The OccupyUSA Blog for Wednesday (April 18), With Frequent Updates

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http://www.thenation.com/blog/167444/occupyusa-blog-wednesday-april-18-frequent-updates

9:15 Just now: about a dozen arrested in New Haven as promised dismantling of long-running camp begins. See photo of one getting carried out by cops. "After they carted away the last of the passive resisters, police also arrested Josh Heltke, one of the original Occupy organizers. He didn’t participate in the civil disobedience; rather he taunted police through a bullhorn, comparing them to Nazis, as they carried people away."

9:10 Latest probe on "Is Occupy Being Hijacked," includes Nathan Schneider who writes for The Nation...Call goes out for Guitar Army or GuitarMy of 1000 to march in NYC on May 1. The Thousand Strummers March?

9:00 In the hell hole and money pit of Afghanistan: U.S. soldier leaks to LA TImes 18 photos of soldiers posing with body parts of enemy in 2010, offiicial probe launched. Military asked paper not to publish, they went ahead.




8:15 Michael Lewis, author of "Moneyball," "Liar's Poker" and longtime expert on The Street, weighs in on OWS at Daily Beast, saying he felt "glee and relief" when movement emerged. "Glee because, by both temperament and occupation, I have a rooting interest in socially disruptive behavior. Relief because I had begun to think such protests might never happen. Given the provocation—intense and effective political pressure from Wall Street to codify two sets of economic rules, one for people who work at giant Wall Street firms, the other for people who don’t—I was surprised it has taken as long as it has for people to hit the streets."

His proposal? "I would probably reorganize the movement around a single, achievable goal: a financial boycott of the six 'too big to fail ' Wall Street firms: Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo. We would encourage people who had deposits in these firms to withdraw them, and put them in smaller, not “too big to fail” banks. We would stigmatize anyone who invested, in any way, in any of these banks. I’d try to organize college students to protest on campuses. Their first goal would be to force the university endowments to divest themselves of shares in these banks." Could this work? "Yes. I think we could create a run on a bank."