To Bring peace to the Middle East. We must strengthen moderate Arab leaders and their assertion that the US has good intentions.

We need to bring extremists back to the middle, and we need public opinion around the world to do the same. We need to verify the notion that the US is a benevolent country that looks out for everyone's best interests.

This is not possible through military destruction.

Military destruction always does the exact opposite. It proves the militants right, it says that America is a greedy country, and that we do not care if we destroy people's lives to get what we want. It makes people believe that they have to defend themselves from American might, and they must build a military resistance.

To prove the militants wrong, we must live by international law and we must respect human rights and human life above all else. Snubbing the United Nations and rushing weapons to Israel is the wrong decision if we are looking for peace in the Middle East.

Republicans have lost their credibility in making Americans safer. After 6 years of Republican rule does anyone feel safer? The world today is seething with chaos and hatred. Much of that hatred is directed toward the US. Should I feel safer now that more people Hate me? Chaos is unfolding in the Middle East. Are we supposed to believe that War was just going to happen anyway? Or is it our involvement that has created these problems, rather that solving them? The Bush administration has provoked and instigated the violence we see today.

The Bush doctrine is preemptive war. But we forget what war means. What is like to have a bomb dropped in your town, a big explosion in which 12 people die and 30 are injured? Everyone around the explosion stares in disbelief and fear, people pull survivors away from the fire. People's lives are ruined in an instant. Loved ones traumatically die in an act of violence and terror. What does that do to a town? What if at the same time the bridge you take to work has been bombed. The electric plant has been destroyed and the power has been off for days. People are using generators to power refrigerators, and hospitals. Surviving, and helping others survive through gasoline powered generators. While everywhere someone is mourning the loss of a loved one. In Lebanon this is happening right now. Every day.

I fear that nothing is shocking anymore. We have seen so many explosions on TV that we have forgotten the true reality of it. The damage and suffering that they leave in their wake. Over 1,000 civilians have died in Lebanon in the last month. Hundreds of highways and bridges have been destroyed. A power plant on the cost was bombed and the oil the plant used to make electricity spilled onto the Mediterranean coastline creating one of the worst environmental disasters the country has ever seen.

I'm not saying that we are the only ones who are violent. What I am saying is that violence never solves a problem, it only perpetuates more violence and revenge. People do not simply submit to abuse and do what you want them to.

People are not pacified through violence.

Are we safer now that Iran is the figurehead for defiance of the US? Before we went into Iraq, when we named Iran in the 'Axis of Evil', the Iranian government was struggling for legitimacy with its own people. Much of the Iranian population didn't want to live under a religiously based set of laws, and the Iranian government didn't have much power to do anything. But what happens when the US starts being aggressive toward Iran and other Middle Eastern countries? Everyone rallies around Iran's position, strongly opposing the US.

And when more innocent Muslims die, we prove Iran, al Qaeda and Hezbollah right.

Bush and his advisers have never seen war, except for Collin Powell who is ironically a big opponent of the Iraq War. But Bush wants more war, he thinks Preemptive war is a great idea. They believe the US should be starting wars without provocation. Bush says that we should have an aggressive foreign policy. But should the US really be acting like the aggressor, starting wars and killing people around the world? No, the Bush Doctrine is completely un-American.

Now that we've ignored, abused, and discredited the UN are we safer? The UN represents the rule of law in international relations. Without the rule of law, nations resort to force. We didn't want the UN to stop us from invading Iraq, what happens now when we want to stop Iran and North Korea from developing Nuclear weapons? We can't ask the UN for help because we ignored them, now everyone else can ignore them. Force becomes a more likely option, because we don't have an alternative.

I sure as hell don't feel safer.


Thanks e-strip for being my journal

Below is a video from Lebanon, by Kevin Sites, a Yahoo News reporter.

It is easy for the Neoconservatives to claim that military bombardment fits into some grand scheme to bring stability to anything.

But if you see, with your own eyes, what actually happens when you drop a bomb on a town, you realize that war is not a solution to anything. War and violence only inspires hatred, revenge, and more death. War is not a solution, it IS the problem.

Bombarding Lebanon has done nothing but inspire fierce and persistent Hatred for America and Israel.

Solutions are found when people sit at a table and talk to one another, not through death, killing and chaos.

The US and Israel are purposefully instigating a war with the Muslim world. I do not know why. But nobody in their right mind would think that these bombings are reducing the threat of terrorism.

What we are really doing in Lebanon, is giving people another good reason to hate us. We are frustrating them and terrorizing their lives to the point that they will take up arms against us. And we are training militants in combat every day we fight them.

The bombing of Lebanon is completely irrational, unless your goal is world war. America has lost it's mind and its soul.

This is a video from a reporter what happened to be a block away from the attack. He runs over with his video camera and captures the aftermath, going directly to the site and talking to the man whose house was bombed. You can see and hear the chaos that abounds in the small country of Lebanon.

In this country we are very insulated from the effects of our 'aggressive' policies. Fortunately for us we can find videos like this on the internet, so we do not have to be so ignorant, as the war mongerers in Washington would like us to be.

The link is below, don't bother reading the news article, to me it relies on the "official" description of events too much. Personally I don't trust the government to interpret the news for me, they lie too much.

Watch the videos, there are 2, they are both good. The photo essay is good too. The second video down 'The chaotic aftermath of the air strike' is uncensored reality, it is a must see for us sheltered Americans.

See the videos here:



More from the reporter can be found here It's nice to have a few minutes of video from the places we hear about on the news.

Just had a idea.

The casino thing is all up in the air. But we really don't have to wait for a lawsuit, or for Albany to figure itself out, or Washington where the Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton approved the land transfer for the Indians and later resigned under corruption allegations.

We can figure this out for ourselves. The City Council can put a referendum on the ballot one of these elections, and ask the voters support, or do not support an sovereign Indian-operated casino in downtown Buffalo. Yes or no to the casino.

And if we say no, the city agrees to not comply with the casino, by not agreeing to any permits or easements so that the casino can not operate.

And if it comes into question with the federal government, the people of the city voted for it, what can they do? The federal government might be able to override the city government on some things, but the people? the voters? We can't be easily overridden.

Thoughts?

I'm sorry it has taken me so long to post these. This bike trip was one week ago Sunday.

I went on a 4 hour bike trip of the East Side of Buffalo, there was about 16 of us. Our Tour guide was David Torke from Fix Buffalo Great group of People. I stayed and had Lunch with David, Cynthia Van Ness, and Scott. It was a lot of fun talking about the city.

I always wanted to see more of the East Side, it's so vast and unfamiliar. Bike riding was great, you're able to see everything from a human perspective, not in a car.

We mostly toured architectural treasures that were abandoned, some badly decayed. But we also got a feel for what it is like to live on the East Side. We saw some of what has been done to help or hinder these communities. We saw some of the worst streets in broad daylight. And we saw how few people there are in some areas.

The thing that struck me the most was how much it felt like the country. The East Side is pretty sparsely populated in some areas. You have streets with 14 houses 8 of which are abandoned, then 6 open lots from demolished homes. The abandoned homes become sweet unsupervised hangouts for neighborhood kids, and then trouble starts. Fire, drugs, violence, sex. After seeing these neighborhoods first hand I have a lot better understanding of exactly what it is like to live in a state of worry. You also begin to the roots of problems.

David Torke mentioned trying to get people organized on the East Side, he said people are kind of 'suspicious' of each other. That struck me as a profound insight into the environment and the people, and the types of tensions one encounters.

The East Side really isn't so bad, I dispelled a lot of my myths and fears about it. A lot of it is abandoned, but some strips are active, and there are things going on. We rode by a couple of storefront churches with their doors open, and there were gospel bands playing with a full drum set, and bass. People live there, they have just been ignored for so long that they don't expect the government to help.

But the appeal of the East Side is that, in a weird way, it's kind of like the country. There are some open spaces where homes have been removed and fields of grass have taken over. Areas around train tracks and dead end streets that are mostly abandoned. Some times there will be 4-8 open spaces next to each other that create a field.

Last Chance to take the tour this summer!! Saturday September 2nd start at Coe Pl. and Main St. at 11:00. More info at Fix Buffalo

I posted a whole bunch of photos from the trip on Flickr in fact there are 54 photos in the set

Here are some, but there are way too many good ones. We went to the train Station and I took a lot of pictures. I was also riding with the camera around my neck and taking pictures without looking. What a great opportunity.



Yes, that is on the East Side. off of Clinton Street. Realy neat feeling to the place.





/ This is the back of the church below /



Transfiguration Church at 929 Sycamore Street.













Urban Prairie on Koons Avenue. Really interesting spot.



More on Flickr
Check it out!

Molly, my wonderful fiance, is on the other side of the planet, in Indonesia. She has always wanted to travel and do service work. I couldn't go because I am a photographer and I work in a studio of 4, so I couldn't abandon my wedding commitments. so I am miserably lonely, she is gone for a month.

She is helping build and start a pre-school. then she is going to facilitate Alternatives to Violence workshops, she is a certified AVP facilitator. She will be around Ache most of the time, where they had the tsunami. She is doing well, I got a couple updates from her. She's been gone about 2 weeks. I got her a 1 gigabyte memory card for her camera before she went, that will take about 700-1000 pictures, so I will get a pretty full tour when she gets home. They're not high tech so she can't e-mail any pictures to me now.

I miss her.

Ok, so YouTube is my new best friend, Why pay for cable, just get DSL.

I love the YouTube interface, it really allows you to sort of 'channel surf' by displaying related videos on the right, along with some random favorites all the way to the right. You can find out so much about an issue in 20 minutes by just surfing through the related videos.


Today, I ended up checking out US election fraud in 2004 mostly. Here's a video to get you started, it's a computer programmer testifying before the Florida State Legislature about how HE WROTE a program to rig the election for Tom Feeney (who got elected by the way). The Legislators ask him some fascinating questions and really get to the fine details of how easy it is. also check out parts 1-4 of Votergate in the related videos.




Yesterday I checked out evidence that contradicts the government's explanation of why the twin towers fell on 9/11. Search for "World Trade Center", "Explosives" the evidence is astounding. And it uses first person testimony and video evidence. So the credibility of the director is not usually an issue, because you are watching first hand evidence with your own eyes. Flip through the related videos for first person testimony and news coverage about explosions around the trade center.




Last a movie about the 3 innocent British Muslims who went through Guantanamo
Links to the trailer and a clip from the movie, plus a description here



More Movies about 9/11, and some music at my random blogger account.

Just got home from work, I'm a photographer, and I did a military wedding tonight, Marines actually. They make me emotional. It's just that these people disserve infinite respect, and they don't fucking get it. They're used like goddamn pawns in a giant game of risk. and you know what's at risk? it's not peace and security, it's fucking profits. When I'm at these weddings, I just cherish the presence of the people that have lived to be there, and they joy of their families to be able to celebrate something after a year of frightening uncertainty apart from their child. For me it's heavy stuff, and the Marines are all their to forget and try to celebrate, despite the fact that they've lost friends on the battlefield. These guys today were all from Iraq, and their platoon did suffer casualties and injuries. The day was never sad, they didn't have speeches lamenting any tragedy, but it still made me emotional. Maybe just because these guys could have died, I don't know... it's rough.

People:
1. How did you find out about/why did you become of estrip?
Shawn Rider and the DMS community at UB, I had stumbled on the site prior to that but never signed up for an account.

2. How "out" are you about having a publicly accessible online journal. Do your friends know? Does your family know? Do your co-workers know? Does your boss know? Do you use your real name? Do you use your real photo?
I don't write or use anything I don't want to be public. Don't use my real name. My journal will be more public soon because I have set up a basic API and will give it a simple address.

3. How many epeeps have you met real life? 4-5, most at the Geek Meet or UB

4. How has estrip changed the way that you meet people, on and/or off line?
Not much, sometimes I am more social on the site, but I don't use it to meet people outside.

5. How has estrip affected you love life?
None.

6. How many of your friends have joined estrip because of your influence?
None yet, though I have tried.

7. Are you from Buffalo/do you live in Buffalo?
Sure do, yes to both questions.

Equipment:
1. What type of hardware or software purchases have you made as a result of using estrip?
none

2. Have you used the mobile version of estrip? Why or why not?
No, seems very cool but I have no phone. Like the idea of posting from Concerts or news events.

Lifestyle:
1. In what way has estrip changed your Internet surfings habits? Describe the amount of time you spend on estrip, when you use it and about how long?
Depends on the week, at first I was on (e:strip) about 2-3 hours per day, now it depends on whether I am having a discussion on the site.

1a. How many journals do you usually read per day?
I don't check the site every day anymore, I did for the first 3-4 months. Now I check probably twice a week. Average, I'll read 4-6 different user's journals.

2. In what ways has estrip changed the way you perceive your local community?
It allows me to see a range of perspectives from people who live differently than I do, I understand more facets of my community. I might not be able to find such a variety of perspectives otherwise.

3. How has journaling about your life affected the way you spend your free time?
Well, having a journal that people can easily read and respond to, has kind of filled the role of my old paper journal. Much of that had gotten political, rather than too personal to share. And I always wanted to publish some of my journals someday, (e:strip) provides a great audience.

4. Has estrip changed your living situation in any way?
Nope.

5. Do you find that you mediate/document more of your experiences now that you share them with others?
Sometimes. Most of my pieces are opinion rather than personal stories. I find that my personal stories tend to be expressed and remembered through pictures, now that I think about it. I like to have my camera around when I do fun stuff that I might like to remember, concerts, hiking, traveling, etc. interesting, never thought about that. But I think I do write more about politics than I would without an account on a welcoming and functionally thoughtful site like (e:strip).

6. Has publishing on estrip affected the way that write?
I haven't particularly noticed, but I do generally pay attention to my audience. I actually have gotten to be a little less picky about my writing, but I don't know the cause of that really, maybe just laziness.

7. Do you have other online journals? If so, with what service and has estrip affected your usage of that journal?
Blogger, I just use that for news articles, not my own writings.
WNY Media, I use that just for longer more important articles that I write, though I usually post them on (e:strip) too, or they start on (e:strip) and turn into longer pieces as I do research.
Myspace, never really used it, just played with the interface.
Flickr, I should post more pictures on (e:strip) but I don't.

8. Have you ever gotten in trouble for using estrip at work?
Almost, I've definitely posted from work.

9. If you have stopped using estrip, why?
Decreased now just because I'm busier.

In response to (e:libertad,50) This started as a comment, but it is something I've been wanting to write about for a while, so I'll post it here.

"A patriotic company isn't just concerned with the bottom line, but for the environment in which it operates, the welfare of its employees and the image they are portraying of their country." Hell yea to that Brother!

We have been fooled, in so many ways, by those who make a profit. They have convinced us that the most profitable course of action is the most enjoyable.

Paying less, has become more valuable than walking to the corner store, interacting with your neighbors and being part of your community.

There is no community at Wal-Mart, just miserable underpaid staff and impatient irritable customers. Is that Life? Does it mean that society is doing well if we have more faceless warehouses selling us cheap crap? Paying $3.99 instead of $4.99 for a garbage can is supposed to make my life complete?!

Instead how about, running a small business doing what I love to do, a hardware store, clothing store, a bike shop, shoe store, camping store etc... That's life, waking up each morning and doing something I enjoy.

Instead we are convinced that if we can buy more things, then our life will be fulfilled. What we own determines how happy we are, not how we live. What a bunch of crap.

Personally I'm careful of where I spend my money, I will pay that extra dollar at a local business to get a plunger for my bathroom, instead of looking for the cheapest price. Because local businesses make my community a better place, they are more enjoyable to visit, and I feel like I am giving the owner a gift by helping them to live peacefully. The paradigm in this country has got to shift.