The global Occupy Movement has come to life just in time.

War is the health of the corporate state. The 1% needs its endless cash flow to stay in power.

As the slaughters in Iraq and Afghanistan transform into something less visible, the 1% war machine must have a new profit center. The pretext for this latest war is the spectre of a nuclear-armed Iran. It's a tawdry re-run of the lies George W. Bush used to sell the 2003 attack on Iraq. It's no surprise those "Weapons of Mass Destruction" were never found---or that Bush could later joke about it.

The hypocrisy of the 1% railing against bombs allegedly flowing from Iran's "Peaceful Atom" program comes in unholy tandem with the corporate push for a "nuclear renaissance" peddling these same reactors all over the world. (It helps to remember that the nuclear industry once tried to sell 36 "peaceful" reactors to the Shah).

STOPPING THE ATTACK ON IRAN IS ABSOLUTELY VITAL TO OUR HOPES FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE AND DEMOCRACY. THE OCCUPY MOVEMENT HOLDS THE KEY.

Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran . . .
Or as Mitt Romney put it, playing the irresponsible-lunatic game convincingly enough to become the leading Republican presidential candidate: "If we re-elect Barack Obama, Iran will have a nuclear weapon."

The consensus congeals: Our next war must be with Iran. A report issued by the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency, which the New York Times called "chillingly comprehensive" (though this is debatable), stoked this long-simmering agenda. It charges that Iran has conducted secret experiments on nuclear triggers and created computer models of nuclear explosions, among other things, which proves that the nation, despite its leaders' protestations to the contrary, is pursuing . . . oh God, oh God . . . a nuclear weapons program.

A lawsuit brought by Rep. Dennis Kucinich and 9 other members of Congress against the Obama Administration - which alleged that the US involvement in the war on Libya was in violation of the US Constitution and the War Powers Resolution - was dismissed by a Federal court judge for the District of Columbia late last month.

In its 23-page Decision, dated October 20th, granting the Administration's motion for summary dismissal, US District Court Judge Reggie B. Walton, appointed to the bench by President George W. Bush in 2001, held that "...the plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate that they have standing — either in their capacity as Members of the House of Representatives or because of their status as taxpayers — to maintain this action."

Given that the Court found that the Plaintiffs lacked standing to bring the case, it didn't address the merits of the case - i.e., it never addressed the question of whether or not the President had the authority to conduct the war or, indeed, even the question of whether or not the intensive bombing of Libya represented the conduct of "hostilities."

Columbus Police arrested 7 activists as they read aloud a long list of complaints against US Bank. They face fourth degree misdemeanor trespassing charges, according to attorneys with Occupy Columbus. Activists had planned to do a “parade tour” of several banks in downtown Columbus, but only got to two of them when police made the arrests, said Justin Poulin.

“We went inside Fifth Third Bank. We protested for about 5 minutes, talked about the bank. Then we were followed from Fifth Third Bank by police to US Bank. We were followed into the lobby. We did exactly the same thing we did in Fifth Third. We were just talking about the bank. Then the police surrounded us and started putting people in hand cuffs,” said Poulin.



Using the ‘people’s mic.’ demonstrators were addressing anyone in the bank who would listen, said Poulin.

An important progressive movement, MOVE TO AMEND is gaining momentum. It is a grass roots initiative to promote an amendment of the U. S. Constitution to negate the immoral ruling by the U. S. Supreme Court of January 21, 2010,
“Citizens United v The Election Commission of the U. S. Instead of making a ruling on a simple case, the Court by a 5 to 4 decision made a wide reaching law."

It declared that corporations and unions are people with First Amendment rights of free speech. That includes the right to contribute funds to help or deter candidates for public office and to influence the passage of referenda and state constitutional amendments. Money can be donated through PACs without transparency. The Citizen United ruling is destroying our democratic system of government. Corporations have unlimited funds and unions have much less money and political influence. This ruling is allowing corporations to weaken union even more.