WE ARE THE 99%

OCCUPY WALL STREET

By not watching the cable news programs, I am unable to state with accuracy what is being told about the "Occupy" movements across the country -- even across the world. I know that the network news I watch in the evening rarely has much to say or show about this phenomena. The local news programs infrequently mention the Occupy Austin protests that are going on except if something negative happens... like an intoxicated transient pulling a knife. I read where more and more transients are moving in on the protesters. Perhaps they will get free food. Because, yes, in this "prosperous" state of Texas we have many homeless and hungry people. Oddly enough, to even get up-to-date information on any of the protests across the country, I had to request special "custom" news on my Google news site. Could the reluctance of the media to give proper notice of the revolution going on in America and other democracies around the world be in part due to the fact that the media is owned by large corporations? We know how Rupert Murdoch controls the content of his so-called "news" networks. And we condemn him for it. Surely this cannot happen in our free society that all our news will somehow be filtered to keep from giving the public a clear and true picture of what is happening today. The link under the above video is the "official" website of the original Occupy Wall Street protest. Go there to find out their latest news.

I find this video and its music particularly moving. Contrary to what I heard FOX News said about the protestors being dirty, unkempt, anarchists bent on destroying Western civilization, you will notice that everyone is represented in this video... There are young people, old people (yayyy seniors!), a mix of races, business suits, young couples with children, celebrities, and even clergy. And I don't notice any ragged dirty folks either. (Although, with the length of time they are having to make do with minimum bathing facilities, I'll bet some are beginning to smell a little rank!) The following is from their website, stating what they are all about:

"Occupy Wall Street is a leaderless resistance movement with people of many colors, genders and political persuasions. The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%. We are using the revolutionary Arab Spring tactic to achieve our ends and encourage the use of nonviolence to maximize the safety of all participants."

Students who have been burdened with outrageous student loan debt when graduating college and with no jobs available to assist them in paying their debt... Seniors who are concerned with losing some or all of their Medicare and Social Security benefits... Workers who have lost their jobs and benefits due to outsourcing of labor to foreign countries so Corporations can continue to rake in record profits... Homeowners who have been foreclosed upon by banks who in their greed accepted faulty mortgages... The uninsured; the homeless; the discriminated against; the disenfranchised from all areas of our society... These are the members of the Occupy movements.

The one common theme throughout all of the movements is that something is broken in our government. Our politicians are letting us down. This is no longer the land of plenty. There is plenty for the few -- the 1%. But our country is so much more than that 1%. Sadly for us, the coming election campaigns are not being waged "by the people and for the people"; but the candidates with the biggest war chests and the most powerful, rich, and influential backers will be at the forefront. Thank you, Supreme Court for your ruling on corporate campaign contributions!

I applaud the protesters and only wish I were younger and able to join them. A couple of my senior friends and I had planned to join the Occupy Austin movement on Columbus Day. Some protesters we were! The first good rain Texas had in months happened the day before we were to join them, and the forecast was for even more. We didn't want to go and be rained out. (Maybe we can still participate. I have my bell bottoms and love beads ready!)  She's concerned with the impending cuts in Medicare and Social Security, and he wanted his sign to read, "Give me back my pension!" He had worked for a steel company in Ohio for thirty years, gradually moving into management. I haven't asked why, but the company filed for bankruptcy and he lost all of his pension he had paid into all those years. I assume it was during the time so many steel companies went under due to competition from the steel companies in China. Another case of corporate greed.

I was recently reminded in a talk by former President Bill Clinton that every critical change for the better in this country was preceded by protest movements of some kind. Even as early as the movement to end slavery that resulted in the Civil War. We had the Women's Suffrage, Civil Rights, Anti-Viet Nam War, and Women's Rights movements that all led to necessary change to raise our society to a higher level. Nonviolent protests are the Democratic way. So... rock on, Occupy Wall Steet movement. May you continue to spread throughout our land until the issues of inequality are addressed and corrected!

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Long-time friend, John (Jack) Nance Garner, continues to speak his mind on subject matters of importance. He frequently has his Letters to the Editor published in the Denton Record-Chronicle. And he frequently gets a lot of opposition in return. Here is his latest:

Corporate welfare:

"Hate welfare? Think it’s the most wasteful idiotic government program ever conceived by man with the help of God’s adversary? I do, too. Let’s put the boot to this government boondoggle. Let’s end it now. Let’s take the super rich, Big Oil, pharmaceutical companies, Wall Street and big bankers off of welfare. With 1 percent controlling 40 percent of the nation’s wealth, how much of the government’s resources do you think they use to maintain and add to their personal wealth? Of course, the idea of taxes should be the burden of the less-wealthy. The super rich need their money to make more money. They never get enough.

The base reason is from a mental condition known as peniaphobia — a fear of poverty; an unreasonable fear that is the father of greed, which in turn births the unequal tax system the super rich want to keep in place. This is not a new mental condition.

God handled those super rich of that time by proclaiming a year of jubilee, which required the compulsory return of all property to its original owners or their heirs, except the houses of laymen within walled cities, in addition to the manumission of all Israelite indentured servants. You had to give everything back and start all over. Godly inspired or not; not a popular concept with the “haves” then, as of today.

You would think Obama’s jobs program is going to do that from the amount of crocodile tears dripping onto the editorial pages."

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There has been so much happening in the world recently, it is hard for me to make up my mind what I wish to write about next. The death of Muammar Qadhafi hopefully will mean that Libya can now get down to the business of creating a government of equality for all. They were under so much oppression for so long. Again, we are faced with a matter of rejoicing at the death of a fellow human being. It must have been very, very hard for his wife, children, and grandchildren to see the horrible images of his dying and death that were displayed everywhere. As the old saying goes, "He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword." It's still sad to see someone end up that way. Let us hope it was for the greater good of the Libyans.

These are exciting times of world changes that we live in.

Peace and love,

Marilyn