Occupy Wall Street

I have to admit, this college professor sums up the movement for me. I work for Scrouge, who bought an island in the Bahamas last winter and spends several weeks there every so often. Meanwhile, I don't have health insurance but do have paid time off. I have three weeks a year, the same amount of time my boss spent in the Bahamas during the winter last year. Of course, he went back a few more times, but who is counting?

Sentimentally, I am with the movement. And it is those who stand up and object that change of the system. But I can't help wondering if the movement is actually the pawn of those who are orchestrating change for their own profit. I watch the grass roots protests springing up across the country. I watch the nonviolence and remember the '60s... Indeed, for the last several years I have been acutely aware that history cycles and that it was time for another generation of protests. When I heard about the beginning of the movement, I knew "this is it." But I watch the news, the financial markets, other similar protests in other countries, and I wonder.

A friend pointed out the other day that it's easy to infiltrate such a non-organized group and be the one arrested, the one in the media, the one people remember. And I wonder.

Nevertheless, I stand behind the ideals of the movement. I watch Scrooge drive his extended cab pick-up truck with satellite feed and I struggle to pay my bills, wish I had medical insurance, wrote the check for new glasses and resented not having vision insurance. Partner's benefits four paid for Cameron's last hip and I wonder how we'll pay for the other one now that he can barely walk...And I wonder.

Fox News and the Middle East

For quite some time I have joined much of the world in watching events in the Middle East. My oldest son did a tour in Iraq and I worried for his safety. I joined much of the world as Iraq held their first election. When Allawi won, I joined the world's confusion as Malaki jockied for power and delayed forming his government until he had a power base formed. Cameron and I watched the day the UN broadcast Iraq's release from Chapter 7 sanctions. We also witnessed the forming of their government (since they were speaking Arabic, we were really confused when Allawi got pissed and walked out with twenty other parliamentary members). But I digress from where I really wanted to go.

As the sudden civil unrest mounts in Egypt, Cameron and I have watched the news with great trepidation. It's not the underclass protesting conditions. Instead, it the educated, the professors, the white collar workers who can't find a job, who can't feed their families, who have no hope while their leader flies ice cream and yogurt in from France and has 80 billion in private holdings. but I digress...

I identify with the educated people in Iraq and Egypt who thought getting an education would provide them with a solid future. I bought into the same promises. I have a $250,000 student loan and the monthly payments are more than I bring home. Indeed, my wages of gone down substantially while the interest has added to that loan. I only make $28,800 and Scrooge hasn't given raises in two years. That's $8000 less than the job I moved to SC for. That's $14,000 less than I made as debt collector before the company closed (only needed a high school diploma for that job). And a fraction of the $64,000 I made as a technical writer in the '90s before the .com crash and the loss of that career. But I digress...

So this morning Cameron tells me that Fox News can't seem to use a correct map of the Middle East. Here's what they put on the news:



Hmmm...I thought Egypt was part of Northern Africa...And looks like they lost Iraq all together! LOL Here's a correct map:

Moral of the story: Maybe this over educated technical writer / substance abuse counselor should have gone to work at Fox news so they can use the right map.