The final photograph I took during my recent trip. We arrived at Logan Airport just as the sun was setting. Had a little time to spare so I took a shot or two looking across in the direction of Boston. The tripod was packed so this was hand held.

 

This might well be the last time I take a photograph in the USA. We do unfortunately need to reduce the amount we spend on travel and three-week road trips are pretty expensive. I have enjoyed immensely the opportunity to tour parts of the USA over the past twenty years and driving over 30,000 miles in your incredibly beautiful country. The vast majority of the Americans I have met during these visits were so very warm and welcoming.

Thanks for following the route of my recent holiday. Obviously I have many other photographs to post from this last trip well over well over a hundred. They will appear randomly over the coming months or years, I still have shots in the archives from our trips to the US in 2014 and 2016 so lots more American images to come.

 

Sadly must end on a negative note. It’s almost beyond belief when a leader of another democratic country endorses the views of a criminal and extreme right wing group in my country. I do not use the word criminal hyperbolically; some of its members are in jail for racialist attacks. The deputy leader of this group “Britain First” Jayda Fransen is currently on bail charged with inciting racial hatred and other public order offences. She will appear at Belfast Magistrates' Court on Thursday 14 December. Imagine how furious Americans would feel if a British politician showed their support for the Ku Klux Klan

In case you feel I am being extreme in my reaction let me quote the British prime Minister Teresa May not someone on the whole I tend to agree with on any issue .10 Downing Street said and I quote

 

"British people overwhelmingly reject the prejudiced rhetoric of the far right which is the antithesis of the values that this country represents - decency, tolerance and respect. It is wrong for the president to have done this."

  

THANKS FOR YOUR VISIT AND FOR TAKING THE TIME TO WRITE A COMMENT IT’S MUCH APPRECIATED AND SO MUCH MORE INTRESTING THAN JUST GIVING A FAVE

 

As Nottingham's shops continue to close at an alarming rate, the face of the streets is changing dramatically, not always for the better. At least, on Bridlesmith Gate, they are trying to brighten things up a bit. Snapped with the Samsung Galaxy S21 5G phone cam and pushed, pulled and twisted about, way beyond the realms of common decency!

Italian postcard by Bromostampa, Milano, no. 380.

 

Voluptuous American actress Mamie Van Doren (1931) was a sex symbol of the 1950s and 1960s. Van Doren starred in several exploitation films such as Untamed Youth (1957), loaded with rock 'n' roll and juvenile delinquency. Her onscreen wardrobe usually consisted of tight sweaters, low-cut blouses, form-fitting dresses, and daring swimsuits. Mamie and her colleague blonde bombshells Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield were known as 'The Three M's.'

 

Mamie Van Doren was born Joan Lucille Olander in Rowena, South Dakota, in 1931. She was the daughter of Warner Carl Olander and Lucille Harriet Bennett. In 1942 the family moved to Los Angeles. In early 1946, Van Doren began working as an usher at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. The following year, she had a bit part on an early television show. She also sang with Ted Fio Rito's band and entered several beauty contests. She was married for a brief time at seventeen when Van Doren and her first husband, Jack Newman, eloped to Santa Barbara. The marriage was dissolved quickly, upon her discovery of his abusive nature. In the summer of 1949, at age 18, she won the titles Miss Eight Ball and Miss Palm Springs. Van Doren was discovered by producer Howard Hughes the night she was crowned Miss Palm Springs. The pair dated for five years. Hughes provided her with a bit role in Jet Pilot at RKO Radio Pictures. Her line of dialogue inconsisted of one word, "Look!". The following year, 1951, she posed for famous pin-up girl artist Alberto Vargas, the painter of the glamorous Vargas Girls. His painting of Van Doren was on the July 1951 cover of Esquire magazine. Van Doren did a few more bit parts in RKO films, including His Kind of Woman (John Farrow, 1951) starring Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell. Van Doren then began working on the stage. She was a showgirl in New York in Monte Proser's nightclub version of Billion Dollar Baby. Songwriter Jimmy McHugh discovered her for his musicals, then decided she was too good for the chorus line and should have dramatic training. She studied with Ben Bard and Bliss-Hayden. While appearing in the role of Marie in a showcase production of Come Back, Little Sheba, Van Doren was seen by Phil Benjamin, a casting director at Universal International. In 1953, Van Doren signed a contract with Universal Studios. They had big plans for her, hoping she would bring the same kind of success that 20th Century Fox had with Marilyn Monroe. Van Doren, whose signing day coincided with the inauguration of President Eisenhower, was given the first name Mamie for Ike's wife, Mamie Eisenhower. Universal first cast Van Doren in a minor role as a singer in Forbidden (Rudolph Maté, 1953), starring Tony Curtis. Interested in Van Doren's allure, Universal then cast her again opposite Curtis in The All American (Jesse Hibbs, 1953), playing her first major role as Susie Ward, a wayward girl who is the man-trap at a campus beer joint. In Yankee Pasha (Joseph Pevney, 1954), starring Jeff Chandler and Rhonda Fleming, she played a slave girl, Lilith. In 1955, she had a supporting role in the musical Ain't Misbehavin' (Edward Buzzell, 1955) and starred in the crime-drama Running Wild (Abner Biberman, 1955). Soon thereafter, Van Doren turned down a Broadway role in the play Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, and was replaced by newcomer Jayne Mansfield. In 1956, Van Doren appeared in the Western Star in the Dust (Charles F. Haas, 1956). Though Van Doren garnered prominent billing alongside John Agar and Richard Boone, she appears rather briefly, as the daughter of a ranch owner. By this time, Van Doren had grown tired of Universal, which was only casting her in non-breakthrough roles. Therefore, Van Doren began accepting bigger roles in better movies from other studios, such as Teacher's Pet (George Seaton, 1958) with Doris Day and Clark Gable. She appeared in some of the first films to feature rock 'n' roll music, such as Untamed Youth (Howard W. Koch, 1957). The film was originally condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency, but that only served to enhance the curiosity factor, resulting in it being a big moneymaker for the studio. Van Doren became identified with this rebellious style, and made some rock records. She went to star in several bad girl movies that later became cult films. These include Born Reckless (Howard W. Koch, 1958), High School Confidential (Jack Arnold, 1958), and The Beat Generation (Charles F. Haas, 1959). After Universal Studios chose not to renew her contract in 1959, Van Doren was now a free agent and had to struggle to find work.

 

Mamie Van Doren became known for her provocative roles. She was in prison for Girls Town (Charles F. Haas, 1959), which provoked censors with a shower scene where audiences could see Van Doren's naked back. As Eve in The Private Lives of Adam and Eve (Mickey Rooney, Albert Zugsmith, 1960) she wore only fig leaves, and in other films, like Vice Raid (Edward L. Cahn, 1960) audiences were clued in as to the nature of the films from the titles. Many of these productions were low-budget B-movies which sometimes gained a cult following for their high camp value. An example is Sex Kittens Go to College (Albert Zugsmith, 1960), which co-starred Tuesday Weld and Mijanou Bardot - Brigitte's sister. Mamie also appeared in foreign productions, such as the Italian crime comedy Le bellissime gambe di Sabrina/The Beautiful Legs of Sabrina (Camillo Mastrocinque, 1959) with Antonio Cifariello, and the Argentine film Una americana en Buenos Aires/The Blonde from Buenos Aires (George Cahan, 1961) with Jean-Pierre Aumont. Van Doren took some time off from her career and came back to the screen in 1964. That year she played in the German Western musical Freddy und das Lied der Prärie/In the Wild West (Sobey Martin, 1964), starring Freddy Quinn and Rik Battaglia. Tommy Noonan convinced Van Doren to appear in 3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt (Tommy Noonan, 1964). Van Doren had turned down Noonan's previous offer to star in Promises! Promises!, in which she would have to do nude scenes. She was replaced by Jayne Mansfield. In 3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt, Mamie did a beer-bath scene, but is not seen nude. She posed for Playboy to promote the film. Van Doren next appeared in The Las Vegas Hillbillys (Arthur C. Pierce, 1966) which co-starred Jayne Mansfield. It was the only time two of 'The Three M's' appeared together in a film. A sequel was titled Hillbillys in a Haunted House, but Van Doren turned this role down, and was replaced by Joi Lansing. She appeared in You've Got to Be Smart (Ellis Kadison, 1967), and the Sci-Fi film, Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (1968), directed by the young Peter Bogdanovich (as Derek Thomas). In this film astronauts land on Venus and encounter dangerous creatures and meet sexy Venusian women who like to sun-bathe in hip-hugging skin-tight pants and seashell brassieres. In 1968, she was offered the role of a murder victim in the independent horror film The Ice House as a replacement for Mansfield, who died the previous year. She turned the offer down, however, and was replaced by Sabrina. During the Vietnam War, she did tours for U.S. troops in Vietnam for three months in 1968, and again in 1970. Van Doren also developed a nightclub act and did live theatre. She performed in stage productions of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Dames at Sea at the Drury Lane Theater, Chicago, and appeared in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? and The Tender Trap at the Arlington Park Theater. In the 1970s, Van Doren performed a nightclub act in Las Vegas as well. Van Doren had a supporting role in the Western The Arizona Kid (Luciano B. Carlos, 1970). Since then, Van Doren has appeared only in cameo appearances in low-budgeted films. To this date Van Doren's last film appearance was a cameo role in the comedy Slackers (Dewey Nicks, 2002). Van Doren's guest appearances on television include Jukebox Jury, What's My Line, The Bob Cummings Show, The Jack Benny Show, Fantasy Island, Burke's Law, Vega$, and L.A. Law. She released her autobiography, Playing the Field, in 1987 which brought much new attention and proved to be her biggest media splash in over 25 years. Since the book's publication she has often been interviewed and profiled and has occasionally returned to acting. Van Doren has been married five times. Her first marriage was to sportswear manufacturer Jack Newman whom she married and divorced in 1950. Her second marriage was to bandleader, composer and actor Ray Anthony whom she married in 1955. They had one son, Perry Ray Anthony (1956). The couple later divorced in 1961. When Van Doren's early 1960s, highly publicized, on-again off-again engagement to baseball player Bo Belinsky ended in 1964, she married baseball player Lee Meyers in 1966. They were divorced in 1967. Her fourth marriage was to businessman Ross McClintock in 1972. They met while working on President Nixon's reelection campaign; the marriage was annulled in 1973. Since 1979 she has been married to Thomas Dixon, an actor and dentist.

 

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

That ravenous grain of sand. (with turquoise decency strips)

 

Let's not worry about how tasteless, vulgar and kitsch it might look, not for now anyway.

Un Sikh Amritdhari (initié dans l’ordre du Khalsa) doit garder sur lui en permanence cinq articles de foi.

1 Kesh: les cheveux et poils non coupés ni taillés (les cheveux sont attachés en chignon et couverts d’un Keski (Turban).

2 Kangha : Le peigne sikh,en bois, gardé en permanence dans les cheveux en tant que symbole de propreté.

3 Kacchera : un short sikh utilisé comme sous-vêtement et habillement minimum. II symbolise la décence et la chasteté.

4 Kara: un bracelet de fer porté au poignet droit (ou gauche pour les gauchers) qui protège le poignet et symbolise la retenue dans les actes.

5 Kirpan: une épée portée en bandoulière dans son fourreau par une bande de tissu (Gatra), souvent de la taille d’un poignard avec une lame de 12 cm minimum.

 

A Sikh Amritdhari (initiated into the order of Khalsa) must keep him permanently five articles of faith.

1 Kesh: Hair and hair uncut or cut (the hair is tied in a bun and covered with a Keski (Turban).

Kangha 2: The Sikh comb, wooden, kept permanently in the hair as a symbol of cleanliness.

3 Kacchera: Sikh shorts used as underwear and clothing minimum. It symbolizes decency and chastity.

4 Kara: a iron bracelet worn on the right wrist (or left for lefties) that protects the wrist and symbolizes restraint in action.

5 Kirpan: a sword carried slung in its sheath by a band of tissue (Gatra), often the size of a dagger with a blade of 12 cm minimum.

 

A golden end to a grey morning. At the Jerrabomberra Wetlands, ACT. The light was horrible all morning, and just before leaving I went around to the reeds on the west side of the swamp, to find quite a few golden-headed cisticolas flitting around. One had the decency to perch just 10 metres in front of me for a moment.

Callie is known locally as 'black jesus' - he is kind, a deep thinker, ridiculously easy company.

 

Six days a week, his long gangly legs and endless ropey arms make their way around the island by bicycle, (often balancing a variety of fruits and coconuts on his handlebars to sell), easily traversing 20km-30km a day.

 

On this day, he told me that he had recently had a stroke and that he had some paralysis down his right side. The doctor told Callie that it was a good thing that he took one of his epic bicycle rides shortly after the stroke had hit, because doing so had minimised the lasting affect of the heart-event on his limbs.

 

Before the portraits, I showed Callie the images I had taken of his sister Anna - he got emotional: there she is...there she is'...

 

Callie, and ordinary men and women like him, make you feel part of something that matters. That a world of decency, respect, hard work, honesty and self-sufficiency, can and does still exist.

 

Whenever I speak to Callie or see one of his enormous hands lift from a handlebar to waive as I pass him, his give-everything smile beaming, I realise that 'god is one of us' and that our blessings are too many to count.

Haunted Alley is over and the results of the Harvest Bake Off have finally been revealed, and it's no surprise Stormtrooper Bruce made it into the top three. But he should have known something was up with the prizes when they weren't announced ahead of time.

 

TK-1110: It's just as we feared. Once again you're wallowing in your misery when you should be celebrating.

 

STB: Remind me again just exactly what I should be celebrating?

 

TK-432: Dude, you were robbed. You should've gotten 1st Place not 3rd. But then again, with those prizes what difference does it make?

 

TK-1110: Guess I'm the only voice of reason here. Yes the prizes suck like a Sith. Breakfast with the P, Lunch with the P, and Dinner with the P. But just be thankful third place was lunch!

 

TK-432: How is he supposed to be thankful about lunch with the P?

 

TK-1110: Think about it. He'd have to get up at the crack of dawn for breakfast, and dinner would drag on into the evening. But lunch is in the middle of the day - just a quick bite and it'll be over!

 

STB: Sure would like some of those Weasley's Puking Pastilles so I could take that orange half before hand.

 

TK-432: Well, at least they had the decency to return your cake. So, um... If you're done with your pity party think we could have a slice?

 

STB: Well, aside from a colossal hangover, guess I do feel a little better. Maybe lunch won't be so bad. Glad you guys stopped by. And yes, help yourselves to whatever you want. You'll pardon me if I don't get up just yet.

  

_____________________________________________

Viewing Large is always fun. Just click on the image.

 

"ANZAC is not merely about loss. It is about courage, and endurance, and duty, and love of country, and mateship, and good humour and the survival of a sense of self worth, and decency in the face of dreadful odds." Sir William Deane, Govenor-General Of Australia, Anzac Day 1999.

 

This is a photo I did of the Ambulatory inside the Shrine of Remembrance. The Ambulatory, comprised of the side aisles surrounding the four sides of the central Sanctuary, contains the Books of Remembrance, National flags and ensigns.

 

The Books of Remembrance preserve the names of the 89,000 Victorians who were born or enlisted in Victoria and who served abroad in the First World War, or who died in camp prior to embarkation. There are 42 bronze caskets containing the books, they are listed alphabetically and without rank.

 

The books were meticulously inscribed and illuminated by a team of nine male and female calligraphers. Centrally located amongst the books is the King's Book - inscribed by His Majesty, King George V. The inscription reads: Let their names be forever held in proud remembrance.

 

The Shrine of Remembrance was built between July 1928 and November 1934 in remembrance of the 114,000 men and women of Victoria who served and those who died in the Great War of 1914-1918 - 89,100 of them served overseas and 19,000 did not return.

 

The people of Victoria felt that their debt to these volunteers, who had defended them at such great costs to themselves and their families, should be recognised by a worthy permanent monument of remembrance. Although the country was faced with frightful unemployment and financial difficulty in the late 1920s and the 1930s, so great was the gratitude of the people that the huge amount required to build the Shrine was raised or promised within six months from the opening of the appeal in 1928.

 

The design for the Shrine of Remembrance was selected by competition among Australian artists and architects. Eighty-three designs were submitted and the winning design was by two Melbourne returned-soldier architects, Philip Hudson and James Wardrop.The inspiration for the external outline came from one of the seven wonders of the ancient world - the mausoleum at Harlicarnassus to Mausolus, King of Caria in South West Asia Minor.

 

Prince Henry, the Duke of Gloucester and son of King George V, officially opened the Shrine before a crowd of 300,000 people in November 1934.Since then, it has been a growing monument, with other memorials added to the site to mark the service of successive generations, such as the Second World War Forecourt and the Remembrance Garden – Post 1945 Memorial.

 

LEST WE FORGET

 

www.facebook.com/vorkaimagery

plus.google.com/u/0/103947891078334438586/posts

  

[Fiction] Oh yes, you see, there was a major gust of wind coming up from the fireplace and it was all I could do to hold my dress at a resonable level of decency. Gosh! I hope that never happens again. Don't you?

On the building site opposite us, it has been quite an exciting morning. A huge concrete mixer and pouring device creating the base for the first two houses. It must be quite difficult for the builders as they have no access from the front of the houses, and are having to work down the site, house by house. Now, to top it all, the people who own the lane are putting up a 6 ft fence right in front of where the front doors will be.... oh the joys of living around people who like to bend the rules - both the rules of law and the rules of decency!!

 

For 365:2019. Day 79

 

52 in 2019. 48 outfit

It is good to be able to introduce an image of pure filth onto this site, as a good old fashioned dirty photo is often appreciated and pushes up the viewing figures!. However, the only knee tremble with this scene is the thought that somebody has got to clean off the dirt at some point. The reality is that after the conclusion of this season's rail head treatment train duties, GBRf Class 66/7 No. 66704 'Colchester Power Signalbox' looks as though it was not the first choice motive power for 6S94 0512 Wembley European Freight Operations Centre - Irvine Caledonian Paper Mill on 13th December 2017; the fact that the train at this point, as it passes Lichfield Trent Valley, is a cool 343 minutes late perhaps indicates a motive power problem at Wembley. At least some kind soul had the decency to clean the area around the number, and the bit which says if belongs to GB Railfreight, although GBRf would perhaps have preferred that bit stayed covered under the multi-layers of filth until a full deep clean is undertaken. Copyright Photograph John Whitehouse - all rights reserved

Well, I reckon more than a few Scots said "Cheers!" and raised a pint of Tennents when the SNP Sweetheart Stout, Nicola Sturgeon, resigned earlier this week. Do you remember her slagging off the dreaded Tories when they refused to call a General election when first Theresa May resigned, then Boris and finally Liz Truss. Then when Alex Salmond resigned (because she/Sturgeon stitched him up in court) , and then she herself resigned...no general election in Scotland. Always a hypocrite. In a recent poll 96% of the Scottish public thought she should go. She failed at pretty well everything. Worse NHS, worse Policing, worse education, worse drug deaths (3 times worse than next worst country), worse life expectancy amidst skullduggery, lies and corruption. She blamed the English parliament and Tories for everything whilst she let everything in Scotland go to ruin. In fact her list of failures was so long that she needed 18 minutes in her resignation speech to mention most of them, whereas Boris, May, Truss only took 5-6 minutes on each of theirs. Now the SNP is looking (trying to fix her replacement) whilst in particular slagging off a publicly favoured candidate Kate Forbes because she stood up for her religious beliefs. Being of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland they have strong Christian values which are largely mirrored in all other major religions: Muslim, Judaism, Buddhism, etc. She's a good girl, from my part of the world, from the highlands and islands of Scotland, where kids are still taught respect and decency. But actually, if I could vote and I can't as I'm not an SNP member, I favour Ash Regan/Denham, another principled and decent lady who I hope can steer Scotland in a better direction, away from the hatred, division and failure caused by Sturgeon's grievance politics. Unfortunately the hot favourite to win the race to be First Minister is a proven loser. Humza: and not that Humza, the Strictly Come Dancing winner from Ardnamurchan

====GCPD====

 

"Jim, we came as soon as we could. What's the situation?"

 

"We've got a body in the Coventry district- vic's mistress found the body. Detective Driver from Major Crimes figured you might be interested..." Gordon says, handing him a set of photos.

 

"Judge Aickerman... He was one of the names on Grange's tapes."

 

"Yeah, that makes the fifth victim so far, all headshots, all-"

 

"Two shots to the head... Dent? You said there were others?"

 

"Here. All members of the Court, all names on Grange's list. And that doesn't even go into the mess in Arkham. 40 bodies recovered, all burnt beyond recognition, only thing identifiable-"

 

"Are the owl masks fused to their faces. Chemical analysis?"

 

"Make-up seems to match Lynns' portfolio, and the napalm there's a staple of Joey Rigger. And though I can't condone them, I can't blame them either. After Walker-"

 

Gordon trails off, and takes his cigarette out of his mouth- after Arkham, he'd relapsed, and looks at Batman's partner. Catwoman

 

"Well, I'm just glad to see you're on speaking terms again."

 

Bruce looks at him inquisitively

 

"Give me some credit, I am a detective too, you know."

 

...

 

"Don't worry, Jim, I'll find Dent, before they do."

 

====The Slab====

 

"Gar put you up to this, didn't he?"

 

No response... Drury sighed. He couldn't go anywhere these days without someone else tagging along, acting like his self important babysitters. He didn't much like Flannegan, not these days, not since he started to question things, question people. The man was cruel and irritable, and the only things he cared for were his rats, who he insisted be brought along with them on their flight. "Can't trust those Antarctic rats," he'd declared loudly at the airport, waving his government badge at the security guard trying to pry the rodent-filled suitcase away from him. Even now he was dodging questions, cigarette in mouth, his right hand stuffed in his pocket.

Drury had been to a lot of prisons; Blackgate, Arkham, Stryker's, even spent a night in Iron Heights. Slabside was a different breed entirely. Located in the middle of Antarctica, it's home to some of the world's worst criminals. Following the City of Fear incident, many of the Society's most dangerous member's were relocated here. Many still are. Doomsday. Mongul. Amazo. Just one of them free would be catastrophic, all of them, and even the Justice League might not stand a chance.

In one cell, a masked man punches the wall, blood spurting from his knuckles. With each punch his voice grows louder. "Pow. Pow. Pow." Drury takes one look at him, then hurries after Flannegan.

 

"Do I know you?" a timid voice asks. A frail man sits housed in the adjacent cell, fumbling with a broken clock.

Drury stared. His name is David Clinton. In this reality, he was never trapped in the void, in this reality he never had an epiphany of any kind, or really any original thought. But, in his cell, he knew there was something missing. A purpose. Memories that he shouldn't have flashed in his head regularly.

In one world, Drury knew him as Chronos, a sociopathic monster. But here, Clinton was just another C-Lister locked in a cage.

 

"Sir, we've got her down here," the guard said.

 

"Good," Drury muttered. "Good, I'll be there soon," passing by Chronos.

"Tick tock," the other man murmurs. "Tick tock."

 

Drury sat down in the visitor centre, a small, dark, smelly room. Opposite sat Marion Grange.

"What do you want?"

 

Grange shifted in her seat. "I heard about your wife, I want you to know that-"

 

"No. No, what do you want?"

 

She sighed. "I don't... I don't want to die. I want that on the record. Any record. I don't want to die."

 

"I travelled halfway across the world-!"

 

"Then you know I'm serious. They're coming. They're coming, and when they get here, they'll do whatever they can to make it look like an accident, a suicide."

 

"I don't-"

 

"They're going to kill me!" Grange yelled suddenly.

 

Drury shifted his eyes around the room, and in a harsh whisper asked "The Owls?"

Grange nodded.

"I needed you here, because I know you'll believe me. Because you know how- You know how dangerous they are."

 

"This is the most secure prison on the planet, they aren't getting in here."

 

"And what if they're already here? What if they've already bribed, extorted and blackmailed their way in?"

 

Drury paused. "You didn't bring me here to talk. Or to apologise. You wanted me here, so you'd have a human shield to hide behind. Didn't you?" Grange looks down at the desk, ashamed. "I'm sorry."

 

"I said, didn't you! My wife is dead. My brother was abducted, and one of my best friend's went missing two days ago."

 

A rat crawls into the room, and is scooped up by Flannegan. He whispers to it, then addresses Drury. "Shut it."

 

"Oh, he speaks!" Drury snapped at Flannegan.

 

"Let's talk about your screwed up little world some other time. Rodriguez just sent word. Someone's infiltrated the security systems."

 

"Who the hell's Rodriguez?!"

 

"The rat. Do keep up. Up you get, ma'am."

 

"Not now, Otis..." Drury murmured. "Did your... rat tell you who it is?"

 

"It's a rat, you idiot. Not the criminal database," he scowled, as he pulled a knife out of his sock and stormed out. "Oh, you again."

 

====Keystone City====

 

"Your turn, Rory. You were saying?"

 

"Right, right. Wit was ah aboot to say? Oh, aye. The auld guard! Scudder, Scudder wis a daft wee bampot who dragged Lisa doon wi' 'im. And dinnae get me started on that Top bastard. What a pretentious auld cunt he wis. Aw brains an no fookin' human decency..."

 

"-Don't forget about that Chillblaine loser," Mick muttered, as he put his lighter down.

 

"Och aye, Chillblaine tae. Ach, the poor lassie sure kent how ta choose 'em. As fer Piper-"

 

Mardon paused. "Piper? He's gay, McCulloch."

 

"Wit? The wee rat boy? He didnae ever come across as one a' them."

 

"One of them"? 'Hell does that mean?" Mick started.

 

"Ach, I dinnae mean nothing by it, Rory, I'm jus' saying. I mean, I cannae believe it. Hartley bloody Rathaway, and wit, Flannegan? They're a bloody couple?"

 

"When Flannegan feels like it, that is," Mardon added, checking his watch. "Snart was supposed to be here by now."

 

Rory growled.

 

"Oh, don't start," Mardon began.

 

"He comes and goes as he pleases," he snarls.

 

"Well, he's the big man, ain't he? He's allowed tae do that."

 

Mick slouches into his seat. "That's all well and good, I just wish we didn't have to work with *him* to do it."

 

McCulloch groans. "Aye, I hear ya, he makes Dillon sound like Girder."

 

As if on cue, a signature smug, booming voice calls out to the assembled trio. "Gentlemen, when is a door not a door?"

 

"Ach, that's fooking ancient that is..."

 

"When it's ajar..." Mardon sighed.

 

Riddler smiled, but he was clearly annoyed. "Quite. So tell me, which one of you three dimwitted numbskulls left the door open *this* time? Need I remind you the importance of what we're trying to accomplish here. If Bane were to discover-"

 

"Bane's all drugs and bravado. I could summon a hurricane in his gut, and suck his flunkies into a tornado."

 

"Ah, yes, because Kryptonians are well known for being easily sucked into tornados..."

 

McCulloch leaps out his chair. "Ach, fook this, ya think that because yer in good wit' Luthor yer better than us?"

 

"Hardly. I think I'm better than you, because I am."

 

====ACE Chemicals====

 

"Hello Charles. I apologise for the hostile greeting, but, you weren't coming quietly."

 

"That ring, those things, how did you-"

 

"All in good time, I assure you. Are you angry with me, Charles? You've every reason to be. Day betrayed you, Penguin betrayed you, Sionis too. And now, Mr Dent. All that hurt in so short a time... Any other man may have succumbed to violence, but not you. You're afraid. Afraid that if you were to retaliate, the consequences for your friends would be dire. Why those, those are powerful men. And Calendar Man, heh.

But what, what if something wasn't holding you back, what if you didn't have to be afraid? Fear, fear is what tells us no. Fear holds us back. It controls us, manipulates us. Fear is a weapon, harnessed by me, and harnessed by The Batman. It's funny, when I began this newest experiment of mine, Penguin commissioned me to deliver a weapon, a drug that could help his armies conquer fear, and thus, their enemies. The Court of Owls, The Batman, Joker if the need ever arose, without fear, they'd be easy marks, so he said. I hear he's in hiding now.

But, I never let a good toxin go to waste, and now, one year later, I have the answer! I can cure fear! It took various chemicals, some herbs in Blackfire's garden and the blood of a few murdered Talons, but I have my chemicals, and you will be my guinea pig."

 

"You could've had the pick of the city, why me?"

 

"Yes. Why you? Not even remotely special. Because, Charles, the fact is, you're a good man. You've got a moral compass, a strong one, you help people at every turn, even those who don't deserve it. You've never killed without remorse, not even that creature, Salinger, was it? I bet you grieved for days... For many men, the easiest path to breaking them, is fear. And it's gotten so... boring. Cliché. This time, I'll break you, and men of your ilk by destroying you, from the inside out." A yellow claw fills a nearby syringe with red liquid and hands it to a grinning Crane. "Shall we begin?"

 

Another look in to the archives from 2015. This was one of many with LMT.

 

IF YOU WANT TO INVITE MY IMAGES INTO YOUR GROUP, HAVE THE DECENCY TO ADD ME FIRST OR I WILL DECLINE YOUR IMAGE INVITE.

Highest Explore Position #185 ~ On August 27th 2008.

 

Beach Huts - Harwich, Essex, England - Monday August 25th 2008.

Click here to see the Larger image

 

Yup...I have succumbed to the God of Bokeh...so here's another...:O))

A typical English beach scene...tiny houses that people live in when the Sun comes out...lol

Obviously this year, anybody who has one, hasn't been using it much..:O((

HAPPY BOKEH WEDNESDAY EVE...Everybody..:O)))

 

Brightly coloured beach huts are an essential part of the British coast. They go together with ice creams, sandcastles and the unreliable British weather to form part of our experience of summer by the seaside. Recently the spirit of nostalgia for the British coast has meant that beach huts, in some locations, can sell for more money than houses in other areas and given that you cannot stay overnight in them and many need annual maintenance, this is really saying something!

 

Beach huts really started to be used in the early years of the twentieth century. Before then, bathing had been a cumbersome and expensive affair. Men and women bathed on separate beaches and changing for a dip in the ocean was performed out of view in a bathing machine, which was towed a safe distance out to sea before the nervous bather took his or her plunge into the often uninvitingly cold sea water. When we finally dispensed with the bathing machine many were left abandoned on the beach.

 

In the Edwardian era and in the years following the First World War, the sight of people of both sexes in bathing costumes had become acceptable. However, changing in public was frowned upon and could result in a fine, even if decency was preserved under a Macintosh - so called "Macintosh Bathing". Hence councils provided and charged for beach huts to change in. Enterprising people made use of the abandoned bathing machines by removing the wheels and turning them into beach huts. As an alternative to the beach hut, some seaside towns provided tents for hire, along with deck chairs. These were often brightly coloured and decorated with stripes.

 

Now you can buy your own beach hut or hire one for the day or a week. They make a great base for a family on a beach holiday. Many are equipped with small stoves for boiling kettles, essential for the British afternoon cup of tea.

Friday Night Dancing With The Stars, Divided As People But One With The Universe Under The Eyes Of God - IMRAN™

Think about it. I mean really think about it, gentle reader, and decent human being, wherever in the world you read my words.

Friday night, more like Saturday morning 0230AM, as I step out to be under the open sheltering sky. An 'ordinary night' in 'extraordinary times' silently and darkly covering this part of the world. Yet little points of light loudly tell silent stories of our place in the cosmos.

I do not have the needed equipment nor the time or patience to fully get into astrophotography. But once in a while, I like to click a few random shots of the sky late at night.

Even being in an almost unknown town like Apollo Beach, nearly 30-45 minutes of driving from downtown Tampa, which itself is not the biggest or brightest city, it is easy to see how much man-made light-pollution fills the sky.

It makes it impossible to see the Milky Way, which is actually right in the direction my camera is pointed towards. It is pretty mind-boggling to see that many of these little blobs of light are not even massive stars, they are actual galaxies.

This is a few megabytes file that social media will show you, derived from a 22MB image I saved from a 150MB single photograph. But even at this file size, if you zoom in, you can begin to make out the spiral shapes of some of the spots in the sky.

Then to imagine how insignificant we are in the grand scheme of things, yet how one with God, the Almighty Creator of all that is in the universe, and the multiverses beyond, we are... but only when we are big enough to appreciate and bow our head in gratitude at how tiny we really are even as an entire planet.

May God grant us the wisdom to protect ourselves, our families, our friends, our nations, and our planet, from stupid self-destructive positions, policies, politics, and preying power-players.

It is time to choose. Please choose intelligence and science, decency and humanity, versus the vile forces of bigotry, racism, fundamentalism, hypocrisy, along with rampant ignorance and pure stupidity some are flag-waving hat-wearing professors of.

Choose wisely, as if your, our, our species', and our planet's very existence depend on it. Because it truly does. Say a prayer, and Vote! May we all be able to dance under the stars as a united nation, ummah, country, species, and planet, again, soon. Amen.

 

© 2020 IMRAN™

 

#ApolloBeach, #D850, #Earth, #elections, #Florida, #God, #humanity, #IMRAN, #ImranAnwar, #Inspiration, #leadership, #Lifestyle, #longexposure, #MilkyWay, #motivation, #Nature, #nightsky, #Nikon, #politics, #seaside, #Tampa, #TampaBay, #Universe, #USA, #IMHO, #commentary, #opinion, #prose, #literature

The film is about a young woman Eva who marries a wealthy but much older man. After abandoning her brief passionless marriage, she returns to the estate of her father, a wealthy horse breeder.

 

One day, Eva goes horseback riding and has a swim in the nude, leaving her clothes on her horse. The horse wanders off and Eva, still completely nude, chases after it. Adam, a virile young engineer, sees Eva trying to catch the horse. He catches it for her and Eva is so embarrassed that she hides in the bushes when he approaches. Eva is ashamed of her nudity, but then she glares up at him in defiance. He hands Eva her clothes. When she tries to leave, she hurts her ankle. At first, she resists Adam’s efforts to help, then acquiesces.

 

That night, Eva is restless and cannot stop thinking about Adam. Finally, she goes to his isolated residence, which is located near the field where they met. After some hesitation, they embrace and spend the night together. “Ecstasy” is perhaps the first non-pornographic movie to portray sexual intercourse and female orgasm, although never showing more than the actors’ faces.

 

The film was controversial in many countries because of Lamarr’s nudity and the orgasm scene. Pope Pius XI denounced it, so none of the Italian distributors bought the rights for distribution. Germany banned it and only released an edited version in 1935. In the United States, the Catholic Legion of Decency condemned it, making it one of the most popular foreign films with Catholic kids. The film never got the Hays Code seal of approval which would allow it a wide American release.

 

Full movie: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Gfxcfn1qyw

 

To all the well-wishers, on my birthday..

I thank from the bottom of my heart everyone who took the time to express blessings. That would mean a lot.

However, I send my warmest regards.

To close hearts, love, peace, and respect for others everywhere, whether in virtuality or with people in real life.

With an emphasis on human dignity in the privacy of his/her life wherever he/she is.

Energies of love, goodwill, decency for the private life of men, women everywhere, and respect for others everywhere...will bring peace faster.

Thank you.

 

Copyrights (c) Nira Dabush.

Do large and joy in tags to right.

 

Do art to your fotos can be mesmerizing. Here, foto was rotated after Picasa2's graduated tint all over morphed into above from www.flickr.com/photos/10112197@N02/2262682232/

 

_____________________________

Question: Ever feel that nothing you do will change anything in anyone’s life?

 

Answers: Quietly to yourself; and then read below miracle story.

 

What would you do? You make the choice. Don't look for a punch line, there isn't one. Read it anyway. My question is: Would you have made the same choice?

 

At a fund raising dinner for a school that serves learning-disabled children, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question: "When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is the natural order of things in my son?"

 

The audience was stilled by the query.

 

The father continued. "I believe that when a child like Shay, physically and mentally handicapped comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child."

 

Then he told the following story:

 

Shay and his father had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, "Do you think they'll let me play?" Shay's father knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but the father also understood that if his son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.

 

Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and said, " We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning."

 

Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt. His Father watched with a small tear in his eye and warmth in his heart. The boys saw the father's joy at his son being accepted. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as his father waved to him from the stands. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again. Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat.

 

At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game? Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.

 

However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact. The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.

 

The game would now be over. The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game.

 

Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman's head, out of reach of all team mates. Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, "Shay, run to first! Run to first!" Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled.

 

Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second!" Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base. By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball ... the smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team. He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head. Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home.

 

All were screaming, "Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay"

 

Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, "Run to third! Shay, run to third!"

 

As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming, "Shay, run home! Run home!" Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team.

 

"That day", said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, "the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world".

 

Shay didn't make it to another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making his father so happy, and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!

 

AND NOW A LITTLE FOOTNOTE TO THIS STORY: We all send thousands of jokes through the e-mail without a second thought, but when it comes to sending messages about life choices, people hesitate. The crude, vulgar, and often obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion about decency is too often suppressed in our schools and workplaces.

 

If you're thinking about forwarding this message, chances are that you're probably sorting out the people in your address book who aren't the "appropriate" ones to receive this type of message. Well, the person who sent you this believes that we all can make a difference. We all have thousands of opportunities every single day to help realize the "natural order of things." So many seemingly trivial interactions between two people present us with a choice: Do we pass along a little spark of love and humanity or do we pass up those opportunities and leave the world a little bit colder in the process?

 

A wise man once said every society is judged by how it treats it's least fortunate amongst them.

 

EXPLORE # 475 on Wednesday, March 12, 2008

"Raupe" (Caterpillar) - a historical German carrousel from about 1926. During the ride a green ribbed convertible top pushes over the cars, so that the locked roundabout looks like a caterpillar. The merry-go-round was very popular with teenagers, because of the centrifugal force tightly seated boys and girls could tie in the closed cars "first contacts" of a little more intimate kind. In 1951, according to the decree, the caterpillar deck was alloud to close only a few seconds above the young people, so that custom and decency were preserved.

 

Scan Kodak Gold Expired 2015 und Minolta XG-11

dippedinrococo.blogspot.com/2014/01/taste-and-decency.html

Return to decency!

I just finished up what's definitely my final creative shoot of 2012 on a balmy -28C, and got one of my favourite fashion/creative images of the year.

 

It's always a production trying to shoot in these temperature, but it's these temperatures so often in Yellowknife that we wouldn't get any shooting done if we let the cold stop us. But that said, gear doesn't work very good in the extreme cold, and you're basically limited to photographing in 5 minute increments if you have any sense of decency as a photographer (for fear of freezing your model!)

 

Huge thanks to the team on this one:

Model: Elora Braden

Make-up artist/hair: Natacha Saravanja

Assistant: Susan Rohac

 

Focal Length 85mm

Shutter Speed 1/160 sec

Aperture f/3.2

ISO/Film 100

Lighting: single Elinchrom 250 Studio head, modified by an Elinchrom Rotalux softbox. Just out of frame to Elora's left.

IF YOU WANT TO INVITE MY IMAGES INTO YOUR GROUP, HAVE THE DECENCY TO ADD ME FIRST OR I WILL DECLINE YOUR IMAGE INVITE.

This is my first ever video. Minor spoilers for the ending of Human Revolution where you get to choose a message to send to the world, for those of you that don’t know or have never played the games before. It’s a cyberpunk, technology, and conspiracy game series, It’s really fun

 

I am doing Adam Jensen’s monologue without sending the message to the world. Please comment on what you think about it.

 

Transcript:

 

Adam Jensen: Do I trust Mankind to save itself? That's what Eliza was asking. The truth is, I don't know. After everything I've seen, all the fighting, and the chaos around me. I only know what I want to believe: somehow, human decency will triumph. These past few months, I faced many life-threatening situations. I could have given up many times, but my need to know the truth, to uncover the secrets that others were hiding, and to survive, forced me to keep on going. Most of the time, I tried to keep my values in mind, knowing my actions did not have to harm others. I held on to my humanity, resisting the urge to abuse power or resources in order to meet my goals. And in the end, I got the job done. But does this mean I have the right to choose for everyone? No. Because it isn't up to me. It isn't up to Darrow. Sarif, or Taggart, either. Ordinary men and women will have to decide together what course mankind should take. The kind of people who, time and time again, have picked and chosen the future in highly practical ways - slowing change when it's negative, speeding it up when it's good. Can they do it again? I don't know. But I do know I'm not about to let anyone in this station, including myself, stand in their way.

 

[Suicide - Let Mankind Choose]

dippedinrococo.blogspot.com/2014/01/taste-and-decency.html

A Sikh Amritdhari (initiated into the order of Khalsa) must keep him permanently five articles of faith.

1 Kesh: Hair and hair uncut or cut (the hair is tied in a bun and covered with a Keski (Turban).

Kangha 2: The Sikh comb, wooden, kept permanently in the hair as a symbol of cleanliness.

3 Kacchera: Sikh shorts used as underwear and clothing minimum. It symbolizes decency and chastity.

4 Kara: a iron bracelet worn on the right wrist (or left for lefties) that protects the wrist and symbolizes restraint in action.

5 Kirpan: a sword carried slung in its sheath by a band of tissue (Gatra), often the size of a dagger with a blade of 12 cm minimum.

 

Un Sikh Amritdhari (initié dans l’ordre du Khalsa) doit garder sur lui en permanence cinq articles de foi.

1 Kesh: les cheveux et poils non coupés ni taillés (les cheveux sont attachés en chignon et couverts d’un Keski (Turban).

2 Kangha : Le peigne sikh,en bois, gardé en permanence dans les cheveux en tant que symbole de propreté.

3 Kacchera : un short sikh utilisé comme sous-vêtement et habillement minimum. II symbolise la décence et la chasteté.

4 Kara: un bracelet de fer porté au poignet droit (ou gauche pour les gauchers) qui protège le poignet et symbolise la retenue dans les actes.

5 Kirpan: une épée portée en bandoulière dans son fourreau par une bande de tissu (Gatra), souvent de la taille d’un poignard avec une lame de 12 cm minimum.

 

left or right, you decide. Personally, I like parking restrictions (and open borders, and not being manipulated by a political elite, or selling off my kid's futures, the NHS and common British decency...). Bwexit means cliff-edge; do the right thing.

Yesterday, on the day after the Presidential election, as I walked across town on my way to a medical appointment (my thanks to the existence of "Obamacare"), I noticed an eerie, unusual silence in the streets of New York. Then I saw someone with an umbrella walking in front of me. On the umbrella I saw a very American symbol, perhaps one of our most successful exports worldwide, aside chewing gum. I assume all Americans know the meaning of a raised middle finger, and so do most citizens of the world, by now. The real question is who or what do we raise our middle finger to. But I found no clear answers to my question. It felt as if that finger was mainly raised towards ourselves, towards our fellow Americans, towards all those frustrations, anger, injustices, we appear to have now decided to hate and despise, to angrily, violently fight against, not to debate anymore with decency, in search of solutions and civil compromises. Suddenly the rain felt much colder and a police siren broke the silence, just a few blocks away.

Walter Dyer - TV Tramps

Midwood Books Y186, 1962

Cover Artist: Robert Maguire

 

"On camera they violated the code of decency. Off camera they violated each other."

What an amazing place this is. It used to be a thermal bath house. It was built in the 19th century and what beautifully decorated. It will soon be converted into a posh hotel.

When we entered early morning we were the first explorers setting up our gear. Within an hour the place was crowded with explorers from all over Europe and it was hard to take a decent picture.

Apparently it is hard for other people to wait until others who were there earlier are done. I gave them a hard time by just standing in 'their' way while taking a shot. Have some decency people and be patient!

 

Please visit www.preciousdecay.com for more pictures and follow me on Facebook on www.facebook.com/Preciousdecay.urbex

Now I'm not looking for absolution

Forgiveness for the things I do

But before you come to any conclusions

Try walking in my shoes

 

Morality would frown upon

Decency look down upon

The scapegoat fate's made of me

But I promise now, my judge and jurors

My intentions couldn't have been purer

My case is easy to see

I'm not looking for a clearer conscience

Peace of mind after what I've been through

And before we talk of any repentance

Try walking in my shoes

 

Props to Mariiiina for being my button pusher, in the occasion that I was tripod-less :)

 

I was tagged by Mr. Whims to do this fancy little musical tag thing :)

 

~

 

1. The Eclipse soundtrack is ridiculous. In an incredible kind of way. Especially this song.

2. In two weeks, Marina and I are going to see one of our favorite bands, Boyce Avenue! They're seriously amazing.

3. When You Love Somebody by Fruit Bats has been on replay in my house for the past 48 hours.

4. In my ipod, you'll find the most obscure indie things, as well as many cliche pop sensations. *eh hem* Aaron Carter.

5. My first concert: Aaron Carter. My first CD: Aaron Carter. Are we seeing a pattern here? haha

6. I've taken four years of music classes.

7. It's truly disgusting how much I love British indie music. Prime example number one: Bobby Long. If you have any decency at all, you'll listen to that song.

8. I love classical music.

9. I'll bet I'm the only 15 year old girl you know who has a Neil Diamond ringtone.

10. I wish I were the type of person that was born with the need to make music, because I have so much respect for those people.

French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 748. Photo: Studio Harcourt.

 

Beautiful French actress Brigitte Bardot (1934) was the sex kitten of the European film industry. BB starred in 48 films, performed in numerous musical shows, and recorded 80 songs. After her retirement in 1973, she established herself as an animal rights activist and made vegetarianism sexy.

 

Brigitte Bardot was born in Paris in 1934. Her father, Louis Bardot, had an engineering degree and worked with his father in the family business. Her mother, Ann-Marie Mucel, was 14 years younger than Brigitte's father and they married in 1933. Brigitte's mother encouraged her daughter to take up music and dance. At the age of 13, she entered the Conservatoire Nationale de Danse to study ballet. By the time she was 15, Brigitte was trying a modeling career and found herself in May 1949 on the cover of the French magazine Elle. Her incredible beauty readily apparent, Brigitte was noticed by Roger Vadim, then an assistant to the film director Marc Allegrét. Vadim was infatuated with Bardot and encouraged her to start working as a film actress. BB was 18 when she debuted in the comedy Le Trou Normand/Crazy for Love (Jean Boyer, 1952). In the same year, she married Vadim. Brigitte wanted to marry him when she was 17, but her parents quashed any marriage plans until she turned 18. In April 1953 she attended the Cannes Film Festival where she received massive media attention. She soon was every man's idea of the girl he'd like to meet in Paris. From 1952 to 1956 she appeared in seventeen films. Her films were generally lightweight romantic dramas in which she was cast as ingénue or siren, often with an element of undress. She made her first US production in 1953 in Un acte d'amour/Act of Love (Anatole Litvak, 1953) with Kirk Douglas, but she continued to make films in France.

 

Roger Vadim was not content with the light fare his wife was offered. He felt Brigitte Bardot was being undersold. Looking for something more like an art film to push her as a serious actress, he showcased her in Et Dieu créa la femme/...And God Created Woman (Roger Vadim, 1956). This film, about an immoral teenager in a respectable small-town setting, was a smashing success on both sides of the Atlantic. Craig Butler at AllMovie: "It's easy enough to say that ...And God Created Woman is much more important for its historical significance than for its actual quality as a film, and that's true to an extent. Woman's immense popularity, due to its willingness to directly embrace an exploration of sex as well as its willingness to show a degree of nudity that was remarkably daring for its day, demonstrated that audiences were willing to view subject matter that was considered too racy for the average moviegoer. This had both positive (freedom to explore, especially for the French filmmakers of the time) and negative (freedom to exploit) consequences, but its impact is undeniable. It's also true that Woman is not a great work of art, not with a story that is ultimately rather thin, some painful dialogue, and an attitude toward its characters and their sexuality that is unclear and inconsistent. Yet Woman is still fascinating, due in no small part to the presence of Brigitte Bardot in the role that made her an international star and sex symbol. She's not demonstrating great acting here, although her performance is actually good and much better than necessary, and her legendary mambo scene at the climax is nothing short of sensational." During the shooting of Et Dieu créa la femme/And God Created Woman (1956), directed by her husband Roger Vadim, Brigitte Bardot had an affair with her co-star Jean-Louis Trintignant, who at that time was married to French actress Stéphane Audran. Her divorce from Vadim followed, but they remained friends and collaborated in later work.

 

Et Dieu créa la femme/...And God Created Woman (Roger Vadim, 1956) helped her international status. The film took the USA by storm, her explosive sexuality being unlike anything seen in the States since the days of the 'flapper' in the 1920s. It gave rise to the phrase 'sex kitten' and fascination of her in America consisted of magazine photographs and dubbed over French films - good, bad, or indifferent, her films drew audiences - mainly men - into theaters like lemmings.BB appeared in light comedies like Doctor at Large (1957) - the third of the British 'Doctor' series starring Dirk Bogarde - and Une Parisienne/La Parisienne (Michel Boisrond, 1957) which suited her acting skills best. However, she was a sensation in the crime drama En cas de malheur/Love is my profession (Claude Autant-Lara, 1958). Hal Erickson at AllMovie: "this Brigitte Bardot vehicle ran into stiff opposition from the Catholic Legion of Decency, severely limiting its U.S. distribution. Bardot plays a nubile small-time thief named Yvette, who becomes the mistress of influential defense attorney Andre (Jean Gabin). Though Andre is able to shower Yvette with jewels and furs, he cannot "buy" her heart, and thus it is that it belongs to handsome young student Mazzetti (Franco Interlenghi). Alas, Yvette is no judge of human nature: attractive though Mazzetti can be, he has a dangerous-and deadly-side. En Cas de Malheur contains a nude scene that has since been reprinted in freeze-frame form innumerable times by both film-history books and girlie magazines." Photographer Sam Lévin's photos contributed considerably to her image of sensuality and slight immorality. One of Lévin's pictures shows Brigitte, dressed in a white corset. It is said that around 1960 postcards with this photograph outsold in Paris those of the Eiffel Tower.

 

Brigitte Bardot divorced Vadim in 1957 and in 1959 she married actor Jacques Charrier, with whom she starred in Babette s'en va-t-en guerre/Babette Goes to War (Christian-Jaque, 1959). The paparazzi preyed upon her marriage, while she and her husband clashed over the direction of her career. Her films became more substantial, but this brought a heavy pressure of dual celebrity as she sought critical acclaim while remaining a glamour model for most of the world. Vie privée/Private Life (1962), directed by Louis Malle has more than an element of autobiography in it. James Travers at Films de France: "Brigitte Bardot hadn’t quite reached the highpoint of her career when she agreed to make this film with high profile New Wave film director Louis Malle. Even so, the pressure of being a living icon was obviously beginning to get to France’s sex goddess and Vie privée is as much an attempt by Bardot to come to terms with her celebrity as anything else. Malle is clearly fascinated by Bardot and the documentary approach he adopts for this film reinforces the impression that it is more a biography of the actress than a work of fiction. Of course, it’s not entirely biographical, but the story is remarkably close to Bardot’s own life and comes pretty close to predicting how her career would end." The scene in which, returning to her apartment, Bardot's character is harangued in the elevator by a middle-aged cleaning lady calling her offensive names, was based on an actual incident and is a resonant image of a celebrity in the mid-20th century. Soon afterward Bardot withdrew to the seclusion of Southern France.

 

Brigitte Bardot's other husbands were German millionaire playboy Gunter Sachs and right-wing politician Bernard d'Ormale. She is reputed to have had relationships with many other men including Sami Frey, her co-star in La Vérité/The Truth (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1960), and musicians Serge Gainsbourg and Sacha Distel. In 1963, Brigitte Bardot starred in Godard's critically acclaimed film Le Mépris/Contempt (Jean-Luc Godard, 1963). She was also featured along with such notable actors as Alain Delon in Amours célèbres/Famous Love Affairs (Michel Boisrond, 1961) and Histoires extraordinaires/Tales of Mystery (Louis Malle, 1968), Jeanne Moreau in Viva Maria! (Louis Malle, 1965), Sean Connery in Shalako (Edward Dmytryk, 1968), and Claudia Cardinale in Les Pétroleuses/Petroleum Girls (Christian-Jaque, 1971). She participated in various musical shows and recorded many popular songs in the 1960s and 1970s, mostly in collaboration with Serge Gainsbourg, Bob Zagury, and Sacha Distel, including 'Harley Davidson', 'Le Soleil De Ma Vie' (the cover of Stevie Wonder's 'You Are the Sunshine of My Life') and the notorious 'Je t'aime... moi non plus'.

 

Brigitte Bardot’s film career showed a steady decline in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In 1973 just before her fortieth birthday, she announced her retirement. She chose to use her fame to promote animal rights. In 1976 she established the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the Welfare and Protection of Animals. She became a vegetarian and raised three million French francs to fund the foundation by auctioning off jewelry and many personal belongings. For this work, she was awarded the Légion d’honneur in 1984. During the 1990's she became also outspoken in her criticism of immigration, interracial relationships, Islam in France, and homosexuality. Her husband Bernard d'Ormal is a former adviser of the far-right Front National party. Bardot has been convicted five times for 'inciting racial hatred'. More fun is that Bardot is recognised for popularizing bikini swimwear, in early films such as Manina/Woman without a Veil (1952), in her appearances at Cannes and in many photoshoots. Bardot also brought into fashion the 'choucroute' ('Sauerkraut') hairstyle (a sort of beehive hairstyle) and gingham clothes after wearing a checkered pink dress, designed by Jacques Esterel, at her wedding to Charrier. The fashions of the 1960s looked effortlessly right and spontaneous on her. Time Magazine: "She is the princess of pout, the countess of come hither. Brigitte Bardot exuded a carefree, naïve sexuality that brought a whole new audience to French films."

 

Sources: Denny Jackson (IMDb), Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Craig Butler (AllMovie), James Travers (Films de France), Films de France, Wikipedia, and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

--and new signs.

 

Capitol Grounds, Topeka, Kansas

 

The one good thing I can say about the Trump Administration: it provides a multitude of ideas for creating such signs. All of the signs I use in these protests are created by me from the intersection of my mind and the day's news.

 

If you don't follow the news, these signs concern the fact that Trump sent over 200 individuals to an infamous prison in El Salvador without allowing them to contest the deportation in a hearing or trial. This was an unconstitutional action. It also disobeyed a direct court order. After the planes left the ground, a court intervened to order Trump to have the planes and the people on them returned. This order was willfully ignored. Since then, several courts, INCLUDING THE US SUPREME COURT have ordered Trump to facilitate the return of these people. Those orders have so far been refused, and one of the courts is about to declare the administration in criminal contempt. It should also be noted that these people were deported directly to prison because they are alleged to be members of a notorious gang. At least two of the men are known to not be members. Undoubtedly many others are not as well, but of course, we don't know for certain and neither does the administration because due process was not followed. The criteria ICE et al. used to determine their affiliation were idiotic. One of the men known to be innocent was picked up because he had a tattoo of two crowns and was wearing a Chicago Bulls cap--PROOF of his guilt, according to Mario Rubio--Trump's secretary of state. Many of Trump's fans have been applauding these actions. Another words, they approve of obvious fascistic actions. This isn't what functioning democracies do--send people to prison without a trial? Even a little worse--the administration initially said that one of the men sent to El Salvador, Albrego Garcia, was innocent and his removal was a mistake. YET THEY REFUSE TO MAKE ANY ATTEMPT TO RETRIEVE HIM. This has been an utter disregard for Law, for human rights, of decency. Trump has mulled over sending US citizens to this prison--which would be its own breech of the Constitution. So, these actions portend even worse in the future, though make no mistake, the ones already committed are beyond the pale. These are the opening salvos of a president determined to install himself as America's Putin--the man Trump esteems above all others.

 

And as regards Marco Rubio--as a son of Cuban immigrants, his full-throated, pit bull-like defense of Trump's unconstitutional, inhumane treatment of immigrants--including legal immigrants--is particularly galling. Originally, I thought his was one of the very few decent appointments Trump made. But no, he's a shrill supporter of all of Trump's actions--however illegal or vicious or counterproductive--especially the mistreatment of immigrants. What does this make "little Marco?"

 

This is not a self-portrait. I gave my camera up to a fellow protester.

After living through four years of Donald Trump and after watching the conventions and the first presidential debate, there are two criteria driving my vote: the return of common decency and the possibility of an economic and social reset based on facts, science, and racial and income equality.

 

Without common decency, we have no union. President Trump’s behavior at the Cleveland debate was unconscionable. Constantly interrupting both Vice President Biden and debate moderator, Chris Wallace, we got little chance to hear how either candidate would deal with the problems this country faces. As CNN’s Dana Bash stated, it was a “shitshow.” There was no winner of this debate. The American people lost. And this is on Trump’s hands. I knew there would be a scant discussion of the President’s policy. He is purposely ambiguous when talking about both his past and future plans. “We did a great job!” is what we hear about his handling of the pandemic. “We will reveal a wonderful plan in two weeks,” when he talks about health care. But, after four years, there is no comprehensive proposal. People are dying of COVID-19, and he’s doing little to ease the disease’s heavy burden on us emotionally and economically.

 

I’m tired of the pontificating, acrimony, and lies. And I’m tired of those who choose party loyalty and their own careers over the needs of the American people. Whether you believe in capitalism or a mixed economy, our president and our legislators should have been doing their jobs. For the last 10 years, I’ve been chronicling the sad state of American political discourse through a series of posters I’ve created (now numbering over 200). Through this work, I’ve studied the trajectory of our country. We can solve our differences and improve our relationships; but it’s time we demand it with our votes.

 

Power, control, and money are Donald Trump’s sacred interests. So it’s not surprising he’s attracted to oligarchs like Vladimir Putin. Once again, Putin’s Russia is trying to meddle in our elections. Christopher Wray, FBI Director (and Trump appointee), testified before the House Homeland Security Committee saying Russia is interfering in our election through “malign foreign influence in an effort to hurt Biden’s campaign.” As the Washington Post’s conservative opinion writer, Jennifer Rubin stated, “Why shouldn’t Moscow go all in for Trump once more? […] Putin has gotten much of what he wants from Trump: delegitimization of Western democracies, a pass on bounties on U.S. troops, frayed relations within NATO, withdrawal of U.S. troops from Germany, cover for Putin’s interference in our 2016 elections. Putin has no reason to believe he will pay any price for a reprise of his 2016 activities.” Trump and the Republican Party are ignoring these warnings.

 

The actions of the Trump Administration—its lawlessness, sycophants who enable the president’s behavior, and the permissions these acts give citizens to treat others with disrespect and violence—have reached a new low. We now know the President lied about the severity of COVID-19. He said he downplayed the virus so that people wouldn’t panic—this from a man whose main political tactic is fear, be it labeling government programs that help the poor and middle class as “socialist,” or peaceful protests about racial injustice as lawless. Despite knowing the truth, he has continued to hold political rallies, putting thousands of people in danger. Whether you love or hate him, he has lied, not only to Democrats and his critics. He has lied to every single American. Trump has built his wall. But it isn’t on our border with Mexico. It’s between himself and the American people. He belittles those who disagree with him and has no empathy for those in need. With Donald Trump at the helm, our country has lost its moral compass.

 

Joe Biden hasn’t lost his connection to the people he’s served. When Trump attacked his son, Hunter, during the debate, claiming he was dishonorably discharged from the Naval Reserve for failing a drug test, Biden was honest. He looked directly at the camera—at us—and said, “My son, like a lot of people we know at home, had a drug problem. He’s overtaken it. He’s fixed it; he’s worked on it. And I’m proud of him. I’m proud of my son.” It’s that empathy with and support for people in distress which sets him apart from Trump. On this year’s campaign trail, he befriended Brayden Harrington, a teenager who, like the former vice president, stutters. Unlike Trump, who often denigrates those with physical limitations, Biden approached Harrington with the kindness and understanding that comes from a shared experience. We saw the effects of that relationship when Harrington’s spoke at the Democratic National Convention. Biden’s act of generosity and its effect on this young man moved me. And it reminded me how long it’s been since I’ve felt that way.

 

It’s time to rework capitalism’s priorities. It serves stockholders, CEOs, and the “transnational capitalist class” but not workers who have been instrumental in companies’ successes. Instead, they are living paycheck-to-paycheck at best and unemployed at worst. The president thinks the stock market is the economy and proudly touts its rise as evidence of his success. Millions of Americans waiting for their unemployment checks and small businesses on the edge of bankruptcy would disagree. The burdens of the pandemic and its effects on our economy have exacerbated the lives of this already ignored group of Americans. This is one reason Trump was so attractive to many voters in 2016. He was the antithesis of our traditional politicians. And voters hoped their longstanding neglect would end. The promise Trump made to us on his first day in office never came to pass.

 

“For too long, a small group in our nation’s capital has reaped the rewards of government, while the people have borne the cost. Washington flourished, but the people did not share in its wealth. Politicians prospered, but the jobs left and the factories closed. The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country…. That all changes, starting right here and right now, because this moment is your moment—it belongs to you.”

 

Donald Trump, Inauguration Address, January 20, 2017

  

Trump started trade wars with countries like China because of unfair trade practices. These trade wars hurt domestic farming and manufacturing and didn’t rectify the inequity without hurting Americans’ livelihoods. His jingoistic rhetoric and false promises only exacerbated the messes he made. And, when criticized, he refused to take any responsibility for his actions. Joe Biden has stated what we now already know: “President Trump has denied science, under-funded research and development, and implemented policies that encourage more manufacturing to move overseas.” The art of his deals never came to pass for most Americans.

 

Over the course of this campaign, through discussions with politicians and economists outside Biden’s traditional frame of reference, he has incorporated the needs of middle class Americans in a combined international and domestic policy he calls “Made in All of America.” In this plan, workers take their places center stage. Biden sees the advantages of a worker-centric economy as a way to reduce income inequality. And corporate leaders like Ray Dalio, Co-Chief Investment Officer & Co-Chairman of Bridgewater Associates, agree: capitalism needs a major overhaul. JPMorgan Chase chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon summed it up when he stated, “Capitalism enables competition, innovation and choice. This is not to say that capitalism does not have flaws, that it isn’t leaving people behind and that it shouldn’t be improved.”

 

Science and our economic recovery go hand-in-hand. Just as the president said COVID-19 would “one day, like a miracle, disappear,” he denied that climate change is responsible for the fires in the west. He told California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, “It’ll start getting cooler. You just watch. I don’t think science knows, actually.” Trump wants to eliminate the Joint Fire Science Program, which studies best practices for firefighting and land management.

 

While Trump has been rolling back climate and environmental issues, Joe Biden has proposed investing more money in construction jobs, scientists, and engineers to develop ways of producing electricity from wind and solar. The president has said wind turbines can give people cancer. Biden is trying to find a middle ground between fossil fuels and cleaner technologies. Trump supports oil and gas because leaders in that industry are an important source of support of his presidency.

 

We are already at a critical stage in climate change’s timeline (I look at the sky above my home in the suburbs of Washington, DC and see the smoke from those western fires). Science and facts should drive our strategies, not wishful thinking or politics. President Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement on climate change (which, ironically, will to go into effect November 4, 2020, one day after the election) will setback global efforts the treaty mitigated by reducing our monetary contribution to the effort.

 

As Brayden Harrington told us, “We all want the world to feel better. We need for the world to feel better.” Compassion, social justice, and an economic reset for everyone, not only the rich, should be America’s platform. We all want to be heard, feel safe, and provide for our families, whether we’re driving while Black, sleeping in our own beds, or protesting injustice.

 

In his inaugural address, President Trump promised us that safety. He said, “There should be no fear — we are protected, and we will always be protected.” He never made good on this promise either. He crowned himself the “law and order president” but condoned the killing of two people by a 17-year-old with an illegal AR-15 rifle. The president did not keep George Floyd, Jacob Blake, and Breonna Taylor safe. Portland, Kenosha, and Charlottesville happened on Trump’s watch.

 

Will Joe Biden make a good president? It’s a fair question. It’s a matter of trust. After four years, Donald Trump has answered that same question in full. And his sad performance at the debate made that clear.

 

You have only two choices in this election: take one step forward or 160 years back. Choose one.

  

Feel free to pass this poster on. It's free to download here (click on the down arrow just to the lower right of the image).

 

See the rest of the posters from the Chamomile Tea Party! Digital high res downloads are free here (click the down arrow on the lower right side of the image). Other options are available. And join our Facebook group.

 

Follow the history of our country's political intransigence from 2010-2018 through a six-part exhibit of these posters on Google Arts & Culture.

Believe it or not, this was SOOC (Straight Out Of the Camera).

 

Since this Billboard was so unusual, I made a special trip back to take more pictures, but the sign had been replaced with a completely different advertisement.

 

After putting on my Curiosity Hat, I called the Marketing Department of Superior Plumbing to find out what happened to the sign. I was convinced that they had received complaints or maybe they had violated some kind of decency law. But to my surprise, that was not the case at all. They just simply rotated the sign as they normally do on a routine ongoing basis.

 

They did NOT RECEIVE ONE COMPLAINT !

 

Slider Sunday was just around the corner, so I took the liberty of adding the 3 Dudes beneath the sign since all three needed a place to go. Ant was added later to complete the sliding.

 

Other than that, nothing else was modified.

 

HSS ! !

 

German postcard by ISV, Sort V/6.

 

Voluptuous American actress Mamie Van Doren (1931) was a sex symbol of the 1950s and 1960s. Van Doren starred in several exploitation films such as Untamed Youth (1957), loaded with rock 'n' roll and juvenile delinquency. Her onscreen wardrobe usually consisted of tight sweaters, low-cut blouses, form-fitting dresses, and daring swimsuits. Mamie and her colleague blonde bombshells Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield were known as 'The Three M's.'

 

Mamie Van Doren was born Joan Lucille Olander in Rowena, South Dakota, in 1931. She was the daughter of Warner Carl Olander and Lucille Harriet Bennett. In 1942 the family moved to Los Angeles. In early 1946, Van Doren began working as an usher at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. The following year, she had a bit part on an early television show. She also sang with Ted Fio Rito's band and entered several beauty contests. She was married for a brief time at seventeen when Van Doren and her first husband, Jack Newman, eloped to Santa Barbara. The marriage was dissolved quickly, upon her discovery of his abusive nature. In the summer of 1949, at age 18, she won the titles Miss Eight Ball and Miss Palm Springs. Van Doren was discovered by producer Howard Hughes the night she was crowned Miss Palm Springs. The pair dated for five years. Hughes provided her with a bit role in Jet Pilot at RKO Radio Pictures. Her line of dialogue inconsisted of one word, "Look!". The following year, 1951, she posed for famous pin-up girl artist Alberto Vargas, the painter of the glamorous Vargas Girls. His painting of Van Doren was on the July 1951 cover of Esquire magazine. Van Doren did a few more bit parts in RKO films, including His Kind of Woman (John Farrow, 1951) starring Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell. Van Doren then began working on the stage. She was a showgirl in New York in Monte Proser's nightclub version of Billion Dollar Baby. Songwriter Jimmy McHugh discovered her for his musicals, then decided she was too good for the chorus line and should have dramatic training. She studied with Ben Bard and Bliss-Hayden. While appearing in the role of Marie in a showcase production of Come Back, Little Sheba, Van Doren was seen by Phil Benjamin, a casting director at Universal International. In 1953, Van Doren signed a contract with Universal Studios. They had big plans for her, hoping she would bring the same kind of success that 20th Century Fox had with Marilyn Monroe. Van Doren, whose signing day coincided with the inauguration of President Eisenhower, was given the first name Mamie for Ike's wife, Mamie Eisenhower. Universal first cast Van Doren in a minor role as a singer in Forbidden (Rudolph Maté, 1953), starring Tony Curtis. Interested in Van Doren's allure, Universal then cast her again opposite Curtis in The All American (Jesse Hibbs, 1953), playing her first major role as Susie Ward, a wayward girl who is the man-trap at a campus beer joint. In Yankee Pasha (Joseph Pevney, 1954), starring Jeff Chandler and Rhonda Fleming, she played a slave girl, Lilith. In 1955, she had a supporting role in the musical Ain't Misbehavin' (Edward Buzzell, 1955) and starred in the crime-drama, Running Wild (Abner Biberman, 1955). Soon thereafter, Van Doren turned down a Broadway role in the play Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, and was replaced by newcomer Jayne Mansfield. In 1956, Van Doren appeared in the Western Star in the Dust (Charles F. Haas, 1956). Though Van Doren garnered prominent billing alongside John Agar and Richard Boone, she appears rather briefly, as the daughter of a ranch owner. By this time, Van Doren had grown tired of Universal, which was only casting her in non-breakthrough roles. Therefore, Van Doren began accepting bigger roles in better movies from other studios, such as Teacher's Pet (George Seaton, 1958) with Doris Day and Clark Gable. She appeared in some of the first movies to feature rock 'n' roll music, such as Untamed Youth (Howard W. Koch, 1957). The film was originally condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency, but that only served to enhance the curiosity factor, resulting in it being a big moneymaker for the studio. Van Doren became identified with this rebellious style, and made some rock records. She went to star in several bad girl movies that later became cult films. These include Born Reckless (Howard W. Koch, 1958), High School Confidential (Jack Arnold, 1958), and The Beat Generation (Charles F. Haas, 1959). After Universal Studios chose not to renew her contract in 1959, Van Doren was now a free agent and had to struggle to find work.

 

Mamie Van Doren became known for her provocative roles. She was in prison for Girls Town (Charles F. Haas, 1959), which provoked censors with a shower scene where audiences could see Van Doren's naked back. As Eve in The Private Lives of Adam and Eve (Mickey Rooney, Albert Zugsmith, 1960) she wore only fig leaves, and in other films, like Vice Raid (Edward L. Cahn, 1960) audiences were clued in as to the nature of the films from the titles. Many of these productions were low-budget B-movies which sometimes gained a cult following for their high camp value. An example is Sex Kittens Go to College (Albert Zugsmith, 1960), which co-starred Tuesday Weld and Mijanou Bardot - Brigitte's sister. Mamie also appeared in foreign productions, such as the Italian crime comedy Le bellissime gambe di Sabrina/The Beautiful Legs of Sabrina (Camillo Mastrocinque, 1959) with Antonio Cifariello, and the Argentine film Una americana en Buenos Aires/The Blonde from Buenos Aires (George Cahan, 1961) with Jean-Pierre Aumont. Van Doren took some time off from her career and came back to the screen in 1964. That year she played in the German Western musical Freddy und das Lied der Prärie/In the Wild West (Sobey Martin, 1964), starring Freddy Quinn and Rik Battaglia. Tommy Noonan convinced Van Doren to appear in 3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt (Tommy Noonan, 1964). Van Doren had turned down Noonan's previous offer to star in Promises! Promises!, in which she would have to do nude scenes. She was replaced by Jayne Mansfield. In 3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt, Mamie did a beer-bath scene, but is not seen nude. She posed for Playboy to promote the film. Van Doren next appeared in The Las Vegas Hillbillys (Arthur C. Pierce, 1966) which co-starred Jayne Mansfield. It was the only time two of 'The Three M's' appeared together in a film. A sequel was titled Hillbillys in a Haunted House, but Van Doren turned this role down, and was replaced by Joi Lansing. She appeared in You've Got to Be Smart (Ellis Kadison, 1967), and the sci-fi film, Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (1968), directed by the young Peter Bogdanovich (as Derek Thomas). In this film astronauts land on Venus and encounter dangerous creatures and meet sexy Venusian women who like to sun-bathe in hip-hugging skin-tight pants and seashell brassieres. In 1968, she was offered the role of a murder victim in the independent horror film The Ice House as a replacement for Mansfield, who died the previous year. She turned the offer down, however, and was replaced by Sabrina. During the Vietnam War, she did tours for U.S. troops in Vietnam for three months in 1968, and again in 1970. Van Doren also developed a nightclub act and did live theater. She performed in stage productions of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Dames at Sea at the Drury Lane Theater, Chicago, and appeared in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? and The Tender Trap at the Arlington Park Theater. In the 1970s, Van Doren performed a nightclub act in Las Vegas as well. Van Doren had a supporting role in the Western The Arizona Kid (Luciano B. Carlos, 1970). Since then, Van Doren has appeared only in cameo appearances in low-budgeted films. To this date Van Doren's last film appearance was a cameo role in the comedy Slackers (Dewey Nicks, 2002). Van Doren's guest appearances on television include Jukebox Jury, What's My Line, The Bob Cummings Show, The Jack Benny Show, Fantasy Island, Burke's Law, Vega$, and L.A. Law. Van Doren released her autobiography, Playing the Field, in 1987 which brought much new attention and proved to be her biggest media splash in over 25 years. Since the book's publication she has often been interviewed and profiled and has occasionally returned to acting. Van Doren has been married five times. Her first marriage was to sportswear manufacturer Jack Newman whom she married and divorced in 1950. Her second marriage was to bandleader, composer and actor Ray Anthony whom she married in 1955. They had one son, Perry Ray Anthony (1956). The couple later divorced in 1961. When Van Doren's early 1960s, highly publicized, on-again off-again engagement to baseball player Bo Belinsky ended in 1964, she married baseball player Lee Meyers in 1966. They were divorced in 1967. Her fourth marriage was to businessman Ross McClintock in 1972. They met while working on President Nixon's reelection campaign; the marriage was annulled in 1973. Since 1979 she has been married to Thomas Dixon, an actor and dentist.

 

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

Big German card by ISV, no. PX 3.

 

Voluptuous American actress Mamie Van Doren (1931) was a sex symbol of the 1950s and 1960s. Van Doren starred in several exploitation films such as Untamed Youth (1957), loaded with rock 'n' roll and juvenile delinquency. Her onscreen wardrobe usually consisted of tight sweaters, low-cut blouses, form-fitting dresses, and daring swimsuits. Mamie and her colleague blonde bombshells Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield were known as 'The Three M's.'

 

Mamie Van Doren was born Joan Lucille Olander in Rowena, South Dakota, in 1931. She was the daughter of Warner Carl Olander and Lucille Harriet Bennett. In 1942 the family moved to Los Angeles. In early 1946, Van Doren began working as an usher at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. The following year, she had a bit part on an early television show. She also sang with Ted Fio Rito's band and entered several beauty contests. She was married for a brief time at seventeen when Van Doren and her first husband, Jack Newman, eloped to Santa Barbara. The marriage was dissolved quickly, upon her discovery of his abusive nature. In the summer of 1949, at age 18, she won the titles Miss Eight Ball and Miss Palm Springs. Van Doren was discovered by producer Howard Hughes the night she was crowned Miss Palm Springs. The pair dated for five years. Hughes provided her with a bit role in Jet Pilot at RKO Radio Pictures. Her line of dialogue inconsisted of one word, "Look!". The following year, 1951, she posed for famous pin-up girl artist Alberto Vargas, the painter of the glamorous Vargas Girls. His painting of Van Doren was on the July 1951 cover of Esquire magazine. Van Doren did a few more bit parts in RKO films, including His Kind of Woman (John Farrow, 1951) starring Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell. Van Doren then began working on the stage. She was a showgirl in New York in Monte Proser's nightclub version of Billion Dollar Baby. Songwriter Jimmy McHugh discovered her for his musicals, then decided she was too good for the chorus line and should have dramatic training. She studied with Ben Bard and Bliss-Hayden. While appearing in the role of Marie in a showcase production of Come Back, Little Sheba, Van Doren was seen by Phil Benjamin, a casting director at Universal International. In 1953, Van Doren signed a contract with Universal Studios. They had big plans for her, hoping she would bring the same kind of success that 20th Century Fox had with Marilyn Monroe. Van Doren, whose signing day coincided with the inauguration of President Eisenhower, was given the first name Mamie for Ike's wife, Mamie Eisenhower. Universal first cast Van Doren in a minor role as a singer in Forbidden (Rudolph Maté, 1953), starring Tony Curtis. Interested in Van Doren's allure, Universal then cast her again opposite Curtis in The All American (Jesse Hibbs, 1953), playing her first major role as Susie Ward, a wayward girl who is the man-trap at a campus beer joint. In Yankee Pasha (Joseph Pevney, 1954), starring Jeff Chandler and Rhonda Fleming, she played a slave girl, Lilith. In 1955, she had a supporting role in the musical Ain't Misbehavin' (Edward Buzzell, 1955) and starred in the crime-drama, Running Wild (Abner Biberman, 1955). Soon thereafter, Van Doren turned down a Broadway role in the play Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, and was replaced by newcomer Jayne Mansfield. In 1956, Van Doren appeared in the Western Star in the Dust (Charles F. Haas, 1956). Though Van Doren garnered prominent billing alongside John Agar and Richard Boone, she appears rather briefly, as the daughter of a ranch owner. By this time, Van Doren had grown tired of Universal, which was only casting her in non-breakthrough roles. Therefore, Van Doren began accepting bigger roles in better movies from other studios, such as Teacher's Pet (George Seaton, 1958) with Doris Day and Clark Gable. She appeared in some of the first movies to feature rock 'n' roll music, such as Untamed Youth (Howard W. Koch, 1957). The film was originally condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency, but that only served to enhance the curiosity factor, resulting in it being a big moneymaker for the studio. Van Doren became identified with this rebellious style, and made some rock records. She went to star in several bad girl movies that later became cult films. These include Born Reckless (Howard W. Koch, 1958), High School Confidential (Jack Arnold, 1958), and The Beat Generation (Charles F. Haas, 1959). After Universal Studios chose not to renew her contract in 1959, Van Doren was now a free agent and had to struggle to find work.

 

Mamie Van Doren became known for her provocative roles. She was in prison for Girls Town (Charles F. Haas, 1959), which provoked censors with a shower scene where audiences could see Van Doren's naked back. As Eve in The Private Lives of Adam and Eve (Mickey Rooney, Albert Zugsmith, 1960) she wore only fig leaves, and in other films, like Vice Raid (Edward L. Cahn, 1960) audiences were clued in as to the nature of the films from the titles. Many of these productions were low-budget B-movies which sometimes gained a cult following for their high camp value. An example is Sex Kittens Go to College (Albert Zugsmith, 1960), which co-starred Tuesday Weld and Mijanou Bardot - Brigitte's sister. Mamie also appeared in foreign productions, such as the Italian crime comedy Le bellissime gambe di Sabrina/The Beautiful Legs of Sabrina (Camillo Mastrocinque, 1959) with Antonio Cifariello, and the Argentine film Una americana en Buenos Aires/The Blonde from Buenos Aires (George Cahan, 1961) with Jean-Pierre Aumont. Van Doren took some time off from her career and came back to the screen in 1964. That year she played in the German Western musical Freddy und das Lied der Prärie/In the Wild West (Sobey Martin, 1964), starring Freddy Quinn and Rik Battaglia. Tommy Noonan convinced Van Doren to appear in 3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt (Tommy Noonan, 1964). Van Doren had turned down Noonan's previous offer to star in Promises! Promises!, in which she would have to do nude scenes. She was replaced by Jayne Mansfield. In 3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt, Mamie did a beer-bath scene, but is not seen nude. She posed for Playboy to promote the film. Van Doren next appeared in The Las Vegas Hillbillys (Arthur C. Pierce, 1966) which co-starred Jayne Mansfield. It was the only time two of 'The Three M's' appeared together in a film. A sequel was titled Hillbillys in a Haunted House, but Van Doren turned this role down, and was replaced by Joi Lansing. She appeared in You've Got to Be Smart (Ellis Kadison, 1967), and the sci-fi film, Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (1968), directed by the young Peter Bogdanovich (as Derek Thomas). In this film astronauts land on Venus and encounter dangerous creatures and meet sexy Venusian women who like to sun-bathe in hip-hugging skin-tight pants and seashell brassieres. In 1968, she was offered the role of a murder victim in the independent horror film The Ice House as a replacement for Mansfield, who died the previous year. She turned the offer down, however, and was replaced by Sabrina. During the Vietnam War, she did tours for U.S. troops in Vietnam for three months in 1968, and again in 1970. Van Doren also developed a nightclub act and did live theater. She performed in stage productions of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Dames at Sea at the Drury Lane Theater, Chicago, and appeared in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? and The Tender Trap at the Arlington Park Theater. In the 1970s, Van Doren performed a nightclub act in Las Vegas as well. Van Doren had a supporting role in the Western The Arizona Kid (Luciano B. Carlos, 1970). Since then, Van Doren has appeared only in cameo appearances in low-budgeted films. To this date Van Doren's last film appearance was a cameo role in the comedy Slackers (Dewey Nicks, 2002). Van Doren's guest appearances on television include Jukebox Jury, What's My Line, The Bob Cummings Show, The Jack Benny Show, Fantasy Island, Burke's Law, Vega$, and L.A. Law. Van Doren released her autobiography, Playing the Field, in 1987 which brought much new attention and proved to be her biggest media splash in over 25 years. Since the book's publication she has often been interviewed and profiled and has occasionally returned to acting. Van Doren has been married five times. Her first marriage was to sportswear manufacturer Jack Newman whom she married and divorced in 1950. Her second marriage was to bandleader, composer and actor Ray Anthony whom she married in 1955. They had one son, Perry Ray Anthony (1956). The couple later divorced in 1961. When Van Doren's early 1960s, highly publicized, on-again off-again engagement to baseball player Bo Belinsky ended in 1964, she married baseball player Lee Meyers in 1966. They were divorced in 1967. Her fourth marriage was to businessman Ross McClintock in 1972. They met while working on President Nixon's reelection campaign; the marriage was annulled in 1973. Since 1979 she has been married to Thomas Dixon, an actor and dentist.

 

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

Attacking common decency more profoundly each day.

 

P.S. What's that shit on his chin? Orange peel?

COMMON SECURITY FOR OUR COMMON HUMANITY

 

"At moments of great peril in the last century, American leaders such as Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and John F. Kennedy managed both to protect the American people and to expand opportunity for the next generation. What is more, they ensured that America, by deed and example, led and lifted the world -- that we stood for and fought for the freedoms sought by billions of people beyond our borders.

 

As Roosevelt built the most formidable military the world had ever seen, his Four Freedoms gave purpose to our struggle against fascism. Truman championed a bold new architecture to respond to the Soviet threat -- one that paired military strength with the Marshall Plan and helped secure the peace and well-being of nations around the world. As colonialism crumbled and the Soviet Union achieved effective nuclear parity, Kennedy modernized our military doctrine, strengthened our conventional forces, and created the Peace Corps and the Alliance for Progress. They used our strengths to show people everywhere America at its best.

 

Today, we are again called to provide visionary leadership. This century's threats are at least as dangerous as and in some ways more complex than those we have confronted in the past. They come from weapons that can kill on a mass scale and from global terrorists who respond to alienation or perceived injustice with murderous nihilism. They come from rogue states allied to terrorists and from rising powers that could challenge both America and the international foundation of liberal democracy. They come from weak states that cannot control their territory or provide for their people. And they come from a warming planet that will spur new diseases, spawn more devastating natural disasters, and catalyze deadly conflicts.

 

To recognize the number and complexity of these threats is not to give way to pessimism. Rather, it is a call to action. These threats demand a new vision of leadership in the twenty-first century -- a vision that draws from the past but is not bound by outdated thinking. The Bush administration responded to the unconventional attacks of 9/11 with conventional thinking of the past, largely viewing problems as state-based and principally amenable to military solutions. It was this tragically misguided view that led us into a war in Iraq that never should have been authorized and never should have been waged. In the wake of Iraq and Abu Ghraib, the world has lost trust in our purposes and our principles.

 

After thousands of lives lost and billions of dollars spent, many Americans may be tempted to turn inward and cede our leadership in world affairs. But this is a mistake we must not make. America cannot meet the threats of this century alone, and the world cannot meet them without America. We can neither retreat from the world nor try to bully it into submission. We must lead the world, by deed and by example.

 

Such leadership demands that we retrieve a fundamental insight of Roosevelt, Truman, and Kennedy -- one that is truer now than ever before: the security and well-being of each and every American depend on the security and well-being of those who live beyond our borders. The mission of the United States is to provide global leadership grounded in the understanding that the world shares a common security and a common humanity.

 

The American moment is not over, but it must be seized anew. To see American power in terminal decline is to ignore America's great promise and historic purpose in the world. If elected president, I will start renewing that promise and purpose the day I take office.

 

MOVING BEYOND IRAQ

 

To renew American leadership in the world, we must first bring the Iraq war to a responsible end and refocus our attention on the broader Middle East. Iraq was a diversion from the fight against the terrorists who struck us on 9/11, and incompetent prosecution of the war by America's civilian leaders compounded the strategic blunder of choosing to wage it in the first place. We have now lost over 3,300 American lives, and thousands more suffer wounds both seen and unseen.

 

Our servicemen and servicewomen have performed admirably while sacrificing immeasurably. But it is time for our civilian leaders to acknowledge a painful truth: we cannot impose a military solution on a civil war between Sunni and Shiite factions. The best chance we have to leave Iraq a better place is to pressure these warring parties to find a lasting political solution. And the only effective way to apply this pressure is to begin a phased withdrawal of U.S. forces, with the goal of removing all combat brigades from Iraq by March 31, 2008 -- a date consistent with the goal set by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group. This redeployment could be temporarily suspended if the Iraqi government meets the security, political, and economic benchmarks to which it has committed. But we must recognize that, in the end, only Iraqi leaders can bring real peace and stability to their country.

 

At the same time, we must launch a comprehensive regional and international diplomatic initiative to help broker an end to the civil war in Iraq, prevent its spread, and limit the suffering of the Iraqi people. To gain credibility in this effort, we must make clear that we seek no permanent bases in Iraq. We should leave behind only a minimal over-the-horizon military force in the region to protect American personnel and facilities, continue training Iraqi security forces, and root out al Qaeda.

 

The morass in Iraq has made it immeasurably harder to confront and work through the many other problems in the region -- and it has made many of those problems considerably more dangerous. Changing the dynamic in Iraq will allow us to focus our attention and influence on resolving the festering conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians -- a task that the Bush administration neglected for years.

 

For more than three decades, Israelis, Palestinians, Arab leaders, and the rest of the world have looked to America to lead the effort to build the road to a lasting peace. In recent years, they have all too often looked in vain. Our starting point must always be a clear and strong commitment to the security of Israel, our strongest ally in the region and its only established democracy. That commitment is all the more important as we contend with growing threats in the region -- a strengthened Iran, a chaotic Iraq, the resurgence of al Qaeda, the reinvigoration of Hamas and Hezbollah. Now more than ever, we must strive to secure a lasting settlement of the conflict with two states living side by side in peace and security. To do so, we must help the Israelis identify and strengthen those partners who are truly committed to peace, while isolating those who seek conflict and instability. Sustained American leadership for peace and security will require patient effort and the personal commitment of the president of the United States. That is a commitment I will make.

 

Throughout the Middle East, we must harness American power to reinvigorate American diplomacy. Tough-minded diplomacy, backed by the whole range of instruments of American power -- political, economic, and military -- could bring success even when dealing with long-standing adversaries such as Iran and Syria. Our policy of issuing threats and relying on intermediaries to curb Iran's nuclear program, sponsorship of terrorism, and regional aggression is failing. Although we must not rule out using military force, we should not hesitate to talk directly to Iran. Our diplomacy should aim to raise the cost for Iran of continuing its nuclear program by applying tougher sanctions and increasing pressure from its key trading partners. The world must work to stop Iran's uranium-enrichment program and prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. It is far too dangerous to have nuclear weapons in the hands of a radical theocracy. At the same time, we must show Iran -- and especially the Iranian people -- what could be gained from fundamental change: economic engagement, security assurances, and diplomatic relations. Diplomacy combined with pressure could also reorient Syria away from its radical agenda to a more moderate stance -- which could, in turn, help stabilize Iraq, isolate Iran, free Lebanon from Damascus' grip, and better secure Israel.

 

REVITALIZING THE MILITARY

 

To renew American leadership in the world, we must immediately begin working to revitalize our military. A strong military is, more than anything, necessary to sustain peace. Unfortunately, the U.S. Army and the Marine Corps, according to our military leaders, are facing a crisis. The Pentagon cannot certify a single army unit within the United States as fully ready to respond in the event of a new crisis or emergency beyond Iraq; 88 percent of the National Guard is not ready to deploy overseas.

 

We must use this moment both to rebuild our military and to prepare it for the missions of the future. We must retain the capacity to swiftly defeat any conventional threat to our country and our vital interests. But we must also become better prepared to put boots on the ground in order to take on foes that fight asymmetrical and highly adaptive campaigns on a global scale.

 

We should expand our ground forces by adding 65,000 soldiers to the army and 27,000 marines. Bolstering these forces is about more than meeting quotas. We must recruit the very best and invest in their capacity to succeed. That means providing our servicemen and servicewomen with first-rate equipment, armor, incentives, and training -- including in foreign languages and other critical skills. Each major defense program should be reevaluated in light of current needs, gaps in the field, and likely future threat scenarios. Our military will have to rebuild some capabilities and transform others. At the same time, we need to commit sufficient funding to enable the National Guard to regain a state of readiness.

 

Enhancing our military will not be enough. As commander in chief, I would also use our armed forces wisely. When we send our men and women into harm's way, I will clearly define the mission, seek out the advice of our military commanders, objectively evaluate intelligence, and ensure that our troops have the resources and the support they need. I will not hesitate to use force, unilaterally if necessary, to protect the American people or our vital interests whenever we are attacked or imminently threatened.

 

We must also consider using military force in circumstances beyond self-defense in order to provide for the common security that underpins global stability -- to support friends, participate in stability and reconstruction operations, or confront mass atrocities. But when we do use force in situations other than self-defense, we should make every effort to garner the clear support and participation of others -- as President George H. W. Bush did when we led the effort to oust Saddam Hussein from Kuwait in 1991. The consequences of forgetting that lesson in the context of the current conflict in Iraq have been grave.

  

HALTING THE SPREAD OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS

 

To renew American leadership in the world, we must confront the most urgent threat to the security of America and the world -- the spread of nuclear weapons, material, and technology and the risk that a nuclear device will fall into the hands of terrorists. The explosion of one such device would bring catastrophe, dwarfing the devastation of 9/11 and shaking every corner of the globe.

 

As George Shultz, William Perry, Henry Kissinger, and Sam Nunn have warned, our current measures are not sufficient to meet the nuclear threat. The nonproliferation regime is being challenged, and new civilian nuclear programs could spread the means to make nuclear weapons. Al Qaeda has made it a goal to bring a "Hiroshima" to the United States. Terrorists need not build a nuclear weapon from scratch; they need only steal or buy a weapon or the material to assemble one. There is now highly enriched uranium -- some of it poorly secured -- sitting in civilian nuclear facilities in over 40 countries around the world. In the former Soviet Union, there are approximately 15,000-16,000 nuclear weapons and stockpiles of uranium and plutonium capable of making another 40,000 weapons -- all scattered across 11 time zones. People have already been caught trying to smuggle nuclear material to sell on the black market.

 

As president, I will work with other nations to secure, destroy, and stop the spread of these weapons in order to dramatically reduce the nuclear dangers for our nation and the world. America must lead a global effort to secure all nuclear weapons and material at vulnerable sites within four years -- the most effective way to prevent terrorists from acquiring a bomb.

 

This will require the active cooperation of Russia. Although we must not shy away from pushing for more democracy and accountability in Russia, we must work with the country in areas of common interest -- above all, in making sure that nuclear weapons and material are secure. We must also work with Russia to update and scale back our dangerously outdated Cold War nuclear postures and de-emphasize the role of nuclear weapons. America must not rush to produce a new generation of nuclear warheads. And we should take advantage of recent technological advances to build bipartisan consensus behind ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. All of this can be done while maintaining a strong nuclear deterrent. These steps will ultimately strengthen, not weaken, our security.

 

As we lock down existing nuclear stockpiles, I will work to negotiate a verifiable global ban on the production of new nuclear weapons material. We must also stop the spread of nuclear weapons technology and ensure that countries cannot build -- or come to the brink of building -- a weapons program under the auspices of developing peaceful nuclear power. That is why my administration will immediately provide $50 million to jump-start the creation of an International Atomic Energy Agency-controlled nuclear fuel bank and work to update the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. We must also fully implement the law Senator Richard Lugar and I passed to help the United States and our allies detect and stop the smuggling of weapons of mass destruction throughout the world.

 

Finally, we must develop a strong international coalition to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and eliminate North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Iran and North Korea could trigger regional arms races, creating dangerous nuclear flashpoints in the Middle East and East Asia. In confronting these threats, I will not take the military option off the table. But our first measure must be sustained, direct, and aggressive diplomacy -- the kind that the Bush administration has been unable and unwilling to use.

 

COMBATING GLOBAL TERRORISM

 

To renew American leadership in the world, we must forge a more effective global response to the terrorism that came to our shores on an unprecedented scale on 9/11. From Bali to London, Baghdad to Algiers, Mumbai to Mombasa to Madrid, terrorists who reject modernity, oppose America, and distort Islam have killed and mutilated tens of thousands of people just this decade. Because this enemy operates globally, it must be confronted globally.

 

We must refocus our efforts on Afghanistan and Pakistan -- the central front in our war against al Qaeda -- so that we are confronting terrorists where their roots run deepest. Success in Afghanistan is still possible, but only if we act quickly, judiciously, and decisively. We should pursue an integrated strategy that reinforces our troops in Afghanistan and works to remove the limitations placed by some NATO allies on their forces. Our strategy must also include sustained diplomacy to isolate the Taliban and more effective development programs that target aid to areas where the Taliban are making inroads.

 

I will join with our allies in insisting -- not simply requesting -- that Pakistan crack down on the Taliban, pursue Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants, and end its relationship with all terrorist groups. At the same time, I will encourage dialogue between Pakistan and India to work toward resolving their dispute over Kashmir and between Afghanistan and Pakistan to resolve their historic differences and develop the Pashtun border region. If Pakistan can look toward the east with greater confidence, it will be less likely to believe that its interests are best advanced through cooperation with the Taliban.

 

Although vigorous action in South Asia and Central Asia should be a starting point, our efforts must be broader. There must be no safe haven for those who plot to kill Americans. To defeat al Qaeda, I will build a twenty-first-century military and twenty-first-century partnerships as strong as the anticommunist alliance that won the Cold War to stay on the offense everywhere from Djibouti to Kandahar.

 

Here at home, we must strengthen our homeland security and protect the critical infrastructure on which the entire world depends. We can start by spending homeland security dollars on the basis of risk. This means investing more resources to defend mass transit, closing the gaps in our aviation security by screening all cargo on passenger airliners and checking all passengers against a comprehensive watch list, and upgrading port security by ensuring that cargo is screened for radiation.

 

To succeed, our homeland security and counterterrorism actions must be linked to an intelligence community that deals effectively with the threats we face. Today, we rely largely on the same institutions and practices that were in place before 9/11. We need to revisit intelligence reform, going beyond rearranging boxes on an organizational chart. To keep pace with highly adaptable enemies, we need technologies and practices that enable us to efficiently collect and share information within and across our intelligence agencies. We must invest still more in human intelligence and deploy additional trained operatives and diplomats with specialized knowledge of local cultures and languages. And we should institutionalize the practice of developing competitive assessments of critical threats and strengthen our methodologies of analysis.

 

Finally, we need a comprehensive strategy to defeat global terrorists -- one that draws on the full range of American power, not just our military might. As a senior U.S. military commander put it, when people have dignity and opportunity, "the chance of extremism being welcomed greatly, if not completely, diminishes." It is for this reason that we need to invest with our allies in strengthening weak states and helping to rebuild failed ones.

 

In the Islamic world and beyond, combating the terrorists' prophets of fear will require more than lectures on democracy. We need to deepen our knowledge of the circumstances and beliefs that underpin extremism. A crucial debate is occurring within Islam. Some believe in a future of peace, tolerance, development, and democratization. Others embrace a rigid and violent intolerance of personal liberty and the world at large. To empower forces of moderation, America must make every effort to export opportunity -- access to education and health care, trade and investment -- and provide the kind of steady support for political reformers and civil society that enabled our victory in the Cold War. Our beliefs rest on hope; the extremists' rest on fear. That is why we can -- and will -- win this struggle.

 

REBUILDING OUR PARTNERSHIPS

 

To renew American leadership in the world, I intend to rebuild the alliances, partnerships, and institutions necessary to confront common threats and enhance common security. Needed reform of these alliances and institutions will not come by bullying other countries to ratify changes we hatch in isolation. It will come when we convince other governments and peoples that they, too, have a stake in effective partnerships.

 

Too often we have sent the opposite signal to our international partners. In the case of Europe, we dismissed European reservations about the wisdom and necessity of the Iraq war. In Asia, we belittled South Korean efforts to improve relations with the North. In Latin America, from Mexico to Argentina, we failed to adequately address concerns about immigration and equity and economic growth. In Africa, we have allowed genocide to persist for over four years in Darfur and have not done nearly enough to answer the African Union's call for more support to stop the killing. I will rebuild our ties to our allies in Europe and Asia and strengthen our partnerships throughout the Americas and Africa.

 

Our alliances require constant cooperation and revision if they are to remain effective and relevant. NATO has made tremendous strides over the last 15 years, transforming itself from a Cold War security structure into a partnership for peace. But today, NATO's challenge in Afghanistan has exposed, as Senator Lugar has put it, "the growing discrepancy between NATO's expanding missions and its lagging capabilities." To close this gap, I will rally our NATO allies to contribute more troops to collective security operations and to invest more in reconstruction and stabilization capabilities.

 

And as we strengthen NATO, we must build new alliances and partnerships in other vital regions. As China rises and Japan and South Korea assert themselves, I will work to forge a more effective framework in Asia that goes beyond bilateral agreements, occasional summits, and ad hoc arrangements, such as the six-party talks on North Korea. We need an inclusive infrastructure with the countries in East Asia that can promote stability and prosperity and help confront transnational threats, from terrorist cells in the Philippines to avian flu in Indonesia. I will also encourage China to play a responsible role as a growing power -- to help lead in addressing the common problems of the twenty-first century. We will compete with China in some areas and cooperate in others. Our essential challenge is to build a relationship that broadens cooperation while strengthening our ability to compete.

 

In addition, we need effective collaboration on pressing global issues among all the major powers -- including such newly emerging ones as Brazil, India, Nigeria, and South Africa. We need to give all of them a stake in upholding the international order. To that end, the United Nations requires far-reaching reform. The UN Secretariat's management practices remain weak. Peacekeeping operations are overextended. The new UN Human Rights Council has passed eight resolutions condemning Israel -- but not a single resolution condemning the genocide in Darfur or human rights abuses in Zimbabwe. Yet none of these problems will be solved unless America rededicates itself to the organization and its mission.

 

Strengthened institutions and invigorated alliances and partnerships are especially crucial if we are to defeat the epochal, man-made threat to the planet: climate change. Without dramatic changes, rising sea levels will flood coastal regions around the world, including much of the eastern seaboard. Warmer temperatures and declining rainfall will reduce crop yields, increasing conflict, famine, disease, and poverty. By 2050, famine could displace more than 250 million people worldwide. That means increased instability in some of the most volatile parts of the world.

 

As the world's largest producer of greenhouse gases, America has the responsibility to lead. While many of our industrial partners are working hard to reduce their emissions, we are increasing ours at a steady clip -- by more than ten percent per decade. As president, I intend to enact a cap-and-trade system that will dramatically reduce our carbon emissions. And I will work to finally free America of its dependence on foreign oil -- by using energy more efficiently in our cars, factories, and homes, relying more on renewable sources of electricity, and harnessing the potential of biofuels.

 

Getting our own house in order is only a first step. China will soon replace America as the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases. Clean energy development must be a central focus in our relationships with major countries in Europe and Asia. I will invest in efficient and clean technologies at home while using our assistance policies and export promotions to help developing countries leapfrog the carbon-energy-intensive stage of development. We need a global response to climate change that includes binding and enforceable commitments to reducing emissions, especially for those that pollute the most: the United States, China, India, the European Union, and Russia. This challenge is massive, but rising to it will also bring new benefits to America. By 2050, global demand for low-carbon energy could create an annual market worth $500 billion. Meeting that demand would open new frontiers for American entrepreneurs and workers.

  

BUILDING JUST, SECURE, DEMOCRATIC SOCIETIES

 

Finally, to renew American leadership in the world, I will strengthen our common security by investing in our common humanity. Our global engagement cannot be defined by what we are against; it must be guided by a clear sense of what we stand for. We have a significant stake in ensuring that those who live in fear and want today can live with dignity and opportunity tomorrow.

 

People around the world have heard a great deal of late about freedom on the march. Tragically, many have come to associate this with war, torture, and forcibly imposed regime change. To build a better, freer world, we must first behave in ways that reflect the decency and aspirations of the American people. This means ending the practices of shipping away prisoners in the dead of night to be tortured in far-off countries, of detaining thousands without charge or trial, of maintaining a network of secret prisons to jail people beyond the reach of the law.

 

Citizens everywhere should be able to choose their leaders in climates free of fear. America must commit to strengthening the pillars of a just society. We can help build accountable institutions that deliver services and opportunity: strong legislatures, independent judiciaries, honest police forces, free presses, vibrant civil societies. In countries wracked by poverty and conflict, citizens long to enjoy freedom from want. And since extremely poor societies and weak states provide optimal breeding grounds for disease, terrorism, and conflict, the United States has a direct national security interest in dramatically reducing global poverty and joining with our allies in sharing more of our riches to help those most in need. We need to invest in building capable, democratic states that can establish healthy and educated communities, develop markets, and generate wealth. Such states would also have greater institutional capacities to fight terrorism, halt the spread of deadly weapons, and build health-care infrastructures to prevent, detect, and treat deadly diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, and avian flu.

 

As president, I will double our annual investment in meeting these challenges to $50 billion by 2012 and ensure that those new resources are directed toward worthwhile goals. For the last 20 years, U.S. foreign assistance funding has done little more than keep pace with inflation. It is in our national security interest to do better. But if America is going to help others build more just and secure societies, our trade deals, debt relief, and foreign aid must not come as blank checks. I will couple our support with an insistent call for reform, to combat the corruption that rots societies and governments from within. I will do so not in the spirit of a patron but in the spirit of a partner -- a partner mindful of his own imperfections.

 

Our rapidly growing international AIDS programs have demonstrated that increased foreign assistance can make a real difference. As part of this new funding, I will capitalize a $2 billion Global Education Fund that will bring the world together in eliminating the global education deficit, much as the 9/11 Commission proposed. We cannot hope to shape a world where opportunity outweighs danger unless we ensure that every child everywhere is taught to build and not to destroy.

 

There are compelling moral reasons and compelling security reasons for renewed American leadership that recognizes the inherent equality and worth of all people. As President Kennedy said in his 1961 inaugural address, "To those people in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required -- not because the communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich." I will show the world that America remains true to its founding values. We lead not only for ourselves but also for the common good.

 

RESTORING AMERICA'S TRUST

 

Confronted by Hitler, Roosevelt said that our power would be "directed toward ultimate good as well as against immediate evil. We Americans are not destroyers; we are builders." It is time for a president who can build consensus here at home for an equally ambitious course.

 

Ultimately, no foreign policy can succeed unless the American people understand it and feel they have a stake in its success -- unless they trust that their government hears their concerns as well. We will not be able to increase foreign aid if we fail to invest in security and opportunity for our own people. We cannot negotiate trade agreements to help spur development in poor countries so long as we provide no meaningful help to working Americans burdened by the dislocations of a global economy. We cannot reduce our dependence on foreign oil or defeat global warming unless Americans are willing to innovate and conserve. We cannot expect Americans to support placing our men and women in harm's way if we cannot show that we will use force wisely and judiciously. But if the next president can restore the American people's trust -- if they know that he or she is acting with their best interests at heart, with prudence and wisdom and some measure of humility -- then I believe the American people will be eager to see America lead again.

 

I believe they will also agree that it is time for a new generation to tell the next great American story. If we act with boldness and foresight, we will be able to tell our grandchildren that this was the time when we helped forge peace in the Middle East. This was the time we confronted climate change and secured the weapons that could destroy the human race. This was the time we defeated global terrorists and brought opportunity to forgotten corners of the world. And this was the time when we renewed the America that has led generations of weary travelers from all over the world to find opportunity and liberty and hope on our doorstep.

 

It was not all that long ago that farmers in Venezuela and Indonesia welcomed American doctors to their villages and hung pictures of JFK on their living room walls, when millions, like my father, waited every day for a letter in the mail that would grant them the privilege to come to America to study, work, live, or just be free.

 

We can be this America again. This is our moment to renew the trust and faith of our people -- and all people -- in an America that battles immediate evils, promotes an ultimate good, and leads the world once more."

  

In keeping with standards of decency I have included no nipples of any genre here. Stop sniggering at the back there.

The Star Wars "Rise of the Resistance" ride at Disney Hollywood Studios is an extremely cool ride. "Spectacle" is probably a better word. The money that was poured into it was fully on display. It's well worth the 2 1/2 hour wait.

 

But honestly, it WAS a little frightening to watch adults pushing and jostling each other to get a slightly better vantage point to get a picture of the different aspects. All while dressed up as their favorite Star Wars character, of course.

 

For a lot of people, common decency goes right out the window. It's honestly not much different than how you see "adults" treating each other at a sporting event.

 

I enjoyed the ride. I enjoyed the spectacle of the park. But at some point, you have to draw the line. It's a kids ride, and a lot of the kids seemed to have more respect than their parents did.

What an amazing place this is. It used to be a thermal bath house. It was built in the 19th century and what beautifully decorated. It will soon be converted into a posh hotel.

When we entered early morning we were the first explorers setting up our gear. Within an hour the place was crowded with explorers from all over Europe and it was hard to take a decent picture.

Apparently it is hard for other people to wait until others who were there earlier are done. I gave them a hard time by just standing in 'their' way while taking a shot. Have some decency people and be patient!

 

Please visit www.preciousdecay.com for more pictures and follow me on Facebook on www.facebook.com/Preciousdecay.urbex

“If Trump loses power he’ll spend his last 90 days wrecking the United States like a malicious child with a sledgehammer in a china shop,” said Malcolm Nance, a veteran intelligence analyst and political author. Self-preservation in the face of mounting legal and financial pressures will be paramount, Nance believes, with the president pushing his executive and constitutional powers to the limit or beyond.

 

As Joe Biden and Kamala Harris win the US election, the American people have disavowed four years of a thuggish presidency. They have chosen decency over dysfunction, fact over fiction, truth over lies, and empathy over cruelty. They have rejected the last four years of ugliness, divisiveness, racism and sustained assaults on constitutional democracy. And even as Trump plots legal challenges and levies unfounded claims of fraud, it is clear America is moving on.

 

Now, the real work begins.

 

Removing Trump from the White House is one thing – fixing America is another. Many of the systemic issues that afflict the country will remain in place once he leaves Pennsylvania Avenue.