Costs of the Occupiers
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2011
The trash generated by the “Occupy Wall Street” protests keeps piling up. So do the bills. Liberal media outlets claim the anarchic, anti-capitalist movement is more popular than the Tea Party. But wait until Americans across the country get a full picture of the costs of the aimless occupiers.
In New York City, government officials estimate the month-long siege of Zuccotti Park has now imposed $3.2 million in overtime police costs on the public. On Thursday, as Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office pressured left-wing activists to vacate the park for cleaning, Occupy Wall Street urged sympathizers to flood the city’s customer services lines: “Call 311 and tell Bloomberg not to evict us!”
In Philadelphia, Mayor Michael Nutter told the press that demonstrators outside city hall have incurred $164,000 in overtime public employee costs and $237,000 in regular time. “At the current rate, if Occupy Philly continues to the end of the month, the city would spend another nearly $690,000 on police overtime alone,” the local NBC affiliate reported. “Besides the extra police presence being dedicated to the Occupy Philly protests, other city departments have also incurred costs.”
In Seattle, police have so far billed $30,000 in overtime and the parks department racked up nearly $4,000 in additional costs related to the protests there. Occupiers have blocked traffic, assaulted an officer, and pitched illegal tents. Merchants in the area have been hurt as the riff-raff deter customers. One business owner in Westlake Park, where hundreds of protesters remain camped out, told Seattle TV station KIRO: “There’s definitely fewer people you can identify as people out, just walking through the area.”
Seattle’s pushover mayor, Democrat Mike McGinn, now faces even greater demands from the insatiable mob – which wants a “guaranteed parking
space near City Hall Plaza that allows for around-the-clock parking,” “24-hour access to the first floor of City Hall for restroom access, and a written statement from the mayor approving the protesters’ long-term occupancy of City Hall Plaza.”
In Boston, City Council President Steve Murphy anticipates a $2 million hit to taxpayers if the protests refuse to disband by the end of October. The local Fox affiliate notes the tab represents 8% of the yearly budget for police overtime. “While we’re all sympathetic with
our protesters down there,” Murphy said, “Wall Street isn’t picking up the tab on this thing. It’s the Boston taxpayers.”
When fiscally conservative Tea Party activists held protests over the past two years, they filed for all the required permits and paid for their own power. Occupy Boston, by contrast, neither sought nor obtained any proper permits at any level, according to the Boston Globe. Instead, city and park officials have been cowed into providing them gratis electricity and camp space lest there be “conflict.”
Many of these occupiers are primarily occupied as paid rent-a-mobsters for unions, left-wing think tanks, and the radical Working Families Party. While one collective hand soaks the taxpayers, the other hand is busy soliciting free stuff. Occupy Los Angeles activists took to
Skype on their laptops to solicit donations of iPhones and iPads.
Occupy Wall Street members on Twitter organized an ongoing “#needsoftheoccupiers” drive for everything from batteries and tarps to “gently used” coats and sweaters, wool socks, sleeping bags, and energy bars. Occupy Austin organizers publicized their wish list, including a free barbecue grill, port-o-potties, extension cords, a Bobcat forestry cutter for clearing brush, and network cameras for a livestream.
These are not principled advocates of fiscal responsibility. They are professional freeloaders.
Unlike Tea Party activists who focused like a laser beam on politicians in both parties responsible for redistributing wealth to Big Business cronies by force, the Occupy Wall Street movement is everywhere and nowhere. The entitled Kamp Alinsky Kids are poaching WiFi and trespassing on private property under the guise of “social justice,” but in plain service of themselves.
Their t-shirts and speeches glorify Marxist radicals Che Guevara, Emiliano Zapata, and Chairman Mao. They lionize convicted Death Row cop killer Troy Davis and WikiLeaks collaborator Bradley Manning. They condemn “Nazi Bankers,” Jews, Fox News, the American Legislative
Exchange Council, Wisconsin GOP Gov. Scott Walker, the Koch family, and the New York Police Department (“pigs!”). They promote the illegal alien DREAM Act and 9/11 Trutherism.
They spout bumper-sticker profanities and inanities: “F**k banks.” “Unf**k the world.” “Fuuuuu*k.” “Free education.” “Smash nationalism.”
“People not profits.”
They flash peace signs while celebrity supporter Roseanne Barr calls for beheading financial industry workers and fellow marchers call explicitly for “violent revolution” or for Obama to “Send Seal Team 6” to Wall Street.
Then they huff and puff (preferably in a creepy, uniform chant they call the “human microphone”) that we just haven’t taken the time to understand what they’re all about — as they hawk $20 “Eat the Rich” polo shirts and license their protest photos to Getty Images.
http://michellemalkin.com/
Blog
Obama and Congress Do Not Want To Save 1.8 Trillion Dollars
TAXPAYERS?
Group Sends $1.8 Trillion in Spending Cuts to Super Committee
(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) issued a statement criticizing the deficit reduction plan revealed by President Obama in his speech at the White House Rose Garden. President Obama pledged to veto any plan that lowers the federal government’s deficit and debt without implementing new sources of revenue, or higher taxes. He offered Americans a choice between “crumbling roads and schools” and a plan to raise taxes on corporations and higher wage earners, but did not propose any substantive reforms to entitlements like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, which together make up 71 percent of mandatory federal spending.
“President Obama continues to perpetrate the myth that America’s staggering deficit and debt are a product of too little revenue,” said CAGW President Tom Schatz, “when even a cursory glance at the federal budget over the last four years reveals that runaway spending is the real culprit. Federal spending as a percentage of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) reached a post-war high in fiscal year (FY) 2009, and is likely to climb even higher if the President gets his way on new stimulus spending, and as taxpayers begin to feel the effects of his massive expansion of healthcare expenditures. The President’s failure to broach the subject of restructuring Social Security, despite longer life expectancies for seniors and dismal financial prospects for the program, is typical of his attempts to grab taxpayer dollars while avoiding difficult reforms.
“Today’s speech reflected a disappointing lack of imagination on the part of the President, who consistently looks to solve problems by throwing more money at them, despite a history of feeble results. It was another insight into President Obama’s attitude toward taxpayers, which treats their hard-earned income as a tool that can be manipulated into aiding an agenda of ever-expanding government. His fictional dilemma between lousy infrastructure and schools or higher taxes revealed a fundamental misunderstanding of recent spending patterns: transportation spending as a percentage of GDP has been increasing steadily since the early 1980s, and education spending has doubled since the 1970s, but unbridled waste and mismanagement have prevented taxpayers from seeing proportionate returns on their investments.
“Spending reductions in an era of sky-high budgets should not be treated as a bargaining chip – they should be the first step toward trimming the deficit and paying down the national debt,” added Schatz. Accordingly, CAGW has sent its Prime Cuts 2011 publication – a compendium of 691 recommendations that would save taxpayers $391.9 billion in the first year and $1.8 trillion over five years – to Congress’ Joint Select Committee, which is preparing a plan to reduce America’s deficit and national debt. Enacting each of the recommendation in Prime Cuts would go a long way toward restoring the federal government’s fiscal solvency and reducing each American’s share of the debt. It would also send the message that the government believes in protecting private wealth, rather than milking it dry,” Schatz concluded.
Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, mismanagement and abuse in government.
http://www.cagw.org/newsroom/releases/2011/cagw-to-pres-obama-are-you.html
Holder may need to testify after subpoena in Fast and Furious Investigation.
Eric Holder, Border Patrol, Fast and Furious, Attorney General”Top Justice Department officials, including Attorney General Holder, know more about Operation Fast and Furious than they have publicly acknowledged,” the California Republican said in a statement. “The documents this subpoena demands will provide answers to questions that Justice officials have tried to avoid since this investigation began eight months ago. It’s time we know the whole truth.”
House Committee to Subpoena Eric Holder on ‘Fast and Furious’
Attorney general facing investigation on botched gun-running scandal
The subpoena seeks, among other things, all communications regarding the operation from 16 top Justice officials, including Holder, his chief of staff, Gary Grindler, and the head of the department’s criminal division, Lanny Breuer, as well as correspondence on specific dates to and from the former head of the ATF’s Phoenix field division, William Newell.
It also asks for all documents and communications referring or relating to the murder of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Agent Jaime Zapata, including any correspondence outlining the details of Zapata’s mission at the time he was murdered.
Zapata was killed in a drug cartel ambush on a northern Mexican highway with a gun that was purchased in a town outside Forth Worth, Texas. Three Dallas-area men — one accused of buying the gun, his brother and their neighbor — are facing federal weapons charges, although none related to Zapata’s death.
Congressional investigators are also demanding information regarding the investigation into the death of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry. Two guns found at Terry’s crime scene were linked to the failed operation that allowed more than 2,000 weapons to “walk.”
The subpoena asks for correspondence that Justice Department officials had with the White House about the gun trafficking operation, as well as what information was shared by Justice officials in Mexico.
Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, sharply criticized Issa for sending the subpoena.
“This subpoena is a deep-sea fishing expedition and a gross abuse of the committee’s authority,” he said. “It demands tens of thousands of pages of highly sensitive law enforcement and national security materials that have never been requested before and are completely unrelated to Operation Fast and Furious. Rather than legitimate fact-gathering, this looks more like a political stunt.”
This second subpoena follows the first one issued in March to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Asked about the development Tuesday, Holder said his department “will undoubtedly comply with them,” noting that Justice officials have already sent “thousands of pages of documents up to the Hill.”
But Holder wouldn’t answer whether he or anyone else at the department knew about the controversial tactics.
Holder addressed the matter at the end of a press conference about an alleged Iran-tied terror plot foiled by U.S. investigators. “What I want the American people to understand is that in complying with those subpoenas and dealing with that inquiry, that will not detract us from the important business that we have here to do at the Justice Department, including matters like the one that we have announced today,” Holder said.
The new subpoena follows a week of back and forth between congressional investigators and Justice Department officials of “who knew what, when.” Under scrutiny was Holder’s testimony from May 3 when he told Issa that he “probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks.”
Fox News obtained documents addressed to Holder as early as nine months before that, which described the concept of Fast and Furious.
In addition to the congressional investigation being led by Issa and Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, is calling for a special counsel to look into the matter.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/10/12/issa-issues-subpoena-to-holder-in-fast-and-furious-investigation/#ixzz1ab4yEDvQ
http://www.whateverhappentocommonsense.com/
The Folly and Hypocrisy of Occupy Wall Street Crowd
By: Elmer Williams
The Occupy Wall Street Crowd is just pathetic at best and dangerous at worst. First they say that they are upset with the Millionaires, and they are on “a Millionaire March”. They are passing by the homes of New York’s wealthiest residents, because they are upset about the 2 percent “millionaires’ tax” that is expiring. This is according to a story on Fox News website.
What I don’t understand is that if they are so upset with Wall Street and all the rich people. Why are they being so selective in their picketing? Nancy Pelosi and the “Chosen One” Barack Hussein Obama just recently gave another $737 million dollars to Tonopah Solar Energy. The dirty little secret is the Nancy Pelosi’s brother Ronald Pelosi is second in command at PCG Clean Energy & Amp; Technology Fund (East). You may ask what does that have to do with Tonopah. I’m glad you asked. Tonopah is a subsidiary of Solar Reserve which gets it’s financial backing from PCG Clean Energy & Amp; Technology Fund (East). All this happen after the Solyndra fiasco.
Why don’t Occupy Wall Street march against Nancy and her brother Ronald. Why don’t they protest Timothy Geithner and Henry Paulson who said all the bailouts would help the economy? Also protest George Bush and Barack Obama for signing off on the taxpayer’s money on these bailouts.
How about protesting George Soros who himself intentionally makes attempt to destroy Countries. Why not protest against Bill Gates and Larry Page who admitted to hiding millions of dollars over seas. No these bunch of hypocrites pick and choose what millionaires they will protest.
http:www.whateverhappentocommonsense.com
Mubarak Gone In Egypt and the Religion of Peace Goes On Killing Spree
“The Religion of Peace ” CAIRO (AP) — Flames lit up downtown Cairo, where massive clashes raged Sunday, drawing Christians angry over a recent church attack, Muslims and Egyptian security forces. At least 24 people were killed and more than 200 injured in the worst sectarian violence since the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak in February. The rioting lasted late into the night, bringing out a deployment of more than 1,000 security forces and armored vehicles to defend the state television building along the Nile, where the trouble began. The military clamped a curfew on the area until 7 a.m. The clashes spread to nearby Tahrir Square, drawing thousands of people to the vast plaza that served as the epicenter of the protests that ousted Mubarak. On Sunday night, they battled each other with rocks and firebombs, some tearing up pavement for ammunition and others collecting stones in boxes. At one point, an armored security van sped into the crowd, striking a half-dozen protesters and throwing some into the air. Protesters retaliated by setting fire to military vehicles, a bus and private cars, sending flames rising into the night sky. After midnight, mobs roamed downtown streets, attacking cars they suspected had Christian passengers. In many areas, there was no visible police or army presence to confront or stop them. Christians, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt’s 80 million people, blame the country’s ruling military council for being too lenient on those behind a spate of anti-Christian attacks since Mubarak’s ouster. As Egypt undergoes a chaotic power transition and security vacuum in the wake of the uprising, the Coptic Christian minority is particularly worried about the show of force by ultraconservative Islamists. Prime Minister Essam Sharaf, addressing the nation in a televised speech, said the violence threatened to throw Egypt’s post-Mubarak transition off course. “These events have taken us back several steps,” he said. “Instead of moving forward to build a modern state on democratic principles we are back to seeking stability and searching for hidden hands — domestic and foreign — that meddle with the country’s security and safety.” “I call on Egyptian people, Muslims and Christians, women and children, young men and elders to hold their unity,” Sharaf said. The Christian protesters said their demonstration began as a peaceful attempt to sit in at the television building. But then, they said, they came under attack by thugs in plainclothes who rained stones down on them and fired pellets. “The protest was peaceful. We wanted to hold a sit-in, as usual,” said Essam Khalili, a protester wearing a white shirt with a cross on it. “Thugs attacked us and a military vehicle jumped over a sidewalk and ran over at least 10 people. I saw them.” Wael Roufail, another protester, corroborated the account. “I saw the vehicle running over the protesters. Then they opened fired at us,” he said. Khalili said protesters set fire to army vehicles when they saw them hitting the protesters. Ahmed Yahia, a Muslim resident who lives near the TV building, said he saw the military vehicle plow into protesters. “I saw a man’s head split into two halves and a second body flattened when the armored vehicle ran over it. When some Muslims saw the blood they joined the Christians against the army,” he said. Television footage showed the military vehicle slamming into the crowd. Coptic protesters were shown attacking a soldier, while a priest tried to protect him. One soldier collapsed in tears as ambulances rushed to the scene to take away the injured. At least 24 people were killed in the clashes, Health Ministry official Hisham Sheiha said on state TV. State media reported that Egypt’s interim Cabinet was holding an emergency session to discuss the situation. The protest began in the Shubra district of northern Cairo, then headed to the state television building along the Nile where men in plainclothes attacked about a thousand Christian protesters as they chanted denunciations of the military rulers. “The people want to topple the field marshal!” the protesters yelled, referring to the head of the ruling military council, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi. Some Muslim protesters later joined in the chant. Later in the evening, a crowd of Muslims turned up to challenge the Christian crowds, shouting, “Speak up! An Islamic state until death!” Armed with sticks, the Muslim assailants chased the Christian protesters from the TV building, banging metal street signs to scare them off. It was not immediately clear who the attackers were. Gunshots rang out at the scene, where lines of riot police with shields tried to hold back hundreds of Christian protesters chanting, “This is our country!” Security forces eventually fired tear gas to disperse the protesters. The clashes then moved to nearby Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the uprising against Mubarak. The army closed off streets around the area. The clashes left streets littered with shattered glass, stones, ash and soot from burned vehicles. Hundreds of curious onlookers gathered at one of the bridges over the Nile to watch the unrest. After hours of intense clashes, chants of “Muslims, Christians one hand, one hand!” rang out in a call for a truce. The stone-throwing died down briefly, but then began to rage again. In the past weeks, riots have broken out at two churches in southern Egypt, prompted by Muslim crowds angry over church construction. One riot broke out near the city of Aswan, even after church officials agreed to a demand by ultraconservative Muslims known as Salafis that a cross and bells be removed from the building. Aswan’s governor, Gen. Mustafa Kamel al-Sayyed, further raised tensions by suggesting to the media that the church construction was illegal. Protesters said the Copts are demanding the ouster of the governor, reconstruction of the church, compensation for people whose houses were set on fire and prosecution of those behind the riots and attacks on the church. Last week, the military used force to disperse a similar protest in front of the state television building. Christians were angered by the treatment of the protesters and vowed to renew their demonstrations until their demands are met. http://news.yahoo.com/24-dead-worst-cairo-riots-since-mubarak-ouster-232452205.html
Obama Administration Release documents about Fast and Furious
The Whitehouse Knew Something, “Surprise Surprise”]
September 30, 2011 9:35 PM
New Fast and Furious docs released by White House By Sharyl Attkisson WASHINGTON – Late Friday, the White House turned over new documents in the Congressional investigation into the ATF “Fast and Furious” gunwalking scandal. The documents show extensive communications between then-ATF Special Agent in Charge of the Phoenix office Bill Newell – who led Fast and Furious – and then-White House National Security Staffer Kevin O’Reilly. Emails indicate the two also spoke on the phone. Such detailed, direct communications between a local ATF manager in Phoenix and a White House national security staffer has raised interest among Congressional investigators looking into Fast and Furious. Newell has said he and O’Reilly are long time friends. ATF agents say that in Fast and Furious, their agency allowed thousands of assault rifles and other weapons to be sold to suspected traffickers for Mexican drug cartels. At least two of the guns turned up at the murder scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry last December. The email exchanges span a little over a month last summer. They discuss ATF’s gun trafficking efforts along the border including the controversial Fast and Furious case, though not by name. The emails to and from O’Reilly indicate more than just a passing interest in the Phoenix office’s gun trafficking cases. They do not mention specific tactics such as “letting guns walk.” A lawyer for the White House wrote Congressional investigators: “none of the communications between ATF and the White House revealed the investigative law enforcement tactics at issue in your inquiry, let alone any decision to allow guns to ‘walk.'” Among the documents produced: an email in which ATF’s Newell sent the White House’s O’Reilly an “arrow chart reflecting the ultimate destination of firearms we intercepted and/or where the guns ended up.” The chart shows arrows leading from Arizona to destinations all over Mexico. In response, O’Reilly wrote on Sept. 3, 2010 “The arrow chart is really interesting – and – no surprise – implies at least that different (Drug Trafficking Organizations) in Mexico have very different and geographically distinct networks in the US for acquiring guns. Did last year’s TX effort develop a similar graphic?” The White House counsel who produced the documents stated that some records were not included because of “significant confidentiality interests.” Also included are email photographs including images of a .50 caliber rifle (left) that Newell tells O’Reilly “was purchased in Tucson, Arizona (part of another OCDTF case).” OCDTF is a joint task force that operates under the Department of Justice and includes the US Attorneys, ATF, DEA, FBI, ICE and IRS. Fast and Furious was an OCDTF case. An administration source would not describe the Tucson OCDTF case. However, CBS News has learned that ATF’s Phoenix office led an operation out of Tucson called “Wide Receiver.” Sources claim ATF allowed guns to “walk” in that operation, much like Fast and Furious. Congressional investigators for Republicans Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) have asked to interview O’Reilly by September 30. But the Administration informed them that O’Reilly is on assignment for the State Department in Iraq and unavailable. One administration source says White House national security staffers were “briefed on the toplines of ongoing federal efforts, but nobody in White House knew about the investigative tactics being used in the operation, let alone any decision to let guns walk.” http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727_162-20114184-10391695.html