SKI CINCINNATI T-SHIRTS & CAPS

Ski Cincinnati t-shirts and apparel is available this holiday season. The following stores and gift shops have t-shirts and caps:

Benchmark Outfitters in Blue Ash,

Joseph-Beth Book store in the Rookwood Plaza,

Contemporary Arts Center Gift Shop at 6th & Walnut streets, also see their web site store.

Cincinnati Museum Center Gift Shop at Union Terminal

The Day Before Thanksgiving Day 2010

Thanksgiving Day is almost here. Just a few more hours and then we can all celebrate this holiday together. I am wishing everyone a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving in 2010. (Even those of you who do not share my liberal political philosophy.) : )

Stay tuned.

Oregon District House, graphite on paper board, 1995, by F.D. Zigler.

Coming Soon: A Hand-Pulled Silk Screen Print

A hand-pulled silk screen print of this stamp, signed and numbered, will be available for purchase in the near future. More info to follow.

Stay tuned.

Saturday Is For Art: New Life For An Old Piece

Last night I attended the Holiday Art Show at the Collector's Art Group in downtown Cincinnati. As one of 16 local artists in the show, I thought I should be there as a show of support and to answer any questions about my work if anyone had one. Believe it or not, I actually had a couple of people that wanted to know what I had in mind when I painted two pieces from The Envelope Collection. I also met the chief curator of the Taft Museum of Art at the show, and I told her about the piece I created out of styrofoam, cardboard, cereal boxes, gesso and acrylic paint that was inspired by a piece in the Taft Museum. So, today I am going to put up a few photos of the piece, and on Monday I will email a few images of my work over to the Taft. While I think it would be nice if the Taft gave me a show of all my art work, the Taft is still just a bit too conservative for embracing my work, in my opinion.

Stay tuned.

For Whose Benefit Is Monetary Policy Run?

I find it very interesting that people care about money, want to have more money, but do not understand very much about how the Federal Reserve Bank has and continues to manipulate the value of our money. The article in the Sunday New York Times, How To Make The Dollar Sound Again, is seen by too few people. The Federal Reserve Bank's relationship with commercial banks has become much like the corrupt relationship between the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and the drug companies. The original purpose of our central bank has been corrupted. I wrote many months ago that the job of the Federal Reserve Bank is not to prop up the economy. Fiscal policy is the responsibility of the Congress and the executive branch, the administration. The central bank should be concerned with protecting the integrity of the dollar because the value of the dollar affect all of us that use our currency. Why should a dollar earned and saved in 1960 be worth less than 1/7th of a dollar today in purchasing power? This is a crime that goes unreported, not understood and is perpetuated every day by the actions of the Federal Reserve Bank. I ask, For whose benefit is monetary policy run?

Stay tuned.

Veterans Day 2010: A Time To Remember

Today, November 11, 2010 is Veterans Day. A day to remember and honor our veterans. But, I think people should also stop and realize that we are fighting two wars right now, and that veterans are coming back from war and many of them are committing suicide. I believe the Federal Government has a responsibility to help veterans make the transition from military life to civilian life, and more needs to be done to help these men and women that have served our country in time of war. This should not be a political football that gets kicked around so politicians can try and score points with the voters. These men and women that fought in Iraq and Afghanistan need help, and every American should be for greater funding of programs to help these veterans make the transition to civilian life.

CAG's Annual Group Show & Sale: November 19th, 5-8pm

Collector's Art Group Annual Group Show & Sale will have their Opening Reception Friday, November 19th from 5:00 - 8:00 pm. The CAG gallery is located 225 East Sixth Street 2nd floor, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202. For those of you not familiar with downtown Cincinnati, that is between Sycamore and Main Streets on East Sixth Street. (Parking metered spots are free after 5 pm.) There are 15 very talented artists participating in this Holiday art show, and then there is me. I am the 16th artist, and I am the oldest and most untalented, but I do political satire, so I am excused from having any artistic talent. I encourage anyone interested in seeing some of the local talent to come on down to the opening. I will be there to answer any questions about my work.

Stay tuned.

President Obama's Trip: The Math for Dummies

President Obama has taken a trip to India and other parts of Asia, and somewhere someone reported that the trip would cost the taxpayers $200,000,000 U.S. dollars a day. The likes of Rush and Fox News reported this nonsense as if it were fact without even checking the numbers, but that is to be expected from those stupid conservative voices. Stupid? Yes stupid!

The 10 day trip at $200,000,000 a day would cost $2,000,000,000 = $2 billion dollars. Let's say there are 200 people on this trip and let us say the hotel rooms cost $100,000 per day. That would be $1,000,000 for 10 days times 200 people = $200,000,000 for hotels alone. Now, I don't believe for one minute that the hotel rooms for the people traveling with the president cost $100,000 per night, but I am using this ridiculous number to help make a point. That leaves $800,000,000 ($8 hundred million) for food, jet fuel, and everything else. Does anyone with half a brain believe that the trip to India and parts of Southeast Asia is going to cost $2 billion dollars as reported by the legally stupid right wing press?

To give you all some idea of what a trip cost, President Clinton's 12 day trip to Africa in 1998 is reported to have cost around $42 million dollars. Even if you add 10% for inflation that would only place this trip at $46 million dollars.

But, that isn't what this is all about. This is about driving home to the legally dumb and stupid that bite on every word of hatred spoken by the right wing press, that this president isn't worthy of being treated like all the other presidents. I wish Chris Matthews and the rest of the MSNBC crowd would get tougher with the nonsense that comes out of the mouths of the legally dumb right wing press.

Stay tuned.

Saturday Is For Art: Jackie Robinson All Over Again

I have been around now for 68 years, and for the last 58 years I have taken an interest in our national politics, and yet, I have never seen, read or heard of a President of the United States being criticized for what the country spent for him to visit a foreign country. And yet, that is exactly what we are seeing today. Tell me it is not racism that propels these ugly remarks! Bullshit! The first 43 white men that were president never had to deal with this shit, except perhaps for Thomas Jefferson, who also may have been the brightest man to ever sit in the oval office.

Jackie Robinson broke the modern color line in Major League baseball on April 15, 1947, and during his first season in the Majors, he paid hell for moving this country forward and bringing our rhetoric, that "all men are created equal" in line with our reality, at least on the baseball field. Today, President Obama is the Jackie Robinson of presidential politics, and being the first black man to occupy the oval office is a step many in our country can't handle. There are a lot of people that say that his race is not the issue. Well, show me where another president was criticized for taking a foreign trip to improve relations in an attempt to build trade and grow our exports. The numbers that were reported as the cost of the trip were bogus from the start and yet his critics blasted them across the airwaves without so much as checking their "facts". There is nothing like unsubstantiated nonsense to fuel the propaganda mill of the mentally challenged right.

Stay tuned.

Republicans Already Helping Job Growth

The Republicans are already having an effect on job growth! Jobs in October were up 151,000, and the September number has been updated from 64,000 to 107,000. Proof of how fast the Republicans have turned around the economy in just two days since the election. Their power is so great that even job numbers in September have been readjusted upward. I can't wait to see what they will do with the deficit.

Stay tuned.

Congrats to the Republicans That Won Election

The people have spoken. Here in Ohio, the Republicans are back in charge. Perhaps Tom Noe can look for a pardon and another chance to run a $50 million dollar coin fund for one of the State of Ohio's pension funds. He did such a good job when he managed a coin fund for the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation.

It will be interesting to see what the Republicans do in Congress now that they control the House. Everyone can watch and see if the Republicans are going to cut spending. They want to cut taxes and balance the budget. Well, let's watch and see.

Stay tuned.

Election Day 2010

Well, I voted today at my local library just a couple of blocks from my home. That is the nice thing about old neighborhoods, you can just walk up to the corner and just about everything you need is right there. Those of you who read my blog know that I am an advocate for a level playing field. I have nothing against corporations wanting to grow their earnings, but I think they should play by the rules. I also think that, while they can try to change the rules to give themselves an edge, it is our responsibility as individuals to try and maintain the level playing field. Voting is the one thing we as individuals have to counter the lobbying of large corporations that want the rules bent in their favor. While I don't like it when corporations place corporate welfare before the general welfare of all the people, I know that it goes on and I accept it. But, voting is our right to try and change that which we feel needs to be changed. We all have our own ideas what those changes should be. My idea of change is to move towards a more level playing field where individuals are not sacrificed at the altar of corporate greed. I hope you all will take your responsibility to vote seriously and VOTE DEMOCRAT!!!

Stay tuned.