“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.”

Remember that scene?

“The Wizard of Oz” was perceived as a giant terrifying disembodied head. Even Dorothy was fooled, until her dog Toto barked at a curtained alcove. The man inside the alcove shooed Toto away, while speaking into an amplifier: “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!”

Today, thanks to thousands of plucky kids occupying Wall Street, America is looking away from the Big Giant Head. Instead we are finally focusing attention on what is behind the curtain.

Many have criticized the tender years of the Occupy Wall Street protesters, sneering, “These kids still live with their parents.”

Well, who else COULD stage a weeks-long sit-in … ?

The rest of us are chained to jobs. We are chained to dependents (children, elders, pets). We are chained to mortgages. We are chained to credit card debt. We must wait for accumulated vacation days (if we are lucky enough to have a job) and then have the boss's permission to use them.

It is the young, who have not yet been chained, who can take the lead, in times like these.

So, the kids are sleeping in a cramped urban park, enduring police brutality, being maced, beaten, hand-cuffed and arrested, and they have been doing this for weeks now. They are doing it because no “leader” seems capable of protecting or serving us, the majority of Americans, the 99 percent.

The corporate-owned media is near-unanimous in its disdain. “They don’t have a clear message!” (5,000 people chanting “Banks got bailed out, we got sold out” … ? Only a media pundit could fail to find a clear message there.)

The Media would rather we continue to be suckers for Corporate America’s favorite brainwashing tool, distraction. “Politicians cause your problems! Vote for different politicians, if you want change.”

In other words, “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.”

Congress has become almost a wholly-owned subsidiary of Corporate America. One hundred percent of Republican politicians are owned outright, and at least half, or maybe two thirds, of Democratic ones.

Thanks to the corporate-stacked Supreme Court, the wealthiest 1 percent now enjoy unbridled control of our political system.

Here’s more corporate spin: “OWS attacks success itself” or “they hate successful people!”

Sorry to disappoint, but no one is against success.

We ARE against crooks, criminals and liars.

We are against a system that has been gamed and rigged to continuously channel money to the 1 percent, while making the 99 percent poorer. Fair markets? Fair playing field? You won't find these in America today.

OWS has pulled back the curtain. They chose the right spot and the right time. Wall Street is the epicenter of financial earthquakes and tsunamis that have damaged the entire world’s economy. OWS points straight at the people who caused economic disaster, and says “You stand accused!”

Wall Street does not like the attention. Wall Street spends a great deal of money on PR firms, politicians, lobbyists, media pundits and talk radio, to avoid this kind of attention.

Bottom line: In 2008, nearly twenty percent of America’s net worth, accumulated over 200 years, disappeared. The criminal banksters responsible would prefer people not stare at them.

In the words of a Holly Near song, “We are a gentle, angry people, and we are singing for our lives.”

Thanks to OWS, our nation is finally beginning to hear the people’s voices.

Thank you, Occupy Wall Street, for pulling back the curtain.

Thank you to all Occupiers across America.

Those “crazy kids” started the ball rolling. Will you help keep it going?

To learn about Occupy Together events in Lake County, including two occurring on Saturday, Oct. 15, in Lakeport and Clearlake, visit www.occupytogether.org or www.ruralvalues.org.

Deb Baumann lives in Upper Lake, Calif.