Occupy Oakland: Over 400 Arrested As Police Fire Tear Gas, Flash Grenades at Protesters

--rolls eyes--

No, it shows the Left for what it is.

The Left-wingers claim they are for "free speech." They burn flags and scream obscenities to prove their point, with the ACLU and courts behind them to make everyone endure the foulness.

But when people gather to fight for the lives of unborn babies, LEFT-WINGERS will not abide by it. They shut them down, they stop REAL free speech.

Flag burning is protected by freedom of speech and expression! However bigoted slanderous comments are not!

Yes, it used to be against the law in 42 states, but the Left-wingers and the ACLU did their usual hate-filled insanity and called it freedom. It is a travesty of the First Amendment and has absolutely nothing to do with it. Anyone who claims that does not understand the First Amendment at all, and simply has no consideration for the sensibilities of others, does not respect the dead who lost their lives in service of the country, and the sacrifices made in America's honor. Any American who burns a flag is a barbarian without concern for his or her fellow citizens, has no understanding of its symbolism and meaning for so many Americans, and is simply an ugly narcissist and lying hypocrite.

aNow you are calling my grandfather, a WWII vet an "ugly narcissist and lying hyocrite" and a "barbarian" and criminal?(FYI he was a card carrying member of the GOP until 2008) He burned flags in protest of several American wars in honor and respect of those that lost thier lives NEXT TO HIM in war to give him that right! You keep refering to "left-wingers" as hate filled when your words themselves make it obvious you are as full of hate as anyone else I have ever conversed with. Anytime we exercise one of our rights be it with flag burning or with rhetoric like what you have been spewing wether we realize it or not we are showing a deep respect to those that have died to give us that right!

Anyone who values a piece of cloth (most likely Made in China) over our fundamental constitutional rights is lost. Anyone who defends a piece of cloth to prove they're an American while undermining the principals our nation was founded on is a pathetic fraud.

You do not understand the First Amendment if you really write something like that. You do not understand its fundamental purpose. Not a whit.

Burning a flag has nothing to do with free speech at all. Not in the slightest.

It is unfortunate that your grandfather burned a flag. He does not understand the First Amendment. I hope he got arrested (if it was before the Left-wingers managed to get the Supreme Court to bend to their narcissistic and degenerate desires and impulses), or someone punched him. I probably could not have restrained myself.

And don't start that "veteran" crap please. I am reluctant to say, and did not once on any of these threads, but you push hard. I am a disabled veteran, pal.

Flag burning is done by degenerates who are narcissistic thrill-seekers who hide under the First Amendment protection that has been perverted by Leftist pressures and that they have no understanding of.

As if you have room to talk about others hiding behind the 1st amendment... You really are one of the most amazing trolls I have ever encountered. You are hung up thats all there is to it. Go away...

Whoa! You're up early. Or late, as the case may be.
Well spoken, wanderer. No need to cool off. We're just getting started. It's going to be one hell of a year. Hang tough.

{Point 1: We bought into the idea of "creating a global market" without true thought.}

Counterpoint: There is no choice. It is happening. If we do not join, we will be overtaken.

{Point 2: For being free thinkers what the hell were we thinking when we started sending our kids to underperforming cookie cutter public education that is wrapped up in so many layers of legislation we had no control over what they are learning.}

Very true. Most Americans do not realize it, but we spend more per pupil than most of the world. Our per pupil expenditures have quadrupled, accounting for inflation, since our achievement started going down. If we drew a graph, we would see a NEGATIVE correlation between funding and achievement. That does not mean that the funding CAUSED this, but it points to the fact that it is very likely that increased funding will not HELP.

{Own wealth comes from starting a business, producing goods services on your own, as your own boss and become as good at what you do as you are capable of.}

Yes, so we need government OUT of business. Deregulate and end capital gains taxes. Tell children in schools that the person who created wealth is a hero, not an "evil" capitalist. Throw out the books by HOward Zinn.

{You want a law to cover morality it should be kept to a single sentance "No one shall act in a way that brings harm (physical, emotional, social, or financial) to others thru malicious intent, negligent oversight, or compulsory actions." }

Not enough. We have to have standards of morality. We should not put them into law, of course, but communities should encourage the clear articulation of values and morals. People are too afraid of sounding politically INcorrect, old fashioned, stiff, too rigid, judgmental and so on.

But your definition leads to political correctness: What is "emotional harm?" That can be interpreted by Left-wingers are saying an off-color sex joke or what some person can consider racist. If we have laws for hurting others' feelings, then we have the speech police. Already that at government jobs and American campuses, of course.

OK, first you vote my comment down then you post agreement with almost every point I make spread out across multiple posts thereby SPAMMING your opinion in a fashion that dissuades others from sharing well thought responses and choking our screens with an indoctrinated point of view. We are done listening to you.

Overtaken? Due to our global economy China is expected to overtake then exceed the US economy by 2016. How did they manage that? Easy. With the salivating help of US corporations who couldn't say no to a cheap labor force with no benefits, no minimum wage and no worker protection. It's called "outsourcing" in case you forgot. That and tons of US money and technology has allowed China to "overtake" us. THAT's your "global economy" in action.

Deregulate and you'll get something like the 2008 housing collapse every two years, which was causing by not enforcing existing regulations. The free market is not a panacea for what ails us. It can help if it's regulated to keep it from destroying itself like it did in the 30's and in 2008. However, without proper oversight it's like a brilliant but crazy child with a rocket launcher. A good economy will have a good mix of oversight and freedom. Eliminate either and you get disaster.

"But communities should encourage the clear articulation of values and morals." Fair enough. Whose values, whose morals? That's the issue. It's easy to make a comment like that but extremely difficult to make it work. How about this as guidance on what morals and values should be used. "Do unto other as you would have them do unto you". I'm not Christian but acknowledge the wisdom in those words is profound. If you don't like when someone tries to regulate your morals and values, then don't try to regulate others. I really think if most people lived by that single rule, life on planet earth would be much better.

Local values. I was clear that they should not be legislated.

Providence, Massachusetts would have its local values as well as places in rural Montana and Iowa.

If we get away from the federal government trying to control our speech and to whom we wish to hire, associate and allow in our private facilities, there truly will be more diversity, real diversity.

I cannot go into an analysis of China's economy, but I can tell you this much: Overall, there are persistent trends in cultures. Why is it that Germany and Japan arose from ashes and became world powers again? Japan was #2 until recently in economic power, despite its being a small island with almost no resources.

I have absolutely no faith in predictions of what nation will do what. There are too many variables. Brazil was supposed to surpass most countries by now. In the 1980s, Malaysia and Indonesia were supposed to become major world economies by now. Carter projected that Indians would starve by 2000 because of so much poverty.

But companies have "outsources" for centuries, of course. In America's case, it is due to having the highest corporate tax rate in the world (2nd highest), and unions demanding more than their workers are worth.

No, companies have not outsourced for centuries because the "global market" is a recent phenomenon. Second, and PLEASE get this into your head, America has the second highest tax rate in the world, ON PAPER. The vast majority of "US" corporations pay WAY less than the official tax rate, IF they pay anything at all. Don't you read? Exxon-Mobil, BoA, GE, Boeing paid little or ZERO federal income taxes. Some of the actually claimed multimillion dollar tax credits on billions in profits.
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/11/04/2746275/big-companies-with-big-profi...

In fact the study referenced at the link above showed many US corporations paid more in foreign taxes than to the US government. The 35% argument is bogus. Period. I pay more in federal income taxes after 1 hour of work than many large, extremely profitable multi-billion dollar corporations making billions in profits.

Your comments on unions are equally as distorted. Consider, when the auto union was building the vehicles they were directed to build and making billions in profits for the CEO and stockholders, the CEO and board members received the accolades. When those same vehicles proved to be dogs when gas hit 4$ gallon, all of a sudden it was the unions fault because they were paid too much. See any discrepancy here?

How very Christian of you.

: ) well I often think in musical terms, their equivalent in terms of musicals.

Yes, the "dream." The utopian vision. There were a few people in the 20th century who had it....

Where is Mayor Daley of Chicago when we need him?

No, lawless and degenerate anarchists battling the police who are our defense of civilization. The OWSers are revolutionaries with no respect for property, civil order or rights.

I do believe the British said something very similar about the rabble that hung around with George Washington.

If that happened, we would be reduced to lawlessness, violence and anarchy.

Oakland is not Cambodia, and there would not be anarchy, responsible citizens would have a shot at reforming the government at last.