bill gottlieb, jazz photographer

white noise

face in the window

see the face, frame left. a still frame from infra-red footage shot at night at an alleged haunted house in cape may nj. i pulled back to a wide shot from a close up of two names etched on the outside of an upstairs window. later when we watched the footage what looked like a face appeared in the window pane. not a reflection. the image stays in place on that pane, a reflection wouldn't. and there wasn't anyone standing to my left produce the reflection. nor was there any room for someone to stand to my left. except for the real thing, the only other thing it could be is an aberration in the glass refracting light. but for infra-red light, there was extremely little ambient light entering the room. we needed flashlights to get around, and no, a flashlight wasn't being used at the moment. our only visibility was the image in the camera. hmmmmmmmm? click on the image to play the clip.

Yes, Our President

Any of us who spoke like this during oral reports in school would have been failed.

The Vote

Getting out the vote is more important than ever, especially among the young (18-30), who seem to be more involved than ever. This often ignored group when it comes to serious issues if mobilized could make or break the election for either candidate.

Real

diesel engines roar with impatience, in steaming hot tunnels,

towing trains filled with the armies of corporate temples,

worship the anal beasts of empire,

shooting out like bullets of urban angst,

they make their way into the near barren womb of suburbia, impregnated with the fatigued sperms spewed back from the rape of corporate imperialism.

Get Out of The Way

Its called denial when you don't want to face up to a flaw in yourself or something you've done wrong. Like this morning. All the way from Pleasantville Road to the train station I road up someones ass. So from my point of view, she, the driver ahead of me was driving way too slow - wait! Lets take it from her point of view: here we have lots of time to get to the station, so she tries to make the drive a relaxing one. She's having a cigarette, her friend is sitting shotgun & they're probably having a conversation. Then here I come boning up her rear end, driving in her trunk, as the passenger said, adding a little anxiety to the mix. What the fuck! Pull back asshole! What's the rush? I can't go anywhere cause I've got cars ahead of me! Yes you do! You do have cars ahead of you: slow ass cars! A slow ass BMW: why own a sports car a BMW M7 when you treat it like a fucken Edsel. I'm not talking NASCAR track here, but fuck, open it up a bit. I mean, does it have to take you a minute to go from 0-30? I pride myself on reacting quickly, not dawdling. Trust me, I'm as lazy as next guy, even more so. I love lazy scenic drives where I don't go fast. But you know what? I get out of the way or speed up when I'm driving too slow for someone behind me. I don't drive slow or cruise in the left lane: left is for passing. If you're not passing, move it over. Granted, this morning the road was a single lane, so you can't pass, but respond quicker. Act like you want to go forward. Step on the gas when coming off a stop.

What does SVEIKS! mean? The car had that sticker on its rear.

So back to how I started this rant. Was I wrong for riding up her ass. Yes I was!

Conversation

• you support capital punishment?

• yes I do.

• you do? Then why aren't you petitioning to participate?

• participate?

• yes! Participate! Take part in the killing of a condemned criminal, a person sentenced to death for whatever reason, to be sure justified for why else would a criminal be sentenced to die but for a most heinous crime. To swing the axe, release the blade of a guillotine, pull the lever of the gallows, the electric switch, the gas spigot, inject the poison. Why allow someone else the joy if it is you among so many who wish death to those committing crimes deserving death? Like shuttle launches & rollercoasters, get in line & wait your turn to take part.

• I don't know about that.

• You don't? You should!

• But I don't think they'd let me.

• Well then stand up for your rights. You wanted it. You paid for it. You should get to do it, don't you think? What joy is there in planting a garden if you've planted nothing yourself? What joy is there in spying the crosses of those you've condemned to death, if you haven't had a hand in it? You should demand the right to have a chance to kill at least one person your support of capital punishment has condemned. Your tax dollars pay for it like they do the buses, the trains. You get to use them, right?

• I'm a meat eater, does that mean I should be killing my own cattle?

• Payment for beef is a choice you make. Municipal, state & federal taxes are mandatory burdens for services you have a right to receive. Like the twice weekly garbage collection, capital punishment is a form of waste management. You get to throw out the garbage, they get rid of it.

• They wouldn't let me watch, let alone do it.

• Well thats wrong. How is it you support something you can't take part in?

• Well I believe in just prison sentences, but I'm not going to use my house as a jail.

• Why not?

• Because I don't have to.

• Like capital punishment?

• Yes.

• Prison sentences are punishment for criminals. Capital punishment has always been intended as a deterrent as well as the ultimate punishment for the heinous crimes the condemned have commited. How could it deter anyone if its done in secret: no public hand involved, no public witnessing. Used to be the town turned a hanging into a community event. Everybody got to watch. You had to be really bad to want to commit a capital crime. Nowadays, most don't know what its like to watch someone killed, let alone take part in it.

• And we should?

• I believe we should.

• Nah. Not for me. Let someone else do it.

• You'd rather not know how the burger gets to your table, just so it's there for you to eat.

• Thats right.

• It's made us a weak country.

Imagine

Imagine if the admin of this country actually orchestrated 911, using Saudi operatives. Why not? Saudi operatives of the USA, willing to die. But why? Brainwashed? Manchurian if not Baghdad Candidates. Saudi criminals, subjects of mind control experimented. Used by the CIA, ruled by the industrial class elite, with Saudi help, to take control of the oil, away from extremist groups bent on goals opposite of the Western Industrial Elite. Those we "elect", actually work for the industrial elite, who also control the CIA. The industrial elite needs us as much as we need them. They are leaders who need to keep the populace, the followers, complascent. There are few leaders among the general populace, but an elite leader wants not to agitate the populace, for from it may rise a leader of the people able to gather a following large & aggressive enough to disrupt the status quo, to bring about a new paradigm.

What makes a populace accept a leader who goes unquestioned? That populace is missing something, in need of something, so desperate the need, their search becomes wieldy & reckless. What is the USA missing? Meaning? Purpose? We barely have a history compared to most country's. The previous occupants of this land had a long & varied history perhaps reaching back to the age of the first farmers. We destroyed them. Knowingly? Knowingly as in the Europeans knew they were there. That the inhabitants of the new world knew the true history of the past & the fascist european industrial elite sought them out to destroy them?

Back to the point! Americans all of a sudden discover they have no meaning. This why a populace, in this case the American populace, submits so easily to anothers lead, no matter how maniacal. A reason to believe in oneself. Competition is the easiest & most effecient way to achieve this goal: whether in sports against a known enemy, or in war against anybody who dares in the way of our stated goal. It's a goal we can't achieve without taking it or something else, from our adversary, to appease our needs. The fascist leaders play upon these desires for meaning & purpose. They supply the populace with tangible goals & ideas, & threats as obstacles to them. Give us some to fight for & an antagonist. It becomes a grand drama, we the players, the elite the directors. However, we don't know we are actors in a grand drama. Pawns in a chess game whose spoils & prize we don't get a share of. We are the coal fed to a fire that drives an ancient machine of greed, whose greed is sated through conquest, occupation & hegemony. With the right prodding, most of us will gladly leap into the fire, while the few radicals resisting would have to be shoveled in.

Worst Case Scenario

A group of very wealthy men, friendly with a group of even wealthier men, conspire to take control of the most powerful, wealthiest & technologically advanced country on the planet, sureptiously corrupting its election process to gain high office, changing laws through favoritism, bribery & outright threat to favor the ruling class. The ruling class, those who have majority control of the worlds wealth & resources. Convincing the populace of the most free of countries to shed their rights in exchange for protection from a false threat of fear & terror. Whereupon they perceive their control to be complete, to fully realize their oontrol, they conspire to abolish free elections in said free country through further fear, by suggesting the elections be cancelled if a major terrorist event occurs . Would they, could they go so far as to perpetrate a major terrorist act against the people, cancelling elections, causing revolt, forcing marshall law & cancelling elections.

Baptism

What is baptism but an initiation into the tightly controlled club called the catholic church, for the benefit of those unwilling to commune with God themselves, instead allowing others to have that authority & receive Gods word second hand.