Wall Street Protests

[BigV]

Mayor supports protestors

Mayor Mike McGinn on Thursday said protesters could have an "organizing tent" that could remain overnight, but said protesters would have to allow the park to be cleaned and promise to protect park property while allowing others access to businesses.

McGinn also said the city would allow protesters to stay overnight at City Hall Plaza, with "reasonable restrictions" on tents so that people could use the plaza during the day. City Hall has restrooms, he noted, while Westlake doesn't.

Protesters would be allowed to use the plaza for two weeks, the mayor said.

Also notable is the presence of labor union members among the supporters of the protest.

The labor leaders threw their support behind the Occupy Seattle movement Thursday, boosting morale a day after 25 protesters were arrested. Top union members visited Westlake to let protesters know they share a similar view: The economy isn't fair and more jobs are needed.

"It's their movement, but it's our message," said Kathy Cummings, a spokeswoman for the Washington State Labor Council, which represents 750 local unions.

The labor group also has asked members to drop off bottled water and ready-to-eat packaged foods at the council's office, Cummings said.

I will be joining them today at midday.

[DanaC]

Love those messages. The first one put a lump in my throat.

Made me think of the old protest song, The Land.

Sound the call for freedom boys, and sound it far and wide,
March along to victory, for God is on our side,
While the voice of nature thunders o'er the rising tide:
"God gave the land to the people."

Chorus

The land, the land,
'Twas God who made the land,
The land, the land,
The ground on which we stand,
Why should we be beggars
With a ballot in our hand?
God gave the land to the people.

Hark! The sound is spreading from the east and from the west!
Why should we work hard and let the landlords take the best?
Make them pay their taxes on the land just like the rest!
The land was meant for the people.

Chorus

Clear the way for liberty, the land must all be free,
None of us shall falter from the fight tho' stern shall be.
'Til the flag we love so well shall fly from sea to sea,
O'er the land that is free for the people.

Chorus

The army now is marching on, the battle to begin,
The standard now is raised on high to face the battle din,
We'll never cease from fighting 'til the victory we win,
And the land is free for the people.

[TheMercenary]

Interviews with the protesters on the radio and tv have been pretty funny. Few know why they are protesting and few agree on any of the reasons they are there. Reminds me of the fools at the WTO Protests.

here is one example.

Some ‘Occupy Sacramento’ Protesters Lash Out At Questions

http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2011/...-at-questions/

[Lamplighter]

Beyond the title to the article and the last phrase in the lead paragraph,
where is all the "lashing out", or the "chaos" the on-scene reporter in the video clip is asserting ?

That link looks like it's more in the minds of scare-mongering reporters, and quite misleading.

Some ‘Occupy Sacramento’ Protesters Lash Out At Questions
October 7, 2011 12:24 AM

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Hundreds of protesters gathered in Cesar Chavez Park on Thursday
to stand in solidarity with the growing nationwide demonstrations
aimed at corporate greed,
but some members of the peaceful event showed hostility
to media members over basic questions about the goals of the protest.
<snip>

[TheMercenary]

The point being why would some members show any hostility to anyone who is asking them to verbalize in a complete sentence their thoughts on why they were there and what were they protesting about. It is hilarious. They look just like the fools who protested at the supposedly peaceful WTO events, remember those where they burned cars and broke the windows of the local businesses?

[Lamplighter]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

The point being why would some members show any hostility
to anyone who is asking them to verbalize in a complete sentence their thoughts
on why they were there and what were they protesting about. It is hilarious.
They look just like the fools who protested at the supposedly peaceful WTO events,
remember those where they burned cars and broke the windows of the local businesses?

What hostility ? Watch the videos again...
In the first, the reporter was given civil responses by each person he asked.
The second video shows police arresting some for curfew violations, each was calm and passive.

Maybe that reporter is in the wrong career,
or someone is trying to impose their own ideas on this story.

[TheMercenary]

A liberal organizer told the Daily Caller on Thursday afternoon that he paid some Hispanics to attend “Occupy DC” protests happening in the nation’s capital.

TheDC attended the protest event, an expansion of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement that began in New York City. Some aspects of the protest, it turned out, are more Astroturf than grassroots.

One group of about ten Hispanic protesters marched behind a Caucasian individual from the DC Tenants Advocacy Coalition, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting rent control in Washington, D.C.

Asked why they were there, some Hispanic protesters holding up English protest signs could not articulate what their signs said.

Interviewed in Spanish, the protesters told conflicting stories about how their group was organized. Some said it was organized at their church, and that they were there as volunteers. Others, however, referred to the man from the DC Tenants Advocacy Coalition — the only Caucasian in the group — as their “boss.”

TheDC asked that organizer whether he was paying the group to attend the protest, and he conceded that some protesters “aren’t” volunteers.

“Some of them are volunteers. Some of them aren’t,” he explained. “I can’t identify them. I’m not going to get into an identification game.”

Video Link here:

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/10/06/or...#ixzz1a7vjLnTw

[TheMercenary]

Maybe you are correct. Maybe they shouldn't have posted the video along with the narrative since it barely supports their report.

It changes little about my points about these protests.

"In one week the Occupy Wall Street people have managed more trouble and cost to government and arrests to cities and taxpayers than the tea party has managed in three years."

[TheMercenary]

This is pretty accurate and I have to agree with the author, the protesters are nothing less than a disjointed mob of disgruntled focusing their anger in the wrong direction. Maybe they should shut down Wall Street for a week and see who gets hurt the most.... they will most likely all still have a job next week.

The "populist" protest movement "Occupy Wall Street" has certainly created enough buzz, partially from its disparate elements and lack of cohesive central message. It seems to be mostly anti-capitalism cloaked in the semantics of being against "greed" and for "justice", the usual straw men of the protest classes. However, I do think they have selected the right target, even if their rants are aimed in the wrong direction.

The protesters have labeled Wall Street as the capital of capitalism. It is a common misconception, one that is wholeheartedly embraced by the big banks and the banking system in general. Even the Federal Reserve, itself a creation of Wall Street, casts its public relations efforts in that light - that its monetary policies and framework are the fuel that runs the capitalist machine.

http://www.realclearmarkets.com/arti...get_99295.html

[footfootfoot]

And that's, like what, a half an hour in Iraq or Afghanistan?

I think our government has gotten out of touch with how money is really earned.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by footfootfoot

I think our government has gotten out of touch with how money is really earned.

No doubt...

[SamIam]

Originally Posted by footfootfoot

I think our government has gotten out of touch with how money is really earned.

Surely not! Everyone in government knows that money is earned by sucking up to the the big corporations and the wealthy.

[Trilby]

Originally Posted by SamIam

Everyone in government knows that money is earned by sucking up the the big corporations and the wealthy.

well...they're sucking something.

[Pico and ME]

"In one week the Occupy Wall Street people have managed more trouble and cost to government and arrests to cities and taxpayers than the tea party has managed in three years."

That's probably a good thing, although unintentional - most there wanted simply to participate in peaceful protest, however there are bad apples in every group - it's what got the medias attention finally, which then brought about much more participation all across the country.

I think you are going to be amazed at how many people end up sympathizing with this protest. Whats really funny is their messages aren't that far off from the Tea Party's populace-type messages. The big difference is that the Tea Party is funded by the people and groups that the OWS crowd is protesting about.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Pico and ME

That's probably a good thing, although unintentional - most there wanted simply to participate in peaceful protest, however there are bad apples in every group - it's what got the medias attention finally, which then brought about much more participation all across the country.

I think you are going to be amazed at how many people end up sympathizing with this protest. Whats really funny is their messages aren't that far off from the Tea Party's populace-type messages. The big difference is that the Tea Party is funded by the people and groups that the OWS crowd is protesting about.

I don't disagree. Does this mean we can start calling the protesters "Nazi's" and "Racist"?