The Semi-Psychotic Housewife Occupies Her Blogsite
20 Nov 2011 1 Comment
If you haven’t heard of the Occupy movement by now then your ship has probably just landed; welcome to planet Earth, 2011. It’s a time of change.
Actually, that’s putting it mildly. It’s more like it’s a time of global upheaval and revolution. If you’re a tourist here, you picked a hell of a time to visit, though if you like a little action and intrigue, you’ve definitely come to the right place.
So what is all this about anyway?
From New York City to Rome and from Cairo to Sydney, people are waking up and waking up with a vengeance, but waking up from what? They are waking up from a dream; a dream that has been sold by the establishment for the last hundred years; a dream that has been given the government stamp of approval and underwritten by mega-corporations who will do anything it takes to make certain that their profits remain high, including buying government support for their corporate ventures and profiteering.
In major cities around the country and around the globe people are gathering and demanding change and, in many instances, they are getting it. Egypt. Turkey. Greece. Spain. Australia. The UK. Change is in the air. The people have woken up to their true power and are demanding to be heard.
But here in the US, at the very heart of the movement towards democracy, the demand for change is being met with extreme force; specifically police brutality and excessive use of force; so much so that well-respected government officials are quitting in their own protest against the way that US citizens; citizens who are exercising their first amendment rights; are being treated.
Unfortunately a great number of US citizens sit back, complacent, and determined to believe the reports that those protesting are nothing more than drug popping anarchists who are too lazy to go out and get “real” jobs. Why? Because to give real consideration to the demands being spouted by the Occupy movement would require that they actually consider that the system might be broken.
That indeed 99% of the wealth in America is going to the top 1% of the population and that the societal and government systems currently in place ensure that this will continue to be so.
That maybe they have had the wool pulled over their eyes and have been duped by the very government that was elected to protect them.
That maybe the system that worked for them no longer works thanks to corporate greed and government corruption.
To even give voice to doubt in the system we have always accepted as being “good” seems disloyal and un-American. Which brings me to another America; an America still under colonial control where everyday ordinary citizens stood up against corruption, against taxation without representation, against a monarch who used the system for his own purposes and allowed greed to rule the day.
Those citizens banded together and created a new government; a new country where every individual was supposedly guaranteed the rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” and that these rights would supposedly be protected by a representational government that would ensure everyone got a fair shake. And what’s more, they wrote into the foundation of this new country these words:
“That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
Yes, that’s right, I said “supposedly” for when it comes right down to brass tacks, a study of the Federalist papers will show that the system that WAS set up was constructed to keep the power in the hands of the few; a sort of New World ruling elite (specifically the then-educated land-owners as opposed to the uneducated populace) who would have the final say when it came right down to what would be decided for the country.
If you have any doubt about this, read into the structure and purpose of the electoral college, which overrules the popular vote, basically rendering the national popular vote irrelevant when it comes to the presidential; an illusion set in place to guarantee that the people of the United States believe that they have the power to enact change and to guarantee that the one who those with the influence want to have in power – will be the one to be elected. And who are the ones with influence? I give you one guess. Yep, you got it, the corporations.
You see, the beauty of a corporation (besides having nearly unlimited financial resources) is that in spite of its not being an actual person or living entity, it is, by law, treated like one. The law recognizes corporations as having rights and responsibilities like a real (or natural) person. A corporation can exercise human rights against real individuals and the state in order to get what they want through lawsuits and even by lobbying in Washington to represent their “interests” in order to influence the decisions made by officials; specifically legislators or members of regulatory agencies.
The only problem is, a corporation is NOT a real person. Unlike “real” people, there is no one individual that can be held accountable for the decisions that a corporation makes and the influence of these behemoths on public policy which, unlike “real” persons with a vested interest in the decision, have one purpose and one purpose only, and that is to ensure that laws are enacted and upheld that will ensure that they are able to continue to make a profit; if this means promising to bring more jobs to a district in exchange for lower taxation for corporations or something similar, then so be it. No matter what the “real” people think, for they don’t have the money to put behind their words.
It is this inequality – the influence of corporations on public and governmental policy that is one of the main things being disputed by those in the Occupy movement in the United States. Not the only thing being spoken out against mind you, but you can see how this could have a major impact on the way that America does business; in who gets elected and how they will vote once they are in office.
Oh yes my friend. You have definitely chosen an interesting time to visit planet earth, although I would highly recommend not going near the Occupy protests in the US, you just might get yourself arrested simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or even deported because you are not an American citizen, though heaven help us if ICE would know what to do with you.
Who Turned Out the Lights?
14 Jul 2011 Leave a Comment
My power went out today.
There had been thunderheads building up in the North for hours; getting blacker and heavier and closer until they obliterated the sun as they cracked open and let out a downpour like I haven’t seen in years. It was an awesome sight to see and I stood there at the living room window; amazed at the power of the wind and the rain and vaguely aware somewhere in the back of my mind that the ceiling fan had stopped turning and the radio had stopped playing, but too engrossed by the display to get too concerned over it.
Do you know what losing power means for most people? Especially when you taken into consideration just how much most people rely on their electronic gizmos and gadgets? For most people this is a major upheaval; they can’t go online, they can’t listen to their music; they (gasp!) can’t watch TV!
Their lives are over; they are in misery until the power comes back on and they’ll make a dozen progressively more heated calls to the power company demanding that someone take care of the problem and take care of it NOW (and do you have ANY idea what this is doing to the items in my freezer?).
Now don’t get me wrong, electricity is a convenience and it is just as annoying to me as to anyone else when my washing machine will cut out in mid-cycle and there is no hot water for my shower; but the way some people act you would think that losing power; especially if it is for more than a few hours at a time; is the end of the world as they know it. In most parts of the world electricity has only been available for home use for a little over 100 years, and yet look at how much we have come to depend on it! Is this dependence a good thing?
I can’t help but compare the people in my neighborhood here in suburbia with the people in the neighborhood where we lived when we were in Puerto Rico. They had such different attitudes towards electricity that it was truly astounding.
Puerto Rico is an Island country in the Caribbean and is located in what has come to be known as “hurricane alley.” It is not at all unusual (depending on the severity of the storm and where on the Island you live) to be without electricity for upwards to two weeks at a time, but far from getting annoyed at it they simply switch gears; pull out their candles for light, their backyard grills for food and hot water, and their guitars for music.
The neighborhood takes on an almost festive mood as people go about checking on their neighbors; making sure the older people have enough foods and medicines and kicking back to enjoy the downtime.
What a far cry from the moaning and groaning that an hour or two power hiccup caused by a severe thunderstorm can cause here in the states. It almost makes me nostalgic for the days when there was no such thing as electricity – and telephones – and people actually had to communicate face to face and where entertainment was something you DID not something you watched. Almost.
My power came back on finally of course. Though I was sort of hoping that it would hold off until after we’d all gone to bed; I was really looking forward to getting out my guitar and letting hubby do the cooking for a change!
