When I arrived with the crowd at 46th street, NYPD basically stopped us from entering the square, but it was the blue-jacketed community relations officers that courteously explained to us that there was no room, and it would be unsafe. So instead we went to 45th street and had no problem.

Also, as we marched, I spoke with one officer briefly, when I said, you know we’re in this together, she said, oh I know it!

You were also “deeply skeptical” this would ever get any traction at all from the very beginning.   You have been utterly and completely proven wrong and become more and more wrong as this continues to expand despite your naysaying.

I can’t seem to figure out how to do a search on posts on BoingBoing now that they have changed the discussion system, but I am pretty sure I never said anything to imply the current state is never going to happen.  In fact, I have been pretty much positive on the idea that there is a large wave of anger towards the economy that could roll into a real populist movement.  I have been and remain skeptical that the forward momentum they have can be translated into action.  To me, the plan looks a bit too much like.

1) Protest anger against economic pain
2) Build protest movement
3) ????
4) End to corporate rule!

And, once again… what do you hope to achieve with your negative rhetoric here?  I mean, you almost seem obsessed with naysaying this movement and it’s only getting more incessant.  Why?

And this gets to the heart of it.  I don’t have a believer gene in my body.  I am a skeptic and am more interested in figuring out what is wrong rather than imaging utopian dreams of how it could all work out perfect in the end.

Skepticism is a good thing.  History is littered with the corpses of people who thought that blind belief was enough to overcome all obstacles and that if they were just righteous enough they would have victory.  I look at step 3 on the path to victory and think that just hoping it will sort itself out about is a bit daft.  Granted, I know that looking on things I more or less agree with with even a whiff of skepticism as to their ability to succeed revokes my TRUE BELIEVER status, but I can deal.  I’m not a true believer.  I’m a skeptic, and I hope that my skepticism spurs someone to think for a few seconds as to how to achieve the goal, rather than blindly fumble on hoping that victory lands in their lap.

Maybe you should look at yourself Cowicide.  You some how managed to take a few paragraphs that I posted that all support exactly what Occupy is doing and how they are doing it, ignore them, and fixate with zealous rage on the two sentences that express mild skepticism.  I am going to go out on a limb here and guess that you were not raised in a highly religious house, or that if you were, you had poor relations with them.  I think there is a pretty non-zero chance that if you had, you would be beating me with a Bible right now screaming “Nonbeliever!” at the first sign that I am a godless heathen.  

and LA.

and Boston, and Philadelphia, Denver, Austin, El Paso, Sacramento, Portland, Seattle, Albuquerque, Nashville, Atlanta, Miami, Montreal, Mexico City, Caracas, Managua, Bogota, Lima, Buenos Aires, Sao Paolo, Honolulu, Manila, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Cairo, Moscow, Athens, Rome, London, Madrid, Dublin, Berlin, Leipzig, Cologne, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Mogadishu, Brussels, Reykjavik, Cardiff, Stockholm, Ontario, Adelaide, Sydney, Perth, and hundreds of other places around the world.  meetup.com/occupytogether

As far as DC, I’m here, with 200-400 people every night, and on weekends around 1000-1500.  we march on the white house, the capitol, the washington monument, the world bank, the chamber of commerce, etc, etc, etc.  we are getting heard and noticed.  New York is a nexus because New York has the highest gini coefficient of any state in the country and because New York was the first protest in this round of feather-rufflings.  New York is fighting a New York fight, and this ethos has spread, so DC fights a DC fight, LA fights an LA fight, America fights an American fight, and the world fights a world fight.

The core concept behind a 99% consensus is that, by definition, you will never get 1 opinion.  just about everybody agrees, however, that something way up there in terms of collective perspective orientation, is fundamentally wack.  almost none of these people (us) are economists, senators, or experts on social policy, but we know instinctively that the world is being run on unchecked capitalistic aggression, and that this has produced profound socialized, globalized losses, and gaudy privatized profits.the idea here is to engage in living occupation AS an eyesore and a conversation starter, while marching and making noise to attract the attention of our federal democratic republic, both its population and its institutions, to enact legal redress by those of us who have been elected to represent the concerns of their constituents, the people.  the American Civil Rights movement gained a majority of its momentum by marching en masse and taking control of the nation’s dinner tables and tv screens until it could not be ignored.

this is the organizing principle of an occupation, to get in the way until you cannot be ignored, until the fish stop swimming around you asleep.  the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

For starters humans generate wealth, it’s not a zero-sum game.

The problem runs deeper. The very design of the current system is broken in addition to the way the system functions. We can no longer afford to take aspirin and hope that it will cure our brain tumour as well as our headache.

Frankly, because if they protested in DC, they’d get less coverage, and your complaint would read like this….

“If they want a solution, why the hell are they protesting in front of Congress and the White House? What does picking a fight with the DCPD get them?  Not to mention screwing up things for the actual working people in DC. You think the politcos care about this?  The rich people you pretend to be bothering aren’t bothered one bit.”

… at least in NY, they get some press coverage too.

Until we remember that the poor are tough and stringy and the rich are soft and tender.

It’s time for the police to join the American public and show true courage in the face of injustice.  That would truly scare the living shit out of those in power.

So how about it, good cops?  You wanna do something incredible in your lifetime?  

Put aside your fear…. and join us.  A lot of you guys are adrenaline junkies anyway…. at least do it for the rush.  Don’t tell me you don’t get a tingle up your spine at just the thought of having this much audacity.  Many of you are already heros in the cities you live in for all your bravery in keeping citizens safe… now’s your chance to be an American hero.

Once in a lifetime opportunity.  Be on the right side of history.  Cowards need not apply.

Why are the protesting in NYC?

It’s seems to be getting some minute amount of attention there.  They wanted to do it in Bumpus Mills, Tennessee but they couldn’t get the permits there.

The Occupy movement has a lot of problems.

Speak for yourself.

I personally am deeply skeptical that they have the capacity to turn anger and attention into action.

You were also “deeply skeptical” this would ever get any traction at all from the very beginning.   You have been utterly and completely proven wrong and become more and more wrong as this continues to expand despite your naysaying.

You’ve lost all credibility.

And, once again… what do you hope to achieve with your negative rhetoric here?  I mean, you almost seem obsessed with naysaying this movement and it’s only getting more incessant.  Why?

.. in the off-world colonies!

Following the US answer to the Arabs’ Spring, let’s hope then that after the American Fall some of these wretched CEO banksters start to enjoy life again  … as they become happy hobos

The best thing that can come out of these protests is an ongoing dialog about the problems in our society.  Once that happens, we can start to think about solutions.  

These protests are the start of a very long, and profound change.

The doctor may be 100 times happier than the hobo, but the CEO is not 100 times happier than the doctor.

then there was the amazing moment (around 6:15PM EST) were 100′s of people lit sparklers & sang “This Little Light of Mine”. http://yfrog.com/hw3r7msj 

then a declaration was made: ”We are here to reignite the light of democracy. To celebrate the birth of a new world. A world by and for The 99 Percent.”

at about 6:30PM EST the police asked us to leave and — using the peoples’ microphone — we asked the crowd to move east of Broadway, towards Rockefeller center. because the NYPD had the square’s pedestrian paths barricaded off into separate sections, I believe it was only our section who actually got the message and cleared the area without incident.

(there was no need for tomatoes.)

^Anyone in NYC: feel free to appropriate my suggestion.

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/10/income-gain-distribution-1917-81-82-2000-2001-08/