Many New Yorkers still without power

Although we got our power back on Sunday after a 30-hour blackout, much of the surrounding area remains unplugged. Local schools cancelled classes and most nearby businesses remain closed at this hour. We (the folks at my house) are apparently living within a small pocket of power that is surrounded by a continuing blackout.

Unaware of the problems we would face, my sister and I went food shopping today -- and found ourselves in a huge, dark grocery store. There were emergency lights around the perimeter that produced occasional pockets of weak light, and that was it. Luckily they had enough power to run two credit machines, so shopping was possible. But the aisles were totally dark. And no, we didn't have a flashlight.

This is the good stuff

I've always believed the only way to get the government's attention is for everyone to stay home from their jobs. The U.S. would come to a standstill and the greedy folks who run this industry we laughingly call "our country" would freak.

It seems the Occupy Oakland General Assembly (I love the terminology) is thinking along these lines. There's a story at AmericaBlog today about this. Here's the statement of the General Assembly:

We propose a city wide general strike and we propose we invite all students to walk out of school. Instead of workers going to work and students going to school, the people will converge on downtown Oakland to shut down the city.

All banks and corporations should close down for the day or we will march on them.

While we are calling for a general strike, we are also calling for much more. People who organize out of their neighborhoods, schools, community organizations, affinity groups, workplaces and families are encouraged to self organize in a way that allows them to participate in shutting down the city in whatever manner they are comfortable with and capable of.

And it's not just the dirty hippies:

The International Longshoremen and Warehouse Union has announced that they will stand in solidarity with this general strike.

The people are rising up and it's about time. Serious People said this wouldn't happen but here we are. Go, Oakland!

Setting your priorities

AP tonight:

Police in Oregon say a man broke into a home in Portland to watch television.

Now, see, I can totally understand that. The poor guy just really needed to see some TV. Privation can make you crazy. If he lost his home and didn't have a job, he might very well need an emergency intravenous dose of TV. I get it. Give the guy 12 or 24 hours in front of a set, and send him on his way with a pat on the butt and a TV Guide. Case closed.

A modern good deed

A friend of mine hooks up with one of these extreme-couponing types once a week. She does whatever the woman says, taking this coupon and buying that with it -- the woman brings a sheaf of coupons with her -- and somehow they end up paying absolutely nothing for several bags of groceries.

Then my friend gives her bags to old, poor people that she knows. A bag here, a bag there -- it helps. (I think she actually pays some money but neglects to tell me this.) I think of this as a modern good deed. Perhaps armies of similarly philanthropic shoppers could assemble at supermarkets across America -- and end hunger in their local communities.

Some word talk after the jump.

So let's see . . .

No one ever died from smoking marijuana -- and people get killed and kill every day because of alcohol. That's the background for this post: the insane attitude our government has about this virtually harmless plant, and the blind eye with which it views alcohol's evils.

And now some poor kid got killed because of the government's prohibition policies against a very helpful weed. If this kid had access to normal, healthy pot he would be fine today.

Don't get me wrong. Kids should not smoke dope, even the authentic kind, until their brains mature. And by then they won't be kids -- because our brains don't mature until we're about 25 years old. Until then, they need to grow undisturbed, i.e., free from drugs and alcohol.

But in this instance, the boy discussed in the article would be alive if he had smoked real marijuana instead of the fake stuff that was all he could lay his hands on because it was legal. What's wrong with this picture? Outlaw harmful stuff, not kind, gentle, helpful stuff.

No shame

From the AP this evening:

Tea party activists on Thursday accused officials in at least four cities of giving preferential treatment to anti-Wall Street protesters, and one group in Richmond is asking the city to repay $8,000 spent for permits and other needs.

Yes, that's exactly right. The OWS protesters who are being tear-gassed and pepper-sprayed and carried off to jail in throngs after demonstrating peacefully are being treated preferentially compared to the Tea Party activists who paraded around like idiots in red, white and blue outfits with tea bags on their heads while disrupting town halls all across America and being protected by the police.

These people have no shame. It's all about them and their pinched view of reality wherein they always get to play the victim. Yes, Tea Party idiots, we hear you loud and clear: it's all about you. That's your one and only message, isn't it? You're just so special!

Ed Brayton today

In an article on police violence, Ed Brayton says:

We are forever being told by the law-and-order types that punishment is the key to deterrence; that should apply to police officers as well. It should apply double to them because they are the ones to whom we give the exclusive authority to commit violence and to enforce the laws. When they violate those laws, they should be the first ones to test their theories about deterrence.

And I'd like to add: How come OWS people face violence from the police while the Tea Party, often armed with guns and bragging about it, were considered peaceful demonstrators? No SWAT teams attacked them. Why the difference in treatment? I know the answer: because the police in America today are jackbooted monsters who see "the people" as dirty hippies intent on destroying the country. That's why.