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When he goes to trial and is convicted of war crimes, will his name be erased?
Cheney: Somehow Still Top Drawer
The NYT used this photo today in its on-line Politics section promoting its latest Cheney update, the accompanying title reading: Unapologetic, Unrestrained: Cheney Unbound. I'm interested in your take on this photo, as well as why it surfaces now. As the Getty caption describes (below), y...
If I try to put myself into the photo by looking into the mirror, I feel a little unsteady. Not unlike the remarks that Obama made, looking backwards to look forward.
It is important to gain new foothold in this new world view.
I Am One Of Them
I clipped the photo and the caption from yesterday's NYT Pictures of the Day slide show to highlight the NYT photo operation at its best. Captured here, in my mind, is one of the most dramatic and welcome foreign policy moves in years. (And yet, given the way Obama operates, it was also some...
It is a very cold photo, no doubt. Usually there is a sense of warmth and light in dark times, winter. After all, isn't Christmas supposed to be the "season of light?"
The lone ancient-sort of column on the right, the weight pressing down onto the highly decorative cap of it, is certainly in contrast to the sharply defined modern-looking monument to the left, with no way to place any weight or cap on it.
Of course, the dialog is joined by the rotunda far across the cold expanse, the "river" in the center linking them all and rising up all around them, as if to swallow them up, like the tides of Katrina?
Go away into the cold night, Mr. Bush. Hope you can bail, Laura.
The White House Christmas Card: Laura Doing A Little Projection?
It seems Laura Bush is feeling pretty wounded these days about Dubya's legacy -- according, at least, to two current monumental gestures. On Monday, we had the photo-op of the couple in front of an enormous AIDS ribbon hung in the South Portico, virtually screaming to the world how Bus...
Halloween anybody?
Is Obama's Race Trumping Whatever Else The TIME Cover Is Supposed To Be Trumping?
Maybe I'm just skittish because Palin-McCain are playing the terrorist card, but I've got all kinds of problems with this. What I'm specifically wondering is: exactly how does this photo-illustration either convey the economy is trumping race OR worried white voters are turning toward Oba...
When I looked at this photo, I was reminded of the Bush photo, Katrina time. Remember?
The Trip: Begging The Comparison
(click for full size) MCCLELLAN: Okay, just to update you on the flyover. He was — you’ll have the still photos that will go out from the stills that were up there, you’ll have pictures of him. -- White House briefing, August 31, 2005 While the images are parallel, the attitudes are ...
And not to forget Dylan:
Backstage the girls were playin' five-card stud by the stairs,
Lily had two queens, she was hopin' for a third to match her pair.
Outside the streets were fillin' up, the window was open wide,
A gentle breeze was blowin', you could feel it from inside.
Lily called another bet and drew up the Jack of Hearts.
Big Jim was no one's fool, he owned the town's only diamond mine,
He made his usual entrance lookin' so dandy and so fine.
With his bodyguards and silver cane and every hair in place,
He took whatever he wanted to and he laid it all to waste.
But his bodyguards and silver cane were no match for the Jack of Hearts.
Rosemary combed her hair and took a carriage into town,
She slipped in through the side door lookin' like a queen without a crown.
She fluttered her false eyelashes and whispered in his ear,
"Sorry, darlin', that I'm late," but he didn't seem to hear.
He was starin' into space over at the Jack of Hearts.
Your Turn: Those Cards At The Economist
Between the faces, suits, colors, ordering, layering, orientation, scale, movement, background ... even the playing card analogy itself (gaming, betting, house of cards, 52 pick up) -- I hardly know where to start. Your thoughts? Up in the air (Economist) (photo illustration: unattrib...
I subscribed to VOGUE for years and years. In the last couple of years, I quit. I got tired of all the advertising mostly, and the over the top stuff just did not seem important to see any more.
Fashion is just not to die for any more, or maybe I am just getting old.
One thing I imagine is that the models, who are constantly going back and forth over the oceans in planes, probably have more occasions than most of us to go through this screening, and Maisel and all of them must talk about it. I would not be surprised if this is a direct result of the sorts of things they have all experienced (don't expect that beauty is any less an invitation to be singled out any more than age. . .by Thousands Standing Around. Maybe, as the shots (ha ha) indicate, even more an invitation to be searched, etc.)
I don't like the sub-text of violence and violation in the photos, but I bet it is part and parcel of the total lifestyle. For real.
Fashion Of The Times
(click here for full size) American paranoia has become so pervasive, while the capacity to step back has grown so remote, political life now seems inspired by Alice In Wonderland. Thank god, then, that here and there, one can still get a glimpse of the looking glass. Through this livejo...
It is incredible what it takes for someone to open their eyes. But eyes were opened. NYC was not fooled by W.
How long will it take for the rest of the country to wake up and get it? What you said, Nezua-Limon!!
Your Turn: Grasping The Ephemeral
(click to expand) And it was at this time, in the days immediately after September 11, that we discovered ephemeral art. Until then we had no idea what street art was. But the attacks of September 11th had made us hyper-aware of our surroundings. We began exploring Lower Manhattan like never...
The town where I grew up had a major fire in 2000. The destruction was stunning, but not even a fly on a rooftop compared to the Gulf Coast after Katrina.
I took many photographs, in an effort to give a sense of the fire, not just the intensity of it but the capriciousness of it.
I suppose there is caprice in a flood too (not much), but fire purifies, and water putrefies. The horror of what remains is magnified by the rot.
Both transform, but in different ways.
It is really impossible to convey the magnitude/scale of this sort of destruction in photos. So every aspect of the craft/art of photography that can be used to bring forward the overwhelming emotion--helplessness,hopelessness, humanity, nature, must be employed.
The other thing I know from my experience is that fire-town is still in the process of rebuilding, six years later. The time it will take to rebuild the Coast is inestimable.
The tragedy is really incomprehensible.
Your Turn: Something That Isn't There
(click any for full size) I spent a month on the Gulf Coast in January working on a story for National Geographic Magazine, published this month in a 24 page article. The idea was to take a look at the coast months after the storms, and see what, if any, progress had been made to t...
Asymmetrical.
Israel has the firepower to inflict tremendous damage, and collateral, as the case may be, in Lebanon. The kill ratio is asymmetrical.
On the other side, if there is celebration, is it because they are happy to kill Israelis, or is there the satisfaction, in some asymmetrical manner, of being underdogs and yet keeping an asymmetrical power at bay?
Just asking.
Qana Was Not Staged
(click to expand) With the firestorm coming from the Rathergate crowd, and doubts now spreading from the left wing about images from Lebanon, it can start to feel like all reason is being subsumed by political hysteria. At the same time, war photojournalism seems at risk of being tarred wi...
Down to the wire, hanging by a thread. That election musta been torture!!
Your Turn: Parting Shots
(Actual size!) If there's an image to remember the Ct. primary by, this is it. The metaphorical implications are endless. (hat tip: Susan) (image: John Marshall Mantel for The New York Times. August 8, 2006. empirezone.blogs.nytimes.com)
Yesterday there was some report about our (US) jail cells, perhaps it was in Iraq, not Gitmo--48" x 48" x 20" in which prisoners are kept for weeks. Some being fed only bread and water while so confined. The means of our tortures are large and larger, we have so many methods of inhumanity.
And who would not have imagined that captured US soldiers would be given anything other than revenge? Reap what you sow.
I am with Murtha, stay and pay. Yes, we are paying every kind of price, every price too high.
War without end. If our leaders will not lead, we have to make our movement large enough and loud enough that some of them (one would be enough) will follow us.
Why Gitmo's Commander Was Disappeared (Or: My Secret Guard Den)
"Tuesday night, while packing to leave Guantanamo Bay, I called Bumgarner's cell phone to say goodbye. A strange voice answered. I thought I dialed a wrong number, so I hung up. A few moments later, my phone rang. It was Navy Capt.-select Katie Hampf, Bumgarner's second-in-command...
So they have a little "frame" shop over there in Baghdad. Maybe they are just recycling frames from Oudai's pornography collection? Or maybe they had some mat board flown in special for the occasion?
Or perhaps they have futures in Sotheby's?
Maybe there will be a new Iraqi deck of cards?
Anyone have some images of the dead Oudai and Co. to juxtapose with this?
While the death toll mounts, we'll have the new "American Boogeyman," next.
Just after "Don't Cry for Me," with Ann Coulter.
Give Me The Largest Frame You've Got
Of course, the "elimination" of Zarqawi was a strategic accomplishment which provides a moral boost both to the U.S. military and also the nascent government of Iraq. How big was Zarqawi, though? You can look at this pic from yesterday's parade, and think he was huge. You have only t...
He's "troubled" by Haditha.
But not with a capital "T."
I'm with those who observe in this snap that the chimp-in-chief has just said something "funny" and the asiders are laughing at someone, with him.
Juvenile. The whole thing. And sickening.
The Company You Keep
At this point, it is premature to point fingers or assign culpability. Of course, it would also be ludicrous to assume any connection to Bush just for sitting next to someone at a parade. Given the unfolding of the alleged Haditha massacre story, however, this image is a still a little uns...
Springtime for. . . .Hitler?
Where have all the flowers gone, longtime passing? Gone to graveyards every one.
Happy Memorial Day, one and all.
Field Of Dreams
What happens when, half a world away, you come face to face with the enemy ... and its a flower? With the arrival of Memorial Day weekend, the MSM is offering a range of stories on war and soldiering. The NYT has a piece today summarizing where things stand in Afghanistan. The gist of th...
So, who wrote that on the wall? These kids may have more knowledge of Vietna* than any Americans in Ira* these days.
Are there brothels in Iraq? I think not, so none of the children will be scorned for being half-American. Maybe because the pregnant women will be killed before the babies are born?
And besides no jungle, I think it was documented in Fallujah that we used something akin to napalm.
I guess we should be glad it doesn't say "MaiLai Str." Oh, that's around the corner.
VIETNAM
Nadir: An extreme state of adversity; the lowest point of anything. *** Surely, informed analysts could go on endlessly over how the Iraq campaign differs from the Vietnam experience. Still, as the present engagement continues to deteriorate, there must be a threshold upon which the co...
New proposed legislation headed through the US Senate will permit insurance companies to decide whether or if to cover the cost of contraceptives for women.
This was a battle that was fought and won in the past, these companies had to be FORCED by law to provide contraceptives to women as part of their coverage.
I am not sure how many people are aware of this movement, but I hope entirely in line with what I suppose this article is doing: that is educating lots of people about the current insurance changes proposed by the right.
More information:
You may have heard about this "Lose Your Benefits Bill" before,
but now it has passed out of committee and the full Senate will
vote on it. It's an insidious attempt by hardline senators to
chip away at our basic rights. These lawmakers have tried before
to restrict access to birth control and other health care you
need. Their latest strategy? Force women to pay for these
benefits out of pocket.
We've worked for decades to pass state laws that require
insurance companies to cover birth control just like other
medicines. This bill would trample those laws, but it doesn't
stop there. Besides fair coverage for contraception, here are
some of the other benefits that women could lose:
<> cancer screenings
<> mammograms
<> maternity care
<> the ability to go straight to your OB/GYN when you have a
problem
<> the ability to stay with the same doctor throughout a
pregnancy
<> infertility treatment
<> osteoporosis screenings
And it's not just women who will be affected -- the bill guts
state protections for coverage for prostate cancer screenings,
ambulatory surgery, emergency services, and more. To make
matters worse, it will likely also increase the costs of health
insurance for older and sicker people who need health insurance
most.
Please take two minutes to speak out against this dangerous bill
-- the Senate could vote as early as this week.
Contact your senator now:
http://www.ppaction.org/campaign/benefits2
Condomnation?
(slightly more legible view) It's a clever photo-illustration on the cover of this morning's NYT Mag. But is the magazine lending inordinate visual -- as well as political and intellectual -- weight to the radical fundies? The thesis of the article, Contra-Contraception, is that the con...
The blogosphere is where the winds are blowing and tides are rising. Colbert is on the crest of the wave. Hurrah!!!
Yesterday the Immigrant's Train roared right through Sensenbrenner Station. Lots of people are on-board, and it is not just immigrants. America is watching the birth of a major new political movement. The politicization of young immigrants is a powerful sight.
January 20, 2009 may arrive sooner than we expect.
Protection Racket: A "Freeze Frame" White House Correspondents' Dinner Repor(t)
Media Matters, among a raft of others, has been on fire today over the MSM's (lack of) coverage of Saturday's White House Correspondents' Dinner. If you've been untouched by the heat, the flames concern big media's choice to almost completely ignore Stephen Colbert. As the evening's featu...
The "pole" in W's head makes him into a character on a merry-go-round, down and down, round and round. Same old tune.
MSM seems to be giving props for "objectivity" to Snow for having once been able to call W incompetent and etc. but there will be rosey times on that roundabout, Snow or no.
What about the look on Rove's face coming out of Fitzland yesterday? Didn't look happy to me. Whaddya say Tony?
Big, Big Snow
(... Looks like I'm on a Malkin jag.) I don't blame Michelle for posting this shot of the new White House Press Secretary on Tuesday. Given that Tony Snow's appointment was still a rumor at that point, Malkin disclosed straight away that this image came from the right-wing photoshop fact...
The last photo is the first--no food on plates, soldier has plastic, Bush has china. Then they got rid of the 2nd class plastic plate and gave everyone china plates (top photo)?
But not before Bush gets the idea he's Special with the china (smirk)?
Down go the polls. Down down down. To the bottom. Enjoy your meal, W. We're having you for lunch!!
Bush's Rainbow
A number of you wrote about this lead photo in yesterday's NYT. The image shows George Bush in a marine lunch line in Twenty-Nine Palms, California. Because Bush is chumming it up with the white soldier, while the (lone) black soldier next to Bush seems miles away (and less interested in...
I have no words to say how truly sad this picture makes me feel.
We Were Fam-i-ly
As a visual piece of corporate propaganda, what's not to admire? Maybe it's not blaxploitation in the classic sense, but there's 'ole Andy Young, shaken' it with a sea of young sisters alongside one big-ass stereo speaker. Yep, Andy -- famous for his role in the civil rights movement, lab...
I think his tone of voice is key. When Cheney talks, he keeps his voice very calm and modulated. Bush is hysterical.
If he is on meds, they are not working very well.
Reading With The Sound Off
How rickety is Bush's faulty tower? This is how bad it is: This morning, GW was actually forced to take a question from Helen Thomas. I don't know what news briefing CBS was watching. Although Bush was edgy and aggressive in his own defense, Jim Axelrod reported simply that: "this was a ...
I saw this yesterday on the NYT and immediately knew I would see it here today.
I am with Gleex, the official painting of GWB, the flight suit. Perfect.
There is virtually no art/art history education in the US. The failure of Rove to grasp that practically no one will know anything about the painting, will not understand the imagery nor recognize TR, and why the public will largely misunderestimate the value of the photo to the White House. So while Rove may have "got it" the public will not. Most, like Bush, will lack the curiosity to even look twice at the painting or ask why this image was chosen.
Teddy was also a bit of an environmentalist I believe, perhaps the national Park Service was begun under him? Anyway, the Bush use of him, like all the other false images they put forth, simply falls flat.
George and Ted and Dick and Karl
What's the message here? Rough riding on the Constitution? In response to the NYT leaking the news that George Bush has been authorizing secret wiretaps of U.S. citizens, the President (according to a Seattle Times headline) "came out swinging" in defense of the activity. As a backdrop ...
I don't think he wants out, in any sense of that word. (What is up with the way he sspeakss? What is all the enunciation about? To make it seem like he intends to say what is coming out of his mouth? I can't stand to listen to him.)
It is amazing he actually went to an unfiltered audience and took unfiltered questions yesterday. Of course it got a lot of media attention, and they have not really bothered to correct the 30,000 Iraqi dead figure. Bill Frist was on TV this morning giving more lie to the same old puppet show. Don't talk about the 9-11/AQ link, just focus on how many "terrorists" are in Iraq today. One thousand days and counting. The boy in the bubble, love ta love ya baby!!!
Does Bubble Boy Float?
I love the graphic. I get the point as political commentary. But, as an analogy for how Bush World really works, I think it completely misses the mark. The reason this doesn't work is because Bush absolutely fails to see any other world -- or world view -- beyond his own. Now, if you ...
Gives new meaning to the concept of "photoshopping."
Maybe more work from the boy-wonder propaganda machine? (Lincoln Group?)
Iraqi Poster Wars: Chalabi's Crude Strategy
If you're an American politician and you've got an interest in (or designs on) big oil, you certainly would not play it up -- especially during the closing days of a campaign. In Iraq, on the other hand, it seems the opposite is true. Consider this flier for the Chalabi campaign (courtesy...
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