Category: Arts & Entertainment

The Onion in talks with Fox Entertainment Group

Cole Bolton, editor-in-chief of the satirical website The Onion announced today that three of the six senior writers have resigned and that the publication is seeking a buyer due to decreasing ad revenue.

Former senior writer Anthony Wilcox said, in an exclusive interview, “The root cause is that the political situation in America has become so extreme that truth has become stranger than fiction. The major Republican candidates are like parodies of themselves. We can’t compete with that craziness.”

In October of this year, CEO Mike McAvoy had announced a restructuring of the organization, including layoffs. The resignation of three of the six senior writers throws into question the ability of the publication to continue publishing.

Founding editor Scott Dikkers explained another factor in the publication’s decline. “Our website gets millions of hits each week. But people aren’t willing to pay for content. Many of the users block ads. And those that don’t block ads don’t click on them or buy products. Basically, people are getting a laugh at our expense. At least, we made people happy for a while.”

Dikkers said that The Onion, which originated in 1988 and which ceased publishing its print edition in 2013, is entering into talks with Fox Entertainment Group, owner of Fox News.

It is ironic that Fox Entertainment Group may end up as owners of The Onion.  The Onion had come under criticism from conservatives for its alleged liberal bias. Conservative political pundit website Breitbart has condemned the publication’s political leanings.  Breitbart columnist Christian Toto attributes the publication’s approach to Barack Obama as a part of “…the left’s inability to mock one of their own.”

Emmett Rensin claims The Onion foments  Marxist thought:

But only one is breathing new life into a far-left movement mostly vanished since FDR dropped dead. It isn’t The Socialist Worker. It’s not The Militant, either. And it isn’t Monthly Review, Political Affairs, World Socialist Website, or Worker’s Vanguard. Rather, the vanguard of revolution—the paper most dedicated to the overthrowing capitalism in the United States today—is none other than The Onion.

Fox Entertainment had no comment about the acquisition of The Onion.

Donations to The Onion can be made here.

The Onion editor Cole Bolton
Onion Editor-in-chief Cole Bolton

Rolling Peaceful Rebellion For Real Democracy: 3pm at Greenlake Sunday

For Immediate Release:

National Contacts:
Backbone Campaign, Bill Moyer, 206-356-9980,bill@backbonecampaign.org
Popular Resistance, Margaret Flowers, 410-591-0892, mdpnhp@gmail.com
Kevin Zeese 301-996-6582, kbzeese@gmail.com		 Click on link for Local Contacts:
July 3rd, 8pm (plus)- Dallas, TX
July 4th, 8am – Santa Monica, CA
July 4th, 11am – Arroyo Seco, NM
July 4th, – Nevada City, CA
July 4th, 4:30pm – Rockford, IL
July 4th, 8:30 pm – Cleveland, OH
July 6th, 3pm – Seattle, WA		 July 7th, evening Madison at Capitol
July 11th, 7:30pm – Los Angeles, CA
July 12th, 10am – Lexington Kentucky
July 12th, 11am – San Diego, CA
July 12th, 1pm – New York City
July 12th, 6pm – Denver, CO
Call for date and time – Milwaukee, WI


US Democracy Movement Engages In Nationwide – Rolling Rebellion For Real Democracy

Drawing on the revolutionary spirit of Independence Day, DemocracyMovement Dallas July 3rd action at Fireworksorganizers arecalling for a week of creative, artful rebellion against the corrupting influence of money in politics. In the week of July 4th to July 12th activists around the country will stage rebellious actions to showcase a movement ready to overthrow corporate rule and reclaim the promise of government of, by, and for We the People.

“We are fighting for the very self-evident, endowed by creator, unalienable rights celebrated on this anniversary of the Declaration of Independence,” said Bill Moyer, Executive Director of the Backbone Campaign. “Those long ago affirmed rights and principles are incompatible with the corrosive ideas of corporate personhood and the subsequent rights being claimed for corporations, investors, and capital itself. The result isthat we are reducing everything and everybody else to commodities,including our planet, our democracy, and life itself. The RollingRebellion is calling for nothing less than a non-violent, second American Revolution against oligarchic power and the corporations that that oligarchy hide behind,” concluded Moyer.

Four years since the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizen’s United brought down the barriers to corporations buying American elections, a strong and broad based movement has emerged to challenge oligarchic rule. And as the influence of big money and corporate power grows, with April’s McCutcheon V. FEC ruling continuing to dismantle limits on campaign spending, the creativity, resolve and ranks of the Democracy Movement are growing as well.
Rolling Rebellion for a Real Democracy
“We know that it will require nothing short of a broad, deep, consciousand educated social movement demanding real democracy to create theworld we deserve,” said David Cobb, a spokesperson for the national Move to Amend Coalition. “The Rolling Rebellion is our opportunity to come together and make thathappen.”

The “Rolling Rebellion For Real Democracy” plans to use creative tactics like street theater,puppetry and light projection to showcase the breadth and diversity of this movement. From New Hampshire to Seattle activists are planning events to showcase the national movement and advance local campaigns.

“Our movement is diverse, but we all agree that a crisis of Democracy is atthe root of our problems and it’s time to solve it,” said Kevin Zeese,an organizer with Popular Resistance. “Inspired by America’s pre-revolutionary roots we recognize both the need to protest rule of the wealthy and to create real democratic alternatives from the ground up,” added Margaret  Flowers, also with Popular Resistance.

In Denver, Colorado activists armed with prop torches and pitchforks will converge on the State Capitol to drive out “Corporate Persons” in a display of popular revolt.

FCC ActionActivists in Lexington Kentucky will march from the Estate of Henry Clay to the Estate of Mary Todd, giving public readings of the Declaration of Independence and Amendments to the U.S.Constitution, and holding a teach-in about efforts to Amend the constitution to declare that Corporations do not have the same rights as people.

Seattle, Washington activists will stage a street performance and procession featuring giant puppets of a “Corporoctopus” and Lady Liberty. Organized by WAmend, Washington’s Move to Amend Chapter, the event will kick off the next phase of the campaign to pass a ballot initiative directing the Washington Congressional Delegation to work towards a constitutional amendment declaring that Corporations do no thave the same rights as people.

For full report backs on actions happening around the country visit www.rollingrebellion.org or contact ahmed@backbonecampaign.org.High quality photos will be available upon request.

 

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A Real Democracy Is Not For Sale

 
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Fun For Everyone at Seattle's Monthly Art Build: Sunday the 16th from 1-4pm

 

Join progressive artists and activists from the greater Seattle area.

This Sunday February 16th is Seattle’s Monthly Community Art & Imagery Build Party at the Fremont Abbey!

Where: Fremont Abbey located at 4272 Fremont Avenue North
Seattle, WA 98103

Who: You, your friends, and other artists, progressive minded activists, organizers and those who like to have fun and build community using our hands to make beautiful art.

When: Every 3rd Sunday. (February 16th, March 16th)From 1 – 4:30 pm

Showing off Monthly Art Build WaresRSVP on Facebook!

Make visible and vibrant the progressive values and vision we share. Lets create a future worthy of passing onto the next generation. Support and amplify the progressive grassroots movement for human rights, dignity, and ecological well-being while we create a stronger Seattle Community.

No prior skills or experience necessary. We welcome you to share your gifts and passion however you enjoy expressing them.

“we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.”, -Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Join us to offer ideas of imagery that your group wants support creating at the next art builds!

Oil Train from art buildLast Sunday we made:

  • A Firey Leeky Oil Train prop (Erika Merz & Peter Weston deserves special gratitude for their artistic skill & guidance).
  • A deer fencing banner “Rise Up!” for the MLK march
  • Beautiful and colorful batik banners for MLK March.
  • Gorgeous and colorful batik water banners for Salish Sea Marine Sanctuary. Find out about the effort to establish the sanctuary HERE
Supplies wish list (please let us know what you can bring):
  • leftover latex paint: white primer for lettering, black for oil cars (we need lots of this), Red, Orange and Yellow for engine and fire. Prime colors are best, but we’ll take what you have.
  • webbing (long lenghs of 1″ width or so) for straps and leftover fabric for the packs that we’ll make later in the month
  • Old Campaign signs (coroplast, larger the better)
  • Fabric, large rolls of fabric especially 100% cotton is WONDERFUL

Support artists and organizers by making a contribution for materials and their skilled guidance. (Just put "Seattle Community Art Build" in the dedication section)
Support artists and organizers by making a contribution for materials and their skilled guidance. (Just put “Seattle Community Art Build” in the dedication section)

 

 
 

 

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Sunday in Seattle: Community Art & Imagery Build Party at the Freemont Abbey

Join progressive artists and activists for Seattle’s Monthly Community Art & Imagery Build Party at the Freemont Abbey.

Day: Sunday December 15th

Time: 1-4:30pm

Where: Freemont Abbey located at 4272 Fremont Avenue North
Seattle, WA 98103

Who: You, your friends, and other artists, progressive minded activists, organizers and those who like to have fun and build community using our hands to make beautiful art.

——Every 3rd Sunday.

Make visible and vibrant the progressive values and vision we share. Lets create a future worthy of passing onto the next generation. Support and amplify the progressive grassroots movement for human rights, dignity, and ecological well-being while we create a stronger Seattle Community.

No prior skills or experience necessary. We welcome you to share your gifts and passion however you enjoy expressing them.

This month we’ll be creating art in support of Migrant Justice, the movement to establish the Salish Sea Marine Sanctuary, and WAMEND.

RSVP on Facebook!

Join us to offer ideas of imagery that your group wants support creating at the next art builds!

This Sunday we’ll make:

  • Beautiful and colorful batik butterfly flags because migration is beautiful! Make one or more and take one home (see picture below). Wednesday is Immigrant Rights Day
  • Gorgeous and colorful batik water banners for Salish Sea Marine Sanctuary. Find out about the effort to establish the sanctuary HERE
  • Learn how to build giant high visibility banners while supporting these great efforts.
  • Backpack signs to assist WAMEND petition gatherers get noticed and line up people excited to support a ballot initiative to overturn Citizen’s United, end corporate personhood, and ensure money is not considered a form of free speech.

Migration is Beautiful, Butterfly flags for Community Art Build

Support artists and organizers by making a contribution for materials and their skilled guidance. (Just put "Seattle Community Art Build" in the dedication section)
Support artists and organizers by making a contribution for materials and their skilled guidance. (Just put “Seattle Community Art Build” in the dedication section)

Hal Sparks ready to fire up Seattle with “Sexy Liberal” tour

Like Xbox One and PlayStation 4, the rollout of Obamacare may be “full of glitches, but I can’t wait to get it,” says comedian, voice-over artist and progressive political pundit Hal Sparks. Sparks will be appearing with Stephanie Miller, John Fugelsang, and “guest panelist” Seattle’s own lampooner laureate Dan Savage, Saturday, December 14, at 8:00pm in the Paramount Theatre. Hal Sparks: actor, comedian, pundit to appear in "Sexy Liberal" tour Seattle stop, December 14.

For those who whine about the debut of the Affordable Healthcare Act’s national website, Sparks likes to point out that private industry didn’t do much better with those two video game blockbusters.

That’s the overall problem with Republican blathering about deregulation and the “free market” system, according to Sparks. People like Sen. Rand Paul keep insisting that the “free market” would make everything better. “But how,” Sparks wonders, “Why would they bother (cleaning up the environment) if they weren’t told to?” Short-term profit and long-term public good are incompatible, according to the core mission of a corporation, which is to make as much money as possible in the shortest possible time for their shareholders. Folks like Rand Paul basically “want corporations to be able to poison us and get away with it!”

Which is why Sparks sees Rand Paul as “stunningly, overtly, and powerfully full of (well, excrement).”

Hal holds roughly the same opinion of other right-wing Republicans like former vice presidential candidate and big-government opponent Paul Ryan. “Paul Ryan went to school on government funds,” notes Sparks, “and then got a government job.” Such blatant hypocrisy runs rampant in the Republican Party.

Conservatives seem to revere two books, Atlas Shrugged and the Bible. One raises selfishness to a high art form, while the other preaches a gospel of love and compassion. Likewise, conservatives seem to worship two gods, Ayn Rand and Jesus of Nazareth. One referred to religious thinking as “mentally retarded,” the other urged his followers to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”

“Atlas Shrugged and the Bible are mutually exclusive,” suggests Sparks, “unless you’re a sociopath.” Not to mention that before she died Ayn Rand relied on Social Security payments from the very government she so despised.

Sparks, himself a self-made man of many voices, holds entrepreneurship in high regard. “Self-reliance is great,” he says, “but you don’t need to choke off the poor and kick people when they’re down.”

What does Hal Sparks see in America’s political future? That’s coming up next in the Seattle Liberal blog. Stay tuned.

And don’t forget to catch the outrageously irreverent “Sexy Liberal” show, December 14!

Our Precious Freedoms

Three quotes for the day, courtesy Liberty Quotes.

“It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either.”
— Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835-1910)

“If we don’t believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don’t believe in it at all.”
— Noam Chomsky (1928- ) American linguist and political writer, Source: Guardian, 23 November 1992

“I believe in my right to be wrong, and still more in my right to be right.”
— Owen Lattimore

Get out there, get it right. If change is coming, you are bringing it.

Wallingford: Friday Night At The Meaningful Movies

Meaningful Movies

Wallingford Neighbors for Peace and Justice

“Friday Night At The Meaningful Movies”

All films are shown at

Keystone Congregational United Church of Christ
5019 Keystone Place N., Seattle

0.4 miles west of the I-5 NE 50th St. Exit – Metro Bus Routes 16, 26 & 44
(Admission to all films is FREE of charge and open to the public, …donations are kindly accepted)

 ALL FILMS ARE AT 7-9:30PM, EVERY FRIDAY

Some upcoming showings:

Friday, April 27, 2012, 7:00 to 9:30 PM
FILM: “LOCKED OUT” (60 min, Joan Sekler, 2010)
WITH LYNNE DODSON FROM THE WASHINGTON STATE LABOR COUNCIL
AND THE SEATTLE LABOR CHORUS!

Friday, May 11, 2012, 7:00 to 9:30 PM
FILM: “CALL OF LIFE”
FACING MASS EXTINCTION
(80 min, Monte Thompson, 2010)
WITH TRANSITION SEATTLE, SUSTAINABLE WALLINGFORD AND OTHERS
TRANSITION FRIDAY!  An Evening Focused on Community & Positive Solutions at the Local Level.

Friday, May 18, 2012, 7:00 to 9:30 PM
FILM: “THE HEALTHCARE MOVIE”
 (65 min, Laurie Simons and Terry Sterrenberg, 2010)
With filmmakers, LAURIE SIMONS and TERRY STERREBERG , and OTHERS