A few days off, if you are lucky

Thanksgiving. Giving thanks. The real events which made up 'the first Thanksgiving' I'm sure would not resemble the picture postcard described to us as children and continued to believe in as adults, but it's fair to say that some people were just happy to be alive and making the best of their circumstances.

Most people love Thanksgiving. I'm one of those rare ones who never liked it. Family gatherings have always been on the painful side of awkward, and the only memories of the holiday that I can conjure up that are worth it are the ones that involved alcohol. It's worth noting that alcohol has ruined as many as it has redeemed.

These days it is much easier. The #1 thing I am thankful for is that I have not had to endure a traditional Thanksgiving for quite a few years. MrB has been my hero in this. We are both Thanksgiving 'orphans,' he because his immediate family is in another state, and I because I have no immediate family other than him. We will spend part of Thanksgiving seeing a movie and ordering off the menu at the Alamo Drafthouse while watching The Descendants. The rest of the day we will do whatever the hell we want. Thank you MrB for not insisting that we conform to society's norm.

The #2 thing I am thankful for is not having to deal with the abominable Black Friday. Isn't this Xmas's evil twin? And it's only in America, driven by a pretense of holding back Xmas with Thanksgiving, it all explodes on Black Friday. Every year people are injured and even killed by people stampeding through the store doors when they open - and there is a war over which retailer will be open first. Almost none of the ads I see are about the Thanksgiving holiday, just BF. I really believe that Black Friday has grown to be nearly as important. Some of the big retailers like Best Buy and Target are opening at midnight on Thanksgiving this year (instead of the once-shocking 5AM Friday) so the staff has to be there on Thursday night. There have been petitions against it, but those will have no effect against this impending buygasm. Black Friday is like Christmas without the fake facade of pretending that it's about something other than raw consumerism. Ugh!Our Black Friday plans only include going to see The Band of Heathens. Will see some friends there, I'm sure, and hear some great music.

I've been bitten by the redecorating bug. Not sure if I will be able to capitalize on this enthusiasm by actually putting some paint on a wall, but I am most thankful that I am lucky enough to have a few paid days off, and that we haven't yet sunk to the point where the average Joe or Jane no longer have any benefits such as that one.

Occupy Austin 10/15 March

The 99% are too big to fail.

I've been in quite a few marches in this town, and this was one of the largest. I really think it had to be at least 1500-2000 people. It was as wide as a lane of traffic and went on for several city blocks, from the middle I could not see the end or the beginning of it. City Hall has been "Occupied" for over going on 2 weeks now in support of Occupy Wall Street. The permanent occupation is rather small, probably a few dozen, but this march was BIG. There was a rally at City Hall, then a march, first to a nearby Chase Bank so that people could close their accounts there as part of the protest, then it continued nearly to the Capital and back to City Hall. The police were great, and there were no arrests (at the march) that I'm aware of.

The Media
Booos and hisses to most of the local media outlets for their coverage or lack of it. I mean, Seems like if 10 Tea Partiers get together on a sidewalk they'd be on everybody's top news and lead story. As for local TV network affiliates, they were piss-poor. The Fox affiliate's top local story was that someone had been caught on hidden cam shoplifting. Astonishing. NBC affiliate KXAN led with the story of the pro-gay marriage event and march held the same day. A cool event (that deserves coverage) where they held about a dozen mock same-sex weddings and about 100 people or so marched to the Capitol. ABC affiliate KVUE had what was worse than no coverage. They claimed that Chase Bank was targeted because earlier this month Chase began charging a $5 fee on debit transactions. WRONG twice. First, that is not why Chase was targeted. Second, it is Bank of America that just added that fee, not Chase. Chase was chosen merely because of proximity. The other unfortunate part of the KVUE thing is that rawstory.com linked to their 'coverage.' Laaaaaame.

YNN (which is a cable-only local news channel) had the best coverage. They have an article AND decent video at the link.

Our one newspaper had a small photo gallery linked on their web-version sidebar (not sure what will be in print as I don't read printed newpapers).

Some notes on a few of the signs.

"$ Millions from schools paid to Valero Oil Company." Here is what that one is about. Valero and other refineries say they are owed around $135 million from Texas in tax refunds, with Valero's share around $92 million, even though all parties are aware that $62.8 million will have to come out of the already-bleeding public school fund. More here. Yes, I know... this one is backwards. The other side says "We Are The People."
"The government of America Libya has a responsibility to respect the universal rights of the people, including the right to free expression and assembly. -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. SHAME!!!"
"Hey Top 1%, Yer Killin' Us!!" Nice cleaver.

Coffee Party!
So true.

Here's a video that I shot. It captures just 1:45 minutes of people going by. Chant is "Banks got bailed out, we got sold out."


This movement is not partisan. It encompasses plenty of stuff that has been traditionally lumped in with left or right wing, but there is some commonality. There is a minority of folks (a bit more righty) who could also fit in with Tea Party philosophy. They want to end taxation, and maybe even the government itself. Many worship Ron Paul. They seem to part ways with other TP platforms in that they understand that war must be funded by taxes, and they are not in favor of establishing a theocracy. As we were leaving, there was a guy singing a song about his hero, Joe Stack (the sociopath and terrorist who flew his small plane into a building as an attack on the IRS, killing himself plus one other person inside it (an IRS agent), creating widespread trauma and destroying an office building). I'm sorry, but I am not supporting that. at. all.

The lefties are not against taxation, and want the rich and the corporations to start paying their fair share. They want fair consumer dealings and protection from fraud. They want more regulations on Big Finance, Big Pharma, Big [whatever]. I fall into that category.

Most of the people in this movement, left and right and middle, I believe are in favor of abolishing Corporate Personhood of Citizens United, and unlimited and anonymous political donations that, in effect, buy elections and gut democracy. The Occupy movement is about democracy, no matter how you slice it up.

Return to Scamalot

{sigh} You know, I think craigslist is a great service and it's wonderfully free and all that, but every time I try to sell something on there, I get more scam responses than legit ones. I know... what should I expect? Trying to sell a Powerbook for $400 yesterday, and even though I wrote in the posting "Local only" I am getting those scammy responses that offer to pay more than you are asking to cover "shipping to another country."

They really try to pose as locals, or at least American, but their English always breaks down. Also, their references to your item are generic and could apply to anything that's for sale (because they don't really look at the ad).

From: "wills james" willsjames20@gmail.com

Thanks for the fast response actually i was guessing a gift to buy for my cousin,who is based in West Coast Africa with his company, and while browsing craigslist, i saw what you have for sale and found it quite nice as a gift. I am willing to offer $500 for it including shipping cost via USPS{ems}express mail. I will be paying through PayPal, because its the safest means of online payment.

Hope to read from you soon

Nice to read from you, "wills james," but I've already heard this one. They pay you with a fraudulent Paypal or a fake money order (I don't know how people rig up a fake Paypal, I only know that the transaction is going to bounce and fall back on me to make good. They offer to pay in advance (item unseen) and pay a lot extra to cover shipping overseas. Then someone will come to your house to pick it up (a third party agent), you will pay that person the shipping money and hand over the item. So you are out the shipping money *and* your merch, plus you have to make good with your bank for the fake stuff.

From: "Linda Carey" careylinda02@gmail.com

Hello,

Thanks for the email. I read your posting of the item and I want to buy it for my niece in Lithuania, but I am currently busy at work but I can pay by PayPal account because it's safe and secure online transaction, I can pay a bit more then you are asking and to cover the extra cost to ship it.

i will be offering you $550 including the postage cost via post office or DHL,

Please get back to me on this, if my offer is acceptable and send your PayPal address and I can send the payment.

Thanks a lot!

Oh Linda... I didn't send you an email, and if I had, it would have said "Do you know what I am selling?" I wish I had time or tenacity to mess with you people. I'd find someone in law enforcement who's interested in busting you small-time criminals and that person would be meeting with you instead of me.

Previously on Scamalot...

[updated June 2 with yet another scam email!]

Hello,

I appreciate your response ,I'm willing to buy it for my co-worker in oversea.I want to know the condition of the item and i am asking Apparently if it can be shipped internationally via post office hope $150 will ship it because i make an Inquiries about the shipment via Post Office(Register Mail).I would be paying you through PayPal
because they are reliable for online transaction,Kindly email me with the email that associate with your paypal account / send me an invoice for me to remit payment as soon as possible. if you don't have paypal account,go to www.paypal.com and set up one and get back to me, its free and secured for online payment..

Please get back to me with your paypal id so that i can send the payment today into your account.

God Bless You
Regards.

Yours Sincerely ,

...and so it begins...

This is the Office Depot home page. This is the middle of August. Labor Day is a couple of weeks away, but it's not too soon to start Christmas.

Damn Yankees!

Well, I'm sure I won't be the only blogger to use that title for this topic.

[source] According to the story, Yankee Stadium is banning sunscreen!

Are they worried that you are going to make a bomb with it? They say they are protecting you from terrorism. And don't fear, when you get inside, they WILL sell you a one-ounce bottle of it for $5.00!

Dr. Babar Rao, a specialist at the Skin and Cancer Center of New York, is quoted as saying, "This is especially bad for children, as their younger skin is particularly sensitive. Sunblock needs to be reapplied every two hours, even if you are not swimming in the ocean or pool."

(This NY Post story adds that they are now allowing you to bring in as much as 3 ounces of your own sunscreen.)