h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

For those of you outside the US, please read about ACTA. ACTA is a multinational trade agreement that bears many of the same goals and problems as SOPA/PIPA. This agreement is being made in secret and is also heavily financed and lead by the same US media and recording companies. http://www.eff.org/issues/acta

I want to start again to do with Occupy.

I was quite ill when it started here in London...and we had our riots.

But for me it has to have a connection to my culture.

They have put so many of our young people in prison. God only knows what they are going through.

Could someone here that knows more about the philosophy explain, (without links ...seriously). My friend who visited in London tried but I don't understand still.

But I'm going to try again...because yes I did get quite hostile and prejudiced against it.

I'm subbing to this again.

BTW when I said without links I was being friendly/cheeky kea.

(I suddenly worried you might take it as me making a cheap shot. I'm still learning how to be friendly again on h2g2. I DON'T WANT misunderstanding or hurt happening to anyone.

I'm still not that well.)

SOPA and PIPA went down in flames, thanks to the peaceful resistance of so many Occupy protesters in person and on the Internet. (Thanks, Baron Grim ) The multinational media corporations scarcely reported on their own ignominious defeat.

There isn't any time to rest on our laurels, however. Occupy is now taking on the laws/regulations/precedents that give corporations more rights than living breathing humans. A prime example is the disastrous Citizens United decision. Here is link to a video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTiSuu_w9Jk

Happy Nerd I couldn't stand more than watching a few seconds of that video..it was so shouty and screechy. People here just laugh at that stuff.

But I still think we are on the same side.

Watch out, Canada.

Here's a link to a news story about an effort to get something like SOPA through in Canada, appropriately entitled "The Behind-the-Scenes Campaign To Bring SOPA To Canada":


http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6257/125/

I always thought of the occupy movement as little guys united against the billionaires and their corporate structure.
For to long the rich have been able to do anything they want and then say "don't take it personally, it's just business" while the victim of the corporate action is left without options.
Like the story of the 101 year old woman. Her 65 year old son took out a reverse mortgage on her home when she was in her nineties. Well, the bank foreclosed, kicked her out and now says the home is unsanitary and they have no way to make it fit for a 101 year old woman to live in.
Did they offer her another place- no- but if occupy made it a cause I bet they would.

Don't forget ACTA. http://www.eff.org/issues/acta

If it gets fully ratified you can definitely expect more cases like the recent arrests of MegaUpload staff in New Zealand and the arrest and extradition of Sheffield student Richard O'Dwyer. Already many sites are shuttering their file sharing services lest they become the next targeted by these large media groups.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16679174
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-16544335

>>Did they offer her another place- no- but if occupy made it a cause I bet they would.

But the problem, possibly, is that there are lots and lots of individual causes like that.

1) Can you solve them one at a time? Or does it require a bigger politico-economic change?

2) Can you achieve wider change by doing these little things one at a time?

No disrespect to anyone doing such great and necessary things - but it's a not a Movement, is it? Just ordinary, community-minded charity work.

Band-Aid on a gaping wound?

(have i already done this one?)

They're planning a minute's silence for Megaupload. Unless you're a Premium user...

They keep talking about 'Big Society' here...which mostly suddenly seems to be to do with churches.

I get Chuggers knocking on my door most nights.

It's like capitalism is trying to do 'local' suddenly...but of course it smashes the truly local.

Since the Occupy movement began in September, Occupiers have kept the spotlight on economic unfairness and challenged policymakers to translate their message into specific policy solutions. Last night, the President of the United States appears to have accept that challenge. During his State of the Union address, Obama called for

- a new rule require those earning over $1 million per year to pay a minimum of 30% tax rate,

- a federal investigation into Wall Street practices that resulted in homelessness for millions of American families,

- new rules permitting homeowners to more easily refinance their mortgages if they’re paying higher than current market rates,

- rebuilding domestic infrastructure and investing in education, including adult education and worker retraining.

The president's speech was punctuated by howls of indignation from his political opponents in the Tea-Republican parties. Obama used the language of Occupy when shouting down their angry outbursts “You can call this class warfare all you want. But asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes? Most Americans would call that common sense.”

Occupy has done much in the past few months to shape the political dialog of a nation, and even issued a rebuttal to the State of the Union address, well worth reading:

http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election/2012/01/24/mic-check-occupy-wall-street-offers-a-rebuttal-to-state-of-the-union/

I was quite tickled when Cameron talked about The Crisis of capitalism last week.

'We are all Marxists now.'

I'll believe that when he stands in Parliament wearing a cloth cap and overalls.

Nah. Peoples Army fatigues and brandishing a Little Red Book.

I hate Cameron so much.

Did you see him ridiculing Dennis Skinner as a dinosaur with his posh Etonian accent.

To be fair...Dennis can take it. And dish it out.

Oh yeah he took it.

But this is brilliant...I'd love to see this stupid Toff at the Levison enquiry.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/david-cameron/9023014/David-Cameron-Dennis-Skinner-is-a-dinosaur.html

What I'm loving at the moment is how the Lords keep overturning the ghastly welfare reforms Big Davey C and Chums are trying to get going... perhaps we should put control back in the hands of the gentry because the Commons don't seem to be much use to the common man at all.

It sometimes *feels* like a powder keg in this area. I can't rationionalise it. But since the riots.

Also to do with the break up of the Union.