Welcome to the fight, my friend

Today Time magazine declared the Occupy Movement as the number one story of 2011--considerably surprising, at least to me, as the traditional media is usually a day late and a dollar short on issues that matter to 99% of its readers.

Yesterday, President Obama took the unprecedented step--for him, anyway--of telling a group of Americans in Kansas that the trickle down theory republicans have embraced since I was a young man doesn't work, and never has worked. (He could have asked me--I've known it since the mid 1980s.)

President Obama has let us down numerous times before, and I have no idea if he'll continue on this tack or not.  But I hope he does--win or lose in 2012, I'd much rather do it fighting for what's best about the Democratic Party's ideals than merely paying them lip service and fighting as republican lite.

Peace,
emaycee

Arguing with the irrational

There's a group known as the American Legislative Exchange Council which is basically supported by the likes of the Koch Brothers and Wal-Mart (among others) who write or help to write legislation concerning environmental, health care, and corporate regulation, obviously to the detriment of 99% of us.

This week ALEC noted that it was an acceptable risk for 12-15,000 children a year to ingest rat poison.  They did this for the betterment of d-Con--and not for the betterment of America.  (Want to guess how many d-Con products I'll be purchasing for the rest of my life?  It's the same as the average IQ for republicans:  zero.)  Ingestion of this product leads to internal bleeding, bloody urine, bleeding gums, and blood coming out of the ears of children.

I'm all for the Kumbaya movement, but how do they expect to argue income inequality and for a fair chance for the poor and middle class against people who deem it "acceptable" that 12-15,000 children will be hospitalized yearly with internal bleeding all so d-Con can make a few more fucking pennies?

Peace,
emaycee

When you look up pathetic in the dictionary...

...or bonehead...or braindead....it would have to have excerpts from this article about the losers in Scottsdale, Arizona who are paying money to have their pictures taken with Santa while holding guns.

Look, I've come to accept the fact that in America gun control is never going to happen.  Americans are in love with their guns and have convinced themselves that firearms are their God-given and (mistakenly) Constitutional right.  You want a picture of yourself holding a gun with scantily clad babes surrounding you?  Fine--you're an idiot, but fine.  You want to plaster your facebook page with pictures of yourself holding your slew of weapons?  Fine--good waste of time, but fine.  But fucking pictures with Santa?  What's next, selling the opportunity to have your photo taken with a creche? The baby Jesus, Me, and an AK-47--only $10!

How pathetically sad and mundane does your life have to be that having your picture taken with Santa while holding guns gives you a thrill?  Santa--and Christmas itself--are the very antithesis of guns.  It's about peace on earth and good will toward men.

I'll tell you one thing:  I'll never call myself a loser again.  These fucking bozos are beyond compare in that department.

Peace,
emaycee

Thanks for clearing that up

Apparently, not investing in your company for the long term and laying off workers has another benefit for corporate CEOs:  that money can be used for stock buybacks which raise the price of stocks and help increase CEO bonuses!

I'm not sure which scares me the most about this trend.  It's either the fact that I read the piece and thought, "Holy shit!  That's exactly like the company I work for!" or that I have been saying for years that corporations lip service to "customers" is just so much bullshit because if they could find a way to make more money without customers, they would and now they've figured out how to do just that.

Either way, it's a lose-lose proposition for an awful lot of folks.

Peace,
emaycee

Token numbers

For the first time since Pew began polling the question, less than half of all Americans believe in the superiority of our culture.  Most Americans now believe America is not just in a slump, but on the downside of permanent decline.  I have no idea if these opinions are correct--if history is any judge, America's decline will eventually happen.  The sliver of optimism that makes me a Liberal tells me it is years away still, but I wouldn't place any wagers on it.

I would, however, place wagers on some of the reasons why:

• Child poverty continues to increase in America--one in five American--that's right, fucking American--children are poor.
• 45.8 million Americans are seeking food stamps.  That's 15% of the population of the richest nation on earth--that means as you're walking down a city street, strolling through a busy mall, or sitting at the stadium watching the game that one and a half of every ten people you meet are in need of help to fucking eat.
• For the last two years, over 40% of the unemployed are long-term jobless--a figure unheard of before.  Doesn't stop republicans from trying to suck blood from a turnip in return for Democrats trying to help those long-term unemployed.
• We have fewer jobs--of any sort, let alone ones that make for a decent living.  Pay increased by 20% for the top 1%, but median pay for Americans fell to $26k a year--about $507 a week.  Try buying a home and putting kids through college on that pay.  Hell, funding an apartment and feeding a family would be hard on that shit pay.

I know it's an uncomfortable topic for the 1% and their enablers, but a return to the days of the robber barons will only hasten America's decline.  When a decent home, affordable transportation, a vacation once in a while, basic medical care, and simple sustenance become out of reach for more and more Americans while the richest of the rich continue to be grossly overpaid, it's going to get harder and harder for the poor majority to pick up weapons to defend them, harder and harder to maintain infrastructure for them, harder and harder to run their cash registers, fix their cars, take their blood pressure, and teach their children.

Where economic pessismism reigns for the majority, the death of a nation can't be far behind.

Peace,
emaycee

Tin soldiers and Nixon's coming...

I guess we can be thankful for small favors--at least they're only using pepper spray instead of  bullets from rifles.

It does, though, sum up exactly what the Occupy movement is standing up for--I mean the "police officers" attacking the seated, non-threatening students have all the compassion of those Wall Street jackoffs who got us into our current economic mess.

It's enough to make you sick.

Peace,
emaycee

I nominate Rick Santorum...

...for lying numbnuts of the the week.

I'll believe Santorum's claim of how good suffering is for the human race when Mr. Santorum takes the lead and makes sure his children don't have enough to eat, have toothaches because their beleaguered parents can't afford to take them to the dentist, get sicker and die quicker because medical care is financially out of reach, and end up in dead end jobs because a college education is as affordable as a trip on a rocket ship to the moon.

Until such a time, I'll figure Mr. Santorum is another one of those "Christians" for whom suffering is good as long as it's somebody else, and once outside of the womb couldn't give a shit if the human being lived or died as long as Mr. Santorum still has time to polish his nickels and dimes.

Peace,
emaycee