Obsolete-Press.com down due to Sandy

Just in case you recently tried to visit obsolete-press.com- We are down due to our hosting company being knocked out by Hurricane Sandy.  Fear not- we will be back soon!  For now, we will go back to using this blog site, and remember that all of our merch is available at a discount right now if you contribute to our online fundraiser. We still have a long way to go, so please consider giving OBSOLETE! a hand.

OBSOLETE! needs your support!

I hope you have had a chance to enjoy the six issues we have published over the last 2 years. I'm really proud of what we have accomplished- on a shoestring budget we have distributed our little underground arts and lit paper from coast to coast in the US, in the UK and Canada, all through a grassroots guerilla distribution network of volunteers and independently-owned local businesses. And did I mention we give it away for free? You can read back issues online for free as well,  just visit our new website at http://obsolete-press.com/magazines/

Can you help by contributing to our online fundraiser?

It costs us about $1000 to put out each issue. That includes PAYING OUR WRITERS AND ARTISTS FOR ORIGINAL CONTENT, printing and distribution. If we can reach our goal, we can be assured of continuing publication for the next 4 issues and distribute to an even wider audience.  Please visit indiegogo.com/obsolete, contribute, and grab some great perks!

We appreciate your support SO much!

Rich Dana
Publisher
obsolete-press.com
http://www.indiegogo.com/obsolete

Check out our new website!

We have a BRAND NEW WEBSITE! 

Please check it out- obsolete-press.com will eventually take the place of this blog, but for the short term we will still be posting here as well....

What are you really eating?

Sign ©WILDGIRL®/Ericka Dana 1998, photo ©WILDGIRL®/Ericka Dana 2012.

See www.whatsonmyfood.org (Pesticide Action Network) for current statistics on the types and amounts of chemical residues found in specific foods and the human health effects of pesticide residues, and www.mrldatabase.com for EPA maximum pesticide residues allowed. (Both are interactive searchable databases.)

Obsolete! Now accepting Bitcoins (again)

After a short hiatus, we are once again accepting Bitcoins for purchase of Obsolete!

If you don't know about Bitcoin:

"Bitcoin is an experimental new digital currency that enables instant payments to anyone, anywhere in the world. Bitcoin uses peer-to-peer technology to operate with no central authority: managing transactions and issuing money are carried out collectively by the network. Bitcoin is also the name of the open source software which enables the use of this currency."

Email us to arange payment-  we are currently charging .41 Bitcoins for the current issue (about $4.50 - cheaper than the USD price!)

Embracing Illness: Issue 6 Intro

Illustration by John Gill

by Rich Dana

“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a  profoundly sick society.”  
—Jiddu Krishnamurti

On June 28, 2012, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of  the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, more popularly known as “Obamacare”.  The bill has been lauded by supporters and pilloried by detractors, but the majority of Americans don’t really understand what the new health care law does.  The 974 page monument to government mediocrity is not a clear and decisive overhaul of the wretched and corrupt American “health care system”, but  rather it represents what remains when government bureaucrats leave behind any noble ideals and principals in favor of temporary political mojo. We are left to hope that the few crumbs that fall from the master’s table will ease our healthcare burden.

(Why not order your copy of Obsolete! #6 Today?  Use the paypal link on the right to help support Obsolete!)

The bill does not provide for universal healthcare. It does not provide socialized medicine, OR conversely, a true free market system.  It combines the worst of both worlds, creating a corporate socialist approach in which the same companies that have been ripping off patients for decades get even more business. It mandates universal participation in a horribly sick system.

Recently, my wife had an insurance claim rejected because her “pain” was found to be a pre-existing condition, according to the code number it was submitted under. Yes, ladies and gents, that is what it has come to. “I’m sorry, but we will not pay to treat your pain, because you have had pain before.” I shit you not. Do I hope that Obamacare will bring relief for those of us with so-called “pre-existing” conditions?  Of course.  Is it the first step to universal health care? Doubtful. There is just too much elite money at stake. Controlling the health care of workers is too big of a stick to give up.

Society is getting sicker, and It’s projecting its illness on the people.  Cancerous unchecked economic growth is not only tolerated, but encouraged. Corporate persons are now societies imaginary friends, like giant, sociopathic talking white rabbits that communicate with the government, but remain invisible to the rest of us.

Can you help distribute Obsolete!?

Do you have a favorite local hangout where you would like to see OBSOLETE! on the racks? We will ship you boxes of 20 and 50 copies of the latest issue of OBSOLETE! This way, you can share OBSOLETE! In your community. Drop them at your favorite locally-owned bookstore, music store or coffee shop. Also, feel free to use it as a promo (put a sticker on the cover – “compliments of...”), sell them as a fundraiser, or use them as give-aways or bag stuffers. Email us for more info on becoming an OBSOLETE! distributor.

 Don't have time to deal with it yourself? Send us the name and address of your favorite local spot and we'll send them an intro pack.

Obsolete! #6 - OUT NOW!

Obsolete #6 explores illness, creativity and freedom. 

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society."
-Jiddu Krishnamurti

• Why Anti-Authoritarians are Diagnosed as Mentally Ill - Bruce Levine PhD
• Keeping Gabe Among Us - Kelly Rose Pflug-Back interviews Martha Eleen                 
• Analingus and Old Lace- Amy Bugbee              
• Technology and Other Miracles-- Jonna Higgins-Freese                                  
• The Golden Pattern - J.J. Anselmi   

                     

Poetry by:

• klipschutz                             
• W. Joe Hoppe 
• Greta Anderson
• Christopher Barnes  

                      
Artwork by:             

• Eleanor Leonne Bennett
• Ericka "Wildgirl" Dana
• Blair Gauntt
• John Gill
• Rolland Guild 
• Ken Jackson
• P.S. Monear

Featured Artist:

• Terry Lee Dill