Well, the world is tearing itself apart today, as tens of thousands of protesters demonstrate and riot in the streets. October 15 marks a global uprising in almost 1,000 cities spanning 82 countries. For the most part, these occupations have remained peaceful; however, Rome is on fire and has been flooded with tear gas.

There are a variety of websites having to do with the revolution—you will find permanent links to some of them on the side of this page—and social networks such as Twitter and Facebook are spewing out a constant stream of up-to-the-minute coverage. If you haven’t already, please take a minute and visit a few of these sites.

In a perfect world, I’d be down at the Government Center in Minneapolis today; instead, I’m babysitting and then moving a variety of large appliances out of my mother-in-law’s house. She bought her home during the housing bubble; now, just a few short years later, she has been foreclosed on. She has already fled the state for a better job, but her son is still there—at least until the sheriff comes next week.

Yeah. That’s the kind of thing that has sparked this revolution. My wife isn’t home at the moment because she’s donating plasma—money that we need to avoid having our bank account overdrawn. Our situation is not unique; one need only go to We Are The 99% to read hundreds of similar stories, many of which are worse than our own.

In New York today, a number of protesters were arrested when they attempted to withdraw their money and close their accounts at Citibank. People are being urged to move all of their money to local credit unions; if enough folks do this, we’ll see that these banks are not too big to fail. Go to http://moveyourmoneyproject.org/ for details and resources.

Many people are asking, What is this all about?

It is about corporate greed, economic inequality, perpetual war, civil rights, and universal health care, to name just a few. I have used this column to explore all of these issues—and up until a month ago, I thought no one was listening. It turns out that it isn’t just me or a bunch of screwballs living out on the fringe who care about these things—it is everyone. The 99%.

Democrats have been hemming and hawing, dragging their feet, typically reluctant to criticize Barack Obama for failing to change one single thing since he took office; in fact, he reappointed all of the same people that caused the financial collapse of 2008 in the first place. Obama ran on a platform of hope and change; as soon as he got his hands on the reins of power, he gave the banks all of our money and let the men responsible walk away with their billions while the world burned.

At least the media is finally covering this movement; today there were a total of four stories in my local paper, the Star Tribune. A week ago there weren’t any—but this is just too big to ignore.

Meanwhile, Herman Cain continues—inexplicably—to make headlines and win polls, all because middle-American dunces like the simplicity of the 9-9-9 plan; however, as they say, the devil is in the details. For one thing, Cain and his “economics advisor” (some dumb teller he found at his local branch of Wells Fargo) don’t even understand it themselves. Cain has “no idea” whether an American computer, containing foreign parts, which was assembled in yet another country would be deductible under his plan—and it hardly matters, since what he wants to do violates numerous international trade agreements and would cripple our economy. See what MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell had to say about it here.

Hmmm…. “Stupid people are ruining America,” said Cain, but he’s the one who’s come up with an economic plan that even Republicans are calling ill-conceived, useless, and utterly inept. Still, Mr. Cain might be on to something, as far as stupidity is concerned; after all, Michele Bachmann pointed out in a debate—quite seriously—that the 9-9-9 plan, if turned upside down, is 666, the mark of the beast. Obviously, Herman Cain is one of Satan’s minions … but where he fits in, I’m not sure. We already know that Barack Obama is the Antichrist, so … well … yeah.

One person said,  “I like Obama, but that 9-9-9 is catchy.”

Someone else compared him (Herman Cain) to Martin Luther King, Jr.

Jesus God. I just read a headline that says, “Anita Perry sympathizes with unemployed because son quit job for campaign”

Really? It’s no wonder this country is doomed.

Here’s your wisdom: