HOUSE OF LUNARIUM

What Is Going On With Occupy Miami?

October 14, 2011 by POPEYE
Filed under Featured Stories, South Florida

(FEDERALJACK) This article is going to anger some people, and I know I am going to get feedback on this but it needs to be said. Occupy Miami should be called Procrastinate Miami. On Saturday October 1st the first gathering of concerned citizens with seemingly no connections took place at Bayside in downtown Miami. A couple hundred people showed up for the first of two meetings that day and later for the second meeting about the same number showed up. There wasn’t any real person in charge but very quickly a few people jumped at the opportunity to take charge and start directing the group. The next 5 hours were filled with debate, conversation, and planning for the next meeting on the following Saturday. That brings me to Saturday October 8th. Our street team headed back out to the Torch of Friendship at Bayside to give out DVDs and Fliers educating the people that showed up about the real enemy of the Republic, The Federal Reserve and The New World Order. We gave out another 350 DVD copies of AMERICA FREEDOM TO FASCISM, WAKE UP CALL & THE AMERICAN DREAM (we gave out 400 the week before). While we were there we spoke in different groups and then had a mass meeting with everyone who showed up. Here is where the problems start. Although I agree that there should be some things that get voted on, this event on Saturday showcased exactly how a movement gets derailed into collectivist thinking. It has been almost two weeks since the first general assembly meeting and yet not one protest has taken place. There are tons of excuses as to why but not one of them stand up to any real scrutiny. Many people who showed up on Saturday Oct 8th were upset that everyone was just sitting around in groups and having meetings and votes, they showed up because they wanted to protest and make their voices heard. A few of them threw their arms up and left in disgust and many of the people who saw this made stupid comments about it without even using any logical thought into why the person is getting mad.

There were people showing up thinking there was going to be a protest and instead there was six hours of meetings ending with the occupation being moved back to an unknown date and instead a two (2) protest is planned for Oct 15th. This has the effect of driving people away, and anyone who has ever held a protest or a rally down here knows that getting people to come out is one of the hardest part, so this is not helping at all. If you go to the Occupy Miami FB page you will see many comments from people that are frustrated that nothing is being done. Comments like:

This is getting a little ridiculous, and a lot of people are going to be turned off. We don’t need consensus. We don’t need anymore meetings, or minutes, or separate Occupy Miami subgroups. We don’t even need any specific solutions. We just need to begin occupying before this movement becomes nothing but a moment. October 15th, Miami Freedom Torch, the occupation begins. Do it big.

I’m about to give up on this… I will wait and see what happens on Saturday, but seriously I really think it’s time we take over and occupy the streets. If the corrupted politicos in Miami don’t like our presence there in the streets well then have them bring out their super trooper bank paid badge giving puppets to come take out 8,000+ plus of us protesting what is right. It’s time we WAKE UP!!! and do it like in NY!

For an “occupy” movement they are failing hardcore, have not occupied anything and pissing off people who want to come out. Even the local media is calling them out with articles like “Occupy Miami Late To The Party In National Movement”. Some of the people who have become self appointed “organizers” even went to the extent of trying to ban all but certain people from speaking to the press and making a local Fox affiliate’s cameraman leave while he was filming the public gathering. The blocking of the WSVN cameraman was odd considering he was invited to cover it and the same individual who told him to leave was the first in line to be interviewed by the local CBS affiliate at the first general assembly meeting on Oct 1st. To quote local blogger/journalist Carlos Miller “The real obstacle facing Occupy Miami is the way it appears to be mired down in bureaucracy.”

Just to be fair, Occupy Miami isn’t the only group that has tried to block certain journalists, as Adam Kokesh showed with his video from the Occupy D.C. event where he was physically blocked and told by wanna be thugs to leave all for doing his job as a journalist. They probably didn’t like his coverage of them in previous videos. We have the same type of problem brewing here in Miami. As stated above, some of the “organizers” of the group here wanted to ban everyone but certain people from talking to the press and the people that did all had to have the same message. I get the idea behind some of the reasoning as it stems from the group (Occupy Miami) trying to combat the mainstream media’s spin on the Occupy movements as a whole, but you really have no control over it. Blocking someone’s First Amendment right to free speech because you don’t want them to say certain things is acting just like the very people you are protesting. Protesting the destruction of freedom by taking away someone else’s freedom is pointless, you are now engaging in the same type of behavior as the people who are trying to control us. To their credit they say they have removed this “ban”, but the proof will be when people take to the streets and the TV cameras show up. On Sunday Oct 9th I did my radio show and I discussed Occupy Miami and invited any locals to call in who had not gotten a chance to speak at any of the general assembly meetings and wanted to get their voices out or had an opinion on how things we going. I told the listeners to email me and I posted it on FB for all to see. The response I got was anything but happy. Many locals who had met me at the two general assembly meetings contacted me and said they felt their voices were being silenced for one reason or another. I had said on my Sunday show that I would dedicate my Wednesday show to this to give them a voice. I did just that and stirred up a hornets nest. Within 5 minutes of being on air I had people from the “organizers” in my show’s chat room calling me a liar, saying I was never there at all and throwing out ad hominem attacks against me. Their reaction is telling by itself. Instead of explaining their actions they acted like trolls and ended up getting booted by the chat room ban hammers for the way they were conducting themselves.

What sparked their childish behavior was my guests and I calling out the shady things like secret meetings where only certain people were invited in person like the meeting that took place Wednesday night right before I went on air. They did put a link to a live stream up on their FB page but it was last minute and only people who were on a list got invited. The meeting was a For a leaderless movement it sure looks like there is a small group of people trying to control it. People in the livestream chat were asking questions and being blown off. One guy who has been involved with planning and all from the get go wasn’t invited to the meeting on Wednesday night and made a comment in the chat that he can’t make it out until later in the afternoon on Saturday the 15th for the next general assembly meeting and wanted to know about his chance to vote. He was told “I don’t mean to sound like a dick but, this is a participatory movement and if your not here…”, gee I wonder why people wanting to get involved are pissed off. The idea of using QR barcodes to handle security for online voting or for people who come out to the events was brought up, yes that’s right barcoding people. Why don’t you just require people get an implanted RFID chip to participate?! Many people in the livestream chat were upset about this secret little invite only meeting, the location wasn’t revealed until about a minute before it was over (yeah that’s above board).

And I Quote:

Wow a secret meeting?!

And on Sunday the 9th there was another group meeting but it was not advertised and again only certain people knew about it. I saw at both Saturday events, lists with at least 50 emails on it yet only a few get emails to meetings? When questioned about this invite list one of the “organizers” said the person should have signed up on the list at the website. How are people supposed to know to sign up on the website? And what kind of response is that?

As always when you point out things like I have in this article you piss some people off and will get accused of trying to be divisive or trying to be disruptive. Nothing could be further from the truth, what I point out are things that were brought to my attention and things I observed happening. All the local media has talked about it and the locals have emailed me about it so I would be remiss in my duties to not report it. That being said I think if there is an occupation eventually then people should support it and get it going, provided everyone can protest and not just a select few. No bashing Ron Paul supporters or 9/11 Truth. Allow the truth to be spoken. Bring bullhorns, DVDs, fliers… the protest party mix. Network with people but don’t subscribe to group think, that is after all what the New World Order wants.

I have to agree with Federal Jack on this one!

Green Is Good, Miami's Grand Central Park

By: Vanessa Haim

In The Famous Words of Kermit the frog, "It ain't easy being green", but don't tell that to the innovative forces behind Miami's new 5 acre Grand Central Park, a 100% green recreational oasis to be located in the heart of downtown Miami (former location of the Miami Arena).The former vacant lot will now house the cities newest attraction for all things green and more, and not just the lush foliage, but also local organic farmers markets and festivals. Keeping with the green concept the park intends to be a financially self-sufficient, using recycled materials and low maintenance turf for a lightweight landscape design. The park will also house an eco-friendly harvesting pond, intended to reduce flooding and remove water pollution from the ongoing street traffic. Best of all the park will provide a much needed boost to the local economy by attracting neighborhood businesses for events, hiring permanent and temporary workers as well.

The pilot program for the instant park concept started in March 2010 with Mark Lesniak, the executive director of the non-profit Omni Parkwest Redevelopment Association (OPRA) and Brad Knoefler, founder and president. The idea was simple, to improve the negative perception of Miami's downtown area by using a vacant space for a pedestrian friendly environment. Initiating the project was due in part by a generous $65,000 donation from downtown's very own Grand Central nightclub. Then in January 2011 OPRA received a $200,000 grant from Southeast Overtown Parkway Community Redevelopment Agency. All the funds were put to good use and hired local workers to remove 100 truck loads of debris to smooth out the landscape. Already the groundbreaking ceremonies were held this past Monday, October 17th, and in less than a month the park will be scheduled to open.

We can only speculate as to what elaborate events will take place in the 2 arms hugging shaped park, and it could come at no better time. With Art Basel right around the corner and Miami already the home of the worlds leading electronic music festival, the possibilities are endless. The appeal is certainly already there, making a buzz throughout the community, Grand Central Park will certain provide a scenic change and prime spot for some r&r from the city's busy urbanized downtown area.