Wall St., Meet the 99ers

Self defined as the 99% who pay taxes and get screwed with less than 1% of the profits, a determined and disciplined group of mostly early 30 year olds attempted to occupy Wall Street.  Even the benches were fenced in!!!  After a day of playing hide & seek with the NYPD, the radicals settled in at "Liberty Park" on Broadway just north of Wall.  Although the afternoon was fraught with chaos and potential police riot, once this detente was reached everyone settled in.  I took a break and returned around 1:00 am.  Some were sleeping, a group of about 6 played with one of those little balls you kick around, there were clusters of folks around a guitarist or singer, some danced.  It all,  it was peaceful  I hope the morning will bring new recruits to the occupation of Wall Street.

Finally got the photos downloaded--more details will come about today's events and the people there.

O

https://occupywallst.org/

Merrill Lynch Gives Larry Another Break

Is it karma, a charmed life, or just amazingly ruthless power wielding that has put Larry Silverstein back in the perfect position to protect his interests? And with plenty of extra time to get all his balls lined up. Here's the news from Crain's Business News:

Merrill Lynch renews talks for move to WTC
Merrill reopened talks with developer Larry Silverstein to move into Tower 3; Mr. Silverstein received a six-month extension to complete the tower by August 2012.
May 22. 2008 10:57AM By: Theresa Agovino
Merrill Lynch & Co. is negotiating with developer Larry Silverstein to move into one of the office towers to be built on the World Trade Center site. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on Thursday paved the way for talks to continue when it voted to grant Mr. Silverstein a six-month extension so he can delay completing construction of the building, known as Tower 3, until August 2012. Mr. Silverstein requested the extension so he will have time to redesign the building to accommodate the large trading floor Merrill Lynch requires. Under an agreement Mr. Silverstein reached in 2006 with the site’s landlord, the Port Authority, he is supposed to deliver the completed buildings by February 2012.
“While we fully expect to complete World Trade Tower 3 in 2012, the six-month schedule adjustments approved today by the Port Authority clearly makes sense,” said World Trade Center Properties president Jano Lieber in a statement. “This extension gives us the time to design and construct a modified building foundation that could accommodate Merrill’s specialized requirements.”
If Merrill Lynch opts to move to Tower 3 it would be an enormous boost for the site, which has yet to attract many private sector tenants. Merrill Lynch is currently located at the World Financial Center, where its lease expires in 2013. A spokeswoman for Brookfield Properties, which owns the World Financial Center, says it is still negotiating a five-year extension with Merrill.
Last year, Merrill Lynch came very close to signing a deal to move its headquarters to the site of the Hotel Pennsylvania in midtown. However, the plan was shelved after its major proponent, former Chief Executive Stanley O’Neal, left the firm amid massive losses stemming from the credit crunch.

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080522/FREE/547438548/1048/information/

I wonder how much tax money will be "forgiven" for Larry to pull this swift move? The rich get richer...

American Just Us

Former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman’s been in jail for 247 days without the ability to APPEAL HIS CONVICTION. Although the trial ended 20 months ago, the court hasn’t seen fit to provide his counsel a transcript. Siegelman got 7 years for bribery on a bogus charge created from inuendoes and "indications." And it’s got Karl Rove's greasy fingers all over it. There's a 60s Minutes video included in this post. And if your interest grows, go to www.donsiegelman.com, the “Online Archive for Researchers, the Media & Scholars Interested in the Abuse of Jurisprudence for Political Purposes.” This case was given major attention by Dan Abrams of MSNBC, not just a 10 second sound bite but an investigative report titled: Bush League Justice: Alabama Outrage.
The railroading of Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman
Posted February 25th, 2008 at 10:32 am
Back in October, a nationally known print journalist told Harpers’ Scott Horton, “I’ve never seen anything quite like this. Everything I’ve been told by the convicted defendants checks out as the gospel truth. And everything I’m told by federal prosecutors who pushed the case turns out either to be an outrageous lie or at least a very serious distortion. And the local journalists who wrote the most about the case all behave like they’re accessories after the fact in a criminal investigation.”
The journalist was describing the Don Siegelman case in Alabama, and doing a pretty good job of it.
There’s been quite a bit of buzz in recent weeks about the report “60 Minutes” had been preparing on the controversy and, after having seen it, I’m delighted CBS has made it available for embedding. Please take a few minutes, even if you’ve heard the Siegelman story before, to take a look.
We haven’t struggled for examples of the Bush White House and the Republican Machine making a mockery of our justice system and the rule of law, but this is one of those examples that just leaves one shaking one’s head. No one wants to believe GOP corruption on this scale is even possible, and yet, it’s not only possible, it actually happened. [I want to TESTIFY!]
[...] We haven’t struggled for examples of the Bush White House and the Republican Machine making a mockery of our justice system and the rule of law, but this is one of those examples that just leaves one shaking one’s head. No one wants to believe GOP corruption on this scale is even possible, and yet, it’s not only possible, it actually happened. http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14685.html
And Jack Abramoff is involved!