The Color of the Future, Trashing Votes, Birds On The Wire
The Color of the Future, Trashing Votes, Birds On The Wire
[Greens] The Color of the Future
I've been talking with Congressional candidate Byron DeLear less than five minutes when one of the people with his campaign stops the interview. “Mr. DeLear, you need to go meet your constituents. He doesn't help us,” he interjects, gesturing to me.The man seems flustered, and understandably so. It's the Sunday before Election Day and by the time this comes out it will be over, so every minute not furthering the campaign is a minute wasted, especially when you're in the midst of mountainous uphill climb to put the first-ever Green Party candidate into Congress. DeLear insists on answering a few more of my questions – he is charismatic and well-spoken, praising this publication's coverage of Rocketdyne one minute, quoting Langston Hughes and Franklin D. Roosevelt the next – and then goes back to shaking hands with the crowd at the Studio City Farmers Market.
“Hello, I'm trying to stop the war in Iraq,” he says, by way of introduction. One man says that he doesn't support the Green Party, but wants “to send a message about Iraq.”
“OK, well, this is it right here. Berman's the Lieberman of the West Coast,” DeLear responds, referring to his opponent, now-13-term incumbent 28th District Representative Howard Berman. “He won't hold the president accountable.”
DeLear has been at the market since it opened in the morning, and stayed up until 3 a.m. the night before compiling and posting online Berman's voting record on Iraq. DeLear has accused Berman, a Democrat, of supporting the war, pointing to his votes blocking a timetable for troop withdrawal and providing funding for the war. His other campaign issues include improving the environment, raising the minimum wage, and getting corporate money out of politics.
“The leaderships of the two major parties right now are corporate handled, and they pursue a doctrine of cornucopian economic policies that are not sustainable. We need to stop this and start to champion a new narrative and a new vision for our nation,” he says.
–Alfred Lee
[Election] Trashing Votes
Voting officials and Democrats try not to let news like this get around, but evidence gathered from the 2004 U.S. elections shows that where you vote determines, to no small extent, whether you will vote and whether your vote will be counted. In the most densely populated areas, there simply aren't enough well-trained volunteers, voting machines, or available locations to make for easy lines at the polls.
“It's becoming increasingly difficult to find polling locations in urban areas,” says Mara Marks of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles, who recently co-authored the report “Precinct Quality and Voter Turnout.” “You see less quality and accessibility and such in … areas like Inglewood and other areas with heavy African-American turnout.”
To top it all off, those who vote in districts that are poor, overcrowded, and heavily minority – which tend to favor Democratic Party candidates – are also at much greater risk of not having their votes counted. “There is a correlation between race, socioeconomic class, and spoiled votes,” says Dr. Philip Klinkner, a professor of government who studies American politics and election issues at Hamilton College. Klinkner points to cases like Florida in 2000, where “black voters were more likely to have spoiled votes,” and New Mexico in 2004, where there was a 500 percent increased chance that if you were Hispanic, your vote would be discounted.
What can you do to make sure your vote gets counted? Dr. Klinkner has a few tips: “If it is a punch card, make sure there isn't the famous hanging chad. If it is electronic, follow the directions carefully and ask for help if you are confused. If it is a write-in ballot, write clear and dark.” As for finding a polling station if you live in a less-affluent area, that may be more of a challenge. “To get that changed,” says Ms. Marks, “you have to talk to the [California state] registrar.”
–David Davin
[Street Art] Birds On The Wire
Sneakers are so last summer. Now there's a new statement dangling from powerlines all over the city. These past few months, small day-glo birds have been appearing above major L.A. intersections, causing much head-scratching over what kind of statement their creator could be making. Are the birds political? Are they a symbol of peace? Or maybe a reference to a Leonard Cohen song?
The birds' creator has no intention of answering those questions anytime soon. “I have my own personal meaning for the birds,” says the artist, who chooses to remain anonymous. “People have their own thoughts about them. So why mess with that?”
Originally, the iconic bird was one of several characters the artist had been developing. “Each character has its own message, and it has to find its own home, like how the bird has its home – when I finally came to, ‘Oh, let's put them on wires,' that was when the bird really found its place.”
From just a handful of birds strung up in Venice – the artist's hometown – there are now over 200 birds across Los Angeles, between 20 to 30 after this past weekend in San Francisco, and possibly even more coming to roost in New York and Japan in the next year.
Despite the public nature of the birds project, the artist remains hesitant to claim the birds as his own, leaving his own identity and reasons for the project shrouded in mystery. “Well, give me some time,” the artist says. “Maybe I'll write out the secret for you one day.”
–Jade Werner
Published: 11/09/2006
DIGG | del.icio.us | REDDIT
