My New Favorite Song. Period.

I know that I already posted today, but this one is killing me too much to NOT share.  So here's Beyonce with "Love On Top" from her latest record, 4.

edit: Unfortunately, youtube only has a snippet version.  Check it out on grooveshark.  It will rock your socks off.

What Scott Walker's Battle Against Unions Really means

Here is an article from Mother Jones which examines why Scott Walker attacked the public sector unions in Wisconsin, the author from this article says that he was not fighting politics on a primary level (ideology), but that he was playing the game on a secondary level which attacked the donors of the opposing party.  A super interesting read about the game of politics and the Republican party: What the Union Fight is Really About: Defunding the Left

The Nature of Rules

"The greatest crimes in the world are not committed by people breaking the rules but by people following the rules.  It's the people that follow orders that drop bombs and massacre villages." - Banksy

Music and Your Parents

I really love this infographic (which was originally found here).  The music that my parents listened to when I was growing up has turned into some of my favorite music, and I don't regularly listen to any music that was recorded pre-1979.  So, I found this funny.  Enjoy!

Honor the Treaties

I was driving around West Seattle the other day, and I noticed a series of posters that have been put up on 35th and Avalon.  They were Native American pride posters that were beautiful. I was really curious about whether or not these were from a local artist, or maybe they were a part of a nationwide poster "bomb."  Anyways, when  I looked it all up it turned out that there was an interesting story behind these posters as well.  Below is a "TED" talk on the photographer, Aaron Huey.  He spent five years visiting with the Lakota Nation on their reservation and taking photographs of their lives and the land that they live on.  Huey reminds us that the history of Native Americans is the result of the white man's cruelty which resulted in colonization, forced migration and the systematic destruction of indigenous culture (and population) in the United States.  I really encourage anyone reading this to watch this video, it is eye opening to the problems which still occur on Native American reservations everyday.

edit: Unfortunately, the embed process on this video didn't work on blogger (because it's not a youtube video).  So, here is the link to see the TED video on Aaron Huey's project: http://www.ted.com/talks/view/lang/eng//id/1004

At the end of his time taking pictures of the destruction and poverty of the Native American reservations of the Lakota people, Aaron Huey realized that it would not give justice to put out an installation of photographs, or to write another art book about his time on the Black Hills.  Instead, he got together a few illustrators, including Shepard Fairey (of Obama's hope image, and OBEY) and put together some posters which were to be put all over the nation.  These posters were the ones that I saw by the bus stop of 35th and Avalon, in Seattle - below are the posters.

"We Are Still Here", By Shepard Fairey

"We Belong to the Land! The Land Does Not Belong to Us.", by Ernesto Yerena

"Honor the Treaties", by Ernesto Yerena


These ideas made me think about how the history of the past, while it seems so far away (especially in regards to Native American policy in the United States) that often mistakes can be corrected, and the people who need our help the most can be helped. These "collaborative illustrations" are fascinating because they remind us that we have the power to change what we do not wish to see in the world any longer.

Conservatism in America

...have they lost touch with reality?  In this article that I read today (courtesy of Nick Parulski posting it on Bill Sitter's facebook wall) by Fareed Zakaria, he explains his views of the conservative members of our government, and the interesting decisions they make, and the dumbfounding policies they attempt to support.


The other day, I was talking to a friend of mine who was saying that he feels that being Republican "used to be a respectable thing to do, when they fought for real American values, but as of late the party has become an embarrassment."  From our conversation, I got the impression that perhaps if he felt that Republicans weren't so out of the loop, that perhaps he might have become a Republican.


Interestingly enough, Zakaria implies that the best conservative policies (and the ones of the past) are based on reality, but that the policies that result in the government being "cut and starve[d]" do not find roots in reality, but in philosophy.  In this article, he explains that the best thing about conservatism was that it was rooted in reality, unlike idealistic philosophies like Marxism. The new conservatism has become a " a strategy that pays little attention to history or best practices from around the world and is based instead on a theory."


Here's the link: How Today's Conservatism Has Lost Touch with Reality, By Fareed Zakaria

Riots in Vancouver after the Stanley Cup Finals Ended

Forgiveness

Now I know that forgiveness is really important, and that perhaps it is the best skill that a person can have.  I have never struggled with forgiveness unless it fits the two following conditions: the person refuses (or cannot, or maybe is in denial) to talk with me about the problem that I have with them, and when I feel as though there has been a lack of respect in the way that the problem has been dealt with.  When these two conditions exist, for me forgiveness is impossible.  I want to change that though, but my own stubbornness is harder to change - think it's easier to talk the talk than to walk the walk.

I have to talk through a problem to figure it out, and can't do it any other way.  When the person is not unable to listen (for whatever reason), I have to talk to someone about it.  Unfortunately, this another downfall of the way that I experience problems.  Anger, and talking about issues does not hurt the other person - it only hurts me.

My goal for the next few months while I am home is to forgive some people, and to remember the beneficial experiences I had with those people, and the learning experiences that I have taken away from these relationships.  I want to learn from past experiences, and change the way that I view future experiences.

In other things that aren't mushy gushy self-help forgiveness emotional bullshit, National Geographic wrote an article on the lives of child brides, along with a photo-essay.  Here's the link : Child Brides. 

Above is a photograph of a five-year-old girl on her wedding day. Photo by Stephanie Sinclair.

Well, over the next few days take the following quote to heart : "There is no love without forgiveness, and there is no forgiveness without love." - Bryant H. McGill

Fantasy Nation: It's Not the Nation You Expect

Our Fantasy Nation? by Nicholas Kristof

This editorial examines the "fantasy nation" for American Republicans. Kristof explains,

It has among the lowest tax burdens of any major country: fewer than 2 percent of the people pay any taxes. Government is limited, so that burdensome regulations never kill jobs.

This society embraces traditional religious values and a conservative sensibility. Nobody minds school prayer, same-sex marriage isn’t imaginable, and criminals are never coddled.

The budget priority is a strong military, the nation’s most respected institution. When generals decide on a policy for, say, Afghanistan, politicians defer to them. Citizens are deeply patriotic, and nobody burns flags.

The country that he's talking about in this editorial? Pakistan. He admits that it is very unlikely that Republicans are attempting to recreate the government of Pakistan here in America, his editorial seeks to explain how the policies which Republicans want to enact are harmful. Everyone should read it. :)

Somebody That I Used to Know

...being somebody that I used to know doesn't mean that I don't miss you.

Ignore Gender Stereotypes! :)

Weinergate

So, I am completely over Rep. Weiner's twitter issues.  Let's be real, he probably was intending to send that photograph to that girl in Seattle, and it just got out on his public twitter.  Oops. Pretty embarrassing.  More embarrassing is that the media have given SO much time to this story, and to Andrew Breitbart.  Breitbart is a part of the new Tea Party media, and called Ted Kennedy a "prick" within hours of his death.  While Ted Kennedy probably left a bit of a mixed reputation after death (especially because of that infamous car accident), calling a Kennedy a prick within hours of his death probably means that you shouldn't be given too much time on CNN.

I'm glad that the media continually attempts to distract us from the real problems that our country faces - like war, poverty, and a slow economy.  Let's stop worrying about a Representative's underwear, and start worrying about real problems.

....also, the Canucks won the first game in the Stanley Cup finals, scoring like twenty seconds before the game ended.  I would say, that it's gonna be a long series!