Simons in Arts & Photography:

Political clip art. Great stuff. Lots of examples at Round Bend Press blog.

The triumph of wit and mind over matter and craft. Or something. Anyway, I love them.

Perspective

The 10 Cities That Spend The Most On Coffee: Bundle.com

The 10 Cities That Spend The Most On Coffee: Bundle.com:

Surprising list. Portland #8, Seattle #3.

Panic of the Plutocrats - NYTimes.com

Panic of the Plutocrats - NYTimes.com: Paul Krugman

"It remains to be seen whether the Occupy Wall Street protests will change America’s direction. Yet the protests have already elicited a remarkably hysterical reaction from Wall Street, the super-rich in general, and politicians and pundits who reliably serve the interests of the wealthiest hundredth of a percent.

And this reaction tells you something important — namely, that the extremists threatening American values are what F.D.R. called “economic royalists,” not the people camping in Zuccotti Park."