Between 1500 and 3000 protesters responded to the Oakland raid and are calling for a general strike on November 2, 2011:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/27/MNE71LMH3C.DTL&tsp=1

Mayor Quan apologized in the aftermath of the police action which resulted in Iraq war veteran Scott Olsen sustaining serious injuries.

"We have started an investigation into the use of force, including tear gas, on Tuesday," Quan said. "I cannot change the past, but I want to work with you to ensure that this remains peaceful moving forward."

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/28/us/occupy-wall-street/?hpt=us_c2

Gee, thanks, Mayor Quan. But keep in mind that the protest “remained peaceful” until the cops arrived.

And once again, a major news organization is portraying the Occupation Movement as “anti-capitalist” which seems to be pervasive:

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/27/opinion/linsky-occupy-wall-street-leadership/index.html

And on the same page we find that Donald Trump of all people is saying the movement is “cool” with him.  (Check out the video at the same page).  The message found at the above link is worth noting, however, as we move forward:

“Very soon, it will come to a fork in the road. Numbers are very important in a democratic society, and OWS is beginning to have numbers that have caused some establishment members they are railing against to take notice, either positively or negatively. Right now, the Zuccotti Park protesters are being used by those establishment folks, one way or the other, to shore up their own bases and spruce up their own images. Those numbers will only translate into power, and then change, if they can be harnessed to raise the heat on the decision-makers to get them to do something they would otherwise not do. That translates, alas, into joining the system they are protesting against, by taking a page out of the tea party's book and working in campaigns, raising money, and running for office.”

Sounds like we have some “harnessing” to do, and Mr. Linsky is probably accurate when he says that the key is tomake the protests translate into meaningful reforms, something that would not otherwise occur. That effort has little to do with the organizational aspects of the movement or the articulation of different views that will hopefully result in a framework for this amorphous “organization” in the future.

If change occurs while this process is ongoing, fine. We can watch as people like Mayor Quan fumble around looking for a way to stifle dissent, assembly, petitioning and free speech, and then turn around and offer apologies for doing so.

This is from an e-mail that was passed along from someone who told us they received it from Jim Lafferty of the National Lawyers Guild:

I have just been assured by Sergeant Baker, who speaks for the LAPD on OLA, that the ABC report upset the LAPD because they have absolutely no plans to move against, attack, etc., OLA. Baker said the LAPD was as surprised as we were to hear Rosendahl  say what he said. Baker said the Chief’s position is that, “if the council decides there must be some change in OLA, we will all sit down with the organizers of OLA and the Lawyers Guild, etc., and have discussions about what the council wants and what the OLAers want. Jim, please tell them we have no plans to attack the occupation and will not do that. We are determined that whatever happens down the road, we are not going to do what NYC and Atlanta and Oakland have done.”

If Mr. Lafferty will confirm that he sent it, and verify Sgt. Baker's remarks, we would greatly appreciate it.