Congratulations to the fringe of the Occupy movements for completely switching the focus of the protest from the powerful economic justice issues to the thinly-supported demand for the Right to Camp Anywhere.  The news reports and Tweets are no longer talking about executive salaries and Wall Street. Instead they are counting the number of plates thrown at cops and the number of tear gas canisters lobbed back.

The liberal-leaning city governments of Oakland, New York, and soon probably San Francisco are the new targets of the protests who are both outraged and outrageous in their hyperbole. The most vocal Occupy folks are now training their considerable protesting skills on their natural allies with whom, it seems to me, they have a moderate disagreement over how to police the cleanliness of select pieces of real estate.

Unless I’m missing something,  the governments are making no attempt to remove the protestors from the glare of the media.  They are only attempting to pick up trash on a regular basis.   But, even if I am missing a  fascist governmental plot, the fact remains that the original issue of economic injustice is off the front pages.

It’s damn disappointing to see a movement with a potential for needed social change to devolve into a purity cat fight among friends.  The emotional appeal of a protest against the monetary valuation of a CEO at 400 times that of an average worker was explosive.  The public empathy for crowds rioting for the right to camp overnight at City Hall is less than overwhelming.

The derailment of the Occupy protests is stunning in its swiftness and completeness.  If I were a Koch brother or an Armey man, I could not have scripted a better march down the road of discredit and irrelevance.

Occupy folks, what you were doing was important.   If you think so, too, then truly it’s time that you take a meeting with yourself, conduct a tribal council, hold a group grope, or whatever. 

Figure out if you can live protesting only 18 hours a day at City Hall or in the plaza.  If you can, then show up tomorrow, the next day, and the next day with your righteous anger and your moral power.  However, if you cannot accept with any compromises with your friends, then I am sorrowed by  your decision.  Occupy will die as a social force and your new course will further dispirit the already dispirited.

A friend on Facebook posted links to today’s Fox News rabble-rousing, hate-America message. The flavor of bile this month is, of course, raising the debt ceiling.

Can we talk?

It is simply nutty to refuse to raise the debt ceiling to pay for programs Congress has already passed.  It’s like using your credit card and then saying it’s unacceptable for the bank to tell you that you have a high balance that is increasing.  Try telling the merchants not charge you for the things you’ve already purchased.  Or, see what happens when you tell the bank to stop adding on the interest charges.

If you want to cut spending, then vote against specific programs.  The Republicans — even the Tea Partiers — don’t want to do that, though.  If they voted against a program — like Medicare or food safety inspectors or FAA air traffic controllers — then they’d have to go on record as killing or maiming programs that their constituents rely on.  So, they rally against raising the ceiling on Obama’s/Reid’s/Pelosi’s debt.

Raising the debt ceiling is technical and should be automatic. 

If you want to limit spending, then fight against the grand feel-good laws that create gifts to voters.  If you came late to that party and are new to Congress, then fight against the appropriation of the money for the programs you think are not worth it.  And, take the heat from the voters in your district who love what you’re cutting.

What is going on now is simple demagoguery. Dangerous, despicable, and dumb.

May 21, 2011
Wells Fargo
PO Box 6995
Portland, OR 97228-9995

REGARDING: FAILURE TO CREDIT FRAUDULENT DEBIT CARD CHARGES IN A TIMELY MANNER

Dear Wells Fargo,

Someone recently charged $100 at an Exxon station in Connecticut to my debit card while I was at sea on a cruise ship. My first clue that something was wrong was when I was at a port call, tried to get cash from an ATM, and my request was declined. Apparently, your security system correctly suspected that my card had been compromised and blocked my card. Of course, I didn’t know about the reason for the
card problem until I returned home and looked at my online banking statement and saw the fraud.

I saw the charge on May 19th and immediately called your bank. I received a FAX of a claim form, filled out the statement, and FAXed the completed form to your fraud department within an hour.

Friday, May 20th, I received in the mail a new debit card with a letter that said, “… your debit card number and/or Personal Identification Number were identified as being at risk for unauthorized transactions. As a precaution measure, we will be closing your current card and issuing you a new debit card…” Your fraud department sent this on their own initiative, and it reinforces my statement to you.

Today, I called to see why my account had not been credited for the fraudulent $100 charge.

Pauline at 800-548-9554 first said that my FAX was unreadable, even though I had not been contacted about problems with its clarity. Then she put me on hold, confirmed with me that I never lost my card, and said that she would have a temporary credit issued which will post to my account by Tuesday.

Tuesday? She said that the bank has given itself two business days to scan in FAXed forms and another two business days to issue credits. So, Tuesday is within the standards the bank set for itself.

This is an unacceptable retention of my money. Your own fraud department believes my card was misused. I provided you with the requested statements immediately. You should respond and make my account whole the same day you receive the statement you need from me.

Your debit card promotional material says that I will enjoy “Zero Liability and full reimbursement for promptly reported unauthorized purchases…” The clear implication is that you’ll credit my account when I tell you of a problem. You don’t say you’ll credit accounts on your own leisurely schedule.

You are not keeping the promise you are making to consumers.

Sincerely,
Galen B. Workman

As I was about to renew an satellite radio subscription, I went through the list of fees and found the prices unchanged.  But, as I click through to checkout there’s a new line:

Huh? 

I cannot buy the satellite radio subscription without this “fee”. 

So, how do they get away with claiming one price and then adding in a “fee” later. 
Maybe the subscription should be $0 and then there’s a $100 satellite operation “fee”, a $25 on-air talent fee, a $30 “cost recovery” fee, …

Geesh!

Democrats from the President on down are lining up to reassure the country that any health care reform will not include help for illegal aliens

Congratulations, illegal aliens. You’ve replaced homosexuals as the powerless group that it’s okay to trash. Even among self-described liberals. Even among racial minorities and socially powerless groups.

Personally I am intensely uncomfortable with the selfish, Americans-vs-Illegals divided standard that is passing as the agreed-upon norm. I keep searching the Bible – or any holy book – to see where the prophet recommends checking immigration status before treating someone decently. I haven’t found the Book of Joe Wilson in any of those religious writings. Of course, I am a Unitarian Universalist and may not have access to the secret exhortations to help only your own kind. Me, I think Jesus and the other honored holy people from different traditions would cry out against the false focus on residency status.

From the secular side, the battle cry reform is “Health Care is a Human Right”. Human. Not a right of citizenship. Not a reward for conforming to laws. A human right.

So, why is it acceptable to people coming from any perspective to exclude illegal aliens from getting treatment when they are in need?

And, when politicians talk about not treating illegal aliens, did I miss the exception for caring for children whose parents brought them to the country? No, I don’t think so. We really don’t want to “reward” any human being for needing medical care while they are in our country, if they came here secretly to pick our crops or do other scut work. We don’t want to reward their children, either. So, if the swine flu hits an illegal family, I suppose that we’re expecting that parents go back to their country of origin with their ill babies?

Sorry, I am not prepared to let children die or suffer because their parents snuck them across a political division. In fact, I am not up for letting anyone rot in the gutter when they’re sick or go without treatment for accidents. Not adults, not criminals, no one.

Moreover, liberals are being stupid when we let ourselves debate the red herring of caring for illegal aliens. Do you think that Joe “You Lie” Wilson will vote for health care reform if he’s convinced no illegal aliens will benefit? Really?

Basic health care is something we should offer all humans in the country.

Health care reform opponents have endless opportunities to divide and conquer. The issue is complex and liberals are lousy at sound bites.

I think we’ve lost the issue of universal care because we’ve senselessly jumped aboard the anti-immigrant train. This loss a crack in health care reform that is senseless, and which I hope is not structural or symptomatic of the reformers’ lack of cohesion.

Fixing the nation’s porous borders is a valid need. But, excluding sick people from getting care is not immigration reform, it isn’t health care reform, and it isn’t liberal. It isn’t moral.