Occupy Oakland, No Matter What

At a pre-dawn raid this morning protesters were met with tear gas and flash grenades. How could this be necessary? What kind of country are we becoming?

When I think of tear gas, police batons, and rubber bullets I think of Selma, Mississippi, Kent State University, and the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Some things never change. What is changing is that for the first time it has become so apparent that the 1% are willing to subject us to violence if we don't tow their line. It is happening more and more that protesters are getting arrested, beaten, etc in the past couple weeks. What length will the 1% go to to squash its opposition? Will we have another Tienanmen Square on our hands?

This class war that the conservatives so vehemently deny exists, its here. It is on our doorstep and it is time for this country to define itself as we truly are and not by the 1%'s  propaganda. I want to live in an America that exists for all people, not just for the privileged. I've had enough of them telling me what to think on TV, and who to vote for. I will not accept under-funding public education or their lies about the tax code. The people determine the direction of this country. It's time we all remembered that.

Why I'm Not Voting For Ron Paul

Let's just go down his issues one by one:

1. Pro-life: So the guy's a baby doctor, I can see why he might choose this. However, he is not a woman. It's a woman's choice. There so many reasons a woman would choose to end a pregnancy. Here are a few: conception as a result of rape, living in an abusive environment that the baby would be brought into, teenage pregnancy. These are just my opinions here. The second part of this argument is that SCOTUS will never overturn Roe v. Wade no matter how many people dislike it. They just don't do that sort of thing. So the whole pro-life debate is bunk. It merely exists to polarize the populace. A President cannot force the Supreme Court to do anything.

2. Healthcare: Well there's a few things I like here: provide tax credits and deductions for all medical expenses and guarantee that the tax dollars allotted to Medicare and Medicaid is not raided for other purposes. Other than that, he doesn't supply a remedy to getting every American insured. I'm uninsured. I'm lucky if I have the money to see a doctor.

3. Economy: Well he wants to end the death tax. The tax that only effects 10% of the population. That would be the super-rich. This tax will never effect me and I will never have to pay it as things are now. Does he propose any real solutions to the economy here? No.

4. National Defense: Here I almost agree with this guy 100%. He wants to avoid long and expensive land wars, he's against the Patriot Act, and he wants to follow the Constitution by asking Congress to declare war before one is waged. But he wants to get rid of the TSA. I feel safer with the TSA at airports. I think it's an important part of our security

5. Ending The Federal Reserve: That's just crazy. An overhaul would do.

6. Taxes: I can't argue with a flat tax

7. Homeschooling: Is that the alternative to fixing our nation's public school problems? How many families can afford to do that? That means one parent goes to work and the other becomes an in home teacher - an unqualified one at that. Bad idea.

8. Immigration: He wants no amnesty for the people already here illegally. How much will it cost to deport all of them?

10. Gun Rights: He wants to appeal the ban on assault weapons. Seriously?

11. Worker's Rights: According to Paul, they won't have any. He supports a right to work state, and wants a right to work nation. The term right to work is misleading - it really means you can fire someone for no reason. It protects employers, not workers. He's also VERY anti-labor union. Don't call your self a believer in workers rights when you just want to protect the businesses.

12. Energy: He want to allow drilling offshore. That's already being done. My dad is working offshore in Louisiana at this very moment. He also wants to lift government road blocks to coal and nuclear energy. I guess he doesn't care if the energy is clean or not. And he wants to eliminate the EPA. So the corporations can ruin our country's landscape without any repercussions. Great.


All in all, this sounds like a recipe for disaster. But please feel free to comment! This is the United States and everyone is entitled to their opinion. I would like to hear others feelings about this candidate as well.

Who is Running the Asylum?

Recently, a former colleague from my union organizing days called me up to get ideas about using social media as a tool for community engagement. I felt my ears perk up immediately when I heard "union", "demonstration" and "revolution". It was exciting to hear about what he was up to and what direction he wanted it to take. But it didn't really give me the rush it used to.

I went to a lot of protests during the Bush administration, started a liberal student organization, was a precinct delegate for Obama's presidential race, and spoke to people about revolution in the workplace on a daily basis as a union organizer. Those were the most exciting moments of my life. So what about me has changed?

Well, I've been illegally fired from two jobs in two years. I finished my bachelors degree finally after working on it for 10 years and have been unemployed since. My doctor bills have been more than my rent this month. I guess I have become disillusioned with the struggle. Well that's not right, I believe in the struggle but I'm disappointed in all its recent failures and I'm leery about jumping on any bandwagons.

Or maybe my problem is with the American public. They're so ready to buy into the propaganda and fear that is ruining our country. The populace has become ineffectual. All they can do besides eat chicken wings and watch football is gripe about abortion and pray that "one nation under God" will stay in the Pledge of Allegiance. Oh, and they're pretty adamant about not letting anymore brown people in the country, although they don't like to put it that way. Well, I bet they do at Niggerhead Ranch.

One must wonder, that if the populace is no longer able to start any significant change, and the government is for the people and by the people - the ineffectual people - then the government is also ineffectual. So who is running the asylum?

The dictatorship of the Almighty Dollar. And everyone knows he who has the most money wins. I think its time for a new strategy.

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