April 9 to 15.

Any thoughts? Will it be huge or a fizzle?

Probably somewhere inbetween, but think we're in for a long hot summer all over the world. People are oiling up the guillotines in many countries now..

Yikes. That sounds ominous. I shudder for the world. I am an optimist by nature but the problems we have now seem to pale before the problems of the upcoming future. Here in the States we will soon have an enormous number of baby boomers with no income, no savings and no health care coverage.

I feel bad for the next generation who may be taxed to death to pay for those who cannot support themselves.

I am also a bit scared about Iran and N. Korea.

I think I am going to pull a Scarlet O'Hara and think about it tomorrow.

Think most civilized people don't mind paying tax to support healthcare and education for all, but to be taxed to death to pay for those who already are rich is what people are rising against all over the world.

Where is Robin Hood these days?

The operative word is "civilized". I know far too many people who resent parting with a single penny to help others, sadly.

We just signed up to host a training session in our home, Robin - although I highly doubt we'll have much of a turnout. Ours is an unusual area - we have a very small pocket of progressives/moderates in a strongly evangelical ultra conservative area (here's a hint - our county voted for Newt Gingrich in the recent Republican primary, and Barack Obama carried only 30% of the vote in 2008).

And Borje, civilized people might not mind being taxed for education and healthcare for all, but sadly way too many Americans don't agree. They also haven't yet figured out that the very rich are not paying their fair share - and worse, that we are subsidizing them.

As for Robin Hood, the conservatives will tell you he was a socialist- otherwise apparently known as evil incarnate.

Hey Toni,

This is an interesting project.

I admire you for being willing to invite strangers into your home. I am ferociously protective of my woman-cave.

I counted 26 training events within 25 miles of my house. Our tiny city is a Republican enclave but I live in a swing district so there are more open minds here than in many places.

Our Community Church is hosting a training event, and I am happy to see that 68 out of 120 spots are filled so far. I would sign up, but I am taking care of my ex Mother-in-law that week. She cannot be left alone for a single moment.

A strange development - already the cave people learned that they had to take care of each other and act as a group to be able to survive, but now we are back to a pre-cave stage where selfishness and me-mine are keywords. With disaster as only possible result.

The fact that billions are spent to feed the extremely rich instead of the weak and poor proves mankind is the dumbest animal of all, and that the search for intelligent life really should start on earth instead of space.. with little hope to find any.

I'd love to change the world..

That means April 1, 2012 I get to de garage my favorite toy







Peace,
DLM

Oooh. That looks mighty fine, DLM.

Nah, he was just a really good thief. :-) A wild-hearted Saxon chauvinist who hated cruelty, hypocrisy, and oppression-- especially towards or of other Saxons. He would have had to renounce being the Baron of Locksley (or the Earl of Huntingdon, depending on which story or ballad, and what time frame) to have been a true socialist, of course. And he never did. He was too busy trying to regain his stolen birthright, plus see evil icky Prince John punished for usurping bro Richard the Lionheart's throne. But hey, I guess ole Robert Hode was as near a socialist as dammit, eh? I have a T-shirt I bought last year from Northern Sun that depicts Robin Hood as Errol Flynn (yow!!) and reads "Where is Robin Hood when we need him?" Yeah. Where, O where, indeed? For that matter, where's *Errol Flynn* when we need *him*?? Sigh.

Laurie and Toni, I had it bad for Sir Guy of Gisbourne. Basil Rathbone's voice and commanding presence drove me insane. I wanted him to boss me around. Of course, whenever I would share my little passion with any of my girlfriends they would look at me in horror.

I can't help it -- just keeping it real.

Hey, Robin, no need to be a cookie cutter girl in your choice of heartthrobs! Interesting, say I. Not that I have ever wanted a man to boss me around, but neither do I care for a fawning toady, cringe. I LIKE a challenging man, with whom I can match wits and share adventures. I always liked ole "Razzle", in any case, especially as Sherlock Holmes, though not in "that" way. I totally get why you did, though. He could hold his own with Errol in a duel, and was a fencing ace in real life, I seem to recall. Did you enjoy him as Levaseur in "Captain Blood"? :-)

I believe in the Occupy Movement, Robin, and I believe strongly that they key to getting mainstream Americans to support any movement is to protest non-violently and to know what you're talking about! That's the objective of Occupy Spring, so I'd like to help if I can. Still not sure we'll even get any takers, though - my "city" has all of 6000 residents, with 11,000 in the bigger city across the bridge - and I'm pretty sure not too many of them think like I do!

Hi Laurie, I am so glad you get it. As for being bossed around --- that is just one of those fantasies that seem better in a daydream than in reality.

I have an almost pathological antipathy to authority and being told what to do. Which explains why I could never hold a job. If/when my boss gave me an instruction I thought was stupid, I could not help but let it show on my face and in my voice.

I obey all laws, not because I believe in them, but because I prefer to stay out of trouble.

I never saw "Captain Blood", but I hear it is a great old film.

Toni, my first-born son is a software developer for a Wall Street hedge-fund group and he is a supporter of the Occupy Movement. If I just got my boy in big trouble, his wife would not be happy with me.

I agree with you that the best way to be persuasive is to be armed with accurate information.

Goldman Sachs has 16% interest in a prostitute website.

I wonder who occupies that?
That stimulas package worked well.
I'm sure profits are a rollin' in.


Peace,
DLM

Brilliantly said.

Software developers have to work for someone, Robin. Besides, I don't have anything against hedge fund managers, I have something against a tax system that allows them to pay a lower rate on their earnings than everyone else

Hear! Hear! Yay, B! :-) Though while I "hate" to bring gender issues up again, I honestly feel "mankind" IS the operative word, so I won't argue for "humankind" in this case. IF WOMEN ran the planet, we would make d*mned sure everybody got fed and had fundamental needs met. The emphasis would be on cooperation, rather than competition. It's the way we're programmed by Mother Nature. Exceptions or aberrations don't negate the rule.

Hi, Toni, My son's wife said that our installing such strong ethical values in our sons has resulted in his turning down some very lucrative job offers. She kids me about it, but she, too, couldn't live with profiting from unmitigated greed.

Hi Toni. Are you still hosting the training session? If so I hope the experience will be productive and enjoyable.

Robin, we only had two people contact us so we ended up tacking ourselves onto a session in a town about 35 minutes down the Coast....where the total number of people showing up was only 11 (including JJ, me and the host). That wasn't surprising, I guess, and it was still interesting - although obviously I don't see much of a future for the Occupy movement here on the edge of the Bible Belt.

Hey Toni, you must really love your life where you are to be able to put up with all those Newt supporters. But, I have found that if we stay off the topics of religion and politics, most people are nice. Some of them are even wonderful.

My thought is that the workers of the world are gradually understanding that they do have more power than they realize and will continue to work towards a more equitable society for all. I am optimistic.

Robin, I live in a great beach community on a barrier island. Just off the island is America's oldest city, a charming European-like town that dates back to 1650. I know many kind and lovely people, and there is much I love about living here. But most people are Southern conservative evangelicals, and the narrow mindedness does get to you. It's tough to be an old hippie here! We would have moved back to California years ago, but my husband's dad lives about 4 hours south of here, so we can visit easily on a regular basis to check up on him.

Hi Toni. I could put up with almost anything to live at the beach. I grew up down in L.A. and my friends and I were always at the beach. I have the ruined skin to show for it.

What type of climate do you have? I love hot, hot, hot with high humidity. I love it when it feels as if you have to part the air with your hands in order to walk.

Your community sounds lovely. I live about ten miles east of Berkeley, CA. It is a beautiful little place but it lacks a beach. The beaches up here are too cold and treacherous for swimming, sadly.

Robin, when we first moved to Florida we were down south, where it is hot and humid year round. Up here on the northeast coast, we actually have a little bit of a variation - mostly hot and humid, but a few weeks of actual spring and a very short winter that is usually in the 60s, but that has been know to throw a few freezing nights our way. Today, it's 84 degrees.

I was raised in Manhattan, spent a couple of years in London, and lived in L.A. longer than I have ever lived anywhere, so I consider it "home" - at least it's the place I'm so homesick for it hurts sometimes! Can you imagine? Homesick for traffic and Valley girls!

I was lived in the San Fernando Valley right before Valley Girls came into being in a big way. I left in 1975. I lived in Granada Hills during my childhood and in Sepulveda as a teenager. Fun times!

I have fond memories of those L.A. summers. Do you remember Marianne Faithful's "Summer Nights"? Ahhh, I played that song and dreamed of love until the little record became too scratched to play.