US Feature: Bad Business --- A Tale of Baseball, Video Games, and a Falling Hero (Miller)

Before the Fall: Curt SchillingIn 2004, Curt Schilling became a legend in Boston. Playing on a badly-injured ankle, he helped the Red Sox achieve one of the greatest comebacks in baseball history to defeat the hated New York Yankees in the semi-finals. The Red Sox then won the "World Series" --- Boston's first title in 86 years --- over the St Louis Cardinals.

And then was more: in 2007, Schilling's pitching took the Sox win to another World Series, finally changing the course of the Sox/Yankees rivalry after decades of cursed frustration for Bostonians.

Imagine the frustration, then, of many Boston fans when their hero badmouthed some of their best-loved politicians and used his fame to campaign for Republican candidates. And then you can appreciate the Schadenfreude at Schilling's failure to launch a successful computer game company.

As Robert Miller points out on The Boston Gamer, however, the reaction to Shilling's recent failure is a lot more than gloating or political squabbling. The collapse of 38 Studios has exposed the hypocrisy of politically-active citizens, the unscrupulous behavior of famous people with more money than brains, and the deeply flawed inner-workings of State Government and its business practices.

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US Audio: Scott Lucas with BBC "Obama's State of the Union: Competence, Command, Control"

I spoke to BBC West Midlands this afternoon about President Obama's State of the Union speech. The BBC focused on Obama's calculations in presenting tax rises on the wealthy; I wanted to get further with the politics. The take-away line? Obama, in a "safe" speech, put out message, "I killed Osama. I saved the economy. I am Competence, Control, and Command."

The discussion starts just after the 1:26.00 mark.

US Video and Transcript: President Obama's 2012 State of the Union Address

THE PRESIDENT:  Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow Americans:

Last month, I went to Andrews Air Force Base and welcomed home some of our last troops to serve in Iraq.  Together, we offered a final, proud salute to the colors under which more than a million of our fellow citizens fought — and several thousand gave their lives.

We gather tonight knowing that this generation of heroes has made the United States safer and more respected around the world.  (Applause.)  For the first time in nine years, there are no Americans fighting in Iraq.  (Applause.)  For the first time in two decades, Osama bin Laden is not a threat to this country.  (Applause.)  Most of al Qaeda’s top lieutenants have been defeated.  The Taliban’s momentum has been broken, and some troops in Afghanistan have begun to come home.

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Occupy Wall Street (and Beyond): Occupy Oakland March Through City and Port (Wollan)

Watch live streaming video from globalrevolution at livestream.com

LiveStream from Occupy Oakland

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UPDATE 0945 GMT: It appears that the situation is now a stand-off as police do not show an inclination to move --- at this time --- on the protesters' central location in the plaza in Oakland.

UPDATE 0815 GMT: Gary Aronsen of Mother Jones: "Loud bangs. People retreat from the plaza as some break windows of City Hall. Vandalism all over. People are pissed about it but can't stop it."

Joshua Holland of AlterNet: "At least five loud explosions."

It appears police have advanced about two blocks, pushing back demonstrators.

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Occupy Wall Street to Occupy Oakland (& Beyond): The Week in the US Protests

Wednesday's General Strike in Oakland, and in the other cities that decide to join  --- Portland is not, for the moment, citing the difficulties of organising an effective protest in such a short space of time ---  could make the headlines for this week. But, as a cursory look at the Occupy protests last week throughout the US shows, it could be a different story, a different theme, in any of the hundred cities involved in this challenge to supposed corporate greed.

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Occupy Wall Street (& Beyond): From Oakland to Atlanta, City Officials Crack Down on Protests (McKinley/Goodnough)

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LiveStream from Occupy San Francisco in California

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UPDATE 0730 GMT: Developments in Oakland and San Francisco in California: in Oakland, demonstrators have returned to the square which was cleared out by police on Tuesday night, although they have prevented --- through the closing of roads from marching on San Francisco.

In San Francisco, protesters are rallying on Market Street, despite rumours that police will move on the area.

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Occupy Wall Street (& Beyond): LiveStream from Clashes at Occupy Oakland

UPDATE 1537 GMT: A slightly different view of the incident. The video starts with a police officer, via megaphone or sound system, telling the protesters that if they do not disperse they will be arrested. One could ask why that is necessarily? The protesters appear to be in a penned-off street, with the police on the other side of the barricades.

After a few seconds, the tear gas is fired, along with flash grenades. A few protesters appear to hold their ground. Towards the front of the pack, on the right hand side, a man who may already be leaving, is apparently hit my a flash grenade, or shrapnel of some kind, and falls backwards, in the direction that the majority of the crowd is moving. When protesters notice that he is injured, they move forward to help, or remove him, and a police officer, who first aims a weapon (tear gas gun?) at the crowd, throws at least 1 flash grenade into the crowd:

UPDATE 1507 GMT: This narrated video appears to show a police officer throwing a flash grenade into a crowd of people in Oakland as they try to help a wounded protester. While the video starts after the tear gas has been fired, and after the protester was initially wounded, it is clear that the crowd was helping the protester, and did not pose an immediate threat to the wall of police standing nearby:

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Occupy Wall Street (and Beyond) Feature: Linking Up with the Unions (Wallsten)

Occupy Wall Street activists protest at a cafe owned by Danny Meyer, a member of the Board of Director of Sotheby's

The Occupy Wall Street protests that began as a nebulous mix of social and economic grievances are becoming more politically organized — with help from some of the country’s largest labor unions.

Labor groups are mobilizing to provide office space, meeting rooms, photocopying services, legal help, food and other necessities to the protesters. The support is lending some institutional heft to a movement that has prided itself on its freewheeling, non-
institutional character.

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Occupy Wall Street (and Beyond): Lemony Snicket's 13 Observations on Money, Fairness, and 99%

We The People Have Found Our Voice (Occupy Wall Street) from ivarad on Vimeo.

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1. If you work hard, and become successful, it does not necessarily mean you are successful because you worked hard, just as if you are tall with long hair it doesn’t mean you would be a midget if you were bald.

2. “Fortune” is a word for having a lot of money and for having a lot of luck, but that does not mean the word has two definitions.

3. Money is like a child—rarely unaccompanied. When it disappears, look to those who were supposed to be keeping an eye on it while you were at the grocery store. You might also look for someone who has a lot of extra children sitting around, with long, suspicious explanations for how they got there.

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US Feature: How #OccupyWallStreet Became #OccupyEverywhere (Schneider)

It all started with an e-mail. On July 13 Adbusters magazine sent out a call to its 90,000-strong list proclaiming a Twitter hashtag (#OccupyWallStreet) and a date, September 17. It quickly spread among the mostly young, tech-savvy radical set, along with an especially alluring poster the magazine put together of a ballerina atop the Charging Bull statue, the financial district’s totem to testosterone.

The idea became a meme, and the angel of history (or at least of the Internet) was somehow ready. Halfway into a revolutionary year—after the Arab Spring and Europe’s tumultuous summer—cyberactivists in the United States were primed for a piece of the action. The Adbusters editors weren’t the only ones organizing; similar occupations were already in the works, including a very well-laid plan to occupy Freedom Plaza in Washington, starting October 6.

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