BAGnewsNotes

Palin: At the End of the Roll

(The write-up below was composed last September 13th in the aftermath of the Republican Convention, although for some reason I never posted it. It had to do with the disconnect between Palin's lightweight personality and biography as compared to the aura and dramatic story lines spun up around and about her. I think what happened yesterday -- telegraphed in various expressions of antipathy toward the media and her critics throughout Palin's bizarre resignation ramble, is that "the roll" finally ended. In other words, I believe Palin had/felt so little "teflon" left that, as an accountable and now thoroughly scrutinized elected official, there was just no place left to hide.)

From The Get by Steve Coll at The New Yorker:

The occasion of the Alaska governor’s début before the national media called for a lightly edited, extended one-on-one, aired on a single night, so that American voters might assess the candidate’s answers and demeanor in full. Instead, apparently to maximize ratings and branding opportunities, ABC doled out Palin sound bites on six network broadcasts over two days, as well as in supplemental ABC Radio and Web releases. In the end, [ABC President David] Westin exploited the Governor’s moose-hunting, baby-juggling appeal as if she were a magnetic contestant on one of the network’s prime-time reality shows—“Extreme Makeover: White House Edition.”

Collusion is certainly part of the problem, and corporate media must be called on it (for what that's worth).

But Palin -- as this remarkably still-fresh, RNC-inspired illustration from the previous week's New Yorker emphasizes -- is a reality show. Sixteen days out, her visage continues to permeate the media sphere, as the electricity -- primed by biographical fairy tales tightly bound to visual spin aimed at the right brain -- continues to trump the reams of qualifying or damaging information that is streaming out.

The crossed arms on two screens and in the larger caricature reflects her inherent defensiveness and hostility. The fish "that big" and the hand gestures on "Bridge to Nowhere" call out the chronic double speak. The way the eyes track in relation to the angle of her head speaks to how well she knows where the camera is (while the disappearing neck telegraphs the underlying reality of "the empty suit.")

In real life as well, one can easily sense all this, but still she rolls.

Also:

(Photo removed and post amended 12:15 am PST, 7/3/09)

(illustration: Steve Brodner/The New Yorker. September 15, 2008. Accompanying: Convention Wisdom by Nancy Franklin. p. 84)

What Time Do The Checks (I Mean, The Guests) Arrive?

Must be WAPO's Milbank and Cillizza dressed for the Salon.

(image: from aptly named "Mouthpiece Theater.")

Arnold Watch: Oh Captain, My Captain

The beauty of Getty photographer John Moore's image of Schwarzenegger's press conference/photo op as he blasts the legislature while upping state worker furloughs and issuing tax refund, bank and vendor IOU's?

...Yes, what about the children?

(The NYT piece has another Moore image, this one conveying an even more disconcerting picture of the flanking "California families" (re: props) -- and the people's confidence in the Terminator.)

(John Moore/Getty Images)

Hands of Victory

A telling image as the U.S. military withdraws from Iraqi cities in favor of large and discrete operating bases.

The symmetry between human and sculpted hands draws a (historical) parallel between America and BushCo., with its imperial aims, and the hands and designs of the dictator -- the monument actually conceived by Saddam Hussein.

(image: Karim Kadim/A.P. caption: A U.S. Army soldier from the 37th Engineer Company is seen at the Crossed Swords monument in the Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, June 24, 2009)

Robo-Iran

After a two day gap in his Iran coverage, Toronto tweeter faramarz posted this shot on his flickr site. His caption:

"...calmly walking away after they break into your home and do as much damage as possible."

What's instructive about this photo -- besides the tension and robo-intimidation in it -- is that it's necessarily clandestine. Did the photographer dare take this from his or her apartment?

(image: undisclosed. via Faramarz Hashemi)

Geither Watch: Tim 2.0

It's bright. It's arty. It's rainbow. It's stimulus dollars for the 'hood rather than bailout bucks for the banksters. ...And, he's smiling.

After a bit of a rocky start, the Tim Geithner reboot hits pay dirt.

(image: our friend, Mario Tama/Getty Images caption: NEW YORK - JUNE 29: U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner (R) chats with U.S. Rep. Jose Serrano (D-NY) (L) at The Point community development center June 29, 2009 in the Bronx borough of New York City. Geithner visited the center to announce $90 million in financial assistance awards for 59 Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) across the country in vulnerable communities as part of the Recovery Act)

Tag A Lobbyist

First encountering it a week ago, I'm still impressed by NPR's idea to turn the camera on the lobbyists packing the health care hearings rather than on the hearings themselves.

On top of that, NPR's idea (a lá Facebook) was to have readers examine the photos, then tag the various lobbyists in each photo. ...Unfortunately, readers haven't exactly flocked to the task. In the image above, only three people have been identified so far.

Still, doing its bit to breakdown the abstraction of "K" Street, I hope this exercise might actually get somewhere.

See : Turning The Camera Around: Health Care Stakeholders.

(h/t: Peter C.)

(image: Robb Hill for NPR)

Entrance of the Presidential House

Maybe the Honduran military coup represents the greater evil, but I'm wondering how much our support for Zelaya -- who pushed to abrogate the constitution to remain in power -- somehow isn't just good for business.

The caption certainly leaves one a little dislocated.

(image: Oswaldo Rivas/Reuters. caption: Soldiers guard the entrance of the Presidential House in Tegucigalpa June 30, 2009. Honduras' interim government battled on Tuesday against a tide of international support for ousted President Manuel Zelaya who vowed to return home after troops toppled and exiled him in a coup.)

Fireworks Over Baghdad

People watching fireworks above Baghdad in celebration of Tuesday's withdrawal of U.S. troops from all Iraqi cities. (Click for larger size.)

The Meaning Of Michael

Interesting choice for the Newsweek cover after five days of Michael Jackson-inspired media saturation. After so many images evoking Jackson's pain, the schism between his public and private life, and his twisted physical evolution, Newsweek wipes it all away with a visual "last word" embracing the tactic of regression.

With the recently redesigned magazine battling for survival and gripped by its own identity crisis, the cover -- especially in the context of the headline -- is the equivalent of comfort food.

Not only does the photo let us off the hook in confronting any complexity in regards to "the meaning of Michael," the image -- serving up what reads like a sensitive, untouched, all-knowing, black-is-beautiful old soul -- offers a simple, soothing, innocent time-out from from things like the brutal recession; the health care crisis; the wars; global warming -- in other words, just about everything else that is fractious, complicated and all-too-much-work to make real meaning out of these days.

(image: still looking. Michael Jackson Newsweek Cover July 13 2009)

Iran Update: "Can You Hear Me Now? ...Hello?" (...Crackle...)

Are you still in withdrawal over the Iranian suppression of the post-election protests?

At this point, the kind and degree of visual coverage still making it West is telling in itself. For example, this report from CNN yesterday shows people using the commemoration of the martyrdom of a former chief justice as an excuse to silently march through the streets again. Unfortunately, the length and sweep of the video is so limited, there's no way to get a sense of scope, mood, anything.

More depressingly, the report offers a short and rather futile clip -- vividly captured in the citizen photo above, distributed by Reuters -- in which Alireza Beheshti, a close assistant of Mousavi, holds a cell phone to a megaphone to allow the leader to address his followers.

If you can't tell just from Beheshti's face, however, the CNN reporter informs us the technique worked so poorly, the candidate couldn't be understood.

(image: unattributed. Via Reuters. Near Ghoba mosque in northern Tehran. June 28, 2009)

Parisian Nights

by BAGnewsNotes contributer Zoriah Miller

I recently spent some time on the streets of Paris with several groups of homeless refugees from Afghanistan. Stuck in a state of limbo, unable to gain official refugee status and the right to work, unable to make the difficult and illegal crossing to England where they would be able to gain that status and employment, they spend their days and nights on streets trying to survive.

Villemin Square Park in Paris is home to between 150 to 300 Afghan refugees. They store sleeping supplies such as cardboard and blankets in the bushes during the day and at night, after the police have cleared and locked up the park, they enter by sneaking back through a loose fence. They do their best to remain clean, doing laundry and bathing in a park faucet. They sleep through rain and cold temperatures only to be woken up in the morning by the police who clear the park and then re-open it to the public. After coming back they shave in the bushes and all 300 share three overflowing, portable toilets outside of the park, along with the other homeless in the neighborhood.