#OccupyBoston: a beginner's guide by a beginner

who is this all about? all of us.

Occupy Wall Street doesn't need a manifesto; the message is as clear as a bell:

Wall St. broke the economy, badly; we're all still suffering for it.

Wall St never got held responsible for it, and now they're using their power and their money to stop us from fixing the mess.

They broke the economy and then they ate the political system.

So not only do we have a broken economy, we do not have a way to fix the broken economy.

--Rachel Maddow on her 10/12/11 show(lead-in to interview with Ron Suskind)

Some quick notes of my personal observations/thoughts about Occupy Boston, with a specific eye toward orienting anyone who hasn't been down to Occupy Boston yet. I've not been to the Occupy site too much; I went for the first time during the day on Oct. 11 and during the evening General Assembly on Oct. 12 for about an hour from 8-9PM. [UPDATE: I've added a separate new post on Occupy, re: the political implications] [UPDATE: another Needhamite writes a great piece on #Occupy, with lots of orientation for the Occupy Beginner.] 

Spotlight on the Senatorfold

Looks like Scott Brown is becoming more and more like Mitt Romney--his positions change whenever it is convenient.  Thought he was a moderate?  Maybe he was.  Well he's not any more.

The senator, who probably hasn't looked at the bill he supports, simply didn't believe it. Brown kept arguing that the Blunt Amendment is only about religious freedom. He's wrong. 

The Republican proposal aims to allow all private-sector employers to deny any health services that businesses might find morally objectionable. Do you work for a grocery store owner who opposes contraception? You're out of luck. How about an accounting firm that doesn't like HIV tests? Too bad. Are you an employee at a factory that finds cervical cancer screenings offensive? Good luck to you.

--The Maddow Blog - Scott Brown stumbles on policy basics  

---
We know he loves attention!

Excellent analysis of the political and media game that Scott Brown has been playing--one in which he says the "moderate" thing, even tho it belies his conservative votes, and in so doing gathers credit from the media and thus successfully paints himself as a palateable "independent", electable/voteable by the MA voter.  This time, it's about Planned Parenthood and Title X funding, but there's a pattern with his votes on unemployment, wall street regulation and on and on.  Worth a full read but here's an excerpt:

It's the Economy, Stupid

from: Doing the math on Obama’s deficits - Washington Post (2/1/2012) 

Obama’s and Bush’s effects on the deficit in one graph  

The Crap Economy: Whom/What Do Voters Blame?

You'd think--given the media and Republican babble--that the Republican victories on Nov 2 2010 = "repudiation of Barack Obama" and in particular his handling of the economy.

That would be a very confusing repudiation.  As I noted earlier--voters do NOT want what Republicans have been hawking as economic fixes (tax cuts, hate the stimulus).

And it seems like Barack Obama is not even at the top of voters' "Who to Blame" list: he ranks 3rd--
after "Wall Street" and "George W. Bush".

Fuller information here.

_____
2012 Update: The economy? It’s still Bush’s fault - The Washington Post (1/18/2012) -- A majority of Americans believe that former President George W. Bush is more responsible than President Obama for the current economic problems in the country, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.