April 1, 2012

News and Views

Former Judge Charlie Baird Pledges to Reopen Case of APD Killer of Byron Carter When Elected. Mainstream Media Disses East Austin As Usual. An abridged version of this article originally appeared in NOKOA, March 29, 2012 Charlie Baird, Reform Candidate for Travis County District Attorney, electrified the Gray Panther Political Potluck Forum, held at Lyons Gardens Senior Center, March18, 2012. Although his opponent had elected, at the very last minute, not to appear, former Judge Baird nonetheless took her operation of the DAs office to task for its consistent failure to indict APD officers for the killing of Austin citizens. That failure, Baird charged, was the product of a seemingly calculated policy engaged in by that office since before Lehmberg took over from Ronnie Earle. Going even further, the Honorable Judge Baird announced that when he becomes District Attorney, he will reopen the investigation, present it to a new Grand Jury and seek to obtain an indictment, if warranted, of APD Officer Nathan Wagner for the fatal shooting of unarmed 20 year old Byron Carter. During the open question period, some chose to direct questions to the Photo of Rosemary Lehmberg that occupied her assigned seat in her absence. What was perhaps Hon. Charlie Baird most revealing and instructive about the atypical questioning from the floor, was the uncommonly high quality, acutely perceptive, and probing character of each unrestricted question. It was not at all in the tradition of selected puff-balls so easily dodged by practiced polls accustomed to the secure protection of endorsement style Forums. And what was the reaction of our Main-Stream Media? Nothing, absolutely nothing, because they werent even there, with one exception, but more about that later! The second half of the Forum was devoted to the Office of Travis County Commissioner, Precinct #1. To their credit all four of the candidates, including the incumbent, chose to attend and present themselves to answer the overarching Question of the Day. WHO WILL TELL THE PEOPLE? Commissioner Ron Davis concentrated on what he believed he had accomplished for East Austin in his sixteen years in office, including improved roads, social services and health support. Arthur Lee Sampson discussed his life story and the values of education, while stressing the need for parents to involve themselves with the schools and their children and not expecting the teachers to do it all by themselves. Victor Gonzales, Mayor Pro-Tem of Pflugerville, spoke of his achievements in that city, newly redistricted into Precinct #1, becoming its northernmost component. Mr. Gonzales stressed his lifelong commitment to service, and declared himself ready to take that to the next step from local City to County Government . Both Gonzales and Sampson stressed that the family must be involved with the education of their children, agreeing that County County Commissioner Pct 1 Ron Davis leaders should work more closely with the parents. Continued P2
Texas Gray Panthers of Austin, Leslie Aisenman, Convener Roland Scott, Treasurer Sharron Aisenman, Editor Gray Panthers On The Prowl , Secretary graypantheradvocacy @gmail.com graypanthers@grandecom.net; www.graypanthersaustin.org 512-704-6675; sharronaisenman@yahoo.com

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Richard Franklin III

Richard Franklin III challenged all of the candidates and the entrenched establishment, contending that whatever they had done in the past was not enough to speak in behalf of their election. He asked what they would do in the future for the people of Travis County and in particular for the underserved people of Precinct #1. With discussion focusing on ways county officials could work with schools and families to lower the high numbers falling into the criminal justice system, Franklin called for programs that would motivate youngsters to stay in school rather than funding plans that just pushed pupils through the system, ensuring increased truancy, the criminalization of the neighborhoods youth and the resulting waste of their unlimited human potential. Discussion emphasized ways that county officials could work to lower the high numbers of children falling into the criminal justice system. Davis said the county has spent more than $2.5 million just this year on youth programs, including those such as Communities in Schools that help keep at-risk children from getting into trouble. We are addressing a lot of these youth concerns in the community, he said. That is a big one.

Richard Franklin III

In a fiery breach with the customary Travis County politics of decorum, Franklin demanded the expansion of emergency services in East Travis County , where he alleged emergency responders were too far away and took too long to arrive. As an example, he sighted an area of roughly 7,000 residents served by ESD 4, an area that, he demanded, needs more than just volunteer fire services. At that remark Gray Panther Beverly Henson rose in outraged anger and yelled, Ive sold three houses out there and left them without adequate protection? How is this possible? What are the County Commissioners thinking? How can they leave our people at such risk? Commissioner Davis responded that he had been working on the issue since 2008 and he expected a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new ground unit there sometime in May. The wheel turns and it grinds? And is who it grinds predetermined? Earlier, another Gray Panther, Anne McAfee, directed her comments to the absent Prosecutor. In sum, she asked, wasnt it true that she, Rosemary Lehmberg, had acted as Ronnie Earles Prosecutor-in-Chief in the twice reversed homicide prosecution of 11-year-old LaCresha Murray. That, after working with APD detectives to contrive an illegal confession, and following hours of illegal interrogation, with no attorney or family member present, a frightened child was forced to sign a statement she couldnt even read. One reversal was not enough for the Lehmberg/Earle team of legalized child abusers. LaCresha was kept in jail for another three years. After enduring a second conviction, her sentencing to 25 years in prison was again reversed. The prosecution finally dropped all charges. Through it all no effort was made to find those really responsible for the murder of two-year old Jayla Belton despite ample evidence that she had been injured 12 to 14 hours before her death. Continued P3
graypantheradvocacy @gmail.com graypanthers@grandecom.net; www.graypanthersaustin.org 512-704-6675; sharronaisenman@yahoo.com

Victor Gonzales

Arthur Sampson

Texas Gray Panthers of Austin, Leslie Aisenman, Convener Roland Scott, Treasurer Sharron Aisenman, Editor Gray Panthers On The Prowl , Secretary

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The real Killers of baby Jayla have never even been pursued. Only the national attention drawn by Bob Herberts excoriation of the Travis County Justice system in the New York Times and the TV spotlight of 60 Minutes illuminating the monstrous wrongs perpetrated by Lehmberg/Earle, led to the public indignation that resulted in LaCresha Murrays release from prison. Political prosecutions for a DA seeking re-election? This has the smell of Williamson County and the political prosecution of Michael Morton. No Billed Officer Wagner, given a walk following the killing of young Byron Carter? Isnt Byron Carter our latest Trayvon, one of our many Austinites arrested, beaten, and killed for walking while Black or Brown or young, or driving while forgetting we still live in a southern town where lynching is still permitted under the color of authority? Why should the citizens of Travis county forgive her past and her present and reward Rosemary Lehmberg with yet another term as Travis County District Attorney rather than elect a respected former jurist, Charlie Baird, to cleanse the office of its past and project a better, more transparent and accountable future? Through it all, the media blackout was made all the more egregious and obvious by the presence of a reporter and a photographer for the Austin American Statesman which, to their credit, they actually sent. The reporter arrived early and stayed for the entire event, clearly taking copious notes. The photographer left as soon as the DAs segment was over, betraying the editorial focus of the Statesmans executive suite. The very brief article, when it appeared, was entirely focused on DA Rosemary Lehmbergs lame excuse that she was out of town on personal business (personal, therefore entirely controllable and by choice), and her expectation that her staff had notified us of her impending absence, long before, what was in fact, the very last possible moment, Ask any political publicist, the article, in effect, became an unpaid political ad for Rosemary Lehmberg. AAS public article dealt only with the empty chair and their report was as worthwhile as Lehmbergs empty chair. Even more to their point, an AAS editor made it clear that the DAs race was the only reason for sending a reporter, and by inference, that an election involving only East Travis, regardless of its impact, is of little interest to their perceived readership. In other words, East Travis as East Austin is comprised of non-reading non-people and AAS feels no obligation to cover it unless, like F-1, the rest of Travis County feels directly impacted by it. I have it from reliable sources that the journalists actual reportage about the whole event was unceremoniously dumped in favor of the political puff they published. Why? Even though we had hoped for more, we now think we understand the reality. And the balance of our mainstream media? They dont even bother, unless it shocks, titillates, or presents the eastside in a negative light. In a media world where perception IS reality, little else gets through. But we still have the vote! They still havent taken that away, try as they may. Please get out and vote. Every vote makes a difference win or lose. If East Travis and East Austin would shock the political establishment by registering and turning out to vote we could achieve a new and brighter day for our own tomorrow and for our childrens tomorrows. With the small turnouts for local elections an increase of only a few percentage points would alter the political landscape. Join with like-minded citizens throughout our City and County and empower the People! Register and vote. Register once and you can vote in every election. Empower the people. Empower yourself. Or are we willing to re-embrace the days of Emmett Till? Sharron Aisenman, Editor, Texas Gray Panther On The Prowl
(Text and Photos by Sharron Aisenman)

Gray Panther Kathy Tyler shares Thoughts with CCP1 Ron Davis.

Texas Gray Panthers of Austin, Leslie Aisenman, Convener graypantheradvocacy@gmail.com Roland Scott, Treasurer graypanthers@grandecom.net; www.graypanthersaustin.org Sharron Aisenman, Editor Gray Panthers On The Prowl , Secretary 512-704-6675; sharronaisenman@yahoo.com

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April 1, 2012

Flush Rush
Rush Limbaughs assault on women has crescendoed to a level of shrill hysteria that outdoes his previous achievements in drug addled lunacy. Limbaugh has lost whatever claim he once had to use the PUBLICS airways for his own personal brand of pollution. NEITHER RUSH LIMBAUGH NOR KLBJ OWNS THE AIR. Joining with Women Against Women Bashers and Austin Move On, The Texas Gray Panthers calls upon each of us to protest the continuing sponsorship of the Rush Limbaugh show on radio station KLBJ by these local advertisers. 1. Roger Beasley Auto Dealerships
Roger Beasley Hyundai (512) 524-9569 - 24795 Ih 35, Kyle, TX Roger Beasley Mazda Georgetown - 512) 686-0361 - 7551 S I-35, Georgetown Roger Beasley Mazda Austin (512) 491-9299 - 10315 McKalla Pl, (512) 4520266 - 6375 Us-290 E, (512) 452-2400 - 2520 Buell Ave Roger Beasley Volvo (512) 452-0266 - 6375 US 290 E, Austin Roger Beasley Porsche (512) 371-1155 - 200 E Huntland Dr, Austin, TX Roger Beasley Saab / Roger Beasley Audi (512) 219-3100 - 12925 Pond Springs Rd, Austin, TX Roger Beasley Mitsubiushi (512) 765-9470 - 1120 Shelby Ln, Austin, TX

(Above) Gray Panther Anne McAfee

at Seeing Red Rally at Texas State Capitol

2. Howdy Honda (512) 443-4300 - 4110 Santiago St, Austin, TX

(512) 443-4300 - 5519 E Ben White Blvd, Austin, TX

3. Ideal Feet (512) 291-2026 - 2438 W Anderson Ln, #C2, Austin, TX Call each of the local businesses and complain about their sponsorship of Rush Limbaugh. If they tell you, and they will, that they advertise on KLBJ but dont pick their spots, patiently explain that even bulk buyers can request that a station omit their ads from an inappropriate program. As large buyers they have major leverage. No station wants to loose their revenue. Tell them that you will not patronize them if they continue to sponsor Rushs war on women; moreover, that you will advise all your friends and neighbors and everyone who will listen NOT TO PATRONIZE THEM. Tell them you intend to picket their places of business and call KLBJ to alert them to the mounting pressure on their bottom line. Call: Women Against Women Bashers for information on pickets and signs. 512-704-6675, or create and schedule of your own guerilla event. A picket of hr or more, that is visible and/or makes noise, will have an effect. Its easy to do. Plan a stop on your way to the market, or an errand, or just make a special trip. Its worth it. The PEOPLES answer is Action and Solidarity.

(Above) Gray Panther Sharron

Aisenman at Seeing Red Rally, the Texas State Capitol

Thanks to David Thomas for pictures.

FLUSH RUSH NOW!

graypantheradvocacy @gmail.com graypanthers@grandecom.net; www.graypanthersaustin.org 512-704-6675; sharronaisenman@yahoo.com

Texas Gray Panthers of Austin, Leslie Aisenman, Convener Roland Scott, Treasurer Sharron Aisenman, Editor Gray Panthers On The Prowl , Secretary

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Meet Professor Occupy (A MOVEMENT TREASURE WHO LIVES IN AUSTIN, TX ) Lisa Fithian is the streetwise radical who's teaching kids who want to be badass to be smart. By Josh Harkinson (AND WE NEED HER HERE!)
Abridged from Mother Jones/March/April 2012 Issue In her makeshift classroom in lower Manhattan , Lisa Fithian turns to a group of several dozen students, squares her shoulders, and issues a challenge: "Does someone want to be a cop and come get me?" A tall redhead abruptly breaks out and lunges at her, but Fithian, a petite, den-motherish 50-year-old, head fakes and bolts away. Cheers erupt from her pupils, Occupy Wall Street protesters intent on shutting down the New York Stock Exchange the following morning. Another pretend cop moves in, and this time she drops to the ground, flopping like a rag doll as the officer struggles to drag her away. Fithian stands to deliver her lesson. "Of the two choices, running away or going limp, what does running away communicate?" she asks. "Guilt," several people say. She smiles and nods, "Guilt." When it comes to civil disobedience, there's often a right and wrong way to break the law, and one of Fithian's jobs is to teach the right way to hundreds of newly minted Occupy activists . Call her Professor Occupy. With somewhere between 80 and 100 arrests under her belt (she's lost count) over nearly four decades of rabble-rousing, Fithian may be the nation's best-known protest consultant. Unions and activist groups pay her $300 a day to run demonstrations and teach their members tactics for taking over the streets. But for much of the past six months Fithian has been dispensing free wisdom to the young radicals who took over parks from New York City to Los Angeles last fall, everything from proper tear gas attire to long-term protest strategies Fithian, who lives in Austin , Texas, but spends most of her time on the road, dresses like Mark Zuckerberg and swears like Tony Soprano. She grew up in Hawthorne, New York, a Big Apple bedroom community where she developed a reputation for troublepolice might knock on her door to inquire about, say, a suspicious fire in a neighbor's front yard. In middle school, she once got busted for bringing a knife to class. But she was smart and earnest, and as a high school sophomore she founded The Free Thinker, an underground newspaper that tackled subjects like littering in the cafeteria. Her classmates voted her "Most likely to do things for the school." They also voted her "Most likely to do things to the school." In 1983, after graduating from Skidmore College , Fithian spent a year following Abbie Hoffman, founder of the anti-war Youth International Party (a.k.a. the Yippies), tending his garden and "picking his brain." Three years later, a coalition of activists outraged by the CIA's covert wars in Central America hired her to organize a blockade of the agency's Langley , Virginia , headquarters that ended with 600 arrests. She hit the streets with fellow protestersincluding the black-clad anarchist kids she calls "the smashy smashies"to disrupt the World Trade Organization's 1999 meeting in Seattle.. And in 2005, she teamed up with fellow radicals and former Black Panthers to launch Common Ground Relief, a group that rebuilt houses while clashing with police in the devastated Lower Ninth Ward of post-Katrina New Orleans "When people ask me, 'What do you do?' I say, 'I create crisis,'" Fithian says, "Because crisis is the leading edge where change is possible." Fithian's rsum has made her a target for people hoping to discredit the nascent Occupy movement. In a single week this past October, conservative activist Andrew Breitbart ran nine stories on his website painting her as an anarchist bent on "the total annihilation of the American political and economic system." In fact, Fithian has a long history working with mainstream groups such as the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).. But Max Berger, an organizer of Occupy's moderate wing who cut his teeth working for Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign, sees her credibility with young radicals as crucial. "Nobody is going to say that what Lisa does is not badass," he says, "so she is in a very strategically important position of teaching kids who want to be badass to be smart." Case in point: On September 17, the first day of Occupy Wall Street , police told the protesters they couldn't affix their cardboard " Liberty Plaza " street signs to utility poles around Zuccotti Park . Many people wanted to give the cops the middle finger, but Fithian offered a compromise: They would take down the signs and find new ways to display them. The important thing, she stressed, was to keep occupying. Continued p5

Texas Gray Panthers

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On Day Two of Occupy, Fithian left New York to coordinate anti-bank protests in multiple cities on behalf of a coalition of religious and community groups. The overlap of her consulting gig with the birth of the Occupy movement was sheer coincidence, but Fithian made the most of it. She shuttled around to the encampments popping up in cities like San Francisco , Los Angeles , and Chicago , schooling the fledglings in protest tactics and enlisting them to help her occupy banks or defend foreclosed homes. "It showed a lot of us how it is important to connect the larger message of inequality and corporate control of politics to more local issues," says Kelvin Ho, an organizer with Occupy Chicago. In late October, Fithian was called back to Manhattan to help the movement catch its stride. While Occupy Wall Street was succeeding beyond its organizers' wildest dreams, its internal politics were a mess, and meetings of its quasi-governing body, the Spokes Council, often devolved into shouting matches. Fithian, an old pro in dealing with nonhierarchical groups, agreed to help facilitate. "We are not going to be making tons of decisions but streamlining our work, making this a more functional process," she announced, kicking off a Spokes Council meeting a few days after police razed the protesters' encampment in Zuccotti Park. As each of the committees known as "working groups" voiced their needs and concerns, Fithian took notes on a sheet of construction paper, but she stopped writing when Sage, a homeless occupier in fatigues, began rambling. When she tried to cut him short, Sage protested loudly about "a line between the haves and have-nots of language." Fithian cut him off again, holding out her palms as though blocking a pit bull and offering a quick summation: "How about, 'Respect for diversity of expression'?" With Sage appeased, the meeting could proceed. "I heard a ton of people mention afterwards, 'Oh my God, I wish that we had a facilitator like that before,'" recalls Logan Price, a movement organizer. "She helped the Spokes Council get to the point where people felt comfortable about continuing it." A new problem arose in November when a spate of graffiti and window smashing at a march in Oakland, California, fueled notions that the movement's tent cities were full of thugs. Some Occupy protesters supported the mayhem, citing the need for "diversity of tactics." But Fithian countered in an open letter that "diversity of tactics becomes a code for 'anything goes,' and makes it impossible for our movements to hold anyone accountable for their actions." Stephen Lerner, an SEIU executive board member who has worked with her for 18 years, believes Fithian's widely read statement helped cement the movement's nonviolent culture: "When she says it, I think it has a different kind of credibility because of her own history." As Occupy marches on, perhaps its greatest internal tension is between the reformerspragmatists with concrete goalsand the revolutionaries, idealists who feel that asking anything of a corrupt system only marginalizes the movement. "This isn't a protest movement, because protest movements are to address issues that the power structure could conceivably be willing to give up," a black-clad occupier named Max Bean told Fithian over lunch in early December. "We are asking to dissolve the power structure. And you can't ask for that. You can't protest for it. All you can do is grow until we are so big that we are everything." Fithian weighed her response carefully. "Movements build because people have some sense of hope and victory and accomplishment," she replied, setting aside her plate of steamed kale. "We might win on the millionaires' tax in the next six months. That's gonna be fucking huge." She smiled as Max gave her "twinkle fingers," the Occupy hand signal for approval. "So it's the balance between reforming and revolutionary things. And that's why this movement is so beautiful, because it holds both." The SEIU sent Fithian to Washington three days later to coordinate Take Back The Capitol, an Occupy-style assault on corporate lobbyists. Bona fide occupiers were flown in to help union members blockade K Street and take over congressional officespart of a labor strategy to forge alliances with Occupybut some occupiers chafed at the union's unwillingness to risk more than a few symbolic arrests. Fresh out of jail and gumming a wad of Copenhagen , Joe Carriveau of Occupy Milwaukee told me he was "done with this Democratic coalition crap. We are supposed to be down here for some radical action." The following day, in a tent on the Mall, Fithian helped run a session aimed at easing tension between the two factions. She let almost everyone else speak before taking the floor. "One of the problems is when people are doing different shit, we are starting to disrespect each other because we are thinking that your way is not as rad as our way," Fithian said. "We are bringing in all these judgments, and it's very destructive. We have to accept what each movement's gifts are, and where we can be in alignment." Union members and occupiers can work together to "interrupt the space between corporate America and democracy," she went on, to murmurs of assent. "It's not about getting our elected officials to do something. Shit. They ain't gonna do shit."

Texas Gray Panthers

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ISSN: 1043-1284 Page 1 MARCH! APRIL 2012 www.agingtoday.org volume xxxiii number 2

Reprinted with permission from Aging Today March/April 2012 Vol 33 #2, 2012. Copyright (c) 2012. American Society on Aging, San Francisco, California.www.asaging.org.

Aging, outrage and the Occupy Movement: Gray Panthers join in, speak out about putting profits over people
By Sally Brown and Brooke Hollister Maggie Kuhn was forced into retirement at 65 in 1970. Her outrage, plus a desire to continue her involvement in social action, led Kuhn to found the Gray Panthers, an intergenerational economic and social justice advocacy organization. Todays Gray Panthers still accept Kuhns charge to protest against anything we consider wrong and speak our mind, even if our voice shakes in public and virtual protestthrough email, Facebook, Twitter and on the Web. Kuhn described ageism as the segregation, stereotyping and stigmatizing of people on the basis of their age. Ageism perpetuates prejudices that foster negative attitudes toward aging and ingrains ageist beliefs into our collective conscience. As a result, people of all ages come to dread their future lives and deny their own aging. This is unfortunate because, as Kuhn pointed out, the one thing we all have in common is aging. A great deal of progress has been made since Kuhns fight for a more enlightened view of aging, but ageism persistsin media portrayals, employment challenges, service providers patronizing behaviors, marketing of anti-aging products to increasingly younger populations, inequitable healthcare practices and policy debates about Social Security and Medicare. Ageism Sticking Around A 2011 study by Luo et al. in Research on Aging found that age discrimination was the most commonly reported form of discrimination, followed by gender, race, heritage and physical qualities. And older adults were more likely to attribute perceived discrimination to their age. The study found that perceived discrimination had a negative impact on peoples health and everyday discrimination had stronger effects than a major discriminatory event.

In Margaret M. Gullettes Agewise: Fighting the New Ageism in America (University of Chicago Press, 2011) the author describes such current social symptoms of age discrimination as increased job loss for older men, decreased pension values, peak earning years for maggie kuhn, founder women at age 45 and fears over loss of looks beginning in the late 20s. The current political milieu, with its hyper-partisanship and concern about deficits and government spending, elevates the threat. People are openly pitting younger and older generations against one another, representing elders as draining our society of resources and threatening our economy. However, as Gullette argues, those now entering old age have the highest wage inequality of any recent generation, and those entering middle age have higher levels of poverty than any equivalent group of mid-lifers since the generation before 1914. Occupy the Outrage The Gray Panthers missionto create a society that puts people over profits, responsibility over power and democracy over institutionsresonates with the intent of the current Occupy Movement. Outrage is a universal language across generations and the outrage that brought Kuhn and the original Gray Panthers into the civil rights and anti-war movements of the 1970s, is bringing todays Gray Panthers into the Occupy Movement. Nationwide, Gray Panthers of all ages have readily embraced Occupy, joining in marches, teach-ins and protests. As in the 60s and 70s, there is growing public discontent with affronts to equity, liberty and democracy. Progressive Gray Panthers embrace the Occupy Movement because they, like Occupiers, understand that elders and Main Streeters feel dismissed and disenfranchised by the privileged and powerful few. The current circumstances of the unemployed, who are relying on government assistance, place them in a situation similar to the old, who are reliant on social insurance programs. Both groups are threatened with increased hardships, while being treated as outcasts of a system that rewards productivity and profit. Continued p5
Texas Gray Panthers of Austin, Leslie Aisenman, Convener, Director of Advocacy graypantheradvocacy @gmail.com Roland Scott, Treasurer graypanthers@grandecom.net; www.graypanthersaustin.org Sharron Aisenman, Editor Gray Panthers On The Prowl , Secretary 512-704-6675; sharronaisenman@yahoo.com

Join the fight to overturn those who would deny us our rights!

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The Occupiers have revived strategies of grassroots activism, sit-ins, local actions and street protests, and rekindled a belief in the power of the common people to create change. William Black, former federal regulator and professor of economics and law, attended an Occupy teach-in and said, Whats distressed me, and I think is one of the major reasons we get recurrent intensifying crises, is we seem to have lost our capacity for outrage. And its only people getting outraged that produces really positive social change. Kuhn knew that, if nurtured, collective outrage could spur intergenerational action, using the experience of elder activists to support the movement, as the young share their vision for a more just society and add tactics. If both aging and outrage are what we all have in common, one solution is to occupy together! ! Sally Brown is the immediate past chair of the National Board of the Gray Panthers, serves on the National Board and Leadership Team and is convenor of the Twin Cities Gray Panthers network in Minnesota. Brooke Hollister, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of sociology in the Institute for Health and Aging at University of California, San Francisco. She serves as vice chair on the National Board of the Gray Panthers. Visit www.gray panthers.org. Occupy Inspires Elders The following quotes are from Gray Panthers who have joined in various Occupy Movement events across the country: News of Occupy Wall Street has given me hope for the future. I was of the opinion the younger generation lacked the [same] social responsibility and willingness to protest as my own generation. Reading the comments of a 17-year-old stating they were staying until greed is no longer the ruling principle of the nation gives me great hope and pride in the young people of our nation. ... I attended Occupy Tampa today. There were about 200 people of all age groups and various cause groups. It felt like the 1960s again. Tom Calahan, Florida Gray Panthers emphasis on putting needs of people over profits and the initiatives of Occupy Wall Street highlight the critical need for a focus on accountability of public officials responsible to uphold, enforce, [and] obey laws that reflect the public interest (and the need to eliminate) fraud, waste, abuse, and corrupt practices. Clint Smith, Texas
Went to Occupy San Francisco and Occupy Oaklandvery inspiring! Heard Michael Moore Friday, he said that Occupy has

killed despair and banished apathy, and these are victories. How true. In San Francisco, we were asked by our local NPR station if we thought the young were apathetic, and said, No, they are all over the Internet, but the Arab Spring and Wisconsin told them that they had to be here with their bodies. Margot Smith, California
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Texas Gray Panthers of Austin, Leslie Aisenman, Convener graypantheradvocacy @gmail.com Roland Scott, Treasurer graypanthers@grandecom.net; www.graypanthersaustin.org Sharron Aisenman, Editor Gray Panthers On The Prowl , Secretary 512-704-6675; sharronaisenman@yahoo.com