OWS celebrates its first anniversary.

Different Strokes

The spirit of any meaningful Occupy movement goes well beyond (or outside of) traditional partisan politics as currently practiced in the US. If you are unwilling to contemplate life without the violent coercion of government rule; if you think choosing who your master will be every so often at the polls will make you free; if you feel that some modification of our current economic system, dependent on constant growth for its health, may have any long-term beneficial consequences; if you believe that public education will create critically thinking individuals instead of compliant consumers, than Occupy may not be for you. Although the Highlands 99% group undoubtedly promotes the interests of those not enjoying the spoils of environmental, economic and social exploitation, the group may not be a significant part of Occupy if it's emphasis is merely on trying to place persons in position of power into a system that is corrupt beyond any logical or realistic chance of "redemption." 

I will no longer post minutes of the Highlands 99% meetings on this blog, as they seem to have devolved into reading more suitable for a progressive politics audience, an audience that may not realize that the false dichotomy presented to the public at large in our 2 party system simply reveals to much of the Occupy movement that it is two wings of the same bird. Any examination of the intent of the legislation or presidential directives of Obama is virtually indistinguishable from that of George Bush, or Bill Clinton, Bush 1, etc.,etc. I invite commentary on this if you disagree, (or agree!) with any of the contentions set forth.

Is this true? Is the income of the bottom 99% of US Citizens in the top 1% of world income? The short answer: maybe. Read the full story here.

Supplemental Information

Project to get progressives to run for office:  candidateproject.org

From the Public Citizen Group (related to Citizen's United):  citizenvox.org

Interesting video that tells how people oppressed in Lithuania resisted through their song festivals. In the end, they joined hands across the whole country. singingrevolution.com/

Information on the Occupy Movement:  occupywallst.org/

   Also: occupytogether.org/

Get Up Off Your Seat, and Into the Street

Please join us on Sunday, December 18^th, at 2:30 pm for the next meeting of our group @ Abingdon Library. 

We’ll be meeting on Sunday, Dec. 18th at 2:30 p.m. at the Washington County Public Library in Abingdon (same location as prior meeting).  The meeting agenda will be very simple:  Hear from everyone who wishes to speak about their hopes and ideas about how to make our group an important part of the movement for real change, sparked by Occupy Wall Street.  If feasible, we’ll follow our open brainstorming discussion with a prioritizing about which ideas and actions we want to focus on, and, very importantly, who is willing to work to get us there.  The success of this group hinges on the involvement of all of us.  It's time to make the personal investment in our community and country that is needed! 

And please bring a friend to grow this movement.  Let’s build on the energy of the 75 folks who gathered at the library a few weeks back, and build a movement for real change!

Note:  The original group that set up the 1st meeting felt that it was beneficial to have a meeting sooner than later (from the enthusiam we felt from all of you at the 1st meeting), so it was decided to take advantage of the availability of the library on Dec. 18th.  We know that many will be busy, but are hoping that this is enough of a priority to make the commitment to be there.  If you cannot, feel free to communicate that, with any thoughts you would like to share (e-mail back to me with comments - cassavk(at)gmail(dot)com).  Again, the success of this group is dependent on the contributions of all of us!  What are the visions we see for our future that we can help create...what are we willing & able to do to work together to achieve that?