How do you feel about the election?

I am writing an article about how Tattoo Artists feel about the upcoming election. Please log in and give me yer .02c. Also, Feel free to comment here. If it gets outta hand, the members area discussion is not anonymous. Id love to get this article up asap for obvious reasons...

Some questions. Will you be voting this year? The network news reports the race is very close. Are you one of the undeceided voters who will sway the election? Do you believe the poll numbers? After what happened in Florida last time round, are you concerned about cheating in the voting polls? Shit, Im outta time asking questions. theres a start. Comment on anything else you would like.

I'll tell you what. I'll answer some of those questions if you give me some feedback on my flash.

...for the first time in my 28 years, i will be voting come november second...my main motivation is not that i really like john kerry, or support all of his ideas, but rather the choice is, of course, the lesser of two evils...a vote for kerry is a vote against bush. ...the axis of evil has taken up residence in d.c...we have become the terrorists, we are the new world order...something has to give, america the beautiful has to change the path it is on...the best way to start fixing the mess we're in, i believe, is to elect a new president (or impeach the current one) and show to the rest of world that we, as a people, are not what the administration portrays us as, and does in our name... ...the politicians are corrupt, the voting is flawed, the news networks are not telling us the facts, they're just running one big giant commercial for one party or the other...fox is obviously republican (how else explain george winning in 2000), cnn is runing a close second by only airing republican party ads, and cbs and nbc are pulling up the rear, quitely supporting democrats. the only truth we can find is if we find it ourselves, and then, it's mostly conspiracy theory stuff that is too hard to believe anyway...what's a boy to do? ...register to vote...do a little bit of research, make a logical, well thought out choice...tell your friends, talk to your clients, get involved somehow...make a difference this year...as this election, might just possibly be, the most important presidential election we will ever see in our lifetimes... ...or maybe, we should just go back to the couch and the tv, smoke more smokes, drink more drink, and remain the complacent and apathetic nation of jaded losers that they want us to be...yeah, that sounds good... ...viva la resis'tance...

buddy. the election. hahahahahahahahahahahaa! like the election has anything to do with you, or me, or anyone else who thinks their vote counts. fact is it doesnt. one candidate is funded by exxon mobil, the other is backed by mobil exxon. power and money are the contenders for our highest seat of office.... what most people fail to realize, ESPECIALLY the rich kid revolutionaries, and the direct action dickheads, is that only by removing yourself from the equation can any real change occur. while the few informed responsible people on earth, and in america kid themselves into thinking that the lesser of two evils is the better choice, remember....ITS STILL EVIL. voting for nader is just as ridiculous. because voting gives credibility to a system, and a power structure that is no longer relevant. dont vote, but at the same time, dont just steal from wal-mart or throw a rock through a starbucks window.... the corporations have already indemnified themselves against those actions. hahahahaha. the insurance claim from your direct action finances a bigger neon sign in their window. luckily, t.v. is there to keep us posted on the state of the world. and in between the fair and balance reporting on the news, keep an eye out for the dow chemical, proctor and gamble, or other corporate oil-based, energybrokeraged megaconglorporation financed airtime. the news is powered by networks funded and owned by exactly the people who profit most from keeping you ignorant. heres a story about some evil brown person who threatens the very sanctity of american life. what does that mean exactly? no more sitcoms? uh oh. no more nascar? terrible. no more faith based fearful racist cracker asshole politics? no more budweiser? what about oxycontin? jesus, we'd better kill them before they undermine our way of life. ha. way of life. life meaning being removed from all the basics activities needed to sustain life. supermarkets replace growing and preserving food. corporations supplant local interconnected economies. television and movies replace reading. fuck. computers have usurped actual interaction with virtually interactive communication. nice work. keep drinking beer, forbidding gays to marry, and going to church, maybe that way you can get into heaven instead of making a difference in the here and now. and make sure to vote, so you can feel as if you are doing your civic duty. however, if i were to vote, hahahahahaaha, i'd vote bush!!! at least that way, four years from now, every third world country (a.k.a. everyone but us) will have declared all out jiihad on our fat lazy asses, slurping on a large shake watching the number24 car take a victory lap while sending i.m's on our camera phones. either way, we win.

"what most people fail to realize, ESPECIALLY the rich kid revolutionaries, and the direct action dickheads, is that only by removing yourself from the equation can any real change occur."
So hey, we know the rule set is broken. (also, for the record Im definitely not a rich kid revolutionary and dont think Im a direct action dickhead). You need to stepo back to see how broken it is, and the crux of the problem is we need to changes the rules. I *dont* see how simply removing yourself from the (voting) equation will help fix the rules. Certianly voting isnt enough, BUT drastic changes have been made to our country for the better (ie. non-landowners have more rights than before, blacks have more rights than before, women have more rights, etc). Now, obviously there is a looooooooooong way to go before we become an educated healthy population of responsible sharing good natured adults, but the system is mendable and can change. The question I have for ya albie, is how the fuck to we make a better world for our grandkids if we ignore the system and let it run rampant all over us/the world?
"however, if i were to vote, hahahahahaaha, i'd vote bush!!! at least that way, four years from now, every third world country (a.k.a. everyone but us) will have declared all out jiihad on our fat lazy asses, slurping on a large shake watching the number24 car take a victory lap while sending i.m's on our camera phones. either way, we win."
Welp, one way to fix the situtation (I guess) is to let this govenment/corperation run rampant until the laws of osmosis take over and bat us back down (like every other rich powerful empire that fell from internal corruption). Seems like a rough way to fix things... I guess I hope that instead of the US becoming so overbloated and powerful it takes the rest of the world to drag us down to their level, that we can learn to use our power to bring everyone else up. Of course that would require the govenrment doing whats best for the people, not grabbing and consolidating power for the few. I dunno, if all it takes is brainwashing and dirty politics, we shouln't remove ourselves from the game, we should be learning how to brainwash and fight dirty...

buddy. elevating the rest of the world to our level is purely ridiculous. the proportion of happiness to possession in nearly every 'less-advanced' country i've visited is directly opposite our value set. fighting dirty in a dirty system only creates new powers that be that have learned to operate the same manipulative enforcement of THEIR values that the current regime already uses. shitty tactics produce shit-tainted results. it applies to everything. even art. especially fine art. and definitely to tattooing. all of a sudden artists have gained new acceptance as fine artists and not just 'outsiders', making 'outsider art' as a big business. the business of art is as guilty of commodifying everything in america as advertising or manufacturing. art is political whether you like it or not. tattooing has the benefit of being uniqely personal, and transforming, or at least transcending the big business of art. unfortunately, there now exists an ever-increasing market for hip silk tribal shirts, or sailor jerry underpants, or whatever. whenever something becomes a commercial property it loses its power, and becomes a slogan, or a catch phrase. something entirely dated, and therefore obsolete. i.e. 'rock the vote' hahahaha, yeah, how 'bout, albierock the vote?! tattooing is intrinsicly 'art for the people' and the old street shop epitomized that, now pretentious, innaccessible custom shops make even an elitist seperation between artistic have and have nots..... .....i dont just mean that we should go about letting the government run rampant until it bleeds itself dry. i'm saying that only by creating new choices instead of picking the most palatable bad choice will lasting change occur. plant a garden, grow some food, cook your own dinner, read a book without pictures in it, wear functional clothing instead of fashionable clothing, dont wear shit with blatant advertising, even if its 'revolutionary ' advertising. its like saying the super safe: i support our troops but not the war. fuck that noise, son. military personnel are joining the ARMED FORCES. by literal definition, you know what the fuck is up. you're a hired killer, its how you're paying for college, or whatever. i could see feeling sympathy if they had joined the 'lasted resort defensive social protection services' but that's just not the truth. and assuming that joining up with the army et al was to preserve democracy and freedom, invading brown or yellow countries who arent attacking us to make sure they dont is like cutting down forests to save them from forest fires.....oh wait, we do that too. its no wonder the peoples of the real world (or 3rd world, not the mtv version) want to fly planes into our buildings. they're trying to grow a fucking lentil to feed their families, and we're headlining important news stories about some starlet flying her private jet to get a cup of coffee. i shudder to think of the consumption, and accelerated decay of the resources of this planet, renewable or otherwise, that would occur if we brought everyone up to our level. its not practical. so what i was proposing was that we let the priveledged get fatter and lazier and more complacent until their swollen hides eventually rupture. or more literally: america is the new rome. eventually we will get too big to sustain ourselves. critical mass if you will. and only then will the dire immediate need for renewable sustainable containable lifestyles be realized. so by me saying that i'd vote bush if i was delusional enough to vote, i mean that his policies exacerbate the ferocious consumption our country lives on, and the critical mass would be reached sooner. its gotta get worse before it gets better. i dont see any other legitimate way. sure, it feels great to think that by inducting liberal, social, tolerant, equality minded individuals into office that they can countermand the existent policies of our government, but keep in mind that intention and actualization are very different. (the road to hell, my friend, is paved with good intentions) think for a second about the assault weapons that are legal again. realistically, you probably dont need 'em, but the ban or permission of their use and existence is a very small peice of the puzzle. the founding fathers of this country asked each national to hold a weapon (the right to bear arms) as an insurance policy against what going on right now. the idea was that it was our patriotic civic duty to rise up and take back the inalienable, un-patriot act, basic, intrinsic rights if they were ever denied them, or if the government which was to represent the common man, ever became totalitarian, or obsolete, or inneffective but reluctant to change or relinquish power, as the monarchy of england had just done. but instead of evolving a new solution set, we inexorably crawl through the election process that has us currently under the boot of the madness of king george w. (i liked that one) if the game is fixed, the only way to win is to not play. we all need to get out from the trappings of priveledge, and away from the miracle of technological improvement, and consumptive entertainment, and get back to basics. (family, food, music, and art) it seems to work for every other area of the earth, but for whatever reason we seem to know better. fuck man, thats why i left the image-crazed, possession driven streets of entitlement central in ct. i'm putting my money where my mouth is and living an old-time folk lifestyle in spite of and in the heart of religious, fearful new hampshire. im trying to spread that alternative where it is most lacking, where i cant be a dumpster-diving revolutionary, and where there is no scenester support network. i figure, if i really believe it, id better live it, right? so here goes. does any of this make sense?!!

Albie, I will respond. From Guy Aitchison - Hyperspace Studios People are critical of John Kerry, as well we should be- after all, we are considering him as a candidate for the most powerful post in this country. However, a lot of mudflinging has obscured one of the real issues here: that the Bush administration is the most corrupt, secretive and environmentally disastrous administrations in our country's history. I'll vote for Kerry because he's not Bush. I'll vote for a sack of cement before I lend my support to this horrible administration. Now, if you are a Bush supporter, you need to ask yourself this: What has his administration done for you? I don't need to waste words on the obvious statistics about soaring unemployment, a growing healthcare crisis, total and willful ignorance about global warming and rampant gas consumption- two things that will inevitably lead to crisis, if not catastrophe. At this rate, our civilization is being driven off a cliff at high speed. The reason? Greed. Maximum quarterly profits at the cost of all of us. Ever since the Reagan days, the Republicans have done one major thing: make the rich richer. This is at the cost of the worker, the environment, foreign relations, our civil liberties- but these people don't care; they use every dirty tactic there is to pad their wallets. Since they get their power base from the corporate leaders who also feel this way, there is no responsibility or accountability for the damage done in the name of these profits. The Halliburton war profiteering scheme is perhaps the most vulgar example of this. Dick Cheney, who was CEO of Halliburton, was paid $28 million when he quit to become VP. What does this tell you? That the man still works for Halliburton, that's what! Examples? Well, we can start with the $1billion+ in contracts awarded to Halliburton for rebuilding Iraq... without any competing bids! Iraqi contractors, who need the business, offered pennies to the dollar for the same services (which, by the way, your GRANDCHILDREN will still be paying for) and were rejected out of hand. Halliburton is also making over $3million A DAY for feeding our soldiers food that is worse than prison food. Then, factor in the Carlyle group, a conglomeration of weapons contractors that Bush Senior is tied in with, and it gets that much uglier. If you look at everything the administration has done in its term, you will notice the most frightening fact: the vast majority of the actions of this administration have been for its own benefit, not ours. These people are NOT representing you and I!! The problem is that so many Americans are having the issues blurred by the media. For instance, saying that you support the troops is assumed to mean that you support Bush Inc. This is utter crap, and a huge misunderstanding. Many of our troops do not support Bush- a quickly increasing number. They believe that they've been lied to, mislead into a combat situation that is really just a very large business venture. This is a gross abuse of our military might. The soldiers suffer, our foreign relations suffer, our national treasury suffers. Halliburton, however, is NOT suffering. Anf then there's the GWB soundbite that has every uneducated yahoo in the country lined up to vote GOP: "We're taking the fight to the enemy". HUH? When were the Iraqis the enemy? What about the Saudis, who bombed New York? Do we see any real apprehension of terrorists? Has ANYTHING positive come out of this at all? People need to stop listening to tasty little soundbites that support what they want to believe, and do some real research on the issue. That means turning off Fox news (permanently!) and going to some alternatives, like npr.com, salon.com, bbc.com... these are good objective news sources. You can't think for yourself if you get all your news from one source. And if you aren't thinking for yourself, I am sorry, but you aren't a human being, you're a damn sheep. Take control, don't be a sheep. Learn the facts, no matter how uncomfortable they might seem. Ultimately, you are responsible, like it or not.

and from Nick Baxter - NickBaxter.com. gabe: here is a reply, at last (sorry), to the election thing you told me about...i read through some of what is up there and alot of what i was going to say was already covered by now, so, i will just paraphrase some general points i think may furhter any formal discussion: -voting is one of the least effective means of making decisions and trying to contribute to a compassionate and healthy society, neither of which exists right now. the issue of voting to me is trivial at best...either do it or not, and then get on with things! ...which means figuring out how to work together with whomever to bring about the type of better lives and world we all desire. -to this end, arguing or even debating on which is THE strategy or 'correct' path to take towards these goals is probably just as irrelevant as voting for one or another rich white male...just as long as you're doing SOMETHING, anything, to try to empower yourself in a way that also empowers and helps out others around you, and brings about positive results in some area of life or another. Hopefully a resistance movement, either formal or informal, will have enough varied prongs in its proverbial attack that they will pierce through this fucked up system in enough places and ways so as to cause it to collapse. -in my head, any way i concieve of it there will be some type of catastrophic event that will rupture and change things forever, be it from our positive efforts or from the system's inevitable implosion. it may be really soon or it may still be a few generations away...no matter what i cant stand to waste too much precious time debating tactical trivialities and casting meaningless 'votes' in a dead end race...i just try to get busy and do what i can and hope that others i dont know are doing that too. --nb

from Mark Bode - MarkBode.com gabe, i would love if there was more people in tattooing or the arts in general, registered to vote.. but there are very few. my wife molly and i are very involved in the voting process and i am very concerned that the arts will be crushed with another 4 years of censorship under bush. why is it that in the underground culture of comics and tattooing ther are so few voters? its soooo important to vote and get neutral leaders in the seat for arts sake. europe has it together, why not us? please register to vote and lets keep america creative and progressive ..mark bode

ALL I HAVE TO SAY ON THIS IS THAT IF THIS FOOL GETS TO HOLD OFFICE AGAIN, I GONNA LOOK TO MOVE OUT OF THIS COUNTRY.OUR GRANDCHILDREN ARE GOING TO HAVE TO DEAL WITH WHAT THIS MAN HAS DONE. IM NOT TAKING THE CHANCE OF OUR GREAT GREAT GRANDCHILDREN TO SUFFER BECAUSE BUSH IS TO CARELESS TO CARE, AND PUT US IN THIS DEBT.KERRY IS GOOD AND WILL HELP, BUT IT WILL TAKE YEARS TO RECOVER FROM THIS MUMBLEING FOOL.....................ASHLEY ORTIZ

vote! A knockout wont need any judges to deceide. If it didnt count, they wouldnt be cheating it.

I don't know how many of you people are real or not. But I would consider a majority of you to be real. now let me ask you a question, regardless of what George Bush has done, when you watch Bush talk do you feel like you're listening to someone who is being fed his words, kind of a like a band lip-syncing? Another question: When you listen to JK (John Kerry), do you feel like the guy knows what he's talking about, and has good answers? If no, you're probably fake. Regardless, JK can stand up for America. He doesn't stumble his words, and he knows what he's talking about. Bush on the other hand, if he got a tattoo, he'd probably get a 2 inch piece of tribal on his arm. Bush is Liar. Though everyone considers all politicians liars, at least Clinton, a Democrat, like Kerry, made America laugh. And I've gotten more BJs since he was president. So rock on Clinton! What has Bush brought US? Or should I lowercase us. All Bush has done for US is scare our parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters with terror by raising the levels up and down, and fabricating possible terrorist attacks. Has Bush made our country safer? Mmmmm, didn't 9/11 happen during his presidency? I'm not that big on politics, but I'm an ex-reporter, (stopped reporting b/c of politicians' bullshit), ex-drug addict who lied his entire life, and a tattooed and screwed mother fucker who has bullshitted enough of his life to know a true bullshitter when I see one. Oh, look over there, I see president Bush. This has been a scary four years. I don't want another four. Vote for Kerry, and save America.

I don't know how many of you people are real or not. But I would consider a majority of you to be real. now let me ask you a question, regardless of what George Bush has done, when you watch Bush talk do you feel like you're listening to someone who is being fed his words, kind of a like a band lip-syncing? Another question: When you listen to JK (John Kerry), do you feel like the guy knows what he's talking about, and has good answers? If no, you're probably fake. Regardless, JK can stand up for America. He doesn't stumble his words, and he knows what he's talking about. Bush on the other hand, if he got a tattoo, he'd probably get a 2 inch piece of tribal on his arm. Bush is Liar. Though everyone considers all politicians liars, at least Clinton, a Democrat, like Kerry, made America laugh. And I've gotten more BJs since he was president. So rock on Clinton! What has Bush brought US? Or should I lowercase us. All Bush has done for US is scare our parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters with terror by raising the levels up and down, and fabricating possible terrorist attacks. Has Bush made our country safer? Mmmmm, didn't 9/11 happen during his presidency? I'm not that big on politics, but I'm an ex-reporter, (stopped reporting b/c of politicians' bullshit), ex-drug addict who lied his entire life, and a tattooed and screwed mother fucker who has bullshitted enough of his life to know a true bullshitter when I see one. Oh, look over there, I see president Bush. This has been a scary four years. I don't want another four. Vote for Kerry, and save America.

Holy moses, I dont feel like talking tattoos today. Time to get the real work started.

coming from a military family, being around soldiers and based most of my life, i have a very personal view of our government and what our politicians mean to me. Personally, i like bush for about a minute in 2000 when he was campaigning, mostly because he was a stronge leader unike clinton. however, in retrospect, clinton was easy going, a good president if not a good husband. sometimes u cant have both. now that the elections are over and bush has been "declared" the winner by so many news broadcasters, my favorite being cnn.com., i am feeling much anxiety. i told all my friends if bush were kept in office i would move to canada, unpatriotic or not. i have a thing for french people anyway. i have not yet started packing. right now i live in south korea with my folks who all work for the local 2nd Infantry Division one way or another. I am a very proud american citizen. I think that it is beautiful how my dad married my mom out of the vietname war, both my brothers have served and are serving in the middle east more than once, and now i, of mixed race in our unstable generation am living in a foriegn country where our nation held a bloody war. lets not forget MASH. Everyday i see the effect of america on the people here who barely speak english. so many young philipino woman desprite to go to the BIG PX of the world willing to marry any GI who has a few bucks. on the other hand there are entire countries who hate american way of life. why? maybe because its our mantality to flaunt it, material, ideals, and otherwise. maybe because our leadership pushes for occupation in every corner of the world, for security, deplomacy, whatever. like we need to do this shit to prove who we are.ppsh, please! like they dont know. (my arrogant american coming out). anyway, so old W is still here with his admistration. so what now? i cant really say but in my gut i know it cant be good. I almost want to throw up everytime i think about what will happen to our military, our economy, our freedom of speech, my future children. on top of that, i got to worry about north korean dumb asses tryin to pull shit out here cause they cant stand the bush administration either. yes we need to be kept safe from WMD but if they say they dont have them leave them alone, our bad iraq. N korea is already broke as it is they dont need us pokin around there. if the other countries (russia, china, S korea) become concerned let them do it. as far as i can tell, china and N korea are buddies, sorry collin powell, no conflict for you, you had your turn. wouldnt it be nice to just sit back and let the neighbor kids duke it out without getting involved for once. we can hand the loser an ice pack when its all over, i think that what UN is trying to do in nigera and haiti, right? people will suffer, but its thier own people, we can make them realize this by force, only education. educate the people and let them handle it themselves. i am a huge supporter of education. history repeating itself and teach a man to fish, that whole shpeel. ignorance is our enemy not some turbin head tryin to raise his kids in the desert. ( i know that was derogatory but i really dont care, cracker!) well, i think thats it. Every american needs to go out of the us sometime in their lives, and i dont mean a transfer flight in japan. go out and see the rest of the world. see how alike we all are before you say how much better we are, cause were not better at all. more mobile and ballsy i think. "american express, its everywhere u want to be." But im not a raticle reformist. i love reality tv (most of it), i love my malls and easy open prepackaged everything. and yes (dont hate me, im from the midwest) I LOVE WALMART! where else am i going to get AA batteries, donuts, and cotton, seamless underwear at 3am tuesday when boyfriend feels randy???? plus i love the old people that hand out stickers and balloons at the door. the health benifits need help but thats a whole other campaign.to sum the whole thing up, we live a very large complex society with individuals of everycolor comin out of every imaginable lifestyle. there are so few things that are universal anymore, thanks mostly to our freedoms. its hard to work together as a prosperous "nation" without steppin on a few toes. for an individual, yes it is easy to change and reform and say, hey i am the living life that every one should so we can have less corruption. ( or whatever). but for the society, as americans, to move in that direction is going to take alot more than a passive voice who is concerned more with number one than a stranger living down the hall. effect everyone around you in a positive way (open doors, say thank you and hello, carry things for people, be nice, yield at yellow lights) and that can cause shock waves. be the example not the outsider. ok i think im done philosophying for one day. convienent conglomerate fast food awaits as a i drive my foriegn car fueled by blood gasolene guarded int he oil fields by the soldier i just say 2 days ago deployed to iraq. and yes i am wearing my oldnavy shirt and roxy board pants made by the hand of sweatshop children, but think of all the jobs that child is providing in US.