General Strike

Your attention please, in honor of  the Veterans who fought and died for our freedom, I announce that I am now on a General Strike. I have to mention this here because otherwise nobody would notice.

I've heard a lot of people say that the Occupy movement is pointless, won't do any good, nobody cares, and so forth, but I've seen plenty of evidence to the contrary.

They said the cold of winter would kill the Occupy movement. To make sure, the city of New York took away the protesters' generators so they would have no heat, not coincidentally the day before a snowstorm would blanket the city. It didn't work, so that prediction and the effort to freeze people out was a big fail. Here's where things stood two days ago:

More than $50 million was withdrawn from the Big Banks and placed into non-profit credit unions or local banks for Bank Transfer Day.  While that's a mere pittance  to 1% types, hundreds of thousands of Americans discovered financial empowerment and patriotic pride in doing so, and as a reward they will pay less money in fees and discover what good customer service is like in the months and years ahead.  Do the Mega Banks care how poor suckers like us feel about them?  They cared enough to drop the plan to charge customers $5 for using their debit cards.  Millions and billions will be saved by consumers because outraged protesters stood up and spoke out.

Members of Congress can shout in voters' faces that Big Banks aren't to blame for the nation's economic problems

Law enforcement can beat up citizens exercising their First Amendment rights to peacefully assemble and protest

But look what happened just a few hours later:

Thousands upon thousands poured in to that same place, ready to brave tear gas, rubber bullets, police batons, fractured skulls, ruptured spleens, and arrest, to stand up for the Constitution.

I've never been prouder of my country than I have over the past few weeks.  Maybe it's because I was in grade school during the nation's Bicentennial, so things like Revolution, Liberty, the Constitution, and protesting were drilled into our heads and taught by our teachers to be good and important things.  Tea Party-types decry the "civil disobedience" of the Occupiers.  If they truly knew what happened during the Boston Tea Party, and if they really read and understood the words of Thomas Jefferson whom they love to quote, their movement might have been effective.  Sadly, they were infiltrated, hijacked, or they sold out to the Corporate Neo-Conservatives who paraded them around as "proof" of massive outrage, an outrage that was originally well placed.  Their big victory was electing enough Tea Party Congress-persons to fight against a jobs bill that would have provided honest work for millions of Americans, because raising taxes on millionaires and billionaires *hurt their feelings*.

Since it's Veterans Day, I leave you with the words of Marine Corps Veterans who took an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States, who went to war for our country, and continue to serve to this day.  They say:

"And when the day comes, when OWS (Occupy Wall Street) hits history books across the world, and we alongside them; that day when someone asks you if you were there Nay-Sayers you are going to say: 'No, I was too scared, I did not have the balls to fight for my country. I did not have the courage to confront the problems eroding America. 

But I did feel confident enough to attack those brave souls that did stand up for America. I did fight to disregard their message.' Tell Them that when asked Naysayers, afterwards, return to your life remembering that you are insignificant to history. Do not worry Naysayers, the MARINES have your back….AGAIN."

 Happy Veterans Day.