Statement of the ACLU of Massachusetts on decision re Occupy BostonDecember 7, 2011The following statement may be attributed to Carol Rose, executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts:
We are disappointed with today’s decision and are reviewing the decision with our clients to determine all their options.The Occupy Boston community is making a significant contribution to national discussion of important issues–not merely through what protestors are saying, but their modeling of an alternative to what they see as imbalances and injustices in our society.Just because the court ruled today that the city can shut down the encampment at Dewey Square does not mean that it should.  As city officials have repeatedly–and recently–stated, there is no immediate need to remove Occupy Boston from Dewey Square.  If city officials decide, nonetheless, to do so, how they go about it also sends an important message.  Occupy Boston has always been a peaceful political protest, aimed at drawing attention to the growing inequalities in our society.  At a minimum, Boston city officials and the police must exercise restraint and respect with regard to the Occupy Movement and the concerned citizens it represents.  Although we don’t agree with the ultimate holding, the Judge recognized that Occupy Boston activities–its model of daily life–were intended to send a message that was communicated and understood, noting:“There can be no doubt that at this writing in Boston, and perhaps throughout the country, an enclave of tents and in a public park connotes the Occupy movement and their 99%/1% view.  Matters of finance and the present economic situation are of intense concern to many people.  There is considerable media attention devoted to Occupy sites, and most articles, per journalistic custom, restate the Occupy position.  The media has clearly understood the plaintiffs’ contribution to the national conversation.”With the exception of the heavy-handed removal of demonstrators from the Rose Kennedy Greenway early in the morning on Oct. 11, Boston has already become a model of respect for freedom of speech to other cities around the country, where Occupy encampments have been broken up with levels of force that have even shocked people who were not involved in the Occupy movement or sympathetic to its aims.Boston, as part of the long New England tradition of town meeting and grassroots democracy, has an important role to play again in how it responds to today’s decision. We believe that Boston can–and must–set an example for the entire nation in protecting the rights of Occupy Boston participants.

For more information about the ACLU of Massachusetts’ work on behalf of Occupy Boston, go to:
http://aclum.org/occupy

I encourage everyone to watch the videos of Gar’s talk–here’s the first of three:

Here are parts two and three:
Gar Alperovitz “America Beyond Capitalism”: Video 2 of 3

Gar Alperovitz “America Beyond Capitalism”: Video 3 of 3

(3) Forbes Piece on Obamacare and Single-Payer Hat-tip to Marilyn F. for sending along an interesting piece from Forbes: The Bomb Buried in Obamacare Explodes Today–Hallelujah!. The author, who refreshingly (for Forbes) favors single-payer, argues that the health-reform law’s provision that “that requires health insurance companies to spend 80% of the consumers’ premium dollars they collect—85% for large group insurers—on actual medical care rather than overhead, marketing expenses and profit” will cause lots of companies to go under, paving the way for single-payer. Sounds great! But is it true? I asked Jerry Friedman, UMass-Amherst economist and author of our July/August 2011 cover story on single-payer. Here’s what he said, alas:

Yes, the PPACA requires medical loss ratios of 80% (85% for large insurers). No this will not be an end to private insurance in the US anymore than it has been for private insurance in Massachusetts where it has been the law since 2006. First, these are very attainable ratios for decently managed companies. (The average MLR in Massachusetts is over 90%.) Second, because these ratios are very squishy and easy to manipulate. This is a good provision in the PPACA but Unger is going way overboard.

So unless the situation is somehow different elsewhere than in Massachusetts, it looks like the author is off base, unfortunately.

(By the way, I just posted Jerry Friedman’s excellent article on the assault on public-sector workers from the Nov/Dec 2011 issue.)

(4) Bahrain and Israel Train U.S. Cops to Crush #OWS? My last post reported that the guy behind the “Miami model” of policing that has brought all the pepper spray into protesters’ eyes recently has been hired by the government of Bahrain so they can deal with their protesters with methods short of torture. Now Max Blumenthal has an article in The Exiled claiming that Alameda Co. Sheriff Dept. staff, who used excessive force against #OccupyCal and #OccupyOakland, trained alongside Israeli Border Police and the Bahraini military in a program called Urban Shield 2011. Creepy.

(5) Mel King on Occupy: There was a nice and sympathetic piece in the Boston Globe about comments by veteran Boston-area activist Mel King on the Occupy movement.  He’s not so sure it’s worth it to defend Dewey Square–something to think about now that the restraining order has been lifted.

(6) Rick Wolff in Brooklyn on Dec. 11th: Rick Wolff will be speaking at the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture this Sunday, Dec. 11th, from 11 to 12:30.  More info here.

(7) California Unions Back Bad Brown Tax Plan: Not a huge surprise in the case of SEIU, but disappointing nonetheless:  here’s the report from BeyondChron.

(8) Julio Huato on CELAC and EU: Nice blog post by Julio Huato of St. Francis College and URPE, on the new Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, comparing it to the EU.

(9) Audio of the WGBH Piece Interviewing Me about #OccupyHarvard: Here’s the link to the text version;  you can click on the “pl;ay” button right below the picture to hear the audio.  Pretty snappy quotes; nice piece on the whole.

That’s all for now.

–Chris Sturr

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