MoveOn Co-opts OWS. Organizes Run On Banks? To What End?

© Miri WTPOTUS October 23, 2011

MoveOn.org is an organization with a long history of “progressive” political activism, beginning with the campaign to prevent the impeachment of President Clinton over the Lewinsky affair.  More recently, MoveOn was famously behind the despicable “General Betray Us” ad.

MoveOn.org Civic Action is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit corporation.  As such, it enjoys tax breaks and is supposed to conform to this description:

501(c)(4) organizations are generally civic leagues and other corporations operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare, or local associations of employees with membership limited to a designated company or people in a particular municipality or neighborhood, and with net earnings devoted exclusively to charitable, educational, or recreational purposes.

How is it in the interest of the US government to give tax exempt status to an organization that currently plots to damage the U.S. economy?  How does deliberately damaging the economy serve to promote “social welfare?”  How is it “charitable” to do so? 

It’s important to comprehend the connection between MoveOn and the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) astroturfed “movement”, and then to recognize the connection both groups have to Barack Hussein Obama II and his professed desire to “fundamentally transform America.”

Paul Joseph Watson and Alex Jones report:

We are now seeing the ‘Occupy’ movement advocate Americans withdraw all their money simultaneously, in an effort to cause a run on the banks. The first such campaign is labeled “Bank Transfer Day,” and will take place on November 5. Banks are already preventing people from closing their accounts, and there were arrests made at a branch of Citibank in New York this past weekend.

Should the White House’s support for the demonstrators embolden them to initiate a successful nationwide campaign for a run on the banks, the subsequent collapse of the banking system would make Lehman Brothers look like a walk in the park. Obama could then blame the demonstrators for the collapse and thereby disguise the fact that it was precipitated by the Federal Reserve’s policy of quantitative easing, which has been fully supported by his administration at every turn. … With Obama lobbying group MoveOn.org now moving to completely infiltrate and direct the Occupy Wall Street movement, the Obama campaign will increasingly attempt to align itself with the protesters in a bid to isolate Obama’s political opposition.

Paul Joseph Watson further elucidates:

The front page of the [the Occupy Wall Street webpage] proudly announces … “Together we will protest this great injustice. We stand in solidarity with the honest workers of….MoveOn.org.” …

What is MoveOn.org?

MoveOn.org is a lobbying organization that routinely backs Democratic candidates. The group aggressively supported Barack Obama’s 2008 election campaign and is now “Perhaps the lead lobby organization for his policies….apart from Obama’s own Organizing for America,” reports Source Watch.

When MoveOn organized an online donation drive for Obama which raised $320,000, the Obama campaign responded in kind with the legally dubious action of paying MoveOn $18,000 in “credit card processing fees”.

The group also received a $5 million dollar donation from George Soros, who is a keen supporter.

Notable is that this slogan appears on the OWS webpage:

the only solution is WorldRevolution

So have no doubt about their goal, which is to destroy the government of the USA, to incite a “revolution”, by bringing down the US economy.  This very plan has been espoused by communist “thinkers” for decades, including Bill Ayers.

While it’s true that MoveOn campaigns for Obama, there are actually two entities that comprise MoveOn, according to Wikipedia:

MoveOn.org Political Action is a federal political action committee, and was formerly known as MoveOn PAC. It contributes to the campaigns of many candidates across the country. MoveOn calls the legal structure of MoveOn Civic Action that of “a California nonprofit public benefit corporation” and MoveOn.org Political Action that of “a California nonprofit mutual benefit corporation,” and refers to both corporations collectively as “MoveOn”.

Last March, Scott Baker of The Blaze wrote about a campaign of “economic terrorism” proposed by Stephen Lerner, a community organizer associated with SEIU and now credited by Wikipedia with founding the OWS movement. 

In March 2011 Lerner told an audience at Pace University in Manhattan of his five-point plan to undermine the entire U.S. economy, a campaign to be led by the SEIU and other unions, with selected community groups serving as fronts. At the meeting he explained the beginning moment for what would become the Occupy Wall Street movement: “So, a bunch of us around the country are thinking about who would be a really good company to hate? We decided that would be JPMorgan Chase.”

Scott Baker wrote,

As we reported this week, [Stephen] Lerner — a hero among progressives — was caught on tape discussing a planned “mortgage strike” against the country’s largest banking institutions, specifically including JP Morgan Chase. In a recording uncovered from a leftist conference last weekend in New York, Lerner describes how homeowners “strategically defaulting” on home loans would force banks to negotiate in a redistribution of wealth scheme with far-reaching economic consequences.

Conservative radio host Glenn Beck labeled Lerner’s plan “economic terrorism” and Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, asked Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate the potential threat.

Baker went on to report an interchange between MSNBC reporter Dylan Ratigan and Lerner:

RATIGAN: The one thing that strikes me that you could run into in trying to organize a larger group of people around this, is very explicit banking law, unique law that applies explicitly only to banks that effectively makes it illegal to do any form of organizing or work that could directly result, for instance, in a run on the banks. And is there not a risk that a large collection of mortgage holders refusing to pay could run a foul of that law?

LERNER: It would be a terrific irony because since nobody’s been prosecuted in the massive run of the banks and all the hedge funds and all the deals where people bet against and tripled down on different bets, it would sure be ironic if people interpreted homeowners exerting their right to be causing a run on the bank; that’s not the goal at all. In fact, but going backwards, I think it would be great if people investigated and prosecuted for all the things the banks did that most normal people would consider a form of the run on the bank. I’m not worried about that because what we’re talking about is perfectly legal, it’s perfectly lawful.

BUT IS IT?  Even if he’s correct, if it’s technically legal, is it not, all the same, morally reprehensible?  Now we come back to MoveOn.org and their “support” for OWS.  Here’s the text of an email currently making the rounds:

From: Lenore Palladino, MoveOn.org Civic Action

 Subject: Plan to Make Wall Street Pay in ***Redacted***
To:***Redacted***

Can you step up to organize a meeting in ***Redacted*** to Make Wall Street Pay?

Organize a Meeting

I can’t organize a meeting this time, but keep me informed.  

Dear MoveOn member,

Have you felt the energy that’s sweeping the country? People are frustrated with a system that only works for the top 1%. And, thanks to the brave protesters at Occupy Wall Street and around the world, more people than ever are talking about how we can Make Wall Street Pay to get an economy that works for everyone.1

All that energy means we have an opportunity to be a part of new ambitious campaigns across the country, including in ***Redacted***, to hold the big Wall Street banks accountable. That’s why, as we continue to support occupations nationwide, we’re also organizing Make Wall Street Pay meetings from October 23-26. The idea is to set a time in each community when MoveOn members and others can come together to determine how to Make Wall Street Pay in our communities—from stopping illegal foreclosures, to forcing the big banks to pay their fair share in taxes, to closing our personal accounts at the big Wall Street banks and urging our schools, municipalities, and other institutions to do the same.

There are plenty more folks in ***Redacted*** who are inspired and will join in if given the opportunity, but only if someone volunteers to set up this meeting. Can you?

Yes, I can organize a meeting to help plan the best ways to Make Wall Street Pay in ***Redacted***.

I can’t organize a meeting this time, but keep me informed.
 
November is full of opportunities to keep the momentum growing to Make Wall Street Pay. But every community is different, which is why it’s so essential that someone step up to lead people in ***Redacted*** to plan the best ways to take action.

Your group could plan a November 5 Make Wall Street Pay action against big banks, a solidarity action with the Occupy Wall Street movement, or focus on local campaigning to move our money from the big banks. This may be a chance to launch new campaigns, or bring more people into campaigns that are already in motion. What happens in ***Redacted*** is up to you.

Can you organize a campaign planning meeting in ***Redacted***?

Yes, I can organize a meeting to help plan the best ways to Make Wall Street Pay in ***Redacted***.

I can’t organize a meeting this time, but keep me informed.

Thanks for all you do.

–Lenore, Ryan, Joan, Laura, and the rest of the team

Source:

1. “Thousands join NYC protest against corporate greed,” The San Francisco Chronicle, October 16, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=265551&id=32142-20044924-YimhpBx&t=7

MoveOn blog has multiple versions of this form letter, aimed at communities across the country.  The blog states:

In addition to providing all the support we can to #OccupyWallStreet, at MoveOn we’re scrambling to launch a huge campaign to make Wall Street pay. We’re organizing mass meetings in hundreds of cities. We’ve hired filmmakers to tell the stories that the mainstream media are ignoring. We’re turning up the heat on the banks by helping people move their money. And we’re helping organize two major national days of protest in November.

Together, we can make sure this momentum keeps building. But this all takes money—for materials, coordination, tech, and supporting thousands of volunteers. This is the moment. Can you chip in $5? …

Here are just a few of the things we’re doing:

•Building tools to help you, along with cities, pension funds, and universities, take money out of the banks that crashed our economy and keep profiting by hurting the 99%

•Participating in a massive “Make Wall Street Pay” global day of action for November 5, where we all put those tools to move our money to use.

WHERE IS THE LOGIC IN CONSPIRING TO CREATE A RUN ON BANKS?  A run on banks that MoveOn claims crashed the economy in 2008?  TALK ABOUT HURTING THE 99%!!!  Why would they punish the banks by crashing the economy again, thereby WIPING OUT THE SAVINGS, ONCE AGAIN, OF HARD-WORKING AMERICANS? 

When banks are damaged by these actions, what happens to the savings of middle class people across the country? 

What happens to the value of their pension funds?  Their IRAs?  Their 401(k)s?

What happens to the jobs of those employed by the banks? 

Where’s the logic of bailing out those banks–something that was supported BY BARACK OBAMA–just to turn around and deliberately attempt to damage those same banks, destroying the economy once again, three years after the fact and after the banks have repaid taxpayers’ money?  

What exactly do they mean when they say they’re developing “tools” to help people move their money?  Cyberattack-type tools?  Something similar to using computerized trading to crash the stock market, as Rep. Kanjorski suggested was done in 2008, deliberately? 

This is blatant. Out there for all to see. What is Congress doing to prevent the deliberate destruction of our economy by communist wannabes?

I am outraged that citizens of this country would even consider deliberately taking such actions to harm their fellow citizens.

I call upon all Americans, regardless of political party.  Democrats, Libertarians, Republicans, Independents, Greens:  Oppose this destructive campaign.  On Nov.  5, deposit money in the targeted banks.  Report this outrage to your senators and representatives.  Ask them what they’re doing to prevent this economic terrorism from happening.  Ask Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, to once again call upon Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate this potential threat. 

MoveOn should answer for their un-American activities.  They profess to care about the 99% who aren’t wealthy.  If so, why are they trying to damage the 99% by throwing the country into a DEPRESSION that rivals the Great Depression? 

I think we know the answer:  Fundamental transformation of America, by any means necessary.  The dream of George Soros. 

Barack Hussein Obama II has been connected with most of these players for most of his political career.  Bill Ayers, MoveOn, SEIU, Saul Alinsky, socialists, communists.  His radical associations were studiously avoided by the media during the campaign of 2008, so enamored were they of the thought of the “first black president.”  We can only hope that he won’t be our “last” president, because these radicals achieve their long-dreamed-of goal to destroy the USA.

Do not fall for this bogus class warfare. These people are not on YOUR side, America.