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"Only you can prevent global warming" -Grumpy Gore
Gore's Climate Problems
How outrageous Gore should be visually called out for harshly pointing fingers in a pic that was widely published on-line ... ... while Bush, the legislation killer, sits beside the fireplace, amidst the pine cones, under George Washington (for the millionth time) with this sh*t eating g...
re: acm. Generally the rule is that it's not objectifying if your knees remain covered.
But of course you are right that the message is mixed. It's about beauty but also disfiguring injuries. It's about strength and courage but also sadness.
"Everybody Has The Right To Be Beautiful"
My friend Stan Banos has relaunched Reciprocity-Failure, which also tracks visual politics. With his keen eye, he directed me here. (image: Gorm K Gaare/miss-landmine.org)
The eighties are the new seventies! Woohoo! MTV!
Olympic 2012 Logo: What Is It
(click for full size) I wanted to weigh in on the controversy raging about the new London 2012 Olympic logo. I think a large part of the problem is that people are looking at it as a static element, whereas the intent of it is to actually float, fill and/or move. If you look at this l...
The flag raising at Iwo Jima is still fresh in everyone's minds from Clint Eastwood's "Flags of our Father's" movie.
I'm not really buying that it's deceptive... Basically the flag is a symbol of America. The tornados blew down the flag down they're putting it back up.
I wonder if we read it differently because it's reversed, left to right.
The first picture is really a great photo. It's about courage and triumph. The second photo there isn't a war going on so it's more about just cleaning stuff up. But that takes a certain kind of courage too, and it has to be done regardless.
Iwo Jima, Kansas
edited for content 2:36 pm EST Oh, the picture of patriotism.... This color shot -- photographed yesterday in Greensburg, Kansas -- is one of the more editorially-deceptive newswire photos I've seen in a while. In the photo, Kansas National Guardsman and postal workers raise an Ameri...
Cactus: The top boxes are breadsticks.
There was a mention of a "toweled out window." It's just a normal window blind. You can see it better in the other pic.
None of the guns are pointing forward.
It's people who scew around with guns and knives that make me nervous. It's like some of my otherwise sane friends go nuts when you give them a weapon.
Guns are cool to take pictures of.
Also that guy needs to get a hair cut. He looks like a hippie.
Your Turn: The Columbine Reflex
Perhaps the most dangerous intellectual act one can do with a portrait is to assume. In the aftermath of the Virginia Tech massacre, this image -- from a promotional site for photographer Kyle Cassidy's upcoming book, ARMED AMERICA: Portraits of Gun Owners in their Homes -- started makin...
Obama and Clinton both look happy and playfull. It's a cute cartoon. The picture of bush as Osama was much angier.
I can't get very upset about it.
Osama bin Times? Or, bin TIME?
"Part of a bizarre image that Alexandre Batlle, of Miami Beach, Fla., hoped to put on T-shirts after registering Obama bin Laden as a trademark. His application was flatly refused last week." -- Caption accompanying illustration (above) at NYT "The Lede" blog. The blogosphere grew up with ...
The quote from Little Miss Manners was taken out of context. I bet she would actually have some interesting things to say about the exchange if she were asked.
Here is my view.
Good: Bush how's your boy?
OK: I’d like to get them out of Iraq, Mr. President.
Bad: That’s not what I asked you. How’s your boy?
OK: That’s between me and my boy, Mr. President.
The correct answer for Bush would have been something like, "My heart goes out to you and your family. I hope all Americans will be home and safe."
If you visit someone's house your expected to be polite. If you invite someone to your house you're expected to be polite. Being polite doesn't mean you can't show anger.
Having A Senator's Head
“If you accept somebody’s invitation, you’re expected to respond in socially acceptable ways. Why go to be rude? Is it so awful to be polite? -- Stephen Hess, “The Little Book of Campaign Etiquette” "[D]iplomacy is what’s supposed to stave off wars and other violence.” --Miss Manners I t...
The bombing was designed to start a civil war in Lebenon. The soldiers are there but they're not fighting it.
Feet To The Fire
I have my doubts about the Lebanese peace plan -- at least as far as the Lebanese army is concerned. Following the lethal Qana air strikes, variations on the photo above were widely distributed. The images showed protesters smashing the windows of the U.N. building in downtown Beirut shor...
No good will come out of this war... Rice is mad like a frothing dog to say that peace to born out of the death of children. Lebenon was just starting to heal before the war... These are not birth pains.
No good will come to Hezbollah. No good will come to Syria and no good will come to America. There will only be pain and death and high oil prices.
Political Maps
(click to expand) Earlier this week, the AP began distributing this "before" and "after" set of bomb damage in Beirut. It's one thing to consider the asymmetrical nature of warfare, or the wrenching destruction of infrastructure and human lives. My focus here, however, is to consider the...
It's funny how unatural life is in America. Where I grew up women breast fed their babies and didn't fret about it.
I have to admit that sometimes it was awkward to be crammed in a bus next to a mother feeding her kid. On the outside you have to act like you've barely noticed her exposed tata. But internally you have a deadly focus on staying on your side of the seat if the road goes around a sharp bend.
Any Boob Can Tell You
In about three weeks, the fam and I will be relocating to Spain for the coming school year. (Don't worry. I'll have more time to blog.) Anyway, this is just one of the reasons why: Breast-feeding cover upsets magazine readers Associated Press Jul. 28, 2006 12:00 AM NEW YORK - "I was S...
I not sure they meant "quikie routines" as a sexual reference.
Any Boob Can Tell You
In about three weeks, the fam and I will be relocating to Spain for the coming school year. (Don't worry. I'll have more time to blog.) Anyway, this is just one of the reasons why: Breast-feeding cover upsets magazine readers Associated Press Jul. 28, 2006 12:00 AM NEW YORK - "I was S...
The link with Bush kissing the Saudi prince isn't working. Here are some other versions: one and two.
A Touching Man, Part II
(Conclusion revised: 9:16 am) (click for full size) The thing about those "Merkel massage" video frames is that -- like scanning a flip book -- they are mostly concerned with the story line. In this case, the climatic moment occurs in shot #3, with Merkel doing the big flinch. Breakin...
Bush is a very physical guy.
Bush kissing an old lady.
Bush kissing a Saudi Prince.
Bush kissing Oprah.
Bush kissing Laura at the Pope's funeral.
Bush kissing Joe Leiberman.
Bush kissing Condi when she was appointed Secretary of State.
Bush kisses the Secretary of Education.
Bush kisses a soldier.
Bush kisses a dude with a bald head.
Kissing people is one of those cultural hings that can be tricky to get right. Bush tends to go over board on the kissy kissy.
A Touching Man, Part II
(Conclusion revised: 9:16 am) (click for full size) The thing about those "Merkel massage" video frames is that -- like scanning a flip book -- they are mostly concerned with the story line. In this case, the climatic moment occurs in shot #3, with Merkel doing the big flinch. Breakin...
Does Bush give Harriet Miers or Condi shoulder massages?
Someone should ask them.
A Touching Man, Part II
(Conclusion revised: 9:16 am) (click for full size) The thing about those "Merkel massage" video frames is that -- like scanning a flip book -- they are mostly concerned with the story line. In this case, the climatic moment occurs in shot #3, with Merkel doing the big flinch. Breakin...
The photographer for the first photo obviously left out the empty seat on purpose. I wonder who was supposed to be sitting in it? Perhaps no one wanted to sit next to Condi?
Foreign, And Domestic Affairs
Studying yesterday's newswire with a particular eye to Bush's appearance before the not-so-receptive NAACP -- I came upon something I found curious. I'll take you through the sequence. Prominent in the collection of morning shots was this pic of Bush doing that "I see you" clowning thing...
Actually I think eating pig is the only correct response when the world is burning.
Say if the world was drowning, then the correct response would be to play guitar. Or sometimes what you need to do is take some time out and read a good book.
Global politics are so complicated so it's tricky to always know what the correct response is but in this case eating a pig was obviously right.
Let's eat!
I hope you didn't share my experience, stumbling upon this carcass after viewing troubling images from Iraq, Gaza, Lebanon and northern Israel. Digby had a great take on this pre-G-8 summit scene. With crises cooking in North Korea, Iran and the Middle East, reporters were just looking fo...
That is a really awesome looking vehicle. It looks fast and tough. Much safer than the humvee.
It's definitely worth spending half a billion on them if it keeps the soldiers safer. Remember Bush says that we aren't going to leave while he's president so our guys are going to be there for a while still.
Killing A Cougar
As of June 2006, there are more than 130 Cougars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The vehicles have taken about 1,000 IED hits without a loss of life.... --from defense-update.com. June 6, 2006 News coverage of the war doesn't usually say much about the firepower of the Iraq insurgency. As pa...
You shake hands when you meet. When someone comes in the room you get up to shake their hand. Or you shake hands when you leave. You don't shake hands while sitting.
Bush uses this pose a lot. He posed like this with the President of Japan, the President of Uzbekestan, Mayor Nagin, Victor Ushenko, the president of South Korea, the Australian PM, King Abdullah II, John McCain, and Hu Jintao.
Normally when you take this kind of picture there is a table in the way so you have to stretch to reach across. And then the photographer has to mess with his gear so you have to stay still for a while.
Do an image search if you want to see a photos of awkward looking men holding hands with George Bush.
Reclaiming Iraq - Part 1: Media Shock And Awe
It's not the custom of The BAG to blog events in real time. There is just something about images that need to settle a bit. Still, I couldn't help getting a jump on the major PR assault the White House unleashed on Baghdad this morning. By now, you probably know that Bush stealthily d...
I think it's not fair to our president for people to use difficult words like "non sequitur" in political discussions.
TV With The Sound Off
I was thinking about my good friend Digby's citation that "politics is TV with the sound turned off." With that in mind, I was wondering if CNN and Paula Zahn thought they drew blood in Zahn's attempted harassment of CIA analyst Ray McGovern. If you missed it, McGovern is the man who froz...
Everyone has been comparing this speech to the Don Imus speech.
http://imonthe.net/imus/ispeech.htm
I don't think Imus's speach was as harsh for Clinton. By that point Clinton had admitted that he had sex with Lewinsky, but Bush hasn't admitted his mistakes. Bush is a "war president" so you aren't supposed to say bad things about him.
There were plenty of great lines in the speech.
The speech didn't go over that well with the audience at the dinner. At the wonkette they suggested that's because Colbert is an outsider where Don Imus was an insider. Insiders can get away with more.
But when things are televised, who can say what the real audience is.
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...
Yup. It's an uncomplementary photo.
Snow has his eyes bugging out. His mouth is all confused looking. Bush has his face all squished together. His hair looks rumpled. He has a flag pole sticking out of his head.
The thing that struck me was that in the top picture Snow's head goes all the way to the top. In the second one the framing is all weird because the photographer wanted to get that little flag in on top of the white house.
To me the little flag is what makes these photos. In the top one Snow is wearing the flag. He owns it. He can take it off or he can put it on. You and I aren't wearing flag pins so we aren't as important.
In the bottom one, the little flag is there on top of the white house. When Bush leaves the flag will still be there. He can't take it down. He doesn't own it.
The flag reminds us that the president is a civil servant. If he's doing something that we don't like, he shouldn't take an attitude about "Screw you, I'm the decider." In America the people decide.
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...
I agree with readytoblowagasket that they are standing a long way apart.
I assume the sign is trying to say that marriage = man + woman. But normally you'd read that they other way around, man plus woman equals marriage.
The Bag is correct why the man is first and the woman is second.
Obviously the red is supposed to be like a first aid kit. The cross in the middle helps support that.
It's not pro-marriage as such, it's clearly just against same sex marriage. There is no intimacy or companionship or family in the sign. It's just bright red and black and white: man + woman = marriage end of story.
Sign For A Head
If it's Easter, it must mean ... Christian fundamentalism. (... That is, if you're the NYT Week In Review.) Sunday's Times section carried not one, but two articles on the evangelical movement. There was a political piece on the front page (Looking to Win in November, With a 2-Year Old P...
Awesomest slam on slashdot ever. :)
CO Discovered by /. Nerds
OMG! Like the emotionally stunted Slashdot Fanboys (pictured below) have totally discovered Cute Overload. W00t! Since they're all l33t hax0rs, who are smarter than all of us combined, we should relinquish the comments and let them debate: 1. Why Microsoft sux! 2. Why you are so lame for not e...
I have to admit that when Bush said the Iranians were supplying IED material I accepted it at face value, but the Bag makes a good point.
So if a soldier detects an IED I would think they would blow it up from a safe distance instead of taking it apart and figuring out how it works. And even if they took it apart and found an Irananian mortor inside that wouldn't really prove that Iran was involved... It could be that they found one IED from Iran. Really the thing is that Bush isn't a believable person. He exagerates and misrepresents and sometimes he doesn't even understand the issues clearly to begin with. He may want to stir up a conflict with Iran before the mid-term elections.
"John Negroponte, told the Congress Tehran has been responsible for at least some of the increasing lethality of anti- coalition attacks"
"Today nearly half the IEDs in Iraq are found and disabled before they can be detonated. In the past 18 months, we've cut the casualty rate per IED attack in half."
So either the attacks are more lethal or half as lethal depend on which parts of the speech you want to believe...
L IED
From GWB's speech on Monday at GWU: Some of the most powerful IEDs we are seeing in Iraq today includes components that came from Iran. Our director of National Intelligence, John Negroponte, told the Congress Tehran has been responsible for at least some of the increasing lethality of anti...
The ever present TV... American politics is designed for daytime television.
Everyone knows that spying on Americans is illegal. When Feingold gets up there and starts going on and on about it, he doesn't have any kind of sudden amazing insights.
I got a kick out of the guy giving Feingold the bird.
http://cache.wonkette.com/politics/feingold.jpg
Feingold seems pompous. I want to tell him, "Dude, it's just play acting for the TV. Lighten up."
On the other hand, it's good that someone is saying obvious things. Regular people I meet say obvious things all day long but in Washington people seem to glom on to The Stupid like flies onto fly-paper.
Me Thinks They Doth Protest ... For A Change
I'm with Digby on this one, and the visuals only drive home the point: It is past time for elected Democrats to begin laying out the case that the leader of the Republican party, the man to whom the congress has blindly followed at every turn for the past five years, is dishonorable. They m...
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