YES on #Occupy!

Here's my Letter to the Editor on 10/21... (read all of them here).

Like individuals, banks and corporations must take responsibility for their mistakes and failures. Like individuals, they need to contribute taxes to the greater good and do their part to keep our schools, hospitals, and roads open. 

Unlike other recent political movements -- funded by the superrich to serve their own political interests (Google 'tea party funding') -- the Occupy Wall Street (which is everywhere) movement unifies many grass roots movements under a common banner of economic justice.

Our popularly-elected president is powerless to turn the tide of corruption alone. The 1 percent uses its financial savvy to exploit loopholes for their own benefit. They throw their wealth behind politicians who glorify ignorance and block measures that would help the people. They hire the best PR firms to help spread fear-based propaganda and Orwellian doublespeak to the mindless media, keeping Americans bickering about the news instead of working together to help ourselves. Why? To protect their bottom line.

Mathematically, the 99 percent cannot all be on the left. We are the growing poor, the diminishing middle class, and yes, even the well-off and wealthy.

We are the exhausted "thousand points of light" who have been shoring up the system since trickle-down economics began. Our personal freedoms, our personal finances, our human rights, our cities, our schools, our environment, and all species are all in trouble -- and to occupy is to say, "enough!"

Presenting: Fresh, New Cobbler!

A fresh redesign of my Wandering Pie columnblognewsletter came with exciting news: the arrival of a box of my second book, The Reason She Left.

The sidebar announced more exciting news: my first nationally published magazine article. (A good, funny, and exciting writing experience, but what I learned later was: this publisher doesn't pay his bills.)

I was also excited about a host of upcoming events surrounding my book launch.