What are the chances every paper is instituting an "Occupy Wall Street" Beat?

According to Democracy Now, this Thursday, many Occupy protesters marched on D.C. to take a stand against a Democratic party fundraiser for the 2012 election.  They were not actually protesting the Democrats need to fundraise, but rather their connections with Wall Street.

Points this helped them prove:

That Occupy is a non partisan movement.

An incredibly strong NYT article published yesterday said of the movement something that went against public perception.  It was a reminder that this is first, and foremost, a movement and needs to be taken as such.

"There is the Occupy show by the news media, defined by police clashes and a lack of hygiene- images that tell non-Occupiers that the movement is leaderless, chaotic and one its way out.  But as the marchers passed through towns large and small, and ordinary Americans came out of their homes and businesses to give food, money and words of support, it became clear that this movement isn't going away."


As for the march mentioned by Democracy Now: It's 600 miles.  According to the NYT, a march left Thursday from the MKL memorial in Washington and will travel 600 miles to his gravesite in Atlanta, Georgia. There may or may not be some sort of culmination at the end.

Lessons learned from this article:

1. Instead of "occupying" land, the protesters are walking through it.  They are finding that marches are more successful because it encourages police riots less. 

2. Just like in any other movement, group, or congregation: there are major disagreements and power struggles, but also an extreme amount of bravery and silent leaders that step up in a "leaderless group".

3.  This isn't going away.  

Chasing Madoff

Bernie Madoff.... you know the story, right? He ran the biggest ponzi scheme of all time?  Well, every horror story is not without a hero, and this one is the certainly no different.  In this case, it's Harry Markopolos.

Markopolos was the whistleblower of the major Madoff Ponzi scheme in 2008.  Years before, he had discovered that there was no doubt the numbers Madoff was coming up with were impossible.  After endless amounts of work, the SEC did not believe any of the attempts Markopolos made for them to see the fraud.

After the story about Madoff being a fraud broke, guess who made the front page of the Wall Street Journal? Yeah, it took that long.  Corruption really gets you. Alas, after working for years, and fearing the bad guys would catch up to him, before the government believed the fraud, Harry Markopolos could breathe again.

Since, Markopolos and his team have come out with a book and a documentary.  The independent documentary was entered in film festivals worldwide and eventually had a limited release in the United States.  Personally, I thought it was fascinating.  It shows the team effort, and the dark times they went through in order to expose this fraud.  Most of all, it shows the corruption in government, and in our financial system and how that ultimately came to ruin many investors lives.

Above is the documentary poster, and the trailer can be found here.

So how does this peak my interest?  My mother is Markopolos' lawyer.  She's the one on the right of Harry in the poster! I've had the privilege of meeting the "Foxhounds", as they call themselves, and appreciate their work from afar.  Furthermore, I got to witness the evolution of the documentary.  Not only was I there for her interview (which was a whole day affair), but got to see multiple screenings at the International Film Festival in Amsterdam (IDFA), and the release in the Berkshires. Watching my mother work as an associate producer as well as seeing how the film improved from one festival to the next has been an enormous treat. 

A closer look at Clear Channel- compliments of salon.com

After our discussion about corporate media conglomerates and the evolution of regulations from the 7-7-7 rule to the Telecommunications Act of 1996, I dug around for additional information on Clear Channel's massive radio monopoly.  You really don't have to look far to find brutal complaints and rave reviews.

First, I journeyed to Clear Channel's website.  It's a site to see. Pun intended. Truly, I have never thought to not support Clear Channel.  But I have also never seen the word "corporate" used so much on one page.  If I was unaware as to what Clear Channel was, based on their website I would assume it was an advertisement agency.  According to the "About Us" description, it provides outdoor advertising (through a subsidiary) and also offers broadcast and digital media and entertainment services through wholly-owned Clear Channel Radio."

Define "wholly-owned", I believe is the response Salon.com might give.

Salon's proper name for Clear Channel: "Radio's Big Bully".

As the biggest station owner in America, Clear Channel's site boasts they own over 850 stations, and reaches 110 million listeners every week.

Salon complains: Where's the localization in that?

It's a fair point.  The more stations in an area owned by Clear Channel, the fewer local stations there are.  Instead, the stations are fed from commercial radio, hundreds of miles away. According to Salon, the cut-throat nature of Clear Channel and the biases that come with them make for cruel intentions not revealed to the public.

Am I destined to abandon commercial radio? Unlikely.  But Salon's was certainly an interesting perspective to explore.

Occupy Boston Protests

It's one thing to know they're going on.  It's another thing to walk by.

Occupy Boston started across from the Federal Reserve Banks, in order to protest economic inequality and corporate greed.  Their signs yelled angry statements such as "I gave my health to corporate wealth".  Their makeshift "information desk" sign points passerbys to more enraged posters and information propped up on fences.  The tents, and literally seeing people camped out in the heart of Boston- particularly when you've seen the area pristine and tent-free in the past- is truly a sight to see.

The Back of the President's head... Not too shabby.

On Tuesday, November 22, 2011, I saw the President speak in Manchester, NH.  He spoke at the local high school on an Official White House visit- a euphemistic way of pointing out that it was not a campaign outing. Four years earlier, according to the principal of the HS and the sitting President, Obama's visit to Manchester was cut short because of horrific weather conditions.  He promised he would return.  Low and behold, four years later (almost to the day!), he came back to Manchester High School.

We arrived in Manchester at 9:30, while the President was surely still at the White House.  He was scheduled to speak at 12:15.  We parked and had to be shuttled over to the venue.  We proceeded to wait in line from about 9:50-11:20.  NB- It was not warm outside.

The highlight of the line was undoubtedly our view of the Secret Service, who came well equipped with further canine security.  Entertainment at its finest. It occurs to me what an operation it must be to shuttle the President around.  While they make it look so effortless on the West Wing (thanks, Sorkin)... it raises more logistical issues than a wedding.  Every single day.  I am tempted to look this up and learn more about these procedures, though the West Wing recently informed me that the SS "doesn't typically comment on procedure."

The Separation

Finally, after an hour and a half of freezing, we got ushered in after going through "airport like security."  For some reason- whether it be by coincidence or whether it was completely planned unbeknownst to us- we got shepherded into a private, secluded room with 20 others.  While we watched the others we'd waited in line with, we were informed we would be sitting behind the President of the United States during his address.  It was time to text my father and tell him to turn on the television.

While it is more than likely that our luck was completely coincidence, it was hard not to notice that the diversity factor was kicked up a notch in the group we'd been thrust into.  Among those standing behind the President were several families of African American descent, a couple Indian families... and us.  The college kids of America.

Here we are! Far back, front and center.

Social Media

Have you ever gotten in trouble with the White House? Well, don't worry.  We have. Not our proudest moment. If you were a college student, who had just waited in line for an hour and a half to see the leader of the free world, and was then randomly selected to sit behind him... what would your first instinct be?  To tweet. It's second nature.

After each sending a couple twit pics, and excitable comments-- completely harmless ones, and ones fully in support of Barack Obama, I promise!--- the White House representative who had put us in formation hurried onto the stage where we all stood and demanded, "Who's on Twitter?"

The stage spectators froze. 

She repeated her question. And again.  Once it was answered to no avail, she shook her head and made a very frustrated proclamation: "No twittering!!!"

We hastened to obey. And no, no one dared mention that the proper terminology was "tweeting".

And now for the main event:

The President's Speech.

President Obama spoke on the American Jobs Act.  He drew examples of working families from people he'd met on his visit to New Hampshire- like the math teacher some of the seniors in the audience had.  He hoped the bill would be signed into law so he could continue helping the middle class by creating jobs.  In addition to promoting the middle class- something the NH audience was very receptive to- he threw in some crucial political points.  Several times, he made the point that the good of our country needs to come over partisanship.  He urged the voters of Manchester to remember that whether or not it made him popular, he has done his best during the presidency to create the most jobs and stability for the economy. 

The Heckling

About a minute into the President's Speech, the Occupy protesters started up.  It was countered by an eruptive "Obama!" chant.  It was organized chaos, to say the least.  He handled it diplomatically, and even heard the protesters out.  Remaining calm, he requested that they now listen to his points, because he listened to theirs.  Logical.  In my not at all reputable opinion, he handled it impressively well.   Check out the video that made Nightly News.  Oh, and when the Camera pans back... remember... last row in the center.

Stay Tuned... For the breaking news of my Thanksgiving Break. Coming Tomorrow.

Good news.  This is not actually false advertising.  Tomorrow, I will be going to see Barack Obama speak in Manchester, New Hampshire.  

This is a testament to the strength of Twitter.  In the car, on my smart phone today, I see a tweet from my friend Rob, another Massachusetts resident, that he has an extra free ticket to see Obama speak.  20 minutes and 3 tweets later, I have a spot in their car and by 9 am tomorrow, I will be en route to Manchester High School to hear President Obama speak on the American Jobs Act. 

Morals of the Story: People are great, Twitter is great, and stay Tuned for the blog on seeing the President tomorrow.  It will likely be the peak of my blogspot career.

The World Hits 7 Billion

Yes, I know.  It's old news.  But NPR, per usual, puts a new spin on it.  This video, first brought to my attention by Kelsey Fowler's facebook page, paints it in a much more interesting light.  The depiction of births as droplets into the glass, deaths as droplets out of the glass and usage of masking tape for health care and agriculture helps the viewer understand the process through visual means.

Is it necessary?  Certainly not.  If we all sat down and thought about the process by which the 7-billion-person-world came to be, we could undoubtedly get there.  Unfortunately, we simply are not taking the time anymore.  A child, however, would need a description just like the one in this video to slow the process down, and explain it step-by-step.  It is a process that would make Linda Ellerbee proud.  The video doesn't make us feel stupid, as Ellerbee was so concerned with accidentally patronizing her child audience.  Instead, it forces us to consider the concepts while bring them to us in a visually appealing way. Now what else would make Ellerbee proud?  Enjoy the video.