Tag Archives: News

USA Today: “More U.S. troops battle foreclosure”

Posted on April 25, 2008 | 1 comment

Great. On top of fighting for our country, our soldiers have to worry about losing their homes. From the article: “The Army as a whole has seen an increase in soldiers and families seeking assistance for mortgage foreclosures,” says Army Lt. Col. Anne Edgecomb, an Army spokeswoman, citing data from branch legal offices trying to advise soldiers.

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VOTE REPUBLICAN

Posted on April 24, 2008 | Comments Off on VOTE REPUBLICAN


VOTE REPUBLICAN
Originally uploaded by S.D.
Over the Top?

The GOP really needs to vette their candidates better. From USA Today:

SOUTH BEND – Tony Zirkle, Republican candidate for 2nd District congressman, said he is willing to talk to any group that invites him, and that’s why he addressed a weekend gathering in Chicago of the American National Socialist Workers Party. The occasion was a celebration of the 119th anniversary of the birth of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

You can’t make this up! You can see what I think is a photo of him addressing the Nazi’s here. Wow…

The photo on the right is a political sticker I photographed in the Village. While I think the sticker is over the top, maybe Tony Zirkle can use it in his campaign?

Music I’m listening to right Now:
“Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley from the “St. Elsewhere” Album. Video here on VH1’s site.

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Posted in Current Issues, Different, News

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This has to be a Gag…

Posted on April 22, 2008 | Comments Off on This has to be a Gag…

File this under “They must be kidding…”

Seen on the news: “Obama’s Glider Diner Breakfast on eBay”

Apparently, someone grabbed Sen. Obama’s plate with the half eaten food on it.

Best part: The auction has “ALL PROCEEDS GO TO HILLARY FOR PRESIDENT!!!!”

It’s just weird. I bet Sen. Clinton’s campaign is thinking “Please Don’t!!!”.


Music I’m listening to right Now:
I Don’t Wanna Be In Love (Dance Floor Anthem) by Good Charlotte from the “Good Morning Revival” album.

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Posted in Different, News

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A Misleading headline?

Posted on April 19, 2008 | Comments Off on A Misleading headline?

WREG-TV in Memphis, Tennessee’s CBS television affiliate, is running a story labeled “Law Enforcement Crackdown on Terrorists“. Trouble is, other than the headline, it doesn’t look like “Terrorists” were actually arrested.  Methinks they are trying to go for Hype, not substance. Wouldn’t that be a first for a “News” outlet??

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Posted in Asides, Current Issues, Rants

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The BBC Asks: “Innocent photographer or terrorist?”

Posted on April 17, 2008 | Comments Off on The BBC Asks: “Innocent photographer or terrorist?”

Saw this on reddit.com: “Innocent photographer or terrorist?”

The article has some scary stories of people being harassed by the police for taking public photos. (You need a license for the camera in the UK?!?)

This is a growing trend in many countries as well as here in the US: Treating Photographers as “suspicious” for just snapping photos. To make life more entertaining, The Metropolitan Police in UK has launched a campaign that has a poster with the text:

“THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE TAKE PHOTOS EVERY DAY. WHAT IF ONE OF THEM SEEMS ODD?“

Wow, a great Question! But What defines “ODD”? Am I “Odd” for taking a photo of an obscure Box with a Cable in Times square?
How about this one in the Subway at 34th st??
Or my personal favorite The Brooklyn Bridge ate night?

Surely I was up to no good when taking that photo, right? That campaign poster will likely generate hundreds of calls just when tourists take photos of National Landmarks at night.

At what point does vigilance become outright paranoia? I don’t think harassing photographers is going to make us any more secure. Mind you, I’m all for the Police doing their job (BTW After getting stopped on the sidewalk by both the NYPD and the Secret Service, I have to say, both were Very polite and professional) , but encouraging the public to be suspicious of Photographers is foolish.

Here in NYC, we have the “If You See Something, Say Something” program. I wonder when they’ll take the extra mile and encourage people to harass photographers such as myself?

Music I’m listening to right Now:
“Suspicious Minds” by Fine Young Cannibals from the “Fine Young Cannibals” Album. Seems appropriate.

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Posted in Current Issues, Different, Images

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“No videos on flickr!”?

Posted on April 10, 2008 | Comments Off on “No videos on flickr!”?


No videos on flickr!
Originally uploaded by AlbySpace

Seems to be a big issue to many people, but I’m not convinced that it is something to ditch flickr over. Other than expanding the potential user base, I’m not sure this is really a good idea for flickr as it is a Photography site, not a video site. At this time, the videos are limited to 90 seconds. While this may help stop copyright issues, I’m not looking forward to people adding videos to the groups I use.

I use flickr as a great site for Photography where I’ve met some great people and gotten lots of tips. Why would yahoo want to risk alienating an established user base?

Does flickr really want to become “YouTube”?? I hope not.

Nice image made by AlbySpace.

Update: Naturally, there is a flickr group or two. IMO, this is getting a little ridiculous, especially some of the threads being discussed.

Update: UGH. Someone made a domain called www.no-video-on-flickr.com
(sigh) This has officially become absurd.

Music I’m listening to right Now:
Nothing at the moment.

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Posted in Different, Rants

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Overheard in the supermarket…

Posted on March 24, 2008 | Comments Off on Overheard in the supermarket…

amd_obamabarack.jpgSunday I was in the supermarket and overheard this from a worker there:

“If Obama is the President, OSAMA will be the Vice President!“

This is one of the things I’m afraid of: people believing the misinformation that exists about Sen. Obama. Even some my co-workers, people who read the news paper, thought Sen. Obama is Islamic (he’s actually a Christian) and would not vote for him on that basis alone.

After 8 years of stunning incompetence, a disregard for the law, and various other things, Sen. John McCain may win due to misinformation put out by the GOP and their allies.

Music I’m listening to right Now:
“Won’t Go Home Without You” by Maroon 5 from the “It Won’t Be Soon Before Long” Album. You can see the video here.

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Glen Greenwald nails it again

Posted on March 22, 2008 | Comments Off on Glen Greenwald nails it again

Don’t know how I missed it when he wrote it but Glenn Greenwald once again wriote a great post about the state of affairs in politics. This time, his post “Some hateful, radical ministers — white evangelicals — are acceptable” approaches the odd dichotomy of Sen. Obama’s minister friend being bad while Sen. McCain’s minister friend is apparently acceptable. Good reading.

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Dept. of Homeland Security Outsourcing Law Enforcement??

Posted on March 19, 2008 | Comments Off on Dept. of Homeland Security Outsourcing Law Enforcement??

Dept. of Homeland Security LogoIMO, This is more evidence that the GW Bush Administration does not really care about Security.

From USA Today (emphasis is mine):

WASHINGTON – Airlines are protesting a government plan that would require them to take fingerprints of foreign travelers as they fly out of the USA, saying it could create massive lines at airport check-in counters.
(snip)
The Homeland Security Department, which currently fingerprints foreigners coming into U.S. airports, wants airlines to be responsible for taking fingerprints as these travelers leave.

Follow that logic: The Department of Homeland Security is so concerned about Security, that they want the Airlines to do part of their job.

Ignoring the privacy issues here (Anyone happy with a Corporation storing travelers Finger Prints?!?): How serious are they if they seek to outsource it? Wasn’t this kind of thinking one of the problems that lead to 9/11??

I’m not sure fingerprinting will solve any problems, but if it does why would DHS want to outsourced?

Music I’m listening to right Now:
“Rescue” by Eve 6 from the Horrorscope Album.

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Keith Olbermann Special Comment

Posted on March 15, 2008 | 1 comment

[pageview src=”//www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/23601329#23601329″ frameborder=”0″ height=”339″ scrolling=”no” width=”100%”]

Many people assume that since GW Bush is a frequent target of Keith Olbermann’s Special Comment that he’ll ignore anything other people say. Quite frankly, this is not the case as he demonstrated on his March 12th show. I read about it at the Huffington Post (transcript) and have to say: He nails the issues perfectly.

I know Sen. Clinton wants to be the next president, but the actions Mr. Olbermann calls her out on make me wonder if she should be the next president. After 8 years of incompetence in the GW Bush adminstration, A democrat getting elected should be a no brainer, but the way this is playing out makes me wonder.

If the Democratic Party blows it, Sen. John McCain seems to be running a campaign where he’ll act as the Third Term of GW Bush. Frankly, that would be a disaster for the United States as we’re in horrible shape now and can’t continue in the direction we’ve been going in. The Right Wing policies of the GOP just aren’t working (Unless your Bear Stearns of course…) and The Democratic Party, while holding a majority in the House and Senate, can’t seem to develop the backbone needed to change the path we’re on.

BTW: The IFRAME above was done via a slightly modified PageView plugin. I liked the plugin so I modified it for my own nefarious purpose.

Music I’m listening to right Now:
“The Way I Am” by Ingrid Michaelson from the “Girls and Boys” album. You can see the video here on VH1.com’s site.

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