More Occupy Meme-tasticnes

They seriously are giving me too much material to work with here. Via.

Plain & Simple

At the risk of sounding like I'm trying to speak for a movement of which I am not (yet) a part, I think there is a single, simple, fundamental equation and demand at the root of the protest, and indeed at the root of most problems average Americans face:

Money + Politicians = The End of Democracy

How on earth can we, as a society, choose to funnel billions of dollars to Wall Street, which turns around and pays obscene bonuses to its members, at the same time that we impose draconian conditions on students who need aid to complete their education and move on to jobs that will benefit society?

Looking at all the signs held by individuals in the We Are The 99% Tumblr site shows a huge percentage kids who either dropped out of school because of lack of funds, or who are now crushed by debt, with no hope of earning enough money to pay it off. (And thanks to Congress, such debt is no longer dischargeable in bankruptcy.) I truly feel for these individuals since I, for one, am one of them who are in debt for the long haul.

Others at the site describe their inability to access medical care, or overweening medical debt. I can also attest to being in this situation not too long ago.

In a cash-infused 'Democratic' political system, everything goes to shit. We can all plainly see that those with the means are literally able to purchase the policies best suited to meet their own selfish needs, snowballing the rest into socialized debt, for the future generations to clean up.

Thus, it's not so unreasonable to demand is that the cycle of Money + Politics be broken, so that public servants will once again represent those who vote for them, not those who pay for their television ads and junkets. The endless fundraising needs to stop. It's killing us. Politicians should be begging for votes, not money.

How is that going to happen? That's actually up to those who choose to run for office (which complicates the problem to no end). These protests, should they grow large enough, will eventually force those in office to make a choice.

I do know that good will come of it if it occurs. It will enable our system to begin healing itself, and optimism can again take hold in the American heart.

Occupy Wall Street Meme-fied

I would like to see more entertaining memes like this, Occupy Wall Street movement. 

Oy, Canoes!

Cannibals capture three men. The men are told that they will be skinned and eaten and then their skin will be used to make canoes. Then they are each given a final request.

The first man asks to be killed as quickly and painlessly as possible. His request is granted, and they poison him. The second man asks for paper and a pen so that he can write a farewell letter to his family. This request is granted, and after he writes his letter, they kill him saving his skin for their canoes.

Now it is the third man's turn. He asks for a fork. The cannibals are confused, but it is his final request, so they give him a fork. As soon as he has the fork he begins stabbing himself again and again, yelling "Fuck your canoes! Fuck your canoes!"

In this case, we're the canoe. As you might have guessed, I am not happy.

The Second Amendment, Life, And Death

An argument ensued in the forums over an article written by the Examiner expressing the need to bear arms and the injustice of jailing a person attempting to protect his family from a robber breaking into his house with a firearm. I found the arguments both insightful and entertaining - for both the duality of man always becomes apparent when it comes to matters such as life and death.

It all started by a simple opinion from a would-be defender of human life:

The problem with guns is that while they may prevent crime, they quickly turn non-lethal crimes into potentially lethal outcomes. The punk who just broke into your house to steal for drug money does not deserve to die, nor does the guy who uses a gun to hold up a liquor store, or the guy who mugs you on the street. They all deserve punishment, but death is not an appropriate outcome. Universal gun possession makes it so that all crime now faces a real threat of death. While this may lower the likelihood of some crimes, it is merely traded off for the potential of worse outcomes that - importantly - will probably not be statistically codified itself as crime.

We have great examples of low-crime countries that have high gun ownership, mid-gun ownership, and 0 gun ownership. Maybe it is not about the guns, it is about the people - and then the question becomes, are American's the right sort of people to have unfettered access to guns.

Immediately, a fiery backlash from the Digg community ensued:

"The punk who just broke into your house to steal for drug money does not deserve to die,"

Yes he does. Can you tell the difference between someone breaking into your house to rape you or rob you...you don't know until after the fact.

"nor does the guy who uses a gun to hold up a liquor store, or the guy who mugs you on the street."

Yes, they do. They initiated an act of violence and in the liquor store case, he was ready to kill you if need be.

Followed by an emotional stance about life, ethics, and an equation regarding how stuff literally equates to your life:

"Using deadly force in protection of property is never justified legally"

ITS ALWAYS justified.

this boggles my mind when people say its JUST possessions

Possessions are my LIFE. Literally and FACTUALLY.

My first car cost me $4500 plus registration inspection and insurance. about $5500 for that first year.

Its not so much a possession as it is 34 WEEKS OF MY VERY LIFE. (this was back when I was 19)

If you steal my car your not stealing my car.

your LITERALLY AND FACTUALLY STEALING 34 WEEKS OF MY VERY LIFE that I spent to PAY for that god damned car.

Thats around 8 MONTHS OF MY LIFE. Of My Blood and SWEAT working my ASS OF just so I could have that god damned car.

HOW DARE you belittle 34 weeks of my LIFE.

I am sorry but MY LIFE means something to me. I will DEFEND MY LIFE with deadly force if need be.

You say your life is not worth that car.

I say your analogy is flawed.

I say my car is worth more than that crooks life.

NOW I will not go out of my way to kill someone. I HOPE I won't hesitate if the need arises. I HOPE the need will never arise.

But I damned well know I WILL protect my "possessions" with any and all needed force if I am compelled to.

Theft is right up there with MURDER no where near as bad mind you but ITS UP THERE.

you steal my car you MURDERED 34 weeks of my life.

POOF GONE. those 34 weeks meant NOTHING they are meaningless now. So are the next 34 weeks as I work my ass off to buy another one.

I am INSULTED that my LIFE means so little to you that you think I should not be able to DEFEND IT.

that you think the life of a CRIMINAL is worth more than a portion of MY LIFE.

How DARE YOU.

Haha, Word

Makin' history is pretty fun. Even funner when it's animated.

The Most Important Election In History

There's no doubt the Obama-terrorist references and racial slurs thrown at McCain-Palin rallies have become the center of attention these past few days. Surely, this is probably the most involved many Americans have ever been as well.

Obama is right. Our economy is in shambles ever since Bush handed over all economic power to some boys in his hood and fucked it all up. We're continuing a mighty fucked up war overseas - I have a few friends stationed over there - that sees no end in sight. I haven't seen this many people pissed off in a very long time.

Then again, I haven't seen so much polarized ignorance rear its head into public light either. Must be a hot topic. Nonetheless, it's pretty damn disgusting to see people screaming, "Obama is a terrorist!" all over at McCain-Palin rallies.

Moral of the story? Register to vote, and be sure to cross your fingers, hoping no Jesus matyrs try to pull off a MLK stunt before elections even take place.

Iran Missle Tests Scare, Bush Prepares Satellite Ion-Canon

Spinning off from that Iranian government photoshopping of missiles to make them "more dramatic" for their frontpage news, it looks like the Internets has their own ideas of exaggeration and cinematic effects.

The Time Is Here, The Time Is Now

Hell of a lot more reasons than what we did with Clinton, I say.

Military Funding and the Iraq War

What Mr. Bush fails to acknowledge is:

1. That HE would be the one to halt the supplemental funding process by carrying out his threatened veto.
2. That the military budget for Fiscal Year 2007 is $481 Billion dollars not counting Iraq war funding.
3. That the above $481 Billion in the normal defense appropriations alredy included about $70 billion for Iraq war related expenses
4. That the U.S. has already spent over $414 billion on the Iraq war
5. That the $124 Billion emergency supplemental funding for the war is in addition to the $414 billion already spent on the Iraq war and is in addition to the $489 Billion dollar FY military budget
   
6. That the Congressional Research Service has indicated that the Pentagon can get along just fine without the additional money through July by juggling other accounts in its half-trillion-dollar budget.
7. That last year facing the same deadlines, the Republican Congress didn’t get around to approving a supplemental $94.4 billion in war-fighting money until June without hectoring by the White House

Ultimately, what does that all add up to? Almost a trillion bucks this year on a civil war we should not have set foot in the first place. It's no wonder education tuition keeps jacking up and up.