I Went to OccupySF Oct 26th 2011 and here is what I saw

2011-10-27T17:51:00.000-07:00

Look, I try and walk the walk not just talk the talk. Formany years I railed against injustice, but I never did anything about it otherthan argue and vote. However, recently, we have changed all that.

Our family has believed that global warming is a problem fora long time now so we put solar panels on our roof and guess what? We savedmoney!

We were tired of wars about oil and being virtual petroleumslaves to countries like Saudi Arabia, Russia and Venezuela not to mention thefact of all the carbon produced by the process of extracting oil and then thecarbon produced from the process of burning gas in our cars. So my wife andmother-in-law purchased electric cars that are, guess what, powered by thesolar panels on our roof. And Guess what again? We are saving a bundle.

We saw Americans eating fast food and suffering from the side effects – High blood pressure, more heart attacks, obesity, cancer.

We saw groceries that tasted bland and were covered with e-coli.

We saw huge factory farms of cattle and chicken in cramped cages living in their own crap.

We saw incredible amounts of energy used to move food from around the globe to my supermarket when I have perfectly good local produce right here in my own backyard.

We saw corporations pushing out the small businessman.

We saw large corporations making every town in America look the same.

We saw the homogenization of America with the same restaurants and stores in every city.

We saw the end approaching for the local café, bookseller, grocer, and restaurateur; taken over by Starbucks, Barnes and Noble, Safeway, Outback, Olive Garden, Chilis, & Maggianos etc.

So we started to eat healthy -less meat - more veggies andwe cooked it all ourselves. When we do go out, which is rare with 3 kids andplenty of homework to do, we go to locally owned non-chain restaurants. We buyour groceries from small local merchants or co-ops. We make sure thosegroceries weren’t grown in Chile, New Zealand or even Mexico but instead weregrown locally and organically. We even choose to only drink locally brewedbeer. Although we do drink coffee which comes from far away we drink it at homeor from the local independent café/roaster where we ensure the coffee is fairtrade and shade grown. We probably should buy all our books for a Kindle oriPad but that only helps Amazon or Apple so when we do buy real paper basedbooks we do so from small neighborhood merchants.

So I guess I felt I was doing my part. I felt good aboutmyself and tried not to appear smug or self-congratulatory (which I probablyfailed at). Buteither way I thought I was putting my money where my mouth was. Sure I was madabout Banks and Investment firms getting a bailout, sure I was angry so manypeople were be thrown out of their homes, sure it was a shame that the globaleconomy is tanking because of bad decisions by bad politicians and bad CEOs.But I can feel self-assured I am doing my part to make things better.

That was until I saw the police in Oakland teargasingAmericans. Throwing Flashbangs at the head of veterans. Hitting women and menwith batons. Shooting rubber bullets. The minute I saw that I felt that allthat I was doing was nothing compared to the people “out there” getting beatenby our police force. It looked like a third world country. Something on TV inthe Middle East. It turns out that “out there” was a 20minute drive away; orpossibly even less than that as I learned that a similar event was about tohappen in San Francisco. I had to join them or feel a complete failure. I hadto see if “they” were me and I had to stand up for what I believed in. I had tobe one the people that everyone calls, “them”. And guess what, they are not“them”, they are US!

Old people, young people, conservatives (yes actualconservatives), liberals (or if you prefer, progressives), anarchists,politicians, moms and dads, nurses, teachers, veterans, pilots, hippies,firemen, taxi cab drivers, software engineers (grin), in short Americans. Madat the state of affairs. Mad that so many Americans had to pay the price oflosing a home, a job, a loved one in a war, or just money via taxes sent tobail out billionaires and CEOs. Many of which should be in jail.

This was not a dirty or unsafe encampment. It was clean, itwas organized, it was legal. I support #OccupySF and #OWS because I was taughtas a kid to be fair and honest. Our present system is neither fair nor honest.

PS: Props to John Avalos - you just won my vote for sittingdown with us.

OWS and its children (occupyyourcitynamehere) is not aplatform based protest. It is not run by a group, organization, person,political party or political entity. It is average Americans who are angry andhave had no group that they trust to speak for them because they feel thesystem is broken.

They are angry at the unfairness of a system that rewardsbad CEO's with golden parachutes after they almost kill a company and get YOURmoney to bail it out. Angry that a corporation can patent genes of a plant andthen prosecute farmers whose plants get pollinated by bees from a nearby fieldfor violations of intellectual property. Angry that the Supreme Court said thatthese same corporations have the same rights as an average person; except thatwhen corporations break the law, they don't go to jail. Angry at Financialfraud that has cost us jobs and our standing as a nation. Angry at politicaltalking heads who maneuver, twist, spin and scheme for some small advantage tomake the other guy look like an idiot instead of having a real discussion aboutreal ideas. Angry at hearing that their own government is spying on them. Angrythat we torture. Angry that we invade. Angry that we spend enough money in theUSA on guns that could end global hunger in a week.

I wish that most news outlets didn't have an anti-OWSstance. They do it on purpose. If you watch any news broadcast, local ornational, you may occasionally see someone you can relate to with a realgrievance, however, it is so much more fun for them to take pictures and videosof the one asshat who crapped on police car or the good-looking hippy chickdancing to the bongo beat or the pot smoking rasta. Taking pictures and videosof me or you isn't very "colorful" or interesting. I saw people insuits, I saw people in work uniforms and military uniforms (retired, or so Iwas told). It just doesn't make for "good TV".

Lastly, most of us work for a living. Trying to make moneyto pay for stuff. Even at these protests, many people had to come after work.So the only people who can accomplish the actual "occupation" part ofthe protest when the rest of us are working are people with no job and nofuture. Guess what they look like? Mad as I am, I do not think I can take a fewdays off to camp out in Justin Herman plaza. But I am glad they are there forme.

This is the first post

2009-06-10T17:34:00.000-07:00

As such it is required to be boring and have the requisite, "Hello World!" text.

oh, btw, FIRST! :P

Radio Free SF

I Went to OccupySF Oct 26th 2011 and here is what I saw

This is the first post