On Sunday I e-mailed Gary Imhoff who moderates the bi-weekly discussion list called theMail. This is the second time I have posted to the theMail, with the first being an e-flyer for “North South East Westminster,” and to be honest I am quite disappointed in the slight censorship Gary employed in my original entry. Specifically, he opted to not include what I feel to be the best piece of media: the Taxation Without Representation Google Map!
Here is what I sent to theMail:
The New DC Flag (if HR 328 passes) and other fractional media
Nikolas R. Schiller, DC [at] NikolasSchiller [dot] com
Co-Chair, DC Statehood Green Party
Fellow friends & enemies of fractional representation,
Last Thursday I received a phone call from the executive director of an organization that is promoting fractional democracy on behalf the disenfranchised residents of Washington, DC. I was kindly asked to refrain from using Photoshop to alter copyrighted images, even when done as a parody (see below). However, when an injustice is currently being promoted in the name of democracy, I cannot in good conscience be silent, or even 1/3 silent.
So to complete my fractional trilogy, I have redesigned the DC flag to represent the 1/3 representation DC residents will get with the passage of the unconstitutional DC Fair and Equal Voting Rights Act of 2007 (hr 328). I also created an animated version to accentuate the stupidity of claiming 1/3 representation as progress.
The flag is based on this proposed design:
https://www.dcwatch.com/issues/flagproposed.gif
The new DC Flag (if HR 328 passes):
https://www.nikolasschiller.com/images/flagproposed_text_left.gif
https://www.nikolasschiller.com/images/flagproposed_animated.gif
Fractionally Related (if HR 328 passes):
https://nikolasschiller.com/images/new_dc_plates.jpg
https://nikolasschiller.com/images/now_with_dc_vote.gif
Marginally 1/3 Related:
https://nikolasschiller.com/images/dc_is_the_capital_of.gif
https://nikolasschiller.com/images/utah_is_the_capital_of.gif
– Look at both and ask yourself, “Who is still getting screwed?”)
Interactive Google Map:
https://nikolasschiller.com/gis/taxationwithoutrepresentationmap.html
– This Google Map Mashup randomly plots 51 DC Flags around the U.S. Capitol and when clicked reveal 51 different messages about Washington, DC.
Don’t forget, if you have the time, take one-third of a day off work on Thursday and go to Capitol Hill and tell Congress what it’s like to be forced to take the backseat on the bus of democracy.
After the flap is what was actually distributed:
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ABSOLUT STATEHOOD
|| 4/8/2008 || 4:52 pm || Comments Off on ABSOLUT STATEHOOD || ||
Screen grab links to .kmz file for Google Earth
A geovisual response to an LA Times blog entry showing mostly isolationist responses to an alternative history map of North America by Absolut Vodka.
This interactive map for Google Earth shows the familiar Absolut Vodka bottle labeled “Absolut Statehood” and placed inside of the original boundaries of the District of Columbia. These boundaries existed until 1847 after the residents of Virginia voted to cede back the portion of the District of Columbia that was west of the Potomac River.
Absolut Statehood represents the cartographic notion that the nation’s capital can become America’s 51st state*. Today there are over 550,000 American citizens living in the nation’s capital that are being denied the fundamental right of representation in Congress. This ongoing human rights violation currently practiced by the government of the United States has been denounced by the United Nations, the Organization of American States, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The United States is the only country in the industrialized world that forbids the residents of it’s capital city the right to elect representatives to their national legislature.
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