Our financial future as a nation
Maybe you should probably read this.
The circus that we call our elected officials have let the American people down, waaaaay down. Our debt at the moment is in the trillions, and with the way our President and government hand out money, steadily climbs. Let my man Ron Paul tell you
“The official national debt figure, now approaching $9 trillion, reflects only what the federal government owes in current debts on money already borrowed. It does not reflect what the federal government has promised to pay millions of Americans in entitlement benefits down the road. Those future obligations put our real debt figure at roughly fifty trillion dollars — a staggering sum that is about as large as the total household net worth of the entire United States. Your share of this fifty trillion amounts to about $175,000.”
U.S. National Debt Clock FAQ for you slow ones
Rank Coward
Benjamin Franklin, one of Philadelphia’s greatest sons, wasn’t a big fan of the Great Seal of the Untied States. In a letter to his daughter Sarah, Franklin gives his true feelings on what he thought the Eagle represents.
Excerpt from Franklin’s Letter to His Daughter
“For my own part I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen the Representative of our Country. He is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his Living honestly. You may have seen him perched on some dead Tree near the River, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the Labour of the Fishing Hawk; and when that diligent Bird has at length taken a Fish, and is bearing it to his Nest for the Support of his Mate and young Ones, the Bald Eagle pursues him and takes it from him.
“With all this Injustice, he is never in good Case but like those among Men who live by Sharping & Robbing he is generally poor and often very lousy. Besides he is a rank Coward: The little King Bird not bigger than a Sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the District. He is therefore by no means a proper Emblem for the brave and honest Cincinnati of America who have driven all the King birds from our Country . . .
“I am on this account not displeased that the Figure is not known as a Bald Eagle, but looks more like a Turkey. For the Truth the Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America . . . He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on.”
My Recession Experience: Going On Unemployment
I just lost my job, and my boss suggested I go on unemployment. I assumed that it would take tons of time and effort in order to file my claim and get started, in reality, it was easy, probably too easy.
Just follow these step-by-step instructions:
1. Lose job
2. Call PA department of Labor
3. Be on hold for about 25 minutes
4. Talk to a (very pleasant) person about your situation for about 15 minutes
5. Wait for your debit card to arrive a few business days later with gov’t money on it.
I now find myself with more mixed feelings about the system overall, especially considering the ease with which I was able to get taxpayer money in order to support my jobless existence. I guess the initial process is streamlined in order to allow recently unemployed people to be able to support themselves quickly so that they do not have to worry about affording food/shelter while searching for the next job. At the same time, I feel that making the system that easy to get into only increases the likelihood that people are going to take advantage of or abuse the system.
Either way, I guess I’m glad the system is in place after all, because I’m leaving the country in a month and a half for a year, and no one would hire me for such a short amount of time.
Things I Found At Work: Notes on Hollywood “Arabs”
I was completing interlibrary loan requests and saw that someone had left her notes inside of a book she was reading. The book is about Hollywood representations of Arabs. I guess the tendency is to lump a whole buncha people into the category “Muslim/Arab/Terrorist”. This tendency manifests in film:
Side 1
“From cinema’s beginning, Hollywood’s fractured mirrors of popular imagination lumped together Muslims & Arabs as one homogenous blob…These distinctions are often blurred in American popular culture. For decades new reporters, editorial cartoonists, novelists, imagemakers, & other media professionals have vilified Arab Muslims.” xii
Here’s an example:
I’d like to point out Parker & Stone’s conflation of Arab culture with the culture of the peoples of Tatooine, a culture differentiated not only be geographic/galactic exigencies but also by history. The events of Lucas’ documentary, “the Star Wars” , took place a long time ago.
It’s this kind of confusion that gets locksmith dude and dude’s daughter shot in Crash. The vandals that trash Store Owner’s (that’s how he’s credited) store don’t get that “we’re not Arab; we’re Persian”.
"Don't tase me bro!"
And of course, Store Owner doesn’t get that Guy That Looks Like A Mexican Gangbanger And May Have Been At One Point…well isn’t a gang member. As Crash teaches us, dark people are easy to confuse. There are so many bad dark/brown people running around. How can we trust anybody anymore? (If you are dark or brown change the above to “white people are easy to confuse. There are so many bad white people running shit. How can we trust anybody anymore?” Not that that dynamic really appears in Crash, in an LA where racism/racist ideology appears at the personal level/intention/ambition.
Side 2
pg 39-pg 40
“As did Spielberg’s. Ridley Scott’s early Films painted Arabs with a sinister brush: ”
pg 99-100
Black Hawk Down
You know what? I am not even going to go into the clusterfuck of fail that was Somalia. And I’m not going to go into Black Hawk Down because I’m pretty sure that the last time I saw that movie I was still stealing mom’s Victoria’s Secret catalogs. But that’s another story.
Thinkin' 'bout Somalia
(Source text: Shaheen, Jack G. Guilty: Hollywood’s Verdict on Arabs after 9/11. Northampton, MA: Olive Branch Press, 2008)
Things That I Found At Work: Block Party In Rittenhouse Square!
Block Party In Rittenhouse!
I was going to clock out and take a (mandatory fifteen-minute break) from everyone’s favorite library circulation desk when I found this tacked up to the corkboard behind the digital punch in clock thingie. Thought briefly about going and then thought, “oh wait, I should sort of be at work ’round then”. Thought again and got annoyed that the link at the bottom was so dang long. But here it is.
Seems sorta fucked up:
The university announced on Monday of last week that it was moving forward with plans to restructure its administrative staff, as part of efforts to save money. According to several faculty members, all positions as they existed were terminated, and the affected staff members had the opportunity to apply for a number of newly created jobs.
The employees were given until 1 p.m. the next day to schedule interviews, until Wednesday of last week to submit their applications, and until Thursday to submit letters of recommendation. This week, they were interviewed. On Wednesday they found out whether they had been rehired — or fired.
According to several faculty eyewitnesses, the dismissed employees were promptly escorted out of their building. The locks on their office doors were also immediately changed, the faculty members said.
In other words, Temple announced and executed the layoffs in less than a week. And were sort of assholes about it (surprise!). Apparently they also managed to violate their contract with Temple University’s chapter of AFSCME–the school is supposed to discuss the implementation of any “major changes” with the union before going through with them.
The timing of these firings seems sort of scummy, for as the flyer points out, they’ve occurred just about when most faculty and students are off campus. This way (as I’m interpreting) there wouldn’t be as many people to not give a shit about the firings. But you should go to this maybe. Instead of “taking a nap on the grass in Rittenhouse in 86 degree weather” you could be “fighting for labor justice in Rittenhouse in 86 degree weather”, which sounds strenuous (“fighting”) but will probably be more like standing around and being angry. You should probably take your nap/boyfriend/girlfriend/little dog/fixed gear/West Philly punx/flask of Old Crow/w33d/fixed gear mounted boom box and enjoy them on the south side of Rittenhouse.
Homage or Rip?
Jose’s post reminded me of the time I first saw the music video for Santigold’s L.E.S Artistes song. (Directed by Nima Nourizadeh)
If any of you have ever seen Alejandro Jodorowsky’s movie “The Holy Mountain” you will notice that the second half of the video is very very similar to scenes in the movie. The part where the green is spraying from the girls head is executed the same way it is in the movie. The fruits used as insides and getting shot then bleeding colors are all so very similar. Maybe it is a homage? When I researched it the first time I saw it I found nothing that stated the director was paying homage to the movie. I don’t think you can say that it was inspiration because it is too close to whats in the movie and usually inspiration does not mirror something. Either way I am glad the movie is referenced its pretty dope. I wish I could find a clip from the movie that shows the exact scene I am talking about but I cant, you should check the movie out anyways. Here is the preview
the part where the birds fly out of the gunshot wounds is in the scenes that the L.E.S Artistes video is taking cues from
Also speaking of Holy Mountain references (or homage or rip off), in MGMT’s video time to pretend they have a scene from The Holy Mountain and they used some sort of haxing to place the band over the scene ( I know nothing of the sort of techniques they use). Here is a picture of the scene in The Holy Mountain where the 7 burn their money.
- Burn your money!
I guess if you never seen the movie this post might have been a snooze fest but I am not apologizing. Enjoy the good weather!
Bored? Stalk the President on the White House Flickr!
Well in case you haven’t heard the news, The White House officially has a Flickr account, complete with professional photographs of the Prez and various staffers working hard and hardly working. It’s like C-SPAN minus the boring.
This also means that there’s a government job to update the flickr. Go Economic Stimulus!!!
Cops Gone Wild (Again)
Philebrity covered this but I think it’s worth giving the vid a wider circulation
It’s sort of creepy how freaked out cops get when you videotape them, like, when they realized they might be held accountable for what they’re doing. (Right?).
Proud To Be An American: Musicals
(That’s a video, by the way)
Temple is putting on a production of Cabaret at the Prince Music Theatre, and I’m in an acting class and had to go watch it. In case you don’t know, Cabaret is about (you guessed it) a Cabaret in Berlin that a young, dumb, sorta queer (but will still have sex with/fall for the leading lady in order to drive the plot with a heterosexual love story), American stumbles upon. He’s “a writer”, which as it turns out means that he parties a lot at the Kit Kat Club while boning this British cabaret dancer/sometimes some guy he had met in Paris. He leaves for home when the whole Nazi thing gets too real for him.
Now here’s the interesting part. Upon realizing something stinks in Berlin, Cliff (the lead dude) tries to convince Sally to leave. But Sally, like the rest of the Kit Kat Club’s denizens feel that politics “don’t involve them”. This is of course excepting the armband wearing Nazi (Fritz?). Cliff gets pissed, he tells her something about opening her eyes, about reading a goddamn paper and caring about what’s going on instead of partying all the time. This sounds familiar.
For those of you who don’t follow links I’m referring to the stock anti-hipster line: “they don’t care, they just get fucked up/party/vapid/shallow/decadent/sluts/etc”. And at the same time we have Cliff, the “writer” who in fact doesn’t create any work. This, the person who proclaims to be a creative type (look at my macbook lappy/adobe skills/art school haircut/idcard), is a quintissential hipster trope (I think).
So. Cabaret was first produced in 1966, which is to say that Ebb & Kander brought up the same issues/moral concerns as Adbusters, fourty-plus years ahead of time. I also got more boners watching Cabaret than I ever have from reading Adbusters.
Fail?
Fail!
And that is why musicals make me proud to be an American.
p.s. How many musicals would we have left if we got rid of all the ones about New York/The Holocaust/WWII ???
Asians Should Change Their Names to Make Them Easier for Americans to Deal With
On Tuesday, State Rep. Betty Brown caused a firestorm during House testimony on voter identification legislation when she said that Asian-Americans should change their names because they’re too hard to pronounce:
“Rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese — I understand it’s a rather difficult language — do you think that it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here?” Brown said.
Brown later told [Organization of Chinese Americans representative Ramey] Ko: “Can’t you see that this is something that would make it a lot easier for you and the people who are poll workers if you could adopt a name just for identification purposes that’s easier for Americans to deal with?”
Yesterday, Brown continued to resist calls to apologize. Her spokesman said that Democrats “want this to just be about race.”
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/09/brown-asian-names/
__________________________________________________________________
What Betty really means is, you orientals should all go back to where you came from. And NO, she’s not racist! She just thinks everyone should change their names to something like John and Mary… so it’s easier for AMERICANS, DUH! Luckily my parents already named me Sally, I should probably change my last name to something more American though, like Smith! LOL, WHITE PEOPLE.
I’ve had a few customers ask me what my name is and I tell them, “Sally.” At least twice, I’ve had them go, “No! Your real name! What your parents named you.” Of course! My “real” name obviously has to be something Asian because I’m Asian. There’s no way my parents actually named me Sally, right? Ignorance is hilarious. Team America, fuck yeah!
Smaller SugarHouse a Probable Go
So it seems the future Fishtown gambling addicts are to get their fix after all; Nutter recently approved the redesigned plans for the SugarHouse Casino. After pressure to relocate, the casino has agreed to move its operations further from the waterfront, allow more public access to the waterfront, as well as reduce the size of its building altogether.
The future 1700-slot glorified wishing well, whose site rests along Delaware Ave, is slated to complete phase 1 by April 2010.
read more here
Climb Mount Bonemore
Justine Lai is an artist living in San Francisco. Her series, “Join Or Die” features herself Marilyn Monroe-ing/Monica Lewinski-ing our glorious past leaders (NSFW).
As you can see in the image above, this isn’t really a topical post. I just thought I’d follow Sally’s string of NSFW posts with my own. Lai’s site says that the series runs “2006-Present”, so I’ll let you know when she gets to Obama.
Indoctrinate Now!
mama voted
So… So I love Obama as much as the next college kid, but this is a little weird. Published by Jeremy Zilber and hyped by his website little democrats, this is his third children’s book on the website. The other two are “Why Mommy is a Democrat” and “Why Daddy is a Democrat.”
I have issue with this because kids shouldn’t be brainwashed, even if it is for the “better” side. Just like those “Obama Baby” Tees and other political bumper-sticker-for-your-kid’s-body clothing is just wrong. So yeah, I found this in a Facebook ad. So all you hip moms out there facebookin’ it up, don’t forget to get your baby the newest literature for the budding yuppiecrat who cares to “hope.”
Coming soon? Barack-n-Sockem robots.
/rant.
Philly Sees Growth In Green Jobs
Despite the recent economic downturn that has many of us shaking in our boots, Philadelphia has been creating some green jobs, particularly when it comes to Gamesa, a Spanish company that has opened shop in one of the old US steel plants just outside of the city. Employing about 300, and hoping to expand, Gamesa uses the site to manufacture the giant steel turbines used in energy generating windmills. Isn’t that swell?
Credit(s): Photo from CNN
Darn UArt Kids
UArts kids celebrated yesterday’s inauguration yesterday by making some art for Barack Obama, KYW 1060 reports. Some students also made everyone who heard the report want to make a thousand art school jokes.
- “I wrote, ‘Yay, Obama,’ because I’m glad he’s president.”
- “I wrote, ‘Work it B-Rock,’ and I wrote, ‘Keep the Hope Alive in ‘09.’”
More Info: http://willdo.pwblogs.com/2009/01/21/uarts-students-on-obama/
B.o.B, Charles Hamilton and Asher Roth – Change Gonna Come
Since there’s been so much hype on Charles Hamilton, I decided to post this music video. How appropriate? Go OBAMA! Big things poppin’ and little shit stoppin’!
Kid Gives Obama A Fist Jab
Obama Craze!
In honor of the Inauguration I would like to post my favorite Barack Obama merchandise and promotions that helped get him into office.
I OFFICIALLY DECLARE TOMORROW…
President Obama’s official portrait: the first ever taken with a digital camera
You’re now gazing at President Barack Obama’s just-released official portrait — the first of a U.S. president ever taken with a digital camera. That means we can peek at the EXIF data — this fine specimen of portraiture was snapped with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II on January 13th, 2009 at 5:38 pm with no flash, using a 105mm lens stopped to f/10 at a 1/125 exposure, with an ISO of 100 by newly crowned official White House photographer Pete Souza.
More Info: http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/14/president-obamas-official-portrait-the-first-ever-taken-with-a/
BBrother Sprays Politics in Taiwan
BBrother is one of the most controversial graffiti artist in the world. He’s known throughout the streets of Taipei. Taipei is a major city of Taiwan. Taiwan is a tiny island not too far from China’s mainland. Although the Chinese government would like to disagree, Taiwan is not really part of China; thus, Taiwan has their own government system.
Like China, Taiwan is a conservative country. Freedom of speech is a major issue. So graffiti was definitely unheard of, until BBrother that is.
Here is a quote from BBrother about his involvement with politics.
Format: Your work is frequently political. Can you talk a bit about the goals of your political work and the issues it addresses?
Bbrother: Right now there is an action in Taipei called the “Wild Strawberry Movement.” This movement is the biggest student movement after the Wild Lily student movement in 1990. Students are opposing police state and the Suppression of Human Rights by the Unconstitutional Assembly and Parade Law. Which can be better understood by checking out http://freespeechintaiwan.wordpress.com/
More Info: http://www.formatmag.com/art/bbrother/
