Forum Post: ♦♦♦ Urgent Action List (Ο • C • C • U • Ρ • Υ •●• W • A • L • L •●• S • T • R • Ξ • Ξ • Τ) ♦♦♦
Posted 12 years ago on Dec. 21, 2011, 4:52 p.m. EST by Occupioneers
(88)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Several weeks ago I sat down with a group of neighbors. They're a lively bunch - a mix of seniors and young student couples calling themselves Republicans, Democrats, Independents, and Libertarians. We took our usual spots, got some small talk in, and it wasn't long before we began to notice something unexpected and unusual - we were agreeing.
Well, we'd been reading and watching the news, and we all seemed to have our own take on exactly what it means to be a part of the 99% - but for the most part, the partisan squabbling that had characterized our previous neighborhood get-togethers had been replaced with a mutual understanding that certain things needed doing, and that fighting for these things could be done together.
A scholarly professor named Lawrence Lessig, standing with Occupy Wall Street protesters at Liberty Square in Zuccotti Park, recently put it this way, "The root is the corruption of this political system through the way money drives results in Washington, and if the left and the right can identify that as the root, and not give up their differences but unite around the idea that we need a fair platform to fight out those differences, I think we can make real progress."
We all felt encouraged enough by that to print out various suggestions being proposed by economists, legislators, and people in the Occupy Wall Street movement. Then the challenge we made to ourselves was to come up with a list that each of us could agree on.
Someone also suggested making the first letter of each entry an acronym that spells out Occupy Wall Street, and I suppose that emphasizes how each entry on the list is a part of something bigger, and exactly where the inspiration for the list comes from. So we called it the "Acronym List".
For us it represents what could be some of the first steps that we all agree on. It wasn't intended as a definitive Occupy Wall Street list of demands or a comprehensive list of goals. We simply wanted to share it, in case others decide to use this list, or to pass this list on.
O = Overturn Citizens United
C = Cessation of Corporate Personhood
C = Capital Requirements for banks
U = Undo the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (reinstate Glass-Steagall)
P = Prohibit Irresponsible Stock Market Practices
Y = Yesterday's lobbyists cannot become today's legislators
W = Wielding covert power over legislators must be declared illegal
A = Accountability for those who caused financial crisis and inequality gap
L = Let the Bush Tax Cuts expire and add new brackets for millionaires
L = Loopholes for corporations must close and subsidies for big oil stop
S = Stop late-night congressional budget tricks
T = Trade reform to stop extraction of US jobs and money
R = Regulate non-bank financial institutions
E = End the Federal Reserve system (as we know it)
E = Enact campaign reform and public funding of all federal elections
T = Target ALL unfettered Corporatism, Crony Capitalism, and money in politics
If you'd like to "vote up" or make a comment about a specific part of the list, a separate thread has been added below in the comment section for each one.
The list is also currently being maintained at the following website address: https://sites.google.com/site/occupioneers
C = Cessation of Corporate Personhood (2 of 16)
Since the two are inextricably linked, much of the legislation that seeks to overturn the Citizen's United case also calls on the cessation of corporate personhood.
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Although the notion of corporations being treated like individual people has been around a long time, it’s only been two years since an intensely divided Supreme Court solidified the idea of corporate personhood by ruling that political spending by corporations is protected as a form of free speech under the First Amendment in the above case of Citizens United vs the FEC.
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Corporate personhood was used as the precedent for that landmark Citizens United decision, and is still being used as a justification for allowing unrestricted and undisclosed campaign spending by corporations, a concept that we are just starting to see the effects of as the 2012 election draws nearer.
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Here's Senator Sanders of Vermont discussing his efforts to declare that corporations are not people:
(see "A Corporation is Not A Person" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vda3L16NG3U)
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A Constitutional Amendment is also being proposed by Congressman Jim McGovern of Massachusetts.
(see "People’s Rights Amendment" website http://peoplesrightsamendment.org)
Y = Yesterday's lobbyists cannot become today's legislators, and
Today's legislators cannot become tomorrow's lobbyists (6 of 16)
End the "revolving door" relationships between those in federal service and those in lobbying which has increasingly resulted in our legislators serving the short term interests of the 1%, and not those of the American people. We need to put in place very strict regulatory guidelines that determine who can influence our legislators and how. A wide range of favors and gifts such as future job propositions or generous stock options are systematically being used as bribes by lobbying firms in the halls of our congress (as described by, and formerly practiced by, Jack Abramoff) where lobbying groups are even being allowed to make their own changes to the tax code.
(see "Jack Abramoff: The lobbyist's playbook" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHiicN0Kg10)
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(see also, "How Our Laws Are Being Written" at http://just-gov.com/politics-politicians-elections)
this is .. beautiful. you must be an agenda person.. good job, good job..
Very creative and non partisan to boot.
Thanks a lot. It's been frustrating these past several years watching so many people flaunting intolerance as if it were a virtue, and never even trying to look past our differences. I'm certain that our strength could in fact come from our differences. I'm hoping that soon wiser voices will be heard, and a more compelling case for the power of consensus will be made.
(Oh and btw, we just saw that previous post of yours where you kept checking the mic. So funny. =] )
O = Overturn Citizens United vs the Federal Election Commission (1 of 16)
This unprecedented ruling, reckless and irresponsible, makes it possible for corporations, unions, and even foreign governments to simply buy access and influence in Washington, dominate our policies, and corrupt our politics, by giving unlimited amounts of campaign contributions through entities such as a PAC, SuperPAC or 503c.
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Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont is asking for our signatures to help him overturn Citizens United. (see "Petition" http://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=d49dbee3-5424-4050-a285-19f357084e14)
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Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island joined Senators Tom Udall, Dick Durbin, Charles Schumer, and Jeff Merkley to propose a constitutional amendment that would overturn Citizens United.
(see "Overturn Citizens United: An Amendment" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFDGEASxYHI)
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Congresswoman Donna Edwards of Maryland is reintroducing her H.J. Res 78 Constitutional Amendment to overturn Citizens United.
(see "Congresswoman Discusses Const. Amendment" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq7O72NmorI)
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Representative Keith Ellison of Minnesota has also proposed a constututional amendment called "Get Corporate Money Out Of Politics".
(see "Ellison discusses Effect of Citizens United" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHRPdJNOPos)
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Bipartisan legislation is being introduced by Republican Representative Walter Jones of North Carolina alongside Representative John Yarmuth of Kentucky for an amendment to overturn Citizens United.
(see "Yarmuth discusses his amendment" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXcCqgf6LGM)
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Representative Louise Slaughter of New York has suggested pursuing this through something called retroactive reversal based on Justice Clarence Thomas' allegedly illegal vote stemming from his subsequently discovered lack of sufficient impartiality regarding the original case.
(see "Call For Investigation Into Clarence Thomas" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jShEeSTSwPk)
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Russ Feingold is also actively pursuing this, out of office.
(see "Senator Feingold takes on Citizens United" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NTrd_5YSXg)
Excellent list of sources.
what a great job!
C = Capital requirements for banks and the end of fractional banking as we know it (3 of 16)
Per Kurowski, former Executive Director of the World Bank Group, thinks that if the Occupy Wall Street were better informed, it would be asking for Capital requirements for banks specifically based on job creation ratings and not simply based on profits that don't take into account any other consequences.
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He also suggested that we watch a video explaining the problem with US bank regulations, demonstrated through the use of colored footballs:
(see "Bank Regulations Explained" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA35telp2kc
or as a possible backup website for the same video, see http://bit.ly/mQIHoi)
P = Prohibit irresponsible stock market practices (5 of 16)
These practices include: unregulated OTC-derivative trading, over-leveraged speculative trading, unlimited speculative trading on commodities, "naked short selling", unregulated trading for legislators with access to insider information, and unregulated automatic (non-human) high frequency trading which brings increasing volatility and instability to the financial markets.
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We need to repeal the Commodity Futures Modernization Act (CFMA) of 2000, which removed the OTC-derivative market from all federal regulation.
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We also need to put a stop to allowing enormously powerful institutions to bet against our economy, with the result being that it's in their best interest to see us fail.
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Speculative trading is causing oil prices and food prices to go up, forming another bubble that the big banks are currently betting against (this is called "shorting") while poor all around the world are starving to death. Here's a video related to speculation on commodities:
(see "Food crisis benefits Goldman Sachs" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3vpDqzz5mo)
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Repeal parts of the Financial Services Modernization Act that promotes derivatives trading
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Also, pass the Stock Act being championed by Congresswoman Louise Slaughter of New York that curbs investing using insider information by those serving in congress. Their private funds should be placed in a blind account.
W = Wielding covert power over legislators must be declared illegal (7 of 16)
Going beyond simple endorsement to wield discretionary powers over any member of congress, or any other politician, through political racketeering and extortion, so that no longer are they directly answering to the American people but answering to you (in the manner of Grover Norquist), must be declared illegal.
(see "The Pledge: Grover Norquist's hold on the GOP"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K25kqP0YdZ0)
YES!!
well, yes, of course.
It's all wonderful. From O to W so far, it is. It's great and really creative. And a lot of work tracking down those legislators who are stepping up.
Now.
How many of them have voting records that can incontrovertibly establish a voting record of 'for the people' 70% of the time or more. ?
the rest are pandering . . .
Not that that is a bad thing - it means they are scared. Those are the ones who must go.
A = Accountability for those who caused our financial crisis and our inequality gap (8 of 16)
Elisabeth Warren's website sums it up like this: "Our state Attorneys General and federal enforcement officials must investigate the illegal actions that broke the economy and, when evidence warrants, prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law."
Those individuals and entities who knowingly put trillions of American taxpayer money at enormous risk while risking nothing themselves, who defrauded their investors and then with political contacts protecting them walked away with multi-million dollar bonuses instead of prison sentences, those who sold our political and legislative processes to the highest bidders, their actions should be universally condemned and dealt with.
(see "Matt Taibbi: Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail?" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pj6eujQIzO4)
L = Let the Bush Tax Cuts expire and add new tax brackets for millionaires (9 of 16)
Representative Jan Schakowsky of Illinois introduced the Fairness in Taxation Act, which would create new tax brackets for millionaires and billionaires.
(see "Schakowsky Introduces Bill to Tax Millionaires and Billionaires" http://schakowsky.house.gov/index.php?view=article&id=2877)
I think what we need is a two track approach - one short term, and one long term.
Short term:
Long term:
revamp the tax structure, to:
simplify it for everyone
to make corporate tax structure more competitive with places like Ireland
Both approaches should, working together, work to meet our current national debt in an expedient manner without cutting social services
L = Loopholes for corporations must close and subsidies for big oil must stop (10 of 16)
Close all corporate tax loopholes, notably those which allow them to hide funds off shore and pay less taxes. (We understand the need for US corporate tax rates possibly being lowered to a globally competitive rate offsetting the current justification for these loopholes.)
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Repeal the McCarran-Ferguson Act of 1945 which established states as the primary regulators of insurance and exempted the insurance industry from parts of the Sherman Antitrust Act and a handful of other antitrust laws.
(see "Republican Representative Paul Gosar of Arizona introduces bill to repeal insurance antitrust exemption" http://www.ada.org/news/5577.aspx)
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No longer do we accept that the very biggest US corporations, including General Electric, pay zero taxes, or even negative taxes.
(see "The Situation Room: CNN: GE taxes" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dHLsgeVvJ4)
(see also, "Lawrence O'Donnell - GE pays $0" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haGO_SCrIUk)
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We've also had enough of big oil companies receiving huge subsidies while making record profits.
(see "Leading Republicans Agree... Oil Companies Don't Need Taxpayer Handouts" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rah5JA2k160)
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Bipartisan legislation ending subsidies has been proposed in the past by Senators Susan Collins (a Republican from Maine) and Claire McCaskill (a Democrat from Missouri).
(see "Republican Susan Collins Proposes Tapping Oil Subsidies" http://www.mpbn.net/Home/tabid/36/ctl/ViewItem/mid/3478/ItemId/19274/Default.aspx)
they don't need hand outs - I think they admitted that in 2007 before the Senate when Biden pressed them on the issue.
T = Trade reform to stop extraction of US jobs and money (12 of 16)
Trade reform (along with Tax and Banking reform, as described elsewhere on this list) specifically designed to stop all instances of the extraction that's causing money and jobs to leave the United States for the benefit of a few people in the short term.
(see "Dylan Ratigan loses it on air" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIcqb9hHQ3E)
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We must find a way to stop US businesses off shoring our jobs for cheaper labor off shore.
Pass Louise Slaughter's bipartisan bill Reciprocal Market Access Act, H.R.1749 that instructs U.S. trade negotiators to eliminate foreign market barriers before reducing U.S. tariffs, among other things.
(see "Putting US Workers on an International Level Playing Field" http://www.louise.house.gov/index.php?view=article&id=2480)
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(see also, "Coalition for a Prosperous America" website http://www.prosperousamerica.org/)
R = Regulate non-bank financial institutions (13 of 16)
Regulate non-bank financial institutions such as mortgage originators and payday lenders through the confirmation by the Senate of Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, so that the consumer bureau can use those key powers accorded it under the Dodd-Frank law.
(see "President Obama on Cordray Confirmation" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9GT9m71pCY)
you mean the ones too big to fail?
how about if we break them up?
End the Federal Reserve (as we know it) (14 of 16)
The Federal Reserve is a privately-owned company and not a government agency, and its interference with the financial market can no longer first and foremost be for the benefit of large corporate banking interests at the expense of the 99%.
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Recently a Government Accountability Office investigation found that top executives from Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Chase, General Electric and other firms sat on the boards of regional Federal Reserve banks while their firms benefited from the central bank's policies during the financial crisis. Bank-picked board members at the 12 regional Fed banks represents an obvious conflict of interest and is shockingly unacceptable.
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Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and other nationally-renowned economists agreed on Oct. 20, 2011 in Washington, DC to serve on a panel of experts to help Independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont draft legislation to reform the Federal Reserve.
Sanders said he would work with these top economists to develop legislation to restructure the Fed and tighten rules on conflicts of interest, ensure that the Fed fulfills its full-employment mandate, increase transparency, protect consumers and reduce income inequality.
(see "Top Economists to Advise Sanders on Fed Reform" http://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=DE4C73FB-131C-4A25-B83E-4604EAEFCEBB)
E = Enact campaign reform and public funding of all federal elections (15 of 16)
The only way to get big money out of politics is to cut politicians’ dependence on big campaign contributions. It all comes down to one solution: public funding.
(see "Americans for Campaign reform" http://www.acrreform.org/)
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(also see what Nirvana bassist Krist Novselic is involved with at "FairVote" http://www.fairvote.org/)
T = Target ALL instances of unfettered Corporatism, Crony Capitalism, and money in politics (16 of 16)
Target ALL instances of unfettered Corporatism, and
Replace with business practices that reflect values of responsibility and humanism...
Target ALL instances of Crony Capitalism, and
Replace with true capitalism...
Target ALL instances of money in politics, and
Replace with Democracy of, for and by the people...
Rewrite ALL policy that establishes or maintains disproportionate economic inequality between those within the 99% and those within the 1%...
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Identify and remove ALL substantiated and potential threats corrupting democratic processes that we currently depend on for ourselves and for the future of all life on Planet Earth.
(see Charlie Chaplin's speech about humanity http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WibmcsEGLKo)
(see Severn Suzuki's speech to the UN http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPx5r35Aymc)
(see President Eisenhower's advice to Americans http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUXtyIQjubU)
(see President John F Kennedy's advice to Americans http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhZk8ronces)
(see Frontline's "The Warning" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zm9VrKlXT_A)
(see Frontline's "Inside The Meltdown" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6ziTVAzEQM)
(see Documentary "Why We Fight" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3skfTv04K8)
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Also, here are some links to other lists, a few of them were invaluable sources for our own, and others we found in the days following our neighborhood meeting:
http://www.the99declaration.org/read-the-99-declaration and its backup site https://sites.google.com/site/the99percentdeclaration (exciting effort!)
(GandhiKingMindset's http://occupywallst.org/forum/detailed-list-of-demands-overview-of-tactics-for-d)
(GandhiKingMindset's http://occupywallst.org/forum/specific-demand-and-action-list-for-washington-dc)
(see jeivers' post http://occupywallst.org/forum/3-demands-to-start-with)
(see AmuroRay's post http://occupywallst.org/forum/demands-to-be-issued-to-wall-street-oligarchs)
(see ronimacarroni's post http://occupywallst.org/forum/what-are-my-demands)
(see BonaFidePublius http://occupywallst.org/forum/the-demands-get-this-or-something-like-this-out-so)
(see zweezy's post http://occupywallst.org/forum/realistic-demands)
(see arealpolitik's post http://occupywallst.org/forum/creating-a-list-of-concrete-ideas)
(see Alan8's post http://occupywallst.org/forum/another-proposed-list-of-demands-part-1)
(see Alan8's post http://occupywallst.org/forum/another-proposed-list-of-demands-part-2)
(see AlbanUlqini's post http://occupywallst.org/forum/ows-keep-it-smple-one-demand-only)
(see unimportant's post http://occupywallst.org/forum/the-one-demand-we-all-agree-on)
Great username, great work. Thanks!
http://www.the99declaration.org/
Thank you so much! The 99 declaration was the first on our list of invaluable resources, and we wholeheartedly support it!
Our list was specifically created in an effort to reach out to those people, left and right, who may feel discouraged by the establishment's push to define this as simply a partisan battle.
Apart from linking to the 99 declaration, please let us know if you can think of another way we can use our 'nonpartisan' list to help the 99 declaration initiative with its purpose.
--Anne and Ty
Could you do a similar thing with 'We.Are.The 99Percent' only make it a more 'another world is possible' theme incorporating universals like People power, peace, love?
Anne and Ty:
"pioneers of the 21st century looking round and looking fast to try and fix and try and help this very need..."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlQIAgoAguU
U = Undo the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act and reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act (4 of 16)
US Representative Marcy Kaptur of Ohio has introduced a bill (called H.R. 1489) this year to restore Glass Steagall and revive the separation between commercial banking and the securities business. There are currently 57 co-sponsors.
(see "Return to Prudent Banking Act of 2011" http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h112-1489)
yes!
S = Stop the late-night congressional budget tricks (11 of 16)
Stop the late-night budget tricks and other maneuvers in Congress designed to weaken agencies that enforce the laws. Put real cops on the financial beat in the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission, cops with the resources they need to patrol for fraud and sustain tough prosecutions.
Have concern for women, workers, children, animals, environment, then everything else falls into place.
There's no denying the truth in what you're saying. Concern can also prompt us to act. There's nothing preventing us from following a personal path to our higher selves while participating in an effort to see those higher understandings reflected in the socio-political system that gives our society its structure.
The bad news is that today that system still contains many incentives for following paths of selfishness and greed. The good news is that we know we're better than that, and fortunately the system can be changed.
Encore, Joyeaux Noel et http://documentarystorm.com/inside-job/ & http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/ .
Adieu ~{;-)
Also, here are some links to other lists, a few of them were invaluable sources for our own, and others we found in the days following our neighborhood meeting:
http://www.the99declaration.org/read-the-99-declaration and its backup site https://sites.google.com/site/the99percentdeclaration (exciting effort)
http://occupywallst.org/forum/detailed-list-of-demands-overview-of-tactics-for-d
by GandhiKingMindsetResist
http://occupywallst.org/forum/specific-demand-and-action-list-for-washington-dc
by GandhiKingMindsetResist
http://occupywallst.org/forum/3-demands-to-start-with by jeivers
http://occupywallst.org/forum/demands-to-be-issued-to-wall-street-oligarchs by AmuroRay
http://occupywallst.org/forum/what-are-my-demands by ronimacarroni
http://occupywallst.org/forum/the-demands-get-this-or-something-like-this-out-so by BonaFidePublius
http://occupywallst.org/forum/realistic-demands by zweezy
http://occupywallst.org/forum/creating-a-list-of-concrete-ideas by arealpolitik
http://occupywallst.org/forum/another-proposed-list-of-demands-part-1 by Alan8
http://occupywallst.org/forum/another-proposed-list-of-demands-part-2 by Alan8
http://occupywallst.org/forum/ows-keep-it-smple-one-demand-only by AlbanUlqini
http://occupywallst.org/forum/the-one-demand-we-all-agree-on by unimportant
BRILLIANT !!! Thanx "Ann'n'Ty and The Occupioneers" (gr8 name for a band !!) for this ... Possibly THE best and most uplifting forum post that I've read on this forum {& I'm NOT just saying That !}. Blessings upon all those involved & 1 <3 ;-)
I'm in the UK and an avowed leftist so I perhaps ought to stay out of any substantive discussions on this forum thread lest I attract the Rabid, Reactionary, Right-wing RANDIAN Socio-paths and Imperial WAR-Whores, who I spank as often as possible on this forum.
However, I would be humbled, honoured and happy if I may just contribute the following links to 10 "information and news" web-sites :
a) http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/category/economics/ ;
b) http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/ ;
c) http://rt.com/programs/keiser-report/ ;
d) http://www.veteransforpeace.org/ ;
e) http://www.wanttoknow.info/ ;
f.) http://michael-hudson.com/ ;
g) http://www.nomiprins.com/ ;
h) http://www.newint.org/ ;
i.) http://maxkeiser.com/ ;
j.) http://ni4d.us/ !!!
A Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year of Peace, Prosperity & Potential to all !!
Pacem In Terris = Peace On Earth !
dum spiro, spero ...
you guys rock
[Removed]
I don't get it. Where's the anagram?
It looks more like some acronym variant.
A good anagram could be tough. How about 'Lest we plutocracy'
'Lest we plutocracy' is perfect for OWS. Nice find.
(In case you don't get what we're talking about, an anagram is when you can rearrange the letters of something to spell out "Occupy Wall Street".)
I think "Carol cutely swept" wins as the best one I can come up with. Although "Elect Crawly Spout" is someone that I can see people voting for on Itzy Bitzy Spider name recognition...