-->

Pages

Open Letter to My Friends in the Center

You are the friends I am most concerned about. The middle class has taken a double edged beating in this financial meltdown. You lost homes, pensions, jobs, buying power and you paid for it. In the past this country has helped those at the bottom of the ladder; maybe not enough and always not soon enough but help was there. You, in the middle, have paid for that assistance and mostly you complained little or not at all.

Today, you need the help and Congress is fighting over whether emergency relief funds for flood and tornado victims is really a priority in this country. I know there are survivors of Katrina who will tell this this is not a new way for our government at act or lack action. But the help needed today is more basic, more at the core of what our national government has become. We are no longer looking out for the 99%. Those at the top are prospering, not breaking even, not hurting a bit like everyone else. They are increasing their fortunes each and every day; turn on any one of the market watching television channels - on Wall Street the recession is long over; profits are up, bonuses are up. And nothing is trickling down.

"Don't raise their taxes" we are told, "they won't create jobs if we raise their taxes".... Well we haven't raised their taxes, where exactly are the jobs? Where are the bank loans to small businesses? You want to see this 'trickle down" economics in action - take a look at the cartoon on my last blog post.

Sorry, I got off on a bit of a rant there. So let me ask, do you honestly feel your government cares about you? Right, I agree. So get yourself a twitter account, listen to what is being said in those Occupy encampments. Those aren't all kids out there. It's you, it's me, it's everyone who wants America to be what it once promised to be. With Liberty and Justice for All, there shouldn't be a price tag on Freedom.

Occupy America! 
---
Labels: , , ,

Open Letter to My Conservative Friends

To my many conservative friends - take a good look at those cartoon birds - you are not on the top rung. The game has always been rigged - a bit. But now those at the top are criminals, not high achievers or entrepreneurs or small business owners - criminals. And yes you are downstream, downwind and downhill from their greed. Don't believe that? Well then the top birds have you right where they want you.

No, I don't want to destroy the system and neither do most of the Occupy protesters. What we want is a fair system that doesn't favor the obscenely rich. Do you really think that you could, if you really wanted to, and tried hard enough, really get on that top rung. Well, you can't. You don't have the secret decoder ring with the IRS codes or the lobbyist or enough stolen money to get there. And besides they don't want you up top with them. You see you're not white enough or male enough or already rich enough; and you're just not self-centered and greedy enough or you wouldn't be reading my blog.

Yes the TARP bailout got a lot of the money back into the U.S. Treaury. Indeed if you don't count AIG and GM, there was a profit of sorts. Meaning if you jigger the numbers enough, TARP (or the Bush bailout) worked. That is, of course, if you forget the tens of thousands of families who lost their homes in foreclosure and the tens of billions of dollars in lost pension fund capital. Yes, your retirement fund was decimated by those Wall Street crooks who got their butts bailed out.

So coming around the big circle of economic policy from your side, you are going to be meeting a lot of us coming around from the other side. I hope you will take some time to talk and to listen because all the Occupy demonstrations are saying is - 

"The American Dream should be available to everyone, to whatever extent they want to participate and work for their own personal piece of the dream. And, oh by the way, those who have it all don't want you to have any of it."

Let's talk - How about we meet at the independent coffee shop nearest to the Occupy encampment.

Link to the Open Letter to My Liberal Friends
Labels: , , ,

Open Letter to My Liberal Friends

If you remember the Civil Rights marches and have wondered would that ever happen again -- it's happening now.

If you remember the Vietnam War protests and have wanted to influence the course of the nation that strongly again -- you can do it now.

If you have been frustrated by the WTO opposition -- this is different.

If you have ever wanted to get involved or get involved again in a cause that really had the chance to change the world and not simply support another worn politician -- the time is now!

The Occupy movement has taken hold but it will need your support to sustain itself and grow. Feeling too old to camp out in a park, that's OK those who do need your support. They need food, clothing, a place to shower, books and ideas.

Yes, I know you really don't want to bring down the entire system like they do. Does this sound at all familiar? We didn't crash the system when we ended a war but many of those in the streets did want revolution.

Revolution today for many of us means bringing back a fair chance for everyone to achieve whatever part of the dream they desire to go after. A level living field. Sure the kids in the tents are already wary of being co-opted by MoveOn and "other liberal politicians." So what. That's no reason not to get involved, get engaged, get out there if only on the weekends for the big protests like this coming Saturday October 15th.

Read: Think Occupy Wall Street is a phase? You don't get it

Read: Occupy Wall Street: The Most Important Thing in the World Now

Remember the day Nixon quit.
The day the troops left Saigon.
Not that old. OK remember when the G8 protests didn't work. Remember the frustration that nothing was within our control

Well it's a new day, the Middle East has had it's Arab Spring. Get on the bandwagon for the American Autumn and Winter, those kids are going to need mittens.

Email CNN and MSNBC and the Journal, the Times - let the media know they cannot ignore this story. Rupert Murdoch does not control the news. Social Media is making this all happen much faster.

One final thing, if you don't have a Twitter account, get one. It takes three minutes and you will be in touch with what is happening in the streets again.
Labels: , ,

Occupy Berkeley!

Today Occupy Berkeley at Bank of America on Shattuck and at People's Park.

"...now that the richest 1 percent have backed the rest of us into a corner — a corner without health care, decent wages and jobs that are not in danger of being outsourced — we have no choice but to organize and fight. Leaders in Washington have shown they won't champion progressive reforms unless pushed." --tampabay.com
Labels: , ,

Medical Marijuana (8): IRS Attacks

The Internal Revenue Service has ruled that legally operating medical marijuana businesses cannot take normal tax deductions like rent, payroll, security or equipment. The IRS cites a 25 year old law passed under the Reagan "War on Drugs" that was meant to deal with traffickers in drugs.

Harborside Health Center here in Oakland is cited as "a model for the industry" but the CEO is quoted as stating that either the IRS ruling is gets modified or Harborside will be out of business. The 90 day appeal window is now open but one has to wonder if the federal government headed by a supposedly compassionate liberal will not continue on the course of prohibition and infringement on the rights of citizens and in this case seriously ill citizens.

Here is the full MSNBC story.
Labels: ,

Occupy!


Labels: , ,

Arab Spring - American Winter?

"It is pretty safe to say that the U.S. military-industrial complex and other oppressive U.S. industrial complexes will ultimately fail." 

I'm depressed. No, not clinically morose; I won't be needing meds or any talk therapy but you might. You see my low level depression comes from my observed belief that the "greatest country in the history of the world" is doomed. The United States of America is a fraud. We do not represent of the people, by the people and for the people, at least not anymore. But more depressing we can't do anything about it. The filthy elite has so corrupted the economic and political systems that any intervention is impossible. The U.S. is owned outright by a minority, who control the media, the politics and the means of production.

My depressive resignation has been building for a very long time. I have been advocating for third party voting for many, many years. In fact, I embraced the "none of the above" political principle in 1973. It was my way of being a small part of the solution and not part of the apathetic problem. I was fully prepared to once more bury my real feelings about the bitter, nasty truth of the American capitalist society and advocate for third party votes again in 2012.

But recently I have come to feel that there might be another way. I have begun to see light at the end of the long, dark tunnel. However, we are going to have to embrace the reality that such a transformative light will only shine through holes we bash in the walls of our present cocoon.

If you relate to the disgust I feel for wall street, corporate greed, the flaccid list of republican presidential candidates and the ineffective smooth talking head currently in the white house, then I ask that you take ten minutes to read an article I found: 

How Anti-Authoritarians Can Transcend their Sense of Hopelessness and Fight Back.

I cannot recommend this article more strongly, consider this post as my pitch for you to get involved, this is my membership drive. I am not asking for a donation but for a few minutes of your time. Read the article - Stop accepting that someone else owns our country.
---
Art: baciar.com
Labels: , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)