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Maddow's coverage of religious right group, The Family, and The C Street House

Inaccuracies in science-related news

We know journalism is dying. But reporters' scientific ignorance and willingness to warp facts to make a narrative more interesting when covering science-related stories is sometimes astounding. (By the way, the same can be said relative to religion-relation reporting, too.)

P. Z. Meyers offers a worthwhile observation in light of Ben Goldacre's excellent look at one particularly distasteful example of poor science journalism: "Lately, there have been too many instances of...bending a story to more comfortably fit a common and erroneous stereotype."

Some intellectual honesty

"God and Science Don't Mix," Lawrence M. Krauss, The Wall Street Journal:

I have argued that one does not have to be an atheist to accept evolutionary biology as a reality. And I have pointed to my friend Ken [Miller, scientist and professing Roman Catholic] as an example.

But most scientists:

extrapolate the atheism of science to a more general atheism.

While such a leap may not be unimpeachable it is certainly rational.... Though the scientific process may be compatible with the vague idea of some relaxed deity who merely established the universe and let it proceed from there, it is in fact rationally incompatible with the detailed tenets of most of the world's organized religions. As Sam Harris recently wrote... a "reconciliation between science and Christianity would mean squaring physics, chemistry, biology, and a basic understanding of probabilistic reasoning with a raft of patently ridiculous, Iron Age convictions."

Show your support for Bob Zuckerman and help make history

Help make history by joining as a Facebook Fan of my friend, New York City Council candidate Bob Zuckerman, a progressive Democrat, who would be Brooklyn’s first out, gay member of the City Council.

Bob has headed the Greenwich Village-Chelsea Chamber of Commerce, the Gowanus Canal Community Development Corporation (GCCDC) and Gowanus Canal Conservancy (GCC), the New York Nightlife Association, the Stonewall Democratic Club of NYC, and Brooklyn’s Independent Neighborhood Democrats (IND). He is also the current Chair of the Environmental Protection Committee of Community Board 6.

Recently, Bob has been helping Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal area residents to access affordable housing and realize their dream of environmentally-sound and community-sensitive strategies for new parks and development along the canal’s waterfront. Additionally, he has been organizing events in support of marriage equality for LGBT Americans.

Bob has a J.D. from American University, and graduated from Emory University. His partner of 11 years, Grant Neumann, is a multi-talented veteran editor and marketer at Random House.

Become a Fan of Bob's campaign on Facebook. Simply by joining as a Fan—regardless of whether or not you live in the 39th councilmanic district—you help the cause. Also, please consider making a contribution at Zuckerman2009.com. A contribution of any size is appreciated! There you can also  sign-up to follow Bob on YouTube and Twitter.

Israel contingent in NYC's gay pride march

ESB 2009 - Marking Pride

Each year, the Empire State Building is illuminated pink for Pride weekend. Hat-tip to Joe.My.God for the photo of the ESB this weekend.

40 years

Frank Rich, The New York Times, June 28, 2009:

if the current administration really is worried that it could repeat Clinton’s history on Don’t Ask, that’s ludicrous. Clinton failed less because of the policy’s substance than his fumbling of the politics. Even in 1992 a majority of the country (57 percent) supported an end to the military ban on gays. But Clinton blundered into the issue with no strategy at all and little or no advance consultation with the Joint Chiefs and Congress. That’s never been Obama’s way.

The cultural climate is far different today, besides. Now, roughly 75 percent of Americans support an end to Don’t Ask, and gay issues are no longer a third rail in American politics. Gay civil rights history is moving faster in the country, including on the once-theoretical front of same-sex marriage, than it is in Washington. If the country needs any Defense of Marriage Act at this point, it would be to defend heterosexual marriage from the right-wing “family values” trinity of Sanford, Ensign and Vitter.

June 28, 1969. The Stonewall Riots in Greenwich Village, New York City. Police enforcing a long-standing state-sanctioned, immoral, and unethical system of prosecution and persecution of Americans who happened to be born attracted to their own sex were bested and beaten by representatives of the most marginalized of gay Americans.

You know, the guys there were so beautiful—they've lost that wounded look that fags all had 10 years ago. – poet Allen Ginsberg
.....

Before the rebellion at the Stonewall Inn, homosexuals were, as historians Dudley Clendinen and Adam Nagourney write,

    a secret legion of people, known of but discounted, ignored, laughed at or despised. And like the holders of a secret, they had an advantage which was a disadvantage, too, and which was true of no other minority group in the United States. They were invisible. Unlike African Americans, women, Native Americans, Jews, the Irish, Italians, Asians, Hispanics, or any other cultural group which struggled for respect and equal rights, homosexuals had no physical or cultural markings, no language or dialect which could identify them to each other, or to anyone else ... But that night, for the first time, the usual acquiescence turned into violent resistance ... From that night the lives of millions of gay men and lesbians, and the attitude toward them of the larger culture in which they lived, began to change rapidly. People began to appear in public as homosexuals, demanding respect.

.....
In 1994, New York City celebrated "Stonewall 25" with a march that went past the United Nations and into Central Park. Estimates put the attendance at 1.1 million people... Attendance at Gay Pride events has grown substantially over the decades. Most large American cities have some kind of Pride demonstration, as do most large cities around the world. Pride events in some cities mark the largest annual celebration of any kind. The growing trend towards commercializing marches into parades—with events receiving corporate sponsorship—has caused concern about taking away the autonomy of the original grassroots demonstrations that put inexpensive activism in the hands of individuals.

In June 1999 the U.S. Department of the Interior designated 51 and 53 Christopher Street, the street itself, and the surrounding streets as a National Historic Landmark, the first of significance to gays and lesbians. In a dedication ceremony, the Assistant Secretary of the Department of the Interior stated, "Let it forever be remembered that here—on this spot—men and women stood proud, they stood fast, so that we may be who we are, we may work where we will, live where we choose and love whom our hearts desire."

On June 1, 2009, President Barack Obama declared June 2009 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month, citing the riots as a reason to "commit to achieving equal justice under law for LGBT Americans"

Marriage Equality by the Numbers

1,138 Federal (national-level) marriage rights and protections that exist
0 Federal marriage rights granted to same-sex couples

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6 States granting same-sex marriage (all state-level rights & protections granted)
Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont
29 States banning same-sex marriage by constitutional amendment*
11 States banning same-sex marriage by law**

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9 States offering same-sex civil unions/partnerships (some state-level rights & protections granted)***
1 State only recognizing same-sex marriage or civil unions/partnerships of other states
New York (and Washington D.C.)

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7 Countries with marriage equality
Belgium, Canada, Netherlands, Norway, South African, Spain, Sweden

15 Countries with national-level same-sex civil unions/partnerships (many rights & benefits)
Andorra, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Slovenia, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Uruguay

5 Countries with some jurisdictions (e.g., states, territories, etc.) recognizing same-sex civil unions/partnerships (some rights & benefits)
Argentina, Australia, Mexico, United States, Venezuela

1 Country only recognizing same-sex marriages or civil unions/partnerships of other nations
Israel

-----

Some Highlights in the Struggle:
1989, October 1 - World's first legal civil union in modern history in Copenhagen, Denmark.
1999 - Vermont legislature creates a category, "civil union," that gave same-sex couples the same state-level rights and benefits that married couples enjoy.
2003, November 18 - Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court declares in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that denying marriage to same-sex couples violates that state's constitution, marking the first time a state supreme court recognized the right of same-sex couples to marry.
2004, November - 11 states outlaw same-sex marriage by constitutional amendments.
2006, November - 7 more states outlaw same-sex marriage by constitutional amendments.
2008, February 1 - NY State Court of Appeals rules in Martinez v. County of Monroe that marriages of same-sex couples entered into outside of New York must be recognized, as is in keeping with New York's longstanding practice of recognizing marriages from other jurisdictions.
2008, May 15 - California Supreme Court overturns the state's ban on same-sex marriage.
2008, October - Connecticut Supreme Court declares that denying marriage licenses to same-sex couples was unconstitutional discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, even though Connecticut law already granted same-sex couples all the legal benefits and rights of marriage under the label of "civil unions."
2009, April - Iowa Supreme Court unanimously rules that Iowa's state ban on same-sex marriage denies equal protection of the law to gays and lesbians.
2009, April - Vermont legislature enactes a law to make same-sex marriages legal, overriding the governor's veto.
2009, May 6 - Maine enacts a same-sex marriage law.
2009, June 3 - New Hampshire enacts a same-sex marriage law.

*Alabama (2006), Alaska (1998), Arizona (2008), Arkansas (2004), California (2008),
Colorado, Florida (2008), Georgia (2004), Kansas (2005), Idaho (2006), Kentucky (2004),
Louisiana (2004), Michigan (2004), Mississippi (2004), Missouri (2004), Montana (2004),
Nebraska (2000), Nevada (2002), North Dakota (2004), Ohio (2004), Oklahoma (2004),
Oregon (2004), South Carolina (2006), South Dakota (2006), Tennessee (2006), Texas (2005),
Utah (2004), Virginia (2006) and Wisconsin (2006).
**Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming.
***California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maryland, New Jersey, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington.

-----
SOURCES:
http://www.hrc.org/documents/marriage_prohibitions_2009.pdf

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22791

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_marriage

IMAGES:
My versions of the 2009 marriage equality US flag, 2009 marriage equality "New Glory" flag, 2009 marriage equality Bennington Flag

NY Bar Association Votes To Support Gay Marriage

NY Bar Association Votes To Support Gay Marriage.

White House for including same-sex households in census

More good news. (Some will call it a sop, but I'll take it. I just hope it ends up being a prelude to real effort on the part of the White House, and not just talk.)

From the Wall Street Journal:

The administration has directed the Census Bureau to determine changes needed in tabulation software to allow for same-sex marriage data to be released early in 2011 with other detailed demographic information from the decennial count. The bureau historically hasn't released same-sex marriage data

Dept. of Justice will meet with Lambda Legal et al

Hat-tip to Joe.My.God. "The DOJ has agreed to meet next week with Lambda Legal, Gay & Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) and other LGBT orgs to "hash out how to proceed with pending DOMA cases."

"Back of the Bus" Theme for 2009 Pride Month?

So, to Obama's pattern (as candidate and President) of mostly tepid, reactive, and arguably cynical steps for the LGBT community, proponents of civil rights can add another reason to be unimpressed.

As we already know, the President's limited and compelled memo on June 17, 2009, extended but a handful of benefits (like some  relocation assistance) to domestic partners and non-biological, non-adopted children of non-military Federal employees.

Additionally, the memo's potential was limited further because of the Defense (sic) of Marriage Act (DOMA), which Obama's Justice Department defended with vile vigor using retrograde and demeaning reasoning on June 12, 2009. (DOMA should be re-named the Denial of Marriage Act.)

But now it turns out, at least one right the memo supposedly granted was already in place since President Clinton's administration. (Hat-tip to craigkg on dKos)

The number of activists and Democratic donors dropping out of the DNC Pride Month fundraiser continues to increase daily.

So, is the Obama Administration telling gay Americans to sit down and shut up, to sit at the back of the bus?

I believe President Obama when he says that he wants to see DOMA repealed and Don't Ask Don't Tell (DADT) ended. I also believe that six months into a first term isn't a long time, that on a range of pressing issues the Administration has accomplished a remarkable amount, and that issues related to civil rights for gay Americans is one of several groups of issues that the Administration hasn't had time to address yet.

However, at this point I am less concerned about inaction than I am about how tepid and reactive have been those steps the Administration (and before that candidate Obama) has taken, and in particular about the language and nature of the defense of DOMA. I grow increasingly concerned that Obama is personally uncomfortable with people who happen to be gay, and that the rumors of Rahm Emmanuel's homophobic influence within the White House are true (or at least the rumors that he considers the LGBT community to be political pariahs). Something must account for the Administration's surprising tone-deafness relative to LGBT issues. But, I also put those worries in a larger perspective: a politician need not like a constituency in order to do the right thing for them.

Certainly the lesson of this week is that the Administration still can't be counted on to do much of anything--even minor things--for LGBT civil rights without political pressure being applied. It's very, very disappointing.

Still there remains Obama's pledge regarding DOMA, which he reiterated with these words on June 17, 2009:

I believe it's discriminatory, I think it interferes with states' rights, and we will work with Congress to overturn it.... We've got more work to do to ensure that government treats all its citizens equally; to fight injustice and intolerance in all its forms; and to bring about that more perfect union. I'm committed to these efforts, and I pledge to work tirelessly on behalf of these issues in the months and years to come.

We'll see.

Looking into the Past

The Looking Into the Past photographers group on Flickr.

This group is for images you make where some part of a modern day scene is overlapped by an old photograph. For example, you hold up an old photo so that you can see its place in the modern context.

(Photo: 537 Congress Street by Corey Templeton; click to enlarge. Another example here.)

Aberlour single malt Scotch whisky

I drank some Aberlour 10yo single malt Scotch (40%, OB, +/-2007) recently, and I really enjoyed it. I bought my bottle in duty-free at Heathrow. I've not tasted many Scotch whiskies,* but so far Aberlour is my third favorite. (Bowmore being my favorite so far--I've had a couple different Bowmores, but can't recall the specifics--followed by Glenkinchie (12yo).)

Aberlour comes from the Speyside region of Scotland, which is where about half of all Scotch whiskies come from. MaltManiacs.org (MM) and MaltMadness.com are two (related) online resource for all things whiskey-related, and share a single website portal with WhiskyFun.org. Here's MaltMadness's entry on the Aberlour distillery.

The MM Matrix (a .pdf file) lists the scores of about 3,000 whiskeys tasted by 4 or more dedicated MM tasters, and it gives Aberlour 10yo (2007) an average score of 80, which is the lowest-possible score for "Recommendable," which is the third-tier grade--below "Highly Recommendable" and "The sky is the limit!" Serge Valentin on his WhiskyFun.com site gave Aberlour 10yo (2007) a 79 and with the below tasting notes:

Colour: full gold with orangey tones. Nose: a very malty, caramelly and toasted start, developing more on crystallised oranges, toasted brioche and hot honey-coated nuts. There’s also a little smoke in the background as well a a little sherry and hints of fresh mint. Rounded but certainly not toothless despite the 40%. Mouth: well, it’s a bit weak now, malty, candied and toasty but other than that it really lacks oomph. Almost no middle and a whispering finish. It’s good in fact, just too thin for hardcore malt freaks I’d say.

Well, there it is. I liked the Aberlour, but I'm new to tasting Scotch and am certainly not a hardcore freak about whiskeys (and, especially living in Manhattan, I should achieve a much higher annual gross income before I would allow myself to become one!). So it's no surprise that I was quite taken by something that is to the true devotee merely good without any fanfare.

*When writing specifically about Irish or American whiskey, the spelling is whiskey (pl. whiskeys); about Scottish or Canadian, whisky (pl. whiskies).

(Photo: Aberlour, Scotland in autumn; photographer unknown)

Iran: 3rd among blogging nations

Via Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish, this "well-known tribute...more relevant than ever." Iran has the third largest number of bloggers among the nations.

IRAN: A Nation Of Bloggers from ayrakus on Vimeo.

Discover Neveryon

The tales of [Nevèrÿon] are postmodern sword-and-sorcery . . . Delany subverts the formulaic elements of sword-and-sorcery and around their empty husks constructs self-conscious meta-fictions about social and sexual behavior, the play of language and power, and - above all - the possibilities and limitations of narrative. Immensely sophisticated as literature . . . eminently readable and gorgeously entertaining.
- Washington Post Book World

Delany...never lets you forget that what you are reading is, after all, nothing but artifice, a series of signs.
- New York Times Book Review

This is...semiotic sword and sorcery, a very high level of literary gamesmanship. - USA Today

Samuel Delany’s four-book Nevèrÿon fantasy series consists of Tales of Nevèrÿon, Neveryóna, Flight from Nevèrÿon, and Return to Nevèrÿon. Delany (photo, UR) primarily writes science fiction. He's won both of science fiction's highest American honors, the Hugo award and the Nebula award, the latter twice in the 1960s.

Delany's Nevèrÿon books are certainly not pot-boiler or formulaic fantasy; they are somewhat experimental and in places challenging. While some of the Nevèrÿon tales involve dragons and barbarian warrior-heroes, which are relatively common fantasy tropes, there are features of the decidedly unromantic Nevèrÿon world and cultures that are highly original creations by Mr. Delany, and the tales themselves are naturalistic and sometimes so gritty you're surprised there isn't a fine layer of dust and the smell of cold cave stone clinging to the page. Most of Delany’s characters are earthy survivors who interact with the tales' various cultural, social, economic, and physical environments in a matter-of-fact way interrupted—in the case of some characters anyway—with contemplation, even a sort of philosophizing. Yet, there is poignancy throughout, and it’s subtle and masterful. The reader can’t help but wish the characters well--characters who cover a wide range: male and female, free and slave, simple and complex, active and passive, young and old, healthy and ill, famous and obscure.

One additional note: Delany's "Tale of Plagues and Carnivals," which is in the third book, Flight from Nevèrÿon, is a milestone in American literary history insofar as it was one of the very first works of fiction, and certainly the first work of science fiction or fantasy, to be informed by the beginning of the modern AIDS pandemic, the inauguration of the manuscript having been inspired by AIDS before the disease even had a name.

Most fantasy is inspired more by the medieval era than any other, one in which disease and plague were significant factors in the lives of everyone and shaped their imagination, and yet disease and plague go virtually unmentioned, certainly rarely detailed, in most published fantasy.

This is not to suggest that disease or plague is a major factor throughout the Nevèrÿon series. But in focusing one of the Nevèrÿon tales, and a particularly haunting one, specifically on disease--including its social context in a pre-modern, urban, fantasy setting--and in managing to make that tale so compelling, Delany becomes yet more noteworthy as a fantasy writer.

On a more personal note, I find Samuel Delany an inspiring person. He has acheived his academic and authorial success despite having been born black, gay, and dyslexic. I've attended three readings he's given, the first of which was at Yale in the mid-1990s and organized by a faculty gay studies committee for which I was the student administrator. (He shared the podium that day with Edmund White and Sandy McClatchy.) Delany is a native New Yorker, and since moving to Manhattan in 1997, I've bumped into him--and once him and his daughter--occasionally on the Upper West Side, and said hello. I highly recommend Delany's Hugo award-winning autobiography, The Motion of Light on Water: Sex and Science Fiction Writing in the East Village, and his astonishing science fiction work, Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand.

The case of the missing Swiss Lorraine cheese

Can you help me solve the disappearance of Swiss Lorraine cheese from New York City shelves?

To the best of my poor memory, I first noticed nearly a year ago that the small chain of West Side Market stores in Manhattan no longer carried it. Swiss Lorraine is of course extremely mild in taste, has many and very tiny holes in it, and features a somewhat spongy texture that I always found enjoyable, especially as a counter-balance to firmer fruit, such as sliced apples or pears. Incidentally, Swiss Lorraine is not the same cheese as the sandwich cheese branded as "Lorraine Cheese," produced by Saputo Cheese Inc USA. Swiss Lorraine such as I am looking for was always fresh--wrapped and labeled by each respective market. It clearly did not arrive at the store pre-packaged.

I assumed Swiss Lorraine would reappear. Finally--within the last month--I asked at the cheese counters at Zabar's and Fairway what had happened to Swiss Lorraine.

At both places I was told a similar story about which I can find absolutely nothing on the Internet, despite various Google searches.

"There was a fire."

"Like, in a warehouse or something?" I asked the woman behind the counter at Zabar's.

"Something like that. I don't know the whole story."

"Wow. When did this happen?"

"I don't know. I think this winter," she replied. I told her that I'd not been able to find it for many months.

When I asked at Zabar's the conversation was more or less the same, except that the cheese monger stated that the fire probably occurred "in Lorraine." Thanks.

I pointed to the large sign over the cheese counter. It categorizes cheeses by type--in the chatty, arguably witty, and opinionated style of Zabar's...signature signage. I noted aloud that it listed Swiss Lorraine as a "bland and forgettable" "diet cheese." The cheese monger chuckled and said that some of the descriptions on the sign were a bit unfair.

Fairly or unfairly, Swiss Lorraine seems to have disappeared, and no one seems to really know why.

(And before you recommend Alpine Lace--a registered brand of deli cheese--as a substitute, I've already tried that, and it's not nearly as good.)

The Dizzy Fizz and clever contemporary NYC cocktails

Check out the blog about NYC spirits (drinkable, not ghostly), The Dizzy Fizz, including its May 2009 list of NYC cocktail bars.

Here are links to some NYC restaurants' cocktail menus via Manhattan Users Guide for June 9, 2009:

Freemans. Check out the three cocktails under the "Even and Crisp" category.

Death & Co. The Risk Pool and Dalgren caught my eye, but there are many interesting cocktails here.

Tailor. Wow. I like the sound of Beet Sangria, Rhubarb Gimlet, Blood & Sand, and Good Doctor. The Waylon calls for smoked Coke.

Blue Owl. The Ellison Cocktail sounds nice. The Straphanger is a brilliant matching of a name with a recipe. There are allusions galore in muddled ingredients and the layering created with a "sparkling wine float."

Don't forget, The New York Bar Show is June 14 & 15 at the Javits Center in NYC. June 14 is the Christian sabbath. Can you think of a better way to enjoy it?

(Photo: Dispensing Chemist by istolethetv.)

Martini. The Martini. Gin, vermouth, Orange bitters, stirred, a twist

Cocktails evolve with changing tastes. What was once "the" Dry Martini was gin, dry vermouth, and orange bitters; it was stirred and served with a twist. But now it is gin, the merest (virtually pointless) insinuation of dry vermouth, and no bitters; it is shaken and served with olives--i.e., it's olives-garnished icy gin that gets diluted as the flecks of ice melt.

One constant: a Martini by definition has gin--never vodka--as its base spirit. The combination of dry vermouth and vodka is a cocktail called the Kangaroo; it is not a Martini (nor is it, I hate this term, a "Vodka-tini").

The Martini as originally created, before Prohibition, actually called for sweet vermouth (also called "Italian" or "rosso" vermouth), which is dark red, and not dry vermouth (also called "French vermouth"); therefore, "Dry Martini" is actually to indicate the type, not the amount of vermouth to use, and still sometimes indicates such outside of the US.

The proper Dry Martini, even as understood by knowledgeable bartenders and mixologists today, has a lot more dry vermouth in it than many of their customers might expect (see the recipe below).

As far as olives go.... They aren't an ingredient in a traditional Martini, either. However, they have become the default garnish for a Dry Martini in many bars, and to get a Dry Martini with a twist of lemon may require you to order your Martini, "with a twist."

Then there's the issue of the bitters. Bitters are an ingredient in many classic cocktails, and bitters are making a big comeback. (Just type in "bitters" on Amazon.com and you'll find a wide array of bitters available.) The traditional Martini and its early variations called for a dash of orange bitters, though at least one precursor drink to the martini, the Martinez, called for aromatic bitters, of which Angostura bitters are an example.

Final tidbit: There's a reason why the Ian Fleming character James Bond had to actually request that his Martini be "shaken, not stirred." It's because a Martini is supposed to be stirred, not shaken, unless you like your Dry Martini a bit clouded and with flecks of ice in it.

Here are the recipes to follow for The Martini and variations:

The Martini (the Martini; the original recipe)
1 1/2 oz Gin
1/2 oz Sweet Vermouth
dash orange bitters
Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail glass
Garnish with Maraschino Cherry

The Dry Martini
1 1/2 oz Gin
1/2 oz Dry Vermouth
dash orange bitters
Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail glass
Garnish with a lemon twist

The Perfect Martini (an old variation on the Martini; it uses both types of vermouth)
2 1/2 oz Gin
1/2 oz Dry Vermouth
1/2 oz Rosso Vermouth
Stir ingredients and strain into a cocktail glass
Garnish with a twist of lemon
(A similarly-named cocktail is The Perfect Cocktail, with the above three main ingredients in equal proportions: 1 1/2 tsp sweet vermouth;1 1/2 tsp dry vermouth;1 1/2 oz gin; 1 dash bitters.)

William Alger Photography

I recently had the pleasure of perusing prints of the digital photography for sale from William Alger at Union Square. A sampling of his digital photography is viewable here. My favorite is the image Japanese Maple B&W. Mr. Alger is based in Astoria, Queens, New York City.

Prince Harry in NYC

Two photos: Prince Harry in downtown Manhattan this weekend, and at the Harlem Children's Zone school in the Harlem, Saturday, May 30, 2009. (AP Photo/Lucas Jackson, Pool)

The Cocktail Spirit

Check out webisodes of The Cocktail Spirit with Robert Hess on the Small Screen Network. I recently purchased Hess's The Essential Bartender's Guide, and enjoy both his brief, direct, not overly-technical explanations of various spirits, as well as many of the guide's recipes. The photography is exceptionally good, too.

Among those cocktails that are, for lack of a better term, non-standard--i.e., cocktails that are not necessarily widely recognized and well-established throughout the US--I wish that Hess had included in his book the Wibble (which, unfortunately, must be made with a true sloe gin, such as the expensive and hard-to-find Plymouth's Sloe Gin; typical sloe gins don't follow an accurate recipe and will make a Wibble taste awful) and the Red Lion (which, by the way, is not very red; also, I've yet to make it with a sugared rim). But he included the Pegu Club, as well as what may be my favorite non-standard cocktail, one I indulge in probably three or four times a month, the Dark 'n' Stormy.

Same-sex marriage has nothing to do with religion. So wise up and shut up, religious liars

Some religious leaders opposing same-sex marriage argue that it is an assault against them, and they say that churches would be forced to perform same-sex weddings. That would be miraculous indeed, since the Constitution of the United States guarantees religious freedom, and same-sex marriage is a civil contract, a government-issued contract, having nothing to do with religion. Same-sex marriage has nothing to do with religion and won't make churches, mosques, temples or synagogues do anything they don't want to; it has no effect whatsoever on any house of worship or any single worshiper's beliefs or the devotional practices they share with others on holy days or anytime.

So, "SHUT UP!" are my only words to these religious leaders. It is high time to call them to account, and to call them what they are: either ignoramuses or liars. They are either too stupid to know what Freedom of Religion means or else they understand it but spread lies anyway, hoping to scare believers into thinking that suddenly they are being threatened somehow. Give me a break!

Americans United is an organization opposing a Constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. We can take relevant text of their website and adapt it to same-sex marriage in general to get a clear idea of what perfidious nonsense these deceitful religious leaders are engaging in:

Arguments that...houses of worship could be forced to perform same-sex unions...are fallacious. Under the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause, houses of worship are free to limit marriage on whatever theological grounds they choose. Thus, a church may limit marriage to its own members, require marrying couples to promise to raise children in the faith, refuse to perform ceremonies for anyone who has been divorced or impose other types of limitations based on the group’s tenets and beliefs. The right of religious bodies to decide which couples they will marry and which they will not is already protected by the First Amendment.... [Opponents of same-sex marriage] have raised this issue as a scare tactic; it is wholly without merit.

That is what the arguments are that same-sex marriage threatens religious practice: "Wholly without merit."

American military operations casualties (Revolutionary War-2008)

American War and Military Operations Casualties: Lists and Statistics. (Updated May 14, 2008)

Be sure to check out the 11 documentaries on SnagFilms, including Return to Tarawa, in honor of Memorial Day. SnagFilm.com is a free documentaries website.

(Photo--click to enlarge in new window: The United States military cemetery in Cambridge, England, containing 3,812 American war dead from the Second World War.)

fine lines lines from EcoPatterns

At Union Square in Manhattan, I met Malathip Krihell, selling t-shirts for EcoPatterns.com, a company for which she is a designer. EcoPatterns produces "quality, eco-friendly apparel that is not only good to our planet, but looks pretty good on you too."

EcoPatterns' designs include fine line drawings fluidly merging-- sometimes seemingly stringing together--swirly and sharp decorative geometries evoking leaves, feathers, and features of animals, such as beaks, to create images of charming even elegant critters in a fairly distinctive but safely exotic and approachable style.

(Image: the "Proud Rooster" t-shirt available on the EcoPattern website and, apparently, at least some weekends at Union Square, Manhattan.)