ilovepeepsilovepeepsilovepeeps
3.23.2005
Interesting Bit I Found About the Schiavo Case That I Can Agree With...
http://nashuaadvocate.blogspot.com/2005/03/in-terry-schiavo-case-republicans.html
Employing extraordinary parliamentary procedures never before used for such a purpose, radical Republicans in the U.S. Congress have passed, in the dead of night, a bill which overrules the scientific, legal, and medical determinations of countless licensed physicians, state and federal judges (including the U.S. Supreme Court) and a small army of civilian witnesses in order to keep alive a Florida woman who has been in a persistent vegetative state--that is, scientifically brain-dead--for more than fifteen years.
To understand the Terry Schiavo case, you must first understand that not a single Congressman who spoke on Schiavo's "behalf" on Sunday night gives one whit about the Florida woman or her family.
People die under more tragic and contested circumstances every minute in the United States, and their unspoken and unheeded causes--universal healthcare, an end to homelessness, federally-mandated heating for the elderly, more money for Medicaid, more money for Medicare, better prenatal care for the poor, greater federal investment in disease prevention and research--get not a single moment of airtime in the halls of Congress or on our living room television sets.
No words or tears are spilled for them, or for their deaths.
No woman has ever received more due process in the American legal system, or had more engines of power directed toward the investigation and rectifying of any wrongs ever committed against her, or had greater scrutiny of the moral, medical, ethical, and scientific determinations made on her behalf and in her name over the past fifteen years, than Terry Schiavo.
Do not weep for Terry.
Weep for a country in which the business of government is meddling in the life and times of a single brain-dead woman from Florida, rather than securing a better future for the almost three hundred million of us without such a built-in voting bloc--such unprecedented access to power-brokers and primetime darlings--as Schiavo has had these fifteen years.
Jeb Bush wrote a law purely to "save" her (or his political career, no one was certain); members of Congress issued bogus, disingenuous subpoenas for her appearance before ad hoc sub-committee sessions as part of a massive, abusive-of-government stratagem to "save" her; and extraordinary remedies were sought in the legal system, even appeals to as august and nationally-minded a body as the U.S. Supreme Court, all in an effort to "save" this woman no more important, no more special, no more sacred than any of the rest of us--and make no mistake, many of the rest of us are suffering deeply, for a thousand different reasons this night--despite the fact that were Terry Schiavo able to speak (or to feel, or to think, or to dream) she undoubtedly would tell the whole ingratiating lot of aforementioned Republican meddlers to mind their own fucking business.
3.22.2005
Keswick Gardens Gallery
Alright, so finally I have gotten it together and posted these pictures. They make me sad, but I'm glad I took them.
03.06.2005
3.11.2005
Welcome to Richmond, Serving Your Drug-Related Crime Needs For Over a Decade!
Welcome to new police chief Rodney Monroe, who in his short time at the big post, has shown that he's ready and willing to cut thru the bullshit and kick some ass. Kudos also to Mayor Doug Wilder, who appears to do mostly whatever he wants, but so far it seems to be what this city has been needing for way too long. Bad guys have been getting busted right and left and murders have been solved in record time, this is exciting and hopeful stuff.
These are memorials in the parking lot of a local gas station, for two people who were killed in their car in the middle of the day. Their murderer is in custody. What a nice change, let's hope the good guys can keep it up, and that more people will realise how badly their is needed in these situations.
3.06.2005
Goodbye Keswick Gardens, Make Way For Progress
I stopped by Keswick Gardens apartments on my way home today. I felt compelled to take some pictures of these buildings that I've always really liked the look of. They're about to be torn down because they were bought by Gumenick Properties who "decided high-end condominiums were the best use of the Keswick Gardens property rather than renovating existing apartment buildings." Unfortunately it's tough stuff for all the tenants, many of whom had resided there for scores of years, and they were given the heave-ho and most probably won't be on the top of the list of preferred renters/buyers when all is done. How sad, but apparently[Gumenick]'s proposal for Keswick Gardens is consistent with Henrico's efforts to revive older neighborhoods."
And there you are. I will post all my pictures here and also on Flickr.
3.03.2005
ifeelloveifeelloveifeelloveifeellove
I'm sitting here in the living room watching "The First 48," a pretty good cameras-following-cops show. They follow homicide teams in various cities, Miami, Kansas City, Phoenix, Philly, and a couple more. Tonite, it's Miami, and one of my favourite guys, Det. Sgt. Joe Schillaci. Something about him I really love, you'd want him to be your neighbor or friend, you'd always want to hang with him for a few beers. Tonite, the show concerns the murder of a strip club owner, a guy that everyone apparently liked. Well, alright, I won't go thru the events so far, as I'm sure it's much more interesting to watch it unfold than to read it on here.
Which leads me to...
Two-Time Oscar Winner Hillary Swank...Wha, you say? Well, she's on the list of Famous People I Have Been Face to Face With. Who else is on this list, you may ask? In no particular order : Donald Trump (in this case, I actually, physically, ran into him, smack into him, my face against his chest, then me, embarrassed, looking up into his face, the face of The Donald, as I think he was more popularly known then), Robert Goulet (non-natural fiber slacks, very colorful acrylic sweater, huge, thick-lensed glasses), Marco Hofschneider, adorable, here filming "The Foreign Student," but known mostly as that point as the star in "Europa, Europa," or "Hitlerjunge Salomon" as it was know in Germany, James Taylor, quiet and sweet-seeming, Tom Brokaw, handsome, Wes Studi, also handsome, no one knew who he was except me, a variety of cycling superstars of the old school that no one cared about except me, and Hillary Swank, when she was here filming "Iron Jawed Angels," which I saw part of on HBO and found to be odd and kind of silly. She dug the Feast's food, in particular the tuna sandwich, and came in herself on several ocassions, somewhat 'in cognito.' I chatted her up a bit, in my patented "I Know You're A Star But I'm Acting Super-Cool Like You're Just Another Regular Joe or Jane, But Secretly I'm Screaming Inside" way, and she was quite polite and well-mannered. I wish her well and congratulations despite "Iron Jawed Angels," and the inconvenience that our city and citizenry suffered because of it's production.
Finally, I feel love because I'm in love, dammit, and Donna Summer still rocks my house.
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