-->

Pages

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: , , , ,

Pandiculation


pandiculation \pan-dik-yuh-LEY-shuhn\, noun:
an instinctive stretching, as on awakening or while yawning

Yes, humans do it too; but these guys are so much more expressive.



not everyone appreciates being photographed

OK this is just showing off

Cousin Leo

one tiger

two tiger

three
Labels: ,

Class Action Lawsuits

I guess today's message is that common knowledge is not always quite as widespread as you might think. Fairly sure I have mused in the past about just how litigious our society has become when several firms can run national tv spots to buy out your structured settlement. I mean everybody sues everybody else for anything and everything and apparently there are tens if not hundreds of thousands of people being paid off over time on court ordered awards.

Then there are the class action lawsuits. A whole bunch of people ban together and sue one company, corporation or a whole slew of them. Sort of sanctioned gang on gang thing with everyone in suits. A legal donkey of a very different color.

I was at a party recently where a man was talking about being part of one of these classes in a legal action. In fact, he was just about to sign the papers to join the lawsuit and several other men were telling it was a lawyer's scam and he would never see any reasonable compensation. The gentleman was not interested in hearing such words and the discussion slowly degenerated in alcohol-fueled boy talk.  I had zero interest in offering up my two cents worth of knowledge and/or opinion, however later I was introduced to the gentleman's wife and she was still apologizing to anyone who had been in earshot of the earlier heated boyz quarrel.

I asked if she were comfortable with being part of the class action and she said she really didn't know enough about it. I made a recommendation to her then and I will make it to you now should you ever be in such a situation. Here it is:

I am not a John Grisham fan, if you like him read Scott Turow he's a much better author. But that is not my advice - if you are anywhere near a class action lawsuit or know someone who is then read The King of Torts by Grisham. It is an easy read and an honest indictment of the legal scam that attorneys have made of the class action lawsuit. At least you will know the species of snake you are getting into bed with.
Labels: ,

Taking the Temperature of a Writer

Yesterday's writing task was to rework the opening chapter of the novel I am working on. Capturing the reader's attention quickly was the order of the day. I began the rewrite with the image of a icy drinking fountain, you know the ones that can make the water almost too cold to drink. The chapter is set in the early morning just after dawn on a crisp spring day. I struggled with that image and the fifteen hundred words that followed for most of the daylight and into the early evening.

Yesterday in Berkeley was a warm day, September is often the hottest month of the year here. Now by hot I mean maybe a couple of days of 90, but more likely some mid-80s. Officially it reached 84 yesterday. As I have oft mentioned in the past, my wall of windows faces due west, which means that around two in the afternoon the sun has begun to blaze into my nest. I tweak the blinds and switch on my fans but for a few days each year it gets downright uncomfortable in here. Yesterday was a borderline day, as long as I kept a fan directly on me as well as minimal clothing I was within my tolerable range of heat/mass/body index. So I sloughed on with the chapter.

By early evening my creative energies had been drained and with mild dissatisfaction I put the chapter to bed for the night. I slipped in the land of Morpheus sometime after midnight with the windows wide open, I didn't pull the comforter over me until sometime in the wee dark hours. This morning I opened my eyes to a grey day outside my windows, the marine layer had moved in overnight and temperatures had plummeted. After pulling on several layers of cotton I was at my desk reediting the chapter.

Metaphors and images that had hidden from me yesterday snapped into view. In a scant hour I had reworked the entire piece and captured the words that should enrapture an audience. It's still well short of noon and chapter two beckons. What a difference a day makes.

Today's lesson: If you are going to write about the Sahara Desert, better not to attempt it from Boulder, Colorado in February.
Labels: ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)