Otsego County supporters of the Tea Party will remember me. In 2009, we marched in outrage against the bi-partisan $800 billion taxpayer bailout of Wall Street. That Independence Day, I mounted the hay wagon in front of Losie's Gun Shop on state Route 23 in Oneonta to talk to the Tea Party about taking back America.
You received my remarks well. The Oneonta Daily Star published them as "What's Good for GM is Now Good for China."
Last Saturday, I attended the Occupy Wall Street meeting in Oneonta's Muller Plaza. We escaped the rain by taking refuge under the wooden walkway. Young and old, we gathered in a circle in the subdued light, passing around a hand mic to share each other's stories and ideas about how to recapture the American dream.
Such compassion; such outrage! So many good solutions from everyday people -- our neighbors! Plenty of hope!
Watching the raindrops, I thought back to the gun shop rally. Both gatherings were all good Americans. Both showed the gumption to take to the streets because this country is in big trouble. So, why weren't my Tea Party friends in that circle where you belonged?
You have so much to contribute to Occupy Wall Street!
When I spoke two years ago to a crowd the same size, I counted hands. How many Tea Party folks faced a bleak future because Wall Street stole their retirement savings and destroyed their home equity? Almost every hand went up. How many could manage the cost of a catastrophic family medical emergency? One lonely hand.
Guess what? We Tea Partiers are part of the American 99 percent that the young people are fighting for!
Now I know what you're thinking. . .
Fox News tells us that Occupy Wall Street folks are a bunch of anti-American, communist, lazy, and violent would-be terrorists with poor toilet training. Worse yet -- they don't know what they want!
Hello! This is the story coming from corporate media that lied us into Iraq, never tells the truth about the economy, and that trivializes every election as a breathless horse race between two equally irrelevant clubs of windbags. And they demand that we -- the 99 percent -- come up immediately with the answers to clean up the mess the media and the 1 percent created?
Fox's disinformation, fear mongering, scape-goating, name-calling, personal attacks to divide us as Americans -- these tactics are the response of frightened rich people whose only hope is to dumb us down. Divide and conquer. Time to turn off Fox News and wake up!
Most Americans are awakening from a period of denial while the reality of another Great Depression sets in. We're like abused spouses who finally open our eyes and confront our abusers. The left got suckered by Obama in 2008; the right suckered by the Republicans in 2010. That's an interesting coincidence, isn't it?
All of us -- left, right and in between -- have been hoodwinked by those we elected to serve our interests. We confront an epic economic emergency, a shamelessly greedy and arrogant ruling class, and a hopelessly broken political system. Stunned Americans are falling into the hell of a Third World country. And don't we know it! The polls reveal that we have lost hope and respect for the leaders of both parties. Obama's and Congress's approval ratings share rings in the toilet.
No one should be surprised that "Take Back America" picket signs are equally popular with the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street. Let's take it back together and share it.
You are not alone! We have each other. We are all the 99%!
Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street: Unite, Don't Fight!
Hall, a retired businessman and teacher, wrote The Einstein Sisters Bag the Flying Monkeys available from Green Frog bookstore in Oneonta and Cooperstown Natural Foods. For a longer version of this article visit www.notinkansas.us.
Columns
Tea goes well with 'Occupy'
- Big Chuck D'Imperio
- Cary Brunswick
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Some wisdom is best passed down through books
I was visiting a friend out-of-town recently and the subject of providing a "reading list" to young people came up in conversation. He said years ago he had asked a respected acquaintance in Oneonta to compile such a list for his teenage daughter, to help her be better prepared for life, culture, education, politics and people.
Continued ... - Let pragmatism, not politics, determine birth control debate
- As Center Street Elementary goes, so goes Center City
- U.S. intervention in Syria's uprising would be a gamble
- Santorum, Obama both got it wrong on Honduras
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- Chuck Pinkey
- Guest Column
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If we don’t develop a sustainable system, who will?
In Otsego County’s local elections last fall, a number of candidates — most of them on the independent Sustainable Otsego line — ran on an anti-fracking, pro-sustainability platform. They recognized that our current way of life — dependent on increasingly scarce, costly and polluting fossil fuels — cannot continue.
Continued ... - Time to get off the bus and on the computer
- Cuomo's Machiavellian maneuvers are a danger
- Home rule laws aren't a radical idea
- Sustainable shouldn't be a dirty word
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If we don’t develop a sustainable system, who will?
- Lisa Miller
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Being a parent is a constant learning process
I am sitting cross-legged on the floor in the dressing room, waiting for Allie's dance number to be called. The cave girl costume has been donned, the jazz shoes double-tied, the hair pulled back, the requisite dab of lipstick applied.
Continued ... - Healthy doesn't have to mean expensive
- A family era ends with close of Potter series
- Independent stores make up for loss of Borders
- Untethered from the cable box
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Being a parent is a constant learning process
- Mark Simonson
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Perfect attendance by Saturday’s Bread for 20 years in Oneonta
Oneonta became a settlement and has been a place to do one's "trading," whether it was the 18th century, or 2012, because of the five valleys that converge here. Only the places of doing the "trading" have changed a bit over the last 100 years, and Oneonta remains a place that attracts visitors and has always been a decent place to live and work.
Continued ...
100 Years Ago - Recalling the Hindenburg, John D. Rockefeller in May 1937
- Oneonta residents had diversions aplenty in the spring of 1952
- Damaschke essential to ensuring Oneonta baseball in 1927
- Area tunes to WONT in November 1972
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Perfect attendance by Saturday’s Bread for 20 years in Oneonta
- Rick Brockway
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Climbing is one thing, but skydiving?
OUTDOORS COLUMN BY RICK BROCKWAY ... Last week, my friend George and I returned to the Gunks for another rock-climbing adventure. After last week's column, I asked about the rattlesnakes and was told not to worry. Rattlers are usually quite timid and will avoid people as much as possible. It's the copperheads that'll give you trouble. They're aggressive and will stand their ground to defend it. Oh great!!
- Rattlesnakes may be closer than you think, so pay attention
- Spring is here, so fishing should pick up soon
- Sneaky fox may be the next animal looking to horse around
- Pass down the rush of turkey hunting to your kids this weekend
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Climbing is one thing, but skydiving?
- Sam Pollak
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I'm happy with our kids to a certain degree
It was several years ago, and I was in the kitchen, telling my eldest daughter and my then-teenaged son about the person who was taking over as publisher at The Daily Star.
Continued ... - I get by with a little help from my 'friends'
- It’s not easy for a politics junkie to get off the stuff
- The Encyclopaedia Britannica in print, unmourned by me
- Angelo Dundee was always a good man to have in your corner
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- William Masters
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Time for lawmakers who put needs of society first
Richard Lugar, after six terms as a Republican senator -- known for his middle of the road rationality and his foreign policy finesse -- has been ousted by a Tea Party extremist backed by outside right-wing funding.
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War not worth gambling with lives of soldiers
Are you not tired of our war in Afghanistan? It had a point, once, after 9/11. Bush couldn't distinguish his myopic personal agendas from the nation's needs and let Osama escape, dropping the ball entirely, causing many deaths.
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Titanic was a microcosm of U.S. economic disparity
Haunting reminders of the Titanic tragedy have wafted over us with the centenary of its sinking. The maiden voyage of an impressive, state of the art vessel, was a little like that of the Challenger space shuttle, at the cutting edge of developing technology. But the shuttle carried our pride in science and space exploration, not hundreds and hundreds of people.
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William Masters: Nation stands divided between 'us' and 'them'
In February, Trayvon Martin was shot dead as "suspicious" by a volunteer neighborhood watch man. The case has aroused community reaction in Sanford, Fla., and is still echoing across the country.
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A quarterback can't win the game alone
What is the relationship between democracy and wealth? Democracy is a political system, while wealth relates to economics. We have equal political rights, but we don't all have money. Extreme differences destroy the continuity of community solidarity.
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Time for lawmakers who put needs of society first
