Since I am objectively pro-dry-socks, here is the Rude Pundit‘s plan:
11/10/2011
Blanket the Earth: The Plan:
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Ever since I first mentioned the idea of getting cold weather gear to Occupy Wall Street campers around the nation, I’ve heard from dozens of people about what exactly they could do. Could they donate money? Where could they send gear? What is the plan? Here goes:
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1. The idea: on November 25, the day after Thanksgiving, people will gather in designated spots in cities around the country where there are encampments of OWS protesters.
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2. They will have warm weather gear to donate to the protesters. This can be blankets, socks, sleeping bags, hand and foot warmers, sweaters, or anything you think can be used to keep the camping protesters warm throughout the winter. The items can be secondhand (and clean, you know). New items can be purchased whenever, preferably not on the exploitative day coined by marketers as “Black Friday.”
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3. People will gather in designated places in each city near the OWS encampments in order to donate the items. I will post a list of organizers next week. The organizers will say where the Blanket the Earth group should meet. For example, in Atlanta, they have decided to gather at 60 Walton St. NW.
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4. Yes, donations at any time are great. But Blanket the Earth is not organizing as a group to accept donations of any kind. If you want to participate in the day, give someone who is going the items you’d like to donate. Also, I’m not accepting any monetary donations for this. If you want to donate money, that’s generous of you, and you should give to things like Occupy Supply.
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5. The goal here is to show our support not just through the kindness of monetary donations, but by being physically present to demonstrate that we’re here for the protesters.
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6. Yes, there is a chance that you may end up being the only person in your town to show up.
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7. Organizers should send me a message on how people can contact them in their cities. Write, as ever, to rudepundit_at_yahoo.com (and you can send me questions there). You can also post info on the Blanket the Earth Facebook page or you can follow and respond on Twitter to @blankettheearth.
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8. Spread the word. Use your own social networks to get out the information. Let’s make sure the people who are the foot soldiers in this movement know that they are appreciated and that we have their backs.
Much more, including video, at the link.
(h/t commentor Mamayaga)
PurpleGirl
I have one scarf made and several started… gotta get moving and finish them. I hope they don’t mind the mustardy color of the yarn; it’s left over from the Water Tower Cozy art project in 2008.
ETA: It strikes as an appropriate use of the yarn because the Water Tower Cozy was cut into sections, bound off and given to charities as blankets.
Veritas
Best. Idea. EVAR!
Yevgraf
Why? Don’t college kids and paid activists already have cold weather gear and sleeping bags?
Way I see it, this only winds up being a helluva rake-off opportunity, and slinkertwunt and Greenwald will be rocking some great parkas, socks and boots.
Omnes Omnibus
@Yevgraf: Can you point me to Greenwald’s or Hamsher’s involvement in this particular bit?
lol
OT: Magnificent trolling by ABC on Rush’s remarks about the Obama’s being uppity. Don’t think the word is racially loaded? Let’s have a clip of Clarence Thomas talking about it during his confirmation hearings. hahaha
bonkers
Please, someone, help me. Once “Everywhere” is “occupied,” then what do we do?
Also, too, how do we know when said place is sufficiently “occupied,” as well.
Yevgraf
Another “why” query – how many poor children could this effort clothe? How much good messaging could this money buy? How many GOTV vans could it rent in Cleveland, Detroit or Toledo?
Jane’s buddy Grover wouldn’t be interested in wasting resources, would he?
Omnes Omnibus
@bonkers:
You wait in line for your turn, or, if your need is sufficiently great or your requirements for privacy sufficiently low, simply go behind and tree or bush to do your business. This is not that complicated.
some guy
Don’t college kids and paid activists already have cold weather gear and sleeping bags?
are you always so willfully ignorant, or does your stupidity only apply to progressive mass movements?
some guy
the Rude Pundit has been on an OWS roll for the least two months. His Shaky Cam vids are awesome.
numfar
I saw a post on G+ that said tents were contraband in Boston. Anyone else heard that?
Calming Influence
Wait, how do you know he’s not trying to turn a profit on this?
Jenny
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Support OWS directly!.
http://www.nycga.net/how-to-help/
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Cut out the middle men.
The people on the ground know how to spend the money far better than any outside group.
eemom
in my opinion, AL’s insistence on injecting FDL/GG into Blanket the Earth, and Yevgraf’s insistence on dissing the entire OWS movement, have combined to distort a beautiful thing into a multi-layered, multi-faceted, multi-colored clusterfuck of a mess that, for purposes of this blog at least, will accomplish nothing but a bunch of dumb ass flame-war threads.
But what the hell, I guess SOMEONE’s gotta do it.
Evelyn
Been on the ground at Occupy Chicago since September 27th, and have had very little time to be in internet land, but this makes me so happy. Gosh, just so happy to finally see people waking up.
Evelyn
But just FYI, some of the Occupy movements that are hurting the most right now don’t even have encampments because whenever we stay in public parks past curfew we are fined or arrested. Even during the day in Chicago, the CPD tell us that we are not members of the public so we are not allowed to stand still on the street corner, and it means walking for hours hauling any equipment with us because if we set down our equipment, the CPD immediately confiscate it.
Three-nineteen
@Yevgraf: Organize a clothing drive for children, in every major city in the country, and I’ll donate.
And the Rude Pundit is not affiliated with Jane Hamsher, so you may want to re-post this comment in the FDL thread.
Baron Jrod of Keeblershire
@Yevgraf:
Cuz the only people taking part in Occupy are trust-fund kiddies and the rest are drawing a salary for being there. Sean Hannity told me so, and a good ol’ boy like him wouldn’t fib! There are absolutely no poor people at the protests! Nope, not a one.
Yevgraf knows, because he’s been watching the blogs. Ratfucking is a full-time job, after all.
Joe Buck
There’s lots of good writing at Balloon Juice, but wow, the comment section is a sewer lately. See, helping protesters stay warm must be a plot by the evil Jane and the evil Glenn to make money. And wow, if anyone starts a progressive organization and pays themselves a salary with part of the funds raised, or spends money on travel to meet and evaluate candidates rather than giving the money straight to politicians or TV networks, he/she must be a crook, because sincere people work for free and get their bills paid by their trust fund or something. And anyone who said something nasty in the past, or made a bad political judgment, is an enemy forever more, and we must go rabid at any mention of the enemy names. If they appear to do good work, it must be a plot.
moderateindy
Right now Rush is trying to locate small pox Tainted blankets, cause honestly that is the way the right wing thinks
The Rude Pundit
Just to be clear, since sometimes it’s hard to separate the oh-so-ironic snark from actual accusations, I don’t want any money. I’m not accepting any donations for this. If you want to give me money, I will use it for bourbon. I don’t get kickbacks from Target or LL Bean or wherever you wanna buy things.
I want people to act. I want people to show up with goods to hand to the stalwart occupiers who are going to try to make it through the winter because, whatever we believe about it, some of them are going to, and we’re going to be glad they did.
roseyviolet
I actually bought a half dozen space blankets after the October snowstorm. My 18-year-old niece came into town because she was curiuos about OWS, and when went down there on Sunday morning, I asked someone how it had been the night before. She said people stuck it out, but it was really, really cold. So I ordered these blankets online, and then it went up to 65 degrees again, and the park got emptied, so I haven’t been sure what to do with them, but now I guess I know, so thanks.