Thursday, April 30, 2015

Azaleas

To be honest, I am not a fan of Azaleas.  I find it annoying that they bloom once and then are a rather dull green plant the rest of the year.  However, they are lovely when they bloom.
I was with Lisa and Jane on this trip
.
Now, outside of Charleston (SC) is the Magnolia Plantation which - although it houses many Magnolias - is, in fact, famous for their Azaleas.  And they have types that bloom in every season.
.
But we happened to hit it during Azalea season, when the great majority were in spring bloom.  I share.
.






This Just In: Freddie Hurts Himself Story debunked: Fox Runs with It....

Ahh.. I told you the leaks were purposeful and probably not so true (LINK).  Well, a news station in Baltimore pretty tore the "report" into trash.  And Fox News took the story as gospel.
.
(From Salon)...
.
Late Wednesday night, the Washington Post dropped a bombshell in the Freddie Gray case: according to a second-hand report from the prisoner who traveled in the same police van, Gray was “banging against the walls” of the van as though he “was intentionally trying to injure himself.” On Fox, Sean Hannity went predictably nuts about the “blockbuster,” and used it to blame President Obama for weighing in on race relations “before the facts are known.”
The Post has done some good reporting from Baltimore, but this “scoop” is curious. Police Commissioner Anthony Batts had previously cited the same prisoner as saying the ride he shared with Gray was quiet and uneventful.
NBC affiliate WBAL’s Jayne Miller took the story apart within about an hour, reporting that the prisoner in question only got aboard on the van’s fourth stop, and was with him for five or six minutes. Gray had been alone in the van, with police, for at least a half hour, Miller said, citing the cops’ own timeline, during which time the vehicle made a curious stop to place the young West Baltimore man in leg irons.
The Post called the story the “first glimpse” of what actually happened inside the van, and added that “it is not clear whether any additional evidence backs up the prisoner’s version.” That’s one way to put it.
This isn’t the first story to charge that Gray, not police, was responsible for his own injury. An “exclusive” on a right-wing site blared “FREDDIE GRAY ALLEGEDLY HAD SPINE SURGERY JUST ONE WEEK BEFORE ARREST.” It quickly metastasized to “everyone’s racist uncle’s Facebook feed,” as Gawker put it.

Stanford White's NYU Library - Now part of Bronx College

The statues are life-sized.  The colors were beautiful, but it wasn't light enough to capture them.
I knew of the famous architect Stanford White long before I knew about New York or Architecture.  That is because he figures prominently in the book "Ragtime", by E L Doctrow.  And I read (consumed) "Ragtime" when I was younger: the prose, the cadence the imagery.  I loved that book!
.
Anywho.
.
On our Landmark Dash, we traveled out to the Bronx to see this library.  Designed as an outpost of NYU, the grounds have since been turned in the the Bronx College.

.
The building is very classical, almost a temple to higher learning.  Inside 16 columns of Green marble are topped by gold gilded column toppers (also designed by the Architect).  Floating above them are 16 carved figures - each life sized although they look smaller by distance.  I didn't get a good shot of the top of the ceiling, where a large light fixture is.  Apparently it was a skylight until Vietnam protests destroyed it in the 1960s.
.
It was very cool to see in person.
A shot of the interior.  Those are Dash participants counting the ceiling squares (Ed did that for our team and got the number exactly correct).
.
Randy and Ed outside the library
Not long after completion.  The pergolas are still there and hold busts of famous people in categories like statesmen, artists, inventors, etc.

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Police Details on Freddie Gray Death... Freddie Severed His Own Spine

I love it when the police "leak" details ahead of an official report.  This is a corker.
.
Ahh yes, trying to severe his own spinal cord... I see....

The Police have leaked that "someone" in the police van - who could not see Freddie Gray as they were separated by a metal partition - reported that he  "...believed that he “was intentionally trying to injure himself,” according to a police document obtained by The Washington Post." LINK
.
So it wasn't the police, but the young man that severed his own spine.  In the same leaked report, the police commissioner noted that Freddie got into the van on his power, but "hopping up" on his good leg.  Not thrown into the van as shown on the tape. (same LINK as above)
.
Here is the video of the hopping Freddie Gray
.

Some buildings from the Landmark Interiors Dash

A very cool mosaic map from an old AT&T building (circa 1930s if you see the layout of Germany / Poland).
Two week-ends ago, Eddie, Randy and I participated in the Open House New York, Landmark interiors Dash.  It took us on a quiz / race / scavenger hunt through some of the historical interiors of the city.  Here are a few of the pictures (more coming).
.
Interior of the old Customs house in New York - Now the Native American Museum

The lobby steps in the Woolworth Building

Look from the elevators towards the street in the Woolworth Building Lobby

Artsy Fartsy Bathroom

.
Our friends from the Bahamas were here in NYC the other day and we had dinner with them.  It was at a fancy Japanese Restaurant in Meat Packing(ish), Morimoto.
.
Very fancy bathrooms, with 2 way mirror boxes behind the toilets and little flowers.


The Official Announcement from the Baltimore Police and Mayor

No news on the cause of death of Freddie Gray.

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

A Lot of People are Blaming the Baltimore Riots on "Thugs"

Thugs - that is Fox News (and friends) wording for young black people who they don't trust and who cannot be rehabilitated.  Thugs has all the connotations of the N-word, without getting the sayer fired.  But, have no doubt, it means the say thing.

"Thugs" are rioting in Baltimore.  Fox News asks where the thugs parents are?  Commentators on the web site say - well awful things like anonymous commentators everywhere.
.
The premise, you don't even have to state it, is that "thugs" cannot be reasoned with.  "Thugs" don't care about anything but themselves.  "Thugs" can only be answered with a stick, or a gun, or tear gas.  "thugs" only listen to threats.
.
"Why weren't they non-violent?"
.
I would like to answer that.  Because, non-violence didn't get them shit.
.
It has been 16 days since Freddie Gray died.  16 days since the Baltimore Police chased down, beat, locked up, threw in a back of a Police Van a young man - accused of nothing.  Where he emerged 2 hours later in a coma and then died.
.
Requests of information haven't been answered.  Non-violent protests were ignored (our news casters very busy with the Washington DC Correspondents dinner).  I am not saying it should b broadcast 24/7.  I am not saying the Correspondents dinner wasn't funny as hell.  But non-violent protests achieved nothing.
.
For non-violence to work, it has to A) bring a situation to light that people don't know and B) prompt people to agitate for change.  It didn't work because "people" (in this case America elected-officials with power) DO already now that inner city black life is not considered important.  They aren't going to change it.
.
Two weeks of non-violent protest couldn't even get an answer as to "what" happened, much less "why"?
.
How long can you simple stone-wall ANY and ALL information when killing black young men, before a city explodes?  Answer, 15 days in Baltimore.
.
Yes, these people should not have rioted.  But don't forget.  Had a healthy young man not been killed in police custody with no explanation this wouldn't be happening.

Some Amazing Kids

Ed and I went to a benefit last night for "Live Out Loud", an organization that works with GLBTQ youth.  They gave out 5 scholarships last night.  I have to say, I was amazed by these kids.  They were much more together than I ever was (I don't mean at that age - I mean almost any age).
.
I was particularly transfixed by this young man, Michael Nowak.

.
This young man was stronger than I could have been.  He came out to his mother as a freshman in High School - which did not go well.  She kicked him out of the house.  For a year he lived on the street and continued to go to school.  In some (minor) ways he was lucky.  He was kicked out during the "occupy wall street" demonstrations and fell in with occupiers in Union Square.  A kid kicked out of home right now doesn't have even that sliver of a "safe zone".
.
Anyway, he finished High School, ended up living at home again - albeit it a tense situation.  He worked as an intern with the ACLU focussed on the LGBTQ youth homelessness.  It is said up to 40% of homeless teens are LBGTQ, abandoned by their families.  He said that every day you have to decide not to give in to drugs, or alcohol, or selling yourself for somewhere to spend the night, or to buy dinner.
.
I have heard much of the same Ali Forney Center in New York and the LA LGBTQ Youth Center in Los Angeles.  I feel helpless a lot.  Yesterday I was a little embarrassed at feeling helpless in the face of what these young people have done.

Monday, April 27, 2015

Turn off Your Shame Meter and Ask For Money

Ted Cruz is rapidly doubling down on being anti-gay.  You may wonder why?  I mean, yes he is pandering for money, but why the sudden extra-dollop of hate?
.
Well, it is simple.  About a week ago, he was hosted by two (very rich) gay businessmen in New York, where he said marginally polite things about gays .  For example, if his daughter turned out lesbian, he would still love her and it would be alright by him.  And, rather than the Anti-Marriage amendment, he said it should just be up to the states.  That got out and shit hit the fan, so he has had to be extra anti-gay lately.  (LINK)
.
So Ted-land is freaked out.
.
But that is nothing next to the shit the two gay businessmen have had. The gay community has come down hard on these two, essentially boycotting the businesses they run.  The OUT Hotel in New York should be okay - it is "gay friendly", but also serves tons of straight foreigners who are a little scared by the US crazy evangelicals, and want to stay somewhere they feel safe.  Really - it is nuts.
.
Shhh!  No one will know if we keep this on the down-low.  Oh, Hello NY Times.
Quite possibly their New York club will close, or go dark until this whole thing dies down.  They also own most of the bars and areas on Fire Island, which people are trying to boycott, but there aren't any other choices out there, so I figure by Memorial Day this will all have faded away.
.
Ted is now saying he shouldn't talk to homos, and the Gay Businessmen are saying they shouldn't talk to Ted.
.
Personally, I think things don't get better unless we talk. However, talking doesn't have to mean hosting a fundraiser for Drunk Uncle Cruz.

At What Point is the Proper Answer NOT to Turn Away?

I know that a lot of my friends - and I myself - are very pro-Police in general.  But at what point does it stop becoming acceptable to turn away for a series of death at the hands of police to Black Men?  Seriously.  Because this seems more than a few isolated incidents.  Do we just not give a shit anymore?  Or have we become so knee-jerk pro-police we can't even ask if maybe they are going too far?
Freddie Gray - pre-dead.  Death Penalty for Running
On April 12th - Freddie Grey was chased, beat - thrown into a metal police van and driven to the police station.  Where, sometime between 1 and 2 hours later he was turned over to the hospital in a coma and died, with a partially severed spine.  He was accused and charged with nothing. Beaten to death for running seems excessive to me.
.
Walter Scott - somewhere between shots 3 and 7.  Death Penalty for having a broken tail-light

On April 4th, Walter Scott was shot in the back - EIGHT TIMES after running away from a traffic stop due to a broken taillight.
.
Eric Harris - His Killer (accidental or not) is recovering from this horrible accident in the Bahamas. Mr. Harris is dead.
On April 2, Eric Harris was running away from a sting operation and was caught, after being put down on the ground, he was shot by Reserve Officer (and big donor) Robert Gates.  Seriously - the man was ON THE GROUND and Robert Harris shot him and killed him.  Shot and killed him.  Right now, Eric Harris is dead and buried in Oklahoma.  Reserver Officer Harris was granted leave to a previously planned vacation in the Bahamas. Are we okay with that?
Tamir Rice - 12 Years Old - Death Penalty for being a child and playing in the Park with a toy gun
Last year on November 22, in Cleveland a 12 year old boy was playing with a toy pistol in a park.  Someone called the police and said that a child might have a play pistol in the park.  After arriving and giving the child (A FUCKING CHILD OF 12) two seconds to put down the toy (one  one- thousand, two one-thousand), they shot him.  Fearing that his older sister might comfort him, they locked the sister in the patrol car while her brother lay dead.  The Police were cleared of any wrong doing.
Eric Garner - the Coroner says this is a chock hold.  The Grand Jury says this street administered Death Penalty was appropriate for the horrific crime of selling a lose cigarette.
Last year on July 17th Eric Garner was killed in Staten Island for selling lose cigarettes.  Medical examiners concluded that Garner was killed by "compression of neck (choke hold), compression of chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police", though no damage to his windpipe or neck bones was found. The medical examiner ruled Garner's death a homicide. According to the medical examiner's definition, a homicide is a death caused by the intentional actions of another person or persons, which is not necessarily an intentional death or a criminal death.  The Police were cleared and Staten Island is down one seller of lose cigarettes - saints be praised.
.
John Crawford, Death Penalty for shopping for a BB Gun
In August of last year in Beavercreek Ohio a black man, John Crawford, was shopping in a Walmart, selected a BB Gun, and continued shopping.  He was never approached by police to put down the gun (again, which he was buying at the store) or to surrender, but was shot immediately on being seen.  The Police were cleared by a Grand Jury, perhaps correctly, since the 911 caller said "a black man was aiming a rifle at people".   That caller, by the way, no charges.  The Police who shot and never said "hands up" - no charges.
.
I only used the examples were there was actual video footage of what happened.   These aren't really "questions"; there is footage.  Of all of these, the only officers that were ever punished is the man who shot Walter Scott in the back 8 times, and only after cell phone footage shows him shooting him and possibly planting a taser on the dead body - after lying about the facts
.
So again, my question. At what point does this become an issue?  Or, do we just continue to chalk this up to "whoops - sorry a black man was killed for no reason".  Of these ,at least two were killed without any chance to respond to police requests.  One was a kid.

Protests - Even Violent Protests Are NOT a Lynch Mob


This is Freddie Gray, hit, wounded, but alive right before they threw him into the Police VAan.
Let us begin with the facts before we go all fuck-wad crazy.  Freddie Grey was chased through housing projects in Baltimore before he was caught.   One can assume, if you like, that he committed a crime or was a suspect in a crime.  Baltimore police, the ones who chased and then killed him, have not asserted either thing.  He was chased because he ran.  He ran, friends say, because he was afraid of the police.  Since he later died of a SEVERED SPINAL CORD, I say he was probably justified in his fear.
.
He was chased, perhaps beaten after the chase, had his hands secured behind his back and thrown in a police van with metal bench seats, where he was not put into restraints and then driven violently - against regulations (which require (not suggest) a seat belt and immediate redirection to a hospital when a subject is wounded) to the police station for hours before being handed off to a hospital where he died later of massive trauma and partially severed spinal cord.

.
The people of Baltimore, where this type of injury has occurred before, protested loudly and long.  Although non-violently originally.
.
The Police Captain called this loud, non-violent protest a "lynch mob".  A "Lynch Mob" is not a non-violent protest.  The head of a Police Force that has uncharged suspect die in custody - died from injuries caused while the in Police custody - is so incorrect in calling peaceful protests a "lynch mob" that no amount of shame or anger will change anything.
These were shots of the original protests - asking - nay demanding answers!
.
The public - after being called a "lynch mob", but receiving no information about the death of Freddie Gray, protested over the week-end.  On Saturday, the frustrated and taunted crowd turned violent and the a few protesters rioted and looted.  Which provided the Police with the happy ability to arrest protests, hit them with nightsticks (although they didn't kill anyone this time) and go on TV calling the people of Baltimore criminals.  They still haven't said shit about why Freddie Gray died in their custody or what he did wrong.
This is an actual "Lynch Mob".  The Baltimore Police should know because, per Univ. of Mo - St. Louis, rom 1882 - 1968 Maryland suffered 29 lynchings.  Of those 93% (al but 1) where white on black lynchings.  This - pictured - is a "Lynch Mob".  People - no matter how many - asking why a boy died is NOT a Lynch Mob.

.
If this happened in Iran, or China or South Africa - we Americans would roundly condemn the authorities, call them a police state and Republicans would fire off a letter cutting off aid or whining about the President not supporting the protesters (as they literally did in Iran).  But since these are black Americans the country doesn't do shit.
.
Jesus Wept.
.
This they will talk about.

Sunday, April 26, 2015

Does Anyone Remember the Commercial that Inspired this?



Jane and Lisa (from England) had never heard of it.

Alpine Rock Garden Saturday "Leonard J. Buck Gardens" in New Jersey

We went to a very cool alpine rock garden in New Jersey yesterday.  Eddie and I were looking for a nice drive where things might look good enough though it is still in the 20's at night here.  So a normal garden wouldn't do.
.
But in New Jersey they have a garden, the Leonard J. Buck Rock Garden, that was created by a guy on his private grounds.  He had a landscape architect to a set of Alpine Rockeries and we figured they might be nice by now.  They were great!  Here are some shots.
.

.




These are very traditional plantings for Alpine Gardens.




Friday, April 24, 2015

The Irrational Fighting over Territory

In the olden days (say before 2000), wars were about territory.  This was due to a couple of reasons, not just pride and vanity.
.
Territory provided some real advantages.  Before 1940, it provided a buffer from attack.  That is, there were no planes (as we think of them) and any land between you and an enemy was a deterrent.  An ocean (or straight or channel) was even better than land.
.
Additionally in the economy of the pre-1940s territory brought wealth.  It provide raw materials for industry and a captive population to sell goods to.
.
It was also, in many ways, a measurement of power.  Great Britain had the largest empire on Earth, France the second, etc.  The bigger you were, the less likely you were to be attacked.
.
And there was the low cost of conflict.  The European Empires from about 1500 - 1960 had a remarkable advantage in technology and thus firepower.  Taking territory and exploiting it was (from purely economic stand-point) a money maker.
.
But now, territory is a sucker's game.  Every place has people now.  There was a time when great swathes of land lacked people who were able to keep it as there own.  But now nearly every place is populated.  And no one likes being forcibly incorporated into a different nation.  In fact, the great movement has been in the opposite direction.  South Sudan broke from Sudan, Eritrea broke from Ethiopia, Yugoslavia broke into 8 countries, the Soviet Union into 15.  Countries are now being formed around nationalities in most places (the United States and Canada are happy exceptions to this where nationality is, essentially, "earned").
.
Trying to take territory now just starts wars from the people that have their own idea of nationality.  Even when war isn't an option for the underdog - and there is a good internal reason for trying to appropriate the land (example, the Crimean Peninsula by Russia) - the outcome is ugly.  The Crimea is a money pit for Russia.  They are paying billions for that particular piece of pride.  Just as Israel is paying billions to hold on to the West Bank and the United States is paying billions to try to set borders in the Middle East.
.
No, the new political game is to fight over markets and access rights, without claiming the land.  China is probably the best country at this.  They have agents, agreements and economic projects all over Africa, South East Asia and are moving into Latin America.  No country is countering this.  However, the United States is playing this game in a way.  Whereas China controls their economy, in the United States, corporations drive the economy.  And while the United States government doesn't have agents in Africa or South East Asia, US Corporations certainly do - as do many European Corporations.
.
I think the take away here is that the United States used to be ahead of the curve in political gamesmanship (we forced open Japan for international trade in the 1850s instead of trying to capture it) But now, the government is increasingly stuck in a no win situation where we focus on territory in places with no solution.
.
Corporations are working on opening the world

Thursday, April 23, 2015

The biggest "No Big Deal" Around

For those of you that live in states or countries where same sex marriage is illegal, I'm sorry.  Sorry because you are on the front lines and you are constantly battered with the horror stories of the coming apocalypse.  The threat, to your very way of life, when the gays get married.
.

Well, take it from someone who has lived through this, it is no big deal - and GREAT when gay marriage comes.  You know why?  All the shouting dies down and the media circus pulls up its wheels and goes to the next town or state where cameras are rolling.
.
An aside, FYI, there isn't a state in the country that forces the clergy to perform any marriage - same sex or opposite sex.  You can't do that and no one is trying to make them.  Seriously, regardless of what you might have heard, that isn't true.  Ever!
.
Regarding the kurfuffle about bakers having to make gay wedding cakes (there were 2 of them), or the photographer who didn't want to take pictures of the lesbians (1 of them) or the farm that didn't want the gay reception there (there was 1 of them) - those are tiny, isolated incidents and silly.  They are unimportant and side-show news.  Honestly, if you don't watch Fox News - they aren't even mentioned.  I'm not going to get into an argument about that, because it is between 5 and 10 incidences and many of them now are designed only to raise money (a mechanic in Michigan would turn down business from a gay man - a pizza shop in Indiana raised $800,000 by promising not to provide Pizza Pies for a hypothetical gay reception - like a gay marriage would cater pizza's!)
.
Bobby Jindal stepped in today in the New York Times to hype his new law protecting business people from having to participate in Gay Weddings.  I am not going to participate in that rabbit hole argument, because Governor Bobby Jindal just wants the publicity for his Presidential Run.  I refuse to engage him, except to say that his unfortunate initials and schoolyard bullying may be what is pushing his anti-Gay crusade.
.
No thank you Gov. BJ

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Happy Earth Day

Today is Earth Day, which is a time to look at the amazing world we have been given.  Think of it as your home for life, and treat it like that home you would want to live in.  Clean up after yourself, try to keep it nice for guests and don't shit in the living room.
.
It is easy to look at what has gone wrong.  It is, in fact, impossible NOT to face the mistakes we have made.  Making mistakes is what allows us to correct them.  We have corrected many and are correcting others.
.
.
When I was young, in the 60's and 70's, Stage 1 alerts were not all that rare in Los Angeles.  In the 1950s and 1960s we had Stage 1 Alert levels most of the year.  (The numbering was different, but we are setting all Stage 1 at current levels, which is .2 ppm of ozone.)  If you have ever been in a horrible Stage 1 alert in Los Angeles, at .2ppm, imagine in 1957 when the ozone was over 4 times that.  It topped out at .9ppm of ozone!
.
But, with unleaded gas and catalytic converters, the smog got better.  We planning, conservation and lead free bullets, Condors have made a comeback.  With marginal recycling, the constant need for landfills has slowed.
.
So things can get better.  Let us strive for that this Earth Day, rather than focus on the worst.
.
Let's help save these damn cute things....
.