What, if anything, has the Occupy movement accomplished?

Eric Ringham September 18, 2012, 5:00 AM Sep 18, 2012

The Occupy movement is a year old this week. Today’s Question: What, if anything, has the Occupy movement accomplished?

About the blogger

Eric Ringham

eringham@mpr.org

Clark

Nothing. Losers who demand even more from a country with 16 trillion in debt. Obama and the other clueless democrats will win by only promising more benefits to the moocher class. Sorry moochers, there are not enough rich people to pay for all your demands.

I am encouraged by the fact that most Americans realized the occupy movement were nothing but losers with no understanding of our economy.

Cheers the the 1%
Gary F

Accomplishments? Besides being clueless Marxists, I’m not sure what their goal was.
Rich

A conversation about corporate governance.

Modern corporate hierarchies were created post-WWII by the likes of GM and IBM to handle 2 problems:

1. Thousands of employees and thousands of customers and suppliers created a difficult information management problem which was solved by creating a hierarchy of middle managers who moved information up and down the pyramid so that well-informed decisions could be made.

2. Diffuse ownership of joint stock corporations meant that the owner could not be the boss. A board was created to represent the diffuse ownership, and the CEO was hired to execute policies under the boards guidance.

Problem 1 has disappeared. With modern information systems, all of the information to deal with a customer and produce the products and services they desire can be gathered by the small group of employees with direct contact to the customer and direct supervision of production. The rationale for middle managers has disappeared, except to provide coaching and guidance. Decisions are now best made at the lowest level possible in the organization.

Problem 2 persists, but the solution has completely failed to solve the problem. Because of the power put in the hands of the CEO (unnecessarily because Problem 1 has disappeared), the CEO generally picks the board and operates in his own interests, rather than those of the collective ownership. To justify his inflated salary, he retains decision-making power in the hierarchy instead of delegating decision-making, as well as incentives, to as low a level as possible.

A modern corporation set up with today’s information tools in mind would have small teams (50 or less), led by dynamic leaders with incentive laden contracts, supervised by experienced, sober managers who hire and fire, coach, guide, manage the capital, and guard the interests of the shareholder. Those managers should be paid strictly salary, and they need not be paid extravagantly, including the CEO.

And that is why CEOs are overpaid. Because the corporate structures which created them and their over-sized pay packets solve a problem which has disappeared (information), and utterly fail to solve the problems of corporate governance.
Tom

The occupy demonstrations provided a glimpse into the lives of non-producing feral youth.
JasonB

That their spirit and intentions are sound, but their message is misdirected. Wall Street will not change voluntarily regardless of attempts to coerce them. The real audience should be the law makers who allow corporations to operate the way they do.

My understanding is that corporations will do what satisfies their shareholders. If the shareholders were to vote their dissatisfaction by selling stock or voting out board members then you’d see change. But most average 99%’ers who have stock through a 401K or IRA don’t even know what companies they are invested in. They probably also wouldn’t care too much if their stock kept going up.

As long as things are going relatively OK (i.e. you kept your job and didn’t get saddled with an unsustainable mortgage) then the average person will take a ‘don’t rock the boat’ attitude and just keep schlepping along.
Steve the Cynic

They raised awareness of the growing wealth divide, parasitic banking practices, and predatory corporations. More important is what they didn’t accomplish. In contrast with the Tea Party, they didn’t elect any intransigent, non-compromising ideologues to Congress, and they didn’t play chicken with the economy by threatening to shut down the government or to force the US to default on its debts for the first time in history if they didn’t get their way.
James

The got “the 99%’ers” into the lexicon.

And they provided a glimpse of the social unrest we will be dealing with unless we get some of this stuff sorted out.

20-somethings looking forward to a lifetime of lousy jobs, student debt repayement, high food and gas costs, unaffordable health care and little or no American dream will continue to gather and make things uncomfortable for the leadership class that is content and happy to believe that the good life is only a couple more tax cuts away.
BJ

Who? oh wait wasn’t that an NBC reality show. I didn’t watch that.
Jim G

The Occupy movement has helped many in the middle class realize that for the last three decades their incomes have stagnated, while the incomes of the top 1% have soared. The growth of wealth and income of this top 1% has grown to heights unseen since 1928. This income disparity has only continued to grow in a jobs starved recovery. The message to the middle class is clear: Do you want to survive? Save yourselves… Don’t expect a billionaire to save the middle class. The average income voter needs to vote for candidates who come from, understand, and promote policies which will stop the 1% from taking more and more of the economic pie and start to rebuild the institutions which support the growth of the middle class again.
Keith

A number of interesting parallels…

To the Tea Party, a group of disenchanted people who see the system as not working and organize to call attention to it. In the case of the Tea Party, it was tax policy that got them going. In the case of Occupy, it was the out-of-control Wall Street and banking practices that have fleeced the American public and the government. People can wrap their heads around taxes, but banking practices – credit default swaps and the like – will make people’s heads explode. The American public, for the most part, didn’t get it, so didn’t pay too much attention to it. Thus, the movement’s goal fell on somewhat deaf ears, as (I think) most of the public misconstrued their beef as being about getting free stuff and whining about being poor and not about possible criminal acts (or at least highly unethical acts) by the financial industry that went ignored and unpunished.

And there are parallels to the so-called Arab Spring movement and recent unrest in the Middle East. You have a group of sincere, committed people who feel they’ve been wronged having their message cooped by another group of people who just want to party, riot, break stuff, etc. which distracts everyone from the real original intent.
Leonard

Occupy Wall Street movement taught us all a good lesson.

In contrast with the Tea Party, the Occupy movement didn’t help elect anyone useful to their Marxist ideology. The OW movement didn’t wake up the Harry Reid Senate leader so he would do his job and allow votes to be had in the Senate. 23 Jobs bills passed in the House but Harry reid won’t allow them to the Senate vote. Harry Reid is playing chicken with the economy by threatening to shut down the government or to force the US to default on its debts for the first time in history if Harry doesn’t get his way. Recall OW movement wasn’t concerned about Obama’s added $5 trillion in new debt, they were not concerned about the Fed Government’s role in using Fannie Mae to force banks to make low or no interest home loans, leading to the busted bubble and financial decay in 2008. Federal banking regulations from the Progressive’s Affordable Home Act under Clinton started the bubble, it wasn’t Wall Street banks yet the Occupiers had no clue. We did learn they were organized by the anonymous anarchy and supported by their funders including..The American Communist party that donated hundreds of thousands, funding also came from ACCORN and the National Socialist Organization. All that time, the Progressive liberal officials and Obama said nothing__ while OWS clueless trashed the streets and passed crack and raped some of their own people on the streets. Yup, OWS was a good lesson for the average working American to learn well. i.e., You elected a leader that cares more for minimizing the American dream, chooses to support huge government to control the economy and acts to weaken our security.

Just like the Libyan attacks and killings this past week has shown us, Progressives can’t be trusted to keep America safe. Obama’s chief adviser, Chicago insider thug Valerie Jarret had more security at Martha’s Vinyard last week than our own ambassador in Libya had. Consulate guards with no live ammo was the Obama state dept. order…all to look nice.. .OWS and our Progressives are not far apart from each other_ they are clueless and naive and endanger our own citizens.
Jefferson

The occupy movement sort of fizzled out since they didn’t make much of an effort to join in the political process. They rarely took a real stance on specific political issues and they never really put up candidates and I can’t remember a single politician they directly supported. When you don’t attempt to be a part of the process and only protest for the sake of protesting then you’ll never really accomplish much.

I sort of wish they would have created some sort of real list of points and issues they stood for in politics at least to contrast with the Tea Party or to compare against the current political parties.
Gordon near Two Harbors

Although I agree with some of the concerns that the Occupy movement has publicized, it was plain to me that it had little chance of changing anything in our political or economic systems. Just like with the Tea Party, there was no real plan or workable framework that could get the kind of overwhelming public support needed to produce reform.
Steve the Cynic

Leonard, you misspelled the name of the guy that was playing chicken with the economy. It’s spelled “Paul Ryan,” not “Harry Reid.” And everyone who’s paying attention and looking for information rather than ammunition realizes that those “23 jobs bills” you keep referring to were political theater, not serious proposals.
Regnar James

It increased the sales of cheap Chinese’s tents.

∑

DTOM
Leonard

@Steve’s comment below: Actually it IS harry Reid, a Democrat, a Mormon that CNN, NPR and MNBC like to discuss as a means to bias their listeners, REID is the man that leads the Senate. Without his approval nothing gets voted on. The Harry Reid Dems are truly the Party of :NO” as in NO more voting in the Senate to prevent the House from being functional, its their mantra by action. Steve is also incorrect to ignore the fact that the Senate under harry reid has NOT passed a budget in three years. The last time Obama tried to present one, all the Dems and all the Repubs in the House and in the Senate voted NO to it. Eevr since then, Reid protects the president from dealing with any Bills from the Republican led House. Just like OWS protesters, they try to force their views by passive bullying. The old guard Repubs and the progressive dems have ruined our country slowly each decade with more and more spending, spending OUR money at their whim, Don’t get me started on the wasted $$$$ billions sent to our enemies running Libya,Pakistan and Egypt. How the hell did Obama get it so wrong when even Sean Hannity predicted the Muslim Brotherhood would take over after the Arab Spring clashes? Answer: Just as OWS was condoned by our leader to trash our city streets, he condoned the Muslim Brotherhood by having them invited to our White House and by dissing Israel. Pathetic and weak is what the Arab countries now call America_ thanks to Obama policies of inaction and excusing. His admin didn’t stop the violence in OWS and his admin left our people at risk ( 4 dead) because of his soft ingratiating policies in Libya. Some leader , huh? Even a Boy Scout would have done better.
GregX

exactly what every counter culture movement aims for … staying below the radar.
GregX

Besides being clueless Marxists, I’m not sure what their goal was. – – – – – –

goal #1 – letting cloud-heads s know that the people were unhappy with corporate overlord behavior. Something the former middle-class will adopt once their family has had 2+ generations of poverty, mal-treatment, and unending opression due to Romney-esque bigoted stereo-types that seem to think that 47% of Americans are stinking filthy burden on society.
Steve the Cynic

Um, Leonard, are you a shill? You keep twisting facts to make them mean whatever you want them to mean. If I remember correctly, it was the Tea Party wing of the GOP that was willing to refuse to raise the debt ceiling, which would have forced a default on our debt service, if they didn’t get their way. Even Speaker Boehner was willing to compromise but got shot down by Ryan, et al.
shuge mississippi

has anyone mentioned the local occupy homes organizing that splintered off the local occupy movement and has successfully saved a handful of local homes from bank foreclosure?
Chris Gordon

OCCUPY stands up to say that this country is no longer working for 99% of us. Occupy brings up major concerns and questions that have gone unanswered for too long. Another world is possible. Why did wall street get bailed out and not everyday hard working Americans getting foreclosed on their homes and losing jobs. What about adressing air and water pollution, our crumbling roads and bridges and poor education system, Why is it taking so long to move towards sustainable energy; We do not have time to waste. What about supporting small farms rather than large agribusiness. This is what most of America wants addressed but our legislatures are now so influenced by special interest money that these major issues are ignored. Regular working people cannot afford to influence senators and representatives that are bought by corporate donors and special interests. We all need to get up and make our voices heard since we are getting drowned out by big money in our political system.
OWS

Declaration of the Occupation of New York City

As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.

As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.

They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.

They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.

They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.

They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.

They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless nonhuman animals, and actively hide these practices.

They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.

They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.

They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.

They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.

They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.

They have sold our privacy as a commodity.

They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.

They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.

They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.

They have donated large sums of money to politicians supposed to be regulating them.

They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.

They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantive profit.

They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.

They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.

They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.

They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad.

They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.

They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.*

To the people of the world,

We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.

Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.

To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.

Join us and make your voices heard!

*These grievances are not all-inclusive.
Jim

Right off the top of my head, destruction of public and private property, increase in crime stats, and lots of police overtime. And how could I forget the ire of the clergymen who tried to help them in the beginning. Yeah, OW accomplished things, all of them bad.
Leonard

OSW taught us that radical and extreme movements, i.e., ideals that represent less than 10% of the public, can do good. These sponges force us to pay more attention. For example: Look at the facts to interpret the OWS statement they blatantly posted:

OWS spokesperson wrote:

“to let these facts be known.

They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage. ( really? exactly how many homes were took by mistake? How many had not paid their mortgage for 12 months or more? )

They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses. ( Bailouts started with Bush and were then doubled by O bama….guilty for taking a bailout? What about the banks that did not want to accept but were forced by the gov to take it?)

They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.

( rally? where is this so called discrimination? One fire dept. was sued for not lowering standards such as ability to write a sentence or know the definition of flamable. Hey, it was Michelle Obama’s graduate thesis that also tried to show that critical thinking skills and debate ( Socrates core requirements) were discriminating against under educated minorities for acceptance to Law School! We all want lawyers that can’t handle deductive or inductive reasoning , right? geeesh_)

They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization. ( Yes, we are all dying from poisoned food by the millions_ oh please.)

They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless nonhuman animals, and actively hide these practices. ( We have laws to stop cruel treatment for slaughter and chickens but Progressives like OWS, think KILLING an unborn human baby is just fine if it is inconvenient to the mother??? )

They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions. ( No, but they do want to get rid of bloated mobster run Unions that crippled states and private companies. Better pay comes when people are FREE to seek work elsewhere. Supply and demand works.)

They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right. ( Oh please_ corporations cause higher college tuition? Actually the gov. pays more for every raise in tution reimbursements_ gov run colleges know this and raise costs every year_ but no corporation FORCES a student to take out a loan.)

They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay. ( Outsourcing comes from our government’s doing, they keep the USA as the highest corporation tax rate in the world. (35%) would you invest and risk your savings to start a company here and pay the highest tax rate when a safer way is to outsource? Apple is 90% plus all over seas because of this very fact.)

They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance. ( That’s the UNION crap again_take a look at the Chicago crime family doings with Unions and how they influence corrupt unfair contracts.)

They have sold our privacy as a commodity.

They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press. ( where is that from? All we see today is bias from NPR, CBS, etc. where they skew the story by starting each story as a negative if it is about the conservatives, while ignoring or minimizing stories that show Obama’s policies are failing…4 dead in Libya and that story got 1/4 the coverage of Romney’s speech at a fund raiser. The media, controlled by the current administration, refused to examine the failed policy of under staffing security for our people over seas.

The media accuses Romney of elitism with fund raisers while ignoring Oabam’s countless fund raisers with Hollywood millionairs while our Embassy and consulate is attacked. Bias? You bet. The FBI search out the film maker of Innoncence of Muslims and take him into custody meanwhile, they couldn’t find the terrorists that killed our Ambassador? So who is really controlling our freedom of the press? )

They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.( where is that from? Name us those products that are still on the market and save us all. The EPA progressive elites ruin business with excess regulation every day. The majority of faulty known products have come here from where? CHINA! How about the USA couple arrested and fined hundreds of thousands for spreading gravel on their own land?)

They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.

They have donated large sums of money to politicians supposed to be regulating them. ( Unions and the extreme radical Environmentalists supported by funding from American Communist Party have done this for decades and we pay the price. Unemployment up in the energy sector. 1,200 will lose their jobs this year from the Obama EPA closing coal companies. Enjoy your heating bill about to skyrocket..oops, it was Obama who said, “Under my watch, electricity will necessarily SKY ROCKET.” And he was right_ as he said, “if I can’t get Congress to cooperate with me, then I will go around Congress because the constitution is sometimes too cumbersome.” And some still voted for their own economic pain and such dictator type speech from our own President? amazing naivete.)

They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil. ( Those are the words of an uninformed idiot with no knowledge of a free market..but it speaks to the ideals of Marxism_ let government control everything, set prices, choose winners and losers in the market.) SOLYNDRA was a great waste of our money but it helped his fund raisers, old style Chicago politics again in play.)

They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantive profit. ( oh please_ I want to run a pharmaceutical company, risk our money on new developments and then give it away to generic manufacturers..makes sense only to an OWS Marxist.)

They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt. ( do they really believe this is true or that corporations are there to murder criminals?) BTW, 80% of all USA violent and property crime is drug related)

They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad. ( Obama Sr. wrote about his hate of the UK and USA but forgot to mention that the USA has done more good and helped more countries than any other country in the world.)

They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas. ( No they have not_ the USA corporations have not attacked innocent civilians. OWS exists today because we didn’t nanny the terrorists caught.)

They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.* ( actually nukes are government controlled and are used as ” peace through strength”

OWS taught me that Marxism is alive and well in parts of the country and even passively supported by some of our own elected officials.
Linda in Plymouth

I love the OWS movement. Where else can a group pf anarchists and socialists gather to shut down a part of the city, wher else can they get away with organizing with ACCORN and the National Socialist party to trespass and protest at private citizens yards? Where else would you find the government tacitly ignoring these violations of civil liberty?

OWS was my moment of motivation to start researching their supporters. I too, found Obama’s speech from 1998 at Loyola University that sums it up. He said, ” I am a firm believer in redistribution of wealth.” Our President’s speech shows he believes in taking from others investments and wealth to give to the government so he can see it redistributed to his pet supporters and to those who will accept handouts instead of planning to raise themselves out of mediocrity. This is scary because that is what Hugo Chavez has done, as Castro has done and every other dictator with a belief in either communism or socialism. And everyone of those countries have never succeeded. Hearing President Obama say he will go around Congress to get what he wants is also indicative of his attitude of disdane for America’s Constitution. OWS sure woke up a lot of Americans and it took many away from the Democrat support. I think a lot of us Democrats wish our party would toss out the Progressive radicals and return to our ideals.
James

What, if anything, has the Occupy movement accomplished?

Helping more people to understand that “BANKS GOT BAILED OUT, WE GOT SOLD OUT”.

Some people refuse to see the elephant in the room and instead are on a wild goose chasing the red herring.

Occupy the Heart-Mind.
LanSO

The Gospel According to Mary Magdalene

[The Gospel of Mary]

Chapter 4

(Pages 1 to 6 of the manuscript, containing chapters 1 – 3, are lost. The extant text starts on page 7…)

. . . Will matter then be destroyed or not?

22) The Savior said, All nature, all formations, all creatures exist in and with one another, and they will be resolved again into their own roots.

23) For the nature of matter is resolved into the roots of its own nature alone.

24) He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

25) Peter said to him, Since you have explained everything to us, tell us this also: What is the sin of the world?

26) The Savior said There is no sin, but it is you who make sin when you do the things that are like the nature of adultery, which is called sin.

27) That is why the Good came into your midst, to the essence of every nature in order to restore it to its root.

28) Then He continued and said, That is why you become sick and die, for you are deprived of the one who can heal you.

29) He who has a mind to understand, let him understand.

30) Matter gave birth to a passion that has no equal, which proceeded from something contrary to nature. Then there arises a disturbance in its whole body.

31) That is why I said to you, Be of good courage, and if you are discouraged be encouraged in the presence of the different forms of nature.

32) He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

33) When the Blessed One had said this, He greeted them all,saying, Peace be with you. Receive my peace unto yourselves.

34) Beware that no one lead you astray saying Lo here or lo there! For the Son of Man is within you.

35) Follow after Him!

36) Those who seek Him will find Him.

37) Go then and preach the gospel of the Kingdom.

38) Do not lay down any rules beyond what I appointed you, and do not give a law like the lawgiver lest you be constrained by it.

39) When He said this He departed.

Chapter 5

1) But they were grieved. They wept greatly, saying, How shall we go to the Gentiles and preach the gospel of the Kingdom of the Son of Man? If they did not spare Him, how will they spare us?

2) Then Mary stood up, greeted them all, and said to her brethren, Do not weep and do not grieve nor be irresolute, for His grace will be entirely with you and will protect you.

3) But rather, let us praise His greatness, for He has prepared us and made us into Men.

4) When Mary said this, she turned their hearts to the Good, and they began to discuss the words of the Savior.

5) Peter said to Mary, Sister we know that the Savior loved you more than the rest of woman.

6) Tell us the words of the Savior which you remember which you know, but we do not, nor have we heard them.

7) Mary answered and said, What is hidden from you I will proclaim to you.

8) And she began to speak to them these words: I, she said, I saw the Lord in a vision and I said to Him, Lord I saw you today in a vision. He answered and said to me,

9) Blessed are you that you did not waver at the sight of Me. For where the mind is there is the treasure.

10) I said to Him, Lord, how does he who sees the vision see it, through the soul or through the spirit?

11) The Savior answered and said, He does not see through the soul nor through the spirit, but the mind that is between the two that is what sees the vision and it is […]

(pages 11 – 14 are missing from the manuscript)

Chapter 8:

. . . it.

10) And desire said, I did not see you descending, but now I see you ascending. Why do you lie since you belong to me?

11) The soul answered and said, I saw you. You did not see me nor recognize me. I served you as a garment and you did not know me.

12) When it said this, it (the soul) went away rejoicing greatly.

13) Again it came to the third power, which is called ignorance.

14) The power questioned the soul, saying, Where are you going? In wickedness are you bound. But you are bound; do not judge!

15) And the soul said, Why do you judge me, although I have not judged?

16) I was bound, though I have not bound.

17) I was not recognized. But I have recognized that the All is being dissolved, both the earthly things and the heavenly.

18) When the soul had overcome the third power, it went upwards and saw the fourth power, which took seven forms.

19) The first form is darkness, the second desire, the third ignorance, the fourth is the excitement of death, the fifth is the kingdom of the flesh, the sixth is the foolish wisdom of flesh, the seventh is the wrathful wisdom. These are the seven powers of wrath.

20) They asked the soul, Whence do you come slayer of men, or where are you going, conqueror of space?

21) The soul answered and said, What binds me has been slain, and what turns me about has been overcome,

22) and my desire has been ended, and ignorance has died.

23) In a aeon I was released from a world, and in a Type from a type, and from the fetter of oblivion which is transient.

24) From this time on will I attain to the rest of the time, of the season, of the aeon, in silence.

Chapter 9

1) When Mary had said this, she fell silent, since it was to this point that the Savior had spoken with her.

2) But Andrew answered and said to the brethren, Say what you wish to say about what she has said. I at least do not believe that the Savior said this. For certainly these teachings are strange ideas.

3) Peter answered and spoke concerning these same things.

4) He questioned them about the Savior: Did He really speak privately with a woman and not openly to us? Are we to turn about and all listen to her? Did He prefer her to us?

5) Then Mary wept and said to Peter, My brother Peter, what do you think? Do you think that I have thought this up myself in my heart, or that I am lying about the Savior?

6) Levi answered and said to Peter, Peter you have always been hot tempered.

7) Now I see you contending against the woman like the adversaries.

8) But if the Savior made her worthy, who are you indeed to reject her? Surely the Savior knows her very well.

9) That is why He loved her more than us. Rather let us be ashamed and put on the perfect Man, and separate as He commanded us and preach the gospel, not laying down any other rule or other law beyond what the Savior said.

10) And when they heard this they began to go forth to proclaim and to preach.

The Gospel According to Mary
Travis Waldron

Here’s four things that OWS accomplished awareness about:

Income Inequality: The 99 Percent movement refocused America’s political debate, forcing news outlets and eventually politicians to focus on rising income inequality. While debt and deficits were the primary focus of the media before the movement started, their attention after the movement began shifted to jobs, Wall Street, and unemployment. By the end of October, even Republicans were talking about income inequality, and a week later, Time Magazine devoted its cover to the topic, asking, “Can you still move up in America?”

Occupy Our Homes: The movement has drawn attention to many of the predatory, discriminatory, and fraudulent practices perpetrated by banks during the foreclosure crisis, and across the country, Occupy groups, religious leaders, and community organizations have helped homeowners prevent wrongful foreclosures on their homes. Activists in Detroit are working to save their fifth home, and similar actions have taken place in cities like Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Cleveland, and Atlanta. The movement has drawn so much attention that local political leaders and even members of Congress have stepped in to help homeowners facing foreclosure.

Move Your Money: On Bank Transfer Day, activists helped more than 40,000 Americans move their money from large banks to credit unions, and more than 650,000 switched to credit unions last October. Religious groups have taken up the cause as well, moving $55 million before Thanksgiving. This year, a San Francisco interfaith group moved $10 million from Wells Fargo and other groups marked Lent by moving more money from Wall Street. As a result, analysts say the nation’s 10 biggest banks could lose $185 billion in customer deposits this year “due to customer defections.”

Fighting For Positive Policies: Occupy groups have pushed for positive policy outcomes at both the state and federal levels. Occupy The SEC submitted a 325-page comment letter on the Volcker Rule, a regulation to rein in big banks. Pressure from protesters forced New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) to reverse his opposition to a millionaire’s tax, and activists fought Indiana Republicans’ union-busting “right-to-work” law, and have pushed big banks to stop financing destructive environmental practices like mountaintop removal mining in coal states.