Occupy Wall Street Protests

I think affordable education is the key. Yes, the super rich are getting richer. Yes, the middle 80% have not over the past 4 decades. But looking at government projections about jobs over the next decade there are going to be opportunities available. Nurses, Accountants, Occupational/Physical Therapists, Computer programmers, Web Developers, etc.

And when those jobs are filled, those people will do what people do. They will buy 15 strands of Christmas lights they don't need. They will eat out more often. They will install a swimming pool they will use 3x a year. This will create the demand for more labor in nearly every sector.

Only problem is that people don't have the training required to do those in demand jobs and the time commitment and cost is prohibitive. It excludes a whole lot of people who would be incredible in those positions. We, as a country, are simply vastly under-qualified for the positions that will be in demand over the coming decades. Until there is an alternative to "Put your life on hold and take out 100k in loans" we will struggle to fill jobs that are needed and fail to receive the economic benefit those new professionals would provide.

I wonder, with all the police brutality going on. Could something like this help cut down on injuries from trigger happy cops? (rubber bullets/batons) I figure if you wear this under a jacket or something lol.


I imagine a rubber bullet to the spine could *** you over for a long time. If hit in the chest hard/the right spot enough it could possible stop ones heart?


If they get riot gear so should the people.

I'm not really paying much attention to the protests at this time, but I was under the impression most of them were peaceful. If that's the case, there's no reason for police to be using any kind of bullets, whether rubber or live ammo.

It's kind of frightening to me that for so long I thought we lived in a land of freedom, but now people are being shot at for peacefully protesting government issues. It makes me feel as though we're not really free at all, and it makes me feel frightened for my countrymen and my country.

I know I'm young and naive and probably too hopeful. But when the government refuses to listen to its people, when the government is incapable of governing, when the people have to fear for their safety if they protest what the government is doing... then that government needs to be replaced. Not just reformed, but fully replaced.

I don't think that the Occupy protests will go that far. I hope that things can be fixed or a compromise can be reached without going that far. But the state of the country has been going downhill for awhile now, and I'm not altogether joking when I say that America (as it is now) is not a place I necessarily wish to be associated with anymore. In fact, if a job opened up across the border in Canada, it would be such a short drive to get there. It would take less than a day to drive to Canada, and that is very tempting sometimes. It gets more tempting every time I see a news story about policemen hitting, shooting, smoke-bombing, or inflicting other types of violence on people for such 'crimes' as holding a camera or a video recorder.

I don't mean to be a traitor to America. :-( But with such reactions to protesting, I feel a bit as though America has become a traitor to itself. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I shouldn't feel so tempted to just take a step across a border, maybe America was never about being free and we as a people really don't have the right to say what's wrong with our government and really don't have the right to take photographs and videos of things going on in our country. But if that's the case, maybe I never belonged here to begin with.

I'm not sure other countries are actually any better, they just have different problems.

That's very true. No place is perfect, not at all.

...but if I ever traveled abroad, I might lie and say I'm Canadian anyways, just to avoid the association of stereotypical Americans. xD

What are Canadian problems anyway? Hmmm...

This is a funny and interesting article by the author of the Dilbert comics, Scott Adams. He's pretty much awesome. Agree or not, it's worth the read, I believe.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203716204577014262225551278.html#articleTabs=article

Also, things like this:

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/11/gps-tracker-times-two/all/1

are really rather startling. That's not ok.

This is the other problem I see today. Americans see comfort in other parts of the world as opposed to taking up and making a change in our own. Honestly I don't know about the ups and downs of living in many parts of the world but I know this is my home and I would rather stay here and push for change and make it a better place than move to another country. To each his own but that's just how I feel.

You make yourself a huge target being an American while visiting many parts of the world. This comes from traveling abroad myself 36x. Dual citizenship(2passports) is a great remedy if you apply for it. Though I doubt you would have a problem in Canada

This is true, a bit more loyalty towards my country would be a good thing. It's a touchy subject for me, especially because I come from a very military and pro-America family. One of my grandfathers was in the Navy during WWII, the other was in the Army. I've had uncles in every branch of the military except the Marines. My brother is a captain in the 101st Airborne, his wife is also a Captain with a nursing unit. My sister was also in the Army, and my father-in-law was in the National Guard.

At this point, though, I feel like I disagree with America and other Americans on nearly every point. Professors ask questions in class like "Is it for the best for America to go to other countries to spread democracy?" And many of my classmates say yes, democracy is the way to go. And I feel no. If another country's system is working for them, there's no reason for us to go there and force a different system on them. Our congress is bought and paid for by large corporations, so if they try to change things against large corporations they lose their funding, which essentially fires them. It's corrupt and stupid to have a bought congress, but I don't see that changing any time soon. And it's not only government that I have issue with, it's the American people. The number of people I know, even including my own family, who are seriously in support of the Tea Party, or who are rabid against people who don't share their religious beliefs, etc, it's just astounding.

The reason I listed Canada as a place I'd like to be is mostly because I like the scenery, particularly in British Columbia. Canada obviously has its own set of problems and isn't going to be any sort of paradise. We already live close to that, and I love this place. But it's also, in part, to get away from my own family as well. When I was a child, my stepmother went to court and tried to get me legally taken away from my biological mother because my mom had let me watch a movie that was rated PG-13. I wasn't allowed to watch things rated above PG at my dad's, so when I watched something rated higher at my mom's they literally tried to get me taken away. My family is very dead-set in their beliefs and they think people who do things differently are wrong. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. Now I am non-religious and if I have any children, I will raise them to think and analyze things before believing them. If my children want to be religious, that will be fine. But I will never force them to be, as I was forced. And because of that, I guarantee my stepmother will attempt to take my children away from me. If it would avoid putting my child through the trauma of being a pawn in a tug-of-war game over religion, then I would be very, very willing to leave the country before giving birth and see to it that my child holds citizenship somewhere else.

More loyalty on my part would be best. Stepping up and fixing our own problems instead of running off with our tails between our legs, so to speak. But it's not just the government. It's the government plus the people plus my family, and on top of that, I do wish to travel abroad some day and I've heard more than one person tell me that if I do, to tell people I am not American. If we are truly so disliked in other places, then changing that perception is going to take decades. It's going to take more than trying to fix things in our own country. And I lie a lot. I lie to my family about my beliefs every single time I see them. I go to church every Christmas Eve and sit in the pew like I believe it. I tell family members that I will pray for their problems like I believe it. I don't want to have to lie anymore, especially not about as something as important as my citizenship, and I don't want to raise my children to have to lie.

But I don't see my husband and I honestly ever leaving the country for good. It's one of those things that you hope to do someday but never really do. Bucket list? Something like that. I'm guessing what will happen is that if we go abroad, we'll only go to USA-friendly places, and if/when there is trouble over my children, we'll cut ties and be disowned from the family and perhaps make sure that my folks don't know where we live. Sucks. :-(

Oh totally - education is critical. But I wonder about putting too much emphasis on it. I spent my entire childhood hearing about how important a college education is, and I absolutely believed it. I thought without one, I'd have to dig ditches or haul trash. But now, as an adult, I am seeing that there are a ton of careers that really don't need it, or the employees don't even necessarily benefit from having one. But, with everyone focused so much on going to college, of course these companies are going to hire college graduates over high school graduates. So then, the degree becomes a require only in that it makes you more appealing.

I don't mean to say that people shouldn't strive for all the learning they can get their hands on, just that I think in a lot of ways, it's there's some unnecessary value put on an unrelated piece of paper.

I'm also pretty unimpressed with college in general. Where I live, it's "more funding, more funding, more funding," while at the same time tuition costs go up markedly every year. For what? Just so students can buy the professor's book for $120, sit in a giant lecture hall, and be "taught" by an aide. Sure, that's not the universal experience, but it happens more than it should.

I couldn't get past the milk in the bag thing and there wasn't any cheap breakfast joints and gas was five dollars for a shot glass full
and closing time was midnight... I lasted two months.

Canadians spent alot of time talking about america and americans and asking what do americans think about canada/canadians and they were always shocked by my answer that most americans have never ever thought about canada, except the few people that complain they got the good side of the falls.... and here then is the sum of our collected knowledge of other countries

Canada = Bacon and the falls
Mexico = Tacos and Donkey Shows
All of South America = Mexico
Africa = Where the starving people are at
Europe = The dump we left to move here
France = Rude people and good food
Italy = Where pizza comes from
India = Where all our tech support calls are routed
Russia = Where russian jokes come from
Japan = where cars and tsunamis come from
China = Where everything else comes from

Oh god, it's true! LOL That is what Americans think other countries! It's sad and hilarious to me at the same time. xD

What's really sad is some Americans can't point out the places Nic listed on a map.

just jam this hatpin in your fontal lobe, you'll be fine

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/11/viacom-so-devastated-by-piracy-that-ceo-only-gets-50m-raise.ars?comments=1#comments-bar

On topic with 1%ers. Despite moaning and groaning to use tax payer money for fighting piracy(which is supposedly destroying their industry), Viacom CEO gets a $50M raise.

It seems like a lot of your ire focused on your stay here is not as much at the country and more at your family. Family can be tough to get along with for sure. I know I was brought up Catholic in my household but it seems much different from your experience as well I was kind of forced to go to mass every week. I mean they didn't actually kick me out of bed or anything or tell me I was going to hell but you knew when Sunday rolled around that's where you were going. It was the only real day we all sat down and had breakfast too. One of the biggest differences I can see is that when I left home they left it up to me to do whatever I wanted. I knew they wanted me to continue on and such but they also left it up to me to decide. For me growing up in a religious family wasn't bad and seemed like a fairly normal life to me at least so I'm kind of on the opposite end of the spectrum there.

As for corporations buying our politicians well you're not too far off. The only reason they are as powerful as they are though is because we as Americans are so very complacent. Most would rather come home, sit down and watch some tv or play a game or go out with friends rather than worry about what ails our nation and look to do anything to change it for the better. The people of this nation are by far the power behind this nation but we do nothing. We sit by and watch the politicians duke it out amongst themselves and the media spin the stories in a million different ways and just eat it up. Until the people stand up and say they've had enough whether it be with their votes or peaceful action then things will remain the same.

As for traveling outside the country, personally I've only been outside once and I've had no problem. My parents have been all over the place and I've never really heard of them having an issue. There will always be hatred against those at the top though or when someone is seen to meddling in affairs they don't want them in. I see it on a personal level all the time. You see Americans talking trash about other nations too. I mean its not an exclusive thing where only Americans are hated all around the world. A lot of people hate everyone in Greece atm.


As for your family I really can't say. That's always more of a personal issue and can only really dealt with by the person in the situation. I hope that someday you all come to terms with each other and you can all come together and be good and such. Sucks when you can't count on family.

They probably just don't care to learn. If its not really needed in their life why should they bother I think is the way its thought about.

I really can't think of any reason they need to know other than general awareness though. There's quite a few other things I could probably think of that I would rather they know too before common geography.

they cant even point out their hometown in a map :/

Why would they need to? I mean I think its fairly safe to assume they can find their way there so why would they need to point it out on a map? I don't really see the problem with people not being able to find something on a map.

wait there is a picture of this somewhere I just know it....

ATTACK!

ftfy
OR


'cause ya'll know they'll know a eentzy weentzy bit about where Israel because that's where Jeebus is from and where the Tupacalypse will start.

People who don't have basic knowledge of other countries are the same people who are perpetuating the horrible American stereotypes. Geography and History are essential for creating some sort of understanding of the modern world.

fixed*
winky winky.
you don't necessarily have to be uninformed to be a bigot.
that's a stereotype in and of itself.
making the distinction that it's just ig'nant folks=false dichotomy methinks.

Ok, so I just read that article Liela posted about the GPS trackers... That's some alarming stuff.

Well if you go by Misao's example... One can have a basic knowledge of something and not be able to point it out on a map. Just thinking about it to myself though I could research and study and learn about a nation and its culture and it wouldn't bother me that I would not be able to point it out on a map. Most people aren't going to have an in depth knowledge about other countries and I tend to find that unless you live there for a bit or talk to people who have or do you don't really get a real feel for it.

I always wondered if stereotypes could be cured by knowledge of the hstory of the nation and its people but its seems to more just give a background. Things are changing so fast everywhere these days its hard to keep up.

I know for business we were always taught to study up on business culture before heading out on an international meeting.

I think I'm getting off topic. I really still don't think its all that important to know exactly where something is on a map.

[quote='Ramuh.Vinvv]fixed*
winky winky.
you don't necessarily have to be uninformed to be a bigot.
that's a stereotype in and of itself.
making the distinction that it's just ig'nant folks=false dichotomy methinks.[/quote]

Okay. Fine. I'll give you that.

ftfy