I’m not gonna lie, when I heard the title Ghetto Physics I was skeptical. The title and the aesthetic had me questioning if I really wanted to spend a couple hours taking this movie in. However, upon our invitation to the premiere this past week, I was astonished by the tact and poignancy of this film. Highlighting the role of politics in our daily lives, Ghetto Physics uses the relational dynamics of the pimp and the ho to create a framework to analyze some of the more manipulative power dynamics in American culture. From healthcare, to religion, to marriage, the film covers a variety of topics that provoked many conversations after the final credits. Ghetto Physics is one of those movies that makes you think differently after you watch it. And that’s powerful. In addition to L.A., Ghetto Physics will be premiering in select cities across the nation, including Oakland. So stay tuned.
About 3.5 million US residents (about 1% of the population), including 1.35 million children, have been homeless for a significant period of time. Over 37,000 homeless individuals (including 16,000 children) stay in shelters in New York every night. This information was gathered by the Urban Institute, but actual numbers might be higher.
Fox Business estimates there are 18.9 million vacant homes across the country. 3.5 million people without homes; 18.9 million homes without residents.
Having come of age in the midst of one of the most senseless wars in recent history, it’s hard for me not to be biased about our government’s foreign policy. I’d say I was “skeptical” about the claims that oil played no role in our decision to go to war with Iraq, if I wasn’t actually certain beyond a doubt that it was one of the primary issues at stake. If you haven’t seen Blood & Oil, I’d highly recommend checking it out. If not, I’d recommend taking a look at the article below from Foreign Policy.
The main point Peter Maass raises is that the amount of military spending that goes towards obtaining and protecting oil exceeds our wildest dreams. Not to mention, despite the drop in media coverage, we’re still there, spending billions monthly. How we go about changing a century-old tradition in American politics is a tough thing to figure out. Lifestyle changes on the part of the consumer? Political action, or protesting against our tax dollars funding the war machine and big business? At the very least, I figure it’s better not to keep our heads in the sand, so to speak.
Once we’ve gotten our priorities straight regarding reducing the massive amount of oil we use in transportation – largely because we’ve built our communities into places where most people need to drive rather than walk, bike or take public transit -there’s another conceptually big issue that needs to tackled: What to do with plastic?
Now, plastics alone don’t amount to much out of a single barrel of oil compared to liquid fuels, but their utter ubiquity in our lives combined with the resultant massive waste management and water pollution issues means we’ve got some serious contemplation to do.
It’s crazy how a few snapshots can paint a detailed picture of a place. From everything I hear, the Eastern Congo is a pretty hectic place. Dealing with the fallout from the worst human conflict since World War II can’t be easy. In his latest collection, Quick, photographer Richard Mosse gives us a glimpse of military life in the Eastern Congo, along with some gorgeous shots of the surrounding landscape. Taking a novel approach, Mosse used Kodak Aerochrome infrared film to capture the scenes below, giving the images their distinctive pink tint. So no, they’re not photoshopped, in case you were wondering. Pretty impressive.
For the most part, I think we can all agree that providing affordable, quality education should be a priority for the state government. So why is it that every time we need to trim the budget, school funds seem to be the first ones to get the ax? In looking at the effects of the budget cuts, The Oakland Tribune’s Katy Murphy brings up an interesting point. California’s teachers are the highest paid in the nation, and yet per-pupil spending in California is more than $2,000 below the national average, and class sizes continue to grow, particularly in the poorest districts. If the theory is that teacher salaries are cutting into spending on students, I think we’re faced with a tough question. If education is indeed so important, why should we have to choose between paying our teachers a decent salary, and giving our kids the resources to succeed? As always, read more below, and let us know how you see it.
I’m no statistician, but this little piece of information seems to speak for itself. As the graph above (via The Economic Policy Institute) shows, corporate profits bounced back after the recession. On balance, they’re actually significantly higher than they were in 2007. So why are so many people still jobless and struggling out here?
Without making a blanket statement, I think it’s important to realize that most of these corporations don’t really give a fuck about average people or their well-being. The fact is that the global corporate model aims to make everything more efficient, and if that means flopping peoples’ jobs, or selling us a worse product, that’s usually what’s going to happen. The whole “trickle down” thing doesn’t really seem to be working. As always, this is my [biased] opinion, so take it with a grain of salt, and by all means, form your own. But let’s stay aware out here, folks. There’s a lot at stake.
For the folks who have been advocating for the legalize-and-tax model, this looks like a step in the right direction. Yesterday, the Oakland City Council voted to approve the licensing of four major marijuana production plants. For all intents and purposes, trees might as well be legal already in the Bay, but this measure takes on a new frontier for the medicinal cannabis market. The four plants will likely be massive in size and scale of production (upwards of 20,000 pounds per year), with their licenses carrying $200,000 in annual fees, as well as heavy taxation.
So what exactly does industrial marijuana mean for the local businesses that have spearheaded the movement so far? Opponents worry that these production plants could put small dispensaries and growers out of business for good. In any case, it’ll be interesting to see where this goes. Thanks to Samra for the heads up.
In America today, it seems like the political scene is as polarized as it ever has been, and no issue is more central to that polarization than federal spending and taxes. The fact is that our country is in over our heads in debt, and spending heavily outweighs the revenue generated by taxes. As abstract as it might sound, that disparity means bad news for just about all of us. But what would you do, given the opportunity to fix it? The Budget Simulator, created by The Committee For a Responsible Federal Budget, lets you take a stab at it. More importantly though, it gives you an actual overview of where tax money is going, and what exactly the government spends money on. Given tough economic times and a tense political climate, I feel like it’s that much more important to understand what’s at stake, and how the system works. Give it a shot here, and get informed.
In this day and age, it’s no real secret that governments and corporations lie, or cover up information they don’t want people to know. As we know all too well from the last decade, it actually happens quite often. For that reason, WikiLeaks has been undertaking something extraordinary. Founded in 2006 by Julian Paul Assange, WikiLeaks publishes leaked documents and footage from governments and corporations worldwide, with a mission of bringing transparency to the institutions that control so many aspects of our lives.
Earlier this year, WL notably leaked a video of a 2007 U.S. Army helicopter strike in Baghdad, in which several civilians were murdered, including two Reuters international reporters. Over the past few months, it’s gotten Julian and his website (which is now home to over a million leaks) a lot of press. And despite plenty of controversy and backlash, WikiLeaks is going stronger than ever, thanks largely to Assange, who travels the world, running the site as an unpaid volunteer and putting on for the people. For the full story, check below for a great piece on Julian and his work, courtesy of The New Yorker.
Or perhaps not Afghanistan per se. Maybe the U.S., or maybe Britain. Or maybe the Taliban, or maybe Al-Qaeda. Early this week the U.S. found vast mineral riches (up to $408 billion in iron alone) in the deserts of Afghanistan. What’s so interesting about this story is the fact that this discovery may completely alter the economies of a few countries. But who will have access to these new resources? With huge sources of iron, copper, cobalt and gold, this discovery has the potential to transform Afghanistan into a mining mecca. But the question remains, how will they divvy up the “treasures?” And did the U.S. already know about this? What will this mean for relations between the U.S. and Afghanistan? With only 70% of the area surveyed so far, it is estimated that the wealth from the reserves could supply each civilian of Afghanistan with $34,000. Dang resources. Click here for an article from James Risen of the New York Times on the discovery.
There’s a lot of talk in America about how unhealthy we are as a population. We all know the basics: bad diet, not enough exercise, too much sugar and too many processed foods. What a lot of folks don’t talk about though are the politics behind the food we’re eating. The fact is government subsidizes certain foods heavily, but not others, mostly due to lobbying from those industries. In particular, beef, dairy and corn producers get a huge break, allowing them to sell those commodities at a fraction of the price. Fruits and vegetables, on the other hand, hardly receive any government subsidization. So a plastic container full of raspberries costs five bucks, and a double cheeseburger is on the dollar menu. The chart above, and the article below courtesy of Good, break down the problem. The pyramid on the right is the suggested nutritional breakdown, while the one on the right shows the proportion of subsidies going to each food group. Thought for food.
There are nights when the sky in L.A. has this weird orange glow, even at midnight. The other day, I sat in bumper to bumper traffic for more than an hour trying to get from Westwood to LAX, and earlier tonight I drove less than half a mile away to pick up trees. Ladies and gentlemen, I don’t have to tell you, but the way we live just isn’t sustainable, and the fact is we’re all implicated. I know I need to be doing more. It’s easy to point the finger BP and other oil companies, and in fact it’s important. Frankly, it’s hard to even wrap your head around how colossally BP fucked things up on this one.
But rather than getting caught up in any particular aspect of the complex problem at hand, I think it’s just important to remember that all these things are interconnected. For every action, there is a reaction, and all the luxuries we enjoy as citizens of industrialized society come at a high price. These birds are doing bad and wars are being fought overseas, and somewhere down the line, it has a lot to do with light pollution in Los Angeles, or how I got to my classes across town this past year. I’m not an expert on sustainability, wildlife or geopolitics. But when I saw these pictures, it reminded me that we need to do better. Let’s make it happen folks.
Okay, this one’s pretty important. When Maya dropped the first single from her upcoming album last week, it was already taking a typically revolutionary stance. Instead of the electro hip-pop of “Paper Planes” listeners were greeted with raw, abrasive punk rock, complete with M.I.A. screaming “I’ll throw this shit in your face when I see you, ’cause I’ve got something to say”. Already, the track constituted a strong, if vague affront to consumer culture, capitalism and social authority. With the video, however, M.I.A. and director Romain Gavras just outdid themselves. It’s graphic, it’s 8 minutes long, and almost every second is compelling. There’s a lot to touch on here, but I’d recommend just watching, and then trying to make sense of it all.
