Finally!

I'll miss the OWS rally in Burlington today, alas.

Doug Box, a great photographer from Texas is visiting the VPP and he's a great speaker and I plan to learn a lot, so...

But the great news is that Americans are finally paying attention to how our financial woes are connected to the two unfunded wars, unfair tax policies, Wall Street regulating itself, Citizens United, insane subsidies to Big Oil and Big Ag, etc., etc.  I've just been amazed at how bovine we seemed to be, plodding along in whatever direction the corporate masters chose, voting against our own interests.  While it's still pretty fragile, I think the will for real new direction is growing in the mainstream population.  Who knows?  Maybe they'll even see the value of universal healthcare one of these days.

Occupy Wall Street - Burlington

We decided to speak up, so to speak, and attend the Occupy Wall Street rally in Burlington today.  As flaming liberals, Barbara and I remember the media's utter lack of interest in covering the many protests leading up to the Iraq War and we don't want to see that happen again.  Many people who lived through that time actually think there was no organized protest.  Well, there was plenty but you never saw it on the news.

People are rightly upset by the hijacking of our democracy by monied interests and we hope this could be the beginning of a real backlash.  About danged time, too!

The crowd was energetic, strategizing and marching on Main and Church Streets, even after a 500-strong march yesterday.  We plan to show up every Sunday until... what?...Congress gets the message?  Citizens United is overturned?  Discouraged average Americans get out and vote their own interests for a change?

You might say the marchers' concerns are diverse, but I think they boil down to the same thing: our "representative" government has vanished in the wake of the boatloads of money tipping the scales in favor of corporations and the mega-rich.  And war is profit, don't forget, and the engine of what little national industry we have left so no one in power really wants peace despite their claims to "support our troops".

It was a very satisfying afternoon and, on top of that, we had fabulous Turkish street food from Muzo's cart on Church Street!  Delicious - menu below:

We're B-A-A-C-K

Back in Vermont, YAY!  And it's still autumn, there are still some leaves and nice days ahead.  As Ebeneezer Scrooge said on Christmas morning, "I haven't missed it!"

My sister Barbara will be staying with us for a while and I'm really happy about that.  We finished cleaning out her house in Charlottesville, VA and it is now on the market there.  Her friends recommended a real estate agent who was wonderful, a landscaper/handyman, also just great.  Our cousin Janet and her husband Leon came down from Rockville, MD to help pack, paint the porch and generally keep us cheerful.  It was a big job, but, amazingly we got through it and the house looks great.

As you know, I have been doing water aerobics here, so I dragged my sister along to the beautiful new solar heated pools at the The Smith Aquatic and Center run by Charlottesville Parks and Rec.  I feel a lot better after some jumping around in the pool, so I was glad to find such a nice facility to splash around in.

Looking forward to seeing my peeps at the Fitness Edge in South Burlington on Monday.