CThru.com Presents Tony Ward

www.BobShellTruth.com

…..I first met Bob Shell at the Gramercy Park Hotel in New York city while attending a Photography Expo at the Jacob Javits Center back in 1995. At the time, Bob was the editor in chief of Shutterbug, one of the largest photography publications in America. We were introduced at the convention by a mutual friend, Reiko Ikeda a representative of MegaPress, a photography syndication group based in Tokyo. I was represented by Miss Ikeda as was Bob, so the three of us decided to meet back at Bob’s hotel after various convention activities to meet for drinks and dinner. I also asked Bob to review a portfolio of photographs that I brought along with hopes that Bob would review the pictures for an editorial he would later publish in Shutterbug magazine.

After that initial meeting in New York, Bob and I became friends. He lived and worked in Radford, Virginia, so we spent most of our time, over many years communicating by phone about photography and related matters. A regular part of our conversation centered around the use of various cameras and lighting techniques each of us employed when working with models.

There was a particular model that Bob mentioned quite often, her name was Marion Franklin. They developed a friendship and eventually became lovers. Ms. Franklin enjoyed being photographed by Bob and enjoyed modeling for him on numerous occasions. She apparently was a big fan of my book Obsessions, a result of Bob’s earlier recommendation to find a book publisher. We talked often about making a trip down to Radford to photograph Marion, as well as other models that Bob frequently worked with in the Radford area.

That trip was never meant to be. On June 3, 2003, Marion died during a photo shoot at Bob’s studio. He was later prosecuted, and convicted in September of 2007. He is presently serving a 32 year sentence for involuntary manslaughter and other charges.

Bob And Marion

Bob and I communicated numerous times after Marion’s death. He explained the tragic events of that fateful day and implored his innocence of the charges levied by his claims of an overzealous prosecutor who won conviction by jury trial on September 3, 2007.

MARION FRANKLIN BY BOB SHELL

After Bob’s conviction, I lost track of him for a while. I scoured the internet trying to figure out where he was sent to serve his sentence. A year passed and then a couple of things happened in the fall of 2008. I received an email from a friend of Bob’s, who also believes that he was wrongfully convicted. I was contacted because Bob had been asking about me and sought my help. I responded in kind, still believing in his innocence, I conferred with several of my attorney friends for advise and a course of action to have Bob’s case reopened.

At around the same time, I became friends with a renowned private investigator who has since offered support in having a closer look at Bob’s case. We have already uncovered various problems with the prosecutions case, especially in the area of mitigation and will keep readers informed of our course of action over the coming months. The habeas corpus clock is ticking for Bob. He has already exercised most of his standard appeals. Short of clemency from the governor of Virginia or a new trial, Bob is imprisoned for life unless someone that believes in his innocence takes action. To learn more about Bob’s case log on to www.bobshelltruth.com. TW

America: Stop These Wars

Posted By John Grant

Will President Obama cave-in to the generals?

General Stanley McChrystal was appointed commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan due to his leadership in Anbar Province in Iraq, where he was given credit for the success of “the surge.” The propaganda had it that additional troops led to the success of the surge in Iraq. But as people like Bob Woodward have pointed out, that is not the way it really happened. Woodward attributed it to a “secret weapon” he would not reveal. It turns out that secret weapon was General McChrystal’s Special Operations Command, which included highly secret units that captured or assassinated people who were labeled ”irreconcilables,” the current buzzword in Petraeus counter-insurgency doctrine for people who refuse to go along with our program — ie. those who would not accept the $300 a month paid to insurgents to play ball with us. Those captured were sent to a highly secret unit in Baghdad designated by numbers that constantly changed to avoid accountability and staffed by soldiers in civilian clothes with beards, no ranks and using only fictitious first names — all designed to make tracking and accountability difficult or impossible. (This was all reported in an Esquire magazine article several years ago.) In fact, a Navy investigator was tasked to investigate charges of torture by this unit and the investigator threw up his hands and gave up because of the fictitious names and the rest. McChrystal assured his men that the Red Cross would never set foot in the unit, and it never did. Allegations of abuse and torture were reported in the Esquire article — as were tales of innocent people being run through the whole process.

None of this was even hinted at during the Senate confirmation hearing for General McChrystal. He was rubber-stamped through, we were told, because he was so desperately needed in Afghanistan, where we were basically losing the game. It was very clear that McChrystal was named commander to bring this “secret weapon” to the challenge in Afghanistan. Soldiers in these special ops units were to serve for something like five years with periods of 90 days or so in country, then some down time back in the US for rest and training; then, it was back to the front and so on. The point was to establish a long-term commitment to the war effort. The reporters have likely only broken the surface of this secret tactical program that is so critical to the larger, long-term counter-insurgency effort in Afghanistan, which entails ground troops and a host of civil affairs and development tasks.  McChrystal is a very cool, smooth customer able to keep secret what he must and present a good face for the propaganda when that is needed. He likes to talk about having “humility” and about how our new task is to “protect the people.” Of course, the Taliban employ the same propaganda notion that they also are about “protecting the people” — from us. As is usually the case in such wars, the population is stuck in the middle receiving the brunt of the violence. The unavoidable challenge is that the Taliban are Pashtuns and they have lived in this very rugged terrain using Islam as a disciplinary ideology for centuries — and they don’t like outsiders. As a Vietnamese officer said to Robert McNamara years after our war there, “We knew you would eventually leave, because you could leave. We lived there and could not leave.” 

As Keith Olberman pointed out eloquently in a Special Comment Monday night, “Mister President, we cannot afford this war.”  Afghans see us as occupiers, and that won’t change. He spoke of “making our troops suffer to make our generals happy.” He mentioned the Pat Tillman case, where General McChrystal ”was willing to stand truth on its head” and pass bald-faced lies to the press and the American people. Why should we trust this man? Olberman wanted to know. “The Pentagon is in the war business!” Olberman cried — so of course they are pushing for more war. We elected an adult, civilian commander-in-chief to represent us, the hard-working, reasonable citizens of this nation, and to tell the generals “No” — as John Kennedy did vis-a-vis General Curtis LeMay and others who wanted to invade during the Cuban Crisis and as Kennedy did in being reluctant to follow McNamara’s call to escalate in Vietnam. (I’ll leave for another time any speculation about what happened to Kennedy in the end.)  

We can’t afford this war because it costs $1 million to support one soldier for a year in Afghanistan. It costs over $1 million for an MRAP truck designed to be destroyed as it protects our soldiers when they hit an IED. It costs $400 for each gallon of gasoline needed to run the MRAPs at something like 5 MPG. Now we learn the Taliban are getting stronger in the north where we thought things were calm and we had a clean route to get supplies in via Uzbekistan. We learn they are becoming more sophisticated in attacking us; that is, they are learning more about us and, as happens over time in wars like this, they will develop new strategies and tactics to attack our young soldiers. Our military is now stretched to the crisis level, with families suffering under multiple deployments, PTSD and record-high suicides. Wall Street has been bailed out, but unemployment across the nation is at unacceptable levels and we’re being told we don’t have the resources to create jobs to do things like maintain our crumbling Infrastructure.  Food stamps are now being distributed in the US at unprecedented levels and growing. Health care is an insult to common decency.  Fear of everything is on the rise. The list of domestic dysfunction goes on.  

We need to recognize the empire is showing signs of strain, and we need to find a better way fro the good of Americans here at home.  Let’s hope President Obama can figure that out before it’s too late. 

America: Stop The Bloodthirsty Killing!

Posted by John Grant

This ran in the Philadelphia Daily News yesterday, and so far it has received the usual array of lunatic and blood-thirsty responses about “all you liberals” who want to coddle terrorists. Sorry, but America and Americans can handle the truth and it’s time reasonable citizens stood up and demanded it be given to them directly and in full. The issue is not fear of Muslims; the issue is our misguided and wasteful wars.  
JG

Getting the Fort Hood murders right
By John Grant
Op-ed, Philadelphia Daily News, November 18, 2009

REFERRING to post-9/11 anti-Muslim reaction and the Bush administration’s rush to war, Susan Sontag said: “By all means, let’s mourn together. But let’s not be stupid together.” The 13 murders by Major Nidal Malik Hasan at Fort Hood, Texas, seem to be provoking a similar strain of stupidity in American politics.

Once the shooting occurred, theories began whipping around like confetti in the wind. At this point, only Hasan really knows why he went postal. But some incendiary clues are flying around in this storm.
Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) made news by wasting no time to declare on Fox News that the murders were “the most destructive terrorist act to be committed on American soil since 9/11.” This was after he said, “It’s premature to reach conclusions about what motivated Hasan.”

Then there’s Justin Raimondo, editorial director of Antiwar.com, upset at the “touchy-feely” talk about Hasan’s job counseling soldiers for post-traumatic stress syndrome. “There was nothing wrong, psychologically” with Hasan – his act was “rational” and due to his anti-war attitudes as a Muslim. “It is perfectly possible,” Raimondo wrote, “Hasan was recruited into al Qaeda, a ’sleeper’ to be awakened at the right moment.”

These men were both pouring gasoline on the embers of 9/11, when we should be tamping down the madness. Instead of whipping up another Muslim demonization cycle or misguided support for armed anti-war resistance, we should take a deep breath and, with Sontag’s words in mind, ask ourselves how the nation got bogged down in an endless War on Terror and two counterinsurgency wars of occupation.

This time, let’s try something new and try to understand the thing rather than acting like a bull pawing the dust in front of a red cape. Let’s put Hasan on trial, and let’s be as open as possible and share information with the American people as we do it. The obsession for secrecy established by the Bush administration is something Americans have the strength to back away from. To paraphrase a famous quote, Americans can handle the truth.

If Hasan exchanged e-mails with someone connected to al Qaeda, fine. But let’s finally have the courage to honestly assess just what the heck the al Qaeda boogeyman really is.

Many very smart people have for a long time seen it as an overblown network of dangerous people – angry at things the U.S. and its western allies have done in their lands.

Let’s try something new and take people like Osama bin Laden at their word. For instance, bin Laden has written that his goal is to make us spend ourselves into bankruptcy. If that’s true, then let’s suck it up and not escalate our war in Afghanistan.

Let’s remove our troops and help facilitate a stable relationship between India and Pakistan, a bitter rivalry that contributes hugely to Afghanistan’s instability. This would advance regional stability much better than more troops and predator drones. Being a military provocateur in the region aggravates the India-Pakistan problem and does nothing to lessen the grotesque corruption that plagues Pakistan.

As for Hasan, for our own good, let’s ask how an otherwise reportedly decent man who at least initially seemed eager to serve his country was put in a bind that led to mass murder. And let’s do it even if he exchanged e-mails with people who Lieberman calls “Islamic extremists.”

Belief is not illegal here. Acts are. It does no reasonable American any good to turn Hasan’s crime into a witch hunt that provokes more hatred.

Co-workers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center reportedly thought Hasan was “psychotic,” suggesting the military was remiss in not discharging him. In hindsight, it’s clear he should’ve been dealt with.

But if we’re going to purge soldiers for psychotic behavior, let’s not focus only on those opposed to our wars. Considering Abu Ghraib and other atrocities, it’s clear there are plenty of psychotics in our ranks friendly to wars in Muslim countries.

Beyond all the reaction, there’s a profound lesson in the narrative of Hasan. We need to be coolheaded, fair-minded and smart enough to recognize it.

Why was there no apparent avenue for someone like Hasan with such a clear and pronounced moral conflict vis-a-vis U.S. war policy to be classified as a conscientious objector? His government-paid skills could have been used somewhere other than a war zone in a Muslim country.

The fact of heinous murder is easy to grasp in Hasan’s case, and he’ll pay dearly. The more difficult but possibly more useful lesson may be in how and why U.S. war policy is able to turn an apparently decent man into a bloodthirsty killer.

John Grant is a Vietnam vet and member of Veterans for Peace. E-mail: grantphoto@comcast.net .

Man On A Mission

…..Things couldn’t have been going better for Charles Hall in the mid 90s. A talented writer/creative director working for one of the leading advertising agencies in the country, Chiat Day Advertising in New York City. A creative person in that position worked on multi million dollar advertising campaigns with expense accounts to bring to fruition their ideas to promote and sell a variety of blue chip products.

Charles invited friends over to his girlfriend’s loft to celebrate his 30th birthday, listen to some music, one of his many pleasures outside of his love for advertising. The following day he received a phone call that would change his life. Someone attempted to rape a friend of his at the party. The tragedy became a rallying cry to take creative action, a public service campaign was born entitled; THIS IS NOT AN INVITATION TO RAPE ME. Charles pooled his resources in the advertising community to draw attention to the hideous criminal act of that evening, raising awareness to force people to think about their sexual conduct and the ramifications of improper behavior.

Charles Hall

Charles contacted a group of photographers to join him in bringing awareness to his cause, by contributing photographs that would appear in a variety of popular culture magazines. The contributing photographers were Ellen Von Unwerth, Daniella Federricci, Moshe Brahka, Mario de Lopez, Walter Chin, Howard Schatz and Tony Ward.

Ellen von Unwerth

Mario de Lopez

Tony Ward

Press Clippings

Charles was very successful in getting his message across and years later 2007/08 was invited by the government of Scotland to launch the campaign overseas.

Original Campaign Sticker

The studio is pleased to announce that Charles Hal, now a professor at the VCU Brandcenter, in Richmond, Virginial is at it again, this time bringing the campaign to the city of his birth Philadelphia, with the generous support of The Ortner Center for Social Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. A new series of images will be produced and exhibited at the Fox gallery and around campus from February 17th to March 5, 2010. Anyone that is interested in helping us support Mr. Hall in his effort’s please contact the studio at tony@tonyward.com.

Moshe Brahka

www.HistoryStartsNow.info

….The studio was recently invited to attend a charity event to raise awareness of the international scourge of sex trafficking of children, to be held in Philadelphia at the Salt Art Gallery, on November 14th, 2009. Ms. Kristin Huggins, a former student of Temple University is part of a group of young women who volunteer their time and energy to raise funds to thwart this growing international problem. Kristin took some time out of her busy schedule to answer a few questions about the cause for our readership.

TW: How did you become involved in History Starts Now?

KH: The movie Traffic brought this issue to the center of my conscience, and when I heard about the charity, History Starts Now. They put out a casting call for models to walk in their Fashion Gives Back yearly event.  They ended up needing me for more volunteering, and I signed up to help organize their events. History Starts Now’s focus is twofold: spreading awareness of the enormity and horror of this crime, and raising money to fight this problem legally. We feel that the most effective way to stop sexual slavery is through the legal system. Very few buyers are successfully prosecuted. Less than ten percent of all arrests related to this crime are the clients, and over 61 percent of cases pursued are thrown out of court. Until the demand for underage prostitutes is curtailed, our nation’s children are at risk. One organization we work with on these issues is Redlight Children’s Campaign, which is headed by attorney, NYU professor, and Priority Films founder, Guy Jacobson. While people often hear of these crimes occurring in Southeast Asia, Columbia, and Eastern Europe, the media often overlooks how many American kids are victimized each year. History Starts Now’s primary focus is American children.

TW: I hear about it all the time in the news these days, which likely make’s the issue more like a pandemic, it’s spreading across many borders.

KH: According to Unicef, over 2 million children and young women are implicated worldwide in sex trafficking. Interpol considers this to be the third largest international criminal activity, but other groups feel it is second only to drug trafficking. Estimates on the revenue generated vary widely, as so much goes untracked. Anywhere from 9 to 20 billion is generated each year from sex trafficking.

TW: What is the age range of the victims of this type of crime? 

KH: In America, the average age of entry is 12 to 14 years old. Victims under 10 are less common but definitely exist within our own country’s borders. According to a study by Shared Hope International,  the average age of entry correlates to the average age of runaways. The most common form of underage prostitution is survival sex; the victim feels compelled to perform sexual acts for food, shelter, or some other “necessity.”  One Nevada treatment center discovered that roughly 30% of the victims they encountered were originally pimped by a family member. A 2006 Shared Hope International report financed by the U.S. Department of Justice proclaimed that incest was a training ground for underage prostitutes; some agencies claimed over 70% of all child prostitutes they encountered were sexually abused. Over 90% were supposedly physically abused.

TW: Which criminal element or organized crime group is at the head of the trafficking or are there a number of groups in the US and abroad?

KH: There is no singular crime entity at the root of this industry. There are many. In America, gangs often connect with female runaways, systematically hooking young women on drugs, while offering them “protection.”  When they feel their victims are dependent on them, they force these young women to prostitute themselves in exchange for drugs and “protection.” 
The pimp model is common. Their handlers often have a dozen adolescents that they manage, relying on a network of fellow pimps and facilitators to make their operations feasible and profitable.  Sex traffickers communicate to each other, letting each other know where they can sell without police interference. Facilitators include taxi drivers that direct customers to the location of victims, government and law enforcement officials that create, sustain, and enlarge loopholes, making these crimes profitable, and online websites that encourage pedophilia fantasies, harvesting the next generation of customers, often directing them to in-person stimuli.
Another significant trend  in this dark industry is moving the “merchandise” off the streets, making use of the Internets cloak of anonymity.Children are circulated through circuits, usually specific truck stops, hotels, and motels that have been scoped out. Facilitators help to connect potential customers to the pimps, thus preventing crackdowns by local law enforcement. Minors in group homes and foster care are targeted, often being lured in by an older boyfriend/friend promising love and affection.

TW: Does the crime impact primarily females or males as well?

KH: American boys are also victimized in this industry.  In the book, For Money or Love: Boy Prostitution in America, Robert Lloyd estimated that 300,000 boys are being trafficked right now in America. Referred to as chickens, they have similar profiles as their female counterparts, including a history of incest, mental, and physical abuse. While they are usually in “gay” capitals. it isn’t unheard of in small towns.

Sexual abuse plays a huge role in creating boy prostitutes. On average, their first sexual experience, typically with an older male partner, is at 9.6 years old. Most enter the business after running away, feeling conflicted over their supposed sexual identity, and unable to turn to their parents for guidance. Sadly, about half of these boys are thrown out for their “sexual identity”, when in fact, they were usually coerced into their initial encounters by sexual predators.

Marketing Widgets-Michael Jackson Movie Release

…..Ed Simmons for a long time now has been the point man for Tony Ward Studio when shooting in Los Angeles. Assistant to TW on the set in LA, accomplished photographer in his own right and blogger, writes about the pending opening of LA LIVE and Michael Jackson’s last rehearsal tapes. Photographs of Ed courtesy, Stephanievovas.com ……..

Ed Simmons Lights Up

There has never been anything like this. The only thing I can think of that come’s close is six big screens, at the Sidewalk Cafe in Venice, all tuned together, to the Andy Griffith Show. It’s a coin toss as to which has more social content. Wait a minute, its not even close; Andy Griffith gets it hands down.?p?
Well, there is still hope for the world. I saw a Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer Truck out making deliveries. There are still clubs like the Troubadour. These theaters, at LA LIVE will open in a big way. When have you heard of a movie theater complex with a grand opening covered by World Media? People are flying in from over seas, standing in line for days, to buy movie tickets. Has to be a first!

I am, and always will be, a fan of talent. As I see it, (doubtful that I will), the movie “THIS IS IT”, is about a whole lotta nothing. Videotapes of rehearsals for a concert tour, that never was. As the foundation for a documentary, about a successful Michael Jackson tour with such a demanding schedule is an important part to laying down the story. But there is no story here. This is about wringing out one more pound of flesh.

I had spent no time at LA LIVE prior to going to work in construction at the theaters. It had always been no mans land around there. Any media coverage of the area, up until now, had always been of civil unrest issues or a Laker championship victory celebration. Lot’s of coworkers in construction parked down there, while working on the towers of LA back in the eighties.

I went down looking for work once a couple years back, after returning to Los Angeles from Philly. I ran into my old boss, Jose, from the Cathedral project in Central Los Angeles. He couldn’t put me on; he had just thinned out his crew. After wrapping up work on the theaters, I thought I’d spend a little time around lunch, to see what kind of traffic moved through.

This is a sports and entertainment complex on a grand scale. Dozens of eateries line the open courtyards. I guess they got a no competition clause in their lease. The only coffee to be had is Starbucks. I was getting a little sugar and cream in my coffee during my break, when this sweet young thing came up beside me, to fix her tea. I gave her a little more room, excused my self for spreading out so much at the small counter. I’m at about that age, when young women, see me as someone sweet, fatherly, somewhat harmless. I really have fun with it.
I don’t kid myself, I’m still breathing! She said I was fine, I thanked her; I told her she was fine as well!!!

There are a lot of condominiums surrounding this complex. Not enough people making real money though to fill them up. I thought I’d find lots of people out and about at lunch, after all, about 72 degrees, clear, crisp, autumn air, any other city, this would have drawn them out for sure. I’ve heard this place has been coined the “Times Square of the Left Coast.”

I don’t think I counted more than twenty people at any given time, moving through the courtyards. That must be all wishful thinking. Maybe when the Ritz Carlton wraps up construction, all the pieces will be in place. Now here’s a crazy thought; how about an Organic Pharmacy Super Store, complete with an Old School Soda Fountain, that would sure draw some people in?

Seriously, the problem here is there is no money! More people need good jobs for something on this scale to work and trickle down doesn’t work anymore. It was only a couple of days after Michael Jackson died that work began when promoters developed their new widget. Across the news, word of rehearsal video surfaced. Suddenly, a movie that would be ready for a late October release became the latest MJ headline.

Some big deals had to be cut, timing was paramount. These folks were in court before the poor man was even in the ground! The date for the movie release wasn’t just pulled out of a hat. I worked in construction on the theaters at LA LIVE in the beginning of September. In a little more than a week on the job, I had it all figured out. There is nothing personal in business. I guess this is what makes it all OK. At the end of September it was announced, the Michael Jackson movie, a compilation of rehearsal videos that was posthumously titled, “THIS IS IT” would premiere in all fourteen new theaters, being built at LA LIVE. It is clear to me that the promoters were all over this financial opportunity. The spin was well crafted.

The public was told the rehearsals were video taped. How the world lost a tremendous talent and that the comeback of Michael Jackson would have been triumphant. We all now would have the chance to see the concert that was never to be.

Ed Blogs Yeeha.Org/Art

Joe Mammana

…..When the call came in to the studio to arrange for a portrait sitting with Joe Mammana, it seemed as though the urban egg farmer was sitting on top of the world. Owner of Yardley Farms, a successful egg-processing business that apparently was handed down from his Sicilian father. Joe enjoyed the comforts of wealth and an extravagant lifestyle. There was the flashy Joe, the Ferrari, the trophy girlfriends, the beautiful clothes.

There was another side to Joe that lay dormant, a 20 year criminal history, which included convictions for aggravated assault, theft, forgery and dealing steroids. Around the time this picture was taken, Joe seemed to have turned his misfortunes around by finding solace in philanthropic pursuits. Mammana became active in Philadelphia’s Citizen’s Crime Commission, and offered more than one million in reward money for leads to solving serious crimes.

Earlier this year Mr. Mammana’s dark side resurfaced as he was arrested, prosecuted and is presently serving an eight year sentence for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and tax evasion. Mr. Mammana’s inner demons for now have won a perpetual inner battle……