For the first time in 10 years I am EXCITED about a movement in our country.

[BigBearJohn]

The "Occupy Wall Street" movement has my blood boiling. I am so excited
about this. It brings me back to the '60s when people were caring about
something.

All we need now is for some modern-day musicians to come up a few rally
songs like:

"The Times They Are A-Changin'"

Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.


BRAVO --- this is is something I will devote all my energies to.
YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT!!!

[FarLeftFist]

1. We need to shut down the Ron Paul crowd. Letting this be co-opted by the RW would be ridiculous.

As noted here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2041671

[nichomachus]

3. One one hand, I agree with you, but

we're only going to win when people who call themselves liberals and people who call themselves conservatives realize that those labels are deceiving and it's the 99 percent of us against the corporatist overlords. Every other label and division is artificial and is designed to keep us from realizing our commonality of interests.

It's not about gay vs straight, black vs white, liberal vs conservative, Republican vs Democrat, men vs women, religion vs religion. It's about us vs the corporations, us vs "the system," us vs the ultra wealthy.

Once we all come together and realize that, we start to win.

[FarLeftFist]

6. I agree, but the cons will NEVER realize that. Those are Liberal principles.

They won't even agree that the President was born in the United States.

[nichomachus]

12. Our only hope is that they come to that realization

Otherwise, we're screwed.

[FarLeftFist]

14. True, progressive change will only come from progressives, not regressives.

There is no combination of GOP members that could achieve these protestors demands, yet on the Left we could assemble a sort of dream team i.e. Sanders, Kucinich, Sherrod Brown, Elizabeth Warren, Alan Grayson etc etc etc.

[chill_wind]

7. +1

[starroute]

11. There's a fine line with people like the Ron Paul followers

I've been thinking a lot lately about the relationship between the communists and the progressive left after World War II -- which has certain similarities to today.

On one hand, the communists were a disruptive element. Their ultimate loyalties lay outside the labor unions and other progressive organizations to which they belonged, and they apparently had no compunctions about taking those organizations over and turning them into front groups for their own message. But on the other hand, they brought an enormous amount of fervor and organizational skills to the movement, and once they were kicked out the unions quickly lost their radical edge and willingness to push for real social change.

The Ron Paul people aren't exactly analogous to 1940s communists, because their agenda is somewhat at right angles to that of progressives rather than being a more radical extension of it. But they raise the same question of how you can bring a highly ideological faction into the tent without them trying to take over.

On the whole, I think an alliance between left-libertarians and right-libertarians would be a natural and highly effective development at the present moment -- and would provide a strong incentive for the movement to remain close to its radical edge and not slip into the embrace of the Democratic Party or mainstream liberal pressure groups. In many ways, Anonymous already represents such an alliance.

But it would have to be very carefully managed to make sure that the passionate energy it brings to the table doesn't get diverted into ideological infighting and palace coups. The ability of the General Assemblies to enforce communal norms seems like a good first step. But history also shows that once the initial excitement of any new movement wanes, it's the ideologues who tend to keep going for the long haul -- and that is not a good thing.

[Voice for Peace]

20. you are absolutely right, well said.

[Dawgs]

16. The only thing that needs to be shut down are labels.

No left, no right, no democrats, no republicans, no liberal, no conservative - none of them. Until then, no one wins.

[DainBramaged]

2. I was excited this morning after I woke up and enjoined my movement

now, not so much.......when they arrest the bankers or they jump en masse from the balconies, then I'll get excited again.

[WingDinger]

4. Thats what we need. Counterculture artists. Who will be the new Bob Dylan?

[mod mom]

8. Let's hope for someone more principled-RE: Dylan:

Bob Dylan's Gagosian Paintings May Be Plagiarized From Photographs



It's almost too funny to be upset about, but it looks like Bob Dylan straight out copied photographs for anexhibit of his paintings at New York's Gagosian gallery, titled "The Asia Series." What was originally billed as a "visual journal" of Dylan's travels through Asia has since backtracked into a "visual reflection," after Dylan fan site Expecting Rain uncovered blatant examples of line-for-line mimicry, prompting amild NYTimes expose.
Dylan seems to have taken from photographers high and low: Leon Busy, Henri Cartier Bresson, Dmitri Kessel and even Flickr user Okinawa Soba, who announced to the merriment of all on Expecting Rain, that Dylan actually incorporated one of the Photoshop edits Soba used to alter the photograph. Ironically, that last and worst example of Dylan's shamelessness is also the only one likely covered under fair use.

-snip
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/28/bob-dylans-gagosian-paintings-plagiarized_n_985004.html



September 26, 2011, 8:20 PM

Dylan Paintings Draw Scrutiny
By DAVE ITZKOFF
The freewheeling artistic style of Bob Dylan, who has drawn on a variety of sources in creating his music and has previously raised questions of attribution in his work, is once again stirring debate — this time over an exhibition of his paintings at the Gagosian Gallery on the Upper East Side.

When the gallery announced the exhibition, called “The Asia Series,” this month, it said the collection of paintings and other artwork would provide “a visual journal” of Mr. Dylan’s travels “in Japan, China, Vietnam and Korea,” with “firsthand depictions of people, street scenes, architecture and landscape.”

-snip

“I paint mostly from real life. It has to start with that. Real people, real street scenes, behind the curtain scenes, live models, paintings, photographs, staged setups, architecture, grids, graphic design. Whatever it takes to make it work. What I’m trying to bring out in complex scenes, landscapes, or personality clashes, I do it in a lot of different ways. I have the cause and effect in mind from the beginning to the end. But it has to start with something tangible.”

Mr. Dylan has previously proved elusive to critics and observers who have tried to pin him down on source material. In 2006 it was shown that lyrics on Mr. Dylan’s No. 1 album “Modern Times” bore a strong resemblance to the poems of Henry Timrod, who composed verses about the Civil War and died in 1867. Lyrics from a previous album, “Love and Theft,” were similar to passages from the gangster novel “Confessions of a Yakuza,” by the Japanese writer Junichi Saga.

-snip
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/26/questions-raised-about-dylan-show-at-gagosian/?ref=artsf



and don't forget Dylan's 2007 (yes, after climate crisis has been well established) Cadillac Escalade commercial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X3Bcmf3ckQ

[TBF]

10. My vote is for Rebel Diaz -

http://youtu.be/8Dr05tXktSo

[mod mom]

5. It started in the US in Wisconsin. Hat tip to those folks!

[ixion]

9. me, too!

Seems to be gaining momentum by the day! :bounce:

[PETRUS]

13. I have NEVER been excited like this. nt

[humblebum]

15. I am much more excited about the jobs bill and the reception it is NOT getting

and yet it has the potential to be the most productive piece of legislation that has been introduced in decades.

[starroute]

19. Even if enacted, it would only be one more half-assed measure

One more blowout patch on a basically failing economy. It might help avert the double-dip recession that seems to be headed our way, but that's about it.

And of course the Republicans and blue dog Dems won't even let it do that much.

[gater]

17. Three And A Half Letters by Chickenfoot... "I Need a Job!"

Just angry enuff, and it has Joe Satriani on guitar...

[Initech]

18. Bob Dylan once wrote The Times They Are A Changing. Ron Burgundy had never heard that song.