Month: January 2011

The war on photography

~ susie ~ 3 Comments

This is Philadelphia, but it could have been anywhere — this automatic authoritarian assertion of non-existent lawbreaking. Just part of the new post 9/11 “security” world! (h/t Philly Bits)

My turn to be harassed by the SEPTA Transit police. I snapped a photo of an incoming Broad St Subway train at City Hall when I was faced with a person asking me if I was “authorized to take photos”. I say person at this point because while well dressed, he wore no police uniform. I told him photography was allowed in SEPTA. He claimed it was not and claimed he was a police officer. “Let’s see a badge” I sez. We all got on the train where he produced a badge. Ok fine, he’s a cop. And he continues this tirade where I didn’t have authorization to take photos. Jersey Mike heard this and added that that wasn’t true.

I told the officer to call a cop on us if that’s the case. By then we reached Race-Vine station where we were ordered off the train and detained on the platform by the officer, who radio’d for other officers, who showed up, first 2 then 2 more until we had at least 4 and at most 6 cops with us on the platform.

We got frisked for weapons and long story short, I was given a citation for disorderly conduct and was told to sign it. I of course insisted on reading what I was signing and noticed in the narrative that I “had used profanity”. This was false and I called the officer on it and he told me “you don’t tell me what to write” and so I refused to sign it. I’m still issued the citation, have a court date, etc.

He told me “that will teach you how to treat an officer when he questions you”.

I said “no, I wouldn’t do one thing different; you weren’t wearing a uniform and I had to ask you to show ID that you were a cop.” We were free to leave so we did. What a pain in the ass. I didn’t need nor do I need “authorization” to take photos; this guy is just a bully.

Geeze, you’re lucky you weren’t Tazed.

Nothing to see here

~ susie

Nope, no extreme weather anywhere, nothing going on, no climate change!

Floods that have inundated 22 Australian towns and forced more than 200,000 from their homes headed toward the northeast coast on New Year’s Day, forcing further evacuations and warnings of 30-ft flood waters.

Australia has endured its wettest spring on record, causing six river systems in tropical Queensland to flood, as soaring temperatures in the states of Victoria and South Australia sparked warnings of devastating bushfires.

The rain has flooded coal mines and hit farming hard, with many roads still impassable, and prompted warnings of the dangers of crocodiles and snakes in flooded homes

The inland sea that stretches across Queensland is dotted with the roofs of flooded homes, islands of dry ground crowded with stranded livestock and small boats ferrying people and emergency supplies.

We keep telling you but you just won’t listen

~ susie ~ 6 Comments

You have to watch this video to see how insidiously the Villagers are spreading the narrative: Those Baby Boomers are sucking all the money out of the Treasury because they’re just so damned selfish! And only some of them served in Viet Nam! Watch as Diane Sawyer puts on her Very Serious Face and says the deficit is a big problem. Pay attention to the lies scattered throughout. Dear God, it’s going to be another one of those years:

The first baby boomers will turn 65 Jan. 1, beginning a flood of applications for Medicare benefits that experts fear could drain the economy and hold political repercussions for President Obama.

The baby boomer generation marked a huge reproductive uptick between 1946 and 1964, when 76 million children were born, creating a higher demand across the nation for schools and consumer products, and an upheaval in popular culture.

But this post-World War II generation’s overwhelming demand on the Medicare system could possibly leave future generations with a bigger bill.

Medicare currently covers 46 million people, costing the government about $500 billion a year. But when the last of the iconic generation reaches 65 in about 20 years, more than 80 million people will be eligible for Medicare coverage, although the number of working people paying into the program will have decreased from 3.5 per person receiving benefits to 2.3.

The increase in the number of people eligible for benefits paired with the rising costs of health care and longer life spans threatens the program’s sustainability. It could force the administration and Congress to come up with a plan to reduce costs, either by cutting benefits or raising taxes.

A recent Associated Press-GfK poll found that 61 percent of Americans favored raising taxes in lieu of slashing benefits. The poll included adults in their 20s, who potentially could end up paying more into the system.

Fifty-one percent opposed the idea of giving older Americans a fixed payment to use against the cost of private insurance, an option made popular by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. Sixty-three percent opposed raising the age of eligibility.

How stubbornly ill-formed these voters are. How are we going to reeducate them?

Dream

~ susie ~ 2 Comments

Strange dream last night. Was working with a reporter I used to know (someone I don’t like) in the Capitol building, saw a small plane (white with blue markings) make a pass at the building and then, with the second pass, smash into the dome.

Hmm.

UPDATE: This is strange. I was talking to a friend on the phone about my dream, and maybe a minute later, I got this news alert.