61revised.com

Democracy - it is a rather simple proposition, for which considerable participation is necessary.  Alongside legal propositions, 61revised.com would propose you vote this Tuesday April 8th, when many counties and municipalities in Missouri will be voting for candidates and plans.  And since you have the power to determine your own future through this process, we want all of our readers (and students in particular) to put their votes where they count - in the ballot box.

It is your responsibility to vote using your best judgment.  It is also the obligation for which a free press is protected constitutionally - to inform a citizenry so that they may make their choice electorally - for which we are responsible to make sure you know what you’re voting on.  The St. Louis Post-Dispatch (as usual) has created a valuable Voter Guide, with which we’re sure you can make informed decisions when you are voting.  Please vote responsibly.

Ready to dip your toe into a little local political activism? Do you feel strongly that we should do whatever it takes to provide for a cleaner Missouri? Are you in favor of getting your energy from cleaner, alternative sources? Well here is your chance to really do something about it!

Renew Missouri currently needs volunteers to collect signatures to get a Renewable Electricity Standard for Missouri on the ballot so Missourians can vote on it. To get an initiative on the November 2008 ballot, 130,000 voter signatures are needed statewide.

If you are interested in volunteering, there are two upcoming training events (from an email from Renew Missouri):

Signature Gathering Happy Hour, Friday (TONIGHT!), March 21 at 5:30 p.m. at CooperElla

Meet us in the heart of Maplewood, at CooperElla, on Friday, March 21 at 5:30 p.m. for a signature gathering happy hour. We’ll conduct a short volunteer training, and support this locally owned business. They offer sandwiches, coffee, teas, wine, and Schlafly beer products. We can practice our petitioning best practices around downtown Maplewood after the event.

Cooper Ella is located at 7401 Hazel, Maplewood, MO 63143 Click here for maps and directions.

To RSVP, please Jessica Post at 573-230-9807.

Signature Gathering Training at Wash U, Monday, March 24 at 7:00 p.m.

Join the best students activists in the region for a signature gathering training on the Wash U campus. The training is 7 pm on Monday, March 24 in Friedman Lounge, which is in the Wohl Center on the South Forty (accessible via Shepley Drive).

Nonstudents can park in metered spaces on the Wash U campus, on the left before the Wohl Center. For a campus parking map, or for questions, call Brian DeSmet at 314-727-0600.

As you might have expected, Drinking Liberally will be meeting this Tuesday night March 4th to watch the primary returns in the Schlafly Tap Room.  They’ll be braving the weather since they are supposed to be lobbying in Jefferson City for some other causes, but they promise to make it eventually so that:

“Join us at The Tap Room to watch the results from Ohio, Texas, Vermont & that other state tomorrow- March 4th at 7PM! We’ll be in the north bar near the dart boards. There will be SuperFun door prizes and we will buy the first 10 people to show up a BEER!”

For readers of a more conservative stripe looking to get social now that John McCain is the de facto GOP nominee, you need not worry about being of legal drinking age when the Missouri College Republican Convention takes place in St. Louis next month.  Starting the afternoon of Friday April 4th and continuing through Saturday the 5th of April, these young conservatives will come to town eat pizza, trade notes, and gain valuable organizing advice in anticipation of this year’s general election in the fall.  According to their Facebook page:

“This year’s convention will be held in the Adam’s Mark Hotel in the shadow of the arch. We are very excited to have chosen St. Louis as the location of this year’s convention because of all the great attractions St. Louis has to offer, such as the Arch, Laclede’s Landing and Busch Stadium - all of which are just minutes away from the Adam’s Mark… After convention ends, kids are welcome to stay and hang out in St. Louis, however a hotel will not be provided Saturday night. But for those who want to stay, a place to sleep will be found.”

If you’re a local Republican, the event, which costs $20 to attend, will exclude aforementioned stay at the Adam’s Mark.  You might consider that the fiscally prudent action to take considering the substantial cost to stay there, so interested parties should take the principled stand of embracing the free-market value of those tickets.

We don’t usually comment on political stories, especially before important primaries; with no offense intended to those who blog on the subject, we consider our blog relatively apolitical (if only because we have about zero credibility to analyze this subject).  At least we have the common sense not endorse any candidates since the Missouri primary was particularly close in either party’s primaries.  That being said, you might consider tomorrow night’s primary to be a little like NBA Jam: Primary Edition. 

For everyone who doesn’t remember this arcade basketball classic, this 2-on-2 basketball game from the early 1990s played loose on the rules and big with slam dunks - just like politics!  The game’s creators must have made the comparison themselves, because among the hidden characters included in the game were both then President Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton.  According to our research Clinton’s  stats are actually all “?”s, which could be reflected likewise in the super-delegate count.  Of course these statistics are probably skewed, as Chicago’s other most famous player Michael Jordan is not playable in the game.  And although Barrack Obama is not playable in the game, considering his stretch of at least 10 successive wins we would imagine that he is “on fire!” by anyone’s definition. 

“Is it in the shoes?”  To find out, we ran a short simulation of a game between the San Antonio Spurs to represent Senator Clinton’s campaign in Texas (because the Dallas Mavericksare leaning toward McCain presumably) and the Washington Wizards to represent Barrack Obama.  (Hey, it works for the Superbowl).  And although Hillary Clinton was backed with the endorsement of Dream Team player David Robinson, the Washington Wizards held on to a narrow lead in the second half to win the game 53-48 (which we think are nearly usable as percentage points).  So depending on your political affiliation this might be the result you’re expecting this Tuesday March 2nd, although it should probably be noted the game also includes Will Smith, Mike D of the Beastie Boys, and Sub Zero as unlockable characters as well - all of whom should be available to fill cabinet positions.

Since last weekend one puppet show, a touring production of Avenue Q, moved on to the next town from a successful run at the Fabulous Fox Theater.  This upcoming weekend another puppet show intended for mature audiences will come into town, albeit of a more altruistic intentions than the corporate denizens of Broadway producers.  The Boxcutter Cabaret, who describe their pupper act as ”a ragtag association of cardboard wigglers, horn tooters, meat chompers, and a bell-strapped human xylophone,” will put forth their activism-inspiring art in Saint Louis.  That show, which is being brought into our community through the Community Arts & Media Project, will play this Saturday March 1st, starting at 7:30pm.  Of course the show, which will ”convey a general dissatisfaction with post-modern convenience and promote a return to old-timey difficulty,” might not be condusive to audiences that learn about their community through online magazines, so the $5 admission fee for adults need not suffice for a mention of where you heard about it *nudge*.

You’ll get another chance to shake your corporate puppet masters the next week as Codepink invades the Saint Louis area begining Wednesday March 5th through International Women’s Day March 7th. Maybe conquest is the wrong word for these people working to achieve social, racial, economic, and gender equality, in which egalitarianism seems within reach.  To help that happen they’ll host a round table discussion in Legacy Book and Cafe that Wednesday, followed by a seminar on Thursday March 6th in the Morris University Center Maple/Dogwood Room at SIUE.  The week is capped off that Friday the 7th with conquest of Washington University, when they’ll host an Actvist Training Campstarting at 9am (with refreshments from Black Bear Bakery) with a grassroots media workshop, continuing with peace art training from Laurie Meier, and culminating in an action workshop from Codepink/Global Exchange founder Medea Benjamin.  There they’ll shake the institutional shackles of that educational organzation whilst learning how to organize themselves without their puppet masters.

Yeah boy! Chuck D is coming to Webster University this Monday February 25th, not just to Bring the Noise but also to Bring his Insight; you might want to bring your notebook to jot down a few notes.  Besides his illustrious music career as a founding member of Public Enemy, Chuck D leads the hip-hop generation into politics and on the airwaves with his nationally syndicated radio talk show On The Real. 

This lecture, which is free to the general public on a first come first serve seating basis, is surely going “to make everybody see in order to fight the powers that be“. So how can Webster be sure that it’s institutional walls won’t be shaken to the ground? According to this press release from Webster University:

Chuck D is known for delivering powerful messages about race, rage, reality and inequality. He has continued to push the envelope and deliver his messages through his best-selling autobiography, “Fight The Power.”…Through his lectures, Chuck D moves beyond rap music and discusses topics as diverse as politics, Internet file sharing and the state of hip-hop culture.

You might have already heard about the event, which will take place in the Loretto Hilton Center next Monday starting at 7pm (with doors opening at 6:15pm, giving you plently of time to bum rush the show). We just thought we’d remind you so that you can ”kick the bass for them brothers, And let them know, What goes on.“  So yes, you can believe the hype.

With apologies to Antonio French*: 

Super Tuesday- Barack Obama and John McCain win Missouri and Illinois primaries.  Wayne Root wins Missouri Libertarain primary, and Cynthia McKinney wins Illinois Green Party primary.

Fat Tuesday- Mardi Gras parade canceled due to inclement weather.  Ash Wednesday imminent.

Watch Party- Missouri, Webster Groves, and The Royale featured on NPR’s All Things Considered.  George W Bush still President.

Keep down with politics (or at least parties) on Highway 61 (Revised)*

As if there weren’t enough poltical blogs writing about the same contest today, Highway 61 also implores you to participate in Tuesday’s Super-Flabergasting primaries for the Presidential contest in Illinois and Missouri.  And if only because we suspect you’ve read enough commentary on the contest today, we’re extending an invitation to all of our readers who are poltical junkies (like me) to vote with their cocktails for a watch party.

Besides our endorsement of this otherwise non-partisan poltical party, you can cheer on you favorite cannidate along with other polsters, pundits, hacks, and lobbyists in public.  So if you’re not predisposed like many of our friends at the Obama watch party in the Moolah Theater, who I’m sure would gladly invite their Republican friends as well, you can always be Drinking Liberally with the Young Democrats at the Royale this Tuesday night at the Royale. But if you take our credibility as high in reguard (and who could blame you), you can always take Steve Smith’s endorsement, which went a little like this:

Citizen voters of any party and those non-citizens with political interest are welcome to watch the results. We will be running specials $2 Miller High Life (ha ha) and complimentary appetizers for voters between 7-9. Miss Emily Walker will be providing the soundtrack for the evening with Roboto Cobra to round out the evening.

And is is thusly, with free appetizers and PBR-substitutions, that Highway 61 has little choice but to endorse The Royale for Super Tuesday party for the Missouri and Illinois primary.  And if you’d rather be seen than watch, Bill Streeter has also endorsed the festivites will be broadcasting at the party live for The Uptake as the results roll in.  I like to watch (lol), and if you do too we hope you recount your options tonight.

I have never had a huge urge in my life for politics. Sure, I don’t discount debates or look down on its importance in our world, I’m just not one for incessantly arguing topics with firm minds. So, while Matt checks out his mock-caucus at the Royale tonight, I thought I’d offer an artistic alternative (yet still keeping with the political theme).

Enter George Caleb Bingham and his painting “The County Election.” The exhibit shows the make-up of the entire painting through preliminary sketches. The website even has a neat game to match the preliminary sketches to the elements in the final product. Art in politics, politics in art!

George Caleb Bingham: The Making of “The County Election” is located in the Cohen Gallery (313) and runs until March 9th.