Walking the picket line for our mutual futures

I'm out on the line, carrying a sign, trying to get people to pay attention to what's been happening around them while they've been distracted. I hope for a reaction to my presence. It doesn't really matter if the response is positive or negative (though I prefer positive). If someone responds, it means that they see me, that they are thinking about my presence, whether they agree with what they think I stand for or not. For me, a negative response is just as much a victory as a positive one.

The ones who motivate me to keep going are the ones who don't respond, ignore my presence, wear blinders to their surroundings, are willfully ignorant. To paraphrase Don Marquis, if you flatter someone's intelligence they will love you, but if you really make them think, they will hate you. So for me, even their hate is a victory.

My intention is to bring attention to our mutual problems, to the fact that there is something terribly wrong in our country. Large corporations are given the same rights as individuals, but are exempted from the civic and social responsibilities that are expected of any other individual, and they are not held accountable or punished for their crimes, which any other citizen would be.

There is also a huge problem with representation, in that the big banks, corporations, and the super wealthy are overly represented and the poor and working classes are barely represented, if at all. Policy legislation usually favors those who have spent the most lobbying our “representatives” And they in turn represent the positions of those who contribute the most money to them. Policy is purchased for and by the richest among us. Our legislated policies no longer (if they ever did) serve the majority, or as we like to call ourselves, the 99%.

Anyone who is physically able needs to get out and vote, and at every opportunity. Vote for your own self interests, whatever you perceive them to be. No one has to cast their ballots for the same things that I do, but everyone needs to think about what it is that best serves their own interests, the interests of their children and grandchildren. And I would hope that some of those interests include education, healthcare, preserving the planet for them, and good employment so they can pursue life and liberty for their families and progeny.

 

Do we want a country that spends most of our GDP on its military and foreign wars to perpetuate oil conglomerates, or on its people? These are issues that need to be considered very carefully. And then we must vote. That is the only way to change anything. It's not a perfect solution, but the only one we have. The alternative is too horrible to even consider. Recent and ancient history tells that tale over and over again.

Sorry, but everyone needs to really think about the issues, because nothing is simple, and then commit to action. Your most potent tool is your vote. And your next most important tool is your first amendment right to free speech. In addition to voting, you need to let others know what you think about the way your governments, local, state, and federal are handling their jobs and responsibilities to their citizens, and not just the corporate ones. That right also extends to holding signs and walking picket lines in support of, or against issues we deem worthy.

Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.--Benjamin Franklin 

He that lives upon hope will die fasting.--Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanac, preface, 1758 

All things are subject to interpretation whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth.--Friedrich Nietzsche

Occupy update and Boggs West Landing

Boggs West Landing - Catlettsburg KY - barge coming in

Update

Worked the line on Judd plaza over the lunch hour, roughly noon till 2pm... Was informed by one of our members, who had been to the local college (ACTC - Ashland Community Technical College) to rouse support for the cause, that his group could only speak from the "free speech square," a bathroom tile sized square marked on the pavement. The Political Science department head came down and told him that if the group didn't stand on the square, they'd be removed from the property... (What the ....!?). Even the college security was more concerned that the flag he was carrying not touch the ground than his freedom of speech or his groups ability to all stand on that 4 inch x 4 inch square...  What ever happened to the "Student Movement?" We volunteered to serve dinner at the community kitchen for the dinner hour. Then we went to relax at Boggs West Landing in Catlettsburg and watch barges moving up and down the river.

A mob's a monster; heads enough but no brains.--Benjamin Franklin
Sell not virtue to purchase wealth, nor liberty to purchase power.--Benjamin Franklin
It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.--Alfred Adler

Here are more of the Boggs West Landing pictures:

Boggs West Landing - Catlettsburg KY - barge coming in

Boggs West Landing - Catlettsburg KY - looking SE at OH, Boggs East Landing?

Boggs West Landing - Catlettsburg KY - looking at coal barges on OH side

Boggs West Landing - Catlettsburg KY - looking at OH side

Boggs West Landing - Catlettsburg KY - looking at coal barges on OH side

Boggs West Landing - Catlettsburg KY - looking at Boggs East Landing, OH?

Boggs West Landing - Catlettsburg KY

Boggs West Landing - Catlettsburg KY

Occupy Ashland continues...

Sunday 10-23 ... a cold day

Yesterday (Monday Oct 24 2011) was the eleventh day of Occupy Ashland. We have so far only a committed few showing up to hold signs and talk with the public, to stand on the front line, our main interface with the public that we are hoping to awaken to the fact that they are the 99%, along with those of us on that line. And that we are here protesting for them as well as ourselves.

Monday 10-24 .. a warmer day and wet too...

Each person here brings his or her own perspectives and grievances to the movement. So it is by no means a partisan affair. There are those of different political persuasions and creeds here, agreeing on the basics that our government is broken, that among other things, there is too much money in politics, that our representatives are auctioned off to the highest bidders, that the criminals on Wall Street need to be prosecuted, that we need to focus on the economic recovery of this country by creating jobs, by forcing the big banks and corporations to stop sitting on the approximately 3 trillion dollars they currently have and are not circulating into the economy, by fixing the tax code so that the 1% pay more of their fair share of the tax burden that they've shoved down on the 99% over the last thirty years.

One thing seems certain, none of the one percent lives in Ashland... so every one here is a ninety-nine percenter. Unfortunately, most are still in denial. You should see all the thumbs down and sour looks we get, from those who obviously are no where near being among the one percenters, like we've insulted them by accusing them of not being filthy rich... I just don't get it... people who are against their own self interest.

The poor have little,
Beggars none;
The rich too much
Enough not one.
--Benjamin Franklin

Silence is not always a Sign of Wisdom, but Babbling is ever a folly.--Benjamin Franklin

Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.--Benjamin Franklin

Check out the Ashland Independent's report of Occupy Ashland's encounter with City Counsel at:
 http://dailyindependent.com/local/x2117288260/Occupy-movement-plans-to-get-permit-change-locations