The new minister of culture, education and sports, Jose Ignacio Wert has stated “We will have to do more with less. There will be less culture of the subvention… One of our first priorities will be to develop the patronage law” has quoted by the newspaper El Mundo.

So it appears that if culture is to continue to proser in Spain it will largely be through private sponsorship. The incoming rightist party PP will in general seek to privatize, cut social spending and allow the markets to prosper… Once again, Friedman’s formula for a neoliberal economy will be the solution to Spain’s economic problems. Following the collapse of the Lehman Brothers, irresponsibility of banks and the recent economic collapse, I simply can not understand this. I can understand Spaniards being frustrated by the previous prime minister and the Socialist party’s inability to make economic reform, but to elect a strongly neoliberal party in its place?

Who is the vandal - the bank or those effected by predatory bank loans?

During my current stay in Madrid, I am two blocks from a branch of “la Caixa” – “currently the leading savings bank in Spain and the third largest financial entity in the country” – according to their website. Over the last couple weeks, new stickers have appeared on the bank’s window facade. Old stickers announce a June 19th demonstration and states “The plazas and the streets are ours… VIOLENCE IS TO CHARGE 600 EUROS”. New stickers declare “LET IT BE KNOWN, THIS BANK LIES AND STEALS AND THROWS PEOPLE FROM THEIR HOMES” and links to “Plataforma Afectados por La Hipoteca Mdrid” a blog for those effected by Madrid mortgages. There’s another sticker not pictured that presents four CEOs with nicknames and their salaries. Whereas the bank ads on the window state “Tranquility… that is what I ask of my pension plan…”

Meanwhile, “la Caixa” funds the magnificent CaixaForum Madrid the architecturally amazing cultural and social center that reflects the bank’s social cause. It’s entirely free to visit and features the vertical garden below on the facade of an apartment building across from its entrance.

CaixaForum Madrid, Vertical Garden - the social work of the large bank

The complexities of the capitalist economy… does this beautiful and “free” cultural center make up for the injustice felt by many thousands who are experiencing economic hardship?

What will happen to edgy cultural centers such as El Matadero that is currently publicly funded, when private money is its only lifeline?

Currently the feature exhibitions at CaixaForum are “Delacroix (1798-1863) and “The Persistence of Geometry” featuring a long list of well established artists such as Bruce Nauman, Donald Judd, Dan Graham, Richard Long, Gordon Matta-Clark, Mario Merz, Robert Smithson… Whereas El Ranchito, the latest program at Matadero Madrid focuses on work by young artists with a social agenda. Would CaixaForum ever feature the art of a young large collective Todo por la praxis? Or the very difficult work of Sally and Gabriela Gutiérrez Dewar who have worked with squatters to realize their work at El Ranchito? Or will art work presented at Spanish cultural centers be reduced to safely historicized pieces that exist in the collections of the bank and its board members?

Today the UN Assembly gathers in NYC and I comfortably sit in my office at 68th and Lexington after dodging through stand still traffic while police vehicles weaved through… all for a series of limos with international flags. If you’ve got a limo, get a flag… traffic will part for you. In preparation for the UN members’ visit Two Peoples One Future paid for posters throughout the subway system presenting Israelis and Palestinians beneath these words: “Be on our side — we are on the side of peace and justice.” Local politicians protested and now the posters are down. Just as who paid for the advertisements is public knowledge, the names of the people who demanded that freedom of speech be censored should be public knowledge. Read NYTimes article.

Now off to Wall Street to visit the protestors at Zuccotti Park, I mean Liberty Plaza.

My Brooklyn trailer from Kelly Anderson on Vimeo.

Please take a moment to sign the poll and share with others. The government once protected the radio airwaves from corporate ownership, because it was recognized as a public service. NPR and PBS are amongst the most important public services that present a space in the media for intelligent and critical perspectives rather than inane entertainment. NPR and PBS are a citizen service that must be protected!

The Move On page states: “With Republicans back in charge of the House of Representatives, funding for NPR and PBS is in grave danger. Again. The Republicans just released their budget proposal, and it zeroes out funding for both NPR and PBS–the worst proposal in more than a decade. We need to tell Republicans that cutting off funding was unacceptable last time they were in charge, and it’s unacceptable now. A compiled petition with your individual comment will be presented to your Senators and Representative.”

Today – Tuesday, November 2nd, national voting day for the Obama Administration’s midterm period has been predicted as a landslide win for the Republicans and Tea Party hate mongers… a day of reckoning when voter anger will rule upon the next two years of bipartisan politics leading to a purchased presidential election. BUT could the Giant’s win stir a liberal awakening? Could the unexpected Champs of the World Series, bring a fresh air to Tuesday’s elections – a fresh air that cools the anger and brings outraged voters to marking their ballot with reason rather than angry reaction? After all, if people are so angry about the economic situation and the level of unemployment, what party and what administration lead us into this situation?

The REPUBLICAN WHO HAD BOTH THE CONGRESS AND WHITE HOUSE FOR SIX YEARS AND THE WHITE HOUSE FOR EIGHT, PRIOR TO OBAMA’S PRESIDENCY THAT IS ONLY TWO YEARS OLD. I hope that the Giant’s spirit stirs in voters! I like the way that Mark Fiore puts it in his latest NewsToon – Watch Little Suzie describe her Halloween costume.

The site presents information in a concise manner and focuses on five legislative topics: What the representative might want to Abolish, Cut, Repeal, Amend or Oppose:

Click on a candidate and get concise information:

Most importantly vote today! And check out Tea Party FYI

One of the dissenters on the Supreme Court bench, the ever-thoughtful Justice John Paul Stevens “read a long dissent from the bench. He said the majority had committed a grave error in treating corporate speech the same as that of human beings. His decision was joined by the other three members of the court’s liberal wing.” The change that Obama seeks to bring just seems to be undermined as his presidential tenure proceeds. Read the full article from the NY Times – Justices Overturn Key Campaign Limits.