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[SalmonGod]

I'd prefer to think of it as integrity.

[Dutchling]

Also, the website is blocked for me (occupymarines.org) but apparently there is a group of marines attempting to formally organize military solidarity and organizational support for the movement.

Son to be ex-Marines once the Department of Defence find out, I expect. I don't know if they're incredibly brave or incredibly foolhardy putting their jobs, pensions and VA benefits on the line like that.

Wouldn't firing them be political suicide?

[Bauglir]

Also, the website is blocked for me (occupymarines.org) but apparently there is a group of marines attempting to formally organize military solidarity and organizational support for the movement.

Son to be ex-Marines once the Department of Defence find out, I expect. I don't know if they're incredibly brave or incredibly foolhardy putting their jobs, pensions and VA benefits on the line like that.

Wouldn't firing them be political suicide?

You'd think so, but then, you'd think that the New York Police Department accepting massive donations all of a sudden would be political suicide, too.

[Truean]

So this happened:
http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2011/10/the_11_occupy_cleveland_protes.html

The BS is that they had a permit to be there and all the proper paperwork filled out, but they also had curfew law violations during the time they stayed there, because they stayed all night.... Other public speech groups have done this and haven't been charged with shit.... This is crap and won't stick....

I understand there is picketing of the business owners who bribed financed this charade arrest. Reportedly, some of the service businesses haven't had a customer through the door since the signs began, so it'll cost them money.... Good. If you're buying people being arrested, then it should at least be expensive....

Also, "Christmas lights?" Are you kidding me, they'd probably volunteer to put them up for you for free saving you from paying people to do that....

[sluissa]

Liability issues and the fact that they probably already have someone paid (and covered by insurance) by the city to do it.

The comments on that page seemed particularly hostile. But maybe that's just the politics of the area. I don't know Cleveland that well.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Also, the website is blocked for me (occupymarines.org) but apparently there is a group of marines attempting to formally organize military solidarity and organizational support for the movement.

Son to be ex-Marines once the Department of Defence find out, I expect. I don't know if they're incredibly brave or incredibly foolhardy putting their jobs, pensions and VA benefits on the line like that.

Wouldn't firing them be political suicide?

You'd think so, but then, you'd think that the New York Police Department accepting massive donations all of a sudden would be political suicide, too.

That's not the same. You forget the (sometimes overly) privileged status soldiers have in American society, and Marines are sometimes given even higher praise for their skill and dedication which is seen by some as better than that of the other branches of the armed forces (I do not personally adhere to this second idea, however.). What the NYPD did was greedy, but greed isn't much of a sin to most Americans. Throwing out honorable members of the armed forces? That won't end well at all. In fact, if they did that, it might very well make a good deal of conservatives see Occupy in a much better light. If they're trying to slow Occupy down, getting their prime political opponents to see them as allies, or at least better than the current government, is the absolute last thing they would want.

Nothing would scare our current batch of mainstream politicians more than an Occupy-Tea Party Alliance, and throwing out pro-Occupy soldiers for exercising their constitutional rights could make that happen.

Ir's also worth noting that Sergeant Thomas also made what sounds like a very effective speech...to the police. Now, if the police stop actively opposing (or worse yet, join) Occupy, then our dear politicians are in quite a bit of trouble indeed. The police are the only thing curtailing Occupy right now.

Ultimately, I don't think the DoD would do something like that. Hell, I'm not even sure what they'd charge the Marines in question with. It's like the article says, they swore to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against enemies both foreign, and domestic."(Emphasis mine). Technically, you could make an argument that they have a duty to support Occupy, since Occupy is exercising the rights enumerated by the Constitution.

[mainiac]

The tea party would never ally with occupy wall street.  The leadership of the tea party universally loathes occupy wall streets.  The entire purpose of the tea party is to adore the rich and hate the government so wall streets aims to fight income inequality and demand better government are the opposite of what the tea party wants.

That is not to say that individual members of the tea part wont see occupy wallsteet in a favorable light.  But for the two movements to work together would take one or the other becoming something radically different from what it is today.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

The tea party would never ally with occupy wall street.  The leadership of the tea party universally loathes occupy wall streets.  The entire purpose of the tea party is to adore the rich and hate the government so wall streets aims to fight income inequality and demand better government are the opposite of what the tea party wants.

That is not to say that individual members of the tea part wont see occupy wallsteet in a favorable light.  But for the two movements to work together would take one or the other becoming something radically different from what it is today.

But that's what I'm talking about. As was mentioned earlier, the individual members of the Tea Party are not dissimilar to Occupy. That they don't have more overlap is only because of the Tea Party's leadership trying to obscure that the desires of Tea Party members are compatible with (and perhaps even complimentary to) Occupy. If something very publicized that Tea Party members would care about, such as discharging soldiers for being sympathetic to Occupy, then it could reach their individual members and cause a splinter faction to form within the Tea Party that supports Occupy. And that would be quite the issue for the Tea Party's current leadership. The worst they could do is try to say that the Marines deserved it, but that would be of limited effectiveness due to the very positive light most conservatives see Marines in.

[mainiac]

Or not say anything at all.  The tea party leadership can just keep it's mouth shut on matters where OCW and the tea party membership see things in common.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

That's why the publicity part is important. "MARINES DISHONORED FOR SUPPORTING OCCUPY WALL STREET" is a headline that won't go unread.

[Truean]

Liability issues and the fact that they probably already have someone paid (and covered by insurance) by the city to do it.

The comments on that page seemed particularly hostile. But maybe that's just the politics of the area. I don't know Cleveland that well.

Even if your argument is 100% correct, they don't need to remove them to put up the lights. I'm certain they'd move out of the way. As for liability, this has been done in the past to no great objection....

[ECrownofFire]

Related to Tea Party/Occupy:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[scriver]

Ah. It seems this would be another great time for a link of the old progg song "The One Hand Knows What the Other Does". Or as it is better known by punk band Ebba Grön, "The State and the Capital". I really wish you understood Swedish so I could share it with you, it fits that image and the whole situation perfectly. I could try translating it, but I'm bad at getting it right. Because it is too much an awesome song for such defilation.

[sluissa]

Liability issues and the fact that they probably already have someone paid (and covered by insurance) by the city to do it.

The comments on that page seemed particularly hostile. But maybe that's just the politics of the area. I don't know Cleveland that well.

Even if your argument is 100% correct, they don't need to remove them to put up the lights. I'm certain they'd move out of the way. As for liability, this has been done in the past to no great objection....

Maybe it's different around there. Here, I've seen them close off an entire park because the board walk that goes through it had a few loose boards that needed to be fixed. Completely ignoring the fact that the areas not affected at all by the board walk should have been fine to be in. (Also ignoring that while the board walk was primarily just a trail that ran through a park for people to walk on, it also consisted of part of a safe walking path that kept pedestrians away from the busy highway a couple of blocks over.)

[Truean]

Liability issues and the fact that they probably already have someone paid (and covered by insurance) by the city to do it.

The comments on that page seemed particularly hostile. But maybe that's just the politics of the area. I don't know Cleveland that well.

Even if your argument is 100% correct, they don't need to remove them to put up the lights. I'm certain they'd move out of the way. As for liability, this has been done in the past to no great objection....

Maybe it's different around there. Here, I've seen them close off an entire park because the board walk that goes through it had a few loose boards that needed to be fixed. Completely ignoring the fact that the areas not affected at all by the board walk should have been fine to be in. (Also ignoring that while the board walk was primarily just a trail that ran through a park for people to walk on, it also consisted of part of a safe walking path that kept pedestrians away from the busy highway a couple of blocks over.)

Even assuming that, they might close down the place to put up the lights, they wouldn't for the entire length of time those lights are up....