Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category

Occupy Wall St. and Our Part in the Revolution

We have seen how local police forces have responded to the people's protests, now the question is; How will our federal and state governments respond to a growing force of citizens that are sick of our elected officials willfully taking part in the plutocracy that has wrecked this country, ruined our economy, and siphoned the money from we the people, dumping it into the accounts of their largest corporate supporters?

It's time the top 1% were held responsible for their hoarding of 40%+ of our nation's wealth. They've been given endless tax breaks, and ridiculous incentives, they've gobbled up subsidies and ripped open their own loopholes. They've moved OUR money off shore so as not to pay their share of taxes, and hid behind any congressman that could be bought off.

Pro Tip: They have ALL been bought off.

This is not about being anit-corporation, this is not anti-business. No one wants their local Main St. to suffer any more than they want their credit union to go under. This is about calling for an end to the influence and power that those will unlimited amounts money have on our government.

We are sick of voodoo economics, we are sick of living in a corporatocracy that benefits only those with the money to place senators in their pocket, hire a team of lobbyists to write and sway legislation, and pay regulators to look the other way.

It is time for the "Greed is Good" generation to be forced from power and allow for a true people's democracy to take hold. Power to the people, by the people, and of the people, makes no mention of corporations or the shareholders they are beholden to.

Corporations are, after all, comprised of people; they are not, however, themselves people. It is time for the people that run the corporations to be held accountable for any and all travesties their corporation has committed against the US population. The world population. It is time for every-day citizens to have influence over the legislation our representatives put forth.

This is not about being a Democrat, a Libertarian, a Republican, a Liberal or a Conservative; those separations have been reinforced by our inept, bought-off leaders, and relentlessly beaten into us by our mainstream media to keep us at odds with one another, while those that really seek to cause us harm, pull their puppet strings.

No more.

We are the 99%; we are black, white, brown, Tea partyist, Republican, Democrat, and Liberal. We are middle-class, lower-class, upper-class, and poor. We will not stop, we will not be broken, we grow stronger every day.

Smashing Magazine Needs our Help

Smashing Darling, How Are You?

Most anyone who's been a web designer has at the very least heard of Smashing Magazine. If you happen to be an avid reader of theirs, I'm sure you are aware of the dire situation they currently face. I am among those of you who have read the amazing, and informative articles they post on a near daily (if not daily) basis. They spend a lot of money, and have invested a lot of time to bring us content that consistently helps us, as a community, to hone our skills, and become better designers.

I'm Bringing Giving Back, Back.

It's time we give back. Smashing may be in a situation where they are forced to reduce the number of articles they write, a travesty for us in the community as far as I am concerned, or consider other alternatives; none of which I believe will be all that beneficial to any of us. So how can we best help, you ask? From their article on the topic:

What happened here today, on the Smashing Magazine’s website? Well, here is the thing: we need your help. Only sound financial conditions can guarantee the steady stream of high quality content which you are used to on Smashing Magazine. Today we need your financial support. Please help us by buying our new eBook "Professional Web Design".

An eBook for Us All

The eBook is a selection of the best articles from Smashing's amazing archive written on the topic of professional web design. The book includes different guidelines for professional web development from communicating with clients, creating a successful portfolio, to tips on designing user interfaces for business web applications. I've secure my copy, and I suggest you do the same to help preserve a wonderful resource that I'm sure many of us have used at one time or another. This doesn't just help Smashing Magazine itself, but the countless authors in our industry as well that rely on websites such as Smashing to provide a venue such as they have.

Thank you.