Open Thread – Occupy the Tundra
Thanks to Mudflatter Alex (an adopted Alaskan) for passing on this great pic via Twitter @coldfootfilms.
OK, rural or solitary readers… time to send me your “Occupy” pics for future threads! Email me at akmuckraker(at)yahoo.com
Apparantly, Hermain Cain’s 999 plan came from Sim City.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/13/herman-cain-999-sim-city_n_1008952.html
Gee, I guess that means it has to work!
The GOP’s ‘reverse Houdini”:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-gop-ties-itself-up-in-knots/2011/10/12/gIQAj2tRfL_story.html?hpid=z3
Yay for Alex!
The photo is not of Alex…Here is the caption that goes with the photo: “A lonely vigil in remote Alaska. I’m wearing a muskox neck warmer (that is not a beard on my face) and I am a woman. The dogs are rescues. The tundra is outside of Bethel, Alaska. The day is chill. The sentiment is solid. Find your spot. Occupy it. Even if it is only your own mind. Keep this going…”
So pleased to see this fantastic photo making the rounds! I just shared it on FB last night. Meanwhile, my sister-in-law is traveling around Ireland right now, and wandered into the midst of an Occupy Dame Street demonstration in Dublin. My favorite sign from their efforts? “Unfuck the World.” Indeed.
Does she want to meet an Irish Mudpuppy? I’m in Dublin.
Thanks, Irishgirl! While I’D love to meet fellow mudpups worldwide, my sweet young sis seems more entranced with the Irish pub scene so far (the few updates we’ve received have been dim photos of beer glasses with musicians in the background.) Sounds like she’s moved on to Kinsale for the time-being…
I got a letter the other day from the Natural Resources Defense Council about the Pebble Mine.
Inside was a letter from Robert Redford describing how much damage Rio Tinto has done with
their other mines around the world. By sending in a donation to stop the Pebble Mine you get a
cool cloth tote bag that has “Stop Pebble Mine” in big letters on it.
Can’t wait to use that at the local grocery store.
DD
I love the picture of Alex and the “dog team”. They look like they are taking the whole thing seriously–doing their part for the 99%.
The photo is of me and my hounds outside of Bethel.
I will be rushing around tonight getting ready to spend the next two days in Cleveland at my son’s house, spoiling my new grandchild. 🙂 I can’t wait!
Have a great time!
I have my first grandchild and just love making him laugh…well, the truth is I think he laughs at everything and makes me laugh!
Have a great time, merrycricket!
Ever wonder how Sarah Palin’s book jumped to the best sellers list so quickly? New Corp. wouldn’t have manipulated the numbers by buying up copies pre-publication would they…like they did with the WSJ? Oops, they caught in a scam that inflated the Journal’s numbers!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/oct/12/wall-street-journal-andrew-langhoff
Actually, I believe somebody DID buy up lots of copies in order to inflate the books sales numbers.
That faux news site was giving her book as a free gifts with subscription. It might have been news max.
It was Newsmax.
I went on a field trip this morning to the Rochester School for the Deaf with my deaf/hard of hearing cherubs to see a performance that was so unique and enjoyable that I wanted to share it with all of you.
We went to see Marko Vuoriheimo (stage name ‘Signmark’), a young deaf man from Finland who is the first profoundly deaf person in the world to sign a record contract with an international recording company. He performs hip-hop and rap in sign language, along with rap artist Brandon, who raps/sings with him to provide a voice for hearing listeners. It was amazing to see this young man signing and performing in American Sign Language and mouthing the words (perfectly) in English even though Finnish Sign Language and Finnish are his first languages.
I’m generally not a fan of hip-hop but I really enjoy his music and am so impressed by the way he’s defied everyone who told him a deaf man couldn’t make it in music, and created a whole new art form. He travels around the world inviting deaf and hearing people to do mini-flash mobs, teaching them the chorus of one of his most popular songs and then filming the result. The video in the link is the mini-mob he did in Finland. All of the kids and staff in my school and the school for the deaf learned the chorus of that same song and signed it with him this morning. It was SUCH a cool experience to see a couple of hundred people from pre-school to adult signing with this artist!
I will warn you, the melody of this song is so catchy, it will stick in your head all night!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FloNPWU50X8&feature=related
This is his web page:
http://www.signmark.biz/site/en/home
thanks Leenie! shared this on my wall. you hip hop mama you. LOL.
That was awesome. you’re right – the tune is going to stick in my head for a while, and I don’t normally like hip hop either. Very cool.
Inspirational. Inspiring. Inspired.
Here’s a cute video of a little moose.
Subject: FW: Moose in the sprinkler
Subject: Moose in the sprinkler
This is sooooo cute–a mother’s love and caring –animal or human– is a lot alike!
This video WILL make your day… Enjoy!
If you listen really close in the audio you can hear the woman who is recording this trying to keep her kids quiet in the background so as not to frighten the moose and chase them away.
Worth listening to several times, and the music is absolutely perfect for the video. I hope you all enjoy it!
Just click below.
http://www.wimp.com/babymoose
that video was the cutest thing! thanks. i kept going and found this one Lady and i must say there is a moral there somewhere.
http://www.wimp.com/threecats/
I did my daily review of ADN, Huffpost, Alaska Dispatch, and a couple others. Palin was not mentioned on any front pages. A sign of good things to come?
Who?
Get a pizza. 🙂
http://crooksandliars.com/tina-dupuy/cls-solidarity-pizza-drive-still-going-
Mike Konczal at Rortybomb has a gripping essay on We Are the 99%:
“Let’s bring up a favorite quote around here. Anthropologist David Graeber cites historian Moses Finley, who identified “the perennial revolutionary programme of antiquity, cancel debts and redistribute the land, the slogan of a peasantry, not of a working class.” And think through these cases. The overwhelming majority of these statements are actionable demands in the form of (i) free us from the bondage of these debts and (ii) give us a bare minimum to survive on in order to lead decent lives (or, in pre-Industrial terms, give us some land). In Finley’s terms, these are the demands of a peasantry, not a working class. …
… no demands for cheap gas, cheaper credit, giant houses, bigger electronics all under the cynical ”Ownership Society” banner. The demands are broadly health care, education and not to feel exploited at the high-level, and the desire to not live month-to-month on bills, food and rent and under less of the burden of debt at the practical level.
The people in the tumblr aren’t demanding to bring democracy into the workplace via large-scale unionization, much less shorter work days and more pay. They aren’t talking the language of mid-twentieth century liberalism, where everyone puts on blindfolds and cuts slices of pie to share. The 99% looks too beaten down to demand anything as grand as “fairness” in their distribution of the economy. There’s no calls for some sort of post-industrial personal fulfillment in their labor – very few even invoke the idea that a job should “mean something.” It’s straight out of antiquity – free us from the bondage of our debts and give us a basic ability to survive.”
http://rortybomb.wordpress.com/2011/10/09/parsing-the-data-and-ideology-of-the-we-are-99-tumblr/
Three cheers for OTT!
I like the dogs!
A bit startled by Topeka, Kansas’s decision to decriminalize spousal abuse in order to save money.
Here’s a fun conversation about the end of Sarah Palin’s star power:
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/10/sarah-palin-frank-rich-adam-moss.html
O.M.G. Did Michele One L really say that? In response to Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 plan, she said when you take the 999 plan and turn it upside down, the devil is in the details. That’s her rational for why it won’t work? Sheesh!
Wonder who came up with that response?
I would like nice to be able to think: “quick thinking on Bachmann’s part”, but that is highly unlikely.
That said, I like it. All simplistic proposals conceal the “devil in the details”.
Thanks Merry, you started my day off with a giggle. Leave it to Bachmann to come up with something like that.
I love the photo, Alex and AKM. There is playful energy in it and it also started my day off well. Thanks to you both.
She never ceases to confirm my impression of her.
I didn’t watch the debate but I saw that clip this morning. I can’t believe she actually said that – especially after all the comments this week that religion shouldn’t be part of the political discourse. But I have to wonder how long it will be before her right wing hangers-on start using it. It’s just the sort of thing they will like and latch on to.
That’s as bad as Cain’s explanation of why his 9-9-9 plan will work: used goods won’t be taxed. Hmmm… not sure the middle class/working poor can buy “used” food or prescriptions…
You know, if you rearrange michelle bachmann, you get “china man belch elm”.
And we all know what that means!!
That’s hilarious!
Ditto! Good thing I wasn’t taking another swig of water while I read that.
This is my first response to anything after finally getting my dsl back after many months.
HA! ( really cracked me up )
Hey! Welcome back, neighbor!
What a hoot!
Beautiful frosty day.
Epic!