Power & Politics
Global Airplane Paths & Their Signification Post WTC attacks
Monday, October 6th, 2008 | Power & Politics, Under The Patina of Knowledge | No Comments
I am creating a limited edition poster showing global flights paths without the map. Imagine a peppering of black dots connected by colored lines. They should sell for about $100 ea.
Maps showing airplane paths are testaments to the profound interconnectivity we humans have attained. I contend these maps have taken on a different meaning since 9.11.01.
Growing up I would gaze with wonder at maps showing flight paths and think how close and accessible the world is.
Today, flight path maps still evoke a feeling of sublime interconnectivity – but now our hope for a plural global utopia seems premature if not naive.
While the WTC attacks could have been prevented with $20 locks on cockpit doors and a competent administration at the helm of our intelligence agencies, better yet would be to have had leadership that inspired worldwide trust in our great country instead of hatred
All sensible people desire peace and to feel connected with their fellow human. A prerequisite for peace is mutual trust.
I pray that Barack Obama will be elected president because he is an honorable statesman who can repair international trust in us and who will fight the conditions that breed terrorists, so we can once again hope for peace.
*WTC Attacks Memorial Mural by Scott LoBaido located near Gowanus Canal | Brooklyn, NY
Barney Frank -Serves- Bill O’Reilly for dinner
Sunday, October 5th, 2008 | Power & Politics | No Comments
O’Reilly tries to bully House Finance Chief Barney Frank (D) into taking full blame for the Wall Street crash and the sub-prime mortgage mess. Barney Frank basically points out that the Republicans, while in control of the House of Representatives for 12 years, stripped regulation and in the process Barney calls O’Reilly out for being boorish and stupid.
Just Watch
Sarah Palin/Katie Couric Interview: Photoshop Spoof & SNL Split-Screen Video
Thursday, October 2nd, 2008 | Pop Culture Notions, Power & Politics | No Comments
Here is a little Photoshop mudsling that I wasted too much time on today.
Watch this 9/29/2008 feature from Keith Olbermann’s Countdown on MSNBC. It shows Governor Palin in a split screen with Tina Fey’s SNL lampoon. Apparently Fey changed very few words showing that Palin is a caricature of her own self.
For those unfamiliar with Olbermann, he has all the pith and vinegar of Bill O’Reilly (“Billo the Clown” as Olbermann calls him) but none of the stupidity.
John S. McCain III – Vintage Photos
Sunday, September 28th, 2008 | Power & Politics, Under The Patina of Knowledge | No Comments
I spent some time looking around the Library of Congress’s online catalog today and found these great images of a much younger and possibly more idealistic John McCain.
The color images show Senator McCain with President Reagan during a 1987 photoshoot shortly after his Election to the Senate in 1986. Notice the placard on Reagan’s desk that says “It CAN be done” …
The B/W images were taken in 1973 by Thomas J. O’Halloran for U.S. News and World Report for an article written by Senator McCain shortly after his return from the POW camp in North Vietnam. The article is quite amazing and after reading it, even the staunchest progressive couldn’t help but honor the man’s sacrifice. Click here to read it.
As the Lt. Commander McCain points out, he missed both Martin Luther King’s assassination as well as the Neil Armstrong’s walk on the moon while imprisoned. Any news he eventually did receive was filtered through the lens of the Vietnamese’ negative propaganda machine.
So, of MLK, he heard only of riots and strife following the assassination and not of the national solidarity that ensued. This would be like someone today hearing only of the racists beatings of Arab Americans following the WTC attacks and not of our outpouring and grief and compassion for the innocent victims of all wars.
I wonder if Senator McCain’s brainwashing influenced legislative decisions he’s made regarding civil rights and making MLK day a national holiday. More pertinently, would his brainwashing influence the decisions he would make if elected president?
-Tonky
Democracy In America: The National Campaign
Monday, September 22nd, 2008 | Pop Culture Notions, Power & Politics | No Comments
I just returned to Brooklyn from the opening of Democracy In America: The National Campaign at the massive Park Avenue Armory.
If you are in NYC, go see this show, it is up all week. You’ll witness artist installations, performances, political bookshops & organizations, and a group called InCUBATE that is raising money for the arts by selling steaming-hot bowls of Minestrone Soup.
Creative Time’s Nato Thompson curated the exhibition (Nato was formerly Curator at MASS MoCA and is co-editor of the The Interventionists: Users’ Manual for the Creative Disruption of Everyday Life along with Gregory Sholette)
Here is exhibition’s web-presence at CreativeTime.org
In the words of Creative Time’s press release,
Democracy in America: The National Campaign culminates in the “convergence center”: a Major Exhibition and event series in New York City’s historic Park Avenue Armory providing an activated space to both reflect on and perform democracy, and a living forum with speeches by political thinkers, artists, and community activists.
Please look through these images and a quick edit of video shot on a little digital camera.
-Tonky
click to play video (no audio)
Obama Campaign Reflection #1
Wednesday, September 17th, 2008 | Power & Politics | No Comments
1) McCain’s economic advisor Carly Fiorina’s claim that Palin nor McCain nor Obama nor Biden could not run a large corporation is an early Christmas present for the progressive cause.
It seems Fiorina was implying that the presidency doesn’t call for those types of skills and tactical knowhow.
2) Why aren’t any Democratic advocates saying, “Here are the things that make a good private sector leader” (main goal: do things that maximize profits for shareholders and in general protect their interests)
And then drawing the connection saying “Elected officials govern well with some of the same skills and tough constitution” (main goal: do things that maximize quality of life, liberty and in general protect their interests) It is the perfect opportunity for Democrats to reclaim the mantle of avid capitalist.
3) Since the government is investing taxpayer money into the private sector in an attempt to bail out the sinking corrupt corporations on wall street, perhaps we need a president that can serve as shepherd (CEO) over our unilaterally invested money. Us Americans need that cash for roads, professional development, education, and health care. If McCain wasn’t sleeping on the job, maybe those dirty financial corporations would not have have fleeced the country so recklessly.
4) We also need that money to equip our soldiers so they can complete the job we asked them to do in Afganistan and Iraq and come home.
Question: Where are the archived quotes of McCain and Bush talking about the president as CEO of the USA? Remember, Popular Culture loves the successful businessperson, the self-made man
Conclusion: This economic hiccup isn’t just an inconvenient “hangover” after a night of drinking and exotic dancers. It seems McCain and the Republicans blacked out and claim not to remember that they painted the town red and went cow tipping. Now it is Senator Obama’s job to hold them accountable and throw them into the drunk tank.
-Tonky
