Campaign Desk

03:38 PM - December 5, 2011

CJR Holds a Town Hall in Nebraska

Voices of the occupiers on Centennial Mall

By Trudy Lieberman

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Email
• Print
• One Page

Comments Post a Comment

Look at Newt Gingrich. He’s telling us to get a job and take a bath

Cant really argue that its bad advice.

Meanwhile at Occupy London, it looks like they used Orwell's Animal farm as a how to manual instead of a cautionary tale:

An anonymous source told the newspaper two main leaders in their 40s and 50s and three people in their 20s were controlling the group and a charter had been drawn up giving power to very few people.

She said: 'We are calling it the Animal Farm manifesto. The are always smartly dressed. I don't know how they manage it when we are all camping and they go off and have their secret meetings in Starbucks.

#1 Posted by Mike H, CJR on Mon 5 Dec 2011 at 06:01 PM

Of these protesters, do you notice the common thread?

A Gubmint check.

Only two of them actually do any work, and one of these has a Gubmint job. The rest of them are leeches.

#2 Posted by padikiller, CJR on Mon 5 Dec 2011 at 11:50 PM

Ms Lieberman, I would like to thank you for your time talking to me and my fellow occupiers in your preparation for this article.

Padikiller, it is worth mentioning that Ms Lieberman was at the camp from approximately 11am to 1pm or so. I was fortunate in that I had been previously informed that she would be present, that I work across the street from the camp, and that the time available matched with my 30 minute lunch. The point being that most occupiers were at work at the time. Even so, there was not time for me to talk with her at the time, only to give her my contact information for a later phone call.

Furthermore, I've worked as a temp for the state of Nebraska for a grand total of two months, and it is the first job I have been able to find in nearly a year. I do not receive any benefits and am not eligible for any. Your characterization of Mrs Tetherow and Ms Hansen as "leeches" is both spiteful and incorrect, particularly in light of their many contributions to the camp and movement itself, to say nothing of the hardships faced in their personal lives prior and concurrently with this movement.

While your attempts to discount our statements and opinions via an appeal to motive fallacy are amusing, they have no substance. Please try again.

#3 Posted by Brandon Langlois, CJR on Tue 6 Dec 2011 at 01:14 PM

If you're healthy enough to "occupy," you're healthy enough to get a damned job, and stop mooching of the Gubmint.

Leeches.. That's what people like this are.

#4 Posted by padikiller, CJR on Tue 6 Dec 2011 at 02:08 PM

Again, you immediately resort to personal attacks, compounded by what appears to be a gross ignorance of current unemployment figures. U6 unemployment currently tracks at 15.6 percent. Unemployment for returning veterans ranges from the upper 20 percent to lower 30. The vast majority of occupiers are not unemployed by choice, it is simply because they cannot find a job, period. They still manage to be productive outside of the typical work environment, volunteering their time and skills to the movement itself and to their communities. Those of us who work are also still down there every day, sacrificing our free time to what we see as a worthy cause.

You may disagree, which is naturally your right. But ridiculing the people that are out there each and every day fighting for you and your rights as a human being is not something that brings credit upon yourself.

#5 Posted by Brandon Langlois, CJR on Tue 6 Dec 2011 at 02:32 PM

Brandon: I actually agree with some of the "occupy" complaints.. Mostly about bailing out private businesses and corporate welfare.

And I don't begrudge anyone the right to protest - More power to them!

Just don't do it my nickel.

If you're a "large" woman who's sucking down $200 a month in food I work to pay for, and if you're healthy enough to participate in an "occupation"... You're healthy enough to stop sucking up disability payments from the gubmint and start earning some money.

Furthermore, you need to check your facts. The REALITY is that the unemployment rate in Lincoln is only 3.4%.

So...

To those leeches, "large" or small, who are sucking down welfare from the Gubmint to fund their "occupation"... Get a damned job!

#6 Posted by padikiller, CJR on Tue 6 Dec 2011 at 05:08 PM

Why is Brandon the only one that knows enough about what he speaks to give a decent answer to the problems the "Occupy..." has been illustrating. Most of the others follow the same kind of line that Newt gives that is totally out of whack with today's domestic and/or economic problems. The cost of education is greater in many cases than the income that will be gained once they work for 10 years or more. The young lady above that wants to be a teacher and can't afford it would most likely find once she was out that most school districts would not hire her simply because she has MS which would slow her down trying to handle 35 grade schoolers or 160 high schoolers per day. I worked mostly as a substitute other than when they didn't know of my medical condition for no other reason than my condition was not perfect. The only ones they kept were those that gained their bad health state after they taught for 3 or more years and could not be fired. I missed fewer work days than any teacher on the staff. That made no difference to them.
The rest of you get off your duff and start realizing that those not working are not lazy. They are unemployed against their will. When the available jobs are one to every four applicants--down from the 6 applicants per job in 2009--it is difficult to find a job even if one leaves his home area and travels or moves to another state. The unemployment number in CA went down this past period mostly because 250K people moved out of the state. Many went to Texas--but that latter state is mostly for specialized engineers or those applying for McDonald-type jobs. Not something you can live on and go to school to improve upon.

#7 Posted by Trish, CJR on Tue 6 Dec 2011 at 05:11 PM

Excellent article!

As a Conservative Evangelical and voting Republican I went out of curiosity. I listened to stories, asked questions and in doing so met people who really touched my heart some breaking it. I went from observing to getting involved in my own sphere of influence. This article encapsulates well what my observations caught when I came down to see if these people were for real. After visiting other Occupy camps I can say these people at OL are very real, passionate - may be not all articulate, but most certain have pain they need to express.

For the record I have a career in the tech sector for a major Fortune 500 corporation and I have met other career people there as well. Of the committed participants I have not met a leech among them.

#8 Posted by Jim Goodman, CJR on Tue 6 Dec 2011 at 11:19 PM

Like I said...

I'm all for the right of the protesters to have their say... And I agree with some of what most of them claim as grievances.

But sloth and dependency aren't going to fix anything, and if you want to protest, I say don't do it at taxpayer expense.

#9 Posted by padikiller, CJR on Tue 6 Dec 2011 at 11:42 PM

Sloth and dependency? Of the two mentioned in the piece, one has serious medical issues that would certainly qualify for SS disability and the others lost a professional occupation through no fault of their own and took an early retirement plan.

You have no knowledge of what you talk about, and you are apparently unwilling or unable to comprehend the words you ostensibly read above. I would invite you to attend an Occupy Lincoln GA so you can get to know the people you are vapidly attacking with worn-out anti-welfare stereotypes.

Your contribution to the welfare system is so small it is entirely negligible, so I'm unsure what your motivation is in attacking them aside from a feeling of holier-than-thou. Any serious analysis of the spending problems in this country would rank tax cuts for the rich and unbudgeted wars at the very top.

#10 Posted by Aleks, CJR on Wed 7 Dec 2011 at 12:35 AM

I have a wheelchair bound friend - a paraplegic who has worked as service manager for Honeywell for 25 years. I don't have any sympathy for your average Social Security Disability recipient. Most of these people are just leeches who've learned how to game the system.

If this "large" woman (who gets this way at least in part by sucking down $200 per month of taxpayer-provided food) is healthy enough to "occupy", she's healthy enough to work for a damned living instead of mooching off the Gubmint. Sounds like cutting down on her tax-funded Snickers bar budget will help everybody.

And if you want to live off of your husband's Social Security, fine.. But don't expect any sympathy from working Americans when you use the Social Security check to fund your griping about the "1%".

Want wealth? Then make some. Do work.

With unemployment in Lincoln at 3.4%, there is no excuse for not finding work.

#11 Posted by padikiller, CJR on Wed 7 Dec 2011 at 07:44 AM

Aleks - well said! I'll only add you can't do much with self-righteous ignorance.

#12 Posted by Jim Goodman, CJR on Wed 7 Dec 2011 at 10:04 AM

I love this:

"Most of these people are just leeches who've learned how to game the system."

In Padi land, it's not the bankers who are leeches who've learned how to game the system until they crash it, it's the people protesting the bankers who are leeches who've learned how to game the system by standing out in the rain and snow and demanding a little fricken justice.

http://keycorner.org/pub/image/comic/tdb/tdb-lucky-ducky.gif

You're beyond satire.

#13 Posted by Thimbles, CJR on Wed 7 Dec 2011 at 11:00 AM

Give it a rest, Thimbles...

I'm just as ready to condemn the leeches who suck down bailouts and corporate welfare as the leeches who abuse disability and food stamp programs.

Indeed, more so, given the money involved.

#14 Posted by padikiller, CJR on Wed 7 Dec 2011 at 02:01 PM