As the world takes a continued and increasing interes in the Occupy protests, it is no surprise to see stories such as these:

What Happened When I Tried to Get Some Answers About the Creepy NYPD Watchtower Monitoring OWS
http://www.alternet.org/occupywallst/152954/what_happened_when_i_tried_to_get_some_answers_about_the_creepy_nypd_watchtower_monitoring_ows/

Really now, sky cams? I really do look forward to the day when the carte blanche bollocks know as ‘counter-terrorism’ goes away. I didn’t buy it when I joined the Air Force in 2001 (pre 9/11, I might add!), and I don’t buy it now. It has always been a way to distract people from well… what’s being called out now, the selling out of the American Dream.

Here’s a pretty good blog/opinion piece:

Big Brother is watching the Occupy Wall Street phenomenon very closely, taking notes
http://blog.seattlepi.com/vivianmcpeak/2011/11/07/big-brother-is-watching-the-occupy-wall-street-phenomenon-very-closely-taking-notes/

The vanishing middle class has been something that concerned the crap out of me since the late 90s. While my hometown was doing quite well at the time and hanging in fairly healthy balance, it was already evident that this was about to change sharply and quickly. And it did-  the Big D’s middle class all but evaporated in two or three years at the start of the last decade. Obviously, the whole middle class as such is probably easy to write off a first world problem; who cares if you cannot afford that second car and college for your children? I mean, outside of the fact that these are both things that success are measured against. It’s more to the point and telling that people will fight for McJobs just to have money – the very same jobs most people I grew up with (including half of my siblings) would turn their noses up at and sneer because they’re ‘too good’ to flip a burger. What’s middle class about needing a McJob to survive? Oh wait, what middle class? Yeah… and of course, America has almost no safety net whatsoever too, even with all those taxes paid. Geez, if only all those needless wars were halted; I wonder how much THAT would save?

‘Sides, some of that equipment can be put to better uses:

Military-style tents rise at NYC Occupy camp
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45195810/ns/us_news-life/#.TrkweLIRCNt

I can never think of military tenting without thinking back to the halcyon summer of 2001, when I was in Basic Training. The tends are sound, sure, but the A/C getting pumped in gave me pneumonia or something very like! I think that if they are permitted to stay up, it will be a very good thing indeed. These people do not deserve to die of hypothermia by any stretch of the imagination. Anyone who thinks so, safe and snug in real walls… is probably a bit of an asshole. After all, the golden rule is probably the number one tenant most of us have been taught the entirety of our lives, and it’s like I will say time and time again – be excellent to each other. We reap what we sow, so why not so love? Makes the world a much nicer place, for sure.

Until tomorrow, poka!

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