In Oakland’s Frank Ogawa Plaza (renamed Oscar Grant Park by the occupiers), the folks at Occupy Oakland were attacked by Oakland police about 4 am this morning. The police surrounded the camp with vans, hummers and riot cops, declared the camp an “unlawful assembly” and proceeded to use smoke bombs to force the camp to disperse. Downtown Oakland was sealed off with Oakland City Center reportedly shut down to prevent people from coming down to protest the eviction.

In addition to the austerity measures, Greece is “selling the family silver,” putting airports, ports, railways, motorways, sewage works, national energy companies, banks, and the national lottery up for sale in a privatization push they hope will net 50 billion euros. However, private equity firms turned up their noses at the first offer of sale. Perhaps they’re looking for discounts, or they want to change the rules of hiring and firing even further in an effort to break the unions.

Thanks to the miracle of cellular technology, I was able to talk to a homeowner while his house was surrounded by police. I reached Mike Whelan by phone at his duplex at 951 Iglehart Ave. in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Whelan is letting observers from the group Legal Watch stay in one half of his side-by-side duplex while they monitor RNC protests He describes himself as a supporter of the demonstrations, but says he is not affiliated with any particular group. “I want to build a country that’s based on good social values,” Whelan explained.