Travis Dickerson Recording Studios Forum

my goodness buswolley! Where have you been?? These guys have been on headline news for many years now. They are an overbearing discirminatory group of so-called border watchers who are going to "keep the damn terrrosits out along with the bloodsucking immigrants who only want to suck the welfare system dry." (quote is of course a little dramtatic but I point only a LITTLE dramatic)

ok here it goes. here are the links to a photos I took that I think is not too bad:



And thank you for the cool directions! I feel so inept! :-)

LOL on the flip flops.Wonder why the media has not taken that one up? :-) yeah right!

Amazing for me on the photos. I have been interested in photography my whole life, but only the last year have I truly tried hard at it. My current task is to try and get my trigger finger to snap exactly when I want. Last year I worked on framing up. Pretty happy for the most part with my results on framing-up. When I added my trigger finger to the mix, I had to sort of start all over again framing up...too many things to think about all at once! :-) LOL!!! poor me! So far I  am managing to frame up and snap all at once~

I\'d share a pic but I can\'t seem to figure this dumb forum out... :-)

Maybe Bush will be held accountable some day for all that\'s happneed, but I think not. Likely a cohort or cronie.

thanks gkg! We did have a nice time together. I took photos of fireworks I can\'t believe that I took! And my olderst son did the sme. Made me proud.

I would not trust the N Korea thing as a diplomacy issue. I think it is a nice distraction for the media to overlook what Bush does with Iran. One more of those convenient issues that can be used to take the spotlight off that which you wish not to speak about as a politician.

I agree with Marcy. I was in the Palisades on the Fourth of July. I refrained from the parade in lieu of a fun day at Surfrider Beach in Malibu with my two boys. But, I did go to the fireworks show at Palisades High School. And, the same themes that Marcy describedf were present there too from the lawnchairs and music streaming into the canyons from the loudspeaker.

Religious songs were sung on a National holiday. And under normal circumstances, if America can be considered normal anymore, a religious song would not have gotten the hairs up on the back of my neck. But in today\'s extremist non-democracy, I couldn\'t help but feel oppressed and suffocated while sitting in the midst of what I thought would be a good ole hometown fireworks show complete with good music and old fashioned celebration themes. I love fireworks. In fact, the Fourth of July is my favorite holiday next to Christmas. Family ideas in both holidays. I\'m very much a family person. I am deeply religious. But both ideas seem to have been hijacked.

Now I am happy that I did not go to the parade in Palisades - another of my favorite passtimes. Listening to an hour and a half of Republican leaning music was a bummer enough, dampened my spirits. Fortunately I had my The Nation Magazine with me. But even then I was reading about Ohio and the stolen election. So, I guess the background on the other side of my magazine page was fitting for the night anyway.

AQUABOT WROTE:
There is no war (there has never been any war) waged to liberate people, it doesn\'t exist. War is always waged to dispossess other countries of their natural riches.


Hallelujah Amen! I said Hallelujah AMEN to recognizing war sucks and is merely for selfish purposes!

not really. There are so many other means of persuasion/pressure other than blowing someone\'s head off. And I did not say Bin Laden was justified. In fact it was a horrible day caused by an extremist ideaology that caused serious injury to America\'s psyche. It\'s easy to scare the Hell out of Americans now - me included. I flew to Washingtond DC in January 2002 and was scared out of my mind! But I did it anyway.

However, I am saying this is not a new conflict between extremist Islam and extremist Christian Fundamentalism. And, I am saying there is no difference between the Pope at that time (I am Catholic, so I am not inferring any offense) telling the military to go attack the Arabs during the crusades and Bin Laden telling his militants to go attack the U.S. on 9-11 and America telling its troops to go attack Arab soil in Iraq and Afghanistan and America supporting Israel\'s ofenses against the Arabs - this is a long standing historical battle. And there is no nation on the side of justice. That\'s all I am saying. And I feel hopeless at times that we can\'t seem to end it. And I feel America\'s foreign policies toward the so called thrid world are the reason we have these issues.  

Hey phartacus,

Take a look at the conflict from the Arab world in a historical context back to the time of the crusdaes - there you might find when the Arab world initiated dialogue when the Western world invaded their lands. The Arabs told us then to get off their lands in our illegal occupation - this many years later we are still invading their space and calling Palestinian lands "disputed" territory instead of "occupied" much like we call the Iraq war diplomatic efforts to rid ourselves of phantom weapons of mass destruction rather just plain calling it the illegal occupation it is so the oil industry can fattern their pockets and rape America of its money by raising gas prices.

I was a Republican at the time of the first Bush election and felt a shift in the Republican Party when Cheney elected himself the VIP choice (Now I am a Democrat). But, my words are just my opinion, which in a democracy we are supposed to have varied views, something that is not really taking place in our government anymore. So, I\'m not saying you have to hang with my point of view.

Read on for more opinions:

Mr. Cheney\'s Imperial Presidency
December 23, 2005, © The New York Times
URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/23/opinion/23fri1.html

"Israel is the reason behind Iraq war"
12/26/2005 Al Jazeera
URL: http://www.aljazeeramagazine.com/cgi-bin/review/article_full_story.asp?service_ID=10238

"Palestinians Hit By Sonic Boom Air Raids"
Chris McGreal in Gaza
Thursday November 3, 2005 The Guardian
URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1607236,00.html

Telling it like it isn\'t
By Robert Fisk, ROBERT FISK
December 27, 2005, © Los Angeles Times
URL: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-fisk27dec27,0,6099761.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions

And Mr. Bush\'s own words on his goals for America:
"make America less dependent on foreign sources of oil."

And in the end we have struck behind closed doors deals that are a cash cow for large corporate oil companies at the cost of thousands of American lives and tens of thousands of Iraqi lives. I think America is shouting at the Arab world rather than "striking a dialogue."

Thanks oldfolkie for the uplifting words. I was beginning to feel pretty powerless after watching Syriana (I started the Syriana board yesterday on this site). I am the one who said she has no hope.

We used to be able to yank scoundrels out of governernment. That was why kings used to be afraid of the masses. Why can\'t we raise even one lick of fear in our leaders loosing their positions today? They just thumb their noses at us in modern times.

It\'s not just Bush though, for me, it was Clinton and Rwanda where we lost 1 million lives and the Black Hawk Down issues too. I\'m certified by the United Nations in International Humanitariam Law and the Law of Armed Conflict - and my heart is a pacifist 100%. I think there is always a way to work something out diplomatically and not through force.

If you have not seen the movie Hotel Rwanda, I recommend that one too. I studied that massacre to the point of tears. And the movie is a highly accurate depiction of how the world let Rwanda down. There is another little known film called "Gaza Strip" that maybe you guys might relate to also. It too is an accurate depiction of why we have Arab blood (which I have in me) angry at us. Visit the site here to learn more: http://www.littleredbutton.com/gaza/

Sorry for the hand wringing, but I am still working on finding my hope. It\'s in me somewhere....   :-/

More Voices of Courage can be found here from the Howard Zinn\'s Voices of the People\'s History of the United States:

URL: https://store.democracynow.org/?pid=10&show=2005-12-26 (can be purchased as CD: $15, Video $30 and DVD $25)

I was kucky enough to get tickets to this reading. All the performers can be included in those who are voices of courage: Anthony Arnove, Christina Kirk, Josh Brolin, Danny Glover, Vanessa Martinez, Kerry Washington, Floyd Red Crow, Viggo Mortensen, Sandra Oh, Leslie Silva and Marisa Tomei.

But even more so, I feel those who speak out in an independent voice apart from corporatism and lies are the strongest voices of courage. Like those who send letters to editors, those who post activism on their Web sites and still others who start campaigns of peace, that is where we will find the true voices of courage.

In a world where a government oppresses its people for speaking out to the point of wide spread depression , the true applause goes to those folks who stay the course.

America\'s transgressions are as a plain as opening a newspaper or any news info these days - online or hard copy. If someone is still so blind they cannot see the current situation warrants action to take the scoundrels out of government, then they simply do not want to see the bad side of the issues.

Only looking at what is perceived to be the so called "bright" side of things, or to use the President\'s words, "nobody is reporting on what good things are going on in Iraq" - which is b.s., is an attempt to bury the truth of what is happening with the so-called "War on Terror." It is an historical fact that the U.S. has buried its own attrocities even in our own text books at school - from day one we are taught that we are the heroes! But there is fortunately a movement out there to shift perspectives in our teaching to include all voices from the conflicts of the past.

Here is a quote from Sam Hamil co-founder of http://www.poetsagainstwar.com  

" Our social lies in this country began with our lack of understanding of our own history. The nineteenth century in America was a century of genocide. What we did to the Native American nations who lived here is unspeakable. It was in fact the model for Hitler\'s concentration camps. We destroyed nearly 200 languages in North America in the eighteenth century."
Sam Hamil

the entire reason why people are speaking out so strongly right now is because we do care about America - we do have postive ideas for our country, one of them being we should have a transparent governemnt that tells the truth and does not try to line the pockets of the rich off the backs of the poor.

It still bothers me that phartacus does not seem to be moved at all by the current state of affairs. Even my Mom and Dad who are Republican to the core say that we are in trouble in this country right now due to the mess in the White House. They feel it is mostly Chaney. As a Democrat, I feel what is wrong is the ideaologies of the extremists who are causing all the troubles - not just the righty-right, but the other extremists all across the globe. We ignited the anger of the other extremists with our own extremists policies that go back in history. For example:

"The most ultimately righteous of all wars is a war with savages, though it is apt to be also the most terrible and inhuman. The rude, fierce settler who drives the savage from the land lays all civilized mankind under a debt to him... it is of incalculable importance that America, Australia, and Siberia should pass out of the hands of their red, black, and yellow aboriginal owners, and become the heritage of the dominant world races."
Theodore Roosevelt

Right on Aquabot!

Hey Phartacus,

Contrary to your Point of View about the whacky left, I am quite sane. . . lol.

But really, it does not bother you that the government can listen to your phone calls at will with no probable cause - in other words you did nothing but they can eavesdrop on you anyway and maybe you might make a statement contrary to their perspective and be labeled a "terrorist" ? ? ? It defintely bothers me that such an infraction does not concern you.  And what about your freedom to go out on the street and wave a banner to support the troops - would you be comfortable knowing a democrat who was an official of the government was in your midst just to spy on you to take you to prison if you said something they did not agree with like the police do to peaceful protesters?

My whole point was, all sides have freedoms to exercise, not just the right. And if we do not watch our government they will rip those freedoms from ALL of us.

And it is hard for me to wave a flag of victory for free elections knowing that America WP/Naplam\'d other human beings - we used a chemical that nearly the entire rest of the world has said is inhumane, even in war! So when I weigh the dark side of war over the so called bright successes, somehow I don\'t feel much like gabbing about a vote we likely rigged through covert operations by supporting one side over the other just because the one side was more amiable to the United States.

America in Iraq is occupation and an illegal war, IN MY OPINION. And until we get our noses out of there and stop trying to rape a country of its natural resources (oil), then no, I do not have much good to say about what we\'re doing in Iraq.

But please continue to state your views. It gives me hope that maybe American freedoms are still at work.

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety derserve neither liberty nor safety." Benjamin Franklin

When my eyes could not beleive the amount of force used in Shock and Awe, I thought OK we as a country have sunk pretty low. It was haunting me just to listen to the news. But now things have progressed so far that if we do not start doing something to stop all of the treachery in our government, American and human freedoms and rights worldwide will be forever lost.

Once the government is allowed to step all over civil and human rights like in the following instances, and we as a people do not take a stand to stop the encroachment, we will have nobody to blame but ourselves when we have to be indoors by 8 by threat of death from an MP, we pay $20/gallon for gas and we have no free press - well, we don\'t really have a free press anymore, so I guess we better start fixing things soon.


CIVIL RIGHTS GONE:

U.S. to Probe Disclosure of NSA\'s Domestic Wiretaps
From Associated Press
7:55 AM PST, December 30, 2005
latimes.com : National News
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-123005wiretaps_wr,0,3266871.story?coll=la-home-headlines
WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department has opened an investigation into the leak of classified information about President Bush\'s secret domestic spying program, Justice officials said today. The officials, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the probe, said the inquiry will focus on disclosures to The New York Times. . .

Taking liberties
Leader
Wednesday December 21, 2005
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/leaders/story/0,,1671571,00.html
George Bush has not yet convinced Americans that he was right to authorise secret surveillance of phone calls and emails - without warrants - as part of the "war on terror" that has become the centrepiece of his presidency.


New York Police Covertly Join In at Protest Rallies
December 22, 2005, Thursday
By JIM DWYER (NYT); Metropolitan Desk
Late Edition - Final, Section A, Page 1, Column 3
http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60F14F83F540C718EDDAB0994DD404482

Undercover New York City police officers have conducted covert surveillance in the last 16 months of people protesting the Iraq war, bicycle riders taking part in mass rallies and even mourners at a street vigil for a cyclist killed in an accident, a series of videotapes show. In glimpses...


US intelligence service bugged website visitors despite ban
· Agency apologises for use of \'cookie\' tracking files
· Exposure adds to pressure over White House powers

Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Friday December 30, 2005
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1675272,00.html


GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS GONE:

Covert CIA program withstands new furor
Anti-terrorism effort continues to grow
By Dana Priest
The Washington Post
Updated: 11:43 p.m. ET Dec. 29, 2005
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10644533/  


Accused of Kidnapping, 10 Agents Face Lawsuit
By ANTHEE CARASSAVA
Published: December 29, 2005
NY TIMES
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/29/international/europe/29greece.html


American marines charged with rape in the Philippines
· Woman was attacked in van, prosecutors allege
· US embassy asked to hand over accused
John Aglionby, south-east Asia correspondent
Wednesday December 28, 2005
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1674271,00.html  


AND YOU KNOW WHY WE HAVE THESE VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS?

Bush\'s impeachable offense
Yes, the president committed a federal crime by wiretapping Americans, say constitutional scholars, former intelligence officers and politicians. What\'s missing is the political will to impeach him.
By Michelle Goldberg
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/12/22/impeach/  

GET INVOLVED/TAKE ACTION:

www.votetoimpeach.org  

buy an impeachment T-shirt here: http://www.percevalpress.com/books.html?-session=pp_sc:F832503750D215D5A8CFF9DC83E248A0  

the ACLU here: http://www.aclu.org/  

Become informed at Democracy Now (independent news station):
http://www.democracynow.org/index.shtml

Get a handle on global human rights:
http://www.humanrightswatch.org/

Understand the horror of war through art at
Artists Against The War:
http://www.aawnyc.org/

Poets Against the War:
http://www.poetsagainstthewar.org/

Watch a trailer "Voices In Wartime:"
http://www.voicesinwartime.org/VoicesInWartime/Film/VideoTrailer/VideoTrailer.aspx