The Daily Render

A Digital Scrapbook for the Past, Present, and Future

The D.C. Colonist receives a warm welcome from Senator Joe Lieberman at today’s Business Meeting of the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
|| 2/11/2009 || 2:43 pm || + Render A Comment || ||

Roll Call’s photo of the week from April, 2007

Today I attended the Business Meeting of the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs dressed in my colonial attire. I wear this costume for every congressional hearing related to representation for the residents of Washington, DC. I arrived early enough to snag a decent seat and sat down next to my friend Shadow Senator Michael D. Brown. As the other Senators arrived for the meeting he & I chatted about ideas related to what we can do next to get statehood for the District of Columbia.

A few minutes later when Senator Joe Lieberman walked in, Shadow Senator Michael D. Brown stood up, greeted him, and shook his hand. Senator Lieberman then looks at me and said something along the lines of “I’m glad to see that we have a colonist here. Do you go by the name of Paul Revere?” I said, “No, I’m just a DC colonist.” He followed, “So you don’t have a name? Just ‘DC Colonist’?” and I responded, “I’m just a DC Colonist that suffers taxation without representation.” He smiled, walked over to the end of the table, and sat down at his seat. A few minutes later the hearing began and he decided to greet me publicly…..

Click here to listen to the audio
or
Click here to watch the video

[to watch the video, you first need to hit play, then scroll the slider over to about 21:10 to watch the introduction]

Senator Lieberman said:

I do want to note and welcome Mayor Fenty of the District of Columbia we are honored that you are here and a somewhat older resident of the District from colonial times [laughter] also present. I gather you are making the general point about taxation without representation [off camera I nod in the affirmative]. Okay I don’t need to make my case any stronger than that [laughter]. Thank you for being here.

Also worthy of mention is that later on in the hearing (at around 43:15 into the video), Senator George Voinovich mentions the time when the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe were in Washington, DC and we lobbied them on the Potomac River (right photo). Hearing him mention that day made me laugh. It was one of my favorite demonstrations I’ve ever taken part in! I remember watching the parliamentarians applaud our efforts from the ship and the following day they passed a resolution calling on the United States government to give DC residents congressional representation.

In the end, only Senator John McCain voted against the bill, S.R. 160, the senate version of the District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act of 2009, and it passed the committee with a vote of 11-1. Unfortunately, I agree with McCain’s opinion, only states should receive representation in Congress.

I feel that DC Vote and Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton wasted a huge opportunity to give DC residents equal representation in Congress by reintroducing this three-year-old, constitutionally questionable legislation that was written for a Republican controlled congress. Times have changed, however, the bill and its constitutional underpinnings have not. I’m not sure what will happen next to the bill, like when will it be voted on, but I am sure it will be challenged on it’s constitutionality. In the meantime, I’m going to continue to work with my Shadow Delegation on lobbying for statehood for the District of Columbia.

UPDATE: February 12th, 2009 – Comedian Stephan Colbert interviewed Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton the following night:

The Colbert ReportMon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

DC Voting Rights Act – Eleanor Holmes Norton

Colbert Report Full Episodes
Funny Political News

Christian Bale Parody
Joke of the Day

Its too bad the editors missed the chance with the Colonist…

Related Colonist Entries:

+ MORE

Washington Post Video of last night’s Statehood Forum
|| 2/6/2009 || 11:55 pm || Comments Off on Washington Post Video of last night’s Statehood Forum || ||

if the video does not show up in your RSS reader, click here to view it on my website

Last night attended the DC Statehood Green Party’s forum called “DC Statehood, Now Is Our Time.” The event featured the entire elected shadow delegation as well as two city councilmembers and other leaders of this civil rights struggle. I also recorded much of the event, but I haven’t put a video together yet.

Hamil Harris from the Washington Post who made the video above, also wrote a brief write-up of the event if you are interested.

My favorite snippet:

Charles Cassell, who chaired of the DC Statehood Constitutional Convention during the early years of Home Rule, said the late activist Julius Hobson would be upset had he lived to see this day.

YouTube Video of Saint Louis Buy Nothing Day 2002 by Aaron Michaels
|| 12/20/2008 || 2:55 pm || Comments Off on YouTube Video of Saint Louis Buy Nothing Day 2002 by Aaron Michaels || ||

Earlier this week I decided to add this archived video to the repository known as YouTube. I’ve had it for 6 years now and decided to finally upload the video because I could not find anywhere else on-line. I still feel the message that we were delivering then is the same as now: don’t go into debt buying presents for others during the holiday season and if you must give presents, try making them first.

The article that was published in the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch regarding this demonstration was the first time my name appeared in newspapers. The story behind this video goes like this….

On October 2nd, 2002 I created a Yahoo Group dedicated to the planning of Buy Nothing Day in Saint Louis. After a few planning meetings and e-mail discussions, the members of group decided to create giant credit cards that we’d drag around the malls in the Saint Louis area. We also produced & handed out fliers with suggestions on how to avoid going into debt during the holiday season.

This video by Aaron Michaels highlights the news coverage we generated and documents the message we were advocating. The first part is a music video featuring a modified Christmas carol sung by Sara Lucas spliced with footage from the news & us dragging the cards and handing out fliers. The second part of the video features news clips & interviews with participants highlighting why chose to demonstrate. I show up around 4:35 into the video.

I haven’t gone out of the way to purchase gifts for my family this year. Its nice that we’ve stopped doing the gifts for nearly 10 years now. I am going to Colorado next week to visit some of my family and I feel my presence will be the best gift I can give to rarely-seen family. Interestingly, I think yesterday’s commissioned map follows closely with this video’s messaging because the client was asking me to make her a gift. It wasn’t like client decided to hitup Walmart for the gift that millions of others might get, rather she went for something that’s truly one of kind.

Related Adbusters Entries:

+ MORE

A roundup of videos from yesterday’s shoe demonstration outside of the White House
|| 12/18/2008 || 4:07 pm || Comments Off on A roundup of videos from yesterday’s shoe demonstration outside of the White House || ||

This morning I scoured the intertubes for videos related to yesterday’s shoe demonstration outside of the White House. Below are the videos I’ve pulled from YouTube and other media outlets.

DC FOX 5: White House Protestors Throw Shoes at Bush Effigy

The rest of the videos:

+ MORE

Time-Lapse Video of the Conjunction of Venus, Jupiter, and a Crescent Moon in Washington, DC
|| 12/2/2008 || 3:26 pm || Comments Off on Time-Lapse Video of the Conjunction of Venus, Jupiter, and a Crescent Moon in Washington, DC || ||

Before I took the photographs last night I first recorded this timelapse video. The video consists of hundreds of frames taken exactly two seconds apart using my Canon SD750 digital camera mounted on my tripod. I started recording the video around dusk before I could see Jupiter through the twilight and let it record until the planets were out of frame. The music is Transit of Venus by John Phillip Sousa (1893) and performed by the Virginia Grand Military Band (2003). I’ve used this music before when filming other planets and it’s pretty much become my de-facto music for all my astronomy related videos.

Related Venus Entries:

+ MORE

Video on today’s Huffington Post
|| 11/25/2008 || 11:09 pm || Comments Off on Video on today’s Huffington Post || ||

In continuance of my low-budget directorial work, today two videos I helped record are featured on the Huffington Post. My friend Elizabeth Glover edited the footage and uploaded it to YouTube so I could share them here.

Jason Linkins writes:

It’s the Thanksgiving Holiday, so let’s vlog, why not? This week, Ana Marie and I had the especially good fortune to be joined by Megan Carpentier, blogger and Crappy Hourist from Jezebel.

On today’s vlog, the three of us dig into the cross-section on the left who’ve been awash in complaint that President-elect Barack Obama’s appointments and directives post-election had not passed the Progressive Politics Litmus Test. Were a raft of progressive appointments and the promise to put the Bush administration on trial really part of the rose garden we were promised? Does a return to sane, competent governance truly represent change? And did the three of us all feel a little silly after Obama put Melody Barnes — bona fide “new blood” with impressive progressive credentials — in charge of his domestic policy shop? Probably, actually! And, then, later, did the gratuitous pillorying of John Brennan make us feel vindicated? Again, probably! Anyway, one thing we can all agree on is that now we’ll have liberal blogs, yelling at us for Christmas.

In the second part, we dig into the strange contention of Keith Olbermann that not voting for someone makes it easier to criticize them. And, finally, we honor the Thanksgiving holiday. Find out why Megan is grateful that Sarah Palin exists! And then, yell at us some more.

As always, we were assisted behind the scenes by the intrepid Liz Glover and the savvy Nikolas Schiller, who make these forays into video antics possible, and, indeed, plausible.

PART ONE

PART TWO

Short NASA video of the 2004 Transit of Venus
|| 11/23/2008 || 11:24 pm || Comments Off on Short NASA video of the 2004 Transit of Venus || ||

Since I started reading about the Transits of Venus, I’ve found this video on-line in multiple places, but no one has uploaded it to Vimeo yet. This very short video is composed of a sequence of images taken by the Solar X-ray Imager on the GOES satellite as Venus passes between the Earth and the Sun. If you look closely, that small ball at the bottom is Venus. The last Transit of Venus before this was in 1882 and the next transit will take place on June 6th, 2012, where it should cross the upper portion of the Sun.

Jason Linkins 2008 Election Recap is up on the Huffington Post
|| 11/4/2008 || 7:11 pm || Comments Off on Jason Linkins 2008 Election Recap is up on the Huffington Post || ||

Last Friday I went to the Huffington Post DC office and filmed the above video clips that were published today on the Huffington Post. After we filmed the clips below we went outside and had some fun interviewing people.

This what Jason wrote:

It’s been a year and a half of election coverage. So many sights that we’ll never be able to unsee. So many attack ads that still haunt our dreams. So many memories that need purging. But maybe you’re just joining us today or something, and you have no idea what all the hubbub is about! For those of you who find yourself completely clueless, I’ve endeavored to recap the entire election season for you, in two videos, using notes I scribbled on one hundred index cards, and commentary pulled from my ass on the fly.

In Part One, we move from me not remembering Bill Richardson’s name (in the moment, I swear, I thought his first name was Dennis), to the pundit’s early predictions, to John McCain’s primary victory, to the Math vs. Momentum deadlock that embroiled the Democratic race.

jason linkin’s recap of the election from elizabeth glover on Vimeo.

Continuing:

And, in Part Two, we roll from Obama’s primary victory to forsaken town halls, attack ads, conventions, veeps and debates, culminating in the emergence of the Great Destroyer, the Devourer Of Worlds, Satan’s Mongrel…a man that I like to call Joe The Plumber. NONE SHALL ESCAPE HIS CLUELESS, UNEMPLOYED WRATH OR HIS RECORD DEAL.

As you’ll see, reliving the entire past year gets pretty tiring near the end, but it still feels good to get all of this angst out of my system. I think you’ll enjoy it, too, for that reason!

Jason Linkin’s recap on campaign part 2.

As an added bonus, Liz Glover took this photograph of me setting up the camera for the shoot :-)

Related Election 2008 Entries:

+ MORE

New videos are up on the Huffington Post – Foreign Correspondents Edition
|| 11/3/2008 || 4:39 pm || Comments Off on New videos are up on the Huffington Post – Foreign Correspondents Edition || ||

As I noted before, Jason Linkins, Liz Glover, and I recorded some man-on-the-street interviews on Friday. I had suggested going to the White House to interview tourists and it turns out that we found quite a few foreigners to interview when we arrived. Of the five or so interviews that I recorded, I had the most fun recording with the dual interview (above) between Liz Glover & Polish television correspondent Paulina Drapala. I am told that Paulina’s interview aired last night on Polish television. If I’m able to get a copy of that version, I’ll post it here :-)

Marginally related: After the Washington Post article was published last year, I found that a Polish website started linking to my website. To this day, I still get about a visitor a month through that link.

Polish text from the website:

PoniÅ¼ej prezentujemy linki do rÃ³Å¼norodnych map. Znajdziecie tu mapy polskie i z caÅ‚ego Å›wiata. WiÄ™kszoÅ›Ä‡ map jest w jÄ™zyku angielskim, ale sÄ… rÃ³wnieÅ¼ mapy w jÄ™zyku polskim.
…
Nikolas Schiller – strona artysty, ktÃ³ry ze zdjÄ™Ä‡ satelitarnych tworzy dzieÅ‚a – strona w jÄ™zyku angielskim

Translated text:

Here we present links to a variety of maps. Here you will find maps of Poland and all over the world. Most are maps are in English, but some are in Polish.
…
Nikolas Schiller – an artist who creates the work of satellite photos – page in English

[note: I rarely use satellite imagery due to copyright restrictions. Most of the imagery on this website is derived from aerial photographs that were placed into the public domain.]

The microphone flag I designed makes an appearance
|| 10/29/2008 || 8:55 pm || Comments Off on The microphone flag I designed makes an appearance || ||

Back in August before I went to Denver to help cover the Democratic National Convention, Liz Glover asked me to design microphone flags for the Huffington Post, Radar Magazine, and Blackbook Magazine. The idea behind making these microphone flags was that she’d be able to change the flags on her microphone before interviewing people for the different news organizations. It adds an extra sense of legitimacy to any reporter in the field and it genuinely looks more professional.

On Monday she went up to New York City to cover the opening of Steve Lewis’ new club Aspen Social for Blackbook Magazine. In the video above I spotted the Blackbook microphone flag that I designed for the first time. Judging by the success of the interview, I hope to see that flag more often.

By the way, did you see what happened to that same microphone in Minnesota? I’m still laughing at that dog named Sarah.

The Daily Render By

A Digital Scrapbook for the Past, Present, and Future.

::LAST 51 POSTS::

Fair Use

35 queries. 2.753 seconds.
Powered by WordPress

Nikolas Schiller is a second-class American citizen living in America's last colony, Washington, DC. This blog is my on-line repository of what I have created or found on-line since May of 2004. If you have any questions or comments, please contact: