Making pictures, minding one's own business

Gordon, Dave and John are good guys, let them in!

"Benjamin Franklin's America didn't have fanatics trying to kill him and his children and his grandchildren."

 

Yes, they did. They were called the British. Along with the Hessian mercenaries and American Indians recruited by the British.

 

You're entitled to your muddled agenda. Just don't expect to confuse people who know their facts.

"<I>Benjamin Franklin's America didn't have fanatics trying to kill him and his children and his grandchildren."

<P>

"The 'Barbarous Massacre' on Friday, 22 March 1622, was the most lethal day ever experienced by British colonists in peacetime, as Powhatan warriors slaughtered almost 30 percent of Virginia's entire white population, including at least 35 women and 30 children..."</I>

<P>

Hmm,let's see, that was 80-something years <I>before</I> Benjamin Franklin, but why would a person with your command of logic bother with facts?

<p>Wayne, I've got a bit of a trivia question for you. :-) To whom are the following words attributed?</p>

<p><blockquote><i>...for the first time, a civilized nation has full gun registration! Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient and the world will follow our lead to the future!</i></blockquote></p>

Is should be attributed to no one since it is a bogus quote.

The funny thing is semi-intelligent folks take a few incidents in a country of 300 some million people and turn into a disaster of biblical proportions. I've run into more snotty or incompetent photographers than I have cops. So it's got to be the photographers causing the problems. My anecdote's bigger and better than yours.

 

And Franklin was a traitor, apt to go to the docket and the gallows. He wasn't whining about some guy asking him "Whatcha doin' mister?"

"...semi-intelligent folks..."

 

"...snotty or incompetent photographers than..."

 

"...it's got to be the photographers causing the problems."

 

Way to go, Craig. Nothing more to contribute to an otherwise mature discussion than a few puerile insults?

://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlCh9kKcTZA&feature=related

Try again:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlCh9kKcTZA&feature=related

if the government is so trustworthy...could someone please explain to me why we have "checks and balances" ?

"Benjamin Franklin's America didn't have fanatics trying to kill him and his children and his grandchildren. Don't worry, be happy. If we're just really nice there won't be any problem."

 

Beside the fact that (as others have clearly pointed out) your comment is totally errant... you totally miss the point of WHY Franklin thought it important to make the statement in the first place. There would be few Americans that would raise total hell if certain rights were being taken from them while the nation is in a state of peace and no threat of imminent aggression/harm. He wrote it for times like these. Times when fanatics are trying to kill us, our children, and our grandchidren. Why? Because he knew that if we are motivated by fear...not paranoia...but true, justifiable fear...that is a part of human nature to be much more concerned with the immediate time in which we live...than days that are yet to come. So fear overtakes our common sense...and we're liable to to accept anything that will make us feel safer, and let tomorrow take care of itself. But the truth is, that when we start giving away a little freedom here...a little freedom there, while it may offer a bit of temporary protection (and more likely...simply give us the "feel" that we're more protected)...we're giving away our birthright for a bowl of porridge. Taking away a little or a lot of our freedom ...won't take away the threat of our enemies. All it does is give an opening for the enemy to flourish from within. He knew there would be men like you Wayne...that while well intended, turn a blind eye to the incredible danger of throwing away liberty because you're afraid. It might sound valiant...but in the end the trade of freedom for security is the most dangerous act I can imagine. It's like giving ransom to a kidnapper who has taken your child. The gut reaction is to give them what they want so that the child remains unharmed. But we all know that it only puts the child in more harm. This matter is no different.

 

It is nothing less than treasonous to pervert, change, twist, bend, break, or put aside the Constitution in the name of protecting freedom. It IS the heart and soul of our freedom. As I said earlier... I'll take my chances with the terrorsits... leave the Constitution the hell alone!

CORRECTION: "There are few Americans that WOULDN'T raise total hell.... (not WOULD)

>>>Regarding police officers and rent-a-cops, I think the problem is that they want to be heroes in the War on Terror, but actual terrorists are unfortunately very few and far between. So they go after ordinary people whenever they can... ... I have noticed an increasing number of ordinary people who see me, a man photographing something that's clearly not my wife or kids, and feel some sort of obligation to come up to me and demand to know what I'm photographing and why<<<

 

My theory is that it is more power trip on the part of a certain segment of law enforcement and security related personnel. The terror issue is really the excuse to be this way and not arising from a hope of hitting the crime fighting lottery. The 'civilians' demanding answers seems partially busybody and is also partly fueled by the miscoduct of others.

 

Often it is obvious that no harm is being done by a photographer. Sure if one is photographig children at a playground or a government installation, a reasonable inquiry should be expected (As oppsed to a demand to stop) but most of the time any idiot can figure that the photographer is not doing anything wrong.

 

I agree with the suggestion that a polite explanation will tend to diffuse a situation from soon becoming a bigger hassle but offering ID or letting anyone near my camera to verify my explanation is not going to happen but in the most dire of situations.

Tim;

 

Sadly, I am only supreme ruler of 65 acres of Canada. Apparently other people have taken control of the rest of the place.

It's OK by me if Tim and John come in but they are going to have to leave their constitutional right to bear arms at the border and they cannot expect to have government sanctioned executions either and they will have to put up with having access to public health care and a stronger dollar and they won't be allowed to bullying third world countries, for starter, they won't even have any decent weapons to bully anyone with ..... it's not a picnic up here you know.

 

On the up side they can most likely take photos all day long without anyone ever hassling them :)

I would like to offer this link. I had a few questions about taking photos of people on the streets, whether I needed "model releases" for them, where can I legally take photos without infringing on laws...

 

<a href = "http://www.kantor.com/blog/Legal-Rights-of-Photographers.pdf">Legal Rights of Photographers</a>

Food City and How I met the law

 

As I was cruising around Douglas, AZ., I noticed this bus sitting near the border crossing. I rounded the block

a few times getting up my nerve to check it out. Finally found a parking space and went over.

 

Food City is a grocery store. Their "shtick", if you will, is to bring people over from the Mexico side to shop

in Douglas at, of course, Food City. That really surprised me as I thought the cheaper prices would be on the

Mexican side. However, even though the "name brand" prices are probably equal, it's the generic brands that they

shop for. Those they find less expensive than in Mexico.

 

The Mexicans don't have to shop at Food City, they are just dropped off. Funny, though, the ones on the bus

don't like Wal-Mart because it is more expensive and they aren't treated as well as at Food City.

 

Each person may bring as much as $50 back with them to Mexico. They are each responsible to have the proper

paperwork to enter and exit the two countries. For the most part the people were in groups of 2 or 3, looking

like small family units.

 

All total, the bus brings, and returns, between 200-300 people each day.

 

By the way, the driver likes SBC coffee from Seattle.

 

I thanked the driver and asked if he minded if I photographed his bus - No Problem! So I walked across the

street and took the photo you see here, turned and walked back to the car.

 

After walking about half a block, a police car drives over and two LARGE officers get out. "Good Afternoon, sir.

Are you just tourin' ?"

"Yes, I am here to photograph the border and the goings on down here?"

"Are you with the Minutemen"

"No, not officially, but I am going to photograph what they are doing."

"Well, let's see some identification." ID was shown and written down. "So, you do know that you shouldn't be

photographing the border buildings, don't you?"

 

AH HA!

"No I didn't but I was photographing the Food City bus. We had been talking about their service. I'm sorry, I

didn't see that the border buildings were in the background."

 

Happily for me, the bus went by then and gave me a BIG wave!

 

"Alright, you can go along. We have the report of another photographer photographing where he shouldn't be."

They left.<div></div>

"... actual terrorists are unfortunately very few and far between."

 

I would say fortunately! More terrorists are something I could do without.