Occupy Greensboro protest, Saturday October 15, 2011, Downtown Greensboro NC, Government and institutions for sale to the highest bidder

The crowd at Occupy Greensboro was a fairly diverse group of people very different from the bulk of attendees at the Occupy Wall Street protest in NY City. Many of the Tea Party folks would have felt at home with signs blaming government. Of course the Che Guevarra flag  would not have been so inviting. I  am still watching the union and Obama camp involvement in NC and will continue to monitor it. Recently the ACLU was spotted near the University of NC at Greensboro with petitions against some form of job discrimination in NC. What they failed to mention is that NC is a right to work state. An employee can be fired for any reason. This keeps the unions out and companies in the state.

Morgan Freeman and other racists, most of the people in attendance were white since, duh, the majority of the population is.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQxwG0gMEaw]

From the Greensboro News Record October 15, 2011.

“When the Occupy movement that began on New York’s Wall Street comes to downtown Greensboro today, it will come with a head of steam that’s been building for weeks.

Organizers and supporters of Occupy Greensboro say the protests of economic inequity happening across the country inspired them to put together a local event.

Organizers say it also inspired them to do it the right way.”

“The group rented space at the park and the neighboring YWCA parking lot to avoid the standoff with police that happened at Occupy events in Boston and New York.

“The city greatly reduced its rental fee for us — from $700 a day to I believe around $200,” Wright said. “And we’ll have the YWCA parking lot for camping, which is private property.”

Initially, some in the group argued protesters should simply occupy the park without paying rent — under the theory there would be too many people for police to eject.

“In the end, we decided it was more important to have a good relationship with the city and the police,” Wright said.

Wright, a 29-year old who coaches lacrosse at Grimsley High and Wake Forest, said this is the first protest movement in which he’s taken part.”

Read more:

http://www.news-record.com/content/2011/10/14/article/occupy_organizers_want_family_event

From the Greensboro News Record October 16, 2011.

“Hundreds of protesters surrounded the Bank of America building downtown Saturday afternoon as part of the “Occupy Greensboro” protest.

“Banks got bailed out, we got sold out,” they chanted to the beat of a marching drum corps, raising handmade signs and unfurling banners.

“Lobbyists Eat the Constitution for Breakfast” read one.

“Eight Years of College and Laid off Twice,” another read. “Where’s My Bailout?”

Those who marched from the Phill G. McDonald Plaza to Festival Park said they were inspired by the movement that began on New York’s Wall Street and has spread all over the world.

Police Chief Ken Miller, who oversaw his officers at Festival Park and spent some time chatting with protesters, estimated the crowd at about 600.

Organizers had expected between 500 and 1,000 people.

Some of the targets of the protest: fraud in the financial industry, economic inequality, and elected officials who protesters said serve donors and lobbyists rather than the American people.

“It’s hard to live in America today without coming to the conclusion that our government and all of our institutions are for sale to the highest bidder,” said Michael Duncan, 22.

Duncan said he was lucky to find a job in computer technical support after he graduated from college two years ago — many of his friends didn’t.

But he was laid off just a few months later as the company he worked for downsized. He found another job after a few months but was laid off again within a year.

“Our economy is on the verge of collapse,” Duncan said. “And it’s because of a housing bubble created by bankers and people on Wall Street who sold us a bill of goods, defrauded the American people and then were bailed out by our government along with a lot of other major corporations as average workers were laid off, their pay cut, and their houses foreclosed.

“Anyone who isn’t angry about that hasn’t been paying attention.”

The demonstration remained peaceful. No arrests were made as of Saturday night.

The event’s organizers worked closely with police and city officials to be sure the demonstration would be safe, family friendly and nonviolent.”

“A few area elected officials and political candidates also were among the crowd, including at-large Greensboro City Council candidate Marikay Abuzuaiter and Guilford County Register of Deeds Jeff Thigpen.

Thigpen’s crusade against mortgage fraud and improper documentation by major national banks in Guilford County has gotten national media coverage.

“The people who started this aren’t the protesters,” Thigpen said. “They’re on Wall Street and they ran our economy into the ground. I believe in an America where there isn’t one standard for banks and another standard for the rest of us.””

Read more:

http://www.news-record.com/content/2011/10/15/article/600_march_downtown

Jeff Thigpen, the Guilford County Register of Deeds, is a good guy and a friend of mine. He has been doing some good work in the area of “robo signatures” and circumventing of chain of title in mortgages. However, he continues to repeat the party line in terms of placing the majority of blame for the economy and housing crisis on the lenders. More guilty in this sham are people like Chris Dodd, Barney Frank, Maxine Waters and Barack Obama in sync with organizations like ACORN who pressured banks to make loans to unqualified and risky borrowers. Jeff, I will be discussing that with you soon.