The Anthony Weiner scandal: Democrats shooting themselves in the foot

Anthony Weiner

On May 27th Anthony Weiner sent a tweet with a picture of his crotch to a 21-year-old Washington woman who had been following him on Twitter. He removed the picture soon after. A blogger and Co-Author of Hollywood, Interrupted  Andrew Breitbart released the pictures Weiner had sent, which started the media circus that followed.Weiner, who is married to Huma Abedin, tried to cover up what he had done by insisting to the press that he believed his account had been hacked. He insisted he would have the matter investigated. Hoping all his problems would disappear, Weiner told the media he would not discuss the matter any longer. That’s tactic didn’t work and more pictures were released. It was found that Weiner had being sending questionable photos of himself to women on twitter. Its was also reveled that Weiner didn’t meet any of the women who were sent these pictures. He didn’t have sexual intercourse with any of these women. Weiner insisted he would not leave office and vowed to continue doing his job. Over a short time pressure from members of his own party pushed Weiner to eventually leave office.

I’m not here to defend Anthony Weiner’s actions. Sending questionable images of yourself to other women when your married is not acceptable. With that said my feeling is that it wasn’t enough to remove him from office. If you look at the history of political sandals you will see that Anthony Weiner, even if its socially unacceptable to do what he did, did not betray the people of New York. He did not break any laws. His personal indiscretions did not shine a light on any political hypocrisy. I’ve never seen a politician take it to the republicans like Anthony Weiner. When the democrats seem unwilling to take a solid stand against the republicans Weiner stood out as the defender of the people. It’s ridiculous that Weiner was forced out when other politicians have done so much worse and some of them didn’t leave office. Lets see how bad it can get.

We begin with David Vitter. Vitter’s phone number was spotted during an investigation of an escort service ran by Deborah Jeane Palfrey. Pelfrey was also known as the D.C Madam. Even though she was convicted, Vitter was not charged with any crime and was still reelected in 2010.

Eric Massa

Eric Massa resigned because of pressure after he was found that he was sexually harassing a male staffer. He admitted to doing it. He also said he was the victim of a conspiracy against him….but he said he did it. You figure that one out. It was,also revealed that Massa paid his wife’s salary using campaign funds even after he resigned from office.

You may remember Mark Sanford. As governor of South Carolina he told his wife he was going hiking on the Appalachian trail and disappeared on June 18 2009.  His family didn’t know where he was. Father’s day came and went and no contact was made. He returned June 24 of 2009. It was revealed that Sanford did not hike the Appalachian trail but instead he left to Argentina to have an affair with a woman from there.

John Ensign, representative of Nevada had an affair with a woman named Cindy Hampton. Now get this, Cindy Hampton was the wife of top aide and Ensign’s best friend Doug Hampton. Doug Hampton was reported to have chased Ensign in an airport parking lot after discovering a text message Ensign sent to Cindy Hampton, making the affair very clear.  Ensign was also found to have violated campaign fiance laws. Ensign was accused of destroying evidence and trying to pay to keep people quiet about the matter.

Mark Foley, representative from Florida was found to have been sending sexually explicit instant messages and emails to teenaged boys who worked in the Congressional page program. This was going on for more than ten years. While he was doing this, he was the Chairman of the House Caucus on missing and exploited children. One of his biggest issues he fought for while he was in office was the fight against child pornography.

Larry Craig, United States senator and former senate liaison for Mitt Romney‘s 2007 presidential campaign was arrested after trying to solicited sex from a male undercover police officer in an airport bathroom. He fought to exclude violence against gays and lesbians as a hate crime by voting against the Federal Hate Crimes law. He voted to give states the right to refuse same-sex marriages from other states,which is a right that states already have. Even with all of that he did not resign and finished his term.

Joe Stagni

Not to long ago we saw pictures emerge of  congressman Christopher Lee. It was revealed that Lee, husband and father of two posted his profile on Craig’s list and describe himself as divorced. Craig had been soliciting a male to female transsexual. He resigned from office shortly thereafter.

Bob Allen, representative of Florida and the Florida chairman of John McCain’s presidential Campaign in 2007 was arrested for soliciting oral sex from an undercover officer in a public bathroom. Allen offered twenty dollars so he could perform oral sex. When asked why he offered the officer oral sex Allen responded by saying the officer was “a burly black man” and he [Allen] “didn’t want to become another statistic.” You can add racist to the list under Bob Allen.

Then about a week ago it was found that Joe Stagni, a married councilman from Louisiana, had sexual relations with a female administration employee named Annamaria Pizzolato. Stagni sent inappropriate pictures of himself to her via the internet. Later Pizzolato was fired by Mayor Mike Yenni for unspecified reasons. Stagni is still in office.

A little time has passed now since the Weiner Scandal broke.  The fact that the democrats are so quick to get ride of one of their best people shows that they are out of touch and are not willing to stand up to smoke and mirrors. While  Jan Brewer is passing racist laws and Rick Wilson is waging war on our unions, Nancy Pelosi chooses to ask Anthony Weiner to step down. This makes little to no sense to me. The democrats should have defended Weiner. He was the best at calling out the Republicans for their games. One of the things I love him for is when he blasted the republicans for trying to stop the funding to help first responders get medical coverage.

He fought for us. We let him go. It will come to bite the democrats on the ass when its time to come up with the passion and determination to battle the republicans. The cowardly democrats seem to be not so cowardly when it come to attacking each other. Anthony Weiner was a media distraction. There are real issue in the world. We are fighting three wars, the republicans are holding the debt ceiling hostage so that they can get more and we can get less, but Anthony Weiner must go. Like I said before, what Weiner did was wrong but the punishment should come only from his wife. The only person he betrayed. As a political figure, I would vote for him every time. If he was running for president I would choose Wiener over Obama. Weiner would fight were Obama would back off. You may not agree with that last statement but ask yourself this question. Would Anthony Weiner allow what president Obama has allowed the republicans to do during his presidency? You can’t win every battle but he would have been present for the fight. The fight for the people.

• Why Push Weiner Out But Not Vitter? (politicalwire.com)
• Republican Hypocrisy on Weiner [Dispatches from the Culture Wars] (scienceblogs.com)
• Why Anthony Weiner’s Resignation Is Bad For America (blogs.forbes.com)

Celebrating the death of Osama Bin Laden:A moral conflict

Image via Wikipedia

September 11th 2001 is very clear to me. I remember the shock and disbelieve I felt as I watched the terror attacks unfold. What happened that day scarred me and countless others for life. I lived in Manhattan when the events of September 11th took place. I felt the fear and pain. I felt the depression of hearing the personal stories, seeing the rubble everyday on the news and then smelling the mixture of concrete, steel and dead bodies in the air. The vision of people trying to escape the raging fires by leaping from unimaginable heights to certain death. Then the ultimate horror. The towers fell. The unimaginable had taken place. How I saw the world would never be the same again. The human toll was unbelievable. This was something that my generation had never seen before and would definitely never forget.

Fast forward to May 1st 2011.  President Barack Obama announces to the world that a Navy Seal mission into Pakistan has resulted in the death of Osama Bin Laden. It was news that I never really thought I would hear. Is it real? Is it a rumor out of control? It does happen now a days. You can thank twitter for that. My first reaction was to be excited like we just won some kind of sporting event like baseball’s world series. As details rolled in throughout the night I began to understand how the operation was carried out. One shot to the head and one shot to the chest. Once the word was out, the party began. The crowd started to gather in front of the White House. It started with about five or six people and quickly grew into a party of around a thousand or so. Ground Zero was also a celebration spot. I understand all the emotion. I understand why people would run into the streets and celebrate Osama Bin Laden’s death. Every year I am reminded of the pain. Every anniversary we relive this tragedy. Every year I meet this anniversary with tears and the heaviest of hearts. On other days I sometimes get flash backs and I feel for only a moment I’m back living that day again. It’s the saddest day of my live. I know I’m not alone on that. At the same time it’s truly hard for me to celebrate Bin Laden’s death. I have a hard time dealing with my own mortality so it’s hard for me to imagine anyone at the moment of his or her death. Osama Bin Laden is a monster who lead his terrorist organization to not only kill Americans but all innocent people around the world including Muslims.

Image via Wikipedia

I know what I “should” feel. That is not what I’m feeling. I just keep thinking about how wrong it feels inside to celebrate the death of another. I didn’t expect to feel this way. I didn’t expect to feel a disturbing sinking feeling in my stomach as I watched countless numbers of people in New York and Washington D.C celebrate the death of Osama Bin Laden like we just won the championship. I’m not going to stand here and tell people they’re wrong for celebrating the death of someone who brought so much pain. I will never say to the people who lost love ones on that horrible day that your happiness is unjustified. To the people who had lost a loved one and also lost faith in the government’s ability to be effective this must have been a monumental moment for them. I acknowledge that Osama’s death gives some kind of closure to everything that has happened but at the same time I can’t help but get angry at a country that was divided on so many issues but can come together to celebrate someones death. Republicans and Democrats can’t agree on the facts. Childish dialogue between the two parties has dominated the political atmosphere. Its makes me very angry that the issue that both parties can agree and compliment each other on is the death of Osama Bin Laden. Republicans and Democrats do everything in their power to deny any positive acknowledgment of the other but some how found it in their heart to put aside partisan politics to congratulate President Obama. To bad the people are not the cause of political parties putting their bullshit angles and spins to the side. I just feel a country is better off rallying around life instead of death. 

Lets ask some questions now. Does killing Bin Laden mark the defeat Al Qaeda? Does this even slow Al Qaeda down? Is it better to make a martyr of a man who was fading away as a leading figure in the movement? Wouldn’t martyrdom help Osama boost his status as the leading symbol of Islamic terrorism all over the world? If someone killed the person that represented your ideology would you fall back and lay low or would you attempt to show that the  movement will not be stopped. People don’t kill themselves without serious conviction for what they believe in. Osama’s death could never change the problem. The real problem is the quality of  life. Al Qaeda cannot exist in a democracy. You want to stop Islamic terrorism? Then support the revolutions in the middle east. Lets not pick and choose based on which countries have oil.

Related Articles

• How a Real American Celebrates Osama bin Laden’s Death (VIDEO) (blippitt.com)
• Jon Stewart on Osama bin Laden’s death (via The Marquee Blog) (thespiritportal.wordpress.com)

It’s been a long time

Hows it going everyone. It’s been a long time since I posted. I’ve been so busy with work lately that I haven’t been able to post anything. A lot of things have happened in the world. I will be posting again soon. In the meantime, here’s a look at some of the stuff I’ve been working on.

VIDEOS

IMAGES

Making your tattoo experience a better one.

I’ve been in the tattoo business for ten years now. I have so many experiences I want to share. Those will come in good time. Today I want to talk about things you can do to help the process along when trying to get a new tattoo. Remember all tattoo shops are different. Each shop has a different set of rules to follow when you’re inquiring about a tattoo. Each tattoo shop charges different. Many shops have an hourly rate. I’m going to use the tattoo shop I work at as an example. We charge one hundred and fifty dollars an hour. We have a fifty dollar minimum, meaning the smallest tattoos are fifty dollars. The reason we have a minimum even though we charge for the amount of time spent is to cover the cost of the needle and ink we are using. To understand why artists charges the way they do you have to understand the artist only gets a percentage of each tattoo they do. The money you give for a tattoo doesn’t all go to the artist. A percentage goes to the owner of the tattoo shop. Many places do a sixty/forty spit but again it depends on what shop your working at. A shop minimum makes the smallest tattoo financially worth it for an artist that has to give forty percent of fifty dollars to his or her boss. Especially on a slow day.

So you want a tattoo. It’s a very important commitment to make. Maybe even more than marriage. At least you can get a divorce and have your spouse go away verses laser surgery for a tattoo. I don’t know about you but I’ll take a divorce over surgery anytime. Now its best to know what you want. A least a general idea. Then do a Google image search on what ever it is you’re looking for. Google image searches are very good because they break down images in different categories. You can search for an image by color. Weather you want to search for photos, paintings, and sketches Google can break it down for you. You can also search for outlines which can come in handy during tattoo consultations. To be prepared search for a few different ideas just in case one idea isn’t technically possible we have a few more to fall back on. Once you are confident about the research you have done call your tattoo shop and ask about a consultation. At our shop, consultations are free. I Think that’s the norm. I’ve never really heard of anyone who charges for consultation but then again I can not speak for other tattoo shops.
During the consultation we’ll discuss what you’re getting, where you’re getting it, how big you want it , and whether you want color or black and gray shading. Based on those things the artist should have an idea of how much time he or she would need to finish the tattoo. This is not an exact science. Tattoo artist are estimating the amount of time he or she thinks a tattoo will take. They will usually let you know what’s the most you would need to bring with you to cover the session. Better to finish sooner and charge less than estimate low and then charge more. (Which we don’t do out of respect). Even if we estimate incorrectly and it takes longer we will still charge the amount agreed upon. No surprises.
To set up an appointment to get your tattoo, you will most likely be asked to leave a deposit. With an hourly rate we must be sure you’re going to show up for your appointment. Some appointments are four or five hours long so if you don’t show it screws up our schedule if the time cannot be filled. We don’t give refunds on deposits. I’ve had people complain about losing fifty dollars after not showing to a 3 hour appointment. A fifty dollar deposit is little compared to the money lost when a four-hour appointment doesn’t show. We do reschedule appointments. If you contact us at least forty-eight hours before your appointment we will reschedule you. Again, all tattoo shops are different.

Now by the time you have made your appointment you should be clear about what you’re getting. If you change your design after your artist has drawn it up it makes things difficult. It may have to be redrawn completely. In that case you may be charged an extra drawing fee. You never want to have an artist rush a drawing the week of your appointment. So be prepared. Make sure what you’re asking for is something you really will want on your body forever. Now that your sure about your design you should be equally sure about your artist. When looking for the right artist one of the best things to do is look at portfolios. Each and every tattoo artist should have a portfolio. I’d be worried if I couldn’t see his or her body of work. When looking at portfolios look out for tattoos that look like they have just been done. They may look good at the moment but if you wait a few months it may not look so good. I’m not saying that’s always the case but just keep that in mind when looking through someones portfolio. Search for another tattoo that looks like it had time to heal. If the tattoo shop has a website you should be able to see some work from the artist before you even leave your house. I think if you follow some of these steps you will have a better experience. Finding a tattoo artist can be a really good experience. I’ve seen great friendships made between tattoo artists and their customers. I’ve made many friend myself from working in a tattoo shop. Friendships eight and nines years strong. In the end of the day we all want the same thing… a great tattoo.

Don’t let Carl Paladino become our next governor

Image by azipaybarah via Flickr

Carl Paladino just won the GOP nomination for Governor of New York on Wednesday. Who is Carl Paladino? He a fucking racist that’s who he is. This man said that as governor he would take over the Islamic rec center that is planned to be built two blocks from the world trade center site and take it away with the eminent domain law. This is the same man who has sent racist emails about President Barrack Obama. He sent an email with Barrack Obama and the first lady Michelle Obama. The image was photoshopped to make President Obama look like a pimp and Michelle was made to look like his prostitute. How dare he disrespect the President of the United States of America. The President and First lady have more class and intelligence in their fingers then Paladino will ever have in his whole life. He also sent a video which was described as Obama’s Inauguration Rehearsal but it was an African tribesmen performing a traditional dance. Another video sent was of an airplane landing  behind a group of black men and the caption reads “Holy Sh*t. run ni**ers, run!” Closer to home, if elected Governor of New York will free up jail cell and place people looking for work in them to “learn job skills”. One of the lessons offered… Hygiene. This makes me believe that he believes people who have no jobs are just dirty and need to learn how to clean them selves. Anyone who has not committed a violent crime should not be in jail.

This is the man who will represent the GOP in the Governors race for NY. What the hell are we doing? If you’re not convinced then look at this.

Oct 2009 Paladino sent an email with this image

To see the full-scale of Paladino’s racism check out the www.wnymedia.net/paladino

Related Articles

• Carl Paladino’s CRAZIEST Lines: From Welfare Prison Dorms To Slamming Sarah Palin (PHOTOS) (huffingtonpost.com)
• Rachel Maddow Discusses Carl Paladino’s History Of Racist And Pornographic Emails (mediaite.com)

Ignorance on Facebook.

So sometimes I see status comments on Facebook and I want to ask some questions, so a few days ago I was very curious about what a female on my friends list believed in. She had previously failed at explaining it to me and I wanted to give it another try. I don’t want to reveal the person’s identity so let’s call her Rose. So I ask her what she believes in. Her response was vague. I knew she wasn’t Christian, Catholic, Muslim or Jewish from our previous conversation. Have you ever met someone who talked but didn’t say anything that could shed light about them or the subject being discussed? A lot of talking but nothing was being said. So now I was determined to get some clear answers. What I learned was startling. This is what she believes in her own words:

“When most of us think about Black, mainly sociologists who feed these ideas to the people, we think that Black is only those who in Latin America, Asia, and Europe have a direct lineage back to Africa, either via Slavery or just plain immigration. However, Blackness goes much deeper than that. Why is it that people with Taino or Aztec, or Inca or Pachuco (Argentina and Chile) blood are not considered Black? If these civilizations existed before the coming of Columbus into the Americas then what is their Race? Are they Indio? If so, is that a race? This leads then to deeper questions and research about how non-white people relate. Only Science has the answers to this. It is an actual Scientific reality. Through the study of Melanin we have been able to find out that Blackness is truly everyone, except whites. Blackness entails all of the Original human families. Let me know if you have any more questions.”

My response to that was:

“Why are white people excluded? We all share the same genes. I’m interested in knowing why it’s that way. Cause it seems racists”

Rose’s response:

“Peace Chris, White people are excluded for a number of reasons. History has taught that all the great advances in civilization were made by whites, thus the greatest achievements being from Western Civilization. We are also taught that whites are superior to Blacks and other ethnic groups like Latinos. However, there has been ample archeological research, mostly by this Black French Scholar called (I can’t remember the name right now), but he and others like Ivan Van Sertima (read his book Blacks in Science), that shows that civilization started with Blacks, which includes us Latinos (Tainos are Black).
What I’m getting at is that the mothers and fathers of civilization are us. The Greeks learned all their knowledge from the Egyptians. Then they rampaged and took over Africa. The lessons that I deal with show that the white man is a mutated for a man. He did not come about naturally. He was made by an ancient Black man named Yakub (Jacob in the Bible). Yakub made these people by messing with the Black genetic code. It makes sense though that whites do have the same or similar genetic code that we do, cause they came from us. However, what is different from them are the GENETIC MARKERS. The genetic markers are simply what dictates our connection to the rest of the universe. An example of this is Melanin. Whites have Melanin, but this genetic marker is not activated within whites. They can’t and will not process melanin. Melanin is not only what gives us our pigmentation, it is made in the Mendula omblagata (in the brain) and extends all throughout our bodies (the universal version of this is the carbon that the sun burns, or the chlorophyll thats found in plants.) for all our major processes in teh body, it helps us taste food, dance, etc. This is not racist, its just simple scientific reality. Peace”

Then I couldn’t help it anymore:

“How did Yakub mess with genes? What technology did he have? What was the process of white creation? White people during slavery tried to use science to justify making Africans slaves. I feel people in history have always used science to justify their prejudice. Do you have white friends? Do you like white people? Are all your friends apart of this? Actually… what is this called? What do you call this belief?”
I think Rose doesn’t like all the questions. Her response was a little more aggressive:
“Yo, you ain’t ready to learn anything. You are just asking out of curiosity and not are just asking out of curiosity and not because you genuinely want to learn. If you really wanted to learn you would have already remembered that I don’t deal with belief, I already explained to you on my wall what I deal with, so how did you forget? Are you still smoking weed? Peace!”

Okay I’m a little annoyed at this point. My turn:

“Sounds like a belief. I remember what you said. No need to be snappy. that was unnecessary. Yeah, you said you don’t work with belief but it sounds like that’s what you believe. It’s just word play.”

Rose:

“If you say so. A belief is when you follow information blindly without proving to yourself if its real or not. I don’t believe in anything. Every single piece of information I have shared with you I have proven to myself that it is right and exact. I have questioned it, looked for adequate sources (both historical and scientific) that prove what I am saying. Sounds like you ain’t really understanding what I’m saying Peace is the absence of confusion, FYI, I was not being snappy. Peace”

My turn:

“I believe the earth rotates around the sun. I believe I a human. I believe you are a girl. I believe there is a dog behind the sun. Huh? Now I just stated some beliefs and most are correct and one is wrong but they are all beliefs about the world around us. What separates the two is fact. Point me to evidence that whites were created through genetic engineering and I’ll be happy to shut up.”

SEPTEMBER 9TH. THAT WAS THE LAST TIME I WROTE TO ROSE. SHE HASN’T RESPONDED TO MY REPLY YET. Still waiting for that evidence I asked for. I’ll keep you posted.

I don’t claim to be the smartest and I believe I could have been more articulate when stating my point of view. I left a link to Wikipedia on the Topic.

Multiverse.One’s Vimeo video picks

So a few of months ago I found a site called Vimeo. This site is like YouTube but with more emphasis on art.  So what I wanted to do was show some of the best videos I’ve come across over the past few months. I’ll continue to show you new cool videos as I find them.  Now to start with my favorite video of all. Nuit Blanche. So good it got its own blog post. It was the last blog post before this one. Check it out

(It’s easier to embed YouTube videos to this blog that why it’s not Vimeo video players running)

A splendid video project based on a composition of 35.000 photographs, using the technique of live projection mapping and stop-motion. Plans of flames directed by the realizer Xavier Chassaing: an impressive technique to discover in HD.

a collaborative animation by Blu and David Ellis year 2009. http://www.blublu.org

let yourself feel by esteban diácono.
Ljósið composed by Ólafur Arnalds and edited through Erased Tapes Records.

By rezadolatabadi. What if you watch a film and whenever you pause it, you face a painting? This idea inspired Reza Dolatabadi to make Khoda. Over 6000 paintings were painstakingly produced during two years to create a five minutes film that would meet high personal standards. Khoda is a psychological thriller; a student project which was seen as a ‚mission impossible‚ by many people but eventually proved possible!

(This is truly one of my favorites on Vimeo.)

A sudden minor shock or meaningless/meaningful interruption…that is a memory…here is a blip of the land of the rising sun. JAPAN!

Shot with the 7D by Nathan Miller natemmiller@yahoo.com

Edited by Matthew Brown meh_eh@hotmail.com

Music – “Empty Room Trailer Version” by Zack Hemsey zackhemsey.com

Photography: Albrecht Gerlach albrechtgerlach.com

Production: Tatiana Pereira @ Alta Media Productions

Camera Assistant: Tom Chabbat

Sound: Camille Michel unterdecke.com

Canon 7D & 5DmkII for rent in Paris: photocinerent.fr