For those of you who haven't figured it out, here are some pictures:

http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/ ... ty-in-america-chart-graph

Occupy Wall Street Moves Across the Hudson to Jersey City

Author: Peter Rudd
Published: October 05, 2011 at 12:43 pm



The demonstrators are coming!

The fledgling Occupy Wall Street movement, having kicked off their effort on September 17, are now relatively ensconced in their new digs in Zuccotti Park in the financial district in Manhattan. Is it already time to test their wings by moving to other locales in other cities?

That?s just what is happening as people catch the bug and events and occupations start to form in multiple cities across America and around the world.
Much closer to home, there is a story forming around a local New York initiative to occupy the Goldman Sachs tower across the Hudson River in Jersey City. It?s a quick march from their base in lower Manhattan, through the Lincoln tunnel to the base of the enormous tower that dominates downtown Jersey City, otherwise known as Wall Street West.

Perhaps ironically, Goldman Sachs, the giant and influential investment bank, made the same pilgrimage in 2003: from Manhattan?s financial district still reeling from the spectacular destruction by airplane of its iconic World Trade towers on 9-11-01 to their new hulk of a building across the Hudson river.

Of course investment bank?s migration had to do with business not protest. Their new headquarters is probably safer from terrorist airplanes in Jersey City than it would be in Manhattan, but not from demonstrators intent on peacefully disrupting daily proceedings and drawing attention to their plight.

Occupy Wall Street?s originating strategy was to set up camp near Wall Street - the iconic and unchallenged center of banking and international finance - to protest the deleterious effect of money on our politics. In the words of the organization: ?the blatant injustices perpetuated by the 1% - the economic and political elites - whose actions affect all of us, the 99%.?

While banking districts in America?s largest cities are the obvious choice for demonstrators, some people have suggested that other kinds of sites may be strategically advantageous for protest.

Retail banks and stock exchanges are one thing, but companies that have been shown to have had direct roles in the collapse of the economy could be more effective for getting out the occupier?s message. Specifically, investment banks, mortgage companies and lobbyists.

The enormous Goldman Sachs tower in Jersey City is an obvious site because the investment giant was a key player in the collapse of the American and world economies in 2008 and a feeder company for many choice financial positions in the Obama administration.

Besides the symbolism of the site, the Jersey City site affords North Jersey residents who don?t want to travel into Manhattan a local site at which to get involved. One may speculate what other institutions will be targeted after the investment banks: will K Street be next?

The Occupy Wall Street demonstrators are are a broad mix of young and middle aged and even old, unemployed and activist. They are tech savvy, horizontally organized and produce their own newspaper called Occupied Wall Street Journal.

They are mostly law abiding but with incidents of altercation and arrests numbering in the hundreds.

They eat donated food stored, prepared and distributed on site, are taken care of by professionals with on site meds, spend their nights under the stars in sleeping bags (the police won?t let them put up tents) and hold daily ?General Assembly? meetings to organize themselves and plan.

Demonstrators are set to occupy the Goldman Sachs building in Jersey City on Thursday afternoon.

A sister group that publishes a tumblr of individual messages from the 99%: http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com/

http://technorati.com/politics/articl ... -street-moves-across-the/

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I was posting this but I see it is already under the other thread - LOL Anyway... complain away....

http://online.wsj.com/article/AP471e8 ... 4628a817ea73d6783fc5.html

I'll be there this afternoon with my union brothers and sisters. Who else is with me? 4:30 Foley Square.

This is a very interesting article, which seems (to me) to sum up what is broken in our society and financial system, that the Zucotti Park contingent is protesting about "The Reign of the One Percenters"

While wordy, and maybe too wistful for the "good old days" of creative types running the show, it's a damning indictment of our modern financial services sector, and how its damaging our society.

As for those of you criticizing the 20-something hipster/protestors - are you kidding me? Who else is going to be out there? While they are clearly the "entitled" generation facing up to having to live in a world with fewer, worse options, their disappointment is genuine. I don't blame the rest of us who are too busy trying to hold onto our increasingly valueless homes, investments, undercompensating jobs, to get out there and try to make the world a better place.

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The for profit colleges that promise "training" for assorted low level careers are not actually colleges. The undergraduate college degree is about exposing students to a variety of ideas, not "surveying the job field."

Majoring in "something as random as archeology" or "another odd major" doesn't matter because undergraduate degrees are generic. Degrees are a demonstration of competency and the education is about fostering certain skill sets rather than a specific knowledge base.

A biology major earning a liberal arts degree still has general requirements to teach critical thinking, research, and writing skills. An archeology major still has math and science requirements that teach the scientific method, data analysis, and logic reasoning. But a biology major is no more prepared to discover the chemical makeup of DNA or cure cancer than an archeology major is prepared to find the Ark of the Covenant or unearth amber encased mosquitos with dinosaur DNA. Earning a college degree isn't about learning enough knowledge for a career, but learning the skills necessary for a particular type of career path.

Goldman Sachs building on Jersey City waterfront will be protest scene Thursday at 2 p.m. when office clerk from Irvington stages Occupy New Jersey action

Published: Tuesday, October 04, 2011, 3:01 AM
By Adam Robb/For The Jersey Journal



Michael Pellagatti, of Jersey City, holds the plastic handcuffs police used to arrest him for disorderly conduct while marching on the Brooklyn bridge along with the resultant court summons, Sunday in New York.

Alexander Waight, a 24-year-old office clerk from Irvington, has been the voice of @OccupyNJ on Twitter for the past 10 days, his online initiative prompted by his participation in a Sept. 16 march on Wall Street that ended in his arrest by the NYPD.

Waight, charged with being masked in public, had attempted to enter the Bank of America building.

On Thursday, he?ll show his face in public, bringing the protest to Jersey City by setting up camp outside the Hudson Street offices of financial giant Goldman Sachs.

After setting up a Twitter account that has since reached nearly 1,000 followers, Waight turned to Facebook, where he found an independent Occupy New Jersey group already established.

Joining with the group?s organizer, he helped begin a public discussion among the 1,300 followers about a movement more convenient to Garden State residents.

The inspiration for Thursday?s action came from the same police department that detained him.

?I was hanging out with one of the protesters that got arrested, and one of the police officers came over to us, and he said, ?Why aren?t you over in Hoboken and Jersey City??

?(The officer) said since after 9/11, a lot of those businesses moved over there,? Waight said. ?I came to see Goldman Sachs does work out of there.?

The plan, he said, is to protest around the nearby historic Colgate clock on the Hudson River waterfront.

?We want to stay close to everybody,? Waight said, believing the location allows his fellow protesters to stay in close proximity to the PATH train linking New Jersey?s and New York?s financial districts as well as easy access to the Occupy Wall Street group across the river.

A Goldman Sachs representative declined to comment.

Thursday?s protest is scheduled for 2 p.m.

Jersey City Police Chief Tom Comey said the protesters? rights to free speech will be respected as long as they don?t trespass on private property or impede the path of the Light Rail or pedestrian or vehicular traffic.

Hundreds of protesters were arrested Saturday when they got in the way of vehicular traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge.

Demonstration against Wall Street crossing the river as N.J. organizers fuel momentum on Facebook, Twitter

Tuesday, October 04, 2011, 7:22 PM
By Susan Todd/The Star-Ledger



A protestor holds a sign during the Occupy Wall Street protest in New York City today.

A nearly three-week-old demonstration targeted against Wall Street is expanding into New Jersey after a trio of organizers, using a mix of social media, generated enough interest to spawn protests in Trenton and Jersey City.

The information Alexander Waight, a 24-year-old Irvington office clerk, started sharing on Twitter about the protests on Wall Street ? more than 1,100 people are now following his tweets ? gained even more attention when college students Ronnie Haines and Jennifer Rev created a Facebook page for the burgeoning OccupyNJ movement.

"On Wall Street, the seed was planted,?? Waight said yesterday in a telephone interview. "We?re using social media for what it was made for, spreading information.??

During its first week, the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations in Lower Manhattan consisted of a few dozen protestors camped outside the New York Stock Exchange. And news about the event circulated almost exclusively on the Internet until a police pepper spray incident attracted more widespread media attention.

By yesterday, hundreds of demonstrators were in New York City and similar protests were happening outside Federal Reserve Buildings and in parks across the country.

Demonstrations have taken place in Chicago, Boston, St. Louis and Los Angeles.

In New Jersey, protests are scheduled for tomorrow in front of the State House in Trenton and outside the Goldman Sachs building in downtown Jersey City.

While individual protesters offer a variety of reasons for the growing momentum around the demonstrations, a constant refrain centers on the financial struggles of the middle class, unemployment and a dissatisfaction with government. It is, as one Rutgers University political science professor put it, a modern form of populism.

"If you look at the numbers, it?s largely young people who are being affected by unemployment,?? said Montague Kern, an associate professor at the university?s School of Communication and Information. "Young people learned to organize around (President Barack) Obama. Now they?re organizing around a movement, it?s straight on economic justice.??

"It?s a form of populism,?? Kern said. "Social media is an accelerator.??

Jennifer Rev, 34, who lives in Trenton with her husband and has helped to organize OccupyNJ, said she first read about the New York City demonstrator while she was reading the Huffington Post, an online newspaper. "I couldn?t find anything else about it,?? she said, "I was like, is it really happening.??

Once she learned more, Rev said, she wanted to get involved because of her dissatisfaction with elected officials and her feeling that the "shared sacrifice?? the country?s leaders talk about is unfairly weighed against the working class.

"There?s something wrong with the balance when some of us are working two or three jobs just to make ends meet and there are people on Wall Street making billions in bonuses. For what???

Networking online, Rev got in touch with Waight and began running the group?s Facebook page with Haines. At first, they answered questions and then they began organizing. The page has collected 1,650 "likes?? ? an online barometer of the interest in OccupyNJ.

Haines, a 24-year old Navy veteran attending community college in New York City, said he attended the Wall Street protest on Sept. 17. "It inspired me,?? he said. "I know all these people are facing the same troubles my parents are facing.??

"What started on Wall Street,?? he said, "formed a great foundation for everyone to follow.??

The fast-paced momentum fueled by the Wall Street protests doesn?t surprise Rev.

"People have been angry for a long time,?? she said. "If you went door to door, I bet four out of five people would be angry. You can only complain on your couch for so long.??

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Student protest walk-outs planned at several Jersey City colleges

Tuesday, October 04, 2011, 6:47 PM
By Kate Kowsh/The Jersey Journal

To protest soaring tuition rates and 'unforgivable student debt,' walk-outs are planned at both New Jersey City University, 2039 JFK Blvd., and Saint Peter's College, 2641 JFK Blvd., tomorrow afternoon, according to Occupy Wall Street's Web Site.

Part of National Student Walk-Out Day, the protests are scheduled to begin at 12 p.m., the Web site stated.

Occupy Wall Street is the leaderless movement behind the ongoing string of recent national protests against greed and corruption on New York City's Wall Street.

Similar protests are planned at dozens of other area universities including Montclair State University and New York City's New York University and Columbia University, the Web site stated.

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I have to disagree with you Ian. Many colleges and universities are teaching vocational education, training individuals for specific jobs in specific trades.

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+1

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Yes, its tragic when education has been wasted on people like you. But assembly line work doesn't pay what it used and there isn't much demand for the small rocks that come from breaking bigger rocks against each other.

Traditionally, college was for bright students who could afford to go. Somewhere along the line someone decided that college was the be-all and end all for EVERYONE. The high schools eliminated Home Economics and Shop and discouraged Vocational schools. Then, lots of new colleges were created. Guidance Counselors would say, "There is a college for everyone" Then college loans were pushed which enslaved a lot of people. When people would default on loans, banks had a very hard time getting their money back. So what do we have ...a lot of people who were "educated" at second rate schools, who can't cook or fix anything and are dependent on fast food restaurants and who are mad at Wall Street , not the bankers or the teacher's unions who dumbed-down the educational system? REALLY?!

Where is Broadway Ave? Is it in Jersey City? I've heard of Broadway in NYC. You REALLY must be from WAY out of town???

So they are going to be protesting Goldman Sachs? What a great idea; but why stop there? Get rid of all the corporations. We don't need evil organizations like the Newport Mall, Home Depot, A&P, Shop-Rite, Bed Bath Beyond and BJ's in Jersey City. It's just a damn good thing Whole Foods stayed out of Jersey City or I would have spent all my time protesting in front of it.

Tomorrow's main event:

"Wednesday is the biggest action yet, with the Steelworkers, Transit Workers Union, United Federation of Teachers, Working Families Party, MoveOn.org, Rebuild the Dream, and countless economic justice and community organizations taking part in a massive march to the Liberty Plaza encampment. Starts at 4:30pm at City Hall, 250 Broadway Ave. "

Apparently, they are coming to protest the Goldman Sachs building on THURSDAY 2pm.

oh great... that means a PATH train full of smelly hipsters for my commute home today....

BTW: Matt Taibbi must have a lot of faith in Downtown Jersey City (Wall Street West) to buy a condo in the Shore Club in Feb 2008 -- he paid $559,000 for 1110 sq ft. (See tax records...) Also...WNYC just reported that "Occupy Wall Street Protestors" are coming over to "Wall Street West" this afternoon to march in front of the Goldman Sacks Tower.
View Larger Map

Matt Taibbi lives in Jersey City, and is a contributing editor for Rolling Stone and the author of four previous books, including the New York Times bestseller The Great Derangement.

http://bookpassage.com/book/9780385529969

Praise for Griftopia:

?A relentlessly disturbing, penetrating exploration of the root causes of the trauma that upended economic security in millions of American homes . . . a full-scale indictment of Wall Street and Washington.??The New York Times Book Review

?Matt Taibbi is [Hunter S.] Thompson?s heir. . . . [Griftopia] is the most lucid, justifiably angry description of what happened and what continues to happen to our nation?s economy.??Seattle Post-Intelligencer

?Taibbi chronicles the corruption of the political process with indignation and dark humor. The takeaway? Be angry, but blame the right culprits.??Time

Someone should donate 10,000 copies of Griftopia so that they can learn about what they're protesting.

http://www.amazon.com/Griftopia-Machi ... ing-America/dp/0385529953

As the confrontations between police and protesters escalates, the chances for violence increase. When the violence breaks out, they will receive far wider recognition in the mainstream media. I'm sure the protesters will be vilified by the media conglomerates for whatever happens.

Yes, there are always those characters who are just waiting to plug themselves into an event like these protests. Old hippies, radicals and homeless kids etc. And, no, the activists don't really have a concise platform. Their attempts to be all inclusive have lead to a scatterbrained agenda. I was down there today to check it out. Peter Yarrow was there to perform. There was also the random drunk, drugged out kid trying to antogonize the police. They are decently organized except in their message. They need to lay aside the fringe groups and demands and deal with the key issues that all Americans can relate to. Mortgages, jobs and taxes.

I pass these guys on my way to work. It's a pretty diverse group...from genuine homeless people to respectable looking, white collar types.

Facts are that things need to change. There is a major divide between the rich and the poor and the status quo will destroy our nation if we don't solve some major problems.

The protests seem scatterbrained because there are so many things wrong with this country, but somebody has to do something to get the ball rolling.

If you have better ideas on how to fix things, by all means, try. But you should respect those who are willing to put themselves out there to fight for justice.

Feeding the Protest: Giant Subs, Pizzas and ?Too Many Apples?

Wall Street Journal
By Jessica Firger



A protester washed dishes at the protesters? camp in Zuccotti Park on Monday.
For the anti-Wall Street protesters, feeding the hundreds of people camped out inside a small Manhattan park around the clock has been relatively easy so far. Much of the food just appears thanks to support from strangers.

That?s how Anj Ferrara, a 24-year-old protester from Jersey City, came to partake in a small portion of the eight 6-foot-long sub sandwiches that helped fed the Occupy Wall Street crowd at lunchtime on Monday. The gigantic sandwiches were the gift of an anonymous corporate donor, Ferrara said.

?We have a lot of food. It?s been amazing,? she said. ?The more people we have the more food seems to come in.?

The scene at the food area operates like a very orderly buffet during meal times. Monday?s lunch also included fruit bouquets from Edible Arrangements ? not exactly the sort of fare associated with street demonstrations.

As the protest enters its third week at Zuccotti Park, keeping an ample supply of food has not yet been a challenge for the self-appointed organizers.

?We actually have so much food now we?re probably going to donate some to a shelter,? said Jeannette Aybar, a 24-year-old protester, in an interview Sunday afternoon. ?A lot of apples ? too many apples.?

According to Aybar, the protesters? organizing committee had been fielding emails from people looking to donate money or food. With some of the edible supplies, volunteers have gone to some restaurant kitchens to prepare meals for the protesters.


Kevin Hagen for The Wall Street Journal
Pizzas donated by supporters near and far have been a staple of the protesters? diet since the beginning.
?Nice people in the area are lending us their kitchen, and we go there early to cook,? she said.

Donated pizzas have also been in steady supply, and many of those pies come from Liberatos Pizzaria, located just blocks from the protest. Telly Liberatos, 29, the son of the restaurant?s owner, said he had lost count of the number of pies delivered to the protesters.

?I don?t even count,? he said, estimating about 200 pizzas sent to the park each day, with more over the weekend. A Twitter account linked to the protest has listed the pizzeria?s contact information for those who wish to send food, Liberatos said.

Donors have used an online ordering system to deliver pizzas from across Western Europe; domestically, Liberatos noticed a high number of orders coming from Wisconsin and Los Angeles.

The pizzeria has even developed a special, dubbed the ?Occu Pie,? specifically for the protest. It sells for $15 ? a $6 discount, according to Liberatos ? and features a line of pepperoni across the middle, in the manner of the ?Ghostbusters? logo.

For some participants, lunchtime has been an easy opportunity to support the protest while taking a break from work in a nearby office.

Patrick Harrison, a 25-year-old resident of Park Slope, Brooklyn, took his lunch of beef stew and asparagus to Zuccotti Park on Monday. He said he works for the city in social services.

?I always eat lunch down here,? he said. ?This is very charming, I say that seriously.?

http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2011/ ... zzas-and-too-many-apples/

I have a whole different angle on the subject of college.

Employability aside, I think that many of these protesters DID go to college, but are still going there, at least in their minds. Many of them fall under the category of what I call "career protesters".

When I was in college, I did my share of protests. It was a good way to meet chicks. Then I grew up and entered the real world, quickly realizing that occupying streets and inconveniencing a lot of people (including perhaps, some people that these protesters mean to help) never really led to any real progress in the long run.

My days as a radical were fun, got my share of hot dates out of it too, I always managed to figure out which ones actually bathed regularly and kept the hair out of their armpits.

If these people on Wall Street want to be taken the slightest bit seriously, they need to start taking the occasional shower. I caught the downwind smell too.

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I have been watching the protestors for the past couple weeks from the office:

They had Nekkid women for a while, but I think the NYPD finally shut that down. Or maybe it just got too cold. The signs the women carried weren't exactly clear as to what message they were trying to express.

At one point, the Wall Street protestors got forced out by some anti-death penalty group.

I have seen signs demanding the end to the Federal Reserve to independence for Puerto Rico.

These people really need a shower. Being downwind of them is.. well.. potent to say the least.

They spend most of the day now banging on drums.

The group is mostly 20 something white kids with a few aging hippies mixed in. How do these people afford to live? When I got out of college, I had to scramble during a recession to find a job. I had rent to pay and needed to put cash away to replace my beater car.

A coherent answer to some of the questions about purpose are available in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yrT-0Xbrn4&feature=player_embedded

So what is the end game? A protest and strength in numbers is a great way to get attention, but what are they actually proposing to do to change the status quo? I haven't really seen any suggestions being made on that end.

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You've actually missed the point of college. College is not a vocational training facility.