Today, Occupy Oakland is organizing what could turn out to be the largest demonstration since the Vietnam War: a city wide general strike. But it is possible Occupy Oakland already made bigger news last night when the General Assembly voted to encourage occupiers to squat in bank-owned/foreclosed properties. If this spreads across the nation, it could be a game-changing moment for the movement.
The main Occupy Oakland encampment already has tons of support from the same dysfunctional institutions that are bankrupting California. Oakland Mayor Jean Quann is now 100% behind the movement, and she has given all city workers – except the cops – the day off to join the protests. California’s big unions are also supporting the occupiers, with the Oakland teachers union footing the bill for at least nine portable toilets for the protesters, and the California Nurses Association planting a garden to provide occupiers with fresh food.
But all this pampering is not enough. The occupiers want more. Hence the resolution last night to begin occupying empty homes throughout the city. The current Occupy Oakland encampment is in a lightly used area of downtown Oakland. There are few businesses and fewer residents. Occupying homes will bring the reality of the movement a lot closer to many city residents than ever before. And what if this tactic spreads to other cities? Oakland is fairly temperate and it would not be hard to camp-out there year-round.. But in other colder cities, the move to occupy homes could be just the warm ticket frozen occupiers need to survive the winter.
Will the same problems that have plagued Occupy camps nationwide (drug dealing, sexual assault, rape, noise disturbances, violence, etc.), continue into residential neighborhoods? Will otherwise lawful homeowners tolerate these lawless hovels?
Around the Bigs
The Wall Street Journal, Obama Aims at Election Laws: Obama 2012 campaign adviser and former White House counsel Robert Bauer is leading an effort to roll back voter fraud reforms across the country. “We will look at what the state has done, look for ways to counter it, through litigation sometimes, through administrative interpretation sometimes,” a senior Obama 2012 official said.
The Los Angeles Times, Greek move for bailout referendum returns Europe to crisis mode: World financial markets all plunged on news that Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou would hold a referendum on the latest European Union bailout/austerity plan in January. It is widely assumed Greek voters would reject the deal.
The Wall Street Journal, The Bush-Obama Rx Shortages: The Wall Street Journal editorial page explains how government price controls and safety regulations have caused the very drug shortage President Obama is trying to fix.
Bloomberg, U.S. Food-Stamp Use Reaches Record 45.8 Million: The U.S. Department of Agriculture released data today showing that the number of Americans receiving food stamps reached a record 45.8 million in August.
The Hill, Obama suggests he’ll make the final decision on Keystone pipeline: President Obama told a Nebraska television station that he would be making the final call on whether the State Department would approve the Keystone XL pipeline.
The Dallas Morning News, Dallas police arrest convicted sex offender in assault of 14-year-old girl at Occupy Dallas encampment: Dallas police arrested a convicted sex offender and member of the Occupy Dallas movement in connection with the sexual assault of a 14-year-old runaway.
Campaign 2012
Cain: A woman who accused Herman Cain of sexual harassment in the 1990s wants to tell her side of the story, but first must get permission from the National Restaurant Association. But conservatives are telling The Examiner’s Susan Ferrechio that Cain can still survive the scandal. “If nothing new comes out, I think it’s going to be fine,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said. “At the end of the day, he wasn’t found guilty in court of doing anything wrong. Settlements happen all over America with corporations. I don’t think it’s going to have a substantial effect at all.”
Romney: Obama’s Super PAC, Priorities USA Action, has released, has released a class warfare-themed attack ad that they will spend $100,000 to promote on Facebook, Google, Youtube, and other social networking venues.
Righty Playbook
Ed Morrissey reads the latest Obama administration document dump and predicts Justice Department Criminal Division Director Lanny Breuer is being set up as the Fast and Furious fall guy.
At The Corner, Christopher Papagianis reminds House Republicans of their promise to begin rolling back Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: “If House members conclude that the loan limits should go back to the $729,000 level, they are in effect voting for the Obama ’09 stimulus and undermining their pledge to Americans at the same time.”
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan tells The Weekly Standard‘s John McCormack Romneycare doesn’t matter anymore because “Romney’s been very clear that he’s against Obamacare and he’s going to repeal it. So I for a second don’t worry about whether he’s going to shy away from repealing the president’s health care law.”
Lefty Playbook
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg earned “Wanker of the Day” honors for pointing out that Congress played a huge role in the financial crisis by inflating the housing bubble.
Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., introduced a new constitutional amendment yesterday that would repeal the First Amendment by allowing Congress to regulate all political speech.
The American Prospect‘s Robert Kuttner applauds Greek Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou call for a referendum on the EU bailout: “By involving his countrymen in the decision, Papandreou turns himself from agent of foreign austerity demands into a leader of the Greek people.”
