Author: albert

This Washington Post story tells of the cost estimate increase for the levee reconstruction project in New Orleans. In order to meet federal standards, the new levees will cost triple the original estimate to $10B.

The news represents a shift for the administration; President Bush had pledged in the weeks after Hurricane Katrina to rebuild New Orleans “higher and better.” Now, some areas may lose out as they compete for levee protection. Powell’s announcement, in a conference call with reporters, prompted denunciations from state and local officials who said the federal government is reneging on promises to rebuild the entire region.

“This monumental miscalculation is an outrage,” said Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D). “This means that, just two months before hurricane season, the Corps of Engineers informs us they cannot ensure even the minimum safety of southeastern Louisiana. This is totally unacceptable.”

So, two months from the hurricane season, the residents of New Orleans — what’s left of them and those who have returned — will be left not high and dry, but low and most likely sopping wet and moldy.

Anyone want to do the math and see how many fortified levees we could build along the Gulf Coast with all that money being spent in Iraq?

New Orleans

Levee Reconstruction

On second thought, maybe harassment is too strong a word. I was accosted and chided perhaps. But completely without provocation this morning on my way to work. Let me preface the rest of this by saying that I am a freelance photographer and I go everywhere with my camera slung arcoss my body or with the strap wrapped around my wrist, index finger on the shutter release.

There I was in a half asleep daze at 34th St subway station here in Philly. I was just standing there staring off into the nothingness that is 34th St station when a SEPTA cop [transit cop] walks up to me and says something. I was half asleep, so I didn’t hear him so I turned to face him and said “What?” [paraphrased] He repeated, “You know you’re not allowed to take pictures down here” while pointing to my camera hung across my body. I woke up pretty quickly after he said that.

I said back that I wasn’t taking photos and that I wasn’t aware that there were any rules against taking photos down there. He replied that “Techinically, SEPTA is private property and that you need to contact the press/public relations department to get a permit to be able to shoot” to which I replied that I had read otherwise and that such a regulation has never been shown to me in print. His radio was squaking away and he repeated something and then walked away. Technically, the land is owned by the City of Philadelphia and leased to SEPTA, a public agency.

To the best of my knowledge, there are NO regulations as to whether or not one is allowed to take photos on the transit system, bus communter train, or subway. I know that in NYC, the city tried to get underground photography banned, but it never got that far after some incredible public outcry, but it seems as if the NYC Transit cops have been instructed to enforce the non-law. People have been taking photos on trains for decades. It’s part of the essence of street photography.

And we all know that this stupid “rule” is to “stop terrorism” – yeah, that fucking works. Riiiiight. Are people not allowed to take photos of the White House? How about the area which is now referred to Ground Zero, ever seen a photo of that place? And what about the Liberty Bell? The Washington Monument? Those are all likely terrorist targets right? Or so we’re lead to believe by Big Brother. The only place where I have seen posted signs are the NJ/NY tunnels and bridges. Good thing there aren’t plenty of freely available photos and films of those places anyway.

What a fucking crock of fucking bull fucking shit. Fuck off transit cops. The 1/100 of a percent of people you “catch” taking photos of the dirty, dingy, disgusting subway system is doing a bang up job in keeping our streets safe. And other transit cops have seen me taking photos and they have never had a problem with it. This guy made a judgement call on someone who wasn’t breaking the “rule” [which, as far as I know, is non-existant] he was trying to enforce.

I’m not blaming the transit cop for doing what he’s been told to do, hey anyone can be a terrorist, right? But jeez. I don’t see cops handing out tickets to every single person s/he sees jaywalking [unless you happen to be in Tempe, AZ where they do ticket every jaywalker they see].

And finally, I wasn’t taking photos when the transit cop approached me. I was standing there, half asleep, staring off into the tunnel. He presumed I was taking photos through my mind’s eye I guess; as an artists should be doing I presume. But I wasn’t. By that logic, he should’ve been going up to every single person down there who could have been taking photos with their mind’s eye. Maybe they have a photographic memory? Encylopedia Brown sure did. A human eye sees better than a camera lens in most cases [certainly better than the lens I have on my D70 today] and can pull more detail than your average digital camera’s sensor can take in. There may have been eight megapixel point and shoots with twelve time optical zoom cameras tucked in people’s pockets. It seems that over 75% of cellphones come with cameras these days, those dirty digitally connected terrorists should all be numbered, no?

If he didn’t start walking away, maybe I would’ve kept going back and forth with this guy. Demanded that he show me some kind of proof that taking photos is not allowed, especially if I was simply standing there not doing anything. It’s not like this is something obviously illegal like killing someone, everyone knows that’s wrong and illegal. Everytime I hear about people getting accosted about taking photos underground, it never involves any kind of proof, just a Big Brotherish mannerism that it’s wrong for one BULLSHIT reason or another.

And while I’m at it, Fuck Bush. Fuck Cheney. Fuck Rumsfeld. Fuck Rice. Fuck Wolfowitz. Fuck Powell. Blah, blah, blah. Stupid bullshit.

Anyone out there have their own runins with cops in regards to “illegal” photography or videography? Domestic and/or abroad? Have you seen people around you get harassed for such things?

Civil liberties

Police Harassment

National Security State

Homeland Security

The New Colossus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
by Emma Lazarus

Emma Lazarus

Paul Krugman

Immigration

I don’t think I ever read the full poem before, but after reading Paul Krugman’s latest, I thought I should.

Three weeks ago ~300K marched in the streets of Chicago in protest of HR 4437: Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005.

On April 10th, ten cities across the United States will take part in a National Day of Action on Immigrant Rights. Philadelphia, San Antonio, Chicago, Denver, Las Cruces, LA, Milwaukee, NYC, Tuscon and Washington and maybe more cities will hold rallies/marches. I’m thinking about taking a half day to make it out to take some photos of the events here in Philly.

But how relevant is that poem in 2006 and beyond? How relevant should it be? I think that a 700 mile long fence is a hasty and ill-advised “solution” if you could even call it that, but what to do? Krugman’s concluding thoughts:

Realistically, we’ll need to reduce the inflow of low-skill immigrants. Mainly that means better controls on illegal immigration. But the harsh anti-immigration legislation passed by the House, which has led to huge protests — legislation that would, among other things, make it a criminal act to provide an illegal immigrant with medical care — is simply immoral.

Meanwhile, Mr. Bush’s plan for a “guest worker” program is clearly designed by and for corporate interests, who’d love to have a low-wage work force that couldn’t vote. Not only is it deeply un-American; it does nothing to reduce the adverse effect of immigration on wages. And because guest workers would face the prospect of deportation after a few years, they would have no incentive to become integrated into our society.

What about a guest-worker program that includes a clearer route to citizenship? I’d still be careful. Whatever the bill’s intentions, it could all too easily end up having the same effect as the Bush plan in practice — that is, it could create a permanent underclass of disenfranchised workers.

We need to do something about immigration, and soon. But I’d rather see Congress fail to agree on anything this year than have it rush into ill-considered legislation that betrays our moral and democratic principles.

Man Eegee has a diary on the Senate debate on immigration reform.

Alexander Cockburn is one of my favorite columnists. He’s out there. He doesn’t mince words. I’ve been reading his stuff in The Nation for two years now as a subscriber [subscribe here!]. His latest “Beat the Devil” column titled Why There’s No Strategy to End This War takes a look at the Dems response to things like censure, the war in Iraq and little strategies from the leadership like this gem:

As reported in the Washington Times, Reid’s strategy memo advises: “Ensure that you have the proper U.S. and state flags at the event, and consider finding someone to sing the national anthem and lead the group in the Pledge of Allegiance at the start of the event.”

Read: flags and songs make Dems strong Americans right?

Cockburn continues on listing the responses of some of the movers within the Democratic leadership to Sen. Russ Feingold’s motion for censure.

Barack Obama of Illinois: “I haven’t read it.”

John Kerry of Massachusetts: “I really can’t [comment] right now.”

Hillary Clinton of New York rushed past reporters shaking her head, then trying to hide behind the 4’11” Barbara Mikulski.

Charles Schumer of New York, who would normally run over his grandmother to get to a microphone: “I’m not going to comment.”

Chris Dodd of Connecticut: “Most of us feel at best it’s premature. I don’t think anyone can say with any certainty at this juncture that what happened [the NSA’s eavesdropping] is illegal.”

And let me add that Bob Casey, who is the anointed from the top “Democratic” Senate candidate here in PA agrees with Dodd as noted in jpol’s diary. Progressive Dem Chuck Pennacchio [for whom I am volunteering many many hours a week] disagrees and stands with Sen. Feingold. As Sen. Pennacchio, he’d be on the floor with Sen. Feingold in support of his motion to censure.

The Cockburn essay is a good read. A good read if only to see your feelings on the printed page and not merely swirling around in your head. If you have problems accessing it via The Nation it’s also here via Counter Punch.

Sometimes it seems to me like we’re going to have to vote out the Dems that are there now and get in a new batch in order to remove the Republicans who are currently entrenched and festering within the three branches of government and the esteemed Fourth Estate still isn’t pulling its weight. The Washington Post hiring and not firing the likes of Ben Domenech [he resigned, and WaPo basically washed their hands of it] is not helping matters either.

Update [2006-3-24 13:53:8 by albert]: Domenech resigns [via Atrios]

So, the Washington Post may be guilty of hiring a bigoted plagarist to their staff. Their new blogger, Ben Domenech, who writes ‘Red America’ has been getting the under the microscope treatment this week. First off, there is no liberal blogger to ‘balance’ out the conservative ‘Red America’ – there is no ‘Blue America’ to be found I guess? It’s not like the WaPo is a liberal rag and that a liberal blogger wasn’t necessary as a counterweight.

I got an email from Media Matters today where they call for Domenech to be fired for his offensive remarks in regards to the late Mrs. Coretta Scott King, the Judiciary Branch, Andrew Sullivan needing a woman and killing black babies to reduce crime. Lovely eh? And this diary by urizon sheds some more light. But there’s more.

And now I read this post on MyDD by Scott Shields about Domenech plagarizing off of a book by P.J. O’Rourke for an op-ed piece without attribution.

Lovely.

I haven’t been keeping up with ‘Red America’ – anyone around here have any thoughts on the content over there?

Ben Domenech

Washington Post

I spent this past Saturday out volunteering with Chuck Pennacchio who is seeking the Democratic nomination for US Senate here in Pennsylvania. We met at about 7.30a in Philly and headed out for a seventeen hour day in Lancaster County, mostly in Lancaster city. I had a shitload of fun going to tons of events and meeting people on the ground out there. And I even got to meet our own jpol along the way.

We started out at Central Market, then it was off to Cafe Aroma Borealis for some lunch and an interview with the Sunday paper. After that it was time for the anti-war rally and march with about 700 activists. Following that, the town hall meeting where Chuck took the mic for a few minutes to thunderous applause. We then canvassed for a couple of hours with a registered Dems neighborhood walk list knocking on doors and dropping off literature as Chuck spoke to just about everyone who was home.

After a quick bite to eat at a sit-down deli, the final event of the night was a local Dem group’s St. Patrick’s Day Dinner Dance where we chatted it up for one more hour. Phew!

I’ve been volunteering with the campaign for many months now, but this was my first time on the road with Chuck for an entire day like this. Holy shit is it tiring. And at the same time rewarding. We passed out tons of brochures, bumper stickers and buttons. We passed out voter registration forms. We got lots of people to sign up to help out. It was great. There is a great progressive movement in the city of Lancaster revolting against the rest of the rather red county. I think just about everyone we met out there was very receptive to Chuck’s message.

There are longer descriptions with photos of the day’s events with each of the above links and I’ve created a flickr set of a larger set of photos from the day.

Getting involved is the way to go. If there’s someone who inspires you locally, I urge you to get involved in their campaign. There aren’t too many Progressives out there running with the help they need. It certainly doesn’t have to be spending seventeen hours on the road with her/him, but it can be as simple as sending off some letters to the editors of local publications and stuffing envelopes.

As South Dakota hurdles towards the anachronistic member of this union they want to be, the President of the Oglala Sioux tribe, Cecilia Fire Thunder, [a former nurse and healthcare giver] had this to say:

To me, it is now a question of sovereignty… I will personally establish a Planned Parenthood clinic on my own land which is within the boundaries of the Pine Ridge Reservation where the State of South Dakota has absolutely no jurisdiction.

Now that’s some leadership.

via Pesky’Apostrophe

Now, what will W do with this notion of a sovereign nation building a Planned Parenthood? Remember what he said about tribal sovereignty?

Question: What do you think tribal sovereignty means in the 21st century, and how do we resolve conflicts between tribes and the federal and the state governments?

President Bush: Tribal sovereignty means that; it’s sovereign. You’re a — you’ve been given sovereignty, and you’re viewed as a sovereign entity. And, therefore, the relationship between the federal government and tribes is one between sovereign entities. [what a fucking idiot]

***The Indians were not given their sovereignty. It was mostly taken away from them.

Update [2006-3-23 10:16:16 by albert]: Support President Fire Thunder’s vision [via Pesky’Apostrophe]:

If you want to mail donations to the reservation, you may do so at:

Oglala Sioux Tribe
ATTN: President Fire Thunder
P. O. Box 2070
Pine Ridge, SD 57770

OR: and this may be preferred, due to mail volume:

ATTN: PRESIDENT FIRE THUNDER
PO BOX 990
Martin, SD 57751

Enclose a letter voicing your support and explaining the purpose of the donation. Bear in mind, the Pine Ridge Res is not exactly dripping with disposeable income, so do consider donating funds directly to the tribe as well as specifically for this effort.

Make checks out to OST Planned Parenthood Cecelia Fire Thunder. This will ensure that the funds get routed properly.

And follow this link to send her an email of support.

sioux

abortion

south dakota

Or at least that’s what Rep. Bob Brady PA-01 thinks. I’ve shared on these pages my interest in politics and my quest to take more ownership of the politics that swirl around me here in Philadelphia. I decided to get involved at the lowest level and run for committeeperson [an explanation of why committeepeople matter and what the hell a committeeperson is for those who don’t know at my personal blog]. After all this, I was forwarded two letters from local party leadership calling people who want to get involved for the first time, like me, “outsiders” “polarize[rs]” and “republican[s]” [sic].

If I’m a Republican, well, I’ll eat my shorts. I’ve been a Democrat since I turned eighteen eight not so long years ago. I’ve voted accordingly. Read on for the letters and some more analysis.

First off, the two letters I was forwarded.

* * * * *

30th Ward Democratic Committee
2213 Naundain Street, Philadelphia, PA 19146
P xxx-xxx-xxxx F xxx-xxx-xxxx

Terry Gillen, Ward Leader
James Burks, Ward Chair

March 12, 2006

Dear Fellow Committeeperson:

I wanted to pass along a letter from the Chairman of our Democratic Party, Bob Brady. He is concerned that many committeeperson throughout the City are being challenged by outsiders who are trying to created division within the Democratic Party and within some of our wards and divisions. I personally believe that some of the people who are doing this are working hand in hand with the republican [sic] Party.

This week, some committeepeople may receive a notice that their petition is being challenged in court. If you receive this notice, let me assure you that Bob and I and the Democratic Party will go to court and fight to make sure that you can run for reelection. Democratic Party lawyers will argue your case for free in order to keep your name on the ballot. We will do this because we all need to stick together and fight these people who want to divide us.

Let me know as soon as soon as possible if you receive a legal challenge of if you believe that someone is trying to remove your name from the ballot.

If we stick together we can stay strong. We won’t play into the Republicans’ hands and allow anyone to divide us!

Regards,
signed
Terry Gillen

TG/
Enc.

* * * * *

The Democratic County Executive Committee of Philadelphia
Executive Offices: 1421 Walnut St
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19102
Telephone: 241-7800
Robert A. Brady
Charmian

Terry Gillen
2213 Naundain St
Philadelphia, PA 19146

March 8, 2006

Dear Terry,
It has come to my attention that there is an organized effort to file petitions to become a Democratic committee person in many wards in the city. It is clear that this effort has been started by forces that seek to polarize and destroy this party. I strongly urge you to oppose their efforts. I suggest that you immediately notify me at City Committee of the divisions where this has occurred. I will have the petition reviewed to determine if it is defective. If it is, I will assist you in filing a petition with the Common Pleas Court to have the person stricken from the ballot on behalf of your designated candidate in that division.

We are a family united. As your leader and friend, I will fight to make sure we remain united.

I will also prepare withdrawal slips for these individuals that filed and I will try to have them withdrawn.

Very truly yours,
signed
ROBERT A. BRADY, CHAIRMAN
Democratic County Executive
Committee of Philadelphia

# # # # #

This is not what I call a democratic process by any means.

Rep. Brady’s contacat info in PA: 1907-09 S. Broad Street Philadelphia, PA 19148 | Phone (215) 389-4627 | Fax (215) 389-4636 and his info in DC: 206 Cannon House Office Building Washington DC 20515 | Phone (202) 225-4731 | Fax (202) 225-0088.

Last I checked Philly for Change and Neighborhood Networks were not Republican groups. I am, however, a member of both outstanding groups. The Committee of Seventy is a non-partisan group. Those, to my knowledge, were the groups who were leading the push to get newbies involved in the process.

Now where is all this hostility coming from? Partly from party infighting at the top. The Philadelphia County Chairan is Brady. He’s currently duking it out with the head of the Electrician’s Union, the Local 98. The Local 98 kicked off a nationwide effort to get their members involved in local politics encouraging members to fill up the empty committeeperson seats across the country. Here in Philly, the Local 98 members filed. And they also filed for seats that were already occupied which would result in contested races, something Brady did not / does not want.

Committeepeople represent small Divisions. They vote for Ward Leaders who represent large groups of Divisions. The Ward Leaders in turn come together to vote for the County Chairman, currently Brady. So, groups of Divisions with newbie committeepeople could be less likely to vote for their Ward Leader. If Ward Leaders get ousted [a very very tough process that Chris Bowers from MyDD accomplished out in West Philly] then Brady could ultimately lose his seat as Chairman.

There are some 3600 committeeperson seats. The Philadelphia Inquirer estimates that around 100 people affiliated with various “polarizing” groups filed. I think the number is much higher. I hear that the Local 98 got 100+ by themselves. The Chairman is freaking out over an estimated 5% change in power at the lowest level and trying to quash the uprising.

I called into the Board of Elections on the 13th to see if my petition was A-okay and that I was on the ballot. I was told everything was okay and that I would indeed be on the ballot. I was later informed that I would have the third position on the ballot out of four. After receiving these letters, I called up the BoE this morning at 8a to double check. Before I could tell the lady my name, Ward and Division, she told me that she could not tell me whether or not I was on the ballot. Why? Because the petitions were in court and she would not know who was on and who was off until the petitions were delivered back to the BoE in City Hall later on in the week. This thing gets more fucked up with each hour it seems.

And what’s going on in the courthouse? Apparently, yesterday, it came to fisticuffs, well, more like a sucker punch. From the Daily News:

Lou Agre, Democratic leader of the 21st Ward in Roxborough, slugged attorney Ira Shrager, of Electricians’ Local 98, in the head outside a hearing room yesterday, witnesses said, leaving Shrager unconscious on the floor for several minutes.

Local politics in a dirty city at it’s worst. Philadelphia is notoriously famous for it’s dirty local politics and the very powerful Democratic machine. Now I’m experiencing it first hand.

And for some reason, this just makes me want to get involved even more. I don’t want to divide and polarize this party of mine. I want to hold it accountable.

committeeperson

machine politics

philadelphia

There were rallies across the United States and around the world over the weekend commemorating the third anniversary of this war. The Washington Post has a photo essay of shots here. But let’s get local for a sec. The shot at left is a panorama of Binn’s Park in downtown Lancaster, PA where I was at a rally/march with Senate candidate Chuck Pennacchio [and I got to meet jpol as well!]. An estimated 700 people marched through the state’s tenth largest city in this event organized locally by Lancaster Peace and Justice Coalition.

Sunday night I was back in Philadelphia for a candlelight vigil organized by United for Peace and Justice with about 150 people braving some serious cold and wind.

suskind recounts what went down in Sacramento. Cali Scribe shares a poem, ilona has a roundup of news outlets talking about the growing number of troops coming back with PTSD.

We are not alone. It is this administration that is out of line and out of touch, not the majority of Americans in big cities, farm towns, eCommunities and citizens of the rest of the world. What went down in your neck of the woods?

I mentioned in the One Year Anniversary Thread that I’d put up a photo diary of the photos I took down in Washington, DC during the March for Peace in September of 2005.

I took around 500 photos and made an initial edit down to 180 or so which are up in a flickr set, but I put up a much tighter edit onto my dedicated photoblog of fifteen shots that I thought were the best of the bunch.

There’s Cindy Sheehan and Rev. Jesse Jackson joining the march right in front of the Treasury building. I jsut happened to be right there when they joined the parade. More shots below.

A troupe of well organized and coreographed effigies.

The crowd within the Ellipse waiting to make their way out to join the parade. The Washington Monument standing tall in the background.

They chanted from the small bullhorn: “Show me what democracy looks like!” and the sea of activists chanted back “This is what democracy looks like!” This was at the first turn leaving the Ellipse and the start of the march to the White House.

That’s my friend and 1L Austin being interviewed by some organization [can’t for the life of me remember] with the masses behind him.

This is an old 45-star flag. There was a sign next to it which read: “1896-1912 45 Stars Before the “Pledge” was nationalized.

Three of the many guards all around the Treasury buliding. There were plenty of DC Metro out in full riot gear. These officers were behind a barricade and I guess didn’t need the gear.

On our way back from dinner [I think] to the Mall, me and my friends walked right towards the Washington Monument which looked so serene with so much open space in front of it.

Walking on the eastern side of the Washington Monument to get to the other side of the stage, we saw this poster.

People were dressed in the usual crazy outfits with puppets, paint and whatnot. I think this got the message across well.

Standing silently with her fingers outstretched for peace.

And some people came fully prepared for tear gas. I didn’t see anyone get gased and I don’t recall [6 months later] reports of gas being used.

One of my favs, Dr. Cornel West was in the house for the parade as well. I caught him in the media tent before the night concert.

My friend Brian Russell, a North Carolina activist and blogger at Audtio Activism watching Jello Biafra on stage [and in case you’re confused, the shot has Jello on the big screen to Brian’s left, he’s on stage to the right].

And Le Tigre closed out the night with a rocking set.