by Damon Martin
When the Republicans took over the House of Representatives, it was with a promise to balance the budget and take back the old time values of our Founding Fathers. So far the GOP’s best efforts to reduce spending has been to try to cut funding to NPR and PBS, redefine rape under the law, and now they want to take away essential medical services from women nationwide.
Yep, that’s right, the latest Republican brainstorm was proposed by Representative Mike Pence of Indiana. It would pull all Federal funding from Planned Parenthood, which was given $363 million dollars last year by the government, and helped treat or give medical services to millions of Americans.
Started in the 1920’s by Margaret Sanger, Planned Parenthood provides medical services ranging from birth control to cancer screening to pregnancy testing and counseling, as well as STD testing and treatment, and yes – that word Republicans hate so much – abortion. While the funding from the government never directly goes towards abortions, the money does fund clinics who provide those services, and that’s fundamentally why Republicans are after the organization.
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by Damon Martin
Jared Lee Loughner: It’s a name that will live forever in American infamy. The 22-year old was responsible for killing six people and injuring a further 14 on Saturday at a political gathering outside a supermarket in Tuscon, AZ. Among the dead was a Federal Judge and a 9-year old girl. Those wounded include Gabrielle Giffords, a Democratic member of the House of Representatives, who it’s understood was the focus of the attack. Loughner stood before a judge for the first time on Monday, facing multiple charges that will likely land him in jail for life or end in the death penalty.
It was ironic that just two days after the shootings took place, the Showtime network had a planned broadcast of Michael Moore’s 2002 Academy Award winning film Bowling for Columbine. The film focused on gun control and the lack thereof in the United States, and the tragic events leading up to the 1999 Columbine High School massacre that claimed 13 lives and injured a further 21 people. In the film, Moore went to great lengths to try to educate and inform the audience about how easy it is for guns to get into the hands of those with unstable minds.
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by Nicole Powers
“I’d love it if the government functioned properly.”
– Shepard Fairey
Having been harassed and arrested by agents of the United States’ government as he perpetrated his graffiti art from coast to coast, Shepard Fairy has since earned the respect and gratitude of an American president. Using the visual vocabulary of popular revolution, the humble DIY poster and sticker maker-cum-revered gallery and populist street artist used his graphic skill to transform Barack Obama from a presidential hopeful to a visionary icon.
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