The Blood of Patriots

There are 2 types of people in this world — there are the ones who think there are 2 types of people and then there is the rest of us!

Why do we allow laws to be passed to make immoral acts legal?

One of the new Bills going through the Congress these days is the ‘Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008′S.2913 & H.R.5889 (See links below for more information) After reading both Bills my head is spinning. You have to know ‘Double Speak’ to understand the laws these days.

Senator Leahy describes it as such, “Our legislation permits the use of an orphan work only if the potential user performs and documents a good faith search for the copyright owner. If users cannot locate and contact copyright owners, they may use the orphan work.”

This sounds like a fine idea for those who want to restore an old photo for personal use and cannot fine the original photographer or for a library to display letters of WWII solider who cannot be found. (Examples given by the writers of this legislation) I’m all on board when it comes to personal use and it’s displayed in public as art and/or education.

Representative Lamar Smith adds, “Millions of copyrighted works are effectively ‘locked up’ and unable to be enjoyed by the public due to our current copyright system. As a result, investments in new works and expositions by libraries, museums and others are frequently not undertaken due to the possibility of lawsuits and large statutory damage awards…” But wait, isn’t this the whole idea of copyright protection. I create something and you want to use it to create income you have to compensate me. Basic business principles and quite fair. However, the keyword in his statement is ‘OTHERS’ and this is where I throw up the red flag!

Read on »

Amendment II.
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

A Well Regulated Militia (Series I), 2008 - silk-screen and ink on paper 8.5 x 11″ (qty. 5)

by Morris Rosenfeld

When night and silence deep
Hold all the world in sleep,
As tho’ Death claimed the Hour,
By some strange witchery
Appears her form to me,
As tho’ Magic were her dow’r.

Her beauty heaven’s light!
Her bosom snowy white!
But pale her cheek appears.
Her shoulders firm and fair;
A mass of gold her hair.
Her eyes—the home of tears.

She looks at me nor speaks.
Her arms are raised; she seeks
Her fettered hands to show.
On both white wrists a chain!—
She cries and pleads in pain:
“Unbind me!—Let me go!”

Read on »

It all starts with an idea, an emotion, a need and some encouragement. I begin with some wood, stain, paper and glue – add some paint and a vision starts to take shape. Our hero emerges and brings with him a new dawn of enlightenment and hope. A declaration is presented – corrected by the chosen few and used to mobilize the masses. Over the years the message fades and it’s call of equality is eroded by the ignorance of time. However, the deterioration of words only reveal the mind behind them and the ideas of hope, liberty and justice lives on.

Equal & Independent – Sacred & Undeniable, 2008 - mixed media on wood, 36 x 60″
See the final image in the Gallery.

I love Runaways! And, MSNBC has a show just for them. It just happened they did a show in San Francisco and there was a Senator sighting. 3 seconds of FAME!

This image took on some unique forms while it was up. Someone had given Abe an Adolf mustache, 666 on his forehead and a couple tags over him. So when it came time to buff the wall they actually just buffed the tags and shit and left the image of Abe. RESPECT!

Hey Kids – Stay in school and don’t do drugs!

“…I want to say to you as I move to my conclusion, as we talk about “Where do we go from here?” that we must honestly face the fact that the movement must address itself to the question of restructuring the whole of American society. There are forty million poor people here, and one day we must ask the question, “Why are there forty million poor people in America?” And when you begin to ask that question, you are raising a question about the economic system, about a broader distribution of wealth. When you ask that question, you begin to question the capitalistic economy. And I’m simply saying that more and more, we’ve got to begin to ask questions about the whole society. We are called upon to help the discouraged beggars in life’s marketplace. But one day we must come to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. It means that questions must be raised. And you see, my friends, when you deal with this you begin to ask the question, “Who owns the oil?” You begin to ask the question, “Who owns the iron ore?” You begin to ask the question, “Why is it that people have to pay water bills in a world that’s two-thirds water?” These are words that must be said.
Read on »

“Their non-violent struggle is not soft or easy. It requires hard work and discipline more than anything else. It means giving up on economic security. It requires patience and determination. Farm workers are working to build a non-violent army of trained and ready to sacrifice in order to change conditions for all of our brothers in the fields.

Our opponents are at work everyday to crush us or to get us off target or to out maneuver us with the American public. There is no way to defeat them unless we also are at work everyday - week after week, month after month, year after year if necessary, outlasting the opposition and defeating them with time if necessary.

That is what it takes to bring change in disciplined non-violent action that goes on everyday will challenge the power of the corporations and generals.
The problem is that people have to decide to do it. Individuals have to decide to give their lives over to the struggle for specific and meaningful social change. And, as they do that others will join them, and the young will join too.

If we provide alternatives for our young out of the way we use the energies and resources of our own lives, perhaps fewer and fewer of them will seek their manhood in affluence and war. Perhaps we can bring the day when children will learn from their earliest days that being fully man and fully woman means to give ones life to the liberation of the brother who suffers. It is up to each one of us. It won’t happen unless we decide to use our own lives to show the way.”

– Cesar Chavez, May 2, 1971 –

On March 31 Cesar Chavez would have been 81 years young.

Gotta have more! Gotta have a lot more! That’s the motto these days. And, get this, you can single handedly save the economy if you buy more stuff! You are the solution!

Or, are you the problem?

Have you ever wondered where all this stuff comes from? Who makes it? How workers are treated? What resources are used or abused? Where does the stuff go when it’s thrown away?

Here is a great explanation of the consumption system. www.storyofstuff.com

Martin Luther King Jr. once said “Perhaps the more difficult but no less necessary task is to speak for those who have been designated as our enemies.”

Did Adams believe the Red Coats were enemies? Was he a Loyalist at the time? Or, did he believe most strongly in justice and the law–the ideal that everyone deserves a fair trial to state his case before his peers? It seems to me that the latter is one of the quintessential ideals of the rebellion and the birth of a new nation. I just wonder where justice is these days for patriots and enemies alike.

Loyal to a Just Defense, 2008 - mixed media on wood, 48 x 24″