Dear OccupyWallStreet;

Iraqi veteran Scott Olsen was shot in the head, yes, by a beanbag round. Or by a tear gas round, it's unclear. I didn't even have to click through to any of the pages Google found to learn that. While that is bad, the way it the headline is phrased deliberately leads people to think it was bullets.

And Dorli Rainey, the 84-year old granny who was pepper sprayed? She was in a crowd of protestors that had marched what Google Maps tells me is over two miles from their camp. I don't know if she was there from the start, or joined in at some point, but the protestors were in the middle of downtown Seattle, and not dispersing when the cops asked them to.

Now unless you think the cops should screen for Iraqi vets and OAPs in crowds when they deploy less-lethal measures, you need to pull back on the propaganda. There seems to be a focus only on how those policemen are big ol' meanies, instead of worrying about who causes these confrontations in the first place. And no, don't keep dodging responsibility with those nonsense rumors about agent provocateurs, whom there is no credible evidence for. If you want the police to be bad guys, don't confront them in such a aggressive manner that it gives them a reason to respond with force. MLK knew this, Gandhi knew this.

It is hypocritical to want to have a movement demanding accountability and responsibility for others without wanting either for themselves. And for all the protesting, there doesn't seem to be anything changing.

Quit with the sound and fury, and start signifying something.
-Jonathan

EDIT: It turns out rocks were being thrown at the time of the injury, so Mr. Olsen could've been hit by one of those, and not by the police at all. Please note that beanbag rounds are usually aimed at chest height--they're not exactly aerodynamic, and the torso means a better chance of incapacitation without serious injury--and tear gas is usually thrown by hand towards the ground. The Oakland protests in question had already gotten confrontational, had built barricades which they set on fire, and were destroying bank property during the day. Basically, the OWS account of the events is slanted so far as to be nearly horizontal. I mean, Olsen was supposedly seriously injured, but was still texting.

Dear Internets,

So you think the Catholic church, and the Pope as representative of that Church, infringes on people's rights over their own sexuality.

Okay.

Then you say the Pope has no right to complain when Benneton photoshoops him in an ad kissing an Egyptian Imam.

In other words, you're saying he has no right to complain about other people infringing on his own rights about his sexuality.

That's kind of a contradiction.

-J

SCUMBAG STOMACH

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When my alarm went off at 8, I realized that it would be actively dangerous to try and walk two miles and change round trip, crossing two main roads. And I'd probably just fall asleep during the sermon anyway. So I'll just watch it when they put it up on their website.

I also realized I'm probably not going to be able to read 200 pages of my library book by Tuesday, so I went and put another edition on reserve. It should be waiting for me by Tuesday.