So tonight, I watched the first few episodes of Newsroom. Besides being a bit too on the ‘who is sleeping with whom’ side for my taste, I like the point it’s making. We are seeing an effort to remind the people of this country the true purpose of journalism. True journalism shines a light into the dark corners, and in doing so, provides a valuable service to society, protecting it from the ills of the powers that be. It informs the masses, but it does so without a political slant, agenda, or overall bias. Newsroom is making the point that we again need true hard news. Not edutainment or news tailored to what we most want to hear. Just the simple, unbiased facts.

The Newsroom also does not shy away from taking on issues from recent years and shining the light of fact upon them. Far too many people in this country hold grand illusions about America, or live in complete ignorance concerning the events that happen around them. They believe their politicians, or mainstream media outlets when they should be paying attention to the hard facts. Even many viewers of this show will agree that journalism should return to the days of Edward R. Murrow and Walter Kronkite, and then continue to accept their news from the very organizations whose political bias is plain to see. Facts do not have a liberal or conservative bias. It is only their interpretation that can be twisted one way or another. People should demand the facts.

One wonders (and can only hope) if Newsroom will include a segment detailing the many reporters who were denied the freedom of the press, even while holding credentials. It strikes me that OWS and related events hold a plethora of items that should interest this show: The aforementioned denial of the freedom of press, denial of 1st Amendment freedoms, including H.R. 347, unnecessary police brutality against it’s citizens, and this isn’t even touching upon the core banking issues, mortgage & housing issues (illegal evictions..), widening income inequality, etc.. But i digress.

Unfortunately, in the real world, the good journalists out there will continue to be lost in a media system that will refuse to stop catering to corporate interests, mostly because they are owned by those aforementioned corporate interests. Or because to be truly honest means to lose their political access. The bad reporters will just take a cynical look at the ideal put forth by this show and scoff, assuming they even care that much, and continue to gleefully abuse the 4th estate at every turn.

I wish I could end this by saying that we will one day be at a tipping point and the tide will shift. I wish I could say that someone watching will be inspired to become the next great American journalist. But sadly, those days are gone. So long as corporate interests rule the day and control our media, nothing will ever truly change. All we can do is strive, on our own, to find the facts, and never believe anything we don’t objectively corroborate ourselves.

It’s nothing new. If you listened to the mainstream media, May Day was a bust. A few hundred people and nothing but a fizzle. The early bad weather could have given them a negative impression of what would come. If so, they jumped the gun. But, as in the case of some (Reuters, for example), leaving an article up calling May Day a “dud” long after it was proven otherwise, was simply irresponsible. Beyond the actions in well over 100 cities, here in New York, by the time of the 5:30pm Coalition March of labor unions, immigrant groups, and Occupy Wall Street, there were ten’s of thousands of protesters marching in the street. Notice i said in the street, not on the sidewalk. This is because 5th Avenue was taken by marchers.

Even those in the media who didn’t dismiss May Day, enjoyed employing the refrain “OWS is back”. They love their simple narratives and easily swallowed bite sized bits. Do they really believe the public cannot understand how something enters a period of organization and planning? Or do they themselves not understand this point? As the world has now seen, the time has not been wasted. May Day was an overwhelming success, only overshadowed in the news cycle by the surprise trip of the President. Nonetheless, our message was sent and our point was made.

It is a simple thing to face: We are here to stay. Violence couldn’t kill us. Winter couldn’t kill us. Misinformation, lies, and often times a complete blackout of events by corporate media couldn’t hold us back. You cannot stop a cause whose obviousness any clear minded individual can see to be true. Corporate interests and the wealthiest few are far from the only elements that matter. It is finally time that we reclaimed this world for it’s people. Change is in the air. We are creating that change. It is only a matter of time until everyone understands that something can be done.

All it takes is every day people becoming aware and getting involved. Educate yourself on the ways your freedoms have and are disappearing. Learn about the biases our society gives towards corporate America and the richest few, and then hold your politicians accountable when they are bought (as most nationally elected politicians are). Help get the money out of politics. We live in a time when every voice can truly count. It is time we put an end to this toxic way of life. As we often say, “another world is possible.” May Day was a leap forward. But it was only the next step. More will come. 

Tomorrow is May Day. It is a day to show the vitality of everyone in this economic system. It is a day to show that we are all connected. None go it alone. The billionaire did not make his fortune without, somewhere along the way, the effort of the laborer in the factory. Many employees cannot arrive at their jobs without transit workers enabling the transportation. Education that enables people far and wide to learn the skills necessary to push our economy forward could not happen without the efforts of teachers. Engineers, scientists and doctors, forged by all-important higher education, design the next product sold, help keep us healthy, and at times forge the very future geometry of our lives.

Certain elements in our society seem to have forgotten these facts. Or they have ceased to care. We are here to remind them. Without the people, the machine that fuels their own lives would stop dead in it’s tracks. It is well beyond time consideration was given towards the lives of these average folks. We watch year after year, decade after decade as the gap between the top few and the rest of us grows. We watch as more is asked out of the average worker, and we provide, we sacrifice, yet it is never enough. Our lives grow ever more impossible, simply to put more money into the bank accounts of those who already have more than they would ever use.

We also have to cover the losses of those who gamble with our future, or who occasionally outright steal from us. I won’t debate the necessity of bailouts, but rather the system that put us in a position to even have the debate. There is a level of socialism for the wealthy where every mistake they make will be filtered down to the rest of us, yet we are left to fend for ourselves. Just ask the many homeowners who have lost their homes as a result of the economic mess created in the last few years. Where was their help? Or ask the person approaching 65 who watched their 401k evaporate and who will now have to work until the day they die. As victims of a mess created by the greed of others, what help did they find? So much for the golden years.

To put it most plainly: The realistic impact in the lives of the top few by having a slight bit less is nil. While it would improve the lives of everyone else dramatically. Give your average worker a realistic livable wage. Allow for decent health insurance. Care for the disabled, the elderly and those in fair need. When did the lives of people become so meaningless and the hoarding of obscene levels of wealth become the order of the day?

Finally, we are here to remind those top few, who have made their massive wealth, in part due to lopsided policy, but chiefly on the backs of average citizens, that they owe something to the people of this country. It is time, as unlikely as it may be, that these few wake up from their sick greed to realize they owe something to the society that built their fortunes. It is time for them to act like responsible, enlightened adults who belong to a modern, civilized world where there is no excuse for why a decent life cannot be enjoyed by all.

There is currently a debate in the Supreme Court as to whether the Affordable Care Act is constitutional. What is it about certain people that fight so vehemently against health care and it’s reforms? Their talk of constitutional ideals somehow rings hollow. It strikes me that they are afraid of anything that might cost them a cent. However, what happens when these people, who, denied the need for health care, suddenly find themselves in need of care that they cannot afford? Many will go to a state hospital, with the expectation that the government will absorb the cost. These are generally the very same people who purport no use for government. Worse than this, are the obvious higher costs associated with going to a hospital rather than a simple doctor visit.

The arguments today centered around the expansion of Medicaid. A provision, one could easily argue, most likely to affect those citizens who would, because they could not afford to see a doctor, show up at a hospital in need of care, but with current standards, or if this provision is shot down, would do so bereft of insurance. In America we have certain financial standards for poverty. In 2011 the poverty level for a family of 4 was set at $22,250. I submit that these are unrealistic levels. Living in the real world, a family of one making only $22,250 a year would have to look up to see poverty, let alone four (especially here in an “expensive” state like New York). The provision in the Health Care Act that covers Medicaid would allow more people to be covered by this insurance by raising the income limits to roughly $31,000. This would have the benefit of ensuring more people go to the doctor when a problem arises, rather than the more costly alternative of a hospital. It would also help ensure health issues are detected earlier, when cheaper alternatives for care are an option. It is shortsighted in the extreme to not see the benefits.

We also have to consider the Commerce Clause, which maintains constitutionality of exactly this sort of provision based upon a substantial economic effect on interstate commerce. To borrow from Geoffrey R. Stone in the Huffington Post, “It is the Commerce Clause that authorized congress to enact such legislation as the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, the civil Rights Act of 1964, the Environmental Policy Act of 1969, the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, and the Americans with Disabilities act of 1990”. It would be incongruous to take a new stance now.

What this boils down to for Republican politicians is the fact that we are in an election cycle, and removing a cornerstone piece of Obama’s achievements would go a long way towards putting their man in office. Considering they do not really have an objection to many of the provisions (effectively being their plan in the first place), one has to also maintain a belief in their jealousy. They want Republicans to get the credit, not Democrats. It only points to how broken our system has truly become when scoring political points is vastly more important than helping people. And while Democrats are hardly blameless and pure, we are witnessing how Republicans truly do not care how many average citizens they hurt while engaging in political maneuvering. Also, let us not forget, if politicians on both sides would agree to force their corporate friends to pay their fare share of taxes, or indeed, any taxes at all, there would not even be a need for an argument over perceived costs. The funds would just be there.

Let us also consider the will of the people from another angle. It has been said this provision would enable another 17 million citizens to enter Medicaid. It is doubtful all of them would use the service, but with those kinds of numbers, can’t we call it a popular mandate? People want health insurance. People need health insurance, and when given the means, people use health insurance.

At the end of the day, every major landscape-changing political construct has met with serious opposition. Do you think Social Security just breezed in amidst nationwide cheers? Hardly. But now it is a construct most reasonable Americans consider essential, especially as they get older. Although we’ve fallen short of the goal of a single-payer system (something I maintain is as necessary as Social Security), affordable health care is a similar construct. It faces strong opposition, but once set in place, everyday people currently without insurance will wonder how they ever lived without it.

Occupy Wall Street never went away. The media had moved on, but when has it ever been with us? News in the day of the 24 hour cycle is entertainment. It lasts for 72 hours or until something different that fascinates the reporting team comes along. Then the story falls under the radar. The winter was not full of massive protests like the October 5th union march or the earlier events on the Brooklyn Bridge. It was a more subtle, internal time. But now the movement has been revitalized with the coming of spring. With weekly training protests leading up to the May 1st “May Day” rally, which calls for everyone, including you, to not work, not shop, or bank as a means to show how we are all an important part of this economic chain, one could argue there has never been more focus than right now.

This revitalization brings a new name to the fore of the mass consciousness: Union Square. This park is highly symbolic, with a protest history dating all the way back to 1861. In 1882, it was part of the very first Labor Day celebration, with over 10,000 people celebrating the working person. It contains a well known history of union rallies. Even on September 11th, 2001, it was not closed, but remained as a gathering point. So it has become equally historic for the NYPD to close and barricade the park on Tuesday, Wednesday, and presumably as an ongoing affair.

It seems that authorities in America want to send a message that the day of the so-called “leftist” protest is over. The worker should buckle under and accept whatever difficulties their employers or political figures care to unleash upon the populace. The poor should accept ever deeper cuts to programs they need to survive. The evidence is clear: 2012 NDAA, the signing of HR 347 “anti-protest” bill, and the unconstitutional attempts to dismantle Occupy groups and events all across the nation, including the closing of Union Square. Every New Yorker knows, normally Union Square would have people there at all hours, never to be bothered.

Last night (Wednesday the 21st leading into the 22nd) we saw what could arguably be considered the worst of it. While thankfully there was no mass arrest, no one was thrown to the ground, cracking their head on cement, and no one was shot with tear gas or beanbag rounds, there was something nearly as wasteful. The NYPD gathered 500 officers, from very high level officers to TARU to park enforcement (and everything in between), along with legions of vans and wagons, all to close a park. One that, given prior community standards, should never have been closed in the first place.

This was a monumental waste of resources,  used against peaceful citizens exercising what should be their constitutionally guaranteed freedoms. One can imagine how the money simply wasted by the NYPD could have been better used.  How many of the poor or homeless could have been given a meal that night, or perhaps even for the entire week with the funds used on a pointless show of force? How many public schools have been closed while this waste continues? The simple truth that the NYPD has yet to learn is, more force, more police presence, and a bigger display of power will only fuel the protest fire even more.

Regardless of where it happens, how many parks they want to close, how many freedoms they want to take away, we’ll keep on fighting the good fight. The numbers will grow. As more people see what is being done to their city and country, they will wake up to the truths of our time: The system is a disease. It is the banks, the corruption, it is the poison put in our food and it is the abuse. But most of all, it is the greed. Greed from those who continually strive towards the collection of more at the expense of everyone else, without a care of what it does to this world. They have forgotten that people came before corporations and banking institutions. They have forgotten that people are the cornerstone of society. They no longer care for anyone outside of their club. The people of this world are at the breaking point.

Occupy is not going away. The world will change as it always has: from the ground up. The police can clean up their mess by 5am all they want. People will still see the truth of the message in viral videos, in social media, and as their lives get harder with everything that is taken away. History proves, progress can not be stopped. The future is always coming. Occupy is just the messenger.

As I write this, the situation in Union Square continues to deteriorate. Yet again the NYPD has caused a violent situation where none existed. Protesters were peaceful as always. A female medic was thrown by an officer and hit her head on the cement. The police then stopped rushing, but as she was being helped by the EMT’s, the police aggressively charged in causing her to be trampled. What is wrong with them? To add insult to injury, some of the police are seen smiling, as if this were funny. The police are making our problems worse, not helping the situation! If they are here to help maintain order, they are failing, dismally. We have had enough of their criminal actions.

H.R. 347 was signed by Obama, screwing over our first amendment right to protest. The police in New York have, for the first time, closed Union Square - a historically important location of political protest and activism, and now successive nights of horrific and unwarranted police brutality. People are being seriously wounded for the crime of exercising their constitutionally protected freedoms. What has happened to this country? The banks, the corruption, the greed, the poison, the abuse. It is time for America at large to wake up to the problems we face. We are fed up with the actions taken by this system. It is the disease. But to quote one protester, “6 months of beatings and we are still here. wake up, we are not going anywhere!”

Occupy Wall Street has many goals. It began in outrage of the criminal way bankers have and continue to operate. It has grown to include a desire to remove corporate money from politics, stop and indeed reverse the high level of wealth disparity, and find justice for those in danger of losing their homes. It has become the search and struggle for a better way of life for all.

We are in the midst of an awakening. It is time for this country and world to realize people are what is important. Human beings deserve a fair shake (a decent livable wage, quality health care, etc), and our policies should reflect this truth. The current way is twisted. Business trumps people. Hoarding ridiculously unnecessary levels of wealth trumps enabling tolerable life for the majority of hard working people. The system as it stands is woefully lopsided in favor of the few, and doesn’t give a damn how difficult the lives of many have become. Indeed, in the effort to give those who already have too much even more, it is trying to make the life of your average person even harder. How can we operate in this fashion and still call ourselves civilized?

Occupy also contains a sense of urgency involving care for the environment. Business, as a rule, does not care what happens to the environment, so long as the money train keeps on rolling. If this weren’t true, we would all have had electric cars decades ago and efficient, clean mass transit would exist in every major city. The next time you witness or hear about ever more common instances of wild and unusual weather, realize that it will only get worse if steps are not taken.

When it comes to OWS and Occupy movements you can find a variety of concerns, depending upon with whom you speak. What I’ve outlined are many of my concerns, and are shared by many others. But along the way we’ve illuminated a real side effect that many of us have seen happening for years, even decades: How far downhill our freedoms have fallen. While we cannot be side tracked from the other goals, we have acknowledged that there is no more important mission than maintaining our freedoms. When police routinely violate our constitutionally protected rights, we have a problem that must be seriously addressed. When bills are passed by Congress or signed by the president which rob this country of it’s basic liberty, all in the name of security, we have a problem. We’ve all heard some variation of the famous Benjamin Franklin quote, “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” These are wise words which should be heeded.

So where do we go from here? Investigations of any police department who demonstrates a pattern of abuse? Absolutely. Policies meant to ensure our freedoms? We already have those. We call it the Bill of Rights. Brave politicians must follow the lead of the people they represent and stand up to create coalitions to fight these injustices. They must issue a reminder that our authorities must be the paragon of law, not a tragic parody of it. And when the public trust is so broken, as it has been in cities such as New York and Oakland (among others), there must be serious repercussions for those involved. This is the only way we can restore our freedoms and the public trust.

There is an old saying, “either you’re with us or you’re against us”. The police may technically be a part of the 99%, but their repeated acts of gratuitous violence have painted them as traitors, or at the very least sympathizers to the very powers and entities who corrupt and continue to horribly damage this life.

Yet again the police, this time on March 17th in New York City have engaged in unprovoked, brutal assaults on peaceful citizens. Because of this, Cecily McMillain has been hospitalized, the extent of her injuries currently unclear, but the going word is that she has cracked ribs and may have gone into seizures. In any event, she was denied care. There are reports that EMT’s on scene with credentials were denied their right to administer medical care. Cecily is not alone. Another protester had his head slammed by an officer hard enough into a glass door to crack the glass. The list of abuses on this day seems endless. To make matters worse, it is common knowledge, via comments overheard from the officers themselves, that some of these officers even enjoy the violence.

The press was also denied it’s freedom to chronicle these events. What does it say of a supposedly free society when the press is denied? How can we, as a country, go on pretending this is still the ‘land of the free’ when everything that defines who we are as a people is being actively stripped away by those who once were here to ‘serve and protect’?

The response, as always, must and will be peaceful. But within that box, as our rights are routinely violated, as the police break laws to enforce the state agenda of oppression of our constitutionally guaranteed freedoms in the struggle for a better world, how can we not think of the police at large as an enemy? They have made their choice. They have sided with those who would continue to abuse this country and this world. You are with us or against us. 

Rick Santorum has said, “I understand why Barack Obama wants to send every kid to college, because of their indoctrination mills, absolutely … The indoctrination that is going on at the university level is a harm to our country.” without naming a source for his information, he also stated “62 percent of kids who go into college with a faith commitment leave without it.” Putting aside the nonsense of calling a higher learning institution an “indoctrination mill”, and dismissing his percentage as something he pulled from his.. gut, I agree with his overall point. Education diminishes religious fervor.

My dispute with his assertion is with interpretation. Far from being an indoctrination mill, a college or university is a place of knowledge, science and learning. What Santorum fears of higher education is what religion has always had to fear: Knowledge will topple the delicately balanced house of cards.  Richard Dawkins has famously said of religion that it is the “god of the gaps”. In other words, where ever science does not have an immediate and complete understanding, religion is there to say, “see? proof of god!” However eventually science does get around to an explanation, as our understanding of the universe grows. It leaves only those who, in their ignorance or inability to comprehend, refuse to accept the knowledge. At this point, science has pushed “god” back to the very beginning of the universe; a few mere fractions of a second where physics is thought to break down (or more to the point, not have yet formed in what we know of as the rational universe).

We can borrow from those classic PSA’s: “The More You Know”. This is where education comes into play. When you become a critical thinker, one who questions and one who understands that the world in which we reside is one of provable, testable science, not boogeymen or impossible to test or prove claims, then of course religious fervor will diminish. This is where I differ from Santorum. He seems to view this as a great evil. As if, outside of his religious beliefs, knowledge and understanding could ever themselves be inherently “evil”. Society is finally beginning to grow up. Slowly, painfully, but we are shedding the trappings of our youth. We no longer need religion to explain the universe for us.

The religious among us have said that without religion, their would be no morality. Part of growing up is being able to handle the world without someone looking over your shoulder to keep you in line. Anyone who feels we need this either has not enough faith in humanity, or too much faith in the power of their gods. Atheists are among some of the most intelligent, pleasant, well behaved, ethical people you would ever meet. If religion were to be believed, we would go around raping, murdering and committing all manner of atrocious crimes. While if you look hard enough you can probably, as with all things, find some example to the contrary, this is simply not the case.

To quote Sam Harris in “Letter to a Christian Nation”, “While political party affiliation in the Unites States is not a perfect indicator of religiosity, it is no secret that the “red states” are primarily red because of the overwhelming political influence of conservative Christians.” It goes on to say “Of the twenty-five cities with the lowest rates of violent crime, 62 percent are in “blue” states and 28 percent are in “red” states”. Of the twenty-five most dangerous cities, 75 percent are in red states, 24 percent are in blue states. In fact, three of the five most dangerous cities in the United States are in the pious state of Texas. The twelve states with the highest rates of burglary are red. Twenty-four of the twenty-nine states with the highest rates of theft are red. Of the twenty-two states with the highest rates of murder, seventeen are red.” I question the validity of religion and it’s repressed lifestyle as good for a moral or ethical life. According to statistics (and statistics aside, my personal opinion), repressive religious beliefs are detrimental to ethical behavior.

Finally, with the rise of religious ferocity in this country, we are falling behind the rest of the world. You will occasionally hear politicians talk about “restoring Americas greatness”. Well, we require something to be “great” about. According to U.S. News, in a 2010 report which considered 29 “wealthy nations”, the United States ranked 27th in proportion of college students with degrees in ‘science and engineering’. We ranked 31st in math and 23rd in science. The article also states that American 12th graders were near the bottom of students from 20 nations assessed in advanced math and physics. It’s hard to see America as a great nation when it seems all we are “great” at is meddling in world affairs with pointless wars, and Christian extremism. To be great again, we need to renew efforts towards math and science. This cannot be done by taking a stance that leads towards religion, rather than education.

At the end of the day: Religion is not as moral or ethical as it would have you believe. Faith is simply being stubborn and clinging to that with which you were raised or wish to be true in the face of scientific fact. As the course of human events unfold, it is time for religion to sail off into a sunset. We should accept it as a quaint notion that pre-scientific cultures used as a crutch, to be viewed overall as we now view specific bygone mythologies. To this end, we are required to focus upon higher, science and math based education and to see it reach more of the populace. If this happens to decrease our cultural frenzy for religion, all the better.

I’m just about done watching Game Change for the second time. The first, I recorded on my DVR and got to Sunday. It really is a great piece of work. The actual Steve Schmidt and Nicolle Wallace have both offered comments saying how this picture is largely truthful.

My only concern is the bias of point of view. This movie makes John McCain seem like a great statesman who fights to do the right thing until the end. I recall differently. There was a time when McCain was a respectable figure, but I believe somewhere along the way he realized his own mortality and wanted to cap off his career. Perhaps he even believed he earned it; that it was his turn. Of course for this to happen, he would need party support. So around the time of the 2000 race, he decided to be a good soldier and fall into the party line. This movie would have you believe he was a maverick right up through the end of the 2008 election.

That aside, it was great to see public segments, like the Couric interview, acted out verbatim. And the private moments.. well.. we’ve all heard the reports of Palin’s behavior, many have read the book, so most of this was not a surprise. But there is something, even allowing for dramatization, about a well acted piece of media that brings to life and drives home those otherwise unseen moments. Maybe you have to be a little crazy to be a politician, but the evidence against her mental stability seems staggering. Using an excuse of her being unprepared for the national pressure only goes so far. From my perspective, this is what you get when someone is so repressed by socially conservative values. Perhaps even more so when those beliefs are at odds with their own reality. After all, the Palin’s come from a long line of pre-marital pregnancy. If more people would adopt values in line with their personal reality, perhaps this would be a better country.

Now America has occasionally elected, or at least portrayed, Vice-Presidents as, shall we say, less than up to the job of President. Biden has occasionally been presented as one who should have kept his mouth shut, and who could forget Dan Quayle? If fear of a VP ascending helps keep a president alive, then I doubt any president ever felt safer as when Quayle was VP. But to give Palin the opportunity to be so close to the presidency was the height of irresponsibility. Great, so they did not have the time to fully vet her. Regardless of the consequences to the campaign, or how popular she became, once they understood how ignorant she is (among any other problems she may have), they should have found some excuse to replace her. We can only be thankful McCain did not win.

Remember the 2000 election? Gore could have still made an issue of the results. But, and say what you will of the man, like a true statesman, he bowed out so it wouldn’t tear the country apart. In hindsight, perhaps he should have fought, but we cannot dwell on ‘what might have been’s. To preserve this country, it was the right decision at the time. I wish I could say the last few cycles have taught the overall Washington crowd that same sense of responsibility. It would be nice to say that at least some good has come from all of this. But the irresponsible decisions from government have never really stopped. We need responsible leaders. Not puppets or rogue crazies. At the very least, perhaps the lesson has been learned to fully vet any candidate. We cannot let someone so unprepared anywhere near the heart of power ever again. It is a critical mistake the entire world cannot afford.