Vote(d) 2012 ... can't mediate the Ho Ho's

[X-Codes]

occupy is dead.  They wasted thier time honestly. 

The tea party did some really smart things in its infancy, it got press coverage, it organized grassroots voting, chose some charismatic leaders(Rand Paul), and got some popular conservative leaders to support them(sarah Palin).  And oh btw they got some wealthy backers for thier cause.  Yeah, they sold out, but at least now they have some modicum of power, even if its only power over boehner, but he's a crybaby anyway so its not like it was hard.   

The Occupy movement, on the other hand stayed disorganized, didn't get themselves involved politically really at all(which candidate was an occupy candidate?),  and in fact avoided choosing any leaders whatsoever.  And beyond that, what issue did they ever stand for really?  jobs?  they never really pushed jobs, I mean they didn't do any organized rallies to support any jobs bills, and there have been several proposed... taxes? silent...  And that's why they failed.

The occupy movement is hard to nail down on issues, so I can't really say that they agreed with the tea party because UNlike the tea-party, occupy never really stood up in a uniform way for or against anything.

I liked the ideas of the occupy movement in its infancy, much like I liked the idea of the tea-party in its infancy, but the TeaParty sold out and the Occupiers failed to occupy.  so we're all just stuck back where we were, with crony capitalism.

Oh my god, you cannot be that stupid.  Just because the news isn't covering them anymore doesn't mean they've disappeared.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3X89iViAlw

[dman11235]

Actually, that's one of the symptoms of being dead.  I mean, I know it's still going on, and I like that it is, but the fact that the media isn't covering it should tell you something.

And before you say what I know you're going to say, I don't like that at all.  I think it's a terrible symptom of our society that the media still controls what gets said, but we can change that.  The internet can change that, more specifically.  A few things need to happen though.  One, the internet needs to stop being as polarizing (yes, polarizing.  It is NOT unifying as it is right now).  More discussion needs to happen across cultures.  The media needs to stop with the "sensualized" news.  The populace needs to stop being stupid and taken in by the sensation news.  Among other things.

[X-Codes]

Actually, that's one of the symptoms of being dead.  I mean, I know it's still going on, and I like that it is, but the fact that the media isn't covering it should tell you something.

And before you say what I know you're going to say, I don't like that at all.  I think it's a terrible symptom of our society that the media still controls what gets said, but we can change that.  The internet can change that, more specifically.  A few things need to happen though.  One, the internet needs to stop being as polarizing (yes, polarizing.  It is NOT unifying as it is right now).  More discussion needs to happen across cultures.  The media needs to stop with the "sensualized" news.  The populace needs to stop being stupid and taken in by the sensation news.  Among other things.

You saved yourself from a quadruple facepalm with those last couple of lines.

The media controls what gets said?  Do you know who won Iowa in the Republican caucus?  Rick Fucking Santorum won.  Do you know how he did it?  He put a half-million bucks worth of gas in the tank of his bus and went out and talked to people.

So yeah, important shit happens even when the media doesn't pay attention.  In fact, nowandays you can usually tell that the important shit is the shit not on the news.

(Note: let's not talk about the hi-jacking of the caucuses being perpetrated by Ron Paul.  Santorum won the popular vote.)

[Hallack]

Hehe, hijacking.  Actually, it is party politics done in the open and all party members can participate.  You know when we say that the grassroots should get involved and try to influence the process and party from the ground up?  That IS what we are doing.

It is very much playing within the party rules using the very rules used by the status quo to help keep average folks from wanting to being involved.  Only this group is irrate and fired up enough to learn to play the game.  It's actually pretty dang cool 

[X-Codes]

From what I hear, it was done to make it so that Mitt could win anything in the south.

[darqueseid]

occupy is dead.  They wasted thier time honestly. 

The tea party did some really smart things in its infancy, it got press coverage, it organized grassroots voting, chose some charismatic leaders(Rand Paul), and got some popular conservative leaders to support them(sarah Palin).  And oh btw they got some wealthy backers for thier cause.  Yeah, they sold out, but at least now they have some modicum of power, even if its only power over boehner, but he's a crybaby anyway so its not like it was hard.   

The Occupy movement, on the other hand stayed disorganized, didn't get themselves involved politically really at all(which candidate was an occupy candidate?),  and in fact avoided choosing any leaders whatsoever.  And beyond that, what issue did they ever stand for really?  jobs?  they never really pushed jobs, I mean they didn't do any organized rallies to support any jobs bills, and there have been several proposed... taxes? silent...  And that's why they failed.

The occupy movement is hard to nail down on issues, so I can't really say that they agreed with the tea party because UNlike the tea-party, occupy never really stood up in a uniform way for or against anything.

I liked the ideas of the occupy movement in its infancy, much like I liked the idea of the tea-party in its infancy, but the TeaParty sold out and the Occupiers failed to occupy.  so we're all just stuck back where we were, with crony capitalism.

Oh my god, you cannot be that stupid.  Just because the news isn't covering them anymore doesn't mean they've disappeared.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3X89iViAlw

Don't you think I want to be wrong??? I love the idea of the 99% standing up for themselves(FINALLY).  But in order for a movement to garner any real power in our representative government it has to choose a representative, and it has to get them elected, and it has to get behind real issues.  none of which the occupy movement has done yet.   

Standing up to one minor local problem here and there is not DOing much, I bet those forecosures still happened, just not that day...  They haven't done anything to affect real change, and they aren't doing anything to take steps in the direction of affecting real change on a national stage. 

That is why their dead xcodes, not because the media isn't covering them, but because they can't get anything done.  They are dead and they just don't know it yet.

[skydragonknight]

Their best option as a starting point would be petitions. Enough signatures gives merit to the idea of a potential "constituency" that could be a viable voting block Congress would have to factor in when drafting legislation. The next step beyond that would be the formation of a special interest group to grant lobbying power.

There are options within the system, but without petitions and a coherent message, they are neither going to find financial backers (not all the 1% are fond of wall street and I'm sure some might consider them rivals) nor leaders to champion their cause (which would happen if the opportunity for profit is there from said backers). And without leaders, the structure necessary to create a special interest would be impossible.

(and yes, this is me talking out of my ass. I have only had a basic civics class, and that was years ago. If I mess something technical, please correct me)

[RobbyPants]

Yeah. Part of what made the Tea Party a thing is that they co-opted with an existing party. Of course, that goes against so much of what OWS stands for, that this likely won't happen.

Still, before the Tea Party did this, they had similar cohesiveness issues. In the beginning, it was easy to get a bunch of people together under the "lower taxes, government is too big" banner, but once you tried to get anything more concrete than that, you began to realize that this was really a conglomeration of a lot of different people with a lot of different views, that only happened to share a few core values. I think this is likely the case with OWS. In order to gain any real momentum, they'll have to come up with a more cohesive stance on many issues without splintering their own group into oblivion.

Potentially doable, but it will involve a lot of compromise and organization.

[darqueseid]

also, what did they expect to happen? 
Did they expect thier protests to make the bankers and the 1% come down out of their security-controlled buildings and say, "your right I was too greedy, here take my bonuses back"??? 

While I agree that they were too greedy, and that a better distribution of the wealth is needed, just camping out in places isn't going to get that changed.  Organization is required, if thats thier issue then they should go out and support people who want to redistribute the wealth- get candidates on thier side etc etc.   

[veekie]

Mainly, I think they just wanted to vent frustration with the situation.

[awaken_D_M_golem]

... Not really no leaders, more of a hivemind thing, the leader is the movement itself.  And you know what?  That just does NOT work with humans.

I should like this automatically.

[awaken_D_M_golem]

at the risk of sounding even MORE nerdy than I already am by posting here, even the borg hivemind selected a leader to deal with humans... maybe Star Trek was on to something...

shhh ...  ... I can hear them ...

[veekie]

http://www.freewoodpost.com/2012/02/15/santorum-being-female-is-a-mental-disorder/
Whu? I hope hes being misrepresented here because that seems to be an unreasonable point of view to have as a politician with any support.

[SolEiji]

Its Santorum.  At this point he could say how he believes we should burn witches and re-instate slavery and I would find it believable he said it.  ._.  Why is he the frontrunner?  Oh my poor, dwindling faith in humanity....

EDIT: On reading, given the top banner I'm gonna err on the side of joke.  Even so, it sounds so very Santorumish....

[sirpercival]

Sadly, it's a satirical website and not a true quote.  I wish it was, that would be hilarious.

[X-Codes]

Sadly, it's a satirical website and not a true quote.  I wish it was, that would be hilarious.

That's really not what's important here, though.  What's important here is that I had to check the comments to confirm that it was, in fact, a satirical website.

[veekie]

Sadly, it's a satirical website and not a true quote.  I wish it was, that would be hilarious.

That's really not what's important here, though.  What's important here is that I had to check the comments to confirm that it was, in fact, a satirical website.

Yes.

[Kajhera]

...sorry guys but if that doesn't set off your satire detectors, our politicians must have been making many modest proposals. 

[X-Codes]

...sorry guys but if that doesn't set off your satire detectors, our politicians must have been making many modest proposals. 

To be fair, I thought it was satire, but I gave it like... 20% chance of being real.

[skydragonknight]

Obviously, because it's on the internet means it's a credible source. Take the Fox News website for instance. There is no such thing as 'political bias' or 'sarcasm' on the internet!