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Pat Sullivan / AP file
Protestors in Houston on Oct. 6 rally in support of the Occupy Wall Street movement demanding an end to corruption in politics and business.
Across the country, Occupy protesters have sparked a variety of official responses. Some have faced police in riot gear with pepper spray, while others have been nudged out by authorities for “health and safety concerns.” In Houston, where the protesters and the police had been relatively genteel, the authorities now are pursuing highly aggressive legal cases against a group of activists.
The cases involve seven people arrested while blocking the road to the Port of Houston on Monday on the felony charge of using or possessing a “criminal instrument” — referring to PVC pipe that the activists use to link themselves together to make arrest more difficult.
Even though a Houston district court judge dismissed the cases on Wednesday, saying the prosecutors had not shown probable cause for the felony arrest, the district attorney attorney’s office said Thursday that it would seek an indictment by a grand jury.
“Highly unusual,” is how it was characterized by Sandra Guerra Thompson, a criminal law professor at the University of Houston Law Center. “What we’re talking about is civil disobedience. We have a long history in this country of people committing crimes to bring attention to social issues… At the same time, the government has in the past arrested people when they needed to maintain order… Generally in this type of passive resistance, you’re not going to see felony charges.”
Randall Kallinen, an attorney representing one of the defendants as a member of the National Lawyers Guild, said he does not believe the protesters use of the PVC — as what they call a “sleeping dragon” or “arm tube”— meets the standard as a “criminal instrument”— a felony that carries a jail term from six months to two years.
“Criminal instruments have to be primarily designed and adapted for a crime,” Kallinen said, “not just something used in a crime.” He says the charge is used to arrest people who are planning to commit a crime, not after they have committed one.
But he says that the outcome of a grand jury, in which all proceedings are kept secret — depends largely on how the district attorney presents the case to the judges.
“There’s a saying,” says Kallinen. “In Texas, you can indict a ham sandwich.”
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office did not respond to inquiries about the arrests and charges by the time of publication.
However, Assistant District Attorney Colleen Barnett told the Houston Chronicle on Wednesday that the felony charges were appropriate.
"In the manner of its use, I believe it was a criminal instrument," Barnett told the Chronicle. "The use of it was in blocking the roadway."
Some observers say the grand jury hearing, scheduled for Tuesday, may be more related to politics or economic concerns than to the threat from PVC-wielding protesters.
She notes that the Houston protesters — unlike their counterparts in other cities — have not been forced to leave a park where they are camped, and in fact were largely ignored until they blocked the port.
“I would say that it’s an election year coming up in 2012, so there may be some politics involved,” said the University of Houston’s Guerra Thompson. “But also Houston is a city where people value work and commerce, so the interference with business is something that is going to be taken very, very seriously.”
But the whole thing strikes civil rights lawyer Michael Ratner as simply another flavor of the crackdown against Occupy protests going on around the country.
“We’ve seen numerous police tactics that are more exaggerated than they should be — whether it's 700 people getting arrested on a bridge in New York or pepper spray of UC Davis protesters or charging people excessively for criminal conduct,” says Ratner, a member of the National Lawyers Guild who is tracking cases related to the movement around the country.
“A neutral judge dismissed this case. That should have been the dead end of it,” he said. “The message it sends to people who are going to engaged in protest is that you will be punished severely.”
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Occupiers in Houston, and everywhere else, are just totally misguided morons that need to be shipped to work camps where they can get rid of their accumulated steam from sitting around doing nothing.
No, there is no message from these clowns but, we don't like society as it is. Too bad loser, get with it and make something instead of expecting everything from those that work for it.
It will be cold soon enough...I would know
I've been there. My message was 'banks got bailed out, we got sold out.' A lot of other people were saying that too.
HUM? NO! What would be nice is that when i buy something that it would be free of poison and Poop. But everyone is so busy working hard to earn money that everything else has fallen to the way side. I am not anti-making money. I just take issue with money being such a driving force that we now eat food that is filled with poop and such. and that is happening because making a profit is more important then giving me people the product they are buying. And That KIND of greed needs to stop. minimum wage was meant to share the wealth of the bosses with the workers. NOT make costumers pay more and get less, and have the quality of raw materials become worthless dangerous trash.
you don't know what you talking about, these people frustrated over where country is going, but of coarse unless it is t bagger rally nobody else have right to protest
its going to poop because of greed
alan_static
I just love your slogan; but don't forget it's not over until Michelle Obumba sings.
Texas always has to do it bigger and better than anyone else. The protestors are lucky they aren't seeking a charge with the death penalty. Texas would fry you for a pot seed if they could.
This is just another good reason to give Texas back to Mexico. Such a worthless place.
Mr. your full of it.
Did you break your keyboard, as you pounded that out with your iron fist?
The only people that haven't heard the message are the ones that put their hands over their ears and say, "na na na". Some people simply have a pre-disposition on subjects, and don't pay any attention to the information in from of them.
Occupy protesters…….No previous generation had access to things this generation has had. Yet, they are not happy. When I was “young” I worked sometimes 2 jobs, so I could stand on my own feet. I did not expect handouts or sympathy to get by. Today things are different; there is no respect or discipline to make things happen. Everyone expects to have everything at their finger tips without the need to exert any effort or sacrifice. Overall I feel let down by our failure to prepare our youth for the future as the world can be a harsh place for the ill prepared and gullible.
Christine: check your grammar before trying to cry foul on someone. No worries Houston Da. We will just come in in higher numbers in full force if you want a fight then we will put up one.
Occupy protesters.....No previous generation has had the level of government corruption that exists in the US today. Yet some are complacent with the unraveling of our society, either through ignorance or arrogance. Corporations and politicians should not expect hand-outs or buyouts as has become so common in this day and age. Overall I feel let down by our failure to prepare our society for the future, as this downward spiral isn't going to last much longer. Everyone including individuals, corporations and politicians should have to earn everything they receive.
I don't know how old you are, but today you can work two jobs and still not afford to stand on your own two feet.
Don't believe it try it and see.
Why don't you send that to Exxon There only making a Billion dollars a week, and getting a big fat handout. Or were you not aware of the four billion dollars a year, that tax payers give to oil company's.
The way I see it loan me a billion dollars like they did the banks, I'll start a oil company. Then I'll use my share of that four billion dollars a year to pay back my loan.
gdvegas
First in line to grab a first post eh? What motivation! What fortitude!
At least they have more courage, self respect, and honor than you would ever lie about having. You may not agree with their tactics, but their complaints are valid. If it weren't for your obvious servitude to your lords and masters being they are the Repuke Party, which chastises the OWD movement most vehemently, you might see the light in a better wisdom. But being possibly mentally challenged doesn't allow you the ability or capability to see that all they need is a bit more direction, someone to help lead their purpose and cause. We all know they have valid complaints, and at least they got the balls to go protest it rather than sit on their lazy asses and complain from their computer chairs about how screwed up the country is. What have you done lately to effect any change, other than pride yourself in detrimental criticism towards anything that makes you nads tickle complaining about.
Complainers like you won't move a muscle nor lift a finger to advocate for any form of reform, ask or demand for any type of productive change. Best grab yourself a good baggie and a box of kotex bud, its gonna be a long haul.
I would most likely win any bet that you have never once in your life written your congress, senate or representative to advocate for anything. Most of the time, mental masturbation fits the need required for self righteous self appointed thrones of self proclaimed wisdom.
He is just another cold hearted baby boomer who hates the generations following him so much that he would send his own children to die in a camp if it would bring him bigger Social Security or Pension checks. It is people like him who voted to destroy this once great nation; to transform what was once the "Land of the Free" into the worlds "Prison Nation". It is people like this who took what was once a very wealthy nation back in 1971 and turned it into a mess with a bankrupt Social Security, a bankrupt Medicare, bankrupt Pension systems and a $15 trillion dollar debt.
It is boomers like gdvegas who destroyed the world for their own selfish gains.
Your paint brush sweeps wide doesn't it? I am a boomer who wants my daughter and grandchildren to not have to carry a huge National debt because our political system is broken and corrupt. However, I would like to see these protesters come up with a clearly defined goal and solution to what they perceive makes their grievances so special from the rest of the Nation. I have very little sympathy for an individual who is still living with mom and dad while they peruse a Masters in Carnival glass and then expect a job that pays them what mom and dad worked 30 years to get. I am tired of the give me attitude. I am tired of these protestors who would not consider giving a few years of their lives to serve the Nation in the Armed forces. I can not respect a group who thinks it's OK to have a ginormous temper tantrum at the expense of others. Blocking the side walks into peoples SMALL businesses, you know the mom and pop cafes and stores, the people you claim to represent. The same mob that would not let a woman out of the convention center in her wheel chair with her service dog.
Can I get Fascism for $500 Alex?
Pretty sure the Germans called them "work camps" too.
Perhaps your work camps here could also have the highest quality shower and incineration facilities as well. Or are you more of a shoot them & put them in a mass grave kind of guy?
Will you be interring just the Poors or are there any minority groups you'd like to include?
U.S.A. - Land of the Bigot
find out the DA's name and address and give him Hell for the remainder of his days on this planet!!!!!
Peel...what? Give him Hell for doing his job. The stupid suspects were already trying to prevent a large workforce from doing their job and holding bludgeoning tools to reinforce their own sense of entitlement over property that is not theirs ....are you just a big fan of the non-working?
Comment # 1 restored for clarity.
Nice to see those kids out doors , having such a good time.....
Another tool of Corporate America. The DA should be tarred, feathered and flogged in public with that PVC. A waste of resources, in an already clogged court system, and an overzealous prosecution. Get a life DA and prosecute the real criminals. The GJ should toss the felonies.
your the one that should get a life,or better yet, a job
Its is a shame that in this nation if you ask for change, dogs are put on you, only to later have things work out for you. OR not. But never the less women, blacks and others all have had to fight to get treated fairly. Guess its too much to ask the things be done right with out a fight. so occupy on!
It is not about this specific case that freaks me out. It is since WTO in 1999, the police have been cracking down on civil liberties in General, this really speeded up after 9/11. Are some lazy fools, yea I would not doubt that, but NOT EVERYONE IS!!!!!
Opief: I have a job, work hard and do well, maybe you should go to GITMO.
he's probably planing on running for some office next election. That's probably what his well heeled friends are expecting of him.wealth breeds arrogance's and arrogance's breeds ignorance
This is no worse than any case involving marijuana offenses.
Time to send them to gitmo where the belong!!!
Ahh prison, the perfect place for protestors :[
Little scared are we?
Any person against government corruption should get a job, take a shower and quit asking for a hand-out.
Where do you stand?
No hand-outs. Great Idea. Lets start with foreign aid, move on to oil subsidies, the Fed, fractional lending, and congress insider trading.
That's a pretty good start I think.
Yes, now what do we do about it? Post on newsvine, maybe vote another shill into congress? Don't think about protesting, or you'll have to get a job and take a shower.
We're talking Texas here folks. A Texas Prosecutor, Grand Jury, and/or court, can, and often have, done as they damn well please to whomever they please, regardless of legality. When challenged, they often cite Biblical scripture as justification. The people of Texas would do well to muster the courage and will to change this pitiable legal charade.
POLICE STATE!!!!!
jason9430
REVOLUTION !!!!
All these laws prevent freedom of speech and expression
So what about the freedom of "port workers" to do their job freely without out interference? What about the freedom of "commerce" allowing goods to flow into stores and businesses? What about freedom of individuals to have access to those imported goods?
Why would anyone have a perceived right to interfere so boldly with others?
Keeping in mind that Houston is one of the few large cities around the country where Occupy protesters have been afforded open access to their right to peaceful assembly?
Holding bludgeoning tools to prevent commerce crosses the line of "peaceful.
Jason, You must be right. We should'nt have any laws.
its sad that our GOVT is so ready to hurt us and refuses to go after Wall Street.
Occupy Houston all day all week!
America is ranked 19 out of 25 "Full Democracies." I see why because of the laws that exist that create the POLICE STATE. Norway, Denmark, and Iceland are the top three "Full Democracies." Here is the link to the info:
How ironic that this report came out today with what is brewing in Houston.
Scandanavia appears to be the new "Promise Land," the land of freedom.
TRUE DAT, the only problem is they use the Euro, which is more burnt than the Dollar believe it or not.
Have you ever left your mom's basement ?
I have traveled to alot of countries even Countries that 2 qtr college " know it all " progressives praise as Liberal Utopias and there is no other country that has more freedoms from gov control of individual life than the United States.
Do a Google search for POLICE BRUTALITY, TASER and PEPPER SPRAY and then tell me this is the freest country you have ever been to. How can the USA have so much freedom when it has the highest incarceration rate in the world?
How can the USA be among the freest nations on earth when the TSA is forcing 80 year old women to take off their Depends undergarments during enhanced searches?
Is Europe really that bad?
JEM, I've been to over 30 nations during my career in the US Navy and yes, this is the land of the free.
It would SHOCK Americans to know that most other nations require licenses for television sets. The UK is such a nation. If you even tried suggesting that in the USA, you'd be called every name in the book and then some which haven't been invented yet.
It would SHOCK Americans to know that most Europeans pay easily DOUBLE what we do for gasoline, and it's not because the gas is more expensive, it's because the taxes are so extremely oppressive. We Americans know oppression can be found in taxation. We had a Tea Party over the matter.
I can tell you why the incarceration rate in the USA is so much higher, but you won't like the reason.
The USA is wealthy enough to raise brats for kids in broken homes. That's why we've got a generation of criminals, dopers, hippies and other ne'erdowells. The welfare State supports broken homes which turn out broken kids.
Rights do not come without responsibilities. You have freedom of speech, but you do not have freedom to duck responsibility for what you say. You have freedom of religion, but you do not have freedom to force religion upon others even if your religion requires it. You have freedom of association, but if you pick your friends badly and wind up in a gang then you go to jail with them.
The reason for such incarceration is because kids raised wrong in broken homes mistake "rights" to mean "zero consequences" and that's simply not the case.
Yes, you have the right to carry a gun. If you brandish it or threaten a human life with it, then you get your gun confiscated and your ass goes to jail. Not because you didn't have the right, but because there are consequences for irresponsible behaviors.
There's a misunderstanding and a miscommunication about what rights actually are. Rights cannot require actions of others. Your right to free speech cannot compel others to listen to you. Your right to religion cannot compel others to go to your church. Your right to assembly cannot compel others to join you.
It's the people who mistake rights for a carte blanche who wind up in jail. They're idiots.
JEM, One reason we have such a high incarceration rate, is people like the OWS dopes. They think because they "want" something, they have the right to take it. Not so, as they're finally finding out.
The more they try to silence the American people, the worse history is going to judge them.
This DA is a "criminal instrument"
There is NO democracy in this country. Plenty of pinheads, and lots of $$$$$, but no democracy.
Actually, this IS democracy. Freedom is found in REPUBLICS; not DEMOCRACIES. That is why the word democracy is not in our constitution but republic is. This is why our founding fathers were suspicious of democracies and preferred republics.
Do you really think George Bush would support making Iraq into a Democracy if it meant Freedom?
A republic is a form of democracy, JEM, so it is perfectly correct to call the United States either. A republic is just as able to deny its citizens freedom as any other. The title you were looking for is Liberal Democracy, wherein democracy exists within the limits of protecting liberty, and this can take the form of any of the subsets of democracy.
Democracies have a tendancy to become mobocracies usually following some charlatan who promises them more of someone elses wealth and usually from some selected minority population group which their leader has chosen demonize.
- Winston Churchill
- First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The War-on-Drugs is unconstitutional. That is why the prohibition of alcohol required an amendment.
The US constitution does not mean much any more.
opief: I'll wipe my ass with the income you make at your job....next?
Like, couldn't have said something like that better myself. I am not rich, but I do alright.
I like things like civil liberties. I don't know. WTO in 1999 needed to happen, but the US people did not listen, and now look at us. This is truly scary indeed.
Using a device to make arrest more difficult is a crime. It's always been a crime to resist arrest. This is nothing new under the Sun. It makes no difference if the crime used to facilitate the resistance of arrest is a pipe or a club or a gun. Nobody is allowed to resist arrest and if they do then they get the book thrown at them, which is simply what has happened here.
What did these boneheaded jerks think was going to happen when they ticked off the cops? Did they think they had the right to annoy the police and make their jobs more difficult?
Nobody has the right to annoy anyone else. Whenever somebody gets annoying then they should be arrested for disturbing the peace. All OWS claims to rights end immediately if anyone is getting inconvenienced by their demonstration.
...and when blacks was beat by cop for fighting for civil rights they should have stopped! how dare the blacks demand rights?
The law is an absolute and must always be obeyed to the letter. No excuse is valid. If people want rights then they can file a lawsuit in court like civilized people, instead of taking the law in their own hands like a bunch of disgusting vigilantes.
Hugh, I know who does slaughtering. It's the communist wealth redistributors who kill by the millions, which is exactly where the OWS movement is headed. These murderous maniacs will define "the rich" as anyone who has a dime more than they do. That's how communists roll.
When the ultraviolent and murderous OWS movement holds up signs that say "EAT THE RICH" they are not kidding. They are carnivores and they will not hesitate for one second to commit acts of cannibalism and every other human atrocity ever conceived. THEY ARE COMMUNISTS.
My one hope for survival against these evil murdering pack animal communists is to stand shoulder to shoulder with the rich and have them buy me enough firepower to achieve victory for them and with them so that the communists don't kill me.
The rich will only take my money. The OWSers will surely take my life and the lives of millions of others in their "revolution".
I will never side with a communist or a vigilante. The OWSers are both and worse.
I guess you will be moving out of American, since that is not how we came to be. When can we expect you to depart?

This is a nation of laws. The US Constitution is a law. The people who break laws are the ones who depart. The bastards get dragged off to the gallows where they belong. There is nobody more hated and reviled than lawbreakers in the USA. Outlaws and brigands are immoral creatures unfit for living in a decent society. They are no better than animals.
What do we do when the government breaks the law? All gun control laws violate the second amendment and drug laws violate the ninth and tenth amendments.

You're completely wrong, gun control laws do not violate the second amendment (the Amendment justifies this by the use of the words "regulated" and the purpose of "security") and the 9th and 10th Amendments do not apply to drugs because the Commerce clause specifically grants the Congress the authority to regulate all trade in all things.
However, since you asked what to do, you are to do exactly what the law provides for. Take it to court. That's what civilized people do. You file a lawsuit, you get a lawyer, and you prove your case before a Judge. You don't trample parks and live like a bunch of cavemen.
If OWS thinks they have a case (they don't, they're too stoned to even know what their case is) then they should be taking Wall Street to court instead of annoying people to the point that they're led off in zip-tie cuffs to the cheers of millions of people who love seeing dopers and hippies get their asses beat by the cops.
America encourages citizens from Russia, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Cuba, Libya, Egypt, Syria... to take to the streets and protest. Not only protest but to overthrow their governments. Do you think those citizens apply for a permit first? Yet peaceful Americans who take the street are shot, maced, clubbed, jailed and fined. The Corporate (Wall Street) Media doesn't point out this hypocrisy.
no hugh - american LIBERALS are the biggest hypocrites in the world
Liberals and Conservatives are both just as bad. Both support limitless expansion of government power so long as they feel the power is an agent to their goals. Both are against liberty and freedom.
McCain would have been every bit as bad as Obama for mostly the same reasons.
#OccupyWallStreet 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%. This #ows movement empowers real people to create real change from the bottom up. We want to see a general assembly in every backyard, on every street corner because we don't need Wall Street and we don't need politicians to build a better society. Join Us ! http://occupywallst.org/
I am not in the 1%. I'm not sure if I'm even in the upper 10%. But these tresspassing vagrants will never represent me.
It would not surprise me if Obama's DOJ agrees to defend the occupy protesters.
Not about commies or fascists or capitalists anymore - outright criminal profiteering that there is no national will or legislative power to address. Similar to no country being as powerful as a corporate state's ability to transgress its environmental polluting - Hence BP bonuses for oil spills. Water that burns.
As Adam Smith said, Capitalism requires that buyers have transparent information, and that laborers have real choices and freedom from coercion. What today's Republicans call Capitalism is really feudalism and fascism. What they are peddling is not only unsound, but dangerous and insidious.
It is Oligarchism, Randal from NC.
obama should invite them to the WH and keep them there until he leaves in January 2013. that would temporarily decrease their number running loose on the streets.
You invite those hippie punks to crash at your pad and it will be years before you get those parasitic vermin to leave. Obama would probably do it as a prank on his successor in the White House.
If their own mothers can't get these worthless OWSers out of the basement, then the White House wouldn't have any better luck getting rid of the pothead slacker unemployable bums.
This is par for the course. A DA in a heavily Republican state is using his official power to prosecute Liberal political activists for a Felony so that they cannot vote or get a job. He is also trying to bully other people into keeping their mouths shut about the abuse happening around them every day.
1. This is Texas. Liberals don't win in Texas; their vote was pointless to begin with.
2. They probably wouldn't want a job anyways.
The story appears to prove that law enforcement and the justice system are more interested in protecting international money laundering by the Insurance Industry, fraudulent banking systems, and manipulation of the commodity markets and financial markets, than they are in rectifying the economic ills these criminals perpetuated upon America and its citizens.
OWS should go home. Restructure, concentrate on fraud, and organize a formidable voter base. A reasonable online edifice, with a few proven demands can raise hundreds of millions and create a solid block of voters that could easily number 10 to 30 million. Leave the parks. Get to work. Don't just stand there, do something.
barry, OWS should do what it thinks best, and the same goes for you. I trust, or at least hope, you are doing something. If not, then you have nothing to suggest or offer.
@Optimist-#24.1: OWS is disorganized. They are susceptible to infiltration from contrary interests. They are at the mercy of a bought and paid for predominant conservative media.
What I have suggested is already in the works. The social media will become an awesome force to be reckoned with. The upper echelon of the OWS are already working on voting blocks. You will see. They are aware of the power The Citizens United Decision will bring to bear. The opposition is formidable, but is not invincible.
Sam Houston would be turning in his grave to see what the niggs are doing in his name..
Teabagging foxtard, aren't ya?
Any person against government corruption should get a job, take a shower and quit asking for a hand-out. Newstart 2012
Really? You're pro-government corruption? This has got to be a joke, nobody can be this clueless.