Well, I'm a registered Independent and have been my whole life. But, I pay attention to what's going on in this country and in the world. And so, I fully support the "Occupy Wall Street" movement.

The reasons why are numerous and I won't go into them here. If you've been visiting my website for any amount of time you know how I feel about most things. If you're new, you can always browse the "ARCHIVE" and find all kinds of stuff in the updates. What this update is about is basically to express my outrage at what Mayor Bloomberg and the NYPD and the Sanitation Department pulled this week in Zuccotti Park. It was disgraceful on so may levels... the Universe probably has to build a few new levels. Keeping the press away as the police moved in was disgraceful. (For their safety. Yes... of course.) Keeping the airways above off-limits to news helicopters was transparent and disgraceful. Y'never know when a protester is gonna launch an idea or a cardboard sign at a helicopter overhead.

I used to like Mike Bloomberg and have applauded him on so many occasions. But with the recent decisions he's made and the actions he's taken downtown we may have witnessed the true measure of his personal character.

Firstly... I abhor pretextual bullshit.

Mayor Bloomberg stating at his press conference that the occupation in the park had become a "fire hazard" is patently false. My Dad is retired Deputy Chief of the FDNY, Joseph Ippolito. I can't find a more reliable or knowledgeable source than that about these matters. He has been to Zuccotti Park with me. There were fire extinguishers throughout the park. There isn't enough electricity in an iphone or camera or laptop to pose a threat. Gasoline stored outdoors in industry standard plastic gas containers pose no fire hazard. He told me that it infuriates him to hear that kind of excuse being used. I also became infuriated when the Mayor stated that the park had become "unsafe" for the public to walk through. Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely untrue. (Unless someone is afraid of being hit with an idea!) no one in the media asked him to be specific about the "danger". What "danger"? How, specifically, was it "unsafe"? What the hell could he possibly talking about!? And a person in the TV viewing audience might simply nod their head and mutter, "Oh well, yeah... see?"

He uses words like "unsafe" and "danger" and "fire" and "safety" to further fool the ill-informed and then do the unconscionable. The use of words like that put wind in the sails of fear-driven, shallow-minded, self-serving children like Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly.

But Mike Bloomberg may have unwittingly played an important and positive role in this new movement.

Click to play a special comment from Keith Olbermann

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Now, a lot of otherwise well-intentioned people who email me are simply very ill-informed about the movement. It's understandable. The American "news" media is kind of a joke and has been for years now. The line between news and entertainment hasn't been blurred over the past decade... it's been obliterated. Other people who send me messages in reaction to some of the things I say and songs I write about the movement are ultimately behaving like self-impressed, intellectual blow-hards who find it easy to criticize and generalize from the cheap seats without bothering to get off their asses to "find out" for themselves. To them, I simply repeat the words of the late-19th century social philosopher Herbert Spencer:

"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance -- that principle is... contempt prior to investigation."

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Hey listen, when I say I "support" the movement, I'm not full of hot air like those people who spend 79¢ for a "Support Our Troops" sticker for their car and think they're being patriotic. My friend and colleague Dean Love and I spent 3 days making that illustrative music video (OCCUPY WALL STREET RAG) because film is what he does and music is what I do... and these are the things of most value we have to lend to any cause. But beyond that, I've stood in Zuccotti Park for hours on multiple days, holding a simple sign and answering questions from the media. I spent hours peacefully and reasonably countering assaults from a small minority of antagonistic passersby. And when the NYPD confiscated the generators the occupation was using, I bought a AC/DC inverter and mounted the deep cycle battery I used for my Central Park sound system onto a new luggage dolly, and then donated that equipment to the media tent along with a charger for the unit. (I share this information simply as way of heading off criticism about empty words or psuedo-intellectualism and as a way of saying, no -- I'm not about hot air. I'm about practicality, meaning what I say... and showing up.)

BTW -- when the police and The City of New York tore down the occupation, all of that personal property was unceremoniously thrown into large garbage trucks and carted off to the sanitation facility on West 57th Street. They threw all of the books in the "People's Library" into a dumpster. I headed over there to see if I could reclaim the equipment I donated to the cause, after the Mayor claimed all personal property was respected. I would have liked my personal property returned. But I had little doubt that it might very well wind up in a landfill... or worse.

Ha! Of course... after going through the check points to get into the garage where the property in piles and bins on the floor... no. My equipment was nowhere to be found.

Outside the facility, I was interviewed by CBS News about the situation and the reporter asked, "So you feel that the city showed no regard for private property?" I just smiled and answered...

"To the contrary. I think Mayor Bloomberg showed great regard for private property... that of Brookfield Properties, the corporation that owns Zuccotti Park. For my personal property? For the property of the average citizen? No. None at all."

But then I said, "Well, you've seen what it's like up in there."

And the reporter answered, "No. We're not allowed inside with news camera."

MY JAW DROPPED OPEN!

This is America, and a "news" reporter is accepting of the fact that she was denied access to... A SANITATION GARAGE!!!!!!! (Probably for her own "safety". I'm sure!)

I voted for Mike Bloomberg twice. I didn't vote for him last time because of the way he flouted the law and the will of the people, and railroaded the city council because he wanted a third term for himself. Again...

Disgraceful.

Now, I don't know where this movement goes from here. But I need to echo what Olbermann said.

Thank you Mike Bloomberg. You've got me and my guitar pretty fired up.

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HOW DO YOU FEEL? EMAIL ME HERE.

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Peace ☮