Bravo!

I'm gonna assume this guy had ample reason to do exactly what he did, and doesn't any man alive wish he could do just that when the occasion calls?

5/15/14- $15 Minimum Wage... NOW!!!

Please Sign...

What I Did On Spring Break...

Last time it was "the right to bear arms," this time- corporate takeover of one's home... If it's something I'm passionate about (and a fairly sane site) the Comments section is a venue to sharpen and hone one's viewpoints, facts and debating skills- and in the process, maybe even learn something (and help ward off the oncoming dementia).

Rule Of Law

Storefront gallery in The Tenderloin, SF; Photo: S. Banos

I grew up in a time in the US when you could look up to The Supreme Court and at least hope that they would do right- by law and... mankind.

Those who now make, interpret and enforce the law have effectively co-opted it to their own ends and empowerment- ignored when inconvenient or embarrassing, enforced only when it reinforces those who wield it. Such has always been the case- granted, but its blatantly biased and pernicious application is now impervious to even the most legitimate of challenges. Devoid of any pretense to unite and protect us, it serves mainly to: divide, disempower, alienate, and punish. Once the last resort of the oppressed, it is now the social and economic truncheon that caters to the whims of the elite.

Step off the plantation and you pay the price...

Two Things...

1.) Been wondering (OK, more like self amused) for well over a week now, as to why The Media doesn't refer to the two Boston bombing suspects from The Caucasus as... Caucasians?*

2.) Why is it that the FBI and their related law enforcement agencies are so great at entrapping and busting witless, gullible chumps with dummy bombs and even dumber terrorism plots they themselves help choreograph- and so raggedy-ass awful at preventing real terrorism plots even when they've been warned, often repeatedly, by their fellow intelligence agencies, both foreign and domestic?

*I remember reading quite some years back (in a Nat Geo if memory serves) that ethnic people from the Caucasus (ie- Chechnyans) referred to themselves as "Black" and that they were the target of discrimination from lighter skinned Russians. Remember shaking my head and thinking to myself...ain't that some shit!

350+

This is some scary shit, and it affects each and everyone of us- there's no hiding, no running away, no ignoring. And it will bite us all- BIGTIME!

"Carbon in the atmosphere greater than 350PPM is not compatible with life on earth. Today we are at 395..." Now watch it in earnest---

If Only He Was The Irish-American President!

    

“Be proud to be a decent American rather than being just a wanker whipping up fear.”

Ai Wei Wei- Never Sorry

What manner of man is Ai Wei Wei... someone who can resurrect as lame and tired a gesture as giving the finger into a fresh and provocative symbol of both hope and defiance. I have to admit, I really didn't know shit about Ai Wei Wei before this movie and he's probably definitely the most important artist in the world today if only because he's inspiring an entire country (and audience worldwide) by directly challenging a corrupt, authoritarian  political system. And art could have no greater or more noble cause to validate and exclaim its very existence. What he makes clear is that you cannot separate the two, you cannot have one without the other, for art is the fullest expression of individual and collective freedom.

And he risks his life and safety in that very cause... 

Accountability in 2012!?

Yup! From Obama? Uh-uh. From Congress? Please. The Pope? You jest. But imagine if the latter- or any or the aforementioned did react to injustice like the NCAA? Bravo!!! 

Update: Or maybe NOT...

Trying And Killing The Wrong Texans

If anyone should be tried for murder in The Lone Star State of Texas, its these two two lying murderous bastards (and governors) for the willful killing of innocent Americans and the subsequent, purposeful coverup.

Interrogations- Donald Weber

Donald Weber: Interrogations

Saw this book and knew I would have to purchase it. Ironically, both the book (in format and construction) and the photographs within are equal parts crude and "beautiful," if the latter can be applied to such subject matter- which almost appears contrived, set up, actors rehearsing their parts. Of course, such is far from the case.

Portraiture has always been a seductive, complicated dance between subject and photographer, one which places the former in a somewhat vulnerable, compromising situation- sometimes suspicious of the ambitions of the photographer, and always unknowing as to the final result. Even when the dance is fully collaborative, it's the photographer that has the last word on how the end result will be seen, portrayed, even interpreted. So we must ask ourselves why those in the position found in Interrogations would ever consent to have their picture taken (the vast majority did not). Why would people already feeling as vulnerable as possible subject themselves to a process which could only cause further apprehension, even humiliation? Perhaps they thought having their picture taken by a foreign journalist would actually afford them some measure of protection, at minimum provide evidence of their existence and location before they disappeared into a vast bureaucratic penal system never to be heard from again? Perhaps it was the mere opportunity that rarely presented itself in their bleak if far from ordinary lives? I guess we'll never know.

I suppose some would argue that we already know that what is depicted here, and worse, occurs across the world, and that the photographs are therefore somewhat superfluous. But without ready access to direct evidence, we are forever allowed the luxury of abstraction, and worse yet- denial. Work such as this deprives us the opportunity to conveniently look away. 

More on Interrogations, here, here, and here...

Hero Fallen

“I’ll just ask the fundamental question,” Ritter said, looking at me squarely across the table. “My personal missteps — how many Americans have died as a result of that? None. Other than my family, how many victims were there? None. And yet, in refusing to engage in a responsible debate about Iraq, how many Americans died? Thousands. And America seems to have no problem with that.” 

Those are the words of Scot Ritter, former Marine, UN weapons inspector, and one of the most important, and informed, voices against the war in Iraq, before it ever began. Unfortunately, he's also someone with his own personal demons- demons that he has somehow either failed to take seriously, or just chosen to ignore... not unlike the vast majority of the American public's attitude towards not invading Iraq.

I'm not belittling Mr. Ritter's problem by any means- the guy needs some serious help. He needs to be as uncompromising with himself, as he is with others. Both the United States and Mr. Ritter are now paying the price, although they continue to live in a fog of deniability, admitting only limited wrong doing at best. But one is hard pressed to escape the logic, and the very sad reality, of the latter part of the statement above. 

Illustration by Shawn Kuruneru. Illustration based on a photograph by Mike Groll/Associated Press.

The New Jim Crow

 Interesting to listen to and discover how she came upon "her moment of enlightenment."

  

... My experience and research has led me to the regrettable conclusion that our system of mass incarceration functions more like a caste system than a system of crime prevention or control.  -Michelle Alexander

Amazing Lives, Amazing Story...

Occupy One Goal?

Photo courtesy: ©2011 John Montgomery

Now that Occupy has everyone's attention, should we perhaps concentrate on just one goal- one demand that could truly inspire, unite and actually bring out the 99% en masse? Namely, the fact that the 1% (incl corporations- who are now legally recognized as people in the US of A) must pay their fair share of taxes! Not that it would be nice, not that it's a good idea, but that they must do it- and do it now! 

Sure, every other Occupy demand is also eminently just, righteous and well, well overdue- but instead of just taking symbolic, philosophical stands, what if We The People finally said BASTA, and concentrated all our effort on just this one! So far, it's gone nowhere fast legislatively- but it's the one that would most easily garner (and already has) the widest nonpartisan public support and enthusiasm!

If we could get that one thing done, not only would it clear the deficit- it would also help pave the way for everything else that so desperately needs to get done...

PS-  Wrote the above a week before I found the photo, and the accompanying site...  Guess we got some like minded people out there- Let's do this!!!

Grayson, Camp & The 99%

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

We have 1% of the richest, greediest, filthiest people in the world v .001% of the 99- where's the rest of the 98+% that should be marching alongside in protest, shutting down and paralyzing every major city in this country and the next? And they call the OWS kids... slackers!? Yeah, I know we're all too damn busy just struggling to survive- point is, we'd all see a lot more return for that struggle if we simply united into a strong, indivisible front. The 1% delights in our innate ability to divide ourselves- they encourage it.

Where is the voice and membership of every damn union that's barely survived the purge? Where is the voice of Mr. Farrakhan who got out one million strong? Where are the preachers, rabbis and priests whose flocks have lost their homes, their jobs and well being? Where are the thousands of parents whose children attend long neglected public schools that can't properly educate their children for colleges they cannot afford? Where are the teachers whose workloads increase each and every year while their jobs are threatened, cut and privatized? Where are the elderly who can still raise holy hell? Where are the truck drivers and janitors, the food servers and sales persons, the plumbers and farmers- where is everyone who has seen their wages diminish, their health diminish, the future dreams and immediate needs of their own family and children delayed, denied and forgotten?

Why are you just watching- or worse yet, deriding? You can conveniently blame whatever struggling group of people you so choose- but it was the 1% that sent our jobs overseas, it's the 1% that still refuses to pay anything resembling their fair share of taxes- it's the 1% that are still giving themselves raises! And not one of the entire lot that so callously created this entire economic debacle has been charged, indicted or convicted. Is a Tea Party ignorant of our own history going to save you, or are you still betting on the eternal dance of Presidents from either side of one coin?

Think- Act- Demand- March!!! We can be... We must be... We are the 99%!

                                                           

9/11- Ten Years After

9/22/01- Liberty St, NYC

It's been a long ten years since 9/11, many of the things I grew up with in NY are forever gone or changed. Many New Yorkers, like myself, sometimes forget how we "hated" those twin towers, those bland, overgrown metal boxes that only seemed to get in the way of the view, the neighborhood, the city itself- only to belatedly learn just how much they had become part of our everyday NY identity upon having them so violently torn away.

The entire country was united back then, the entire world waiting for us to respond in a manner both positive and transforming. We had the means, the impetus and the good will to lead, set the example, shame those who would commit such atrocities, and reward those aspiring to create a better world. 

WTC, 9/11/06

Instead we had "leaders" who boasted of exploring "the dark side," so called leaders who instilled fear instead of inspiration, who sewed mistrust and bigotry at every opportunity, until hatred and vengeance was all that we saw, all that we ourselves were capable of understanding and perpetrating. Instead of being blessed with those that would lead us into a new century and a new paradigm of how to cope with evil and criminality, we were cursed with the policies of those whose thinking was medieval in reasoning, and every bit as barbaric in practice as those they were supposedly meant to vanquish. Instead of building bridges to those we had previously isolated (and in many cases violated), we fostered a culture of torture, imprisonment, occupation and death. Our penchant for unbridled force and retaliation spread far and wide, even to a country that the President himself finally and reluctantly admitted had nothing to do with 9/11. In "liberating" that country, we killed hundreds of thousands, most of them innocent, many of them women and children- and in so doing managed to create even more of the enemy than had ever previously existed there! Or as one Iraqi put it, "Instead of one Saddam, we now have hundreds."

Photos: Stan Banos

Ten years later we have lost and thrown away a budget surplus that could have taught, healed and built so much of what we so desperately need right here, right now. While contently annihilating the entire infrastructure of one country, we watched our own crumble about us. We spent two to three hundred million dollars a day (if not more) in Iraq and Afghanistan, and were told to go forth about our business and... shop- as those in our stead lost life, limb and brain matter. We metastasized from a country (that at least in theory) decried the very thought of torture, to one that learned to fondle it like some new found masturbatory pleasure for which we would excuse ourselves over and over again. But most of all, we proved ourselves "too big" to admit we went about the whole damn thing, all wrong.

We learned nothing from the hubris called The Bay of Pigs, or the quagmire called Viet Nam (where our legacy of agent orange and unexploded ordinance continues to kill and maim to this very day). Ten years after 9/11 we're all so very pissed- why? Because we were yet again led into a needless and futile war (while fighting yet another) built on the most obvious of lies? No, because the get rich quick scam known as Iraq blew up in our face, while Afghanistan, the game ball from which we diverted our eyes, continues to suck us dry... And now we're stuck with the bill for both.

But on this day of commemoration, let us remember those who died that fatefully tragic morning- we could have done so much better by them.

This Should Be Every Front Page Headline...

... on every newspaper, magazine and TV "News" program in the US. It should be sermonized in every church, taught in every school- tweeted, Facebooked and emailed on every goddamn cell phone, laptop and iPad. Then maybe, just maybe, people will finally start asking (ie- realizing) exactly why they're losing their jobs, their pensions and their homes- instead of just accepting it as the inevitable fate ordained by our Christian gods of finance.

Twenty-five of the 100 highest paid U.S. CEOs earned more last year than their companies paid in federal income tax...

 It also found many of the companies spent more on lobbying than they did on taxes.

"Generations From Now..."

"...we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment the rise of the oceans began to slow." -- Barack Obama (upon winning the Democratic nomination)

Of course, that will be a long time after they rise faster and farther once he signs the tar sands pipeline deal- a very long time well after he's President. Meanwhile, we don't have to look too far in the present to witness his most recent cave, when he nodded his approval of deep sixing Eric Schneiderman, the rare investigator/prosecutor anxious to nail the big banks who have become addicted to nailing common citizenry to the wall.

President Obama can slam dunk any Republican rival when it comes to intelligence or oratory- and yet we have to pray and close our eyes that he completes so much as a simple lay up come game time. Generations from now will ask why the President elected to do so many of the things the world so desperately needed, allowed their world to degrade yet further into its death throes.

The Future Imperfect

Sometime this mid to latter century, your children's children will ask their parents whatever happened to these magnificent animals, when all that's left are hordes of jellyfish floating in a toxic soup of oxygen depleted water, man made chemicals and islands of wandering plastic waste. They'll somehow find the time to ask the way kids inevitably do- whenever there's a break from the recurrent global conflicts over potable water and arable lands.

And someone will have to tell them that no one cared enough about them or any other living thing (with the exception of their own venal selves)- so we knowingly continued to pollute, over fish, and enthusiastically convert two thirds of the world's surface area into the largest open air sewer known to humankind. Someone will have to tell them, that yes, the signs were both abundant and evident that our largest life source was in obvious, imminent danger and yet we continued to abuse it unabated, somehow maniacally setting aside the obvious conclusion that it would ultimately endanger our own survival.

Someone will have to answer them, but it won't be me, and it won't be you. And with that reassurance we'll continue to mine every last remaining gasp of fossil fuel no matter the environmental cost, we'll continue to vote for every policy that benefits wanton, short term economic growth, and we'll most happily continue to deny that we have reached that point of no return where the earth itself can no longer rebound, forgive or maintain us...   (BoingBoing)