For What It's Worth

Monday, February 19, 2007

Amerind Images

From the over 100 images I shot for "Treasures of the Amerind", a coffee table slash picture book which, when finished, will be on sale exclusively through the Amerind Museum gift shop.

Owl Man - Moche (100-700 A.D.),
Peru, South America

You can find out a little about the Moche people in Wikipedia.

Published: February 19, 2007

A disturbing recent phenomenon in Washington is that laws that strike to the heart of American democracy have been passed in the dead of night. So it was with a provision quietly tucked into the enormous defense budget bill at the Bush administration's behest that makes it easier for a president to override local control of law enforcement and declare martial law.

The provision, signed into law in October, weakens two obscure but important bulwarks of liberty. One is the doctrine that bars military forces, including a federalized National Guard, from engaging in law enforcement. Called posse comitatus, it was enshrined in law after the Civil War to preserve the line between civil government and the military. The other is the Insurrection Act of 1807, which provides the major exemptions to posse comitatus. It essentially limits a president's use of the military in law enforcement to putting down lawlessness, insurrection and rebellion, where a state is violating federal law or depriving people of constitutional rights.

From the International Herald Tribune

Why would the Bush Administration want to weaken these particular laws and principals?

Reno Balloon Race 2006

Time lapse photography .... just for the fun of it.

Sent to me by a friend ...

The Hypocracy of the Family Values Right

Republican Congressman Mark Foley abruptly resigned from Congress after "sexually explicit" emails surfaced showing him flirting with a 16-year old boy.
Republican executive Randall Casseday of the conservative Washington Times newspaper was arrested for soliciting sex from a 13-year old girl on the internet.
Republican chairman of the Oregon Christian Coalition Lou Beres confessed to molesting a 13-year old girl.
Republican County Constable Larry Dale Floyd was arrested on suspicion of soliciting sex with an 8-year old girl. Floyd has repeatedly won elections for Denton County, Texas, constable.
Republican judge Mark Pazuhanich pleaded no contest to fondling a 10-year old girl and was sentenced to 10 years probation.
Republican Party leader Bobby Stumbo was arrested for having sex with a 5-year old boy.
Republican petition drive manager Tom Randall pleaded guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 14, one of them the daughter of an associate in the petition business.
Republican County Chairman Armando Tebano was arrested for sexually molesting a 14-year-old girl.
Republican teacher and former city councilman John Collins pleaded guilty to sexually molesting 13 and 14 year old girls.
Republican campaign worker Mark Seidensticker is a convicted child molester.
Republican Mayor Philip Giordano is serving a 37-year sentence in federal prison for sexually abusing 8- and 10-year old girls.
Republican Mayor Tom Adams was arrested for distributing child pornography over the internet.
Republican Mayor John Gosek was arrested on charges of soliciting sex from two 15-year old girls.
Republican County Commissioner David Swartz pleaded guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 11 and was sentenced to 8 years in prison.
Republican legislator Edison Misla Aldarondo was sentenced to 10 years in prison for raping his daughter between the ages of 9 and 17.
Republican Committeeman John R. Curtain was charged with molesting a teenage boy and unlawful sexual contact with a minor.
Republican anti-abortion activist Howard Scott Heldreth is a convicted child rapist in Florida.
Republican zoning supervisor, Boy Scout leader and Lutheran church president Dennis L. Rader pleaded guilty to performing a sexual act on an 11-year old girl he murdered.
Republican anti-abortion activist Nicholas Morency pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer and offering a bounty to anybody who murders an abortion doctor.
Republican campaign consultant Tom Shortridge was sentenced to three years probation for taking nude photographs of a 15-year old girl.
Republican racist pedophile and United States Senator Strom Thurmond had sex with a 15-year old black girl which produced a child.
Republican pastor Mike Hintz, whom George W. Bush commended during the 2004 presidential campaign, surrendered to police after admitting to a sexual affair with a female juvenile.
Republican legislator Peter Dibble pleaded no contest to having an inappropriate relationship with a 13-year-old girl.
Republican advertising consultant Carey Lee Cramer was sentenced to six years in prison for molesting two 8-year old girls, one of whom appeared in an anti-Gore television commercial.
Republican activist Lawrence E. King, Jr. organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s.
Republican lobbyist Craig J. Spence organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s.
Republican Congressman Donald "Buz" Lukens was found guilty of having sex with a female minor and sentenced to one month in jail.
Republican fundraiser Richard A. Delgaudio was found guilty of child porn charges and paying two teenage girls to pose for sexual photos.
Republican activist Mark A. Grethen convicted on six counts of sex crimes involving children.
Republican campaign chairman Randal David Ankeney pleaded guilty to attempted sexual assault on a child and was arrested again five years later on the same charge.
Republican Congressman Dan Crane had sex with a female minor working as a congressional page.
Republican activist and Christian Coalition leader Beverly Russell admitted to an incestuous relationship with his step daughter.
Republican Judge Ronald C. Kline was placed under house arrest for child molestation and possession of child pornography.
Republican congressman and anti-gay activist Robert Bauman was charged with having sex with a 16-year-old boy he picked up at a gay bar.
Republican Committee Chairman Jeffrey Patti was arrested for distributing a video clip of a 5-year-old girl being raped.
Republican activist Marty Glickman (a.k.a. "Republican Marty"), was taken into custody by Florida police on four counts of unlawful sexual activity with an underage girl and one count of delivering the drug LSD.
Republican legislative aide Howard L. Brooks was charged with molesting a 12-year old boy and possession of child pornography.
Republican Senate candidate John Hathaway was accused of having sex with his 12-year old baby sitter and withdrew his candidacy after the allegations were reported in the media.
Republican preacher Stephen White, who demanded a return to traditional values, was sentenced to jail after offering $20 to a 14-year-old boy for permission to perform oral sex on him.
Republican talk show host Jon Matthews pleaded guilty to exposing his genitals to an 11 year old girl.
Republican anti-gay activist Earl "Butch" Kimmerling was sentenced to 40 years in prison for molesting an 8-year old girl after he attempted to stop a gay couple from adopting her.
Republican Party leader Paul Ingram pleaded guilty to six counts of raping his daughters and served 14 years in federal prison.
Republican election board official Kevin Coan was sentenced to two years probation for soliciting sex over the internet from a 14-year old girl.
Republican politician Andrew Buhr was charged with two counts of first degree sodomy with a 13-year old boy.
Republican legislator Keith Westmoreland was arrested on seven felony counts of lewd and lascivious exhibition to girls under the age of 16 (i.e. exposing himself to children).
Republican anti-abortion activist John Allen Burt was found guilty of molesting a 15-year old girl.
Republican County Councilman Keola Childs pleaded guilty to molesting a male child.
Republican activist John Butler was charged with criminal sexual assault on a teenage girl.
Republican candidate Richard Gardner admitted to molesting his two daughters.
Republican Councilman and former Marine Jack W. Gardner was convicted of molesting a 13-year old girl.
Republican County Commissioner Merrill Robert Barter pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual contact and assault on a teenage boy.
Republican City Councilman Fred C. Smeltzer, Jr. pleaded no contest to raping a 15 year-old girl and served 6-months in prison.
Republican activist Parker J. Bena pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography on his home computer and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and fined $18,000.
Republican parole board officer and former Colorado state representative, Larry Jack Schwarz, was fired after child pornography was found in his possession.
Republican strategist and Citadel Military College graduate Robin Vanderwall was convicted in Virginia on five counts of soliciting sex from boys and girls over the internet.
Republican city councilman Mark Harris, who is described as a "good military man" and "church goer," was convicted of repeatedly having sex with an 11-year-old girl and sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Republican businessman Jon Grunseth withdrew his candidacy for Minnesota governor after allegations surfaced that he went swimming in the nude with four underage girls, including his daughter.
Republican campaign worker, police officer and self-proclaimed reverend Steve Aiken was convicted of having sex with two underage girls.
Republican director of the "Young Republican Federation" Nicholas Elizondo molested his 6-year old daughter and was sentenced to six years in prison.
Republican president of the New York City Housing Development Corp. Russell Harding pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer.
Republican benefactor of conservative Christian groups, Richard A. Dasen Sr., was found guilty of raping a 15-year old girl. Dasen, 62, who is married with grown children and several grandchildren, has allegedly told police that over the past decade he paid more than $1 million to have sex with a large number of young women.
Republican Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld authorized the rape of children in Iraqi prisons in order to humiliate their parents into providing information about the anti-American insurgency.

The suggestion here is not that the left is lily white by any stretch of the imagination. The difference is that those on the left don't purport to be holier-than-thou, keepers of morality while those on the right hold themselves up as paragons of virtue against whom other should measure themselves. Perhaps they would be better served cleaning up their own messes.

Leave morality to right wing religious leaders ... like Jimmy Swagart, Ted Haggard and Jim Bakker!!

An Open Letter to Evangelical, Born Again, Fundamentalist Christians

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from you and understand why you would propose and support a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage. As you said "in the eyes of God marriage is based between a man a woman." I try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination... End of debate.

I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some other elements of God's Immutable, Unchanging Laws and how to follow them.

Leviticus 25:44 states that I may possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?
I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?
I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanness - Lev.15: 19-24. The problem is how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.
When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord - Lev.1:9. The problem is, my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?
I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or should I ask the police to do it?
A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination - Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this? Are there 'degrees' of abomination?
Lev.21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle-room here?
Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?
I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?
My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev.19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? (Lev. 24:10-16). Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair, like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)

I know you have studied these things extensively and thus enjoy considerable expertise in such matters, so I am confident you can help.

Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.

How many members of the Bush administration does it take to replace a light bulb?

The answer is 10.

One to deny that a light bulb needs to be changed;
One to attack the patriotism of anyone who says the light bulb needs to be changed;
One to blame Clinton for burning out the light bulb;
One to tell the nations of the world that they either favor changing the light bulb or support darkness;
One to give a billion dollar no-bid contract to Halliburton for the new light bulb;
One to arrange a photograph of Bush, dressed as a janitor, standing on a step ladder under the banner Light Bulb Change Accomplished";
One administration insider to resign and write a book documenting in detail how Bush was literally "in the dark";
One to viciously smear #7;
One surrogate to campaign on TV and at rallies on how George Bush has had a strong light bulb-changing policy all along;
And finally, one to confuse Americans about the difference between screwing a light bulb and screwing the country.

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Rubber Tree, Very Pretty

Ooops, there goes another rubber tree plant.

The Lowest Common Denominocracy

by Frank Dwyer
from The Huffington Post

In a recent post, "Nitwit News," Joan Z. Shore attempts to understand why the American people are so happily inundated with "human interest" stories--Barbaro's euthanization, the love-crazed astronaut, the cautionary saga of Anna Nicole Smith--while real news, important news, news essential to the proper functioning of our democracy, is ignored. (She might also have wondered why it took us a week to get Gerald Ford properly interred.)

"Why," she asks, "are we, the audience, enthralled by this dribble?"

The answer is very depressing: because that's the kind of people we are.

We watch loudmouthed, ignorant, rude, mean-spirited television--O'Reilly and Hannity and Beck and Grace and Idol and all the other dribble and drivel--because that's the kind of people we are.

We watch vulgar and stupid movies without even noticing how vulgar and stupid they are. Because that's the kind of people we are. (No one in Little Miss Sunshine's family had ever seen her rehearse or perform her talent routine, so how would they know--until they saw her on stage at the competition--that her grandfather had merely taught her to bump and grind? Right. Academy Award!)

Look how we vote. Look what the politicians and their flacks do and say to win those votes. Look how they lie to us and cheat us, with impunity. Look how much damage we've done in the world. Look how the rest of the world despises us.

We are, basically, a stupid people.

Are we newly stupid? No, but we used to be generous, too (more or less; not counting slavery and the Trail of Tears and lynching and segregation), we used to be decent and kind (basically), we used to be good-hearted. Is there anything more impressively generous and good-hearted in history than the Marshall Plan? But that was a while ago. We aren't Marshall Plan people any more. We're the kind of people who bank our tax cuts and hope for more while our soldiers and their families scrounge for armor and equipment. We're the kind of people who re-elect the leaders responsible for that, instead of draping them over lampposts.

Why? Why are we this way? Well, we don't like taxes. We like tax cuts! Yeah! We like hearing about Anna Nicole! We like voting for the one we'd most like to have a beer with! Yeah! We like seeing people win prizes by eating bugs! We like seeing people humiliated on Idol! And what tiny minority of us could possibly think anything a nerdy wonk like Douglas Feith once did or said could compare in any way to the richly entertaining and urgent importance of Britney Spears shaving her head?

Democracy doesn't work when the people are stupid, in Baghdad or Gaza or Main Street, USA.

We're over.

My personal footnote is that we've somehow managed to elevate those things that are merely interesting to the level of important while rendering those things that are important to be merely interesting.

Saturday, February 17, 2007

Tucson Schools Take Rodeo Seriously

If you're from somewhere else in the country, or the world, for that matter, you have no idea how big and important La Fiesta de los Vaqueros is in Tucson.

Here are a couple pictures that should give you some idea of what a big deal the Rodeo is:

Tucson's Botanical Gardens

I just wanted to add a couple of images. They have nothing to do with the butterflies but I DID find them at the Botanical Gardens while we were there and wandering around.

The Doorway

Branches

Candy picked up a brochure at the Gardens. They have an art sales gallery and they generally book it about a year in advance.

May 4, 2007: Slide/photo entries must be received by 5:00 pm.

June 18, 2007: Notification to artists.

For the exhibit season: September 2007 to July 2008. They take a 30% commission on sales and discourage NFS (Not For Sale) items. How can you blame them for that?

I figure it would cost between $1,000 and $1,500 to frame enough material to fill the gallery properly ... if I do the framing on the pool table. At least I wouldn't have to start framing seriously before I knew if there was going to be a show.

Butterflies are Free

Butterflies at the Botanical Gardens
(click the picture to
see the photo album)

Well, actually, they're not. There's the admission price for the Botanical Gardens plus an additional $4 a head fee to enter the hot house and look at the butterflies.

This batch is from the January-February showing of butterflies from the Tropical Americas. During October and November the Botanical Gardens feature butterflies from Asia and Australis. December is Africa Month with tropical butterflies from that part of the equator.

Quoting from the show brochure - "How to become a Gardens Exhibit Butterfly":

Grow up on a sanctioned butterfly farm in Costa Rica, Southeast Asia or other tropical location. (Where tropical forests are threatened, butterfly farms are a way for local people to make a living by using the forest instead of cutting it down.)
During your dormant chrysalis (or pupa) stage you're packed in cotton wool to protect you from transit damage and temperature fluctuations.
You are couriered to the Gardens. no matter where in the world you originate, you'll arrive in a few days time.
You're greeted by gardens staff who carefully unpack your chrysalis and mount it in the pupae chamber.
You emerge from your chrysalis as a magnificent adult butterfly.

Life is short, though. You can count almost the days between youth and middle age with your shoes and socks on. The absence of self awareness is probably an advantage here.

Candy and I went this afternoon. We'd both forgotten about it and we're coming right up against the end of the month and the show.

Catalina Highway

I've been toying with an idea for a while now ... ever since I discovered the on-line book publisher (vanity press), Blurb. I'd like to do an extended photo essay slash "coffee table book" about the Catalina Highway, the road that runs from Tuscon on the Sonoran Desert floor to Summerhaven at the top of the Catalina Mountains.

The Catalina Highway

Actually, I think I've had the idea longer than that. If you check the history tab on Catalina Highway article on Wikipedia linked above you'll see that I'm the original author*.

The working title for the book is "Mexico to Canada In Less Than an Hour".

Going Up Country

The hard part is getting motivated before the sun comes up to hit the road to catch the sunrise among the mountain crags. But the changes in ecology along the 40 mile stretch of the highway are amazing.

The Sentinels

I talk about the project a lot. I think I'm hoping to back myself into a corner with no way out except to actually do the work involved.

* For what it's worth, I've written/originated several articles on Wikipedia. You can find them listed on my Wikipedia profile page.

It Boggles the Mind

Some things are almost impossible to comprehend. They are so illogical that it seems they pass through to the other side and almost seem reasonable.

"And one thing we want during this war on terror is for people to feel like their life's moving on, that they're able to make a living and send their kids to college and put more money on the table."

G.W. Bush, The Current Occupant
Appearing on the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Jan. 16, 2007

We're in a so-called "War on Terror". Would it make sense that, IF we were really in a "War on Terror" it would be a good thing to be aware that we are? If we are simply moving on with our lives, making a living, sending our kids to college and putting money on the table, isn't that behaving like the "War on Terror" isn't there?

And IF we're truly in a "War on Terror", why isn't our priority to go after terrorists like Osama bed Linen? What are we doing in Iraq, a place where there weren't any terrorists ... until we got there? Why don't we have more troops in Afghanistan where there are terrorists and fewer in Iraq where there weren't any?

The logic of all this obviously escapes me.

Friday, February 16, 2007

Quilters Paradise

While I make pictures ... or try to ... or try to write something witty for the day ... or find something someone else wrote that catches my imagination, Candy makes quilts. It think it's probably a more direct and visceral experience than the kinds of things in which I indulge.

The Quilter

Can you find the pool table in the picture above?

Mark Twain on Religion

Man is a Religious Animal. He is the only Religious Animal. He is the only animal that has the True Religion -- several of them. He is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat if his theology isn't straight.
I am quite sure now that often, very often, in matters concerning religion and politics a man's reasoning powers are not above the monkey's.
If Christ were here there is one thing he would not be -- a Christian.
The church is always trying to get other people to reform, it might not be a bad idea to reform itself a little, by way of example
I cannot see how a man of any large degree of humorous perception can ever be religious -- unless he purposely shut the eyes of his mind & keep them shut by force.
Irrevence is another person's disrespect to your god; there isn't any word that tells what your disrespect to his god is.
Concentration of power in a political machine is bad; and an Established Church is only a political machine; it was invented for that; it is nursed, cradled, preserved for that; it is an enemy to human liberty, and does no good which it could not better do in a split-up and scattered condition.
I purpose publishing these Letters here in the world before I return to you. Two editions. One, unedited, for Bible readers and their children; the other, expurgated, for persons of refinement
Blasphemy? No, it is not blasphemy. If God is as vast as that, he is above blasphemy; if he is as little as that, He is beneath it.
It was not that Adam ate the apple for the apple's sake, but because it was forbidden. It would have been better for us -- oh infinitely better for us -- if the serpent had been forbidden
Surely the ass who invented the first religion ought to be the first ass damned
We have to keep our God placated with prayer, and even then we are never sure of him -- how much higher and finer is the Indian's God...Our illogical God is all-powerful in name, but impotent in fact; the Great Spirit is not all-powerful, but does the very best he can for his injun and does it free of charge
Conformity -- the natural instinct to passively yield to that vague something recognized as authority
I have never seen what to me seemed an atom of proof that there is a future life. And yet -- I am inclined to expect one.
I was dead for millions of years before I was born and it never inconvenienced me a bit.
Faith is believing something you know ain't true.
Religion consists in a set of things which the average man thinks he believes and wishes he was certain of.
Man is a marvelous curiosity...he thinks he is the Creator's pet...he even believes the Creator loves him; has passion for him; sits up nights to admire him; yes and watch over him and keep him out of trouble. He prays to him and thinks he listens. Isn't it a quaint idea.
It ain't the parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bothers me, it is the parts that I do understand.
In religion and politics people's beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination, from authorities who have not themselves examined the questions at issue but have taken them at second-hand from other non-examiners, whose opinions about them were not worth a brass farthing.
Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in
Man is kind enough when he is not excited by religion
To be a patriot, one had to say, and keep on saying, Our country, right or wrong, and urge on the little war. Have you not perceived that that phrase is an insult to the nation.
If you would beseech a blessing upon yourself, beware! lest without intent you invoke a curse upon a neighbor at the same time.
Our Congresses consist of Christians. In their private life they are true to every obligation of honor; yet in every session they violate them all, and do it without shame. Because honor to party is above honor to themselves.
Men are more compassionate/(nobler)/magnanimous/generous than God; for men forgive their dead, but God does not.
Dying man couldn't make up his mind which place to go to -- both have their advantages, heaven for the climate, hell for the company!
Well, no doubt it's a blessed thing to have an imagination that can always make you satisfied, no matter how you are fixed.
One of the proofs of the immortality of the soul is that myriads have believed it. They have also believed the world was flat.