ken Hatch |
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Links and Writings:
Art, Aviation, Photography,
Photoshop, and Politics
email Kenneth M. Hatch
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Tuesday, December 31, 2002
From previous post you know I love LearJets. There are many reasons for this that range from the way it responds to control input to its human size. One of the best features of the airplane is the simplicity of its systems but at the same time the amount of back-up that is designed in. As an example, the other day on approach into MDW when I called for “gear down,” the co-pilot reported there was no green light for the nose gear. With many other airplanes, some with much more complicated systems, this would have required my abandoning the approach and going through lots of monkey motion to confirm a down and locked nose gear. With the Lear I had just lost one of the four ways of confirming a safe nose gear, the other three, red transit light out, gear horn, and engine sync light were available with nothing more than a glance, the momentary reduction of the thrust levers or the flip of a switch. All three checked out and we continued the approach to a landing without so much as a quarter-dot bobble and no sweat. “Confidence men, why the myth of Republican competence persists despite all the evidence to the contrary” by Joshua Micah Marshall Monday, December 30, 2002
Michael Kinsley writes the column I have been trying to write for several weeks. LBJ was deeply flawed. However, when it got to the nut cutting he stood up and did the right thing. All the time he knew the price that he and his party would pay - losing southern democrats to the Republican party. If the Rs had been half as principled, we could have killed racism as a political force. Instead they chose to sell their souls for power. Sunday, December 29, 2002
Other times the humor is not intentional nor is it enlightening. After reading this WSJ OpEd my first reaction is why did a tree have to die to publish this and then wonder that anyone much less the leading journal of the right would provide newsprint for such schmaltz. From John O’Farrell and the Guardian: “In the United States it is the custom to include in your Christmas card an annual update on all the things that your family have been up to during the previous 12 months. Needless to say, this practice has become the excuse for highly selective reporting, thinly veiled boasting and general oneupmanship between friends and relations. Colleagues of ex-President Bush were particularly irked by the round-robin they received from George Snr and Barbara this Christmas: "Young George W is getting on just fine in his new job of President of the United States (thanks for the help, Jeb!). He is looking forward to starting World War Three in the new year and Dad has been helping him find Iraq on the old family atlas. Coincidentally, this is also the time that he'll be beginning his campaign for re-election, and as Dubya says: 'I will not be impedemented!' " For more. Thursday, December 26, 2002
I hope you will read this The Nation article. Any one of the listed actions or rulings made by this un-elected government should be enough to cause public outrage, instead we act as if everything is happening to someone else or to another country. I know there is nothing more embarrassing or boring than a true believer ranting and carrying on about politics, but the class warfare the Rs have waged for 20 years needs to be confronted and stopped. Wednesday, December 25, 2002
I don’t want to go overboard on the new job but ... LearJet charter has always been one of the hardest ways to make a living flying airplanes. It’s not as tough as teaching flying or being a F.O. on a Regional, but still a hard way to earn your beans and tortillas. One reason is the first thought of drunk high rollers wanting to go to Vegas and/or anyone who has an emergency in some distant place is “let’s charter a Lear.” For that reason LearJet charters tend to be middle of the night hauling drunks or hurry up and get me there so I can save the world operations. Like I said, a tough way to live. The new job has the middle of the night routine down pat, but it also has some things going for it that I’m finding a pleasant surprise. The best is that I know when I strap the Lear to my ass the day may be long; but when it is over I will sleep in my own bed. As an example, yesterday I had a 10:30 departure for Veracruz Mexico to pick-up; we cleared U.S. Customs in El Paso; then continued to San Francisco to drop the client. Then back to Houston with a stop in Albuquerque for fuel. It was a long day fighting as much as 140 knot headwinds, 9.6 hours total flying time and I don’t even want to think about the duty day, let’s just say I was legal. When I finished I climbed into my good looking white truck and drove home. Beats the hell out of trying to sleep in a bad airport hotel. The other nice thing is we always have medical crew members, and they deal with the PXs. All I have to do is show up on time, do my paper work and fly the airplane. When the trip is over, I pack my personal stuff, pick up my trash, complete the paper work and go home. I don’t have to worry or take care of a thing until the next time dispatch calls. I can live with this. Saturday, December 21, 2002
I don’t know if the correct metaphor for what Paul Krugman does is “lifting the rock so we see the scurry of worms and bugs” or “pulling the curtain to show the manipulation of the wizard” but which ever why is he one of the few national pundits writing about the lack of substance from this Administration. Thursday, December 19, 2002
For years I’ve maintained that after the 1968 election you had to be rich, bigoted, or stupid to be a Republican. After watching Trent Lott for the last week, I believe he hits the trifecta. Damn, this has been fun. Monday, December 16, 2002
It started with the Wall Street Journal and now the Washington Post reports the White House thinks the rich are paying too great a share of the tax burden. I know no one in this illegal administration has shown the slightest understanding of truth or economics, but this is so outrageous it is unbelievable. Friday, December 13, 2002
The old saws “a stopped clock is right twice a day” or “if you live long enough it will come back in fashion” are in play again. The economics I know, love, and understand is making a come back. Now if Shrub and company had a clue. Thursday, December 12, 2002
Saturday, December 07, 2002
This from ABC News The Note: Here is what Senator Trent Lott, Republican of Mississippi, said yesterday at Senator Strom Thurmond's birthday party, according to ABCNEWS' O'Keefe. "I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had of followed our lead we wouldn't of had all these problems over all these years, either." Wade Henderson of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights told ABCNEWS' Douglass: "This was an offensive and blatant attempt to rewrite the history of the last 50 years …Thurmond ran for president as a Dixiecrat, a segregationist. He gave the longest filibuster in history to try to stop passage of the Civil Rights Act. In his statement today, Lott also embraced those dubious achievements. … Lott betrayed his role as the Majority Leader of all Americans." Shame on you, Trent Lott. Shame on Mississippi for electing you senator. Shame on the Republican Party for selecting you as Majority Leader, and shame on the United States for having your party in control of our government. Thursday, December 05, 2002
I received a letter from my uncle Dick yesterday. I’m posting part of his letter: ...Katherine and I went to church last night at 6PM, and she slept in this morning while I went to McDonalds. On some Sunday mornings we will have 8 in the group but this morning we only had four. Katherine and I have four children. Richard lives about a block from our residence, and he and I have been sharing an office for a number of years. Dora Ann lives in Victoria with her husband Allen Bass. Charles recently married for the second time to a fine female doctor. They live in Corpus Christi. Pat is active in the practice of medicine in Corpus Christi and also here in Aransas Pass. Richard and I had a joint birthday party that started on Saturday, November 9, and continued on Sunday. I was 90 years of age on November 10. Katherine, our youngest child, was here from Florence, Alabama, with her husband Jim Durrett. Jim and Kay lived in Houston for a number of years and worked for Brown and Root. Still works for the same company. Was transferred to Alabama for a short tine but has continued to work there.They sold their home in Houston and purchased one in Florence. Jim works just across the river in Tennessee. My brother Bob had two children. The son Bob Hatch came down from Alexandria, VA, with his daughter and wife. Bob’s daughter Karen and her husband Dennis Perry get their mail at ...... in Houston. Katherine tells me we had 69 people present on Saturday, all but 3 being blood relatives. Katherine and I have five great great grandchildren and the youngest of the five was present, age 11 days. Ruth Hatch, widow of Happy, is still in a nursing home in Big Spring. ... Richard D. Hatch Monday, December 02, 2002
This one is long but a must read. The John Dilulio letter to Esquire’s Ron Suskind is damning, made more so by Dilulio’s apparent fondness for Bush and Karl Rove. Combine Dilulio’s letter with Paul Krugman’s “Hey, Lucky Duckies” and you get a very bleak picture of the next two to six years. Sunday, December 01, 2002
Recently I read that Auden said, "Great art is clear thinking about mixed feelings.” Carol and I went to the MFAH this afternoon to see the traveling Alfred Stieglitz exhibit. As I viewed his work, that quote kept bouncing around my mind. Except with the O’Keeffe images, with those I’m not sure about the clear thinking but the mixed feelings were very apparent. Saturday, November 30, 2002
Al Gore and the Alpha Girls posted on the Rittenhouse Review is as good an explanation for the relentless destruction of Gore by the punditry as any. Friday, November 29, 2002
Thursday, November 28, 2002
I’ve added The Daily Howler to my links. It, along with Media Whores Online, does a good job of exposing Republican spin. The value of The Daily Howler is that while very partisan, it seldom overstates or spins, it's kind'a like Joe Friday, "Just the facts, Sir." Wednesday, November 27, 2002
Carol has a bumper crop of pecans this year. We will use some of that pecan crop to make a couple of pies for Thanksgiving dinner. My mom made the best pecan pie in Texas so I plan on using her pie filling recipe. Mom’s recipe for pecan pie filling: 3/4 cup sugar 1 cup white syrup 3 eggs 1 large tablespoon butter 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 cup pecans pinch of salt Cream butter and sugar Beat eggs lightly Fold eggs into butter and sugar Add and mix: sugar, syrup, vanilla, salt, and pecans. Pour into a unbaked pie shell and bake @ 350F until the center jells (about 1 hour). Tuesday, November 26, 2002
I think it may be time to start the Lucky Duckies party. I have not read the WSJ’s OpEd but if the E.J. Dionne Jr. article is correct those WSJ folks have been smoking some strong shit. Up until now digital image capture has had three problems that I believed needed to be addressed before I made the jump from film. The first is cost. I felt that with the rapid change in equipment that the price of a pro level camera body should be in the range of what my film and processing cost were, to pick a period I figured 18 months, over the expected life of the body technology. Next and most important is chip size because most of my images are made with wide to very wide lens the smaller than 35mm chip size was a deal killer. Last, I have problems with archival storage. The first two problems are no longer problems. With the new Kodak DCS Pro 14n body, the price-chip hold up is gone. The only one left is archival storage, and I think I may have thought through a system that takes care of that problem. CDs and DVDs are not the answer for several reasons. The throughput is too slow (read and write) and both are too labor intensive at every stage. In addition there are questions as to the life of both. I understand 7 to 10 years is the maximum that you can rely on a CD to last. I would expect DVDs have about the same life. I have hundreds of CDs with scanned image files, each took tons of time to make. I don't want to talk about finding a individual image from that stack of CDs or the time once found to transfer it to the hard drive. With today's price of mass storage I believe the answer is mirrored hard drives. I'm going to set up external, mirrored, firewire HDs for image storage. When they are full, I will set them aside and attach two more. When the technology changes, I will transfer the content to the new technology. For now I believe this is the best answer. I would love to hear your thoughts. Friday, November 22, 2002
I guess the problem is fixed. Thomas went to his first formal dance last weekend. Carol and I delivered him, his rental tux, and wrist corsage to the staging area and then hung around to make these images much to Thomas’s displeasure. Thomas and Carol 11/02 I have images to post but for some reason the software is fighting me. I hope to have the problem solved soon. It’s time for some class warfare. From someone who has demonstrated he doesn’t have the brains to pour piss out of a boot. It must be true — look who I picked to be my parents. I can still observe; and I have spent a lifetime with the very rich, in their hunting camps, their vacation retreats and as they relax in the airport lounge. Most are very fortunate they are members of the lucky sperm club otherwise they would be selling shoes at Kenny’s. But I forget we are a meritocracy, so I must be jealous and not able to understand how they made it on their own just like Shrub and his daddy before him. Read Paul Krugman in the NY Times. Tuesday, November 19, 2002
If you want to know why there has not been a 911 commission Joe Conason thinks Woodward has the answer. Sunday, November 17, 2002
Flying an airplane is easy. Not only is flying an airplane easy, as a rule the bigger and more complex the airplane the easier it is to fly. If everything is working i.e. two are turning and none are burning; the WX is good; the wind is down the runway; the PNF (pilot not flying) is smart enough to find the coffee pot and tune radios; all the PF (pilot flying) has to do is keep the airplane in trim. It will fly itself if — and this is a big if — if he doesn’t fuck with it. In addition to airplanes being very easy to fly, there are no barriers to entry for professional pilots other than money and/or time. There is no Bar, no AMA, no CPA or any other governing body. You buy your ratings; spend a little time building experience; put on your “good old boy” act; and before you know it you’re a professional pilot. What’s really frightening about the system is it is almost impossible for employers to judge a pilot’s ability. Even worse because there is no professional governing body, no set of standards other than the ability to pass a FAA check ride. A good number of pilots do not have the ability to recognize another pilot’s lack of knowledge simply because they to have no knowledge. They are so bad they do not know they are bad. The system works as well as it does because of what I said in the first sentence. Flying an airplane is easy. It only becomes difficult when things go wrong in a way that surpasses the crew’s training and skill level. When that happens if the crew is lucky they have a “there I was at 39,000 feet with one burning and one turning and only through my great skill and knowledge” story which they will bore bar patrons with for the rest of their life. If they are unlucky, you see the results on TV. BTW, when you hear a “there I was” story, remember they usually got there in the first place because of a lack of skill and knowledge. Saturday, November 16, 2002
The mixed lighting makes it almost impossible to do a global color adjustment. If I planned on using this image for anything other than a demo, I would have used multiple masks to balance each area individually. The process would be the same but repeated for each area. After adjusting each color channel, adjust the RGB Channel for brightness and contrast. For this adjustment I usually click and drag the curve. Photoshop Lesson continued. First step is to crop. After cropping, I look for a good white point, a good gray point and a good black point. If I find areas I think are usable, I place a sample point on those areas. Initial placement of sample points are #1 the ceiling light, #2 the wall above the left foreground figure, #3 a black area in the background and a 4th on the cheek of the left foreground figure. The fluorescent light gives a overall green cast; that will be the first correction. I go to Image | Adjustments | Curves and select the blue curve to make my first adjustment. Next I place an anchor point by placing the eye dropper over #1 sample point (white point) and Command clicking. Now you can move the curve by either click and drag or by entering a number in the Output box. Most of the time I enter a number. After moving the curve, check the Info box to see what effect the curve change made to your image. When satisfied with the change in that part of the image, Command click on the #3 sample point (black point) and repeat the process. Finally place an anchor on the gray point and adjust. This process will be repeated using the Red curve and the Green curve. Photoshop lesson. I’m trying something new today; this will be Photoshop color correction on the fly. I plan to post notes and screen shots as I work the image this way you can follow the thought process along with the work flow. As always, there are many ways to reach the same end when using Photoshop. I do not claim my way is the best or only way, it is just the way I’m doing it today. If experience is any indicator, 6 months from now I will wonder why my work flow was so primitive. This is the raw scan. It is a good example of mixed lighting. There is window light on the two foreground figures and fluorescent light mixed with tungsten on the rest of the image. The mid tones are too dark, and I think it needs a contrast boost. Tuesday, November 12, 2002
The LearJet is an interesting airplane. Pilots tend to either love it or can’t wait to move on to other airplanes. It has the reputation of being “hot” or in other words taking a “real” pilot to fly, but in reality it is one of the easiest airplanes to fly I have ever strapped to my ass. It does no more or no less than you ask it to. If you pressure the yoke left, it banks left; if you pull back, the nose comes to you. If you add power, the airspeed increases. All very simple and all happens almost instantaneous unlike many other airplanes where you push or pull and something happens but only slowly and seldom in direct relation to the amount of effort. The LearJet is one of the few airplanes that has enough power so that once it reaches cruising altitude, a power reduction is needed to keep the airspeed off the redline. It is the easiest airplane to land I have ever flown. If you are on Vref, all you need to do is to smoothly reduce power to flight idle once the airplane is in ground effect and not let the nose come up. The Lear will roll itself on the runway almost like a autoland system. It is human sized with simple systems, and it’s built like a tank. The best metaphor to describe a Lear is it is like a good tool or a good musical instrument. It doesn’t add or subtract; it neither helps nor hinders. In the hands of a craftsman, it makes art. In the hands of a dilettante, it’s like a white boy trying to play the blues: he knows the notes but he can’t make the music. Good article in the Oil and Gas Journal. Shrub is right. We need a national energy policy. But he and the Rs are wrong on the details. We need a policy that brings the price of oil in line with its true cost, not one that increases production. Once the cost of oil reflects its true cost, other sources of energy can compete and begin the process of substitution. Any rational accounting of the cost of oil must include the military keeping the Middle East pipeline open and the environmental costs of pollution and global warming. Monday, November 11, 2002
The elephant in the living room from the last two elections is money. To mix metaphors, it is a big stinking turd. Until something is done to remove its influence, the public will lose, and big money will win. If the numbers I read are correct, the Rs outspent the Ds by over $150M this cycle. It was money well spent. A change of only 50,000 votes divided between three states would have completely altered the results. Then today we would be talking about Bush and the R’s lack of mandate instead of what happened to the Democrats. Anyone want to take bets on which party spent more in Minnesota, Missouri, and New Hampshire? Bob Herbert’s take on the results of Tuesday are about right. Friday, November 08, 2002
This has been an interesting year. Last December I was “quarter shared.” The company I had worked for for 20+ years sold their airplane, and the top executives bought individual joint ownership positions from Flexjet and Netjet. These joint ownership deals must have something going for them I don’t understand because they make no economic sense. However, that is another story to be visited later. After we sold the Merlin IIIC, I have supported myself by contract flying a Lear 25B. It is an antique, serial #163, built in the early 70s and ugly as grandma’s underwear. But its CJ610s made power and most of the parts made to the landing airport at the same time. Most important I made a couple of bucks each time I strapped it to my ass. Where all this is going is for the last week I have been in ground school and flight training for a new job flying a Lear 25D for an air ambulance company. The charter business has two types of operators: one pencil whips its records and the other tries to do things right. It takes time and lots of money to do the required training so there is pressure to cut corners and just fill in the blanks on the training record forms. The new company has tried to do it right. Good for them. Today was check ride day. In addition to my ride, the company was qualifying a new Check Airman so we had two Feds one from the Pittsburgh FSDO (Lear qualified), our company POI from the Houston FSDO, the new company Check Airman and myself all in a room from 08:30 until 13:00 for the oral exam. After finishing the oral we had to fly the airplane so I could show them I knew the difference between the blue and the brown on the attitude indicator and the new Check Airman could demonstrate that he could tell if I knew the difference. It was a long week and an even longer day. Thursday, November 07, 2002
A must read from Brad Delong’s Semi-Daily Journal: After the fall of Harvey Pitt: we are still in bigger trouble than we realize. Wednesday, November 06, 2002
Damn, we got our butts kicked. Joshua Marshal has it about right: “Well, that really could have gone better. Let's be honest. On the Senate side, the Democrats lost basically every race that was even remotely losable. Not that much different on the governor side ... The reaction among professional Democrats is one of profound shock. And a lot of heads are going to roll over this. Starting at the DNC, moving on to the leadership on the Hill, and likely spreading out from there.” I have to give the Rs credit; they did a masterful political job. If the first break downs of voter patterns that I have read are correct, the vote totals are near the historical low of 1998. The R’s game plan of suppressing the total vote and at the same time getting their base out worked. I forget who said it, but once again we get the government we deserve. Tuesday, November 05, 2002
It appears my nervousness was justified. I haven’t a clue why the vote broke for the Republicans the way it did or why their GOTV worked better than the Dems, but it looks like a bad night for America and the world. Oh well, it could be worse; I could be young and have the next 50 or 60 years to live with the results of the next two years. I’m nervous; my attention span is shorter than a gnat’s; and I’m scared the Rs may pull if off. If they do there will be many factors in play, but the bottom line is the Republican national party has run a brilliant campaign. Even if they do no more than hold their own, I have to accept the fact they are better politicians than my side or money really can buy you love. It shouldn’t be that way. The Rs are on the wrong side on almost every issue. In a rational world they would only represent three constituents: the top 2%of income earners, the bigots, and a final group that either suffers from Stockholm Syndrome or is too fucking stupid to vote their self interest. Maybe I’m too generous with my estimation of the intelligence and kindness of the American public, but I can not believe that 48% of the voting public are bigots, suffer Stockholm Syndrome, or are stupid. That leaves just one possibility: the Rs are damn good politicians with too much money for the good of America. This election cycle is the best argument ever made for public financed elections. While we wait for the results of today’s vote, TPM has the predictions of a cross section of political writers. When the dust settles, it will be interesting to see who, if any, were right Monday, November 04, 2002
Last Wednesday I wrote about flight time/job/age miss match. What started that line of thought was the Wellstone crash and reading the 55 year old pilot of the KingAir A100 had only 5000 hours logged flight time. Also, he listed one of his former employers as American Airlines. It made my Master Warning Light flash. See this Star Tribune link for more on the story. This image is from my “Day Job” series. For several years Bill was my co-pilot and photographic subject. Over time he became my “red couch” a co-artist as well as co-pilot. I can remember before the 2000 election having thought and said that the election of George W. Bush, if it happened, would have little effect on my life. I was of an age where expected Republican policy changes could not do great harm in the short term and in the long term I would be dead. Part of that mind set was because I did not expect Bush to be as reactionary as he is nor did I envision the ability of any government, left or right, being able to make major changes in our social contract. Boy, was I wrong. When I screw up, I screw up big time. A good article from the New Yorker . I don’t want to pile on Gore. I do not think he has received a fair shake, but for once I think the criticism is deserved. Thursday, October 31, 2002
I’m off to Scottsdale, AZ, for a 3 day ground school. I checked with Earthlink and best I can tell there are no local access numbers in Scottsdale. If that is the case, I may not up date the Blog until the first of next week. Hope everyone has a good weekend. The party of McCarthy and Nixon is in full witch hunting howl. All of the Spinsanity log is interesting but be sure to read down to the part where Limbaugh tries to connect black support of the Democratic party to Hussein. The Rs are crying about Wellstone’s memorial service being political ... give me a break. Wellstone was a political man; how else are you going to love and honor him. Check out Joe Conason’s column. Wednesday, October 30, 2002
Total flight time logged doesn’t provide a valid measure of pilot skills. There is an old saw that goes something like “Yeah, he had 10,000 hours, one hour at a time.” Meaning he never built knowledge with his time - just hours. There is one time when total time can mean something and that is when the combination of total flight time, job, and age don’t match up. An example of the type of mismatch I’m talking about would be a 55 year old pilot flying charter that at one time had been employed by a major airline and yet had only logged 5000 hours total flight time. Airline pilots are limited by regulation to 1000 flight hours per year and most major airlines fly their pilots right up to the maximum. Charter pilots tend to fly less than airline pilots, but 500 to 600 hours a year or even more is not uncommon. So the 5000 hour experience level takes about 5 to 10 years to reach. If it takes longer, the pilot may have only worked part time as a pilot, may have taken years off and been out of the field altogether, or maybe he started late in life. There could be many reasons, but what ever the reason the flight time/age mismatch raises a flag and I want to know why it exists. The Boston Globe has a long article on Harken Energy Corp. and the Bush stock sale; more proof the Sleaze in Chief has the business ethics of the Soprano family. Last night was good. Houston Center for Photography’s 21st anniversary party was a success with well over a hundred people in attendance, Len Kowitz read the speech Jean Caslin wrote honoring Kimberly Gremillion, James Maloney, and myself without breaking out into derisive laughter when he got to my part. One of my images sold in the silent auction for more than the minimum bid, and the guests ate all of the roast pork and cheese tray I made along with everything else that didn’t move fast enough to get away. I think a good time was had by all. Tuesday, October 29, 2002
This image has most of the elements I look for in a photograph. First something has to be happening, and in images I find most interesting there will be side stories in addition to the central subject. Next I want the image to have depth, a feeling of three dimensions. Finally I love it when I can use diagonal lines or other means to define the image space. Jerry & Jeanette Brown’s 40th anniversary party. The life of a working pilot is hard on friends and family. For as long as I can remember my answer to questions about any activity in the future has always been “we’ll see” never “sure that sounds like fun.” I’ve missed most of the important rites of passage such as funerals, graduations, marriages and other life milestones like my significant other’s surgery, birthdays, and our anniversaries. What makes it worse is often I will spend those important times in some of the most attractive vacation spots like the Bahamas during winter or Maine in August. But even if it is a hunting camp in South Texas, you are not there when needed. What brings this up is once more the aviation curse has struck. Carol and I were invited to spend the weekend of the “Day of the Dead” with some friends in their beautiful home in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. This morning we were busy getting ready to leave town, packing, calling the insurance people, shopping for food that a teenage boy can fix and will eat for 5 days. Then “the” phone call comes. Instead of several days of beer, food, photography, and friends in Mexico, I will be sitting in a ground school in Scottsdale, Arizona. Oh well, it keeps beans and tortillas on the table. Tonight is Houston Center for Photography's 21st birthday party. The party is from 18:30 to 20:30 and is $50 per person. The honorees are Kimberly Gremillion, Kenneth M. Hatch, and James Edward Maloney. If you would like to go or make a donation call HCP 713.529.4755. Monday, October 28, 2002
I know the world needs another political Blog with links to political Blogs like it needs more Republicans. But what the hey, I've got as much right to be mad about Shrub and Company as the next guy. I figure this is a better way to vent than standing on a street corner with spit flying from my mouth yelling at the citizens. Just when you think the Rs can't be any more despicable, vile, or dumb our own Governor "Good Hair" Perry (if you are going to steal, steal from the best) airs his attack ad linking Tony Sanchez to the killing of a federal drug agent. I know Perry isn't the sharpest guy around, but he can't be that dumb. The only explanation that makes sense is his internal polling is showing Sanchez pulling even or maybe ahead. For Tony Sanchez's response check his web site. BTW, in addition to anti R rants I hope to have something to say about art, photography, Photoshop, and occasionally a little hangar flying. ken hatch |