MARKET WATCH COLUMNIST
“Can’t dismiss Wall Street protesters”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, October 16, 2011
Three weeks ago, it was easy to dismiss Occupy Wall Street.
A couple hundred scruffy protesters in a downtown park — no clear leaders, no clear 
agenda, no clear strategy and no clear plan.
Now look.
The hundreds have grown to thousands. The New York encampment has spread to cities and towns across America, including Sag Harbor this weekend. And the clarity that seemed absent at the start is finally settling in at Zuccotti Park.
There’s still no 12-point platform like a lot of movements have. But there is a number, and there’s definitely a theme.
The number 99, for the percent of Americans the protesters say are excluded from the fat times being enjoyed by those at the very top.
And the theme? It’s the notion, supported by some pretty solid statistics, that middle-class people really are being squeezed these days.
Now, that’s an idea it doesn’t take a scruffy protester to understand. Major social movements have started with less.
OCCUPY NEXT?
1. Bourbon Street
2. Sesame Street
3. Easy Street
4. Dream Street
5. Lover’s Lane
THE NEWS IN SONG:
Is something happening here? Again?
Buffalo Springfield, “For What It’s Worth”
ASKED AND UNANSWERED:
Anyone else want to confess to cheating on the SAT? State hearing’s set for Oct 25…How does the State Liquor 
Authority recruit underage volunteers to buy alcohol from Long Island stores? Do the investigators pick kids who look especially old for their age – or especially young?…If Sen. George Maziarz (R-Way Up There) really wants to “clip the extension cord” on cheap Niagara hydropower for Long Island, should we quit sending our convicted criminals to him? Isn’t human warehousing about the only industry Upstate has left?…Is Long Island the mortgage-fraud capital of America? Or does it just seem that way? Add Marleen Shillingford of Nesconset to the felony-fraudster list…Why such bad blood between Mona Kanciper and the Suffolk County SPCA? Now that the owner of Manorville’s New York Horse Rescue has been 
acquitted of animal-cruelty charges, will she get chummy again with the animal-rescue group?…Does mini-Madoff Nick Cosmo get a mini jail cell now? One thing $400-million Ponzi schemer from Wantagh isn’t getting is a mini sentence, unless 25 years sounds short to you…Massapequa mom accused of stabbing 24-year-old son in the knee with a dagger? A dagger? From where? The silverware drawer?…Did 13-year-old Nicolette Taylor just get the most famous nose job ever? The ex-child model’s rhinoplasty has now been featured on “Nightline” in a report on Facebook bullying…Why did Rudy Giuliani chose the Long Island Association to announce he isn’t running for president again? And how many people in the room were surprised?…John Tavares: Slump over – or is it just waiting in the penalty box?
LONG ISLANDER OF THE WEEK
ALFRED GRAF
Maybe it’s because he’s just a freshman who hasn’t learned to shrug and give in. But Alfred Graf, the first-term 
Republican assemblyman from Holbrook, has taken on a great issue with great energy — megawatts, actually. The Navy vet and former city cop is trying to get Long Island a share of the bargain-basement Niagara hydropower, which has been hogged by greedy upstaters until now. Graf has fearlessly confronted the State Senate’s powerful energy chairman, George Maziarz. Now, he’s drawing Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo into the fray. Why not? Niagara hydropower costs one-ninth of what LIPA’s used to paying. Graf is asking questions that only an Albany newbie would: Why should the New York State Power Authority give a cold shoulder to Long Island for so long? Aren’t we part of New York State? Keep asking, Assemblyman.
E-mail ellis@henican.com.
Follow him at twitter.com/henican
Related posts
