witness to the occupation...

#occupyoakland - Dailykos 11/3/01

I'd say shutting down the port yesterday served a purpose.

#occupyobama - Alternet 10/24/11

I missed this somehow, but I'm loving the momentum being built up.

#occupymitchmcconnell - The Political Carnival 11/3/11

Bullseye, unemployed folk!

witness to the #occupation...

#occupyusa - The Nation 11/1/11

Greg Mitchell's Occupy Blog...

#occupywallstreet - The Raw Story 11/1/11

Sens. Durbin and Udall introduce a Constitutional Amendment to overturn the egregious "Citizens United" SCOTUS decision.  And I cannot imagine that the timing could be better in terms of wind being at your back.

witness to the occupation...

#occupywallstreet - The Raw Story 11/1/11

Lawyer wants 'psycho' NYPD cop charged...

witness to the #occupation...

#occupywallstreet - Dailykos 10/31/11

NYPD sending in drunks to disrupt Zuccotti Park?

#occupynashville - The Raw Story 10/31/11

Now it's Tennessee that receives a Halloween treat: And does a man's heart good to see pockets of public officialdom exhibiting calm and reason in response to overzealous posturing by certain state governors.

Also, video via the Huffington Post of a news reporter being swept up in an arrest of 29 #occupiers in Nashville.

... and it ain't even halloween--yeesh!

A moment ago outside the cafe...

Now, I ask you: Who needs this shit!?

witness to the #occupation...

#occupycairo - Boing Boing 10/28/11...

Remember during the Arab Spring and the march on Tahrir Square by Egyptians objecting to the rule of Hosni Mubarak, and the good guys among us were saying "Walk Like an Egyptian?" Well, international good will is a two way street!--this, in support of #occupyoakland.

Hey, if corporations can go international, then why not We The People, eh?

#occupyoakland - The Raw Story 10/29/11...

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan sounded a conciliatory note to the #occupy movement in her town, and met with Scott Olsen, the U.S. Marine who was clocked in the noggin by a police tear-gas canister, and who is now listed in fair condition, an upgrade from his earlier critical reading.  Mayor Quan apparently has miles to go, figuratively speaking, before the occupiers of Ogawa Plaza forgive the perceived heavy-handedness of her police force a few nights prior.  Stay tuned.

Addendum - Crooks and Liars 10/27/11...

You must, must see the Charlie Rose interview of Amy Goodman of Democracy Now and Truthdig's Chris Hedges. It is illuminating and it is compelling, and best of all... it is encouraging!

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."

#occupy update...

#occupyoakland - The Raw Story 10/26/11...

What can you say about the burning need of our elected officials who moonlight as corporate apologists (Or is that the other way around?) to break up a lawful assembly of peaceful protesters because the president was in the next town jacking his jaw, or the mayor just grew tired of the great unwashed thinking they had these things called "rights?"

Rubber bullets, rock-hard canvas beanbags fired from shotguns (if you watched the "Jackass" movies you saw up close how nasty those things hurt) and flash/bang stun grenades all were employed by the thin blue line as if they were giggling boys with toys. This in concert  with efforts by police across the country in busting or just busting up We The People--the awesome NY State Police in Albany excepted--smells of the Department of Homeland Security's, if not the CIA's, involvement, either or both owing George Orwell his props.

#occupyobama - Truth-Out.org 10/22/11...

I'm loving this idea. Since no Progressive Democrat will primary Obama prior to the general election, why not get the #occupy movement to turn out en masse wherever he campaigns and do as he urged before he lost the House, hold him accountable. It could also be interesting to find out if there will be many Obama supporters who won't want to be affiliated with the movement, and how often the police will have to intervene from campaign stop to campaign stop in order to keep the more vocal of the lot in line.

Barry wanted to co-opt the #occupy movement? How 'bout the #occupy movement co-opt Barry?

conspiring to occupy wall street...

Alicia and I'd been texting back & forth for the better part of the afternoon as we did pretty much everyday anyway, but now we'd been talking about our road trip to the Big Apple.

This all started earlier in the week when I rather glibly texted as an aside, "Wanna go occupy Wall Street?"

"We must!" she replied nearly instantly, incorporating an inside coo of which I wouldn't go into detail.  Suffice it to say it was my indicator that she was serious and passionate about wanting to do it.

Alicia and I both like to wax or wane on Facebook, and I on Twitter, about the issues we take with the powers that be, on Wall Street, Capitol Hill, and at the White House.  And she took my impulse and pumped some reality into it.  "We have to back up our words," she insisted. "It's now or never!"

I could only agree.

We'd need a place to crash, of course. We're not protest veterans after all, and neither of us are of means. And we're not college kids anymore either.  I'm a 50-something grizzled dude with knee issues, and she's a mother of 3, accustomed to the comforts of family living, and living well at that. As such, neither of us was bent on sleeping on a park bench, under a shelter-half if we were lucky, or in a soggy cardboard box maybe, or, worst-case scenario, in a jail cell, say, at Rikers Island.

And, well, y'know, I have family and friends.  No man is rich as he, you see. I could make some calls.

My nephew Jesse, for example, is an accomplished jazz & classical pianist with space in Brooklyn. But he'd been on the road touring up & down the midwest. I could sense he was exhausted and likely would rather not be entertaining just now.  Timing's bad, I get that.  Fair enough!

So I called Mikey D., a buddy from alumni softball in D.C. a few years back.  He hangs out a shingle in suburban Jersey, and, after giving it some thought, was amenable to putting us up... after he cleared it with the Mrs., of course. Besides, we're in the early stages of a collaboration on a political novel and could kill two birds as it were during some downtime from the protest.

So, we were good to drive to Jersey and ride the commuter rail into Grand Central for the Occupation.  That is until Rob called me yesterday. He and I were thick as thieves for a time, off & on since freshman year back in '80, but recently more off than on. I hadn't heard from Rob in months.

"Are you going to Manhattan this weekend?" he asked.

"How the Hell d'you know?"

"Alicia and Jen have been chatting online."

"I'll be damned!" I said.

As it turned out, Rob's a huge sympathizer to the cause and, unable to come in person, offered to help with some of the travel expenses.  I was agog and told him I wouldn't say no.

We talked some more, which then prompted him to remember his father owned an apartment on the east side near the United Nations, and which was, for the moment, unoccupied. When it rains, it pours.  "And?" I asked, my cup runnething over.  And, he continued, his father might let us use it.

"Wow, fantastic!" Alicia squealed when I told her.

Rob texted me the good news this morning: His father too was sympathetic to the cause. So, "Yes!"

"Hot damn!" I exclaimed, thanking him, and I asked that he please extend our thanks to his father.

I called Mikey D. to thank him and his Mrs. again, but that we'd be staying in Manhattan, just up the street from the Bears and the Bulls and the 3-piece suits and the cliche suspenders and the expensive cigars... and, uhh, the cops.

But, yeah: Wow, fantastic!

Manhattan, here we come!

Sunday.

with a dash of attitude...

This was my blog before I "branded," i.e., before I decided to come out from behind the curtain in order to blog in my own name.

Henceforth, I am who I am: Ammons.