Category: Politics

“That’s a fascist bar,” Herzog replied as we walked past a normal looking Italian eatery while stencil hunting in a chilly Vicenza. Being Sunday, not much was open, but this spot blared dance music and was ready for business. Just a few minutes before he made this comment, Herzog, who’s politics seem to lean towards leftist/radical, showed me the local headquarters for the Lega Nord, a group of Italians who he and his partner Elisa called separatists. The office had posters of a stereotypical Native American Chief on their windows. “You know what this says?” I was asked. Basically, keep letting the immigrants into Italy and the native Italians will end up on reservations!

Continue reading “Italy for Italians, A Lesson on Fascism”

From the election night Castro St., San Francisco celebration….

Farming Consultant Jim Smith has a lot of ground to hoe here in Upstate South Carolina. Tonight, the tall, slender 60-something farming consultant, sat in front of about 15 upper middle class women and tried to explain to them the importance of making sustainable agriculture part of their conversations, if not their gardening habit. Smith has just opened the Upstate School of Sustainable Agriculture here in Greenville County, and when he asked these nice Southern women if they knew what slow food was, only a few raised their hand.

According to Smith, Upstate SC lags in growing local organic produce and livestock. He cited the Asheville, NC area as an example of how behind Greenville is. Smith stated that you don’t have to walk too far in Asheville to find one of the 45 farmer’s markets there to buy local food. Greenville has a paltry two farmers markets, but Smith told the Garden Club that they could change that. His winding conversational talk basically ended up in a pitch for the women of this chapter to step up to the sustainable lifestyle. How? His first two suggestions were to help create CSA’s in their area, or start to grow their own home gardens. His main plea was to take classes at the USSA and get training to help consult with gardeners who wish to go organic.

Continue reading “Garden Club Uprising”

See that pink poster with the Pentagon in the middle of this flyer?  I was fortunate enough to add this poster to my personal collection after Al Kizziah at Al’s Comics gave it to me. Soon after I received the poster, my friend Josh MacPhee began co-curating this amazing poster show for Exit Art in NYC. He already had too many posters to hang, and initially turned down my offer to mail the Yippie Pentagon Levitation poster to him. He then emailed me back to tell me that it was too good to pass up. So I mailed it to him to fit into the crowded walls at Exit Art.

Check out Exit Art’s page on this exhibit to see all the amazing programming, and political poster art, for this great show. Thanks to Al for his communal spirit and thanks to Josh and Dara for all their hard work on putting this show together. Hope I can get up there to see it!

Here’s a great post about my Vancouver travels from Chris’s point-of-view.

Friday arrived sunny and warm, making our last day here another spectacular opportunity to soak in Vancouver. Chris had been talking about riding around Stanley Park since we arrived, so we biked out there soon after eating breakfast here on 20th Ave. We chose to stay south of False Creek scooting along 10th Avenue  and then biked over the Granville Street Bridge. We easily found a bike lane leading us straight through the downtown. The lane took us down to the beginning of the Stanley Park path.

We planned to ride the one-way path around the whole perimeter of the peninsula. Before we hit that path, we stopped by the totem poles. Many tourists snapped photos of the poles before they hopped back on their buses. Paying a visit to this amazing native art started the ride off right. We had a great time with sunny paths, great views and beautiful people to share it with. We rode under the Lion’s Gate Bridge, and then drove to the edge of Davie St. to have lunch at a local hamburger shack.
Continue reading “One Ride, Keep It Together”

Strange Ass Clown & Hippie Parade
– A flickr citizen’s description of the 2008 St. Stupid’s Parade

“It can be tremendously beneficial when dealing with difficulties to be lighthearted in one’s engagement with life so that one will not take oneself too seriously.”
– HH the Dalai Lama

It’s the fool on television
Getting paid to play the fool
– The Big Money by Rush

“We’re making fun of the huge corporations and the religion of business.”
– Ed Holmes aka Bish Joey of the FCLL

photo by Scott Beale of Laughing Squid

OK, must catch BART to Justin Herman to get there around noonish before the parade starts. Let’s see. Red and white stripped socks? Check. Green protective goggles? Yep. Samba whistle? Still in the bag from Critical Mass. Crazy pink women’s jacket? Just picked it up from the cleaners. Red pants? wearing them. Flowerpot hat? Got it, and it still has a sticker on there from the NYC GOP protests 3 years ago. The sticker says “Worst President Ever.” OK, I think I have everything for this year’s St. Stupid’s parade.
Continue reading “Radical Stupidity, or, Strange Ass Clown & Hippie Parade”

The “friendly” SFPD escort service awaits Critical Mass on the March 28, 2008 ride. Photo by: Adam

Almost a year ago, the monthly last Friday ride Critical Mass caused a ruckus when a van met the throng of bikers in Japantown. Not knowing how to react (put the car in park and enjoy the spectacle), the driver sped up and drove through the riders, knocked one off his bike, and then tried to flee the scene. The van ended up surrounded with a smashed window, and the SF Chronicle ended up with early fodder for what seems to be a subtle campaign to unhinge the Bike Plan for the City. Continue reading “Police Controlling Critical Mass”

6:20AM 3/19: Wow, five years ago I got up super early like I did today and headed down to Justin Herman Plaza on my bike with a group of friends. Still dark and cold right now. Oh well, big breakfast for me, pack my snacks, and get down to Sansome and Market

7:20AM: I arrive at Sansome Market to find a fairly large crowd milling about at the Direct Action to Stop the War (DASW) “Info Station.” Insane Reagan is across the street doing a McCain “Bomb Iran” spoof already. the BLO is there ready to play the marching beats. Dance Dance Insurrection has arrived. All bands are dressed in pink. DASW volunteers keep telling me to plug in, take the orientation session, etc. I go over to the orientation and don’t get much out of it except a flyer with the Lawyer’s Guild phone number on it. I’m antsy this morning. Calamity bums a light off of me and then complains that the DASW has no tactics about head on confrontation with the SFPD. Ah, it’s cold. Let’s get this Snake March started!
Continue reading “5 Years Too Long….Shock & Awe Ticker 08”