EL MARCO takes his camera on a tour of the new blue state of Colorado.
Psychedelic cops, One World Cafe, Obamamania, Stoners for Obama, and Radical Colorado Continue Reading “• Red State Gone Blue. Colorado” »
Recently I returned to Indonesia to visit Balinese friends, with whom I worked for much of the 1990’s. I found a land and a people painfully changed in the aftermath of the 2002 and 2005 terrorist bombings.
Jimbaran Beach, Bali, one of the targets of the second Bali bombings on October 1, 2005. Twenty people were killed, and 129 were injured. The murderers were al Qaeda’s Jemaah Islamiah terrorists. Three were executed in Java today. The executions sparked joy and trepidation in Australia.
Above, a Balinese Hindu man and son walk together at sunset. Just over the horizon, to the west, is Java. The Hindu land of Bali is small and has a population of 3 million. Ruled from the island of Java, two miles away, the Balinese face increasing Muslim migration. Java has a mainly Muslim population of 125 million squeezed into an area half the size of California.
The terrorists struck these beach restaurants. These restaurants are my favorite places in the world for grilled seafood and cold, cold beer. Today they are suffering for business, but prior to the bombings they were absolutely packed with tourists from all over the world, starting about two hours before sunset. Above, very few diners watch the children, on the right, as they play football. A bridal couple can be seen on the beach to the left.
MEMORIAL TO THE DEAD AT THE SITE OF 2002 KUTA BOMBING
The men who were receently executed participated in the murders of 202 people and maiming of 209 others. They struck at 11:05 p.m. on October 12, 2002 at this location in the main tourist center of Kuta, Bali. One bomber detonated in Paddy’s Pub to cause mayhem and draw crowds to the area when a second, and much more powerful, bomb in a van was detonated in front of the Sari Club across the street from Paddy’s. A large swath of the buildings in the area were destroyed and the Sari Club, which was made of decorative bamboo, vaporized.
The Balinese have dedicated this memorial at the site of the 2002 Bali bombings exactly two years after the atrocity. We in America can learn a lot from the Balinese about appropriately memorializing the victims of terror. This is an entirely Balinese Hindu designed monument, which is both beautiful and symbolic. Continue Reading “• Islam Clouds Bali’s Horizon” »
I met longtime Bill Clinton advisor Dick Morris in Denver. He is doing political consulting work in the Ukraine and other countries that are struggling to build democracy. He understands what tyranny is, and was more than happy to hold a sign produced by thePeoplesCube.com.
Before you vote, read Morris’ book Fleeced: How Barack Obama, Media Mockery of Terrorist Threats, Liberals Who Want to Kill Talk Radio, the Do-Nothing Congress, Companies That Help Iran, and Washington Lobbyists for Foreign Governments Are Scamming Us … and What to Do About It. Continue Reading “• Dissent Against Radical Leftist Obama is Patriotic” »
Nine days before the 2008 Presidential election, the Obama campaign held a rally in Denver, a “blue” city in the important swing state of Colorado. Behind me, looking east towards the State Capitol, there were tens of thousands of people.
Civic Center Park: facing west, towards the stage.
Not only were there a lot more people than at the McCain rally two days earlier, but there were a lot more displays of veneration for the candidate. Continue Reading “• Festival of Obama, October 26, 2008″ »
Early morning light as Ed and Jeri Sue Blackwell from Denver stand on line for the Road to Victory Rally for John McCain. Friday, October 24, 2008. 7:00a.m. Continue Reading “• McCain Supporters Harassed in Denver” »
It’s two weeks until the election! Both sides are doing what they can to drum up support. I caught up in Pueblo, Colorado with the Stop Obama Tour, organized by the Our Country Deserves Better PAC.
Deborah Johns, mother of Marine Sgt. William Johns, is on board the bus, traveling from her home in California across to Washington, D.C. because she feels that Obama is not fit to lead our country or our armed forces. The two little girls are supporters who came to the rally. Deb’s own kids are old enough to care for themselves now, but when she was left as a single mom of three very young children, she got two jobs and worked her way through school to support them. She believes that welfare and other entitlements are bad for the recipients as well as for the country.
Lloyd Marcus is a wonderful singer and talented artist. He grew up in the projects of East Baltimore. The tragedies he saw there as a child made him realize that Great Society projects and welfare destroy people’s lives and their communities.
Marcus’ drift toward the right of the political spectrum began when he was about 10 years old. His parents moved with their five children into a brand-new, high-rise apartment building in the Baltimore projects. Then came their neighbors. Most of them were on various types of governmental assistance. Many were drug addicts, alcoholics and criminals. They destroyed the apartment building.”Within one year, it was ruined,” Marcus said. “It taught me a lot about liberalism. If you don’t work for something, you don’t care about it. People blame the white man. It wasn’t the white man in the halls raping people.”
He is now a civic leader in his adopted home town in central Florida. Lloyd won a victory for freedom of expression when he forced a reversal of the ban on his paintings at the Black History Month art show at Deltona, Florida’s City Hall. The works were reflective of his childhood as a preacher’s son. Apparently the images of a Bible in one, and a Christmas charity basket in another were not an acceptable version of history for the liberal political commissars in charge.
For the first time in American history a candidate for President ascended to the nomination in a Greek temple setting surrounded by 80,000 of the Obamboozled.
Euphoria at Mile High Stadium.
Hope and faith plus zero substance combined to create a blissful atmosphere at Mile High Stadium in Denver. A wonderful opportunity to photograph the freest, luckiest, healthiest, happiest people in the world. I’ve decided on a Norman Rockwell approach to this event. America on Cloud Nine.
Entrepreneurial small business Gold Rush. Every small T-shirt printer has come out with his own designs as well as buttons, and even an Obama Mini-Me action figure for $19.95.
The Barack Obama Experience: All along the Watchtower? NOT! Purple Haze? Probably. Electric Ladyland: where’s Hillary? ARE YOU EXPERIENCED? Are you kidding??? Astro Man…back to the moon??? Crash Landing = how the campaign will end.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK X 2
Al Jazeera English broadcast today from the Buffalo Rose, an Old West biker bar in downtown Golden, a small city near Denver.
Golden is a charming place. Clear Creek runs through it, and supplies the gigantic Coors Brewery with the water it turns into Colorado’s most famous beer. Golden is also known as the home of the Colorado School of Mines. Their athletic teams’ symbol is a miner’s donkey. This donkey would be a great symbol for the Democratic Convention of 2008. The stick of dynamite in the stubborn baggage-laden donkey’s mouth could symbolize a party that won’t let go of a destructive philosophy of collectivism and partisanship that could well destroy it.
In a local shop window, a nod to the Convention in nearby Denver
On the right, the Buffalo Rose. The establishment is over 150 years old.
It’s a fun place. One band that plays there regularly is the Clam Daddys. The guy on the left plays a mean harmonica.
The bar is popular with bikers. A couple of ladies arrived on their Harleys right after I got there.
I was surprised to see all of the staff wearing T-shirts with this symbol: Continue Reading “• Al-Jazeera welcomed by liberals, protested by conservatives” »
After the Michelle Malkin - Alex Jones incident, I was eager for some peace and quiet. So I decided to check out the Denver Free Speech Cage with my friend, Red from the Peoples Cube. It was set up by Mayor Hinkenlooper after months of tortured debate in the halls of government, the courts, the media and the public forum. I was curious and hoping for some action, but not too much. What I found there was this solitary philosopher (above). Red suggested we shake the free speech cage.
Incredibly, there was a taxpayer funded live mic with speakers that resonate throughout the surrounding area. Red made his first point about the Democrats’ plan to implement the Fairness Doctrine, and apply it only to AM radio conservative opposition.
Continue Reading “• Shaking the Freedom Cage” »