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I was reminded that I was going to post a link to this gallery by French photographer Jean-Christian Bourcart. The exhibition is called Collateral - and it's a series of photographs of 'collateral damage' from the Iraq war projected onto peaceful suburban American houses. So - the symbolism is fairly heavy - but sometimes you need a sledge hammer to reach people. And his target audience seems to be the US - so subtlety just isn't going to work here. At least he knows his audience =)
I could only watch about 20 minutes of the speech before changing the channel. Later...senior Republicans were comparing Bush to Lincoln (because the latest great thing he's doing is getting rid of all those generals who disagree with him) - which is - you know - something Lincoln did when he was trying to win the Civil War. *blink, blink* Do they think we are all morons? Or do they actually believe that shit themselves?
Anyway, for the past day or so I've been trying without success to draft a letter to both of the senators from South Dakota and our one lone representative (yes - I know - this state is pathetically small).
On the plus side though - it increases the probability dramatically that my letter will actually be read by someone other than an intern. At least I'm hoping that is the case. Having a difficult time writing the letter because it's hard to be calm and reasoned about the surge in troops, and really makes me question the humanity of the newscasters on TV who seem to have no problem with it. Seriously, are they human? The ones on MSNBC all act like sexed-up Nazi Barbies on Prozac.
As a place to start I've been guided by this awesome MLK speech: Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence
It's really disturbing that the arguments he was using in 1967 against Vietnam can be translated to today almost without changing a word, and I think speaks to the real reason the US always seems to find itself
in these pointless guerilla wars...our bloated military-industrial complex which sucks up over half of our income taxes and is about the only institution to make out relatively well over protracted endless senseless killing.
Also wanted to mention in my letter the death of Corporal Brett Lundstrom. He was a member of the Oglala Sioux tribe- and while googling his name I came across this amazing photo gallery of the ceremony his people put on for him. For those of you not familiar with the history of South Dakota - during the Indian wars of the 19th century, the Oglala Sioux were the ones who clobbered Custer and the 7th Cavalry at the Little Big Horn. Anyway - Crazy Horse was one of the big chiefs who was a leader of the Sioux at the time and responsible for orchestrating Custer's untimely demise - and this kid was the great great grandson of Crazy Horse. Unfortunately his death and the warrior ceremony the Sioux put on resulted in barely a half-minute spot on the local news - which really sucks when you consider how small this state is. His death and all the emotion that went into this ceremony deserved a little more attention than they received.
I could only watch about 20 minutes of the speech before changing the channel. Later...senior Republicans were comparing Bush to Lincoln (because the latest great thing he's doing is getting rid of all those generals who disagree with him) - which is - you know - something Lincoln did when he was trying to win the Civil War. *blink, blink* Do they think we are all morons? Or do they actually believe that shit themselves?
Anyway, for the past day or so I've been trying without success to draft a letter to both of the senators from South Dakota and our one lone representative (yes - I know - this state is pathetically small).
On the plus side though - it increases the probability dramatically that my letter will actually be read by someone other than an intern. At least I'm hoping that is the case. Having a difficult time writing the letter because it's hard to be calm and reasoned about the surge in troops, and really makes me question the humanity of the newscasters on TV who seem to have no problem with it. Seriously, are they human? The ones on MSNBC all act like sexed-up Nazi Barbies on Prozac.
As a place to start I've been guided by this awesome MLK speech: Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence
It's really disturbing that the arguments he was using in 1967 against Vietnam can be translated to today almost without changing a word, and I think speaks to the real reason the US always seems to find itself
in these pointless guerilla wars...our bloated military-industrial complex which sucks up over half of our income taxes and is about the only institution to make out relatively well over protracted endless senseless killing.
Also wanted to mention in my letter the death of Corporal Brett Lundstrom. He was a member of the Oglala Sioux tribe- and while googling his name I came across this amazing photo gallery of the ceremony his people put on for him. For those of you not familiar with the history of South Dakota - during the Indian wars of the 19th century, the Oglala Sioux were the ones who clobbered Custer and the 7th Cavalry at the Little Big Horn. Anyway - Crazy Horse was one of the big chiefs who was a leader of the Sioux at the time and responsible for orchestrating Custer's untimely demise - and this kid was the great great grandson of Crazy Horse. Unfortunately his death and the warrior ceremony the Sioux put on resulted in barely a half-minute spot on the local news - which really sucks when you consider how small this state is. His death and all the emotion that went into this ceremony deserved a little more attention than they received.
