#OCCUPYWALLSTREET campaign - September 17

[elfismiles]

Even from a 5'8" 125 pound white guy.

Even one ... with a CABBAGE HEAD!?!?!

And I agree with PW - the Dazzling's are ...

[Bruce Dazzling]

Even from a 5'8" 125 pound white guy.

Even one ... with a CABBAGE HEAD!?!?!

ZOMG! That Cabbage Head Bruce cartoon is awesome!

And I agree with PW - the Dazzling's are ...

Awwww, shucks.

[seemslikeadream]

Shamar Thomas talks to schoolkids

Powerful video as an enraged veteran, Marine Sergeant Shamar Thomas, rants against the NYPD for their harsh tactics against protesters in Times Square. Watch the horde of blue and white shirts silently back off from him: What could they possibly say?

"This is not war! This is America! How do you sleep at night? There is no honor in this! There is no honor in this! None!

[ninakat]

Excellent discussion in the video (especially Mark Bray):

'Occupy': A catalyst for change?
As anti-greed protests spread to cities across the world, Inside Story examines the movement's goals and its impact.
Al Jazeera, 16 Oct 2011

*VIDEO*

Inside Story, with presenter Mike Hanna, discusses with Mark Bray, an organiser and media team member of 'Occupy Wall Street'; Alessio Rastani, an independent stock broker; and Dean Baker, the co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy research.

[Project Willow]

40 Seattle Police arrest Woman for sitting down and opening an umbrella.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/10/17/fourty-seattle-cops-arrest-woman-for-sitting-down-opening-umbrella/

In a scene from earlier today, a single woman, who identified herself as Debra Lynn Peardon, put that law to the test, opening an umbrella and sitting down on the ground.

That’s when, according to Seattle blog The Slog, “40 police officers surrounded” the woman. With her hands bound, at least four officers then carried her out by her arms and legs, with protesters all the while chanting, “Show me what oppression looks like? This is what oppression looks like!”

I was watching one of the live feeds late Saturday, I think from Sacramento, cops arrested a student with cerebral palsy, they had to wheel him away in his chair.

[Aurataur]

Occupy Los Angeles: Day 15
Saturday October 15, 2011

Greetings from Los Angeles, fair denizens of Rigorous Intuition! It was a beautiful day on Saturday, as thousands converged upon Downtown Los Angeles for the Internation Day of Occupation. I arrived around 11am. The march was scheduled to begin at noon at Pershing Square. The excitement was palpable!





We approached Pershing Square. The crowd was huge. Police presence was rather minimal considering the scope of the demonstration.








As we approached, the crowd just kept getting bigger and bigger. I was blown away!






Yours Truly!




Look at that crowd!










































Everyone loves a good sign!
























And finally, Ron Kovic gave a beautiful speech at the steps to City Hall.




At the General Assembly meeting that night, they told us that an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 people marched through the financial district. And once again, not a single arrest.

Another beautiful day in Los Angeles. We have it easy here. To everyone else taking part in occupations across the country (and the world!): Thank you! You inspire me.

[Canadian_watcher]

The looks on the Pinkerton's faces were priceless.

Yeah, but...
"This is the US of A, why are you hurting people? If you wanna go kill and hurt people, go to Iraq".

Word.

I have a sneaking suspicion that Sgt. Thomas may be open to a discussion of the part he played in a corporate war, though.

At least I hope he would be.

In the meantime, I'm glad that someone intimidated the intimidators for a change. And he did it simply with words.

simply with words? You don't think that his gigantic physical presence had anything to do with it? I couldn't have gotten away with hollering at "law enforcement" for that period of time.

CW,

I have no idea what you could or couldn't have gotten away with, and it's really a moot point, isn't it?.

This Sgt. Thomas character is the only person in the discussion, and he made those cops, with their tazers, pepper spray, billy clubs, and guns, look like ashamed puppy dogs, and he did it by shouting at them, not through any physical force.

While he most likely would have put up more of a fight than you (or me, for that matter), I have no doubt that if push came to shove, the NYPD would have won any physical confrontation handily, and some of them probably would have loved the opportunity to shut him the fuck up.

And for what it's worth, I've had a couple of interactions over the past few days where I was told by cops to "move along" from the front of Zuccotti Park, and my response was that I was on a public sidewalk, paid for by my tax dollars, and that I'd stand anywhere I pleased. When challenged, on camera, a lot of these police people back down. Even from a 5'8" 125 pound white guy.

so you're saying that most people can scream at the police like that ?
If so then why are you so impressed by this character?
Besides, I wasn't trying to call you out I was just stating the fact that this Sgt is one intimidating presence.

[Nordic]

Thanks for the photos Aurataur. I keep wishing I could get down there, but I have kids to take care of and they come first. I'm realizing that the protestors are there, and in NY, and all over the world, in the place of those of us who can't do it. They are taking our place, they are literally REPRESENTING US!

It's the first time in my life I've felt like anybody REPRESENTED ME ANYWHERE.

No joke!

It's kind of hard to take in. And it gives me actual goosebumps to write that.

Someone is representing me.

Wow.

So thanks. You were there. You represented me in Los Angeles.

[Nordic]

As far as those cops and the big black guy, well those cops do look quite shamed and embarrassed to be called out like that.

Why they let him scream in their faces is beyond me. If it was due to his size, so be it.

I'm pretty damn big and sometimes it lets me get away with stuff that other people couldn't get away with. So be it.

The guy represented me, and I'm damn glad he did.

Because I couldn't be there.

[Plutonia]

This site has links to 103 (so far) "occupy" livestreams: http://www.occupystreams.org/

No livestream from Antarctica but ...

[JackRiddler]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/15/busin ... nted=print


October 14, 2011
In Private, Wall St. Bankers Dismiss Protesters as Unsophisticated

By NELSON D. SCHWARTZ and ERIC DASH


Publicly, bankers say they understand the anger at Wall Street — but believe they are misunderstood by the protesters camped on their doorstep.

But when they speak privately, it is often a different story.

“Most people view it as a ragtag group looking for sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll,” said one top hedge fund manager.

“It’s not a middle-class uprising,” adds another veteran bank executive. “It’s fringe groups. It’s people who have the time to do this.”

As the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations have grown and spread to other cities, an open question is: Do the bankers get it? Their different worldview speaks volumes about the wide chasms that have opened over who is to blame for the continuing economic malaise and what is best for the country.

Some on Wall Street viewed the protesters with disdain, and a degree of caution, as hundreds marched through the financial district on Friday. Others say they feel their pain, but are befuddled about what they are supposed to do to ease it. A few even feel personally attacked, and say the Occupy Wall Street protesters who have been in Zuccotti Park for weeks are just bitter about their own economic fate and looking for an easy target. If anything, they say, people should show some gratitude.

“Who do you think pays the taxes?” said one longtime money manager. “Financial services are one of the last things we do in this country and do it well. Let’s embrace it. If you want to keep having jobs outsourced, keep attacking financial services. This is just disgruntled people.”

He added that he was disappointed that members of Congress from New York, especially Senator Charles E. Schumer and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, had not come out swinging for an industry that donates heavily to their campaigns. “They need to understand who their constituency is,” he said.

Generally, bankers dismiss the protesters as gullible and unsophisticated. Not many are willing to say this out loud, for fear of drawing public ire — or the masses to their doorsteps. “Anybody who dismisses them publicly is putting a bull’s-eye on their back,” the hedge fund manager said.

John Paulson, the hedge fund titan who made billions in the financial crisis by betting against the subprime mortgage market, has been the exception. His Upper East Side home was picketed by demonstrators earlier this week, but Mr. Paulson offered a full-throated defense of the Street, even going so far as to defend the tiny sliver of top earners attacked by the Occupy Wall Street protesters — whose signs refer to themselves as “the other 99 percent.”

“The top 1 percent of New Yorkers pay over 40 percent of all income taxes, providing huge benefits to everyone in our city and state,” he said in a statement. “Paulson & Company and its employees have paid hundreds of millions in New York City and New York State taxes in recent years and have created over 100 high-paying jobs in New York City since its formation.”

The messages coming from the protesters are by no means in accord. They have myriad grievances, though many see Wall Street as the most powerful symbol of the income inequality and “economic injustice” they are railing against. There is ample indignation over banks being bailed out while their customers are being foreclosed upon, and over banks handing out hefty bonus checks and severance packages so soon after the crisis erupted.

Similarly, executives keep getting generous payouts when they leave. Just last week, Bank of America disclosed it was paying a total of $11 million in severance to two executives forced out in a management reshuffle, Sallie Krawcheck and Joe Price, even as the company said it would begin laying off roughly 30,000 employees over the next few years.

“Wall Street continues to underestimate the degree of anger among citizens and voters,” said Douglas J. Elliott, a former investment banker who is now a fellow at the Brookings Institution. For the most part, bankers say that they see the protests as a reaction to the high unemployment and slow growth that has plagued the American economy since the recession and the financial crisis of 2008. Despite all the placards and chants plainly indicating otherwise, some bankers suggest that deep down, the protesters are not really all that mad at them.

“I don’t think we see ourselves as the target,” said Steve Bartlett, president of the Financial Services Roundtable, which represents the nation’s biggest banks and insurers in Washington. “I think they’re protesting about the economy. What’s lost is that the financial services sector has to be well capitalized and well financed for the economy to recover.”

Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase & Company, typifies the conflicting messages coming from Wall Street. In a conference call with reporters after third-quarter earnings were announced Thursday, he struck a sympathetic note. “I do vaguely remember the First Amendment that it is legal to demonstrate and it is completely fine,” he said. “You should listen and not just have a knee-jerk reaction.”

But in a later conference call with analysts, Mr. Dimon’s remarks were more offhand when asked about the protests and the negative perception of his industry. “Most of our clients like us,” he said. Besides, changing the industry’s image now is a tall order, he told the analysts, before adding, “If you have any great ideas on the phone you guys can write them up and send them to me. We’ll take them into consideration.” Without a coherent message, the crowds will ultimately thin out, Wall Street types insist — especially when the weather turns colder. They see the protesters as an entertaining sideshow, little more than flash mobs of slackers, seeking to lock arms with Kanye West or get a whiff of the antiestablishment politics that defined their parents’ generation.

“There is a view that it will be a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing,” said one financial industry official.

Most bankers were far more concerned this week about the business impact of the new Volcker Rule restrictions on speculative trading than they were about the demonstrations, this official added.

A smaller group of bank executives are taking the protests more seriously. They see them as a sign of the growing economic divide in this country — and are even monitoring the latest developments on Twitter. While peaceful so far, the demonstrations at Bank of America, Chase and Wells Fargo branches from San Francisco to Peoria are eerily similar to those routinely seen at Citibank outposts in Athens, Hong Kong, and in other overseas markets. Some believe it could be years before the swarms of protesters end their marches on bank branches.

A few outspoken members of the financial industry have broken ranks with their more skeptical brethren to say they understand a bit of the outrage of the Occupy Wall Street crowd.

“When I tell people I went down to research the protests, they’re shocked, they literally laugh,” said Michael Mayo, a veteran bank analyst at Crédit Agricole Securities. “It’s just not a location they frequent.”

Citigroup’s chief executive, Vikram S. Pandit, even said he would be happy to talk with the protesters any time they wanted to drop by. Mr. Pandit, onstage Wednesday at a Fortune magazine conference, said that the protesters’ “sentiments were completely understandable.”

“I would also corroborate that trust has been broken between financial institutions and the citizens of the U.S., and that it’s Wall Street’s job to reach out to Main Street and rebuild that trust,” Mr. Pandit said. The protesters should hold Citi and others “accountable for practicing responsible finance,” he said, “and keep asking us about how we’re doing.”


DealBook: Citigroup Earnings Rise 74% to $3.8 Billion

[Plutonia]

That ^^ was a hoot. Not really, but you know ...

Provocateurs? Look at their boots: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php? ... &aid=19928

[Laodicean]

Bank Transfer Day - November 5th, 2011

More Info
FOR MORE INFO: http://facebook.com/nov.fifth

Together we can ensure that these banking institutions will ALWAYS remember the 5th of November!! If the 99% removes our funds from the major banking institutions to non-profit credit unions on or by this date, we will send a clear message to the 1% that conscious consumers won't support companies with unethical business practices.

• Research your local credit union options
• Open an account with the one that best suits your needs
• Cancel all automatic withdrawals & deposits
• Transfer your funds to the new account
• Follow your bank's procedures to close your account before 11/05


FIND A CREDIT UNION
USA: http://www.findacreditunion.com/
CANADA: http://locator.cucentral.com/
UK: http://www.findyourcreditunion.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=281139538577206

[Bruce Dazzling]

so you're saying that most people can scream at the police like that ?

No, I'm not making generalizations, or talking about most people, I'm talking about THIS GUY.

If so then why are you so impressed by this character?

I'm impressed by this character because he said what needed to be said, in a very powerful way that is resonating with lots and lots of people. That's impressive under any circumstances.

Besides, I wasn't trying to call you out I was just stating the fact that this Sgt is one intimidating presence.

Maybe his gigantic physical presence had something to do with it.

Maybe it didn't.

Again, I've called the police on their shit, and I've seen several others of normal stature do so as well without heads getting kicked in. The cops seem to understand that they really need to stick to the rules when several cameras are obviously rolling, and they're not emboldened by the security of being obscured by a large crowd.

Either way, though, I really don't see the value in that type of tedious argument when we all probably agree that what the Sgt. did is to be universally celebrated.

[Saurian Tail]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/15/busin ... nted=print


October 14, 2011
In Private, Wall St. Bankers Dismiss Protesters as Unsophisticated

By NELSON D. SCHWARTZ and ERIC DASH

A few even feel personally attacked, and say the Occupy Wall Street protesters who have been in Zuccotti Park for weeks are just bitter about their own economic fate and looking for an easy target. If anything, they say, people should show some gratitude.

“Who do you think pays the taxes?” said one longtime money manager. “Financial services are one of the last things we do in this country and do it well. Let’s embrace it. If you want to keep having jobs outsourced, keep attacking financial services. This is just disgruntled people.”

He added that he was disappointed that members of Congress from New York, especially Senator Charles E. Schumer and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, had not come out swinging for an industry that donates heavily to their campaigns. “They need to understand who their constituency is,” he said.

This is called believing your own bullshit ... which was exactly the topic of John Michael Greer's latest blog post. Greer made this observation:

... you can’t spend your time creating words and images that appeal to the nonrational mind without your own nonrational mind being influenced by them, and the more compelling your thaumaturgy is, the more surely you will be caught by your own spell. Since political thaumaturgy requires you to weaken the reasoning mind and overwhelm the defenses of the self by pounding on simple, powerful nonrational drives, the impact of this work on the mind of the political thaumaturge is far from helpful, and it helps explain why practitioners of political thaumaturgy so often end up messily dead.

http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/ ... ublic.html

Greer give Hitler as an example:

... the process of convincing Germany that he was invincible convinced Hitler of the same thing, and he proceeded to destroy himself and his regime in a crescendo of blunders that all followed from his inability to imagine that he could be mistaken.

What these deluded "financial services professionals" don't understand is that this is just the beginning. The pain is not going to go away with the cold weather or the next national election. The problems are too deep and too intrinsic.

I'm really surprised at how many people are waking up to the fact that the government and big business/finance are in cahoots and that the police and military are their enforcers. You can't really unlearn that kind of thing. We are definitely in for a long and difficult battle for the heart and soul of humanity. We need to be mentally prepared for the highs and lows that await us in the future and not lose heart.