OccupIowa: 5 Are Arrested Outside Ron Paul’s Office
EmailRon Paul has been officially occupied. A handful of Occupy Des Moines members blocked the entrance to Paul’s campaign headquarters in Ankeny, Iowa, on Thursday, demanding that the front-runner in the GOP primary race retract his pledge to cut the EPA if he’s elected president.
The police arrested five of the Occupy protesters, charging them with trespassing, according to Danielle Ryun, a member of the group.
Ryun said the protesters had planned to blockade Paul’s office until he formally rescinded his often repeated vow to dismantle the EPA. “I feel like we were effective as long as we were getting the message out to voters,” she said.
Occupy Des Moines doesn’t have formal plans to restart the blockade, Ryun said after the protesters were arrested in the morning.
The Occupy movement has targeted the campaign trail in Iowa in the days leading up to the state’s caucus on Jan. 3. On Tuesday, members held a “people’s caucus” to plan the disruption of the presidential campaigns. Recently, protesters ambushed Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney at campaign stops in the state, and they chanted at Michele Bachmann too.
Later on Thursday, Occupy Des Moines protesters headed to the Iowa Democratic Party office to demand that President Obama stop taking campaign donations from Wall Street, among other requests.
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OK this is ridiculous. Ron Paul DOESN’T even plan to abolish the EPA. Five agencies, not that one. That was part of a spoof ad Conan OBrien did. Shows where these particular Occupiers get their news…
Posted by: JH | December 29, 2011, 12:35 pm 12:35 pm
Apparently these occupiers do not realize that every state has it’s own EPA.
That every state has the right to mandate it’s own policy, to even make it stricter than
what the federal policy calls for. All Paul is trying to do,is turn rights back over to the states and let them deal with, how to regulate environmental practices in their own
state and slash federal spending in doing so.
Posted by: deadwrestler | December 29, 2011, 12:45 pm 12:45 pm
Ironic that these people don’t even remember that Paul supported the OCW group and his followers participated on the OCW march on the Federal Reserve.
Posted by: SeaElk | December 29, 2011, 1:04 pm 1:04 pm
Well I hope they have plenty of time to educate them selfs on what they are protesting. Im guessing these are bachmann supporters since she never has her information straight either.
Posted by: jake | December 29, 2011, 1:19 pm 1:19 pm
The Occupy protesters are such children…they have no clue how our Government works or how to bring about change…let’s all pat them on the head like good little children and send them on their way…
Posted by: RalphF | December 29, 2011, 1:24 pm 1:24 pm
Ok how much did the Media execs pay them to do this?
Posted by: Mr. Ed Bean | December 29, 2011, 1:33 pm 1:33 pm
OK this is ridiculous. Ron Paul DOESN’T even plan to abolish the EPA. Five agencies, not that one. That was part of a spoof ad Conan O’Brien did. Shows where these particular Occupiers get their news… Posted by: JH | December 29, 2011, 12:35 pm
I can’t speak for them, but I got THIS from Ron Paul’s official website, under his “Energy” section: “Eliminate the ineffective EPA. Polluters should answer directly to property owners in court for the damages they create – not to Washington.”
My guess is, he is hugely popular with the product liability lawyer lobby.
Posted by: A Cynic | December 29, 2011, 1:54 pm 1:54 pm
All Paul is trying to do, is turn rights back over to the states and let them deal with how to regulate environmental practices in their own state and slash federal spending in doing so.
Posted by: deadwrestler | December 29, 2011, 12:45 pm.
Not according to his website. There, he wants to eliminate the EPA and let individual property owners sue polluters for damages. No mention of ‘states rights’. As I said earlier, lawyers gotta love this guy. Think about that stance for a moment. Big multi-million dollar corporation destroys your small farms water supply. Paul’s solution is for you, a small farmer, to sue the giant corporation for damages. See anything potentially wrong with that scenario?
Posted by: A Cynic | December 29, 2011, 2:02 pm 2:02 pm
What we can’t lose sight of is the fact that each passing second puts us closer to the end of the our collective, national Obama nightmare. Ron Paul is a loon, but Obama has proven that his policies and radical view of “remaking” the U.S. aren’t right for any thinking person who calls him/herself an American. Europe is where Obama belongs.
Posted by: s | December 29, 2011, 2:20 pm 2:20 pm
In a few weeks, the inevitable pathetic drama for raising another national debt ceiling will be sure to wake up more and more truly decent Americans who care deeply about the future of their children and grand children. Then the virtue of Dr. Paul’ s unyielding cry to cure the American addictions to debts and wars will become even more appealing.
Posted by: phonychanges | December 29, 2011, 2:23 pm 2:23 pm
I just heard Dr. Paul make the statement “The marketplace will take care of consumers” on a CSPAN/WHO radio talk show today. Has he not seen the result of that in the financial industry over the past decade? Some of his positions are reasonable, but he goes to the extreme. There are some businesses that will sacrifice profits for the common good of the people or our planet, but many won’t, and that’s where the federal EPA comes in. I look at state-based approaches to this as too corruptible for economic gain over their neighboring states. A federal EPA is essential to get some consistency in critical regulation involving environmental health.
Posted by: edwidder | December 29, 2011, 2:41 pm 2:41 pm
@Edwidder, I agree we need some regulation, but businesses that do bad will fail like they’re supposed to in a freer economy.
In a crony economy, the government bails out the bad businesses so that they can continue being bad. Don’t you see how this is bad for consumers? You could choose not to frequent a bank, but instead of that bank going under, the government bails them out with your money anyway. They get your money whether they earned it or not.
At least make businesses earn your money. I think Paul could be better for the environment, but your voting for President, not King.
In my opinion Paul would make a great change of pace President that would at least have an impact on ending some wars and getting us to focus on the serious issues and force Congress to act in our best interests.
Posted by: Independent Thought | December 29, 2011, 3:15 pm 3:15 pm
@Edwidder, I agree we need some regulation……..
Posted by: Independent Thought | December 29, 2011, 3:15 pm.
Then you are in disagreement with Ron Paul.
Posted by: A Cynic | December 29, 2011, 4:17 pm 4:17 pm
@edwidder
But it is through government that corporations get all their power and control over the people.
Also, consider property rights. I’m not allowed to throw my trash or pollute your yard/environment. Why should corporations be allowed to? On via regulations are they allowed too, you otherwise have the right to sue and make them stop and pay for any damages.
True capitalism separates business from government. We do not have capitalism, we have corporatism. Where businesses and government are intertwined. We wish to remove the regulations and all the power of DC in order to sever the ties between corporations and government.
Posted by: smokey2222 | December 30, 2011, 1:31 am 1:31 am
We wish to remove the regulations and all the power of DC in order to sever the ties between corporations and government. Posted by: smokey2222 | December 30, 2011, 1:31 am.
And effectively give those corporations all the power. Brilliant. So if a billion dollar corporation makes a shoddy product that kills your child, you get the right to try and sue them for money. And the ‘free market’, presumably after a few more deaths, will take care of that corporation by forcing them out of business. Thereby eliminating the lawsuits generated by their malfeasance. You believe that system is better than having safety regulations and requirements that corporations must adhere to, in order to prevent those deaths in the first place. No thanks. You don’t trust government, but you trust corporate greed?
Posted by: A Cynic | December 30, 2011, 10:21 am 10:21 am