Dec. 20, 2011, 12:01 a.m. EST

99% plan new tax war on Super Rich in 2012

By Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (MarketWatch) — Warning to America’s Super Rich: Think Occupy Wall Street disappeared in winter’s cold? Wrong: The 99% just declared a new aggressive, covert special-ops war strategy to take back our democracy in 2012.

No more peaceful tent encampments in parks. No more Mahatma Gandhi nice-guy stuff. Not enough. Escalation time. Wall Street, the Super Rich and their Washington lobbyists are tone deaf, blinded by greed, trapped in their post-2008 business-as-usual bubble.

Warning, OWS tells us America’s going to be shocked by not one but hundreds of wake-up calls in 2012.

How? In a recent Washington Post op-ed column, OWS leaders are clearly accelerating their battle strategy in 2012. In what amounts to a new declaration of war that promises to electrify the 2012 elections, OWS will be using new asymmetrical warfare strategies, write the two men who’ve been the driving force behind the movement since early this year, Kalle Lasn editor-in-chief of Adbusters magazine and senior editor Micah White.

Listen to some of the specific guerilla tactics they warn will be used in their coming 2012 “American Spring” assault: A “marked escalation of surprise, playful, precision disruptions, rush-hour flash mobs, bank occupations, ‘occupy squads’ and edgy theatrics.” And in a New Yorker magazine interview shortly after New York Mayor Bloomberg’s “military-style operation,” Lasn warned: “this means escalation, pushing us one step closer to a revolution.”

So get ready: 2012 promises to be a relentless succession of hit-and-run attacks during what already promises to be a hotly-contested presidential campaign. So forget Zuccotti Park. No long camp-outs and sit-ins. That’s so ‘60s. So last fall. Instead, be prepared for endless surprise attacks, albeit non-violent amateur versions of Seal Team Six, in-and-out fast.

‘Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee’ … a thousand times!

Kalle and White also noted in the Post that their 1,000 plus global allies are governed as separate democracies: Each picks their own targets, tactics, the timing and goals. So there may not be a coordinated D-Day re-launch attack date, like there was last Sept. 17. But lots of surprise attacks making the local and regional as well as national news throughout 2012.

As Kalle and White warned: “In this visceral, canny, militantly nonviolent phase of our march to real democracy, we will ‘float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.’ We will regroup, lick our wounds, brainstorm and network all winter. We will build momentum for a full-spectrum counterattack when the crocuses bloom next spring.”

One big target are events related to the proposed constitutional amendment to get money out of voting and reverse corporate personhood … presidential debates venues are high-profile … Supreme Court rulings on health care, immigration, voter redistricting … any events tied to “voting out incumbents” … supporting “Occupy Colleges” anger at oppressive student loans and no jobs … Federal Reserve System money and credit to Wall Street … special interest K-Street lobbyists … state recall campaigns … Keystone XL pipeline … Congressional hearings on jobs … taxes benefits for the rich … and the too-greedy-to-fail banks … corporations who pay less in taxes than CEO salaries … occupy state and local campaign headquarters … support young Millennials rejecting America’s failed two-party system … occupy lawns of elderly citizens being evicted … protesting states who repealed voting and union rights … and many more.

Revolutionary overhaul of American politics, no compromising

Taxing the Super Rich 1% is a given. Kalle and White’s counterattack also other specific, demands for game-changing reforms that would rival anything America saw back in the Great Depression years:

“Robin Hood tax on all financial transactions and currency trades; a ban on high-frequency ‘flash’ trading; the reinstatement of the Glass-Steagall Act to again separate investment banking from commercial banking; a constitutional amendment to revoke corporate personhood and overrule Citizens United; a move toward a true cost market regime in which the price of every product reflects the ecological cost of its production, distribution and use;” and they are in favor of “the birth of a new, left-right hybrid political party that moves America beyond the Coke vs. Pepsi choices of the past.”

There are already several proposed amendments, like Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders 28th Amendment overturning Citizens United. That’s tough. But taxes on Wall Street trading? Remember, Goldman’s traders made over $100 million net profits a day for 23 days one month a couple years ago. They’ll spend billions to fight any such tax reform.

My prediction: Wall Street will never change, never, until they suffer another catastrophic meltdown, with no bank bailouts. We haven’t completed the natural economic cycle Paulson’s team aborted in 2008. Only then can we restore Glass-Steagall and reverse that totally irrational Citizens United ruling that corporations—whose sole allegiance is merely to their stockholders, not to all Americans—have the same rights as a living human. That ruling’s not only bad law, it is bad logic, bad morals, bad economics, and ultimately, it’s bad for capitalism.

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Moscow protesters take to the streets Tens of thousands of demonstrators march against Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's 12-year rule. Their demands

The demonstration, bigger and better organized than a similar one two weeks ago, and smaller rallies across the country encouraged opposition leaders hoping to sustain a protest movement ignited by a fraud-tainted parliamentary election on Dec. 4.

The enthusiasm also cheered Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader who closed down the Soviet Union on Dec. 25, 1991.

"I'm happy that I have lived to see the people waking up. This raises big hopes," the 80-year-old Gorbachev said on Ekho Moskvy radio.

He urged Putin to follow his example and give up power peacefully, saying Putin would be remembered for the positive things he did if he stepped down now. The former Soviet leader, who has grown increasingly critical of Putin, has little influence inRussia today.

But the protesters have no central leader and no candidate capable of posing a serious challenge to Putin, who intends to return to the presidency in a March vote.

Even at Saturday's rally, some of the speakers were jeered by the crowd. The various liberal, nationalist and leftist groups that took part appear united only by their desire to see "Russia without Putin," a popular chant.

Putin, who gave no public response to the protest Saturday, initially derided the demonstrators as paid agents of the West. He also said sarcastically that he thought the white ribbons they wore as an emblem were condoms. Putin has since come to take their protests more seriously, and in an effort to stem the anger he has offered a set of reforms to allow more political competition in future elections.

Kremlin-controlled television covered Saturday's rally, but gave no air time to Putin's harshest critics.

Estimates of the number of demonstrators ranged from the police figure of 30,000 to 120,000 offered by the organizers. Demonstrators packed much of a broad avenue, which has room for nearly 100,000 people, about 2.5 kilometers (some 1.5 miles) from the Kremlin, as the temperature dipped well below freezing.

A stage at the end of the avenue featured banners reading "Russia will be free" and "This election Is a farce." Heavy police cordons encircled the participants, who stood within metal barriers, and a police helicopter hovered overhead.

Alexei Navalny, a corruption-fighting lawyer and popular blogger, electrified the crowd when he took the stage. He soon had the protesters chanting "We are the power!"

Navalny spent 15 days in jail for leading a protest on Dec. 5 that unexpectedly drew more than 5,000 people and set off the chain of demonstrations.

Putin's United Russia party lost 25 percent of its seats in the election, but hung onto a majority in parliament through what independent observers said was widespread fraud. United Russia, seen as representing a corrupt bureaucracy, has become known as the party of crooks and thieves, a phrase coined by Navalny.

"We have enough people here to take the Kremlin," Navalny shouted to the crowd. "But we are peaceful people and we won't do that — yet. But if these crooks and thieves keep cheating us, we will take what is ours."

Protest leaders expressed skepticism about Putin's promised political reforms.

"We don't trust him," opposition leader Boris Nemtsov told the rally, urging protesters to gather again after the long New Year's holidays to make sure the proposed changes are put into law.

He and other speakers called on the demonstrators to go to the polls in March to unseat Putin. "A thief must not sit in the Kremlin," Nemtsov said.

The protest leaders said they would keep up their push for a rerun of the parliamentary vote and punishment for election officials accused of fraud, while stressing the need to prevent fraud in the March presidential election.

Former world chess champion Garry Kasparov was among those who sought to give the protesters a sense of empowerment.

"There are so many of us here, and they (the government) are few," Kasparov said from the stage. "They are huddled up in fear behind police cordons."

The crowd was largely young, but included a sizable number of middle-aged and elderly people, some of whom limped slowly to the site on walkers and canes.

"We want to back those who are fighting for our rights," said 16-year-old Darya Andryukhina, who said she had also attended the previous rally.

"People have come here because they want respect," said Tamara Voronina, 54, who said she was proud that her three sons also had joined the protest.

Putin's comment about protesters wearing condoms only further infuriated them and inspired some creative responses. One protester Saturday held a picture montage of Putin with his head wrapped in a condom like a grandmother's headscarf. Many inflated condoms along with balloons.

The protests reflect a growing weariness with Putin, who was first elected president in 2000 and remained in charge after moving into the prime minister's seat in 2008. Brazen fraud in the parliamentary vote unexpectedly energized the middle class, which for years had been politically apathetic.

"No one has done more to bring so many people here than Putin, who managed to insult the whole country," said Viktor Shenderovich, a columnist and satirical writer.

Two rallies in St. Petersburg on Saturday drew a total of 4,000 people.

"I'm here because I'm tired of the government's lies," said Dmitry Dervenev, 47, a designer. "The prime minister insulted me personally when he said that people came to the rallies because they were paid by the U.S. State Department. I'm here because I'm a citizen of my country."

Putin accused the United States of encouraging and funding the protests to weaken Russia.

Putin's former finance minister surprised the protesters by saying the current parliament should approve the proposed electoral changes and then step down to allow new parliamentary elections to be held. Alexei Kudrin, who remains close to Putin, warned that the wave of protests could lead to violence and called for establishing a dialogue between the opposition and the government.

"Otherwise we will lose the chance for peaceful transformation," Kudrin said.

Kudrin also joined calls for the ouster of Central Election Commission chief Vladimir Churov.

Putin has promised to liberalize registration rules for opposition parties and restore the direct election of governors he abolished in 2004. Putin's stand-in as president, Dmitry Medvedev, spelled out those and other proposed changes in Thursday's state-of-the nation address.

Gorbachev, however, said the government appears confused.

"They don't know what to do," he said. "They are making attempts to get out of the trap they drove themselves into."

____

Associated Press writers Nataliya Vasilyeva and Jim Heintz contributed to this report.

A Solstice Gift?… “White House Xmas UFO card not a hoax: 2012 UFO disclosure begins”

Click to Enlarge

I found this article on 2012 Scenario. The original article is here. I’m sure this will go viral, or has gone viral already. But… this feels like a hint from the WH that disclosure is on their agenda, and they are doing what they can to bring this out. Anyway, here’s the article. The video is at the bottom of the article.

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White House Xmas UFO card not a hoax: 2012 UFO disclosure begins

Michael Cohen m.cohen@allnewsweb.com

Two days ago i reported on a South Dakota woman who received an Xmas card from the White House that included an image of a UFO in sky above the White House (see first video below). The story created a bit of a buzz on the Internet and that led to false reports of the card being a hoax. This Examiner article, in particular, loudly announced that the card was not real based on an out-of-context reading of one line on the card recipient’s Youtube channel. The card is no hoax.

In fact, two more copies of the card with the possible alien craft seen on it have surfaced. I received today the following email from Mr Sunny Azriel of New Mexico, along with images of the card and the UFO:

“A few days ago I, too, received a holiday greeting card from the Obama family. To be frank, I didn’t notice anything strange about it until I saw your post THEN I looked at the card I had received, and, OMG, there’s the UFO!!!!! The Yiddish word ‘Farklempt’ (overwhelmed) comes to mind :o) However, it seems to me that the UFO in the card I received is farther away from the White House than the one you posted below and I’d love your take on this.”

Meanwhile the recipient of the card that started all of this, Ms Dawn Brown-Eyes of Pine Ridge, South Dakota has uploaded a video onto YouTube comparing her copy of the card to copies without the UFO, where astonishingly it looks as if the possible alien craft has been airbrushed out.

It has also now been confirmed that, contrary to erroneous reports, this particular card design has been sent out to thousands of households.

So what’s the significance of all of this? It appears that the White House is under enormous pressure over the issue of UFO disclosure. While we might debate the extent of knowledge and involvement the White House has with aliens, one thing is certain: The US government is aware that aliens are, at the very least, monitoring our civilization. The White House is also certain that some craft that have been both photographed and tracked by radar both within Earth’s atmosphere and in space are those belonging to an extraterrestrial civilization.

The White House fears, beyond anything else, the prospect of alien visitation being revealed by a party other than themselves. Debate now rages within government agencies as to the best method of letting the world know that “we are not alone”. Most agree buildings and economies won’t collapse with the news and churches won’t be left empty.

So now it is a case of simply not wanting to upset the apple-cart. A soft disclosure process has begun. This Xmas card is part of that. Other initiatives include and will be noticed by readers in coming months (or are already being noticed):

1. Continued statements by NASA about the real possibility of alien probes within our solar system monitoring us

2. Saturating children’s cartoons and programs with references to aliens and UFOs, not the usual Hollywood stuff but rather dialogue designed to attune young minds to the reality of sharing our universe with other-worldly beings.

True the US government has chosen the easiest, least brave option, but be in no doubt, disclosure has begun, albeit slowly.

Hi Luis Miguel,

Eating habits aren't just about belief systems, I'm also an animal lover, but not a vegetarian. Humans are predators, both eyes in front of our heads, and our teeth are shaped for chewing meat, not munching on leaves. Humans have the features that are made to hunt & eat other mammals. Being vegetarians goes against the basic nature of people, not in a religious Biblical sense, but in a predatorial mammalian way.

People make their own choices about what they want to eat, but we were all born to be meat eaters.