I lost a child to deranged police officers at the Occupy movement.

itsallgone:

Just thirteen days ago I was eight months pregnant.

Everyone loved rubbing my belly.

I even wore my “Baby On Board” shirt over my gigantic stomach.

Read More

(Source: )

(Source: 99supercommittee)

occupyallstreets:

Rumors have been confirmed: 1 MILLION accounts have been switched today.

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT)

Protesting does nothing and we should shut up about the 99%, hmm?

(Source: kileyrae)

(Source: wearethe99percent)

Occupy San Francisco: The teenager who was refused cancer treatment.

socialistscum:

Occupy San Francisco protester Miran Istina stands outside the US Bank building on Market Street, San Francisco. Photograph: Martin Lacey

As Miran Istina puts it, she has been living on borrowed time since she was 14. Diagnosed with cancer, she was given just months to live after her health insurer refused to provide her with life-saving surgery.

Now 18, Istina, from the city of Sisters in Oregon, has spent the past three weeks living in a tent at the Occupy San Francisco protest and says she will stay there indefinitely, despite her illness.

She was inspired to take part in the protest by the refusal of her insurance company to pay for treatment for her chronic myelogenous leukemia.

She said: “They denied me on the terms of a pre-existing condition. Seeing as I had only had that insurance for a few months, and I was in early stage two which meant I had to have had it for at least a year, they determined it was a pre-existing condition and denied me healthcare.”

Treatment would require a bone marrow transplant and extensive radiation therapy and chemotherapy, at a cost of several hundreds of thousands of dollars. Coming from an ordinary middle-class background, her family has no way of paying for the surgery that would save her life.

Following her insurer’s refusal, she spent three years travelling the US looking for a healthcare provider who would give her a chance at life.

Istina said: “I went all over the place, looking for someone to give a damn, really, someone to care enough to treat me. Because we were middle class, we couldn’t afford to treat my disease. We’d be in debt for the rest of our family life.”

After repeated refusals to offer her treatment, she said: “I decided I was going to spend the rest of my life doing whatever my heart wants.”

The Occupy movement attracted Istina as she ties the corporate influence on American politics to the decision that has sentenced her to death.

She said: “The corporate influence on politics influences just about anything that happens, seeing as politicians write the plans that healthcare has to follow. It directly links the fact that insurers only pick and choose those who are actually worth it [financially]. I just happen to not be one of the ones they wanted to be around much longer.

“The decision was absolutely influenced by some corporation or some bank saying, ‘we can’t afford her. She’s not worth our money.’ In end terms, corporate greed is going to cost me my life.

“I used to be really upset about it. I’m not as much any more. I’m angry, for sure, but I think me being here might help it never happen again. That’s why I’m here. It’s that there are other people this is going to happen to if this movement doesn’t succeed and that’s not healthy. I’m done being the victim. However long I have left is dedicated heart and soul to this movement, no matter what it takes.”

She has immersed herself in the movement, becoming the chief media relations officer for Occupy SF and organising fundraising events around the city. On Thursday afternoon she led a CNN television crew on a walk through the camp, to show how they were living, explain their motives and refute claims that the living conditions are unsanitary.

She said of her new life: “My heart is finally satisfied.”

The Occupy San Francisco movement has seen up to 300 protesters take over the Justin Herman Plaza, at the Embarcadero in the downtown district since October 5.

The occupiers are given food by local restaurants and have received donations from supporters to provide supplies.

Health professionals from the San Francisco General Hospital are providing round-the-clock care for Istina, who needs strong pain killers and constant monitoring of her condition. Earlier in the month she suffered a kidney malfunction which required urgent hospital treatment.

Throughout the afternoon four police officers kept a watchful eye over the groups of tents and makeshift shelters but the atmosphere was relaxed. When the officers staged a walk-through some of the occupiers shared jokes with them. One said: “Please leave the automatic weapons outside the camp. This is a peaceful protest.”

Another said: “We’re not doing any harm. We’re just a bunch of peace-loving hippies.”

But a raid on the camp is possible at any time. San Francisco mayor Ed Lee has repeatedly insisted that the camp is illegal and all tents should be removed but so far little has been done to enforce the law.

He has threatened a raid and on Wednesday night occupiers expected police to move in, sparking a larger than normal demonstration. Two candidates for the upcoming mayoral election joined with the protesters but despite the presence nearby of riot police, the raid did not go ahead.

• © 2011 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.

 

gjmueller:

Interesting graph to show people who think they’re in the upper class just what 1% actually means and why they’re not in it.

via Mr Loucks

socialismartnature:

Scott Olsen survived two tours in Iraq. Critically injured after one tour in Oakland.

Let this be a lesson. The enemies of the 99% of hard-working Americans are not the people of Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran or anywhere else in the world. The enemies of the 99% are right here at home: they are the 1% of society who control the wealth, and the various police, politicians, and media moguls who do their bidding.

cognitivedissonance:

Dear Oakland PD,

You have probably angered many in the US Marine Corps.

Sincerely,
An observant veteran

Dear members of the US Marine Corps,

Join us. We defend and fight for your brother, and those in the 99% - those like you.

Sincerely,
A veteran and member of the 99% 

wearethe99percent:

I live in Australia…

*My student loans from our government are not subject to interest, they do not increase each year and we can pay these off in manageable amounts

*Our minimum wage is the equivalent of $14 USD and our working week is limited to 38 hours by LAW

*Welfare is available to whoever needs it, we do not have to wait years to qualify

*Every citizen automatically receives health cover for life-threatening illnesses and severe and chronic pain.

- Our government and country is not in recession

- Our corporations still make an insane profit

-We are looked after

IT IS POSSIBLE

We support the 99%

TAKE BACK YOUR COUNTRY

(Source: restoremankind)

wearethe99percent:

I was raised to believe that if I went to college and worked hard, I could get a job and a living wage. Maybe it was true once, but now the American Dream is a lie.

I have looked for work constantly since I graduated, but I can’t find even an unskilled job. I’m losing hope and sick of feeling so helpless.

I’m very lucky that my mother can afford to let me live with her, but she works for the public schools and the government makes more budget cuts every year. I worry constantly that she could lose her job and home.

I don’t want to be rich. I just want human dignity, a decent job, reliable health care.

We are all 99% of this country. It’s time we act like it and demand a new government that puts people before profits. We need to end corporate “personhood” and stop corporate control of elections.

False 53% exposed by using Google Image Search. This leads one to wonder if there are other cases like this.

pantslessprogressive:

A Message to the 53 Percent

Congratulations on successfully mastering a condescending tone. I have some news for you, though: you are part of the 99 percent. I am part of the 99 percent. My neighbor in his brand new Prius is part of the 99 percent. Our grievances are wide-reaching. Our stories and backgrounds are vastly different.

Don’t believe me? Here’s some anecdotal evidence for your taking: according to my income, I am the 60 percent. I am young like many of the Occupy Wall Street protesters. I have a full-time job and will soon be a salaried employee. I make enough money to live in DC with roommates, pay my bills, pay my student loans and still have a little money left over each month. I have worked damn hard but I am also incredibly lucky. Hard work is not universally successful. Just because my hard work and your hard work eventually paid off doesn’t mean hard work pays off for everyone.

So I guess you and I are the same, no? I’m just outside your “53 percent” range, but I also have a job and also “actually pay taxes“… as though someone working a minimum wage job barely surviving on their paycheck doesn’t pay taxes.

The purpose of “I am the 53 percent” seems to exist solely to say, “I didn’t have an easy life either, but I worked hard and now my life isn’t so bad, so stop complaining.” Despite the inherently condescending nature of your grievances, your stories are important, too. Yes, even you, Erick Erickson (pictured above). We don’t all agree. Erickson might try to throw salt on me and brandish a cross any time my progressive being crosses his path, but I don’t wish for the complete destruction of capitalism. Being part of the 99 percent means our ideas for solutions to our nation’s problems will not be the same. And you’re rolling your eyes because we’re outraged at Wall Street? Actually, no, I’m not sure you’re rolling your eyes; you’re merely keeping your eyes shut:

• How Goldman Sachs Created the Food Crisis
• The People vs. Goldman Sachs
• Hedge Fund Gamblers Earn the Same In One Hour As a Middle-Class Household Makes In Over 47 Years
• The More Americans That Go On Food Stamps The More Money JP Morgan Makes
• The new “Let Them Eat Cake!”
• Is the SEC Covering Up Wall Street Crimes?
• Obama Seeks to Win Back Wall St. Cash
• Revolving Regulators: SEC Faces Ethic Challenges with Revolving Door
• “The richest 5 percent of households obtained roughly 82 percent of all the nation’s gains in wealth between 1983 and 2009. The bottom 60 percent of households actually had less wealth in 2009 than in 1983, meaning they did not participate at all in the growth of wealth over this period.”
• Q: “Are you comfortable with the fact that several of your member companies have engaged in large-scale criminal activity?”; A: “You’ll have to be specific.”

(Source: pantslessprogressive)

brooklynmutt:

Dr. Cornel West, civil rights activist and Princeton University professor, just arrested during protest at Supreme Court building.

(via @rousseau_ist)