(Editor's Note: As part of the Inside Oakland Series, Oakland Local is launching "Oakland Police: An inside look at a troubled department." Contributing Editor Jennifer Inez Ward writes about the importance of conducting this investigative project.)

Occupy is a movement, not an organization The “straw man” is one of the mainstays of dishonest argument. It is the art of making your opponent out to be something that he or she is not, and then arguing against that “straw man” depiction instead of arguing against what your opponent is really saying. This is what is being done to the Occupy movement.

Monday, February 6th, saw overlapping and competing rallies at plaza in front of Oakland City Hall - the first by "Stand for Oakland" and the second by Occupy Oakland protesters returing from the Alameda County courthouse.

Over the last weekend, the lead story of major media for at least the third time in three months has been war-like altercations between Occupy Oakland and Oakland police.