Sebastian's page

• IronDave (playing an elk/elf druid and bringing chaos in his wake)
• Marex (playing a second elk/elf druid and furthering the chaos brought by IronDave)
• Studpuffin (engaging in cannibalism, beastiality, Glee-fan fiction writing, and other assorted acts of terrorism, all without inviting me, and, worst of all, leaving chat before I could show him this garbled parenthetical bit of nonsense)
• TAIG (HATE YOU HATE YOU HATE YOU)
• Treppa (refusing to take me seriously)
• Jeremiziah (disbelief in the awesome power of atomatically configuring the interwebz)
• Justin Franklin (chat related crimes against humanity)
• Crimson Jester ("it's the bard")
• The PMG (don't ask)
• Emperor7 ("What's a henwey")
• Mr.Fishy (failing to close)
• Moorluck (general bad-assery)
• Solnes (extreme bad-assery)
• Woodraven (bringing the love to the FAWTL table)
• Cosmo's moustache ("itsa me! Mario!")
• 0gre (never saying hi to me at PaizoCon)
• Sara Marie (inducing diabetic shock)
• Justin Sluder (blackmail related reasons)
• Yasha (chatroom cloning gone wrong)
• Ross (deleting the good posts before I get to read them and smelling like cabbage (unverified))
• Nerrat Dei (calling me out in a thread and being the spawn of Tarren Dei)
• My Clones
• Urizen (the result of his aggregate postings on the FATWL threads)
• Moff Rimmer (remaining civil at all times and yet doubting that he is doing so)
• Heathansson
• Celestial Healer (engaging in a limited military skirmish and labeling it as a war)
• Lord Fyre (going off-topic on the "Forums are Way Too Long!!!" thread)
• Jeremy Mcgillan (Robot Unicorn)
• TriOmegaZero (robbing me of $10 on a rigged bet)
• Trey (impersonating a person of great importance, making slanderous comments about one of the worst movies of all times, and stealing someone else's joke to get on my enemies list)
• Cosmo
• Mac Boyle ("Shizzle to the Hizzle")
• Slaad-Barr (aka Ambrosia Slaad) ("Beware Uni. Some say he still lives: lurking on messageboards, indiscriminately using Smite with Snark, and collecting Bella Sara cards from the corpses.")
• Karelzarath
• Tarren Dei
• The Jade
• Daigle
• Theran the Damned (for use of the word "impactful")
• Aberzombie
• DoveArrow (upon request(and for not being Kobold Cleaver))
• Hungry Jack (he makes me hungry!)
• Empathic Jack
• Friendly Jack
• Jack's Spleen
• Callous Jack
• Dragnmoon (for not giving me an excuse to fight with him)
• VedicDragon (for posting about breaking the 100 post mark)
• [your name here!]
• [your name here!]
• Yappy dogs other than CourtFool
• Puppies
• Kittens
• CourtFool

• Sharoth (for being so much like me in every way, approving of everything I say and do, and asking others to send me gifts)
• Fatespinner (for providing suggestions on how to kill the characters in my 4e campaign, citing me in his profile, and creating house rules for applying eyeliner)
• David Wickham (if you had ever been in the chat, you would understand why)
  
• Kobolds and their leader, Kobold Cleaver (upon request)

Here's how I view OWS and what they stand for (to me). I believe that every American should have the opportunity to work to support themselves. This means that everyone who wants to get a job should be able to get a job, even if they're incompetent. They shouldn't have a right to the best job, or a high paying job, but at the very least, if they're willing to punch in and work 8 hours per day, 5 days a week, even if that work is digging holes that don't need to be dug and then re-filling them, they should have the opportunity to earn wages and support themselves and their families. Such a job should enable them to purchase nutritious food, it should provide their children with access to education (including college, without student debt), and it should allow them to obtain healthcare.

The current system does not currently support this dream. It did for a while - there was a period in American history where one income earner could support a family, afford a home and a car (even pay for a college education for their kids), make an honest living and retire without fear. But, for the past 3-5 decades, wages have stagnated (or held steady only through moving from a one income household to a two income household), healthcare has become too expensive and difficult to obtain, and living standards have fallen. during this time, the pie has grown, the economy has grown larger, but that growth has not been shared by everyone who helped create it.

This is a dream, and the reality of implementing it is fraught with peril. I'm not going to poke my head in the ground and tell you that this could be achieved without recalibrating the balance of American life. If the entire American economy is based upon digging and re-filling holes, there won't be any food to purchase or healthcare to be found. If there's no incentive to build businesses, there will be no money to pay even a limited number of people to dig/re-fill holes. If American businesses are less competitive on the international stage, we will be unable to protect our way of life and the dream will evaporate before it can be experienced. Answering these questions and facing these challenges is a necessary step to improving our lives, and I refuse to be defeated by the spectre of what could go wrong without also discovering what could go right.

The current system does not seem to be working. I believed for a long time in the promise: if corporations can grow bigger, if capital can accumulate in greater amounts under the control of a small number of skilled business persons, everyone will experience prosperity, everyone will have a job, a bed, and an opportunity to share in the American dream.

I want that outcome, and I think we need a better system to realize it. I don't know all the details of that system. I don't know if that system can be obtained at a cost that is worth paying. I don't know, but I think there is the possibility of a discussion, of a compromise, of coming together as a nation and choosing to make the lives of our people better. The current system drives us to hoarde and consume at the expense of so many things that are more valuable to us as humans, as Americans, as, if you will, Christians.

That's my take. I'm tired of trying to figure out who's absolutely right and wrong. I'm tired of being told I have two polarized choices when it comes to any particular issue. I'm tired of fighting. I want a better life for me, for you, for every American.

And, if I may steal an innovation from toy_robots:

TL;DR Version: The dream of a better way of life is worth having, and only by sharing a dream can we make America better.