Our Broken Home Cedar Rapids by: Colin R. Mulholland

After the 2008 flood we were given allocated grant money from the united states government at a total of $798 million dollars, but due to the government's rather bullshit law about lending money the city of Cedar Rapids only acquired a grand total of $24 Million. This money was supposed to be spent on rebuilding the homes and existing businesses damaged by the flood. Where has all that money gone to? In the eight years since the flood all I have ever seen was the demolition o...f homes, demolition of business, and the gain of funding for things like the Newbo Market, the Newbo Depot, fancy expensive condominiums in the surrounding newbo neighborhoods, the over reproduction of the Cedar Rapids library (which is great it was rebuilt but all that fancy shit inside it is unnecessary), and that huge ass skyscraper being built downtown. The city government has just spent $189,00.00 dollars to bring in a California based company called ArborPro to survey our trees.... When a local company like Culvers could have done that for cheaper. The smaller businesses had to rebuild from scratch outta pocket, the ones who did are either struggling or have since gone out of business. There are STILL abandoned homes on the SW side caused by the flood. Cedar Rapids have become obsessed with greedy capitalism. They don't try to stop the violence problem completely, they just throw a blanket over it. A total of at least four or five African American teenagers have died over gun violence in the past four years alone. And all that money spent on building BIGGER businesses could have fixed our ghettos. This is Cedar Rapids. Our broken home.

ANARCHISTS AND THE BERNIE SANDERS CONUNDRUM by Colin R. Mulholland.

"Anarchists and the Bernie Sanders Conundrum"

By: Colin R. Mulholland

(11/13/15 ) - (11/18/2015)

        As an anarchist and as an activist I can only do so much. To be an anarchist is to also understand that in your lifetime you will help bring about amazing changes to your community and possibly your country. But it is the validity of an actual anarchist to agree and understand that in one's lifetime that we may never see the fall of the American government. Why? Well, because currently the United States government is just to darn powerful; while the united states is constantly divided. To fully understand this is to understand how modern politics works is through (for the most part) contributions from capitalists through things such as Super Paks, which gradually are blank checks given to politicians from the contributors. The biggest and quite frankly the most active and powerful political contributors are the sons of the second wealthiest family in America the Koch brothers, the owners of Koch Industries. These guys have spent an unestimated, but a very large amount of money on the Republican party within the last few decades. But they aren't the only ones. Republicans, Democrats, you name it-capitalists contributed to it. Money has the biggest placeholder in politics more than the politics itself, for the most part politics is just talking. Lying. Deceiving. It's always been like this, a shell game that excludes the common man/ woman from the truth and exploits their loyalty. Further spewing these nonsensical beliefs that one man can fully lead a country of human beings to absolute freedom. This is where the country is divided. Through this Jesus Christ-like reteric, these modern day Moseses part the sea (America) in half.

      Last night I was dealing with some personal problems and couldn't think straight. Music ordinarily helps me when this happens but something didn't add up last night while I was working. Music wasn't helping at all. So I turned to some Jerry Garcia interviews from the eighties. This calmed me down strangely. After being calmed my mind finally had a copacetic order and I gradually switched to some of Noam Chomsky's latest interviews which lead me to stumble upon a video compilation of Bernie Sanders speeches. Now I think we can all agree that Sanders has some well thought speeches and views that's lead him to have a prolific following. It seems to me that there has never been a presidential candidate of this magnitude since the old days of politics where every political candidate had to gain contributions and campaign at a grassroot level. These days these things have certainly been made easier with Planes, cars, and of coarse the internet of all things. There's no denying this, but it is my personal belief, and also millions across this countries belief as well that the overall decadence of a political campaign is made possible by money. Whether it's through the candidate's own wealth through their own capitalist ventures or through friends and relations-it cannot be denied that money in politics is the greediest form of political progress in the spectrum.

      Just as Americans are divided within the spectrum of voting, anarchists have also been divided amongst each other, and lately the greatest example of this has been the question over the candidacy of Bernie Sanders. Many Anarchists are still opposed to Bernie Sanders' candidacy despite his track record as an activist himself in the sixties. There are anarchists within the spectrum of the philosophy itself who, though they keep a free thinking mentality, though they protest and they contribute; they (in turn) completley lack any filter. Yes, anarchism is the philosophy of no order and no rules. But as Steve O said in the film "SLC Punk" "Everything has systems, even me" and based on these self systems we are automatically conditioned with these mental filters that help us restrict the content we let slip from our mouthes. These anarchists do not have these filters. These anarchists I like to refer to as Dayglo Anarchists. They're bright, vivid, but are too out there with their beliefs. The sad part is a majority of modern, young anarchists will never identify themselves to a religion or some sort of eastern philosophy such as I have with Taoism, but if they have ever studied the Tao they would have learned that the basic Taoist principle is: he who speaks knows nothing, while the man of silence knows all. In the Kevin Smith film "Dogma" the character Rufus as played by Chris Rock, makes a speech about how the Jesus portrayed in this film hated how things were carried out in his name based on the beliefs of his mortal followers. He said that it is better to have Ideas because you can change an idea but beliefs are much harder. The dayglo anarchists are opposed to any change within their circle of thought and that is a huge contradiction to anarchism because anarchism is about constant change. It is about the diversity amongst each group of individual and is never subject to segregation. This is why I'm kind of opposed to the whole anarchist ranking system. For those of you who do not know what the anarchist ranking system is it is as follows:


*(Red) Anarcho- Syndicalism/ Communism.
* (Yellow) Anarcho- Capitalism. (1)
*(Green) Anarcho- Primitivism
* (Purple) Anarcha- Feminism
* (Pink) Queer Anarchism
* (White) Anarcho- Pacifism

       This anarcho ranking system is just another way to make sure that anarchism and free thought are divided amongst each other. Though they share a common goal, they are very seperated on the key issues in anarchism and the seperate philosophies involved within them are the reason that anarchism hasn't had a real advantage. As a philosophy it holds much truth, but as a political system it falls short.        
         As much as I agree with Senator Sanders on a lot of the key issues, and let me tell you that as an anarchist this is the first time I've ever agreed with a Democrat on anything. Hell, Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys ran for governor of California so I guess it is possible to find some sort of common ground with a politician if his cards are actually played right and he isn't hiding any cards up his sleeve. But my only real problem with Bernie Sanders is the stance he has on Social Security and the Minimum Wage. On a recent Yahoo news interview with Katie Couric, he denies there is a social security problem.* Which is a rather false statement if you've done your research. A CBS news article stated that Social Security has taken a huge hit in correlation to the fact that people are just not having as many babies these days.** A New York Times article also stated that there are just not enough jobs that are helping to re stimulate the US economy.*** These things are exactly the fault of our government, and the end result is people are just not wanting to raise kids in such a crummy world as we are currently living in. From ISIS to Donald Trump. The American people are simply fed up with the government's misnomers. As for the job situation people are simply fed up with working at jobs that give minimal pay for such high risk work, but this kind of behavior is actually causing jobs to fill up and the available positions vanish fast. This part is the fault and the (quite frankly) inevitable downfall of the lower class. If you ask me, raising the wage won't solve these problems, but by creating more free to low cost (based on one's income) job programs that help educate and train people in various occupational careers in which after said training is complete, these certified trainees can be placed on a list that promises them at least ONE interview with multiple employers that can help re stimulate this economy. These programs already exist but the problem is there is not enough funds to keep helping these programs survive. We can fix this problem easily by cutting military spending and munitions purchases down to little or nothing. ELIMINATE SUPER PAKS and by eliminating them congress should pass a bill that states capitalists can only donate small sums of cash into the political party, the way it ACTUALLY use to be (which will never EVER happen again since congress are bloody capitalists themselves...) The biggest one of all is that the United States government should be fixing itself, and if the government can somehow MIRACULOUSLY fix itself then maybe every other problem faced with the world can eventually fix itself and THAT is where I think Bernie Sanders fits into the aspect of why I think he won't be such a bad president after all.



       If people are united then coexistence amongst ideas and philosophy will bring a definite change amongst Americans that will lead to an eventual outcry within communities to exterminate tyranical systems. And once this happens, those who believe in the idea that TRUE freedom still exists will once again fight and die to regain the system that once belonged to the common man and not by the greedy monarchy of complacent loyalists. This is the reason why the story of Che Guavara needs to be told. BUT, if my words did not convey any sort of message in you, if my words haven't helped you gain any further understanding. If my words haven't educated any sort of populous on anything here today I sincerely apologize for failing you. As an anarchist I can only do so much, but as an anarchist it is my civic duty to educate you as much as I can and to help you in making the decision of "is voting for Bernie Sanders really that bad?" Every politician I've seen so far in my short 23 years of life have been worthless war mongors and petty capitalists. But now I see a man who actually wants to cause chaos and change the system from within, a statement in which Michael Moore made in his book "Stupid White Men" said would be the only real way any real opposer of the government's injustice can do. But maybe the recent words of fellow anarchist and linguist Noam Chomsky can help your decision: "The Bernie Sanders campaign, which I think is important. He's impressive, he's doing good and courageous things, he's organizing a lot of people. That campaign ought to be directed to sustaining a popular movement which will use the election as a kind of insentive and go on and unfortunatley it's not. When the election is over, the movement is gonna die, and that's a serious error."****



-Colin R. Mulholland

(November 2015)

___________________________________
NOTES:


(1) Noam Chomsky stated in an interview with teleSUR that Modern Libertarianism is not like the original movement, and if anything it's like Anarcho-Capitalism and that in itself is a tyranny.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBZLnfKSa_k



REFFERENCES:


* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpgJYNaIeqo)

** http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-real-reason-behind-social-securitys-problems/

*** http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/31/opinion/sunday/social-security-present-and-future.html?_r=0

**** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBZLnfKSa_k)

"A FEW POINTS (GENDER ROLES & GAY RIGHTS ALLYSHIP)" by Colin Mulholland

As a feminist I believe there is nothing wrong with liking things as typically described as "guy stuff" or "girl stuff" if you identify with that gender and believe that is your standard than by all means go for it. As a guy I like motorcycles, making fart jokes, and hockey. But a girl can like and do that stuff too you know, as much as a stereotypically "girly"sediment like baking cakes, the color pink, shopping and fashion can be performed and admired by guys. But who the h...ell says it's anybody's authority to make these things gender specific like as if it's some sort of social club where that gender cannot be allowed in? And even worse is teaching your children that because these things are done by a specific gender means they are forbidden to do it. Gender rolling is a fucking disease. The right to like something should be naturally chosen, and if by some force of nature they choose what is to be Boy or Girl accessible and they are of that gender than that should be fine. And even if they reverse roles who are you to judge them? Who are you to tell them what's right or wrong in their little hearts? Gay, straight, transgender, boy, girl, or whatever else, it's your job to protect and support the ones you love regardless.

A lot of people are getting annoyed with the rainbow over lays on people's facebook profiles, and the point (to me) isn't because a lot of people are homophobic, but I think the point to some though is, how do you know who's really a supporter of gay rights, and who's pretending? Who's just being a poser because it's a fad. And if it is a fad, why do you need a fad to show your support? A true supporter shows their ideals through words not by pasting a rainbow over their picture on social media and hash tagging Love Wins. How do you think the decision was made in the first place? People got up off their buts and protested, and even if they were on their butts they spent time petitioning online and writing articles, not just on social media but on blogs, and websites. Like yours truly for example.

TRUTH IN THE WAGE WAR by Colin Mulholland

(NOTE: The following article was written on 4/17/2014 and 5/12/2014. and has been edited and published for your enjoyment)

PART ONE:

In attempt at raising the minimum wage, the plan Obama and his staff are trying to initiate, is the idea of demolishing the middle class. It will just be a society of Rich and poor where the poor depend on the rich for food stamps, welfare and all these other programs which are, don't get me wrong very useful and helpful, BUT are abused and given to the wrong people. People who truly need these things are getting rejected because the government see's anybody making $9hr as financially stable, but the harsh reality is there is nine dollars an hour doesn't really scratch the surface after taxes. Then there is Obamacare, the plan that is for the super elite democratic and republican societies. Healthcare plans for the upper middle class to dirty stinking rich people. This inlays the whole full circle for the minimum wage raise. If they make the working class rich, then there will be no need for a middle class. But that's such a waste of time and effort, because if they raise the minimum wage every single thing will be raised. Food, tuition, utilities, and all these things society can barely afford by a thread. The only thing that will change is the monetary statute. The state in which we can afford things will not change. Just class. This is the class war. Now I have had a meeting with a woman who explained the affordable healthcare plans to me. It goes by your monthly household income. The best I could have gotten was something through Unity Point Clinics (Which use to be St Luke's) Which could have only been $20 a month. A $10 copay for when you are checking out of the hospital and A 70/ 20 coverage. Which was really impressive. It would have been more impressive if we were given the right to choose.

PART TWO:

All I can say to America is... I hope you're happy, and also I hope you all know what is bound to happen. The moment the wage gets raised to $10hr (*At the time, and currently still the amount people are fighting for) small businesses will start the process of eliminating anybody who is part time or considered not "worth having the job." This will eventually mean that people who've been with that company for years will lose their jobs. If that process doesn't succeed then the worst case scenario is bankruptcy from the lack of funding to pay their employees and eventually the business will shut down, leaving hundreds of middle class workers jobless. Why does this bother me so much?

Why am I content with the wage that we have now and why do others feel it's time for a change? I don't oppose a wage raise, but this raise is too high! Not every single business is ready, or even able to comply! How do you not all see the negative folly into what a disaster the fallout of millions of small businesses like the company I've worked for eight years will bring? So I hope the moment that you're still on the job and gleefully spending your weeks pay while others are filing for unemployment, food stamps, and SSI because that's exactly what the government is wanting to happen. The abolition of a middle class to make way for a society where the poor depend on the rich. George Orwell, Noam Chomsky, and so many others were right all along.

 Even Jesse Ventura's producer on his show "Off The Grid" once said that for every person the wage raise pulls out of poverty it sends that same amount into poverty. So I hope you all enjoy the paychecks you receive, I also hope that one day the thought of knowing that the money you're receiving could have helped benefit somebody who really needed it when things were bad eats you alive. If you believe that's what the wage raise was all about you don't even know he half of the truth....

 

RED, WHITE, AND BRUISED (MORE ATTACKS TO FREEDOM OF SPEECH) by Colin Mulholland

This was the video a friend of mine posted today (click to view here), the video you are about to see is pure ignorance to all open thought and is proof that most Americans do not, and will not listen to anybody with opposing opinions. The barrage of "USA,USA!" chants is just a sign of how brainwashed most American Republicans/ Democrats are. The video by the way is actually over a year old when the problem with Islamic terrorist group ISIS had just gotten started and many Islamic college students across the country were being accused of being apart of such group. The speech that the student was supposed to give (as from what you can hear, which is not a lot) was about falsely accusing people for  things they have no understanding of, and as you will see, the crowd had zero understanding and he was bombarded with water bottles, and garbage as police escorted him away from the vicious crowd. I have much respect for this man for standing up for what he believes in, especially against an overwhelming crowd of idiots.

People like that, waving the flag and yelling "USA" and water bombing a guy for only trying to speak his mind about a highly critical issue only makes you wonder more how useless that flag is. A piece of cloth made in China that people worship like their bible WHICH if they were smarter would know that it says in the ten commandments you shall not worship false idols or symbols. And the American flag in this century has become more and more of a negative symbol to others across the globe. I'm sure people in Russia and in Germany and in Africa and South America look at us more like we did the Nazi Flag and the USSR's. The American people are so… brainwashed. It's the only real word to describe them. That when the truth seekers and American analysts call out the system, including the government, military, and police on all their crimes against human rights the American people in turn do this. It's despicable.

That's the kind of attitude that won't fix things. Whether your for it or against it. Forget the flag issue for a moment and the people doing the acts, it's the issues that are causing people to do it that matter more. If you don't want people burning the flag than maybe instead of ignoring the issue at hand and getting pissed about the people's retaliation, making people aware of the bigger picture issues will in turn make people stop watching what's on FOX and get off their ass and do something to end the violence at the hands of police, military and the government so people won't burn the fucking flag or walk on it. You don't have to go to a protest, but just word of mouth and showing the videos will in turn make others want to be active. Knowing is half the battle. But ignoring the state of a nation makes people as ignorant as the police killing innocent people. Your taxes pay for this mess.

The unfortunate circumstances of police brutality has set us all the way back to the Watts Riots of 1965. That is setting our country a long way back! Where now white Americans are starting to question peaceful black power movements and are reclaiming the ignorant "white power" in defense. A lot of the people I talked to about where that phrase come from don't even care. They said "fuck history!", and when people refuse to learn from history it's bound to repeat! And it has! And nobody cares to fix it. Except the people like me and you who try their best to be vigilant and make people aware. But it's hard to make believe that not all Muslims are terrorists, or that the government is corrupt, or that the police do not care about your protection, or that the military doesn't defend our country but rather the interests of the politicians. All we can do is try.

MANSONTO (art & writing) by Colin Mulholland

If you oppose GMO Labeling, or just single handedly do not care about what is on your food, you are half the problem. To allow Monsanto to continuously go about using it's Round Up ready chemicals in our food is like allowing the Manson Family to come in your home and say "Please Susan Atkins, kill me and my family!" For their business was murder, and they might as well been called The Mansonto Corporation.

THE SCIENCE OF DEFINITIONS by Colin Mulholland

Good intellectuals know when they are right, but the greatest intellectuals are the ones who know when they are wrong. I myself have my moments of un-clarity. But these are the things that writers, philosophers and intellectuals must see as an advantage. For your one moment of failure is the assurance of an iron clad future for the mind. I bring this up, for today's topic about words and their multiple meanings. The biggest, ESPECIALLY in political science, the word Catalyst.

CATALYST: noun

noun: catalyst; plural noun: catalysts

1. a substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without itself undergoing any permanent chemical change.
2.  

   a person or thing that precipitates an event.

 

"He's using his roots as a catalyst" was the comment I made on a post during a friendly debate over a status I made in which politician Mike Huckabee made the statement: "I'm blue collar, not blue blooded". Now my friends, your humble narrator admits when he is wrong and therefore I was still not yet aware the phrase "Blue Blooded" was  a widely known phrase for "those of noble/ wealthy birth" I literally took it to mean he meant his blood is forever red. But after further explanation from a few facebook friends, I hit clarity. From there I furthered my statement to the belief that it was still a rather crass statement, and that it sounded like imperialist hokum to the extent that they would try to separate themselves from commoners. I also thought it was rather crass for a politician to be saying that. Even if he remembers his roots you'd think that the years of political work and his duty to local government would, in turn, make him "blue blooded". The idea of a politician using "positive self imagery" to further his gain is nothing new, but to use the working class as a scapegoat to further his advantages is a weak sediment. Not all of the working class even cares for politics to begin with. The smart ones know that all politicians lie, and that nothing good comes out of either party, so long as the politicians find ways to keep taking our money. Being a working class intellectual myself, I came to the realization of this many years ago and in turn became an anarchist.

 

After further debate about the Blue Blooded issue (which to be honest is a stupid topic for debate) came to a stand still once I used the word "Catalyst". My friend was really confused as to why I used that word to describe what Huckabee was doing, so simply as I could I explained that A catalyst (as mentioned above) is a substance that causes a chemical reaction to come about quicker. A substance is any matter of which a person or thing exists. Therefore in my use of catalyst the primary substance is Mike Huckabee, the secondary substance, his statement. He's using his statement to cause the metaphorical "chemical reaction" to gain votes in his favor. A lot of people have told me it is not a good idea to mix ideologies. The first time was when I made my artwork for "Her Body Matters Too" the art piece I did that stated concern over the fact animal rights should also be a feminist issue, and if you have done the many hours of research I have, theoretically, it makes sense! In the matter of the word catalyst I was told the same thing. But I've always liked using scientific terms if I feel they fit. Let us not forget the term political science is a form of science. It may not be the same as the sciences we all know but it includes the same principles: like "for every action there is an equal or opposite reaction", and like all sciences, it starts with a hypothesis. I feel it's fair to relate the two when necessary. I also feel if you can find a philosophical connection among words and their definitions, you can make them work in just about anything.