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.