Drawing: Panels [Open-minded; the bolt of love; abduction!; The Jury; Here Fido!; Lean On Me; Sex; The King; Mob; A Shout In The Wilderness; The Boss; The Look Of Love; Isolation; The Huddle; Happy; Drunk]

Drawing by Jack Brummet - Open-minded; the bolt of love; abduction!; The Jury; Here Fido!; Lean On Me; Sex; The King; Mob; A Shout In The Wilderness;  The Boss; The Look Of Love; Isolation; The Huddle; Happy; Drunk. [click to enlarge]

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Notes on the trial and "conviction" of Ex-Governor Rod Blagojevich

By Jack Brummet
Ethics and Social Mores Editor

What to do when you're facing dozens of charges of criminal corruption (including racketeering, conspiracy, and wire fraud)?  Well, you might appear on a reality TV show like The Apprentice.  Blagojevich was fired by Donald Trump after mismanaging a project (due to his inability to communicate...he cannot use a computer or send text messages, which left his team in the dark).  When reality TV didn't work out, he would make numerous appearances as an Elvis impersonator.  

Voir dire - Everyone seems to be wondering if the attorneys for the prosecution fell down during Voir dire.  "In the United States, it now generally refers to the process by which prospective jurors are questioned about their backgrounds and potential biases before being chosen to sit on a jury." [Wikipedia].  The holdout juror doesn't appear to be a nutcase or fruitcake. . .she seems to have honestly believed that the government had not proved its case except the one count of lying to the FBI.  She would have easily slipped through the voir dire process.  It happens.  It's why we require unanimous verdicts. . .a little insurance for the possibility of reasonable doubt.  Clearly the government will reprosecute this one, perhaps with a less complicated case, and becoming a little more serious about jury selection.

It is Chicago, so some of us wonder if the fix was in with the hold-out jury member?  Or was she mobbed up?  Again, on the surface, she seems legit.  She simply didn't buy the government's case.  And it does look like the prosecution may have cut some corners due to overconfidence in their case. Who can really blame them--he was practically caught with his hand wedged in the cookie jar.



If you're Rod Blagojevich, after you are convicted on one count, and the prosecution announces it's intention to refile on the other 23 cases where the jury hung. . .what then?  Well, The Ex-Gov has mounted a bizarre counterstrike in the media. 

Blagojevich appears to be broke again, and is pondering a return to reality TV as he awaits The Blago Corruption Trial:  The Sequel.
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Slate's Excellent Mock Ad: Levi Johnston for Mayor

By Pablo Fanque
National Affairs Editor

This mock ad for Levi Johnston's mayoral campaign is just great.  Slate's slogan is even better:  "Levi Johnston: Building A Bridge To Somewhere."


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Seattle Black Panthers, armed on the Capitol Steps circa 1969

[click to enlarge photograph - courtesy of the Wash. State Digital Archives]

In this photo (courtesy of the Washington State Digital Archives), you see armed members of the Seattle Chapter of the Black Panther Party on the steps of the Legislative Building.


The Seattle Black Panthers, led by Elmer Dixon gathered on the steps of the Capitol in Olympia in February 1969 to protest a bill that would make it a crime to exhibit firearms “in a manner manifesting an intent to intimidate others.”

No one was arrested, apparently there were no confrontations, and they left under their own power when they were finished. It kind of makes you wonder what would happen if someone did this today, forty years later. I get the feeling it might not have turned out so well. . .I mean, you can hardly even build a mosque these days. . .
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Interesting: who's channeling whom?

My friend Hira found this on the wall of an examining room at Yale (she's in medical school, becoming a PA).  She had seen it numerous times, but one day realized the characters resembled the ones in my (Jack's) faces drawings series...the faces all similar to mind, and done in the same sort of format--squares on a grid, with each portrait a shoulders-up head shot.  It is a little eerie, but easily explainable when two people who like to draw, but being unschooled, use an approach more closely rooted in comics and folk art than in the studio portrait tradition.  It will look like this (artist unknown--click to enlarge):

Or this: 

(jack brummet drawing - click to enlarge)

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Not a proportional response: Tila Tequila driven offstage at Insane Clown Posse festival & pelted with feces, water bottles, and fireworks

By Jack Brummet
Ethics and Social Mores Editor

At a festival this weekend (the annual Gathering of the Juggalos), organized by Insane Clown Posse,  ICP made the apparent mistake of booking Tila Tequila.   Ms. Tequila was pelted with rocks, various pieces of garbage and cascades of human excrement while fans badgered her to take her top off (and when she finally did, the barrage only increased in frequency and vehemence).  The hecklers/assailants used nearby Port-a-potties as a source of ammo.

Tequila ended her performance quickly and ahead of schedule.  A witness told CNN:  "the crowd of about 2,000 was immediately angry toward Tequila and she was unable to turn them around.  She was taunting them,” he said. “She didn’t know how to handle them. She didn’t understand the dynamic.  She took her top off and they got really violent,” he said.

Ms. Tequila tweeted this weekend that she would be suing the organizers (e.g., Insane Clown Posse) for everything she can get her hands on. 

This was not a proportional response to either her cheesy reality show persona, or her undoubtedly bad singing and rapping.  For more information on proportional responses, read this. 
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Pablo gets his credentials

Hurting Inside, putting up signs outside

We saw these signs at the home of a homeowner on Seattle's Lake Union. Clearly this is someone who is hurting inside. These photos maybe capture half of the signs we saw there...

click images to enlarge...

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The Northern Lights a/k/a Aurora Borealis in Seattle

I've only seen the northern lights once in Seattle, many years ago.  Periodically, we should be able to see them, but, alas, they are almost always hidden by overcast skies.  Just last week, we once again missed them behind the clouds.  National Geographic has a great gallery right now of Northern Lights images, along with an explanation of some of the science behind this awesome northern phenomenon. Check it out here.

Alas, no northern lights, but this week we did get the Perseid meter shower...

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Dan Quayle's Spawn Ben calls BHO "worst President in history." Wasn't one Quayle enough?

By Pablo Fanque
All This Is That National Affairs Editor

One-term Vice President Dan Quayle's son Ben says Obama is the worst President ever.  BQ is running against a dozen candidates for the US House of Representatives in Arizona's 3rd congressional district.  [Thanks Jeff Clinton for the news tip].

Dad

The 33-year-old says "my generation will inherit a weakened country."  He asks the voters in his ad,  "What's happened to America?" Asking for their vote, he says "I love Arizona. I was raised right."

"Somebody has to go to Washington and knock the hell out of the place."

Son

Quayle, a Scottsdale attorney, calls himself as a family man.  He was recently photographed with two kids for a recent campaign flyer.  But then, he later had to admit that they weren't actually his young 'uns. . .

Ben Quayle Commercial @ Yahoo! Video
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"I take one everywhere I take my penis" - a Public Service Poster from Seattle

Apparently this poster was created as a PSA sort of thing in Seattle, according to http://www.shtig.net/muses/condom_subvert.jpg, "my uncle worked on the design team for that, and I got a framed original. They were for a community thing in Seattle promoting condom usage and only around 2,000 were printed, so it's a pretty rare artifact." 

The work was crreated by Art Chantry. . .this is his website.

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September 3, 2010: Machete!

I am really looking forward to this movie. Less than a month to go!

Lindsay Lohan ... April Benz

Robert De Niro ... Senator McLaughlin

Jessica Alba ... Sartana

Michelle Rodriguez ... Luz

Steven Seagal ... Torrez

Tim Roth ... Agent Ringo Orange

Danny Trejo ... Machete

Rose McGowan ... Cherry Darling

Sacha Baron Cohen ... Colonel Weathers

Don Johnson ... Lt. Stillman

Daryl Sabara ... Julio

Cheech Marin ... Padre Benito del Toro

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