Mia Doi Todd, Frohawk Two Feathers and Om'Mas Keith Sing Vote Yes On Prop 37

It's voting time! I got my absentee ballot yesterday and am hanging chads as I write this post. When I got to Prop 37, I wasn't sure what to do. Lots of commercials on TV were telling me to vote no, but then I saw that my good friend the amazing Frohawk Two Feathers recorded a public message for all Californians. Let's take a look together, shall we?

Election day, November 6, 2012 is fast approaching, and Californians have the opportunity to pass this very important law. 

Proposition 37 would require food sold in supermarkets to be labeled if it contains genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. Studies have shown links between GMOs and cancer, allergies, and organ toxicity. 

Monsanto and other GMO and pesticide firms have contributed nearly $35 million to oppose Proposition 37. 

All of Europe, Russia, India, Japan and China require labeling of genetically engineered food, and so should we. We are what we eat, and we have the right to know what we are eating! 

For more information on Proposition 37, visit: www.carighttoknow.org 

Performed by Mia Doi Todd, Frohawk Two Feathers and Om'Mas Keith Produced by Om'Mas Keith and Mia Doi Todd

There you have it! Vote Yes On Prop. 37! Thanks Mia, Frohawk and Om'Mas!

The cavalry rides for OccupyLA

Last Sunday I helped organize a bike ride for OccupyLA
I brought the shopping cart rickshaw my friends from Alumina Design fabricated for the inagural CicLAvia.

Decorated with a 20 foot tall bamboo flag pole flying the 99%, and an Aiwa pumping revolutionary tunes, it was the perfect tool to inspire the people with the Occupation's message.





To our surprise, the 1% by and large supports the 99%

Sunday, Oct, 16th: OccupyLA Bicycle Outreach and Action

Sunday, Oct, 16th: OccupyLA Bicycle Outreach and Action

Time	Sunday, October 16 · 12:00pm - 3:30pm
Location	City Hall 200 North Spring Street Los Angeles, CA
More Info	Occupy LA Bicycle outreach & action day! We will meet at City Hall at 12:00 noon to educate riders on bicycle signaling & safety guidelines. We then leave for Echo & Elysian Park at 1:00pm and return back to City Hall. Bicycles will have with flyers & banners with "Occupy LA" & "99%" !

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=301065449910198

Bikes for the Occupation!

Occupy Los Angeles exists by the collective spirit of those who support the ideals of freedom, democracy, justice and liberty. Each person protesting outside City Hall has something to contribute to the movement. I did my small part, which was to donate some bicycles so people could pickup supplies, run errands and maybe even participate in the upcoming CicLAvia this Sunday!

On Tuesday, I met hELLA HUNG at his storage unit where he pulled out this magnificent steed, aptly named, The Hung Dynasty!



Check out that cockpit!





After making the voyage from San Francisco to L.A., hELLA wanted to gift his dynasty to the city he now calls home. Like most of us, OccupyLA was the moment he was waiting for.



Then on Thursday, I paid a visit to my favorite auctioneers in the City of Industry to pickup an assortment of bikes for the cause.





The view driving into L.A. was so clear after the inch of rain the day before.





Friendly Faces everywhere I looked.








 
As I was packing up, Real Food Daily was pulling up with a donation as well.




 
which left everyone smiling

***7am 10/8/11 UPDATE: One of the perils of blogging at 2am is that you forget things, big an small. This campaign to support the occupation with wheels came from none other than the Wolfpack Hustle.

 If you haven't heard, they're being honored next week at City Hall for racing against a jet airplane... and winning! Thanks to the Hustle Crew for working all day to bring a couple busted bikes I donated back from the grave. Here's what it probably looked like:

Perhaps the best public speaker in the world

Forget Joe The Plumber, please allow me to introduce you to Jesse LaGreca.



Way to go Jesse! Your verbal suplex followed up by a kimura submission hold of Fox News had them tapping out in less than 3 minutes! Jon Stewart, take note, this is how it's done:



 This is funny AND confrontational.

Jesse, we're all taking notes here at Occupy Los Angeles. Thank you. #OccupyLA #OccupyWallStreet

OccupyLA Day 3 - Short Version

I re-edited the video, since viewers might not be interested in the minutiae of everything going on at OccupyLA. Here's the juicy bits. Enjoy!

OccupyLA Needs:
Tarps
Help providing Sanitation (Porto-potties and trash hauling)

Mailling Address to mail donations:
 UPS Store
Attn: OccupyLA
 645 W 9th Street
Unit 110-253
Los Angeles, CA 90015

OccupyLA Day 2

OccupyLA Day 2
Sunday October 2, 2011
Los Angeles, CA

Occupy Wall Street comes to Los Angeles: #OccupyLA

Occupy Wall Street comes to Los Angeles: #OccupyLA

Film Saturday October 1, 2011 at City Hall in Downtown Los Angeles

Are you kidding? Southwest loves gays!

This was the view out my window while traveling back home from a weekend filled with homo type stuff like apple picking, canning organic tomatoes and watching Brad Pitt try to pull a Coach Taylor in Money Ball.

Apparently, the lesbian unicorn smiling at me at 35 thousand feet was there on a mission. Turns out some of the in flight crews at Southwest need to undergo a bit of "reorientation therapy" after poo pooing on some girl on girl action in seats 4A&B, and thus this majestic creature appeared to ensure there were no missteps on my flight. Thanks Lesbian Unicorn! It's working!

If you want to tell Southwest to apologize for homophobic employees, sign this petition here:

http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-southwest-to-apologize-for-homophobic-employees

I Love Chase Bank

Happy Saturday!

Pissed Off Fridays!

Verizon provides telephone service to my parent's house. Recently my dad tried to remove a high speed internet line and downgrade to a regular DSL line. You would think a quick call to Verizon customer service would be all that's necessary to accomplish a simple feat such as this.....

Happy Customers! Yay!

50 hours of customer service calls later, Dad tells me this morning that they are finally getting the high speed internet line removed, but that they will have to lose their home phone number of 30+ years! This is the phone number that I grew up with. It's a number that gives me security and peace of mind. I know the tones that each number makes as if it is a song that I've been singing my whole life.

And now this number will be lost to my family forever because Verizon cannot provide the most basic of services in a timely manner.

Thanks Verizon! You're awesome, Great Job!

I thought the company bosses should know firsthand what a great job they've done, so I checked with Consumerist to find their email addresses and wrote them a thank you letter. Wanna see?

Date: Fri, Jul 29, 2011 at 2:00 PM
Subject: Unacceptable Customer (Non)Service
To: holly.hess@verizon.com, suleiman.hessami@verizon.com, virginia.p.ruesterholz@verizon.com, thomas.j.tauke@verizon.com
Cc: Dad


Good Day,

It is only out of complete and utter frustration that I have resorted to contacting you directly.

My father has spent over 50 hours speaking with various customer support reps at your company to perform what to my ears should be a simple task: remove a high speed internet line and replace it with a regular home DSL line. Well, after those 50 hours, it's finally happening. But, he was just told that in order to complete the removal of the line, he will have to give up his home phone number of 30 plus years. It is beyond my comprehension that

A. This took 50 hours to accomplish

B. He must lose his home phone number of 30+ years

How on God's Good Earth does your company manage to fail my father so perfectly and precisely, fitting the worst possible image of a corporation that cares nothing about it's customers?

Should you have any sense of decency at all, you will immediately call my dad (310-459-****) and apologize for your ineptitude, ensure that my parents keep their home phone number, and perhaps offer him 50 hours of foot massages to settle your debt to him.

Sincerely,

The Engaged Observer
http://engagedobserver.blogspot.com/

AAA sent me a letter of lies

AAA cares that they're losing longstanding members due to their hostile lobbying against mass transit, pedestrian and cycling projects. Their letter to me only reinforces that this is an organization that has lost it's mind, and is now using obfuscations and lies to hide their true motivation: Pursue private automobile funding at all costs, without regard to urban sprawl, pollution or public safety.

After 48 Years, My Family must leave AAA

Robert L. Darbelnet - President and CEO of AAA

Family,

I'm beginning to think the man you see above these letters is trying to kill me. As a cyclist that commutes to work, I am constantly fighting to assert my right to the road. I realize that my safety would be better served by improvements to the roadway that benefit cyclists and pedestrians. This man is working against those goals, using OUR MONEY!

Our AAA payments are being spent to lobby against cycling and pedestrian infrastructure and for increasing speed limits in our communities. AAA has an obsessed and myopic focus on promoting a 1950s Eisenhower belief in highway expansion without regard to theories of smart growth, mass transit and combatting urban sprawl. AAA lobbies furiously to make sure that all gas tax revenues go to facilities for cars, trucks and other motor vehicles, instead of transit, bike or ped facilities, even though these projects would result in fewer cars on the road, thus benefiting motorists.

You can read about AAA's battle against "Rails to Trails" program here:

http://www.railstotrails.org/ourWork/whereWeWork/national/news/AAA.html

Here's a link to a discussion about AAA's anti bike slant on a bicycling forum:

http://www.bikeforums.net/archive/index.php/t-331410.html

Rather than reinvent the wheel, allow me to direct you to a post by Gary from Gary Rides Bikes. He has an excellent explanation of the evils of AAA:

Given how little bike and pedestrian trail funding is actually included in the federal budget, making us a target to cut funds reeks of a mode bias agenda. This is hardly the first time AAA has tried to advance automobile interests by trying to kick other modes of travel out of the picture. When D.C. was recently planning bike lanes on famous Pennsylvania Ave., AAA released an op-ed piece calling it a "War on motorists", and actively lobbied against the proposals. Lon Anderson of AAA called this "war" a huge concern for their "80,000 DC AAA members". I don't think most members who only know of AAA as the company that helps change their flats and gives out maps, are aware these kind of lobbying efforts are being done on their behalf.

There is hope! Here's the website run by Better World Club, the sustainable alternative to AAA:

http://www.betterworldclub.com/competition/aaa_chart.cfm

Let's cancel our AAA memberships and instead use this wise, contemporary and responsible company for our roadside assistance needs. Will you join me? My life depends on it!

Love,

Alex

Customer Service reaches new heights at Chevron!

Behold the Chevron Gas Station at Alameda and Cesar Chavez! The prices are so competitive and their outdoor latrine is not to be missed!

New Years Resolution: Move My Money

Yesterday, I visited a nearby branch of Chase, where my old WAMU checking account now lives. I deposited my paycheck in person at the teller and then checked my balance. The funds, my funds, were not reflected in my account balance. When I asked the kind bank rep who says hello to everyone who walks in what's going on, her brightly lit eyes faded a bit and the word "Oh" barely escaped from her quickly pursing lips. "The funds were being held by Chase for 24 hours."

Large banks like Chase spend money creating the veneer of local and friendly places to bank. A smiling person greets you when you walk in. But their policies are anything but. It used to be that a hold was placed on funds for a specific reason. Chase places holds on all non-cash deposits so that they, not you, can have 24 hours to use your money any way they wish. Perhaps the money from my paycheck was used yesterday to lobby Congress to limit financial reforms, or to pay a large bonus to an executive. When you multiply millions of paychecks, you can see that with this one policy, Chase is able to leverage their customer's money in a very powerful way.

It was in this visit to a gleaming new Chase branch that I realized by my choice of financial institution, I was contributing to the pushback against financial regulation reform. By simply switching my bank to a small, local institution, I could prevent my money from being used against me.



It turns out I'm not the only person coming to this conclusion. Hopefully, you'll decide to move your money like I did. Happy New Year!

Breaking free from the chains of Epson

I love my old epson printer. Epson Stylus Photo R200. All I use it for is to print random things like Paypal shipping forms and movie tickets to the Arclight, perhaps a google map here and there.

The other day, the printer kindly notified me that 2 ink cartridges were out of ink, Magenta and Light Cyan.

"No bother", I told my printer. (I was only printing a B&W shipping form.) "Continue and print my form please."

"NO!" said the printer. "I will not! Not until you replace the empty ink cartridges."

"Printer, it's cool. It's not color, just go ahead and print it. I promise it will work just fine", I said, getting a little warmer. Was the AC on in here, I wondered to myself.

"You don't understand!" the printer scolded back at me, it's red light now blinking at a furious pace. "I cannot and will not print one more thing until you replace those cartridges."

Now I was angry. My printer thought it knew better than me what it could and couldn't do. I knew the black ink was just waiting to be spit out on the paper, giving me a shipping form that I now wanted more than a trip to Scoops!

So what's going on here? Why does my printer defiantly disobey my commands like it doesn't have any respect for me?

Epson cleverly, or rather deviously, placed a small microship in each ink cartridge that monitored the use of ink and once the level was determined to be empty, it would tell the printer to stop printing. Mind you, the cartridge doesn't need to be actually empty for this to happen. It could have many pages left and still be functionally useless due to this mis-application of technology.

Seeing that I was up against a corporation intent on forcing me to purchase their liquid crack at outrageously high prices even when I didn't need it, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I was going to give my little printer a lobotomy, and remove the parts of it's brain I found useless. It turns out people have been thinking the same thing for a while now, and even built special surgical instruments to quickly slice out this useless flesh in one stroke.

Making it's debut all the way from Nanshan District in Shenzhen China....Behold the YXD268-II! It's a multi-function chip resetter with the following specs:

1. YXD268-II can RESET the chip on the cartridge into full mode.
2. YXD268-II can also DETECT the chip status.
3. Red and Green LED for easy identification.
4. Both sides CONCAVES for easy holding.

It slices, it dices, it saves you money time. Folks, step right up and gets yours today!

Now my printer is happily printing in black and white, blissfully unaware it's almost out of magenta and light cyan. And when it runs out, I'll know, because my printouts will be ugly and weird. I don't care, it's just a google map...

Help Conyers Stand Up To His Special Interests

While I am thrilled with the election victories progressives achieved in November, I am starting to see troubling signs that special interests are increasingly calling the shots. Take a seemingly incomprehensible bill sponsored by John Conyers, a heroic congressman who for years called out the Bush administration for the lies that led to war & the war crimes it perpetrated. As I've become more politically educated and informed, I've consistently found John Conyers fighting the good fight, exposing corruption and looking out for my interests.

The bill, H.R.801 , carries the deceptive title of Fair Copyright in Research Works Act. What it does is effectively double tax Americans who wish to access information that they have already paid to have produced.

Imagine you hire a scientist to come up with a new technology to increase your company's productivity. You give them money, and they give you information. Now, imagine the scientist charges you a fee for the privelege of reading the report you hired him to produce. Would you be upset with this arrangement? This is exactly what John Conyers is trying to push thru Congress. The bill would essentially allow publishers to charge for access to tax-funded research.

Why is John Conyers pushing this legislation? A great article on the Huffington Post follows the money to find out.

...sponsors of this bill -- led by Rep. John Conyers -- received twice as much money from the publishing industry as those on the relevant committee who are not sponsors.

The lesson to be learned here is that just because the party in power is generally one you might prefer, you cannot simply assume everything is now going to be all rainbows and unicorns in Washington. In fact, progressives should be even more vigilent now, keeping corruption and special interests in check, to ensure Americans do not lose confidence in our hard fought victories. Change Congress is a campaign to force congress to commit to real campaign finance reform:

Reforming the system will never be Congress’s first priority until a grassroots movement gives politicians a choice: You can have our money or special interest money, but not both. Now is the time to push for this change, and that’s why the donor strike is important. Please sign on the right.

All citizens, democrats and republicans, progressives and conservatives, should find this a worthwhile goal.

Clinton and Villaraigosa announce LED streetlights, but it's just a drop in the bucket

Congratulations to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for a PR event that includes Bill Clinton. Los Angeles will retrofit 140,000 streetlights with LEDs, saving a bunch of energy. According to the Daily News:

Over five years, the city will retrofit 140,000 of its residential street lights with energy-efficient LED lights, an aide to Villaraigosa said. The project is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 40,500 tons and save $10 million annually, the aide said.

What about those digital billboards? How much energy do those use again? When all billboards are converted, 900 in all, they will consume the energy of 11,000 homes. What does Bill have to say about that?

This begs the question: Do electronic billboards belong in a green city?

DONT FORGET TO VOTE MARCH 3RD! Need to register? Tomorrow is the deadline.

A Growing Chorus Of Critics Against Measure B, Solar Fraud by Villaraigosa, City Council, LADWP & IBEW

The LA Weekly has an excellent article by Beth Barrett explaining the origins and deceptions that led to a massive fraud of unprecedented proportions in Los Angeles' history. Measure B, the so called "Green Energy and Good Jobs for Los Angeles Solar Initiative" is actually a multi-billion dollar giveaway to the powerful union of electrical workers and their business manager, Brian D’Arcy.

It could cost $1 billion to $3.6 billion — nobody knows because Villaraigosa and City Council President Eric Garcetti rushed it so quickly onto the ballot. With about two weeks until the election, City Hall is awash in rumors that Measure B isn’t about bringing solar to L.A. — but was meant to provide Villaraigosa a flashy issue in case he faced a wealthy mayoral challenger, such as the developer of the Grove, Rick Caruso.

This raises critical questions for our elected officials, Garcetti and Villaraigosa. What was their motivation to rush a multi-billion dollar plan with no studies and no real oversight onto voters with a flashy name that is anything but a description of what it will do? The answer is posited later in the article:

Although Villaraigosa clearly supports large-scale solar, Measure B is the brainchild of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 18 business manager Brian D’Arcy. He was assured that IBEW, representing most of the DWP’s 8,500 employees, would get the bulk, if not all, of the solar-installation work. Mostly unknown outside City Hall, the IBEW is feared by officials like Villaraigosa. The union can quickly jam City Council chambers with members wearing matching union T-shirts and threatening to strike.

Our elected officials are not afraid of us, the people. We are lazy, disinterested and vote more often for American Idol than City Council. This is our fault. We let our elected officials take our city for a joy ride, and should this measure pass, we'll lose more than just a couple billion:

Measure B contains a power grab that requires a change to the city’s constitution, known as the City Charter. In its fine print, Measure B shifts significant oversight power away from the Department of Water and Power Commission and gives that power to the City Council, whose members have almost no educational or professional background in energy or technology.

This measure changes our city's charter, giving control over the largest solar power project in US history to the people who brought you billboard blight, Elephant-gate, illogical parking meters and the largest city deficit as well as the highest taxes ever.