Norwegian sociologist Johan Galtung Offers Prediction: Fall of U.S. Empire

Norwegian sociologist Johan Galtung predicts the fall of the U.S. Empire, and offers other words on the subject.

Hat-tip to Just Greg:

What the Right Really Think of Students, Workers and Democracy

Update: I found this story highlighting some less-than-savory responses to police violence towards demonstrators at Occupy Wall Street–comments made allegedly by police officers themselves.
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While the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) demonstrations around the U.S.–and likewise, demonstrations in solidarity with OWS around the world–have been met with tepid to lukewarm reception and coverage by the mainstream media, American right-wing news sites and the right-wing blogosphere reveal some of the prevailing attitudes that right-wingers, Ron Paul minarchists, and the business class really hold towards students, teachers, workers, the under- and un-employed, and other working- and middle-class peoples in the U.S.

The right has done everything in their power to frame the OWS phenomenon in a way that they can understand and control. This means they have sought to separate OWS from its message (in case they’re reading and still confused, the message varies but is essentially this: end tax cuts for the richest in order to fix the capitalist budget. Reform capitalism and the Republic to benefit 100% of Americans, rather than the ruling class. Is that so hard to figure out?) This also means that the right pretends to be confused about the message. They require a list of “demands” and the right won’t stop earplugging if we don’t have one. They are essentially playing the game of being a binary system in a three-dimensional debate: they just repeat, “Does not compute! Does not compute!” And that’s their version of discourse.

Here you will find a collection of news stories, blog stories, and comments which are undeniably representative of the right-wing attitude towards the people who challenge Wall Street and the business elite to give up their tax cuts to help regular Americans get back on their feet. I’ll keep adding to this to give you a better picture of what I’m finding on the web.

Remember, these are the folks who demand that we put down everything and RESPECT RESPECT RESPECT the (nebulous, and mostly incoherent) demands of the Tea Party. But anyone else who wants to voice a concern can get screwed. This is right-wing egocentrism, the thought process of a child unconcerned with the consciousness or existence of other beings.

Townhall.com

We’ll start off with one of the more moderate blogs, Townhall.com.

News Article:
Rage: More Arrests, Support for Occupy Wall Street

Misses the point: “Unfortunately for these activists, however, their traffic jam made more news than their cause.”

Townhall.com commenters say:
D.G.: “The progressive-liberal-union-communist-MoveOn crack heads are marching on Brooklyn Bridge.”
JUMBOfromWem: “Liberals like these were used by the government for secret testing on the brain. Here’s the evidence all the test failed. ”
Liberals do it too! Ross: “Must be nice to not have to actually work for a living and be able to just go to demonstrations. Please note that the neither President nor the democratic party has anything to do with these protesters. ”
1 Big Sky Cowboy: “They should have got the snow plows out and scrapped those turds into the river.”

Market trader: “Goldman Sachs Rules the World; I dream of another recession…”

Refreshingly honest insights from stock market trader Alessio Rastani (hat-tip to Crooks & Liars):

Bank of America and Co: Disinformation and Deception is More Proof That The “Free Market” Lies

Lie, Cheat, Steal
I’ve never been a fan of the saying, “If you have nothing to hide, what are you so worried about?” Among other things, it’s used by police officers to intimidate and harass citizens who claim their rights against unwarranted searches and seizures. It’s also used as an excuse to impose costly, degrading drug tests on welfare recipients–even though it turns out that when welfare recipients are forced to test, only 2% test dirty–exponentially less than the general population. Not to mention that cronyism abounds. The question is an all around non-sequitur, in most cases, and only designed to slime an opponent.

Goldman Sachs: Win, cheat, or quit. We don’t fucking lose – ever.

Lloyd Blankfein, Chairman and CEO Goldman Sachs

Here’s a piece that won’t surprise you at all (from Examiner.com):

…while the firm had been largely categorized a behemoth monolith, GSElevator on Twitter is giving the global bank a bit more color with tweeted glimpses of corporate culture via conversations of workers who don’t take the stairs.

Candid Tweets [EDIT: should read: Candid conversations] from Goldman Sachs employees about working- and middle-class people? This should be interesting: