My 99% Story.

A wide variety of people are telling their 99% stories. I think everyone should read them. Like any cross-section of the populace, they vary from person to person, and may be wildly different when you consider age, race and gender factors to name but a few. The main theme is, there is enough for all, yet the few have most of it and the many don't have enough. I don't see people saying they should get handouts like the banks & big business get. I see people asking for jobs that pay a living wage, for enough security to know they will have food, and a roof over their head, and warmth, and dammit, maybe just a bit left over. I see many students, well educated, did all the right things, saddled with debt for a piece of paper that isn't earning them enough to pay back the loans and live a meager existence, let alone plan for a future. I see people who worked their whole lives, some who worked more than one job who have lost their homes. What a slap in the face, the banks get bailed out, the banks now own their home, and they get told to "Get a job".

I don't see anyone saying fabulously wealthy people or corporations should not be allowed to be rich or make profits. I see people saying they're fed up living in a world that is no longer taking care of its people. Tired of world where we can spend trillions of dollars on war but let people go hungry, sick, homeless, and stand by watching countries where people who are starving are ignored by governments and media alike.

I see people who just want some dignity. Most of all, I see people who care enough about the global state of affairs they are prepared to be beaten, shot, and even give their lives so they can live in a world where no one gets left behind. That's admirable. There are a lot of people out there thinking the human race working together is a whole lot better than our current "every man for himself" theory.

So I support. Here is my 99% story.

The first few years of my life were great. My dad was a newspaper editor, my mom a syndicated columnist, we lived, along with my 2 brothers, in a nice house, we had a car (not everyone did in the early 60's), we had a lot of love and fun. My dad was a WWII vet who'd been shot down twice, he still suffered from his injuries, and eventually died, one week shy of my oldest brother's 12th birthday, three weeks shy of my 7th.

In 1967 nobody cared much about a single mother with three young boys. Things spiraled downward, and even though my mother never went on welfare, she always worked 2 or 3 jobs, we were forced into "public housing". Public Housing is a polite term for Ghetto. A place where the hardworking poor meets the nonworking dysfunctional families. I could write a book about what it's like to grow up in that environment. That's not for here.

I worked my whole life. I got my first part time job at 13. I'm 51. I've worked part or full time for 38 years. I've been lucky. I have a decent job with good benefits and a pension. I am happy to live a minimal life, I'm not big on possessions. I do not use credit. I don't borrow money. If I want to buy something more expensive than usual, I save for it and it's that much better when I get it, because I own it.

All my possessions will fit in a 10 X 10 storage room, that's how I choose to live. I'm not critical of those who feel they need more.

My wife passed away in 1988, just shy of 4 months after the birth of my daughter. I chose to bring her up as a single father the majority of her life. When she was a teenager, her grandmother (my mother) had a bad fall and lay in a parking lot in -26 degree weather, she was never the same. I moved her in and cared for her and my daughter and held her hand until after she took her last breath, one week before my birthday last year, due to complications from leukemia at the age of 88.

In my free time since I've raised $25,000 in relief for Tsunami victims in Japan, joined 5 friends to raise 6 1/2 tons of food for local food banks just before their donations dropped off in the summer, and participated in a single day food drive that raised an additional 40,000 pounds in September, to help relieve the back to school expenses for those in need.

I've been a volunteer and a fundraiser since the age of 20.

I don't need help. But too many others do, and we should not have to rely on charity, mostly provided by those who are not getting rich by any means. Fairer distribution of wealth globally doesn't mean the end of the world, it just means doing things a little differently.

It's an admirable goal, and I can't not support it. I'm still the 99%, by a long shot. Just not the most desperate of them. I'm here for them.

The 99% Party ~ You're Invited to Occupy It

I'd like to be frank, however my parents named me Mark so I'll just be open.

A lot of people are asking "Where does the Occupy Movement go from here"? For my own part, there is really no question about the answer. Friends, we have to do politics. As ugly as the concept sounds, if we want to change the world, we have to do it from a position of power. We, collectively, will never be able to exert the influence on existing political parties. I don't care if you're Canadian, American, European, Australian or any country on the globe. The current system that got us to this mess is firmly entrenched in politics and that is one of the main ways we will change the world, or not.

So, that leaves us to roll up our sleeves and get to work. Just as Occupy has peacefully taken the streets, now we must begin to build the machine that will allow us to take the seats. If we want change, there is absolutely no question our number one priority should be putting together the people who will Occupy the halls of government on behalf of the 99%. Anyone else you elect will be occupying the seats on behalf of the status quo.

This is also the fastest way to change. Unless you want a protracted dispute, unless you want to continue to support the people who, over the centuries, have told you what you want to hear to get elected, then proceeded to fuck you hard up the ass the same way they've been doing all along.

It will talk a lot of hard work. It requires dedication. It's also eminently doable.

We need to move the movement forward. In order to make the changes required to make global society more equitable this is a must. It will also show we mean business. The mistake of those disaffected Americans who call themselves the "Tea Party" was to latch on to an existing political machine, the Republicans. Somehow they mistakenly believe they will make the Republicans care about their issues. It's much the same situation for Occupy. We cannot, must not, try to hitch our wagons to ANY existing political party. The only thing they will do is destroy what we are working toward. If there are "good people" in other parties who really want change, let them quit their existing party and join ours.

In the meantime, we have plenty of politically savvy, articulate people, every bit as capable of taking the reigns of power back from the 1% and putting it in the hands of people who will work for the citizens, not the corporate "persons".

The only cost to join the 99% party is a pledge you will work for the election of your candidate, and that you will commit to vote, and to getting out the vote that will allow us to make sensible structural and financial changes to the system that will democratize democracy, which is what has been missing for a long time.

I know from many years of community organizing we all have skills of some sort. We all have strengths we can bring to the table. We are behooved to begin the process. We know the powers that be are fearful of the movement. They really expected it to go away, they expected us to give up and go back to our lives and stop agitating for people who are miserable, living in conditions of poverty in a world with more than enough to supply our needs.

This is the time to seize on the power we have already gained in the hearts and minds of global citizens. This is going to show we are moving forward in the right way.

When elections roll around, and we have candidates, and those candidates are supported by the 99% and take seats, and take power, there will be no choice but to take us far more seriously. We can, we must, and we will do this, or the dispute will go on long after I am dead and it will be too late. We've already passed the tipping point, we can't rest on our laurels and say "what a great job we're doing" if we aren't prepared to follow up with concrete action.

We must use the non violent means we have to take our countries back from the elitist corporate owned pigs at the trough. Then, and only then, will we make the significant changes that will move mankind forward.

Or we can continue with the same bullshitters in office and get what we deserve.

Your choice: Carpe Diem...or Status Quo.

So who wants to get this done?

How to Identify Morons

I call a lot of people Morons. I also call them retards, although some people get all boo hoo when you use certain words, preferring instead to call something a marshmallow-y sweetie pie bullshit politically correct name. Not this guy.

The opinions expressed in this blog are my own, frankly I care less whether you disagree, that's your right. I decided when OWS began, one of my contributions has been to drop the moral higher ground. I've realized the only thing these morons get is when you stop trying to baffle them with truth and facts, to stop being too polite or nice to climb right down there in the gutter and throw their own shitbombs right back at them. I'll take whatever flak I get for being harsh, if people choose to unfollow me that's ok as well, I want a free world. I find I have gained far more followers since I took off the traditional leftie gloves. I'm going way back to another time in my life to dredge up a personality the 99% needs. A mean, cold hearted, nasty social democrat.

So getting to my topic, here are a number of things that will help you identify a moron: They're like zombies, except their drivel rots brains.

Morons Say & Believe Ridiculous Shit

1. If a person is poor, they are somehow to blame. (no one wants to be poor)
2. Union workers are lazy and overpaid (go check work conditions/wages in countries without them)
3. If a person is rich or famous, they deserve respect. (respect is earned through deeds/character)
4. Cutting corporate taxes creates jobs. (last year in CDA/US they pocketed 83B~Cda/1.93T~US)
5. Big corporations give us jobs and put money in the economy. (nothing compared to what they take out) 
6. Aboriginal people get everything free and pay no tax (they have never been to a reserve)
7. If you criticize military action you hate our troops. (Your own government hates them if they're vets)
8. Occupy protests are dangerous and violent (only for pepper-sprayed/clubbed/shot peaceful protesters)
9. The current government is fiscally responsible (responsible for record deficit spending)
10. Many people have been unemployed for long periods of time. (Most, if they can find a job would)

Feel free to add to the list in the comments section. I'm drugged to ward off a nearly crushed chest and have to work in five hours.

I know we hear many examples of these people who spout crap like this every day. let's expose this shit, let's take them to task, join me for Moron-story sharing anytime!!

My Advice to Occupy NS & other evicted protesters.

On the day set aside to honour those who gave their lives, those who survived, and those still willing to put themselves in harm's way, a National Disgrace was perpetrated in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada today.

This is an outrage and the responsibility for this blot on the memory of those who fought for the right to freedom of assembly, of freedom of speech for all lands squarely at the feet of Mayor Peter Kelly, and by extension, the corporation of the City of Halifax.

Now is the time for the supporters of Occupy NS to come together in support of the rights of their fellow citizens by exercising more of their legal rights. Begin now by taking the following steps.

1. Everyone should immediately file a request to speak at council. You have that right.
2. Make requests for information from the city. Ask any question you want. Ask one or more a day. Encourage your friends to ask questions. Ask about spending. Ask about the length and diameter of pipes. Ask lots of shit.
3. Council meetings are public. Show up. Keep showing up. You don't need to be disruptive, just show up. If people on the agenda speaking, give them an extended ovation. Do every single legal thing you can to make business as usual, business unusual.
4. You have email, use it. Email a council member. Email the mayor. Email the city. Doesn't have to be long, just send lots.
5. You'd be surprised how disruptive it is to come in to a full inbox. Every Day.
6. You have a right to make telephone calls. Every city department has a phone number. There are a lot of things you can complain about, or ask questions about. Somebody knows where your council member lives, if they don't answer your questions, drop them off in their mailbox.

In short, take action against oppressors by using their own system against them. It's about time they had to work for their money.

Good Luck. There are plenty of ways to show your displeasure. Embrace them.

About Occupy Protest Camps

Call them what you will, I prefer to refer to them as protest camps, others call them tent cities, still others call them any number of derogatory names. This is yet another dialogue we need to have.

As always I hope to get my audience to join the discussion, both at home and on social media. Occupy is a very complex topic and to discuss all facets at once would require something the size of War and Peace. So we need to break it down and discuss things in "little boxes" to work on the big picture.

I struggle with this facet of the protest. I wonder if it hurts more than it helps if it can be widely portrayed as it has been. On this issue, I think we're losing the battle to a certain degree. I believe it is vital to retain visibility, I do question if this is the best long term strategy.

Sometimes I like to sit back and ask myself what advice I would offer to supporters of the occupy movement. I guess it is in that vein I will present my thoughts on the encampments that are the visible face of the occupy movement.

I continue to believe we must redouble our efforts to move the movement forward. We have a lot of work to do, fortunately there are a lot of people to do it, but some direction is required.

As for the encampments, I currently believe they're become too much to manage, especially on a public relations front. Before slaughtering me, listen a bit to what I'm going to say and at least think about it.

It is vital for the Occupy Movement to maintain public visibility. I submit, as an alternative to the easy target the camps have become, the various Occupy sites offer to remove the encampments, in exchange for a place of prominence in the community where the movement may freely disseminate information on what it is about, and including a "free speech zone" where the public is able to express their grievances. This deals with those who would portray the entire movement as a bunch of squatters, gives the movement a feel of becoming a serious, cannot be ignored social shift that is not going away. It still provides visibility, it consolidates in a single place the opportunity to express the messages that need to be advanced.

This means smaller sites and less people burning themselves out by being normal people engaging in something our troops train endlessly for. Survival camping, all weather, long term, even with inadequate supplies, they work hard to deal with it even with all the resources they have. The normal individual is not prepared for how physically and psychologically difficult this can be. Thus, turning campsites into official info centres allows people to share the workload, and frees a lot of people to work to get some momentum going so we can change the world.

Now that we've replaced our "squatter" camps with Information Centres & Free Speech Zones, we can concentrate on the organization of large protests at strategic locations or on significant dates. Many of the people in the camps are intelligent and have knowledge and networks regarding different issues that require work. It will free them up to network further to come up with viable alternatives to the problems common in our "so-called" civilized societies.

Large targeted protests with the overall message that Occupy means business as usual will come to an end. That there will no longer be a country to hide in. The world is united in wanting an end to economic injustice and the destruction of the planet in the name of profits. The rape of the poor and the planet must end. Everyone will have to share in the solution, including the rich and global corporations even if they don't like the idea. The permanent location serves the main protests.

If you don't need to be in a tent in the streets 24/7, it's easier to arrange your affairs to ensure you can attend the large, important, coordinated protests. It's easier to devote some of your time to helping your cause, whether it's poverty or decent health care or how the financial system runs, political reform, the environment or any/all/more of the above and move things forward. You free up more time to network through social media and to talk to friends and family and strangers.

I guess you could sum up this train of thought by saying I fully support the visible face of the Occupy Movement, but I'd like to move it forward, to change the face and free resources to work on issues other than survival. We can always do things better, so let's do this better as well.

Thanks to my wonderful Twitter friend @Min_Reyes for suggesting this topic. Can't wait to hear your feedback. She's my Queen of Social Justice.

Occupy Politics

I have plenty of thoughts on things I see as the bigger picture of the Occupy movement. As always, these are my opinions only. I do not purport to speak for, or lead the occupy movement. I'm just another cog in a great big gearbox.

As the movement goes forward, obviously, goals will need to be articulated more clearly. Organization beyond the people in the streets will have to begin. This is far from saying a leader need be appointed. This is to say the people in the streets or camps are the blunt end of the stick. I salute these people, if I were able I'd be with them in person. I'm not alone in being one of those who supports the general principles (as I believe them to be) of the movement and do things to help in other ways. One of those ways is to use this blog to share my thoughts and observations with the hope it will get people to think and perhaps spark some reasonable debate. We need to start sharpening the other end of the stick.

The number one thing we need to realize is we are all part of the problem. What we require is a critical mass prepared to be the solution. It's crucial to engage the fence sitters, and just as crucial to not put up with the misinformation and those who spread it. Depending on who one talks to, occupy means many different things. I'm probably more okay with that than many others, but if the only action is what happens in the streets, we, the people, are not "too big to fail".

That said, I assure you this is just one of many forthcoming columns on occupy. I'm purposely not going into great detail as I want discussion on these topics, not the imposition of my ideas as the only ones that are right, or even that my ideas are right at all. It's up to you to discuss and think about it, let's help each other refine directions the movement has to take to get us where we need to be. It's not an overnight thing and will require a lot of work from a lot of dedicated people. It will require a lot of compromise on policy, without compromising our principles.

Critically, we must develop a cohesive political strategy in all countries. Since we are in need of global change, we must follow the "think globally, act locally" guideline. We must launch a peaceful revolution that includes hoards of people to occupy ballot boxes. We must get political, whether we like it or not, it's the number one ugly job we need to do.

We understand the system is broken. I am of the opinion there are zero existing politicians or political parties who can or will fix it. I'm talking about a major overhaul of our existing way of doing business. The only way we will win this peacefully is to take the reins of power through the ballot box. We have to control the legislative bodies at all costs.

I'll tell you what I believe this means. I believe it means the occupy movement, and those who support it, are going to have to take a major leap of faith, and going to have to use every bit of organizing, cajoling, and working harder than they ever have to make the most important move in modern history. Taking the power out of the hands of the establishment and gaining executive control of our various institutions and reshape them to work for the many.

We have to come to the stark realization the party system is rife with greed and corruption and no matter how many times we've changed the players, and no matter how many times they've changed the rules, it always works to the advantage of not those who voted them into power, but those who financed their successful campaigns, those who supported "their" party, and those from whom they may gain employment or favours in the future. We have been consistently installing these interchangeable monkeys for centuries and they have proven over and over while they may be "by the people" they are far from "of the people" or "for the people".

We need to elect independent candidates who are not only supported by the occupy movement, but who are voted in by those who want change. This will not be easy, but it will be necessary, unless one plans to launch a coup in just about every country on the planet. I just call that world war.

Really, speaking of the Canadian system, we have to do exactly what Harper has done. We must gain a majority in the house of commons. Then, and only then, will we be able to make the systemic changes that will be required.

There is no need to destroy the entire system. Like anything, it has good and bad points. Unfortunately, we've come to a point in history where those bad points outweigh the good. We gone over the tipping point and we need to get the machine back into balance.

It's not about someone winning. It's about society winning. It's about installing a government that abhors secrecy. It's about putting people into power that are going to listen, that are ready to pledge honesty and clarity. People who walk the walk.

Some of the things I think need tackled first are an end to private financing of politicians and political entities, an end to any and all 3rd party political advertising, a ban on advertising that is not factual and issue based (i.e. no more "personal" attack ads), and make it illegal to lobby any politician. I also think we need a system where policies are clearly articulated prior to election day and should a government attempt to introduce legislation contrary to stated policy, or create legislation outside of such policy, that a referendum be triggered to allow a democratic vote. This needs some work, but it means no one could make promises they don't intend to keep, or run on a platform that fails to include key information on what they intend to do. That's a small start to political reform, but by no means all.

We need a system that clearly spells out how every penny of taxpayer money is spent. We have the technology to provide electronic access to realtime spending. If a cheque is issued from the public treasury, then a clear, unedited accounting of what that cheque paid for. I believe there are many benefits to this, number one being if everyone can see you bought 30 bottles of wine for a party of 6, you cannot hide it as any other expense. You can't call it "meeting costs" or whatever BS if it has to be publicly accounted for. It would also help business. If a particular department purchases 10,000 paper clips for 200 dollars and I know I can supply them for 175, I could alert government I am prepared to save the taxpayers money.

Very few things should be secret. We should all have learned by adulthood that secrets get us into trouble. The level at which those who would "rule" us hide the truth from us should bring us to one of two conclusions: They are doing a lot of underhanded and/or illegal things, or they believe we're too stupid and unimportant to bother with the truth.

We must get the politics in order, in order to bring order to financial affairs, the health and well being of all peoples no matter their standing in society, work to balance the needs of the population with the needs of the planet.

I'm hoping for your input. Most of all I'm hoping I can get you thinking, and perhaps working with me to help define and refine goals we all need to work toward. Hope to hear from you here, on twitter and on facebook.

We can have a better world if we're willing to work for it. It will be the most difficult job we've ever done, but in the end, the payoff of a better, happier, more peaceful world can await us. It will be what we make it, or the forces of greed will win. I hope you're with me.

Until next time....

Occupy & Other Random Ranting!

Welcome back me. I took a while off to tend to real life personal stuff and I'm back to spread the love. Or Not.

I'll just jump right in to some thoughts on the Occupy Movement.

I get it. Occupy is very easily summed up in a single sentence, as complicated as it may seem it comes down to this. Many people are pissed off at many issues but more than anything they're enraged that all of their concerns are being dismissed.

Of course that's the short answer for the simplistic people who claim not to understand. The bigger picture is so much bigger it is difficult for any individual to take it all in.

My biggest difficulty with a lot of the occupy websites/discussions is their almost rigid unwillingness to accept any form of criticism, especially constructive criticism. I can't begin to count the number of times I've had posts removed from their Facebook pages or been chased out of some of the chatrooms and labelled as a troll who didn't understand what they were all about. This is not the greatest way to garner support, but support I do, and I will continue, in spite of the fact there are some bad ideas and some downright goofy ideas spreading around.

Most of all it is heartening to see that the straw seems to have finally broken the proverbial camel's back. All over the world, people are participating in occupy protests. This is the most visible face of the movement, but behind the scenes there are a lot more of us, who, for whatever reason, may not to be able to take to the streets or camp out. Rest assured we are doing other things on your behalf.

I'd like people to keep in mind we'll never all agree on everything. The one thing we do agree on is the financial system globally is skewed to enrich a certain group of people. I'm not looking for a handout from anyone. I am looking to live in a society that realizes poverty is cancer. Its tumors are disease, despair, crime, and ugly things too numerous to mention.

Many years ago I made a conscious decision to disavow credit. I don't have credit cards, I don't have a mortgage, I don't own extravagant things (in fact, everything I own will fit in a 10 x 10 storage facility) and I'm fine with that. I live cash only and only purchase things I can pay for. If I want something badly enough, I'll save to buy it or I just won't. I don't worry much, that's the payoff.

I feel deeply for people who can't find a job, or through circumstances are unable to care for themselves. It doesn't matter what country they're from or where they live, there is more than enough money to commit to a better future, however a small group of so-called human beings feel they need to have more money than they or their descendants could possibly spend in 100 years. It's morally wrong, and I'm saying that as a man who is not big on the morals thing.

It's horrific we are constantly subjected to cuts in health care, education, and many of our basic services when the only cuts highly profitable giant corporations suffer are further tax cuts. Worse, morons are sold on this big lie that these tax cuts create jobs. US companies put (according to estimates) $1.93 trillion dollars into their accounts, Canadian business has salted away about 83 billion. They aren't using the money to invest in new jobs, they're feeding their greed. Excess wealth and excess profits, one way or another, are going to be redistributed. We have passed the tipping point. Politicians, and word leaders of all sorts, would be wise to refer to all of the historical instances when so called "great civilizations", consumed by greed, provided unreal lifestyles to the upper class while others were left cold, hungry, and homeless. In all instances the majority took all the shit they could handle, and the privileged few and ruling class ended up dead in an ugly way. No one wants that.

Personally, I have no desire to destroy the entire system. I don't think there is any shame in being rich, the shame is gluttony. There is nothing wrong with an honest business earning an honest profit any more than an honest worker earning a living wage or better. I think we could determine a reasonable level of profit to sustain growth and allow shareholders a fair benefit and ensure grossly bloated profits are returned to the global village to ensure we do what is right. It's time to take our world back from the forces of evil. If the rulers of countries and captains of industry will not act responsibly then we must be prepared to force the change.

I'm not going to believe myself so important that I have all the answers. I may not even have some of the answers. I do have ideas, and opinions, and a fair amount of experience and knowledge I am more than willing to share and discuss. I'm not going in to all of them in my first blog back from self-exile, after all, I will need to have other things to write about. Let's have more reasoned discussions about concrete actions we need to take. Let's move the movement forward. My comments are always open, I'm available on twitter and Facebook. I'm ready to back whatever I say in a reasonable discussion. A future post will outline a few critical things I believe we need to work toward. For now I'm hoping to hear back from some of you on your positive or negative thoughts on occupy, and what you believe the most important issues are.

Until next time, keep on fighting the good fight. Stay peaceful. Open your mind to new ideas, open your heart to those who suffer needlessly. In the end, we must do this, so the world can be better for all of us, we cannot allow all to be lost to total corporate domination of the planet.

100% with the 99%.