The inimitable George Carlin, in one of his last stand-up routines, had the theme, "It's bullshit, and it's bad for you." So true in our world today. The bullshit and the bad. The source of both is the money. You can always follow the money. And where does the money lead? To those that have far and away the most: global corporations and their well-heeled controllers, uber-rich families, the elites of the world who have known nothing else, the Goldmans, the Rothschilds, the Saudi Royal Family, and any number of collaborators and government "servants" who share their misplaced priorities.

The utter failure of our current systems, whether energy and food production, finance, healthcare, or the war machine, creates a stench that permeates our lives in every corner. Our quality of life is threatened at every turn, whether it's trying to keep oneself employed, keep a home that's lost substantial value, keep healthcare while being ripped off, or seeing the death, destruction and waste from U.S. incursions in Iraq, Afganistan and wherever else "our leaders" choose to attack.

In the first Star Wars, “A New Hope”, Obi Wan Kenobi reacts to the destruction caused by the Imperial Death Star blowing up the planet Alderaan: “I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.”

Growing up in the fog of the dominant culture has left its mark on us all. Whether this fog really exists and what it consists of are fabulous questions. While it is often argued otherwise, from the World5 perspective, the fog is evident, pervasive and tremendously destructive.

Many of us are aware that the elitists currently pouring millions into this election cycle anonymously care little about education. Indeed, these elitists prefer ignorance and misinformation as the best tactic to maintain power and control. As such, the poor state of our elections and electorate is to be expected.

Greetings Friends and Citizens,

This is a time of awakening. Something new is in the air. To quote songwriter Joni Mitchell, “Maybe it's the time of year, or maybe it's the time of man...” I'll go with the latter, in spite of the deficiencies in using the word 'man' when one means 'humans.' 

For centuries the vast majority of humanity has suffered under the thumb of elitism, the system where powerful political and commercial interests collude to take advantage of the rest of us. They start wars, they create globalism, they call us consumers. The classic name for this is plutocracy. It’s a clear sign of the failure of government, serving the interests of elites instead of citizens.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. Indeed, throughout the world we see insurrection and the rejection of nation-state colonialism and corporatism. 

These are curious times, to say the least. I doubt the handful of fed up citizens who decided to occupy Zuccotti Park in the NYC Financial District on September 17th, 2011 knew going in that within a month they’d have millions of supporters and thousands of occupations popping up across the Earth. They just knew the system was utterly broken, and felt compelled to take action. And here we are.

The Occupy Movement is an amazing phenomenon. In less than two months it’s has aggregated into a global movement, taking a strong stand again the financial forces that have taken over the U.S. and so many other governments. There are no indications of us going away.

We are in uncharted territory. This is like no time in our civilization’s history - global food shortages, climate crisis, unending war and violence, corporate domination, rampant systemic corruption, government collusion with corporations, abject poverty and homelessness, mass extinctions - it’s a long list barely begun here. It’s enough to leave one feeling hopeless in the face of such onslaughts. And yet there is hope.