1.) What is OccuList? — No, it’s not an eye surgeon. Try again… No, no, it’s not a practitioner of black magic. OccuList is what people are calling an Occupy Wall Street listserv that’s been leaked to the public. (We’ll see if the same people who hail Julian Assange as a hero think their information wants to be free.) And it is a treasure trove. There’s so much good stuff, in fact, that today’s TheDC Morning is a special all-OccuList edition! Well, mostly-OccuList. First up is TheDC’s Matthew Boyle:
“A cache of private emails among Occupy Wall Street protesters shows they planned to sell protest-themed merchandise in order to raise money to support their anti-capitalist cause. An online merchandise marketer named Kristen Harrington emailed left-wing activist Justin Wedes on September 25 indicating she was helping put together a merchandising effort to raise money for the protesters. ‘We spoke on the phone this evening regarding fundraising,’ Harrington wrote to Wedes. ‘This is a link to my store (just set up today) at cafepress.com.’ Wedes is a leader of the ‘OurSchoolsNYC’ movement. As of Monday, Harrington’s Café Press online store was advertising thongs, dog t-shirts, hoodie sweatshirts and other merchandise for sale, all emblazoned with Occupy Wall Street catchphrases.”
How do you spread the message that capitalism is bad? Merchandising! Yeah, okay, man, but y’know, sometimes you gotta work within the system to bring down the system, man. Just because people form specialized groups in an effort to produce stuff to be sold to consumers, and to convince those consumers they need to buy that stuff in order to be happy, that doesn’t make them capitalists.
2.) Revolutionary whores — Seriously, they’re definitely not capitalists, as TheDC’s C.J. Ciaramella reports:
“The revolution will be corporate-sponsored! That’s according to Harrison Schultz, an Occupy Wall Street organizer who also happens to be a ‘business intelligence analyst’ at a publicly traded company. On a limited-access email list shared by Occupy protesters, Schultz wrote of a ‘Corporate Funded Revolution,’ calling it ‘a revolutionary plan.’ Despite protesters’ occupation of a New York City park and their stated goal of ending corporate influence — particularly of Wall Street — in government, e-mails emerged Monday showing Schultz and other anti-corporate organizers were a little more corporate than they like to let on. An e-mail tiff between Schultz and Micah White, senior editor at the Canadian magazine Adbusters, shows that Occupy Wall Street is not only a good place to score free food, but also a burgeoning business opportunity. ‘I forgot to mention that one of my youtube clips of Reverend Billy’s preaching on the 17th has blown up,’ Schultz wrote. ‘Google has invited me to monetize my clips. Moreover, my boss, from a publicly traded marketing company who thinks we’ve all done a killer job, has offered to help me learn how to use adsense to make some cash for the occupation.’ Schultz said corporate money might be necessary after the support of radicals from the around the world runs out.”
Money is a corrupting influence, unless it’s money that you want. Then it’s just fine. Yay!
3.) NYU’s journalism program sounds kinda fratty — Okay, so maybe the OWS kiddies aren’t too clear where they stand on capitalism. But at least they’re relying on facts and evidence to convince people, right? Wellllll… Matthew Boyle:
“Occupy Wall Street protesters sought to physically assault conservative filmmaker James O’Keefe when he came to New York City to document their behavior, according to private listserv emails detailing their conversations and plans. O’Keefe recorded a video in Zuccotti Park on October 10, causing a flurry of Occupy Wall Street protesters to email each other trying to determine how to handle his presence. ‘He’s well connected and has brought down entire organizations before,’ warned protester Linnea Palmer Paton. ‘Watch out.’ In response to Palmer Paton’s warning, protester and New York University journalism professor Stephen Duncombe suggested, ‘It’d be great to punk him, but with his style of editing the possibilities are slim. Probably best just to shadow him at all times with a video recorder.’ Duncombe added that protesters might want to ‘pull his [O’Keefe’s] pants down.’ Duncombe is an associate professor in New York University’s department of Media, Culture and Communications.”
And if you don’t think running up to somebody in the street, pulling their pants down, and putting it on the Internet qualifies as assault… Would you feel the same way if it happened to you? Would it convince you of the righteousness of the depantser’s cause? Imagine if somebody did that to, say, Michael Moore. Of course, they’d need at least three people working in precise coordination. With walkie-talkies…
4.) OWS gives owie to Soros — As silly, childish, and confused as the OWS children are, at least they’ve got some sense. TheDC’s Caroline May reports:
“Liberal billionaire and favorite villain of the right George Soros may be ideologically similar to the Occupy Wall Street protesters, but comments from a limited-access email list of Occupy Wall Street organizers reveal that many of the protesters want nothing to do with the wealthy hedge fund manager — who they say is a manifestation of what they are protesting. ‘If Soros speaks at the park or in support of us, we are finished. i have over 500 emails from people complaining about Soros. he is very devise (sic),’ wrote David DeGraw, the editor of AmpedStatus.com. ‘If you guys don’t agree, and he shows at the park, we will have to go into all out PR mode to make sure people know that anyone can just show up and speak.’ … Despite denials that Soros has money in the game, he has been sympathetic to the protest movement. ‘I can understand their sentiment,’ he told reporters at the United Nations this month about the protesters, according to CNBC. Despite enjoying his understanding, Occupy Wall Street has concerns about allowing the billionaire any access to their movement. ‘HE’S ONE OF THE 1%,’ wrote Occupy Wall Street organizer Jackie DiSalvo.”
More like one of the .01%, but it’s not like these guys are really concerned about math.
5.) Find Matt Labash — Remember that guy? He was kind of funny, if you like that sort of thing. He’s been away for a while, but now he’s back. Where was he all this time?
“While I was not kidnapped by Occupy Wall Streeters, I am in fact recently returned from OWS HQ in Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan — a magnificent little isle. It’s run by this one-percenter (as opposed to us, the noble 99 percent) named ‘Mayor Bloomberg,’ who feels just sick about how rich he is, so he’ll only accept one dollar a year in mayoral salary. Proving that you get what you pay for. Over the years, he has banned everything from clergy at 9/11 ceremonies to smoking at city parks or beaches to trans fats in restaurants. But if you’re an unhygienic anarchist costing the city untold sums in police overtime while camping out for a month, serving dirty-fingernail gazpacho without a food-service permit , and pinching a loaf on a squad car, then hey — his casa es su casa! … But what is this particular protest about? From my experience, I learned that it’s primarily about overeducated, underemployed twentysomethings who are frustrated they haven’t found their dream jobs as documentary filmmakers in the worst economy in several generations, all while amassing 100 grand in student loans. Perhaps they should instead occupy the NYU admissions office, or better still, question their choices and keep their fingers crossed for a rebound.”
But as Labash reports, the OWS’ers don’t like Ed Schultz any better than they like George Soros. All they have to do now is start bathing and stop assaulting cops, and they might be onto something… (For much more on Labash’s descent into Hell, or at least Heck, read this.)
6.) Today’s words of wisdom from Alec Baldwin’s Truther, er, Twitter feed — “‘@RockthisSoul: @AlecBaldwin what are you going as for halloweenie’ A payphone”
VIDEO: You’ll never guess what Dennis Kucinich thinks democracy looks like…
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