Politics Plus

Who can forget how the Republican Party brought this nation to the brink of default twice in the last year, holding the good faith and credit of the US hostage, to blackmail America, actually causing one of the three major ratings agencies to drop our bond rating.  By long tradition, Congress does not insert policy changes into the budget, but it appears that is what Republicans are about to do.  This could repeat what I have called Republican acts of economic terrorism.

Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and the vast majority of House Democrats have signed a letter to Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) pushing him to strip partisan policy riders out of must-pass legislation to fund the government after the money runs out later this month.

Yes, here we go again. House Republicans are advancing appropriations bills loaded with controversial measures that would defund the new health care law, scrap key environmental protections and more.

“As you know, there is longstanding precedent not to use appropriations bills to enact major changes in national policy, and the bills being reported from Appropriations subcommittees this year violate that precedent,” wrote Hoyer in a letter signed by 182 other Democrats. “While not all policy riders are objectionable, many of those included this year are not only controversial but blatantly partisan. Included riders would block the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, roll back important clean air and clean water protections, and place new restrictions on women’s access to a full range of medical and health services, among others.”

If Boehner passes these bills with Republican votes alone, he sets up a major standoff with Senate Democrats, who will reject the spending bills, leading to another government shutdown standoff. Of course, all year a rump of extremely conservative Republicans, eager to slash significantly more money from federal programs, has thwarted Boehner, and forced him to pass legislation with House Democratic votes. If that dynamic plays out again, it will give Hoyer and his party plenty of leverage, and perhaps force Boehner to strip these riders out of the legislation.

Otherwise, it’s a repeat of last spring’s shutdown fight, only this time Democrats aren’t nearly as willing to get rolled by the GOP… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <TPM>

I have little to add here.  Fortunately, the last time Republicans did this, Democrats refused to cave-in, and Boehner had to back down.  I’m giving an early heads up here, so that we can watch this and make our voices heard at the appropriate time.

Things have been busy at Occupy Portland.  First some demonstrators staged a separate demonstration intending to be arrested, creating tension with Mayor Sam Adams.  I have an article and video covering that, an Olbermann video, and a video of Michael Moore’s visit to Occupy Portland today.

Occupy Portland protesters are not all supportive of Sunday morning’s staged protest at Jamison Square resulting in 27 arrests.

Riannah Weaver, an Occupy Portland supporter, said she is angry at her fellow protesters for disrupting the peace Sunday morning.  Weaver organized a peaceful demonstration in Jamison Square Sunday evening at 7 p.m. attracting a small crowd.

Weaver said the protest at Jamison Square was counterproductive and the purpose of the protest was not clear.

"I saw Mayor Adams come here and they chased him out of here," said Weaver. "That’s not what Occupy Portland is about."

Weaver said the Occupy movement is facing some challenges at the downtown camp due to subcultures.

"There is no difference in the subcultures taking over that park and the subcultures people ignore everyday in this city. We don’t have the authority to kick those people out, and if we did, we wouldn’t because we see them as victims of society."

Less than 24 hours after more than two dozen arrests at Jamison Square, a KOIN Local 6 camera crew faced an angry protester inside the downtown camp.  A volunteer in the kitchen shoved the camera lens before cursing and yelling at the crew… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <KOIN TV>

One of the movement’s biggest strengths is also one of it’s biggest weaknesses.  Unlike the Tea Parties that are organized top down by America’s greediest corporate criminals, the 99% movement has no leaders.  They normally operate by consensus, but that was clearly not the case here.  Whoever chased Sam Adams out was clearly wrong.  Whoever acted abusively to the reporter was also wrong.

At issue here is that Jamison Square is a park in an upscale urban renewal area.  The park has a curfew to prevent homeless people from camping there.  In the past, aggressive panhandling has interfered with local residents use of the park.  Both sides have legitimate issues.  Fortunately the demonstration was peaceful, and the demonstrators well behaved and well spoken.

Keith Olbermann discussed Portland and other OWS locations and interviews Jeannie Hartley from Denver OWS on Countdown.

Keith probably did not know that Mayor Adams had been chased off.  He has been a friend to the demonstrators, and he deserved an opportunity to talk it over.

Occupy Portland had a rare treat.  Michael Moore put in an appearance.  Here’s video.

With rare exceptions, Occupy Portland had been a model for the rest of the country, but even here there have been growing pains.  Here and everywhere, it’s important for the organizers to publically disassociate themselves from individuals and sub-groups, who act outside the agreement of the general assemblies and behave inappropriately.