Hittin' My 30s and Lovin' Ya'll

I am in the last week of my 20s. 4 days to be precise. Thursday at 6 in the morning I will be 30 years old, will have completed my first feature film (I still have 3 days), and will have just returned from 2 weeks of travel in San Francisco and New York that were awe inspiring, productive, and incredibly rewarding.

So rather than my usual political rants and projects to feature, I want to put a shout out to all the incredible people whom I love and who have inspired me! Thanks for keeping me kicking for 3 decades and counting!

I always hoped the revolution would come when I was in my twenties. Well, liberation doesn't appear to be around the corner--rather preparation for untold economic and ecological destruction seems necessary. So for this reason, my 30s will be a time of health, joy, liberation, possibility, and skill learning so that when the shit hits the fan, I'll be ready to rumble with a good attitude.

Here's to possibility, getting older, and finding more amazing, romantic, loving people to accompany us through the struggles of our days!

Joy and Liberation! Pleasure, Revolt, Despair! Love, Autonomy, Possibility! Here come the 30s. Goodbye 20s.

Yum!

San Francisco Graffiti makes me hungry!

1-2-3 Community Space and the Bed-Stuy Block Party

Last night I visited my friends Dara and Josh in Bed-Stuy. They took me to a block party put on by the 1-2-3 Community Space, a New York-based anarchist collective. Of all the anti-authoritarian events I've been to, this was one of the best. First of all, neighborhood folks came out in full force. Hip-Hoppers, spoken work artists, various automobile clubs, and anarchists wandered around listening to music and enjoying the warm evening. What I loved about the event was that it was not so judgemental, anarchistically more holy than thou that folks came out without worrying about acting right, being punk enough, or being overwhelmed by white cultural presumptions. The event was intergenerational, joyful, and revolutionary in its inclusiveness, pleasure, and cultural integration.

Monster U.S. -- Leave Iran Alone!

According to the New York Times The Bush Administration continues swaggering about defending Israel from an attack by Iran--the provocation--weapons testing. Now, call me batty, but I think the U.S. has a substantial history of weapons testing, and not just in the desert but on civilian populations. Having tested 1063 nuclear bombs, we have a long history of ecological devastation and military bravado in tests that far exceed Iran's handful. As the only country to drop a nuclear bomb on civilians, as a country with a military budget 96.8 times larger than Iran's and still incapable of fighting the Iraqi Resistance, the United States needs to look in the mirror before talking about other countries threatening the world.

A few U.S. Military facts from Global Issues:

* US military spending accounts for 48 percent, or almost half, of the world’s total military spending
* US military spending is more than the next 46 highest spending countries in the world combined
* US military spending is 5.8 times more than China, 10.2 times more than Russia, and 98.6 times more than Iran.
* US military spending is almost 55 times the spending on the six “rogue” states (Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria) whose spending amounts to around $13 billion, maximum. (Tabulated data does not include four of the six, as the data only lists nations that have spent over 1 billion in the year, so their budget is assumed to be $1 billion each)
* US spending is more than the combined spending of the next 45 countries.
* The United States and its strongest allies (the NATO countries, Japan, South Korea and Australia) spend $1.1 trillion on their militaries combined, representing 72 percent of the world’s total.
* The six potential “enemies,” Russia, and China together account for about $205 billion or 29% of the US military budget.

Clearly, if one wants to look for today's totalitarian regime, the United States is the obvious culprit. Please, let's keep the U.S. hands off Iran.

Obama Vote Forgives Corporate Crime

According to the New York Times, Senator Obama voted for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a bill that expands the U.S. government's surveillance abilities and gives legal immunities to phone companies who broke the law and assisted the National Security Agency's post 9/11 wiretapping program. Supporting a law that sets a precedent giving corporations the right to violate constitutional rights, Obama demonstrated his commitment to an authoritarian state, corporate-state complicity, and an inability to stand up to corporate and government power. While John McCain failed to vote, as he was busy schmoozing on the campaign trail, he has been an outspoken supporter of the bill. Both leading candidates want to appease corporate criminals and government criminals alike. This alone is a reason to reject our criminal state and the two capitalist parties that lead it.

When I am asked why I am not an unconditional supporter of Obama, his Free Market rhetoric, vote for wiretapping, and vote for the War in Iraq all demonstrate a commitment to corporations over human liberties and lives. Such commitments fail to attract me.

Queer Anti-Displacement Coalition

Regarding the city of San Francisco and many other spaces that are friendly for wealthy, white gay folks, gentrification continues to be a major issue. As I was walking up the street I came across a sign for the Queer Anti-Displacement Coalition that is doing work to stop the eradication of queer cultures that fall outside Gavin Newsome's marriage paradigm. I look forward to finding out more about their work!

Patriotism: A Cruel Form of Terror

Many cynical people who think national borders are a mythological joke still resort to patriotic swaggering on the Fourth of July to demonstrate their commitment to their country. Tonight I will be joining friends to watch the city of San Francisco blow up fire works evoking countless bombs that have been dropped on people throughout the world. The bright lights and loud noises, the smoke and the crowds will ultimately remind me of the loud noises of crowd control devices and will probably make me cringe. I will think of these countries:

Afghanistan 1998, 2001-present Bosnia 1994, 1995 Cambodia 1969-70 China 1945-46, 1950-53 Congo 1964 Cuba 1959-1961 El Salvador 1980s Korea 1950-53 Guatemala 1954, 1960, 1967-69

Indonesia 1958 Laos 1964-73 Grenada 1983 Iraq 1991-present Iran 1987 Kuwait 1991 Lebanon 1983, 1984 Libya 1986 Nicaragua 1980s

Pakistan 2003, 2006 Panama 1989 Peru 1965 Somalia 1993, 2008 Sudan 1998 Vietnam 1961-73 Yemen 2002 Yugoslavia 1999

all bombed since World War II.

I will think of the 50 gunshots fired by the New York Police department at Sean Bell. I will think of the millions of people murdered by U.S. Imperialism.

The flickering lights, the screaming crowds, the throngs of patriots will remind me of every time the United States has used explosives and guns to murder and terrorize people around the world. What the U.S. calls Independence day is a day when hundreds of thousands of fireworks resurrect the despicable pride of patriots. Karmic retribution, what Chalmers Johnson refers to as Blowback, threatens the future of this country. Terrorism against the United States occurs because we have waged terror against billions throughout the world.