Art thief, is the coffee shop liable too?

I was in a Coffee shop on Friday and noticed this artist was selling pictures of artists; Adele, The Clash, Prince, Rhianna, Eminem, and others. They were all clearly images made by others that he had manipulated slightly in a photo editing program, had printed on canvas or some other material, and was offering for sale from the coffee shop's walls. As an artist who creates all my own work and struggles to find a market I was taken aback at this obvious theft. First, of the original image maker's work and secondly of the artist depicted. If the AP-v-Shepard Fairey case taught us anything it is that stealing like this for profit is illegal. I don't think this guy will sell very many of his "paintings" but, even one sale is a theft.

What do you think?

Right wing media bias & confusion over taxing the rich

A letter writer in the right leaning Star Tribune: Newspaper of the Twin Cities. (er- I'm sorry, Minnesota's Top News Choice.) points out that the top 5% of earners pay 60% of the income taxes in the country. Patrick O'Keefe of Maple Grove doesn't give a citation but, seems to think this proves the rich are way over taxed. However, this doesn't begin to take all factors into account.

Do the rich make 60% of the income? No, it's closer to 80% isn't it? And, what about property taxes. Perhaps they pay 60% there to but own 70% of the property & control huge swaths of public land's mineral or right of way rights. Oh, then there's Social Security & Medicare taxes. The rich probably pay about .05% of these because they're capped at about $108,000 in earnings. And sales taxes? Clearly the rich don't pay a fair share of these. Another, the gas tax. The rich use way more road subsidies living out in private enclaves & driving huge cars that chew up our highways. Plus many of these privileged folk tend to speed, creating more pressure on our common right of ways. In so many ways the rich are greatly under taxed. One only need look at how much their income has increased in the past forty years. Our Former Governor Tim Pawlenty was fond of pointing out how fast government spending had gone up over some period of years, say 10% then asking, "how many of you know anyone whose salary has gone up 10%?" I always thought the answer was obvious, "not many of us because we don't rub elbows with the richest members of our society." It is their income that has gone up, while the working people of our country have lost ground, paid more in taxes, and seen their jobs, their homes, their communities and their way of life destroyed by Republican leaders and their rich friends in media, finance, and warmongering.

So, Mr. Patrick O'Keefe, please don't think your use of statistics convinces everyone of your delusion that the rich pay too much in taxes or even cover the cost to society of maintaining their life-style. I may be an atheist but, How I pray for the day that the rich man's behavior is treated like a gay man was in the last part of the 20th century. We can be better, but we need to be better aligned with one another first.

The Gift of a Decade.

It's been 3,652 days since President's Day 2001. GW Bush had been in office almost four weeks & the MPRB was planning to close the skating rinks after the evening skate. I rushed over to skate one last time for the season. Hockey stick in hand, I was involved in a friendly, pick-up game when, making a routine turn behind the net, I fell, perhaps my skate stuck in a short crack.

I knew immediately as I was going down,
"I broke my leg!" I said, as I fell.

"You did not!" replied of the skater next to me, as he looked down at me on the ice.

He continued, "I'll call 911!" seeing at a glance that something was not right with the configuration of my bones. The game stopped while players became caregivers, propping up my leg, bringing me water & my cell phone. I called Mary, had my Handspring PDA (like a Palm Pilot!) delivered, & within ten minutes I was being transferred from the ice to a stretcher. Soon, I was in the back of an ambulance, the EMT said, "I'm going to take off your skate, this could hurt." As he firmly grab both parts of my leg I could feel the two parts of the broken bone grind against each tour under my skin. Simultaneously, the other EMT injected Morphine into my arm. A warm, clam, relaxing wave washed over me. "Pain?!? What pain?"

I had surgery the next evening. A titanium rod, four screws, a pulmonary embolism, three months of rat poison, & countless hours of rehab later, I was able to skate an in-line marathon in June of 2001. I still have a file of the event:

I was lucky to out of work and living in MInnesota, the State Dept. of Health & Human services helped us pay the $37,000 bill. They also negotiated it down to about $7,200. (wish I had negotiating skills like that.)

The gift in this episode? Well, ten years on I'm fitter, thinner, healthier, & this morning when I slipped on the ice and felt my left leg bend awkwardly beneath the full weight of my body, I sensed the titanium protecting me from another catastrophic fracture.

Wait for Sex: More than just a moral thing.

The ecstasy of orgasm can be a powerful attraction. Many people, mostly men, crave the feeling. When we learn to wait, we learn the value of delayed gratification. We show our self-control.

Many folks imagine the suggestion we wait only works in conjunction with a religious message: we can only argue our teens should wait when we cite the Koran, the Bible, or the Torah. This is not true. We can talk openly about sex. Waiting can mean; put more time into foreplay. It can mean; come close to sex without actually consummating your passion. There is power in physical interaction even without sex.

• Waiting for sex could mean, more cuddling first.

Government: A plan means a good one, IF we follow the plan

I think I have finally figured out the Republicans.
They want to turn our country on its head & force it out of existence.

- Erik Riese

As every soldier knows before your go into battle you receive marching orders. Rocket scientists know that to hit a tiny piece of rock 30,000,000 miles away with a tiny piece of metal – like sending a rover to Mars – you need a really good plan. Every cook starts with a grocery list and a recipe; truckers plan a route. So too with governing the greatest countries in history. So too with the United States of America.

Our great & wonderful country was founded by leaders who were truly revolutionary in their thinking. They set forth in clear, concise language the reasons for government & a prescription for a fair honest one. Their language rings like a bell in my ears & still inspires even an evolutionary anarchist like me.

We are endowed with the right to life, liberty, & the pursuit of happiness; we need government, they said, in order to have unity, justice, tranquility, security, welfare, & liberty.

-Paraphrasing the Declaration of Independence & the Constitution

As long as our Republican leaders fight and yell; use lies & magical thinking -both antithetical to justice- our union and tranquility are not secure, our welfare is threatened and our liberty withers. Yesterday, our young, Republican governor, Tim Pawlenty formed Freedom First a national Political Action Committee to extend his national ambitions. You can tell by the name how he has flipped the structure of government on its head. He tries to say freedom, which our founders listed last of six great values, should be first. The Constitution is clear, a more perfect union is the primary goal of government.

We need to follow the plan. Let's look at how it would work on a controversial issue like Health Care. If we stand together and agree that everyone should have affordable basic health care options, if we implement a health care plan fairly, our security is enhanced, our welfare is bettered, our tranquility is easier, and our liberty is guaranteed. Freedom is not and should not be the first focus of government. Unity and justice must be our primary focus. Together we stand, divided we fall.

Let's look at justice. Lately I've heard Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann talk about several issues. In almost every case she lies, distorts or willfully misrepresents the facts. It is a real assault on truth and justice as she attempts to paint government as the problem. Justice requires fairness and adherence to fact based decision making. Sadly, Bachmann is only one of many Republican leaders who scoff at facts and scientific proof, replacing truth with faith based reasoning or personal opinion. In many cases opinion can be a driver in a debate but opinion does not and should not trump facts. Justice requires honesty, integrity and fairness. As we try to mend eight years of politicizing the Federal Department of Justice it is very important to base our policy making on facts.

In 1980 Ronald Reagan started his all out assault on the United States Government with statements like: "Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem" And, "The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help." Since then, Republicans have played on American's healthy skepticism of government. They shrink it & cut it & politicize it when in power and they attack it mercilessly when out of power.

We need government to secure our unity, our justice system, our tranquility, our common defence, our general welfare, and the blessings of liberty. Now that I've figured out the Republicans I am going to stand up against their attacks on my country's government.

Bullying: The gift of broken discourse.

Well, I've just watched about a dozen public meetings where Members of Congress, Senators and other elected officials have been shouted down by bullies. These folks, apparently schooled by Dick Armey's lobby firm Freedom Works rise to ask questions or just start shouting in the middle of the event with misinformation and smears. They impugn government, the same government that they have worked so hard to destroy for the past 28 years. They shout, bluster and offer no ideas just an all out assault on public discourse. They seem to want to destroy anything that is left of the commons. Oh the humanity!

It's gone from bad - having these lying, greedy, bullies in office - to worse - having these lying, greedy, bullies trying to destroy from without what they couldn't destroy when they held power.

I'm sick to my stomach watching the evidence.

A ranking Senator on the Judiciary Committee has said he will not support Judge Sonia Sotomayor because he's afraid that she could not be objective and fair in the conduct of her job. This despite 17 years of written evidence to the contrary. I call on Jeff Sessions to use this same standard in his deliberations and in the performance of his job. Objectivity! Yes, government by science! Please, Jeff, say you will!

I want my country! I want people who support and defend the Constitution when it calls for a more perfect union, justice, domestic tranquility, common defence, general welfare and the blessing of liberty. I'm tired of greedy, lying bullies.

Forgiveness: A gift requiring foresight

When we forgive we must be able to see into the future to a time when our anger or disappointment will subside and our friendship will again very important to us. When we forgive we must see into the mind of the other and understand the foibles, the weakness and the goodness that is in each creature of our planet. From fungi to fern, from tree to mammal, from bacteria to mole, from virus to gene, and from reptile to person: all creatures have goodness in them for life is good. 

Forgiveness: a gift when given, a gift when received. A measure of humanity.

Faith: A gift with unintended consequences

Today I heard about a man, Dr. George Tiller, a medical doctor, shot and killed while he volunteered as an usher in his church in Wichita, KS. This story is based on the story of Dr. Tiller. but the facts are made up by me to illustrate how a gift can backfire.

Our faith is often nurtured by our family and the leaders of our church from a time when we are very young. Faith is first placed in myths, like Santa Claus, the Easter Rabbit and Tooth Fairy. As we grow in our understanding of religion our faith is supposed to transferred to God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and in his Only Begotten Son Jesus! We're not told that GOD created hell too and despite Commandments like Thou Shall Not Kill! Ol' God spends a lot of time smiting people, cities, and whole populations. Today we'd call it genocide but in the Old Testament its called God's Will.

I'm really not down with this.  I never was down with this even as a young Lutheran. Now we have this story. I imagine a 51 year old guy, spends his whole life wanting to be a dad but he's anti-social, he plays with guns, he's indignant that someone might take away his right to protect himself. He's also indignant that while he can't attract a woman to bear him children, there's a doctor in Wichita performing abortions! He's going save those pre-born lives in self defense he walks into a church, the so called House of God, and using his government given right to bear munitions, shoots to death a man married for 45 years, father of four, grandfather of ten. 

This is how Pro-Life looks. This is Scott Roeder's, the presumed killer, idea of justice. 

I heard a woman speaking at a memorial service for Dr. Tiller. She said, 

"I had been abused, mistreated, and violated. Dr. Tiller helped me. Thank God for that." 

I understand her feeling, but I have to say, 

"No! Thank science for Dr. Tiller. Thank God for Scott Roeder, the killer, and for many others like him who think they are called to impose their faith on other people." 

I say,

"Thank God for the crazed, faith addled killers everywhere who fight in the name of the Lord."

The gift of faith, our society's fall from grace if we do not also use our critical thinking faculties.

Greetings from Santa Erik

Gifts: my interesting study traipsing across eons of our shared heritage. I've learned so much about sharing and curiosity that I'm thinking I must report my findings in a quiet corner of the web. I'm hoping this blog will include selected occasional posts with my thinking about our gift economy and the magic of human social interaction.