JimGorski.com

He’s getting so big.

Oh and guess what – if they say something like “move along or I will spray you with this horrible chemical” – they mean it.

They have mortgages, they have children, they have a job that pays just enough to keep them afloat like anyone else.

Vilifying them because they have a stronger sense of family preservation than a sense of empathy with protesters is as wrong as using force when a powerful irritant can be deployed.

I feel bad for the ‘pepper spray guy’ at Berkeley.

He’s not following orders to kill children or to beat grandparents. He was asked to disperse a crowd. He asked the crowd to move along, he warned them that they would be sprayed and arrested, and when the protesters decided that is what they would like to have happen, he complied.

It will happen every time.

Maybe leaving and then returning the next morning would have been a better plan for the occupiers…

So mayors are now asking people to leave the parks to clean up.
People who don’t comply are pepper sprayed to prevent resistance and then arrested.
People are not allowed back in the same park because mayors do not want to have to repeat the whole process again in a few months.

Media coverage of the protests is mixed and running at a fever pitch.

Some outlets look at the occupyers as idealists fed up with a failing system.
Others feel the occupiers are life losers complaining about the end of handouts and free benefits.

But what has actually happenned here?
Has anything changed?

Do we have new political candidates pledging to avoid lobbying firms and special interest groups?
Do we see new legislation preventing banks from offering unrealistic credit and profiteering from human suffering?
Do we have a place for homeless uninsured people to enojy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?

No, we have a nation distracted by the police tactics used to move people along.
We have a window of opportunity for lunatics to suggest insane changes (I heard someone suggseting government by sortition – google it for a laugh).

Personally I am frustrated.
I’m frustrated that companies are allowwed to send work overseas in an effort to line the pockets of shareholders here and abroad.
I’m frustrated that neccesary medecines can cost thousands of dollars in the U.S. but only a few dollars in Mexico or Canada.
I’m angry that students can graduate from high school and still be unable to spell, read or perform basic math.
I’m sad that all these passionate people slept in tents, shared food and ideas (even some good ideas) and nothing has changed.

Nothing has changed.

Somehow my defensive end, big man under the basket, massive eleven year old also grew the soul of an artist. Okay – maybe a little angry in his craft – but art nonetheless.

Who would have guessed our first snow in Penfield would be weeks after the first snow downstate?

Picking out an already picked pumpkin?!?

No doubt, fall is drawing to a close again.

And what I get is cows and pigs.

Penfield Youth Football – go tough or go home.