Did you ever get change back from a vendor and notice that one of your bills has some kind of hilarious drawing or quote written across it? It’s rare that these bills go un-noticed, so what if we used money to spread a message and take back our democracy? StampStampede has come up with a brilliant idea to stamp messages on currency in support of passing a constitutional amendment to Get Money Out of Politics. Each bill printed in the U.S. passes through 875 hands, on average, so if just 1 person stamps one bill per day for 1 year, it could reach 300,000 people, which means it would only take 1,000 to reach the entire U.S. population!
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Using Money as a Vehicle to Stamp Money Out of Politics
Animals Getting Down to Business
You and me baby ain’t nothin’ but mammals, yet we’ve let corporate greed and politics drive our species apart. Canadian artist Tony Taylor illustrates how he sees world economic forums and other well-publicized events that invite “world leaders and corporations to bump elbows, share anecdotes and discuss economic philosophy, disregarding any opportunity for public participation or representation.” By replacing the leaders’ heads with the animals that he thinks better represent their character, Taylor has created a series of paintings that are just as silly as the events they portray. Taylor’s paintings align with the opinion of a political scientist and activist named Howard Zinn who he quotes in his artist statement, “Art moves away from reality and invents something that may be ultimately more accurate about the world than what a photograph can depict.” [Read more...]
Get Money Out of Politics: American Anti-Corruption Act
Whether you’re a conservative, liberal, anarchist, libertarian, Tea Party or Occupy supporter, we can all agree on one thing: money has become an all too important factor in the US political scene. Elections are no longer won, but instead bought. Wealthy banks get huge bailouts while the American people lose their homes and jobs. Between lobbyists, super-pacs and special interests, the one thing the government answers to is the almighty dollar. [Read more...]
No Politics, Just a Joke: Satirical Art from Russia
Nothing is sacred in Victoria Tsarkova’s new series and show, No Politics. Just a Joke. She has taken key figures from the world of politics and culture, mashing them up in unexpected ways which are highly satirical, funny and even a bit offensive. The 20 works recently featured in her current show near Moscow is drawing an enthusiastic crowd. [Read more...]
A Campaign Map, Morphed By Money
Every 4 years, as Americans rush to the polls and cast their vote for a new president, we’re familiar with seeing the typical U.S. maps of red and blue denoting how states are favoring each candidate. But what information does this really give us? With the electoral college having only a portion of electors allotted to each state (based on that states population) the actual voting power of a state has little to do with its geographical size. How can we look at this differently and get a more informed look at what’s going on? [Read more...]
All Fair in Love: Shifting Attitudes on Gay Marriage
A wave of change is hitting the nation. Last June, New York became the largest state to legalize same-sex marriage under the Marriage Equality Act, making a precedent setting move and bringing further attention to the much discussed and debated issue. Now, just this Wednesday, President Obama became the first leader of the country to endorse legalizing same-sex marriage, stating “At a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married” (ABC News interview, May 9, 2012). According to an ABC Political Analysis, some advisers “pointing to rapidly changing public views of gay rights, say Obama has more to gain than lose by the move.” [Read more...]
The Many Faces of the Internet User
The Internet has graduated from its days of being the wild wild west, into a budding modern menagerie of personalities, personas, and psychos. You are likely to encounter several of these types of personalities as you browse through your feeds at Tumblr, Facebook, Mashable, Reddit, 4chan, Gawker, and your favorite design/art/music blogs. The Internet can be a confusing thing to navigate, and a journey into the dark heart of its users can help educate you about their different personalities. [Read more...]
Currency Art: Taken From the Pockets of the Military
Sometimes life creates art inspiration in strange ways. For artist Chad Person, the inspiration for his humorously titled series TaxCut came in the form of a failing soldier in his digital photography class. Person relates on his website how, when he found out the soldier would have to repay his $400 course tuition grant to the military for his failure, the artist saw an opportunity to make sure the military couldn’t assign the funds elsewhere, like buying more weapons. [Read more...]
Why You Should Know About the Strait of Hormuz
Since 2005, Iran has come under constant and increasing pressure from the Western world to shut down its nuclear program. Their underground uranium enrichment sites have been a constant frown producer at the European Union headquarters and of course, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denies they’re creating nuclear weapons in said facilities, which he says they’re using to research nuclear power development and medical technology (sure they are). On January 23, 2012, the member nations of the European Union formally approved an oil embargo against Iran. [Read more...]















