Observations from Amerika 12.2

It should come as no surprise that what follows occurred in the dark of night. I don't know how 93 US Senators, elected by the people of this nation, can look themselves in the face this morning. It boggles my mind how little media attention this whole thing has gotten.

Yesterday the Democratic controlled US Senate quietly passed the 680 page National Defense Authorization Act for 2012 (s.1867) by a vote of 93-7. Included in sections 1031 and 1032 of the bill is wording that for all purposes declares the whole of the United States, actually the whole world, a battle zone. As such the US Military could for the first time since the Civil War be allowed to detain United States Citizens within the US and hold them indefinitely without charge or trial. These same US citizens could conceivably face a military and not civil court. That is if they are given a trial at all. As it always seems today the purpose of the provisions is to make it easier to fight and prosecute terrorists but now it seems we are all suspect.

The sections are opposed by President Obama who promises he will veto the entire appropriations bill if they are included. Its is also opposed by the Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, FBI Director Robert Mueller, and many retired military leaders. Friday morning the White House said the veto threat still stands.

"The bill is an historic threat to American citizens and others because it expands and makes permanent the authority of the president to order the military to imprison without charge or trial American citizens," said Christopher Anders, ACLU senior legislative counsel. It should be noted that a compromise was reached in order to pass the bill. The compromise? It only includes US citizens “if we want it too.” One can only wonder what any future President Dick Cheney would think of that.

It all reminds me of a quote....

“For once Benjamin consented to break his rule, and he read out to her what was written on the wall. There was nothing there now except a single Commandment. It ran: All Animals Are Equal But Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others.”

George Orwell, Animal Farm

notes:
Those voting against the bill were Senators Tom Coburn (R-OK), Tom Harkin (D-IA), Mike Lee (R-UT), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Rand Paul (R-KY), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Ron Wyyden (D-OR).

update - To clarify what "if we want it to" means.
A compromise amendment was passed which just pushes the entire matter down the road. The compromise simply leaves it to the Supreme Court to decide should some future president decide to assert the authority the bill specifically authorizes him to do. Our current crop of politicians can't even seem to get taking away our freedom right.

Observations from the Edge 11.30

One would think the chances of me posting anything about Miley Cyrus would be about as good as the temperature hitting 70° in the Village during the last days of November. Well that day seems to have arrived. "It's a Liberty Walk" is a song and video released by Cyrus in support of Occupy Wall Street. Some might say she did it to reclaim some of her time in the limelight but I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt for multiple reasons. Cyrus herself appears nowhere in the video, something you could never say about Madonna, and the video contains scenes that in no way endear her to her former employers at Disney.

Just remember that nowhere here did I say I liked the song but you just have to support the admitted pot smoker and now occupier Miley Cyrus.

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Observations from the Edge 11.29

I rarely reprint anything here but this is something I wanted to share. What follows was written as an open letter to police by Quinn Norton who is on an extended assignment covering the Occupy protests and Anonymous for Wired magazine. You can read her introduction to the project here. It was published yesterday as both Occupy L.A. and Occupy Philly awaited eviction.

"Dear Police, upon the occasion of the eviction of Occupy Philadelphia and Occupy LA:

It is not my place to say whether what you are about to do is right or wrong, and it doesn’t matter what I believe either way. You are going to evict this occupation, and all the resistance this ragtag band of sleep-deprived community organizers, volunteers, and chronically homeless could put up might, at best, delay you by a matter of hours. You, the occupiers, and we in the media: we all know these conflicts can only have one outcome.

What I am asking you to change is your demeanor. I have seen you be confrontational, frivolous, spiteful, insulting, self-righteous, and even at times, solemn.

There is something I’d like you to know about what you’re about to do. You don’t know these occupys like I do. This isn’t your fault; you can’t. You’re largely not welcome in many of them, because we all know what you will eventually do to them. Even if you’ve visited, you have to hold yourself distant from their story, even as I immerse myself in it. You’d no more want to hang out and get to the know the camps the way I have than you’d want to cuddle and name a calf that’s meant to be tomorrow’s veal dinner.

These camps, these collections of tarps and tents, are more than you see. They are the sweat and treasure of hundreds, sometimes thousands of people trying to learn how to take care of each other. The fucked-up kids, street kids and old homeless are as important as the community organizers and grad students.

They’ve all come to this place and tried to build a way to talk to and take care of each other, after giving up on a system they believe has failed them. This is what they’ve poured their hearts and their best thinking into. It may not be legal. It may, in your opinion and many others, not even be a good idea. But they’ve built a village. There are libraries and kitchens, places for women, places to provide shelter and clothing. There are even little temples here.

People have sanctified this space with their hope. It is imprinted with their lost nights, their spare money, their effort and their bodies. The places you see covered in plastic sheets and bric-a-brac are thick with memories: the echos of unguarded conversations, of commitments made, of love and struggle and compromise.

When you go in and wipe this place clean, and you will, what I ask is that you do it solemnly.

Do it with the gravity of the execution, not the frivolity of the easy triumph.

When people scream at you, think of them as the family members of the condemned, not as your enemies. Be, insofar as you can, gentle. Remember that when you are gone tomorrow and there is nothing left, these people will remain, not merely angry but emptied of effort. They will be hunting for friends lost in the fray, for scraps and bits of the life they built together. They will have lost their place to be in the world.

Remember that these people, whether misguided or not, stayed because they all found here something they needed. Some of them were listened to for the first time in their lives here; others found a place where people accepted them. A few were told hard truths about their own failings.

There are middle-class professional occupiers here who did something they believed in for the first time in many years. They’d lived outwardly successful but inwardly desperate lives, drained of the sense that anything they did could ever matter.

A few even came to prey on this place, but found something that mattered more than their own appetites for the first time. Almost none of them were good at being these new people, and it will show. I’m sorry for that. These people were weeks in on years-long journeys to be new.

Be merciful in the execution of your orders. Respect, if not the thing built, the hearts behind the building."

Observations

No words necessary.... 

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Observations from the Coffee Shop 11.28

After a rather mellow holiday weekend with the family I was ready to stay mellow and write something about the end of the Penn State football season. However I have a few things that are irritating me, surprisingly all are coming out of DC, and all of them just drive home the point that those running this country are either totally out of touch with today's world or they just don't give a damn about it.

The first is the Stop Online Piracy Act, HR 3261 or SOPA, which would start the United States down the same road as China when it comes to censoring the internet. Sponsored by the Republican dominated Congress it is just a hand out to entertainment corporations that can't seem to find a way a legal way to make a profit in the 21st century. Forget that the latest installment of The Twilight Saga just had a worldwide weekend box office of almost half a billion dollars, the corporations need our help.

SOPA would give the Department of Justice and copyright holders a fast track to court orders shutting down websites accused of copyright infringement. It would bar internet advertising and payment sites from doing business with the accused pirate sites. Search engines would be barred from linking to the sites and service providers would be forced to block them. Another section of the bill would make unauthorized streaming of copyrighted media a felony.

A major force behind the bill is the Motion Picture Association of America which is using the tried and true fear tactic to push for passage. The MPAA claims that 2 million American jobs hang in the balance and need to be protected. MPAA congressional testimony is frequently quoted by the bills sponsors while testimony that for every job lost the internet creates 2.5 jobs is totally ignored.

Not at all surprising is the fact that a group that includes Google, Yahoo, and Amazon is leading the fight against SOPA. What is surprising is that Microsoft, long a proponent of stronger copyright laws, is also quietly fighting it. Opponents say the bill as written would overturn the provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act which allow warned websites to take down questionable material before further action is taken, the principals YouTube operates by.

A partial list of supporters of the bill includes the MPAA, the Recording Industry Association of America, NBCUniversal, Macmillan Publishers, Viacom, Comcast, the AFL-CIO, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and various other music, cable, and movie companies.

A partial list of opponents includes Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, AOL, eBay, the Brookings Institute, the ACLU, Human Rights Watch, the American Library Association, Reporters Without Borders, the Business Software Alliance, and TechAmerica which is a tech trade association with 1,200 member companies. Senator Ron Paul said SOPA would cause "an explosion of innovation killing lawsuits and litigation," thus costing not saving jobs. If passed as written the internet as we know it would cease to exist. Flickr, YouTube, and Vimeo would would probably shut down. Twitter would become virtually useless.

We might as well all learn Mandarin and get it over with.

If you want to voice your opposition to the bill click this link to StopCensorship.org and fill out the simple form. A letter will than be generated and sent to your representatives. Also Senator Ron Wyden will read your name from the House of Representatives floor during his flilibuster when and if it comes up for a vote.

Observations from the Window 11.28

"Morning Joe" on MSNBC is the only morning show I watch. I mean seriously where else does the conversation jump from the latest political news to the current Premier Soccer League standings? So this morning I pulled myself away from a Britney Spears takeover on Fuse to see what they were talking about and this is what I found. I can totally relate.

[useless embed] video

Well this is kind of a stupid post but I had it all posted with the video embedded than I saw that due to restrictions the embed doesn't work. Somebody explain to me why they have an embed link if you can't use it. What the..... MSNBC?

Observations from the Road 11.26

So another Thanksgiving dinner with the family is past and I survived yet again. My parents always had a big family dinner for Thanksgiving and my dad continued that tradition after my mom passed away. To understand the dynamics of our Thanksgiving dinner you have to understand a little something about my family. I grew up in a predominately religious conservative Republican area which most of central Pennsylvania is. My dad, however, is a left of center Democrat and my mom was probably as liberal as one can get. Throw in the arrogant radical lesbian daughter and you have quite a family. The problem is all my dad's brothers and most of their families are typical of the area, conservative Repubes. This small but very important item may be the reason wine has become a very important part of my Thanksgiving tradition. Over the years I have taken great pleasure in driving them totally insane.

As always conversations flowed from one wonderful subject to another. The Penn State mess, President Obama, the occupy movement, and why does that girl, wear black so much? That girl in the question would be me and it's a rather traditional holiday subject. Normally I just dive in and wind everybody up but I seemed to have another one of those maturing moments this year. I drank my wine, looked around, and just thought I'm right, they're wrong, and I'm never going to change their minds. It just didn't seem to be worth the dead brain cells anymore. Still I had some revenge, Lady Gaga in my kitchen and no country music anywhere in the house. People, even family, can push me only so far.

One thing I enjoyed more than I had any right to was lying under my brother's new jeep for an hour as I helped him take the running boards off it. I really don't get many opportunities to play with cars in the Village and I miss that sometimes.

My sis dragged me out of bed early to do some Black Friday shopping, girl has no respect at all for a hangover. We hit a lot of stores and shops but gave Walmart a wide berth because we didn't want to get caught up in any rioting, not that I would be caught dead in one of those stores anyway. I should have given Bath and Body Works the same treatment because when I left there I had a bag full with a whole new flavor for my bath, Black Raspberry Vanilla. Thing is I can't buy just the lotion, I have to have it all, lotion, body spray, and bubble bath. I'm going to smell absolutely yummy though.

As I write this Penn State is about to play Wisconsin in the final regular game of the year with the winner plating Michigan State next week in the first ever Big 10 championship game. For a change I'm going to watch the game with my dad and brother.

A belated Happy Thanksgiving everybody.

I'm Not Dead

I know this is just an ad but it's just gorgeous, or maybe it's just her. Either way I thought I would share it. After all the seriousness lately I just wanted to prove, well, I'm not dead.
 
Megan Fox for Emporio Armani Underwear & Jeans SS11 from F.TAPE on Vimeo.
Full length version of the SS11 Emporio Armani Underwear & Jeans campaign featuring Megan Fox shot by Mert & Marcus.

Observations on the Art Market

We had an interesting running conversation at the gallery yesterday. With the world's economy a wreck why is the art market still thriving? At their big sales earlier this month the three major auction houses, Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Phillips de Pury, sold a combined $633 million worth of art. Evidently that top 1% of the population with all the wealth has some cash to spare.

One thing we came up with was the popularity of a shadowy practice called 'third party guarantee' in which the auction house sells the work before the sale begins. This guarantee becomes the what eBay calls the reserve price, the price below which an item will not sell. There was a time auction houses guaranteed a minimum price themselves but after losing $200 million during their fall 2008 sales they increasingly looked to third parties for their guarantee. The first third party guarantee is thought to have occurred in 1999 when Sotheby’s found an investor who pledged $40 million for Pablo Picasso’s “Seated Woman in a Garden.” Guarantors also can make millions in financing fees so in effect they get the works at discounted prices.

With some looking I came up with a few names of dealers who provide guarantees. The list includes Acquavella Galleries owner Bill Acquavella, former Goldman Sachs partner Bob Mnuchin, and billionaire art dealers David Nahmad and Adam Lindemann. More ominous guarantors to those who would rather major works stay in public view are the Taiwanese Yageo Corporation and the Qatari royal family.

Very little is publicly known about these agreements other than the symbols Sotheby’s and Christie’s publish in their catalogues to distinguish between the lots guaranteed by themselves and those backed by third parties. The identity of the guarantors and the level of the amount of the guarantee remain a secret. Less well connected bidders have none of this information so start their bidding at a total disadvantage. Because of this many dealers think the guarantees simply distort the market and keep prices artificially and dangerously high. Also there is no clear way to tell what any given work is actually worth.  

With all the money involved I think the market would be much fairer and open if the auction houses just reported the real prices, disclosed the reserve prices, and named the third party guarantors as well. A level playing field would be better for everybody involved.

Maybe I'll just sit back and wait for the bubble to burst.

Observations from the Edge 11.21

I found this video on the AnonOps website and I just think it's a classic. The video was all filmed on November 15th during the OWS eviction from Zuccotti Park. Two not to miss moments are the tour bus at 2:19 and the NYPD checkpoint at 2:43 that I myself had a minor run in with that same day. The title of that blog post was "The Raid on Zuccotti Park by Frank Sinatra" and you'll understand as soon as you start watching.


the raid on zuccotti park from Casey Neistat on Vimeo.

"My office isn't far from Zuccotti Park and when I heard it was being cleared I went down with my camera. I ended up filming for 18 hours until the Park was reopened at 6pm on November 15, 2011. The police presence was overwhelming, more than I've ever seen - more than during the blackout, more than the days after September 11th."
Casey Neistat.

Neistat, a documentary film maker and artist based in New York City, spent 18 hours filming and than was one of the first to enter Zuccotti when it was reopened. You can see some of his other photos and videos on his blog here.

Observations from the Edge 11.20

Since the OWS protests began two months ago I have have looked at more photos and watched more videos than I care to remember. Over the past few days I have seen two videos I may never forget. Both are short and simple videos probably taken with a phone or personal cam yet both are stunning in their content Both are haunting in their own way.

In the first video Kayvan Sabehgi, a former marine who served three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, confronts riot police the night of Occupy Oakland's general strike and was recorded by artist and photographer Neil Rivas. "It was uncalled for. There were no curse words. He was telling them he was a war vet, a resident of Oakland, a business owner," Rivas said of the confrontation. Sabeehgi was beaten to the ground and suffered a ruptured spleen. In a way it is reminiscent of the Tienanmen Square tank man photo except in that confrontation the tank turned, it didn't drive over the man. As somebody commented on one of my flickr photos, these are the men hired to preserve and protect, the only question is who. This video just totally disgusts me.


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In the second video UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi leaves a meeting and walks through an utterly silent crowd of students. The meeting and press conference that followed were relating to the Friday incident in which seated students protesting in support of Occupy Berkley were pepper sprayed by UC Davis campus police, specifically Lt. John Pike, who said they felt surrounded and feared for their safety. Chancellor Katehi initially refused to leave the building and told the media she was being held hostage. The group of students formed a large gap and chanted “just go home” but for hours she refused to leave the building. The students only convinced Katehi to leave when they sat down and silently linked arms. This video was shot by Lee Fang, an investigative reporter and blogger.

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As I said before, welcome to George Orwell's America.

Observations on Art 11.18

A friend of mine sent me this video a couple days ago commenting that though she liked it but couldn't imagine working in a gallery like this. I think some earbuds and good tunes would take care of the sound but I don't even want to think about keeping the pieces clean. In all seriousness I'm glad she sent it to me because I really do like it. In the end I have to agree with her because I can't imagine working with installations like this either. After watching it a few times I realized it isn't the sound or the cleaning but the constant motion that would drive me totally insane.

Zimoun : Compilation Video V2.8 | Sound Sculptures & Installations from ZIMOUN on Vimeo.

"Using simple and functional components, Zimoun builds architecturally-minded platforms of sound. Exploring mechanical rhythm and flow in prepared systems, his installations incorporate commonplace industrial objects. In an obsessive display of curiously collected material, these works articulate a tension between the orderly patterns of Modernism and the chaotic forces of life. Carrying an emotional depth, the acoustic hum of natural phenomena blends effortlessly with electric reverberation in Zimoun's minimalist constructions." Bitforms NYC.

Observations from the Edge 11.15

My horoscope today said that I feel like I am in the eye of a hurricane right now and that isn't too far off. By this past Sunday I was so tired of seeing Penn State trashed I stopped watching the news and didn't go anywhere near twitter. Than I woke up this morning to the green light flashing on my Droid and was surprised to find that the NYPD had raided Liberty Square like thieves in the middle of the night, arrested over a hundred, and tore down all the tents. Once again they used the excuse of cleaning the camp for Brookfield Properties but this time there was no warning. Rather than spiraling it down even farther the news seems to have pulled me out of my funk for now.

I felt guilty for having slept through the eviction so I went down to Liberty Square to see what was left and found absolutely nothing. Everything was gone and replaced by about 50 of New York's finest leaning on the barricades that now held back nobody. All that was left of the encampment was a single middle aged man holding up a sign that read “re-occupy Wall Street.” I was taking some shots when I saw one of the cops walking towards me and thought better of adding to the morning's arrest tally so I moved on to Foley Square where I found maybe a hundred survivors of Bloomberg's raid.

At Foley I heard a rumor that the mayors of the occupied cities were working together to clear out the encampments. The idea being to flood the media with so many events no one city would take the a beating in the coverage. It didn't take much looking to see this might be true as Denver and Salt Lake City were cleared on November 12th, Portland on November 13th, Oakland on November 14th, and New York City today. Maybe it's all a coincidence and maybe it isn't. This rumor later morphed with a printed report that many of the raids were planned with the assistance of the Department of Homeland Security which quickly sparked a new hashtag, #PoliceState.

Mayor Bloomberg evidently thought he could get away with no coverage at all this time as reporters were held blocks away from Liberty where many were arrested and some beaten. One reporter for Mother Jones was told if he stayed in the park he could get hurt. This after he tried to photograph an injured protester being loaded into an ambulance. In the possibly the biggest crock of bull I have ever heard Mayor Bloomberg said the decision to clamp down on coverage was made to "protect the members of the press. We have to provide protection and we have done exactly that." Beating as protection, what a concept. Another tactic of questionable legality was the clearing of the airspace over Liberty during the raid, something NYPD has no authority to do.

Thanks to a court order OWS members are streaming back into Liberty Square as I finish this. It may however be a pyrrhic victory of sorts as the judge ruled OWS may be there but may not camp or set up tents in the park. As temperatures dip lower and lower at night I fear it's now only a matter of time.

In all likelihood the weather option has been his highness the Mayor's option of choice all along.

Observations on Penn State and JoePa

Just a small post here to put to rest for now this Penn State chapter of my writing. It really has consumed me for the past week, creating a roller coaster of emotions I need to get a grip on. I tend to take things personally and to see cable pundits and newspaper columnists suddenly discover Penn State for all the wrong reasons totally depressed me. For now I figure if the asshats can't see past this total tragedy to what is good about my school I shouldn't let it get to me. Their total loss.

I wanted to pass along a column Sean sent me yesterday. Titled "Joe Paterno's Code - Reckoning with the Penn State betrayal" it was written for Esquire by Chris Raymond who is a former editor of The Daily Collegian, the Penn State student published newspaper. It is the one thing I have read that sounded somewhat how i feel, how a lot of us alumni feel. Really the final line says it all....

"In the meantime, we will rebuild on the scorched earth of Happy Valley, and I will abide by this simple truth: If the Paterno way is discarded along with Paterno, then this tragedy will have been miserably, terribly compounded."