Monday, November 28, 2011

Occupy Augusta Maine Responds to Eviction Threat by Occupying Governor's House

Occupy Augusta Maine received an ultimatum similar to those being issued by spokesmen for the 1% to Occupy encampments around the U.S.: apply for a day permit by Mon 11/28, or be evicted from Capitol Park. This was their response: 75 or so activists occupied the Governor's residence, Blaine House, which is across the street from the encampment in Capital Park. (Gov. LePage was believed to be elsewhere, possibly Florida or Jamaica where he has other homes.)

A tent was pitched on the governor's lawn next to a snowman that held a sign reading "Maine's Labor History Mural Lives in Occupy Augusta."


Nine people chose to commit civil disobedience for refusing to leave the grounds. They were arrested and it is believed they were charged with criminal trespassing, and failure to disperse.

Meanwhile, a young couple in the neighborhood had a burglary to report, but could not find any police interested in taking their report of a house break-in and stolen laptop. Officers were observed from six jurisdictions: Maine State Police, Augusta City Police, Capitol Police, Hallowell City Police, Kennebec County Sheriffs, and -- most dreaded by Mainers -- Game Wardens.

I asked one of them what the game wardens had to do with what was going on, and he said, "I've got two of my guys in there" as he rushed through the gate.

Note: No animals were harmed in the making of this video.
at

1 comment:

  1. chrisrushlauNovember 28, 2011 at 9:54 AM

    It looks like the Israel lobby is shutting down the Occupy effort. They got their money's worth out of it, they figure: slamming Obama some to wise him up on pressuring Israel, and co-opting the few brave angry (those whom they could not provoke into discrediting themselves by over-reacting).
    Where does Occupy Maine's leadership stand on tourism? By "leadership" I mean the electronic organizers, the phone-web networkers.
    Does the Israel lobby have a view on tourism in Maine? It regards comparison of Israel as a terrorist state and Maine as a tourist state to be grossly unfair and something not worthy of the talents of a Jon Stewart or Jerry Seinfeld.
    Did you hear about the deer preserve that welcomes all species, including humans? It's the deerish and democratic state, according to the sign by the interstate in Gray.
    That's an out-of-stater joke.
    Speaking of Jewish humor, hope you caught "Bee Movie" on Saturday, from 2007, by Jerry Seinfeld. Very funny and very moving. Good jokes are like that.

    ReplyDelete

Because of a deluge of spam, I have had to switch to moderated comments. Sorry for the inconvenience.