Ricardo Miranda Zúñiga

Structural Patterns

Reflections on Art, Technology and Society

Archive for July, 2009

Corporations Aren’t Citizens

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September 9th the Supreme Court will begin deliberation on a decision that will allow unlimited corporate campaign spending. Imagine the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth times a $$$$$MILLIONS.

Just when it seemed that we had made progress, that change had come, that the little people could unite to raise funds and get an intelligent individual into the office of the president, along come the Supreme Court judges to squash the power of the people.

Currently in NYC, following some deal making, Bloomberg Inc. is in the midst of buying a third mayoral term. The next presidential elections will also be bought by big money.

There’s been little coverage on Citizens United vs. Federal Election Committee. Here’s the opening sentence from a Slate article by R. Hansen:
“If Republicans were wondering how their 2012 presidential candidate is going to compete against President Obama’s $600 million fundraising juggernaut, the Supreme Court seems poised to provide an answer: unlimited corporate spending supporting the Republican candidate, or attacking Obama.”

From NY Times Editorial:
“If Citizens United prevails, it would create an enormous loophole in the law and allow corporate money to flood into partisan politics in ways it has not in many decades. It also would seriously erode the disclosure rules for campaign contributions.”

The word must get out, pressure to the Supreme Court during this decision might be the only way to maintain some semblance of democracy!

Written by ricardo

July 17th, 2009 at 6:31 am

Authorities Utilizing Signifier – Che

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Sitting at the window of the Washington Commons in Prospect Heights / Crown Heights a few weeks ago, I couldn’t help but notice an undercover cop heading out wearing a Che Guevara t-shirt.  Generally, it would only be an amused observation, but I happen to be re-visting Barthes and reading Catherine Belsey’s Poststructuralism, A Very Short Introduction, so I just had to take a picture to capture the moment.

Che is cool

Undercover police prepare for a night at work.

As Belsey puts it “Postmodernism celebrates the capability of the signifier itself to create new forms and new rules.”

Written by ricardo

July 7th, 2009 at 8:32 pm

Posted in critical_perspectives

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