Occupied

The occupy movement has come to Northwest Arkansas. The most active area is Fayetteville where they (we) are mainly preaching to the choir, but at least something is starting to happen.

I, and my friend Sheila, joined a march a couple of weeks ago and it was great seeing all 330 of us marching with signs, drums, tambourines and other instruments. We chanted things like "Tell me what democracy looks like. This is what democracy looks like" and "We are the 99%". We began with a rally at the town square and ended at the Bank of America across from the University of Arkansas on Dickson Street. The Fayetteville Police Department stopped traffic for us even though that was not supposed to be a part of the plan. We got lots of honks of support from drivers and some pedestrians joined us along the route.


There were young and old alike. There were nurses, teachers, artists, musicians, students, Walmart employees, restaurant workers and all other kinds of people. The one disturbing thing was that the African American and Hispanic American populace was not well represented. I know that Northwest Arkansas has a huge Hispanic population but they did not come.


There are other groups in the making such as Occupy Bentonville that I hope will target corporations like Walmart and Tyson and will bring a better representation of what Northwest Arkansas looks like. I also hope that Occupy Northwest Arkansas doesn't just concentrate on Fayetteville. As I see it, the more people we can incorporate under one umbrella the more impact we will have.


In the mean time, I will continue to support the cause when they (we) march and I hope this movement stays alive. The only way to change things is to participate and democracy demands participation. I urge everyone to at least get involved in the marches. It is so inspiring to be among people who are willing to show their faces and be a part of the changing tide. 


Remember, when you march you are showing what democracy looks like!
 

Foggy Monday

Monday morning comes way too early for me. My alarm clock starts yakking at 5 AM and I listen to "Morning Edition" for about an hour before I start getting ready for work.

This morning's news was filled with the attempted car bombings in Great Britain and the amount of money raised by Obama and Clinton for their campaigns. The bombing attempts are disturbing but seem to be business as usual in the current world climate. The amount of money being raised for political campaigns is nothing short of obscene. How can candidates raise that much money and then talk about how much they connect with the "little guy"? Something has to change in the world of campaign funding yet it seems that politicians are afraid of any kind of change.

I'm too sleepy and foggy to keep this train of thought so I'd best shut up now.

NPR Pledge Driving Me Nuts

Hello, my name is Sarah and I am an NPR news junkie. I do not give one dime to my local NPR station because...
I am sick to death of "A Prairie Home Companion", "Whad'Ya Know?", "Calling All Pets", and Classical Music all day long during the week.

Garrison Keillor's show is on twice a week here, as is "Car Talk". I'm not talking about different shows played on different days, I'm talking about friggin' repeats two days in a row. No, I take that back, when the Metropolitan Opera is not playing "Car Talk" is repeated on the same day! Gads!!! The people who call into "Calling All Pets" must NEVER listen to the show because they give the exact same animal behavior advice every week. And "Whad'Ya" is no longer funny, just annoying.

When my local station wakes up and figures out that there are other options for our listening pleasure such as "Talk of the Nation" or "Diane Rehm" of "Afro Pop" or ANYTHING else then maybe I'll cough up some moola but until then I'll dream of Sirius Radio with all of the NPR news shows I love.

American Idolization

I admit I've never seen American Idol and I never intend to but I just don't get it. I don't understand the American public's fascination with reality shows in the first place but watching a bunch of half-assed singers is like fishing for bottom feeders in my opinion. People like Carrie Underwood may be able to sing but they have no taste in music and they end up being clones of other surgically corrected "stars". And the public eats this shit up! No wonder this country is in the crapper right now. These are the same people who voted for Putch and his lackeys.

Which brings me to another point. I have an idea, for the next election let's do an Americon Idol game show. The politicians can appear on tv each week and give long speeches to con the public into voting for them and then we can vote via telephone or internet! There can be a panel that makes snide comments and has their own personal scandals. I think it might work and the voting will be just as fair as the ballot box is since half of those votes aren't counted anyway. Come one, let's get the ball rolling!

Al Gore and His Environment

I watch the Academy Awards every year. I know, it's a silly show about something normal people shouldn't care about but it's a tradition for me. I don't have television service so I usually watch it on my tv with a rabbit ear antenna so the picture is very fuzzy. This year I was able to go to my bosses house and see it on a huge wide screen tv with satellite which was great!

What does this have to do with Al Gore and the environment? As you must be aware, Mr. Gore made a film last year, "An Inconvenient Truth" (which I have not seen) and it won the award for best documentary at the Oscars. As Al was thanking everyone and attempting to be a comedian I couldn't contain myself and was yelling at the screen "Maybe if you'd stop eating all those cows you could help save the environment!" Gads, he looks like he eats at McDonald's every day! Not that I am some sickly looking skinny vegan but good god!

Then, I hear on NPR a bit about Mr. Gore and his home in Tennessee. You can read it at http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB117271689203622916-lMyQjAxMDE3NzAyMTcwMTE2Wj.htmlwhich is an article in the Wall Street Journal. In a nutshell, Gore spends more on electricity in one month than most of us spend in a year. Come on, if he is gonna talk the talk he needs to walk the walk.
Rant over.