Occupy Wall Street -- just venting

[Trek420]

Nice! I took the day off for OWS Oakland. I needed the time to fax things to my credit union. I'm breaking up with my bank. Bye bye Wells Fargo mortgage, hello big savings.

[zoom-zoom]

We're planning to shut down our checking account with a large-ish bank and switch everything to our CU account, too.

Down with banks!

[Trek420]

I'm a long time credit union member (checking and savings) but had a major bank for the mortgage. They've refused to refinances my 1st while offering rates for much less for new owners.

My CU said "yes". It will save us a LOT.

Yesterday as I left work the nurses union was marching past. You can't see from the picture but it was a long line, several blocks long of nurses walking single file on the sidewalk and not impeding traffic in any way.

I love a good picket line chant as much as the next gal. Maybe more than the next gal.


I fell in with them, lent my voice and we marched to BART. Then I went on the way home.

[tangentgirl]

Thought I'd post this here. No matter where you stand in politicsland, this is pretty sweet:


http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/2011/11/occupy_nashvile_lovefest.html

(well, i suppose if you really really really really really really didn't like one side or the other you could say it sucks. but that's a lot of reallys.)

[PamNY]

Very charming and sounds kind of Southern.

The article mentions Nashville being designated "friendliest city." I have never found Nashville as friendly as it is reputed to be (I was born there, and visited often when my parents were alive).

[ny biker]

Last night in DC they protested around the Convention Center. Three protesters were hit by a car. Police did not press charges against the driver, because witnesses said the he had a green light and and the protestors were trying to close the road.

http://www.wjla.com/articles/2011/11...say-68784.html

I don't think this protest was announced in advance, which would have given motorists a chance to avoid the area. The first time I heard of it was after it had already started, and I keep a close eye on traffic reports.

[PamNY]

So sad to hear about people getting hurt for any reason.

They aren't announcing the marches here. I dislike getting caught in them.

Our city council member has been wonderful about working with residents, but her staff told me there's no way to inform people about the marches that don't require permits. I hoped they could use Twitter or the city's emergency notification system to send out alerts, but they can't.

[PamNY]

Bike parking is at a premium in the neighborhood around Zuccotti Park. Here's one way to solve the problem!

[VeloVT]

Bike parking is at a premium in the neighborhood around Zuccotti Park. Here's one way to solve the problem!

That seems pretty risky.

OWS has occupied our city park here in Burlington VT, and marches down the pedestrian shopping arcade at noon every Sunday. There have actually been quite a lot of people participating. While I'm quite sympathetic to the problematic lack of regulation in the financial sector in the past 20 years, the protest (here at least) feels a lot like your garden variety WTO protest -- some people who want to save sea turtles, some people with "no blood for oil" signs, a whole lot of people chanting "you got bailed out, we got sold out" (who seemingly don't understand what would have happened otherwise)...

Anyway, someone just shot himself in the park, and it's going to turn very ugly shortly. The right blaming it on the city administration not taking a stronger stance on the "park occupation", the left arguing (rightly, in my view) that this incident could have easily happened in any of the cities with active "occupations" and the real issue is gun control/the fact that concealed weapons are legal here. In any case, it was a suicide by someone who was, from preliminary news stories, homeless, troubled, and without adequate support, and regardless of the "side" you support, it is a sad incident and unfortunate that it will certainly be highly politicized here.

The news tonight was this, the Paterno scandal, the Dover scandal - pretty depressing all around.

[KnottedYet]

"If Americans want to live the American Dream, they should go to Denmark." - Richard Wilkinson

I dare you all to learn.

I dare you to click this link: http://www.ted.com/talks/richard_wilkinson.html

I dare you to stare United Nations data in the face unflinchingly.

I dare you to recognize what is happening in the United States and (to a lesser extent) the United Kingdom.

Two dying empires, in the same boat.

Ignorance is not bliss.

[VeloVT]

That seems pretty risky.


The news tonight was this, the Paterno scandal, the Dover scandal - pretty depressing all around.

Oh, I forgot, and the fact the Rick Perry forgot the third federal agency he wanted to axe was somehow a larger news story than the fact that he proposes getting rid of the Department of Education. I apologize if this post is overly political, but have we gone to sleep at the wheel?

[zoom-zoom]

Oh, I forgot, and the fact the Rick Perry forgot the third federal agency he wanted to axe was somehow a larger news story than the fact that he proposes getting rid of the Department of Education. I apologize if this post is overly political, but have we gone to sleep at the wheel?

Many have...the rest of us are frustrated as hell as at how so many are being misled and lacking critical thinking skills. We're all going to pay (except for those at the top, who are laughing all the way to the bank).

[azfiddle]

In Tucson, the Occupy encampment was at a downtown park that is set to be the start/finish of El Tour de Tucson on Nov 19, which typically involves about 9000 cyclists plus all the friends, families, and vendors, all arranged well in advance with permits etc.

The negotiations went on for some time, but the Occupy group finally agreed to move their encampment to another park, at least for now.

l guess conflict between the occupiers and community groups and businesses that are not the object of the protest is pretty much inevitable, but in this case, I'm happy that the groups were able to come to agreement. There are a lot of community causes supported by El Tour, as well as a the benefit to many local businesses, including hotels, restaurants, bike shops etc.

[shootingstar]

I find it interesting that in Portland, OR the segments of the cycling community are actively organizing to support their Occupy ..ie. by organizing a bike swarm to protect the encampment, ....

bikeportland.org has the info.

Meanwhile last weekend I met a municipal politican locally in town when I was in the same bakery as he. He is a regular cyclist himself and big on designing/modifying communities to be more liveable which includes cycling infrastructure. He thought the cycling advocacy group's issues/desires would get all lumped in and confused with local Occupy Calgary.

Seems like there maybe differences in objectives per Occupy group across different cities.

I honestly believe that the original Occupy Wall St. is great to make issues of social justice, widening gaps of economic disparity, visible to the general public as a statement.

But fighting Wall St. and the financial sector that pays the minority CEOs, stockbrokers who get lots in their pockets, etc. ...requires sophisticated tactics long term head on to dismantle tax incentives that enrich the big corporations. All the mumble jumble covers up sophisticated, complicated corporate tax laws that on a technical point gives more avenues for corporations not to pay the govn't more tax. Ask anyone who is a corporate tax lawyer or an licensed accountant for a major corporation.

Sometimes I wish I didn't learn of certain things....after working for major international accounting firm that catered heavily to corporations worldwide.

The homeless issue is in some areas (in CAnada) caused partially by the greedy local real estate industry that is driving up the sale/value of homes and lack of co-op housing, affordable (safe, clean) rentals. Most certainly this is true for Vancouver, Calgary (more expensive now than it was only 8 months ago) and Toronto.