The Poverty Jet Set

It’s that freakin’ simple. I love this candidate more than I have loved any other candidate for any office at any level of government. Ever. This man will change the world. He will. Is it just talk? Is it just charisma with no action? It doesn’t matter! He’s offering the one thing I care about. The only thing I’ve been asking for. It’s that simple.

Yes, I’m evangelizing for the guy. Hell yes I am. Why? Because I am so sick and tired of the American government. I’m so disillusioned. I have been so utterly angry for the last decade. So angry at the complacency. The absolute disregard for democracy, for human dignity for the goddamn rights of not only American citizens but the rights of all humans. I feel like we’ve been abused, thrashed about in this hellish nightmare of a Bush administration. It’s been so bad for me, for the last 10 years I’ve been calling myself an anarchist rather than give one ounce of my energy to those f*ing criminals. Finally, I see the light at the end of the tunnel. Finally, I feel like we might make a comeback. Finally, I think this country can pull itself together.

Barack Obama is no savior. He’s just a guy. But that guy embodies the one thing I have been aching for: hope.

Okay, [/rant]. Now watch this:

And this:

And as always, it felt oh so good.

You gotta love the Presidential political season, eh? I’m already sick of everything being taken so seriously, but it’s been pretty awesome how these lil’ nuggets have been popping up all over. Pennsylvania’s the next battle ground state, and Lord knows I’m voting for a guy who jumps from fiery helicopters on his skateboard while holding nunchucks!

I just can’t help but share this with you:

Best. Political. Ad. Ever.

I love Barack Obama.

A funny thing happened today. My mom, an ardent and lifelong Republican, wrote me this amazing email:

I know this is WAY NOT like me, but I want to ask you what you think of Barack Obama. I have been reading about him and am very impressed. My general feeling is that he is ‘clean’.. I notice that the bills he has co-sponsored have been with Republicans as much as with Democrats… And What he supports… He just sounds so sane and untethered to weirdness.

How awesome is that!? Seriously, my mom is definitely a ‘Crunchy Con‘ - but she’s voted for Republicans for, like, 30+ years. I’m psyched to see even she can see the promise of Obama.

Speaking of Obama, I recently met (virtually) a great motion graphics artist named Rebecca. She’s beeing putting together these great videos promoting the Obama campaign. Check ‘em out!

I’m a day late, but I thought I’d show some solidarity, anyways. Thanks, Zadi.

Dear Micael Moore,

Man, I’m sorry. I’ve been a fair-weather friend. I fell in love with Roger & Me. Totally dug on Bowling for Columbine. But ever since you went on that Farenheit 9/11 rant, I just got tired of you. Or maybe it wasn’t you. Maybe it was the general political fatigue I think we’ve all been feeling. I just got tired of getting angry. And you incite me to anger. I used to think that was a good thing, but then I realized… it really doesn’t matter. And anger doesn’t solve much.

But now, I just watched a “pre-released copy” *wink, wink* of your new film, Sicko last night. Unbelievable. SO GREAT! You’ve gone and made another masterpiece, Mr. Moore. I wish it didn’t make me so angry. But it does so with a sigh and such righteous indignation. Such brash fight-the-maCe right. Corruption in America’s health system is horrendous. I already knew that. But thanks for boiling down an argument for me. Thanks for giving me some firepower.

See, I haven’t had health insurance for the majority of my life. I still don’t have health insurance. Even now, I see it as a scam, and I see through all the f**cking bullshit that hospitals, doctors and insurance companies put us all through. It’s not hard to see the corruption. Of course, I wish I had some safety net. For times when I fell off my bike and woke up pissing blood. Cost me $2400 for the med center to tell me I’d be fine.

When I was traveling in Thailand - what one might call a ‘developing country’ (though it’s richer than it’s neighbors) - I met people who had become seriously ill. Dengue fever, broken bones, malaria, you name it. What did they do? They just walked into a health clinic and got better. For free. Or nearly free. And everyone said the same thing, “Wow! Hospitals in Thailand are awesome!”

And then there are the people I’ve known when I lived in the South West. The folks who would drive a day, across the border to Mexico to get major dental work done. “You must be kidding me,” I’d tell them. “Hell no! It’s awesome! And cheap! And clean!”

You’re right, Michael. Our system is SERIOUSLY flawed. Thanks for making this movie. I hope everyone I knows goes to see it. I hope we all wake up and TEAR IT DOWN.

Yours,
Mark*

PS - Thanks for putting up this YouTube Channel to get community feedback!

Technorati Tags: film, apocalypse, health, healthcare, politics, doom, sicko, michaelmoore, documentary

My friend Patricio and I are making this news show for Philebrity TV. Check it out:

Technorati Tags: blogging, news, philadelphiazoo, philebrity, Philly, politics, povertyjetset, video, videoblog

The good people at Four Eyed Monsters put together this fantastic video in support of “Net Neutrality”. I want to encourage all you out there to have a watch. If you don’t already know, this issue is about big corporations attempting to wrest control of the free spread of information on the Internet. Corporate control of media and information is one of the greatest threats to democracy and personal freedom, as we should all know by now. Not a good thing. Totally yucky. Watch:

Save the Internet | Rock the Vote

Technorati Tags: video, philosophy, freedom, internet, politics, netneutrality, media, povertyjetset, technology

I just went to the polls. It felt good, my hand shook by the last minute poll stumpers, to be thanked to be there, to see democracy in action (even though I was the only voter there).

After I voted, I had an enlightening conversation with the lady running the booths. I asked her if I got a receipt with my electronic vote.

“No, why?”

“It’s all so invisible. My vote just disappears into the machine. How can I be sure it’s registering my vote the way I want it to? How can I go back and show you emphatically who I voted for? What do they do if they need to recount?”

“My, you have a good point there. I don’t think I know.”

I wish voting actually mattered. I wish America would realize that it’s system is getting further and further corporatized, corrupt, and opaque. But, alas, I say this with nary a worry. I used to worry about things like this. But now, eh. Voting isn’t going to change the world. It’s going to have to be something bigger. It’s going to have to be something bolder. Voting is so 20th Century. I’m going to try and visualize a better reality, and attempt to be the revolution itself.

But just in case:

If you experience any irregularities in voting today, call 1-866-OUR-VOTE, the hotline for the National Campaign for Fair Elections. EFF lawyers and many others are standing by across the country to take legal action to remove malfunctioning voting machines, keep polls open, etc. [Link.]

Technorati Tags: electronicvoting, revolution, idea, politics, vote, voting, corruption, povertyjetset, Philly

I find this rather beautiful travel map mesmerizing in all it’s implied ugliness:

Click the image to see more photos of the message on a billboard.

Links courtesy of one of my favorite blogs on media, democracy and control: Sivacracy.

Technorati Tags: CIA, magdalenus, povertyjetset, travel, waronterror, map

My friend, video artist Tom Bugaj, created this great mash-up of international flags (scored by his band, Peacefeather). He annotated it with a great quote from one my hero’s, Emma Goldman as follows:

Indeed, conceit, arrogance, and egotism are the essentials of patriotism. Let me illustrate. Patriotism assumes that our globe is divided into little spots, each one surrounded by an iron gate. Those who have had the fortune of being born on some particular spot, consider themselves better, nobler, grander, more intelligent than the living beings inhabiting any other spot. It is, therefore, the duty of everyone living on that chosen spot to fight, kill, and die in the attempt to impose his superiority upon all the others. - Emma Goldman

Technorati Tags: mashup, flags, art, music, povertyjetset, concept, politics, psychedelic, magdalenus, video

Speaking of work… The New York Times has a great article about out of work men who do not seek to become employed. They’re fed up with the crappy jobs available to them in this, our lovely 21st Century America. When they once earned a good living for a big corporation with a pension and a fat paycheck or whatever, they got laid off and now just hang around spending out their savings… reading good books, drinkin’ red wine on the porch, makin’ love with the missus all day, fishing… God! What could they be thinking! Unproductive slobs. Dragging the rest of society down with their non-working sloth. Get to work at Home Depot or something, fatso!

Technorati Tags: employment, magdalenus, minimumwage, politics, povertyjetset, work

Taking a moment to remember all those poor Poverty Jet Setters who slug away at those soul-sucking minimum wage jobs (even if you don’t now, you probably did once). This well-written rant comes via email from our lovely correspondent in the fields of San Francisco, Hilary:

From: J~
Reply-To:
To:
Subject: cloaked minimum wage cut
Date: Thu, 3 Aug 2006 11:59:17 -0700

alrighty folx. if you haven’t realized yet, i gotta break it to you. i’m kinda political from time to time. yeah, that’s right. while ordinarily i’m a fairly congenial person, interested in shooting the shoot most any day, there come occasions when i might, say, ask you to harass a politician, vote for candidate, or sign a petition. sigh.

anyway, it has just been brought to my attention that our federal house voted late last week to increase the federal minimum wage from $5.15/hr to $7.25/hr, over the next 3 yrs (the first increase since 1997). sounds good, right? after all, the buying power of the minimum wage is at its lowest in over half a century. anyone attempting to raise a family on minimum wage is mathematically guaranteed a life of poverty. but wait, here’s more.

in classic u.s. bureaucratic style, this move is actually tied in w/ a few other issues, such as increased cuts (& even complete exemptions) in many estate taxes, but most noteworthy (from where i stand), a complicated twist that amounts to a *cut* in wages to millions of minimum wage earners.

here’s how it works: while proponents of the bill make themselves appear attractive by raising the min. wage, they at the same time write in some bizness that makes it illegal for states & cities to enforce a min. wage higher than that of the national. but wait, there’s still more.

they also add language that enables tip-earners (defined as those who receive $30 or more /mo. in tips) to be paid still less than the minimum wage. $2.13/hr, to be exact. need i mention that tips are a voluntary reward for good service (look it up, otomaniacs), not a guilt-gift from customers to make up for crap-wagery.

i’m a minimum-wage-plus-tips earner, oh so thankfully in the promised city of san francisco, where the min. wage is 30% higher than the state, & 70% higher than the fed (assuming this art major’s math is right there). we also have no tip-earner exceptions. my wage is still well below a living wage ($10-$12 last i heard), but far better than the state from which i came, as well it should be considering our higher cost of living.

i shudder to think what would happen if a san francisco resident had his/her pay cut from $8.82 to $2.13 /hr, considering i already pay half my earnings (*including* tips) just to rent alone. & i live in a rent-controlled building topped by cell-phone towers located just a block away from a busy freeway (don’t get me wrong, i like my flat).

& what about states’ rights! union of independent democracies indeed!

the bill is h.r. 5970. it passed the house on saturday by a vote of 230 to 180. it’s now in the senate. may i suggest that you write your senator (ex-patriots write your home-senators too) asking them to oppose this bill.

find your senator’s email here.

you might say it won’t do much, but i say it doesn’t take much, & until we start a revolution, i don’t see you or me doing much else to stop this bill (don’t make me run for office again).

btw, no one ever has to take my political advice in order to maintain friendship. i’ve heard “j~, i’m sorry! i just couldn’t vote for x,” & i’m like “ok”. so hey, no sweat alright.

luhv ya. cheers.

sources:
SF Gate
Counter Punch
Mass Live
TPM Cafe

Technorati Tags: povertyjetset, employment, money, minimumwage, politics, magdalenus

Our friends over at Arthur Magazine posted a dispatch from the Middle East regarding the crisis in Lebannon. Have a read of what life is like for an expat in Damascus this week.

I just joined a new political party that’s juuuuust right. Come on, you know you want to be a Pirate, too! It’s a political party based on the ideals of one already up and running in Sweden… Here’s the mission statement:

The Pirate Party is a newly formed worldwide political party with a chapter in the U.S.. We want to fundamentally reform copyright law, overhaul the patent system, and ensure that citizens’ rights to privacy are respected. With this agenda, and only this, we are making a bid for representation in anywhere we can get elected.

Not only do we think these are worthwhile goals. We also believe they are realistically achievable on a worldwide basis. The sentiments that led to the formation of the Pirate Party in Sweden and the U.S. are present throughout the world. There are already similar political initiatives under way in several other countries. Together, we will be able to set a new course for America that is currently heading in a very dangerous direction.

I’ve been flip-flopping parties with the trade winds… If you can believe it, I was even a registered Republican for a while. Then Democrat, then Green, then Independent… Now… PIRATE!

When is someone going to start up the Gypsy Party??

Technorati Tags: politics, parties, pirates