Thread: Dems rally behind ‘Occupy Wall Street’ protest movement

Dems rally behind ‘Occupy Wall Street’ protest movement

By Alicia M. Cohn - 10/05/11 12:27 PM ET

Democrats are rallying behind the “Occupy Wall Streetâ€

The Civil Unrest has begun.................

Protests against Wall Street spread across U.S.

Updated: Tue Oct. 04 2011 8:22:39 AM

CTVNews.ca Staff Ottawa, CANADA

A movement that has no single message, no leader and no list of demands is nonetheless gaining steam across the U.S. with protesters from California to Maine expressing their anger with the U.S. economy and corporate greed.

The so-called Occupy Wall Street protests are now in their 18th day after an initial protest organized by Adbusters called on demonstrators to occupy New York's business district.

Since then, protesters ranging from students worried about their tuition loans, to union employees and laid off middle-aged workers have joined up.

In Manhattan they are camping out in a park near the New York Stock Exchange. On Monday, hundreds of protesters dressed up as money-hungry zombies, wandering past the NYSE clutching fistfuls of cash.

Rosie Gray, a reporter with New York's Village Voice newspaper, said the movement, which has sparked demonstrations in Boston, St. Louis, Kansas City, Mo. and L.A., appears to have struck a chord with many Americans.

The lack of a specific central message, she said, has allowed the group to remain inclusive to anyone with a beef against the government, economy, or corporate culture.

"Basically they're protesting the greed and corruption of our financial system and they're right to be frustrated but they don't have a single list of demands," Gray told CTV's Canada AM.

"The lack of message is not necessarily a bad thing because it allows them to connect with a lot of different groups. Basically they're just tapping into this anger at American society right now."

Though their message has remained broad, the group has become increasingly organized. Protesters at the New York City base camp are provided medical care, legal help and are even printing their own Occupied Wall Street Journal newspaper.

A focal point for the New york protest came Sept. 24, when about 100 demonstrators were arrested. The arrests, combined with reports of three women being pepper-sprayed resulted in a spike in media coverage as well as an increase in the total number of protesters.

Then on Saturday police arrested about 700 people for disorderly conduct and blocking a public street as they tried to march over the Brooklyn Bridge.

New York Police Department officers even commandeered city buses and forced drivers to drive across the Brooklyn Bridge while officers rounded up protesters. The drivers sued the NYPD on Monday as a result.

"We're down with these protesters. We support the notion that rich folk are not paying their fair share," said Transport Workers Union President John Samuelsen. "Our bus operators are not going to be pressed into service to arrest protesters anywhere."

Five more protesters were picked up by police on Monday.

"At this point, we don't anticipate wider unrest," said Tim Flannelly, an FBI spokesman in New York. "But should it occur, the city, including the NYPD and the FBI, will deploy any and all resources necessary to control any developments."

Flannelly said he does not expect the New York protests to develop into the often-violent demonstrations that have rocked cities in the United Kingdom since the summer. But he said the FBI is "monitoring the situation and will respond accordingly."

Some protesters compared themselves to a left-wing version of the Tea Party movement or a U.S. version of the 'Arab Spring,' which resulted in major political upheaval across the Middle East.

"We feel the power in Washington has actually been compromised by Wall Street," said Jason Counts, a computer systems analyst and one of about three dozen protesters in St. Louis. "We want a voice, and our voice has slowly been degraded over time."

With files from The Associated Press

http://ottawa.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/C ... OttawaHome

The Dems aren't rallying behind the protestors, they helped plan, with the unions, the protests.

The tools are wealthy little liberals. JMO

99% what? ‘Occupy Wall Street’ organizers look for minorities

Published: 3:50 PM 10/04/2011 | Updated: 8:49 PM 10/04/2011
By Matthew Boyle - The Daily Caller

Though a few representatives of minority groups have appeared among the “Occupy Wall Streetâ€

test

I bet they are.

Maybe this has a lot to do with it?

Campaign finance ruling leaves Democrats with few options
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 04811.html

Wall Street is no different than the Unions that lobby and contribute to Dems. I have no problem with reforming Wall Street as long as we also reform the unions.

Check out the opensecrets.org link for who the largest campaign contributors are and who they give most of their money to, it's an eye-opener for sure. Notice the differences in 2010 vs 2012 spending.

http://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespend ... p=I&type=A

I looked, miguelina, and it does give some insight.


Public Sector Unions gave $10,226,107 to liberals which are for the most part government workers. They gave conservatives $.0. But it lookslike the other sectors have just about cut them off.

It looks like the Dems have had a large reduction from everyone else. Maybe they ticked off because they aren't getting their cmpaigns financed.

This is a democrat sponsered protest for the reason it takes the focus off the total failures they continue to be and the fact it was the dems, specially Dodd/Frank that forced loans to people they knew who couldn't pay them back. They were strong-armed into doing what they wouldn't have done otherwise and then they had a problem with what to do with all these shaky loans.....hence the drivatives, etc. People should ask themselves a logical question....WHY would any financial institution loan money to people who couldn't pay it back? Before Congress passed the "Community Reinvestment Act", they didn't. You go out of business if you do that for very long.

I remember an economist, commenting on the CRA, stating it would work for a time, as long as property values continued to rise, but there would be big trouble when a recession hit.

They have no idea of what they are protesting except some vague concept, besides it's an "adventure" for them, kinda like a child when it first learns to walk. They don't have any problems because they don't have any responsibility.....they're students! The same people who were doing this in the 60's are now working on Wall Street. One man said he was protesting being fed animal food (soybeans) and the govt. was poisoning us and "changing our DNA".

They are "students"....they don't even understand the system, but are being used by the very people they are protesting.

Student loans are a Obama controlled program now, and they need to move their protest to the White House.

Capitalism isn't fair to them....they have to work....they want other people, who do work, to pay for them and give them stuff. It's such a joke....here are teenagers and 20somethings protesting "rich"people who have worked decades to get where they are and employ hundred's of thousands. THey have no idea what they went through or how they got their wealth. It would be much easier for them if the "rich" people would just pay their way and they wouldn't have to struggle or worry. But what happens when you run out of rich people?

Nice to see the dems supporting the anarchists and this will backfire on them bigtime, especially if it turns violent.

They supposedly don't have a leader or a unified ideology but that's not really true. Most of them fall into two groups, Marxist or just malcontents. Most of them support open borders, unlimited immigration and bigger government. And they don't like the tea party.

Dems rally behind ‘Occupy Wall Street’ protest movement

They are probably the instigators to get more attention and votes for Obama