Old man and kid from the movie UP have morphed out of the screen and are now living among us. is a post from: ToobBox.com - Share Your World with Social Playlists

We’re also looking for some help – someone that loves to code in PHP and is looking to develop with us in a “lean startup” environment.

Yeah I know it’s not Ruby on Rails – but most of the world runs on PHP still…right?….:)

First off – we are not a business

As you can see there are no ads on this website at this point in time. Nor do we charge for this service. This website 100% a hobby at this point. So yeah, we’re not offering a job, just an invitation to come create with us. I have run into people out there that love to code, and love to join hackathons – so hopefully you’re one of those people.

Just in case you’re not familiar with us and our project, you’re on our blog, our main application is at toobbox.com. However the project we are talking about is a different project.

Do you like to code and hack?

We’re looking for someone who is interested in helping us unveil our next project. You can call it an internship if you so desire. Or you can just do it for fun. Whatever you want to call it – we would like to invite you into our little coding world.

It may turn into something awesome

Plus Mike and I are fairly well connected with jobs. That kind of seems to be our biggest problem. People are always offering us jobs. Maybe if we actually lost our jobs, we would be in a totally different place right now with this site

So what I’m trying to say is, knowing us can help introduce you to newer jobs down the line. From San Diego to L.A. to S.F. to Seattle. We have introductions for you up and down the “Tech Coast”.

Can I call this an internship?

Sure – if you end up developing with us, you can put it down on your resume. I mean if you worked on toobbox.com, then you worked on toobbox.com – who can deny that?

And of course Mike and I would be more than happy to let you put us down as references and put in a good word for you. We’ll accept phone calls from future employers and we will be more than happy to chat them up about you

Wanna code with us? The toobbox.com lean startup internship or whatever you want to call it position. is a post from: ToobBox.com - Share Your World with Social Playlists

I usually complain about the prices, doing taxes and having too many other things to do to justify going. As we do every year, we made some playlists of songs/videos for each day. Why? Because, most of you are like us and never get to go

FRIDAY THE 13th April 2012

So far, I think I like this playlist best. Death Grips is tight. Weird, harsh, something new.

I also like the Sebastian video with the kid dancing in everyone’s way. That’s exactly what I do. I’m the annoying dancer.

Atari Teenage Riot – that’s some sh*t right there. To me, watching them live, that would be witnessing something historical.

Breakbot is hilarious to me – What an insanely desperate attempt to relive 1981. I dig it!

MADNESS!!! – A Must see. Madness always makes me happy. Use it instead of your normal anti-depressant prescriptions. And long live SKA!

Jimmy Cliff! – Wow. Another legend. History. You must watch him.

Here’s a playlist of a few songs from each group that performed on Friday the 13th 2012.

Saturday the 14th April 2012

I hate Radiohead because I’ve been trying to see them since the 1990s and I can never get tickets.

Firehose is some classic stuff. They were one of those highly regarded bands of the 1980s / 1990s that if it weren’t for them, yadayadayada…

I put a lot of Flying Lotus in this playlist because A) he’s an awesome and creative music maker B) he makes music for Adult Swim commericals and C) he’s the background music for the Dance Floor Dale music video.

BUZZCOCKS! – OMG. Geez – they must be the longest running punk bank ever? Must see.

Childish Gambino is a genius and a sitcom actor!

This is more like the electronica / house day it seems….based on all the videos I went though.

Here’s a playlist of a few songs from each group that performed on Saturday the 14th 2012.

Sunday

The Hives are just the Animals reborn. And there is nothing wrong with that. Like the energy.

Justice must be an awesome group to see live.

DJ Shadow is a super important DJ from the 1990s – I would suspect his music might be a little too mellow for a concert – but I would like to see what he comes up with live!

Seun Kuti – A no brainer. I bet his set will rock the hardest of anything Coachella can offer. Anything “Kuti” kills it. History will prove it. Just watch.

Housse de Racket – I stumbled across them making this playlist – and I like what I hear. The Frenchies are coming along these days!

FINALLY – Support the Local Ecosystem and Desert Life

Alf Alpha is dope. Watch him. Listen to him. This is his second consecutive year at Coachella AND he’s a local. He makes some good feel good groves. Another non-chemical anti-depressant.

Here’s a playlist of a few songs from each group that performed on Sunday the 15th 2012.

Previous Coachella Playlists

2010

Coachella Friday 2010

2011

Coachella Friday 2011

Coachella Saturday 2011

Will This Be The Last Coachella EVER? is a post from: ToobBox.com - Share Your World with Social Playlists

First – The Playlist…

Since all ToobBox.com blog posts have an associated video playlist (because first and foremost we are a playlist website.) – let’s announce the playlist for this article now: “Fluoride and Drinking Water”.

My first run in with fluoride outside of chemistry class

It would of been after watching one of my favorite movies of all time – Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove:

There is a classic scene where General Ripper goes on a rant about how fluoride in our drinking water is a Communist plot to rob our “precious bodily fluids”.

Naturally, when someone mentions this fluoride issue, my first thoughts go back to this scene where this crazed maniac start talking about how fluoridation of the water supply is a conspiracy by the Commies.

And when you realize that Dr. Strangelove came out in 1964, you have to wonder why this fear hasn’t been resolved yet

The Origins of the Fluoride Debate / Conspiracy

I guess this debate started right out of the gates – as soon as they started to fluoridate water in the 1940s (in the United States). During the years of McCarthyism – it seems to have turned into a “Communist” plot to hurt the God-fearing Christians of the United States.

I would have to assume that certain people who were educated in chemistry knew that fluoride was a dangerous chemical for humans and began raising awareness. And somehow that snowballed into the great debate we still have today.

Why do they put fluoride in the water anyway?

Apparently, the only thing I can find to answer this question is: to prevent tooth decay. It seems like a weak reason. I mean how beneficial is preventing tooth decay? Well that depends…

Over 100 years ago, people dropped dead from cavities. It’s true! If you let a cavity take its course, you end up getting an infection that can kill you.

And if you go back to 1940, and the United States was just getting out of the depression – I guess it made sense to protect the basic health of its citizens by fluoridating the water. It was seen as an easy way to automatically improve the health of even the most impoverished citizens.

We were so poor we couldn't afford toothpaste!

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) goes on to list these benefits of fluoride in the water supply:

• Studies show that water fluoridation reduces tooth decay by about 25 percent over a person’s lifetime.
• Every $1 invested in this preventive measure yields approximately $38 savings in dental treatment costs.

The CDC is pretty adamant about how important it is to fluoridate the water supply. They actually list it as one of the ten greatest medical achievements of last century.

But, the question still remains: Is fluoride bad for you?

Well the answer depends on the amount you ingest. “So you see IT IS BAD FOR YOU!”

Well, hold your horses. A LOT OF STUFF is bad for you depending on the amount you ingest. If you consumed 1 gram of caffeine all at once, you would probably die of a heart attack immediately. And 1 gram isn’t that much material.

With fluoride it depends on the concentration of fluoride you are regularly ingesting.

The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) says that you should not be exposed to 4 ppm or 4.0 mg/L of fluoride in your drinking water.

However, certain studies suggest that the recommended maximum amount should be lowered to 0.7 milligrams of fluoride per liter of water.

I found this article to be the most helpful, which was from a New Hampshire State website (.gov) and didn’t seem to have a bias on the subject. It went on to say:

At concentrations above 4.0 mg/L, studies have shown the possibility of skeletal fluorosis, as well as the staining of teeth. In its most severe form, skeletal fluorosis is characterized by irregular bone deposits that may cause arthritis and crippling when occurring at joints. EPA recognizes skeletal fluorosis as a health concern, and thus requires that public water systems not only notify their customers, but also treat the water to lower the fluoride concentration. Less than 1 percent of New Hampshire bedrock wells have fluoride that exceeds exceed 4.0 mg/L.

It goes on to say:

The optimal concentration, as recommended by CDC for New Hampshire, is approximately 1.1 mg/L. (1.1 mg/L is the same as saying 1.1 parts per million parts (ppm)). Below 0.5 mg/L there is little tooth decay protection. Above 1.5 mg/L, there is little additional tooth decay prevention benefit.

So, this is a sketchy topic. Because depending on where you live, and what your local water supplier is going by – you could be receiving near the upper limit of your daily fluoride intake. Add the extra exposure of more fluoride to the mix by brushing your teeth once a day, and now you’ll be ingesting fluoride at a level is no longer a healthy a level – and more of a health risk.

What about bottled water – how much fluoride is in that stuff?

Well that depends on the brand. Some brands explicitly state how much fluoride they add to their water. But the other thing you have to find out is if they are using tap water, filtering it, adding fluoride and other ingredients and bottling it. Because if they are using tap water as their source, they might not be removing the existing fluoride.

Here’s a discussion on fluoride free bottled water.

What about homeless people and those who can’t afford toothpaste?

This is a great question. It’s true that if they stopped fluoridating the water supply, those who can’t afford toothpaste (which is ridiculous because dentists give out for free all day long), and homeless people would be missing out on this free and automatic government service of preventing tooth decay.

That is one of the cool things about living in America – no matter where you are, you are pretty much guaranteed access to clean, potable water that will protect your teeth. If you think about it, not many countries in the world offer such an important service. I mean the number 1 thing you need to stay alive is clean water.

Are People who are scared of fluoride crazy?

Absolutely not. The important thing to realize here is that people concerned about fluoride have identified a possible heath risk and are alarmed by it. The important thing for them to do now – is conduct research and try to come up with a sound conclusion. Like me

Is putting fluoride in the water supply a government conspiracy?

I really REALLY doubt it. In fact – that would be absurd. Here’s why:

• The “government” drinks the same damn water. Whether it’s from the tap or bottled water, we are all drinking the same stuff. So why would “they” want to harm themselves? It’s not like every time they move to a new home, they secretly get “clean” water piped into their new house, or they install reverse osmosis filters at ever sink they frequent.
• What’s their motive? To make us all sick, to make us all “dumber” so we become too stupid to think for ourselves? I don’t buy it – how would that help the government out? It’s obviously not a form of population control. If Americans ARE dumber than ever, there are way too many factor to consider than just fluoride alone.

Countries that have stopped putting fluoride in their water supply

Here’s a list of countries that currently fluoridate their water supply. It’s interesting to note that Japan doesn’t do it. Don’t the Japanese get crap for having poor dental hygiene?

My Conclusion

I’VE COME UP WITH AN ULTRA SIMPLE ANSWER FOR ALL THIS NOISE – Since fluoride in excessive amounts is bad for you AND the fact that all toothpaste we use has fluoride in it, then there is no need to drink fluoridated water. Drink bottled spring water that hasn’t been fluoridated and you should have nothing to worry about. Oh…and don’t eat toothpaste.

Leave your tap water for cleaning, showering and watering the plants..

If you are going to start freaking about damaging your body from chemical exposure or ingestion – muahaaha…well my friend, I’m going to give you a list of things to freak out about that will either:

• Make you go insane…OR
• Stop worrying about things like this.

Here’s the list:

• Benzene – Benzene is super poisonous and carcinogenic. Anytime you’re sitting behind a diesel truck, that’s spewing fumes into your car window, you’re inhaling A LOT of really BAD stuff.
• Key Lock Lubricant – I’m talking about the stuff that’s inside your door keyhole. You should never touch your keys. The lubricant in lock grease is super dangerous. Even skin contact is bad for you. But how are you supposed to NOT touch your keys?!?!
• All the weird, UN-pronounceable chemicals put in processed foods. These chemicals were never meant to be in our body. Some are probably totally inert, while others might be terrible for you – but for now who knows!
• Vinyl – your steering wheels and steering wheel covers, your furniture, all kinds of plastic objects you touch every day, even some of your clothes are made out of this cancer causing material. Sounds like you need to spend all night throwing out some clothes son!
• Your Cell Phone – The World Health Organization release a study a year ago about how BAD cell phones are you. I know you’re on that shit right now!
• Roasted, Fried and Baked Foods! – The process of roasting and baking foods makes a cancer causing chemicals called Acrylamides. That means no more coffee, espresso, STARBUCKS buddy! No more bread, pies, roasted peanuts, or really anything cooked
• Pickled Foods – The list of foods that cause cancer seems to NEVER stop growing!
• The Non-Stick Teflon Frying Pans – Well since you shouldn’t be eating fried foods anyway, I guess this is something you don’t have to worry about that much, but apparently the first time you heat up a new pan, a carcinogenic gas is released.
• BPAs in Plastic Bottles – So now you’re going to buy spring water with no fluoride in it. Well make sure those bottles don’t have BPAs in them – and yes..it’s another carcinogen

Finally if you smoke, are overweight and don’t exercise….well….PFFFT…you have higher priorities to be concerned first. I guess what this is really about: You need to go through all the unhealthy things that are in your life and rank them in order of what’s worst for you. Start knocking out the really BAD things first. If you get to fluoride, well then you are much more on the ball than I am!

About the Author: Sean Traba is the co-founder of Toobbox.com.

Are Your Freakin Out About Fluoride? Let’s Decide! is a post from: ToobBox.com - Share Your World with Social Playlists

• Any Presidential debate.
• Any important decision is made.
• Every morning I wake up.

Critical Thinking – The Video – Maybe you should watch this? is a post from: ToobBox.com - Share Your World with Social Playlists

Plus it’s an easy way to get a signature with a link to your website. However, we’re not going to let anyone write guest posts. We don’t want people who are going to use this to promote products we don’t endorse. So if your from some Rx or MLM scheme, don’t bother applying.

Once the post goes live, it will be tweeted and put on Facebook for the masses to see. It’s a win-win! On top of that we regularly re-tweet old posts so you’ll get spread for years to come.

So, if you represent an awesome company, blog or organization and want some internet presence, please feel free to contact us.

If you just want to guest blog for the fun of it an don’t represent anything except for yourself – please feel free to contact us as well!

The Simple Guidelines:

1. Create a toobbox.com playlist.
2. Write up a quick story or something interesting or educational about the playlist. There’s no minimum word count.
3. Send us the playlist link and your write up! (you can send it to us here)

Pretty easy right?!?

About the Author: Chalk writes from the sewers. He sees everything from the ground up!

Guest Blogging for ToobBox.com is a post from: ToobBox.com - Share Your World with Social Playlists

Be sure to enter your mailing address in your message!

About the Author: Chalk writes from the sewers. He sees everything from the ground up!

We Are Thankful For Linux So We Are Giving Away Free I Love Linux Stickers is a post from: ToobBox.com - Share Your World with Social Playlists

Step 1: Think of all the matter that makes up the universe...

This morning I had one of the craziest thoughts of my entire life.

I woke up and took a walk down to the beach. I was noticing how still the water was this morning, and all of a sudden a bird dived into the water and came up with a fish for breakfast. I started to think how shitty it must be to be a small fish that has no idea that a predator from a completely different environment can easily eat him (or her).

Step 2: Think of how it must suck to be a small fish.

Then I went on to think, maybe I don’t want my ashes spread at sea because I might come back as a small fish. And chances are, I’ll keep coming back as a small fish.

Step 3

But then came the mind blowing thought:

If you think about all the matter in the universe… all the atoms that make up the earth, the sun, the solar system, our galaxy etc.

And then you take into account…

What are the chances that I came into existence as a human. (it’s important to distinguish, that I didn’t come here as a fish or bird or bacterium).

That’s pretty crazy. Just to have a brain that functions at a level that the human brain does (and not a fish brain). Just to have the chemical makeup to have thoughts like these – what are the odds???

Of course shit eating flies might have the highest level of understanding of any creature on planet earth – how would we know right? Their brains might be far superior to ours….

About the Author: Chalk writes from the sewers. He sees everything from the ground up!

Crazy Thought – Think of all the atoms that make up the universe and then… is a post from: ToobBox.com - Share Your World with Social Playlists

I read this article on Huffington Post, about how the Guy Fawkes mask is now the symbol of Occupy Wall Street. Naturally I had to make a spoof of the original movie poster. Now I’m wanting Oliver Stone and the guy who made V for Vendetta to collaborate Maybe that’s a bad idea? Who knows…

Anyway, I think I’m going to drive around town wearing that mask for a while for shits and giggles. Hey V for Vendetta and W for Wrong Street!

The Guy Fawkes Mask & Occupy Wall Street is a post from: ToobBox.com - Share Your World with Social Playlists

I know this sounds cliché and obvious, but let’s drill down…

1. Reduce Stress

Stress is a killer. If you are working a job that is stressing you out and making you unhealthy – ask yourself: “Is this job worth my life?” If you answer yes to this question, then you obviously need to do something about.

2. You Spend A Lot Of Your Non-Sleeping Life At Work

For most people, work is their life. So if you are wasting your life at some place you hate or with people you hate, you should probably change your situation. Again, it’s not healthy.

On the other hand if you are spending your time working at a place where you enjoy your relationship with your co-workers, and you love what you are doing every day, then keep at it!

3. It Makes The World More Efficient

Think about this way: If you work at a job you love, you’ll probably put in 100% effort into your work. Which is the best result for your employer, the customers and your co-workers.

If you just get a job to collect a pay check and you really don’t care about your work product – chances are the company will suffer, the customers will suffer and you’re making it more difficult for your co-workers. Resulting in greater inefficiency all around.

I say companies should focus more on hiring people who are obviously passionate about working for them. And for people seeking jobs, you shouldn’t just pick the first job that comes your way. Now I know, during these times it’s hard to do that, but make a serious effort to seek out what you really want to do.

4. The Reason Why You Were Born Was Not To Make Money

It seems like everyone just wants to make money. Everyone wants to win the lottery and call it quits.

BORING!

The way I see it, you don’t really get true satisfaction without knowing a bit of hardship first. Besides that, we were born to love, laugh, reproduce and experience. Currency is just a system to buy goods and services. It’s not why your exist.

I think if you remove the desire to amass as much currency as you can out of the picture, and you reflect on why you are really alive, it’s much easier to find a job that you really want to do. And who knows, you might end up making more money as a result of it!

The only reason why I see a need to make as much money as you can is to be able to afford skyrocketing healthcare when you are old. But if that’s the case, then everyone is pretty much screwed anyway. Because only a handful of people are really going to be able to afford it, while the rest of us will rot on the streets.

And…to really put it into perspective…..you might get hit by a bus tomorrow.

5. Because Steve Jobs Said So

You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. – Steve Jobs

Watch this playlist called “You Never Work A Day In Your Life…” to see’s Steve Jobs commencement speech about doing what you love. This playlist is packed with motivational goodness

About the Author: Chalk writes from the sewers. He sees everything from the ground up!

5 Great Reasons Why You Should Do What You Love For A Career is a post from: ToobBox.com - Share Your World with Social Playlists

Surprisingly, Obama changed his mind on whether the Feds should crack down on Marijuana dispensaries in California. It was only a couple of years ago, when he openly said he wouldn’t waste the country’s resources on this specific issue. Now’s he flipped it – which is strange because the U.S. is in more debt than ever. What’s he thinking? Even political analysts are baffled as to why he changed his mind.

Today’s playlist is about Tommy Chong and the story of his arrest. – This playlist show’s how ridiculous this war on marijuana really is.

The image above was ganked from the L.A Weekly. Read the L.A. Weekly’s article: Obama’s War on Weed

*The Nope image above is from the Village Voice Media.

Say Nope to Dope and Hope: Obama and the War on Drugs is a post from: ToobBox.com - Share Your World with Social Playlists

Muhahaha - I vant to suck your hard work, sweat & BLOOD!!

Both vampires and the 1%:

• Dress Extravagantly
• Have an odd diet
• Live in mansions
• Like banks
• Loves counting
• Preys off the masses
• Hasn’t been this powerful since the 1920s
• Flies in style
• Can be destroyed with wooden stakes

Watch the “Why Do We Occupy Video Playlist” here.

Thanks pleated-jeans.com for the hilarious image!

About the Author: Chalk writes from the sewers. He sees everything from the ground up!

Vampires vs. The One Percent is a post from: ToobBox.com - Share Your World with Social Playlists

So he let people come in and put up their own artwork. Here is more info: artshow2011.com

Here is some artwork from the show:

That Famous Tomato Spray Can from Exit Through The Gift Shop

Notorious Big with a Fedora

Green Monster

Bleeding Eyes Rain Cloud

Hello Kitty wearing a respirator

Skull made out of marlboro ads

Power to the peaceful

This was just a cool corner

Graffiti Devil

I always like pharaoh artwork

And of course we had to put Uncle Scam up

Mr. Brainwash DIY Show 2011 is a post from: ToobBox.com - Share Your World with Social Playlists

In the polls Ron Paul is not the favorite. He’s rarely included in media poll coverage. But since he is seriously the only Republican candidate I see bumper stickers for, talked about on the internet, gets Youtube support – how did these other Republican candidates get farther than him in the polls? I don’t hear anyone talking about or visibily supporting the other candidates. It’s like their support base doesn’t really even exist. How is this happening?

I see support for Obama and Ron Paul, but where’s this faux-support for the other candidates coming from? is a post from: ToobBox.com - Share Your World with Social Playlists

What is OccupyLA about?

OccupyLA is a group of protesters that are currently located at the Los Angeles City Hall. The main theme that they are protesting is the United States government continual nurturing of “corporate welfare” and the consolidation of wealth in the USA.

We are the 99%

If you go down to the protest, you will see a lot of signs and shirts saying “We are the 99%”. What this means is that the general population (most likely me and you) are the 99% of Americans, who don’t control most of the wealth in this country. Since 1% of the population now controls a large chunk of wealth in America, it put the 99% (the rest of us) at a huge disadvantage.

Where did the Occupy Movement start?

Now, the “Occupy” movement is going on all over America right now. I believe it started in New York. NYC has a much bigger protest going – and rightfully so because Wall Street is located in downtown Manhattan.

Here is the link to the Occupy Wall Street website: http://occupywallst.org

Where is OccupyLA?

200 North Spring Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012-3224

OccupyLA is located at city hall in Downtown L.A. Here is a Google Map of where city hall is.

Be sure to go around the block once, because on one side of City Hall it looks like nothing is going on.

When is OccupyLA?

It’s running right now and it’s a 24-hour-a-day occupation at the City Hall in Downtown Los Angeles. You can go before work, during work or WAY after work and people will be there. You can even spend the night, just bring a tent!

Who’s Organizing It?

The people are! However, there is a website, Twitter and Facebook account dedicated to this event.

OccupyLA Twitter Page – This is a great place to start. You can see photos and get real time news about the occupation.

OccupyLA Facebook Page – Give it a like!

OccupyLA – The Website

Ideological Differences

Last night I witness some beef go down between a couple of the protesters. I’m not quite sure what it was about. I did hear someone scream “I’m a communist!” and someone else complaining about doing another protest in Beverly Hills.

When I think about it I can see why people with political affinities on both extremes would be interested in OccupyLA.

The Communist

Communists are usually all about workers’ rights, free education and health care for every citizen. Of course this is 100% at the expense of the government. A communist would be interested in OccupyLA because, it’s a fight against corporate America hording most of the nation’s wealth, hurting job growth, and effectively keeping United States citizens poor, under-educated and without guaranteed health care.

The Anarchist

Anarchists are the complete opposite of communists. They believe there should be zero government. To an anarchist, all forms of government are corrupt, authoritarian and always seem to mess things up. An anarchist would be interested in OccupyLA because the U.S. government has allowed Wall Street and Mega-Corporations to corrupt government for their benefit only. This is basically making our economy not fair for small business and people who play by the rules.

The Socialist

Socialists are somewhere in between communists and anarchists. They believe in free market trade to an extent, and that some social services should be provided to the people of the country. Which is basically, what we have experienced in the USA for the past 100 years. Socialists tend to have the same beliefs as both communists and anarchists depending on the issue.

Mixed Messages

Now, other people have using OccupyLA as a platform to announce other issues they feel strongly about. I personally think it’s better to stick with one theme. I like focus. I think it generally gets things done faster and has a higher chance of execution. But that’s just me. I guess people can protest about anything they want, whenever they want

Show Up!

This is history! Shoot down to Downtown and talk to some people and see what it’s all about. It will be good for you

What is Occupy LA? @occupyla is a post from: ToobBox.com - Share Your World with Social Playlists

Thousands have “occupied” major cities across the country to protest this problem. Each major city now has an “occupy” protest going on right now. And since we’re out of East L.A., naturally we support OccupyLA!

To show our support we have been visiting the protest nearly every day, taking photos and delivering pizza, water and Gatorade to overnight protestors.

Here are some photos from Saturday night:

I’m here so I don’t have to live in this box

I like this photo. Because this is what might happen if we let corporate interests continue to run this country.

I’ve had enough trickle down economics

Trickle down economics is alive and well and is being outsourced to other countries. In one ironic twist, wealth is being distributed around the world finally in some industries (namely programmers, graphic designers, web developers, virtual assistants etc). But job creation in the USA is starting to stagnate.

I for one believe it’s up to us to create our own industries and economy and not rely on mega-corps to provide jobs for us. Let them make mistakes and fall apart. But at the same time we should sever their abilities to influence government. Campaign contributions, oligopolies and lobbying are simply the opposite of free market economics.

I will believe corporations are people when Texas executes one!

This photo is just plain funny.

Power to the peaceful

Good shot A.R.!

We are the 99%

In case you’re wondering what that means: “The upper 1 percent of Americans are now taking in nearly a quarter of the nation’s income every year. In terms of wealth rather than income, the top 1 percent control 40 percent.” – Vanity Fair, May 2011

Si el presente es ole lucha el futuro es nuestro

What would a protest be without a Che quote?

Big thanks to A.R. for the photos!

@occupyla – Photo From The First Night of Occupy LA is a post from: ToobBox.com - Share Your World with Social Playlists

Click on the pictures below to see a larger image:

Here’s A Close Up Of The Sticker

And Here’s A Snapshot of U.S. Government Spending in 2009…

Notice where the top dollars are allocated. Wow! Those lucky defense contractors! How did they get the most money out of any industry? Gee, perhaps because they like to instigate wars to give the government a reason to buy their weapons systems.

In Fiscal Year 2010, the top five departments by dollars obligated were the Department of Defense ($365.9 billion), Department of Energy ($25.7 billion), Health and Human Services ($19.0 billion), General Services Administration ($17.6 billion), and NASA ($16.0 billion).[7]

How Can We Be So Sure This Is The Case?

I always go back to good old Ike. He was a general back in WWII and became the 34th president of the United States. The last thing he told the American public before he left office, was to watch out for the defense industries. Watch his farewell speech here (skip to 7:00 to get to the meat of it):

Here is the 34th President of the United States, a man that one of the main generals in WWII, telling us 60 years ago to watch out for the Military Industrial Complex. He is saying “don’t let these fuckers spend all your tax money on defense! Because they will find a way to do it if you don’t stop them!”. But instead we went into the 1960s eating frozen dinners in front of the t.v. set. Which we still do to this day…seems like nothing has changed

Let’s Look At Some Blood Money

Below I have presented 3 graphs of various defense contractors. Each graph shows stock price vs. time. Look at the period between 2001 and 2008. Those were the main “war years” until the financial fiasco of 2008 (when most companies around the world got the wind knocked out of them).

Lockheed Martin

Northrop Grumman

Boeing

The point of these stickers is to illustrate the flow of income from the U.S. Government to each of these industries. Income is called “earnings”, but these companies didn’t really earn shit when it was taken out of your bank account at tax time and given straight to these corporations. Simply so the U.S. military can keep blowing up people around the world in the name of unjustified wars.

What’s even more crazy, is this isn’t even capitalism at work. These companies are so large, they don’t even really compete with each other. They get government contracts handed to them – which you pay for! And most of the time they work on the same projects so every company wins!

How Does It Work?

For the defense industry it’s an interesting strategy they use to get money from the U.S. Government. What they do is set up plants in almost every state in the Union. The idea is, that by employing a certain amount of people in each state, the representatives of that state have an interest in keeping those people employed. So as long as they approve defense spending, they’ll most likely get the votes from those who work at the defense companies. And the cycle continues….as it has for over 60 years.

This is a deeply rooted problem in our society, that really never gets attention. What’s interesting is no one really touched on this during Vietnam. The only person I can think of who may have raised awareness of this was Angela Davis.

Some Final Words

America is a beautiful country with lots of really awesome people. And looking at our government from a purely structural standpoint – it ain’t bad. I don’t blame the American people OR the government for this terrible reality. I blame corporations that take advantage of the situation. After years of making moves, they have figured out how to hack the government. This is really what this is about. Large corporations are government hackers. They figure out how to own congress and they learn how to get money from tax payers that they really don’t deserve. They also learn how to avoid paying taxes – but yet get treated with the same rights as “individuals”. This goes for many industries whether it’s agriculture, pharmaceuticals, oil, defense, auto, you name it – it’s the nature of the beast!

About The Author:

Chalk writes from the sewers. He sees everything from the ground up! Chalk is not a “liberal’ or a “conservative” and eats meat on a regular basis.

Uncle Scam Sticker Application In Action! is a post from: ToobBox.com - Share Your World with Social Playlists

Yes! The posters were cool, but these are going to be much more fun. If you want some just contact us here!

Uncle Scam Stickers Are In! is a post from: ToobBox.com - Share Your World with Social Playlists

Katt Williams recently went on a rant against a Mexican guy in the audience. I want all you Toobboxers to sound off and tell me if this is racist or not AND if should he apologize or not? We want your opinions! check the video after the jump.

Katt Williams Goes On A Rant In Arizona is a post from: ToobBox.com - Share Your World with Social Playlists

We’ve been working on this one for a while. But damn do we love this poster. Next week we’ll be getting this ready for print. We would like to thank Anthony G. Hernandez for all the hard work that went into this design.

Explanation: So wars are designed by the military industrial complex to give government contract ($) to select corporations. There is an entire industry that profits off war. There is an entire industry devoted to rebuilding countries we blow up. Dollar-Dollar-Bill-Ya’ll.

There is also a HUGE financial industry that TAKES taxpayer dollars when they make huge mistakes. Playlist coming soon.

USA 101: How America Works (The Poster) is a post from: ToobBox.com - Share Your World with Social Playlists