While Dow hits a record high, this

revolt

If a member of the Tea Party sneezed it would make news, but it took the mass arrest of 700 peaceful protesters to finally bring the attention of the MSM to the 2+ weeks of round-the-clock OccupyWallStreet protests. Yes, there had been a story or two here and there, but nothing you'd really notice if you didn't watch the cable news shows (and precious little on those too for a long time).

There's some other differences too. The Wall Street protests do not have corporate funding and the police response has been a tad different:



VS.



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But, I digress. The New York General Assembly of OccupyWallStreet released a declaration on the 30th. You can read it in full here.

Importantly, the Arab Spring American Fall is spreading. OccupyTogether is the national website charting protests from Maine to California -- and Pittsburgh is joining the fray:


You can attend the first meeting of the General Assembly in Pittsburgh this Wednesday:

OCTOBER 5TH PUBLIC ASSEMBLY/MEETING
First Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh
605 Morewood Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
6:30-8:30 PM

This is open TO ALL who wish to attend.

You can ask to join the Facebook group here and the website for OccupyPittsburgh is here.

Yep, we're talking class warfare -- and it looks like we're finally fighting back. It's about the 99% vs. the 1% (hint: there's more of us).

Last Plan Standing?

As we blogged last night, a new Pittsburgh City Council/City Controller plan was unveiled today to address our city's pension crisis. It too incorporates the assets of the Pittsburgh Parking Authority.

The difference between the new plan and the Mayor's plan and the old Council/Controller plan is thus:

It does not provide a windfall for Wall Street.

It does not create debt -- interest payments -- for the city.

Instead, it solves the problem of needing to bring the pension fund (currently 29.3% funded) to the needed 50% funded by dedicating 30 years of Parking Authority revenues to the pension (guaranteed backed by the city's general fund). The pension fund must be 50% funded by December 31 to avoid a takeover by the state. It uses the current value of these assets to cover the $220 million needed.

The huge question remaining is where Mayor Luke Ravenstahl stands in all this and if any action is needed on the part of his administration. If today's appearance in Council's Chambers by Finance Director Scott Kunka is any indication, he won't be with it...And according to Jon Delano he isn't.

Council's now back in session, but I'll be off to work soon. Who knows if anything will be resolved by the time I get back...
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Headlines About Jobs

While the NYT's Still on the Job, but at Half the Pay informs us that "pay cuts, sometimes the result of downgrades in rank or shortened workweeks, are occurring more frequently than at any time since the Great Depression," do not despair!

Pay cuts aren't universal as Wall Street On Track To Award Record Pay and the silver lining in all this is Bleak U.S. job market boosts military recruitment.

Don't you feel better now?
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Housekeeping for 2009

Hopefully, you've noticed that we changed our header. We've had George W. Bush at the top in one form or another since day one of this blog. He's loomed over this blog as he's loomed over the world (reigning down destruction and failure). But he'll be gone in 19 long days so it's time to say:

Good riddance to bad rubbish
We've also updated our blogroll. In addition to putting some blog links out to pasture under the heading "Retired Local Blogs" we've also added a few:

Local:

414 Grant Street
http://414grantstreet.blogspot.com/

CP's Slag Heap
http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Section?oid=oid%3A41056&category=oid%3A41825
(On the off chance you don't know; the "CP" is both for City Paper and Chris Potter.)

Gab Bonesso
http://gabbonesso.com/

The Bag of Health and Politics
http://thebagofhealthandpolitics.wordpress.com/
(Been meaning to add this for ages.)

The Blog of Burgher Jon
http://burgherjon.blogspot.com/


National:

Corrente
http://www.correntewire.com/
(I'm sure they'll keep tabs on Obama.)

Feministe
http://www.feministe.us/blog

Glenn Greenwald
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald

James Wolcott
http://www.vanityfair.com/online/wolcott
(But only because I once served jury duty with his wife, Laura Jacobs, and we were sequestered. OK, I'm kidding about the "only" part.)

TalkLeft
http://www.talkleft.com/

NOTE: As always, additions to the blogroll are based on making my life easier in getting to what I want to read.

I'd like to also take this space to link to some recent funny local postings around the Burghosphere that you may have missed:

Lady Elaine's 12 Days of Pittsburgh Christmas at View From The Burghchair

Anthony's 2009 Predictions at Tunesmith & Anthony

Pretty much everything The Angry Drunk Bureaucrat has written for the last three days. (Mayor's Office Reopens After "Santa Incident", "Open Season" Declared on Feral Municipalities, New Years Resolutions, and Pittsburgh City Council Greenlights New "Webisodes")

And, maybe the best national blog post of the year:

The House That Jack Built
by Stirling Newberry at The Agonist
I'll close this post with M.I.A.'s Paper Planes video. Even though it came out in 2007, it pretty much sums up the McCain/Palin Campaign's underlying theme:

Fear "The Other" (Undercover Terrorist Immigrant)


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"canned food and shotguns"

And, this has made its way into my inbox:

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Sorry!

It's my fault the bailout vote failed and the DOW cratered.

Yesterday was a travel day for me and when I was in DC I must have unconsciously looked funny at some Republicans and later when I was in lower Manhattan I said "boo" to some pigeons and some guys in suits heard me.


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Just Say No

Wall Street Bailout Act Text:

Sec. 8. Review.

Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.

Call:
Senator Bob Casey, 202-224-6324
Senator Arlen Specter, 202-224-4254

Sign the petition at Credo.
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Be afraid, be very afraid!

Links to the stock stories David is talking about now:

Stocks plunged at the opening bell, with the Dow industrials losing more than 400 points in the first two minutes of trading. (Top of page at http://www.cnn.com )

Fed Makes Emergency 0.75% Rate Cut

World markets continue skid over U.S. woes