the art of writing is discovering what you believe
I took my Frankenkamera out today to see what it could do. Raining, about 40 degrees, dark overcast: perfect đŸ˜‰
I bought some new film, to minimize the variables, but in a moment of weakness fell prey to some Kodak B&W C41 film, rather than the simple color film I had in mind. I planned to use color for no other reason that choice: I figured there would be more options. However, there were not as many as I hoped and there was something appealing about monochrome film.
If, as the saying goes, “once is accident, twice is coincidence, thrice is enemy action“, what does four times make? A pathological condition?
Our Long National Nightmare Continues:
Roughly speaking, there have been four great showdowns over abuse of executive power in modern U.S. history. The earliest has to do with domestic surveillance by the CIA, and other ill-conceived schemes, as revealed by the 1975 Church Committee hearings. The second, closely overlapping the first, involved all the excesses of the Nixon administration, including Watergate itself, the “Plumbers,” the secret bombing of Cambodia, Kissinger”s wiretapping of staffers, etc. The third, the Iran-Contra scandal in the Reagan Administration, seems quaint compared to the fourth, the Bush administration”s NSA domestic surveillance program, and the broader assertion of executive authority to torture and otherwise ignore international law.
These episodes have certain themes in common. Yes, one of them is that they were all hatched in the first term of Republican presidencies and revealed only after reelection, but that’s not the answer I’m looking for.
All four attempted power-grabs can be laid at the feet of one party and all were part of the incumbent’s agenda going into office (how else to explain how all began in the first term?).
Who votes for these people? Saps who want a king? Wasn’t there a war about that?
A great rant on the rising tide of anti-social behavior in England. The whole thing is worth a read, for a few gems beyond the nut graf below.
George Monbiot » The Anti-Social Bastards in Our Midst:
But this is not, or not really, an article about speed, or cameras, or even cars. It is about the rise of the anti-social bastards who believe they should be allowed to do what they want, whenever they want, regardless of the consequences. I believe that while there are many reasons for the growth of individualism in the UK, the extreme libertarianism now beginning to take hold here begins on the road. When you drive, society becomes an obstacle. Pedestrians, bicycles, traffic calming, speed limits, the law: all become a nuisance to be wished away. The more you drive, the more bloody-minded and individualistic you become. The car is slowly turning us, like the Americans and the Australians, into a nation which recognises only the freedom to act, and not the freedom from the consequences of other people’s actions. We drive on the left in Britain, but we are being driven to the right.
I found the ideas, quoted from some crackpot columnist in the Times, that cyclists have no rights and should expect to deliberately run into, that walkers on private but legally accessible property should be deterred with land mines, or that anyone riding public transport at the age of 26 or older is a failure, to be mind-blowing. So much Olde Englande’s reputation of civility and tolerance, of forbearance and gentility.
Isn’t it interesting how that cocoon of metal brings out so much in people, how it empowers their inner bully while nurturing their inner coward? I’m reminded of Bill Cosby’s routine on the appeal of cocaine. He asked someone why they used it, and was told, “it intensifies your personality.” His rejoinder? “What if you’re an asshole?” So it is with the SUV.
I don’t have a lot of patience with so-called libertarianism: it always comes wrapped up nicely as a logical well-thought philosophy. But when it comes to things I care about — and that I think anyone who leaves their house regularly should care about — like schools, roads, public services, it always sounds like the old “socialize the risk, privatize the gain” strategy. Sell the schools off to private concerns, either outright or through some charter school fiddle, and see any accountability we ever had go up in smoke (who will these school bosses listen to? citizens or the investors?). Do we really want to set up private police forces?
Now playing: Definitely Maybe by Jeff Beck from the album “Beckology (Disc 2)” | Get it
Well, I decided to look into this and as luck would have it, some of what I needed came readily to hand.
Where this idea appeals to me is the ability to bridge the SLR experience I have with the stuff I want to learn, in a film format I can use. I found some old Ilford B&W film (Delta 100 and HP5, circa 1995) and if memory serves it was frozen until 2000 when we moved to Seattle and has been in the relatively constant 60 degree climes of my basement since then. If I burn a roll and it’s past the sell-by date, I’m not out much.
Now playing: Staralfur by Sigur RĂƒÂ³s from the album “Agaetis byrjun”
This is where it ended, when the word quota was met, though not the story, if there is one to be teased out of this jumbled skein to verbiage.
If you have read this far, thanks for your attention.
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