Occupy the Mudflats Forum!
The fine folks over at The Mudflats Forum have now created a special place to gather and post about your Occupy events and comment on others around the world. You can join in and participate HERE. The Occupy Wall Street movement is gaining steam, and the unique sense of connection and solidarity between cities is made possible through our ability to reach out and talk to each other online, and share our experiences in real time with others.
If you’ve never ventured forth into the Mudflats Forum, you are missing out! The Forum is like a whole other level here at Mudflats Central, where you can post about anything and everything, and enjoy discussions with your fellow Mudflatters out of the confines of the blog or the Open Thread. You can chat about world politics, the economy, your pets, recipes, great books, or organize local events in your area. Since the Forum began in September of 2008, there have been more than 10,000 topics discussed!
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Welcome to our most recent members JasperCat, Janniffi, jcjmoore, emmachen, aklib, kavik, samitchell79, debbie48, liteman and SaminAK!
I wrote this, in memory of my brother and will be attending “Occupy” events to, hopefully, educate people on a very discriminatory Medicaid Law. Don’t just save Medicaid, make sure it has parity too!
Go to my the Paul’s Legacy Project website to see the picture that goes with it. Click on the information link and then go to “I WAS A PERSON”…
My name is Paul Flannery, and I was one of the 4% of US adults with severe mental illness. We do not seem to have a voice in this whole “Occupy” movement. The call to save Medicaid funding once again leaves my fellow 4% out in the cold. For some, that is a literal statement.
You see, Medicaid funding for long-term, in-patient treatments is denied to Medicaid eligible adults who are unlucky enough, like I was, to have an illness in their brain, instead of their heart, or lung or some other organ in their body. There is even a law against us, it is called the Medicaid Institutes for Mental Diseases (IMD) Exclusion.
Because people with severe brain disorders, like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, are denied access to appropriate long-term, in-patient treatments, 200,000 of us are homeless, 500,000 of us are in prison, we cycle in and out of the local emergency rooms, psych wards, and jails by the millions, and we die, on average, 25 years sooner than you, the other 96%, due to medical neglect. You traded state hospitals for homelessness, incarceration, and death. This is not protecting our civil liberties.
I died three years ago; I was only 48 years old. You could be my voice, and the voice of the 4%. Please tell Congress to repeal the discriminatory Medicaid law that puts long-term, in-patient treatments out of our reach. It is literally killing us.
Repeal the Medicaid Institutes for Mental Diseases (IMD) Exclusion
The great shame is that this country does not have universal healthcare for all of us. Americans choose to run away from mental illness and to “pretend it away.” Our attitude demeans us all.
From Europe:
“Inequality in America is greater than it has been in almost a century. Those fortunate enough to belong to the 1 percent, made up of the super-rich, stand on one side of the divide; the remaining 99 percent on the other. Even for a country that has always accepted opposite extremes as part of its identity, the chasm has simply grown too vast.”
“Economist Robert Frank writes that, with its often extreme deregulation, today’s financial and economic system makes it impossible for individuals’ self-serving behavior to ultimately contribute to the prosperity of society as a whole, as Smith had envisioned it. Instead, it leads to an economy in which only the fittest survive — and the general public is left behind.”
“The question is: How long can the US withstand this internal tension?”
http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,793896,00.html#ref=nlint
Sounds to me like, someone over there across the pond can see the light.
I’ve been in contact with the Occupy Traverse City folks because they stand in front of and also directly across the street from a people-friendly bookstore. Their presence on Saturday afternoons obstructs the cross-walk and blocks people from going into and out of the bookstore. My suggestion that they move in front of the bank on the opposite side of the street from the bookstore was nixed by the organizers because it might block the sidewalk there! They also do not want to stand in front of local office of our dreadful Rep. Dave Camp (current chair of the House Ways and Means Committee) because he’s not there. Part of the problem is that he’s never there; we’re in a supremely gerrymandered corner of his district. I’m not really sure that he knows he represents us! There are also investment banks and investment firms in our town but the occupiers have ignored them. So, at least with regard to the local occupiers, I have grave doubts . . . .
During the elections of 2008, we found that the huge advantage of the forum was that local mudpups could publicize news that was not getting national coverage. Sometimes these were *small* snippets of information drawn from personal knowledge or local newspapers. Sometimes events that were reported here did eventually make it onto KO, or other (usually) MSNBC programs, invariably a couple of weeks later. One way or another, together we were able to add depth and breadth to our understanding of what was going on.
As more and more places are occupied, the eyes and ears of people involved will become crucial, especially in the face of the various methods employed to discredit and destroy the movement. Having a place we can gather, collate and discuss, not just the news that can be found elsewhere but news from our mudpups on the ground, will be increasingly important.
So a hundred thousand welcomes and don’t hesitate to ask if you have any questions.
The thread is Everything Occupy, and I say, Occupy EVERYTHING! 🙂
Yes, and the Forum is where the Mudstock plans come to fruition 🙂 *hint*
Keith Olbermann’s website is covering the OCW stuff pretty well. Has lots of info I’ve not seen elsewhere.
http://current.com/shows/countdown/
Spent a wonderful day on the Oregon coast. One of the highlights was a guy in Bandon driving a black SUV with a huge sandwich sign on top “We are the 99%!” I was waiting for hubby on a corner, and by the time I saw him all I could do was yell as he went by. He looked a little startled, like he wasn’t sure if I was yelling or supporting. Here he comes again, and I jump up and down a little and wave madly. Bigger smile from the driver. I’m digging for my camera, just in case, and damm – here he comes again around the block. I waved, yelled and jumped up and down. Huge smile from the driver – but my camera didn’t find its way out in time. Gray haired veteran type of guy.
After dinner and dark had settled in, we drove back to Roseburg. When we reached town, hubby said “Look!” and pointed to the side of Garden Valley Blvd. I saw flickering lights on the sidewalk, and white figures on a bench out of the corner of my eye. I said “Cool! Halloween decorations right by the VA and Bureau of something or other – I wonder who did that?” “No, those were Occupy people!” he replied.
I asked him to go back, so he went across the freeway and turned around. I told him it was damm important for me to show my support since I couldn’t rally at home. We went back, slowed the car, I rolled down the window (it was pitch black) and started waving and thanking the protesters. What I thought previously were witches and ghosts propped on a bench turned out to be ancient women dressed for the cold weather, holding signs. I waved and hollered “Thank you! Thank you!” and burst into tears. They smiled, hunched on the bench under blankets and their signs – waving back.
I’m going back to day to see if I can get their pics.
Dang, it’s raining today. Umbrella donations might be in order this AM (Roseburg in central OR is highly conservative – doubt they have much support here)
snowing like hell here. A classic Nor’easter, we got here, a-yup.
Ripley, from what I have heard of hell, it doesn’t snow there.
When I heard of the Nor’easter I was so glad to be in AK and no longer in the ‘middle’ where I lived through many of those. Snuggle down and hope there are no power outages! My thoughts are with you!
Up here in good ‘ole AK I will head out and plant more garlic today before the ground freezes up for the winter…here is to a very mild fall:-)
Waving at Oregonians who brave the elements to ‘occupy’ and hoping your trip is enjoyable!!