Police on alert as graffiti artists gather in city

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/0…

I used to work for Next Generation Media, the company promoting the “gathering of as many as 300 graffiti artists planned for tonight at a secret location in South Boston.” That is one of the most ridiculous statements I’ve read in a while. This witch hunt of local “marketers” sparked by the equally absurd “bomb scare” slash idiocy has gotten completely out of hand. I won’t sit here and say anything event remotely decent about the guys at NGMedia, but as a local marketer I’m concerned. Not to mention that my newest employer Future Classic (futureclassic.net) runs one of the largest art exposés largely based on graffiti in the nation. Thankfully we don’t have another planned in Boston for at least a month or so.

Yes, I am a fan of tasteful graffiti, street artistry, “tagging”, whatever you want to call it. It’s beautiful and when a real talent goes to work it is ludicrous to call it anything other than artwork. I also understand the issue concerning vandalism of property, in this case that of the MBTA. Honestly, I think I speak for all Bostonians when I say I love staring blankly at plain brown, grey, whatever, subway station walls and such. Who wants them all colorful, unique, and intriguing. A bland commute is something I look forward to every single day and I certainly am glad our tax dollars are being well spent on arresting local, national, and international artistic genius and charging them with completely legitimate crimes like “the intent to deface” and “conspiracy to tag property.”

Give me a break, “intent,” “conspiracy?” We are talking about people who spend their free time decorating what would otherwise be the hideous underbelly of our city. NOT people looking to murder your mom or assault you late at night. “You are under arrest for conspiracy to commit beautification. Anything you say can, and will, be used against you in a circus of media blitzed politics.”

PBR for President

Regardless of what future government office I may run for… my campaign sign will be something similar to this:

I’m currently working on the slogan. Something along the lines of “Vote High Class,” “Vote for the Blue Ribbon Candidate,” “I’m a Man’s Man,” or of course “I’m Drunk.” Suggestions are welcome.

Failed States and External Intervention

“Outside intervention can be both a symptom of and a trigger for state collapse. A failed state may be subject to involuntary restrictions of its sovereignty, such as political or economic sanctions, the presence of foreign military forces on its soil, or other military constraints, such as a no-fly zone.” — Foreignpolicy.com

So which countries faltered as a result of external/outside intervention? I’m curious to know the repercussions which fell onto the average Iraqi as a result of sanctions and other forms of intervention prior to our invasion. How much of the poverty or “economic decline” did our sanctions to prevent Sadam from building “weapons of mass destruction” cause?

Then the case of future failed nations. Afghanistan and again, IRAQ. Clearly things aren’t going well. Without our persistent “help,” the likely-hood of these countries “failing” yet again is high.

You can find the rest of the Failed State Index here. You may need to log-in, I had success with the username ‘anonymoususer’ and password ‘anonymous’. Check bugmenot for more.