Please read this article by Evo Morales, President of Bolivia. Our Mother Earth is in critical condition. Keeping status quo, living in the same failed system that we mindlessly engage and perpetuate will completely destroy our species.

I’m at a coffee shop right now. The TV blares a CNN Special Report to get all of America riled up about our economic meltdown and how “our malls are at risk.” Seriously, we have to start caring RIGHT NOW about how we’re going to fix the biggest problem: how we are going to sustain the planet that sustains us. She’s not a salable commodity. And she’s sick. And don’t think for a minute that she can’t shake humanity off like a couple of pesky fleas.

And I’ll say one more thing before pasting Evo Morales’ article in full within this post. There was an assassination attempt on him discovered about three hours ago.

Here’s what the president of Bolivia has to say:

Sisters and brothers, today our Mother Earth is ill. From the beginning of the 21st century we have lived the hottest years of the last thousand years.

Global warming is generating abrupt changes in the weather: the retreat of glaciers and the decrease of the polar ice caps; the increase of the sea level and the flooding of coastal areas, where approximately 60% of the world population live; the increase in the processes of desertification and the decrease of fresh water sources; a higher frequency in natural disasters that the communities of the earth suffer[1]; the extinction of animal and plant species; and the spread of diseases in areas that before were free from those diseases.

One of the most tragic consequences of the climate change is that some nations and territories are the condemned to disappear by the increase of the sea level.

Everything began with the industrial revolution in 1750, which gave birth to the capitalist system. In two and a half centuries, the so called “developed” countries have consumed a large part of the fossil fuels created over five million centuries.

Capitalism

Competition and the thirst for profit without limits of the capitalist system are destroying the planet. Under Capitalism we are not human beings but consumers. Under Capitalism Mother Earth does not exist, instead there are raw materials. Capitalism is the source of the asymmetries and imbalances in the world. It generates luxury, ostentation and waste for a few, while millions in the world die from hunger in the world. In the hands of capitalism everything becomes a commodity: the water, the soil, the human genome, the ancestral cultures, justice, ethics, death … and life itself. Everything, absolutely everything, can be bought and sold and under capitalism. And even “climate change” itself has become a business.

“Climate change” has placed all humankind before a great choice: to continue in the ways of capitalism and death, or to start down the path of harmony with nature and respect for life.

In the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the developed countries and economies in transition committed to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by at least 5% below the 1990 levels, through the implementation of different mechanisms among which market mechanisms predominate.

Until 2006, greenhouse effect gases, far from being reduced, have increased by 9.1% in relation to the 1990 levels, demonstrating also in this way the breach of commitments by the developed countries.

The market mechanisms applied in the developing countries[2] have not accomplished a significant reduction of greenhouse effect gas emissions.

Just as well as the market is incapable of regulating global financial and productive system, the market is unable to regulate greenhouse effect gas emissions and will only generate a big business for financial agents and major corporations.

The Earth is much more important than the stock exchanges of Wall Street and the world

While the United States and the European Union allocate $4100 billion to save the bankers from a financial crisis that they themselves have caused, programs on climate change get 313 times less, that is to say, only $13 billion.

The resources for climate change are unfairly distributed. More resources are directed to reduce emissions (mitigation) and less to reduce the effects of climate change that all the countries suffer (adaptation)[3]. The vast majority of resources flow to those countries that have contaminated the most, and not to the countries where we have preserved the environment most. Around 80% of the Clean Development Mechanism projects are concentrated in four emerging countries.

Capitalist logic promotes a paradox in which the sectors that have contributed the most to deterioration of the environment are those that benefit the most from climate change programs.

At the same time, technology transfer and the financing for clean and sustainable development of the countries of the South have remained just speeches.

The next summit on climate change in Copenhagen must allow us to make a leap forward if we want to save Mother Earth and humanity. For that purpose the following proposals for the process from Poznan to Copenhagen:

Attack the structural causes of climate change

1) Debate the structural causes of climate change. As long as we do not change the capitalist system for a system based in complementarity, solidarity and harmony between the people and nature, the measures that we adopt will be palliatives that will limited and precarious in character. For us, what has failed is the model of “living better”, of unlimited development, industrialisation without frontiers, of modernity that deprecates history, of increasing accumulation of goods at the expense of others and nature. For that reason we promote the idea of Living Well, in harmony with other human beings and with our Mother Earth.

2) Developed countries need to control their patterns of consumption — of luxury and waste — especially the excessive consumption of fossil fuels. Subsidies of fossil fuel, that reach $150-250 billion[4], must be progressively eliminated. It is fundamental to develop alternative forms of power, such as solar, geothermal, wind and hydroelectric both at small and medium scales.

3) Agrofuels are not an alternative, because they put the production of foodstuffs for transport before the production of food for human beings. Agrofuels expand the agricultural frontier destroying forests and biodiversity, generate monocropping, promote land concentration, deteriorate soils, exhaust water sources, contribute to rises in food prices and, in many cases, result in more consumption of more energy than is produced.

Substantial commitments to emissions reduction that are met

4) Strict fulfilment by 2012 of the commitments[5] of the developed countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least by 5% below the 1990 levels. It is unacceptable that the countries that polluted the planet throughout the course of history make statements about larger reductions in the future while not complying with their present commitments.

5) Establish new minimum commitments for the developed countries of greenhouse gas emission reduction of 40% by 2020 and 90% by for 2050, taking as a starting point 1990 emission levels. These minimum commitments must be met internally in developed countries and not through flexible market mechanisms that allow for the purchase of certified emissions reduction certificates to continue polluting in their own country. Likewise, monitoring mechanisms must be established for the measuring, reporting and verifying that are transparent and accessible to the public, to guarantee the compliance of commitments.

6) Developing countries not responsible for the historical pollution must preserve the necessary space to implement an alternative and sustainable form of development that does not repeat the mistakes of savage industrialisation that has brought us to the current situation. To ensure this process, developing countries need, as a prerequisite, finance and technology transfer.

Address ecological debt

7) Acknowledging the historical ecological debt that they owe to the planet, developed countries must create an Integral Financial Mechanism to support developing countries in: implementation of their plans and programs for adaptation to and mitigation of climate change; the innovation, development and transfer of technology; in the preservation and improvement of the sinks and reservoirs; response actions to the serious natural disasters caused by climate change; and the carrying out of sustainable and eco-friendly development plans.

This Integral Financial Mechanism, in order to be effective, must count on a contribution of at least 1% of the GDP in developed countries[6] and other contributions from taxes on oil and gas, financial transactions, sea and air transport, and the profits of transnational companies.

9) Contributions from developed countries must be additional to Official Development Assistance (ODA), bilateral aid or aid channelled through organisms not part of the United Nations. Any finance outside the UNFCCC cannot be considered as the fulfilment of developed country’s commitments under the convention.

10) Finance has to be directed to the plans or national programs of the different states and not to projects that follow market logic.

11) Financing must not be concentrated just in some developed countries but has to give priority to the countries that have contributed less to greenhouse gas emissions, those that preserve nature and are suffering the impact of climate change.

12) The Integral Financial Mechanism must be under the coverage of the United Nations, not under the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and other intermediaries such as the World Bank and regional development banks; its management must be collective, transparent and non-bureaucratic. Its decisions must be made by all member countries, especially by developing countries, and not by the donors or bureaucratic administrators.

Technology transfer to developing countries

13) Innovation and technology related to climate changes must be within the public domain, not under any private monopolistic patent regime that obstructs and makes technology transfer more expensive to developing countries.

14) Products that are the fruit of public financing for technology innovation and development of have to be placed within the public domain and not under a private regime of patents[7], so that they can be freely accessed by developing countries.

15) Encourage and improve the system of voluntary and compulsory licenses so that all countries can access products already patented quickly and free of cost. Developed countries cannot treat patents and intellectual property rights as something “sacred” that has to be preserved at any cost. The regime of flexibilities available for the intellectual property rights in the cases of serious problems for public health has to be adapted and substantially enlarged to heal Mother Earth.

16) Recover and promote indigenous peoples’ practices in harmony with nature which have proven to be sustainable through centuries.

Adaptation and mitigation with the participation of all the people

17) Promote mitigation actions, programs and plans with the participation of local communities and indigenous people in the framework of full respect for and implementation of the United Nations Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The best mechanism to confront the challenge of climate change are not market mechanisms, but conscious, motivated and well organised human beings endowed with an identity of their own.

18) The reduction of the emissions from deforestation and forest degradation must be based on a mechanism of direct compensation from developed to developing countries, through a sovereign implementation that ensures broad participation of local communities, and a mechanism for monitoring, reporting and verifying that is transparent and public.

A UN for the environment and climate change

19) We need a World Environment and Climate Change Organisation to which multilateral trade and financial organisations are subordinated, so as to promote a different model of development that environmentally friendly and resolves the profound problems of impoverishment. This organisation must have effective follow-up, verification and sanctioning mechanisms to ensure that the present and future agreements are complied with.

20) It is fundamental to structurally transform the World Trade Organiation, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the international economic system as a whole, in order to guarantee fair and complementary trade, as well as financing without conditions for sustainable development that avoids the waste of natural resources and fossil fuels in the production processes, trade and product transport.

In this negotiation process towards Copenhagen, it is fundamental to guarantee the participation of our people as active stakeholders at a national, regional and worldwide level, especially taking into account those sectors most affected, such as indigenous peoples who have always promoted the defense of Mother Earth.

Humankind is capable of saving the Earth if we recover the principles of solidarity, complementarity and harmony with nature in contraposition to the reign of competition, profits and rampant consumption of natural resources.

Notes:

[1] Due to the “Niña” phenomenon, that becomes more frequent as a result of the climate change, Bolivia has lost 4% of its GDP in 2007.

[2] Known as the Clean Development Mechanism

[3] At the present there is only one adaptation fund with approximately $500 million for more than 150 developing countries. According to the UNFCCC secretary, $171 billion is required for adaptation and $380 billionis required for mitigation.

[4] Stern report

[5] Kyoto Protocol, Art. 3.

[6] The Stern Review has suggested one percent of global GDP, which represents less than $700 billion per year.

[7] According to UNCTAD (1998), public financing in developing countries contributes with 40% of the resources for innovation and development of technology.

Last night, our little group headed out to Five Points in Columbia, South Carolina to grab some coffee. Along the way we had an altercation with a notorious local.

Hardy stops to grab some cash from a free-standing ATM  located outdoors next to a brick wall on it’s own tiny island of concrete inside what possibly may have been a flower bed at one time. In a sudden split-second, just like a cartoon character, an extrememly drunk (and normal-looking enough) man pops out from behind the ATM. It is as though he was spit out of the ATM right along with Hardy’s cash.

He comes right at me. I am a bit taken aback because my brain is still trying to figure out where he came from . . . . the dirt, the ATM itself, or did he just simply materialize? It is all so surreal. I smell alcohol on his breath.

“What’s your favorite band?” the troll from behind the ATM asks me.

“Um, well . . . ‘favorite’ is such an all-encompassing word . . . ” I answer, “It’s impossible to narrow it down to a favorite.”

I notice my friends begin to move away very quickly. Matt grabs my hand in a silent effort to drag me along.

“Yeah, well how about you stop trying to avoid me with what you believe is such witty banter and just answer my fucking question?” the troll yells at me as I’m being pulled away.

“You guys know him? Who is he?” I ask.

“He’s just this guy who is always just such an asshole!” says Matt as we all hurry down the sidewalk. I’m still confused.

The troll keeps yelling, but none of us are really sure who within our group he’s addressing.”Yeah, you think you are so cool with your black shirt, you fucking hipster. I’ll kick your ass if I see you in Columbia, South Carolina ever again. Do you hear me? I’ll kill you!”

For the record, he doesn’t look like he has the ability to hurt anyone. I think that’s what threw me. He just looks like a dorky office worker in a crumpled button-down shirt who had waaay too much to drink at happy hour.

Hardy, who never has a bad word to say to anyone, calls out behind us, “Fuck off, man. Why you gotta be an asshole?”

The troll follows us down the street, yelling and causing a scene. People sitting at cafe tables on the sidewalk look up, a bit horrified at the skirmish that’s coming their way. By this time, we all just want to get away and we’re walking as fast as we can past the cafe. I hope we lose this guy in the mix.

“Because I want you to confront me! Confront me! CONFRONT ME!” the troll screams.

In front of me, a lady from one of the patio tables jumps from her seat and says with sweetness and understanding to the troll behind us, “Confront me! Confront me!” and moves to grab him.

And we emerge from the fray and dissappear into the crowd.

I love that everywhere I go, I seem to find the ‘other ones’ out there. By other ones, I mean the freaks of the world. Thank you freaks of the world for always finding me. I love you. We gotta keep this would-be straight-edged world just a little skewed.

We arrived to the Charlotte  North Carolina International Airport last night to find that our connecting flight was delayed. So doing what any good traveler would do,  we headed straight to the airport bar. Just as we order beers and get settled, I notice a tiny little old lady with a sparkle in her eye and a rather glitzy hat sitting at the table next to us, picking at chips and salsa like a little bird and looking around at everyone.

She caught my gaze and yelled, “I love your hat!”

“I love yours too!” I called back. Her purple hat was covered with little Vishnus and glittery gold trim.

“Wanna trade?” she asked.

“OK,” I said. And I was serious. I would have traded, was ready to trade, was about to jump off my stool and grab her hat. It wasn’t that I liked her hat better than my own, it’s just that a spunky little old lady asking if you want to trade hats is a special and uncommon occurence worthy of a no-questions-asked swap.

“No,” she answered. “I can’t really do that. But you can still give me yours!”

Bobbie is her name. She hangs out with us for awhile, flitting around between our table, the piano player and sometimes, she traipses behind the bar to hug the bartender, who is clearly nervous about the patron-grandmother.

“I missed my plane on purpose!” she exclaims with the glee. “I want to stay here and party! You know, I come from a small town where all they do is tell you what you are doing wrong . . . ”

Indeed. “What makes you different than all of them you think?” I ask.

“My grandmother,” she said. “I’m just like her. My grandmother never would tell her age to anyone. She marked out her birthday in the family bible so hard that she ripped the page. And do you know, my adopted grand-daughter always tells me ‘Bobbie, you are too old. You need to learn to act right.’” She erupts in tinkling little giggles that float up into the air like the toasting of wine glasses.

Bobbie runs off to dance near the piano again. The bartender comes over and explains her concern about the little old lady. “I mean, I love her spirit and all,” the bartender said, “But I’m scared that she’s a little nuts. If something isn’t right with her and something happens to her, they are gonna blame me. She’s told everyone in the bar that she missed her plane on purpose!”

The Charlotte airport is close enough to Columbia that Matt’s parents came and picked us up. By then, Ms. Bobbie had already flitted on, partying in her own way.

God bless the freaks, every one, young and old. And especially the young at heart. I love you, Ms. Bobbie.

So, you´ve gotten the letter from the LA City Finance Office informing you that you owe the LA city tax on earnings from a small business from a previous year. Read this post if you need information about the actual letter – including exemption and deadline info.  This post deals solely with the art of speaking to the fine folks down at city finance. You didn´t know that you had to pay a city tax and now you have to physically go to one of The City of Los Angeles Finance Offices and get this whole thing straightened out. Here are some tips that might just save you from having to pay extra money.

• Know the following regarding the ¨ignorance of the liability¨ excuse: this is the most common excuse the office hears. No matter how cute or persuasive or nice you are, if you did not send in your exemption form prior to February 28 of the year immediately following your tax liability then you will have to pay the tax itself, no matter what. (If you somehow get out of it, please let all of us know how you did it.)
• Know the following regarding the penalty portion of your liability: you have the right (no matter what the clerk at the window says) to request a one-time penalty waiver due to your ignorance of liability. A clerk adamantly insisted to me at the West LA office that I could not have a penaty waiver.
• Should a clerk refuse to give you a penalty waiver and this is your first time requesting one, then ask for his or her supervisor. Or simply go to a different LA City Finance Office, which is what I did when I was refused a penalty waiver. There are several Finance Offices in LA County.
• A penalty waiver is a request only. It does not guarantee that your penalty will be waived, but you have a much better chance of a successful waiver if you pay the back taxes on the spot.
• Try to go to the LA City Finance Office early in the morning. The people who work there have to deal with all kinds of schmuks all day long. It´s best if you talk to them before the afternoon rush of other people with problems.
• Always be nice, even if you have a bad experience with a clerk, like I did. This particular clerk was annoyed because I arrived just as the office opened and apparently I interupted her coffee conversation with a co-worker. I suspect this is why she lied and told me that I was not eligible for a penalty waiver.
• Don´t be confrontational with a clerk who informs you that you are still liable for the back taxes – the penalty waiver is the best help they can give you. Not even their supervisors can get you out of your tax portion of the liability.
• Spread the word! Inform your friends who run freelance businesses in the City of LA about this issue so that they can get their exemption forms in on time. The City of LA does not inform anyone of their liabilities until after the deadline of February 28. Knowledge is power!

Good Luck! And next year, remember to file your exemption form on time.

Running a teeny, tiny lil’ side biz in LA? Getting 1099′ed because your employer is being cheap? Then read on and save some money on your tax bill! Because, oh yes, the City of Los Angeles wants their piece of the pie and what you don’t know will cost you plenty! What you will know after reading this article could get you an exemption from a city tax liability that you probably didn’t even know you had.

Don’t expect your tax accountant to inform you of your liability with the City of LA. I love my tax accountant, but he didn’t tell me about my responsibilities with the City of LA. Learn from my mistakes and save some money!

I received a letter from the City of Los Angeles back in June regarding a possible outstanding tax liability from the past three years, but I was on the road and couldn’t do anything about it. The reason I write this boring tax post is for all you creative type people out there. If you are anything like me, you are too busy worrying which color looks best with that background or wondering how in the world you are going to hang the stars and moon – literally – for that demanding client. Or you could just be receiving 1099 income for doing some independent contractor work within a creative field in Los Angeles.

Whichever the case – be aware and informed! (Regardless if you are in a creative field or not) If you -

• Have a schedule C on your federal taxes (ie, small business expenses) and/or
• Are 1099′ed for independent contractor work

then you are liable for the City of Los Angeles small business tax.

Ready for the good news?  If your gross receipts (the income before your write-offs) total to less than $100,000.00 then you are EXEMPT. But in order to receive this exemption, you must file for the exemption with the city of Los Angeles before February 28 of the following tax year that you’ve incurred your tax liability. In plain speak, that means if you have any Schedule C income for 2008, then you have to file the exemption with the city no later than February 28, 2009. The exemption is really quite easy to file; it’s just another hoop to jump through down at the LA City Finance Office.

Now for some Q & A:

Q: What if I don’t inform the City of LA that I’ve been 1099′ed or have a small business (Schedule C) on my federal taxes?

A: Well, they will find out . . . like they did with me – there’s some sort of computer program they run/information exchange they have in cooperation with the state. And then, you will still be liable for the back taxes plus a monthly penalty.

Q: But, what if I didn’t know?

A: Crying about it to them down at the Office of Finance won’t help. (I tried that – and I’m convincing.) You still have to pay it.

Q: But that’s not fair! I still have to pay the penalty, even if I didn’t know about my liability?

A: A lot of stuff in life isn’t fair, but you can request a one-time penalty waiver due to your ignorance.

Q: I already have to deal with this issue and I’m already late. Do you have any advice on how to talk to the people at the City of Los Angeles Finance Office?

A: Yes, I do. Click here to read that post. Trust me, you want them to like you. You want them to like you – A LOT. If not, they could make your life miserable and you might have to pay more than you should.

Q: I just received a letter saying that I owe for 2009? I don´t understand.

A: Make sure you file your exemption form with the city of LA (if your gross receipts for this year end up totaling less than 100,000.00) between January 1 and February 28, 2010 and you will be exempt!

So, now you’ve read the article. Now you know. Save some money. Get your butt in there and file that exemption form so that you don’t have to shell out hundreds or (if you did really well in your small business last year) thousands of dollars of Los Angeles City taxes that you technically are not liable to pay – if and only if you file that god-damned form in a timely manner.

Well, it’s finally time to announce the newest adventure! (Drumroll, please . . . )

I’m heading to South America for the next several months. Please note – I will also be dragging my boyfriend Matt along with me, quite willingly. We’re leaving in less than a week to spend Christmas with his family in South Carolina, then we are outta here, ‘migos! We will arrive to Pisac, a tiny village about 40 miles outside of Cusco, Peru by New Year’s Eve. And you will be able to read all about it here.

I spent a few months in and around Cusco back in 2005 and I’m really excited to be going back again – this time for a more extended period of time. People constantly ask, “What are you going to be doing down there?” Well, I’m going to be writing a book, relaxing, living and loving every moment of it.

Standing in the backyard, about 50 of us gather to celebrate my friend’s mother’s 69th birthday, which happens to fall on the anniversary of Pearl Harbor.

Two large tequila bottles sit on a picnic table surrounded by a few older women. The Patron bottle is empty; they’ve just cracked open the Sauza Commemorativo and are cutting more limes. A line of people buzz around three tables packed full of carnitas, asada, roasted chicken and other delicacies. Others grab beers out of ice-filled buckets. Nearly a dozen kids run around playing, dancing and pushing one another across the yard in a plastic kiddie car.

A mariachi band surrounds my friend’s mother. She is completely enthralled, locked inside the gaze of the violinist,  singing the songs along with him with all her heart and tears in her eyes. Suddenly, mariachis are momentarily upstaged.

“What’s that flying in the air?” Someone points to a kite-shaped plane that seems to be doing acrobatics in the clouds. The thing seems relatively flat and glides through the sky like a giant grey manta ray, smooth and menacing at the same time. The kids begin shouting, “Batman!” Suddenly everyone’s cameras point toward the graceful triangular object circling the party.

“It’s stealth bomber – the most important plane in the US Air Force!” replies my friend’s brother.

The mariachis keep their mesmerizing presence, never break their intense concentration in singing their songs, never stop looking my friend’s mother in the eye. The stealth bomber keeps circling the sky in a large loop that encompasses the entire neighborhood. It seems our party and the merry band of roving performers is the target of it’s vortex.

As I sit eating the best Mexican beef brisket I’ve ever had and toasting rounds of Sauza with friends while the trumpets of the mariachis play in the background, I feel a nagging discomfort in my belly as the ominous stealth bomber continues to silently patrol the airspace all around us. Those guys flying that thing are on our side, I think to myself, but how scary it would be if they weren’t. It’s a bit unsettling.

As the kids continue to squeal in delight and the band plays on, I notice the bass player look up a few times with a nervous glance. The jets quietly purr over the horns and guitar only when the bomber flies directly overhead. I can’t help but sit there and let my food get cold and my beer get warm. What abject fear the sight of that machine gliding low through a neighborhood in Baghdad must cause! The damage that thing is capable of is immense and frightening. Something in my gut will not allow me to cheer it on.

The stealth bomber, we surmise, is flying overhead to commemorate the 68th anniversary of Pearl Harbor. It seems odd to think of the thing as a symbol of victory and safety. Everyone waves to it as it flies low overhead, but I can’t shake the creepy feeling inside myself until it is gone. Can’t stop thinking about parties in other parts of the world that it could turn into a grease spot within seconds.

Oh the nog-spilling!

Oh the beer-guzzling!

The tinsel-spewing good times of the LA Santacon  . . .

Matt and I . . . bottom front. El Cid.

Then later . . . I stole a sign from one of those clowns . . .

I’m sporting my grandma’s green taffeta ball gown. As you can see, things got a lil’ fuzzy . . .

Update!

Apparently Alex isn’t dead. There was some cryptic mixed up text message sent out to all his friends – from Alex himself via his wife’s cell phone – that “Alex passed.” And lovable scoundrel that he is, we all just assumed that ‘passing’ in his case meant to the other side instead of . . . oh say . . . passing a test, which is what allegedly happened in reality.

I’m really glad for him that he passed a state test that will allow him to acquire a better paying job instead of being smoked in the street somewhere and dying and all that. I still meant everything I said about him in the post before, though, about him being a loud-mouthed jackass. And I’m glad that I learned a lesson in compassion, too. Heh, Alex, let’s sling some PBR’s back at Foobar next summer and maybe I’ll be able to refrain from being so bitchy. You really are kinda cool.

I suppose I’m just kinda jealous that you censor yourself less than I.