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Posted by Alan OldStudent June 6th, 2013 PRESENT: Patricia, Mike (TM or TruthMerchant), Neal, Woody, Marilyn, Vince, Alan
TENT CITY TACOMA: We further discussed the logistics of the upcoming June 10 Tent City Tacoma Kick-Off First Public Informational Meeting to be held in the FUMC church sanctuary (Please see calendar) next Monday. Vince said he will make sure there is some food, and Woody said he may be able to come up with some food also. Patricia said she had a lot of plates, bottled water, and other supplies in her garage that belong to OT and will bring them. Vince said we could use the church-kitchen dishware, and he volunteered for kitchen clean-up as necessary. Marilyn said she would be willing to help with that. OT unanimously commited to paying $15 for food supplies as necessary. Continue reading General Assembly Minutes, June 3, 2013
Posted by Editor May 18th, 2013
Thanks to Vince Hart for writing the original draft that you’re now reading, and thanks to Patricia for proofreading the leaflet based on Vince’s draft.—editor
——CHANGING THE WORLD: STARTING LOCAL——
F or several months, Occupy Tacoma (OT) activists and various homeless advocates have been gathering data, seeking out resources, identifying potential allies, and assembling relevant legal documents—all for the sake of launching a vital project to meet the needs of many local homeless people.
Now, a FIRST PUBLIC INFORMATION MEETING has been scheduled for Monday evening, June 10, at the First United Methodist Church (clickable link), 621 Tacoma Avenue South, to kick off the Tent City Tacoma project.
- Please Come: Church leaders, civil organizations, public health and law enforcement representatives, staff from city departments, and ALL OTHER INTERESTED PERSONS are invited to attend.
- Meeting Program:
- Refreshments: The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. with refreshments.
- Presentation: An OT member, formerly a homeless person himself, will share a PowerPoint presentation describing how he and other homeless advocates and activists have participated in the organization and running of successful Tent Cities.
 ORGANIZING & LEARNING: OT representatives have been meeting monthly with the other members of the Tacoma-Pierce County Coalition to End Homelessness. (TPCCEH). They made extensive efforts to learn how other Tent City programs have developed and managed to work out in places like Seattle and King County. They brought forward valuable information about practical, actual on-the-ground functioning of “Tent City” refuges in other metropolitan areas such as ours.
ACTIVIST RESIDENTS: A beginning core of local prospective residents has already been identified. Moreover, tent city residents from surrounding areas such as King County and elsewhere have expressed a desire possibly to relocate here and contribute to the effort. They bring a wealth of organizational experience with such needs as internal management, security, sanitation, food, and community outreach.
Continue reading Tent City Tacoma Kick-Off: First Public Informational Meeting
Posted by Alan OldStudent December 29th, 2012 Tent City Tacoma organizers have set up a Facebook page. If you are a Facebook member, you can click on the graphic below to get to the page.
Posted by Alan OldStudent December 24th, 2012
This article is an editorial opinion of the author. This is not an official statement of the Occupy Tacoma General Assembly.
On Tuesday, December 18, the Tacoma City Council did the right thing. They passed a resolution supporting an amendment to the United States Constitution that would overturn the infamous Citizen’s United decision. You can read that resolution by clicking here. If you don’t know what the Citizens United decision is, please click here.
This author expected the Tacoma City Council to pass a resolution opposing Citizens United. But what this author did not expect was how strong the City Council resolution would be. Continue reading Op-Ed: City Council Does the Right Thing
Posted by Editor December 13th, 2012 
We have a new menu tab called Issues. If you hover over that tab, you will see three submenu items
- US Economy
- Spirituality
- Op Ed Pieces
And if you click on one of those sub tabs, you will be taken to that area and see issues posts.
US ECONOMY
This item will have discussion on the US economy, although articles on the world economy might logically also be placed here. Right now, we have several articles submitted by TruthMerchant. One, titled Too Little, Too Late, had 2,071 views since it was posted on Sept 20, 2012 and has engendered a lot of commentary. The other was just posted a few days ago and is titled About Money.
Readers are encouraged to contribute comments or even consider submitting articles. If interested in submitting articles, please contact us here, and we will facilitate that. Continue reading Our New Menu Items
Posted by Editor December 11th, 2012 This is a request from Marilyn Kimmerling asking you to participate in a concentrated phone/email zap to petition President Obama to grant clemency for Leonard Peltier, internationally recognized as a political prisoner. You can see Marilyn’s previous article by clicking here.
PLEASE SUPPORT CLEMENCY FOR LEONARD PELTIER
NORTHWEST WHITE HOUSE PHONE AND E-MAIL ZAP, DECEMBER 9 TO 15, 2012
CALL OR EMAIL HERE
White House Comments Line – 202-456-1111; 202-456-1112
E-mail: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
It is important to keep phone calls, e-mails, and letters going to the White House during the clemency campaign. We want to make sure it is very clear that the NorthWest supports clemency for Leonard Peltier., So we have called for a phone and e-mail Zap the week of December 9th-15th (a phone Zap is when a lot of people call around the same time). Continue reading Phone & Email Zap to Demand Clemency for Leonard Peltier
Posted by Marilyn_Kimmerling December 3rd, 2012 
Here’s a way you can help right a terrible wrong.
Here’s a way to fight the on-going discrimination against Native peoples in the US today.
Leonard Peltier has been in US Federal Prisons since 1977 due to a conviction relating to the murders of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Reservation in 1975. It was never proven that he was the murderer, but the jury nonetheless found him guilty. Amnesty International states his trial was “unfair,” citing concerns with the proceedings, based on allegations and inconsistencies regarding the FBI and prosecution’s handling of this case. (For details click here).
Peltier’s conviction sparked great controversy and has drawn criticism from around the world. Numerous appeals have been filed on his behalf. He has received support from individuals and groups including Continue reading Free Leonard Peltier in 2012
Posted by fixitstitch November 18th, 2012 
This is the second in a series of articles on a tent city for Tacoma. The first can be found by clicking here. Based on my past experiences in tent cities, a Tacoma Tent City could well be organized and governed as follows:
Camp Organization
- The responsibility of electing leadership and establishing permanent rules within the camp shall fall upon the residents of the camp at the time by a consensus vote (consensus as determined by the camp as a whole).
- The responsibility of enforcing rules, resolving disputes, establishing temporary rules, and coordinating ongoing and day-to-day operations of the camp shall fall upon an executive committee (EC), comprised of five primary members and two alternates. These executive committee members shall be elected once a month and shall not serve a term of more than two consecutive months. Continue reading A Tent City in Tacoma, Part 2
Posted by fixitstitch November 18th, 2012
This is Part 1 of a 2-part series. Click here to see Part 2
Editor
 Have you ever pondered on the homeless and how they fit in the society we have now? The plain answer is that they do not fit in. Homeless people are forced to live on the fringes of society, forced to live under oppressive systems without any say in how they are run. Their critics scream at them to get a job, yet homeless agencies forbid them the tools to do so.
Established social service agencies expect no protest or complaint when they tell their clients they cannot take their personal belongings with them into the shelters. The shelters expect them to adhere to a meal schedule that forbids the possibility of a job search. The shelters expect them to come at specific times, or they don’t get a bed. This makes taking night jobs impossible. In short, the homeless are denied the rights that Occupys all over the country have been fighting for.
Continue reading A Tent City in Tacoma, Part 1
Posted by TruthMerchant September 20th, 2012 NOTE!! This page has not been reviewed by the members of Occupy Tacoma or the smaller group of members that regularly attend the General Assemblies. The post does not necessarily reflect the views of Occupy Tacoma as a group. The ideas presented here are my own presentation of the realities with which we must deal in our quest for justice in regard to the 99%. — TruthMerchant
The Fed’s latest effort at reviving the economy is called “QE3″ or “Quantitative Easing – phase 3″. This action comes too late to help the administration in the upcoming elections, but the announcement by the Fed that it will buy $40 billion in mortgage backed securities every month until the unemployment rate falls to a more acceptable level is very good news for the “producer class”. According to Seeking Alpha website, a website widely read and highly regarded by investment professionals:
The Fed said that it will purchase $40 billion of mortgage-backed debt each month until there is a significant improvement in the labor market.
Most people are not aware of the actual role of the Fed in the US economy and in the economy of the world. So I will attempt to do a “Teach In” here:
The Fed’s current “reason for existence” is to balance the value of the currency against the value of labor. (Reference here)
Continue reading Too Little, Too Late
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