10. "Occupy movement worth millions, except for Occupy Dallas at $0"

A recent report was released which estimated the costs to cities for to deal with the Occupy movement protests. The three most notable are New York, Oakland, and Dallas. New York has estimated their fees at approximately $7 million and Oakland estimated $2.4 million.


What sets Dallas apart, is that Occupy Dallas has not cost the city anything. The reason is because of how it is organized.

"Beginning on October 6, movement committees recognized as "working groups" were specifically designed for the expertise of volunteers who wish to help the protesters.

But more than anything, what has separated Occupy Dallas from movements like Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Oakland is a continued cooperation with the city's local police and city government, in addition to a continuous appreciation for the Dallas Police Department that has worked out for both sides."

 While protesters other places have also remained non-violent, they did nothing to try to get the police to remain the same. Such as at UC Berkeley, where the protesters where non-violent but the police pepper sprayed them. What Occupy Dallas did was to maintain cooperation with the local police and city government. This greatly, possibly completely, lessens the risk that the police will use force against them, and along with that it keeps the cost to the city and nothing.

http://ow.ly/7FglL

9. "Occupy Wall Streeters plan to shut down stock exchange, swarm subways"

Chapter 11 was on interest groups. Occupy Wall Street could be considered a interest group, it matches the definition of "an organization of people with shared policy goals."

The First Amendment guarantees the right to freedom of speech and the right to peaceably assemble.

Up until recently, Occupy Wall Street has stayed within these rights, thus staying under the protection of the Constitution in those regards. They were staying within the limits of the freedom of speech and they were keeping their protesting peaceably. However, recently their protests have stopped being so peaceable. Once the protests stopped being peaceable, the protection of their protests ceased.

"In one of the largest demonstrations in recent city history, the ant-greed rabble plans to swarm the subways, take over the Brooklyn Bridge and shut down the stock exchange today."

Swarming a subway, taking over a bridge, and shutting down the stock exchange isn't exactly within the definition of "peaceably." Along with the loss of protection, these actions could be taken as hostile, which could warrant police intervention.

http://ow.ly/7zJ0y

8. "Sharon Bialek accuses Cain of "sexually inappropriate" behavior"

Recently in the reading, the book talked about how the media gives more attention to stories with high drama. A recent event is a perfect example of this.

"A Chicago woman accused Herman Cain on Monday of trying to get sexual favors more than a decade ago in exchange for his help finding her a new job just after she had lost her post at an arm of the restaurant association he was then running.

The woman, Sharon Bialek, is the fourth woman who has accused Cain of sexually inappropriate behavior in the late 1990s and the first to go public with her charges. She outlined her story at a high-profile New York City press conference at the Friars Club."

This story has received a lot of coverage. In 2010, there were 11,717 charges of sexual harassment filed with the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission,) and FEPA (Fair Employment Practices agencies.) Not many, if any, of these charges were shown on the news, and those that were shown on news, where shown to nowhere near the extent. That is, unless someone of notability was involved.


http://eeoc.gov/eeoc/statistics/enforcement/sexual_harassment.cfm
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57319854-503544/sharon-bialek-accuses-cain-of-sexually-inappropriate-behavior/?tag=contentMain;contentBody

7. "Republicans criticize Obama over Iraq withdrawal"

Recently, Obama was criticized by Republicans for pulling troops out of Iraq. This links to two things from the reading this week, campaign promises and Democrat vs. Republican views.

During his 2008 campaign, one of Obama's main promises was that all troops would leave Iraq by the end of 2011. The reading mentioned findings that a majority of campaign promises are kept by those that get elected. Obama's announcement is another example of a campaign promise that was kept.

In another section of the reading, there was a chart with Democrat and Republican views on certain issues. One of the issues was the war in Iraq. The criticism Obama is receiving from Republicans is an excellent example of the differing political party views. As the chart shows, the main difference in the views, is that Republicans support the war and Democrats do not. Since Obama is a Democrat part of his decision was probably based on party alignment. This combination, of being part of an opposing part and of taking troops out of Iraq, practically guarantees criticism from Republicans.