Occupy America!

I was reading the ThinkProgress blog post titled "Over 1,000 Americans Have Been Arrested Protesting Wall Street, While Bankers Have Dodged Major Prosecutions" and I was then very intrigued by the Occupy Wall Street movement. I've been hearing about it for weeks now and it finally came to Austin.

I don't have much of an opinion on the protest, really. I can appreciate the meaning behind the movement, but I don't feel like it's getting anywhere. People are being arrested left and right because of this movement. People are upset that more bankers weren't prosecuted and sentenced, that banks got a bailout but individuals didn't, that one percent of the population holds 42% of the nations wealth and many other reasons. Yet, as the blog clearly shows, the majority no longer have the right to protest or speak out against the minority that is governing us.

This blog post doesn't have much opinion in it, it's more factual than anything, but I can sense that the author didn't write this post because he agrees with it, but because of how unjust the results of this protest are. I agree. I feel like the amount of people that have been arrested because of this protest is ridiculous... insane almost. I'm pretty ashamed of our government and the way this protest is being handled.

What happened to freedom of speech? Freedom of assembly?

I'd love to call this "chump change".

In the article "Ron Paul's chump change" Paul Whitefield writes about private and public funding for current 2012 presidential candidates. In this article, he outlines the different types of funding and how much each candidate has managed to raise so far. He pokes fun at Ron Paul's "chump change" of 8 million dollars. Comparing him to Rick Perry's 17 million, Mitt Romney's 14 million and President Obama's 55 million.

I find it ridiculous that a presidential campaign costs so much. People are shelling out money for a candidate to live like a king (or queen as the case may eventually be...) in the months leading up to the presidential election. Like I've stated previously, I'm not an overly political person, I'm not registered to vote and I don't know enough about the American political system to really make a fair judgment on it, but that seems very excessive to me.

Mr. Whitefield has a very sarcastic tone when it comes to looking seriously at Ron Paul's chances at success in the upcoming elections next year. He jabs at the statistics, ending his facts with "And the Tooth Fairy brings me $1 every time I lose a molar". I feel that Mr. Whitefield intended this article for the average person, it was more of an informative article, but with his sarcastic twist. Ron Paul just doesn't have the monetary support that the other candidates have. Ron Paul appeals to the masses of underpaid and under-appreciated minimum wage workers. (And anyone that uses "munchies" as a part of their every day vocabulary... ha.) Obama had his chance with "Yes We Can", but has failed so far to put that into action.

I just think that Ron Paul should have just as much of a fighting chance as the other candidates. It doesn't seem very fair that Ron Paul would miss out on the vote because he was only a few million short.

Big Brother is killing... I mean watching.

I read this article earlier today and I found the debate contained within very interesting. Friday, the U.S military authorized the drone killing of al-Awlaki, a natural born US citizen, who was also heavily involved with Al-Qaeda. I chose this article because the debate is an interesting one: Is it morally right to kill a citizen of this country even if they are involved in terrorist actions? Also, where and when is it appropriate to conduct such an assassination?

I believe that a terrorist is a terrorist, natural citizen or not, if you are targeting a country with terrorism, you are the enemy. What I don't believe in is the manner in which the assassination was conducted. I agree that it was inappropriate to kill him in a non-conflict area, and I feel that in a way, the government has overstepped its boundaries. I feel that this action makes America look worse, and as a side effect, makes me look bad as a citizen of this country.