Visit us there for all recent news, blogs, and events.

The Iconographer trailer, a film by Andy Mingo

& The Iconographer trailer #2, an alternate view of the film.

So there has been a lot of stink lately about Barak Obama using the term, “lipstick on a pig”.  Speculation has run rampant reagarding exactly what he meant, to the point that some even suggested that he was referring to Palin as a pig, hence the feminist uproar and backlash, all working according to the Republican playbook.

People please.  Palin is not the pig in the current GOP configuration…  McCain is the pig.  I thought this much was obvious.  He is bloated and white and bulbous (for heroic and patriotic reasons I must add).  Put that up on the stage for a town hall style talk and… snore, people grab for their remotes looking for reruns of Hogan’s Heroes.  Bring in the Alaskan milf, however, with her Japanese, rimless glasses, and yes, lipstick, to stare adoringly at the old man, and those “town hall” meeting don’t seem that bad.  Never mind her foreign policy is based squarely on rubber stamping approval for oil drilling dictated to her by our oil overlords.

Don’t act so offended, you know what I’m saying is true.  The GOP campaign has long paraded Cindy McCain, the ex beauty queen, on stage to nod approvingly at the old man while he prattled on.  But in the end, Cindy wasn’t cutting it for those hip, younger voters (sorry Cindy).  We’ve got to have something to look at.

In conclusion, you may all be having fantasies of Palin while you sit in the harvesters, but how far can that fantasy go when the old man pops in for the inevitable three way…  creepy.

Episode #06 marks the return of the press podcast after a lengthy absence. You tell us if it was worth the wait:

:: Conference recaps from AWP and &NOW :: 2008 releases by Lou Rowan, Kevin Sampsell and Lily Hoang :: Looking forward to Writer’s Edge :: Teaser preview of our upcoming release from Stephen Graham Jones :: First Book Contest :: Post-production update on The Iconographer :: Lidia’s healthy skepticism towards Barack Obama :: WE LOVE STEVE TOMASULA!! :: Andy’s love affair with Big Oil :: Trevor drinks Andy’s milkshake P.T. Anderson style :: Chiasmus mascots Rusty and Chomsky get it on :: Flashmob of kids threatens to destroy the Milwaukie mothership ::

You can shout back by email (contact@chiasmusmedia.net), or leave us voicemail through Skype (username: chiasmuspress). Don’t forget that the podcast is listed on iTunes, which makes subscribing to our RSS feed easy enough that even a U.S. president could do it.

For my last go as managing editor of the Clackamas Literary Review, we’ve devised an eclectic bunch of work, including writing by Lidia Yuknavitch and Anne Lesley Selcer.

Give it a read if you get a chance:

http://www.amazon.com/Clackamas-Literary-Review-Andy-Mingo/dp/0979688213/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213989526&sr=8-4

The glossy-eyed sycophant factor. I haven’t seen such an extreme righteousness and fervor in a national group of supporters since my time getting to know the radical environmental movement of the late 90’s. Like many members of Earth First!, and to some extent the former inhabitants of Jonestown, the swooning, myopic, “how dare you raise a question” mentality that they possess truly frightens me. It’s not that I’m afraid of any of the present button-down political “radicals” driving hybrids that invariably make up a large part of the Obama crowd, instead it’s the total abandonment of critical analysis for catchy slogans in a time of crisis which in essence levels once intelligent people to the status of political livestock that has me rattled.

Remember that getting all swept up in a political zeitgeist makes you a member of a mob and not a citizen of a country. Likewise, Hillary will be the first to remind the superdelegates that the founding fathers were very wary of this exact type of national movement and accordingly built safeguards into our political system to save us from our own democracy.

Obama is a politician. He is not a contestant on American Idol nor a religious prophet. He will undoubtedly disappoint millions of one-time supporters once he is elected.

So please take a deep breath. Have a glass of wine and chill the f#ck out. Stop grossing us out and we may just join you.

Declaring that Sen. Barack Obama is a “serious American and not a traitor,” one time Mike Huckabee supporter Chuck Norris has endorsed Barak Obama for the Democratic nominee for president on Tuesday according to the Drudge Report.

Norris – a one time supporter and friend of President George Bush helped start the Kick Start Foundation to teach the martial arts to 150 high-risk children in Houston Texas as a part of the school curriculumin in 2003.

“Barack Obama will be a tough and non-racially motivated patriot,” Norris said, Obama standing at his side. “[It] is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our nation and you are a once-in-a-lifetime leader.”

Obama said, “I am extraordinarily grateful to have the support of one of the great public servants of these United States.”

“He’s done the kind of work that you want from your public servants, somebody who’s driven not just by raw ambition, not just by an interest in personal aggrandizement,” Obama added. “He’s been somebody who’s been motivated by the desire to make the lives of working people a little bit better.”

Norris praised Obama for his speech this week on race in America, saying “he appealed to the best in us American citizens.”

“As a martial arts master, I was particularly touched by his words,” Norris said, putting his arm around Obama and declaring in Korean that he is “a man who understands us.”

Norris is the nation’s only true white martial artist. Most orientals have tended to support Sen. Hillary Clinton in her quest for the Democratic nomination.

Obama and Clinton both lobbied Norris for his endorsement after Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee dropped out of the race in February. Norris called Clinton Thursday to tell her of his decision, Clinton’s campaign said, “Both candidates have many great endorsers, but the voters, not endorsers, will decide this election, and there are still millions of voters in upcoming contests who want to have their voices heard,” Clinton spokesman Jay Carson said.

The Clinton and Obama campaigns have been waging an intense battle for the backing of superdelegates, roughly half of whom have yet to declare their support.

Norris pointed out in his speech that Obama is “after all, well ahead in the delegate fight as far as fighters are concerned,” drawing a roar of approval from the crowd of Obama supporters.

Obama leads Clinton by 137 delegates, according to the latest count.

Norris said his “affection for Hillary Clinton and President Bill Clinton will never waver” but that “it is now time for a new generation of leadership, one that can kick its enemies in the face.”

Obama “can bring us the change we so desperately need by bringing us together as a nation here at home and with our allies abroad,” he said and then pulled out a silk scarf and puppet in order to discover his “inner child”.

Obama had earlier praised Norris.

“Whether it’s fighting to end the Iraq war via cinematic representation or stop the genocide in Darfur or prevent nuclear weapons from falling into the hands of terrorists, Chuck Norris has been a powerful voice on issues of global security, peace and justice,” Obama said in a statement released before the endorsement.

Norris is the second black belt hall of fame member to endorse Obama.

Ok, I’m a little miffed by all the attention spent defining race and gender in the current presidential primaries. Don’t get me wrong, it’s all very important, but at the same time, isn’t that what us white people do? Debate gender and race so that we can come out at the other end verifying that we are not indeed racist or sexist? Our hearts surge with tolerance and benevolence as the perfect economic storm threatens to hurl the world into a global depression. This, on the other hand, isn’t something we want to say out loud or even hear. What I do see instead are magic incantations where such a catastrophe can be averted if only we hope enough, if only we say that we are coming together for change. Might it be time to break out the puppets and silk scarves for a role playing session to discover our inner child as well?

So let’s just say that we have achieved peak oil. You know what I’m talking about; here we all are locked down in a mighty roller coaster riding that sickening last second before we plunge down the backside of Hubbert’s Peak. It could sound fun if it didn’t carry with it the ramifications that nobody is willing to talk about: diminishing supplies, greater and greater demand from nuclear powers like China and India, an American elite class circling the wagons with their oil profits and private security forces… It’s gotten so bad that none of us really look at the price at the pump anymore. We simply pull up, pay with a credit card, and when the nice man hands you the receipt (granted I live in Oregon), it’s just better to throw it on the floor by the passenger seat than admit that gasoline will only become more and more expensive, prohibitively so. Too expensive to drive to work. Too expensive to transport goods and services.

Indeed, as the mortgage and credit crisis swirl around us, the only ingredient missing for another global Great Depression would be an oil shortage. Even Alan Greenspan is now saying that we are heading into “the worst US financial crisis since World War Two.” This while George W does a soft shoe routine on the steps of the White House, and oil thirsty gangs with Mohawks on stripped down motorcycles scour the roadways for unsuspecting victims to jack while we all could have been driving electric cars for the last decade.

Wait. The motorcycle gang is just a projection, an extension of my own negative illusion that has enveloped a world where anything is possible, like “hope” and “change,” a world that focuses on race and gender when it should be thinking about its own survival.

At least we have another season of American Idol.

So let me start out by saying that I’m not against Obama. What I am finding strange though is the total lack of objectivity in the liberal media, in particular CNN, when covering the democratic primaries. For example, when Obama won Iowa, CNN had him projected to win the nomination. Their pundits would not stop beating the Obama drum even while Clinton took New Hampshire… (John King had to be asked to stop projecting an Obama victory even as Hillary was declared the winner). Obama takes South Carolina — he is the new JFK. Clinton takes Florida, and those votes don’t really mean anything (kind of like the 2000 election?), this according to CNN.

And then my eyes scroll down CNN.com’s home page to find a “story” titled, “Does Your Butt Look Big?” Except it doesn’t link to CNN, but instead to Oprah.com. Hmmm. So dig a little deeper and you will discover the Anderson Cooper appearance on the Oprah show. He’s not just an anchorman anymore, he’s “American Royalty”, just like he always knew he would be. So is it any wonder that Anderson gets catty with other ladies like Hillary who don’t give him as much attention? Those who don’t acknowledge his obvious merits?

We’ve complained for some time now of Murdoch’s influence of FOX News to the point that FOX News is simply putting out right wing propaganda. But is it possible that the liberal media is falling into a similar seductive trap, of becoming an instrument of another establishment, of becoming propaganda for Oprahfication?

Trust me, the danger is subtle yet real. As a writer, editor, and teacher of literature, I’ve witnessed a similar influence of what is regarded “good reading” in this country, as Oprah’s thumb up or down can literally make or break an author into A Million Little Pieces. In the end, innovative writing gives way to hopeful, feel-good, “women’s” stories that inspire a vacant hope and reliance on Oprah for future good feelings.

And so it is working with Obamarama, we have left concrete plans and logic for inspiration and vacant hope that does not give specifics, a fairytale like Camelot… The triumph of pathos over ethos and logos.

Again, Obama may make a great president, but to have this achieved due to a media smear would only taint any inspiration that he is supposed to embody.

It starts with one person (me)- the initial recruiter – who is at the apex of the pyramid (that means the top). This person recruits a second person, my friend Dick, who is required to “invest” $100 which is paid to the initial recruiter (me). In order for Dick to make money back, he must recruit more people under him, each of who will also have to invest $100. If Dick gets 10 more people to invest, this person will make $900 with just a $100 investment… I know it’s complicated, but stay with me.

The 10 new people become recruiters and each one is required to enlist an additional 10 people, resulting in a total of 100 more people. Each of those 100 new recruits are also obliged to pay $100 to the person who recruited him or her; recruiters get a profit of all of the money received minus the initial $100 paid to the person who recruited them… so on and so forth until everyone is covered by the plan. The earning potential is unlimited, I think you’d agree. Something way better than social security.

Here’s a diagram to help you visualize. Now look at it and squint and it’s bound to make scents.

God Bless America.

Now I watched the Democratic Presidential debates, and have been most impressed by Hillary and her intellectual ability to cut through arguments based strictly on pathos. Although I cry at night knowing that Edwards’ mom worked in a mill, and that he is looking out for me with his $400 hair cuts, in the end, I have been affected by the “reality check” called for by Hillary. She gives facts. She gives specific examples of her ability to bring about change. She has illustrated that she is, in fact, the right man for the job in the critical analysis sense.

But have we learned nothing in the past 20 years? Let’s travel back to the Bush vs. Kerry debates in 2004. Remember little monkey Bush with his secret Karl Rove communication devise bulging through the back of his suit? Remember how Kerry dispatched him with a brutal barrage of logic and facts? Remember how in the end the country (not me or anyone I’m friends with) decided that Bush’s faith in his war would deliver us?

Well it has delivered us, perhaps finally in his last months in office, but not for the reasons that the thinking person may want to admit. Politics over the last 20 years has become a serial rerun. First there was Bush #1, then there was Clinton that then led to Bush #2 (and near apocalypse). Whether we know it or not, our support for Hillary will only lead to the impending doom of Jeb Bush, the dumber brother, inheriting the White House in 2016 to finish the job his big brother had started. While this logic is flawed it is subconscious and more powerful than any facts leading us to a leader who may, in fact, be able to take over on day one.

Let me put it another way; remember the first season of The A Team? You were ten years old. Mr. T would do that elbow/back-fist-to-the-chops-move before he’d grab the drug dealer and throw him through the fake-glass window? It was exciting for the first two seasons, but in the end there was a finite number of war wagons that could be manufactured with a blow torch and odds and ends before the whole thing became repetitive, and so we changed the channel.

The problem with Hillary isn’t with Hillary. It’s that we don’t have the stomach anymore for the old serials. People know that they want change, and that is right to some extent. I believe that this country may be so sick of what it’s become that we don’t need reminders of the past. Nostalgia is dead for us. The country doesn’t want another Rambo film. Our enemy’s isn’t Charlie anymore like in the 80′s serial action ejaculations (need I remind you of the Missing in Action trilogy with Chuck Norris?). We have lost faith in symmetry.