I'm a little teapot...

Of and for the corporation...

Adding one thing to another to discover the sum total of all things, which I have not yet learned, this one thing I have discovered; There is no way in Hell I will ever vote for Mitt Romney.  

This man represents everything I feel this upcoming election is all about.  This is an election  about the one percent protecting their individual hoards of "excessive wealth" at the expense of the ninety-nine percent of us who simply want to have enough money to put food on our tables and a roof over our families heads.  From the very beginning of his campaign Mitt Romney has been quite clear about where his political loyalties lay and who he considers the most important constituency upon which to build his presidential campaign; "Corporations are people too.  We can't raise taxes on individuals can we?"  

Mitt Romney is a venture capitalist who believes that money solves every problem.  He is not a job creator, he is a profit taker.  For all his talk about job creation the truth is that the jobs he created at Bain were research positions where individuals looked for American businesses that could be acquired for a low price and then gutted for a substantial profit.  These individuals are known as corporate raiders.  Their "job" performance was based upon the amount of profit generated and had absolutely nothing to do with the number of jobs created within a community.  Mitt Romney doesn't care about the economic health and viability of our communities.  Mitt Romney cares only about the accumulation of individual wealth.  Period.  

Mitt Romney believes that our country is a corporation to be managed rather than a country where people are living and raising families.  Mitt Romney could care less about the community of man.  Mitt Romney cares only about a handful of individual stock holders.  Mitt Romney could care less about investing in public roads, clean water systems and quality educational institutions.  The constituency Mitt Romney represents sees these type of public works as a waste of investment capital.  Clean water doesn't yield profit, public roads and bridges don't turn profit and neither do libraries, arts programs and school systems.  Mitt Romney and his venture capitalist constituents view these kind of projects as money pits to be avoided at all costs because they offer only benefits to a community rather than profit for a few.


Mitt Romney's recent ad about what he would do on his first day as president is a clear example of who he would represent during his tenure as "Manager in Chief" of the United States of Amercia. Mitt Romney would cater to Big Oil.  Mitt Romney would cater to the health care industry.  These are the very institutions that put profit and the accumulation of personal wealth above the welfare and viability of the American people. Mitt Romney is not concerned with rebuilding Americas industrial infrastructure, our outdated power grid or protecting the integrity of our natural resources.  Mitt Romney is not concerned with creating new jobs and a better future for the common man.  Mitt Romney is only concerned with protecting the wealth of greedy individuals who believe only in personal profit rather the welfare of the families that make up the communities that are the true backbone of our once great nation.  This is not a man I want representing me in the White House.  We the people are suffering.  We are tired, homeless, jobless and without health care or retirement security.  The corporate state is not a solution that benefits the masses.  Mitt Romney's business plan is not a vision that creates a better future for anyone other than those one percent of Wall Street investors who see the accumulation of wealth as the only part of the American dream worth preserving.  No, I'm not interesting in seeing this venture capitalist become "Manager in Chief" of the United States of America.  I'd rather see Roseanne Barr in the White House...

And you can be my cowgirl...

Urban Cowboy...

The past couple of months I've spent a lot of time in the company of a good woman and two zany dogs so deep in the backwoods they still use two tin cans and lots of sting for their Internet connection.  The other day I used my I-Pod Nano to scan for local radio stations and found only three, two of which are country and the other plays Oldies, and by oldies I mean songs from the thirties and forties.  The eighteen thirties and forties.  I've never lived anywhere in America where electrical power goes out when the skies are blue and there's not chance of precipitation for a week or more.  Until now that is.  Seems like the only thing more irregular than my bowel movements around here is the electrical power.  If a cow moos you can lose power for an hour or more.  

Yet for all this community's lack of technological amenities it does possess a certain picturesque charm.  The countryside is beautiful.  Wide open green fields are populated with little more than red or white barns and ancient farmhouses surrounded by large screened in verandas upon which sit wicker furniture and clay flower pots filled with green ferns.  The air apart from smelling fresh and clean is filled with birdsong and the varied sound of insects chirping, chattering and buzzing their secret messages to the skies.  Automobile traffic is almost nonexistent.  You can sit on a front porch and not see a single car for hours upon end.  I can't remember the last time I heard a police siren or the sounds of neighbors fighting.  The quiet is blessed.  You can hear yourself think.  Each moment is a meditation.


People are friendly and with so few forms of electronic distraction available folks are quick to gather around a patio table and share conversation and a cold pitcher of lemonade.  Food is prepared by hand and served upon china plates instead of from a white paper bag bearing the corporate logo of McDonalds or Taco Bell.  Meals are shared whether one contributes to the collection of assembled dishes or not.  Neighbors don't let neighbors go hungry.  

Conversation is a completely different experience in this community.  People talk about canning, fishing and what type of soil is best suited for a particular type of plant.  They talk about their children and the things they're doing in school.  Television shows are something you watch and not talk about once they end.  They don't care about American Idols or dancing celebrities.  The most popular topic of conversation I've heard lately concerns who and what they'll be entering in the upcoming county fairs.  Blue Gill and Catfish are major talking points right now.  Strawberries and Gooseberries are next in popularity and everyone is excited because the berries are coming into season early this year.


Among the joys I'm rediscovering out here is waking up early.  Not because I have to but simply because I want to.  There's so much to see.  I don't want to miss the pair of Hawks hunting in fields that surround the house.  I have to see if the territorial dispute between the Red Cardinal and the Blue Jay has been settled yet.  I want to watch the game between the Sparrows and Sheri's dogs.  The Sparrows gather upon opposite sides of the privacy fence that surrounds the back yard.  One group will fly onto the lawn and begin hunting for bugs.  When the dogs run over to chase and snap at them they will fly back up to the top of the fence while the group of Sparrows on the opposite side drop down and hunt for their breakfast.  Eventually the dogs tire and all the birds drop onto the lawn and enjoy a group breakfast.  It is a hilarious spectacle and I love watching the game while I enjoy my morning coffee.

Country life is being good for me.  It may not be for everyone, but I'm digging the daylights out of it.  I'm finding an inspiration here that I haven't felt for a long time.  I want to write about the experience for awhile and I hope my readers won't find themselves too bored with my hayseed tales.

Happy Birthday, Son!

Happy Fifth Birthday, Micah!

Happy Birthday, little man! I'm so proud of you, Micah. I love you so very much! Be good for momma, will you? Tell her I love her. Have a wonderful day!

The more things change...

The 1% are repeating history because they never learn from it...

What saddens me most about the NDAA is that they can arrest me, detain me and then send me to Guantanamo Bay and execute me, but the truth will not change; The 1% are far more scared of the 99% than we are of them. In order to win they have to kill us all, for us to win we need only topple a few.

OCCUPY 2.0

Merry Christmas 2011!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

It may have been a rough start to the year, but the end of it is being quite nice. I promise I'll blog more in the upcoming year.

(I've been very busy getting ready to "Occupy" the new year.)

I'm so tired....

Bring the troops home...

As much as I support the Occupy Movement in Dayton Ohio it is my opinion that the toll the tent community is taking upon individuals in an effort to sustain the unsustainable is no longer worth the expenditure in resources required to keep the tents up and running as winter sets in. Field commanders, whether military or guerrilla in nature have long recognized the futility of attempting occupations under winter conditions. Such occupations violate the principle of, conservation of resources. Look at the picture above. The arrows clearly point out what my camera captured when I attended the GA on 11/12/11. The campers are clearly suffering from fatigue due to lack of sleep and improper nutrition. It isn't the resistance from the community that is killing the Occupy Dayton movement, it is the elements.

Occupy Dayton achieved a great victory when they were offered a table at the tree lighting event. They were offered recognition as a valid community organization and were extended an invitation to add their table to the greater table of this wonderful community event. It should have been a time to celebrate and it has instead been turned into an ill-conceived opportunity to confront and agitate. This would have been a wonderful opportunity to leave the city of Dayton with a positive image of Occupy Dayton and is instead souring the community towards us and our message. I'm sad the campers just don't see what they have offered to them.

The reality is that the camp is a danger...

All it takes is one child tripping over a cinder block or a tent rope and a confrontation is going break out. One that could easily turn violent. Is the risk worth it? As this picture illustrates, the tents are not properly secured to the ground nor can they be due to them being set up on concrete instead of on a dirt surface. This makes them a danger under windy conditions. Add in the fact that the tree lighting is a night time event and you simply increase the risk of something negative happening. Like it or not, the tents need to be removed. Yes, the message Occupy Dayton is trying to spread is important, but if spreading it comes at the expense of the goodwill of the community and the safety of individuals simply trying to enjoy the start of the holiday season with their families, then I can't support such a thing.

The tents are coming down across the entire country and it is time to take ours down too. The tents are the first fruits to come out of the fields of the first season of the Occupy movement, but they are not the only fruits. Look towards Spring 2012, the movement is looking forward and so must Occupy Dayton. Here is food for thought, Occupy the Mall.

Occupy Dayton-11/05/11

Wild eyed revolutionaries...

Yesterday afternoon I had the opportunity to attend my very first "Occupy" event. I wasn't sure what to expect after having watched television news coverage for weeks on everything from tents on Wall Street, riot police in Oakland, Occupy demonstrators linking arms to protect a grocery store from black hooded agitators, to Guy Fawkes masked demonstrators parading through the streets of New York. What I didn't expect was the gathering of everyday people taking the time out of their busy lives to give voice to their disappointment in the banking institutions and the policies instituted by them that are removing folks from their homes and destroying people's lives. Many of the people I met were single, professional women simply trying to keep a roof over their head and their children in schools they were used to attending and close to the friends they'd grown up since childhood. These women did not talk about entitlement nor were they welfare-mothers leeching off public assistance programs as so many of my conservative friends assured me anyone participating in the Occupy movement would prove to be. These women were well educated, articulate and well spoken. They were not wild-eyed revolutionaries Hell bent on destroying the American way and replacing it with a Draconian system of socialism. They were just every day people trying to keep their homes as winter begins to settle in upon our small Midwestern community. They were simply mothers who want their sons and daughters to spend Christmas in homes they feel secure in instead of sleeping in grandma and grandpa's basement. Much to my surprise I did not encounter the wild-eyed revolutionaries my conservative friends rant on and on about, I met my neighbors and the people of my community. It was a humbling experience.

Lazy unwashed pot smoking hippies?

Every time my conservative friends talk about the Occupy Movement they completely ignore the message of the movement and focus upon the character of the individuals participating in it. Again and again I've heard the dehumanizing phrases; Dirty, ignorant, unwashed, uneducated, pot-smoking hippies. Imagine my surprise when I encountered bright-eyed, clean cut and well informed young people speaking their minds with a drug free clarity. As an individual who attended the counter protest at Kent State University the day after the National Guard troops opened fire upon students exercising the right to assemble and protest, I'd like to issue a warning. Once the forces that oppose you begin the process of dehumanization, they will begin to fire upon you in an attempt to silence your voices and quell your movement. As I've watched the growing police actions taking place in Oakland, California I am reminded of three events from my youth, the Democratic convention of 1968, the shootings at Kent State and Jackson State Universities in 1970. First comes the dehumanization and then come the bullets. Let us hope this time that the lesson is not learned too late, these kids are our children, they are not enemy combatants.

To serve and protect the rich, from us...

Erich Fromm stated in his book, Man and a Sane Society, that anyone who believed police forces exist to protect and serve the general populace are mistaken. His belief (And mine as well.) is that the police forces exist solely to protect the rich from us, the general populace. The flag we carried was said to be a danger to pedestrians, the car horns honking in support of our cause were said to be against the law and the noise of our rally a disruption to commerce. The corporate entity is afraid of the uprising they are witnessing and are equally afraid of the truth contained in the message the Occupy Movement is making public around the entire world. They, the wealthy ruling aristocracy, are bringing the forces under their control into the battle of our dissent versus their greed. We must stand together and not be afraid. Rubber bullets, riot batons and tear gas have never defeated the will of the people and often times have proven the last refuge of the desperate just before inevitable social change occurs. Remember, these are the people who stand against us. They are not ignorant of our plight, they mock it. They have forgotten another truth spoken by Erich Fromm, "Not he who has much is rich, but he who gives much."

I'd attend one of the Occupy Movements any time or any day. It was nice to hang out with my neighbors and discover they're feeling and thinking the same things I do.