Occupy Wall Street has a long US tradition

Occupy Wall Street has a long US tradition

There have been worker revolts in the United States pretty much as long as the United States has existed.  However the revolts took on another tenor in the late 60’s.  During the civil rights movement these labor disputes began to be focused racial on blacks.  According to Howard Zinn’s, A People’s History of the United States, in 1966, seventy poor blacks occupied an unused barracks on an air force base.  After this event had been resolved, much in the way many occupy encampments were resolved this year a Mrs. Unita Blackwell said,

“I feel that the federal government have proven that it don’t care about poor people.  Everything that we have asked for through these years had been handed down on paper.  It’s never been a reality.  We the poor people of Mississippi is tired.  We’ve tired of it so we’re going to build for ourselves because we don’t have a government that represents us.” 

It’s amazing how 45 years in this country doesn’t seem to change much, this statement, albeit most likely with a little better grammar, would not seem even remotely out of place today.

Again from Zinn, during this time period A. Phillip Randolph advised the president, “ The Negro’s protest today is but the first rumbling of the ‘under-class.’  As the Negro has taken to the streets, so will the unemployed of all races take to the street.”

This is what the Occupy movement is about, not some socialist ideal but an opportunity for people to be treated fairly and decently in this country.  That of course is based upon the idea that it’s not fair or decent that the 1% of the nation live like gods while there are so many people hurting, that’s why people are in the street.  Now that may be a socialist ideal but basic common decency is a socialist ideal I can get behind.

Why you should care about protests in Tunisia, Yemen and Egypt

Several weeks ago there was a governmental overthrow that occurred in Tunisia and it is easy to write off Tunisia as a tiny country that has no impact on life in America, more about Tunisia at the following link:

http://www.npr.org/2011/01/16/132975274/Social-Media-Gets-Credit-For-Tunisian-Overthrow

Then there were protests in Yemen and we’ve talked about Yemen before, first a post about the recent protests:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12295864

And what we’ve discussed about Yemen previously:

http://zdeaconblue.wordpress.com/2010/12/23/the-next-big-terror-threat/

Finally, unless you’ve been in a coma for the last week you probably know that there are massive protests going on in the country of Egypt.  The protestors on the street, in what have been relatively peaceful protests so far; seem to want one thing, Hosni Mubarak out of office.  Mubarak has been the ruler of Egypt for nearly thirty years and the people of Egypt are demanding a change, you can read more about Mubarak at the following link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosni_Mubarak

At this point a natural question arises were the neocons correct about the Middle East?  Are we seeing the results of the policy of forcing democracy on other countries?  An interesting discussion on this topic is available at the following link:

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2011/01/30/matthews-were-neocons-right-about-middle-east-was-bush-better-equippe

Personally, I don’t see a stable democracy in Iraq or in Afghanistan, and there are still plenty of non-democratic governments in the Middle East including Iran and Saudi Arabia.  What seems to be occurring in the streets of the Arab world is not related to Islam and democracy but a very simple issue, basic human survival and the gap between those who have power, money and control and those who are struggling to survive.  Unemployment, poverty, and lack of education and opportunity is what the people are calling for in the streets of Tunisia, Yemen and especially Egypt.

So why should you care?  You are safe at home and watching Egypt on CNN, so really why should you care?  Ok, first this can impact our economy, in a minor way if Egypt’s economy generally melts down without too much violence.  If however things in Egypt really disintegrate and there is an interruption in travel through the Suez Canal, which is controlled by Egypt, then it could be a very big deal.  That interruption would cause oil coming out of the region to travel an additional 6,000 miles around Africa and that will impact oil prices.  You may have noticed gas prices creeping up recently and I think you can count on the creep continuing with what’s going on in Egypt.  If it really goes south there could be a significant increase in gas prices and as we have seen that impacts prices across the board in the US.

However, I’ll give you an even bigger reason to worry about what’s going on in these countries.  The issues that are being taken on in Egypt, poverty, education, unemployment, and the prosperity gap, do not only exist in these countries.  Looking at Greece, Spain, the UK and the United States this issue exists everywhere and is getting worse.  My friends, there is a limit to how long a person can suffer, can watch his/her children suffer while others have control of his/her life.  At some point people will say no more and express themselves, and then, all bets are off.  So why should you care, I’ll tell you, the country you live in, is not as different from Egypt as you might like to think.

Congress said they heard us

Politicians on both side of the aisle stood up after the recent election and publicly said, “we hear you.”  They claim they heard the message the American people sent them, apparently according to their most recent actions what they heard was the following:

Do not help out the first responders who while helping to clean up the 9/11 site became ill:

http://www.app.com/article/CN/20101209/NATIONWORLD/101209042/UPDATE-Senate-Republicans-block-9-11-health-bill

To hell with those people who are on unemployment and can’t find a job, obviously they’re just lazy:

http://www.thestatecolumn.com/blog/2010/12/congressmen-unite-opposing-unemployment-extension-tax-cut-bill

 Either continue the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy or don’t give them to anyone:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/12/09/tax.plan/index.html?hpt=T1

 It is truly sad and amazing that our government really doesn’t give a flying shit about our country, but is instead more interested in playing the typical Washington political games.

Has the right gone soft on national security? Or what does Proposition 23, big oil, the Tea Party, and the Environment all have in common?

Proposition 23, Big Oil, the Tea Party, California Politics and the Environment!  What do these three things have in common?  Well in the wild, wacky world of California politics everything.  To simply answer the question, a proposition is on the November ballot in California, Proposition 23.  The initiative, oh so cleverly the numerical reverse of Assembly Bill 32, is being funded significantly by out-of-state oil companies to reverse Assembly Bill 32.  Assembly Bill 32 is a state bill that focuses on lowering greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.  The bill has helped generate a lot of training and business in green enterprises in California including a major effort in Sacramento, the GreenWise Initiative.  California is poised to become the US leader in these areas with significant investment and innovation in the field.  Additionally, this has trickled down into the education field as well with many new training programs at the community college and four-year college levels.

A good source for just the facts on Proposition 23:

http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/California_Proposition_23_(2010)

The state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office assessment of the measure:

http://www.lao.ca.gov/ballot/2010/23_11_2010.aspx

The long-range impact of AB 32 is to poise California’s economy to be a national and possibly global leader in green technology and training.  The bill albeit driven by a controversial topic, global climate change, is extremely forward thinking and should set up the state of California for long-range success as well as improving the environment of one of the cleanest states in the country.  Contrary to the typical argument that environmental policies hurt business, AB 32 has actually attracted business to the state.

Why are big oil companies outside the state interested in this bill?  Well as you can read in the Huffington Post piece below, they make it very clear, this bill may impact their profits.  So how is it that conservatives and the Tea Party are opposing a bill that reduces our dependency on big oil?  I believe the right has been telling us for some time that reducing our dependency on oil, therefore reducing our dependency on foreign oil is a national security issue, has the right suddenly gone soft on national security, or are they just more concerned with their wallets?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/19/antienvironment-californi_n_687719.html