It was a pretty big weekend in this country. Before we dig in, a quick explanation
on today’s title. “Remember, Remember the 5th of November” is a line
taken from an old poem on the Gunpowder Plot. I know, you’re wondering
what the hell is the Gunpowder Plot.
It is the name given to the attempt by Guy Fawkes to blow up the Houses
of Parliament, in London, back in 1605. I know, you’re wondering who
the hell
is Guy Fawkes. Well, he’s the guy on the right and he inspired the
famous mask you see on the left. Because, he tried to blow up the
English equivalent of our Capitol building, his name became synonymous
with anarchy, terrorism, social unrest, etc. He is still celebrated in
England, till this day. They call it “Bonfire Night” now and firework
shows are put on, throughout England. In honor of Guy Fawkes Day/
Bonfire Night, “Bank Transfer Day” was November 5th here in the States.
From early reports, the idea is a great success. Numbers from the 5th
itself are still rolling in but 650,000 thousand moved their money
to smaller Credit Union/ Community banks in October alone (myself
included). The total of funds moved were in the neighborhood of 4.5
Billion dollars. And, 80,000 people committed to moving their money
specifically on Nov. 5th, on the “Bank Transfer Day” Facebook page.
Here’s hoping the action wakes up politicians and banks alike. Just
before Nov. 5th, Bank of America backed off their idea to charge $5 per
month for having a debit card. We shall see what else happens from here,
but an amazing start nonetheless. If you were curious of the full
“Remember, Remember” poem, here it is:Remember remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever be forgot…
I know what else you’re wondering, what the hell happened on the 6th? I knew you’d say that. The 6th was pretty awesome here in the States. There was a massive protest outside the White House on the 6th. The reason was something called “Keystone XL.” I don’t think I ever mentioned Keystone XL (KXL) in the blog, but please get acquainted with it. KXL would transport what’s called “tar sand” oil from Canada all the way through the US, down to Texas, for shipment to the world market. Why is this bad? The Tar Sands in Alberta produce more than 8 times the carbon pollution as oil from Saudi Arabia. And, annual CO2 emissions are more than that of 145 nations. No sh*t. It’s insane, right?
Scientists from NASA are saying that it is basically game over for
the climate as we know it, if this CO2 is released into the atmosphere.
The tar sands
oil is much dirtier than that of the Middle East. If I go into depth on
that, you’ll be reading this post till Nov. 5th, 2012. But, trust me
this isn’t the stuff we get from our traditional oil suppliers. In
addition, the pipeline would pass through water aquifers in the
country’s heartland. Any spills could contaminate the water sources for
millions of people. Basically, there is no way this is worth the risk.
Why this is a part of great weekend around this country, is because
people have stood up to this in an amazing way. Prior to 11/6 (over one
week in September), about 1,200 people were arrested outside of the White House protesting KXL. Why outside the White House? I just realized, I’m asking myself
a bunch of questions in this post. Anyway, since this pipeline would
cross an international border, it has to be approved by the President
(Congress is not needed for this). So, it’s a major test for Obama and
one he can’t farm this out to an ineffective Congress,
crazy Republicans, etc. On Nov. 6th, over 12,000 people returned to the
White House (see above, right) and locked hands and lined up around it,
to show their feelings about this project. At the time of posting this,
over 28,000 have signed a petition registering their displeasure. Our friends in England are protesting in their own way as well.
They’ve created a small replica of the White House and are encircling
that. Our neighbors to the north got involved in a spectacular way, dropping a 70ft banner from Niagara Falls (complete with 2 people repelling down into the Falls). It was done in the pre-dawn hours to avoid authorities.Best quote I saw from a DC protestor:
“We’re still willing to consider the notion that Barack Obama is who he said he was.”
Damn, they are not fooling around with Obama anymore. The love affair is over, no great speech will get him out of this.
So, as you can see, it was an amazing Nov 5th and 6th around the country and the world for that matter. It seems that the world has awakened and are not sitting idly by as these things happen. If you read this blog regularly, you know I love this stuff. I think it’s needed and overdue.
Ok, so those were two heavy stories. I say we have a laugh before we get out of here. I mentioned
in my intro post to the blog, that I’m a bit of a soccer nut. I noticed
this over the weekend, while watching a match. His name is Kemy
Augustien. I had to pause the match and take a pic of him. It was just
that awesome. He’s a Dutch footballer from a team called in Swansea City
in the English Premier League. If you were paying attention to this
title, you already know that I think he’s looks a lot like Mr. T (minus
the gold).
Here’s an amorphous thought on Mr.T. Did he hold onto all of his A-Team gold? Gold is over $1,700 per ounce
now. Look at this pic, he must have a few million bucks around his neck
(at today’s prices), god knows how much around his wrists and on his
fingers. If he held on to all of this gold, he would make Glenn Beck proud.(Thought within a thought, take a look at Mr. T’s chain where the picture cuts off. He even has the “Star of David” in gold form. No one can accuse him of being an Anti-Semite.)
Sorry about that, back to your regularly scheduled post.
You be the judge on their similarities (between Mr. T and Kemy Augustien). My best guess is that Kemy lost a bet on the hair.
We’ll leave it there for today.
See you soon,
James
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