The Truth in Our Hearts...

While this practice has been worsening for years, I am glad this post brought it to my attention.

Sadly ABC seems to have lost its soul and sense of, well, much of anything compassionately human. It just reminds me how our corporations and "big business" are really all about $$$ for a few really wealthy at the top. Otherwise, why wouldn't they do something GIVING and THOUGHTFUL like playing such classics commercial FREE and uncut as a sign of Good Will and Christmas Spirit? Don't tell me you can't afford it. And don't do anything to increase the quality of our lives if it costs You anything... like no trip to Paris for a long weekend over Christmas. Heaven forbid.

Sorry for my rant. ABC is certainly not the only corporate entity at fault. They are in good company. But couldn't the people 'at the top', who have the ability to effect change and help out the state of the world, stop being selfish pricks and actually do something? Set some examples for the rest of us besides, "look Ma, I got the most material goods and fucked over the most people, I win!"

Posted by Heart at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is just one sad sad example of a) how people are way too paranoid and take no responsibility for their own actions and b) how even the police fall prey to actions that only a MOMENT of THOUGHT could avoid - like realizing the complaints are unfounded and show an innate stupidity in the complainer.

How to get $8,000 for taking a photo of a woman "laying on her stomach with her skirt pulled up over her butt."

A similar thing happened to me this past fall when I was taking pictures at the Croton Dam in Northern Westchester County, NY, not far from the house where I grew up and my parents still live. While doing so I was approached by a very friendly Police Officer who said he had been asked to investigate reports of a "suspicious looking blond woman taking photos of the dam". What? "Do you mean Me?" I asked. Yes, he did. I laughed in disbelief. He then asked for my license which I told him was in my car. I was becoming concerned and one of my 'accomplices' (translate as 'fellow recreational photographer") stopped himself from interfering so that he wouldn't 'get me arrested' I later learned. The officer then asked if I would write down my name and address instead, which being in a good mood and KNOWING I was innocent of any sort of crime, I did. I now regret doing so as it WAS a violation of my own privacy and rights, but at the time I was just too surprised to react properly. It helped that one of my fellow photographers used to be a trial lawyer so I felt safe in the long run.

That was it. Sorry. Once I wrote my info down, which I could have made up but didn't, he went on his way and we parted with pleasantries. He was very nice and cordial the entire time, but it does not excuse the fact that some "paranoid idiot" thought to call the cops on me! Admittedly I was climbing around the dam to get decent angles and points of view, but I do not look like a terrorist unless 40 year old caucasian ladies with long blond hair and a Nikon camera look dangerous to you.

Here is one of the photos that got me in "trouble":

Posted by Heart at 12:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

so I won't try.

"Reefer Madness".

Posted by Heart at 7:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by Heart at 1:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So it seems...

That's right folks, the people who regulate what we can and can not bring on planes have decided that using lithium batteries on airplanes is too big a fire risk. What??? I didn't even know that a lithium battery had EVER caught fire on a plane. Sure, we hear about one catching fire once in a long while ( say 1 out of every billion or so sold - just speculating here) but seriously how often do you hear about this type of thing, much less on an plane?

I learned of it first on Thom Hogan's Nikon site, which has a link to the article on the new travel regulations.

What I can't believe is that No one is making a stink about this! Doesn't anyone realize what this means? No ipod playing or watching movies on your laptop when traveling across the country, across the ocean or around the World! Good bye to working while you fly for business travelers. Good bye casual ipod listeners who enjoyed tuning out to their favorites bands on a flight. Say "Hello" to bad in-flight movies, pay-for-play airline alternatives, and hanging with your fellow crowded, bored passengers twiddling their thumbs and drumming their fingers on their now useless laptops and mp3 players.

Yes, this was a stellar move by people putting our tax dollars to work. Nice one guys! Thanks for protecting us from something incredibly rare and potentially pointless so we can be further inconvenienced because you all had nothing Better to do with your time....

Posted by Heart at 1:01 PM | Permalink

I watched a movie the other day. A documentary perhaps. Why 'perhaps' a documentary? Well, Michael Moore calls his films "documentaries" so I don't want to place such a broad definition on the term, nor imply things I am not entirely sure of, which is the facts as presented. In this highly political climate there are too many filters in place before I get to absorb what has to suffice for information. So while I am open minded, I am skeptical. Unbiased, yet doubtful. I must test and corroborate what I learn before assimilation takes place. (I know, so 'Borgian")(g)

Oh, yes! The movie... it was "America: Freedom to Fascism" by Arron Russo.

I watched it not knowing what it was about, but I do worry about our Nation's course these days. And I see our children worrying as well. So I was intrigued. I always try to get information from all sides and truth be told, today's American Media does indeed bend to the 'Corporate Winds' more than it heals to its unbiased high purpose. But I digress...

It unsettled me. It was chilling. I think mostly because I am a person of Reason and Logic. ("ha ha" to all my friends who are joking at me for saying that - it's true. I was not an "A" student by 'accident') And I am an Idealist and philosopher like our founding fathers were, and had to be, to seed the soul of our Country. Basically, if true, their (our founding fathers) vision has been seriously corrupted in the worst way by people lacking ethics and filled with a pompous and distorted view of themselves and the world. If so, we are indeed in danger of losing our American (and every soul's) birthright; Freedom... it's More than just another word for nothing left to loose. It is Everything.

But I never take anything at face value without exploring further. Time will tell on this one and I surely hope to God that they are wrong. Or that our children have the souls of our forefathers and not the ones of today's sheep.

By the way... I am a Patriot. I love My Country. I am Proud of our Troops, all over the world. They are the Best. This would not have upset me if I did not truly care...

Posted by Heart at 12:08 PM | Permalink

My resolution:

To begin speaking... to end my silence...

To love and learn... to teach and inspire...

And for all of You, my Hope and Love.

Happy New Year!

P.S. That's my Grandmother with her first car at 18. She hopes to be enjoying many more New Years'... I hope so too!

P.P.S. That goes for you too Mom & Dad!

Posted by Heart at 11:26 PM | Permalink

This story has been around for a couple weeks now and we are still waiting for some sort of closure, which I am beginning to doubt will be very satisfactory. That the NYC police can allow such a "run-a-round" to take place and to tacitly say that "finders keepers" applies is dumbfounding and more than a bit disturbing. It is further disturbing that the people who help lower the quality of being Human to "barely above a shit-slinging chimp" are now going to potentially try to sue the guy who tried to bring some semblance to justice to this story.

(sighs)

How not to Steal a Sidekick or "how much of a moron can we be"

Posted by Heart at 10:52 AM | Permalink