Are you creatively stuck? In a rut? Feeling powerless? Down about the state of the world? Better than an Artist’s Way workshop, this link just might be a cure for what ails you. The Center for Public Integrity lists war profiteers who are making “Windfalls off War”. Many of their offices are conveniently located right in your own town!

image by trevor paglen

The Progressive Majority: Why a Conservative America is a Myth

For anyone interested in where the American public really stands on the big issues that distinguish progressives from conservatives—including the issues at the forefront of today’s political debates—“The Progressive Majority: Why a Conservative America Is a Myth” offers hard facts and analysis based on decades of data from some of the nation’s most respected and nonpartisan public opinion researchers. This is the evidence that political leaders have a mandate to pursue bold, progressive policies.

This report by the Campaign for America’s Future and Media Matters for America shows that in study after study, solid majorities of Americans take progressive stands on a full spectrum of issues, from bread-and-butter economics to the so-called “values” issues where conservatives claim preeminence.

Read the Full Report (Adobe PDF).

ARTHUR BENEFIT PARTY
June 27 8pm
Silent Movie Theater
611 N. Fairfax Avenue

featuring

Six Organs of Admittance
with special guest Joseph Mattson

Ruthann Friedman

Entrance

Elisa Ambrogio (Magik Markers)
reading

Lewis MacAdams (poet)
reading

Paloma Parfrey (ex-Sharp Ease)
reading with sounds by Tamala Poljak

MC: Oliver Hall (E.S.P.S.)

Plus: refreshments and silent auction.

Admission: $15

Advance tickets available via Ticketweb — click here to order

“Lord Buckley was indeed a hip aristocrat, so hip that the aristocracy of rock music—[SLY STONE,] George Harrison, Pete Townshend, Bob Dylan and Jerry Garcia among many others—became besotted with his off-the-wall raps. Another fan was Frank Zappa, who edited this collection of 1956 performances for release on his own Straight Records label. But don’t take their word for it; pick up this ‘Collectors’ Choice Music’ exclusive and find out why “His Lordship” is nowadays considered the original rapper, and a huge influence on Lenny Bruce, Jonathan Winters and Robin Williams! Includes ‘The Bad Rapping of the Marquis De Sade/The King of the Bad Cats; Governor Slugwell; The Raven’ (even Edgar Allan Poe never could have imagined this version!); ‘The Train’, and ‘The Hip Einie’.”

Reissue liner notes by Richie Unterberger

THE PROMISSORY by Steve Aylett

“A nation of pigs seems happy under a dictator – even he is baffled at their complacency. Can a populace behave so meekly without having something up their sleeve? … Originally created for ARTHUR magazine’s Bastet line of retro-style pamphlets, THE PROMISSORY recalls the days of underground mimeo magazines and comics.”

The Holy Mountain
directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky (1973, Abkco, 114 min.)
Sunday June 17, 2007
Hollywood Forever Cemetery
6000 Santa Monica Blvd.
Gates at 7:30pm Movie at 9:00pm
$10 tickets available at gate

DJ Carlos Nino spins before and after the screening.

“championed by john lennon, and adored by the counter-culture, this sweeping psychedelic epic is jodorowsky’s masterwork. surreal, shocking and breathtakingly beautiful, holy mountain is the pinnacle of avant-garde filmmaking. the alchemist guides his disciples through a phantasmagoric landscape to the holy mountain so that they may confront the gods. for thirty years the film was not shown theatrically and is only now being rediscovered by new generations. don’t miss an opportunity to see this rare and beautiful gem under the stars and open sky. due to nudity and disturbing imagery, this film is not appropriate for children under 17.”

BBC – Monday, 11 June 2007, 23:41 GMT 00:41 UK

US veterans ‘high suicide risk’

US war veterans are twice as likely to commit suicide than ordinary civilians, a study has found.

Researchers examined data on 320,890 men, of which a third served in the US military between 1917 and 1994.

Men who were white, better educated and older than the other men appeared to be at higher risk, as did those with a physical or emotional disability.

Researchers say the findings emphasise the need for mental health care for those serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The research, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, included men who had served in World War Two, the Vietnam war, the Korean War and the Gulf war.

It said the rate of suicide among men who had taken military service was 2.13 times higher than those who had never served in the armed forces.

War veterans were also twice as likely to use a firearm to kill themselves, it said.

Disabled veterans, or those who had experienced emotional or psychological trauma during their service were identified as the highest risk group.

Interestingly, overweight veterans were less likely to have committed suicide than those of normal weight, the study found.

Although the research did not include data from men returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, authors said the findings had strong implications for them.

Lead researcher Mark Kaplan, of Portland State University in Oregon, said doctors should “scrutinise veterans for signs of suicidal behaviour or thoughts and, if needed, they should intervene to make sure these patients do not have access to firearms”.

He said in general “there is inadequate mental health screening, and many of the doctors outside the VA (Veterans Affairs) system are not trained to deal with these sorts of problems and don’t have the time to treat them.”

Van Sant in the ‘Kool-Aid’ mix
Director to adapt classic ’60s novel
By MICHAEL FLEMING

Nearly 40 years after its original publication, Tom Wolfe’s hallucinogenic tome “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test” is headed for the big screen. Gus Van Sant is attached to direct, and Lance Black (“Big Love”) will write the script. FilmColony’s Richard Gladstein is producing, and he’s in the process of setting the project with a financier.

The book told the story of a cross-country road trip that “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” author Ken Kesey orchestrated with a group called the Merry Pranksters. Driving in a psychedelically painted bus from California to visit the World’s Fair in New York in 1964, Kesey and his band used the trip as a way to turn on those they met to the mind-expanding wonders of LSD.

Kesey ingested the drug while he wrote “Cuckoo’s Nest,” crediting the hallucinogen for many of the ideas in the book.

Shortly after the Wolfe book was published in 1967, its film rights were purchased by entrepreneur Alfred Roven. Not a film producer, Roven had some meetings over the years with filmmakers but was very protective. When he died, Roven left the rights to his children, Daryn and Alison Roven. FilmColony’s Gladstein was introduced to them by attorney Peter Grossman, and for the first time, the rights were entrusted to a producer.

Van Sant, whose latest film, “Paranoid Park,” was honored at Cannes, signed on quickly. The filmmaker cast Kesey in his 1993 film “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues” and dedicated his 2002 film “Gerry” to the author, who died in 2001. Van Sant enlisted Black, with whom he’s collaborating on a biopic of slain San Francisco pol Harvey Milk.

It’s likely Wolfe will not be a major character in the film, which will focus on Kesey and include events that occurred after the road trip.

Gladstein completed producing the Zach Helm-directed “Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium,” which Fox Walden releases this fall, as well as “The Nanny Diaries” and John Madden-directed “Killshot,” both of which the Weinstein Co. will distribute through MGM this fall.