RT's Anastasia Churkina talks to Occupy activist and war veteran Scott Olsen on the state of affairs in the U.S. today, and the changes that have taken place since the beginning of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

"Most likely people are either going to vote for Democrats or Republicans and I think both those are wrong choices. They are both working for the same system, they are both taking money from the same people, from the same banks and you can see in their policy that they are rewarding their donors. Voting for the continuing of this policy is not going to change anything at all," explains Olsen.

On alternatives in the coming election, Olsen said "You can vote for the third party that may not win. You may count voting for the third party as a waste of vote, but I think voting for a Democrat or a Republican is a waste of vote. You are shooting yourself in the foot if you are voting for either of those."

A great conversation with Scott Olsen. He talks about war, being a veteran, homeless veterans and the tragedy of 18 military veterans daily committing suicide in the U.S.

You'll also hear Scott's thoughts on the Occupy movement, and what's ahead for Occupy Wall Street now that it's approaching its first anniversary.

A full transcript follows below the fold...

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Good morning, today is Thursday, August 9, 2012. What's on your mind today?

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Stephen Colbert had a field day with Rep. Steve King (R-Crazytown-IA) for his defense of dogfighting and animal cruelty that we wrote about here last week: Wingnut Rep. Steve King Defends Dog Fighting.

He also skewered him for his bizarre response over the dogfighting comments which Think Progress reported on here: Steve King Defends Dog Fighting Comments In Bizarre Diatribe:

Yesterday, ThinkProgress reported on Rep. Steve King’s (R-IA) comments that “there’s something wrong with” outlawing dogfighting when “people fighting” is legal. King has since tried to backtrack from the claim, arguing that while his words were “distorted,” he still believes that “we’ve crossed a moral line” by “elevating animals up to above that of humans.”

In explaining himself, King argues that animals have more rights than fetuses, and suggests that liberals have so devalued life, that a man can rape a young girl, kidnap her, force her to undergo an abortion across state lines, and then “drop her off at the swingset….and that’s not against the law in the United States of America.”

Colbert's response was laugh out loud funny:

COLBERT: What?! That's not against the law? Why not? Maybe Congressman King should do something about that. What? What? What? I'm being told that all of that is against the law? Well, bravo Congressman. Fast work. […]

I guess all Steve King is saying is we shouldn't judge him for having impregnated that dog and taking it across the border for a forced abortion to protect the world from his monstrous glassy-eyed man-puppies. Right?

That's got to be what he's saying, because otherwise, I can't figure out what the f**k he's talking about.

Neither can we Stephen. Neither can we.

Protesters gathered at an vacant and neglected bank-owned home in southeast San Diego on Tuesday to collect debris and transport it to a local bank, where they had hoped to make a "deposit."

They hoped that their efforts would send a message to Bank of America, the reported owner of the property: "Clean up your mess."

The protesters, members of Alliance Of Californians For Community Empowerment, a homeowner advocate group, organized the protest to underscore the filth and possible unwanted behavior that could infiltrate communities as a result from a bank's failure to maintain a vacant foreclosed property.

Members of the group also used the event to push for a city ordinance that would require banks to enter every home in the foreclosure process into a registry. The proposed measure would also fine lenders if they do not properly maintain those homes.

More on this here.

On Sep. 17, 2011 Occupy Wall Street started a revolution. One year later, join us for three days of education, training, and protest in New York City.

The 1% is controlling our fates; we are drowning in loans, student debt, fraudulent mortgages. You are not a loan. Democracy is sold to the highest bidder, destroying our political process, our communities and our environment. Join a mass mobilization of the 99%. Stand and be counted. Let’s occupy our future, together.

They can steal your job, your home, your freedom, your vote.

They can’t steal our ability to dream together.

Nothing is impossible once you refuse to live in fear.

We are the 99%
Bring your friends.
9.15-17.12
Financial District, NYC
Occupy Wall Street

Film created by Dennis Trainor, who also made "American Autumn."

Good morning, today is Wednesday, August 8, 2012. What's caught your eye in the news today?

This is your Moment of Clarity #160: It all seems to be coming together into one. 90% of our media is owned by only six corporations. We act like the President is the only lawmaker who matters. How much further can things condense?

Occupy Wall Street activists gather inside Saks Fifth Avenue to oppose CEO Carlos Slim, who protesters say made his fortune on the backs of poor Mexicans. You can hear the undercover private security guard in the background telling videographer Allison to stop filming. Allison explains she's a reporter to which the guard replies, "That doesn't matter in here."

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Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney on Tuesday lashed out at the notion that he was a "Robin Hood in reverse," calling the president's attack "Obamaloney."

Speaking to supporters in Connecticut on Monday night, President Barack Obama said that Romney would increase taxes on middle class Americans so that he could give the top 2 percent of earners a tax cut.

"It’s like Robin Hood in reverse," Obama charged. "It’s Romney Hood.”

During an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, the GOP candidate fired back.

"We've been watching the president say a lot of things about me and about my policies, and they're just not right," Romney told Fox News' Carl Cameron.

"And if I were to coin a term it would be 'Obamaloney.' He's serving up a dish which is simply in contradiction of the truth, and it relates to everything from how I'm going to help the middle class to tax policy. He's just simply saying things that are not accurate."

An independent analysis released last week by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center determined that Romney's plan to slash tax rates by 20 percent would actually mean that 95 percent of Americans would pay an average of $500 more per year, while millionaires would see a $87,000 cut in their taxes.

The Romney campaign has called the study "biased" and "a joke."

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After Judith Miller went on Fox News Watch over the weekend to join the other guests there in carping about how dangerous the Obama administrations supposed national security leaks are which they've been accused of after the death of Osama bin Laden, Jon Stewart gave her the treatment she deserves on The Daily Show this Monday evening.

Sadly as everyone here knows all too well, after her stenography at The New York Times for Scooter Libby and his boss, former Vice President Darth Cheney to help lie us into invading Iraq, Miller is the last person that should be coming on the television complaining about an administration leaking.