photo courtesy of HoldThatTiger

Tonight the Art Dept. at University of Houston is having their student show opening at the Blaffer Gallery. The opening is from 7 to 9 in the Fine Arts building on the UH central campus (Entrance 16 off of Cullen, near Cullen & Elgin).

In addition to the works shown in the gallery proper, tonight all four floors of the building will be opened up for touring the studios of the various disciplines and media within the department.
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An Evening With William Rodriguez
This Saturday, August 11th, 2007
8PM @ the University of Houston

This man was one of the last survivors pulled from the World Trade Center rubble and is a very vocal fighter in the 9-11 Truth movement. If you don’t know who he is or have never heard of his story then I urge you to attend this free event. As for those already interested in this subject matter you know you have to be there. This will be a very intimate & inspiring moment for Houston.

Find out more about this hero here: http://www.911forthetruth.com/pages/Rodriguez.htm

Exhibit will be held in the graduate painting studios of the University of Houston Art Building; which has been whitewashed in anticipation of the new school year. Look for artwork from Norberto Gomez, Jeanne Casanova, Cody Ledvina, Sean Carroll, Sebastian Foray, Cheyenne Ramos and Group 925- who invite everyone to add to their sprawling, humorous collaborative drawings. 4th Floor, UH Fine Art Building (above the Blaffer Gallery) 6-9pm, call 832-724-9464 for more information. As Cody Ledvina’s titillating flyer professes “bring stuff”

“The Metropolitan Transit Authority board approved a $77.3 million agreement Tuesday with an Idaho-based engineering and construction firm to begin work on the city’s next four rapid transit lines.”

Finally! Screw all you Anti-Metro Rail haters! This is exactly what this city needs! Well, we really need an infrastructure that’s more sophisticated but this is a step in that direction! As large as Houston is it’s down right laughable knowing how horrible our mass transit system currently operates. Not only will this be better for people’s commute but it will also be better for our air quality, our wallets and our communities!
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“A decade after Republic of Texas separatist Richard McLaren drew the attention of the nation to a far West Texas mountainside — not to mention about 300 state troopers — the prospect of growing old behind bars hasn’t altered his beliefs in the least.

In fact, the man who calls himself “Hostage No. 802782″ at a Panhandle state prison unit is surer than ever that Texas remains a sovereign nation.

“We didn’t start it,” McLaren said of the weeklong standoff that ended May 3, 1997, and left one of his followers dead. “We’re just the (keepers) of the 1836 constitution.”"

With all this immigration talk going around and La Raza trying to claim Texas as part of Mexico it’s hard to filter everything out and take a step back to study history. I can already predict a lot of people talking sh** about this but just keep in mind that because “the books” these days say otherwise it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the law. Omissions are obviously present and we should all be hearing this guy out. I don’t know how everyone else feels but I would be damn proud to support Texas Sovereignty. This would immediately free us from all the federal government restrictions and controls we currently live under. I’m still undecided and not sure what to believe here but rest assured that I will continue to investigate.

If you are interested, please take the time to read the following article…
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Originally uploaded by doctor.quang.

The Dalai Lama visited Rice University yesterday drawing an enormous crowd of 4500 to listen to him speak on the compassion of everyday life.

“We have to act according to the new reality,” said Dalai Lama. “Under these circumstances, the different races, different nationality, different religious faith, these are secondary and not important. Important is six billion human beings and one planet.” (read more here)

Did you get to see the Dalai Lama yesterday? What are your stories?

So my post yesterday was meant as a joke but I didn’t know I was being accurate. Check out what I found today:

“Parker’s office initiated a full-scale review of HPD’s policies and training on Tasers and examined the 1,000-plus times they’ve been used since December 2004.”

I suggest reading the following article if you’re concerned with this topic…
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So I’ve been really upset at the immigration situation lately and I think it should take priority over this unjust Iraq war. Especially if Bush REALLY IS concerned about the health of our Nation. I’m not racist. I am a fair person. Unfortunately things have gotten out of hand and now I am furious over illegals here. I don’t want my country to be a third world nation filled with sweatshops making inferior products for other countries around the world. That’s what’s going to happen if we give these people blanket amnesty. Don’t even get me started on the effects it will have on our economy (taxes) and benefits. Want to be an American citizen? Then follow the process and pay your dues. Otherwise I think you need to get the F*** out of here and go start a revolution in your own country. The La Raza movement is funded by the Bush family via Allen & Co. in Dallas. They want civil war on our streets and are making it happen. (Problem(Mexicans Want U.S. Land)-Reaction(Protests & Debates)-Solution(Amnesty & North American Union)). Anyway, Instead of detailing why I’m so upset about this stuff I’ll let Lou Dobbs do it for me. If you’re interested in hearing more about this I’d recommend watching some of his YouTube videos.

The Bush administration and the leadership of the Democratic Party are preparing to take another legislative leap at imposing a massive illegal alien amnesty on American citizens.

And the mainstream media is complicit in advancing this thinly veiled blanket amnesty. Instead of asking and answering important questions about why our immigration laws aren’t being enforced and why we’re permitting pervasive document fraud, the national media seems hell-bent on trying to obfuscate the issue, shamelessly playing with language, equating legal immigration with illegal immigration while obviously trying to preserve the illusion of objectivity.
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It’s funny how time slowly erases painful memories - until I listened to the radio this morning I didn’t even remember that today is the 60th anniversary of the Texas City Disaster - the worst industrial accident in US history.

There are of course many who have not forgotten the 600 people who were killed in the explosions or the atomic blast strength seismic waves that destroyed the wharf and were felt hundreds of miles away. Survivors, relatives, citizens and fire fighters all attended a memorial service today and were a part of the ‘We Remember: Texas City Disaster’ reunion photo. Photo of Texas City explosion wreckage thanks to University of North Texas Library

Location: The Menil Collection
Duration: February 23 - May 13, 2007
My Rating: 2 Fists Up!

Rauschenberg has been a major influence of mine for many years but this is the first time I’ve seen an entire exhibit of his in one place. This man is a native Texan and is now very old. I expect many more retrospectives in the near future but what’s unique about this collection is that most people didn’t even know he created this series of work. It was done back in the 70’s and immediately acquired by a wealthy European family. As far as I know this is the first time they’ve exhibited them as a whole since being purchased back then.

I know what you’re thinking… “What’s so great about boxes on walls.” I can’t really say why it’s so great beyond the fact that it sprouted hundreds of new ideas in my head while viewing them. They’re minimalism and distressed beauty sprawled out across plywood had a profound effect on me. They’re very inspirational. It has an Andy Warhol type of feel to it. I say that because he’s getting the viewer to recognize the beauty in everyday objects we typically neglect.

If you’re at all interested in modern or pop art I would suggest checking it out before it closes in May.

I’ll extend this post with information about the show direct from the Menil website, which you can obtain hours and directions at.
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