only a handwritten: November 2011

Rabu, 30 November 2011

What I Saw At The Pseudo-revolution - by guest writer Jim Bellano

Today you get a break from the Bear's usual rant. After reading an article written by Jim Bellano who recently visited the OWS camp in Zuccoti Park for ctpost.com, I invited Professor Bellano to repost his article here and he was kind enough to agree.

As a dedicated professional teaching political science at Western Connecticut State University, I felt it was incumbent upon me to observe the Occupy Wall Street movement and give my students a first-hand account of the phenomenon that, recently, has dominated the headlines. That, and I had to be in New York City that weekend for a friend's 50th birthday party.

In any event, after my sojourn to Zuccotti Park, I came to the conclusion that most media accounts have it wrong and Occupy Wall Street could be summed up in one word -- unimpressive.

Conservative media has painted the protest as some kind of modern day Sodom and Gomorrah.To the contrary, the protesters were polite, organized and extremely well behaved.

The park was relatively clean and there was a concerted effort among the protesters to keep it that way. There was no evidence of any of the "shuns" that I had been hearing about. No urina-tion, fornica-tion or defeca-tion as far as I could see.

Conversely, the liberal media has been portraying Occupy Wall Street as a grand movement, perhaps, the ideological counterweight to the Tea Party. Not likely.

While Zuccotti Park evidenced all of the trappings of the hyped-up protest I'd been reading about -- acoustic guitars, a woman breastfeeding, a large Che Guevara flag -- at the end of my visit to the protest, I couldn't help feeling that the gathering was nothing more than a cliche.

Like any good protest though, there were plenty of signs.

Protesters generally expressed two messages: one, anti-war ("End This Endless War," and "U.S. End the Occupation of (pick one) Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya or Palestine;" the other, articulating anger at Wall Street ("The road to hell is paved with stocks and bonds," "Human needs not corporate greed").

Some, more creative types, managed to incorporate both onto one placard: "How do we end the deficit? End the war, tax the rich," and "Wall Street bankers are the enemy, not Iran."

Some signs were contradictory.

One man wanted to "Arrest the Banks." Close by, another professed that "Corporations are not people," a statement, that if true, would put the kibosh on his fellow protester's initiative to incarcerate financial institutions.

The People's Library bore an entrance sign that read "Books Not Bombs."

Yawn.

One major criticism of the Occupiers is that they do not have a coherent message. After interviewing about a dozen people, I found nothing to rebut that assertion.

Among the protesters I spoke with was Terry, a Hula Hoop-wielding Bennington College student. Her biggest concern was her educational debt and the prospects for getting a job after graduation. I asked what she was studying.

"Social Practices In Art," she replied. According to the Bennington website, tuition, room and board for 2011-12 is approximately $54,000. If I were her parents, I'd be concerned too.

Then, there was Tommy, a Teamster who was carrying a "Stop the War on Workers" sign. But rather than lamenting the loss of American manufacturing jobs to the global economy, Tommy's issue was personal.

The Professional Art Handlers of Local 814 have been in a labor dispute with Sotheby's over salaries and pensions. Recently, the vaunted auction house locked out the union, trying to save on the cost of moving around Monets and Picassos by replacing union rank and file with temporary workers

Of all those I observed and interviewed, I had the most empathy for Tommy. His expressions of "angst" and "loss of pride" over being "squeezed" by Sotheby's -- a group of unsympathetic one-percenters if there ever was one -- were the most concrete and real.

I also met with Bill Dobbs, one of the Occupy organizers.

Dobbs had all of the relevant facts on the cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, hedge fund manager bonuses, and income disparity in the U.S. at his fingertips.

He characterized the atmosphere at Occupy Wall Street as one of "fun and anger," but "with a positive message."

He spoke in terms of "achieving economic justice" through "policy change," but was adamant that he "didn't want the movement to be co-opted by politicians."

It's not that Dobbs wasn't sincere. I could see he was passionate about his cause. But beyond his oxymoronic rhetoric lies the problem at the heart of Occupy Wall Street.

While Dobbs sees it as a "mass movement," most of the occupiers -- like Terry and Tommy -- were there for parochial reasons.

We all should be ticked off about the bank bailouts and absence of Justice Department prosecutions. But neither Local 814's dispute with Sotheby's nor Terry's job situation will be resolved by singing "Kumbaya" at a park in lower Manhattan.

Equally vapid as their signs were the protesters' chants. "All day all week, occupy Wall Street" and "the whole world is watching" had the creativity and relevance of a high school pep rally.

All of the individuals I spoke with proudly made comparisons with the protests of the 1960s.

In the end, maybe that's what the Occupy protest is all about.

From what I observed, Occupy Wall Street was more of a "happening" than a "movement."

Zuccotti Park was filled with Baby Boomers seeking to recapture their Parsley, Sage Rosemary and Thyme memories of a by-gone era and idealistic twenty-somethings trying to stake out their own version of the 60s, so that years from now, and after they retire from a career in corporate America, they can pass the stories on to their grandchildren.

James V. Bellano teaches political science at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury. Professor Bellano also writes a blog at http://letspeeltheonion.blogspot.com/

The content of this article is the sole property of Maggie's Bear but a link to it may be shared by those who think it may be of interest to others

Occupy Protesters Bravely Face Another Night Of Tent Brutality

It was another night of Occupy evictions; another night of armed conflict and war.

LA police officer in the middle of the squalid tent city
photo by Reuters

Or at least, that’s the way Occupy LA, OWS, Occupy Philly and their rag tag band of online supporters tried to portray it. In both Los Angeles and Philadelphia, police gathered in strength but quietly to prepare to evict Occupy squatters from public property. In both cities, Occupy was given notice that they were to leave but refused to comply.

Instead, a frantic barrage of tweets and live streams started erupting across the online universe describing every hysterical detail of the armed incursion. In LA, a police helicopter became a helicopter gun ship. In Philadelphia, the police had military tactical weapons. The Feds had arrived and the Department Of Homeland Security was orchestrating the “attack on peaceful American citizens.”

Philadelphia Police brutalizing a wooden palette
while Occupy protester looks on

Danger was everywhere and there were injuries.

Fortunately nobody was killed but while there were no apparent injuries in Los Angeles, there were four reported in Philadelphia; three to police officers and one to an Occupy protester who was injured when a police horse she was standing behind stepped on her foot. Two police officers were injured in scuffles unrelated to the Occupy eviction and one received a cut taking down a tent. Fortunately, further bloodshed was avoided when LAPD opted to provide a female protester with a ladder to climb down out of a tree rather than simply shooting her or blowing up the tree.

The hysterical hyperbole is an insult to the people of Syria where 30 more were shot and killed by authorities yesterday. Contrast that to LA and Philly where a combined total of 250 were arrested for misdemeanors, put on a bus and driven to police stations to have formal charges laid. No tear gas or pepper spray was used, no rubber bullets, and no weapons of mass destruction were brought in to overcome tarpaulin cities. Unlike Syria and Libya, the police simply went about their job which was primarily an assault on tents.

In Syria, the people are attacked and killed, in LA and Philly, the police attacked camping gear.

It didn’t prevent Occupy from doing everything it could to elevate what was happening from a big ho hum to an unbelievable assault on democratic freedom and the people by a brutal regime.

Syrian tanks and military occupy Haman square

For me, Occupy’s continuous over –the-top response to every little event is precisely what is undermining their attempt at meaningful protest. They have trivialized themselves and their movement with ridiculous exaggerations of what are little more than innocuous events.

It’s like kids playing war. There is no real danger and so they exaggerate everything to a level where it becomes laughable and laugh we did last night as a group of us shared each Occupy tweet as it came across the cloud.

Syrian police and military moving
against protesters

My heart goes out to the people of Syria who are fighting and dying for the very freedoms Occupy sycophants take for granted. I mourned the brutal deaths of so many in places like Libya and Rwanda torn apart by civil war and tyranny.

It is not only more than just a little challenging to have any sympathy for Occupy’s self-indulgent rhetoric, it is impossible. They, along with many of their supporters, have attempted to elevate Occupy into something grander than it is but they continue to fail because in the end, Occupy is not an instrument for change. It’s not even a real protest movement, it is merely a cliché of tired ideas and self-absorption and the good news for them is that they got to have their hissy fit in countries that indulged them to a certain extent rather than kill them.

But, play time is over and as Los Angeles and Philadelphia announced last night, it is long past time to end this revolution of the clueless. There is real work to be done to fix some of the things that need fixing in this society. We don’t have any more time or money to waste on those who simply want to play at being important instead of working with the broader 99% to help bring about real and effective change for the better.

All those who agree please “Up Twinkles”*.

*For those unfamiliar with the term Twinkles, it is the name given by Occupy for a hand signal. One finger in the air means agreement and is called an Up Twinkles. A finger pointing down is disagreement and is called a Down Twinkles. It is impossible to take seriously any group that turns democracy into something more appropriate for Sesame Street. (Occupy is brought to you today by the letters LA, P and the number 4). When doing Up Twinkles, it is considered rude to use your middle finger.

The content of this article is the sole property of Maggie's Bear but a link to it may be shared by those who think it may be of interest to others

Selasa, 29 November 2011

Rewarding Bad Behaviour Gives Us The Government We Deserve

"Every government is a parliament of whores. The trouble is, in a democracy, the whores are us"

-P.J. O'Rourke

President Obama and Prime Minster Harper

There has been a lot of criticism of government lately and it doesn’t matter which country you’re in, that statement pretty much stands uncontested. We all, myself included, are quite critical of those we elect to represent us, particularly when they don’t do what it is we expect or want. Some of that criticism is more than warranted but not all. We taught our governments how to behave by our demands and our expectations and they learned well from us.

We taught politicians that we could be bribed with our own money in order to get elected. Elections now are less about a vision in which a leader and his/her political party intends to take the country or how it intends to address key issues than it is a daily unveiling of new entitlements for this group or that. They’re even called election promises because that’s what they are; promises of new government largess.

Canadian Parliament Buildings

You’ll never hear a politician standing for election give a rousing speech on how his/her party are going to ensure that the sewers are properly maintained or that more money will be put into upkeep of public property. That would be political suicide. Instead we’ve taught them to tell us what they’re going to do for us, how many tax breaks or new funds for new programs are going to be introduced. In the end, we talk about wanting good government but what we really want is more stuff.

Occupy likes to blame corporations for influencing governments with money and lobbyists but they’re only partly right. Everybody is in the game. Unions lobby, cajole and threaten. They spend money during elections for or against candidates based on which candidates will do the most for labour. Environmentalists lobby and fund advertising for the candidate they think will be most friendly to their cause and voters are right in there too. We want our share of the pie and none of us wants to hear talk about deficits or tax increases or program cuts. Instead we vote in large numbers for the person and party who promise they can fix everything without raising taxes while giving us even more goodies. We constantly hold out our hands for tax concessions, funding for our favourite program, free tuition for post-secondary education and even support for professional sports. Politicians recognizing the easy road to election pull out their check books full of promises barely stopping long enough to crunch numbers to see if we, the people, can actually afford what we demand.

American Congress

When you reward bad behaviour, you teach those you reward to continue in that behaviour and we have taught politicians and government well.

We make excuses for politicians who lied to us during the last election just so we can re-elect them based on the new promises they are making. We are very forgiving of the politician we support who got caught in flagrante delectro with his pants around his ankles but extremely unforgiving of any who run against him. We don’t talk about issues in an objective and analytical manner we constantly look for information that will confirm the choice we’ve already made.

Canadian House of Commons

We have divided ourselves up into small special interest constituencies that go far beyond the 1% and the 99%. Those two defined group are no more homogeneous than the population of any major city in North America. There are as many on the left in the 1% as there are on the right and the 99% is divided even further into left, right, Tea Party, environmentalists, labour and the apathetic.

Someone said once that in a democracy, the people get what they deserve and while we complain and criticize, the simple truth is that we created the governments we have. We demanded entitlements beyond the ability of our society to pay for them and expected government to figure out where to get the money. In some ways we have taken the same attitude to government that we have to Black Friday, we all want a deal and we have taught politicians to be wary of being frank and honest with us by telling us we can't have what we want because we can't afford it. Past elections are littered with the dried out remains of failed politicians who were that foolish.

Congress in session

We talk about wanting good stable, efficient and responsible government but there aren’t too many of us prepared to give up what government gives our group to get it or to re-educate government to operate more effectively.

We are a society that pays film stars and professional athletes more than our political leaders; a society that pays rock stars more than teachers, police officers, paramedics and fire fighters. I don’t begrudge anyone the money they earn, even if it is in the millions. I just question a society that places a higher monetary value on winning American Idol than saving the life of someone who was trapped in a fire.

In the end, I think I question a society that devotes much of its waking hours to criticizing government but less time to actually doing something to change the attitudes of those in government….and in our ourselves.

The content of this article is the sole property of Maggie's Bear but a link to it may be shared by those who think it may be of interest to others

Some Of My Favourite Occupy Tweets

As I posted yesterday, I read thousands of tweets a week and yesterday’s post was a few of my favourites that made me laugh. Today, I’m posting some of the tweets from Occupy and its supporters. They don’t always make me laugh but they do cause me to shake my head sometimes.

Activism Tips Activism Tips

If someone in your group is hungry for some kind of leadership position, expel them immediately.

Here’s straight ahead thinking from a movement that refuses to learn from those who went before. Gandhi and Martin Luther King were both leaders and they were successful. Occupy decries leadership and consequently continues to flounder around. One wonders why so many in Occupy are afraid of leadership that might actually help coalesce the protest rabble into an effective movement.

MT @justinstoned: #Queering #OWS could REALLY use your help. There are a lot of LGBTQ #occupier’s still wo housing.

It seems odd to me that anyone would show up for a protest that is all about trying to live somewhere without the means to accommodate themselves. But then, Occupy has never been shy about begging for free things from the rest of the world.

20k army landing force brought in to deal with US occupy movement is training currently in Fort Douglas Salt Lake City Utah

Considering that there are more people attending a Sunday afternoon NFL game than in all of Occupy across North America, this seems somewhat exaggerated but then, when all else fails we increase our importance by trying to increase the size of those who oppose us.

Our #OccupyLA family will be evicted tonight after turning down a deal with the city to get a office building and farming land to move. #OWS

There’s nothing like the inability to recognize a good thing when it’s offered. The city of LA offered Occupy LA alternatives to the park they’re occupying but rather than accept that offer and avoid unnecessary confrontation with authorities, they declined. This is the thinking that wants to lead us to the New Jerusalem.

Want to help #OWS? Go to a local market buy a bag full of fruits and bring it to your local occupation, you'll be welcomed with open arms.

There’s nothing like being precise about what you want for free. Even the homeless don’t specify the kind of help they need, they simply appreciate anything that’s offered.

We refuse dialogue with the regime not because we don't want to talk; but because the regime wants to impose on us what to say|

When you don’t know what to say, it’s always better to blame it on the opposition.

Note || Violence and Destruction of property is not "diversity of tactics" in a PEACEFUL protest. It's stupid and immature. #OWS

Unfortunately, not enough members of Occupy saw this memo. It’s probably because there aren’t enough leaders to make sure it got distributed and enforced.

You cannot try and enlighten a celebrity who has become delusionally narcissistic and infantilely materialistic.

Things aren’t looking to good for Michael Moore and Alec Baldwin if this becomes Occupy policy.

The @OWS_kitchen are still cooking and serving food to meetings, #nycsc and churches/shelters but have no donations coming in #OWS

One wonders why the donations are drying up when Occupy keeps trumpeting how successful it is being at winning support.

1% buy $1,000 shoes;Walmart customers struggle to pay for Thanksgiving dinner dailykos.com/story/2011/11/… dinner

So who did Occupy choose to disrupt? If you guessed the customers buying $1,000 shoes, you guessed wrong. They chose to disrupt and interfere with the Walmart customers who struggle to pay for Thanksgiving dinner.

#occupyphoenix #ophx Food canopy and all contents confiscated this morning. Cold and hungry protesters need food, water, coffee. Please RT.

This is just pitiful but if you are going to support Occupy Phoenix, please don’t forget the coffee. They’re out of coffee.

Below is a link to an OWS meeting which they published online for all to see. I will warn you in advance that it is long and sometimes boring but it is also a wonderment to behold. There is frustration brewing within the organization and even questioning about the efficacy of its style of democracy. You won’t have much difficulty understanding why that is after you read some, if not all, of the verbatim minutes.

Link To Minutes Of Occupy's Meeting
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1woAt6a-jEocbKiytE7nrpCDRTqCJGIFV7BW0EDEYuZ0/edit?pli=1

The content of this article is the sole property of Maggie's Bear but a link to it may be shared by those who think it may be of interest to others

Senin, 28 November 2011

Welcome To The Age Of Entitlement

Before I decided to leave the rat race earlier this year, I was the president of a small, national direct sales and marketing company. In May 2010, we decided to open a new operation in Miami and I spent six weeks setting it up. We had branch operations in other cities and had a fairly solid process for opening up a new one so I wasn’t expecting much challenge in opening up Miami. I was wrong.

We advertised for sales and management positions and received hundreds of applications. We did long-distance phone interviews to narrow the list of potential candidates and set up face-to-face interviews for when I arrived in Miami. The result was an unbelievable level of entitlement and self-absorption.

I had candidates ask me if we paid their cost to drive to work while others wanted to know how quickly they could go on paid vacation. Some rejected the offer of employment because they were receiving health and post-secondary benefits from the state and didn’t want to lose those unless we could or would cover the cost. Out of the dozen we hired, only five actually showed up for work and three of them disappeared without notice. Replacement hires came and went like dust blowing through town. Some wanted advances on their salaries while others kept taking days off to attend to personal business.

It clearly interfered with our ability to deliver for our client but they were very understanding and confided that they had the same problem with many of their full-time employees. We finally gave up and closed the operation.

I’m not suggesting that Miami is a hotbed of lazy people or even that the situation is necessarily unique to South Florida but it is indicative of a much bigger and wider problem. We have built a society with an unwarranted sense of entitlement.

We see others becoming wealthy when we aren’t so it must be their fault and we want justice and wealth redistribution. Undoubtedly, some individuals and corporations have benefited from tax breaks and government largesse at tax payer expense and that needs redress but it doesn’t explain the mess we’re in nor is it the singular cause.

Tax concessions and exemptions are provided to all kinds of individuals and organizations from charities to home mortgages, from political parties to the cost of tuition. In Canada, 75% of the true cost of tuition is subsidized by the taxpayer and the 25% paid by the student has additional tax credits available to it.

Virtually every group, big or small, wants or expects some kind of government support or handout. Environmental groups wanted governments to spend hundreds of billions on the Kyoto Accord which would have ruined economies even faster than we’re managing to do now. Renewable energy companies are lined up with their hands out for tax breaks and right behind them are corporate executives threatening to relocate their companies to tax-friendlier jurisdictions.

Students want free university and college education and the friends of public broadcasting in both Canada and the U.S. have successfully lobbied to ensure a continuous flow of cash into the hands of public broadcasters. In Canada, the state-owned CBC receives roughly $1 billion annually while in the U.S., PBS stations received matching or 2 for 1 government funding for every dollar they raise on their own.

Anti-smoking advocates, women’s groups, gay pride parades, festivals, the arts, professional sports teams, corporations, banks, home owners, students, the unemployed, charities, political parties, the poor (to some extent only), special interest groups, NGO’s and a long list of others have all lobbied for and benefited from government largesse.

Black Friday exemplified the lost sense of values we have as a society. Almost $1 billion was spent on purchasing "things" and while I don't resent anyone enjoying the fruits of their labour by purchasing what they want, many of those same people will cluck their tongues about poverty and wonder why the government isn't doing more about it.

The riots and protest in Greece earlier in the year were not over injustice, they were sparked in outrage over the government's announcement that it was going to crack down on income tax evasion, something that had become a Greek national sport. The riots in England earlier this year were sparked by students demanding tuition fee reductions. The list of expectations is unlimited and not bound by geo-political borders or economic groups.If some group has a cause, a business or even just an opinion, they have a sense of entitlement to some kind of financial support from government.

But here’s the thing.

Government doesn’t earn any money. It’s income comes from tax payers and in Canada, the average tax payer now works until the end of June just to pay their tax burden. In other words, their taxes consume fully 50% of what they earn regardless of their tax rate. It's almost the same in the United States. We work to pay for the entitlements first and even then, it isn't enough. Governments borrow more to finance more in order to get re-elected and in the end, it all spirals downwards taking jobs, tolerance, and opportunity with it. Taxes aren't a problem in and of themselves, they are symptomatic of something bigger.

What taxes? Income tax, consumption and sales taxes, gas tax, death duties, inheritance taxes, licenses for cars, boats and trailers. There are environmental taxes, property taxes, school taxes and taxes on energy. Unemployment insurance, health care taxes and user fees to make use of the public facilities our tax money originally built and pay to maintain and operate. It is an orgy of taxation that has even led the U.S. government to send out tax collection notices to citizens of other countries who while born in the United States have not lived, worked nor are citizens of that country. In other words, they become liable by accident of birth.

This unwarranted sense of entitlement now consumes so much of our tax money that the things it is supposed to pay for like infrastructure maintenance are increasingly underfunded. In Canada, healthcare and education consume almost 80% of every tax dollar leaving 20% to pay for everything else government does and to service the government debt.

In the end, though, it isn't about taxes it's about an attitude. Occupy protests corporate greed but doesn't recognize the same motivation in the demand for free university tuition. Everyone with a sense of entitlement can rationalize and justify why their cause, their organization, their union or their corporation should received financial support. We have become a society that expects someone else to fund our group and for someone else, usually government, to do something about all the other issues our society faces.

Day after day, I see Occupy protesters decrying the poverty of the homeless even as some within their movement cause the squandering of millions of tax dollars as a result of their protest. I have asked some protesters what they intend to do about poverty but get no reply to the question. I watch corporations make huge donations to charity only to turn around and claim it as a tax deduction which means that in the end; you and I made that donation, not them. Across the country people attend charity events and galas paid for by the companies they work for only to have those same companies in turn declare it as a tax deduction. But in the end, someone always has to pay the bill. Truman said "the buck stops here" but he was wrong. The bill is presented to you and I and that is where the buck really stops.

Everybody talks about the poor and about unemployment and all of the other social problems we face but nobody wants to give up any of their tax advantage to correct or address those things. This past summer the Republicans and the Democrats couldn’t even agree on a combination of taxation and spending reductions to try and get the budget deficit under control. The democrats simply wanted to tax the rich and the Republicans simply refused to consider change to any of the tax benefits already being enjoyed by the privileged.

It’s an attitude that everybody must pay….except me and mine and the tragedy is that there really is enough wealth and opportunity in North America to make life better for everyone. There is no excuse for a child to go to bed hungry in our society and yet it happens. Is it the fault of the wealthy? Partly, but it is also the fault of all of us who put our own personal cause and self-interest ahead of everything and everyone else.

We live in an age where too many have an unwarranted sense of entitlement; the problem is that we can’t afford it any more. We can't afford the selfish attitude it has created and we can't afford the cost of that attitude anymore. Corporations defend capitalism but what happened in 2008 was corporate welfare. Entitlement is nothing more than welfare for the special interest and we have governments borrowing billions to pay for what too many consider their entitlement it becomes clear that we have lost our sense of values, our perspective and our ability to pay our own way.

We've been living on borrowed money and borrowed time for decades and the bill has come due.The rich didn't ruin our economy. Every one of us with an unwarranted sense of entitlement contributed to that and all the protests, political rhetoric and accusations across the political spectrum are not going to change that simple fact.

The content of this article is the sole property of Maggie's Bear but a link to it may be shared by those who think it may be of interest to others

A Few Of My Favourite Tweets

I joined Twitter ten weeks ago and after stumbling around for a bit while I tried to learn how to work with it, I finally have some degree of comfort with Twit World. I’ve met a number of interesting and often nice people on all sides of the political debate. I've read literally thousands of tweets each week, some offensive, some confusing, many interesting and more than a few that made me smile and sometimes laugh. Here are some of my favourites.

“60 Minutes wants to probe Nancy Pelosi” - I don’t criticize anyone for their sexual fantasies, I just think that 60 Minutes should keep theirs to themselves.

“MacBook Pro used to #DJ at Microsoft Store grand opening: http://mctr.st/srJN1Z” – They probably used the Windows powered notebook as a back up

"I have been one of the leaders of the kitchen; we have been hijacked by ppl who don't have vision or sympathy for the movement or the occupiers. I had a meeting w/ the Kitchen and they told me they don't care about the ppl of this of this movement." Tomorrow she'll propose to spokes that we create a new occupier kitchen.” –

This is an amalgamation of a string of three tweets which shows that even in Paradise, there is sometimes trouble. OWS bumps into the real world with some ideological indifference within their own ranks. What a surprise.

“Tried to get firm w/ my little one; that went over well. She replied telling me to chill my biscuits!” Grrr! – Having two daughters, I had some sympathy for this one. It’s one of those moments where you don’t know if you’re brain is going to explode or you’re going to break out laughing.

“Correct me if I'm wrong, but the tea party "protesters" never defecated on a car like occupy wall street. Crapping outside is not winning.” – He has a point.

“My blood type is currently tequila positive” – This is from a young woman with a unique perspective on life and her tweets usually make me chuckle out loud

“Most of my posts are written while on the toilet. So if you see a several updates in a row I've been to Taco Bell recently”.— And some more from her

“I hate when people from work send me friend requests on Facebook. I don't like talking to them when I'm being paid to, let alone for free’.—Ain’t it the truth?

“#OWS says over 6,000 viewers on LiveStream I see 96 on one and 519 on the other ...where's the other 4,900+ ?” – Math has never been one of OWS’ strongest suits.

“Seven Amish radicals have been arrested for forcibly shaving off the beards of other Amish. Is this follicle brutality?” – When even the Amish start to get violent, we know we’re headed for trouble.

“Dear Canada Post, next time I'm not home just leave the parcel on my front step rather than lose it taking it 3 blocks to the post office!” – This falls under the heading: Been there-Done that.

“An atheist in a coffin - All dressed up and nowhere to go.” – This came from one of those bots that sends out constant quotes and jokes which I seldom read but this one did make me laugh

There are lots more, some more serious but these were a few of my favourites that made me laugh, Thanks to the Tweeps who wrote them. It always lightens the day when something like one of these passes through my timeline,. I’m looking forward to more.

The content of this article is the sole property of Maggie's Bear but a link to it may be shared by those who think it may be of interest to others

Sabtu, 26 November 2011

It Is Only New To Occupy

I usually get a few comments from people about whatever it is that I’ve written on a particular day. Some agree with me, some disagree and a few think I’m an idiot. All comments are welcome because I tend to think of this blog as a forum for the exploration of ideas by discussion and debate, if not just for ranting.

Sometimes, I am pleasantly surprised by some message even when I don’t agree with it because the opinion being put forward is reasoned and respectful. Sometimes I am amazed by just how ill informed and insecure some people are about their cause or their beliefs.

Nothing I’ve written, however, riled up the natives more than the two photo essays I posted yesterday on the vandalism and violence associated with the Occupy protest. I have received countless messages both directly here and on Twitter, as well as, by email and it is clear that on these two posts created some serious angst with more than a few Occupy supporters.

I’ve had people some Occupy supporters try to rationalize the violence or to justify the crime because corporations are criminals. I don’t mind admitting that I haven’t got a clue how anyone draws a conclusion like that. Others try to deflect it to other issues while a few flat out deny it and call me a liar. It’s ok though because I have broad shoulders and those comments say more about them than they do about me.

What does get under my skin though is the lack of any attempt to dig a little deeper to see what I am really saying. They read one post, decide they know everything that needs knowing and start their rant and some of these people are academics. If that’s what passes for true analysis and the open discussion of different ideas and opinions in our universities, students are in big trouble.

The fact is that I am not, as one yahoo put it, an apologist for corporations, banks or the 1%. I have written about banks and their constant nickel and diming of our society. I’ve criticized governments of all stripes and levels for their cynicism and their failed policies and I have spoken out publicly against the pepper spraying of students at the University of California, Berkley Campus, which I thought was a travesty. As for being a dupe of Fox News (yes, some idiot accused me of that too), I don’t even watch Fox TV. I consider them to be as extreme as some Occupy protesters and it is extremism and an unwillingness to listen to any point of view beyond our own that is killing our freedom.

It polarizes us into camps and all that does is impedes our ability as a society to address real issues and move forward.

I supported, for example, the Bank Transfer Day. I thought it was a smart way to protest banks that treat their customers like nothing more than conduits for greater profit while reducing services. Occupy likes to take credit for Bank Transfer Day but in fact, it had already started two months earlier but I do credit Occupy for promoting it and encouraging it. That was effective and useful protest.

When I contrast that with the violence in Oakland, Portland, San Francisco where a woman jumped out of protest march to slash a police officer with a razor knife or the violence in New York on The National Day of Action where even school children were harassed, I scratch my head.

Every act of vandalism, every crime and the violence of some in this protest has turned the public away from Occupy and its message. Every action like Bank Transfer Day has drawn support from that same broader public. The reason is simple and it is a wonder more in Occupy don’t get it. One is constructive in achieving real objectives; one is mindless destruction that achieves nothing and in the end only serves to distract from the real issues and undermine the credibility of the movement.

We’ve seen this before. Flash mobs are just the new term for Goon Squads and are nothing more than an attempt to intimidate others. It was a preferred tactic of extremists dating back before the SA Brownshirts in pre-war Germany. The constant blaring of unproven allegations against any group that anyone within the movement may have has always worn thin eventually and caused that movement to collapse under the weight of its own rhetoric and lost credibility.

Occupy wonders why people like me are so opposed to them and the answer is simple. I remember the violence of too many of these movements from the past.

I remember Watts. I remember Detroit and Chicago in the 60’s I remember the deaths of four college students at Kent State. I remember the violence across England earlier this year over student tuition fees and the violence in Vancouver over a hockey game. I remember the G8/G20 in Seattle in 1999 and again in Toronto two years ago. I remember how many were hurt, how much damage was done and how little was accomplished.

While some in Occupy prefer to make this personal and attack me for my criticism, the simple fact is that I am not blinded by ideology nor am I against the right to protest. I even agree with some of the underlying issues but I cannot and will not support the mindless violence and stupidities of the past that are being replayed today. All of this may be new to some in Occupy but it isn’t to most of us.

We’ve seen it all before and we’ve seen what it accomplished. It divided us. It hurt too many and damaged too much and in the end, it accomplished nothing.

The content of this article is the sole property of Maggie's Bear but a link to it may be shared by those who think it may be of interest to others

Black Friday

Black Friday is aptly named. It is difficult to imagine a blacker scenario than the almost hysterical crush of shoppers fighting to get into major retailers and snap up deals. More than 100 million people tried to take advantage of store sales and some were none too gentle about it.

People pushed through line ups to try and get ahead of others, one woman pepper-sprayed other shoppers and in California someone was shot outside a store. It was so bad in one store, police were called and had to use pepper spray to subdue the crowd.

It made me quite happy not to be a part of the mania but it did get me thinking about something.

How much of what Occupy protests against when it comes to corporations is actually driven by consumer greed? Certainly Black Friday is nothing but an orgy of greed on all sides. Retailers are trying to increase sales by discounting and consumers are lined up like pigs at the trough, jostling each other to get at the slop.

It isn’t just consumer goods where this applies.

Occupy likes to blame the sub-prime mortgage fiasco exclusively on banks and banks do share some of the responsibility but no one forced anyone to take out a sub-prime mortgage. Money was suddenly very cheap and too many consumers took advantage of it. They purchased and financed houses they couldn’t afford or with no equity in their new home to cushion them in case of an economic downturn. Some, after having attended one of those “get rich through real estate” courses bought houses with no money down, were over financed and crashed when the economy crashed.

Nothing draws out greed faster than the perceived opportunity to get something for nothing or at least to make money or save it.

It isn’t a corporate thing. Sadly, it is a human thing in this age of consumerism. Everyone wants a piece of the dream but too many have lost all perspective on what that dream really is.

In China, a young man sold a kidney to get money to buy the latest iPhone. In the U.S., extreme couponers devote more hours to collecting coupons than they do to their families in order to buy absurd amounts of products which they then hoard all over their homes. Banks nickel and dime every service opportunity while securities companies constantly look for new products to sell in order to skim off a few more millions in commissions.

It isn’t banks or consumers or corporations that are the problem, it’s all of us. We have lost our sense of perspective and our values are crumbling. We place things ahead of people and the acquisition of money ahead of the development of a successful life and everyone wants something for nothing.

Students want free university tuition. Unions want more money and benefits for the same amount of work being done by their members. Corporations want more profit and government wants more tax money to squander on more failed programs and wasted initiatives. It’s a vicious and needless circle of greed and that greed isn’t limited to one segment or group in society. It touches us all and drives too many of us.

When people line up overnight to purchase the latest release of a piece of software or to see a new movie that will be around for quite awhile, it is indicative of something missing in their lives. Who cares if the store sells out of the newest thing today? They’ll get more and we can buy one then but we’re driven to get it “now”, driven to get a deal, driven to be first, driven to make a few extra bucks or to save even more.

It’s greed and whether you’re a corporate executive or someone working for minimum wage, it can affect us all. Maybe it's the lack of values and the greed across all levels of society that Occupy and all of us should be protesting and then working together to change. It isn’t just one Friday of the year that is black, it’s too many days out of too many years.

For me, Black Friday is the perfect metaphor for what is wrong with our society. It is the epitome of what greed is and does to all of us.

On this one thing, Occupy and I agree. Greed is at the root of the problems we face in our societies today. I just don't happen to think that greed is the sole province of a few. It is something that undermines too many of us.

The content of this article is the sole property of Maggie's Bear but a link to it may be shared by those who think it may be of interest to others