In the Attic

I cannot express how happy I am to get back into photography. Margin's next show is in April and I think I will have nothing but fresh material...

IMG_1011
Originally uploaded by taradjiphoto

Security Spectacle

The Airport Security Follies

As for Americans themselves, I suppose that it’s less than realistic to expect street protests or airport sit-ins from citizen fliers, and maybe we shouldn’t expect too much from a press and media that have had no trouble letting countless other injustices slip to the wayside. And rather than rethink our policies, the best we’ve come up with is a way to skirt them — for a fee, naturally — via schemes like Registered Traveler. Americans can now pay to have their personal information put on file just to avoid the hassle of airport security. As cynical as George Orwell ever was, I doubt he imagined the idea of citizens offering up money for their own subjugation.

How we got to this point is an interesting study in reactionary politics, fear-mongering and a disconcerting willingness of the American public to accept almost anything in the name of “security.” Conned and frightened, our nation demands not actual security, but security spectacle. And although a reasonable percentage of passengers, along with most security experts, would concur such theater serves no useful purpose, there has been surprisingly little outrage. In that regard, maybe we’ve gotten exactly the system we deserve.

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Yes... Yes... Yes!!!!

Winning a battle but not the War. These mother fuckers (and I include the gutless, spineless, principle -less Democrats who supported Harry Reid) will try again the give the Telecom industry a pass on their past illegal activities.

Please give as much as you can to the cause.

Telecom Immunity Pulled From Senate Debate, Threatened Filibuster, Amendments Force Delay In Vote On Surveillance Bill Until New Year

A controversial bill which would grant retroactive immunity to phone companies for assisting the government in illegally prying into Americans' private communications was pulled from the Senate floor today under threat of a filibuster and a pile of pending amendments.

Late Monday Senate Majority Harry Reid delayed consideration of a vote on the updated Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) bill until January.

[...]

Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., who had vowed to filibuster in opposition to the bill's provision to grant immunity, said in a statement that "Today we have scored a victory for American civil liberties and sent a message to President Bush that we will not tolerate his abuse of power and veil of secrecy.

"The President should not be above the rule of law, nor should the telecom companies who supported his quest to spy on American citizens," Dodd said.

The new surveillance bill is meant to replace a temporary eavesdropping law Congress hastily passed in August. That law, which expanded the government's authority to listen in on American communications without court permission, expires Feb. 1.

Sign Up to Support Impeachment Hearings

Join Wexler's Call for Cheney Hearings

The charges are too serious to ignore. There is credible evidence that the Vice President abused the power of his office, and not only brought us into an unneccesary war but violated the civil liberties and privacy of American citizens. It is the constitutional duty of Congress to hold impeachment hearings.

And Once Again...

The Republicrats win! We really have to get rid of these psudo-democrats and replace them with real human beings...

Dems cave on spending

Senate and House Democrats backed down Wednesday from a spending showdown with President Bush. The Democrats’ capitulation Wednesday on the total domestic spending level is the latest instance of Bush prevailing on a major policy showdown. Bush and his Senate Republican allies have repeatedly beat back efforts by Democrats to place restrictions on funding for the war in Iraq as well as Democratic attempts to expand funding of children’s health insurance by $35 billion. Democratic leaders said Wednesday that they would keep total spending at the strict $933 billion limit set by the White House. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) also abandoned a proposal she supported Tuesday to eliminate lawmakers’ earmarks from spending bills after she faced stiff opposition from powerful fellow Democrats. Pelosi told the Democratic chairmen of the House Appropriations subcommittees, the so-called cardinals, that earmarks would stay in the omnibus and that Democratic leaders would accede to cut spending to levels demanded by Bush to save 11 spending bills from a veto, said sources familiar with a meeting that took place in Pelosi’s office early Wednesday morning.

Awarded Not for their Integrity...

If Hitler can get the Time Magazine's Person of the Year Award, I suppose Goooonzales can make get the Lawyer of the Year status...

Gonzales Named Lawyer of the Year

Negative news coverage may have cost former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales his job, but it won him a dubious honor Wednesday from a magazine published by the American Bar Association: Lawyer of the Year.

Additionally, the ABA Journal named Gonzales' successor, Attorney General Michael Mukasey, as its top lawyer for 2008 — mostly in anticipation of how often he'll be in the media spotlight for trying to repair the beleaguered Justice Department.

The monthly magazine gave the awards to lawyers who made the most news, said editor and publisher Edward A. Adams.

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The Bush Legacy: Waging War for Political Gain

More LA to See!!

Where Hello Artichoke used to be. On the second floor of this office building in the Los Feliz neighberhood. At the time it was not this trendy--even if it was located right next to Dresden (see below!)

Just me in front of where Hello Artichoke used to be. Not enough light to get a better picture--the place is a total ramshackle. It was so even when the Gallery existed but somehow we were young and it all didn't matter. I wonder what Lindsey and Bob and the others are doing these days...

Ogden Street apartment-This is the very first place I lived in LA with my roommate Martia. She moved out to join American Airlines as a flight attendant. I don't know whether she made it or not. This place was infested with fleas! I was fumigating it every two weeks to no avail. Finally, I moved to the Longwood Street.

No trip to LA is complete without a picture of the Sign--So here it is.

Going up on the Lucretia Street dead end. Even with a Starbucks in the neighborhood, this is not a place where you want to linger--specially with a nice rental car!

And Dresden! Marty and Elaine are still fixtures at the place. We showed up early afternoon when the dinning area was closed but the bar was open. I don't know whether the place is still a place where the young wanna-bees hang out and we didn't stay long to find out.



Yours truly on Melrose Avenue.

Ahhhhhh... L.A.... How I Missed Thee!

Some places we visited on this trip:

Bukowski' Childhood Home at 2122 Longwood Avenue

The mowing of the lawn and his father losing his job as a milkman was the beginning of a terrible time in Bukowski's life, maybe worse than most people could have endured. He therefore in interviews referred to his Longwood Avenue-home as ‚the house of horrors, the house of agony':

"2122, Longwood Avenue. The house of horrors, the house of agony. The house where I was almost done in. But not quite, I'm still here, you see." Read more here.

Incidentally, Longwood avenue was the second place I lived back when I first moved to L.A. I did take a photo of it, but for some reason I can't find it. I will post it when I do.

It is really a weird sensation to see places where you have been almost twenty years ago. This is the dealership where I bought my 1983 Oldsmobile Delta 88 for, if memory serves, somewhere between $2,500 to $3,000...

The place appears to be closed. I have no idea when it closed or whether it is permanent of temporary...

Maybe I will visit it again in twenty years!


And here is the place I lived after Longwood on Gennesee right of the coolest street in LA known as Melrose Avenue.

the left the building was painted blue. It is right across the Fairfax High School where I, and some friends, went and auditioned for the Oliver Stone's "Born on the Fourth of July." That was a very memorable day.

At the time when I lived on the second floor to

After that, I briefly moved next door (no picture... how stupid is that?).

First Day in Hell-A

Boy, I always love it when I come back to LA--I love this place. And each time, I am reminded about how I hate Chicago!

We are staying at The Georgian with a view of the Ocean. Here is the Santa Monica Pier from the hotel room window:


More later...

A Nation Under Survaillance

Bush Goes Private to Spy on You

A new intelligence institution to be inaugurated soon by the Bush administration will allow government spying agencies to conduct broad surveillance and reconnaissance inside the United States for the first time. Under a proposal being reviewed by Congress, a National Applications Office (NAO) will be established to coordinate how the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and domestic law enforcement and rescue agencies use imagery and communications intelligence picked up by U.S. spy satellites. If the plan goes forward, the NAO will create the legal mechanism for an unprecedented degree of domestic intelligence gathering that would make the United States one of the world's most closely monitored nations. Until now, domestic use of electronic intelligence from spy satellites was limited to scientific agencies with no responsibility for national security or law enforcement.

Criminals

There You Have it...

It's in small print on page 16, but it is there.

U.S.: Iran put nukes on hold

U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and that international pressure has succeeded in compelling the Islamic Republic to back away from its pursuit of the bomb.

The new findings represent a retreat from a fundamental U.S. assumption about one of its main adversaries and an admission that a central component of previous intelligence estimates on Tehran's nuclear program was wrong. But the report makes clear that Iran could decide at any point to resume its efforts to develop a nuclear weapon.

The assessment represents the consensus view of the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies, including the CIA and the National Security Agency. It is likely to have major implications in the debate over whether to confront Iran militarily or through diplomatic means, an issue that has been a source of friction within the Bush administration and with some members of the international community.

FDA... In the Pocket of the Pharma Firms

But we knew that didn't we?

Waxman Says FDA Plans to Ease Restrictions on Off-Label Marketing

The FDA is considering a policy change that would allow pharmaceutical companies to give physicians journal articles that detail off-label uses of drugs, according to Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif).

If approved, the FDA proposal "would allow drug and device companies to short-circuit FDA review and approval by sponsoring drug trials that are carefully constructed to deliver positive results and then using the results to influence prescribing patterns," he said.

Waxman has posted a copy of an FDA draft document that web site, along with his letter to FDA Commissioner Andrew C. von Eschenbach, M.D., protesting the proposed change.

Moreover, Waxman said, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which he chairs, will "be examining the draft guidance and the process that led to [its] development."

Don't Miss Your Flight!

speaking from experience...

Less Free To Move About The Cabin

"If you miss your flight, you can't catch another one because they are so full," she said. "If there is even one little problem, you just aren't going to make it."

Will Your Vote be Counted?

Watch the video and you will not be so sure.

Will The 2008 Vote Be Fair?

How safe is your right to vote? Former Justice Department official and voting rights lawyer David Becker, who worked under both President George W. Bush and former President Bill Clinton, alleges a systematic effort to deny the vote to hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of Americans. In a revealing interview with NOW's David Brancaccio, Becker openly worries that the 2008 election will not be free and fair. Is our government part of the solution, or part of the problem?

I Want One...

Cell Phone Jammer

Devote Your Virginity to Your Dad!

This is one of the most absurd things I have ever seen in my life. WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE? They must be from Pluto, no doubt about it. Have they EVER read a serious book in their lives? Have they traveled? Do they have any thought process aside from that which may involve sex? These people are nuts!

At purity dances, virgin belles ring

It was an evening for couples—girls in formal gowns, tiaras and curly updos, escorted by their dads, in tuxedos or dressy suits and ties.

They dined on roast beef and waltzed to classical music in a ballroom decorated with draped crosses and a mannequin in a white wedding gown. They listened as a guest speaker warned of the dangers of premarital sex. Then they stood at their tables, looked each other in the eye and vowed that they would remain pure.

He signed a pledge to be the protector of her purity and to live his own life with integrity. She gave her father a gold key to her heart, and asked him to hold on to it until her wedding day, when he would hand it over to her husband. They walked down the aisle with locked arms and she laid a white rose beside a cross, sealing her commitment.

"It's like I'm devoting my virginity to my dad, saying that I will stay pure because it is the Christian thing to do," said Lindsay Anne Schell, an 18-year-old freshman at Bradley University in Peoria. "The rose shows the world that you are devoting your purity to God and to your father."