G8 Protest in Japan

I found this flickr stream which has some nice shots:

flickr.com/photos/powle...605985394658/

Star Mangled Banner

Something I wrote in 2001 about the 4th of July:

Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2001 11:14:24 -0700

"If there's any hope for America,
It lies in revolution.
If there's any hope for a revolution,
It lies in getting Elvis to become Che Guevara."
- Phil Ochs

I love America. Living in a foreign country makes you realize that every
country has it's own imbecilic bureaucracies, cultural constipation and daft
populations - and I now appreciate what America has to offer.
From where he lived in India, the Buddha gave exact directions to hell.
Using his calculations, Hell would be in the middle of America. The Dalai
Lama says he got it wrong, making the excuse that the Buddha was not a
cartographer - but I give the Buddha props for knowing his shit. Hell is
probably a strip mall in Oklahoma. Four square blocks where nothing goes
right; greed, sloth and hate take hold of anyone who enters it. People buy
things they don't need, having just yelled at their kids, eaten fast food,
and thrown the wrappers out the window of their dodge mini van. Welcome to
Hell - population: 4,793.

Our founding fathers were upper-middle class white guys that got a
revolutionary hair up their collective asses about the idiocy that was
ruling them. Wouldn't it be great if the middle class of today did that?
Millions of TVs and being thrown out the window simultaneously!
My great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great uncle signed the
Declaration of Independence. Charles Carroll of Carrollton, a wealthy
Maryland landowner. But signing it made him an "extreme radical" (according
to Newsweek magazine). Everyone who signed it figured they would be hanged
for treason, and apparently they joked about it while they were signing.
Brave guys. Some of them were smart too. I just put a quote from Thomas
Paine on my homepage because I thought it was so evolved. When Jefferson
wrote: "We hold these truths self-evident that all men are created equal"
It was definitely not self evident to anyone, they were up against centuries
of feudal aristocracy! All men created equal? Unfortunately they didn't
extend any equality to the majority of the citizens: women, natives, slaves,
indentured servants, and po' folk.

The founding fathers were far from perfect - they had slaves, were power
mongers, stole native land, oppressed women and wore bad wigs - but by
putting trust in the common man, they laid the foundation for the
abolitionist, suffrage and labor movement. Our constitution protects the
freedom of religion, speech, press and the right of the people to assemble
and seek redress from their government. Someone forgot to tell the Seattle
police department. A few years ago Britain passed "the Criminal Justice Act"
an oddly named law making protests and raves illegal (boy, those ravers are
really dangerous!). In China they jail the Falun Gong for doing tai chi
exercises (boy, those Taoists are really dangerous!). Governments get itchy
anytime people get organized. Thomas Jefferson's motto was "Rebellion to
tyrants is obedience to God" and I've adopted it as mine.

The beauty of America is that we have the power - we could lead the world in
consumption, pollution and stupefying entertainment, or we could dust off
our revolutionary heritage and dump the tea into the Boston Harbor. Or the
Starbucks Frapuccinos into the Gap. The economic aristocracy now rules. We
kicked out King George - now we've got the Corporate Entity. Due to a dumb
decision in 1886, corporations are considered "legal people" with the rights
of a human. Check out www.poclad.org .Yesterday I wore the Adbusters
flag with the corporate logos instead of stars - proudly. I love my country!
There's hope for Hell, Oklahoma. The Bodhisattvas are committed to sticking
around until everyone gets enlightened. Even the Americans.
Hope you all had a happy 4th!

My favorite song by my favorite revolutionary band, New Model Army:

My Country
Tell all the people who believe what they read in the press
Tell all the folk who stare from behind suburban walls
The enemy is not some nation far across the sea
The enemy is with us every single breathing day

So yes, I will fight for my country
The land that I love so well
Yes - for justice, a land fit for all our futures
Yes, I will fight for my country
The land that I love so well
Hear the voices of our history echo all around

Fight all the ones who divide us rich against poor
Fight all the ones who divide us white against black
Fight all the ones who want their missiles in our earth
Fight all the powers who would lead us into war
No rights were ever given to us by the grace of God
No rights were ever given by some United Nations clause
No rights were ever given by some nice guy at the top
Our rights they were bought by all the blood
And all the tears of all our
Grandmothers, grandfathers before
For all the folk who gave their lives for us
For all the folk who spit out - never say die
For all the fires burning on our highest hills
For all the people spinning tales tonight
Fight all the powers who would abuse our Common Laws
Fight all the powers who think they only owe themselves . . .
So yes, I will fight for my country
The land that I love so well
Yes - for justice, a land fit for all our futures
Yes, I will fight for my country
The land that I love so well
Hear the voices of our history echo all around

John Law's comment on the Addis Sentencing.

laughingsquid.com/paul-addi...n-charges/
Also interesting are the comments by Don McCasland and Timothy Warren.

# comment by John Law
on Monday, June 30th, 2008 at 4:00 am

"Paul Addis’ early burning of the corporate logo of the Burning Man event last year was the single most pure act of “radical self expression” to occur at this massive hipster tail-gate party in over a decade. The extraordinary publicity that this singular act focused on the event had to be good for, at a bare minimum, 1-2 hundred last minute ticket sales at the highest rate of (correct me if I’m wrong) maybe $280.00 or $300.00 a pop.

That would work out to a bare minimum of $30,000.00. Not to mention the residual benefit over the course of succeeding years that that type of high profile exposure provides for the bottom line of a corporation engaged in the pursuit of long term branding opportunities and ticket sales.
$30,000.00 is the amount of receipts that Will Rodgers, as representative of Black Rock City LLC presented to the Federal Court as total damages incurred by Addis’ action. I’d say that, on the balance, the BMorg benefited financially from Addis’ action as opposed to being financially damaged.
The irony of Will Rogers being the corporate officer (one of six that own the event) that was saddled with the onerous task of administering the wrath of BMorg onto the hapless prankster Addis is deep and cutting indeed to anyone who is familiar with Rogers history and disposition in dealing with his duties as operations manager for the event for over a decade now. Addis is in jail, Rogers is not. It’s a strange world, indeed.

Paul Addis’ prank, when symbolically infused into the collective self image of the BM “community” is as mythic an action and as profound an image (relative to persons who might care) as Stephen Colbert’s roasting of George Bush at the White House Correspondents Dinner some time back. Colbert’s incredibly ballsy action will be lauded for decades to come. He directly challenged and (with humor) berated the most powerful man in the world (sic.) No one in the Bush White House had him arrested or assassinated even though his verbal attacks could be interpreted as extremely insulting even slanderous. Similarly, as long as there is a spark of originality, passion and true creativity in Burning Man, those who adhere to these precepts - precepts that originally fueled the event, these people will discuss and ponder the import of the epic action that Paul’s inner voices compelled him to make. Nonetheless, Paul, unlike Colbert will be serving hard time for making fun of a powerful image.
BMorg faced a profound choice when dealing with the fall out of Addis’ seemingly deranged action. They could have understood and capitalized on the PR value by simply, graciously accepting what happened and then making the best of it. They could have been (or claimed to be) compassionate. It might have looked something like this: send Harley or M2, (not the compromised Rogers) to court with receipts for less than $5000.00 and a request for community service for the offender Addis. He was (and is after all) one of the events children. The Feds would have prosecuted and convicted Addis of a MISDEMEANOR arson charge (under 5K is not a felony.) Paul would have been punished appropriately for his transgression - time served, probably and his friends would have thrown a fund raiser to pay it off; future potential transgressors would have been dissuaded from similar high jinx and all would be well in the kingdom.

As you all know, this is NOT what happened. Pity.

An essentially decent (tho’ undeniably off balance) young man’s life and his potential career have been crushed to pay the debt of anger and retribution of a vengeful corporation. He was made an example of in order to insure that NO ONE would ever challenge or desecrate the empty symbol (Oh….. excuse me, the brand trademark) of a corporation that could have been so much more.

Some have brought up the point that the decision whether or not to prosecute an arson case lies with the DA (or in this case the Federal Prosecutor.) Just to be crystal clear here - this is technically correct. However any prosecutor who does not have the tacit support of the aggrieved party in such a case (vandalism, property damage, etc.) will think very hard before dedicating his/her offices limited resources to a case that very likely will not culminate in a conviction. Make no mistake - Black Rock City LLC knew very well that if they declared their financial loss for the early immolation of their corporate logo to be less than $5000.00, the best conviction the prosecutor could have hoped for would have been a misdemeanor rap culminating in a much more appropriate finale for all parties. Any decent group of people that were part of a “community” would have acted with circumspection and compassion in this case.

Now, I would like to commend Chicken John for his passionate arguments regarding this issue and address some misapprehensions and misinterpretations put forward by various individuals in the responses posted on this blog.

I’ve heard so many people who became involved in BM in it’s later years excoriate Chicken and other “old timers” for sour grapes or living in the past, or simply being stick in the mud types unable or unwilling to allow the newcomers their right to simply enjoy their participation in the event without a lecture about how cool it used to be and how watered down it is now.

I believe that any misunderstanding here is simply one of definition. So, let’s define what Burning Man is and what it was. Also, let’s put the event into the larger context of the “arts” and culture scene of the Bay Area and beyond.

Now, Burning Man (legally speaking, Black Rock City LLC) is a for profit corporation controlled by six people (Marian Goodell, Harley Bierman, Michael Mikel, Larry Harvey, Will Roger Peterson and Crimsom Rose) that generates in excess of 12 million dollars annually for producing a one week event. Much of the labor to produce this event is volunteer or compensated at well below market value for comparable work on comparable events (Oregon County Faire, Coachella, etc.) Burning Man (like Montsanto, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Intel Corp) has embraced “Green” themes to validate it’s corporate mission statement and counter balance it’s corporate “footprint” on the environment as well as to assuage the conscience and expectations of it’s target market (you.)

Burning Man (like Starbucks, Apple Computer and Nike) provides a superior product that generates intense consumer adherence and loyalty.

Burning Man (like The Body Shop, Esprit and Ben & Jerry’s) derives a great deal of it’s consumer adherence from it’s very successful PR campaign equating the corporation and it’s goals with specific ideals. Powerful ideological constructs that connect the consumers with an idealized vision of what the brand can mean as it exerts it’s sway on the larger world is also crucial to the corporations marketing campaign.

People go to the playa. They spend whatever it takes to be prepared for their individualized experience. They proselytize their friends and acquaintances to join them in their odyssey. They return again and again, adhering to the social order and cultural precepts that preconceived notions of the event and group peer conceptualization demand.

If they’re lucky, they are part of a crew primarily driven by the collective desire and motivation to create singular “art” or experience at the event - either underwritten by the BMorg (with not that much more butt kissing than might be expected from the average arts funding council) or self-financed. All in all the, consumer experience is a very good one and more than worth the cost of admission to a majority of the consumers.

So, as you see, you get what you pay for. In my mind, with the current BM set-up, you probably get your moneys worth.

What BM was:

A radically inspired and thoroughly experimental event created and organized by a loose cabal of nearly penniless artists and pranksters. During the early years of the event in the Black Rock Desert anyone could do anything they wished. The cops came and left soon thereafter because the “event” was not interfering with the property rights of powerful interests. In case you didn’t know, the primary job of law enforcement in the USofA is to protect property. That’s much of the reason that I have never had a problem with cops: they’re merely working class guys with a good job. They didn’t fuck with us because we chose to put the event as far away from civilization and commerce as humanly possible. Later as the event grew in commercial stature and the various governmental entities saw it for what it was becoming - a cash cow (BM provides most of the operating budget for the Winnemucca office of the BLM and buys various law enforcement agencies a lotta cool toys - helicopters, RV’ command centers, etc.) It was a trade off that organizations greater and lesser have made as well over the years. Had BM stuck to its original heart and inspiration it would probably have been snuffed out long ago. So it became something that could survive and thrive: a corporation that sells a lifestyle to a target market based on an original theme and spirit that resonates to this day with a tiny portion of the initial essence that drove the bus and forged the myth.

What many newcomers don’t realize is that BM isn’t a “movement” in and of itself; it is merely the most visible and commercial exponent of an actual movement that is much more amorphous and indefinable than a business that sells a lifestyle. BM grew out of a vibrant and completely anarchic underground scene in San Francisco (and other cities across the continent) that has continued to mutate and grow to this day. Artists and pranksters that meet and collaborate through BM move on to form alliances that are of value in order to experiment and create long after their last trip to the Playa. This is the same as it was when I showed up in Frisco at age 17 in 1976 and was immediately sucked into the swirling vortex that was to be my home for the next 32 years. Chicken John and other concerned parties are simply lamenting the fact that an event of such power and purity has inevitably devolved into a commercial endeavor that packages and sells (very nicely and effectively, I must say) a replication of that original spirit of such undeniable value. The heart and soul that birthed BM exists now apart from this commercial entity as they always have. The simple fact that that BM has chosen, essentially to sacrifice one of it’s own members in order to retain some semblance of owning and controlling that singular spirit is a sure bet that the magic is gone, replaced by a commercial simulacrum of that spirit.

Weighing all accounts of the early burn event that Paul enacted and, delving into my own not small experience (professional rigger, former operations manager for BM) as well as my personal knowledge of Paul Addis as a troubled but pure and sincere soul, I have come to the inevitable conclusion that no one was physically threatened by his masterful prank. Consequently, I am forced to conclude that BRCLLC/BM acted egregiously and erroneously by not interceding with the authorities in order to mitigate Paul’s punishment for what was in effect a gift to them and their event. Paul Addis is paying the price for speaking truth to power."

Obama is a Marxist!

So I've been back on the Oprah.com message boards... it's the only place where I can consistently find delusional right wingers to argue with... and the funniest thing they've said - that they REALLY BELIEVE is that Obama and Moveon.org are extreme left wing Marxists.

Yup.

I've argued that moveon.org is pretty much left of center, and they aren't Marxists - they're Democrats - and here was the reply:

"Calling moveon marxists, socialists, and extremists is TRUTH."

Wow. These people have a LOT to learn about progressives.

The Hindjew Scottish Robot Zombie Tiki Wedding

Last weekend we hosted our first wedding at Rhythmix... and it couldn't have been a better fit for us and them. They even changed their wedding date because they wanted to have it while my robot art show was in the gallery.

I love this couple... they had been married by Amma in a Hindu ceremony, and they used the bridal sari (which had been worn by Amma herself) to cover the Chupah tent. They had Scottish/Pagan elements, Hindu elements... and the decor was Tiki/Indian with zombies! And robots of course!

The bride just brought me a thank you gift - a glow in the dark zombie playset.

If only all the weddings we have here could be that much fun.

RED MOON RIGHT NOW!

Look!

Petition to Sack Liz Trotta

The Fox News pundit who suggested that someone "knock-off" Barack Obama.

www.thepetitionsite.com/1/fox-...-trotta

Manson DA wants to Try Bush for Murder

Published on Monday, May 26, 2008 by Corporate Crime Reporter

Bugliosi Wants Bush Charged with Murder
by Russell Mokhiber
Former California prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi wants President Bush charged with murder.

Bugliosi - who in the early 1970s successfully prosecuted Charles Manson for the murder of Sharon Tate and six others - lays out his case against Bush in The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder (Perseus Books, 2008).

The book will hit book stores tomorrow - Tuesday May 27, 2008.

“My motivation for writing this book is simple - to bring about justice,” Bugliosi says in a video posted on the book’s web site (prosecutionofbush.com).

“George Bush has gotten away with murder - thousands of murders,” Bugliosi says. “And no one is doing anything about it. The American people can’t let him do this.”

Bugliosi wants one or more of the fifty state attorneys general or one of the nation’s hundreds of district attorneys to step up and prosecute Bush for murder.

“I have set forth in my book the jurisdictional basis for the Attorney General in each of the fifty states - plus the hundreds upon hundreds of district attorneys in counties within the states - to prosecute George Bush for the murders of any soldier or soldiers from their state or county who were killed in Iraq fighting George Bush’s war,” Bugliosi says in the video on his web site.

“I don’t think it is too unreasonable to believe that at least one prosecutor out there in America - maybe many more - will be courageous enough to say - this is the United States of America. And in America no one is above the law. George Bush has gotten away with murder. No one is doing anything about it. And maybe this book will change that.”

Bugliosi argues that Bush misled the nation into a war that has killed more than 4,000 Americans.

At the center of Bugliosi’s indictment of Bush is a October 7, 2002 speech to the nation in which Bush claims that Saddam Hussein was a great danger to this nation either by attacking us with his weapons of mass destruction, or giving these weapons to some terrorist group.

“And he said - the attack could happen on any given day - meaning the threat was imminent,” Bugliosi says.

“The only problem for George Bush - and if he were prosecuted, there is no way he could get around this - is that on October 1, 2002, six days earlier, the CIA sent George Bush its 2002 National Intelligence Estimate, a classified top secret report. Page eight clearly and unequivocally says that Saddam Hussein was not an imminent threat to the security of this country. In fact, the report says that Hussein would only use whatever weapons of mass destruction he had against us if he feared that America was about to attack him.”

“We know that Bush was telling millions upon millions of unsuspecting Americans exactly the opposite of what his own CIA was telling him,” Bugliosi said. “We know that George Bush took this nation to war on a lie. Who is going to pay for all of this? Someone has to pay. And the person who has to pay obviously is directly responsible for all of the death horror and suffering. And that person is George W. Bush.”

“The majority of the American people probably are going to find it difficult to accept that the President of the United States, the most powerful man on earth, would engage in conduct that smacks of such great criminality. You just don’t expect something like this from an American president. However, I’m very confident that once they read the book, they will be overwhelmed by the evidence against Bush. They will be convinced that he is guilty of murder and should be prosecuted. In the book, I lay out the legal architecture for the case against Bush, all of the evidence of the guilt against Bush and the jurisdiction to prosecute him. I even set forth proposed cross-examination questions of him if he takes the witness stand at trial.”

As a state prosecutor in Los Angeles, Bugliosi prosecuted Charles Manson and members of his “family” for the 1969 murders of Sharon Tate and six others.

Bugliosi says he lost only one of the 106 felony cases he tried as a prosecutor. He says he won 21 out of 21 murder cases.

He is the author of Helter Skelter - the best-selling book on the Manson trial

McCain is GROSS!

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/a...hind.html

What a loser.

JK Rowling tells Harvard about failure

Watch the video - brilliant!

harvardmagazine.com/go/jkrowling.html