Sh*t Silicon Valley Says

It was just a matter of time before the meme hit Silicon Valley — and really, what took so long? The “Shit (fill in the blank) people say” craze has been going on so long that Gawker published a blog post with the headline, “We Do Not Want Your ‘Shit People Say’ Video.”

As far as I can tell, the meme started years ago on Twitter with @shitmydadsays, which was made into a TV pilot by William Shatner. Then a few weeks ago, “Shit White Girls Say… to Black Girls” hit YouTube, and now they just keep coming. There’s “Shit People Say in LA” (Westside and Eastside edition), there's "Shit People in DC Say, Shit People Say on Facebook and on and on it goes.

Still, the meme doesn't cease to be amusing, which is probably why the videos keep popping up. Among the favorites lines in the newsroom from "Shit Silicon Valley Says" are: "It's like Pandora for cats," "Who has a party in Palo Alto?" and "I already reblogged that. I reblogged it and retweeted it. I retweeted it, I reblogged it and checked into it."

Former President of Pacific Stock Exchange Supports Occupy

By now, most of the stories told by the dozen or so protesters at the Occupy San Francisco press conference on Tuesday had a familiar ring. There was the sailor from Iraq War Veterans Against the War, the labor organizers and the woman who lost her home to foreclosure — all there to explain why they're calling for a daylong protest on Friday. 

And then, just as the stories appeared to lull reporters into a daydream, the facilitator introduced Warren Langley, the former president of the Pacific Stock Exchange. 

Langley was dressed in a suit and tie for the occasion, the only protester to do so. As he approached the podium, which was in the shadow of the skyscraper that was once Bank of America’s headquarters in San Francisco's financial district, the reporters crowded in.   

The Occupy movement, he said, is “our last chance to level the playing field and let you and my kids and grandkids have the opportunities I started with when I graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1965.”   

Langley, who is 69, said he spent 15 years on active duty and another eight years in the reserves before he entered the world of high finance. He was an early supporter of the 1999 repeal of the Glass-Steagal Act. The repeal is often cited as a key contributor to the recent financial meltdown. And Langley admits to lobbying Securities and Exchange Commission officials for exemptions to the act in the lead-up to its repeal.

“I was benefited by it,” Langley said. “I wasn’t looking at it from a whole perspective. I was looking at it from my perspective.”  

It was nine years ago on Tuesday that Langley joined his first march, to protest the Iraq War. Afterwards, he participated in a demonstration to shut down the financial district, again in protest of the war. Langley said that was the last protest he attended before Occupy started up in the fall. Both actions were in opposition to corporations wasting taxpayer money, he said. 

"When I was in the Air Force, I saw the defense contractors spend our taxes on obsolete weapons with huge cost overruns," Langley said. "Then I was disgusted when Halliburton and its cronies made great profits in Iraq."

In a sense, it’s protesters like Langley who keep the Occupy story going. That is, the Occupy movement has attracted people who aren’t part of the usual crowd of Bay Area protesters. In fact, like Langley, many are relatively new to protests and have opinions and views that go beyond the platitudes we’re accustomed to hearing. 

After the official press conference, several reporters crowded around Langley to ask questions. Here are his views. (This Q&A has been edited for clarity and length.)        

Q: Are you a Republican or Democrat?  

Langley: I’ve done both. I grew up primarily in Alabama. My parents were sort of Southern Democrats. This was before they evolved in to Southern Republicans. But I think over the course of the years and particularly by having two daughters, I understood more about the injustices of gender and race that we have in this country, and it’s tended to make me socially liberal. But I tend to be a fiscal conservative in terms of thinking we’ve got to have a balanced budget.  

Q: What will you be doing on Friday?  

Langley: I will probably join the people here at the Bank of America, because I think it’s a nice symbolic place right in front of the Financial District. If you look, there are probably a few hundred hedge funds in San Francisco. Representatives of all the major investment banks are here.  

There are a number of hedge funds and other people who are here in the Bank of America building. I don’t think these people are evil or doing anything illegal for the most part. It’s just that the rules have been set up for them.

In fact, by consistent lobbying for the carried interest loophole, they’re only paying 15 percent taxes. The game's been rigged. And the corporations have been able to convince Congress to give them subsidies and tax breaks that let them be monopolies.

Q: Are you still in touch with old colleagues?  

Langley: Yes. Like me, they like entrepreneurship, believe in self-responsibility and want the opportunity to do something creative. They don’t want to be stifled. They rail against the government and they probably are right to some extent.  

They like the game because it’s tilted in their favor, but they also understand it’s not particularly fair, and they have a hard time defending why they pay less in taxes then some ordinary person who’s not in that business.  

Q: Where do you see the movement going?  

Langley: I think it’s done a good job of raising and identifying the issues. They’ve been good at avoiding putting out an agenda, because I don’t think that’s what a movement like this should do. I think it needs to continue to do what’s it’s doing and essentially not just occupy a physical space but occupy the minds of the people.  

Q: Do you think Occupy protesters will back a political party?

Langley: The people that I know in the movement here and in other places are so independent. You hear them saying, “I’m sick of the Democrats and the Republicans, I want something better.” There’s no party they want to align themselves with. They may join this online political nomination, which is basically aimed at independents. But ultimately, we can’t solve this any other way than politically. We have to elect people who will look at the whole picture and not just self-interest. And we have to get the money out of politics.

Q: Some Occupy protesters want to do away with capitalism. Do you agree?

Langley: If you only focus on financial returns, it distorts things. If you don’t have to pay for pollution and you’re a power company, you’ll pollute. You need more profit, you need more money and that’s what you’re supposed to do as a corporation. So maybe you should be judged not just on profit, you should be judged on the whole cost. The cost of the environment.

Watch Scenes From Occupy Oakland's Port Action

Check out Monday morning's Occupy Oakland's port action, which drew several hundred people.

See the New Bisons at Golden Gate Park

Seven young female bison have joined the herd at Golden Gate Park’s Bison Paddock. There’s Grumpy, Happy, Sneezy, Dopey... Whoops! That’s Snow White’s Seven Dwarves. Turns out these bison are nameless and San Francisco Recreation and Park Department are asking the public to weigh in.

“Here’s your chance to put your mark in history,” the department says on its YouTube page, where you can find details on how to participate. Here’s a video of the bisons shot by the department. 

It appears that they’re taking this naming very seriously:

A distinguished panel of judges will choose their favorite names from the pool of suggestions, and the public will then have the opportunity to vote for the winning entry. We'll announce the winning name at the bison's coming out party in spring 2012

Hat tip: Richmondsfblog.com

Watch Robert Reich Speech at Occupy Cal

The spirit of Mario Savio lorded over Sproul Hall on Tuesday night and the thousands of students and supporters gathered there felt a keen sense of history.

There were the obvious connections. As a student at UC Berkeley, Savio led the "Free Speech Movement" in the 1960s. To add, organizers of the Mario Savio Youth Activist Awards moved their previously scheduled ceremony to the steps of Sproul Hall in a show of support for Occupy Cal. 

The evening started with a student reading of Mario Savio and the themes were eerily reminiscent of what we're hearing from students in the Occupy Cal movement today.

When Robert Reich, the scheduled keynote speaker for the awards, stepped onto the steps of Sproul Hall, he "connected the dots" between the movement then and now. 

"We were graced with the eloquence and the power of Mario Savio's words from these steps," Reich said. "In fact, the sentiments and words that mario savio expressed 47-years-ago is as relevant or more relevant today as they were then."

Here are a few video excerpts from that night: 

On the beginning of social movements:

I urge you to be patient with yourself because with regard to every social movement in the last half-century or more, it started with a sense of moral outrage. Things were wrong and the actual coalescence of that moral outrage into specific demands came later.

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Pics of OccupyCal After Party: Crowd Clears, Music Blares and Pot Fills the Air

Late last night, as the crowd of several thousand people was leaving Sproul Plaza, students started blaring Michael Jackson on the speakers and the OccupyCal after party was on!

MJ has been a regular on the Occupy Oakland playlist but not quite the revolutionary song? 

"When you play MJ, everybody wants to dance," said a student in charge of the music. "And we want people to stay!"

Students wanted people to stay in case the police decided to move in.  There was some debate about playing music on the speakers. Amplified music after 10 p.m. is against the law in Berkeley, said a more responsible student on the mic. 

The student's response? Here's a hint:

As midnight approached, groups of students continued to file onto Sproul Plaza with tents in hand. Most were dancing but some were more serious, sitting on the couch looking studiously into their computers. A few hours later, police ordered students to move tents and the mood turned more somber. The music stopped and an emergency General Assembly was called. But until then, it was a big celebration.

Lounges in Lieu of Tents: Scenes from the Occupy Cal 'Strike'

Mark (who didn't want to give his last name) is an alum of UC Berkeley and graduated in 1982. He's sitting in a chair just outside Sproul Hall, where students and supporters are taking part in a student strike and Occupy Cal rally. On Nov. 9, protesters tried to set up tents in front of Sproul Hall, where they clashed with police.

He notes the student's sense of humor. "The cops said no tents, so they bring out furniture: a couch, rugs, a piano," he said.  "This is very charming." 

Mark says he's out here to support the students. "I'm not against capitalism or the banks," Mark said. His beef is with fewer people controlling more of the wealth. 

"How do you send those people who control everything, out to pasture?" he asked. (-Queena Kim)

 

Just next to the lounge in front of Sproul Hall, a group of students calling itself Mockupy Cal, cordoned off an area with red ribbon. The students, donning high-society society attire and haughty jewelry, invited protesters to "join the one percent," by stepping into the square and enjoying hors'dorves  and champagne (actually sparkling cider). Admission to the "UC VIP Luncheon, as it was called, hollered into the crowd: "Join the one percent!. It's the most fabulous percent!"

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The Colbert Report Picks Up on Occupy Cal Videos

Despite last night's fatal shooting at Occupy Oakland, the national nightime TV focus appears to have shifted north to the events that unfolded on Wednesday at U.C. Berkeley as students there tried to "Occupy Cal."

On the Colbert Nation, comedian Stephen Colbert took on "hippie haven UC Berkeley." Picking up the widely circulated YouTube video of Alameda County Sheriff's Office use of force at UC Berkeley, Colbert "applauded" the university for calling "in a team of skilled crises managers" (um, police in riot gear) "to difuse the situation with a rap session." 

Here's the video of OccupyCal that's been going viral.  

Here's the scene from a few different angles—

From the ground taken by the Daily Californian:

And here's another video from on high: