Takin' it to The Street

With its corruption, manipulation and reckless gambling, Wall Street has decimated Main Street.  People are hurting and the corporations who caused the devastation aren't sharing in the pain.  Stock prices are up. Wall Street bonuses are back, as outrageous as ever.

With America crumbling, corporations have only gotten bigger and  meaner.  The Upper 1% is completely detached from the destruction they've caused. The suffering takes place somewhere else, in decaying neighborhoods or blighted inner cities. The Captains of Wall Street, perched in the penthouses of their gleaming high rises, or relaxing behind the ivy-covered walls of their gated communities, don't even notice.

What if we took the fight to them?

What if we built tent cities on Wall Street's front door?  What if scores of people with foreclosed homes were living in the courtyard outside Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan's office window?  Would that put a damper on his boardroom meetings?  What if we set up a makeshift morgue in front of United Healthcare's world headquarters?  Their policies and abuses cause people to die everyday.  Would stepping over bodies wrapped in sheets be bad for business?

This could never happen, of course.  The cops would be sent in to clear out the tent cities and the morgues.  People may starve and people may die, but for God's sake, don't get in the way of commerce.  The world may fall to ashes around us, but the corporations must endure.

Two Kinds of People

On my walk today, I was thinking there are two kinds of people in this world.  Those who look up at the tree branches and marvel at the bright yellow flowers dancing among the leaves.

And those who only look down and grouse about the mess the petals make when they drop to ground.

 I guess there's also a third category:  People whose hearts soar at the sight of beauty and who don't mind bending their backs to clean up the mess when the blossoms wither and fall.

Dear ACLU: What were you thinking?

I am extremely disappointed to hear that the ACLU is supporting the disastrous Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United case.  While I have always supported and applauded your efforts on behalf of free speech for all people, even those I find abhorrent, this is not the same thing and I cannot support your position in this case.  Money is not speech, corporations are not natural people.  The practical effect of this law will be the utter destruction of true democracy in America.  I do not believe this was your purpose in supporting this. 

This is not a liberal issue.  It's a matter of fairness and equality.  Money is the great un-equalizer.  To allow unlimited amounts of cash to flow throws the balance of power to entities that have no morals and no boundaries.  (more than it already is)  

I do not have the resources to buy commercials on television stations or ads in newspapers.  Does that mean my vote should be worth less?  The interests of the individual person are in direct opposition to the interests of huge corporations.  I hope you will reconsider your position and work to counteract this harmful, shameful ruling, either through legislation or by changing the constitution to give "personhood" only to natural persons.

Thanks for listening.