Tag: elections

REPUBLICANS FURIOUS (OF COURSE)

SEP 27, 2013 - JTMP believes health care is a human right and a civil right, and we support steps like Obamacare that takes us toward a better system. We actually support Medicare For All, but hopefully this is a step towards a more universal and fairer system in doling out health care to our citizens. Turns out the Affordable Heath Care Act has an added benefit on top of getting people more access to our health care system, it automatically registers one to vote, and that is totally pissing off conservatives. Why are they always angry when our government tries to make it easier to vote? They fought the Motor Voter Bill, they hate early voting, etc. Addiciting Info has a great article on it, and how the roll out of Obamacare may crush their efforts of voter suppression at the state level they have been engaged in recently. Read more on AddictingInfo.org here. If you want to start your Obamacare registration check out HealthCare.gov, and register to vote...AND VOTE! Especially for midterms and the local and state level elections. VOTE EVERY TIME, EVERY ELECTION! 

SEP 12, 2013 - JTMP is a strong supporter of new and fairer forms of capitalism, and we strongly support cooperatives and employee-owned businesses like Publix; and we ran across a great project going on with online retailer Aplomb we just had to tell you about. They have turned their website into a forum where people exchange ideas about important issues and build up votes to use as currency. Art work is inspired, and that art is then put on their t-shirts that the "Creative Conspiracy", as they call themselves, can buy with their accumulated activist work credit they have done online.

JTMP caught up with Ryan from Aplomb in an email interview, and he was nice enough to tell us about how it all began. Ryan explained to JTMP that Aplomb started back in 2006 with his observation on how little you could pay artists in the t-shirt apparel business, and he also felt other injustices within the apparel industry were happening. Their "streetwear brand" t-shirt apparel business would pay as little as $200 for the artist's work, and didn't even have to give them credit. He says in the interview, "Something that stuck out was how ridiculous 'lifestyle' brands were. It was crazy that people would actually pay or buy into someone's lifestyle. That is when the epiphany started." Ryan then went on to say, "I would get people involved in the brand, use their ideas to provide significant meaning in the products we sold instead of promoting another 'lifestyle'. I would pay artists fairly and promote them along with the people's ideas instead of ourselves. In an industry that promotes the promotion of self we knew we had the opportunity to change things by putting the fans and the artists first."

CLICK READ MORE TO READ REST OF INTERVIEW

August 1, 2013 - JTMP strongly believes in working with the community and those who have made mistakes in their past and have paid their debt to society and are trying to move on with their lives. One of the issues we support strongly is the restoration of voting rights to felons, and one of our favorite groups is working very hard on this issue, the Brennan Center for Justice. They describe how there are "nearly 4 million disenfranchised Americans who have been released from prison and are living in the community, but are still denied the right to vote." Some states and the District of Columbia automatically give felons their right to vote back once they have paid their debt to society, but there are still 35 states holding on to antiquated prejudices and discriminations against members of the community who have made mistakes in their past, have atoned and paid their debt, and need to move on with their lives. In 2011, the Brennan Center for Justice supported the "Democracy Restoration Act", that called for federal legislation to restore voting rights in federal elections to felons. The bill was introduced by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) and Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), but later died in committee. JTMP calls for the current US Congress to pick up the cause, and get a similar bill introduced and passed restoring voting rights to these disenfranchised Americans.

Read more about the Brennan Center for Justice and their efforts to restore voting rights on their website here.

Also, JTMP supports the "Ban The Box" campaign, meaning employers and others cannot ask if that person has even been convicted of a crime on job applications, housing, public benefits, insurance. loans and other services. Once a member of society has paid their debt, some time has gone by, and the crime is irrelevant to the job or situation, it is a matter of privacy and belongs in the past. It is merely callously and unnecessarily prolonging the punishment, and preventing that person from re-entering and being able to to get by in this society. Read more and get involved with the "Ban The Box" cause by visiting the BanTheBoxCampaign.org website.  (photo credit: Scott*/Flickr)

APR 11, 2013 - Kid Rock started getting involved in politics with Jon Stewart's "Restore Sanity" tour, and most recently stumped for the Republican Presidential nominee in 2012, Mitt Romney. He also did a PSA with Sean Penn in a "bipartisan" PSA. In a new Rolling Stone interview Kid Rock waded into politics again and commented on many of the recent state laws being passed by Republican state legislatures restricting rights and says, "That's one of the times I'm fucking embarrassed to be a Republican. It's fucking Republican lawmakers, you dumbasses." In response to the criticism he supported Mitt Romney he said, "People in this country just hate each other for voicing an opinion, especially in my business I'm like the fucking lone wolf. Look, I tend to vote Republican, but I don't like the hardcore views on either side and I'm not in bed with anybody. I'd probably be more Libertarian, but I'm a firm believer you have to pick a side."  (photo credit: CC/LuisValdespino)

Read the entire interview on Rolling Stone here.

June 5, 2012 - Truthdig has a cool article out about the Yo Soy 132 student movement going on in Mexico, where journalist Carmen Aristegui asked the students to create a soundtrack for the marches. Some of the songs that got "Tweeted" with her hashtag "#CancionesParaMarchar" were Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall" but also many local Mexican artists were voted for also. Check out the article and what the soundtrack turned out to be at Truthdig.com here. For more information on Yo Soy 132 check out their Wiki articile here, and if you are bi-lingual you can check out their website here. Check out a video below of Molotov by eLbiser86; one of the bands that got a lot of votes, and speaks out about the poverty and corruption in Mexico. The band is called Molotov, and the song is "Gimme the Power".  (Photo CC by-sa 2.0)