The Socialist Convention

The Socialist Convention Comes To Town

Given the fact that I write in So Cal, I have to wonder if there's any good reason why I shouldn't go to the Socialist Convention happening this weekend in L.A. I know what you're thinking, organizing with other Marxist? How stupid can you be.

I once talked to someone from ISO and they were talking about how the soviet union was bad and criminal and you know what, I stopped them right there and did not buy his pamphlet or signed up to his mailing list. No sir, not for this socialist!

It's probably the least I could do to help push the cause for the evil socialism. Especially since this convention is put together by the PSL, a fairly decent socialist group with good ideas but is entirely ineffective at just about everything. It's what you come to expect from a socialist organization in today's America.

Now, here's the real kicker. It's typically $80 to get in, but you can pay $40 if you say you're destitute and they won't check. But it seems like you won't get turned away for lack of funds so your cheap capitalist pansies can pay. So when I say you wont be turned away for lack of funds I'm saying you can go in for free because of the level of your poorness. Because I know you're a broke ass mother fucker.

I guess it just comes down to the ability of getting a press pass cause I'm with you on that one. $80 dollars, what the fuck?! There's not even going to be any cool panels or a masquerad. I'm thinking of cosplaying as a zombie Trotsky, but I'm sure that costume is being done to death.
Maybe I should play to my strength and go as Che Guevara. Given the whole idea that I rarely bath, groom myself or even have any capitalistic form of money. Will they at least have booth babes? You know, who seize the means of their reproduction!

The real question is, is it worth even an accepted donation of nothing? For that we have to look to see if anyone speaking in this gathering is even worth listening to. Check out the schedule here:

Building a new workers' movement
Organized labor and the challenges ahead
Organized labor is under attack by Wall Street, corporate giants and capitalist politicians. This panel will feature labor leaders and workers who resist and organize to stop these anti-worker policies. Topics include the dynamics of the labor movement today, organizing the unorganized and the prospects for a class-wide fight back.

Fighting racism and the expanding police state
What role do the police play in society? Why do they target and kill Black and Latino people more than anyone else? This panel includes lawyers and activists from across the country involved in the movement against racist police violence, terror and repression. Strategies will be discussed and victories will be shared, with the goal of building a more effective struggle against the expanding police state.

Revolutionary writers’ clinic
Hone your skills as a revolutionary writer and learn new ones in the Revolutionary writers’ clinic. One of the PSL’s top editors will lead this session about how to write articles, frame slogans and draft flyers to forward the class struggle.

So to answer your question. No. No one of interest is saying anything remotely interesting there.There's not even a propaganda class so that you can improve your on-message-per-word ratio on your internet postings.

It boils down to it looking fairly bad. There's a lot better and more productive ways to get involved with organizing than spending a lot of cash on some weak ass gathering held by the PSL and all you'll get from going is hearing them talk about Venezuela and running protest candidates in elections for hours.

You could, in theory, sit at home and clip your toenails all weekend and make a greater impact and accomplishment for the world than you would by going to a socialist convention in the U.S. today.

Then there's always the problem that you're more than likely going to get blacklisted for taking part in such an enemy of the state organized gathering. This is not worth the risk in the event that Arabs stop being a good boogeyman for white America and socialist regain that lovely mantle.

It wasn't even 50 years ago that people would be rounded up for being affiliated and even slightly associated with socialist organizations. Many claim they should have never stopped. Hell, it may have not even been that long since the last time someone's been black listed.

There you go, reason enough not to go to a socialist convention. But keep wearing your official 2010 PSL Socialist Con official Che shirt.

Spotlight on American Socialist - Bill Gates

Spotlight on American Socialist - Bill Gates

Yes, that's right. This spotlight on an American Socialist is going to highlight a nerd like no other. Bill Gates. I'm sure you're asking what makes this man a socialist and why you should put him in an McCarty era black book already. How could a man who had the major hand in coming up with what you're more than likely viewing this blog with be considered what America fears.. socialism?

But it's exactly for that reason. He made hundreds of billions of dollars selling overpriced software to the richest 10% of the world and now he's giving almost all of it away to the poorest 10% of the world. Do you have any other word for that than Socialism? I think not. While it's true that he still lives in a 60,000 square foot home, I'm willing to put my name on this being such a role of socialism. Such action is the largest individual downward wealth transfer in history. maybe.. maybe only the super-rich can save us??



The only sad part in all that is that I'm sure it's still not even a fraction of the bank bailout, which is oddly enough the largest upward transfer of wealth ever. Now, I'm sure you'll be quick to point out that all this charity and donation is nothing more than a tax outlet. Yes, Bill Gates is all about getting huge tax breaks by siphoning money into his own organization. And yes, it's true that Bill Gates wouldn't be appreciably less rich if he hadn't antitrusted the hell out of everything.

At this point I should point out that mass redistribution does not always equal socialism. Nor does mass redistributor make one a socialist. Socialism is a body of theory on the administration of production. So maybe this action doesn't just make Bill Gates a socialist. But Andrew Carnegie was a socialist because he built a few libraries after breaking the backs of strikers for decades.



It's a shame that a large portion of the fund are invested in companies that actively promote the poverty that Bill Gates is trying to solve. But hey, he'll keep pushing that rock up that hill with the help of money. The guy has an endless supply of it. Just keep buying those Window products.

It would be interesting to see what would be accomplished if he had spent all that money on lobbyists instead. An assassination or two, perhaps? Him spending his money on ads calling for a tax n the richest 1% would probably do more than him giving every penny he has to Doctors without Boarders (which if you haven't yet, you should really think about donating to them)



I think the only thing that could push Bill Gates into the realm of being a true socialist would be if he'd finance an American Socialist party to be voted in and help an actual transfer of wealth rather than avoiding taxes through his organizations. Just think about Bill Gates spending his money buying senators to vote socialist.

Especially with the new ad campaign rules perhaps he could buy out TV ads for the socialist party there. You know, it would probably be a ton of fun to drop effectively unlimited personal dough on making an advocacy group to just lobbying the fuck out of congress on whatever you want. DANCE PUPPETS! DANCE!



Then again, it would have to be hitting him deep in the pockets to make a dent, even for Bill Gate levels of money considering other lobbying expenditures.

(2009)
US Chamber of Commerce                $144,496,000
Exxon Mobil                         $27,430,000
Pharmaceutical Rsrch & Mfrs of America $26,525,520
General Electric                 $25,520,000
Pfizer Inc                         $24,619,268
Blue Cross/Blue Shield                 $22,715,439
AARP                                 $21,010,000
American Medical Assn                 $20,830,000
Chevron Corp                         $20,815,000
National Assn of Realtors         $19,477,000
American Beverage Assn                 $18,850,000
American Hospital Assn                 $18,347,176
ConocoPhillips                         $18,069,858
Verizon Communications                 $17,820,000
FedEx Corp                         $17,050,000
Boeing Co                         $16,850,000
BP                                 $15,990,000
National Cable & Telecom. Assn          $15,980,000
Northrop Grumman                 $15,180,000
AT&T Inc                         $14,729,673

That just shows how much our nation is in the pockets of big business.



Still doesn't change the fact that Bill Gates is so rich he's past the "Must get richer so I can potentially buy anything I could ever want" phase and has reverted back to being a normal human being. Yup, that's how it works when it comes to money. You get the money hunger hypnotize eyes.. and then when you have that McScrooge level of large money bin amount of money you just realize you can and have already bought everything you need.

Maybe Bill Gates is just trying to buy a Nobel Peace prize. Let's be honest, he is more deserving than a war mongering president. Jut look at what he's done for illnesses in those third world countries.



One would start to wonder why Bill Gates spends so much money on eradicating harmful and tragic diseases from third world areas when he could spend that money on pointless elections in a spoiled rich country to effect no worthy change at all. But again, I simply said that it would be comical to try to fuck around with lobbyist. They're the ones who are really screwing over our nation.

Besides all that, Bill Gates can handle his own. I mean, how many times has he been ruthless and fucked over Steve Jobs over and over again? I would say that it has been at least a dozen times now. So I can't help but respect the man. Even if he's not entirely a socialist, he's still using a lot of his cash to help those who are in need.



Besides that, with global warming (which should be called climate change) those illnesses that he's helping eradicate in third world countries is a good thing. Chances are they're going to start showing up soon in the states. I sure can't wait to see when some frozen bacteria starts some super illness that will kill us all. Maybe then the government will work with a little help from the Bill and Melinda Gates Lobbyist foundation..

Wake Up America, Where's The Birth Certificate?

Wake Up America, Where's The Birth Certificate?

This one has been burning on the back burner for a while, so I may as well finish it out before I completely forget it and only see it a month or two later. But with the birth of Big Baby Jesus coming up in the very religious Christmas festivities, it's brought to our attention yet again that Obama is being asked by the moronic public, as to where his Birth Certificate be at. Yes. These fine upstanding folks like the ones in Colorado bring about billboards that link Obama with jihadists

WHEAT RIDGE, Colo. — A billboard showing President Barack Obama wearing a turban has sparked a lot of attention at the suburban Denver used car dealership that put it up.

The sign, completed Friday by artist David Lee, shows a grinning, cartoonish Obama and bears the words "PRESIDENT or JIHAD?"

Underneath the president's image is a big yellow square with the phrase, "BIRTH CERTIFICATE, PROVE IT!"

The words "WAKE UP AMERICA! REMEMBER FT. HOOD" appear at the bottom of the billboard at Wolf Interstate Leasing and Sales, about seven miles west of Denver. The sign is visible from Interstate 70.

Lee said there were plenty of honks as he painted it.

"One lady came by and gave me the 'shame, shame' look," said Lee, of Arvada, another suburb of Denver.

Dealership owner Phil Wolf was unavailable for comment Friday, but General Manager Wayne Means said the business has seen strong opinions about its sign.

"We've had people come by and say, 'Keep it up.' We've had people come by and say, 'Take it down,'" Means said. "We can have differences of opinion. This is America."

The left-leaning advocacy group MoveOn.org called the billboard "racist" and was asking customers to boycott the dealership.

Lee said the billboard has previously held other slogans questioning the president's citizenship, along with routine ads for cars.

Yes, America. It's time to "Wake up". How can this sort of action keep going? If only we woke up. Don't you people realize that it's time to get serious about America and time to get serious about Jesus!



I know. Some idiots embarrass themselves. it should be easy to just forget them and move on. But come on, that message is pretty loaded. PRESIDENT....OR.....JIHAD!? It's a very serious question.. that makes no fucking sense. But still, Serious enough.

I can't say all of Colorado is a shit hole. You have Fat Tire being made there, so there's some non-crazy people on that land. And I hear Boulder has an anti-billboard ordinance so it is easy to tell when you have left and are in fucknut country when visiting Colorado.



I was wondering what was going to go in the yellow part of this sign, but I suppose I should have already know, right? At least we put NORAD next to Colorado Springs so that the USSR could annihilate all of the assholes in Colorado with only one device. True Story!

I'm sure the simple argument here is "Freedom of speech, yo. He's kind of dumb but has every right to espouse his stupid ideas to the world." I say.. um.. cool. Thanks for this totally non meaningless defense. I can say anything he wants. Or for that matter pay for the outside advertising for anything he wants, but by doings on a soap box he'll get some attention and it is perfectly fine to call him on it. But really "Wake Up America" sounds so fucking stupid. The Nazis were even doing it.



It just screams out as to what the hell is up with right wingers yelling "Wake up America". America must be a pretty sleepy nation. Would you have them whisper it? If someone ever unironically uses the phrase "Wake up America", you can pretty safely say they're fucking crazy or just have nothing else to use in defense of their outrage.

Then again. Maybe I should pay for a pro-stalin billboard in rural Alabama. I'm pretty sure that will quickly get burned to the ground. But still, it would be pretty interesting to see the reaction for all the two hours that it's up there. Oh, I'm giving the backwood people of Alabama credit enough to actually get it. Ha, the joke is on me. Maybe I'll just stick to a pro-evo Morales since evo owns and Stalin was a murderous thug.

Even if I did do that, it would still be a long way to evening the scores. The right wing has really gone nuts with billboards. Care for some more all up in your grill?


http://wonkette.com/412337/these-pe...violence-sheesh


What's that? Haven't had enough? Have another helping of it.

http://coloradoindependent.com/3856...a-drivers-today

And I love that we link to Socialism with Obama. Fucking hell. Come on. I wonder if anyone who paid for the next sign gets welfare or is on social security

~every day is a winding road to socialism wake up america~

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diane...g_b_140719.html

I guess this just shows that billboard space is going for cheap these days. Too bad that not everyone really understands the purpose of a billboard. Take the following billboards as an example;



Someone just doesn't understand the point of a billboard. Odds are this was one of the guys at a tea party protest who wrote a novel on the front and back of their sign not realizing that you have only a couple of seconds to read whatever message they misspelled on the way to the protest.

Just imagine driving by there and trying to read all that print? It would be a lost cause. Why would you write a full short story on your billboard like that? Not to mention the messages are pretty damning. Just make you sound crazy. As one blogger who writes some insane stuff and calls out people left and right, I know first hand that a lot of writing can make you look crazy. This person just doesn't realize that.



These two are the work of Harry "X" Sysack. He's a sort of infamous local "legend" in Cleveland. He's been painting these conspiratorial, batshit racist billboards, and hanging them in front of his sign shop for the past forty years.

In the end it really is just morons spending their money on shouting out loud. At the very least I can say that this blog is free and it just takes some of my downtime to write these soap box rants. But that's much different than pissing away money on a large outdoor ad to scream out your insanity. Maybe they should be linked to Blogger or Wordpress.

Why So Socialist

Why So Socialist

I've been saying this for a while now, but the word 'socialism' has lost all fucking meaning what-so-ever. The big news these days is a lot of bashing on Obama. It seems that even though the Cars for Clunkers program was successful in getting people to go out and trade in their piece of shit car for 4,000 towards a new car, the fact that it is running out of money (thus actually being used) gets people uppity in thinking that government health care is out of the question.

Then you have the birth certificate debate. I don't want to expand on that too much since I think I have a blog about it coming. But it's utterly stupid for them to complain for a lack of birth certificate or assume that he wasn't born in this country. Let's just say the people who are spear heading that whole movement are beyond stupid.



I would imagine that those who don't recognize his birth certificate wouldn't honor today. You see, it's his 48 birthday... IF ONLY WE KNEW! So what better way to celebrate one's birthday than with a clown.

Wait a second. That's not a typical birthday clown! It seems that these posters are being plastered all over Los Angeles like the Shepard style HOPE poster. I really don't think that Obama haters are this cleaver. It's more than likely a retarded libertarian doing all these and I'm sure he's taking it seriously.



There's some part of me that still holds out hope that this is all part of an acutal socialist making fun of the devaluation of "Socialist" as a pejorative. I can't take it any other way than that. I mean, seriously, did we really all forget what socialism means? the word has lost all meaning in the last few years and has been beaten into the ground by the republican party lately.

Not to mention I wonder how this is even insulting? The funny thing to all this is that I thought the Joker was the "Hero" of The Dark Knight. Everyone loved him. Ledger even got praise for his work on it. Hell, maybe I should be wishing Obama was a socialist because of all this!



Seriously folks, stop trying to be witty. It's just not working out well for you.

Objects In Mirror Are Not What They Seem

Objects In Art Are Not What They Seem


Seems I've been doing a lot more post about art lately. Maybe it's that failed art student in me coming out and shining on pieces I find interesting. This one, for example, is a great one time piece that can't be shown in any institution but should be shared.








Takes new meaning to the whole idea of sidewalk art. Here's how it's made

Pretty impressive, I must say.

Though not all art is free to be seen. Routers reports that Chávez closes artistic exhibition, cites "moral decomposition"

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez slammed on Sunday a traveling exhibit of dissected cadavers, "Bodies Revealed," which has sparked controversy elsewhere, as evidence of the world's moral decomposition.

Chavez said the closure of the exhibition in Venezuela a few days ago was on his orders and that authorities had confiscated the bodies from a show that has been seen around the world by millions of people.

Shows such as "Bodies Revealed," which display cadavers using special techniques that dry out and then preserve them, have set off debate about the scientific or artistic value of the exhibits.

They have also occasionally -- such as when an exhibit reached New York -- become embroiled in controversies over the origin of the bodies and whether people gave permission that their cadavers could be used in such a way.

"We are in the midst of something macabre," Chavez said on his weekly TV show. "They are human bodies. Human bodies! ... This is a really clear sign of the huge moral decomposition that is hitting our planet."

Chavez, an ally of Cuba, told his supporters his self-styled socialist revolution had to be above all spiritual an ethical.

His tax agency closed the cadaver exhibit in Caracas a few days earlier, saying it was investigating if the bodies had been illegally declared in customs as made of plastic.

Seizing the means of art production! Hee, sorry. Socialist jokes aren't always funny. Though I'm a little torn. I'm sort of agreeing with him on this exhibit.



First they came for the traveling exhibit of dissected cadavers and i didnt speak up because i wasn't in a traveling exhibit of dissected cadavers.

Giant modern for-profit exhibition companies are hurting museums, both integrity-wise and financially. Premier Exhibitions Inc.--organizers of Bodies Revealed--is one of the worst offenders, not to mention that Bodies Revealed is just a copycat exhibit and has been sued multiple times by the original Body Works/von Hagens people.

Sure, Gunther von Hagen used executed Chinese prisoners' bodies. Let's just say von Hagens gets a kick aut of his creepy celebrity status and runs a plastination factory in Kyrgyzstan (for legal and financial reasons) that has plastinated thousands of human bodies and the background checks could have been a little more thorough.



Chavez pulled kind of a dick move here. Destroying international art and science is pretty reprehensible, I should know cause America does it all the time, but then again, this is one of the least important things to criticize Chavez about. Did you know Chavez is taking lands away from Coca-Cola. He's worse than fucking Pol Pot. Oh how oppressed must the Venezuelans be now that their horrible dictator is taking away their carbonated beverages from them!

Also as an interesting side note... Apparently the authorities raided this same exhibit and confiscated stuff when it was in South Korea, they just didn't shut the whole thing down like Chavez did.

Be Excellent To Each Other

Be Excellent To Each Other

I have to stop and wonder if the World would be a lot better place if everyone listened to Bill and Ted. But the world doesn't always listen to the most awesome sounds of this duo from San Dimas and thus, life isn't that simple. While some party harder than others, it is always suggested that everyone Party on, BAWRLIN!

basically bill and ted and the future that the wyld stallyns created were all communist. Listen to the grim reaper "weather your a king or a lowly street sweeper sooner or later you dance with the reaper". Does that not sound like socialism? I think it does.



Oh yeah, and Bills dad was a lucky a-hole. But then again, both their Dads were lucky a-holes. The hot wife switched which one she was married to in the second movie. Now that's what I call EMPOWERMENT!

They certainly weren't mysoganist. Here's just a few ideas for being excellent to the dudes and dudettes in your life.

Take your girl to the photography exhibit she's been droppin hints on
Show up at your bud's place with brews and 'za
Offer unsolicited compliments to your associates at work
Call your mom just cuz you know she loves hearing from you
Dap knuckles with the checkout kid

Party on. Wyld Stallyns rule. Just remember, God Gave Rock And Roll To You



I heard someone once say that Bill and Ted was the first historical Bromances story by a major studio. While I wanted to punch him in the face, I wished to remain excellet to each other and so I simply told him that he was most bogus.

I find Bill & Ted an excellent relief but if you want to continue the world of socialist movies, look no further than Wayne's World.

Wayne's World was very clearly a diatribe against consumerism. The Wayne's World program, created in Wayne's parents' basement for public access television, is the kind of programming a perfect socialist world could expect: programming created because the artist's soul cried out for it to be made, not to meet some marketing executive's Mammonist desires.



The film's primary conflict is a struggle against the forces of corporate America to keep the purity of Wayne and Garth's work free of the taint of overt commercialization: they are brought to the highest summit of capitalist greed, as represented by Rob Lowe's penthouse apartment, but reject it all in favor of love, good times, and rock and roll. Wayne's World exists to tell us that socialism need not be all uniforms, marching and Red Army Choirs, but can be as simple and American as the film's very motto: "Party on, Wayne." "Party on, Garth."

Then we get to Tia Carerra's character as Wayne's girlfriend. Sure you may take this as the White man's domination over minority races but you'd be wrong. Her character's family isn't oppressed, they're incredibly rich members of the capitalist ruling class. They're the oppressors of their own people, as surely as Rob Lowe's character is the oppressors of our people, for are we all not united in our struggle against bourgeoisie domination? Be we American, Japanese, Mexican, Finnish, or whatever, we are all together in the fight against the elites of all nations, wherever they may be. Tia Carerra's embrace of Rock and Roll, not to mention Garth, is a rejection of global capitalist society in favor of her art and her love. It is a message: the boundaries of race and nation mean nothing in the revolution, for we are all bound together by ties of class that can overcome every divisive label created by the bourgeoisie.



Party On... Party on indeed.