by David Safier I just heard on NPR, corporate donations to Supercommittee members have skyrocketed. Good times.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: On Thursday, Sen. John McCain called for a "moratorium" on federal regulations which are "costing businesses billions and billions of jobs." No, really. The United States only has a population slightly more than 300 million people, so this is gross exaggeration by Grampy Crankypants. So is his assertion that government regulations are … Read more

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: I have previously posted about Arizona Attorney General Tom "banned for life by the SEC" Horne challenging the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Tom Horne files a politically motivated challenge to the Voting Rights Act (Aug. 26, 2011), Tom Horne and the Felonious Five threaten the Voting Rights Act … Read more

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: "I warned you at the time that the Prop. 113 'secret ballot' referendum that the legislature sneaked onto the ballot in a special session, after the "Save Our Secret Balot" ("SOS") initiative, Prop. 108, was ruled ineligible by the court, was preempted by federal law. NLRB to sue Arizona over Prop. 113 … Read more

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The über-rich Predator Class is in full panic mode over the populist Occupy Wall Street movement. They have their millionaire media villagers, Beltway bloviators and pundits out in force trying to frame America's working class as "a bunch of f#&king dirty hippies!" Apparently they are stuck in a time warp from 1968.

Billo the Clown on FAUX News promoted this latest right-wing meme. Bill O'Reilly Says Wall Street Occupiers are Infested with Rats, Drugs and Outdoor Sex | Crooks and Liars:

Bill O'Reilly had his wingnut mojo working Thursday night. He tries to paint Occupy Wall Street protesters as drug trafficking potheads who are also boffing each other outdoors in the squalid conditions of Zuccotti Park.

* * *

O'Reilly:…three weeks is enough. It's dirty and filthy, there's rats running all over, there's dope all over the place. They're having sex outside at night around. (inaudible) Does that say anything about the entire movement?

* * *

OK, that's Billo's fantasy minus loofahs and Andrea Mackris so what's he all bothered about?

The Tea Party was a corporate media invention that began with CNBC reporter (and derivatives trader) Rick Santelli ranting on CNBC's Squawk Box from the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in February 2009. Oh, the poor Predator Class who created casino capitalism and nearly destroyed the World's financial system and economy with their reckless gambling greed. They got bailed out by us, the U.S. taxpayers, and also got to keep all their ill-gotten gains and exorbitant bonuses. And nobody was ever prosecuted for their crimes. Boo-freakin'-hoo, Rick.

The evil billionaire bastard Koch brothers had their FreedomWorks and Americans for Prosperity front groups provide the corporate funding for the allegedly "populist" Tea Party groups, and corporate media, in particular Rupert Murdoch's FAUX News Fraudcasting, provided the made-for-TV political "movement" that all the media villagers and Beltway bloviators and pundits bought into. It was reminiscent of the movie Wag the Dog (1997) in which a spin-doctor and a Hollywood producer join efforts to "fabricate" a war in order to cover-up a presidential sex scandal.

The right-wing desperately wants to maintain its fiction that the Tea Party is a legitimate populist movement, while delegitimizing the Occupy Wall Street movement as "a bunch of f#&king dirty hippies!" Only the corporate media, which served their corporate masters so well with their Tea Party fabrication, are still buying into this. The American people have rejected the Tea Party and strongly support the Occupy Wall Street populist movement.

Greg Sargent writes at The Plum Line – The Washington Post:

Despite nonstop GOP and conservative disparagement of the Wall Street protests, the most detailed polling yet on Occupy Wall Street suggests that the public holds a broadly favorable view of the movement — and, crucially, the positions it holds.

Time released a new poll this morning finding that 54 percent view the Wall Street protests favorably, versus only 23 percent who think the opposite. Interestingly, only 23 percent say they don’t have an opinion, suggesting the protests have succeeded in punching through to the mainstream. Also: The most populist positions espoused by Occupy Wall Street — that the gap between rich and poor has grown too large; that taxes should be raised on the rich; that execs responsible for the meltdown should be prosecuted — all have strong support.

Meanwhile, the poll found that only 27 percent have a favorable view of the Tea Party. My handy Plum Line calculator tells me that this amounts to half the number of those who view Occupy Wall Street favorably.

* * *

Occupy Wall Street is just getting started. But it does seem clear that a confluence of events — the protests, Obama’s jobs push, Elizabeth Warren’s Senate candidacy, and the national backlash from the right all these things have provoked — are pushing populist issues such as fair taxation and income inequality to the forefront of the national conversation.

It turns out we don’t live in Tea Party Nation, after all.

So with this context in mind, imagine my surprise when I heard a radio spot for KGUN9 News last night on the commute home. Guy Atchley breathlessly reported that Republican Tucson City Council Member Steve Kozachik said the Occupy Tucson event planned for Armory Park is tresspassing and he is opposed to the event taking place this weekend. Here is the synopsis of the report online. Occupy Tucson gears up with signs and lawyers:

[T]here’s concern by a city council member that a government protest, also taking place downtown this weekend, will interfere with the festivities.

* * *

Tucson Council Member, Steve Kozachik, wants Occupy Tucson to hold off on protesting downtown until Tucson Meet Yourself ends on Sunday.

“The Tucson Meet Yourself is a real upbeat come and be a part of the festivity event.  It will just be unfortunate if the Occupy Tucson people come and step into that with a blatantly political message,” said Kozachik.

* * *

“I think that TPD is probably going to stand down and not do anything and they’re going to be made to look bad,” said Kozachik. 

He says it will make the Tucson Police look as though they favor the protest, since he says; other event organizers always have to go by the book.

When KGUN9 contacted the Tucson Police Department, a spokesperson said they won’t get involved unless an altercation requires them to or if the protest interferes with traffic.

Ah, poor baby. The Koz has his panties in a twist over Occupy Tucson, but he welcomed the support of the Koch brothers' corporate-funded Tea Party groups in his council race two years ago. Could The Koz just be parroting words for local Tea Party organizer Trent Humphries who posted this rant? “Occupy” Tucson? We ARE Tucson! | Tucson Tea Party Daily.

I am going to suggest that the Tucson City Council take a stand, as the Los Angeles City Council did on Wednesday, when it unanimously approved a joint resolution to officially "support" the Occupy L.A. demonstration and "demand accountability and results from the banks we invest taxpayer dollars in." City Council Unanimously Passes Occupy L.A. Resolution.

This is America, a country born out of protest against the ruling class (monarchy) and forged in the fire of revolution. The First Amendment to the Constitution guarantees the rights of all Americans — not just corporate media pre-approved Americans –to freedom of speech, the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. No one has the right to deny these constitutional rights and cherished American values. It is our birthright as American citizens.

Full text of L.A. Resolution after the jump.