Marguerite Sauvage

Fashion oriented illustrator Marguerite Sauvage. Her work looks similar in style to some of the work I see coming out of Asia and yet, it remains firmly based in classic fashion.

Pablo Bernasconi

Born in Buenas Aires, Pablo Bernasconi makes illustrations that combine elements of collage to create whimsical portraits of our world and our imaginations. Above: an editorial image of working with computers, a portrait of Kate Moss, and 2 children's illustrations.

Stephanie Toppin

I'm attracted to the work of this gifted painter. Her use of colors and flow demonstrate both a world and mind in motion, a fluidity of thought and emotion (as if the 2 could ever be separated).

DWI

A man is arrested and booked, his car impounded for a DWI even though he took the test - twice - and blew 0.0. So, even if you're not intoxicated, you can still be arrested. Police say he failed a roadside sobriety test. The Washington Post did an article a while back about how those tests are specious.

Meanwhile, in New Hampshire, a man was charged with DWI and there appears to be no dispute that he was properly charged with that. However, he was also charged with an illegal wiretap for taping - ready for it - the arrest. As far as I'm concerned, police should always be willing to submit to surveillance. They are public officers operating in the public sphere.

Six Dix

I'll reserve judgment as to whether the men arrested yesterday were plotting a terrorist act. By early reports it certainly sounds like they were up to something nefarious. However, many of these cases don't pan out. Until we hear more, I'm inclined to give law enforcement props for good detective work, hopefully without resorting to unconstitutional techniques.

The early reports prompted a couple of thoughts. First, these guys were turned in by a worker at Kinko's who was copying a DVD for them. Real terrorists can afford DVD burners. Second, I'm not particularly in favor of clerks turning in people - there are a fair number of botched child porn allegations on record; just imagine adding botched terrorist reports to the list. Third, I'll never get copies of materials at Kinko's (but then again, I own a hard drive and DVD burner). Fourth, this quote from many articles:

"That's why we're here today _ because of the courage and heroism of that individual," the FBI agent said.

Am I the only one that thinks that this is really lowering the bar on the definitions of "courage" and "heroism"? The clerk is a snitch, which may have worked out well in this case, but he's still a snitch. How does courage and heroism come into play in his actions?

Courage, from Dictionary.com: the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery.

Heroism, from Dictionary.com: heroic conduct; courageous action
Synonym: intrepidity, valor, prowess, gallantry, bravery, etc.
Antonym: cowardice, timidity

Quickies

More Afghan civilian casualties. If this keeps up, and it's likely to do so, they'll want us out even more than the Iraqis. Not acceptable - pull the troops from Iraq, focus on Afghanistan, punish those who would coddle the Taliban or work with them to eradicate those folks and then go home. That's my moderate stance, by the way. The radical one says we should get out altogether and never have gone in. Update: The Afghan Senate has called for talks with the Taliban and for attacks against them to stop. Talk instead of civil war?!!?

Charges were dropped against Cuban terrorist Luis Posada Carriles. The U.S. screwed up the translation of his immigration interview and tried hanky panky to convict him. Still, he is an alleged terrorist and deserves to be tried.

Funny, the U.S. sent Kindasleazy Rice to the Middle East for a summit last week. The problem is that she's been undercut so many times that leaders there aren't certain that she speaks for the administration. So, now, Cheney's over there. Will he undermine her again?

The UN is warning against a hasty switch to biofuels. Will Washington state or Bush or other U.S. leaders listen? Probably not since it means income for industrial farming.

Bill Clinton supports cheaper AIDS drugs made by India. India is break patents in order to make the drugs. If Clinton really is supporting the undermining of patents - in any way - this is a major step and it will likely throw fire on his wife's candidacy. In other medical news, doctors get payoffs from drug companies. Wait, this is news?!!? Oh, it's only news if someone is being harmed.

The World Bank called on Israel to ease up on it's restrictions on Palestinian movements. Israel, I'm sure, will reply that it doesn't take orders from political institutions with corrupt leaders, unless that institution is the U.S. administration.

Sergio Aquindo

Wonderful pen and ink drawings by Argentinian artist Sergio Aquindo. I like his use of color and how his work evokes movement. Both this post and the previous one via Drawn!

Paulina Bedrack

Chilean artist whose work with colors in oil on canvas remind me of images filtered through a foggy day. That is to say, beauty enhanced by haze.

Quickies

34 versions of Love Will Tear Us Apart.

Wolfowitz broke the rules at the World Bank, according to a new report. Europeans are offering a way to settle the crisis.

Pidgin, formerly Gaim, an open source instant messaging software that works on multiple networks (Microsoft, Yahoo, AIM, Jabber) has released version 2.0.

Customer Service

We do a lot of bitching these days about poor business practices, so it's useful to focus on good practices when they occur. Some recent examples of good customer service:

Les Schwab: This isn't the first time that I've had good service from them. We've both bought tires from them in the past and will continue to do so. The co-signer called one morning to tell me that she had a flat tire. She had driven it down to the van pool meeting spot in Fred Meyer's lot when she noticed the flat. She rode into work, then called me. I was dreading taking care of the tire as I didn't want to lose my entire morning before work. The co-signer called up Les Schwab. They had a person go out and fill the tire with air. That person called me to tell me he was at Fred Meyer's and then he waited for me to arrive. The tire now full of air drove fine to the shop down the road. When I got there, thinking I'd have to buy a new tire, the guys tested it in a water tank. As it turned out, it was a small leak. They fixed the tire and didn't charge me a cent for the service. Label me a loyal customer.

McClendon Hardware: I use a reel mower in my yard. It's one of those old fashioned kind that doesn't have an engine and the blades rotate with the tires. Last fall the blades seemed in need of sharpening as I wasn't getting the cut or ease of cut that I'd come to expect. After using the neighbor's mower to do the initial spring cut, I took my mower in to get the blades sharpened. Normally this takes about a week and only costs around $6. When I got to McClendon the service person told me that their sharpening guy (they contract out) was going on holiday for 2 weeks. So, if I dropped off the mower then I wouldn't get it back for 3 weeks. I asked if they had a suggestion about where else to take it. The service person came from behind the counter and took a look at my mower. He said the blades appeared OK, but the bed of the mower was off (a little low). Within minutes he had propped up my mower and adjusted the bed of it. I've done 2 passes over the yard and it's working fine. I might wait until late summer when the grass goes dormant to get the blades sharpened now.

Costco: Yea, I know - a big box store. However, they offer one of the best prices for gasoline around. We stopped there on Saturday morning before going to Portland. While there, I forgot and left the gas cap on top of the truck. We didn't realize the error until on our way back. I called them yesterday. The number to the gas attendant wasn't available on line or in their automatic phone directory. I tried calling the administrative offices, but they weren't answering so I got in touch with the tire department. The person who answered didn't have the number at hand, but he sent one of his employees to get the number for me. After that, I called the gas attendant and sure enough they had the cap labeled with the date and when it was turned in. I stopped by and picked it up yesterday.

Good customer service should be noted and rewarded. I'm going to send thank you notes to all of these places. It's difficult working with the public. Depending upon where you work it can be especially so. Take the liquor store, for example. I had the following incident happen last week.

Customer: "Why is it that the downtown store sells this whiskey for 50 cents cheaper?"
Me: "Are you sure about that? Maybe it was this other one you're thinking of?" Taking the customer over to the display. Same maker; same size; different blend and 50 cents cheaper.
Customer: "No, it's this one. I always buy this one. Don't you think I know what I'm talking about?"
Me: "I'm not questioning that. It's just that the prices are set in Olympia and are all the same at all of the stores."
Customer: "It's 50 cents cheaper downtown. Go ahead. Call them. I'm not a liar. I'm not trying to pull one over on ya."
Me: "Well, you see, that's not how it works. That's why I pointed out the other bottle, in case you were mistaken."
Customer: "Go ahead. Call them."
Me: "I'm not going to call them, ma'am, because the way the system works is a database person puts the price of the liquor into the system as directed to do so. Then all of the stores have the same price."
Customer: "All you have to do is pick up the phone." She begins walking away. "Jeesh. What is it about lazy government employees?"
Me: "Ma'am?"
Customer (voice rising): "All you have to do is pick up the fucking phone and call the other store."
Me: "Ma'am?"
Customer, now screaming: "But you won't even do that! You're such fucking assholes!"
Me: "Ma'am?"
Customer: "What?!!?"
Me, calmly and pointing to the other door: "This asshole wants to point out that the exit is over there."

Follow the money: Tenet edition

Salon.com has a wonderful story up about where George Tenet earns his money from other than publishing and teaching. Not a news flash, but he's cashing in on Iraq:

When Tenet hit the talk-show circuit last week to defend his stewardship of the CIA and his role in the run-up to the war, he did not mention that he is a director and advisor to four corporations that earn millions of dollars in revenue from contracts with U.S. intelligence agencies and the Department of Defense. Nor is it ever mentioned in his book. But according to public records, Tenet has received at least $2.3 million from those corporations in stock and other compensation. Meanwhile, one of the CIA's largest contractors gave Tenet access to a highly secured room where he could work on classified material for his book.

Tenets sits on the board of directors of L-1 Identity Solutions, a major supplier of biometric identification software used by the U.S. to monitor terrorists and insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan. The company recently acquired two of the CIA's hottest contractors for its growing intelligence outsourcing business. At the Analysis Corp. (TAC), a government contractor run by one of Tenet's closest former advisors at the CIA, Tenet is a member of an advisory board that is helping TAC expand its thriving business designing the problematic terrorist watch lists used by the National Counterterrorism Center and the State Department.

...That may be a real break for Tenet. Under his watch, according to former CIA officials and contractors I've interviewed, up to 60 percent of the CIA workforce has been outsourced. A spokesman for the CIA told me last week that that figure "is way off the mark," but wouldn't provide the actual figure, which he said is classified.

George Tenet, war profiteer.

Quickies and weekend

Image from the Contortion Photo Library.

The co-signer and I went to a wedding this weekend in Portland. An old friend of hers from high school got hitched at the Edgefield Manor. It really was a lovely wedding. The bride and groom looked wonderful, the ceremony was short, and everyone behaved. A nice touch to end the ceremony was when the newlyweds decided that, rather than a reception line, they would "dismiss" each row of guests, thanking them for attending and hugging them. The Edgefield was pretty nice - several bars/pubs on site and a golf course. We sat at the reception with the groom's sister, her family, and their godparents. We took off fairly early and retired to our hotel room down the road and the Beast Western.

This particular Beast Western was better than average. The room featured the tiny coffee pot, of course, but also a tiny microwave and refrigerator. We didn't use either, but it was a nice touch. In fact, we didn't use the coffee pot either as they were serving fresh Tully's coffee in the lobby. They had a decent breakfast as well featuring make your own waffles, eggs, hash browns, raisin bread, bagels, donuts, fruit, yogurt, cereal, and juice. It wasn't very good food, but at least there was something available for your stay and it was included in the room price.

We went to Powell's and hung out for a bit, buying a couple of books. We hung out at Moonstruck Cafe for a mocha. We wandered through the Chinese garden and had tea in their tea house. We had a light meal at Jake's before heading home on Sunday. On the trip home I read to the co-signer from The Omnivore's Dilemma, an excellent book that I have on loan from the library and need to return today.

All in all, a very nice weekend.

I see that Bush's approval ratings have hit an all time low. Perhaps it was his Macarena performance on April 26th? Kidding. Seriously, Bush is as unpopular as Jimmy Carter was.

Seniors are being exploited by insurance salesmen for pricey Medicare insurance that costs them, and taxpayers, more money. No one could ever have foreseen this outcome, I'm sure the Republicans (and Democrats) will cry.

Republicans and the Bush administration ignored warnings that taxpayers were getting fleeced by the student loan industry. See a pattern?

War fronts: U.S. soldiers' ethics questioned (actually, I am not surprised by the report, given the propaganda by this administration and human's general reactions in war), Secretary of Defense Gates may not be following the Bush play book (we'll see if at the end of this summer he quits after arguing with the Decider), think Walter Reed is bad? Check out the medical care for Iraqi soldiers. Al Qaeda's number 2 person says he wants the U.S. troops in Iraq. The memorial created last year to honor the American soldiers who died Iraq and Afghanistan has already run out of space. Shouldn't that be a sign?

Gasoline prices hit an all time high.

On another war front: The drug war still yields depressing stories while doing nothing to address the alleged problem it is supposed to face. How long are we going to continue to allow police to falsify evidence, make mistakes, and employ SWAT teams in the pursuit of a failed policy?

Did the White House want to have it's political hooks in the Justice Department for a much longer time, but was thwarted in that effort by a long time Justice employee? FDL has the original article and points to Law.com for further proof.

Israel expects another confrontation with Hezbollah this summer. They are trying to talk with Syria before it gets under way.

The Transportation Security Administration, the group responsible for checking names of passengers on air flights in the U.S., lost a hard drive with the names, social security numbers and more of 100,000 employees. Meanwhile, Homeland Security no longer wants to prescreen Canadians for streamlined entry into the U.S. because Canada refuses to thumbprint and check people who even approach the border.

The MPAA makes up numbers when it's convenient. Are we surprised? Do they work for Bush?

U.S. Attorney scandal

It just got juicier today. First, I read CoolAqua which reports on the Karl Rove-Dave Reichart possible tie in to replacing John McKay, U.S. Attorney from Seattle. Snippet:

Rove assistant Leslee Westine becomes CEO of TechNet, replacing CEO Rick White, who is then recommended by Dave Reichert to be the new Washington State Attorney, right after Karl Rove's Office has just sacked the Washington State Attorney?

Isn't the delish? It only gets more fabulous as Abovethelaw.com reports that the assistant to Monica Goodling's attorney was quite possibly, one of the escorts who worked for the DC Madame. Snippet:

Does this mean that telephone and/or face-to-face conversations took place between (1) the Magnificent Monica Goodling, of U.S. Attorneygate fame, and (2) the Akin Gump Escort? It would seem so. Presumably Monica Goodling had to interact with the Akin Gump Escort, whenever she called Dowd on the phone, or came to his office for a meeting.

Please excuse us for a moment. Our head is about to explode, due to fabulosity overload!!!

Quickies

Iranians say that the U.S. occupation is fanning the flames of the sectarian violence. Not original, of course, but you'll not hear Bush admit the same. Meanwhile Hillary Clinton, Bill Richardson, and Robert Byrd call for a bill to revoke the authorization for the war. Dennis Kucinich snickers and says "Welcome aboard, finally."

The U.S. Army believes the media is a threat, now. Early on in the occupancy, the military was happily "embedding" the media within it's ranks. Now, it's afraid - again. This is very Vietnam flashback stuff.

Perhaps the military is right. A senior commentator from Ha'aretz says that the U.S. must get out of Iraq and that the only way to make it palatable is to work with Syria and Iran.

The U.S. suggests a Palestinian - Israeli cease fire (disingenuously promoted as a "peace plan"). Israel says no way to the time lines. Hardly surprising. Cynical of me, but what better way to support Olmert than to show him resisting pressure from the U.S. for a cease fire?

A fantastic 25 page long PDF (you've been warned) on the limits and feasibility of economic globalization. Snippet from the intro:

We want economic integration to help boost living standards. We want democratic
politics so that public policy decisions are made by those that are directly affected by them (or their representatives). And we want self-determination, which comes with the nation-state. This paper argues that we cannot have all three things simultaneously. The political trilemma of the global economy is that the nation-state system, democratic politics, and full economic integration are mutually incompatible. We can have at most two out of the three. It follows that the direction in which we seem to be headed—global markets without global governance—is unsustainable.

Speaking of globalization, Microsoft is once again in talks about buying Yahoo.

The International Energy Agency is warning of a shortage of natural gas over the next decade.

LA's cops got brutal with protesters and reporters at the May Day march for immigration reform.

Greenberg

Jill Greenberg, photography. Fantastic sets of images from magazine covers to celebrities to conceptual art to children crying and monkeys - beloved monkeys.

Meatyard

Photos by Ralph Eugene Meatyard (1925 - 1972)

I work in several different groups of pictures which act on and with each other – ranging from several abstracted manners to a form for the surreal. I have been called a preacher – but in reality, I’m more generally philosophical. I have never made an abstracted photograph without content. An educated background of Zen influences all of my photographs.

— Ralph Eugene Meatyard, 1961

Mejia

The work of Hermann Mejia: Illustration, Mixed Media and Sculpture. Fantastic. Via Drawn!

Quickies

Former Gonzales aide, Monica Goodling, has possibly violated federal law for her role in the hiring/firing of attorneys at the Justice dept.

The Inspector General for Iraq is under investigation.

The Inspector General at the Department of Commerce is under 3 investigations.

President's lawyers claim he is "Czar Czar". They now claim that their pledge of the use of courts to seek warrants for secret wiretaps was, well, a joke. The president, they claim has constitutional powers to do this without seeking court approval.

Wayne Besen offers a good critique of Anglican church conservatives and their would-be Nigerian Bishop who ignores troubles in his own flock to come to America to rid us of the scourge of homosexual Bishops.

A weapon every woman could love: a taser disguised as a tampon. Oy!

More Alexyss Tylor

The woman who brought you Vagina Power is back with Dick Will Make You Slap Somebody (above) and Vagina Power: Halloween Edition (below). There are even remix videos.

Quickies

Well, that's one way to push back: Iran expels 36,000 Afghans. Snippet:

Iran is estimated to have up to one and a half million illegal Afghan workers who do the most dangerous and dirty jobs with little legal protection.

There are also just under a million registered refugees.

Tehran says some 300,000 of those refugees will be eligible to apply for work visas to return to Iran, if they first go back to Afghanistan.

Sounds like a Bush immigration plan to me. I'm sure he'll understand.

The U.S. wants to impose travel restrictions on UK citizens of Pakistani origin. At home, we call that racism.

Bush calls a time table for pull out in a Iraq a "prescription for chaos and confusion". Doesn't that describe the current state in that country as well? How would bringing our troops home make it worse and worse for who?

Jesus fucking christ: There's now a food safety "czar". First of all, that's what a group of people already in the FDA are supposed to be doing so we don't need a new person. We just need the people who are there to do their fucking job or get fired for failing. Secondly, I'm not usually someone who gets all bothered by titles, but could we drop the word "czar" from titles involving government officials. We're not Imperialist Russia, yet, no matter how much the Bushies would love it to be so. We don't need a drug czar, a food safety czar, an Iraq War czar...hell, I expect Bush to soon appoint himself "czar czar", though that may get many of us to soon derisively call him, "Zsa Zsa".

Violet Blue reports on the Extra Action Marching Band and why Crisco is not lube.