Forever A Fangirl

Sentenced To Be Raped

Sentenced To Be Raped

Mukhtaran Bibi, a Pakistani woman whom a tribal council sentenced to be gang-raped.

This is a short excerpt from a news story three years ago whereby the USA lifted sanctions against Pakistan that it had imposed due to the country's potential for testing nuclear weapons. It had nothing to do with the appalling-beyond-words way that they treat their citizenry, especially women. I have a hard time reconciling sanctions against economically poor countries as the people hurt most are generally the ones that had nothing to do with the reason for the sanctions.
But I'm torn about Pakistan. I have to respect their culture and non-violent traditions but I'm horrified by Pakistan's policy of torture.

The (current) Op-ed piece below is about a young woman who was sentenced to be gang raped (and was) and then was expected to kill herself afterward, but didn't. (This just doesn't happen in Pakistan--mostly because your life will be a living hell if you don't take your own life.) She started a school instead so women and girls could learn to read. I'm impressed-beyond-words by her profound courage and selflessness, ashamed that the USA turns a blind eye to Pakistan's human rights violations because we want to keep using Pakistan for our own selfish agenda, and afraid, very afraid that once the police stop guarding this woman, that her rapist's families, who are from prominent tribes, will follow through with their threat to murder her.

I'm in complete agreement with Mr. Kristoff in his statement that the central moral challenge for this century will be (is) to address sexual inequality in the third world.

OP-ED COLUMNIST (NYTimes.com)
Sentenced to Be Raped
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: September 29, 2004

MEERWALA, Pakistan — I'm still trying to help out President Bush by tracking down Osama bin Laden. After poking through remote parts of Pakistan, asking for a tall Arab with a beard, I can't say I've earned that $25 million reward.

But I did come across someone even more extraordinary than Osama.

Usually we journalists write about rogues, but Mukhtaran Bibi could not be more altruistic or brave, as the men who gang-raped her discovered. I firmly believe that the central moral challenge of this century, equivalent to the struggles against slavery in the 19th century or against totalitarianism in the 20th, will be to address sex inequality in the third world - and it's the stories of women like Ms. Mukhtaran that convince me this is so.

The plight of women in developing countries isn't addressed much in the West, and it certainly isn't a hot topic in the presidential campaign. But it's a life-and-death matter in villages like Meerwala, a 12-hour drive southeast from Islamabad.

In June 2002, the police say, members of a high-status tribe sexually abused one of Ms. Mukhtaran's brothers and then covered up their crime by falsely accusing him of having an affair with a high-status woman. The village's tribal council determined that the suitable punishment for the supposed affair was for high-status men to rape one of the boy's sisters, so the council sentenced Ms. Mukhtaran to be gang-raped.

As members of the high-status tribe danced in joy, four men stripped her naked and took turns raping her. Then they forced her to walk home naked in front of 300 villagers.

In Pakistan's conservative Muslim society, Ms. Mukhtaran's duty was now clear: she was supposed to commit suicide. "Just like other women, I initially thought of killing myself," said Ms. Mukhtaran, now 30. Her older brother, Hezoor Bux, explained: "A girl who has been raped has no honorable place in the village. Nobody respects the girl, or her parents. There's a stigma, and the only way out is suicide."

A girl in the next village was gang-raped a week after Ms. Mukhtaran, and she took the traditional route: she swallowed a bottle of pesticide and dropped dead.

But instead of killing herself, Ms. Mukhtaran testified against her attackers and propounded the shocking idea that the shame lies in raping, rather than in being raped. The rapists are now on death row, and President Pervez Musharraf presented Ms. Mukhtaran with the equivalent of $8,300 and ordered round-the-clock police protection for her.

Ms. Mukhtaran, who had never gone to school herself, used the money to build one school in the village for girls and another for boys - because, she said, education is the best way to achieve social change. The girls' school is named for her, and she is now studying in its fourth-grade class.

"Why should I have spent the money on myself?" she asked, adding, "This way the money is helping all the girls, all the children."

I wish the story ended there. But the Pakistani government has neglected its pledge to pay the schools' operating expenses. "The government made lots of promises, but it hasn't done much," Ms. Mukhtaran said bluntly.

She has had to buy food for the police who protect her, as well as pay some school expenses. So, she said, "I've run out of money." Unless the schools can raise new funds, they may have to close.

Meanwhile, villagers say that relatives of the rapists are waiting for the police to leave and then will put Ms. Mukhtaran in her place by slaughtering her and her entire family. I walked to the area where the high-status tribesmen live. They denied planning to kill Ms. Mukhtaran, but were unapologetic about her rape.

"Mukhtaran is totally disgraced," Taj Bibi, a matriarch in a high-status family, said with satisfaction. "She has no respect in society."

So although I did not find Osama, I did encounter a much more ubiquitous form of evil and terror: a culture, stretching across about half the globe, that chews up women and spits them out.

We in the West could help chip away at that oppression, with health and literacy programs and by simply speaking out against it, just as we once stood up against slavery and totalitarianism. But instead of standing beside fighters like Ms. Mukhtaran, we're still sitting on the fence.

Want to do something to help?
Several resources and info

Another Reason To Secede?

Courtesy of my brother.

Also see the more recent post:
http://cyncity.typepad.com/cyn_city/2004/11/httpwwwpersonal.html

Red States Feed at Federal Trough, Blue States Supply the Feed

 

Monday, September 27, 2004

The Tax Foundation has released a  fascinating report showing which states benefit from federal tax and spending policies, and which states foot the bill.

The report shows that of the 32 states (and the District of Columbia) that are "winners" -- receiving more in federal spending than they pay in federal taxes -- 76% are Red States that voted for George Bush in 2000. Indeed, 17 of the 20 (85%) states receiving the most federal spending per dollar of federal taxes paid are Red States. Here are the Top 10 states that feed at the federal trough (with Red States highlighted in bold):

States Receiving Most in Federal Spending Per Dollar of Federal Taxes Paid:

1. D.C. ($6.17)
2. North Dakota ($2.03)
3. New Mexico ($1.89)
4. Mississippi ($1.84)
5. Alaska ($1.82)
6. West Virginia ($1.74)
7. Montana ($1.64)
8. Alabama ($1.61)
9. South Dakota ($1.59)
10. Arkansas ($1.53)

In contrast, of the 16 states that are "losers" -- receiving less in federal spending than they pay in federal taxes -- 69% are Blue States that voted for Al Gore in 2000. Indeed, 11 of the 14 (79%) of the states receiving the least federal spending per dollar of federal taxes paid are Blue States. Here are the Top 10 states that supply feed for the federal trough (with Blue States highlighted in bold):

States Receiving Least in Federal Spending Per Dollar of Federal Taxes Paid:

1. New Jersey ($0.62)
2. Connecticut ($0.64)
3. New Hampshire ($0.68)
4. Nevada ($0.73)
5. Illinois ($0.77)
6. Minnesota ($0.77)
7. Colorado ($0.79)
8. Massachusetts ($0.79)
9. California ($0.81)
10. New York ($0.81)
Two states -- Florida and Oregon (coincidentally, the two closest states in the 2000 Presidential election) -- received $1.00 in federal spending for each $1.00 in federal taxes paid.

Baghdad Bob/ Baghdad Bush

CLICK PIC
Gleefully stolen from my friend, Ben.
(I don't know if his website is public--so no link credit 'till I know.)

Johnny Aroo'

Photo that I took at the Children's Choir performance yesterday.
I hadn't realized it's a cross until I was told later. I was too caught up in the performance and the stained glass (a fetish of mine). It's pretty subtle, isn't it ? (I colourized it, as I don't know when to leave things alone as a "real" photographer" does.)

At Chris's performance at All Saints Lutheran Church yesterday, his choir did a song, the title of which is listed as "Johnny Aroo'". Much of it sounded similar to "When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again" (hurrah, hurrah) but the somber lyrics of Johnny Aroo' are much different than the celebratory words of "Marching Home..." The song Marching Home evolved, according to several Internet sources, from "Johnny Aroo," an Irish lament. The American version started circulating during the Civil War. What strikes me most about the two versions of "Johnny" is how the lyrics and tone are so strikingly different. About the only thing common to them both is the subject, Johnny, (but not the events that occur to him) and the tune, which to most of Americans is instantly recognizable.
After I first heard the kids sing this song last spring, I turned to my spouse and said "This is an anti-war song." Even upon first hearing this version, the song had me in tears. Now, having read the lyrics to the two versions of "Johnny," (the 'Net says there are at least three, there could be more is my bet)  the American one quite buoyant and joyful, and the orignal Irish lament, which though sounding upbeat, mourns for a man coming home from war as a blind quadriplegic (alas, the lyrics to the version the kids did--by Ron Jeffers--haven't yet been found on-line). I salute the choral director for "sneaking it in." She was more overt when she introduced the pretty "Prayer Of the Children"--referring to the "events and war in the world these days..."

I cried during that one too. I defy anyone with a heart to remain untouched by it--thinking of the Iraqi, Chechen, and Sudanese children (yeah actual visuals flashed through my mind--burned, mangled bodies, starving babies--the whole nine yards--it's reality--just because I don't have to live within it--doesn't make it any less real).

I applaud this woman who's both a master of  her art and the mom of four young children, for her courage in speaking out (or singing, as the case may be), yet remaining within a safety zone so she can she keep her job, while only those who want to delve into the lyrics of Johnny Aroo' are even going to realize that it's a harsh truth of our current reality.

This is the original Irish lament from which "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" was taken. It shows a much more stark and realistic view of the consequences of such a war.

While goin' the road to sweet Athy, hurroo, hurroo
While goin' the road to sweet Athy, hurroo, hurroo
While goin' the road to sweet Athy
A stick in me hand and a drop in me eye
A doleful damsel I heard cry,
Johnny I hardly knew ye.

With your drums and guns and drums and guns, hurroo, hurroo
With your drums and guns and drums and guns, hurroo, hurroo
With your drums and guns and drums and guns
The enemy nearly slew ye
Oh my darling dear, Ye look so queer
Johnny I hardly knew ye.

Where are your eyes that were so mild, hurroo, hurroo
Where are your eyes that were so mild, hurroo, hurroo
Where are your eyes that were so mild
When my heart you so beguiled
Why did ye run from me and the child
Oh Johnny, I hardly knew ye.

Where are your legs that used to run, hurroo, hurroo
Where are your legs that used to run, hurroo, hurroo
Where are your legs that used to run
When you went for to carry a gun
Indeed your dancing days are done
Oh Johnny, I hardly knew ye.

I'm happy for to see ye home, hurroo, hurroo
I'm happy for to see ye home, hurroo, hurroo
I'm happy for to see ye home
All from the island of Sulloon
So low in flesh, so high in bone
Oh Johnny I hardly knew ye.

Ye haven't an arm, ye haven't a leg, hurroo, hurroo
Ye haven't an arm, ye haven't a leg, hurroo, hurroo
Ye haven't an arm, ye haven't a leg
Ye're an armless, boneless, chickenless egg
Ye'll have to put with a bowl out to beg
Oh Johnny I hardly knew ye.

They're rolling out the guns again, hurroo, hurroo
They're rolling out the guns again, hurroo, hurroo
They're rolling out the guns again
But they never will take our sons again
No they never will take our sons again
Johnny I'm swearing to ye.

Bursting

The kids in silhouette.

Just by the by, the show was so great--in the church--a modern facilty, but nice--good acoustics--superb on Jubilate Deo, the kids performed a range of stuff from Bach & Mozart to a Japanese folk song to Corner of the Sky and Kentucky Jazz Jam. No one can say that these kids are not versatile. As I told the lady sitting next to me (who is a mom of a singer and in my singing group as well) I don't wear shirts with buttons to these shows 'cos I'd pop them with pride if I did (I'm not the only one--I saw other parents "bursting"--and it's for the entire group--not just our own kid).

It was another nice day weather-wise. I tend to count down the nice days left, now that it's almost October--though I do enjoy autumn--winter comes on it's heels and I do not enjoy Chicago in the winter weather. Bone chilling winds, which yes, the Minnesotans and Alaskans have worse, but still--ours sucks.

The show ran over (very typical) and it was close to dinner time so we went on and picked some surprisingly okay-tasting, moderately priced chicken salads at McD's.

Came home to lots of house-stuff/work-stuff and a slow,slow, slow 'Net connection-- 'till hopefully I'm rescued by the Comcast dude Tuesday afternoon.

Ciao,

--Cyn

Jaws of Thunder Vs. Lips of Destruction

Live From Miami, a Style Showdown

Found this in the Fashion(?!) section, an article about what they called "meta-language," back when I was working on my Masters in understanding people.
This whole phenomenon whereby the superficialities (some more relevant than others) by which the candidates reveal (or hide) themselves are more important than their respective verbal messages, is painful for me to contemplate. Are you likable? Would the American people want you to sit down to a meal with them (not that this is ever going to happen, but what if?)

Consider the weighty matters of John Kerry's "buoyantly vertical hairstyle" to counteract his "hound-dog look" vs. Bushs roundish face which can make him look "boyish" (bad) yet accessible (good).
Several points in this piece made me raise my eyebrows (pun unintended), but since we are going to elect a president based on how he looks and sounds, I suppose I shan't quibble too much that Kerry is being advised to stay away from a word like "gilded." Gilded people, you know like golden and gilded cage? Sheesh.

By ALEX WILLIAMS
NY Times.com
Published: September 26, 2004

IN boxing terms, you could say a matchup between John Kerry and George W. Bush is a classic case of a dancer vs. a puncher: Mr. Kerry flicks around the periphery of issues; Mr. Bush pounds right through them.

The matchup on Thursday at the University of Miami, site of the highly anticipated first presidential debate, can be expected to pit the two men against each other, trading punches over Iraq and job creation. But if previous debates are any guide, the candidate who voters perceive as the winner will probably be chosen not on the substance of what he says, but on the cut of his jib.

The subtle style cues of gesture, posture, syntax and tone of voice account for as much as 75 percent of a viewer's judgment about the electability of a candidate, said Bill Carrick, a political consultant who ran Richard A. Gephardt's presidential campaign this year. In a word, he said, the mano a mano is about style — those nonverbal messages that speak to hearts, not heads.

"I think they're both aware that this is more about your `Q factor' than about scoring a debate," Mr. Carrick said. "It's much more like being a host of a television show."

Experts in body language, linguistics and personal grooming who have watched the candidates in recent weeks offered a cheat sheet to home viewers about how each is likely to come across: his strengths, weaknesses and the color of his neckties.

It is the candidates' faces that voters see and judge first. When it comes to Kerry vs. Bush, it's "The Jaw of Thunder" meets "Lips of Destruction."

"We don't recognize that facial structures speak volumes," said Caroline F. Keating, a professor of psychology at Colgate University who has studied status cues transmitted by facial features.

Mr. Kerry's face, she said, is the greater study in contrasts. His anvil-like chin conveys power, but his droopy brows and hooded eyes send an unwelcome signal of age and lethargy. To counteract this, Professor Keating says, he must show more animation and smile more, as he has been doing lately. "Smiling brings people in close," she said.

Luckily, she said, he has a buoyantly vertical hairstyle. "He has exciting hair, which is actually quite useful," she said. "This wild, untamed hair is something we associate with youthfulness." (Republicans don't necessarily agree; they mock the Capitol Hill blow-dry look as vain.)

Professor Keating said that with Mr. Bush, conversely, the roundness of his face — accentuated by close-cropped hair — signals warmth and approachability but also, at times, an unfortunate boyishness.

The power in the president's visage comes from his narrow eyes and lips, which are signs of dominance, she said. But when he blinks his eyes and licks his lips, apparently when agitated, she said, "these things make him look less in command."

Dress Codes
Unfortunately for image doctors, no flight suits or bomber jackets will be worn onstage. Ever since Richard M. Nixon was thought by some to have blown the first 1960 debate in part by wearing a gray suit against a gray background, the clothing choices for presidential debaters have narrowed to nearly zero.

The navy blue wool suit is a de facto uniform. "The lapels should be not more than four inches," said Georges de Paris, a Washington tailor who has made several suits for President Bush. Invariably the suit has "a very slim fit in the chest, one vent in the back," he said. Shirts are usually white, worn with red power ties.

It is with accessories that the candidates differentiate themselves. Mr. Bush has recently been wearing French cuffs with gold cufflinks, which can reinforce an impression of executive acumen. Mr. Kerry wears a yellow wristband from the Lance Armstrong Foundation, an advocacy group for cancer survivors, which may lend a dash of youthful athleticism.

Body Politics
Another message viewers pick up is the authority implied by body language.

Does a candidate carry himself like the hunter, or the hunted?

It is imperative, image experts say, that the two stay loose, but not slack. Each must telegraph that he is comfortable in his own skin, because in some sense it comes down to which man you would want in your living room for the next four years.

Unikilts: Because There's Nothing Sexier Than A Guy Wearing A Skirt

Skirts: they're not just for women anymore. In all seriousness, they never were, but stumbling across the Unikilts website got me thinking of the possibilities. I wear skirts a lot--especially in the summertime--as comfort is the deciding factor in all I wear. I don't wear kilts--the traditional pleats don't suit my figure--plus there's that whole school-girl look that I don't think I could pull off. But these are a different kind of skirt--not skirts at all, but KILTS. As evidenced by the hunky men pictured here, wearing a kilt is a perfectly macho thing to do--or not. Whatever your take on it--I think it's just swell that some men are starting to break free of the stereotypes and shed their pants.

Balboa Park

Although we had little time and therefore missed most of the insides of the museums, here's two takes on Balboa Park. Enjoy. A cactus flower colourized and reflective tool used. I thought it looked sort of tribal.

Balboa Park, SanDiego, Ca.

Chicago Mayor Daley Favours Decriminalizing Possession Of "Small Amounts" Of Pot

First, profuse apologies on the ever-changing template and style of my blog. I've really messed it up and it's going to take some time to straighten it out, as I didn't save my prior template set (way to go, me!)

I wanted to mention a news item that I stumbled across today, about halfway through the Metro section of the Chicago Tribune---in other words, buried.
I had to read it over a few times to believe what I was reading--or at least to believe that I was reading correctly.

According to today's Tribune, Mayor Richard M. Daley is considering a proposal to change the law for "offenders" who get arrested (and have to go to court), when discovered to have a "small amount of marijuana" on their person.

At a news conference on Sept 21, 2004, Mayor Daley said that he agreed that it made no sense for cops to go through the motions of pursuing arrest for possessing a small amount of pot when "99% of the cases are dismissed."
In his carefully written plea to the mayor, the officer composing it pointed out that if citations (fines or tickets) were given out, "offenders" could just pay their fines--thus admitting guilt and the City would be "X" amount richer between getting back lost cop (donut?) time and accumulating marijuana fines.

This amounts to decriminalization of small amounts of pot "for personal use" in the City of Chicago.

That's pretty wild, given all the ranting and raving that the Federal govt is doing.
I'm quite sure there'll be political ramifications for Daley if he does move to make it law, though no worries--Daley, like his father before him, is "Mayor For Life."

One thing I can say about the son of the "great Richard J. Daley"--he's fearless. Mayor Richard Daley is a bulldog--with a weakness for trees and flowers and public art, and he's not above stepping over or even on obstacles to what he believes is the proper course for Chicago to pursue.

I smell the winds of change, and they smell a bit like burning rope. :D

The International CXT, Because Bigger Is Better, Right? (I mean it is, isn't it?)

Honestly, the first thing that came to mind when seeing this truck is that it's a pimp truck.
Then I read that this big ol' hunk of metal is gonna be sharing the streets and highways with me and...I shuddered a bit.
Then I laughed.
Feck it all. We're on a one-way trip to completely detroying our environment, what's one more useless vanity plaything for men that fall short in other departments (brains, anatomy, etc.)?

Article:
Kiss My Megatruck, Dude / When the world is in perfect, ultra-macho harmony, you get a 9-foot-tall, 14,500-pound SUV

Whee! This is the one, dude. The International CXT features all-wheel drive, a crew cab that can accommodate five, a payload capacity of 6 tons and a towing capacity of 20 tons. It measures 258 inches long, 108 inches tall and 96 inches wide, which is enough to make any truly manly men grunt and giggle and fall into hot swoons of phallocentric bliss. International Truck and Engine Corp. photo via Ketchum Communications

It's Time To Lighten Things Up And Get More Serious

This little op-ed piece neatly sums up the conundrum of being a presidential candidate--You simply cannot please everyone or, You must be all things to all people.

7 Steps to a Better Candidate

OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
By CHRIS MARCIL
Published at NYTimes.com: September 21, 2004

Los Angeles — Look, I want John Kerry to win, if only so I can fire my gun into the air and have it mean something for once. But, even though I think he'd be a better president, the guy's not going to make it with the campaign he's running. I mean, I haven't really followed it - give me credit for having a life! - but based on some comments from the "Sports-Center" anchors, it appears that Mr. Kerry should be doing better.

That's why I'm glad he's turned to me for advice. My seven-point plan:

1. Be yourself. You have to seem genuine up there. Voters relate to that.

2. Don't be yourself. You're coming across as a little odd. President Bush doesn't come across as a little odd. Mr. Bush is a guy who, if the Secret Service approves your form to have a beer with him, you want to have a beer with. You need to be that kind of guy, and not whatever guy it is that you might really be.

3. Stick to your message. No more rambling, O.K.? Pinch yourself or something when you're about to ad-lib. (Without being seen to pinch yourself, needless to say, or the pinching's going to lead the news.) Everything needs to be related to a single message: George Bush has to go.

4. Not that message. Actually, "George Bush has to go" is a terrible message. Too negative. You want to be the positive alternative. Remember how Bill Clinton had all those plans in '92? That's you: the guy with all the plans. Repeat them at every campaign stop.

5. Your plans are boring. People aren't ready for a robot president - at least not yet. All that stuff about what you're going to do, that's small stuff. People want a big-picture guy. Themes: repeat them at every campaign stop. Repeat them at every campaign stop.

6. Don't listen to so much advice. Paralysis by analysis, know what I'm saying? It's nice that people want to help you, but remember that your goal is to project clarity and strength. You're never going to do that when your message is changing every day. One day you listen to the pro-health-care advisers. The next day you're the captive of the anti-lack-of-health-care camp. There's only one guy who's really on the line in your campaign, and that's John Kerry. Also, to a lesser extent, John Edwards. So I guess what I'm really saying boils down to one thing:

7. Be yourself.

Chris Marcil writes for television.

Disconnected

It was a very interesting day--which I'll maybe talk about tomorrow.
Either my home network is fubar or Comcast is--either way I can't get on-line very well for very long, atm.
So I've been pulling out plugs and restarting the computer for an hour or so--(I think the router is fried, but spouse disagrees and he keeps farking around with the settings--though not tonite --he's fast asleep--missing all the fun), so finally I've resorted to old-fashioned 56K free Net Zero, Whoopee.

Everything here seems a bit more normal--after being the household streess meter being set on "very high" for at least the past week.

I went to singing tonight and we are still learning "Negro" spirituals--3 of 'em so far. The ironic thing is the only black guy in the group quit when he moved out of state--so we are very suburban-type people being taught Ebonics, essentially. It's quite interesting and at times amusing how truly lame we are. It's a different perspective and fun in a stranger-in-a-strange-land kind of way.

My youngest son and spouse ended up at Tower Records this evening while I was at chorus. A Star Wars-a-thon was just getting underway.
They went shopping so my son could make his first music purchase ever--he's just 12 in August-- and it's Weird Al Yankovic! Quite amusing. Tomorrow, he joins the Legos club at Jr. high. His geekiness makes me proud. :D

So I'm off to dreamland--I hope--have had rather a wild week in the sleep dept--only once due to bedroom activity. ;-)

So hi to everyone--I hope any broken hearts mend soon, and the new and "seasoned" loves stay bright, and I hope we all sleep long and peacefully.

--Cyn

Adriana and Christopher Get Their Emmys

Here's a little recap of the second-to-last episode of Season Five of HBO's "Sopranos" as it pertains to Ade and Chrissy (betrothed mob couple Adriana La Cerva and Christopher Moltisanti). I think this episode epitomizes why Michael Imperioli and Drea De Matteo earned this year's Emmys for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress in a Dramatic Series--they were that good.

The nicely-written and conveniently plot-summarizing piece below, a commentary by Gael Cooper, is one of the kinder Adriana "epitaphs." And isn't that how we Adriana fans want to remember her?

Death of a Mafia bride-to-be
Adriana LaCerva meets her inevitable fate
With the FBI and the Family aligned against her, Adriana LaCerva never had a chance.
COMMENTARY
By Gael Fashingbauer Cooper
MSNBC
ET May 24, 2004

The most famous bit of Mob pop culture ever, "The Godfather," begins with a wedding. Connie Corleone, daughter of the Don, beams in white satin and lace as the Mafia equivalent of a royal wedding rages. There's liquor, there's cake, there's dancing and music, there's thousands of dollars in the bridal purse. Connie's marriage was to be short and horribly unhappy, but her wedding, yes, her wedding, was a girl's fairytale dream.

Adriana LaCerva, girlfriend of Soprano soldier Christopher Moltisanti, wanted that fairytale. You could tell it by how thrilled she was when the two finally became engaged, how proud she was to do the million little wedding-planning chores that make up every bride-to-be's day — she even got big tough Christopher to go cake-tasting with her. She wanted to be the bride, to walk down the aisle, throw the bouquet, and retire forever to a house with a picket fence and kids and dogs playing in the yard. The "kids" part might be tough — Adriana had been told she was infertile — but damned if she didn't want it anyway.

Yet in recent episodes, Adriana had been unusually quiet about the upcoming big day. She didn't bring up the wedding, looked away when asked about it. She had other things on her mind — for a year now, she'd been informing to the FBI, and as the noose tightened around her, she had to know that the future held only darkness.

The FBI wasn't going to let her go, wasn't going to let Tony and Christopher and the whole rest of the Soprano family just keep on keeping on. She had two choices: Inform on the family and be hunted for the rest of her life in Witness Protection, or confess to Christopher and somehow convince him to flee with her, and be hunted for the rest of her life by the government. Either way, she'd be giving up her family, her home, her nightclub, and everything she'd ever held dear. That wedding day must have seemed absolutely unreachable, that picket fence, only a dream.

Married to the Mob
In many ways, Ade was perfectly suited for the role of Mafia wife. Despite her tousle-haired beauty, she was tough as nails — she'd seen blood and death, and yet managed to step right over it in her black-leather stiletto boots and move on. She loved Christopher with a fierceness, even when he hit her, dragged her around by her hair, and, in a horrifying prelude to her death, strangled her almost to the point of unconsciousness.

Nothing in Ade's Jersey lifestyle, nothing she picked up at the nail salon or read in the pages of Modern Bride, could have prepared her to fight these two different wars on two different fronts.

No one can say Adriana was not loyal. Sure, she'd ratted to the FBI, but only when she felt herself trapped, with no other choice, and even then she'd thought she could control it. She would only feed the Feds minor bits of info, she thought. License plates, perhaps a drug deal or two. She could control the information they got, she thought, and thus she could protect her future husband as well as his cousin Tony, with whom she'd shared an ill-advised kiss.

But as always happens in this kind of situation, Ade was overmatched on all sides. The FBI had put the squeeze on a million reluctant witnesses — they taught classes in it, for God's sake. And when it came to sniffing out betrayal and quickly and deftly disposing of the betrayers — well, the Soprano Family might as well have taught classes in that as well. Nothing in Ade's Jersey lifestyle, nothing she picked up at the nail salon or read in the pages of Modern Bride, could have prepared her to fight these two different wars on two different fronts.

In the end, Adriana's death did not come at the hands of Christopher, nor those of Tony. They farmed her out, as it were, to Silvio, with both of the men she had loved so dearly playing a part in sending her to meet her end.

Highway to hell
In a recent episode, Christopher scolded her "I'm a soldier, Adriana, you gotta remember that." And a soldier, a good soldier, when learning of betrayal in the ranks, always reports that betrayal to his commanding officer, which is exactly what Christopher did. She may have been loyal to Christopher above all else, but he had to report to a higher authority.

He will have his own demons to answer to. Adriana's death may have driven him back to heroin, and it's certainly setting him even more firmly on the road to ruin. Earlier he'd said to Ade "Tony Soprano [is] the guy I'm going to hell for." That may be, but Adriana LaCerva is the one who will keep him there. To set up the murder of a fellow Mobster is one thing, but to set up the murder of the woman who slept with him, cooked for him, wept at his bedside when he was in the hospital, is another level of hell all together.

Adriana was never a Mafia princess, not in the way Tony's daughter Meadow was. We didn't know much about her early life, but it was apparent she'd been knocked around. Not for her the Ivy League education, the cushy McMansion in the suburbs or tea with Carmela under Eloise's portrait at the Plaza. Instead, Ade used everything she had — her beauty, her street smarts, and her undying loyalty to Christopher, to try and gouge a foothold in a world that really didn't have a place for women.

Tony Soprano has had blood on his hands all along, of course, but never that of a character so beloved, so innocent, so lost.

She couldn't look to Christopher for much help. He was barely surviving himself, with a drug habit that he was always on the verge of going back to, an inferiority complex the size of Tony's Suburban, and a hunger for power that kept being thwarted. The big boys weren't letting Chrissy play, he was still the baby cousin, just as he'd been when Tony Soprano and Tony Blundetto would tease him as kids. Instead of turning to his fiancee for comfort when he felt knocked down, he berated and beat her, taking out his frustration on the one person who would never hit back.

In a show depicting a culture of Madonnas and whores, Adriana was neither, she fit no mold. Even if the dice had fallen her way, it was hard to imagine her turning into Carmela, rattling around a huge house by herself as Christopher built up a Tony-esque string of affairs.

Balboa Park, CA Flower

Balboa Park, cactus flowers, 8~04
Beginning of a Balboa Park album

Prickly

From Cactus garden, Balboa Park, CA, 08~04

More here

Canine Carnival ~ 09.18.04

My son, spouse, and dog Raven, went to a the Canine Carnival this morning. Everyone had a great time, especially Raven, who came home with a large quantity of everything from doggie bandannas to treats to toys. Fun!

Greyhound rescue group resident

Greyhound rescue group residents

Now that's what I call a tongue! Gene Simmons, eat your eat heart out! :D

Raven comes up just a little short in her attempt to imitate Big Tongue Dog.

Get a room, you guys!

Much sniffing was done by all.

Fun with swag.

Oh, were you taking my picture? Here, this is my good angle.

Dog Beach to Balboa Park

On the short drive from our prior night's stay at Dog Beach, to Balboa Park, San Diego on our last day in San Diego (08/04).
Taken while a passenger in a cheap rental car :/ going up a hill. We have no hills here in my neck of the woods, so it was novel enough to photograph.

Conditional Amnesty" For Many, Full Pardon For One

ON THIS DAY (from the NYTimes.com)

On Sept. 16, 1974, President Ford announced a conditional amnesty program for Vietnam War deserters and draft evaders.

Thirty years it's been since The Speaker of the House-turned-President offered "conditional amnesty" to American draft resisters. After the turmoil generated by all that was Watergate, the resignation of Nixon's Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, due to an impending indictment on corruption charges involving his activities prior to his election as VP, and the resignation of President Richard M. Nixon as his impeachment loomed, the man formerly third in line to the presidency, Gerald R. Ford, in an effort to "heal the country's wounds (and) end the divisiveness" that he and others felt was keeping the country "off-track," offered conditional amnesty to Vietnam War draft resisters.

There was great deal of controversy about Ford's amnesty program. Firstly, it came on the heals of his forgiving Nixon all his "sins" and letting him off with no strings. Secondly, there was more than "strings" attached to Ford's conditional pardon, there were ropes.
Many war resisters stated that the would not return to the USA, to face a what they believed to be prosecution almost as severe as if they came back before the offer of "amnesty."
However, as the years passed and administrations changed, the "ropes" that had once sounded so binding, loosened a bit as they were implemented, and many draft resisters did return to their homeland.

Ford Offers Amnesty Program Requiring 2 Years Public Work; Defends His Pardon Of Nixon

Crumbs

Overall, it's been a cruddy "day" (my days are your nights).
There is now a sign outside the building's front door notifying us of the exterminator's visit to kill wasps. Great timing, as one bit me this week with really ugly results. One would usually take Benadryl for the itching, but whoever said I was "usual?" So I'm slathering on the cortisone cream in an effort to not scratch and spread the already huge port-wine-stain-looking, resultant allergic reaction any further across my thigh.

Also, I'm just damn depressed. I know no relationship is perfect, but this one is perfectly stale.

On the good news/bad news front, I'm thrilled that my favourite blogger is again blogging as "herself," but the downside is she's an excellent writer and after reading her post on Beslan, I feel really shitty.
I didn't blog about it, mostly because the picture of those naked and burned babies ripped my guts out and I couldn't think of a thing to say that would in any way help or change that.
My gut reaction? Will someone, anyone please do something about the Chechen situation? Please, no more dead babies and grieving families and while we're on the topic of dead babies, the situation in Darfur is horrific. Whoever thought up the euphemism "ethnic cleansing"? It's genocide, people. Maybe we could divert some troops and some of the billions that we're spending killing Iraqis and getting ourselves killed, over to Darfur to help those people?
Is there any compassion left? Anyone?

Huntington Beach, CA /Disney's California Adventure ~ 08.04

Okay, so here is where my heart resides--Huntington Beach, CA.
As they say, I came of age there--grew up to be a full-fledged adult--and had the most amazing time living right at the ocean-- on 2nd St, 11th and 14th streets. The pier shown in these photos is near Main St--then the street number names ascend going north (up, in photo) from there. The closest I lived was two blocks from the ocean. It was truly beautiful and there was and is such an energy to it--I really miss living near the Pacific. I'm happy to visit it though, and see how the town has just exploded with growth. The pier used to be a cool wooden one which I walked frequency, checking out life--fisherman, surfers, tourists, beach babes--all seamlessly co-existing around the pier. Since I moved away, a big storm took the venerable old pier down. They've replaced it with a concrete one--that ought to stay put--but it's far less attractive. :sigh:
I was such a hippie that I walked barefoot the two blocks to the beach. Heh, I'm pretty much still a hippie.

So here are some snaps of the prettiest/coolest place I could wish to "grow up" in.

Not trying to be artsy--just attempting to get as much of "my beach" in the pic as my little camera will allow. Oh yeah, those guys are my family members.

My son wanted a pic of the "green stuff" on the legs of the pier. I believe they are barnacles.
Babes(s) on boards

Wiiiiiipe Out! (Guy standing is same guy as in pic above.)

The "heart" of California Adventure--an adjunct theme park to Disneyland

All the following pics are shot at the animation complex (don't recall the precise name) in the Hollywood Pictures Backlot at California Adventure.
It's deceptive as it doesn't look like much from the outside. In fact, it's one of the most interesting things at California Adventure because it draws on our collective memories of animated film and gives great info and insight into the truly amazing Disney story from where it all began--animation.

Welcome To The Madhouse (Alice In Wonderland)

Pocahontas--early original drawings

A cavernous, comfy area (great air conditioning--lots of room to sit) with maybe 20 huge screens showing nifty scenes from the vast Disney collection.

Early drawings of the lady from Wonderland--Alice.

Drawings from Lion King, Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin

Woody--here only 'cos he had just come up behind me and yanked my ponytail.

Early Woodies and one Buzz Lightyear in the upper right (Toy Story).

The tightly wound clock character (name? EDIT:"Cogsworth"--thank you, Ben) ;) from Beauty and The Beast (EDIT:Thank you, numist) :)

Early incarnation of The Beast, from Beauty and the...

More preliminary drawings.

Early Ursula from Little Mermaid.

What Kind Of Freaky Mother Are You?

Found at: Dru Blood!

You're a punk rock mommy! DIY is probably your
motto, because you're a punk mama at heart.
Your kids are getting your independent spirit
and guts, and learning to solve problems
themselves. You love it when they show their
independence, even when it's breaking your
heart.


What kind of a freaky mother are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Yeah, I do expect him to "do it himself" and sometimes he surprises me--like tonight, when I got home a bit late from the bookstore and he'd made Tuna Helper ("I even left some for you!", he exclaimed cheerfully.)
I made brownies as a thank-you treat tonight. Everyone's happy (and well-fed).

Can You Hear Me Now?

Very flimsy reasons (I take singing lessons and have acute hearing) for reprinting this article, which in essense states that the right ear responds more to speech, while the left ear is more attuned to music, according to the study, published in Science on Sept. 10.

The Right Ear Is From Mars
By ANAHAD O'CONNOR
Published: September 14, 2004

Belting out a few notes on key might take years of practice, and perfect pitch the right genetics, but when it comes to something as simple as telling noise from symphony, speech from music, all ears are created equal - or so it was once thought.

But in a new study, scientists have found that the left and right ears process sound differently. From birth, the right ear responds more to speech, while the left ear is more attuned to music, according to the study, published in Science on Sept. 10.

The findings could have substantial implications for deaf people who need cochlear hearing devices, which are implanted in only one ear, said Dr. Yvonne Sininger, a visiting professor of head and neck surgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles and lead author of the study.

While the idea that the left and right ears are not identical is new, scientists have known for decades that the two sides of the brain sort out sound in different ways. Speech is processed primarily in the left hemisphere of the brain, while music is handled largely by the right, hence the tendency to associate creativity with "right-brain" dominance and analytical thinking with "left-brain" supremacy.

But until now, most researchers overlooked the possibility that differences in auditory processing originated in the ear. "I think everyone just assumed that the two ears were essentially interchangeable," Dr. Sininger said.

With help from researchers at the University of Arizona, Dr. Sininger tested hearing ability in thousands of infants using miniature microphones that emitted sounds in the subjects' ears and measured amplification. Tiny cells in the ear respond to sound by expanding and contracting to enhance vibrations, which are then converted to nerve impulses that travel to the brain. But some of those vibrations bounce back in the opposite direction, allowing scientists to analyze the extent of amplification, a measure of how well the ear is responding.

Dr. Sininger found that a series of rapid clicks - resembling the rhythm of speech - produced a greater response in the right ear. The left ear seemed more attuned to tones representing music.

In other studies, researchers have found that children with hearing loss in the right ear tend to have more problems in school than children who are deaf in the left ear. The new findings suggest that the right ear is critical for learning situations.

Warning: Proceed With Caution: Rant Ahead

I'm in a poopy mood. The "wasp" bite on my inner thigh, wasn't. It was a bee and I believe it was the first bee-sting of my life. The red, itchy, hot, swollen area is now abt. 5" in diameter and I can't have anything touch it or it sets off another manic itching session*. I am not scratching--I did a bit before when I couldn't stand it and I think that explains why I now have a huge red patch. I dunno. All I know is I couldn't sleep because I couldn't get the bed to stop touching it*. I'm just thanking the powers, that despite the fact that I'm built like a brick...house, due to swimming my thighs don't rub together. I can't even imagine what that would be like. Adding to my poopiness, was an incident a few minutes ago where, in 35 m.p.h. semi-rush hour traffic a guy hurled a huge (meaning almost unsmoked) lit cigarette out his driver's side window -- the wind picked it up and it went sailing by my face. I should be glad that it didn't go in my face --but I'm still pissed at the big-ass-SUV driver pitching his crap out the window (littering), and of course when I pulled passed him after the next stop light and looked up, he was blithely yakking away on his cell phone. What a maroon. Sometimes, I hate people, not the world--just people. Sometimes. I'll get over it. _________________

Protect the Vote/Abolish The Electoral College

Last night, after lying in bed with my spouse discussing the season-ending episode of HBO's Six Feet Under, I confessed my doubts that John Kerry could win the presidential election (which had the effect of lulling him to sleep--gord, how I wish I could have his vote).
One thing that is bringing doubts to my mind is recalling all that talk of election overhaul after the 2000 presidential non-election.
It hasn't happened. From reports I've read over the past several months, the election "machine" is pretty much as it was in 2000 and that stokes my fears that even if Kerry can win the popular vote, that it is entirely possible that we'll end up George Bush and Company for four more years.
The fact, as illustrated by the "election" four years ago, is that the majority does not rule and every vote is not equal.
That's bad enough to scrap the Electoral College system, but there are other consequences as well.
The Electoral College distorts campaigns because a few swing states take on an oversized importance, leading the candidates to focus their attention, money, and promises on a small slice of the electorate. This emphasis on "swing states" removes the incentive for a large part of the population to follow the campaign, or even to vote.
The mysterious rules governing the Electoral College have the potential to create havoc if things go wrong. Electors are not required to vote for the candidates they are pledged to, and if the vote is close in the Electoral College, a losing candidate might well be able to persuade a small number of electors to switch sides. Because there are an even number of electors--one for every senator and House member of the states, and three for the District of Columbia--the Electoral College vote can end in a tie. There are several plausible situations in which a 269-269 tie could occur this year. In the case of a tie, the election goes to the House of Representatives, where each state delegation gets one vote--one for Wyoming's half million residents and one for California's 35.5 million.

Though the Electoral College supporters will argue that it plays an important role in balancing relations among the states and protecting the interests of small states, the truth is that the small states are already over-represented in the Senate, which goes above and beyond in looking out for their interests.
But there is no interest higher than making every vote count.

Below please read of a resource to be used between now and through election day (and after, if things "go wrong"). At the very least, save the telephone number-- 1-866-OUR VOTE--you or someone you know may need it.

Protect the Vote By BOB HERBERT NYTimes.com OP-ED COLUMNIST Published: September 13, 2004

More than 80 percent of the population of Detroit is black. This is very well understood by John Pappageorge, who is white and a Republican state legislator in Michigan. "If we do not suppress the Detroit vote," said Mr. Pappageorge, "we're going to have a tough time in this election."

Oops! Republicans aren't supposed to actually say they want to suppress black votes. That's so retro. It's so Jim Crow. This is the 21st century, and the thing now is to do the dastardly deed, but never ever acknowledge it.

That's where our friend Pappageorge went wrong.

After his startling quote was published several weeks ago in The Detroit Free Press, Mr. Pappageorge, who is 73, apologized and said he certainly never meant to suggest that anything racist or illegal take place. But he reiterated to me in a phone conversation last Friday that he did indeed mean that the vote in Detroit needed to be kept down.

A lot of other Republicans have similar views about the vote in areas with large African-American populations. Most blacks vote Democratic. If those votes can be suppressed, Republicans benefit. And there is increasing evidence that a big effort to suppress the vote among blacks and some other heavily Democratic voting groups is under way, which is why it is important to keep the following phone number handy:

1-866-OUR VOTE.

That's a hot line set up by the Election Protection Coalition, a group that was formed to identify and stamp out attempts to disenfranchise voters, especially in predominantly black and Latino precincts around the country.

On Election Day in November, the coalition expects to have as many as 25,000 volunteers, including 5,000 lawyers, available to provide assistance to voters who encounter irregularities or feel they are not being treated fairly at the polls. Voters who call the hot line will immediately be put in touch with volunteers in their local area.

The coalition is also urging people to call the hot line now if they are aware of efforts to discourage or prevent people from voting.

Among the groups included in the Election Protection Coalition are the People for the American Way Foundation, the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the League of Women Voters, the N.A.A.C.P., the American Civil Liberties Union and the Advancement Project, a civil rights advocacy group in Washington.

The attempt to prevent blacks from voting has been a staple of America's political history, like long-winded speeches and balloons. I wrote three columns last month about a situation in Orlando, Fla., in which armed state police officers went into the homes of elderly black voters to question them as part of a so-called criminal investigation involving absentee ballots. This tactic sent a definite chill through voters who were old enough to remember the torment inflicted on Southern blacks who tried to vote in the 1950's and 60's.

A new study by the People for the American Way Foundation and the N.A.A.C.P. describes many recent examples of voter harassment and intimidation - the latest entries in the long and sordid history of disenfranchisement in the U.S. The study, called "The Long Shadow of Jim Crow," noted:

"Voter intimidation and suppression efforts have not been limited to a single party, but have in fact shifted over time as voting allegiances have shifted. In recent decades, African-American voters have largely been loyal to the Democratic Party, resulting in the prevalence of Republican efforts to suppress minority turnout."

In Texas, students at the predominantly black Prairie View A&M University were threatened with arrest by the local district attorney, a Republican, who suggested they were not eligible to vote in the county in which the school was located. This was nonsense. Students can vote in their college towns if they designate the campus as their home address. The whole point, of course, was intimidation. The threat of arrest is an excellent way of deterring someone from voting.

There are endless stories of attempts to discourage blacks from voting. Few get substantial publicity, so this is not seen as a big national problem. It deserves a brighter spotlight. When duly registered blacks are improperly challenged at the polls, or Florida tries to use a patently discriminatory voter felons list, or black votes are criminally tampered with or simply not counted at all - something should be done.

The number to call is 1-866-OUR VOTE.
Protect the Vote

Wild Brain's "WHO PROFITS?"

wild brain's "WHO profits?"

WRITER’S NOTE:
"This war has been a boon for a very specific sector of the American business community: those with close ties to the Bush administration. Halliburton alone has garnered billions of dollars in defense contracts. This ad is about what would happen if the those folks getting rich off the war in Iraq, actually had to fight it."

-- Steven Kotler
Writer: Steven Kotler
Animation: Wild Brain, Inc.
Director: John Hays
Producer: Amy Capen
FEATURING: ED ASNER, KEVIN BACON, ScaRLETT JOHANSSON
Executive Producers: Jeff Fino, Steven Kotler, Laura Dawn

THE ISSUES BEHIND THIS AD:
WAR PROFITEERING | THEY DIDN'T SERVE

This week a grim milestone was passed in Iraq: 1,000 of our men and women in uniform have died since the beginning of the Iraq war.

Meanwhile, the administration that took us to Iraq is staffed by men who avoided service themselves. These same people award multi-million dollar contracts for work in Iraq to their friends and associates as they cut benefits to our soldiers...

Legion Of Honor ~ Rodin Collection

I recently went to San Francisco and one of the many pleasures I experienced was viewing part of the Legion of Honor.
The museum has an extensive collection of works by Auguste Rodin donated by a San Franciscan who was an early patron of his. The Legion of Honor houses other collections as well (many of which were temporarily closed, unfortunately) as well as offering a spectacular view of the San Francisco Bay and Golden Gate Bridge.
I would have loved to have seen it all--if I go back, I'll make it a priority.
Enjoy!

The Legion of Honor, San Francisco's most beautiful museum, displays an impressive collection of 4,000 years of ancient and European art in an unforgettable setting overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge.

History Built to commemorate Californian soldiers who died in World War I, the Legion of Honor is a beautiful Beaux-arts building located in San Francisco's Lincoln Park. Overlooking the Pacific Ocean, Golden Gate Bridge and all of San Francisco, the Legion is most noted for its breathtaking setting. Its collections include Rodin's Thinker, which sits in the museum's Court of Honor, European decorative arts and paintings, Ancient art, and one of the largest collections of prints and drawings in the country.

The Mighty Hand

The Severed Head Of St. John The Baptist (above)

Faun and Nymph~

The Call To Arms

Perhaps Rodin's best known monumental work, the Thinker dominates the Legion's outdoor Court of Honor, and is one of the earliest acquisitions of the more than seventy Rodin sculptures that Mrs. Spreckels purchased and later donated to the museum.

Rodin's Thinker

Legion Courtyard Arch

Two views of the Museum's Rodin room

Entrance

Ceiling

The museum is dedicated to the 3,600 California men who lost their lives on the battlefields of France during World War I.
This memorial is a gift from Japan symbolizing peace and unity between the U.S. and Japan.

Project Rebirth

QUOTATION OF THE DAY (from NYTimes.com)

"These kids can't walk from their middle school to the deli to buy a Snapple without seeing 15 references to Sept. 11: the signs in stores, the bumper stickers. And when they're in line to buy that Snapple, there's the whisperers. They can't escape it."
CHRIS BURKE , founder a group that serves families of the victims of Sept. 11.

The view from the graveyard behind St. Paul's Church, taken in spring 2004.

I can't speak to the grief of so many, especially the children of September 11, 2001 victims. Though I feel deep pity for them, their emotions are unique and impossible for me to fathom.
Instead I'll share with you a new website Project Rebirth, which shows from a multitude of angles, on-going time-lapse photography of the construction taking place where the World Trade center once stood. They've put together a mini- movie which is quite good and, according to the people behind the project, the real-time video-taping will continue for ten years (the anticiapated length of the construction project).

Source

Gotham, the typeface chosen for the Freedom Tower cornerstone at the World Trade Center site, is distinguished by the uniformity in the width of its strokes and the absence of embellishments like serifs.

A view of ground zero from the Project Rebirth time-lapse camera 47 stories up on the American Express Building, at the northwest corner of the site, taken in autumn 2003.

A vision of what the future may look like.

By SARAH BOXER

Published: September 8, 2004

In the fall of 2001 when the dust and ash from the World Trade Center were still in the air, Jim Whitaker, a documentary filmmaker, decided to photograph everything happening at ground zero. By the spring of 2002 three cameras were pointed at the pit, each taking one shot every five minutes, round the clock. Months later, three more cameras were added.

That was the beginning of Project Rebirth, a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a historical record of the rebuilding.

Today www.projectrebirth.org, a Web site produced with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and AOL , opens for public viewing. The site includes links to the architects who are building at ground zero; profiles of 10 people whose lives were altered by Sept. 11; an interview with Kevin Rampe, the president of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation; the view from a live Web camera at the site; and a timeline that you can click on to watch short movies of milestone events there.

But the main attraction is the time-lapse photography, showing (on a very tiny screen, 3½ inches by 2½ inches) what the six cameras have been seeing all along. Each camera has a distinctive view and a different reason for being there.

 

 

 

 

 

One camera, on the roof of 30 Vesey Street, at the corner of Church Street, gives a wide view down from the northeast corner of ground zero. The weather comes right at the camera: rain, mist and snow. And the shadows from the buildings nearby often upstage the activity in the pit.

 

Another camera is 47 stories up, in the American Express Building at 3 World Financial Center at the northwest corner of the site. It "has an omniscience to it," Mr. Whitaker, the director of Project Rebirth, said.

So far this camera has provided the most complete view. You can watch the PATH station going up: the girders, the tracks, the first layer, the second layer. And when the Freedom Tower starts to rise, Mr. Whitaker promised, it will look as if the new building were heading right for the camera. As the tower ascends above the lens, the camera will tilt up to watch.

The camera on the roof of 115 Broadway, the current home of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, is at the southeast corner of ground zero. Because you can see the building's old stone parapets, the pictures from this camera have a nostalgic feel. The snow accumulates and melts on the stonework while the construction unfolds beyond it.

But the grandest view comes from the southwest corner. Here a Vista Vision camera, the very camera that Cecil B. DeMille used to film "The Ten Commandments," is perched on the ninth floor of the Dow Jones Building, where there is a memorial for Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter abducted and killed in Pakistan in the aftermath of Sept. 11. The picture is crisp and very wide. "You see New York life passing by, cruising by," Mr. Whitaker said. The shots hum with traffic and cloud drift.

That covers the four corners of the site. What was missing, said Thomas Lappin, the director of photography for Project Rebirth, was a camera at ground level to show "the human scale." So a camera was planted 18 inches off the ground in the graveyard behind St. Paul's Church. Its pictures are filled with tombstones, trees and sky.

"It's a little reprieve from the full site, the big wound," Mr. Lappin said.

Another close-up camera was installed on the roof of the firehouse that was closest to the World Trade Center: Engine 10, Ladder 10. Nicknamed "1010," the camera is there partly for symbolic purposes, Mr. Whitaker said, to represent the "heroism of the firehouse." It also shows details well: girders going up, cranes turning crazily round and round and a flag flapping in the foreground.

That same firehouse perch is now also being shared by a digital Webcam that has just been installed.

Originally, Mr. Whitaker said, he planned to photograph at ground zero for seven years, but now he thinks he will keep the cameras running for at least 10, at a cost of some $8 million (and this is with the film being donated by Kodak and the processing by Deluxe). He said he was hoping that Project Rebirth would be one of the institutions represented at the World Trade Center site. If it is, he wants to install six screens in one room so that viewers can see the whole building process from all six angles over the course of 20 minutes.

If not, though, no shot will be lost. Mr. Whitaker, the president of Imagine Entertainment, the movie production company founded by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, plans to make a documentary with the time-lapse footage. (You can watch a trailer of the movie at the Web site.) And eventually everything that the six cameras have seen, millions of feet of film, he said, will go to the Library of Congress.

At first Mr. Whitaker approached ground zero with dread and anxiety, he said. But when he saw the pile of rubble visibly diminish in a matter of days, he started feeling more optimistic. He wanted to capture that feeling, he said, and the speed with which the cleanup was taking place. Time-lapse photography was the ticket.

What is most striking now from the time-lapse view, though, is just how slow the rebuilding has been. The days, the weeks, the snow, the rain, the shadows, the day, the night, the traffic, the seasons all pass. Meanwhile the pit remains. It is the most stable thing in the pictures. And that is the view that has been edited for the Web site. The unedited dailies, Mr. Lappin said, are "incredibly repetitive."

Who The Hell Is "Undecided"?

It seems the columnist Mark Morford is back in the saddle. His column (below) does a nice job of asking a fairly simple question:
What's up with the presidential polls? Are people that stupid that they change their minds with every shift in the winds about who they intend to vote for for US president this November 4th?
I don't know anyone who can't at least state that they won't be voting for Bush, or at least that Kerry is the lessor of two evils. Or as my Dad said, if he could vote (he can't--we're Canadian) he'd vote for Nader. I haven't met anyone in real life that plans to vote for Bush, but then again I live in Illinois--which we already know will be passing it's electoral votes along to Mr. Kerry. (My informal poll of all my Canadian relatives and Maple Lake neighbours (except dear ol' Dad) elicited snorts and guffaws when the question was asked. "Reelect Bush? You've got to be kidding!")

But who are these people who seem to switch willy-nilly from one choice of presidential candidate to another? And what will it take for them to make up their minds?

Who The Hell Is "Undecided"?
And why do so many election polls leave you angry and stupefied ...?
- By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist
Friday, September 10, 2004

Polls are the genital warts of election year. They are the swarming gnats in your Jell-O salad, the dead escalator in your shopping mall, the sour milk in your coffee.

Because clearly, if you attempt to follow any of them, the CNN/USA Today/Gallup polls or the American Research Group polls or the Newsweek polls or the ABC News/Washington Post polls or the CBS News/New York Times polls or the , Zogby polls, you can only conclude one thing:

These polls are designed solely to mangle your head and confound your synapses and elate you and titillate you and then plunge you into instant despair and then yank you back out at the last second like some sort of "Fear Factor" death-plunge moronism.

I know I am not alone in this sentiment.

Take, for example, how nearly every single poll listed above indicated that, just after the Democratic convention, John Kerry could not lose. He had gained huge numbers on a miserable and baffled Bush and every poll had Kerry nailing Shrub by anywhere from two to six percentage points and he had momentum and a clear message and broad support and it all meant it was Kerry's election to lose and woo-hoo go team break out the champagne.

But wait, not so fast. Because then BushCo had his big, tearful, gay-hatin', war-lovin' GOP convention and whored the 9/11 theme so shamelessly you could veritably feel the World Trade Center victims cringing in their graves.

Now, of course, polls indicate that those pro-Kerry numbers are exactly reversed. Bush's numbers are suddenly up again and have barely broken through that magic 50-percent ceiling that held him in check this past year as the nation had seemed to be finally realizing what an unmitigated embarrassment he was, and suddenly Kerry is lagging behind by those same few points. Hey, it's the polls, baby. They're not supposed to make any damn sense.

But they do force you to ask: What the hell just happened? What changed? Why do these polls flip so ridiculously?

Could it be true? Are there simply millions of voters out in this sad and divisive nation who are so gullible, so unsure, so unclear about who they want to vote for that one overblown Vegas-style political convention followed by numerous insidious smear campaigns maligning Kerry's Vietnam heroism could sway them that easily, back and forth and forth and back?

Perhaps this is an "elitist" question, or naive, or simple misguided. Maybe I need to read far more detailed statistical sociopolitical theory, which is about as much fun as having all your skin scraped off with a cheese grater. But I simply know of no one anywhere in my world, from family to friends to family friends to remote acquaintances to the guy who sells me my socks, who is undecided about this election.

Do these people exist? Or are the polls merely wicked phantasmagorical allegories designed by the media to boost sales and pump ratings and numb the intellect and ruin your appetite for reason? I know my answer.

Because if you're paying any sort of attention at all, the differences between the party stances seems so agonizingly obvious, between not just the candidates, but between the tone and timbre of the country overall, of how we should be led and how we should be viewed and how we should be spoken to, between the openly violent, peace-hating, fear-happy, environment-loathing, homophobic worldview of the Bushies, and the more tolerant, issues-oriented, politically intelligent, less tyrannical worldview of the Kerryites on the other.

So then, who are the people so openly duped by the gluttonous TV coverage of either of the conventions that they watch the Dems and says, wow, that Kerry fellow sure is smart and articulate and, gosh, he's even a decorated 'Nam vet, I'm voting for him.

And who then spins right around and watched Dubya cry and wave the flag and never once mention WMD or Osama and openly ignore the 1,000-plus dead American soldiers in Iraq, and who then says, oh wait, gosh, that Dubya fellow, he sure is nice and simple and plain-faced and none-too-bright and he loves war like a schoolgirl loves bubblegum. He's my man. Now turn it to "Everybody Loves Raymond!"

Is it the elderly? Are they the ones who swing these polls so outrageously? Is it the over-75 set who just had their Medicare benefits gouged and who can't afford their medications due to how grossly BushCo just French-kissed all the CEOs of the major pharmcos? Doubtful. The elderly are far more astute that most.

Is it young women? Is it the roughly 22 million single females who didn't bother to cast a ballot in 2000, these least-likely voters in the nation who, if they had half of an idea of how much BushCo hated them and feared them and wanted to curtail every right they have to control their bodies and navigate their own sexuality, would shun BushCo this election like an altar boy shuns a Catholic priest? Do they keep changing their minds?

Is it the black vote? Doubtful. I know there are stories, like the recent Oakland Tribune piece, which discovered a number of black pastors in the East Bay who are actually supporting Bush solely on the basis of the gay marriage issue, despite the GOP's ill-concealed racist overtones and general hatred of minorities and the poor. The mind, it doth shudder and reel. And weep. But then again, another poll shows black voters favoring Kerry/Edwards by a huge, 8-1 majority . So there it is.

I know there are studies. I know there are analysts and pundits and social scientists who say they know about just who these "undecided" voters are, and why they flip so wildly, and why the hell they can't see the painful and enormous differences between Kerry and Dubya, if for no other reason than one can speak in complex multisyllabic sentences employing compound adjectives, whereas the other makes you feel like you're listening to a heavily Ritalined 5-year-old read "The Hungry Caterpillar," drunk.

I know there are superlative books, like Thomas Frank's "What's the Matter with Kansas?" -- books that attempt to explain why so many Americans vote, bafflingly, frustratingly, against their own self-interest. But this does little to explain such wild discrepancies in the polls, such weird and nearly instant fluctuations in the American attitude from week to week.

Of course the answer is: There is no real answer. To follow the polls is a fool's game best averted by deep sighing and copious amounts of wine and by ignoring them completely and by rejecting as specious and pointless nearly all stories that bring up poll numbers in hysterical and alarmist tones. Which is, you know, most all of them.

Except, of course, for those polls that make some sort of sense. Every now and then there seems to be one that has basis in actual reality, that doesn't deal in the mythical and God-like "undecideds," that make you go, well sure, this much is a given.

For example, take the new poll that shows how a huge percentage of the world, fully 30 out of 35 surveyed nations, want Bush out of the White House. Now.

It's true. Among America's strongest and most loyal allies and even among those who don't like us much and have good reason to believe we're a screaming whiny violent brat with too much money and too many toys and far too little soul, it is nearly unanimous: Bush has done more harm to the world, to international relations than any U.S. president in history. The world doesn't merely think Bush is an incompetent boob. They think he's a hostile and reckless incompetent boob. Which is, of course, far worse.

But then again, you don't really need a poll to tell you that.

A Tech Monk Speaks (And Gives Good Links)

A very funny (in a painful way) link courtesy of Sean

Attack! Attack! Attack!

Being critical isn't enough. Being "tough" isn't enough. Taking the high ground won't work. There is no high ground! You can't let Michael Moore and that Eli from Moveon.org guy who sends too many e-mails do your dirty work. Attack! Get dirty! Dick Cheney sucks cocks in hell!

Senator Kerry, you are all that stands between us and the theocratic fascism. I don't care if it diminishes you. You have to stoop to their level. You HAVE to fucking win. You HAVE to. Do you understand? Attack!

Attack!

Attack!

ATTACK!

Original source

Dick Cheney's Scare Tactics/The Curse Of Dick Cheney

QUOTATIONS OF THE DAY (from NYTimes.com)

"It's absolutely essential that eight weeks from today, on Nov. 2, we make the right choice, because if we make the wrong choice then the danger is that we'll get hit again and we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States."
VICE PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY

"Dick Cheney's scare tactics today crossed the line."
SENATOR JOHN EDWARDS

Want to know the enemy and how on earth he rose to being within a heartbeat of the presidency?
This Rolling Stone Magazine article gives a nice, succinct chronology of his ascension.

The Curse of Dick Cheney
The veep's career has been marred by one disaster after another

By T.D. ALLMAN

Should George W. Bush win this election, it will give him the distinction of being the first occupant of the White House to have survived naming Dick Cheney to a post in his administration.

The Cheney jinx first manifested itself at the presidential level back in 1969, when Richard Nixon appointed him to his first job in the executive branch. It surfaced again in 1975, when Gerald Ford made Cheney his chief of staff and then -- with Cheney's help -- lost the 1976 election. George H.W. Bush, having named Cheney secretary of defense, was defeated for re-election in 1992. The ever-canny Ronald Reagan was the only Republican president since Eisenhower who managed to serve two full terms. He is also the only one not to have appointed Dick Cheney to office. This pattern of misplaced confidence in Cheney, followed by disastrous results, runs throughout his life -- from his days as a dropout at Yale to the geopolitical chaos he has helped create in Baghdad. Once you get to know his history, the cycle becomes clear: First, Cheney impresses someone rich or powerful, who causes unearned wealth and power to be conferred on him. Then, when things go wrong, he blames others and moves on to a new situation even more advantageous to himself.

"Cheney's manner and authority of voice far outstrip his true abilities," says Chas Freeman, who served under Bush's father as ambassador to Saudi Arabia. "It was clear from the start that Bush required adult supervision -- but it turns out Cheney has even worse instincts. He does not understand that when you act recklessly, your mistakes will come back and bite you on the ass."

Cheney's record of mistakes begins in 1959, when Tom Stroock, a Republican politician-businessman in Casper, Wyoming, got Cheney, then a senior at Natrona County High School, a scholarship to Yale. "Dick was the all-American boy, in the top ten percent of his class," Stroock says. "He seemed a natural." But instead of triumphing, Cheney failed. "He spent his time partying with guys who loved football but weren't varsity quality," recalls Stephen Billings, an Episcopalian minister who roomed with him during Cheney's freshman (and only full) year at Yale. "His idea was, you didn't need to master the material," says his other roommate, Jacob Plotkin. "He passed one psych course without attending class or studying, and he was proud of that. But there are some things you can't bluff, and Dick reached a point where you couldn't recover."

Kent State/ Women's Suffrage Comments

I've mostly been on vacation in August (trying to live like the Europeans, don't 'cha know) so my posts have been sparse, as have my responses to (comments about) them have been. And visiting other blogs just hasn't been happening. I'm about to leave one more time--to visit my folks, who are at their summer home on Maple Lake in Ontario, Canada. I'll be gone until a day or two after Labour Day and then I can get back to the business (and pleasure) of blogging.
The post Four Dead
In Ohio., has elicited a couple of the most touching comments ever left on my blog.
There have been a few moments, especially when fellow bloggers are giving up the ghost or when I'm feeling really uninspired or just badly short on time, that I've wondered if burning the midnight oil pouring my thoughts out into the blogosphere is "worth it."

Without question, the following reminds why me it most certainly is.

Comments:

I think you have a wonderful site. I am a national guard member who has recently been to Afghanistan and Iraq (one year each). I think we all get a bad rap for what happened so many years ago. I am now a student at Kent State. I feel terrible for that tragedy that happened on May 4th, it was long before i was born. Just know, that the national guard is different now. Better trained and better equipped, and with more combat experience. But all in all, thank you for your site, and God bless America. (Aaron Parker)

The post on the Kent State Massacre is quite harsh in it's assessment of the National Guard. The song by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young "Four Dead In Ohio." is even more critical.
By all accounts, May 4, 1970, was a terribly confusing day, an awful tragedy for those killed and their loved ones, and for the Guard, who'd been put into a situation that they couldn't have anticipated would turn out the way it did.

I don't think the National Guard is solely to blame. I believe the Nixon Administration rightly deserves the mantle of responsibility placed upon it for encouraging the atmosphere that was conducive to the fear and confusion that reined that fateful day.

Mr. Parker:
Thank you for your service on behalf of this country. I am very glad that you came home safely and I wish you much success as a student at Kent State University, as well as in your career upon graduation.

And in response to my Aug 26, 2004 post Nineteenth Amendment Guarantees Women's Suffrage...

Comments:

And ever since women got the right to vote, the country's been shifting further and further away from your libertarian ideals. The one thought-provoking thing I've heard Ann Coulter say is that she'd gladly surrender her right to vote if all other women would too. (Her Brother)

Bro:
After reading your comment, at first I thought that you were kidding, but since I know you I know you are serious and frankly, knowing that is quite disheartening.

I'm sure you realize that a lot has happened since women secured the right to vote.
One of the thoughts that came to mind as I pondered your statements was, if you exchanged the word blacks for women how much more ludicrous Anne Coulter's statement is. There is absolutely no evidence that I've seen that indicates that there is a causational relationship between women voting and the shift away from "libertarian ideals" in this country.

IMO, there are many events in the 75 years since we gained suffrage, that might help explain it and most of them are economic and class-related and anyone who doesn't live in a cave knows that men--by far--still hold the strongest economic sway in this country.

When women were allowed the right to vote there was no such thing as the "American middle class." At the culmination of WWII, the G.I. Bill bestowed economic freedoms on servicemen and their families that effectively led to its creation. Could this chain of events have effected the loss of libertarian ideals?

There may in fact be a correlation between the time frame of women voting and the demise of Libertarianism, but I see no earthly way that one can put on blinders to all the other influences on our class structure, economics, and government, that may have hastened the fading of libertarian ideals.

--Sis

Dick Cheney Gets His Gay On

Thes first part of this article is rather amusing. I always find it facinating how Cheney manages to speak from both sides of his mouth about gay people and government policy.

Dick Cheney Gets His Gay On

In which the manly veep comes out and confesses that he thinks homosexuals are "like, totally yummy"
By Mark Morford

Bunny-curdling screams were heard throughout the Beltway last week and Laura Bush herself got all flustered and confused as vice president and noted hunk of rabid warmongering neoconservatism Dick Cheney broke ranks with his party of other hunks of rabid warmongering neoconservatives and admitted, in public, that he thinks gay people are, you know, mostly OK.

Sort of. A little. In small doses.

"With respect to the question of relationships, my general view is that freedom means freedom for everyone. People ought to be able to free -- ought to be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to." This is what Cheney actually said.

Reporters gasped. Bystanders were stunned. Small flowers burst into flames. Shockingly, the GOP's lightning bolts of homophobic self-righteousness did not strike Mr. Cheney dead on the spot. And his head, contrary to reports, did not actually spin all the way around, twice ....

San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge ~ Fog Rolling In ~ Legion Of Honor ~ Rodin's " The Thinker"

The Thinker~ amazing to see up close.

View from the Legion of Honor in San Francisco, where among other works, resides one of the largest of Auguste Rodin.

Much more to come, probably after Labour Day.