The Corporatocracy

 

Democracy was a great idea. Still is, when it works. Sadly, this country’s system of government has evolved into something else entirely.

“May the best man (or woman) win” has become “May the most money win”.

The end result is a paralyzed government controlled exclusively by special interests with vast amounts of money to spend in support of candidates who will do their bidding. The uncontrolled virus of “fracking” is a good example. The media are not without fault here. Fracking was news for a brief while, then it just went away, relegated to the back burner of obscurity in favor of much more important issues like the Jodie Arias trial.

The most obvious answer is campaign finance reform. Real, meaningful reform, that will take the government out of the hands of the best-funded and put it back into the hands of the people where it belongs.

We need draconian limits on campaign spending and special interest/corporate donations. In fact, I would not be against the elimination of all donations from PACS, corporations, and wealthy individuals. As far as campaign spending, one needs to look no further than the most recent elections. I don’t have the figures at hand right now, but it’s a situation that’s spiraling out of control.

Campaign finance reform could take the government away from big corporate money and give it back to the country. That way, maybe we could focus on issues like human dignity, the environment, fiscal responsibility, health care, alternate energy research, little things like that.

Instead of everything being about that f**king dollar bill and how a privileged few can amass more of them.

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Henry Moore chops down a tree.

For the love of light.

As we were hiking today I started paying attention, as I always do, to the interplay of light and dark as the sunlight filters through the trees. It’s nothing spectacular like dramatic sunsets, raging seas, or beautiful unusual animals. It’s just something I enjoy seeing. And sometimes shooting. Here are a few… no vignettes, Photoshopping or anything like that, just nature being capricious moment by moment.

The first shot is a little unusual, though, since Hannah led me to it by just walking a few yards off the trail all of a sudden, as if she knew it was there. Obviously there was a human hand involved in the design at some point, but the sunlight did the rest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And just for a little variety, one vertical:

Exploding Head

Another in the Tribal Suicide series.

Silly Fun

As a former serious photographer, I suppose I should hate this. But for $7 in the app store, it’s a big ol’ bundle of fun. Pop Dot Comix, if you’re interested.

Moving to NYC with an MGB inside an 18 foot U-Haul

Many years ago, when I married my second wife, we moved to New York so she could attend the school of Visual Arts. I wanted to keep my MG (not a good idea in the city, but that’s another story). So we found a cattle ramp in Roanoke county, backed the truck up to it, and drove the MG right in. Then we went home and loaded everything else.

Unfortunately, I didn’t put a lot of thought into the “unloading” part of the process.

We had rented a 4th floor walkup on East 24th St. As I was trying to navigate the 18 footer down the narrow street, some helpful neighbor came out and started giving me directional signals, until he helpfully helped me rip the bumper off a car parked right across the street from our apartment.

He told me his cousin owned a body shop, and could fix the bumper for $300. I told him I had insurance, and to call the police.

“No, you don’t want the police. Let me call my cousin again. Ah, he can do it for $250.”

“Forget it, call the police, I have insurance but I don’t have $250.”

This went on for hours, as my wife and I took a piece of furniture off the truck, locked the truck, carried the furniture up 4 flights, came back to the truck, unlocked it, dragged out another piece, locked the truck, etc. At one point during the moving/negotiation process, my helpful neighbor looked at the lock on the truck, laughed, and said “You are in the Big Apple now, my friend.”

Finally the truck was empty except for the MG. This astonished my helpful neighbor, who by now had agreed to accept $20 for damages to the bumper, to be paid $10 now and $10 some other time.

Then came the unexpected challenge of driving an 18 foot truck all over Manhattan trying to find a way to unload the damn car. Almost every place I tried, I was told how much money I could make if I had the truck for a week, although no one specified exactly how. I finally found some guys at a loading dock who let me do it for $20.

It was a long, hard, frustrating and funny 2-day introduction to life in New York.

BTW, the second $10 was never mentioned again.

 

 

Tribal Suicide for Sunday

 

After I finished this piece, I did some research and found that a grid or checkerboard pattern on African masks is symbolic of male/female duality. When I applied the overall large grid to this, I was thinking more in terms of direction… toward or away from life, direction in life, etc. The notion of the collective unconscious is truly fascinating. This is another of my favorites.

More Tribal Suicide

I wish I had given these each a name so I could keep track of what I’m posting. So far so good though, I think. Some gold and silver leaf on this one. The typography is a bunch of health insurance communication/information.

 

Roots

I’ve never really been a nature photographer, but I’m starting to like it more and more. It can be so revealing, like this tree, by golly, finding a way to survive and thrive.

Today’s Color

Most of these were from a neighborhood bike ride, except for an obvious few.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are more, but I’d be amazed if anyone has scrolled this far. Kind of a fun self assignment and a good excuse to go bike riding. Maybe I’ll make this a weekly thing.