If anyone is on Twitter, set your location to Tehran and your time zone to GMT +3.30. Security forces are hunting for bloggers using location/timezone searches. The more people at this location, the more of a logjam it creates for forces trying to shut Iranians’ access to the internet down. Cut & paste & pass it on.

Is it just me, or does anyone else notice that Romantic Comedies have a streak of racism?

(photo: Bill Murry in Sophia Coppolla's Academy Award Winning 2003 film "Rost In Transration")

I feel like I am FINALLY HOME in America.

Election year. Election year. Here we are again... but I have to confess, the Democratic primaries have been fun. I'm going to kick off with a couple of confessions...

#1
I was a Bill Clinton supporter, and, as such, I rooted for Hillary's senate run... that was up until she made a few unsavory statements and one statement, in particular, when John Walker Lind was being brought up on charges of treason. I'll talk more on that later if you like...
#2
(-and this one is going to be a hard one to admit...)
I was a John McCain supporter at one time... early on... before I really knew enough about him and way before he started joking about camel jockeys and bombing Iran.
I was raised in a military family and to see this guy who emerged from the POW camps was impressive. Don't get me wrong: my hat goes off to the guy for surviving and for being a war hero, but he's become such a little ball of anger and vengence that I worry about the prospects of him becoming our next president. I am very worried about it, to be honest.
#3
I was an early Colin Powell supporter, hoping he would run for president, even though I was critical of his involvments in the Vietnam war (Mai Li in particular), I looked at the whole Vietnam thing as a terrible mess that had many Americans doing fucked up things. Unfortunately, we found him in a comparable situation with the war in Iraq. His misguided, misinformed "Weapons of Mass Destruction" speech to the pentagon was one of the most horrible things I've seen in American politics. Not only because of the blatant deception on the part of the Bush Administration, but also seeing Colin Powell being so completely duped by his Commander In Chief. To say it was heartbreaking might make me sound like a wuss, but I will say it. It was heartbreaking.
#4
Despite all those former leanings (-of which I've kept private) I maintain that I am economically Socialist, governmentally Democratic ("Its not the best form of government, but its the best we have"), environmentally Green, and ontologically Anarchist (-who has the right to interceed or cohearse in anyones relationship or concept of the Divine?). On many points I can be regarded as liberal. On some, I am definitely conservative. I don't do bandwagon politics. I try to pay attention to the issue over the personalities.

I know that putting any of this out there will alienate some of you, as we, the people, have very strong feelings about these things. At the same time I also know many of you are apolitical for valid reasons. My apolitical friends ask me why do I still concern myself with policy? I can explain it in one image...

Seeing Nelson Mandela walking out of prison.

In my last blog entry here I pointed out the first awakening of political activism when I was a teen. It was the boycott of South African products. The oppression of Apartheid was so strongly present in my mind as a youth that it deeply affected my outlook. I saw it as an international manifestation of the same kind of racism I was facing here in the United States. I also payed heed to Dr. Martin Luther Kings words "Oppression anywhere is oppression everywhere". I was literally unable to buy or wear anything from South Africa once I understood what was going on over there. After all the years knowing about Nelson Mandela's imprisonment the day he was released from prison was one of the most joyous events I had seen!
I was fortunate enough to be surrounded by many like-minded and like-hearted people in San Francisco. We had the sweetest celebration!

Where am I now? Well, without going too much into it, I will simply say this: I now support Obama and I feel more than fine doing it. On almost all the issues I'm with him, and the ones that I don't agree with he simply won't have much say in the matter as much of our laws are decided on local and state levels. I am also very impressed with how he has kept up a very decent campain despite all the mud that's been slung his way.

Obama has my passionate support for president of the United States.

Hope is no joke (you hear that, Hillary?)
Change is our only sane choice.
Both are absolutely what we need.

(On another note:
As I was so joyful seeing Mandela walking out of prison
I hope to live to see Cheney walking into it.
Then, I will die with the satisfaction of seeing the scales of justice so beautifully balanced.)

How do we get out of the consumerist cycle of exploitation? We start by fessing up to the problem and admitting our own participation in it. From there, we can come up with creative solutions to this social and spiritual dillemma.

When I was in high school I remember a boycott being called on products coming out of South Africa. This was back when apartheid was in full-effect and Nelson Mandela was still in prison. The boycott caught the attention of an entire generation of consumers and I can recall not buying the then-in-fashion Rebok sneakers (I was an avid breakdancer and my entire crew joined the boycott). It was one of my earliest exposures to activisim and conscious consumerism.

As things are now, I do avoid purchases from retailers that employ unfair labor practices. It ain't all that easy. I can remember the disappointment going through racks and finding something that looked great, but having to put it back when seeing the label.

Gap, Bannana Republic, Old Navy, Target, Nike... the shitlist goes on... but I had a special issue when doing my second hand shopping.

I passionately endorse second-hand thrift shopping. Many second hand stores raise money for non-profit organizations. Goodwill, Salvation Army, Out-Of-The-Closet, and local operations like Community Thrift (big money for AIDS research) take the dread out of clothes shopping knowing that profits go to helping humanity and not to exploiting it. I remember years ago finding a clean, almost new pair of Nike's that fit me perfectly. I was in a quandry: Do I buy these shoes made in slave labor conditions or do I remain abstinent?

I considered the pros and cons. I realized that Nike was not going to make profit off of this purchase, but that I would be wearing the product, in effect, providing free advertisement and preceived endorsement. I put the shoes on. Damn, they felt good! (-and you know how difficult it is to find shoes that fit second hand). My solution came to me in that moment: Buy the shoes and tear off the logo!

I bought the shoes at an outrageously low price then took them home and proceeded to attempt to cut the swoosh off with an exacto blade. What I found was that these things are manufactured to REALLY make it hard to remove the label! The stitching was intrigal to the whole structure of the shoe! Well, not one to be thwarted from my intentions, I grabbed a black sharpie marker and drew a large "X" across the swoosh. I kinda liked how it looked! I then started to "X" all of the logos (and there were a few). People would ask me what the hell was that about. I got to tell them about Nike's messed up labor practices and about getting them at a non-profit second hand. People liked the idea. By the time I made it into the SF Art Institute as a student, the aesthetic was perfected and it became a part of my style as well as my statement.

It is years later and I still "X" my labels. I feel that the second hand sale of a garment "exorcises" the corporate evil out of it and that the "X" is simply a manifestation of the exorcism and demonstrates a counter-endorsement and an anti-advertisement.

Recently a guest at Harbin noticed the "X" on my label and thought it was ultra cool. She said it had that "D.I.Y." aesthetic that her kids were into. It was then that I realized that I just might be on to something.

I want to popularize this practice. Being the activist that I am I want to tell as many folks about it as I possibly can. This includes you reading this blog entry here. Perhaps there will eventually be a website and maybe a YouTube vid, but this is a decent place to start.

So, what you need is a black Sharpie "laundry marker"
Just draw an "X" over the offending logo or label and Wallah! Your second-hand clothes are purified of the evil they were made of! (This also goes for the first-hand purchases you've made before going second-hand)

So, you can now "cross your T (shirts)" and feel free from financing the greed and corporate exploitation!

Remember that story about Sibel Edmonds?
The FBI translator that was dropping the dime on this (and other) governments crimes?

Don't remember? Did you know in the first place?
You wonder why? No need to beat up on yourself.
It ain't because you're apathetic
or apolitical or anything like that.
It's more likely because there's been
a media coverup on anything about her
(including here on the internet).
Well, a good friend of mine pointed this out to me
(who was as much left in the dark as anyone)
and showed me some mighty interesting things
about Sibel Edmonds and the media coverup on her.

Who is doing this?
I think we have our ideas
but who is complying with the coverup?
That's a more interesting question.
Anyone have ideas?

This is important stuff.
Yeah, sure it's an election year
and we are all caught up who's
personality cult is better than who's
but important, no, VITAL stories
get buried under all the whooplah and fanfare
and we end up loosing perspective
on the true state of the nation
(and the world) that could influence
our votes and concerns.

Sibel Edmonds is a courageous woman
who is standing up and standing out for truth
and for our freedom, despite what many may tell us.
She is not the threat to national security,
our own officials are!

Don't be confused:
This is not only about freedom of speech,
this is also about the crimes that governments
are committing unchecked, unbalanced
and unpunished, who subject others to laws
that they, themselves, do not adhere to.

We are a culture of Democracy.
This requires an informed public
and journalistic truth.

It might even require being pissed off
from time to time
for being duped, deceived and lied to.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sibel_Edmonds
www.justacitizen.com/KillThe...ger.html
wecanchangetheworld.wordpress.com/

(pic: "Muse Reading a Scroll" Greek vase: 425-435 b.c.)

It's something like 1:40am
and I'm feeling a little blue.
Things are going ok
but I'm not one for just "ok."

I haven't written anything that I feel
particularly excited about
in what seems like a long time.
It doesn't seem like writers block.
It just seems... I don't know...
like I'm uninspired.

The thing is
I'm usually the one getting people excited
about their writing.
Now, I'm the one who feels
the dull pull of gravity
upon my consciousness.

I'm sure this is just a temporary funk
but I sure could use some inspiration.
I invite all of you
to post your favorite quotes
about writing and the joys of it.

My mind has simply slipped out of gear
and I'd love something to click into.

Inspire me!

I know its a little dorky to be this happy
about finding ones sleep pattern
but I feel like I've found a vital key
in my quest for personal well-being.
I now sleep at 3 o'clock
both AM and PM, for about 4 hours each
allowing for two complete sleep cycles
per 24 hour period.

I've always been a bit of a insomniac
and this predates any problems I had during college,
so, one of the interesting things that has developed
in this current lovely stage of radical self-acceptance
is that I now embrace this odd sleep schedule I keep.

I have frequently done night jobs
including waiter, bouncer/security, nightclub stuff.
This has kept me open-eyed during the wee-hours
and one thing I will say
is that things do get very odd
during the odd hours.
I have seen all sorts of insanity
on the swing shift of life.
I can write plenty about that
but it also happens to be
my preferred hours to write.
The wee-hours are quiet,
fewer distractions, minimal obligations.
I love it.

But something happens
when you live entirely at night.
Most of the world lives, works and plays
during the daylight hours.
I can remember what a struggle it was
just to make an appointment
or meeting during business hours.
It would frequently leave me out of sorts.
I felt like a zombie, an automated somnombulist
out of synch with the world.

Well, now I have sort of accidentally slipped
into yet another form of paradise.

I have been a long-time advocate
for siestas. I think its natural to catch some sleep
sometime in the afternoon.
This isn't just opinion,
but the fact that Arab, Hispanic, Native American
and Pacific Island cultures have always felt the same
makes me realize that I'm on point.
The problem is that in the hyper-productivity
of the AngloAmerican protestant overwork ethic
we loose the afternoon nap.
In one of my many efforts
to decolonize my mind and outlook
I took to napping with a stern militancy.
When I was a teacher I couldn't do this
but I knew that whatever I did after that
It would require an afternoon hiatus.
I ended up resuming my massage practice
after I quit teaching.
Naps were easy!

I found that with naps
I could stay up later
and pick up jobs or write
and get a bit more out of life.

Now, I stay up late
but I have found that
at about 3am my mind
starts to unravel. I don't know what this is about
but in the years of my life
I have found that most of the insane acts
I've committed have happend at the hour
of 3am. Something about that time
is given to obsession and insanity.
Now, this is fine if I am involved
in working on a first draft of a poem
or creative fiction, but it doesn't work
if I'm around other people or doing
some sort of mundane work
like security, maintenance or janitorial.
My mind starts to twist up and my emotions
start to distort.

Now that I like to do my office work
in the early AM, I am now having to deal with
this very odd ordeal.
The solution came to me
one night during this bout of lycanthropic madness...
I can take a morning nap!
That would keep me rested at the hour of strangeness.

So,
now I base my sleep pattern
on "Zzz's on Three's"
that is: I rest at 3pm and 3am.

So,
this means I can be both
night owl AND early bird!
And
I also get TWO dream sessions
to reflect on.

It also feels like I live fully
in two worlds: the light and the dark.
I've always been shamanic in that way.

I love being a
"Daywalker"
-that is, a creature
of both day and night...

I've been following the political developments in Burma (aka Myanmar) for some time now with intense interest. A great deal of this interest was due to reading of the plight of Aung San Su Kyi. Looking into her story, I caught the context of the country's suffering.

I had the very interesting experience of interviewing BowWowWow lead vocalist Annabella Lwin, who was born in Burma. Even though the parts of our discussion regarding her deeply felt feelings about her homeland didn't make it to print (my editors focused more on her showbiz career), I was touched by Annabella's passionate regard for peace and freedom. I hesitate to relay too many details of our conversation out of fear of what could happen to her family over there, but I will submit that we both felt that the situation in Burma would one day come to a head. This certainly seems to be the case.

My heart is pained for the suffering of the monks who are being persecuted in this time. These honorable and holy people do not deserve this kind of treatment, but neither do any of the other citizens of Burma. They are brave, courageous.

The odd thing is that the country had been simmering for some time now. For a long time it felt like there was this dull agony abiding each of the years of oppression. Of course, part of that ache was dealing with the general apathy of Americans and other people about Burma. No one seemed to know or even care about what has been going on over there.

Apathy is a strange thing. I find it to be even more evil than hatred. At least with hatred, there is some feeling, some energy moving in some direction. With apathy, this isn't much of anything. When hatred is aimed at a country, like Iran, at least there is talk and concern. When people are apathetic, there is no exchange, no validation, no movement of energy, no matter how much the people there continue to suffer.

At least now there is SOMETHING going on.

The drama of the violation of these Buddhist monks and the peaceful-demonstrations-turned-violent have brought some attention to the region. Again, I am hurt by the mistreatment these monks have been dealt, but there is the horrible irony that now, at least people are taking notice.

At least I hope they are.