Los Angeles is different than the other Occupations thus far in that the entire City Council - with not one dissenting vote - passed a resolution in support of Occupy LA on Wednesday. They've been able to organize and lobby their law makers. It's an interesting story.

I wrote about it for The Atlantic:

I had just taken the hour-long tour for those new to Occupy LA, a solidarity demonstration sparked by Occupy Wall Street in New York. My husband had been visiting the encampment, centered on the lawns around Los Angeles City Hall, in solidarity with me, snooping around the mini-gatherings that pepper the building's grounds.

"You have no idea what's going on here!" he declared after finding me on the corner of Spring and Temple Streets listening to an elderly Hispanic man standing on a box telling a captive audience how the bank took his home.

"Civics," I answered.

"Then you do know what's going on here," he said.

Well first off: there's a tour. There's nothing more inviting and informative than that. It's given primarily by Cheryl Aichele, a medical cannabis advocate who looks like the person you'd seek out at any event for answers; she's non-threatening, sincere and most importantly knowledgeable. When I first meet her she's in a large tent with a production company logo on it (this is how we roll in LA). It's like a reception area for a community center. There's a whiteboard with the schedule of a dozen or so committee meetings that day. They use words like "outreach" and "liaison" and combinations thereof for their committees (and sub-committees). There's an "objective and demands" box that a middle-aged man stuffs a letter into. A woman next to me is inquiring about the AA meetings. She's immediately paired up with a fellow 12-stepper within earshot. There are flyers and maps and notices. It's Day Seven of the encampment -- they have AA meetings.

"All of the problems we are facing are legal. They're laws. We need to pass the right laws," says my tour guide Aichele.

These are terrible anarchists.

Read the whole piece here.

Who knew there would still be people protesting all this time? Seriously? When we started buying solidarity pizzas last week we had no idea we'd still be doing it now. It's mainly thanks to you guys. Over 500 of you have donated over $18,000. We've bought pies for 22 cities totaling more than $13,000 and we're still going. Occupy Wall Street is growing and so...we can't stop now.

Yesterday at Occupy LA they told me that the 36 pizzas we buy them go quick. They said they could use three times that. They are now reporting a tent count of 253. Which is exponentially larger than their first day.

Total we've bought pizzas for 22 occupations in different cities: Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Boston, Seattle, Chicago, DC/K Street, Tampa, Philly, San Diego, Denver, Austin, Portland, Indianapolis, New Orleans, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City, Sacramento, San Jose and Des Moines.

Some we're feeding every day. Some we've inspired to get their own donations. It's been amazing. You can still participate. It's not over! I asked an occupier yesterday how long they are staying. She replied: "I don't know, I've never revolutionized before."

More pictures after the jump:

Continue reading »

Okay so where was I, yeah, I hung out on line to get the vibe - even though I donned the button: "I voted Early for John Kerry" - As I walked back to the Kerry tent a battle erupted. A kerchiefed hippie kid held an 8-foot long plywood board in the air in front of the Bush tent. It read, "1200 Americans Killed in Iraq. 10,000 wounded..." The Bush people went nuts. They wrestled with the guy. Swat team went into high gear. The kid was with the Kerry group, which of course was strategically placed four feet to their left.

The sign being eight feet long well, you get the idea. Meanwhile the chanting from the Military Trail drifted into the parking lot. A soaking wet sexy socialite in high heels approached the front door. "I don't have to vote. I just have to use the ladies room. Cops obliged. Doors opened. Line didn’t move. A five-year-old black girl stared in bewilderment at the whole nutty scene. It was in the words of the Sorkin's, a middle-age Jewish couple, "A real happening."

The problems of poverty keep getting pushed from one place to another (literally). We have so many people out of work and losing their homes. What, exactly, are we going to do about it? Other than criminalize poverty, I mean:

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) ―A local attorney opened up his private property for homeless campers to have a place to stay, but authorities are already warning they will have to shut it down.

Attorney Mark Merin is leasing his property on 13th Street and C Street in Sacramento to about three dozen homeless men and women for one dollar a year, which is meant to give them the legal rights of lessees and property renters.

"It's a matter of human dignity, and it's life and death," said Greg Bunker, executive director of Francis House in Sacramento.

According to Sacramento police, it isn't legal to live in a tent anywhere in the city for longer than 24 hours. The department wouldn't say when, but did say that they would soon enforce the city ordinance and kick the homeless persons out of the property.

The lot is located in a mostly industrial area, with only one home backing up to the property, but the city has received complaints about the campers from nearby residents.

You stay classy, Arlen:

So cancer survivor Arlen Specter set up a website to promote his cancer research initiative.

Awesome!

Guess where the money goes when you donate to this worthy cause?

The Arlen for Senate campaign.

We have to convince Joe Sestak to primary this joker.

UPDATE: Turns out that after denying it was a scandal, Specter quietly changed the cancer research site. Adam Green at DKos has the full story.

In his first six years in office, the president has made little mention of Thanksgiving, beyond the ceremonial turkey pardons, but yesterday Bush traveled to Charles City, Virginia, for his first speech devoted specifically to the holiday. “[O]ur nation’s greatest strength is the decency and compassion of our people,” he said. “As we count our many blessings, I encourage all Americans to show their thanks by giving back.”

The problem, in this case, wasn’t with the president’s inoffensive message, but rather with his audience.

You might think that a presidential speech on Thanksgiving would be open to all comers. But no, even when President Bush is talking about something as uncontroversial and inclusive as the essential goodness of our country, he wants his audience prescreened for obsequiousness.

Bush traveled to the historic Berkeley Plantation in southeastern Virginia yesterday for an event carefully calibrated to emphasize his compassionate side. In his remarks, he encouraged “all Americans to show their thanks by giving back.”

But, as usual, he wasn’t talking to all Americans. At least not in person. Admission to the event was tightly controlled by White House and Republican party officials.

Tyler Whitley and Mark Bowes write in the Richmond Times-Dispatch: “President Bush found something to be thankful for yesterday — a friendly, invitation-only Virginia audience. . . . “‘We love you!’ one woman yelled as Bush prepared to deliver a 16-minute Thanksgiving message to a standing-room-only crowd of about 800 people standing at Berkeley under a tent facing the James River.

Yes, it appears Bush can’t even wish Americans a happy Thanksgiving without the comfort of his ever-present Bubble.

Willkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome! Here at the C&L Cabaret it's time for the Blog Roundup Revue! No use in sitting alone in your room by the PC -- in here, life is beautiful! Let your Master of Ceremonies, Steven at Die Meinung Muhle, show you. And we're obliging -- if you don't like the songs of Kander and Ebb, you can try this little ditty that's perfect for the War On Terror.

Black waters run deep, and Blackwater's waters run very deep and smelly indeed . Read all about it while this jolly song runs through your head.

Pretty soon it will be time to set ourt clocks back, but maybe instead we should set the Democratic Party leadership forward. And while we're at it, upgrade the party frontrunner to a more appealing model and engage in some serious class warfare .

It is so hot here at the C&L Cabaret that we constantly have to battle to keep the women from taking off all of their clothes. So stick around. Today, we may lose the battle -- whoops!

Nice documentary you have there, Mr. Burns, but we need a lot more.

HOLY CRAP: In our WIngerweek Roundup we find that the Big Guy In The Sky doesn't put out the way he used to for the GOP. And the Bible-bangers of this lovely little town are on their way to learning that anti-gay bigotry carries a hefty price tag .

BOOK NOOK: Science fiction master Norman Spinrad (Bug Jack Barron, The Iron Dream) has written a near-future novel about an Islamist terrorist and is having a spot of trouble finding a publisher. He's posted the first third of the novel online and gone on YouTube to explain his take on 9/11 and the War On Terra. And in more multimedia fund, here's Todd Gitlin talking about his new book, The Bulldozer and the Big Tent .

Well, that's all for this week, mein Herrs and Heroines. It's been a groove and a gas and I thank Mike for the opportunity to make you all rue the day you shelled out for DSL. The secret password and the keys to the cabaret are being turned over to Jamie for the coming week.

So, in closing, I'd like to leave you all with this positive inspiring message:

The holidays will be here before you know it, and books like this make wonderful gifts.

Auf wiedersehen.

There's a certain logic to it...albeit desperate and strange.

Newsweek:

Sgt. Cory Elder smiled as he surveyed the field of battle. There were soldiers everywhere-300 camouflaged combatants gripping machine guns and barking into walkie-talkies. There were smoke grenades. There were Humvees. There was even an airplane. But despite all the accoutrements, this was hardly Fallujah, and these troops-in Coram, N.Y., last Sunday to play a paintball game called Behind Enemy Lines-were only weekend warriors. For now, that is. Hoping to convert today's wanna-bes into tomorrow's cadets, Elder, an Army recruiter, had stocked an "Army of One" tent with key chains, coffee mugs, footballs, baseball caps, T shirts and customized dog tags. Soon, a bunch of teenage boys were grasping for the prizes-and giving recruiters their names, numbers and e-mails in return. "This is our target audience," says Elder. "It's a perfect match."

Nieman Watchdog: Lieutenant General William E. Odom, who was director of the National Security Agency under President Reagan, spanked Hugh Hewitt in a wideranging and lusty interview.  All democrats should study the way Odom handled this neocon groupie

The Orstrahyun: Dick Cheney to flaunt his boyish charm Down Under...Part 2

Editor & Publisher: Frank Gaffney is back, claiming that while his bogus "Lincoln" quote was not real, it was a “paraphrase” of Lincoln’s actual views on dissent in wartime.  Just another jackal in a pack of craven demagogues.

netZoo: This 19-year veteran isn't getting full benefits, despite losing her leg when a tank crashed into her tent in Baghdad

Horses Mouth: GOP pollster says 'poll' showing war support is bogus

OFF THE BEATEN PATH: Let's Try Democracy...Make Them Accountable...Breaking News USA...Hardliner Blog

Trent Lott's big white tent

On TDS, Stewart found Trent Lott saying the kind of idiotic statements that got him in trouble in the past.

Download | play -WMP

Download | play -QT

Lott: I want the President to look across the country and find the best man, woman, or minority that he can find.

The General writes a fine letter to Mr. Lott....