Occupy Calgary (with thousands of zombies)

[allhatnocattle.livejournal.com]

I seen a lot of blood and scars at the Occupy Calgary rally today.

Let me just explain the politics of Alberta briefly. This is cowboy country. Extremely right winged, redneck part of Canada. We have had the same right wing party in government for 40yrs. Also this is an extremely wealthy city, supporting two Ferrari dealerships, Maserati, Rolls-Royce Bentley, etc, etc. So to run a left winged protest such as OCCUPY CALGARY is a rather daunting task. The City permitted Occupy to camp on St Patrick Island which is about as remote and away from traffic as possible, so as not to be a disturbance for anyone.

I have found this rather strange. The idea of occupy is to cause disturbance and disruption. To annoy he hell out of bankers, and other white collar pencil pushing suits so-called 1% (not to be confused with bikers) Did I tell you that the City permitted Occupy to camp on St Patrick Island which is about as remote and away from traffic as possible, so as not to be a disturbance for anyone, as long as they were not a bother to anyone. Organizers supplied the city and police with protest march route and times and had them OKed.

So this was set up to be a non-disruptive protest in compliance with the city by-laws. Fine. But it was a go. A facebook page was set up, twitter account, another webpage, etc. Four admins initially controlled the Facebook account, who each invited several more admins, who each invited more. Mayor Nenshi was then listed as an admin/organizer which was denied by Mayor's office, then some admin deleted the entire event. Shit happens.

But the whole thing was still a go, rebooted with a fresh Facebook event, coordinated to take place in solidarity with New York and around the world. We had beautiful sunny but brisk 10 degree weather.

Funny thing was today was also the annual zombie walk. Not only that but there is also some big hollywood zombie movie filming in town with lots of extras in zombie make-up. So when I went down to the Occupy protest I saw many people with blood stained shirts, faces and open scars I feared the worst for a while.

The Occupy protest was a bit of a disappointment. It was lackluster to say the least. I saw the same 18-24yr old hippies from the anarchist bookfair. 18-24 was the majority of the attendees. Some in full zombie dress. Others were 60-70 year old ex-hippies. middle-agers were present bu in minority. Mostly white crowd with some aboriginals (NDN's) and even some immigrants from India, China, etc.

I didn't see any signs that were unique or very funny. Humour was attempted but failed to get at my funny bone like some I see on the web. It was all anti-capitalist, anti-corporate, anti-wealth. Quite a few demanded return to the gold standard (no comment).

The cop presence was unusually high. I counted 26 City police escorts (mostly on bicycle), a dozen bylaw officers and at least 2 plain clothed RCMP (the 2 came out of an RCMP car). All for about 300-500 protesters (I think 300 is realistic, 500 according to the newspaper)

Now, I'm afraid I think badlydrawnjeff seems to have a valid point... that these protests are aimless. My sense is that these folks are pissed off, and rightly so, but offer little value in suggesting solutions. (We are light years in debt for a gold standard to ever work again.)

Frankly I hope that some brilliance emerges out of all these protests and some good does come of it. It could happen. And this brilliance declares themselves candidates and are not only electable but elected and sworn in. And that they do good work and add restrictions, rules, regulations and taxes that actually dig ourselves out of the hole we are all in.

We are on the verge of change. In Egypt as here at home. We have a very metrosexual Muslim Mayor, who marched in the gay pride parade and is very liberal politically. We have a newly elected left leaning female premier who declared homelessness a top priority and just gave $1million back into education. Things seem to be bound to change very soon, very differently then last decade.

Too big to fail is now even bigger and all the conditions are ripe for a new set of failures to crash again very soon.

In some countries corruption is so bad that democracy could be lost in order to save these countries. I sense that it might be time to start fresh. Maybe even here.

Hey, I saw more zombies today then I saw compliant but pissed off Occupy protesters today. And it was hard to tell the difference. But ain't that always the case.

Comments

[dv8nation.livejournal.com]

It was all anti-capitalist, anti-corporate, anti-wealth. Quite a few demanded return to the gold standard (no comment).

In other words, jackasses who don't really understand what they're yelling about or how the world actually works.

I post this because it's relevant: http://www.cracked.com/blog/3-types-wall-street-protesters-hurting-their-own-cause/

[allhatnocattle.livejournal.com]

But they understand all too well how dire it is. The situation that swallowed up Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Washington Mutual, Wachovia, and AIG hasn't changed. In fact it's worse. The players that are left are even bigger then before. And the Federal Government simply can't bail out "too big to fail" again. So being against the capitalism, corporations and wealth is being against the unregulated assholes that caused the problems and will surely cause it again.

Capitalism is like a horse. Even the best horses still require a bridle. Otherwise what good is a wild mustang?

[prog-expat.livejournal.com]

"Quite a few demanded return to the gold standard (no comment)."

Right, because everything is economic smooth-sailing with a gold standard.

[allhatnocattle.livejournal.com]

I think that a having a physical standard (gold or whatever) really limits the amount of debt one gets themselves into. This is why it's being suggested by some in the Occupy movement. I mean that's why it was abandoned, wasn't it? (... in a vote in Washington on Xmas Eve, 80yr ago?) Because it's really worrisome to be in debt 500% of the total assets in gold you're holding. But realistically more like 50,000,000%.

With the artificiality of fiat currency, that worry is manageable, as bullshit always is. You can borrow and be in debt huge amounts and it doesn't bother anyone all that much. It just goes on the shoulders of grandkids and great grandkids and great-great-great grandkids, so who cares? But it's hardly ever framed that way. We're just going to borrow a bit more.

The problem with going back to gold standard has nothing to do with "smooth sailing" but rather that the decades of decisions to go so deep into debt made reverting back to a gold standard impractical. To do so would inflate the price of gold many thousands of times (and we thought $1800/oz was a lot) along with everything else. Anyone with a gold chain might become an instant millionaire, not that it would buy much. Anyone without would starve. Instant chaos.

A copper standard like China has suggested (Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Washington Mutual, Wachovia, and AIG.) makes much more sense as there is enough of it to go around. Still it would be a monumental task to standardize. Let alone expensive.

No it wasn't smooth sailing with the gold standard, but it knocked sense into the system. It was near impossible to spend our way out of financial crisis, only because the consequences were physically seen.

[meus-ovatio.livejournal.com]

Everything has problems, but I just don't think we should tie currency to an arbitrary limit with no relation to the growth of economies. Currency isn't a thing in itself, it is just a medium of exchange. Turning it back into a commodity is just... well it's just weird. The copper standard would fuck everyone with a computer. Why turn vital raw materials into a standard and have it sitting in vaults? That doesn't make any sense to me.

[prog-expat.livejournal.com]

Sure, if you like having the value of your currency fluctuate with the production rate of whatever thing you've arbitrarily set as the standard, along with being susceptible to speculative attacks, as Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia learned in 1997 and Argentina learned in 2001.

[mrbogey.livejournal.com]

Napoleon was supposed to have once explained to an inquirer, "There are four types of soldiers. The first are the dumb and lazy. These I make my infantrymen. The second are the smart and energetic. These I make my field commanders. The third type are the smart and lazy. These I make my generals."

The inquirer, then replied, "That's just three types. What of the dumb and energetic?"

Napoleon, without skipping a beat replied, "I have them shot."

Energetic responses without forethought and focus aren't good for anyone.

[soliloquy76.livejournal.com]

Not sure it helps your cause to quote a person who is considered by some to be the first "Anti-Christ." Otherwise, agreed.

[devil-ad-vocate.livejournal.com]

Napoleon had less respect for his soldiers than any conqueror in history. He regarded them as little more than cannon fodder.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Nappy also as I seem to remember it was the one who lost his wars. ;P

[allhatnocattle.livejournal.com]

Perhaps these are wise words. But I can't help but think of a dumb but energetic sea captain who thought the world was round.

[mrbogey.livejournal.com]

Actually, at the time, learned men knew the world was round.

[allhatnocattle.livejournal.com]

Or the dumb but energetic bicycle makers who thought they could make a flying contraption.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Napoleon as I remember it also lost his wars and was then admired by subsequent generations of generals. One can ask whether or not admiring one of the greatest losers in history isn't setting oneself up to also lose.

[jerseycajun.livejournal.com]

"Frankly I hope that some brilliance emerges out of all these protests and some good does come of it. It could happen."

I've come to think that in general, emotional responses like the kind both Tea and OWS represent do not in general lead to such well-considered fruits. I'm looking squarely at the slate of candidates up for nomination in the wake of the Tea protests.

The more the heart leads the head, the less likely sense prevails.

[prog-expat.livejournal.com]

This, unfortunately. The OWS furor leads me to think that the left is still stuck in that "no-man's land of the spirit" Asimov lamented about.

[jerseycajun.livejournal.com]

From an entertainment perspective, I'm somewhat curious what the slate of candidates for the next house/senate elections will look like.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

The problem is that the Tea Party was initially without any real ideas other than "We're mad as Hell and we're not going to take it anymore" and then they turned into a Republican Party auxiliary and the reincarnation of the John Birch Society financed by the same people who financed the JBS. If this movement succeeds the Democratic Party has a chance to do the same thing. If it fails then it'd be not commented on ever again save by the people who bring it up as a joke decades down the line.

[allhatnocattle.livejournal.com]

Maybe. Wsn't there a book once that said, " out of millions, one "

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

To be sure, yes. OWS in the United States would only be truly independent if it has no political power, if it has political power it will be the auxiliary of a Democratic Party as influenced by large corporations as its Republican counterpart.

[mikeyxw.livejournal.com]

The TEA party started out with some pretty specific ideas, they were originally there to oppose Republicans who supported the bank bail outs. This didn't last long, but it was far more focused at the beginning than OWC.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

No, as I remember it the movement was said to have started in 2008 and back then they knew they were against something, but what the something was they did not know.

[enders-shadow.livejournal.com]

Solidarity with the nyc ows is clearly a message.

wall street. lets talk about wall street and how its the tool of the 1% to get more and more for themselves.

bloomberg is a wall street billionare.
how does one make billions of dollars anyway?

Willie just posted on Facebook

[allhatnocattle.livejournal.com]

[oslo.livejournal.com]

Solidarity with the nyc ows is clearly a message.

I suppose so. "We stand with the people who don't know what they want and don't know how to get it."

wall street. lets talk about wall street and how its the tool of the 1% to get more and more for themselves.

I think income inequality has less to do with Wall Street proper than it does with tax and labor policy but sure, why not, let's blame the bankers, it has cachet.

bloomberg is a wall street billionare.

I'm not familiar with Bloomberg's biography. How did he make billions of dollars on Wall Street?

how does one make billions of dollars anyway?

I'm not surprised that this is a mystery to you.