'The Last Door'

Many people have been unemployed and/or experiencing hard times over the past few years.  Our economic hardships started way back in summer of 2008 as the eight year reign of horror and misleadership of George Troubleyou Bush's two terms was coming to an end.  It has taken almost an entire presidential term for our country to start getting back on track after the worst economic downturn since the 1930's.  We're not completely out of recovery, as we still have a long way to go, but we are doing much better and things are looking up for this new year of 2012.  One of the best things that I see happening in this recovery is that some jobs that were lost to foreign countries are returning to America.  Manufacturing jobs, that is.  During the collapse of our economy came a near-catastrophic collapse of our American automobile industry.  It is a very good thing that we had people in power, at that time, that made the difficult choices to lend a financial helping hand and save that industry.  It should come as no surprise that the car companies were mismanaged while an irresponsible Republican was in the White House.  Just a coincidence?  I think not.  A sure sign of poor leadership.  The Democrats are far from perfect, but at this point in time, I think the Democrats are better leaders for our "free enterprise" system.  Plus, the "jackasses" were our only hope for cleaning up after the elephants.

I, myself, have been a part of the percentage of people who has been unemployed/underemployed for most of the past three years, but things are looking up for 2012.  I have no huge financial income to speak of yet, but several opportunities have been presented and I think I see light at the end of the tunnel, and I think it is sunlight.  I'm looking forward to what the future holds in store for me this year, and I wish the very best to everyone else who has suffered during this time of hardship.

I'm just hoping that come November, when it's time to walk into the voting booth, we don't revert back to the same poor leadership that caused this mess in the first place.

'In Celebration of...'

...my first book publication.  Actually, two books.  I recently published two books of my art.  The first book is titled, Empire Patterns, and it contains original art and the patterns that are created with the original art.  The second book, Modern Fusion, contains my original art, no patterns.  Both books are 160 pages in full color.  Both books can be previewed at the link to my "bookstore".  I published my books through blurb.com.  My books can be purchased on the link, as well, each priced at $79.90 USD.  My Bookstore link:

http://www.blurb.com/user/store/CarlKojis

'Balloon Bordello'

Again, I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and best wishes for a healthy, happy, and prosperous new year.  And for those that are on the lunar calendar, Happy New Year a bit early (Lunar New Year is on the 23rd).  This piece of art was painted in winter 2004/2005, and I had every intention of continuing to paint on this wood panel in order to complete this artwork, however, I stopped painting on it and this is what it is, circa 2012.  I want to use it for this blog post.

I have a very good feeling about what lies ahead in 2012.  I don't think it is the end of days, although, I think many people are going to think it is the end times due to natural and man-made disasters, as well as sociopolitical upheaval around the globe.  I can expound on that last part a bit by saying I think that a "certain" sociopolitical ideology is going to lose its grip of power, worldwide, in 2012, mostly be way of the voting booth and revolution.  I also think that 2012 is going to be a time of great jubilation and glee by a large majority of the population of this earth.

Regardless of whether or not my "predictions" are correct, I do hope that 2012 represents a rejuvenation for mankind, a cleansing of sorts.  Maybe we are going to let go of the concept of "war as rule", or perhaps, we will work on ending hunger and homelessness.  My point is that I hope 2012 marks a time when we come together as one poeple around the globe and start solving this world's problems, whether they be natural or man-made.

For me, 2012 is going to be a busy, productive year as my plans to begin my sole-proprietorship kick into high gear.  As soon as all of the legalities are official, I will share my business plans that have been in the works for most of this year.  Needless to say, I am looking forward to what lies ahead in 2012, come hell or high water, or both.

Again, Happy New Year, and best wishes to everyone for a healthy, happy, and prosperous new year filled with peace.

'In Celebration of...'

Happy New Year!  Best wishes to all for a healthy, happy, and prospeous new year.

Be safe during the celebrations and good luck with the resolutions.

'Check Your Halo'

I am not a Christian, nor do I associate with any other monotheistic religion.  I do, however, believe that a man named Jesus lived on this earth and played a pivotal role in bringing about a sociopolitical change during his life.  He was born to be a leader and he guided his followers in a revolution against the status quo conservatives and capitalists of his time.  I find it interesting that we find ourselves, at this time, in need of his leadership again.

The Christian celebration of "christmas" has turned into a laughable, disgusting celebration for capitalism.  The "success" of the season is judged by the amount of retail sales that occur during the month of December.  Maybe those who truly believe in the ideology behind Christmas might one day rediscover its meaning by not celebrating the season with gift-giving, but rather something less tangible, like love-sharing or care-giving to those in need.  Just once, I would like to see people buy less consumer goods at this time of year and do more to help out our fellow citizens that need care and love.  If we transferred all of the money spent on gift-buying and shared it with those in need of medical care, food, and housing, maybe we could rediscover the true meaning of the mission of Jesus.  He was willing to die for the people of his time because he believed in his own words and his mission.  Unfortunately, we are raising children to believe that the season is all about spending money on materialistic gifts and preparing for "santa".  December 25th has become one big fat joke, and every year we start preparing for the joke on November 24th on a day we now call "black friday".  How fitting for a capitalist society.

I do believe in Jesus and I do celebrate his birthday, but I celebrate his birthday on February 22nd because I believe that is the day he was born.  And since I am a DuoTheist, I honor both of our Gods as I celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ.  After all, it is the Gods who give all of us life on these earths.  So, Check Your Halo, regardless of whether you are an atheist who believes in none or an atheist who believes in one, or you are a believer who believes in more than one.  Make sure that you thank both of the Gods, The Father and The Mother.  We all have TWO Gods!

Season's Greetings for this Winter Solstice and have a merry Joke Day this December.  May The Gods bless each and every one of us!

'Black Heart'

The Black Heart of War in its box.  Two of the four "feathers" represent quills that have been used to sign declarations of war and peace treaties alike.  One of the feathers represents a feather duster that keeps the box of The Black Heart of War free of dust because it consistently gets pulled from its box and stroked by human hands.  The fourth feather represents a feather from the Trail of Tears, which is why it is somewhat tattered and blood-stained.  The feather from the Trail of Tears also serves as a reminder that we had a sign early on as a fledgling Country that we were all too eager to engage in war, not afraid to kill anyone or anything that we felt threatened by.  When our nation was built, so was built the box for The Black Heart of War.  War, it appears, runs in our blood.

'Woman in Winter'

Happy Thanksgiving!

Some things I have to be thankful for are good health, having a roof over my head and a warm, comfy bed to sleep in every night.  I am also thankful for having food on my table for every meal, and I am very thankful for the beautiful surroundings here in the mountains of western North Carolina.  I am thankful for my creativity that I possess, as an artist, and the beautiful things that have been created, not only my original paintings, but the spectacular fabrics that are created by the patterns that have come about by way of the original pieces of artwork.  I am thankful to our higher powers that have given me so much to be thankful for in this life on this earth.

However, I would like to mention some things that I am NOT thankful for.  First and foremost, I am not thankful for the wars that have been started by wasteful warmongering world leaders that have taken the lives of so many human beings.  And I am not thankful for mankind's continued destruction of this earth by way of oil drilling, coal mining, deforestation, and pollution.  I am not thankful for the wasteful greediness of corporate capitalism.  I am not thankful for wasteful corporate-owned status quo politicians, and I am certainly not thankful for our incredibly dysfunctional, massively wasteful two-party system of governance that we have to wear as an anchor of shame.  I am not thankful that the United States of America is the largest seller of military weaponry to the world, which just serves to feed the wasteful warmongering ideology.  I am not thankful that the one day of the year that our society chooses to give thanks is followed by a day that is now known as "black friday" (how fitting for an incredibly dysfunctional, wastefully greedy, corporate capitalist society, such as ours).  These are just some of the things that I am not thankful for on this Thanksgiving Day, circa 2011.

'Candle-in-a-Box at the Beach'

A storm is brewing.  The natives are restless.

I did not paint this painting with revolution in mind but I will use it for this post as a metaphorical illustration of the sociopolitical demonstrations that we are seeing at this time.  In reference to the Occupy Wall Street movement, "the people of Wall Street" are the candle, while the "windy cloud" and "churning sea" represents the 99%.  For the time being, the candle looks safe, but the box it resides in is made of wood and if the wind blows hard enough, long enough, it will probably weaken the candle's wooden box enough that it comes apart and the wind will blow the flame of the candle out.  But if the wind is not strong enough, the angry water of the sea can rise and surround the base of the candle's box, weakening the base as the wind blows enough to unsettle the box, causing its collapse, extinquishing the flame of the candle.  And there's always the possibility that the flame of the candle could ignite the box and destroy itself from the inside out.

My point is, the entity of Wall Street may feel safe inside their concrete and steel buildings protected by powerful politicians, but it is the people who hold the power to bring about change, and if the people are persistent, they can bring about change not only to Wall Street, but also to Washington.  The Occupy Wall Street movement is not just anger at our country's financial sector, it's also anger at our status quo government and corporate-owned politicians.

 'The Almighty Dollar'

 Capitalism is The Beast and a "credit score" is The Mark of The Beast, and now, every American is required to possess The Mark of The Beast.  Judgment is what The Mark of The Beast is about, judging citizens so that the citizen can be placed in its proper category within the capitalist society just as The Mark of The Beast was in the days of antiquity.  Most major business transactions that takes place today requires showing The Mark of The Beast, and a lot of employers require looking at an individual's Mark before hiring an employee. 

As the story goes, Jesus railed against "capitalism" of his time, throwing a tantrum and trying to cause a disruption in the system so that it would fail.  Where is Jesus now?  We sure could use his outrage to overthrow The Beast, and the sooner the better.  Capitalism has become a monster of a Beast.  Capitalism is founded on an ideology that is based on profit, not product.  "Profit above all else" is a philosophy that promotes greed and fraud, and that philosophy is taken to an extreme when capitalists start swapping, trading, and betting on "toxic assets" and bad debt, and then the corporate capitalist executives are rewarded with outrageous salaries and bonus packages for their greedy profit-only-driven business practices.

And here we are today, Americans are nation building around the globe trying to make others be like us so that we can all live under the control of The Beast.  One world order might work if it's not based on Corporate Capitalism.  But the U. S. of A. is a Capitalistic society and we're trying to be the influence for the rest of the world's population because we are the high and mighty (self-imposed) superpower of the planet.  I reiterate that we are now living with The Mark of The Beast.  The Beast is Capitalism, and The Mark of The Beast is our "credit score".  The only way we can "right the wrong" and get rid of The Mark is to kill The Beast. And that is not out of the realm of possibility.  I say, "Kill The Beast NOW!!!"

As a society, we can survive an end of Corporate Capitalism while still maintaining a free enterprise style of business philosophy.

'Sacrificial Offering'

It is believed that Jesus threw a tantrum in a temple that was directed at moneychangers, entrepeneurs, and corporate-types, those that represented capitalism of his day.  I can totally relate to how Jesus felt, although I don't possess the power it would take to bring down the leviathan that is corporate capitalism.  I want so badly to run through the "streets"  of Wall Street overturning the tables of the moneychangers, throwing around the cages of the pigeonsellers and goatkeepers, shaking the shakels of hedge fund and derivatives dealers, while screaming wildly about how wasteful capitalism really is.  When will this madness end?!

I wonder what Jesus expected to accomplish?  Did he just want the capitalism to happen outside of the temple?  Or did he want to completely do away with the greed that he was seeing?  It would take a revolution to overthrow our corporate socialist state known as capitalism.  Capitalism IS socialism for corporations!  And the socialism is funded by the taxpayers.  I really do wish that we could see a return of Jesus to this earth, now, so that I could witness the tantrum that he would throw at the waste of Wall Street and capitalism.  I would love to see another coming of Jesus the Revolutionary!

But my patience is growing thin as I watch dishonest, greedy people make billions at the expense of others.  Capitalism is the modern day equivalent of the den of thieves, and the thieves in the den are protected by laws put into place by politicians to protect them from being held accountable for their dastardly deeds, while the politicians that pass the laws probably profit in some way for the protection they provide to the thieves in the den.

I am totally in support of a free market system, but I am totally opposed to the greed of capitalism.  I am also opposed to huge banks that are allowed to gamble with its depositor's monies and are protected by laws and bailed out with taxpayer's money if failure is the result of the gambling.  That is wrong on so many levels.  If a person (or persons) is doing something positive for a society, then they should be rewarded with profit, for doing good.  But when wall-street-types are contributing absolutely nothing to our society, are causing economic collapse of entire industries for their own profit, then jail time is in order and "all monies should be stripped from their possession".  At the very least, they should be extradited to a deserted island or atoll somewhere far away from any society with one packet of Skittles and a 12 oz. bottle of water.  Maybe then, they might realize that their greed benefited no one but themselves.  That is my opinion!

'The Almighty Dollar'

This is my "Occupy Wall Street" post.  While I do agree with the premise behind the OWS protests, I feel like the message is a bit muddled and disorganized.  And why the tent cities?  If people just showed up everyday and protested, without residing at the place of protest, the message might be more clearly received.  But with the tents, drum circles, street entertainers, food booths, etc., the protests become street fairs, making them hard to be taken seriously.  And anytime violence is injected into the protests they are then labeled riots, which only further convolutes the message of the demonstration for reform.

I am anti-capitalism/anti-corporatism.  I have seen debates about this subject where people have claimed that we cannot survive as a free society without capitalism, which is absolute hogwash.  Yes, we are a free enterprise society and we can remain a free enterprise society without capitalism/corporatism.  We would just need to become a free enterprise society without publicly traded companies; all businesses would be privately owned.  Investing in a publicly traded corporation is a form of gambling and I say if you want to gamble with your money, then go to a casino.  By doing away with publicly traded corporations we could do away with the offshore tax havens that corporations use to avoid paying taxes in the U.S.  And by doing away with publicly traded corporations we could end the ridiculously outrageous pay and benefits packages that capitalist corporate CEOs receive.  If a privately owned company wants to pay its CEO $90 million dollars and can afford to do so, that is their right as a privately owned business.  But what we see in publicly traded corporations is that CEOs are only concerned with the bottom line--profits above all else.  That is why so many American jobs were shifted to overseas markets and that is why we find ourselves in the unemployment mess that we are in today.  With proper regulations on privately owned corporations we could keep jobs here in America.  We do need changes in all our financial institutions, not just the big banks that help make up Wall Street.  We need to do away with corporate capitalism.  We need to do away with publicly traded corporations and businesses and go to a privately owned-only system of business.  That would also do away with the 401K retirement accounts which is a good thing, because millions of people have had their life savings wiped out because they chose to gamble with their monies on unstable corporate stocks instead of putting it in a risk-free savings account.

Again, I do agree with the purpose of the Occupy Wall Street movement, but the message is convoluted, disorganized, and disjointed.  The "natives are restless", that is for sure, but I hope we can all come together peacefully to bring about the changes that our society so desperately needs for its financial institutions and Wall Street. The real results of the Occupy Wall Street Movement will be seen by way of the voting booth in November 2012.  Let's hope the message is loud and clear.

To Save Our Society

This week I recieved another email about the 28th Amendment.  This was the twelth email I have recieved since the beginning of August about this subject.  While I do agree with the proposals in this idea, unfortunately, according to Snopes.com, this "bill" that has been proposed for legislation is merely a popular email being circulated.  The emails have claimed that a bill titled the 'Congressional Reform Act of 2011' has been introduced to the House of Representatives.  This is absolutely false!

The changes this "proposed" 28th Amendment would be as follows:  1) Both chambers of Congress would have term limits of 12 years.  2) No tenure/No pension, members of Congress collect a salary while in office and recieves no pay when they are out of office.  3) All members of Congress participates in Social Security with the rest of the American people.  4) Congress must purchase their own retirement plan, just like the rest of the American people.  5) Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise.  6) Congress loses their current health care system, members will participate in the same health care system as the American people.  7)  Congress must equally abide by all laws, they do not get special exemptions or treatment.  8)  All contracts with past and present members of Congress are void effective January 1, 2012.  It would be wonderful for our Country if we could get at least some of this bill passed, creating the 28th Amendment to our Constitution, but I doubt this could ever happen.  But I do agree that reforms for the Legislative Branch are needed.

We the people need to regain our powers, and we can do this by coming together and voting all of the fools out of our Congress.  We can start by voting ALL conservatives out of office.  Let's look at what the Conservatives have inflicted on our society over the past 30 years.  Actually, let's just look at what the Conservatives have inflicted on our society just in the past TWELVE years.  Conservatives, along with their progressive conservative President Number Forty-three not only allowed the worst terrorist attacks to occur on our soil, but they also bankrupted our Government and brought us "The Great Recession of 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011", and we have yet to see a rebound from the damages that the Conservatives inflicted on our Society.

I do wish we the people could see a 28th Amendment similar to the one proposed in the email that is being circulated.  However, the most desireable reform that I would like to see in our Congress is to rid it of ALL Conservatives.  End Conservative Rule in 2012!  That would be change that we can all believe in. Then, and only then, can we start talking about introducing a "congressional reform act" that would help bring the members of Congress down from their tower, so they can be more like the rest of the citizens of our "great society".

END CONSERVATIVE RULE!!!

'Dubbya, Our Little Warmonger'

We appear to be caught up in a perpetual cycle of political campaigning.  My proposed reform for The Executive Branch might help eliminate part of that cycle and hopefully will help usher in real change that we all can believe in.

My first reform for The Executive Branch would be to limit the term for The President of The United States to one six year term.  With a single six year term, a President would not have to campign for reelection during his or her presidency.  Six years is plenty of time for one person to implement their brand of leadership.  Look at what George Troubleyou Bush was able to get accomplished in his first FOUR years:  his administration allowed the worst terrorist attacks on U. S. soil to take place, and then used those attacks to start TWO wars, burning through trillions of dollars of taxpayer's money.  Six years is plenty of time for a President to bankrupt a "great society" such as ours, as long as he or she has a willing Congress to aide their cause.  And, I believe, six years is enough time for a President to clean up the mess of his or her predecessor and get our economy back to good health, as long as he or she has a willing Congress to aide our cause.

Another reform I would make to The Executive Branch is to do away with the Electoral College.  When we are able to get rid of the Electoral College, I believe we will break through the glass ceiling of the two-party style of government so that more voices can be represented, and we can bring an end to the partisan gridlock in Washington, D.C. caused by obstructionistic political games.  We the people need to do away with the Electoral College.

My next post for reform will address The Legislative Branch.

'Not So Supreme'

In recent years, The Supreme Court has proven itself to be more like our five-headed monster.  Our highest court has indeed become more of a destructive force within our nation, which is dragging our society down.  In 2000, it was five members of The Supreme Court who decided who would be President, overriding the votes of millions and millions of American citizens.  That decision proved to be very bad judgment on behalf of the American people.  It also turned out to be a very bad infliction on hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dead innocent humans in Afghanistan and Iraq.  The blood of the dead rests as evidence of poor judgment by five outlaw activist judges on our high court in 2000.

Ten years later, with several new members on the "high court", once again another poor judgment was made by our five-headed monster, giving us another major failure. In the judgement of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, once again we see the five outlaw activist judges claiming that corporations are the same as individual citizens.  This is not just an outrageous statement, this claim is reason for impeachment.  A corporation is NOT the same thing as a person or individual.  The results of this exasperating misjudgement by our five-headed monster are unprecedented amounts of monies being injected into our political campaigns, and much of it can be done secretly.  Again, I say that this decision alone serves as grounds for impeachment of those five outlaw activist judges, but I realize that will probably never happen.  Regardless of impeachment or not, the Citizens United case serves as evidence that our highest court contains five justices that are not serving the best interest of the citizens of our society, but they are serving the best interests of themselves.

The Supreme Court was created in 1789 with six judges representing an American population of approximately 4 million citizens.  Between then and 1937 the number of judges fluctuated up to ten and then settled at nine, a number that has lasted to this day.  And yet, we now find our population of citizens at approximately 306 million.  But still only nine judges on our highest court to make decisions on behalf of almost a hundred times more people.  Reform of our Judicial Branch is very much needed today.  The Supreme Court should be increased to twenty-one.  Yes, 21 justices.  While I realize this would be an uphill battle and very controversial, especially among conservatives, this change to the Supreme Court is not out of the realm of possibility.

'Drowning Man in a Calm Sea'

I wonder why Americans are so complacent about the "super committee" that was created by members of Congress in late July as part of the "debt deal"?  The way I see it, the "super committee", or the "smoke and mirrors committee", is unconstitutional.  The founding fathers did not create a society that was based on two political parties.  We have allowed the governing of our Country to be controlled mainly by two political parties by way of unfair and imbalanced campaign rules and regulations.  The creation of a "super committee" in our Congress is unconstitutional because it only allows representation of Democrats and Republicans.  Why not an Independent?  Where is the representation for the other political parties that we have in America?  Trust me when I say that neither the Democrats, nor the Republicans, are capable of representing all of the variations of political flavors that make up the people of the United States of America.  Our Country was not founded on the principal of being a two-party nation, and yet, that is what we have allowed ourselves to become.  The "smoke and mirrors super committee" is unconstitutional, period!

So where is the revolution by the people?  Where is the legal challenge to this new unconstitutional overreach by the two power-holding political parties of our society?  I know I should not be surprised by this, because I have proclaimed for quite some time now that we are a broken society, and the brokenness begins at the very basis of our society, which is our Government.  All three branches need major reforms.  My next few posts on this blog will be my outline of the changes that I think we need to make to our three branches of government in order to make them work better for our society, circa 2012.  We are, after all, a different nation than when these three branches were formed and change is in order.  Yes, change to all three branches of our Government is very much needed.

For the record, I am an unaffiliated voter in North Carolina.  That means that I have no affiliation with any political party.