Occupy Wall Street: News Round-Up

Here's some of what I've been reading this morning...

CNN—Mayor visits NYC protesters, orders cleaning of park:

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg met with Occupy Wall Street protesters Wednesday evening and informed them that the private park where they have been staying for nearly four weeks will be cleaned on Friday, according to a statement from the Deputy Mayor for Operations Cas Holloway.

The owners of Zuccotti Park have voiced their concern about the current "unsanitary conditions and considerable wear and tear on the park," the statement said.

"The Mayor is a strong believer in the First Amendment and believes that the protesters have a right to continue to protest," Holloway said in the statement. He added that the current situation in the park is "not in the best interests of the protesters, residents or the City."

The cleaning will be done in several stages, and when certain areas are cleaned, protesters will be able to come back to the park if they obey the rules set forth by the owners Brookfield Properties, the statement said.

Zuccotti Park was built for the general public.

"I'm glad that he finally found what we were doing important enough to visit after dismissing it for several weeks," Tyler Combelic, a member of the press relations work group for Occupy Wall Street told CNN. "I'm hoping that the city will be willing to work with the Occupy Wall Street occupiers in arranging a way to get the cleaning done, which both does not disturb the encampment nor does it too greatly impede on the cleaning process," Combelic said.

This whole "cleaning" thing strikes me as vaguely ominous. I hope this is not, but fear that it is, a mendacious opening salvo in passive-aggressively ending the protests while crowing disingenuously about supporting First Amendment rights. It's that kind of nonsense that escalates peaceful protests into conflagrations. And it's always the protesters who get the blame, not the bullies who use horseshittery like "the park is dirty boo-hoo" to justify their insidious silencing agenda.

NY Daily News—Lech Walesa, former Polish president, to visit New York in support of Occupy Wall Street:

Solidarity hero Lech Walesa is flying to New York to show his support for the Occupy Wall Street protesters.

"How could I not respond," Walesa told a Polish newspaper Wednesday. "The thousands of people gathered near Wall Street are worried about the fate of their future, the fate of their country. This is something I understand."

A former shipyard worker who led Poland's successful revolt against Soviet communism, Walesa said "capitalism is in crisis" and not just in America.

"This is a worldwide problem," he told the Lublin-based Dziennik Wschodni newspaper. "The Wall Street protesters have focused a magnifying glass on the problem."

Wow.

Bloomberg—Buffett's Son Defends Occupy Wall Street:

Howard Buffett, the Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A) director and son of Chairman Warren Buffett, said Wall Street protesters were provoked by abuses from corporations amid a widening disparity between rich and poor.

"I think it takes that to make things happen sometimes," Howard Buffett, 56, said of the demonstrations in an interview yesterday in Des Moines, Iowa. Over the past 15 years, "we saw large corporations really screw people."

...Warren Buffett, the world's third-richest person, has said he is concerned about inequity in the U.S. The younger Buffett, a farmer and philanthropist, said obtaining enough food has become more difficult for more people.

"There has never been a larger gap between earnings in this country," said Howard Buffett, who was in Des Moines to deliver a speech at the World Food Prize conference. "There has never been a time in my lifetime when the government is going to cut an incredible amount of programs that support poor people and feed them."

..."There has been class warfare going on," [Warren] Buffett, 81, said in a Sept. 30 interview with Charlie Rose on PBS. "It's just that my class is winning. And my class isn't just winning; I mean we're killing them."

Reuters—Poll: Most Americans aware of Wall Street protests: "A strong majority of Americans are aware of the Occupy Wall Street protests against U.S. economic inequality and a majority either view them favorably or do not have an opinion about them, a Reuters/Ipsos poll said on Wednesday. Eighty-two percent of Americans have heard of the protest movement, and 38 percent feel favorably toward it, the poll found. Thirty-five percent are undecided, and about one-fourth—24 percen—are unfavorable."

News from Occupy Cincinnati: Politicians weigh in on Occupy Cincinnati.

News from Occupy San Francisco: Police arrest Occupy San Francisco protesters at Wells Fargo headquarters.

News from Occupy Austin: Four arrested as protesters moved away from City Hall.

News from Occupy Minnesota: Occupy Minnesota Protesters Take Aim at Twin Cities Banks.

News from Occupy Indianapolis: Occupy Indianapolis protests Perry event.

News from Occupy Boston: Occupy Boston Protesters in It for the Long Haul.

News from Occupy Omaha: Occupy Omaha calls for 'End to Corporate Greed'.

News from Occupy Atlanta: Mayor says Woodruff Park occupation can continue until Monday afternoon.

News from Occupy Chicago: Robin Hoods Storm Mortgage Banksters Conference in Chicago.




That is hardly a comprehensive list. There are Occupy events all over the country. It's beautiful.

Meanwhile, David and Echidne highlight exactly what it is that these protests are all about. Privileged cluenessness in the extreme.