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Tue, 10 Jul 2012 00:06:00 -0400

Why I'm an Omnivore.

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 00:16:13 -0400

Omnivores, if you don’t know, are animals that can eat both grass and meat.

I’ll start by asking some questions:

Humans don’t eat each other… most don’t anyway, so no questions need to be asked there.

We do eat plants and animals though. So let’s ask an animal how it feels about us eating it. While we’re at it let’s ask plants and grains how they feel about us eating them. Also, may as well go the extra mile and ask plants how they feel about animals eating them.

I suppose we could ask water how it feels about us drinking it… and then peeing it out into it… Could also ask water how it feels that plants drink it too. Maybe ask a plant what it thinks water tastes like, or any of the other animals that drink it for that matter. No need to ask ourselves how water tastes…

It’s only fair to ask other animals how they taste to each other and what they think about each other eating each other. That’s fair, right?

Oh yeah, I forgot another player. We should probably ask the sun how it feels about all life on earth feeding off its energy and nutrients. Yeah, that sounds reasonable. I guess we could also ask the sun of its opinions on solar panels. Would it prefer us to use oil as our primary means of energy production? Does oil mind that we use it?!

Yeah, this is so circular and there’s too much permission needed from non-sentient organisms…

I’m an Omnivore because meat tastes fucking good!

Photo

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 15:06:55 -0400

#Occupypep

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 15:00:00 -0400

(The following event took place on or around February 10th)

#Occupypep was insane. First I hung out with the crowd across the street from Brooklyn Technical High School. Heard some speak outs from politicians who of course said the generic crap about “students need education, can’t cut funding, blah blah blah.” Even heard from Marty Markowitz too. I heckled him personally about his dealings with Bruce Ratner.

If you aren’t keen to that subject. Markowitz allowed Bruce Ratner’s development of the Atlantic Yards complex in order to “create jobs and affordable housing.” Atlantic Yards forced a good number of businesses to close and forced many out their homes. The only housing which came from Atlantic Yards will be condos. Also, fyi, the jobs potentially created ended up being a lie as there is no money to build anything more than the stadium. Excuse me for digression.

So anyway after hearing some of the speak outs we headed inside to watch the Public Education Panel (PEP). The subject of the night, “to close 23 schools, or not to close 23 schools… that is the question.” Well I was expecting something along the lines of what we’ve already seen as Occupiers “mic-checked” Scott Walker, or Sarah Palin, or Obama. No, this was nothing like that.

I enter the auditorium and I see the mic-checking has already started. I think, “crap I need to get my camera out and start livestreaming.” Then I get a little closer and realize “wait, they aren’t stopping.” They didn’t stop, at all. The public session of the meeting (prior to the panel “discussion”) lasted 3 hours. During that time the Occupiers, UFT, Students in danger of losing their schools, and anyone else in opposition to the proposal of the night didn’t stop screaming, mic-checking, chanting, people’s micing, or even singing. A great many times the people’s mic (which consisted of the about 1000 pissed-off people in the auditorium) COMPLETELY drowned out ANYONE speaking on the microphone. It was unreal. At one point one of the people from the audience said into the microphone “I have NEVER seen ANYTHING like this before.”

There was one point when the students decided to leave the main auditorium to plan strategically. Then we found out the Police were giving them a hard time about coming back in. To which chants began “Let them in!! Let them in!!” They were eventually allowed back into the auditorium, but not without a brief confrontation with police who threatened to kick them out for good. For the record, I do not believe any arrests were made over the course of the night.

After the public portion of the night the panel members took a 5 minute break. Next they came back and had a “discussion” on whether or not it was a good idea to close the schools. One or two people spoke defiantly against the school closures. One person spoke, with MUCH stuttering, in favor of closing them. In the end, though ABC News apparently reported that 17 schools were closed down, it looked to me (while I was present) like they were all closed.

It’s worth noting that the voting panel’s members were comprised as follows

4 members elected by the populace (who all voted against the closure)

6 members elected by Bloomberg (who all voted for the closure).

If you would like to watch the actual footage check out my channel on ustream:

www.ustream.tv/user/stopmotionsolo It is titled “On the front lines February 9, 2012” I think Feb 10, may be the voting portion.

I always tweet when I will be streaming so feel free to follow me @stopmotionsolo

Also, one last note. As a general invitation to anyone who has lost their school or has fallen victim to this night events. Or if you know someone. You are ALL welcome to join us in future protests this spring and summer. Oh, it’s gonna be one HELL of a year :) …

Occupy is only dead if you say it is

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 15:12:08 -0500

As a general point of information:

To all those who think the Occupy movement is “dead.” My response, the movement is only dead if YOU say it is. The Occupiers who have been with the movement from the start have not rested a day since it began. Even though the numbers have dwindled since our Times Square march, or our walk over the Brooklyn Bridge; I can assure you there are far more than the original 20 members who decided to sleep in the park in the beginning. Whether or not it can resurface as a force to be reckoned with is up to just one thing. How much YOU want to come out and support. Occupiers can, and do, work tirelessly to feed one another and organize events every day, and build community. The only thing that will allow us to grow is whether or not YOU support it and work with what you have.

True there are problems with it. True we have issues with organization. However, considering the fact that there was NOTHING there when it started on September 17th, I’d say it’s come a long way. To put it into another perspective, the idea of “self-governance” has never actually been attempted in modern civilization (this eliminates Ancient Greece btw). We usually do not even pay attention to our lawmakers until an election year comes around. When the election year does come around the attitude is pretty much this: “Okay, this guy seems nice. Okay I’ll vote for you, just don’t fuck up.” Then we barely even think about the laws which are being passed for the next 2 years. Then we have a “choice” between Democrats and Republicans… again.

One obstacle for organization which Occupy has had to deal with is that we have NEVER self-governed before. So yeah this shit is not going to be easy… especially since it started as a bunch of really really really idealistic 20-year-olds. This is not to say government should be encouraged on us, but rather NO ONE should be afraid of the idea of self-governance and discussing the issues in a public forum. I understand that a smooth transition to “self-governance” in the grand scheme of things may be necessary to carry out. However, there’s no reason to hold our difficulties against us, at least we’re trying.

Allow me now to address quickly the issues of “leaderlessness” in the movement. It still is a leaderless movement, yes. True we don’t have a Martin Luther King Jr., or a Malcolm X, or anyone else to rally behind. However, if you think about it this way, I HARDLY think that MLK or Malcolm X were at every civil rights protest back in the 50’s and 60’s. No. Those courageous individuals marched on their own and stood proud on their own. There may have been a household name whom everyone could reference, but it’s not like those figureheads were in every state at once, and it’s certainly not like in-fighting didn’t occur.

One more thing, it’s a little hypocritical for everyone to keep voting for candidates who consistently disappoint us after being elected, meanwhile everyone seems to expect a group of protesters to have EVERY possible answer and for that reason maybe dismiss the movement if no answers are given. We cut slack to those whose “job” it is to know what they are doing but don’t cut any slack to those who are learning as they go along; but have some damned good ideas which might just need a little tweaking.

Now back to the original thought. Occupy is far from dead. Whether or not it becomes a MOVEMENT is up to YOU. We do not go out and impose our beliefs on others. We march a lot. We hold demonstrations a lot. We have discussions a lot. We do not however go out telling you what to think, that’s the Mass Media’s job :) All Occupy has ever wanted to do was expose the truth (which is evidence based) and work together to find solutions, and if you have different perspectives we’d LOVE your input.

Sure you would be welcome to knock the movement all you want for being “leaderless,” or “disorganized,” or having too much in-fighting, or lacking demands, but tell me this “do you have another option?” Sure you can start another protest organization and try to build it, but at the moment is there ANYTHING else out there with as notorious or formidable a name as Occupy Wall Street? Please let me know about it if you can think of it.

When I first went to the park back in September I was confused and after a week I didn’t know what the hell they were doing. It was disorganized, it was leaderless, it had no demands, and there was in-fighting. What made me stay was I had NEVER seen the discussions they were having in a before in my life IN A PUBLIC FORUM. This was not school, or amongst a bunch of friends in a park, or watching a debate on TV. This was a bunch of people from around the country, who’d never met one another before, trying to figure stuff out. Please if you can think of another place where that has happened recently I implore you to bring it to my attention. The only reason I stayed at Occupy after that first week was because my thinking was this: “Well shit, there are so many problems, but you know what? This country is starved for these kinds of discussions and I’ll take what I can get.”

So one more time I’ll tell you straight away the Occupiers are not stopping. They never will stop. You don’t go and sleep in a park on concrete only because you are pissed, and stop working when things get difficult. The question is: will you join us? The movement can only grow with public support. The only way the movement will “die” is if you ALLOW it to. The ball is in your court, do what you will, but we aren’t leaving anytime soon. Get used to it.

Livestreaming for Occupy Wall Street

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 00:31:30 -0500

If you want to help Occupy a great way to get involved (without even really doing much) is to become a livestreamer. If you have a smartphone get the ustream or the bambuzer app. It’s free to create an account on those sites. Once you’re set up all you have to do is this:

On ustream, open the app and select “go live.” next in the box you will see type in “#occupy.” If you are in New York put in “#occupynyc” if you are elsewhere im not positive but i would guess that just “#occupy” is a safe bet. Putting this into the stream name will allow those in the stream mixing studio to find your channel easier.

If you are using bambuser, open the app and on the top of the view screen you should see a place to name your stream again. Touch it (or however you select it) and then use “#occupy” or whatever.

FYI if you are on bambuser click on the “settings” icon before you set to record your stream (it looks like a wheel with cranks on it, if you aren’t tech savvy). The best video resolution that works without using too much memory is probably “320x240” (that’s how it was on my phone anyway). As far as “video quality” choose “better flow.”

No matter which service you use I recommend you get a 5 hour battery pack. If you don’t have one of these your phone battery will die within 20 minutes. Not good. Also, if you can afford the monthly fee, a 4G hotspot makes for better streaming quality as well. I personally use the 3G, and it’s not bad most of the time. You do what you can.

The differences between ustream and bambuser are as follows: bambuser is really just for streaming and doesn’t really allow for much interaction with audience members. It’s decent though. Ustream is a lot more interactive. You can stream but you can also chat with people as you stream. If you use bambuser you have to stop the stream to give updates.

When you use ustream there is an option to share with people on facebook and twitter what’s up as you stream. There is also an option to chat with people, as you are filming, who are tuned into your channel watching. This makes the experience more interactive for you and the viewer. It can also help if you need to eat something on the go. Say “I’m starving at such and such place please help.” A perfect example of this is my friend Tim Pool, who livestreamed for 21 straight hours on November 17th. His streams are always engaging and interactive and he always has a lot of spare equipment with him. However, he’s said that he used the chat feature to ask for supplies and any other forms of assistance (food, a jacket, water, another battery pack).

I should also mention that if you have your ustream account linked with facebook and twitter and youtube (I had to log in with a computer to assemble this feature) you can have your videos uploaded to those sites automatically after you finish streaming. Be aware though that if you stream for an hour YouTube wont take it (only 15 mins long… so fuck Google).

At this point I may as well promote my pages www.ustream.com/user/stopmotionsolo

On Bambuser I’m www.bambuser.com/channel/stopmotionsolo

I have videos uploaded to those sites already that I have streamed plus some of them are on my facebook.

My twitter is @stopmotionsolo

Fork

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 03:38:00 -0500

When the skies fill with fire,

Will we forget where we came from.

Be it a storm or a fallout,

Will our progression face never-ending drought?

From a time of primates

We have been guided by the North Star.

But upon reaching civilization…

Will the clouds become napalm?

Will we risk ourselves, gone.

The full reaching unity

Which maintains its potential…

Can it surpass its subtlety,

Hoisting the Earth to its next sequential?

It really is a collective effort

To exceed this precipice.

It requires the inherent generous

Feeling of our relevance.

An adult form of innocence.

The true beginning of our adolescence.

No longer the sun of a different

Solar System.

Admitting of our existence.

The start of pessimism?

The flow of intelligence

Embattling the troubled waters of consistency.

Unearth the benevolent

Evolution of monkey prodigies.

Adopt the atmosphere of Jupiter

Environmental collapse

Civilization reborn

Staring up, accepting of gas.

Two distinct possibilities.

Drastically different consistencies.

A new age of understanding reality.

Or environmental disaster produces…

Alzheimer’s in humanity.

All remedied still

With one simple solution.

Absolve oneself of ego.

Discipline creates conclusion.

Chanting the wrong things at marches

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 14:07:24 -0500

I really don’t get why, when marching, there are certain chants that do nothing but antagonize the police. A chant about Police Brutality like “From Oakland to Greece, Stop Police Brutality” makes sense. However a chant like “whoop whoop, that’s the sound of the police” does nothing put taunt someone to be violent. A chant like “Obama, come out, we’ve got some stuff to talk about” illustrates the idea that we’re pissed off but also that we want a discussion (it’s also kind of funny). However, in most cases a chant like “From Oakland to Greece, FUCK the police” doesn’t help anything.There are rare exceptions to this rule, for example when Zuccotti Park/Liberty Square was raided by a coordinated police attack then I’d say we had the right to chant about something the police were doing directly to them. However, in most cases, when the police are just following a march, and USUALLY just present in the case something should happen, why antagonize them. Granted it’s just a chant and unless a protester acts on it, which usually doesn’t happen, it’s nothing more than free speech. However, when we are all taking part in a chant that does nothing more than potentially antagonize a group of men trained in combat tactics who have billy clubs, pepper sprays, and guns on them, just because you have the freedom of speech to say something doesn’t mean you should take advantage of said freedom. Honestly, I’m REALLY glad these chants are NOT used very often because I personally hate them. They have nice rhythms I’m not gonna deny that, but we should all really be more mindful of what we’re saying. There are plenty of other chants that work just as well, which don’t potentially alienate people who are there primarily to keep order, but at the same time (when they are with their families) might be in the same position as the protesters.

Fighting Bullies

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 03:01:34 -0500

A comment on the recent trend against bullying. How about this? Instead of ceaselessly analyzing the bully and what makes him tick, and just how much psychological damage is inflicted upon the victim, lets add a few things to the mixture: First, get the bullies parents to be responsible. Second, talk to the victim and get him/her to stand up for themselves. Not necessarily violently, but it’s not like bullying will ever end so how about we encourage the victim to start developing his/her own self-esteem a little early and tell them “no, you are very much worthy of yourself, be strong!!” See this way we can start helping the victims too, making them stronger, instead of just trying to get the bullies to listen. Both reprimanding the bully AND helping the victim can build much needed character.

Perspectives

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 17:50:46 -0500

So these days, if you look up 1 sentence descriptions of any historical figure, and it tries to put them in a positive light it will always say “this person had a great respect for people, and always donated to the poor.” If we lived back 50 years ago and were looking the person up then we’d probably see this “this person hated black people, jews, and hispanics. the irish were growing on him but he could do without them. he never wanted women to vote though. most important though, he was a WASP.”

Thoughts

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 16:26:00 -0500

“It’s never thrilling to watch mass demise when you know it’s because people are too stupid to open their eyes.”

Livestreaming Police

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:25:38 -0500

I am a livestreamer for Occupy Wall Street and I want to make note of something. Whenever I’m livestreaming, and I stream police officers in riot gear, I am NOT streaming them for the sake of ridicule or insult.

During most marches it is pretty obvious that Occupiers just walk forward and 90% of us remain nonviolent, respectful, and responsible the entire time. If I film an arrest taking place, it’s because it is my duty as a streamer to do so. However, if I just stream a line of motorcycles, or a line of 10 police in riot gear, or 30 police officers standing around 30 protesters (when they are not interacting with the protesters besides following us), I am streaming them for one reason: A comment on a lack of efficient use of resources by the NYPD. By this I mean the commissioner, or the individual who decides where police officers are stationed, and how many are used.

Speaking from personal experience there is ABSOLUTELY no way in world that if there is a march of 20 people, half of whom are middle-aged citizens, there is a need for 20 police officers to walk next to us. I can understand stationing up to 10 officers. However, if there is no guarantee of a riot, and there never is, there is no reason to have so many officers. There are a good number of precincts all around the boroughs in New York. If need be the officers on duty can radio for back-up and a multitude of officers can EASILY arrive in seconds. Therefore there is a serious lack of judgement on the part of whomever it is deciding who is stationed, where they are stationed, and how many are stationed. Furthermore, this is a WASTE of tax dollars.

Having said this, please watch my livestream channel at www.ustream.tv/user/stopmotionsolo

My twitter handle is @stopmotionsolo follow me and whenever I am about to stream I will send out a tweet about it.

You can also watch www.globalrevolution.tv for the “official” studio feed of the protests, which splices several feeds together for different angles.

The Republican Race

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:43:32 -0500

So people keep focusing on the Republican race for the Presidential Nomination. My feeling is, I’d never vote for them anyway so I really just don’t give a shit. The only REALLY absurd thing I’ve heard from the Republicans is when Newt Gingrich said he wanted to colonize the moon. Not “let’s go to moon!!” He said to “colonize it.” I mean, sure Newt, if everyone wants to walk around in a space suit for the rest of their lives I suppose it’s in their right to do so. If a parent wants to risk the possibility of throwing their child up into the moon’s “atmosphere” too hard, and seeing it leave the gravitation pull of the moon, I suppose that is their prerogative as well. Everything else I’ve heard reported on though, through the grapevine hasn’t surprised me one bit; which probably says something about the current state of affairs in the country as well. Not to mention how desensitized we probably all are. No matter what, I’m still not gonna vote Republican. I just really hope if people insist on making fun of it they’ll be less likely to vote for them in the end.

Internet and the Post Office

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 03:55:27 -0500

I was hanging out at the Occupy office a few days ago having a discussion about the following issue:

There are plenty of people in this country with very sub-par internet connections. Due to monopolies, providers have no interest in providing better services as they are faced with little to no competition. The public suffers greatly as a result of this. The providers also keep raising their rates and losing customers because their customers simply cannot afford said rates. The discussion then turned to the United States Postal Service’s recent filing for bankruptcy.

I said, “Well, yeah, things like Gmail made mail delivery instantaneous.” The person responded, “Yeah, but the postal service is a country-wide entity, instead of just filing for bankruptcy why didn’t they try and compete with the internet providers? Make their own internet service. It would be the perfect adaptation with the times, and they wouldn’t have to go out of business.”

He's written tons of speeches, essays, and books on it. You don't have to read between the lines. Pay attention. He's specific: you don't have a right to force someone to labor for you. A right to HAVE health care, like youu phrase it, is a right to force someone to perform health-related labor on you. He's been clear.

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 04:45:13 -0500

You don’t have a right to force someone to labor for you. Absolutely right. However, the way I phrase having healthcare would not be a doctor being forced to provide care. The way I see it, the doctor would receive more than adequate compensation for his services. Also, according to the doctor’s ethical code to preserve life and health (which they all take when they become doctors) there would be no enforced labor as, unless they are insincere as they take their oath, they would want to help anyone.

In the current system, and I’ve seen plenty of these circumstances, the first question the medics and doctors always ask is “does he have insurance?” I really don’t think it should be a question whether or not the person has insurance as it would be if they are paying for it. It would be a given that the person has the coverage and the proceeding treatment, cure, or medical care would be provided.

Ron Paul can be sneaky with words too

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 02:35:00 -0500

Just a real quick note about Ron Paul. He is certainly consistent in his views on ending wars, auditing the Fed, and ending the drug war. He’s even consistent about his views of universal healthcare. It think it must be noted though, in his own way, he’s just as sneaky as the rest of them.

He has said everyone should have the freedom to choose whether or not we have healthcare. However, from Ron Paul’s view we don’t have the freedom to choose whether or not we HAVE healthcare. We have the freedom to choose whether or not we PAY for it in the first place. Freedom to choose whether or not we have healthcare would mean that EVERYONE has EQUAL access to quality healthcare, but we can choose whether or not we decide to go the doctor. When you have the freedom to choose whether or not you PURCHASE healthcare it means that you don’t have quality healthcare at all unless you decide you want to BUY it. I totally support the idea of deciding whether or not you ever go to the doctor. However, I think you should have the OPTION no matter what. What everyone has access to now is NOT equal quality. If you pay you have better healthcare than if you don’t. The way Ron Paul puts it, everyone would NOT have that option. I should also make note of the fact that EVERY other developed country in the world has universal healthcare.

New Year's Eve with Occupy Wall Street (detailed account)

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 03:45:00 -0500

(NOTE: I will be a livestreamer for future events so if you are interested follow me @stopmotionsolo on twitter and my watch www.ustream.tv/user/stopmotionsolo)

I don’t think I’ve ever had a more exciting New Year’s Eve. I’m going to try to recount the night’s events chronologically… This might be difficult haha.

I got to Zuccotti Park around 9 o’clock at night. The General Assembly is in session and the Police are not letting anyone enter the park because the protesters have pitched a small tent and are surrounding it. I head to the top of the steps on Broadway to at least hear what is being discussed in the General Assembly. This didn’t really help much because of the general commotion and the lack of mic checking for those outside the barricades. I am offered a chance to hop the fence, I decline with the impression that there’s no rush.

Now the police are entering the park to remove the tent. I head to the entrance area of the barricades to see what’s up. The police leave the park with the tent and there’s is a great deal of arguing. Police remaining silent and focused, protesters yelling at them asking “is this really your job?!!” The Police continue to seal off the park as some protesters try to push their way in to no avail. At one point an officer pushes a protester, cue EVERY camera. The officers regain their composure immediately. Tensions remain for a few more moments until we are finally allowed into Liberty Square. I should say that this tension exists throughout the duration of the entire night.

Now I’m inside the park and some people are holding an American flag and gathering by a wall. A disclaimer is offered by a fellow protester saying “you can stay by the wall running the risk of being escorted out, or you can come away from it and have a good time.”

Tensions remain high but we are all having quite a good time. Time to march. We head to the Wall Street bull. Large crowd here as well. Plenty of people chanting “Whose Bull?!! OUR BULL!!” A few people dancing in the street, one person doing what appears to be ballet. After remaining there for a few minutes we decided to head to back down Broadway, with a surprise change of direction at Wall Street. At this point I’m on high alert because the protesters are acting far more unpredictable than I am used to. As we head down Wall Street we take a quick stop at a statue of George Washington outside Federal Hall to stand with it and wave our flags as true Patriots. Watching us as we do so are two three policemen on horses with the New York Stock Exchange and the blood-red beam of light painting its columns.

Now we continue on down Wall Street. Here and there a few people knock over barricades while the majority are just having a good time. One person keeps doing trapeze acrobatics on scaffolding. The police keep telling us to get out of the street, this will be a recurring theme throughout the rest of the night. I should also comment on another chant I hear at one point. “Who’s in charge?!! No one.” I think that’s obvious at this point fellas.

We turn two corners and head back up to Broadway. I say to the scaffold gymnast as he’s in the process of a routine “Dude, it’s probably not best to be up there right now.” Another protester approaches me at this point and says “Dude, when you tell someone not to do something it offends me. We have to stand in solidarity with one another.” My response to him, “If someone had a gun and was about to kill someone, and I told them to stop would you have a problem with me then.” He was a little conflicted at this point and lacking a response. I just said “I don’t want this kid to get arrested.” His response “That’s his choice.” This much I have to agree on. What I should have said instead was “For safety reasons, I want him to stop.” According to the Occupy Wall Street Principles of Solidarity a “block” is something used only for strong moral, ethical or safety concerns. This would have been the most appropriate response at this point but whatever.

Next we take a stop by a bunch of steps for a quick moment of chanting and then a short moment of silence for those dying in Cairo and other oppressed places around the world. Someone then does a quick mic-check. “Excuse me” (crowd repeats) “This is very important.” “Does anyone have…” “A cigarette.” Everyone laughs.

Now the crowd decides to go back to Zuccotti Park. Once we get back it’s pretty fun, but people are already trying to take down the barricades here and there. All the police are in Times Square to supervise the ball drop crowd so there aren’t more than maybe 50 cops by Zuccotti. At this point, in an attempt to just keep order on things, I do a mic-check myself. “Attention” “Please, I want everyone to have a good time” “It’s New Years” “Protest” “But” “Be mindful” “There are children here” “We don’t them getting hurt” “Try to be safe” “As we express our rights.” More than likely parents have taken their kids home by now but I figured I’d try and say something to keep a lid on things.

Didn’t work too well. Now is when things start to get insane. The group which had been doing a noise demo by the nearby precinct at 150 park row in protest of the Prison Industrial Complex returns to the park. The energy rises. Now there is a scuffle by the side closest to Wall Street. I am staying clear on the opposite side of the park from this and inching my way forward. Reports are mace was used. Arrests are made. Next thing I know someone is walking towards me with a metal barricade over their head.

This begins the next phase of the night. Reclaiming the park. Over the course of the next 30 minutes a massive pile of metal barricades grows in the middle of Liberty Square as protesters keep removing the gates. Next, people are standing on the gates chanting “All week, all year, we’ll still be here.” The other, more ironic chant from atop the pile of gates was “love!” It’s a massive party though at this point. Complete with people waving American flags from above the pile of gates and some people holding the OCCUPY WALL STREET banner. It was awesome.

That pretty much sums up the first part of the night. Midnight comes and EVERYONE is in massive celebration. A champagne bottle is popped and sprayed across the protesters, I’m confident I smell some marijuana. Everyone is dancing and a few were chanting “A-Anti-Anti-capi-talis-ta.”

I needed to sit down at this point and take a breather. As soon as I sit down I see someone looking sick. She says she has a stomach ache so I get her some water. Now I can sit down. My feet thank me.

I remain seated for about 10 minutes. Someone asks me if I think this will get any media coverage. My response “Doubtful, there’s no media here. Also the media has blacked this out and put the movement off as dead.” I tell him that at this point, as the media has played off the movement as being dead it’s up to us to spread the word and grow the movement. We’re not gonna get any more help.

The decision now is to march again. (Note: at this point in the story I will only mention a few street names here and there because the direction was, well, all over the place). We start on Trinity Place and march for about a block before heading towards Broadway. We then turn left. Pretty much the entire night we keep going into the streets, despite continued police efforts to get us out of the streets. We take a left turn away from City hall, reach Trinity Place and take another left back towards Zuccotti. Ultimately we end up on Broadway again. We’re all just having a good time. There’s no other way to put it. A few people toss over a garbage can, or knock over a traffic cone here and there, but the majority are just walking forward not causing any trouble.

After walking for a few blocks on Broadways we take a right turn away from city hall and continue for a few blocks before turning left. We are heading in the direction of Foley Square at this point. Pretty much the entire time we are in the streets. Traffic was slow though so we didn’t disrupt much. Here and there a few by standers were cheering us on as we marched. After about a block the Police start rushing up behind us and everyone starts rushing forward. They keep trying to get us onto the sidewalks but it’s accomplishing absolutely nothing.

At Beekman and Nassau Streets is when I saw the most messed up part of the night, and I wish I got this on film. From a diagonal view across the intersection, as marchers were crossing and not causing any trouble (if you consider marching trouble you should be ashamed of yourself), a Police car drives up and stops short almost hitting the protesters. Three protesters had to jump backward out of the way of the car because I can guarantee their legs would have been hit had they not. The cops immediately got out of the car to see if any damage had been caused of course.

Now, because of construction we had to pick a side of the street on Nassau because the street is blocked for cars. Essentially we had to walk through a space that was probably smaller than the sidewalk normally is. I enter the left sidewalk. When I get to the end, there are Police officers standing in the way preventing us from continuing. I am nerved at this point and then think to just go back and hope I can turn right and head back in the direction of Park Row (City Hall Park).

It works out fine and upon arriving at Park Row I see a line of probably about 20 Police motorcycles driving past me. You can tell the Police are getting really pissed at us, even though we’re just walking around not breaking anything, harming anyone, and not obstructing the lack of any traffic to be found. Regardless, I and a few others head towards Foley Square. Once arriving at Foley Square we all turn left and head back to Broadway.

Once we get to Broadway we turn right and the direction from here on is straight to Canal Street. Some march in the streets but many on the sidewalks as well. Traffic is slowed, here and there and some taxis honk their horns in support. They fist pumped as they honked so it was definitely support. At certain points the police use their motorcycles to create barriers that force us onto the sidewalks, but then we just walk back into the streets afterward.

After reaching Canal we continue forward maybe 5 more blocks before turning left for a block and then turning right again. Now things get interesting. There are some barricades naturally in the street, the big plastic ones, some are knocked over and some are just moved aside. It is worth noting that a few protesters actually work together to put the barricades that had been knocked over back in place. As I walk forward I sense something from behind me. This is just in time for a Police officer to give me a hard nudge to the side as he rushes forward to grab another marcher, pin him against a building, and then throw him violently against the ground. As he hits the ground his feet fly into the air with momentum. Lots of police gather around this protester and so does a crowd of protesters. After a few seconds of shock I start screaming “FILM!!! FILM!!! FILM!!!” Cameras go crazy.

I look ahead now, the police have blocked off the entire street, sidewalks included, with their motorcycles. I’m staying away from the crowd which is taking pictures (my phone has died by this point) of the arrest and squeeze between a building and the wheel of a police motorcycle to get onto the next block. (I do not know where this was because I wasn’t paying attention to the street signs but we were in SOHO I believe). At this point a couple on a New Year’s date happens by the action. I offer them a “happy new year!” They return the sentiment and ask what’s up. I say “It’s Occupy Wall Street.” They say “oh, haha, cool” As the police are now blocking the entire street from ANY traffic at all protesters start chanting “YOU’RE OBSTRUCTING PEDESTRIAN TRAFFIC!!! YOU’RE OBSTRUCTING PEDESTRIAN TRAFFIC!!!”

I cross the street to the other side where the Police barricade is actually restricting people from leaving a bar. I see a protester get grabbed by a Police Officer and rammed into the building behind him, it seems unprovoked but at this point who knows. Next, I can’t tell if this man is coming out of the bar or a protester, but as he is blocked from leaving he starts questioning the officer “What are you doing? What are you doing?” He was not yelling but had a look of utter confusion and horror on his face. At this point I start chanting “LET’S MOVE ON!! LET’S MOVE ON!!” Hoping this will clear the scene, I get a few nods of approval from other people in the area and we start marching again. If it matters, we’ve made a left from the block that was just barricaded.

Now we’re marching down the street again, plenty of people in the street, and a few proudly holding the “OCCUPY WALL STREET” banner. The cops knock through this and push a female protester aside to grab another protester to arrest him. This time I immediately start screaming “FILM!!! FILM!!! FILM!!!” The cameras go nuts. This doesn’t last too long and we keep walking. It’s relatively tame for a moment now as we actually walk on the sidewalk.

We keep walking and end up on West Houston. I should mention that as we get to West Houston the Police have set up another blockade to contain us. As we move maneuver around their blockade I can hear a Policeman saying into his megaphone “If you are blocking traffic you are subject to arrest.” Some people are once again arrested at this point and throughout the march since about Canal Street we have been accompanied by a Police van. They need to be prepared to arrest us right away the cars are no longer of enough use apparently. We make a left turn onto West Houston and after crossing the street quickly, I cross back over to join in with the marchers again.

Things are tame where I am again but of course tensions are growing. It seems like the protest has tripled in size by this point. We continue on West Houston until 6th Ave I believe (Avenue of the Americas if the title actually matters that much to you). Then we follow 6th Ave until a certain point where we veered left (it escapes me which block we veered left onto). However as soon as we veer left another person was arrested. An officer actually dropped his megaphone to the ground as he carried out the arrest as well.

We end up getting to another block in the road at 7th Avenue. I take this opportunity to go into a bar and wash my hands. Just my luck… it seems like a gay bar (excuse the irony of needing to wash my hands in what seems to be a gay bar).

By the time I get out the protesters have passed and have continued on 7th Avenue. I start making my way up 7th Avenue to rejoin them. It’s not hard to find them, just look for the Police presence. By the way, at this point we are being watched by a Police chopper. Just one though, so we’re not that special tonight.

We continue on 7th Avenue until West 12 or 13 Street at which point we turn right. We are remaining on the sidewalks by this point. I also meet up with a fellow livestreamer at this point as well. He tells me he was at the noise demo in protest of the Prison Industrial Complex earlier on. Apparently, it went really well and even the inmates started flickering their lights to say hello to us.

This is pretty much the end for me. It’s 2 o’clock in the morning now. I start heading from West 13 Street and 7th avenue to Union Square to catch the Q train. I can easily say that I have never had a more exhilarating and eventful New Year’s Eve in my entire life.

The one thing I learned from all of this… I REALLY need to get my own livestreaming gear so I can get this stuff on camera. There was too much happening for it to not get exposed in as many ways as possible.

By the way, if you heard nothing about this march AT ALL in any news source. Question the sources from which you receive your news. Also, Zuccotti Park is now indefinitely closed to the public apparently. So essentially the park is essentially nothing more than an installment.

Once again follow me on twitter @stopmotionsolo

I will livestream at www.ustream.tv/user/stopmotionsolo

Wealthy people for the people?

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 01:59:26 -0500

Gotta point out something quickly. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have come out and said that “while tax breaks are nice, they don’t need them.” Warren Buffett made some attempt to bring legislation to back up his talk. However, though at least Bill Gates is considered a philanthropist, have either of them actually pumped money into congress (or lobbied at all) in dispute of their tax breaks. Coming out and saying they don’t need them is one thing. When you’re dealing with Citizen’s United though and other billionaires who are willing to put money where their mouth is to get tax breaks, why don’t Gates or Buffett open their wallets in support of their observations.

Btw if anyone has evidence that Gates, Buffett, or any other extremely wealthy man, or woman, has used their monetary influence to influence government policies please let me know. I’m dead serious. Also, I’m not talking about charities, which Russell Simmons and Gates are known for. I’m talking about actually lobbying government, or putting money into campaigns, in support of their observations. Stephen Colbert for example put his money where his mouth was and donated $100,000 to Occupy Wall Street from his Super PAC. What other wealthy man has donated money in the same pursuit?

Saw the top one on the train. Bad campaign.

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 03:35:03 -0500

Saw the top one on the train. Bad campaign.

Photo

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 03:33:00 -0500