The opposition between democracy and community is based on the mutally exclusive properties of self-interested democratic participation and a unified identity in community membership. The self attempts to reach a purpose in reality by striving for a national identity even in a democractic structure that only serves and protects individuals. A structural examination of the system of power looks at both of these modes of political interaction and how they are defined against each other.

 
The relationship between Kant and Sade is one between a universal and a particular. The universal moral law of Kant requires a transcendent source that orders reality, while the particular bodily enjoyment of Sade is made possible by an immanent actor who initiates these pleasures in reality. It is within the creation of law that transgressive acts become possible, and Sade becomes the hidden truth and counterpart to Kant. Any universal must begin as a particular.

 
Postanarchism is the intersection of an anarchist critique of power with poststructuralist theory. It is also a recognition that in order to challenge the state there must also be a challenge to any human essence that can be used to perpetuate power. Any universality must in reality be empty and filled by particular actions and perspectives that creates structures of power. By understanding that a universal is an artificial construction, one is able to see the background of power and how it engages with identity.

 
The phenomenon of the Black Bloc at major anti-globalization protests reveal a paradox of anarchist action in particular and global justice in general. Those who wish not to be supervised by protest organizers and wiling to destroy property in order to challenge the system of power are both a positive and negative contribution to these protests. The positive aspect is that they are willing to disrupt any attempt to control the struggle for justice, while the negative aspect is that they are the target and focus of new forms of government control and discipline which innovate to deter all types of action.

 
Deleuze was inspired by Spinoza in the formulation the expression of desire as a first act of power. Rights and democracies are built on this premise in order to allow this primal expression. It is when the ability to act is used by others and the group is unable to communicate with each other as equals that tyranny and exploitation appears.

 
It is time once again for the yearly Oscar predictions. Here are my predictions on the upcoming nominations, followed shortly with the predictions on the winners once the official nominations are announced. The * signifies the films that I think will win in that category. I think this year is a good group and have a good chance of actually getting nominated.


BEST PICTURE:
The Fountain
Fast Food Nation
Babel*
Bobby
Apocalypto

BEST ACTOR:
Will Smith, “The Pursuit Of Happyness”
Ryan Gosling, “Half Nelson”
Forest Whitaker, “The Last King Of Scotland”*
Brian Cox, “Running With Scissors”
Joe Pantoliano, “Canvas”

BEST ACTRESS:
Helen Mirren, “The Queen”
Emma Thompson, “Stranger Than Fiction”
Annette Bening, “Running With Scissors”
Catherine O'Hara, “For Your Consideration”*
Bryce Dallas Howard, “Manderlay”

BEST DIRECTOR:
Robert Altman, “A Prairie Home Companion”
Michel Gondry, “The Science Of Sleep”*
Richard Linklater, “Fast Food Nation”
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, “Babel”
Darren Aronofsky, “The Fountain”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Steve Carell, “Little Miss Sunshine”
Djimon Hounsou, “Blood Diamond”
Ben Affleck, “Hollywoodland”*
Jack Nicholson, “The Departed”
Willem Dafoe, “Manderlay”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Gwyneth Paltrow, “Running With Scissors”
Kerry Washington, “The Dead Girl”*
Robin Tunney, “Hollywoodland”
Scarlett Johansson, “The Black Dahlia”
Parker Posey, “For Your Consideration”

BEST FOREIGN FILM:
Volver
The Lives of Others*
Apocalypto
12:08 East Of Bucharest
Pan’s Labyrinth

BEST SCREENPLAY:
Little Miss Sunshine
Half Nelson
A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints
Unknown*
World Trade Center

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
Running With Scissors
All The King’s Men
Thank You For Smoking
Old Joy
V For Vendetta*

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:
The Good German*
V For Vendetta
Apocalypto
World Trade Center
The Black Dahlia

BEST DOCUMENTARY:
Shut Up And Sing
An Unreasonable Man*
An Inconvenient Truth
Paper Dolls
Who Killed The Electric Car

BEST SONG:
The Pick Of Destiny, “Tenacious D And The Pick Of Destiny”*
Never Gonna Break My Faith, “Bobby”
O Kazakhstan, “Borat”
P.J. And Rooster, “Idlewild”
Listen, “Dreamgirls”

BEST ANIMATED FILM:
Happy Feet
A Scanner Darkly*
Cars

 
The architecture of the Star Wars saga are used in such a way as to supplement the mythical scope of the movies. There are harsh and cold urban landscapes as well as more naturalistic planning that reflects the epic struggle between good and evil that is at the core of the plot from beginning to end.

 
There is a strong trend of independent films that emphasizes flat visual effects and unusual characters. It began in the 1990's and has increased in popularity as time passed. Its quirkiness has attracted an audience and can be considered another movement of film that has enacted as many changes as the French New Wave or Italian Neorealism.

 
Cooperatives are businesses and partnerships that are democratically operated and equally share profit. In order to properly function and to avoid corruption, there must be a set of rules and regulations that must be internally followed. It would be very similar to a constitution for a democractic government.

 
Waste as the excess of a production process must either be contained or disposed of. These involve either spatial control or dissipation over time. The two different methods are exclusive of eath other but will also involve unpredictable turbulance and change when they overlap.

 
A Clockwork Orange is a movie that was prescient in how it described the rise of youth gangs. These gangs existed at the time the movie was made but appeared to be ignored during the counterculture of the 1960's. It shows that not only is there nihilism in youth which can result in crime if not used for creative purposes, but that the authorities are incapable of fixing the problem without causing repression.

 
Ernesto Laclau has proposed that class formation is inherently based on antagonism. A class is united by what it is in opposition to. This creates a distinction of differences and equivalences where meaning requires the connections of equivalences, and the difference of that which is excluded from the system of meaning. The line of antagonism, in meaning and class, is between that which is the absolute same and the absolute different.

 
Claude Lefort put forth the idea that the state as a collective of people attempts to create an identity of itself. Under sovereignty, the sovereign contained this collective identity, but with the decline in sovereignty there is a void that causes a failure of self-identification. Fascism can arise within this void when it puts forth a uniform unified people as the only identity.

 
Global relations have eroded the power of nation-states, and thus requires a new cosmopolitan democracy to create new democratic institutions outside of individual nations. Global forms of democracy can not be an aggregate of nations since their main reason of an external threat does not apply internationally. Cosmopolitan democracy can be the best way to deal with international problems of terrorism and nuclear proliferation.

 
Simon Schama is the rare historian who is able to dramatize past events. He is the autohr of many books and the host of the series "A History of Britain" which can be considered one of the most expansive and interesting of history shows.

 
The science fiction author A.E. Van Vogt wrote about anarchistic societies in his works. The foundation of such social organization is a conscious recognition that representations of reality are not reality in itself. This recognition can lead to a more rational outlook on reality that will employ voluntary associations and an avoidance of coercion in any form.

 
Ludwig Wittgenstein could be considered an anti-philosopher. He never put forth a doctrine of beliefs, but rather insisted that one should discover the use of meaning and how it is put to practice.

 
Malachy McCourt speaking at a World Can't Wait rally in New York City in early October. Vote Green on November 7th regardless of where you live.

 
Peak Oil is one of the most pressing concerns alongside of global warming. As oil extraction reaches its highest point, from then on oil extraction will be less and less. Though oil will not suddenly disappear, the population of the planet steadily inceases, which causes an increase in demand with fewer resources.

 
When Foucault spoke about the technologies of discipline, he meant systems that were everyday and ubiquitous but maintained a process of classification and regulation of life. The best example of this model is the modern airport. It is a place where there are no public spaces and people accept the presence of surveillance and inequality among groups. It allows the internalization of discipline into the individual mentality of the subject as it is produced through specific methods of regulation.

 
Here is an interesting theory about exploitation. It holds that an unequal exhange of time and space, where affluence in one area requires resources from another area, is exploitation of energy rather than labor. Products that are the result of the dissipation of energy are compensated by profits that purchase resources for more energy expenditure.

 
One way to compare Heidegger and Foucault is through an examination of power. Heidegger looks at the way being has power in its dealing with the general state of existence, and how that power is taken away with inauthenticity. Foucault looks at power as having knowledge, and how that power is taken away when institutions have knowledge of subjects and use that knowledge to control the subject. Both involve an externalization of power from individuals.

 
Here is a short and concise introduction to how primitive societies can be defined in terms of anthropology. It deals with how reciprocity is a common phenomenon in primitive societies and how that reciprocity is organized.

 
In this day and age it can be very difficult to be progressive. We live in a time where global warming and polluting energy consumption make the planet more and more unlivable. Global warming and Peak Oil threaten not only our lives but the upcoming generations on this planet. The result is that it is becoming ever more difficult to maintain our level of civilization. Our economy is controlled by corporations who disrupt local economies and have legal rights that make them unaccountable. The entire culture is filtered through the process of commodification, and we are at the point where seeds, water, and basic resources are privatized and copyrighted for those who have money. We are engaged in a war based on false premises that endanger lives while our rights are being taken away at home. Anyone who even begins to talk about the lack of a connection between Iraq and terrorism is dismissed as anti-American and unsupportive of the troops. In terms of our government, we have an administration that has a clear agenda for expanding power and hegemony, while the opposition party either agrees or acquiesces to the president’s demands. The only conclusion that one can draw is that the two major parties collude together to maintain power and do nothing to address these conditions.

This is not to say that there are not good individual Democrats, such as Dennis Kucinich, Russell Feingold, John Conyers, and the late Paul Wellstone. But corporate money and the ability to win an election by plurality maintains a two-party system. And a two-party system results in the parties becoming more and more similar with a limitation on new ideas and what can be done to improve the nation. This has degraded to the point where the two parties differentiate themselves on cultural characteristics that have nothing to do with public policy. The best example of this is the comparison of “Nascar Dads” and “brie-eating volvo-driving elitist liberals”. There is also the case that many congressional races have unopposed candidates, and voter turnout as well as registration in the two major parties is plummeting. Those in power therefore become less representative of our issues and end up supporting the status quo regardless of whether they are Democrat or Republican.

Progressives should be distinct from this shift in the culture war, in that progressives look at the deep structure of the underlying system rather than the symptoms. We know that if the public discussion is about Hollywood and cultural elites, then there will be no debate about corporate elites and Halliburton. In this time of urgency on many fronts, it is the Green Party that fulfills a gap in the political dialogue for progressives. With 10 Key Values of environmentalism, grassroots democracy, nonviolence, social and economic justice, community economics, decentralization, feminism, local and global responsibility, respect for diversity, and future focus, the Green Party addresses the issues that have been marginalized by those in power. Beginning with the peace, civil rights, and ecology movements of the 1960’s, the first Green parties formed in the early 1970’s in New Zealand and Switzerland. Soon other Green parties began to form in Europe and win elections. For example, the German Greens were the first to win seats in a national parliament in the early 1980's and formed part of the coalition government in the 1990’s. Greens first met in the United States in 1984 in St. Paul, Minnesota. These efforts fueled the growth in Green chapters with many hundreds in existence by the late 1980's. Alaska was the first state to achieve a recognized ballot line for the Green Party in 1990. After the 1996 elections, state Greens formed the Association of State Green Parties. Four years later the ASGP became the Green Party of the United States.

The Green Party is unique in that it incorporates both electoral politics as well as activism. This is a recognition that in order to offer new ideas one must be active within a full spectrum, both at the ballot box and in the streets speaking truth to power. One aspect does not overshadow the other, however. We are also distinct in that we do not receive corporate or overly large campaign donations and we put forth candidates from all walks of life to reflect citizen empowerment. This year the Green Party of New York has nominated five statewide candidates as our Peace Slate: Malachy McCourt for Governor, Alison Duncan for Lieutenant Governor, Rachel Treichler for Attorney General, Julia Willebrand for Comptroller, and Howie Hawkins for U.S. Senate. As fellow progressives and people committed to peace and justice, we hope that you will vote for these candidates as the best reflection of your interests and values. For if you vote your hopes, rather than any strategic voting against particular candidates, then you best address your fears about the future of the nation.

Malachy McCourt was born in Brooklyn, and from the age of three was raised in Limerick, Ireland. Necessity caused him to start life as a laborer at 13. He returned to America at 20 and worked as a longshoreman, truck loader, and dishwasher until he became an actor. He worked in Broadway and Off-Broadway plays such as “Mass Appeal”, “The Hostage”, “Inherit the Wind”, “Carousel”, and “Translations”. He also appeared in soap operas such as Ryan's Hope, One Life to Live, and All My Children and the movies “Molly Maguires”, “She's the One”, “The Devil's Own”, “Green Card”, and “Ash Wednesday”. In the early seventies he was one of the first radio talk show hosts on WMCA and also worked at WOR, WNYC, and WABC. Malachy has written his own New York Times bestseller memoir, “A Monk Swimming” and his memoir, “Singing My Him Song”. Along with 7 other books, he writes a column called “Sez I to Myself” that appears in the Manhattan Spirit, The Westsider, and Our Town in New York City. He is also the brother of Frank McCourt, author of “Angela’s Ashes”.

Alison Duncan moved to Schenectady when she was 4 years old. She came into political awareness early, and in high school she had her first elected office as the Secretary/Historian of the Student Political Interest Forum (SPIF). She also served as an opinion editor of the school’s ESSPA-award winning newspaper. She was able to use these roles in her school to increase the visibility of and tolerance towards lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) students several years before she came out of the closet herself. In 1993, she worked one summer for Green Corps in Boston as a field manager for the summer campaign in support of the Chlorine Zero Discharge Act. After graduation from college, she moved to New York City and became a member and a board member of the Women’s One World (WOW) Café Theater where she wrote, directed, and produced work that addressed transgender issues, racism, immigration, and domestic violence. Alison also works as an audiovisual technician in the Crowne Plaza Manhattan hotel. She joined the hotel union, the local of the NYC Hotel Trades Council in 1998 and was immediately elected to serve as the union delegate in her shop from 1998 to the present. During the Republican National Convention in New York City in 2004, Alison also became involved with the Medical Activists of New York organizing a network of crisis counselors to be on call for activists and protestors suffering trauma during the convention. She continues to work as a street medic during demonstrations.

Rachel Treichler is someone many of you already know, so many of her accomplishments speak for themselves. Rachel is a graduate of Harvard University (AB 1973) and the University of Texas School of Law (JD 1981). She has practiced law in New York since 1982, being an associate with two large New York City law firms for eight years before setting up her own practice in 1989. In 1996, Rachel founded Eco Books, selling environmental books online at www.ecobooks.com. In 2002, she ran for Congress as the Green Party candidate for the 29th congressional district. She has been a member of the Green Party since 1995, and has been active on the national, state, and local levels. She co-founded the Park Slope Greens in Brooklyn in 1997 and the Steuben Greens in 2002, and is currently secretary of the Steuben County Green Party. Rachel is active in the Sierra Club, the Bath Peace and Justice Group, the Finger Lakes Progressive Coalition, the Steuben League of Women Voters, and Southern Tier Farm to You. She is a member of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York. Rachel serves as an at-large member of the executive committee of the Atlantic Chapter of the Sierra Club and is a member of the corporate accountability committee and the confronting corporate power task force of the national Sierra Club. What can be noted is that she is a highly proficient lawyer and activist, a combination greatly suited to the position of Attorney General. Her campaign is unique in that she will fight for the basic democratic rights of citizens in order to ensure that all other rights are protected, for citizen participation can be the best safeguard for social and economic justice.

Julia Willebrand is a third generation Brooklyn native, one of 10 children of a roofer who died at 50 of asbestos-related lung cancer. Her mother supported the family by working as an attendant at Creedmoor State Hospital. Julia started school at Ss. Cyril and Methodius (a bilingual Polish Catholic school) in Greenpoint, and graduated from St. Jean Baptiste High School. After working as a waitress in a coffeehouse in Greenwich Village in the 50s, she graduated from City College in February 1966. Julia was selected for an intensive Teacher Training program that June, started teaching at PS 84 in September, and was elected UFT delegate in October. As a United Federation of Teachers (UFT) delegate, she was part of a caucus that succeeded in withdrawing UFT support for the war in Vietnam. During the Vietnam War, she and her husband were draft counselors helping young minority men in the South Bronx navigate the Selective Service system to avoid service in the Vietnam War. During this time, she walked a picket in support of more effective schools and elected school boards, and organized a local Freedom School. As a newly minted college instructor at Jersey City State College, Julia also walked a picket line within a week of her hiring. A career in Adult Education included teaching, teacher training, and curriculum development for mothers on welfare. Ultimately this interest led to college teaching which culminated in a Fulbright professorship to Hungary. During the 1970's and early 1980's, in addition to teaching and activism related to public education, Julia completed three advanced degrees. In 1988, Julia began environmental activism, which eventually lead to her membership in the Green Party in the 1990’s. She has been active on both the state and national level.

Howie Hawkins is a founding member of the Green Party in the United States and a life-long activist for social and economic justice. After attending Dartmouth College in the early 1970s, Howie worked as a carpenter in New England and helped start a construction workers cooperative that specialized in solar and wind energy installations. A former Marine who organized opposition to the Vietnam war, he was a co-founder of the anti-nuclear Clamshell Alliance in 1976. Throughout the 1980’s he has participated in various independent campaigns, including Barry Commoner’s presidential campaign and Bernie Sanders’ mayoral campaign in Burlington, Vermont. In 1991 he became Director of CommonWorks, a federation of cooperatives working for an economy that is cooperatively owned, democratically controlled, and ecologically sustainable. He is a member of the Teamster’s Union, active in the national Teamster rank-and-file reform caucus Teamsters for a Democratic Union, and unloads trucks for UPS in Syracuse. Howie has written extensive articles on social theory, cooperative economics, and independent politics in many publications. These include Against the Current, Green Politics, International Socialist Review, New Politics, Peace and Democracy News, Peaceworks, Resist, Society and Nature, and Z Magazine. He is the editor of Independent Politics: The Green Party Strategy Debate (Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2006).

The Peace Slate is united in its goal of promoting progressive ideas and to strengthen the Green Party as a viable alternative to business as usual from the two major parties. This year the Greens need to get 50,000 votes for Governor in order to gain ballot status. What this means is that with ballot status, local candidates would only need to get 5% of registered Greens within a district to sign a petition in order to have their name on the ballot for their campaign. Right now Green candidates need to get 5% of all registered voters in a district, much more than the Democrats and Republicans. Ballot status also means that the Green Party will be listed on voter registration forms, instead of having to be filled in by the voter under “Other”. In other words, getting 50,000 votes for Governor is vital for the survival of the party within New York state. Without the Green party, it can be far easier for the established parties to take advantage of independent-minded progressives, ignoring their concerns because they would have no other place to go. The Green Party is needed as both a new field of possible political action and as an outside force for those who wish to reform their own party. Everyone wins in a system that has multiple political parties. For those who say we take votes away from good candidates and allow the worst candidate to win, it is best to look at how different the supposed “good candidate” really is. With two parties dominant, the ability of real reformers or progressives to actually get nominated is very small. The primaries usually see a well-intentioned progressive running, only to be in last place while a homogenized choice that is unable or unwilling to break outside of the box is nominated. Rather than these progressives disappearing after the primary, forced to support the lesser candidate out of party loyalty or hidden coercion, the Green Party offers progressives all the time in the general election. If people voted for the candidate that best reflects their concerns, then the idea of “spoiling” an election is revealed to be the myth that it is, used by the major parties to forestall a third party candidate from having a chance to demonstrate that they are the better choice.

The platform for the Peace Slate can best be summarized by: Bring The Troops Home, Health Insurance Coverage For All, Living Wage Jobs, Equal Rights For All Regardless Of Sexual Orientation, Protecting Our Youth And Caring For Our Seniors, An Alternative Energy Plan, Free And Fair Elections, Protecting Civil Liberties, A Just And Humane Legal System, and A Fair And Sustainable Economy. Each candidate has their own issues they are advocating, which can be found on their campaign websites (www.votemalachymccourt.org, www.alisonduncan.org, www.voterachel.org, www.juliaforcomptroller.org, www.hawkinsforsenate.org) along with their biographies. Now is the time for people to stand up for what they believe in, for frankly we are running out of time as a democracy and as a planet. The people of New York can choose to use their imaginations and envision a better alternative for our state, and to act on their imagination in the present moment. This is an opportunity and part of a larger movement that includes such diverse elements as Cindy Sheehan and the peace movement, what is referred to as the anti-globalization movement but can be best called the global justice movement, various efforts for the rights of small businesses and labor, and the struggle for civil liberties and government reform. It is something that anyone as a citizen can do, but can contribute to helping humanity overall. With this one step, quite simple in its appearance, we can all be proud of our actions and secure that in the far future we will be remembered for doing the right thing. That is all we can hope for in the world if we have the courage to think really different. On November 7th, please vote for the Peace Slate of the Green Party in New York.

 
Here is an interesting blog that has posts that discuss the work "Being And Time" written by Martin Heidegger. It does not have many posts but there is insight into this difficult book nevertheless.

 
The philosophers Marx and Heidegger may appear not to have any common traits, but they have both dealt with the concept of alienation. For Marx this alienation occurs in an economic setting and is the isolation of the product from the producer resulting in separation of workers from their creativity and from other workers. Heidegger described an existential alienation from an authentic mode of being that separates one from the choices one must make. According to Marx the alienated person is unable to engage socially with others, while Heidegger believed that the alienated person immersed themselves in a generic society in order to be isolated from themselves.

 
The foundation of production begins with the unconscious according to Deleuze and Guattari. Production is the connection of various flows of energy and matter out of desire that then creates needs as an effect. Capitalism is the breaking up of these processes in order to reform it into a larger system that causes a split in the unconscious.

 
The David Lynch film "Lost Highway" acts as a demonstration of the theories of Jacques Lacan. Specifically it addresses how the symbolic and the imaginary are sutured together to hide the real, and that this suturing creates a seamless track like a Moebius strip. This is where the unconscious drives are enacted in different forms regardless of the attempt to escape them.

 
The foreign policy that has been shaped by neoconservative followers of Leo Strauss bears an uncanny resemblance to the policies of Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. This includes suspension of civil liberties in a time of national emergency, creating an image of religious faith, and putting forth ideals to the people that are not held by those in power. It depends upon history to determine if the comparison is only skin deep and if Lincoln, or any president, was justified in his actions during wartime.

 
"The Bald Soprano" by Eugene Ionesco is an example of the absurdist style of theatre. Disrupting the cohesion of a regular play, his works sought to experiment with the medium and create a lasting form of art.

 
In light of the Sept. 11th attacks, it appears that evil as a concept has returned to modern thought. Instead of being a universal classification in opposition to a univeral good, where the world is split in a binary fashion, evil is rather the obstruction of truth as it emerges from particular circumstances. It blocks the understanding of truth and creates a false sense of morality that supercedes the individual's act of finding the truth.

 
The fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War was described as "The End Of History" where liberal democracy and capitalism would be the prevalent mode of nations. Now that there is the issue of terrorism and the political use of Islam, history seems to be more apparent than ever. The particular Western characteristics of democracy become universal through technolgical development, but it also instigates pluralist changes that can cause alienation in the globalized system. Terrorism is the result of this alienation, but it may not be cured by the spread of Western democracy and free markets.

 
It can be argued that Mao was individualist in his practice of communism. Both individualism and the dialectical materialism of communism do away with transcendental absolutes in favor of the determinations of matter. In individualism it is the state of nature that guarantees freedoms and rights, while dialectical materialism has the inevitability of history and the development or changes of matter within it. In the practice of his regime, Mao also imitated individualist practices such as allowing people to critique the staus quo which is considered a healthy process for individual reason and its relation to the state.

 
Here is a project where various theorists and artists have collaborated to write about various concepts related to war. Their goal is to expand the discussion of war as a phenomenon in order to create valid criticisms that explore many of its assumptions beyond mere violence and peace.

 
The current conflict between Israel and Lebanon is a continuation of the divide between Israel and the Palestinians. As Slavoj Zizek illustrated in regards to the controversy about caricatures of Muhammed, both Israel and the Arab world fight over issues of political nationalism that is expressed as religious positions. As one expands from the particular conflict that is portrayed as a clash of civilizations, one sees the contradictions of the West's influence on the region. Israel was founded with both the positive hope for a new society where the Jewish people could be safe, and the negative effects of colonialism. The West can react to the conflict by criticizing Israel's militarism divorced from any Jewish national character, as well as condemn Muslim acts of violence without denying the unique aspects of the culture in the Middle East, America, or Europe.

 
Posthegemony can be considered the situation of the recent era in time. It occurs as ideology declines, moves from conscious discourse to unconscious affect, and presents the multitude as the main subject of society. Instead of an economic determination and class division that is maintained by strict explanations on how the world works, posthegemony deals with power exercised within the internalized individual mind. Any way to deal with posthegemony must be based on the multitude as the organization of people who create ideas and other forms of immaterial production. It is the multitude that can create society, and can deal with the unconscious affect of control.

 
Here is a great site for fans of obscure cinema. It contains a listing and description of various movies from the 1970's that are very rare or very weird. It is also able to sell many of these movies on DVD so that people can see for themselves how strange movies can get, yet still be entertaining in their own unique way.

 
Here is a wonderful resource that documents Art Nouveau architecture throughout Europe. It has compiled a collection of pictures of buildings that are still standing. They are organized by country and city and show how this artform flourished from 1890 to 1920.

 
Modernity implies a universality that assimilates all of reality under certain standards in society and economics. However, modernity was a Western invention and ignores the identity of those who are marginalized and outside of the developed nations. Though freedom was introduced as an absolute, the conditons of that freedom is based on capitalism and Western democracy and is not as universal as it appears.

 
This is one of various beer of the month clubs. They offer different monthly packages, but one could get eight bottles of beer from four different microbrews across the country for $25 a month. Microbrewed beer proves that one could have a wide array of flavors and still compete against the big corporate breweries who produce beer that basically tastes the came.

 
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Samuel Beckett. He was a writer unique in capturing the existential angst of the 20th century, and created a new type of theatre that went beyond narrative and plot. What he began as an innovation is now a regular part of high literature and theatre.

 
On May 20th, the Green Party of New York nominated its candidates for statewide offices. Known as the Peace Slate, they include Malachy McCourt for Governor, Alison Duncan for Lieutenant Governor, Howie Hawkins for U.S. Senate, Rachel Treichler for Attorney General, and Julia Willebrand for Comptroller. They offer voters a real choice that supports peace, local economies, environmentalism, and civil liberties.

 
Here is an example of a solidarity statement where visitors to a website can add their name to a list of supporters. They are usually for a wide array of issues and movements, but can allow for people from various locations to speak out and contribute to a cause. The Steuben County Green Party has a site where solidarity statements can be hosted. Since we live in a time of great historical moments, it is imperative that we have English language solidarity statements for English speaking supporters of international movements.

 
The philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas can be seen as the exact opposite of the philosophy of Sartre. Sarte privileged the individual being, while Levinas looked toward ethics and the relationship to others. Though there is a focus upon a more metaphysical sense of humanity and how to treat one another, there is a lack of direct action to protect the individual human in his thought. In this sense Levinas is an heir to Heidegger.

 
The future of cities require that they become sustainable and "green". This can first be accomplished by making cities more compact and use land more efficiently in order to allow more natural habitats. This can be followed by widepsread use of local alternative energy generation and a closed loop in regards to waste and recycling.

 
Anarchism is a movement that opposes all forms of oppression in political, social, and economic ways. At this time it must be able to confront the complexity and inherent fragility of the system of power. The theory can be very compelling, but at times appear unrealistic. Therefore it must develop a means and methodology that is appealing unto itself.

 
The comparison between the French student protests in 2006 and the riots of French immigrant suburbs in 2005 demonstrate that both had grievances with the current economic model of France, but had different things at stake. The students protested because they did not want to be part of the precarious employment of neoliberal capitalism while the immigrants were already excluded from any employment opportunity. They were united by their need to stop the current trend in the society and economy that would make it easier to discard citizens as resources to be used by the capitalist system.

 
Bernard-Henri Levy has written about the American landscape from a European perspective. His observations about aspects of our country may appear strange but it demonstrates that our reflexive opinion of ourselves is not the absolute truth. Regardless of what we think of ourselves, there are other positions throughout the world that do matter and have relevance.

 
A comparison of Hegel and Levinas shows two different approaches to the other. Hegel believes that through the dialectic process everyone becomes part of a communal spirit that transcends differences. The other is incorporated with the self and everyone is for everyone else. Levinas believes that an openess to the other as complete difference is the start of an ethical system. The other must be recognized in order to find the good in all actions. What must be distinguished is that dealing with difference inside of a group prepares one in dealing with the other outside of the group.

 
Thomas Pynchon's second novel "The Crying Of Lot 49" can be considered an extension of his first novel "V". This is most clear in the idea of quests that have a meaningless aspect to it. In the second novel there is an attempt to uncover a vast conspiracy, which because of its hidden qualities can make the search have a hint of being absurd. Absurdity will subsequently permeate his following novels.

 
According to Fredric Jameson, there are five theses to actual Marxism in practice. Marxism will deal with structural changes in capitalism, offer an alternative discourse to the limits of capitalism, and enact revolution as a continual process. Marxism is also a modern phenomenon in that it can be equal to capitalism as a system without interference, and it can change as capitalism changes.

 
The antagonism between the power to act and the power over things in terms of the state reflects the antagonism between the destruction of existing ideas and the creation of new ones. Each act of creation following a destruction encompasses an expanded area of meaning and allows for constituent power to be subsumed by constituted power. The interplay of different applications of power is a struggle that occurs on both a material and ideal basis.

 
MySociety is a British organization that has created various websites that allow for increased civic participation by citizens such as being able to annotate party platforms and organize group volunteer efforts, as well as letting legislators know what issues were the reason for voter support. Hopefully in the future there will be websites that can be applied to the United States government and its representatives.

 
Here is an extended chapter-by-chapter review of "A Thousand Plateaus" written by Gilles Deleuze. It is one of his most difficult texts and requires a detailed reading in order to clarify its vital points. In many cases these reviews are very important for those who did not initially understand the book upon a first reading.

 
Gilles Deleuze wrote about the modern painter Francis Bacon. He described how there was an emphasis on the figure that was a type of intensity rather than a direct representation of something in reality. What this does is reveal the underlying rhythm under sensation and how this points to chaos as much as an order. A misrecognition occurs from the experience of art where a preconceived object is not matched to the work, and something else is revealed under representation

 
Communitarianism can be defined as the polar opposite of libertarianism. It places an emphasis on societal values and needs in order to shape economic policy. It holds that state regulated industries, unrestricted welfare, and cuts in taxes can both be counterproductive. The solution proposed is to support economic mobility and full employment in order to fulfill what local communities need in order to function. The policies of communitarianism may not have a deep critique of modern capitalism, but it can exist outside of the duality of liberal and conservative.

 
The widespread influence of a system of power and control is so ubiquitous that it takes on the characteristics of a simulated reality. The Matrix movies demonstrate this phenomenon and takes it to its extreme point. This is an example of a science fiction where there is no longer an unknown frontier to create stories from. There is only the small details of life and how it can be simulated as material for future science fiction narratives.

 
The new forms of anarchism and other social movements attempt to advocate organization through affinity rather than hegemony. This means that the new movements to change the world must not create a new hierarchy or standardization but allow for differences to exist side by side. This requires local actions of autonomous power that do not have to depend upon a centralized power or authority to have its needs met. The new movements not only want change in results but a change in the day-to-day structure of power.

 
The Catholic Church for a brief time offered itself as an alternative to the nation state and its various political ideologies. After the French Revolution, the Church lost much of its real political power but created a new type of social relationship that had as its goal a sense of justice without base materialism. This choice was obscured by the rise of communism and socialism that placed these goals solely into politics.

 
The need to be sustainable would require an active movement that allowed for people to support each other as they started to live off the grid. This would mean fabricated housing using alternative energy sources on a small plot of land that can grow various foods. It would also mean new economic structures that exist outside of the current capitalist global system.

 
The selection of the site for future Olympics has become a media event itself. Now there is a site that proposes the ice planet Hoth, from the Star Wars saga, as the site for the 2014 Winter Olympics. This is a wonderful example of how the Internet can take popular culture and remix it in new and imaginative ways outside of the mainstream coporate conception of culture.

 
George Orwell's 1984 was a product of its time as an allegory of the Soviet regime. But it also foretold elements that have become so commonplace today as to be less shocking than the stark landscape of the novel. These elements are now occuring in a non-communist context.

 
The failing of revolutions is that they postpone their goals into the future and require radical disruptive change. A renaissance can occur in the here and now and is an alteration of perspective that gets immediate results. The current age can be called a renaissance in that it allows the possibility for new forms of cooperation that were not part of the overriding ideals beforehand. A renaissance can be more successful than a revolution.

 
Ferrofluid is an interesting substance originally developed by NASA. It transforms itself into intriguing shapes when exposed to magnetism. It can create a temporary artwork that touches upon science and aesthetics.

 
In the 1800's there were various intentional communities. Brook Farm was one of them. These communes not only inspired the communal living experiments of the 1960's and 1970's, but offered utopian socialism in practice before the rise of Marxism and scientific communism. Their history, including their successes and failures, offer an alternative to modern living.

 
The rise of new protests demand the creation of new protest songs. Even though the music of the 1960's was inspirational, they spoke to particular events of that decade. In order to show that working for peace today is not a form of nostalgia there needs to be new art to talk about the unique struggle that is occurring today.

 
The ideology of capitalism involves an overriding narrative that structures all practices by creating one meaning for production without revealing how the structure works. But the creation of smaller ideologies within the larger ideology can reveal its influence by showing how it works in an explicit way. At that point practices can change in substantial ways that alter ideology.

 
Here is a mapping of the various prejudices and stereotypes attributed to various countries. Seen from this perspective it shows that the opinions that are not based on knowledge appear arbitrary and random.

 
Lord Buckley was a comedy character whose unique persona and performance style influenced later comics such as Lenny Bruce. He is in fact an example of the small pieces of Americana that are not world famous but make twentieth century history and life unique.

 
The author J.R.R. Tolkien was known for his great detail of his works in geography, culture, and myth. One example is the description of the Shire which recalls a planned community. It is a type of community that has a strong connection with nature, which was part of the ordering of planned communities. But there is no strict order in the Shire which has an organic growth in response with nature.

 
Here are my predictions for the winners of the Academy Awards on March 5th. There is a pretty good selection, and Jon Stewart is going to be hosting. But I think that "Me And You And Everyone We Know", "Broken Flowers", and "Three Burials" were unfairly ignored. There really should be a Best Independent Film category in order to give lesser known and higher quality films a chance.

Best Picture:
GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK

Best Actor:
Philip Seymour Hoffman, CAPOTE

Best Supporting Actor:
Jake Gyllenhaal, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

Best Actress:
Felicity Huffman, TRANSAMERICA

Best Supporting Actress:
Frances McDormand, NORTH COUNTRY

Best Animated Film:
TIM BURTON'S CORPSE BRIDE

Best Art Direction:
GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK

Best Cinematography:
THE NEW WORLD

Best Costume:
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA

Best Director:
Ang Lee, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

Best Documentary:
MURDERBALL

Best Documentary Short:
THE MUSHROOM CLUB

Best Film Editing:
MUNICH

Best Foreign Film:
PARADISE NOW

Best Makeup:
STAR WARS: EPISODE III REVENGE OF THE SITH

Best Score:
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA

Best Song:
HUSTLE & FLOW

Best Animated Short:
ONE MAN BAND

Best Short Film:
SIX SHOOTER

Best Sound Mixing:
WALK THE LINE

Best Sound Editing:
KING KONG

Best Visual Effects:
KING KONG

Best Adapted Screenplay:
A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE

Best Original Screenplay:
MATCH POINT

 
Libertarian Municipalism" is the community ownership of all economic enteprises that are managed by citizen assemblies within a city. It recognizes that the political and economic are intertwined and that one must strive toward economic justice outside of the workplace as well as within it. It combines decentralization and the ability for individuals to control their economic destiny.

 
The problem with representaiton of a group is that the larger the group, the less effective are representatives in reflecting the collective will. Using a social network method one can assign a value to each member of a group then find the average value and see if it matches the average value of the representatives of that group. It gives a precise mathematical structure to the finding of a collective will that is helpful to actual representation.

 
The nominations for the Oscars were announced this week. The following were my predictions, with an asterick next to the movie I thought would win in each category, which seemed to be most accurate in the lower categories. The real nominees are good movies in themselves, but my choices were a more eclectic group that welcomed independent films.

Best Picture:
Good Night And Good Luck*
The Squid And The Whale
Three Burials
Broken Flowers
Me And You And Everyone We Know

Best Actor:
Philip Seymour Hoffman, “Capote”*
Joaquin Phoenix, “Walk The Line”
Bill Murray, “Broken Flowers”
David Strathairn, “Good Night And Good Luck”
Tommy Lee Jones, “Three Burials”

Best Supporting Actor:
Keanu Reeves, “Thumbsucker”*
Jesse Eisenberg, “The Squid And The Whale”
Jack Black, “King Kong”
Ed Harris, “A History Of Violence”
Peter Dinklage, “The Baxter”

Best Director:
David Cronenberg, “A History Of Violence”*
Jim Jarmusch, “Broken Flowers”
George Clooney, “Good Night And Good Luck”
Ang Lee, “Brokeback Mountain”
Miranda July, “Me And You And Everyone We Know”

Best Actress:
Laura Linney, “The Squid And The Whale”
Felicity Huffman, “Transamerica”*
Reese Witherspoon, “Walk The Line”
Miranda July, “Me And You And Everyone We Know”
Ziyi Zhang, “Memoirs Of A Geisha”

Best Supporting Actress:
Amy Adams, “Junebug”
Catherine Keener, “Capote”
Sandra Bullock, “Crash”
Michelle Williams, “Brokeback Mountain”
Frances McDormand, “North Country”*

Best Foreign Film:
Paradise Now*
Oldboy
Memory Of A Killer
Cache
L’Enfant

Best Documentary:
March Of The Penguins
Murderball*
Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room
Grizzly Man
Gunner Palace

Best Original Screenplay:
The 40-Year Old Virgin*
Crash
Good Night And Good Luck
Walk the Line
Brokeback Mountain

Best Adapted Screenplay:
The Constant Gardener
A History Of Violence
Jarhead*
King Kong
Memoirs Of A Geisha

Best Costume:
Memoirs Of A Geisha*
Kingdom Of Heaven
Cinderella Man
Pride And Prejudice
The Brothers Grimm

Best Visual Effects:
War Of The Worlds
King Kong*
The Brothers Grimm
Serenity
The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe

 
The phenomenon of money allows for an expansion of any economic system. It is a medium of exchange and a receptacle of value that is mobile. The ability to control money allows for a greater influence of the overall economy. Understanding these traits makes it easier to establish alternative currencies that are able to function both locally and nationally.

 
Ludwig Wittgenstein's work concentrated on language and how meaning was created within it. He also commented on ethics and how to work toward the good. Within a system of meaning one can only find relative values since any absolute exists outside of the system. However, the search for value supposes that an absolute value exists even though it can not be completely discovered. The search proves that something is there outside of an individual's reach. Finding the good is therefore a process and not a goal.

 
The science fiction writer Philip K. Dick had a very unusual life which to some extent influenced his work. Later in his life he had a mystical vision which he attempted to explain and explore in his books from that point onward.

 
In the modern era, one saw the rise of the nation state. Along with determined boundaries, there was also the formation of the people that is united in a relationship with the state. Their identity is more homogeneous compared to groups that existed before the state, known as the multitude which is inherently heterogeneous.

 
The medieval art of Prague revealed a unique style that was more ornate than the Gothic of Western Europe but still specifically European. It was due to the sponsorship of the ruler of that region which lasted for a brief time, and was a precursor to the exuberance of Renaissance art overall.

 
The open source methodology can be applied beyond software creation. Its use in commodity production can allow for a new type of economics. Here is an exmaple of beer that has an open source recipe that makes it possible for anyone to reproduce the beer, make modifications to it, and use it free of charge as well as have the freedom to circulate the information to others.

 
The influence of Spinoza on Deleuze is based on the actualization of being from pure essence to existence. This process can be seen in Deleuze as the repetition of being that creates new things in the world. Rights and the democratic contract in this context are not the continuation of predetermined actions but the allowance of the ability to act in the first place.

 
The use of money, especially the use of alternative currencies is based upon the necessity of trade. Whether through barter, a standard of value, or credit and debt money facilitates trade and can be created by communities in order to allow new forms of trade to exist. This creates new economic opportunties in a community that is not met by the current national system. Trade creates money as its purpose rather than as a storing of static wealth.