Voices without Votes » Photos

Un Zapatazo to Say Adios to Bush

Aggregated from: VivirLatino — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 13:30:52 +0000

One more thing antes que Presidente Obama steps up: Casa Mala's shoe throwing tribute for outgoing Bush.

Un zapatazo en contra de todas la guerras, not just the ones overseas, pero also the ones within and against communities here in the U.S. For New Orleans, the fronteras, the barrios, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Un zapatazo con tacon for Oscar Grant, Marcelo Lucero, all of those raided by ICE, all the children separated from their parents, for those young men of color sent to the front lines, for all those without health insurance and papers. For all those behind walls: prison walls, border walls, walls of poverty.

Time to feel my feet on the ground and dig into the earth with my toes and walk and work.

Throw your shoe up on your site and link to the shoe throwing throwdown at My Ecdysis.

Obama inauguration concert on the mall

Aggregated from: JOTMAN — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 23:45:00 +0000

Washington DC today reminded me of the streets of Bangkok during the first days of the coup in 2006. The streets were closed to traffic. Humvees had been parked at every intersection manned by GIs.

The first two photos capture the US military presence in the capital.

1. Soldiers gather in near the World War II memorial (completed in 2006). The camouflage made them very hard to see.

2. One of the highest points in DC is the Washington Monument. Soldiers seated on top of trucks scanned the horizon (for what I'm not sure).

3. A large crowd had gathered to watch performers in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

4. People in front of the Washington monument.

Funny how things work out

Aggregated from: England for Obama — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 00:37:11 +0000

If I hadn’t spotted that I’d left my iPod on my tube train seat, I wouldn’t have jumped back on the train just before the doors shut, and had to stay on until the next stop; and then got back on the line going back to my original stop.

If I hadn’t been delayed by those 10 minutes, I wouldn’t have happened to be walking down the street towards the Lincoln Memorial concert just as the Obama motorcade went past.

And if I hadn’t decided to walk down to the Washington Monument after learning that there was no chance of getting into the concert ground itself, I would never have passed this man as he happened to be walking the other way:

This man, for the uninitiated - ie British people - is Chris Matthews. He’s one of America’s best-known TV pundits - and one of my favourites - and bumping into him is akin to following a British general election like a total geek, then flying to London only to bump into Jeremy Paxman or David Dimbleby.

It’s true. In America, anything *is* possible.

Photos thus far

Aggregated from: England for Obama — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 05:01:56 +0000

Click on the photo below for shots I’ve taken since arriving Washington. The weather/light wasn’t great today - very grey and overcast - which never makes for very good pictures (at least on a little 800 ISO Ixus), but still. There are ones from the inaugural concert - I watched it from up near the Washington Monument - and the light afterwards, as I walked down the Mall and approached the Capitol, was, actually, lovely, as a beautiful sunset was forming. My favourite view was the Monet-esque frozen Reflection Pool:

JLo and Skeletor: Vile “Aprovechadores”?

Aggregated from: VivirLatino — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 22:25:36 +0000

That's what gossip blogger Perez Hilton is reporting is on the tongues of Latino democrats: that JLo and old Skelly-Skell are all about getting some spotlight at Obama's inaugural ball when they never supported the Illinois senator in the first place:

Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez are scheduled to appear at the Latino Inaugural Ball (Obama's supposed to attend as well) on Sunday, January 18th, two days before the official Inauguration, and some high-profile Latino Dems are NOT pleased.

They're apparently furious because the high-profile couple didn't support Obama until after he'd won.

One major player called them "vile opportunists for worming themselves into anything Obama related even though they had nothing to do with his win."

It apparently gets much worse; Perez says that Mr. Skull had even refused to perform at "a 'crucial' get-out-the-Latino-vote event in Orlando, Fla., just two weeks before the election". Funny how becoming president makes folks come out of the woodwork.

Via / Perez Hilton

Image: AP/The Star.com

HOW BUSH WILL BE REMEMBERED

Aggregated from: CHUCKMAN's CARTOON COMMENTS — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:02:00 +0000

All the presidents men

Aggregated from: England for Obama — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 22:56:08 +0000

This is quite something:

And here they are walking and talking and such. Well, talking, at least:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Know what struck me most as I watched that video? That it’s really close. It’s about to happen. Any day now (January 20th - Ed) Barack Obama is becoming President. Wow.

*Update* Rachel Maddow talks about the meeting (and includes footage of a new interview with Obama, which leaps rather strangely from talk of the economic stimulus package to body-surfing in Hawaii, but still):

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Beyond cute

Aggregated from: England for Obama — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 09:36:14 +0000

The six-year-old son of the new Alaskan Senator, Mark Begich, screamed “Obama!” when he saw him in Washington on Monday (when all the new Senators were sworn in). And Obama, of course, responded to his call:

(Hat-tip: AK Muckraker)

Naughty Obama Joke

Aggregated from: My Right Word — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 13:17:00 +0000

Obama Cartoons in arabic newspapers

Aggregated from: Rantings of a Sandmonkey » American politics — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 11:50:38 +0000

Ta3beer has a collection of Obama cartoons from arabic newspapers. Some of them are negative:

Some are appallingly racist

and some are positive and self-critical at the same time:

American Obama

–His father is an African migrant who abandoned him in his childhood.
–A minority lawyer who is active in human rights within the Democratic Party
–Was elected president of the United States of America!

Arab Obama

–No family whatsoever, vagabond
–A slave with a dark complexion and a foreign agenda
–He can't even dream of getting an Arab citizenship

Check them all out here.

A Possible Solution?

Aggregated from: My Right Word — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 11:51:00 +0000

For the Democratic ticket?

Source

Story Behind the Picture

Aggregated from: My Right Word — Wed, 14 May 2008 12:17:00 +0000

See this picture?

And this is what you don't see (but can read):-

A steep descent brings Clinton's plane to Charleston's hilltop airport. After an appropriate wait, she steps from the plane and pretends to wave to a crowd of supporters; in fact, she is waving to 10 photographers underneath the airplane's wing. She pretends to spot an old friend in the crowd, points and gives another wave; in fact, she is waving at an aide she had been talking with on the plane minutes earlier.

USA : 9th December Detroit Meldown and Bail Out Hearings

Aggregated from: European Avenue — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 10:15:00 +0000

AutoBlog, 2008

Our Next Minister of Foreign Affairs?

Aggregated from: SuperFrenchie — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 12:14:04 +0000

We may not have a black president, but Chloé Mortaud, our newly elected Miss France, is as diverse as they come. She has an African-American mother and a white French father. She is also a dual citizen of France and the United States. Oh, and she speaks Chinese.

“I want to incarnate … today’s French diversity,” she said.

I’d say let’s name her our Minister of Foreign Affairs.

This is brilliant…

Aggregated from: England for Obama — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 10:20:46 +0000

…and ever so slightly creepy. Have a good weekend, folks:

(Tip of the hat to Bob Cesca.)