IN MY OPINION: #OCCUPYWALLSTREET

Although the recent protests taking place around the country that originated in New York's financial district lack a clear message accompanied by specific demands, I still understand the message and I still understand their demands.

They're not very well organized and they don't have any symbolic hats like the Tea-party, but it's clear that these people are upset about the way their country is going.

So what do they do?
 They go to the scene of the crime.

The protests began with a few hundred people in New York organizing via social networking sites, but the movement didn't garner national attention until the "#occupywallstreet" hashtag became a trending topic on Twitter. From entertainers to political junkies, tweets accompanied by the trending hashtag were being shared on a global scale. As of Saturday morning, a Facebook page for the protests had 50,000 "likes".

Of course, the support of the protests is split upon party-lines. On Fox News' "THE FIVE" talk-show, 4 out of 5 of their hosts referred to "everyone" involved in these protests as "socialists, marxists and communists". A sentiment I couldn't disagree with more. Interesting though, how when the left-wing media generalizes about the Tea-party protests, calling them all racists, Fox News goes up-in-arms about not generalizing on an entire protest movement because of a few hundred signs depicting the President as Hitler - irony.

Banking And Taxing

Bank of America, the largest bank in the country, announced earlier in the week that beginning in January of next year they will be charging customers a $5 fee once a month if they swipe their debit card.

Doesn't matter if you swipe your debit card once or fifty times, you're still getting hit with the fee.
According to CNNMONEY, the bank is charging the fee to offset the loss in revenue as a result of the new banking regulations that go into effect in the beginning of next year.

On the same blog, CNNMONEY reports on some of the other new fees the bank will charge including $5 for replacing a new debit card and an $8.99 fee for speaking to a human teller if you're enrolled in online banking - seriously.

All this comes in the backdrop of the debate of whether or not corporations such as Bank Of America should have their taxes raised as a way for the government to increase revenue. Considering that corporate tax rates are at their lowest point in the last 60 years, those in the political left are in favor of raising taxes on the top 1% and on corporations to the levels of the Clinton era.

"It's better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an innocent one." -Voltaire

Recently the TV news has been consumed by the execution of Troy Davis, a man convicted of killing a police officer in 1989 although there was no physical evidence - no DNA and no weapon - and although the prosecution relied primarily only on the testimony of nine witnesses, seven of witch have recanted over the years citing police coercion, the execution still took place on Wednesday.

The story quickly became international news with when the Twitter hashtag "#TROYDAVIS" became a trending topic late Tuesday evening, bringing in opinions and views from all over the world on the execution. The ACLU called for action Wednesday morning by asking citizens to urge their state to abolish the death penalty - going as far as dedicating part of their website to an internet protest allowing citizens to petition their state to abolish the death penalty. 

Ironically, death and the death penalty were sources of controversy in the previous week. During CNN and NBC sponsored Republican Presidential debates, people actually cheered for death and the death penalty.

How do you get YOUR news ?

Ever catch yourself listening to something on the radio or the television regarding a current event, and you start nodding your head and agreeing ? Ever wonder if what you're hearing is actually true ?

You're not alone.

A University of Houston study finds that among other things, listeners of conservative talk radio are more likely to be misinformed than listeners of moderate talk radio - but they're more likely to agree with what they hear. Why ?

Vanity magazine reports the average age of conservative talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh's 19-30 million weekly listeners is around the age of 67.


With the younger demographics sticking to the web and social media outlets for their news on political and social issues, prominent conservative radio personalities such as Rush Limbaugh and Laura Ingraham have a stronghold on our public discourse on talk radio.


If old school conservatives are sticking to old school media for their politics - are liberals establishing themselves with social media?

The President of the United States certainly is.