R.I.P. Universal Health Care You Never Had a Chance

Today, for many, marked the death of the embattled public option. Amidst some of the most ridiculous ignorance to ever hit national television the familiar drumbeat of anti-socialism could be heard invoking the fear instilled by Reagan, Nixon and the rest of the usual suspects. Nevermind the logical sense that a single payer system makes or the examples that have come out of its success from places like Britain, or endorsements from people like Stephen Hawkin. Today lets identify the reason for the resistance.

This last weeks news coverage has been dominated by the town halls taking place across the country. By far the majority of people at these town halls were skeptical of the proposed bill, mainly because they were/are afraid of government taking over health care, and of socialism in general. Lets look at some of these fears and arguments. First, we live in a democracy (at least that is what they tell us, and that is indeed the belief of those attending these meetings) in a democracy the government is made up of the people... so then I ask -how can it be a bad thing for the government to meet the peoples needs? Unless of course the said democracy is an unhealthy one. The second problem with many of these arguments is this, socialism is accepted in many, many other areas, the police, fire department, public schools, libraries, parks, all of which you would be hard pressed to find support for dismantling (with the possible exception of the police). The fact of the matter is this- Republicans are taking advantage of the ignorance and miseducation of many of their supporters in order to serve the needs of big business, specifically the insurance companies. The largest lobbying group in the country belongs to the health care industry. There is no way, without a huge popular movement, that health care reform would be passed if it did not increase their profits. Which is exactly what would happen with this current bill (see "health insurers have already won" http://www.democracynow.org/). They knew they could count on the deeply seeded fears and prejudices of the Republican party's base. Enter this past week, and any of the examples of racism, hatred, stupidity, and foolishness that you would like. Capitalism runs on private ownership and free market. It is not concerned with anything but profit, the idea of human rights is antithetical to capitalism. Therefore as long as there is the current mix of a) deep fear of anything anti-capitalist and b) the lack of a viable non-capitalist political party there is little hope of ever seeing a single payer system in this country, or for that matter the realization of other human rights such as housing. It is worth noting we could pay for single payer now simply by diverting funds from military spending, but alas due to the imperialism and exploitation necessary for capitalism's continuation this is not even considered in this country.

By far the majority of people want to do the right thing by each other, there are countless examples of this I could point to. The problem is the people profiting from our collective ignorance. Make no mistake this is deliberate, and if we truly want to create a better world this will have to be the first thing that changes. Educate yourselves and each other and together maybe we can revive not only health care but create a truly beautiful world. Peace Love Respect

Ryan "BUGS" Virden



the federally budgeted (see below) military expenditure of the United States Department of Defense for fiscal year 2009 is[1]:
Components
Funding
Change From FY08
Operations and maintenance
$179.8 Bil.
+9.5%
Military Personnel
$125.2 Bil.
+7.5%
Procurement
$104.2 Bil.
+5.3%
Research, Development, Testing & Evaluation
$79.6 Bil.
+4.1%
Military Construction
$21.2 Bil.
+19.1%
Family Housing
$3.2 Bil.
+10.3%
Resolving and Management Funds
$2.2 Bil.
-18.5%
Total Base Spending
$515.4 Bil.
+5.7%

Not included in the DoD budget is $23.4 billion to be spent by the Department of Energy to develop and maintain nuclear warheads.[3]

What are we waiting for?

So I just got done reading about how Obama is stepping back his support for the illegally ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya. People this is a vital moment in our history, not just as americans, but Humans. The United States has a long, ugly history of interference in Latin America, including violence and intimidation against the people of this region. The fact that Obama has not cut off support to Honduras speaks volumes. If President Obama was as dedicated to Democracy as he and the rest of the Democrats led us to believe then it would be absolutely necessary to not only cut off support to a country that used it's military to overthrow the Democratically elected President, but to speak out against it publicly and with conviction. Instead what we have is the same tired politics from a new politician. There should be little doubt regarding the true reason behind the refusal to take action and show true support for Democracy... President Zelaya is a friend to Venezuela and Bolivia, two socialist countries with immense popular support among the poor and indigenous of their respective countries. This poses a threat to american capitalism something that can not be tolerated by the powers that run this country. I ask, when will we, the people of this country, decide that enough is enough and live up to the potential of our own Democracy? What are we waiting for? If we do not put down our distractions, if we don't get over our own fear about what we have to lose, we will lose more than we could ever imagine... our humanity. It does not take much,even if you just write a letter expressing your concern, or talk to a friend about it, you are raising awareness... the first step. Ona move! Ya Basta

In hope and solidarity
Ryan "BUGS" Virden

An Open Letter: Listen White People!!!!

Dear White Person,
Let me start by apologizing if this comes off as too rough, but I believe it is necessary. STOP IT! Please! Stop saying you had nothing to do with slavery therefore you have no privilege, or you are poor and struggling so "how the hell do you have privilege" you do, end of story! It has nothing to do with your personal experience, it is simple you never have to consider your race. YOU have never had your skin color associated with evil, YOU have never been considered 3/5 of a human simply due to your skin color, YOU have never been systematically excluded from housing, education, or jobs because you were white. YOU HAVE however been able to blend in with the crowd at any college, walk into a corner store without being followed, drive your car without having to worry about being pulled over for being brown, been able to identify physically with the vast majority of the characters in your American History book, saw yourself in the heroes of Disney movies, in the 43 previous presidents, in the majority of CEO's, YOU get to be a jury of your peers, YOU also get to call the police when you see two black men struggling to open the front door to a house in a neighborhood and city that well let’s just say lacks diversity, YOU also get to be the cop that arrests one of those two men for disorderly conduct even though it is his home, he is a professor at Harvard, and one of the most well respected thinkers of the time; when he becomes a little irritated at you not leaving his home after he has proven it to be so. YOU get to claim that he is being ridiculous when he says race played a part in how he was treated. YOU will go on Fox news and woof all day and night about who the hell knows what, as long as it makes you feel comfortable. White people if we don't start acknowledging our privilege and actively working against it WE will never see an end to the hate and anger that has dominated our country for so long. WE will only see more and more Fong Lee's, Oscar Grants, Sean Bells. WE will have more and more Assata Shakurs, Mumia Abu Jamals, Leonard Peltiers, and Troy Davis. WE will see more events like what happened to Professor Gates in Cambridge. PLEASE white people do your part!!

In suspended hope,

Ryan "BUGS" Virden

Lets not judge Iran quite yet

Peace, there is little doubt that if you are reading this you have read or heard or are in some way familiar with the events taking place in Iran. I am not going to pretend to shed any light on this situation or to act like I have some sort of knowledge that others don't. I have never been to Iran, and will leave the political evaluation up to those better suited. I have however lived in the United States all my life, and spent a considerable amount of my education studying the history of our country. Given this I feel like there is something missing in our discussion of the current Iranian situation. It seems that in all our commentary and disgust (which, I think is often the appropriate emotion) we forget that we are less than a year removed from robocops patrolling downtown St. Paul, from our own assault on basic rights like dissent, just ask the RNC 8. We also have our own fraud issues just ask Al Gore or any non-white in Florida, or for that case non-whites anywhere. Now I am not trying to justify what is taking place in Iran, all I am saying is that before we allow President Obama to claim a position of authority on allowing the freedom of speech etc. we hold ourselves to the same standard. Professor Chomsky calls it the principal of universality... if we wouldn't want it done to us don't do it to anybody else and vice versa... Jesus called it the golden rule, but I think doing the right thing will do. So yes, be upset, be outraged, demand a more see through process, demand rights be observed, do this all for Iran and the Iranians, but don't leave out America and Americans.

Live Poetry

It’s one of those nights… you know the ones where you want to go to sleep, but every time you close your eyes your mind goes into overdrive. Yeah it’s one of those nights. Instead of fight it I got up and decided to enjoy some poetry maybe that would rest my mind (I knew better). I found myself listening to one of my favorite pieces “Poetic Bloodline” by Gemineye. I had heard the piece close to 1,000 times, but tonight it was like the first time, and as I sat there trying to sort out in my head what was different it hit me…. I understand it. The piece is an ode to the poets of the past framed in an encounter Gemineye is having with God in which poetry is the tool that has been, and will be used again to create change and bring positivity (of course there is more to it like being a poet is a sacred charge not to be disrespected by misrepresenting yourself, but that is a whole different issue any way back to the point). One of the lines in particular struck me “I need poets to take the world back and undo the curse”, and I understood then more clearly than ever before why the world needs poets. We have a responsibility, an opportunity to leave this world a better place in a way that very few have the chance to ever even think about. Our job is to be the voice for those who cannot use or do not have their own. It is up to us to tell the stories of those who would otherwise be easily forgotten, to unveil the beauty in the seemingly ugliest places, it is up to us to manifest love and freedom. It seems so often we lose ourselves in slam scores or booking shows or writing the illest metaphor or whatever, that we forget our only true responsibility is to live as honestly as possible. This is the true meaning, I think of taking art to action without this everything else is hollow. Now it is not my place to tell anybody what this does or doesn't look like I am simply saying without connecting the art to your community, and eventually the larger community of humanity, we have missed the point.... we missed what God told Gemineye and what Gemineye in turn showed me, mainly poetry has a purpose, and that purpose is to create and build community. It is important to note that I believe all of us in some way or another are poets, whether we write or just get up every morning to face the daily grind we make something beautiful and unique. Our pencils might be a smile to a stranger or not lying to a friend, but somehow we are all contributing to the creation of our reality, and it is important to remember we share in the responsibility of living honestly and representing our community. I believe that when we truly own this responsibility greed, and hate and all the other things that serve to keep us so numb to one another lose their hold, and will eventually disappear. Notice this does not demand time from schedules, or money, just a commitment to positivity and community. So to my fellow poets, writers, humans I thank you and encourage all of us to Live Poetry. Sai Werd

Fong Lee Verdict

First let me say to the family of Fong Lee my thoughts and energy go out to you. Now to all the people like me, who feel that this case is much bigger than one person, one family or even one community let me say this... What are we going to do? For those of you that are not familiar with the case, Fong Lee was murdered by Officer Jason Andersen of the Minneapolis police. He was shot eight times. Yesterday it was decided that he (Andersen) did not use excessive force; based mainly on trivial differences in accounts, and on testimony from the police departments expert stating, what matters to determine if excessive force was used or not is if Officer Andersen perceived Fong had a gun. It is important to note this was a civil case not even a criminal trial, in essense Andersen has already gotten away with murder, literally. We will get into the implications of this later, and I will not get into the details of the case here as they can be easily found by anyone interested enough to do a Google search. I would prefer to use this time and space to examine the implications and possible responses to it (side note: while any action would be a response I think it is important that the response is not reactionary).

Lets start with what I believe is the most ridiculous claim, and perhaps the most disturbing aspect to come out of this debacle (at least in terms of implications for the future). The idea that what is key is whether or not Officer Andersen perceived Fong had a gun. If this is the standard we are holding for the taking of life, we are in serious trouble. It is not unrealistic to imagine a similar case five years from now where another young non-white male has had his life ended by the MPD, and we are told it is acceptable because he was thought to be a gang member and the officer perceived he had a gun. This should scare everybody if for no other reason then we don't need to look five years in the future, on the contrary just a few months in the past, to a Bart station in Oakland and a young man named Oscar Grant. Add this to what can only increase the aura of invincibility enjoyed by police forces across the country, and we are not far at all from what can only be described as an occupation.

I am not going to pretend to have any big ideas for what we should do as concerned citizens. I will say this we need to do something. Please if you feel the same way find the time and energy to make it known because believe it or not
next time it could be you. Ona Move!
Peace Love Respect!

Day of Awareness for Troy Davis

So I am just going to be honest, today has sucked, actually most of this month has sucked. This is mainly because money is funny, more so than it normally is. So I am sitting at work this morning talking to my fiance and trying to figure out what to say to ease the irritation and frustration we were both feeling. I couldn't think of anything. Then it hit me... about 20 minutes to late, but it hit me... things could always be worse, and not in the cliche kind of way. I could be Troy Davis right now and literally be running out of options to save my life. For those of you who are not familiar Troy Davis is currently on death row in Georgia and is running out of time on a 30 day stay of execution he was issued. Troy was convicted of killing a cop with no physical evidence linking him to the crime. Since his conviction all but two witnesses that testified in his trial have recanted, and stated that they were threatened and intimidated by the police to testify in the first place. One of the two witnesses that has not recanted is the other possible suspect. This case is yet another example of the failure of our "Justice" system. Please take the time today to talk to somebody about Troy Davis or do something to add your voice to change.
Peace Love Respect

Justice For Troy Davis