A blog in which I write about Art, my art, and making art in the following areas
1) Pastel drawings
2) Photography
3) The LGBTQ Pictionary: art about historical figures and language related to LGBTQ people
4) Initial Singularities and Other Universes
3) Digital montages with a gay male theme, and
4) A blog titled Isaac Stolzfuts' Journal
By way of protest, and since this is an Art Blog and not a political journal, I will post a series of photographs. They will be posted in memorial of and in honor of this nations magnificent coastal regions that are threatened by the BP Gulf Oil Disaster. My pastel drawings are also about our beautiful coast, north and south, and these can be viewed at John Bittinger Klomp Pastels.
My center, the only small part of me that is able to touch God can be found on the beach and in the wetlands. Thus, I am in a panic that my sanctuary, my personal church is being destroyed several large chunks each day the man made 2010 Gulf Oil Disaster continues.
In the future I will title each post “Memorial” and each will always link to the initial post - just click on the title to go back.
On one more level, I am personally angered by General McCrystal, at least with his staff, and staff takes on the characteristics of the leader with his implicit permission. In the Rolling Stones Article an aid is quoted as he goes out to dinner with the French minister saying, “It’s F(BLEEPING) gay!” *
*2
“No,” It’s a diplomatic attempt to make this war look like it has a particle of foreign support. And, you need to fix that prejudiced-man-mouth of yours, DIRT BAG!”
* Hastings, Michael, "The Runaway General," in Rollingstone Magazine on line at "http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/119236. Viewed 7:30 AM. EDT, Thursday, June 23, 2010."
* 2 I hope the artwork background looks like the swirls of toxic oil spiraling through the Gulf of Mexico in photographs taken from Earth orbit.
During Gay Pride month it is wise to remember that the extreme right wing of the Republican Party is the group of people responsible for the hate legislation banning lesbian and gay marriage at the state level during the past several years. These are the same people who rationalized the 2005 non-response to Katrina with “The residents of those parishes deserve what happened because they lived in a flood prone area.” They are the same folks who screamed "Drill Baby Drill" leading up to the 2008 election.
“Why is it important to state the obvious when instead, you should be working toward doing away with such illogical behavior, John? “
Because, dear Alter Ego, in order to fix problems, you must first adequately identify the exact causes. We are not fighting an abstract non-specific thing. We are trying to fix a set of problems caused by a specific set of people with a small range of closely held beliefs and fears. In order to create change we must first discredit those people. Secondly, we must discredit the belief system that supports their illogical behavior.
In the case of the Gulf Oil Catastrophe, the discrediting evidence is there. The facts must be stated and restated as often and in as many different ways as possible. Noses must be rubbed in the oil gushing onto our shores and into our wetlands. Noses must be rubbed in the rotting flesh of the dead fish, turtles, porpoises, whales and birds. Noses must be rubbed in the death and destruction that marked the end of the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform. Noses must be rubbed in the dismantling of the 29th most important economic region in the world.
We do that by insisting that Jesus Christ came to us in order to save all people from the hate, fear, and self-serving behavior of a few people. We do that by insisting that the message of the New Testament is Jesus’ special message that God gives us love, not hate, that redemption is achieved through love. We must always remember that God “gave his only begotten son…” through love for us “…that who so ever believeth in him should have life ever lasting.” We must not argue over the particulars of heaven and hell, angels and demons, whether individual verses in the Old Testament support stingy and hateful beliefs. Rather we must argue that the transformative nature of Jesus Christ’s message in the New Testament changes all that went before. God, through his son, Jesus, gave the human race the means to lose fearful, stingy and hateful behavior in favor of a more mature loving and caring nature.* We do that by stating over and over that God has not changed his message. It is the message written by men that God wishes to change to fit more closely with God’s nature, not mankind’s nature.
God is not man's vision! Rather, God made man in his own visionary belief that we would develop into a people more god-like and capable of sharing God’s universe.
So, LGBT people must reaffirm our love for all God’s creation and demonstrate love toward the heterosexual brothers and sisters who transgress against God’s love for each and every one of us. That does not mean that we passively absorb self-serving and hateful behaviors. God through Jesus Christ asks that we become a transformative power on this earth. We must actively work toward removing faulty self-serving fear and hate where it exists. This struggle will continue to be a long and difficult fight. I have come to accept that I may not see the conclusion of that fight during my life. Never the less, I know that with pride and love LGBT people will win that fight!
*I must qualify my use of the pronoun "his" in relation to my belief that the holy family more clearly represents God in that God is greater than a father (in human terms) could ever be. The loving relations between mother, father, son and daughter as an active system are more clearly like God, and beyond that I cannot know.
The title above links to the original post in this series
As Part of this series of entries - an encomium to the lost lives, flora, fauna, wetlands, jobs and livelihood of thousands from the Gulf coast states I include the photograph below. I took it in April of this year, a few days before the Deepwater Horizon explosion. It is one of hundreds taken of inflowing and out flowing waves of crystal clear ocean water. I will be posting others individually, and in series to emphasize the cycling quality of the waves. They symbolize life and death, rebirth, and Mother Earth’s ability to regenerate and cleanse her body. I look forward to the day when this manmade destruction, poison, and death will no longer exist.
Meanwhile there is this -
Ocean Therapy Solutions: Technology that Actually Works!
Kevin Costner’s company, Ocean Therapy Solutions, and the centrifugal separator are not getting enough press.* This appears to be one piece of new technology that could actually help protect beaches, fisheries and wetlands in Louisiana, Alabama, and the panhandle of Florida. I leave Mississippi out of it because the Governor of that threatened state doesn’t think protection is necessary. However, the centrifugal separators cost big bucks to make, and they need to be made by the hundreds of they are to be of any use in protecting the gulf coast from this unprecedented oil disaster. Folks should be demanding that the federal government, BP, Transocean, Halliburton, the states along the Gulf, and local municipalities must invest the necessary dollars to purchase and use the machines. This machine is the one bright spot in the 59 days of this disaster, and everyone is busily ignoring it.
We are a bunch of jackasses!
Please write / contact your President, Senator and Congresspersons about getting these machines on line in the Gulf of Mexico today – not tomorrow, next week, month or next year, but NOW! I have already done so, and the text of my letter appears below.*2 I am also including links to the following; 1) Site to contact President, Congresspersons, and Senators, 2) Ocean Therapy Solutions Website, and 3) EOTS Video.
LGBT Pride Month
I've been so focused on the oil spill I've forgotten entirely about LGBT Pride. President Obama made the proclamation. We LGBT folk focus on our own concerns so much that we neglect the political reality for the President, he automatically looses at least 20% of the voting public by making such a proclamation. For this he should be praised by us, not denigrated for doing too little.
Notes
* The centrifugal separator isn't really new technology. However, Ocean Therapy Solutions application of the separator to removing oil from water is new.
*2 The Letter - one version of several written to President Congresspersons and Senator.
Dear President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden:
This letter is not meant as a criticism, but a statement of fact. There follows a solution (in part) to your current political dilemma.
I am writing to advise you that Kevin Costner’s company, Ocean Therapy Solutions, and the centrifugal separator are the answer to doing something that actually works to ameliorate if not to solve the 59-day-old Gulf Oil Crisis. The centrifugal separator appears to be THE ONLY PIECE OF NEW TECHNOLOGY that will actually help protect beaches, fisheries and wetlands in Louisiana, Alabama, and the panhandle of Florida. However, the centrifugal separator is a relatively expensive piece of technology, and it must be manufactured by the hundreds if it is to be deployed to protect the gulf coast from this unprecedented oil disaster. The logistics of obtaining funds, manufacture, transportation, deployment, ancillary equipment (boats, platforms, work stations, men and women workers) must be worked out immediately! There can be no delay as the disaster is expanding exponentially. You – NO! - I mean we - do not have time to play here. However, you do have the power to declare a state of national emergency and obtain funds from Congress. If George W. Bush could do that in order to go to war in Iraq, you can do it to aid your fellow countrymen in the 29th most important economic region of the world. I know that all Americans in the future, if not today will see such a move as an appropriate response to this crisis.
Please go o to the Corporate Website, and read about Ocean Therapy Solutions, (http://www.ots.org/), Call Mr. Costner, John Houghtaling II, (CEO) and Patrick N. Smith (Chief of Operations), and get the ball rolling.
I know that I am seeing and understanding this partial solution clearly, and I think it might also work as a political solution to the misperception by many of us that you are like President George W. Bush during and post-Katrina, impotent.
By way of protest, and since this is an Art Blog and not a political journal, I will post a series of beach and wetlands photographs. They will be posted in memorial to and in honor of this nations magnificent coastal regions that are threatened by the BP Gulf Oil Disaster. My pastel drawings are also about our beautiful coast, north and south, and these can be viewed at John Bittinger Klomp Pastels.
My center - the only small part of me that is able to touch God - can be found on the beach and in the wetlands. Thus, I am in a panic that my sanctuary, my personal church is being destroyed several large chunks each day the man made 2010 Gulf Oil Disaster continues.
Go to Change.org to find out how you can protest underwater drilling.
Go to Jesus in Love Blog to read an inspirational and helpful entry about how to deal with the Gulf Oil Disaster on a personal religious/spiritual level.
In the future I will title each post “Memorial” and each will always link to this initial post - just click on the title to go back.
Congress and our nation are ferreting out the folks who are to blame for the destruction of the Gulf coastal region. Instead of wasting millions on such an endeavor, I maintain we already know where to place the blame. So let's get on with trying to fix the problem which means protecting the Gulf coast beaches and wetlands at the very least.
We the people of the United States are responsible for the 11 deaths caused by the Deep Horizon Oil Rig explosion, and all of the BP oil vomiting into the Gulf of Mexico. *
We are most assuredly the cause of all damages to Gulf coastal regions, and we will be the cause of damage to the Atlantic Coastline once the giant plumes, oil slicks and toxic dispersive chemicals are picked up by the Gulf Stream.
In a democracy the people elect the officials that appoint the bureaucracy that deals with oil companies. We are therefore responsible for the bad behavior of members in that bureaucracy. It is we, the people who are to blame for the damage to our planet, country, flora and fauna, and we will all reap the rewards of corporate greed and profligacy that we have allowed to exist at the center of our capitalist economy.
It will not help to replace elected Democrats with Republicans. It will not help to replace elected Republicans with Democrats. Quite frankly the two-party system is broken. We need a third party. Also, every citizen capable of writing and speaking (each of us) must write and call his/her congressperson, senator, and the Whitehouse and say something like the following.
“You are in office because the people put you there. I am one of your constituents, and I’m telling you that I want regulation of large corporations like BP and the other oil companies – Like Goldman Sachs and other Giant financial investment companies – like United Healthcare and other Insurance Giants. I never want to see the country threatened with economic meltdown caused by greed again. I never want to see the country’s ecology threatened with destruction by greedy corporations again. I want you to take part in a bipartisan effort to clean-up government bureau corruption that aided in both these crisis. I want all of these things done now, not next year, but, NOW!”
We all need to stop moaning and groaning – blaming others for our lack of participation in the democratic process. We must take action!
To be continued.
Note
* The oil spill is now officially 20,000 to 40,000 barrels a day, up from 14,000 barrels per day last week, 5000 barrels per day last month, and the original amount of 1000 barrels per day reported by BP. Mark my words, that estimate will continue to rise!
While reloading all my stuff back onto the computer hard drive after the recent “Google Analytics” systems disabling disaster, I came across this photo of our beach in South Florida. It was dated March 30, 2006. I’ve posted it because of the natural spotlight on the lone figure. Looking at the photo I have a feeling of foreboding, and I know that it is related to the nagging dread I have of the ongoing 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil catastrophe. I really do feel as though I’m standing “On the Beach” waiting for everything to die. I wish I didn’t worry so – and I don’t think I would if I saw evidence that our people were taking this tragedy seriously. * Instead, I watch Congressman Darrell Issa, FOX, right wing bloggers, and other sources concentrate on the trumped up scandal, a supposed White House job offer to Pennsylvania's Joe Sestak. *2 Once again the Republicans throw a sideshow in the political circus attempting to discredit the Whitehouse, and draw our attention away from the actual crisis. Even Sarah Palin has enough sense to talk about the crises though she denies that “drill baby drill” referred to deep water drilling.
Through it all I listen to the horrified people of the Louisiana Gulf coast Parishes beg for help, and I wonder why FEMA and other government agencies aren’t down there coordinating Federal, State and Local agencies, private, and non-profits in an actual government effort (means PEOPLE ON THE GROUND actually expending physical effort) to protect and clean up the water, beaches, and prevent the oil from entering the wetlands.
I am so tired and disheartened!
Future Journal
In a related matter, I'm thinking about doing a new journal. Actually, It's more than a journal. It would include video and live webcasts done by a doppelganger, named Dr. van Buitenste, the only man alive in a future earth in which man has destroyed all life on the planet. Of course, part of the destruction will have been caused by an even greater oil spill than the current Gulf of Mexico horror though perhaps that’s not necessary.
In order to do the journal I will have to purchase and learn how to use a video camera. For now, I’m just writing an outline, and playing with the idea. - don’t know how much money I want to spend just to have the whole thing sucked into the ‘cybervoid.’ I do know that doing the “Future Journal” would help me because doing something is better than worrying and doing nothing.
Notes
* On The Beach - Follow the link to learn about all the various On The Beach incarnations.
*2 So, If such an offer was actually made, which I doubt - it would mean that if I owned my own business and I knew that someone else was about to startup a rival business and I offered him or her an important job in my company in the hope that he/she would join forces with me rather than become the competition - that would be illegal? If such is true for elected officials, why not for private business? Oh, I forgot - in a capitalist society, while businesses are granted the same rights as individual persons, they suffer none of the legal accountability that individuals do.
Sell off all their assets to the other oil companies. Then use the funds to help private, government and public organizations stop the oil flooding into the Gulf of Mexico, and to fund the cleanup and restocking of the entire Gulf Coast ecosystem. That’s a bit more extreme than Robert Reich’s suggestion that President Obama should put BP into receivership. But, either one of these drastic measures is what it would take to fix this mess – billions of dollars and years of hard work. And, that still wouldn’t get rid of all the toxins released into the oceans and food chain. Good luck, planet Earth!
”Now, John – who has the power to do such a thing?”
“ The president does, and so do we the people, dear alter ego.”
”The people have given up their power to the political system in this glorious democratic republic, John.
“The people can take the power back!”
”Revolution, John?
“Yes, revolution.”
”Now you sound like a member of the crazed far right Tea Parties.
“No. I mean the actual populace of the country, not those folks who would limit the power to the white middle class.”
”And, just who belongs to ‘the actual populace” of the country? Don’t you include the Tea Partiers? And if you mean all the more reasonable people in the country, John - it won’t work. Those "more reasonable" folks are the actual conservatives in the country, those who would never consider such a radical thing. They are the people who want world peace - the actual Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, blacks, whites, Latinos, Pacific Rim folk, gay, lesbian, bi, straight, and transgendered people who do believe that each one of us was created equal in God’s eyes.
No. The only people who would revolt are the crazed Tea Party folk, and worse – and revolts result in blood letting. You think the French and Russian revolutions were picnics? Best not think such a thing!”
