2012 - The Year Of The Job

It is often said that things are darkest before the dawn. When we look back in the rear view mirror at the passing of 2011, we find little solace in the fact that we were not alone when it came to navigating the stressful demands of a great depression and the transformative social unrest it has given rise to.

The plight of struggling Americans all across the country this year gone by has been disheartening. And their plight has, for the most part, been shamefully minimized as elected officials from every constituency continue to dismiss the public demonstrations of their voting population. Nor have any of the people’s protests prevented our legislative representatives from secretly re-routing our resources away from the very infrastructure that is necessary to improve the livelihoods for those who embody the backbone of America.

Instead, the preferential beneficiary of these resources appears to be the ‘new people’ -- a ‘new people’ furtively created by the Supreme Court, and comprised of the well-endowed institutions known collectively as Corporate America.

Every living and breathing citizen has a right to contribute and take up space, and it’s time we occupy our space with confidence.

Power to the real people! Stand up and be noticed in 2012 because everyone knows it’s the squeaky wheel that gets the grease.

A partial glimpse of a larger work in progress. Oil on canvas.

© Copyright by KA Collins.

To begin your collection of original works of art by Artist K.A. Collins, visit the artist’s website for more information at ArtistKACollins.net. For smaller samplings, simply click over to K.A.’s Etsy Studio.

Any illusions that the American people tried to hold on to in 2011 appear to have been profoundly shattered. Can we really trust the powers that be to better navigate our sinking ship in 2012? ‘In The Rear View Mirror’ March 31, 2009 posting "The American Myth”.

Walker's Waterloo

Something is rotten in the state of Wisconsin, and it’s not the moldy bleu cheese. Nor is it the lingering stench of unwashed protestors who filled the Capitol building-turned-campground last month. The rottenness in Wisconsin seems instead to be emanating straight out of the governor’s mansion for there’s a new man on the throne and he's busy throwing his sceptre around.

In mid-January, Wisconsin’s newly elected GOP governor and Tea Party favorite, Scott Walker, blindly hit the job post running. Walker wasted no time in outmaneuvering his colleagues before expeditiously stripping his constituents of their collective voice when he ramrodded his “I-owe-the-Koch Brothers” agenda down their throats without so much as a “let’s talk about it like grown-ups”.

Unreceptive to any form of negotiation, Walker made it clear from the start that he wasn’t interested in the opinions of the very people who’d democratically elected him to represent and serve them, even when those voters vehemently jumped up and down in opposition to his rights-stripping legislation. And the fact that Walker’s rights-stripping measure had absolutely no bearing on his campaign promises of fiscal responsibility made his imperialistic approach to the issue all the more dehumanizing.

Apparently the new face of Tea Party democracy has donned the mask of Napoleon Bonaparte, dictator and self-declared Emperor; and one whom many would assert was the antithesis of democracy.

Maybe Walker simply forgot who was paying him to be their governor, but we hardly think so. As soon as Walker removed his taxpaying population from the equation in one fell swoop of his governor’s sceptre, it became quite clear that the man hadn’t forgotten who pays him at all - especially when we follow the flow of money along his campaign trail.

Walker has ultimately shown the state of Wisconsin -and the entire nation for that matter- what Harry S. Truman really meant when he said “the buck stops here”. In fact, all indicators are that Walker is vigorously keeping his Tea Party promises of fiscal responsibility even now. Unfortunately for the citizens of Wisconsin, that sense of fiscal responsibility has little to do with them, and everything to do with serving the needs, wants and desires of his financial backers.

To be honest, or not to be honest... ...or is that just a stupid question, because Napoleon was of the opinion that “the surest way to remain poor is to be an honest man”. And while Napoleon also believed that stupidity wasn't a handicap in politics, everyone knows that no one goes into politics to go poor.

What is most disconcerting about Walker’s actions thus far is that no one can really be sure whether his unyielding position is merely the result of a righteous need to champion the cave-man cause of Reaganomics no matter the cost; or if he’s been lethally infected with a new strain of the fungus-amungus called the “Koch Bros spores”, which would irreversibly turn his empty shell of a body into an American variation of the Zombie Ants of Brazil, and a spore-spreading minion of the Koch Brothers.

A quick glance in the rear view mirror at Walker’s election campaign contributors shows us just how persuasive a cup of tea steeped in 43,000 spores can be. Evidently the more spores he slurped up, the faster he rose and the stronger he believed himself to be.

Frankly, it would be naïve to think that power didn’t come at a price, but with great power also comes great responsibility. Some would call that walking the line, which seems to be a notion very unfamiliar to Walker.

Now that the damage has been done, what we'd like to know is who keeps feeding the fungus-amungus and how is it that the "Koch Bros spores" continue to thrive? Isn't there a way for voters to starve the fungus out?

Bribe politicians and legislate the terms = Control the money and rule the world. See what we had to say about it two years ago at ‘In The Rear View Mirror’ April 13, 2009 posting "Greed Goes Underground".

The Goddess of Finance Takes Center Stage

Given the number of comments and inquiries we've received for more information about our amazing avatar, the "Goddess of Finance", we thought it was time to formally introduce her creator Artist KAd Collins. 

Goddess of Finance © Copyright by Artist, KAd Collins.
To find out more about the artist, go to Artist KAd Collins or KAd's Etsy Studio.

Artist KAd Collins is currently working on two new collections for release sometime in 2012 and 2013. If you are interested in becoming a collector, contact the artist directly. 

Billz Above (DS)

We had a dream……and in that dream we found ourselves trapped deep within the thronging temple of temptation known as New York City’s Times Square as X-P “W” (definition below) shouted down a fiery sermon from the heavens above via skyscraping Jumbo-Trons, proclaiming, "People! Spend more to save America, and you too, shall be saved!".

The mesmerized crowd around us stared upward as every subconscious mind on Times Square hypnotically absorbed the almighty message meant to mobilize them into martyrdom and saving the world with excessive consumption without thought of the cost.

Just when it seemed the crowd had been fully converted to consume without consequence, the sound of music started to reverberate loudly off of the buildings bordering the Square. Millions of glassy eyes dropped to watch as the ‘Not Buying It Band’ began to march into Times Square from 42nd Street flamboyantly followed by the Reverend Billy and his ‘Stop Shopping Gospel Choir’ who were singing out their “Stop Shopping” theme song as if our very souls depended on it.

Our dream then showed the crowd’s truth-seeking migration toward the televangelist front-man for the ‘Church of Life After Shopping’ to hear what this proselyte had to say. The Reverend Billy was not only a man who looked like Elvis, talked like Elvis, but refused to shop like Elvis; he was a man with a serious, life-changing message.

Reverend Billy declared us to be in the midst of the “Shopocalypse”, and he wasn’t talking fire and brimstone. It was time, according to the Reverend, to slay the dragon and replace the Devil’s holy days of Black Friday and Boxing Day with sanctioned boycotts and “Buy Nothing” days.

When the crowd began to jeer and hurl their credit cards at him in protest, Reverend Billy’s body lurched forward without warning, then it began to writhe and shake uncontrollably as he lapsed into a credit card exorcism by way of response. As the exorcism wound down, the crowd shifted and moved into sheepish retreat with their recovered credit cards - CRV codes irretrievably obscured and PIN numbers permanently erased from memory.

And then we woke up and realized that we’ve been sold down the river. And we’re not talking trickle down.

Apparently the bill of goods we’ve been sold has strategically passed the buck onto the credit card balances of those who can least afford it by seducing them into thinking that they must buy, buy, and buy some more in order to save America’s economy. Yet it seems that those with the financial means to put a serious dent in the nation’s obscene deficit by simply paying their fair share of tax get to have it both ways because the more the rest of us spend, the higher their bottom line, and the more they get to keep.

What we really want to know, though, is if every citizen were to run their personal finances like corporate America, how would life in America and the economy look then?

We generously lend credit to the tireless work of the charismatic Reverend Billy and his Church of Life After Shopping. We’ve enjoyed his message immensely.

Control the money, rule the world. Read between the lines and learn how to take your power back in our ‘Dream Sequence’ October 4, 2010 posting "More Moves To Dominate The World".