Thursday, November 19, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Whew! Big moves and small moves...
A few things going on right now. Mercury Soapbox hasn't had a show in a little bit but we're about to change all that. I want to go back to my element in free shows with art music and a good crowd, but its hardly sustaining because art supplies, transportation, duct tape, light bulbs, etc cost money. Sucks right? But the american capitalist system is so, lol. But walking among my fellow unemployed artists, I find many artisans! People creating beautiful pieces for your to loft above your couch and know what it feels like to live in that piece of art. Ok, getting off track, sorry. Here's what we want to do, followed by what we need to do it. If you can help with anything contact us at mercurysoapbox@gmail.com or find us on twitter or facebook.
Things we want to do:
PS: if anyone needs a photographer to take candid photos (cause i hate to pose ppl, but i have to sometimes), let me know- i am available :)
PPS: if anyone knows of a chinatown bus connection to chicago, let me know.
Things we want to do:
- Multiple video game tournament: SF4, Madden 10, Fight Night 4, and UFC. Money raised in the tournament can go to a charity, preferrably Fighting For Futures.
- Black book show: several artists will submit their respective black books and have sit and draw sessions with ppl in groups. Prints of pieces can be made to order.
- Short screenings: party at a movie theatre and screen short films by talented artists.
- mercury soapbox book club: a collection of writers and readers, who'll read vaguely connected books and help one another via debate and discussion
- VENUES!! We're always looking for venues with a good location and a heartfelt penchant for art. if your venue has a specific specialty, please let us know and we'll cater to your niche.
- VOLUNTEERS! we might need to borrow something so we don't have to buy it, you know? for example: having 4 friends volunteer their ps3's so we don't have to rent or buy 4 ps3's really helps to keep shows free. I'm just sayin :)
- CREATIVE TYPES! I didn't want to capitalze that one but for the sake of continuity, i did. Anyway, you know we're always looking for interesting and fun creative people to spotlight at shows, expose to new friends and show work to their biggest fans. That includes you, musicians.
PS: if anyone needs a photographer to take candid photos (cause i hate to pose ppl, but i have to sometimes), let me know- i am available :)
PPS: if anyone knows of a chinatown bus connection to chicago, let me know.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Friday, October 16, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Monday, August 3, 2009
Mercury Soapbox Presents AUAS:Another Urban Art Sho
Thursday august 13th
Mercury Soapbox presents
Another Urban Art Sho
Featuring
Artists: Enjoi, Ralph Nixon Jr
Music: Fly Machine, DJ E Money
The Interactive Art Redux!
$7/$5 more details coming soon...
eco360: A Night of Hot Tee's and Cool Drinks!
Come and enjoy the winding down of summer! Grab your friends, kick back with a drink and take in the cool wearable art of Jakob Hostetter (http://www.openeverysense.com) and Curtis Franklin (http://www.fashionhurtz.com), the acoustic stylings of Nick Zakharov and Ian Ferry, and the frenetic spinning of DJ E Money!
AND WAIT..... There's MORE!
Even if you can't make it (I know you have a curfew or your fake ID doesn't work, lol!), you can join in the fun LIVE through twitter (http://twitter.com/sos_eco360) and on facebook (http://tr.im/tKCL)!!
Thanks to a sponsorship from Air Dye, we're having a collaborative design experience and details on how it works are forthcoming, so stay pruned and stay tuned!
This event is made possible by our generous sponsors:
The Institute for Sustainable Communication: http://sustaincomm.org
SOSreach: http://sosreach.org
AirDye: http://airdye.com
Attendance: Free
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Bursts of Reality (Quick hit of fiction from Isaiah Os a.k.a. Harus)
Everyday the mornings on these urban streets seems the same. Uniform, routine rituals of the underpaid laborers litter the streets. Shambling off the wilted dreams of youth for pieces of metal and paper. I am awake on this street from the lack of sleep I am privy to. People pass practically lifeless by me without real regard for anything. It is not without incident that I have discovered an after effect from these poor saps. I succumb in serene silence to their discarded hopes. Seeing their futures play out as they thought it would be; I feel the laughter, happiness, accomplishment, the general feeling of being complete. It was wonderful for the crashing waves of temporary bliss, but the more I took; the hollower I became.
I sun rose up as the street began to live again under the orange glow of daybreak. The emptiness of the morning denizens nearly gone. I panicked to find myself slip, fading from anything solid. No voice, no sound could come from me, nor could I hear any. In this despair, I turned to my home for sanctuary and there I was coming in down the steps. I was one of them, slaves to the routine. I tried in vain to stop myself and became a victim to those dreams discarded.
I sun rose up as the street began to live again under the orange glow of daybreak. The emptiness of the morning denizens nearly gone. I panicked to find myself slip, fading from anything solid. No voice, no sound could come from me, nor could I hear any. In this despair, I turned to my home for sanctuary and there I was coming in down the steps. I was one of them, slaves to the routine. I tried in vain to stop myself and became a victim to those dreams discarded.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Skin by Isaiah Os (Harus)
Morning comes so soon. The days have grown thin with the thoughts that thickened our fears. Men and women on the television make the business of crafting our lives before we live them. Popular trading of despair is hawked in front of children. I see the serrated scars made by the belief of what the normalcy of today is. I see this grotesque being of expectations. I scream, curse and charge at it. Each of my hands burrows in this flesh fortified by slander. Tearing, clawing, ravaging this thing in aggressive glee, I soon see what has brought me terror. Under it all, there's a rusted mirror distorting the image of ourselves. Neglected because of our own ideals.
--Woke up today and decided to pay attention to the mass content of things on the news and the media and general---
--Woke up today and decided to pay attention to the mass content of things on the news and the media and general---
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Saturday, June 20, 2009
A few things in the news this week. Most important! While everyone fawns over obama's 'coolness' and yuks it up at the correspondents dinner, he approved another HUNDRED BILLION DOLLARS IN WAR SPENDING! Now, mr. Obama, you are exactly like the war mongering presidents who preceded you. I hope you can sleep knowing many of us have totally lost faith in you.
Monday, June 15, 2009
In Question
Why is everyone so distracted by what is happening outside of the U.S. these days when things are far from fine? I can still walk around and hear the bullshit on how we are still good in the world. Has the public become to accustomed to the swagger of the media? Seriously, I think we all need to pay attention or just drug up on ritalin.
Monday, June 8, 2009
New Great sponsor and partner!! SOSREACH.ORG!
Yo check it out guys! Sosreach.org is an awesome nonprofit dedicated to the awareness of global issues, climate change and health care, and now Mercury Soapbox's eco-friendly sponsor, offering scholarship opportunities to socially conscious artists/students! Find them on facebook and check out the site for contests, giveaways and future events and collaborations!
ppl understanding ppl
How totally strange to hear the exact words you would have chosen, given the chance and sobriety, coming from someone you just met, just happened to come across and fall into a coversation with. They tell you things about yourself, seem to anticipate your responses and
understand the truth of your intended statement to the point of nearly sharing a brainwavelength. i know its not a word. yet.
understand the truth of your intended statement to the point of nearly sharing a brainwavelength. i know its not a word. yet.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
capitalist idol
Wait a second. Everyone knows that both contestants on american idol are getting record deals, right? Ya know why? Because they know you'll buy the losers album too! call it sweeping up past profits. also the reason for the american idol tour...
fleet week
Fleet week is starting in nyc again. Ladies, i know this is one of your favorite times of year, like when they release the firefighter calendar. But seriously, keep some condoms handy- this ain't the fifties.
Can't sue the feds for unlawful detainment?
Apparently the supreme court has decided that ppl wrongfully imprisoned after september eleventh, alleged to be suspected terrorists, cannot sue the feds. I think thats bullshit. How about you?
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Something before I sleep...A thought
Every single day I open my eyes, the gears moves inside my head rapidly developing the image which govern my writing. Then there is the time where I am in and out of sleep like now. In this twilight hour, I am propelled constantly in between the fiction and facts of reality. Within these walls, I experience the full comforts of delusions. The feeling of identity slips past my hollowed grasp. I can hear the notes of unwritten music resonating as my gaze is fixed on the unknown lover singing each lyric that has been familiarly foreign to me. I blink and I am at war, tasting the dried blood in my cheek and the smell of burning bone. On my knees, I take hold of the fought over earth and feel it warm among the surrounding shrapnel. From these hands, I see the ghosts of the children that I have never fathered. One breath and I am home again, in my skin still shaking. Just knowing where my mind goes from time to time, I wonder if I am real before I sleep.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Short Story, work in progress- please comment!!
There's a boy that delivers food to me everyday from the local diner. He's not a boy really, more a man with boyish charm, a light air that seems to follow him around. I've never told him my name and i don't know his, but what i know is the look that is in his eyes for the brief moments he is standing at my door watching me count money in my translucent robe. Sure i have other robes, but this one shows off my nearly naked form best.
I asked him to come inside, once, under the guise of finding my money, seizing the opportunity provided by sheets of rain crashing down. He thanked me in a politely reserved, deep, strong voice as i sauntered into my bedroom and moved things around, just to keep appearances and my hands steady. I watched curiously through my mirror as he took off his hat to wipe his brow, searching and finding his pensive and thoughtful eyes, his strong and stubbly jaw.
'i just,' she starts, and falters slightly, as she walks into the foyer. She walks right into his space, nearly striding comfortably into his sweet imaginary embrace but stopping short of attempting it. She took a good look at his face, its early creases rising with his natural smile, encouraging her to continue saying what she was afraid of saying, what she'd been afraid of saying before, not just for the act itself being terrifyingly self-revealing but also for the grabby assholes she'd gotten when she's judged wrong about someone.
'it's just that I've seen you a few times and you seem, what i mean is, i haven't really been with a man in a while.'
'in the presence of a man,' his deep, confidently intelligent voice rang,'or with a man like that?'
I asked him to come inside, once, under the guise of finding my money, seizing the opportunity provided by sheets of rain crashing down. He thanked me in a politely reserved, deep, strong voice as i sauntered into my bedroom and moved things around, just to keep appearances and my hands steady. I watched curiously through my mirror as he took off his hat to wipe his brow, searching and finding his pensive and thoughtful eyes, his strong and stubbly jaw.
'i just,' she starts, and falters slightly, as she walks into the foyer. She walks right into his space, nearly striding comfortably into his sweet imaginary embrace but stopping short of attempting it. She took a good look at his face, its early creases rising with his natural smile, encouraging her to continue saying what she was afraid of saying, what she'd been afraid of saying before, not just for the act itself being terrifyingly self-revealing but also for the grabby assholes she'd gotten when she's judged wrong about someone.
'it's just that I've seen you a few times and you seem, what i mean is, i haven't really been with a man in a while.'
'in the presence of a man,' his deep, confidently intelligent voice rang,'or with a man like that?'
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Help out a great cause and have a great time @ once!
check out www.feliciacruz.com for more details on how to help or participate.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Mercury Soapbox Presents The Crossing Bridges Art Sho!!
Featuring the photographic art of Nell Hernandez (www.flickr.com/nellynell) and Lucas Nowakowski (www.flickr.com/omgitslucas), the musical stylings of hip hop messiah brokeMC (www.brokeMC.com) , DJ E-Money and inviting all freestylers, mc's and beatboxers to throw it down in a freestyle jam. Don't forget about our trademark interactive art pieces...
$5 cover
18 to appreciate
21 to inebriate
Mercury Soapbox Presents the Crossing Bridges Art Sho
Sunday, March 22, 2009 at 9:00pm
Club Europa
98 Meserole St.
Brooklyn, NY
$5 cover
18 to appreciate
21 to inebriate
Mercury Soapbox Presents the Crossing Bridges Art Sho
Sunday, March 22, 2009 at 9:00pm
Club Europa
98 Meserole St.
Brooklyn, NY
IT's Also Nells Birthday!!
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
New disgusting police brutality! click link for video...
thanks for the tweet alison!
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/402005_schene03.html
The 15-year-old girl might have been sassing the officer, and the sneaker she kicked off could have hit his shin. She might have, as accused, even stolen a car.
As interest in the case builds, the girl and her father appeared Monday on a CBS morning news show.
Malika Calhoun said during the interview on "The Early Show" that she screamed as the deputy kicked her, shoved her against a wall and tossed her to the floor.
"It was horrible, like my head hit the wall when he first came in and kicked me," she said, appearing with her father, Curtiss Calhoun of Covington. "And then he ... threw me to the ground, was pulling my hair constantly."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/402005_schene03.html
The 15-year-old girl might have been sassing the officer, and the sneaker she kicked off could have hit his shin. She might have, as accused, even stolen a car.
As interest in the case builds, the girl and her father appeared Monday on a CBS morning news show.
Malika Calhoun said during the interview on "The Early Show" that she screamed as the deputy kicked her, shoved her against a wall and tossed her to the floor.
"It was horrible, like my head hit the wall when he first came in and kicked me," she said, appearing with her father, Curtiss Calhoun of Covington. "And then he ... threw me to the ground, was pulling my hair constantly."
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Octo Mom Is Bat-Sh*t Crazy
Childbearing is awesome. I love babies and children - it lends hope that there is a future and it can be bright.
Then I read about Nadya Suleman.
And I decided to revise my previous fuzzy feeling.
Because she's fucking crazy. And if I ever met her, I'd be inclined to punch her in the face, and I mean that.
Nadya is single, unemployed and still in school. She has 6 children....and just gave birth to 8 more. (But wait, there's more!)
She conceived these children...drum roll please....via in-vitro fertilization.
TADA!
Did I mention that she was selfish?
This is wrong on so many levels. SO MANY. I am a pro-choice woman, although the thought of aborting a child would put me in a place I'd rather not be, I believe that women should have a choice what happens to AND inside their bodies.
Of course, Nadya has the right to have IVF done; it's every woman's god given right to house her offspring. However, it's socially irresponsible.
She now has 14 mouths to feed and she's single and unemployed. How she afforded the procedure in the first place, I'm not sure.
But how selfish could you be to subject your children to potential danger. Isn't it instintual to want to shed your children from all possible dangers. So how could this woman openly throw them to the dangers, of oh say...STARVATION.
Not to mention, the possibility of developmental problems that come along with multiple births.
Raising a child who has a mental or developmental disability costs money, a lot of money. How does she intend to raise them with those kinds of odds? Oh, she said that she's planning on finishing school and that will enable her to provide for her children.
Right, she's going to finish school while taking care of 8 infants and her 6 other kids, on her own.
I'm all for having kids, I can't wait to have my own. And I respect any woman who goes through the process of carrying and raising children. But there comes a point where you have to ask yourself, "will having this child inhibit my ability to provide for them fully?"
How can you have a child and not have the means and resources to raise them? That's irresponsible parenting. It's much more than the 9 months that you carry them. It's a lifetime's worth or work AND money.
I feel physically ill thinking about the futures of those 14 children. I come from a huge family and I'm well aware of the intrinsic value of a big family but I'm also aware that it costs a lot of money to maintain and sustain a healthy lifestyle. What's going to happen to these kids if she can't do that? Foster care? Adoption?
As a woman, I strongly feel that this is wrong, morally and ethically. I don't get it. She wanted to be a mom, that's great, how about you be a mom to the 6 children you already had? Was it necessary to implant 6 embryo's? 1 of which split into twins.
I would love to be a mother one day and I empathize with those who try and cannot. But I feel nothing but sorrow for the children of those women who are entirely selfish, delusional and just plain irresponsible. I hate you stupid women who are selfish. You take away the real meaning of being a mother and substitute it with something to fill the gap for your lifetime of "not being loved".
Just because you have a uterus - doesn't mean you have to use it.
Then I read about Nadya Suleman.
And I decided to revise my previous fuzzy feeling.
Because she's fucking crazy. And if I ever met her, I'd be inclined to punch her in the face, and I mean that.
Nadya is single, unemployed and still in school. She has 6 children....and just gave birth to 8 more. (But wait, there's more!)
She conceived these children...drum roll please....via in-vitro fertilization.
TADA!
Did I mention that she was selfish?
This is wrong on so many levels. SO MANY. I am a pro-choice woman, although the thought of aborting a child would put me in a place I'd rather not be, I believe that women should have a choice what happens to AND inside their bodies.
Of course, Nadya has the right to have IVF done; it's every woman's god given right to house her offspring. However, it's socially irresponsible.
She now has 14 mouths to feed and she's single and unemployed. How she afforded the procedure in the first place, I'm not sure.
But how selfish could you be to subject your children to potential danger. Isn't it instintual to want to shed your children from all possible dangers. So how could this woman openly throw them to the dangers, of oh say...STARVATION.
Not to mention, the possibility of developmental problems that come along with multiple births.
Raising a child who has a mental or developmental disability costs money, a lot of money. How does she intend to raise them with those kinds of odds? Oh, she said that she's planning on finishing school and that will enable her to provide for her children.
Right, she's going to finish school while taking care of 8 infants and her 6 other kids, on her own.
I'm all for having kids, I can't wait to have my own. And I respect any woman who goes through the process of carrying and raising children. But there comes a point where you have to ask yourself, "will having this child inhibit my ability to provide for them fully?"
How can you have a child and not have the means and resources to raise them? That's irresponsible parenting. It's much more than the 9 months that you carry them. It's a lifetime's worth or work AND money.
I feel physically ill thinking about the futures of those 14 children. I come from a huge family and I'm well aware of the intrinsic value of a big family but I'm also aware that it costs a lot of money to maintain and sustain a healthy lifestyle. What's going to happen to these kids if she can't do that? Foster care? Adoption?
As a woman, I strongly feel that this is wrong, morally and ethically. I don't get it. She wanted to be a mom, that's great, how about you be a mom to the 6 children you already had? Was it necessary to implant 6 embryo's? 1 of which split into twins.
I would love to be a mother one day and I empathize with those who try and cannot. But I feel nothing but sorrow for the children of those women who are entirely selfish, delusional and just plain irresponsible. I hate you stupid women who are selfish. You take away the real meaning of being a mother and substitute it with something to fill the gap for your lifetime of "not being loved".
Just because you have a uterus - doesn't mean you have to use it.
Monday, February 9, 2009
AUAS Jan 30th Recap!
A huge thank you to Bazooka Falcon and Sauce for rockin' the joint hard! Thank you to everyone who came out and participated in our collective art pieces. Sorry that security was kinda dickish but the next event will probably be at a new location.
Remember guys, i'm always looking for people to show or play and we are movin on up Y'all, so look out!
Remember guys, i'm always looking for people to show or play and we are movin on up Y'all, so look out!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Changing Names, Static Faces
Posted by Calculating Condor
For all those opposing, recently betrothed to and indisposed of by our fair state: we have a new face for freedom. Our new man, new management has an oddly clean history. Barack Obama has had several homes in different nations over his lifetime but he is about to encompass the very helm of Western Civilization, as we know the term. No doubt, this man’s attributes and actions will be the prime focus of the watching world, wondering how he plans to depose our Texan oil baron brand of despotism and employ a formative approach towards governing our yet-to-be sheared bleaters.
Despite the man’s blood relation to two of our former administration’s executives, set back about nine generations, he is seen as the glimmer of hope in modern politics. And by bringing him to this seat, we are yet again instrumental in our own fate. I felt him to be the clear cut choice early on, forecasting Hilary’s deliberate departure from the eye of favor with her oddly ominous comparison of Obama’s then lead to RFK’s commanding lead in 1968 immediately prior to his assassination. These politicians don’t just say these things, their rhetorical intent always seems to be met and their meager promises to us take their lonely back seat.
But we know Hilary’s sordid past. The string of deaths connected to her and her slick and slippery Willie during their decades in politics. (http://www.ssqq.com/ARCHIVE/intern03.htm PLEASE READ AND SPREAD).
But what does our Kenyan joy boy have in his past? Not as ugly of one as virtually every single one of his predecessors, an apt prescription for a power-weary populace that sees fit only an alignment of private and public interests. Here, we demand not a uniform standard of life since we only know the damaging effects of socialization but at least a fair view, an equal shot whether in business or politics, but more importantly, a fresh start.
God knows we need it. At this stage, with our leading economic experts assuring us the worst is yet to hit us, the public has no will to crowd and clamor about our war fueled economy and how its certain progression can only have the exact same effect it has had for centuries, a perfect transfer of wealth from the unwittingly indentured debt classes to the iniquitous intelligentsia of global industry.
It did not take too long but following the past century’s great equalizer- WWII, US might allowed us to form the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. These institutions and their management has single handedly put the developing countries into an apt iron vice grip from which the only relief remains an assurance of servitude to the debtors for all foreseeable future.
But that prospect of progress urges us on, right? This hope that the future could be better has been misplaced into the hands of those who see their resolutions coming to fruition beyond that of their wildest dreams, and this new age’s constituency sees Obama as any sort of a departure? In a time when all of industry is at the mercy of the Federal Reserve, our idea of nationalization, instead of reaping the benefits of our regional fruits, is to further tarnish our collective credit with grab bag style gift packages allotted not to the most faulty businesses, but the most favored and obedient.
Take the case of Goldman Sachs, making the right maneuvers before the subprime mortgage crisis you’d think that they’d have no right to claim any of the 700 billion dollar package awarded by congress. This company had netted a 4 billion dollar profit by expecting a market collapse and then receiving even more from the 85 billion that went to AIG(http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2093881/posts).
Now these sort of actions that warranted no investigation on the part of the SEC, shit, they understand the fiscal prudence of the decision, these actions should certainly be condemned by a leader that has pledged to repair the cracked and crumbling gears of the American machine run ragged by republican ruin.
Unfortunately, Barack Obama has received close to 900 thousand from Goldman Sachs(reported,) his second top contributor. Now a mere million, even less is a marginal figure compared to the four billion gained from the mortgage-backed securities in addition to whatever part of that 37 billion dollar bundle went to Goldman, but it may have been just enough to keep the most credible law man in the eye of the public, the first black president of the Harvard Law Review, the first black president of the United States with his lips firmly sealed, smiling at the public his demagogy so fiercely empowers.
When you judge a candidate, as you must, just consider their motive at every step. From every sight, every standpoint. Now Obama mentions nothing of this unbelievable racket by which Goldman Sachs scours our pockets, can he be trusted with the control panels of our military?
One massive conflict zone that Obama has a root in is Africa. Now one word that has been absent from his speeches is AFRICOM. Its installment came at a timely month before Election day and was the pet project of Donald Rumsfeld, you remember him. Well, Obama fully supports AFRICOM as well as this idea of creating a Shared Security Partnership Program, a means of international and regional alignment on American terms with the common goal of combating our enemies. Not only is this out of touch with the American people, based on both recent and distant military history, this is far out of line with moral decency. He vows to close Guantanamo Bay detention facilities and act where Bush has failed, by focusing on the real targets. In the case of Iran, he contends that their nuclear development has to subside and their counter-position to Israel may decide their fate and in a detailed interview
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/02/AR2008030201982_pf.html)
he outlines how our efforts at diplomacy with only one obvious tyrant must end and be replaced with a stronger pursuit, with the hopes for their people almost at the priority our inexorable quest to root out the fabled danger of the middle east, Al Qaeda. Now with the cases of Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, countless other nations and even Al Qaeda, we always seem to have a strong bond in their upstart and then a sudden backlash against them, citing their crimes as independent when we maintained strong strategic with such terrorist organizations and financial support on record.
Clearly such a massive conflict of interest should be investigated, at least mentioned, something, man! But, no, no such luck. Obama is ever vigilant in reassuring America what side we’re on and why we’re there. And his position on human rights seems an echo of pretty much all of our past presidential candidates before winning and right before every fucking war they start. Strategic revision must be done on a broader scale and claiming that these international standards do not hold us in far heavier contempt than the smaller states we tend to demonize is enough reason for us to question Obama’s credibility and his devotion to substantial peace.
One organization that always seems to have ideological leverage on every presiding seat since its creation in the early 1920s is the Council on Foreign Relations. This think tank wrought from the spoils of the first major world even of warfare, following the biggest flu pandemic since the black plague, gave way to the build-up of wealth known as the roaring twenties. But the purpose of this non-partisan spoiled brats’ club has always been to find a comfortable place to take over the world outside of the glare of the media. The founding member of the CFR was the personal attorney to JP Morgan who, himself with the Warburg and Rockefeller clans, sought to finalize a true economic hierarchy for the world.
Well, this hierarchy is currently in top form, feeding on the defenseless bottom. And it is barely surprising that Barack’s wife is a member of the Chicago chapter of the CFR or that his two head picks for the Treasury department are a man directly from the Federal Reserve and one from the legendary Skull and Bones society, which may have certainly propelled the Bushes, John Kerry and Bill Clinton, among others, well into political prominence.
Two weeks after the election of Obama, I attended a conference, Transition 2008: Advising America’s Next President, held in the Schimmel Auditorium of the NYU Stern School of Business. On the panel were: the executive editor of CFR.org, Michael Moran, international correspondent Lane Greene for The Economist, and an NYU professor of financial institutional history Richard Sylla. Their moderator was a writer for Slate Magazine, Alexandra Starr, who focuses on South America. The entire time, the vision portrayed was grim and heavily reliant on a vamped approach towards those recurrent evils. The threat of an escalating conflict with China or Russia was noted. The most dissenting voice on stage was that of Lane Greene, while he expressed not a single qualm with the impending administration. One audience member asked what else could be done to revitalize the economy along with the recently passed stimulus package. Professor Sylla assured him that similar packages are on the way. I decided to ask about the creation of AFRICOM three weeks prior, and how the American people should expect a different tone from Obama when his support for this early and aggressive military project is hidden from most media outlets and from his own lips yet certainly not from his thoughts. The moderator decided to refer to her experience with SOCOM, the South American military apparatus, claiming they are very effective in handing out aid to people in the countries they feel the right to inhabit.
Michael Moran, the CFR website editor then took the question, stating that this is a chance for America to change its image broadcast around the world by taking charge in a volatile region. He delivered this in a tone of assuming international complicity with America’s new impulses, as if everyone is ready to trust us again.
At least Lane Greene echoed my concern for allowing the management of such a rich and struggling continent to a country with so dirty and dismal of a track record, our footprints fading far from memories as we approach a more local, a national struggle. Well that last part wasn’t said by Greene, considering he knew right away what I was talking about yet doesn’t seem to mention it in his articles.
My question was followed by a young woman asking if due to Obama’s popularity, could we lift the two term limit on the office of president to which the economics professor answered “Well, the country isn’t New York.” This was followed by roaring laughter of a public misunderstanding the grave necessity of such a law. The twenty second amendment is very much in honor of George Washington who refused to run for a third term despite such popular support. Thomas Jefferson followed his example, implying that the most effective governance is the limiting of power, to be able to spread it out amongst a larger part of the country. But in trying times, New York changed the laws in order to allow Bloomberg to reign for another term. It comes as no surprise that a New York representative introduces a bill aiming to repeal the 22nd amendment. (http://ppjg.wordpress.com/2009/01/13/representative-serrano-d-ny-wants-to-end-term-limits-for-presidents/)
Now how many people do you know that would support the passage of this law for Obama? If you still aren’t convinced of Obama’s true approach at navigation of our feeble vessel, take a look at Obama’s pick for deputy secretary of defense William J. Lynn III who was the chief financial officer of the Department of Defense 1997-2001 and the appointment of Robert Hale, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force from 1994-2001 concerning financial management.(http://solari.com/blog/?p=1983) Under these men, 3.3 trillion dollars went missing from the Department of Defense, 2.3 trillion of which secretary of Defense under W., Donald Rumsfeld admitted to in a press conference on September tenth, 2001.(Just type in the words RUMSFELD 9/10/01 into youtube or googlevideo.)
It is hopeful that Barack Obama wouldn’t allow such an act of piracy of the tax payer’s money, but if such actions warrant a promotion in Obama’s cabinet, rather than a deep investigation into government actions surrounding the attacks of 9/11, then there is clearly no distance drawn from the tactics of former administrations.
The beauty of ideology is that it can distance a person far from their actual position, their coordinates of character. But every one of us is a product of a typhoon of trails, myriad in number, genetic projections bringing about the most applicable attributes and we need not deny a single integral member. Who knows what characters comprise our family trees? All their exploits and triumphs, buried beneath, yet being the perfect precursors to our own minutiae. The problem is, our most powerful politicians are in a family, carrying on royal roots through the most dismal future possible, making damn well sure that the right strands survive. Well, the plebeian, the proles, breed of banality, whatever you want to call us are the purest and proudest part of society, never mind our size. There is no reason that the seed of kings still have a central role in politics. While we have the will to change, being led astray in order to impose regulations by the actual arbiters of our own downfall must stop. And the most destructive agencies to our world, our welfare and our wallets must go. We cannot remain placid in the presence of an altered expression on the face of an eternal wretchedness.
For all those opposing, recently betrothed to and indisposed of by our fair state: we have a new face for freedom. Our new man, new management has an oddly clean history. Barack Obama has had several homes in different nations over his lifetime but he is about to encompass the very helm of Western Civilization, as we know the term. No doubt, this man’s attributes and actions will be the prime focus of the watching world, wondering how he plans to depose our Texan oil baron brand of despotism and employ a formative approach towards governing our yet-to-be sheared bleaters.
Despite the man’s blood relation to two of our former administration’s executives, set back about nine generations, he is seen as the glimmer of hope in modern politics. And by bringing him to this seat, we are yet again instrumental in our own fate. I felt him to be the clear cut choice early on, forecasting Hilary’s deliberate departure from the eye of favor with her oddly ominous comparison of Obama’s then lead to RFK’s commanding lead in 1968 immediately prior to his assassination. These politicians don’t just say these things, their rhetorical intent always seems to be met and their meager promises to us take their lonely back seat.
But we know Hilary’s sordid past. The string of deaths connected to her and her slick and slippery Willie during their decades in politics. (http://www.ssqq.com/ARCHIVE/intern03.htm PLEASE READ AND SPREAD).
But what does our Kenyan joy boy have in his past? Not as ugly of one as virtually every single one of his predecessors, an apt prescription for a power-weary populace that sees fit only an alignment of private and public interests. Here, we demand not a uniform standard of life since we only know the damaging effects of socialization but at least a fair view, an equal shot whether in business or politics, but more importantly, a fresh start.
God knows we need it. At this stage, with our leading economic experts assuring us the worst is yet to hit us, the public has no will to crowd and clamor about our war fueled economy and how its certain progression can only have the exact same effect it has had for centuries, a perfect transfer of wealth from the unwittingly indentured debt classes to the iniquitous intelligentsia of global industry.
It did not take too long but following the past century’s great equalizer- WWII, US might allowed us to form the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. These institutions and their management has single handedly put the developing countries into an apt iron vice grip from which the only relief remains an assurance of servitude to the debtors for all foreseeable future.
But that prospect of progress urges us on, right? This hope that the future could be better has been misplaced into the hands of those who see their resolutions coming to fruition beyond that of their wildest dreams, and this new age’s constituency sees Obama as any sort of a departure? In a time when all of industry is at the mercy of the Federal Reserve, our idea of nationalization, instead of reaping the benefits of our regional fruits, is to further tarnish our collective credit with grab bag style gift packages allotted not to the most faulty businesses, but the most favored and obedient.
Take the case of Goldman Sachs, making the right maneuvers before the subprime mortgage crisis you’d think that they’d have no right to claim any of the 700 billion dollar package awarded by congress. This company had netted a 4 billion dollar profit by expecting a market collapse and then receiving even more from the 85 billion that went to AIG(http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2093881/posts).
Now these sort of actions that warranted no investigation on the part of the SEC, shit, they understand the fiscal prudence of the decision, these actions should certainly be condemned by a leader that has pledged to repair the cracked and crumbling gears of the American machine run ragged by republican ruin.
Unfortunately, Barack Obama has received close to 900 thousand from Goldman Sachs(reported,) his second top contributor. Now a mere million, even less is a marginal figure compared to the four billion gained from the mortgage-backed securities in addition to whatever part of that 37 billion dollar bundle went to Goldman, but it may have been just enough to keep the most credible law man in the eye of the public, the first black president of the Harvard Law Review, the first black president of the United States with his lips firmly sealed, smiling at the public his demagogy so fiercely empowers.
When you judge a candidate, as you must, just consider their motive at every step. From every sight, every standpoint. Now Obama mentions nothing of this unbelievable racket by which Goldman Sachs scours our pockets, can he be trusted with the control panels of our military?
One massive conflict zone that Obama has a root in is Africa. Now one word that has been absent from his speeches is AFRICOM. Its installment came at a timely month before Election day and was the pet project of Donald Rumsfeld, you remember him. Well, Obama fully supports AFRICOM as well as this idea of creating a Shared Security Partnership Program, a means of international and regional alignment on American terms with the common goal of combating our enemies. Not only is this out of touch with the American people, based on both recent and distant military history, this is far out of line with moral decency. He vows to close Guantanamo Bay detention facilities and act where Bush has failed, by focusing on the real targets. In the case of Iran, he contends that their nuclear development has to subside and their counter-position to Israel may decide their fate and in a detailed interview
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/02/AR2008030201982_pf.html)
he outlines how our efforts at diplomacy with only one obvious tyrant must end and be replaced with a stronger pursuit, with the hopes for their people almost at the priority our inexorable quest to root out the fabled danger of the middle east, Al Qaeda. Now with the cases of Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, countless other nations and even Al Qaeda, we always seem to have a strong bond in their upstart and then a sudden backlash against them, citing their crimes as independent when we maintained strong strategic with such terrorist organizations and financial support on record.
Clearly such a massive conflict of interest should be investigated, at least mentioned, something, man! But, no, no such luck. Obama is ever vigilant in reassuring America what side we’re on and why we’re there. And his position on human rights seems an echo of pretty much all of our past presidential candidates before winning and right before every fucking war they start. Strategic revision must be done on a broader scale and claiming that these international standards do not hold us in far heavier contempt than the smaller states we tend to demonize is enough reason for us to question Obama’s credibility and his devotion to substantial peace.
One organization that always seems to have ideological leverage on every presiding seat since its creation in the early 1920s is the Council on Foreign Relations. This think tank wrought from the spoils of the first major world even of warfare, following the biggest flu pandemic since the black plague, gave way to the build-up of wealth known as the roaring twenties. But the purpose of this non-partisan spoiled brats’ club has always been to find a comfortable place to take over the world outside of the glare of the media. The founding member of the CFR was the personal attorney to JP Morgan who, himself with the Warburg and Rockefeller clans, sought to finalize a true economic hierarchy for the world.
Well, this hierarchy is currently in top form, feeding on the defenseless bottom. And it is barely surprising that Barack’s wife is a member of the Chicago chapter of the CFR or that his two head picks for the Treasury department are a man directly from the Federal Reserve and one from the legendary Skull and Bones society, which may have certainly propelled the Bushes, John Kerry and Bill Clinton, among others, well into political prominence.
Two weeks after the election of Obama, I attended a conference, Transition 2008: Advising America’s Next President, held in the Schimmel Auditorium of the NYU Stern School of Business. On the panel were: the executive editor of CFR.org, Michael Moran, international correspondent Lane Greene for The Economist, and an NYU professor of financial institutional history Richard Sylla. Their moderator was a writer for Slate Magazine, Alexandra Starr, who focuses on South America. The entire time, the vision portrayed was grim and heavily reliant on a vamped approach towards those recurrent evils. The threat of an escalating conflict with China or Russia was noted. The most dissenting voice on stage was that of Lane Greene, while he expressed not a single qualm with the impending administration. One audience member asked what else could be done to revitalize the economy along with the recently passed stimulus package. Professor Sylla assured him that similar packages are on the way. I decided to ask about the creation of AFRICOM three weeks prior, and how the American people should expect a different tone from Obama when his support for this early and aggressive military project is hidden from most media outlets and from his own lips yet certainly not from his thoughts. The moderator decided to refer to her experience with SOCOM, the South American military apparatus, claiming they are very effective in handing out aid to people in the countries they feel the right to inhabit.
Michael Moran, the CFR website editor then took the question, stating that this is a chance for America to change its image broadcast around the world by taking charge in a volatile region. He delivered this in a tone of assuming international complicity with America’s new impulses, as if everyone is ready to trust us again.
At least Lane Greene echoed my concern for allowing the management of such a rich and struggling continent to a country with so dirty and dismal of a track record, our footprints fading far from memories as we approach a more local, a national struggle. Well that last part wasn’t said by Greene, considering he knew right away what I was talking about yet doesn’t seem to mention it in his articles.
My question was followed by a young woman asking if due to Obama’s popularity, could we lift the two term limit on the office of president to which the economics professor answered “Well, the country isn’t New York.” This was followed by roaring laughter of a public misunderstanding the grave necessity of such a law. The twenty second amendment is very much in honor of George Washington who refused to run for a third term despite such popular support. Thomas Jefferson followed his example, implying that the most effective governance is the limiting of power, to be able to spread it out amongst a larger part of the country. But in trying times, New York changed the laws in order to allow Bloomberg to reign for another term. It comes as no surprise that a New York representative introduces a bill aiming to repeal the 22nd amendment. (http://ppjg.wordpress.com/2009/01/13/representative-serrano-d-ny-wants-to-end-term-limits-for-presidents/)
Now how many people do you know that would support the passage of this law for Obama? If you still aren’t convinced of Obama’s true approach at navigation of our feeble vessel, take a look at Obama’s pick for deputy secretary of defense William J. Lynn III who was the chief financial officer of the Department of Defense 1997-2001 and the appointment of Robert Hale, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force from 1994-2001 concerning financial management.(http://solari.com/blog/?p=1983) Under these men, 3.3 trillion dollars went missing from the Department of Defense, 2.3 trillion of which secretary of Defense under W., Donald Rumsfeld admitted to in a press conference on September tenth, 2001.(Just type in the words RUMSFELD 9/10/01 into youtube or googlevideo.)
It is hopeful that Barack Obama wouldn’t allow such an act of piracy of the tax payer’s money, but if such actions warrant a promotion in Obama’s cabinet, rather than a deep investigation into government actions surrounding the attacks of 9/11, then there is clearly no distance drawn from the tactics of former administrations.
The beauty of ideology is that it can distance a person far from their actual position, their coordinates of character. But every one of us is a product of a typhoon of trails, myriad in number, genetic projections bringing about the most applicable attributes and we need not deny a single integral member. Who knows what characters comprise our family trees? All their exploits and triumphs, buried beneath, yet being the perfect precursors to our own minutiae. The problem is, our most powerful politicians are in a family, carrying on royal roots through the most dismal future possible, making damn well sure that the right strands survive. Well, the plebeian, the proles, breed of banality, whatever you want to call us are the purest and proudest part of society, never mind our size. There is no reason that the seed of kings still have a central role in politics. While we have the will to change, being led astray in order to impose regulations by the actual arbiters of our own downfall must stop. And the most destructive agencies to our world, our welfare and our wallets must go. We cannot remain placid in the presence of an altered expression on the face of an eternal wretchedness.
It's Only The Beginning
Today is inauguration day. Coincidentally, it follows Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It's almost kismet.
I've been reading countless headlines, blogs, editorials, articles for the many weeks leading up to this historic day. The consensus is the same and most Americans are feeling the way I feel when I think about what today represents.
And while my heart is full of hope and pride at the thought that today could be the changing day for all of us, I can't help but feel a bit disappointed and embittered by certain things that are happening that surround this seemingly fanaticized event.
Firstly, I do want to say that I recognize this to be a milestone for us as a society and people. It lends optimism that maybe racism is facing its demise. Yes, Barack Obama will be the first non-caucasian president; at least that's how I see it. However, I keep reading and seeing "THE FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT" in almost every article- I will reiterate that this is a great stride for us as a people and society - but race WAS NOT the centerpiece of this election and campaign.
Wow AMERICA! Shocker; you did it yet AGAIN! You took something COMPLETELY out of context. Have we all forgotten that we are in probably one of the worst economic crises we've ever seen since probably the Depression? Have we forgotten that Gaza and Israel are at it - yet again? Have we forgotten that our foreign policy was completely muddled during Bush's occupation? Parts of New Orleans are still in complete shambles.
Yes, Obama is black. We all can see this. But, I can't recall one occassion where he flat out said "I will be the first Black president". Obviously, it was implicit in his campaign that being half-black was something to set him apart from McCain - but he NEVER flat out said it. Even in his victory speech; not one mention of being black. Actually, what he did say was this:
"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.
It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen, by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different, that their voices could be that difference.
It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states.
We are, and always will be, the United States of America.
It's the answer that led those who've been told for so long by so many to be cynical and fearful and doubtful about what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day. It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment change has come to America."
And just in case you wanted to read his speech to get some clarification, here's the link: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/04/obama.transcript/
This was a victory for all of us. Everyone! Not just for one group. We are all suffering. I'm sure that in one point or another in our lives we've been overlooked or taken advantage of or punished for something we had no control over. We are meant to be a united people. Our race should not be what seperates us but what brings us together in understanding one another.
That is Obama's message and I believe that is his purpose; bringing us together as a nation so that we may face the future together. (I know, it all sounds so "Cumbaya" - but w/e, a little never hurts)
Secondly, Barack Obama is only a man. Flesh and blood. He's human. He is not God nor the Second Coming (Although, his eloquence is worthy of some Christ-like comparison)
He hasn't even taken office yet and we're all weepy-eyed and joyful that our trouble are over. We don't even know how he's going to be once he's taken office and gets into the swing of things.
Production houses are already planning movies and speculation about who will be cast as Obama is circulating all the celebrity and enterainment websites (I know this because I spend a better part of my evening after work checking these websites out - it's a guilty pleasure).
Pump the brakes. Didn't momma ever tell you, "don't count your chickens before they've hatched"?
We all needed a change and hope - but we cannot rest ALL of our hopes and dreams on this one man.
Hello America...Obama's job is to help us get our sh*t together. That's what we need. We don't need a savior. We need a guidance counselor.
You ever heard the saying, "teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime".
Well, Mr. President [as of noon on 1/20/09], teach me how to fish.
Who's coming with?
I've been reading countless headlines, blogs, editorials, articles for the many weeks leading up to this historic day. The consensus is the same and most Americans are feeling the way I feel when I think about what today represents.
And while my heart is full of hope and pride at the thought that today could be the changing day for all of us, I can't help but feel a bit disappointed and embittered by certain things that are happening that surround this seemingly fanaticized event.
Firstly, I do want to say that I recognize this to be a milestone for us as a society and people. It lends optimism that maybe racism is facing its demise. Yes, Barack Obama will be the first non-caucasian president; at least that's how I see it. However, I keep reading and seeing "THE FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT" in almost every article- I will reiterate that this is a great stride for us as a people and society - but race WAS NOT the centerpiece of this election and campaign.
Wow AMERICA! Shocker; you did it yet AGAIN! You took something COMPLETELY out of context. Have we all forgotten that we are in probably one of the worst economic crises we've ever seen since probably the Depression? Have we forgotten that Gaza and Israel are at it - yet again? Have we forgotten that our foreign policy was completely muddled during Bush's occupation? Parts of New Orleans are still in complete shambles.
Yes, Obama is black. We all can see this. But, I can't recall one occassion where he flat out said "I will be the first Black president". Obviously, it was implicit in his campaign that being half-black was something to set him apart from McCain - but he NEVER flat out said it. Even in his victory speech; not one mention of being black. Actually, what he did say was this:
"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.
It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen, by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different, that their voices could be that difference.
It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states.
We are, and always will be, the United States of America.
It's the answer that led those who've been told for so long by so many to be cynical and fearful and doubtful about what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day. It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment change has come to America."
And just in case you wanted to read his speech to get some clarification, here's the link: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/04/obama.transcript/
This was a victory for all of us. Everyone! Not just for one group. We are all suffering. I'm sure that in one point or another in our lives we've been overlooked or taken advantage of or punished for something we had no control over. We are meant to be a united people. Our race should not be what seperates us but what brings us together in understanding one another.
That is Obama's message and I believe that is his purpose; bringing us together as a nation so that we may face the future together. (I know, it all sounds so "Cumbaya" - but w/e, a little never hurts)
Secondly, Barack Obama is only a man. Flesh and blood. He's human. He is not God nor the Second Coming (Although, his eloquence is worthy of some Christ-like comparison)
He hasn't even taken office yet and we're all weepy-eyed and joyful that our trouble are over. We don't even know how he's going to be once he's taken office and gets into the swing of things.
Production houses are already planning movies and speculation about who will be cast as Obama is circulating all the celebrity and enterainment websites (I know this because I spend a better part of my evening after work checking these websites out - it's a guilty pleasure).
Pump the brakes. Didn't momma ever tell you, "don't count your chickens before they've hatched"?
We all needed a change and hope - but we cannot rest ALL of our hopes and dreams on this one man.
Hello America...Obama's job is to help us get our sh*t together. That's what we need. We don't need a savior. We need a guidance counselor.
You ever heard the saying, "teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime".
Well, Mr. President [as of noon on 1/20/09], teach me how to fish.
Who's coming with?
Friday, January 9, 2009
First Events Of '09
What's up Y'all? Happy New Year to all, just to start off. I wanted to try and post a giant thank you to everyone who performed or showed with us in our first year. It wasn't always very easy but we all tried to have a good time and support each other and the arts, and I, for one, am so very happy that we did.
I'm going to start checking everybody's page soon, hoping to find a Mercury Soapbox banner or link, thats the only way to really spread this thing and help each other. If you need a banner or want one customized just email me at mercurysoapbox@gmail.com.
I'm still looking for artists that want to show work, so if you're interested or have a friend who might be, please hit us up.
With out further ado...
DJ E Money- who djed many shows with us, has his own night at club europa, so make sure to check that out.
AND NOW!
The next Mercury Soapbox Event!
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