Christopher Dorner: Who Watches the Watchmen?

Here is the Christopher Dorner pictures. Small Christopher Dorner posters can be made from this image. I think it asks a pretty good question: Who Watches the Watchmen?

Hurrican Sandy Photoblog: Relief still needed!

This used to be a beauty shop.

This is a photoblog that will cover our Occupy Sandy group from Portland, Maine as we organize a large mutual aid relief effort to help those still suffering without basic needs (food, water, housing, electricity  in New York after the storm hit on October 28th, 2012. The Black Friday Hurricane Relief effort was an attempt four weeks after the disaster to raise awareness, and supplies for those still suffering and remind people in our immediate area, and beyond that we can still help. We sent out press releases leading up to the event and you can read the article in the Portland Press Harald. You can also see Dawn Eve York's photo gallery from this same weekend.

Step one, was to rent a 26 foot uhaul and decorate it. 

Here are a few awesome drawings that were added to the truck. 

Mike Anthony painted this excellent banner. The banner itself had a very rough and dirty experience on the trip, but it looked really great at the start. 

Here is Mike outside of the truck at Marden's. We had a moving drop off site at all kinds of Big Box Stores throughout Black Friday. We were asked to leave from a few stores and asked not to hand out fliers. The goal was to fill the entire truck and then drive it down to New York.

Mutual Aid not Charity. Thank you MAM.

The UHAUL logo was altered with duct tape. At this point we were right outside of Walmart and we were starting to collect all kinds of donations from people who were buying/bringing things off of the NEEDED list that we were handing out.

Another shot of the truck. Food Not Bombs provided free cocoa and donuts for anyone who wanted to stop by. 

Occupy Sandy.Close up of the decorations.

Write your message of support

The guy drove home and came back to bring us donations. 

When we got to YANA (you are never alone) in Rockaways, we met many organizers of the Occupy Sandy movement including Alan Porter, our friend and fellow Occupier from Portland, Maine. We started using the back  room to unload all of the donations for a free store. Anyone could come and ask for supplies, and we would be able to hand them whatever they were looking for. 

Across the street was the Occupy kitchen. They had an incredible array of good hot food.

Only a few buildings down was the start of the destruction. 

We spent our first few hours of volunteering unloading and organizing. Here you can see Dawn and Mike filling up the back room with the donations. There was another room outside which held all of the cleaning and medical supplies. 

After the truck was empty we took all the excess clothes and turned the uhaul into a free clothing closet. Families would walk up the ramp and search for clothes of all types. It was a really successful way to get some of the clothes to the people in the area. It also allowed them the room and space to look through all of the items and get the things they needed.

This is what the truck looked like from across the street.

You can see Mike and Dawn on the ramp. Meanwhile the house behind Yana was being gutted (much like most of the structures in the town) and a team of people where bringing out furniture constantly and filling up the sidewalks. Power had only recently been restored in this area, and so people were finally returning to their homes and getting light into the basements so that they could get items out of the house.

After only a few hours the entire free store was picked clean. The shelves were bare by the end. 

Trust. When all of our supplies and donations had gone out to those in the community we went for a walk to look around the area. We also got to see our friend Becky Wartell, an Occupy Wall Street Medic who used to live in Maine.  

A view of the destruction of Hurricane Sandy looking through one of those gates that stores pull down after closing. It was very eerie. 

I really like the look of the Fecund Clown.

Less than half a block from Yana headquarters the buildings were completely gone. All that was left was this huge pile of debris. 

It was odd to see intermingled webs of piping that was at times the tallest part of the landscape. 

This building was ripped apart by the ferocious claws of hurricane Sandy. It was pretty devastating.

This is another photo of what used to be a beauty shop. 

Looking through a shattered window. 

These steps and the door still survived, but nothing else did.

We wandered through a few residential houses to find the beach. You can see the bent poles and the construction vehicle moving debris in the background. The sky was quite impressive.

We met up with Evan McVeigh, who had been helping out at many different sites during his Thanksgiving Break. Here Dawn and Evan were looking at out the sunset. It was very cold at the point, and the wind was piercing.

The moon had arrived. 

Another shot of the beach. Other people were visiting the water as the sun was setting. 

The Sand Bar was destroyed. 

This huge boardwalk was lifted up by the water of the hurricane and shoved into the ocean front properties. The amazing thing was that the boardwalk stayed together. All the wood and railings were mangled and bent,  but it was otherwise intact. 

I had this incredible sense that the entire scenery reminded me of a hollywood movie. Mostly, because destruction is not commonplace to me, nor was such a beautiful sunset. I took a few photos of Dawn, who is a mother of two boys, and working full time. She inspired me to get more involved in Occupy Sandy, and she was the main organizer for donations in Portland.  

She was very cold at this point, and even more sleep deprived. 

Everything about this walk along the beach seemed both so sad, depressing and magical at the same time. At times some of the local kids would appear from under the boardwalk, seemingly to pop out of nowhere. They were exploring some of the hidden spots and finding new ways in and out of some of the destructed areas. 

Here was an upturned picnic table. It seemed to be a good metaphor for Rockaway Beach. In my head, this upturned picnic table half buried in the sand is an icon of the destruction. One side of the picnic table is stuck, struggling, suffering and the other side is turned the wrong direction to be used functionally. We can either just ignore the table and walk away, or we can try to help fix it. One person would be unable to pull this table out, even two people would have a really hard time, but if we all work together to dig it out we can reset the table. Make it useful again. That is what the community in Rockaway is trying to do. Occupy Sandy is trying to find the best way to begin restarting the lives of so many people and families. It takes a lot of effort and energy, but it can be done. 

Sledge was one of the hardest working people i met at Rockaway. She was cooking, allocating food donations, and running all over the place. At the edge of the day she was in this tiny back closet cleaning pots in a sink. There was no working light so she had put a flashlight on a nearby shelf to give herself just enough light to clean. She was really kind to all of us that had come down from Maine and she was really happy we were taking pictures and planning to post them. "The people here really want their story to be told," she told me, "Please put these pictures out there so people can see what is going on down here and that people still need help."

Please learn more about what is needed: http://interoccupy.net/occupysandy/

Thanks to all the people that made this happen, especially Dawn Eve York, Michael Anthony, Kara Oster, Alan Porter, Occupy Sandy, Becky Wartell, Rachel Rumson, Debra Cohen, our friends in Occupy Maine, Occupy Hartford, Occupy New Hampshire and so many more people who inspire and helped us on our trip.

Over worked and Over stressed is Killing Us All

I have been working far too hard to recover from a financial costly and emotionally taxing relationship, which is now almost two years in my past. In the meantime, as I cope with the stress of lost relationship and new surroundings I have spent the last two years working 11 different jobs, occupying Minneapolis, and moving 8 times between three states (Minnesota, Maine and North Dakota). To top it off I am still a practicing visual and performance artist doing miniature art hunts all across the country, teaching art classes and performing live art battles. You can learn all about my artistic projects at my Bearded Bunny Art Blog. To make things even more stressful, the image above is a panel I did for my daily web comic called King of the Pill which has been one of those endeavors that has basically taken up all my free time for this entire year. That WAS the free time that I previously used to use to blog on Zombie Robot Frosting. Every time I plan to sit down and write a blog post here I remember all the things I need to do that have a higher priority and I neglect this blog. I am working on trying to fix that.

Needless to say, one of the ways I cope with stress is to keep myself busy. However, all these projects stress my out. It seems I use stress to fight stress, like fighting fire with fire. And I am getting burnt.......out. As one example, my car (which needs a check up- it has been over a year) looks like a bomb exploded in it. I have half cleaned it a dozen times and I really need to clean it out. My last half-clean revealed a rotten and liquefied green pepper I had forgotten about months ago. I still need to do my taxes.

Now, I would hate for this blog to be a monthly post of complaints and whining. Especially since that is not what this blog is about. This blog is about health, immortality and technology. Although, I think technology has been replaced with activism the last few years. I seem to blog a lot more about protesting and human rights than I do about nanotechnology and robots these days. But, two incredibly bright spots in my recent life has been:

Yoga and Daniel Pinchbeck 


My plan is to write another blog post called, Yoga and Daniel Pinchbeck. If I follow my claim those words will be a link to that post when it is done. But basically I have been enjoying yoga as a great physical and mental break from all of my stress. It has really grounded me and made me feel a lot more calm. On a similar level I got a book on tape from my friend Lauryn Whitmer (she writes a really great blog called Seeking Synchrony) of Daniel Pinchbeck's "Reality 2.0" and it has been great. I have subsequently been watching and listening to a lot of lectures and interviews by Pinchbeck and it has open my mind to a lot of new thoughts regarding the energy shift of 2012, life on earth, human history, psychedelics, advanced alien forms and shamanism. Basically, I love all of these topics and Daniel Pinchbeck's books toss everything at you and your mind is always racing to keep up, which is exactly how I like it. Next post I will talk a more about both Yoga and Pinchbeck's work and why these two things in combination have been a great help to me in the last few months.

Monsanto and Whole Foods

cartoon by William Hessian

This cartoon is in response to recent reports about the content of GMOs in Whole Foods products. It is scary to think how pervasive Monsanto and other genetically modified organisms have made it into the food we eat. Over 90% of all foods in a typical grocery store in the United States have some amount of GMO content, usually found in the oils.

Now we have yet another hoop to jump through if we want to stay healthy:

non GMO
Gluten Free
no TransFat

But I am up for the task. Are you?

Are GMOs (genetically modified organisms) safe to eat?

Yes, GMOs (genetically modified organisms) are unsafe for your health and here is why.

1. GMOs is linked to the growing spread of autism (studies in rats have indicated that this is most likely true. soruce: http://throughtheeyesofautism.wordpress.com/2009/09/29/autism-and-genetically-modified-foods/)

2. GMOs reduce the resource diversity of crops and produce worldwide. This is especially dangerous because the lack of diversity in our food source is not well prepared to fluxuate with the increasingly unpredictable climate change. Diversity is essential for global food security.

3. GMO pollution. Once GMOs become inbred with natural or organic organisms you cannot reverse the process. As the winds, water, insect, animals and soil carry GMO particles to other farms it contaminates and cross breeds with those varieties thus bastardizing all of our food.

4. GMOs over multiple generations increase infertility and sterilization in those who eat it. (Some have suggested that GMOs are actually a tool to curb over population on the planet).

Did you know that studies done when rats were fed with GMO soy most of the rats lost the ability to have babies in three generations? Less than 15% of the rats who wear able to produce offspring produces very small sickly babies. If humans react similar to GMO tainted food, we are currently inbetween the 1st and 2nd generations.

Here is another scary thing: Approximately 75% of all food products in an average United States grocery store has some kind of GMO in them. Mostly in the soybean oil, cottonseed oil and other vegetable oils. (Source is the 2/9/12 radio broadcast on Coast to Coast AM http://www.coasttocoastam.com/show/2012/02/09)

Monsanto, Kraft and other large corporations who make large profits from GMO based foods have run massive campaigns to spread disinformation about the safety and/or necessity of GMOs. Here are some links about Monsanto and disinformation:
http://www.disinfo.com/2011/12/monsantos-gm-corn-linked-to-organ-failure/


Monsanto's Round-Up is proven to cause major medical problems in those exposed to it.

http://permaculture.org.au/2011/12/08/argentinian-report-identifies-major-medical-problems-associated-with-roundup-ready-soy/


Round Up the cause of birth defects
http://tommytoy.typepad.com/tommy-toy-pbt-consultin/2011/06/washington-the-chemical-at-the-heart-of-the-planets-most-widely-used-herbicide-roundup-weedkiller-used-in-farms-and.html

So...

Are GMO (genetically modified organisms) bad for me?

Absolutely.


basic overview of GMOs: http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/gmfood/overview.php

http://www.responsibletechnology.org/

Seeds of Deception by Jeffrey Smith.

King of the Pill: new content every day

Have you been looking for a free family friendly web comic to read? Looking for an online adventure with goofy characters set in a fantasy world? A web comic that updates every single day. In 2012there will be 365 new panels in 365 days!).

If those things sound good to you, you should be reading King of the Pill:




You get to follow the PG adventures of Jasper who has taken a pill that has given him the power of the Face of Many Hands. It is a glorious upgrade. Now Jasper will meet a bunch of crazy characters who are all up to mysterious things, and then he must embark on a crazy quest across the planet. If you like goofy stories, funny comics, and bright and colorful worlds, this is a comic for you.



Come read the funny web comic adventure King of the Pill today. I endorse it, because I am the one who makes it! It is also why I have not had the time to post new content on this blog lately. Please help spread the word and support my one year web comic venture! Thanks for your support and readership!

Skyrim, Wincredible & a Brutal Cage Fight: Christmas Time in the Midwest

Three Themes of Christmas in the Midwest
The snowflakes begin to gently fall on the highway in front of me as I make me drive from St. Paul to Minnetonka for work. Today I leave a few hours early because I've got some Holiday shopping to do, and only a few days left to do it. It is always the frantic few days before Christmas when I still have all my shopping to do that I really start to get int the Christmas spirit. I even turn on the Christmas tunes in the car. On my way down I-494 I pass three huge and notable billboards. The first is:



Skyrim the billboard! For those of you unaware Skyrim is a fantasy video game that has surpassed $650 Million in retail sales. Over 10 million copies have been sold. People all across the world are entering and experiencing this massive game with dragons, werewolves and all sorts of adventures. I have forbidden myself from all time sink video games, because I have too little time as it is. I do admit to spending time learning all about the game, and being interested in it, even if I myself do not want to spend the endless time or money playing it.

The second billboard said: WINCREDIBLE! This billboard showed a very happy fellow that seemingly just won a lot of money at the casino. Mystic Lake Casino to be specific.

The third, and probably most attention getting sign of them all was a big black screen with illuminated vibrant red text advertising: BRUTAL CAGE FIGHT! It continued to tell you when and where.

Video games, Gambling and Violence! The three themes of Christmas in the Midwest apparently. Nothing festive or holiday like at all on all three billboards. Simply an invitation to enter a fake world, the illusion of winning money, or the chance to watch people bash each others face in. In an effort not to be hypocritical, I want to be clear that all three of these things I have enjoyed in my life; video games, gambling and violence. Having said that, I am still surprised and bewildered that these are the floating images in the sky during this holiday season. The billboard signs make me both sad and happy.


The Glorious Toy Isles
The huge non-holiday signs did not damper my rare holiday spirit, as I was off to get gifts for my little nephews. This meant I get to browse the toy isles. For anyone that has ever been with me in a department store knows that I have an uncontrollable urge to browse the toy isles. I do not buy much, but I love toy culture. Today, I have both an excuse to browse those isles, but also to buy things. Oh happy day.

If my shopping strategy was a little more scheduled and organized I would probably try to buy all of my gifts from local artists like sock creatures, wood carved animals or figurines made of sculpy clay. If I was really planning ahead I could make all the gifts myself. But, procrastination sends me to the mall instead. And part of me loves it. I love crowds of people, and isles of toys. I even enjoy trying to navigate the crowded isles and listening to the kids yelling: "I want that, and that and that and this!"

Just getting to browse the Star WArs toys, Hot Wheel cars, and Pokemon puts a smile on my face. It reminds me of being a kid, and I still love all these things. Even if they aren't part of my personal mythology anymore.

However, walking down the halls of the mall I have to ask the question:


When did Christmas Start to Stink?

The Christmas stink, which may actually be more appropriately called "mall stink", is the most extreme and upsetting standing between the Ambercrombie & Fitch store and the Pretzel Time store. The gas cloud of cologne mixed with the doughy smell of the pretzels is enough to turn my stomach fluids to cottage cheese. The smell fight is so disgusting I have to stop and admire the horridity (i know its not a word, but its needed here) of it all. Every single food shop is shooting their smells like missiles into the hallways trying to lasso me in as I walk by. For some reason; maybe because I rarely visit malls these days, or because each store has their scent cannons turned up to level 11, or maybe I have just become over sensitive to the smells, or maybe because all these smells are intermingling to create a nasty hybrid monster smell: everything is just gross. Good thing I can weave from one side of the hall to the other avoiding the smelliest of the shops, while on my search for the perfect toys.

Capitalism Greed
I am a abnormally fast walker to start with, and an even faster walker when I only have 60 minutes before work and a list to complete. I enjoy the tables of young teenagers laughing and flirting with each other, the families and kids traveling in packs all linked together holding hands, the kiosk worker who is flying some airplane around the mall trying to land it on the fountain, it is this hustle and bustle of the holidays that I really like. But I feel like a fraud. For those of you who know me, or read this blog: I am an activist, I am part of the Occupy movement, and I am basically a hippie (or at least hippie in training). Peace man!

The receipts that pile up in my pocket make me feel guilty. The economy is terrible, unemployment is way up, and many people have lost their homes or jobs since last Christmas. I have been fortunate enough to find work wherever I go, although underpaid and under appreciated; I still have work and a little money to spend. Wandering through this maze of capitalism that we call a mall makes me both sad and happy. To me, the American consumerism model is not a sustainable system and I know that I am pouring my hard earned money into the pockets of the 1% and not into my community where I should be putting it. I can find solace in the fact that the rest of the year I am pretty good about spending my money at farmers markets and buying from self represented artists, but during my annual holiday lapse, while fun, it is against my beliefs. I know I can do better.

Snowflakes on the Plush Doll
I rush out of the mall with a bag full of toys, I feel guilty and satisfied. I zigzag through the cars that fill up the giant mall parking lot. As I do, I notice that a perfect snowflake has landed on this tiny little plush animal. The stuffed animal has HUGE anime eyes and the snowflake sits delicately on its fur. I stop right there, almost unsure if the snowflake was real. I admire its miniature delicate beauty. It is magically perfect, and sitting completely in the center of this little creatures forehead. A third eye. As the little snowflake melts away, it seems to also melt away my anxiety for the holidays and even melt away a bit of my guilt. It reminds me of how incredible the small things are, and how little time we have to enjoy them. It makes me both sad and happy.

Happy Holidays.


If you enjoy this article please considered subscribing to my blog in the sidebar or check out my art blog. You might also enjoy my Occupy Rant, and quit drinking soda forever