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Over 700 Nominations for Outstanding Local Occupy Activism — And Counting

By: Jane Hamsher Friday January 27, 2012 12:34 pm

Nominate an Occupation to
Win a Tent or Laptop:

All fields required

There have already been over 700 nominations of local occupations for outstanding community activism, representing 149 occupations across the country. Occupy Supply announced the contest yesterday, and we’ll be accepting nominations up until this Monday.

Five occupations will receive command post tents worth $5000 each, three will receive media laptops, and twelve runner-ups will receive a credit for supplies at the Occupy Supply store.

These are the occupations that have been nominated to date:

  1. Albany
  2. Albuquerque
  3. Ann Arbor
  4. Asheville
  5. Ashland
  6. Atlanta
  7. Austin
  8. Baltimore
  9. Bangor
  10. Beaverton
  11. Bellingham
  12. Berkeley
  13. Boca Raton
  14. Boise
  15. Boston
  16. Boulder
  17. Buffalo
  18. Cape Cod Hyannis
  19. Carson City
  20. Centralia & Lewis Co.
  21. Charleston
  22. Charlotte
  23. Chattanooga
  24. Chicago
  25. Chico
  26. Cincinnati
  27. Cleveland
  28. Colorado Springs
  29. Columbia
  30. Columbus
  31. Conway
  32. Dallas
  33. Davis
  34. Delaware
  35. Denver
  36. Des Moines
  37. Detroit
  38. Eugene
  39. Everett
  40. Fort Lauderdale
  41. Fort Wayne
  42. Frankfurt
  43. Franklin County
  44. Frederick
  45. Freedom Plaza
  46. Fresno
  47. Fullerton OC
  48. Gainesville
  49. Glasgow
  50. Grand Junction
  51. Grass Valley
  52. Greensboro
  53. Gwinnett
  54. Harrisburg
  55. Hartford
  56. Helena
  57. Hendersonville
  58. Homer
  59. Honolulu
  60. Houston
  61. Indianapolis
  62. Iowa
  63. Kalamazoo
  64. Kansas City
  65. Klamath Falls
  66. Kona
  67. Las Cruces
  68. Las Vegas
  69. Lincoln
  70. Little Rock
  71. Longview
  72. Los Angeles
  73. Louisville
  74. Lubbock
  75. Madison
  76. Maine
  77. Manchester
  78. Miami
  79. Milwaukee
  80. Minneapolis
  81. Minnesota
  82. Monterey Peninsula
  83. Nashville
  84. New Hampshire
  85. New Haven
  86. New Orleans
  87. New Paltz
  88. New Port Richey
  89. Newark
  90. Newport OR
  91. Northampton
  92. Nottingham
  93. Oakland
  94. Ocean Beach
  95. Olympia
  96. Orlando
  97. Palm Beach
  98. Pasadena
  99. Pensacola
  100. Petaluma
  101. Philadelphia
  102. Phoenix
  103. Pittsburgh
  104. Plymouth
  105. Portland
  106. Prescott
  107. Providence
  108. Raleigh
  109. Reno
  110. Roanoke
  111. Rochester
  112. Rockford
  113. Roseburg
  114. Rutgers
  115. Sacramento
  116. Saint Louis
  117. Salem
  118. Salmon
  119. Salt Lake City
  120. San Diego
  121. San Francisco
  122. San Luis Obispo
  123. Santa Barbara
  124. Santa Fe
  125. Santa Rosa
  126. Sarasota
  127. Savannah
  128. Seattle
  129. Sebastopol
  130. Shelton
  131. South Bend
  132. Spokane
  133. St. Louis
  134. Stockton
  135. Syracuse
  136. Tacoma
  137. Tallahassee
  138. Tampa
  139. Taos
  140. Trenton
  141. Tucson
  142. University of NM Albuquerque
  143. Utica
  144. Wall Street
  145. Washington DC
  146. Wenatchee
  147. Wilmington
  148. Wisconsin

We also received a number of nominations for occupations outside the US — St. Paul’s UK, Vancouver BC, Melbourne, Glasgow, Frankfurt and Kingston among them. Because of the limitations on shipping the tents and computers out of the country they aren’t eligible for the prizes, so we’re looking into other opportunities to reward outstanding activism by occupations outside the US.

For more information on the contest, see yesterday’s post.

Nominate your occupation for a chance to win a command-post tent or laptop with webcam!
DEADLINE: Monday, 1/30/2012

Download the Contest Flyer for distribution to occupations: Downloadable PDF | Online version

Contest Rules: Downloadable PDF | Online version

Occupy Supply has raised over $180,000 to supply occupations across the country. 100% of all money received goes to the purchase and distribution of supplies. You can donate to Occupy Supply here.

Liability Release on Foreclosure Fraud Settlement Narrow, but a Host of Questions Remain

By: David Dayen Friday January 27, 2012 12:15 pm
gavel

(photo by The Lane Team/flickr)

Former Obama Administration transition official Mike Lux was the first to report that the liability release on foreclosure fraud “looks tight.” In other words, the release is limited to mostly post-crisis conduct, basically robo-signing and servicer abuse. Private right of action would still be available under any settlement – Attorneys General cannot stop the right of an individual to sue over misconduct – and there would be no criminal liability release. In addition, these avenues of inquiry would still be available.

No release on any fair housing, fair lending, or civil rights claims.
No release on any Federal Housing Finance Agency or Government-Sponsored Enterprise claims.
No release on any Consumer Financial Protection Bureau claims (which would admittedly be modest, since the Bureau was only established in July 2011).
No release on tax liability claims.
No release on criminal liability claims.
No release on SEC claims.
No release on National Credit Union Association claims.
No release on FDIC claims.
No release on Federal Reserve claims.
No release on the “vast majority” of origination claims.
No release on the “vast majority” of securitization claims, including all claims of state pension funds.
No release on legal liability surrounding Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS).

Sam Stein and Zach Carter back this up with their reporting. And it matches with mine. My sources tell me that the release is one area where progressive pressure has dialed back the initial offer, which actually included securitization, among other things. “It looks substantially different on the release question today than it did in August,” said one official close to the talks. Of course, the current terms have been enough to keep at least Beau Biden and Kamala Harris off the deal, and Eric Schneiderman actually remains opposed to the final language, so it’s clearly not perfect. [cont'd.]

NC-Gov: Brad Miller Could Move From Congress Into Governor’s Race

By: David Dayen Friday January 27, 2012 11:25 am

Brad Miller

Could Brad Miller, who just yesterday announced his retirement from Congress, be urged to turn around and run in the Governor’s race in North Carolina? It could happen.

Hours after Miller made his announcement yesterday, Bev Perdue, the embattled governor of the state, announced that she would not seek re-election. Polling showed that Perdue would not win a second term, and that Republican former Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory would romp to victory. This leaves Democrats searching for a replacement on the ticket. And lo and behold, Miller has become available.

Fundraisers are already encouraging him to run:

But shortly after Miller’s announcement, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee sent an email to all of its members in North Carolina asking them if Miller should run for governor, while highlighting his congressional efforts to protect consumers from banking abuses. So far, over 97 percent of respondents have urged Miller to run for governor, according to PCCC spokesman Neil Sroka.

“Brad Miller authored the bill in Congress that would break up the big Wall Street banks and prevent future bailouts,” the PCCC email to members reads. “He also fought to make it easier for North Carolinians to ‘move our money’ from big banks that gamble away our money to smaller community banks.” [...]

“I really did not expect to be thinking about this today,” Miller told HuffPost. “I really had no inkling that Bev was not going to run again. She’d been giving every indication that she was getting ready to run for re-election. I had about an hour this morning getting putzed into my own funeral and getting emails from friends, and then I spent another hour reading emails from those same friends telling me to run for Governor.”

“I just haven’t had a chance to talk to anyone or think about it,” Miller continued. “I had no inkling that this was going to happen.”

There are other potential candidates on the Democratic side, including Lt. Governor Walter Dalton, current Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx, current Reps. Mike McIntyre and (Lord help us) Health Shuler and (really lord help us) Bowles-Simpson clown Erskine Bowles. Miller would probably face massive big bank opposition in the home of Wachovia and Bank of America, but with a competitive Barack Obama at the top of the ticket, and the grassroots fundraising potential that could be unlocked for him, Miller does bring some advantages.

Miller’s core strengths were always consumer protection and financial regulation, not quite in the window of the major priorities for a Governor. Attorney General would be a great fit, but Democrat Roy Cooper (who’s on the foreclosure fraud settlement executive committee) will run for re-election.

More than anything, I think the country needs more public servants like Brad Miller, so I’d love to see this happen.

GOP Debate Candidates Can’t Answer Fla. Woman Who Asks for Health Insurance

By: Scarecrow Friday January 27, 2012 10:35 am

During Thursday night’s GOP debate, a woman from Florida told the candidates she’d lost her job and with it her health insurance. What would each of the candidates do to get her covered or otherwise provide the health care she needed?

You had to listen carefully, but the effective answer they all gave her was, “this is your problem, not ours.”

Doctors Without Borders Describes Being Asked to Treat Patients Between Torture Sessions in Libya

By: David Dayen Friday January 27, 2012 9:45 am

Doctors Without Borders said that since August, its medical teams have treated 115 people in Misrata who bore torture-related wounds, including cigarette burns, heavy bruising, bone fractures, tissue burns from electric shocks and kidney failure from beatings. Two detainees died after being interrogated, the group’s general director said.

Romney’s Lead Grows in Florida

By: Jon Walker Friday January 27, 2012 8:50 am

A new poll from Quinnipiac shows Mitt Romney’s lead over Gingrich in Florida has grown to nine points from just a two point lead earlier in the week. The size of the Romney lead in the Quinnipiac poll is nearly identical to the lead three other recent polls released yesterday found.

California AG Harris Turned Down a Guaranteed 60% of the Foreclosure Fraud Deal

By: David Dayen Friday January 27, 2012 7:50 am

Somebody really wants this foreclosure fraud settlement to go through. So much so that California was offered a sum to participate in the settlement sure to piss off the other 49 AGs across the country. Only California was guaranteed earmarked funds from the settlement. Earlier we heard they would get $8 billion out of the $25 billion pot, or 32% of the total (California has roughly 10% of the population). Now, Shahien Nasiripour says they were in line for $15 billion, or a whopping 60%.

Why Romney Should Fear Third Party Candidates

By: Jon Walker Friday January 27, 2012 6:00 am

Romney only has a chance of winning because for a large number of voters Obama is completely unacceptable and Romney is the only possible alternative. Romney can’t afford for there to be other alternatives that look even semi-viable.

Lakeside Diner

By: SouthernDragon Friday January 27, 2012 4:45 am

A variety of links to articles/interviews on current topics that may be of interest.

And the sky is blue

By: Attaturk Friday January 27, 2012 1:30 am

As we know child abuse didn’t seem to cause much of a reaction within the Vatican.

But sometimes things get them to act with great dispatch.

#OCCUPYSUPPLY

Help the Occupy Supply Fund continue to support the more than 60 occupations across the country!

$182,593.00 RAISED
$185,953.71 SPENT

Last updated 1/27

100% of donations committed to the occupations served by Occupy Supply

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