American women are offered 12 weeks of unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act, which exempts companies with fewer than 50 paid employees, but in 2011, only 11 percent of private sector workers and 17 percent of public workers reported that they had access to paid maternity leave through their employer. And for first-time mothers, only about half can take paid leave when they give birth.

At the same time that working women in the U.S. lack a benefit widely available across the globe, almost 50 percent of families had two working parents in 2010, and 26 percent of households were headed by single parents. Without guaranteed paid maternity leave, many of these working women face significant financial hardship by having to choose between their paycheck and their families.

Women are forced to put their careers and financial future at risk simply because they want to have children. During their pregnancy, they face being fired unfairly or not being able to properly care for themselves. They should not have to worry about making ends meet without paid maternity leave on top of that.

[...] Morris and Leeneeka Bell, who says she was fired by the Emergency Communications Center after her pregnancy left her on bed rest, announced their plans to file a lawsuit after the EEOC finding. Their attorney, Lisa Millican, says this is a clear-cut case of discrimination.

OK, so about that “being fired unfairly,” thingy:

(Reuters) – More than three decades after Congress passed a law trying to protect pregnant women in the workplace, discrimination is still widespread and needs to be combated with publicity and clearer guidelines, according to testimony Wednesday at a federal hearing.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s legal counsel, Peggy Mastroianni, said the agency had resolved 52,000 pregnancy cases since 2001, with $150.5 million paid out in damages.

Discrimination against pregnant women includes firing, forced leave without pay, being denied a place to pump breast milk and being barred from some work, witnesses told the five-member EEOC panel at a hearing on the issue.

Decades after the passage of the 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act, discrimination ranges from the shop floor to the executive suite, with sexual stereotyping a major factor. It is found in every state, but is more likely to hit women in low-income jobs, they said.

[...]The Pregnancy Discrimination Act forbids discrimination by employers based on pregnancy, including hiring, firing, pay, job assignments and promotions. Under the law, pregnancy is considered a temporarily disabling condition.

Yep, and you thought the so-called “war on women,” was just about birth control?

Two former Fulton County 911 operator trainees plan to sue the Georgia county, claiming they were fired for being pregnant.

One of the women secretly recorded a conversation she said she had with the director of the Emergency Communications Center, during which she asked for her job back after being fired.

Que'ana Morris & Leeneeka Bell said they are going to sue Fulton Co. after they say they were terminated for being pregnant.

In the recording obtained by ABC News, a person identified as department director Angela Barrett repeatedly refers to Que’ana Morris’ “situation” as the reason for her firing.

[...] Morris says in the two months before she was fired, she missed 16 days of work on doctor’s orders over complications with her pregnancy. She says she had permission to miss those days for medical reasons, and that it only became a problem after she was already fired.

I don’t know, but this seems like all types of wrong to me. What’s next, people getting fired for being a certain race? I know, I know, I know: something like that will never happen here in this country; but, this firing pregnant women thing is just ridiculous. But hey, maybe it’s a Georgia thing. According to another recent story, it’s okay for a cop to kick a pregnant women in the stomach.

The post Workplace Discrimination: Black Women Fired For Being Pregnant (VIDEO) appeared first on THE INTERSECTION | MADNESS & REALITY.

Now, clearly to any rationally thinking mind, it is absurd to suggest anything as ridiculous as the aforementioned. But, don’t tell that to South Carolina State Senator Kevin Bryant, who argues that it is the unborn fetus conceived in an act of rape or incestuous relationship who is the real “victim,” and not its would-be-mother, Yes, I know, this is just re-damn-diculous.

This via The Columbia State:

The dispute focuses on the definition of “victim.” Supporters, like Bryant, say the unborn child is a victim who has rights that must be protected.

“We’re focusing on the rights and the liberty of an unborn child, and I can’t understand why the life of a child that’s a victim ought to be terminated,” Bryant said.

So what is an uninsured rape victim supposed to do? Well, she can pay-out-of-pocket for an abortion — something that isn’t likely given her financial status. Or, she can bare the shame and degradation of knowingly carrying and eventually going into labor and delivering the child of her attacker.

At that point, she can then make the decision to keep the child, or give it up for adoption. Now I’m not a woman, but this seems very wrong on so many levels. I could be wrong, but it seems too much like punishing a woman for 1) being a victim of rape, and 2) for being poor. According to the provisio — which is defined as a temporary one-year law — abortions would be paid for with tax payer dollars only in the event that the life of the mother is in danger.

The three exemptions in the state health plan — rape, incest or life of the mother — mirrors the policy of the federal government health plan, commonly referred to as the Hyde Amendment, named for former U.S. Rep. Henry Hyde of Illinois. That federal policy has been in place for more than 30 years.

Since 2006, state taxpayers have paid for 6 abortions. All of them were to save the life of the mother, according to the state Budget and Control Board.

Currently the state’s health insurance plan covers 417,000 individuals – no word on just how many of them are raped annually. However, this is something SC Republicans have been trying to pass for the last two years. Here’s to hoping that they remain unsuccessful this time around. But whether they are or not, it can never be said that women without access to affordable health care were not under attack like they always have by our slightly-more-conservative friends in the Republican party.

[FULL STORY HERE]

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Something tells me they are an overlooked crime syndicate given the strength of their voting block. Yep, pretty soon stupid Republicans will try to go after the Amish vote, by creating another wedge issue (read here). Yeah, something tells me that it won’t be long before one of the four stooges Republican presidential candidates will say that president Obama is trying to force Amish people to drive cars so as to open up a new market for his union buddies up in Detroit, as part of the auto bail out deal.

It’s either that or the GOP will spin this to be yet another one of their victories by saying that he “caved”, as I am sure some of my Liberal buddies believe. A pretty stupid assessment if you ask me, because everyone comes out smelling like roses on this one.

Because of today’s ruling by the White House, the Catholic church wouldn’t be forced into performing abortions as idiots on the right would have you believe. However, the burning question now, is that since the so-called “war on religion” has ended with not as much as one Bible tossed, what will the GOP do now? I’m telling you, their desperation will lead them to Gunther.

The post New GOP Meme: Obama’s “War on Religion” Over With Catholics, But Now Targets Amish appeared first on THE INTERSECTION | MADNESS & REALITY.

This is what’s been happening with this not-so-new but ongoing debate over contraceptives between the Catholic church and the White House. People have been asking me what are my thoughts concerning the debate, and I’ll say to you as I have said to them:  for Republicans, treating contraceptives and abortion as one in the same – clearly, they are not – is politically expedient. I mean think about this: the argument made by Conservatives suggests that president Obama is infringing on the Constitutional right to freedom of religion. Let them tell it, the government is forcing a Catholic run facility to provide coverage that covers contraceptives, that somehow kills a fetus.

Mitt Romney himself said on the campaign trail that the policy forces women to use the Morning After Pill, which he considers to be an abortion pill. Simply put, this is not true; this is the twisting of facts for political expediency. And the funny thing about this, is that Romney himself signed into law the very same measure as governor for Massachusetts infamous “Romneycare”. You know, that now evil health care plan that was the template for today’s Affordable Care Act  otherwise known as Obamacare? Yeah, you know that whole Kenyan style Socialist thingy?

This from Team Obama:

Mitt Romney is attacking new Affordable Care Act guidelines that require most insurance providers to cover contraceptive services, accusing President Obama’s administration of “using Obamacare to impose a secular vision on Americans who believe that they should not have their religious freedom taken away.”

But the facts tell a different story. Just as he criticizes federal health reform based on the law he passed in Massachusetts, Mitt Romney is attacking the President for providing women with the same access to contraception and preventive health care services Romney did as governor. Our new infographic takes a look at how contraception coverage compares under the Affordable Care Act and the Massachusetts law Romney stood behind.

But no, today contraceptives used by women and covered by health insurance companies, are treated like back alley abortion. And all the while, nobody on the right like Romney mentions that this rule already exists in 28 states; or that 98% of Catholic women have used contraceptives at one point in their lives. But no, let them tell it, you’d think that Catholic men will go to hell if they use condoms, and the pill is like smoking crack. Yep, and of course nobody wants the government to force people to smoke crack or be damned to hell. Listen, you can choose to believe the lies of the GOP if you choose if you like. But hey, if you’re interested in understanding just what I’m talking about, Rachel Maddow does an excellent job of breaking it all down in the following video. Yep, do yourself a favor and take a few minutes to understand just what this is all about.

Clearly with nothing else to stand on, the road to the White House run through a uterus.

The post The GOP Road to the White House Runs Through the Uterus, & Obama’s “War On Religion” appeared first on THE INTERSECTION | MADNESS & REALITY.

I wonder if people realize the breakdown of the services that Planned Parenthood actually provide. It seems to me that Planned Parenthood gets such a poor rap from ev’rybody-n-they-mama for abortions and what not but the majority of their services are preventative measures to ensure that women’s (and men’s too!) reproductive health needs are assessed appropriately. Planned Parenthood released a statement addressing their disappointment with the Komen Foundation succumbing to the pressure of the far Right, and the statement also included information about the very positive benefits of the former partnership:

Over the past five years, Planned Parenthood health centers with Komen program funding have provided nearly 170,000 clinical breast exams out of the more than four million clinical breast exams performed nationwide at Planned Parenthood health centers, as well as more than 6,400 mammogram referrals out of 70,000 mammogram referrals. Anti-choice groups in America have repeatedly threatened the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation for partnering with Planned Parenthood to provide these lifesaving cancer screenings.

Planned Parenthood’s quality, accessibility and affordability make it a leader in identifying breast cancer early when there is the best chance of successful treatment. Nationwide, Planned Parenthood doctors and nurses provide nearly 750,000 breast cancer screenings annually, offering risk assessments, breast exams, breast health information and education, and diagnostic and surgical referrals.

Of course the Komen Foundation may get some money or support from some people or groups of people who do not support women’s rights. Breast cancer and women’s rights aren’t necessarily grouped in one, you know; in fact, as stated above, my opinion of Komen and their TaTas et aliae is that the organization has benefited in latent objectification of women cancer patients – even if for a good cause. People often think that because a person or group does good for one group of people, who may be disenfranchised in some way, the person or group cannot participate in acts that are detrimental to the group.

The outrage with the Komen Foundation’s decision to defund Planned Parenthood (who has taken a financial beating from all over the place, beginning with Congress) boils down to inequities in preventative healthcare. Planned Parenthood provides a number of resources to people who are uninsured or under-insured, and with their funds being eliminated daily, many women living in poverty are not able to receive services that are necessary. In 2008, 17% of the organizations resources were devoted to cancer screening and prevention. That may not seem like a large number percentage wise, but if you look at the numbers, you may be able to realize how substantial an effect defunding Planned Parenthood’s ability to provide cancer pre-screenings will affect individual women.

For the record, women are “poorer” than men in all ethnicities; however, Black women, followed Latinas are more likely to be in poverty in the United States. Black women are most likely of all women to die of breast cancer, even though they have a slightly lower incidence rate of breast cancer. Breast cancer is the second most common cause of death among Black women. Even the Circle of Promise website, who is a project of the Komen Foundation specifically geared toward Black women, cites that the higher mortality rate in Black women may be the result of, “differences in access to and utilization of early detection and treatment.” I don’t know the ethnicities or socioeconomic background of the women (and men!) who access Planned Parenthood’s resources; I am going with the assumption that since they do not require that you have insurance, the majority of their patients do not have insurance and, as such, do not have the means for private healthcare. Caving to the pressures of the anti-choice movement wages a war on women’s bodies, poor women, and women of color.

That aside, I think that the Komen Foundation’s dissolution to its long term partnership with Planned Parenthood is foolish on a fundamental level because cancer research and contraceptive healthcare go hand in hand. Even Rick Perry acknowledges the validity in HPV vaccinations where most of the Right dismisses any weight in claims that science may make. (Yes, I know he did it wrong with proposing that the vaccinations be mandatory, but that is not the issue at hand.) The Anti-Choice movement has shoved a wedge between two causes for women (and women’s bodies) and the war is now between us, but we are the only ones suffering.

The Komen Foundation is pissing all over Susan G. Komen’s name and her sister, the CEO, should be ashamed. The organization released a statement this morning backpeddling and saying that the pressures to withdraw its support of Planned Parenthood was not political, as it isn’t a political organization and I call shenanigans. If you care about women, women’s bodies, TaTas or whatever the hell you want to reduce us to, care about all of our rights.

The post Susan G. Komen Foundation: Still Racing for the Cure, Just Not for All Women appeared first on THE INTERSECTION | MADNESS & REALITY.

I can’t imagine myself saying aloud that people of color are not deserving of citizenship and are “illegal”. I would never bring myself to say that inner city kids could dumpster-dive for food during school breaks instead of the government increasing Food Stamps and other benefit programs (so that they can eat!). I cannot imagine myself saying people with same sex/same gender loving attractions are worst than terrorists. So I honestly, genuinely, sincerely wonder what flows through Rick Santorum’s mind when he says things like, ‘well, rape sucks but if God blesses you with a kid, you gotta deal with it because abortion is bad.’ I mean, did anybody seem him on Piers Morgan?

Now, admittedly, I may have caused a bit more of a ruckus than Piers Morgan and argued that point, but whatever. Conception, conshmeption. Maybe I’d have said, ‘Okay, Mr. Santorum, Should rape victims be thankful for the risk of sexually transmitted infections resulting from forced intercourse which, I assume, was unprotected since a child was conceived?’ I expect that he would know not how to respond. Or maybe he would. I can’t imagine where his mind would go from there. I might find myself questioning a bit harder.

Come On, What Am I Supposed To Say?

‘Mr. Santorum, did you know that victims of sexual assaultare 3 times more likely to suffer from depression, 6 times more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, 13 times more likely to abuse alcohol, 26 times more likely to abuse drugs, and 4 times more likely to contemplate suicide?’

I would like a genuine response to his lack of concern about the welfare of victims, but I anticipate, especially given his devote Catholicism, that he’d discuss how killing herself after the rape is also the victim’s fault. I’d probably get angry, but I’d likely want to continue to engage. So I’d say, ‘Mr. Santorum, you realize that post-traumatic stress disorder comes POST trauma, correct? And that because someone else assumed power to violate a victim’s body, they’ve been traumatized to the point that they no longer want to live? That 13% of all rape victims make serious suicide attempts?‘

And when he gets too frustrated or speechless to address me, or simply satisfied with himself that he can call me another angry Black woman, I’m certain that he’ll want to leave the conversation. So, as a final attempt to appeal to his logic, and while I know the argument is equally about abortion as it is about rape/sexual assault and less about race, I’d probably say quietly to him as a checkmate to satisfy myself, ‘OK, sir. How would you feel if your either woman in your life became pregnant as a result of a rape by a Black man?’

I think I could get through to him.

I know that this is not proper thinking. I am not promoting an idea about Black masculinity. What I am saying is that we know how fondly Mr. Santorum is of Black people; we also know that not-a-one of these racist Republicans want their daughters speaking to Black men, let alone willingly engaging in sexual intercourse with any. You think if someone he loved was raped by a Black man he wouldn’t rush them to an abortion provider and pay for it himself? You out your mind.

The post Rick Santorum, Abortion, & the “What If” Rape Question appeared first on THE INTERSECTION | MADNESS & REALITY.

The site is absolutely incredible in the sickest of ways. Indeed, there are youtube videos of folks from all over (grown men included), giving up things that they just love because abortion is just that bad. Fortunately enough, right under ‘abortion’ on the list of things that anti-choicers are passionate about are things like: Coca-Cola, Pepsi, soda, diet-soda, goldfish crackers, cheese-burgers, carbs, french-fries, red-meat, trans fats, ice-cream, and other things that are certain to kill you. And yes, there are plenty of youtube videos. Observe:

For the record, the anti-choicers are throwing as some online have referred to as extended New Year’s resolutions until abortion ends with no regard to true logic. On a fundamental level, the Until Abortion Ends “movement” seems to be a tantrum to end access to resources, but the problem is that the anti-choicers aren’t the ones who need to be protesting. To be frank, the hoops that women have to jump through to receive access to reproductive health resources are ridiculous. Many states don’t offer access to abortion providers in the majority of counties; they also do not provide counseling or other resources for women who want to terminate their pregnancies. Even so, contraception is difficult enough to attain and it is no coincidence that anti-choicers often spend time with the same folks who are down with abstinence-only curricula.
Those pesky anti-choicers (who obviously do not find women intelligent enough to choose what happens to their bodies) are not losing, so why are they pledging their snack-foods away until access to safe and legal abortion ends?

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Sometimes I want to just speak the way I do naturally about the things I feel about passionately!

And I really feel some way about myself and all things related to my vagina. I love my coochie, it does amazing things for me and others. My vagina and others contributes to your life in ways that you have not often considered.

I often wonder why other people aren’t more concerned with her safety and health, at least concerned enough to want what’s right for her and other vagina?

Sometimes there are no need for fancy ass words and comparisons when I see outlandish shit like this recent article on Aljazeera about the statistics surrounding Cervical Cancer and why the women in certain US states are more likely to die if they are unfortunate enough to develop this disease.

But every year 4,000 American women die from the disease, most of them in the South. For instance, a woman in Mississippi is nearly twice as likely to die from cervical cancer as an average American woman.

The issue is not that states like Mississippi are poorer and therefore have less capital available to provide for such services as cancer screenings.

No, that would be the easy answer. That’s the answer a simple person would come up with, A+B=C, however, things are not as simple as some people need them to be in order to understand the bigger picture.

The seemingly obvious answer is that Mississippi is the poorest state in the US, and therefore must have a lot of residents without health insurance. But when Mississippi is compared to a state like California, which has a similar rate of uninsured people, Mississippi’s death rate from cervical cancer remains extraordinary: 75 per cent higher than that in California.

The issue is not with the population and some dysfunctional underestimation of the severity of cervical cancer, rather the debate is about ideology and some babbling bullshit that has nothing to do with the realities of disease and medicine.

Cervical cancer is a hotly-debated political topic in the United States right now – a debate fuelled largely by Republican presidential contenders. The cancer is caused by strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV), which is sexually transmitted. As a result, discourse on cervical cancer centres around whether or not newly available vaccines to prevent the disease encourage promiscuity.

So why does Mississippi have a 75% higher death rate for cervical cancer then a place just as big and just as wide?

I’m sure the people in Mississippi would love to know. Well the answer is quite simple…

Mississippi politicians believe that unborn and not yet conceived babies have a right to life so in order to protect these babies (that have not yet been conceived or born) the state refuses to provide funding to Planned Parenthood through the Title X program because Planned Parenthood supports a women’s right to terminate a pregnancy, among other service they provide to the uninsured community.

Title X DOES NOT provide funds to Planned Parenthood FOR termination of pregnancy but Pro-Life Advi-holes still somehow confuse you into thinking that Planned Parenthood=Abortion. And it doesn’t, but even if it did. So the fuck what?

Title X is a Federal Program that grants money to states which in turn disperse the money to counties in order for them to provide medical services to those that do not have health insurance.

Some states allow Planned Parenthood to provide the majority of health services to the uninsured and funds them sufficiently which enables the facility to charge reasonable fees for treatment costs such as cancer screening.

Planned Parenthood is also clean, efficient, compassionate and easily accessible to the low income and excluded demographic (read: inner city/poor and/or immigrant population). I don’t even need to get into the validity of having respectable, responsible, and clean facilities; many a state agency could take a que from the quality of service of Planned Parenthood.

What makes Mississippi fail is their decision to keep their Title X money within the state offices and burn it up within the Department of Health and Human Services. California grants their money to the private non-profit Planned Parenthood.

Because of this difference in the allocation of funds California cancer patients have a chance at survival; Mississippi cancer patients not so much.

In Mississippi, a woman you love may be allowed to die because her health care is treated like an administrative nuance.

When you live in a state that runs public clinics that are not accessible and where the staff are ignorant of their own practice policies you will catch cancer or any other reproductive disease and you will more than likely die.

You will die because the decision on whether or not you can or cannot have the medicine that will save your life (before or after your life is in jeopardy) is being made by people that disrespect the vagina for stupid reasons that you silently consent to.

You or a woman you love may die of cervical cancer whether she fucked or not.

The argument is that the vaccine may save your life or the life of a woman you love but may also somehow allow you or her to feel free/able/brave/confident (what’s the word I’m looking for?) enough to one day go out and have sex. The vaccine may cause fucking….you can’t have it because you might have sex. I wonder how that works if you are married? Or not religious?

I wonder why more people aren’t concerned by these phantom moral police that jeopardize the survival of the vagina. Religious fear of the potential future fuck of some random woman is not a good enough reason ONE SINGLE WOMAN TO DIE.

On the other hand, Planned Parenthood’s primary focus is women’s health care. In fact, it is the US’ largest provider of women’s healthcare. It provides birth control, emergency contraception, pregnancy testing, sexually-transmitted infection treatment, breast exams and cervical cancer screening. One in five American women use Planned Parenthood at some point during their lifetime.

Planned Parenthood is the sole provider of care and services to nearly 17 million uninsured women in the United States. 

In February 2011, the US House of Representatives successfully passed a bill introduced by Congressman Mike Pence (R-Indiana) to completely eliminate Title X – and offered nothing in its place. Early next year, when the president releases his proposed budget for 2013, the same is expected to happen again – except that this time, in this campaign season of cost-cutting one-upmanship, the Senate might go along and really end the programme.

People have allowed the ideology of the Right to Life advocates to strangle Planned Parenthood’s existence into near extinction and with that the lives of many women will be lost. I hope not to be one of them.

Why this isn’t an issue for you I do not know. Maybe you don’t like pussy or you hate your Mother for shitting you out. I don’t know.

But if so, FUCK YOU then!

I don’t need an audience to scream and I don’t need back up to know when I’m right and shit is wrong. And that shit is wrong.

I’m not the only woman out here with a vagina.

My daughter has one.

Your Mamma has one.

And I’ll bet my last Newport cigarette on the fact that your Grandmother had one too.

So why don’t you find it counter productive that ideology pretends to be Pro-Life for imaginary unborn babies yet they are willing to jeopardize the women that give babies the lives in which they hold so precious?

Riddle me that, Batman?

The post You’re Pro-Life But Not When It Comes to Women?! appeared first on THE INTERSECTION | MADNESS & REALITY.

Close to what, you ask? Close to our melt down. 

California is a unique wok of cultures and races, and if nobody else knows how to throw a “destruction of civilization as we know it” movement, it’s California.

The racial resentment that California residents are exposed to is a special kind of xenophobia involving class-ism, sexism, racism, patriotism, racial pride, cultural identity, and an educational system that is a failed integration experiment.

Fresh immigrants turn up each day to happily take part in an intolerant society expressed as wry disregard spread among all of the different ‘people’ that live there for all of the ‘other’ people that live there.

But not this time.

This time it seems that most people are well aware of what side of the fence they are on.

This time there is a line drawn in the sand, and THIS TIME, it was not drawn with a black and blue marker.

Until Oakland Police Department turned  a peaceful process into a war zone. Scott Olson may or may not recover from having a can of tear gas explode in his face.

The ORIGINAL line in the sand was drawn straight and narrow with a vibrant, evanescent shade of green. The country’s current economic famine is much louder than the normal choir of race baiting politics we all listen to. There is no confusion about what the ORIGINAL #Occupation is all about.

So why is it that Oakland Police Department and Mayor Jean Quan treating the people of Oakland as if they won’t turn a muth fuka out!? Is it any wonder that she found herself a bullhorn and yanked the chain on the police, before someone REALLY gets hurt #RodneyKing

Does Oakland Need to Smack A Bitch?

How convenient that we are all home, unemployed and miserable while we get to watch our country silence our cry of despair.

Police repression is being recorded, reported and broadcast everywhere.

EVERYWHERE, at every moment and yet they still move forward against us. Countries whom we bomb and tsk at the ‘barbaric’ behavior their government are realizing, as are we, that aren’t all as different than we thought. 

The lack of fear or concern shown by the Oakland law enforcement is troubling to say the least. How far is our police force willing to go in order to promote ‘order’ among the very people they are to be in service to protect?

Who is in charge of the men with guns?

The latest action was the most brutal. Hundreds of police officers from 12 agencies, decked out in riot gear, surrounded an encampment in Oakland, California early Tuesday morning. Under the direction of Democratic Party Mayor Jean Quan, the police used tear gas, bean bag guns and a sonic cannon to attack and arrest about one hundred peaceful demonstrators and lay waste to the occupation site.

We have a bird’s eye view of political oppression and it is apparent that our government would like for us all to remain fooled by the guise of our country as a self determined Democracy.

As dogs are unleashed on peaceful protesters do those who criticize the validity of the #OccupyWallStreet movement also co-sign with the hostility shown when citizens exercise their rights to have rights!?

California gets a little different when they are unhappy….and you thought the UK burned……..hold on, kids. I hear a storm’s a-coming.

The post Turn This Mutha Out: Everything According to Plan With Occupy Oakland appeared first on THE INTERSECTION | MADNESS & REALITY.

Well, our friend Mr. Ryan was outed by the online magazine Gawker as having played the part of spy while posing as an #OccupyWallStreet protester. His objective was to gather intelligence and bring down the movement. His moves are documented in detail over on the original article.

Ryan says he’s done contract work for the U.S. Army and he brags on his blog that he leads “a team called Black Cell, a team of the most-highly trained and capable physical, threat and cyber security professionals in the world.”

I find it funny that he used his “highly capable cyber security’ computer hacking skills to break into a public listserv used by the early Occupy Wall Street protesters.

What type of juicy information did Thomas Ryan uncover thanks to his breach of privacy laws? You can read the emails here, here, and here.

There was nothing found on the emails that could be considered incriminating or very scandalous, nevertheless, Ryan forwarded the emails to conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart, in addition to members of the FBI and NYPD .

Breitbart is now trying to use the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ email scandal to undermine the groups intentions.

Reports are unclear of whether Ryan was retained by the police or FBI to run his covert spy operation of Occupy Wall Street or if he’s just one of those law abiding red faced citizens who thinks the nectar is sweeter when it falls from Uncle Sam’s protein engorged governmental sack.

Either way, no one likes a tattle tale, and how does the government make the case that it’s okay for them to spy and intercept our information and privacy to gain control of our movements and intentions but we should be condemned for our use of the same tactics in response to our displeasure at their imposed totalitarian government? #FOH

That’s some bullshit and though Thomas Ryan thought he was gonna gain brownie points towards his seat at the right hand of the devil I think his magic act backfired.

Not only did he out himself through leaked emails (Ah-DUR!) but he didn’t even find anything useful. How does that happen to a ‘highly skilled’ computer spy ninja like himself?

Seems like he got the proverbial pat on the head like every teacher gives that one kid who tries too hard to please the authority figure. Now Thomas Ryan will forever be known as that inferior, low self esteem having kid that wanted to become a police office when he grew up but no matter how hard he tried he could never manage anything better than a plastic badge, a clip board and a flashlight.

Remember to always keep an eyes on them because they’re keeping an eye on you.

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