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Iraq and Afghanistan War Photo June 29, 2007

Baquba #2

Maybe the military thinks that taunting the enemy is a fair trade off it it fires up our crusaders?  And then, could someone please tell me where the Times is going with this caption: During the operation, Specialist Paul Goodyear wore a headband bearing a passage from Psalm 91:...

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Iraq and Afghanistan War Photo June 28, 2007

Baquba #1

Scott Nelson's photos for the NYT this week make the fierce, but largely ambiguous U.S. attack on Baquba seem only that much more so.

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Who Do You Think You're Looking At?

Once again, the unraveling of the Cheney/Bush Administration has proven too messy for the visual press to it dirty its hands, paper and electrons on.  I'm referring specifically to Monday's coverage of the EPA Director Christine Whitman's appearance before a House Judiciary Subcommittee to try and finesse the agency's...

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International Focus Photo June 27, 2007

Blair's Retirement Hobby

As Tony Blair leaves office today, I just don't see where he derives serious credibility as the new Middle East envoy.  Reflective of the problem is how the British Royal Academy, obviously mindful of the timing, chose to laud English artist Michael Sandle's 'Iraq Triptych' at the 239-year-old Royal...

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Campaign '08 Photo June 26, 2007

Hillary And Obama:The Issue At Hand(s)

First, my attention was called to the fact that these images are more in line with what Kress and Van Leeuwen call “demand” pictures rather than “offer” pictures....  The third cover ambiguates all of this just a bit, but the eyes are still present, and we get the sense...

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Uncategorized Photo June 25, 2007

Then The Planes Hit The Buildings, Mr. Shadow President

Along with the 'spheric attention lately to Dick Cheney as the so-called "fourth branch of government," there seems to have also arisen a renewed interest in the Cheney-Bush relationship.

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Culture Focus Photo June 23, 2007

Belvedere

A brand-new shiny car, buried half a century ago in a time capsule, was recently revealed in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Oklahoma's statehood. People had hoped to find a pristine, gold '57 Plymouth Belvedere. Instead, they discovered a rust-covered relic.

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Uncategorized Photo June 22, 2007

Digby 1, Beale 0. (Or, She's Mad As Hell And She's Still Not Taking It Anymore!)

Most of us, despite our high-minded desires and ideals, still have different basic attitudes toward and expectations of men and women, and this was a little lesson for me in that fact.  Also, I agree that having a strong voice - a voice many assumed was a man's because...

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Bush Focus Photo June 21, 2007

Final Bush-Blair Feat

Still, I find it an interesting document, as the one image in the White House photo gallery highlighting George Bush alone with Tony Blair during the recent G-8 meeting in Germany.  (In most of the White House portraits of the leaders socializing in Heiligendamm, by the way, Blair with...

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Campaign '08 Photo June 19, 2007

Bubba's Back (If Without The Same Badda Bing)

What was so brilliant about the Clinton/Sorpranos video was not so much the hype over the "campaign theme song" or even the play off of the Sopranos final episode.  What was brilliant is how the buzz over both provided an effective buffer, and a smooth entree for Bill...

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Iraq and Afghanistan War Photo June 18, 2007

Can Anybody Remember As Far Back As January?

Why does Gen. David Petraeus (visually) supersede the head-down Secretary of Defense in this shot from Iraq on Saturday?  Maybe, because that's the story.

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Campaign '08 Photo June 17, 2007

TIME to GOP: Bring On The Replacements?

Maybe D.C. gridlock is the manifest issue here, but I smell Presidential politics all over (and behind) this cover.  Feels like TIME -- perhaps panicking over a one-sided, low-drama election -- is sounding the call for GOP candidate reinforcements.  And, excuse me for projecting, but could they also be...

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Campaign '08 Photo June 16, 2007

Between Obama And "Honest Abe"

My question is, to what extent does the visual analogy to Lincoln, as proposed by Black Agenda Report, suggest that Obama has sold out black America?

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Bush Focus Photo June 15, 2007

No Other Besides Him

Then, and only then, would these fantasies (the one above, and the "what might have been" cover with Bush and Rice) have had any legitimacy in the latest Vanity Fair/Bono/Leibovitz "20 cover" cover Africa chain....  As the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development—an independent monitor of global spending—reports, the...

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Iraq and Afghanistan War Photo June 14, 2007

Seeing The Slow Vanishing Of Iraq

Wednesday's tragic destruction of the minarets at the already crippled al-Askari mosque in Samarra has dealt the Iraqi government and the U.S. position still another moral and strategic blow.  As a metaphor for the progressive nature of how Iraq has been losing its face, its character, its mind --...

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Culture Focus Photo June 13, 2007

It’s Not A Hand Gun, It’s Military: Fleet Week #3

What I'm curious about, however, is how -- just weeks after the Virginia Tech shootings (and the lost opportunity to have a public debate about hand guns) -- neither the military, the police, nor the city seemed to have reservations in encouraging the public (no just looking?), and especially,...

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Culture Focus Photo June 12, 2007

Black Boys With Guns: Fleet Week #2

Yesterday, I posted the first of a three-part series from Fleet Week.  Photographer Nina Berman's images record the week-long festivities in New York involving the presence of naval ships, sailors, and military demonstrations and exhibitions all over the city.  In this middle set of pictures, I'm interested in questions,...

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Culture Focus Photo June 11, 2007

Asking Questions About America: Fleet Week #1

About two weeks ago, photographer Nina Berman sent me a series of photos she had shot during Fleet Week, and I've been looking at them every day since.

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