Thursday, July 31, 2008

Gitmo 12

Gitmo 12

Gitmo 12 (2008)

[Click on the image above to see the view with binoculars.]

A federal court that ruled against the Bush administration in a Guantánamo detainee case ridiculed Defense Department reasoning as nonsensical, likening it to a 19th century Lewis Carroll poem.
--Carol Rosenberg, Miami Herald, 6-30-08

They sought it with thimbles, they sought it with care;
They pursued it with forks and hope;
They threatened its life with a railway-share;
They charmed it with smiles and soap.

--Lewis Carroll, The Hunting of the Snark

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Image made initially with QuaSZ. Post-processed until habeas corpus was fully erased.

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Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Gitmo 3

Gitmo 3

Gitmo 3 (2008)

[Click on the image above to see the view with binoculars.]

Jane Mayer's new book, The Dark Side, reveals in greater detail the utter depravity of the Bush administration's official policy of torture. Mayer's long investigation makes clear that the tactics employed by the CIA on suspected al-Qaida terrorists do not exist in some grey area protected by the euphemism "enhanced interrogation techniques". They are unquestionably torture. It is all the more shocking then that John McCain, knowing all that he does about torture past and present, would sacrifice his considerable personal credibility and vote to preserve the CIA's ability to torture detainees.

[...]

...what Mayer's book makes clear is that waterboarding was only a small part of the CIA's torture programme. In fact, even detainees that were subjected to waterboarding did not think it was the worst technique they had to endure. That was reserved for stress positions. These were often employed differently but included being shackled to the ceiling of their cells, forcing all the weight of their body onto their shoulders as they were suspended upright for eight hours. One detainee was locked in a box half his size for hours at a time. Most of them were deprived of sleep and bombarded with loud music and noises for 24 hours.

There has always been a troubling level of indifference to these activities, because these are al-Qaida terrorists responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans. Rage and anger is understandable, but I hope people inclined toward this viewpoint appreciate that one of the principle divisions between us and our enemies is that we hold ourselves to a higher standard, we take our humanity more seriously and we intend to live up to our moral obligations. The United States should not torture prisoners in its captivity, no matter how grave their crimes.
--Ken Gude, The Guardian, 8-15-08

Mayer's book shows clearly the current American administration has committed war crimes. And the consequence? Nothing? Not even a Congressional reprimand?

Is this who we are now -- after almost eight long years -- and who we want to be?

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Image intially made with QuaSZ. Post-processed until I took the panties off its head.

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Thursday, July 24, 2008

Gitmo 2

Gitmo 2

Gitmo 2 (2008)

[Click on the image above to see the view with binoculars.]

Writing the forward to a Physicians for Human Rights study of 11 former detainees who were apparently tortured by US military personnel and later released, Army Maj. General Antonio Taguba (Ret.) writes that "there is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes. The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account."
--ABC News' Political Punch, 6-19-08

Note to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: Can we put The Hague back on the table?

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From a new series. Image initially made in QuaSZ. Post-processsed until it would tell me whatever I wanted to hear.

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Monday, July 14, 2008

She-Hulk Hits the Beach

She-Hulk Hits the Beach

She-Hulk Hits the Beach (2008)

[Click on the image above to see the view with binoculars.]

Busy with her choreographer
and jizzzz on the beach
Zapper breaks it
over Savage Bono. She's going to hit
someone. No complaints
with those bodybuilders and surfboards
but snap me a pic of her
in her one-piece. There's no
justice in any comic book. I hear
Costa Rican sand sifting
inside my iPod. Dab on sunscreen
that blocks tabloid culture.

Fan mob
hit. How compassionate
to flash the green. Impress
the locals.

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Image originally made with Fractal Zplot. Post-processed until it wanted to smash something. Text is half-found "Google poem" collaged together from search strings of she hulk hits the beach.

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Monday, July 07, 2008

Chastity Belt

Chastity Belt

Chastity Belt (2008)

[Click on the image above to see the view with binoculars.]

Locking item
that female wasp spiders
cannot prevent
made of high-grade
fashion.

No quarter
proves no better
than primitive tools
stumbling into a subculture
less high tech.

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Image initially made in QuaSZ. Post-processed until it could no longer reproduce. Text is a "Google poem" collaged from search strings of chastity belt.

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Friday, July 04, 2008

One Life Left

One Life Left

One Life Left (2008)

[Click the image above to see the view wirth binoculars.]

After lunch, and a half hour of reading, we piled into our clean car and drove to a playground at a nearby school. Some pent up energy needed to be released. I sat in the sun and soaked up the spring warmth. I also took many pictures of the children as they swarmed over the equipment. I noticed other children playing, with the ever vigiliant moms watching. I overheard a group of children around the ages of 5 to 9 playing and as they moved to a new jungle gym, one boy fell down and the girl called to the other two boys and said, “He only has one life left and he needs to get to the jungle gym!” If that isn’t straight out of a video or computer game, I don’t know anything. I chuckled to myself at how the times have changed. When we played dead in my childhood, we needed a fairy godmother or some such fantasy to resurrect ourselves.
--Allison Spence

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Something new. Image initially made with Sterling-ware. Post-processed until it landed on its feet.

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