MAYDAY MAYDAY!

Since I work for a legitimate news outlet, I'll preface this by saying that my opinions are mine and not of my employers. Damn, I'm starting to feel like a Viagra commercial.

So my new job doesn't leave much time to do much else, and when I'm off the last thing I want to do is sit in front of a screen and type. But I feel a certain responsibility to spread the word about May 1st as far and wide as I can. I'll also take this opportunity to update all the folks who've emailed me in the last month and I haven't had a chance to catch up with.

But first a mini history lesson. (If you know about May Day, skip the next paragraph)

If you enjoy your weekends, you have the labor movement to thank for that. In a time where workers have less and less rights, it's important for us to re-visit history. The first day of May or May Day is celebrated worldwide as the day to celebrate workers struggles, namely the 8 hour day. A lot of Americans don't know that the 'first' May Day took place in 1886 when "more than 300,000 workers in 13,000 businesses across the United States walked off their jobs" This struggle was driven partly by immigrant workers from Eastern Europe.

Which brings me to the latest fuckup by our great Emperor and his cronies. Why would you want to fuck with the folks who do all the shit you don't want to do. I know I don't have to go too far into this, but jeez. 30% approval ratings are in the horizon , Rove is about to learn to appreciate soap on a rope, and gas prices are skyrocketing. So after the two largest mass demonstrations in the history of our country, Bush and Co. are doing a lot of back pedaling concerning the new (anti)immigration law. And then what does he do? Appoints pill popper Rush Limbaugh's standby shit talker Tony Snow. I can't hardly wait to hear what that idiot is going to say after tomorrow's bitch slap. Yeah you heard me.

The Neo-Cons are about to get smacked upside the head tomorrow when millions of immigrants and their supporters don't show up to work, don't buy a fuckin' thing and take to the streets. So you're not an immigrant, so what do you care. Well you should , and you should join them and here's why.

This is bigger than than any bullshit law. You think because this law doesn't affect you, that these poor excuses for public servants are not going to fuck with you. Well they have been fuckin with you, lying to you, spending all your tax money, destroying the environment, spying on you, increasing national debt and making gazillions for their buddies.

The other day a good friend of mine wrote to me that he feels helpless, that nothing he can do can possibly make a difference. Well Don, here's your chance. Call in sick to work tomorrow. Take the leap. Leave at lunch if you have to. Feel what it is like to stick to the man and next time take a step further and after that take it even further. Forget voting and forget the Democrats. Direct Action baby.

OK, calm down Frank. Never drink coffee at 9pm again. So since y'all are going to grant my wish on May first go here for local info.

On the job front, I've been training, shooting, editing, training, shooting, etc. etc. I hate to sound like I'm gloating, but I love it at DN! The other day I got to videotape Roger Toussaint's march to jail. Toussaint is the president of the NY Transit Worker's Union and led a strike last December that paralyzed the subway for several days. He gave an amazing speech right before turning around and walking into jail. The next day we broadcast a portion on the show. Shoot, edit, and the next day a million people see it, WOW!. Believe me, I feel the weight of the responsibility of what it means to work for national TV show. There's no fuckin around and there's no cursing on TV. Needless to say, the national media largely ignored the Toussaint story, because the last thing they want is workers inspired to walk out of their jobs. Too late. Tomorrow. SMACK!

This weekend I went to the Energy Solutions conference on Peak Oil. To my surprise, the doom and gloom factor was minimal. A lot of great speakers gave a host of solutions and some even called for revolution. YEAH! Since a lot of you couldn't make it, here's two of my favorite speakers for your listening pleasure on high fidelity MP3. First Mike Ruppert of From the Wilderness, but the one I that took me by surprise was Derrick Jensen. Hosting these files on my server will probably generate a new FBI file for me, but fuck it.

Finally, the May issue of WIRED magazine included subMedia.TV in their list of the best sites to watch videos online.

OK, that's it. More in a month, hopefully...

love//the_stimulator