Our guest columnists plan on making innocuous pests of themselves starting Saturday.

Our Mission

On the 17th of September, we want to see 20,000 people to flood into lower Manhattan, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and occupy Wall Street for a few months. Once there, we shall incessantly repeat one simple demand in a plurality of voices and we will not leave until that demand has been met.

Like our brothers and sisters in Egypt, Greece, Spain, and Iceland, we plan to use the revolutionary Arab Spring tactic of mass occupation to restore democracy in America. We also encourage the use of nonviolence to achieve our ends and maximize the safety of all participants.

Who is Occupy Wall Street?

Occupy Wall Street is leaderless resistance movement with people of many colors, genders and political persuasions. The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8W5xDBxE_0w

YouTube:

michelle obama at 9/11/11 US Flag folding [rolls her eyes]

What did she say about our flag??? What ever it was, he apparently agreed… I’m not the best at reading lips, but I know that facial expression… This happens on a day that everyone else is remembering our lost loved ones. Sad.

Gateway Pundit:

Read into this what you will…
First Lady smirks and shakes her head at 9-11 flag ceremony.
By the way… What did she tell Barack?

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The American Prospect’s Jaime Fuller — yes, we’re that bored with the news — proposes a simple comparison to place the Republican primary race in context:

The reason Obama beat Clinton in 2008 is because independent and moderate voters — the bread and butter of general elections — are mostly irrelevant in primary elections where passionate partisans drive decision-making. Obama looked like the best candidate to liberal Democrats in 2008 — in part because of his long-standing opposition to the Iraq War — and those are the voters who matter most in the primaries for both parties.

In case Jaime Fuller missed the news: Barack Obama also won the 2008 general election.

You know, the one independents and moderates vote in.

Not only that, Obama was leading in electoral-college poll-tracking all summer. The reason anybody even knows about Sarah Palin is that John McCain was desperate after his “Celebrity” ads fell flat. And even then, Palin’s value to his ticket lasted only until a nice lady asked about her reading habits.

So why did Unicorn beat Swampsow that spring?

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If, after watching a Republican debate, you feel a compelling need to get the fuck off the planet, might we suggest Saturn? The rings are lovely when it eclipses the Sun, and in case you have second thoughts, you can still see Earth and remember why it was so important to put 979 million miles between you and the rest of godforsaken humanity.

In the Shadow of Saturn [NASA, via Kottke]

While playing Netflix Stream of Consciousness over the weekend, we landed on the PBS broadcast of the 2006 revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Company. If, like us, you’re totally unfamiliar with it, the premise is simple: all the married friends of a 35-year-old bachelor are badgering him to tie the knot.

The revival staging is very sophisticated — the actors all double as musicians — which befits the intended sophistication of the show itself. But right from the start, there is, for us at least, a curious disconnect:

What’s so unusual about a 35-year-old bachelor?

We suspect this was not a question anybody asked in 1970, when Company debuted. That same year would see the premiere of another culturally groundbreaking sophisticated comedy, featuring a career-minded 30-year-old woman who was neither married, a widow, nor even in a steady relationship, with a spunky habit of tossing her hat in a busy Minneapolis intersection. Times were changing.

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• That Red Cross solar/crank radio we just bought last week? It works!
• 1.4 million customers offline is a good excuse for missing a deadline.
• Contrary to reputation, zombies are pussies.

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Yes, It’s True: Ben & Jerry’s Introduces ‘Schweddy Balls’ Ice Cream Flavor [NPR, via LuxMentis]