Following Occupy Wall Street - Effort to Reduce Influence of Money in Politics

For a few weeks Twitter has been lighting up with messages by and about the hundreds of individuals camping and protesting in New York City as part of Occupy Wall Street. The movement began with a July 2011 suggestion from the anti-consumerism magazine Adbusters. While substantial coverage has suggested the movement lacks a central goal or set of demands, a common theme is the appeal to reduce or if possible eliminate the influence of money in the US Political System. The protesters regularly refer to their concern with growing inequality in the US, and the desire to see policies that share more wealth with the "bottom 99%" of the population.

According to Adbusters, the unifying demand is that President Obama create a presidential commission tasked with ending the influence money has over our representatives in Washington. The movement and its organizers have, if you will, been aggressively peaceful. They've deliberately embraced nonviolence and instituted quiet hours at 10 pm to be sure area residents can still get a good night's sleep (or whatever counts for one in NY). After weeks of waiting, the national news is now catching the coverage too. While it seems to me that the movement is clear about their concerns, the national media seem obsessed with developing a narrative suggesting there is no core, common cause. Resources and links follow an Adbusters poster promoting the start date of the occupation:

1. Occupy Wall Street on Wikipedia
2. Coverage on CNN (10/4) 
3. A photo essay in The Atlantic, including the photo below 
4. On Fox News, "More than Just Another Loony Protest from the Left"
5. "Anti-Wall Street Protests Spreading to Cities Large and Small" in the NYT
6. Gripping, Challenging "Other 99%" photo essay - a must view

And that's true, protests have spread to LA, DC, Boston, Memphis, and even McAllen, Texas, among other cities. Even Fox is admitting to some legitimate concerns on the part of the protesters (despite all the vitriol the writer has for "dirty hippies") - maybe that's because it hasn't been too long since Sarah Palin aired a rather similar set of concerns about corporate influence. Maybe that's because completely unrestrained corporate influence and inequity really do undermine US Democracy and opportunities for average, middle-class Americans.

Please share interesting updates on the protesters, their goals, and the coverage.