Umm. Irradiated Vegetables.

Untitled

Spring Afternoon

When it finally arrives, there ain't nothing like spring in central PA.
McAlevys Fort, Huntingdon County Pennsylvania, USA. April 2006.

Saluting the Monster

Journal Entry 4/23/01

Winter Morning

Some days you're better off staying in bed.
Up here there are winter mornings with temps near zero,
and you leave the house in the dark and come home in the dark.
Spousal beatings appear on police blotters; whiskey sales remain brisk.

Maine coast. USA. January, 2008

Running the Numbers--Chris Jordan Photography

Photo: ©Chris Jordan Photographic Arts
This has been out there for a while, so you may have already seen it. It's an artist's attempt to provide a visual representation of the massive quantities of material we consume: paper, cans, cars, plastic cups, etc.--as well as other astonishing numerical facts about our society. It's quite amazing. Please pass it on to others, especially to kids, who love this kind of thing and get it right away. Click here for Chris Jordan Photography.com

Pretty Little Flags

Pray With Us: Ogunquit, Maine. USA. July 2005

Paging Dr. Death

Atlantic Sunrise. Feb. 2008.

Coalition of the Unwilling

Washington Post
Sunday, March 23, 2008
U.S. Pushed Allies on Iraq, Diplomat Writes
Chilean Envoy to U.N. Recounts Threats of Retaliation in Run-Up to Invasion
By Colum Lynch
Washington Post Staff Writer

UNITED NATIONS -- In the months leading up to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the Bush administration threatened trade reprisals against friendly countries who withheld their support, spied on its allies, and pressed for the recall of U.N. envoys that resisted U.S. pressure to endorse the war, according to an upcoming book by a top Chilean diplomat.
The rough-and-tumble diplomatic strategy has generated lasting "bitterness" and "deep mistrust" in Washington's relations with allies in Europe, Latin America and elsewhere, Heraldo Muñoz, Chile's ambassador to the United Nations, writes in his book "A Solitary War: A Diplomat's Chronicle of the Iraq War and Its Lessons," set for publication next month.
"In the aftermath of the invasion, allies loyal to the United States were rejected, mocked and even punished" for their refusal to back a U.N. resolution authorizing military action against Saddam Hussein's government, Muñoz writes.
But the tough talk dissipated as the war situation worsened, and President Bush came to reach out to many of the same allies that he had spurned. Muñoz account suggests that the U.S. strategy backfired in Latin America, damaging the administration's standing in a region that has long been dubious of U.S. military intervention.
The whole story

Gladstone

Guard at MOMA. NY, NY. Feb 2007.

Eliana Sanchez

Eliana Sanchez awoke one morning to someone whispering in her ear: “Open your heart, dear. Open your heart.” Startled and curious, she opened her eyes expecting to see the bearer of this unsolicited advice, but found only the darkness of her bedroom. “My goodness,” she muttered. “It’s the middle of the night.” A glance at the glowing face of the clock on her nightstand confirmed it: 3:17! Never one for nocturnal angst and its exhaustive tossings and turnings, Eliana decided she’d been dreaming. She felt carefully for Caroline, her companion of twenty-seven years, and immediately located the familiar bony elbow a few inches from her face. Reassured, she rolled onto her side and drifted back to slumberland. “Open your heart,” she mused. “That’s funny. I hope it doesn’t mean surgery.”
Photo: Pug-nacious pups stand their ground. NY, NY. August 2005.

Guatemala Kids

Davíd and Juan, orphans at Casa Guatemala.
Rio Dulce, Guatemala. January 2006.

A Bleeding Heart

Today the war enters its 6th year. I want to express my personal sorrow for the fact that the war continues, for the devastation wrought upon the people of Iraq and their homeland, for the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi dead and maimed, for the masses of refugees and homeless, for the loss of nearly 4000 American soldiers, for the thousands of G.I.’s wounded—many irrecoverably, and for the Iraqi and American families who bear the brunt of the suffering. The amount of anguish and destruction resulting from this violence is difficult to fathom anymore. As the war continues, more and more of us, because we feel powerless against it, are choosing simply to ignore it—whether we originally believed it was necessary or not. But the effects of unabated violence can’t be ignored. Damage we do to life and to the earth that sustains it is damage we do to ourselves. It takes a toll on us psychologically and emotionally, whether we’re willing to admit it or not. We will not begin to recover from this trauma and its attendant grief until we’re able to put our irrational fears aside, stand together, and say: “No more.”

Photos: American Eagle. San Diego, CA, USA. January 2008.
Peace march. Kennebunkport, Maine. USA. July 2007.

Tattered Earth

Composite: : Tattered Earth. November, 2007.

Twiddle Your Way to Total Happiness

Photo: Dave's stitched thumb. 2006. Exact date unknown.

Killing Time

Photo: Winter Roofers. Maine, USA. January 2008.

China off worst human rights offender list

You might have missed this. I did.
WASHINGTON, March 11 2008 (UPI) -- China, despite its still-dismal human rights record, has been removed from the U.S. worst offender list, the State Department said.
The department Tuesday released its annual Report on Human Rights, which reviewed the human rights situation in 190 countries during 2007.
Top offenders are North Korea, Iran, Syria, Myanmar, Zimbabwe, Cuba, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Eritrea and Sudan, reported Ya Libnan, a Lebanese media outlet.
"Countries in which power was concentrated in the hands of unaccountable rulers remained the world's most systematic human rights violators," the report said.
China moved out of the Top 10, despite information that 'its human rights record remains poor," because it is listed in a section dealing with authoritarian countries undergoing economic reform "where the democratic political reform has not kept pace, and that is a completely accurate assessment," said Johnathan Farrar, assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor.

From other news reports: China just recently broke up a second day of peaceful protest marching by 500-600 monks in Tibet with tear gas and arrests. Today saw a third day of growing protests and in response the Chinese military has sealed off monasteries, reports say that these have been the largest protests in nearly two decades. These protests marked the 49th anniversary of an uprising of against Chinese rule.
Photo: Plane Tree Seed Pods. N.J. USA. 2004.

Order your hangers now!

I wanted to get this out ASAP. The economy's going south and I know your money's in short supply. So if you need two or three thousand clothes hangers, you'd better buy them now.

Smart Car

The Smart Fortwo became available for purchase in the United States in January. Models available are the smart fortwo pure coupe (entry-level), the smart fortwo passion coupe (well-equipped) and the smart fortwo passion cabriolet (convertible). Cost $12K and up. Mileage: 40/45.
Info: Smart Car USA
Photo: Smartcars. Rome. June 2007.

In the Bedroom

To Cast the First Stone

I try not to comment too often on news stories, but sometimes the issue is so compelling I can’t resist. The precipitous demise of NY Governor Eliot Spitzer is a case in point. While I find his actions lamentable, I still feel for the man. To be in a position of such power, to be an admired husband and father, to be widely respected for one’s moral strength--and then to risk and lose so much for so little, is remarkably tragic—and remarkably human. If a man of such accomplishment and presumed strength of character can so quickly bring himself to naught, what should we lesser mortals expect of ourselves? It’s easy to condemn the guy, to find his behavior contemptible, to laugh at the irony of his crime in the face of his notorious self-righteousness, but I ask this: Is there a person out there (of the three or four who read this blog) who has never done a bad thing? Don’t we all have a skeleton or two in our closet that if discovered would cause us no small amount of embarrassment, humiliation and shame? C’mon, fess up. I know, Spitzer’s a leader, a parent, a former lawman, a role model to young people, etc., and as such his sins loom preternaturally large. But he’s human, like you and me. Does he have any more responsibility to do the right thing than we have? Let’s face it—he’s going to pay in more ways than we can name, and he’ll be paying for the rest of his life. If he’s done what he’s accused of, he’s got a burden to bear that would cripple the best of us. So put yourself in his shoes and walk a mile or two. You may find you can forgive him a little, and maybe you can forgive yourself, too.

Bye-bye Birdie

Don’t throw it all away;
instead, let it drift away, piecemeal.
Bid each thing its proper adieu;
thank it first for its service,
then for its departure.

Photo: Cyclops Twice. June 2007.

Half-life

Beach rose: Maine, USA. September, 2006
Sidewalk graffiti: San Francisco, USA. August, 2007

Arnold Wises Up

Phot0: Thanks to The Friendly Toast, Portsmouth, NH.

VT Sunrise

it da blu she sed
no it da mauv i sed
mauv wat mauv
uh, da pink
Marshfield, Vermont. September, 2007

Cold Surfin'

I'm a little late posting today. I was down the beach hangin ten and trying to get a good picture at the same time.
Crescent Beach, Maine USA. November, 2006.

Ghost Flight

Logan Airport. Boston, Massachusetts. USA. December, 2007.

The $2 Trillion Nightmare

Click photo to find out why the bank's closed.
Photo: Hoboken, NJ USA. September, 1978

the coat in the closet

Photo: My father's hands. September 2005.

A Regular Conundrum?

Ah, those were the days. Surrounded by reprobates and weasels. Now everyone I know is virtuous and upstanding.
Photo: Shot glass & journal--Managua, Nicaragua. July, 1983.

3 Weeks Til Spring

Of course, around here spring shows up around June 1st.
Photo: Swamp Maple. Maine, USA. June 2007.