by Lee Camp

Conventional thinking is getting us nowhere. Right now we’ve got a lot of shit to deal with in this little world of ours, and the standard solutions are part of the problem. But who can we get to help us think outside the box? I know just the guy…

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Today is a huge day for the Occupy movement, marking the anniversary of the start of the occupation which began in the Wall Street vicinity on September 17, 2011, and which has lived on as an ideology that has spread around the globe long after the physical encampment at Zuccotti Park was evicted by the NYPD in the middle of November last year. OWS has actions planned in New York’s financial district throughout the day, however, since plans are likely to change as events unfold, text @S17NYC to 23559 to get text message updates.

Monday’s anniversary follows a hectic weekend of events for occupiers in New York City. Click HERE to view a photo gallery of Saturday’s #S15 March to End The Suppression of OWS, and HERE and HERE for images of Sunday’s #S16 Occupy Wall Street Anniversary Concert at Foley Square, which featured Tom Morello, Jello Biafra, Michelle Shocked, Rebel Diaz, The Chapin Sisters, and SG’s own Lee Camp, among others.

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by Lee Camp

Every pundit, wonk, and thick-headed pig-headed dick-headed talking head in the entire nation has been postulating, extrapolating, and bloviating about who will win the presidential election this November. They don’t know the answer. They’ll tell you that they do, and then the following day, they’ll tell you they have a new answer. But I do know. Check out the video to find out. If the guy I talk about in this video doesn’t win, then I will dance naked onstage at the Apollo. And unlike the Suicide Girls, very few people want to see me dance naked.

Also, if you’re within 1000 miles of NYC this weekend, come to the big Occupy pre-#S17 concert that will feature me, Tom Morello, Jello Biafra, Rebel Diaz and others. It’s at Foley Square on Sunday Sept 16th, starting at 1 PM.

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by Lee Camp

Look around you. Are there zombies? Are there vampires? If you answered yes, then maybe you don’t need to watch this video. If you answered no, then I’m about to change your mind…or eat it.

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by Lee Camp

Looking to make out with a stranger in a tent only feet away from squads of angry police? Then your time is finally here! …Okay, maybe there are other reasons to celebrate the Occupy anniversary that’s coming up. They might not be as fun as that reason, but they probably matter more.

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by Nicole Powers

“Ignorance is bliss…If I hadn’t taken the red pill, this would be so easy.”
– Lee Camp

Unless you’re the kind of rabid right winger who gets up at 7 AM on a Saturday to watch Fox & Friends, which I’m assuming you’re not if you’re reading this, Lee Camp is probably the best comedian you’ve never seen on TV. And there’s a good reason for that. Back in February 2008, when the Faux News Channel made the glorious mistake of interviewing him live on air, he took the opportunity to present a monologue on the nature of the network – calling it a “parade of propaganda” and a “festival of ignorance.” The purported “news” show reacted by cutting away to an anchor in another part of the studio, who was surrounded by four foxy female models dressed in miniaturized Lieutenant Uhura outfits, who previewed an upcoming segment on Captain Kirk’s sex appeal – which underscored Camp’s point rather nicely (no disrespect to William Shatner or his undeniable animal magnetism intended).

In the intervening four years, as the economic climate degenerated Camp’s political awareness increased, and though a few doors closed for him, many tent flaps unexpectedly opened up – thanks to the birth of Occupy Wall Street. Camp’s philosophy was naturally aligned with that of the founders of the movement, and the comedian has supported and promoted it since its inception, through street performances at numerous encampments and via his popular Moment of Clarity videos (which can now be seen on SG). Camp recently published a collection of his finest Moment of Clarity revolutionary rants in book form, and has just released a second riotously funny comedy album on Stand Up Records called Pepper Spray The Tear Away, which is essential listening for anyone who gets nostalgic for the scent of capsicum.

SuicideGirls caught up with Camp in New York City to talk politics, the upcoming presidential election, Occupy, apathy – and how to save the Doritos munching masses from themselves.

Read our exclusive interview with Lee Camp on SuicideGirls.com.

by Steven Whitney

We’ve all had the same frustrating experience – something goes wrong or breaks. We don’t have the skill set or time to address it, but fortunately a self-described “expert” rushes in, promising to save the day…and every single thing he or she does only deepens the problem, making it actually worse than if nothing at all had been done.

By every conceivable measure, the present – and 112th – Congress is the worst in our nation’s history. Worse in every aspect than the 80th Congress of 1947-1948, heretofore considered the worst by historians and Washingtonians, and so bad it was labeled the “Do-Nothing” Congress, first by President Harry Truman, and then by the public at large.

That 80th Congress passed just over 900 bills into law during its two year session – split about evenly, 454 in 1947 and 449 in 1948. For that dismal showing, more incumbents were defeated in the 1948 election than ever before in our history.

While I’m aware that statistics are not fun – except for baseball fans – fair-minded voters need to know the truth. Concerned citizens can’t just make things up (well, actually, they apparently can – Republicans have been doing it for decades, but then I wouldn’t describe them as “concerned”). So here are some facts.

By comparison, our broken 112th Congress passed just 81 bills in 2011. Of that total, ten – Public Laws 112-15, 112-22, 112-23, 112-38, 112-39, 112-47, 112-48, 112-49, 112-50, and 112-60 – merely named or renamed different Postal Service facilities, usually in honor of a fallen veteran, police officer, or firefighter. Three more – 112-12, 112-19, and 112-20 – “provided appointment” of three separate Citizen Regents to the Smithsonian. Another two bills – 112-2 and 112-31 – named one courthouse each in Arizona and Missouri. A couple of other flaky bills were done – 112-65 changed an eligibility standard for the Blue Star Mothers of America, and 112-66 made a “minor” wording change to the charter of the American Legion.

These are 20 of the 81 bills passed in 2011 – nearly 25% – leaving only 61 actual bills that could be judged the legitimate business of Congress. And those 61 bills represent only 13% of the number of laws passed by the infamous “Do-Nothing” Congress in its first year.

But the 112th wasn’t through. This year they’ve done even less while embarrassing themselves even more, with only 57 bills passed by the summer recess at the end of June. Of those, 19 bills approved, as in the previous year, the naming of post offices and courthouses. Another 2 approved “minor” word changes in previous bills. Leaving only 36 bills of any substance whatsoever passed into law so far this year – compared to 449 passed in 1948 by the “Do-Nothing” Congress.

In its second year, the 112th Congress has accomplished only 8% of what the previous “worst Congress in history” accomplished. So an immediate question arises: what does this Congress do when they aren’t certifying names for post offices and courthouses?

Democrats have proposed both large and small bills that would reduce income tax for Americans making less than $250,000 per year, provide quality health care for millions, give financial assistance to unemployed workers, mandate help for families with underwater mortgages, and scores of acts that would provide incentives to businesses to hire workers. All of these have been blocked by Republicans of the 112th using filibusters and/or clotures. Not just one or two or nine – they blocked all of them. Especially appalling was the day every single Republican Senator sided with a filibuster blocking the American Jobs Act from even coming to a vote on the floor.

But to show their hearts are in the right place, Republicans did introduce 467 bills investigating Democrats in various government offices – without finding even one instance of criminal malfeasance. They also proffered 36 anti-gay marriage bills, 46 bills to ban abortions and limit women’s health care options, 113 bills on religion (anti-Muslim and/or pro-Christian), 73 bills concerning family relationships, and 604 bills aimed at giving corporations and the upper 2% even more tax breaks at the expense of the poor and middle-class. And they teamed up with the National Rifle Association to present 72 bills making firearms more accessible to everyone, legislation that might not gain much traction in Aurora, Colorado and the Sikh community of Milwaukee. To top it all off, Republicans introduced 33 bills aimed at repealing the Affordable Care and Patient Protection Act, which they quickly dubbed Obamacare because they didn’t want folks to hear the phrases “affordable care” and “patient protection,” two aspects of the health care industry that have been sorely lacking the last decade.

Do the math. As Republicans wasted everyone’s time with bogus “social engineering” proposals, our 112th Congress passed only 97 bills of real legislation in two years – compared to 903 passed by the 80th Congress, slightly less than 11% of its most indolent predecessor.

So if the 80th was “Do-Nothing” and the worst Congress in history, what does that make the 112th?

At least the 80th Congress did not block everything the Democrats proposed – just the bigger issues. When it came to matters of running the government – like the 1947 debt ceiling – everyone on both sides of the aisle was on the same page. Back then, while Republicans were still fierce opponents of Democrats, they were not ready to sacrifice either the good of the American people or the machinery of government itself merely to gain the approval of the extreme right-wing of their party.

Meanwhile, the 112th is actively laying waste to our country just to toe the party line and win the next election – what’s good for their country does not even merit a moment of their thoughts. Their intentions are even worse than their abysmal record, confirming in every way possible that they are far worse than nothing.

This is not a wonky toaster we’re talking about, it’s our country – or what’s left of it. So who should we hold responsible?

Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein are perhaps the two most respected chroniclers of all things Washington for the last 30 years. Because of his association with the Brookings Institute, Mann is viewed as center-left; Ornstein’s years with the American Enterprise Institute place him center right. Whenever the two men collaborated in the past, D.C. insiders listened carefully, and often made their “suggested” adjustments. But nobody on the right is listening to reason anymore.

Mann and Ornstein’s new book, It’s Even Worse Than It Looks, unequivocally states: “…we have no choice but to acknowledge that the core of (Washington’s) problem lies with the Republican Party.” Over the course of the book’s 200+ pages, the authors list many well-documented reasons why the title is justified: “the appalling spectacle of hostage taking” during last year’s budget crises, when Republicans put “political expedience above the national interest,” resulting in a downgrade of America’s credit rating; the abuse by Republicans of Senate filibusters and anonymous “holds” on nominations and legislation “merely to thwart majority rule;” the GOP resembling “an apocalyptic cult run by zealots and intellectual dead-enders;” Republicans telling lies on the floors of Congress “without censure,” and…the list goes on. At the end, Mann and Ornstein summarize today’s Republican Party as “ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence, and science; and dismissive of its political opposition.”

The public apparently agrees. The approval rating for our esteemed 112th is hovering just around 10% – the worst ever recorded. 30 points lower than the IRS, 14 points lower than Nixon at the height of Watergate, and 6 points lower than BP at the high-water mark of their Gulf Oil Spill. And yet, if historical voting patterns hold true, 85 to 95% of these reprobates will get re-elected, simply because they are incumbents.

That says more about us than them. As much as we justly complain about the quality of our Congress, if we keep re-electing the Representatives and Senators who make governance impossible, doesn’t that make us the worst voters ever?

Even worse than nothing?

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America: Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.
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