Grassroots at the Real Grassroots. What a Novel Idea

The Occupation of Wall Street protests are growing, and appear to have staying power. Without the corporate funding of the Tea Party, they started with just a small group and an idea.

Taxpayers were forced to bail out Wall Street, and yet Wall Street now sits on a mountain of cash, refusing to bail them out.

What are these so-called "job creators" doing with all that money? They certainly aren't creating jobs.

So this small group took to the streets to deliver their simple message and it's beginning to resonate.

Republican presidential hopeful, Herman Cain, suggests that they are playing the victim card. They are jealous of the wealthy, otherwise known as Republicans and their posse; and if they're out of work it's their own fault.

Can you imagine someone wanting to be president of the United States, openly declaring that he has no interest in representing the working class, who are now the "hardly working" class?

He's now tied for the lead.

Canada's occupation of Bay Street protests will start this week and let's hope they are a success.

The fools gold of neoconservatism has been exposed as worthless.  Giving more money to the rich, only helps the rich, who in turn help the conservatives stay in power.

In Ontario, Tim Hudak's campaign was reliably disappointing.  "Low taxes", tough on imaginary crime and going after welfare cheats.  If he'd thrown in "long-haired hippies", it could have just as easily been Ronald Reagan's 1967 campaign in his first run for Governor of California.

In fact, it probably was. For almost half a century, neocons have stuck to the same script.

In Kingston, our local conservative candidate Rodger James, had more signs than any of his opponents.  Not many on lawns, but busy roadways were plastered with them, lined up like blue and white dominoes.

I see those signs as a metaphor for today's conservatism.

Gluttony and excess, with nothing behind them but a big stick.

James finished third.

You've Got to Check Out the Funniest Protest Signs at Huffington Post

The Huffington Post has just unveiled their funniest protest signs for 2009. With the teabaggers in full 'protest' mode there was a lot of material to work with.

You should check it out. You can view them, vote on them, grade them and even provide captions.

They range from gems like 'Is Obama French?' to the more intellectual 'Obama has a crisis of competnce' ... yes it was actually spelled 'competnce'. Reminds me of Harper's former buddy Peter Brimelow who held a 'Conferenece' to promote 'English only'. Yikes.

My favourites included: "If God hates fags why are we so cute?', 'Elizabeth Taylor had 8 husbands. My brother just wants 1', and this one:

I Love it When Young People Get Involved

I really like this video and am always encouraged when young people speak their minds. It was also nice about half way in, when the elderly woman in a clear voice, with intellect and compassion; expressed her concerns with what war is doing to the environment and naturally the waste of human life and dignity.

My father gave me the gift of skepticism, and while at times it's been a curse, I can't settle for simple answers to complex questions.

Whether I choose to agree with everything the protesters are saying or not, I admire their courage and determination. They are right to be concerned that Stephen Harper is selling our sovereignty and they are right to be concerned that American soldiers are now allowed to patrol our cities. They are also right to question exactly what the North American Union (NAU), and Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) will mean for their future.

And of course, they should also question the official version of 9/11, as I myself do. I don't want to believe that a government would allow an attack on their own soil to happen just to advance an agenda, but until all the questions are answered, many will never find closure.

The Harper government discourages any kind of independent thinking. Jason Kenney is trying to tell us that any criticism of Israeli aggression can be deemed to be anti-semitism, and therefore a hate crime.

Former Liberal candidate Lesly Hughes wrote an article several years ago after the first deaths of Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan, and Peter Kent used it against her; trying to paint her as some kind of nut. Now a once respected journalist can't even find work in her field. She's suing him and I hope she throws him into bankruptcy. He should be ashamed. He was once a journalist himself.

Harper not only silences his caucus but is also trying to silence the Canadian people. These guys on the video are funny and passionate and obviously intelligent. I love when they tell Harper to come down so they can place him under citizens arrest, claiming "we promise we won't water board you".

Very comical.