ETA: This afternoon Eric Cantor (R-VA) says we must be very afraid of the growing number of mobs occupying Wall Street and this nation.
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7383837n&tag=contentBody;housing
Personally, I'm concerned about the growing number of districts across the country cutting out their domestic violence teams from community services and police departments in order to save money.
Just thinking of the Hard Hat Riot down there back in the Vietnam era, and before that with the Labor movement. They've got the crazy tbagger cadres who would like nothing better than wade into these gatherings with guns and bludgeons, and I'm not talking about the cops -- a lot of the non-white shirt NYPD are emotional and intellectual supporters of the movement (yes, class, labor and management, etc., those terms we haven't heard in decades).
These are the people who glory in demonstrating their assholery for the entire world to witness, who will walk into a crowd and shoot Gabrielle Giffords (D), leaving her nearly dead, along with other, accumulated 'collateral damage,' who were killed outright. Look at the comments to articles about the Occupiers in the primary media: first it was superior sneering snark; now, as the movement spreads, they're spewing incoherent vitriolic hatred and threat to kill and maim.
As for the media ignoring the Occupiers in the first place, and only now paying attention, while still insisting the Occupiers don't have a clue about anything from organization to what they're protesting -- think about this: they picked private property close to the metaphorical and symbolic epi center of the corruption of the nation from which to launch their protests, Zuccoti Park. (The irony that this once public park used to be named Liberty Plaze does not escape.) Thus, as long as Chairman of the Board of Brookfield Real Estate (mayor bloomie's novia, she of let them eat cake how dare they, is a member of the board), says they can stay, they can. The city cannot evict them, though the NYPD and the mayor would like nothing better than to get them out of there.
This looks like planning to me. From the start they've said they planned to occupy the ground for two months -- which is also smart because in two months it will be really miserable there, particularly when January rolls around -- yes, I know this ground very well, in all seasons.
Yesterday WNYC received many calls from 'listeners' demanding that the occupiers be removed, all of whom are really big on the only sacred belief this nation holds, that of the sacredness of private property. "I don't care if it's private property and the owner says they can stay, beat those spoiled brats out of there!" Why it so infuriated that caller and others that the Occupiers are occupying private ground with permission, well, that never came through except that the caller hates them. For years, in fact, that's all that comes through to me, at least, from these people is that they are filled with hatred for everybody and everything, so they must really hate themselves. I wonder why.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Good. Grief. Andrew. Ross. Sorkin. Not Much of a Journalist Are You.
The NY Times's does the bidding of its masters --
The New York Times economic columnist, Andrew Ross Sorkin, paid zip attention to the Occupy Wall Street movement, knew nothing about it -- until:
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/10/03/on-wall-street-a-protest-matures/?ref=business
[ " I had gone down to Zuccotti Park to see the activist movement firsthand after getting a call from the chief executive of a major bank last week, before nearly 700 people were arrested over the weekend during a demonstration on the Brooklyn Bridge.
“Is this Occupy Wall Street thing a big deal?” the C.E.O. asked me. I didn’t have an answer. “We’re trying to figure out how much we should be worried about all of this,” he continued, clearly concerned. “Is this going to turn into a personal safety problem?”
As I wandered around the park, it was clear to me that most bankers probably don’t have to worry about being in imminent personal danger. This didn’t seem like a brutal group — at least not yet. ' ]
Glenn Greenwald discusses further the significance of what it means that the NY Times economic columnist never even bothered to learn about the movement until a banking C.E.O. calls him up to ask questions -- and why the C.E.O. need to call a newspaper about what is going on only a few steps away from where, presumably, his office is located.
http://politics.salon.com/2011/10/04/andrew_ross_sorkins_assignment_editor/
[ " Though it’s not evident in Sorkin’s column (nor in this characteristically snotty, petty, pseudo-intellectual condescension of yesterday from The New Republic), the prevailing media (and progressive) narrative about the protests has rapidly shifted from these-are-childish-vapid-losers to there-is-something-significant-happening-here. In part that’s because the protests have endured and grown; in part it’s because the participants are far less homogeneous and suscepitble to caricature than originally assumed; in part it’s because they are motivated by genuine and widespread financial suffering that huge numbers of Americans know intimately even though it receives so little attention from insulated media stars; in part it’s because NYPD abuse became its own galvanizing force and served to highlight the validity of the grievances; and in part because their refusal to adhere to the demands from the political and media class for Power Point professionalization and organizational hierarchies has enabled the protests to remain real, organic, independent, and passionate.
What will determine how long-lasting and significant is the impact of these protests is whether they allow themselves to be exploited into nothing more than vote-producing organs of the Democratic Party — the way the GOP so successfully converted the Tea Party into nothing more than a Party re-branding project. There is no question that such efforts are underway, as organizations that serve as Party loyalists try to glom onto the protests and distort them into partisan tools.
I have a hard time seeing that working. After all, the reason this is a street protest movement (rather than, say, a voter-registration crusade or an OFA project) is precisely because the protesters concluded that dedicating themselves to the President’s re-election and/or the Democratic Party is hardly a means for combating Wall Street’s influence, rising wealth inequality or corporatist control of the political process. Still, it’s hard to avoid the suspicion that the reason these protests are now receiving more respect in establishment venues is because those venues now see some potential use to be made of them. Those dedicated to the original purpose and message of the protest – and Matt Stoller defined that as well as anyone here — will need to make resisting those efforts a top priority if they want to succeed. " ]
The New York Times economic columnist, Andrew Ross Sorkin, paid zip attention to the Occupy Wall Street movement, knew nothing about it -- until:
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/10/03/on-wall-street-a-protest-matures/?ref=business
[ " I had gone down to Zuccotti Park to see the activist movement firsthand after getting a call from the chief executive of a major bank last week, before nearly 700 people were arrested over the weekend during a demonstration on the Brooklyn Bridge.
“Is this Occupy Wall Street thing a big deal?” the C.E.O. asked me. I didn’t have an answer. “We’re trying to figure out how much we should be worried about all of this,” he continued, clearly concerned. “Is this going to turn into a personal safety problem?”
As I wandered around the park, it was clear to me that most bankers probably don’t have to worry about being in imminent personal danger. This didn’t seem like a brutal group — at least not yet. ' ]
Glenn Greenwald discusses further the significance of what it means that the NY Times economic columnist never even bothered to learn about the movement until a banking C.E.O. calls him up to ask questions -- and why the C.E.O. need to call a newspaper about what is going on only a few steps away from where, presumably, his office is located.
http://politics.salon.com/2011/10/04/andrew_ross_sorkins_assignment_editor/
[ " Though it’s not evident in Sorkin’s column (nor in this characteristically snotty, petty, pseudo-intellectual condescension of yesterday from The New Republic), the prevailing media (and progressive) narrative about the protests has rapidly shifted from these-are-childish-vapid-losers to there-is-something-significant-happening-here. In part that’s because the protests have endured and grown; in part it’s because the participants are far less homogeneous and suscepitble to caricature than originally assumed; in part it’s because they are motivated by genuine and widespread financial suffering that huge numbers of Americans know intimately even though it receives so little attention from insulated media stars; in part it’s because NYPD abuse became its own galvanizing force and served to highlight the validity of the grievances; and in part because their refusal to adhere to the demands from the political and media class for Power Point professionalization and organizational hierarchies has enabled the protests to remain real, organic, independent, and passionate.
What will determine how long-lasting and significant is the impact of these protests is whether they allow themselves to be exploited into nothing more than vote-producing organs of the Democratic Party — the way the GOP so successfully converted the Tea Party into nothing more than a Party re-branding project. There is no question that such efforts are underway, as organizations that serve as Party loyalists try to glom onto the protests and distort them into partisan tools.
I have a hard time seeing that working. After all, the reason this is a street protest movement (rather than, say, a voter-registration crusade or an OFA project) is precisely because the protesters concluded that dedicating themselves to the President’s re-election and/or the Democratic Party is hardly a means for combating Wall Street’s influence, rising wealth inequality or corporatist control of the political process. Still, it’s hard to avoid the suspicion that the reason these protests are now receiving more respect in establishment venues is because those venues now see some potential use to be made of them. Those dedicated to the original purpose and message of the protest – and Matt Stoller defined that as well as anyone here — will need to make resisting those efforts a top priority if they want to succeed. " ]
Monday, October 3, 2011
River Walking Yesterday
A 2 1/2 hour walk down to the Battery and back. I took photos and when I transfer them to my hard drive maybe they will provide a sense of what river walking is like around here .... I think I saw two Monarchs. I saw a pigeon brain itself by flying itself right into the trunk of a tree – oh, I laughed! I continue to laugh every time I recollect it. Later, at Fanelli's, el V says I am a cruel woman and he'd never before even suspected; I say, "It's a pigeon ...." The usual spoiled squoiles, posed classically, nut in mouths. Cool and blowy and cloudy, not the best for taking photos, but maybe I got some good ones of the duck pond and the ducks, who were getting no noms because it was too chilly with the wind for parents to sit there with their tiny children whose joy it is throw ducks bread -- which of course is not allowed, which of course no one pays any mind to, any more than bikers pay any mind as to signage that tells them to dismount and walk the bikes on this pedestrian only path, or those with dogs pay any mind to the signs that insist "No Dogs Here" ....
Friday at a Farmer's Market, te obtained some of the last of a New Jersey organic producer’s heirloom tomatoes. I have home-made pesto from Raffetto’s (est. 1906!) and their home-made mozzarella, some Sicilian olives and olive oil, and prosciutto bread ... made the sandwich of sandwiches! The last taste of summer 2011. Gotta say the summer of 2011 was maybe the most unpleasant summer we’ve ever experienced. I love summer but this one, not much.
This morning it was 53 when we got up. Summer was a clumsy, messed up first draft, not ready in the least for professional consideration. It's in desperate need of an entire re-think, as lacking in organization and coherence as it was, with a risable number of repetitions of weather-caused disasters, lurching from one thing to another without continuity or motivation or even sufficient set-up (other than that catastrophe of global climate change that we must never mention for fear of either being lynched or laughed out of the room). Does not meet our needs at this time. Don't call us. We are never calling you.
However, this evening I have an informal symposium in C's studio on the history of Hollywood costuming in the Western. Yay, C! A symposium with champagne and people bringing you food. What more can you want?
This morning it was 53 when we got up. Summer was a clumsy, messed up first draft, not ready in the least for professional consideration. It's in desperate need of an entire re-think, as lacking in organization and coherence as it was, with a risable number of repetitions of weather-caused disasters, lurching from one thing to another without continuity or motivation or even sufficient set-up (other than that catastrophe of global climate change that we must never mention for fear of either being lynched or laughed out of the room). Does not meet our needs at this time. Don't call us. We are never calling you.
However, this evening I have an informal symposium in C's studio on the history of Hollywood costuming in the Western. Yay, C! A symposium with champagne and people bringing you food. What more can you want?
Sunday, October 2, 2011
The Declaration of the Occupy Wall Street Movement
And here's the Declaration:
http://nycga.cc/2011/09/30/declaration-of-the-occupation-of-new-york-city/
Declaration of the Occupation of New York City
Posted on September 30, 2011 by NYCGA
This document was accepted by the NYC General Assembly on september 29, 2011
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 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, who are responsible for 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 or provide relief in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantial 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.
http://nycga.cc/2011/09/30/declaration-of-the-occupation-of-new-york-city/
Declaration of the Occupation of New York City
Posted on September 30, 2011 by NYCGA
This document was accepted by the NYC General Assembly on september 29, 2011
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 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, who are responsible for 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 or provide relief in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantial 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.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Arresting Them, One At A Time
Live at
http://gothamist.com/2011/10/01/breaking_occupy_wall_street_protest.php
Kettled on both sides of the Brooklyn Bridge.
10 - 12 thousand people?
They are arresting them -- one at a time.
Asking, "What's the charge?"
Occupy Wall Street Protest today, 10/1/11.
Grabbing the documentors equipment. No other media is covering this -- nothing on television.
"Let Us Go! Let Us Go! Let Us Go!"
" We Are Not The Criminals! We Are Not The Criminals! We Are Not The Criminals!"
J.P. Morgan donated over 10 million dollars to the NYPD.
http://gothamist.com/2011/10/01/breaking_occupy_wall_street_protest.php
Kettled on both sides of the Brooklyn Bridge.
10 - 12 thousand people?
They are arresting them -- one at a time.
Asking, "What's the charge?"
Occupy Wall Street Protest today, 10/1/11.
Grabbing the documentors equipment. No other media is covering this -- nothing on television.
"Let Us Go! Let Us Go! Let Us Go!"
" We Are Not The Criminals! We Are Not The Criminals! We Are Not The Criminals!"
J.P. Morgan donated over 10 million dollars to the NYPD.
Jaysus!
Downstairs neighbor on the opposite side turned on all the stove's burners without lighting them, and left. He also left his big ridgeback dog inside -- in a cage. Our beloved Across-the-Hall neighbor of many years, who lives above him, smelled the gas, called the fire department and they broke down the door. Asshole hasn't come back yet. Cops are there. This could be a terrorist event. I don't think so. I think it is a young always indulged who has lost it, and decided to take it out, whatever it is, on the rest of the world. Including the expensive pedigree dog.
EDITED TO ADD UPDATE TO THE ABANDONED DOG: Shipley's not in a shelter, he's in the apartment of the neighbor across from his owner. Dog's very upset. It seems the fellow's cell phone was left behind in the apartment -- but he was out all night his neighbor says, but she got a text from that phone, though no way of knowing it was him, at 3 AM asking if she were home. She was basically asleep and didn't respond. She says he liked to date crazy Russian girls.
Never a dull moment on this street.
In the meantime Occupy Wall Street protests are taking place all around the country, from Boston to Portland, but the NY Times can't mention that. Instead they run an opinion poll as to whether this is a carnival of silly people, or yes, an unfocused hippie stunt.
EDITED TO ADD UPDATE TO THE ABANDONED DOG: Shipley's not in a shelter, he's in the apartment of the neighbor across from his owner. Dog's very upset. It seems the fellow's cell phone was left behind in the apartment -- but he was out all night his neighbor says, but she got a text from that phone, though no way of knowing it was him, at 3 AM asking if she were home. She was basically asleep and didn't respond. She says he liked to date crazy Russian girls.
Never a dull moment on this street.
In the meantime Occupy Wall Street protests are taking place all around the country, from Boston to Portland, but the NY Times can't mention that. Instead they run an opinion poll as to whether this is a carnival of silly people, or yes, an unfocused hippie stunt.
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