[-empyre-] Greetings from the US Department of Art & Technology

["Randall M. Packer" <secretary@usdat.us>]

Welcome empyre members.  And thank you Michael, Melinda and the rest 
of the empyre team for hosting the US Department of Art & Technology. 
We appreciate this opportunity to voice our concerns and aspirations 
in these times of extraordinary crisis as we head into one of the 
most crucial elections in memory. Perhaps ever!

I would like to introduce two of my partners-in-crime (other US DAT 
staff members will be forthcoming), Deputy Secretary, Jeff Gates and 
Trace Reddell, Director of the Bureau of Pharmakogeographical 
Surveying. Jeff is the creator of WeTheBlog.org, a forum that has 
taken on great importance in the Department's vital job of promoting 
the role of the artist in society. As Jeff modestly explains, 
"WetheBlog.org offers discussion among media artists, cultural 
critics and other creative  people  who  are repositioning themselves 
as new leaders in the governance of this  planet.  Read about it, 
talk about it, act on it, - and be part of a  political awakening."

Trace is well known for his Pharmakogeographical explorations, who 
advocates systems of varied media ambiences "diverting [mass media] 
from its current roadmap to manufactured similitude through an 
hallucinatory recycling of composted media content."

Here at empyre, our plan is to instigate discussion and various forms 
of provocative and sometimes revolutionary discourse on the state of 
the political environment and humanity in general as we head into the 
election on November 2nd.

We intend to invent explosive material to toss into the 
political-economic bunkers here on the empyre list, and bridge this 
commentary with our multimedia critique on WeTheBlog.org. Just 
yesterday, Jeff posted video documentation of George W. from the now 
infamous "split-screen" controversy swirling around the presidential 
debate. As Jeff pointed out, "the debate rules were designed to 
obfuscate and neutralize the candidates' differences -an injustice to 
the American people trying to make a difficult decision." We now see 
the power of the media to both neutralize and highlight these 
differences, a balancing act upon which our democracy now finds 
itself teetering...

Please join us as we head down what already appears to be a 
tumultuous path towards the election (and perhaps the End of the 
World depending upon the outcome). If you should desire a moment of 
diversion and anarchic entertainment, please tune in to the Media 
Deconstruction Kit (http://www.experimentalparty.org/mdk) where Fox 
News is being manipulated and re-broadcast on-line, live and 
real-time. Fair and balanced cultural appropriation! Or, should you 
be inclined to voice your opinion on the daily threat condition of 
the US Government, please visit Jonah Brucker-Cohen's Homeland 
Insecurity Advisory System (http://www.usinsecurity.us), another of 
the Department's initiatives.

And if we're really lucky, perhaps Abe Golam might rear his devilish head!

Thank you for having us.

Randall M. Packer
Secretary, US Department of Art & Technology

US Department of Art & Technology
http://www.usdat.us

Experimental Party DisInformation Center / On-line
http://www.experimentalparty.org

WetheBlog.org
http://www.wetheblog.org

Homeland Insecurity Advisory System
http://www.usinsecurity.us








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