MY FAVORITE BISHOP DOES IT AGAIN...

Bishop George Packard giving a quick lesson in peaceful civil disobedience at Occupy Wall St. He was arrested minutes later.

...gets arrested. But he didn't mean to. It just sort of happened.  The Occupy Faith group of 30+ gathered, but then others joined them.

So we practiced--all 500 of us by now--right there in that space by first all sitting down. It went well and as I led this exercise I thought I couldn't abandon them if it came to a later action. OWS asked us to lead the procession to the NYPD checkpoint and we did. It was there you could access to the Stock Exchange. Once there we sat down and the arrests began. That was about 8 AM..
...

As we reached 200 in that holding cell we whistled "Battle Hymn of the Republic", one fellow composed two rap songs (I'd rather stand up proudly in jail than spend my life on my knees!). We sang a few more protest songs throughout the day. In two instances of creativity the plastic water cooler and garbage can were inverted and becoming an ersatz drumming circle a la Blue Man Group. When an officer took those things away because of noise with, "these are for you to clean up in here." To which we chanted, "We are here to clean up out there! Never try to match one liners with Occupiers. In one corner an affinity discussion group convened while some began "silent meditation" in another section.

Read George's entire post titled, "It's Better in Jail."

What frightens Mayor Bloomberg so - especially as the Occupy protests were declared by Andrew Ross Dorkin to have "fizzled" in the "Newspaper of Record"? 

It will be an asterisk in the history books, if it gets a mention at all.

Why then the fear and heavy NYPD presence and the heavy-handed tactics with the protestors?

You laugh or you cry at ABC News coverage of the protests and of Bishop George's arrest:

At times it seemed the mass of the protest was made up more by the media covering the event than by anyone with a political agenda. A pink-frocked "bishop" protester arrested by police was surrounded by a media scrum so dense the police came to break up the knot of humanity.

The pink-frocked "bishop" with scare quotes?   You have to wonder if the reporters asked any questions before they wrote the article...you know, the way investigative reporters are supposed to do.

Thank you, members of Occupy Faith for standing with the protestors.  Thanks for all you do.

WHAT ABOUT THE 1ST AMENDMENT?

In the early morning hours Monday, Occupy Wall Street activists marked the first anniversary of the movement by protesting in the financial district. Hundreds gathered on Water Street and hundreds more in Zuccotti Park, the birth place of the movement, before marching through Lower Manhattan, occasionally pausing to occupy intersections and protest financial institutions like Chase and Bank of America.

It was one of the largest turnouts since the early days of Occupy, but Monday was also exceptional because of the high arrest figures. More than 180 [later reports say over 200] people, including journalists, were arrested, and in at least some of these cases, the police were arresting individuals arbitrarily and without cause.

What about the First Amendment to the Constitution?

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

From what I've heard, the members of the NYPD who abridged the freedoms of the Occupiers should be under arrest.  Of course, the police were only taking orders from Mayor Bloomberg, who also should be under arrest for violating the the rights of the people who assembled and the press who covered the gatherings, some of whom were taken into custody.  A few people who just happened to be in the vicinity, who were not part of the protest, were caught up in the NYPD's zeal to make arrests.

To say “Occupy is dead” is to misunderstand everything about the movement. Occupy can’t die as long as the dire conditions that inspired the creation of the movement continue to exist. 
....

And protesters are quick to point out that it’s only been a year, and the timeline of any social justice movement is long. Perhaps “Occupy” will evolve into a different kind of movement under an entirely different banner, but the spirit that first served as a catalyst lives on.

And the protestors are correct.  It's much too premature to begin funeral preparations for Occupy.  The movement is still alive, and Occupy or something like it will go on.

When I first went to the website of The Nation, I was asked to subscribe to the digital edition for the price of $9.50, and I closed the ad, and they let me in anyway, but after this fine article by Allison Kilkenny, I'm reconsidering buying a subscription.  The NYT continues to ask, but I won't be subscribing.