Aussie riot police break up Occupy protest - CBS News

Aussie riot police break up Occupy protest - CBS News: "MELBOURNE, Australia - Riot police in Australia's second-largest city broke up a demonstration linked to the "Occupy Wall Street" movement Friday, after a group of around 100 people protesting corporate greed defied an order to vacate a plaza.

Around 20 people, including two police officers, suffered minor injuries in the scuffle, Victoria state Police Assistant Commissioner Stephen Fontana said. Several demonstrators screamed and cried as police dragged and carried them away from the city square, where protesters had been camped out for nearly a week.

The Daily Telegraph reports more than 50 members of the "Occupy Melbourne" movement were arrested; Australia's ABC Network reports about 100 arrests.

On Saturday several hundred protesters marched peacefully through the city from Federation Square to Trades Hall, followed by a large police contingent."

'via Blog this'

Man with knife attacks Occupy N.M. protesters - CBS News

Man with knife attacks Occupy N.M. protesters - CBS News: "Albuquerque police subdued a 48-year-old man who lunged with a knife at a group of protesters gathered Friday evening near the University of New Mexico in support of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

About 100 people were in the area when Miguel Aguirre - described by police as a homeless man who also was drunk - pulled out a knife and attempted to stab several protesters. No one was injured."

'via Blog this'

Republican candidates' tax plans may fall flat | Reuters

Republican candidates' tax plans may fall flat | Reuters: "The U.S. tax system is highly progressive. About 47 percent of American households do not earn enough to pay federal income taxes and the burden falls on middle- to upper-income groups, said Roberton Williams, senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center.

Low earners still must pay state and local taxes, along with the federal payroll tax to fund Social Security.

Change the mix and either the poor start paying taxes or an even higher burden is shifted to upper income groups, who traditionally are Republican supporters."

'via Blog this'

Zanesville, Ohio Animal Owner Reportedly Traded Guns For Tiger, Monkey

Zanesville, Ohio Animal Owner Reportedly Traded Guns For Tiger, Monkey: "In "Letters from the Earth" by Mark Twain, one will find a section called "The Lowest Animal"; "I have been studying the traits and dispositio­ns of the 'lower animals' (so called), and contrastin­g them them with the traits and dispositio­ns of man. I find the result humiliatin­g to me. For it obliges me to renounce my allegiance to the Darwinian theory of the Ascent of Man from the Lower Animals; since it now seems plain to me that that theory ought to be vacated in favor of a new and truer one, this new and truer one to be named the Decent of Man from the Higher Animals." This should be a "Must Read" for anyone before they graduate from High School."

'via Blog this'

Robert Creamer: A Great Day: Obama Ends the War in Iraq

Robert Creamer: A Great Day: Obama Ends the War in Iraq: "The hatred for the 'War in Viet-Nam' spilled over on to those who had served (and been forced to serve) in the War. This must not happen here! We can fairly say that we support our troops without supporting the reasons they were deployed. Further more they have not, in any way, failed us. They were sent to do the bidding of Congress and have excelled in their mission in every way imaginable­. We need to welcome them home with Jobs, Benefits, and Thanks for their Service under unenviable circumstan­ces."

'via Blog this'

Martin Luther King Jr. made our nation uncomfortable - The Root DC Live - The Washington Post

Martin Luther King Jr. made our nation uncomfortable - The Root DC Live - The Washington Post: "“Today we do not honor the critic of capitalism, or the pacifist who declared all wars evil, or the man of God who argued that a nation that chose guns over butter would starve its people and kill itself. We do not honor the man who linked apartheid in South Africa and Alabama; we honor an antiseptic hero. We have stripped his life of controversy, and celebrate the conventional instead.”

Want to see King, the revolutionary? Look no further than the speech he gave against the war in Vietnam a year before he was killed. It was a full-throated lecture against everything that he abhorred about his country. Many in the black community thought he was diluting the message of equal rights for black people by entering the debate over the war. But King said: “There comes a time when silence is betrayal.”"

'via Blog this'

Occupy Wall Street Is Starting To Alter The Media Narrative

Occupy Wall Street Is Starting To Alter The Media Narrative: "With lawmakers diddling one another in deficit committees and members of the media denying their own agency, someone had to step up. And that someone ended up being the Occupy Wall Street movement. Their human-flesh social network took up physical space on the ground and started telling their own stories, using Tumblr as their means of aggregation. So we flash ahead to Jelani's analysis of cable news coverage from the past seven days, and voila -- suddenly it's starting to align with the sentiment that was too easily dismissed when it showed up in polls several months ago:

A ThinkProgress review of the same three networks between Oct. 10 and Oct. 16 finds that the word "debt" only netted 398 mentions, while "occupy" grabbed 1,278, Wall Street netted 2,378, and jobs got 2,738."

'via Blog this'