OCCUPY WALL STREET

[Cin]

[Ebon]

They get to stay I hope.

[SoNotHer]

Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Woohoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Originally Posted by Ebon

They get to stay I hope.

http://front.moveon.org/breaking%2Do...0932-ANx%3Dyux

[Cin]

Apparently Brookfield Asset Management is a Canadian Company that owns Zuccotti Park. They have backed down for now, but they're still threatening to stop the protestors from camping.

You can send them a message from this website if you care to.
http://www.leadnow.ca/stop-occupy-wall-street-eviction

[SmoothButch]

I joined a credit union today.

Tomorrow I will end my relationship with my bank.


I.Cannot.Wait.

[SmoothButch]

PLEASE CIRCULATE WIDELY: If you are arrested at an Occupy Event, call the National Lawyers Guild:

New York City: (212) 679-6018
Los Angeles: (323) 696-2299
Washington, DC: (202) 957 2445
Chicago: (773) 309-1198
San Francisco: (415) 285-1011
New Orleans: (504) 875-0019
Baltimore: (410) 205-2850
Minnesota: (612) 656-9108
Michigan: (313) 963-0843
Portland: (503) 902-5340
Boston: (617) 227-7335
Pennsylvania & Delaware: (267) 702-4654
Idaho: (208) 991-4324

Be very sure to write the applicable phone number in PERMANENT marker somewhere concealed on your body, protected from the elements. Do NOT assume you will be able to retrieve the number from a phone or a notebook. It is very likely you will be stripped of all your belongings.

[AtLast]

I so love the clips of protesters in NY clening up the park last night. Some great ones of people shining up trash recepticles. We do need to take responsibility for sanitation and public health measures at these kinds of things and it reinforces that Occupy Wall Street is about accountability! Now, if the banks and public corporations would catch on to their part in taking responsibility!!!!

The this Faux News and outlets- this is not a bunch of free-loading hippy types out there that need baths!!

Saw the prior Faux clips too with the pert young announcers crinkling their perfect noses at the 99% too!!

[atomiczombie]

'Occupy Wall Street' -- It's Not What They're for, But What They're Against

Critics of the growing Occupy Wall Street movement complain that the protesters don’t have a policy agenda and, therefore, don’t stand for anything. They're wrong. The key isn’t what protesters are for but rather what they’re against -- the gaping inequality that has poisoned our economy, our politics and our nation.

In America today, 400 people have more wealth than the bottom 150 million combined. That’s not because 150 million Americans are pathetically lazy or even unlucky. In fact, Americans have been working harder than ever -- productivity has risen in the last several decades. Big business profits and CEO bonuses have also gone up. Worker salaries, however, have declined.

Most of the Occupy Wall Street protesters aren’t opposed to free market capitalism. In fact, what they want is an end to the crony capitalist system now in place, that makes it easier for the rich and powerful to get even more rich and powerful while making it increasingly hard for the rest of us to get by. The protesters are not anti-American radicals. They are the defenders of the American Dream, the decision from the birth of our nation that success should be determined by hard work not royal bloodlines.

Sure, bank executives may work a lot harder than you and me or a mother of three doing checkout at a grocery store. Maybe the bankers work ten times harder. Maybe even a hundred times harder. But they’re compensated a thousand times more.
The question is not how Occupy Wall Street protesters can find that gross discrepancy immoral. The question is why every one of us isn’t protesting with them.

According to polls, most Americans support the 99% movement, even if they’re not taking to the streets. In fact, support for the Occupy Wall Street protests is not only higher than for either political party in Washington but greater than support for the Tea Party. And unlike the Tea Party which was fueled by national conservative donors and institutions, the Occupy Wall Street Movement is spreading organically from Idaho to Indiana. Institutions on the left, including unions, have been relatively late to the game.

Ironically, the original Boston Tea Party activists would likely support Occupy Wall Street more as well. Note that the original Tea Party didn’t protest taxes, merely the idea of taxation without representation -- and they were actually protesting the crown-backed monopoly of the East India Company, the main big business of the day.

Americans today also support taxes. In fact, two-thirds of voters -- including a majority of Republicans -- support increasing taxes on the rich, something the Occupy Wall Street protests implicitly support. That’s not just anarchist lefty kids. Soccer moms and construction workers and, yes, even some bankers want to see our economy work for the 99%, not just the 1%, and are flocking to Occupy protests in droves.
I’ve even met a number of Libertarians and Tea Party conservatives at these protests. So the critics are right, the Occupy Wall Street movement isn’t the Tea Party. Occupy Wall Street is much, much broader.

Maybe it’s hard to see your best interests reflected in a sometimes rag-tag, inarticulate, imperfect group of protesters. But make no mistake about it: While horrendous inequality is not an American tradition, protest is.And if you’re part of the 99% of underpaid or unemployed Americans crushed in the current economy, the Occupy Wall Street protests are your best chance at fixing the broken economy that is breaking your back.
Sally Kohn is the founder and Chief Education Officer of the Movement Vision Lab

LINK: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/...y-wall-street/

[SoNotHer]

"According to polls, most Americans support the 99% movement, even if they’re not taking to the streets. In fact, support for the Occupy Wall Street protests is not only higher than for either political party in Washington but greater than support for the Tea Party. And unlike the Tea Party which was fueled by national conservative donors and institutions, the Occupy Wall Street Movement is spreading organically from Idaho to Indiana..."

Yup. :-)

Originally Posted by atomiczombie

LINK: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/...y-wall-street/

[Cin]

[Cin]

If you want to sign the statement here is a link:
http://act.rootsaction.org/p/dia/act...ction_KEY=4882

CONTACT: RootsAction
The 1st Amendment is Our Permit

WASHINGTON - October 14 - This is an emergency appeal. Spread it widely.

Our permit to occupy is called “The First Amendment.”

This morning, Occupy Wall Street protesters celebrated when New York authorities beat a last-minute retreat from clearing Liberty Plaza – as hundreds of labor and other activists rushed to defend the square.

But at the same time this morning, dozens of state troopers in riot gear cleared out Occupy Denver protests. In cities across the country, Occupy protesters have faced police violence and arrests. Some occupations have been forcibly removed while others have stood their ground successfully.

The authorities say we don’t have the proper permits to occupy public spaces. Our permit to occupy is The First Amendment.

Quickly sign the following statement which will be delivered to mayors, police chiefs and major media across the country:

Our permit to occupy public squares and parks is in The First Amendment, which affirms “the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

When people across the Middle East occupied public squares, leaders in Washington mostly cheered those protesters and warned Middle Eastern governments not to use force to clear them. Those other societies don’t have a First Amendment. Yet Washington affirmed the universal right to assembly and protest.

We do have a First Amendment. The force being used to clear nonviolent protesters from public squares in our country is unacceptable. It must stop.

[ruffryder]

Occupy Wall Street goes global. Arrests in Rome as people fight with the police. hmmm. . I am wondering if people are just using all this Occupy protesting as a way to show their anger on everything they are upset about and cause violence. no bueno.

[citybutch]

[Corkey]

http://www.businessinsider.com/occup...hering-2011-10

Plans for a coordinated national gathering.

[atomiczombie]

Originally Posted by citybutch

LOVE IT!!!

[Gráinne]

I'm staying apart from this, seeing how it's going to pan out. There are some reports of anti-Semitism sneaking in, i.e. "the Jews control Wall Street" and the old saw of Jews=greedy and cheap. I don't know enough about exactly who is demonstrating or if they represent my beliefs.

http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews...treet-movement

[atomiczombie]

Originally Posted by guihong

I'm staying apart from this, seeing how it's going to pan out. There are some reports of anti-Semitism sneaking in, i.e. "the Jews control Wall Street" and the old saw of Jews=greedy and cheap. I don't know enough about exactly who is demonstrating or if they represent my beliefs.

http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews...treet-movement

The New American website is a right-wing news source. I looked at some of their other articles and they are all skewed heavily to the right.

[atomiczombie]

Originally Posted by Corkey

http://www.businessinsider.com/occup...hering-2011-10

Plans for a coordinated national gathering.

I'm gonna post the list of plans from your link:

1. The Occupy Wall Street movement, through the local general assembly, should elect an executive committee comprised of 11 people or some other odd number of people that is manageable for meetings. Ideally this committee should represent each city in the U.S. that is being occupied.
2. The executive committee will then attend to local issues such as obtaining permits, paying for public sanitation and dealing with the media. More important, the executive committee shall plan and organize the election of the 870 delegates to a National General Assembly between now and July 4, 2012.
3. As stated in the 99% declaration, each of the 435 congressional districts will form an election committee to prepare ballots and invite citizens in those districts to run as delegates to a National General Assembly in Philadelphia beginning on July 4, 2012 and convening until October 2012.
4. Each of the 435 congressional districts will elect one man and one woman to attend the National General Assembly. The vote will be by direct democratic ballot regardless of voter registration status as long as the voter has reached the age of 18 and is a US citizen. This is not a sexist provision. Women are dramatically under-represented in politics even though they comprise more than 50% of the U.S. population.
5. The executive committee will act as a central point to solve problems, raise money to pay for the expenses of the election of the National General Assembly and make sure all 870 delegates are elected prior to the meeting on July 4th.
6. The executive committee would also arrange a venue in Philadelphia to accommodate the delegates attending the National General Assembly where the declaration of values, petition of grievances and platform would be proposed, debated, voted on and approved. The delegates would also elect a chair from their own ranks to run the meetings of the congress and break any tie votes. We will also need the expertise of a gifted parliamentarian to keep the meetings moving smoothly and efficiently.
7. The final declaration, platform and petition of grievances, after being voted upon by the 870 delegates to the National General Assembly would be formally presented by the 870 delegates to all three branches of government and all candidates running for federal public office in November 2012. Thus, the delegates would meet from July 4, 2012 to sometime in early to late October 2012.
8. The delegates to the National General Assembly would then vote on a time period, presently suggested as one year, to give the newly elected government in November an opportunity to redress the petition of grievances. This is our right as a People under the First Amendment.
9. If the government fails to redress the petition of grievances and drastically change the path this country is on, the delegates will demand the resignation and recall of all members of congress, the president and even the Supreme Court and call for new elections by, of and for the PEOPLE with 99 days of the resignation demand.
10. There will NEVER be any call for violence by the delegates even if the government refuses to redress the grievances and new elections are called for by the delegates. Nor will any delegate agree to take any money, job promise, or gifts from corporations, unions or any other private source. Any money donated or raised by the executive committee may only be used for publicizing the vote, the National General Assembly, and for travel expenses and accommodation at the National General Assembly ONLY. All books and records will be published openly online so that everyone may see how much money is raised and how the money is spent each month. There will be no money allowed to "purchase" delegate votes as we have in the current government. No corporate "sponsorship".

[SoNotHer]

I joined a credit union on Friday (yeah!). Looking forward to checking out Chicago protests tomorrow.

Warren Buffet's son has sided with the OWS protestors -

From -
http://www.businessweek.com/news/201...s-happen-.html

Oct. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Howard Buffett, the Berkshire Hathaway Inc. director and son of Chairman Warren Buffett, said Wall Street protesters were provoked by abuses from corporations amid a widening disparity between rich and poor.

“I think it takes that to make things happen sometimes,” Howard Buffett, 56, said of the demonstrations in an interview yesterday in Des Moines, Iowa. Over the past 15 years, “we saw large corporations really screw people.”

Occupy Wall Street has drawn out protesters from New York to Seattle and gained empathizers among the top executives at Citigroup Inc. and BlackRock Inc. Warren Buffett, the world’s third-richest person, has said he is concerned about inequity in the U.S. The younger Buffett, a farmer and philanthropist, said obtaining enough food has become more difficult for more people.

“There has never been a larger gap between earnings in this country,” said Howard Buffett, who was in Des Moines to deliver a speech at the World Food Prize conference. “There has never been a time in my lifetime when the government is going to cut an incredible amount of programs that support poor people and feed them.”

Protesters criticized the government for propping up financial firms including Citigroup and Bank of America Corp. in 2008 while individuals struggled with unemployment, depressed wages, foreclosures and reduced retirement savings. Republican lawmakers oppose raising taxes to reduce the U.S. deficit and have pushed for cuts to government programs.

‘Get Some Balance’

“We’ve had protesting in the name of the Tea Party on the right side, and now we’re having protesting from the left side,” BlackRock Chief Executive Officer Laurence D. Fink, head of the world’s biggest asset manager, said today at a conference in New York. “Maybe we’re going to get some balance this way. But I do believe that we should not turn our backs to this protesting.”

Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, said protesters are targeting “a scapegoat” and are wrong to divide the country. President Barack Obama, who joined Warren Buffett in a push to raise taxes on the wealthy, is guilty of “class warfare,” Romney has said.

“There has been class warfare going on,” Buffett, 81, said in a Sept. 30 interview with Charlie Rose on PBS. “It’s just that my class is winning. And my class isn’t just winning, I mean we’re killing them.”

Howard Buffett, a Berkshire director since 1993, said hunger is rising in the U.S. as well as in poorer nations. A record 45.3 million Americans received food stamps in July and almost one in six live in poverty, the government said. Buffett is president of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, which advances agriculture in developing nations.

Buffett’s Wagers

Warren Buffett has backed some of the biggest financial firms while chiding bankers for excesses in risk-taking and compensation. Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire invested $700 million in Salomon Inc. in 1987, $5 billion in Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in 2008 and $5 billion in Bank of America this year. Buffett, the father, has compared Wall Street to “a church that’s running raffles on the weekend.”

Wall Street “does a lot of good things and then it has this casino,” Buffett said in October 2010. “One of the problems we still have is we have unbalanced incentives for managers of huge financial institutions.”

Jim Chanos of hedge fund Kynikos Associates said this month he understands the anger directed at financial companies. Bill Gross, who runs the biggest bond fund at Pacific Investment Management Co., said in a Twitter post that wage earners are fighting back after three decades of class warfare in which they were “being shot at.” Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit said yesterday he’d be happy to talk with protesters.

--With assistance from Beth Jinks in New York. Editors: Dan Reichl, Peter Eichenbaum.

To contact the reporters on this story: Andrew Frye in New York at afrye@bloomberg.net; Alan Bjerga in Des Moines, Iowa, at abjerga@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Steve Stroth at sstroth@bloomberg.net; Dan Kraut at dkraut2@bloomberg.net.

[greeneyedgrrl]

Wondering if anyone has seen the docu "the 1 percent" by jamie johnson?