10/ 10 / 08: Palins imperfect union

Wether they acknowledge it or not, the press here seems to be going to great lengnths in aiding in the reportage of Mccain and Palins frankly desperate and pathetic claims that Obama (who was eight years of age at the time) is tied to a terrorist organisation, by virtue of living in the vicinity of Bill Ayres, of the weather underground organisation of the 1960's. Not so readily reported on places like Fox news, is the following article and video, displaying Palin's own extreme affiliations with the Alaska Independance party, just one year ago-an organization whose founder Joe Vogler proclaims:

“The fires of Hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government, and I won’t be buried under their damn flag! I’ll be buried in Dawson, and when Alaska is an independent nation, they can bring my bones home.”

read more here: Mudflats Alaskan political blog
01/ 10 / 08: Rolling Stone-Extracts from Make believe Maverick-John Mccain

"It's a myth McCain has cultivated throughout his decades in Washington. But during the course of this year's campaign, the mask has slipped. "Let's face it," says Larry Wilkerson, a retired Army colonel who served as chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell. "John McCain made his reputation on the fact that he doesn't bend his principles for politics. That's just not true."

"McCain displayed little of Hope's valor. Although he would soon regale The New York Times with tales of the heroism of the brave enlisted men who "stayed to help the pilots fight the fire," McCain took no part in dousing the flames himself. After going belowdecks and briefly helping sailors who were frantically trying to unload bombs from an elevator to the flight deck, McCain retreated to the safety of the "ready room," where off-duty pilots spent their noncombat hours talking trash and playing poker. There, McCain watched the conflagration unfold on the room's closed-circuit television — bearing distant witness to the valiant self-sacrifice of others who died trying to save the ship, pushing jets into the sea to keep their bombs from exploding on deck."

"John allows the media to make him out to be the hero POW, which he knows is absolutely not true, to further his political goals," says Butler. "John was just one of about 600 guys. He was nothing unusual. He was just another POW."

'During his 1992 campaign, at the end of a long day, McCain's wife, Cindy, mussed his receding hair and needled him playfully that he was "getting a little thin up there." McCain reportedly blew his top, cutting his wife down with the kind of language that had gotten him hauled into court as a high schooler: "At least I don't plaster on the makeup like a trollop, you cunt." Even though the incident was witnessed by three reporters, the McCain campaign denies it took place.'

'At least three of McCain's GOP colleagues have gone on record to say that they consider him temperamentally unsuited to be commander in chief. Smith, the former senator from New Hampshire, has said that McCain's "temper would place this country at risk in international affairs, and the world perhaps in danger. In my mind, it should disqualify him." Sen. Domenici of New Mexico has said he doesn't "want this guy anywhere near a trigger." And Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi weighed in that "the thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He is erratic. He is hotheaded."

A fascinating and compelling article on the life of a man who would be the commander in chief at the following link:

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/make_believe_maverick_the_real_john_mccain/page/1

 

 

 
01/ 10 / 08: REGISTER TO VOTE.

  I am a permanent resident in the US, and just like anybody working here I pay taxes to the governement. However, until I am acknowledged as a citizen-I cannot vote. I want to-I have grown to love this country, and I everything I believe it once stood for . I believe this country is on the precipice of irrevocable change. Please, This maybe, the most important thing you ever do in your entire life, so register to vote NOW!!

 

 

29/ 09 / 08: Sarah Palin on the Current economic meltdown.

 
29/ 09 / 08:Posse Comitatus Act is DEAD, US Ruled by Junta

Yet one more indication of the growing police state.

Wednesday Sept.
24, 2008 12:26 EDT
Why is a U.S.Army brigade being assigned to the "Homeland"?

Several bloggers today have pointed to this obviously disturbing article from Army Times , which announces that "beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months, the [1st Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry Division] will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North" -- "the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to NorthCom, a joint command established in 2002 to provide command and control for federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil authorities.
" The article details:
They'll learn new skills, use some of the ones they acquired in the war zone and more than likely will not be shot at while doing any of it.

They may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios such as massive poisoning and chaos in response to a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive, or CBRNE, attack. . . .

The 1st BCT's soldiers also will learn how to use "the first ever nonlethal package that the Army has fielded," 1st BCT commander Col. Roger Cloutier said, referring to crowd and traffic control equipment and nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals without killing them.

"It's a new modular package of nonlethal capabilities that they're fielding. They've been using pieces of it in Iraq, but this is the first time that these modules were consolidated and this package fielded, and because of this mission we’re undertaking we were the first to get it.
"
The package includes equipment to stand up a hasty road block; spike strips for slowing, stopping or controlling traffic; shields and batons; and, beanbag bullets.

"I was the first guy in the brigade to get Tasered," said Cloutier, describing the experience as "your worst muscle cramp ever -- times 10 throughout your whole body". . . .

The brigade will not change its name, but the force will be known for the next year as a CBRNE Consequence Management Response Force, or CCMRF (pronounced "sea-smurf").

For more than 100 years -- since the end of the Civil War -- deployment of the U.S. military inside the U.S. has been prohibited under The Posse Comitatus Act (the only exceptions being that the National Guard and Coast Guard are exempted, and use of the military on an emergency ad hoc basis is permitted, such as what happened after Hurricane Katrina). Though there have been some erosions of this prohibition over the last several decades (most perniciously to allow the use of the military to work with law enforcement agencies in the "War on Drugs"), the bright line ban on using the U.S. military as a standing law enforcement force inside the U.S. has been more or less honored -- until now. And as the Army Times notes, once this particular brigade completes its one-year assignment, "expectations are that another, as yet unnamed, active-duty brigade will take over and that the mission will be a permanent one.
"
After Hurricane Katrina, the Bush administration began openly agitating for what would be, in essence, a complete elimination of the key prohibitions of the Posse Comitatus Act in order to allow the President to deploy U.S. military forces inside the U.S. basically at will -- and, as usual, they were successful as a result of rapid bipartisan compliance with the Leader's demand (the same kind of compliance that is about to foist a bailout package on the nation ).
This April, 2007 article by James Bovard in The American Conservative detailed the now-familiar mechanics that led to the destruction of this particular long-standing democratic safeguard:
The Defense Authorization Act of 2006, passed on Sept. 30, empowers President George W. Bush to impose martial law in the event of a terrorist "incident," if he or other federal officials perceive a shortfall of "public order," or even in response to antiwar protests that get unruly as a result of government provocations. . . .

It only took a few paragraphs in a $500 billion, 591-page bill to raze one of the most important limits on federal power. Congress passed the Insurrection Act in 1807 to severely restrict the president's ability to deploy the military within the United States. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 tightened these restrictions, imposing a two-year prison sentence on anyone who used the military within the U.S. without the express permission of Congress. But there is a loophole: Posse Comitatus is waived if the president invokes the Insurrection Act.

Section 1076 of the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007 changed the name of the key provision in the statute book from "Insurrection Act" to "Enforcement of the Laws to Restore Public Order Act." The Insurrection Act of 1807 stated that the president could deploy troops within the United States only "to suppress, in a State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy." The new law expands the list to include “natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident, or other condition" -- and such "condition" is not defined or limited. . . .

The story of how Section 1076 became law vivifies how expanding government power is almost always the correct answer in Washington. Some people have claimed the provision was slipped into the bill in the middle of the night. In reality, the administration clearly signaled its intent and almost no one in the media or Congress tried to stop it . . . .

Section 1076 was supported by both conservatives and liberals. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the ranking Democratic member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, co-wrote the provision along with committee chairman Sen. John Warner (R-Va.). Sen. Ted Kennedy openly endorsed it, and Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), then-chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, was an avid proponent. . . .

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, warned on Sept. 19 that "we certainly do not need to make it easier for Presidents to declare martial law," but his alarm got no response. Ten days later, he commented in the Congressional Record: "Using the military for law enforcement goes against one of the founding tenets of our democracy." Leahy further condemned the process, declaring that it "was just slipped in the defense bill as a rider with little study. Other congressional committees with jurisdiction over these matters had no chance to comment, let alone hold hearings on, these proposals.
"
As is typical, very few members of the media even mentioned any of this, let alone discussed it (and I failed to give this the attention it deserved at the time), but Congressional Quarterly's Jeff Stein wrote an excellent article at the time detailing the process and noted that "despite such a radical turn, the new law garnered little dissent, or even attention, on the Hill." Stein also noted that while "the blogosphere, of course, was all over it . . . a search of The Washington Post and New York Times archives, using the terms 'Insurrection Act,' 'martial law' and 'Congress,' came up empty.
"
Bovard and Stein both noted that every Governor -- including Republicans -- joined in Leahy's objections, as they perceived it as a threat from the Federal Government to what has long been the role of the National Guard. But those concerns were easily brushed aside by the bipartisan majorities in Congress, eager -- as always -- to grant the President this radical new power.

The decision this month to permanently deploy a U.S. Army brigade inside the U.S. for purely domestic law enforcement purposes is the fruit of the Congressional elimination of the long-standing prohibitions in Posse Comitatus (although there are credible signs that even before Congress acted, the Bush administration secretly decided it possessed the inherent power to violate the Act). It shouldn't take any efforts to explain why the permanent deployment of the U.S. military inside American cities, acting as the President's police force, is so disturbing.
Bovard:
"Martial law" is a euphemism for military dictatorship. When foreign democracies are overthrown and a junta establishes martial law, Americans usually recognize that a fundamental change has occurred. . . . Section 1076 is Enabling Act-type legislation—something that purports to preserve law-and-order while formally empowering the president to rule by decree.

The historic importance of the Posse Comitatus prohibition was also well-analyzed here .

As the recent militarization of St. Paul during the GOP Convention made abundantly clear, our actual police forces are already quite militarized. Still, what possible rationale is there for permanently deploying the U.S.
Army inside the United States -- under the command of the President -- for any purpose, let alone things such as "crowd control," other traditional law enforcement functions, and a seemingly unlimited array of other uses at the President's sole discretion? And where are all of the stalwart right-wing "small government conservatives" who spent the 1990s so vocally opposing every aspect of the growing federal police force? And would it be possible to get some explanation from the Government about what the rationale is for this unprecedented domestic military deployment (at least unprecedented since the Civil War), and why it is being undertaken now?

UPDATE: As this commenter notes , the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act somewhat limited the scope of the powers granted by the 2007 Act detailed above (mostly to address constitutional concerns by limiting the President's powers to deploy the military to suppress disorder that threatens constitutional rights), but President Bush, when signing that 2008 Act into law, issued a signing statement which, though vague, seems to declare that he does not recognize those new limitations.

 
24/ 09 / 08:Naomi Wolf: The Battle Plan II: Sarah "Evita" Palin, the Muse of the Coming Police State


Anybody, still harbouring any doubts about who to vote for,should read Naomi Wolfs most recent blog on Huffington Post. A terrifying and compelling insight into recent events.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/naomi-wolf/the-battle-plan-ii-sarah_b_128393.html

 
23/ 08 / 08: Dave Stewart-an American prayer

 

 
12/ 08 / 08: The gone to seed blossoms

Whilst it may seem on the face of it, that I have disapeared into some b(l)ackwater close-but-no-cigar reclusive hole, for retired artists these past few months, I have in fact been sequested away, burning the candle on forthcoming projects.

A continued turn of bad licensing deals, prevarications and basic bullshit, brought to a head the long held notion, that-well- I'm a big boy now, and nobody has my interests at heart better than myself, so I've taken a bold-and some would say, long overdue- foot forward, and my first book- 'Gods and Monsters'-the art phantastique of David Gough-is the result.

Published trhough my own Darq Matter imprint, for the moment, these will only be available through my website, and at public events,but if anyone knows of any distributors out there, who might be interested in displaying my little tome, then let me know.

My art will also be appearing in a number of other publications-which include one or two coffee table anthologies as well as the featured cover for Peter Carolls continued spiritual quest-in'The Apophenion'-now available from Amazon.

Start filling your holiday shopping lists now.

Talking of which, my biggest commitment at the moment, is art and writing duties on my total reinturprutation of Dickens Xmas Carol. At the time of writing, I'm still fleshing out the pages and putting painterly meat on the bones of yuletide's most infamous curmudgeon, but I am delighting in my twisted translation.

As if that isn't enough to keep me reaching for the Caffiene drip, I have several shows planned, as well as another exhibit at Basic on October 14th, where I will be showcasing-time willing- at least four or five new pieces. Check out my appearances page for more details.

Of course, I'll keep any new developments updated here and in the news section, so thanks for staying with us during what might have seemed a fallow period.


 

 
04/11 / 08: The Orphaned works bill

Pizza & Paint were the order of the day, at downtown San Diego's Basic, the happening venue. A gaggle of freinds in tow, and one other-whose work some of you might be familar with-'the Heart of Darkness' themed evening was shared by a coiterie of the most excellent urban artists. Amongst them, Sean Dietrich, Tou Vue,Tasso and a Mohawk coiffed Alex Julian, whose in your face artoonery, I reccomend most highly.

The evening was a splendid success, and I was hugely appreciative of the friends and fans who made a special effort to make it over there, particularly as this was a Tuesday-never the most ideal evening for galavanting.

Posted here,are a selection of pics from the evening. A huge thank you to my fellow artists,all attendees, and a special nod to Johnny Tran-who helped organise the event.

pics:

1&2-preparing for the show,(Tou's work in view) 3-With events organiser Johnny Tran, 4-sharing a beer and a moment with artist Tou Vue, 5-putting on the 'tude with artist Alex Julian and Tasso, 6-Lani and bff Shawna Fredenburg catch up on the gossip, 7-Group shot with friends-Loki, Elyssia, Tony, Earl Storm, Moi & Andy. 8-lost in the crowd with buddies Tina and Greg.
 
04/11 / 08: The Orphaned works bill

I became aware of this potentially devestating legislation against creative ownership,when it was first mooted a few years back-never believing for an instant it would become a possibility.
A passage from the following article reads thus...

'An Orphaned Work is any creative work of art where the artist or copyright owner has released their copyright, whether on purpose, by passage of time, or by lack of proper registration. In the same way that an orphaned child loses the protection of his or her parents, your creative work can become an orphan for others to use without your permission.'

Read more...

Interview with Mark Simon

Topics of disccussion through Illustrators partnership


Of course, with the greed of the current administration continuing to push for legislations, backed solely by business interests, this bill would have dire consequences for not only the rights of artists copyright, but also for anyone wanting to share a simple photograph.

I would encourage everyone-not just artists to read this, and act against this despicable legislation-this is not only a contravention of your basic human right-that which allows you to express freely, but also an imprisonment of all cultural forms-the results of which are too terrifying to comprehend.

 
04/ 06 / 08: Moving pictures part 1

Taking some downtime from all the usual frenzied activity in our household, we've been enjoying the fruits of our Netflix list. Three movies particularly, have grabbed my interest, in the way that they all have something of a common thread running through them, dealing as they do with a hollywood perception of art and artistic stereotypes, the first of which I'll review below.

Art School Confidential

Based around the original comic strip, the movie tells the story of an ambitious student with delusions to be the greatest artist of the 21st century,Jerome-played with wonderfully misanthropic gloom by Max Minghella-attends Strathmore Art institutel, where he navigates critique by a retinue of students with pretentious bonheme,a cynically weathered teacher-ever brilliantly portrayed by Malkovich-an unrequited love for his muse, bohemian nude model (a ravishing Sophia Myles), and a rather ridiculous serial killer sub-plot.

Anyone who has been an art student themself, will delight in the familiarity of characters (or charicatures)-from the self absorbed abstractionist-boring blowhard-Eno, who excuses himself from an assignment because his direction has nothing to do with light, form or composition, to the bitter failed artist and professor Sandiford, who soberly relates to Jerome,how it took him years to develop and evolve to point where he was painting triangles.

Dismissing the whole, art, ritual, murder subtext- an awkward metaphore for the arc of the story-the picture deals with casualties of the art world, and the notion that fame and success, comes as a trade off for jaded superficiality, and pretentious shlockk, is greater currency to any legacy and longgevity than real talent.