Hang out for the link lists (the gray sidebars) and posts on politics, science, human rights, religion and more.
FEATURED POST - The Edge's Annual Question for 2008 was: "What have you changed your mind about? Why?" 165 experts answered. A great read. When thinking changes your mind, that's philosophy. When God changes your mind, that's faith. When facts change your mind, that's science.
Hat-tip to Ed Brayton's Dispatches from the Culture Wars.
Congressman Joe Sestak (D-PA) a former 3-star admiral:
has called for the end of the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy.
"Once you have served in war and faced danger with a gay service member, how can you come home and say gay people should not enjoy equal rights? It is simple. 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' must be repealed."
Sestak joins 16 other veterans in Congress who are co-sponsors of legislation to lift the ban on openly gay service.
Please e-mail Rep. Sestak and thank him.
(Photo: Rep. Sestak)
Stylus in one hand and my Dell PDA in the other, I charged into the awaiting subway car and strode three paces to the rare treat of an empty seat, passing a dark black man in a black jacket nestled knee-to-knee beside what was likely his boyfriend--very fair-skinned, blond, goateed, brown leather jacket, silken white shirt, ready with a whisper into the other’s ear. Who knows what was said. I took the seat beside them and continued my digital scribbling. A moment after the train lurched and began accelerating out of the 18th Street station, I looked up to gather my thoughts. If I hadn’t, I’d have missed it.
Facing the couple, sitting diagonally across from me, and alarmed at the prospect of his spill was a tall, big-boned, lean black man front-loaded with a fussy café con leche baby boy. He'd been trying to pour Odwalla juice into the baby’s bottle while clasping the caps of both containers and dangling two shopping bags from his fingers. A delicate act anywhere public in New York, especially the group rocking chair that is a moving subway car.
Without prompting, Boyfriend Black across from the dad stretched out a palm and silently offered to hold the caps. A nod and smile of thanks followed from the father as he happily surrendered the caps, put the bags between his feet, and finally made the bright orange liquid transfer. Next Boyfriend Blond offered a palm to accept the empty Odwalla bottle, and Boyfriend Black returned the nippled cap. Onto the bottle and bottle held in Baby's mouth in a second flat; Dad's other hand, now free, brandished a paper towel from somewhere, laid it atop the spill, and patted it as gently as possible with his enormous foot. He accepted the Odwalla cap and bottle back, looked up, and said with a smile, “You guys are my village.”
Moments later, after I'd scribbled a few more notes, after the couple had unbeknownst to me left the train, I decided as we pulled out of Times Square station that I'd snap a phone pic of the father as a visual reminder of the moment.
Cost of living is skyrocketing here in Manhattan, as elsewhere in the US; in March it rose the worst it has in several years, according to Crain's New York Business.
Layoffs in the financial sector continue (e.g, USB cut 2,600 jobs and Morgan Stanely 1,500 this week; Credit Suisse cut 500 in April; you know the whole Bear Stearns thing already…that to many people signaled the start of the final slide into recession). But it’s yet to be seen if in general we’re still seeing signs of worse to come or signs of the worst being behind us.
Q1 NYC job growth was the worst since 2003. JPMorgan saw a huge drop in Q1 over ’07, but actually did beat expectations. AOL let about 100 people go in April (all in the advertising division). Verizon is actually doing pretty well, it seems, and is breaking Time Warner’s monopoly on cable service in Manhattan. (All those stats above come from Crain's New York Daily Alerts, by the way. Need a paid subscription to access online.)
Property is a different matter. Prices for studios, 1-, 2-, 3-bedroom condos and coops continue to go up and up and up. The sub-prime mortgage mess left NYC property prices pretty much untouched, especially in Manhattan, because sub-primes were tired almost entirely to homes valued at less that $1,000,000. In Manhattan, 1-bedroom apartments go for $1,000,000. (Average is probably around $750,000, I’d guess.)
Only in a few pockets in Manhattan (and the as of yet undeveloped Hudson Yards) is there not occurring--even now with the slowing economy--something like gentrification but far more brutal. It's ritzification, glassification. In some neighborhoods, it’s been a nearly complete transformation, with new condo buildings sitting on what used to be parking lots, local businesses that had been in place for 20, 30, even 40 years--beloved, cheap restaurants, cool shops for used CD’s, neighborhood barbers, local hardware stores, antique stores, flea markets, neighborhood vets, comic book stores, Laundromats, off-off Broadway playhouses, et cetera, are now bank branches, nail salons, high-end boutiques, national chains, or other specialty services tailored to the rich--things like day spas for dogs and cats.
It is, frankly, disgusting to me, and utterly destroying the socio-economic, cultural, and racial diversity of Manhattan (and many parts of Brooklyn, and some places in Queens and the Bronx, too); it is also making Manhattan a place that merely showcases expensive artistic performance (for the wealthy) instead of providing an environment for creating new art. No young person with a dream can afford to go to Greenwich Village or the Lower East Side right out of college now and get down to the work of living life and writing, making music, acting, painting as did countless great and not-so-great artists over the last many decades.
Manhattan is becoming a gated community exclusively the rich. Those shut out of Manhattan, it might be noted, increasingly include those who by NYC standards are the middle class, households and individuals who in most places in the country would be considered quite well off indeed. Yet they cannot afford Manhattan now either.
Another Manhattan endangered species is small businesses. I think their demise forces entrepreneurial energy too much back into large corporations. Yes, you hear the stories of small businesses that some entrepreneur got going recently in NYC, but often the entrepreneur first made millions in the financial services.
Every once in a great, great while one hears the tale of some investment banker, broker, or hedge fund manager who spent too lavishly and now can’t sustain his lifestyle, so he has had to (horror!) sell his 2nd car or his house in The Hampton’s. Jeez. This is suffering?
To my mind it’s past time for an economic corrective in Manhattan--in the U.S. The gap between the rich and poor, between the super-rich and everyone else, is enormous and still widening almost exponentially. The problem is that when market forces cause a corrective to a part of the US economy, it usually ends up hitting working families and the middle class the worst…. So much for market forces. Their free reign means pain to those least able to bear it. The solution is government involvement. But government involvement these days compounds, not counters, the problems. Consider: ExxonMobile’s profit (not revenue, but profit) January thru March 2008 was $33,000,000 per hour. Per hour. And yet under George Bush they continue to get the massive tax subsidies they’ve had for 20 years. At the same time, elderly and poor Manhattanites are rationing prescription drugs and being forced out of the apartments they've lived in for decades.
Something's not right. Things need to change not only in Manhattan but in healthcare-deficient, indebted, war-weary America as a whole, an America whose infrastructure of roads and bridges are crumbling, whose natural environment needs corrective repair and restoration, whose job force needs training and retraining. And how does any part of the necessary effective change include the likes of John McCain, whose campaign staff has more corporate lobbyists on it than Obama’s and Clinton’s combined? That’s not to say that Obama and Clinton aren’t in the pockets of the big corporations and the rich, too; but, historically, the Democratic Party has a hell of a lot better record of putting in place long-term solutions--not just feel-good quick-fixes--meant to have lasting results: savings deposit insurance, rural electrification, nationwide soil conservation, the GI bill, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid.
That's my rant. In the meantime: I commend to you the blog Jeremiah's Vanishing New York.
I wanted to share the details about an upcoming photography exhibit at the Michael Nelson Gallery in Saugerties, NY. The show features some of the photos of my friend Michel Leroy, including his Rally Biker images, "a portfolio of unrelenting black and white, large scale portraits that represent the diversity of motorcycle culture through the people who keep the spirit and legacy of the community alive."
The pH7 show runs from May 10th - June 20th. Opening reception is this Saturday May 10th from 5-8pm. Consider yourself invited!
(Click image to enlarge.)
My ex-'s 1963 Triumph Herald finally died. It lost a wheel on the way to Roxbury, CT. I wasn't there, thankfully, but had experienced a wheel loss while in the Herald before--on the way back from Baltimore. It's not a good thing when moving cars lose wheels.
The Herald: steering wheel on the wrong side, a turn radius among the tighest of all automobile models ever manufactured, an engine about the size and power of a lawnmower's.
Only the British . . . .
Obama is giving a great speech. Despite not mentioning the LGBT community, of course. Oh well, there's lots of folks he didn't and needn't to have mentioned.
Jim Naughton is the communications director of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, DC. In "The Plank in Michael Gerson's Eye," Naughton reveals that Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson, the man who coined the term "axis of evil," is a member of a schismatic Episcopal churches in Virginia that has placed itself under the authority of Anglican prelate Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria.
No wonder Naughton disingenuously assaults Barack Obama over Rev. Wright's comments but writes nothing about Akinola's persecution of gay people in Nigeria and support for a massacre of Nigerian Muslims by members of Akinola's Christian Association of Nigeria.
From the article:
Known as "the atheist guy," [U.S. Army Specialist Jeremy] Hall has been called immoral, a devil worshipper and — just as severe to some soldiers — gay, none of which, he says, is true. Hall even drove fellow soldiers to church in Iraq and paused while they prayed before meals.
"I see a name and rank and United States flag on their shoulder. That's what I believe everyone else should see," he said.
.....
Hall was a gunner on a Humvee, which took several bullets in its protective shield. Afterward, his commander asked whether he believed in God, Hall said."I said, 'No, but I believe in Plexiglas,'" Hall said. "I've never believed I was going to a happy place. You get one life. When I die, I'm worm food."
The issue came to a head when, according to Hall, a superior officer, Maj. Freddy J. Welborn, threatened to bring charges against him for trying to hold a meeting of atheists in Iraq. Welborn has denied Hall's allegations.
Expelled, the documentary film (in this case, crypto-propoganda) promoting the Creationist (ergo non-scientific) concept of "Intelligent Design," continues to have its falsehood exposed by many champions of science education.
Two recent additions to the effort: "The Expelled Case of Caroline Crocker: Academic Freedom Martyr or Pseudoscience Hack?" by Carrie Sager and Andrea Bottaro, and "Was Guillermo Gonzalez 'Expelled'? Intelligent Design and Tenure at Iowa State University," by Lauri Lebo.
Both come via Skeptic.com.
Also, Professor Richard Dawkins has posted, "Open Letter to a victim of Ben Stein's lying propaganda."
Ben Stein is a commentator and actor. He's produced a movie that's dying a quiet death--thankfully--entitled, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. In the film, Stein draws a connection between genocide and evolution as a scientific theory that he anachronistically refers to as "Darwinism," as many people do, unfortunately. His failure to distinguish between Darwin's contribution to the science of evolution and the science of evolution as a whole--which has post-Darwinian components and also includes the field of genetics--is representative of just one of several misunderstandings he has about evolution.
Stein advocates Intelligent Design, which is a faith-based, non-scientific understanding of the origin of species or life or both. Intelligent Design is wholly without merit by the standards of the scientific method because it lacks evidence and does not make testable claims.
Expelled Exposed is a website maintained by the National Center for Science Education that reveals some of the errors in Stein's film.
While we're on the topic of misunderstandings about evolution, New Scientist's Michael Le Page has drawn up a list of 24 common misconceptions about evolution. Check them out.
Yes, I'm a Labour-lover, a registered Democrat who as an American intern worked for the Labour Party Spokesman on Trade & Industry, but "Red Ken" Livingstone--the Labour mayor of London--has been, at best, erratic and autocratic as late. A pity. Now Ken's blocked funding for the Gay World Football Championship. Ken, what are you doing? You're losing ground to Conservative candidate Boris Johnson. Do you think you have the LGBT vote that solidly?
One of Livingstone's opponents in the election is Brian Paddick, who I first mentioned on this blog in May 2006. A former London police commissioner, he's running as the candidate of the Liberal Democrat party.
The election is on May 1, 2008.
(Photo, L to R: Boris Johnson, Brian Paddick, Ken Livingstone.)
Marvin Sylvor, the founder of Fabricon, a Brooklyn-based carousel manufacturing company, died this week. He was the creator of "Le Carrousel" in New York City's Bryant Park.
I chaired Manhattan Community Board 5's (CB5) parks committee when the idea of installing Le Carrousel was first brought to the board by the Bryant Park Restoration Corporation (BPRC) in 2001. I endorsed the proposal because though it went beyond the scope of park restoration well into the arena of development and gentrification, it was a child-oriented amenity in a park that on weekends was generally under-utilized, its music was going to be soft and not disrupt the oasis of relative calm that the park provides on the weekdays for the neighborhood's office workers, free rides for school groups were promised, it was of a different style and nature than the relentless, overpowering, unbalanced Disneyfication and big brand-name corporatization then and still now spreading along and around "New 42nd Street," and it fit into the Parisian-esque theme of the park. It failed by the single tie-braking vote cast by the community board's chair. (The board's chair--a friend, intelligent, professionally accomplished, excellent as a chairperson--and I on this matter didn't agree. It might have been the only such instance.) But the proposal was brought back through my committee again in 2002 when I presented it yet again, and CB5 approved it overwhelmingly.
In retrospect, I wish that I or somebody had thought to require that Bryant Park's management make the Le Carrousel free-of-charge, and that they actively solicit school groups from poorer neighborhoods. The potential for educational value went unspoken by me or anyone else at the time: a tie-in with NYC's various Bastille Day events, site visits for schools kids studying anything from the history of the Industrial Revolution to perspective drawing or drafting for art or trade classes. (Free rides 24/7 was suggested, if I recall correctly, but that struck many members--and BPRC, I'm sure--as unrealistic given the costs of upkeep and a part-time attendant for the carousel.)
I've not been on CB5 for several years. I've no idea if Bryant Park's management continues to honor the promise of free rides for children from daycare centers and schools, and if so how aggressively they solicit such visits, and from which institutions. I certainly hope that they honor their commitment and do so with a generous spirit. The Bryant Park Corporation / 34th Street Partnership newsletter says a "My Carrousel" Card has been introduced--the holder gets 10 rides at a 25% discount. Twenty-five percent off what amount, the newsletter doesn't say. The Times says that a ride on the "12,000-pound, 22-foot-wide carousel" costs $2 per ride--"top price." That's too much. Unless the child's been driven there in an SUV. Then it should be $15. If the SUV is garaged in NYC: $20. Hurry, dear, just one ride; your nanny's waiting curbside with a backseat of organic food from Fairway. Here, take some brioche with you.
Now, to set aside parochial narratives of Le Carrousel politics. Marvin Sylvor was an remarkable entrepreneur and craftsman. The animals on his carousels were charming and conceived of with care. Assuming Fabricon continues--I suspect it will, and will in fact grow (just how many 100's of carousels could Chinese developers order anyway?)--I hope the company's owners continue to create carousels with the same attention to detail that Marvin Sylvor did...and keep the company in Brooklyn.
(Photo from The New York Daily Photo blog. As always: click to enlarge.)
Distributorcap NY reminds us that April 19 is the 65th anniversary of the beginning of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
If you're in New York tomorrow (April 18), there's a Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Commemoration at the Warsaw Ghetto Memorial (83rd Street, on the Promenade) at 2:00 PM. Children from the Metropolitan Montessori School will participate in the ceremony and Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe will speak.
(Photo: a resistance fighter with a homemade flame thrower during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.)
See one Jeff Hoskinson dance very badly all over Iowa...
Jeff got around…including to:
*The American Gothic house in Eldon
*Points of great Iowa cheesiness, including Adair’s smiley face water tower, McGregor’s Spook Cave, and the pink elephant in Marquette
*The old frontier fort in Fort Madison
*Lake Okoboji (one of only 3 blue water lakes in the world, the others being Lake Geneva in Switzerland and Lake Louise in Canada)
*The Blue Bunny dairy facility (Blue Bunny ice cream is amazing! but I hate their slick new logo) in LeMars, where I used to attend St. George’s Episcopal Church, a relic of a wee British immigration wave in the 1880’s into NW Iowa (spoiler: they pretty much all ended up going back to England *chuckle*)
*Some of Iowa’s more than 100 state and national parks (alas, not “Call Park” where I spend 100’s of hours with friends when I was growing up in Algona)
*That damn cornfield in Dyersville (I hated Field of Dreams)
*The Surf Ball Room in Clear Lake (where Buddy Holly, J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, and 17 year-old Ritchie Valens performed before all three tragically perished later that night when their plane crashed after taking off from Clear Lake in a blizzard—the event Don McLean in the song “America Pie” refers to as “The Day the Music Died”)
*The Little Brown Church in the Vale (72,300 weddings (and counting) since 1855—one of which was that of my uncle and aunt Sid and Kathy Buffington)
*John Wayne’s birthplace in Winterset
*The Roman Catholic kitsch extravaganza that is the nonetheless oddly impressive Grotto of Redemption in West Bend
*One of the old covered bridges of Madison County
*The Vogel windmill in Orange City (the town where I went to college—“Orange” as in the Dutch royal house of Oranje, by the way, not the color -- which didn’t stop the town from idiotically painting their water tower orange. )
*The Sergeant Floyd Monument in Sioux City
*The old double-track railroad bridge in Boone (over the Des Moines River, which likes to flood)
*The wind farm in Alta
*Iowa high school football, one of Iowa’s two unofficial religions (the other being college wrestling) even makes an appearance, as well as RAGBRAI, of course
And more. Of course, there are countless conspicuous absences, like Effigy Mounds National Monument, the Old Capital in Iowa City, the Iowa Wine Trail, and . . . . . . the world’s largest Chee-to in, yes, Algona.
Sen. Barack Obama was encouraged at a recent LGBT fund-raiser in NYC to grant more interviews to the LGBT press. It seemed he wouldn't follow the advice when he failed to given an interview to Philadelphia Gay News. But he recently granted an interview to The Advocate, a national LGBT publication.
From the interview:
[The Advocate:] I think the underlying fear of the gay community is that if you get into office, will LGBT folks be last on the priority list?
[Sen. Obama:] I guess my point would be that the fact that I'm raising issues accordant to the LGBT community in a general audience rather than just treating you like a special interest that is sort of off in its own little box -- that, I think, is more indicative of my commitment.
.....
An area that I’m very interested in is making sure that federal benefits are available to same-sex couples who have a civil union. I think as more states sign civil union bills into law the federal government should be helping to usher in a time when there’s full equality in terms of what that means for federal benefits.
The candidates continue to dodge the call for a 2008 presidential candidates debate regarding science. You know, science? That thing that has been the engine of America's economic growth. That thing that discovered gravity, evolution, germs, and the genetic code. That thing that allows us to cure diseases, find new sources of energy. That thing that makes each war more potentially deadly than the one before it. That thing that gave humanity the industrial revolution, electricity, the telephone, the television, automobiles, the Internet.
The candidates seem to love to blather on about religion. They're doing it again on April 13 at Messiah College in PA.
But when it comes to the single most important human endeavor ever engaged in by civilization, which is science--the positing of solutions and the discovering of truths based on the accumulation of verifiable evidence subjected to peer review--the candidates get skitish. The candidates would rather talk about something almost completely the opposite of science, something largely rooted in unverifiable truth-claims and circular argumentation. Faith gives some people hope; scientists are exploring the possibility that faith (but that is not to say all organized religion) might even have evolutionary origins--i.e., it helped our species survive; but, that does not make faith in this day and age a more pressing matter than science, science funding, and science education.
"For the last 60 years, science and engineering have been responsible for half the growth in the U.S. economy. But if current trends continue, by 2010 90% of all scientists and engineers will live in Asia. Do the candidates have a plan to keep the American economy strong and to tackle America's major challenges like climate change, energy security, education and healthcare - all of which revolve around science? Who really deserves your vote?" - Shawn Lawrence Otto
CEO, Science Debate 2008"This is not a niche debate, the future economic success of the United States depends on out-performing the competition with smart people and smart ideas. Without the best education system and aggressive investments in basic research and development we will become a second rate economic power. We hope the candidates for president take this very seriously." - Craig Barrett
Chairman, Intel
A plug for The Happy Sad, a new one act by an acquaintance of mine, Ken Urban, founder of The Committee production company. He teaches at Harvard currently. The Village Voice and New York Magazine gave it great reviews.
Schedule:
Thu April 10 @ 7pm • Fri April 11 @ 7pm • Sat April 12 @ 7pm • Sun April 13 @ 7pm
Thu April 17 @ 7pm • Fri April 18 @ 9pm • Sat April 19 @ 7pm
Thu April 24 @ 7pm • Fri April 25 @ 7pm • Sat April 26 @ 7pm
Tickets: $20
Buying tickets @ The Flea is easy!
Online: www.theflea.org
By phone: 212.352.3101
In person at The Flea Box Office, opens 1 hour prior to show time.
Special Committee Discount Code: Use code "COM15" and get $15 tickets for all shows excluding Saturday night.
The Flea Theater is located at 41 White Street, 3 blocks south of Canal, between Broadway and Church. Subway: ACE/NRQW/JMZ/6 to Canal, 1 to Franklin.
The NOVA program, "Judgment Day," about the Kitzmiller v. Dover case in which Intelligent Design was exposed as crypo-Creationism, a form of religious proselytizing, and rightly banned from the science classroom in American public schools, won a Peabody Award.
Congrats to NOVA for defending science education. You can help defend science education by joining the National Center for Science Education (NCSE).
Hillary Clinton has said in an interview with Philadelphia Gay News that she will defend and expand gay rights. Her Democratic rival for the presidential nomination, Barack Obama, outlined similar support in an open letter to the LGBT community recently, in which he offered a more complete reversal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell than Sen. Clinton favors, but
Obama and Republican John McCain declined the newspaper's invitation for an interview. The paper criticized Obama and highlighted his refusal to talk by leaving a blank space on the front page where his interview would have appeared.
Sen. Obama was just this week given some good advice by an acquaintance of mine at a fund-raiser: You need to do more interviews." To which Sen. Obama is said to have replied, "You're right, absolutely. We do need to do more with the LGBT press."
Sen. Obama said that Corey was right. So why didn't the senator do the right thing?
The Obama campaign did take full page ads in LGBT newspapers in Ohio and Texas. Clinton's campaign has advertised in LGBT newspapers across the nation.
In Hillary's interview, she offered this program:
*Eliminate disparities for same-sex couples in federal law, including immigration and tax policy.
*Eliminate "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
*Use financial assistance and other leverage to prevent the killings ("executions") by foreign governments of their gay citizens.
*Support gay youth services.
*Attend gay pride celebrations, to the extent that security would allow.
Both Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama oppose marriage for same-sex couples.
"But let justice roll down like waters And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream." - Amos 5:24
Chris Rodda over at Talk To Action has a good and fairly positive review of Steven Waldman's new book, Founding Faith. While recommending the book, Rodda also does the service of raising some historical inaccuracies in it. Overall though, Rodda's concern is that the book
will give the reader who is not already familiar with the misuse of history in the church/state debate the erroneous impression that the historical distortions come equally from both sides. This is simply not the case.
Kudos to Corey Johnson, who was on NY's Dem Primary ballot back on Super Tuesday as an Obama delegate, for some prudent advice to Sen. Obama during a recent LGBT fund-raiser (cost to attend: $2,300) in New York.
From the article:
As Sen. Obama made his way to the door, Johnson said he asked the senator directly to do more interviews with the gay press, citing the fact that he has conducted only one interview with an LGBT outlet during his presidential campaign. 'I said, "Your speech tonight was so moving to all of us, the way you spoke about our community. You need to do more [interviews]," recalled Johnson. "And he said, 'You're right, absolutely. We do need to do more with the LGBT press.'
Corey's spot on. He's also right to ask for something specific and doable. But, I'll ask anyway, for something a bit more vague and more ambitious: Why can't Obama speak on LGBT issues, especially if he does so so movingly, even beyond the LGBT press to non-LGBT audiences? Maybe when and if he becomes President he will, which is arguably when such statements to larger audiences would have the most effect anyway. Of course, for similar reasons, Sen. Clinton's campaign probably has the same strategy relative to speaking about LGBT issues to wider audiences.
And an LGBT event in NYC is nice, but . . . Okay, I'll ask: What about LGBT events in, say, Austin or Columbus, which could probably provide more inspiration and motivate more LGBT voters than a high-priced, Manhattan, elbow-rubbing gig? Maybe there's the issue of how much such LGBT events--which is to say, coverage of them in the media--might hurt Obama's chances in the state as a whole. I think they would not hurt his changes, actually, given that gay marriage isn't an issue likely to motivate much of the GOP base in 2008. (There's even good evidence that it didn't motivate voters in 2004 nearly as much as is often assumed. And how would it motivate GOP voters now anyway when it's been outlawed pretty everywhere at this point?) Of course, by similar reasoning, Sen. Clinton's campaign probably has the same strategy relative to keeping the lid on, or avoiding altogether, LGBT events in states that aren't sure wins. In the case of Obama's campaign, maybe they just assume that in urban places with big gay populations, but in less "blue" states than New York, they have the LGBT vote locked up by virtue of the fact that such places tend to be college towns, and Obama's big on campuses already. Also, for all I know, Obama and Clinton have both done great LGBT events--but successfully "kept them quiet"--in states where the stakes are higher for local LGBT communities. (The fundraiser that dare not speak its name? Jeez.)
So, if it's to be a New York LGBT event ... Okay, I'll ask: How about an LGBT event that doesn't feel clandestine? Again, time for some realism, I guess: New York is a state any Democratic candidate would easily win in the General Election and isn't a contest state in the Democratic Primary season anymore. So the Obama campaign is unlikely to prioritize NY events in general--be they in NYC or anywhere in the state--and unlikely to spend time and energy on big events especially. They'll hit up The Money; that's about it. Of course, by similar reasoning, Sen. Clinton's campaign probably has the same strategy relative to NY events. (In Obama's case, maybe there is also a consideration right now that small high-end events avoid antagonizing the many NY pols who support Sen. Clinton, including nearly all of the LGBT ones. I don't know. That's a guess.)
One thing isn't a guess though: Democratic presidential campaigns, because New York is so "blue," don't spend much time here; they generally treat New York as only New York City and New York City as only its high income earning population, which they then use not unlike an ATM. Whether or not the candidates themselves wish it were otherwise, it's hard to truly know.
It's that time of year again in NYC, D.C., Toronto, Boston, and other cities around the US and Canada -- It's Scotland Week!
From March 30th to April 6th.
You gotta love opportunities like free haggis at Broadway and West 52nd Street in Manhattan! (April 5) I mean, forget the other events like the Red Hot Chili Peppers in concert and whiskey tastings. We're talkin' an opportunity for haggis!
Oh, and let the count down to St. Andrew's Day begin!
If you're heading to Scotland for holiday, I recommend Potteryhouse B&B near Inverness. This recommendation has nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that I know the owners, honest. (Congrats, guys, on the first daffodil of spring.)
Over at dkos, Troutfishing wisely calls our attention to the American rightwing's attacks against mainline Protestantism. These attacks began decades ago, but continue right up until today, including the racist and hypocritical talking points about the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, which the mainstream media mindlessly parrots.
(For some sense of the hypocrisy involved, read this and this about how religious right pastors routinely attack the United States of America and damn it for this or that, and they're called patriots. What is more, Rev. Wright's comments were an echo in biblical language the opinions of the former US ambassador to Iraq.)
Troutfishing highlights the new video Renewal or Ruin? about the perversely named Institute for Religion and Democracy (IRD), a component of American radical conservatism's war against mainline Protestant churches. Learn more about the IRD at www.ird-info.com.
From the post:
Attacks on the National Council Of Churches, smearing that body and liberal Christianity in general, as socialist or crypto-marxist, began as early as the 1950's (and possibly even before then) but the full-blown right wing war on the historically liberal mainline Christian denominations did not begin until the 1980's...
The new left, the progressive left, needs all its components, all its allies and all its possible strength if the nascent movement is to change America and help lead the world away from reactive politics, away from endless war and towards hope....
Bird flu has really dropped from the headlines. Sort of like news about Iraq. But, it's still around (AP article), and scientists are still tracking it with some anxiety. Heaven forbid it mutates in some way that makes it much easier for humans to contract. This has happened with who knows how many over diseases in the history of homo sapiens. Many infectious diseases, from AIDS to SARS, almost certainly had animal origins. In some cases a disease actually goes from affecting only a non-human species to affecting only our species. I've no idea if it's ever happened the other way 'round. I'll ask my cat tonight what he knows.
From a article:
Chickens used to roam every dusty street in every village across Egypt, and many of its city alleys too.
But bird flu is changing that. Chickens have nearly all vanished from sight, slaughtered, abandoned or locked away by a population increasingly aware of, and frightened by, the disease's stubborn grip.
