The first entry of a new blog is always a little awkward. The introductory stuff is completely necessary, but one just wants to get through it. It always feels like the equivalent of a name-tag at a convention: dorky, but necessary. However, having been given the opportunity to get to know all of you, it strikes me as only fair that you get to know me a little bit too.

Here’s the bio: I am old enough to know better, but young enough to do it anyway. Originally I hail from New England, where the residents are convinced there’s no place better on Earth to live. Until my husband winkled me from its rocky soil, I agreed with them. I have a bachelor’s and two master’s degrees in my hand, which means that a cup of coffee at the Circle K still costs $1.50. I watch enough science fiction for seven people, and have an encyclopaedic knowledge of incredibly useless pop-culture trivia. I am prone to archaic spelling and sentence structure. I have a black belt in tae kwon do, but getting onto the Copper Queens of the Tucson Roller Derby was harder work than that. My politics are progressive, and I am one of the 99%.

The most recent thing that’s been going on with me is the occasional foray down to Hippie City, where the Occupy Tucson protests have been taking place. While I’m in no position (nor have I the inclination) to camp out and get arrested, I have to say that I’ve met great new friends down there that I would have met no other way. Some folks I agree with, some folks I find a bit strident, but all of them believe in the necessity to make the democratic system fair for those of us without a corporate bankroll behind us.

Here’s the way I see it: this movement has one goal, and that’s to make sure people understand how they’re getting screwed over. Since the corporations own the mainstream media, they control the message. Since they control the message, one cannot find the facts on the Occupy movements unless one knows very specifically to look. For example, Twitter has never acknowledged the huge amount of Occupy traffic they carry in their “trending” section. This strikes me as corporate censorship, pure and simple. If the electorate doesn’t know what’s really happening on the ground in various cities, then it’s easy to pacify them with the latest Kardashian fame-ball flame-out. Then, the corporations can go do what they want with our democracy.

Whoa, you say. Such paranoia and conspiracy talk right out of the gate!! Well, yes. If you’re not paranoid about what’s being done to our America, then you’re not paying attention. American Democracy has been sold to the highest bidders, electoral seat by electoral seat. Lobbyists are hired by corporations who are entirely willing to pay retail boutique prices for votes. This article from March discusses this interest-conflicting practice much better than I can. I Googled “lobbyists writing regulations” and got almost two million hits. Let me put it this way: if you’re a oil company lobbyist, does it make sense to allow you to write the government regulations for your industry? Only if you’re a corporatist who’s more concerned with the almighty dollar. For sane Americans with souls, this might strike them as a conflict of interest. Elections can also be bought by corporations with foreign interests.  Citizens United allows for domestic corporations with foreign interests to contribute to candidates’ campaigns. I don’t even know if there’s a dollar limit.. S’true.  The Justices who allowed this are possibly up for retroactive recusal, which would invalidate the whole decision. This, to me, is good news.

Well, that should do it. You know a bit about me now, and you know a bit about where I stand. Niceta meetcha!