If the news is anything to go by it's becoming popular to "occupy" somewhere. It seems some people do this by putting up a tent, some people hold court on microphones in public whilst others democratically repeat everything Mic Man is saying - someone should go and occupy a bigger amp!
In some parts of the world choosing to "occupy" somewhere attracts the attention of snipers, in others rubber bullets & tear gas. In the good old US of A members of the republic can occupy themselves with Police brutality when they aren't occupied with choking on pepper spray delivered point blank by fat brainless uniformed bullies. Move now or occupy a taser tomorrow is the democratic answer implied by elected representatives concerned with dwindling bankers prospects in the west.
It seems the world over that 99% of the people can occupy themselves with almost anything other than a living wage, education, prospects and straight answers to straight questions!
With that in mind I thought I might share something I started many years ago when I first broke ranks and disturbed the peace by asking a question only an open mind could ask and another open mind could answer. My father had no idea how to answer the question, but that impertinent set back was soon eclipsed by the double bind imposed by his loss of authority if he didn't answer.
I got the telltale "Quizzical Eye of Seething Anger" before the scorn I deserved for asking stupid questions was unleashed. But I learned something he didn't intend and what I consider to be most important - to answer my own questions. I'm now calling this the Occupy Me movement, it's easy to do and its open to all!
Do more, Plan less.
Think more, Talk less.
Move more, Eat less.
Read more, Watch less.
Test truths, Learn facts.
Be sure, Don't act.
Take less, Give more.
Judge less, Love bores.
So there it is, in a nutshell - Occupy Yourself. Get in there, get comfortable and make yourself at home if you haven't been there for a while. Accept, explore and acknowledge you as primary authority in your life. Find your own answers, make your own decisions and allow others the privilege to do the same. Yes you'll loose the TV, rediscover books, fresh air, interesting people and your intuition. But there's no guarantee it'll change the world, just YOUR world, so you can get on living. That is, actively engaging the world in a considered manner of YOUR choosing.
The "Occupy Me"Movement
Because you can't be moved from between your ears without consent!
Occupy Me is not compatible with bigoted opinion, civil inattention or easy answers. Batteries not included - independent power supply essential.
I stay well clear of most of the news these days, especially the TV and newspapers - except for the UK Column. RSS feeds me with most of what I want, if I want it. But I have been keeping half an ear out for something in particular since austerity was announced by our Con-Dem coalition - the grumbling of teachers.
Well, according to statements, their unions continue to consider striking in protest against pay cuts, job losses and public sector pension purges; and they aren't the only ones. Now the leader of the civil servants union is warning of intensified action too, over coming months. These people care about their pay, their jobs and their pensions; and they will withhold their services until they get what they want..again!
Now it would be true to say that I don't condone the austerity being meted out on the British public at all, however "necessary" politicians suggest it is. But that said, I just can't empathize with this group on this matter at this time.
I like to think I'm halfway through my life and so far have lost count of times that teachers have gone on strike in this country, yet fail to recall any major losses on their behalf. No Policemen breaking up their picket lines, no harsh losses by the unions in the courts leading to widespread redundancies and I can't remember them being forced into any u-turns by any of the governments of the day. They have not been forced to steadily accept lower wages for the past 20 years, they have not faced shrinking career prospects nor have they seen their particular sector of expertise re-located to the east for profit - though I'm sure someone's working on it. No, they have maintained the strength of their unions, remained single minded in their demands and have managed to dodge the slow decay of prospects and prosperity that many other sections of British society have had to face, until now it seems.
I'm not sure how this fight will "pan out" between the government and the nations teachers, but I don't see another walk over for the teachers. It's not that I relish the austerity being aimed at them, but I do think they have had more than enough go their way over the years. Not a strong union in support of others, but they fight hard for themselves. I had a few bonus days off school in my time when they felt their wallets didn't reflect their true value as professionals. Or was it training days impacting on their holidays, or working to rule at break times or marking papers; I can't recall, so many years, so many skirmishes, so few reasons.
Still, at least the education system that we invest so heavily in is turning out lots of future potential; eager minds that are bright eyed about their prospects and encouraged as individuals. Oh no! I must have passed another recruitment hoarding on the way home, "Those that use their heads, teach!". Clever, on so many levels! Maybe if comprehensive school heads concentrated less on their school becoming a "Football Academy" and more on becoming an "English Exemplar" we'd have less young adults filling out benefit applications in TXT SPK - OMG LOL X!
Still, it looks like the fight is on and not just the teachers, they've got allies now as the civil service union warn the government of coming action. Of course I could mention that teachers might struggle to find support, generally in the UK. Not due to popularity you understand, more a matter of rarity - working people, in a union that is. But it looks like these two groups have found a Common Purpose and are set to form an alliance against the government.. Hussar!
I can't wait to watch this showdown. Well paid public servants allying themselves with other well paid public servants to fight the will of the highest paid public servants of all! All we need now is the police called in on overtime to "direct" proceedings and then I reckon I am truly embracing the depths of austerity as a taxpayer.
" Here, why don't you just talk it out over my kitchen table, help yourself to something to eat, the wine's under there and here's all I earned last month - I'll go feed homeless people so I don't start asking, WHERE THE HELL ARE MY TAXES GOING.. again!".
As a side note, I know that Cameron has already committed 814 million austerity pounds (formerly sterling) for our support in vaccination funding to third world countries at the moment; but if the BBC could fit in a Great British Menu - "10 years in Afghanistan" special and we could have a days holiday for an "Iraqi Freedom" street party that could raise Brits morale during these difficult times for everyone - thanks.
"Those who can, do; those who can't teach; and those who can do neither, administer." - Calvin Calverley.
So William Hague has found his mojo, is telling us all about the inevitable changes going on around the world and is pushing harder for the no fly zone over Libya. Today he told the foreign affairs select committee:
"I urge all to take the right steps so that we show some leadership on this issue and make sure that we can get rid of this regime."
He later accepted that a no-fly zone was not a "simple" answer to Libya's problems but added: "I do think that it is one of the steps we need to take to isolate and pressurize that regime, and to say that we stand with people in Libya, who want to have greater democracy and greater freedom, such as we take for granted in this country."
So now he's back in the swing of things and sounds prepared to push for UK involvement in Libya, even if the UN is against it; due to the, "doctrine of the duty to protect"
I assume he's pushing for a no fly zone and the arming of rebels in Bahrain as well, seeing as the military has moved in and "cleansed" the Pearl roundabout..
Maybe William should finish protecting the Afghans and Iraqis that we are already committed to before biting off another commitment abroad?
But then I am cynical about his posturing over Libya, mainly because I see a more pressing foreign affair going on right now in Japan.
How many still believe in the integrity of modern British politics? How many still think that Labour have a core policy and stand for something distinct from the Tories, both of whom are different from the Liberal Democrats? If you do you aren't alone, many people think that way. Many have also become disillusioned with politics altogether and have completely disconnected (cognitive dissonance) choosing not to vote or even consider political issues at all these days. Others, growing in number, see the whole thing in a different light and see our career politicians as one homogeneous whole a single party almost - we could accurately call them Gradualists, but what have they done for the UK over 40 years?
To help follow the UK Gradualist Party, let's look at something we all know plenty about, Europe. Over the last 40 years "Europe" has gained ever more influence in our social structuring, political decision making, economic policy, defense and even our legal rulings. Now I can imagine that there are some people who think it's always been this way. They can be forgiven for thinking there have always been European commissioners tasked with tackling the thorny issues such as what weights and measures must be used, how straight bananas must be and precisely what town an Eccles cake can be baked in. Directives are very important, you may think, where would we be without EU commissioners and directives! Well that's an understandable perspective if you were born in the 80s maybe, but how did this all start you may also ask? You may think the British public asked to vote to have commissioners enforce EU directives? No. Did our political representatives at the time look at this European policy, consult the electorate and then represent our views? Again the answer's no.
Actually this state that now looms over our nation pouring in rules that our MPs slavishly obey and draining away billions in silent taxation was never voted in. Instead it was slipped into the British consciousness as the EEC so we could benefit from a "Common Market" with our neighbors. From 1973 there has been, a gradual increase in our Euro funding, Euro policy making and Euro dominance over the UK and every time someone has been astute enough to raise the question of REFERENDUM on the Euro subject, we have always been told by the MPs of the day that - "there is no need for a referendum because they (MPs) aren't really taking us into Europe, they are cannily keeping close enough to benefit but not actually in deep enough to worry the electorate about voting on it".
That's an example of what MPs of the Gradualist Party, have done for Britain, just how well they have represented their constituents and kept Britain out of the EU. Regardless of their political party or policy whilst in opposition (always changes when they get in), they have each allowed the steady erosion of the British ability to govern themselves and have lead us to where we are today. Ted Heath, Harold Wilson, James Callahan, Margret Thatcher, John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron. They have all fought expensive campaigns to convince you to vote for them and what they stand for that is distinctly different from their competition. Yet despite their boasting individualism in their policies and beliefs, they have somehow managed to consistently slip Britain into the very heart of the expensive, repressive and undemocratic EUSSR - whilst all claiming we aren't in the EU and don't need a referendum! Now that describes an incredible 40 year coincidence or as some might put it, a common purpose leading to gradual "behavior modification".Why gradual?
Well, my grandmother wasn't alone in not wanting "deeper relations" with Europe. She didn't like decimalisation and didn't trust a European Economic Community, even, if it promised Free Trade. She didn't like the thought of Europeans telling British people what to do. Not for any dogmatic or bigoted reasons but because she believed that it was the start of a creeping agenda and that political representatives are there to REPRESENT the people in their community and they are the ONLY people close enough to do so properly. How can a total stranger represent you? They can't and if you give a stranger say in your affairs you can ONLY expect to be DIRECTED not REPRESENTED. You see she was old fashioned, she believed that a democracy should be democratic. She also, along with many others, would not have accepted the "directives" that my son accepts as "the way it is", not with breath in her body. So, to avoid any trouble, better to flood society with cheap food, cheap goods, HDTV, lots of TV channels, cheap booze, cheap loans, gadgets and allow the slow creep of gradualism to go unnoticed for a decade or two!
Well that's a look at one aspect of Gradualist political policy in the UK, start to finish, but of course there's more to it. The rise of the multi national corporation for example. Despite monopolies commissions corporations have become multi national businesses with huge spheres of influence, especially their political lobby. That gradual rise in profit, power and influence, almost parallels the EU rise in many respects. Banks have also risen during the same time, much like the corporate giants, each consuming another until we have a few banking "groups" that exert a worldwide influence the likes of which has never been seen openly before. The banks are hugely influential these days and the City of London doubtless exerts huge influence over decision making in the UK and beyond!
So gradually, a superstate, superbanks and supercorps have grown up until they over shadow us. All with super budgets. The superstate takes super taxes to pay for it's super policies. The super banks make super profits to pay super bonuses and the supercorps manufacture super goods super efficiently making super profits. What have we got?
Super Tax. Super unemployment. Super debt. Super worry. Super inflation. You don't have to be a super sleuth to see where the point of balance has shifted to.
If you are anywhere below corporate executive, merchant banker or politician in the social scale in the UK (or anywhere for that matter) you have just been part of a gradual slide out of work, financial independence and democratic representation. It's not dramatic to describe what has happened in the UK as the controlled social demolition of a nation. If you have a job in manufacturing with prospects in the UK you likely program or maintain a robotic or mechanical production line. If you used to manufacture things with your hands, someone in India or China is doing that now. The debts that banks allowed to get out of hand in order to profit on your feeling rich are being called in and even though the taxpayer (that was you before your work place closed) has bailed out these banks, they will still take your home if you fail to keep up repayments.
It's tough, unless you are in the top 5% and given the state of the UK education system, getting into that 5% has just about become impossible. Well there is the long shot I suppose, of being born into it! Sarcasm aside, at such an epic low what does your government do for you? Remember, the people you pay to govern, to manage things while you work to put money into the system, those guys. What is their priority? They tell you to grin and bare the coming austerity that is "inevitable" if we are to get through these tough times. Talk about putting the crap hat on it! These people study PPE at Oxford University (Philosophy, Politics & Economics) and that's the best they can come up with on our behalf!?!
So what's coming? Well they have been gradually telling us how the NHS will need to be cut back, so will government & local authority spending, benefits (especially those benefit cheats that cost us SO much) will need to be tightened up and taxes will have to rise - you can't just mend the puncture you know, got to re inflate the tyre! That's what you the great British citizen has to do for the good of our big society, take all that austerity and volunteer for the jobs the council can't afford to pay someone to be accountable for anymore. Still, those making the big bucks will help out the society that's being so big on their behalf..wont they?
Osbourne said he'd get tough with these guys and he sure sounded like he was ready to take the bull by the horns. Never mind that the banks got bailed out and promised to start lending again to restart the economy. Let's not dwell on the fact they didn't start lending again and the economy still isn't recovering, let's move on. They were told by our staunch and serious MPs that they shouldn't pay out massive bonuses, which they did anyway, still, Osbourne said he's having none of it. So what does he come up with - Project Merlin, is he reading too much Harry Potter? OK, well if the banks aren't being pressed to help support the system that supported them when times got tough maybe the massively profitable corporations will put back into the system that nurtured their growth?
Well, Osbourne and Cameron do think it's time to change the way that multi national corps contribute. You see at the moment if the multis move money to the UK that has been taxed elsewhere at lower rate than they pay in the UK, they are liable to the UK for the difference. But that's just not right say our astute political leaders, instead isn't it better that the corporation doesn't pay anything at all on money moved here from foreign branches into the UK economy? That's right, when the UK economy is at an all time low due to commercial bankers greed, investment bankers immoral speculation and corporate relocation to the east for profit, and the UK needs more money in the coffers to deal with the mess the experts got it into - it is the considered opinion of those that represent you to cut corporate taxes and not to increase the banking levy. Still the more things change the more they stay the same eh? Barclays Bank just released figures saying their corporate taxes were less than 3% of their profits - how much of your income is taxed? One way or another around 85% of the money you are lucky enough to claw in gets syphoned as state revenue - to SUPPORT THE SYSTEM. Reading helps rationalize.
You know these politicians regularly come down on the side of certain groups whilst demonizing others. A recent example would be "benefit claimants". You know how nasty they are, yeah, it was all over the news, how they cost us all that money. £1.5 billion a year they say. They also say that tax evasion costs us £15 billion a year and fraud costs us £30 billion! So Experian are being brought in to fight the benefit fraud, that's public spirited of them, unless they are charging for their services of course - in which case I wonder what saving 1/10 th the cost of tax evasion in lost revenue will cost the taxpayer? Just another example of the political smoke and mirror policy game that has become common place these days. Sound bites designed to be provocative, divisive and emotive, yet when you look at them in detail - flim flam. It's time to pay very close attention to what these people are doing in your name.
It's always been lost on me why those that strive the most to achieve and maintain higher financial status are seldom satisfied by anything they achieve. History shows this time and again, wretched creatures whose bellies are full yet are always hungry - hungry ghosts. They lose their touch with humanity. I wonder if that is what turns them into such caricatures of themselves. I also wonder if the point at which they leave their humanity behind is also the point at which they become incapable of ethical reasoning. Because the crazy thing is, the top 5% of the worlds biggest earners and businesses would continue to be the top 5% even if they conducted ethical business - that is pay tax, fair wages, considered the environment, played by the rules, etc. Sadly that doesn't seem to have any value to them. Much as I pity those people for losing all that matters in their headlong chase to bury their insecurities beneath monuments of epic short sightedness I can't help but feel their game has to come to an end now because, in the words of someone concise:
"The people running things are all about power. Power is everything to them. They will do anything to hang onto that power. They will lie and steal and kill. They will rape and pillage. They will sell their grandmother. They will turn the entire planet to shit in their quest for power and will still be willing to trade whatever remains for five minutes, just five more minutes as King of the Shit Planet."
Gradually a minority has cornered everything a civil society should have on offer to all within it. Work, wealth, education, good food, clean water, good health, shelter, freedom of expression, political representation, etc etc - ad nauseam. There's not much left that you can claim as being naturally and inalienbly yours, regardless of your social standing. All brought about gradually because that minority realized long ago that you can crap on people as much as you want, as long as you do it... gradually!
Police Chief Sir Hugh warns "if protesters continue to refuse to co-operate then police tactics will have to become more extreme." These people already have great pensions schemes, compensation schemes and a wide range of support and weaponry including body armour, helicopters, bats, guns, dogs, horses and nationwide surveillance [PAID FOR BY US] to help them fight crime. What more do they need anyway?
But just what is this refusal that Orde alludes to? Is it refusing to be nice after ripping your cell door off in 'A' block? Nope. Is it for attempting to cover up some reprehensible crime on behalf of your buddies? Nope. Is it for knowingly committing fraud because everyone else was or for taking part in some huge white collar crime scheme? Nope, getting colder. In this instance it appears to mean not engaging with the police before protesting and/or not having defined leaders. Who the hell does this man think he is The TerminatOrde? He barely stops short of blurting "Aaa'll be beck!"
So, let me re-cap. In this democracy we can protest as long as we ask to do so first and nominate a scapegoat beforehand. Otherwise we can expect a blast of CS for not moving when told.
Right.. OK...
In the interests of a decent democratic system that actually could have merit when you think about it - an addenum to the Common Law? If you ASK us and we agree you may continue with what you want to do as long as WE want you to do it. If we could spread that reasoning out into society as a whole and apply it to other aspects of modern life such as economics and war, amongst many others, it could have benefits.
You can use our money to take our men to war as long as weagree to your explanation of why beforehand and as long as younominate who's responsible for if things turn out any different to the way you claimed.
Or..
You can make vast profits from lending money but only as long as weagree to the way you intend to go about it and youtell uswho will be responsible in the event your business fails, causing huge losses and burden to the people that trusted the position you wanted and from which you continually profit greatly from.
It's growing on me!
I started out sceptical of this idea, a touch caustic even. But if we get this moving, it might just save us ALL a lot of trouble.
It's almost time for the next planned demonstrations here in the UK, but let's be honest, we aren't being listened to are we?
All responses to the student protests have been high hatted explanations to those that don't know better about how these cuts have to happen in order to stave off serious financial reprocussions in the future. All this from a bunch of people that not only put us in this hole but thought that bailing out the richest by mortgaging your grand childrens future was prudent - after selling much of your nations gold off at rock bottom prices. They claim to know better, claim we don't know what we are talking about or that they don't know what we are talking about!
As for protest, our political reprehensitives know exactly what the British people are annoyed about as they cause most of it!
I hope the protest movement grows in the UK, I truly do. It's high time that the British people represented themselves and gave up accepting the poor service offered by those that dig deep into our pockets to pay themselves before spreading OUR money around as though they have hit the jackpot. The failings of successive governments is not acceptable, neither is the worn out 'get out of jail free card' - "it not our fault, it's those that were in before." That old chestnut sounded reasonable for a while, but when you consider that fact that most of them went to the same schools and largely studied the same subjects to become 'professional' politicians these days, it really just smacks of flimflam.
For British protest to become effective we need to broaden the scale and hit the streets in all of our major cities [without violence] EVERY Saturday until they quit the double talk and start talking turkey. Who has the numbers? How many officers would it take to kettle 100 000 people in London, Birmingham & Manchester? How many horses do you need to charge people in all your town centres each and every Saturday?
There's an easy answer to being effective when you have the numbers, the hard part is coming together when you have been conditioned into being:
Only a partial list, to make a point but don't the differences really just make us interesting? What unites the over whelming majority of Brits though is that however you may define yourself individually - as a whole you are being regularly lied to, used, abused, cheated and manipulated by the state.
No one wants a "bloody revolution", I'm sure. Most of us want some work and enough money to enjoy something of life. Some are happy enough without work or the perks it brings. Others are so driven they will always rise through the ranks and gain more stuff for themselves. It's a BIG world and all have a place. But the balance has long since been tipped too far in favour of the few that strive, above all others, and that isn't right. So far in fact that it will take wide scale action to put right. Until we (Brits) want to make a change, we will continue to watch these state sanctioned processions take place (so the news can report demockracy in action) with a little faux violence thrown in to justify even harsher controlling mechanisms - with little or no results.
I hope the protest passes peacefully and encourages many more people to join many more protests to show that If we're paying - we're playing!
Well, despite the media frenzy, it would appear that another major swine flu epidemic has failed to arrive. In fact it seems fatality rates are remarkably low again (government confirms 254 since September) and are most often found in patients with underlying health issues. Although any death is a tragedy that cannot be easily put aside for the families and loved ones of those that have passed, in the interest of balance, we have to admit that the facts are baring no resemblance to the media hysteria about the threat posed by swine flu - or even seasonal flu!
A look through the list of UK mortality rates for 2009 for England and Wales throws up some interesting statistics.
Asthma - 991
Unknown cause - 1233
Dementia from drug use - 1340
Diabetes - 7123
Pneumonia - 26741
Cancers & neoplasms - 140497
Flu - 227
Swine flu - 149
Given the media hype, driven by our government and paid for with our dwindling money during these times of "austerity", isn't it time to ask the awkward questions about this? Especially as this years drama has failed to appear again and the figures remain below those of the 2009 "pandemic".
Why has our government spent vast amounts of our money on vaccines (that have validly questionable health benefits) for yet another scare that hasn't materialized?
Why do such slick communicators, that are well versed in the art of getting exactly what they want into and out of people, choose to inflate media frenzy rather than educate people?
Why as a nation do we not pool ALL available resources in researching and combating the issue (killing almost 1000 times more people) of cancer?
Why do our representatives fail time and again to understand that the reason public confidence is generally so low with politicians is because they fail time and again to represent us?
Most of all, at a time when our pension pots are emptied, our cost of living is spiraling upwards, our health is poor, water unclean, food unfit, education inadequate, tax burden rising, being ignored by our representatives and the poorest paying to support the wealthiest amongst us - why thehellare we soquiet?
