Chiara: October 2011 Archives

The Daily Kos has been running some wonderful articles about Occupy Wall Street, The 99% and specifically why The 53% are so misguided.

Today I saw an article by Satyrblade that takes those who aren't super wealthy but think they aren't part of the 99% to task. He says at the end:

Incidentally, unless this person is a multi-millionaire, she IS part of the 99%... and so are the rest of us. The slogan refers to the people making less than $10 million or so a year. That level of money is not something you often accumulate by working hard and living below your means. It's the kind of money usually enjoyed by people who either do some of the things listed above, or who inherit wealth from other people who already did.

This is what this country needs. Found this on Facebook today. Please, pass it on. The question is how to make this happen.

1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.
2. Congress (past, present & future) participants in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security System, and Congress particpates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.
3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.
4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.
5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.
6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.
7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.

If each person contacts a minimum of 20 people then it will only take three days for most people (in the US) to receive this message. Maybe it is time. THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS. If you agree with the *Congressional Reform Act of 2011*, pass it on.

I've started a petition on Change.org to send this to Congress. It's the first step for seeing something like this actually happen. Please sign the petition today.

When I was at the Social Good Summit a few weeks ago, I saw Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Mary Robinson talk about the dangers of child marriage. They have a new international campaign, Girls Not Brides that they talked about.

Today, I saw an article on the BBC News site, "What Is It Like To Be A Child Bride?" Apparently there was a documentary on child marriage, The Truth About Child Brides, that aired on the BBC last night.

Girls Not Brides has a moving video about it:

It's so great to see this issue getting talked about. I think about what life might be like for these girls, and I just can't imagine. I can't imagine my 8 year old niece being married off now. I think back to my childhood and there was no way I could have pictured being married that young. Heck, for me, marrying at age 26 was too young.

I wish there was more that I could do to help the girls in these situations. They say raising awareness of the issue is the first step, so I'll do that now. Watch the video above. If you find The Truth About Child Brides playing again, watch it. And tell people about it. These girls need our help.